MILLIONS 
 
BY ERNEST POOLE 
 
 BLIND 
 
 His FAMILY 
 
 THE HARBOR 
 
 BEGGARS GOLD 
 
 His SECOND WIFE 
 
 "THE DARK PEOPLE" 
 
 THE VILLAGE: RUSSIAN IMPRESSIONS 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 ERNEST POOLE 
 
 gorfc 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1922 
 
 All fights reserved 
 
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1922, 
 By ERNEST POOLE 
 
 Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 
 
 Press of 
 
 J. J. Little & Ives Company 
 New York, U. S. A. 
 
. ; 
 
 To M. & 
 
 528661 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MADGE CABLE came out of her brother s room, 
 went slowly to a chair and sat down. In her small 
 determined mouth and her steady grey-blue eyes was 
 a look of rigid composure which had nothing to do 
 with the case. She felt numb and frightened, 
 strange. 
 
 "What shall I do?" she asked herself. "Suppose 
 that he should die to-night?" 
 
 The November dusk made the living room 
 of her brother s apartment dim and unreal. She 
 had never been here till this afternoon. She still 
 wore her brown travelling suit, and her cloak and 
 bag were by the door. It was Sunday. Late the 
 night before, Gordon Cable had been hurt in an ac 
 cident in his automobile. His partner had tele 
 graphed to the dull small town where his sister 
 lived, up near Albany, on the West Shore ; and she 
 had taken the next train. Nobody had met her 
 
2 M.I L LIONS 
 
 in New York, and on reaching the Park Avenue 
 apartment a few minutes ago she had found no one 
 here but an old colored man and a smart-looking 
 pretty young nurse. She had gone at once into Gor 
 don s room, and had thought at first that he was 
 dead. In a low voice she had questioned the nurse. 
 A blow on the head concussion coma. He lay 
 lifeless as a log. A lean, tall man of thirty-six, his 
 face with its large mouth and nose, gay humorous 
 attractive eyes, had been magnetic and full of life, 
 only a few hours before. But now all that was 
 swept away, and beneath the bandage around his 
 head his features showed thin, white and gaunt. 
 The eyes were closed. It was touch and go. At 
 least he was not suffering. There was nothing to 
 do but wait. 
 
 In the front room, in the deepening dusk, she sat 
 without stirring for some time. Her principal feel 
 ing was not of grief. She was sorry for her 
 brother, of course, and shocked and stunned by the 
 disaster; but for years he had barely seen her or 
 even taken the trouble to write though he must 
 have known how poor she was, and the dull 
 monotonous life she led. What overwhelmed 
 her now was this,. In the autumn of 1917, before 
 he went over to France in the army, Gonlon had 
 
MILLIONS 3 
 
 written a letter to Madge in which he said that he 
 had left her everything in case he were killed. 
 He had not been a rich man then, but now he was 
 worth millions and in a few hours he might be 
 deadlv 
 
 With a sudden icy cold sensation of excitement, 
 she clenched together her small hands. Still sitting 
 motionless, she thought, 
 
 "I m not going to think of that! He ll live 
 of course ! He s got to !" 
 
 Determinedly she turned from the present and 
 forced her thinking back and back into his distant 
 early life and her own, in the small town up near 
 Albany. And as she thought of those early days, the 
 tears came quickly in her eyes. 
 
 In a lovely old house looking down on the Hud 
 son out of its birches and bi^ pines, they had grown 
 up together. Though he was four years older, a 
 quick tempered little lad forever getting into fights 
 and into mischief of all kinds, he was gruffly patient 
 and kind with her. She was chubby and round and 
 neat as a pin, from her pig tails to her stubby brown 
 shoes. She adored her big brother and scolded him, 
 with large clumsy stitches she mended his clothes, 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 
 made him read to her and tell her stories, up in the 
 attic on rainy days, and u dress up" with her and be 
 "a knight errant noble and true," when he wanted 
 to be Pirate Bill. She made him "run away from 
 home forever," down the wooded river bank to their 
 "galleon" in the river. And when the old rowboat, 
 still tied to the pier, had been poled a few feet out 
 into the stream, and he asked, "Now what ll we do?" 
 she answered placidly, folding her hands, "Live 
 happy ever after, of course." 
 
 As time went on, growing less romantic, she made 
 him teach her to row and swim; and they fished in 
 the river, and they made long slow excursions at a 
 jog, both of them on one fat pony, back into the 
 wooded hills. At such times she stoutly declined to 
 become one half of a cavalry charge, and she grew 
 to detest the very name of Morgan and his raiders. 
 She argued to the point of tears with Gordon about 
 the Civil War. 
 
 "Dad was a Virginian and I m a rebel still!" he 
 would cry. 
 
 Their father, having come up north with 
 Gordon and his mother, after her death had 
 married again; and Madge, the child of the second 
 marriage, in vain appealed to Gordy to love her 
 mother. 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 "That Yank?" he would say, in a quivering voice. 
 "I hate her, Madge 1" 
 
 And nothing could change him. When his step 
 mother tried to be kind, he was cool; and when she 
 tried to discipline, he would glare at her and leave 
 the house. Often he would go and stay with his 
 Aunt Abby Dwight for weeks at a time. He kept 
 away from home more and more, as he grew into 
 his teens; and before he was twenty he went to New 
 York. Madge barely saw him after that. As she 
 grew older she was told that he was getting on 
 splendidly, in a business which had to do with ships; 
 but except for an occasional letter, and a gift at 
 Christmas, he showed no interest in her life. 
 
 Their father, in the meantime, had put every dol 
 lar belonging to his second wife into a stud farm, 
 near their home. He loved fine horses and he liked 
 to take Madge about with him on the farm, or for 
 rides far up the river to a favorite sandy point of 
 theirs, where they would cook supper in the dusk 
 and then ride home by moonlight. An easy-going, 
 lovable man but he had no business head; and he 
 managed the farm so badly that he was in debt at 
 the time of his death. Madge and her mother went 
 through some hard times; and when a few years 
 later Mrs. Cable suddenly died, the house was so 
 
6 MILLIONS 
 
 heavily mortgaged that, taking her Uncle Phil 
 Cable s advice, Madge made up her mind to sell it. 
 
 It seemed to her in the next few years that she 
 was making a splendid start. She lived with her 
 Uncle Phil at first and then went to a business col 
 lege in Troy. For deep down in Madge was that 
 secret spring of hopes and dreams which is in every 
 American breast though often it is buried by hard 
 realities so deep as to be no longer known, even to 
 its possessor the hope of becoming Somebody, the 
 dream of becoming rich and great. And her 
 brother s example was always before her. She was 
 proud of Gordon s success, in spite of his neglect of 
 her, and she felt she had the same business instinct. 
 
 "If he can do it, why can t I?" 
 
 ^ The Woman s Movement was then in the air, and 
 she applied it to her own life. She did not care very 
 much for the Vote, but the idea of earning her way 
 as a business woman appealed to her. Her friends 
 made fun of it at first. She was bright enough, 
 but so very small "about the size of a peanut," they 
 said and so altogether feminine; she had such 
 lovely soft brown hair, she did so love a pretty 
 gown; and at dances she invariably had some man 
 waiting to see her home. But in spite of this she 
 kept to her plan. On coming back to Halesburg she 
 
MILLIONS 7 
 
 had promptly taken a job in Hale and Pritchett s 
 Emporium. It was a drowsy old concern, but her 
 business instincts were stirred by the thought of 
 gradually building it up into a real department store. 
 The town at that time showed some signs of waking 
 up from its long sleep. The wholesale houses sent 
 in their men, and Madge grew absorbed in study 
 ing the many possibilities. The changing styles from 
 year to year took hold of her imagination. Her 
 employers listened to her plans, raised her sal 
 ary every year and gave her hopes that soon she 
 would be one of the firm. She did not stop to con 
 sider that this might be on her brother s account, 
 and the prospect of his backing. She put it down 
 to her own hard work and enterprise. 
 
 About five years went quickly by; and by 1917, 
 when she was twenty-seven, she had become cashier 
 in the store and was earning twenty-two dollars a 
 week. 
 
 Then the Great War came to America; and 
 Madge went into the Red Cross. It was soon af 
 ter this that she heard from her brother after a 
 lapse of several years. Though she knew that since 
 the war began he had been making money fast with 
 a score of old vessels which he bought just before 
 the prices soared, Gordon had not written her once. 
 
8 MILLIONS 
 
 But he joined up now as a volunteer, and a few 
 months later, before he sailed, he wrote her a let 
 ter in which he said, 
 
 "I have been a pretty poor brother, Madge. You 
 did not seem to need me and we just somehow got 
 apart. But I want you to know that in case the 
 Fritzies get me I have left you what I have and 
 I want you to write to me if you will. It s good to 
 feel there s somebody at home." 
 
 Back with a rush came her old affection. She 
 wrote to Gordon often, though he barely ever re 
 plied; and she spoke of him to her friends, and even 
 confided to a few what he had said in that letter of 
 his. The story spread all over town that if Gordon 
 was killed Madge would be rich, and she soon felt 
 her importance rise. She worked day and night at 
 her war job, and within a year she was at the head 
 of the local Red Cross activities. 
 
 But this was the height of her early rise. For 
 though after the war her old firm took her back, it 
 was soon plainly hinted that if she expected further 
 advance her brother s support must be forthcoming. 
 
 There followed some grim months for Madge. 
 She would not ask her brother to help her. Though 
 he had been home from France for months, he had 
 not taken the trouble to see her or even ask her 
 
MILLIONS 9l 
 
 down to New York ; he had merely written her that 
 he was back. And deeply hurt at his neglect af 
 ter all those letters she had written him in France, 
 and after all they had meant to each other in the 
 years when they were small she would not ask 
 him for his aid. 
 
 Her sense of injustice was soon increased by the 
 news of his prosperity, for Gordon was piling up 
 money now at a perfectly fabulous speed. At least 
 so it was rumored at home, for citizens of Hales- 
 burg went to New York and brought back tales of 
 his imposing offices and the business he was doing 
 in the boom which followed the war. The next 
 autumn he wrote again to Madge, to ask if he could 
 not help her; but he did not invite her down to New 
 York, nor did he come to see her. And so she 
 replied, 
 
 "No, thank you, Gordon, I am doing quite well 
 as I am." 
 
 But she was not doing well at all. The mere idea 
 that all that rapid rise of hers in Hale and Prit- 
 chett s drygoods store, had been due to the pros 
 pect of his support and not to her own abilities, first 
 angered her and then by degrees it sapped her self- 
 reliance. So she stayed at the cashier s desk; and 
 in the months and years which followed, that sense 
 
10 MILLIONS 
 
 of her own limitations began in her and steadily 
 grew. It came not only from the difference in her 
 position at the store; her position in the life of the 
 town had changed as well. Those women and they 
 were not a few who had been jealous of her rise 
 to such prominence during the war, now smiled at 
 her rich brother s neglect and at the very apparent 
 collapse of her grand dreams for a business career. 
 They soon "made her feel her place." And though 
 she still held high her head, in the face of their 
 mute derision, the effect of all this cut very deep. 
 
 Three years went by, and at thirty-two she found 
 herself, with a school teacher friend, Amanda 
 Berry, living in a little flat up over a small furni 
 ture store, with steep varnished stairs leading up to 
 their door. And she saw no other home ahead. 
 One by one in the last ten years her men friends 
 had dropped away. With Amanda she still went 
 to parties and church sociables, but the men she met 
 were either hopelessly settled for life or else they 
 seemed to her mere boys. She had taught them 
 once in Sunday School. 
 
 The events of her daily existence, however, 
 interested her keenly at times, for she was alert and 
 observant still, and with sharp humor from her 
 niche she looked out on this queer world of to-day, 
 
MILLIONS II 
 
 which even in Halesburg was now filled with such 
 swiftly changing lives. For the telephones and the 
 automobiles, the Sunday papers and picture shows, 
 had all been pouring into the town a restless deep 
 ening fever of change. Old ways and standards 
 dropped behind. Aunt Abby Dwight had been a 
 minister s wife. Her son Ray worked in a garage 
 and went to the movies on Sunday night. Madge 
 herself had left behind the lovely old home on the 
 river bank, and often now it seemed to her as 
 though she were merely camping out, in this cheap 
 flat with its varnished stairs she felt herself be 
 twixt and between. 
 
 To what was she going? "Well, we ll see." She 
 faced the future without dismay, nursed her indepen 
 dence and kept her feelings to herself all kinds of 
 feelings some of them quite old and familiar, so 
 that she understood them well; others new to her 
 and disturbing, having to do with babies, men. They 
 had come since the collapse of her vision of a career, 
 and were not to be faced but to be kept down, even 
 with Amanda Berry, though they had long talks 
 about everything else, considered themselves very 
 modern indeed, and would have laughed if anyone 
 had told them they were Puritans. 
 
 They still got a good deal of fun out of each 
 
12 MILLIONS 
 
 day s existence, and they smiled to one another over 
 the way in which they were slowly being forced 
 by the life of the town into corners as mere spin 
 sters. For they knew that it would not be so. 
 Spinsters? Yes. But corners? No! They still 
 took pains about their clothes; and Amanda, who 
 had worked for Hoover, had applied for jobs for 
 them both in the work of European relief. Oh, no, 
 they were not beaten yet I 
 
 Amanda was a big-boned creature of thirty-five, 
 goodnatured and kind, with a rich easy laugh which 
 hid a decided mind of her own. Madge was a slen 
 der little thing with a good figure, thin resolute lips 
 and blue-grey eyes set wide apart, and she still had 
 lovely hair. But in spite of that her appearance 
 was becoming rather prim and this to a very large 
 degree was caused by the mask of composure, al 
 most severe, with which she had hidden her feel 
 ings since the turn of her career, and which she as 
 sumed unconsciously whenever she was excited, dis 
 turbed, uncertain of herself or afraid. 
 
 3 
 
 And with all these emotions now here in New 
 York, in her brother s apartment she sat perfectly 
 still, with her thin lips half parted, then compressed 
 
MI L LTQ NS 13 
 
 again. She was frowning slightly overwhelmed. 
 To be wrenched away from her corner and dropped 
 so suddenly into this ! She wished that her Uncle 
 Phil had come with her. Before leaving home she 
 had just had time to telephone and give him the 
 news. He had gone with her to the train and had 
 said that he would telegraph the time of her arrival 
 to Gordon s partner in New York. But Mr. Evans 
 had not been here. 
 
 In a few moments Madge looked up with a char 
 acteristic quick slight turn of her small head. The 
 nurse had come out of Gordon s room. 
 
 "I can leave him now for a minute," she said. "Is 
 there anything that I can do?" 
 
 As she spoke, Madge felt the bright curious eyes 
 of the pretty young New Yorker taking in every de 
 tail of her clothes, taking her measure generally. 
 
 "No, thank you." Her low clear enunciation had 
 a distinctive quality which drew a little look from the 
 nurse. But she was quite used to that. People so 
 often noticed it. Her thoughts returned to her 
 brother s partner. 
 
 "Has Mr. Evans been here?" she asked. 
 
 "Not since early this morning." 
 
 Madge gave a slight frown of surprise. 
 
 "Not since then?" 
 
14 MILLIONS 
 
 "Oh, he has been calling up, about every hour or 
 so. But there wasn t anything he could do and he 
 told me that his business would keep him at the of 
 fice all day." 
 
 "Sunday?" 
 
 The young nurse smiled at that. 
 
 "He told me that your brother and he had been 
 rushed to death with work all week. Mr. Evans 
 looks half sick himself." She paused, but Madge 
 said nothing. "He said you were to have his room. 
 He lives here with your brother, you know." 
 
 "I see." 
 
 "Shall I show you which it is? I think dinner 
 will be ready soon," she said; and a glance of im 
 patience seemed to add, "Look here, this is your 
 affair you ought to be taking charge, you know." 
 
 "Thank you," said Madge. She hesitated. 
 "What is your name?" 
 
 "Cochran." 
 
 "I see. Now if you will show me the room " 
 
 And there, when she was left alone, she began 
 methodically to unpack her suit case. But as she 
 moved about the room she stopped all at once with 
 a slight start. Between the bureau and the desk 
 was a wide low window. The shade was up, and 
 the view down into the sparkling night made her 
 
MILLIONS 15 
 
 draw in her breath with a gasp. She drew nearer and 
 stood staring down here into shadowy regions and 
 there into regions bathed in light. The very clouds 
 which rolled above were rosy and warm, and the 
 whole weird vault of the heavens seemed to quiver 
 from the glow of the numberless human lives be 
 neath. On the train that afternoon, the thought 
 had come to her, "If he dies, I suppose I ll stay in 
 New York. I ll have to, for a time at least." The 
 idea came to her now again, and with it rose the 
 memory of the letter he had written her just before 
 he sailed for France. With a kind of a pang, she 
 thought, "He doesn t really care for me. I mean 
 little or nothing to him any more. It may even 
 have slipped his mind that he ever wrote such a 
 letter at all, or made such a will. Yet now if he 
 
 dies " Her lips closed tight, almost with pain. 
 
 "Oh, it s funny funny!" 
 
 Staring down into the city night, she saw a new 
 world waiting there disturbing, strange, exciting. 
 Something dynamic within herself leaped up in re 
 sponse. "Millions! What would I do with it?" 
 Slowly she turned to her travelling bag and went on 
 unpacking; but as she put some things on the bureau, 
 the sight of her face in the mirror made her stop and 
 stare again. "Quite a change in your life, young 
 
l6 MILLIONS 
 
 woman 1" She finished putting away her things, 
 slowly tidied her beautiful hair, and then went in 
 to supper. 
 
 She found Miss Cochran waiting. 
 
 "The night nurse has just come," she said, as 
 though in excuse for being there. 
 
 "I see," said Madge. To herself she thought, 
 "Two nurses. Yes, I suppose they do have two 
 when a man is rich as Gordon is." There were two 
 places set at the table. Madge took one, and the 
 nurse the other. "Now I wonder," Madge was ask 
 ing herself, "whether she d come to meals like this 
 if I were a New Yorker? Would she if I were Gor 
 don s wife? Or is it because she has put me down 
 as a little gawk from a small town who wouldn t 
 know about such things?" 
 
 During the meal they were silent at first, for 
 Madge felt awkward and ill at ease. It was all so 
 different here. Although she had taken no lunch that 
 day, she did not feel like eating now; but she did 
 so, mechanically. At home she had always gone to 
 her uncle s for a cold supper on Sunday night, at 
 six o clock, before going to church. Here was a 
 regular dinner instead a real man s meal, with sev 
 eral courses, served by the old colored man, who 
 wore a crisp white jacket now. She wondered if he 
 
MILLIONS 17 
 
 cooked as well. As the meal progressed, she guessed 
 that he did. "And he probably does the marketing, 
 too." The way he served, and the various dishes, 
 the linen and the silver gleaming on the sideboard, 
 the decanter half filled with whiskey there, all be 
 gan to attract her attention. But all the time she 
 was conscious of an effort to keep Miss Cochran 
 from seeing how new it was to her. From behind 
 her mask of composure, she threw a look of dislike 
 at the girl, whose very obvious appetite was a jar 
 at a time like this. Suddenly all Madge s thoughts 
 went back to her brother. Abruptly she spoke, in 
 her low clear voice: 
 
 "Will the doctor come again to-night ?" 
 
 "No he was here this afternoon just a few 
 minutes before you arrived." 
 
 "What did you say his name was?" 
 
 "Hoyt. He s a wonderful surgeon one of the 
 best of the younger men." And the nurse went on to 
 tell of his marvellous record in France, where she 
 had worked with him during the war. Madge lis 
 tened, impassive. The nurse was more than pretty; 
 she looked really able and smart, and she had small 
 clever hands. Madge had a habit of noticing hands. 
 "Clever yes but so cheerful!" she thought, with 
 a return of her dislike. But she dismissed it. "Well, 
 
18 MILLIONS 
 
 why not?" she asked herself. "What is Gordon to 
 her? A stranger, that s all. And when you come to 
 think of it, he s little more than that to me." In a 
 flash a picture came of the gaunt white figure in the 
 next room, and her lips set hard. "Poor Gordon !" 
 
 Then by degrees her attention came back to the 
 nurse, who was talking on, and she watched her 
 again attentively. The girl was a blonde ; her glossy 
 hair had been bobbed and curled by a coiffeur, and 
 her pretty face was plump and sleek. "I ll bet she s 
 every bit my age. How young looking these women 
 here manage to keep themselves," thought Madge. 
 "I wonder how they do it?" And looking down 
 at her plate she added, "My salary at home is prob 
 ably just the same as hers or maybe less. Yet now 
 in a few hours " 
 
 Angrily she dismissed the idea, kept down the 
 rush of excitement, and forced herself to listen. The 
 nurse was still speaking of Doctor Hoyt. 
 
 "It s a great comfort to have him on a case like 
 this," she said. "You can leave it all in his hands 
 absolutely, and know that the best is being done." 
 
 "Yes," said Madge. "That s it," she thought, 
 "there s really nothing for me to decide." The 
 knowledge brought a sense of relief and then again 
 that numb sensation, as though she were passively 
 
MILLIONS 19 
 
 drifting on to some tremendous change in her life. 
 As to the event which would cause it all, in the cool 
 dim room close by, the nurse seemed to have made 
 up her mind; for by her inquisitive questions now 
 she was plainly trying to find out what other rela 
 tives Gordon had, who might take charge when the 
 crisis came. Madge s answers became brief. "It s 
 none of her business, what I was or what I am or 
 am going to be 1" Besides, the meal was at an end. 
 The old colored servant came to her chair, and in a 
 solicitous tone he asked, 
 
 "Will you-all have you coffee heah, or in the 
 othah room, Miss Cable?" 
 
 "Here," said Madge. The old man s deference 
 went into her with a little thrill. It was so very 
 new to her. And she noticed now that Miss Coch- 
 ran, having fully sized her up, was taking the same 
 deferential tone. 
 
 "Is there anything at all that I can do before I 
 go?" she asked, as she rose from the table. With a 
 slight turn of her small head, Madge inquired, 
 
 "Oh are you going?" 
 
 "Yes, for the night. There s no need of my stay 
 ing, you know, with the night nurse here. Her 
 name is Miss Field. Would you like to see her?" 
 
 "Yes " 
 
20 MILLIONS 
 
 "Shall I ask her to come out?" 
 
 "No I ll be in there pretty soon." 
 
 The nurse went into the sickroom, and presently 
 Madge could hear her talking in a brisk vivacious 
 voice while she moved about changing her clothes. 
 What business had she talking like that, in a sick 
 room? Now she was telling the other nurse that she 
 was going with some man to the movies and later to 
 a cafe, to dance. The angry tears came in Madge s 
 eyes. She asked, "Is there no one who cares about 
 Gordon? Hasn t he anyone at all who is anxious 
 and unhappy to-night?" She felt a rush of pity and 
 of indignation. There came a sudden memory of a 
 day on the river long ago when he had a cramp and 
 just in time she threw him a rope from the end of a 
 pier. "I m here to see that he lives !" she thought. 
 "I tell you he s going to pull through!" With a 
 constriction in her throat, she rose to go in and stop 
 that talking! But just as she did so, Miss Cochran 
 came out, fresh, trim and gay, for her evening. 
 
 "Good night, Miss Cable," she said, brightly. "I 
 hope your brother does finely to-night." 
 
 "Thank you. Good night." 
 
 At her curt tone, she caught a look of surprise 
 from the nurse, but she went on into Gordon s room. 
 
 The room was cool and dim as before, and he 
 
MILLIONS 21 
 
 looked like a dead man there. The night nurse sat 
 reading the chart. Miss Field was a woman of mid 
 dle age, rather stout, and she wore glasses over quiet 
 keen grey eyes. She did not notice Madge by the 
 door. Presently she went to the bed and took his 
 pulse and his respiration. After that she stood for a 
 moment looking intently down at his face. As she 
 moved away, she caught sight of Madge. 
 
 "Good evening," she said, pleasantly. She did not 
 lower her natural voice, and again Madge felt a 
 shock of surprise. 
 
 "Good evening," she answered, in a voice which 
 was almost a whisper. The older woman smiled and 
 said, 
 
 "There s no need of speaking so low, Miss Cable. 
 Your poor brother couldn t hear if we shouted." 
 As she spoke, she went to the chart on the table and 
 entered the observations she d made. "His condi 
 tion seems about the same as it was when I left this 
 morning,^ she said. "The doctor can t be certain 
 yet whether it s concussion or compression," she went 
 on. 
 
 "Compression? What do you mean by that?" 
 
 "Well, it s a good deal more serious. If it s that, 
 they may have to operate." Miss Field went on to 
 give details. "There s nothing to do but wait," she 
 
22 MILLIONS 
 
 ended. "I ll do everything to-night so I d try 
 not to worry if I were you." Madge had seated 
 herself by the window. The older woman looked at 
 her and asked, "Hadn t you better get some rest? 
 I ll call you if there s any change and of course I 
 can always reach the doctor any minute on the 
 phone." 
 
 "Very well," Madge answered, "if you ll be sure 
 to call me." 
 
 No, there was nothing to do but wait. She went 
 back into the living room; and after sitting there a 
 while her alert observant eyes began to nolie things 
 in the room rugs, curtains, heavy leather chairs, 
 pictures, books and magazines, the Sunday papers, a 
 piano. She went and began to look over the music. 
 She had always loved good music. She played the 
 piano rather well and prided herself on keeping in 
 touch with the latest news in the music world. Here 
 she found a conglomeration of Debussy, Grieg and 
 jazz. Who was it that played, she wondered Gor 
 don or his partner? Or had there been somebody 
 else? Suddenly she noticed a large photograph of a 
 gorgeous creature with dark hair and lustrous eyes. 
 She frowned. 
 
 "Now who is she?" 
 
 She came close and looked attentively at the big 
 
MILLIONS 23 
 
 gay challenging eyes. A signature was scrawled be 
 low, but she could not make it out. She had not 
 thought of his women friends. What had happened 
 in this room, she asked, what kind of people had 
 been here? Just for a moment, with a rush, there 
 poured into her a sense of warm pulsing joyous life 
 it seemed almost to be here still! With a rising 
 curiosity, which she welcomed as a relief from her 
 mood of a few minutes before, she went into the 
 small study adjoining and glanced at some of the 
 books on the shelves, at the pictures of ships upon the 
 walls and a poster of a group of gunners shooting 
 at a U-Boat. On her brother s table desk were some 
 letters and a telegram. Should she open them? No, 
 she decided. She came back into the other room and 
 again began to look about, but could get no sense 
 of what had been here. Home? It was no more 
 a home than her own small cheap apartment. Just 
 a place betwixt and between. Two men had lived 
 here for a time lived warm, lavish, careless lives. 
 And both were utter strangers. 
 
 In her keyed up condition seeking desperately for 
 ties to bring Gordon closer to herself, again there 
 came a memory, from more than twenty years ago, 
 of another Sunday evening. Their parents had gone 
 off to church, and Gordon and she had slipped out 
 
24 MILLIONS 
 
 of bed and scampered down the high wooded bank 
 to the river. It was an August night. How cool and 
 soft the water had felt to their feet as they waded 
 along the shore, thrilled by the adventure. Then 
 she had suddenly been afraid, and had scampered up 
 and back to the house. 
 
 Once more a wave of compassion for her half- 
 brother swept over her now, but it was followed 
 quickly by a feeling of dismay and of utter loneli 
 ness. "I m not needed now, but the moment he dies 
 I ll have to take charge of everything!" Abruptly, 
 almost fiercely, she turned her thoughts away from 
 that. "Now we re not to be morbid!" And sit 
 ting there, she grew numb again. But presently she 
 found her thoughts turning to the future. "If I had 
 all that money, what would I do? How would I 
 live?" By degrees from her subconscious depths, 
 where they had long been buried, up came the ar 
 dent hopes and dreams and tingling desires. So 
 much she had wanted to do and be ! Life ? It would 
 be just beginning ! 
 
 With a queer strained little laugh, Madge rose 
 from her seat and walked the room. Again she 
 forced herself to be sane, but again the thoughts 
 came crowding in. She had often dreamed of the 
 One Great Chance which would suddenly come to 
 
MILLIONS 25 
 
 her. But to have it come in this way in this way ! 
 It was ghastly I 
 
 "I don t want it I He ll live, I tell you I He s not 
 going to die to-night!" 
 
 4 
 
 She heard a key turning in the door, looked around 
 with a startled jerk of her head and then stood wait 
 ing. A man came into the hall outside and took off 
 his hat and coat. Then he loomed in the doorway, 
 tall, heavy shouldered, still rather young, with a 
 blunt heavy anxious face and appealing boyish eyes. 
 When he saw her, he smiled and said, in a soft 
 Southern voice, 
 
 "I reckon you are Gordon s sister." 
 
 "Yes " 
 
 "I m Joe Evans. Howdado. Gordon s partner, 
 you know." He came in and took her hand. "I m 
 right glad you re here, Miss Cable. How is he 
 now?" he asked her. 
 
 "No worse, they say." 
 
 She saw a slight quiver come on his lips. His 
 mouth was heavy but sensitive. Abruptly he turned 
 away from her with a little gesture of his hands, 
 and she darted a quick look at them. They were so 
 big and clumsy, helpless. In a moment he recov 
 ered himself. 
 
26 MILLIONS 
 
 "I m right sorry I couldn t be here when you 
 came, but I jest couldn t manage to get away from 
 the office," he said. "Things have been piling up 
 on us there till a man can t call his soul his own. 
 These are right ticklish times, you know. And now 
 
 with Gordon out of it " he stopped, and added 
 
 softly, "I sure am glad that you are here." 
 
 She smiled back at him pityingly. 
 
 "We ll do the best we can," she said. 
 
 He began to tell her now what he had done the 
 night before of the trouble he d had at that hour 
 of night in finding out about a good surgeon and get 
 ting him here, in getting a nurse, in deciding upon 
 whether or not to take Gordon to a hospital. As 
 he talked on, he would stop and frown and try to re 
 member what else there was that she ought to know. 
 As she listened, quite unconsciously Madge was smil 
 ing slightly still, feeling with a little glow that here 
 was something she could do. For she saw that like 
 herself he had been desperately alone in this, and 
 that now he wanted to be reassured and praised a 
 bit for what he had done. 
 
 "It seems to me quite wonderful," she told him, 
 "how you ve managed it all." 
 
 As she went on, in a quiet tone, she satisfied both 
 him and herself that everything possible had been 
 
MILLIONS 27 
 
 done ; and in the relief that came to them, they felt 
 drawn to one another. 
 
 Joe Evans sank into a big leather chair. 
 
 "Do you mind if I smoke ?" he asked her. 
 
 "No," she said. 
 
 He took out some tobacco and began to roll a 
 cigarette. With his mind still on the disaster, he 
 told what the surgeon had said of the case. Again 
 feeling he wished to be reassured, she played her 
 part; and with a feeling half of dismay she saw how 
 he deferred to her. Plainly he was putting all re 
 sponsibility on herself. He showed he felt he could 
 count on her. And so few people had treated her 
 like that, in these last years. The dismay soon left 
 her and she felt a return of her old self confidence. 
 She began to learn more about him now, though they 
 were talking of Gordon still. As he spoke of how 
 for the last few weeks they had been working day 
 and night, her eyes went to the piano and the large 
 photograph of the girl. Madge wanted to ask 
 whose friend the girl was but instead of that she 
 inquired, 
 
 "How long have you known my brother?" 
 
 "Why about five years, I reckon. We got to 
 gether over in France. Both in the same regiment.- 
 We sure did have some scrumptious times." 
 
28 MILLIONS 
 
 "But how did you ever happen," she asked, "to 
 be in the same regiment? You re a Southerner, 
 aren t you?" 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I was born in Tennessee and 
 then went out to Texas. But when we-all went into 
 the war I was in New York on some business so I 
 signed up for Plattsburg here." He went on to speak 
 of his meeting with Gordon and of their life together 
 in France. "You wouldn t think to look at him that 
 he was such a real he man but Lordy Hallelujah, 
 how he could drive a lot of men. It s the same way 
 in his business." 
 
 "Have you been his partner long?" 
 
 "No, only a little over a year but we ve been 
 livin together ever since we got our discharge. He 
 took me into his office then and gave me a right 
 speedy education in finance. He had an idea I d 
 helped him some, one night when he got hit in 
 France but what I did was nothin at all when 
 you think what he has done for me. I owe him 
 jest everything," said Joe, and he went on to give 
 details. 
 
 But Madge paid slight heed to that. Her atten 
 tion was drawn to his hands and his eyes. Again 
 she felt what a strain he d been through and his re 
 lief to have her here, his awakening interest in her- 
 
MILLIONS 29 
 
 self. He began to ask her questions now. Ap 
 parently Gordon had told him little or nothing about 
 his family; and as Madge began to explain, she could 
 feel by his questions how he wished to have Gordon 
 excused for neglecting her. So she made it appear 
 quite natural. 
 
 "You see," she said, "we re Southerners, too 
 or at least our father was. Poor Dad was a little 
 boy in Virginia during the Civil War and his fam 
 ily lost everything and after some terribly difficult 
 times at last he came up north with his wife and 
 Gordon, who had just been born. A little later his 
 wife died and then my father married again my 
 mother, you see and I was born in Mother s old 
 home." In an eager tone she described the house, 
 and she could feel him listen intently. She spoke of 
 the good times they had had, then told of "poor Gor 
 don s trouble at home" and of how at last he had 
 gone away. She said nothing of his neglect of her 
 since, or the lean years she had been through, but 
 dwelt instead on his Christmas gifts and the times 
 when he had offered his aid. "But I wanted to make 
 my own way, you see. So we just naturally drifted 
 apart." 
 
 There was a moment s silence. 
 
 "Well," said Joe, "he s a lucky man to have 
 
30 MILLIONS 
 
 a little sister still to call on at a time like 
 this." 
 
 "Oh, I m afraid I can t be of much use, but I m 
 glad you sent for me," she said. 
 
 She could see he was thinking of leaving now, 
 and she dreaded being left alone. 
 
 "It s funny, isn t it," she remarked, "how most of 
 us Americans seem to be just drifting around. Our 
 family was in Virginia for about two hundred years. 
 Then all of a sudden Dad comes north and later 
 Gordon conies to New York and from there he 
 goes to France and meets you there from Texas 
 and you were born in Tennessee." She broke off 
 with a little laugh. 
 
 "Yes we sure do move," he said. "I haven t 
 been home in over ten years. My mother died when I 
 was knee high, and my dad when I was in college." 
 
 "Haven t you any brothers and sisters?" 
 
 "No and I ve just been wanderin round." 
 
 "Well, I can t say I ve wandered much," she told 
 him, with a rueful smile, "I ve stuck right there in 
 Halesburg. But the only home I ever had is gone, 
 so far as I m concerned and so much has gone 
 with it, too and I don t suppose it ll ever come 
 back. . . . And just what s to take its place I can t 
 for the life of me see. Can you? I wonder what 
 
MILLIONS 31 
 
 we re headed for? It rather brings you up with 
 a jerk and sets you thinking a time like this " 
 
 Their thoughts returned to this grim night. 
 
 "Yes," he said. "It does do that. ... I guess 
 I ll go in and see him now if you don t mind, Miss 
 Cable." 
 
 "Please!" 
 
 And when he was gone she told herself, "Now 
 I hope he didn t think that I was trying to keep him 
 here!" But when he came out of Gordon s room, 
 there was no thought of her in his anxious eyes. 
 
 "Is there nobody else," he asked, "who ought to 
 be told?" 
 
 "No, our folks are pretty well scattered," she re 
 plied, "all but Aunt Abby and Uncle Phil and he 
 will be here to-morrow, I think." 
 
 "That s good." He hesitated. "Don t you want 
 me to stay and jest sit here to-night so you can get 
 some rest?" he inquired. 
 
 "No, don t do that. You look tired," she said, 
 "and there s nothing at all you can do. I expect to 
 go to bed, myself. The nurse has promised to call 
 me, of course, if there s any need." 
 
 "Is everything all right," he asked, "about your 
 room and so on?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, thank you " 
 
32 MILLIONS 
 
 "I didn t have time to come back, you see but 
 I phoned old Abe, our nigger, to tidy up and I 
 hope he did." 
 
 He rang for the old negro, then went and looked 
 into his room, now hers. She followed behind 
 him. 
 
 "Oh, I ll be quite comfortable. What a won 
 derful view you have," she said. He turned at 
 that. 
 
 "Do you like it, too?" 
 
 "Yes, it takes your breath away." 
 
 Without reply he turned back to the living 
 room, as the old colored servant came in from the 
 hall. 
 
 "Abe," he said, "you look after Miss Cable while 
 she s here and see she gets anything she wants. She s 
 boss here now, you understand." 
 
 "Yes, suh yes, suh I understand. How you 
 think he looks, Marse Joe?" 
 
 "Oh, I reckon we ll pull him out of this, Abe." 
 
 The old negro helped him on with his coat. He 
 wrote down for Madge the telephone number of the 
 hotel where he had a room; and then taking her 
 hand, he said, 
 
 "Well good luck, Miss Cable good night." 
 
 "Good night, Mr. Evans." 
 
MILLIONS 33 
 
 For some time she sat without stirring. With a 
 grim smile she told herself, "That s the longest talk 
 I ve had with a man in goodness knows how many 
 years." 
 
 She got up abruptly and went into Gordon s room. 
 There everything was as before; and as she stood 
 looking in at the gaunt white form on the bed, she 
 realized all in a flash how as her brother slipped out 
 of life she herself was coming into it a life such as 
 she had never known. And the two changes were 
 bound close; the one depended on the other. It 
 was uncanny frightening! "I want him to live!" 
 she cried to herself. Almost in a panic she came 
 away, and in the front room stood rigid, restless. 
 Sleep? She gave a strained short laugh. "Look 
 here, the thing for you to do is to keep just as busy 
 as you can!" 
 
 There was still a little unpacking to do. She went 
 into her room and attended to that and then be 
 gan undressing. Again she looked about her. It was 
 a man s room, beyond a doubt. On the desk was 
 a kodak picture of Gordon and Joe Evans in uni 
 form, in some camp; and she stopped for a time to 
 look at it. Then once more she found herself star- 
 
34 MILLIONS 
 
 ing down through the wide low window into the 
 sparkling city night. She turned back, pulled down 
 the shade, finished undressing and got into bed; but 
 after half an hour or so, her restlessness grew so 
 acute as to be unbearable. She rose and threw on 
 a dressing gown and went again to Gordon s door 
 and listened. There was not a sound. She turned 
 into the living room and moved about slowly looking 
 at things books, pictures, music, knick-nacks, pipes 
 wondering which belonged to Gordon, which to 
 Joe. Once again she noticed the photograph on the 
 piano. 
 
 Old Abe came in and asked her when she would 
 have breakfast. She looked up in a startled way. 
 
 "Oh, about seven/* she replied. She colored 
 slightly. "No eight o clock, please. " 
 
 "Yes m. Anything else I can do, Miss Cable?" 
 
 "No, thank you." 
 
 "Yes m. Good night, Miss Cable." 
 
 "Good night, Abe." 
 
