WITS AND THE 
 s~ WOMAN . 
 
 ~m VIOLET IRWIN
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN
 
 WITS 
 AND THE WOMAN 
 
 BY 
 VIOLET IRWIN 
 
 Author of "The Human Desire" 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 CHRISTINE T. CURTISS 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1919, 
 BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY 
 
 (INCORPORATED)
 
 TO 
 MY FRIENDS IN KHAKI 
 
 AND THEIR STERN ADVENTURES 
 
 2136470
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Call me one, if you like, at the end of the first 
 chapter and drop it. No apologies by request ; and no 
 hurt feelings; for, if I'm not prevaricating, I'm not 
 aiming to make converts or to start anything either. 
 Societies of Coalescent Souls and the Affinity Afflatus 
 don't exist for little Clarissa. They smack of Wash- 
 ington Square, and she's spent enough of her young 
 life in that neighborhood, and doesn't hanker ever 
 to cross its mental or material diagonals again. So 
 this story is just a sorting out, for my own satis- 
 faction, of the experiences of two eventful years; 
 and it's going to be done on my own method, regard- 
 less. Of course if you clap several thousand words 
 between two covers, it becomes a book, and the author 
 thereof breaks into the literary ring. I can't dodge the 
 issue. But I'd hate to think of anybody wasting a 
 dollar and a half on my account and being disap- 
 pointed, so I'll tell the high-brows right off the bat 
 this is no place for them. 
 
 My tale is a good tale, a ninety-five horse power, 
 twelve-cylinder scooter. It gyrates the whole spec- 
 trum in color ; but there's no more art about it than in 
 a cubist statue ; the plot resembles most a ragged bunch 
 of cold slaw ; and as for morality in the events I
 
 2 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 was riding on Fate's Twentieth Century Limited, and 
 I don't pretend to justify myself for every cinder that 
 flew out of the stack. 
 
 The Scientists said I was only a poll parrot any- 
 way, speaking from the mouth out and not to blame; 
 for mine, I'm willing to be a cuckoo, or a mocking- 
 bird, or a blue jay, or any other protectorate of the 
 Audubon Society, so long as the impersonation lands 
 me on a gilded perch. Every time I look around our 
 coop, from its double-decked studio living rooms to the 
 super clothes closets meaning those spacious apart- 
 ments where we park our duds I keep on saying 
 over and over to myself : " Truth sure is stranger than 
 fiction ! " Scaling mental platitudes is about all the 
 exercise " Poor Poll " gets these days. I miss effort 
 as I missed Henri de Grasse; I missed Henri like an 
 aching tooth extracted but more of that and I 
 didn't realize the ingrowingness of regular work. 
 
 Take it -from me, the stalled ox has a dull time. 
 Getting out of harness into depths of luxurious ease, 
 and sitting still there long enough for the dollar barna- 
 cles to encrust habit so that manners can't skid, is 
 no cinch. Perpetual loafing is right classy, and I'm 
 for it in my old age but to fill an hour till the 
 worst labor-hunger passes, just to buck me up against 
 boredom, I've decided to unstring those " beads of 
 perspiration on a thread of memory," as Terry calls 
 Henri's life and mine together, and make a pattern 
 of them. I could do it a conspicuous sight better 
 with Henri's help, if that might be. De Grasse had 
 education backing him in every move; and, though 
 sometimes hazy about the end, he was always perfectly 
 sure of his beginnings. He always preferred to look
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 3 
 
 upon an incident, no matter how final or unfortunate, 
 as the beginning of something else. Now I come to 
 think of it that may have started us off together. 
 
 On my side I can't find beginning or reason for 
 things except the weather. Since my very first tilt 
 with circumstances, I'm strong on the weather; I 
 never neglect it even in social conversation a quid 
 pro quo for the good turn old Sol did me when he fox- 
 trotted up the horizon off schedule, and filled a gray 
 October morn mad-full of ecstasy. Weather caused 
 Miss Stacy, head woman on Bain & Dingley's pay 
 roll, to forget; led a youth of impeccable character 
 into philandering; and for me Clarissa Kendall 
 it turned the bag of tricks right upside down. But 
 first, it filled me with a mighty discontent. 
 
 In those days there was no such thing for this 
 child as getting out of bed the wrong way, because 
 one edge of my cot stood hard and fast against the 
 wall of a six by six pill-box on the top floor of Madame 
 Buniva's establishment ; and the other wasn't quite 
 clear, being partly flanked by a dresser at the head. 
 No coruscating luxury illuminated that room or its 
 belongings, or its tenant, or its tenant's life. Barn- 
 acles chipped off naturally there against the corners of 
 the furniture ; and habit gathered momentum from the 
 dollar alarm clock at precisely six, rain or shine. 
 Everything had to be done ship-shape. My toilet 
 routine grew into a marvel of efficiency, each action 
 highly specialized toward saving time and not over- 
 crowding space where it didn't exist. Day began by 
 sliding cold feet from under a crazy quilt to the once- 
 was Brussels rug, and rising instanter. Lying, one 
 filled the bed and got the worth of one's money,
 
 4 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 but at Buniva's I always felt best in the perpen- 
 dicular insufficient nourishment had created stand- 
 ing shadows. I've got to hand it to Madame for 
 making her boarders fit into their niches. Flesh would 
 never have been able to navigate her halls, or squeeze 
 past other fleshies to its own place at the frugal 
 board. 
 
 It's a joke all I accomplished in the little bit of 
 less than nothing, my center floor, lighted only from 
 aloft. The first job that glorious day was to dive 
 under the bed, drag out an ironing board and " do up " 
 my best waist which had been washed over night. 
 " Cleanliness is next to godliness," had been one of 
 Granny's favorite maxims, and the old lady was pretty 
 nearly right all through life, except in mistaking a 
 gravel pit for a farm. Cleanliness is next to godli- 
 ness, but the poet neglected to indicate which side, 
 and as touching honors are the same value, I took the 
 liberty of playing them in my own order after I 
 came to New York just about the time I began 
 wearing my Sunday clothes every day. Fifth Avenue 
 proves how easy style can dispense with beauty, but 
 like as not beauty will get the look over without 
 style. The first slant I took at myself in a plate glass 
 window I knew Clarissa had a chance of both, and 
 then it was me for the rags. 
 
 Don't get me wrong. I was never silly about dress 
 or empty headed quite the contrary. With provo- 
 cation I could feel big things even then a bursting 
 sort of fullness inside music brought it on, and 
 colors and ideas. Some folks gas about aspiration, 
 and I fancy that's the tag. Weather does the same 
 sort of thing to one. Had I been able to throw up a
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 5 
 
 sash and wallow in that grand October breeze, I might 
 have got intoxicated with the rest. But I put it to 
 you did anybody ever aspire through a skylight? 
 Instead, I was just fair peeved. By whirlwinding 
 through breakfast I could make a few minutes extra 
 to amble to the shop; I'd have to stand there all day, 
 selling to lucky parasites what my own vanity craved 
 something awful; and by closing time the sun would 
 have scadoodled. Who says discontent isn't high 
 proof of reason? 
 
 Bain & Dingley's, the world where I worked, strad- 
 dles a side street and fills two city blocks with merchan- 
 dise. Its closed bridges, connecting the old and new 
 buildings, lend it the appearance of a massive hour- 
 glass tipped over ; but, though the great store sprawls, 
 it is full of dignity, and its isolation is its strength. 
 Fashion pouring through those bridges, daily, north 
 and south, and the cross-currents of wealth passing 
 under them in every type of motor car, would make the 
 legendary hoards of Bagdad look like thirty cents. 
 My arrival was, of course, timed too early for the 
 glittering show. The grim stone buildings at that hour 
 frowned prisonlike on waking business, with blue 
 blinds still drawn, nursing their emptiness. 
 
 Fine days everybody naturally stayed outside till 
 the last tick, and then tried to jam in all together and 
 pull the time clocks on the minute. Miss Stacy got 
 into the middle of our mob, and I had a chance to 
 glare at her well-tailored back. Not that I wanted 
 to be in her shoes managers and floor walkers are 
 only the cornbeef and cabbage of society, and I always 
 had a taste for caviare. But she was running in a 
 rut miles wider than mine and I respected her. I
 
 6 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 guess I was the most surprised of the lot when I 
 found how near she came to a cropper that after- 
 noon. 
 
 Seats of the mighty offer one advantage there's 
 some come and go about them. The king doesn't have 
 to sit on his throne and wear his trimmings all day, 
 whereas the lackey does. Our bosses and the sub- 
 bosses might by extra effort get off earlier ; so the heads 
 dug into their work as conspicuously as the cash-girls 
 slacked. Stacy seemed to be rooting hardest of the 
 bunch. She had burrowed through a stack of papers 
 cluttering her desk, and was throwing the last sheets 
 out with her hind feet, glancing at her wrist watch 
 now and then, and barking orders short and snappy, 
 when " Ting-a-ling-a-ling ! " went the standing 'phone 
 at her elbow, and the hand of Fate lammed her. The 
 lightning struck noiselessly, only a concise message in 
 a gentlemanly voice : " Lady Deering asks me to tell 
 you she will be a few minutes late." Yet the shock 
 nearly shattered Miss Stacy's reputation. It blasted 
 her clear out of her seat; and the thunder began to 
 rumble in about six seconds ! 
 
 Bain & Dingley prided themselves on selling every- 
 thing under the sun. You could have bought a dread- 
 naught there or a dozen of strictly commercial sub- 
 marines if you had thought to order them! But 
 one thing they held without money or price tickets 
 to their own theatre. These were given away; sent 
 out in gold-crested envelopes as thick as blotting 
 paper, and only to the ultra smart customers carry- 
 ing accounts in four and five figures. The theatre it- 
 self was a gem, rigged up in the heart of the new 
 building with a regular drop curtain and sloping floor,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 7 
 
 like the best in New York, only that around the 
 orchestra, level with the seats behind and with the 
 boxes in front, ran a wide platform set out with comfy, 
 loafy chairs and tea tables bearing dinky little cards 
 that offered the best tips on sandwiches and pastries 
 and no price mentioned just the swellest ever. 
 
 The entertainments given in this doll's play-house 
 were a special feature of our firm's advertising, and 
 no cheap graft either, the speakers being as high toned 
 as their audiences. Scheduled for that mad October 
 afternoon was the first show of the season and 
 Miss Stacy had forgotten. 
 
 Lady Deering, no end of a swell, had but recently 
 arrived in Manhattan and was being trotted round the 
 ring. Besides holding all the blue ribbons for birth 
 and education, she was a spiritualistic crank, and she 
 had consented to talk " for the sake of the cause " 
 and Miss Stacy had forgotten! 
 
 The aristocrat supported by her grand manner and 
 her several assistants was already on the way, when 
 our Lucy S. realized in an agony that she had not only 
 overlooked the date on the date, but had entirely for- 
 gotten to send out any invitations! 
 
 I'd have given up then. Gone to the slaughter like 
 a chicken just lain flop down and stuck my feet 
 in the air to be tied. Wouldn't you? 
 
 But our forewoman hadn't reached her position 
 by sloth, either mental or physical. Lady Deering's 
 message was good for twenty minutes; and with 
 everything at command one can do a lot in twenty 
 minutes. Stacy spun round like a mechanical top 
 buzzing directions. She got the tea-kitchen open by 
 turning the idle hour of our restaurant to good ac-
 
 8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 count; started one gang to removing dusters in the 
 theatre, while another arranged decorations com- 
 mandeered from the florist department, and a third 
 raided the millinery. What for? Wait! We all 
 knew her as a hustler and expected the lightning to 
 dissipate itself zig-zagging in every direction; but the 
 sheer inspiration of her first move had left us gasp- 
 ing. 
 
 " Envelope, ma'm ? " I was asking for the hun- 
 dredth time that day, when Sally Wing came running 
 with a tip to report in the costume department and 
 dress up as audience. You bet I didn't make any 
 bones about a customer. That bid wasn't open to 
 everybody, and I've done Sally many a good turn 
 since for bringing it around to me. Three minutes 
 later I was down there among the girls having the 
 time of my life. 
 
 The long, wide, quiet aisles, covered with dove-gray 
 carpet, hedged by storerooms on one side and dress- 
 ing-rooms on the other, which is the lay-out of our 
 costume department, teemed with excited females of 
 all ages and in all stages. Talk about a dress re- 
 hearsal! The undressing took but a jiffy, and then 
 there seemed to be hundreds of us all grabbing things, 
 and laughing and squealing for joy as we buttoned 
 each other up; while the dummies stood by in digni- 
 fied rebuke like so many perfect ladies. Such a lark 
 hadn't ever happened before to brighten our humdrum 
 lot behind the counters, and it never would again 
 not during Stacy's term of office so it was up to us 
 to make the most of it. The dressing bee was fine; 
 but think of sitting for a restful hour in the hallowed 
 circle of those orchestra seats, where only very big
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 9 
 
 toffs were invited, and having one of the highest high- 
 brows and tallest toffs abandoned to our absorbed gaze 
 for all that time. Why, we'd be able to reckon the 
 buttons on her shoes, let alone her diamonds! We 
 didn't count much on her entertainment as such, but 
 the whole thing was a rare treat without that, and 
 rare things are apt to be fizzy. Men need wines to 
 light them up, but girls can be the bubbly stuff itself 
 when they get going. That costume department 
 effervesced like newly opened champagne for fifteen 
 delirious minutes. 
 
 I gave the mob the once over, decided gigglers 
 wouldn't get to the party at all, besides delaying 
 others, and then went straight to a saleswoman and 
 put myself in her hands as if I. were a customer. Her 
 practised eye took in my points, and she knew the 
 stock; a jiffy later she had sorted me out the correct 
 size in a dark green broadcloth. Say, it was a peach ! 
 I'd never expected to have even the copy of such a 
 model on my humble back. She shooed off some 
 of the herd and gave me my pick of a bunch of hats 
 that had just been brought up; and when she threw 
 me a marabou muff and scarf to complete the toilet, 
 I dove into a dressing room and gloated. I'm not 
 so very tall, but when one's body is in perfect pro- 
 portion to one's legs, a little slimness goes a long way. 
 And I always did carry my chin high ! Little Clarissa 
 had never been dressed right before not to say real 
 swell and I hardly recognized the perfectly lovely 
 doll turning slowly before that mirror. But I was 
 keen enough to catch at the first glance her having 
 them both good and plenty style and the other. 
 
 I floated toward the edge of the department, and
 
 io WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 began to feel as if I was IT; and just then Miss 
 Stacy came bustling back to round up her audience. 
 She looked at me, hesitated and turned away. That 
 was my cue. The imitation lady sailed up. I meant 
 it as a joke, and thought if I asked to be directed to 
 the lingerie, it would put her wise ; but she didn't spot 
 me, and you bet I was game to carry the play-acting 
 through. I knew the way to my own department as 
 well as the way to Buniva's, and it sure was the limit 
 to hear her explaining it all as polite as pie; but of 
 course I couldn't smile much just that gracious con- 
 descension swells bestow on shop people. She bit till 
 you could listen to her teeth click, and at the end of 
 the directions offered me a card, saying: 
 
 " Lady Deering, the renowned spiritualist, is lectur- 
 ing here this afternoon, and I understand she will give 
 some examples of their their processes. It will be 
 most interesting would you care to have a ticket? " 
 
 Stacy to the dot ! Smart as a steel trap, and never 
 missing a chance; and consider where it put me, will 
 you? Hall-marked me right into the top rank. 
 
 I took the pasteboard, asking for the time and place 
 as if for news ; and along with the ticket came a bright 
 idea. By going down in one elevator, and slipping 
 across and up in another on the far side, I lost our 
 gang. Instead of sitting in rows with the shop girls, 
 I was free to choose a seat, and for one intoxicating 
 hour pass myself off as a social item. So much I 
 planned. 
 
 The up-elevator was crowded, and a young fellow, 
 squeezed into a corner, kept on asking anxiously for 
 the theatre. I couldn't hold my curiosity back from 
 peeping, because I knew he must have been invited by
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN u 
 
 the old dame herself, and she, being such a big bug, 
 all her friends even the sort that sacrificed a fine 
 day running to hear her lecture must be real people. 
 The man was taking a look too, at the identical 
 moment ; our eyes met and he blushed that got 
 me. Blushing is scarce in the lower walks of life 
 folks who have to rustle for a living have too much 
 brass or too little blood. I guess I treated the kid to 
 a smile, because, when he had allowed me to pass out, 
 he walked along close behind, and after I had chosen 
 a place in the theatre, he came and sat down beside 
 me, making us look as if we were together. And that 
 didn't spell finis. He kept on peeking every little 
 while, till I began to get sore and gave him a bit of a 
 cold shoulder, as a swell would do, then he turned 
 lobsterish all over and I felt real sorry for him. 
 
 The young man fidgeted, as if I was roasting 
 him on a grill. He doubled under his chair for his 
 hat making to leave I watching him out of the tail 
 of my eye and he cocked one eye up at me with a 
 supplicating look. The worst of being an amateur is 
 overdoing things. I saw I'd overdone the snub, so I 
 threw him a smile to make amends, and I guess I over- 
 did that too. For he bobbed up like a cork, and com- 
 menced fussing with his overcoat. I was feeling 
 about him as if he was a nursery pet belonging to 
 somebody else, when he staggered me by pulling some 
 papers out of the pocket and handing one over to me, 
 asking if I'd been at Lady Deering's last lecture and 
 if I'd care to have her season's programme? I 
 glimpsed a portrait of the English grandee in all her 
 war paint, and thinking it would be awful fun to have 
 it to show the girls, I put out my hand quick.
 
 12 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 He misspelled my action altogether, calling it en- 
 thusiasm, and, taking an ell where I gave an inch, 
 opened right up. It was my turn to blush now, but I 
 couldn't chuck him. He went on talking like a long 
 lost relative. My coming across on the subject made 
 him put me in his own class as a bug on hypnotism 
 and there were all those girls sitting around taking 
 me for the swell's sister, or his cousin or his aunt. 
 
 In almost the next breath he asked me if I wouldn't 
 have some tea, we could see so much better from the 
 gallery. It was quite the custom to secure a table 
 before the lecture so you'd be sure of your tea at the 
 end, and this was the nearest I'd ever come to a square 
 invitation from a gentleman. Oh, he was the real 
 article the i was dotted and the t's crossed in his 
 toilet, and he spoke with a broad A. Believe me, I 
 was more than excited, but instead of studying the 
 cute little card, he handed out with a club address 
 in one corner, I took a good slant at his open face 
 where pinkness and youth and zeal and hope struggled 
 together. It was all so impersonal who could have 
 refused a harmless beverage? 
 
 We seated ourselves in loungy chairs from which 
 one could see and hear magnificently. Gee ! It walks 
 to you when you have the price. I leaned back and 
 enjoyed luxury as if I had been born with a golden 
 spoon in my mouth; and the situation didn't lose 
 flavor by the knowledge that Bain & Dingley were 
 paying for my time. 
 
 " The Honorable Angelica Deering," as her cards 
 read, put all the frills on her spirit lecture that the 
 law allows. When we were going a gait at scientific 
 research, she'd suddenly shut off the gas and roll into
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 13 
 
 something popular; then, quite without warning, she'd 
 speed up from the variety stuff till you could hear 
 occult ideas rattle in our poor heads like a handful 
 of dried peas thrown into a dish-pan. We marked 
 time thankfully when she called for a demonstration, 
 and Henri de Grasse appeared. His coming sent a 
 flutter over the audience for we didn't expect men- 
 folk, and every last one of us sat up to take stock. 
 He was the kind of looking chap a girl doesn't ap- 
 proach with impunity, 'specially if she has any claim 
 to beauty, or happens to be alone in a rural district 
 dark, suave, elegant, and about the shape of a poor 
 asparagus stalk. I'll bet there wasn't a youngster in 
 the theatre who didn't fall in love with the beau at first 
 sight. 
 
 De Grasse announced himself quite ready to mes- 
 merize any of us, and asked for a volunteer. I was 
 crazy to see it done and so seemed everybody else, 
 for they all began to turn their heads and whisper; 
 but we waited and waited on pins and needles and not 
 a soul moved forward. Not a blessed one of our 
 hundred odd had the courage! 
 
 The hall was pretty well filled by that time. Seeing 
 something going on, naturally, the shoppers drifted 
 in; but ladies of leisure apparently haven't any more 
 courage than poor eight-hour slaves, and by and by I 
 realized, if we were to have the show, I'd be obliged 
 to report myself. 
 
 Rising slowly I waited for my new-young-man 
 friend to let me pass. He put out his hands as though 
 to prevent me leaving. I thought I heard him say 
 something about it being perfectly safe. Then, sud- 
 denly, in the intense stillness of the room he twigged
 
 14 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 my idea. A sort of a too-good-to-be-true look shot 
 the anxiety in his glance. I found out later he was 
 rabid on spirits, feared them, you know, and went in 
 for seances and cold shivers regularly; but at the 
 moment I just caught the shift of his expression as 
 I was moving down the stairs. A tale from Granny's 
 old volume of " Hans Christian Andersen " flashed 
 before me, and I clung to the living memory of a " dog 
 with eyes as big as saucers " while toddling up the 
 aisle. Strange how crazy things like that pop into 
 your mind uninvited, and how much they help. If 
 I'd been thinking hard about what I was doing, I don't 
 believe I'd have had the nerve to carry on. 
 
 Their entire outfit must have been afraid I'd get 
 cold feet, because they all hustled to make a fuss over 
 me. Lady Deering herself shook hands, and de 
 Grasse danced around like a hen on a hot griddle. 
 I knew from the minute he helped me on to the plat- 
 form that he was awful keen. He was the strangest 
 man I ever met. Just having my hands touched 
 casually by his sent a shock and a thrill all over me. 
 I felt a girl oughtn't to like him, and yet I did he 
 made me like him. During the few seconds we talked 
 he reeled off a whole lot of silly stuff about spiritual 
 affinity, that I'm too modest to repeat anyway there 
 was no sense to it but I saw I had made a regular 
 hit ; and I was mad clear through to think that in less 
 than five minutes the man would have me doing what- 
 ever he wanted. 
 
 One of those old-fashioned writer fellows claimed 
 women like being seen far better than seeing; but I 
 guess the last is best for a show of this kind. Beyond 
 being introduced to Lady Deering and the rest there
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 15 
 
 didn't promise to be any fun in it for me. I was set 
 in a chair, and things got duller and duller till I went 
 under exactly like taking gas in a dentist's shop. 
 From the instant de Grasse faded out I knew nothing, 
 but Griggs told me about it. Griggs is the name of 
 the young gentleman with whom I'd been drinking 
 tea. 
 
 I proved a wonderfully easy subject, so de Grasse 
 had me in his hands from the start; and he made me 
 do some terrible fool acts too. Most of the show was 
 over. I was sicking a dog at a rat hole, calling, " Get 
 him, Nibs," slapping my knee, and behaving in general 
 as if I were a ten-year-old cub in pants and a short 
 jacket, and the girls were rocking in their chairs with 
 laughter, while de Grasse stood in the middle of the 
 platform, his arms folded, making me do it. When 
 Crack! Like the crack of doom, came a hideous, 
 shattering sound, followed by silence. De Grasse and 
 I both crumpled up, and Lady Deering ran whimper- 
 ing off the platform. 
 
 A piercing scream startled the silence and pan- 
 demonium broke loose. The whole gang had been 
 feeling creepy over my exhibition and other stunts, 
 and murder on top of it slipped the hounds' leash. 
 The girls from the shop behaved as if they had lost 
 their reason. They yelled and fought to make way. 
 Some yelped like beaten pups, some fainted, others 
 tore their hair. Miss Stacy might as well have 
 talked to the four winds. Customers loitering in the 
 doors, which had unhappily been left open, ran into 
 the store with a dozen mad contradictory reports, 
 electrifying women who were quietly pursuing their 
 own interests at the counters, and sending them wildly
 
 16 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 to the scene of horror, crying fatuously could they 
 help, and what was it all about? Every little bit 
 makes a little bit more in Bedlam. Between those 
 pushing to have a look in, and the scared crowd striv- 
 ing to leave, the center hall came dangerously near to 
 being a field of bloody battle. 
 
