iiiili 
 
 liiiiii 
 
UJiKARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
The Truth About Tolna 
 
The singer bowed again without speaking, the melancholy 
 of his face unaltered." 
 
The 
 Truth About Tolna 
 
 By 
 
 Bertha Runkle 
 
 Author of "The Helmet of Navarre/' etc. 
 
 New York 
 
 The Century Co. 
 
 1906 
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
Copyright, 1906, by 
 THE CENTURY Co. 
 
 Published February 1906 
 
 THE DEVINNE PRESS 
 
TO 
 
 L. H. B. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAQK 
 
 I " LOHENGRIN " 3 
 
 n TOLNA 18 
 
 m MAURICE 34, 
 
 iv TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY ..... 55 
 v MR. ALDEN is NOT ALTOGETHER 
 
 PLEASED 81 
 
 vi A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 100 
 
 vii MR. ALDEN DREAMS 123 
 
 VIH MR. ALDEN WAKES 143 
 
 ix NOT TO THE PURPOSE 160 
 
 x THE CATASTROPHE 186 
 
 xi Miss FANNING MAKES A NEW FRIEND . 199 
 
 xn Miss HAMMOND FINDS AN OLD FRIEND 217 
 
 xm MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 236 
 
 xiv FURTHER TRIBULATIONS or MR. ALDEN 256 
 
 xv MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE . . . . . 281 
 
 xvi A CONTEST 303 
 
 xvii Miss HAMMOND FINDS HERSELF . . . 318 
 
 xvni THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA .... 333 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT 
 TOLNA 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 " LOHENGRIN " 
 
 THE wedding-march safely established 
 Elsa and her bridegroom in the center 
 of the stage. Denys Alden, watching from the 
 wing as anxiously as if he had made the 
 match, allowed his furrowed brow to smooth. 
 Still half afraid to release the singers from his 
 hypnotic eye, he yet turned toward the vast 
 auditorium. 
 
 Even in its semi-darkness the glitter of 
 jewels traced the two great horseshoes of 
 boxes, while, as the listeners in the orchestra 
 chairs stirred with the sweep and passion of 
 the music, jewels flashed out and paled again, 
 like an army of fireflies. Not a seat in the 
 house was empty. Not an auditor but listened 
 as if never before had the meaning of music 
 been made manifest. 
 
4 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Denys drew the deep breath of satisfaction, 
 frowning ferociously the while as his keen 
 gaze failed to discover, in the cavernous twi 
 light, the happy spot where She was sitting. 
 For he knew that until She shared his triumph 
 it was not really his, and the footlights 
 stretched before him like a flaming sword, 
 beyond which he might not even look. Defi 
 antly he turned his back on the stage; then 
 resolutely stopped, caught and held by the 
 habit of years; then trampled the habit of 
 years under his hurrying feet. 
 
 A lightly built, firm-knitted, slender crea 
 ture, graceful, restless, quick of movement, 
 eager of speech, his blue eyes burning vividly 
 under the shadow of long black hair, he burst 
 into the Burnham box with the suddenness of 
 a stage imp shot from a trap. Mr. Burnham, 
 taking his comfortable habitual nap in a back 
 corner, habitually left the duties of hospitality 
 to that alert young woman, Mrs. Burnham, 
 who greeted the visitor with a flash of eyes and 
 teeth and diamonds ; the rest, silence. So long 
 as it was fashionable to talk during the music, 
 Mrs. Nortie's ready tongue was never still. 
 But when good form said, "Mum's the word," 
 tortures could not have dragged a syllable 
 from those determined lips. Even the young 
 
"LOHENGRIN' 5 
 
 billionaire beside her was made to wait till, as 
 he put it, "this row 's over," before she would 
 discuss the dinner which she had agreed to 
 chaperon, where he would personate the War 
 den of Sing Sing, and his guests would march 
 in, in lockstep, wearing numbers and stripes. 
 Slipping past these obstacles, none of whom 
 he regarded as in any proper sense human 
 beings, Denys stood by the chair of Mrs. Fan 
 ning, Mr. Burnham's sister. 
 
 "Why, Denys," she whispered in surprise, 
 "I thought you never left the wings." 
 
 "But you were never before in the audience, 
 Aunt Alice." 
 
 The young girl leaning, absorbed, over the 
 box-rail started at the sound of his low voice, 
 and turned to him. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Alden, the half was not told me." 
 
 Mrs. Fanning began a sentence. With a 
 disregard too unconscious to be rude, Denys 
 dropped into the empty chair beside her 
 daughter. 
 
 "Miss Fanning, you are really pleased?" 
 
 "You did not half prepare me." 
 
 "I was afraid. I dared not boast lest you 
 be disappointed." 
 
 "Disappointed? I don't know whether I 
 am on the solid earth," 
 
6 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "I know that I am in heaven. To have you 
 feel as I do!" 
 
 She dropped her eyes before his ardent 
 gaze, then looked at him again with an ear 
 nestness that overcame her hesitation. 
 
 "Mr. Alden, I I don't want to rush in 
 where angels fear to tread, but does to-night 
 atone to you for your own calamity?" 
 
 "My calamity?" he echoed. "Oh, you mean 
 the failure of my singing-voice?" 
 
 The girl laughed gently. "I am answered, 
 if you don't even remember your misfortune. 
 Mother told me that, at the time, you called 
 the loss of your career the 'Great Renuncia 
 tion.' " 
 
 "It was rather a tragedy then," he con 
 ceded. "You see, though my mother gave up 
 her profession when she married, she made our 
 home a very heaven of music. I never had a 
 wish or an expectation but to follow in her 
 footsteps. My father wished it, too, in a sort 
 of passionate loyalty to her memory and an 
 understanding of all that she had given up for 
 him. And I did have the voice, and the tem 
 perament, and a tremendous power of work, 
 and a love of art that was Oh, well! You 
 know how it happened. Over-training broke 
 my voice, as I could snap the stem of that rose 
 
"LOHENGRIN" 7 
 
 of yours just as irrevocably." He fell 
 silent, his mobile face dropping into the lines 
 it had worn then. Margery looked as if, in 
 the very face of Mrs. Nortie, she was about to 
 take his hand. 
 
 He shook an elf-lock back from his fore 
 head, tossing away the black remembrance 
 with it. 
 
 "But, Miss Fanning, I've gained more- 
 far more than I ever lost. This boy's voice 
 did you ever hear tone more golden? He 
 has the physique that I never had, the good 
 looks. He is the artist born. Yes, to-night 
 does atone a thousand times. To have 
 him succeed why, it 's a thousand thousand 
 times better than to have my old dream come 
 true." 
 
 "You are very generous to find your best 
 happiness in another man's triumph." 
 
 "Oh, but it is my triumph. I discovered 
 Tolna. I have brought him up from a school 
 boy, wakened the sleeping genius, trained him 
 by my own methods, arranged his every 
 appearance." 
 
 The frank admiration in her eyes gave place 
 to a twinkle of mischief. "Ah, yes, you told 
 me that you always see him made up, and 
 decide every fold of his costumes. Then, 
 
8 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 from the wings, you watch every gesture, 
 gage every note?" 
 
 "Why, of course. It is only by such means 
 that you reach success." 
 
 "So, naturally, you call it your success? I 
 wonder what Monsieur Tolna calls it?" 
 
 Denys's dark cheek reddened, for Mar 
 gery's lightest dart could find the joints -of 
 his harness. 
 
 She went on reflectively. "I have known 
 young people who were proud of the tricks 
 they had taught their dogs and horses, but I 
 have never before met the owner of a trick 
 tenor." 
 
 "Now, that 's as unkind as it is unfair, and 
 quite unworthy of you, Miss Fanning." 
 Denys was stung to retort. "It is not I who 
 relegate the very greatest singer of our day 
 to the same category with a performing dog. 
 My share in his triumph is a very humble one. 
 I have taught him the mechanics of his pro 
 fession. I have made sure that his splendid 
 gifts should not be wasted. When he was 
 ready for it, I took him to Sbriglia. But the 
 voice, the brain, the art, the passion, all are 
 his." 
 
 If she felt the reproof, she had not the grace 
 to acknowledge it. 
 
"LOHENGRIN" 9 
 
 "Mr. Alden," she murmured, "how can you 
 set the example of talking through the 
 music?" and, turning her pretty profile to 
 ward him, she ostentatiously forgot his 
 existence. 
 
 Careless of the stage, he tried to read her 
 inscrutable face. Did she really think him an 
 egotist? Could she believe that he he, of all 
 men deprecated Tolna' s achievement? Did 
 she seriously bid him mend his manners ? 
 
 Quiet Mrs. Fanning smiled. She thought 
 she knew her exquisite Margery. It was 
 amusing, the seriousness with which the lover 
 took these feints of the tricksy maiden, who 
 obviously teased herself not less than him by 
 her alternate advances and retreats. 
 
 With a shock, Denys perceived that the act 
 was finished. The whole house, floor, boxes, 
 galleries, was with one impulse cheering the 
 performance. The curtain rose again and 
 again, till at length Elsa, in her satin and 
 pearls, and Lohengrin, in his glittering 
 breastplate, came hand in hand along the foot 
 lights to take the applause. And when, dis 
 tinct above the clapping, stamping, and cries 
 of "Bravo!" came repeated calls of "Tolna! 
 Tolna!" Elsa, laughing and curtseying to her 
 companion, drew her hand away and ran from 
 
10 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 the stage, leaving the young tenor alone to 
 his triumph. 
 
 Tall, slender, straight, his silver armor 
 against the dark curtain gleaming with un 
 earthly radiance, his outstretched hand grasp 
 ing his shining sword, his great, grave eyes 
 looking not at, but past, the audience, like 
 eyes that see visions, he was the very incar 
 nation of the militant angel, heaven-sent to 
 champion the innocent, to right distresses. 
 
 For one moment he stood absolutely still, 
 his sword, held just below the hilt, lifted up, 
 as a cross might be lifted to bless and fortify. 
 Then, with so swift a movement that one could 
 hardly say he went, he was gone. 
 
 A sigh and a shiver ran over the vast house. 
 
 Tears swimming in her eyes, Margery 
 Fanning stood poised at the very edge of 
 the box, as if about to take wing. Mrs. Fan 
 ning smiled as her handkerchief touched her 
 eyes. 
 
 "Denys, it is a triumph! I have never seen 
 a self-conscious New York audience let itself 
 go like this." 
 
 Margery dropped her fan and swept over 
 the costly wreck to his side. 
 
 "Mr. Alden, for a moment I thought it 
 was real." 
 
1 LOHENGRIN" 11 
 
 He met her dazzled eyes with proud con 
 fidence. 
 
 "It is real. Maurus is that." 
 
 "Not Lohengrin! No man could be really 
 Lohengrin!" 
 
 "Lohengrin" he affirmed, undaunted. 
 "The champion of the oppressed. Miss Fan 
 ning, that man has only two interests in life, 
 and one serves the other his art and his 
 country. Every penny that his singing 
 brings him, he gives to his down-trodden, 
 liberty-loving Hungary. He is as shy of the 
 world, as much out of sympathy with our life, 
 as much wrapt in his own ideals, as a young 
 monk." 
 
 "And he sees no one? But of course. How 
 could Lohengrin talk to Yankees?" 
 
 Her mood now was all sympathy, enthusi 
 asm, reverence, at one with his own mood. He 
 felt that he could say anything to her while 
 her eyes wore that lovely look. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Alden!" Somebody in the next 
 box would not be longer ignored. Resigning 
 himself, he shook hands across the rail with an 
 imposing matron in black velvet. 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Hammond, how do you like 
 my boy?" 
 
 Her great, dark eyes fixed him tragically. 
 
12 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "Your boy! Your angel! Your knight of 
 the Grail! Oh, Mr. Alden, what a message 
 we have received to-night! I am afraid that 
 most of them will miss the deeper ethical sig 
 nificance ! Unless the mind is attuned spirit 
 ually! Still they can't fail to get something, 
 can they? Don't you think, Mr. Alden, that 
 we are in great need of a spiritual awaken- 
 ing?" 
 
 "You and I, Mrs. Hammond? Or the 
 wicked rest-of- the- world?" 
 
 "New York, Mr. Alden. This great, 
 heartless, money-getting city. In these days 
 of divorces, and and trusts, you know " 
 
 "And flatiron buildings, and third-rail 
 accidents, and ticket-speculators," Denys 
 prompted, his interest already straying to the 
 silent daughter at her side who offered him 
 not even a look of felicitation. 
 
 "Miss Hammond!" he challenged her, 
 abruptly. 
 
 In a city of stylish girls, girls of a certain 
 careful elegance which one finds nowhere but 
 on Manhattan Island, a city of clever girls, 
 of attractive girls, but hardly of beautiful 
 girls, Honor Hammond deserved the hom 
 age that was hers. In a wilderness of brown 
 heads, dark brown, light brown, dun, flaxen, 
 
" LOHENGRIN " 13 
 
 Honor's amber locks glowed with color and 
 light. The wilderness of girls wore their hair 
 rolled softly to frame their faces, in that 
 kindly fashion so lenient to defects of feature. 
 Honor's hair, parted in the middle and rip 
 pling back like the Clytie's, revealed that her 
 features had no defects. Nor was she monot 
 onously blonde. Brows and lashes showed 
 black against her white skin, while her eyes 
 were dark, of what color no one could ever be 
 sure. Blue in some lights, sea-gray some 
 times, hazel, violet, black one gave up trying 
 to fit to them any adjective but lovely. 
 
 Now that he had made her turn round, 
 Denys had nothing whatever to say to her ; he 
 never had. She did not speak first; she never 
 did. He broke the awkward little pause. 
 
 "Miss Hammond, you have n't paid me a 
 single compliment on my star." 
 
 "I thought you wanted praise deserved." 
 
 He started as if she had struck him. 
 
 "Why, what in the why, don't you ap 
 prove of him?" 
 
 "He flatted twice." 
 
 "He did nothing of the kind," sprang to 
 Denys's tongue, but a lady had made the 
 charge. "I didn't observe it," he answered 
 stiffly. 
 
14 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " You were n't listening." 
 
 "I have spent eight years of my life listen 
 ing to Maurus Tolna." 
 
 "Then no wonder your attention wanders." 
 
 "Evidently I am becoming tone-deaf," 
 Denys answered, bowing and turning away. 
 That he was ruffled he showed as plainly as a 
 pettish child. For comfort he went straight 
 to Margery. 
 
 Sitting alone in the front of the box, she 
 did not lower her opera-glasses as he pushed 
 up a chair beside her. 
 
 "I can't imagine why I always go up and 
 talk to Miss Hammond," he confided. 
 
 "I suppose because you like to." 
 
 "But I don't." 
 
 "She is the most beautiful girl in New 
 York," Margery said cordially. 
 
 "Does the young person think that because 
 she looks like a queen she is privileged to act 
 like one?" Denys grumbled. "Not that I ever 
 saw a queen with her bad manners or her 
 beauty," he added with a change of tone, as 
 he caught a new view of Honor's head. "Oh, 
 well, what do her manners matter? She is a 
 joy forever." 
 
 Margery promptly introduced another sub 
 ject. 
 
"LOHENGRIN' 15 
 
 "What day did you say that you would 
 bring Monsieur Tolna to see us?" 
 
 Denys smiled. "I don't think I said." 
 
 "So much the better. We will fix the 
 evening now, and then mother and I will 
 invite the elect 'the soulful,' as Mrs. Ham 
 mond would say to meet him." 
 
 A troubled look succeeded his quick smile. 
 
 "You are not in earnest, Miss Fanning? 
 You know how scrupulously I carry out his 
 wish to meet nobody." 
 
 "Perhaps we 're not all as barbarian as he 
 thinks us." 
 
 "He does n't think you barbarian at all. 
 Merely as alien as if you lived on another 
 planet. He does n't speak English" 
 
 "I suppose he speaks something beside his 
 native Magyar German or French? Well, 
 so do we." 
 
 The furrow was plowed deep on Denys's 
 forehead. 
 
 "Miss Fanning, I should like to have you 
 know the boy. But he won't mix with peo 
 ple. His art is his life. He is by nature a 
 hermit." 
 
 "He 'd come if you asked it. I 'm not peo 
 ple. I 'm Margery Fanning." 
 
 "That 's a cogent reason to bring me. 
 
16 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 But I 'm very much afraid it won't bring 
 Tolna." 
 
 "Evidently you don't wish him to come." 
 
 "I don't think he will come. Remember, 
 he is a foreigner and a recluse." 
 
 "And your intimate friend, who would do 
 you so slight a favor if you simply asked 
 him." 
 
 "You don't understand or, at least, you 
 won't understand." 
 
 "I understand very well." She lifted her 
 glasses to scan the house, but the faces were 
 blurred through sudden tears that surprised 
 herself. Impulsively she turned back to 
 Denys. 
 
 "Oh, New York is very different from the 
 Tyrol! There, you seemed to want to confide 
 in me. You talked all the time of your won 
 derful Tolna. Of course you knew that if you 
 and I were really friends, I must expect 
 some day to meet your alter ego,, your more 
 than brother. But it seems that, after all, I am 
 just a casual acquaintance, not to be allowed 
 in the same room with the real friend." 
 
 "Dear heart!" he protested, too startled to 
 know what he was saying. "You can't mean 
 that! I thought you were just teasing me. 
 If you are really hurt will you and your 
 
" LOHENGRIN " 17 
 
 mother come behind the scenes after the 
 opera? I shall bring Maurus to your house 
 on any evening you appoint, but I can't let 
 you say good-night thinking that of me." 
 
 "Oh, Denys!" Margery cried. "Oh, 
 Mummy! do you hear what Denys says? He 
 is going to take us behind the scenes to meet 
 Tolna." 
 
 "To meet Tolna? The illusive, elusive, 
 unapproachable Tolna? Without the paint 
 and the powder?" 
 
 "Without the wig and buskin, Aunt Alice." 
 
 "But I thought no human eye had ever 
 beheld him off the stage." 
 
 "You '11 be the first that ever burst into 
 his private life." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 TOLNA 
 
 TOHENGRIN, finding, after all, that he 
 J j could not abide a wife made in Germany, 
 decided to emigrate. No storm of applause 
 greeted the final curtain, the crowd being too 
 eager to get away to supper, to dances, 
 possibly, in rare instances, to bed. But it was 
 a genuine tribute to the performers that the 
 opera was not forgotten the instant the lights 
 were turned on. 
 
 "Don't speak to me," Mrs. Norton Burn- 
 ham bade her assiduous swain. "What do I 
 care about your old favors? I wish we were 
 n't going to supper with you now. I want to 
 be left alone to dream of that Adonis of a 
 Lohengrin. I never saw such a beauty in my 
 life." 
 
 "But I 've bought the favors already," 
 Willoughby Smith pleaded eagerly. "Gold 
 handcuffs for the girls, life-preservers and 
 jimmies for the men. We '11 light the room 
 
 18 
 
TOLNA 19 
 
 with burglars' lanterns well, I won't tell you 
 everything, but you can bet that I 've got 
 some of the cutest ideas ever. Now what I 
 want to know is, do they eat off tin plates?" 
 
 His face puckered anxiously. Mrs. Burn- 
 ham removed her mind from Lohengrin and 
 applied it to the immediate subject with the 
 vigor which had won for her her well-deserved 
 social eminence. 
 
 "I don't remember what we used when I 
 did time. Your next move, Willie, is to inter 
 view the Sing Sing warden, and make him let 
 you see them eat. We must have every detail 
 correct, or there 's no point to the thing. And 
 I don't intend to be mixed up in a fizzle." 
 
 Mr. Burnham, having aroused himself with 
 reluctance, was talking over the box-rail to the 
 senior partner of Hammond & Clive, Archi 
 tects. But unless Lohengrin had lately con 
 cerned himself with B. R. T., they were not 
 speaking of him. Mrs. Hammond, however, 
 had enthusiasm for two. 
 
 "That divine Tolna!" she sighed. "How 
 he does make one forget trivialities! After 
 such an evening as this, one is lifted above the 
 carking cares of this world. Tell me, Mrs. 
 Fanning, does Mr. Alden belong to the 
 famous John Alden family?" 
 
20 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "I never asked, Mrs. Hammond; I have not 
 your enthusiasm for pedigrees." 
 
 "Say, rather, you have n't had my toil 
 at them. I was obliged to master the 
 subject, you know, when I was chairman 
 of the first Admissions Committee of the 
 Dames." 
 
 The two daughters, after a murmured 
 "Miss Hammond," "Miss Fanning," neither 
 joined their mothers' talk nor started a topic 
 of their own. Silence, however, was never 
 conspicuous in Mrs. Hammond's neighbor 
 hood. That lady pursued the subject. 
 
 "But I should think you must know, Mrs. 
 Fanning. Are n't you related to him?" 
 
 "Not at all, though thirty years ago his 
 mother taught him to call me 'Aunt.' When 
 I was a girl, I met her and her husband at a 
 pension in Rome. She was the most fasci 
 nating creature I ever saw, half Irish, half 
 French, married to a young attache at the 
 American Legation, who for grace and breed 
 ing might have been a prince of the blood. 
 She had been a prima donna and she had the 
 most glorious voice, which her boy my 
 Denys, a little chap, then, of five or six had 
 inherited. Years after, he was preparing for 
 opera, with wonderfully brilliant prospects, 
 
TOLNA 21 
 
 when his voice broke down from over-training. 
 It was a tragedy." 
 
 "You had kept track of him all these 
 years?" 
 
 "I am sorry to say I had not. She and I 
 meant to write always, but you know how that 
 ends. I had n't thought of Denys for twenty 
 years, till, last summer, I met him in the woods 
 of the Tyrol, and those blue eyes in the dark 
 face brought it all back to me. Strange to 
 say, he remembered that he had once had a 
 'tante Alixe.' " 
 
 "What a delightful chance! For I under 
 stand that he and Monsieur Tolna are Damon 
 and Pythias." 
 
 "Except when Pythias goes yachting. 
 Denys says that \ a difference of attitude at 
 sea the contrast between the perpendicular 
 and the horizontal is a strain on the strong 
 est friendship. Just then Monsieur Tolna 
 was cruising around Cyprus, so that we could 
 only hear about him. It does seem as if Tolna 
 were sent! It was in the dark days after his 
 own voice went, when life was a blank to him, 
 that Denys found this boy with the golden 
 throat." 
 
 "How touching that is! They say he is a 
 count, too, in Hungary. I suppose you have 
 
22 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 been studying astrology this winter, Mrs. 
 Fanning, with everybody else? Only by the 
 theory of conjunction of planets can we ac 
 count for such a friendship. The dreamy 
 Magyar, the practical American! The palm 
 and the pine!" 
 
 "I never saw any palms in Hungary," said 
 Mrs. Fanning, resenting an implied dispar 
 agement of the man who had had the grace to 
 remember her after more than five and twenty 
 years. "Denys Alden is worthy the friend 
 ship of anybody." 
 
 "Oh, he is most attractive," Mrs. Ham 
 mond acknowledged graciously. "So accom 
 plished ! So original ! But of course he 's not 
 Tolna. Surely you, like the rest of us, 
 worship from afar!" 
 
 "No; that does n't content us. Margery 
 and I are on our way to meet him behind the 
 
 scenes." 
 
 Mrs. Hammond gasped, but countered 
 admirably. 
 
 "Indeed! How awkward it is to meet 
 stage-people! They 're so impossible soci 
 ally." 
 
 Mrs. Burnham, who had ears of the sharp 
 est, broke off in the midst of her mandate to 
 Willie "You must send the Black Maria 
 
TOLNA 23 
 
 after the guests" to whirl round on her 
 sister-in-law. 
 
 "Is Alden going to take us to meet Tolna?" 
 
 "He said just Margery and me," Mrs. 
 Fanning answered, quailing a little. 
 
 "He can't very well leave me out your 
 hostess," Mrs Nortie cried. The other was 
 silent, whereupon Mrs. Burnham's good- 
 humor, never ruffled while she was having her 
 own way, returned in all its native buoyancy. 
 "I '11 take Mr. Smith along. Willie," she 
 cried abruptly, her eyes kindling with inspira 
 tion "Willie, I '11 get Tolna for your dinner. 
 Oh, Mr. Alden," she went on, as Denys 
 reentered the box, "I want to bring Willie 
 Smith behind to meet Tolna. You don't 
 mind, do you?" 
 
 Denys looked a profound regret. 
 
 "Unfortunately, I have just promised 
 Tolna to limit myself to two ladies, Mrs. 
 Burnham." 
 
 "Oh, all right. Then Willie can wait here 
 with Norton. But you certainly said three 
 ladies, Mr. Alden." 
 
 Denys hesitated. 
 
 "Suppose," he suggested finally, "that in 
 stead of going behind, you all come to supper 
 with me at Sherry's?" 
 
24 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "With you and Tolna?" 
 
 "Only with my humble self. Tolna does n't 
 go to suppers." 
 
 "Then you '11 not introduce him to Alice 
 and Margery till I 'm out of the way?" 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Burnham, I am desolated. 
 But you have heard about Tolna's ways. 
 Apart from professional people, he has n't 
 consented to meet a single stranger. Even I, 
 his manager, have n't asked it. Just now, and 
 with trouble enough, too, I wrung from 
 him permission to bring round my old friend 
 and her daughter. But I had to give him my 
 word to ask no one else. You see, dear lady, 
 I 'm helpless." 
 
 "Well!" ejaculated the astonished hostess. 
 "Well!" The explosive force of the mono 
 syllable seemed to bode ill for her guests, when 
 quiet Mr. Burnham intervened with a casual 
 "Come, Jess." 
 
 "Good-night, then," she added, with exag 
 gerated courtesy, and swept her chiffon 
 flounces from the box. 
 
 "Jessie!" Mrs. Fanning cried. "Jessie! 
 Wait, my dear child," while Denys started in 
 pursuit. 
 
 "Mummy! Mr. Alden!" enjoined the im 
 perious Margery, and laughed to see them 
 stop obediently. "I beg your pardon. I 
 
TOLNA 25 
 
 did n't mean to give orders. But really, I 
 never saw two such craven spirits. Jessie runs 
 all New York. Nobody ever says her nay. Do 
 defy the tyrant for once. I saw Uncle Nor 
 ton's eyes twinkle. I 'm sure he thought it was 
 good for her character." 
 
 "I 'm sure she did n't like it," lamented 
 Mrs. Fanning. 
 
 "Like it?" laughed Margery. "She was 
 furious. I know I should have been, and she's 
 only a year or two older than I am, and not a 
 day wiser. Now, Mummy, do be human 
 enough to enjoy seeing your exuberant young 
 sister-in-law put down." 
 
 But not even to please her adored daughter 
 could Mrs. Fanning enjoy anybody's discom 
 fiture. 
 
 "Aunt Alice, it was my fault," interposed 
 the contrite Denys: "I left her out just to 
 tease her because she undertook to manage my 
 show. I'm awfully sorry that you are an 
 noyed." 
 
 "We ought not to have let you ask us, 
 without her, when we were her guests," 
 grieved Mrs. Fanning. "I do feel most un 
 comfortably rude." 
 
 "Oh, dear Mummy! Must you? Mr. 
 Alden has tried so hard to give us a pleasure." 
 
 At this, Mrs. Fanning forgot Jessie's 
 
26 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 grievance in contrition for his, and sum 
 moned up a smile for him. "Of course, dear. 
 Lead the way, Denys. We are all on fire to 
 meet the hero." 
 
 "Mr. Alden," Margery found a chance to 
 say, "you forgive my insistence? After all 
 you have told me, you can't wonder that I 
 long to meet Monsieur Tolna." 
 
 "Please forgive my resistance," he an 
 swered, and her smile conveyed more than 
 pardon. Yet he felt an unexpected pang. 
 Her interest in Tolna as his friend he had 
 found delightful, but interest in Tolna as 
 Tolna! "Good Lord!" he thought, disgusted 
 at himself, "am I jealous of Maurice?" 
 
 As they approached the sacred precincts 
 "behind," Miss Fanning lingered: 
 
 "Oh, I half want to go back. He can't be 
 what I think he is." 
 
 "Wait," Denys answered simply, knocking 
 at a closed door, once white but now gray, 
 scrawled over in pencil with the heart-thrilling 
 names of famous singers. 
 
 A quivering moment of expectancy, and 
 the hero came out under the crude electric 
 
 light. 
 
 Tall, he was lent an air of greater height 
 by the fur-lined overcoat falling to his feet. 
 
TOLNA 27 
 
 His hair, now that Lohengrin's flaxen curls 
 were gone, was dark brown, thick and wavy. 
 His pale, distinguished face bore the indefin 
 able but unmistakable look of race; his eyes, 
 almond-shaped under wide, level brows, were 
 grave as with all the sorrows of the world. He 
 bowed deeply, in silence, to each of the ladies, 
 as Denys pronounced their names. 
 
 Margery swept a curtsey. Mrs. Fanning, 
 feeling that the occasion demanded an un 
 usual speech, tried vainly to think of one. 
 "Denys," she murmured, "he certainly does 
 make one feel that one ought to kiss his hand." 
 Slipping easily into French, she bespoke 
 Tolna: "You should be very happy, monsieur, 
 in the power to give so much pleasure to 
 others." 
 
 The singer bowed again without speaking, 
 the melancholy of his face unaltered. 
 
 "These ladies are my oldest friends, 
 Maurus," Denys explained. 
 
 Bowing again, Tolna looked from one to 
 the other of them, without a word, with no 
 slightest change of expression. Mrs. Fan 
 ning could not feel encouraged to linger. She 
 bestowed on the genius her pretty, concilia 
 tory smile. 
 
 "We are greatly privileged, Monsieur 
 
28 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Tolna, to be allowed to tell you how much we 
 admire your work. I have heard many 
 Lohengrins; never a greater one than to 
 night. And now we must not trespass 
 longer." 
 
 "You did n't think him rude, Aunt Alice?" 
 Denys besought eagerly, as they groped their 
 way down the dark steps. "You see what I 
 mean about dreading to force introductions 
 upon him. He does n't mean to be rude. He 
 simply does n't know how to make conversa 
 tion for the inhabitants of another world." 
 
 "Oh, I 'm so glad that he did n't speak." 
 Margery answered for her mother. "He 
 could n't have said anything half so fine as his 
 silence. You 'd as soon expect Watts's 
 Galahad to talk to you. I am so happy." 
 
 "I am so glad," said Denys, truly, with re 
 covered loyalty to his friend. 
 
 Leaving his companions in the lobby while 
 he looked up his brougham, he did not notice 
 Mrs. Burnham waiting with Mr. Smith while 
 the executive husband hurried her carriage. 
 But she, whom nothing escaped, noticed him, 
 and turned upon the ladies with her dazzling 
 smile. 
 
 "Dear Alice," she said, "you have such a 
 gift for training. Margy is such a success. 
 
TOLNA 29 
 
 If you do get Denys Alden for her, just 
 teach him manners, too. If he had the most 
 rudimentary notions of behavior, he would n't 
 be a bad match, and we 'd all give him the glad 
 hand." 
 
 Her clear voice carried far, and several 
 heads turned. Margery, scarlet to her ears, 
 could find no voice to retort. Mrs. Fan 
 ning lacked the retort. To make mat 
 ters worse, Denys chose this instant for his 
 return. 
 
 Quite satisfied that she bore away the 
 honors of war, Mrs. Burnham departed with 
 another suave good-night. 
 
 "Here 's the brougham, Aunt Alice. Why, 
 what is the matter?" 
 
 "Jessie Burnham's impertinence." 
 
 Denys looked at her in exaggerated sur 
 prise. 
 
 "Aunt Alice, Mrs. Nortie must have out- 
 Heroded Herod if you call her impertinent. 
 What did she say?" 
 
 "You did n't hear?" 
 
 "I did n't even see her. Honor Hammond 
 was just going by." 
 
 "Come along, pussy." The mother was all 
 smiles again, but the girl's face and voice 
 were cold. 
 
30 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "Please tell the man to take us home, Mr. 
 Alden. I 'm too tired to go to supper." 
 
 "Oh, but you said you would," he pleaded, 
 while Mrs. Fanning motioned with her lips, 
 "Better come, pet." But Margery replied in 
 a weary voice that matched her words : 
 
 "The music was too exciting. Mr. Alden, 
 won't you excuse us?" 
 
 He had so counted on another hour of 
 happy talk. With a sigh, he put the ladies in 
 the brougham and gave the chauffeur their 
 address. 
 
 "My dear Denys," Mrs. Fanning pro 
 tested, "you '11 take us home, not send us? 
 We can't wrest your automobile from you." 
 
 "Perhaps Miss Fanning had rather be 
 alone with you," Denys answered wistfully. 
 
 "Yes, to-night, thank you, Mr. Alden. 
 You are always considerate." 
 
 "Margy, why did you punish him so?" Mrs. 
 Fanning demanded, as the automobile rolled 
 out into Broadway. "He had n't even com 
 mitted the crime of hearing what Jessie said." 
 
 Despite the uncertain light of the streets, 
 she could see the red burn in Margery's 
 cheeks, while her voice shook. 
 
 "I won't endure having people hand me 
 over to " to say his name was impossible. 
 
TOLNA 31 
 
 "My dear child, nobody is handing you 
 over, least of all your mother, who dreads the 
 very thought of giving up her daughter." 
 
 Margery's hand slid into that kind elder 
 hand that had never failed her. 
 
 "You 're always lovely, Mummy. But 
 oh, dear, because one finds a person pleasant 
 to talk to, does that excuse Jessie's outrageous 
 insin " she broke off, choked with an angry 
 disgust, while her mother stroked her hair in 
 silent consolation. When Margery spoke 
 again, the voice that a moment ago had trem 
 bled with wrath trembled with laughter. 
 "Besides, if I must be credited with possessing 
 Mr. Alden, I will possess him. He sha'n't 
 go mooning after any beautiful Miss Ham 
 monds." 
 
 "Oh, Madge! is that it? He does n't care 
 a straw for Honor Hammond." 
 
 Margery laughed again, snuggling up to 
 her mother's shoulder like an affectionate 
 kitten. 
 
 "To tell the truth, Mummy, I am not much 
 worried over Honor. But it was such fun to 
 give old Denys a shock." 
 
 MEANTIME, Denys, plodding home across 
 the snow-covered city, was wondering whether 
 
32 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 his divinity was merely tired, or, for some in 
 explicable reason, offended. She was not very 
 strong, he knew ; yet a moment before she had 
 seemed in the highest spirits. But how could 
 he have displeased her? If Mrs. Burnham 
 had been rude about him, as he was keen 
 enough to guess, why must Margery lay his 
 enemy's sins on his shoulders? 
 
 By turns, his mind supported each possi 
 bility, as a juggler tosses yet another and 
 another ball. He might have distracted him 
 self for hours over the problem, but that, as 
 he neared his house, old habit appealed to the 
 ruling passion of his life concern for 
 Maurice Tolna. "I need n't have sent him 
 home alone, and I ought n't to," he thought, 
 as he visualized the tenor's carriage wrecked 
 by a trolley-car. "And how could I have let 
 him stand indoors with his fur coat on?" A 
 sudden apprehension of hazard to the singer's 
 wonderful high C smote him with a physical 
 pang. 
 
 Convinced that something must have gone 
 wrong, since to acknowledge that all might 
 go right, was to deny the indispensability of 
 Mr. Denys Alden, he crossed Park Avenue 
 and turned down his own block. There were 
 few lamp-posts, and most of the houses were 
 
TOLNA 33 
 
 dark. Suddenly he quickened his pace, as he 
 detected, across the way, the figure of a man 
 lounging against an area railing, apparently 
 in deep study of the building that sheltered 
 the eminent Tolna. 
 
 "Burglar or reporter?" wondered Denys, 
 just as the policeman on the beat neared the 
 lurking prowler. His hand rested easily on 
 his night-stick as he said with jaunty polite 
 ness, "Good avenin'." 
 
 "Good evening, Dillon," came the ready 
 answer. "Easy with that plaything ; I 'm just 
 taking my evening stroll." 
 
 The lounger slid off the rail, removing his 
 hat. 
 
 Dillon exclaimed, "Mr. Tolna! Well, I 'm 
 dommed ! To hear you talk United States !" 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MAURICE 
 
 not? I was n't born in County 
 Clare," the tenor retorted, as Denys 
 seized his arm. 
 
 "Maurice, art thou mad, then?" he said in 
 rapid French. "Come into the house and 
 hold thy tongue, idiot that thou art!" 
 
 "All right," acquiesced the Hungarian 
 patriot. "Come along, Dillon, and have a 
 drink." 
 
 "An' I med a shtep forward to accept his 
 invitation," Mr. Dillon explained, some days 
 later, to an enterprising reporter, "whin I see 
 Mr. Alden's face under the gas-light. Well, 
 you bet I did n't go. I says, 'Thankin' ye 
 kindly, sor, but I can't lave me bate.' An' he 
 says, the dago, I mane, 'Nayther can I, 
 worse luck! Good-night, Mr. Dillon.' ' 
 
 On their own steps, out of the policeman's 
 hearing, Denys burst out, "In the name of 
 common sense, why English?" 
 
 34 
 
MAURICE 35 
 
 Before Tolna could answer, the door was 
 flung open by an agitated valet. 
 
 "Ah, Monsieur Aldanne, how I am glad 
 that you arrive. My monsieur, I could do 
 nothing with him. He would stand himself 
 in the snow the melting snow, monsieur." 
 
 "The snow melts I don't," the guilty one 
 retorted, as Francois rid him of fur coat and 
 overshoes. 
 
 "No, monsieur! But if monsieur's voice 
 melts, and then monsieur's dollars?" 
 
 "Then I will go valeting some other poor 
 devil of a singer, and make his life a burden, 
 as Fran9ois has taught me how." 
 
 "The first thing," announced Denys, who, 
 not being a celebrated singer, had taken off 
 his own coat and overshoes "the first thing 
 on the program is to make you a hot Scotch." 
 
 Half-way up the stairs the other turned 
 with a flashing smile. "Oh, Denys, let it be 
 the last, too!" 
 
 His keeper sprang after him. Tolna 
 cleared the rest of the flight four steps at a 
 time, at the top suddenly letting out the full 
 volume of his magnificent voice : 
 
 ' ' Oh, let me the cannikin clink, clink, 
 And let me the cannikin clink ! ' ' 
 
36 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 The chandelier in the library shook, and 
 all its old-fashioned prisms rang. Denys 
 flung himself on the singer. 
 
 "Stop it, you loon! They '11 hear you in 
 the next house." 
 
 "Be a treat for 'em. Never mind me, 
 Denny; hurry up that Scotch. 
 
 "The tenor 's a man 
 Man's life 's but a span : 
 Why, then let the tenor drink." 
 
 "He seems not to have waited for leave." 
 
 Maurice's beautiful, mournful face might 
 have melted the heart of a gargoyle. 
 
 "Commentary on the life of a much-envied 
 singer! Whenever he shows the least indica 
 tion of good spirits, his friends conclude them 
 to be alcoholic. Oh, mine is a gay life ! No, 
 father confessor; I have touched not, tasted 
 not, handled not. But, beginning with the 
 pleasant poison you thrust upon me, hence 
 forth do I drown my sorrows in the bowl ! A 
 good scheme, eh, Fra^ois?" And he re 
 peated the proposition in laborious French. 
 Francois smiled, as one humors a child's 
 vagaries. 
 
 "It might be agreeable. Monsieur's career, 
 however" 
 
MAURICE 37 
 
 "Oh, damn my career!" 
 
 "You came near damning it yourself, 
 Maurice. What possessed you to camp in a 
 snowdrift after singing?" 
 
 "I was enjoying a view of my cage from 
 the outside. Bars look so much prettier from 
 without than from within." 
 
 Denys eyed his friend curiously; looked 
 away, resolved to mind his own business; 
 looked back again, and spoke. 
 
 "What is the matter, boy? You Ve been 
 out of sorts for a month." 
 
 "Can't you let a poor singer have even a 
 grouch in peace?" 
 
 "I can't understand the wherefore of it. 
 You 're making fifty thousand a year; you 're 
 the idol of the hour " 
 
 "I suppose you mean the letters I never 
 read, from women I never heard of." 
 
 "That 's your loss. A look at them would 
 cure Hamlet's melancholy." 
 
 "Not if they were written to him. They 
 make me sick." 
 
 "I 'm going to publish a book some 
 day," Denys mused. " ' The Matinee Girl's 
 Complete Letter- Writer and Hero-Wor 
 shiper's Guide.' There was one note, yester 
 day, beginning : c I could not write to you, a 
 
38 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 stranger, did I not feel that so beautiful a 
 face- 
 
 "Shut up, you ass!" 
 
 "I 'm not composing it. It was in your mail 
 yesterday, 'that so beautiful a face must be 
 the symbol of a beautiful soul ' 
 
 A sofa-pillow took him full in the mouth, 
 thence to fall on his glass and break it. 
 
 "You 're not cut, Denys ? No, I see it is n't 
 cut glass," Tolna answered himself, as he 
 bent to pick up the fragments. But Alden 
 cried out with his never-sleeping anxiety : 
 
 "Maurice, don't touch it! Ring for Fran- 
 
 With a groan of disgust, the tenor flung 
 himself down on the divan, his face against 
 the wall. Francois, coming in, was bidden to 
 clear away the breakage. His master rolled 
 over, fixing the valet with a solemn eye. 
 
 "Francois, what dost think of a pretended 
 friend, a traitor, who makes himself to cut 
 the throat of his unsuspecting comrade, his 
 brother of the heart, with a piece of glass?" 
 
 The valet looked bewildered. "But mon 
 sieur is not hurt?" 
 
 Maurice clutched the man's wrist. His 
 voice was intense, his eyes glittered. 
 
 "No, not to-night. To-night, seest thou, I 
 
MAURICE 39 
 
 foiled him. But for this long time he seeks 
 to kill me. Inch by inch, day by day, for 
 a long, long time. He sucks out my life 
 as a vampire sucks blood. Understandest 
 thou?" 
 
 It was evident that Fra^ois was far from 
 understanding. Held in Maurice's tight 
 grip, he glanced at "Monsieur Aldanne," 
 frightened, incredulous, suspicious, altogether 
 puzzled. His eyes, slinking away from the 
 indignant glance they encountered, fell again 
 on his master's tense face. 
 
 "Monsieur," he stammered "monsieur, it 
 seems impossible." 
 
 "Monsieur jests," Denys interrupted 
 sharply. "Go!" 
 
 Fra^ois obeying with all alacrity, Denys 
 broke into unwilling laughter. 
 
 "How old are you, Maurice? Ten? For a 
 minute that fool believed you." 
 
 The tenor sat up, smoothing back*the strag 
 gling hair that had lent so much to his dra 
 matic effect. 
 
 "Ha! ha! scoffer, am I then great? You 
 always say that I can't act. You see for 
 yourself that I can, only your rotten operas 
 don't give my genius any scope." 
 
 "I '11 let Weber and Fields have you." 
 
40 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "Do! That 's just in my line. I 'd sing 
 'em Jeames's song: 
 
 "R. Hangeline, R. Lady Mine, 
 Dost thou rem-e-em-ber Jeames? " 
 
 till there was n't a dry eye in the house. No, I 
 would n't, though; I 'm sick of the foot 
 lights." 
 
 "I wish you 'd confide in your anxious 
 manager. What is the matter with you? It 
 is n't overwork, that I '11 swear. And it is n't 
 nerves, for I 've known you fourteen years, 
 and you have n't any. As far as I can see, 
 everything is lovely and the goose hangs high. 
 I can only conclude that you 're in love." 
 
 Maurice ejaculated a sound between a 
 laugh and a snort. 
 
 "In love? Me?" 
 
 "Yes, you." 
 
 "Gad! I wish I was. But where under the 
 canopy do I meet anybody to fall in love 
 with?" 
 
 "Well, I have suspected it was Arnheim." 
 
 Maurice groaned. "Arnheim? Arn ? 
 Great Scott! man, she 's an opera-singer." 
 
 "Does that make you immune?" 
 
 "Might n't some Johnnies, perhaps," he 
 
MAURICE 41 
 
 conceded doubtfully. "I 'd as soon cherish a 
 tender passion for that andiron. Lord, how 
 I hate everything that has to do with the life !" 
 
 " You have been in the life, studying and 
 performing, for eight years. I never heard 
 you say a word against it before. If it is n't 
 a woman that has upset you, then what the 
 deuce is it?" 
 
 Maurice, looking down into the fire, smiled 
 a tender smile, such as the sweetheart he 
 denied might well have been happy to inspire. 
 
 "Don't you really know what it is, Denys? 
 It 's New York." 
 
 His comrade looked blank. 
 
 Maurice amplified. "Little old New York, 
 where I was born. I was all right till you 
 brought me here. Over there, I did n't mind 
 the confinement. There was nothing to be 
 confined from " 
 
 "Paris, Rome, Vienna, nothing? O ye 
 gods!" 
 
 "Well, I suppose I am the only good Amer 
 ican who does n't want to go to Paris when he 
 dies. I might like it if I had seen it first as a 
 man. But it 's no place for a boy. And what 
 an awfully forlorn youngster I was! I had 
 just lost father and mother and two setter 
 puppies. Besides, the grocer from Sixth 
 
42 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Avenue who bought our house threw my tele 
 phone my telephone, that I had made myself 
 into the ash-barrel. I saw it there. Then 
 you took me away from my school and my 
 playmates, and put me where I could n't 
 speak a word of the language and had to play 
 with mocking little French boys in buttoned 
 kid shoes. Sometime I am going to have a 
 model made of Paris like the ones in archi 
 tectural shows and kick it!" 
 
 "But that homesickness was only at first. 
 You outgrew it." 
 
 "Oh, yes ; but I never outgrew remembering 
 that early misery, and chalking it up against 
 Paris. Then we moved on to Heidelberg, for 
 me to learn German; and because I came from 
 France, young German}^ had no use for me. 
 By the time we went to Rome I was hardened. 
 Not that I love Rome more, but other places 
 less. Then came Berlin, Dresden, Paris 
 again, Vienna, St. Petersburg. They were all 
 much of a muchness to me. I never really 
 liked any of 'em, but by this time I had for 
 gotten what home was like. And when the 
 Americans over there told me how dirty and 
 noisy and ugly and crude and sordid and vul 
 gar New York was, I believed 'em. Bless its 
 heart!" 
 
MAURICE 43 
 
 Denys's face was lighted with a keen inter 
 est. 
 
 "Curious," he commented. "Most children 
 that are educated abroad never feel at home 
 in the States afterwards. I came home at 
 twenty and stuck it out one winter; hated my 
 country every hour of that time. And now, 
 if this was n't Tom Tiddler's ground, I 'd go 
 back to-morrow. Let 's see; you were four 
 teen when I took you across, and you were 
 there thirteen years. Then you strike Ameri 
 can soil and rave like this." 
 
 "Reversion to type. Ever hear of a savage 
 rescued by missionaries, brought up by sound 
 Evangelicals, and sent home to bring sweet 
 ness and light to the tribe? What 's he doing, 
 the end of the second week? Why, helping his 
 three wives eat his grandmother." 
 
 "So you want to 'revert,' do you?" 
 
 "In the first place," mused Maurice "in 
 the first place, I want to be obliged to get up 
 early. Oh, yes ; I know I sleep like a pig till 
 noon, but I can't enjoy it because it 's my 
 duty to sleep late. If it was my duty to get 
 up early, how I should revel in lazy Sundays, 
 reading the papers in bed! Week-days, I 
 should have breakfast at half -past seven- 
 fruit, oatmeal, and beefsteak and fried pot a- 
 
44 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 toes, and hot biscuits and waffles. Then I 
 should take a Fourth Avenue car " 
 
 "And hang on to a strap for forty -two 
 blocks." 
 
 "Glad of the chance. You have n't let me 
 ride on a trolley-car once, for fear of mi 
 crobes, and in the old days there were n't any 
 trolleys ; only yellow horse -cars on Broadway, 
 and red on Fourth Avenue," Maurice com 
 plained. "Well, anyhow, I 'd go down to my 
 office to scratch round all day for a living, in 
 company with a crowd of my fellow-towns 
 men of precisely my aims and ideals. Then 
 I should come home to dinner at half -past six, 
 seven, when we had company, and in the 
 evening I should take my wife to the the 
 ater-" 
 
 "Then there is a girl in it?" 
 
 " Yes, there 's a dream-girl that wears light 
 blue." 
 
 "Well, of all the bourgeois ideals" 
 
 "That 's what I am bourgeois to the back 
 bone. Nobody knows it better than you." 
 
 Denys's face puckered into laughter. "It 's 
 the biggest joke in the world. Here are you 
 with your wonderful voice and perfect ear 
 and perfect physique for singing. And you 
 are no more a musician than the boy that 
 
MAURICE 45 
 
 hands out the programs. You Ve got that 
 beautiful, high-bred face don't throw any 
 more pillows, I beseech you! I am not com 
 plimenting you. I am merely enumerating 
 the firm's assets. You have extraordinary 
 personal beauty, and such pleading eyes that 
 nobody can look at you without wanting to 
 give you a bone. If there were ever anybody 
 born who ought to have the finer feelings, it 
 is you. But behind that romantic facade of 
 yours, you have n't any more soul " 
 
 "Than a Tammany heeler?" 
 
 "If you like. When I took you, you were 
 as commonplace a little animal as it has ever 
 been my misfortune to encounter. But I said 
 to myself that all growing boys' souls were in 
 their stomachs; that you must become more 
 interesting by and by. When you began your 
 singing again, I was sure that the tempera 
 ment would show. You used your voice 
 beautifully, precisely as you were taught; 
 and you sang sweetly, melodiously, always on 
 the key, and always exactly as if you were 
 singing scales. Romeo or Tannhduser or 
 Don Giovanni it was all one to you. You 
 sang them all in the same faithful, conscien 
 tious, damned uninterested, uninteresting 
 way. I can tell you, sonny, black care sat on 
 
46 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 my shoulders. I was fairly tearing my hair 
 when an inspiration came to me. It would 
 wake you up to fall in love." 
 
