FREDERIC ORMON
 
 
 .
 
 THE THREE KEYS
 
 
 I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU CAN DO SOMETHING 
 TO HELP HIM-
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 BY 
 
 FREDERIC ORMOND 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 HARRISON FISHER 
 
 AND 
 
 GEORGE T. KNIGHT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 GROSSET. & DUNLAP 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY 
 W. J. WATT & COMPANY 
 
 Publnhtd June, IQOQ
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I The End of All Things . . 11 
 
 II The Genesis of a Criminal 19 
 
 III A Millionaire's Manoeuvre 27 
 
 IV The Reward of Villainy . 40 
 V A Meeting of Maidens . . 53 
 
 VI Jack Millington's Return . 66 
 
 VII A Millionaire's Promise . . 77 
 
 VIII Clarita Ortega at Home . 91 
 
 IX The Hand that Stabs . . 100 
 
 X The Broken Engagement . 112 
 
 XI In the Mesh of Misdeeds . 123 
 
 XII The Sinister Souvenir . . 133 
 
 XIII What Carla Dared ... 148 
 
 XIV The Accusation . . . .158 
 XV Driven Back to Eden , . 172 
 
 XVI The Letter 184 
 
 XVII Face to Face with Conse- 
 quences 195 
 
 2137522
 
 CONTENTS Continued 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 XVIII The Man Behind the Door 202 
 
 XIX The Whim of Cupid ... 209 
 
 XX Jack Millington's Busy Day 219 
 
 XXI Sam Millington's Little 
 
 Scheme 229 
 
 XXII Lathrop's Confession . . 242 
 
 XXIII A Matter of Scheming . . 255 
 
 XXIV The Second Ruse .... 264 
 XXV Cupid in Haste .... 274 
 
 XXVI Though Your Sins be as 
 
 Scarlet 284 
 
 XXVII The Special Pleader ... 293
 
 THE THREE KEYS
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE END OF ALL, THINGS 
 
 MORRIS LATHROP gave a final 
 glance toward his reflection in the 
 mirror, and assured himself that his toi- 
 lette for the evening was immaculate. 
 Then, he took from his pocket a solitary 
 dollar 'bill, at which he stared for a long 
 time in rueful contemplation. 
 
 "The sole remnant of my fortune," he 
 muttered, finally; "my last dollar abso- 
 lutely, the last!" But he shrugged his 
 shoulders contemptuously as he thrust the 
 bill back into a pocket. "At least, it will 
 serve to pay my cab-fare to the Trevors'," 
 was his reflection. "And I'll make my 
 last night on earth a merry one. None 
 9
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 shall see the shadow of death on my brow. 
 . . . And yet I wonder where I shall 
 be to-morrow, when they find this body, 
 after the flight of that which is called the 
 soul!" 
 
 But, since he had definitely resolved to 
 make an end of himself, such speculation 
 troubled Morris Lathrop very little. It 
 seemed to him that, inasmuch as he had 
 dissipated a fortune, he might throw away 
 life itself as well. So far as he could de- 
 termine, he possessed no art for the accu- 
 mulation of money, even had he the incli- 
 nation, which he had not. For that mat- 
 ter, now at the last, he found himself 
 rather weary of the frivolous round which 
 had made up his lif e. He had but one sin- 
 cere sorrow before the prospect of death, 
 and that lay in the giving up of Carla Tre- 
 vor, to whom he was betrothed for the 
 final interview with whom he was now set- 
 ting forth. 
 
 It was only a few blocks from the apart- 
 10
 
 THE END OF ALL THINGS 
 
 ment-house in which Lathrop had his suite 
 to the mansion of George Trevor, the 
 financier, where the debut of Edna Trevor, 
 the'younger daughter, was to be celebrated 
 that night. It was such a little way, in- 
 deed, that the cab-driver thanked his fare 
 when the young man gave him the fag 
 end of a fortune in the guise of a dollar 
 bill. 
 
 "And I suppose the fellow envies me!" 
 Lathrop mused cynically, as he mounted 
 the steps. 
 
 "The ladies are not down yet, sir," the 
 butler explained, as the visitor entered the 
 vestibule; "but Mr. Trevor is in the li- 
 brary. Will you go there, sir?" 
 
 Lathrop nodded, and forthwith made 
 his way to the library, which he entered 
 unannounced. The only occupant of the 
 room was a handsome man of some three- 
 score years, whose clear eyes and com- 
 plexion proclaimed both a good constitu- 
 tion and a clean manner of life. The iron- 
 11
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 (gray hair still clustered thickly; his spare 
 frame was held vigorously erect. The 
 whole aspect of the man suggested the 
 consciousness of power. Yet, at this mo- 
 ment, the strong, stern face was relaxed 
 into an expression that betrayed acute anx- 
 iety. Then, as he looked up at the open- 
 ing of the door, and saw Lathrop, a sud- 
 den relief shone in his eyes. 
 
 "Ah, Morris, it was good of you to come 
 early," he exclaimed. "We have a f*jll 
 hour for a smoke and a chat. Help your- 
 self to a cigar and a glass of wine, my boy 
 . . . I must talk to you seriously. I 
 am going to ask a favor of you, Morris." 
 
 "A favor!" the young man repeated, in 
 evident surprise. "But, sir, between us 
 two, it is you who have the power of grant- 
 ing favors, not I." 
 
 The financier smiled, wryly. 
 
 "It happens that just now, at least 
 you are wrong, Morris," he said sadly. 
 *'I know that, since the death of your 
 12
 
 THE END OF ALL THINGS 
 
 father, you have looked on me as taking 
 his place toward you in some measure. I 
 for my part, have looked on you as a son, 
 especially since your engagement to my 
 daughter. So, I am sure that you will 
 respect what I am about to say." 
 
 "Is it to be a lecture, sir?" Lathrop in- 
 quired apprehensively. 
 
 "On the contrary!" the financier de- 
 clared with emphasis. "But I shall come 
 to the point at once . . . Morris, I am 
 on the verge of failure. I may contrive to 
 hold out for three days longer I believe 
 that I can. But, unless I have assistance 
 at the expiration of that time, I must go 
 to the wall." 
 
 "Great heavens!" the young man ex- 
 claimed, in dismay. "Why, pater, I 
 thought that you were worth " 
 
 somewhere between fifteen and 
 
 twenty millions. Sol am ; but at this time 
 
 every dollar of it is tied up pledged. 
 
 There is only one way by which I can 
 
 13
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 avoid the crash, and that way lies through 
 you, my boy. . . . You inherited 
 from your father something more than a 
 million dollars, did you not?" 
 
 "Yes, nearly two," Lathrop answered. 
 Dread fell on him as he apprehended the 
 significance of Trevor's question. 
 
 "A few hundred thousands say, four 
 or five will save me," the financier went 
 on. "I want you to come to my office in 
 the morning, and inspect all there is to 
 inspect, satisfy yourself of what you are 
 doing, and then, in return for a partner- 
 ship in the business, let me have the money. 
 Will you do it, Morris?" 
 
 For a full minute, Lathrop sat perfectly 
 still, staring dumbly at his companion. 
 He was face to face with a difficulty which 
 he saw no means of surmounting. He 
 had inherited two millions; in five years, 
 he had succeeded in squandering them to 
 the last dollar. But he had kept the secret 
 of his spendthrift habits so carefully that 
 14
 
 THE END OF ALL THINGS 
 
 not one of his associates suspected the con- 
 dition of his finances. His debts were 
 paid to the smallest item ; it was because he 
 would not incur debts which he could not 
 pay that he had decided to sink quietly out 
 of existence. He believed that he had in- 
 jured nobody but himself, and that, there- 
 fore, he had the right to dispose of his 
 life even as he had disposed of his fortune. 
 He had regretted only one thing, the giv- 
 ing up of Carla Trevor. But he believed, 
 with the cynicism of a man of the world, 
 that she would soon recover from the shock 
 of his sudden taking off. Now, however, 
 he was suddenly confronted by a difficulty 
 of which the possibility had never occurred 
 to him, a difficulty that threatened his com- 
 placency in the face of a cowardly pur- 
 pose. For a moment, he found himself 
 incapable of making any answer to the 
 financier's question, the while he remained 
 staring bewilderedly into the elder man's 
 face. Presently, he saw a frown gather- 
 15
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ing upon the broker's brow, and heard him 
 say, with some coldness: 
 
 "If I had thought, Morris, that you 
 could hesitate, I should not have made the 
 request." 
 
 Morris pulled himself together then, 
 and smiled with a semblance of sincerity. 
 
 "Did I seem to hesitate, pater?" he said. 
 "I was only wondering as to how it could 
 be accomplished in three days." 
 
 "You will do it, then? You will let me 
 have the money?" exclaimed the elder man, 
 his face lighting up with a joy that he did 
 not care to conceal. 
 
 "I mean," was the earnest answer, "that 
 there has never been a time since I can re- 
 member when you could not have had 
 every dollar that I possessed. I wish that 
 I had placed it all in your hands long ago. 
 Then, you would not have been compelled 
 to ask for it now." 
 
 "Tut, tut, Morris! If that had been 
 the case, you might have been in this un- 
 16
 
 THE END OF ALL THINGS 
 
 pleasant fix with me, and therefore unable 
 to help me out. My boy, you have made 
 me very happy. I shall sleep well to- 
 night. How is your money invested, 
 Morris? In bonds and stock, I suppose. 
 If so, they will be easily negotiable for my 
 purposes." 
 
 "What is the exact amount that you 
 will require, pater?" asked Morris, ignor- 
 ing Trevor's question. 
 
 "Well, half-a-million would be ample. 
 I might possibly pull out with less, but 
 that amount would mean entire safety." 
 
 "And when must you have it?" Lathrop 
 continued. 
 
 "This is Wednesday. I should like to 
 have it to-morrow. I must have it, at the 
 latest, by Saturday noon." 
 
 "Indeed!" Lathrop exclaimed. To dis- 
 guise his despair from the other's observa- 
 tion, he continued with an assumption of 
 relief in his voice: "Oh, well, that gives 
 us quite time enough." 
 17
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "And you surely will not fail me, Mor- 
 ris?" the financier questioned, pitifully in- 
 sistent. 
 
 "Fail you?" Lathrop repeated, thought- 
 fully. Then, after a moment's pause, he 
 spoke very solemnly : 
 
 "Sir, if I am alive, you will have the 
 money on time." 
 
 18
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GENESIS OF A CRIMINAL 
 
 THE conference of the two men in 
 the library was interrupted by the 
 entrance of Edna Trevor, come in search 
 of her father. The debutante possessed a 
 face of charming piquancy and a manner 
 shyly vivacious. Just now, however, there 
 was an obvious attempt at hauteur, by 
 which the young lady of society meant to 
 mask the natural, mischievous gaiety of 
 the schoolgirl. Lathrop greeted her 
 warmly, for he was very fond of Carla's 
 sister, and, presently, after having paid 
 her the compliments demanded by the oc- 
 casion, he accompanied her to the drawing- 
 room, in quest of his betrothed. 
 
 He found Carla Trevor exquisite to- 
 night, as always. As she gave him her 
 19
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 hand in greeting, he forgot all else for the 
 moment, and regarded her fondly, with the 
 pride of possession. The warm pressure 
 of her fingers thrilled him, and added a 
 subtle zest to the rapture of beholding her 
 loveliness. His delighted eyes rested for 
 an instant on the coronal of golden hair, 
 then fell eagerly to the dainty, radiant 
 face, in which the violet eyes now shown so 
 brilliantly and so tenderly on him. Never 
 had she looked more beautiful than now. 
 
 "You have seen papa?" she asked, after 
 some swiftly-whispered words from her 
 lover that set her to blushing happily. 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop replied; "I left him 
 only a minute ago." 
 
 "I know that he was anxious to see you 
 to-night," Carla continued. "Something 
 is troubling him, but he will not tell me 
 what it is indeed, he says it is nothing. 
 Do you?" 
 
 Lathrop evaded the question ere it was 
 completed by a quick word of praise for 
 20
 
 THE GENESIS OF A CRIMINAL 
 
 her gown, and thus for the moment be- 
 guiled her attention. 
 
 "And will you forgive me if I go away 
 very* early?" he inquired. "I have a num- 
 her of things that must be attended to at 
 once." 
 
 "Oh, something for papa! Is it not?" 
 Carla exclaimed. 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop admitted. 
 
 "Of course, Morris, I shall miss you 
 horribly," the girl said, "but you must do 
 as you think best. And I am so glad that 
 you can do something to help him!" 
 
 An hour later, Morris Lathrop left the 
 Trevor mansion, and took his way slowly 
 on foot toward his apartments. For the 
 first time since he had reached man's estate, 
 he was profoundly distressed. The many 
 things that he must do, of which he had 
 spoken to his fiancee, were in truth one 
 single thing: he must solve the problem 
 Fate had set before him. 
 21
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 " 'To do a great right, do a little 
 wrong,' " he quoted, as he entered the par- 
 lor of his suite, threw off his overcoat, and 
 stood contemplating the glowing coals in 
 the grate. "I have heard that somewhere, 
 but, in my case, I must change it a bit: 
 "To do a great right, make an infernal 
 scoundrel of yourself!" 
 
 He remained for some time wrapped in 
 thought, but, at last, with an exclamation 
 of determination, he rose from his chair, 
 crossed the room, and, having unlocked a 
 drawer of his desk, took from it a revolver 
 and a small packet of paper, of the sort 
 used by chemists in putting up powders. 
 These objects, he placed side by side on 
 the desk, and then surveyed them with a 
 contemptuous smile. 
 
 "I had decided to use one or the other 
 
 of them before morning," he said grimly: 
 
 "decided, as I believed, irrevocably. Now, 
 
 I am no longer free to follow my own 
 
 22
 
 THE GENESIS OF A CRIMINAL 
 
 choice in the matter. I find myself con- 
 demned to live. So 
 
 He thrust the revolver back into its 
 drawer, and tossed the packet on the coals. 
 Afterward, he seated himself, and watched 
 the burning of the paper that had held 
 the poison. 
 
 George Trevor had been the dearest 
 friend of Jason Lathrop, the father of 
 Morris. Twice, his aid had saved the 
 elder Lathrop from financial ruin. The 
 gratitude thus inspired in the father had 
 been passed on to the son, as a part of his 
 heritage. In addition to this, Trevor was 
 the father of the girl to whom Lathrop had 
 become engaged ; for Carla's sake, he must 
 do everything possible in Trevor's behalf. 
 And, finally, by reason of personal inti- 
 macy with the financier since his father's 
 death, Morris had come to regard George 
 Trevor almost as his own parent; he felt 
 for the old man an affection truly filial. 
 23
 
 Thus, it was brought about that this unex- 
 pected appeal from the one man on earth 
 whom he most esteemed and loved, filled 
 him with consternation. Confused by the 
 suddenness of the catastrophe, he found 
 himself wholly unable to explain to the 
 broker the fact as to his own shattered 
 fortunes. He dared not confess the cow- 
 ardice by which he had planned to make 
 an end of his life. In consequence, ere 
 he himself was fully aware of the deed, he 
 had pledged his aid to Trevor. The in- 
 stantaneous relief effected on the spirits of 
 his friend by this promise restrained him 
 from any withdrawal of it afterward. 
 Now, therefore, he had become involved 
 inextricably in an undertaking at once ab- 
 surd and impossible of achievement. He, 
 a penniless man, was expected to provide 
 immediately the sum of half-a-million dol- 
 lars! 
 
 Nevertheless, Lathrop stood up sud- 
 denly to the full six feet of his height, and 
 24
 
 THE GENESIS OF A CRIMINAL 
 
 set his broad shoulders squarely, belliger- 
 ently ; and his clean-cut face grew cold and 
 hard. 
 
 "Well, it's for the old man," he said 
 aloud, softly; "and somehow I am go- 
 ing to do it!" 
 
 Presently, the tenseness of his pose re- 
 laxed. He drew his chair a little closer to 
 the fire, seated himself, and again became 
 absorbed in reflection. 
 
 "Five hundred thousand!" he mused. 
 "And the pater asked me for it as easily 
 as though I could just step out of doors, 
 and pick it up anywhere in the street. 
 Well, I fancy that is what I shall be com- 
 pelled to do with certain modifications. 
 I can't borrow such a sum ; all the security 
 I have to offer would hardly bring me five 
 hundred dollars. I suppose that I might 
 get five, or even ten, thousand from Jack 
 Millington, on my I. O. U. I'll have to 
 do that for pin-money. Great heaven, 
 how I hate the bare idea of it! 'Neither 
 25
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 a borrower, nor a lender be.' Pish! 
 Polonius forgot to advise his son against 
 the evils of stealing. And the simple, un- 
 qualified, damnable fact is, that I must 
 steal half-a-million dollars between now 
 and Saturday morning sooner, if I can!" 
 
 Lathrop glanced hastily at his watch. 
 
 "I can catch Jack and some of the others 
 at the club yet," he reflected: "and, since 
 I am going to make a downright scoundrel 
 of myself, I might as well begin now. 
 Here's to the crossing of the Rubicon be- 
 tween honesty and crime !" 
 
 Half-an-hour later, he entered one of 
 the top-floor rooms of the club, where six 
 men of about his own age were seated 
 around a green-covered table. He proved 
 to be a welcome intruder, for all greeted 
 him warmly. 
 
 26
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 a, MILLIONAIRE'S MANOEUVRE 
 
 JACK MILLINGTOX was the only 
 son of the most successful operator 
 in Wall Street. A few years before this 
 night, the father had bestowed on him two 
 million dollars, along with certain advice 
 worth rather more. The result of these 
 gifts was that Jack had caused his two 
 millions to grow into ten; and, moreover, 
 he was swayed by a keen, sportsmanlike 
 desire to multiply these millions yet often- 
 times again. For the rest, he was a 
 brawny, red-visaged young man, brim full 
 of vigorous animal life ; but in certain lines 
 of his expression and in the penetrant 
 gleam of his eyes were hints of a masterful 
 shrewdness that lay back of his obvious 
 and constant good-nature. As Morris 
 27
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Lathrop entered the card-room of the club, 
 Millington's jovial face beamed welcome, 
 and he saluted his friend noisily: 
 
 "Hello, old man!" he called out. "Sit 
 in, won't you? Chapman here has been 
 sweeping the board all the evening, and I 
 haven't won a pot. Maybe you'll break his 
 luck. How much are you in Chappy, 
 eh?" 
 
 "Enough to buy breakfast, I think," 
 drawled Chapman, who was a mystery, 
 and seemed to enjoy being one. Nobody 
 knew anything about him, except that he 
 was Harry Chapman, a member of the 
 club, a good fellow, always possessed of 
 cash for any emergency. "Come on 
 Lathrop," he added now. "I can afford 
 a change of luck." 
 
 There was the suggestion of a flush on 
 the face of Morris, when he drew the triple 
 stack of chips in front of him, and waited 
 for the cards to be dealt. He had always 
 been scrupulous about his play, and it was 
 28
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S MANOEUVRE 
 
 the first time that he had ever purchased 
 pokerchips without having the money in 
 his pocket to pay for them. It was all 
 done in a moment, however, and he felt as 
 though he had lost something he could 
 never regain as though he had plunged 
 in one instant from the pedestal of man- 
 hood into the depths of degradation. 
 Little did his friends know of the battle 
 that was raging within him when he ac- 
 cepted those chips. But he did it, and 
 sighed. And then his face grew stern; 
 the softness, the geniality, the infectious 
 merriment departed out of it, as a light 
 goes out in a room and leaves it in sudden 
 darkness. He played differently, too. 
 Heretofore, although uniformly lucky, he 
 had played carelessly, with apparent in- 
 difference. Now, he watched every card ; 
 now, he played to win. 
 
 For that very reason, doubtless, he lost. 
 The cards were not kind to him, and, when, 
 as daylight showed dimly, the play ceased* 
 29
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 he wrote his I. O. U., for some hundreds 
 on the back of one of the cards, and passed 
 it to Chapman, with the remark: 
 
 "Settle to-night, old man." 
 
 "Shall we play till the house opens, and 
 then have breakfast?" Chapman sug- 
 gested. 
 
 But the others demurred, and, presently, 
 Millington and Lathrop left the club to- 
 gether, in the gray of the morning, and, 
 arm-in-arm, strode down the avenue. 
 
 As they halted in front of the young 
 millionaire's home, the latter said : 
 
 "Come in, Morris, and have a B. and S., 
 unless you are in a hurry for some sleep. 
 I'm off for Chicago on the eight-thirty. 
 I'll have my nap on the train." 
 
 "Will you be long away, Jack?" La- 
 throp asked, as he followed his friend up 
 the steps. 
 
 "I don't know a fortnight, perhaps," 
 Millington replied. "The governor ca- 
 bled me last night he's in Paris, you 
 30
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S MANOEUVRE 
 
 know that a lot of pirates are making 
 ducks and drakes of his interests in the 
 West, and there is nothing for it except 
 that I must run out and fix things up for 
 him. Deuced bother it is, too!" 
 
 "I wish you had some business tact about 
 you, Morris," he remarked suddenly, after 
 they had reached his study, and ensconced 
 themselves comfortably. 
 
 "Why?" Lathrop questioned, in aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 "Well, there are a lot of things I want 
 attended to to-day," was the answer, "and, 
 if you were something more than an an- 
 imated fashion-plate no offense, old 
 man! you might do me no end of a favor. 
 As it is, I've got to write half-a-dozen let- 
 ters of instruction, and then worry all the 
 time I am away for fear that they won't 
 be heeded. It's beastly unfortunate that 
 I've got to go just at this time." 
 
 "Well, why do you go?" Lathrop in- 
 quired, carelessly. 
 
 31
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Millington stared at his friend, and then 
 laughed outright. 
 
 "You don't know the governor," he said. 
 "When he says go, I go, if it costs a mil- 
 lion. You see, the cable didn't get here 
 until after ten. I had no chance to see 
 anybody, and I must catch the Empire." 
 
 "Why didn't you ask Chapman?" La- 
 throp demanded. 
 
 "I don't like him," Millington declared, 
 with a shake of the head. "I'd rather take 
 chances than have him nosing around my 
 affairs." 
 
 "Courtright was there. He's on the 
 Street; he could do it for you whatever 
 it is." 
 
 "What an innocent you are, Morris* 
 Still, of course, you don't know. How 
 should you? I'd take Courtright's word 
 for any amount, and he would mine; but 
 we'd cut each other's throats down on the 
 Street in a minute. It would take him 
 about half-an-hour to find out how he 
 32
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S MANCEUVRE 
 
 could cut mine, and he'd do it, too, while 
 I am away." 
 
 "What is it you want done, anyway?" 
 Lathrop asked, indifferently. "Perhaps, 
 I could do it." 
 
 "Of course, you could do it, if you 
 would. There really isn't much to do, you 
 know. Only, keep your eyes open, and 
 watch things while I'm away. There are 
 about a hundred and one things to attend 
 to to-day, but, after that, just be on the 
 alert and ready to snap whenever there is 
 anything to snap at. By Jove. I have 
 half a mind to ask you to do it." 
 
 "Do so, if you think I am capable," 
 Lathrop said. 
 
 "Do you mean it?" 
 
 "Why, certainly," was Lathrop's ready 
 reply. 
 
 At that, Millington chuckled conten- 
 tedly. 
 
 "Lord, what a load you have taken from 
 my mind!" he exclaimed. 
 33
 
 "Well, I may take a load from your 
 bank-account, as well," Morris suggested, 
 with a secret self -disdain. 
 
 "No fear of that, if you follow instruc- 
 tions," Millington retorted. "And what a 
 joke, too!" he added, gleefully. 
 
 "A joke?" his friend repeated, puzzled. 
 "How so?" 
 
 "Oh," came the explanation, "because 
 they won't know what to make of you 
 down there. You have never dealt any, 
 have you? No," he continued, as Lathrop 
 shook his head, "I thought not. Gad! 
 I've a good notion to put up a job on 
 Cummings. I owe him one from a little 
 deal last Fall. How much cash have you 
 in bank, Morris?" 
 
 "Very little, from your standpoint, 
 Jack," was the quiet reply. To himself, 
 Lathrop added, "At least, I told no lie 
 then." 
 
 "Anyhow, that part of it doesn't mat- 
 ter," Millington went on, joyously. "I'll 
 34
 
 -A MILLIONAIRE'S MANOEUVRE 
 
 fix that up. I have an idea that I see a 
 
 way in which to make this trip of mine 
 
 \ ** 
 
 profitable. You see, I want to play a 
 
 game on Cummings, and this is the time 
 when it can be done. He'll know that I 
 am away, and he will plan to play mouse 
 to my cat. If you will do just as I say, 
 you can add a hundred thousand or so to 
 your bank-account, Morris, during the 
 time that I am away." He paused to grin 
 delightedly. "And so can I," he con- 
 cluded. "Will you help me out, old 
 man?" 
 
 "Yes, Jack," Lathrop agreed. Of a 
 sudden, now, his manner was become very 
 serious ; his face had whitened. 
 
 "Done, then!" Millington cried, boister- 
 ously. "And, so, to business!" 
 
 The ensuing hour was devoted to dis- 
 cussing stocks, bonds, securities, collater- 
 als, puts and calls, longs and shorts, dif- 
 ferent men and the motives governing 
 them, along with a general history of the 
 35
 
 operations in which Millington had been 
 engaged for months past. A check was 
 drawn, payable to Morris Lathrop, for 
 twenty-five thousand dollars, which he was 
 to deposit in his bank at once ; then, a small 
 check-book was signed throughout in 
 blank by Millington, so that Lathrop 
 could fill in the amounts as he found nec- 
 essary in carrying out the directions of his 
 friend. Arrangements were made so that 
 Lathrop could deal on the Exchange in 
 his own name, and keep from the knowl- 
 edge of others that he represented Mill- 
 ington at all, except for a few immediate 
 duties to be attended to this same day 
 the things that had been giving the young 
 financier most anxiety when the conversa- 
 tion began. 
 
 Finally, and, for the purposes of this 
 history, most important of all the million- 
 aire disengaged three keys from the ring 
 that he carried in his pocket, and passed 
 them to his friend. 
 
 36
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S MANCEUVRE 
 
 "These are for the safe-deposit vaults 
 that I mentioned," he said. "This one" 
 he regarded it for a moment before 
 passing it over to Lathrop, as if, at that 
 instant, some misgiving concerning what 
 he was doing entered his mind ; as if some 
 prophetic sting, warning him of the 
 danger and disgrace of which the act was 
 the forerunner, compelled him to hesitate 
 -"opens the safe at the Westmoreland 
 which, as I have already told you, is my 
 own. Everything in it is mine, but you 
 will find the bundle named in your mem- 
 oranda directly in front. The other se- 
 curities, if you need them, you will have 
 to search for. But you have a complete 
 list of everything, so I need not go over 
 it again." 
 
 "All right, Jack," Lathrop said quietly, 
 as he took the key from his friend. 
 , "This key fits the safe at the Midland," 
 Millington continued. "That, also, is 
 mine, but there is a good bit of the govern- 
 37
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 or's there, too. You won't have to go to 
 it before the first of the week, when you 
 spring that deal on Cummings. You 
 understand, Morris?" 
 
 "I understand," Lathrop declared, his 
 voice expressionless. 
 
 Millington spoke now with an added 
 emphasis : 
 
 "And this," he said, "is the key of the 
 safe the governor and I have together at 
 Hie Westmoreland. And, too, it is the key 
 of our success, should Cummings prove a 
 little stronger at first than I think he will. 
 Should he crowd you, you will be forced 
 to use this key. Your memoranda will tell 
 you precisely what to do in that case. I 
 hope, Morris, that it will not become nec- 
 essary for you to use this key. I am con- 
 fident that it will not be. But, if the need 
 comes, don't hesitate! Everything may 
 depend on your being ready on the instant 
 . . . Keep those keys, so that you will 
 38
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S MANOEUVRE 
 
 know each from the others, without any; 
 doubt. And that is all, I think." 
 
 "That is all, I think," Lathrop agreed, 
 simply. 
 
 89
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE REWARD OF VILLAINY 
 
 LATHROP refused his friend's in- 
 vitation to breakfast. His one anx- 
 iety now was to part company with Mill- 
 ington at the earliest moment possible, for 
 he felt himself unequal to the task of play- 
 ing his part longer. He was, indeed, as 
 one distraught before this opportunity 
 thrust upon him by the long arm of co- 
 incidence. The fate which had hitherto 
 mocked him now set the half -million of his 
 desire fairly within his grasp. The thing 
 was quite incredible: nevertheless, it was 
 true. It seemed to Lathrop that, in a 
 measure, the heinousness of the deed he 
 planned was mitigated by the fact of its 
 simplicity. He had resolved to venture 
 40
 
 the extreme of rascality for his friend's 
 sake. And, at once when his purpose had 
 been formed, the required money was put 
 in his possession. Destiny itself justified 
 the theft! 
 
 At least, then, he would be enabled to 
 save Trevor from disaster. For the rest, 
 it was possible that, within the fortnight of 
 Millington's absence, the securities might 
 be recovered and replaced. In that event, 
 his own reputation would remain un- 
 smirched, although his self-respect must 
 suffer always. Yet, he knew that the 
 chances were against such success. In all 
 probability, some day, near or distant, 
 Would witness his shame before the world. 
 
 "But, always, there is the pistol," La- 
 throp muttered, as he hurried down the 
 avenue. "As well one time as another 
 for its use. The only difference is that I 
 hate the thought of dying disgraced. 
 The idea of being known as a thief is ex- 
 41
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ceedingly unpleasant to me. Still, I am 
 not sure that it will matter to me after 
 I am dead." 
 
 He did not return to his apartment, but, 
 instead, continued on down the avenue un- 
 til he reached the Holland House, where 
 he stopped to breakfast. He wished to 
 relieve Trevor's anxiety as quickly as pos- 
 sible, so, when he had done eating, he has; 
 tened down Broadway on foot. He fret- 
 ted, half -amusedly, over the slowness of 
 his progress, to which he was constrained 
 by the fact that he was without wherewith 
 to pay for cab or car. 
 
 This lack, however, was soon remedied, 
 for his route led by the Beekman Bank, 
 where he was known. Here, then, he 
 entered, and sought the president, to whom 
 he offered Millington's check. 
 
 "I should like to open an account with 
 you, Mr. Morton," he explained, "if you 
 will accept so small a sum for a begin- 
 ning." 
 
 42
 
 THE REWARD OF VILLAINY 
 
 The president glanced at the check, and 
 smiled. 
 
 "Twenty-five thousand? I wish all be- 
 ginners were as good," he declared, gen- 
 ially. "We are very glad to have you 
 with us, Mr. Lathrop; very glad, indeed! 
 Take a seat, please, and I'll have the 
 matter arranged in a minute. . . . 
 Young Millington's check eh?" 
 