 Griggs sprang over the gallery railing and was by 
 my side in a jiffy. He didn't know at first, he said, 
 whether the shot had been aimed at me or de Grasse. 
 He lifted me looking for a mortal wound, and I opened 
 my eyes. That made him feel different. One of the 
 stage hands helped him get me into a chair, and there 
 I sat, still and white, but gazing calmly at all those 
 raving lunatics. He took my composure for the out- 
 ward sign of breeding, real people don't act in 
 emergencies like a pack of cats and dogs, and he 
 thought me a pretty plucky girl. But it wasn't self- 
 control, and I don't deserve any praise. When one 
 hasn't been frightened, one stays quiet; and I was far 
 too much occupied to be afraid. I was consciously 
 enjoying the queerest sensations. Some great splen- 
 did power seemed to be pouring all through me. It 
 pricked and tingled. I was thrilled as I had been 
 when de Grasse took my hand, only a thousand times 
 more so. My brain glowed inside like an incandes- 
 cent lamp; my pulses beat double measure without ef- 
 fort; my spirits swam to the lift of the proscenium 
 arch, maybe higher. I might have aspired through 
 a skylight even ! I felt I could skip upon a thousand 
 hills. Colts in pasture and boys out of school are as 
 hobbled donkeys compared to the terrific exhilaration 
 of my humanity. 
 
 I knew that Clarissa Kendall had just begun to live.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 17 
 
 Bah! what most of us call life is merely a hanging 
 on! My whole being was filled with lightness and 
 energy. The medium had been killed and I was 
 twice alive. I knew swiftly and surely, as later I 
 came to knowledge of many things, that in a mys- 
 terious way de Grasse had grabbed me. From this 
 moment I would be in body a beautiful young girl, 
 but in mentality a combination of the sexes an 
 ambitious woman and a clever man. The stupendous 
 knowledge kept me silent. 
 
 Soon, the burning in my brain-pan and the sparks 
 dancing before my eyes merged into form. Did you 
 ever gaze at the sun till your lamps watered and then 
 look away and see only floating splotches of color on 
 light? That was it. The mass molted and floated 
 and came out positive again. At one minute there 
 seemed to be a cat's face watching me, at the next a 
 serpent emerged with two wings spread. It turned 
 from purple to green or red and back again, till I 
 lost the shape of the vision in its confusion of color; 
 and suddenly it flashed black on white and died clean 
 away. For an instant I saw the snake with its twirly 
 tail, as plain as a printed page, then it was gone and 
 my eyes relieved from strain set my other senses free 
 to deafen me with knowledge of the hub-bub all 
 around. 
 
 " Let's get out of here," Griggs kept on saying over 
 and over, but he didn't manage to get anywhere on 
 account of those noisy, stampeding girls. 
 
 "Are you all right?" he asked for the twentieth 
 time. Others came from the management and asked 
 too, and believing him to be my escort left me to his 
 care.
 
 i8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I was all right, more than fit, feeling magnificent 
 
 full of a man's courage veiled in femininity and 
 quickened to deceit. I was certainly on the job, and 
 I learned in a trice that somebody else was on the job 
 also; for my first action flabbergasted Clarissa. She 
 would never have been able to plan so far ahead, and 
 a mere shop girl would never have dared to take the 
 glass of water they brought her and pour it right down 
 the front of Bain & Dingley's gorgeous suit. When 
 I saw myself do so, and scanned the ruin of those 
 borrowed plumes, I thought I must be going dippy, 
 and Griggs thought about the same. I just sat and 
 looked up helpless from the cold thin trickle to his 
 amazed stare; and down again, and away and around 
 
 all so sweet and utterly futile and dependent, it ap- 
 pealed to his manhood good and sharp. Anyway, he 
 took the lead like a battering ram and got us out of 
 there. 
 
 Seeing the John Bull rampant fairly tickled me, 
 though I've learned since by visiting the right little, 
 tight little island that every Englishman knows how 
 to bully. Griggs hectored the crowd and got his own 
 way all along the line, while I hung on to him me ! 
 that's so shy about getting close to the male sex. 
 However, any fool could see this boy-doll was per- 
 fectly safe, and it rounded out the business of my 
 part. The heavier I hung the pinker and fiercer he 
 grew, and in spite of a buzzing head for there was 
 some excitement, believe me my muff came in handy 
 as a laughter valve, the hysterical woman in Miss 
 C. K. being unable to squelch completely Henri de 
 Grasse's man-relish of our comical situation. After 
 once catching the hang of the thing I wasn't behind
 
 19 
 
 him in appreciation, for it sure is fun to be the 
 audience and the show too. I was constantly spouting 
 neat little sentences, most unexpected to me, and then 
 patting myself on the back over saying them so well. 
 
 For instance, as we neared the Broadway entrance, 
 I heard my own distressed voice murmur: 
 
 " Perkins won't be here yet whatever shall I 
 do?" Say it came out natural! An eavesdropper 
 would have thought I had dozens of servants. I ought 
 to have been scared to introduce a character bang off, 
 just like that, without the ghost of a chance of having 
 him cast; but Perkins got over. Howard Griggs 
 eagerly brushed him aside. 
 
 " My man is here under these unusual circum- 
 stances will you not permit me entirely at your 
 service " and more of the same. He certainly knew 
 how to do the courtesy act. " You're ah, not fit to 
 be alone," served as a clincher. 
 
 I was not, if he said so; moreover, I hadn't the 
 slightest intention of being alone. I might have 
 counted the automobile rides I'd had to date on the 
 fingers of one hand, and my slave's soul trembled 
 toward freedom. The temptation of driving up Fifth 
 Avenue at fashion's hour and in fashion's choice 
 regalia put the blinkers on fear. That rumpus we had 
 left upstairs would surely cover a short absence, and 
 if my lark did lead to trouble, it was at least the kind 
 of trouble with the decency to come afterward. I 
 didn't need cle Grasse putting it up to me that the game 
 was worth a whole pound of candles. 
 
 Foredoomed to push my luck that day, I soon began 
 to realize with joy the acceleration of one man-power 
 behind my feeble pushing.
 
 20 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 It was I who sank into the deep cushions of Griggs's 
 hospitality; but it was undoubtedly Henri directing, 
 " Ritz Carlton," and Henri who parted from the 
 stranger at one door of the hotel and then stepped 
 double-quick to a side entrance and took a taxi back 
 to Bain & Dingley's. I'm not a fool. I wasn't quite 
 a two-spot originally, but I wish to give de Grasse 
 all the credit coming to him. I don't want him ever 
 to be a bit peeved on me heaven only knows what 
 he might contrive to do even now! 
 
 I'm ashamed to say Clarissa deserted that taxi in 
 front of the emporium at times honesty is no policy. 
 I beat it for the costume department, and by shedding 
 my hat and slipping off the green coat, it was possible 
 to steal in among the girls, unrecognized. Hazards, 
 as laid in our gang, being a hollow form of words, 
 were flying thick; the burning question whether the 
 mesmeree had shot de Grasse. Public opinion was 
 dead against her, and you bet I kept mum. I hung 
 the damaged suit where I'd be sure of finding it again, 
 and then went quietly back to my own counter. I 
 was shaking in my shoes on account of the waiting 
 chauffeur, for I didn't know Henri as well as I do 
 now, but he took his diploma on the very first event. 
 Closing time proved him right in guessing that a taxi 
 driver would never spot his whilom elegant fare 
 among the hundreds of girls leaving Bain & Dingley's 
 by an employees' exit.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Up to that day I had always thought that I thought. 
 There were evenings when I'd sit with my chin in my 
 hand and if Madame, good soul, asked what was 
 wrong, I'd say, " I'm thinking." But, gee! I'd never 
 done any thinking in my whole life. 
 
 For real consecutive thinking one has got to have 
 brains and training. De Grasse had them both. He 
 taught me a whole lot, and I showed him one or two 
 trifles. I made him own that women are marvels at 
 duplicity. " Beauty and brains," he'd say. " Beauty 
 and brains both kinds we'll beat the world ! " 
 
 After I got to know Henri I began to like him pretty 
 well. His chief fault was that he wanted to get rich 
 too quick. Of course he lied who doesn't? And 
 he was a bit shaky on honor; but if you're not in with 
 an honorable crowd what's the use ? I wouldn't 
 do a mean trick on Terry's people for a million 
 straight Henri's bunch were different. 
 
 When we'd arrived at better acquaintance, we didn't 
 have to talk about beauty and brains and such things 
 we just lived it. And we could act along like one 
 person without a hitch. But at first we had regular 
 debates. I learned life wasn't worth a hill o' beans 
 unless one meet up with Success. And success in the 
 race of life, as in horse racing, depends largely on the 
 getaway. Unless you draw an inside place at the post, 
 you'll have a devil of a run. 
 
 21
 
 22 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Clothes, he said, were the hall-mark of Success, 
 and there wasn't any use entering at all if one didn't 
 wear the right colors. Then I knew why I had poured 
 that glass of water over a perfectly good suit. The ac- 
 cident brought its value within the faint outermost 
 ring of my financial orbit. Next day, I went straight 
 to Miss Stacy and told her about the skirt being spoiled 
 in the panic, laying it on thick when it came to ruin, 
 and offered her so much a week out of my wages. 
 Looked like I was awful honest. The forewoman 
 acted pretty nice over it, and named a low figure. I 
 guess with the police in charge, and Mr. Bain and Mr. 
 Dingley worried to death to hush up a scandal, and 
 scores of reporters being continually shooed off the 
 premises and butting in again, turning up in the guise 
 of customers and salesmen, hanging around the count- 
 ers buying nothings, with their eyes peeled all the time, 
 and their tongues fairly hanging out to lick up news, 
 Stacy wasn't anxious to hear us elaborate on her fak- 
 ing an audience. So I gained easy leave to take the 
 ruin home, and after operating it on the old ironing- 
 board for the longest Sunday morning on record, its 
 peachy surface came as good as new. 
 
 Another matter de Grasse opened his eyes about was 
 reading. Of course I had always glanced through the 
 paper, if it was handy, and kept up with the divorce 
 news, and the society weddings lots of the brides 
 bought their things from me. Now I took a sheet 
 regular, eleven cents a week, mind you, but it's noth- 
 ing venture, nothing win and I read it from cover 
 to cover with my lamps lit searching opportunity. If 
 it wasn't for bluff, opportunity would be the whole 
 thing in Success anyway it's mighty important.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 23 
 
 Henri conducted my education by making me read 
 aloud the opportunities offering. At first I was taken 
 in by words it said chances to buy houses cheap, 
 so cheap and so desirable tears fairly sprung to your 
 eyes to think of the loving owners having to part 
 with them at all; and chances to buy businesses; and 
 chances to invest money but I soon saw that wasn't 
 to the point, me not having any money to invest ; be- 
 sides, I knew Henri was laughing up my sleeve. 
 Finally the worm turned. I threw the paper down, 
 telling him to go seek his old opportunity for himself, 
 and that blooming sheet flopped open right on the 
 society columns where they talk about all sorts of 
 smart happenings notices that don't figure to be 
 advertisements on the top line, but are so just the 
 same. The first one my eye lighted on was a Charity 
 Bridge to be given at the Ritz in a week. There fol- 
 lowed a long list of names and prizes donated by 
 swells: a Chow dog by Mrs. van Buister Clapp, a 
 pianola from Winchley le Peyesent, an automobile by 
 somebody else, an opera box, a vacuum-cleaner and a 
 whole lot more things. It sure did look like a party, 
 if one could have been in the winning class. 
 
 Henri vaunted himself over finding that item, and 
 claimed it was the only real opportunity in New York. 
 
 " But I don't play bridge," I objected. " I don't 
 know how. And anyway, I never won a prize in my 
 life." 
 
 All the same Clarissa was forced to cut the silly 
 piece out and pin it up on her dresser; and the next 
 thing I knew I was borrowing the " A. B. C. of 
 Bridge " from our first-floor front. 
 
 " If I deal the cards," Henri argued, " you won't
 
 24 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 need to do much playing. And besides, you want 
 to go. You've bartered your liberty for a fine new 
 suit now what is the use of a becoming costume and 
 no place to wear it? " 
 
 De Grasse had always been foxy with the women; 
 it's no wonder he egged me on till I filled up with the 
 spirit of the gamble and grew keener than a March 
 wind. 
 
 Once started I was just as good as Henri in the 
 money spending line. On Saturday afternoon I 
 travelled up to the Vacation Savings' office and drew 
 out all my capital. They tried hard to make girlie 
 leave some " Just a nest egg." But my second 
 wouldn't stand for half measures. He said he was 
 going to put our money where it would draw interest 
 or bust; and not to be a little Sally-sucker, and a 
 diffident dub. I always had thought it right cute of 
 them to handle working girls' accumulated ready and 
 not .pay over any of the unearned increment. How- 
 ever, I'm grateful to them for making me save, be- 
 cause it ended in a perfectly splendid three hours buy- 
 ing a hat, and gloves, and shoes, and a fixing for my 
 neck. I wanted to corral the ticket also, but Henri 
 postponed that purchase till the last minute, explain- 
 ing if I walked in and presented a pass, they'd wonder 
 why I was not with my own party ; and it was always 
 best in such cases to attract as little attention as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 On Tuesday I'd have gone to the shop like an 
 honest simp, and asked for the afternoon off and 
 perhaps not got it. Henri pointed out the safe way 
 was to lie in bed and makes excuses later, so I loafed, 
 but I didn't sleep after six ; didn't want to for that
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 25 
 
 matter lying awake and thinking about not having 
 to get up was such a treat! My old alarmy showed 
 three hours past before Buniva came up hunting 
 trouble. Board is board seven days in the week and 
 Herself never countenanced any trifling with the al- 
 mighty dollar. If every last one of her family didn't 
 materialize for breakfast, business instincts drove her 
 aloft. She was a jolly, helpful soul aside from tariff, 
 and hearing of the party she promised to give me 
 lunch and let it stand on the bill instead of breakfast 
 a clear saving to me of fifteen cents. 
 
 Time, they say, was made for slaves, but the less 
 folks accomplish the faster it goes. My idle hours 
 simply whirred. I could hear them pass. I didn't 
 do a thing but manicure myself from top to toe, so 
 as to be worthy of the new duds ; and fuss up the little 
 trimmings on my waist; and try my hair in a dozen 
 ways till I struck the sympathetic note for hat and face. 
 My hair certainly is grand the color of a squirrel's 
 back in the sun, as one of Terry's poetic friends told 
 me. I punctured his metaphor at the time by asking 
 if he meant a gray squirrel, and he ran on flat tires 
 all the rest of the evening; but it wasn't a bad descrip- 
 tion. Every hair is long, mere man won't be able to 
 fathom the value of that remark; it lies smooth, you 
 know, and holds a marcel for a week; and I haven't 
 too much, which is almost as awkward as none, but 
 just the right amount to make sure of following any 
 mode. 
 
 Henri held appearances didn't matter in this outing 
 as they would all be women. Then I knew I'd be 
 obliged to order a primer or graft femininity on to the 
 roots of his ignorance like a tea rose. The why-for
 
 26 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 of gorgeous apparel is the mental effect on oneself. 
 That brand of courage needed to face patronesses 
 and head waiters rises higher as the rising tide of 
 dollars surges over one's person. Flowing lines make 
 for egotism and a train is a great moral support. 
 Take it from your Uncle Dudley, the hats of history 
 have carried through more mischief than the heads 
 beneath them. I knew this affair would be every 
 woman for herself, and the devil take the dowdiest, 
 so I spread myself on a toilet, and when a hotel mirror 
 had assured me that my skirt hung even and my stock- 
 ings hadn't ripped at the heel, I felt as if the Queen 
 of Sheba were my orphant niece, and I issued out and 
 ordered a taxi in my most regal manner. We put up 
 the price to drive from the Manhattan, because de 
 Grasse maintains arriving on foot is bound to take the 
 starch out of any enterprise. On wheels you may be 
 anybody, but pedestrianism sure is low down or hard 
 up. 
 
 The boy jumped so quick to the door I wondered 
 if he could have remembered me arriving in Griggs's 
 car; but when I saw the crowd, I got him. There 
 were all kinds present, and some of them pretty plain 
 dressers. I guess they took their fill of high life when 
 the price of getting in and out again was only three 
 dollars. I looked a swell. Money talks, even my 
 little savings' book full. Everything I had on the 
 outside was brand new a la the millionaire. I'd 
 always fancied it must be uncomfortable and you're 
 right, it was. New stays, high heels and a brimless 
 hat the Inquisition wasn't in class, and the self- 
 consciousness of it kept me from giving my whole 
 mind to what was going forward. Launched alone
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 27 
 
 in those gigantic rooms amid a thousand she peacocks 
 I felt like a chip going over Niagara, and I had to fall 
 back on Henri. That's where he got the upper hand. 
 Every time we maneuvered on new ground I fell back, 
 and soon he was doing all the ordering. It was next 
 door to matrimony, only more fun, because no one 
 understood about my better half. A real fine looking 
 girl is a peril and the boys don't forget it. Of course 
 there's always a sucker or two hanging about the 
 married dames, happy to bask in the grateful cer- 
 tainty they can't tar them with father's blessing and 
 feather them with wedding plans at the first act of in- 
 discretion; but, thank God, the bulk of males are men, 
 and any fellow worth his salt still yearns toward 
 danger especially when it's unescorted. 
 
 Incapable of counting a pip that afternoon I leaned 
 hard on de Grasse, and he certainly did rise to the 
 occasion; between my partner and me holding all the 
 cards once in four, and fair hands other times, we ate 
 them up. I hadn't set my heart on a prize, however, 
 and when they called my name and handed out the 
 opera box, I'm afraid little Clarissa attracted bushels 
 of attention. It made Henri mad. Always disap- 
 proving of publicity he hustled me into a taxi and 
 home, saying it was only a beginning anyway and no 
 time to crow.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 De Grasse and I had a fight that evening because 
 I refused to hand everything over to him holus-bolus. 
 One of those opera invitations was destined for 
 Howard Griggs. I wasn't in love with the boy, mind 
 you, in spite of hanging on to him in the shop, but 
 I thought it would be a lark to see him again; and 
 having made up my mind I didn't intend to be domin- 
 ated. Besides who else was there to ask ? 
 
 It's a sure thing if any friendly philanthropist had 
 chucked me a bunch of opera tickets before I got mixed 
 up with Henri, I'd have cut for Buniva's, had a glori- 
 fication with the family, and then rigged little old 
 Madame up in her best togs and carried her off to hear 
 " Caroose." But the party wasn't pleasure now. It 
 had to be considered as a business opportunity. Ambi- 
 tion is the most devastating kill-joy known! 
 
 Instead of making merry I went straight and shut 
 myself in my room to figure the thing out. I was 
 terribly scared de Grasse would insist on selling the 
 box for I did want to see the show and I deter- 
 mined to render that scheme impossible without loss 
 of time. I'd swiped a piece of paper and an envelope 
 from the Ritz, so, when I finished composing a note, 
 a few brief noncommittal lines, I stuck the ticket in 
 and mailed it quick. Henri had noticed the club ad- 
 dress and said in an offhand way, we might as 
 well keep on the youngster's track. He had no ob- 
 
 28
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 29 
 
 jections to Griggs. But he thought he could run our 
 campaign best, and he was sore at me for acting on 
 my own. After that he sunk himself deep in the 
 sulks and refused all communication. 
 
 Two entire days those swell bits of card lay in my 
 room untouched, except for the way I fingered them 
 while I was trying to think. I'd sort them out in a 
 row on the bed and gloat; and then rearrange them 
 and sit gazing but I failed to hit upon a classy plan. 
 Memory kept hopping and skipping from one silly 
 detail to another: the clothes some of the women had 
 worn, and how the old chap looked when he gave 
 me the prize, and what they said at the shop next 
 morning. My mind showed about as much concen- 
 tration as a frayed rope end. 
 
 By-and-by I grew nervous over missing an oppor- 
 tunity we didn't even have to go after, but which 
 snuggled all ready and waiting in the top bureau 
 drawer. Time passed, and it was a rank shame. I 
 gave in and apologized. I guess women are most 
 sensible about these affairs; Henri ought to have done 
 the humility act if he hadn't been too stiff necked 
 he was anxious to make up all right. He had been 
 thinking the situation out, in his wounded seclusion, 
 and was ready to get to work with a plan cut and dried 
 I had only to follow directions. 
 
 The passports were delivered in a big thick white 
 envelope, regular wedding stationery, tied with ribbon. 
 I had laid the last away to use in a chemise, but now 
 we dug them both out, and sealed and tied our 
 treasures, still innocent of address; and then, putting 
 on my oldest clothes I sallied forth. Rain smirched 
 the darkness into inkier black, and it was cold. How-
 
 30 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ever, my heart throbbed to adventure, and I was re- 
 lieved over making up with Henri. The past forty- 
 eight hours had been worse than an attack of indiges- 
 tion. I decided never to quarrel with him again 
 happen what might. Standing there waiting for an 
 up-town car we sealed our bargain; and the very 
 gutters purling at my feet seemed to lilt a jollier note. 
 
 I was bound for the club district. Henri main- 
 tained that having decent clothes the next item on the 
 list for me was some stylish acquaintances. He felt 
 sure I only needed to meet folks; and intended intro- 
 ducing me, in his own fashion, to the right people 
 the opera-box kind. Little by little one learns the re- 
 sourcefulness of a confidence man that was a name 
 people called Henri when they didn't like him and 
 it was a splendid name! After the outcome of this 
 event, which was far reaching as you'll see, he had 
 gained my entire confidence. 
 
 There was no use picking out Griggs's club, or any 
 of the smaller, exclusive places, because the men be- 
 longing to them had boxes of their own; and the 
 university clubs" are apt to harbor honest, poor chaps. 
 So we decided on the Engineers' as our likeliest 
 gamble ; and I alighted at Fortieth Street, and plodded 
 through the drizzle to that colossal pile. The neigh- 
 borhood proved quite deserted. A glance to right and 
 left assured me of safety for the moment, and, quick 
 as a dart, I made the toss we had cast our bread 
 upon the water. I stole across to the opposite side 
 to watch for signs of an immediate return, for I've 
 always been a believer in proverbs. The envelope 
 looked so large and white glaring up from the club 
 porch, I was afraid it might attract too much curiosity,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 31 
 
 and that one of the attendants would come out and 
 nab it. 
 
 Back and forth I walked, and up and down, and 
 nothing happened. The night was sodden, void, com- 
 panionless. For change I leaned against the library 
 fence, or shifted from one foot to another. Then I'd 
 begin to tramp once more. Weariness and cold crept 
 over me like a snail, and Henri came in for some 
 pretty hot invective, not at all in the spirit of our late 
 compact. As I turned for the hundredth time, a taxi 
 whizzed around the Fifth Avenue corner, and my heart 
 nearly stopped but it didn't affect my feet. I was 
 down at the far end of the block when those lamps 
 blazed on the watery road, and I fairly flew to the 
 scene of action, crept close, out of range, and stood 
 stark, hidden by the gloom and my umbrella. 
 
 Two men came from the club. A small, jovial, 
 sing-songy fellow, in no condition for acute observa- 
 tion, nearly fell over our bait without taking it, but 
 his friend shoved him away and reached for the 
 package. He was a dandy, square shouldered man, 
 wearing a light colored, shaggy cloth coat, and looking 
 very much as a man ought to look. I beamed in the 
 security of my cotton shelter, while they peered this 
 way and that, seeking a possible owner. Nix on find- 
 ing Clarissa. So I watched Mr. Big-Man open the 
 envelope, glance at the tickets, and pocket the lot. 
 Then I beat it for home. I'll bet you I was the most 
 excited and expectant girl in Greater New York that 
 hour; and I must confess, just a pin-prick sorry I had 
 invited Griggs. 
 
 The box was for Saturday matinee and I stayed 
 home from the shop again, there not being time to
 
 32 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 dress after closing. I wanted to get to the place first, 
 so as not to miss anything, but I soon found out my 
 mistake. You see with a bona fide owner sitting there, 
 strangers might naturally hesitate to camp; however 
 it turned out all right, and I'm glad I went early, be- 
 cause the best of the show was watching the audience 
 come in. Being absolutely ignorant of Grand Opera 
 until the curtain rises is a blighting handicap it's 
 one of those subjects you've got to study up first and 
 last. Since then I've read a lot of high-brow articles 
 on "opera for the Northwest," and "opera for the 
 poor," and why in thunder the average citizen doesn't 
 run to hear opera when he's offered a rare chance 
 six dollars per. Say! It's easy. One can't get 
 chummy with ideas like these by spending three or 
 four hours in their company once a year. In order to 
 enjoy opera you've got to pal along together regular. 
 I'm broken to it now ; but on the level, that first show 
 struck me as away below invoice. 
 