 Maurice, stretched out on the divan, lis 
 tened with the bored patience of a child help 
 less to stop its elders' irrelevant conversation. 
 Denys was thoroughly in the swing of his 
 recital, his eyes dancing with reminiscent 
 amusement. 
 
 "I could n't get rid of the notion that you 
 must be romantic. Who would n't believe it, 
 to look at you? So I gave you every oppor 
 tunity to fall in love with the Princess lisa, a 
 fairy-book princess, you '11 admit that, 
 even to the golden hair; young, lovely, of the 
 proudest race. All Europe went mad about 
 her that year, I know. But she did n't please 
 your highness. 'Doughface,' I believe, was 
 your flattering term." 
 
 "There 's no use falling in love with a prin 
 cess. What could she be to me?" 
 
 "Practical to the last ! Oh, I saw at once it 
 would n't work. Well, since you would n't 
 cherish an ideal passion, I tried you with an 
 earthly one. I flung you at Liane de Lancy. 
 I thought she would wake you up, if anybody 
 could. But you said that you liked more soap 
 and less scent." 
 
MAURICE 47 
 
 "Well, so I do. Give me Croton, and keep 
 your cosmetics." 
 
 "Hear the man from Podunk!" 
 
 Maurice sat up. 
 
 "Oh, yes, I 'm from Podunk, if you call 
 this Podunk and I suppose a cultured 
 person like you does. I 'm a Podunker, 
 and I glory in my shame. I was born 
 in West Ninth Street, and named after 
 Gouverneur Morris, though you will call me 
 Maurice" 
 
 "Sounds so much better." 
 
 "Sounds like OTlaherty." 
 
 "And Morris sounds like Ickleheimer." 
 
 "Maurice is n't convincingly Hungarian, 
 either." 
 
 "But remember I had called you that for 
 years before I found out that you were Hun 
 garian. It 's Maurus on the billboards. But 
 I scorn to deceive, boy. When people ques 
 tion me, I always say quite frankly that your 
 name is assumed. Tolna is the province where 
 your father's estates " 
 
 "Where you once spent a vacation." 
 
 "No, I was never in Tolna," Denys an 
 swered seriously. "But I particularly fancy 
 the name. It makes one think of Talma, and 
 puts one in an expectant-of -dramatic-genius 
 
48 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 frame of mind. There 's a great deal in a 
 
 name." 
 
 "Oh, well, the name does n't matter. What 
 I do kick about is the slavery of the existence. 
 I don't even get the customary Sunday out. 
 If I were a maniac, you and Frai^ois 
 could n't shadow me more closely. If I were 
 the last feeble scion of a royal race, you 
 could n't pamper me more. You won't even 
 let me speak my own language, for fear some 
 body will find out that I 'm a plain Yankee " 
 
 "But you know as well as I do how things 
 went on the other side, boy. They all said that 
 you were handsome and that you had a good 
 voice, even an unapproachable voice, but no 
 magnetism, no temperament, no art. After 
 my eight years of slaving at you, you would 
 never have got even a fourth-rate engagement 
 in your life if Hirt had n't seen you and 
 booked you on your looks." 
 
 "And given you a chance to make Ananias 
 look like a timid amateur." 
 
 "Hirt gave me the idea when he said, 'I 
 don't care whether he can sing or not, he '11 
 fetch the women.' ' 
 
 "Some day, confound you, I shall murder 
 you, Denny!" 
 
 "We both know, sonny, that on the other 
 
MAURICE 49 
 
 side they don't care much about the person 
 ality of artists. It is enough that they are 
 artists. Over here, the personality is the 
 whole thing. So I made up my mind that I 
 would n't stop at showing New York your 
 good looks I 'd just fit you out with a halo 
 of romance. Most romantic people in the 
 world, Americans. Nothing is too preposter 
 ous for them to credit." 
 
 "You ought to know. If they '11 believe 
 you, they '11 believe Munchausen." 
 
 "Therefore, dear boy, you 're a Hungarian 
 patriot. I could n't make you French or Ger 
 man or Italian, because you speak them all as 
 if you had learned them at a New York 
 School of Languages Spanish Language 
 and Literature taught in Ten Lessons that 
 sort of thing. Any intelligent person would 
 find you out at the second sentence. Now, on 
 the other hand, nobody speaks Magyar, and 
 nobody knows much about Hungary. It is a 
 beautiful, romantic country, vaguely and 
 delightfully associated with Tokay, gipsy- 
 music, and Kossuth " 
 
 "And the other mutton, in the Fifth 
 Reader, who Shrieked when Freedom fell." 
 
 "Kosciuszko was a Pole, but no matter. 
 You simply prove my point that the average 
 
50 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 idiot does n't know any difference. Well, 
 Maurice, even you must admit that, being a 
 Hungarian, you had to be a patriot, as a mat 
 ter of course. The dear public remembers 
 that Hungary is oppressed, though, to save 
 their lives, they could n't tell what oppresses 
 her-" 
 
 "They may remember the members of the 
 Diet shying inkstands at one another." 
 
 " and they love patriotism, when it 
 does n't cost them anything. They are 
 charmed to have you devote your fortune to 
 freeing Hungary." 
 
 "As you swear to 'em that I do. The bare 
 faced humbug of it makes me sick." 
 
 Denys straightened up with fire in his eyes. 
 
 "You make me sicker! I always knew that 
 you were a Philistine and a Podunker, but I 
 never before suspected you of hankering for 
 the ranks of the Truly Good. Don't talk 
 cant, Maurice." 
 
 "If you call it cant to object to obtain 
 money on false pretenses " 
 
 "No false pretenses about it. You are 
 hired to sing. Well, you fill the contract by 
 singing to the best of your abilities. To-night 
 you went off the key twice, which you never 
 do except when you are careless. You can be 
 
MAURICE 51 
 
 conscience-stricken over that, if you like. But 
 don't, for heaven's sake, get an attack of vir 
 tue because I fool a crowd of silly women who 
 love to be fooled." 
 
 "Well, if you think it a joke-" 
 "Of which the cream is that you don't." 
 "It dims the dazzling humor of a joke to 
 be the butt of it." 
 
 "The dear public is the butt. You are- 
 well, the butting agency." 
 
 "The goat? That 's what I complain of." 
 "My dear fellow," Denys protested seri 
 ously, "it is a perfectly legitimate advertising 
 dodge. A little newer than having one's 
 diamonds stolen, that 's all. Every star has a 
 press-agent to circulate legends about him; 
 sallies of wit, or touching domestic anecdotes. 
 I flatter myself that I do the trick rather bet 
 ter. Besides, I wanted to see how much the 
 public really would swallow. And they swal 
 lowed you whole." 
 
 "Good simile ! Your methods make me feel 
 like a patent medicine." 
 
 "My young friend, you are suffering from 
 the big-head." 
 
 "I ? The most disgusted man in America?" 
 
 "You think that you amount to something 
 
 on your own merits. You have n't any. You 
 
52 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 can't sing. You can't act. You can't feel. 
 Oh, I admit that you produce beautiful tone, 
 but that is n't singing. Morris Fordham go 
 ing to the opera-house to render a part, as he 
 would go to a coal-yard to shovel egg, singing 
 stolidly for three hours, and going home again 
 with a 'Thank God, that 's over!' is, by your 
 leave, an utterly uninteresting person. No 
 body would pay to hear him twice. But the 
 man of my creation, Maurus Tolna, dreamer 
 and patriot, brooding over the sorrows of his 
 bleeding country, and occasionally, it must be 
 confessed, forgetting to act how can any 
 body censure him when all his actions glitter 
 in the limelight of romance? Critics forbear, 
 reporters stand about you, ten deep, and the 
 letters you receive each morning from total 
 strangers who ought to know better hang a 
 paper-and-rubbish sign in our basement win 
 dow every day in the week." 
 
 "And you call that success?" 
 
 "I call it dollars. Besides" the red 
 burned again in Denys's dusky cheek "I 
 don't expect you to understand me, Maurice. 
 You could n't. But I think I '11 mention it, 
 for once. So far as I was concerned, there had 
 to be a Tolna. He was ready to my hand ex 
 cept the soul. Lord, how it hurt when I had to 
 
MAURICE 53 
 
 give up that! Give it up? Maurice, I 
 could n't give it up! Who said that if there 
 were n't a God, man would have to invent 
 one? Why, he has always been inventing 
 them, because he could n't live without. Well, 
 that was my case. Old Wordsworth saw into 
 things when he wrote, 'We live by admira 
 tion.' I know that I do. I understand, now, 
 how hard it has been on you, my boy; but to 
 me Oh, well, what is the use?" 
 
 Maurice was sobered for a moment. Then 
 he began to laugh, again. 
 
 "You 're a queer mixture, Denny. I 
 have n't done you justice, really. Well, 
 you 've shown me the Me, as you see it or 
 was it the not-Me? Now this is how I see you. 
 You 'd be perfectly happy if I really were 
 Maurus Tolna. For years you hoped against 
 hope that I was. Then, when you had to 
 admit that it was n't in me, you must go to 
 work and make your romantic hero to your 
 own order. You simply had to have one to 
 play with. You took almost as much comfort 
 out of Tolna as if he were n't merely some 
 thing you 'd faked up out of your own inner 
 consciousness. You know you love bambooz 
 ling an audience about Tolna's romantic his 
 tory and medieval idiocies, and you half 
 
54 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 deceive yourself while you 're doing it. But at 
 the same time you never lose sight of the fact 
 that you wholly deceive your audience, which 
 tickles you to the last extent. You do it for 
 the dollars, and you don't do it for the dollars. 
 You do it partly to prove what fools these 
 mortals be, and partly because you enjoy 
 working your imagination, like a kid playing 
 make-believe soldiering. And partly yes, I 
 do believe that by some strange twist your 
 sense of the ideal has got snarled up in it. 
 Denys, there 's a fence down the middle of 
 your brain. One side is a wild-oats tangle of 
 craziness, and the other is a neat little potato- 
 patch of practicality." 
 
 "Then come and play in my potato-patch; 
 and say that you like the dollars." 
 
 "Have n't I said that I 'm an American? 
 I like one other thing, too, Denny," Maurice's 
 smile was boyishly sweet. " I like paying you 
 back the time and patience and trouble and 
 affection you 've spent on me. If I growl, it 
 is to hear myself talk. Good-night, old boy." 
 
 The ruling passion sent Denys into the hall 
 at his protege's heels. 
 
 "Maurice, the wind is on your side to-night. 
 Don't open your window at the bottom." 
 
 " Good Lord! " growled Maurice. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 
 
 ON the next Sunday evening, the distin 
 guished Tolna stood admiring his reflec 
 tion in the cheval-glass. 
 
 " For the first time in America," he indi 
 cated his dress-clothes to Denys. " Does Mrs. 
 Fanning say that on her program? " 
 
 " Don't worry. Every person there under 
 stands that you never have been and never 
 will be inside another New York house." 
 
 " I hope Miss Fanning appreciates the 
 sacrifice that 's offered on her altar." 
 
 " Perhaps you don't think that it is a sacri 
 fice to break through my isolation policy? 
 Though it may not turn out so badly, to let 
 fifty or sixty of the best people see you at 
 close range just once. Twice would make 
 you cheap; once may be good advertising. 
 Anyhow, I 've got to be resigned. She had 
 set her heart on it. And when a woman wants 
 her own way, you might as well compromise." 
 
 55 
 
56 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "On what?" 
 
 " On letting her have it." 
 
 Maurice struck an attitude. "Never! 
 Never give in to 'em. Liberty or death! When 
 your legs are shot away, fight upon your 
 stumps. While one predatory woman remains 
 on this soil, never lay down your arms ; never, 
 never, never! " 
 
 " If you don't lay down your arms, you '11 
 ruin the set of your shirt -bosom." 
 
 Fra^ois hastened to give the shirt-bosom 
 a little pat, the white waistcoat a little tug, 
 and opined that garments could not look more 
 perfect. As he spoke, Maurice addressed him 
 in a stage whisper : 
 
 * To-night he plans death for me. But my 
 eye is on his every movement. I will foil him 
 yet. Do thou pray for me. And get my over 
 coat." 
 
 " Maurice, don't be such an ass," growled 
 Denys. " That man takes every word for 
 gospel. He will be afraid to stay in the same 
 house with me." 
 
 " That 's the fun." 
 
 " The first thing you know, he will be tell 
 ing the neighbors that I have designs on your 
 life." 
 
 " Very likely. When you first hired him, I 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 57 
 
 complained that he was stupid. You said you 
 chose a stupid one, so that he would n't see 
 through me. Now you know what you Ve 
 brought on yourself." 
 
 In the automobile, Denys demanded with 
 an abruptness that masked some hesitation : 
 
 " How do you like Miss Fanning? " 
 
 He had not mentioned her name since 
 Friday, a reticence from which Maurice drew 
 his own conclusions. 
 
 While she had been only a name to 
 him, only the girl whom, for the last month, 
 Denys had stolen away to Lakewood to 
 visit over Sundays, Maurice had found 
 all a school-boy's joy in chaffing his 
 friend about her; but to-night he answered 
 seriously : 
 
 " I thought her very pretty and sweet." 
 
 Denys expanded. " They 're the nicest 
 people in New York. So simple and well- 
 bred. And really musical. Not of the sham- 
 artistic tribe. I value the mother dearly for 
 my dead mother's sake" 
 
 " And the daughter for her own." But 
 this mild statement was all the commentary 
 Maurice allowed himself. " I dare say the 
 mother is all your fancy paints her, too, even 
 if she did discuss me to my face, as if I were 
 
58 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 a child or a servant, not supposed to have any 
 feelings." 
 
 " But, my dear fellow, I tell everybody that 
 you don't understand a word of English." 
 
 " Then it was all the ruder." 
 
 " But she complimented you." 
 
 " Oh, of course. If she had said, * This 
 seems to me a very commonplace young man, 
 with nothing about him to make a fuss over,' 
 I should have asked her to be mine." 
 
 " Oh, well, Maurice, while you 're inhaling 
 incense with every breath you draw, it 's a 
 very good pose to say that you don't like 
 the odor. You 'd be mighty forlorn without 
 it, let me tell you. As Morris Fordham, 
 broker's clerk, you would n't find life worth 
 living." 
 
 " If I thought that was true, I 'd put a 
 bullet through my head now. If I thought 
 that all I live for is the adulation of a lot of 
 idle people who don't know the sham from the 
 real-" 
 
 " You live for Art." 
 
 "Hang Art!" 
 
 " Chut! " said Denys, as he usually did at 
 this stage of their conversations. 
 
 Presently he pursued his reflections aloud: 
 " Fortunately Mrs. Fanning does n't train 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 59 
 
 with a crowd that pretends to know anything. 
 They 're not chromo-musical, thank heaven! 
 They won't want to talk shop. They will be 
 perfectly delighted to meet you, and Mrs. 
 Norton Burnham will ask you to sit in her 
 opera-box on Wednesday night. And you '11 
 thank her but be obliged to decline, because 
 you sing the leading role yourself. And 
 she '11 say: 'Oh, how funny! I hadn't 
 noticed.' " 
 
 " Denys, they '11 know I 'm American." 
 " Not if you remember to speak no English 
 and as little as possible of anything else. I '11 
 be at your elbows to do the talking. It 's my 
 aim to make yours a thinking part." 
 
 COMING down from their third-story dress 
 ing-room, Denys clutched Maurice's arm. 
 
 ' There 's that sulky Hammond girl. Jove! 
 she 's lovely, though." 
 
 She was waiting in the hall, in a yellow 
 frock that matched her hair, a long amber 
 chain falling from her white throat to her 
 knees. Her eyes, upturned to the two men, 
 were dark as pools in a fir forest. Denys ran 
 down to ask her : 
 
 " Where did you leave the Dragon-ship? " 
 
 She bestowed on him a glance which said 
 
60 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 that she did not know what he meant, nor care. 
 He was undismayed. 
 
 " Don't tell me that you live in New York, 
 for I know that you have just sailed hither 
 from Markland, with Leif the Lucky. Don't 
 tell me what your name is, for I know per 
 fectly well that it 's Sigrid the Haughty." 
 
 She spoke now in the level, colorless voice 
 that made her words sound as if she were re 
 peating a part learned by rote : 
 
 " That is prettier than ' that sulky Ham 
 mond girl.' ' Her eyes on her victim, she did 
 not note Maurice's unmannerly stare. 
 
 Denys, though startled, was by no means 
 silenced. 
 
 " Jolly good discipline you maintain on the 
 Dragon-ship. What happens to a rower who 
 displeases you? " 
 
 " I was never displeased on the Dragon- 
 ship." 
 
 ' You were never called sulky? " 
 
 " I never was sulky." 
 
 "Oh, no wonder Leif was named the 
 Lucky!" 
 
 All good-humor now, Denys made amends 
 to her by presenting the Celebrity. 
 
 She bowed without speaking, almost with 
 out looking at the singer, who murmured 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 61 
 
 something in a low voice, of which fc charme " 
 was the only word audible. At this moment 
 Mrs. Hammond sailed out of the dressing- 
 room. She greeted Monsieur Tolna with a 
 stately hand and excellent French. 
 
 " Monsieur, this is indeed a pleasure, actu 
 ally to converse with him whom one has so 
 long looked upon as a dear friend. Have 
 you ever reflected, monsieur, that perhaps 
 your truest friends, the friends who respond 
 to you most perfectly, whose souls are in the 
 deepest accord with your soul, are those whose 
 names, even, you do not know, whose faces 
 you never see, who sit in the darkness on the 
 far side of the dazzling foot-lights that irradi 
 ate you, who attempt no brilliancy of their 
 own, but are content to feel their triumph in 
 your triumph, to believe that they also serve 
 who simply listen and " 
 
 " Applaud," prompted Denys. " That 
 is how audiences serve, Mrs. Hammond. 
 Maurus quite appreciates their value." The 
 " dear friend " said nothing. His eyes had 
 scarcely moved from Honor's face. 
 
 The girl met his stare with no more re 
 sponse, either of pleasure or offense, than if 
 she had been a waxen beauty in a hair 
 dresser's window ; presently suggesting in her 
 
62 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 curious toneless voice, " Suppose we go down 
 stairs, mother? " 
 
 Mrs. Hammond hesitated. She was enjoy 
 ing the situation greatly, but more guests 
 were passing up to the dressing-room, and the 
 delightful little interview must soon be 
 disturbed. To descend the stairs with the 
 Celebrity in tow was a triumph not to be 
 jeopardized. Her smile kindly promised to 
 shelter the shyness of the two young men 
 under her wing. 
 
 " Shall we go down, messieurs? " 
 
 Denys, afraid to invite too continuous a 
 scrutiny, was. about to offer excuses, when 
 suddenly the tenor, with his deepest, most 
 foreign bow, offered the lady his arm. 
 
 " Your mother has made a ten-strike," 
 Denys confided to Miss Hammond, as inti 
 mately as if they had not just been at daggers 
 drawn. " I never saw him so polite before." 
 
 " Is he as spoiled as all the rest of them? " 
 
 " He is n't spoiled at all. On the contrary, 
 compliments make him dreadfully embar 
 rassed and unhappy." 
 
 " Perhaps he thought that mother was 
 
 sincere." 
 
 " Dear Miss Hammond, it 's the sincerity 
 that makes the weariness of it." 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 63 
 
 " Yes, it must seem a sad lot to a man to 
 fascinate every woman he meets." 
 
 " Oh, one must pay for eminence! Empe 
 rors risk assassination. Maurus risks being 
 killed by kindness." 
 
 " At least, he won't risk being wearied by 
 
 me." 
 
 She had not been disagreeable for several 
 minutes, and her beauty was a keen delight to 
 him. He answered warmly, " As if any man 
 could be wearied by you, Miss Hammond!" 
 
 She stopped, they were just at the draw 
 ing-room door and the butler had cried their 
 names into the room, the color rising in her 
 cheeks, her eyes, which he had decided were 
 hazel, a clear black. She looked a different 
 and a younger girl. 
 
 " How could you think I meant that? How 
 could you suppose I was bragging? I meant 
 that I should n't force my admiration on him." 
 
 "Of course not," Denys answered absently, 
 noting how handsome she looked when angry. 
 " I am afraid we are blocking the doorway, 
 Miss Hammond. Shall we go in? " 
 
 Nothing could have been better timed for 
 Mrs. Hammond than her daughter's unex 
 pected pause. Sweeping into the room on 
 Maurice's arm, the ever-watchful Argus no- 
 
64 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 where to be seen, appearances certainly 
 justified her proud, proprietary air. Margery 
 did not conceal her stupefaction, and Mrs. 
 Fanning asked involuntarily: 
 
 " But how long have you known Monsieur 
 Tolna? " 
 
 It was an unhandsome question, especially 
 with Mrs. Burnham standing by. For that 
 lady's grievance against the Fannings had 
 quite vanished when she was asked to receive 
 with them on this unique occasion. As Mrs. 
 Hammond hesitated, Maurice answered for 
 her. 
 
 " We are very old friends, Madame Ham 
 mond and I. In fact, so old, that I feared to 
 find myself forgotten." 
 
 Given a lead over, Mrs. Hammond did not 
 lack courage for the fence. 
 
 " Oh, not at all, monsieur. How could I 
 forget? He is n't changed a bit, Mrs. Fan 
 ning, for all his fame. He is just the same 
 simple, unspoiled boy that he used to be." 
 
 " Hard lines for you, Alice, that she knows 
 Monsieur Tolna so well," smiled Mrs. 
 Burnham, with her cheerful habit of putting 
 into words what everybody else might think 
 but nobody else would say. ' You were crow 
 ing, you and Madge, over being the first 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 65 
 
 white women to shake hands with him. 
 Rather spoils the fun, does n't it, to find that 
 Mrs. Hammond knew him in knickerbock 
 ers? " 
 
 If Margery's fun was spoiled, no one was 
 the wiser. 
 
 " But no," she answered quickly, " we con 
 gratulate ourselves that it is in our house 
 Monsieur Tolna meets an old friend. How 
 do you do, Miss Hammond? " 
 
 The two girls looked at each other, each a 
 little taken aback. They were dressed in pre 
 cisely the same shade of yellow. 
 
 "How clinkin' you look! Honor," Mrs. 
 Burnham cried. " But then you 'd look 
 clinkin' in a potato-sack. On my word, your 
 dress and Margy's are cut off the same piece. 
 I say, Madge, are n't the Hammond family 
 playing trumps to-night? " 
 
 Annoying as it was to Margery, it would, 
 she felt, have exasperated any girl living to 
 see the effect of her carefully studied gown 
 spoiled by the appearance of its double on a 
 more beautiful wearer, it was far more an 
 noying that Mrs. Burnham should remark on 
 her discomposure. Suddenly she perceived 
 that Miss Hammond, far from triumphing, 
 was more confused than herself. Her 
 
66 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 haughty head was drooping, her cold cheeks 
 were aflame. Margery rose to the occasion. 
 
 " I am so pleased to find my taste confirmed 
 by Miss Hammond's," she answered, without 
 perceptible pause. " Otway scoffed at me; 
 she said that nobody was wearing yellow this 
 winter. Miss Hammond, you must stand here 
 and receive with us. Everybody will think we 
 arranged our frocks on purpose for that." 
 
 Honor, neither speaking nor moving, 
 looked at her, wide-eyed. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you must." Margery caught 
 her hand and drew her into the line with Mrs. 
 Fanning and Mrs. Burnham. 
 
 As Mrs. Hammond claimed a word with 
 her daughter, the singer bent over Margery 
 to say in French, " Mademoiselle, how that 
 was prettily done of you! " 
 
 ' Why, did you understand what was 
 said?" ' 
 
 " The dumb-show," he protested. " That 
 something was said to embarrass Mademoi 
 selle Hammond, and that you saved the situa 
 tion. I thank you." 
 
 " You thank me? " she repeated with mean 
 ing, but the confusion she expected did not 
 follow. Meeting her look, his smiling eyes 
 seemed to say: "I see that you observe my 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 67 
 
 warm interest in this young lady. Yes, I am 
 interested in her, and I am not in the least 
 embarrassed about it." The eyes seemed to 
 claim her sympathy so confidently that Mar 
 gery found herself giving him an answering 
 smile of perfect understanding. Then she 
 turned, to draw Honor into their conversation. 
 She had never particularly liked the girl. No 
 one particularly liked Miss Hammond. But 
 now, all in a moment, Margery was her ardent 
 champion. Undaunted by the beauty's ex 
 treme apathy concerning the Celebrity, 
 Margery beamed encouragement upon him 
 and chatted for all three. 
 
 " Maurus," Denys broke in, with an abrupt 
 ness positively rude, " I particularly want to 
 present you to Mrs. Norton Burnham." 
 
 " Oh, do you feel that you have to, Mr. 
 Alden?" that irrepressible lady inquired. 
 " Could n't you leave me out in the cold again? 
 You see, you 've explained, already, that he 's 
 a hermit, never meets people only two or 
 three hundred of Alice's friends, at a scratch 
 party, with only a day's notice, just because 
 she wants to show him off. Oh, well, if you 
 insist on my knowing him Monsieur Tolna, 
 je suis charmee de vous voir. Je vous dit 
 droit maintenant que je parle Fran9ais 
 
68 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 comme le diable, mais si vous etes tres intelli 
 gent, peut-etre vous me suiverez. Les lan- 
 gues ne sont pas mon couleur long." 
 
 " Long color? " Maurice meditated. " Oh, 
 long suit. Well, if I can't match you at this 
 kind of French, my lady, at any rate I '11 be 
 an easy second." 
 
 " Oh, madame, je suis Hongrois. Je parle 
 Franais comme trentes centimes. Je gage 
 que votre Fra^ais peut donner au mien des 
 cartes et des piques." 
 
 She looked blank, not recognizing the Jessie 
 Burnham idiom in a Hungarian mouth. 
 
 " C'est Grecque a moi, mais n'importe. Le 
 point, monsieur, est ceci: Voulez-vous avoir 
 le bonte d'attendre d'assister, je veux dire 
 chez Monsieur Willoughby Smith, le vingt- 
 huitieme Fevrier, a neuf heures? C'est son 
 Sing Sing diner." 
 
 " After all," again meditated her interlocu 
 tor, " I seem to be behind on the slang of 
 the day. Mais, madame, vous-etes trop nom- 
 breuse pour moi. Quoi, par la Grande Cuil- 
 lere de Corne, veut dire un Sing Sing diner? " 
 
 " Oh, autrefois il n'y avait jamais un tel," 
 Mrs. Nortie bubbled with joy. " Le diner de 
 Willie sera absolument le premier absolu- 
 ment unique, en effet." She showed a guile- 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 69 
 
 less pleasure at the truly French sound of this 
 sentence. " II faut que vous vous habilez 
 comme un prisonnier." 
 
 " L'Homme au Masque de Fer, ou Mon 
 sieur Bonnivard? " 
 
 " Oh, non, non, pas du tout. Mais en verite 
 cela serait un bon stunt, monsieur. Prison- 
 niers fameux de tous les siecles par exemple, 
 Jonah dans Festomac de la baleine! Merci 
 bien pour la suggestion! Chez Monsieur 
 Smith, il fait qu'on se habillera comme un 
 fo^at, a raies, et qu'on s'exercera le pas de 
 Foie. Comprenez-vous ? " 
 
 " C'est clair comme le boue. Comme je 
 trouve beau, madame, la mode intrepide dont 
 vous maniez sans gants la langue Fran9aise." 
 
 " Je crois que vous me tirez la jambe," Mrs. 
 Norton responded, quite without offense. 
 ' Tenez, dites-moi si vous viendriez diner 
 avec Monsieur Smith? " 
 
 " Est-ce qu'un canard nagera? " 
 
 Mrs. Nortie smiled comprehension of his 
 tone at least. 
 
 " Vous viendriez? " 
 
 " Mais oui, sur et certain." 
 
 " Bon ouvrage," she said heartily, giving 
 him a grip of her firm, square hand. " Mr. 
 Alden, I Ve trapped your shy bird. He 's 
 
70 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 promised, on his sacred honor, to come to 
 Willie's dinner." 
 
 Denys bestowed on her a kindly, troubled 
 smile. 
 
 " Then I sincerely hope that he will." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 " Only that years of familiarity with the 
 artistic temperament make me reluctant to 
 predict what Maurus will or will not do." 
 
 " You mean he won't come? After prom 
 ising me? " 
 
 Denys smiled. " Ah, I decline to prophesy 
 about the artistic temperament. You can't 
 even depend on their breaking their prom 
 
 ises." 
 
 Mrs. Nortie wheeled on Maurice. " Mon 
 sieur, il dit que vous me vendez une brique 
 d'or. II dit que vous-etes menteur et man- 
 queur de promesses. Mais je ne le crois pas." 
 
 " Et je dit a mon tour qu'il est vilain et 
 taquin." 
 
 She looked steadily at Maurice, her blue 
 eyes, so pretty and so shallow, quite grave 
 with anxiety. " Je vous crois," she said with 
 emphasis, and turned on her persecutor. 
 " Look here, Denys Alden, this is the second 
 time you 've tried to put a spoke in my wheel. 
 The other night there was n't an earthly rea- 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 71 
 
 son why you should n't have taken me behind 
 the scenes. I thought so at the time, and now 
 I know it. Well, I let it go ; life 's too short 
 to quarrel. I like peace, but I don't like to lie 
 down and be trampled on. What you 've got 
 against me I can't imagine. I Ve always 
 asked you to my house. If I Ve ever been 
 rude, I don't know it. But you spoiled my 
 fun that night, and now you 're trying it 
 again. I 'm not a little nobody. If you mean 
 to sauce me, my dear sir, you 'd better believe 
 I '11 get back at you." 
 
 " I can't think how you so misunderstand 
 me, Mrs. Burnham. I was only trying to 
 save you a possible disappointment." 
 
 " Oh, you make me tired! " she cried. 
 
 " Cheer up, I 'm going. I want to present 
 Maurus to Mrs. Westerly." 
 
 Mrs. Westerly being Mrs. Burnham's espe 
 cial rival, a horrible vision flashed upon her of 
 the wicked Alden haling Tolna to a Westerly 
 dinner at least a week before Willie Smith's. 
 She saw that she should have asked Tolna 
 to dine at her own house at once. But she 
 had not one free evening for a fortnight. 
 Well, some date must be "chucked up." 
 Whether to throw over the Sydney Wallaces 
 or the Armstrongs but here she suddenly 
 
72 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 woke to the fact that the two men were leav 
 ing her. 
 
 " Au plaisir de vous revoir, madame," 
 Maurice called over his shoulder as Denys 
 piloted him down the room. Opportunity had 
 passed by with forelock all unclutched. 
 
 Willie Smith hurried up to her with anx 
 ious brow and voice. ' Well, I saw you 
 talking to Tolna. Got him?" 
 
 " I don't know whether I 've got him or 
 not," Mrs. Burnham returned, candidly and 
 crossly. A laugh from Mrs. Westerly, which 
 she fancied to be at her expense, inspired her 
 further remark, " I 'm getting pretty sick, 
 Willie, of being your chief steward." 
 
 ' What do you mean? Don't you want to 
 help me with my dinner? " cried the anxious 
 Willie. 
 
 " Upon my word, I don't just see why I 
 should. I Ve slaved and slaved over your 
 shows. If any little detail goes wrong, peo 
 ple say it 's all my fault. My lack of 
 tact, I suppose. That 's what they 're al 
 ways exclaiming about me, no tact. But 
 if it goes right, it 's Willoughby Smith's 
 
 success." 
 
 " But everybody knows that you pull it off. 
 And you enjoy doing it. You said Burnham 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 73 
 
 would n't let you give that kind of show. He 
 is n't up to date 
 
 " He '11 give any kind of show I please, if 
 he has n't much use for the little fool perform 
 ances that amuse you." 
 
 Willie Smith's cheek, leathery from much 
 automobiling, showed a tinge of red through 
 the tan. 
 
 '' Well, I 'm glad to hear your real opinion 
 of my dinner. I '11 try and relieve you, Mrs. 
 Burnham, from the duties of hostess." 
 
 She was cross enough to enjoy his ill-tem 
 per. " I hope you will, I 'm sure," she 
 answered. 
 
 Mr. Smith watched her a moment, then 
 walked straight to the door of the music-room, 
 where Madame Arnheim was singing the 
 "Jewel Song." Miss Hammond, released 
 from the receiving party, stood there by her 
 mother. 
 
 ' You don't care anything about this, do 
 you?" Willie said in Honor's ear. "Mrs. 
 Fanning has got some orchids worth looking 
 at." 
 
 " Go, dear; you '11 enjoy it." Mrs. Ham 
 mond smiled benignly on the pair. " My 
 daughter is a devoted botanist, Mr. Smith. 
 She studied in Paris under Lasalle." 
 
74 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Characteristically, Honor had not spoken 
 at all. Her unmoved face showed no prefer 
 ence for going or staying. Her mother, 
 sitting down in the only unoccupied chair, 
 abandoned her to Willie Smith. 
 
 ' Those children have gone to look at Mrs. 
 Farming's orchids," she informed the lady 
 next to her, whose daughter had not just been 
 spoken to by the most eligible bachelor in New 
 York. " Honor has a perfect passion for 
 flowers. No mere sentimental admiration for 
 them, but a deep scientific knowledge of the 
 subject. She was Lasalle's favorite pupil. 
 Mr. Smith is so interested in the culture of 
 flowers. They have so much in common." A 
 wary glance out of the corner of her eye 
 showed her the man and the maid walking 
 away together. She settled back luxuriously 
 in her chair. " Is n't Arnheim superb? I sim 
 ply drink in every note. I only hope the peo 
 ple here t6-night are capable of appreciating 
 her." 
 
 ' They 're orchids I gave to Mrs. Burn- 
 ham," Willie was explaining to Honor. 
 " She had more than she wanted, so she 
 handed some over to Mrs. Fanning. I got 'em 
 from a fellow that had been exploring Central 
 America. He was pretty well on his uppers 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 75 
 
 when I helped him out. Clever chap, you 
 know. Scientific. But he never '11 make 
 money. So he 's going to name the white 
 one for me. Going to read a paper at the 
 Natural History Museum, and tell 'em about 
 it." 
 
 " They 're very fine, I suppose," Miss 
 Hammond said. " I don't care for flowers." 
 
 " Well, I don't care for orchids myself. 
 There 's no odor, and you can't make any 
 show with 'em. Bank a hundred, and it 
 looks like six. But I like to own things just 
 because they 're rare, and I 've got an idea that 
 I '11 have every American tropical flower 
 represented in my conservatory. There 's 
 a bully big one in my new house, and I 
 thought I should like to treat it differently 
 from the common run. How does it strike 
 you?" 
 
 " It would n't be any more tiresome than 
 most conservatories." 
 
 After puzzling over this remark, he decided 
 that it was a joke. 
 
 " Then I '11 do it if you say so." 
 
 She glanced at him with that sudden dark 
 ening of her eyes that betokened interest or 
 excitement. Something in his voice But 
 she told herself she was absurd. 
 
76 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " How do you like your new house? " she 
 said, in her dead voice. 
 
 " First-rate. At least, I shall when I am 
 settled. The workmen are n't out yet, but I 
 knew they never would be if I did n't move in. 
 I want you and your mother to see that house, 
 Miss Hammond. Won't you come some day 
 soon, and have tea on a trestle?" 
 
 ' You are always so original in your enter 
 tainments," she said. 
 
 " Let 's sit down a minute," he suggested, 
 with portentous gravity. 
 
 No one else had deserted Arnheim; the con 
 servatory was theirs. Honor sat down on a 
 wicker bench, where a frond of fern brushed 
 her forehead, and thought how pleasant the 
 wet touch felt, the while she listened to Mr. 
 Smith's next words. 
 
 " Won't you let me put the deeds of that 
 house in your name? " He was close to her on 
 the bench; instinctively she drew away. 
 
 " But but you don't know me." 
 
 "I Ve followed you round everywhere for 
 a year. You must have seen what I meant. 
 You don't know how I admire you. It is not 
 your looks, though a man would be blind that 
 would n't see them. It 's your manner. You 
 behave like a queen. You don't jolly people 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 77 
 
 or let them get fresh with you. People are 
 afraid of you. I give ' little fool ' entertain 
 ments, and you may think I don't appreciate 
 dignity. But I do. It 's the real thing. I 
 want my wife to be a queen." 
 
 Miss Hammond was struggling with a 
 hysterical desire to laugh. 
 
 " Then you don't want me to come to your 
 Sing Sing dinner in stripes ? " 
 
 His brow wrinkled with apology. " I don't 
 want you to come at all. I did n't invite you, 
 because the others were n't your crowd. I 
 did n't think you 'd enjoy it. They 're rowdy, 
 that 's what they are rowdy. I 'm going to 
 shake 'em, if you '11 have me. You won't be 
 bothered by any Sing Sing dinners or Chuck 
 Connors balls. It 's silly, and I 'm done with 
 it." 
 
 From her retreat at the far end of the 
 bench, she surveyed him critically, reflecting 
 that she was at least four inches taller than he. 
 In appearance he was certainly insignificant. 
 Of his mind she knew little, save the report 
 that he managed well the great fortune his 
 father had made for him. Of his ideals and 
 aims she had learned more in the last five min 
 utes than in a year of meeting him at dinners 
 and dances, where he had been merely one of 
 
78 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 the well-dressed supernumeraries who com 
 pleted the stage-picture of society. She could 
 never have guessed that he would promote 
 himself to a speaking part. Absorbed in con 
 templation of him in his new aspect of human 
 being, she forgot her cue to speak. 
 
 " Are n't you going to answer me? " 
 
 " Oh, did n't I? " She still fought an im 
 pulse to laugh. " It is ' yes,' Mr. Smith." 
 
 She rose as she spoke, with some vague idea 
 of escaping a caress. If she stood, he could 
 hardly kiss her without permission. 
 
 ' That 's splendid! " he cried, quite content. 
 " I 'm delighted. Shall we go in and an 
 nounce it? " 
 
 " To mother? " 
 
 ' To everybody. Half the people we know 
 are here. Would n't this be a good time? " 
 
 "But my mother must know first, and my 
 father, who is n't here to-night. Then my 
 mother will announce it in her own way, to 
 her own friends." 
 
 * Yes, you 're right," he assented, with visi 
 ble chagrin. " It would n't be the correct 
 thing to announce it here. I want to do just 
 what you tell me. Say, are you going to the 
 Anderson ball? " 
 
 ' Yes, we were going " 
 
TOLNA GOES INTO SOCIETY 79 
 
 " I 'm not asked, but if we announce the 
 engagement before then, I could go with you, 
 could n't I?" 
 
 " Oh, there '11 be plenty of chances for you 
 to meet Mrs. Anderson," Honor cried. Her 
 fiance slightly misread her emphasis. 
 
 ' Yes, I knew you 'd fix that for me. Say, 
 is there any particular stone you prefer? " 
 
 "Any stone?" 
 
 " For the ring, I mean." 
 
 " I have n't thought about it." 
 
 " Because, if you 'd like it, I want to give 
 you the Rajah's Rose." 
 
 " The what? " 
 
 " It 's the third largest pigeon's-blood ruby 
 in the world ; the largest in a private collection. 
 I always meant it for my wife." 
 
 " I shall like it very much." 
 
 " I '11 bring it round right after breakfast. 
 You '11 wear it right away, won't you ? I wish 
 we could announce the engagement to-mor 
 row. I 'm so proud of it, I want every one to 
 know." 
 
 " Oh, I 'm not half as nice as you think me. 
 I am very disagreeable. I don't make friends. 
 But I will try to be different. I will try to 
 make other people think as well of me as you 
 do." 
 
80 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " But that 's just what I like you for," 
 Smith explained. " Because you 're not hail- 
 fellow-well-met with Tom, Dick, and Harry. 
 All these other girls are trying to butt in with 
 everybody. But you act as if all creation 
 was n't good enough to make you look round. 
 That 's what I admire you for." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MR. ALDEN IS NOT ALTOGETHER PLEASED 
 
 FOR Denys the evening did not begin till 
 that late hour when, all the guests hav 
 ing arrived, and the concert being well under 
 way, he received Mrs. Fanning's permission 
 to take Margery into the deserted library for 
 a little rest before her part of the program. 
 
 " Do open the window a moment; I need 
 oxygen," the girl bade. " Oh, Mr. Alden, 
 don't you think I would better jump out on 
 those inhospitable flag-stones? " 
 
 " You poor child! Are you so tired? " 
 
 She sank back into an easy-chair with a 
 deep sigh. 
 
 " Yes, tired; but worse scared. In what 
 moment of folly did I undertake to play 
 to-night?" 
 
 " It is too much to stand up shaking hands 
 for two hours, and then play," Denys > as 
 serted, in deep concern. " May n't I get you 
 some wine, or something? " 
 
 <i 81 
 
82 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "Oh, no; it is n't that sort of collapse. 
 I am simply overcome with a sense of my 
 own conceit in attempting to play Hun 
 garian airs before Monsieur Tolna. What an 
 imbecile!" 
 
 " But my dear Miss Fanning," Denys 
 protested warmly, "that 's the thing of all 
 others to please him. Wonderful musician 
 though he is, he does n't play himself, or 
 thinks he does n't, and he loves to be played 
 to. Of course, Hungarian airs why, your 
 choice was inspired! " 
 
 "But to murder his gipsy-music!" Mar 
 gery cried tragically, fluttering in aimless 
 nervousness about the room. "Of course I 
 meant to pay him a particular compliment, 
 but when he hears me he '11 think it a particu 
 lar affront." 
 
 "My dearest girl " 
 
 Margery paused to look about the room and 
 then at Denys, in elaborately dramatized 
 surprise. 
 
 " Are you soliloquizing, Mr. Alden? " 
 
 " I must have been, Miss Fanning. As you 
 kindly point out, I could not possibly have 
 been addressing that stately young lady, Miss 
 Fanning. Though why, my dear Miss Fan 
 ning, I should be forced to call you Miss 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 83 
 
 Fanning, when your mother lets me call her 
 Aunt-" 
 
 ' You have known my mother how many 
 years? You two had an old friendship when 
 you first met me. We began at the begin 
 ning." 
 
 " May I hope to have the honor of winning 
 your friendship? " 
 
 " It is not hard to win, Mr. Alden; but 
 neither is it to be taken for granted. I do like 
 you, of course," she reassured him; " but sup 
 pose I had n't? You would have begun by 
 calling me Margery." 
 
 "Is that libellous?" 
 
 " Worse lese-majeste" 
 
 It was always delightful to Denys to see 
 Margery unbend from icy dignity to a jest. 
 He loved her very scorn and floutings for the 
 sake of that moment when the twinkle of fun 
 danced into her violet eyes and, for no dis 
 cernible reason, her whole mood changed. 
 Though her transparency often made her 
 mother uncomfortable, Margery regarded 
 herself as a paragon of artfulness. Nor could 
 her lover, with his merely masculine percep 
 tions, ever understand why he was alternately 
 welcomed as Denys and repelled as Mr. 
 Alden. Her real sentiments were a riddle to 
 
84 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 him. He only knew that she had frowned and 
 now she smiled. And he basked contented in 
 the smile. 
 
 " But my dear Miss Fanning, I don't 
 want to call you Margery. I want to call 
 you Well, never mind. But I see that I 
 must tell you again what I 've told you before 
 that you have real musical genius. There 
 fore, of course, you play unequally. But you 
 could n't play badly to save your life." 
 
 The girl's face was all care again. 
 
 " I can to-night. Mr. Alden, honestly, I 
 feel as if I 'd rather jump out on those stones 
 than get up on that platform." 
 
 " Good! Your type will always do its best 
 just after it threatens its worst." 
 
 " Oh, I am going to play. I won't be a 
 coward. But poor Monsieur Tolna will suf 
 fer tortures." 
 
 " Poor Monsieur Tolna will have the great 
 est pleasure that has fallen to him since he 
 crossed the ocean." 
 
 Her face softened again, her eyes grew 
 dreamy. 
 
 " Mr. Alden, if I could give him plea 
 sure! That is my only justification. I 
 thought of how much pleasure he scatters 
 right and left, of how much happiness he has 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 85 
 
 given me, and I wanted to do something just 
 for him. I ought to have known I could n't." 
 
 " You can." 
 
 " No, I am like Icarus : I attempt too fine a 
 flight." She was silent a moment, to continue 
 in another voice, half dreamy, half eager: 
 "And yet, what a chance to do what nobody 
 ever dreamed I could! Tolna! Not only the 
 prince of artists, but the prince of men. The 
 beauty of his voice and the beauty of his life ! 
 His talents, and the consecration of them to 
 liberty and justice. Denys, a clod ought to 
 break into music before Tolna. A musician 
 might be happy to play for him, and die! " 
 
 She was speaking to herself rather than to 
 him, in an enthusiasm too absorbing for any 
 self -consciousness. Theoretically, Denys knew 
 that he should have been delighted at this high 
 tribute to the success of his invention. Actu 
 ally, he felt, for the first time, qualms of con 
 science and almost of regret. That the dear 
 public should accept an imaginary being was 
 an exquisite jest. That Margery should be 
 deceived suddenly revolted him'. He said to 
 himself that when he built up the Tolna myth, 
 he had not expected her to take it so seriously. 
 It would have been truer to admit that he 
 had not then expected to take her so seriously. 
 
86 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 While he pondered in silence this new aspect 
 of his perfidy, she spoke again, more quietly, 
 somewhat chilled by his strange unresponsive- 
 ness. 
 
 "Do I rhapsodize? But you, of all men, 
 ought to understand. For I know of your 
 Tolna only what you have told me, admire 
 what you have showed me to admire. He is 
 the only man I ever saw who was somehow 
 apart from the hurly-burly, the common frets 
 of life. All the rest of us live for the little 
 incidents of a day, but he lives for a principle. 
 One feels as if he were truth and justice and 
 high ideals personified." 
 
 Denys began to be frightened. Visions of 
 a dreadful possibility put an edge to his 
 tongue. 
 
 "A sort of walking allegory? After all, 
 Miss Fanning, you must remember that he is 
 not an apotheosis. He is just a man." 
 
 For an instant she was amazed that he could 
 speak thus of the idol whose worship she had 
 learned from him. Then she thought she 
 understood, and her eyes danced. 
 
 1 Yes, I am glad to remember that. Here 
 is Hyacinth to say that they are ready for our 
 number. Can you believe that she is really 
 Jessie Burnham's sister? " 
 
MR ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 87 
 
 The appearance of Miss Hyacinth Law 
 rence, who had long since renounced the 
 unsymbolic name of Ellen, given her by her 
 sponsors in baptism, was not an interruption 
 to be overlooked. Her red hair was dressed 
 a la Pompadour, in a manner to amaze King 
 Louis's fair friend. Mounting from her eye 
 brows, it rolled up to skyey regions. Flame- 
 colored masses concealed her ears. More 
 flame-colored masses fell into a huge loose 
 knot between her shoulders. Her dress was 
 of black crepe, its short waist and clinging 
 skirt First-Empire-Greek, while Early- 
 Italian winged sleeves trailed on the floor, 
 even when the lady was standing. Her orna 
 ments were a scarab ring and a necklace of 
 cinnamon-colored stones, recognized by the 
 learned as hyacinths. Her large eyes were 
 tragic in their intensity, her voice was rich, 
 her speech slow and cadenced almost as if she 
 intoned. 
 
 " Darling, Herr Hoffmann has almost 
 finished. Do you feel the influences to be 
 right? " 
 
 Margery answered with a smile and a cock 
 of the head more for Denys than for Hya 
 cinth. 
 
 " There is only one influence, and that is 
 
88 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 perfect. I am going to make you all thrill 
 to-night I 'm going to play for Tolna." 
 
 A note in her voice thrilled them, now, 
 with confidence in her success. The man, 
 ashamed of himself, felt his heart grow heavy. 
 
 " Darling," Miss Hyacinth resumed (there 
 was to Denys something out of joint in a 
 world where Hyacinth, and not he, might so 
 address Margery) " darling, let me put my 
 ring on your finger. It is an amulet. Wear 
 ing it, you can't fail." 
 
 " Keep it for yourself, dear. In the bright 
 lexicon of Margery " that young lady gaily 
 defied the fates. '* Wait for me, Hyacinth, 
 till I get my fiddle. Mr. Alden, Hyacinth is 
 a better musician than I am. You can talk 
 shop to her." 
 
 Despite his always careful courtesy, 
 Denys's perturbation tied his tongue. Quite 
 unembarrassed by the silence, Miss Lawrence 
 stood still as a statue, her eyes fixed on vac 
 ancy. When at last she spoke, it was in fault 
 less German. 
 
 " I wish from my soul that I could speak 
 the tongue of Hungary. Only by knowing 
 the language like one's own, the people like 
 one's neighbors, can one interpret a nation's 
 music. To play for Monsieur Tolna" 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 89 
 
 Denys was not in the mood for more rhap 
 sodies about his Frankenstein's monster. 
 
 * You are not consistent, Miss Lawrence," 
 he tried to touch a lighter key. " You are 
 speaking German, but don't tell me that frock 
 owes its being to the Kaiserin's modiste." 
 
 Hyacinth glanced over her costume with 
 some complacency. 
 
 " No ; it was put together in Paris. But the 
 design, Mr. Alden, is entirely my own." 
 
 " So I should have guessed. Then, Miss 
 Lawrence, why not the language of Doucet 
 and Maeterlinck? " 
 
 "Maeterlinck?" Miss Lawrence repeated 
 vaguely, as if the name hardly conveyed a 
 meaning to her. " That was last winter." 
 
 "And now he has gone with the snows and 
 the sleeves of yester-year? " 
 
 Her gravity was impenetrable. 
 
 " I have the Vedas now on my night-stand. 
 They are an ever-present help when one suf 
 fers." 
 
 Denys regarded her with sad surprise. 
 " Miss Lawrence, I am disappointed. That 
 is not worthy of you." 
 
 She straightened, her green eyes blazing. 
 