 He left her. It was nearly midnight now, and 
 sitting alone in the front room the cold panicky feel 
 ing came stealing back. "If he dies before morning 
 what shall I do? I don t know a single soul in New 
 York!" Then she thought of Joe Evans. "Yes, I d 
 call him up at once. That s the first thing I would 
 
MILLIONS 35 
 
 do." Gradually Madge grew quiet again; she began 
 to think intently of their talk an hour before, and to 
 remember what she had said. All at once she was 
 abashed at the eager friendliness she had shown 
 him. "What must he think of me ?" she asked. She 
 shrank into herself her old self or rather the self 
 of these last few years the nobody self. And she 
 wanted desperately to get back right back into her 
 corner ! She wanted Gordon to live, not die, and go 
 on with this strange life of his " which is none of 
 my business, after all!" And as she sat wishing, 
 wishing, suddenly she felt quite sure that early in 
 the morning, when she went into Gordon s room, she 
 would find him with clear smiling eyes, weak but 
 out of danger ; and that she would go back home, to 
 Amanda Berry in their flat, and in a long evening talk 
 she would give the whole story to her friend. How 
 uncanny and unreal, a thrilling adventure interest 
 ing to talk about when you had left it all behind you. 
 Yes, she wanted it like that ! 
 
 "And yet suppose, on the other hand, in an hour 
 from now " 
 
 She clenched her small hands on the sides of the 
 chair and felt herself grow stiff as a board. 
 
 "Uncle Phil will be here to-morrow," she 
 thought, trying to grip her thoughts again. But now 
 
36 MILLIONS 
 
 the hubbub from outside, from the broad avenue 
 below, had risen to a bedlam of honks and raucous 
 blaring horns which beat into her very soul. Would 
 they never be quiet, get ready for sleep? 
 
 Again she seemed to shrink into herself; for once 
 more the question rose before her, stark and clear: 
 
 "Millions I What would I do with it?" 
 
 It must have been nearly one o clock when the 
 buzz of the doorbell brought her to her feet with a 
 spring. She waited, regained control of herself, and 
 then with a slow deliberation went out to the door 
 and opened it. A girl in a cloak of gold brocade, 
 with a dark oval nervous face and with big black 
 gorgeous eyes, drew back in surprise. 
 
 "Oh good evening!" 
 
 "Good evening. What is it, please?" inquired 
 Madge. Without reply, the girl came by into the 
 hall. 
 
 "Are you the nurse?" 
 
 "No," said Madge. 
 
 In an instant she was all alert; and her quick 
 observant eyes took in the girl from head to foot. 
 A beauty, of the vivid sort, set off by pencil and 
 the lip stick. Nervous, tired, all keyed up. Lavish, 
 
MILLIONS 37 
 
 careless. Underneath the lovely old embroidered 
 cloak, Madge caught glimpses of a skirt and waist 
 by no means fresh. Beautiful ankles, dainty slip 
 pers. Hair untidy. U A11 mixed up. Neither one 
 thing nor the other." All this Madge took in at a 
 glance. 
 
 "Who are you, then, if I may ask?" the visitor 
 said abruptly. 
 
 "I m Mr. Cable s sister." 
 
 From the impatient lips and eyes, Madge caught 
 a glance which seemed to say, "Oh, the devil I What 
 a nuisance!" The girl said aloud, 
 
 "Oh I didn t know " 
 
 "He had any sister? He has, you see. And they 
 telegraphed." 
 
 As they entered the living room Madge s look 
 went to the photograph on the piano. 
 
 "How is he now?" the stranger asked. 
 
 "He seems to be no worse," said Madge; and 
 then, a little louder: "Would you mind telling me 
 your name?" 
 
 "Good evening, Miss O Brien." The nurse had 
 come out of Gordon s room, having heard the door 
 bell; and at sight of her the visitor promptly turned 
 away from Madge, and in her rich impatient voice 
 began asking questions. Then she said, 
 
38 MILLION 
 
 "I ll see him now." And she went back into the 
 bedroom. The nurse followed her, and for a time 
 Madge stood staring after them, with an expression 
 of keen dislike. "A funny way to sweep into a place, 
 and brush a man s sister aside like that, without even 
 stopping to tell her name. ... I wonder if she s en 
 gaged to him and who she is and what she is?" 
 Madge sat down, with a little frown of dislike and 
 curiosity. "And it s long after midnight, too. If she 
 really cares for him, why hasn t she been here be 
 fore? Where has she been all evening?" 
 
 A few minutes later, the girl came out and went 
 down the hall. As she passed the living room door 
 way, Madge caught a glimpse of her face, strained, 
 anxious. Then she heard the outer door open and 
 close sharply. The strange visitor was gone. And 
 sitting there Madge asked herself, 
 
 "Now I wonder who in the world she can be 
 and what she has been to Gordon?" 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ON awakening the next morning, Madge went 
 into Gordon s room. "Now he ll be better," she told 
 herself. But she found her brother the same as be 
 fore. Miss Cochran, the young day nurse, had 
 come, and she said there had been no sign of a 
 change. Madge went back to her room and dressed, 
 and was at breakfast with the nurse when her Uncle 
 Phil arrived. 
 
 He was about sixty a tall, thin man in a loose fit 
 ting pepper-and-grey suit. He had a large soft grey 
 moustache ; he wore glasses, and his light blue eyes 
 were hard, but with a twinkle. Madge both liked 
 him and disliked him. Her father s only brother, 
 he had been since her father s death the head of the 
 family, more or less; and when Madge s home was 
 sold, her uncle had managed the whole affair. He 
 had been a doctor then; but a few years later, 
 when the local druggist died, Doctor Cable had 
 taken the store and in ten years had built up quite a 
 business there, with toilet articles, cheap perfumes, 
 
 39 
 
40 MILLIONS 
 
 kddak supplies, candy, gum, cigarettes and cigars. 
 And although, with a querulous wife at home who 
 was forever dosing herself, and a thin gawky daugh 
 ter of thirty-one who was complaining constantly, 
 Uncle Phil had a far from easy time, somehow or 
 other, by his smile, his smooth deep voice and the 
 easy twinkle in his eyes, he always managed to give 
 the appearance of a solid citizen who had come a 
 long way up in life and could look indulgently at 
 things. Years ago, when a patient of his had died 
 and the relatives had gone about saying that it was 
 all on account of a careless mistake which he had 
 made, he had borne it off with that same easy man 
 ner. Uncle Phil was hard to faze. He had always 
 been kind enough to Madge, and many times he had 
 tried to persuade her to ask her rich brother for his 
 aid both for herself, her family and her fellow 
 townsmen. But when she obstinately refused, and 
 later began her slow decline, by degrees he had come 
 to look on her as the rest of them did as a girl 
 who had lost her one big chance and would soon be 
 just a little old maid. 
 
 But to-day, though his voice and his manner were 
 as easy and smooth as before, she soon began to no 
 tice that her uncle was queerly intense. He looked 
 at her so differently. 
 
MILLIONS 4! 
 
 "Well, Madge, and how is Gordon?" he asked at 
 once, on his arrival. He listened closely to what she 
 said. "Has the doctor been here this morning?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Not yet." 
 
 "That s good then I shall see him. Did you 
 talk with him last night?" 
 
 "No, he was here before I arrived." 
 
 "I see. Now I ll go in, if I may, and have a look 
 at the patient myself." 
 
 Doctor Cable went into Gordon s room, talked to 
 the nurse and looked at the chart; and as he studied 
 it carefully, Madge felt a very real relief to have 
 him here. 
 
 "Well, my dear," he said t ) her, when they came 
 into the other room, "I guess to-day will settle this, 
 one way or the other." Then noticing the strain in 
 her face he patted her shoulder. "Now suppose you 
 come in and finish your breakfast, and give me a lit 
 tle, too." 
 
 And when they were at the table, he asked, "Was 
 Evans here when you arrived?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "That s rather curious. Didn t he get my 
 wire?" 
 
 "Yes but he was at his office," she said. 
 
42 MILLIONS 
 
 Her uncle s bushy eyebrows lifted just a bit at that. 
 
 "On Sunday, eh. Looks as if their business must 
 be pretty absorbing! these days. 1 He drank his 
 coffee and then inquired, "Didn t he even come last 
 night?" 
 
 "Yes." And she told of the talk they had had. 
 She hesitated. "And later," she said, "long after 
 twelve a girl came in." 
 
 Her uncle threw her a quick look. 
 
 "Who was she?" 
 
 "She didn t give me her name but the nurse 
 called her Miss O Brien." 
 
 Their voices were both suddenly low. 
 
 "Didn t you talk to her?" 
 
 "Barely. She didn t give me a chance," said 
 Madge. 
 
 As she went on to describe the brief visit, her 
 uncle listened closely but made no comment at the 
 end, except to say, 
 
 "Well, she ll come again, I presume and then 
 perhaps she ll condescend to make our acquaintance. 
 Now how can I get in touch with Evans?" 
 
 "He said he would be coming soon. He phoned 
 about an hour ago." 
 
 "Good," said Doctor Cable. "And I presume 
 the surgeon will be here, too, before very long." 
 
MILLIONS 43 
 
 They had left the tabk now and gone into the liv 
 ing room. 
 
 "Is there room for me to sleep here?" he inquired. 
 
 "Yes," she said, "there s one room left." 
 
 "Your Aunt Abby will be needing that." 
 
 "Oh. Is Aunt Abby coming, too?" 
 
 "Yes. I tried to stop her but she wouldn t hear 
 to it. She ll arrive this afternoon. Better let her 
 have the extra room, and I can bunk in there," he 
 said, looking into the small study. "Yes, I can sleep 
 on the sofa there if there s any sleeping to be 
 done." 
 
 He went and got his big satchel and took it into 
 the small room. A little later he called to her, in 
 a quiet tone, 
 
 "Come in here, Madge." 
 
 And when she went, she found him with a letter 
 in his hand. 
 
 "Here s that letter Gordon wrote you in 1917," 
 he said. She made a movement of surprise, but 
 remembered that her uncle had asked for the letter 
 at the time. "I ve kept it in my safe," he remarked. 
 He opened it and read it aloud. At the end he in 
 quired, "Did you ever hear if he made that 
 will?" 
 
 "No I didn t." Compressing her lips, she hesi- 
 
44 MILLIONS 
 
 tated and then asked, "Do we need to talk of this 
 now?" 
 
 "Yes, I think we do, my dear. This is a time for 
 some pretty clear thinking. He may live we ll hope 
 he does. But in case he should not, we can t be too 
 careful what goes on. Money is money and by 
 all accounts Gordon has a lot of it. Millions, 
 maybe." 
 
 Madge felt a little leap in her breast. 
 
 "I don t see what we can do about that," she an 
 swered in a tone of constraint. 
 
 "Don t you?" said her uncle. "Suppose you leave 
 that part to me?" As she hesitated still, he added, 
 "All I want to do, of course, is to make sure that 
 your rights are protected that there is nothing un 
 derhand." 
 
 "Very well, Uncle thank you." 
 
 "Good. That s all I need for the present," he 
 said. "Now," he added quietly, "I guess I ll get on 
 a clean shirt." As she was leaving him, he asked, 
 "Has that nurse had her breakfast?" 
 
 "Yes " 
 
 "And have you ordered the meals for the day?" 
 
 "Why, no." 
 
 The tolerant glance he gave her then brought 
 back her former feeling of being so inadequate. 
 
MILLIONS 45 
 
 "Better get the run of the kitchen," he said. 
 
 Madge went in to talk with Abe. The old negro 
 ! soon made her aware that he had his business well 
 ^in hand and wanted no interference. And again the 
 feeling came, "There s nothing here for me to do." 
 gBut as he went on to ask her how many would be 
 Ihere for meals, told her how he managed things, 
 showed her where the linen was kept, and answered 
 I other questions she put him, she felt in his whole 
 | attitude an anxious deference to herself as though 
 he knew that by to-morrow she might be the mistress 
 here. She impatiently stopped this train of thought; 
 but in spite of her efforts at self-control the strange 
 excitement came again and grew till with her 
 nerves on edge she sat as before in the living room. 
 Her uncle came out in his shirt sleeves and went into 
 the bathroom. Presently he came back again, went 
 into the study and shut the door. 
 
 A few minutes later a ring of the doorbell made 
 her jump. She went to the door and opened it, and 
 a short stout man with a large head and a heavy 
 shock of hair, smooth freckled face and hard square 
 jaw, came into the hall. 
 
 "Good morning. Are you Miss Cable?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes " 
 
46 MILLIONS 
 
 "My name is Hoyt," he said. "I m the surgeon 
 here. How s the patient to-day?" 
 
 "About the same, so far as we know." 
 
 "Well, we ll see about that in a minute. I d like 
 a few words with you first." 
 
 They went into the living room, and Madge at 
 once began to feel something steady and strong and 
 reassuring in his brusque voice and kindly eyes. 
 
 "Are you his only sister?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "No brothers parents living?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Then you are the one responsible here." 
 
 Suddenly she felt again the load settling on he 
 shoulders. 
 
 "Not entirely," she replied. "My uncle arrive 
 this morning." 
 
 She turned as her uncle came out of the study, in 
 troduced him to Doctor Hoyt and listened as the tw< 
 men talked. But their interview was brief. Hoy 
 went into Gordon s room; her uncle followed; anc 
 as she heard their voices and that of the nurse 
 Madge smiled to herself. For the New York sur 
 geon was rather ignoring Uncle Phil. "Uncle won t! 
 like that," she thought. And when presently theyy 
 came out again, one look at her relative s face wass 
 
MILLIONS 47 
 
 enough to show her that she had been right. But 
 the surgeon seemed to pay no heed. 
 
 "Where can I reach Mr. Evans?" he asked her. 
 "There are some things I want to know about the 
 life your brother has led, and that wound he got in 
 France. Unless his condition changes soon, we 
 shall have to operate. 
 
 "Do you feel quite satisfied of that?" asked Doc 
 tor Cable sharply. He received an impatient look 
 from the surgeon. 
 
 "I said, sir if there is no change. Good day, 
 Miss Cable have Mr. Evans call me at my office 
 at twelve." 
 
 "Very well, Doctor." Madge s face still wore a 
 faint smile of relish. How her uncle did dislike it! 
 The moment they were alone, he said, in a hard un 
 natural tone, 
 
 "I can t say I m much impressed by this fellow. 
 He seems to be getting ready to decide this whole 
 case in a rush. This sticking a knife into a man s 
 brains is a devilish ticklish business, at best. And 
 when I see a surgeon going at it hammer and 
 tongs " 
 
 "Why, Uncle," said Madge, "he seemed to me to 
 know just what he was about." 
 
 "Did he? Did you like the way he kept trying 
 
48 MILLIONS 
 
 to shove us aside as a couple of nobodies here 
 and to put Evans in our place ? Now you listen to 
 me. Don t you let him do it, Madge nor the nurse, 
 nor the nigger, nor Evans himself. Understand? 
 This case is all up to you!" 
 
 Again she felt that tingling sensation deep inside 
 of her. 
 
 "Yes," she said, "I suppose it is. But I m glad 
 you re here, too, Uncle Phil." 
 
 As she talked on, in a steady voice, about her con 
 fidence in her uncle as a doctor of good common 
 sense, and as she saw how what she said was sooth 
 ing his ruffled feelings, once more she felt her power 
 here growing quickly, hour by hour. And the old 
 strong self-confidence of a few years ago came rap 
 idly back. 
 
 Doctor Cable took out his watch. 
 
 "Hello it s nearly ten," he said. "Before 
 Evans comes, I think I ll go in and talk to the 
 nurse. I want to learn a little more about that girl 
 who was here last night. Didn t Evans speak of 
 her?" 
 
 "No," said Madge, with a slight start 
 
 "That s funny," said her relative. 
 
 And after she was left alone, Madge told herself, 
 
 "That s so. It is." 
 
 
MILLIONS 49 
 
 2 
 
 She sat without stirring for 4 a time thinking 
 about Joe Evans and their talk of the night before. 
 Why hadn t he told her about that girl ? "Well, why 
 should he? After all, we were nothing but strang 
 ers practically." But then with a little glow she 
 remembered how, starting as utter strangers, they 
 had been drawn to one another in less than an 
 hour with Gordon close by, in the cool dim room. 
 Madge drew an impatient breath. "What s the 
 matter with me?" she asked. "Can t I just be sensi 
 ble?" 
 
 Then she heard a key in the door. A moment 
 later Joe Evans came in; and at once her self-con 
 sciousness disappeared and she felt drawn to him 
 again. All his thoughts were so plainly on Gordon 
 now. Desperately anxious but keeping himself well 
 in hand, from the moment he entered he made her 
 feel that his reliance on herself had deepened since 
 the night before. And soon, in reply to his questions, 
 she was again reassuring him. She told of her uncle s 
 coming and dwelt upon his long experience as a phy 
 sician, his good common sense. 
 
 "I can t tell you how relieved I feel to have him," 
 she ended. "I ve arranged that he shall sleep here 
 to-night." 
 
50 MILLIONS 
 
 "That s good," said Joe, "I m glad he has come. 
 But if he s a doctor well, you want to be careful, 
 you know. I hope he won t try to tell Hoyt his 
 business. I reckon you know how these doctors are. 
 And I hope you ll remember that you are the one to 
 decide things here you, and nobody else but you. 
 The rest of us well, you can count on me to stick 
 right behind you." A worried gleam came into his 
 eyes. "If it weren t for that snarl we re in down 
 town I d be right with you all the time. But I know 
 that I can count on you," he ended in an earnest 
 tone. "I knew it the minute I saw you here." 
 
 "Oh, I m afraid I m not so dependable as that." 
 As she spoke she could feel the blood in her cheeks. 
 In an even voice, she said, "But I m going to do my 
 best, you know, and somehow I feel so very sure 
 that we ll bring my brother back to life." 
 
 "Yes," he said. And then, in a moment. "We ve 
 been right happy here, Miss Cable. I jest can t be 
 gin to tell you what he has meant to me," Joe went 
 on. "I never knew a man so " he broke off, with 
 a little gesture. "That brother of yours is white 
 all through and when you re with him you work 
 like the devil but believe me, you sure do live. 
 We ve had some pretty scrumptious times but some 
 of the best and the funniest were when we were 
 
MILLIONS 51 
 
 working most of the night." His look went to the 
 desk in the study, as though his friend were still sit 
 ting there. "I keep thinking of all he has done for 
 me of what I was five years ago. 1 
 
 After a pause, she asked him gently, "But you 
 liked it, didn t you out there in Texas, on a ranch?" 
 
 Slowly he seemed to bring back his thoughts. 
 
 "Yes yes, I liked it and I reckon that s the 
 life for me. But to do what I wanted out there, you 
 need a pile of money nowadays. When I get 
 enough of it, I guess I ll go back." 
 
 "I should think it must be wonderful. My father 
 used to breed horses, you see, and I ve always loved 
 them," she went on. And soon she had him talking 
 about the life upon a ranch. 
 
 In the meantime, half unconsciously, she was 
 thinking of how just like herself he had started in 
 a small dull town. But how he had moved ! From 
 Tennessee way out to Texas, then over to France 
 and back here to New York while she herself had 
 stuck in her corner. A wave of warm deep restless 
 ness went through her, and once more she asked, 
 "What is this going to do to me?" 
 
 The clock in the hall began striking ten. With a 
 start, they both came back to the present. Joe Ev 
 ans went into the study and began to open the letters 
 
52 MILLIONS 
 
 and the telegrams on the desk. Watching his face 
 from where she sat, she could see how abruptly all 
 his thoughts had gone back to the business of to-day. 
 
 "But I did see into him," she thought. "Yes, sir, 
 right down into his life !" It was as though a search 
 light had been turned upon it suddenly. And vaguely 
 now she realized that the silent drama in the cool 
 dim room close by was acting with the same effect 
 on herself. It was as though she had stepped into 
 a glaring path of light which struck with a revealing 
 force deep into her existence, her desires and her 
 dreams. She compressed her lips and frowned, as 
 she felt how she was changing. When her uncle 
 came out of Gordon s room, she glanced at him 
 and thought, "You re different, too ! What is it 
 that is happening here to show each one of us up like 
 this?" 
 
 As her uncle started to speak to her, he saw 
 Evans through the open door, and in a sharp, low 
 voice he asked, 
 
 "Who s that opening that mail?" 
 
 Madge almost jumped. "Oh, yes," she thought, 
 excitedly, "you are you are you re different!" 
 
 She waited a bit, and then said calmly, 
 
 "That s Mr. Evans, Uncle Phil." 
 
 At the sound of their voices, Joe Evans had risen. 
 
MILLIONS 53 
 
 He came in, and Madge introduced them. Doctor 
 
 Cable s manner was smooth and kindly as usual now. 
 
 "I m glad to meet you, Mr. Evans this is a try- 
 
 i ing time for us all. Gordon s a fine, promising lad. 
 
 We ve not seen as much of him as we d like, in these 
 
 last years. Still, blood is pretty thick, you know 
 
 especially when you come from the South. So I came 
 
 right down to the city to see if I couldn t be of some 
 
 use." 
 
 "I sure am glad you did, sir." 
 
 "But," continued Doctor Cable, "you seem to 
 have done about everything that anyone could do, 
 my boy. I m sorry you ve had such a strain. My 
 niece tells me you ve been having worries in your 
 business, too." 
 
 "Yes," Joe answered. "And I ought to be in the 
 office right now. The fact is, we couldn t have picked 
 a worse time for Gordon to be put out of the run 
 ning." 
 
 "Nothing serious, I hope." The quiet vigilance 
 in the eyes of Uncle Phil had come into his voice. 
 The younger man felt it; and watching him, with a 
 thrill Madge saw the instant change. 
 
 "Oh, no, sir we ve nothing at all to complain 
 of." 
 
 "I m glad of that." Madge saw her relative hesi- 
 
54 MILLIONS 
 
 tate. Then he seemed to make up his mind. "Now, 
 Mr. Evans," he began, "this is a time for plain 
 speaking, I think and we might as well face the 
 facts like men. I believe, as no doubt you do your 
 self, that we re going to pull my nephew through. 
 But there s no use denying the fact that we may fail 
 and he may die. If he does, I m here to protect my 
 
 niece." 
 
 "In what way do you mean?" Joe s low voice 
 cut in like a knife, but Doctor Cable did not flinch. 
 
 "I have a letter here," he said, "which Gordon 
 wrote before going to France. In it he informed 
 my niece he was making a will in her favor. Have 
 you ever heard him speak of it?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "If he had made one, where would it be?" 
 
 "With his other papers, I reckon in his box at 
 the bank," said Joe. 
 
 "Have you a key?" 
 
 "I know where it is." 
 
 "And they know you at the bank, of course." 
 
 "Yes there ll be no trouble there." 
 
 "Then suppose we go and have a look." 
 
 There was an awkward silence. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Why, there seems to be reason enough, I think. 
 
MILLIONS 55 
 
 on t you? If there is such a will, we ought to 
 now it. And if there should be a later will, which 
 favors somebody else than my niece that person 
 ought to be notified." Uncle Phil waited a mo 
 ment. "I speak now as a physician," he said. Joe 
 winced at that. 
 
 "All right," he said, "I ll see to it." 
 
 As Doctor Cable looked at him then, Madge knew 
 he wanted to propose that he go, too, and help in 
 the search; and that Joe Evans knew he did. But 
 the face of Gordon s partner had become impas 
 sive as before; and after another awkward pause 
 Madge saw her uncle relinquish his plan. He said, 
 
 "Then if you ll do it pretty soon " 
 
 "I ll see to it this morning and let you know." 
 
 "Thank you." Again there was silence. Then, 
 as Joe made a move to go, "There s another point 
 I want to clear up," Uncle Phil continued, smoothly. 
 Are there any intimate friends of his who are likely 
 to be coming here? If you could give us some 
 idea " 
 
 "He hasn t many intimate friends. There are 
 some, of course, who will call up but I doubt if 
 they ll be coming here." 
 
 "You re mistaken in that," said Doctor Cable. 
 "My niece informs me that there was one who came 
 
56 MILLIONS 
 
 last night. She had been here yesterday twice be 
 fore." 
 
 "Oh, yes that was Leonora O Brien," said Joe, 
 in a voice a bit unnatural. He turned to Madge. 
 "I would have told you about her," he said, "but 
 I didn t reckon she could get here again last eve 
 ning. She was in rehearsal for her play which 
 opens to-night." 
 
 "She s an actress, then," said Uncle Phil. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "She and Gordon must be on rather intimate 
 
 terms." 
 
 "They have been yes." 
 
 "How long has he known her?" 
 
 "Nearly a year." 
 
 "Would you call it an engagement?" 
 
 "No I don t think so. She s all wrapped up in 
 her stage career. I doubt if she s the marrying 
 kind." 
 
 "I see. Well, it s none of our business, of course, 
 and I don t want to pry into Gordon s affairs. Only, 
 so long as he is in this critical condition you might 
 say, at the point of death we can t be too careful," 
 said Uncle Phil. "I wonder if you couldn t find 
 out a little more about their relations?" At a quick 
 look from Joe, he added, "We want to be fair to 
 
MILLIONS 57 
 
 her, you see. If she has any real right to be here, 
 she must be of course." 
 
 "I don t see how I can find that out. Gordon 
 
 can t tell us " 
 
 "No, poor lad and all we can do is to make a 
 careful search among his papers, to make quite sure 
 if there s anything at all in this young woman s 
 favor?" 
 
 Joe took no pains to conceal his dislike. 
 "When I go to the bank, I ll look for that." 
 "And in the office. His desk, perhaps." 
 "All right I But we ll hope he won t die, sir !" 
 "Yes, my boy!" Doctor Cable gripped him by 
 the hand; and as they went to the door, he said, "I 
 hope you won t take this too hard. There s no im 
 mediate danger, I think, and we are here to do all 
 we can. We re grateful to you for what you have 
 done. I speak for Gordon s family. Now you 
 won t forget to go to the bank?" 
 "No, sir." 
 And Joe left them. 
 
 Uncle Phil turned back to Madge and said, 
 "Well, he seems like a good honest lad capable, 
 too, if I m not mistaken. Now Madge, I m going 
 
58 MILLIONS 
 
 to stay with Gordon. I want to study his record 
 again and watch him. There are certain signs which 
 mean a good deal, one way or the other. I m think 
 ing of Hoyt and that operation. So, if you don t 
 mind, my dear, I ll leave you here to answer the 
 phone. Gordon s friends will be calling up, no 
 doubt " 
 
 "Yes, Uncle, I ll attend to it." 
 
 Again she felt the deference in his manner to 
 ward herself; and she felt it still again in the voices 
 of those men who called up in the next hour. As 
 she said to each of them, "I m Mr. Cable s sister," 
 she heard the change in their voices, the sympathy 
 and consideration; and once more she had a sense 
 of how her position was changing. 
 
 Once or twice a woman called up, but she did not 
 hear the voice of the girl who had been here the 
 night before. "She won t telephone, she ll come," 
 thought Madge. More and more her thoughts 
 turned to this second meeting. "So she s an 
 actress." There was a little excitement in that. 
 "Well, I m sorry for her, of course if she really 
 cares for him. But I m not to be just shoved 
 aside." 
 
 And so, when the young actress came about noon 
 to the apartment, and after a few brusque questions 
 
MILLIONS 59 
 
 started to go to Gordon s room, Madge said to her, 
 in an even tone, 
 
 "I don t think you d better go in just yet." 
 
 The girl stopped suddenly. 
 
 "No? Why not?" 
 
 "My uncle is with him." And then to old Abe, 
 who was in the hall, Madge said, "Will you go to 
 Doctor Cable, Abe, and find out if it s all right for 
 Miss O Brien to come in?" 
 
 She turned back to the visitor. 
 
 "Won t you sit down?" 
 
 "Thank you." 
 
 With a look of surprise, curiosity and dislike, 
 Leonora seated herself; and Madge s quick obser 
 vant eyes swept over the dark blue velvet suit and 
 the chic little hat. It was simple enough. "But it 
 cost a lot," she told herself. "Yes, she goes to ex 
 pensive places, but she doesn t take pains enough in 
 the little .things. The gloves aren t clean. And the 
 whole effect she misses it. Or perhaps she doesn t 
 care until she makes up for the stage. Still, she 
 is a beauty. What perfectly gorgeous big black 
 eyes." 
 
 "I wonder if you have any idea," her visitor asked 
 abruptly, "of the strain I m going through?" 
 
 "On account of my brother, you mean?" 
 
60 MILLIONS 
 
 "That s part of it. That s most of it. If he 
 dies, I don t know what I ll do!" And her lips 
 quivered suddenly. "Are you acting?" Madge was 
 thinking. "No, I don t believe you are." 
 
 "But that s not all," the girl went on. "I m an 
 actress, you know and my play is opening to-night. 
 They re starring me for the first time. And I ve 
 got all that to go through with !" 
 
 "Can t you get someone to take your place?" 
 
 She caught a glance of amusement which said, 
 "Oh, you ridiculous little old maid!" And she red 
 dened angrily. 
 
 "Hardly," Leonora replied. "It s the chance I ve 
 worked for all my life. Gordon wouldn t want me 
 to miss it, I know !" 
 
 "I see," said Madge. 
 
 Leonora drew a breath of impatience and tapped 
 her small foot on the floor. For some moments 
 nothing was said. But Madge, alert and strained 
 herself and sensitive to impressions, had a quicken 
 ing sense of the warm vivid youth and sex in this 
 girl, the glamour of this life she led. Fame, adven 
 tures, love affairs, rouge and powder and bouquets, 
 late suppers all she had read or heard of actresses 
 came into her mind with a rush, in a jumble. She 
 wondered how much of it was true. And with Gor- 
 
MILLIONS 6l 
 
 don how far had it gone? What were the girl s 
 intentions here if he lived if he died? 
 
 When Doctor Cable came into the room, Leonora 
 rose at once; and as in his smooth easy way he be 
 gan to question her, Madge saw the girl clench both 
 her hands. "How terribly keyed up she is. Well, 
 for that matter so am I. She ll have to learn to 
 control herself. 1 Uncle Phil was saying now that 
 Gordon s condition was no worse, and that there 
 was no immediate danger. But Leonora soon cut in : 
 
 "I ll go in and see him, if you don t mind." 
 
 "Just a moment," he replied. "The nurse will let 
 us know when she s ready for a visitor." He ig 
 nored her breath of exasperation and continued 
 evenly, "You are on the stage, I understand." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Mr. Evans tells me that you have known Gor 
 don for some time." 
 
 "I have." 
 
 "And have you seen much of each other?" 
 
 "Yes we have." To the hostility in her eyes he 
 gave a slight indulgent smile, and then with a sym 
 pathetic air, "Now, my dear young lady," he said, 
 "it s useless to conceal from ourselves that my 
 nephew is in a critical state. You must forgive my 
 questions. I feel that we, his family, should know 
 
62 MILLIONS 
 
 how matters stand between you. Because if you arc 
 engaged to Gordon " 
 
 "I m not engaged to him!" burst from her lips. 
 "I really whether I am or not seems to me to be 
 a matter between Gordon and myself!" She rose 
 
 from her seat. "And if you don t mind " She 
 
 caught sight of the nurse in the doorway. "Oh 
 may I come in now?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, Miss O Brien." The pretty young 
 nurse made no attempt to conceal her admiration for 
 this rising Broadway star. 
 
 "Then please leave me alone with him!" 
 
 "Yes, Miss O Brien." 
 
 The two disappeared into the hall; and glancing 
 at her Uncle Phil, Madge saw a relieved expression 
 there. After a brief silence, he said, 
 
 "I m glad the young lady makes no claim of any 
 promise to marry her. She s not just the kind of 
 girl we re used to in our family." 
 
 As he spoke, in his hard blue eyes Madge caught 
 a quiet twinkle; and with dislike she told herself, 
 "I ll bet all men are like that with her old and 
 young, rich and poor ! She appeals to them ! She 
 that s her kind!" Aloud she said, 
 
 "No, I certainly shouldn t care to have her for a 
 sister-in-law." 
 
MILLIONS 6j 
 
 Her uncle smiled. 
 
 "Well, my dear, I guess there s no serious danger 
 of that." 
 
 Leonora soon came back to them, and asked, in a 
 curt anxious tone, 
 
 "You say Mr. Evans has been here?" 
 
 "Yes," said Doctor Cable. 
 
 "I must see him right away! I don t agree with 
 you about Gordon I consider his condition serious, 
 to say the least!" 
 
 "My dear young lady " 
 
 She cut him off : "And I want to be sure abso 
 lutely that we re doing the best thing! Money 
 nothing should be spared !" 
 
 "It won t be, Miss O Brien," said Madge, in a low 
 indignant voice. But the girl had already turned 
 to the door. 
 
 "I ll telephone Joe at the office," she said. 
 
 "So you call him Joe, do you?" thought Madge 
 to herself. Aloud she said, "I m sorry you don t 
 feel that you can give up your play this evening. 
 I hope it s a very great success." 
 
 "Oh, thank you!" 
 
 Exit Leonora. 
 
 Madge turned back and caught again the twinkle 
 in her uncle s eyes. He sat down and lit a cigar, and 
 
64 MILLIONS 
 
 picked up the morning paper. She went to the win 
 dow and stood looking out stood without stirring 
 for some time. Beneath her air of composure, she 
 was a creature of changing moods, and her feelings 
 were changing rapidly now. Her indignation cooled 
 a bit, and she was sorry for Leonora. "In her way 
 she does really care for him," she thought. "Yes 
 she does. And her play why not ? It s her first big 
 chance means everything to a girl like that. I 
 guess I d feel keyed up myself." But then back 
 came the hostility. "Still, she hadn t any right to 
 act as though we didn t exist! Now she ll go to 
 Joe Evans, I suppose, and I ll bet she makes a 
 regular scene about the way we re neglecting 
 Gordon!" With a sudden twinge she asked, "I 
 wonder how she and Joe Evans get on? Sup 
 pose Gordon dies will he be her next, or will it 
 be somebody else? There must be perfect 
 dozens!" 
 
 Doctor Cable looked up from his paper, and 
 watching his niece with a smile, he said, 
 
 "You don t exactly take to her." 
 
 "No, I can t say that I do." 
 
 "Still," he replied, with a meditative puff of 
 smoke from his cigar, "I don t see that there s any 
 harm in her seeing Gordon, if she wants to. He s 
 
MILLIONS 65 
 
 unconscious as a log, poor lad she can t play any 
 scene with him just now." 
 
 "I don t like her acting as though she owned this 
 whole apartment!" 
 
 "Well, my dear, perhaps she does." 
 
 "What on earth " she stopped. Her uncle 
 
 looked back at her and said, 
 
 "That s why I asked Evans to find out if Gordon 
 has made any other will." 
 
 "Oh-h." 
 
 "And now she s going to Evans, too possibly 
 with the same thing in view. Or if not that, exactly 
 well, she s going where the money is. The king is 
 dead long live the king. One man with a bank ac 
 count may be about as good as another." 
 
 "No, Uncle Phil! She isn t that kind!" 
 
 "My dear girl," he retorted, "these actresses are 
 all alike." 
 
 "She isn t! She does care for him!" 
 
 "Of course she does in her way," he said. "But 
 I m just as glad she admitted that she was not en 
 gaged to him because if there s no will at all, as I 
 think more than likely, she might have put in some 
 kind of a claim." 
 
 His niece looked at him excitedly. 
 
 "I tell you, Uncle, I don t believe she cares a rap 
 
66 MILLIONS 
 
 about money one way or the other!" With a 
 short laugh, Madge added, "No doubt it s easy 
 enough to get for a girl with eyes like that." 
 
 "Millions?" 
 
 He said it quietly, but from her uncle s hard 
 blue eyes came a look which made her pulse beat fas 
 ter. He drew again on his cigar. 
 
 "At home," he said, "I could find out all about 
 that girl in no time. Well, this is New York. We ll 
 have to wait. But I don t feel very anxious, my 
 dear, for I have a feeling in my bones that Evans 
 won t find any other will, and that Gordon, in spite 
 of his long neglect, has been loyal to his sister." 
 
 The next instant, without warning, the tears welled 
 up in Madge s eyes. She turned away and went to 
 the window. "Poor Gordon !" she exclaimed to her 
 self. "Why are we talking and thinking like this? 
 It s cold, it s inhuman! Oh," thought Madge, "I 
 wish he were well, and that I were home! He 
 doesn t care about my being here !" 
 
 A ring at the door made her turn with a start. 
 
 "Now who can that be?" 
 
 "Steady, Madge." Doctor Cable got up. "Just 
 save yourself as much as you can." 
 
 He went to the door, and a moment later came 
 back with a telegram in his hand. 
 
MILLIONS 67 
 
 "It s from your Cousin Ray," he said. "Your 
 Aunt Abby will be here at one forty-five." He 
 looked at his watch and added, "It s after one al 
 ready. I ll go and meet her at the train." 
 
 Madge felt a little rush of relief. 
 
 "I m glad Aunt Abby is coming," she said. 
 
 "Yes this is a family time," he answered, with 
 his kindly smile. He went and put on his hat and 
 coat. "You ll keep some lunch for us, I sup 
 pose " 
 
 "Yes," said Madge, "I ll see to it." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 As she sat waiting for them, half unconsciously 
 Madge began to think of what this might mean to 
 her aunt. 
 
 Aunt Abby Dwight was closer to Gordon than 
 Uncle Phil. She had been so good to him when he 
 was small; he had often stayed with her for weeks 
 at a time. Yet in all these years he had done so lit 
 tle in return. A Christmas present now and then 
 when he happened to remember it. But nothing 
 more. And oh, what a difference a little money 
 would have made ! The widow of a minister, left in 
 her early thirties with no money but a small insur 
 ance and five children to bring up, she had lived in a 
 shabby house half way up the hill from the town, 
 with a bit of garden and farming land, and had had 
 a pretty desperate time trying one thing after an 
 other, failing in nearly every one. Aunt Abby did 
 lovely sewing, but she was poor at collecting bills. 
 And so it was in other things. She simply had no 
 business head. And her patient smiling faith in an 
 
 68 
 
MILLIONS 69 
 
 All-Wise-Providence had often made Madge ready 
 to scream. More than once she had had to step in 
 and help, and her Uncle Phil had done the same un 
 til at last Aunt Abby s life had grown a little easier. 
 
 First Ray, who was her oldest son, went to work 
 in the new town garage; then Paul began to take 
 hold of the farm. And their mother never tired 
 of singing the praises of her sons. Paul was twenty- 
 three by now and was doing fairly well with poul 
 try and some hives of bees. But meanwhile Ray, 
 who was twenty-six, had married and had two ba 
 bies ; and Ann his wife was a giddy young thing, so 
 greedy for clothes and parties that Ray was always 
 in debt, these days let alone helping his mother. 
 The three girls, Salome, Ruth and Janet, were 
 twenty-two, twenty and sixteen. They helped their 
 mother about the house; Ruth worked for Uncle 
 Phil in the drug-store, earning eleven dollars a week; 
 and Salome was making rugs. So between them they 
 managed to get on ; and they had a good deal of fun 
 out of it, too. But they couldn t afford to get nice 
 things; and though they did go to parties, there was 
 not a man in sight, nor was there very likely to be. 
 And their mother worried about that. 
 
 Yes, it had been a hard worrying life. What a 
 tremendous difference a little money would make to 
 
70 MILLIONS 
 
 her now! And millions! Madge felt how the 
 thought of that must have been with Aunt Abby 
 on the train, as she sat staring out at the Hudson 
 and at home last night with her children, excitedly 
 discussing the news. At first really shocked, no 
 doubt, for she d been like a mother to Gordon once 
 but then vaguely warmed and thrilled. And her 
 children, too. Ray would have motored out with 
 Ann ; and as they talked of Gordon, into the minds 
 of every one would have leaped the thought of his 
 millions, and with it the question, "Why shouldn t 
 Mother get some of this?" 
 