 I was sitting there in the dark, feeling small and 
 lonesome and about disappointed enough to cry; and 
 no longer marvelling at the generosity that could hand 
 out its box as a prize, because I fancied that afternoon 
 was a frost, so many seats had been empty when the 
 acting began. Suddenly an arrow of light shot 
 through the back door, and I heard whispering 
 somebody was coming in. I tried to hide behind the 
 curtains, and held my breath so as not to scare them ; 
 but it was unnecessary. The two engineers walked 
 out with their eyes glued on the stage. A fat chap 
 and a girl were singing turn about, and my guests 
 never made a move to sit down till the curtain dropped, 
 and the applause was spattering itself dead.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 33 
 
 I had myself in hand by that time, and when the 
 house lit up showing me in possession and registering 
 dignified surprise, those poor fellows were terribly 
 embarrassed, 'specially the big one. His companion, 
 who seemed as jovial as ever, apologized and apolo- 
 gized till I began to be afraid he would eject himself 
 in spite of me. But the other cut him off in time, 
 and began to talk sense. He said he had reported the 
 tickets at the box office and the club, and as they were 
 not claimed by the middle of the afternoon, he decided 
 to make use of them. For he was leaving town, it 
 was his last chance to hear Caruso, and they hadn't 
 a seat in the house, as I could see. 
 
 I looked over. The whole place sure enough was 
 jammed, and rows of enthusiasts standing up at the 
 back can you beat it ! Folks gone clean dippy over 
 the middle of a show and not caring enough about the 
 start to hustle their grub. 
 
 Of course I invited the strangers to stay. I had to 
 be foxy though. The box-office knew about those 
 seats figuring as a prize, and naturally everybody 
 thought they would be rounded up. It did seem odd 
 not even to have inquired. I scored one against 
 Henri, and then sailed in with a whopper, saying I 
 had sent them to a friend, and didn't dream they were 
 lost, but was wondering what had become of her. 
 And I added, kind of careless, as my party was evi- 
 dently broken to smithereens, perhaps they'd like to 
 remain. I said remain too de Grasse uses some 
 vocabulary. 
 
 Mr. Big-Man jumped at the chance, and sat right 
 down beside me; and after he had introduced the 
 rubber ball and himself, he began explaining about that
 
 34 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 opera. It was real comfortable, me not being obliged 
 to put on side as I'd only won the box at cards. Wise 
 guy ! He had armed himself with a book where every 
 word of the play was written in two languages; and 
 it turned out the keg she'd had her foot on was full 
 of gold. 
 
 " That's the best ever ! " I exclaimed. " When she 
 ranted away like that, I took her for a suffragette or a 
 temperance fiend ! " 
 
 We all laughed, and I saw his nice blue eyes twink- 
 ling. People looked our way his roar sounded so 
 big and jolly. 
 
 " I'll bet they haven't as much gold in that keg now 
 as I have in my pocket," he said. And I was trying 
 to square him as a boastful ass, when he pulled out a 
 great hunk of metal that made my eyes pop. 
 
 " Did you ever see how it grows ? That's a nugget 
 from the Dome mine." 
 
 Henri positively quivered with eagerness to touch 
 the glittering thing. (Him pick on me for excite- 
 ment!) I sat turning the blob over and over, trying 
 to back my second-self into place, while I threw out 
 amazingly ignorant questions about the why and 
 wherefore. Ross that was the big man's name 
 seeing me interested, talked a lot, and I suppose one 
 would say he talked well. Almost any man can spiel 
 you glibly on his own business ; but a good listener is a 
 gift of God. Henri and I sat there with our ears 
 flapping, and I guess the engineer enjoyed himself. 
 We learned how La Rose, a French Canadian, had 
 picked up a lump of silver from the surface of the 
 rocks away out in some forsaken woods; and had 
 rustled right in and staked all the land coming to him,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 35 
 
 before he made anybody wise to his find. Of course 
 he had the best patch in the vicinity, being Johnny on 
 the spot. A few big bugs had jumped in second and 
 snatched the ripe plums; and all sorts of get-rich-quick 
 quacks had been trooping up and drawing surprise 
 packages out of the Canadian wilds ever since. Seedy 
 engineers overran the ground like a plague of locust, 
 he said, but quite recently a new gold camp had been 
 opened to the north, with blare of trumpets, and a lot 
 of the driftwood was sweeping on. Ross himself had 
 stuck to silver, believing there were still plenty of 
 elegant veins to run down in the Cobalt region. 
 
 W T hen I heard that old La Rose had scratched rock 
 and grubbed around for more than twenty years be- 
 fore he saw the " bloom," I thought it knocked a large 
 chunk of icing off the cake. But Henri continued to 
 be in a ferment over the whole story. He would have 
 taken French leave then and there, so as not to miss 
 a minute of the big gamble, only he wanted to chum 
 up with Ross some more. I felt he yearned toward 
 him like a brother in prosperity, and perhaps that made 
 me more approachable than usual. As I've told you, 
 I believe in keeping fellows at arm's length; but Ross 
 was a great Newfoundland dog sort of man, and one 
 doesn't mind petting a real friendly, nice dog. What 
 with this " good old fellow " attitude, and Henri's sud- 
 den leaning, first thing I knew the engineer had pulled 
 his chair closer, and we were talking almost in whis- 
 pers, so that my other guest excused himself and went 
 out for a smoke. 
 
 Ross didn't snatch the opportunity to ladle out any 
 soft soap though, he kept right on telling me about 
 mines, how they dig a shaft in the ground and lay
 
 36 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 out galleries from that; and how they bore a hole for 
 the explosive, and stick it in, and then all hike im- 
 mediate, so as not to run any risk of being blown up ; 
 and about hoisting the broken rock in buckets, and 
 having to put it through machines before it can be sold, 
 and what a lot of money it takes to operate a claim 
 after you secure it. 
 
 Ross owned a good looking lot I gathered, but not 
 much of the ready. 
 
 He said if you saw a bit of likely ground that you 
 wanted, and nobody else held, you just hammered in 
 stakes at certain distances, and then went around and 
 registered the claim; and if you did it all according 
 to Canadian law, not forgetting anything, nobody on 
 earth could take it from you. But if you had a real 
 mine, and you had left any tiniest mite of a loophole, 
 not according to regulations, woe betide you. Some 
 smart-aleck would up and find a fault in your title, 
 and then the ground must be thrown as wide open 
 to everybody as it was in the beginning. Only that 
 the entire camp knew by then what the ore assayed, 
 and the fellows would sit up nights waiting till your 
 hold on it was busted, and they'd dash out and race 
 you to it, and maybe beat you, and stake your ground 
 in their own name, and steal your fortune altogether. 
 That doesn't seem fair to me, but it's the way they 
 play the mining game. 
 
 I was so thrilled hearing about the real thing I 
 forgot we were at the opera, until the lights dipped 
 and the top gallery began to sish for silence. 
 
 Ross sat back, and I couldn't get a word more out 
 of him, only once he patted my hand where it lay on 
 the nugget, whispering,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 37 
 
 "Will you keep it to remember me by?" 
 
 We were swimming along. Buckwater the other 
 man went out in the second interval to have another 
 smoke, and I was trembling, and enjoying and wonder- 
 ing about it, sure Ross would try and see me again, 
 and determined to give him my correct address 
 since he was going out of town, when the door opened, 
 and who should appear but Griggs, quite breathless 
 and very pink! Gee! I hated him! But I had to 
 get up and do the polite, and perhaps in my excitement 
 I rather overdid it. My Gold Man drew right into 
 himself. 
 
 Of course I introduced everybody. The engineers 
 took Griggs for a legitimate friend, and I guess they 
 thought I was rattled because I didn't want to be 
 caught entertaining strangers. Both men spotted it, 
 and not a word said about losing tickets. Griggs on 
 his side was cold surprised not to find a chaperone; 
 and he didn't cotton to the engineers any more than 
 they did to him. 
 
 First thing Howard plucked out his nifty pocket- 
 book and showed me a clipping about the de Grasse 
 murder. Having read millions of words on the sub- 
 ject I would just as soon he had left this news item 
 at home. But at least it was news. Detective 
 Buttle by adding two and two made thirteen. The 
 medium, he claimed, was head of a big gang the police 
 had been after for years; and the fact of a woman 
 shooting him (which looked likely there having been 
 a hundred women present to one man) opened up a 
 long avenue of clues. They were about to round up 
 every known female crook, and make them show their 
 whereabouts on the memorable date.
 
 38 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Henri grew so interested in this phase of his own 
 murder, I was forced out of general conversation, 
 and had to read the cutting line by line. He 
 wouldn't let up even when the performance started, 
 and I finished with the assistance of Griggs's pro- 
 gramme lamp. Glancing from the paper to the dark- 
 ened dome above us I saw again that symbol of the 
 winged snake. The creature flashed upon me bright 
 and clear and I marked every detail: the small evil 
 head, those strange hieroglyphics on its spread wings, 
 which had once borne resemblance to a cat's eyes, and 
 the perfect circle backing all. I could never mistake 
 or forget the form though I didn't choose to see it. 
 His wiggly tail filled me with the creeps, and a horrible 
 fear sprang out in the darkness turning me icy cold. 
 De Grasse must have wished the D. T.'s on me! 
 
 There aren't but three acts to that opera, so when 
 the bowing and the clapping subsided we had to leave. 
 Griggs suggested tea, and there were no bids against 
 him. The strangers, thinking we belonged while they 
 were mere outsiders, beat a retreat. 
 
 Griggs spouted a little about " Destinn being in 
 voice," and " Puccini's music not expressing the spirit 
 of our west, nor quite revealing the farther occiden- 
 talism of Japan," he was a regular bug on opera 
 and then we shook hands all around. 
 
 The yellow car didn't look half so big, or half so 
 yellow, or half so luxurious as it had before; but the 
 youth himself was nicer. He would have called at 
 the hotel next day, he said, if he had known my 
 name. I ought to have told him " Sapphira " but 
 of course I'd signed Kendall on the note, and he knew 
 now and could easily figure that no unattached female
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 39 
 
 was registered under K at the Ritz. I cast about for 
 plausible whopper number two (Henri has got me in 
 all wrong with the recording angel) and suddenly 
 decided I had been out of town for a couple of weeks 
 and was going away again. But right there I got 
 a tip that lack of an address and a chaperone were 
 going to stall me with Griggs. You see Howard was 
 a dyed-in-the-wool aristocrat; if he hadn't been a bit 
 of a stranger in New York society himself, he would 
 have known who owned that opera box, and then 
 good night Clarissa.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Well, it was all over with the goose, but I still 
 had the golden egg. Henri grew hourly more de- 
 termined on a visit to Cobalt. Silver, he said, was 
 about the likeliest opportunity for us; and this new 
 gold field to the north might prove a bonanza. If it 
 had not been for my sex, he'd have floated an entire 
 company on that one nugget alone. " Get your stock 
 on the market first," he preached. " You can buy a 
 hole in the ground easily enough when the directors 
 ask for it." De Grasse always put the cart before the 
 horse, to my way of thinking, but I was learning to 
 appreciate him, and to lie low; and he began to figure 
 out it wasn't all jam being a woman. Nobody takes 
 us seriously, and aside from marriage speculative 
 enterprise is practically closed against us. 
 
 My skirts put the kibosh on Henri's operating in 
 New York; but I knew he'd never be satisfied till he 
 had a finger in the mining pie, so gradually I made 
 our preparations. My extra duds, not many, some 
 cheap jewelry, Aunt Elizabeth's ear-rings and my 
 stock of pictures and books all found their way to 
 Second Avenue. There was a little Vacation Sav- 
 ings' money left ; but I'd been fined at the shop, besides 
 having to pay regularly on my nifty suit; and we 
 couldn't tote the fare up anyway. Henri insisted on 
 keeping the nugget. 
 
 The only scheme we hit on was for me to work 
 
 40
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 41 
 
 extra time, and there we took Madame Buniva into 
 counsel. Madame had a square head under that bob 
 of hair she sported, and she had a right good heart 
 too. One of her brothers ran a catering establish- 
 ment, and she packed me off to him with a glowing 
 recommendation. After he read it, I thought he was 
 going to embrace me, but it was just the man's Italian 
 way. He trotted off to call his Sefiora, and the two 
 of them began talking with their hands and gurgling. 
 I couldn't make head nor tale of it till Mrs. Sturani 
 produced a frilly cap and apron and dressed me up. 
 The black and white trimmings made me look out 
 of sight. Then the boss spoke English long enough 
 to promise me a job taking hats and coats at a big 
 the dansant Saturday afternoon. I failed to get 
 wise to the address, because I had to report at the shop 
 and go over with a bunch of help waiters and 
 dishes and pastry altogether. We managed to be 
 pretty gay in the wagon and I forgot to keep tab on 
 the blocks. 
 
 It was a tall house with big iron gates and looked 
 much like other houses outside, but a wing extending 
 back behind their next door neighbour made it a 
 regular mansion for accommodation. I thought the 
 whole lay-out too ornate beamed ceilings, and gold 
 leaf, and mirrors, hotel style, and gold furniture with 
 red plush seats. Presently the Missus showed up. 
 Her outline looked like a figure 8 tipsy drunk, and 
 she wore the highest heels I've ever seen. But she 
 wasn't a bit the grand dame with us no, sir-ee ! 
 She knew what was what in the kitchen. Why, the 
 way she laid it down to Sturani you'd have thought 
 she'd been a cook all her life.
 
 42 
 
 After a while we sifted into our places and the 
 party began. 
 
 I was stationed in the hall taking wraps, and Joe, 
 an old hand who bossed that job, passed the time 
 giving me pointers. Some swells filtered in, for the 
 house though ugly was sure rich, but the bulk of the 
 guests were nobodies old ladies rigged up like the 
 hostess, and young ones promising to adhere to type. 
 If you remember, the first of the dancing craze came 
 along with the last of the tight skirts. Watching 
 some of those goddesses waddle upstairs nearly put 
 me out of business Joe said I mustn't crack a 
 Smile, and very soon I felt like crying. 
 
 There is always a lull between the first batch of 
 visitors, who are going on, and the second lot who 
 have been somewhere else. All the lady guests had 
 gone directly upstairs, but two or three men had 
 walked past us, without asking leave or liberty, on 
 down the long hall and into the wing smoking-room. 
 While we were slack, Joe was sent to get them a 
 drink. 
 
 I remained gazing idly through the glass vestibule, 
 listening to the music and wishing I was upstairs 
 footing it, when, jumpin' Jupiter ! Against the striped 
 awning marking the entrance as a festive place, I 
 saw the head of Howard Griggs. It was no frolic- 
 some nightmare. His buttonhole rose steadily his 
 cane and cutaway, and gloves, each upon the order 
 of its coming. In a jiffy two immaculate white 
 spats would stand upon the threshold, and the door 
 swing back. Petrification ! 
 
 Hearing a clink of glass I swung around, snatched 
 the tray from Joe and plunged to cover.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 43 
 
 " Door was open," somebody said as I entered 
 between heavy curtains, and a big fellow sitting with 
 his back towards me grunted. 
 
 As I crossed to the table carrying my heavy load, 
 I had no chance to gather more than a general im- 
 pression of the place a queer, dark, somber room, 
 full of grotesque furniture and ugly Art interest. 
 Black wood panelled the walls almost to the top, and 
 in spots struck by light from the one shaded lamp 
 it gleamed like an evil eye. Already, in the middle 
 of the afternoon, thick curtains were drawn over 
 every window, making for mystery; and the men 
 seated there seemed to oppress each other and the 
 atmosphere with self-importance. Need of refresh- 
 ment had evidently interrupted or delayed some grave 
 occasion. 
 
 Coming on them uninvited that way made me feel 
 jumpy; and going forward into their midst was as 
 bad as facing a trial by jury. 
 
 The boss motioned me to set my tray on the center 
 table, but I was obliged to wait while they cleared 
 a place. Seeing me standing by, a fellow with a face 
 like a horse unfolded from his chair, as you might 
 open a jackknife, one blade after another, and began 
 to shift the smokers' things and magazines. He stood 
 so tall his head was lost in the gloom above me, and 
 it was odd to watch his hands long hands covered 
 with dark hairs growing sparsely on womanish skin 
 moving around without any apparent control. 
 They seemed to glide over the objects, and to hover 
 near, yet avoid, a black leather wallet and a package 
 of papers lying at the host's elbow. I thought of 
 spirits and seances and of Griggs. It looked as
 
 44 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 though everything was ready for proceedings as soon 
 as I got out of the way. 
 
 With attention riveted on the table, for glass is 
 glass and I didn't hanker after any juggling stunts 
 just then, I leaned over to set the tray in safety, 
 but my eye lit on the wax securing their papers, and 
 I almost dropped the lot for they were sealed with 
 the sign of the winged snake; Henri's delirium tremens, 
 wiggly tail and all, modelled there in official red, clear 
 and perfect. 
 
 A gasp escaped me while I was chasing my breath, 
 and one of the men remarked : 
 
 " Pretty big lift for a little girl." 
 
 " That'll do," said the boss, jerking his head towards 
 the door, and I was obliged to quit. But I only dodged 
 out of sight, not out of hearing, they had to reckon 
 with de Grasse. Ever since Henri fluxed his soul 
 into mine, this snake thing had been blotching it- 
 self on my eyeballs, and I had been racking an over- 
 stimulated brain to find out its meaning. That it 
 had been and perhaps still was of immense importance 
 to him seemed sure, but how why where ? 
 Seeing the spittin' image of the beast on Jacob's table 
 didn't do a thing to my curiosity. I was crazy to 
 read those papers and find out about the seal, and 
 I'd have taken any risk rather than lose the chance, 
 so I opened the door and then gave it a smart push 
 as I popped back behind the curtains. The decided 
 bang following closed me in instead of out. I stood 
 crouched against the wall, hardly breathing with my 
 heart whacking like a typewriter and my eyes glued 
 to the crack. 
 
 The four men were gathered close around the table
 
 I was crazy to read those papers and find out about the seal
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 45 
 
 under the rays of a powerful light; no stage setting 
 ever offered a better opportunity to see; but they fell 
 at once into a sort of voice cipher, speaking in low, 
 monotonous tones and I heard little. 
 
 " That door wasn't closed last time," murmured 
 a fidgety fellow almost in my ear as he tried it. Gee ! 
 I was stiff with fright. All my functions stood still 
 till he got back to his seat and settled himself. 
 
 They inspected various papers and O. K.'d them. 
 They all had a drink again, and finally the boss drew 
 that little black wallet towards him. My suspense 
 fairly tingled. 
 
 Deliberately the leader removed an elastic band 
 from the pocketbook, and opened its two flaps. And 
 he dumped out a mess of powders. Just ordinary 
 pieces of folded white paper I was never so let 
 down in my life! 
 
 All the doctors, for they must have been doctors, 
 I reckoned the purse-proud sort that fatten out of 
 dying millionaires sat regarding the medicine-pile 
 fixedly for several seconds. Then the long-nosed man 
 opened one, shook its contents together, let it lie ex- 
 posed for them all to see, and did it up nicely and 
 neatly again. He opened every single powder, and all 
 the time I had to stand waiting, I couldn't even see 
 whether it was pink pills or stuff like salts, and I be- 
 gan to feel awfully weary, and w r ondered how Joe was 
 making out at the door, and figured my chances of 
 getting away alive. 
 
 When they had thoroughly inspected the contents, 
 they counted those blessed powders once more, and 
 Mr. Horse-Face swept them off the end of the table 
 into the wallet with a comprehensive movement of his
 
 46 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 long wrist. The boss stood. They were through. 
 One of the guests raised his glass, tasted the drink, 
 smacked his lips, and said, " Good liquor." 
 
 " We'll have in some ice when de Sola's finished," 
 answered the host, as the papers were bunched to- 
 gether. " Can't be too careful don't know whose 
 about house is in such a damned muddle to-day." 
 
 "Deuced pretty little girl brought the last where 
 do you find 'em, Jacobs? " The speaker sounded re- 
 laxed. I could hear them well enough when they 
 used a natural voice, and I saw him stretch into 
 comfort. But you bet I didn't. Something was go- 
 ing to happen, fast. I had my eyes peeled, watching. 
 
 The boss had crossed to the back of the room, be- 
 side the fireplace. He stepped behind a big chair 
 and reached up fingering the woodwork. His dark 
 clothes merged into the shadows of the black wall, 
 only spots of white could be distinguished, a strip of 
 collar, and his hands, and the bald spot on his head 
 showing like a bull's-eye. 
 
 Nobody paid any attention to his stunt. They were 
 all talking and joking most congenial. But I'd 
 hardly said, " Empty loft," to myself, when an ob- 
 long panel in the wainscot sprang open. You could 
 have knocked me over with a feather! Of course I'd 
 played at castles with moving walls and hidden cham- 
 bers while I was a kid what youngster doesn't ? 
 but when I became a hard-headed young business 
 woman I put away kiddish things. And now to find 
 them coming true in life! 
 
 Well, this one was fact. The big man switched on 
 a side lamp and I saw, with my own eyes, a deep niche 
 where the ends of similar wallets showed neatly stacked
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 47 
 
 there must have been a dozen of them. While we 
 watched, it seemed tha-t Henri was trying to tell me 
 something. To make me do, or think quick, or under- 
 stand and it didn't come off. I knew there were 
 plenty of communications from him that I failed to 
 grasp but this one must be awfully important, and 
 I laid my soul open to get it. Whatever was in those 
 wallets? Whatever could be in a powder of that 
 size valuable enough, or dangerous enough to hide 
 away? Patent explosives? Too small. A secret 
 treasure in a doctor's house it must be a drug 
 Opium! Ah! I had never seen opium but, of 
 course, Henri would be on. And the stuff was worth 
 tanks of money. 
 
 They had rung for ice, and I felt that this was my 
 grand opportunity to slip out; but I felt sure, too, 
 that de Grasse was going to stay right there and take 
 a chance on opening that cupboard later. And I 
 wished we had noticed the movement of the boss's 
 fingers more particularly, for he just shoved the door 
 close and left it a section of the lacquered wall, so 
 very similar to other sections, beautiful and innocent 
 with rows of carving along the top and in between. 
 
 At last Jacobs heaved himself out of his chair and 
 said, " Rebecca'd be sore if they didn't show up." 
 
 He poured them a doch-an-doris for luck, and at 
 that my knees began to shake literally till I feared 
 the trembling would sure discover me. Was it going 
 to be possible for an eavesdropping maid to flatten 
 herself and escape detection? I had moved back from 
 the chink of observation and could see nothing in the 
 heavy shadow, but whisky and perfume strongly 
 blended assailed my protesting nose and I knew they
 
 48 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 approached. If they crowded into the shallow alcove 
 at the door if any of them shoved against me 
 I was lost ! But they moved like thoroughbreds upon 
 the order of their going, while I did the pancake act 
 and prayed. Their fat hands swayed the curtains, 
 one by one their sleek black heads bobbed between 
 the edges of my velvet screen and disappeared. I 
 relaxed and dropped into the nearest seat. 
 
 A number of people happened to arrive just then, 
 and a magpie chattering greeted the host. I noticed 
 with satisfaction that Joe would not have time to 
 search for me, and I was reasonably safe from intrud- 
 ing guests as the room lay out of the way; but, of 
 course, I dared not close myself in lest Jacobs return. 
 To arrange the curtains with closed edges remained 
 my only security, and a precious slim one. Still, risk 
 it I must. Softly I stole across the room and care- 
 fully and minutely examined the panels covering their 
 treasure. The secret was well hidden. I climbed 
 upon a chair bringing my eyes nearer to the field, 
 though realizing the position doomed me in case of 
 interruption. Being a novice in the detective job kept 
 me horribly uneasy. For a time my eyes and fingers 
 joined frantically in the search, but the lamp throw- 
 ing its bright rays on my illegal actions strung my 
 nerves so skittishly I switched it off. Luck must 
 serve for or against me anyway I might as well 
 feel for the blooming springs in the safety of dark- 
 ness. Feel for them I did, madly, nimbly, frisking 
 my fingers over the fine carved mouldings but with- 
 out result. Time flew, at any instant I was likely to 
 be frightened off, prevented. I'd never be in the 
 house again never have another chance.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 49 
 
 " Now, now, now ! I've got to see it now ! " I 
 cried, in my excitement forgetting caution and bang- 
 ing my fists on the offending wall. A low whirring 
 answered. I had started something sure! Burglar 
 alarms? Was I trapped? 
 