 "My dividend on a deal we had to- 
 gether," Lathrop remarked. To himself, 
 he added: "My first lie! I wonder, 
 where will my lies end!" 
 
 "Do you wish to draw anything now?'* 
 the president inquired. 
 
 "Well, yes, I think perhaps I had better 
 take a couple of hundreds," Lathrop re- 
 plied, negligently. "And a pocket check- 
 book, please." 
 
 As he continued on his way down-town, 
 
 a curious change in mood was wrought by 
 
 the knowledge that there were dollars in 
 
 his pocket. A little earlier, he had re- 
 
 43
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 gretted the necessity for walking ; now, he 
 walked by; preference when he might have 
 ridden. And, too, as he strode onward, 
 he began to feel a strange elation, born of 
 the consciousness of power a sensation 
 wholly unknown to him hitherto. Its or- 
 igin lay in the fact that, for the first time 
 in his life, he had become an active agent 
 in human affairs. 
 
 "Why, I am going into business," he 
 reflected, with a smile of self -derision, yet 
 with a feeling of pride. "Of course, it is 
 beginning the thing with rather a black 
 eye, but it is a beginning, none the less." 
 
 Unhappily for him, however, this mood 
 was of the most transitory. Soon, he was 
 in the depths of self-loathing, nor could 
 he again cajole himself into lighthearted- 
 ness. The implacable truth confronted 
 him constantly: He had taken an irrep- 
 arable step downward ; he was a thief ! 
 
 He went first to the Westmoreland 
 Safe-Deposit Company's vaults, and, hav- 
 44
 
 THE REWARD OF VILLAINY 
 
 ing presented his letter to the superintend- 
 ent, took the documents he wanted from 
 the safe, and performed the several duties 
 which Millington had regarded as most 
 important. Then, having filled out the 
 two of the blank checks with amounts 
 taken from the memoranda of the brokers 
 upon whom he called to settle yesterday's 
 accounts for his friend, the legitimate 
 work of the day was done. The only re- 
 maining commission that he had to fulfill 
 was the contemplated attack upon Cum- 
 mings, and this could not begin for a day 
 or two yet. 
 
 It was now two o'clock, and he directed 
 his steps toward the office of George 
 Trevor. He found the financier seated at 
 his desk, apparently as calm as ever, but 
 the lines of care and the look of anxiety 
 had deepened even since their interview. 
 
 "Ah, Morris," he exclaimed, "I'm glad 
 you have come. Close the door. I'm 
 afraid it's all over with me." 
 45
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "How is that, pater?" Lathrop asked. 
 
 "I must have that matter arranged be- 
 fore the bank opens to-morrow morning." 
 The old man's voice trembled as he spoke. 
 
 "Well, that's all right," Morris an- 
 nounced placidly. "I could have brought 
 it with me." 
 
 "You could?" Trevor cried the question 
 hoarsely. 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Good God!" 
 
 The old broker leaned back in his chair, 
 and his face became very white. Then 
 Morris, as he watched, saw tears gathering 
 in the corners of his friend's eyes. But, 
 presently, the whole manner of the man 
 changed. 
 
 "What time is it?" he demanded, sud- 
 denly. 
 
 "Three minutes past two," Lathrop re- 
 plied, after glancing at his watch. 
 
 "Would you have to go far?" was the 
 next question. 
 
 46
 
 THE REWARD OF VILLAINY 
 
 "For the securities? No, not very far." 
 
 "Could you go for them, and get back 
 here before three?" Trevor inquired. He 
 was .leaning forward now, in trembling 
 eagerness. 
 
 "Why, yes, I think so," Lathrop an- 
 swered. "Indeed, I am sure I could make 
 it." 
 
 "Then try it, my boy," the financier 
 exclaimed. "Take my carriage it's at 
 the door of the building. Quick ! There's 
 not a moment to lose!" 
 
 Forthwith, Morris obediently hurried 
 from the office, leaped into the carriage, 
 and was soon driving rapidly again to- 
 ward the Westmoreland Safe-deposit 
 vaults. But, now, he intended to make im- 
 mediate use of that third key which Mill- 
 ington had hoped he might not need at 
 all. The memoranda in his pocketbook 
 told him what to select, so that his task 
 was wonderfully simple. As he stood be- 
 fore the open door of the safe, he could 
 47
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 not but wonder at the confidence reposed 
 in him by his friend in giving him the open 
 sesame for such wealth, for what he had 
 abstracted did not represent a tenth part 
 of the contents of the repository. And 
 then he smiled to himself. Twenty-four 
 hours earlier in his career, he would not 
 have thought the confidence strange or un- 
 usual, since he would not have thought of 
 abusing it. It was only another version 
 of the old saw that a guilty conscience is 
 its own accuser. 
 
 "It is done. I, Morris Lathrop, am a 
 thief." He laughed aloud as he uttered 
 the words, while the carriage was whirl- 
 ing back again toward the office of George 
 Trevor. The old man was awaiting him, 
 and Lathrop threw the bundle of securi- 
 ties on the table. 
 
 "There, pater," he said, "figure it up 
 for yourself. I hope there's enough. If 
 there isn't, I can get more." 
 48
 
 "Enough!" exclaimed the broker, after 
 ten minutes of busy silence. "Why, the 
 most conservative figures make it upward 
 of $755,000. It's more than I need- 
 much more 1" 
 
 "I thought you said you wanted half-a- 
 million," Lathrop exclaimed. 
 
 "So I did in securities; about three 
 hundred thousand in cash. Why, boy. 
 this is gilt-edged collateral. The bank 
 will credit me with almost the full value 
 of this." 
 
 "So much the better," Lathrop sug- 
 gested, smiling. "It won't do any harm to 
 have a little extra for a nest-egg." 
 
 "Do you mean that I shall use all of it?" 
 the financier questioned, eagerly. 
 
 "Certainly; that is what I brought it 
 here for." 
 
 The old man looked at Lathrop for a 
 moment; then, without a word, he sank 
 down upon his chair, and sobbed aloud. 
 49
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 The terrible strain was past, and he gave 
 way under the reaction as he would not 
 have done had he lost everything. 
 
 "Come, come, pater, none of that," cried 
 Lathrop, brokenly. "And see: it is a 
 quarter of three!" 
 
 "God bless you, Morris! God bless 
 you!" Trevor said, softly. "Wait here 
 for me. I shall return very soon." 
 
 "I'm afraid the other fellow wouldn't 
 say, 'God bless you!' to me, if he were 
 here," muttered Lathrop when he was 
 alone. He walked to the window, and 
 looked out upon the passing throng, 
 wondering vaguely as he watched that web 
 of men shuttling to and fro if they were 
 all thieves like himself. 
 
 Trevor returned presently. His face 
 was beaming, and he rubbed his hands 
 contentedly together. 
 
 "It's all right," he said. "I'm not 
 afraid of the whole Street, now. The 
 bank did an unprecedented thing : credited 
 50
 
 THE REWARD OF VILLAINY 
 
 me with the full amount. What do you 
 think of that?" 
 
 "I think the bank ought to have done 
 it," was the prompt answer. 
 
 "Oh, you do! Eh?" the elder man said, 
 with a chuckle of enjoyment. "Well, sir, 
 let me tell you that the banks are not run 
 as charitable institutions." 
 
 Then, in a moment, his face grew grave, 
 as he drew forth a formidable-appearing 
 document. 
 
 "Glance over this, please," he requested, 
 extending the paper to his companion. 
 
 "Why, what is this?" Lathrop inquired, 
 in astonishment. He had, in fact, quite 
 'forgotten the financier's stipulation that 
 he should be rewarded for his services in 
 this emergency by a place hi the firm of 
 George Trevor & Company. 
 
 "That," the banker replied, "is an agree- 
 ment of partnership between us, which I 
 have caused to be prepared. It is dated 
 thirty days back, in order that your part 
 51
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 in to-day's business should not be too ap- 
 parent." He thrust a pen into Lathrop's 
 hand. "Sign there," he directed, with a 
 gesture. 
 
 And, dazed by the unexpectedness of 
 the event, Morris Lathrop wrote his name 
 in the indicated place, as he had been com- 
 manded. 
 
 52
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 LATHROP stared thoughtfully at 
 the document in his hand, which he 
 had signed automatically at the bidding of 
 the financier. 
 
 "Pater," he said presently, "I don't 
 think that you should do this thing make 
 me a partner in your firm." 
 
 "Why not, sir?" came the crisp inquiry. 
 
 "Well, there are many reasons," the 
 young man answered hesitatingly. "The 
 principal one and it is sufficient is that 
 I am by no means fit." 
 
 "That is my concern," Trevor declared, 
 "and I am quite content. Why, my dear 
 Morris, do you realize what you have done 
 for me to-day? You have saved my lifel 
 I should never have survived it, had I gone 
 53
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 to the wall. In addition to that, you have 
 saved my fortune, and Edna's and Carla's. 
 What is far more than all the rest: you 
 have saved my honor. I shall never for- 
 get that. The half of this business is 
 small recompense for such service. . . ." 
 The broker paused for a moment to con- 
 trol his emotion. Then, he continued in 
 a changed voice : "In a week or so, I shall 
 be able to return your securities to you, 
 Morris. By the way, that reminds me: 
 Those securities ! Where in the world did 
 you get hold of them?" 
 
 Lathrop started slightly, but gave no 
 other sign of his agitation at the question. 
 
 "Why do you ask that?" he inquired, 
 lazily. 
 
 The financier smiled complacently. 
 
 "Oh, it is nothing much," he said; "only^ 
 that it happens to be the best joke of the 
 season! There are men on the Street at 
 this moment who would give a fortune to 
 know that you are in possession of this 
 54
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 particular stock. Of course, Sam Mill- 
 ington must know that you have it. 
 
 "You see, Morris," he resumed, pres- 
 ently^, "this is the fact of the matter: Sam 
 Millington has been my enemy time out of 
 mind ; it was his influence that was pushing 
 me to the wall in this present case when 
 I appealed to you for help. And now, 
 at the psychological moment, you bring 
 me this block of stock which everybody 
 believes him to have locked up in one of 
 his safe-deposit vaults. If he had ever 
 guessed the possibility of such a use for 
 it, he would have burned it. I never 
 dreamed of such a thing as that Milling- 
 ton should let that stock go. You are 
 cleverer than I thought you, Morris. On 
 my word, you'll make a capital partner!" 
 
 "Oh, that brings me back to what I was 
 saying," Lathrop exclaimed. "Really, 
 sir, this partnership affair should not be 
 carried on." 
 
 "But I insist on it," the financier cried, 
 55
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 hotly. "Besides, my boy, you have 
 signed, so that the thing is settled. And, 
 Morris," he added, gently, "I want you 
 here with me." 
 
 "You said that the agreement was dated 
 thirty days back?" Lathrop asked, reflec- 
 tively. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Very well, then," the young man con- 
 ceded, after a short pause. "Let things 
 go on as they now are for a month longer. 
 If, at the end of that time, you are still 
 anxious to have me here with you, I shall 
 be very, very glad to come, sir." 
 
 "Very well," Trevor agreed. "And 
 now come with me. I'll drive you to the 
 club. Afterward, you must go home to 
 dinner with me." 
 
 "Not to-night, pater," Lathrop said. 
 "I'll ride with you as far as the club, but I 
 must leave you there. I have something 
 of importance that I must attend to be- 
 fore the day is done. I had formed plans 
 56
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 yesterday which were upset by our con- 
 versation last night. I wrote a letter 
 concerning them to a very dear friend of 
 mine, and I fear that I may have caused 
 unnecessary pain. So, I must straighten 
 the matter out, without a minute of need- 
 less delay." 
 
 Both men were silent during the drive, 
 and, soon after entering the club, they 
 separated. Lathrop was absorbed in 
 thinking of that complication which he 
 had forgotten throughout the day. In 
 consequence, he did not linger long at the 
 club, but hurried off to his apartment. 
 
 As he entered the elevator, he was met 
 by the announcement: 
 
 "There is a lady waiting for you, sir." 
 
 "A lady?" Lathrop repeated, in some 
 perplexity. 
 
 "She came early this afternoon, sir," the 
 
 attendant answered. "She was in the 
 
 reception-room for a long time. It is the 
 
 same one who was here once before, so I 
 
 57
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 took the liberty of admitting her to your 
 parlor. She said she must wait until you 
 came. I hope I did right, sir." 
 
 "Oh, certainly," Lathrop replied. He 
 spoke quietly, but he was excessively 
 annoyed nevertheless, and showed it by the 
 impatient haste of his stride as he ad- 
 vanced along the passage to the door of 
 his suite. This stood wide open, and, 
 through it, in a far corner, he perceived 
 the form of a woman, half -buried within 
 a huge chair. 
 
 The visitor sprang up as he entered the 
 room, and ran toward him with both hands 
 eagerly outstretched in welcome. There 
 were tears in her eyes ; her face was flushed 
 with the deep emotion of the moment. 
 And that face was tender, sweet, pathetic, 
 wistful. It was very beautiful, as well, 
 with the dark loveliness of the Spanish 
 woman. The perfectly-fitting tailored 
 suit she wore showed to advantage the 
 curving litheness of her slender body. 
 58
 
 "Oh, Morris! Morris! You have re- 
 turned. Thank heaven!" she cried fer- 
 vently, in a soft, rich voice, musically; 
 vibrant. She drooped to Lathrop's 
 breast, and gave way to a passion of weep- 
 ing. 
 
 He waited patiently until the paroxysm 
 was past ; then he led her back to the chair 
 which she had vacated. 
 
 "There! there, 'Rita!" he said soothing- 
 ly, as to a child. "I have changed my 
 mind since I wrote you that letter yester- 
 day. I should have been up to see you 
 within the half-hour. How long have 
 you been here?" 
 
 "Oh, since ten o'clock this morning," the 
 girl answered, plaintively. "I received 
 your letter at that time, and so, of course, 
 I came at once. Oh, Morris, you are not 
 going away as you said in the letter?" 
 
 "No, dear, I am not going away," 
 
 Lathrop assured her; "at least, not at 
 
 present not for two weeks I think, 
 
 59
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 way, But you should not have come here, 
 'Rita. I told you that when you came be- 
 fore." 
 
 "I could not help it; indeed, I could 
 not," the girl pleaded, tremulously. 
 "Your letter was so strange, Morris, that 
 it frightened me. It made me think that 
 I might never see you again, and I should 
 have died if that were true. You will not 
 go away without coming to bid me good- 
 bye, will you? Ever? Promise me that, 
 Morris!" 
 
 "Yes, I promise, if in return you wiU 
 promise never to come here again, under 
 any circumstance that is, alone. I don't 
 suppose you have had any luncheon, have 
 you?" he demanded. 
 
 "No, nor breakfast either. I came at 
 once when I received the letter." 
 
 "Poor child, you must be starved!* 
 Lathrop exclaimed. "Come, we will go 
 at once." 
 
 "Where were you going, Morris?" the 
 60
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 girl asked, as he buttoned her coat around 
 her. The clouds had all disappeared, and 
 now sunshine sparkled in her eyes and up- 
 on her face. 
 
 "Well," he replied somewhat grimly, "I 
 am not exactly certain where I was going. 
 The route that I had selected might have 
 taken me to either of two destinations, 
 but I am in some doubt as to which one 
 would have fitted me the better. . . . 
 Are you ready?" 
 
 He turned toward the door. His hand 
 was upon the knob, when there came a 
 sudden and sharp rap upon the panels. 
 
 "Step into the next room, 'Rita," 
 Lathrop directed, in a low tone. Then, 
 after giving her time to obey, he threw 
 open the door, and immediately uttered 
 an involuntary ejaculation of astonish- 
 ment, for at the threshold stood Edna 
 Trevor. 
 
 "May I come in, Morris?" she de- 
 manded, brightly, with a mischievous smile 
 61
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 at her own audacity in this expedition. 
 [Without waiting for her host's permission, 
 she stepped past him into the room, and 
 paused in the centre of it, devouring with 
 eager eyes the decorated walls, the bric-a- 
 brac, the curios everything, while La- 
 throp, excessively annoyed, stood in 
 silence, regarding her with frowning 
 brows. 
 
 "It's lovely just lovely!" the girl ex- 
 claimed presently, with enthusiasm. "I 
 never saw a bachelor-apartment before, 
 you know, and I have so wanted to! 
 Pipes and swords and armor and shields! 
 . . . I was going by, and the tempta- 
 tion to run in was too great for my 
 powers of resistance. So, here I am! 
 Aren't you going to give me some tea, 
 Morris?" 
 
 "I am very sorry, but I haven't time to 
 do that," Lathrop replied, rather coldly. 
 "I was on the point of going out when 
 you came." 
 
 62
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 "Oh, you were!" Edna exclaimed, with 
 a pout of disappointment. Then, in an 
 instant, her manner changed. "What is 
 that?" she cried, sharply. She had been 
 moving about the room inquisitively while 
 speaking; now, she stopped short and 
 picked up something from the floor. It 
 was a dainty, wine-colored glove a tiny 
 thing, much too small even for her own 
 shapely hand. She held it between her 
 fingers disdainfully for a moment; then, 
 she turned slowly toward Lathrop. 
 
 "Whose glove is this? Where did it 
 come from?" she demanded. 
 
 "I found it in the elevator," Lathrop 
 lied, glibly. 
 
 "Nonsense, Morris!" Edna retorted, 
 with manifest contempt. "If you had 
 found it there, you would have left it to 
 be claimed. There has been someone here. 
 Ah, there was someone here when I came. 
 She is here now. Yes, I can smell her, 
 I know I can." 
 
 63
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "You can what?" Lathrop cried, 
 aghast. 
 
 "I can smell her," Edna repeated, no 
 whit dismayed. "Yes, violet perfume. 
 Morris Lathrop," she continued sternly, 
 "have you a woman concealed in your 
 apartments?" 
 
 As the young man maintained a sullen 
 silence before the question, she darted a 
 last angry glance at him, then started 
 toward the door. Before she had taken 
 three steps, she was arrested by the ap- 
 pearance, from the room beyond, of the 
 other visitor, whose cheeks were flushed 
 with excitement and anger. 
 
 "You have guessed rightly, senorita," 
 the new-comer said haughtily. "I am 
 here." 
 
 For a brief space, the two women stood 
 facing each other, the one defiant, the 
 other speechless with indignant amaze- 
 ment. Finally, Lathrop deemed it wiser 
 to interfere, and he went forward. 
 64
 
 A MEETING OF MAIDENS 
 
 "Miss Trevor," he said, "permit me to 
 introduce to you Senorita Ortega. Clar- 
 ita, this is Miss Edna Trevor. You have 
 heard me speak of her." 
 
 Clarita bowed coldly. But Edna drew 
 herself stiffly erect, and turned away with- 
 out a sign of recognition. As she faced 
 Lathrop, she addressed him in a voice of 
 wrath. 
 
 "How dare you!" she exclaimed. 
 "How dare you introduce such a person 
 to me!" And, forthwith, she swept past 
 him, opened the door, passed out, closed 
 it behind her, and was gone. 
 
 65
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 ^* 71 THAT did she mean by call- 
 \ \ ing me 'such a person?' ' 
 Clarita questioned, when the door was 
 shut behind the departing visitor. 
 
 "I wouldn't bother about that now, 
 'Rita," Lathrop urged, wearily. "Come; 
 if you are ready, let us go, please." 
 
 "Did she mean to imply that I had no 
 right to be here?" the girl persisted. 
 
 "Probably. For that matter, neither 
 had she any right to come here, so the 
 matter is even between you. But do come 
 now." 
 
 "Wait," Clarita entreated. "Tell me: 
 Is she the lady to whom you are en- 
 gaged?" 
 
 "No," Lathrop replied; "her sister." 
 66
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 "What is the name of that sister whom 
 you are to marry?" was the next question. 
 
 The discomfited young man sighed fret- 
 fully, as he answered : 
 
 "Carla." 
 
 "And this one is Edna," his tormentor 
 mused. 
 
 "Yes, this is Edna," Lathrop agreed, 
 impatiently. 
 
 "Will she tell her sister that I was here, 
 concealed in your rooms?" Clarita asked, 
 after a meditative pause. 
 
 "Oh, no; I think not that is, I don't 
 know I hope not!" There was embar- 
 rassment in Lathrop's voice, and a trace 
 of anxiety in his expression. 
 
 "Is this Carla I hate the name is she 
 jealous? Will she care if Edna tells her 
 that I was here, do you think?" 
 
 "What nonsense are you conjuring up 
 now, 'Rita?" Lathrop exclaimed sharply, 
 for he was greatly annoyed. "There is 
 no occasion for any jealousy." 
 67
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 The girl went close to him, and took 
 one of his hands in hers. Then, raising 
 it to her lips, she kissed it gently. 
 
 "I think that, were I in her place, I 
 should be jealous," she said. As she 
 spoke, she cast on him a gaze so filled with 
 adoration it seemed impossible that he 
 could fail to perceive it. "And," Clarita 
 continued, "this Edna will tell her. I am 
 sure : I saw it in her eyes. She hates me 
 oh, yes! I think that she loves you, 
 Morris." 
 
 "What! Edna?" Lathrop ejaculated, 
 flushing. "That is nonsense. Really. 
 'Rita, you are absurd." 
 
 "Well, I think that it is true," was the 
 unperturbed answer. "Perhaps, even she 
 herself did not know it until just now, 
 when she found me here. But I believe 
 that she knows it now. That is what 
 made her so angry. She is jealous." 
 
 Lathrop realized that any effort to con- 
 vince the girl against her will must be 
 68
 
 THE GIRL WENT CLOSE TO HTM AND TOOK 
 ONE OF HIS HANDS IN HERS. 
 
 Page 68
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 futile at this time; therefore, he made no 
 rejoinder, but led the way to the door in 
 silence. He was too much a man of the 
 wo'rld not to know that his two visitors 
 were, in a measure, compromised by the 
 incident which had taken place, but he de- 
 pended on the loyalty of Edna to keep the 
 matter secret until he should have oppor- 
 tunity for adequate explanation of the 
 situation. He regretted bitterly now that 
 he had requested Clarita to conceal herself 
 in the adjoining room. The thing was 
 done, however, and there remained only to 
 make the best of an extremely unfortu- 
 nate occurrence. 
 
 "You will spend the evening with me, 
 Morris?" Clarita questioned as, an hour 
 later, they went out of the restaurant. 
 
 Lathrop did not reply until the cab to 
 which he signaled had drawn up by the 
 curb. 
 
 "No, not to-night, 'Rita," he said then. 
 "I must" 
 
 69
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 " hasten to Carla, I suppose," the 
 girl interrupted, petulantly. "Is it so?" 
 
 "No, dear," Lathrop replied. "I" 
 He broke off to say good-evening to 
 Chapman, who passed at this moment. 
 Then, he spoke to the girl again: "I'll 
 come to-morrow evening, if you like; but 
 to-night it is impossible." 
 
 He put her into the hansom. After- 
 ward, as it drove away, he turned to Chap- 
 man, who stood near by, awaiting him. 
 
 "Step inside for a moment, Chapman," 
 he said. "I wish to give you a check for 
 that I. O. U." 
 
 "Oh, never mind now," the other pro- 
 tested. 
 
 "You'll be at the club to-night, won't 
 you?" 
 
 Lathrop made no reply as he led Chap- 
 man into the vestibule. But, after the 
 check had been filled out and delivered, he 
 said: 
 
 70
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 "No, I shall not go to the club to- 
 night." 
 
 "Ah, a date, I suppose," Chapman 
 exclaimed, banteringly. "I say, old man, 
 who was the charmer? You seem to be 
 on pretty good terms with her. I heard 
 you call her 'dear.' ' 
 
 Lathrop raised his eyes until he en- 
 countered those of his club acquaintance. 
 For a long moment, he stared full at the 
 fellow; then, he deliberately turned his 
 back, and walked away without another 
 word. But Chapman hastened to follow. 
 
 "Here, Lathrop, old boy!" he called. 
 "I apologize, you know." 
 
 Lathrop turned, with a look of con- 
 tempt. 
 
 "Mr. Chapman," he said, "an apology 
 for a slight or for a mistake is good. But 
 it seems to me that bad taste, such as you 
 have shown, is its own apology. Good- 
 night." 
 
 71
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 As he continued on his way, he was far 
 from realizing the bitterness of the enmity 
 which he had provoked by those few 
 words. If he had known the truth, he 
 would have recked little of the fact. 
 Yet, that incident, so insignificant, seem- 
 ingly, was vital in the history of Morris 
 .Lathrop. 
 
 Chapman stood for a minute as one 
 stunned by the scathing rebuke. Through 
 the first few seconds, he was hard put to 
 it lest he hurl himself on Lathrop. But, 
 in the end, he mastered the first fierceness 
 of his emotion. He was on the point of 
 resuming his walk, when by chance, he 
 raised his eyes, and saw, just turning the 
 corner into Fifth avenue, the cab in which 
 was the young lady who had been the in- 
 nocent cause of his humiliation; a block 
 at the corner had delayed its progress 
 hitherto. Instantly, his resolve was taken. 
 A hansom was near at hand, awaiting a 
 72
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 fare. He hurried to this, and addressed 
 the driver. 
 
 "You see that cab just at the corner 
 there," he said swiftly, with a gesture. 
 
 "Yes, sir," the cabman replied. 
 
 "Well," Chapman continued as he 
 sprang into the hansom, "I want you to 
 keep it in sight. Double fare. But be 
 careful not to get too close." 
 
 As he sank down on the seat, the driver 
 cracked his whip, and the pursuit began. 
 
 As for Lathrop, he made his way 
 directly to the Trevor mansion, where he 
 rang the bell, and, when the butler ap- 
 peared, penciled a few words on a card, 
 which he sent up to Edna. Five minutes 
 later she confronted him in the drawing* 
 room. 
 
 "It was my first impulse," she said, be- 
 fore he could speak, "to send down word 
 that I w r ould not see you, but I knew that. 
 73
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 if I did, you would come again. Of 
 course, I cannot forbid you the house, but 
 I can and do refuse to receive you myself. 
 You need not try to explain. I would not 
 believe you if you did, so it is useless." 
 
 Lathrop, half -amused, half -angry, said 
 the most unfortunate thing that he could 
 have uttered. 
 
 "You talk like a foolish little girl. 
 Edna," he said, smiling. 
 
 Edna's wrath was at white heat on the 
 instant, but it found expression in half- 
 subdued contempt. 
 
 "I will not quarrel with you," she de- 
 clared, tensely, "but I will say this: I 
 have not told Carla. That, of course, is 
 what you came to beg of me not to do. I 
 have not told her, but I intend to do so as 
 soon as I know who that woman is, and I 
 have already taken measures to find out. 
 I saw you leave the house. I myself fol- 
 lowed you to the restaurant. And, I 
 found somebody there who agreed to 
 74
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S RETURN 
 
 follow her, and to learn all about her, 
 and it will be done." Edna turned then, 
 ajid, without heeding his call to her, rushed 
 from the room. 
 
 Thus it happened that there were two 
 sleuths on the track of Clarita Ortega that 
 night. 
 
 Lathrop, after the girl's departure, 
 shrugged his shoulders, and pulled vi- 
 ciously at his moustache, while one foot 
 tapped impatiently on the carpet. Then, 
 with a disconsolate shake of the head, he 
 went out of the drawing-room, and along 
 the hall to the library, where he opened the 
 door, and stepped within the room. 
 
 The instant his foot was across the 
 threshold, he paused in sudden consterna- 
 tion, shaken by the knowledge that his sins 
 had found him out. In that moment, he 
 would have given everything in the world, 
 his own life included, could he but have 
 undone the events of the last twenty- four 
 hours. For, standing there in the centre 
 75
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 of the room facing him, as if expectant of 
 his coming, was the man whom he had be- 
 lieved to be in Chicago Jack Millington! 
 
 76
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 IT has been said that when a man faces 
 what he believes to be inevitable 
 death, the events of his entire life, no 
 matter how long it has been, nor how filled 
 with incident, pass in review before him in 
 an infinitesimal space of time. Certainly, 
 every detail connected with Lathrop's ex- 
 perience during the previous twenty-four 
 hours was prominently in his recollection 
 in that one instant when he saw and recog- 
 nized Millington, in the library of George 
 Trevor. His face, however, betrayed 
 none of the emotion he felt. It had been 
 set to sternness when he opened the door, 
 as a result of the interview he had just had 
 with Edna, and now its expression did not 
 change. But his perceptions were sharp- 
 77
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ened by the sudden encounter, and the 
 eager start forward which Millington 
 made told him that nothing had been dis- 
 covered as yet, although he could in no 
 way account for the young man's presence 
 in this place. 
 
 Millington stepped to him quickly, and 
 thrust out his hand. 
 
 "Morris," he said eagerly, "you are a 
 friend in need. You have come in the 
 nick of time." 
 
 "I'm glad of that," Lathrop declared 
 with great cordiality. "But I thought 
 you were in Chicago, or very near it, by 
 this hour." 
 
 "So I intended to be," was the answer; 
 "so I should have been, but for a telegram 
 which headed me off and turned me back 
 at Utica. I've just got in town, and 
 came directly here. Sit down. There is 
 no privacy about this interview that is, 
 none so far as you are concerned." 
 
 "It must be something important to 
 78
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 bring you back, in the face of the orders 
 you received from the governor," Lath- 
 rop hazarded. 
 
 "It is," Millington declared, emphatic- 
 ally. "I came back just to see Trevor. 
 I might as well have gone on, for I can't 
 do a thing with him!" 
 
 "What's the trouble, pater?" asked 
 Lathrop, turning his eyes upon the finan- 
 cier. 
 
 The old man smiled grimly. 
 
 "No trouble at all," he replied. "The 
 trouble is all past for me; it is just be- 
 ginning for a few others your friend 
 here, for instance." 
 
 "I don't mind telling you," interrupted 
 Millington, "although it does not redound 
 to my credit. Still" and he turned to 
 Trevor "it is really the governor you 
 must blame, not me. It's this way," he 
 continued, addressing Lathrop. "Trevor 
 is concerned in a deal which is immense ; he 
 ought to make millions out of it; he has 
 79
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 organized a syndicate to control the out- 
 put of copper for the entire world that 
 is, to control the market, which is the same 
 thing. The governor, through his friends 
 here, has been working to break him, and 
 they or shall I say we, Mr. Trevor?" 
 
 "It would be nearer the truth," came the 
 uncompromising reply. 
 
 "Very well although it is not the 
 truth! we thought we had him. We 
 figured very closely, on just how far he 
 could go, and we meant to break him. 
 That's the unvarnished truth. We looked 
 up every security he held; or rather, we 
 thought we did. Then, at the very mo- 
 ment when he is, as we believe, on the 
 point of failure, lo! he bobs up with an- 
 other million or two, and we're out in the 
 cold. Now, I've returned to try to induce 
 him to take me into the deal. I've made 
 him a handsome off er. He won't deny 
 that. Will you, Trevor?" 
 