 "And she shall," decided Madge. "Just think 
 how much she did for him and how she has worn 
 herself to the bone. Ten years ago she was really 
 pretty. Now look at her old at forty-nine. Poor 
 thing how excited she must be." 
 
 2 
 
 And when Aunt Abby reached the apartment, 
 Madge could see it in her face. Often she had no 
 ticed the contrast between the sweetness in the pa 
 tient mouth of her aunt and a little caustic quality in 
 the small worried looking eyes. But now they were 
 excited, bright; she looked disturbed and anxious, 
 all keyed up to meet this situation perhaps the 
 
MILLIONS 71 
 
 greatest in her life. A meager figure of medium 
 height, Aunt Abby had lovely soft gray hair, worn 
 low to conceal as best she could a birth mark, which 
 when she was tired showed an ugly patch of red. 
 It showed quite distinctly now, but she had herself 
 fairly well in control. She took Madge in her 
 arms and said, 
 
 "You poor child. What a strain it must have been 
 for you here all alone last evening." 
 
 "I m glad youVe come, Aunt Abby," said Madge, 
 with a slight tremor. For her aunt brought an old 
 fashioned and familiar motherliness which was a 
 relief. The past came with her into the room. She 
 wanted to nurse Gordon herself, just as she had when 
 he was a boy. She told how on one of his visits he 
 had been ill from poison ivy; another time he had 
 broken his arm. She had nursed him then so why 
 not now? 
 
 "I don t care much for these modern trained 
 nurses," she said, "who come right into a person s 
 home and shut the family out of the room. You 
 and I can take care of Gordon, Madge it s the least 
 that we can do for him. And with your Uncle Phil 
 here, too and one of us in the room day and night 
 yes, I think that would be best." 
 
 Madge smiled at her aunt sympathetically feel- 
 
72 MILLIONS 
 
 ing her effort to be adequate, to be steady and self- 
 controlled, to keep down those disturbing dreams 
 and do the very best for Gordon. 
 
 "I d like to, Auntie, 1 she replied, "but I don t 
 think we d better. You see " And she went on 
 to explain what the surgeon had told her of the 
 close watch that must be kept of the pulse, the res 
 piration and various other significant signs. As she 
 made her decision and explained, again Madge felt 
 her power here ; and her sense of this was increased 
 by the way Mrs. Dwight deferred to her. 
 
 "Very well, my dear child, you know the situa 
 tion far better than I do," she said. 
 
 Aunt Abby knew of that letter, of course, from 
 Gordon to Madge when he went to France. And it 
 did make a difference. "Toadying? No, she isn t 
 that kind. But I m just different in her eyes." 
 
 "Haven t any of Gordon s friends been here to 
 help you?" asked Mrs. Dwight; and by her ques 
 tions she soon learned about Evans and Leonora 
 O Brien. As to the latter, she tried at once to take a 
 decided stand. 
 
 "If she s that sort of woman, I think, my dear, 
 that we had better keep her out. This is no time 
 for actresses." And then, in a sharp vigilant tone, 
 "Does she claim to be engaged to him?" 
 
MILLIONS 73 
 
 "No," said Madge s uncle. "When I asked her 
 that, she even went so far as to deny it. And I 
 don t see as she can do any harm. No claim on 
 him, so far as we know and so long as he s uncon 
 scious, there s nothing at all that she can do." 
 
 "You never can tell," said Mrs. Dwight, with the 
 look of concern still in her eyes. But in the talk 
 which followed, she soon dismissed the girl from 
 her thoughts, as being simply one more proof of how 
 Gordon had lavished his wealth upon sinful dissipa 
 tions, neglecting his own flesh and blood. And Aunt 
 Abby did not want to think of poor dear Gordon s 
 sins just now, she wanted just to pity him. To save 
 his life? Yes, again and again she came back to the 
 question, "Is there nothing else we can do?" But 
 there was nothing. Already she was sure in her 
 mind that he would die, and that all she could do 
 was to be here to comfort him if he roused at the 
 end and to save his soul. Once she asked Madge 
 if she knew where was the nearest Baptist church. 
 
 Madge doubted if Gordon went to church or 
 would even want a clergyman; and she hinted as 
 much ; but she could feel her aunt gently putting the 
 grown man aside. He was dying. It was kinder to 
 ignore his irreligious life and long neglect of his 
 family, and to resurrect instead the image of the im- 
 
74 MILLIONS 
 
 pulsive lovable little boy whom they had known so 
 long ago. In the rambling talk that afternoon she 
 drifted back to those old days, talking of Madge and 
 Gordon, and then of her own children. Her talk 
 ran on and on through the years, and always deep 
 beneath it Madge could feel the awakening hopes. 
 In spite of herself, Aunt Abby s mind kept turning 
 to the happiness which might come now to Ray and 
 Paul and to the girls, who might have trips and 
 pretty clothes and get some pleasure out of life. 
 Husbands might be found for them. There was 
 something pathetic about it to Madge; for Aunt 
 Abby was so naive in the way she let these vaguely 
 stirring dreams be seen in the hints she gave her 
 niece, while she thought they were all hidden deep 
 admitted barely to herself. Once more the silent 
 drama in the cool dim room close by was throwing 
 a hard revealing glare of light into Aunt Abby s 
 motherhood. 
 
 u lt s all for them," Madge told herself. "She 
 hasn t a thought for herself, poor dear. All she d 
 ask of money would be a chance to rest from the 
 grind." 
 
 Her aunt began to show the strain; and detecting 
 the signs of weariness, Madge got up to go to the 
 kitchen and make some tea. On the way she stopped. 
 
MILLIONS 75 
 
 Should she ring for Abe? "Oh, don t be so fool 
 ish!" she told herself. She went into the kitchen 
 and said, 
 
 "Abe, will you make some tea and toast?" 
 
 "Yes m, Miss Cable." 
 
 When he brought it, to her surprise, Madge found 
 that she was hungry. The thin crisp little slices of 
 toast, and the jam and the cakes, were all so de 
 licious. As, with an unconscious look of solid com 
 fort, Mrs. Dwight sat at her tea, Madge saw her 
 eyes go about the room. All this was what money 
 could bring in life. A glance she threw at her niece 
 seemed to say, "And all this is coming to you and 
 I m so glad it is, my dear and I know you ll be fair 
 and generous." Back again went her thoughts to 
 her children. Aloud she said, 
 
 "Madge, if you don t mind, I think I ll telegraph 
 for Ray. I d like him to be here with me." 
 
 "Very well, Auntie of course," said Madge, "if 
 it will be any comfort." And turning to Doctor 
 Cable she asked, "Uncle Phil, will you attend to 
 it?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear." 
 
 Madge leaned restfully back in her chair. How 
 everyone she spoke to responded to her slightest 
 wish! 
 
76 MILLIONS 
 
 "Now, Aunt Abby," she said, presently, "I want 
 you to have a nice warm bath and take a little rest. 
 You need it." 
 
 Mrs. Dwight demurred a bit, but Madge insisted 
 and had her way. 
 
 "I don t think I shall sleep, my dear but it is cer 
 tainly good to rest," said Aunt Abby. She lay back 
 on the pillows, the hard lines on her face all smoothed 
 away; and in her eyes was an expression of real con 
 tent, as they went to the chintz curtains, the small 
 mahogany bureau, the big chintz covered willow 
 chair. 
 
 "I wonder who furnished this room?" thought 
 Madge. "I wonder if Leonora O Brien had any 
 thing to do with it?" 
 
 Then she heard the telephone, and for the next 
 hour or so she was kept busy speaking with men 
 who had just come home from their offices and were 
 calling up to ask about Gordon. There must have 
 been eight or ten of them, and all were sympathetic 
 and kind. Joe Evans called up, and the sound of 
 his voice gave her a little thrill of excitement. But 
 her tone was steady enough as she replied to his 
 questions. 
 
 "Isn t there anything at all that I can do for 
 you?" he asked. 
 
MILLIONS 77 
 
 "No, thank you," she said quietly. "Will you be 
 coming in later to-night?" 
 
 "Yes, I m still down at the office but I ll be up 
 about ten o clock if that isn t too late, Miss Cable." 
 
 "No it isn t. Good-by, Mr. Evans." 
 
 An hour later some roses arrived, and she found 
 his card inside the box. As she looked at them, a 
 flush of color came into her face. It was years and 
 years since anyone had sent her flowers. 
 
 "How very nice and kind of him!" 
 
 3 
 
 For Madge the evening which followed was quite 
 different from the night before. Feeling herself 
 once again in the bosom of her family, with the 
 responsibility shared and with nothing to decide for 
 the moment, her thoughts were colored more and 
 more by the belief of her relatives that in spite of 
 all they could do, Gordon would die and within a 
 few hours she would be rich beyond all dreams. 
 With her uncle and aunt sympathetic and kind, she 
 felt drawn to them both this evening. She did not 
 let herself even think of the motive which had 
 brought them here and had caused this attitude 
 toward herself, for she did not want to have any 
 hard thoughts about anyone at all to-night. Why 
 shouldn t they share in Gordon s wealth? Why 
 
78 MILLIONS 
 
 should she keep it all to herself? Were they not 
 her own flesh and blood? 
 
 At dinner and later that evening, the talk went 
 back again into the past. From a hint dropped by 
 Mrs. Dwight, Madge knew she was planning that 
 Gordon s body be taken back home. The man who 
 had neglected them all was to be buried and forgot 
 ten, or rather replaced by the warm hearted little 
 boy of long ago. Even now, as their memories 
 rose, the picture of him grew more and more clear, 
 brought back to life to take the place of the man 
 who lay in the room close by. It was a strange 
 thing that was happening. While Gordon lay un 
 conscious there, his family had come pouring in; not 
 only these three relatives, but with them, through 
 their memories, many other figures rose, silent and 
 invisible, his father and his mother, his small 
 cousins and his friends, all emerging out of the 
 years, all of them helping to bring back the image 
 of the little boy. 
 
 And Madge came under the spell of it, too. As 
 her Aunt Abby rambled on about Gordon as a child 
 on her farm, the scrapes he had got into, his many 
 troubles and his joys, his solemn dreams and great 
 ambitions (all colored by Aunt Abby now), and the 
 confessions he had made while saying his prayers 
 
MILLIONS 79 
 
 with his head on her knees the image grew steadily 
 more clear. Once or twice Madge asked herself, 
 "Was he ever really just like that?" But then again 
 the spell took hold; for all this time there were other 
 memories rising up out of herself, and Uncle Phil 
 kept joining in with recollections of his own of 
 Gordon, the thin, eager lad of sixteen who had 
 driven his doctor s buggy. Together they had 
 answered calls all along the riverside and back up 
 into the hills. And they had had long talks, he 
 said, of what the boy was to make of his life. With 
 a smile Uncle Phil remembered he had paid him only 
 eight dollars a week fair enough wages for those 
 days, but small when compared to the immense 
 ambitions of the youngster, who had urged on the 
 doctor s mare as though to speed up his own career. 
 As Uncle Phil went on to enlarge upon the strik 
 ing character traits of the future millionaire, vaguely 
 Madge felt how they were lifting Gordon up onto 
 a pedestal, there to remain as a mythical figure in 
 the family memories the first rich man, the rugged 
 beginning of one more wealthy family in this boun 
 tiful, teeming land. And although she protested, 
 "What are we doing? He ll live! He must!" 
 once more did that curious novel sense of power 
 and of fresh, new life steal back upon her; and 
 
80 MILLIONS 
 
 again, in spite of herself, up out of her inmost 
 depths came pictures of what her life might be. 
 Vistas opened, warm and stirring; embryo plans 
 began to appear. 
 
 Now from the veiled questions and the indirect 
 remarks of her uncle and her aunt, she knew they 
 both took it for granted that she would go back to 
 Halesburg, and they were beginning to ask what 
 she would do with all this money. To begin with, 
 she would buy back the old home her Aunt Abby 
 plainly hinted at that. And later, from a remark 
 of her uncle s as to the need of a first class hospital 
 in their town, she saw where his thoughts were 
 running. And all this centered on herself. She 
 saw that they both pictured her as the great woman 
 figure there. With a slight inner smile, she thought, 
 "I d rather leave that to Uncle Phil. He d so love 
 to be First Citizen. I ll build a hospital and put 
 him in* charge. Yes, and I ll buy back our old home, 
 and give it to Aunt Abby with money enough to 
 run it, too, and have a little ease in her life, and 
 a chance to marry off the girls." What a pleasant, 
 gracious figure Aunt Abby would make in that old 
 frame house, with all her worries smoothed away. 
 
 "But what about me? What would I do?" The 
 moment she thought about herself, she said uncon- 
 
MILLIONS 8 1 
 
 sciously "would" not "will" not only because it 
 seemed selfish and hard to think of her own future, 
 with her brother still alive, but because it was all too 
 strange and tremendous, this question of "Millions 
 what would you do?" And she wanted to keep 
 putting it off. 
 
 But it could not be put off, it seemed. For as she 
 sat impassive there, listening to her relatives, her 
 own thoughts drifting on and on the plans began. 
 "Would I keep this apartment?" No, Joe Evans 
 would be here. Poor boy, how lonely and lost he d 
 be. "On account of the business," she told herself, 
 "I d see a good deal of him, I suppose." At the 
 queer new feeling which stirred in her breast, she 
 frowned and tried to put it down, but up again in 
 spite of her came that deep and long repressed, dis 
 turbing Madge-that-might-have-been. In Joe s room 
 the night before, she had seen two opera tickets. 
 She recalled them now and reddened slightly. 
 Quickly and impatiently she turned her thoughts 
 another way to her old dream of a business career. 
 For a moment she tried to picture herself as one 
 of the active partners in an immense department 
 store. But then she thought, "If all this money 
 came to me, why should I spend my life making 
 more? There s so much else a woman can do." 
 
82 MILLIONS 
 
 She remembered a big woman s club here which 
 she had often read about. It was forever starting 
 things, opening up new fields of life to women and 
 girls, rich and poor, and pulsing with activities, the 
 spirit of this Woman s Age. Well, and she would 
 join it now; and with her own abilities, of which she 
 felt so sure to-night, and with her brother s millions 
 helping to open door after door, window after 
 window she caught herself up, almost with a 
 cry. 
 
 "It wouldn t be only the money," she thought. 
 "It would be me me me! Haven t I always 
 known I had it in me if I got the chance?" And 
 at last the chance was coming! 
 
 Now she recollected what she had seen the night 
 before, looking into the sparkling city night; and 
 she found herself wanting to be there again, alone, 
 with a chance to think more clearly. She compressed 
 her lips and thought, "I m not likely to sleep much 
 to-night!" 
 
 She noticed a sudden silence, and with a slight 
 turn of her head she saw her relatives watching her 
 with curious eyes, guessing her dreaming. A vivid 
 blush of embarrassment mounted quickly to her 
 cheeks. To cover it, Aunt Abby said, with a sym 
 pathetic smile, 
 
MILLIONS 83 
 
 "You poor child, how tired and nervous you must 
 be. You ll need a good rest after this." 
 
 And she suggested a trip abroad. Listening, 
 Madge asked herself, "Shall I take Aunt Abby with 
 me? What a wonderful thing it would be for her 
 one real spree at last in her life!" But the next 
 minute Madge recalled that Amanda Berry and she 
 had planned to go over and work for Hoover to 
 work hard, in the seething whirl out of which a new 
 world was being born. How eagerly they had 
 planned for that adventure over seas but now with 
 all this money behind them how much bigger it 
 might be ! A startled look came into her eyes as 
 she realized all that she might do! Just for a 
 moment she saw herself hobnobbing with cabinet 
 ministers yes, and even with kings and queens! 
 And she had been a nobody, only one short day 
 before! Millions! Oh, it was funny! 
 
 4 
 
 But about ten o clock Joe Evans arrived, and his 
 coming brought back to her with a rush her sense 
 of the genial, vigorous life which had been in these 
 rooms. "After all, it s his home and Gordon s," she 
 though^. "What are we but strangers, and what 
 business have we here? We ve been acting as if we 
 
84 MILLIONS 
 
 owned the place !" Poor Joe, for all his self-control, 
 was plainly under such a strain. Her sympathy 
 went out to him. When her Uncle Phil inquired if 
 he had had time to go to the bank, she saw Joe 
 wince, and she looked away. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "and here it is." 
 
 From his pocket he took an envelope and handed 
 it to Doctor Cable. Madge knew at once it was 
 Gordon s will. What a grim looking thing it was. 
 She stiffened and she held her breath while her uncle 
 read it to himself. It was short, thank Heaven! 
 In a minute he looked up at her. 
 
 "This seems to be quite clear, my dear. It s 
 the will he made before going to France, and it 
 follows what he said in his letter." Turning to Joe, 
 Doctor Cable inquired, "You found nothing else?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Did you look in his desk at the office and any 
 where else where such papers might be?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And nothing?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 In the brief silence which followed, Madge could 
 feel that their thoughts, like her own, had come to 
 Leonora O Brien. In a troubled tone, Joe said, 
 
 "I reckon Miss O Brien will be coming pretty 
 
MILLIONS 85 
 
 late to-night. It s the opening night of her play, 
 you see." He paused uneasily. "If she does, I hope 
 you-all will remember what a right hard time this 
 is for her. It s not only Gordon, but her play. I 
 Jiaven t seen much of her myself, but I ve seen 
 enough to show me how these stage people are 
 inside. There just simply isn t anything else in the 
 world for them but the theater especially on an 
 opening night. And this one is her first big chance. 
 It may make her a star." 
 
 "Well, my boy, I hope it does," said Madge s 
 uncle smoothly, with that indulgent look in his eyes. 
 But Aunt Abby said, in a caustic tone, 
 
 "I m sorry she feels she must come here to-night." 
 Joe Evans turned and looked at her. 
 
 "She does feel so," he answered. She met his 
 look unflinchingly. 
 
 "But I understand," she said, "that you don t 
 believe she s engaged to Gordon." 
 
 "No I don t believe she is. I reckon he probably 
 wanted it but that she wouldn t." 
 
 "She wouldn t? Why not?" 
 
 "He wanted her to give up the stage." 
 
 "Naturally !" said Mrs. Dwight. "And you mean 
 to say she refused?" 
 
 "Yes," said Joe, "I know she did." 
 
86 MILLIONS 
 
 "Are you quite sure of that?" Doctor Cable 
 inquired. 
 
 "Yes, I heard them argue it out." 
 
 "Oh. You heard them." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 These last words, though in a low tone, were 
 spoken so sharply by the two men that Madge drew 
 in her breath with a gasp. It was as if her uncle 
 had said, "Then you will be a witness to that!" 
 and as if Joe Evans had replied, "I will ! But for 
 the dear God s sake let s give this man a chance to 
 live!" 
 
 She clenched her small hands, held herself; and 
 in a moment, quiet again, she said to Joe in a steady 
 voice, 
 
 "I do so hope that Gordon will be better in the 
 morning." 
 
 "So do I," he answered, with a look of gratitude. 
 He had risen. "May I see him now?" 
 
 "Yes please!" 
 
 She took him in and left him there, but at the 
 door she could not resist glancing back. By the bed, 
 Joe, tall and clumsy, motionless, stood looking down 
 at the face of his friend. Again she noticed his big 
 hands, so limp and helpless, and again her sympathy 
 went out to him. "How hard for him it would be !" 
 
MILLIONS 87 
 
 she thought With the rush of pity came again that 
 warm tingle through her being. She dismissed it 
 with an angry frown. "But Gordon is going to live, 
 you know! * 
 
 When, a few minutes later, Joe came back into 
 the front room, his whole manner had changed. It 
 was intense, imperative. 
 
 "I ve been talking to the nurse," he said. "It s 
 nearly forty-eight hours now, and every hour from 
 now on his chances are less, if he doesn t come to. 
 If he doesn t, they ve got to operate !" 
 
 "No." 
 
 This one word from Uncle Phil made the younger 
 man turn angrily. But Doctor Cable looked steadily 
 back. 
 
 "I m a physician myself," he said, "with a good 
 many years of experience. And this business of 
 cutting into a man s brain " 
 
 "But if it s his only chance, sir!" 
 
 "It isn t. His only possible chance is to be left 
 alone, so that Nature can do her work." 
 
 "Oh, I reckon we can t count much on that ! He 
 was hit twice in France, you know, and he s never 
 been the same man since. And besides, there s been 
 the strain in his business ! In these last weeks " 
 
 Doctor Cable cut in. "That only makes me more 
 
88 MILLIONS 
 
 certain," he said, "of the danger of an operation. 
 And I think," he concluded with emphasis, u you 
 will have to leave this for us to decide." 
 
 Joe stared for a moment, then turned away. But 
 the realization of the power of Gordon s family 
 here, which came to him in that instant, had showed 
 so plainly on his face, that with a tightening of her 
 whole frame Madge said to her uncle, 
 
 "If Mr. Evans wishes it, I see no reason why we 
 shouldn t have a consultation." 
 
 "I would like it," Joe put in, with another quick 
 look of gratitude. 
 
 "I don t see any need of it," said Doctor Cable, 
 with a frown. 
 
 "Still it can t do any harm." She waited a 
 moment. "And I think we d better just decide on 
 that for to-morrow if there is no change." 
 
 In the awkward silence, she turned to Joe. 
 
 "Will you call up Doctor Hoyt and arrange it?" 
 
 "Yes at once," Joe answered. "Thank you!" 
 
 As he went to the telephone, Madge threw a 
 glance at her uncle and aunt. Uncle Phil wore a 
 look of stiff surprise at her quiet assertion of power 
 here. Aunt Abby looked humbly admiring. 
 
 "Yes, Madge, I think that s wise," she said. 
 
 Madge smiled at her affectionately. 
 
MILLIONS 89 
 
 "It s nearly eleven, Auntie. Don t you think 
 you d better go to bed?" 
 
 Mrs. Dwight s face took on at once an expression 
 of anxious indecision. 
 
 "Do you think I d better, Madge? I m quite 
 ready to sit up all night, my dear child " 
 
 "There isn t any need of that. Uncle will be right 
 here, you know " 
 
 "But there s that young actress. If she 
 comes gallivanting around " 
 
 Madge smiled again. 
 
 "If she does, she won t care to talk to us. Now 
 come along, Aunt Abby. Please." 
 
 5 
 
 When Madge came back from her aunt s room, 
 her Uncle Phil was in the study, reading and smok 
 ing a cigar. Joe was waiting for her. He said, 
 
 "I ve arranged for the consultation for to-mor 
 row morning at ten." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Evans, I m so glad we decided 
 on that." There was a slight pause and then she 
 said, "And thank you for the roses, too. It was 
 very thoughtful and kind, I m sure." 
 
 Embarrassed herself, she saw at once that he felt 
 a bit awkward, too. 
 
9O MILLIONS 
 
 "Oh, it was nothing at all," he said. "Is there 
 nothing else I can do for you?" 
 
 "No, thanks I think we ve done everything 
 now." But as he started to bid her good night, she 
 added with a little smile, "I wish you wouldn t go 
 just yet. There s so much I want to ask you 
 about Gordon. I know so little, you see and I 
 want to. This has made me feel so close to him." 
 
 Soon she had Joe in an easy chair. "Why don t 
 you smoke?" she suggested; and as he lit a cigarette 
 she picked up some knitting brought with her from 
 home, and in a tone of quiet composure began with 
 her questions. 
 
 To them both had come again a sense of relief 
 this time at the thought of the consultation. The 
 doctors to-morrow would decide. At least they 
 themselves had done all they could. And once more 
 she instinctively took a tone as though her brother 
 would surely get well. "I want to know him so 
 much better after this," she said to Joe. Her ques 
 tions about Gordon in France, and later in his 
 life over here were of a kind to draw out what 
 she thought was the very best in him. She ignored 
 this dubious love affair, and kept both their minds 
 instead on her brother s bravery at the Front and 
 his friendly human qualities brought out in the hard 
 
MILLIONS 91 
 
 life of the trenches. Then she brought her questions 
 back to New York, to the deepening friendship be 
 tween the two men and the things they had done* 
 together here. She asked Joe about those tickets to 
 the opera she had seen in his room; and when he 
 said that Gordon and he had gone several times 
 together, she at once inquired eagerly what operas 
 they liked the best. She tried to show him that 
 she, too, had loved good music always, and even 
 from her corner had tried to keep up with the music 
 world. As a matter of fact, her knowledge was 
 scant. But when she made one awful mistake and 
 instantly guessed it, by the questioning look in his 
 eyes, she broke off quickly, and went on, 
 
 "It s funny you love good music, after the kind 
 of life you ve led. I think it s so nice." 
 
 "I didn t like it at first," he said. "Old Gordy 
 jest had to drag me there. But I m getting to like 
 it better now when it s not too grand and scrump 
 tious. You see, I always did like singing even out 
 in Texas." 
 
 She caught him up at once on that. 
 
 "Oh, yes I meant to ask you! I saw a little 
 book last night I think it was called Cowboy 
 Songs. She went and took it from a shelf, and 
 soon she had him telling her of those folk songs of 
 
92 MILLIONS 
 
 the early days when the cowboys still reigned in 
 the great South West songs of their loves and 
 dissipations, crimes and feuds, heroic deeds. And 
 he told her of the long, long drives from Texas far 
 up to the north in the spring, when circling round 
 the herd at night the lonely cowboy sentinel, on a 
 pony half asleep, had sung lullabies to the huge 
 beasts that he called "little doggies," to keep them 
 quiet and prevent the danger of a stampede. Joe s 
 soft, deep voice grew low as he spoke; in his eyes 
 she could see the memories rise of the vast rolling 
 uplands, the shadowy forms of hills to the west, the 
 night s immensity overhead. 
 
 On and on and on they talked till glancing at the 
 clock on the mantel she saw that it was midnight. 
 With a look at Joe she saw that he had forgotten 
 the time, and with a tingling feeling she bent her 
 head to her knitting, asking questions now and then, 
 or giving him quick little smiles and looks of under 
 standing. She felt vibrant, all alert. At something 
 funny that he told, a tense little laugh burst out 
 
 of her. 
 
 6 
 
 It was nearly one o clock. At the ringing of the 
 door bell, they both looked up in a startled way 8 
 Then he said, 
 
MILLIONS 93 
 
 "I reckon that s Miss O Brien. Shall I go to the 
 door?" 
 
 "Yes, please." 
 
 As he did so, in the study behind her Madge 
 heard her uncle get up from his chair. "He has 
 been there all the time," she thought, "listening to 
 every word we said!" And she colored a little. 
 Her uncle came in and stood waiting with his eyes 
 on the hall. But Leonora stopped out there, and 
 with a sudden pang Madge saw both hands of the 
 young actress go up to Joe s shoulders in appeal. 
 
 "How is he, Joe? Any better to-night?" 
 
 "No, Nora, he s jest about the same." 
 
 There came something like a sob from the girl, 
 but her voice was hard and demanding: 
 
 "And are we to go on doing nothing nothing?" 
 
 "We re doing the best that we know how," he 
 answered in a kindly tone. "Miss Cable will tell 
 you." 
 
 With that he brought her into the room; but 
 with only a glance at Madge and her uncle, and a 
 brief "Good evening!" abruptly she turned back 
 to Joe. 
 
 "But when I was here last night," she said, "the 
 nurse spoke of the chance of an operation!" 
 
 Then Madge spoke up : 
 
94 MILLIONS 
 
 "We re not yet sure that will be wise." 
 
 The girl looked at her quickly. 
 
 "But how can you tell?" she demanded. 
 
 Madge looked back at her steadily, now with open 
 dislike in her eyes. 
 
 "My uncle is a physician, you know " 
 
 Leonora wheeled upon him and asked, 
 
 "Do you feel you can set your opinion against 
 that of the best surgeon in town?" 
 
 Madge heard a slight indignant gasp and saw 
 her aunt in the doorway, in an old blue dressing 
 gown. 
 
 "Oh, Aunt Abby, won t you come in? This is 
 my aunt, Mrs. Dwight Miss O Brien." 
 
 "How do you do?" said Leonora, with a curt, 
 angry nod of her head. 
 
 "Very well, I thank you," Aunt Abby replied, with 
 an effort at quiet dignity. "I understand you are a 
 friend of poor Gordon s. I m glad to meet any 
 friend of his. He was like my own son as a boy, 
 you see; and in this very critical time " 
 
 Leonora cut her off. With a nervous twitch of 
 her lips, she exclaimed, 
 
 "Yes, it does seem critical and yet we seem to 
 be doing nothing nothing!" She turned to Joe. 
 "I can t go on like this, Joe!" she said, in a voice 
 
MILLIONS 95 
 
 loud and trembling. "I simply can t it will drive 
 me insane ! I must know that every possible thing 
 is being done !" 
 
 In a hard, low voice, Madge said to her, 
 
 "It is being done." 
 
 "How do you know it is?" she cried. And then, 
 to Joe, "I consider that we should have at once a 
 consultation," she declared, "of the very biggest 
 surgeons in town!" 
 
 "You re right," said Joe, "and that s what we 
 have done. Miss Cable has arranged for that." 
 
 "Oh." With a slight drop in her voice. "Then 
 that at least is being attended to. I ll go now and 
 see Gordon a moment. Will you come with me, 
 Joe?" she asked. 
 
 When they had gone, there was a brief silence. 
 The face of Mrs. Dwight was a study. 
 
 "Well!" she began. As she stopped, to find 
 words for her indignation, Uncle Phil put in with 
 a twinkle, "She certainly seems to own the 
 
 roost." 
 
 "What right has she? What right has she? 
 Madge," cried her aunt, in a quivering tone, "I 
 think you should put a stop to this ! Here s Gordon 
 at the point of death. Any moment his soul may 
 fly to his Maker. Is this any time to have actresses 
 
96 MILLIONS 
 
 rushing in at all hours of the night?" In her wrath, 
 poor little Mrs. Dwight gave a sound between a 
 sob and a snort. She was fearfully tired. u To come 
 here with the paint still on her lips! Lips that 
 
 I haven t any doubt " She stopped with a jerk 
 
 and began again: "I see it all now. Mr. Evans 
 spoke of poor Gordon s health as being depleted 
 lessening his chances now. It was due to a strain 
 in business, he said. I begin to see where the strain 
 came in! And I say we should put a stop to it!" 
 
 But before Madge could reply to this, her uncle 
 spoke up quietly: 
 
 "Wait, now, wait I m watching this, Abby 
 and, rest assured, this young woman will not be 
 allowed to work any mischief hereabouts. If the 
 time ever comes " 
 
 Uncle Phil stopped short, as the other two were 
 heard coming back from Gordon s room. 
 
 As Leonora entered, her dark, handsome face 
 was impatient still, but her manner was not so 
 arrogant. 
 
 "Joe must have said something to her," thought 
 Madge. "After all, I m Gordon s sister and I 
 don t propose to let her " 
 
 "Good-night, Miss Cable," said Leonora, with 
 an effort at a smile. "I m so glad you have decided 
 
MILLIONS 97 
 
 upon a consultation. It is so absolutely the only 
 thing for us to do." 
 
 "Yes," said Madge, in a more friendly tone, "and 
 I m trying for that every moment I m here." 
 Then, as Leonora turned to go, she continued 
 gently, "You have not told us of your play. Was 
 it a success, do you think?" 
 
 The young actress gave a nervous shrug. 
 
 "I hope so they all told me so. That s why I m 
 so late in coming here. They all came crowding 
 back on the stage, and I simply couldn t get 
 away." 
 
 Suddenly there came to Madge a vivid picture of 
 that scene. Men in evening clothes, of course, with 
 roses, smiles and a clamor of praise. She could 
 picture it as though she were there. She had read 
 of it in the Sunday papers. 
 
 "I see," she said. 
 
 "But you never can be sure till you read the notices 
 the next day. And not even then," said Leonora. 
 She broke off with a sigh of fatigue, and with a 
 "Good-night," she left the room. 
 
 Joe followed her into the hall, but when she had 
 gone he reappeared, and said to them with a look of 
 concern, 
 
 "You-all mustn t mind her manner to-night you 
 
98 MILLIONS 
 
 jest can t judge a girl like that. You haven t any 
 idea of the strain." 
 
 "No, I don t believe we have," said Aunt Abby. 
 And from the look she gave him poor Joe appeared 
 to shrink into himself. 
 
 "I wish you could understand," he said. "Well, 
 I guess I must be going now." And as Madge went 
 with him into the hall, he added, "I ll be here in 
 time for the consultation to-morrow, of course. And 
 you know where you can reach me to-night, if any 
 thing " he stopped. "Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night," she said. "I m sorry. We ll hope 
 he will be so much better soon." 
 
 "Yes," said Joe. 
 
 When he had left, she turned slowly back into 
 the room ; and at once Aunt Abby began again : 
 
 "I repeat, Madge, that if I were you I d keep 
 that woman out from now on ! Her conduct here 
 her rudeness " 
 
 "Yes, Aunt Abby, I know all that. But well, 
 she s different, that s all and the main point is 
 that if Gordon were conscious he d want her here." 
 
 "How do you know?" 
 
 "Mr. Evans says so," Madge replied, "and he 
 knows Gordon pretty well." 
 
 "Mr. Evans is only a poor weak boy! She has 
 
MILLIONS 99 
 
 him already right under her thumb! If Gordon 
 dies, hell be her next!" 
 
 Madge gave a slight start, and stiffened. 
 
 "That s hardly our business, Aunt Abby," she 
 
 said. 
 
 "It 15 our business yours at least to protect 
 
 poor Gordon!" 
 
 "I m doing so !" 
 
 "Are you?" retorted Mrs. Dwight, her nerves now 
 plainly all on edge. "It seems to me you are setting 
 aside your uncle s best judgment!" 
 
 "How do you mean?" 
 
 "In this matter of an operation!" 
 
 "Oh, no I want his judgment!" said Madge. 
 "You know that, don t you, Uncle Phil? But I 
 can t see how it can do any harm to have all 
 the best opinions and surgical advice we can 
 
 get!" 
 
 "Yes, yes, my dear girl that s all right," said 
 her uncle easily. And Aunt Abby, with a doubtful 
 look as though feeling her mistake, continued, "Well, 
 if you say so, Phil." And then, in an anxious, 
 humble tone, "And of course, Madge, you know how 
 I feel. I don t mean to assert my judgment for 
 one minute against yours." 
 
 "I want it, Aunt Abby!" As Madge said that, 
 
IOO MILLIONS 
 
 the tears welled suddenly in her eyes. Oh, what a 
 terrible business it was! 
 
 "Now, now, my child, try to get some sleep. n 
 And Mrs. Dwight, in a motherly way, put an arm 
 around her. "I declare, it s after one o clock." 
 
 But, for several hours after that, Madge lay 
 sleepless on her bed. At first her eyes felt as though 
 nothing could close them. Again and again her tired 
 mind repeated, "I m doing my level best! There s 
 nothing else anyone could do !" As the night wore 
 on, she felt relieved at the step which she had taken. 
 "Let the doctors fight it out," she thought. "How 
 can I decide? What do I know?" Gradually she 
 began to relax and drift passively on as before. Her 
 eyes were closed now, and the pictures came of 
 herself with all this money, here in New York, and 
 then abroad, and again at home in Halesburg. But 
 as her fancy leaped about, suddenly the pictures 
 stopped. For once again, as the certainty came that 
 her brother could not possibly live, she thought of 
 Joe, and everything else seemed all at once to drop 
 away. She lay quite still. She barely breathed. 
 
 "How terribly hard it will be for him." 
 

 CHAPTER IV 
 
 i 
 
 THE next morning when the surgeons came, after 
 watching the gaunt white form on the bed, carefully 
 scanning his record and questioning his partner, they 
 decided not to operate. Their reasons were so tech 
 nical that Madge could make nothing of their talk 
 except that her brother still had a slim chance, and 
 that, all things considered, it was better to leave him 
 alone. But her relief was swift and deep. How 
 she would have hated to put her Uncle Phil aside 
 and take full responsibility here! She reproached 
 herself for not having trusted his instinct and his 
 common sense. She relied on him now and showed 
 that she did, and her Aunt Abby did the same. 
 Uncle Phil took his triumph quietly, but from the 
 happy light in his eyes you might have thought 
 Gordon was out of danger. 
 
 "Madge," he said, "you did quite right; and I m 
 sorry I tried to stand in your way. You showed 
 good judgment in having them here. Now every 
 one is satisfied." 
 
 101 
 
102 MILLIONS 
 
 Everyone except Joe Evans. Poor Joe looked 
 pretty desperate. He felt that Gordon was going 
 to die. To Madge he was even more appealing 
 than he had been the night before; and she strove 
 to reassure him. Then, as he was leaving, she 
 asked, 
 
 "Will you tell Miss O Brien the result?" 
 
 "Yes, I ll call her up at once." 
 
 She hesitated, and asked him, 
 
 "Have you seen the reviews of her play?" 
 
 "No, I forgot to read them." 
 
 "Better do it before you call her up." 
 
 Joe looked at her with a little smile. 
 
 "I reckon you re learning a lot in this town." 
 
 "Oh, I m not so sure I am. Now that I come 
 to think of it, that was a very catty remark. I want 
 to read them myself," she said. 
 
 And when he had gone she sent out for the papers, 
 and was soon absorbed in the reviews of Leonora s 
 play. Some praised the piece and others condemned 
 it, but all had nothing but praise for the star. And 
 to Madge there came again a sense of the warm, 
 vivid beauty of this girl, the power of sex, the 
 glamour of fame. It disturbed her and excited her 
 made death seem cold and far away. 
 
MILLIONS 103 
 
 2 
 
 Her cousin Ray arrived at noon. About twenty- 
 six, short, brisk and keen, with a gold tooth, a wiry 
 black mustache, and a dimple in one cheek which 
 had greatly annoyed him as a boy Ray looked 
 upon life with the genial eye of a practical soul who 
 has made up his mind to get his wife into a limousine 
 quick, and feels himself man enough to do it and 
 to put diamonds on her, too. His cheerful assur 
 ance had already made him part owner in the garage 
 where he worked. With automobiles he was a 
 wizard; no proposition could faze him long. He 
 was practical and he lost no time in beginning to 
 size up the critical situation here. He greeted his 
 mother affectionately, for Ray was always kind to 
 her; but after that he started right in. His voice 
 was low. It was always low. Ray disliked all loud- 
 ness. 
 
 "Well now, Mother, shoot," he said, as he settled 
 himself into a chair. "How s Gordon? Will he 
 make the grade?" 
 
 "My dear boy, he s in God s hands." 
 
 Her son gave her a dubious look. 
 
 "Just how do you mean?" 
 
 "His life hangs by a thread." 
 
 "Isn t there anything we can do?" 
 
104 MILLIONS 
 
 "I m afraid not, Ray," she answered. 
 
 "Well, let s have a look at the facts and see if 
 there s nothing you ve overlooked," said her son, 
 as he lit a cigarette. "Just what are we up against?" 
 
 He questioned his mother and Uncle Phil. As 
 for Madge, he rather ignored her treating her 
 as he always had, as a person who just didn t count. 
 