 "Mr. Alden, I am most disappointed in 
 you. Are you so ignorant, so Philistine, that 
 
90 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 you despise the great books of the East be 
 cause, forsooth, you are pleased to call them 
 heathen? " 
 
 Denys's face shone with mischief. "Par 
 don! You misunderstand," he pleaded in his 
 most innocent manner. " I never employ the 
 cant word ' heathen.' Why should enlight 
 ened minds attach more sacredness to the He 
 brew prophets than to Buddha? Both interest 
 the judicial scholar. But even if I discrim 
 inated between them, never could I assail the 
 cherished beliefs of a devout agnostic." 
 
 " I was sure you were n't a Philistine. But, 
 then, why are you disappointed in me? " 
 
 " That you look for help when you suffer. 
 How, except by suffering, can one's soul be 
 liberated?" 
 
 She pondered this question, holding 
 Denys's solemn gaze. 
 
 " Ah, you, too, believe that one should court 
 suffering? " 
 
 " One should seek it out, plunge one's self 
 on its cruel bosom, as Arnold von Winkelried 
 on the German spears." 
 
 " Suppose," said Margery from the door 
 way, " we plunge ourselves on the cruel criti 
 cism of the audience?" 
 
 " I must show the men how to turn the 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 91 
 
 piano," Hyacinth exclaimed, a sudden swoop 
 from the infinite to the practical carrying her 
 swiftly down the passage. 
 
 " How insufferable of you to guy her so," 
 Miss Fanning reproached him. 
 
 " I do it for her own good. It is my con 
 viction that that girl is n't half such a fool as 
 she acts. It is the ambition of my life to 
 break up her gravity. I have vowed a vow to 
 out-nonsense her own nonsense till I disgust 
 her into sense." 
 
 ' You '11 stop scoffing when you hear her 
 play. She is great," Margery cried, with 
 an intense look borrowed from Hyacinth. 
 " Wait till we show you what we can do for 
 Monsieur Tolna." 
 
 With an anxious heart under his immacu 
 late shirt-front, Denys went to seek the singer, 
 who, like a good child, was just where he had 
 been left, exchanging labored German sen 
 tences with Judge Foster. 
 
 " Will you not give me the benefit of your 
 intimate knowledge of the Magyar people, 
 Monsieur Tolna? " inquired that eminent 
 publicist. * What, in your judgment, is the 
 real sentiment of the dwellers in the remotest 
 provinces toward the existing Austrian head 
 ship?" 
 
92 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " It is high time to interfere," thought 
 Denys, maker of pedigrees, as he courteously 
 apologized for bearing his friend away. " But 
 I owe you the real apology, Maurice," he 
 added, piloting the singer out of the drawing- 
 room and down a little empty passage, " for 
 leaving you stranded with that old bore." 
 
 " He was n't a bore at all, Denys. He is a 
 most well-informed, high-minded old gentle 
 man, anxious to pay homage to the glories of 
 my country. If I were the real thing, and not 
 a pretending ass, I should fall on his neck." 
 
 ' While, as it is, your conscience mows at 
 you because, for the best of reasons, I have 
 been forced to edit your early biography," 
 Denys jeered, all the more sharply that his 
 own conscience " mowed," as he said. 
 " Sonny, you disgust me. You are losing 
 your sense of humor." 
 
 Opening a narrow door, he signed Maurice 
 through. They found themselves in the 
 crowded music-room, in the space between the 
 platform and the first row of chairs. The 
 private door being concealed in the wall-pan 
 eling, their sudden conspicuousness was so 
 startling that all eyes turned on them. Denys, 
 blandly unconscious, looked only at the 
 embowered platform, where Margery stood 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 93 
 
 waiting, violin on shoulder, while Hya 
 cinth trailed her sable skirts up the steps. 
 " Maurus," he said, quite audibly to those 
 nearest, " I must present you to Miss Law 
 
 rence." 
 
 But Hyacinth had taken her seat, and 
 Denys dropped back, with a gesture of 
 apology. 
 
 ' Too late. We must not move now; they 
 are beginning." 
 
 He looked quite properly mortified that 
 they had obtruded themselves at the wrong 
 moment, while he felt a boyish delight at the 
 success of the ruse which, apparently without 
 premeditation, had made his Adonis the 
 observed of all observers. The situation was 
 further embellished by Maurice's beautiful 
 unconsciousness both of the manoeuver and of 
 the audience. For him, nothing seemed to 
 exist but the music. The exalted Tolna of 
 Denys's imagination could have behaved no 
 better. 
 
 And now the rustling and whispering 
 guests fell silent as the wild dance-measures 
 filled the room. Somber piano and fantastic 
 violin were one. To the listeners came un 
 familiar visions of moonlight shimmering 
 on forest pools ; of vast starry spaces ; of wait- 
 
94 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ing plains and beckoning hills, where life 
 meant living a sense of self outpassed; of 
 love counting the world well lost; of rapture 
 trembling into pain unbearable; and, beating 
 through all, revealing all, the merciless gaiety 
 of the air. Tears dimmed the eyes of the 
 younger women. Stout matrons straightened 
 their burdened shoulders, following with their 
 fans the sweep of the melody. Weary men 
 of business picked up a sudden courage for 
 to-morrow's struggle. Even old Colonel Clay, 
 reputed never to be wholly awake except at 
 meals or cards, nodded his blond head in time, 
 his far-away gaze fixed on the Christmas 
 dances in the gallery of the " big house " in 
 Carolina, long ago. 
 
 On the final notes there followed such a 
 storm of applause as is seldom heard from the 
 sleek and sleepy after-dinner audience, too 
 comfortably settled in the music-rooms of the 
 rich. The girls came forward, Hyacinth still 
 in Hungary, Margery's brilliant face turned 
 on Tolna. Eyebrows lifted, her eyes asked 
 the question which his smile answered as he 
 led the clapping. Then, as if the permission 
 of the Master had been sought and given, she 
 accepted her tribute by curtsey after curtsey. 
 
 It was the second silent understanding that 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 95 
 
 Denys had noted between the two. As a dis 
 creet stage-manager, much too wise to overdo 
 an effect, he had intended, as soon as the 
 Hungarian number was over, to return Tolna 
 to obscurity. But now his craft was forgotten 
 as he became the prey of his own forebodings. 
 At his side stood Maurice, equally still and 
 absorbed. Looking over the audience in a 
 pause of the music, he had discovered Honor 
 Hammond. She, seated between her mother 
 and her fiance, was no more conscious of the 
 singer's eyes upon her than was he of the 
 hundreds of eyes upon him. But more than 
 one of her neighbors followed that strange 
 gaze direct to her face. 
 
 It was, of course, Mrs. Burnham who 
 spoke. 
 
 " Honor, you Ve made a conquest. Tolna 
 has looked at you without moving a muscle 
 for seventeen minutes." 
 
 Honor glanced up. With a murmured 
 "Pardon! " as if she could hear it, Maurice 
 dropped his eyes to the floor and kept them 
 there. 
 
 " If he must n't look at you, he won't look 
 at anybody," Mrs. Nortie commented. 
 " He '11 keep your image undisturbed." 
 
 Without waiting for a reply, and without a 
 
96 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 suspicion that Willie Smith's baleful glare 
 reflected proprietary rights, she hastened to 
 make peace with that scowling young gentle 
 man. " If he 's still angry with me, he has n't 
 found any one to fill my place," she medi 
 tated, comfortably. " Willie," she called, 
 " I '11 play. It 's all right about the twenty- 
 eighth." 
 
 Willie answered with equal distinctness : 
 
 " There ain't going to be any core to this 
 apple." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 " Dinner 's off." 
 
 Turning liis shoulders ostentatiously upon 
 her, he plunged into conversation with Miss 
 Hammond. Mrs. Burnham felt her world 
 crashing about her ears. But no one could 
 have guessed it from the gay impertinence of 
 her reply: 
 
 " You 're cutting a wide swath, to-night, 
 Honor. Which of 'em is it, Beauty or the 
 Beast?" 
 
 For Denys the best efforts of the famous 
 Gerausch, of the divine Arnheim, had no 
 charm. He could not have told what they 
 were singing, but he knew that they were an 
 unconscionable time about it. He wanted to 
 get Maurice away, but reinforcements of un- 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 9? 
 
 interesting persons kept coming up to take 
 possession of him. Finally, in spite of his 
 intention, he and his charge still lingered 
 when the half-dozen long-delaying, intimate 
 friends grouped themselves, among scattered 
 programs and folded camp-chairs, to talk the 
 evening over. While his eyes followed Mau 
 rice and Margery into the recess of the bay- 
 window, he yet heard an automatic tongue 
 possibly his own saying: 
 
 ' You see, Tolna had n't heard those airs 
 since he fled from Tolna Castle. I have told 
 you how his father was assassinated by 
 Austrian agents. Though it can't be proved, 
 of course, there is no doubt in the world that 
 the Emperor was privy to the murder. The 
 only warning that the count had was brought 
 to him, at the risk of his own life, by a blind 
 fiddler playing under the window. He was 
 brave to rashness, like his son after him, and 
 he chose to defy the warning. Well, the boy 
 tells me that that mazurka of Miss Fanning's 
 was the very air the beggar played that night ; 
 and he, a little toddler, was held up in his 
 mother's arms to see the queer fiddler. You 
 may imagine what memories she has quick 
 ened." 
 
 " They are talking like old friends," Mrs. 
 
98 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Fanning smiled, meaning to please him. 
 Denys jumped up and strode across the room 
 to claim Maurice. 
 
 " Mademoiselle," the singer had been say 
 ing in his Englishy French, " you do not want 
 my poor compliment. It is your reward to 
 know how well you played. You saw how you 
 held the room." 
 
 She smiled up at him. 
 
 " I am a fraud, monsieur. To-night I 
 played much better than I can." 
 
 Again each felt that mutual understanding 
 which the length of their acquaintance cer 
 tainly did not warrant. 
 
 "Because you are happy?" Maurice said, 
 and she nodded. 
 
 " Yes, that is why." 
 
 The words were hardly spoken when the 
 intimacy that they implied struck her with 
 surprise. 
 
 " Monsieur Tolna, you are very different 
 from my thought of you." 
 
 His knowledge made him smile. 
 
 " How, mademoiselle? " 
 
 " Monsieur, I fancied you how shall I 
 say? somewhat austere. I knew the motive 
 of your life" 
 
 The Hungarian patriot looked like a chick- 
 
MR. ALDEN IS NOT PLEASED 99 
 
 en-thief. In a voice stern from embarrass 
 ment, " Please never speak of that," he bade. 
 
 Margery flushed at the sudden sharpness 
 of his tone. 
 
 " Oh, I beg your pardon! I should have 
 known that there are some subjects too sacred 
 for a stranger Oh, I am distressed! " 
 
 He writhed the more. 
 
 " It is nothing, mademoiselle. Pray forget 
 it. Never speak of it again." 
 
 " Ah, monsieur, I was right, at first, to 
 think you austere." 
 
 At this Maurice was forced to laugh. 
 
 "A thousand pardons, mademoiselle. 
 Speak of anything in the world you please." 
 
 This somewhat sweeping permission Denys 
 was in time to overhear. Rather in the man 
 ner of a schoolmaster to a naughty child, he 
 ordered Tolna to make his adieux to Mrs. 
 Fanning. Margery could not be blind to the 
 rudeness, but all she said was: 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Alden, I have never met anybody 
 like Monsieur Tolna. I thought that he 
 would be remote, cold; but, instead, he is so 
 human, so sympathetic. He is wonderful. 
 One feels that though one admires him as a 
 star, one might make him a friend. Oh, he is 
 perfection! That is the only thing to say." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 
 
 carriage door was barely shut before 
 JL Mrs. Hammond turned to Honor. 
 
 "I have never seen Willoughby Smith so 
 single out a girl." 
 
 1 You make me think of Mrs. Bennet, mo 
 ther." 
 
 " Mrs. Bennet? " her mother repeated, won 
 dering whether Mrs. Bennet's daughter was a 
 favorite of Willoughby Smith. 
 
 " In ' Pride and Prejudice.' " 
 
 Mrs. Hammond remembered enough of her 
 Jane Austen to recognize this comparison as 
 most impertinent and offensive. 
 
 " I suppose you mean deliberately to be 
 rude, Honor. You usually do." 
 
 * Yes, I am horrid," the girl admitted, with 
 out penitence, but without defiance, as one 
 who mentions an irremediable fact. "Don't 
 let us quarrel to-night, though, mother. I 
 have been a good girl for once. I have ac 
 cepted Willoughby Smith." 
 
 100 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 101 
 
 " Honor! " Mrs. Hammond cried in an aw 
 ful voice a voice that said "if this were a 
 joke-" 
 
 " It is true. He asked me, when we went 
 into the conservatory. He said he wanted to 
 forsake all his Sing Sing dinner companions 
 and cleave only to me. He is coming round, 
 to-morrow morning, to see you and father and 
 bring me the ring." 
 
 "Honor!" Mrs. Hammond cried again, 
 brokenly. 
 
 " I think he means business," Honor's level 
 voice went on. " He seemed to be in earnest 
 and he was perfectly sober. I don't see that 
 he can get away now. Why, mother! " 
 
 Mrs. Hammond, burying her face in her 
 chiffon muff, had burst into a tempest of 
 tears. 
 
 Honor looked almost as stupefied as her 
 mother had looked a moment ago. She said 
 nothing for a while, evidently expecting the 
 sobs to cease. Finally she asked with embar 
 rassment : 
 
 " Mother, are n't you pleased? " 
 
 The tears rained on, and Honor found her 
 self thinking, " Mother must be upset, or she 
 would never ruin her party muff." Sud 
 denly, with an impulse that surprised herself, 
 
102 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 she flung her arm round her mother and drew 
 down the wet face to her shoulder. Mrs. 
 Hammond caught her daughter in both arms 
 to lavish kisses on her cheek. 
 
 "Honor, my dear, dear girl! I am so 
 happy!" 
 
 Almost against her will the "dear girl" 
 felt her own tears rise. Her chief emotion 
 was bewilderment. 
 
 " It is what I hoped for, and longed for, 
 and prayed for," Mrs. Hammond said in a 
 fervent voice. " It is what I brought you up 
 for. But I have thought that you would miss 
 it." 
 
 " So have I," Honor answered, cold again. 
 
 ' Your father never was in sympathy with 
 me about your education. He wanted you to 
 go to school here. But I saw, ten years ago, 
 what you would be. I knew that you could 
 have the most brilliant life, and I made up my 
 mind to fit you for it. I don't care what Ed 
 gar says, you can't get the cachet here." 
 
 "Then you brought me back with the 
 cachet, and nobody seemed to like the brand." 
 
 "Nobody is good enough for you!" Mrs. 
 Hammond cried hotly. "When I look over 
 the men we meet, I could cry to think that 
 any one of them should have my beautiful 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 103 
 
 daughter. I wanted a reigning prince for 
 you. It was hard to confess to myself that 
 that was beyond you. But Willoughby 
 Smith can give you a princess's position." 
 
 " It is good to accomplish the end you were 
 made for," the girl reflected aloud. " I sup 
 pose Lou Dillon feels the same way." 
 
 " Lou Dillon ? Who is she ? " 
 
 " The queen of the trotting-track." 
 
 "The queen oh, a horse! I must say, 
 Honor, I think that 's very coarse." 
 
 " I know I 'm disagreeable, mother dear. I 
 always am everybody says so. But truly, I 
 am very happy that you are pleased." 
 
 The ready tears gushed again. 
 
 " My dear, I hope and know that you '11 be 
 very, very happy." 
 
 The carriage stopped. Honor opened the 
 door herself, for the Hammonds, unlike most 
 of their acquaintances, kept but one man for 
 their modest brougham. 
 
 " There is a light in the work-room. If you 
 don't mind, mother, I 'd like to tell father my 
 self." 
 
 A glance at her tear-stained face in the 
 hall mirror procured Mrs. Hammond's acqui 
 escence. Usually she did not approve of 
 family conclaves behind her back. 
 
104 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 While her mother climbed the stairs, Honor 
 waited below to put out the gas. She was not 
 anxious to hear further rejoicings, but Mrs. 
 Hammond waylaid her in the upper hall. 
 
 "My dear, dear child, I am so happy!" 
 
 " I am glad, mother, that you 're pleased." 
 
 The deadness of the girl's voice, heard for 
 the thousandth time, struck Mrs. Hammond's 
 ear for the first time. 
 
 ' Why, Honor, are n't you pleased? " 
 
 Her daughter spoke with quiet force. 
 
 " Indeed I am. I am very happy to have 
 my own home." 
 
 " For whom has this house been conducted, 
 if not for you?" 
 
 " I did n't mean that, mother. I know that 
 you have done everything for me. I only 
 meant I shall like my married dignity." 
 
 " And it is a dignity worthy of you, thank 
 God! You don't know how happy you have 
 made me, my dearest. You can't appreciate 
 a mother's feelings till you are a mother your 
 self." 
 
 "I wonder if that is true," the girl said, 
 climbing the next flight without a good-night. 
 
 THE Hammond house stood in Ninth Street, 
 a red brick, iron-railinged, green-doored sur- 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 105 
 
 vival of the 'fifties. Mrs. Hammond, born 
 Van Winkle, stuck to the Washington 
 Square neighborhood and claimed for herself 
 a leadership in that shadowy body, the Knick 
 erbocker set. Only the newest comers of the 
 other set the set that really matters felt 
 any awe of pedigree, but all of them consid 
 ered it a sign of good-breeding to assume a 
 little. On the whole, the meerschaumed an 
 cestors were a valuable asset, and so were the 
 lady's literary affiliations and her husband's 
 artistic ones. Society was rather proud of 
 her cleverness, and glad to meet in her pretty 
 house the latest wandering decadent from 
 France, or the most popular of young ac 
 tresses. And when the descendant of the an 
 cestors in turn produced a descendant so 
 beautiful that her name became a household 
 word wherever, from Maine to California, 
 New York society news is telegraphed, Mrs. 
 Hammond became a personage to be eagerly 
 welcomed at all sorts of expensive entertain 
 ments, even though her hosts knew that she 
 could never repay the obligation. 
 
 The stairs Honor climbed were painted 
 white. White spindles supported the mahog 
 any rail. The carpet was colonial blue, the 
 wall-paper colonial buff, thickly hung with 
 
106 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 good old prints and etchings. The whole in 
 terior was charming in its quiet good taste, 
 its air of old-fashioned simplicity. 
 
 " Mrs. Burnham's house and most of the 
 others look like hotels," Honor thought. 
 " This looks like a home and is n't. My new 
 house will look the most hotel-like of all and 
 perhaps it will be a home." 
 
 She opened her father's door without 
 knocking. The startled face which he turned 
 to her showed that this unceremonious en 
 trance was no easy, daughterly habit. She 
 hesitated just within the threshold. 
 
 "I beg pardon. May I come in, if you 
 are n't busy? " 
 
 " Of course you may." 
 
 Sweeping some papers out of sight, he rose 
 to take her cloak. Hammond was a tall man, 
 still showing where Honor got her lithe 
 grace, her thick blonde hair. The two sur 
 veyed each other's looks with equal approval. 
 
 "What a lovely girl I have!" At her 
 shrug he added, " I suppose they bore you, 
 telling you that all the time." 
 
 " Yes. But I might find it more boring if 
 they did n't. I sit down, father, please. I 
 have something to say to you." 
 
 He sat down beyond his drawing-table, ap 
 prehension in his eye. 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 107 
 
 " Did your mother send you up? " 
 
 " No; it is n't to say that we can't keep our 
 position without a footman, or that mother 
 and I must have a month at Palm Beach. It 
 is n't money at all or, yes, I suppose we shall 
 want money. But it is for investment this 
 time. I 'm to be married." 
 
 She winced to see such quick pleasure or 
 was it relief? shine in her father's face. He 
 cried at once : 
 
 " I congratulate you! " 
 
 " Thanks." 
 
 "Or shall, when you have told me the 
 man's name. But I hardly need to know that 
 first. I have so much confidence in your good 
 judgment, Honor." 
 
 That was a pretty speech, she thought. 
 She could find no fault. Yet it hurt her that 
 he looked so pleased. 
 
 "It is Willoughby Smith." 
 
 "Willoughby Smith!" 
 
 " It 's true. I am really to marry all those 
 millions." 
 
 He looked at her in silence awhile. 
 
 " I think I am rather overcome, pussy." 
 
 " So am I, dad. It 's dazzling." 
 
 "That 's the word dazzling! All those 
 millions. Is it beside the point, Honor, to ask 
 you whether you like him?" 
 
108 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 She pondered a moment, as if she had not 
 considered this aspect of the matter. 
 
 "Yes, you see I do, because he seemed to 
 like me, to think that everything I did was 
 right. I should be happy to believe that he 
 does really like me that it was n't just be 
 cause Jessie Burnham heckled him." 
 
 "Oh, there 's nothing wrong there," her 
 father interposed quickly. " I never heard 
 any scandal about Willoughby Smith." 
 
 " Neither have I. And what New York 
 girls don't hear is n't worth hearing. No, 
 Willoughby is just silly." 
 
 That it was unbecoming to speak in this 
 way of her future husband did not occur to 
 her. But though the last thing he wanted was 
 to disturb the match, her father could not re 
 frain from saying distastefully: 
 
 ' You don't mind marrying a man you 
 think silly?" 
 
 " It does n't matter, does it? I get the po 
 sition and he gets me for the position. We 
 shall both be polite and nice to each other, be 
 cause we are both pleased." 
 
 'You are honest, at any rate. I am not 
 sure that such honesty is quite decent." 
 
 " Mother just said I was coarse. But, after 
 all the well-sounding humbug that you and I 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 109 
 
 listen to, I should think you would find me a 
 relief. Ah, you don't, though. You think if 
 a thing is n't lovely, the policy should be to 
 say and say and say that it is." 
 
 " Speech was given to man to conceal his 
 thoughts. That was in order that the world 
 might be a bearable place to live in. Self- 
 control is civilization's gain over the cave- 
 dwellers." 
 
 " Then you think that if we spoke what we 
 feel we should show ourselves just as barbar 
 ous as the cave-dwellers?" 
 
 " I am tempted to fancy that there has n't 
 been much improvement. Let us hear what 
 you 'd say if you spoke all you think." 
 
 " I should say " abruptly she checked her 
 self. Rising, she swept up and down the 
 room, then dropped into her chair again with 
 a half -laugh. 
 
 "No; you are right. There 's no use in 
 saying it, now." 
 
 ' Yes, say it. My daughter is such a stran 
 ger to me. Let me look into your soul, dear." 
 
 "Ah, it 's too late now," she said, with a 
 fleeting smile. "It is like a post-mortem at 
 whist. What is the use when the hand is 
 played?" 
 
 Her father's voice was very serious. 
 
110 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Honor, you and I have never had a good 
 talk since you came home. We certainly 
 never shall, after you are married and leave 
 me. So to-night ?" 
 
 His voice was tender it would have been 
 easy to confess to him. But she was bringing 
 no confessions, only accusations. His ten 
 derness did not smooth the way for them. 
 With a brusqueness that was embarrassment 
 she answered: 
 
 "Very well, then. It is this. You don't 
 like the sort of girl I am. Well, you might 
 have made me diif erent." 
 
 He was hurt and angered, as she had ex 
 pected. 
 
 " My dear, I have as many shortcomings as 
 most men ; but if there is one duty I have tried 
 to fulfil, it is my duty to my daughter." 
 
 " You have certainly toiled for her, father. 
 But mother said to-night you are so tender 
 of appearances that I never knew it before 
 she said that you did n't approve of my being 
 educated abroad." 
 
 " I felt rather strongly that you should go 
 to school in the country in which you live. 
 Surely you are not resenting that old preju 
 dice of mine? I gave in." 
 
 " Yes, you gave in to mother because you 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 111 
 
 wanted peace, and because it would n't be 
 chivalrous to deny your wife anything she had 
 set her heart on. But if you had stuck it out 
 where you felt you were right, mother would 
 have respected you for it and probably loved 
 you more. And I should have been a great 
 deal happier." 
 
 " You think all those years abroad a mis 
 take?" 
 
 " I think so. But I may be wrong. Per 
 haps the trouble is in me and the bringing up 
 would have made no difference. But I have 
 always thought the trouble was that I was too 
 long away. I could n't get hold anywhere 
 when I came back." 
 
 " Your mother had a great many good ar 
 guments quite as good as mine. If you had 
 been a boy I should have insisted on my way. 
 But I thought she ought to know what was 
 best for a girl. Besides, it seemed, as you say, 
 unchi valrous ' ' 
 
 "Yes; you thought that if you could n't 
 take the trouble to love her, you could make 
 it up to her by giving her her own way in 
 everything." 
 
 Mr. Hammond felt as if a ball of lightning 
 had burst in the room. 
 
 " I have always loved your mother," he de- 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 fended himself, too resentful to remember to 
 tell Honor that this was no topic for her. 
 
 " She says that yours was a frantic love- 
 match." 
 
 " That is true." 
 
 "Is it? I did n't know mother colors 
 everything so. But since I can remember you 
 have never seemed very fond of each other." 
 
 " Can you remember ever hearing us 
 bicker? If you can, tell me. Tell me when I 
 have failed to be kind." 
 
 " You are always kind. That is just it. I 
 should n't mind if you threw plates at each 
 other and were sorry afterward." 
 
 "You are rather barbarous." 
 
 'Yes, I suppose it is rather barbarous, a 
 girl saying that her parents don't love each 
 other. But this is an hour apart, father. We 
 have got all the decorous veils off, for once. 
 To-morrow we shall be just as we have always 
 been, and this shall be a dream. But to-night 
 I 'm taking the stand in my own defense. 
 You think it is shocking that I am marrying 
 for money. I wonder that I can ever under 
 stand that point of view, brought up as I have 
 been. But I do, and I say in answer that 
 you and mother married for love." 
 
 " This is what we men call hitting below the 
 belt, Honor. But let us have it out now." 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 113 
 
 The girl went on as if he had not spoken. 
 
 " They don't pretend in France. Here we 
 do just as they do, but we must pretend other 
 wise. It makes the situation so cumbrous and 
 complicated." 
 
 An instant's pause ; then the level voice con 
 tinued. She was thinking aloud rather than 
 talking to him. 
 
 " I don't know just where you and mother 
 slipped up, but as long as I can remember 
 you never did anything together. You were 
 very busy. I suppose you could n't go about 
 much with mother. She was running patri 
 otic societies and literary clubs, though she 's 
 rather ashamed of it when you remind her of 
 it now. Anyway, she tired of them after a 
 while, and then the bee buzzed in her bonnet 
 of going to live abroad so as to educate me 
 under the best influences. She said and I 'm 
 sure she believed that it was her duty to be 
 near me during my formative years. But she 
 was really bored at home." 
 
 "And what do you suggest that I should 
 have done? Kept her at home to be bored? " 
 
 " Told her you could n't get along without 
 her. Then she would n't have been bored." 
 
 Honor suddenly rose, throwing wide her 
 arms as if to sweep away webs of misunder 
 standing. 
 
114 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Oh, can't you see what we women want? 
 You lavish everything in the world on us ex 
 cept just yourselves. You are too busy to 
 play with us, and so you give us all sorts of 
 expensive and beautiful toys houses and 
 clothes and travel. And of course we get 
 tired of it all. Children always get tired of 
 toys and want new ones. And so we get 
 the reputation and deserve it of being 
 the most restless, extravagant women in the 
 world. But I don't think we are the happiest, 
 dad." 
 
 "What makes us so busy, Honor? It is 
 trying to give our womenkind everything 
 that Smith, next door, gives his womenkind." 
 
 'Yes, I know. You are busy because 
 we 're frivolous, and we are frivolous because 
 you 're busy." 
 
 "Where do you propose to start your re 
 form?" 
 
 " I don't propose to start it at all. I don't 
 see what anybody can do about it. You and 
 mother are just like all the other girls' fathers 
 and mothers. You never see her without 
 dreading that she '11 ask you to do something 
 you don't want to do and ought not to do but 
 will end by doing. And mother thinks you a 
 selfish obstructionist who has n't the real in- 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 115 
 
 terests of the family at heart. I can't see 
 that I am doing so badly to take Willie 
 Smith." 
 
 Since he had made her speak, he would not 
 stop her. She went on after a moment in the 
 lighter tone he liked no better than her vehe 
 mence. 
 
 " Mother will tell everybody that we are in 
 fatuated with each other. ' I believe the child 
 never once remembered that fortune.' Mo 
 ther rather overdoes it at times." 
 
 " And shall you go about proclaiming that 
 you are marrying him for his money? " 
 
 " I shall say nothing at all. But of course 
 they will all think that, and I 'm very glad to 
 have them." 
 
 Her father looked at her as if he was not 
 sure whether she were really a human girl. 
 She went on : 
 
 " I have been bred up to marry money, just 
 as if I had been a horse bred up to trot, though 
 of course mother thought me coarse when I 
 said so. Then, when I win my stakes, which 
 everybody knows I am after, why have to talk 
 about ' even as Isaac and Rebecca ' ? I declare, 
 I should want a civil ceremony, not a church 
 service at all, only that nobody supposes for 
 a moment that the church service means any- 
 
116 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 thing. ' Till death us do part!' And half the 
 people that say it are divorced." 
 
 Hammond came over to her, laying his 
 hand on her shoulder and saying in his ca 
 ressing voice: 
 
 " My dear, you are not happy." 
 
 She shook off the hand. 
 
 " I shall be happier than I have been in this 
 house. There is nothing real here nothing 
 that you can count on as true. You are not 
 so . bad as mother in public. You don't 
 make a fool of yourself and me. But I think 
 you are worse, really; for mother almost be 
 lieves her pretenses. You don't. She thinks 
 that her aims are noble and right. But you 
 have n't any aims." 
 
 " I don't have time. It is all that I can do 
 to scrape together money for my wife's 
 
 aims." 
 
 " Ah, you call me barbarous, but I say no 
 thing so hard of you as you say of yourself, 
 father. You confess that you have n't any 
 aims; you just slave your life out to gratify 
 mother's which you don't believe in." 
 
 ' You will understand better when you are 
 older, Honor." 
 
 "It is only the young that know anything, 
 father. When you have spent fifty years tell- 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 117 
 
 ing yourself and hearing other people tell you 
 that black is white you get to think it 's all 
 a dirty gray." 
 
 Hammond laughed with less of bitterness 
 than his tone had held a moment ago. 
 
 " I am afraid that I Ve reached that stage, 
 daughter, where I no longer fling out at any 
 thing. What is the use? It is much of a 
 muchness. Let us change the topic from my 
 failure to your success." 
 
 " You will admit that it is a success? " 
 
 " I am very happy, my dear, more happy 
 than you can understand, that you are to 
 marry a rich man. This is n't sordid, I think 
 the longing to have my girl free from the 
 killing strain of money-worry." 
 
 She was not struck by the bitter ring of his 
 voice. 
 
 " I don't see why one should n't be just as 
 happy without love, do you, father?" she 
 mused. " I suppose you are not so rapturous 
 in the beginning, but then you have n't any 
 disillusion because you never had any illusion. 5 ' 
 
 " And dollars are a very solid good." 
 
 " They are. Now how can you tell whether 
 you really get love or not? 'Men were de 
 ceivers ever.' But a house on the Park won't 
 fly away in the night." 
 
118 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "The glamour of the honeymoon has to 
 fade, my dear. Then you want a safety-net 
 to tumble into from the heights. Money is 
 about the best thing I know to break the fall." 
 
 "But you forget that I have n't any 
 heights to fall from. I never was in love." 
 
 A possible reason for her hardness occurred 
 to him. 
 
 "Are you sure, dear, that you never were? " 
 
 "Never in the world," she answered, with 
 a perfectly unembarrassed laugh. " That is, 
 not since the days of Bim." 
 
 "Whowashe-adog?" 
 
 " No ; he was that cousin of the Grantleys' 
 that I used to walk the back fences with. 
 When I said good-by to him I cried all the 
 way home. I was eleven, I think. He is the 
 only person in the world that I ever loved 
 dearly." 
 
 " Then you consider a mercenary marriage 
 a sort of ark of safety? " 
 
 " I think so, father." 
 
 He laid his hands on her shoulders, forcing 
 her to meet his eyes. 
 
 " Dear, if you are sure that you are going 
 to be happy, I am very happy for you more 
 glad than you can know. I want to see you 
 settled. You will have nobody when I am 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 119 
 
 gone. And I am glad that you are to have all 
 that money; that beautiful house; means "to 
 collect all manner of lovely things about you ; 
 to travel ; to know the best people everywhere ; 
 to have everything that enriches and adorns 
 life. I don't think that I 'm romantic. I 
 married for love ; we were very much in love, 
 both of us. But I am inclined to think that 
 people get on best where there is respect and 
 liking, but not love; where the marriage is a 
 calm contract, each side bringing to the part 
 nership something which the other values. 
 You are less likely to be disappointed. And 
 yet" 
 
 " And yet you hate to have me, as a bride, 
 put into words what you have just said?" 
 
 "Yes. It 's illogical, I admit; but I had 
 rather you came to me blushing and said that 
 you were engaged to the loveliest fellow in 
 the world." 
 
 "And inwardly you would think that I 
 had n't half as much security of happiness as 
 I shall have with Willoughby Smith." 
 
 " I don't believe that I like logical women." 
 
 "And I hate unfair men and women. 
 Oh, they do these things better in France. 
 There they marry for convenience and don't 
 talk cant about it. Dad, would you expect me 
 
120 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 to refuse Willoughby Smith just because I 
 don't happen to entertain a romantic affec 
 tion for him?" 
 
 "Honor, is it necessary always to call a 
 spade a spade? Let us leave something un 
 said, just for once." 
 
 " No; let us be honest, just for once. You 
 were delighted when I told you that I was 
 engaged to him I saw it in your face. But 
 you are American, you and mother, and 
 the American tradition that one must marry 
 for love dies hard. You always expected me 
 to make a rich marriage, but you expected me 
 to save the situation by falling in love with 
 the rich man. That would relieve the Ameri 
 can conscience. If I can't manage it, the 
 least I can do is to pretend to. I think you 
 demand a good deal of your daughter." 
 
 " I am not aware that I have ever made 
 this demand you so harp on that you should 
 marry money." 
 
 She moved about the room, gathering up 
 her wraps. 
 
 "Oh, no; it was never put into words 
 that would n't be proper in this country. 
 Good-night, father." 
 
 " Good-night." He followed her to open 
 the door, and spoke again in a friendlier tone. 
 
A BETROTHAL A LA MODE 121 
 
 "This is n't a quarrel, is it, my dear? You 
 and I never quarrel. I am very glad and 
 proud, little daughter; believe it." 
 
 He kissed her on each cheek. She ac 
 cepted the caress without returning it. 
 
 " Good-night, father. Thank you for your 
 patience." 
 
 " Good-night, my lovely girl." 
 
 He opened the door for her with the charm 
 ing courtesy he had even for his own family. 
 A strand of her hair had fallen loose on her 
 shoulder; he lifted it and kissed it as she 
 passed him. She looked back with a smile. 
 
 " I don't wonder people fall in love with 
 you, father ! " 
 
 So the scene had ended politely, prettily 
 even, as he always wanted scenes to end and 
 to begin, too. Her bomb-throwing must have 
 been a trial to him. At the head of the stairs 
 the girl abruptly turned about and knocked 
 at his closed door. When he opened it, she 
 thought as she had been before too self -cen 
 tered to think how worn and tired he looked. 
 
 "A glove lost, dear?" 
 
 "No, father. An opportunity lost. I 
 came up here to-night thinking that perhaps 
 this this beginning of a new life for me 
 would be the beginning of our understanding 
 
122 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 each other better. I do love you so much, but 
 we don't get on. To-night I meant to make 
 things better, and I have only made them a 
 thousand times worse. No, no; I won't come 
 in now. You are tired, and so am I. But 
 won't you just believe that I did n't come to 
 be horrid? I came to be nice." 
 
 " You are always nice, my darling," he an 
 swered, with his instinctive polite responsive 
 ness, taking her in his arms. But if his pretty 
 speech was automatic, his kiss and his strain 
 of her to his heart seemed to her real. She 
 went down-stairs comforted. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MR. ALDEN DREAMS 
 
 DENYS made it his rule never to ruffle 
 Maurice's tranquility just before or 
 after a meal, or at bedtime. He maintained 
 that the delicate nervous organization of an 
 artist might be irreparably injured by any 
 disturbance of his digestion or his sleep. And 
 though experience testified that nothing could 
 upset Maurice's excellent habits, still it 
 amused his keeper to invent a code of exem 
 plary little rules and obey them. To hygienic 
 scruples, then, Maurice attributed his com 
 rade's taciturnity on their way home from the 
 reception. Next morning he expected a flow 
 of conversation from Denys, who liked as 
 much as any woman to " talk it over." 
 
 To his amused surprise, an unaccountable 
 interdict seemed to have been laid upon the 
 subject. Denys made laboriously polite con 
 versation about trifles, and balanced with 
 exaggerated acumen the clauses of a new busi 
 ness agreement. At rehearsal he sat dumb, to 
 
 123 
 
124 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 the astonishment and relief of Hirt, who was 
 accustomed, during these hours of storm and 
 stress, to expect from him a frenzy of sug 
 gestions too admirable to be ignored and too 
 troublesome to be followed. During the 
 evening he was ostentatiously engaged in 
 correspondence, while Maurice lay on the 
 divan chuckling over " The Disentanglers." 
 
 It was Maurice who, next day, broke a si 
 lence which seemed to have become almost 
 sullen. 
 
 " Denny, what are you worriting about? " 
 he asked, laying an affectionate hand on his 
 friend's shoulder. " I can't make you out. The 
 only appearance in society was all right, 
 was n't it? Mrs. Fanning is charming, and 
 how well that little girl plays ! She is the sort 
 of American girl that makes the women of all 
 other nations seem awkward and slow. She 's 
 as pretty as red shoes, too. Her musical gift is 
 rather gilding refined gold. She could do 
 without it. But she is n't a bit spoiled. She 
 is easy to talk to, she understands what you 
 don't say, and she 's warm-hearted. It is n't 
 all on the surface, either. The better you 
 know her, the better she '11 pan out. The man 
 that gets her gets a prize. Great occasion, 
 on the whole, was n't it? " 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 125 
 
 ' Very satisfactory," answered Denys, 
 without looking up from his newspaper. 
 
 Lifting his expressive eyebrows, Maurice 
 sauntered off to the piano. 
 
 Denys mused. Without doubt, this was 
 fine, hearty speech a little too frank and 
 hearty, one might demur, for lover's praise. 
 Yet he knew so well Maurice's uncivilized 
 directness that it seemed quite like him to fall 
 in love without thought of concealment or 
 embarrassment. Although, for all his candor, 
 Denys could not, even after thirty-six hours 
 of brooding, quite picture himself inquiring 
 the boy's intentions, in the heavy-father man 
 ner, yet when he saw the tenor sitting idle 
 before the keyboard, his eyes fixed on vacancy 
 for ten consecutive minutes, he felt that it 
 deserved the name of portent. Maurice 
 thinking! 
 
 For two distressful nights had vague mis 
 givings haunted Denys's troubled sleep and 
 waking hours. By daylight he could see the 
 absurdity of supposing that, after two meet 
 ings, either Maurice or Margery would have 
 fallen in love with the other. Yet he could not 
 forget Margery's face as she praised Tolna, 
 nor their evident mutual understanding. He 
 assured himself stoutly that they were making 
 
126 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 friends for his sake. But if they were at 
 tracted ever so slightly, it was imperative that 
 the girl should learn at once the truth about 
 Tolna. He knew that his nerves were over 
 strung. He perceived the wisdom of silence, 
 and thereupon he spoke : 
 
 " For a man who affects to despise the sex, 
 it strikes me that you 're uncommon compli 
 mentary, Maurice ! " 
 
 Maurice laughed. " So that 's its name? I 
 saw that you had got up a brand-new griev 
 ance, Denny. I don't affect to despise the 
 sex, mine ancient. I don't even despise it. 
 Like all sensible men, I hold that it 's made up 
 of women and not of angels. Personally, I 
 prefer that distribution. But the few speci 
 mens you 've allowed me to approach hitherto 
 have n't seemed necessary to my happiness. 
 Last night, you see, youth and beauty hap 
 pened to have brains and breeding, too. Of 
 course I was a foredoomed victim. You 've 
 protected me from that fatal combination 
 up to this time. Alas! Denny, 'the shafts 
 at random sent found mark the archer little 
 meant.' " 
 
 Against his will, Denys blundered on: 
 
 " Do you mean it, Maurice ? Have you met 
 your fate?" 
 
 " I wonder ! I 'm not an expert. Some of 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 127 
 
 the cardiac symptoms may be irregular. For 
 bonny Annie Laurie I 'd not lay me down and 
 dee, which is, I have read, the patient's in 
 dicative condition. Denys, this is a crisis. I 
 must reflect. Forsaking all others, could I 
 cleave only to her till No, I really can't 
 give you up, my son; so I hope she won't 
 make it a condition. But I can imagine 
 myself giving up all my other bad habits 
 and evil companions on the day that she 
 graciously consents to become a substitute. 
 How do you diagnose my peculiar case, Doc 
 tor Alden?" 
 
 " Must you always grin through a horse- 
 collar, Maurice? Can't you treat even a lady 
 with respect? If you ask me it is n't in you 
 to love. When I think of what you would 
 give and what you would get, it 's too mon 
 strous! To you, life is a gigantic jest. To her 
 to any imaginative girl, ignorant of the 
 world it 's Maurice, it can't be argued 
 about. I am trying to be fair. You did n't 
 make yourself." 
 
 Maurice whirled about on the music-stool, 
 his eyes shining with mischief. 
 
 " Mighty good job, though, if I can't claim 
 the credit. Look here, Denny, I 'm a regular 
 violet-by-a-mossy-stone, as you very well 
 know when you 're not in a wax. But if I 
 
128 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 must speak up for myself, I will remark that I 
 feel within me, all a-buddin' and a-growin', 
 the makings of a meek and lowly American- 
 patent husband, prepared to efface himself 
 and hand over to his wife the family thinking. 
 I '11 earn the money, and she shall spend it. 
 She shall decree, and I will obey. And if that 
 won't make a fellow-countrywoman happy, 
 tradition and observation are alike at fault. 
 Gome, Denny; you beg my modest question. 
 Was I a howling success on Sunday night, 
 or was I not? Old Hirt will put up ' stand 
 ing-room only' for the next three weeks, on 
 the strength of the free advertising you 've 
 secured. Why sit ye there so mumchance? " 
 
 " I have no right to question you, I 
 know " 
 
 " Then don't, Denys. Take the advice of 
 a humble admirer. Omniscience is n't really 
 good for you, though your constitution stands 
 the strain so wonderfully. So just let the 
 weak and erring flounder on in their own 
 chosen paths. If we win out, you '11 have a 
 pleasant surprise; and if we don't, you '11 
 have known it all along. Indifference to the 
 troubles of your fellow-creatures is the only 
 grace your character lacks, my dear young 
 friend." 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 129 
 
 "Are you telling me to mind my own 
 business, Maurice?" 
 
 " To my refined ear your phrasing seems 
 less happy than my own which you don't 
 appear to find obscure." 
 
 An angry red burned in Denys's cheek. 
 
 " For thirteen years I have considered you 
 more my business than anything in the world 
 except one. Do you wish me to give up my 
 office?" 
 
 " Bless you, no, Denny. At least I don't 
 want you to give me up. If you could con 
 duct a retail concern as Earthly Providence, 
 so to say, instead of a wholesale and commis 
 sion one take Saturdays and Sundays off, 
 perhaps? How can you know what 's in me, 
 you old Solomon, so long as I must n't dance 
 unless you pull the string? Not in me to love, 
 eh? Why, my one social experience has re 
 vealed me to myself as a headlong sentiment 
 alist. I have n't a doubt that I 'm various 
 other equally interesting characters, if you 'd 
 let me find it out." 
 
 Denys took up his hat. Through all the 
 boy's nonsense there sounded, in the ear of the 
 listener, a new note of purpose. Though 
 Maurice would admit nothing, Denys had 
 always believed that, once in earnest, his 
 
130 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 sweetness and charm would win any maid. 
 And now his admiration for Margery was so 
 evident that her knight-errant saw his own 
 hard devoir staring him in the face. 
 
 " I must beg your pardon," he said stiffly, 
 " for my well-meant tyrannies. You will ad 
 mit, I suppose, that there is only one thing to 
 do now?" 
 
 " For me to beg yours, perhaps? You will 
 admit, I suppose, that I at least have kept my 
 temper under some provocation." 
 
 Denys's hand was on the door-knob. 
 
 " I am on my way to do penance," he 
 answered. " I am going to confess." 
 
 Maurice's open face expressed a surprise 
 so great as to resemble dismay. Denys 
 glanced at him and went on sharply : 
 
 " I don't hear the enthusiasm I expected 
 from the tireless advocate of the truth, the 
 whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Have 
 I your permission to tell it? " 
 
 Maurice shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I understood that I was n't to be con 
 sulted," he answered, going back to his notes. 
 
 Denys hesitated again. Still hurt and 
 irritated, he was even more bewildered. A 
 real disagreement with Maurice was a thing 
 unbelievable. Yet every word that he had 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 131 
 
 spoken had marred his cause instead of mend 
 ing. 
 
 Ou se de - vi - ne La pre - cen - ce (Tune 
 
 in - no - cen - te et di - vi - - - ne. 
 
 trolled out Maurice, reaching and holding his 
 crystalline high C with as conscientious a pre 
 cision as if slighted love and wounded friend 
 ship had no place in his world. 
 
 Defeated, Denys closed the door and 
 plunged into the street. 
 
 What worse pain was likely to follow his 
 confession to Margery, he did not ask him 
 self. It was she only who was to be consid 
 ered. Neither he nor Maurice counted in the 
 reckoning. 
 
 Miss Fanning was at home, and, had he 
 known it, in a somewhat chastened mood. 
 The only thing to be predicted of Margery's 
 spirits was that they never stayed long in the 
 same key. Her flights of daring were suc 
 ceeded by a shivering timidity; her peccadil- 
 
132 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 los, by quick repentances. Last night she 
 had gleefully tried to make her slave jealous 
 of the Celebrity. To-day she felt with inten 
 sity her unkindness to poor Denys. Monsieur 
 Tolna understood perfectly that she was not 
 flirting. She had no compunctions about him. 
 But Denys had bade her good-night with a 
 look of pain that she hated to think of. All 
 readiness to make reparation, she ran down 
 the stairs, resolved to be very kind to him. 
 
 At the foot of the flight she suddenly 
 halted; her face and neck crimsoned. The re 
 membrance of the much that he had said, of 
 the more that he had looked, at the reception, 
 implied the imminence of the one question; 
 and, in his inmost heart, how could he doubt 
 her answer? 
 
 She felt half inclined to hide herself away 
 and postpone the beautiful moment that 
 seemed so near. Then she straightened her 
 slim shoulders, holding her head up proudly, 
 ashamed to shrink from her happiness. Mak 
 ing sure in the hall mirror that she was only 
 pink enough to look pretty, she gave her hair 
 a last fluff, pulled out the sash of her dainty 
 gown, and airily entered the drawing-room. 
 
 With the superior composure of her sex in 
 these crises, she chattered easily of the party 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 133 
 
 till her guest's inattention became too marked 
 to be longer ignored. A little nervously 
 
 " What is the matter? " she demanded. 
 " You look as if you had come to bury Csesar, 
 when I want you to praise him. Praise every 
 thing, Mr. Alden: the music, the guests, the 
 flowers, the supper, the hostesses. Nothing 
 less will satisfy me." 
 
 " I can't praise anything but your playing, 
 Miss Fanning. I don't remember anything 
 but that." 
 
 She glowed beautifully. 
 
 " I am so pleased that you liked it." 
 
 " What will please you more Tolna was 
 delighted." 
 
 " And why should it please me more, Mr. 
 Alden? He is no better critic than you." 
 
 She made her little compliment with her 
 prettiest smile, when he replied disagreeably: 
 
 " My opinion hardly counts. You were 
 playing for him." 
 
 Margery was provoked. Having repented 
 of her effort to make Denys jealous, having 
 vowed to herself to torment him no more, and 
 having attempted to blot out the offense by 
 a present demeanor all sweetness, it was to 
 her as if the offense had never existed. Most 
 tiresome and ungenerous of the man to be 
 
134 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 still harping on this old string, she thought 
 with rising color. 
 
 He went on after a moment: 
 
 " His presence was the event of the evening 
 to you?" 
 
 " Of course," she said defiantly. 
 
 " I saw at once that you and he felt in 
 touch, that you were talking together as if 
 you had known him all your life. That curi 
 ous rapport at a first meeting you felt it 
 with him, Miss Fanning? " 
 
 It is to be noted that Denys had not consid 
 ered it proper to mention her name to Mau 
 rice, nor to question him thus closely, though 
 years of guardianship might be thought to 
 give him a right, and though his friend had 
 shown no over-susceptible temper. But 
 Margery, a human sensitive-plant, he was 
 probing without mercy. Girls, she said to 
 herself, indignantly, have to suffer (for their 
 own good, it is assumed) an amount of bad 
 gering about their love-affairs to which no 
 one dreams of subjecting a man. It would 
 be hard indeed if they might not make re 
 prisals. 
 
 While her indifference to Monsieur Tolna's 
 charms spared her any embarrassment, it did 
 not avert her wrath from his ally. Folding 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 135 
 
 her hands in her lap, she looked steadily into 
 Denys's troubled face. 
 
 " Have you been to the Water-color Ex 
 hibition, Mr. Alden? Hyacinth Lawrence 
 has a landscape on the line. She is the most 
 amazing genius, that girl. Did you under 
 stand that she arranged our whole Hungarian 
 theme on Sunday night? Even Herr Hoff 
 mann said that it was masterly. And as to 
 her painting, did you know that she never 
 seriously studied it till last year? " 
 
 The even, conventional tones seemed to 
 madden Denys. He sprang to his feet. 
 