 Fear impelled me to my old hiding place, sense told 
 me to beat it, and perhaps be able to dodge out; but 
 something, Henri perhaps, petrified me to the spot. 
 I knew I had to see that panel open, and if it was 
 the springs I'd struck maybe it had buzzed for 
 Jacobs and I hadn't been able to hear it on the other 
 side of the room. I switched on the light and glued 
 my eyes to the wall directly in front of me. Quiver- 
 ing like an aspen and listening with the pores of my 
 skin, I waited. A matter of seconds it was, but being 
 so concentrated on the wrong idea I missed the real 
 thing. 
 
 A voice spoke close beside me and I jumped clean 
 into the air, whirling face about. 
 
 The sound had not come from behind me and no 
 one was in the library. I saw that, while I was so 
 intently watching for the little door to pop open, a 
 whole lower panel of the side wall had slid back 
 leaving me opposite the entrance into another room 
 or closet. The voice came from there. 
 
 It was a small corner not offering much comfort, as 
 comfort went in Jacobs's house. By a table sat a 
 gaunt figure wrapped in a worn gray dressing-gown. 
 Her hair was gray, her very flesh seemed gray, and 
 most uncanny of all her eyes were bandaged. 
 
 " I see him. I see him," she mumbled. " I see 
 him all the time." 
 
 And immediately, as though answering her, de
 
 50 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Grasse told me. " She did it I might have known 
 she'd get me," hatred and admiration mingled in his 
 words. His stab at my understanding was subcon- 
 scious of course, yet it was as clear as if you were 
 asking for sugar in your morning coffee. 
 
 From the first I felt a strong familiarity with this 
 old woman. She repulsed me, and in spite of that 
 I understood a great wrong was being or had been 
 done her; not a tragic but a comic wrong, and I 
 commenced by tolerating her with a sort of humorous 
 pity. I felt a bit as if one had put up a huge prac- 
 tical joke and the joke had stalemated which was 
 odd, considering what Henri had just told me. 
 
 Aside from the horrible surprise of meeting her, 
 and my strange position I was scared of her too. 
 Scared as a shaver is scared when he is going to be 
 whipped. Henri didn't seem to have any of the dig- 
 nity of the murdered. He was scared of her 
 authority. 
 
 My brain was running like a trip-hammer, setting 
 up question marks all along the line. My first curi- 
 osity about the winged snake, Henri's confidential 
 connection with the wealthy Jacobs's secret paled into 
 insignificance before the fact that Jacobs was pro- 
 tecting Henri's murderer. Here was I face to face 
 with a perfect stranger, a woman three times my age, 
 down on her luck and suffering from a physical handi- 
 cap; not at all the class or type to have intrigued de 
 Grasse. He recognized her as his murderer and yet he 
 didn't pitch into her. Instead he trembled toward her 
 as a puppy to its master, a cub toward a stern guardian. 
 I twigged at once that whatever the old dame had done 
 to Henri, Henri had jolly well deserved it.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 51 
 
 Torn between guilt and a hang-dog desire to help her 
 I moved cautiously forward. De Grasse hadn't made 
 clear to me what his intention was and I never 
 knew. Very often I acted on impulse his impulse 
 and discovered the motive to myself after the fact. 
 Now I was moving vaguely, and as quiet as a mouse, 
 but the blind have quick ears. She heard me and 
 turned. 
 
 " Is that you, Samuel ? What news ? " 
 
 Her masterful tone sent an electric thrill down my 
 spine. I had thought it a case of a kind word to 
 a poor blind thing, blind and easy to circumvent. She 
 made me realize I was the one most likely to need 
 help and I turned to quit. Then what I saw made my 
 blood freeze. The panel was closing! Quietly, 
 swiftly, surely moving into place, operated by a time 
 lock. 
 
 With one stifled scream I leaped for the gap. The 
 prisoner echoed my yell in a panic of fear and grabbed 
 the lace of my apron. I pulled to wrench the stuff 
 from her hold. She held on like a vice. I tore at 
 the strings to get the thing off I was thumbs 
 thumbs thumbs ! 
 
 Only for a moment her nerves had the better of her; 
 as soon as she recognized the feel of the mousselin she 
 cried out sharply, " A woman ! " and raised her hand 
 to the bandages. 
 
 The echo of her first words rushed over me. I 
 sensed foul play, that her eyes were covered to keep 
 out the vision of Henri's corpse whatever her mad 
 whim, she must not see me, must not have a tag on 
 me for the rest of life. In a frenzy of terror I struck 
 at her, and she sank into the chair, whimpering, moan-
 
 '52 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ing. As I sprang through the wall to safety she cried 
 aloud and I turned and looked. 
 
 She had torn the bandage down, and above it her 
 live eyes glared viciously not blind, not even 
 cowed, but full of hate. So we regarded each other, 
 I in stupefication, a new sense of familiarity dawning 
 on me, and she mad to the bone. It was a terrible 
 minute while the treacherous panel glided between us 
 and closed. The whirring of its machinery stopped. 
 I cast myself on the floor and sobbed with the muffler 
 cut out. 
 
 From sobbing I went into a sort of swoon, and I 
 don't know how much of the afternoon passed before 
 sounds aroused me footfalls. My breath still came 
 with a catch that I couldn't control. The steps hesi- 
 tated, and began to approach again stealthily. They 
 came right on to the big chair. I wondered if it was 
 somebody else after the secret. I bit my lips to keep 
 back the little sighing sniffs. 
 
 Springs creaked. Evidently the intruder had 
 seated himself. Doubtless I was caged by a harm- 
 less guest stealing off for a quiet smoke; whatever 
 would he think, what could he think if he found one 
 of the maids in a heap on the floor with those de- 
 canters so suggestively near? 
 
 It was clearly up to me to assert my dignity the 
 first thing to get on my feet, without detection, if 
 possible. Cautiously I raised my head and looked up 
 straight into the face of Howard Griggs who was 
 peering over the chair back. 
 
 I sprang to my feet. The maid's dress, my ambi- 
 guous position, pulling the social wool over his eyes and 
 all such nonsense fled before the need of help. Relief,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 53 
 
 joy sheer, radiant joy at seeing a safe person in- 
 stead of the dubious stranger I expected, rushed pell- 
 mell over me ; and I in turn overwhelmed poor Griggs. 
 My black and white garb and scared face looked 
 spooky, and he was a believer in manifestations. 
 
 He sat back on his heels, gazing dum founded till 
 I gave one of those laggard, rasping sobs. 
 
 " Jove ! You ! " he gasped. " I thought it was a 
 dog I'm fond of dogs." 
 
 " And I took you for a cat you walked cattish." 
 We laughed the high spasmodic cackle of excite- 
 ment, and in the middle of it I slapped my hand over 
 his mouth. "Hist!" 
 
 My gentleman turned purple; but I commenced to 
 talk quick, standing close and speaking into his ear. 
 
 "Listen! Who are these people? What is wrong 
 with this house? " 
 
 In one embarrassed breath he told me he didn't 
 know the people, hadn't even the honor of their name, 
 had arrived by mistake and stayed out of inability to 
 break away. 
 
 " I was invited to some other bally place 
 streets all sixes and sevens what do you expect ? 
 They bagged me here because I met a girl upstairs 
 whom I did know." 
 
 I brushed the missing link aside. " This house is 
 queer it's wrong. But of course if you don't know 
 them " Answering his incredulous stare I hissed, 
 " I've just seen the woman who murdered de Grasse." 
 
 " Thundering stars ! What are you doing here in 
 these clothes ? " he asked suddenly. " Are you 
 nutty?" 
 
 " Never mind the clothes I'll explain some day.
 
 54 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Concentrate on the idea that I've got to get away 
 quick. She saw me, and she'll tell. She'll not lose 
 time telling. They'll trap me. They are dangerous, 
 evil people. They've got opium hidden I saw it. 
 The walls open. It's an awful den! 
 
 " Howard Griggs," I cried, taking him by the 
 shoulders. " Wake up ! Get out of that chair. Help 
 me, help me! I tell you I've got to escape." 
 
 " Jove, yes ! " He blinked several times in rapid 
 succession, fumbling for his eyeglass. " I'll fetch a 
 cloak you can't go about that way and I'll call 
 a car." He was gone. 
 
 I sneaked behind the portieres and waited, but not for 
 long. Griggs's dispatch amazed me. I reckon he must 
 have done the John-Bullying act again good and lively ; 
 but as a matter of fact he only sauntered up, asked 
 for Miss Swanhill's coat, screwed his monocle into 
 place, intimidated Joe by a cold scrutiny and sent him 
 on an errand. Then I walked out wrapped in velvet 
 to my feet; and at the curb he put me into a private 
 brougham. So long as he stayed inside the social pad- 
 dock, Howard took his high jumps as well as any- 
 body I ever saw but he was no range mustang. 
 
 " Drive Miss Kendall home, and return Miss 
 Swanhill is leaving late," he ordered. And to me, 
 "The Waldorf?" 
 
 My own address signified nothing to a stranger. 
 Griggs repeated it to the wondering man, with utmost 
 aplomb, and leaned pinkly through the open window. 
 
 " I'm going up to dance with my lady now keep 
 her occupied, you know and I hate her ! Don't 
 worry, the feeling isn't mutual you will have plenty 
 of time. See you to-morrow."
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 55 
 
 I squeezed his hand, flashing my thanks, wordless; 
 and a moment later, all in a svvither, I was speeding 
 towards Madame Buniva's. 
 
 Swither is one of Granny's Scotch expressions. It 
 exactly describes the state of my mind and pulse when 
 that ride began. After a while I felt quieter and 
 glanced about, taking in every detail of the swell little 
 automobile. Griggs's friend evidently enjoyed most of 
 the good things of this world. All sorts of dodgy 
 conveniences were fitted into its pearl gray upholstery, 
 among others a case filled with women's implements 
 in gold and crystal. I pounced on the salts bottle. 
 Gee ! it was strong stuff but it helped ! A sneeze or 
 two set my machinery working O. K. 
 
 Our elegant seclusion afforded Henri five minutes 
 to gather his bearings and think. Memory seized on 
 one circumstance after another, and dropped this, and 
 picked up that, and brought them all forward like a 
 ride-and-tie race, eventually arriving at the conclusion 
 we hadn't much chance if Samuel Jacobs got wise to 
 our whereabouts. We could trust Griggs, he being a 
 gentleman, more keenly interested than ever, and not 
 likely to split. The chauffeur was another matter. 
 Still pondering I sniffed a bracing whifter, and the 
 dinky bottle in my hand gave de Grasse an idea a 
 revolutionary, deck-sweeping inspiration but we 
 must first put them off the scent. Having thrown them 
 the clue of my correct address this promised difficulty, 
 for the driver was not likely to forget such an un- 
 usual locality, and I had no tip to pledge his silence. 
 Twice already he had stopped to ask if it was right, 
 and kept on, frankly under protest, into what he con- 
 sidered the slums.
 
 56 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Fortunately, when we arrived, it was meal-time and 
 few of my neighbors were hanging around outside. 
 I had removed my apron and slipped the bottle down 
 my stocking. Now I let him see me shed the hand- 
 some cloak and put it back in the car. 
 
 " You have brought me too far," I said. " But 
 I am much obliged all the same." 
 
 Then I turned deliberately away from Madame's 
 and walked to the third door. It was an odd, flat 
 building in a row of mansard-roofs a bum board- 
 ing-house where persons flitted over night I was 
 certain he would remember it. As I paused to ring, 
 I could see the man staring, but only for a minute. 
 He shot away before the door opened, and I beat it 
 down those stairs and into Buniva's straight up to 
 my own room, thanking my lucky stars that such a 
 stylish arrival had not created more excitement. 
 
 I sat on the bed panting. We were sure in wrong, 
 and Henri said it was best to quit cold. " Everything 
 is a beginning." Tish! I'd come near making an 
 end of that old woman and wasn't ambitious to stay 
 in the town with her hunting me. I might have put 
 the chauffeur off the track, but it would be a cinch 
 to trace the maid and I had driven the final nail 
 into my coffin with a gold-topped bottle. I'd have 
 both search parties on the rampage unless Griggs 
 squared me. 
 
 Packing proved simple. My old clothes had been 
 left at the caterer's. I dressed in my best, put a few 
 articles in Granny's bag, laid the nugget, the bottle 
 and my purse, with all our ready money, on top, and 
 sallied forth. But first I wrote a note to Buniva.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 57 
 
 "Dear Madame: 
 
 " I'm stony, and going away to take a better job. 
 Please don't say anything to anybody. I won't for- 
 get the two weeks' board. 
 
 " Hastily, 
 
 " CLARISSA KENDALL. 
 
 " P.S. Sturani's uniform is in the bureau drawer. 
 
 " C. K." 
 
 No dinner for me that evening and not a mo- 
 ment to spare. I had to pay a visit to my uncle. 
 I chose a different place this time, better class, as I 
 was better dressed and pawning gold, and I left a 
 different name. 
 
 " My day for Jews," I thought, as the smelling salts 
 and the nugget vanished into the fat hand, so like 
 those other fat white hands it made me shudder. I 
 saw again the old woman's malign eyes glinting above 
 her bandages, and I remembered I had told Griggs she 
 murdered de Grasse. That was going far. Should 
 the Englishman be afflicted with a sense of public 
 duty he might fry a pretty kettle of fish. Not that 
 I cared except to keep out myself. Tinging my 
 lenience toward her now came the lust for vengeance. 
 I recognized this as my own personal feeling on 
 Henri's behalf. We both knew she was a bad dog 
 to have on our heels. 
 
 Not until the northern train was roaring and rac- 
 ing through tunnels with me safely tucked into a Pull- 
 man corner, did I get to looking on the other side of
 
 58 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 the picnic. Somewhere in the night ahead lay Cobalt 
 and Romance we were indeed launched on an im- 
 mense adventure. My spirits rocketed. 
 
 " Clarissa Kendall," said I. " What a chump you 
 are not to have done it before?" And I'm afraid 
 my self-reproach referred to borrowing that bottle.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 American sleeping cars are the national proof of our 
 high moral character. Of late years we seem to be 
 slipping back or is it forward ? to drawing- 
 room coaches and the secluded variability of central 
 Europe. But the twenty- four bedded Pullman, as 
 originally constructed, will always be remembered to 
 our credit. My hasty exit from New York was the 
 first time I had ever met up with one of 'em; and to 
 add to the insult I could only get a top berth. 
 
 Sleep didn't woo me much; when it did I dreamed. 
 Old women started out of graves and trap doors 
 opened like the jaws of death. Perhaps I talked 
 some. They kept on rapping and tapping below and 
 sishing for silence. Once the man next door pounded 
 good and hard. Such cheek ! He was bunked head 
 to feet, our pillows must have lain about as close as 
 married people's, with only a thin board between, and 
 right there I made up my mind, so help me, never to 
 splice with a man who snored. 
 
 Finally, I grew so tired of the orchestra, and lying 
 on the half shell, I rang for the little set of steps 
 and climbed down into the gray cold morning. Gray, 
 did I say? Blue, indigo of the deepest dye, the early 
 hour slump at its worst ! Our porter saved my life by 
 tipping me to beat it to the dining-car right after 
 Buffalo. All the hungry folk had turned in early, and 
 I got the last vacant table, and snatched the bill-of- 
 
 59
 
 60 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 fare, for I was ravenous. One glance was enough 
 to convince me I could only afford coffee and rolls, 
 and I went through the form of writing that order 
 with death knocking at my hopes. When the waiter 
 vanished, I leaned on the table twiddling my pencil, 
 a picture of woe. What was coming next out 
 there in the wilds? What if I failed to locate Ross? 
 What if Henri failed me? Stray flakes of snow 
 drove against the pane; it grew colder. My suit, 
 warm enough in New York, would be like a veil to 
 the Cobalt wind. I began to figure the cost of eat- 
 ing lunch and dinner in Toronto. 
 
 My mind, weary from excitement and lack of rest, 
 slipped a cog. Fancy travelled backward over 
 yesterday's events. I saw it all Joe answering the 
 door^ Griggs's head like a pink balloon rising above 
 the step, those four in the Chinese room, the seal, the 
 papers, the long-nosed man counting powders, their 
 cache. Curiosity about those papers knew no bounds. 
 Why were they sealed with our winged snake, and 
 what had the reptile to do with Henri? What was 
 the snake anyway? In idleness I began to trace the 
 figure, as I had seen it, on the table cloth. Clarissa 
 isn't much with a pencil, but gradually the image of 
 the thing appeared its naughty head, the two out- 
 spread wings with their strange hieroglyphics, and, 
 last, its wiggly tail. Henri and I were so interested 
 in the creation, we failed to notice when somebody 
 sat down opposite. It was the man's reaching for the 
 order pad stirred us up to look at him. 
 
 He was a well-dressed, well-built chap under thirty, 
 with the sort of manner Henri calls successful; but 
 I'm sure an English dude like Griggs would have con-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 61 
 
 sidered him " fresh." If a skin looking clean and 
 healthy and well-groomed, in spite of not being shaved, 
 clear eyes and perfect teeth were all that went to the 
 freshness, the term was no term of reproach. His 
 thin-lipped mouth showed humorous corners, and 
 above a flat forehead a thick crop of brown hair rose 
 straight on end. Perhaps the pompadour gave him 
 an extra wide awake appearance, he certainly looked 
 smart not referring to clothes but to his head-piece. 
 The newcomer was on the heavy side for an athlete, 
 though he might have been one in his college days, 
 and too expeditious for a man of leisure. Put him 
 down, therefore, as an excellent example of an all- 
 round American business man, no southern, or New 
 England, or western type just a two or three gener- 
 ation American, of British stock, keen, genial, 
 straight- forward. 
 
 He glanced the menu over in a business-like way 
 and then wrote at length, while I chewed my remain- 
 ing bun, mixed with the cud of reflection. Oh, I had 
 lots to think about grievances in plenty a per- 
 sistent emptiness below the belt not among the least, 
 and hearing that man give his order was the last 
 straw : orange juice, cream of wheat, shirred eggs with 
 country sausages and flap-jacks on the side, and a full 
 accompaniment of coffee and hot buttered toast. Evi- 
 dently he had nothing to do but eat until he reached 
 Toronto. And the smells! 
 
 I rose in famished indignation and swept from the 
 scene, but at the door I couldn't resist a backward 
 glance. He had changed his place and was sitting in 
 my seat studying the drawing I had left behind. Up- 
 side down and down-side up he eyed the creature,
 
 62 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 and then he whipped out a red leather notebook and 
 proceeded to copy the winged snake. 
 
 " Make a hit-you-in-the-eye trade mark," William 
 Watson Duffy commented to himself, as he snapped 
 the elastic band and replaced the book in his pocket, 
 before turning his attention to his grub. 
 
 Believe me, the Lord's Day Alliance have made it 
 a grand bore to put in a Sunday alone in Canada. I 
 wandered around till I was footsore and weary, going 
 light on car fare, for every dime counts when you're 
 not sure how or where the next dollar can be gleaned, 
 but at that I payed a lot for storage on my body; we 
 all do all the while, not half realizing it. Walking 
 costs boot-leather, and sitting means a continual drain 
 in hard cash. Sitting in vehicles costs hire, sitting 
 in homes costs rents, sitting in hotels costs drinks 
 and feeds >as I discovered. W r hen flesh and blood 
 could stand no more, I found a cosy corner in a 
 mezzanine palm room, and I don't know how many 
 times I ordered tea and toast from three to five. 
 
 Luck was fairly hunting me all the same. While 
 I was leaning there on the marble rail, watching the 
 men in the rotunda below, I suddenly spied a familiar 
 figure. 
 
 " Ross ! Or, I'll eat my hat ! " I cried, pushing for 
 a bell hop. And when the kid came I put the question 
 straight. 
 
 " Yarsh," he replied, changing his wad of gum to 
 the other cheek. " Charley Ross Cobalt, whatcher 
 want? " 
 
 " Look who's here ! " my gold man cried a few 
 minutes later, standing like a pillar under the low ceil- 
 ing, and blotting out the rest of the room with his
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 63 
 
 breadth. I guessed from his hearty handshake we 
 were glad to meet again. It was just as if we had 
 never stopped getting along as if Griggs had never 
 butted in. 
 
 Of course he felt it his duty to dissuade me from 
 going North, but, seeing I didn't budge from my de- 
 termination, he promised to be godfather to the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 " I'm not living in the heart of Cobalt, you know, 
 my claim lies up river, but I'll be there to-morrow 
 morning and fix you up. Maybe seeing me around 
 will frighten some of the wildcats away." 
 
 My eyes sparkled. " Wildcats ! Are there really 
 beasts of prey is it so wild can we hunt? I'm 
 out for adventure I'm crazy about it! " 
 
 He laughed uproariously. " Women beat the 
 Dutch ! Of course, if you're out for adventure, some- 
 body's got to fall. But why do you pick upon me? " 
 
 His laugh and his twinkling eyes and this sort of 
 talk, showed he was pleased as Punch over taking 
 Clarissa on a holiday. For there being only one train 
 and our tickets reading the same date, we were more 
 or less obliged to go together. In fact he swiped the 
 charge of me from the minute we met, and blew me to 
 an elegant dinner with several mining men gathered 
 round the festive board. It was a good beginning. 
 Henri played up in crackerjack form, and whenever 
 he's at his highest pitch, I queen it. The fellows 
 seemed quite overcome by mirth and amazement, and 
 Ross showed off his performing bear like a master 
 mountebank, roaring almost continuously himself. 
 
 The gang put up a joke on us, telegraphed ahead, 
 and had the Cobalt boys meet us with a royal welcome.
 
 64 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I was all sunned up and some looker when I stepped 
 on to the platform; and, if it hadn't been for my 
 heavy escort, I'd have been mobbed. 
 
 Mining costume khaki riding pants, leather 
 leggings, a blue flannel shirt, and any number of thick 
 wool sweaters piled on according to the weather 
 made Ross look about the size of a heathen god; and 
 being god on his own claim he voted himself leave. 
 For a week we played together, seeing everything and 
 everybody. He got wise to my being short of the 
 ready, when I hung back from buying proper clothes, 
 and took a little flyer in stock on my account; and 
 then settled me for a morning's interview with 
 Timothy Eaton's catalogue. The result, a trans- 
 formed Clarissa, in clothes exactly seconding his own, 
 met with more than approval. Maybe he thought I'd 
 get fed up being treated so swell, and pack and quit. 
 He'd given me seven days to tire of mining; by the 
 end of that time I was just getting into my stride. 
 
 For one thing I had negotiated to pitch tent at the 
 doctor's. A clean room, and good food, and not too 
 much interference from his short-tempered, full- 
 bosomed Irish housekeeper, seemed princely compared 
 to Towne's Temperance Hotel, or even to my bunk 
 at Buniva's. And another very ample reason cropped 
 up in my having begun to make a living without work- 
 ing so hard that you'd notice it. Every now and 
 again somebody would offer to buy or sell for me and 
 cover before it was time to put up margin. Occa- 
 sionally, it came off. When it didn't, he paid the 
 piper. Henri held this was a piker's game and just 
 like a woman but it made the mare go. 
 
 Gradually, I came to understand the ins and outs
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 65 
 
 and ups and downs of mining, the raging hope and 
 bitter disappointments which make these men mer- 
 curial. Ross had foreshadowed the business to me at 
 " The Girl of the Golden West "; and now he showed 
 me the actual operation from one end to the other on 
 his own mine the Victoria. She was a good claim. 
 Her veins had assayed splendidly till they side- 
 stepped. Now it was up to the boss to outwit faults, 
 relocate his fortune and get her going again; so 
 presently, he cut away from me and the town life, 
 and settled to it tooth and nail. Still there was more 
 fun going in Cobalt any week than I'd had in my 
 whole life before. 
 
 The Doc's house being central I grew kind of 
 central too. Some of the bunch were always dropping 
 in for a game. 
 
 "Which game?" Doc asked. 
 
 There must have been a dozen flirting with me, and 
 some hard hit but nix on the sentiment for Henri. 
 Every evening the deck came out sooner or later, and 
 that is where we made our killing. De Grasse is some 
 little poker player, believe me ! We won consistently, 
 and the boys, white sports and bred in the bone 
 gamblers, liked me the better for it. 
 