 "Well," he said, when he had the facts, "it strikes 
 me Gordon s family have saved his life already 
 once. If that man Hoyt had had his way, poor G. 
 would have been a dead one now he d have slipped 
 right through to the Promised Land. Lucky for 
 him Uncle Phil was here, with his sound horse-sense 
 about such things. Now I say, let s have more of it 
 more good common sense in this shop and less of 
 this modern city stuff. Here s Mother one of the 
 finest nurses ever chased a germ away. And she 
 really cares for poor old G. So I say, put her right 
 in charge with Madge to spell her out, of course 
 and tell these two thermometer-shakers they can, 
 take their things and go. Same way with the flapper, 
 too. We don t need actresses just now, so let her 
 shimmy somewhere else. In other words," he ended, 
 "give Gordon s family a chance." 
 
 With a smile of amusement Uncle Phil turned 
 to Madge for a reply. 
 
MILLIONS 105 
 
 "Well, Madge, what do you say to this?" 
 
 She felt Ray glance at her in surprise. 
 
 "I m afraid I don t agree with you, Ray, on either 
 point," she answered. "Of course Aunt Abby is a 
 fine nurse, but the sort of nursing needed here " 
 
 As she went on to explain in detail, she saw the 
 surprise on his face increase. With his shrewd 
 blue eyes now on herself and now upon the others, 
 Ray was quick to realize the changed position of 
 his cousin. 
 
 "As for Miss O Brien," she went on, "I can t 
 say I like her much but so long as Gordon s part 
 ner tells me he would want her here, I think we 
 had better let her come at least for the pres 
 
 ent." 
 
 "All right, Madge," he assented. "It s all up 
 to you, of course and so long as you are satis 
 fied " 
 
 As she felt him nimbly adapting himself to the 
 change in their relations, a faint smile came on her 
 lips. She remembered his manner to her at home, 
 only last week when they met on the street. Kindly 
 enough, but just passing her by. While now what 
 a difference money did make ! 
 
 "I must go and see about lunch," she said. And 
 she thought, "I ll ask the nurse to have hers first 
 
IO6 MILLIONS 
 
 and let Aunt Abby sit with Gordon. She ll like 
 that. She ll feel she s doing something." 
 
 Madge went into the kitchen, and later to her 
 brother s room. 
 
 3 
 
 Meanwhile, in the study, Ray was having a talk 
 with his uncle, man to man. Both voices were low. 
 
 "How about it, Uncle Phil have you had time," 
 inquired Ray, "to look into the financial end?" 
 
 "Yes, Ray, I ve looked into it." 
 
 "Located that will?" 
 
 "I ve got it here." 
 
 "No complications?" 
 
 "None at all." 
 
 "Well," said Ray, "I m glad of that for 
 Madge s sake. What kind of a lad is this Joe 
 Evans?" 
 
 "Oh, he s all right honest as the day is long." 
 
 "No chance of any indoor sport down there in 
 the office, then." 
 
 "Not the slightest." 
 
 "What do you think of young O Brien?" 
 
 "Oh, I guess she can t do any harm." 
 
 "Pity to have her coming here " 
 
 "Yes, in a way but so long as Madge " 
 
 "I know I know." Ray smoked a moment, 
 
MILLIONS 107 
 
 sententiously. "Quite a change for our Madge." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Millions, eh. I wonder what she ll do with 
 it?" 
 
 "Time enough to bother about that, if Gordon 
 dies," said Doctor Cable. The future maker of 
 automobiles shot a glance at his uncle and asked, 
 
 "What do you think of his chances?" 
 
 "About one in ten, I should say." 
 
 Ray grew thoughtful for a while. 
 
 "About Young Ireland," he went on. "I can t 
 say I m stuck on the idea of that young flapper hang 
 ing around. Never can tell with a girl like thrt. 
 G. might get conscious at the end and with her 
 there, and him so weak, poor devil she might put 
 across some little game that would ball up the whole 
 damn business." 
 
 "I know, my boy I ve thought of that but I 
 doubt if Gordon will come to." 
 
 "Still, he might you never can tell." With 
 puckered brows, Ray smoked some more. "I ve 
 been trying to place her. O Brien O Brien. She s 
 never been in the movies, I guess. . . . Say, Uncle, 
 have you any idea how things stood between her 
 and Gordon?" 
 
 "They re not engaged " 
 
IO8 MILLIONS 
 
 u Oh, Hell," said Ray, "you know what I mean." 
 And he put it plain. 
 
 "I don t know," said Uncle Phil. 
 
 "If he had, it d make some difference." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Damn good reason to keep her out with the 
 women, at least." 
 
 "Yes that s so." 
 
 "Well, then say!" With a sudden idea. "How 
 about this joy-ride?" 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Why, Saturday night, when he had the smash. 
 Was she with him?" 
 
 "I don t know." 
 
 "Haven t you seen his shofer?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 As Ray looked at his uncle then, the easy genial 
 pity of the New Generation for the Old showed 
 quite plainly on his face. 
 
 "Well, it s lucky for you," he said, "there s a 
 garage man in this family." 
 
 4 
 
 At lunch, Ray said to his cousin, 
 "Madgy, if you don t object, I ll try to hunt up 
 Gordon s shofer. God knows what s become of that 
 
MILLIONS 109 
 
 auto of his, since the smash on Saturday night. And 
 here s one way I can help you see? It s in my line." 
 
 At his obvious desire to please her, she gave him 
 a friendly smile and said, 
 
 "Why, yes, Ray, I wish you would." 
 
 "That will get him out of the way," she thought. 
 "And I ll have Aunt Abby take a nap and Uncle 
 Phil can sit with Gordon." 
 
 She was getting used to this planning now. 
 Already three relatives gathered about, waiting for 
 her slightest wish. And a little question shot into 
 her mind as to how many more would be coming, 
 in the queer rich years ahead. Ray and his viva 
 cious young wife, on shopping bees and theatre 
 sprees; then Aunt Abby, Paul and the girls; and 
 Uncle Phil and his family. Some of them would 
 probably hope to stay with her for weeks at a 
 time. How fit them into her own busy life? Sud 
 denly they rose before her, came so close and grew 
 so real, she could almost look inside and see what 
 each of them wanted to do and be with all this 
 money. Sharply compressing her thin lips, Madge 
 rose from the table. Lunch was over. 
 
 "Aunt Abby," she suggested, "suppose you come 
 and take a nap?" 
 
 "All right, my child, if you think it best." 
 
110 MILLIONS 
 
 5 
 
 When Ray came back in an hour or so, Madge 
 was in her brother s room ; and Uncle Phil took his 
 nephew directly into the study. 
 
 "Well, my boy, what did you find?" 
 
 "Not much of anything yet," said Ray. "Fact 
 \s, the shofer wouldn t talk. He s a coon, and a 
 pretty wise one at that; and he wasn t loosening up 
 for me till he knew exactly how things stand, and 
 just who s who. But $ knows about Madge being 
 boss for the preser ^r-lor he has been here to ask 
 about G. So I tv/i ;am Madge wanted the auto 
 to take her out this afternoon. That ll get him 
 kind of used to things." 
 
 "The auto is all right, then?" 
 
 "Yes. Front axle bent an inch or two, but it s 
 already straightened out; and I ve ordered a new 
 mud-guard. They ll have it on this afternoon. It 
 wasn t much of a smash, at that." 
 
 As Ray went on to give details of his encounter 
 with "the coon," his uncle listened with amusement. 
 He never had thought much of Ray, and yet he 
 rather liked the boy. 
 
 A few minutes later Madge came in. 
 
 "Well, Madge, I ve found the car," said her 
 cousin, "and it looks in pretty good shape so I 
 
MILLIONS III 
 
 told the shofer to bring it around. I thought that 
 you and Mother might want to get out for a little 
 fresh air. Been a good deal of a strain on you 
 both cooped up in here like a couple of hens." 
 
 Madge thought a moment. 
 
 "Why, yes, Ray, I think that s a good idea I ll 
 take your mother out for a ride. You and Uncle 
 Phil will be here, of course." 
 
 "You bet," said Ray. "You can count on us." 
 
 Aunt Abby demurred a bit at first, but was soon 
 persuaded. She put on her old fur shoulder cape, 
 and was ready when the car arrived. 
 
 "I d feel a little easier, Madge, if Ray went with 
 us," she proposed. "That is, of course, if you don t 
 mind. Uncle Phil will be right here, you know." 
 
 "All right, Aunt Abby certainly." And they 
 went down to the street. 
 
 Madge had quite a thrill when she saw the car. 
 It was such a lovely big one and all so gleaming, 
 smoothly rich. The smart young darky in livery was 
 so plainly watching her out of the corner of his 
 eye, as his probable future employer. With an 
 awkward smile, she helped her Aunt Abby to get 
 in, and sank beside her into the seat; and she felt the 
 leaping power beneath, as the big car smoothly 
 moved away. Ray had climbed into the front seat. 
 
112 MILLIONS 
 
 When they came to Fifth Avenue, near the Park, 
 he told the chauffeur to turn down town, and smiling 
 back at them he said, 
 
 "Let s show Mother a little life." 
 
 6 
 
 In the next few minutes, sitting there, a curious 
 look came in Madge s eyes. Why did it all appear 
 so changed? She had seen Fifth Avenue before, a 
 dozen times. u Yes, but years ago," she thought, 
 u and it keeps growing all the time !" But the change 
 was rather in herself. For this street is really noth 
 ing at all except shop windows, flesh and clothes 
 while it is a thousand different things to a thousand 
 different pairs of eyes. It is brilliant it is dull as 
 lead; it is gay and amusing stupid and coarse; a 
 lonely place, a terrible place a friendly, human, 
 lovable place; a region of enchanted dreams a 
 river of hard and greedy eyes. But the commonest 
 miracle of all is the way in a twinkling it is changed 
 to some citizen of this lusty land who unexpectedly 
 finds himself possessed of what to him is enormous 
 wealth ten dollars or ten million. 
 
 Madge looked and saw a thoroughfare tumultuous 
 with color and sound, and moment by moment she 
 felt an increasing friendly curiosity in the number- 
 
MILLIONS 113 
 
 less passers-by. She had been curious before, but 
 on those visits in the past it had all been as remote 
 as were these big handsome shops from the Empo 
 rium at home. Now the great windows on either 
 side all seemed to be saying to her, "Come in. We 
 are ready to teach you the joy there is in being 
 warmly and richly alive!" Suddenly she saw her 
 self as the active owner of one of these stores 
 sending her buyers all over the world to gather 
 countless exquisite things; and learning, learning, 
 learning studying the public taste, and even mould 
 ing it at times. Watching the women and young 
 girls who came pouring out of the doorways, she 
 wondered what they had bought inside ; and presently 
 she found herself making quick guesses about each 
 one. Some were so atrociously dressed, she could 
 see at a glance that Money, the Grand High Joker, 
 would always make them comic and cheap. There 
 were others who brought an admiring gleam into 
 her observant blue-grey eyes. So surely had they 
 judged themselves. There was exquisite taste and 
 imagination, daring, and seduction here. But sud 
 denly a little frown of annoyance and disillusion 
 ment swept over Madge s face; for a woman beauti 
 fully dressed passed slowly by her in a car, and her 
 voice was nasal, rasping. 
 
114 MILLIONS 
 
 "How stupid of her not to think of that, too!" 
 Madge had taken no small pride in her own clear, 
 low articulation, and she eyed the glittering stranger 
 for a moment with contempt. But then she yielded 
 herself again to the fascinations of it all. On foot 
 or in their limousines, off they went by perfect thou 
 sands. Where were they going? Pictures teemed 
 into her mind of what they would do this afternoon^. 
 How amusing and gay it was ! In a smart town car 
 which passed her, she qaught a glimpse of two young 
 girls in perfect gales of laughter, one of them with 
 her small gloved hands making quick little gestures 
 as she talked. "I wonder where they are going?" 
 asked Madge. And then, with a grim little smile, 
 "And where would I be going? I don t know a soul 
 in town. Where would I even make a beginning?" 
 Inwardly she laughed at herself, and again she let 
 her fancy fly. 
 
 Then something hard, compelling, real, drew her 
 back from the gleaming castles in air to the grim 
 present and the past. It was the face of her aunt 
 at her side the lines of worry left by the years, 
 and the hard eagerness of to-day. Hard? Yes, 
 hard with anxious strain. In this crisis which 
 might mean so much to her and to her children, the 
 mask of every day was gone, the face was naked, and 
 
MILLIONS 115 
 
 Madge could feel the swiftly changing moods in 
 side. She guessed that the thoughts of her aunt 
 were now here, now back at home with her three 
 girls, and again were darting far, far back into the 
 bleak existence of a country minister s wife. "All 
 this has gone on day and night while I, for nearly 
 
 fifty years " With a sigh Aunt Abby relaxed 
 
 a bit and returned to these present sights and sounds. 
 A clever seamstress all her life, there was a sharp, 
 curious hunger now in her eyes as they kept leaping 
 about critical here, and there giving praise. More 
 than once she started to point out some dainty suit 
 or hat to Madge, but each time she restrained her 
 self. For this was no time to talk of such things. 
 
 But no such restraint embarrassed her son. Always 
 affectionate with his mother, he kept looking back 
 with a smile; and with all the assurance gained in 
 previous brief visits here, he pointed out and named 
 for her the big shops and the homes of millionaires. 
 Only once he showed his ignorance. 
 
 "What church is that, Ray?" his mother asked. 
 He answered cheerfully, 
 
 "Search me, Mother. I m not quite up on 
 churches here." 
 
 In a caustic tone, Aunt Abby rejoined, "Not many 
 people seem to be. And it s a great pity when you 
 
Il6 MILLIONS 
 
 think of the good work which might be done with 
 all this money rolling about. It seems as though the 
 rest of us just work and scrimp our lives away, so 
 that these New Yorkers can riot in wealth I" 
 
 Ray laughed at that. 
 
 "Riot is good !" he cried. "Pretty good, Mother !" 
 
 But Madge gave a little squeeze to her hand. And 
 at this, in an instant Aunt Abby turned, she squeezed 
 her niece s hand in reply, and her small eyes grew 
 bright with tears. Then the anxious look came in 
 them again; and noticing it, Madge told herself, 
 "Now she s thinking what she can get out of this 
 not for herself at all, poor dear, but for those 
 eternal children!" And sure enough, Mrs. Dwight 
 soon began to speak of Paul and the three girls 
 and to wonder what they were doing at home. 
 Madge grew sympathetic now, and by an occasional 
 word or a question encouraged her to talk on and 
 on, and to give hints of her wakening dreams. 
 
 But Madge s own thoughts were right here in 
 New York. The car had stopped in a traffic jam, 
 and in a wide shop window she spied a small blue 
 evening gown which shimmered with gold. Instantly 
 she told herself, "There ! I could wear that !" The 
 certainty of it was so sharp, it brought the color 
 into her cheeks. But the next moment, inside the 
 
MILLIONS 117 
 
 shop, a small pretty woman smartly dressed came 
 to the window with one of the clerks and now she 
 was pointing to the gown. Great Heavens! She 
 was going to buy it ! And Madge almost cried out 
 to her, "Oh, don t do that! I saw it first! It s 
 mine, it s mine I" 
 
 "What s the matter, Madge?" she heard from 
 her aunt. With a quick, unnatural smile she said, 
 
 "Oh, nothing, Aunt Abby, nothing at all. You 
 were speaking of Ray s new baby, weren t you?" 
 
 Soon she had her relative rambling on, about the 
 life in Halesburg, so that she herself could continue 
 to build the picture of herself in New York. 
 Friends? Oh, they d come they always did when 
 you had so much money. "Besides," she thought, 
 "I m smart enough. I m not a perfect little goop." 
 She would join a club, to begin with, and grow active 
 on committees there generous with her money, of 
 course ; and so she d make friends, and they in time 
 would invite her to their homes. She saw herself 
 ranging freely from large, handsome houses to cosy, 
 small apartments warmly welcomed wherever she 
 went. And meanwhile, watching women who passed, 
 she asked, "How long have you been here? What 
 are you up to? Married or single? How old are 
 you?" She grew interested in trying to guess their 
 
Il8 MILLIONS 
 
 ages, and she soon decided that most of them were 
 her own age or even older. Thirty-two had been 
 old in Halesburg here apparently it was young. 
 As she eyed one gracious, smiling young dame, she 
 thought, "I ll bet you re forty if you re a day. How 
 do you do it?" To herself she felt a new youth 
 coming. 
 
 Then suddenly she heard Ray s voice. He had 
 turned on his seat and was asking her, 
 
 "Suppose anything happens to poor old G. Would 
 you keep this auto, Madge?" 
 
 She winced at the bad taste of it. Right in front 
 of the chauffeur, too! What could Ray be think 
 ing of? 
 
 "I don t know, Ray," she answered. "I don t care 
 to think of that. Now suppose we go to the Park." 
 
 "All right, Madge," was his cheerful reply. "Just 
 as you say. We ll be there in a minute." 
 
 Engrossed in her thoughts and intent on her 
 watching, she had not noticed that long ago they had 
 turned and come back up the Avenue. As they 
 entered the Park in the autumn dusk, she leaned 
 back in deep relief, and her Aunt Abby did the 
 same. 
 
 "Oh, how nice this is!" sighed Mrs. Dwight. 
 
 "You bet it is !" agreed her son, and he gave her 
 
MILLIONS 119 
 
 a smile which said, "And you re going to have some 
 of this, Little Mother." 
 
 She settled back and half closed her eyes, and for 
 some time nobody said a word. Through the bare 
 tree branches Madge saw distant specks of light; 
 by hundreds and by thousands, from tall buildings 
 all about, they twinkled at her through the haze. 
 And now in the Park the lights came on and made 
 a purple shining road that went winding off into the 
 night. In and out and up hill and down the big car 
 smoothly made its way. Other cars kept passing. 
 In one she saw a man and a girl with their heads 
 close together; she heard a vibrant teasing laugh. 
 Then they were gone. On a bridle path close by the 
 road she spied a young girl cantering home. "I d 
 love to ride!" she told herself. She had always 
 loved fine horses ; she knew a good deal about them, 
 too. And what a horse she might have now I She 
 wondered if Joe Evans rode. "No, I can t see him 
 riding here." Indeed, she almost heard him say, in 
 his soft Southern voice, "I reckon this kind of ridin 
 in parks is a little too lady-like for me." What he 
 wanted was to go back to a ranch as soon as he 
 had money enough. Well, there would be money 
 now. Just for an instant she saw them both running 
 a big ranch out West. But she laughed at herself 
 
120 MILLIONS 
 
 impatiently. Queer, how this money was taking her 
 fancy flying all over the face of the earth! They 
 passed an old lady out for a drive in a small, old- 
 fashioned, open cab. How nice she looked in it I 
 Madge recalled a picture she d seen of a broad, 
 gay Paris thoroughfare with any number of cabs 
 like that. "I d certainly go to Paris!" she thought. 
 
 On the front seat, Ray and the chauffeur were 
 talking in low voices now; but she did not notice 
 them. 
 
 Suddenfy she started forward sat bolt upright, 
 quivering. For with a clanging of its gong an ambu 
 lance came rushing by. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WHEN they came back to the apartment, Madge 
 found her uncle quietly reading. There had been 
 no change, he said. Just for a moment she went and 
 looked in at the door of the cool, dim room, at the 
 motionless white figure there. No, there was noth 
 ing at all she could do. So she went to her room 
 to rest. On the way, she heard Ray and Uncle 
 Phil in the study. Though the door was closed, it 
 seemed to her that their voices had a hungry sound. 
 In an instant, without warning, she felt unhappy and 
 Unstrung. 
 
 "Oh, to have it over settled one way or the 
 other!" she thought. 
 
 But after getting off her clothes, she grew quiet 
 again and lay on her bed quite motionless, her mind 
 a blank. Presently there was a tap at the door, and 
 Aunt Abby came into the room, in her old blue 
 dressing gown. 
 
 "Madge," she said, in an undertone, "I don t see 
 
 121 
 
122 MILLIONS 
 
 why we have to have that chit of a nurse sit with 
 us at meals. Why can t she wait till the night 
 nurse comes and then go and get her supper at 
 home?" 
 
 "Oh, Auntie," said Madge, wearily, "does it 
 make any difference?" 
 
 "Yes, it does it s a time when we want to be 
 alone, and keep the family to itself! And I ll bet 
 you that if we were city folks she wouldn t even 
 presume to suggest it! I tell you," said little Mrs. 
 Dwight, "I won t be trodden under foot by actresses 
 and nurses here!" 
 
 Madge smiled at her and suggested, 
 
 "Why don t you go and ask Uncle Phil? He 
 probably knows what the custom is." 
 
 "Very well, I will." 
 
 Her aunt went away, but soon returned with a 
 gloomy air. 
 
 "Yes," she announced, "he says they expect it." 
 
 And obviously Miss Cochran did, for as soon as 
 dinner was announced she came to the dining room 
 with the rest. 
 
 2 
 
 Feeling her presence, the talk at first was rather 
 constrained. At the very start, when by lifelong 
 habit Doctor Cable bowed his head and began to 
 
MILLIONS 123 
 
 ask the blessing "For what we are about to 
 
 receive " he stopped for just an instant, and 
 
 Madge felt an unpleasant thrill go all around the 
 table. And though at once he went smoothly on 
 "may the Good Lord make us thankful" still for a 
 moment longer they all kept their eyes on their 
 plates. When she lifted hers, Madge thought she 
 detected a slight smile on Miss Cochran s lips. She 
 frowned, and eyed the forks and knives, and won 
 dered which of them to use in the courses which 
 were coming. She was sorry she had not told old 
 Abe to give them a plain, simple meal. Evidently 
 anxious to please, he was going to serve a regular 
 dinner. "Is that what he thinks of us?" she asked; 
 and when he inquired a little later if they would have 
 sherry or Scotch, she started to answer, "Nothing 
 at all." But she noticed the look on her cousin s 
 face, and asked instead, 
 
 "Would you two men like something to drink?" 
 "No, thank you, Madge," said Uncle Phil; but 
 Ray answered, "Whiskey, please." And as the drink 
 was poured for him, he said, with a genial upward 
 glance, "Just leave it on the table, Abe." Avoiding 
 his mother s look of displeasure, he cheerfully 
 remarked to his uncle, "This town don t seem so very 
 dry. I guess the law s just for the rest of us." And 
 
124 MILLIONS 
 
 then to Aunt Abby he proposed, "Don t you want 
 some sherry, Mother? It would kind of tonic you 
 up." 
 
 "No, thank you, Ray. This soup is tonic enough 
 for me. It s perfectly delicious, Madge." 
 
 Gradually, as the meal progressed, they forgot 
 the young nurse sitting there, and their talk all 
 centered on themselves as the family feeling rose 
 again. They spoke of some members dead and 
 gone, and of others who were living out west and 
 should perhaps be notified. They came back to 
 Gordon then and continued to build the image of 
 the lovable boy they had known. And through all 
 the anecdotes ran the thought, "He was one of us. 
 It was out of us, and with our help, that he rose to 
 this." Aunt Abby had mothered him when he was 
 small; Uncle Phil had given him his first job; and 
 years later, in the fall of 1914, when he came up to 
 Halesburg, it was through his uncle s endorsement 
 that Gordon had been able to borrow from the 
 local bank the money he needed in order to buy 
 options on three forlorn old sailing vessels rotting 
 at a dock in Troy. So his fortune was begun; for, 
 as Ray expressed it, "Those three old sea girlies 
 were certainly some War Brides for G." He had 
 sold at a profit and had gone on to buy ship after 
 
MILLIONS 125 
 
 ship -sailers, steamers, neglected old hulks until 
 by the time of the submarine crisis he was the owner 
 of quite a fleet. 
 
 "But the thing I like to think of best," said Aunt 
 Abby, placidly, "is the way, when his country called, 
 Gordon threw away his chance to make a princely 
 fortune, and volunteered in the first week. Of 
 course," she added the next moment, with an affec 
 tionate smile at her son, "he was fixed so he could. 
 He wasn t like Ray, with a wife and baby to support. 
 But I m proud that when the need grew great Ray 
 answered, Tm ready, Uncle Sam like all the rest 
 of the boys in our family. I think we have a right 
 to be proud. Madge, too, with her splendid Red 
 Cross work and Uncle Phil, and Paul and the 
 girls." 
 
 She was going on to give the entire family honor 
 roll, but Ray cut her off by telling of his find 
 ing Gordon wounded in a big hospital in 
 France. 
 
 "And what do you think he asked me first right 
 off the bat?" inquired Ray, whose tongue had been 
 loosened by the Scotch. " How about the U. 
 Boats? See? G. was licking the Kaiser all righty 
 doing his bit like a regular man; but he wasn t 
 forgetting those ships of his, those little old War 
 
126 MILLIONS 
 
 Bride painted girls! No, sir, not for a minute, he 
 wasn t ! And when he got back to God s Own Coun 
 try, how he did ride in on the boom!" 
 
 "It seems perfectly marvellous to me," said Aunt 
 Abby, with a sigh, "for a man to make millions 
 all in a year !" 
 
 "He took some awful chances you bet! Lucky 
 for him he got out of ships before the crash !" her 
 son declared. As he talked, Ray had been eating 
 fast. From the decanter before him, he now poured 
 another drink, ignoring his mother s reproachful 
 eyes. 
 
 As the plates were changed for the salad course, 
 they recalled the presence of the nurse, and there 
 was silence for a time. But it could not last, for 
 beneath it ran the thought of Gordon s wealth, soon 
 to be family property; and not only Ray but his 
 mother and uncle were soon talking as before. 
 Madge watched them. Yes, in her cousin s case 
 it was partly due to whiskey; but the others had 
 taken nothing at all. They had no need of drink, 
 she thought. The tonic of the situation was so 
 strong that it was a strain to keep down the hopes 
 and images even for little Mrs. Dwight, who spoke 
 with a forced composure but whose gentle voice was 
 tremulous and whose grey head kept nodding from 
 
MILLIONS 127 
 
 sheer excitement. The birth mark on her temple 
 could be seen distinctly now. 
 
 "I ve never given up faith in the boy," Uncle Phil 
 was saying. "No matter how some people talked, 
 I ve always felt that sooner or later a large, generous 
 share of his wealth would come back home to Hales- 
 burg, that he would do something big for his 
 
 town." 
 
 He had hoped it would be a hospital, he said, 
 which would bear the family name " writ large for 
 every man to see." And as he went on to speak of 
 what untold good a few hundred thousand dollars 
 might do in the service of humanity, Madge could 
 feel him picturing the small house of mercy more 
 and more clearly in his mind with himself in charge, 
 of course. Small? Not very. For as he talked on, 
 the hospital grew larger, larger. There were to be 
 several doctors and a score of nurses, it appeared. 
 Nor was it to be a mere local affair. He told of 
 what the Mayo Brothers had done in their little 
 town out west. And presently, with a slight start, 
 Madge recalled that long ago it had been her uncle s 
 cherished dream to build a great hospital which 
 should win a national fame. The dream had been 
 buried all these years, while he was running a drug 
 store and drifting into a settled old age. But still 
 
128 MILLIONS 
 
 it was there, it had never died; and it had risen now 
 with a force which took all the smooth quiet out 
 of his voice and made him forget to wipe the crumbs 
 from his large, flowing, soft moustache. 
 
 But glancing around the table Madge saw that 
 the others were not listening. 
 
 Aunt Abby had interrupted to say that Ruth, her 
 second daughter, had always wanted to be a trained 
 nurse. But abruptly she fell silent; and as Uncle 
 Phil talked on, Madge could see in her aunt s bright 
 eyes how her thoughts were racing on to the time 
 when every one of her daughters would have 
 children of her own, and the merry little boys 
 and girls would be coming to visit their grandmother 
 in the lovely old house on the river bank. In her 
 face was a warm, eager light. Madge thought of 
 the girls at home this evening. If their mother was 
 so excited, what a state must they be in ! She could 
 almost hear their strong, clear voices, almost see 
 their hungry eyes : painting their pictures, dreaming 
 their dreams as they sat talking waiting for a 
 telegram waiting for the new life to begin! Sud 
 denly it was as though they all came crowding right 
 into the room, each one of them queerly tense, each 
 one naked and revealed as in a sudden glare of light, 
 and whispering, "Millions! Millions! All this 
 
MILLIONS 129 
 
 money will soon be yours ! You can make our lives 
 all over take us to Europe, buy us clothes, give us 
 husbands, homes and children ! You ll be a different 
 woman, Madge you ll live in a perfectly dazzling 
 world! Remember us! Remember us I" 
 
 As her fancy started to soar away up vistas that 
 were all her own, into her thinking by degrees came 
 the incisive voice of her cousin. Ray had been talk 
 ing of his garage. She had not listened, but all at 
 once she looked up with a jerk of her head. Garage ? 
 No a whole factory now ! Ray was making auto 
 mobiles ! After speaking in a critical tone of Henry 
 Ford and his swift success, Ray began to tell them of 
 the u auto" of his dreams. For years it had lain in 
 the back of his mind. 
 
 "I took it to bed with me every night and nursed 
 it like a new born babe ! And believe me, when I 
 get my chance, that auto will be some baby!" he 
 cried. 
 
 He lifted his glass with a quivering hand, eyes 
 fairly ablaze with his vision of whirring wheels and 
 grease and din. But catching the look on his 
 mother s face, his jaw dropped, he came to himself; 
 and remembering their postiion here, he relapsed, 
 and rather sheepishly he began to eat his ice cream. 
 There was a brief silence. Miss Cochran rose. 
 
130 MILLIONS 
 
 "If you ll excuse me, Miss Cable," she said, "Fd 
 better be going back to him now. Miss FieM is a 
 little late to-night." 
 
 "No change since I was in there last?" inquired 
 Madge. The young nurse smiled. 
 
 "Yes I think he s a little better." 
 
 Each one of them seemed to give a start. 
 
 "Oh that s good," Madge answered 
 
 In the silence which came after the departure of 
 the nurse, Madge caught Ray and Uncle Phil ex 
 changing glances in a way that plainly had some 
 thing to do with herself. She remembered the 
 hungry sound of their voices in the study before din 
 ner. Now what had they been cooking up? She 
 waited till Ray had finished his cream; and then, 
 recalling a sentence in a novel she had read, she 
 rose and said, 
 
 "Suppose that we have our coffee brought into 
 the other room." 
 
 In the living room, while they sat waiting for 
 the coffee to come in, Ray picked up an evening paper. 
 There were several lying about, for just before 
 dinner Madge had been reading some more accounts 
 

 MILLIONS 131 
 
 of Leonora s opening night. Ray s keen eye soon 
 lit on her name. 
 
 "Hello, folks, listen to this," he said. " Leonora 
 O Brien Stars in New Play. Do you want to hear 
 it?" 
 
 "Yes," said his mother. 
 
 "All righty here goes." And Ray began: 
 " Whether or not the play of last night is a success, 
 Leonora O Brien has gone far toward winning her 
 place as an emotional actress and comedienne of no 
 average abilities. 
 
 As he read on, his mother sat bolt upright in 
 her chair, with her small eyes fixed on her niece in 
 a curious way which made Madge ask, "Why is she 
 watching me like that?" Old Abe came in. Madge 
 poured the coffee. Ray finished his reading, took 
 a cup, sat down and lit a cigarette. 
 
 "Well," said his mother, after a pause, "that 
 ought to settle it, I suppose." 
 
 Madge turned her head. 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 "What do I mean? Could you be a successful 
 comedy actress when you knew the man you loved 
 was lying at the point of death?" 
 
 "I m not an actress. She is," said Madge. 
 
 At that, she heard a chuckle from Ray. 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 "You re dead right there she s an actress, all 
 righty every minute of her life." He drew on his 
 cigarette and said, "Been acting up to Gordon, too." 
 
 Madge threw a keen look at him. 
 
 u just what do you mean by that, Ray?" she 
 demanded. 
 
 He glanced at her and then at his uncle, with a 
 far from easy manner. "What s the matter with 
 him?" she asked. Doctor Cable went to the door 
 and closed it, after looking into the hall. Then he 
 came back and sat down and said, 
 
 "I guess you d better tell them, Ray." 
 
 Ray was fairly scowling now. As he glanced at 
 his mother, his whole manner was that of a man 
 who has something melodramatic to say and hates 
 to say it. 
 
 "To be honest," he began, "I can t say I m stuck 
 on the job. It s not exactly the kind of stuff you re 
 used to hearing, Mother. Madge neither. And it s 
 
 not in my line. But " he paused and scowled 
 
 again. "The point is that back at home, in that 
 little old garage of mine, I ve learned enough to 
 teach me that if you want to get right down to the 
 bed rock of a rich man s life, you want to see his 
 shofer. So I did it in this case." Nervously he 
 inhaled again, blew out the smoke with an air of 
 
MILLIONS 133 
 
 distaste, and continued earnestly, "I don t want you 
 to think I m sitting in judgment on poor old G. He 
 was simply human a man with a wad, and unat 
 tached. But well, if you want em, the facts are 
 these. 
 
 "I found the coon close-mouthed at first; but after 
 the ride this afternoon, when he got to know me 
 better and to see just how things stood, he loosened 
 up like a regular fellah. He s been Gordon s shofer 
 about two months. Always changing bosses here 
 one day and gone the next they don t get attached 
 so you d notice it. So, as I said, he opened up and 
 let the cat right out of the bag. First, he told of 
 the accident Saturday night. It was along abotft 
 one a. m. up along the Concourse, just this side 
 of Fordham Road. It seems that our young flapper 
 friend was in the car, and there were two or three 
 others, besides, from the theatre quite a party. 
 Evans was probably in it, too though I didn t go 
 into that with the coon, nor into details of the 
 smash. All that I was after was this young O Brien 
 girl I wanted to get her number. It took some 
 careful handling but after he had strung me along 
 for quite a while, the shofer said that a good many 
 nights in the last few weeks Gordon took the lady 
 out with a bunch of others sometimes but more 
 
134 MILLIONS 
 
 often it was a two-some, which lasted on right 
 through the night. And well, I guess you can 
 imagine the rest of it, if you want to." 
 
 u We don t want to," Madge cut in. She felt 
 their glances turn to her, and she reddened slightly; 
 she felt confused. But her voice was hard and 
 cold. "It seems to me, Ray," she said to her 
 cousin, "that through this ignorant negro you ve 
 been digging up what is nobody s business but Gor 
 don s." 
 
 Ray flushed angrily and rose. 
 
 "Oh, well, if you want to take it like that of 
 course there s nothing more to be said!" 
 
 "Wait, Ray, wait," said Uncle Phil ; and to Madge 
 he added evenly, "You ought to know Ray well 
 enough to realize he wouldn t be telling such things, 
 at such a time, unless it had some real bearing on 
 Gordon s case and our action here." 
 
 "How can it have?" 
 
 "Listen. Go on, Ray." 
 
 "Well," said Ray, "it s simply this. He gave me 
 the names of a number of road houses see? out 
 around the city where they spent the night to 
 gether, registering as man and wife." With a 
 scowl Ray lit a fresh cigarette. "I guess that s all 
 I want to tell." 
 
MILLIONS I3S 
 
 There was silence. Then Aunt Abby said, 
 
 "I should think it was enough !" 
 
 "Yes, I don t think we need hear any more," 
 Madge put in. But her aunt went on, 
 
 "A nice sort of girl to be coming here to his 
 very death bed!" 
 
 With a gleam of understanding, Madge turned 
 to her uncle. 
 
 "And you believe now we should keep her from 
 coming. Is that it, Uncle Phil?" 
 
 He looked at her steadily. 
 
 "What do you think?" 
 
 The directness of his question made her draw 
 back. She looked away. 
 
 "I don t quite know." 
 
 "Don t know?" cried her aunt. 
 
 "No, Aunt Abby," she replied, in a hard, vexed 
 tone. Disgusted and angry, her thoughts went to 
 Joe Evans now or rather, they returned to him; 
 for ever since her cousin had said, "Evans was prob 
 ably in it, too" she had found it hard to keep her 
 mind clear. Was that the sort of man he was? 
 Midnight rides with actresses? Perhaps he, too, 
 had a little friend, some cheap pal of Leonora s! 
 How friendly he had been to the girl, taking her 
 part in these last days, though he knew all the time 
 
136 MILLIONS 
 
 what kind she was ! Oh, how disgusting men could 
 be! ... Then all at once she refused to believe 
 it. "No," she decided, "I don t believe he had any 
 thing to do with it!" Aloud she said, "I wonder 
 if Mr. Evans knew?" 
 
 "You bet he knew," Ray answered. "You can be 
 sure there have been some wild parties right in 
 this room. I shouldn t wonder a bit," he went on, 
 with a faint expectant light in his eyes, "if there 
 had been more than one little two-some right in 
 that chair where Mother is now." 
 
 Aunt Abby bounced up, but seeing his smile she 
 glared at him, then recovered herself. 
 
 "Well," she said, "what s done is done! 
 But " 
 
 Madge interrupted. "Exactly, Aunt Abby," she 
 said, coldly. "It s their own business Gordon s 
 and Mr. Evans . If they did care for that sort of 
 thing, I don t see it concerns us in the least!" Her 
 voice was a bit unsteady; she felt as though she were 
 going to cry. Angrily she restrained herself. 
 
 Uncle Phil spoke up, smoothly and kindly. 
 
 "I quite agree with you there," he said. "After 
 all, it s a free country and a man s life is his own 
 affair. But his death belongs to his family." Madge 
 winced at this, but he went on. "It seems to me 
 
MILLIONS 137 
 
 that from now on we d better just drop this young 
 woman out. We ve tried to be fair to her, Lord 
 knows. Though she was infernally rude to us, we 
 have let her come here night after night. But now 
 that we know the facts in the case, I should say 
 that the kindest thing to poor Gordon is just to 
 forget her and put her aside." 
 
 "Yes, Phil," said Aunt Abby, "I think that is 
 eminently wise." 
 
 As Madge looked from one to another then, she 
 had a sense of the grim, sure power of Family here. 
 Except for Aunt Abby s outburst, there had been 
 no excitement. There was no need. Leonora was 
 simply to be put aside. "Well, she deserves it! 
 Serves her right!" Madge thought, with a thrill 
 of satisfaction. But a moment later, she added, 
 "No, it isn t fair!" 
 
 "How do we know," she asked them, "that this 
 negro spoke the truth?" 
 
 "He seemed to be sure enough of his facts," said 
 Ray. "When I nailed him down, he gave me the 
 places and the dates all in the last six weeks or so. 
 Of course I can follow it up, if you like " 
 
 "No," she said, quickly, "there s no need of that." 
 
 "You mean that you agree with us?" inquired 
 Doctor Cable. 
 
138 MILLIONS 
 
 "Not exactly," Madge replied. She did not want 
 to decide it yet. "Even supposing this is true, how 
 do we know they didn t mean to marry?" 
 
 "You have her own word for that. And if you 
 will allow me, Madge," said her uncle, in a fatherly 
 tone, "I d like to make sure that she has no chance 
 of defrauding you here." 
 
 "How do you mean?" 
 
 Then Ray spoke up : 
 
 "I guess I can make that clear enough. The 
 girl s a vamp and she got poor G. exactly where 
 she wanted him. Now she wants to be with him 
 alone. Why? For all practical purposes, the poor 
 devil s like a corpse and flappers don t like to 
 shimmy with stiffs. No, sir, cold cash that s what 
 she s after. Watchful waiting is her game. The 
 minute Gordon comes to his senses, even if he s 
 a dying man, she ll get a statement out of him that ll 
 put her right in your shoes ! God knows what letters 
 she has, as it is. You can bet she has a shyster 
 lawyer coaching her on every move I" 
 
 Doctor Cable had listened in quiet amusement. 
 Now with a twinkle he put in, 
 
 "I guess you go to the movies, Ray." 
 