 "I did n't come to discuss water-colors 
 and scales. I came to tell you about 
 Tolna." 
 
 She was completely taken aback. What 
 could possibly justify this portentous begin 
 ning? Unless she blushed with confusion 
 at her own blushing. Certainly, Tolna had 
 been most friendly with her, and she with 
 him. Had he misunderstood her meaning? 
 She had been so sure that she had seen his 
 unguarded admiration for another girl,, so 
 sure that he knew she had seen it. She tried 
 to laugh off her misgiving. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Alden, what is it? Like Pet 
 Marjorie's bereaved fowl, I am * more thaa 
 
136 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 usual calm.' Nothing can be half so serious 
 as you look." 
 
 " He wanted me to tell you. He thought 
 it was your right to know." 
 
 In his eagerness to make it plain that he 
 was betraying Tolna by Tolna's own consent 
 he blundered on unfortunate phrases. And 
 she, with no suspicion of the actual secret, 
 could surmise but one reason for such a confi 
 dence as threatened her. But if it were she 
 whom he desired, how could the man have 
 looked so at Honor Hammond, with all his 
 soul in his eyes? 
 
 " If you blame him, Miss Fanning, if you 
 think he is n't absolutely sincere and single- 
 minded, notwithstanding what may seem to 
 you mercenary, you do him a great injustice. 
 The fault is altogether mine. Things did n't 
 look the same in Europe. I could n't have 
 borne that he should fail, and it seemed to me 
 the only way. I was all wrong. I ought to 
 have told you everything. But I could n't 
 foresee what has happened." 
 
 Margery looked at him in blank amaze 
 ment. His haggard face, his stammering 
 speech, his penitential aspect was this the 
 blithe, self-confident Denys? Suddenly she 
 understood. What had seemed to Denys the 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 137 
 
 only way to success? What had not looked 
 the same in Europe? What might she 
 think mercenary? Why, a marriage for 
 money, of course. Tolna could not be rich. 
 Miss Hammond, beautiful though she was, 
 had nothing, while she herself Only too 
 well did Margery comprehend the usual am 
 bition of foreigners of ancient line. Any girl 
 with a million in her own right is taught to 
 look upon herself as the natural prey of the 
 fortune-hunter. 
 
 She sprang to her feet, her eyes flashing. 
 
 " No more, Mr. Alden. I will hear nothing 
 more from you concerning Monsieur Tolna." 
 
 " Miss Fanning, I am most unhappy to 
 disobey you; but, in barest justice to him and 
 to you and to me, if that weighs with you, I 
 must go on." 
 
 " I can leave the room, Mr. Alden, if you 
 insist." 
 
 He stopped her, clutching her wrist, his 
 agitation getting beyond his control at sight 
 of hers. 
 
 "You shall not go! What right have 
 you to treat me so? Can't you see what it 
 costs me to tell you the truth about my dear 
 est friend? I don't count myself. God 
 knows I 'd hold my tongue forever, now the 
 
138 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 harm is done, if it were n't a point of honor. 
 It is his due and yours. I must n't think of 
 what I lose. Margery, on Sunday night I 
 saw I could n't help seeing how perfectly 
 you understood each other as if you had been 
 friends for years, instead of hours. But even 
 then I did n't believe, because I could n't 
 believe not till this morning could I face the 
 possibility not till he told me And then I 
 knew that I had kept silence too long. I came 
 straight here to confess to you how he how 
 I Margery, in God's name tell me whether 
 you whether you Margery, won't you an 
 swer me? " 
 
 His eyes were like some tortured animal's, 
 his voice a sob of suspense and pain. All her 
 little coquetries, doubts, resentments, reserves, 
 dropped from her. Her eyes were two bea 
 con-lights flashing love and joy as she cried: 
 
 " Oh, Denys, you know! " 
 
 The admission boldly made, she looked 
 away in sudden terror. But he did not touch 
 her. After a moment, in an easy voice, with 
 even a note of raillery in it, he said : 
 
 " I congratulate Maurice." 
 
 And his face had said so unmistakably that 
 he was asking for himself! Her heart stood 
 still. 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 139 
 
 Of course all their speech had been of 
 Tolna. But she, credulous fool! because for 
 her no other man than Denys existed, must 
 needs think that he spoke of himself. It did 
 not occur to her to reflect that if she had read 
 his question wrong, she must have read his 
 love truly. No loyal anxiety for his friend 
 could blanch his cheeks as they had blanched 
 then. But she was incapable of weighing 
 evidence, her whole being swamped in dismay 
 at having committed a girl's unpardonable 
 sin offered her love where it was not asked. 
 Helpless, she hid her face in her hands. Pres 
 ently Denys went on : 
 
 4 This is the most beautiful thing that ever 
 could have happened in my life. My dearest 
 friend, and my pearl among women! " 
 
 She saw that she could never, never let 
 Denys guess his mistake. Her imagination, 
 flying forward over the logical consequences 
 of standing by the misapprehension, pictured 
 her actually standing before the altar with 
 Tolna, bridesmaids, ushers, and a church full 
 of curious onlookers bearing witness to the 
 irrevocableness of her vows. This very after 
 noon, she resolved, her mother should take 
 tickets for Japan. 
 
 She thrust up her hands, palms out, as if to 
 
140 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 push away something that smothered her, cry 
 ing out in a last effort to escape: 
 
 " But he you can't know. You must be 
 wrong. What am I to him? You said your 
 self that he was the mere friend of an hour. 
 He has seen me but that once." 
 
 Denys, embarked on a career of misunder 
 standings, of course misread her distress. 
 Still, in his tone of careful lightness he an 
 swered : 
 
 " When one Romeo of Verona had seen a 
 lady only once ' 
 
 " But this is n't the fourteenth century. 
 And and he knows that I am rich." 
 
 Denys started. 
 
 " Margery, you don't mean that?" 
 
 " Not of you," she cried quickly, ashamed 
 that even for a moment she had thought him a 
 partner in his friend's abominable scheme. 
 " No, you never meant to sacrifice me. Over 
 there, when you merely speculated about 
 some unknown rich girl who would be only 
 too glad to exchange her money for his title, 
 it would n't seem the same, I know. But 
 Monsieur Tolna can't care for me. It is my 
 fortune," she declared roundly, out of the dis 
 gust she felt for that base creature. Then, 
 remembering her confession that she loved 
 him, she stammered, "At least, I I don't feel 
 
MR. ALDEN DREAMS 141 
 
 sure of him," and took refuge in a burst of 
 tears. 
 
 His hand was on her shoulder. 
 
 " Margery, Margery, what can you mean? 
 Maurice never had a mercenary thought in 
 his life. He loves you you yourself. You 
 do him the greatest injustice if you believe 
 that he has once thought of your money. I 
 have known him from a child. I have never 
 seen a nature more honest, generous, unselfish. 
 No man in the world is good enough for you, 
 but Maurice Tolna is the least unworthy. I 
 am not his ambassador. I must n't repeat to 
 you what he said to me this morning, because 
 it is his right to say it to you himself. But if 
 you earned your bread it would be all one to 
 him, except that he would have the joy of 
 earning it for you. You believe me, my 
 child?" 
 
 Her sobs were hushed. She sat silent and 
 thoughtful. But one more thing was de 
 manded of him. To save her the least shadow 
 of unhappiness, not only must he praise his 
 rival, he must conceal the rivalry. Not only 
 must he suffer the martyr's pang, he must 
 thrust aside the martyr's crown. 
 
 Since she did not look up, his gallant smile 
 was hardly worth the effort it cost him. 
 
142 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Your happiness and my dearest friend's," 
 he said. " It is my dream come true." 
 
 She gave him one fleeting glance. 
 
 " Denys, I cannot understand it. Are we 
 both tangled up in a dream? Shall we wake 
 and find that nothing is changed since the 
 other night? Oh, that would be so much the 
 best thing!" 
 
 Into Denys's haggard eyes leaped a sudden 
 hope. He bent over her. "Margery," he said 
 softly 
 
 A silken rustle in the doorway was followed 
 by the gay irruption of Mrs. Burnham, de 
 vastator of opportunities. 
 
 " Hello, Margery! " she cried. "Well met, 
 Mr. Alden ! Will you and your prodigy dine 
 with us, on the third, to meet the Prince? " 
 
 " Unluckily for us, Mrs. Burnham, the 
 prodigy performs that evening." 
 
 "Why, of course; we 're all going to see 
 him do it afterward. How stupid of me! 
 Why did n't you import two of them, while 
 you were about it, Mr. Alden? There is n't 
 enough of one to go round. A double would 
 work beautifully." 
 
 Denys had taken up his hat. The smile 
 was shadowy with which he answered : 
 
 " One Tolna may yet be my undoing, dear 
 lady." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MR. ALDEN WAKES 
 
 DENYS never knew how he covered the 
 mile or two between the Fanning house 
 and Thirty-fifth Street. To his conscious 
 ness, he walked out of Margery's door into his 
 own, whence Maurice was issuing, very smart 
 in riding-clothes. 
 
 " Give up your ride to-day, boy. I want to 
 speak to you." 
 
 It was a sunny, still, winter afternoon, New 
 York at its best, when the very air seems elec 
 tric with the city's eager spirit. 
 
 "Have I got to sign a contract?" said 
 Maurice. " I 'd rather ride." 
 
 ' You almost quote Browning." 
 
 "Heaven forefend!" the singer cried, 
 crossing himself. 
 
 The Tolna of Denys's imagination would 
 not have done this. 
 
 " Don't! " he cried sharply. 
 
 Maurice looked amused. 
 
 " Turning monk ? What 's up ? " 
 
 143 
 
144 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Come into the house," bade Denys, lead 
 ing the way. The other followed, half reluc 
 tant, half curious. He had quite forgotten 
 his annoyance with his comrade. When the 
 chief's eyes burned and his dark cheek was 
 tinged with red, schemes unpredictable were 
 bubbling in his restless brain. Marking his 
 embarrassed excitement, Maurice prepared 
 with amusement to hear some proposition out- 
 Denysing Denys's usual whimsicality and 
 daring. 
 
 " Well, let 's have it," he prompted, as the 
 schemer remained deep in reverie. 
 
 But Denys still hung silent. Notwith 
 standing his momentary doubt, he had told 
 himself, on leaving Margery, that he could 
 not be wrong. No girl, he thought, could be 
 unmoved by Tolna's face and voice and man 
 ner, while Margery must feel that she already 
 knew him well. By the depth of his own de 
 votion to her, he measured his obligation to 
 secure her happiness. 
 
 On his road here his errand had seemed sim 
 plicity itself merely to tell Maurice what a 
 treasure was his, to exhort him to be worthy 
 of it. If he loved her, as Denys now dared 
 not doubt, she had already her heart's desire. 
 Even if his outspoken admiration were not 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 145 
 
 yet more than admiration why, even then, 
 in the awe-struck mood, exalted, yet humble, 
 which must follow his knowledge that an 
 angel had stooped to love him, the boy would 
 be wax to grant any service, any sacrifice. So 
 Denys planned with god-like confidence till 
 his self-assurance was riven by no greater 
 blow than the sight of Tolna's riding-suit. 
 The picture was out of focus. You simply 
 could not imagine a romantic lover in such 
 extremely modish clothes. 
 
 In an every-day voice Denys began to feel 
 his way. 
 
 "I Ve been thinking of the many changes 
 of arrangement that you and I must make, 
 should you marry." 
 
 There was no mistaking it: Maurice 
 jumped. 
 
 " What makes you say that? " 
 
 " It was just a speculation," Denys pro 
 ceeded, still warily. "You are the kind of 
 person to whom his home life means a great 
 deal." 
 
 "I am said to be the original of the man 
 who never cared to wander from his ain fire 
 side." 
 
 "All you need to complete your domesti 
 city is a wife." 
 10 
 
146 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " If I had a wife, I should n't be domestic." 
 
 "Don't talk that cheap cynicism." 
 
 " Oh, I 'd ask nothing better than to sit at 
 home with her. But I should n't be let. 
 She 'd want to go to things every other min 
 ute. However, Denys, when you talk of my 
 nuptials, I think you mean your own." 
 
 " If you mean my friendship for Miss Fan 
 ning," Denys said steadily, " that is no more 
 than a friendship." 
 
 " The way you looked at her the other night 
 would make old Plato turn in his grave." 
 
 " I am very fond of her, as I have been of 
 her mother all my life. But I think of her as 
 a little sister. I have never asked her to marry 
 me, nor do I intend to." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, old man," Maurice 
 said, with more seriousness than he had yet 
 shown. " I 'm sure I don't know why people 
 should always jump to one conclusion when a 
 man shows that he likes a girl." 
 
 " It occurred to me that you might have 
 misunderstood my interest in the family, so I 
 wanted to tell you that you need n't be held 
 back by any scruple about me." 
 
 Maurice laughed out. 
 
 " My dear fellow, I 'm not an aspirant." 
 
 "You you were n't taken with her? 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 147 
 
 Why, you said, this morning, that you were 
 a foredoomed victim. You said that you 
 that she Maurice, you almost quarreled 
 with me about her." 
 
 " So the lamb r'iled up the stream, did he, 
 you poor, innocent wolf? Oh, Denys, don't 
 you know, yet, when I 'm trying to get a rise 
 out of you? Or if it was n't all chaff I 
 thought Miss Fanning charming, of course. 
 No chance for argument there. But I 'd 
 rather not marry her, if it 's all the same to 
 you, my friend." 
 
 His smile was more final than the hottest 
 protest. Denys's world reeled. His first 
 feeling was an instinctive joy that the other 
 man did not claim her. Then he remembered 
 the wonderful look with which she had 
 avowed her love, and the positive assurance 
 he had given her that that love was returned. 
 
 At his face of dismay, his comrade began 
 to laugh again. 
 
 " Of course I want to marry you off. It 
 will be nuts to me to see my jailer in irons. 
 But why you should want to marry me off; 
 to share your slave " 
 
 "But even if you have n't thought of it, 
 think of it now. She 's pretty and good and 
 clever and rich " 
 
148 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Denys, in this country the occupation of 
 match-making is generally left to old ladies. 
 I suppose it 's your European training that 
 enables you to take it up without a man's 
 natural shame." 
 
 "Maurice-" 
 
 " Confound the cold-blooded European 
 grossness of the thing ! I raise the red flag of 
 rebellion. I should be something less than a 
 free-born American if I let myself be ma- 
 noeuvered by a match-maker. I 'd give up the 
 only girl I ever loved sooner than have an old 
 lady of either sex get the credit of the 
 affair." 
 
 " I had no intention of grossness, Maurice, 
 when I hoped that my dearest friend and the 
 daughter of my oldest friend might fancy 
 each other. I certainly would have done any 
 thing I could to further that end." 
 
 " You 're too kind. But understand once- 
 for all, Denys, that I intend to pick out my 
 wife for myself. I am not such a lunatic as to 
 tie myself up to a life-partner unless there 's 
 a straight-out, genuine, name-blown-in- 
 the-glass, signature-on-every-package, war- 
 ranted-to-stand-all-climates, rain-and-dust- 
 proof , all-wool-and-three-miles-wide love be 
 tween us." 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 149 
 
 Under a tone of jest, the young man's voice 
 was vibrant with resentment. But Denys 
 scarcely realized the earnestness of a feeling 
 that finds expression in flippant words. 
 
 "Maurice, you don't see that I 'm serious. 
 If I introduce a lady's name, it is n't in idle 
 
 ness." 
 
 " Naturally not. I knew it was some new 
 advertising dodge." 
 
 He spoke with deliberate offensiveness, 
 calculated to bar Denys off the subject. 
 But Denys pursued doggedly, with a grieved 
 patience : 
 
 " You would not jest if you knew how sa 
 cred-" 
 
 "On a subject a man considers sacred, 
 he 'd better keep still." 
 
 " Sometimes it is his hard duty to speak. 
 Maurice I count myself much to blame." 
 
 Maurice dropped into a chair. 
 
 "Denys, I don't like this conversation. 
 But if you must go on, go on, and get done as 
 soon as you can." 
 
 Denys began in a low voice, his eyes on the 
 flames. 
 
 " Last summer, all those eight weeks that I 
 was with them in the Tyrol, I used to talk to 
 Margery constantly of you. I was full of 
 
150 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 you. She looked forward with delight to 
 meeting you here this winter. She had all a 
 musician's interest in you as a singer. What 
 more natural than that your name should be 
 always on our lips? Fool that I was, never to 
 see what I was bringing about ! I might have 
 guessed the other night. To-day I went there 
 to make a clean breast of it, but before I had 
 time to confess I found out that she loved 
 you." 
 
 Maurice groaned out: 
 
 " Loved that ass, Tolna, you mean." 
 
 No Nathan could have said, " Thou art the 
 man," more sternly than Denys pronounced, 
 "You are Tolna." 
 
 " But Tolna 's not I. Any one capable of 
 falling in love with Tolna, I, for one, have no 
 sympathy with." 
 
 " You are not Jekyll and Hyde. You are 
 precisely the same person in this room that 
 you are on the stage." 
 
 "Granted; but I 'm not the person she 
 thinks I am." 
 
 " Of course she idealizes you. If girls 
 did n't idealize us, the human race would die 
 out." 
 
 " I don't object to being idealized I can 
 imagine finding it quite pleasant. But I do 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 151 
 
 object to being taken for another man. The 
 child's imagination is kindled by a paladin in 
 tin armor that sings solos. Am I a tin pala 
 din?" 
 
 "Don't quibble." 
 
 " I 'm not quibbling. I 'm proving an al 
 ibi," Maurice laughed. "For three hours, 
 two or three times a week, I 'm the tin pala 
 din. The rest of the time I 'm Morris Ford- 
 ham, of whose commonplace existence she 
 has n't a guess. You Ve filled her romantic 
 head with your Tolna fairy-tales " 
 
 " You can't separate yourself from Tolna." 
 
 "Don't I wish I could!" 
 
 " But it is n't only the stage hero that she 
 reveres. She has seen and talked with the 
 private you." 
 
 " For four minutes, in my lumbering 
 French! Much that counts, against all your 
 ecstatics. My high birth, my exile, my con 
 secrated purpose the Lord alone that made 
 you knows where your imagination stops. 
 I 'm sorry for that little girl. She 's been 
 gold-bricked. 
 
 "A history one thumping lie, 
 
 A name that was n't true 
 No more of me you knew, my love, 
 No more of me you knew." 
 
152 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 He broke off singing to laugh, then 
 straightway to grow grave at sight of Denys's 
 face. 
 
 "Denys, you think I 'm a brute to laugh, 
 but I should be a fatuous fool if I took it se 
 riously." 
 
 " It is serious." 
 
 "No, my son. Unpleasant, mortifying, 
 even a little disgraceful, perhaps, but not se 
 rious. This girl's fancy is taken with a per 
 fectly imaginary being. When she finds 
 there is no such person, she 's all over it, and 
 no harm done." 
 
 "Maurice, don't you see? Though I may 
 have set her dreaming of Tolna, now she 
 knows you. It 's no vague dream now. It 's 
 the real you." 
 
 " Denys, don't you see but honestly, I be 
 lieve you don't! You 've proclaimed this 
 Tolna myth till I don't believe you realize that 
 it is a myth. You don't know where the truth 
 stops and fancy begins. You never plainly 
 acknowledge to yourself that the Magyar no 
 ble, the inspired genius, the exalted patriot, 
 the remote, mysterious, irreproachable, unap 
 proachable Tolna, is a flippant young Yan 
 kee with a slangy tongue and an eye to the 
 main chance," 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 153 
 
 " Because you Ve no right to be that you 
 can't remain that ! " Denys protested hotly. 
 " I have told you that I created Tolna because 
 there ought to be a Tolna. As every old 
 house demands its ghost, as every cliff has its 
 lover's leap, every church its miracle, so your 
 romantic aspect cried aloud for the legend to 
 make it glorious. An unromantic musician! 
 The thing is disgraceful ! As well a cowardly 
 soldier, a sailor sick at sea. There was no 
 harm in it, Maurice ; no wrong whatsoever. 'I 
 did it not half so much to cheat the public as 
 to satisfy my own sense of the fitness of 
 things. I blushed for your crassness, if you 
 don't." 
 
 " 'Lies is lies, Pip,' " Maurice quoted dryly. 
 " We Ve got sweetly snarled up in this one of 
 yours. Though I do count myself the more 
 to blame, for I always thought the Tolna 
 business shady. But for the sake of peace, 
 and for fun too, I let you go on with it. Such 
 giving-in is meaner than cheerful go-ahead 
 crime for crime's sake, like yours." 
 
 " Then if you take the blame, Maurice, 
 make the atonement." 
 
 " Say in English what you mean." 
 
 " There 's only one possible course," 
 
154 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " To tell her, as you very sensibly resolved 
 this morning." 
 
 " We can never tell her. It will kill her." 
 
 " It will mortify her, perhaps. Yes, of 
 course it will. But I imagine that a healthy 
 anger at being 'done ' will help her over the 
 shock. She '11 pay us both out, yet, or I 'm a 
 Dutchman. That girl 's not all dreamy eyes. 
 She 's no sweet Ophelia to lose her wits for 
 the best Hamlet going. She 's got spirit, and 
 a temper to match it." 
 
 " She 's got a heart, faith, ideals. She has 
 been sheltered from every rude breath she 
 has never known a shock. If you kill her 
 faith in the most beautiful figure that has ever 
 come into her life, you kill the roots of faith 
 in her. Why, this is her vision of heaven. If 
 you reveal it as a barefaced cheat to get 
 money, you murder her faith in God and man. 
 You whirl the solid earth from under her 
 darken her sun." 
 
 " I darken her Well, I like your cheek! 
 Denny, I don't take love-affairs as seriously 
 as you and other good people do. My Tolna 
 experience is calculated to harden a man 
 make him either a coxcomb or a scoffer. But 
 it 's my opinion that love has mighty little to 
 do with the average love-affair. That 's just 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 155 
 
 an impulse of the blood, or of the fancy, or 
 both. This girl has n't a real love for a real 
 man. She 's got a brain-sick fancy for a fig 
 ment of her imagination. When she learns 
 the truth, she '11 be mortified and angry, no 
 doubt. But you need n't talk about a broken 
 heart." 
 
 "My God! don't you suppose I 've been 
 over and over this hideous tangle? Don't you 
 know that I 've tried to reason like you? 
 Don't you believe that I wanted to tell her 
 I that love her? I have loved her since the 
 day I first saw her. I have desired her for 
 my wife. God! do I want her to love you?" 
 
 He was clear of all his tergiversations now, 
 speaking his heart out at last. 
 
 "Tell her the truth, Denys!" Maurice 
 cried. " Tell her to-night." 
 
 Denys's passionate face set sternly. He 
 spoke quietly, but with the confidence of in 
 spiration. 
 
 "No; I have considered every course, and 
 I have decided. She is never to know " He 
 rose suddenly and stood over his friend, face 
 and voice wonderfully moving in their pro 
 found earnestness. "Maurice, if you feel 
 any gratitude for my teaching, any affection 
 for the housemate of a dozen years, I charge 
 
156 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 you now to help me. I care for what I ask of 
 you now as I shall never care for anything in 
 my life again." 
 
 Maurice answered in a low voice : 
 
 " What what do you want of me? " 
 
 " I want you to be the man she thinks you. 
 I want you to love her as she deserves to be 
 loved." 
 
 Maurice got to his feet abruptly. 
 
 "Denys, for a moment you had me half 
 hypnotized. You 're crazy, but you 're rather 
 superb. When you find out that the girl you 
 love is taken with an impostor, you don't ex 
 pose him. You don't plead your own love. 
 You kill all your own hopes. You propose 
 the most colossal fraud in history, rather than 
 cause her the momentary pain of a disillusion. 
 It 's magnificent, Denys, but it is n't common 
 sense; it is n't morals; it is n't even a practi 
 cability." 
 
 The fanatic gave way instantly to the man 
 of affairs. 
 
 "I have thought it all out for you. Of 
 course we must admit that you know English. 
 We pretended otherwise to save you from re 
 porters and the raids of society. As a matter 
 of fact, we have spoken it together since you 
 were fourteen. Fortunately, I have always 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 157 
 
 said frankly that you knew no Magyar, hav 
 ing been exiled as a child, cut off from friends 
 and kindred, to be adopted by a chance 
 stranger in a foreign land. It is one of the 
 pathetic points of your story, that with all 
 your passionate love of your country, you 
 cannot speak your father's tongue. You 
 shall never be tripped up. I can provide for 
 everything." 
 
 " Denys, people like you either change the 
 map of Europe or end behind prison bars." 
 
 " I want to keep up the Hungarian fiction, 
 because if she finds that false she may think 
 you false. It 's no harm to pretend that 
 you 're a Hungarian. It 's of no consequence 
 that you are an American. Count's son, 
 cook's son, what matter, so long as you are 
 the man she thinks you are?" Denys was 
 racing up and down the room, his swift 
 thoughts driving him. " We all love the uni 
 forms, and the flags, and the music of the 
 band. But we love them because they tell us 
 how brave men die for a cause. The regiment 
 that did n't go to the front is the showiest in 
 town, but it marches through silent streets. 
 The outward show is just the symbol. We 
 have dull eyes, and we must be helped to see. 
 Margery's eye is caught by the symbol, the 
 
158 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 romance of the Magyar patriot, but what fires 
 her heart is what underlies the romance the 
 high ideals, the unselfishness, the loyalty. 
 You can't be Hungarian-born what does 
 that matter? You can be Tolna the Tolna 
 she sees." 
 
 " What of it? I don't love her." 
 
 " Love will come. It can't help but come. 
 A stone would love her. It is the law of life 
 that we love whom we serve." 
 
 "But scarcely whom we cheat. Though 
 you might, Denys. You could marry a girl 
 you did n't love, to save her feelings. You 'd 
 make it a sort of game never to let her sus 
 pect, and you 'd enjoy your good acting so 
 much that you 'd be as happy as a lark all day 
 long, and end by believing your own pretense. 
 Whereas I should feel a fraud and a fool, and 
 sulk like a surly bear, and end by taking 
 French leave." 
 
 " Is nothing to be sacred from your flip 
 pancy? " 
 
 "I Ve suppressed a good deal of it for 
 your sake, Denys, because I see that to you 
 it 's tragedy. To me it 's farce." 
 
 " Can you jest at a girl's pure love? " 
 
 " Denys, if you wanted to rouse all my cal 
 lousness and defiance and bad temper, you 
 
MR. ALDEN WAKES 159 
 
 could n't do better than to tell me of some one 
 who is smitten with Tolna. What I feel for 
 any girl who falls in love over the footlights 
 is sheer disgust." 
 
 Denys turned white. 
 
 "Disgust? Margery! You damn your 
 self, not her. Your vulgar mind turns every 
 thing to vulgarity. Everything high and fine 
 you smirch with your own commonness." 
 
 Maurice laughed out: 
 
 " And this is the man you put forward as 
 Tolna!" 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 NOT TO THE PURPOSE 
 
 TjWERY morning, unless she was very 
 JLj tired after a party, or unless she pre 
 ferred riding or skating, or felt it her duty to 
 write up the minutes of the Girls' Friendly, 
 or really must do shopping, or see the girls 
 who dropped in every morning, theoreti 
 cally, Margery took her violin and went to 
 practise with Hyacinth Lawrence. On the day 
 after her talk with Denys she actually did go. 
 She had heard that work is the best cure for a 
 distraught mind. She foresaw that she might 
 even determine to confide in her wiser friend. 
 Miss Lawrence lived alone in a dingy but 
 eminently respectable apartment-house, just 
 east of Fifth Avenue. Her flat was tiny, but, 
 as Hyacinth said, it did what her father's 
 huge Westchester mansion could never do it 
 expressed her individuality. The different 
 styles of the different rooms, and the fre 
 quency with which she changed them all, sug 
 gested that multiple personality which is the 
 despair of the psychologists. The miniature 
 
 160 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 161 
 
 dining-room had fallen a victim to " sincer 
 ity," as conceived by the makers of " mission " 
 furniture. It was an obstacle-race to get 
 round the huge chairs, while the table from 
 which Hyacinth nibbled reed-birds and 
 souffles would have supported an ox roasted 
 whole. Her bedroom looked like the inside of 
 a jewel-box. " The soul of a bedroom must 
 be expressed in daintiness," said the soulful 
 one. Beyond this was her Japanese room. 
 Tokonoma, kakemona, makemona, all were 
 here, and their accomplished owner appeared 
 to know which was which. Other furnishings 
 there were none, save two thin blue cushions 
 on the matting. It was Hyacinth's habit to 
 receive visitors in this room. Whom she liked, 
 she at once led into her sanctum. Whom she 
 did not, she invited, with her impenetrable 
 gravity, to an anemic cushion. When she first 
 set up for herself her unorthodox gods, curi 
 osity kept her door-bell a-twitter from morn 
 ing till night. By the second winter it rang 
 only for her friends. 
 
 The sanctum was the one large room. Built 
 for a studio, it received its sole light from the 
 lofty ceiling. Hyacinth disapproved of win 
 dows. She pronounced that this seclusion 
 from even a glimpse of the whirling world - 
 11 
 
162 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 this cutting off of jarring cross-currents, 
 made the place truly a sanctuary. On the 
 pale-green burlaps of the wall-hangings she 
 had painted a bold design of tree-trunks and 
 spreading branches. Entirely hiding the 
 chimney-breast rose an Indian tepee, so ar 
 ranged that the log-fire should seem to 
 smolder in the middle of the tent. An ivy- 
 vine painted on the skylight cast leafy shad 
 ows on the green drugget. A long green 
 bench, velvet-covered, stretched along one 
 whole side of the room, the rest of the furni 
 ture being made of cedar boughs with the 
 bark on. Sockets, fitted to the wall against 
 the painted trunks, held pine-torches. For 
 this environment, its owner arrayed herself in 
 a loose robe of Lincoln green, belted with 
 silver bosses, her magnificent hair falling in 
 braids below her knees. Seated at her roomy 
 work-table, she was illuminating on vellum, 
 in strict monastic style, Swinburne's " Hymn 
 to Proserpine " when Margery arrived. 
 Even this dearest friend might not come unin 
 vited into the sanctum. But Hyacinth flew 
 to clasp her in a rapturous embrace, and con 
 duct her along the cramped passage to the 
 door inscribed in carefully illegible old Eng 
 lish, " The Wood at the World's End." 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 163 
 
 " Dearest, you have n't slept," Hyacinth 
 noted at once. 
 
 " Not much," Margery confessed, balanc 
 ing her hat and coat in the crotch of a tree. 
 
 " Do you regret that you refused Lord 
 Charles? " asked the student of Yoga, with as 
 much interest as the most frivolous butterfly. 
 
 " Decidedly not. I don't want him, or any 
 man," Margery answered, taking the violin 
 out of its case, as if she had no thought or time 
 for anything but their practice. Sitting down 
 with the instrument across her knees, she went 
 into a brown study. Presently she remarked : 
 
 " Hyacinth, were you ever in love? " 
 
 " Only once, in this incarnation." 
 
 " And what happened? " 
 
 " Mother happened, of course! " replied the 
 girl, unexpectedly dismounting from her 
 transcendental stilts. " I think I '11 tell you," 
 she went on, as if the remembrance still 
 rankled. " He was my music-teacher, and a 
 composer and a genius. I believe he has had 
 half a dozen decorations and honorary degrees 
 since then. Among musicians, at any rate, he 
 is a great man now. He was poor, and 
 mother said that he was n't * religious,' and 
 that his family was ' common.' ' 
 
 " And you did n't hold out? " 
 
164 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Nobody in our house ever held out against 
 mother, except Jessie, by fits and starts. 
 Mother never contradicts you and never 
 raises her voice. But you might as well argue 
 with the Pyramids." 
 
 * Yet you found courage to run away and 
 set up for yourself? " 
 
 " Oh, yes. But I was ten years older, and 
 the instinct of self-preservation drove me. I 
 was suffocating under mother's exhausted 
 receiver. Even then, though, I could n't 
 have done it without Jessie. Norton and 
 Jessie insisted, and even mother's determina 
 tion is no match for Norton's." 
 
 "Poor Hyacinth!" said Margery, softly 
 stroking her friend's hand. 
 
 " Well, darling, it did take the taste out of 
 things for a good while. But then," she 
 added, suddenly mounting her stilts again, 
 " it was kismet. It had to befall. That ex 
 perience, having become a part of me, has 
 ceased to exist as an experience. As I lost my 
 love through no pettiness of my own, I am a 
 loftier being because of the loss. You know, 
 dear, all we mortals are certainly born twin 
 souls, and the loftier soul that is the true other 
 half of mine may not have been his whom I 
 loved. It may be at this moment at prayer in 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 165 
 
 a Himalayan monastery. Or it may be but 
 a puff of vapor on the Borderland of Con 
 sciousness, waiting through the eons its call 
 to this earth again. Or it may dwell in human 
 form on the other side of that wall, and I may 
 never find it out in fifty years of life." 
 
 " Oh! But if he is on the other side of that 
 wall you must meet him sooner or later." 
 
 " Not unless the Laws of Karma will it. 
 If it is written that we should meet, he might 
 be born under the gum-trees of Australia, and 
 I might open my eyes to the light of the mid 
 night sun; yet through jungle, through ice 
 pack, over mountain and flood, straight as the 
 homing pigeons, we should come to each 
 other." 
 
 " While if the stars said that you were not 
 for each other, you might belong to the same 
 Bridge Club and play at the same table with 
 out a thrill? " 
 
 Hyacinth ignored this flippancy. 
 
 " From that serener height won by suffer 
 ing, I am able to see that my sorrow was but 
 illusion." 
 
 " But, Hyacinth dear," Margery said, after 
 a pause, " I am afraid that I don't understand 
 exactly." 
 
 " Carbon, darling, may be the coal or the 
 
166 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 diamond. So illusion takes opposite forms. 
 Crime, cruelty, suffering, have no real power 
 to hurt us. They are but illusion." 
 
 "That 's beautiful!" 
 
 " But we must never forget that they are 
 not the perilous forms of illusion. Beauty 
 and happiness are the most subtle, the most 
 destroying." 
 
 Margery felt a sense of insecurity, as if the 
 bench on which they sat might be mere illu 
 sion, the room a fog, and themselves in dan 
 ger of dropping into space. Or was space, 
 too, but illusion? 
 
 " Oh, but then, I don't see how you can be 
 sure of anything," she protested. 
 
 " No, dear; you can't see it, yet," explained 
 Hyacinth. " You must attain to vision. 
 From each plane to which you climb with 
 bleeding feet, you can look back with clarified 
 gaze on the mistakes and delusions of the 
 plane below. I thought I loved. I suffered 
 because my love was forbidden. But when I 
 rent the illusion I perceived that all was ac 
 cording to Law." 
 
 " Oh, then your mother was n't responsible, 
 after all? " 
 
 ' Yes, in a human sense. She was the 
 remorseless agency of our suffering." 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 167 
 
 " Well, if you suffered so, I don't see what 
 comfort it is to say that disappointment and 
 loss are Law." 
 
 " Because, according to the same Law that 
 seems so cruel now, the soul ordained for me 
 is slowly but inevitably being made fit. It 
 may be his whom ignorantly I loved. It may 
 be another. Perhaps not even in the next life, 
 perhaps never on this planet, perhaps dozens 
 of lives, millions of stars from this, when we 
 are fitted to each other, we shall be joined in 
 the perfect whole." 
 
 " Hyacinth, there 's more method in this 
 mysticism of yours than at first appears." 
 
 " It is like the swing of a pendulum. The 
 farther it swings away from you, with the 
 more energy does Law bring it back." 
 
 " But I always thought that the Buddhist's 
 heaven I suppose you are talking Buddhism 
 was Nirvana." 
 
 " In the final state," the priestess defined, 
 " nothing exists but Buddha. Not even In 
 dividuality, not even Consciousness. We are 
 as one with Buddha, in perfect peace. To 
 reach Nirvana we must rid ourselves of all 
 illusion, and whatever is of the senses is 
 illusion. Greed and sensuality no more than 
 Beauty and Art." 
 
168 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " But you are so inconsistent, Hyacinth. 
 You do everything you can to foster beauty 
 and art. You are two or three artists your 
 self." 
 
 Hyacinth's gentle smile pitied Margery's 
 crudity. 
 
 " I suppose there is no one on this earth 
 to-day, even the Mahatmas themselves (who 
 are as far ahead of me as I am of a savage) , 
 but I suppose not one of them is within a 
 million lives of Nirvana. In our present 
 state of being we can hardly even pluck at the 
 skirts of its mysteries. People often criticize 
 Buddhism as vague. Dear child, it is a criti 
 cism of their own finite minds. As we 
 climb, the view broadens. In our present 
 state of being, we are just beginning to make 
 stepping-stones of the baser illusions that are 
 our dead selves. In this stage, don't you see, 
 while we are still fighting to be free of the 
 grosser sins, the beauties of nature and art, 
 of friendship and love, are our greatest help. 
 When we shall have slain all acknowledged 
 sin, when the words of the litany cease to mean 
 anything for us then, and not till then, shall 
 we be enabled to perceive that all which we 
 have held good is as much a delusion as all 
 which we have held base. Then, and not till 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 169 
 
 then, shall we have strength to fight Beauty 
 as now we fight crime." 
 
 " Oh!" said Margery for the fourth time. 
 Even as Clonclockety's performance on the 
 pipes distinctly suggested an air, so through 
 this fog of phrases bulked the dim outlines 
 of a majestic order of creation; but something 
 Illusion, perhaps seemed to prevent her 
 getting a clear view of it. " Then you don't 
 mean that we must begin this very minute 
 hating everything that is lovely and of good 
 report? " 
 
 " Oh, no, darling. Humanity is not ready 
 yet ; nor will it be for eons. But when we do 
 reach the plane where Love and Beauty are 
 no longer help, but hindrance, their hold on 
 us will already have become so loosened that 
 we shall leave them behind us without a 
 pang." 
 
 " Like first teeth," said Margery, thought 
 fully. 
 
 Hyacinth did not relish the comparison, yet 
 her proposed punishment seemed rather in 
 excess of the crime. 
 
 " I shall read you," she was threatening, 
 " the Rig-Vedas," when Margery cried: 
 
 " No dear, don't! I have never been able 
 to understand the books, but you make it all 
 
170 THE TRUTH AEOUT TOLNA 
 
 so clear and so beautifully practical. If I 
 follow you, one gets everything that one 
 wants ; and by the time that one must give up 
 one's joys, benevolent Law has arranged that 
 one should no longer want them." She rose to 
 fend off Hyacinth's protests, wandering up 
 and down the " wood," a modish dryad in a 
 tailored suit. Smiling to herself, she mused: 
 ' Yes, I like your religion. But a million 
 years does seem a long wait for a lover." 
 
 Hyacinth followed her across the room. 
 
 " Darling, I know that something troubles 
 you. If you will trust me, all my love, all my 
 thoughts, all the wisdom I have gleaned from 
 saints and sages, shall be yours." 
 
 Margery knew that the sympathy was as 
 sincere as its expression was affected. She 
 pressed her friend's hand. 
 
 " Hyacinth, you are a great dear when I 
 make fun of you so. And you are just a 
 mine of common sense, though you won't con 
 descend to acknowledge it. Yes, you might 
 see a way out if I were to tell you just what 
 the matter is" 
 
 But, as Hyacinth herself might have ex 
 plained, it was not written in the stars that the 
 confidence should be made. At this very 
 moment a cheerful voice rang out from the 
 passage. 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 171 
 
 " She won't blame you, Bridget. She 
 knows that it takes more than you to stop me," 
 and the doorway framed the jaunty figure of 
 Mrs. Norton Burnham. 
 
 "HELLO, Nell! Hello, Madge! My stars!" 
 
 The newcomer stood still, while her eyes 
 traveled round the sanctum. 
 
 The two girls had sprung to their feet, 
 Margery startled, Hyacinth with a spot of 
 angry red on each cheek. 
 
 "Well," exclaimed Mrs. Burnham, " aU 
 you want is the robins to come and cover you 
 with leaves." 
 
 Margery recovered herself. " We Ve no 
 wicked uncle, but the wicked aunt is here," 
 she smiled. 
 
 ' The last time I saw the place, it was an 
 Egyptian tomb," Mrs. Burnham pursued. 
 " This is rather jolly." She advanced into the 
 room. "Heavens, Nell! you don't mean to 
 say you burn those torches? " 
 
 " Certainly I do." 
 
 "But the smoke?" 
 
 " We open the skylight a little. You would 
 never notice the smoke." 
 
 ' What do you do when it rains? " 
 
 No answer was forthcoming. Apparently 
 
172 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 only the inner circle was destined to know 
 what happened when it rained. 
 
 Mrs. Burnham's attention was now fixed 
 on the skylight and its tracery of leaves. 
 
 " That 's awfully pretty, Nellie. People 
 are always praising my original ideas, but I 
 think that you Ve got a great deal the most 
 originality of the two." 
 
 The priestess was human. Her tone soft 
 ened. 
 
 " I really had a lovely arrangement about 
 twenty tiny electrics scattered about on the 
 outside of the glass. It was enchanting at 
 night just like stars. But in the first storm 
 the wires broke and set the roof on fire. The 
 landlord was so narrow-minded about it! I 
 had to take the whole thing away," Hyacinth 
 explained pathetically. 
 
 " He 's lucky. My landlord is my husband, 
 and he has to stand the damages. What were 
 you two doing? Growing your souls? If 
 I 'm as still as a mouse, can't I sit down and 
 listen? I Ve always wanted to know how the 
 elect talked to each other." 
 
 " I '11 tell you how, dear. In private," Mar 
 gery said sweetly. Jessie laughed with entire 
 good-humor. 
 
 " That 's a shame, because I don't know 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 173 
 
 anybody who needs to have a little of the 
 higher life pumped into them more than I do. 
 I 'm in a vile temper at this very moment. 
 Kindly look at that." 
 
 She drew from her muff and held up a 
 column torn from a morning paper. The 
 head-lines were legible across the room. 
 
 MILLIONAIRE WILL WED 
 
 Gotham's Most Noted Bachelor Surrenders to Hymen 
 
 APPROACHING NUPTIALS OF "WILLIE" SMITH 
 AND MISS HONOR HAMMOND 
 
 " Jessie! " cried Margery. Her dream of 
 Tolna and Honor was a dream, indeed. 
 
 " Most of it is in the form of an interview 
 with him. It mentions the church and the 
 date, next month, if you please: she is n't 
 going to take any chances, and the gratify 
 ing fact that he has given her the largest ruby 
 in the world for an engagement-ring, and his 
 patronizing intention of deeding her his house 
 on Central Park East and his estate in Caro 
 lina. Is n't that ingratitude? Why, girls, I 
 made that fellow! I brought him up by hand, 
 like Pip. 
 
 " When he first came to New York, away 
 
174 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 from that ridiculous place where his father 
 made his money, he did n't know enough to 
 get out of the way of the trolleys. He wore a 
 soft hat with a frock coat, and a white tie with 
 a dinner-jacket. He did n't know the differ 
 ence between ' Anheuser ' and ' Tannhauser.' 
 I guess he thought they were both aldermen. 
 He ate his oysters with his salad-fork, and 
 burred every ' r ' in his head, and never wore 
 gloves when he should, and always had them 
 on when he should n't, and said, ' Well, I must 
 be going now,' and remarked to the butler, 
 ' No, I would n't wish for any.' ' 
 
 " And you probably made fun of him 
 before guests and servants." 
 
 " I dare say I did, Ellen. I cured him, any 
 how. Madge, he used to write to me on pos 
 tals, answer invitations that way, and leave 
 out all the ' I's.' And he talked about the 
 'drammer,' and his 'full-dress suit,' and his 
 * momma,' and he thought that to live at the 
 Waldorf was ' swell,' and he 'd never had a 
 valet in his life." 
 
 " And from such beginnings you made him 
 the man that he is now 1 " 
 
 " Yes, Madge ; but I used to think I never 
 could. It was months before he stopped say 
 ing, * Yes, 'm,' and calling luncheon, dinner. 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 175 
 
 I just rolled up my sleeves and went at his 
 education, day in and day out, month in and 
 month out; and just as I Ve got him present 
 able he goes and does this! " 
 
 ' The worm turns. I must say, Jessie, 
 I sympathize with the worm and with 
 Honor." 
 
 " Honor Hammond! It would be better if 
 it was anybody else. If it was anybody in my 
 crowd Tottie Mason or Pinky Fraser I 
 should hate her and she 'd hate me, but she 'd 
 copy me and take hints from me and scramble 
 along after me as best she could. I should be 
 queen of her palace if I never set foot inside 
 her doors. But you know Honor Hammond." 
 
 " I have talked to her a number of times. 
 I don't know her in the least." 
 
 " That 's what I mean. I Ve always got 
 along perfectly well with Honor, but I 'm 
 nothing to her. I 'm horribly afraid of her, 
 just as everyone else is, but I won't let her 
 know it; so I butted right in, and called her 
 Honor, the second time I met her. She 
 does n't mind. She calls me Jessie, but she 
 is n't any more intimate than the Diana on the 
 tower. If she 'd take the trouble to resent me 
 we might be friends sometime, but she won't. 
 And you know what kind of functions she '11 
 
176 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 give. Like your mother's, Margy, only more 
 so. Just as refined and proper and dull and 
 distinguished; only, as she will be richer and 
 her house bigger, they will all be in propor 
 tion. Dinners of sixty covers, with Paderew- 
 ski afterward. Poor Willie ! " 
 
 " I say, * poor Honor! ' 3 
 
 " Poor Honor, indeed ! She has got exactly 
 what she wants. She won't care about 
 Willie's being a little runt. She '11 have the 
 money, and that 's what she is after. She 
 has n't any more human feeling than that 
 chair." 
 
 " Once I thought she had," Margery re 
 flected aloud. " I thought, the other night, 
 that perhaps she was n't really as conceited 
 as people think; only bored and tired out with 
 being a professional beauty. You both saw 
 how Monsieur Tolna had eyes only for her. I 
 made up a nice little romance. He was to fall 
 in love with her and turn her from a marble 
 girl to a flesh-and-blood one. And now she is 
 perfectly happy with Willie Smith, while 
 Tolna Oh, we 're all just misfits ! " 
 
 " ' It 's a mad world, my masters,' " Jessie 
 pronounced cheerfully. " One of the maddest 
 misfits in it is that Nell and I are sisters and 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 177 
 
 that our mother is mother. By the way, 
 Nellie dear, she 's almost here." 
 
 The stately Hyacinth jumped up, looking 
 very much as if she wanted to hide under the 
 table. 
 
 " Yes, Nell; I did n't come for my soul's 
 good. I came to bring mother. I think I 
 hear her step now. She stopped to order 
 camp-chairs, while I ran ahead to spread the 
 glad tidings. Nellie, you unfilial girl " 
 
 Mrs. Burnham's chatter broke off as there 
 entered a quiet little lady in elegant mourn 
 ing, slender, delicate of feature, with hair just 
 beginning to show gray threads. Thirty 
 years ago Mrs. Lawrence had been called 
 " the Dresden china Beauty," and she was 
 very pretty still. She was given dignity by 
 a deliberation of movement unusual in so 
 small a woman, and her speech was equally 
 deliberate, low, but so precisely enunciated 
 that she could be heard throughout a large 
 hall. She possessed a wide-spreading family 
 connection, and as she mourned punctiliously 
 for even a third cousin on her husband's side, 
 she had not for years been seen in colors. Her 
 black was always so dainty and becoming that 
 not even her daughters, decrying " mother's 
 
 12 
 
178 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 fads," guessed that she clung to it for econ 
 omy's sake. Her husband had devoted his 
 life to showing Westchester farmers how to 
 make agriculture pay. From his father he 
 had inherited an income reckoned large in the 
 father's day, moderate in the son's. Upon 
 this competence, Mrs. Lawrence educated her 
 five children, kept up the indiscriminate hos 
 pitality which her husband considered a coun 
 try gentleman's obligation, and paid the 
 annual deficit of the scientific farm. If, after 
 all this, she was able to give considerable sums 
 to her pet charities, she proved herself a canny 
 manager. She had one servant fewer than 
 her neighbors, and her house looked better 
 than theirs, while her furnace burned less coal 
 and gave more heat than any furnace in the 
 county. The wonderful part of it was that in 
 none of her arrangements did she seem to 
 scrimp. 
 
 " How do you do, Ellen? " her mother said 
 easily, kissing her heated cheek. Margery, 
 being perceived, was kissed also, but absently, 
 for Mrs. Lawrence's mind was full of other 
 matters. " My dear, that servant of yours is 
 extremely slatternly. She has certainly worn 
 that apron for two days, and as she says that 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 179 
 
 her month is up on Saturday, I told her you 
 would n't need her after that. As it happens, 
 fortunately, I have just the girl for you at 
 home, and I shall send her down on the ten- 
 thirty. That will give her time to make the 
 beds for me, and she will be here to get your 
 luncheon. She is Jane's sister, but I should 
 not have taken her had I understood that she 
 was so young. There is no use expecting 
 young girls to keep steadily about their work 
 where there are so many men about as we have 
 on the place. However, Polly is such a good, 
 conscientious creature that I should not feel 
 justified in turning her off till I had found 
 her another situation. She will be the very 
 thing for you. She is a faithful housemaid, 
 and beautifully neat. She is not much of a 
 cook, but, living alone as you do, that does n't 
 matter. And Chambers has to go in to the 
 early train, Saturday, for some fertilizer; so 
 that it won't be an inconvenience to get her 
 trunk to the station." 
 
 While she spoke the arbiter of destinies 
 made a note in the gun-metal-covered tablets 
 on her chatelaine. 
 
 " I have no intention of taking your Polly, 
 thank you, mother," Hyacinth answered 
 
180 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 quietly. " I am quite satisfied with the 
 woman I have." 
 