 Cobalt was a boom town in that day and not with- 
 out its features : the drug store, because of temperance 
 the rendezvous of good cheer, and the club, a very 
 select institution putting a bold face on its main line of 
 business and calling itself "The Mess." If a native 
 belonged to the Mess, he was in it otherwise away 
 out at the back door. A conglomerate gang, twenty 
 or more members, they all counted themselves my in- 
 timate friends. Certain personalities stood forth as
 
 66 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 mirthmakers or were noted for a genial grouch, but 
 Terrance O'Shaughnessy, familiarly known as the 
 " Terrier," remained unquestioned leader. Brown of 
 skin, blue of eye, ready of tongue, he was a very live 
 wire indeed. His small head and delicate features 
 giving the lie to iron muscles invited trouble and in- 
 directly made him famous, for loud mouthed fellows 
 didn't hesitate to pick a quarrel, and many a one wore 
 his music-box out of condition in consequence. The 
 hero of a hundred scraps added distinction by cursed 
 bad luck, endless endurance, and a weakness for the 
 fair sex; this being a gentlemanly inclination touched 
 with the magic gift of understanding, we all en- 
 couraged him. Don't mistake me. He was no lap 
 dog. The fastest paddler in a bush country enforces 
 respect among men but as a gambler save the 
 name! Every deal left him done brown on both 
 sides and crisp at the edges. 
 
 By deduction the " Terrier " must have been a re- 
 mittance man. He lived high at the Mess, with his 
 hand always in his pocket and several kegs of the 
 best brand open in his room ; and then he'd go broke, 
 and disappear down the French River about the date 
 his notes fell due; lie low a while; flash back un- 
 heralded; clean up his financial slate and start some- 
 thing. Bully-Bill, his faithful henchman, helped him 
 spend the money and drink the rye, and fluctuated 
 with him like a changing tide.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Spring had done her worst and left it at that. 
 Washouts ceased from troubling, and the roads firmed 
 Cobalt took on a new lease of life. 
 
 Prospectors poured in, bought supplies, selected 
 canoes, packed their dunnage, and were swallowed 
 by the back country. Talk on the Doc's porch ran 
 over with rich veins, lucky strikes or new flotations. 
 
 Every man in the Mess that year either went out 
 himself or had somebody grub-staked. 
 
 Sol Graham, of course, couldn't leave the Kirk- 
 land ; and Charley Ross was in the same predicament 
 with his place doing all his prospecting right there. 
 He doubled his gangs and drove ahead like mad, but 
 rumor had it the Victoria would peter out. 
 
 For six months or more my goldman had kept me 
 guessing. At the opera he acted as if he might be 
 soft, and I put him down for a hand-holder; but up 
 here there were no signs of kidding. Not that I 
 wanted it, mind you, spooning never was my style 
 even before I grafted Henri, only the change got me 
 going. Was he afraid I would take advantage 
 or was his attitude just the difference between a man's 
 work and his play? I asked him once if he thought 
 the girl of the Silver North gang as true as that Goldy 
 Girl, and he snatched my hand and started to speak. 
 I don't know what switched him off. In the end he 
 merely pinched my elbow, and said I was a good 
 
 67
 
 68 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 card player. We never pursued the subject Henri 
 had had enough. 
 
 Between not seeing anything of Ross and thinking 
 so much about him, I worked up a real heart interest ; 
 and I was awfully pleased when he tethered Barnum 
 to the Doc's post one bright, hot noon; and asked 
 for it cold.' 
 
 " You're a sight for sore eyes ! " I cried. " Where 
 was?" 
 
 Jake Smith, sitting alongside, with his hat tilted 
 forward about as far as his chair was tilted back, and 
 spurred heels dangling like a lisping child's, grunted 
 welcome. 
 
 " Been working and neglecting business," Ross 
 said, kind of bitter. " Missed the Rock Queen rise 
 
 haven't heard any news for a month ! " 
 
 " Good things going and us not abroad. Tish ! 
 There's wood in the woodpile." 
 
 11 Musson's canned me," he croaked. That was 
 his dandy foreman, and a big loss. " Gone prospect- 
 ing on his own. I saw the ' Terrier ' in town 
 wonder he's not out after it. Season's well advanced 
 
 what's doing?" I caught him glancing my way. 
 " Lots around here," said the Doc with a wink. 
 
 " Poetry." 
 
 " Quit talking through your hat," growled Jake. 
 
 Charley sat sizing me up rather keen. And I 
 actually blushed, making it look- as if "the fat was in 
 the fire. 
 
 " Gospel truth," I affirmed hastily. " Terry has 
 been throwing off verses high brow quality. 
 Makes you cow boys bulk about thirty cents." We all 
 laughed.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 69 
 
 " Terry's passing the time of day with you, 
 youngster." Jake spoke as he willed. He was 
 notorious for taking liberties and living up to them. 
 " The boy's under contract to Bagster regarding 
 those Lelland claims, and he's got to hang around 
 with nothing particular to do." 
 
 " Lelland ! " exclaimed Ross, pricking his ears. 
 "What's new?" 
 
 Bagster, a hard-shell promoter and financier, and a 
 grabber from the word go, had made, to date, by far 
 the biggest clean-up in Cobalt; things he was in- 
 terested in were good. The Lelland was generally 
 known to show two enormous veins lying open to the 
 sunshine. All one had to do was to go and gather 
 the stuff in. This plum, however, had fallen away 
 at the back of beyond, and lay fast locked in unbroken 
 wilderness. Very few of those who raved about its 
 wealth had ever set foot on its precious mud, or 
 passed within miles of it. 
 
 Jake continued to rumble information, and we all 
 listened, take it from me ! 
 
 " Fault in the title going to be thrown open one 
 of these days then watch the rush." 
 
 " Damn ! I never knew it ! Might as well be 
 dead as out of touch." 
 
 We jumped, every one, and turned amazed eyes on 
 Ross. Always careful of his speech before ladies 
 he was now fighting mad, as I had never seen him 
 yet. The doctor began to talk quietly, rubbing his 
 glasses. 
 
 " That will be the biggest haul of the year, easily. 
 Bagster had an option on the property at two millions, 
 before he got wind of the trouble. He allowed it to
 
 70 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 lapse. I only wish I was an engineer and pioneer 
 like the rest of you it's a great opportunity." 
 
 " You stand as good a chance of winning, Doc, as 
 any of us. Bagster has the Terrier tied up in some 
 sort of financial scrape, hard and fast, and with the 
 Terrier and Bully paddling no one can beat him. 
 Knowing the country so well, they will be in and 
 stake the claim and out to register it, before the others 
 are half way there Bagster saves his two million, 
 all right." 
 
 " Not so fast," says Ross, quietly. " The claim 
 will be open. A man might camp " 
 
 Jake shoved back his hat, thrust forth an aggres- 
 sive chin, and settled the chair legs with a resounding 
 whack. 
 
 " How in hell are ye going to know the date, if ye 
 camp? There being no mortal means of communica- 
 tion with that claim except by water, the man who's 
 fastest with the paddles gets the mine." 
 
 " Bet you ten to one Bagster don't," Charley re- 
 plied, smiling. " I'm going to have a hard try against 
 him." 
 
 " Done," cried Jake. " What in? " 
 
 " Hundreds." 
 
 Ross unfolded from the lower step and walked over 
 to Barnum. " Got to get busy," he sang out. 
 
 I watched his eyes. He acted and looked like a 
 different man had he an idea? All at once Henri 
 was taken with one of his yearnings towards dear 
 old Ross; it made me get up and go over there, and 
 I caught the bridle before he mounted, saying: 
 
 " Walk a bit let's talk. I haven't seen you in a 
 dog's age and you rush away faster than a rocket."
 
 As he fell in beside me, I slipped an arm through his. 
 It looks loverlike enough in writing, but you ought 
 to have viewed the place. A short cut leads by the 
 doctor's fence across to the main north road. There 
 is more undisturbed ground here than anywhere else 
 in the district, and perhaps an acreage of lush grass 
 lying along the rail fences. The eastward and windy 
 side is planted in pine, so that pine needles carpeted 
 the road, while sapling birch trees, in full young leaf, 
 leaned towards each other on the lower bank, making 
 a dappled shade and a semblance of privacy just 
 the spot for confidences. 
 
 The Doc had been prophesying I'd fall for this lane 
 as soon as spring was fairly awake; and I could see 
 him making faces at Jake, and guess the form of his 
 conversation next time we met. Ah if he had 
 only known. 
 
 " The Lelland is a big chance," I began. " Do you 
 really think we can do anything?" 
 
 " We ? " My quasi-sentimental companion almost 
 overdid his part. Warmth^ softened his voice. 
 
 " Two heads are better than one," I said quietly, 
 for danger lay in confusing Henri's passions and mine. 
 
 " So she thinks she can beat Bagster ! You're the 
 gamest little girl I ever met." His arm slid around 
 me. I drew away it was no time for twaddle 
 and answered, serious as a judge: 
 
 " I have a hunch we can win." 
 
 The big man stood gazing down at me for fifty 
 seconds; then, something hard came over him. He 
 tossed his head impatiently, like a colt fresh haltered. 
 
 "You're right, kid the job won't wait. If I 
 think up anything, I may tell you I'll let you in.
 
 72 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Be good. And, say keep an eye on the Terrier 
 for me." 
 
 He sprang to his horse and galloped off down the 
 sun-spattered road, leaving behind him a beautiful 
 young fury, who tore her hair at his patronage, 
 stamped her foot at sex, and ground her teeth with 
 determination to beat old Bagster and others. 
 
 " I may tell you." How those words rankled ! He 
 didn't take me seriously after all these months. 
 " Speculative enterprises closed to women " put up 
 the bars. If I thought of any scheme I would be 
 obliged to tell him in order to work it out. 
 
 Chance opportunity. Henri's slogan. I was at 
 last face to face with the gigantic moment of my life. 
 
 " Keep cool, keep cool," I whispered, suppressing 
 myself all the way back. And once in my room, and 
 the door fastened, I settled with a perfectly concen- 
 trated mind to do that terrific head stunt. 
 
 I never moved all through the tiresome white after- 
 noon ; but just sat staring inward exerting every 
 mental faculty thinking thinking. 
 
 Footsteps came and went; knuckles rapped for en- 
 trance and gave up; the tea gong boomed five times, 
 insisting on its office, and hummed to silence. Still I 
 sat on. The boys began to drop in; merry voices 
 floated to me through the luminous northern twilight. 
 I noted Terry's among them, glad I was not working 
 for his personal defeat. Then I became detached. 
 
 I was aroused. Scraping feet and chair legs fore- 
 told the mood downstairs ; the game began and 
 silence fell. 
 
 Dumb and inactive my body rocked to and fro, and 
 my mind kept company, creaking the old boards but
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 73 
 
 never striking a new note. Waterways and paddles, 
 waterways and paddles, lakes and rivers and canoes 
 by what other means could one dare to hope to pene- 
 trate that vast unbroken wilderness? 
 
 Gee! The wheels in my head spun and all for 
 nothing. I trusted Ross wasn't lying by for such a 
 fruitless effort. 
 
 Silence silence. Occasionally a wrangle of voice 
 from below, but out in the night silence. And 
 then crash! The crash of doom. 
 
 Our house shivered in every timber, windows rat- 
 tled, glass fell tinkling, the furniture hopped along my 
 rag carpet, the lamps swayed on their brackets. As 
 I ran out into the hall, one banged downstairs and flew 
 to a thousand atoms. The bunch were crowding in 
 the doorway, talking excitedly. Jake threw a mat 
 over the burning oil, and somebody called loud : 
 
 " Don't be scared ! It's only a big charge at the 
 Pontiac night shift working. A little too close for 
 comfort!" 
 
 I heard them shuffle to the sideboard, for shock 
 loves stimulant, and back to their places. 
 
 " Deal the cards," said the Doc. " I smell trouble. 
 Let's have another round before we're called." 
 
 "Coming in, Clarissa?" 
 
 " Nope." But I wanted to just the same. My 
 door banged, shutting out temptation. I might as 
 well have sat in the game who could think after 
 such a hurly-burly! In spite of determination my 
 wits went wool-gathering. Without the least idea of 
 side-tracking the car, I'd suddenly find myself at the 
 Victoria. I'd shake myself and start over; and five 
 minutes later would be wondering how Ross was
 
 74 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 getting on. The ticking clock accentuated monotony, 
 only relieved by a dull roar once in a while from our 
 lively neighbour. 
 
 I rose and paced the little room fighting off stupor. 
 
 " Clarissa Kendall," said I, " hold yourself alert. 
 This is one of the hours about which literature is as 
 a scaffold, and play-acting but the bricks and mortar. 
 This is Fate's tremendous climax for you every- 
 thing hangs in the balance. You either win out and 
 be something from this time on or you sink to the 
 level of the scrap heap perhaps marry do and 
 become something utterly ordinary. You've been up 
 here since lunch-time keeping a nice jog trot over 
 other people's tracks now get busy and blaze a trail. 
 We've got to strike for ourselves. We've got to get 
 right away from the water and go inland. We've 
 got to manage to go inland quicker than the boys can 
 paddle we've got a devil of a job, for it's thick 
 woods every inch of the way. We've got to " 
 
 Pontiac roared again heavily, and all at once the 
 big idea up and slapped me in the face biff! Just 
 like that. 
 
 " Got it ! Got it ! so help me ! " I cried, driving 
 one fist into the other palm. " I own the mine I 
 own two million dollars' worth of mine I own the 
 Lelland!" 
 
 And we did own it without possibility of failure, if 
 my plan went through but I must have help. 
 
 A dash of temper, like the bitters in a cocktail, 
 makes life tasty. I thought of Ross and hated him. 
 But he had been a good pal. It was up to me to take 
 him in. I owed it to him and I must have help.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 75 
 
 No longer cool plumb intoxicated, plumb crazy, 
 I capered in my joy. Then, canned it sudden, for my 
 scheme required time, and every hour saved might 
 mean success. Shoes in hand I sneaked down past 
 the dining room door; I fanned my fingers thumb 
 to nose, and grinned my compliments at the bunch 
 playing their measly dollar-limit, and flung a leg over 
 Pepper Pot, Jake's fiery young mare. 
 
 Silent as a pair of hold-up men we edged down 
 to the short cut, and then, throwing caution to the 
 winds, shot out a flying unit in the night. 
 
 Rockefeller'd sell the Standard Oil to feel a tenth 
 of our elation. Success sang in the warm air stream- 
 ing by, a heart light as a feather challenged Fate. 
 Exultation burst forth in whoops of joy. If I'd 
 packed a gun, I'd have been shooting up the place. 
 Gee! what it means, that mood! Wasting cartridges 
 just to hear it bark ! 
 
 Whooping kept the nag to her pace fine, Jake having 
 known joy in his day too. But by-and-by the roads 
 hardened and we slowed down. I wasn't taking any 
 chances on a horse's legs particularly his horse. 
 With the slackening of our pace my mood suddenly 
 changed. I became keenly alive to some mysterious 
 force resisting me. The uncanniness of it appalled. 
 I knew I was in the center of a great battle which I 
 could neither see, nor hear, nor feel. I noticed the 
 sky had gloomed up. Over my head stars twinkled, 
 but a wall of solid blackness rose like a rock in front. 
 
 Pepper put up her nose and sniffed and whinnied. 
 Big drops splashed on my hands. We were in for a 
 storm, sure, but I reckoned a horse was neither sugar
 
 76 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 nor salt and urged her forward. She cowered. The 
 darkness held a menace for horseflesh too. I felt my 
 hand on the rein shaking. 
 
 A bolt of lightning fell through the sky straight 
 to earth. It cut the night like a band of bright ribbon, 
 and turned blackness into tawny yellow. Some 
 storm! Another bolt fell, and another and another. 
 Lightning rained from heaven. It didn't seem pos- 
 sible that they were falling harmlessly into the great 
 wilderness separating the Lelland from Cobalt. With 
 the first of the shocks my companion planted her feet 
 firmly, and refused to budge. I got down, tugging 
 on the bridle, but it was no use; she stood as firmly 
 fixed as a bronze statue. Jake's horse taking on so 
 about a rain shower! I flecked her with the whip till 
 she whinnied. 
 
 So far there had been no sound, now the thunder 
 struck us peal after peal. It roared around us. A 
 battery of great guns seemed to be stationed in every 
 quarter of the compass. The power of the storm 
 shook the rocks on which we stood. Quite suddenly 
 I was overcome by a terrific nausea. I felt as if I 
 were fighting against horrible odds in a losing fight. 
 I couldn't get my breath right. I couldn't think, it 
 was as if Nature had withdrawn her support. And 
 then I knew that Nature must be against me, even as 
 I was against Nature. I saw Henri de Grasse and 
 Clarissa Kendall, two souls in a single body, as a ter- 
 rible blot on the order of things, a blasphemy against 
 every natural law. 
 
 I felt I was cursed. I was in a worse plight than 
 Cain's. I had not unnaturally killed my brother, but 
 I had unnaturally made him live. Even in the animal
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 77 
 
 shivering at my side I found evidence of the 
 monstrous iniquity. 
 
 " You will never prosper," voices of the storm sang. 
 " We are against you. Beware ! " My heart sank 
 into my boots; animal fear communicated itself to me. 
 I leaned against the horse and shook, and the more 
 I shook the more she shook. We shivered there to- 
 gether, my face hidden in her neck, while the bolts 
 continued to split the north, turning banked clouds 
 into a tawny daylight. 
 
 A sharp noise pierced the roll of thunder, the rattle 
 of hailstones on bush. We stood in the open and the 
 stones flung themselves against us, yet they were less 
 real than the facts hurling through my chaotic senses. 
 " You are against Nature and Nature is against 
 you Look out! " I groped in black terror, but had 
 never an idea of giving up. When the storm had 
 emptied its wicked heart, and slid away to the south- 
 west, I remounted Pepper, and we proceeded wearily 
 to the Victoria. 
 
 The bunk houses sheltering Charley's wops lined 
 the road, and I didn't fancy riding between them, 
 so I tethered my pony, and cut across to the office 
 where Ross lived. A glance in at one of the windows 
 gave me his whole situation. He sat at a table cov- 
 ered with section maps, his head sunk in his hands. 
 The slope of his shoulders that tired look put 
 me wise to his being broke. Things looked worse 
 than gossip represented them. I guessed Charley 
 was keeping a stiff upper lip. Mines aren't much on 
 accommodation and discomfort's hell when one's 
 down and out. His bunk wasn't made up looked 
 as if it hadn't been since Musson left. Wearing ap-
 
 78 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 parel lay about, muddy boots had been kicked off and 
 let lie anyhow. Dinner, untouched, sat on the back 
 of the stove, while a coffee pot kept company with the 
 lamp and maps. I saw at once Ross was one of those 
 nice burly man-children, who never grow up and are 
 utterly incapable of taking care of themselves. 
 
 While I watched, he straightened out his long legs, 
 rammed his hands deep into his pockets, and glowered 
 at the floor. He looked all in despondent to the 
 verge of suicide; so I beat it 'round to the front and 
 banged a regular salvo for admittance. 
 
 Charley, standing, filled the whole opening; and 
 surprise there isn't a star in the film world could 
 match his face. 
 
 " I've got it ! The Lelland's ours ! " I cried, and, 
 not waiting for a welcome, pushed inside. 
 
 He blinked owlishly. " Clarissa Kendall ! At this 
 time what's up ? " 
 
 " Bagster's up the spout." 
 
 He didn't seem to hear, and, now the moment had 
 come, I was trembling. My plan bubbled out topsy- 
 turvy. 
 
 " We'll need men and dynamite lots of it. The 
 charges must be awful big a dozen camps won't 
 give you the right start." Words tumbled out faster 
 and faster, till I saw him register the " are-you-mad " 
 expression; and I flopped into a chair to recover 
 breath. 
 
 "Wake up, man! I'm onto it do you hear? 
 The Lelland's ours." Damnation! he was going to be 
 polite and fatherly. 
 
 " I'm not drunk ! " I yelled, and then, mastering 
 emotion, tried another line.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 79 
 
 " This is a deal between you and me is it fifty- 
 fifty ? Do you want to come in or shall I carry my 
 idea elsewhere ? There's not an hour to lose take 
 it or leave it." That stung. Make any human being 
 mad, and it's serious at once. 
 
 I pounded my fists on the table. 
 
 " Listen There's only one thing will travel 
 through this country faster than the Terrier and Bully- 
 Bill in a light canoe and that is sound. We are go- 
 ing to signal the news in." 
 
 He got me. I never saw a man so flabbergasted. 
 For long seconds he stood staring as though without a 
 ray of intelligence, but all the while his brain was mak- 
 ing lightning dashes, hither and thither, through the 
 Canadian bush. He turned. Feverish shuffling of 
 the maps and hurried calculations convinced him of the 
 scheme's workability ; and then the giant sought for me 
 with bloodshot eyes. 
 
 " Girl ! " he cried. " We're made ! Shake on it." 
 
 I guess I was more pleased at being treated like a 
 real man partner, than over any amount of palaver. 
 
 We sat down on opposite sides of the table and 
 worked out details; and, when all was ready, Ross 
 strode to the door, flung it open, and bellowed into the 
 night. Night did I say? It was cold gray morn- 
 ing. 
 
 "Hi, there, boys! Shorty Green, hi!" 
 
 A whisk of wind scampering around the corner 
 tossed his great voice across the clearing. And while 
 we waited for signs of life, I did a little calculating on 
 my own. 
 
 From the moment we heard of the fault in title de 
 Grasse had been rampant. I thought like de Grasse,
 
 80 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 acted like him, was de Grasse in fact pushing the 
 woman part clean aside. Now she came bobbing up 
 to complicate matters morning light always gets a 
 woman whose been at large in the dark. I wanted 
 to bring the matter before Ross nicely. 
 
 " Jake's lost his horse," I said. " And it looks to 
 me as if I might be going to loosen up a bit on char- 
 acter. Do you think Miss Clarissa had better slide 
 before the men reach here?" 
 
 " Too late now," he replied. " Seeing you leave 
 would start a lot more questions than finding you in 
 camp. I should have sent you home." 
 
 " Let be," I jollied, hating to spoil our triumph by 
 worry. " With a million dollars, I'll not miss it any." 
 
 Already we caught the tramp of hob-nailed boots, 
 and the hands came trooping in. 
 
 " You're all leaving here within the hour," ordered 
 Ross. " Get the canoes afloat, load dynamite to capac- 
 ity, and grub-stake yourselves for ten days." 
 
 He signed that some of the older men should re- 
 main, and spieled it to them in a few words. 
 
 " Look here ! " indicating the maps. " We'll lay a 
 charge at Halsy's Wharf, another by Fisher Creek. 
 One at the bend will carry beyond the reserve, and 
 from there to Long Inlet. We're not taking any 
 chances on a contrary wind. Lay them close and 
 heavy. Make the most of the sound, boys, you know 
 how here, and here, and here. Two men will stay 
 at each camp. Miss Kendall is my partner in this, 
 Green, she'll pass the word from town to you. Better 
 put our first charge on the portage. I'll be waiting at 
 the head of Duck Lake and beat the others to it."
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Doc gave me a curtain lecture, and took my word 
 that I had been out all night on most important busi- 
 ness. And when I'd settled the question of the bor- 
 rowed horse with Jake, I lapsed into watchful wait- 
 ing. 
 
 Playing amateur detective to the Terrier's progress 
 felt almost like a regular romance. A game wasn't a 
 game unless he sat in it. I was a hound on his track. 
 To receive him early and speed him late; ride with 
 him, dance with him, talk for him became the goal of 
 life. He came and went as usual, and it was surpris- 
 ing what a variety of small errands matured about 
 leaving time, so that Clarissa went along. 
 
 Society was on tip-toe with excitement, such a rush 
 not having been expected from one who had always 
 maintained the happy balance of hail-fellow-well-met 
 with the entire outfit. But their New Yorker was 
 changed. She developed a passion for strong drinks ; 
 some male or other was forever piloting her in the di- 
 rection of the soda tank. I spent hours hanging on to 
 the drug store bar, for that was where the round up 
 generally took place, and gossip was always on sched- 
 ule there if not ahead of time. You could get bet- 
 ter tips buying a toothbrush in Cobalt than paying for 
 a dozen quarts in any city joint and it was gossip 
 for mine those days. 
 
 Absolute certainty lay in keeping the Terrier under 
 
 81
 
 82 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 lock and key meaning strict supervision so I di- 
 vorced etiquette, and every time he appeared on the 
 street, I'd go out and flag him. 
 
 " Making yourself too cheap, kid," growled Jake. 
 " You're overdoing it." 
 
 And I was. By the fourth day my quarry turned 
 mouse-shy that is how I came to miss his getaway. 
 
 Green stormed in one morning white about the gills. 
 " What in the blankety blank blank blank 
 blank! Don't you know O'Shaughnessy and Bully 
 left town yesterday? " 
 
 My spine went soft as a pail of mush. " But the 
 claims aren't open ! " I stammered. 
 