 "I don t have to. I run a garage." 
 
 "Well," said Uncle Phil, easily, "there s nothing 
 
MILLIONS 139 
 
 to be excited about, The whole control is still in 
 our hands." He turned to his niece. "The situa 
 tion is simply this. Here s a young emotional 
 actress who has played on Gordon s affections so 
 successfully that the money which might have been 
 spent in his home town for useful ends has been 
 lavished on her. How, as you say, is none of our 
 business. IVe nothing to say whatever against her 
 morals or her life. Still, it s a little too much to 
 expect us to help her now to rob you, Madge " 
 
 "I don t believe she means to!" 
 
 "I feel pretty sure she does, my dear, and that 
 we d better keep her out." 
 
 "I don t want to!" Madge replied. "Do you 
 mean to say," she demanded, "that she would go 
 in there with a will, when Gordon was dying, and 
 ask him to sign it?" 
 
 "That wouldn t be necessary," he said. He hesi 
 tated, and went on, "I got an old lawyer friend 
 of mine on the telephone this afternoon." Madge 
 gave him a sharp look of surprise, but he continued 
 smoothly, "I put a similar case to him and asked 
 what a shrewd attorney would advise such a woman 
 to do. And it appears the course is plain. Donata 
 causa mortis was, I believe, the term he used which 
 in plain English means that a dying man can convey 
 
140 MILLIONS 
 
 his property to another by a simple verbal state 
 ment of his desire to that effect in the presence 
 of a third party, of course, acting as a witness. 
 In this case^ it would be the nurse who is more than 
 friendly to Miss O Brien." 
 
 Madge stared at him. 
 
 "All right," she said, in a low voice. "If he 
 really wants to give her his money, what right have 
 we to interfere?" 
 
 "None whatever," he replied, "if Gordon really 
 wants to. But speaking as a physician now, I can 
 assure you, my dear girl, that if Gordon comes to, 
 before he dies, his mind will be blurred and his will 
 like a feather. How can we tell what he really 
 wants? He will not be himself at all. And yet 
 he may appear to be so that what he says may 
 easily be held valid in court. Is it right to let her 
 see him, then, and excite him to any such act in her 
 favor?" 
 
 "Oh, I don t know and I do so hate to have any 
 thing to do with this! It s so terribly hard to see 
 what s right!" she answered. But her tone had 
 weakened, and this her uncle was prompt to detect. 
 
 "Exactly. What is right?" he asked. "That s 
 what we all of us want to know. But we are Gor 
 don s family, Madge what right has this girl com- 
 
MILLIONS 141 
 
 pared to ours ? What need has she ? Think of your 
 Aunt Abby here, who mothered Gordon as a boy 
 what a little money would mean in her life." Dis 
 regarding Aunt Abby s murmur of protest, Uncle 
 Phil went steadily on: "Think of all the good you 
 could do in our town and in your own life in a 
 thousand ways. For it is no flattery to say that you 
 are just the sort of woman, able, smart and gen 
 erous, who would make splendid use of wealth. 
 Then think of this young actress, as you have seen 
 her here at night in silks, bedizened and perfumed. 
 It s easy to think how she would scatter Gordon s 
 money about town. But I don t want to think of 
 her, or of that side of Gordon s life. The boy is 
 dying. Let s be kind. And one thing seems so 
 clear to me. This is no time to have such a woman 
 here as one of the family." 
 Madge sat silent, trembling. 
 "Well?" he asked her. "What do you say?" 
 "Perhaps you re right. I want to think it over." 
 "You haven t much time, have you?" from Ray. 
 "She may be coming before long." 
 
 Madge glanced angrily at the clock and felt how 
 time was pushing her. The telephone rang. Ray 
 went, and came back. 
 
 "For you," he said. "It s that man, Evans." 
 
142 MILLIONS 
 
 "Oh." She went to the telephone; and listening 
 they heard her say, "Yes? . . . Oh, good evening 
 . . . The nurse says he s a little better to-night." 
 Her voice was cold. "Yes so am I. ... No, 
 thank you, Mr. Evans, there s nothing whatever you 
 can do." She hung up the receiver. The sound of 
 Joe s voice had brought sharply back that wave of 
 anger and disgust at the thought of the life he and 
 Gordon had led. She came back into the living 
 room. 
 
 "Is he coming to-night?" Aunt Abby asked. 
 
 "I don t think so," Madge replied. 
 
 "He may, you know, with his friend, Miss 
 O Brien." 
 
 Madge gave her an impatient glance. 
 
 "He won t do that, Aunt Abby." And turning 
 to Doctor Cable, she said, "I quite agree with you, 
 Uncle Phil I mean, I do for the present at least. 
 Gordon may get much better soon we all of us hope 
 and pray that he will. And then we can follow his 
 wishes here. But so long as he is unconscious now, 
 I don t see why we should let this girl come in and 
 order us all about, as though she owned him body 
 and soul, and we were just dirt beneath her feet." 
 
 "Good," said her uncle. "Then that s settled." 
 
 He patted her shoulder approvingly, and with an 
 

 MILLIONS 143 
 
 expression of relief picked up an evening paper and 
 sank back into a chair. 
 
 "That s so sensible, my dear," said Aunt Abby, 
 gently. 
 
 "You bet it is," put in her son. He had picked 
 up a paper, too; and his mother took her knitting, 
 and presently Madge did the same. For a long 
 time a grim quiet prevailed broken only by the 
 sound of a crumpled newspaper page or by the noise 
 from the street below. 
 
 Madge was still quivering a bit. As she bent over 
 her needle, her thoughts went back to Sunday eve 
 ning, when she had been here alone. How far 
 behind her it seemed now ! Looking restlessly up 
 from her work, her glance was caught by the face 
 of her aunt relaxing for a moment but then tighten 
 ing again. How plain her birthmark showed to 
 night. Yes, now the crisis must be near! Thank 
 goodness f 
 
 Doctor Cable got up and went out, and she knew 
 he had gone to her brother s room. He came back, 
 sat down and lit a cigar. She could see his hand 
 tremble slightly. Ray glanced from his paper up 
 at the clock. It was almost eleven now. Soon that 
 wretched girl would be here ! Madge dreaded her 
 coming and the thought of how they were to handle 
 
144 MILLIONS 
 
 her. But the composed, steady face of her uncle 
 seemed to say, 
 
 "Leave this to me. It will be done quietly no 
 fuss and feathers. I ll give her no chance to make 
 
 a scene." 
 
 And the whole group gave an appearance like 
 that grim and quiet, practical, determined there 
 should be no fuss, no noisy melodrama here. 
 
 4 
 
 When at last the bell was heard to ring, nobody 
 moved but Uncle Phil. 
 
 "I ll go," he said, and went out to the door. The 
 next moment they heard her voice in the hall : 
 
 "Good evening! I understand he is better!" 
 
 "No," he replied, "there is no marked change." 
 
 "But I don t understand how that can be!"" 
 Leonora exclaimed, as she came in. "Good eve 
 ning!" she said to the others. "Good evening, Miss 
 O Brien," said Madge, but the girl turned back on 
 Doctor Cable, and went on excitedly, "The nurse 
 telephoned me he was better to-night!" 
 
 "Did she? I don t agree with her." His voice 
 had a slightly ominous ring. "She seems to be quite 
 a friend of yours." 
 
 "I ll go and talk to her myself!" 
 
MILLIONS 145 
 
 But as she started, he stood in her way. 
 
 "I don t think you had better see Gordon to 
 night." 
 
 A sudden silence. 
 
 " Why not, may I ask?" 
 
 "Simply, my dear young woman, because I m a 
 physician and I do not deem it wise." 
 
 u But you can t keep me out like that! You re 
 not the physician in charge of this case !" 
 
 And she turned indignantly to Madge. But before 
 the latter could answer, Doctor Cable held up his 
 hand. 
 
 "I m Gordon s uncle," he replied, "and so far as 
 you are concerned, I represent his family here." 
 
 "His family? What do you mean by that? 
 You re strangers every one of you! You mean 
 nothing to him, one way or the other! I tell you 
 that I shall insist on seeing him at once, if you 
 please!" 
 
 "I m afraid that is impossible." Uncle Phil s 
 voice was still steady and low. "Now don t let us 
 have any scene about this. We don t want to be 
 unreasonable, but there is one point to be made very 
 plain. Before you can keep coming here, giving 
 orders as though you owned this man, you will have 
 to show us good reason why." 
 
146 MILLIONS 
 
 Leonora s dark face went suddenly pale, her big 
 black eyes grew furious, and with quivering lips she 
 asked, 
 
 "What right have you to " 
 
 He cut in : "We have the only possible right. My 
 nephew is at the point of death, and we are his next 
 of kin that is, we are, so far as we know. If you 
 have anything to tell us of any marriage or promise 
 of marriage " 
 
 "I ll tell you nothing of the kind! All that is 
 necessary for you to know is that Gordon cares for 
 me, that he wants me here, that he doesn t want 
 you!" 
 
 "How do we know that? He is uncon 
 
 scious." 
 
 "Has he been unconscious all these years? Has 
 he ever shown he wanted you? Or even you?" she 
 cried to Madge. Madge grew rigid, set her teeth. 
 In a low, hard voice she said, 
 
 "Oh, how stupid you are to talk like this!" 
 
 "Phil," said Aunt Abby, sharply, "I think that 
 we have heard enough!" 
 
 "Oh, have you?" Leonora cried. As she turned 
 to Mrs. Dwight, her voice was loud and shaking. 
 "We ll see about that!" 
 
 "Very well, young woman, we ll see about that 
 
MILLIONS 147 
 
 if you must have it so," said Uncle Phil. "Will you 
 take a seat?" 
 
 "No, thank you ! Where is the telephone ?" 
 
 "What do you want the telephone for?" inquired 
 Ray, with irony. "Want to get your lawyer here?" 
 
 "No I W ant Joe Evans ! He ll make it perfectly 
 plain, I think, that Gordon wants me wants me 
 here!" 
 
 "I m afraid he couldn t, Miss O Brien," Doctor 
 Cable answered. "He could only tell us what Gor 
 don wanted a week ago when he was on the crest 
 of the wave and that is quite another thing. The 
 question we have to decide is this : Would he want 
 to see you now, when he is at the point of death? 
 Mr. Evans is his business partner nothing more. 
 We are Gordon s family and any decision of this 
 kind rests entirely in our hands." 
 
 "It does, does it? We ll see about that!" But 
 she said it this time mechanically; and as she stood 
 trembling there, her face showed a dawning realiza 
 tion of the power of this group so grim and silent, 
 watching her. Uncle Phil went smoothly on: 
 
 "I ve no doubt that Mr. Evans is well versed in 
 Gordon s business affairs, and even in his recent 
 life. But this is a moment which concerns not only 
 my nephew s last few years but his entire existence, 
 
148 MILLIONS 
 
 from the time when he was a boy when we all 
 knew him intimately. Habits and moral standards 
 formed at home in those early days have a way of 
 coming back to a man when he lies so close to death. 
 I know, for I was a physician for years. In the full 
 tide of his career a young man will want one thing 
 but suddenly facing eternity he will want another. 
 This is a moment of that kind and neither a busi 
 ness partner, nor even a young companion so allur 
 ing as yourself, can judge of his wishes at such a 
 time. That is for his family." 
 
 She stared at him. 
 
 "Now," he said, "don t you think you had better 
 be saying good-night?" 
 
 "No no I don t think that " 
 
 Suddenly she burst into tears and dropped into 
 a chair, with her face in her hands. Madge was 
 standing close to Ray, and she heard him say in 
 disgust to his mother, 
 
 "Now for some regular movie stuff I" 
 
 An angry flush came on Madge s face. Confused, 
 ashamed and excited, she went quickly to the girl, 
 and in a voice hard with strain she said, 
 
 "Now will you please, please make an effort to 
 to face this quietly! I know it isn t easy but all 
 we ask is to have it made clear! If you and my 
 
MILLIONS 149 
 
 brother cared for each other if you can really 
 make us feel that he cares for you more than any 
 one else " 
 
 "Oh, he does he does he does !" 
 
 "But in what way?" asked Uncle Phil sternly, 
 again taking matters into his hands. "You don t 
 claim to be his wife, nor even that you are engaged 
 to him. And yet we find that on not one but a 
 number of occasions you have let him take you to 
 little out-of-the-way hotels, where you registered 
 as man and wife!" 
 
 Leonora sprang up with a furious cry; but before 
 she could answer, Ray cut in : 
 
 "How about the eighth of October Sunday 
 night at the B Hotel? I guess you know the 
 place I mean I" And sharply he named several more, 
 reading them off from the back of an envelope, on 
 which places and dates were scrawled. She looked 
 at him with blazing eyes; but she let him go on, and 
 she seemed to Madge to be making a desperate effort 
 to think of something she could do. At the end, 
 with a smile of disdain, she said, 
 
 "Oh, what s the use of trying to make such people 
 understand?" 
 
 "Such people indeed!" Aunt Abby cried. "Now, 
 Miss O Brien, you d better go! This solemn hour 
 
150 MILLIONS 
 
 is no time for a woman like yourself to be here I 
 If my poor misguided nephew ever wanted you at 
 all it was like like " 
 
 " a cocktail," Ray added. And that finished 
 her. With a last glare at them, she cried, 
 
 "If he lives, you people will pay for this!" And 
 then she made quickly for the door. As Uncle Phil 
 followed her, he replied, 
 
 "We re quite ready to pay anything so long as 
 we know we are doing what seems to us to be wise 
 and right." 
 
 The next moment the door slammed in the hall, 
 and coming back into the room, he said, "Well, that s 
 
 done " with a breath of relief. There was a 
 
 brief silence. 
 
 "Do you suppose she ll make any other move?" 
 asked Mrs. Dwight, uneasily. 
 
 "No, I don t think so," he replied. 
 
 "There ain t a thing she can do," said Ray. 
 "You managed that mighty well, Uncle Phil." And 
 the expression in Ray s face said, "Pretty good for 
 an old fogy." 
 
 In a moment Madge asked, in a low voice, 
 
 "I wonder if by any chance he did really mean 
 to marry her?" 
 
 "Marry her? No," said Uncle Phil; and with a 
 
MILLIONS 151 
 
 patient look he asked, "Don t you think we have had 
 discussion enough?" 
 
 "Seems kind of rough on poor old G.," said Ray, 
 in a reproachful tone, "to be talking all this about 
 him just now washing his dirty linen " 
 
 "Quite right, Ray," his mother agreed. "And I 
 for one am glad to be done with it and to forget. 
 Besides, I think we re all of us pretty thoroughly 
 tired out." 
 
 "Yes, Auntie, and I m going to bed," said Madge, 
 in a voice of weariness. 
 
 "That s wise, my dear child," her uncle approved, 
 "try to get what rest you can. I m not sleepy my 
 self you can count on me. I ll be sitting up still 
 for an hour or two, in case there is any need of my 
 help. And I know we can depend on the nurse." 
 
 "Can we?" Ray asked, quickly. "How about her 
 phoning the flapper to-night that Gordon was bet 
 ter? Don t that look as though she were in her 
 pay?" 
 
 "Ray," replied his uncle, with a quizzical look 
 en his face, "your garage philosophy has done very 
 well to-day, but don t let s have any more of it now. 
 Let Madge and your mother go to bed." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 i 
 
 LONG after she had retired Madge lay staring 
 at the light which struck from the city far beneath 
 up to the ceiling over her head. "Should I have 
 let them keep her out?" How cheap it had been 
 disgusting! But was it her uncle s fault? Hadn t 
 he tried his best to avoid it? Wasn t Leonora 
 the one who had insisted on making a scene? Her 
 mind went back to Ray s revelations. "And she 
 didn t deny it! It s true!" If anyone had called 
 her a prude, Madge would have been at once in 
 dignant; she thought herself very liberal-minded. 
 But this sort of thing, at a time like this well, it 
 was just plain disgusting! 
 
 "If they had ever meant to get married, she cer 
 tainly would have told us so !" 
 
 With cold dislike she forced her mind back over 
 the last two days and nights. "No, we ve done 
 our level best; we ve left nothing undone to keep 
 him alive. And as for this girl, what good could 
 
 she do him? He s unconscious, isn t he?" 
 
 152 
 

 MILLIONS 153 
 
 With a restless breath, she got out of bed and 
 went to the window. There for some moments star 
 ing down, she grew quieter, and she told herself she 
 was sick and tired of it all. Far below her to the 
 west, the broad river lay white beneath the moon; 
 and she pictured it that evening several hundred 
 miles to the northward, flowing smoothly by the old 
 house where she had lived and played with Gordon 
 long ago. 
 
 But suddenly Ray s words came back: "Wild 
 doings right in this apartment!" And she stiffened 
 at the thought. "Oh, for the goodness sake forget 
 it leave it alone !" But in spite of herself the 
 memories rose, confused and warm, of certain 
 thoughts and dreams she d had about Joe Evans and 
 herself. It had all begun so cleanly! On the desk 
 close by her side, she could dimly see the envelope 
 containing those two tickets to the opera for Thurs 
 day night. She remembered to have thought how 
 nice it would be to go with him. They both loved 
 music. She recalled those weird little prairie lulla 
 bies, and then what he had told her of the music 
 he d heard with Gordon here. "Yes, but he said 
 nothing," she thought, "of those night rides in Gor 
 don s car with a crowd of girls from the theatre ! 
 I wonder how often he went along? They came back 
 
154 MILLIONS 
 
 here for supper, no doubt ! Champagne and all the 
 rest of it !" In an instant she got the picture from 
 a movie she had seen. Oh, how cheap, how cheap 
 it was I 
 
 At last she turned away from the window, stiff 
 and aching with fatigue. 
 
 "How I hate it all. Oh, I m done with it! . . . 
 I think now that I can sleep." 
 
 She awakened later with a start, and saw Miss 
 Field, the night nurse, standing close beside her. 
 "Sh-h-h I" 
 
 "What s the matter? Is he worse?" 
 "No I think he s better. I wish you d come, 
 Miss Cable." 
 
 "All right I ll be there in just a moment!" 
 When she came into the cool dim room, at first 
 he seemed to her as before a long white form 
 upon the bed, lifeless, shadowy, unreal. But as 
 she drew near she stopped abruptly. Yes, his face 
 was certainly changed! No longer grey and dead, 
 but alive ! There was a faint flush of fever there, 
 and she could see that the muscles were set in a 
 frown of strange absorption. In pain? Yes, he 
 was suffering. Cautiously she came still closer and 
 
MILLIONS 155 
 
 sat down at one side of the bed. The nurse was on 
 the other. Then in a moment he opened his eyes, 
 stared up at the ceiling and Madge drew back in 
 her low chair, holding her breath and hoping, hop 
 ing that he would not notice her. All at once she 
 was an intruder here; for in a twinkling the boy, 
 whose image for two days and nights his family had 
 been building, was gone, and in his place was the 
 stranger who had neglected them the city man, the 
 millionaire. 
 
 Still he did not notice her. Plainly he was ab 
 sorbed in a struggle. "He s trying to think," she 
 told herself. " Where am I? he is asking." A 
 faint smile came on his lips and a twinkle into his 
 eyes, as though they saw something incongruous. 
 
 "Don t be a damned fool, Joe," he whispered. 
 "I m too heavy. Let me down. Quit being a hero 
 and give me a Camel." 
 
 Madge grew rigid, held her breath. In a flash 
 she remembered what Joe had said about helping 
 Gordon when he was wounded; and she had a pic 
 ture now of Joe under fire staggering back, with 
 Gordon over his shoulders. A lump rose in her 
 throat, and she felt a rush of mingled pity and relief. 
 Now she knew that all along she had been hoping 
 and praying for this that Gordon might come back 
 
156 MILLIONS 
 
 to life. And yet it was so different! She had 
 pictured him opening his eyes, clear and conscious, 
 out of danger. All would be over; she would go 
 home. But now she saw him suffering, weak, 
 fevered and delirious! Out of danger yet? Oh, 
 no ! 
 
 She sat watching his slight restless moves or 
 rather, his attempts to move as his mind slowly 
 groped its way through the maze of fevered thoughts 
 back to his grim position here. He turned his head 
 toward the nurse. 
 
 "Did you send that message?" he asked. His 
 voice was weak and thick and low. 
 
 "Yes, I telephoned," she replied. 
 
 "What did she say?" 
 
 "She wasn t at home." 
 
 He seemed to wince. He shut his eyes. 
 
 "What time is it?" 
 
 "Never mind now you must try to sleep." 
 
 She put a cold compress over his temples. He 
 relaxed, and soon he was asleep. Miss Field went 
 to the window. Presently Madge joined her there, 
 and in a low voice inquired, 
 
 "Who was it that he asked for?" 
 
 "Miss O Brien." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
MILLIONS 157 
 
 "And did you telephone her?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Then why did you tell him you did?" asked 
 Madge, with a slight note of impatience. 
 
 "I didn t dare to refuse him," was the steady an 
 swer. "By telling him that, I got him asleep." 
 
 "Yes, but he ll waken, and ask again 1" 
 
 The nurse looked at her quietly. 
 
 "Then that will be for you to decide." 
 
 Madge frowned. Miss Field went softly on, as 
 she entered a note upon the chart: 
 
 "He asked if she had been here to-night. I said, 
 no. Then send her word, he told me, and ask 
 her please to come at once. 
 
 "I see," said Madge. She wondered whether 
 the nurse had heard them keeping Leonora out. 
 Yes, she must have. The voice of the young ac 
 tress had risen so loud every word she spoke must 
 have carried right into this room! With a sicken 
 ing cold sensation, Madge went slowly back to the 
 bed. The words of the nurse recurred to her: 
 "Then that will be for you to decide." But she 
 could not do it now. Her mind felt numb and 
 heavy. She sat there as though under a spell, with 
 her eyes fixed on her brother s face. 
 
 He slept and wakened, engrossed in his pain and 
 
158 MILLIONS 
 
 in his impatient efforts to think now conscious, 
 now delirious. 
 
 "Oh, tell em to go to the devil, Joe let em sue 
 us if they like! I guess we can stand it!" And on 
 he went into business details which to her were 
 quite unintelligible. But later he asked, sharp and 
 clear, 
 
 "Has Mr. Evans been here to-night?" 
 
 "No," said the nurse. 
 
 "Why the devil not? He lives here with me! 
 Understand? He must be here! He wouldn t run 
 off, at a time like this!" 
 
 "He had to go out." 
 
 "I must see him at once!" 
 
 "He ll be back soon. Please try to sleep. You 
 must, you know." 
 
 Gradually he relaxed again. When he was 
 asleep, Miss Field looked up at Madge and said, 
 
 "He has done that several times before. He 
 keeps asking for them both Mr. Evans Miss 
 O Brien. It s hard to know just what to do." As 
 she looked away, Madge felt her thinking, "He 
 didn t ask for any of you." 
 
 She kept watching his pulse and his respiration. 
 After a time, she gave an injection; and at the look 
 in her face, Madge asked, 
 
MILLIONS 159 
 
 "What was that?" 
 
 "A stimulant." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "His heart is getting pretty bad." 
 
 "Hadn t I better waken my uncle?" 
 
 "No!" came the low, sharp reply. Then, in a 
 nore careful tone: "No, Miss Cable, there s no 
 iced of that." 
 
 Madge looked at her : 
 
 "Or Doctor Hoyt?" 
 
 She saw Miss Field s expression change. 
 
 "No not yet. But I wish you d stay here, please, 
 f there is any need, you can go to the phone. I 
 lon t want to leave him," Miss Field replied. She 
 poke in a quiet tone of command. How her man- 
 icr had changed since the night before! As 
 Vladge sank back into her chair, the feeling of 
 >eing a stranger here, and .a nobody, kept grow- 
 
 ng. 
 
 Again, in one of his restless spells, she heard 
 Gordon ask the nurse, 
 
 "Did you send her word?" 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Cable but it s nearly morning now." 
 
 "What if it is? That won t make any difference 
 not if she really understands ! Please go and call 
 icr up again, and explain that it is serious!" She 
 
160 MILLIONS 
 
 was silent a moment, and he asked, Did you hear 
 what I said?" 
 
 Then, as though to gain time, she remarked, 
 
 "Your sister is here, Mr. Cable." 
 
 Madge saw his features sharply contract. 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "Your sister." 
 
 He shut his eyes. In the silence, Madge sat with 
 her heart in her mouth. "Oh, Gordon, speak to 
 me, please!" she thought. But still he said noth 
 ing; and now, by the look on the face of the nurse, 
 she guessed that the woman was telling herself, "So 
 that s how much he cares for her. From the way 
 she has been acting, you might have thought they 
 were close as twins." Once more with a sickening 
 force she felt her false position here but now she 
 rebelled against it. "After all, I ve been doing my 
 best !" she thought. "Heaven knows I didn t plan all 
 this! They sent a telegram and I came! Did I 
 want to? No! What has he ever done for me? 
 To put me in a position like this !" In a flash her 
 mind went over the years of her brother s long neg 
 lect of her, and then came back to his obvious indif 
 ference to her presence now. "To be told I m here, 
 and not even speak!" Just for a moment she tried 
 to excuse him. "He doesn t know I m right by the 
 
MILLIONS l6f 
 
 bed he may think I m asleep in the other room." 
 But it would not do. "Even then, he might have 
 said something just one word to let her know that 
 he really cared to have me here!" She hated him! 
 She hated herself for all those castles-in-air she had 
 reared, as the great dream ship of fortune had come 
 sailing smoothly in. "You fool! You little ninny! 
 To have had your head so completely turned!" She 
 was quivering from head to foot; but feeling the 
 tears come hot in her eyes, fiercely she controlled 
 herself and forced her feelings down and down. 
 Back came the old mask of composure which had 
 served so well in the past in all those years when 
 she had been a nobody back there at home. Watch 
 ing the form on the bed, she thought, u And now, 
 as his life grows and grows, my own life will go 
 down again. Back to your corner, Madge 
 Cable." 
 
 Slowly a change came over her face. With a reso 
 lute breath she told herself, "Well, that s all right, 
 I ll be glad to go. But let me tell you that while 
 I m here I m not going to be in this false position! 
 Something simply must be done !" 
 
 She heard from the bed a sharp weak groan of 
 suffering and weariness. For a moment she forgot 
 herself, in a rush of compassion; but as he subsided 
 
162 MILLIONS 
 
 again and relaxed, she came back to her desperate 
 questioning: 
 
 "How can I get out of this? It s odious ! What 
 can I do? I can t leave him no, I ve got to stay! 
 And he ll ask for her again and again ! And I ve 
 got to decide it ! What shall I do ?" 
 
 As the night wore on, more and more she felt the 
 weight of responsibility which she must carry all 
 alone. She would not awaken her Uncle Phil; for 
 without admitting it to herself she knew that she 
 was against him now, and against her cousin and 
 her aunt. They were the ones to blame for this! 
 "I wouldn t have kept Leonora out, I wouldn t have 
 pried into her affairs! I d have left her alone 
 left it all alone ! It s Gordon s business and not 
 ours ! I ve said so from the very start !" And his 
 money, too (how she hated it now!) they had 
 gone after it like wolves! And how blindly and 
 how stupidly they had made it plain to everyone 
 Joe Evans, the surgeon, the nurses, and even to old 
 Abe himself that they wanted Gordon to die! 
 
 All this was swift, inarticulate, a chaos of feel 
 ings, nothing more. But out of it came one clear de 
 cision. "I won t call Uncle Phil," she thought, "I ll 
 get Doctor Hoyt instead give him full responsi 
 bility here!" 
 
MILLIONS 163 
 
 And so, when about five o clock the nurse gave 
 another injection, Madge rose quickly and said to 
 her, 
 
 "I think I ll call the doctor now." 
 
 "What? Which one?" 
 
 With a look of impatience, Madge replied, 
 
 "Hoyt, of course. He s in charge of this case." 
 
 "Well, perhaps that is best," said the other. 
 Madge went to the dopr, but then turned back. 
 
 "No I think you d better speak to him yourself. 
 In case he cannot come at once, there are details 
 he ll want to know and you can tell him. I ll stay 
 here." 
 
 And as soon as the nurse was out of the room, 
 Madge spoke to her brother. "I m not going to sit 
 here," she thought, "and not have him give any sign 
 that he wants me !" And so, leaning forward where 
 he could see her, she said to him in her low clear 
 voice, 
 
 "I m here, Gordon Madge your sister." She 
 waited a moment, and then went on: "Mr. Evans 
 sent for me and I came. It has been a hard pull, 
 hasn t it, dear but you re so much better now." 
 
 "Am I?" he asked, huskily. His feverish eyes 
 turned to her face, and he frowned as though try 
 ing to make her look real. 
 
1 64 MILLIONS 
 
 "Yes much better," she went on. "And if you ll 
 only do as I say, and rest, my dear, we ll soon have 
 you strong enough so that you can see your friends." 
 
 "Friends friends? 1 He was silent a while, ap 
 parently trying to clear his thoughts. Then he 
 opened his eyes and looked at her with a quick ap 
 pealing smile which sent her hostility flying away. 
 "Thanks for coming, Madgy. You re a brick." He 
 reached out his hand. "It s been a long time 
 hasn t it?" 
 
 "YeS " 
 
 "I m sorry! And I m glad you re here !" 
 
 She gave his hand a little squeeze, and answered 
 softly, "So am I. And I ll be here just as long as 
 you need me." She smiled at him. "But it won t 
 be long. You ll be well soon and I can go home." 
 In spite of herself, she added that; but he did not 
 seem to notice it. For a time there was silence. 
 Then he asked, 
 
 "Isn t Joe Evans staying here?" 
 
 "No there wasn t room, you see. But he comes 
 often," she replied. Again she saw his face con 
 tract. 
 
 "I ve got to see him pretty soon. There are some 
 things he ought to know." With a humorous twitch 
 of his lips, he added, "Poor devil, he must be 
 
MILLIONS 165 
 
 sweating blood. Tight place in our business. 
 See?" 
 
 "Then rest," she said, "so that you can talk to 
 him when he comes." 
 
 "Doctors think I will pull through?" 
 
 Again she pressed his hand and said, 
 
 "Of course they do! We all do!" 
 
 "All do? Who do you mean?" he asked, open 
 ing again his eyes. 
 
 "Now he s thinking of Leonora," thought Madge. 
 Aloud she said, "Oh, Mr. Evans, the nurses and I." 
 She did not speak of his relatives; for if he knew 
 that they were here, it would give him a scare, she 
 thought. Presently she heard him ask, 
 
 "Hasn t anyone else been here?" 
 
 "Yes a Miss O Brien," she said. 
 
 He waited a bit, and then inquired, 
 
 "Often?" 
 
 "Yes T 
 
 Again a pause. 
 
 "When did she happen to be here last?" His at 
 tempt at indifference was pathetic. 
 
 "Not long ago but you were unconscious." 
 
 "Oh I see." Once more there was silence. "And 
 Joe?" he asked. 
 
 "He ll be here soon. I told you that and you ve 
 
l66 MILLIONS 
 
 talked enough. Now you must try to sleep," she 
 
 said. 
 
 "All right, Madgy I ll do my best." 
 
 He smiled. His hand was still in hers, and soon 
 
 again he was sleeping.. 
 
 Long before this, she had heard the nurse come 
 
 back and stop, listening, at the door. And she was 
 
 glad that the woman had heard Gordon speak to 
 
 her like a sister. She felt better about her position 
 
 here. It was* not quite so odious. 
 
 3 
 
 "The doctor doesn t seem to think the danger is 
 immediate," said Miss Field, as she came in. u He 
 will be here about seven. Hadn t you better get 
 some rest? It may be a hard day for you." 
 
 "Thanks I will," Madge answered. 
 
 She went to her room and got back into bed; she 
 felt so very weary that nothing on earth could trou 
 ble her. "He s cpnscious now. That changes 
 things. After all, it s his affair, not mine. If he 
 wants that girl, he shall have her," she thought. And 
 very soon she was sound asleep. 
 
 But when roused at seven by the nurse, awake 
 in an instant and clear eyed, she asked, 
 
 "Is the doctor here?" 
 
MILLIONS 167 
 
 "Yes, Miss Cable." 
 
 Til be right in." 
 
 When she entered Gordon s room, the surgeon 
 was examining him. Intently watching Gordon s 
 face, he was gently moving and feeling his limbs, 
 looking for signs of paralysis. But there were none. 
 He turned with a smile. He and Madge had got on 
 well from the start. 
 
 "Your brother is coming on finely now," he said, 
 when they were in the hall. "I m glad we didn t 
 operate." 
 
 The relief was plain in Madge s eyes. 
 
 "You mean he s out of danger?" 
 
 "No, I can t say that," he replied. "He has 
 had a severe concussion he s very weak and in 
 terrible pain and that will make him weaker 
 still." 
 
 "Oh, can t you spare him that?" she asked. 
 
 "We ll do what we can, Miss Cable but with his 
 heart action as it is, depressants might be dangerous. 
 His heart is none too strong at best. He must have 
 been living pretty hard. However, I think we ll 
 get him through. If he lives another twenty-four 
 hours, I guess we can call him out of the woods. 
 What he needs above everything else is rest and 
 quiet," the surgeon said. 
 
l68 MILLIONS 
 
 When he had left, she turned back from the door 
 and met her uncle, in shirt and trousers. 
 
 "Who was that?" he asked her. 
 
 "Doctor Hoyt." 
 
 " Why didn t you call me?" 
 
 "I hadn t time. He was only here a few min^ 
 utes," she said. "Gordon is better, Uncle Phil." 
 
 "What?" he asked, in a startled tone. 
 
 She told him all she could remember of the de 
 tails she had learned from the surgeon. 
 
 "I ll see him myself," her uncle said. 
 
 "Yes, I wish you would," she replied. 
 
 He went into the sick room; and when he came 
 out, his expression was queer. 
 
 "He s not out of danger yet," he remarked, "but 
 there s no doubt about the fact that his chances are 
 immensely improved. Thank God, I was here to 
 keep that surgeon from breaking into his head with 
 a chisel." 
 
 "Yes," said Madge. Watching her uncle s face, 
 she was thinking, "No, he s not sorry that Gordon 
 is better but it changes things, that s all. He s got 
 to adjust all his thinking. That hospital is tumbling 
 down." Forgetting her own fine visions, she felt 
 compassion for him now. "And poor Aunt Abby 
 that lovely old house, and the chance to marry off 
 
MILLIONS 169 
 
 the girls. And Ray, and his auto factory. Well, 
 they ll have to get used to it." 
 
 Rather grimly she watched them take the news; 
 and breakfasting with them she recalled the dinner 
 last night, the dinner of dreams. It was different 
 now. On Ray, glum and silent, she spent not a 
 thought; but she pitied his mother. Aunt Abby 
 looked so troubled and anxious, plainly not know 
 ing where she stood. She could barely touch her 
 breakfast. 
 
 "Oh, I hope he does get through! I ve been 
 praying for him so hard !" she said. 
 
 And Madge thought, "Yes, and she means it, 
 too. And she has prayed all the harder because 
 she felt guilty over those dreams. And now what 
 a difference just think! Everything suddenly 
 melting away!" Her aunt all at once looked old 
 and haggard. "It s cruel it s hard it s terri 
 ble!" 
 
 But soon her thoughts took another turn, for she 
 began to notice a change in their attitude toward her 
 self. Already they were beginning to put her back 
 in her old position, as a person who didn t count. 
 She smiled at that. "I wish I were back," she told 
 herself. "But I m not. I m still the one to decide." 
 She remembered Leonora; and as she began to 
 
 
170 MILLIONS 
 
 speak of her, at once she could feel all three of 
 them rise in opposition again; and their manner to 
 Madge was altered now. The deference of the 
 night before was gone ; they tried to snub her. When 
 she said, "It s hard to know what is best," her uncle 
 replied, in the tone he had used with her when she 
 was a nobody, 
 
 "Now, look here hadn t you better leave this to 
 me? I was right about that operation. Suppose 
 you trust me once again? Gordon is half delirious 
 he s not himself he don t know what he wants. 
 There is no need whatever to let that young actress 
 into the room." 
 
 "Yes, but suppose he asks for her?" 
 
 "I thought we had decided all this!" her aunt 
 cut in. 
 
 Madge looked at Mrs. Dwight and said, 
 
 "When I did decide, Aunt Abby, Gordon was 
 still unconscious. I had no way of knowing his 
 wishes." 
 
 "You have none now!" said her cousin Ray. 
 "The man s half dippy with pain in his head ! How 
 can he know what he really wants?" 
 
 "That has nothing to do with it, Ray," Madge 
 retorted promptly. "The doctor says he must have 
 rest. And if he keeps asking for her worried be- 
 
MILLIONS 171 
 
 cause she doesn t come up will go his temperature 
 and he ll get worse. He may even die I" 
 
 She shot that out in a challenging tone. Ray s 
 mother instantly caught it and said, 
 
 "We don t want that! Do we, Madge?" 
 
 "No, Auntie," Madge answered, dropping her 
 voice and feeling wretched all at once. And seeing 
 the change, her Uncle Phil was prompt to take ad 
 vantage. He said, 
 
 "And to keep him alive, I ask again if you won t 
 trust my judgment, Madge?" 
 
 She threw a tortured look at him. 
 
 "What is your judgment, Uncle Phil?" 
 
 "That if Gordon is suffering so much, and worry 
 ing we quiet him. It s simple enough." 
 
 "Drug him, you mean. But when I asked Doc 
 tor Hoyt about that he said it might be dangerous. 
 We might even kill him if we did that!" 
 
 "That s true we might," was his steady reply. 
 "He is still in a very critical state just balancing 
 between life and death." Madge heard her aunt 
 draw a sharp little breath. "But the risk we take 
 by a drug," he went on, "is not half so great as 
 that we ll run if we let this young actress into the 
 room, and she acts as we have seen her act every 
 time she has been here." 
 
172 MILLIONS 
 
 "But she wouldn t !" Madge exclaimed. 
 
 "I disagree with you," he rejoined. 
 
 u So do I !" said Ray. 
 
 "And I !" said his mother. 
 
 Madge threw a hard glance at them all. How 
 their whole tone to her had changed! 
 
 Her uncle went on: 
 
 "There s no surprise in this to me. I told you 
 he d probably ask for her, if he came to his senses. 
 Sick men often ask for things which are bad for 
 them whiskey cigarettes. He s asking for his 
 mistress now. We might as well call her what she 
 is face facts as they are " 
 
 "All right, let s do it!" Madge rejoined. "What 
 facts have you got to make you sure she won t be per 
 fectly quiet in there? What possible reason could 
 she have for raising a rumpus as you suggest?" 
 
 "His money!" Ray replied. 
 
 Madge turned an angry look on him. 
 
 "Oh, I ve heard enough of that! We know he 
 did ask her to marry him once, and that she refused! 
 Does that look as though she were after his money?" 
 
 "What reason did Mr. Evans give for her re 
 fusal?" asked Uncle Phil. "The glamor and tinsel 
 of her career. She didn t care for Gordon enough 
 to give up the theatre !" A sniff from Aunt Abby. 
 
MILLIONS 173 
 
 "But she wouldn t have to now," he continued, 
 smoothly. "Once we let her into that room, she 
 might very easily work him up to make the state 
 ment which she needs. The excitement of it would 
 kill him, no doubt, but it wouldn t kill his bank ac 
 count. And so the young lady, on his death, could 
 have her career and the money, too." 
 