 " We will settle it at luncheon," said her 
 mother, her lifted eyebrows gently rebuking 
 the bad taste of discussing family affairs be 
 fore visitors. A perfectly polite little glance 
 at Margery inquired, " How much longer 
 does this tactless person intend to remain? " 
 
 Hyacinth seized her friend's hand and drew 
 her down on the bench, with an imploring : 
 
 " No, no, darling. Of course you '11 stay to 
 luncheon." 
 
 " Yes, yes, darling. Stay and be a buffer," 
 Jessie chimed in, taking Margery's other hand 
 and squeezing up to her on the other end of 
 the bench. She went on to explain softly, 
 while Mrs. Lawrence was busy surveying the 
 room: 
 
 " You see, Nell dare n't bluff mother too 
 far, or mother '11 make dad stop her allow 
 ance ; and mother dare n't bluff Nell too far, 
 for fear Nell will join the Salvation Army, 
 or turn dancing dervish and do whirls outside 
 St. Thomas's while the congregation is com 
 ing out. So it is nip-and-tuck between them, 
 and sometimes Nell scores, and sometimes 
 mother. But the heaviest betting is on 
 mother." 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 181 
 
 She jumped up, shaking out her skirts. 
 
 " Good-by for the present, beloved family. 
 Nellie, I offered her all of my rooms. I did 
 indeed. It would n't make me a quarter of 
 the trouble it will make you. But she says 
 that I am too far up-town." 
 
 Dragging Margery with her, Jessie van 
 ished without expounding further. Mrs. 
 Lawrence explained in her gentle voice: 
 
 " I came to borrow your room, Ellen, for 
 my Conversion-of-the-Hindus-Society meet 
 ing. All your furniture and that tent thing 
 will have to come out, anyway, to make room 
 for the camp-chairs, so that they don't matter. 
 An'd I dare say the walls won't be noticed 
 much, as my maps will cover a good deal of 
 them." 
 
 " You are welcome to my room, mother." 
 Hyacinth's voice trembled. " But the tepee is 
 clamped to the chimney-face. It took a car 
 penter two days to put it up. It can't come 
 down without tearing the wall." 
 
 " But it occupies the space of a dozen 
 chairs, more, I think, which I can't spare. 
 I have measured the floor with my eye, and if 
 we have a full meeting we shall need every inch 
 of it. I would n't destroy your wall, my dear, 
 to cause you an outlay. That would be un- 
 
182 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 fair. But, fortunately, you need n't have the 
 expense of putting that ugly tent up again, 
 for I can send you the over-mantel from the 
 dining-room at home the handsome one, you 
 know, with the gilt balls. Your father had 
 it removed to put the new portrait there." 
 
 Jessie had paused in the passage to listen 
 with wicked joy to this colloquy. But at the 
 mention of the dining-room over-mantel in 
 dignation swept away her amusement. She 
 clutched Margery's shoulders in her earnest 
 ness, and pushed her into the bedroom. 
 
 " Look here, Margery," she began, eagerly. 
 " In % the three years you were away, several 
 things happened that there was no chance* to 
 talk about. I happened into Norton's life, 
 for one. And then when you did come back, 
 you must go to Lakewood, and Lakewood 
 might as well be Europe, as to seeing your 
 friends. So that I could n't tell you, and I 
 knew Nortie would n't ; but I do want you to 
 know what an angel he is. You heard mother. 
 Well, that over-mantel is the most awful 
 thing. It would simply kill Nellie. But it 's 
 just of a piece with the rest of it. 
 
 '* When we girls were at home, even after 
 I was twenty, mother would n't let us choose 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 183 
 
 a frock without her, or have any more money 
 than our car-fares, or leave the house without 
 saying where we were going, or ask anybody 
 to afternoon-tea without leave. Mercy 1 we 
 could n't even regulate our bureau drawers 
 as we wanted them. She had a regular system 
 that we must follow. Nell was a docile crea 
 ture who did n't rebel even when mother 
 broke up her love-affair for no reason that 
 I could ever find out. Margery, just think 
 of it! When I was twenty-four years old I 
 had never drawn a free breath. I was n't 
 allowed even an opinion. Oh, of course every 
 thing was polite and proper on the surface. 
 It has made me hate propriety, I know. 
 What I say is that a girl is just as much a 
 human being as a boy, and that we 'd better 
 send missionaries to the soul-binders, and let 
 the foot-binders alone for a while. 
 
 " Understand me, Margery; I don't under 
 value mother. She 's a great woman, and ac 
 cording to her lights she 's a good one. It 
 is n't her fault, because she was made so ; but 
 as a wife and mother she 's as much a misfit 
 as the rest of us. As an enlightened despot 
 she 's a tremendous success, and she ought to 
 have been born to the throne of Russia in the 
 
184 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 eighteenth century. Well, she was n't, and 
 hence these tears. 
 
 " A couple of years ago I got to the end of 
 my rope. I simply could not stand it any 
 longer. I knew I'd have to run away, but 
 positively the only opening I could think of 
 was type-writing and a place in an office ; and 
 that was a bad lookout, too, because I can't 
 spell. I should have preferred a hand-organ, 
 but it would n't have been so genteel. Well, 
 I did n't know a creature to advise me except 
 Mr. Burnham, who was an old family friend, 
 you know, and a great business-man, and a 
 regular Santa Claus to us girls. So when I 
 got a chance I took my courage in both hands 
 and told him not much, just enough to show 
 him that I must have a chance to breathe, and 
 was in dead earnest about earning my own 
 living. And that blessed saint then and there 
 asked me to marry him! He said he had 
 always wanted to, but he did n't think it fair 
 to me because he was twenty-three years 
 older. Fair! why, I jumped at the chance; 
 not for the freedom, nor even the money, as 
 most people were charitable enough to say, 
 but just for Nortie himself. And, Madge, I 
 don't choose to take the sentimental pose in 
 
NOT TO THE PURPOSE 185 
 
 public, but I worship the ground he walks on, 
 and I only hope he '11 live to be a hundred." 
 
 Honest tears wet the cheek that Margery 
 bent to kiss. Jessie brushed them away. 
 
 " Well, this is n't business; and I 've got 
 forty things to do to-day, every one first. Oh, 
 one thing more. I 'm awfully sorry for what 
 I said the other night at the opera. You see, 
 I was so badly broken by my trainers, in the 
 beginning, that when the rein is pulled too 
 suddenly I jib, and then look out for spills. 
 But really I 'd do anything for you or your 
 mother, because you 're Nortie's people. 
 Margy, I do hope you '11 find some little ex 
 cuse for me now. People call me fast and 
 Nell crazy. We both ran wild, I know; but 
 do you wonder? " 
 
 Not waiting for an answer, she whirled back 
 to the door of the " wood." 
 
 " Nellie, don't you let yourself be trampled 
 on. If mother stops your allowance, we '11 
 give you one." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE CATASTROPHE 
 
 TO Maurice's thinking, the incident was 
 closed. Nothing further on the subject 
 ought to be said, or could be said. But next 
 morning Denys returned to the charge, ear 
 nest, eloquent, imploring, as certain of the 
 righteousness and feasibility of his scheme as 
 ever. The Irish-French strain raced in his 
 veins, urging him on to a chimerical self-im 
 molation. From room to room, from hour to 
 hour, he pursued his victim, pleading his cause 
 with a fervor only heated by opposition. 
 Ninety-nine days out of a hundred Denys was 
 the pleasantest of comrades, the most tactful 
 of housemates. But when, on the hundredth 
 1 day, one of his sudden fanaticisms obsessed 
 him, the tongues of men and of angels could 
 not persuade him away from it. Finally, at 
 luncheon, when, from grape-fruit to demi- 
 tasse, he had hurled his fire against the blank 
 
 186 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 187 
 
 wall of Maurice's silence, exasperation drove 
 his victim to a last protest. 
 
 " Oh, drop it, Denny! What is the use? 
 You and I see things too differently even to 
 understand each other, let alone convince each 
 other. What appears to you pure nobility 
 seems to me pure nonsense, and rather revolt 
 ing nonsense at that. Call me a hopeless clod, 
 and resign yourself." 
 
 " I call myself the hopeless clod. If I 
 could speak to you as my conviction would, 
 but my dull tongue cannot, I could make you 
 know what is right as I know it myself." 
 
 " Denys, if you really think it a golden deed 
 for a man to marry a woman he does n't love, 
 for the sake of her happiness, which of 
 course no living man would do, or make her 
 happy if he did do " 
 
 " I do call it a golden deed a service a 
 man might be proud to give his life to ! I am 
 no saint or hero, but I would do it and feel 
 that I crowned my life ! " 
 
 " In that case, Denys, your duty is plain. 
 You know a good, unselfish woman deserving 
 of all happiness. She is not precisely beauti 
 ful, she is not precisely young; but that only 
 makes her need of sunshine the greater, your 
 sacrifice the nobler. Think of Miss Banks, 
 
188 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 middle-aged and lonely, eking out a scanty 
 living by type-writing your verses at three 
 cents a sheet! Think of her ease and happi 
 ness as Mrs. Denys Alden! " 
 
 Denys pushed back his chair and strode 
 into the hall without a word. Maurice fol 
 lowed, chuckling. " The suggestion does n't 
 seem to appeal to you? " 
 
 4 The cases are in no way parallel." 
 ' They are precisely parallel. True, the 
 little lady has many attractions. As you hap 
 pen to be in love with her, you think that 
 makes a difference. But I had just as soon 
 propose to Miss Banks." 
 
 As always, Denys went with his star to the 
 opera, yet one restraint his tongue knew. He 
 would not argue with the tenor in the midst 
 of his work. After a rather cursory inspec 
 tion of Maurice's make-up, he spent his even 
 ing in the audience, which enabled the tenor 
 to hold an unsuperintended interview with 
 Hirt, his impresario. Denys's absence afforded 
 opportunity also to the valet, Fran9ois, who 
 had been vainly endeavoring all day to catch 
 his master alone. As he dressed Tolna for 
 the second act, he burst into an incoherent tale 
 of woe and fear how he could not but suspect 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 189 
 
 Monsieur Aldanne (for this reason, and that, 
 and the other) of the evil eye; how, being 
 obliged to venture into that gentleman's 
 room alone at night, he had made the sign of 
 the horns for safety, and how Monsieur 
 Aldanne had seen it and cursed him. Not for 
 milliards nay, more, not for love of Mon 
 sieur Tolna would Fran9ois sleep another 
 night under the same roof with Monsieur 
 Aldanne. He would sacrifice his month's 
 wages, if monsieur so decreed, but stay the 
 night no, he could not. 
 
 " Then you need not," his master returned 
 amiably. He recognized the difficulty as of 
 nobody's making but his own; while Fran- 
 9ois's sudden defection suited his present 
 plans. " I will pay you here, to-night, and 
 you may go." 
 
 " Monsieur is good. But" anxiety again 
 clouded Francis's face "does monsieur do 
 well to run such risk himself? It was because 
 monsieur warned me of Monsieur Aldanne's 
 cruelty to himself, that I first discovered 
 Monsieur Aldanne's powers. Monsieur, per 
 haps, even, he does not mean harm some 
 who have the evil eye mean no evil, but are 
 cursed by the devil to do evil. Monsieur, 
 leave Monsieur Aldanne, for the love of God. " 
 
190 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " I do leave him," Maurice solemnly an 
 swered. " Yet I go but to return. There is 
 no safety in flight. I must return to battle 
 the power that besets me. I must conquer it, 
 or forever yield!" 
 
 He brought his voice from the depths, wav 
 ing his arms wildly. Francois, his few wits 
 overawed to numbness, meekly said, " Yes, 
 monsieur. The wig slips, monsieur." 
 
 Never had he put on his master's street 
 garments so quickly as at the close of that 
 evening's performance, so hurried was he by 
 monsieur's eager haste. Snatching his hat, 
 his overcoat half on, Maurice turned to the 
 door. 
 
 " Francois, wait till Monsieur Alden comes, 
 and give him this note. I have n't money 
 enough with me to pay you your wages to 
 night and give you the present I intend. I 
 shall be away till Monday night. Come to the 
 house Tuesday, and I will make it right for 
 you." 
 
 Afraid though he was of the evil eye, Fran 
 cois yet waited, faithful to his trust, till the 
 night-watchman, coming to put out the lights, 
 reported that Mr. Alden had left the place 
 sometime before. Not for worlds would 
 Fra^ois follow him to his own house, in the 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 191 
 
 dead of night, with no Monsieur Tolna there 
 to protect him. Bestowing the note in his vest 
 pocket, he betook himself for shelter to his 
 cousin the caterer. 
 
 Denys, returning from the auditorium, had 
 been just in time to catch sight of Maurice's 
 back disappearing through the stage door. 
 Following, he was amazed to perceive his 
 charge striding rapidly along Fortieth Street 
 toward Broadway. His first impulse was to 
 follow, so unprecedented was it for Maurice 
 to walk, and by himself. But he knew that 
 no harm could come of such a prank before 
 midnight, with the theater crowds in the 
 streets ; and he, no less than Maurice, desired 
 to be alone. 
 
 Even now, he had not resigned himself to 
 the failure of his plan. He possessed or was 
 possessed by the Napoleonic conviction that 
 whatever he planned was not only righteous 
 ness, but fate. Such self-confidence, if own 
 brother to genius, is at least cousin to mad 
 ness. To his mind, Margery's whole future 
 depended solely on his efforts in her behalf. 
 It did not occur to him that if he failed her she 
 would at least be as well off as some millions 
 of other girls who must struggle through their 
 love-affairs with no Denys Alden to play 
 
192 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 providence for them. Perfectly sure of his 
 power, he had undertaken to offer her her 
 life's happiness on a salver. Maurice's rebel 
 lion affected him much as the oncoming waves 
 affected King Canute. Disbelieving his own 
 senses, he declared that this thing could not 
 be. 
 
 Ever since he had adopted his ward, he had 
 received from him unquestioning obedience. 
 He had rescued the orphaned lad from the 
 necessity of becoming somebody's errand-boy ; 
 he had fed and clothed and educated him, and 
 fitted him for a well-paying profession. To 
 Maurice it was obvious from the first that he 
 was bound to make a return of diligence in 
 the studies his friend decreed. Only a slob 
 (his own perhaps too forcible word) would 
 try to shirk such an obligation. Later, when 
 they were no longer man and boy, but men 
 together, no large point of issue had ever 
 arisen between them, and on small points it 
 was always Maurice who yielded. Details 
 the hour of a meal, the shade of a costume, the 
 date of a journey were matters of great con 
 sequence to Denys, of great indifference to 
 Maurice, who fell into his friend's busy ar 
 rangements as a matter of course. To Denys 
 it was a matter of course that Telemachus 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 193 
 
 should continue to be guided by the larger 
 experience and wisdom of his Mentor. He 
 had affirmed that loss of faith in Tolna would 
 whirl the solid earth from under Margery. 
 Whatever the truth about Margery, the 
 phrase very accurately described his own sen 
 sations. The world seemed topsyturvy to 
 him. If Maurice could fail him, what was 
 left to believe in? 
 
 Entering his own house with his latch-key, 
 he found a bright fire in the library, the easy- 
 chairs drawn up by the little supper-table, the 
 two smoking- jackets laid out. That Maurice 
 was not there caused Denys no uneasiness, as 
 the automobile would naturally have beaten 
 the pedestrian home. To escape further talk, 
 he betook himself immediately to bed, where 
 he lay broad awake, listening like an anxious 
 wife for the closing of the front door. 
 
 It seemed to him that Maurice was taking 
 an unconscionable time to walk the half-dozen 
 blocks between the opera-house and home, but 
 he reflected that any unmeasured period of 
 waiting appears much longer than it is. At 
 length he heard soft steps on the stairs, whis 
 pering in the hall. Relieved in mind that 
 Maurice and the valet were come, he was 
 settling himself to sleep when he recognized 
 
 13 
 
194 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 the voices of the two Japanese servants, and 
 called out to know what they did. 
 
 " I sink gentlemens no come," the boy 
 explained, in a bright tone of satisfaction that 
 his masters were returned. " Nobody ring for 
 me, nobody make noise Gichera frightened." 
 
 " What time is it, Gichera? " 
 
 "Tsoo o'cock." 
 
 It was indeed after two, as Denys's hastily 
 struck match showed him. Jumping up, he 
 ran from room to room, from floor to floor, 
 flashing on all the lights and crying on "Mau 
 rice! Maurice!" 
 
 Till the search proved it, he could not be 
 lieve that the boy was not sulking somewhere 
 in the house. It had never once occurred to 
 him such is the force of routine that Mau 
 rice would not come straight home. In all 
 their working seasons, he had never spent a 
 night away from his warder. He was not a 
 man, he was a Voice, and a Voice may no more 
 expose itself than a diamond may be left 
 lying on the sidewalk. The mother of a 
 young daughter whom she has guarded and 
 sheltered every moment of her innocent life, 
 suddenly faced with the girl's disappearance, 
 might feel as Denys felt. Flinging on his 
 clothes, he bade the frightened boys heat water 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 195 
 
 and blankets and keep strict lookout for their 
 master, while he himself dashed out into the 
 night. 
 
 Every other emotion was forgotten in his 
 fear for the Voice. The mildest antic, inno 
 cence itself in any other man, became a crime 
 when attempted by the tenor. Denys's own 
 experience made him hysterically careful of 
 Tolna's throat. He was prepared to see the 
 slightest cold seal up that spring of melody. 
 Had the delinquent appeared now, he would 
 have been welcomed like the prodigal ; not one 
 reproach, not one paternal question, though 
 undoubtedly, if his throat showed no sign of 
 damage next morning, he would have paid 
 for the night's fright. 
 
 The opera-house was locked and deserted. 
 Blankly regarding the pile, Denys could not 
 imagine why he had not expected this. 
 
 " I must be going crazy," he told himself, 
 pushing back the elf-lock, which instantly fell 
 forward again. 
 
 Then began what he knew should have 
 begun two hours ago, a search of the whole 
 neighborhood, from the most dazzling res 
 taurant of Broadway to the cheapest all-night 
 house of Sixth Avenue. He even made his 
 resolute way through the side-doors of sa- 
 
196 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 loons, wherever a beam of light or a murmur 
 of voices defied the law. So often he followed 
 misleading clues that he seemed to himself a 
 new Flying Dutchman, fated to beat forever 
 the shores of the Tenderloin, as doggedly, as 
 fruitlessly, as Vanderdecken the Cape of 
 Good Hope. Of the two, he thought Vander- 
 decken's quest the lighter. He felt as if he 
 had spent all his past and was doomed to 
 spend all his future walking in and out of 
 phantom restaurants and lifeless concert- 
 halls. 
 
 Everything grew mechanical, unreal. 
 Everywhere the patrons of these halls of en 
 tertainment were neither entertained nor 
 entertaining, but jaded, spiritless, automatic, 
 like the shadowy figures of some oppressive 
 dream. As he moved quickly down the long 
 rooms and quickly out again, scanning the 
 faces, the faces in their turn scanned him, not 
 with his curiosity, but with comprehending 
 incuriousness. They had seen too many 
 searches for the wayward to be interested in 
 this. 
 
 One slight excitement Denys did provide 
 for the blase Tenderloin. It was very late 
 now almost the black hour before dawn. 
 Men and women who owned a shelter had 
 sought it. The early milk-wagons, the early 
 
THE CATASTROPHE 197 
 
 shifts for the factories, were not yet stirring. 
 It was the dead hour, if any great city really 
 reckons one. 
 
 In a small Seventh Avenue all-night eat 
 ing-house he found a lingering handful of 
 men, some supping, some breakfasting, some, 
 perhaps, with no other place to go to, stolidly 
 waiting for dawn. His eye flew to a table at 
 the back of the room, over which hung the 
 heavy head of a tall man with a mop of brown 
 hair. Denys was down the room in two 
 strides, his pouncing hand on the man's 
 shoulder. 
 
 The fellow sprang to his feet, overturning 
 his chair. In one bound he stood planted 
 against the wall six feet away, shaking like a 
 leaf, his wild eyes on the new-comer, his 
 labored breath coming in gasps, his hand 
 fumbling in his pocket, helpless to draw the 
 pistol it sought for. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," apologized Denys. 
 " I took you for a friend of mine." 
 
 He expected an avalanche of curses, but as 
 the reprieve penetrated .the man's dulled brain, 
 with a quivering, animal cry he dropped on a 
 seat and lapsed into the coma from which he 
 had been startled. 
 
 Denys went out as unconcernedly as if he 
 had not seen a human being frightened out of 
 
198 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 all likeness to humanity. He never even won 
 dered what the wretch had feared. 
 
 For the twentieth time he looked at his 
 watch and then mechanically boarded a 
 Thirty-fourth Street car for home, sickened 
 not more with the sights of the night than 
 with the stupidity that had sought Maurice 
 in such places or company. Though he pro 
 fessed to pine for liberty, Tolna had never 
 evinced a desire for license. Indeed, his half- 
 humorous complaints of the slavery of his 
 life Denys had always taken as wholly humor 
 ous, that enthusiast being unable to perceive 
 that the life of a musician could have draw 
 backs. The more he pondered the matter in 
 the corner of the empty car, not with the 
 excitement of his first fright, but with mature 
 deliberation and in the light of his knowledge 
 of Maurice, the less reason there seemed to 
 suppose the disappearance intentional. The 
 tenor was punctilio itself in never disappoint 
 ing an audience. He was to sing on Satur 
 day. It would be absolutely unlike him to 
 risk a hoarseness now. He could not have 
 gone to supper or to spend the night with a 
 friend, for he knew no one in New York. 
 Reluctantly, shudderingly, Denys was led to 
 the hideous conviction of foul play. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 MISS FANNING MAKES A NEW FRIEND 
 
 MISS FANNING stood in her den, the 
 big, untidy room at the top of the 
 house, where she worked at her violin and 
 played at painting, modeling, wood-carving, 
 pyrography, and bookbinding, to all of which 
 arts she brought fitful enthusiasms, little 
 knowledge, but much force and originality 
 in execution. She was holding doubtfully in 
 her hand a card on which was written the 
 name of Morris Fordham. 
 
 " Did he seem like a book-agent, Annie? " 
 " Oh, no, miss. He 's a gentleman." The 
 maid repudiated the suggestion almost with 
 horror. 
 
 Margery smiled a little, thinking that her 
 notion of a gentleman might differ from 
 Annie's, but she had curiosity enough to send 
 her down-stairs to inspect Annie's ideal. Her 
 sense that it was not quite convendble to see 
 a total stranger, presenting himself without 
 
 199 
 
200 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 introduction or explanation, led her to assume 
 a dignity positively repellant, as if she sus 
 pected the young man before her of being not 
 only a book-agent, but a sneak-thief. 
 
 "Mr. er Fordham?" She read the 
 name from the card, with the effect of consid 
 ering it an extremely plebeian one. ' You 
 wished to see me? " 
 
 1 Yes, Miss Fanning," the visitor rejoined, 
 not at all overawed by her haughtiness. " I 
 have had the pleasure of seeing you in your 
 own drawing-room before, and very recently, 
 though evidently you don't remember me." 
 
 She looked him over, close-cropped dark 
 head, smiling eyes, erect figure in its well-bred 
 morning suit, utterly puzzled by a sense of 
 familiarity yet difference. 
 
 ' Your voice seems familiar," she hesitated, 
 " and your face yes, I know that I have met 
 you, but I have to confess that I can't think 
 when or where. Surely you have never been 
 in this house as our guest? " 
 
 He laughed out. 
 
 "It 's a reassurance to hear you say that, 
 Miss Fanning. But don't think me rude if I 
 contradict and insist that I had a delightful 
 little talk with you at the musicale the other 
 night." 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 201 
 
 Suddenly she saw what likeness had bewil 
 dered her. This man's hair was cropped like 
 a convict's, while Tolna's had waved over his 
 forehead and about his ears. Tolna's eyes 
 were somber; this man's were twinkling with 
 fun. This man's face seemed younger, 
 squarer, possibly plainer than the distin 
 guished Tolna's, but the likeness was remark 
 able. Margery started back with the intention 
 of ringing the bell and ordering the man 
 shown out. 
 
 " You are trying to personate Monsieur 
 Tolna! " she accused him. 
 
 He had the effrontery to laugH again. 
 
 " I have been trying that for some years; 
 but as my success was not satisfactory, to me, 
 at least, I 've stopped now, and am personat 
 ing myself, Morris Fordham." 
 
 She had nearly reached the button of the 
 electric bell. 
 
 " Mr. Fordham, I cannot continue this 
 interview." Though she spoke bravely, her 
 voice shook. c You are either an impostor, 
 or you are not responsible for what you say." 
 
 " I assure you, Miss Fanning, I 'm not a 
 maniac," he cried, starting forward in his ear 
 nestness, before which Margery retreated 
 against the wall, groping for the bell, not 
 
202 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 daring to turn her frightened eyes from his 
 face. 
 
 " Ring for the whole household, if you 're 
 afraid of me," he exclaimed, on his side mak 
 ing the distance between them as wide as 
 possible. " Miss Fanning, it did n't occur to 
 me that my coming would scare you to death, 
 though nothing is more natural. Please let 
 me tell you that I am Tolna." 
 
 He paused a moment, looking acutely dis 
 tressed ; then his face cleared with a laugh. 
 
 " Miss Fanning, suppose you Ve just 
 asked, ' Je voudrais savoir qui est ce jeune 
 homme.' ' He sang Gretchen's line in com 
 ical falsetto, to break into a torrent of rapidly 
 ifnprovised recitative : 
 
 "I am Tolna, the ineffable Tolna: 
 I was born in West Ninth Street, 
 In the City of New York, in the 
 
 County of America. 
 
 My parents were just as American as you are, 
 And my name is Fordham Morris Fordham, 
 
 by your leave. 
 I was boy soprano in the choir of 
 
 St. Helen's, 
 
 When Denys Alden heard me sing. 
 He took me abroad, and he taught me 
 
 music, 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 203 
 
 And he named me Tolna to make 
 
 me more romantic, 
 And this is the truth, the whole 
 
 truth, 
 The unclothed, ultimate, utterly congealed 
 
 Truth about Tolna!' 1 
 
 Mrs. Tanning's drawing-rooms were large, 
 and he was singing almost under his breath, 
 but every farthest corner seemed to pulsate 
 \\ith the marvelous voice. One almost ex 
 pected to see the waves of sound, as one sees 
 heat-waves over the sand. Margery forgot 
 her fear, forgot her astonishment, as she lis 
 tened, the acrobatics of Maurice's voice 
 dazzling her ears as showers of fireworks 
 dazzle the eyes. 
 
 The singer broke off, scarcely breathed. 
 
 "Miss Fanning, you do believe I 'm 
 Tolna? " 
 
 ' There are n't two such voices," she as 
 sented. Then, as the spell of the music faded, 
 bewilderment swept over her. She dropped 
 into a chair and stared at him in dumb aston 
 ishment. 
 
 Maurice became immeasurably cheered. 
 This was scarcely the expression of a what 
 was Denys's phrase?" a soul stricken at the 
 
204 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 root of its being." He thought that he could 
 have a satisfactory settlement with this girl. 
 
 ' When I made my debut, we thought that 
 I 'd better have a stage-name. So Denys 
 scoured the map of Europe till he found the 
 province of Tolna in Hungary, and he took 
 that because it made him think of Talma. 
 I might have been a Rooshan, a Frenchman, 
 or a Prooshan, but some of the newspapers 
 assumed that I was Hungarian, and we 
 amused ourselves making a little mystery of 
 my nationality. I 'd been partly educated in 
 half a dozen countries, so that it was n't easy 
 to tell what I was in the beginning. And 
 gradually the story grew." 
 
 " But why not proclaim yourself an Amer 
 ican? Why not be proud to show them what 
 an American can do? " 
 
 "Why not, indeed? I 'm sure I don't 
 know, except that Denys is n't cosmopolitan 
 enough to approve of his own countrymen. 
 He thinks that a man who has the misfortune 
 to be born an American is morally justified 
 in any attempt to revenge himself on fate." 
 
 " But think how Americans have succeeded 
 in opera Nordica and Eames and" 
 
 " And a dozen more of the only sex that in 
 America is apotheosized. I am quoting 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 205 
 
 Denys, Miss Fanning. He maintains that, 
 while the American girl has been exalted till 
 her name is a synonym for wit and grace and 
 charm the world over, nobody has ever 
 rhapsodized over the American man. No 
 soap-concern gives away art calendars ideal 
 izing the different types of American man 
 hood. There is no Gibson Boy. The wretch 
 
 " Living shall forfeit fair renown, 
 And doubly dying shall go down 
 To the vile dust from whence he sprung, 
 Unwept, unhonored, and unsung!" 
 
 " But, Monsieur Tolna Mr. Fordham, I 
 mean think what an opportunity to raise the 
 American man out of his degraded condition ! 
 You could inspire a Fordham Art Calendar." 
 
 "Heaven forbid! At least my alias saves 
 me that." 
 
 Margery suddenly remembered the base, 
 mercenary wretch that Tolna was. On recon 
 sidering her interview with Denys, she had 
 decided to acquit him of all part or lot in 
 Tolna's fortune-hunting. Undoubtedly that 
 wily schemer had made poor Denys believe 
 that he was disinterested. Remembering the 
 misery in Denys's face, the passion in his 
 
206 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 voice, she had a glimmering of the truth, that, 
 believing in his friend's love, he had denied 
 his own. She hardly dared accept this, she 
 hoped it so much. One thing, however, was 
 uncomfortable. Denys was incapable of any 
 thing base. Hence, of whatever fraud and 
 self-seeking there might have been, Tolna 
 stood convicted. In a voice all the colder 
 because she had condescended to friendliness, 
 she remarked : 
 
 " I must say that I don't think this sort of 
 imposture in the least honorable." 
 
 "We began it as a joke, Miss Fan 
 ning. But I have come to agree with you. I 
 should n't mind crying the truth on the 
 house-tops." 
 
 Margery saw her chance for reprisals laid 
 into her hand. 
 
 "But why do you begin by confiding in 
 me? " she inquired sweetly. It was now her 
 amiable desire that he should propose to her, 
 that she might give him quite the worst quar 
 ter of an hour he had ever known. 
 
 He looked a little confused, and his answer 
 hardly seemed to meet her question. 
 
 * You see, Denys's idea was that we should 
 always keep up the pretense; make it practi 
 cally true. Unfortunately, my system has al- 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 207 
 
 ready got more of Tolna than it is capable of 
 assimilating. I Ve struck for shorter hours. 
 I have two matters of business to put through 
 as Fordham. I don't sing again till Monday, 
 so after the performance last night I ran 
 away. Denys does n't know where I am, and 
 I can enjoy being myself." 
 
 She thought it more honest than was to be 
 expected of him thus to confess to her. But 
 doubtless he was shrewd enough to know that 
 he could never hope to deceive her after they 
 were engaged. 
 
 Mr. Fordham went on rather hurriedly. 
 "When I lived here in New York with my 
 parents, we had the prettiest little old-fash 
 ioned red-brick house down in Ninth Street 
 fluted iron railing, white door with fan-light, 
 wide balcony out of the dining-room covered 
 with crimson rambler and wistaria, and great, 
 deep yard with a summer-house and dove 
 cotes. My father died suddenly, leaving his 
 affairs in confusion, and the house was sold 
 at auction. Morris Fordham is going to buy 
 it back." 
 
 She so far forgot herself as to yield to an 
 impulse of sympathy. 
 
 " Oh, I hope they have n't taken away the 
 dove-cotes or the climbing roses." 
 
208 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ' Then I 've another quest, too, and the 
 more important one. When I was a small 
 boy, my constant playmate was a small girl 
 who lived down the block. The house where 
 she used to live has given way to a tall studio- 
 building, but I intend to find her." 
 
 'You have remembered her all these 
 years? " 
 
 ' Yes." He was smiling, yet speaking with 
 great earnestness, too. " It 's a true case of 
 ' the girl I left behind me.' " 
 
 Margery's head spun. Was he no fortune- 
 hunter, then ? Had he never meant to propose 
 to her? Then what was Denys about ? What 
 did it all mean? 
 
 " What did Mr. Alden come here to tell me 
 about you? " she abruptly demanded. 
 
 " He came to tell you the truth about 
 Tolna. He felt that he could n't impose on 
 his intimate friends, like your mother and you, 
 if you allowed me the honor of a personal 
 acquaintance." 
 
 " Oh! " said Margery, slowly, the situation 
 at last becoming rational to her. One infer 
 ence stood out like a lighthouse. She bespoke 
 him sharply: "A moment ago you would n't 
 answer when I asked you why I was picked 
 out to be your first confidant. If you please, 
 why? " 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 209 
 
 " Because Denys meant to tell you and 
 did n't, and I I thought I knew he wanted 
 you to know." 
 
 In an instant she was standing before his 
 chair, as if to make escape impossible. He 
 rose deferentially, as she demanded in a por 
 tentous voice : 
 
 " What has Denys Alden told you? " 
 
 "I don't understand you," he returned, 
 without meeting her eyes. 
 
 "Monsieur Tolna, I am not altogether a 
 dunce. There is no conceivable reason why 
 you should come here to tell me that you are 
 in love, unless that stupid Denys" 
 
 A burning blush completed her meaning. 
 
 " I see that I Ve made a man's mess of it 
 when I thought I was making a star play at 
 diplomacy," Maurice ruefully admitted. 
 
 She stamped a vehement foot. 
 
 " Did Denys Alden tell you that I was in 
 love with you? " 
 
 The girl's anger blazed, but a twinkle came 
 into the eye of the man. 
 
 " Did he tell you that I was in love with 
 you? " he retorted. 
 
 " Yes, but I never believed it. I thought 
 you were a fortune-hunter. Did he say that J 
 had fallen captive to your bow and spear? " 
 
 14 
 
210 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Before her wrath Maurice's smile was turn 
 ing, despite him, into a laugh. 
 
 " I m afraid he did." 
 
 'You need n't laugh. You should have 
 paid me the compliment of thinking that I 
 might not be an absolute fool, before you 
 rushed here to assure me that you could n't 
 reciprocate my my devotion." 
 
 Maurice's last shred of self -control gave way. 
 He leaned against the column of the mantel 
 piece, with peal on peal of laughter. 
 
 " I c-can't help it," he gasped. " You ought 
 to be apologized to. Oh, I do apologize, Miss 
 Fanning. But the whole thing 's too ridicu 
 lous!" 
 
 To her surprise, she found herself helplessly 
 joining the laughter. 
 
 " I did come here to tell you as gently as 
 possible that I could n't reciprocate your 
 devotion," Maurice choked and gurgled. 
 " Meantime you were ' laying ' to scalp me 
 for a fortune-hunter. But none of that 's as 
 funny as Denys. Oh, Denny, Denny! " 
 
 Since it was impossible to be angry at a man 
 with whom she had laughed hysterically, her 
 ire veered to Denys. 
 
 ' What did Denys Alden mean by telling 
 me that you loved me? " 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 211 
 
 " What did he mean by telling me you had 
 said you loved me? " 
 
 She flushed, hesitated, and at length ex 
 claimed : 
 
 " I could tell you a lie, but I can't. I 
 simply can't tell you the truth, but I simply 
 must. I would rather you knew me for the 
 simpleton I am than think me the kind of 
 simpleton I 'm not. For I never was in the 
 least smitten with you." 
 
 " How you do rub that in! " 
 
 " I have to, when you take such pains to 
 explain that you never fancied me." Her 
 smile faded to leave a face of pure distress. 
 " Oh, Mr. Fordham, you won't tell Denys 
 what I 'm going to say to you? " 
 
 " I will tell nobody, Miss Fanning. But 
 don't say it if you feel apprehensive." 
 
 " I want to tell you, if you will let me. You 
 see, I I felt pretty sure that Denys cared for 
 
 me." 
 
 " I never knew a man to be so absolutely 
 daft and imbecile about a woman as Denys 
 is about you." 
 
 " We were talking of you, and he was try 
 ing to find out what I thought of you, and I 
 had teased him, but I had n't meant to make 
 him seriously jealous. Suddenly he burst out, 
 
212 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 in a perfectly agonized sort of way, ' Mar 
 gery, won't you answer me? ' Of course, I 
 thought he meant did I care for him, Mr. 
 Fordham, he was so wrought up about it; and 
 I said that he must know. Then he came back 
 in the calmest, most satisfied voice, ' I congrat 
 ulate Maurice.' How could he say that so 
 easily if he loves me himself? " 
 
 " Because he 's dead game. He believed 
 that you and I had fallen in love, and he 
 was n't going to have us suspect what we had 
 done to him. But he is bound up in you, Miss 
 Fanning. I 've known it always, and yester 
 day he told me so himself. I dragged it out 
 of him. And besides, nobody but a man who 
 adores you could contrive to give you so much 
 pain." 
 
 " It was pretty bad when I thought that he 
 did n't care for me," she confessed candidly. 
 " You '11 swear that he does? " 
 
 " More than that I '11 bet on it." 
 
 " But when he found that he had misled 
 me, why had n't he the courage to come him 
 self? Why must he send you? " 
 
 "Bless you! he did n't. My coming was 
 the unhallowed inspiration of the moment. I 
 bolted off without telling him, to save argu 
 ment. You see, Miss Fanning," Maurice 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 213 
 
 could laugh now over what yesterday had 
 seemed an outrage, " ever since he discov 
 ered your infatuation, he has been darkly 
 resolved that I should marry you, under the 
 name and arms of Tolna." 
 
 Margery's whole frame stiffened. 
 
 :< What ? He has been urging me on a man 
 who did n't want me? Of all gross, hideous, 
 revolting things to do " 
 
 " Oh, my prophetic soul! I warned him 
 that you had a temper. Why, you little spit 
 fire, it was nothing of the kind." She had 
 but expressed his own opinion of yesterday, 
 but that some one else should assail Denys was 
 not to be borne. " Denys loves you so much 
 that he can't consider anything but your hap 
 piness. He puts himself out of court. Do 
 you suppose he enjoyed the thought of your 
 marrying me?" 
 
 " I shall never forgive him." 
 
 " You 'd better. You '11 never find any one 
 else who loves you a tenth part as much." 
 
 There was a pause. Finally she said: 
 
 " I wish I had a brother." 
 
 " I 'm afraid you would n't stand his cheek 
 as amiably as you stand mine. But I '11 give 
 you one bit of brotherly counsel. There is n't 
 a man in the world, however brilliant or tact- 
 
214 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 f ul or devoted he may be, that won't occasion 
 ally perpetrate something so coarse and stupid 
 that a woman wants to kill him, or ought to 
 want to, like my telling you how Denys was 
 determined to give away the bride ! I thought, 
 of course, you 'd laugh. We 're always doing 
 it. You just have to go into a nunnery, or 
 else put up with us." 
 
 " I 'm going into a nunnery. How else 
 can I possibly get out of this situation? I let 
 Denys go on thinking that it was you because 
 it was the only way to keep him from knowing 
 that it was he. When he finds it is n't you, 
 he will know that I must have meant him. He 
 will see that I answered before I was asked. 
 Do you suppose I will let him think that? 
 I'd die first!" 
 
 He contemplated the case thoughtfully. 
 
 "Then die it is." 
 
 ' You mean that he is bound to find out? 
 He won't, for we are going to Japan on the 
 next steamer. We shall stay a year or two, 
 till I know that he is back in Europe. Mr. 
 Fordham, I told you what I felt, because I 
 had to, and somehow with you I don't mind. 
 But, Mr. Fordham, I mean it. I will die 
 before I '11 have him know." 
 
 He looked much perturbed. 
 
A NEW FRIEND MADE 215 
 
 " I won't tell him, Miss Fanning. I can't, 
 if you forbid me. But you 're not serious in 
 meaning to put half the world between you 
 and the best fellow in it? If he had n't stated 
 his proposition in three words, he had stated 
 it in actions, time and again. You knew it 
 six months ago, and you would n't let him 
 speak. Surely you won't torture him for a 
 silly little point of false pride? " 
 
 She said nothing. He hesitated, then went 
 on: 
 
 " Miss Fanning, I suppose you '11 be af 
 fronted if I say that your point of view seems 
 to me ridiculous. What disgrace is there in 
 giving more than you think you have received 
 or giving sooner? What is that but a splendid 
 generosity? You can't dole out love on requi 
 sition, as a stingy housewife doles out sugar 
 and tea. Why, it is n't even a false pride on 
 your part that bids me hold my tongue. It 's 
 a poor little old-fashioned, conventional van 
 ity. Just realizing what that dear fellow is, 
 ought to have knocked it out of you by this 
 time. When you women really want to 
 escape your gratuitous heartaches, you '11 
 bring your sentimental codes up to date." 
 
 Having shot his bolt, he was rather fright 
 ened. 
 
216 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Flushing and paling, she stood long silent, 
 her eyes on the floor. At length she vouch 
 safed: 
 
 "Well, I we won't leave town till next 
 week." 
 
 "That 's a nice girl!" he cried, wringing 
 her hand. She smiled. 
 
 " There must be some good in Denys Alden 
 he has made such a friend." 
 
 "Some good? He 's the best chap going, 
 heart and head both. Oh, you '11 see. Will 
 you forgive me, too? " 
 
 " I did n't say that I had forgiven him. As 
 for you, you can come to tea on Sunday and 
 tell me more about your girl." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MISS HAMMOND FINDS AN OLD FRIEND 
 
 FOR the first time since her school-days, 
 Honor Hammond felt contented and 
 happy. She had accomplished her destiny, 
 and she felt the exhilarating consciousness of 
 achievement. It was not precisely Willie's 
 money that elated her. It was the feat of hav 
 ing secured Willie's money. She had won her 
 spurs. No longer need she fear the world; 
 she had earned her peace. That she was not 
 in love with the man of her choice troubled her 
 not at all. She understood that love was the 
 most delightful of emotions, as she had been 
 given to understand that the mango was the 
 most delicious of fruits, but one seemed as 
 little a necessity in her life as the other. She 
 basked in the consciousness that her mother 
 thoroughly approved her, and that her world 
 admired and envied her. Her radiant face 
 could maintain its radiance even through 
 Willoughby's visits. In truth, he had not yet 
 
 217 
 
218 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 become to her an individual. If, before his 
 proposal, he had been merely a bit of back 
 ground, since that moment he was a symbol, 
 something that stood for freedom, power, 
 consequence. The man himself was vague to 
 her; she could not have told the color of his 
 eyes. If his hair had turned gray overnight, 
 she would hardly have noticed it. 
 
 One afternoon, a few days after her en 
 gagement, it happened that she was alone in 
 the house. Her mother was having a session 
 with their dressmaker, of almost sacred 
 privacy. 
 
 Willoughby had gone up to Tarrytown to 
 see " momma." None of the girls had run in 
 to talk over the engagement. Nobody ever 
 did run in on Miss Hammond. But Honor 
 was used to solitude and preferred it. She 
 was rather sorry when it was time to follow her 
 mother and accompany her to their quota of 
 teas. 
 
 As she came down-stairs she found the di 
 minutive buttons Mrs. Hammond's econom 
 ical concession to the World-Idea of a footman 
 just opening the door. 
 
 " Is your master at home? " a man's well- 
 bred voice inquired. " Mr. Mr. " 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 219 
 
 " No, sir," the buttons answered. " No 
 body 's in but Miss Honor." Stepping back 
 from the door, the boy shifted all responsibil 
 ity to her shoulders. 
 
 She was at the entrance now, facing the 
 stranger. 
 
 " You? " he cried. " Do you live here? " 
 
 She supposed him to be one of the many 
 men she had danced with, though she recalled 
 his face but vaguely. Never quick in social 
 emergencies, she stood waiting for him to ex 
 plain his errand. 
 
 " Don't you know me, Honor? " 
 
 The tone of his voice made her think of 
 Jefferson's "Don't you know me, Meenie? " 
 Association of ideas suddenly gave her the 
 clue to answer confidently: 
 
 6 Yes. You are Monsieur Tolna." 
 
 It seemed sufficiently extraordinary that 
 Monsieur Tolna should come to her house, 
 yet be amazed that she lived there; should 
 be calling her Honor, yet look hurt and dis 
 appointed when she recognized him. But, as 
 often happens with shy persons, self-posses 
 sion returned to her when she discovered that 
 he was even more unequal to the emergency 
 than she, and in his turn was staring at her, 
 
220 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 helpless and distressed, without moving or 
 speaking. She smiled hospitably. 
 
 "Monsieur Tolna, are n't you coming in? 
 Tell Peters to drive up and down awhile, 
 David." 
 
 Beyond the pretty drawing-room with its 
 spindle-legged chairs and claw-footed cab 
 inets and walls hung with miniatures, past 
 the pretty dining-room with its Sheraton 
 low-boys and high-boys and old samplers, 
 was a sitting-room at the back of the house, 
 through whose French windows, opening 
 on a wide balcony, the sun poured all day 
 long. 
 
 This room was not conscientiously Colonial, 
 like the others. Chairs, tables, and book-cases 
 were of the black walnut of thirty years ago, 
 which, in this sunny room with its white paint, 
 looked less funereal than black walnut gener 
 ally contrives to do. The simply designed 
 chairs, picked out with lines of faded gilt, bore 
 covers in the cross-stitch tapestry of an earlier 
 generation, most beautifully toned by time to 
 softest olives, pallid blues, and ghostly pinks. 
 Both heavy Brussels carpet and embossed 
 wall-paper, once gay with large pink roses, 
 were now dimmed to the same soft shell-color, 
 while the brilliant note in the room was sup- 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 221 
 
 plied by the scores of blossoming plants 
 which, on antiquated terraced stands of 
 twisted wire, banked the wide windows. 
 Stately steel-engravings of noble Old- World 
 buildings and bridges and of Raphael's mas 
 terpieces crowded the walls, though, by some 
 seeming inadvertence, one or two oil portraits 
 and a few frivolous water-colors, with half a 
 dozen still more frivolous French chromos, 
 had managed to push themselves in. Flank 
 ing the large gilt clock on the mantel smirked 
 two Dresden china shepherdesses, while 
 beyond each posed a self-conscious "Rogers 
 group." Old-fashioned without being an 
 tique, the whole was a jumble of incongruous 
 parts that violated every rule of house decora 
 tion. 
 
 Most women with Mrs. Hammond's true 
 artistic sense would have sent everything to 
 auction and " done over " the room in the mode 
 of some French king, or English queen, or 
 Turkish vizier, or Spanish missionary. But 
 that competent lady was clever enough to 
 discern the meaning of the conglomerate 
 the misguided but sincere struggle of the '70's 
 to realize an ideal. When she saw fit she 
 could soar above the realm of " smug routine 
 and things allowed," and she both perceived 
 
222 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 and respected the homely, livable, average- 
 man's-taste look of the place, which her 
 elegant drawing-room very properly lacked. 
 She had bought the furniture with the house, 
 at a price which enabled her to sell most of it 
 at a profit. But this one room had been left 
 almost as she found it. Here papers and 
 magazines and sewing might litter tables or 
 floor, and here might come the friends who 
 were subtle enough to appreciate her appreci 
 ation. 
 
 With an unconscious sense of the fitness of 
 things, Honor led the visitor not to the imper 
 sonal drawing-room, but at once to this more 
 intimate retreat. It had not occurred to her 
 to think him an impostor, to feel afraid of 
 him; and though she could not guess the 
 meaning of his visit, she assumed that it must 
 imply business of importance. 
 
 "If you wished to see my father," she ven 
 tured, "he is never at home before six;" and 
 then she waited for him to disclose his errand. 
 
 But he was neither looking at her nor listen 
 ing, in his absorption with the room itself. 
 His glance, traveling swiftly, yet seemed to 
 take in everything before he strode to the 
 window to stare into the yard. Then he 
 turned back to study in detail, it appeared, 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 223 
 
 each commonplace object. When at last he 
 met her gaze she was astonished to see tears 
 in his eyes. 
 
 "Nothing has been changed nothing! " 
 he cried, with an almost passionate wonder 
 and pleasure. 
 
 * Why, what how can you know?" she 
 stammered. 
 
 He came close to her. 
 
 "Honor dear, don't you remember me 
 now? " 
 
 She was white as a sheet. 
 
 " I saw the resemblance the first moment 
 you came on the stage. But you were Hun 
 garian. Your whole history was known. Oh, 
 I thought that if it were you, you would make 
 some sign. I was afraid to. I knew it 
 could n't be true. It could n't! " 
 
 " But it is true, Honor bright." 
 
 She stretched out both hands to him. 
 
 " You really are Bim? " 
 
 ' Why, dear, you 're crying! " 
 
 " But you can't be real. You 're a dear 
 ghost." 
 
 He drew her to him and kissed her cheek. 
 She flung an arm around his neck. 
 
 " Bim ! You 're just the same ! " 
 
 " Just the same, Honor." 
 
224 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Her face hidden in his neck, she was shak 
 ing with hard, dry sobs. Maurice fell to 
 kissing her hair. 
 
 " Why, Honor! Why, dearie, do you care 
 so much? " 
 
 " Oh, Bim, you don't know! " 
 
 Suddenly she withdrew from him, not with 
 any embarrassment, but to look at him 
 better. 
 
 " But oh, Bim, after all that you have done 
 you can't be the same ! " 
 
 " Just the same old Morry Fordham. All 
 that Tolna nonsense is less than nothing. 
 I 'm your old Bim." 
 
 She brushed the tears from her eyes, 
 smiling. 
 
 " You are real. I thought you were a 
 beloved ghost from those happy old days. 
 Oh, Morry, it can't be that those old times 
 can come again. Those happy times! Oh, 
 it 's too good to be true ! " 
 
 "They can come, if you say the word. I'm 
 just the same. But you " 
 
 She gave him both her hands. 
 
 ' You doubt my wanting them back? 
 Why, Morry, they 're the only good times of 
 my life." 
 
 "How about Willoughby Smith?" 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 225 
 
 " Oh, I beg his pardon! I have had one 
 good time when he asked me to marry 
 him." 
 
 " You 're happy to be engaged to him? " 
 
 He might have asked her, " Do you like 
 roast beef? " so casual seemed the question. 
 She replied as simply: 
 
 " Oh, yes. You don't know how horrid 
 things have been." 
 
 ' Tell me. Tell me everything about your 
 self." 
 