 "No; not at all," the financier agreed. 
 80
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 "But he refuses says, if I had come 
 the day before yesterday, or yesterday] 
 even, he would have jumped at the chance; 
 now, it's too late. I've offered to place a 
 million dollars to his credit at once, and to 
 stand ready to back him for five more at 
 the drop of the hat. He'll need it, too, 
 before he is through with this deal, and he 
 knows it, although he doesn't know what I 
 know. Now, Morris, I want you to help 
 me persuade him." 
 
 "Is this your affair, Jack, or your 
 father's?" Lathrop asked. 
 
 "Mine," Millington made answer, vig- 
 orously. 
 
 "Your father has nothing to do with it? 
 And he won't have?" 
 
 "No, I tell you. I'm alone abso- 
 lutely. Why, as to that, of course I want 
 a share in the profits; but, chiefly, I want 
 to steal a march on the governor." 
 
 Lathrop turned to Trevor. 
 
 "If you should give Jack the chance he 
 81
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 wants," he questioned, "would it affect 
 your profits in the matter?" 
 
 "It wouldn't make them any less;" the 
 old man admitted. "It might make them 
 greater, even. If he had come to me when 
 I was in need of him that is, when he 
 thought I was I'd have accepted. Now, 
 I won't!" 
 
 "When do you start for Chicago again, 
 Jack?" Lathrop inquired, calmly chang- 
 ing the subject, to the evident relief of 
 Trevor, and to the surprise of Millington. 
 
 "On the midnight it's ten, now." 
 
 "Shall we stroll up to the club first?" 
 
 "Yes, if you like. Shall we go at once, 
 Morris? I'm very sorry over you deci- 
 sion, Trevor. If you change your mind, 
 wire me. I'll be at the Chicago Club. 
 Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night, sir," the financier replied, 
 without geniality. 
 
 "Good-night, pater," Lathrop said, 
 82
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 with an affectionate smile. "I'll see you 
 early to-morrow." 
 
 Then, the two younger men went out of 
 Ihe house together, and strolled up the 
 avenue. Lathrop felt a peculiar elation 
 because of the interview that had just 
 taken place, for it assured him that 
 Millington had discovered nothing, and 
 that George Trevor had not mentioned the 
 nature of the securities he had deposited 
 that day, and, too, he thought that he now 
 saw a way out of his dilemma, for the part- 
 nership agreement was in his pocket, and 
 he was positive that he could induce Tre- 
 vor to accept the aid of the young finan- 
 cier. This done, surely he could so direct 
 matters that there need be no fear lest his 
 crime be exposed. 
 
 Unfortunately, he forgot that it was 
 not Jack Millington, but the father who 
 owned the stolen securities. The reckon- 
 ing, if reckoning there were, must be with 
 83
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 the elder Millington, not with the 
 younger. Later on, this fact was to be 
 borne in on him with crushing force. 
 
 "Jack," he said, as they were walking 
 along together, "you have come about as 
 near making an ass of yourself as your 
 own father could wish." 
 
 "Eh? How is that?" was the aston- 
 ished and indignant query. 
 
 "Well, then," Lathrop demanded, "will 
 you tell me why you didn't ask me last 
 night to do this thing for you?" 
 
 "Why, because I didn't think of it," 
 Millington answered. 
 
 "But, if you had thought of it,' ? Lath- 
 rop asserted, "you would not have asked 
 me." 
 
 "Perhaps not," his friend admitted. 
 "Besides," he added naively, "we thought 
 that we had him. But anyhow, you can 
 persuade him, Morris, if you want to. I 
 saw the old man look at you as though he 
 feared that you might insist on his taking 
 84
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 me in. I am sure that, if you had insisted, 
 he would have done it." 
 ^ "Well, to tell you the truth," Lathrop 
 said thoughtfully, "I think that I can ac- 
 complish it for you. I shall undertake to 
 do it while you are away. Now, how can 
 I get hold of the million which you prom- 
 ised him, if he should wish to take it? 
 According to my memoranda, there is 
 not that much in your own particular 
 strong-box at the Westmoreland." 
 
 "My dear fellow," Millington cried, 
 jovially, "you haven't the keys to all my 
 strong-boxes, as you call them. There are 
 others ! If the thing comes to a head, wire 
 me the one word, "Correct." Within a 
 couple of hours, you will have the money 
 delivered to you. . . . And let me 
 add, Morris: if you can do this thing for 
 me, there is nothing I will not do for you, 
 in return." 
 
 At this statement from the friend whom 
 he had betrayed, Lathrop's heart jumped. 
 85
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 There was a note of solemnity in his voice 
 when he spoke again: 
 
 "Jack," he said softly, "that is a prom- 
 ise of which, sometime, I ma^ remind 
 you!" 
 
 In the billiard room of the club, they 
 encountered Chapman, who nodded to 
 Millington, but passed Lathrop without 
 a glance. 
 
 "What is the matter between you two?" 
 Millington asked, curiously. 
 
 "Nothing; only I discovered that 
 Chapman is a cad and I told him of it." 
 
 "Humph!" was his friend's comment. 
 "Well, in my opinion, he is a dangerous 
 one. He's sly, that fellow. He'd knife 
 you in the back in a minute, if nobody was 
 looking." 
 
 The two were soon busily engaged in 
 a game, neither paying the slightest at- 
 tention to those at the adjoining table, 
 until the loud tones of Chapman, who was 
 86
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 evidently telling an interesting story, be- 
 came insistently distinct. 
 
 - Prettiest girl in New York," he was 
 saying. "I didn't suppose Lathrop had 
 such good taste. And, by the same token, 
 one would suppose that she would have 
 had better. A regular little Spanish 
 beauty, with big, black eyes and luscious 
 lips ah!" 
 
 Morris Lathrop had placed his cue on 
 the table, and he now stood transfixed, his 
 face as white as the ball he had been knock- 
 ing about. Those who were listening to 
 the story eyed him uneasily, but Chapman 
 stood with back toward him, talking on in 
 the same loud voice, as though unaware 
 of the presence of the man whose affairs he 
 was discussing. 
 
 "You'd have been amused to witness his 
 indignation when I asked him who the 
 charmer was," he continued. "He gave 
 me the stony glare like a tragedian, and 
 walked away in a huff. However, I stole 
 87
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 a march on him, for I followed her and 
 found out who she was, where she lived 
 and all about her. Then, I waited a while, 
 and sent up my card." 
 
 "Did she receive you?" somebody who 
 had not noticed Lathrop, inquired. 
 
 "Indeed, she did! I wrote on the back 
 of the card, 'A friend of Morris's,' and she 
 had me up at once. I tell you, it's a smart 
 establishment. Nothing is too good for 
 that Seventy-ninth street apartment, and, 
 if the senorita was beautiful on the street, 
 she was adorable at home. 
 
 " 'Did Morris send you?' she asked. I 
 was a bit puzzled at that; but, finally I 
 made a clean breast of the matter, and 
 said, 'No.' I confessed that I had seen 
 her with him, and that I could not resist 
 the temptation to follow her home. You 
 ought to have seen her eyes blaze then. 
 She" 
 
 He ceased suddenly, for Morris Lath- 
 88
 
 A MILLIONAIRE'S PROMISE 
 
 rop stood before him, his face white and 
 set, his eyes glittering dangerously. 
 - "Go on," Lathrop said, quietly. 
 "What did she do then? Relate your 
 scoundrelism to the end. What did she 
 do then?" 
 
 Chapman laughed boisterously, but the 
 laughter was forced. 
 
 "I didn't know that you were here," he 
 sneered, "or I might have kept the story 
 till later." 
 
 "Finish it now," the other commanded. 
 
 "Well, if you will have it, she kissed 
 me" 
 
 He got no further. Lathrop took one 
 step forward, his fist shot out; Chapman, 
 smitten on the point of his chin, went down 
 upon the floor, several feet away, and lay 
 there, quivering. 
 
 Lathrop turned away, wiped his hands 
 upon his handkerchief, donned his coat, 
 and without a glance at the still senseless 
 89
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Chapman, whom nobody had approached, 
 faced the members of the club who were 
 in the billiard room. 
 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "my resignation 
 from this club dates from to-night. I re- 
 gret that I was compelled to break an 
 inviolate rule. Come, Jack; let's go." 
 
 90
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CLAEITA ORTEGA AT HOME 
 
 44 "TACK," Lathrop said, when the 
 ^J two friends reached the street, 
 "you have an hour and a half, or a little 
 more before your train goes. I want you 
 to go to Seventy-ninth street with me. 
 Will you do it?" 
 
 "Certainly; but why do you want me?" 
 "I want to show you the woman whom 
 Chapman insulted. If ever there was a 
 soul without guile, here is one. I want 
 you to know it. It is necessary, now, 
 that somebody besides myself should know 
 about her." 
 
 He had hailed a cab while they were 
 talking, and they got in and were driven 
 away. 
 
 91
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Isn't it rather late to make a call, 
 Morris?" asked Millington, presently. 
 
 "No; I often go as late as this. Jack, 
 if that scoundrel ever refers to her again, 
 I'll kiU him. I felt like it to-night." 
 
 "You looked like it, certainly," Milling- 
 ton declared. "Jove! I didn't know you 
 could be such a demon, old man." 
 
 "I know it only too well," was Lathrop's 
 moody rejoinder. "I am more afraid of 
 myself than of any man living. I in- 
 herit strength and a horrible temper, 
 which, until to-night, I thought I had 
 learned to subdue. When I lose it, a 
 devil possesses me." 
 
 Nothing more was said until they stood 
 together in front of the house, where 
 Lathrop opened the vestibule door with a 
 key, and gave the electric button inside a 
 series of regulated touches. The inner 
 door swung open instantly, and they 
 passed inside to the stairway, mounted 
 92
 
 CLARITA ORTEGA AT HOME 
 
 one flight, and found Clarita awaiting 
 them at the head of the stairs. 
 
 If she felt surprised when she dis- 
 covered that Morris was not alone, she 
 said nothing of it, but quietly led the way 
 into the parlor, which was brilliantly- 
 lighted. 
 
 " 'Rita," said Lathrop, "this gentleman 
 is one of my most trusted friends, Mr. 
 Millington. Jack, let me present you to 
 Miss Ortega." 
 
 Then, for an instant he stared at his 
 friend in astonishment, inasmuch as Mil- 
 lington became suddenly as awkward as 
 an uncouth boy. For some moments 
 after the introduction was uttered, he did 
 not move. Finally, however, he bowed 
 and extended his hand. His face was as 
 red as a peony. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," he said, confused- 
 ly. "I I think I was er surprised!" 
 Then, he became silent again, still staring,. 
 93
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 nor did he regain his composure until after 
 they had left the house. 
 
 "Has a man named Chapman been here 
 to-night, 'Rita?" Lathrop asked at once, 
 thus relieving the strain and permitting 
 Millington to drop into a chair, where he 
 continued to stare, though evidently mak- 
 ing a heroic effort not to do so. 
 
 "Yes, oh, yes;" was the impetuous an- 
 swer, "and another man, too. What does 
 it mean? Are you in trouble, Morris?" 
 
 "I in trouble? No. Another man, 
 you say? Who ah!" He recalled, then, 
 what Edna had said to him. "Tell me 
 about both of them," he continued. 
 
 The girl tapped one of her little feet 
 impatiently on the carpet while she re- 
 plied to him, and it was plain that she was 
 still angry. 
 
 "The first one the one whom you call 
 
 Chapman came soon after I arrived 
 
 home. He sent up a card by the hall boy, 
 
 and he had written upon it that he came 
 
 94
 
 CLARITA ORTEGA AT HOME 
 
 from you. I thought it strange; but, of 
 course, I admitted him. Then all! I 
 cannot tell you ! he was insulting. Marie 
 was out I was alone. I ordered him to 
 leave the house, but he would not. He 
 tried to seize me he meant to to kiss 
 me he said so! I fled into the other 
 room, and locked the door. He rapped 
 upon it, but I did not answer, and then, 
 after a few moments, he went away, 
 laughing." 
 
 Millington bounded from his chair, and 
 strode up and down the room. 
 
 "The scoundrel! The infernal scoun- 
 drel!" he muttered. "I'll settle with 
 him!" 
 
 "That is already done, in part," Lath- 
 rop said, quietly. "Now, 'Rita, the other 
 man; tell me about him." 
 
 "Oh, the other!" the girl exclaimed. 
 
 "He came soon after the first one had 
 
 gone. The boy brought up word that the 
 
 man wished to speak with me. He sent 
 
 95
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 no name. I said that I would see nobody, 
 and that he was not to admit anyone, or to 
 bring any more messages to me. After- 
 ward, I* called to him and asked him if it 
 was the same man who came the first time, 
 and he said no, it was not. That is all. 
 Who is that Mr. Chapman? Surely he is 
 no friend of yours, Morris !" 
 
 "Certainly not!" Lathrop declared. 
 "But I am afraid, little girl, that you will 
 have to move again. I am sorry, but it is 
 necessary, 'Rita." 
 
 "I like this place so much!" she sighed. 
 
 "I know, dear, but there are others just 
 as good," Lathrop urged. "I'll find one 
 in the morning and " 
 
 "Look here, Morris," his friend inter- 
 rupted. "I've got just the thing for you 
 just what you want; it's in the Milling- 
 ton that's on Central Park West, Miss 
 Ortega, and it belongs to me. The pleas- 
 antest apartment in the whole house on 
 the top floor, you know is vacant. You 
 96
 
 CLARITA ORTEGA AT HOME 
 
 shall have it. Here ! I'll write the order 
 now." 
 
 He took out his note-book, dashed off 
 the order and passed it to Lathrop. Then, 
 he looked at his watch, and sprang to his 
 feet, exclaiming: 
 
 "I must go, if I'm to catch that train. 
 Good-night, Miss Ortega. I hope that 
 Morris will let me come again some time.'* 
 And he hurried to the door, followed in 
 more leisurely fashion by his friend. 
 
 The ride down-town was a silent affair, 
 and they were nearly at the station before 
 either spoke to the other. Then, Milling- 
 ton, with marked hesitation, said : 
 
 "Some day, old man, when you feel like 
 it, will you tell me something about Miss 
 Ortega?" 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop answered, simply. 
 
 There was silence again until the cab 
 turned into Forty-second street and was 
 nearing the station, when Millington 
 spoke again. 
 
 97
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "I thought you were going to marry 
 one of Trevor's daughters," he said. 
 
 "I am," was the reply. 
 
 Millington made no comment, but, after 
 a little interval, changed the subject: 
 
 "By the way," he said, "I hadn't re- 
 membered to ask you: Did you attend 
 to those matters for me to-day?" 
 
 "Every one of them," Lathrop declared. 
 Then, as the cab halted, and Millington 
 got out, he extended his hand. "Good 
 luck to you," he added. "And, Jack, I'd 
 like to give you a bit of advice." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Don't think too much about Clarita 
 Ortega while you are away. She is not 
 for you, unless 
 
 "Well, unless what?" Millington de- 
 manded eagerly as Lathrop hesitated. 
 
 "I'll complete that sentence when you 
 return," was the unsatisfactory answer. 
 "Good-night." 
 
 They clasped hands and parted, one to 
 98
 
 CLARITA ORTEGA AT HOME 
 
 run for his train, having barely time to 
 get through the door before it was closed, 
 and the other to ride on with bowed head 
 and scowling brow, disgusted with him- 
 self for what he had done that day, har- 
 assed, troubled, contemptuous, but, never- 
 theless, inflexible in his resolution to play 
 his scoundrel's game to the end. 
 
 "If I had carried out my resolve to kill 
 myself," he mused, "I should have died 
 with a conscience as untroubled as the sur- 
 face of a woodland spring. Now, if I 
 lived a thousand years, I should never re- 
 gain what I have lost my self-respect. 
 I may live to square myself with others: 
 I can never square myself with myself. 
 The world may not know what I have 
 done, but I know it, and that is infinitely 
 worse!" 
 
 99
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 IN the week that followed, Lathrop 
 did not once call at the Trevors', al- 
 though he spent a portion of his time daily 
 in the office of the financier. He could 
 not bring himself to go to the house, for 
 he felt that he could not look into the clear, 
 earnest eyes of Carla Trevor without re- 
 vealing within his own the guilt which 
 weighed down his spirit. Moreover, he 
 had been very busy. The plot hatched in 
 the early hours of the morning when Jack 
 Millington was called to Chicago, was be- 
 ginning to unfold itself, and now Lathrop 
 discovered, to his vast astonishment, that 
 he possessed a real aptitude for business. 
 A genuine zest for it thrilled in his blood : 
 his brain grappled easily with all the prob- 
 100
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 lems offered, and mastered them. Cum- 
 mings had snapped at the bait thrown out 
 to him, and had swallowed it greedily, so 
 that it was now but a matter of days ere 
 the forecast made by Millington would be- 
 come a fact. Yet, despite his devotion to 
 the manoeuvres in behalf of his friend, 
 Lathrop's mind held continually in its re- 
 cesses the hateful consciousness of his 
 infamy in the matter of the stolen securi- 
 ties. His one dominant anxiety was to 
 regain possession of these, in order that 
 they might be replaced in the vaults of the 
 safe-deposit company before the return of 
 Millington. 
 
 Then, one morning, he received a note 
 from Carla Trevor, in which she requested 
 him to call on her that afternoon, at four 
 o'clock. At exactly that hour, he was 
 ushered into the drawing-room of the fin- 
 ancier's mansion. There, standing in the 
 centre of the room, awaiting him, was 
 Edna. 
 
 101
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Smith," she said composedly to the 
 butler, "y u need not take Mr. Lathrop's 
 card to Miss Trevor just yet. I wish to 
 talk with him for a few moments before 
 by sister comes down." 
 
 "Why, Edna," Lathrop said, with an 
 air of raillery before the servant, "y u 
 seem very much the woman of business 
 this afternoon." Then, when the butler 
 had left the room, he continued curiously : 
 
 "How did you know that I was coming 
 at this time?" 
 
 "I didn't know it. I saw you from the 
 window. But I should have gone to your 
 rooms again this evening, if you had not 
 come here to-day." 
 
 "You must not do that, Edna," he re- 
 plied. "It is not at all the proper thing 
 to do." 
 
 "It is just as proper for me as it is for 
 that that black-eyed woman whom I 
 found there." 
 
 "That is quite true, Edna," Lathrop 
 102
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 admitted; "but, you see, it is wrong for 
 either of you." 
 
 "Morris, who I" the girl began, im- 
 ptuously. But she checked herself. 
 "No, I won't ask you who she is ! I don't 
 care who she is ! . . . I I wanted to 
 see you before you saw Carla. You will 
 think that I have told her, but, indeed, I 
 have not. I never meant to tell her, at all. 
 I told you I would, but I did not mean 
 it when I said it." 
 
 "I never really thought that you would 
 tell," Lathrop said, gently, "unless you did 
 it while you were very angry and your 
 anger never lasts long. It really would 
 not have mattered if you had told, how- 
 ever. You must not think ill of that girl, 
 Edna, for she is as pure and sweet and 
 good as you are, as Carla is, as any human 
 being can be." 
 
 "Do you love her Morris?" 
 Womanly curiosity forced the words from 
 Edna's lips. She went closer to him as 
 103
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 she asked the question, and her face was 
 set and white. Her big eyes, wide-open 
 and searching, looked earnestly into his 
 own. 
 
 He replied without hesitation : 
 
 "Yes, Edna, I love her very dearly, 
 just as I love you very dearly, but not at 
 all in the sense you mean. It would 
 please me more than I can say, if you 
 would let me take you to call upon her 
 some day. You know, I would not do 
 that" 
 
 "Where does she live now?" Edna in- 
 terrupted. "She has moved." 
 
 "Yes, she has moved," Lathrop said. 
 "If I tell you her address, will you 
 promise to keep it a secret?" 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Never mind why; will you promise?" 
 
 "Yes," Edna agreed, after a moment 
 of reflection. 
 
 "She is at the Millington, Central Park 
 West. . . . And now, Edna, had you 
 104
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 not better send my card up to Carla? 
 She is expecting me." 
 
 "'Oh, Morris!" the girl exclaimed, in dis- 
 may. "I had forgotten the very thing I 
 meant to tell you. Carla knows." 
 
 "Knows what?" Lathrop questioned. 
 
 "That that Miss Ortega goes to your 
 rooms. Wait ; let me tell you all about it. 
 That man whom I hired to follow her he 
 was a cab-driver, and I gave him ten 
 dollars for his dirty work came here to 
 report to me, as I told him to do. Carla 
 was on the steps outside, and, when he 
 asked for Miss Trevor of course she said 
 she was the one; and he, stupid! didn't 
 know the difference. She heard his story 
 through, and then she came to me, and, 
 naturally, I had to confess the whole 
 thing. Then, the very next afternoon she 
 received an anonymous letter written on 
 the stationery of your club, and oh, it 
 was terrible!" 
 
 "Carla would pay no attention to an 
 105
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 anonymous letter," Lathrop cried con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 "Not to an ordinary one; but this was 
 different," Edna explained. It began by 
 saying that the writer was a member of 
 your club, and an intimate friend of yours. 
 It gave, as an excuse for the letter, the 
 statement that he was under great obliga- 
 tions to papa, and therefore regarded it 
 as a duty to warn his daughter. It was 
 beautifully written and perfectly told; it 
 gave a thousand and one excuses for you, 
 and begged Carla not to regard the matter 
 too seriously. But underneath all that 
 stuff and nonsense were the vilest insinua- 
 tions. . ,. .It was terrible!" 
 
 "Is there anything more, Edna?" La- 
 throp demanded, quietly. 
 
 "Yes, there is," the girl faltered. 
 
 "Well, let's have it all," the young man 
 urged ; there was impatience in his tone. 
 
 "The evening before last, Mr. Chap- 
 man called here," Edna announced. "You 
 106
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 know, he has been here once or twice with 
 Mr. Courtright. Well, this time he came 
 alone, and I only wished he had stayed 
 away. I don't know how it happened, 
 but, before he went, he mentioned having 
 seen you at the Waldorf and other places 
 several times this week, with a lady whom 
 he described so perfectly that there was no 
 mistaking her; Carla recognized her at 
 once." 
 
 "How could she do that?" Lathrop 
 was genuinely amazed. 
 
 "Oh!" Edna exclaimed. "Didn't I tell 
 you that the anonymous letter contained 
 a photograph of Miss Ortega? Well, it 
 did, and a good one, too." 
 
 "What more, Edna?" Lathrop's voice 
 came wearily now. 
 
 "Nothing more ; only, Carla has been ill 
 ever since. It was the last straw. I 
 think, if you had come around sooner, it 
 would have been all right, but you re- 
 mained away so long that she had to send 
 107
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 for you; and now She paused sud- 
 denly, staring in the direction of the door. 
 
 Lathrop, turning to discover what it 
 was that had arrested her speech, per- 
 ceived Carla, who had entered the room un- 
 heard, and now stood motionless, gazing 
 upon her lover and her sister with scorn- 
 ful eyes. Even in his perturbation of the 
 moment, Lathrop was stirred to wonder- 
 ing delight before the spell of her delicate 
 loveliness. Her own mood of indignation 
 had caused her to assume unconsciously a 
 pose of tense erectness, which displayed 
 the slender elegance of her form to its full 
 perfection. Her angry pride was re- 
 vealed in the haughty poise of her head, in 
 the darkening violet of her eyes. 
 
 "It seems, Morris, that my sister has an- 
 ticipated me," she said, coldly. "I heard 
 only the last sentence of your conversation, 
 however. So, now, Edna, if you will ex- 
 cuse us, I should like to talk with Morris 
 alone for a little." 
 
 108
 
 THE HAND THAT STABS 
 
 She did not speak again, until Edna had 
 left the room. Then, she turned at once, 
 and confronted her fiance. 
 
 "Morris," she demanded resolutely, 
 "why is it that, for more than a week, you 
 have not been to see me ?" And she added, 
 unfalteringly: "Is there a greater attrac- 
 tion somewhere else?" 
 
 "I have been very busy," Lathrop re- 
 plied, with some embarrassment. "With 
 two exceptions, I have not been out of my 
 rooms an evening since I was here." 
 
 "That is an answer to only one of my 
 questions," Carla retorted. There was a 
 hint of bitterness now in her voice. 
 
 Lathrop frowned. 
 
 "The other question needs no answer 
 from me," he said, grimly. "You should 
 not have asked it." 
 
 "Perhaps not," his betrothed admitted, 
 with a wan smile. "Nevertheless, I have 
 asked it." She sighed heavily, and hesi- 
 tated for a moment. Then, with straight- 
 109
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 forward frankness, she demanded. "Will 
 you tell me about Miss Ortega? There is 
 such a person, I believe." 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop said. The reluctance 
 in his voice was plainly manifest, 
 
 "Well, will you tell me about her?" 
 Carla persisted. 
 
 "I am not at liberty to tell you much 
 concerning her," was the reply. 
 
 A deeper red flamed in the cheeks of the 
 girl at her lover's utterance, and her eyes 
 flashed ominously. 
 
 "Not much that you can tell me!" she 
 repeated, slowly. "Morris, I do not un- 
 derstand what you mean. Is it, perhaps, 
 that this is not a fit subject for us to dis- 
 cuss?" 
 
 "God forbid!" Lathrop exclaimed, 
 aghast at the implied taunt. "You must 
 not wrong Clarita in that way, Carla. 
 Indeed, she only came to my room as 
 Edna, your sister came just as inno- 
 cently. It is most unfortunate that you 
 110
 
 THE HAND THAT STAES 
 
 should have come to know of her existence 
 at this time. I had intended, soon, to ask 
 you to call upon her. Surely, surely, 
 Carla, you cannot dou|>t mel" 
 
 111
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 CAULA TREVOR did not at once 
 reply to the question that Lathrop 
 asked. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed 
 upon her lover's face, in the meantime 
 turning her engagement ring on her fin- 
 ger, as though it had something to do with 
 the character of her thoughts. There was 
 no anger in her voice or in her eyes, but 
 suffering was manifest in both. At last, 
 she answered him. 
 
 "Just so long as this ring remains upon 
 my finger, I will not doubt you. Still, I 
 believe that you owe me some sort of an 
 explanation. I would not have you think 
 me jealous, for I could not permit our 
 relations to continue if there existed any 
 cause for such an emotion. But I shall 
 112
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 ask you the question: Does there exist 
 such a cause?" 
 
 "No, Carla, there does not," Lathrop 
 answered, with emphasis. 
 
 The girl hesitated again, for a moment ; 
 then, she quietly extended a photograph 
 toward him. 
 
 "Is that Miss Ortega?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes," was the answer. 
 
 "That picture came in a letter I re- 
 ceived concerning her and you!" 
 
 "Edna told me about it," Lathrop said, 
 as she paused. "I believe that this picture 
 was stolen from her parlor while she was 
 locked in another room in her apartment, 
 to which she had fled to escape the man, 
 who forced his way into her presence. He 
 must have taken it at that time. I can ac- 
 count for his possession of it in no other 
 way." 
 
 "Then, you know who wrote the anony- 
 mous letter," Carla exclaimed. 
 
 "Certainly! It was written, doubtless, 
 113
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 by the man who called upon you later 
 Chapman. Shall I tell you the story?" 
 
 "No, it is unnecessary that you should," 
 the girl answered, disdainfully. "Tell 
 me, rather, about Miss Ortega. What re- 
 lation does she bear to you?" 
 
 "She is, in a sense, my ward," Lathrop 
 made the statement with evident reluc- 
 tance. ... "I shall tell you all that 
 it is permitted me to tell, at the present 
 time. For the rest, you must have faith 
 in me, dearest." 
 
 "Faith is spontaneous, Morris," the girl 
 retorted. "It cannot be compelled by the 
 will. As for that, I have faith now, Mor- 
 ris at least, I think I have. I know that 
 I do not wish to lose it. Whether I am 
 to do so, or not, rests with you. . . . 
 Has this ward of yours no relatives no 
 father, no mother, no friends?" 
 
 "At present," was the answer, "she has 
 no one besides myself." 
 
 "No one besides yourself!" Carla re- 
 114
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 peated, incredulously. "Then, pray, what 
 is your relation to her ? You have charge 
 of her fortune, perhaps? For she has an 
 income of her own, I suppose." 
 
 "She has an income yes," Lathrop de- 
 clared hastily. 
 
 Something in the manner of the young 
 man's reply provoked his fiancee's suspi- 
 cion. 
 
 "Who provides that income?" she in- 
 quired, crisply. "Is it you, Morris?" 
 
 "She believes it comes from property 
 left to her by her father," was the evasion. 
 
 But the girl refused to be content by 
 this indirectness. 
 
 "Morris," she said, gravely persistent, 
 "is this income of Miss Ortega's really 
 paid to her out of money provided for that 
 purpose by you?" 
 
 Before such tenacity of purpose, La- 
 throp found himself helpless, and he bowed 
 his head in assent. Afterward, for a little 
 time, there was silence between the two. 
 115
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 But, presently, the lover spoke again, 
 softly, pleadingly: 
 
 "Carla, is it necessary to go into these 
 details?" 
 
 The answer was rigidly uncompromis- 
 ing: 
 
 "I regard it as quite necessary. Will 
 you tell me how long this condition of 
 things has existed?" 
 
 "For several years about four. If 
 you will listen, I will tell you all that can 
 be told now." 
 
 "I will listen." 
 
 "The obligation came to me in a strange 
 manner, and I accepted a duty, fully re- 
 alizing what I was undertaking, but con- 
 vinced there was no other course for me 
 to pursue. At that time, Clarita Ortega 
 could not speak a word of English, but 
 I brought her here to New York, and 
 found a companion for her an elderly 
 lady, who has since died. I invested some 
 money in government-bonds in her name; 
 116
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 so that, in case of accident to me, she 
 would be above want. So far as it has 
 been possible, I have watched over and 
 cared for her ever since; I shall continue 
 to do so as long as the necessity exists. 
 I can assure you that she is in every way 
 entirely worthy of your respect, even of 
 your love. More than this, I cannot tell 
 you, now. You must not ask me. The 
 truth concerning her I have no right to 
 reveal, even to you. Carla, will you go 
 with me to call on her?" 
 
 "Morris!" The girl's tone was one of 
 indignant remonstrance. 
 
 "Well? Is that not the best proof that 
 I could give you of my sincerity?" 
 
 Lathrop had been holding the photo- 
 'graph in his hand during the conversation, 
 now he placed it, face upwards, on a chair 
 near him, and, rising, stepped forward 
 and stood where he could look down into 
 the eyes of his fiancee. 
 
 She returned the gaze steadily, still toy- 
 117
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ing with the ring on her finger. But she 
 did not reply to his question; instead, she 
 asked one. 
 