 " They've got something up their sleeve. There's 
 nothing to prevent them tapping our wires, if they're 
 on. That Dan Toms is a low-down, yellow-livered 
 cuss heaven help him if I find a leak! " 
 
 " Our signals ! You don't mean they've got wise to 
 our scheme! They wouldn't dare. Why we could 
 throw them off with one little false blast." 
 
 " And pitch ourselves into the ditch too. Who's to 
 tip our boys that we're raising the bets out of malice? 
 We don't start no signals till the claims are open." 
 
 My spirits tumbled into deepest midnight. Hope 
 lay down on me. I was obsessed again by the terrific 
 sense of Nature in all her power and might being 
 arrayed against us. And when news of the Lelland 
 being opened fired the town, I went out to get my nag 
 with a lead sinker in place of my heart. 
 
 There's tonic in a gallop on a fine clear day, one's 
 pulses answer to the rhythmic thudding of the horse's 
 hoofs. We cut the time to the Victoria pretty close, 
 and I managed a regular " cheer, oh " for Green and
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 83 
 
 the boys. Our enthusiasm mounted during the hasty 
 embarking and the straight bright course we steered to 
 portage. Gleaming paddles dipped and carried for- 
 ward shimmering and dipped again ; and all our breath 
 was in our work. We were ahead of the rush and 
 wasted no time before setting off the fuse. 
 
 Dizzy thunder overwhelmed us. Lord! What a 
 charge! Then we stood tense in the silence straining 
 every nerve to hear, till from far away there sounded 
 back the ghost of an explosion. Johnson and Foster, 
 camped beyond, had got our news and sped it. At a 
 single crack, we were away ahead of the game but 
 were we ? Nature was working with us, she had car- 
 ried our signal, but we could not code her. She 
 screamed her message on the hilltop for all initiated 
 ears to understand. 
 
 A fellow who was holding down a bum claim near 
 portage came over to ask what all the row was about, 
 and did we think we were blowing up a blooming for- 
 tress, or only prospecting on government property? 
 He said the Terrier and Bully had gone through a 
 couple of days before. Hustling they were, but look- 
 ing powerful well set up and pleased with the universe. 
 It was his opinion nobody had a chance against them 
 two for the Lelland. 
 
 Green and I avoided each other's eyes. We were 
 mortally certain now tj^at somebody had tipped them 
 off. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link 
 and it took a lot of links to reach into that northern 
 wilderness. Still, Ross was ahead, well ahead, if he 
 hadn't got into difficulty and had to turn back. But 
 he was alone and the Terrier and Bully were awful 
 fast paddlers.
 
 84 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 The sickening sense of failure lay upon my spirits 
 like a pall. I got out of bed with it in the morning 
 and covered myself with it at night. And Nature did 
 her damnedest. A bright dry spell gave place to tear- 
 ing winds, and the winds brought the smell of scorched 
 brush to our very door step. Things were doing up 
 North. I knew it would take something more than 
 trivial to turn Ross from his goal but a forest on 
 fire is no child's toy. What is having a start com- 
 pared to being out of the woods, literally? As soon as 
 I finished worrying over the fire, a new line started. 
 Ross was ahead of the game; he was expert and care- 
 ful, and had his nerve with him, and he wasn't under 
 that mad pressure of haste that drives a man beyond 
 his better judgment as a matter of fact he'd be giv- 
 ing the Terrier two days more than was coming to him. 
 Gee! If he didn't hustle! 
 
 Then there was the possibility of a blow on one of 
 the wide lakes, a mess in the rapids, an upset with loss 
 of boat and grub, which would mean striking for civ- 
 ilization the sooner the better. I cursed our arrange- 
 ment for the last blast, which had necessitated Ross's 
 going on alone and yet that last blast might be the 
 straw to break our rival's back. Our signals must 
 have travelled farther than the enemy could make in 
 forty-eight hours. Barring accidents barring acci- 
 dents ! But I wouldn't let myself build on it. And we 
 had no news. 
 
 In the blighted uncertainty of those days Clarissa 
 commenced to hanker for town; for lights and noise 
 and people and buildings and for a less strenuous 
 life. Oh, to be lost in a crowd once more, unhonored 
 and unsung and unobserved. Cobalt looked sud-
 
 85 
 
 denly vulgar and raw, compared to her sisters, a stupid 
 little busy-body. I resented Jake's counsel and even the 
 Doc's mild jokes. I refused to swap yarns with the 
 bunch. My mind was entirely full of one adventure 
 the end of which was yet unwritten. A more thor- 
 oughly disagreeable hotch-potch of ill-humor, nerves, 
 uncertainty and expectation couldn't have been found 
 to dine at anybody's table. I marvel Doc didn't throw 
 me out by the scruff of the neck. 
 
 And all the while I was rude to them, I was cogitat- 
 ing in the bottom of my brain pan, that maybe I'd dig 
 out if Ross got back safe. 
 
 He did get back safe and first. He beat the Ter- 
 rier to it by an hour and a half. He'd just finished his 
 job and was enjoying a pipe preparatory to starting 
 home, and chuckling to think how much time he had 
 on the rest, when the two showed up. It's lucky for 
 him it was Terry, any couple of ordinary roughhouse 
 prospectors would have murdered him on the spot, or 
 have done him dirt in some way. But O'Shaughnessy 
 was born a gentleman, and he stood for fair play all 
 along the line. Bully told how they hung on Ross's 
 trail every mile of the way back, hoping he'd come a 
 cropper. But he picked up his own boys at the first 
 camp, and a couple more farther down. By the time 
 they reached Portage there was a regular army of 
 them ready to defend our man and our rights against 
 all comers. 
 
 Immediately on registering the claims Ross an- 
 nounced my partnership; and I'll own I was tickled 
 to death to find him giving me full credit for the idea. 
 Our crowd could hardly believe their ears. They did 
 the handsome thing by me. We celebrated long and
 
 86 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 broad and wide; and of course Henri, being beyond the 
 grasp of their practical minds, girlie had to stand up 
 and take the salutes. But de Grasse proved right 
 again it's safer not -to attract too much attention. 
 After the pow-wow those boys began to fall away, 
 scared I think. Men don't like women who are ca- 
 pable of beating them. I soon understood the Lelland 
 business had cooked my goose with the bunch. Some 
 of the old hands had grown grouchy, while I appeared 
 to be so mad about the Terrier; and now they saw 
 through that game they turned scornful as well as 
 peeved didn't take any stock in it or me. Terry 
 himself wasn't struck on being a loser, so he made 
 tracks for the bush, quick. 
 
 But the most startling part of the change sprang 
 from my turning into a capitalist. Ross sold the claim 
 straight to Bagster for over two millions, and plunked 
 down fifty per cent, like a white man. I was rich 
 enormously rich rich beyond my wildest dreams. 
 Dollars burnt my pockets; I pined for the open and 
 limitless spending ground of Broadway and Fifth Ave- 
 nue. Moreover, it wasn't any fun to be in Cobalt and 
 not ring in with the right crowd. One by one, as my 
 steadies dropped from the lists, new blood rushed in ; 
 and the weight of Success again blighted my innocent 
 enjoyment. I had to keep a hold on the dough now 
 it was up to me to look out for sharks in the swimming 
 pool. Men I had never known came up and gave me 
 the glad hand like they'd been intimates all our lives. 
 Speculators strove to cultivate me I was bored. It 
 seemed as if every heavy champion in the countryside 
 made an excuse to stop at Doc's. 
 
 " Octopuses," Jake called them. " They're after
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 87 
 
 you, girl. Scutter and leave him to me," he'd 
 croak from under his broad brim, when we saw a 
 stranger coming. By-and-by I fled the veranda al- 
 together; the drugstore and the main street knew my 
 face no longer; a chill began to creep over our evening 
 game. 
 
 No complaints, mind you, I'm only telling how it 
 was. After all we'd glammed in the north what we 
 set out for, and I guess when you've got yours its 
 pretty generally always time to quit. 
 
 Ross came around a lot to make up for the cold shoul- 
 der. Things began to look as if he was more than on 
 the inside; and remarks could be winged frequently 
 about his paying over a million sans struggle, because 
 he was so jolly sure of getting it back with interest. 
 It being none of the town's business, we kept right on 
 going together. I liked him and he liked me; we'd 
 been first rate pals, and we'd brought off something 
 big, shoulder to shoulder, which creates about the nice- 
 est kind of tie and relationship. I never gave his side 
 a serious thought, till one evening down in the short 
 cut. 
 
 I was dressed up and I had to hold my skirts with 
 both hands, the road being squashy along those fields. 
 The night was sweet. Watching from Doc's stoop, 
 moon and trees and sky had rested as still as death, but 
 a tiny breeze blowing there by the river whisked a lock 
 across my face. It was maddening. I shook my 
 head and flopped the hair back, and blew upward, and 
 each time the lock floated over again. Soon, I was 
 tossing like a cow in a pasture full of green flies. Ex- 
 asperated beyond enduring the pesky thing I turned to 
 Ross:
 
 88 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 "Just tuck the hair back, will you, please? It's 
 worse than a New Jersey mosquito ! " 
 
 Who'd ever have thought a nose tickle could lead 
 to sentiment! 
 
 He raised his hand, glanced at it and hesitated, as 
 though his servant were going into action over some- 
 thing high and holy, and wasn't, perhaps, quite fit for 
 office. And then he fixed me up Ai. But I knew by 
 his hesitation that I'd started trouble. A man don't 
 hold off about touching a girl, unless he cares for her, 
 and means to get her where the other fellows will have 
 to hold off for keeps. 
 
 We travelled a bit and leaned on a barred gate ad- 
 miring the palish landscape ; there he snatched an occa- 
 sion to sail right in. He told me he was stony-broke 
 at the Victoria stony flat-broke not knowing how 
 to pay the men, hardly, and almost in despair, when I 
 came along and gave him the big idea. " Gave it to 
 me," were the words he emphasized. 
 
 Of course, being a man and having got something, 
 he wanted a whole lot more. He wouldn't ask me 
 while he was broke, he said ; which explains his shying 
 off once or twice, but now things looked different. 
 
 I kind of wanted to stay up there and marry Ross. 
 You see I was plumb scared afraid of my own luck 
 and he shone a fixed star in a fluxing firmament. 
 He was so manly and big and safe. I discounted 
 town-tattle, knowing he had enough for himself and 
 brains to make good on the start; probably his half of 
 the fortune would spell ten times, when mine had 
 dwindled to a fraction. I felt pitifully small com- 
 pared to the money and the blood-suckers' interest 
 in the money experiencing how it had upset my
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 89 
 
 apple cart with the boys made me timid; but it wasn't 
 the business end I was thinking of so much then, as his 
 needing me round to sort up that shack. However, 
 what's the use? Henri would have none of it. 
 
 Things looked different, as Ross said; that's where 
 the rub came. They looked different to Henri also. 
 He was crazy to get out and play with my bank bal- 
 ance. I was overwhelmed in a new and personal sense 
 by the idea of being against Nature. In a flash I un- 
 derstood these weeks of restlessness I realized I had 
 no choice but Manhattan. 
 
 Charley took this medicine like a man there was 
 no apparent need to feel weepy after all he wasn't 
 a loser on my account. We had made him a present of 
 a cool million.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The first thing I did when I reached " little old New 
 York," and had put up on the level at the Ritz, was to 
 strike for Bain & Dingley's lingerie department, and 
 buy about half the stock I used to spend so much of 
 my time selling. 
 
 I piled the choicest confections into a taxi and took 
 them right home some class to being at home in the 
 palm parlors! And after wallowing in hot water, 
 which was a treat too, Doc's joint having sold short 
 on baths and not having covered, I spent a whole day 
 slipping those lush garments off and on, and admiring 
 myself in ribbony, lacy, delicious, delicate icy-creamy 
 finery. Wasn't I the doll ! But say ! The cash I ran 
 through fairly made my eyes water. 
 
 Gold doesn't have a chance to burn one's pockets 
 long in a metropolis. It burns too hot. That quaint, 
 peculiar odor folks associate with London they will say 
 is fog Lummy! It's the smell of scorching cloth; 
 and we've got the same here attributed to other causes. 
 Getting together a wardrobe didn't occupy a week ; and 
 presently I began to sup the bitter dregs of idleness. I 
 hadn't a thing to do no place to go but out, nothing 
 to wear but clothes. It's right lonely and a trifle cold 
 sitting on top of a million plunks, unless one knows the 
 signals for the other people in the same altitude and my 
 list of acquaintances ranged chiefly in Bain & Ding- 
 ley's, which Henri had scored off. 
 
 90
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 91 
 
 During the third week my spirits ran so low I hiked 
 down to see old Buniva. Of course I'd paid her the 
 board money and sent her an extra ten to sweeten her 
 dinner of herbs, so she rushed at me in really embar- 
 rassing joy; talked volubly of a full house and an easy 
 pocket ; and regretted she couldn't let me have my old 
 room. Gee ! I showered her with questions trying to 
 find out if Jacobs had made any attempt to nab me. 
 And thinking about him and all the shady business 
 gave me a notion to hunt up Howard Griggs. 
 
 The ghost of my last appearance might be laid. 
 Nobody would suspect a young lady domiciled at the 
 Ritz Carlton, and paying her bills regularly, of such a 
 crime as a petty theft. I wondered how Griggsy had 
 squared it with the owner of the sniff bottle, and 
 determined, if he was on this side of the pond, to 
 learn without delay. 
 
 His club acknowledged him within hail, so I beat 
 it to the unconscious fence and gathered in my wares. 
 Sight of Ross's nugget glued me all up with senti- 
 ment, but by the evening I had recovered sufficiently 
 to compile a neatly worded note apologizing for having 
 carried away Miss Swanhill's belonging, packed 
 among my things by mistake, and asking him to tea 
 next day. 
 
 For all the world like Henri and me at work in the 
 old quarters! It gaye us quite a little fillip toward 
 adventure. 
 
 At our last meeting Griggs had played up fine, and 
 we counted on him as a good scout. I didn't for a 
 minute fancy his hounds had been nosing my track; 
 but nevertheless I knew there was going to be a large 
 slice of explanation served with our little party.
 
 92 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Now that appearances didn't cut much ice ; when we 
 weren't wanting to interest Howard particularly, or to 
 exploit his interests ; and I could don one choice dress 
 or five according to my whim, getting ready wasn't 
 anything like the same pure joy. I wore a marvel- 
 lous greenery-bluerie, slimpsy, net and silk affair, 
 with high heeled, conspicuously buckled shoes, rival- 
 ling Mrs. Jacobs's, and a regular poultice of violets on 
 my front. An astonishing hat that had set me back 
 three hundred bucks topped the bow. Say, I wish 
 the Cobalt crowd could have seen me ! 
 
 H. G. turned up on time, as round and pink and 
 kiddish looking as ever, and bubbling enthusiasm. I 
 reckon nobody would have guessed his age for what 
 it was, but when one came to know him he had a 
 great deal of savvy, as he'd proved helping me out 
 of that last scrape. And would you believe it, he 
 acted so refined and considerate over the subtraction 
 of milady's bottle, making light of the inconvenience, 
 and not asking one question ; I was suddenly moved to 
 tell him all about the opium, and cast hastily for an 
 excuse to be wearing a maid's uniform. 
 
 In his gentlemanly way Howard gave me to under- 
 stand he had never entertained suspicions not en- 
 tirely complimentary, and was deft enough to furnish 
 the excuse himself. 
 
 " I thought ah you must be a detective. A 
 female Sherlock Holmes, don't you know, doing it for 
 fun, and all that. Girls go in for such queer pas- 
 times in America." 
 
 " You disapprove of us, and yet you hang around," 
 I laughed. 
 
 He raised a downy pair of brows. " Spend nine
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 93 
 
 months in New York! jolly likely!" Then he 
 hurried on, fearful lest he had wounded my deeper 
 sentiment. 
 
 "I've been home since you left and I'm going 
 again. But I have to return. Really, I occupy the 
 post of watch dog, appointed by a troublesome, de- 
 ceased, male relative. So long as my niece Angelica 
 desires to remain, I'm booked to stick along and 
 ah take care of her." 
 
 The subject of Angelica, probably a flapper in pig- 
 tails and a knee skirt didn't interest me 'specially, so I 
 waded into my tale. 
 
 Thinking up the old excitement and dragging it all 
 out for our guest's inspection proved very upsetting 
 to de Grasse. We had been so completely and happily 
 occupied making a fortune in Cobalt, he seemed to 
 have forgotten that awful woman, the winged snake, 
 the Jacobs and their opium den. But now his blood, 
 or rather mine, boiled with indignant vexation. 
 
 Henri started talking and I couldn't stop him I 
 was terribly afraid Griggs would fancy Clarissa had 
 been imbibing too freely, particularly at the snake 
 part. But he, being a crank on hypnotism, agreed 
 with every detail, and was certain the symbol, having 
 come to me at the time of the murder, must be the 
 key to the murderer. Then I gave Henri his head. 
 I suppose it is natural for a man to wax graphic over 
 murder a murder in his own family even if he 
 is the corpse. 
 
 Griggs electrified me by his keen spirit. He wanted 
 to turn in and help us chase them. Of course it was 
 the super-physical, super-mental brush of the serpent's 
 wings that drove him to such thoroughly un-English
 
 94 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 lengths, and the chances are he'd get cold feet once 
 at home again under his valet's eagle eye, but for the 
 nonce we three were white hot on the scent and we 
 did enjoy ourselves. 
 
 Howard sat forward, elbows on table, his hands 
 supporting his chubby chin, and his white spats en- 
 twining the lower rung of a gild-edged chair. 
 
 " You said, at the time, something about de Grasse 
 bally funny would you ah care to repeat 
 it?" 
 
 " Sure. No objections to putting myself on record. 
 The old party murdered de Grasse I'll be sworn to 
 that." . 
 
 " But, I say ! How do you know ? Rummy thing 
 her hiding there, isn't it? What makes you think she 
 referred to him? " 
 
 Even Griggs could hardly be expected to stand 
 for the real truth about Henri and me, so I saw I'd 
 have to clam up some on facts. 
 
 " I've got a hunch," I said positively. " And, more- 
 over now this will astonish you although the old 
 woman was bandaged so that I saw her upper face 
 first, and then the lower part, and never the whole 
 of it at once, I'd swear yes, I'd almost swear she 
 was Lady Deer ing." 
 
 Astonish him ! Heavens ! My shot took effect 
 like a gas bomb. The boy sat back stunned, grinning 
 at me with fixed eye-balls and a dropped jaw. He'd 
 gone limp all up and down his spine, so I ordered 
 brandy, and babbled nothings till he got his second 
 wind. 
 
 " Ah ah impossible, quite impossible " he 
 floundered. And taking himself in hand. " Jove,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 9$ 
 
 you know, it can't be Lady Deering is my niece." 
 
 My turn on the high trapeze. " Niece ! " I cried. 
 " Niece! Why she's more than old enough to be your 
 mother ! " 
 
 He drained the brandy glass, round-eyed still in 
 amazement, and gasped out bits of their family his- 
 tory for my enlightenment. 
 
 "Corking situation eh? Second marriages 
 youngest sons, and all that happens in the best of 
 families. Old lady handed over to me as a ward till 
 1920 no ages mentioned in the will only dates. 
 Crazy old Indian beggar, mad on dates. Got to put 
 up with it or go into chancery. I ah 'I can 
 assure you that Lady Deering is perfectly respect- 
 able." 
 
 We roared with laughter, while confusion painted 
 me tomato red, and Henri, blandly smiling, thought 
 his own thoughts. 
 
 To squelch Henri, and extricate myself from the 
 social mess, I began to tell how the snake sign had 
 been bothering me since my return to New York. 
 Griggs was immensely interested, and wanted me to 
 spiel it before some of his high-brows on spiritualism 
 suggested arranging an interview with Angelica. 
 But there Henri refused point-blank. 
 
 " The funny thing is," I continued, " that hiero- 
 glyphic used to pop in and away just by itself, now I 
 always see it accompanied by a child's rubber." 
 
 "A what?" 
 
 " A rubber rubbers." Raising my voice as if the 
 Englishman were deaf instead of dull. " Rubbers 
 the things you put on to keep from catching cold in 
 the rain."
 
 96 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Oh galoshes ! Jove, yes ! A child's rubber. 
 Top hole ! A child's rubber ! " he gurgled. 
 
 " I'm serious though. Maybe it's the association 
 of place or " I was on the verge of giving the whole 
 show away, but pulled up sudden, and added lamely, 
 " I haven't had enough amusement, the creature dogs 
 my waking and sleeping hours. I'm going to take 
 a holiday and then I shall do a little detective work 
 later on." 
 
 " Hot stuff ! I intend, with your permission, to help 
 you do that detective work. I can't believe Angelica 
 would be associated with such persons. Still, if 
 the resemblance was strong enough to impress you 
 under such circumstances, they might be able to make 
 some use of it which would er, involve her un- 
 pleasantly. I have to remind myself frequently that 
 Lady Deering is, ah almost a public character." 
 
 " The old woman at Jacobs's was certainly the 
 spittin' image of the picture on the front of that pro- 
 gramme you gave me I remember looking at it 
 while I was packing and being almost sure at the 
 time." 
 
 " It bears looking into but do make it later. Too 
 bally warm for duty now, don't you know ? Allow me 
 to introduce Miss Swanhill so you can ascertain where 
 the house is. I blundered in there and I'm sure 
 would never be able to locate it again. Tea to-morrow, 
 eh, what? You and Miss Erma and Beaty Swan- 
 hill a party of four we'll motor somewhere. 
 But ah ' mum's the word,' as your delightful lan- 
 guage says, mum's the word regarding this situation. 
 Miss Erma's tongue jolly active hung in the
 
 WTTS AND THE WOMAN 97 
 
 middle and wags at both ends. No confidences 
 eh, what?" 
 
 After weary weeks of splendid isolation I snatched 
 his invitation like a starved pup snapping at a bone. 
 I was agog with curiosity to meet his friends, too, 
 and it was not until I commenced contemplating the 
 female of the species that I realized how little money 
 I'd spent. What price a woman's hats and gowns? 
 I didn't own an article but clothes not even a 
 twinkler. While she showed me vistas steam 
 yachts, automobiles and a house or two. 
 
 " What's wrong with you, Henri ? " says I. " Going 
 to sleep at the switch?" 
 
 Buzz-buggies can't be wished into a garage; so I 
 had to ride with Howard in the yellow car. But I 
 beat it to Tiff's early next morning and I sure got 
 some covert notice for the three gems I was wearing 
 padlocked on to my neck and arms. 
 
 Beaty Swanhill being a broker, and me knowing so 
 little small talk, we naturally gassed about shares, and 
 profit and loss, and unearned increment. I admire 
 men who can wind business like a dark thread on the 
 shuttle of light conversation, and then carry forward. 
 The talk made me feel as jolly and comfortable as if I 
 had still been in the backwoods, and so we were friends 
 from the start, he coming to meet me about as fast 
 as his gentle sister hiked away. 
 
 Coming didn't do Beaty any harm either. After 
 a while I began to loosen up on the personal pros- 
 pect, and when he discovered I was drawing merely 
 bank interest on over a million, I thought he would 
 faint. Howard didn't get a look in from that on.
 
 98 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Swanhill held the conversation to its course with a high 
 hand, offering all sorts of advice on what to buy 
 railroads and good dividend payers. You see Henri 
 wasn't strong on security, he was all for the make. 
 To lie low and then slam our last dollar into some 
 fool risky enterprise would have been his way, so 
 the idea of a sound investment such as steel preferred 
 had been itching me. But Wall Street is a long way 
 down, and it springs kind of mysterious anyway I 
 hadn't made up my mind. 
 
 Now it appeared if I opened an account with 
 Silsby, Banks and Swanhill, I'd only have to telephone 
 once in a while and they'd do the heavy truck work 
 a regular toy for children. 
 
 He shook his head at Cobalts as mostly on the Curb, 
 and made them seem awfully out of class. 
 
 " Can one buy rubber any place ? " I asked, sud- 
 denly remembering the new phase of my mascot. 
 
 " Yes, rubber shares are quoted on the London ex- 
 change. But I wouldn't advise it, Miss Kendall. 
 They're speculative very speculative." 
 
 Henri pricked up his ears at that. " Suits me 
 I wish you'd cable for some to-morrow at the mar- 
 ket." And when I mentioned the amount, he nearly 
 fell over again, said I was a high flyer and shook his 
 head dubiously. 
 
 And I had vainly fancied I would be able to direct 
 Henri's financial operations. 
 