 She sat down by the book-strewn center- 
 table, motioning him to a place on the other 
 side and pushing the lamp back that she might 
 see him better. 
 
 " Don't let 's talk about me. I want to 
 hear of all your wonderful success." 
 
 " I Ve only been singing for my supper. I 
 want to hear about you. I Ve never known 
 anything of you since that little letter saying 
 you were going to the convent and could n't 
 write to me any more. You must have been 
 twelve years old." 
 
 " I have been at home again five years." 
 
 " I wrote you when you were nineteen and 
 I supposed that you were old enough to be 
 through with the convent." 
 
 " I never had the letter. We were travel- 
 
226 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ing that year. Was that why you did n't 
 come to see me here ? More likely you had for 
 gotten all about me." 
 
 " No, never that. But you had grown up 
 into a famous beauty. I was afraid to meet 
 you afraid that I should n't see any trace of 
 my old playmate." 
 
 " And perhaps they had told you that I was 
 very spoiled and proud." 
 
 He laughed. " Denys did contribute that 
 item." 
 
 " Oh, how mean of you to believe it! But 
 I know how you felt. I was almost sure 
 enough that you were Morry Fordham to 
 make some sign, only I knew that you were 
 spoiled and proud, and would n't care a button 
 about seeing me." 
 
 " I never regretted anything in my life as 
 I regret not having sought you out when I 
 first came back to New York." 
 
 She laughed happily. 
 
 " Oh, don't regret anything. All I can 
 think of is how glad I am to see you now too 
 glad by far to scold you. You see, I have 
 nobody to talk to straight out, I mean. I 
 tried with father the other night, but it was n't 
 a great success." 
 
 " How about Mr. Smith? " 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 227 
 
 She seemed to have no more self -conscious 
 ness before her old playfellow than if the 
 years had been reeled backward and she was 
 again the child of twelve. 
 
 "I don't know him well yet. It will be 
 different after we are married." 
 
 " Then talk to me straight out." 
 ' Well, I was on the other side for seven 
 years, till I was nineteen. Mother took me 
 traveling in the summers, and we spent one 
 winter in Italy and one in Dresden. Then I 
 came home, and I could n't fit in." 
 
 " I know." 
 
 " You see, I had n't really known any young 
 people over there, except the convent girls, 
 and they were so different from girls here. 
 In Germany and Italy, the last years, I did n't 
 see anybody but mother and my teachers. I 
 was so anxious to come back to all my child 
 hood friends. But when I did I could n't get 
 on with them. The girls were so well dressed, 
 and so bright, and so sure of themselves. 
 They talked about house-parties, and clothes, 
 and men, and I had n't a word to say to them. 
 They had been to matinees every week of their 
 lives since they were in their teens, and I never 
 had seen anything but Racine and Schiller. 
 They had their rooms papered with photo- 
 
228 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 graphs of stars, and I did n't even know who 
 Maude Adams was. They had college-pins 
 and flags and sofa-cushions, and could tell 
 you who had played or rowed for which col 
 lege, every season for years. I did n't know 
 how many men it took to make a foot-ball 
 team. 
 
 "These were the frivolous girls. The 
 clever ones were worse. They talked about 
 Meredith, and Japanese prints, and whether 
 modern life is detrimental to individual devel 
 opment. They understood racial character 
 istics in music, and the color-sense of the 
 ancient Greeks. Because I had been educated 
 abroad, I was supposed to have opinions. I 
 don't think they really were very much excited 
 about the color-sense of the Greeks how 
 could anybody be? but they would insist on 
 talking about it. They can hand you out five 
 minutes' conversation about anything on 
 earth. Oh, Bim, I have never learned to talk. 
 This is a sort of miracle of Balaam's ass going 
 on now. I never had the gift of tongues 
 before." 
 
 " How about the men, Honor? " 
 " I was just as much afraid of them as I 
 was of the girls. Either they could only talk 
 stocks and golf, or they talked about purple 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 229 
 
 shadows and quoted Omar. I suppose there 
 must be men in New York that do something, 
 and know something, and are something, but 
 you don't find them at dances and teas." 
 
 "So the doll was stuffed with sawdust? 
 Poor little girl!" 
 
 " Perhaps you think that I did n't try? 
 That I was just faultfinding, and would n't 
 take trouble for people? I have been cap 
 tious lately, I know; but at first I tried 
 oh, so hard! to learn the jargon and keep up 
 with the procession. I have seen girls come 
 out of nowhere and be more royalist than the 
 king at the end of the first week. But I 'm 
 not bright. I 'm not self-possessed. I don't 
 get there." 
 
 " I don't see why you let it worry you. You 
 could be a deaf-mute if you chose. You 've 
 been a tremendous success." 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 " Yes, in a queer way that you don't under 
 stand. I am a public character. I am a ball 
 room success. Men tumble over themselves 
 for the privilege of having people see them 
 dancing with me. But none of them would 
 dream of coming to my house, except when 
 asked formally to dinner. No one ever drops 
 in to see me men or girls. I have any mm> 
 
230 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ber of public satellites and no private friends." 
 
 He took her hand. " I Ve a fellow-feeling, 
 Honor." 
 
 " And there is something that you won't 
 believe, because I am so ridiculously para 
 graphed in the newspapers as ' one of the most 
 admired girls in America,' and all that. But, 
 until Willoughby Smith asked me, not a 
 human being has ever wanted to marry me." 
 
 " The country is going to the dogs." 
 
 " There was a young painter in Florence 
 who shot himself on the door-step. Oh, not 
 fatally, Bim. Just a flesh-wound. Except 
 for him and Willoughby, nobody. I think 
 that 's queer, don't you? Most girls have a 
 good many chances, first and last. So I 
 realize what luck I am in to have suited Wil 
 loughby." 
 
 "You landed a big fish at last," he said 
 absently, regarding her in a puzzled way. 
 
 " Is n't it a comfort? Mother had begun 
 to believe not only that I should n't make the 
 brilliant match of her dreams, but that I 
 should n't make any match at all. I think she 
 would have been contented with almost any 
 body. But this!" 
 
 As he was silent, she added, smiling: 
 ' You see, when you introduce a daughter 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 231 
 
 with such a flourish of trumpets as mother 
 blew over me, it is like throwing down the 
 gauntlet to society, offering a wager that 
 you will do something big. To succeed is 
 naturally a triumph." 
 
 "A great fortune like that means a lot, 
 Honor." 
 
 "Everything! Freedom, power, leading 
 instead of following. Oh, I 'm lucky, in 
 deed." 
 
 She showed so beaming a face that his 
 question seemed superfluous. 
 
 " You 're perfectly satisfied then, dear? " 
 
 She looked a little surprised that he could 
 ask. 
 
 " Perfectly, Bim. It is n't reasonable to 
 expect everything. It would be suprahuman 
 if Willoughby Smith had all that money and 
 looked like Monsieur Tolna," she instanced, 
 with a frank laugh absolutely devoid of 
 coquetry. 
 
 " It would be awkward if you fell in love 
 with somebody else afterward, would n't it? " 
 
 " It does n't seem to be nowadays," she 
 laughed. 
 
 Maurice hated her cynicism as one hates bad 
 words in a baby mouth, the while he assured 
 himself that it meant no more. Within the 
 
232 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 shell of her radiant womanhood, her spirit 
 seemed to him as crude and sexless as that of 
 the child of twelve years ago. Hers was the 
 innocent hardihood of a child. He told him 
 self that there is a lack of sensitiveness when 
 the feelings have been blunted and when they 
 have never been waked. The outward effect 
 is the same, the inner causes are worlds apart. 
 Like many shy persons not accustomed to 
 utter their thoughts, she had, once she let her 
 self go, no gage of what was startling and what 
 was not. She proclaimed her daring senti 
 ments with no desire to produce an effect, 
 with no consciousness that they were daring. 
 
 " I have known two girls who made bril 
 liant marriages, who cried all night before 
 their weddings. They both cared for some 
 body else. In the case of one girl I think her 
 relatives pushed her into it, but the other girl 
 did it of her own free choice. You see, they 
 had both been somebodies all their lives, and 
 they could n't bear to drop out. I think I 
 should do just the same in their places. I 
 could n't let a Willoughby Smith get by. 
 So I am very lucky that there is no one for 
 me to shed a tear over." 
 
 She mused a moment, then looked up with 
 quick interest. 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 233 
 
 " Were you ever in love, Bim? " 
 
 " Never in earnest. But I 'm young, and 
 I still hope." 
 
 " You think it is worth while? " 
 ' Yes. You see, I am not like you and 
 royalty, who have to contract alliances. I 'm 
 poor enough to afford luxuries. I can marry 
 some one I like." 
 
 " Oh, I hope that you will find her very 
 soon, Morry, if you want her." 
 
 " Thank you, Honor bright." 
 
 " But it seems a sort of pity, does n't it," 
 she mused "your coming, just as I 'm about 
 to be married? " He started, but there was 
 never more than meets the ear in anything 
 that Honor said. " I mean that I shall be too 
 busy to have any good of you. After the 
 wedding, though, when we are settled in our 
 new house, we must see a lot of you. That is, 
 if you want to," she added, with a laugh. " I 
 keep forgetting that you did n't come here 
 to-day to see me you were n't prepared to 
 find me, even. You came to see the old 
 house." 
 
 " How long have you lived in it, dear girl? " 
 
 " We bought it about a year after you went 
 away. Mr. Gelbenbach failed, there must 
 have been a slump in pickles, and father 
 
234 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 always loved this house. Does this room look 
 natural, Bim? " 
 
 "Mother's sitting-room? It is so natural 
 that I want to cry." 
 
 " Oh, Bim dear, you ought to own the 
 house." 
 
 " I came to-day to talk with the owner 
 about buying it. But I love to think of your 
 living in it, Honor." 
 
 " Ah, but I must leave it when I marry. 
 And oh, Morry, Willoughby Smith wants to 
 pull it down, with the three beyond, which he 
 owns, and put up a sky-scraper. He was 
 talking to father about it last night, and 
 father seemed rather inclined to let it go." 
 
 " Oh, never mind the house, child. I want 
 to talk about you." 
 
 " I have told you all about me, already." 
 
 " Honor, are you honestly glad I Ve come 
 back-" 
 
 " Glad? Why, I told father, the other 
 night, that you were the only person in the 
 world I had ever been really fond of." 
 
 His voice came huskily: 
 
 " Then Honor, Honor" 
 
 The telephone bell jingled. Honor im 
 mediately became preoccupied, automatically 
 
AN OLD FRIEND FOUND 235 
 
 murmuring, " Pardon," as she hastened to 
 obey the noisy mandate. 
 
 " Certainly," answered Maurice to the 
 empty walls. " The victim of the telephone 
 habit would leave his father's death-bed to 
 answer a call." 
 
 Her voice was heard in the passage. 
 ' Yes, immediately. I am so sorry, mother. 
 I 've been detained. Yes, I '11 start this very 
 minute. I 'm all ready. I am ever so sorry, 
 dear." 
 
 In a moment she reappeared in the door 
 way, fastening her long fur stole as she spoke. 
 
 " Bim, I was so interested in you that I 
 entirely forgot an appointment to meet 
 mother. I must go, this very second. But 
 you '11 come again very soon, won't you? " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 
 
 rilHOUGH the sharp young man who 
 J- looked so like and yet so unlike a " gen 
 tlemanly salesman" called himself a Confi 
 dential Agent, in him no more than in another 
 would Denys wholly confide. Early on the 
 Thursday morning he panted into the Private 
 Inquiry Office, looking as if he had not slept, 
 his elf-lock hanging over his eyes, his motions 
 more jerky, his speech more staccato than 
 ever. He described Maurice's departure from 
 the Opera-House, and the concomitant dis 
 appearance of the valet. As Monsieur Tolna 
 had neither friends nor enemies in New York, 
 absolutely no acquaintances outside his 
 profession, Mr. Alden could suggest no 
 place to which he could have gone of his own 
 accord, no motive for his disappearance. 
 Most probably he had been kidnapped and 
 was held for ransom. He must have been 
 
 236 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 237 
 
 lured away by a note or message purporting 
 to come from Hirt, or from himself, Alden, 
 and was being concealed somewhere. The 
 valet was certainly concerned in the plot, and 
 possibly jealousy on the part of some fellow- 
 artist supplied the motive. Denys and the 
 detective wallowed together in a sea of sur 
 mises and suspicions, implicating Venal Ser 
 vants, Envious Rivals, and a band of Profes 
 sional Criminals whose wickedness and craft 
 surpassed the villainies to be found in the 
 pages of " Old Sleuth." To one question the 
 client returned his automatic answer that 
 Monsieur Tolna spoke no English. Then, 
 smitten by fear lest this mental reservation 
 (he called it by no harsher name) should mis 
 lead inquiry, he hedged, stammeringly : " Oh, 
 he may have picked up a few phrases. I don't 
 know. I never spoke it to him." The detec 
 tive closed his note-book. 
 
 " The first step, Mr. Alden, is to send in 
 a general alarm." 
 
 " What does that mean? " asked the other, 
 in his usual ignorance of American terms. 
 
 " Why, notify headquarters, and let them 
 send Tolna's description to every chief of 
 police in the country. In a criminal case like 
 this, Mr. Alden, though you 're level-headed 
 
238 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 enough to call in private detectives, still we 've 
 got to have official cooperation. If we 've 
 reason to think that a crime 's been committed 
 and don't notify the police, where do we 
 stand? " 
 
 To himself Denys admitted the force of the 
 argument, yet he could not admit the assumed 
 necessity. The police meant the newspapers ; 
 meant a full account of the rescue of Tolna; 
 meant an almost inevitable disclosure of the 
 imposture. And this revelation all Denys's 
 anxiety had not yet driven him to face. 
 
 As if he read his client's thought, Mr. 
 James Dunning went on : 
 
 " And you need more than the police you 
 need the newspapers. In any mysterious-dis 
 appearance case, publicity 's your best friend. 
 I don't care how sharp a detective is, he can't 
 be in but one place at once. But the public 's 
 everywhere everybody, down to the kids, 
 reading the case, everybody watching out 
 for suspicious-looking parties. Yes, the 
 public's your best detective and don't cost you 
 a cent." 
 
 "I 'm sorry that I can't agree with you," 
 Denys returned. " But I have no confidence 
 in the New York police. They seem to me to 
 bungle whatever they touch. I have been 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 239 
 
 thinking the matter over all night, and I feel 
 convinced that I am right in trusting to you, 
 and to you alone. As for the newspapers, I 
 should have thought it a hopeless blunder to 
 send out a hue-and-cry and thus put the crimi 
 nals on their guard." 
 
 That kidnappers who had carried off an 
 operatic star might naturally expect him to 
 be inquired after was a reply to this argument 
 which occurred to Denys himself as final. He 
 was mentally berating his own lack of expedi 
 ents when the detective surprised him by 
 accepting the case on the conditions proposed. 
 The man seemed both shrewd and honest, and 
 Denys left the office assuring himself that the 
 lost would be found and that he had conducted 
 negotiations with eminent discretion. Deny 
 it as he might, however, he was conscious of 
 something wrong about the whole interview, 
 a persistent false note. Yet surely his one 
 small reticence could do no harm. Why, he 
 asked himself, should this not have been a 
 satisfactory hour? 
 
 When, presently, the Confidential Agent 
 waxed confidential to his subordinate, the ex 
 planation of Denys's vague misgiving took 
 on definite form. 
 
 " Say, Bob, you ought t' have heard us 
 
240 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 him trying to make me believe that he believes 
 there 's a case of kidnapping, and me trying to 
 make him believe I believed it! If Tolna 
 don't sing out his contract, Alden 's got to 
 pony up. I got so much out of him. If 
 Tolna 'd really disappeared he 'd have every 
 cop in town dancing buck-and-wings on the 
 case. But he don't even tell me anything I 
 can work on. Just mark your Uncle Dudley's 
 words: Tolna 's eating his little breakfast in 
 his little bed at home, and this feller 's getting 
 up a grand fake for the yellows. Kidnapped 
 and Held for Ransom! Gallant Rescue by 
 Mr. Alden. See if it ain't." 
 
 " What yer goin' to do, Jim? " 
 
 " Go ahead as if I was convinced it was all 
 straight. We '11 come in for our pay, anyhow. 
 If we can prove it 's a plant, we '11 squeeze 
 Alden for fair." 
 
 Denys, entering his house in the renewed 
 hope of finding Maurice or news of Maurice, 
 was met by the intelligence that Fra^ois had 
 been there, packed up his clothes, and de 
 parted, whither the Japanese boy knew not. 
 Distressed at his master's blank face, he 
 added : " I could tell him wait, but I not know. 
 He leave note." 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 241 
 
 Denys flashed up the stairs after Gichera, 
 who sought on the library table a folded scrap 
 of paper addressed in Maurice's well-known, 
 uncompromising hand. 
 
 Wednesday night. 
 
 DEAR DENYS: As the situation at home seems a 
 little strained, I am going away to give it a chance 
 to relax. 
 
 Don't worry. I won't stand in drafts or get my 
 feet wet. M. 
 
 With the curt message before him, Denys 
 realized that all day he had expected it. He 
 had persuaded himself that he believed in the 
 kidnapping rather than admit that he had lost 
 his case, that his blundering tactics had driven 
 Maurice into voluntary hiding. He still 
 found it incomprehensible that the boy's per 
 verse dislike of his profession or his aversion 
 to wooing a delightful girl should be strong 
 enough to part him from the fame and glories 
 of the stage. On the whole, the note made 
 matters worse. Had Maurice really been kid 
 napped, it were easier to find him than if he 
 had deliberately disappeared. If his longing 
 for liberty had led him to forfeit his agree 
 ment, certainly he would spare no pains to 
 elude discovery. 
 
 16 
 
242 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 In his haste to escape pursuit, the star had 
 not taken time to explain that his obscuration 
 would be brief. Denys, always dominated by 
 imagination in his own conduct, imagined 
 everybody else to be made precisely like Mr. 
 Denys Alden. Too entirely governed by his 
 own convictions to give way to any other 
 man's, it had not occurred to him that his 
 attempts at conversion could drive Maurice 
 out of the house. Now that he faced this 
 painful consequence, his imagination supplied 
 the fugitive with the very mood in which he 
 himself would have fled a hated abode. He 
 could not have departed without dramatic 
 vows never again, while life remained to him, 
 to let his shadow fall across its threshold. 
 
 The impulse that could sever Denys from 
 home would sweep him at least to California, 
 and probably to some far Pacific isle, before 
 he drew breath. Yet even with his agonizing 
 conviction that the flight of the singer was 
 meant to be for all time, he cherished an un 
 quenchable belief that Maurice would be 
 brought back. He would be, because he must 
 be! 
 
 His opportunity to learn the truth from 
 Francois having been unluckily missed, a 
 second chance was vouchsafed Denys in a 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 243 
 
 visit from Herr Hirt, the manager of the 
 opera company. Though Hirt had lived in 
 America for thirty strenuous years, as a 
 youth he had followed the Prussian eagles to 
 Sedan, where his bearing acquired a trium 
 phant militarism which he had never allowed 
 to lapse. As his tall figure, in losing its youth 
 ful slimness, had preserved its youthful 
 erectness, his weight but made him the more 
 imposing. With his florid complexion, his 
 bright blue eyes, his waxed mustachios, he 
 looked a major-general in citizen's clothes, 
 and found his martial aspect perhaps of ser 
 vice in drilling a more unruly corps than any 
 field-commander ever had to cope with. This 
 morning he was twirling the mustachios to 
 terrifying truculence, while an inward agita 
 tion was betrayed by the German familiarity 
 with the Deity which interlarded his excellent 
 English. 
 
 " Alden, what under God's heaven did 
 Tolna mean last night that he won't sing 
 any more? " 
 
 Denys, hearing this declaration for the first 
 time, was not inspired to guess that Maurice 
 had simply declined an out-of-town engage 
 ment at the close of the present season. But 
 even now he would not own himself beaten; 
 
244 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 would not admit any contingency that might 
 prevent the recapture of the culprit, and the 
 return of him, chastened and repentant, to 
 Hirt and to Margery. 
 
 " I don't think he means anything but over 
 strain," answered Denys, without a qualm, 
 fixing his inward eye on the pachydermatous 
 tenor. " Since your force has been so crippled 
 by influenza he has been singing twice, and 
 even three times, a week. In spite of his 
 splendid constitution, he must feel it. You 
 ought not to have billed him for Saturday's 
 * Faust,' but let him save himself up for 
 ' L'Enchanteresse ' on Monday." 
 
 He watched Hirt keenly. If the manager 
 did not know of their misfortune, he had no 
 mind to disclose it and add to his trials the 
 impresario's profane distraction. 
 
 " Oh, Grigni is quite well enough to sing 
 Faust," Hirt answered, with surprising readi 
 ness. Denys, who could not know that this 
 concession had already been made to Maurice, 
 breathed again. He had now four whole days 
 in which to produce the runaway. 
 
 " Is he awake? " Hirt went on. " I want to 
 settle one or two matters." 
 
 But Denys's fluent tongue was easily equal 
 to this perplexity, and Hirt departed, con- 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 245 
 
 vinced, for the moment at least, of the wisdom 
 of leaving Tolna's whims to his friend's man 
 agement. 
 
 Had he been less eager to hurry away this 
 dangerous visitor, Denys would doubtless 
 have been asked his opinion on various matters 
 concerned in the first production of "L'En- 
 chanteresse," and would certainly have heard 
 of Tolna's pledge to pay for his four days' 
 holiday by singing better than ever. 
 
 While he was still felicitating himself on 
 his fortunate riddance the telephone-bell rang. 
 Hoping against hope to hear the jeering voice 
 of Maurice, he turned white at the sound 
 of Margery's soft tones embarrassed, he 
 thought, or perhaps anxious. 
 
 " Is it Mr. Alden? " she asked, with a shade 
 of hesitation. "How do you do? How is 
 how is Monsieur Tolna? " 
 
 Too well he knew what stress of feeling 
 had driven her to inquire. Forty-eight hours 
 had passed since he had sworn that Maurice 
 adored her; forty-eight hours without a sign 
 from the impatient lover. Denys could pic 
 ture her varying moods of patience and impa 
 tience; of doubt and faith; could fancy her 
 hurt, angry, proudly silent ; at last, too miser 
 able to bear longer suspense. With an im- 
 
246 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 pulse to shield her as well as to save himself, 
 he answered without noticeable hesitation : 
 
 " He is not well, Miss Fanning. Nothing 
 to worry about; just fag. The doctor advises 
 bed for a few days." 
 
 " Did you say that he is ill in bed? " 
 
 The voice was certainly startled. 
 
 " For a few days; just a rest-cure. Don't 
 be alarmed. The doctor prophesies that he 
 will be a new man by next week." 
 
 " Mamma will send down some flowers," 
 answered the voice with a curious intonation. 
 The receiver was hung up rather abruptly, 
 and the conversation left Denys to the pleas 
 ing conviction that in trying to spare her 
 pride he had cruelly alarmed her. He now 
 seemed to himself to have plumbed the depths 
 of misery, because he could not estimate his 
 blacker gloom had he known that Margery 
 had come to the telephone enlightened by 
 her interview with Maurice. 
 
 " He invents an illness to excuse Monsieur 
 Tolna for not coming to beseech my hand," 
 the girl reflected, half amused, half angry. 
 " But what will he do next? Tolna sings on 
 Monday. How can Denys keep it up? He 
 will have to confess to me then." 
 
 She sat down, chin in hand, frowning, smil- 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 247 
 
 ing, wondering, not knowing whether to 
 laugh, to rage, or to cry. It was certainly 
 funny, Denys's set resolve to force on her a 
 lover whom she did not want, who did not 
 want her, and with whom she had a perfect 
 understanding. Yes, forcing Monsieur 
 Tolna on her was funny, but forcing her on 
 Monsieur Tolna was insufferable. She had 
 been obliged to forgive Tolna for his credu 
 lity because he was so unconcerned about it, 
 so resolved to take the whole affair as a joke, 
 that it was useless to attempt heroics. They 
 would have seemed to him a still broader joke, 
 she perceived. But Denys should be made to 
 suffer for both. He had no right to miscon 
 ceive her, dr to make Tolna misconceive her, 
 or, crowning offense of all, to fling her to 
 Tolna in the face of the man's indifference. 
 " Ever since he discovered your infatuation 
 he has been resolved that I should marry you." 
 The confession still burned in her ears. Not 
 only her delicate sex-modesty, her sensitive 
 girl-pride, revolted at being talked over, ar 
 ranged about, accused of giving her heart 
 unasked, but her spoiled-darling's dignity was 
 still more fiercely alert. Sweet though her 
 nature was, simple as her upbringing had 
 been, she could not forget that she was Miss 
 
248 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Margery Fanning, a personage; only child 
 and great heiress; pretty and clever and ac 
 complished; very deserving of admiration and 
 very much accustomed to receive it. Miss 
 Fanning was not a young lady to be made 
 ridiculous with impunity. Had Denys sup 
 posed that she had no lovers of her own sigh 
 ing vainly for her, that he must drag this 
 protesting rebel to her feet? 
 
 Since Maurice had persuaded her that flight 
 to Japan was perhaps an undue punishment 
 for the offense against her, and since in her 
 heart she admitted it to be little less hard 
 on the executioner than on the victim, she 
 conceded that she must in the end forgive 
 Denys. But certainly he should first do 
 penance with sheet and candle. For a day 
 or two not only should he be torn by jealousy 
 of his friend, but he should endure the 
 more exquisite pang of believing that she 
 suffered. 
 
 To this mood of Margery's entered like a 
 whirlwind the jimp figure and aggressive 
 tailormadeness of Mrs. Norton Burnham. 
 
 ' Thank goodness you are at home, Madge. 
 I want you to get busy and help me." 
 
 "You look excited, Jessie. Has Uncle 
 Norton been giving you points? Are you 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 249 
 
 raiding United States Steel? Or do you mean 
 to set the President right? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind the President's going 
 on forever. I 'm a strenuous-lifer myself. 
 But you 're on the right track. I 'm in the 
 wrecking business. Madge, down at Nellie's 
 you seemed to sort of take an interest in 
 Honor Hammond." 
 
 " I do sort of," Margery laughed. "At 
 least I did on Sunday night, when Monsieur 
 Tolna seemed so struck with her. You saw 
 it, too?" 
 
 "Well, rather!" Jessie emphasized her 
 agreement by pounding her fist on her knee. 
 
 " And I feel almost sure I don't know that 
 it 's she, but I believe so I began to like her 
 then, and I hoped he really was interested 
 that Monsieur Tolna is in earnest about her. 
 But since she has been silly enough to engage 
 herself to Willoughby Smith" 
 
 " That 's just the point, Madge. She 's 
 too good for him. You and I have got to 
 break it off." 
 
 " But I 'm not at all sure, now, that she is 
 too good for him. Any girl who could accept 
 that little vulgarian Oh, I forget that he 
 is your own peculiar, patented discovery, 
 Jessie." 
 
250 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 * You need n't apologize, Madge. Nobody 
 understands the wretch better than I do. But, 
 thank goodness, I have n't had to consider 
 him as a possible husband. And seriously, it 
 is n't fair to be too hard on Honor. For the 
 last five years she has had it dinged into her 
 that she must marry money." 
 
 " Oh, Jessie, surely the Hammonds are too 
 weU bred for that." 
 
 " They did n't bully her, of course. Very 
 likely they did n't talk about it. But it was 
 in the air she breathed. She could n't get 
 away from it. May I remark that it does n't 
 become you to sit in the seat of the scornful, 
 my dear young friend? With everything you 
 could wish for ever since you were born, and 
 such a mother as yours into the bargain my, 
 have n't you been lucky! So just speak 
 gently to the erring, please." 
 
 Margery laughed. " But if she had stood 
 out for five years, why need she give in just 
 when young Lochinvar comes in sight? The 
 evidence is against her, Jessie." 
 
 " But we could n't expect her to fall in love 
 with Tolna before she had said six words to 
 him," Jessie persisted, undiverted from her 
 point. " Or to know that he had fallen in love 
 with her, either. But you say yourself he 
 has-" 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 251 
 
 " No, no, no, my dear; I don't say so. He 
 told me that he was in love with some one 
 whom he knew as a little girl. And Mrs. 
 Hammond declared that he was still a dear, 
 unspoiled boy, or something to that effect, 
 and he certainly looked at Honor as if he were 
 trying to find an old likeness " 
 
 " Why, it J s as plain as daylight, child. 
 They two * had paidlet i' the burn, and pu'd 
 the go wans fine.' I can't imagine where the 
 burn was. Honor never went to Hungary, 
 and they did n't have 'em in Paris when I was 
 there. And I don't know a gowan from a 
 gooseberry. What is a gowan, you monument 
 of a superior education? I don't believe you 
 know, either. Never mind. Evidently they 
 pu'd 'em in the groves of childhood, some 
 where. So of course he 's in love with her, 
 and of course we ought to help along a splen 
 did fellow and a distinguished fellow like 
 him." 
 
 "And incidentally, I infer, to get your stray 
 lamb back?" 
 
 ' Why, of course. Oh, I admit I have an 
 ax to grind. I 'm still as mad as a wet hen 
 over that engagement. The idea of giving 
 up the Sing Sing dinner at the eleventh hour, 
 when I 'd talked to all New York about it ! It 
 
252 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 was simply a deliberate insult to me. Yes, 
 my motive, all sublime (I don't make any 
 bones of it) , is to dish Willoughby. But now 
 that I 've had time to think it over, I Ve the 
 best feelings in the world toward Honor. Of 
 course she is n't in love with Willoughby 
 nobody could be ; and of course she could fall 
 in love with Tolna anybody could, with their 
 hands tied. Now, Margery, don't you think 
 that Honor would be happier with him than 
 giving Sing Sing dinners? " 
 
 " Oh, Jessie, you are too delightful! First 
 catch your hare. Monsieur Tolna certainly 
 did stare at Honor. But he may not have 
 been looking beyond her to the Little Church 
 around the Corner." 
 
 " Ah, wait till I tell you! " Jessie retorted, 
 with unabated enthusiasm. " Just now I was 
 coming out of the dressmaker's, when I met 
 Honor on the steps. I had n't seen her since 
 the engagement was announced, so of course 
 I congratulated her, and then I asked her if 
 she had n't had a hard time making up her 
 mind between Beauty and the Beast." 
 
 " Jessie, if I had n't an overweening respect 
 for you as my aunt, I should certainly say 
 that you are the most impertinent creature 
 who was ever tolerated by polite society." 
 
 " Thanks, love ! Honor stiffened up and 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 253 
 
 said she did n't know what I meant. I said, 
 ' Oh, no doubt you knew what you wanted. 
 But it must have taken fortitude to say an 
 eternal farewell to the entrancing Tolna.' At 
 that she laughed. ' I have n't,' she said. ' We 
 are the best of friends. I am an hour late here 
 because he has just been spending the after 
 noon with me.' Well! You could have 
 knocked me down with a feather." 
 
 " Probably she said it to tease you." 
 
 "No; it just slipped out because she was 
 mad at me. But it was true, for she blushed 
 and looked as if she wished she had held her 
 tongue. Besides, Honor is n't quick enough 
 to make up anything. If Tolna has begun 
 calling on her already " 
 
 Margery's eyes danced. 
 
 "But even then, Jessie, he may n't mean 
 matrimony. The Hammonds are poor, and 
 we all know what these foreign counts expect." 
 
 For the first time, Mrs. Burnham looked a 
 little dashed, though she protested valiantly: 
 
 " But he makes a big income, and he will 
 for years to come. Why should he be a for 
 tune-hunter? He does n't want to be sup 
 ported in idleness. He 's not that kind. No, 
 Madge; I consider him an A Number 1 
 match for Honor." 
 
 "But do actors make good husbands? 
 
254 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Ought we to encourage Honor to risk her 
 domestic happiness with a professional 
 singer? " 
 
 For a moment Jessie looked puzzled and 
 discouraged. Then she pounced on her niece 
 to give her a vigorous shaking. 
 
 "Madge, you wicked little beast, you 're 
 just teasing me! " 
 
 "Oh, Jessie, please please! Unhand me, 
 tyrant, and I will confess all. If you must 
 know, Jessie dear, I have stolen your thunder 
 in this affair. I am even now doing my utmost, 
 in the most dishonorable way, to separate two 
 plighted lovers and rob a girl who has never 
 injured me of a house on the Park, the 
 Rajah's Rose, and millions in the bank. I 
 have already asked Miss Hammond and Mon 
 sieur Tolna to come here on Sunday for a 
 quiet cup of tea." 
 
 " Oh, you angel! That was why I came to 
 you. I knew you were the only one who could 
 get hold of him. And you '11 keep the Argus- 
 eyed in the next room? " 
 
 " The Argus-eyed is n't even asked. The 
 fact is " Margery hesitated. Enjoyment 
 of the funny side of the story impelled her to 
 confession, but mortification prompted her 
 to withhold part of the truth. "The fact is 
 
MR. ALDEN'S TRIBULATIONS 255 
 
 that Maurus Tolna has run away from the 
 Argus-eyed on purpose to go a-courting, and 
 he is staying at a private hotel, under another 
 name. And Mr. Alden does n't know where 
 he is. I telephoned him Mr. Alden, I mean 
 two or three hours ago, and he answered that 
 Tolna was in bed with nervous prostration. 
 Evidently he is too proud to say that his pris 
 oner has broken jail. His voice sounded so 
 worried. Oh, it was too absurd! " 
 
 Jessie received this intelligence in a very 
 unusual silence which lasted at least a minute. 
 Then she rose to her feet like a Nemesis, a 
 steely glitter in her eye. 
 
 " Madge, I told you I 'd do anything in the 
 world for you or Alice, and so I will. But I 
 have n't forgiven that young man of yours 
 for his behavior to me at the opera. I gave 
 him fair warning. Nothing mean about me. 
 Now you just wait. I '11 fix him! " 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 FURTHER TRIBULATIONS OF MR. ALDEN 
 
 DEAE HAEEY : If you want a " scoop " I can give 
 you one, but promise, on your honor, not to drag 
 me into it. They say newspaper men have n't any, 
 though. 
 
 Well, anyhow, the scoop is that the singer, Mau- 
 rus Tolna, has disappeared from home, and no one 
 not even Denys Alden has the faintest idea where 
 he is. I don't know whether Alden or Hirt has been 
 to the police, and of course if they have it is n't 
 a scoop. But I have reason to believe that Alden 
 will keep quiet so long as he has any hope of Tolna's 
 coming back, which he won't. Won't come back, 
 I mean. 
 
 Naturally, you won't believe this without proof, 
 but I give you my word I know it. Go to Tolna's 
 house and try to see him if you are afraid to take 
 a straight tip from 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 JESSIE LAWRENCE BUENHAM. 
 
 P.S. Don't spare 'scare-heads. 
 Thursday night, late. 
 
 256 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 257 
 
 Finding this inspiring document awaiting 
 him when he came in on Friday afternoon, 
 the youngest reporter on the " Palladium " 
 reached for his hat. With shining eyes he 
 told the city editor that he guessed he had a 
 big thing. The city editor let him go with 
 out inquiry. The "Palladium" encouraged 
 individual enterprise. 
 
 At the moment of Mr. Henry Mayne's ar 
 rival at his door, Denys happened to be in the 
 hall examining a box just arrived from the 
 florist's. Miss Fanning had spoken of send 
 ing flowers. His own name on the cover 
 doubtless denoted her natural objection to be 
 ing numbered, by a family tradesman, among 
 the Tolna worshipers. Denys did not covet 
 tributes meant for another man. 
 
 "Throw all that stuff away," he ordered 
 sharply, before conscience demanded by what 
 right he thus disposed of Maurice's property. 
 "No, Gichera, take it to Monsieur Tolna's 
 room," he amended. 
 
 But Gichera the curious had already lifted 
 out of its many soft wrappings a set piece made 
 of smilax in the form of a lyre. Evidently Miss 
 Fanning had meant to suggest a comparison 
 between the singer and Apollo. Denys's eye 
 brows rose. To him the thought was as pom- 
 
 17 
 
258 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 pous as its symbol was hideous. How lament 
 able showed an infatuation which expressed 
 itself in this bathos of bad taste! He would 
 not even glance at the card, half hidden in the 
 close leafage, lest it should bear a personal 
 message, however formal. 
 
 Wondering over the atrocity, he did not no 
 tice the bell, and was caught by his unwelcome 
 visitor before he could throw up a line of de 
 fense. 
 
 "Mr. Alden? I am Henry Mayne of the 
 'Palladium.' My editor has sent me on a 
 matter of extreme importance." 
 
 Though the last thing desired by Denys 
 was an interview, yet not only was he system 
 atically courteous to all pressmen, but to-day, 
 particularly, he foresaw that he might need 
 their kind offices. 
 
 " Unfortunately, I am on my way to an ap 
 pointment," he answered. "But I can give 
 you five minutes, Mr. Mayne." 
 
 The journalist looked him in the eye with a 
 confidence he did not altogether feel. 
 
 "I came to inquire concerning the disap 
 pearance of Monsieur Tolna." 
 
 Mayne had known Mrs. Burnham ever 
 since they had made mud-pies together, and 
 she had helped him to "scoops" more than 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 259 
 
 once. Her letter might be a practical joke 
 yet a practical joke which would get him 
 into trouble with his chief was not like her 
 good-nature. He believed her. But as she 
 refused him any further help, he could only 
 pretend to a knowledge which he might thus 
 hope to gain. Mr. Alden's unmistakable start 
 was encouraging in spite of his prompt denial. 
 
 " Exactly so," politely assented Mr. Mayne ; 
 " I am very glad to be assured that it 's a hoax. 
 Ugly rumors are afloat, which the 'Palla 
 dium ' will be happy to contradict. For our 
 readers' satisfaction, I suppose that I may see 
 Monsieur Tolna for a moment." 
 
 " I regret to say that it is quite impossible. 
 Monsieur Tolna is worn out with the strain of 
 his winter's work, and as he is soon to face his 
 first appearance as Roland, his physician has 
 ordered perfect quiet." 
 
 " No doubt a wise precaution. But I don't 
 ask to speak with him, Mr. Alden. I simply 
 ask to see him." 
 
 "You must yourself admit that I cannot 
 disobey the doctor's orders, Mr. Mayne." 
 
 " Frightful old martinets, these doctors. 
 Who is Monsieur Tolna's physician?" 
 
 " Is that any business of the ' Palladium's ' 
 readers?" 
 
260 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLXA 
 
 ' You see," Mr. Mayne explained gently, 
 "an explicit statement in our columns that 
 Monsieur Tolna has just been seen in his 
 home by our representative would at once give 
 the lie to the reports which are certain to be 
 circulated in the evening papers. A state 
 ment that Mr. Alden says that Monsieur 
 Tolna is at home might, conceivably, not carry 
 the same weight. A statement from Mon 
 sieur Tolna's doctor, a physician in good 
 standing, would be conclusive." 
 
 " Will you tell me, in plain English, what 
 are these preposterous rumors that seem to 
 have imposed upon you? " 
 
 " I will be as open with you as you are with 
 me, my dear sir. In one minute, if you are so 
 disposed, you can nail them all as lies. 
 
 Denys had at first suspected that the run 
 away himself had taken the " Palladium " 
 into his confidence. But in that case the 
 journalist need not have come to him for con 
 firmation or denial. His quick wit now as 
 sured him that some one whom the editor did 
 not entirely trust had hinted at a sensational 
 escapade. He replied with much earnestness : 
 
 " I should like extremely to know who dis 
 covered this mare's nest." 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 261 
 
 " Convince me that it is a mare's nest and I 
 will tell you with the greatest pleasure." 
 
 Denys laughed. 
 
 "Most certainly not, my dear sir. It is 
 much better business to let the ' Palladium ' go 
 ahead. Wild rumors about operatic stars do 
 them no harm. Print whatever you like, Mr. 
 Mayne." 
 
 " I shall print what I believe to be the truth. 
 It is the business of the 'Palladium' to let 
 daylight into dark corners." 
 
 Denys laughed again. 
 
 " Considering all the free advertising that 
 Monsieur Tolna is about to secure, it would be 
 folly to show him to you lying snugly in his 
 bed. When the news of his disappearance is 
 published I shall be very happy to exhibit him 
 to all authorized inquirers." 
 
 " And make the ' Palladium ' look silly." 
 
 " How the ' Palladium ' may look depends 
 on itself." 
 
 " The ' Palladium,' " said its representative, 
 sententiously, "never flinches in the path of 
 duty." 
 
 "Most interesting," remarked Denys, 
 approvingly. "Is it permitted to inquire 
 if this Munchausen tale of yours is in pro- 
 
262 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 cess of manufacture as a Sunday bonne 
 bouche? 
 
 " In the interests of the unhappy artist, and 
 of the public, we shall publish our investiga 
 tions as soon as we are able to verify them to 
 the utmost of our ability. The ' Palladium ' 
 is nothing if not conservative, Mr. Alden." 
 
 Denys laughed for the third time. "Ah, 
 yes; I thought this meant a Sunday sensa 
 tion," he affirmed. 
 
 Mr. Mayne suffered the mirth with unim 
 paired urbanity. 
 
 " What is the old saw about the best laugh ? " 
 he drawled; then abruptly strode over to the 
 smilax emblem, which Gichera, hastening to 
 leave the two gentlemen alone, had forgotten 
 to take away. Raising the label, he read aloud 
 Denys's name. "A green lyre. What a 
 singularly appropriate tribute!" 
 
 As the door closed after him, Mr. Alden 
 stood knitting his brows, vaguely trying to 
 read a meaning into this idiotic remark, but 
 preoccupied with more serious perplexities. 
 Yesterday, so painfully begun, had moved as 
 miserably on. After Hirt's visit, Denys had 
 betaken himself to the bank where both Mau 
 rice and he kept accounts, and easily made ex 
 cuse to ascertain whether Monsieur Tolna had 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 263 
 
 cashed a check that morning. It was less easy 
 to look unconcerned when he learned that the 
 tenor had, an hour or two earlier, drawn five 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 " I came very near not giving it to him, Mr. 
 Alden," the smiling teller explained. " How 
 different he does look without his wig ! I was 
 so used to seeing him come in here with that 
 mane of hair, and an overcoat all fur and 
 frogs and braid, and a footman to open the 
 door, that when a business young man with 
 cropped hair and a reefer slipped up to the 
 window and said, " Good morning, Mr. 
 White," and went on to tell me how he 'd take 
 the money why, I was all at sea. For one 
 thing, he hardly ever opened his mouth when 
 you came with him, and I had no idea that he 
 spoke such good English. Perfectly wonder 
 ful for a foreigner, is n't it? So little accent. 
 Before I said a word he caught the expression 
 of my eye, and he laughed and said, ' It is my 
 long hair you miss. I 'm disguised as a pri 
 vate citizen to-day. But I '11 do you any 
 number of signatures with all the old flour 
 ishes.' Of course, after I had studied his face 
 I knew it was all right ; but upon my word, if 
 I had passed him in the street, I should n't 
 have recognized him." 
 
264 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 , Mr. Alden faced the humiliating ne 
 cessity of confessing to the Confidential 
 Agent that, unwittingly, he had misrepre 
 sented his case; the theory of kidnapping or 
 foul play yielding to the fact that the missing 
 man had voluntarily disappeared. No evi 
 dence having been adduced in support of this 
 improbable tale, Maurice's note, in English, 
 not being admissible, Mr. Dunning became 
 the more assured that the whole story was an 
 advertising swindle. His manner, thereupon, 
 took on an impertinence which his client did 
 not in the least understand, but which he in 
 tensely resented, ascribing it to the character 
 istic insolence of the American lower classes, 
 and adding one more entry to the already long 
 list of his native land's offenses. 
 
 Night brought him little rest; morning, no 
 fresh hope. In vain had the vigilant Dun 
 ning watched trains and ferries. And, in 
 deed, from the beginning had poor Denys rec 
 ognized the enormous difficulty of detection 
 when there has been no crime. To run down 
 a band of criminals was, he quite understood, 
 simplicity itself compared with the task of 
 finding an inoffensive citizen who, looking, 
 speaking, and acting like the majority of his 
 fellows, does not choose to be found. 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 265 
 
 He well knew how Maurice's difference 
 from the common herd had been cunningly 
 exaggerated by careful eccentricities of dress, 
 custom, and manner; how the boy's good 
 looks, summed up in an admirable figure^ dis 
 tinguished bearing, fine eyes, finished fea 
 tures, and a brilliant smile, had been subli 
 mated by picturesque clothes and picturesque 
 description into aristocratic beauty. A mer 
 cantile Maurice, with cropped hair, ready- 
 made garments, and a derby hat, would not 
 noticeably diverge from the type of muscular 
 young American at the next desk. The five 
 thousand dollars drawn Denys noted that 
 there remained in bank the exact amount of 
 the singer's forfeit if he failed to keep his re 
 maining dates was doubtless the capital 
 which he meant to put into business in some 
 one of the hundreds of prosperous cities in the 
 United States. Like those bark-brown or 
 lichen-green insects that safely hide them 
 selves on stem or leaf, Maurice would be per 
 fectly protected by his indistinguishability 
 f rom^the surrounding mass. 
 
 Before the impertinent advent of Mr. 
 Mayne, Denys had been forced to admit to 
 himself that his secret could not much longer 
 remain secret. But the reporter, it was plain, 
 
266 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 however his clue had been obtained, did not 
 suspect a case of wilful disappearance. It 
 might not yet be too late to recover Maurice 
 before Sunday, or, if the ' Palladium's ' 
 penny-dreadful could not be forestalled, to 
 publish, on Monday, a triumphant refutation 
 thereof, signed by the hero of its gasconading 
 inventions. And even in his growing distress 
 of mind, Denys, ashamed of his capacity to do 
 so, recognized the professional value of the 
 publicity thus thrust upon them both. " By 
 heaven," he groaned aloud, " I believe that I 
 am ready to coin my heart and drop my blood 
 for drachmas, in another sense than Brutus's. 
 And yet I know that I would give everything 
 I possess to get the boy back, if he should 
 never sing another note. Dunning must find 
 him!" 
 
 But so little, after all, did he hope from the 
 detectives, that, sick at heart, he sat down at 
 once to frame an appeal for the " personal " 
 column of the " Herald." 
 
 M. How can you break an agreement? Come 
 back, and nothing further shall be said on the sub 
 ject you dislike. D. 
 
 This labored production finished, he sur- 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 267 
 
 veyed it with contempt. Of course Maurice 
 would not believe it. Maurice knew him too 
 well to suppose that he would ever throw over 
 Margery's happiness. Even now, he felt sure 
 that in one frank talk he could set the matter 
 in the proper light. He had thought of so 
 many compelling arguments. Yet how un 
 fold these arguments, if he could not recall 
 the fugitive? How recall him except by 
 pledges of immunity from the persecution 
 which had driven him forth? Denys tore his 
 appeal into shreds, disgusted alike with its dis 
 honesty and its futility. 
 
 The whirring of the telephone-bell reprieved 
 him. But his hope of a message from Mau 
 rice was checked by the sound of Margery's 
 voice, veiled with anxiety. 
 
 " Is it Mr. Alden? Is Monsieur Tolna bet 
 ter?" 
 
 He seemed to himself to be blushing from 
 head to foot at the meanness of allowing this 
 lovely sympathy to waste itself on a delusion. 
 But he knew that he was caught and held in 
 the meshes of his earlier fabrications. 
 
 " Better, Miss Fanning," he constrained 
 himself to say. " He will see you in a day or 
 two as soon as the doctor permits." 
 
 " Mother and I have been distressed about 
 
268 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 you, Mr. Alden. I told her that your voice 
 sounded anxious and tired." 
 
 Denys's heart jumped. It was much that 
 she thought of him at all. 
 
 " I have been worried," he answered, truly 
 enough. "But really there 's nothing to 
 worry about. Maurice's trouble is more men 
 tal than physical. In a few days " 
 
 " All will be well with him," Margery fin 
 ished softly. She was finding it more difficult 
 than she expected to assume the melting mood 
 over a telephone. After a moment she went 
 on. 
 
 " Mr. Alden, I know that you are my friend 
 as well as his. Will you tell him not from 
 me, of course, but from yourself, or from mo 
 ther that that he must not allow anxiety 
 to make him ill?" 
 
 " I Miss Fanning I can't give that mes 
 sage," Denys stammered, perceiving that if 
 he pretended to report their conversation she 
 would expect Maurice instantly at her door. 
 " I can't help him. He must work out his own 
 salvation." His voice had a bitterness which 
 he could not repress. 
 
 "You you won't " Margery faltered. 
 Her voice changed. Then the sound of a 
 stifled sob came over the wire. 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 269 
 
 He had thought her messages in bad taste, 
 most unlike her, but now compunction smote 
 him. It was he who was in fault, he alone, 
 he assured himself. 
 
 "Margery, dear Margery," he cried out, 
 against a blank wall of silence. The stricken 
 deer had fled. 
 
 Piteously he implored Central for the con 
 nection, this time to be answered by the butler. 
 
 " I will see if Miss Fanning is at 'ome, sir. 
 'Oo shall I say, sir?" 
 
 Presently the same impassive voice spoke 
 again. 
 
 " Miss Fanning regrets, sir, that she does not 
 wish to come to the telephone at present." 
 
 Denys guessed the regret to have been in 
 serted by the courteous Higgins. It hardly 
 fitted the rest of the message. He had 
 wounded and angered the girl for whom he 
 would lay down his life. He snatched up his 
 hat to go to her, then flung it aside again. 
 What could he say? 
 
 Did Napoleon at St. Helena at once accept 
 the life of a country gentleman on an isolated 
 estate, or did his brain balk before the sen 
 tence that for him history was over? Did he 
 for months, for years, against probability, 
 against knowledge, look for his scattered le- 
 
270 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 gions to reunite, to sweep Europe, to set him 
 back on his throne? The mind of that younger 
 Napoleon, Denys Alden, seemed not more 
 capable of grasping the concept of defeat. 
 He had set his will to the scheme of marrying 
 Maurice and Margery till the determination 
 had become an idee fixe. His brain refused 
 to move in any other direction. He could not 
 plan what he would do in case Maurice never 
 surrendered. He could not admit, even to 
 himself, that Maurice would not surrender. 
 