 "Is that all you will tell me concerning 
 her?" she inquired. 
 
 "It is all that I can tell you, Carla," was 
 the firm rejoinder. 
 
 "Do you regard your duty to her as 
 greater than your duty to me?" 
 
 "I do not compare the one with the 
 other, for they are distinct. Duty is duty ; 
 it cannot be modified." , 
 
 Her eyes never left his face, and the 
 question, though it made him catch his 
 breath, and pressed the iron into his soul, 
 was uttered as calmly as the others had 
 been. 
 
 "If I should make my faith in you de- 
 pendent upon your telling me everything 
 that you are keeping back concerning her, 
 would you still retain the attitude you have 
 taken? If our engagement depended 
 upon your replying to certain questions 
 118
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 that I should ask, would you still refuse 
 to answer?" 
 
 He turned away and walked to the win- 
 dow, and for a moment looked out upon 
 the street. Presently, he returned and 
 stood before her again. 
 
 "I should still retain the attitude I have 
 taken ; I should still refuse to answer," he 
 said, deliberately. 
 
 Carla withdrew the ring from her 
 ringer, slowly, but certainly. It seemed 
 reluctant to leave its resting-place, and 
 
 % 
 
 twice she hesitated. But, at last, the re- 
 moval was effected. 
 
 "Then, I must return this to you," she 
 said, simply. "It is the only thing I can 
 do under the circumstances. Perhaps, I 
 am unjust; if so, I cannot help it. Please 
 take it, Morris." 
 
 He stretched out one hand silently, and 
 she dropped the ring in his palm. For a 
 moment, he regarded it intently; then, 
 idly, let it fall into one of his pockets. 
 119
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "As you will, Carla," he said, with a 
 cold deliberation that belied the furious 
 beating of his heart. 
 
 He bowed then, and turned toward the 
 door. But, before he had taken a step, 
 it was opened, and George Trevor entered 
 the room. 
 
 "Ah, Morris," he said, "Smith told me 
 you were here. I have just come in, and 
 I am very anxious to see you. I tried in 
 vain to get you over the telephone this 
 afternoon." His eyes fell on the photo- 
 graph of Clarita Ortega, and he bent over 
 it. "Hello! What's this?" he asked, 
 carelessly. 
 
 He reached out and raised the photo- 
 graph in his hand, and they saw him give 
 a sudden and violent start. Then, with 
 quick strides he went to the window where 
 the light was better, while with trembling 
 hands he held the photograph so that he 
 could scan it critically. 
 
 "No, no!" he exclaimed, under his 
 120
 
 THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 breath. "No! It is impossible!" He 
 turned the picture over and saw the name 
 of the photographer on the back ; then, he 
 studied the face again. 
 
 "It was taken here in New York, and 
 quite recently. No; it cannot be the 
 same," he continued, uttering his thoughts 
 aloud. 
 
 "Carla," he called suddenly, "whose pic- 
 ture is this?" 
 
 "It is a photograph of a friend of Mor- 
 ris's," she replied. 
 
 "Who is it, Morris?" he demanded, still 
 studying the picture face. 
 
 "Her name is Clarita Ortega; she is 
 'Spanish," Morris answered. 
 
 "Spanish, too," muttered Trevor. "It 
 is very strange very strange!" 
 
 "Do you know who she is, papa? Have 
 you ever met her?" asked Carla. 
 
 "No, no, certainly not!" was the quick 
 answer. "But she bears a striking re- 
 semblance to a lady whom I used to know 
 121
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 years ago. She is very like, indeed very; 
 like! How old is this girl, Morris?" 
 
 "About Carla's age," Lathrop replied, 
 indifferently. 
 
 "And where does she live? Here in 
 New York?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Will you lend me this picture till you 
 come again?" the financier demanded. 
 "I should like to compare it with one that 
 I have. The likeness may not be so strik- 
 ing, then. Will you lend it to me?" 
 Without waiting for an answer, he 
 whirled about, and went out of the room 
 hastily, bearing the picture in his hand. 
 
 "Is your decision unaltered, Carla?" 
 Morris asked, when they were again alone. 
 
 The girl nodded in silence. 
 
 He did not wait for more, but turned 
 abruptly and walked from the room. 
 
 122
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN THE MESH OF MISDEEDS 
 
 AT once, after leaving the Trevor 
 mansion, Lathrop returned to his 
 apartment. As he caught sight of his re- 
 flection in a mirror, his eyes glinted with 
 cold derision. 
 
 "I cannot tell Carla everything," he 
 mused aloud. "God forbid! Better a 
 broken engagement than that whatever 
 the heart-ache. Yes, better two broken 
 hearts than a revelation of the whole truth. 
 I suppose, in time, we must both recover 
 from the shock of to-day. But the knowl- 
 edge of that other tragedy would spoil her 
 life, utterly. And the poor old pater! 
 Plow the sight of that photograph bowled 
 him over ! The resemblance must, indeed, 
 be striking, since it was able to affect him 
 123
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 like that. And now he will question me, 
 and I cannot, I will not, tell him, for he 
 must not know the truth. For the sake 
 of Carla and Edna, he must never know." 
 
 The ringing of the bell interrupted his 
 meditation. He went to the door, and 
 opened it to admit George Trevor. "He 
 has come sooner even than I expected," 
 was his thought. But he allowed no trace 
 of his perturbation to escape him. On 
 the contrary, he greeted his visitor in a 
 matter-of-fact manner, but very cordially. 
 
 "I went away hurriedly," he added, 
 after they had shaken hands. "I quite 
 forgot that you wished to see me. What 
 was it, pater?" 
 
 "Oh, that matter!" the financier re- 
 joined moodily, as he seated himself. "It 
 can wait. I want to talk to you about an- 
 other thing, now. . . . Can you give 
 me some brandy, and a cigar?" 
 
 "Certainly, sir," Lathrop replied, and 
 forthwith he set forth a decanter and 
 124
 
 THE MESH OF MISDEEDS 
 
 syphon, and a box of perfectos. "Do you 
 know, pater, you haven't been here before 
 in" 
 
 But the financier, with an air of deter- 
 mination, interrupted : 
 
 "Morris," he demanded, "who is that 
 girl?" 
 
 "What girl?" came the disingenuous 
 question. 
 
 "That girl whose picture I found in the 
 drawing-room of my house," the banker 
 explained, eagerly. "Who is she? The 
 name tells me nothing. Is she a friend 
 of yours? Do you know her people, her 
 parents?" 
 
 The reply of the young man was made 
 very deliberately: 
 
 "I know her father, sir," he said. "I 
 never saw her mother." 
 
 Trevor gave a sigh of relief. Then, he 
 spoke, rather hesitatingly: 
 
 "It may seem strange to you, Morris, 
 that I should be so greatly interested in 
 125
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 this girl. But well, I never saw such a 
 remarkable likeness!" 
 
 "Likeness to whom, sir?" Lathrop ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 "To a lady whom I once knew." 
 The reply was made with evident reluc- 
 tance. "It was a good many years ago 
 when " He broke off the sentence to 
 inquire : "How old is she, Morris ?" 
 
 "Rather older than Carla," Lathrop an- 
 swered, "by two or three years." 
 
 Trevor shook his head perplexedly, as 
 he listened to the reply. 
 
 "Perhaps," he murmured reflectively, 
 "her mother was a sister of the woman 
 whom I knew. Still, I never heard that 
 she had a sister. . . . Morris," he 
 went on, in a louder voice, looking up at 
 the young man, "could you take me to 
 call on this young lady? I should like to 
 have a talk with her." 
 
 Lathrop did not reply at once. In- 
 126
 
 THE MESH OF MISDEEDS 
 
 stead, he continued to stare fixedly at the 
 coals in the grate. The silence endured 
 until Trevor repeated his question, believ- 
 ing that it had been unheard. 
 
 "Why not?" the young man was mus- 
 ing. "I have had no hand in this part of 
 the aff air. Why not let circumstances di- 
 rect the remainder of it, as they have this 
 much?" 
 
 For the third time, Trevor asked the 
 question, impatiently. And, finally, La- 
 throp replied: 
 
 "I will take you to call upon her," he 
 said, somewhat coldly. "When would 
 you like to go?" 
 
 "Now!" was the instant response. 
 
 "My dear sir, it is almost dinner-time," 
 Lathrop protested. "Come here after 
 you have dined, and I will take you to 
 her." 
 
 "Very well, then. I shall be here at 
 eight," the financier assented. He rose 
 127
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 and went toward the door ; but he paused, 
 with his hand on the knob, to ask another 
 question. 
 
 "Morris," he said, "what is she to you? 
 You won't mind telling me?" 
 
 "Not at all, sir," was the reply. "She 
 is my ward." 
 
 "Your ward!" Trevor exclaimed, in 
 astonishment. "You, the guardian of a 
 girl almost as old as you are yourself?" 
 
 "Such is the case, pater," Lathrop af- 
 firmed, quite unabashed. 
 
 There was a brief silence, which was 
 broken by the broker. 
 
 "Was she the subject of discussion be- 
 tween you and Carla?" 
 
 "Yes," the young man admitted, flush- 
 ing. 
 
 The shrewd eyes of the older man pen- 
 etrated Lathrop's embarrassment. 
 
 "Carla is jealous! Is that it?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 A nod of assent was the answer. Then, 
 128
 
 THE MESH OF MISDEEDS 
 
 after a moment, Lathrop said; "you 
 might as well know it at once, sir. Our 
 engagement is at an end. Carla is con- 
 vinced in her own mind that I have not 
 been sufficiently frank with her. What 
 else she believes, I do not know. I am 
 not sure that she herself knows. But 
 she does not approve of my relations with 
 'Rita." 
 
 At this statement, the financier uttered 
 an ejaculation of dismay, and, for a little 
 time afterward, sat silent, in frowning 
 thought. But, of a sudden, his expres- 
 sion changed again. 
 
 "Oh, by the way!" he exclaimed. 
 "There is another thing. Those secur- 
 ities! The fact of my having them has 
 got out, somehow, and I am being pes- 
 tered to death about them everybody 
 asking questions! I smile, look wise, and 
 say nothing! It's the only way! Why, 
 Morris, even the company the X. L., you 
 know has been bothering me. I fancy 
 129
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 that a cable of inquiry has been sent to 
 Sam Millington himself. But he will 
 keep the matter quiet, won't he?" 
 
 "What do you mean, sir?" Lathrop 
 questioned, bewildered and alarmed by 
 this turn of the conversation. 
 
 "Why, the fact that the stock is yours," 
 the financier explained. "Millington 
 won't spread the fact broadcast, will he? 
 I shouldn't like to have the news of it get 
 about, now that I have made use of it as 
 my own. It would betray the fact that 
 J had been hard-pressed. . . . But 
 never mind, just now. Come down in the 
 morning, and we can arrange the affair 
 then. I'm inclined, at last, to be sorry 
 that I refused young Millington's offer." 
 
 "It is not too late, yet," Lathrop sug- 
 gested quickly. "If you say the word, 
 I'll manage that. And, to speak frankly, 
 sir, I should be glad to do so. Your con- 
 sent would be something of a favor to 
 me." 
 
 130
 
 THE MESH OF MISDEEDS 
 
 "The deuce it would!" the financier 
 cried. "Why didn't you say that before? 
 You're half -owner with me in this thing. 
 You have as much to say as I have. 
 Wire him that we will take him on the 
 terms he offered, if he is still of the same 
 mind." 
 
 Forthwith, Trevor bustled out of the 
 room, leaving Lathrop standing in the 
 centre of it in anything but a pleasant 
 frame of mind, for he saw the meshes of 
 his misdeeds closing around him, exposure 
 staring him in the face. 
 
 "A cable to Sam Millington!" he mused, 
 and smiled dismally. "I should like to 
 see him when he gets the news! One 
 thing is certain: I must manage some- 
 how, to get those securities out to-morrow, 
 and return them to the vault. But, even 
 then, it is bound to come out eventually 
 that I took them, for the superintendent 
 has the letter Jack gave me. Well, suf- 
 ficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 
 131
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Meantime, I must do the best I can, de- 
 spite the fact that I have lost honor and 
 love. Why, I should not have accepted 
 my dismissal, had I been worthy, as I was 
 ten days ago. But it is over now ! I only 
 wish it were the end of all things for me !" 
 And, with this lugubrious aspiration, he 
 hurried forth. 
 
 A few minutes later, the word "Cor- 
 rect" was speeding over the wires to Jack 
 Millington's Chicago address. 
 
 132
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 PROMPTLY at eight o'clock, 
 George Trevor appeared at La- 
 throp's apartment, and it was easily ap- 
 parent that he was consumed by excite- 
 ment, although he strove as best he could 
 to conceal the fact. He had come in his 
 own carriage, and, when the young man 
 had donned his overcoat, the two were 
 driven rapidly in the direction of The 
 Millington, where Clarita now lived. 
 
 They found the girl at home and ex- 
 pecting them, for Lathrop had sent word 
 of their coming. Immediately, her love- 
 liness of face and the splendid purity of 
 the dark eyes cast their spell over the 
 financier. Indeed, he fairly gasped for 
 breath in the first moment of his introduc- 
 133
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 tion to her, and, after he had taken her 
 slender hand in his, he held it for a long 
 time in a warm clasp, strangely silent all 
 the while as he stood looking down on her 
 with a steadfast, penetrant gaze that had 
 in it nothing to offend. 
 
 "Very like, marvelously like!" he mur- 
 mured, at last. And then, without seem- 
 ing to perceive the oddity of the question, 
 he demanded: "Child, do you remember 
 your mother?" 
 
 The girl regarded him in complete as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 "My mother?" she repeated, confusedly. 
 "No, sir, I do not remember mj 7 mother. 
 I never saw her, sefior." 
 
 "But do you not resemble her?" came 
 the eager question. 
 
 "I do not know," Clarita replied, stupe- 
 fied with amazement. 
 
 These were, in sooth, most curious in- 
 terrogatories put to her by one who was 
 totally a stranger. Before them, she 
 134
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 found herself altogether puzzled, even a 
 little indignant. She turned her eyes in- 
 quiringly toward Morris, but he was ap- 
 parently deeply occupied by the pages of 
 a book, unheeding what took place about 
 him. 
 
 "And your father, my dear girl? 
 What of him?" Trevor asked, tremu- 
 lously. 
 
 "I never saw my father, sir," was the 
 reply. "But tell me, if you please," she 
 continued, with sudden courage, "why do 
 you seek these answers from me?" 
 
 "You must pardon me, child," the old 
 man urged, contritely. "But you look so 
 like a lady whom I once knew that I fan- 
 cied I must have known your mother.. 
 Surely, you have not lived always in New 
 York? You were not born here?" 
 
 "Oh, no, indeed," Clarita returned,. 
 
 readily. "I was born in Seville, in Spain. 
 
 My childhood was passed in Cuba and in 
 
 Mexico. I remember Mexico the better, 
 
 135
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 for it was there that I lived the greater 
 part of the time. I came here about four 
 years ago." She gave the explanation 
 volubly, for her self-assurance had been 
 restored in a measure by the visitor's ex- 
 planation of his inquisitiveness. 
 
 The girl, as well as her questioner, 
 had remained standing since the introduc- 
 tion. Now, however, she withdrew her 
 hand from his, and sank into a chair. 
 
 "Will you tell me how old you are, 
 senorita?" Trevor requested, as he, too, 
 seated himself. 
 
 "I was twenty-three years old, last 
 June," was the immediate response, al- 
 though the girl's eyes widened somewhat 
 in new wonder at the intimacy of this 
 question. "But Morris," she continued, 
 "thinks I look much younger than that." 
 
 "Yes, you do," the financier agreed. 
 "You are more of a child than Edna, and 
 she is only eighteen." 
 
 "Edna? Ah, yes. She is your daugh- 
 136
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 ter. I have seen her." Clarita's brows 
 contracted, for the recollection was not a 
 pleasant one. 
 
 "You have met Edna?" Trevor asked, 
 in surprise. "Where?" 
 
 She hesitated, and then looked inquir- 
 ingly at Morris. He, however, was still 
 studying the pages before him, and did 
 not appear to have heard. 
 
 "Morris will tell you about it," she said, 
 at last, demurely. "We met by accident. 
 She did not like me, and I did not like 
 her. It was what you call mutual. 
 You see I am frank, Senor Trevor. But 
 I do not choose my words so discreetly in 
 English." 
 
 "Would you prefer your own lan- 
 guage?" he said rapidly, in Spanish. "It 
 is the same to me." 
 
 "Oh, yes! It is the language of my 
 
 thoughts. I am glad that you understand 
 
 it. And now, sir, can I not offer you 
 
 some refreshment? I have been very re- 
 
 137
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 miss. You will have what? A glass of 
 sherry? And a biscuit? Morris will give 
 you a cigar. I do not object to the smoke. 
 And now, for one moment, you will ex- 
 cuse me?" 
 
 She went rapidly out of the room, leav- 
 ing the two men alone together. 
 
 "Morris," said George Trevor then, ris- 
 ing and crossing the room and deliberately 
 taking the book from Lathrop's hand, 
 "you told me you knew her father. Did 
 you speak the truth?" 
 
 "I did," Lathrop declared. His eyes 
 met those of the financier squarely, with a 
 challenge in their depths. 
 
 "Then, he is alive?" Trevor suggested. 
 
 "He is!" 
 
 "But she does not know it?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Where?" The old man left the 
 question unfinished, for at this moment the 
 girl reentered the room. 
 
 She went directly to him, holding in 
 138
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 her hand an old-fashioned breast-pin, the 
 size of a goose's egg. At sight of it, 
 Trevor's face took on the color of ashes; 
 but he did not speak, and she did not 
 notice his agitation. 
 
 "You asked me about my mother," she 
 said. "I do not remember her, but I have 
 here a portrait which, I believe, is hers. 
 Would you like to see it? Perhaps, if 
 you once knew her, you will recognize it, 
 and assure me that it is my mother. It 
 might have been made for me, might it 
 not?" 
 
 "Yes, yes," he said, huskily. "It 
 might, indeed! Can you tell me nothing 
 about her, my child? Do you not know 
 when she died, and where she died?" 
 
 "No, sir. I know nothing," the girl 
 replied, sadly. "It is strange, is it not? 
 I do not even know her name." 
 
 "Do not know her name? Was it not 
 the same as your own?" 
 
 "No, oh, no!" came the eager answer. 
 139
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "My name is not the name of my parents. 
 The Holy Mother gave me my name, at 
 the cathedral in Mexico, so it is truly mine ; 
 but it is not the name to which I was born. 
 That is hidden. It is lost ! I do not know 
 how, nor why. Even my first name was 
 changed, for I remember, when I was a 
 little child, I was called Carlotta; but, 
 when I was taken to the cathedral, it was 
 made into Clarita. I like it better, I 
 think. Morris says that, some day I shall 
 know who my parents were. Sometimes, 
 I think that he knows now, and will not 
 tell me. If that be so, I do not complain. 
 He knows what is wisest and best for me. 
 I am assured of that." 
 
 "Carlotta Carlotta!" Trevor ex- 
 claimed. "It is the name of one of my 
 daughters: it is Carla's name. It was 
 was it your mother's name?" 
 
 "I do not know," Clarita answered. 
 
 The financier sat staring at the picture 
 he held in his hand. For the moment, he 
 140
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 was utterly oblivious to everything else 
 around him, and Morris, raising his eyes, 
 regarded the old man sadly and steadily. 
 
 "Have you anything else that belonged 
 to your mother," asked Trevor, presently. 
 "Is there anything else that was hers that 
 you would care to show me?" 
 
 "I think not, senor," the girl said. 
 "But stay!" she added. "There is one 
 thing more that was hers, as I have been 
 told. You will think that it is a very 
 strange thing to exhibit. I do not know 
 why it was given to me as a keepsake, only 
 that, when Senor Llorente, in whose 
 family I resided while in Mexico, gave it 
 to me, he said: 'You will take this with 
 you also, 'Rita. If your father is living, 
 and you should meet him, he will wish 
 to see it.' ' At this announcement, La- 
 throp looked up in surprise, and, perceiv- 
 ing it, she continued : "I do not think that 
 Morris even knows about this keepsake. I 
 have never told him, because I had f orgot- 
 141
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ten. He shall see it now at the same time 
 that I show it to you. It is not pleasant ; 
 it is not nice. It is a very strange thing to 
 give to a child as a keepsake, and I have 
 kept it hidden in my trunk. I will get it. 
 You will excuse me?" 
 
 Again, she left the room, and again 
 Trevor's eyes wondered in the direction of 
 the young man ; but he did not speak, and 
 their eyes did not meet, for Lathrop was 
 once more apparently absorbed in the 
 pages of the book. 
 
 Clarita was some time absent, but, at 
 last, she returned. Her hands were behind 
 her, and she came quite close to her guest 
 before she exposed them. Then, bring- 
 ing them suddenly forward, she said 
 simply : 
 
 "It is this!" 
 
 George Trevor, who had risen at her 
 entrance, stood like one entranced. Cat- 
 alepsy could not have held him more rig- 
 idly still than he was then, with wide-open, 
 142
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 distended eyes, drawn and haggard feat- 
 ures, parted lips and bated breath. 
 
 At last, slowly, mechanically, he ex- 
 tended one hand and took the thing she 
 held out to him a double sheath made 
 of one piece of wood, skillfully carved and 
 inlaid with gold and silver and precious 
 stones. He did not speak. He held it 
 in his hand, and stared at it as though it 
 were a serpent that had fascinated him. 
 
 "It is not pretty," she continued, not 
 heeding his perturbation. "It is deadly. 
 I do not admire it." 
 
 Slowly, and with familiar precision, 
 Trevor stretched forth the other hand, and 
 withdrew the knives from their sheaths, 
 one after the other. It was as though he 
 were forced to do so against his will. He 
 seemed to have forgotten his surround- 
 ings, to see only those two curiously- 
 wrought weapons that he now held in his 
 grasp: one, a short, dagger-like instru- 
 ment, sharpened only on one side, but keen 
 143
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 as a razor and pointed like a needle; the 
 other, long, slender, deadly, venomous in 
 every curve, glitteringly bright, sinister, 
 murderous. It glinted flashes of light 
 from its polished surface, and the tiny, 
 graceful curves along its back seemed to 
 move up and down, as though possessed of 
 life and hatred. 
 
 Trevor was so long silent, that, at last, 
 'Rita looked up, inquiringly. As she be- 
 held his face, she started back, affright- 
 edly. 
 
 "Morris!" she called, in a panic of fear. 
 
 The young man sprang to her at sound 
 of the terror in her voice. 
 
 "Look," she whispered, pointing toward 
 the old man now old indeed! "What is 
 it? What is the matter? See! Quick! 
 My God, he will kill himself!" 
 
 It is true that he would have done so. 
 The mysterious knife seemed to have com- 
 pelled him to the act, for, with startling 
 suddenness, the cataleptic condition left 
 144
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 him. He laughed aloud, wildly; raised 
 the weapon in the air; and would have 
 plunged it into his breast had not La- 
 throp's hand seized his wrist and held it. 
 Then, the fingers loosened their hold, and 
 the evil knife fell to the floor, point down- 
 ward, piercing the carpet and penetrating 
 the board beneath. And there it stood, 
 quivering. 
 
 For an instant, the old man stared down 
 at it dazedly; then, he hid his face in his 
 hands, dropped back into his chair, and 
 sobbed aloud. 
 
 'Rita looked up wonderingly into Mor- 
 ris's face, but he offered her no explana- 
 tion. Instead, he put one arm gently 
 around her, and led her into another room. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked again. "What 
 does it mean?" 
 
 "I do not know, dear," was the answer. 
 "Perhaps, he will tell me. I must take 
 him home now, but I will return." 
 
 "Oh, Morris," she pleaded; "you will 
 145
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 come back? I am frightened. You will 
 return? Promise me that you will!" 
 
 "I promise, 'Rita. As soon as I have 
 seen the pater home, I will return. You 
 need not go in to bid him good-night; it 
 is not necessary." 
 
 Then, he touched her forehead with his 
 lips, and left her. In the parlor, the knif e 
 was still maliciously swaying to and fro 
 above the carpet, like the head of a cobra, 
 waiting to strike. Lathrop plucked it 
 from the floor, and returned it, together 
 with its fellow, to the sheath. This done, 
 he touched Trevor gently on the shoulder. 
 
 "Come, pater," he said gently. "Let 
 us go, now." 
 
 "Yes, yes ! Let us go, now," the finan- 
 cier assented, with pitiful anxiety. "Yes, 
 I must get away, at once. I must think. 
 My God, Morris, do you understand what 
 this thing means to me? Do you know 
 who this girl is?" 
 
 "Hush ! hush ! Not another word here I" 
 146
 
 THE SINISTER SOUVENIR 
 
 the young man commanded. "Let me 
 help you on with your coat. Now, are 
 you ready, sir?" 
 
 "Yes, I am ready," was the answer. 
 Nevertheless, Trevor still stood expectant, 
 his eyes roving toward the door by which 
 Clarita had gone out of the room. 
 "Where ?" he began. 
 
 But Lathrop interrupted the question, 
 ere it was formed. 
 
 "Never mind," he urged. "I said good- 
 night for you, pater." 
 
 Thereat, the old man sighed wistfully; 
 and then the two went down to the street, 
 and entered the carriage, without another 
 word spoken between them. And in utter 
 silence they drove homeward, and in si- 
 lence they parted. 
 
 147
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHAT CARLA DARED 
 
 IT is a remarkable thing that the very 
 people whom we regard as the most 
 self-contained under trying circumstances 
 are the very ones, who, when they do give 
 way, lose all vestige of self-control, and 
 plunge head-foremost to the opposite ex- 
 treme. The fires that burned within the 
 breast of Carla Trevor had hitherto only 
 smoldered. They had been confined 
 within herself, their presence unsuspected, 
 and, therefore, the danger of them was 
 unheeded. But, when she had recovered 
 from the shock of Lathrop's abrupt de- 
 parture, the smoldering embers burst f ortH 
 into flame, and consumed her reason, her 
 judgment, and her faith. When she re- 
 turned the ring to Morris, she did not real- 
 148
 
 WHAT CARLA DARED 
 
 ly doubt his loyalty to her. The act was 
 based upon her idea of the principle which, 
 as .she believed, was involved; she had 
 broken the engagement because he had 
 refused to confide in her, and for no other 
 reason. She was not, in any sense of the 
 word, a coquette. Nevertheless, she had 
 coquetted with him then, for she had had 
 no suspicion, when she offered the ring to 
 him, that he would accept it. She could 
 not know anything of the self-abasement 
 under which he hourly struggled since he 
 had taken that step downward, which, in 
 his own opinion, forever removed him 
 from the realm in which he had lived all 
 his life that of unqualified uprightness. 
 Therefore, his calm acquiescence in her 
 decision prostrated her, overwhelmed her, 
 shocked her out of herself into another 
 being, whom she had not known, whom she 
 did not recognize, but who now dominated 
 every impulse within her. She had asked 
 for an explanation she had demanded 
 149
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 it. And, all the time, in her own heart, 
 she knew that there was a sufficient one. 
 She had spoken naught but the truth when 
 she said that she was not jealous. She 
 did not doubt him when he told her what 
 he did; her one cause of indignation 
 against him was that he did not tell her all. 
 Now, however, she saw things differ- 
 ently. Her recollection of the scene dis- 
 torted everything that had been said or 
 done out of all recognizable shape, and she 
 discovered motives which she had not im- 
 agined at the time, and fancied reasons 
 which were utterly unreasonable. His re- 
 fusal to explain farther than he had, was 
 now attributed to guilt and shame. His 
 statement concerning the purity of Clarita 
 Ortega, she now regarded as a lie. The 
 high value that he had placed upon her 
 own love for him had become a subter- 
 fuge. His pretense of mystery degener- 
 ated to a contemptible deception ; and, with 
 it all, she moaned in pain while she assured 
 150
 
 WHAT CARLA DARED 
 
 herself that he no longer loved her, and 
 convinced herself that he was at heart re- 
 joiced because she had severed the bond 
 between them. Still, she made no out- 
 ward sign. The fierce warfare that raged 
 within found no visible expression ; but she 
 was transformed from a calm, serene, lov- 
 ing woman, abounding in faith, into a 
 hard, suspicious relentless being who saw 
 only evil in the association of Morris La- 
 throp and Clarita Ortega. 
 
 So, the demons entered and took pos- 
 session of Carla Trevor. After hours of 
 agonized thought, she determined on a 
 course of action, and she forthwith set out 
 toward the consummation of her purpose 
 with a resolution that was not to be denied. 
 Shortly before eight o'clock on the night 
 following her dismissal of Lathrop, she 
 visited Edna's room, outwardly as calm 
 and self-possessed as ever, and she even 
 smiled contemptuously when she found her 
 sister in tears. She knew well the cause 
 151
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 of those tears, but she forbore any refer- 
 ence to them. It seemed to her rather in 
 the nature of presumption that Edna 
 should thus weep when she could not. 
 
 "I wish you to tell me again concerning 
 your encounter with that woman at Mor- 
 ris's apartment," she said, without any 
 hesitation. 
 
 "There is nothing to tell," Edna re- 
 turned. "I saw her there, that is all. 
 She had just as much right to be there as 
 I had, and it would be just as consistent 
 for you to think ill of me for going there 
 as to think ill of her." 
 
 Carla smiled. There was no sign of 
 softening in her manner, no hesitation. 
 
 "You are vehement, Edna," she said; 
 "too vehement, I think, in your defense of 
 Miss Ortega. Do you know the present 
 address of the woman whom you so ably 
 'defend?" 
 
 "Yes, I do. And I'll tell you one 
 .thing, Carla Trevor," Edna went on 
 152
 
 spiritedly. "That address alone is suf- 
 ficient proof that all your suspicions are 
 groundless. Do you think, if the facts 
 were as your jealous imagination paints 
 them, that he would take her to a place 
 like the Millington? That is where she 
 is now. Would he do that if there were 
 any grounds for your suspicions? You 
 ought to be ashamed of them and of 
 yourself ! I know a good woman when I 
 see one, and, if ever I saw one in my life, 
 it was when I saw Clarita Ortega. Do 
 you know what I did then? I insulted 
 her. I refused to be introduced. Oh, I 
 played the grand lady better than old 
 Madam Savage could have done it, and I 
 have been eating my heart out with shame 
 ever since. Just as sure as I live until to- 
 morrow morning, I am going up to the 
 Millington, and humble myself with the 
 most abject apology I know how to make; 
 and you will do well if you follow my ex- 
 ample." 
 