 Well, what's the good of having a hunch if you 
 don't play it ? The winged snake had always brought 
 us luck.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 In spite of Miss Swanhill's I-don't-care-to-associate- 
 with-you attitude I went about with them quite a lot, 
 Beaty arranging parties of four, including me, and 
 after Griggs left, some gilded male of his down- 
 town acquaintance so very desirable as to overcome 
 milady's aversion. 
 
 With matrimonial opportunity he bribed her to let 
 the light of her aristocratic countenance shine upon 
 his protegee, and I must say he played her fair, keep- 
 ing the quarry right under her guns, and covering me 
 all the time himself as if I had been an escaped crim- 
 inal. I could have killed him for it whiles, as I'd 
 have welcomed a change, and several of the fellows 
 he brought along knew real business and were far too 
 interesting to waste on an evening's patter. Then, 
 remembering how lonesome I had been before he be- 
 gan to hang round, I called myself down sharp for 
 ingratitude, and took amusement out in watching both 
 their antics when some coveted plutocrat got a notion 
 to change loads himself. 
 
 Although young and prettish, there was something 
 unlikeable about Erma she was too cold-blooded 
 for humanity, and her nags showed signs of restless- 
 ness rather frequently. Once the prize stallion of 
 the ring kicked clean over his traces; slipped his arm 
 through mine in a masterful way after dinner, and 
 walked me off, leaving the others to follow. 
 
 99
 
 IOO 
 
 That was the night we attended the motor boat 
 show, and we had a bully good time too, barring one 
 incident. 
 
 Jim Gower wasn't any fancy stock, but he might 
 have tinkled fifty million in his pockets had the notion 
 struck him, and every debutante, let alone the three- 
 year-olds and over, was breathless in pursuit. But, 
 the Lord love us! He was the nimblest and coyest 
 beast I ever clapped eyes on! I only met him once 
 and he played the limits of discretion from eight to 
 twelve-thirty A. M. If I had been husband hunting, 
 or if it hadn't been a public place, he'd have got en- 
 gaged sure and walked away from it next after- 
 noon, just as he walked away from Erma. 
 
 I learned later that to make an enveloping rush, 
 get what was coming to him and flee, was the multi- 
 million grubber's chief relaxation. And it's certainly 
 rare fun so long as neither side takes any preferred 
 stock in the flotation. 
 
 Meandering up and down the pathways in that show, 
 and losing the Swanhills around convenient corners 
 gave my man a fine free chance to cut his swath. 
 We were getting along like blood brothers. By-and- 
 by we came opposite a new model speedboat, that 
 was all dolled up with solid gold trimmings, and set 
 out there gloriously on a platform above the heads 
 of the spectators, her red sides flaming like Chinese 
 lacquer some gaudy toy! Of course she had a big 
 crowd around for every poor piker that passed wanted 
 to stand with open mouth, trying to realize she had 
 more gold visible to the naked eye than he'd earn in a 
 life-time. 
 
 The youth in charge, recognizing Gower, climbed
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 101 
 
 down very respectfully and asked him if he wouldn't 
 care to step inside and see the beauty at close range. 
 So up we went, and being on the platform we got to 
 be part of the show. Grower was a show anyway with 
 his double chins, and his prominent fish-eyes like a 
 boy's ' shooters ' bulging through the flesh, and harsh, 
 close cropped, ink black hair standing out all over 
 reminding me of my favorite shoe brush. 
 
 He offered to buy the boat for me just as she stood, 
 and I verily believe the great mush would have done 
 it. But land's sakes, it would have cost a girl her 
 reputation to run the thing, even if she held a certifi- 
 cate guaranteeing that she paid for it with the sweat 
 of her own brow. However, the suggestion gave me 
 an idea. 
 
 I scouted 'round pretty considerable during the next 
 few days and in the end laid down my money for a 
 black queen. Spades she was -the highest in the 
 deck, and I soon got to priding myself on her slim 
 beauty and her record breaking notches, more than 
 the maker did. Everybody that had anything to do 
 with the Swallow went crazy over her; the chap I 
 got to run her had been working for the firm, and 
 only came over into private service, he said, because 
 he couldn't bear to leave the boat. And I swallowed 
 the fiction till my gentleman began to show signs of 
 interest in another quarter. 
 
 Tom was a nice boy, working his way through 
 college, and as smart as they're made, and I didn't 
 turn him down because of his veiled ambition, al- 
 though we sometimes put in a bad half hour when he 
 overstepped the mark, as on a certain occasion when 
 we were out alone, just playing, ourselves making
 
 102 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 her show her heels to the wind. We were running 
 smooth as ball bearings, cutting the water sharp, but 
 simply dreaming along, till suddenly I saw the nose 
 of a white boat creep up on my left. 
 
 " Full steam ! " I yelled, bracing myself for the 
 race. I thought it was one of the yacht club fleet. 
 
 The stranger pulled even and I took a flying look 
 at her. She might have been about our own build, 
 appearing larger owing to the light hull, but she was 
 showering the salt spray like a bird of Paradise too 
 much resistance. 
 
 We struck into our speed by then and she slipped 
 to the rear before I had time to glimpse her captain, 
 nevertheless I heard him call : 
 
 " Bet you forty to one ! " 
 
 " Nothing doing ! Never bet on a sure thing ! " 
 The owner of the Swallow yelled derisively. " Pile 
 it into her, Tom ! " 
 
 He gave her all the juice there was, and we leapt 
 forward. 
 
 With clear water ahead the pilots could afford to 
 watch each other and enjoy the sport. I glanced over 
 my shoulder. The white craft reared, honest she did ! 
 Stood up on her rudder, and with a cloudy pother of 
 foam under her ribs made after us. But we held our 
 distance. 
 
 "What's your name?" hollered her master. "I'll 
 double the odds ! " 
 
 I shook my head, grinning. We flew at a devil of 
 a pace now and I had no time for words. He was 
 not a man easily discouraged. 
 
 " Lunch with me if I win," he cried. I fancied I 
 must have met him and forgotten, and was about to nod
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 103 
 
 acceptance, when I saw his bow a bare inch behind 
 mine even ahead. Gee ! Losing that race was 
 worse than losing my character. I couldn't believe 
 my eyes, and didn't cinch the reason till his stern was 
 overlapping us. Then I saw the Swallowed dropped 
 her speed. Any Christian who thinks my temper 
 wasn't at boiling point has got another guess coming ! 
 
 The white boat sailed away from pursuit, her boss 
 sitting erect and cupping one hand to cry aspersions 
 across the lengthening space of foam-flecked water: 
 
 "Quitter!" 
 
 Outlined against the Recket's blue of August mid- 
 day he seemed about thirty years old. His blue 
 jersey bathing suit showed off good muscular propor- 
 tions. Though he was a bit on the heavy side for 
 an athlete he might easily have classed under train- 
 ing. Above a flat forehead a thick crop of brown 
 hair rose straight on end, giving him a very wide- 
 awake expression. He looked as fresh as he acted, 
 and that's quite some. In soup and fish he might 
 have been anybody or nobody I was too mad to 
 take stock in him. 
 
 " You lost that race! You did it on purpose! " I 
 flung the words savagely at Tom. 
 
 " The fellow's an impudent puppy," growled my 
 engineer. " ' Lunch with me ! ' Gosh ! What does 
 he think we are anyway ? " 
 
 " Why, I know him ! I knew his face perfectly well. 
 You don't understand. He was asking the name of 
 the boat. I must have bowed to him some place and 
 forgotten." 
 
 " He was not asking the name of the boat. He was 
 damned fresh! He could have run us bow and bow,
 
 104 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 docked a minute behind and made good on the intro- 
 duction. I know the breed. A financial upstart with 
 an eye like a hawk's for money, and perfectly unscrup- 
 ulous methods of advancing his own interests." 
 
 " Shut up ! " I snapped. " You're not running this 
 boat, and you have no call to run me." 
 
 The way we sulked home was a sample of our nasty 
 natures, but I couldn't bring myself to sack Tom, he 
 was a real person in his way and always ready to fetch 
 and carry on shore. 
 
 I might have had a swell time that summer playing 
 with the Swanhills and their crowd, if Henri de Grasse 
 hadn't everlastingly been butting in. He hated to see 
 me lolling about enjoying candy instead of cigars, and 
 flirting. He was dead scared I'd marry, for men 
 make themselves heroes to a dollar princess, so to di- 
 vert me he grew more keen on showing up the murder. 
 
 Every week he'd haul me back to town and begin 
 negotiations for detective work now on one line 
 and now on another. We found the mansion with 
 the sliding panels and rented the house next door. 
 When the keys were handed over and the agent finally 
 left us, Henri rushed at the business feverishly. We 
 put in a morning calculating how much of our wall lay 
 against the wall of Jacobs's wing smoking room ; and 
 just about where we would strike into the latter if an 
 opening were cut through. 
 
 Sakes ! It was hot that August in New York ! De 
 Grasse had to back out himself once or twice and beat 
 it for a cool corner. We received lots of bids to Deal 
 Beach and such places, and doubtless the necessity of 
 returning to town, of coming and going and flitting 
 about was the best medicine for my social standing.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 105 
 
 Nobody knew that during my absences I was swelter- 
 ing over Henri's murder in close Manhattan. Racing 
 back and forth lent me the appearance of a very popu- 
 lar young lady I was IT. 
 
 Clarissa gave up buying diamonds, Henri didn't 
 think much of jewelry, and bought rubber instead. 
 Beaty Swanhill kept on warning me, but every time I 
 saw the winged snake with that doll galosh floating 
 alongside, I just naturally had to go and order some 
 more of the stock. After a while it began to soar and 
 Beaty's eye beamed an appreciative, critical glance as 
 we discussed business. He thought I was the foxy 
 grandma, all right! And was dying to know my 
 mentor. 
 
 By this time the lists of my personal property showed 
 a limousine, open car, victrola, golf sticks, polo cos- 
 tumes, wrist watches and innumerable junk. All that 
 the swells flaunted I could match, and more. Thanks 
 to Cobalt I could out-ride them, and out-dress them. 
 I had natural advantages over the ruck in looks, and 
 was perfectly Scot free. Moreover and above I 
 boasted brains. Henri led me the long way round 
 from lots of pitfalls; and I gave him certain pointers 
 on tactics. We sure had the men going down by the 
 sea, but the women nix on the swell women ! 
 They get my goat! There's more breadth in the 
 thickness of a man's little finger nail, than in the whole 
 avoirdupois of those social leaders. They never ac- 
 cept you for what you are, though some of them will 
 come across for what you have, and any of them for 
 what your grandfather had if he had enough! It 
 was the women put me on to getting old Aunt Eliza- 
 beth's ear-rings back, and having them fixed up with
 
 io6 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 diamonds instead of the original bits of colored glass. 
 I simply yearned to reveal my ancestors under a spot- 
 light, as it were; and therefore all that followed from 
 the ear-rings is up to that female bunch. But it 
 doesn't belong here, and if I ever get the facts mis- 
 placed Lord ! I'll be in a regular mess. 
 
 I could write an entire book on the history of my 
 summer, and it would be rapid history too, with the 
 old ladies snubbing, and the young ones jealous, and 
 all makes of available bachelors jostling to shove in 
 line for a grab at my money bags, or at least to beg 
 a ride in the Swallow. Such stuff has been written 
 and published before this and purchased and de- 
 voured. The human bug is interesting enough in his 
 more complex motives, if one hasn't heaps of pulse- 
 stirring adventure to recite things happening bang ! 
 biff! bang! like a bunch of firecrackers going off. 
 I mean to tell the adventures and let each reader figure 
 out for himself how everybody looked, and what they 
 wore at the circus, and who thought this about that one, 
 and so on and so forth. 
 
 Truth is I almost stopped thinking myself during 
 the height of the season. Hurly-burly wasn't any 
 name for life! Proposals popped like champagne 
 corks, and, take it from me, in our crowd that indi- 
 cates frequency. Mostly it was the little make or 
 break one-cylinder engines missed fire; boys who had 
 run in, God knows how, for a week-end with the big 
 speed, and who would never have another chance. 
 
 But I didn't fall for sentiment, not even from Beaty 
 Swanhill and Beaty was reckoned quite a bit of a 
 catch socially.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 About the time autumn turned too cold for motor- 
 boating, Griggs cabled his arrival. He had gone over 
 for grouse; had never missed the twelfth at Helling- 
 ham in his life, and seemed to think that date awfully 
 important. Do you get it crossing the great big 
 ocean to shoot birdies! Dates must run in families 
 like twins and strawberry leaves. Well, Howard took 
 his fill of the sport and started back, and I was tickled 
 by the news because we'd cooked it up to go in on this 
 detective business together, and Henri was champing 
 his bit. 
 
 Of course I didn't live in that small house we had 
 rented, lying in the bosom of Jacobs's L. We were in 
 no position to court attention or comment, and while 
 one can be pretty sure of New Yorkers not knowing 
 or caring anything about their poorer neighbors, 
 naturally a smuggling bunch would have their eyes 
 peeled in all directions, so we came and went from that 
 place unostentatiously by night. 
 
 Excitement is no word for Griggs's frame of mind 
 when I let him in on the scheme. And when we actu- 
 ally began to work with picks and hammers in a bare, 
 darkly shuttered room, its only light turned and 
 shaded to throw a spot on the conspirators, our red 
 corpuscles scampered like mice in the wainscot. 
 
 " Here's mud ! " I cried, twisting my skewer out 
 107
 
 io8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 and scattering a shower of plaster; and then had to 
 stop and explain the idiom. 
 
 We started gaily, thinking those first steps, digging 
 a hole through our wall and then on through theirs, 
 would be nothing at all, but, say, when it comes to 
 manual labor that kind of thing takes quite some time. 
 The farther we got the quieter we had to go. Hour 
 after hour we scraped and pried, softly loosening a 
 brick at a venture, and then another and so on, being 
 'specially cautious towards the end that sounds might 
 not penetrate. We weren't exactly sure of our sur- 
 face, and while not expecting secret springs and deep 
 set cupboards in an outer ramification, you never can 
 tell what these robber barons will contrive our game 
 was to move slowly lest a whizzing and a buzzing and 
 dodging doors, if not police alarms, should throw our 
 actions open to a most unsympathetic world. We 
 wanted to steer clear of cupboards and all other ob- 
 stacles, for theft had no part or lot in the scheme 
 at least not a drug theft. Like wise men of old we 
 sought knowledge, and our object was to come up 
 with the back of the neighbor's carved woodwork. I 
 calculated pieces might be carefully cut away there 
 to afford eye holes, and a listening chink, though 
 hearing anything from such a position would be no 
 cinch. 
 
 Griggs was a scream all through that delayed the 
 work too. It was a " bally funny " occupation for 
 one so nifty. I laughed to see him going into the 
 dirty job with as great gusto as a truant mixing mud 
 pies. Gloves preserved his manicure, but a white 
 shirt, and silk hose and patent pumps aren't a first 
 class brickpicker's costume; they got the worst of the
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 109 
 
 bout and then, of course, it was too late to do any 
 good. He was a sight, a mess of lime, his round face 
 extraordinarily red, and perspiration streaming from 
 every pore. 
 
 Between laughing and looking I guess I left him to 
 do most of the manual odd how soon work grows 
 monotonous ; a year of Sundays seemed to pass be- 
 fore we struck it soft, and Howard muffled my tri- 
 umphant squeal in his glove. 
 
 " Jove, you mustn't wake the blighters ! Come out 
 of the cave and talk. How do I look? " 
 
 He commenced dusting at himself here and there, 
 dabbing at shoulders and knees like a birdie preening 
 its plumes. 
 
 " You look fierce," I chirped. " But we're on the 
 boards sure enough. Take a lung- full and then we'll 
 go to it and see what we can see." 
 
 I switched on our electric torch, but it failed to re- 
 veal any clue to the relative position of our neighbor's 
 mouldings. No little ridges or seams, such as I had 
 hoped for, no cracks, just beautiful planed light boards, 
 showing the traces of what had been Jacobs's wall, 
 and now lay in a neat pile behind us. 
 
 " We're treed ! I might have known that fine stuff 
 would be backed flat. What are we going to do 
 now?" 
 
 " A bird and a bottle wouldn't be amiss, eh 
 what?" 
 
 " Splendid ! But gee ! There's a splash on the 
 dashboard. I mean we'll have to clean up." 
 
 " Right oh ! I very often have to conjecture what 
 you do mean, Miss Clarissa, owing to your command 
 of the great American language."
 
 no WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I laughed. " Then let's descend to simple prose. 
 ' Use Sapolio.' But what's the good of quoting to a 
 man who's not familiar with the national classics? 
 That's from a series of bully street-car ads. They 
 created quite an intellectual stir nobody's been able 
 to decide yet whether Shakespeare or Bacon wrote 
 'em." 
 
 " Ah I'm afraid I never ride in trams." 
 
 " You miss one of the freest gifts of life Ameri- 
 can art instinct is focused on the pictorial advertise- 
 ment. We can't call a taxi here, so let's walk out to 
 Madison Avenue and take a car down to the hotel. 
 Mixing with the proletariat will help us to think, any- 
 way." 
 
 We tidied each other up as much as possible and 
 didn't look unlike the rest of the world, as we boarded 
 a green one and dropped our nickels at the door. 
 
 " Behold ! Your education is about to begin." 
 
 While he adjusted his monocle, I ran the line of ads 
 over, and my eye fastened on a demonstration of a 
 new-fangled suction cleaner for mouldings, carvings, 
 etc. 
 
 " Golly! " cried I, almost pinching Griggs. (Think 
 of being that intimate with a real swell! It goes to 
 show what a leveler honest labor is.) "Do you see 
 the painted houri up there manipulating a Gadfly on a 
 Louis quince chair from A. & S's. Farther on 
 near the middle. She solves our problem or at least 
 she carries us half way." 
 
 " Bally poor drawing," was his first comment. 
 
 " Listen! I'm going to operate one like him in our 
 neighbor's smoking room." 
 
 " How do you know Jacobs has one? "
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN in 
 
 " Don't know hope he hasn't. I'm going to sell 
 him one, and then I'm going to demonstrate person- 
 ally conducted tour for a flabby financier. I'm going 
 to act as an agent of that firm." 
 
 Howard stared at me open mouthed. " But you 
 aren't an agent, eh what ? " 
 
 " I'm off to apply for the job to-morrow morning. 
 Watch me!" 
 
 " Do you think they ah, they'll take you on? " 
 
 " Take me on ! " I laughed, thinking privately of the 
 trepidation with which I had approached Bain & Ding- 
 ley. "If they don't we'll buy the firm. I never was 
 so set on anything in all my life as on that suction 
 cleaner." 
 
 After all I didn't have to buy the blooming com- 
 pany out. Gadflies sold on commission. I entered 
 my name, paid a guarantee for the sample and sallied 
 forth. It was then too late for business, so I hustled 
 around and looked up a suitable costume, and next 
 morning I lay for the man of the house and nailed 
 him coming out. 
 
 Clarissa isn't bad looking, and she had spent money 
 to dress the part ; also she has a way, when she wants, 
 of getting her hooks into people. Jacobs fell for me 
 and made an appointment to have the thing demon- 
 strated at his office. 
 
 I knew there wouldn't be enough carving in any 
 office in New York city to give my pet what I con- 
 sidered a fair trial, but gently does it, a step at a time. 
 I turned up on the minute, wearing a sweet timid smile, 
 and an earnest innocent air selling a cleaner was 
 so very important to the poor little girl, she would al- 
 most have done anything to sell her first machine.
 
 ii2 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Jacobs fell for 
 me harder than ever. He crashed. And when I'd 
 played around with him a little, I asked straight out 
 if there wasn't any carved furniture, or any place in 
 his house where I could really show him the wonders 
 of the Gadfly, and prove its value. Of course his mind 
 jumped at once to the ornate seclusion of that Chinese 
 room. My words had suggested, as nearly as I dared, 
 just such a spot. He hummed and hawed a bit, finally 
 appointing me to go and clean the smoking room in his 
 home next morning. I was to be sure to turn up at 
 nine o'clock, before he left for the office, so that he 
 could show me the place himself. 
 
 " Yes, sir," I answered meekly, for as a mere agent 
 I wasn't guessing how elaborate those decorations 
 were. And then I tripped away along his double 
 avenue of clerks, and flew into the nearest telephone 
 booth to bellow my success at Griggs. 
 
 Lordy! What a chance! All day alone there and 
 working right over the spring! Success! The 
 scheme had prospered beyond our wildest expectation. 
 I marvelled at the man running a risk of discovery, or 
 a risk of damage to the delicate mechanism. But I 
 had to learn about Jacobs from him. 
 
 Next day he escorted me directly into the L room, 
 and, take it from me, I was mightily relieved. The 
 old lady with the tipsy figure 8 had looked the cater- 
 er's people well over, and some of these madames have 
 memories like a boss Free Mason. She might have 
 placed me even in my piquant disguise, and she would 
 certainly have spotted the price of those simple and 
 vastly becoming clothes maybe have subtracted 
 them from Jacobs's income I thanked my lucky stars
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 113 
 
 that his family were the happy kind that lie blissfully 
 unconscious of crimes on their own doorstep until 
 eleven thirty A. M. 
 
 I hadn't gone into the details with Griggs, but natur- 
 ally I expected a joy ride. You can't be a working 
 girl alone in New York without cutting your eye teeth, 
 and my new employer was quite too prompt and too 
 personal to be single-eyed about the little business 
 deal. But I hadn't been looking for his burst of 
 speed Samuel was no flivver when it came to senti- 
 ment so I nearly suffered a smack from that fat 
 old Jew before I got the speedometer tamed. I come 
 close to kicking myself every time I think of him. 
 
 " Over here," he commanded. " I want to show 
 you something." 
 
 I crossed the floor slowly, alive to the stupendous 
 fact that we were standing facing his secret, tingling 
 with excitement and revulsion from the presence and 
 nearness of it and him. Only Jacobs, the boss, stood 
 now between me and my object. 
 
 As a matter of course he slipped an arm around the 
 little agent and drew her against his great bulk. I 
 twisted from under his fat elbow and sprang behind 
 a chair the very chair in which Griggs had knelt 
 when he found me sobbing. I was near, tantalizingly 
 near to Mecca but there was that old woman-eater 
 rising strong as Gibraltar in the foreground. 
 
 He laughed and lunged for me, and I sidestepped 
 again, but after a very short spell of puss-in-the- 
 corner he got mad. Winded I guess, too stout to play 
 the game gracefully, and spoiled by getting everything 
 just when he wanted it. The Salamander act ig- 
 noring him and piquing, and tempting him on
 
 H4 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 wouldn't have worked with Samuel Jacobs, big pow- 
 erful brute. If the butler hadn't come knocking at 
 the door, calling out that some person wanted him par- 
 ticularly on the telephone, I'd have been mauled sure. 
 Bah! How I loathed mankind then! But I couldn't 
 split into an open quarrel with the game so close un- 
 der my hand. 
 
 As soon as the host left, I flew to the case where my 
 trusty Gadfly lay, and got it out directly, so that I was 
 hard at work, earnest and innocent and distant against 
 his return. Clarissa was counting on all morning to 
 explore those walls, and she got it with the icing 
 off the cake though, pretty clean. 
 
 Matters downtown must have been pressing. Ja- 
 cobs left the door open when he came back, and he 
 only buzzed in for a minute. 
 
 " Got to go appointment sorry want to 
 show you this." Manner and voice indicated business 
 only. With relief I watched him cross to the wall 
 THE WALL and raise his hand. My eyes glued 
 themselves on the spot. Then a horrible thought over- 
 whelmed me : suppose he made me a prisoner shoved 
 me into the secret chamber and let the old woman 
 pick my bones. I'm no coward, if I do say it, but my 
 knees shook. His fingers rested on the very corner 
 I had banged. But he was talking again, and I had to 
 wrench my wits to attention. 
 
 " There are special panels here," he said. " Built 
 in when I bought the house. If you come on them 
 while cleaning, don't call anybody don't be sur- 
 prised. You see they spring out so, and you can shut 
 them with a push." 
 
 Before my astonished gaze he lightly opened the
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 115 
 
 door of the first cupboard I had glimpsed, and another 
 beside it. Both closets were absolutely empty! 
 
 " Mum's the word, girlie. Do you get me? " 
 
 While I yet stood petrified, staring up at the wall, 
 he turned, and placing one finger under my tilted chin, 
 advanced his thick lips. That's where I nearly got 
 off. In a flash hate and chagrin boiled over ; I jerked 
 away fiercely angry, showing bared teeth and my hon- 
 est opinion of the old scoundrel. 
 