 Time wore miserably on. Even Dunning, 
 slipping in on Saturday morning with a new 
 list of preposterous clues, was startled out of 
 his assurance by the haggard face confront 
 ing him, and became almost persuaded that 
 his employer's incredible tale might prove 
 true. 
 
 In the afternoon, and again at night, 
 Denys's wanderings took him to the Opera- 
 House why, he could not have told. Once 
 there, he skulked in corners to avoid acquaint 
 ances, and listened intently for the sound of 
 the voice which he knew he should not hear. 
 
 Three nights of almost sleepless tossing had 
 been followed by three days of ever growing 
 anxiety. Finally, toward morning on the 
 fourth day of his loss, he dropped into the 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 271 
 
 deep sleep of exhaustion, from which he was 
 roused by a vision of Hirt standing over him, 
 purple-faced and incoherent, brandishing a 
 newspaper in his colleague's face, the porten 
 tous figure taking shape, at first, only as the 
 figment of a feverish dream. 
 
 "Read that!" Hirt gasped, thrusting half 
 a page of head-lines under Denys's startled 
 eyes. 
 
 KIDNAPPED? 
 
 Hungarian Nightingale Disappears. 
 
 TOLNA LURED FROM OPERA-HOUSE. 
 
 One of those strange happenings in real life which 
 put to the blush the most dramatic of fictionists 
 transpired in our midst on Wednesday night, behind 
 the scenes of the Metropolitan Opera-House. Mon 
 sieur Tolna (who, last December, won the first prize 
 of an automobile in the " Palladium's " voting con 
 test for stage favorites) was in his dressing-room at 
 the close of the performance of " Faust," when his 
 call-boy brought him a note. The boy, Johnny 
 Geogahan, who resides with his parents at 5011 
 Tenth Avenue, states that the note was handed to him 
 at the stage door by a shabby-looking stranger, a 
 small dark man of foreign appearance, smooth- 
 shaven, about forty-five years old, who seemed very 
 nervous and excited. As he handed over the letter 
 the boy noticed that the middle finger was missing 
 
272 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 from his right hand. Upon reading it, Monsieur 
 Tolna seized his hat and, without even waiting to put 
 on the sable-lined overcoat he invariably wears, 
 rushed out into the street and disappeared across 
 Seventh Avenue. Besides the boy, the only other 
 person in his dressing-room was his French valet, 
 Fran9ois Fournier. Fournier started after his mas 
 ter, followed by the boy. At Seventh Avenue the two 
 men were swallowed up in the block of carriages. 
 Johnny Geogahan, losing the trail, returned to the 
 Opera-House to find Mr. Denys Alden, Tolna's man 
 ager, explaining to a group about the door that he 
 could not explain Tolna's action. Mr. Alden does 
 not seem to have made any attempt to follow him. 
 Soon after, he went away with friends in his automo 
 bile. About this time the valet, Fournier, came back, 
 stating that he had lost sight of Tolna. He also 
 stated that he had been discharged. 
 
 On Friday afternoon, at 199 East Thirty-fifth 
 Street, where Tolna lives with Manager Alden, the 
 Japanese butler stated that Monsieur Tolna did not 
 return home on Wednesday night, and had not yet 
 done so. Mr. Alden denied the butler's information, 
 stating that the missing gentleman was up-stairs in 
 bed, suffering from nervous prostration. He re 
 fused, however, to allow the " Palladium's " repre 
 sentative to go up, nor would he give the name of 
 the physician in attendance, although emphatically 
 stating that Tolna was under medical care. No 
 physician entered the house during the evening or 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 273 
 
 yesterday, but about ten o'clock on Saturday James 
 L. Dunning, of Private Inquiry Office fame, was in 
 the house for half an hour. He refused to state the 
 nature of his business, but when asked whether he 
 was employed to take Monsieur Tolna's temperature, 
 admitted that he was not. 
 
 Many theories have been advanced to account for 
 Monsieur Tolna's disappearance. As he spoke no 
 English; lived the life of a hermit; had, as far as 
 can be ascertained, no acquaintance in New York, a 
 motive for intentional disappearance is far to seek. 
 If the inevitable woman figures in the case, so far she 
 has not betrayed herself. The discharged valet may 
 thirst for revenge. Monsieur Tolna's ignorance of 
 the English language may make him an easy victim 
 to kidnappers who hold the golden-voiced songster 
 for ransom. But it is believed that the mystery is 
 even deeper, the plot more far-reaching. No one is 
 more obnoxious to the crafty old man on the totter 
 ing throne of Austro-Hungary than the fervid and 
 patriotic friend of Liberty, Maurus Tolna. The 
 Austrian Secret Service has a long arm. Was the 
 man with the missing finger an emissary of Francis 
 Joseph's hate? Has the blood of the Hungarian 
 Nightingale swelled the dark river of burnt-offerings 
 to a tyrant's pride ? " 
 
 Denys hardly knew whether to be most as 
 tonished, most angry, or most amused. In 
 
 18 
 
274 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 his wildest imaginations he had not antici 
 pated such a farrago as this. 
 
 : ' What amazing nonsense!" he exclaimed. 
 " First I have made way with Maurice. 
 Then Franois is nodded at. Then the Aus 
 trian secret service has done it. Am I what 
 is it 'an emissary of the Emperor's hate?' 
 Pshaw! my dear fellow, only a congenital 
 idiot would pay the slightest attention to such 
 rubbish." 
 
 "I shall bring that lying pig here to see 
 Tolna with his own eyes. And first I shall 
 see him myself!" 
 
 "But the doctor says" 
 
 " Damn the doctor! I go to Tolna now." 
 
 " I wish you could, Hirt. He isn't here. 
 He did bolt, Wednesday night." 
 
 Hirt's ruddy face turned purple. He 
 slapped the paper with a shaking hand. 
 
 "Then this this " 
 
 "Not that idiocy about a three-fingered 
 foreigner. But he did slip out of the Opera 
 House without my knowledge, and I have n't 
 seen him since. I have put the best private 
 detective in New York on the case." 
 
 "My God! Foul play?" 
 
 " No," Denys answered shortly. Out of 
 bed by this time, he took Maurice's note from 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 275 
 
 his waistcoat pocket and handed it to Hirt, re 
 joicing for once in the luxury of frankness. 
 
 "So! You two had quarreled?" 
 
 "About a private matter." 
 
 "When?" 
 
 " The day before he last sang." 
 
 Every vestige of Hirt's anxiety melted into 
 satisfaction. He saw nothing in the message 
 to make him doubt Maurice's return. 
 
 " Did you speak with Tolna after the opera, 
 Wednesday?" he asked. 
 
 " I did not even see him." 
 
 Hirt's eyes, still downcast on the paper, 
 twinkled. If the quarrel antedated Mau 
 rice's pledge to sing on Monday evening, and 
 therefore could not upset that, Hirt looked on 
 it as an unmixed boon. He had always heart 
 ily objected to the unusual arrangement of 
 dealing with his star through an intermediary, 
 had always disliked the continual presence be 
 hind the scenes of an interloper still worse, 
 a most accomplished and highly critical inter 
 loper not under his own sway. He had 
 begged Maurice to remember that he was 
 neither a prize-fighter nor a hotel, that he 
 should need a manager ; but the singer's placid 
 refusal to sign any contract that did not 
 specifically allow him Mr. Alden had con- 
 
276 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 quered opposition. A quarrel between the in 
 separables was therefore good hearing to 
 Hirt. 
 
 Too absorbed in his own difficulties to no 
 tice Hirt's recovered placidity, Denys ex 
 plained the situation. 
 
 " He has run away in a fit of petulance, of 
 pique. Nobody knows better than you, Hirt, 
 the vagaries of the temperament, the lunacies 
 that we who live with geniuses must wink at, 
 for the sake of the genius. I am leaving no 
 thing undone to find him, but it must be done 
 privately. You see how necessary it is to keep 
 this freak from public knowledge. Oh, I 
 shall bring him back." In answer to a cer 
 tain blankness in Hirt's face, his voice rose 
 sharply. " Hirt, you don't believe that I am 
 doing everything possible? Think how much 
 you have at stake your season ruined with 
 out him, your reputation injured, your re 
 sources impaired. Then know that his disap 
 pearance means ten times more to me." 
 
 His eager speech was rounded off by the 
 jangle of the telephone-bell, modernity's 
 punctuation to passion. Collecting himself 
 with an effort to answer the call" Central, 
 for you, Hirt," he reported, and retreated to 
 the register, where he stood shaking partly 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 277 
 
 with cold from the open window, partly with 
 the intensity of his anxiety. Presently be 
 coming aware of the icy draft, he closed the 
 sash, got into his wadded dressing-gown, and 
 summoned Gichera. Hirt's messages did not 
 concern him. Nothing concerned him but the 
 effect of this new fable on Margery. 
 
 "Is this Mr. Hirt?" a girl inquired; then, 
 after a moment's pause, came a laughing 
 masculine voice: "Is this Herr Hirt? I 
 tried to call you up at the Fortieth-street shop, 
 knowing your Sunday habits ; but your secre 
 tary said that you were round at our place. I 
 made the hello girl ask for you because I don't 
 want Alden to get his talons on my holiday. 
 Hirt, I thought you might possibly be upset 
 by that * Palladium' lunacy. And Alden 
 can't tell you where I am because he does n't 
 know. I 'm staying at the Savoy, under my 
 own name nobody on my trail, meals in my 
 own room, hours of my own making care 
 free, lazy, and generally all right. I was 
 never in better voice in my life. I '11 sing you 
 the nightingales off their rose-bushes to-mor 
 row night. But don't you give me away, 
 Hirt ! I could n't get such a rest if the friend 
 of my soul knew my street and number." 
 " I have told you many times that you would 
 
278 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 do better alone many times," Hirt answered 
 solemnly. The voice laughed and cried, " To 
 morrow!" and Hirt heard the click of a re 
 ceiver hung up. 
 
 He turned from the instrument to Alden 
 shivering over the newly-lighted fire; noted 
 the black rings around the eyes, the sharp 
 movements, the bitten finger-nails. But he 
 viewed this picture of misery with an appre 
 ciation untinged with pity. At last his mo 
 ment had come to triumph over the Favorite, 
 to say, " Yes, you are Monsieur Tolna's alter 
 ego, his indispensable manager ; but while you 
 are frightening yourself sick over his disap 
 pearance, behold me, the humble Hirt, all the 
 while in his secrets ! " His mouth was open to 
 utter the derisive words when he shut it with 
 decision. After all, like the Mikado, he found 
 that he preferred something humorous and 
 lingering. "I go to the police," he said sim 
 ply, and withdrew with the ponderous dignity 
 of one of his own Nibelungen gods. 
 
 Had Denys had his wits about him, he 
 might have wondered at the sudden cessation 
 of Hirt's ravings, but his mind seemed to take 
 no cognizance of Hirt. As he dressed me 
 chanically, his whole being was listening for 
 the next ring of the telephone. Last time it 
 
FURTHER TRIBULATIONS 279 
 
 had not brought his death-warrant. This 
 time it must do so. 
 
 The day passed, however, much as yester 
 day had done. More false clues were brought 
 to him to be re j ected. He went out and came 
 in almost aimlessly. It was nearly dark when 
 the belated summons rang, and he took down 
 the receiver, half praying for a new reprieve, 
 half -hoping for the voice he dreaded, that at 
 least the strain of waiting might be over. 
 
 It was, indeed, Margery. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Alden, we have been out of town 
 to-day. We have just heard. Of course you 
 have seen the paper? " 
 
 ' Yes, Miss Fanning; but I am glad to tell 
 you that there is n't a word of truth in it." 
 
 "He is n't gone away? Oh, Mr. Alden, I 
 shall ask mother to bring me down." 
 
 "But the doctor's orders " Denys bog 
 gled miserably. 
 
 " I won't speak to him. I don't wish to see 
 him. But don't you understand that we must 
 have an explanation with you? You have let 
 the whole day go by. It seems not to have 
 occurred to you that I might feel some con 
 cern about this story might even suffer " 
 
 He knew very well what he suffered him 
 self. To face her frank preference for Mau- 
 
280 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 rice was pleasure in comparison to facing her 
 discovery of his own deceit. 
 
 " Not that we doubt your word," Margery 
 went on. " But for four days mother and I 
 have expected him in vain. Mr. Alden, 
 either there is something dreadfully wrong 
 about this matter, or " 
 
 The alternative was lost in silence. Futile 
 plans dazzled upon Denys's vision like the 
 tangled fancies of delirium excuses to keep 
 her away; half-truths to account for the 
 tenor's absence; changing possibilities which 
 danced like will-o'-the-wisps before his fe 
 vered brain, leaving him helpless to grasp at 
 any. 
 
 "Mr. Alden," the girl's voice repeated, 
 "shall we come?" 
 
 'Yes, come no, you I I mean The 
 doctor says to-morrow I I" His words 
 broke off in stammerings. Tossing back his 
 hair in the old familiar gesture, he felt his 
 forehead damp. A moment he stood there, 
 feeling utterly befogged, helpless, powerless 
 to think. Then, with a new note in his voice, 
 he spoke into the receiver. 
 
 " Miss Fanning, wait. Don't go out. I am 
 coming immediately to see you." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 
 
 NOW my notion for our own sitting-room 
 would be something cheerful and cozy," 
 Willie Smith pronounced. "What 's your 
 idea, Honor? " 
 
 " I am too tired to have any ideas," the 
 girl answered, emphasizing her indifference 
 by retreating to the window-seat at the far end 
 of the room. 
 
 His fiancee and her mother had lunched 
 with Mr. Smith at Sherry's, to the interest of 
 the whole dining-room and the consequent 
 satisfaction of Willoughby. Afterward they 
 had spent three weary hours tramping up and 
 down the echoing rooms of the new palace, 
 where Mrs. Hammond proved herself as inde 
 fatigable as admirable. An inborn genius 
 for decorative art, trained by life with an 
 architect, gave her a genuine predilection 
 among many assumed ones. It was her great 
 est pleasure to advise the arrangement of any- 
 
 281 
 
282 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 body's house. When the house was a mansion 
 for her daughter, pleasure became rapture. 
 Willoughby Smith's artistic theories were the 
 despair of his architects. Mrs. Hammond 
 could have given these exasperated gentlemen 
 a lesson in diplomacy. 
 
 Honor had not her mother's enthusiasm for 
 color-schemes. Indeed, she was singularly 
 free from enthusiasms of any sort. Yet she 
 had expected to enjoy planning the rooms 
 that were to be hers. Unaccountably, she had 
 not enjoyed it. An hour ago she had reached 
 the stage of boredom where she ceased to 
 speak unless directly questioned, and now she 
 could not even answer with civility. She won 
 dered, as she remembered the Rembrandts in 
 the library, the ruby on her finger, what was 
 the matter with her. Her emotions seemed 
 to have been frost-bitten in her childhood. 
 
 The mother's smile covered the daughter's 
 rudeness. 
 
 " Poor girl, she is worn out. She is n't used 
 to thirteen reception-rooms. As for me, I 
 could never feel fatigue of body or mind while 
 I am planning a nest for my child my two 
 dear children. And then it 's an inspiration 
 to work with you, Willoughby. So stimulat 
 ing!" 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 283 
 
 If difficulties stimulate, she was quite sin 
 cere, and certainly Willoughby was gratified. 
 
 " For a fellow who 's never given the sub 
 ject any study, I think I have a good many 
 striking ideas." 
 
 " Indeed, yes," the lady agreed, again with 
 perfect sincerity. 
 
 " Now for this room, you see, Mrs. Ham 
 mond. Down-stairs, you know, that subdued 
 coloring, sort of classic thingumbob, is all 
 right; but this room ought to be different." 
 
 " Such quick perception of fundamental 
 principles ! " Mrs. Hammond called the walls 
 to witness. " Of course the formal style of 
 your public rooms would not express the spirit 
 of this intimate resting-place, this casket of 
 domestic sanctities." 
 
 Honor moved uneasily, as if she found 
 the window-seat hard. 
 
 " Rugs are all right down-stairs ; of course 
 they 're the correct thing. But I hate 'em, 
 Mrs. Hammond ; scrappy things, always slid 
 ing round. And I don't admire Oriental 
 patterns, really. Up here I 'm going to have 
 a handsome pile carpet. My mother 's got one 
 in her parlor that 's about the slickest thing. 
 Specially woven for her, with baskets of 
 flowers on it, and no two alike. You could 
 
284 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 put in a whole morning examining the differ 
 ent kinds of flowers in that pattern." 
 
 " How very ingenious! And was that one 
 of your own ideas, Willoughby? It sounds 
 so like you. I must see your mother's carpet 
 when I return her visit. But it will take some 
 months to weave one, won't it? Meantime 
 there 's that superb Chinese rug you wanted 
 a place for that pale brown and white one. 
 Now with walls in white, paneled with warm 
 yellow, and those white crackle-ware jars" 
 
 " The white paint's all right, Mrs. Ham 
 mond. I 'm with you there. But I 'm going 
 to have a red paper one of those heavy 
 flocks. I always did like white paint and red 
 paper, and since we decided on tapestry for 
 the dining-room " 
 
 " I believe you are right! " cried Mrs. 
 Hammond, admiringly. " My scheme, all 
 pale browns and yellows and creams, might 
 be monotonous; not enough contrast in the 
 background to set off the white jars. Instead 
 of paneling the walls with yellow, we '11 have, 
 as you suggest, the palest Indian red " 
 
 ' Willoughby means buggy- wheel red," 
 Honor struck in. " I think that in just one 
 of the rooms of his own house he might be 
 allowed something he likes." 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 285 
 
 " I am not aware that I am having any 
 thing I don't like." Willoughby turned on 
 his defender. " It is not very easy, let me tell 
 you, to palm off on me anybody else's tastes. 
 Ask Burks. I am quite as up-to-date as you 
 or your mother, Honor, and the shade of red 
 she mentioned is the very one I had in mind." 
 
 Mrs. Hammond laughed. 
 
 " My dear Willoughby, you and I agree 
 much better than Honor and I. I believe she 
 is trying to make you put forward her own 
 barbaric fancy for gaudy wall-papers." 
 
 Soothed by this caressing speech, Wil 
 loughby could be magnanimous enough to 
 forgive Honor's championship. He turned 
 toward her. 
 
 " Would you like a maroon paper, Honor? 
 Then you 've only to say so. I '11 be glad to 
 have it, though it is n't exactly " 
 
 " Anything you decide on will please me, 
 Willoughby," the girl said, with a weariness 
 of voice that robbed the words of gracious- 
 ness. 
 
 Hurt in his pride of ownership, he marched 
 over to her corner. 
 
 " I can't say that you seem to take much 
 interest in your own house, Honor." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I do; only I 'm tired out." 
 
286 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Your mother 's as fresh as paint. Well, 
 we won't be much longer now. Then we 're 
 going round to Munford's to look over his 
 porcelains. He said he 'd let us in to-day 
 sort of private view just for us three, you 
 see. The sale begins to-morrow, and your 
 mother says there '11 be things there that I 
 can't afford to miss." 
 
 Not entirely mollified by her plea of 
 fatigue, he left Honor alone in her window, to 
 combat Mrs. Hammond on the choice of por 
 tieres. The girl was tired, bored, sulky. Ex 
 istence had become unprofitable. The past 
 was a slavery, the present a weariness, the 
 future a desert. 
 
 And then of a sudden the wilderness blos 
 somed. She was happy in her beauty; in her 
 pretty clothes; delighted to be in that place; 
 entertained by the comedy before her; glad 
 that she was alive. The world had become 
 illuminated by Bim's smile. 
 
 The footman announcing, " Mr. Ford- 
 ham," Maurice stood a moment on the thresh 
 old, waiting for his host to turn to him, 
 without either perceiving Honor or recogniz 
 ing her mother. 
 
 " Mr. Smith, I am afraid I interrupt you," 
 he" 1 said presently. 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 287 
 
 " I did tell you four forty-five, did n't I? 
 That 's a fact," Willoughby answered, coming 
 hospitably forward. " You see, I thought 
 I 'd be free by that time, but we Ve been ever 
 since lunch going over this house. Takes time 
 when you 're particular about having every 
 little detail O. K. Mr. Fordham, let me make 
 you acquainted with Mrs. Hammond, my 
 future mother-in-law." 
 
 Honor instantly wished that she had told 
 her mother of seeing Bim, wondering what 
 self -consciousness had tied her tongue. Now 
 she must either explain at an awkward mo 
 ment, or hypocritically go through with an 
 introduction. 
 
 " I wish I dared think that Mrs. Hammond 
 remembered me," Maurice was saying, with 
 his most winning grace. " A dozen years ago, 
 a gawky boy who was always infesting your 
 premises and staying to supper? After we 
 had lost it, you bought the house that used to 
 be ours. Now I 'm trying to persuade your 
 husband and Mr. Smith to let me buy it back 
 instead of putting up a skyscraper on the 
 lot." 
 
 Mrs. Hammond did remember Morris 
 Fordham, and so cordially that she called 
 Honor from her corner to remember him, too. 
 
288 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 The girl came, with her most stonily indiffer 
 ent air. 
 
 " Yes, I remember Mr. Fordham," she 
 said, scarcely looking in his direction as she 
 gave him her hand. " I saw him when he came 
 the other day to look at the house." 
 
 " Morris came to the house, Honor? Why 
 in the world did n't you tell me? " 
 
 " I don't know," Honor answered truth 
 fully, the colorless tone of the few cold words 
 giving to perfection the impression that Mr. 
 Fordham's existence was too unimportant to 
 be remembered out of his presence. It was a 
 type of what people called " that Hammond 
 girl's insolence." Willoughby admired it ; he 
 thought it high-bred. 
 
 While Mrs. Hammond made up for her 
 daughter's discourtesy with profuse expres 
 sions of her former regard for Mr. Fordham's 
 father and mother, and her pleasure in seeing 
 the son again, Miss Hammond stood studying 
 the pattern of the carved mantel; but no 
 sooner had Mr. Smith taken his visitor out of 
 the room for a moment's business discussion, 
 than the girl wheeled around abruptly. 
 
 " Mother, I can't go to Munford's. I for 
 got an engagement for tea at Margery Fan- 
 ning's. I shall be late as it is." 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 289 
 
 " Dear, you can't walk alone at this hour. 
 Willoughby ' s brougham ' ' 
 
 " No. I won't use his brougham. I want 
 the air. I am going to walk." Sweeping by 
 her mother, she dashed down the stairs and out 
 into the dark street. 
 
 Under the forced coldness of her bearing, 
 for the last few minutes her whole being had 
 been in turmoil, ever since her flashing re 
 alization that to her, Willoughby Smith's 
 fiancee, the appearance of Morris Fordham 
 was the one interesting moment of the day. 
 Since that discovery, she had scarcely known 
 what she did or said. All her powers were 
 concentrated on the act of speaking clearly, 
 when merely to draw breath seemed to stifle 
 her. 
 
 Blindly she hurried on, as if running away 
 from a bodily peril. It was cold, and the 
 upper reaches of Fifth Avenue were almost 
 deserted. Across the way, the melted snow 
 had left the park a black blot bounded by 
 the twinkling street-lamps. Though she had 
 never in her life walked alone after dark, she 
 was too wrapt in her own thoughts to feel any 
 timidity. Indeed, it was not until rapid exer 
 cise, heating her body, had somewhat cooled 
 her mind, that she noticed foot-falls close 
 
 19 
 
290 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 behind her. She slackened her pace and the 
 following footsteps paused. She went on 
 again swiftly, and the footsteps hastened. 
 Safely round the Fannings' corner, she 
 turned, rather scared under a haughty bear 
 ing, to confront Maurice. 
 
 'You!" she cried, surprise swallowed in 
 anger at the fright he had given her. 
 
 "I saw you not far in front of me, a few 
 blocks up the Avenue, and I followed you be 
 cause I didn't like to have you out alone after 
 dark. I 'm very sorry that I startled you. " 
 
 4 You did not startle me at all," Honor said 
 grandly. " But it is a very disagreeable sen 
 sation to be dogged. Why did n't you over 
 take me?" 
 
 " I did n't feel encouraged to, Miss Ham 
 mond, after your reception of me." 
 
 " I never meant to be rude to you, Bim," 
 Honor lamented. Why her manner had been 
 frozen she could not explain. She could only 
 protest: " Why, Bim, how could you think I 
 could be rude to you? If I was cross, it was be 
 cause I have had such a tiresome afternoon. 
 Somehow, that house calls out all the worst of 
 me. Indeed, Morris, you only came in for the 
 very edge of my temper. I've been snapping 
 Mr. Smith's head off ever since luncheon." 
 
 " When I came in, you were making studies 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 291 
 
 of the most offensive way to express rampant 
 boredom." 
 
 " ' That sulky Hammond girl,' your friend 
 would have called me." 
 
 " With justice." 
 
 " Oh, Bim! I thought you were the one 
 person who liked me." 
 
 " That 's why I don't like to see you mis 
 behave. If you 're going to marry Smith, 
 you might as well be decent about it." 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " I suppose you are happy, or you would n't 
 do it. But you certainly are n't pleasant. If 
 he 's giving millions, it 's only common fair 
 ness that he should get something in exchange 
 at least a smile." 
 
 " He gets my ' fame as a beauty,' as he puts 
 it. That 's what he is buying with his mil 
 lions. If. he had wanted amiability he would 
 never have looked twice at me." 
 
 " I yield to your superior logic. Honor, I 
 don't know how you stand my butting-in. If 
 you had n't the temper of an angel, you 
 would n't." 
 
 She laughed happily. 
 
 " I love your logic, Bim. But of course 
 you can say anything you like to me. That 's 
 what chums are for." 
 
 " I wonder if I can! " he exclaimed. 
 
292 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Not now, of course, because here we are 
 at Mrs. Farming's, and I am going in for tea. 
 But to-morrow, if you choose." 
 
 " I think I '11 go in, too. Miss Fanning 
 said that this was the hour to find her disen 
 gaged, as a rule. Then I might take you 
 home, if you don't object." 
 
 " But Tolna, who does n't speak English, 
 and had almost forgotten the Hammonds, and 
 does n't go out to tea, what shall we do with 
 him? What would Miss Fanning think? " 
 
 " Oh, did n't I mention it? I told her the 
 other day that I was twins. I had to, for rea 
 sons. You two are the only ones that share my 
 guilty secret. It 's all right. May I ring?" 
 
 A swift suspicion crossed Honor's mind. 
 She hesitated, glanced at a passing hansom, 
 glanced at Maurice, whose smile was that of 
 an innocent schoolboy, and nodded permis 
 sion. 
 
 As they were shown into the long drawing- 
 room on the right of the hall, Margery, radi 
 ant with pleasure, came forward to welcome 
 them. 
 
 " Oh, this is better than good," she ex 
 claimed in French. "Miss Hammond was 
 so kind as to say that she would come. But 
 you, Monsieur " 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 293 
 
 "Fordham," laughed Maurice; "and may 
 it be English, Miss Fanning? I did n't hap 
 pen to mention my old friends the Ham 
 monds, I think, when I came to make my 
 courtesy call the other day? I did recall my 
 self to Mrs. Hammond at your party, but I 
 saw that she did n't know me from the 
 postman. When I found a chance to introduce 
 Morris Fordham to her this afternoon, she 
 was so polite as to remember him and forget 
 his early misdemeanors. So, as I met Miss 
 Hammond just now, almost on your doorstep, 
 I ventured to ask her to chaperon me. It 's 
 the first time I 've ever been out to tea, though 
 you might n't think it at my age." 
 
 " Then it must n't be the last," Margery 
 smiled. " We are going into the little draw 
 ing-room, please, where the kettle boils." 
 
 Honor was reassured. Evidently there had 
 been no plot to bring her there with Morry. 
 Margery's gaiety, Bim's presence, the charm 
 ing room, the light- winged talk under these 
 bright influences she glowed and softened like 
 any other girl. 
 
 As Margery was pouring his second cup 
 for Maurice, a card was brought to her. 
 
 " The library, Higgins," she directed, as she 
 rose. " I am so sorry, Miss Hammond, bui 
 
294 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 it is an appointment. Please wait, won't you, 
 till I come back? Then I shall have an excuse 
 to say that I am particularly engaged. Your 
 cup, Mr. Fordham." 
 
 With the cup, she held out to him, as if 
 inadvertently, the visitor's card, which bore 
 the name of Mr. Denys Alden. 
 
 Maurice almost whistled. 
 
 " Oh, may I ask one question before you go, 
 Miss Fanning? If you had been your own 
 grandmother, say in the 'fifties, good old 
 Dred Scott days, would you have given up 
 any poor fugitive from service or labor to his 
 infuriated owner? " 
 
 " Never," laughed Margery. " The trem 
 bling refugee would have been safe under my 
 roof." 
 
 Across the hall the library door closed 
 behind her. 
 
 Honor looked puzzled. 
 
 " What an extraordinary thing to say, 
 Morry! " She rebuked his manners with the 
 air of one whom long affection justified. 
 " Why should you care? You could n't have 
 known old Mrs. Burnham?" 
 
 " No. That is why I had to ask. At the 
 moment I was deeply interested in the work- 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 295 
 
 ings of heredity. Never inind, Honor, I am 
 still more deeply interested in you." 
 
 " Oh, that reminds me. What was it you 
 wished to tell me, Bim? " 
 
 He had risen and was standing by the fire, 
 looking down at her. 
 
 " I thought you would like to know, Honor. 
 Smith has agreed to waive his claim alto 
 gether, and let me bid for the house. It was 
 handsome of him. He 's a pleasant fellow to 
 do business with, square and obliging." 
 
 " Oh, then I know that father won't stand 
 in your way. He said that you had the first 
 claim, when Willoughby spoke to him about 
 it. I 'm so glad that you can get it. Will 
 you live there, Bim, during opera seasons? 
 Shall you sing here next year? " 
 
 " No, nor ever again," he answered, his 
 heart jumping as her face fell. " I shall live 
 in it all the year round, if your father will 
 consent to sell it. I am going to leave the 
 stage and go into business." 
 
 "Bim! Why?" 
 
 " I don't like my job." 
 
 She offered no comment till he demanded 
 one. " Well, Honor? " 
 
 " Oh, but what a pity to give up your 
 
296 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 career, your fame, for a commonplace com 
 mercial life! " 
 
 "Do you think so?" 
 
 " Won't every one think so? " 
 
 He went on, hardly so much answering her 
 as thinking aloud. 
 
 " It seems strange to me that more people 
 don't see it as I do. Denys, now. His mind 
 does n't so much reason about things as illumi 
 nate them. He 's really inspired at times. 
 It 's startling. And yet this public life, that 
 to me is so tawdry, so empty, so childish 
 why, it satisfies his aspirations, that are ten 
 times higher than mine. Queer go, is n't it? " 
 
 " Morry, when we recited Schiller at the 
 convent, I remember learning, ' To the artist 
 is entrusted the dignity of man.' I did n't 
 know what it meant then, but I suppose that 
 is what Mr. Alden feels." 
 
 "No doubt, but it takes a great artist to 
 keep 'his head on the stage, Honor. Of 
 course, in all careers where celebrity is the 
 prize, swelled head is the penalty. But paint 
 ing and writing and composing you can do 
 by yourself in a corner, and there 's a good 
 chance that, at least while you 're working, 
 you will think more of the work itself than of 
 the kudos it 's going to bring you. Actors 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 297 
 
 have to think of their audiences every second 
 of their professional life. It would be won 
 derful if they did n't do it every second of 
 their private life, too. No other class hangs 
 so on newspaper praise; no class is so self- 
 conscious, so uneasy, so little happy." 
 
 ' That is n't the popular idea of the life of 
 a public darling. I should say that no class 
 was so envied." 
 
 " Oh, they have their great moments even 
 I admit that. But I think it the most pathetic 
 life in the world. Not alone the failures, 
 who break your heart, but the successes. 
 They are eaten up with jealousy; with dread 
 of slights from managers, or critics, or public ; 
 with fear of that somebody who, next week or 
 next year, will send them to sit with the ' has- 
 beens.' They're just weathercocks turned 
 by the breath of the public. If the breath 
 stops, they stop. I don't know whether 
 you would say Denys would that the 
 great moments are worth the price. Not to 
 
 me." 
 
 " Don't you think that an actor could face 
 the public and the newspapers, and remain 
 unspoiled? " 
 
 " Yes, if he were a great artist and a great 
 
 man." 
 
298 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 She tried to shake off the seriousness with 
 which she had put the question. 
 
 "But you are fleeing from temptation?" 
 she smiled. 
 
 " No, I 'm fleeing from absence of tempta 
 tion. I never was even enough of an artist 
 to incur an artist's dangers. I could stay on 
 the stage for fifty years and never get the big 
 head, because all the fuss that the others care 
 so much for seems to me beneath contempt." 
 
 "You don't call that attitude the big 
 head? " 
 
 He laughed. " Oh, because I said that 
 only a great man could escape from the life 
 unspoiled? But if a man receives praise tre 
 mendously above his deserts, he must conclude 
 either that he is a paragon or that the public 
 
 is an ass." 
 
 Following her own thoughts, she asked, 
 after a pause : 
 
 ' Who do you think is happy? " 
 
 Her tone seemed to expect the answer, " No 
 one," but he said promptly: 
 
 " Anybody who has got an aim that he 
 believes to be just. It does n't much matter 
 whether it is trying to save the world or to 
 buy shoes for your children." 
 
 ' That sounds simple." 
 
 " You must n't misunderstand me, Honor. 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 299 
 
 I 'm not posing as a model of the manly vir 
 tues. I have n't been unhappy on the stage, 
 though the life exasperates me. I had my 
 aim. I wanted to pay Denys. He supported 
 me, and educated me, and smothered me in 
 benefits, from the time I was fourteen. If he 
 had n't, I must have gone to work sweeping 
 out an office. It might have been just as well 
 for me if I had begun with an honest broom, 
 but the dear fellow thought that he was saving 
 me from perdition. He could n't have done 
 more for his own brother. I was bound to 
 give him not only his money back, that was 
 the least part of it, but a run for his money. 
 He has had five years of fun as a star's mana 
 ger, which was just what he liked. Now I 
 think that I have earned the right to do some 
 thing I like." 
 
 " How odd that you never have felt any of 
 the fascination of the footlights!" 
 
 " Oh, I won't put on airs. I confess that I 
 liked making a stir the bouquets and the 
 head-lines. It was all right for its little day. 
 So was rolling a hoop. But I 'd as lief trun 
 dle a hoop, to-day, as spend my life on the 
 stage." 
 
 " I have heard it said that actors are always 
 children." 
 
 " They are not children, for children grow 
 
300 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 up to be men and women. Stage folks are al 
 ways copying human beings, pretending to 
 be human beings. All that human beings 
 are, without knowing it, actors know that they 
 are, without being it. They have acquired 
 every attribute of men and women, except be 
 ing men and women. Honor, they 're the 
 Missing Link." 
 
 She was heeding her own thoughts more 
 than his words. 
 
 " Oh, it 's easy for you to give up your ca 
 reer. You are a man." 
 
 "Easy? Defying Denys?" He laughed. 
 "I 'd rather face the wrath of kings, the 
 fagot, and the sword." 
 
 " No, I don't suppose that it is easy for you, 
 either," she reflected. "It is a good deal to 
 give up, even if you know that it is n't the best 
 in life the applause and the head-lines, the 
 being Somebody. You may be perfectly sure 
 that something else is better, and yet it takes 
 courage to let go what one has got. And I 
 think it takes more courage to get out of a sit 
 uation that all the world is persuaded you 
 ought to be in. It is awfully hard to go 
 against everybody." 
 
 For a moment she sat thinking. Maurice, 
 admiring the ripples of her hair, the beauty of 
 
MR. SMITH'S FIANCEE 301 
 
 her pose, felt no desire to interrupt her pre 
 occupation. Presently she broke out sharply: 
 
 " I am one of your imitation persons. I 'm 
 not real. I never do anything because I think 
 it is worth while. Everything I do and am 
 is according to somebody's else wishes or 
 views or standards. There" is no real me." 
 
 " But there is." 
 
 "Yes, that skulks and sulks!" 
 
 Maurice laughed and stepped toward her. 
 As he moved she caught a glimpse of the clock 
 behind him. 
 
 " Morry Fordham," she cried, " it is after 
 six, and I dine out at seven. I can't wait for 
 Miss Fanning. Will you ring and ask the 
 butler to call a hansom, this minute? I will 
 leave a message for her. Or you can stay and 
 explain." 
 
 " Stay here, without you to protect me? 
 Not I ! When we go out, will you kindly keep 
 on my right hand, so that if the library door 
 should suddenly open Honor, I wish we 
 had fern-seed in our shoes to walk invisible. 
 Now, then, we '11 take a long breath and start. 
 Not a whisper, mind you, not a foot-fall, till 
 Higgins shuts the door on us." 
 
 As he put her in tfie waiting han 
 som, Maurice glanced back at the library 
 
302 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 window, where a man's shadow fell on 
 the blind. 
 
 "Do you happen to remember," he asked 
 her, "our being taken, as youngsters, to see 
 ' Box and Cox.' Exit Box, enter Cox ? It 
 was a rattling good play. I can laugh now 
 at the joke of it."- 
 
 "Morry Fordham," she remonstrated, 
 " you are just as feather-brained, to-night, as 
 you were when you were fourteen. What 
 made you think of ' Box and Cox ' now? " 
 
 14 What, indeed?" he answered, adding un 
 der his breath: "Devilish close shave, that! 
 Ta-ta, Denny, my boy!" 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A CONTEST 
 
 IN the Farmings' library a single lamp 
 burned under a pale-green shade. The 
 dim twilight seemed portentous. There 
 might have been a death in the house, thought 
 Denys. When Margery came in, with his 
 card crumpled in her hand, her dress struck 
 him as darker and severer than her wont, 
 while her face looked pallid in the gloom. 
 Near the door, silent, she stood waiting for 
 him to address her. 
 
 Though his resolve had brought him im 
 mense relief, yet the moment of confession 
 was none the less awful. His heart beat so 
 that he could not speak. At last she said in a 
 tremulous voice: 
 
 * You have come to explain to me." 
 ' Yes," he answered heavily. " Yes." 
 She advanced a little, clenching her slender 
 hands. 
 
 303 
 
304 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "It is something terrible," she breathed; 
 "something overwhelming ! " 
 
 Tense, expectant, she seemed to fall upon 
 the seat of a comfortless Italian chair. 
 
 " It is something you could n't guess, some 
 thing I don't know how to tell you." Denys 
 fought for an instant's respite. 
 
 " I have guessed that it is tragedy," the girl 
 said, still in the same restrained tones. 
 
 If it had been tragedy, he felt that he could 
 have borne it better. It was the pettiness of 
 the complication that overmastered him. 
 
 "Yes, if deceit is tragic, and the betrayal 
 of friendship," he answered at last. "Mar 
 gery, there is no Maurus Tolna." 
 
 She sprang to her feet. 
 
 "He is dead?" 
 
 " No ; the singer, the man you know, lives 
 and thrives. But he is not an Hungarian. 
 He is American. His real name is Morris 
 Fordham." 
 
 She stared at him. 
 
 " But I don't understand," she stammered. 
 "You have told me his story Hungary 
 Tolna Castle his patriotism his hermit 
 life?" 
 
 "AD invention." 
 
 She sank back into her chair, still staring at 
 him. 
 
A CONTEST 305 
 
 Now that he was confessing what he had 
 felt that he would rather die than reveal, he 
 chose the bluntest words, with a sort of plea 
 sure in his own anguish as he saw himself sink 
 lower and lower in her contempt. Baldly he 
 told her of his discovery of Maurice, of his 
 patient training, of the boy's slangy common- 
 placeness, of his own device to flood this stolid 
 dullness with the limelight of romance. 
 
 " Just a fraud on the public to get money, 
 Margery." 
 
 Indignation lifted her to her feet. 
 
 " And what of me when you spent hours, 
 days, glorifying him to me?" 
 
 He groaned aloud. 
 
 " God forgive me! I never thought that it 
 could touch you." 
 
 Her quiet sentence stung: " No, you never 
 thought." 
 
 He lowered his face in his hands. 
 
 Presently she spoke again, with a distinct 
 bitterness. 
 
 " Some days ago, you gave me to under 
 stand that this spotless knight, this honest 
 gentleman, had done me the honor to seek my 
 hand, and would wait upon us at once to plead 
 his cause. Was that an essential part of your 
 fraud to get money? " 
 
 It did not occur to him that this was not the 
 
306 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 plaint of a broken heart. He raised a hag 
 gard face. 
 
 " There, at least, I was sincere, Miss Fan 
 ning. I was sure that he loved you." 
 
 Her tone was even more contemptuous. 
 
 " Till you took the decent trouble to inquire, 
 and found that the cheater was cheated." 
 
 "I never doubted" he stammered. 
 
 " Then you did ask him? You did report 
 that I adored him?" she cried sharply, as if 
 she were but now assured. " You did thrust 
 me upon him, till to escape me he has fled. 
 Oh, I can guess it all! " 
 
 He made no attempt to defend himself. 
 After a moment, marshaling her grievances, 
 she swept on: 
 
 " You forced me on him. And you called 
 yourself my friend! " 
 
 He looked up now. 
 
 "It, was indefensible, Miss Fanning. My 
 only excuse is that I love you." 
 
 From her "You!" he winced as from a 
 whip ; but, offender as he acknowledged him 
 self, her tone stung him out of his meek sub 
 mission to her taunts. 
 
 "Yes, I. I loved you from the first mo 
 ment I saw you, last summer. I almost told 
 
A CONTEST 307 
 
 you a dozen times, there in the pines, but I 
 was afraid of that money of yours. I am not 
 poor, but you are a great heiress. I wanted 
 to show you first that in myself I was good 
 for something. You loved music. I had 
 made a musician. For I did make the singer 
 out of Maurice, just as truly as Pan made his 
 pipe out of a reed. I thought that when you 
 heard him sing you would give me some poor 
 credit. Vain fool that I was, I never foresaw 
 that when you knew him you must love him! " 
 
 She was silent now, her play-acting abashed 
 before his reality. In a moment he went on : 
 
 "When I found that you were under the 
 spell, I knew that I had wrought it beguiled 
 you to see in him all that I had said he was. 
 God knows that when I made up the story I 
 meant no harm. I told it to you, as I had 
 been telling it to the public, because I thought 
 it would amuse you. The public likes to read 
 picturesque tales about celebrities, and never 
 asks whether they are true. Tolna is just a 
 celebrity to them. I, gross egotist that I was, 
 forgot that he could be more to you. He was 
 to reflect glory on me. I never considered the 
 glory piled on his own head. The night that 
 you asked to meet him, it struck me for the 
 
308 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 first time that you looked on him not as an ab 
 straction, but as a man. That night I saw 
 the beginning of the end." 
 
 She still sat silent, moved by these revela 
 tions. He repeated: 
 
 " I saw what I had done, exalting him to 
 you, kindling your imagination. In trying 
 humbly enough, heaven knows to make 
 you think more kindly of me, I had made you 
 adore him. Margery, what could I do but 
 what I did do? How could I tell you, then, 
 that Tolna was a myth? How could I belittle 
 my friend to help my own cause? Through 
 my duplicity, you had come to care for him. 
 After I knew that, how could I ever confess 
 the trick? In the beginning I honestly meant 
 after you should see him and be completely 
 taken in by him to tell you the whole thing, 
 as a joke. Then I found that My God! 
 it has been a costly joke to me." 
 
 She still sat silent, her face white and 
 drawn, he fancied, against the high, carved 
 back of her chair. He went on : 
 
 " If I had told you, then, you would have 
 loathed me for a trickster. You would have 
 accused me of juggling with a woman's heart 
 for wanton fun. Though I never meant it, 
 that was what I had accomplished played a 
 
A CONTEST 309 
 
 little trick for stupid fun, and ruined your life 
 with it. Well, I vowed that your life should 
 not be ruined. If I had offered you a false 
 Tolna in jest, you should have a real one in 
 earnest." 
 
 Her look was pure wonder. 
 
 "You meant to keep up the pretense to 
 me?" 
 
 " I was sure that he loved you. I think no 
 body can look at you and not love you. I 
 know I can't. I meant him to go on as 
 Tolna. What harm, when he really is the 
 gentleman Tolna is believed to be? " 
 
 Denys's eloquence suddenly ceased. Mar 
 gery kindly supplied the words he could not 
 speak. 
 
 " But unfortunately he was the one invul 
 nerable who could look at me and not love? 
 When you so generously offered me to him, 
 he declined me?" 
 
 Denys's dark cheek flushed. 
 
 "Miss Fanning, I did wrong. Nothing 
 that you can say can make me more ashamed 
 than I am ; more sorry, more miserable. But 
 I believed your happiness at stake. I I 
 spoke to him too strongly, and he left my 
 house." 
 
 Before the evidence of his love and suffer- 
 
310 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ing, Margery had already condoned his of 
 fense. Now, as he recalled his appeal to 
 Maurice, his cheapening of her, her vanity 
 flamed up again. 
 
 "Even then," Denys pursued, his eyes on 
 the rug " even then I could n't give it up. I 
 am a little crazy, I think. I am always so sure 
 that I can get my way, because I am always so 
 convinced that it is the one right way. For 
 thirteen years Maurice has been my docile 
 ward who did as he was bid. I knew that he 
 would come back and give in to me. I could 
 not admit to you that all was wrong. I 
 could n't break your heart. In spite of my 
 self, I was driven to the pettiest shifts and 
 subterfuges." 
 
 "Then even now you don't know where he is 
 hiding from me? Even now you fear that he 
 is giving up his career to escape me? And 
 yet, even now you would persuade him to take 
 pity on me if you could ! Oh, it is monstrous !" 
 
 "Even to-day, Miss Fanning, when that 
 vulgar newspaper has informed all the world 
 that Maurice has disappeared even on my 
 way here, I wanted to tell you that he had 
 wandered away and died in a fit of insanity 
 brought on by overwork. I thought it would 
 hurt you less to hear that than to hear what 
 had really happened." 
 
A CONTEST 311 
 
 " I don't quite see why, when your reservoir 
 of fiction is still so full, you prefer to dole out a 
 scanty draught of truth." 
 
 He smiled. " Not for love of the article, I 
 assure you. It was because I foresaw that 
 Maurice might report himself, well and in his 
 right mind." 
 
 " Even your imagination cannot cover all 
 contingencies." 
 
 He was surprised at the constant acerbity of 
 her tone. Humbly as he admitted that he de 
 served them, he felt it beneath her dignity to 
 deal these thrusts at him, defenseless. A great 
 grief, to his thinking, demanded a noble ex 
 pression. Passion of despair he had expected. 
 Passion of anger and scorn he could under 
 stand. Her well-planted petty darts seemed 
 quite incongruous with the occasion. 
 
 Then he reviled himself for dragging into 
 this reality his stage notions of technique. 
 Because Margery did not tear a passion to 
 tatters, was he to assume that she did not feel? 
 Nay, rather, if her despair found vent in sharp 
 retorts, then thus in real life must real despair 
 be expressed. Pity for her wrung him to the 
 last degree of anguish. 
 
 " No words that you could say can brand me 
 as my own condemnation brands me. When 
 you think of the contemptible lies and evasions 
 
312 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 with which I tried to shield you, you must 
 know how I felt the shame of the truth, how I 
 dreaded to tell it to you. Margery, would to 
 God I had died before I ever began to deceive 
 you concerning Maurice! " 
 
 He spoke theatrically, Denys could not do 
 otherwise, yet she knew that his emotion was 
 none the less true for the grandiloquence of his 
 words. She could see in his face the haggard 
 misery that she had meant him to imagine in 
 her own. She felt that the jest had gone far 
 enough. He had had his punishment, and 
 had taken it gallantly. And now she would 
 be gracious. She moved to the chimney and 
 flashed on the lights. Amazed, he beheld her 
 brilliant prettiness unworn and smiling. 
 
 " Don't you think, Mr. Alden," she teased 
 softly and merrily, without a hint of malice, 
 " that you take to yourself rather too much 
 credit when you assume that your spells 
 worked my undoing? If I were the suscep 
 tible idiot you seem determined to believe me, 
 the prosaic Fordham might have proved as 
 dangerous to my peace of mind as the roman 
 tic Tolna. So it is well that I never cared a 
 straw for either of them, though you chose to 
 assume that concealment fed on my damask 
 cheek." 
 
A CONTEST 313 
 
 In a daze he heard her through, while she 
 laughed into his bewildered face. 
 4 You you mean this? " 
 
 "Must I call a witness? There might be 
 some friend in the drawing-room to testify to 
 my common sense. Of course I value Mon 
 sieur Tolna as my friend and yours, but never 
 for one moment have I been in love either with 
 your counterfeit presentment very counter 
 feit of Tolna, or with what I have seen of 
 Mr. Fordham in this house." 
 
 He could not doubt the genuineness of her 
 mirth, the ease of her voice. Yet he still 
 seemed unable to comprehend her words. 
 
 " You let me think so!" he cried. " You 
 let me think so! " 
 
 She winced a little. But she would not con 
 fess to Denys, as she had confessed to Mau 
 rice, the reason of her pretense. 
 
 " You are so infallible! " she laughed 
 lightly. " Who was I to contradict you? " 
 
 He was staring straight before him. 
 
 " And I have been in hell! " 
 
 The conversation did not move as she had 
 planned it. In her acting version of this lit 
 tle comedy, as soon as she had spoken the mo 
 mentous words, " I never cared a straw for 
 Tolna," he was to spring up in a transport of 
 
314 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 joy, to cry, " Margery! At last I am free to 
 speak for myself," and to hold out imploring 
 arms. Instead, he sat in a stupor, and said 
 things that sounded as vulgar as swearing. 
 