 "I don t believe it ! It s too absurd !" Madge said, 
 in a quivering voice. "How crazy we all are," she 
 thought, "to be talking and thinking and feeling like 
 this! What do we know of such affairs?" Aloud 
 she asked, "You mean to say she d go into his room 
 with a cold-blooded scheme like that?" 
 
 "Not at all," he answered promptly. "There s 
 nothing cold-blooded about this young woman she s 
 warm, she s a bundle of nerves and emotions ! She 
 wouldn t admit any plan to herself, she would just 
 let her feelings rise what she calls her love for him. 
 And so she d make a scene of it just as we ve seen 
 her do in this room, every time we let her in. And 
 Nature would soon do the rest for Gordon s life 
 hangs by a thread." He paused for a moment and 
 then said, with a recurrence in his voice of the old 
 authoritative note, "Now, Madge, you had better 
 leave this to me. If Gordon asks for this woman 
 again, or shows any signs of worry or pain, the only 
 
174 MILLIONS 
 
 kind and sensible course is to give him something to 
 quiet him." 
 
 "I can t, Uncle Phil I Not without Doctor Hoyt I" 
 
 He gave her an injured look and said, 
 
 "Very well if you feel that way." 
 
 Aunt Abby put in stiffly, 
 
 "I m sorry, Madge, that you don t feel you can 
 leave this in your uncle s hands !" 
 
 "Never mind that part of it," he said. "Madge 
 is trying to do her best. And so long as this fellow 
 Hoyt is in charge, I don t want to interfere unless 
 it is absolutely essential. So long as we keep this 
 woman out, and Gordon doesn t worry too much, 
 I think he s safe. I ll keep a close watch on him, 
 of course " 
 
 "Uncle Phil," Madge interrupted, "did Gordon 
 recognize you when you were in the room just now?" 
 
 "No, my dear, he was asleep." 
 
 "Then I think it might be a great mistake to let 
 him know you re here," she said, "or Aunt 
 Abby or Ray! You d better all keep out of the 
 room !" 
 
 "Well !" exclaimed Aunt Abby. 
 
 "Why?" inquired Uncle Phil. 
 
 "Don t you see? If he knows that the whole 
 family have come way down from Halesburg, of 
 
MILLIONS 175 
 
 course he ll think he s going to die! He mustn t 
 learn it !" she declared. 
 
 "Well, there may be something in that," Doctor 
 Cable answered. "And whenever I am in the room 
 I ll take care that he doesn t notice me. I ve changed 
 a great deal in the last few years, and in his present 
 feverish state I hardly think he d give me a thought. 
 But I ll keep out of sight, to make doubly sure." 
 
 4 
 
 Miss Cochran, the pretty young day nurse, ap 
 peared then in the doorway, with an inquisitive look 
 in her face. 
 
 "What is it?" Madge asked, with a gleam of an 
 noyance. 
 
 "Your brother wants to see you, Miss Cable." 
 
 "Very well, I ll come at once." 
 
 When she came again into Gordon s room, she 
 saw his gaze eagerly fixed on the door. He looked 
 feverish, and in his voice she caught a note of re 
 pressed excitement. 
 
 "Hello, Madgy. I feel a lot better now," he said, 
 as she came to the bedside. 
 
 "That s good." 
 
 As she took his hand, her brother gave her a queer 
 little look, awkward, friendly, questioning, as though 
 
176 MILLIONS 
 
 he were asking, "And how do you feel? What have 
 you been doing, all these years? What a damn 
 shame I ve neglected you so! Let s try to get to 
 gether, Sis." But it passed; and instead, he asked 
 her, 
 
 "Did you send that message ?" 
 
 She waited a moment. 
 
 "To whom?" she inquired. He hesitated. 
 
 "To Evans," he said. "I can t see why he doesn t 
 
 come." 
 
 "Why Gordon, he knows you re doing well," she 
 reassured him, quietly. "And he s horribly busy at 
 the office. He told me so." 
 
 "That s just it! The poor devil must be half 
 crazy down there ! We ve got some law-suits on our 
 hands, and there are some things he s got to know !" 
 With an effort to steady his voice, and a humorous 
 little smile, he said, "I went out of that automobile 
 so fast I didn t have time to tell him, you see. And 
 if I shouldn t happen to pull through " 
 
 "You re going to, Gordon!" 
 
 He shut his eyes. 
 
 "It s worse than you know," he muttered. She 
 took his hand, he held it tight then let it go, and 
 lay there. 
 
 "Anyone else been here?" he asked. 
 
MILLIONS 177 
 
 Again there was a silence. 
 
 "And have you telephoned to Joe?" 
 
 "Not yet " 
 
 "Then do it please at once ! If he knew that 
 I was conscious, he d be here on the double quick!" 
 
 "All right, I ll get him here," she said. "Now 
 try to rest before he comes." 
 
 He smiled at her, while he winced with pain. 
 
 "That isn t easy," he replied. 
 
 5 
 
 As Madge went out to the telephone, she heard 
 a key in the entrance door. "That s Joe now," she 
 told herself. She went and met him coming in. 
 
 "Gordon is better," she said, at once. "He has 
 come to, and he wants to see you." 
 
 At the look of immense relief which instantly 
 swept over his face, she forgot her cold hostility to 
 ward him on the night before. In the living room, 
 where he stopped to speak with her relatives, she 
 felt the contrast between his relief and the air of 
 troubled tension on the faces of the other three. 
 And she thought, "Thank God, here s somebody 
 who is just honestly happy about it !" She followed 
 him into Gordon s room; and as he stood by the 
 
178 MILLIONS 
 
 bed, tall and clumsy, looking down, she heard him 
 say in his soft Southern voice, 
 
 "Hello, Buddy, how goes it? Better now?" 
 
 "Hello, Joe." Out came Gordon s hand. At the 
 look and the smile that went with it, she felt a con 
 striction of her throat. "Are we alone?" she 
 heard Gordon ask, and she drew back out of the 
 room. 
 
 Five minutes later, she looked in again. Both 
 of them were smiling still, engrossed in each other; 
 and in a low voice her brother was talking rapidly. 
 She caught the words: "You tell the old pirate 
 that if his bank won t carry us over into next 
 
 week " And with relief she told herself, "So it 
 
 isn t only Leonora !" Aloud she said, 
 
 "I m afraid you ve talked all you ought to, 
 now " 
 
 "Oh, no, we haven t, we ve just begun!" her 
 brother replied. But his partner said, 
 
 "I reckon you re right, Miss Cable." 
 
 And a little later he came with her into the hall, 
 shutting the door behind him. There at once his 
 manner changed. 
 
 "Look here," he said, in an anxious tone, "I reckon 
 he s right worried because Miss O Brien hasn t been 
 here. He has sent for her twice, he tells me." And 
 
MILLIONS 179 
 
 when Madge did not reply at once, he asked, "Are 
 you sure you-all are doing the right thing to shut 
 her out?" 
 
 The thought leaped into Madge s mind: "He 
 knows about last night of course ! She must have 
 gone and told him !" Madge could see her doing 
 it routing him out of bed, of course, though it was 
 after midnight! Intimate pals! Back with a rush 
 came the picture of wild parties in these rooms. 
 And her voice had a caustic note, as she said, 
 
 "I m certainly trying to do the right thing " 
 
 "I know you are " still anxiously. "But you 
 
 don t know Gordon as I do or Leonora either." 
 
 "No, I don t suppose I do ! But I ve learned a 
 few things since you were here which make quite 
 a difference!" She waited just an instant. "She 
 told you about that, I presume last night, I 
 mean " 
 
 uxr > 
 
 "You didn t tell me she was that kind!" 
 "No I didn t tell you." He paused. "But when 
 
 you speak of her as that kind, you show you jest 
 
 don t understand." 
 
 "Don t I?" she retorted. And to herself she 
 
 added, "Now he s wondering how he can bring me 
 
 around. He s looking at me as a little old maid from 
 
180 MILLIONS 
 
 a small town, with narrow, stiff, old-fashioned views 
 about such things!" Aloud she said, 
 
 "I guess she didn t tell you how she acted here 
 last night !" 
 
 "Oh, I don t need to be told all that I know 
 Leonora pretty well !" 
 
 As he spoke, she caught an unmistakable gleam 
 of dislike in Joe s brown eyes; and instantly there 
 came a change in the whole expression of Madge s 
 face. She liked him so much better now ! 
 
 "But I don t jest see," he continued, "what dif 
 ference it makes to us what kind of a woman she may 
 be or what she does or how she acts. All we ve 
 got to think of is how we can pull Gordon through ! 
 This may be a matter of saving his life !" 
 
 She looked up. Her face was quivering. 
 
 "Yes, and I want to save his life ! I m doing the 
 best that I know how !" 
 
 "I know you are I know you are !" 
 
 "He s got to be let alone to rest!" 
 
 "But he won t he ll worry till she comes !" 
 
 "I know all that," retorted Madge, "but if I 
 let her in, how can I tell she won t launch into one 
 of those scenes of hers and stir him all up?" 
 
 "She won t do that!" 
 
 "How do you know? And even if she doesn t," 
 
MILLIONS l8l 
 
 said Madge, "the mere feeling of her hand in his 
 may have the same effect on him! There must be 
 certain memories that " 
 
 She broke off sharply, reddening; for she thought 
 she caught in his eyes a flash of amused impatience, 
 and that he was putting her down again as a little old 
 maid from the country. In a voice of cold dislike, 
 she said, 
 
 "I think you ll have to leave this to me. I m not 
 going to let her in not yet not if I can help my 
 self. But I ll watch my brother closely; and if there 
 is any change for the worse, I ll let you know." 
 
 When Joe had gone, and Madge came into the 
 living room, her Uncle Phil said approvingly, 
 
 "We couldn t well help hearing what young Evans 
 said to you, Madge. I m very glad you kept your 
 head." 
 
 She frowned at that. 
 
 "But he may be right. We may have to let her 
 come," she replied. 
 
 "Not if you keep your head, my dear, and keep 
 seeing clearly what s happening here." 
 
 "What is happening, Uncle Phil?" 
 
 Disregarding her impatience, he said, 
 
182 MILLIONS 
 
 "To begin with, this young lady is getting poor 
 Evans right under her thumb." 
 
 "She isn t! He dislikes her!" 
 
 "Does he? Still, he s playing her game. But 
 you ask me what is happening. The answer is quite 
 plain, I think. Gordon needs above everything else 
 rest and quiet. Is he getting that? First, the nurse 
 lets him talk and excite himself, and she runs out for 
 him to the phone. Then you come in, and the sur 
 geon comes, and then Evans all talking, all stirring 
 him up when what the boy needs is rest and sleep. 
 And one good shot in his left arm " 
 
 "I tell you Doctor Hoyt is against it!" 
 
 "And I tell you, Madge," Aunt Abby cut in, "that 
 I think you are making a grave mistake in not trust 
 ing to your Uncle Phil and letting this New York 
 surgeon go ! What does he care for Gordon? What 
 do the nurses care either one? All intruders 
 all outsiders ! Yet you let them all into the room 
 and then you let his partner in, to worry him with 
 business while you are keeping his own flesh and 
 blood, who really do care for the poor boy, sitting 
 out here like so many strangers!" 
 
 "I m sorry, Aunt Abby ! I gave you my reasons !" 
 
 Her aunt paid no attention to that. Her voice 
 was loud, unnatural: 
 
MILLIONS 183 
 
 "And under the pressure they re bringing to bear, 
 you are even considering letting poor Gordon, if he 
 dies, go straight up to his Maker out of a fancy 
 woman s arms! What we ought to have here is 
 a minister as I ve said more than once be 
 fore !" 
 
 a Yes," said Madge, "I know you have! Have 
 you found one yet, if we need him, Aunt Abby?" 
 
 "I have I can get him on the phone !" 
 
 Madge shivered. She was just on the point of 
 crying out, "And the undertaker, too! Have you 
 got him ready on the phone?" But she checked 
 herself with an effort. "No," she thought, "we re 
 not murdering Gordon. Every single one of us is do 
 ing what he thinks is right Oh, it s funny funny !" 
 And looking at her aunt, she thought, "What a strain 
 it is. How feeble she is. She ll have a sick turn 
 after this." 
 
 "Aunt Abby," she said, quietly, "we re all of us 
 doing the best we can. I m not going to let that 
 woman in not yet, at least and I m not disregard 
 ing your judgment here." 
 
 "But you are keeping me out of his room !" 
 
 "I won t do that. Come in if you like," Madge 
 said, in a voice of weariness. 
 
 Again she could feel them getting their way, over- 
 
184 MILLIONS 
 
 ruling her and forcing her back into her old place 
 in the family. 
 
 7 
 
 A few minutes later, with her aunt and uncle, she 
 stood by her brother s bed. 
 
 "Gordon," she said, as he opened his eyes, u here 
 are Aunt Abby and Uncle Phil. They both just hap 
 pened to be in town " 
 
 "And we heard of your accident, my boy," con 
 tinued smoothly Uncle Phil. "So we came right 
 around to see what we could do." 
 
 "That s good of you," he answered, in a low 
 voice, tense and strained. "Glad to see you, Uncle 
 Phil Aunt Abby, too." 
 
 He smiled at them ; but a queer expression had 
 come in his eyes half frightened. Aunt Abby no 
 ticed it; and at once, in a motherly way, she leaned 
 over and took his hand. 
 
 "I ve been praying for you, Gordon dear. Thank 
 God, you re so much better now 1" 
 
 "Ami? I don t feel so !" 
 
 "Oh yes, you are !" And she patted his hand. 
 "I ve been thinking, Gordon, of the time I nursed 
 you as a little boy and wishing I could do it now. 
 All last night, while I lay awake out there in the 
 other room " 
 
MILLIONS 185 
 
 "Oh. You were both here all night?" he cut in 
 softly. She gave a slight start. 
 
 "Yes, you were pretty sick, you know. But I 
 guess you don t need us any more. All you need is to 
 rest, my dear, keep perfectly quiet and get your 
 strength. So we mustn t stay here talking." 
 
 "Thank you, Aunt Abby, I m glad you came. But 
 it s funny that you and Uncle Phil both happened 
 to be in the city just now." 
 
 "Yes, wasn jt it lucky?" she replied. 
 
 As they went out, Madge glanced back and saw 
 that frightened look in his eyes. 
 
 "He wasn t fooled for a minute!" she thought. 
 "He knows they sent for the family I" 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 LUNCHEON was ready. As they sat down 
 Madge, Uncle Phil, Aunt Abby and Ray they were 
 silent. Then Aunt Abby asked, 
 
 "Isn t that young nurse coming to lunch?" 
 
 "No, she s afraid to leave him now. I ll take 
 something in to her," Madge replied. And the silence 
 settled as before, broken only by brief remarks. 
 Madge barely ate. She was torn between the appeal 
 of her brother and his friend and the grim vigilant 
 opposition of the three people sitting here. 
 
 "Suppose I do let her come," she thought, "and 
 she does excite him too much, and he dies and 
 somehow, by some tricks in the law, she gets his 
 money and robs us all? The family would call me 
 then a little sentimental dupe, a murderess! And 
 they would be right!" She compressed her lips. 
 How she had grown to hate this place ! Oh, to get 
 away from it home ! 
 
 All at once she noticed on the face of old black 
 Abe, who was serving her aunt, such a ludicrous 
 look of anxiety, that she almost laughed aloud. She 
 
 read his thoughts, for in the kitchen she had found 
 
 186 
 
MILLIONS 187 
 
 signs in plenty that Abe had been grafting busily for 
 months and months on food supplies. And his anx 
 ious look was not only for Gordon but for his own 
 easy berth and the pickings here. 
 
 Suddenly, as she scanned his face, she heard her 
 self describing it to Amanda Berry back at home, in 
 their small flat with the varnished stairs, and then 
 going on and on and on, giving Amanda every detail 
 of this whole queer week, from start to finish. Oh, 
 what a talk it was going to be ! The thought of it 
 broke her tension. Somehow or other she felt sure 
 that the whole affair would soon be like a dream left 
 far behind her. u The sooner, the better," she told 
 herself. "It has never seemed real not once it 
 hasn t !" She looked at her aunt, and pitied her. "It 
 has taken you, too, and twisted you all out of your 
 natural self," she thought. In a friendly tone she 
 remarked, 
 
 "It has seemed a long time, hasn t it, dear?" 
 
 "Yes, very long," was the low reply. 
 
 Then Ray spoke up, in an attempt to make things 
 nice and natural. 
 
 "Let s see, Mother when did you come?" He 
 began to reckon up the days. "Look here," he cried, 
 with a quick smile. "I ll bet you ve all forgotten 
 one thing. To-morrow is Thanksgiving Day." 
 
188 MILLIONS 
 
 "Thanksgiving Day I" For an instant, his mother 
 and all the rest of them seemed to stiffen in their 
 chairs. Then in a shaking voice she cried, "Let us 
 hope he ll be alive !" 
 
 The next moment she rose and went to her room; 
 and Ray gave a look at the others that said, 
 
 "Well, this bunch is getting to be a little too queer 
 and touchy for me !" 
 
 When Madge took some luncheon in to the nurse, 
 Miss Cochran made a sign to her that her brother 
 was awake. He lay staring up at the ceiling, en 
 grossed. When he caught sight of her, he smiled. 
 
 "Come here, Madge, pretty close," he said, "so 
 that I can talk to you." 
 
 With alarm she noticed that his voice, though ex 
 cited, did not sound so strong. As she sat down and 
 took his hand, she felt it hot. It held hers tight. 
 
 "Poor Gordy," she said softly. "You ll be so 
 much better very soon." 
 
 He frowned at that. 
 
 "Mighty decent of you to come way down here 
 after the kind of brother I ve been. But I guess we d 
 better face things as they are. Joe would never have 
 
MILLIONS 189 
 
 sent for you, and you wouldn t have got the whole, 
 family here, unless you knew " 
 
 She interrupted : 
 
 "Yes, you ve had a very close shave. But you re 
 almost out of danger now " 
 
 He shot a glance that went into her like a sudden 
 flash of light. Then he stared at the ceiling as be 
 fore. 
 
 "It doesn t feel so," he replied. In a moment he 
 continued, "Not that I m afraid of it. It s just 
 damned tough that s all it is! There was such a 
 lot I meant to do! Plans? Good God! . . . . 
 Well " 
 
 He smiled. She squeezed his hand slowly tighter 
 and said, 
 
 "Gordon, you re not going to die! All in the 
 world you need is rest!" 
 
 But he gave a little laugh at that. 
 
 "That s what you all keep telling me ! But it isn t 
 quite square to a fellow, is it to let him slip over 
 into the dark without giving him a chance to finish 
 up his business here? I d rather look it in the face! 
 I can stand the pain but what I can t stand so 
 easily is being forgotten!" 
 
 Madge caught her breath. 
 
 "Why Gordy," she asked him, "where in the world 
 
190 MILLIONS 
 
 did you get any such idea as that? Ever since I 
 came here I ve been answering the phone. Your 
 friends keep calling " 
 
 He broke in. 
 
 "Did you get their names?" 
 
 "Yes " 
 
 "Let s hear a few if you can remember." 
 
 "Oh yes." She began to give him some. When 
 she came to "Miss O Brien," he asked, 
 
 "When was that?" 
 
 "Yesterday." 
 
 He was silent, but she guessed he was thinking, 
 "I ve sent word to her twice since then! And she 
 knows I m dying !" After a little, she heard him say, 
 
 "Well, all right, so much for that. It s a gay 
 old town, this city is. Die, and you can die 
 alone." 
 
 Madge leaned over him suddenly. 
 
 "Gordon, is there anyone that you want me to 
 send for now? If you do, I ll get her !" 
 
 "No ! Leave her alone !" He lay looking up with 
 hard bitter eyes. "I m sick of her sick of every 
 thing!" 
 
 "You won t be, Gordon ! Just as soon as we can 
 get you well again " 
 
 He smiled at that and pressed her hand. 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 "I m glad you re here, Sis. Stay here, please. I m 
 afraid to go home alone in the dark." 
 
 As she sat rigid by his side, the tears came quickly 
 in her eyes. "I ve got to get her," she told herself. 
 "And when she comes she ll tell him, of course 
 tell him how we kept her out ! I don t care it can t 
 be helped! This is what comes of meddling 1" 
 
 She heard her brother s voice again : 
 
 "We ve got pretty far apart, you and I, since the 
 nights when we used to sneak down to the river. . . . 
 Remember the time that moonshiny night when 
 we ran away from home forever? 
 
 "Yes," she whispered. He went on: 
 
 "When we got into the boat, I asked, Now 
 what ll we do? And then you said, folding your 
 fat little hands, Live happy ever after, of course. 
 He chuckled. "But what I never told you was that 
 the rotten old painter almost broke. . . . Golly, 
 how I wanted to to cut the rope and float 
 away." 
 
 His hand relaxed; he shut his eyes. 
 
 "This won t do!" she told herself; and quickly, 
 in an eager voice, she spoke of other memories 
 things they had done in those early days; and of his 
 rapid rise since then. 
 
 "I ve been mighty proud of you, dear," she said, 
 
192 MILLIONS 
 
 "and I expect to be prouder still before you get 
 through I" 
 
 "Oh, it hasn t been much to be proud of " 
 
 But she went on in the same tone: "You re 
 lucky to have such a partner, too, as Mr. Evans 
 such a friend. He worships you, Gordon!" Her 
 brother smiled. 
 
 "We ve been through some tight places together," 
 he said. 
 
 "In France, you mean " 
 
 "Yes and here." 
 
 She could see his thoughts come back to his busi 
 ness. 
 
 "You ought to get away from it, Gordon just 
 drop business for a while and get away with Joe to 
 Texas live on horseback sleep out of doors." 
 
 "I m afraid we couldn t drop it like that. Money 
 is pretty tight, just now." 
 
 As he went on speaking of his affairs, his talk 
 grew unintelligible. Banks, business firms, the names 
 of ships and of government officials here and in 
 England all came in. His feverish mind grew in 
 coherent, on the border land of dreams. Again and 
 again she tried to leave him, so that he could go to 
 sleep; but he kept her there each time by a sharp 
 tightening of his hand, and went on with this mut- 
 
MILLIONS 193 
 
 tered picture of his life in these last years a life 
 lean, strenuous, grasping, hard; then suddenly eager, 
 boyish, kind. She would hear him chuckle to him 
 self over Joe and various things they had done 
 down at the office or up in these rooms or in the 
 army over in France. His thoughts for a moment 
 would leap over there, but back they would come to 
 his life in New York to his business worries to 
 Leonora. And each time he thought of her, his 
 mind would seem to grow clear again. All the 
 muttering would stop, and in the silence Madge could 
 feel his feverish will hold the girl s image up before 
 him, asking, "Why is it? What have I done?" 
 With a bitter little laugh or a word, back he would 
 go to his mutterings. 
 
 "Well," she thought, "this settles it. If he isn t 
 better by night, she must come ! Oh, what a rumpus 
 there will be!" 
 
 3 
 
 The autumn dusk crept into the room. On the 
 other side of the bed, the nurse would come from 
 time to time. Pulse, respiration, temperature. 
 About five, she made a sign to Madge and went to 
 the door; and when Madge followed her, she said, 
 
 "Better send for Doctor Hoyt." 
 
194 MILLIONS 
 
 As Madge went to the telephone, she caught an 
 inquiring look from her cousin. 
 
 "Any change in him?" asked Ray. 
 
 "Yes, he s worse. The nurse wants Doctor Hoyt 
 at once." 
 
 "Hadn t Phil better go to him, while you re get 
 ting the doctor?" Aunt Abby asked. 
 
 "Yes will you, Uncle?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear." 
 
 Their voices had all suddenly become so friendly 
 and so kind ! 
 
 At the telephone she found that Hoyt was not in 
 his office. With a pang of dismay she said, 
 
 "Then find him ! You must find him ! We ought 
 to have him here right off !" 
 
 On her way back to Gordon s room, her aunt 
 stopped her. 
 
 "Well? Is he coming?" 
 
 "They can t get him yet!" 
 
 "Oh. But now don t worry, child. It s lucky 
 your Uncle Phil is here. I strongly advise you to 
 trust him, Madge." 
 
 At the door of her brother s room, Madge made 
 a sign to Doctor Cable, and he came out to the 
 hall. 
 
 "What do you think?" she asked him. 
 
MILLIONS 195 
 
 His reply was sharp and stern : 
 
 "I think Gordon must be made to rest! This 
 endless talking and tossing about is criminal! It 
 can t go on ! His mind is working like an engine 
 burning up what little strength he has left! We 
 must put a stop to it!" 
 
 "Drug him?" 
 
 "Yes!" 
 
 Madge faced him a moment, with her hands 
 slowly locking, unlocking. Then she asked, 
 
 "If we don t, and he goes on like this, how long 
 will it be? Not not any minute?" 
 
 "Oh, no he s not as bad as that." 
 
 She drew a breath of relief and said, 
 
 "Then I ll wait for Doctor Hoyt." 
 
 "Very well, Madge," her uncle replied; but the 
 look which he gave her added, "You re taking Gor 
 don s life in your hands." 
 
 Mrs. Dwight, who had joined them and listened 
 intently, now spoke up. 
 
 "Madge," she said, in a solemn tone, "if you won t 
 do as your uncle advises, at least let me send for 
 Doctor McAndrews." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "That minister." Madge gave a start. "We 
 might as well face the truth, my dear. Gordon is 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 right on the very brink, and I doubt if he s been 
 
 to church in years." 
 
 "Not yet, Aunt Abby oh, not yet!" 
 And Madge went back to his bedside. 
 
 "Did you get him?" asked the nurse. 
 
 "No, but his office will do their best to find where 
 he is and send him here." 
 
 As Madge sat down, her eye was caught by a small 
 clock which belonged to the nurse and stood on the 
 table. And sitting there she kept looking at it im 
 patiently. Again she went to the telephone and 
 called the doctor s office. A voice replied, 
 
 "He s in an operation. He ll come to you as soon 
 as he s through and in the meantime he has left 
 some orders I m to give the nurse. Please ask her 
 to come to the phone." 
 
 "All right, I ll get her." 
 
 And she did. As the time dragged on, she 
 made up her mind to send for Leonora at once. Not 
 knowing where to reach her, she called up Evans at 
 his office. He was gone. She tried his hotel. He 
 was not there. "All right," she thought, "he ll be 
 here soon." But before he arrived, the doctor came. 
 
MILLIONS 197 
 
 With relief she heard his gruff voice in the hall. 
 u Now he will decide it!" she told herself. When 
 he came in, he lost no time. He stood watching 
 Gordon keenly a while, then took the chart to the 
 table and read it. He spoke an order to the nurse, 
 and she gave him a needle, which he filled and jabbed 
 into Gordon s arm. Presently Madge saw her 
 brother s eyes open and turn to the surgeon s face, 
 and she knew at once that his mind was clear. 
 
 "Are you the doctor here?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, my lad." 
 
 "Then I want to know how close I am to going 
 out. If I am, there s something I ve got to do 
 decide, I mean somebody I must see to settle 
 something it s bothering me" he said, with a fixed 
 unnatural smile. 
 
 Hoyt s reply was blunt and clear: 
 
 "I m betting on your pulling through. If you ll 
 obey orders and try to rest " 
 
 "I can t till I see her!" 
 
 "In that case, I think you d better see her, my 
 boy." 
 
 A few minutes later, with Madge in the hall, he 
 asked her, 
 
 "Do you know who it is your brother wants?" 
 
 "Yes " 
 
198 MILLIONS 
 
 "Then I d try to get her here, just as quickly as 
 you can." 
 
 Madge trembled. She was thinking fast. She 
 would not wait any longer for Joe. Leonora must 
 be at her theatre now, for it was after seven o clock 
 and she must need a lot of time to dress and make 
 up for her part. 
 
 "Is he as bad as that?" she asked. 
 
 "He s not very well ! He may die either way 
 but her coming here might double his chances," 
 Hoyt replied. "We can t let him go on exciting him 
 self. If we do " 
 
 "How soon would the crisis come?" 
 
 "It s here right now, Miss Cable," was his im 
 patient answer. But noticing the strain in her 
 eyes, he added in a kinder tone, "I don t mean he s 
 going to die in an hour I m thinking of the end of 
 the night. Your brother must get strength for that. 
 His mind must rest!" 
 
 "Good evening, Doctor," said Uncle Phil, who 
 had come out into the hall. 
 
 "Good evening, sir." 
 
 In voices which did not try to hide their keen dis 
 like for one another, the two men talked for a little 
 while, in questions and brief curt replies. 
 
 "I ve been advising Miss Cable," Hoyt ended, as 
 
MILLIONS 199 
 
 he picked up his coat from a chair, "to get a certain 
 young woman at once, whom your nephew has been 
 asking for. A pity she wasn t here before for un 
 til she comes I doubt if he ll rest." 
 
 "Do you know who she is or what she is?" 
 asked Uncle Phil. The other replied, 
 
 "That s none of my business, is it?" 
 
 "Hasn t she seen you to-day?" 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "This girl. Her name is O Brien." 
 
 The surgeon reddened a bit with annoyance. 
 
 "O Brien? Yes. She called me up." 
 
 "I thought so. And what did she say?" 
 
 "There s no need of going into all that. She 
 feels that you re keeping her out of his room. Very 
 well you may have good reasons that is none of 
 my affair. But Miss Cable has asked for my advice. 
 It is this. If you want to keep this man alive, give 
 him anyone he wants." 
 
 "You can see no other way out of this, Doctor?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "You refuse to give him a sedative?" 
 
 UT J 1> 
 
 "There I disagree with you." 
 Abruptly the surgeon turned to Madge. 
 "Then suppose I drop the case," he said. 
 
20O MILLIONS 
 
 "No, no ! I don t want you to do that !" She put 
 her hand quickly on his arm, and in a desperate voice 
 she repeated, "Don t do that!" 
 
 "Very well," he replied. "Then I ll be within 
 call. You can reach me any time to-night. But 
 I hope you will get that young woman here !" 
 
 "Madge," said her uncle, when Hoyt had gone 
 and she started for the telephone, "before you over 
 rule my opinion I want you to see this just as it is. 
 I don t want you to take a step that you ll be sorry 
 for all your life." 
 
 "Uncle Phil, please give it up !" she replied, in 
 a hard and tortured voice. "I m half crazy! But I 
 know the only thing that I can do is to take the very 
 best advice this city has to offer us and follow it! 
 That s all I can do !" 
 
 "Yes, if you re sure it s the best advice, and given 
 all on Gordon s account." 
 
 She shot a look at him. 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 "Did this man Hoyt ever let you know before 
 I forced it out of him that he was in touch with 
 this young actress?" 
 
 "No " 
 
MILLIONS 201 
 
 "Why didn t Jie? Why did he act as though he 
 had never heard of her?" 
 
 "Uncle Phil, are you trying to say that he is on 
 her payroll, too?" cried Madge. And to herself 
 she cried again, "Oh, we re all crazy crazy!" 
 
 "No," was his answer, "but I do mean that she 
 is just the kind of girl with looks and brains and 
 vivid charms who can get most men to do as she 
 likes. Now suppose she has this surgeon, too 
 suppose that without knowing it he has been influ 
 enced by this girl? She may have been seeing him 
 right along. I say, supposing this were true? Don t 
 his actions all fit in? Hasn t he been doing just 
 what she would want him to, from the start? First 
 he wanted to operate. Why? To save Gordon s 
 life? Quite possibly. I m not accusing him of a 
 crime. It s a very close decision we made, and a 
 surgeon could easily lean a bit to one side or the 
 other. But the point I m making is that he leaned 
 the way she wanted him to !" 
 
 "How do you know she wanted it?" 
 
 "Don t you remember Monday night how 
 strong she was for an operation?" 
 
 "Why, then, why?" 
 
 "Because that gave her the best chance of bring 
 ing him back to consciousness ! And now she wants 
 
2O2 MILLIONS 
 
 the same thing again and this fellow Hoyt agrees 
 again! Don t drug him keep him conscious no 
 matter how much he suffers! Why? So that she 
 can see him show him her love for him, she would 
 say and by showing that love and arousing his, be 
 fore the nurse as witness, get the declaration she 
 needs for a big scene in the probate court!" 
 He stopped, and at once Aunt Abby asked Madge, 
 "Well? Isn t it all as clear as day?" 
 "No not as day," Madge answered. "I don t 
 feel at all like that ! I feel as though I were sitting 
 at the movies in the dark!" 
 
 Ray gave a cough of warning then, and Madge 
 saw old Abe at the door, his dark face wrinkled tight 
 with his effort to learn how things were going now. 
 "Is supper ready, Abe?" she asked. 
 "Yes m yes m, Miss Cable !" he said, with a 
 quick appealing smile. "So it s got him, too !" she 
 told herself. "He looks as though he had one foot 
 in the grave, and the other in red hot coals !" 
 
 6 
 
 The door bell rang, and she turned with a start. 
 Ray leaned back in his chair and said, 
 
 "Well, there s our little actress friend. I thought 
 it was about time for a scene." 
 
MILLIONS 203 
 
 But as they looked toward the hall, Madge com 
 manded sternly, 
 
 "Will you please leave this to me and go in to 
 supper all of you?" 
 
 For a moment, as she faced them, once more she 
 felt her power come back. 
 
 "Very well, Madge just as you say," agreed 
 Aunt Abby, gently. 
 
 As she went to the door, Madge thought, 
 "Thank Heaven, she did come!" But she was 
 wrong. When she opened the door, she found Joe 
 there. 
 
 "Sorry I had to ring," he began. "I left my keys 
 at the office." Then he saw her expression, and 
 asked, "What has happened, Miss Cable? He isn t 
 dead!" 
 
 "No he isn t dead," she said. "Come in here 
 and I ll tell you." 
 
 They went into the living room, and in a low voice 
 she gave him the facts. 
 
 "Now," she ended, "I don t propose to have any 
 more delay about this. If she s coming, she must 
 come to-night!" 
 
 "Good! That s fine!" 
 
 "But I want to talk to her first !" 
 
 "Why?" he asked. "There isn t much time " 
 
204 MILLIONS 
 
 "Yes, there is we ve got hours yet! Hours!" 
 she repeated as though to reassure herself. 
 
 "But " 
 
 "Are you deciding this or am I?" 
 
 Again catching the look in her eyes, he said to 
 her, in a steadying tone, 
 
 "Forgive me, Miss Cable please go on." 
 
 But she was not to be quieted. 
 
 "There s very little more to say! I m sick of 
 this place I want to be through! To do what s 
 right and then get away!" 
 
 She stopped, with a slight sob in her throat. 
 
 "I understand," he answered, still in that low 
 steady voice. "And now you want to see her, you 
 say." 
 
 "Yes, I do! I ve got to see that girl as she is! 
 I v % e got to be sure she won t stir him all up ! From 
 all I ve seen of her and heard, she s just the cheap 
 emotional kind to do it have a love scene a good 
 big one and excite him so, that he ll be worse than 
 he is now!" 
 
 One moment more Joe watched her. 
 
 "Well," he answered softly, "I reckon that will 
 be all right. If you want to see her as she is, why 
 not see her at her job? Better come right now to 
 the theatre." 
 
MILLIONS 205 
 
 "All right!" 
 
 She went at once into the hall and opened the door 
 onto the landing. He followed her. 
 
 "Don t you want a wrap? 1 
 
 "No!" she exclaimed. "I haven t time! Come 
 quick, or they ll all make a fuss ! They heard us 
 talking, you may be sure! And I can t stand more 
 arguing!" 
 
 She drew him out and shut the door, and then 
 in a panic she started downstairs. No time to wait 
 for the elevator ! Down and down, flight after flight. 
 Would they never end ? She gave a breathless laugh. 
 "There it is! Stop it!" From above, the ele 
 vator came smoothly down. Joe called, and it 
 stopped and they got in. And a few moments later, 
 down on the street, he hailed a taxi and helped her 
 inside. 
 
 He was talking now, but she did not hear. .Al 
 ready she was a little scared by what she had done 
 and hysterical. Her thoughts and feelings played 
 queer tricks. Suddenly the certainty came that her 
 Uncle Phil was right about this ! He had been right 
 from the very start! Right about the operation 
 and in this drugging plan of his! "It s sensible! 
 And I m throwing it over! I ll be to blame if Gor 
 don dies!" She clenched her hands but the next 
 
206 MILLIONS 
 
 instant all this certainty was gone. "I tell you it s 
 all nonsense! I m following the best advice and 
 judgment I can get in New York for love or money P* 
 She stopped with a jerk. Love or Money? Why 
 was that phrase so queerly familiar? Oh, yes she 
 remembered now. The title of a moving picture she 
 and Amanda Berry had seen, only a few weeks ago. 
 With a grim, excited smile, back she came to the 
 question here. "I haven t decided yet," she thought. 
 "I ll see her and then make up my mindP 
 
 Then she felt Joe s hand on hers, and instantly a 
 feeling came which made her angry, tense and cold. 
 As she snatched her hand away, he said, speaking 
 slowly and quietly, 
 
 "I jest knew that I could count on you. I reckon 
 youVe had a right hard time but you re doing jest 
 the right thing now and we ll never forget it, Gordy 
 and I." 
 
 She made no response. As he talked on, about 
 Gordon s chances and how this would pull him 
 through, that sudden poignant feeling left her. 
 "He s not thinking of me," she decided, "but of Gor 
 don and of her. I m only a little old maid who can 
 help, and then go back where I belong." But at 
 once she almost laughed aloud with contempt for 
 this self-pity of hers. "Isn t that exactly what I 
 
MILLIONS 207 
 
 want to get right out of this, good and quick? 
 And I m doing it!" Just for a minute her mind ran 
 back over those dreams for a grand new life. Once 
 more, like the shadow of a thought, came the feeling 
 that as her brother s life flowed in again, her own 
 was ebbing. And she smiled. 
 
 "They re almost through with me now. And 
 yet and yet I m still the one who has got to decide I 
 It s funny !" 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 i 
 
 As they drew near the theatre in the dense eve 
 ning traffic, and she saw Leonora s name in spark 
 ling lights up over the entrance, a little feeling of 
 panic came. In the lobby, while Joe was getting the 
 tickets, some women in furs and evening gowns stood 
 close beside her, talking and laughing; and instantly 
 Madge was conscious of her own appearance here 
 in a street suit, and bareheaded. "I don t care," 
 she told herself. "Why should I, at a time like 
 this?" But it wasn t just a matter of clothes; it 
 was deeper. All her visions of a grand new life had 
 flown away, and she felt her confidence oozing fast; 
 she dreaded what she must do to-night. To hide 
 her confusion, over her face came the mask of com 
 posure it had worn in the nobody days; and all at 
 once she was again the prim little woman of Sunday 
 night, who had walked through the Grand Central 
 carrying a suit case. 
 
 When they took their seats inside, the curtain was 
 
 already up, and at once her eyes were fixed on the 
 
 208 
 
MILLIONS 209 
 
 stage. She saw a Florida beach, with palmettos, 
 and a vivid blue ocean behind. Leonora, in a group 
 at tea, was flirting with a heavy young man who 
 appeared to be a millionaire. She was gay and 
 vivacious, she was droll. In a moment, at some line 
 she spoke, the house exploded in a laugh so sudden 
 that it made Madge jump, and sent a tingling 
 through her limbs. But the next moment her jaw 
 set hard. 
 