 153
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "You are a very good girl, but a very; 
 silly one at times, Edna," said Carla, with 
 quiet scorn. "I do not think that we need 
 to prolong this discussion. Good-night.'* 
 
 She went out of the room in the same 
 deliberate manner in which she had en- 
 tered it, leaving Edna disconsolate. It 
 was nearly nine o'clock, but Carla did not 
 hesitate. She had made her plans, and 
 she was determined to carry them out. 
 So, it happened that, only a few minutes 
 later, closely wrapped and veiled, she was 
 on the street, walking rapidly. The air 
 was cold and keen, and she walked on and 
 on, thinking, thinking, all the time of the 
 young woman she was determined to see 
 before she slept again; planning how she 
 would win her way into Clarita's presence, 
 for she had no doubt that she would be 
 denied admittance if she were known, and 
 she was equally sure that Morris had 
 warned this Spanish girl against her. 
 Could she have looked ahead into Clarita's 
 154
 
 WHAT CARLA DARED 
 
 parlor then, she would have seen her own 
 father standing in the centre of the room 
 with uplifted weapon, ready to strike; she 
 would have seen agony and remorse in his 
 face, wonder, doubt and horror in that of 
 his hostess, dismay in that of her lover 
 there with them. 
 
 As she drew near the building, two men 
 came out, one half -supporting the other, 
 and she recognized them both: her dis- 
 carded lover, and her father; but she 
 walked on steadily, knowing that they 
 could not recognize her veiled face. She 
 could have touched them with her hands 
 when she turned aside to pass them. She 
 did not comment upon the encounter, even 
 to herself. Her mind was too much en- 
 grossed with her own affairs. But the 
 meeting assured her of one thing that 
 her own interview with the girl would not 
 be interrupted; and she went on past the 
 house, turning to see if both of the men 
 entered the carriage. Then, when the 
 155
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 carriage had driven away, she passed 
 through the great front door, and went to 
 the elevator. 
 
 "Miss Ortega," she said. "She is ex- 
 pecting me, I believe. I will not wait to 
 send up my card. Which floor is it?" 
 
 "The top," the attendant answered, un- 
 suspectingly. 
 
 When the elevator stopped, the boy 
 stepped out, led her to the door of Clarita's 
 apartment, rang the bell for her, and then 
 hastened back to his car, and disappeared 
 down the shaft. 
 
 A maid opened the door. As it swung 
 ajar, Carla stepped within the hallway, 
 quickly. 
 
 "I wish to see Miss Ortega," she said, 
 and passed on into the parlor, where she 
 paused in the centre of the room on the 
 very spot where her father had stood, 
 only a little while before. 
 
 "Whom shall I say, madame?" asked 
 the maid, who had followed her. 
 156
 
 WHAT CARLA DARED 
 
 "Say that a lady one whom she knows 
 by name, at least wishes to see her." 
 
 .The maid withdrew, and then Carla's 
 eyes swept the room in sharp, comprehen- 
 sive glances, as if she were striving to 
 learn something of the unknown's char- 
 acter by the environment. She was still 
 engaged in this occupation of curiosity, 
 when she was startled by the sound of a 
 gentle voice speaking behind her: 
 
 "I am told that you wished to see me." 
 
 As the words fell on her ears, Carla 
 
 turned swiftly, while she threw back her 
 
 veil, and so, for the first time, she stood 
 
 face to face with Clarita Ortega. 
 
 157
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 FOR a brief interval, the two girls re- 
 mained silently facing each other. 
 Clarita's face showed now a courteous in- 
 terrogation as to this unexpected visitor's 
 presence, although it revealed, as well, 
 some traces of the scene through which she 
 had just passed. C aria's expression, on 
 the other hand, was studiously calm, and 
 her violet eyes surveyed the countenance 
 of her companion with a scrutiny that 
 would have been impertinent had there 
 been less surprise in her gaze. She was. 
 indeed, greatly startled, for she had not 
 expected to encounter such loveliness and 
 purity in the face of Clarita Ortega. 
 
 The Spanish girl was the first to break 
 the awkward silence. 
 158
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 "You wished to see me?" she said again. 
 Her voice was kindly, and expressed noth- 
 ing more than she uttered. It was evident 
 that she had no idea as to the identity of 
 her caller. 
 
 "Yes," Carla returned, steeling her 
 heart against the fascination that shone 
 out from the face before her; "yes, I 
 wished to see you." 
 
 "Will you be seated?" Clarita asked 
 quietly, disguising her astonishment at the 
 strangeness of the other's manner. 
 
 "No, thank you," came the crisp retort ; 
 "I do not care to sit down. I suppose, 
 Miss Ortega, that you do not guess who 
 I am?" 
 
 "No, I do not know you," Clarita ad- 
 mitted. "Perhaps, you will be good 
 enough to tell me your name." 
 
 "I am Miss Trevor," was the curt an- 
 nouncement. "Do you know me now?" 
 
 The other girl uttered a little gasp of 
 amazement, and her face paled suddenly. 
 159
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 At the same time, she took a step back- 
 ward. But she recovered herself in the 
 same instant, and, motioning toward a 
 chair, said slowly. 
 
 "It is very good of you to call upon me, 
 Miss Trevor. Won't you be seated, 
 please?" 
 
 Carla laughed a low, irritating laugh, 
 without any hint of mirth in it. 
 
 "No," she said coldly; "I do not care 
 to sit down." Her manner made the 
 words insulting. 
 
 "Then, why have you come here, Miss 
 Trevor?" Clarita demanded, indignantly. 
 
 "I have already told you: I came to see 
 you," was the deliberate answer. 
 
 "And is that all?" Clarita exclaimed, in 
 new bewilderment. 
 
 Carla stared insolently at the girl whom 
 she regarded as her rival. 
 
 "No, it is not quite all," she declared. 
 "I intend to say a few things to you, Miss 
 Ortega." 
 
 160
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 "Then, I must beg that you will be so 
 kind as to say them at once." The re- 
 quest was made with an air of extreme 
 hauteur. 
 
 Carla, nevertheless, maintained her poise 
 of scornful indifference. 
 
 "Rest assured that I shall say them be- 
 fore my departure," she answered. "You 
 are quite sure that you know who I am?" 
 
 "Yes. You are Carla Trevor, the lady 
 whom Morris is to marry." 
 
 "You are mistaken as to that," Carla 
 announced. 
 
 "Mistaken!" Clarita repeated the word, 
 amazedly. 
 
 "I am Clara Trevor, but I am not the 
 lady whom Morris Lathrop is to marry. 
 I have returned his ring to him. We are 
 nothing to each other, now. Do you not 
 know why this is so?" 
 
 "Oh, I am so sorry! so sorry!" 'Rita ex- 
 claimed, sympathetically. 
 
 "You, sorry!" Carla cried out, angrily. 
 161
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "You need not indulge in falsehoods, Miss 
 Ortega; they can do you no good. Do 
 you mean to tell me that you did not know 
 the engagement between Mr Lathrop and 
 me was broken? Would you have me be- 
 lieve that he did not at once fly to you with 
 the good news ? I saw him leave here only 
 a moment ago, in company with my 
 father. Have you got him in your toils, 
 also my father? Is he another of your 
 victims, Senorita Ortega?" 
 
 "I do not know what you mean, Miss 
 Trevor." The reply was uttered with 
 quiet dignity. But, now, Clarita's eyes 
 began to sparkle with rising anger, al- 
 though she controlled herself, and permit- 
 ted no other sign of it to appear. "I do 
 not know the object of your call your 
 manner is not at all in keeping with the 
 descriptions I have had of you. But I 
 am really very sorry for you sorry that 
 your engagement " 
 
 "I certainly did not come here as a sup- 
 162
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 pliant for your pity," interrupted Carla. 
 "You may keep that for yourself, for you 
 need it more than I do. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, you think that, now I am out of the 
 way, he will make you his wife." 
 
 'Rita uttered a low cry of pain, and 
 started back, placing one hand against her 
 heart. Her face became paler still, and 
 her great eyes gazed piteously upon her 
 tormentor. 
 
 "Marry me!" she exclaimed. "Marry 
 me? Make me his wife? No, no, Miss 
 Trevor, that is not for me! He does not 
 love me!" 
 
 "But you love him!" Carla cried, wrath- 
 fully. "I see it in your eyes, hear it in 
 your voice, read it in your manner! You 
 love him!" 
 
 Clarita stood before the outburst in 
 proud patience. 
 
 "Yes, I do love him," she said, softly. 
 "Is there any shame in that? I have 
 loved him ever since the first moment I 
 163
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 saw him, when he was so good to me. I 
 shall love him to the last moment of my 
 life. Is there any shame in that?" 
 
 "You are frank about it, at least. And, 
 because you do love him, you have given 
 yourself to him body and soul!" 
 
 "I do not know what you mean by giv- 
 ing myself to him body and soul," was the 
 reply. "I cannot pretend to understand 
 you. I have given him my heart, for 
 that is mine to bestow where I will, but he 
 does not know that he possesses it. My 
 soul belongs to God, not to him, nor to 
 you, nor to me. It is God's, and the Holy 
 Mother has it in her keeping." 
 
 "You dare to say such things you?" 
 gasped Carla. 
 
 "Why not? It is true. Is it wrong 
 that I should love Morris? Very, well 
 then, I have done wrong; but I could not 
 help it. I did not know that I loved him 
 until he told me about you, and I knew 
 that a day would come when I should lose 
 164
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 him. It was then that I discovered what 
 my heart had done, all in silence and in 
 secrecy. But he does not know that I love 
 him. I have never told him, and I have 
 tried oh, so hard! to hide it from him. 
 I look away from him sometimes when he 
 speaks to me, fearing that he will discover 
 it. Ah, you do not know you cannot 
 imagine the pain! You do not mean all 
 that you say and do now, for you are mad 
 with jealousy, but there is no cause. He 
 does not love me ; he loves only you. Be- 
 lieve me, it is true. I am nothing to him 
 nothing!" 
 
 "You are" 
 
 "Wait, please; let me finish," Clarita 
 insisted. "Then, perhaps, you will think 
 better of what you were about to say, for 
 I see in the expression of your eyes that 
 it is not pleasant." 
 
 "Say on; I will hear you to the end," 
 Carla said. 
 
 "It is, perhaps, natural," Clarita con- 
 165
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 tinued, "that you should feel as you do 
 toward me, since he was and, I trust, 
 will be again your accepted lover. I 
 do not know, but I think that I might feel 
 the same, if I believed that I had reason 
 to do so. I might be angrier than you 
 are, for I am very impetuous I do not 
 always think before I speak! But now, 
 Miss Trevor, there is no cause. For the 
 harsh things you have said since you came 
 here, I forgive you. Can we not be 
 friends?" 
 
 She put one hand out hesitatingly, and 
 took a step forward. There was entreaty 
 in her eyes and in her voice. She really 
 desired to be friends with this girl whom 
 Morris loved, for, as yet, she had not 
 guessed the horrible conviction that was 
 in the other's mind. 
 
 "Friends with you?" exclaimed Carla, 
 
 with such withering contempt that 'Rita 
 
 involuntarily shrank away. Of a sudden 
 
 now, she understood, and, before the real- 
 
 166
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 ization, she cowered as from a blow. It 
 was a gesture which Carla misinterpreted, 
 for she regarded it as an acknowledg- 
 ment of guilt. "Do you suppose that I 
 do not know?" she continued, with in- 
 creased scorn. "And why else do you 
 suppose I broke the engagement? Who 
 supports you? Morris Lathrop! Whose 
 money purchases the luxuries with which 
 you are surrounded? Morris Lathrop's! 
 Who hires your apartments for you? 
 He does! Who has moved you about 
 from place to place, from apartment to 
 apartment, lest your address and your ex- 
 istence should be discovered? Always 
 Morris Lathrop! And j r ou dare to stand 
 there with your baby face and innocent 
 air, and ask me to be your friend! I 
 would sooner fondle a snake than touch 
 your hand. You talk about your soul be- 
 longing to God! It belongs to Morris 
 Lathrop, for you sold it to him in return 
 for jewels and dresses, a luxuriant home. 
 167
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 And you have the effrontery to propose 
 friendship with me!" 
 
 Still, 'Rita did not speak. She could 
 only gaze upon her accuser in a wide-eyed 
 horror too profound for expression; and 
 she shrank farther and farther away, until 
 at last she placed her hand upon the back 
 of an upholstered chair, and leaned upon 
 it, utterly overwhelmed. 
 
 "I wonder if you realize how I despise 
 myself for coming here," Carla contin- 
 ued. "It lowers me for the moment to 
 your own level, and that is beneath con- 
 tempt. But I wished to see you; I 
 wanted to see a woman who would sell 
 herself for cash. I wanted to see a 
 woman, who, although devoid of heart 
 and soul and decency, yet possessed the 
 witchery to make men mad." 
 
 "Stop!" cried 'Rita, suddenly, and her 
 
 voice rang clearly. There was no more 
 
 shrinking in her attitude. Her slight 
 
 form seemed to grow taller, as she left the 
 
 168
 
 SHE SHRANK FARTHER AND FARTHER AWAY, 
 UNTIL AT LAST SHE PLACED HER HAND 
 UPON THE BACK OF AN UPHOLS- 
 TERED CHAIR. 
 
 Page 168
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 chair against which she had been leaning, 
 and with firm tread approached near to 
 Carla. The pathetic tenderness and sor- 
 rowful sympathy were gone from her 
 eyes, now. The horror was still there, 
 but through it sparkled indignant protest, 
 righteous anger and unalterable resolve. 
 "You go too far, Miss Trevor," she said, 
 with emphasis. "You are bad, cruel, 
 bitter. It is you who should feel the 
 shame, not I ! You come here, uninvited, 
 to my house and for what? To insult 
 me! Is that the act of a lady? You 
 accuse me of things that I cannot men- 
 tion, and you know in your own heart that 
 they are false. I will not discuss them 
 with you. Why should I? I care not 
 for your scorn, for I despise you. When 
 you came into my apartment, you left 
 without something that Mr. Lathrop val- 
 ued more than he did your beauty. Do you 
 know what it was? It was your dignity. 
 It would be well if you went out and 
 169
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 searched for it again. I will tell you one 
 thing more, for that you should know 
 that everybody should know. It is not 
 Mr. Lathrop's money that provides this 
 house, buys my dresses, and supports me: 
 it is my own. It was my father's; it is 
 now mine. For the rest, I shall not argue 
 with you. Such a thing would be to in- 
 sult myself. Oh, no! The shame is 
 yours, not mine. At first, I was sorry 
 for you, and I would have forgiven but 
 not now! You have gone too far. At 
 first, I would have done all that I could to 
 reunite you with Morris, for I love him, 
 and I would see him happy. But it 
 would not be for his happiness to unite 
 with you ; it would be to his despair. JSTo, 
 I would not have him make you his wife, 
 now; it would not be well. You are not 
 a good woman." 
 
 Her words came so fast, so impetuous- 
 ly, that Carla could do nothing but stand 
 and listen to them. She tried several 
 170
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 times to interrupt the torrent of rebuke 
 that fell from 'Rita's lips, but she could 
 not succeed. There was something in the 
 manner of the girl that overawed her, 
 that silenced her, that compelled her to 
 listen, even against her will. 
 
 Neither of them had heard the door- 
 bell, although it rang sharply while 'Rita 
 was speaking. Now, as Carla opened her 
 lips to reply, the portieres were thrust 
 apart, and Morris Lathrop stepped 
 quickly into the room, and paused, over- 
 come by astonishment to see these two to- 
 gether. 
 
 171
 
 XV 
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 BOTH Carla and Clarita discovered 
 Lathrop's presence at the same mo- 
 ment, but the discovery affected them 
 very differently. To Clarita, his coming 
 was a godsend; to Carla, it was only a 
 confirmation of her worst suspicions. 
 The former uttered a glad cry of wel- 
 come; the latter smiled contemptuously. 
 
 Lathrop looked from one to the other, 
 in unqualified amazement. He could not 
 understand Carla's presence there. At 
 first, the hope shot through him that she 
 had repented of her hasty judgment, and 
 had come to see for herself what manner 
 of woman it was concerning whom she 
 had questioned him that she had come 
 repentantly. One glance, however, was 
 172
 
 sufficient to dispel that illusion; the atti- 
 tude of the two was obviously hostile. 
 
 But the young man concealed his dis- 
 may as best he could. 
 
 "Good-evening, Carla," he said, quietly. 
 "It is a surprise to see you here. Why 
 don't you sit down?" 
 
 "Are the apartment and the furniture 
 yours, that you are so quick to place them 
 at my service?" the girl retorted, her lip 
 curling. 
 
 "Should I be infringing upon your 
 hospitality if I requested a lady to take a 
 seat in your drawing-room?" he asked in 
 return, speaking as calmly as before. 
 
 Then, he turned to 'Rita, in whose face 
 traces of her recent excitement were still 
 plainly to be seen, although her anger was 
 forgotten since the moment of his coming. 
 
 "What is the trouble, 'Rita," he said. 
 "Is anything wrong?" 
 
 "Everything seems to be wrong, Mor- 
 ris everything!" was the passionate 
 173
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 reply. "I don't know what it is; I don't 
 know what is the matter, but it is terrible ! 
 Miss Trevor came in unannounced; she 
 has been very unkind very unjust! 
 Ask her. Perhaps, she will tell you I 
 cannot !" 
 
 She turned away and walked to the win- 
 dow, crying silently, for her overwrought 
 nerves, so sorely tried by the two scenes 
 through which she had passed, could no 
 longer bear the strain, and, now that this 
 man in whom she had perfect trust was 
 come to defend her, she at last broke 
 down. 
 
 Carla did not wait for questions. She 
 seemed to have thrown all sense of dis- 
 cretion aside. She believed that Lathrop 
 had admitted himself with a key, for she 
 had not heard the bell, and in that moment 
 she hated him as intensely as she had loved 
 him in the past. 
 
 "Do you wish me to repeat to you what 
 I have already said to this woman?" she 
 174
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 demanded coldly, yet with such sup- 
 pressed wrath that it robbed her voice of 
 its clearness and rendered it husky and 
 unnatural. 
 
 "Carla, hush!" Lathrop exclaimed, 
 warningly. 
 
 "I will not hush!" the frantic girl 
 stormed. "Why should I? I only half- 
 believed it before; I know it now. I saw 
 you when you left this house in the com- 
 pany of my father. You have returned; 
 you enter the room with the air of a mas- 
 ter you are master here! Do I need a 
 greater assurance?" 
 
 With a slow gesture, she turned then, 
 and pointed one finger at Clarita. 
 
 "She has not denied it," she continued. 
 "She could not she dare not, for it is 
 the truth! When I accused her of it, she 
 could only cower, like the guilty thing she 
 is. She could not say, no! Oh, she loves 
 you yes, she admits that much. I do 
 not doubt that she will continue to lavish 
 175
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 her love upon you, such as it is, until she 
 finds another who has more money to give 
 her, or who wins her fancy for the mo- 
 ment. Why, she thinks, now our en- 
 gagement is broken; that you will make 
 her your wife, that you will " 
 
 "It is false, Morris! Do not believe 
 her!" cried 'Rita, whirling and facing 
 them. Her cheeks were flaming red, and 
 her eyes shone like stars. To have the 
 love she had striven so hard to conceal, 
 revealed in that wanton manner was to 
 her the climax of disaster. So long as 
 the accusations made against her were un- 
 true, she could bear them, but, when the 
 holiest truth of her life was thus "cried 
 abroad, it was more than she could bear, 
 and she stood there trembling, not know- 
 ing which way to turn, utterly bereft. 
 
 Lathrop stepped to her side instantly, 
 
 and gently put an arm around her. She 
 
 nestled close to him, and grew calmer. 
 
 Then, very quietly, but very firmly, he 
 
 176
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 spoke; and his face wore the smile that it 
 had shown when he struck down Chap- 
 man in the billiard-room of the club. 
 
 "Carla," he said, "you have decided for 
 me a question that I should have settled 
 for myself long ago. I cannot under- 
 stand what actuates you to-night. You 
 have said things and done tilings which 
 may be forgiven, but which can never be 
 forgotten. I regret particularly that it 
 is you who have said them, for the day will 
 come when you must repent them with 
 much more bitterness than you use in giv- 
 ing utterance to them now." 
 
 Carla smiled, disdainfully. 
 
 "You mean, I suppose, that my re- 
 pentance will come too late," she said. 
 "I have said nothing that I regret 
 nothing! I am sorry that I came here, 
 for you have exhibited a depth of degra- 
 dation of which I had not believed you 
 capable, and I regret such a spectacle* 
 As for her" 
 
 177
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Stop, Carla!" Lathrop commanded, 
 sternly. "Even from you, I will listen 
 to no more. If you have no considera- 
 tion for others, recall some of your own 
 self-respect and go!" 
 
 "You order me out like that?" the 
 girl exclaimed, aghast at the extremity 
 to which she had forced herself. 
 
 "I do not order you out," Lathrop 
 rejoined. "I have neither the inclination 
 nor the right to do so, but it is best for 
 you, and best for all concerned that you 
 do go, and at once. Your presence has 
 already worked harm enough to us all. 
 So, go, please. I ask it for your father's 
 sake, for Edna's sake, for your own not 
 for 'Rita's or for mine. You cannot in- 
 jure me, and I can and will protect her." 
 
 "By giving her your name, I suppose," 
 Carla suggested, maliciously. "It would 
 be a fitting end." 
 
 "Yes, by giving her my name, if she 
 178
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEN 
 
 will accept it," Lathrop agreed, and his 
 voice was tender. 
 
 For a moment, there was silence. 
 (Then, Carla spoke, falteringly: 
 
 "I will go." 
 
 She did not deign another word, but, 
 with head erect, crossed the room, and 
 disappeared through the portieres. 
 
 Lathrop still stood with one of his arms 
 around 'Rita. For a little, after Carla 
 had left the room, both continued silent. 
 Presently, however, the young man 
 looked down at the face on his breast and 
 saw that the girl was crying silently. 
 
 " 'Rita," he said, softly, "is it true?" 
 
 "Is what true, Morris," she murmured. 
 
 "Is it true that you love me?" 
 
 "Yes," she whispered, "it is true. I 
 love you, I have always loved you, Mor- 
 ris, and I always shall love you." 
 
 "And to-morrow morning, dear, will 
 you stand before a minister, here in this 
 179
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 place and say the words that will make 
 you my wife ?" 
 
 She broke away from him and fled to 
 the other side of the room, where, with a 
 table between them, she stood panting, 
 frightened, wondering. 
 
 "No no no!" she cried. "Not that! 
 I could not do it. It is not possible. It 
 would not be right. It would be a sin." 
 
 "Why, 'Rita?" he asked. "If you love 
 me, why do you refuse to be my wife?" 
 
 "Because you do not love me!" she 
 replied, slowly. 
 
 "That is not true," he declared, with 
 great earnestness. "I do love you, with 
 all my heart." 
 
 But she shook her head. 
 
 "You do not love me," she repeated. 
 "I am very dear to you I know that, and 
 I thank God for it but you do not love 
 me! You have given all your love to 
 Miss Trevor, and you cannot take it away 
 in a moment, and bestow it upon me. 
 180
 
 Hush! Do not speak," she went on, "for 
 I am not strong against you. Let me 
 complete what I have to say. You offer 
 to make me your wife, because of what 
 has happened here, because you regard it 
 as your duty, because it will forever put 
 an end to the slanders which were pro- 
 voked by my visit to your rooms. If you 
 loved me, I would fly to your arms. As 
 it is, no! I cannot, I cannot be your 
 wife." 
 
 ' 'Rita," Lathrop said, stretching out 
 his hands toward her, "come here. You 
 need not run away from me, for you are 
 altogether wrong. I do love you ! I had 
 determined to ask you to be my wife while 
 I was on the way back here after taking 
 Mr. Trevor home long before I had any 
 idea that Carla was here. You certainly 
 believe me now, do you not?" 
 
 "Yes," the girl admitted. "You have 
 never deceived me I do not doubt you 
 now." 
 
 181
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Then, you will consent!" Lathrop 
 cried, joyously. 
 
 But the girl shook her head in denial. 
 
 "No, no; I cannot!" she persisted. 
 "You must not ask it of me." 
 
 "But I do ask it, dear," Lathrop urged. 
 "It is for my own happiness that I plead. 
 You will do this to make me happy, will 
 you not? . . . Listen: To-morrow, 
 I shall bring two of my friends here, and 
 in their presence we shall be married. 
 As quickly as I can, I shall finish up the 
 business that detains me in town. When 
 that is arranged, we shall go abroad. We 
 shall travel where we please, and for as 
 long as we please. Afterward, we shall 
 choose a home as our fancy guides us. 
 You will not refuse me, 'Rita? To- 
 morrow, at twelve o'clock, I shall be here. 
 You will be ready, dear?" 
 
 The girl's eyes were moist as she gazed 
 up at him, but, for a little, she made no 
 reply; indeed, she could not speak just 
 182
 
 DRIVEN BACK TO EDEX 
 
 then. Her whole heart went out to him, 
 and yet there was something wanting. 
 Had he seized her in his arms; had he 
 whispered w r ords of endearment, had he 
 covered her face with kisses; had he, in- 
 stead of pleading, demanded, this hesita- 
 tion could not have held her in its thrall. 
 But, now, she did not know. 
 
 "Say, yes, 'Rita!" the lover besought 
 her. "It must be, yes!" 
 
 For yet a moment more, the girl 
 wavered. And then, at last, she yielded 
 to the impulse of her own dearest desire. 
 Her head drooped until it was bowed in 
 utter humility before this man whom she 
 worshiped, and, in a voice so low that his 
 eager ears could hardly catch the words, 
 she murmured: 
 
 "If you wish it so, Morris yesT 
 
 183
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 WHEN Morris Lathrop arrived 
 at his own room that night, 
 after he had won the consent of Clarita 
 to marry him the following morning, he 
 scarcely knew the truth as to his own 
 feelings. He did not realize that his love 
 for Carla had received a shock from which 
 it could never recover, yet he assured 
 himself that he had done right in offering 
 himself to 'Rita, despite the fact that his 
 love for her was a quantity he had never 
 yet paused to analyze. He was conscious 
 of a sense of repose in the arrangement 
 that had been made, and the pain that had 
 been his because of the separation from 
 Carla was gone. He could no longer 
 think of her as hitherto. He remembered 
 184
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 her now only as he had seen her during 
 that scene in 'Rita's apartment, and he re- 
 called the picture with a shudder. 
 
 There was a telegram awaiting him 
 which caused disquieting thought. It 
 came from Jack Millington, and read: 
 
 "Correct was good news. Arrive New 
 York to-morrow night, ten. Will keep 
 dark few days in your rooms, if you can 
 put me up. Funny cable from governor. 
 Explain when I see you. Can you meet 
 me at train? J. M." 
 
 It was evident that the cryptic phrase, 
 "Funny cable from governor," referred 
 to the hypothecated securities. The news 
 brought Lathrop back with a sudden 
 shock to realization of the dangerous 
 position in which he had placed himself. 
 'Nevertheless, he put the message aside, 
 and went to the club, and, as he walked 
 up the avenue, the burden of his thought 
 was: "I wonder if I do right in marry- 
 ing 'Rita while this peril of disgrace is 
 185
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 hanging over me?" He could not reply 
 to the question satisfactorily to himself; 
 and, in the end, he shrugged his shoulders, 
 and let it rest. But it was to be an- 
 swered for him in a manner that he could 
 not foresee. 
 
 As soon as he had finished his breakfast 
 the next morning, he set about making 
 arrangements for the event of the day, 
 and started at a rapid walk for the resi- 
 dence of a clergyman of his acquaintance. 
 Before he arrived at the house, however, 
 something compelled him to hesitate. It 
 came to him that he should see 'Rita again 
 before he made any of the necessary ar- 
 rangements for the wedding. Twice he 
 stopped to turn back, and twice he went 
 on his way again ; but, at last, he made the 
 third pause. Thereafter, he did not hesi- 
 tate, but called a cab, and ordered the 
 driver to take him to the Millington. It 
 was not yet ten o'clock; an early hour for 
 a call, but there was sufficient excuse, for 
 186
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 he had convinced himself that his only ob- 
 ject in the visit was to discover if the 
 girj had not some suggestion to make re- 
 garding the ceremony. 
 
 The maid who answered his ring 
 announced that her mistress had gone out 
 early to do some shopping. "Made- 
 moiselle left a letter for you, sir," she 
 continued. "She expected you, I think, 
 for she told me to give it to you as soon 
 as you came. I will get it for you." 
 
 Lathrop passed through the hallway 
 into the parlor, and waited, until the mis- 
 sive was brought. He broke the seal, and 
 read it, after the maid had discreetly 
 retired. As he gathered its purport, his 
 face turned white. 
 
 This was the text of the letter : 
 
 "I am going away, I know not where; 
 but it is best that I should go, and I obey 
 the mandate of my conscience. It is be- 
 cause I love you, dear, that I go. If I 
 loved you less, I should remain. You 
 187
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 love me yes, that I do not doubt ; but not 
 as you should love one who becomes your 
 wife. Do not think that I have wantonly 
 deceived you. When I said, 'y es / to you 
 last night, I intended to keep my word; 
 but, almost immediately after you were 
 gone from me, I realized the error that I 
 had committed, and I understood that it 
 could not be as you wished. I think that 
 I love your happiness and your content 
 even more than I love you. Can you un- 
 derstand how that can be? 
 
 "If we were married, I should tremble 
 always lest there come a moment of regret 
 into your life for what you had done, and 
 that would kill me. 
 
 "You will be worried about my safety. 
 That must not be, for I shall be safe. 
 You remember, there is a column in the 
 Herald that you used to laugh about 
 sometimes? If it be necessary, I shall 
 communicate with you by that means ; and 
 as soon as it is best. When you have f or- 
 188
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 given Carla, and are reconciled to her, if 
 you will announce it to me in the same 
 manner, I shall return, but not until then 
 no! It is Carla whom you love. 
 
 "I have forgiven her for what she said 
 and did last night. She was beside herself 
 mad! I, myself, might have done the 
 same, or worse. You should not hold her 
 accountable for it. She loves you. When 
 she lost you, it stole away her reason. 
 Because of that, I freely forgive her, and, 
 if I forgive her, surely you can do the 
 same. 
 
 "It is bitter, this going away ! To you, 
 it will appear unnecessary, but you do 
 not understand. It is not from you that 
 I fly; it is from myself! God bless you 
 and keep you, dear, and remember that I 
 love you!" 
 
 Lathrop read the letter through twice. 
 
 Then, he folded it carefully, and put it in 
 
 his pocket-book. Presently, he walked to 
 
 a window, and stood for a long time look- 
 
 189
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ing out upon the street. When he 
 turned, he rang the bell for the maid. 
 
 "Your mistress writes," he said, without 
 showing any emotion, "that she may 
 accept an invitation to spend several days 
 with a friend, in another city. She prob- 
 ably had not fully decided when she went 
 out, or she would have told you. So, if 
 she does not return, you will under- 
 stand." 
 
 He went out then, got into his cab, and 
 was driven to the office of George Trevor. 
 