 After a moment's strained silence Denys 
 rose and, still with a stupefied air, made his 
 way toward the door. She watched him, too 
 surprised to protest. 
 
 At the threshold it seemed to occur to him 
 that a leave-taking was in order. His face, as 
 he turned it toward her, looked sharper, more 
 drawn than ever. She could see that only by 
 a great effort did he keep his voice steady. 
 
 " Miss Fanning, I thank you for your dis 
 closure. You have relieved me of a great 
 weight. Now I can go home to my salutary 
 discipline; to the remembrance that the fool 
 is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that 
 can render a reason." 
 
 Margery felt as if she were driving behind 
 runaway horses, the situation was so entirely 
 beyond her control. 
 
 " But you were n't a fool " she protested. 
 
 With a scornful gesture, he swept the words 
 away. 
 
 " A very utter fool, mademoiselle. Since 
 you allowed me to mistake your feelings, 
 there are few tortures I have not been absurd 
 
A CONTEST 315 
 
 enough to suffer. I was as of course you 
 knew when you devised this merry jest 
 madly in love with you myself. I had to en 
 dure not merely the death of my own hopes, 
 the knowledge that another was preferred 
 and God knows that was misery enough. I 
 had to endure the certainty that, as I lost you, 
 I lost also the first place in my friend's heart. 
 And not this alone. I must see your happi 
 ness lived under my eyes eyes that must 
 never show jealousy or pain, lest you and he 
 be wounded." 
 
 " But when you found that he did not 
 
 care" 
 
 ' Then, still trying with my whole loyal 
 heart to serve you, I quarreled with him, drove 
 him from my house, passed four days of 
 damnable torture in ignorance of his where 
 abouts, trying by every petty lie and shift to 
 keep the truth from you. Oh, be content, 
 Miss Fanning! You have not only made me 
 wretched you have made me ridiculous. I 
 have not even the consolation of dignity in my 
 abasement. I was deceived and deceiving, 
 lied to and vainly lying, my woes fit to set the 
 gallery in a roar. Let me congratulate you 
 that you have been so well amused." 
 
 It was the first time in her life that any one 
 
316 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 had ever been seriously displeased with Mar 
 gery. The sensation was so surprising as to 
 destroy her self-possession. Partially, reluc 
 tantly, she admitted Denys's point of view, 
 perceived that the rudeness of his words was to 
 be excused by his pain, realized that it is a 
 questionable pastime to play with a lover's 
 feelings. But she was too angry at being 
 scolded to allow these palliations. She felt it 
 as a bitter injustice that he did not take into 
 consideration how he had made her suffer, 
 too. That he could not know she had suffered 
 was a mere frivolous detail. 
 
 For a bare second she was tempted to fling 
 open the door and summon Maurice to defend 
 her. How he could defend her, or from what, 
 she did not ask herself; but at least his jubi 
 lant presence would be that of an ardent 
 champion. Loyalty to the fugitive making 
 this retaliation impossible, however, she was 
 driven to hard words. 
 
 " A reproof for double-dealing from you! " 
 she scoffed. 
 
 " Don't let us descend to recriminations," 
 he begged. " Good afternoon, Miss Fan 
 ning." 
 
 She could not let him go with this madden 
 ingly superior air. 
 
A CONTEST 317 
 
 " Mr. Alden! " she cried, taking a step after 
 him. 
 
 He turned on the threshold to say in an 
 easy, conversational tone : 
 
 " Do you know, I am so dense that not till 
 this moment have I perceived the significance 
 of your kind present to me. The pun was as 
 neat, Miss Fanning, as the gift was refined." 
 
 Before she could ask the meaning of his 
 enigmatical farewell of what sounded to her 
 like a new accusation he was gone. 
 
 She had forgiven him what his friend had 
 pronounced a mere hurt to her vanity. But 
 she knew that he could not forgive her for the 
 cruel wound she had dealt to his love and his 
 faith. And she was so young, and life was so 
 long! She was wondering whether she could 
 drag herself up-stairs, out of sight, when she 
 remembered her guests. That the drawing- 
 room was empty was the only welcome dis 
 covery that the hour had brought. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MISS HAMMOND FINDS HERSELF 
 
 THAT member of the Hammond family 
 who knew least of its concerns was ap 
 proaching his house after midnight, when the 
 door opened to let out a hooded female figure. 
 Quickening his pace to see which of the maids 
 was this night-prowler, Hammond found him 
 self face to face with his own daughter. 
 
 For the moment he was too startled for 
 speech. But Honor was no more surprised or 
 abashed than if it had been one o'clock in the 
 afternoon instead of one in the morning. 
 
 " I am going to post a letter." 
 
 She was brushing past him, forgetting him 
 almost before she finished the sentence. Her 
 whole soul was at the letter-box on the corner. 
 Her father perceived that if she had met a 
 hippogriff , she would have walked straight by 
 in perfect unconcern. 
 
 He felt as if she were a sleep-walker whom 
 he must not startle. 
 
 318 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 319 
 
 " Run back indoors, dear. I '11 post the 
 letter." 
 
 She made a gesture of impatience, as if she 
 hardly heard what he said, merely resented the 
 obstacle in her path. 
 
 " No, I must post it myself." 
 
 " Come, then," he said, turning in the di 
 rection she faced. 
 
 She made neither assent nor objection, and 
 they walked nearly to Sixth Avenue in silence. 
 Then she stopped and looked at him, as if for 
 the first time realizing who he was and what 
 he was doing. 
 
 " Father, you don't ask any questions." 
 
 " I assume that it is n't your habit to sally 
 out alone in the middle of the night. If you 
 do it now, it must seem to you necessary, so I 
 won't scold you for imprudence." 
 
 She showed her letter. 
 
 " I am breaking my engagement." 
 
 "What has Smith done?" 
 
 " He has given mother and me everything 
 we want. But I can't marry him, dear." 
 
 By the electric light on the street corner he 
 studied her face. 
 
 " Honor, you are taking a momentous step." 
 
 "Yes, father." 
 
 " I want you to come back to the house with 
 
320 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 me and talk it over. After our discussion, if 
 you are still resolved on breaking with Smith, 
 you shall post the letter yourself." 
 
 "Dad, I did n't mean to be rude when I 
 would n't let you do it. Of course I did n't 
 suspect you of a wish to suppress it. Only, I 
 could n't feel that the deed was done unless 
 I heard the letter thud down in the box." 
 
 :< Will you take an hour to think about it, 
 Honor?" 
 
 "Yes, dad. I '11 listen to anything you 
 have to say." 
 
 " Thank you, dear." 
 
 As they retraced their steps, she slipped her 
 arm through his, her hand into his. 
 
 "Daddy, I love you." 
 
 " Do you, sweetheart? " 
 * Yes. You must think I am insane, but 
 you treat me just as if I were sane and my 
 judgment were to be respected. You don't 
 know how I want to post that letter. A regi 
 ment of soldiers would n't have stopped me, 
 but when you are so quiet and kind I have to 
 stop for you." 
 
 Honor opened the door with a latch-key, 
 and laid her fingers on her father's lips as she 
 led him along the dark hall and into the morn 
 ing-room. He struck a match from the box 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 321 
 
 in his pocket, while she quickly shut the door 
 after them. She broke into a laugh, more 
 girlish than her usual note. 
 
 "Don't you feel as if you were Guy 
 Fawkes? But we must n't wake mother." 
 
 She laid her letter upon the table, and he no 
 ticed that she had added a special-delivery 
 stamp to insure Willoughby's receiving it 
 early. 
 
 " You can send it just as well by messenger 
 in the morning." 
 
 " I know. But I wanted to start it to 
 night." 
 
 "Lest your courage might give way, 
 Honor?" * 
 
 She smiled. 
 
 " No, I really was n't afraid of that. But 
 having decided to send it, I could net sleep till 
 the actual deed was done. Perhaps you don't 
 see any difference between dropping the let 
 ter in the box and leaving it on my desk to be 
 sent in the morning? That is because you are 
 not a woman." 
 
 :c Why are you breaking with Smith, if I 
 may ask? A week ago you seemed delighted 
 to marry him." 
 
 " I was. Of course I was n't in love with 
 him. I knew that he was conceited and tire- 
 
322 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 some and silly. But I thought I could stand 
 it, considering how much he had to bestow. 
 Now I find that I can't." 
 
 " You have suffered a change of heart." 
 
 " Father, we have been engaged seven days, 
 and he has tried to please me. Yet already he 
 exasperates me so that I can hardly be civil to 
 him. Do you think that that is a good omen 
 for the happiness of our future life? " 
 
 " The little things that exasperate you now, 
 you will notice less as you become accustomed 
 to them. And the young man has what you 
 seemed to desire great possessions." 
 
 She gave a low laugh. 
 
 " I wonder if I really do? That sounds ab 
 surd, because I told you, only the other day, 
 that I did. I have always believed that I did. 
 I have been brought up with the idea that I 
 was to have a brilliant future. When I was 
 about twelve years old, mother began gently 
 putting the notion into my mind that I was 
 quite different from other girls. At the con 
 vent girls and teachers took the same attitude 
 for me marriage was to be a career. I am 
 not clever, you know, dad. I have never 
 thought for myself. If everybody about me 
 assumed that my mission in life was to make a 
 great marriage, I supposed that it was. A 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 323 
 
 quick, original, rebellious girl would have 
 thought it all out for herself, and perhaps dis 
 agreed with them, and perhaps agreed. Any 
 how, she would have known what she herself 
 wanted. But I never asked myself. I went 
 right along on the rails." 
 
 She rose and began pacing the room, as he 
 had seen her do once before. 
 
 "After I came home, the life I led never 
 seemed to me very much worth while. But 
 you and I are alike, dad, we have n't a great 
 deal of fight in us. We don't stick out for 
 our rights. We give in, and feel injured." 
 She faced him with laughing defiance 
 " Daddy, I 've got my war-paint on." 
 
 He answered gently and seriously: 
 
 "Honor, I don't suppose any father be 
 lieves that there is a man living good enough 
 for the little daughter whom he loves. Long 
 after her mother knows that she is grown up 
 and ought to be married, her father thinks that 
 she is still a child, and the bare suggestion of 
 her marriage seems shocking to him. I should 
 like to keep you for my child forever. But of 
 course it is better it is, indeed, necessary 
 for you to marry. Willoughby Smith is no 
 hero of romance, but I believe him a man to 
 whom a father need n't be ashamed or afraid 
 
324 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 to give his daughter. And he is, as your mo 
 ther points out, an American prince." 
 
 " But if you don't happen to care for the 
 life of an American princess, that is no ad 
 vantage, is it? Dad, that man's one enjoy 
 ment is to entertain. In that respect he may 
 very truly be called princely. There is some 
 thing magnificent in his tireless, endless hos 
 pitality. He would have been perfectly 
 happy as a Roman emperor, giving the whole 
 populace panem et circenses. He would n't 
 grudge the bread and he would sit up nights 
 arranging the circuses. The rabble would 
 have adored him. He is great in his line. 
 He would make a woman that shared his tastes 
 altogether satisfied. But, daddy, I don't." 
 She paused only to breathe, then swept on : 
 "Dear, everybody assumes that steam- 
 yachts, and great mansions, and private cars, 
 and horses, and jewels, and opera-boxes are 
 necessarily desirable. They are not desirable 
 if you hate the life that they make for you. 
 Willoughby loves crowds. I detest them. I 
 am always afraid of people whom I don't 
 know well, and it takes me years to know any 
 body well. I should never make a good hos 
 tess. I am not ready, I am not tactful, and I 
 am not interested. I could, perhaps, force 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 325 
 
 myself to go through the motions properly 
 and politely, but never gracefully, because I 
 have no instinct for it. When you point out 
 to me the advantages of the life I am giving 
 up, you might as well be explaining the pleas 
 ures of hunting to somebody who is afraid of 
 horses, or singing, 'A Life on the Ocean 
 Wave ' to a person who is seasick." 
 
 " I think you dread the pains of entertain 
 ing more than you need, Honor. You always 
 dread a new thing." 
 
 "It is not a new thing. I 've been enter 
 tained and entertaining for five years." 
 
 " Then the question is whether the work to 
 which Smith will subject you is any more gall 
 ing than the work from which he will free you. 
 Life is never a bed of roses, Honor. It is at 
 best only a choice of evils, an endless compro 
 mise. Smith sets you free forever from money 
 worries, from manual labor, from the sordid 
 daily grind of ways and means." 
 
 " Is it sordid, dad? I won't be silly and say 
 that I don't mind poverty. I should mind it 
 very much. But I think the scale of life on 
 which we live quite good enough for anybody. 
 Mother and I design and cut and help to make 
 the greater part of our clothes ; and though we 
 always sigh and say, ' Oh, to be able to buy in 
 
326 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 Paris ! ' really there is no time in the year I 
 enjoy so much as the quiet weeks, spring and 
 fall, when we stay at home and sew. The only 
 things that I learned well at the convent were 
 sewing and cooking. I have n't a clever mind, 
 but I do possess clever fingers. Don't you 
 think that it 's a waste to put me in a sphere of 
 life where I ought to have a mind, but shall 
 never need the fingers? " 
 
 He laughed, but seemed about to protest, 
 when she went on again : 
 
 " Father, you are anxious to save me from 
 practical cares, because practicalities have al 
 ways jarred on you all your days. You have 
 longed to build heavenly mansions for hea 
 venly people. If a client insists on a veranda 
 across the front of a Tudor house, you have to 
 give him one, because it is your livelihood, but 
 you feel that you are betraying your art." 
 
 " I do feel it. It is for the freedom it gives 
 one from such debasing necessities that I prin 
 cipally value money." 
 
 "Yes, you are an artist. But I should 
 agree with the client that a comfortable place 
 to sit in was far more important than his Tu 
 dor ' elevation.' ' 
 
 " You are a Philistine 1 " 
 
 " That is what I am saying. You could n't 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 327 
 
 eat your dinner if you had planned every de 
 tail of its journey from the market to the table. 
 Now, I could." 
 
 " Honor, the situation is more serious than 
 you think." 
 
 "Wait, father. Hear me out! I appre 
 ciate that we are living beyond our means, 
 wearing you out, body and soul. Mother 
 is n't extravagant in the way ?he does things, 
 nobody could manage better, but she is ex 
 travagant in the things she does. She thinks, 
 poor soul! that she must give me my chance. 
 I have thought it all out. If you let me stay 
 with you, we shall live very differently. We 
 shall give up our share in the opera-box. I 
 shall go out oncQ a week, instead of seven 
 nights. At the very most, I should need only 
 a third as many clothes; and if we entertain 
 less and I have time to give to the house, we 
 can send away two of the servants. I should 
 like to keep the brougham for mother, but it 
 will be no hardship to sell the victoria and one 
 of the horses. This proposal does n't come 
 gracefully from me, I admit; for I don't feel 
 it a sacrifice, and it would be a great sacrifice 
 for her. But I think mother might as well 
 face things as they are, and recognize that she 
 did n't marry an American prince." 
 
328 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " And that her daughter won't? " 
 
 " Dad, I admitted that I hate poverty. But 
 if I had to choose between doing type-writing 
 in the hall bedroom of a boarding-house and 
 being Mrs. Willoughby Smith, I would take 
 the hall bedroom and peace of mind." 
 
 " It may come to that, daughter. I have 
 been having a talk to-night with my partner. 
 The firm is in a very poor way." 
 
 "Why, father! I thought you were one of 
 the most famous firms in New York." 
 
 "We are. But since John Clive died we 
 have n't made much money. Richard and I 
 are n't as sharp in our contracts as he was. 
 We are n't as clever in drumming up custom 
 ers. Perhaps, too, we have scruples about 
 Tudor mansions with verandas. Anyway, 
 business has fallen off. I could n't have lived 
 as we have lived since you came home, except 
 that I made fortunate investments in my fat 
 years. Lately, the market has taken a disas 
 trous turn. You knew that I had given an 
 option on the house to Willoughby Smith." 
 
 " You told me. But I did n't guess it was 
 necessity." She sat still a moment. 
 
 " And if I marry Willoughby Smith? " 
 
 "Don't misunderstand, dear child. I 
 should never borrow a dollar from my son-in- 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 329 
 
 law. But if it were known that you were 
 shortly to marry a very rich man, credit would 
 be thrust upon me. Given time to turn around, 
 I could save the situation. If the new owner 
 does n't want the house, we could still live here, 
 modestly. If the match is publicly broken 
 off, we should have to leave it at once. 
 We must go to a small flat or to the 
 suburbs." 
 
 "Oh, poor mother!" 
 " It will be hard for you, too, Honor." 
 The girl paced with rapid, uneven steps 
 about the room. 
 
 " I think it would almost kill mother." 
 Hammond rose, stopping his daughter in 
 her march. 
 
 " Honor, you are not to think of your mo 
 ther or of me. I had to tell you the prospect 
 that lies before you. It would not be fair to 
 let you decide in ignorance. I am only fifty ; 
 I expect to work out of my debts and yet be 
 able to leave you and your mother a compe 
 tence. There is my life insurance, anyhow. 
 You will not, at the worst, be left to beggary 
 nor, at the best, to more than narrow means. 
 I hope you may meet some one whom you will 
 marry for love, but such happiness may never 
 come. You will have all the anxieties and 
 
330 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 disabilities of poverty for a time, certainly, 
 and perhaps for all your life." 
 
 " For myself, I don't care" 
 
 " Then, my darling, post your letter, and 
 God bless you!" 
 
 She was clinging in his arms. 
 
 "Oh, dad, dad! I can't! Mother-" 
 
 " Honor, neither of your parents will sell 
 their daughter." 
 
 His face wore the sternness which hardened 
 its delicacy into nobility. Honor had never 
 appreciated how handsome he was. Both her 
 arms were round his neck. 
 
 "Darling father, if I give myself " 
 
 "It is wrong, Honor. The young life 
 should never be sacrificed to the old. We have 
 had our life, to shape it as we saw fit. Now 
 you shall have yours, to make of it what you 
 can. I want you to understand well what you 
 are doing. But if, at this crisis, with dark 
 days before you, you can give up a mercenary 
 marriage, I am very glad and proud." 
 
 She strove to speak, only to break into a fit 
 of weeping. He sat down with her on his 
 knee, as he had held her in her childhood. It 
 was long before the passion of tears was past. 
 But the outbreak was no sign of mental storm. 
 
HONOR FINDS HERSELF 331 
 
 The moment she could control her voice she 
 spoke quite calmly. 
 
 " You need n't be proud of me, daddy. It 
 is no struggle. I regret nothing." 
 
 " And you are happy, my child? " 
 
 " Perfectly, dad. I cried because you are 
 so splendid." 
 
 He drew her closer if that were possible. 
 
 " Dear, when you told me of your engage 
 ment I could have denounced it, only tha,t I 
 honestly thought you capable of finding your 
 life's happiness with Willoughby Smith. 
 Shame to me, I did n't know my own daugh 
 ter! I thought the child's loving heart was 
 dead." 
 
 " Frozen up. But spring is here. The ice 
 has been cracking lately, and you have melted 
 the last crust to-night." 
 
 He kissed her, and she rose to pick up her 
 cloak and her letter, turning to him a radiant 
 face. 
 
 "We '11 post it now, daddy." A cloud 
 passed over her face. " Oh, I dread telling 
 mother!" 
 
 " You need n't. I don't intend you to tell 
 your mother." 
 
 She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. 
 
332 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "You are a brick!" 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 " I am not sparing you, my dear, but her." 
 He lifted her chin till she met his eyes, smil 
 ing but determined. " Honor, you and your 
 mother have different ideals. You are not 
 just to her. In the crash of her hopes she will 
 find it hard to be just to you. I shall explain 
 to her, to-morrow, how you and I feel, and 
 that we shall all be wise to say no more about 
 it. Whatever she may say to you, I expect 
 you to remember that you have disappointed 
 her dearest ambition, and to be most patient 
 and devoted and kind." 
 
 " You angel, I shall make the effort of my 
 life to be good." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 THE Burnhams and the Farmings now 
 shared the Burnham opera-box. The 
 music-mad Margery insisted on an uninter 
 rupted right of possession, and Jessie, most of 
 whose set were satisfied with the exhibition of 
 this glory once or twice a week, was delighted 
 to be more expensive than they. She cheer 
 fully paid her money for the pleasure of see 
 ing her name inscribed on the program as 
 
 owner of Box for all performances. But 
 
 except on Friday and on Monday evenings 
 the two occasions which she considered 
 "smart" she seldom troubled herself to sit 
 in it. Knowing her engagements, the Fan- 
 nings, coming to their familiar places on Mon 
 day, were surprised to discover their unmu 
 sical kinsfolk already in occupation. 
 
 "What, you here, Jessie, on your dinner- 
 dance night!" Margery cried; while her mo- 
 
 333 
 
334 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 ther added, "And before the overture, too!" 
 
 " Well, it 's Tolna or, more likely, it is n't 
 Tolna in the new opera, you see. And 
 they 're going to have a tremendous house. 
 Just see how it is filling up in the gallery al 
 ready! And down-stairs, too. However, I 
 did n't come for love of Tolna's beaux yeuoc. 
 The dinner-dance affair fell through, and we 
 had n't a thing to do. Besides, I thought there 
 might be ructions to-night." 
 
 As Mrs. Fanning pounced on her brother 
 for his advice about stocks, a subject from 
 which New Yorkers can no more keep away 
 than could Mr. Dick from King Charles's 
 head, Jessie leaned confidentially to her 
 niece. 
 
 "Madge, was n't that a lovely roast that 
 Harry Mayne wrote yesterday?" 
 
 Margery, for all her gala dress, was in no 
 gala mood. The last twenty-four hours had 
 been the most miserable of her life. No an 
 ticipation of pleasure in the music, but sheer 
 restlessness, had driven her from home, 
 touched, perhaps, by some vague hope that she 
 might encounter Denys Alden, and say she 
 knew not what. 
 
 She was spared the necessity of an answer 
 by the arrival in the next box of Hyacinth 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 335 
 
 Lawrence, marvelously attired in a light- 
 green gown, made without ruffle, tuck, or 
 flounce, and apparently without seams, as if it 
 were molded on her long, sinuous figure one 
 unbroken line from the shoulder to the end of 
 the long train. With this creation, Miss Law 
 rence wore jade bracelets and a chaplet of ivy 
 leaves. 
 
 " There 's Nell with the Minthorns," Jessie 
 noted, to call over the rail: "Nellie, how 
 exactly like a caterpillar you do look! And I 
 see you 've got your dinner with you, too." 
 
 Quite undisturbed, Hyacinth announced: 
 
 * You are going to have mother's conven 
 tion, Jessie." 
 
 " What larks ! How did you work it ? " 
 
 " I told mother that if it met at my house, I 
 should ask the Swami Abvikananda to speak. 
 I said that it was only common fairness to hear 
 both sides." 
 
 " Now, I wonder whether I could n't get 
 some ' First Reader ' to make a few remarks 
 to 'em," ruminated Mrs. Nortie, when Mar 
 gery suddenly interrupted: 
 
 " Jessie, I beg your pardon; I entirely for 
 got that I had asked her, and of course I never 
 dreamed of seeing you here. But the fact is, 
 Honor Hammond is coming." 
 
336 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 "Good work!" Jessie laughed. "I sup 
 pose your tea-party came off? I '11 poison her 
 mind against Willie. No, that won't do. 
 She '11 set it down to jealousy which it is. 
 All the same, that young person must n't ex 
 pect Speak of angels!" 
 
 As the door creaked the young women, 
 turning to welcome Miss Hammond, were con 
 fronted hy the hesitant form and blushing 
 countenance of Mr. Willoughby Smith. 
 
 " She is n't here yet hut come in," bade 
 Mrs. Nortie, blandly. "You 're the right 
 man in the right place. You have n't given 
 me a chance yet to congratulate you, and I 
 most particularly want to do it. Oh, you '11 
 see!" 
 
 Before this somewhat ominous welcome, 
 Mr. Smith's embarrassment visibly increased. 
 Desperately he found his tongue. 
 
 " I came to see you, Mrs. Burnham. 1 
 wanted to tell you that that my engage 
 ment is at an end." 
 
 This was one of the few occasions in her life 
 when words deserted Mrs. Norton Burnham. 
 While she sat staring at her visitor, it was 
 Margery who held out the helping hand. 
 
 :< When two persons find out that they are 
 not altogether adapted to each other, they are 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 337 
 
 so wise to acknowledge it in time. Are n't 
 they, Mr. Smith?" 
 
 "That 's what I thought, Miss Fanning. 
 I found that my interests were not being 
 sympathized with, or my wishes being re 
 spected, as I felt they ought to be, and so I 
 er in fact " 
 
 " In fact, you were manly enough and hon 
 est enough to admit that you had made a mis 
 take," Margery prompted. 
 
 "Well, I er intimated to Miss Ham 
 mond that I feared we were n't as congenial 
 as we might be. I er some fellows might 
 have hated to do that, but I felt that she 'd 
 thank me in the end." 
 
 " No doubt she will thank you in the begin 
 ning." Mrs. Burnham had found her tongue. 
 :< We expect her here every moment." 
 
 Mr. Smith began to back out of the box. 
 
 "I can't stay, Mrs. Burnham. I 've an 
 appointment. I came to ask you if you 
 would n't go on with the Sing Sing dinner? 
 You never do really fail a fellow, and of course 
 I know I could n't bring it off without you." 
 
 Mrs. Burnham hesitated a bare moment. 
 It would be a pleasure, certainly, to snub the 
 fool, but, on the whole, she thought, a more 
 lasting pleasure to exhibit him once more 
 
338 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 chained to her chariot-wheels. Besides, she 
 loved the extravaganza of the dinner for its 
 own sake. 
 
 " Yes, if you '11 give me carte blanche with 
 the invitations," she decided. " And we '11 go 
 and consult Pinky Fraser this minute. I 
 did n't think they 'd come to-night, but there 
 they all are." 
 
 As her cavalier held the door open for her, 
 she turned her head to launch at Margery one 
 large, triumphant wink. 
 
 So soon on the heels of their departure did 
 Miss Hammond arrive, that Margery thought 
 it best to ask : 
 
 "Did you meet my young aunt and Mr. 
 Smith?" 
 
 Honor laughed. She had never looked so 
 radiantly lovely, so actually happy, as to 
 night. 
 
 "Yes; is n't it funny? Did he reluctantly 
 confess that he had thrown me over? Poor 
 fellow ! This morning he wasted an hour beg 
 ging me to reconsider. But by to-morrow he 
 will be glad of his escape. He would n't have 
 admitted it, but I could see that he was n't at 
 ease in my company. After the first day or 
 two, he felt the yoke. Now he will straighten 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 339 
 
 up his shoulders and breathe the breath of 
 freedom." 
 
 Margery smiled. 
 
 " He did hint that it was he who had found 
 the need of it." 
 
 Honor laughed again. 
 
 " I don't mind that. Except to you, I 
 don't intend to contradict it. I owe him that 
 small compensation. I treated him badly 
 enough in accepting him; and I have n't, I am 
 ashamed to say, shown him common civility 
 since. It will please him to think that every 
 body will credit his version of the story. Be 
 sides, I am not so magnanimous as I sound. 
 For of course nobody who knows me would 
 ever believe that I had jilted all those millions. 
 Why should they?" 
 
 4 We shall believe it. And so will every 
 body, if-" 
 
 The overture to " I Pagliacci " was wasted 
 on the two girls, as Honor leaned over to 
 clutch Margery's wrist, saying in a voice vi 
 brantly earnest, strangely unlike the familiar 
 monotony of its tones : 
 
 " I thought, from our coming in together, 
 that you might think and especially when we 
 did not wait for you but we met quite acci- 
 
340 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 dentally at your corner. So when he said that 
 you had said you were at home at five o'clock, 
 I did n't like to make a point of it." 
 
 Margery looked blank. In the preoccupa 
 tion of her own emotions, this lucid explana 
 tion failed, for the instant, to attach itself to 
 Tolna. 
 
 :< We used to play together when we were 
 children," Honor went on. " He came to the 
 house on Thursday, and I was very glad to 
 see him again very. But my change of mind 
 had absolutely nothing to do with him. And 
 after breaking faith with Willoughby, I 
 should certainly never marry another man. 
 As for Morry Fordham, he is just my good 
 friend, as he used to be when I was ten years 
 old." Honor laughed. "To be frank, I 
 have never known a less sentimental person 
 except myself." 
 
 Margery read this speech as any woman 
 would, but she answered very gravely and 
 sympathetically : 
 
 " Of course, dear. I invited you because I 
 thought he might look in. It was so nice and 
 frank of him to tell me that you were old 
 friends. Nobody except me knows about 
 that interrupted tea-party. It is I who should 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 341 
 
 explain my desertion of you. I was detained 
 by unexpected complications." 
 
 Honor's grip on her friend's wrist relaxed 
 somewhat. Reassured of Margery's under 
 standing, she seemed about to offer further 
 confidences, when an usher entered the box 
 with a scrap of paper for Miss Fanning. 
 
 May I see you a moment, outside the door? 
 
 M. F. 
 
 Glancing quietly at Honor, who had turned 
 her face to the stage, she rose softly and 
 slipped through the little cloak-room to the 
 lobby, closing both doors behind her. 
 
 Theirs was the last box but one on the tier, 
 this very end of the promenade being con 
 cealed by the curve of the horseshoe from the 
 throngs nearer the stairs. As the boxes on 
 either side were already filled, Maurice's mo 
 ment seemed likely to be uninterrupted. 
 
 "Are n't you singing, after all?" the girl 
 cried. 
 
 " Not in this nightmare." Maurice's bright 
 ness seemed under eclipse. " Miss Fanning, 
 Denys is n't here to-night. Things must be 
 pretty bad with him if he won't come to hear 
 
342 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 me do Roland. He has worked over me, these 
 two years, with prayers and tears, to get me 
 ' inside ' the part, and now he can't look at it ! 
 I heard from that great brute, Hirt, just now, 
 that the poor chap is half out of his mind with 
 concern over me though I don't know why 
 he should be, except that he 's Denys. Hirt 
 grinned like a Chessy cat when he told me. 
 But I can't stand keeping old Denys on the 
 rack any longer. I shall go straight home 
 after the services. And what I came to ask 
 you is whether I may n't give him some hint 
 of the truth? In my own mind, I have n't a 
 doubt that it 's you, and not I, that he 's wast 
 ing in despair over. Of course I can't ex 
 plain anything without your leave. But don't 
 you think, really, that the joke has gone far 
 enough?" 
 
 " It has gone a great deal too far," she as 
 sented, almost sobbing, as she poured forth 
 the tale of her undoing. " Oh, Mr. Fordham, 
 I never meant to hurt him so. I did n't know 
 what I was doing. Oh, I have grown years 
 older since yesterday. You were perfectly 
 right when you said it was my contemptible 
 vanity that made me so hard on him. You see, 
 girls take it for granted that they have all the 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 pride and delicacy and sensitiveness I never 
 suspected that a man could suffer so." 
 
 "Yes," agreed Maurice, serenely. "I 
 ought to have warned you that the duffer 
 can't stand being made game of." 
 
 " It was n't that," the girl cried indignantly, 
 her good-will toward her companion making a 
 sudden recoil. She had to remind herself of 
 his deserts, his supreme merit of being Denys's 
 friend, before she could forgive him this trav 
 esty of the situation. It was plain to her 
 how, despite excellent qualities, he must jar on 
 the finer nature of Denys ! "It was n't that at 
 all," she repeated, with hot reproof. " I lac 
 erated his most sacred feelings, tortured them, 
 flayed them! I deserved his contempt but it 
 hurts none the less." 
 
 " Well, perhaps something can be done yet. 
 As I see the case, Miss Fanning, Denys has 
 got to know why you did what you did." 
 
 Her blush was charming. 
 
 " I want him to know, Mr. Fordham." 
 
 " Then don't give up the ship, Miss Fan 
 ning. I can see it coming into port, yet, all 
 flags flying." His confident, good-comrade's 
 smile was so heartening that her own smile, 
 somewhat watery, answered it. 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 In a day-dream she was turning away, when 
 she suddenly remembered what tidings she had 
 in store for him. 
 
 " Oh, how selfish I am! I have n't thanked 
 you, which you won't mind, nor given you my 
 great news, which you will. She has broken 
 her engagement!" 
 
 "Not Honor?" 
 
 " Yes. She has just told me. She is there, 
 in our box." 
 
 His hand was on the door-knob when she 
 laid hers on it. 
 
 :< Wait ! You have been helping me. Now 
 I can help you. Mr. Fordham, she says that 
 her throwing over Willie Smith had nothing 
 whatever to do with you." 
 
 " I 'm not conceited enough to suppose that 
 it had." 
 
 " No, of course not. But I suppose you 
 do mean to ask her to marry you, Mr. Ford- 
 ham?" 
 
 " I will not conceal from you, Miss Fan 
 ning, that such is my immediate intention." 
 
 :< Well, don't you see that if you ask her im 
 mediately she will say no? She could n't let 
 everybody think that she jilted another man 
 for you." 
 
 "Did she tell you-" 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 345 
 
 " No, of course not. But I can see. Some 
 girls would be glad to be on with the new love 
 the moment they were off with the old, if it 
 were only to prevent people's believing Mr. 
 Smith's tale that he broke the engagement. 
 But Honor is different. She is so proud that 
 she does n't care what people think, but only 
 what she does." 
 
 " Do you mean that I 'd better wait over 
 night?" 
 
 " I should wait a few months." 
 
 For a moment he stood pondering, his hand 
 still on the door-knob. Then he looked at 
 Margery with his boyish smile. 
 
 " I 'm awfully obliged to you, Miss Fan 
 ning. I don't doubt I shall rue the hour when 
 I rejected your advice. But I find I must 
 see her." 
 
 " Oh, I wash my hands of you!" Margery 
 cried, immediately belying her own words. 
 " But of course you can't speak to her in the 
 box, with mother and Uncle Norton there, and 
 all the Minthorns staring. I '11 send her to 
 you." 
 
 On her way, Miss Fanning reflected: " If I 
 send her out by a trick she will be angry. But 
 if I tell her the truth she won't go." Choos 
 ing the lesser risk, she said : 
 
346 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Dear, there 's a man, with a message for 
 you, waiting just outside." 
 
 "From mother, no doubt. She and dad 
 are down-stairs," Honor answered placidly as 
 she stole out into the promenade. 
 
 She started back with a cry : 
 
 "Oh,Bim! You!" 
 
 * Yes, dear. Let me speak to you a mo 
 ment. I have just learned that I may speak." 
 
 She shrank back against the door, making 
 no answer. 
 
 " Honor, I have never cared for any girl 
 except you. I shall never forgive myself be 
 cause I let you go and get engaged to Wil- 
 loughby Smith before I ever played a stroke 
 in the game. Well, I could n't say anything 
 to that. He was a millionaire and a very de 
 cent fellow. It was all right. But since by 
 God's grace that engagement is broken off, I 
 can come to you and say that I love you with 
 my whole heart and soul and expect to remain 
 yours to command while the breath of life is in 
 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, Bim ! " she cried. " Oh, Bim ! " 
 
 "Oh, Honor!" 
 
 " But, Bim, I did n't do it with any refer 
 ence to you. I did it because I saw the horror 
 of marrying without love. Perhaps you 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 347 
 
 helped me to see it in fact, I know you did 
 but I should have set Mr. Smith free if you 
 had told me that you loved some one else, or 
 that you were going away and would never 
 see me again. Do you believe me? " 
 
 " Of course I do." 
 
 " Bim, it has meant the opening of a new 
 world for me. There 's father. Ever since I 
 came back from the convent he seemed to have 
 the same experience that you were afraid of 
 he could n't find his little girl. He stood aloof 
 and watched mother and me as if he did n't 
 belong to us. But when I told him that I was 
 going to give up my great match " her eyes 
 filled with sudden tears. " Well, of all the 
 angels ! 
 
 " He offered to tell mother insisted on it. 
 Of course it was an awful blow to mother's 
 ambitions for me. But she has been a perfect 
 dear about it I never knew mother before, 
 any more than I did dad. They both are 
 lovely to me. And dad is so sorry for mother, 
 and she is so glad of his sympathy, that they 
 are actually having a silver honeymoon. We 
 have taken a house in the country for a year, 
 and we are going to live quietly and get ac 
 quainted. 
 
 " And so, don't you see, Morry, that now, 
 
348 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 when I want to show dad how I appreciate 
 him, and want to make mother love me so 
 much that she will be glad every hour that I 
 did n't leave her don't you see that now I 
 can't turn my back on them and marry you? " 
 
 " Better wait till you 're asked, miss." 
 
 "Oh! Excuse me! I understood that you 
 had asked me." 
 
 " Not at all. All I require of you at pres 
 ent is to put my name on the waiting-list, so 
 that at any future day, when you feel that 
 your romantic parents might like to have their 
 honeymoon by themselves, you will consider 
 my qualifications along with my competi 
 tors'." 
 
 " Morry, you are laughing at me, but you 
 do understand?" 
 
 " I understand that I want to do anything 
 on earth that you want me to, because I know 
 it is right." 
 
 She gave him a long look from the depths 
 of her wonderful eyes. 
 
 " Bim, you are simply the most satisfactory 
 person that ever lived." 
 
 " Honor, you must n't say such things to me 
 when we 're not engaged." 
 
 MONSIEUR TOLNA mistook in supposing that 
 his inseparable shadow was not in the Opera- 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 349 
 
 House. But if poor Denys could no more 
 keep away than the moth can keep away from 
 the candle, he expected little more pleasure 
 than the moth finds in the flame. Though 
 now he was beyond minding the publication of 
 Maurice's disappearance, the fact held for him 
 a new bitterness. For Maurice had been 
 right, and he wrong. He had driven the boy 
 from his home, from his career, from his honor, 
 by a fantastic fraud. 
 
 Automatically, his steps turned toward the 
 stage entrance, when he pulled himself up 
 with sad self -scorn. He had killed his goose 
 with the golden eggs, deliberately thrown 
 away his only claim to enter that paradise * be 
 hind the scenes.' Turning back into Broad 
 way, he passed the big posters still proclaim 
 ing the appearance of Maurus Tolna as Ro 
 land in the first American production of 
 Tonti's most successful opera, "L'Enchan- 
 teresse." He wondered dully whom Hirt had 
 put into the part Grigni or Erdmann. It 
 hardly mattered ; either would murder it. 
 
 As he crossed the foyer with the admission 
 ticket which was all that the box-office could 
 furnish, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Look 
 ing up into Hirt's face, he instantly saw that 
 he had been stopped for a purpose. 
 
 "You have news?" he cried, only to be 
 
350 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 dashed from his hope by the answer, " I know 
 no more than I did yesterday." He was turn 
 ing away, when he found himself pushed along 
 into Hirt's private office. 
 
 "Just come in here, will you? I want to 
 speak to you. The opera business must go 
 on, you see, even in the tragic absence of 
 Tolna," Hirt said, with an odd smile. " Mr. 
 Alden, I am dissatisfied with Obermuller and 
 I intend to install a new stage-manager before 
 we start on the road. How would you like 
 the job?" 
 
 Finding his candidate too surprised to reply, 
 the impresario explained further. 
 
 " You and I have had our little frictions, 
 Mr. Alden. Well, on my side, at least, they 
 were not personal. My quarrel was with the 
 office you hold in my opinion (I speak 
 plainly, as I have always spoken) , a superflu 
 ous and mischievous one. Your presence as 
 Monsieur Tolna's interpreter annoys me. I 
 prefer to deal directly with my people. And 
 it has made me all sorts of trouble with my 
 company, every one of whom wants his or her 
 particular friend behind the scenes if Tolna is 
 to have his. As Tolna's manager, you are an 
 exasperation. As my manager, I make no 
 doubt you would be a tower of strength. I 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 351 
 
 know the training a man gets who has been 
 with Letsky in Vienna. I have seen a hun 
 dred times that you know your business better 
 than anybody it has ever been my good for 
 tune to meet. Will you come to me ? " 
 
 " Is n't your motive a good deal like a wo 
 man's when she marries a man to get rid of 
 him? " Denys attempted to take the situation 
 in a light and offhand manner. But before 
 he knew how he got there, he was on his feet 
 shaking the manager's hand in both of his. 
 " Herr Hirt, you have turned into reality the 
 dream of my life." 
 
 HE had been late in starting for the Opera- 
 House. Now, as he entered the auditorium, 
 the orchestra was already beginning the ex 
 quisite, haunting overture of " L'Enchan- 
 teresse." Almost against his will, his spirits 
 rose. He knew that he ought not to enjoy 
 one moment till he could right the wrong he 
 had done his friend, yet he could not but re 
 joice in the compliment paid him, in the op 
 portunity before him of correcting old abuses, 
 of introducing new devices, of inventing novel 
 interpretations, of breathing the breath of life 
 into the dry bones of dead conventions in 
 short, of riding his hobbies with a free rein, 
 
352 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLXA 
 
 till the American operatic stage should become 
 the model for the Old World. As he took his 
 place at the back of the three solid rows of en 
 thusiasts standing behind the orchestra chairs, 
 the atmosphere of the theater intoxicated him, 
 as always. He began to admit the possibility 
 that Maurice might yet be traced, and that all 
 might be well. 
 
 Then he groaned aloud, horrified that for a 
 moment he had forgotten his broken heart. 
 
 A lady near turned her head; then, appar 
 ently assured that what sounded like agony 
 was only musical appreciation, continued a 
 low- voiced conversation with her escort. 
 
 " But do you suppose there 's any truth in 
 the c Palladium ' story?" 
 
 " Did n't you see Hirt's denial in the ' Cal 
 liope ' this morning? " 
 
 " Monsieur Tolna's own denial would have 
 been more convincing." 
 
 "My dear girl, they did n't want to con 
 vince you. They wanted you and all the rest 
 of us to crowd in here to-night, all a-twitter to 
 find out whether he is going to sing." 
 
 "Just as I did! Harry, how cynical of you." 
 
 Now the curtain was rising on the lovely 
 scene of the enchanted lake, and the whispers 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 353 
 
 in the audience hushed to absolute silence. 
 Morgan le Fay sang and frolicked with her 
 nymphs; old Merlin wove his dark spells; 
 King Arthur's knights came by, a-hunting. 
 And now should young Sir Roland, alone and 
 on foot, steal back to the haunts that old tales 
 say shelter the fairy Morgan. 
 
 Denys could not see the stage. He must 
 wait till the song should tell him who was es 
 saying Roland. Before the first notes sounded 
 came such a storm of welcome as even the 
 hero-worshiping Metropolitan audience does 
 not give every day. Denys quivered from 
 head to foot. Could Grigni Erdmann 
 inspire this?" 
 
 And now Roland, half timidly at first, 
 gaining confidence as he goes on, begins to 
 plead with the powerful fay for the love-po 
 tion. Either Denys was mad, or it was Tolna's 
 voice. There was something strange about it, 
 a difference, a new timbre, a capacity for 
 emotion unknown to him, but in all the world 
 there was no such other voice. 
 
 Yet he might be he probably was mad. 
 He touched the lady in front of him on his 
 left. 
 
 "IsitTolna?" 
 
354 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 'Yes hush!" she answered, intent on the 
 last notes of the aria. 
 
 Denys turned to the person on his right, a 
 lad of fourteen or fifteen, who had been listen 
 ing with all his soul. Surely the boy would 
 not deceive him. 
 
 :< Who was it singing? " he asked. 
 
 The boy's look withered him. "Do you 
 suppose there 's anybody on earth that can 
 sing that way but Tolna? " 
 
 As Monsieur Tolna went to his dressing-room 
 after the fourteenth curtain-call, he was half 
 strangled by Denys's arm about his neck. 
 
 " Maurice, it 's the success of your life! " 
 
 " Glad you think so, Denny. More glad 
 you 're here. I thought you were n't." 
 
 " Maurice, I owe you the humblest apology. 
 I was all in the wrong in that matter " 
 
 " Oh, enough said. You thought you were 
 right, Denny. Are you going to take that 
 stage-managership ? Good enough ! We '11 be 
 a happy family once more, for I 've signed 
 with Hirt for three years." 
 
 1 You have ! When you declared you were 
 going to leave the stage? " 
 
 Maurice laughed. 
 
 " Oh, those were my salad days, when I was 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 355 
 
 green in judgment. They are over now. I 
 can't afford to be romantic and go knight- 
 erranting round in brokers' offices. I might 
 not succeed as a broker's clerk, and I can't 
 take risks. I 've got to bone down to the com 
 monplace, humdrum trade of opera-singing 
 and make money for my wife." 
 
 "So that 'sit?" 
 
 " That 's it, Denny." 
 
 " What a type of America! You won't be 
 an artist for Art's sake, but you will be one to 
 make money for your wife! " 
 
 " Portrait of a famous singer, life-size," se 
 renely acquiesced Maurice, going on with his 
 toilet. 
 
 "Why did n't you tell me, boy, that you 
 cared for somebody? Of course I should at 
 once have stopped urging my plea." 
 
 The singer laughed into his mirror. " Oh, 
 no, you would n't, Denys. You 'd have told 
 me that I deceived myself; that I really loved 
 Miss Fanning." 
 
 Denys, wincing, hastened to turn the sub 
 ject. 
 
 " If we could have guessed that you were 
 coming back " 
 
 " You knew. I said so in my note." 
 
 " You only said that you were going away." 
 
356 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 " Why, Denny ! surely I said c till Monday ' ? 
 No? Well, I wrote in a great hurry, to get 
 out of your reach. But anyhow Fra^ois 
 knew and Hirt. Hirt and I arranged it to 
 gether." 
 
 " And Hirt ! " Denys echoed, suddenly sink 
 ing down on a trunk. Maurice turned around 
 from the restoration of an eyebrow. 
 
 : 'Why, you must have known that if I 
 skipped Saturday's performance, it was by ar 
 rangement with Hirt. You must have known 
 I would n't break a date, old chap? " 
 
 There was nothing to say to this, and Denys 
 attempted nothing. He sat still, watching 
 the tenor's deft movements in a long silence. 
 After his own orgy of emotions, it was stupe 
 fying to find the object of them entirely tran 
 quil, matter of fact, matter of course, as if 
 nothing had happened. It was no less stupe 
 fying to realize that, except in his own imagi 
 nation, nothing had happened. 
 
 At last Denys found tongue. 
 
 "Of all blind, fatuous, determined, and 
 thoroughgoing fools, I seem to have been the 
 most blind, fatuous, determined, and thor 
 oughgoing." 
 
 "You mean your conduct toward Miss 
 Fanning? Don't put it in the past tense, 
 Denny." 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 357 
 
 Denys rose, looking rather white. 
 
 "That is the one name, Maurice, which 
 henceforth I can never hear, even from you." 
 
 "There you go off at half-cock again! 
 Look here, Denys ; you made me listen for two 
 days to talk of Miss Fanning. Now do you 
 listen for two minutes." 
 
 THE curtain was just rising on the second act 
 of " L'Enchanteresse " when Denys Alden, 
 hot-footed, breathless, his hair over his eyes, 
 shot into the Burnhams' box, precisely as on 
 that night, ten days before, when Margery 
 first saw Tolna. Mrs. Burnham was still 
 visiting the Frasers ; Mr. Burnham was asleep 
 in his corner ; Mrs. Fanning whispered across 
 the rail to Mrs. Minthorn, while Honor Ham 
 mond leaned over the front of the box, as if 
 she longed for wings to fly where her spirit al 
 ready was. Only Margery heard the door 
 open, and, turning, saw Denys in the tiny 
 anteroom. 
 
 Before she knew that she had thought of 
 moving, she stood at his side among the dan 
 gling cloaks. 
 
 " Margery, can you forgive me? " 
 
 " Denys, can you forgive me?" 
 
 The end of the opera might have found 
 
358 THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 
 
 them still there in each other's arms, had not 
 the exuberant return of Jessie Burnham, 
 Victrix, driven them apart. 
 
 "Hello, Mr. Alden!" exclaimed the vol 
 uble lady. " So the Prodigal returned, did 
 he? I can't see if he has the gold ring on his 
 finger and the chain round his neck. But of 
 course you 'd have the stage properties all 
 right. How did you enjoy that little yarn in 
 the * Palladium' ? Well, I 'm ready to call our 
 account square, now, if you are. Shake ! no ; 
 wait a minute. Why did n't you acknowledge 
 my floral tribute? You like symbolism, I 've 
 heard you say. But you have n't even an 
 swered the message on the card. I can tell 
 you it took me some time to think up one equal 
 to the occasion." 
 
 "Mrs. Burnham," faltered Denys, "I I 
 did not even read it. I I was very busy. 
 Pray pardon my negligence. You have 
 doubled your kindness by speaking of it." 
 
 " Oh, have I," smiled the lady, slipping into 
 her corner. 
 
 Moving past her, Margery and Denys ac 
 cepted the decorous proximity of two front 
 chairs. He was holding her hand under cover 
 of her scarf. For a time neither of them was 
 capable of hearing a bar of the music. But at 
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT TOLNA 359 
 
 length, when Roland, escaping the spell of the 
 treacherous Morgan, pours out to Violante all 
 his love and longing, the wonderful notes 
 would no longer be denied. Listening awhile 
 in ever-growing wonder, Denys at last whis 
 pered : 
 
 "Margery, does happiness make one not 
 only see, but hear, rose-color] Do I dream, or 
 is this boy singing as he never sang before? 
 Is n't he, after all, a mere mechanism without 
 a soul? An hour ago I was sure that I was 
 mad. But I can trust your sanity. Mar 
 gery, does he sing with the charm and sensi 
 bility and exaltation and passion which I have 
 gone about pretending that he had?" 
 
 Without a word, with the smallest move 
 ment of her head, Margery looked toward 
 Honor. 
 
 For a moment his glance dwelt on the girl's 
 rapt face; then followed her gaze to the face 
 of the singer turned upward toward her, see 
 ing only her. 
 
 Smiling, he whispered: 
 
 " It seems, then, that the more I romanced 
 and rhapsodized about his fire, his poetry, his 
 * soul,' the more exactly I was telling the truth 
 about Tolna." 
 
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