 "Yes, but Gordon is dying!" she thought. "Could 
 any woman act like this, if she really cared for him? 
 How could she miss him long if he died? She hasn t 
 it in her she has this ! This is her life she s made 
 for this not for loving one man always " 
 
 Her thoughts ran on, swift, sharp as a knife. But 
 in spite of herself the spell of the scene took hold 
 of her, as she drank in the luxury and glamor here. 
 Her look was still on Leonora s face and figure, sup 
 ple, lithe. Hat, gloves and slippers how adorably 
 fresh they were ; and oh, what a lovely gown ! The 
 rest of the group had left them now; and alone 
 with her young Croesus, Leonora was leading him 
 on, with a mischievous gleam in her black eyes. She 
 threw back her head and laughed at him. In an in 
 stant he leaned forward, seizing both her hands in 
 his. And glancing about her, Madge could see the 
 
210 MILLIONS 
 
 same smiling hungry look in the faces of men on 
 every side, as they feasted their eyes upon the stage. 
 Yes, men were certainly all alike I Leonora seemed 
 suddenly brazen, hard. By now in the story it had 
 appeared that she was a young widow here. "Yes, 
 and this is just how she d be with Gordon s money, 
 if he died!" 
 
 A strained vindictive little laugh burst out of 
 Madge ; and as her companion gave her a quick un 
 easy look, she started to clutch his arm and say, 
 "Let s leave now! I ve seen enough!" But his ex 
 pression made her change her mind. "No, I ve got 
 to go through with this!" Then down came the 
 curtain, and Joe rose at once and said, 
 
 "I know that she will see us. Better come now 
 and not lose any time." 
 
 2 
 
 He took her around behind the boxes, swung 
 open a heavy iron door and led her into a crowded 
 place of hurried voices, swooping walls. Confused, 
 she followed close behind him to an open dressing 
 room door and there she stopped abruptly, at sight 
 of Leonora s face. The fresh seductiveness was 
 gone, the face was hard and lined with strain. 
 
 The girl did not see Madge at first. 
 
MILLIONS 211 
 
 "What is it, Joe ? Quick tell me I" 
 
 "He s all right, Nora I mean he s no worse. 
 But there has been a change. He s conscious." 
 
 "Oh! And better, you mean?" As he hesitated, 
 she cried, "Well? Which is it? Better or worse?" 
 
 "He s pretty sick, Nora " 
 
 "What do you mean? They re not giving him 
 up, Joe, are they?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Has he asked for me?" 
 
 "Yes," said Joe. 
 
 "Oh, Gordy !" As she whispered that, she caught 
 sight of Madge, behind in the dark, outside the 
 door; but she gave no sign of having seen her. In 
 a hard clear voice, she demanded, 
 
 "And are they still set on keeping me out?" 
 
 "His sister isn t," Joe replied. "And I ve brought 
 her here to see you." 
 
 He moved aside and Madge came in. 
 
 "Oh. Good evening." 
 
 "How do you do? I want to talk with you, Miss 
 O Brien." 
 
 Leonora flashed a look, hostile, sharp and ques 
 tioning, up into the visitor s face. In the meantime, 
 Joe had turned to the door. 
 
 "I reckon I ll leave you two alone." 
 
212 MILLIONS 
 
 "No! Don t!" Madge begged him. But he was 
 gone. She was trembling now. Stiffly, Leonora said, 
 
 "Thank you for coming. Sit down, please. I ve 
 so little time and I ve got to make up for the next 
 act." 
 
 While her maid was busy with her hair, she was 
 using paint and grease; and as Madge sat down, she 
 noticed her hands. Nerves? They were perfect 
 bundles! "Now she s trying to think what to say 
 how to handle me," thought Madge. The girl s 
 dark eyes shot another look at her from the mir 
 ror. 
 
 "Well," she began, in a low voice, "now that your 
 brother wants me there, will you let me come to 
 night?" 
 
 "That s what I want to talk about. This isn t 
 so simple for me as you think. Gordon s family " 
 
 Leonora broke in : "Oh, you needn t tell me about 
 them!" 
 
 "Needn t I?" Madge answered. "Oh, what a 
 pity somebody didn t tell you about them days ago 
 before you treated them as you did as so many 
 little nobodies outsiders you could brush aside." 
 
 For a moment there was no reply. Another ques 
 tioning flash from the mirror. Then, in a desperate 
 humble tone, she heard Leonora say, 
 
MILLIONS 213 
 
 "Yes, Miss Cable, I guess you are right. I acted 
 like a little fool never stopping to think of the 
 way they d feel. I see it now, and I m sorry ! But 
 don t forget my side of it all! Just try to put 
 yourself in my place! You love a man. You ve 
 been so close so close you re simply frantic when 
 you learn that he may die. Then you go to his 
 home, and there you find you find a lot of 
 strangers whom he hasn t seen for years! And 
 they can put you out ! They can because they are 
 his family!" 
 
 "Yes," said Madge, "I see all that and I ll 
 admit it s mighty hard. But I ve got his life to 
 think of now. I want you please to understand 
 that this isn t any question of morality with me 
 it s Gordon s life! What he needs is rest! My 
 uncle wants to make him rest by giving him 
 something to quiet him! He says, if I let you 
 into the room, you will only excite him stir 
 him all up because your love has been like 
 that!" 
 
 "I won t do that ! I m not such a fool !" Leonora 
 said impatiently. She winced and gave a little cry. 
 "Anny, for God s sake stop pulling my hair !" While 
 they talked, she had been touching up her lips and 
 cheeks and eyebrows, and giving directions to the 
 
214 MILLIONS 
 
 maid. At her exclamation now, Madge retorted 
 steadily, 
 
 "How can you tell what you ll do? You may not 
 be able to help yourself in the state you re in " 
 
 "I tell you I can control myself!" the girl cried, 
 almost with a sob. 
 
 "You haven t shown it with us," said Madge. 
 "And even if you do succeed, and really try to keep 
 him quiet, can you do it? With you right there, 
 how will he feel? How does he want you? What 
 kind of memories will you bring? Of the accident, 
 to start with and then of many other times when 
 you two were together." She hesitated, reddening, 
 feeling herself right on the edge of a whole stormy 
 inner world of which she knew nothing. But she 
 went on : "That sort of thing won t help him now. 
 What he needs is something deeper, bigger, steadier 
 the kind of love that can look steadily right at 
 death." 
 
 Out of the mirror came a look, amused, con 
 temptuous, which said, "You ridiculous little old 
 maid where did you get all this? On the screen?" 
 Madge blushed and went on, speaking faster: 
 
 "Remember, please, that s it up to me to decide 
 this, one way or the other ! I don t want to I hate 
 it I ve been dragged in ! But now that I m in, with 
 
MILLIONS 215 
 
 my brother s life right in my hands, I m not going to 
 just step aside till I know I m not making a mistake ! 
 So, if you want to see him to-night, you will have to 
 show me two things first, that you can control your 
 self ; and second, that you care for him in a much 
 bigger, deeper way than what I ve heard!" 
 
 "From a coon chauffeur!" 
 
 Madge rose from her chair. 
 
 "Go on like this, and you ll never see Gordon to 
 night!" she said. The girl bit her lip. 
 
 "I didn t mean to say that!" she replied. Her 
 voice was humble, penitent. But Madge was im 
 placable. 
 
 "No, it just burst out of you because you can t 
 control yourself. I m wondering if you ll be able to 
 do any better with him than with me." 
 
 Before Leonora could reply, a voice outside the 
 door announced, "Five minutes, Miss O Brien." 
 
 "All right all right! Oh, God Almighty ! Can t 
 they give me a little time?" As she turned to 
 Madge, her voice was shaking: "I can t go on for 
 my scene like this I ve got to get myself in hand!" 
 
 "Then I ll go," said Madge. 
 
 "Please don t do that! I haven t begun! For 
 God s sake please stay here and wait! I won t 
 be long ! And I ll make you see ! Now that I know 
 
2l6 MILLIONS 
 
 what it is you want those two things you want to 
 know " 
 
 "But I can come back." 
 
 "No wait right here !" 
 
 "Very well if you wish." 
 
 And sitting quite still in her chair, Madge watched 
 the young actress rise and stand while an evening 
 gown was put deftly on with a speed which seemed 
 miraculous. In the meantime, snatching up a tat 
 tered "part" from the table, Leonora fixed her 
 eyes on certain lines. In a few moments she went 
 out, and through the open dressing room door 
 Madge could see her standing behind the wing. Her 
 lips were moving rapidly. The voices of two other 
 actors could be heard through the flimsy partition 
 that shut off the scene. There came a line which 
 was her cue ; a smile of deep amusement appeared by 
 magic on her face and Leonora sauntered on. 
 Then her low provocative laugh was heard and in 
 stantly in response a slight murmur of sound from 
 the house. Madge sat bolt upright, listening. How 
 must it feel to hold people like that? A thousand 
 people maybe more all listening for your slight 
 est breath, all watching every move you made, your 
 faintest little ghost of a smile ! She let her thoughts 
 drift for a while, glad of escape from the question 
 
MILLIONS 217 
 
 which she must so soon decide. In the meantime, 
 Anny the maid, a stout, smart-looking woman of 
 middle age, had busied herself about the small room. 
 She went out now, and Madge s eyes went to the low 
 wide table with its disorderly array of toilet articles, 
 large and tiny. What a life ! Now again she could 
 hear from the stage the voice of Leonora rising 
 gay and vibrant, and once more from out in front 
 came a quick burst of merriment. 
 
 "How can she do it? Acting, is she? Then 
 what was she doing here with me? Acting, too? 1 
 
 No, that had been real. She remembered the look 
 on the girl s dark face frightened, desperate, off 
 her high horse. "But this is her job," Madge told 
 herself. "If she were not gay to-night, she wouldn t 
 be earning her salary." Then with the force of a 
 revelation came the thought, "She works hard at 
 it, too, night after night. Yes, when you come to 
 think of it, she s a working woman like me. Only, 
 our jobs aren t quite the same." As Madge recalled 
 the cashier s desk in Hale and Pritchett s dry goods 
 store, her features set in a curious smile. "If 
 Amanda Berry could see me now!" Suddenly it 
 struck her as comic, this idea that Amanda and she 
 and Leonora were all in one great sisterhood. "A 
 school teacher, a cashier and an actress! Quite a 
 
2l8 MILLIONS 
 
 trinity!" she thought. She caught herself up. 
 Rather blasphemous, that. How had that idea 
 come popping up? But so many queer ideas and 
 plans had come popping up in these last days. 
 Again there came to her a sense of how, in the 
 searching glare of this crisis, her whole life had been 
 revealed with so many old beliefs and standards 
 crowded out by new desires, lost in the whirl. And 
 it was a little startling. But there was satisfacion 
 in it, too. She recalled how she had handled the 
 talk with Leonora just now. "At least," she 
 thought, "I ve made her feel I m not a strait-laced 
 little Puritan." Still listening to the voice on the 
 stage, she had again a sudden sense of Leonora s 
 warm rich life. Her eyes were on the wide low 
 table, and moving slightly in her chair she could 
 see her own face in the mirror there. She began 
 to detect the wrinkles. Middle age was creeping 
 on. And Madge sat looking at herself and listen 
 ing to the voice outside. 
 
 "I wonder what she ll have to tell me, and which 
 wayi I shall decide? I wonder what will become 
 of me then where I ll be in a week from now?" 
 With a grim smile at herself, she replied, "But who 
 in the whole world cares about that? I don t know 
 as I do myself exactly." 
 
MILLIONS 219 
 
 Anny, the stout, quiet maid, came back and began 
 to get ready for the next change. In a minute or 
 two, a burst of clapping told that the curtain had 
 come down. Then up again it went for a moment 
 and again. Madge could tell it by the applause, and 
 she pictured Leonora out there. But when a little 
 later the girl came quickly into the room, the look 
 on her dark oval face was tense and haggard as 
 before. 
 
 "Thank you for waiting Madge," she said. 
 
 Madge started at the sound of her name, but the 
 other took no notice of that. She sat down at once 
 and began with her make-up. Her voice was care 
 fully quiet: 
 
 "I ve been trying to see your side of this, and 
 how you feel and I think I do now. I ve been hor 
 ribly stupid and clumsy about it a perfect little 
 beast to you. And you re mighty decent to do what 
 youVe done. In spite of those relatives of yours, 
 you re honestly trying to do what is fair, and best 
 for Gordon. But what do you know? They give 
 you some stories from a chauffeur and you tie that 
 up with what you ve read in the papers or seen 
 in the movies and " 
 
 "Never mind me," Madge interrupted. "We 
 haven t very much time, you know. Let s come to 
 
220 MILLIONS 
 
 the point. Do you love my brother enough so that 
 you can do what is needed to-night? I don t care 
 if you marry or not. All I want to know is whether 
 your love is big enough and steady enough to save 
 his life. If you love him in the way I mean, I ve 
 been wondering how you can be acting in a play of 
 this kind, when he s at the point of death? Of 
 course it s your profession, I know. But " 
 
 "It s more than that!" was the quick reply. 
 "This play of mine is just as near the point of death 
 as he is!" 
 
 Madge looked at her in surprise. 
 
 "It doesn t seem to be !" she said 
 
 "No, it doesn t seem to be! The house looks 
 crowded! But you didn t know that half of it at 
 least is paper I mean, people who don t pay!" 
 
 "But the applause !" insisted Madge. 
 
 "Yes, there s a very good chance for it still. But 
 IVe got to work every minute and every second I m 
 on the stage ! And that s what I ve been doing 
 Monday, Tuesday, and now to-night ! And I ve just 
 learned from out in front there s six hundred dollars 
 in the house ! That s better ! The business is pick 
 ing up and if we can keep on like this, shoving 
 it up and up each night, we ll save it yet I Do you 
 understand?" 
 
MILLIONS 221 
 
 "But," said Madge, with a blank look, "if it s 
 only a little money to tide it over, that you need 
 my brother is worth millions!" 
 
 She caught a queer little glance from the mirror; 
 but when Leonora spoke, her tone once more was 
 carefully quiet: 
 
 "I see. You thought he was supporting me that 
 all this actress love of mine was bought and paid 
 for." 
 
 "No!" said Madge. "I didn t think that! I 
 only meant " 
 
 "Why shouldn t you? Don t think I m getting 
 excited again. I m not. I say, why shouldn t you? 
 You know we re not married, and you ve heard 
 some things about us* and they re true. So you ask, 
 What kind of love is that? And that is what I ve 
 got to explain I ve got to make you see how I 
 feel. What is loving a man what does it mean? 
 Can t you without marrying him? You don t be 
 lieve so." 
 
 "You re wrong!" said Madge. "I ve already told 
 you I don t care whether or not you marry " 
 
 "Yes I heard you" with a smile "but way 
 down inside of you, Madge, you re more old fash 
 ioned than you know. Now please let me make my 
 point. He wanted to marry, but I refused not 
 
222 MILLIONS 
 
 because I take any stock in these fool notions against 
 getting married not at all ! But he wanted me to 
 give up the stage! And I wouldn t! It s my job! 
 I m not even sure that I would now! But I do 
 love him!" she went on. "And what I mean by 
 that," she said, "is not what they ve been telling 
 you! I ve done all that, and I m not in the least 
 ashamed that I have. It was the best that I could 
 do, unless I gave up my career. And there was more 
 in it than you ve heard. Your brother and I loved 
 music and every chance that we could get, at a 
 concert or an opera, we just grabbed, as a regular 
 spree ! And we both loved beautiful dancing, too 
 you know what I mean? the Russian kind. And 
 last summer we cruised way up the Sound, in a little 
 boat he rented cooked our breakfasts, lived out of 
 doors, fished, swam and talked and talked and talked 
 of a trip we wanted to make to Japan. And that 
 was only one of the plans! And all this sort of 
 thing went into the way we loved one another 
 understand? And all this is in his mind to-night! 
 Those memories you re afraid of " 
 
 Again the call-boy came around. 
 
 "Five minutes, Miss O Brien." 
 
 She threw a glance at Madge s face, and went on 
 with sudden tension, 
 
MILLIONS 223 
 
 "Look here. If I had time, I know I could make 
 you see all this in another way for you ve made 
 me feel that you re not strait-laced or narrow or 
 blind to the way ideas are changing everything in a 
 woman s life and so we could get together on 
 this. But there isn t time, and there s no need. Be 
 cause you re fair. You re not the kind to step in 
 between your brother and me. That s our affair. 
 He may die to-night! You won t keep me away 
 from him if he wants me more and more. And 
 he does I tell you I know, I know ! I ve meant a 
 lot in his life! You haven t! In all these months 
 together I ve barely heard him mention your name !" 
 Madge stiffened at this, but the tone in which the 
 words were spoken took out the sting. It was des 
 perate, pleading, rapid and low. "And those other 
 relatives they re all outsiders nothing more! 
 They may have been close to him when he was small 
 in the little old world of long ago which you and 
 I have left behind but it isn t a child, it s a man 
 that s dying! And he wants me wants me and 
 that s all you need to know! That it s Gordon s life 
 not yours or theirs and that he has a right to 
 do as he likes!" 
 
 "Yes, if it doesn t kill him!" said Madge. Her 
 face was flushed and trembling. "Are you abso- 
 
224 MILLIONS 
 
 lutely sure that you can be quiet with him to 
 night?" 
 
 "I will I can! If I haven t made you feel it 
 now, it s just because I ve had no time and because 
 I m pretty near the point where I want to break 
 right down and cry. But I haven t and I ve shown 
 you that I can control all that ! And I will if I see 
 him I can I can!" 
 
 Madge had risen from her seat. For just a mo 
 ment longer she stood there, trembling, watching. 
 
 "I guess you d better come," she said. 
 
 "Thank you, Madge! God bless you, dear!" 
 
 "No thanks at all. Remember your promise. It s 
 to be quiet." She stopped, with a frown. "The 
 main thing is that it s none of my business and I 
 ought to have seen it before. Now I ll be going." 
 
 "One thing more! May I see him alone? Will 
 you keep those others out of the room?" 
 
 "Yes, I ll try to keep them out. But you get 
 there just as soon as you can !" 
 
 3 
 
 When again she was left alone, Madge stood 
 staring. "No," she thought, "I m not going to take 
 it on myself to stand between them any more. . . . 
 I must go back now. Joe will be waiting." 
 
 
MILLIONS 225 
 
 But as she started to leave the room, again she 
 heard Leonora s voice from the stage; and she 
 stopped to listen. The voice was cold and indiffer 
 ent now. In the second act the two lovers had quar 
 reled, and they had still to make it up. Leonora 
 was keeping him off. "Yes," thought Madge, u she 
 certainly can control herself out there on the stage. 
 But with Gordon, in his room that will be differ 
 ent that will be real!" She felt a twinge of sharp 
 suspense; then once more her mind let go. Out on 
 the stage they were rapidly coming into the big 
 scene of the play; and as Leonora s low rich voice 
 began to rise, Madge remembered how the girl had 
 asked her, "What do you know? They give you 
 some stories from a chauffeur, and you tie them up 
 with what you ve read in the papers seen in the 
 movies." The voice was like a challenge now. 
 "What do you know about loving a man? Think 
 of your life. Cashier in a store in a dull little town 
 and you live in a flat with varnished stairs and 
 you re already thirty-two. Men? Love? For 
 you?" Leonora s voice had ceased; the voice of 
 her lover was speaking. And looking into the mir 
 ror and asking, "What man ever spoke to me, or 
 will ever speak to me, like that?" Madge gave a 
 hard little laugh. 
 
226 MILLIONS 
 
 "Oh, for goodness sake let s try to use some com 
 mon sense ! Now to get out of this and back home ! 
 Back to business!" she told herself. 
 
 On the ride back, in the taxi, she listened to what 
 Joe was saying, in a friendly anxious tone; and she 
 thought, "He s bucking me up for what I ve still to 
 go through when I reach the apartment." When 
 they arrived at the door, he said, 
 
 "I ll go back to the theatre. The play will be 
 about over then, and I ll have her here in half an 
 hour." 
 
 "The sooner the better," Madge replied. 
 
 4 
 
 She went up to the apartment and found her rela 
 tives in the front room. Her Uncle Phil looked up 
 from his paper. 
 
 "Well, Madge?" he asked. 
 
 "Uncle," she said, "I ve made up my mind that 
 I don t care to take the risk of going any longer 
 against Gordon s wishes here." 
 
 "You mean you want Miss O Brien to come. 
 Have you seen her?" 
 
 "Yes " 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "At the theatre," 
 
MILLIONS 227 
 
 "Did she give you a fine performance, Madge?" 
 her cousin asked, with irony. 
 
 "It wasn t acting, Ray it was real!" 
 
 "And she is coming to-night, I suppose," said 
 Uncle Phil. 
 
 "Yes very soon!" 
 
 Aunt Abby rose from her chair and said, 
 
 "Then I for one don t care to be here." 
 
 "Easy now, Mother," said her son. "Sit down, 
 won t you, and give us a chance. Let s try to get 
 together on this." His manner was suddenly friendly, 
 appealing. "Look here, Madge, don t get sore 
 about this. If you promised this young flapper she 
 could come, that settles it. The only thing left for 
 us to do is to fix things so she won t be able to put 
 through any crooked work." 
 
 "I tell you, Ray, you re wrong absolutely! The 
 thought of Gordon s money doesn t even enter her 
 head!" 
 
 He threw her a look of exasperation, but in a pa 1 - 
 tient voice he said, 
 
 "All right, all right don t get excited. Now 
 listen, Madge I ve been giving this a good long 
 think while you were gone. We guessed what you 
 were up to, of course. * And I figured out that your 
 trouble began when we put the lady out last night. 
 
228 MILLIONS 
 
 We did handle her rough I ll admit it at least it 
 looked that way to you and youVe been stand 
 offish ever since. But how do you know we could 
 help ourselves? What do you know of this kind 
 of a woman? They re used to being treated rough ! 
 At a dance they don t have any fun at all till they re 
 grabbed and swung over a man s head ! That s the 
 kind of girl she is! You say this isn t a bunkum 
 game but we think it is. How do you know that 
 we re all wrong? Are you so everlastingly cock 
 sure, that you can go it blind kick all your rights 
 and ours aside?" 
 
 "Yes, Ray, I m very, very sure that Gordon s 
 life is his own affair and that now when his mind 
 is perfectly clear " 
 
 "All right, all right, then let her in ! But it isn t 
 too late to fix this yet! If one of us stays in the 
 room " 
 
 The thought flashed into Madge s mind: "So 
 that s what they planned while I was gone I" Aloud 
 she said, 
 
 "I m afraid it can t be done. I promised to leave 
 her with him alone." 
 
 "She was able to make you promise her that? 
 Oh, Madge Madge!" said Mrs. Dwight. 
 
 "Yes, Aunt Abby!" Madge s voice had an omi- 
 
MILLIONS 229 
 
 nous ring, but Ray did not hear it. He had turned 
 to Uncle Phil, and he said, 
 
 "Guess that proves it, doesn t it? * 
 
 "Yes, she seems to be after the money, all right." 
 
 "Oh, stop thinking of money money!" Madge 
 cried harshly, springing up. "We ve thought of 
 nothing else all week!" There came a low cry from 
 her aunt, but Madge was confronting the two men. 
 "Isn t that why you came ?" she asked. "Would you 
 have come if he had been poor? And would you 
 be so anxious now about this girl and Gordon s 
 morals? Did you ever care before?" 
 
 "Did I ever care before?" cried Aunt Abby, in a 
 loud quivering voice. "You talk about Gordon s 
 money to me? Did I think of it when he was small, 
 and I nursed him time and time again? Who taught 
 him his prayers, and tried to make him see what is 
 right and what is wrong? You talk of his money 
 bringing me here?" 
 
 "Aunt Abby !" cried Madge, almost in tears. 
 
 "Now sit down in that chair and listen to me! 
 Don t just be ashamed of yourself that s not 
 enough ! There is still time to correct your mistake ! 
 A mistake, I call it, because I know that you are try 
 ing to do your best. But in these last days you ve 
 grown to feel you know it all, and the rest of us can 
 
230 MILLIONS 
 
 be shoved aside! Now you attend to what I say! 
 Gordon has sinned with this woman ! That s plain 
 and clear she doesn t deny it ! And now he s dying 
 and you are about to let him sin with her again! 
 Instead of protecting him when he s weak, and lift 
 ing up his eyes to his God, you re letting them turn 
 to the carnal charms of an actress, and by a few hot 
 words of passion give her a claim which will rob 
 us all and send him to his Maker with that stain upon 
 his soul ! Have you ever stopped to think of that 
 of how he will feel face to face with his God and 
 with his everlasting life?" 
 
 Uncle Phil looked at his watch. 
 
 "We haven t time for that now," he said. "What 
 we ve got to think about is a plain matter of right 
 and wrong. What you seem to lack, my dear," he 
 said quietly to Madge, "is a good old-fashioned 
 sense of family and family rights. Here s this lad 
 risen out of us bone of our bone and flesh of our 
 flesh. We were able to help him we gave him his 
 start. In spite of that, in the flush of success, he 
 has completely forgotten us all. Have we ever 
 spoken out in complaint? No, this is a free coun 
 try and his life was his own affair. But this is dif 
 ferent this is death. You are not a physician I 
 am, and I know. I m telling you now that, since 
 
MILLIONS 231 
 
 you left, his condition has grown so much worse that 
 the chances are at least ten to one he won t live 
 through the night. At such a time, we can do no less 
 than try to prevent you from letting this woman rob 
 you of what is rightfully yours. And the way to 
 prevent it is simple enough. Let her come let her 
 see him but not alone. If I am there, I assure 
 you " 
 
 "No, Uncle Phil." Her voice was low, but it 
 shook a little in spite of herself, as she faced the 
 eyes angrily turned on hers. "I may be wrong but 
 it seems to me as clear as day that he has a right to 
 see her alone. All the more if he s dying, as you 
 say. Doctor Hoyt does not agree with you there 
 and I have that to think of, too. There are quite a 
 lot of things that I have to think of !" She stopped 
 an instant, clinched her hands. "But each time I 
 look away, at any other side of this, I come right 
 back to where I was! He has a right to see her 
 alone if he wants it ! And I m just as sure he wants 
 it as though I went and asked him ! But I will ask 
 him, if you say 1 " 
 
 "I tell you the man don t know what he wants! 
 He s half out of his mind!" her cousin cried. 
 
 "Then, Ray, you ll have to leave it to me." 
 
 "Phil," said Aunt Abby harshly, "do you mean 
 
232 MILLIONS 
 
 to say you can t go in that room just because 
 Madge is so utterly blind?" 
 
 "No, Aunt Abby he can t go in," Madge an 
 swered, in a steady tone. "I m Gordon s sister, and 
 I m the one who will decide this, if you please." 
 
 As she spoke, the door bell rang. She said, 
 "Thank Heaven, they ve come at last!" and went 
 quickly into the hall. 
 
 5 
 
 But Doctor Hoyt was at the door. He smiled 
 at the violent start she gave. 
 
 "How s the patient?" 
 
 "Worse, I m afraid!" 
 
 "Let s have a look at him," he said. 
 
 He went into Gordon s room, and after a brief 
 examination came out with her into the hall. 
 
 "Yes, your brother is worse," he said, "but no 
 more so than I expected." 
 
 Again there was a ring at the door. 
 
 "Oh, wait, please she s here at last!" said 
 Madge. She ran to the door and opened it. "Come 
 in, please Doctor Hoyt is here !" 
 
 Leonora came in, with Joe behind her. 
 
 "Is there any change?" 
 
 "Yes he s worse ! Now listen, please !" Madge 
 
MILLIONS 233 
 
 turned to the surgeon. "I want you to tell her, 
 Doctor Hoyt, how terribly necessary it is that she 
 keep him very quiet to-night !" 
 
 "I do tell you that, Miss O Brien," he said. "His 
 whole life will depend on it." 
 
 "Very well I understand. . . . But if he s kept 
 quiet is there still a chance?" 
 
 "There is!" 
 
 Leonora turned away. 
 
 When Hoyt had left, and Leonora had gone into 
 Gordon s room, Madge found herself in the hall 
 with Joe Evans. 
 
 "Don t you want me to stay and help?" he asked, 
 with a glance toward the living room. 
 
 "No, thank you I ll get along all right." 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I reckon you will." He hesi 
 tated, and took her hand. "And I reckon you ve 
 saved Gordon s life! I ll never forget it!" 
 
 She winced and drew back. 
 
 "Never mind me ! Good-night !" she said. 
 
 When he was gone, she stood there a moment to 
 steady herself. When Joe took her hand, she had 
 felt as though she wanted to cry. She waited till 
 she was steady again, and then went into the living 
 room. 
 
 The three of them were sitting there very much 
 
234 MILLIONS 
 
 as they had before Ray at the window, Uncle Phil 
 reading, Aunt Abby with her hands in her lap. But 
 Madge felt at once a difference, and glancing at 
 them she told herself, "Yes, now that it s decided, 
 they will all be quiet enough. They hate a scene as 
 much as I." She sat down, and in a moment took 
 her knitting from the table close by. She started 
 to knit; then abruptly she stopped, her eyes ar 
 rested, and with a grim smile she scanned her work. 
 Oh, what awful work it was ! Dropped stitches and 
 uneven rows everything higgledy-piggledy ! As in 
 a book, the record was here of her changing moods 
 of her desperate straining for what to do, of the 
 sudden warm disturbing dreams and all those castles 
 in the air. 
 
 A gentle clicking made her look up, and she saw 
 that her Aunt Abby was composedly knitting, too. 
 She wanted to look closer and see if the work that 
 her aunt had been doing was any smoother than her 
 own. 
 
 "I wonder what they re thinking?" she asked. 
 "They can t be such born idiots as to be sure that 
 Leonora is going to act like a movie vamp. They 
 know that she may do nothing at all, and that Gor 
 don may still die to-night. If he does, how sjrry 
 they ll try to be but oh, how happy underneath !" 
 
MILLIONS 235 
 
 Aunt Abby dropped her needles and sat staring 
 at the wall. 
 
 "No," thought Madge, with a twinge of compunc 
 tion, "it s rotten of me to be thinking like this. If 
 he lives, she will go down on her knees. How queer 
 it all is. Thank Heaven, I m through with my part 
 of it. There s nothing to do now but wait." And 
 she went on with her knitting. "Funny. It feels 
 all over now." With a smile she felt how far she 
 had dropped in the regard of her family. Gone was 
 all that friendliness, and in its place was grim con 
 tempt. "They ve put me down as a little fool 
 without sense enough to protect myself." Already 
 she could see how it would be when they all went 
 back to Halesburg. 
 
 Yet in the cool dim room, she knew, might come 
 any moment an event which would lift her again 
 into the place where she had been the night be 
 fore. 
 
 At last the silence was broken by Ray, who came 
 back from the window, sat down and lit a cigarette, 
 and picked up an evening paper. As his mother 
 turned and watched him, she looked suddenly very 
 old. 
 
 "Phil," she asked, in a moment, "how long do 
 you suppose she ll stay?" 
 
236 MILLIONS 
 
 "All night, I should say," he answered. 
 
 Mrs. Dwight turned to her son. 
 
 "Then I think, Ray, you d better go out and 
 get me a room in that hotel where you are stay- 
 ing." 
 
 "No, I won t, Motheryou go to bed. You look 
 all in," he answered. 
 
 "Yes, Aunt Abby," Madge put in, "do go and try 
 to get some rest." 
 
 Her aunt threw a quick look at her, then began 
 folding up her work. 
 
 "Rest?" Her voice was now so low as to be 
 almost inaudible. "A precious lot of rest I ll have 
 for the remainder of my days." She got up with 
 her knitting and cast a look toward Gordon s room. 
 "Seems funny she should be allowed to take from 
 us what is ours. I wonder what God thinks of such 
 things?" 
 
 And she went slowly to her room. 
 
 A little later Ray took his departure and Doctor 
 Cable went to bed. Neither of them had spoken 
 to Madge. She went and looked into Gordon s 
 room, and saw him sleeping quietly. Leonora sat 
 by his side. Closing the door softly, she went to 
 her own room and undressed. 
 
 "Yes, she ll keep him quiet enough and he ll be 
 
MILLIONS 237 
 
 better tomorrow," she thought. "I wonder why 
 I don t seem to care ? . . . Too dead tired I guess 
 that s it." 
 
 And a few minutes later she was asleep. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 SHE woke up late. The glorious light of a clear 
 sunny November day was streaming in; the air was 
 crisp. For a time she lay with her eyes closed and 
 her mind only half awake, with mingled feelings of 
 relief and rest and curiosity. "I know he s better. 
 Now what next?" Rising up from deep within her 
 she could feel a consciousness of some splendid 
 change which was coming in her own existence ; but 
 she could not put it in words, nor did she even care 
 to try. She got up and went into Gordon s room. 
 Miss Cochran was sitting by the bed, and Leonora 
 lay asleep in a big chair by the window. Gordon, 
 too, was sleeping. 
 
 "He s better, isn t he?" whispered Madge. 
 
 "Oh, yes, Miss Cable." 
 
 "I m so glad." 
 
 For a moment Madge and the young nurse smiled 
 at one another. "What a gorgeous day!" she 
 thought. The room had been kept dark for the 
 
 sleepers, but through the curtains fell one shaft of 
 
 238 
 
MILLIONS 239 
 
 the light that was flooding the heavens outside. 
 Madge looked at Leonora. The head thrown back 
 showed the dark circles under the eyes. With relief, 
 she told herself, "Oh, I m so glad I let her come!" 
 
 She went back and dressed herself. She could 
 hear Aunt Abby in her room and Uncle Phil in the 
 study. Then the door bell rang. It was Ray, 
 from his hotel nearby. She remembered his speak 
 ing of the price they charged him for his room, and 
 she began to reckon the cost of this trip for Ray 
 and his mother. Gordon would probably make that 
 right but she wondered if they would accept it now. 
 She hoped that her Aunt Abby would be more 
 friendly than last night. 
 
 And at breakfast she found that it was so. 
 Though they knew that Gordon was better and that 
 Leonora was with him still, in each of them Madge 
 thought she could feel a decided change. The strain 
 of these days had been too hard, and the vision too 
 intense; and so now, as the spell which had bound 
 them all relaxed its hold, each one appeared to be 
 rather relieved to feel himself slowly slipping back 
 into his old familiar life. "Their eyes look natu 
 ral," she thought. That queer look was out of 
 them. Millions. The dreams had come and gone, 
 and the hunger hidden in each breast had sunk again 
 
240 MILLIONS 
 
 to its hiding place. They began to talk of going 
 home. 
 
 A few minutes later, Joe Evans called up; and 
 when she gave him the good news, the sudden joy 
 of relief in him went into her like the shaft of 
 light which she had seen in her brother s room. 
 
 "I ll be up this afternoon," he said. "I ve got to 
 be in the office till then though it is a holiday." 
 
 "A holiday?" 
 
 "Yes Thanksgiving Day!" 
 
 She gave a strained little laugh and said, 
 
 "Well, that seems to just fit in !" 
 
 She had hardly left the telephone when the doctor 
 arrived. She asked him to wait, while she hurried 
 into Gordon s room and awakened the girl asleep 
 in the chair. Leonora sat up with an anxious start, 
 but Madge reassured her. 
 
 "Doctor Hoyt is here," she said, "and I want 
 you to come into my room. There s nothing for you 
 to worry about, and you d better try to finish your 
 sleep. You ve been up all night and you look 
 tired." 
 
 "I am," said Leonora; and as they went into 
 Madge s room she added, "You ll tell me what he 
 says?" 
 
 "Of course but I m sure it will be good news." 
 
MILLIONS 241 
 
 And Madge went back to Doctor Hoyt. His 
 examination of Gordon was brief. 
 
 "Your brother is so much stronger now, that if 
 he goes on another day he ll be well out of dan 
 ger," he said. 
 
 Suddenly to her surprise Madge felt herself 
 trembling. 
 
 "I want to thank you, Doctor Hoyt, for giving 
 me such good advice." 
 
 He threw a keen look at her and smiled. 
 
 "Oh, I think you deserve the main credit," he 
 said. 
 
 When she told the news to her relatives, they 
 took it in the same calm spirit they had shown at 
 breakfast. Aunt Abby had on her old shoulder 
 cape, for Ray was taking her to church. 
 
 "I suppose you ll want to stay here, Madge." 
 
 "Yes, Aunt Abby." 
 
 "Phil, how about you? Are you coming?" 
 
 "Why, yes, I think I will." 
 
 "That s nice. Better hurry or we ll be late." 
 
 In a few minutes they were gone. 
 
 "And when she gets to church," thought Madge, 
 "she ll thank God for saving Gordon s life and 
 then she ll pray that he be shown what a sinful life 
 he has been leading. ... I wonder if God will 
 
242 MILLIONS 
 
 hear her prayer? I wonder if there is any God 
 who in any way resembles the God whom she be 
 lieves in?" 
 
 Suddenly, as her mind went back over the last 
 days and nights, and she felt again the grip of those 
 dreams, the idea came that in all the confusion and 
 change of this age the only god left was Money. 
 But she dismissed it with a smile. 
 
 "No," she thought, u it s more than that. Look 
 at this queer week we ve spent. It wasn t just 
 Money that drove us mad, but a Spirit of Dreams 
 inside of us. And I guess that s where God comes 
 in at least, the one that I believe in. He s new 
 and vague to me as yet, but He isn t just a dollar 
 sign. For it isn t only Money I want no, I want 
 a bigger life. And what s more, I may get it still 
 money or no !" She grew excited at the idea. "I 
 may," she thought, "I certainly may! This isn t 
 over for me yet ! I wonder what I m going to do ?" 
 
 2 
 
 Then Gordon woke up and sent for her. She 
 found him staring up at the ceiling, as he had the 
 day before ; but he looked stronger, more clear eyed. 
 When he saw her, he smiled and reached out his 
 hand. 
 
MILLIONS 243 
 
 "Come here I want to talk to you, Madge." 
 
 "All right but you musn t talk too long." 
 
 "Oh, you needn t worry now. I m so much bet 
 ter than I was and I want you to know how I 
 feel about this." His eyes went again to the ceil 
 ing, and she saw a humorous curl on his lip. "I ve 
 been thinking it all out," he said. "You must have 
 had a rotten time. Uncle Phil, Aunt Abby and 
 young Ray all right at your heels on the trail of 
 my money." 
 
 She drew back a little, and in a voice rather cold 
 she said, 
 
 "I don t think that s very kind in you, Gordon." 
 
 He turned a quizzical look on her. 
 
 "Maybe not but it s funny," he answered. 
 
 "I don t think so !" 
 
 All at once she felt herself trembling again and 
 she frowned. "What s the matter with me to-day?" 
 Then she heard her brother say, 
 
 "For the fact of the matter is, I m broke." 
 
 She made a quick movement. 
 
 "Why what do you mean?" 
 
 "I mean I m poor. Barely money to pay the 
 
 rent." 
 
 She stared at him in astonishment. 
 
 "Then all those things we heard were lies?" 
 
244 MILLIONS 
 
 "No I did make money plenty. In the big 
 year after the Armistice, it came rolling in so fast I 
 didn t know how much I had. But we couldn t get 
 out of ships in time 1 we got caught with quite a 
 fleet. And so, by the time of the accident, we were 
 right on the edge of a crash. . . . Poor old Joe," 
 said Gordon. "He s had a terrible time this week." 
 
 "But why " she turned abruptly. "Why 
 
 couldn t he have told us so? It would have " 
 
 she checked herself. 
 