 "Come in, come in," said the broker, 
 when he saw him. "I want to talk to you. 
 You are late!" 
 
 "I could not very well help it, pater. 
 What is it? Anything new?" 
 
 "No. I want to talk to you about 
 last night. I must talk to someone, or I 
 shall go mad. And you are the only one 
 to whom I can speak." 
 
 "Then, let us leave it until evening," 
 Lathrop suggested. "Here, we are 
 190
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 likely to be interrupted. I'll come to you 
 at your house, after dinner." 
 
 "Very well," the financier agreed. 
 TKen, he added reflectively: "You need 
 not mind coming to the house on Carla's 
 account. She has gone away." 
 
 "Gone away!" Lathrop repeated, as- 
 tonished. "Where?" 
 
 "To Lakewood," was the answer. "At 
 least, I found a note on the breakfast- 
 table, telling me that she had gone." 
 
 At this moment, the conference of the 
 two was interrupted by a clerk, who en- 
 tered with a card. The financier glanced 
 at it, and read aloud the name, "Harry 
 Chapman." 
 
 "Very well," he directed. "Send him 
 in." 
 
 There was another private room, at the 
 back of that usually occupied by the 
 broker, and, when the clerk had gone 
 out, Lathrop rose and w r ent into it. 
 
 "I am the bearer of bad news, Mr. 
 191
 
 Trevor," Chapman announced, as he came 
 into the presence of the financier. "Your 
 daughter, Carla, has met with an accident. 
 She" 
 
 "She is not dead!" the old man ex- 
 claimed, his face ghastly. 
 
 "No, no, sir," Chapman replied, 
 quickly. "I regret that I must tell you 
 of this. I was present when it occurred, 
 and I did all that I could to give assist- 
 ance. Then, I hurried here. She was 
 conscious when I came away. The phy- 
 sician told me that, if there was no inter- 
 nal injury, she would recover." 
 
 "Where was it? How did it happen?" 
 the financier questioned. 
 
 "At the American Line pier, where she 
 had gone to see about her room for the 
 voyage. She was knocked down by a 
 team of truck horses. But her injury is 
 not serious." 
 
 "American Line pier voyage?" splut- 
 tered Trevor, not comprehending in the 
 192
 
 THE LETTER 
 
 least. "What the devil do you mean?" 
 
 "She was to sail to-day, you know," 
 Chapman answered, in astonishment. "I 
 met Miss Trevor last night, as she was 
 coming out of the Millington on Central 
 Park West, and I escorted her home. 
 She told me then that she intended to sail 
 to-day, but that you had neglected to pro- 
 cure her tickets. I volunteered to attend 
 to it for her 
 
 "Coming out of the Millington!" ex- 
 claimed the broker, heeding nothing else 
 that Chapman was saying. "What time 
 was that?" 
 
 "About ten o'clock perhaps a little 
 after," Chapman replied. 
 
 "Good God! What was she doing 
 there?" came the imperative question. 
 
 "She had been calling on a friend, I 
 suppose," was the wondering answer. "I 
 did not ask her!" 
 
 "Morris! Morris!" Trevor called. 
 
 Lathrop stepped into the room, but he 
 193
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 did not turn his eyes in Chapman's direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Chapman, smiling cynically, said: 
 "Mr. Lathrop can inform you as to 
 whom she called upon, for he also was 
 there." 
 
 Then, he turned abruptly, and left the 
 office. 
 
 194
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FACE TO FACE WITH CONSEQUENCES 
 
 , pater," said Morris in- 
 stantly, speaking before Chap- 
 man was fairly out of the room. "We'll 
 do our talking while on the way." When 
 they were seated in the carriage, he added: 
 "That man Chapman is my evil genius, 
 I verily believe. I had almost forgotten 
 his existence, and now it appears that he 
 has been spying upon me all the time. 
 I'll tell you whatever there is to tell. 
 'Rita came to my room one day to see me. 
 Carla heard of it. Later, she heard other 
 things, and she asked me to explain. 
 Because I would not tell 'Rita's history, 
 she broke the engagement. Last night, 
 after we left 'Rita, she called at the Mil- 
 lington. She was there when I returned. 
 195
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 It seems that sfye met Chapman as she 
 went away." 
 
 "But why did she go to see 'Rita? 
 Those two together!" the financier ex- 
 claimed. "Ah! If they had only 
 known!" 
 
 The younger man placed one hand on 
 his companion's knee, and, gazing ear- 
 nestly into his face, said sternly : 
 
 "Pater, neither Carla nor Edna shall 
 ever know. Promise me that!" 
 
 "Why, Morris, why? Why must they 
 never know? 'Rita is their sister they 
 are all my children. It is not Carla or 
 Edna whom I fear to tell: it is 'Rita. 
 God only knows how I can find the 
 strength to tell her. How shall I ever 
 tell her about her mother?" 
 
 "You cannot you must not you shall 
 not tell any of them!" Lathrop insisted. 
 "Pater listen to me. There is a chapter 
 of that history connected with your past 
 which you, even, do not know. Silence 
 196
 
 FACE TO FACE 
 
 is your only safeguard. You must not 
 speak." 
 
 "Not yet not yet, perhaps," the 
 broker agreed. "But Morris, you must 
 surely come to me to-night." 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop said, "I shall come to 
 you to-night." 
 
 On their arrival at the house, Edna met 
 them in the hall, and, while Trevor 
 hurried to the bedside of his daughter, she 
 told the details of the accident to Lathrop. 
 It appeared that the injury was not, after 
 all, very serious. Carla's left arm had 
 been broken, and she was sufFering from 
 shock, mental as well as physical, but the 
 physicians predicted a speedy recovery. 
 When he had received this information, 
 Lathrop hurried away, and went directly 
 to the offices of the Herald., where he 
 wrote an advertisement for insertion in 
 the personal column, to this effect: 
 
 ' 'Rita : It is most important that you 
 should return home at once. If you con- 
 197
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 sider my happiness, you will do this." 
 He did not sign the notice, inasmuch as 
 he knew that the girl would instantly 
 know him as the writer of it. He was 
 endeavoring now to analyze the effect, 
 that the rupture with Carla and the flight 
 of Clarita had had upon him. He carried 
 his memory back to the moment when 
 Carla returned the ring to him, and he 
 was moved to wonder that her dismissal 
 of him should have affected him so 
 strongly. In this moment, he perceived 
 that the disappearance of 'Rita was a far 
 greater grief to him. Something of the 
 truth began to reveal itself to his heart. 
 "I have worshiped a masterpiece of sculp- 
 ture," he mused, "and I have seen it step 
 down from its pedestal, and become com- 
 mon clay. That transformation has 
 changed everything for me." He re- 
 called, too, Chapman's statement as to 
 Carla's meditated departure for Europe, 
 and wondered over this fact. Trevor 
 198
 
 FACE TO FACE 
 
 had interrupted the fellow ere the expla- 
 nation had been completed, but Lathrop 
 readily guessed the truth as to the girl's 
 purpose. Maddened by her own mis- 
 takes, after leaving the presence of the 
 one whom she had so bitterly and so 
 unjustly attacked, she had impulsively 
 determined on a far flight. Outwardly 
 calm and self-possessed as always, she had 
 permitted Chapman to observe no sign of 
 her excitement. On the spur of the mo- 
 ment when she encountered him, she had 
 invented her explanation concerning the 
 tickets, and had accepted the readily- 
 proffered aid of this chance-comer. In 
 consequence, Chapman, knowing her 
 intention and commissioned by her to aid 
 in its fulfilment, had met her at the pier 
 to deliver the tickets to her, and had been 
 present when the accident occurred. But 
 there remained the question as to how 
 Chapman had chanced to be at the door 
 of the Millington when she issued from 
 199
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 the apartment-house. Lathrop believed 
 that the answer to this was simplicity 
 itself: The fellow had been spying on 
 the man who had shamed him. Never- 
 theless, the ultimate purpose of such 
 espionage remained a matter of mystery. 
 
 The restraints that had been imposed 
 upon him, his constant worries and sus- 
 tained excitements produced their evitable 
 results on the young man who was their 
 victim. At once on his return to his 
 apartment, Lathrop dropped down on a 
 sofa, and fell sound asleep. 
 
 When he awoke, it was with a start of 
 dismay, for he realized instantly that he 
 had slept for a long time. A glance at 
 his watch showed him that he was already 
 late for his engagement at the house of 
 Trevor. He sprang to the telephone, 
 and attempted to get the financier on the 
 wire, but the call remained unanswered. 
 He had no time to make further efforts 
 in this direction, for there was before him 
 200
 
 FACE TO FACE 
 
 the more vital duty of meeting Jack 
 Millington. Therefore, he hastened to 
 call a cab, and make his way to the Grand 
 Central Station, where he arrived just as 
 the passengers were getting out of the 
 Chicago train. Presently, his friend ap- 
 peared, and a moment later they were 
 shaking hands cordially. 
 
 "The governor is coming over," was 
 the young millionaire's first announce- 
 ment, when the two men were snugly en- 
 sconced in Lathrop's apartment. "He'll 
 be here in three days. It's something 
 about that X. L. his pet stock. Some- 
 thing's wrong somewhere. It must be 
 straightened out before he gets here, or 
 there'll be the devil to pay!" 
 
 201
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR 
 
 WHAT further might have been 
 said on the subject was inter- 
 rupted by a ringing of the door-bell, and, 
 while Millington rushed into the room 
 assigned to him, Lathrop went to the 
 door, where he found George Trevor, in 
 a state of perturbation. 
 
 "Come in, pater," was the young man's 
 greeting. "I am sorry that I did not 
 keep my appointment with you to-night. 
 I dropped asleep, and, when I awoke, it 
 was too late. I tried to get you over the 
 telephone, but I failed. . . . How is 
 Carla?" 
 
 "She is better," Trevor replied. "She 
 is in no danger. . . . But, Morris, I 
 must know " 
 
 202
 
 THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR 
 
 "Wait a minute, please," Lathrop inter- 
 rupted. "Surely, we do not have to talk 
 business to-night." 
 
 "I must talk business to-night," came 
 the impatient answer. "That is what I 
 came here for. It's about that " 
 
 "Oh, yes," the young man broke in 
 again, fearful lest Millington should hear. 
 "It's about that matter between us. 
 Eh?" 
 
 The financier regarded Lathrop per- 
 plexedly, at the unusual manner displayed 
 by his friend. But, suddenly, an explan- 
 ation occurred to him. 
 
 "Perhaps, you, also, received a mes- 
 sage?" he said, tentatively. 
 
 Lathrop nodded, since he had not a 
 notion what else to do. He felt that, at 
 all hazards, he must prevent Trevor from 
 referring in words to the X. L. stock, 
 inasmuch as Millington in the adjoining 
 room could hear everything that was said. 
 Nevertheless, he was in honor bound not 
 203
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 to warn his companion of the presence of 
 a third person in the apartment. 
 
 "Well here is mine. Read it," con* 
 tinued the broker, extending an envelope 
 toward Lathrop. "After you have read 
 it, I'll show you my reply, for I did reply. 
 Read it." 
 
 The young man took the message from 
 its envelope, and spread it out before him. 
 A glance told him that it was a cablegram. 
 He read: 
 
 "Positive information you have block 
 X. L. stock. Where did you get it? 
 
 "SAM MlLLINGTON." 
 
 "Well?" Lathrop said, as he looked up 
 inquiringly. By a mighty effort, he 
 spoke with the utmost calmness. 
 
 "Now, read my reply," the financier di- 
 rected. "Then, I'll tell you about it. 
 Here it is." 
 
 Again, Lathrop read in silence: 
 
 "Sam Millington, Paris, France: 
 None of your business. Trevor." 
 204
 
 THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR 
 
 "What do you think of it?" demanded' 
 the older man, smiling grimly. 
 
 Lathrop laughed aloud. 
 
 "It's to the point," he conceded. 
 "When did you receive the message?" 
 
 "That's the devil of it! It came three 
 days ago, and was delivered at the house. 
 Edna received it, and of course forgot ail- 
 about it. She gave it to me to-night. 
 Now, what does it mean?" 
 
 "Whatever it means, pater, it cannot 
 affect you, can it?" 
 
 "I'm not so sure about that. It may, 
 mightily. Anyhow, I don't want the 
 stuff on my hands any longer. By the 
 way, did you wire your friend that he 
 could come into the deal?" 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop declared; "it is all 
 right, and will be arranged to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 "I am sorry now that I gave my con- 
 sent," the financier said, thoughtfully. 
 "But I won't withdraw it. You see, 
 205
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Morris, young Millington is very clever 
 cleverer by far than is Sam himself. 
 Either of them would put up a game on 
 me in a minute, if he could. That cable 
 from Sam makes me believe that some 
 scheme is afoot. . . . Look here, 
 Morris, I want to know just one thing: 
 Is that stock yours, or did you borrow it 
 from Jack Millington?" 
 
 Before this crucial question, Lathrop 
 did not hesitate, perceptibly. 
 
 "I have never borrowed anything from 
 Jack Millington in my life," he declared, 
 earnestly. "Does that satisfy you, sir?" 
 
 "Perfectly; and it relieves me might- 
 ily," the financier answered, smiling. 
 But, presently, he frowned again. 
 'Where is 'Rita?" he demanded, abruptly. 
 "When you failed to come to the house 
 to-night, I went up there, partly to see 
 her, partly in the hope of running across 
 you. I learned that she went away this 
 morning. You know of her absence, for 
 206
 
 THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR 
 
 the maid told me of your calling there 
 to-day. Where is she, Morris?" 
 
 "Why, visiting some of her Spanish 
 friends, I fancy," Lathrop replied, 
 negligently. "Certainly her absence for 
 a day or two is nothing to alarm us." 
 
 "Well, perhaps it is not," the broker 
 agreed, dubiously. "But, taken along 
 with the fact of Carla's going there, I 
 felt uneasy dver it, though I can hardly 
 tell why." After a little more desultory 
 chat, the old man took his leave. 
 
 When he was again alone, Lathrop 
 stood for a time with clenched hands and 
 compressed lips. His face was pale, and 
 his eyes had in them an expression of 
 trouble that was new, for he realized the 
 fact that George Trevor had said suffi- 
 cient to make Jack Millington cognizant 
 of the whole truth concerning the stolen 
 securities. He had lately ventured to 
 hope that he might keep these things from 
 the knowledge of the young financier ; or, 
 207
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 if they had to be told, that, at least, he 
 himself might have the telling of them. 
 Now, as he believed, Trevor's visit had 
 rendered his situation far more desperate 
 than it had ever been before. The revela- 
 tion had been made. There remained, 
 then, only to face the result, nor was 
 aught to be gained by postponing the in- 
 evitable moment of reckoning. 
 
 208
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE WHIM OF CUPID 
 
 LATHROP turned to the door 
 through which Millington had 
 made his retreat, and called out: 
 
 "Jack!" 
 
 There was no reply, and he waited for 
 a moment, then called again. Still re- 
 ceiving no answer, he went through the 
 rooms in search, only to find that his guest 
 had disappeared. The fact first as- 
 tonished him, then troubled him, then 
 pleased him. It was certain that Milling- 
 ton had gone out; there was, therefore, 
 the possibility that he had left ere the vital 
 words of Trevor's conversation had been 
 spoken. Lathrop returned to the parlor 
 of his suite, and awaited the coming of 
 his friend in a fever of anxiety. Ten 
 209
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 minutes later, the bell sounded again, and 
 he opened the door to his guest. 
 
 "Missed me, did you?" Millington 
 asked, with a smile, as he entered the 
 room, and deposited his bulk in a con- 
 venient chair. "Well, I wanted to stretch 
 my legs a bit, you know they were ach- 
 ing with cramps from the sleeper. So, I 
 hunted up a golf cap of yours out there, 
 let myself out by the other door, and took 
 a stroll around the block. I fancied, too, 
 that the old man might have something 
 private to discuss with you, and, if I'd 
 stayed, I'd have had to hear, which 
 wouldn't have been fair." 
 
 Lathrop regarded his friend search- 
 ingly, but he made no further reference 
 at this time to the subject uppermost in 
 his thoughts. He derived much comfort 
 from the fact that his guest's manner was 
 as bluff and hearty as ever. 
 
 "Jack," he said at last, "there is some- 
 210
 
 THE WHIM OF CUPID 
 
 ithing I want to say to you; or, rather, 
 something I ought to say to you. I do 
 not think that there will ever be a better 
 time than now." 
 
 "What is it about? Business?" Mil- 
 lington lazily took his cigar from his 
 mouth, and blew a cloud of smoke into the 
 air. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, I don't want to hear it," was the 
 curt announcement. "Won't hear it, in 
 fact." 
 
 "But it is important!" Lathrop urged. 
 
 "Bosh! Nothing is important at this 
 time of night. I'm tired of business, and 
 want to forget it for awhile. Besides, 
 there is something not business that I wish 
 to talk about." 
 
 Lathrop, despite his firmness of pur- 
 pose, experienced a thrill of relief. 
 Nevertheless, he made one further effort 
 toward confession. 
 
 211
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "It's about a matter that Trevor and I 
 referred to while I supposed you were in 
 the next room," he said. 
 
 "Confound Trevor, and the next room, 
 too!" Millington commented. "I went 
 out, and so didn't hear it, you see. You 
 would have to go over the whole affair, 
 whatever it is. It's too much trouble, 
 now. Besides, I want to talk about 
 something else." 
 
 Lathrop permitted himself to be per- 
 suaded. 
 
 "Very well. What is it?" he ques- 
 tioned, with infinite relief. 
 
 "Do you remember the last thing you 
 said to me before I started for Chicago?" 
 came the counter interrogation. 
 
 "No. Something about the Cummings 
 affair, wasn't it?" 
 
 "It had nothing to do with business; 
 
 but it has been on my mind ever since. 
 
 You remember, you made this remark 
 
 I can quote the exact words: 'She is not 
 
 212
 
 THE WHIM OF CUPID 
 
 for you, unless You stopped there, 
 and, when I said, 'Unless what?' you re- 
 plied that you would tell me after I 
 returned from Chicago. Now, Morris, I 
 have made you think it was the governor's 
 cable sent me home. It wasn't! It was 
 that: I wanted to hear the rest of the 
 sentence." 
 
 Lathrop continued silent for so long 
 an interval that the other finally turned 
 to stare curiously at him. 
 
 "Well?" he demanded, presently. 
 "Are you going to complete that sen- 
 tence?" 
 
 "Yes, I will complete it," Lathrop an- 
 swered; "I will complete it as I would 
 have done then. But, Jack, I am not 
 sure I would say the same thing now. If 
 I had completed the sentence at that time, 
 it would have been : 'Unless you want to 
 marry a woman without a past.' ' 
 
 "Eh? What's that?" Millington ex- 
 claimed. Then, he added quickly: "As 
 213
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 for that, Morris, I'd much rather have 
 one without a past, than with one. But 
 you know about her past, don't you?" 
 
 "I have said that she is without one, 
 Jack. It is a matter that cannot be dis- 
 cussed, even between us. I will say only 
 one thing, and that must end all dis- 
 cussions of her. God never made a 
 purer, sweeter, or truer woman than 
 Clarita Ortega." 
 
 "That is just the idea I have had ever 
 since I saw her. But, Morris," Milling- 
 ton continued, with a keen glance, "I 
 more than half-believed that you are in 
 love with her yourself." 
 
 "I more than half -believed it myself," 
 Lathrop admitted. In the smile which 
 accompanied the words, there was more 
 of sadness than of mirth. 
 
 "What? While you are engaged to 
 another?" came the indignant exclama- 
 tion. 
 
 "My engagement with Carla Trevor is 
 214
 
 THE WHIM OF CUPID 
 
 at an end," Lathrop explained. "It will 
 never be renewed." 
 
 Millington uttered an ejaculation of 
 dismay, and his tone, when he spoke, was 
 dismal. 
 
 "Look here, Morris," he said. "Are 
 you going to ask Miss Ortega to marry 
 you?" 
 
 "I have already done so," was the quiet 
 answer. Millington regarded his host 
 with much disapproval. 
 
 "You didn't lose any time, did you?" 
 he remarked; and his voice was bitterly 
 sarcastic. He got up from his chair, and 
 crossed the room to the fireplace where he 
 stood for several moments, silently regard- 
 ing the glowing coals. Then he returned 
 and calmly resumed his seat. 
 
 "When is it coming off?" he asked. 
 
 "She has refused me," Morris answered. 
 
 "Refused you!" Millington bounded to 
 his feet again, and crossed to the grate 
 once more. Here he turned his back to 
 215
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 the fire and stood with his feet wide-apart 
 and his hands behind him. When, finally, 
 he broke the silence, his voice was graver 
 than its wont. 
 
 "Old man," he said, almost plaintively, 
 "I am going to be downright serious for 
 once. Tell me : Is there any reason why I 
 should not ask Clarita Ortega to be my 
 wife?" 
 
 "None," was the ready answer. 
 
 "She is, somehow, in your care, isn't 
 she?" Millington continued, curiously. 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop replied. "She is really 
 although not legally, my ward. She is a 
 trust that came to me through a peculiar 
 chain of circumstances, which I am not 
 free to explain." 
 
 "I do not ask for any explanation," was 
 the prompt retort. "You have told me 
 enough. The fact is, as you must have 
 guessed, that I fell heels over head in love 
 with her, at first sight. Why, I've hardly 
 done anything else since I went to Chicago 
 216
 
 but think of hen I made things hum 
 there, just in order that I might get back 
 here, and ask you to complete that sentence 
 for me. And, now that I've heard it, it is 
 sf no importance whatever. What I wish 
 to know is this : Have I your permission to 
 pay my court to her?" 
 
 "Jack," Lathrop made reply, speaking 
 with impressive emphasis, "there is not a 
 man whom I would rather see her husband 
 than you He hesitated for a moment, 
 and his eyes fell before the shrewd gaze of 
 his friend. 
 
 "Except yourself!" Millington cried; 
 and there was bitterness in his voice. 
 
 "Leave me out of the question, please," 
 Lathrop rejoined. "There is not a man in 
 whose hands I would so willingly place her 
 future. I do not think that anybody 
 would make a more earnest effort for her 
 happiness, and if you can win her, I shall 
 be the first to say, God bless you both. 
 But you must not permit yourself to in- 
 217
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 dulge in false hopes. I do not think that 
 'Rita will ever be your wife. I know that 
 she loves another." 
 
 Millington ran one hand around his col- 
 lar, stroked his moustache, and then asked : 
 
 "Is that why she refused you?" 
 
 Lathrop hesitated for a little, but, fi- 
 nally, he answered firmly: 
 
 "Yes, literally, that is why she refused 
 me." 
 
 "Well," Millington declared, "I won't 
 give up until I'm beaten. You have no 
 objection to my calling upon her?" 
 
 "No," Lathrop said. "But she went 
 away this morning, without telling me 
 where she was going. She will notify me 
 when she returns, and I shall let you know 
 at once. That is all I can promise." 
 
 218
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 JACK MILLINGTON'S BUSY DAY 
 
 THE following morning, Jack Mil- 
 lington made arrangements for La- 
 throp to complete the matter of his being 
 let into the copper deal with Trevor; 
 instructed him fully what to do in order to 
 place the million dollars he had promised 
 at the disposal of the broker, and for him- 
 self, stated that he would keep close in- 
 doors all day. 
 
 "You see," he explained, "it won't do 
 for Cummings and that crowd to know 
 that I am back just yet. Besides I want 
 to rest, and, incidentally, to do a little plot- 
 ting of my own. There are plenty of 
 books to read here. I sha'n't be lone- 
 some." 
 
 But Lathrop had been gone less than 
 219
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 half-an-hour, when Millington rang and 
 ordered a cab. As soon as it came, he en- 
 tered it, drew the curtains, and directed 
 the driver to take him to the Westmore- 
 land Safety Deposit vaults. There, he 
 entered hurriedly, nodded to the superin- 
 tendent, passed on through the massive 
 doorway, and went straight to the vault 
 from which Lathrop had taken the securi- 
 ties which he had loaned to Trevor. 
 
 "Lucky thing the governor left two 
 keys with me," he muttered. "I'll find 
 out about this thing at once." 
 
 He spent nearly half-an-hour in his in- 
 vestigations, then closed and locked the 
 vault again, and started out, carrying a 
 bundle of documents under his arm. 
 
 The superintendent stopped him as he 
 was passing. 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Millington," he said, "Mr. 
 Lathrop was here one day while you were 
 'gone. He gave me a letter for you." 
 220
 
 JACK'S BUSY DAY 
 
 "Well, what of it?" came the brusque 
 query. 
 
 "I merely wanted your assurance that it 
 was all right, sir." 
 
 "Certainly it was all right," Millington 
 retorted testily. "What the devil would I 
 give him the letter for, if it were not all 
 right? By the way, where is that letter?" 
 
 "On my file, sir." 
 
 "Well, let me have it. I want to pre- 
 serve it with some other papers." 
 
 Five minutes later, with the letter in 
 his pocket, Millington reentered the cab, 
 and had himself driven to the Millington, 
 where he took the elevator to the second 
 floor, and rang the bell of Clarita's apart- 
 ment. 
 
 When the maid opened the door, he 
 stepped quickly inside. As he did so, he 
 was sure that he heard the rustle of gar- 
 ments, as of someone scurrying away. 
 
 "Where is your mistress?" he asked. 
 221
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "She is away, sir," the maid answered, 
 somewhat disturbed by the visitor's im- 
 perious manner. 
 
 "Do you know where I could send a let- 
 ter so that she would receive it?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Do you know when she will return?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Well," Millington remarked, after a 
 deliberative pause, "can you give me a 
 sheet of paper and an envelope? I'll leave 
 a note for her." He slipped a bill into 
 Marie's hand, and walked into the parlor, 
 where the girl presently brought him writ- 
 ing materials. 
 
 "There," he said, when he had written 
 and sealed the note, "when your mistress 
 returns, give her that." Without another 
 word, he rose, and passed out of the house, 
 and was soon rapidly driven toward La- 
 throp's apartment. 
 
 For some reason, young Millington 
 seemed to be very greatly pleased with 
 222
 
 JACK'S BUSY DAY 
 
 himself. There was a smile on his face, 
 and he chuckled audibly several times dur- 
 ing the ride. 
 
 "Smart girl, that," he muttered aloud, 
 "But not smart enough to fool me; not 
 quite! Caught on in a minute! Clever 
 though deucedly clever! One thing's 
 certain. I must look somewhere else for a 
 wife. But, after all, I guess I'm not so 
 hard bit but what I can get over it. 
 Whew! Morris has got himself into a 
 mess all around, and good God !" 
 
 As he looked from the window of the 
 cab his glance had fallen upon no less a 
 personage than his own father, who was 
 quietly strolling along the street. 
 
 "Foxy old duffer!" continued Milling- 
 ton, as he drove on. "Left those cables to 
 be sent when he was three or four days out 
 probably sent a half-a-dozen others, too. 
 Fooled the whole Street. Good heavens! 
 He'll have his claws on Morris, if I don't 
 do something to interfere. Maybe it 
 223
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 would have been better if I had let him 
 know that I did hear what Trevor said last 
 night." 
 
 The cab came to a stop just then, and 
 bidding the driver wait for him, Milling- 
 ton darted into the house, and up the 
 single flight of stairs. As he reached the 
 landing, he collided with a lady. 
 
 "Beg pardon!" he exclaimed, drawing 
 back. Then he started. "Hello!" he 
 continued. "I'm blessed if it isn't little 
 Edna Trevor leastwise, you were little 
 when I saw you last." 
 
 "Well, I'm grown up now, Jack Mil- 
 lington," was the spirited retort, and the 
 girl tossed her head defiantly. 
 
 "So you are, to be sure. Well, I'm 
 glad to see you. You're just the person I 
 want. Come in here." Without more 
 ado, he hurried the girl to Lathrop's door, 
 unlocked it, and thrust her inside. Then 
 he closed the door with a bang. 
 
 "Do you think that this is exactly the 
 224
 
 JACK'S BUSY DAY 
 
 proper thing to do, Mr. Millington? 
 Edna asked, her eyes twinkling mischiev- 
 ously. 
 
 "Bother propriety!" Millington ex- 
 claimed. "I've got something a heap 
 more important to think of than that, just 
 now. Look here, Edna : You and Morris 
 are friends, aren't you?" 
 
 "What do you mean?" the girl question- 
 ed, completely mystified hy the young 
 man's manner and words. "Certainly, we 
 are." 
 
 "Well," Millington continued, speak- 
 ing very rapidly, "are you willing to 
 devote your afternoon to keeping him out 
 of a scrape? It's uncommonly serious, 
 Edna, and I am in dead-earnest about 
 this." 
 
 "I can see that you are," the girl agreed, 
 with a smile. "What is it all about?" 
 
 *'I haven't time to explain now," was the 
 reply. "You must follow my directions, 
 and you will understand everything a little 
 225
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 later. I have a cab at the door. You 
 must take it, and drive to your father's 
 office. You'll find Morris there. When 
 you get him bring him here." 
 
 "Shall I tell him that you are here, 
 Jack?" Edna asked. She had already ab- 
 sorbed the contagion of Millington's ex- 
 citement, and her volatile nature was a- 
 glow with eagerness to undertake this be- 
 wildering adventure. 
 
 "Yes, yes," the plotter cried, with en- 
 thusiasm at the suggestion. "That's the 
 idea! Tell him, I have met with an acci- 
 dent, been run over by an automobile. I'll 
 have an ambulance outside, and two or 
 three doctors in attendance. He'll come 
 fast enough, if he thinks that I am in any 
 danger. You must make me out as al- 
 most dead." 
 
 "But how am I supposed to know all 
 about this?" Edna queried. 
 
 "Oh, you saw the accident. You were 
 there when they picked me up. You were 
 226
 
 JACK'S BUSY DAY 
 
 the only one who knew me, and had me 
 brought here. Bring him here as soon as 
 ever you can. Look here, Edna, I'll tell 
 you this much: My governor has got 
 home. If once he gets his clutches on 
 Morris, he'll send him to jail." 
 
 "Send Morris to prison?" cried Edna. 
 
 "Good Lord! What have I said? 
 Anyhow if you don't get him out of that 
 office and away from that part of the city 
 inside of an hour, he will be ruined. Can 
 you do it, Edna?" 
 
 "I can do it, and I will do it!" the girl 
 declared, firmly. "But suppose I can't 
 find him?" 
 
 "You must find him! Follow him all 
 over the city, but get him." 
 
 "Shall I tell him that your father is in 
 the city, and that there is danger of ?" 
 
 "No, no; not for the world!" Milling- 
 ton commanded. "Just bring him here. 
 Don't on my account, let him go else- 
 where." While speaking, the young man 
 227
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 had thrown open the door, and now, with- 
 out another word exchanged between 
 them, the girl hurried forth on her mission 
 of salvation. 
 
 228
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 SAM MILLINGTON'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 OLD Sam Millington had arrived in 
 the city, on a French line steam- 
 ship, about three o'clock that same 
 morning. He had traveled across the 
 ocean incognito, and had, as his son 
 shrewdly guessed, left the cable-message 
 in Paris to be forwarded several days after 
 his departure, in order that he might 
 arrive in New York much sooner than he 
 would naturally be expected. He had re- 
 ceived reliable information that George 
 Trevor had hypothecated a large block of 
 X. L. stock with the bank with which he 
 did business, and, inasmuch as he believed 
 that he knew accurately where eveiy share 
 of the stock was located, he had been 
 greatly puzzled and troubled by the news. 
 229
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 He was intensely angry as well, and, the 
 more he thought of the matter, the angrier 
 he became, so that, finally, he determined 
 to cut short his visit abroad, and, return- 
 ing quietly, to investigate the matter for 
 himself. First, however, he had made the 
 submarine wires warm with messages, and 
 for some time half-a-dozen detectives had 
 been investigating in his behalf. In that 
 work, they had been materially assisted by 
 Henry Chapman, who had been old Mil- 
 lington's principal informant. From the 
 evidence he had received, the wily old 
 capitalist drew his conclusions; and these 
 covered the essential facts of the whole 
 transaction. 
 
 He went ashore as early as he could, and 
 was driven at once to an uptown club 
 where he had wired Chapman to meet him. 
 Then, after a long talk, during which 
 everything was accurately planned, the 
 capitalist started down-town. He had 
 230
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 left the club-house and was getting into 
 a cab when his son saw him. He was 
 driven at once to the Westmoreland Safe- 
 Deposit vaults, and it so happened that the 
 superintendent with whom Jack Milling- 
 ton had talked this same morning was, at 
 the moment, off duty, so that the old man 
 heard nothing of his son's visit there. He 
 passed through the grating, opened his 
 vault, and discovered at a glance that 
 every scrap of the X. L. stock was missing 
 three or four times the amount he be- 
 lieved Lathrop had taken and he became 
 proportionately angrier. He closed the 
 door with a bang, and hastened to the 
 nearest magistrate, before whom he swore 
 out a warrant. Then, accompanied by an 
 officer in citizen's clothes, he returned to 
 the Westmoreland. 
 
 "Do you know Mr. Morris Lathrop?" 
 inquired the capitalist of the assistant 
 superintendent, who was in charge. 
 231
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "He will come here to-day. He has 
 been here before, hasn't he?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Well, he'll come again to-day as soon 
 as he finds out that I am in the city; and 
 I shall very soon have him informed of the 
 the fact. When he comes admit him in- 
 side the grating, and let this man follow 
 him in." 
 
 "Very well, sir," the official promised; 
 "it shall be done." 
 
 "And you," Millington continued, turn- 
 ing to the officer, "will wait until he has 
 the door of the vault open before you serve 
 your warrant. The minute that you see 
 him coming, call up 75,346 Cortlandt, 
 and say, 'Stock's booming'! afterward, 
 keep him till I get here. I want my 
 instructions carried out to the letter." 
 
 He went out then, got into his cab, and 
 was driven away. Fifteen minutes later, 
 he walked into Trevor's office, with that 
 232
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 alert, imperative manner that was charac- 
 teristic of him, and pushed his way, un- 
 announced, into the presence of the broker, 
 who .was engaged in an animated conver- 
 sation with Morris Lathrop. Both men 
 looked up quickly when he entered, but 
 neither showed the amazement he felt. 
 One had passed through many years of 
 training in the surprises of the Street; 
 the other had himself under perfect con- 
 trol. 
 
 "How are you, Trevor?" exclaimed the 
 capitalist, in exactly the same manner he 
 would have said the words had he been in 
 the habit of dropping in every day at the 
 same hour. "Good morning, Lathrop. 
 Just got back this morning! Well, Tre- 
 vor, did you get my cable?" 
 
 "Yes ; and answered it," was the retort. 
 
 "I didn't get the reply," Millington 
 said. "No matter, though. I see you're 
 busy now. What time this afternoon can 
 I see you?" 
 
 233
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Any time," Trevor said, amiably. 
 "I'm here till four." 
 
 "All right, I'll run in. Are you a new 
 recruit in the Street, Lathrop?" the capi- 
 talist continued, turning his crafty eyes on 
 the young man. 
 
 "Oh, yes, of sorts," Lathrop replied, 
 carelessly, as he drummed his fingers on 
 a packet wrapped in brown paper, which 
 he was holding. "Did you have a pleas- 
 ant voyage over, Mr. Millington?" 
 
 "Oh, delightful. Never better! I sup- 
 pose Jack is out of town, isn't he?" 
 
 "I received a wire from him, from 
 Chicago, day before yesterday," Lath- 
 rop anwered, in a neutral voice. 
 
 "Well, he'll get one from me to-day. 
 So long! See you kter, Trevor." The 
 capitalist went out as briskly as he had 
 entered, but there was an enigmatical 
 smile on his face as he muttered: 
 
 "Good stuff in that fellow. Cool as a 
 cucumber! Pity to put stripes on him, 
 234
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 but it can't be helped. I suspect that 
 Trevor put him up to it. The old fool 
 ought to have known that I'd find it out. 
 I only hope I can prove that he did know 
 about it. I'd like to send him along to 
 keep Lathrop company!" 
 
 "Now, what did Millington mean by 
 running in here in that way?" Trevor de- 
 manded, as soon as the capitalist had left 
 the office. 
 
 "Probably, to question you about this 
 stock," Lathrop replied, tapping the 
 packet again. "He found me here, and 
 put it off till later." 
 
 "He means mischief, somewhere," the 
 financier mused. "I've seen that glint in 
 his eyes before, and it always means 
 trouble for somebody. I suppose it's 
 Jack that he's after this time. Anyhow, 
 we are safe." 
 
 Lathrop made no direct reply, but re- 
 garded the parcel fondly. 
 
 "I'll hurry along, now," he said, after a 
 235
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 moment. "You don't need this again, 
 since you have Jack's million and the 
 promise of more if you want it." 
 
 "No," Trevor declared. "And I'm 
 more glad than I can tell you to get that 
 stock off my hands." 
 
 Lathrop went out then, entered his cab, 
 and gave directions that he be driven to 
 the Westmoreland Safe Deposit Com- 
 pany. He did not see the face of Sam 
 Millington peering at him from a window 
 on the opposite side of the street. 
 
 His cab had just turned the corner into 
 Broadway when the one containing Edna 
 dashed up to her father's office. She 
 opened the door, and sprang out. almost 
 before the vehicle came to a stop, hastened 
 inside, and gave her father a second shock 
 of surprise. 
 
 "Where is Morris?" she demanded, be- 
 fore the broker could speak. 
 
 "Just gone out; not a minute ago. 
 What is the matter?" 
 236
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 "Nothing. Where has he gone?" 
 
 "Is Carla ?" 
 
 "Carla is all right everything is all 
 right. But I wish to see Morris. Where 
 did he go?" 
 
 "He went from here to the Westmore- 
 land Safe Deposit Company," the father 
 answered. "What do you ?" 
 
 "Where is that? Quick! I want to 
 catch him," Edna interrupted. 
 
 "Broadway, near Chambers Street. 
 What in the world?" 
 
 But the girl was gone before he could 
 complete the sentence. 
 
 "Westmoreland Safe-Deposit Broad- 
 way, near Chambers," she was saying to 
 her driver. "Drive as fast as you can;" 
 and she was whirled away. 
 
 As she darted out of her cab, she saw 
 Lathrop in the act of entering the door, 
 and she called to him. He did not hear, 
 so she started on a run after him. She 
 remembered afterward that several men 
 237
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 were there, and that one of them was in 
 the act of hanging up the telephone- 
 receiver. Now, however, she gave no 
 thought to aught beside her errand. 
 
 "Morris!" she cried, shrilly. 
 
 At the sound of the girl's excited voice, 
 Lathrop wheeled. 
 
 "Edna!" he exclaimed. "What is it? 
 What has happened? What is the 
 matter?" 
 
 She was almost breathless, and what she 
 said between gasps seemed to paralyze all 
 present with astonishment. 
 
 "Jack Millington he's dying run 
 over by an automobile taken to your 
 rooms he wants you come with me at 
 once he may not live until you get 
 there!" 
 
 In her excitement, which was as real 
 as if young Millington had indeed been 
 on the point of breathing his last, she 
 seized Lathrop by the ,arm, and fairly 
 dragged him through the door. 
 238
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 "There's not a moment to lose," she 
 panted. "Your horse is fresher than 
 mine. Come!" She dashed into his han- 
 som, leaving him to follow. 
 
 "My rooms! Drive for your life!" 
 Morris called to the driver, and the cab 
 rolled away. 
 
 Back in the office of the safe-deposit 
 company, three men gazed at one another 
 in astonishment, from which they did not 
 recover until the hansom containing Lath- 
 rop and Edna was far on its way uptown. 
 Then, one of them sprang to the tele- 
 phone, and called excitedly for 75,346 
 Cortlandt. 
 
 "Mr. Millington there?" he asked as 
 soon as the connection was made. 
 
 "Just left for the Westmoreland Safe- 
 Deposit," came the reply; whereat the 
 man hung up the receiver and waited. 
 There was nothing else to do. 
 
 Within the cab, Edna was sobbing 
 violently so violently that she was totally 
 239
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 unable to reply to the questions Lathrop 
 addressed to her. Her emotion was 
 partly assumed, but, too, partly real, for 
 she was now hysterical from the excite- 
 ment of the part she had played, and she 
 believed that, in overtaking Lathrop as 
 she had, she had saved him from prison. 
 Nevertheless, she still strove to enact her 
 role. 
 
 "Oh, Morris," she gasped, following 
 Millington's instructions, "I saw the ac- 
 cident. It was terrible! I was the only 
 one who knew him. Your rooms were 
 nearest. I didn't know where else to take 
 him. He was conscious all the time. He 
 wanted you." These sentences were 
 uttered at intervals, and not another word 
 could Lathrop get from her. She laid 
 her head upon his shoulder, and continued 
 to sob as though her heart would break. 
 
 When they reached the house, there was 
 an ambulance at the door, and, as they 
 got out of the hansom, it started away 
 240
 
 SAM'S LITTLE SCHEME 
 
 briskly. It had been called by the plotter, 
 and the surgeon had been liberally feed 
 to play his part; as had the hall-boys, and 
 the attendant in the elevator. Lathrop, 
 however, did not pause to question any of 
 these. Instead, with Edna following 
 closely behind him, he leaped up the stairs, 
 two steps at a time. But the girl was 
 smiling through her tears now, for, some- 
 how, she felt that, when he was once within 
 his room, in the presence of Millington, 
 he must be safe. 
 
 The door of the suite was open, and the 
 parlor had been darkened. Two men 
 who had the appearance of physicians 
 stood there. The odors of carbolic acid 
 and of iodoform were in the air. Not a 
 detail had been omitted from the mise-en- 
 scene. 
 
 "Is he alive?" Lathrop demanded, as he 
 darted into the room. 
 
 "Yes, he is alive," one of the men made 
 answer. He pointed toward the door and 
 Morris hastened to enter.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 JACK MILLINGTON knew the 
 man with whom he had to deal, and 
 he had been careful to prepare every de- 
 tail in strict accordance with the conditions 
 that would have existed if, in reality, he 
 had been injured unto death. Therefore, 
 when Lathrop entered the room, he found 
 his friend stretched upon the bed, swathed 
 in bandages, and presenting every appear- 
 ance of one most severely afflicted. Had 
 Millington revealed himself in the enjoy- 
 ment of the perfect health which he 
 actually possessed, Lathrop's anger at the 
 hoax played on him must have rendered 
 him totally unmanageable, so there could 
 have been no possibility of rendering him 
 242
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 the intended service. Millington, with 
 this fact in mind, played his part cun- 
 ningly, convinced that the necessary 
 explanations must be made before the 
 fraud was discovered, else the plot of 
 rescue would prove a failure. Neither 
 of the two men, for the time being, gave a 
 thought to Edna, who had thrown herself 
 on a chair in the parlor, and there dis- 
 solved in tears. The girl continued to 
 weep quietly until fragments of the con- 
 versation in the next room came to her 
 ears, when she dismissed all scruples con- 
 cerning eavesdropping, and listened in- 
 tently, forgetting to weep. 
 
 Lathrop went at once to the bedside of 
 his friend, and, drawing a chair close, 
 murmured brokenly: 
 
 "Dear old chap! I left you so strong 
 and well this morning and now 
 
 "It's not so bad as the physicians think 
 it is, Morris," Millington declared, in a 
 243
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 voice which he strove to make weak and 
 quavering. "I'll pull through all right. 
 Don't worry about me." 
 
 "Ought you to talk, Jack?" Lathrop 
 questioned, anxiously. 
 
 "Talk? Yes!" was the querulous retort. 
 "What else is there to do? Besides, I must 
 talk. There's something important to talk 
 about. You see, when this thing first 
 happened, I thought I was going off the 
 hooks, and I couldn't do that without 
 telling you something that was on my 
 mind. I owe you an apology, old man, 
 and I wanted to make it before I shuffled 
 off." 
 
 Lathrop stared bewilderingly at his 
 friend. 
 
 "Owe me an apology? I don't know 
 what it can be about, and it doesn't matter. 
 I owe you more than that, for I owe you 
 a confession. I have done you a grievous 
 wrong, Jack. Do you think you are 
 strong enough to hear me?" 
 244
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 "Strong enough? Yes," Millington 
 answered. "But, first, let me make my 
 apology. Maybe, it will make your con- 
 fessio'n easier. I lied to you last night, 
 Morris." 
 
 "Lied to me! What about?" 
 
 "About that conversation you had with 
 Trevor. I heard every word of it." 
 
 "Ah!" Lathrop's face whitened, but he 
 regarded his friend unflinchingly. 
 
 "I did, old man," Millington went on. 
 "Of course, I couldn't quite understand, 
 although I think I made a pretty good 
 guess about it. After you were gone this 
 morning, I went down to the Westmore- 
 land, and investigated. Then, I came 
 uptown again, and on the street I spied 
 the governor. I knew, of course, that he 
 had it in for somebody, and that you were 
 undoubtedly the man. Next, I ran into 
 a motor-car and you know the rest. 
 What have you there in that package?" 
 
 Lathrop had forgotten that he still held 
 245
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 the packet of stock in his left hand. He 
 was dazed by what his friend had just 
 said, but, at the same time, he was con- 
 scious of a sense of infinite relief that the 
 secret was out at last. He made no effort 
 at avoidance or equivocation, but spoke 
 immediately and in an unfaltering voice : 
 
 "I have the X. L. stock that I stole 
 from your father's vault at the Westmore- 
 land with the aid of the key that you left 
 in my keeping. What is more, I was only 
 able to get it back to-day, because of the 
 million dollars that you put in the copper- 
 deal through me this morning." 
 
 "That's just what I thought," Milling- 
 ton exclaimed. "Now, before you say 
 another word, I want you to do just as I 
 tell you. Give me a sip of that medicine 
 in the tumbler on the table. The doctor 
 said I could talk all I wanted to, if I'd 
 taste of that once in a while. Thank you ! 
 Now, feel under the pillow on the other 
 side of the bed. Have you got it?" 
 246
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 "A package? Yes." 
 
 "Open it. What do you find?" Mil- 
 lington demanded. 
 
 Lathrop uttered an exclamation of sur- 
 prise, for he held in his hand a bundle of 
 certificates of the same stock that was in 
 his own packet. But he controlled his 
 emotion, and replied, evenly: 
 
 "More of the kind of stock that I stole." 
 
 "Precisely!" Millington agreed. "Give 
 me another sip of that medicine. Thanks ! 
 Now, open the package that you brought 
 with you, and put all of the stock together. 
 Then, tie it up in the paper that was under 
 the pillow. Do as I tell you; don't stand 
 there, gaping. I'm likely to have another 
 hemorrhage at any minute, and I don't 
 want to peg out until I get through with 
 you." 
 
 Lathrop obeyed without a word, for he 
 feared the effect of opposition or excite- 
 ment upon his injured friend. He 
 glanced vaguely in the direction of the 
 247
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 door that connected the room with the 
 adjoining one, and Millington, correctly 
 interpreting the glance, said: 
 
 "I told them all to go out and walk 
 around the block when you came in. 
 There is nobody there." Again, he for- 
 got Edna. "Have you got the package 
 tied up?" he added. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Good! Put it under the pillow again. 
 Wad that old paper up, and chuck it into 
 a corner; and then come around here, and 
 sit down. Now, what is that confession 
 of yours?" 
 
 "There is no more to it, Jack. I de- 
 liberately, and with premeditation, robbed 
 your father's safe of seven hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars' worth of X. L. 
 stock. I stole it as any other thief would 
 have done. For God's sake, isn't that 
 enough?" 
 
 "No," the pseudo-invalid declared, with 
 conviction. "Why did you steal it? You 
 248
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 seem to like the word, so I'll use it. Why 
 did you steal it?" 
 
 Lathrop hesitated, and, while he did so, 
 a ring of the electric bell announced a new 
 arrival. At the same instant, Edna 
 hastened in upon them. 
 
 "There is someone at the door," she 
 said, breathlessly. "What shaU I do?" 
 
 "Pay no attention to it," replied Mil- 
 lington, who was surprisingly alert for 
 one so severely injured as he was supposed 
 to be. Happily, Lathrop was too much 
 preoccupied to observe the fact, or to heed 
 the presence of Edna Trevor. 
 
 "It may be your father," the girl 
 suggested. 
 
 "Egad ! That's so !" Millington agreed. 
 "Wait a minute, Morris! If that is the 
 governor, you're not to say a word not a 
 single word about this affair. I'll die in 
 three minutes if you do. Will you 
 promise?" 
 
 Lathrop sighed, wearily. "Why not 
 249
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 make a clean breast of the whole thing at 
 once, and have it over?" he urged. 
 
 "I won't have it," Millington com- 
 manded, hotly. "When I get through 
 with you, you can do all the confessing 
 you want to, whether I'm dead or alive. 
 By Jove, the governor'll ring that bell off 
 the wall. Let him in, Edna. Pass that 
 medicine, Morris. And mind that you do 
 as I say." He was painfully sipping at 
 the tumbler when his father entered the 
 room. 
 
 The agitation of the old capitalist was 
 pathetic. Nobody at that moment could 
 have doubted his great love for his only 
 son. 
 
 "Jack! Jack! My boy! My boy!" 
 he cried, and dropped upon his knees be- 
 side the bed in a passion of weeping such 
 as only strong men who have not wept 
 for years can exhibit. He had utterly 
 forgotten the X. L. stock. He did not 
 even see Lathrop. 
 
 250
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 "Look here, governor, drop it, will 
 you?" exclaimed Jack. "It isn't half so 
 bad as all that ; and, besides, I'm not worth 
 it, anyhow." Then, he remembered that 
 he was not supposed to know of his 
 father's presence in town, and he added: 
 "How did you get here?" 
 
 "I arrived this morning, Jack," replied 
 the father, brushing aside his tears, and 
 by a strong effort controlling himself. 
 "Where are you hurt? What do the 
 doctors say? Tell me all about it. You 
 seem stronger than I had dared to hope." 
 
 "There isn't much to tell, father," was 
 the evasive answer. "I met an automo- 
 bile on the street, and neither of us turned 
 out. Go and see Randall: he'll tell you 
 all about it." 
 
 "Ah, did you have Randall?" the father 
 questioned reassured. 
 
 "Yes," the invalid replied. "He can 
 supply you with all the details. . . . 
 Pass that medicine, Morris, please." 
 251
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "How do you do, Mr. Lathrop?" said 
 the elder Millington, rising then, and ex- 
 tending his hand, which the young man 
 pretended not to see, as he busied himself 
 with the glass. "I was so agitated when 
 I entered the room that I saw nobody but 
 Jack." 
 
 "I think, father," the son argued, "that 
 you had better run up, and get those 
 particulars from Randall. I know you 
 are anxious to have them. Besides, I 
 fancy that I'm getting a bit tired. You 
 can come in again, along toward night." 
 
 "Yes, yes; I'll do that," the capitalist 
 agreed. "I'll see Randall at once. I am 
 very glad that it is no worse. I was told 
 that you were dying. Thank God, it was 
 a false report! Good-bye, Jack. I'll 
 run in about six or seven. Good-day, 
 Lathrop. Take good care of my boy. 
 I'll not forget it." A moment later, the 
 door closed behind him. 
 
 It would have been a matter of difficulty 
 252
 
 LATHROP'S CONFESSION 
 
 to analyze the conflicting emotions within 
 Jack Millington's breast just then, but the 
 chief of them was shame for having thus 
 imposed on the feelings of his father. 
 Nevertheless, he adhered resolutely to his 
 purpose, and at once addressed his friend 
 sharply. 
 
 "Go ahead now, Morris," he ordered. 
 "Why did you steal that stock?" 
 
 "I stole it in order to raise money," 
 Lathrop replied, reluctantly. 
 
 "For whom?" came the crisp demand. 
 "For yourself?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "For Trevor?" 
 
 "Yes, if you must know, for the pater," 
 Lathrop faltered. "But, as God is my 
 judge, Jack, he believed that it was mine. 
 It will break his heart when he learns the 
 truth." 
 
 "He'd have failed, if you hadn't done 
 this for him, wouldn't he?" Millington 
 asked, after a short pause. 
 253
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "When did he tell you that he was on 
 the point of failure? Was it on the night 
 before I started for Chicago?" 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop admitted. 
 
 Thereafter, Millington lay silent for a 
 little time, musing. When, at last, he 
 spoke again, his voice was markedly lan- 
 guid. 
 
 "I suspect that I am getting too tired, 
 Morris," he said, plaintively. "Now, I 
 want you to promise that you will keep 
 this thing a secret until I give you leave 
 to tell. Will you?" 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop agreed; "if you will 
 ever give me leave." 
 
 "I'll do it within a week," Millington 
 declared. "Now, please send Edna here, 
 while you stay in the other room. I wish 
 to say something to her that you are not 
 to hear. After that, I'll go to sleep for 
 a while." 
 
 254
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 A MATTER OF SCHEMING 
 
 4 4 y^ LOSE the door, please, Edna," 
 \^/ Millington, directed, as the girl 
 entered the room. When she had obeyed, 
 he reached one hand under the pillow 
 where Lathrop had placed the packet, and 
 extended it toward her. 
 
 "What am I to do with this?" was her 
 inquiry, as she took the parcel from him. 
 
 "I want you to go with it to our house," 
 Millington explained. "It is empty, you 
 know." He fumbled for a moment in a 
 pocket, and then produced a latch-key, 
 which he held out. "Take this," he con- 
 tinued; "it will open the front doors. 
 After you have got in, go up to my room, 
 the front one on the second floor. There, 
 you will find a small iron safe, in a corner. 
 255
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 Do you understand how to work a combi- 
 nation?" 
 
 "Yes," Edna said. "I have charge of 
 the plate-safe, at home." 
 
 "Listen, then! Once to the right, to 
 three; twice to the left, to thirteen; twice 
 to the right, to thirty-three; then to the 
 left until it stops." He repeated the com- 
 bination until the girl had mastered it. 
 
 "Next, open the safe, put that package 
 inside, shut the door, and lock it again, 
 and come away. That's all. . . . Can 
 you do that, Edna? But, of course, you 
 can! You must, anyhow. To-morrow, 
 come and tell me how you get along." 
 
 "But I am not coming here again, to- 
 morrow," the girl objected, vigorously. 
 
 "Oh, you must surely come to-morrow," 
 Millington urged. "I shall have some- 
 thing very important to say to you." 
 
 "About Morris?" 
 
 "Yes. And about something else, as 
 256
 
 A MATTER OF SCHEMING 
 
 well. Besides, you must return the key; 
 to me." 
 
 "I can send that to you, Jack," the girl 
 declared. "But I'll do this other errand 
 now, if it is for Morris's sake." 
 
 "It is," Millington assured her, "and it 
 is of vital importance to his safety." 
 
 With this knowledge compelling her, 
 Edna hurried forth on her mission. But, 
 in the parlor, she was detained for a 
 minute by Lathrop. 
 
 "You heard?" he asked. His voice was 
 as calm as ever, but his face was very pale, 
 and showed deep lines of suffering. 
 
 "Yes," she admitted gravely; "I heard, 
 Morris." 
 
 She hesitated for an instant. Then, as 
 he made no movement, but stood with 
 downcast eyes, she went to him impul- 
 sively. 
 
 "Morris," she said, placing one slim 
 hand on his shoulder, "you are like a 
 257
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 brother to me. I want you to kiss me." 
 
 "No, no, Edna," Lathrop remonstrated. 
 "I am not worthy." 
 
 But the girl persisted. 
 
 "It will make me feel better," she said, 
 simply; "and it will make you feel better, 
 too. Kiss me please!" 
 
 He bent forward then, and pressed his 
 lips to her forehead. 
 
 "God bless you, Edna," he said rever- 
 ently, as she turned to go. 
 
 Several times during the hours that fol- 
 lowed, Lathrop peered into the chamber 
 where Jack Millington was supposed to be 
 suffering, and each time he thought that 
 his friend was sleeping. After a while, 
 he wrote several letters, and sealed them, 
 for he had determined that he would pay 
 the penalty for his crime that he would 
 confess his sin to Sam Millington, and 
 abide by the consequences. It was the 
 only way, as he believed, by which he could 
 258
 
 A MATTER OF SCHEMING 
 
 purge his soul of the stain he had put upon 
 it. 
 
 Then, at half -past six o'clock, the bell 
 rang, and the capitalist entered the room. 
 If Jack had been, in fact, sleeping, the 
 sound of the bell awakened him. He by no 
 means intended that Lathrop should have 
 any opportunity for conversation with his 
 father, so now he called out loudly: 
 
 "Is that you, governor?" Whereupon 
 the old man, after a word of greeting to 
 Lathrop, passed on into the bed-chamber. 
 
 "I hope that Randall reassured you," 
 were the first words of his son. 
 
 "Oh, yes; he did," was the reply. 
 "How are you feeling now, my boy?" 
 
 "Very much better," the son gave as- 
 surance. "I'll soon be out again. . . . 
 I fixed everything all right in Chicago. 
 Things there are in a better condition now 
 than ever. And, oh, by the way, there is 
 one thing I nearly forgot ! If you should 
 259
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 happen to go to the Westmoreland " 
 
 "I have already been there," interrupted 
 the father, his face darkening. 
 
 "Have you?" Jack questioned, placidly. 
 "Did you miss the X. L. stock?" 
 
 "Yes ; all of it ! Do you know where it 
 is?" 
 
 "Certainly," came the answer. "Your 
 cahle amused me very much. Somebody 
 has been putting up a job on you, gov- 
 
 ernor." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 "Why, I mean that you will find your 
 stock in the safe in my room, at the house. 
 I got in from Chicago last night at ten, 
 too late to go to the Westmoreland. It is 
 all in my safe at home." 
 
 For a moment, the old man was too 
 greatly astonished to speak. Then, he 
 said: 
 
 "Are you sure? All of it?" 
 
 "Yes," 
 
 260
 
 A MATTER OF SCHEMING 
 
 "Why did you take it from the safe- 
 deposit company?" 
 
 "Thought I might need it. That's 
 what you left the keys with me for, wasn't 
 it? But it occurred to me you might miss 
 it and be worried, particularly when I re- 
 membered your long message. I suspect 
 that somebody Trevor, maybe started 
 the rumor that got to you." 
 
 "I was worried greatly!" the elder 
 Millington confessed. "What is the com- 
 bination of your safe, Jack?" 
 
 "Three, thirteen, thirty-three," was the 
 reply. "You had better take out the 
 stock, and take it back to the Westmore- 
 land." 
 
 "Yes, I'll do so, at once," the capitalist 
 agreed. "You won't need me any more 
 to-night?" 
 
 "No," the son answered; "Morris will 
 look out for me. He's better than any 
 trained nurse, for me." 
 261
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 'Sam Millington felt that he owed La- 
 throp amends for his suspicions, and there- 
 fore, as he passed through the parlor, he 
 held out his hand. The young man, how- 
 ever, was raking the fire, and again ap- 
 peared not to observe the movement. 
 
 "Lathrop," the old man said, "I want 
 to express to you my gratitude for your 
 kindness to Jack. If- 
 
 "Pray, do not say a word, Mr. Milling- 
 ton," came the quick interruption. "But 
 there is something that I must say to you 
 of" 
 
 "Morris!" the invalid called from the 
 bedroom. 
 
 "In just a moment," Lathrop replied. 
 
 "Not a moment!" was the imperious re- 
 tort. "I want you now! Come here. Go 
 along, father, if you please. You can 
 talk with Lathrop some other time." 
 
 At that, the elder Millington hurried 
 away obediently, and Lathrop had no fur- 
 ther opportunity for confession. 
 262
 
 A MATTER OF SCHEMING 
 
 "He has gone?" Jack demanded, as his 
 friend approached the bedside. 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop answered. 
 
 Thereupon, the supposititious invalid 
 uttered a lusty and joyous shout. Then, 
 he gave the bed clothes a kick which sent 
 them swirling across the room, and fol- 
 lowed this up by leaping nimbly out of bed 
 into the centre of the chamber, the while 
 Lathrop regarded him with distended 
 eyes. 
 
 "Morris Lathrop," he remarked inci- 
 sively, "you will please control that hate- 
 ful temper of yours until such time as I 
 shall give you permission to indulge it. 
 Otherwise, you would get Edna Trevor 
 into trouble, and, if you are the man I 
 take you to be, you will not choose to in- 
 volve that girl."
 
 CHAPTER XXIY 
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 IT is not necessary to describe at lengtH 
 the hours of bitter mental struggle 
 which took place between Lathrop and 
 Millington when the former discovered 
 that his friend had been shamming all the 
 time, that the physicians, the servants, 
 everybody indeed who was in any way con- 
 nected with the affair, had been acting 
 under an agreement with the young fin- 
 ancier, though none save Edna understood 
 aught as the object to be attained by the 
 deception. Lathrop was very angry at 
 first, but, bit by bit, he was brought to a 
 point where he was able to perceive some- 
 thing of the rather grisly humor in the 
 situation, and, finally, he laughed doubt- 
 fully with his friend. But it was by no 
 264
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 means so easy to prevail on him that he 
 should keep his sin secret. He insisted 
 that he must go to Sam Millington, and 
 make* full confession. Thereafter, if the 
 capitalist chose to overlook the matter, he 
 would be content to let it rest. 
 
 But Jack was of a different mind. 
 