 "Yes," said her brother grimly, "it would have 
 made things easier. They wouldn t have been so 
 careful then about keeping people out of this room. 
 But you see," he added, with a smile, "it s a kind of 
 a religion of ours to keep up a front. If we don t, 
 we re gone. The banks would be down on us in a 
 minute. And if Joe had told you, what would Uncle 
 Phil have done? Can t you see him insisting at 
 once upon an investigation into every dollar I have?" 
 
 "Yes," said Madge. 
 
 "If he had, it would have finished us. And Joe 
 knew that, so he couldn t peep. And there were 
 some things that I knew and he didn t and had to 
 know in certain law suits we are in. And here I 
 lay like a log. It was tough. Joe stood the gaff 
 and has got through; he says we re still a going 
 
MILLIONS 245, 
 
 concern. But if I had died, we d have busted. See? 
 Not only because of those things I knew, but be 
 cause I ve done the driving the money is in me, so 
 to speak." He stopped short. The effort of 
 speaking had caused a throb of pain in his head; but 
 it passed, and smiling he went on, "A doctor over 
 in France once told me, Brag, my son. It s good 
 for you. I m bragging now and it s good for me. 
 I ve got millions of dollars, Madge, right in this 
 little old head of mine and I m very much obliged, 
 my dear, for keeping me alive as you did " 
 
 "I didn t do very much," she said. 
 
 "Oh, yes, you did. I can see it the whole queer 
 funny week," he replied, "with all the rest of my 
 kith and kin on the scent of my millions which were 
 gone!" 
 
 Once more he turned on her his quizzical eyes. 
 
 "Now can t you smile a little, Madge?" 
 
 "Yes a little" 
 
 And she did. 
 
 "But it isn t so very funny when you think of 
 Aunt Abby," she went on, "and the life she has 
 had and what a change a little money would have 
 brought." 
 
 "I know," he said. "I ve been pretty rotten to 
 neglect her as I have and I ll do better after this 
 
246 MILLIONS 
 
 honest I will." He squeezed her hand. "But 
 I d like to tell Uncle Phil the joke." 
 
 "No don t!" 
 
 "Why not? If he hasn t changed, I think it will 
 rather appeal to him. Uncle Phil used to have quite 
 a sense of humor nice and noiseless, but all there. 
 Where is he now?" 
 
 "They re all at church." 
 
 "What? The devil! Sunday already?" 
 
 "No Thanksgiving Day," she said. 
 
 He looked at her a moment and then sharply shut 
 his eyes. 
 
 "Now try to get some more sleep," she said. 
 "Leonora is resting in my room. She was up all 
 night, you know." 
 
 "Thanks, Madgy. Oh, you ve been so good." 
 But as she rose to leave, he added, with a shadow of 
 a smile, "Remember, when they come from church, 
 to tell Uncle Phil that I want to see him." 
 
 3 
 
 Madge came out of her brother s room and sank 
 limply into a chair. So there hadn t been any money ! 
 
 Presently a memory rose of how she had sat here 
 just like this when she arrived. "And that was only 
 Sunday night!" Her mind ran over the memories. 
 
MILLIONS 247 
 
 Up and up and up she had soared, into a new exist 
 ence. With a look of curious interest now, her mind 
 turned in upon herself. As she thought of the de 
 sires and dreams which flaming up had changed her 
 in the twinkling of an eye had made her, in her 
 fancy, young and fresh and attractive again, and 
 surrounded by admirers; a gracious benefactress to 
 her family and her town ; a great club woman in New 
 York and the head of a big Fifth Avenue shop; a 
 leader in European relief, saving lives by thousands, 
 hob-nobbing with ministers, kings and queens 
 Madge laughed softly to herself. 
 
 "I didn t know I had all that inside of me," she 
 thought. "Well, what shall I do about it now? 
 . . . Oh, let it wait." 
 
 She did not care to think it out. She could feel 
 herself so pleasantly drifting on to some new life 
 and she did not want to spoil it all by facing the 
 realities. 
 
 She heard Leonora stirring, and thought, "I sup 
 pose she knew it all along about his money. I 
 wonder?" She went and ordered breakfast for her, 
 and presently the girl came out. Her whole expres 
 sion was changed to-day; the nervous tension was 
 out of her face. 
 
 "Come and sit with me won t you, Madge?" 
 
248 MILLIONS 
 
 "Very well if you like." 
 
 As Madge sat down at the table, on her features 
 there had come the old mask of composure; and 
 over her coffee Leonora threw a curious glance at 
 her. 
 
 "I m sorry for the way I acted," she began in a 
 moment. "I don t see how you stood it as well as 
 you did the way I tried to sail right in and order 
 all of you about. But you understand now, don t 
 you?" 
 
 "Yes," said Madge, "I guess I do. And I don t 
 blame you in the least." 
 
 "I blame myself. I ve been a young fool. But 
 I ve learned my lesson now, all right and as soon 
 as Gordon is well enough I ll marry him." 
 
 Madge looked quickly up. 
 
 "I m very glad of that," she said. 
 
 "Not that I care about marriage, you know," 
 Leonora confided, "but I m not going to take a 
 chance of ever being put again in any such position. 
 It was pretty tough on both of us." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 "How about the stage?" asked Madge. 
 
 "Oh, I guess I can make him see that now. With 
 his business as it is, he d have a hard time support 
 ing me." 
 
MILLIONS 249 
 
 "Why didn t you tell us about his business?" 
 
 "I started to but then I remembered a promise 
 Fd made him not to mention it to a soul. So I 
 asked Joe, and he said, Tor Pete s sake, not a 
 word!* Leonora smiled. "So there we were 
 poor old Joe working day and night to keep alive the 
 business, while you were keeping Gordon alive and 
 I was keeping my play alive. We seem to have won, 
 all along the line!" 
 
 "Yes," said Madge, "it seems that way." 
 
 Her companion lit a cigarette and leaned forward 
 on her elbow. 
 
 "Look here, Madge," she inquired, "what are you 
 going to do now?" 
 
 "Go back, I guess." 
 
 "Why don t you stay on?" 
 
 "I would, if he were in any danger but I guess 
 by to-night he ll be safe enough, and I think I ll 
 take the morning train." 
 
 "Why ? Why not stay with us here ? We d both 
 love to have you and you might get to like this 
 town. It isn t just all fluff, you know there are 
 jobs here and new ideas that would take right hold 
 of you. I ll bet there are hundreds of women like 
 you pouring in here every week." 
 
 "Yes," said Madge. "I ve felt them." 
 
250 MILLIONS 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "I ve felt them these last days and nights." 
 Madge s voice was clear and low. "Girls, women, 
 all ages and all kinds. We re all of us changing 
 pretty fast. From Aunt Abby to what? A thou 
 sand things. I guess I ll be making some move 
 before long. This has given me the shake-up I 
 needed to get me out of the rut I was in." 
 
 But as she went on to talk of herself she felt the 
 attention of her companion slip away, and so she 
 stopped. Leonora glanced at the clock and rose. 
 
 "Hello it s nearly one," she said, "and I ve got 
 a matinee. I must hurry!" 
 
 When she left a little later, she said, 
 "I ll be back about five. Will you be here then?" 
 "Yes, Good-by good luck to the play." 
 Once more Madge was left sitting alone but she 
 rather enjoyed it. A curious and intent expression 
 crept into her eyes, and she asked herself, 
 "What is it I am waiting for?" 
 
 When the others came back from church, Aunt 
 Abby s face was all serene as though she had 
 found peace again and were ready to go on with her 
 
MILLIONS 251 
 
 life. She went into her room to take off her cape, 
 and then Uncle Phil inquired, 
 
 "Has Miss O Brien gone yet, Madge?" 
 
 "Yes." Madge hesitated, and said, "She has 
 made up her mind to marry him now." 
 
 Doctor Cable smiled a bit. 
 
 "I supposed she would," he said. 
 
 "Now he s thinking of the money again," Madge 
 told herself. And aloud she said, 
 
 "Gordon wants to see you, Uncle." 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 And he went into Gordon s room. He left the 
 door open. From where she sat, she could just hear 
 the sound of their voices. "I wonder how he ll take 
 it?" she asked. After all, it was not easy. Pretty 
 awkward pretty grim. But when he came out a 
 few minutes later, she caught in her uncle s hard 
 blue eyes a gleam of relish. 
 
 "Ray," he said, "come in here, please." 
 
 They went into the study. This time Doctor 
 Cable shut the door, and Madge heard nothing; but 
 when they came out, Ray went straight to the tele 
 phone, and she heard her uncle say, 
 
 "Ray is finding out about trains." 
 
 She smiled a little, in spite of herself. Ray was 
 always practical ! 
 
252 MILLIONS 
 
 "I think there is one about three o clock," Uncle 
 Phil continued. "I ll go and speak to your Aunt 
 Abby. Gordon is out of danger now, and I see no 
 need of our staying here any longer. Will you 
 come along?" 
 
 "No, I ll wait till to-morrow," she said. 
 
 He gave his niece a queer little look as though 
 asking, "How much did you know about this?" For 
 a moment she thought he was going to speak; but 
 Aunt Abby came in just then, and Ray came back 
 from the telephone; and while he was telling his 
 mother that there was a train at three twenty-five, 
 old Abe appeared, to say dinner was ready. Over 
 the face of Uncle Phil crept a quiet ironical smile. 
 
 "Now," he said, "we can sit down to a good old- 
 fashioned Thanksgiving Dinner." 
 
 And some faint semblance of that smile was still 
 lurking on his lips, as at table he bowed his head 
 and said, "For what we are about to receive may 
 the good Lord make us thankful." A moment s 
 silence. Then raising her eyes Madge saw that her 
 aunt s were glistening. 
 
 "Oh, what a blessed relief it is!" said Aunt Abby 
 softly. "I ll be so glad to get back home !" 
 
 "And she means it every word," thought 
 Madge. But as they began talking of home affairs, 
 
MILLIONS 253 
 
 there came to her a realization of what they would 
 all have to face when they got back to Halesburg. 
 "So you missed the money, eh?" Nobody would 
 say it in so many words, but everyone would look it. 
 "It won t be easy," she told herself. She guessed 
 that the same unpleasant thought was running 
 through their minds as well; and she could feel all 
 three of them, each in his own way, beginning to 
 get ready just quietly to face it out. For a moment 
 she rather admired them but abruptly her thoughts 
 came to herself. "And how about me ?" Their share 
 of the silent derision would be as nothing com 
 pared to her own. She grew a little sick at the 
 prospect. 
 
 "What are your plans, Madge?" her uncle in 
 quired. 
 
 She looked up and caught them watching her not 
 at all maliciously, but with a pity which was worse. 
 It said so plainly, "Poor old Madgy. Back to the 
 store, and to the flat." 
 
 "Why, I hadn t thought about it," she said. "I 
 don t know yet just what I ll do but I ll be coming 
 home to-morrow, I think, by the first train. Do you 
 happen to have a time table, Ray?" 
 
 "Yes sure I ll look up a train," he said kindly. 
 
 After dinner, they were soon ready to start. 
 
254 MILLIONS 
 
 "Good-by, Madgy see you soon," said Ray. 
 "There s a train to-morrow at eight." 
 
 "Thank you, Ray. Good-by, Auntie." 
 
 "Good-by, my dear child God bless you!" 
 Aunt Abby kissed her suddenly. 
 
 "Come in for supper Sunday night, my dear," 
 said her uncle, gripping her hand. 
 
 "Thanks, Uncle, I will." 
 
 But she smiled at that. She had gone there for 
 supper on Sunday night for so many, many years. 
 
 "And it will be worse now," she reflected, when 
 the door had closed behind them. She stood star 
 ing. "Yes, it will be pretty awful in their homes 
 and at the store and on th street wherever I go." 
 
 For a time jn her fancy she saw herself doing the 
 old familiar things, and just how awful it would be. 
 What a drop from the grand vistas which had opened 
 up this week! Worse than before, a hundred times ! 
 . . . But as she stood there, into her face crept a 
 curious look of surprise. For the first dismay had 
 passed so quickly. It seemed to have no hold, all 
 that as though in reality she would not have to 
 face it at all. Well then, why not? But she did 
 not try to answer. It was so much pleasanter just 
 to let herself drift along with this vague anticipation, 
 without risking its collapse by examining it too soon. 
 
MILLIONS 255 
 
 5 
 
 She heard a key turned in the door outside, and 
 her pulse began to quicken. "Oh, what a little fool 
 you are. There s nothing in that," she told herself; 
 and she rose as Joe Evans came into the room. 
 
 "Hello," he said, with a friendly smile. "Gor 
 don still coming along in good shape?" 
 
 "Yes," she replied. "He s sleeping now, I think." 
 
 As she looked at Joe, she pitied him for the way 
 he would feel when he learned that Gordon was 
 to be married. But it was not only pity she felt 
 there was suspense and excitement, too. 
 
 "Where are the others?" he inquired. 
 
 "All gone home to Halesburg.J 
 
 Joe s satisfaction was quite plain. 
 
 "And is Leonora here?" 
 
 "No she s at the theatre. Thanksgiving matinee, 
 you know." 
 
 He gave a little laugh and said, 
 
 "Well, Miss Cable, thank God for you! If it 
 hadn t been for the way that you came through for 
 us last night, I reckon he wouldn t be living now. 
 But it wasn t any surprise to me. From that first 
 night I found you here, I knew we-all could count 
 on you." 
 
256 MILLIONS 
 
 "Oh, please!" she said, in a low voice, as Joe 
 stood smiling down at her. "It s over now!" And 
 then, in a more natural tone, "How splendidly it 
 has all turned out. Sit down, please. Don t you 
 want to smoke?" 
 
 When he was comfortably settled in a big chair 
 with a cigarette, she asked, 
 
 "How s the business getting on now?" 
 
 Joe threw a quizzical look at her. 
 
 "Has Gordy told you about that?" 
 
 "Yes, but not your side of it." 
 
 And soon she had him telling her about the fight 
 he had made alone. He had barely left the office, 
 he said; one night he had stayed there and slept in 
 his clothes. She listened with a look intent. She 
 had picked up her knitting now and her needles were 
 working rapidly. Again she wondered how he would 
 feel at the news that Gordon was to be married. 
 He had so few interests, so few friends. For a mo 
 ment she had a revealing sense of his spirit grop 
 ing on through the various stages of his life. Money 
 then more money. Would he grow accustomed to 
 city life? No. She remembered his dream of a 
 ranch, as soon as he got money enough. Would he 
 go alone or with a wife? Just for a minute a pic 
 ture rose of a man and a woman riding at dusk 
 
MILLIONS 257 
 
 over a stretch of rolling upland, with a big round 
 yellow moon rising over the rim of the hills. And 
 she heard his deep soft Southern voice singing a 
 prairie lullaby to the huge beasts that he called "lit 
 tle doggies." Sharply she drew in her breath and 
 went on knitting, with a frown. . . . But all this 
 time she had kept him talking, by the questions that 
 she asked, in a voice low and sympathetic. 
 
 "It must have been pretty awful," she said. "I 
 wish I could have helped you." 
 
 "You help me?" he retorted. "I reckon it s just 
 the other way. I mean that I ve been telling you 
 this so you won t put me down as a slacker for 
 keeping away as much as I did instead of being 
 here helping you to clear up this Leonora busi- 
 
 ness." 
 
 "Well, it s cleared up now," said Madge. She 
 kept her eyes upon her work. "She says she s go 
 ing to marry him." 
 
 For a moment Joe said nothing, but trembling she 
 could feel the news go into him with a stab of pain. 
 
 "She told you that?" he asked. "How soon?" 
 
 "As soon as he is strong enough." 
 
 Again there was a silence. 
 
 "I knew they d come to it," he said. 
 
 "You mustn t let that separate you and Gordon," 
 
258 MILLIONS 
 
 she replied. "The feeling you two men have for 
 each other well, it s pretty wonderful." 
 
 "Yes," he said. And after a pause, "It ll never 
 be the same again." 
 
 "Where will you live?" she asked him. 
 
 "Oh, in some hotel, I guess." 
 
 "What a pity." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 "It s a poor way of living, it seems to me. I should 
 think you d get mighty sick of it." 
 
 "Yes," he said, discouragedly, "I reckon I will." 
 
 "Then why do it?" she asked, with a cheerful air. 
 "Why don t you get a man or two to live with you, 
 in a nice little house, with a woman to take care of 
 you all?" 
 
 "I haven t many friends," he said. "I ve only 
 been here three or four years and I reckon you 
 don t quite realize what life in this city can be like. 
 It s not like a small town, where you get to know 
 people." She flushed at this, but he did not notice. 
 "You can keep to yourself and nobody cares. That s 
 the way I ve found it." 
 
 "But you haven t been here long," she retorted, 
 rather sharply, "and I feel so sure that life in New 
 York can be anything you choose to make it. There s 
 something quite thrilling to me in that. If I were 
 
MILLIONS 259 
 
 here I d want to make friends and go about and 
 see things try things I" She caught a curious look 
 in his eyes. "Now he s a little surprised 1" she 
 thought. 
 
 "How do you mean?" she heard him ask. She 
 frowned. She did not know, exactly. Besides, she 
 was finding it rather hard to keep cool and to think 
 clearly. 
 
 "Oh, it isn t easy to put it in words. But with 
 so many millions of people here all sorts and kinds 
 Americans and foreigners people making money 
 fast and throwing it all over the place then losing 
 it all ups and downs there must be some funny 
 specimens here, who would make you scream with 
 laughter and others who would make you cry. 
 Some who don t care for money at all people with 
 queer dreams inside. People who would make won 
 derful friends. And very lonely people, too." In 
 the silence she felt how that sank in. "Yes," she 
 ended, "I d want friends if I were here." 
 
 "I reckon you d have em ! 
 
 The way he said that made something leap inside 
 of her ; but she kept her eyes on her work and said, 
 in a voice even and composed, 
 
 "And then I d want to do things, too." 
 
 And she began to confide to him how she had 
 
260 MILLIONS 
 
 dreamed of a business career. But presently she 
 heard him say, 
 
 "It doesn t seem jest the life for a woman. I 
 guess I m old fashioned about such things havin 
 been raised in Tennessee. But women who get into 
 business life well, I ve seen quite a few in this 
 town and it seems to kind of harden em." 
 
 "Oh," said Madge, "they needn t stick to it all 
 their lives but I ve always thought a girl ought to 
 know things at first hand. She may marry later. 
 All right. But then at least she could be a real help 
 to her husband understand his troubles better 
 help him at times." 
 
 "Yes," he agreed, "that s different. For a girl 
 to take a job for a while, and learn a few things 
 while she s still young " 
 
 Madge caught her breath. "I see," she thought, 
 "but I m not young!" Aloud she said, decisively, 
 "Well, I m glad I took a job and I mean to keep 
 right on with it, too !" 
 
 "You mean you ll be going back?" he asked, as 
 though that were taken for granted. 
 
 "Oh, yes to-morrow," she replied. 
 
 The depression on his face increased. 
 
 "I hoped you d be stayin on a while." 
 
 "No, I think I d better go. So you can come back 
 
MILLIONS 261 
 
 here to-morrow, you see, and you two men can be 
 together." 
 
 "I reckon that won t be long," he replied. 
 
 As he talked on, she could feel his thoughts cen 
 ter more and more upon his coming loneliness. And 
 she let them. In a voice again low and sympa 
 thetic, every question that she asked made more 
 clear the picture of a dreary bachelor life. 
 
 Presently he rose to leave. 
 
 "May I come for supper to-night?" he asked. 
 
 "Why yes, if you like. I d be pleased to have 
 you," she said, in a stilted little tone. 
 
 When he had gone, she stood there with a look of 
 fast deepening dismay, as she tried to remember all 
 she had said. 
 
 "You little fool !" she exclaimed to herself, flushed 
 and angry. "For Heaven s sake let s come to our 
 senses! It s about time all this queerness stopped! 
 What I want is to get right back to what I know 
 to where I belong!" 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SHE looked in for a moment on Gordon but found 
 that he was still asleep. Then she went into her 
 own room and began getting her things together. 
 There was no need of packing yet, but she wanted 
 something to do. She did not get very far, however, 
 for in the top bureau drawer she found a letter from 
 her friend, Amanda Berry. It had come the day 
 before. She had not stopped to read it then; but 
 she sat down and read it now quickly at first, and 
 then very slowly a second time. And as she read, 
 her expression changed. 
 
 "That s funny. I never stopped to ask what she 
 must be thinking of all this." 
 
 But she guessed now, reading between the lines, 
 for she knew her friend so well. The letter was 
 careful, to a degree. Obviously Amanda had 
 jumped to the conclusion that Gordon would die, and 
 that with all his money Madge would rapidly drift 
 away. 
 
 "She knew I d never stay at home. She knew I d 
 262 
 
MILLIONS 263 
 
 offer to take her along, but she had already made up 
 her mind that she would not accept it." Amanda 
 was so fearfully proud and independent. More and 
 more Madge realized how blue and lonely her 
 friend must have been. And the knowledge brought 
 a pleasant glow. Here at last was somebody who 
 wanted her, and the effect was like a tonic. All day 
 Madge had felt herself slowly, slowly slumping back 
 to what she had been a week before ; and she had not 
 fought against it. It had not felt real enough to 
 fight. Still in a dream, she had drifted on. But 
 her talk with Joe had sent the dream flying up into 
 thin air, and now Amanda s letter brought her 
 sharply back to earth. She woke up and faced the 
 situation with clear and interested eyes. 
 
 "Now how about Amanda and me ? Gordon didn t 
 die, thank God, and I m not an heiress," she thought. 
 "But I ve had the shake up I needed, and I m going 
 to stop this holding back!" 
 
 Into her mind flashed memories of how, repeat 
 edly in the last year, Amanda had brought up the 
 plan for spending a year or so abroad, working for 
 Hoover. But Madge had held back. In vain her 
 friend had warned her of the rut they were getting 
 into, and from which they would soon be too old 
 to escape. Though again and again her imagination 
 
264 MILLIONS 
 
 had been stirred by the pictures of the roving life 
 they might lead in various countries over seas, 
 in quaint old towns and villages; of the service they 
 might render, the adventures they might find still 
 some obdurate, cautious common sense within her 
 self had kept making objections. The whole idea 
 was too strange and wild impossible ! Amanda had 
 replied by action. Having done splendid work her 
 self in the food campaign during the war, she had 
 applied to the "A. R. A.," had entered their names 
 on the waiting list, and by repeated letters had done 
 all she could to keep the way open. Good for 
 Amanda ! Madge made up her mind that now she 
 would help, and between them they would scheme 
 and contrive until they were given the chance to go. 
 
 "We ll get off just as soon as we can !" she decided. 
 "When I get home to-morrow, I ll tell her and we ll 
 start right in !" 
 
 She could see already in fancy the sudden joy on 
 the face of her room-mate, as she cried, "Three 
 cheers for our little Madge!" Then they would 
 plan excitedly, talking on late into the night; and 
 when at last they went to bed, into her room her 
 friend would come and sit down and begin to ask 
 her about this visit to New York. And so the talk 
 would begin again. With eager questions, long re- 
 
MILLIONS 265 
 
 plies, over it all from start to finish they would go. 
 What a grim, amazing time ! Up and up to millions 
 visions then plump down again to earth! "All 
 right, Little One, never you mind!" she could hear 
 the deep voice of her huge friend. "Money isn t 
 the only way of breaking loose from Halesburg. 
 Just watch us now !" And back they would come to 
 their scheming. In dreams, again they would soar 
 away over the seas. At last, as Amanda rose to go, 
 "Hold on ! Look here !" she would exclaim, in 
 tragic fashion. "WeVe completely forgotten to de 
 cide what we ll do with the rest of our lives when 
 we get back home from Europe !" 
 
 "Amanda Berry, you go to bed I" 
 
 But Madge let herself think of that now. Where 
 would they go when they got back? Halesburg? 
 No. New York? Perhaps. "Or San Francisco or 
 Hindustan or Cochin-China !" she decided recklessly. 
 "The main thing is, we ll be out of our ruts, and we ll 
 never get back in em again!" Just for an instant, 
 in a flash, a conception came to her of a whole na 
 tion, a whole world, seething with change and chang 
 ing lives from one end to the other people alone 
 or in little groups or in prodigious masses, rapidly 
 and unconsciously dropping behind them old ideas, 
 beliefs and standards, adventuring on into strange 
 
266 MILLIONS 
 
 new dreams of living. "And weVe been left out of 
 it all," she thought, "just left on a shelf betwixt 
 and between in a flat up over a furniture store. 
 And don t forget those varnished stairs!" How 
 she had detested them shiny, sticky, cheap and 
 new! Home? Their home had been a joke! 
 
 "But, on the other hand," she thought, "thank 
 God, I didn t marry a man, and get anchored down 
 for life 1" 
 
 When Leonora, a little later, came back from the 
 theatre, she found a different woman here. But at 
 first she did not notice it. Her play had gone well 
 that afternoon, and she knew that her lover was 
 safe; and engrossed in her own happiness, she went 
 in to sit by his bed. 
 
 "I can only be here an hour or so," she said 
 to Madge. "On matinee days I usually stay at the 
 theatre and rest and have some supper there but 
 to-night I don t seem to want any rest!" And she 
 added, with a little laugh, "I just couldn t keep 
 away!" 
 
 "You go right in to him," said Madge, "and 
 when supper is ready I ll let you know." 
 
 Old Abe was out for the afternoon, so she pre- 
 
MILLIONS 267 
 
 pared a light supper herself, and later sat with 
 Leonora while the girl ate rapidly. 
 
 "Is the play still picking up?" asked Madge. 
 
 "Yes, it took a jump to-day. We played to over 
 a thousand dollars nice little chinky iron men. 
 It s Thanksgiving Day, of course, and the business 
 will fall off again. Still, we re pretty sure of it now." 
 
 "I m glad," said Madge. "You ve certainly 
 worked for it hard enough." 
 
 "Yes." Over a large cup of coffee, Leonora 
 smiled at her and said, "That s something you 
 learned about me last night." 
 
 "I did " with a quick, responsive smile. "I 
 
 never thought of actresses before as working 
 women." Madge hesitated, then went on: "But I 
 wonder if you ve ever learned what a lot of other 
 things there are for women to work at, in these 
 days." 
 
 "I suppose so," Leonora said. But watching 
 the absent-minded look which came in her eyes, 
 Madge reflected, "How utterly wrapped up in them 
 selves these stage people are I" Aloud she inquired, 
 cheerfully, 
 
 "Have you made any plans about getting mar 
 ried?" 
 
 "No." 
 
268 MILLIONS 
 
 Madge grew curious. 
 
 "Will you be married in church?" she asked. 
 
 "Oh, I don t believe so " 
 
 "Where, then? Have you any home or relatives 
 here?" 
 
 "No, thank God!" With a sharp little smile. 
 "No, I live in a hotel. And I guess we ll just go to 
 the City Hall, or wherever it is and get married, 
 that s all tell the taxi-man to wait outside." 
 
 "I see," said Madge, and there was a pause. 
 "Tell me. Where did you come from?" she asked, 
 with a curious gleam in her eyes. 
 
 "From Paris." 
 
 "Wha-at?" 
 
 Leonora laughed. 
 
 "Paris, Delaware," she said. "It was a rotten 
 little town. Poor? They don t make such poverty 
 now as I was up against when I was small. And 
 strict? My God. We were Catholics." 
 
 The interest in Madge s face grew brighter, as 
 she inquired, 
 
 "Don t you ever get the feeling of living some 
 how betwixt and between?" 
 
 A puzzled look. "How do you mean?" 
 
 "Why, take my case." And in a few words Madge 
 rapidly drew the picture of the lovely old frame 
 
MILLIONS 269 
 
 house by the river, where she was born, and then 
 of Hale and Pritchett s store and the cheap flat 
 with the varnished stairs, and the swiftly changing 
 life in her town. "And I ll bet," she ended, "that 
 there are millions of us like that." 
 
 Leonora looked a little blank. 
 
 "Yes, I suppose there are," she said. "I d never 
 stopped to think of it, though. In my own case 
 I ve changed so fast I haven t had time for a 
 single think ! A week ago, I could have sworn that 
 I would never give up the stage. I may now. In 
 a few years more " 
 
 "When Gordon is worth millions," put in Madge, 
 with a quick smile. 
 
 "Exactly," Leonora said. 
 
 "And meanwhile you ll come here to live." 
 
 "I g U ess so " 
 
 "After the taxi-man has brought you up from 
 City Hall." 
 
 "That s it," said Leonora, smiling. "But look 
 have you thought over what I said this morning? 
 Don t you want to stay with us?" 
 
 "No," said Madge, "I ve plans of my own." 
 
 And she noted with satisfaction Leonora s blank 
 surprise, as she told of her plan for going abroad. 
 For several minutes she talked on, with her com- 
 
270 MILLIONS 
 
 panion throwing in friendly questions from time to 
 time. Then the girl s thoughts came back to 
 herself. 
 
 "I wish Gordy and I could go," she sighed. 
 "But I guess it s just work for months ahead. . . . 
 Hello, it s nearly seven o clock. I must be off to 
 the theatre soon." 
 
 She went back into Gordon s room for a while, 
 then came out and got ready to leave. 
 
 At the door in the hall, she took Madge s hand. 
 
 "Good luck," she said, u and thanks again, a thou 
 sand times, for what you did for us last night! I 
 don t suppose I ll see you again " 
 
 "No, I leave to-morrow early." 
 
 "Well, when you re ready to start abroad, come 
 r down here a few days ahead and let s have a 
 spree and another think!" 
 
 "All right, I ll do it! Good-bye and good 
 luck!" 
 
 For a time Madge sat alone again, now and then 
 smiling to herself. 
 
 "I wonder if we ll go to Russia ?" she asked. Sud 
 denly the smile died out. "Oh, how I d like to just 
 pitch in and work my fingers off," she thought, 
 "ladling balanced rations into the stomachs of 
 little boys!" 
 
MILLIONS 271 
 
 3 
 
 Then Joe Evans came to supper. 
 
 "Abe is out," she told him, "and we ll have to 
 get supper ourselves. Do you mind?" 
 
 "No not at all," he answered. 
 
 Joe was looking very glum. "He s thinking of 
 his future life," she thought, with satisfaction. But 
 then with a gleam of compassion, "He s blue, poor 
 boy, and he needs cheering up." In the kitchen she 
 exerted herself to change his mood. She had always 
 been an excellent cook; and now as she ordered him 
 about, and the appetizing odors of bacon, eggs and 
 coffee rose, he began to grow visibly hungry; and 
 when they sat down to supper, he looked at Madge 
 with different eyes. 
 
 "Are you still going back to-morrow?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes " 
 
 "Why don t you try New York for a while?" 
 
 "I may, some day," she answered, "but I m plan 
 ning now to go abroad." 
 
 "What? Your 
 
 "Exactly. Me." 
 
 And she began calmly to outline her plan. As 
 she talked, her animation increased, for glancing now 
 and then at his face she read his surprise and 
 interest. Madge broke off with a little laugh. 
 
272 MILLIONS 
 
 "Now be honest," she said, "and confess. You 
 thought me the kind of girl woman, I mean who 
 was fixed for life. You thought I would go right 
 back to my corner, didn t you? And that," she went 
 on, "is exactly what I would have done, if it hadn t 
 been such a tremendous shake up that I ve had this 
 week. We ve both had it, you and I and I pro 
 pose to make mine count and I advise you to do 
 the same. We ve both been jerked right out of 
 our lives and it s just as though a great big voice 
 from up in the sky were saying to us quietly, Look 
 around you. Start again. . . . Well, I mean to 
 do it!" 
 
 As Joe listened to all this, the astonishment was 
 still in his eyes. 
 
 "But," he said, "you re not going to stay abroad 
 all your life " 
 
 "No, I don t suppose I shall. We may come 
 right here to New York, for all I know," was her 
 brisk reply. "If we do, Amanda and I will look 
 around us and get jobs and then rent a little flat. 
 But it won t have any varnished stairs! Shiny, 
 sticky, smelly things " 
 
 "May I come and see you?" he put in. 
 
 "Oh, yes, and we ll ask you to supper at times 
 when we re feeling good and prosperous. And you 
 
MILLIONS 273 
 
 can take me once in a while to the opera, if you 
 care to. Unless," she added quickly, "you ve gone 
 out to your ranch by then." 
 
 "Oh, I reckon I won t be going for a few years 
 yet," he said. 
 
 "Then," she answered cheerfully, "we may get 
 here before you leave. On the other hand, Amanda 
 and I may decide we don t want to come home at 
 all. We may decide to settle down in Moscow or 
 in Petrograd." 
 
 "And be regular Bolsheviks !" said Joe. 
 
 "We may," was her prompt rejoinder. "I can t 
 say I feel much like it now but you never can tell 
 what you ll be, these days. If you try to look a 
 year ahead " 
 
 "Look here," said Joe, earnestly, "I think you re 
 making a big mistake to go running way over to 
 Russia after a lot of Bolsheviks. Fine thing to 
 feed the kids, of course but there are kids enough, 
 God knows, right here in New York, who are dying 
 like flies jest for the lack of a little help from a 
 woman like you." 
 
 "That s so," she answered gravely. "And while 
 Tm gone, if I were you I d take a boy s club do 
 your bit. It would help to fill your evenings." 
 
 His reply to that was a kind of a snort. 
 
274 MILLIONS 
 
 "But speaking of evenings," she went on, with 
 a sudden glance at the clock. She was just on the 
 point of asking, "What are we going to do to-night, 
 to celebrate Gordon s recovery?" But her glance 
 fell on the nurse, Miss Field, who had appeared in 
 the doorway. 
 
 "Mr. Cable would like to see you now," said the 
 nurse to Joe. "He s awake again." 
 
 "All right," said Joe, reluctantly rising. "You ll 
 be here this evening, I suppose," he added, to 
 Madge, with a new intension in his tone. 
 
 "Oh, yes. I have my packing to do." 
 
 But while she was attending to that, in her room, 
 which had been Joe s, once more her eye was caught 
 by the small envelope on his desk. Two tickets to 
 the opera ! She remembered they were for to 
 night! For a moment, growing a little excited, she 
 wondered whether to ask him to take her. 
 
 "No," she thought. "Gordon wants him here. 
 . . . Besides," she added, suddenly, "I think I d 
 rather go alone !" She looked at the clock. It was 
 nearly nine. "Never mind it lasts for ages and 
 I ve always been dying to hear Louise!" A little 
 later she was deciding whether or not to change her 
 clothes. "No, I haven t anything worth putting 
 on. And besides, what difference does it make?" 
 
MILLIONS 275 
 
 Breathlessly she tidied her hair and put on her 
 hat and jacket. Then she slipped quickly out of 
 the room. In the hall she came upon Miss Field. 
 
 "I don t want to disturb them now," she said. 
 "Will you say good-bye for me to Mr. Evans?" 
 
 "Oh are you going home to-night?" 
 
 "No," said Madge, serenely. "I m going to the 
 opera." 
 
 ";;"" ; 4 5 " " ". 
 
 As she got into a taxi and it rattled on its way, 
 again she thought about her clothes, but only for 
 an instant. 
 
 "Oh, who cares? I m going! I won t meet a 
 soul I know and nobody will even be aware of my 
 existence !" 
 
 At first, it seemed that she was right. For the 
 opera had already begun, her orchestra seat was 
 rather far back on a side aisle, so she slipped right 
 in; and almost at once she began to feel the magic 
 of the music. "They re singing in French!" She 
 was glad of that, for she could catch quite a few of 
 the words; and for a time she just drank in the voices 
 and the setting. Then the music, and the lines of 
 the Paris working girl hungry for life, began to pour 
 into Madge a feeling of fresh deep restlessness. In 
 
MILLIONS 
 
 a flash she saw her friend and herself on an ocean 
 liner bound for France ; and blurred, exciting pictures 
 rose before her in the glamorous dark. 
 
 The music ceased, and the spell was broken. She 
 came to herself, and all at once she felt conspicuous, 
 ill at ease. The lights were up, and she grew aware 
 of the surprised inquisitive glances of several women 
 close about. But then they forgot her, ab 
 sorbed in themselves or in watching the boxes 
 above. 
 
 "So that is the Golden Horseshoe I" Madge told 
 herself, relaxing; and her look, intent and curious, 
 went up to the gleaming gowns and the smiling faces 
 there. Every few moments her glance was caught 
 by some woman or girl more animated than the rest. 
 Gay and vivacious, pompous and fat, clever, stupid, 
 happy, cross there they were, the Notorious Rich I 
 And she wished she had an opera glass ! Her alert, 
 observant eyes went on and on, and she found her 
 self guessing where they had come from and how 
 long they had been rich. Millions? Billions! It 
 was here ! The peak of the scramble 1 Where had 
 they started? How many others were on their way, 
 scrambling busily day and night up the national 
 Dollar Hill to find places at the top I And how many 
 more had it in them, in dreams ! 
 
MILLIONS 277 
 
 "A box at the opera ! Yes," she confessed, "I was 
 thinking of one for myself, only two short days 
 ago!" She recalled that drive on the Avenue; and 
 the vistas, warm and dazzling, began to open once 
 again. With a smile she thought, "I had all that 
 inside of me and all the time Gordon hadn t a 
 cent ! I don t care I m glad it happened I Think 
 what I was a week ago! And in a month I may 
 be on a liner bound for Russia! I wonder if 
 we can t arrange to get a few days in Paris 
 first!" 
 
 Suddenly the memory of her last talk with Evans 
 broke in. "When I get back home? Oh, wait and 
 see! I tell you I won t miss this trip for any man 
 that breathes !" she decided. And feeling suddenly 
 very gay, she let her fancy bear her on; again she 
 heard the rush of waters, felt the powerful pulse 
 of the engines as the big liner in the dark went rush 
 ing eastward over the sea. 
 
 The lights in the great house of gold grew slowly 
 dim, the music came streaming through the dark, 
 the giant curtains moved softly back and Madge 
 drew in her breath with a gasp. From the heights 
 of Montmartre, with the girl on the stage, she looked 
 far down on Paris sparkling in the night. . . . And 
 now the girl was singing. 
 
278 MILLIONS 
 
 When another intermission came, in the seats close 
 by again and again some hasty glance would be 
 caught and held by the picture she made, this prim 
 little woman of thirty-two, in her brown street suit, 
 sitting alone, with a smile on her face and a curiously 
 intent expression in her blue-grey motionless eyes. 
 But she did not heed their glances now; for thinking 
 again of the last days and the amazing warmth of 
 dreams which had come surging out of herself, she 
 had a sharp and staggering sense of the presence 
 of this secret glow in millions of other human 
 breasts. The pictures came of Uncle Phil in his 
 doctor s buggy long ago, dreaming of his hospital; 
 of Aunt Abby in her kitchen, dreaming of homes for 
 her three girls; of Ray in his noisy small garage, 
 planning his great factory; of herself in Hale and 
 Pritchett s store, visioning her great career. And 
 so it was all over the land. From the people rich 
 and prosperous about her in the house of gold, her 
 mind flashed off and far away to other crowds, at 
 picture shows, and to homes in cities and small 
 towns. And she pictured a great invisible spirit 
 rushing over the earth that night, and to each one 
 of them, old and young, in every crowd, in every 
 home, whispering, 
 
MILLIONS 279 
 
 "Here s a million dollars ! In a few hours it may 
 be yours ! Tell me what you ll do with it 1" 
 
 And Madge s smile grew fixed and strange for 
 as with an electric shock she felt the secret fire rise 
 in every mother s son of them ! 
 
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