 "Look at the position in which you 
 would place me, and Edna, too," he urged. 
 "The governor would forgive you, I verily 
 believe ; he'd clap you on the shoulder, tell 
 you that you are smarter than lightning, 
 offer you opportunities, and make you a 
 millionaire all over again, in less than no 
 time." For Lathrop had told of his 
 losses, and the entire history of the night 
 when Trevor had sought the loan. 
 "Now," Millington continued, "I don't 
 think that you ought to profit from my 
 father because of your theft, and yet that 
 is just what you would do, if you went to 
 him with a confession. Oh, yes, indeed, 
 he'd forgive you. But what of me? Do 
 265
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 you believe, for a moment, that he would 
 ever forgive me for playing this horrible 
 accident game on him? Not much! 
 
 "You needn't think that I excuse you," 
 he went on, with stern emphasis. "If you 
 had done the thing for yourself, I'd have 
 helped to put a striped suit on you. As it 
 is, you ought to be punished I'll admit 
 that, too. But it will punish you more to 
 compel you to lock the thing up in your 
 heart than it would to let you reveal the 
 whole affair to the governor. He'd be 
 proud of you, and the chances are that, be- 
 fore you had been an hour with him, you'd 
 be ass enough to think you had done a fine 
 thing. 
 
 "And Edna! If you have any appre- 
 ciation or chivalry in your soul, you'll hold 
 your peace for her sake, Morris." 
 
 Jack Millington had a way of overcom- 
 ing opposition wherever he met with it, 
 and this case was not an exception. By 
 266
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 the time that nine o'clock struck, the two 
 men had reached a thorough understand- 
 ing. 
 
 "ISTow, Morris," Millington said, "I'm 
 going out for an hour or two. I think 
 that you ought to remain here, for the 
 governor might run in, you know. Will 
 you telephone for a cab, while I dress?" 
 
 "Where are you going?" Lathrop in- 
 quired, as he went to the telephone. 
 
 "To get some air," Millington replied, 
 carelessly, "I feel as though I had been on 
 that bed for a week." 
 
 But he had another object than fresh 
 air, for, when he entered the cab, he bade 
 the driver take him to the Millington as 
 quickly as possible; and, when he arrived, 
 he went at once to 'Rita's apartment, 
 where he rang the bell. 
 
 The maid who opened the door instantly 
 invited him to enter. He passed through 
 the corridor, and on into the parlor, and 
 267
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 found as it seemed that he had expected 
 to find Clarita Ortega, eagerly awaiting 
 him. 
 
 "Mr. Millington!" she exclaimed. "I 
 am so glad you have come, at last. I was 
 growing very anxious, although you as- 
 sured me in the note that you believed it 
 would be all right. You are very late! 
 It is almost ten. What was the danger 
 that threatened Morris? Is he safe? Is 
 there anything that I ?" 
 
 Millington held up both hands, laugh- 
 ingly. 
 
 "Everything is all right," he said. 
 "That answers all your questions, at once. 
 So, I was right, eh? You have been here 
 all the time!" 
 
 "Yes," the girl confessed. "I did not 
 go away. I have not left the house at all." 
 
 "I suspected it this morning," Milling- 
 ton explained. "I heard the swish of your 
 skirts." 
 
 "What was the danger that threatened 
 268
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 Morris?" Clarita questioned, anxiously. 
 "Will you tell me?" 
 
 But Millington shook his head. 
 
 "It isn't necessary, now. It is all over, 
 and he is safe. But there is something 
 else on my mind. Do you remember that 
 evening when I called with Morris?" 
 
 "Perfectly," the girl acquiesced. 
 
 "Well, I fell in love with you that 
 night," Millington announced. 
 
 'Rita drew back quickly, and her face 
 paled perceptibly. She could not under- 
 stand this man. He uttered the words so 
 calmly, his expression was so benign, and 
 he seemed so unconscious of having said 
 anything unusual that she could not take 
 offense. 
 
 "I do not understand," she said, with 
 such reserve and dignity that he smiled 
 amusedly. 
 
 "Yes," he continued placidly, as though 
 he were discussing, the most commonplace 
 of things; "heels over head, thought about 
 269
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 you all the time, dreamed about you 
 nights, wrote you letters, and burned them 
 all, came East a week ahead of time on 
 your account. But I've got over it!" 
 
 "Ohl" the girl ejaculated, in irrepres- 
 sible amazement. 
 
 "Perhaps, it isn't a very polite thing to 
 say," Millington suggested. 
 
 "It is a very pleasant thing for me to 
 hear," 'Rita retorted, demurely. 
 
 "Yes," Millington continued, imper- 
 turbably, "I have got over it that is, 
 over a part of it. I think that I am just 
 as fond of you now as ever; only, it is as 
 a big brother, you know." 
 
 The girl nodded and smiled. She had 
 regained a measure*of her self-assurance, 
 for she believed that she was coming to 
 understand the man better. 
 
 "But, unfortunately," Millington went 
 
 on, "I was led into making a bad mistake 
 
 on account of you. When I got back 
 
 from Chicago, Morris met me, and I went 
 
 270
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 to his apartment. There, we got to talk- 
 ing of you. He told me then that you 
 were away on a visit. So, finally, I let 
 him know that I was in love with you, and 
 I asked him, as your guardian, if he had 
 any objection to my suit. He said that 
 he had not. More than this: he is going 
 away, just for the sake of giving me a 
 clear field. He informed me that you had 
 refused him, and he seemed to be sure, too, 
 that you would not take me. Now, in 
 spite of all that, I am going to propose to 
 you, and I want you to accept me!" 
 
 "Accept you!" 'Rita exclaimed, in new 
 bewilderment. 
 
 "Yes, that is the idea!" Millington de- 
 clared, with the utmost complacency. 
 "We shall be engaged for precisely five 
 minutes. Then, at the end of that time, 
 you will tell me that you have changed 
 your mind. You will, in short, break the 
 engagement. I suppose that I ought to 
 explain: It's the only way by which we 
 271
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 can manage to keep Morris here, and his 
 presence here now is absolutely necessary 
 for his well-being. Will you do this, Miss 
 Ortega?" 
 
 The girl, confused by the extraordinary 
 proposition, stared at the energetic plotter 
 mutely. It was her resolve that never, 
 never would she do a thing so strange, so 
 unseemly. Nevertheless, despite her voli- 
 tion, she was swayed by Millington's 
 kindly and masterful air. In the end, she 
 questioned him, reluctantly: 
 
 "It will be for only five minutes? You 
 assure me of that?" 
 
 "Oh, certainly," Millington replied. 
 "So, now then! Are you ready? Well, 
 will you be my wife? Quick! Answer! 
 Say, yes!" 
 
 Before the plotter's urgency, she found 
 herself quite helpless. 
 
 "Ye es," came the stammered answer. 
 
 At that, Millington laughed aloud. 
 
 "I am a schemer, and no mistake!" he 
 272
 
 THE SECOND RUSE 
 
 boasted. He sprang to his feet, seized his 
 hat, and, before Clarita had realized his 
 intention, reached the door. There, he 
 turned, and spoke with triumphant vehe- 
 mence: "Ah, I have you now, Miss 'Rita. 
 I know that you could never go back on a 
 promise. Morris said that you wouldn't 
 say, yes, to me; but you have. He wants 
 you himself, of course ! But I have stolen 
 a march on him. I have you, and what's 
 more I'm going to keep you!" 
 
 With a cry of fear, the outraged girl 
 leaped to her feet, and started toward him. 
 But he only laughed again mockingly, and 
 darted from the place. Pursuit, she 
 knew, must be useless. Quivering with 
 excitement and wrath, she threw herself 
 down on a sofa, where, for a long time, she 
 lay sobbing. 
 
 273
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 THE first post of the morning 
 brought the following note to La- 
 throp : 
 
 "Dear Morris, 
 
 "I am at home. Something very ter- 
 rible has happened. I must see you at 
 once. Come to me without fail, the mo- 
 ment you receive this. 
 
 " 'Rita." 
 
 Millington, who guessed the authorship 
 of the letter, made his friend's obvious per- 
 turbation an excuse for questioning, 
 whereupon Morris frankly explained that 
 the writer was 'Rita, and that she was in 
 trouble of some sort. 
 
 "In trouble!" Millington exclaimed, in 
 apparent astonishment. "That's curious. 
 274
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 i 
 She was not in any trouble last night." 
 
 "Last night," Lathrop repeated, 
 
 amazed. "Did you see her last night?" 
 
 "Yes; I called there," came the cool re- 
 
 piy. 
 
 Lathrop blushed, angrily. 
 
 "May I ask why you waited until this 
 morning before telling me?" he demanded. 
 "You must have known my anxiety!" 
 
 "Your anxiety concerning what?" the 
 guest inquired, nonchalantly. 
 
 At the question, Lathrop bit his lip with 
 vexation. For the moment, he had for- 
 gotten that the other was in ignorance as 
 to the facts concerning Clarita's flight. 
 
 "You see," Millington went on, with- 
 out waiting an answer to his question, "I 
 wanted to keep my great happiness to my- 
 self for a little while. You, of course, are 
 the first to be told. The fact is: I asked 
 'Rita to be my wife, and she said, yes!" 
 
 Lathrop started back as though he had 
 been struck in the face. But, almost on 
 275
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 the instant, he recovered his poise, and 
 then, very calmly, he held out the letter 
 which he had just received. 
 
 "In that case," he said, "it is your place, 
 rather than mine, to answer this appeal." 
 
 "No, no!" Millington protested. "The 
 letter is addressed to you. You must an- 
 swer it. Does she want you to go up and 
 see her?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Then, go!" was the concise advice. 
 "Only, wait till the governor has been and 
 gone. I'll have to crawl back into bed 
 again. But, before I do it, I'll just write 
 a short note which I shall ask you to give 
 to Miss 'Rita. And be sure that you 
 don't give it to her until you have had 
 your talk out. Will you do me that 
 favor?" 
 
 "Yes," Lathrop agreed, completely; 
 mystified. 
 
 Millington wrote the letter, and, after 
 repeating the injunction that it should not 
 276
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 be delivered until after the interview with 
 'Rita was concluded, gave it to Lathrop. 
 Then, he got back into bed, replaced his 
 bandages, and awaited the coming of his 
 father, w r ho, punctually at nine o'clock, 
 presented himself. 
 
 As soon as he was assured that his son 
 was better, he rose to go, sajdng that he 
 would drop in again in the evening, on his 
 way uptown. Then, he added. 
 
 "I found that stock, all right. But the 
 package has been opened." 
 
 "Certainly," his son answered, indiffer- 
 ently. "I looked it over. When will you 
 be in this afternoon?" 
 
 "Between five and six." 
 
 When his father had gone, the bed- 
 ridden patient again threw the clothes off, 
 and leaped forth. 
 
 "Now, Morris, hurry!" he urged. "I 
 sha'n't stir out of the house till you 
 return." 
 
 Lathrop made no reply until he was 
 277
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 ready to go. Then, he paused at the door, 
 and said, very slowly: 
 
 "I did not offer you my congratula- 
 tions, Jack; but I do now." 
 
 "Oh, they can wait until you get back," 
 Millington answered, with a laugh. 
 
 As soon as he was left alone, he rang 
 the messenger-call, and then wrote this 
 note: 
 
 "Dear Miss Edna, 
 
 "Morris and I wish to see you at once. 
 You did splendidly about the safe, but 
 affairs are not entirely straightened out 
 yet. I must have your consent to one 
 more thing, right away. Please come 
 here at once. 
 
 "Jack Millington." 
 
 After the messenger-boy had departed 
 with this missive, the young financier took 
 up a position by a window from which he 
 could overlook the avenue, and, for a half - 
 hour, he remained steadfastly watching 
 the thoroughfare. Then, of a sudden, he 
 278
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 laughed softly to himself, crossed the 
 room, and stood waiting until he heard 
 light footfalls in the corridor, and the 
 bell rang, when, on the instant, he swung 
 the door wide. 
 
 "Come in, Edna," he said, gaily. 
 "Morris will be back soon. He was called 
 out for a moment." 
 
 "It is not at all right that I should come 
 here in this way," the girl said, entering 
 the parlor, but declining the proffered 
 chair. "Xo, I won't sit down. I shall 
 stay only a minute." 
 
 Millington's manner changed abruptly, 
 and he went on speaking with an extra- 
 ordinary rapidity and emphasis. 
 
 "Well, never mind anything else, just 
 now," he said. "There is only one single 
 thing of real importance, and that is 
 you! Edna, there isn't a girl like you 
 this side of heaven. Why, if I had you 
 for my wife, with your grit and pluck 
 and goodness, to say nothing of your 
 279
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 beauty, I'd control railroads from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific within two years, 
 and I'd have a mortgage on the earth very 
 soon. But, too, I'd have something in- 
 finitely better than railroad and mort- 
 gages, something better than anything 
 else in the world, for I'd have you. You 
 needn't stand there staring at me as 
 though you thought I had taken leave of 
 my senses. On the contrary, my dear, 
 I've just found them that God's truth! 
 And you needn't try to think up some in- 
 igenious and gentle way of saying, no. I 
 tell you now, I won't take no for an an- 
 swer. Why, nobody has ever said no to 
 me since I was born, and I sha'n't let a slip 
 of a girl like you begin it not much ! Be 
 sides, Edna, you must help me out of this 
 scrape with the governor, you know. 
 It'll never do in the world to let him know 
 how we fooled him, so I've got to go 
 abroad to mend my broken bones and 
 you must go with me." 
 280
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 "Have }^ou quite finished?" the girl in- 
 quired, tossing her head disdainfully, and 
 trying, with rather poor success, to speak 
 coldly. 
 
 "Finished? No, I've just begun," Mil- 
 lington retorted. "Just as soon as you 
 say, yes 
 
 "I thought you said that was not neces- 
 sary," Edna interrupted. 
 
 "Well, it isn't only just for form's sake, 
 you know," Millington agreed. "But, 
 just as soon as you do say it, I'll send down 
 word, and have my yacht put into com- 
 mission, and you and I, and Morris and 
 'Rita" 
 
 ' 'Rita!" Edna exclaimed, astounded. 
 
 "Exactly!" Millington affirmed. "You 
 and I, and Morris and 'Rita, will have a 
 quiet double wedding, and then we'll sail 
 away. Edna, do you know that a man has 
 to be educated in love, as well as in other 
 things? The night before I started for 
 Chicago, I went with Morris to see 'Rita, 
 281
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 and I thought I had lost my heart to her. 
 It turned out that it was only ray head. 
 Then, when I met you yesterday, I knew 
 the difference between the real thing and 
 the imitation. There is nothing dilatory 
 about me, sweetheart never has been. 
 Why, I made up my mind on the spot!'* 
 
 "Really, Mr. Millington " the girl be- 
 gan. 
 
 But the ardent suitor continued ruth- 
 lessly : 
 
 "It's quite unnecessary for you to use 
 any formula about taking time to consider, 
 and all that. I've known you ever since 
 you were a baby, and you've known me. 
 I want you. I want you for my wife. 
 I want you to love me always, just as I 
 love you, with all your heart and with all 
 your soul and with all your strength." 
 As he ceased speaking, the wooer sprang 
 toward the girl impetuously, and put his 
 arms around her, before she could make a 
 movement of resistance. "Edna! Edna!" 
 282
 
 CUPID IN HASTE 
 
 he murmured. "Don't you understand 
 what this means to me? You won't re- 
 fuse me, will you, dearest? Say that you 
 will be my wife !" He lifted her face, and 
 looked long into her eyes. The magnet- 
 ism of the man conquered the scruples of 
 the maiden. When, at last, he bent his 
 head, and laid his lips to hers, the girl's 
 mouth returned the kiss. 
 
 283
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 "THOUGH YOUE SINS BE AS SCARLET' 
 
 IN the mean time, Lathrop had found 
 'Rita in a state of nervous excitement 
 bordering on frenzy. It was evident that 
 she had passed a sleepless night, and that 
 the dawn had brought her no comfort. 
 
 "Morris! Morris!" she cried, when he 
 entered the room; and she flew to him, and 
 would have thrown herself upon his breast, 
 had he not repulsed her coldly and sternly. 
 There was an aloofness in the expression 
 of his eyes which caused her to shrink from 
 him with a gasp of pain. 
 
 "You have come, at last," she said then, 
 pitifully. 
 
 "I came as soon as it was possible after 
 your letter arrived," he replied. "What 
 is the trouble? What is there that I can 
 284
 
 "YOUR SINS AS SCARLET" 
 
 do for you? Don't you think it would 
 have been more consistent, if you had sent 
 for Millington?" 
 
 She started at that, and regarded him 
 reproachfully. 
 
 "He has told you?" she said. 
 
 "He has told you that you accepted him 
 yes. As his promised wife, you should 
 have sent for him, not for me." 
 
 "It is a falsehood !" she cried wildly. "I 
 am not his promised wife! I will never 
 be his wife never!" 
 
 "Have you not promised him you will 
 many him? Or has he lied to me?" 
 
 "I said, yes, to him; but it was a trick 
 a trick!" 
 
 "I confess that I do not understand you, 
 'Rita," Lathrop retorted, with manifest 
 suspicion. 
 
 "Morris, let me tell you, in my own 
 way," the girl pleaded. "I have suffered 
 so, since that morning when when we 
 were to have been married." 
 285
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 "When you ran away?" Lathrop re- 
 torted. "Yes, I remember. It is not so 
 very long ago!" 
 
 "I did not run away," was the answer. 
 "I was here in the house when you came. 
 I was looking at you from beyond the 
 portieres all the time you were here. I 
 have not been out of the house since then. 
 You may ask Edna Trevor, she knows!" 
 
 "Edna Trevor?" Lathrop exclaimed, in 
 astonishment. "How is it that she 
 knows?" 
 
 "She came here that morning, soon 
 after you were gone," 'Rita explained. 
 "At first, my maid would not admit her, 
 but she persisted. I was there, upon the 
 couch, crying, and she came and put her 
 arms around me, and said that she was 
 sorry for what she had said to me the day 
 when we met at your room. And she 
 kissed me, and begged my pardon. And 
 she made me love her, although I wanted 
 to hate her because I thought she loved 
 286
 
 "YOUR SINS AS SCARLET" 
 
 you. She does love you, Morris, but as 
 a sister loves. And, then, I told her all, 
 and she consoled me, and promised me that 
 it would end happily. She made me 
 promise that I would let her tell you about 
 it. She was to tell you yesterday, and I 
 thought that you would come to me at 
 once. But but you did not come I" 
 
 "She did not tell me," Lathrop said, 
 still coldly. 
 
 "Let me finish, Morris," the girl be- 
 sought him. "Yesterday, in the forenoon, 
 Mr. Millington came here. I was in the 
 corridor, near the door, when he rang. I 
 fled, but he heard me ; and he guessed that 
 I was here. He entered, and in this room 
 he wrote a note, in which he said that you 
 were in great trouble, and that it might 
 be necessary that I should assist him in 
 freeing you from it. Here is the note ; you 
 may read it. He said, also, that he would 
 call again in the evening; but it was nearly 
 ten o'clock when he came. Ah ! I wish he 
 287
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 had not come! I wish he had not come 
 here ever! He told me that you were 
 going away, told me of the conversation 
 that he had had with you concerning me, 
 told me that it was on my account you 
 were going; and he made me believe that, 
 if I would say yes, to his proposal, you 
 would be prevented from going. I do not 
 know how, but he convinced me that it was 
 so. And he promised that the engage- 
 ment should not continue more than five 
 minutes. Then, when I had said, yes, he 
 sprang up, laughing, and ran away, and 
 I have been half -mad. Morris, oh, tell 
 me ! I am not bound by such a promise 
 a promise secured by a trick! And tell 
 me, Morris : Is it true that you are going 
 away?" 
 
 "Yes; I am going away," Lathrop de- 
 clared, somberly, "and I shall not return 
 at least not for a long time. As for 
 you, 'Rita, I think it best that you should 
 marry Jack Millington. He loves you. 
 288
 
 "YOUR SINS AS SCARLET" 
 
 He is an honorable man. He is rich. He 
 can make you very happy. I had no right 
 to ask you to be my wife, when I did so. I 
 have forfeited my honor my right to ask 
 any good woman to share her life with 
 me. Let me tell you who and what I am, 
 what I was when I asked you to marry me ; 
 then, perhaps, you will be glad that I am 
 going away." 
 
 "No, oh, no!" the girl cried, wildly. 
 "Do not say that, Morris !" 
 
 "It is true. I am a thief a common 
 thief! I have stolen. It was from the 
 outward consequences of a theft that Jack 
 Millington has saved me. He was right 
 when he said that I would suffer more in 
 secrecy than in public. If I can no longer 
 respect myself, how can I hope that others 
 will respect me ? Do you remember when 
 I wrote you that letter, telling you that 
 I was going away? Where do you think 
 I was going, then? I had determined tc 
 take my own life. My fortune was dis- 
 289
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 sipated, but my honor was untarnished. I 
 thought that I had a right to die. I 
 thought that I loved Carla Trevor, then. 
 It never occurred to me that it was you 
 whom I loved. But I remember now that 
 I possessed the courage to go where she 
 was, to see her for the last time, to look 
 upon her once more; but into your pres- 
 ence I dared not go! I could look upon 
 her, and smile, and keep my secret; but 
 your eyes I avoided. I knew, instinct- 
 ively, that they would read the truth. I did 
 not realize that it was you whom I loved 
 all the time, until I saw you two together. 
 Then, I knew. But, this morning, 'Rita, 
 when in the midst of self-abasement, 
 standing heart-deep among the fragments 
 of my broken honor, I heard Millington 
 say that you had promised to be his wife, 
 I knew for the first time what anguish is. 
 It came upon me then with all its force 
 and terror. With utter shame, I confess 
 that the wrong I had committed sank into 
 290
 
 "YOUR SINS AS SCARLET" 
 
 insignificance before the greater misery of 
 losing you, of knowing that you were to 
 be the wife of another. And yet, if you 
 were free now, I could not ask you again 
 to be my wife, for that stain is still upon 
 my soul. It can never be washed away." 
 
 He sank upon a chair, and covered his 
 face with his hands! and she went and 
 knelt beside him, looking up into his eyes, 
 pityingly. 
 
 "Morris," she whispered, "dear Morris, 
 do you not remember what the Good Book 
 says, and do you not know that it is true? 
 'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
 be washed as white as wool.' I do not 
 know what you mean I do not know what 
 it is that you have done; but, whatever it 
 is, God will forgive you." 
 
 In the midst of his misery > strangely 
 enough, Lathrop suddenly remembered 
 the note that Millington had sent to 'Rita. 
 Now, he took it from his pocket, and, with- 
 out raising his eyes, gave it to her. Won- 
 291
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 deringly, she opened it and read, and then 
 she smiled through her unshed tears. 
 
 "Look, Morris! Read!" she said. 
 
 Mechanically, he took the note from her, 
 and scanned the words his friend had writ- 
 ten: 
 
 "My dear 'Rita, 
 
 "You must forgive me for the trick I 
 played on you. Never mind now why I 
 did it. Perhaps you will be able to guess 
 when you read this. I release you from 
 your promise. I really don't want you to 
 marry me. In about half-an-hour I am 
 going to ask Edna Trevor to be my wife. 
 But you made me another promise, and 
 that I must hold you to. You agreed to 
 help me save Morris. There is only one 
 way to do it: Marry him! 
 
 "Jack Millington." 
 
 Lathrop loosened his grasp on the sheet 
 of paper, and it fluttered to the floor. 
 Then, he opened his arms, and the girl 
 nestled into his embrace. 
 
 292
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE SPECIAL PLEADER 
 
 MORRIS LATHROP and George 
 Trevor stood facing each other in 
 the library of the financier's mansion. 
 The former had just entered the room in 
 obedience to a summons from the broker. 
 
 "I came as quickly as I could, pater," 
 Lathrop said, assuming a lightness of tone 
 to disguise his anxiety. 
 
 "Is 'Rita with you?" Trevor demanded. 
 
 "Yes," was the reply; "she is in the 
 drawing-room, with Edna." 
 
 "That is as it should be," the financier 
 declared. "I am determined that she shall 
 know who her father is, and without delay. 
 But there is one thing that must be ex- 
 plained, first. Do you remember what 
 you said in the carriage, the day that Carla 
 293
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 was hurt? You told me that there was a 
 chapter in my history which I myself did 
 not know. You must tell me what you 
 meant by that remark." 
 
 Thus definitely commanded, Lathrop 
 felt himself constrained to obey. 
 
 "Before my father died," he said, "he 
 told me a part of the experience which you 
 and he had in Cuba, twenty-five years ago, 
 and he left me a mission to perform. He 
 knew of 'Rita's birth, and he directed me 
 to search for her, and to find her, and al- 
 ways to watch over her as if she were my 
 own sister. He told me as to your mar- 
 riage to her mother, your separation from 
 her, and the reasons for it. He added that 
 you were ignorant of the fact that she had 
 borne a child. I went to Seville. From 
 there, I traced your child to Cuba, and to 
 the City of Mexico, where I found her. 
 She had been taken and cared for by a 
 distant relative of her mother a Senor 
 Llorente." 
 
 294
 
 THE SPECIAL PLEADER 
 
 "Yes, a scoundrel if ever there was 
 one!" Trevor commented. "Go on." 
 
 "From him, I learned the whole 
 story 
 
 "His version of it," the financier inter- 
 rupted; "but an untrue one, surely. He 
 could not speak truth." 
 
 "He gave what seemed to be proofs of 
 the correctness of his tale, and there was 
 one statement which I thought should be 
 kept even from you. This was, that your 
 first wife had died only ten years before, or 
 fifteen years from the present time that 
 is to say, nearly six years after the birth of 
 Carla!" 
 
 The old man raised one hand. He was 
 smiling and unmoved. 
 
 "It is not true," he said, calmly. "Car- 
 lotta that was her name died in my 
 arms, from a wound inflicted by the very 
 weapon that affected me so, the evening 
 when we called upon 'Rita. It was 
 thrown through the open window by the 
 295
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 hand of an unknown assassin, but, as I 
 believe, by Llorente himself, who loved 
 her, and had been repulsed by her. I 
 think the weapon was aimed at me, but it 
 struck her. She died instantly, without 
 a word. That was two years, nearly, be- 
 fore the mother of Carla and Edna be- 
 came my wife." 
 
 Lathrop was deeply moved. 
 
 "If you only knew how I have suf- 
 fered," he explained, "fearing that you 
 would some day learn this thing which I 
 was led to believe, fearing that Carla and 
 Edna might hear of it. If only I had told 
 you five years ago, pater." 
 
 "You already know the reasons for my 
 separation from 'Rita's mother," Trevor 
 continued. "You understand that no 
 blame attached to her. She was jealous; 
 that was all unjustly so, but it was Llor- 
 ente's work. She left me, and returned 
 to her home in Spain. I followed her 
 there. Our interview had just com- 
 296
 
 THE SPECIAL PLEADER 
 
 menced; she had not told me of the child, 
 but she had thrown herself into my em- 
 brace, when the knife flew through the win- 
 dow, and ended everything. Now, will 
 you send my eldest daughter to me ? Will 
 you send 'Rita here? I wish to tell her 
 
 V 
 
 who she is." 
 
 More than two hours elapsed after 'Rita 
 entered her father's library before she came 
 out again. When she did, there was a 
 new-born happiness upon her face, which 
 transfigured it. During the last half- 
 hour of the time, Carla and Edna, also, 
 were present, and they all came out to- 
 gether. 
 
 Lathrop was in the drawing-room alone, 
 when Carla entered and closed the door. 
 
 "Morris," she said, "I have come to ask 
 your forgiveness. Will you grant it? I 
 think I shall be happy again if you will." 
 
 "It is I who need forgiveness, Carla," 
 he replied. 
 
 "No, Morris, it is I," the girl insisted, 
 297
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 tremulously. "Let us be just to ourselves 
 and to each other. I am very happy in 
 the possession of my sister 'Rita still 
 happier in the knowledge that she is to be 
 your wife. She loves you much more 
 deeply than I ever did. I love you now, 
 better than I did then. Mine was not real 
 love, Morris ; it was gratified pride. And, 
 when I forgot myself and did that horrible 
 thing, it was my pride that was suffering, 
 not my love. I have never really loved. 
 I realize that when I look at 'Rita. You 
 are to be my brother, and I shall love you 
 better so than if you had been my husband. 
 Do you understand me, Morris?" 
 
 "Yes, Carla, I understand," Lathrop 
 answered, simply. "God bless you, dear." 
 
 Old Sam Millington was sitting alone in 
 a room in his residence that he used as an 
 office, when there was a ring at the door. 
 Such a thing was almost unprecedented, 
 since the house had been practically closed 
 298
 
 THE SPECIAL PLEADER 
 
 for a year, but he answered the summons, 
 and beheld, standing upon the steps, the 
 figure of a young woman. 
 
 "I am Edna Trevor," she said. "May 
 I come in?" 
 
 "Certainly," the wondering man as- 
 sented. "What can I do for you, Miss 
 Edna?" 
 
 "You can do a whole lot if you will," the 
 girl replied, walking briskly into his den. 
 "I suppose you know that I am going to 
 marry your son?" 
 
 "Well, yes," he answered, smiling. 
 "He told me about it, this morning. I am 
 greatly pleased, and I told him so. Jack 
 is a good boy and a smart one! But it 
 will be some time before he will be well 
 enough to get married." 
 
 "He's well enough now," Edna an- 
 nounced, bluntly. 
 
 Then, while the capitalist stared in 
 amazement, she went on rapidly, and told 
 him the whole story from beginning to 
 299
 
 THE THREE KEYS 
 
 end, omitting nothing; and she did it so 
 quaintly and so energetically that, before 
 she was half-done, the first wrath had gone 
 from his face, and in its stead was an ex- 
 pression of sardonic enjoyment. 
 
 "You see," she concluded, "I would not 
 be married under false pretenses. And, 
 then, there was Morris, dying to come to 
 you and let out the whole thing only, 
 Jack wouldn't let him. So, I just made 
 up my mind that I would do it myself. I 
 am just as deep in the mud as any of them, 
 and I have a right to confess if I wish to. 
 . . . And you will forgive us all, won't 
 you?" 
 
 "Edna," said the old man, and his keen 
 eyes were dimmed a little as he looked into 
 the clear, pleading eyes of the girl, "if you 
 will put your arms around my neck, and 
 kiss me, and say 'Thank you, father/ I will 
 promise to forgive." 
 
 "You had no need to ask me," Edna 
 made answer. And she threw her arms 
 300
 
 THE SPECIAL PLEADER 
 
 around his neck, and gave him many kisses, 
 and thanked him with every one. 
 
 And a month later, when the double 
 wedding occurred, the most spectacular 
 feature* of that spectacular event was the 
 sight of those aforetime enemies, George 
 Trevor and Sam Millington, walking hap- 
 pily together up the central aisle of the 
 church, arm-in-arm. 
 
 THE END 
 
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