 "No?" the master hazarded in utmost surprise. 
 " Still haughty. Well, I must be quick. Make a 
 good job of it." And on that he turned and hurried 
 out. 
 
 But I wasn't free to walk out. No, sir, I had to 
 stay there and clean the damned room all morning 
 and not a blooming thing to find not a paper to 
 peek at! 
 
 After my frantic, soul-sweeping disappointment 
 had subsided to a moderate gale of feeling, I was 
 forced to admire the wise old guy taking an outsider 
 into confidence, rather than risk discovery by his 
 household servants. Between gusts I commenced to 
 wonder what the emptiness signified. Had he gone 
 out of the smuggling business? 
 
 All the time I kept my fingers busy, for I had a job 
 to do, so that philandering my way into the heart of a 
 deserted citadel could not be counted waste effort. I 
 had armed myself with many sharp, headless steel 
 pins, and pacing off the location of our dug-out be- 
 hind, I proceeded to drive these clean through the 
 carving, thereby outlining several small w y ells of the 
 ornament in such a way that they could be cut from the 
 back and surreptitiously removed. I calculated the
 
 u6 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 center-light in the room would bank darkness against 
 the walls at night and cover our fraud; and I was 
 pleased to note how easily the steel ran into the soft 
 wood; evidently the boarding on our side was only a 
 thin layer and not difficult to cut away. 
 
 At noon the Gadfly girl quit for lunch, and you bet 
 she didn't turn up again, either in Jacobs's house or at 
 the head office. Instead, I called for Griggsy and he 
 arranged a condolence party. 
 
 If we only could have had parties without women 
 swell women never failed to introduce the discord- 
 ant note. One of the doves we met that afternoon 
 wore an .ancient and very ugly bracelet which her forty- 
 second grandmother once removed had come by, no 
 doubt quite properly, when she took the washing home 
 to the Duke; and she began putting on side over the 
 Mayflower flotilla. Makes me sick! If social Amer- 
 ica knew more history, it would burn less incense be- 
 fore the Pilgrim Fathers, who were nothing more 
 than earnest working people. We're all bound to have 
 had ancestors, sure thing, an unbroken line on both 
 sides of the family but if they weren't ripsnorters, 
 what's the sense of blowing about them? 
 
 This creature with her high-falutin' talk made me 
 mad and clinched the idea of Aunt Elizabeth's ear-rings. 
 I determined to get them out of pawn, have some bona 
 fide flashers put in, like she had done, and be wearing 
 jewels on the settings of which, at least, my grand- 
 mother had cast a spell. 
 
 Henri and I are thrifty folk, we'd kept the tail of 
 our eye on the pawn ticket and knew it was just about 
 due, so first convenient moment I hustled round to 
 Second Avenue and interviewed my uncle. I was
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 117 
 
 so swathed in luxury now it went against the grain 
 to visit slums, and this was the real lowdown shop 
 where I had stored my superfluous garments while 
 trying to make up the Cobalt fare. The dingy shop 
 being full I had to wait my turn. I hate dinge and 
 unwashed humanity, and I hate waiting. I stood by 
 with a pencil and my card, for Henri's utmost efforts 
 failed to make me accurate at figures in my head and 
 I'd been calculating the interest. Impatience made 
 me restless. I began to jab the pencil point into little 
 holes on the counter thinking how I had driven those 
 pins through Samuel Jacobs's woodwork. I noticed 
 the boss observed me and I was suddenly overcome 
 by a shop-girl feeling real embarrassment at hav- 
 ing marked his counter. This set my nerves fidgeting 
 more than ever, but I transferred my high art stunt to 
 the card, and drew a fine full-tailed portrait of Henri's 
 snake. I had grown quite familiar with the sign now, 
 and often amused myself seeing how few strokes I 
 could make him in. 
 
 Of course I realized the old reptile must mean a 
 great deal to several people, but hunting for a needle 
 in a haystack wasn't my line. I'd never tried to work 
 him off, and when the head man came to wait on me, 
 I handed over the ticket without a thought. 
 
 He gave me one swift, keen, understanding glance, 
 that set my pulses tingling; then proceeded quietly to 
 the back of the shop, opened a drawer here and there, 
 got my things together, apparently all in the regular 
 course of business, but, when those odds and ends were 
 shoved across, he whispered without moving his lips: 
 " Broadway Subway, Union Square, up town." 
 
 I eyed him straight before putting the lot into an
 
 ii8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ample handbag. Not a fractional expression crossed 
 his face; as I walked out of the shop he was already 
 attending to another customer. 
 
 I dashed around the corner to where I had left my 
 car and dove into its cushioned privacy in the wildest 
 state of excitement. What luck! What a coinci- 
 dence! Blind chance had led me into a dive of the 
 gang and I had happened just happened to shove 
 the pass-sign right under his nose. That old winged 
 snake had got them going fine! What I was to meet 
 at Union Square, or when I was to meet it remained 
 a mystery, but I swore to be there if I had to take my 
 bed and sleep on the platform. 
 
 Sheer luck swung on vanity with a hot clue lying at 
 my hand for twelve long months, was the way it all 
 looked at first, and my eyes fairly goggled with won- 
 der over what might be lying around the next corner 
 of Fate. If I had spurned the Mayfiozvcr if I had 
 hardened my soul against the antique. . . . How thin 
 a thread! 
 
 "Jumpin' Jimminy! At this rate I'll hesitate 
 whether to order ice cream or roly-poly pudding for 
 desert ! " I cried. 
 
 But before the car reached Union Square I had 
 quieted down and saw the thing in true perspective. 
 Coincidence nothing! There was no luck about it. 
 Henri, of course, had guided me to that shop when 
 first he prompted the pawning of my extra junk. 
 And in due time he had rescued those ear-rings, work- 
 ing on my vanity de Grasse knew women. I had 
 considered the drawing of the snake an idle whim, but 
 I was learning daily there could be little mental idle- 
 ness with Henri at the helm. Now what was he up
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 119 
 
 to? Why should he turn crafty and not take me into 
 confidence ? Circumstances pointed to some culminat- 
 ing plot. It behooved me to use my own wits too. I 
 recounted link by link the long light chain wherewith 
 he had lassoed me to the time and place. Good 
 Heavens! If Henri was going to practise subtlety I 
 would be lost. 
 
 Now coldly observant and controlled I dismissed the 
 motor and committed myself to their enterprise. I 
 had paced the platform perhaps five minutes, eyeing 
 the people, thinking if a bunch of Jews wanted to be 
 inconspicuous, they had sure chosen the right place in 
 that melting pot of Coney Island crowds, when I spied 
 my man. He dropped his nickel, glanced to right and 
 left and came directly toward me. He looked and 
 acted ordinary, touching his hat, smiling, saying in 
 quite a well-bred, pleasant way : 
 
 " You are on the wrong platform, shall we cross? " 
 
 To anybody looking on it meant just nothing, but 
 in that almost deserted, white-tiled underground pas- 
 sage he gave me my verbal instructions. Whether they 
 were framed for some one not quite in the know, or 
 my ignorance caused the blanks I could not telir" I 
 kept my mouth shut, believe me, for fear of making 
 mistakes, and I listened hard. 
 
 " To-morrow morning you will take the early train 
 for Babylon, on the south shore of Long Island. At 
 the railroad station at Babylon enter a car having on 
 its side a streamer marked ' Millbrook ' blue and 
 white. The driver will take you to a dock where a 
 man and a boat will be found waiting. He will ac- 
 company you in the boat. It is their business to land 
 you on a sand bar some forty minutes' run from the
 
 120 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 dock. Then their business ends. You will speak to 
 no one, notice nothing, but walk at once to a square 
 gray house standing at the end of a row of houses, a 
 little apart, isolated on the dunes, overlooking the 
 sea." 
 
 Gosh! Here was dyed-in-the-wool, real old-fash- 
 ioned melodrama. Until that minute I'd have 
 said the world had outgrown such doings. There 
 was financial romance and plenty to be had if you made 
 it on the plan of the Lelland mine scoop but 
 melodrama surely only happened to newspaper men 
 and then had to be colored up for publication. 
 
 He stopped abruptly at the house on the sea, and I 
 didn't dare to ask for more probably I was expected 
 to know the next step. 
 
 " I'm going back down town," he said. " You had 
 better take a surface car up." Then he hesitated. " I 
 mistrusted the chief's judgment when I saw you," he 
 hurried on. " But you are most discreet most 
 not a single question." 
 
 I handed him my best smile without a word, and 
 he stood, hat off, watching me mount the exit stairs 
 with a look of admiration that had nothing to do with 
 business. 
 
 To-morrow! To-morrow for the great adventure! 
 Everything was fixed up for me O. K. I had only to 
 proceed according to programme and take in the 
 scenery a la Cook. It never occurred to Clarissa not 
 to go. Griggs enjoyed the supreme triumph of turn- 
 ing on the red lights, tuning up the danger motif and 
 all that. For, of course, I sent at once to my con- 
 federate. He was set against the affair from the start, 
 and suggested all sorts of horrors, including sand-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 121 
 
 ticks and Chinamen. The last pretty nearly made a 
 freeze out, for there's more love lost between a French- 
 man and a Prussian than there is between me and the 
 Celestials. 
 
 Seeing " frightfulness " effective, my pal lingered 
 on the thought trying to persuade me. But talking 
 ideas over always makes them familiar, and familiarity 
 breeds contempt, even with fear. Courage righted it- 
 self. Soon my imagination began to run on what was 
 likely to happen in that gray house, standing apart, 
 looking out to the sea. I couldn't grow familiar with 
 this idea because of being left guessing. 
 
 I stood on the threshold of the house and mystery 
 to-morrow I would have the chance to solve it. 
 Henri and the woman in me proved too strong for 
 Griggs. 
 
 " Nothing doing, Howard ! " I cried finally. " Can 
 it. I'm booked for Babylon on the early train you 
 may come along if you like. But I'll tell you some- 
 thing. I feel so chockful of excitement and curiosity, 
 I'm liable to bust out and be ready for the madhouse 
 between this and that, if I don't get busy and take my 
 mind off their blooming riddle. What's the matter 
 with going up to Jacobs's corner this afternoon and 
 putting in a bit of work. My fingers itch for the knife, 
 and my eyes burn to witness. Let's risk being seen 
 for once. If we work all afternoon, I dare say we can 
 look in on them to-night, and to-night's the night 
 at least it may very well be. We know the gang are 
 on the war-path ; it's the snake gang Jacobs's gang ; 
 and it's more than probable we'll see something worth 
 our while.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 " Did you ever feel such a low-down cuss in your 
 life? " I asked, as we climbed the high stoop of Number 
 
 17- 
 
 "Rather hollow about the spine, isn't it?" 
 
 "Hollow! I feel as if the whole universe was a 
 vacuum crystal globe, with me and my criminal inten- 
 tions in the center, and every Jew alive gazing in to 
 read his fortune." 
 
 " I feel like a bride and groom," he replied, blushing 
 poppy red. 
 
 " So long as you feel like the bride too, it lets me 
 out," I laughed. " But you're on. This is a sort of 
 public confession of complicity. If society could only 
 peep inside at us, how surprised it would be. You 
 look positively domestic." 
 
 We had provided ourselves with huge, blue checked 
 kitchen aprons; and our room by this time resembled 
 an armory or a section of the patent office, bristling 
 with knives and chisels of every size and shape. For 
 we were poor enough workmen to quarrel with our 
 tools, and eager to further a tedious job by employ- 
 ing scimitars and two-edged swords. 
 
 The space opened through the bricks had narrowed 
 considerably from our original margins, and so, when 
 we began hacking at the boards, we were obliged to 
 stand very close together. 
 
 " Do you know what we are doing? " asked How- 
 
 122
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 123 
 
 ard. " In plain English, we hope to spy if possi- 
 ble to listen. Romance has its degrading side, eh 
 what?" 
 
 "This is detective work!" I answered indignantly. 
 " We are being very deliberate about it and have gone 
 to a lot of expense and trouble. I guess that squares 
 things on our side. Listening is only despicable when 
 you flop behind a curtain and then tell how many times, 
 he kissed her. Savvy?" 
 
 "If anybody was listening now, old thing ?" 
 
 " There isn't anybody," I said, chiselling away 
 earnestly. 
 
 A pause followed. I glanced up, saw his pink face 
 approaching, caught the intention in his eye, and 
 thwarted it. 
 
 " Howard Griggs, I forbid you. I've never been 
 kissed, and I'm not going to be till I'm married." 
 
 I thought the last word would frighten an English- 
 man, and it did. 
 
 " Women have no modesty no reticence," he 
 murmured. 
 
 " He who hesitates is lost," I murmured back as one 
 disinterested, and then a painful silence hung about us 
 for a year. 
 
 " Clarissa," he ventured at last, " I don't believe you 
 will ever be married. You are so like a man in cer- 
 tain ways business and money affairs so inde- 
 pendent. I don't believe you would stand for a man 
 around." 
 
 His words, nearly expressing one of my secret anxie- 
 ties, caused me to fly at him in amazed indignation. 
 
 " I'd like you to understand that Henri de Grasse is 
 nothing to me but wits not one atom. He hasn't
 
 124 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 got a say-so when it comes to other matters not 
 not mental. I'd just like to see him butting in on a 
 wedding." 
 
 And then I hung on to the wall for support because 
 I realized I had given the whole show away. 
 
 Griggs stared. " I don't know who Henri thing- 
 umbob is if it's the chap running your boat, you 
 needn't get so jolly warm about him," he said sulkily, 
 and striking another note, " Can't you understand it's 
 just minds which are so hard to adjust when two per- 
 sons get tied up together? Look at me and my 
 niece. If it wasn't for these bally silly notions An- 
 gelica takes lecturing in America and all that I 
 could settle down and live at Hellingham the year 
 
 round or at least I might settle down settle down 
 
 
 
 He floundered, and I left him to it for his words had 
 set me thinking hard. How much of Clarissa Ken- 
 dall had gone over to Henri's control, and how much 
 of her could I count on as myself? From the first 
 I had been entirely willing to join forces, to depend 
 on de Grasse. He financed me and amused me, but 
 I wasn't sure I had bargained for him to absorb me. 
 This question of sentiment raised a new issue. When 
 a girl gives the impression of not being able to stand 
 a man around, it's one sure thing the real men won't 
 stand her around unless for her money or her youth 
 and puppets! That class ain't good enough for 
 Granny's girl. If I wanted a man I wanted a 
 MAN ; and if I wanted a husband and family now was 
 the time to snatch them but did I want them ? Was 
 I content to chase adventure with Griggs and buy roses 
 from Lilly Love?
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 125 
 
 Stalled! Brought up short. And almost thrown 
 into the ditch! 
 
 It was perfectly true. We had been ordering flow- 
 ers twice a day from the beautiful blonde at the corner. 
 And before he discovered her my hands were manicured 
 at the same table every morning for a month; and 
 before that it was a waitress. Lord deliver us! 
 Where was Henri leading me? 
 
 " Clarissa," said I to myself solemnly. " You'll 
 cut a fine figure flirting with the chickens in your mid- 
 dle age. You've driven Henri on the snaffle much too 
 long. I begin to suspicion de Grasse is some dark 
 horse but maybe it's only his nature. Anyway, 
 whatever is his nature is apt to be your second nature, 
 so mind and keep it second. Take warning and get 
 busy." 
 
 By five o'clock we finished thinning the boards that 
 backed our neighbor's decoration; and commenced 
 whittling out the pieces I had marked. Although 
 seemingly so simple it was desperately difficult for us, 
 and occupied every faculty. If any person had chosen 
 to sit in the smoking room next door just at that hour, 
 we must surely have been discovered, for a whole 
 orchestra of gnawing rats could hardly have got away 
 with the sound of our scraping. I doped out the thick- 
 ness of the boards by pulling one of the steel pins 
 through and measuring it to the rest, and when we had 
 cleaned the wood down to a thin shell, we fixed this 
 pin in the center of our little island, and very carefully 
 cut the remaining quarter inch. 
 
 " Your fingers are smaller," said Griggs, wiping 
 his brow. And it was up to me to lift the plug from 
 our first peep-hole.
 
 126 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 The immediate sensation was like a blow in the face, 
 until we remembered a back room would naturally at 
 this hour be shrouded in darkness, and that not seeing 
 is no proof of not being able to see. I put my finger 
 through and felt the surface of the ornament, and 
 reassured of an entirely clear opening, we whaled in 
 on a general destruction scheme. For it was better to 
 cut separate eyeholes than to attempt sharing one. 
 
 At seven we sneaked out for a sandwich and re- 
 turned, still hungry, to lie in wait. Both had forgot- 
 ten the tiff of the afternoon. Thieves have got to be 
 good pals or quit cold. I can't imagine anything need- 
 ing stricter harmony than grovelling shoulder to shoul- 
 der on a crackman's job, eating together in side streets, 
 creeping in through unlighted hallways, and holding 
 hands in the dark as we did from sheer excitement, 
 and partly to still the beating of our hearts when we 
 saw what we saw. 
 
 The door opened suddenly, a brilliant oblong showed 
 beyond the curtains; two figures entered and Jacobs 
 strode across and switched on the lamp, casting a pool 
 of light in the center of the room and clothing the 
 wings with darkness. The other man had once joshed 
 his host about a pretty waitress. I whispered the fact 
 to Griggs. 
 
 They sat a long time talking and drinking ; sometimes 
 they argued, but we failed to catch a word though we 
 applied our ears to the slots. My companion showed 
 signs of boredom, but Henri was simply boiling with 
 excitement. 
 
 The butler appeared, spieled his piece, and disap- 
 peared. And a moment later there was ushered into 
 the room with due pomp and ceremony, an erect, hand-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 127 
 
 some, stately, elderly woman Lady Angelica Deer- 
 ing as sure as there are pearly gates above ! 
 
 I clutched Howard in a silent spasm and he shook 
 me off as if I'd bitten him. 
 
 " Jove ! " I heard him murmur. " Jove ! " 
 
 His relative sat down quietly and joined in the con- 
 versation. Jacobs seemed set on making her do some- 
 thing, and the other chap on her not doing it at least 
 on not making her do it against her will. The argu- 
 ment between them waxed fast and furious, but the 
 lady never budged. We could see her saying the same 
 words over and over again. Not a sentence did we 
 hear till the little fellow grabbed Samuel by the sleeve, 
 and dragged him over towards us, urging his point in 
 private. 
 
 They stood right under the paneling, and we clapped 
 our ears on to listen madly intrigued. 
 
 "Put the whole thing off," the man said. "We 
 haven't any one to take her place. We daren't risk 
 it." 
 
 " Too late now arrangements are all made." 
 
 I could imagine Jacobs shaking his bull head, and 
 the veins on his neck swelling. 
 
 " She won't go till Wednesday I doubt if she goes 
 then. She funks it." 
 
 " I'll funk her! " he growled. " Send the youngster 
 down to-morrow. The police are getting wise to us, 
 and we want to make good this haul." 
 
 ("It's the same gang my gang!" I whispered, 
 dry mouthed, to Griggs. But he was far beyond 
 speech. ) 
 
 " You're wrong, Jacobs. Better lie low, keep the 
 kid out of it, and let the old lady get her nerve back.
 
 128 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 She's the smartest woman we've ever worked with, 
 and she deserves some consideration. Murder's mur- 
 der a nasty job. It wouldn't pay her to get the 
 hounds on her trail right now. I doubt if her family 
 even could do much." 
 
 Jacobs bit the end off a cigar. We heard his teeth 
 grind, and he snarled: 
 
 " Nerves! Didn't I hide her here! How long does 
 she want to recover from a bit of a jar? Mind you, 
 if she shot de Grasse, it don't pay us to work with her 
 any longer. Murder will out, and we aren't so par- 
 ticular to have the dogs barking up our trees neither. 
 I can't throw her down; but this is a darned good 
 chance to quit. 
 
 "Bah!" he added after a moment's pause. "I 
 don't believe it. Any woman who would funk the 
 beach job hasn't got pluck enough for shooting. Bet- 
 ter send her on a lecture tour." 
 
 Silence followed. 
 
 I felt so bad for Griggs I daren't look at him, but 
 just draped myself around that peep-hole and kept on 
 spying till the three of them went away. Then I had 
 to face about. 
 
 The boy was pacing the floor with arms folded and 
 his round countenance ashy. 
 
 " I've got to know more of this," was all he said. 
 
 As a relation the shoes pinched, and being guardian 
 hung her medals around his own neck. It was hor- 
 rid. Thinking of him in the dock witnessing against 
 his very flesh and blood gave me the creeps exactly 
 as if we'd been handling real bones instead of unearth- 
 ing a family skeleton. And right there and then I 
 offered to let the whole business slide. But the Eng-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 129 
 
 lish aren't snifflers. He wanted to know, and he meant 
 to know. Jacobs had worse than a barking dog to 
 deal with when Howard turned serious over a question 
 of their honor.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Following a gray evening the morning broke glori- 
 ously golden ; I knew all about it from the start, being 
 awake early, that is, not having slept. And true to the 
 adage, when we, the travellers, reached port, rain was 
 descending on our heads in a steady methodical fash- 
 ion, looking good for a week's pour. 
 
 Griggs had come down on the same train, but not 
 with me, fearing possible espionage. He hated like 
 poison to let a girl walk into the trap alone, but they 
 expected a young woman, and beggars can't be choos- 
 ers much less detectives. It was catch as catch can 
 for us. 
 
 Talk about cold feet! I never experienced such a 
 sinking as when I stepped on to that bleak platform, 
 and in one swift glance saw my only ally get out two 
 cars ahead, and walk off without so much as a twist of 
 his neck. We had arranged he would dodge into the 
 station, hire anything in sight, and follow the auto- 
 mobile marked " Millbrook " ; but I didn't think of all 
 this carefully devised counter-plot, as I stood alone, 
 crushed by that uncompromising sky. Jimminy Crick- 
 ets! No! The sinking feeling dominated every 
 thought. 
 
 I was wet, cheerless, in a blue funk, and felt a per- 
 fect ninny of helplessness, not having an umbrella, and 
 very much like indulging in a regular cry, a dangerous 
 mood lasting while we drove through the town streets, 
 
 130
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 131 
 
 mostly obscured by rain, miles along a winding road, 
 and out to the sea. From the instant of placing my 
 foot in the car I was lost. A sunless heaven makes 
 direction guesswork; and I soon gave up counting the 
 turns and corners. But of one thing I was firmly con- 
 vinced : we could not have embarked at Babylon unless 
 the driver acted with intention to blind me, which, as 
 he took me for one of the gang, seemed futile. 
 
 A silly refrain from an English song kept humming 
 through my head : 
 
 " How many miles to Babylon 
 Shall we get there and back again ? " 
 
 The grim suggestion in the last line annoyed me less 
 than the lack of rhyme. I thought of the Terrier and 
 his poetry. Memory flashed to other and wilder out- 
 ings; strange larks in Cobalt, reckless rides, the dark 
 interior of mines. And that night when Pepper Pot 
 and I had fled to the Victoria. My spirits began to 
 rise. After all it wasn't Clarissa Kendall of the Ritz 
 Hotel, lapped in luxury and chilled by the inclemency 
 of weather, who was on this job; but the winner of the 
 Lelland Mine, undertaking another desperate gamble. 
 Here's to us, Henri ! 
 
 Soon I shed my last tremors in the bustle of being 
 conveyed from our automobile, and in observing dock, 
 boatman and the lay of the land with mind alert for 
 clues. Nowhere on all the flat landscape stretching 
 behind did I glimpse Griggs or his car. He was play- 
 ing it safe; but I had faith he would hang on their 
 tracks like a British bulldog. 
 
 With a purr of engines the two strangers and I
 
 132 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 forged forth into that silent void, where gray heaven 
 and gray sea lapped one upon the other, meaningless, 
 offering no guidance. The rain continued falling, 
 heavier and more uncomfortable than mist, yet lacking 
 the dignity of a smashing storm just miserable wet 
 rain. I sat for an hour in the back of the open boat, 
 wrapped in oilskins, my feet in a puddle, the water 
 sloshing about. We made slow progress steering 
 through the bank of cloud, with never a perspective to 
 lead from buoy to buoy, and the devil of a weedy 
 bottom fingering us. 
 
 Gradually the ghost of a lighthouse loomed out of 
 trailing moisture, and then a row of blots a pencil 
 of darkness on the horizon the bar itself. Blobs of 
 color took form as cottages, and finally a wharf showed 
 its gray streak against brown grasses. We were 
 there. They pointed out the roof of the house on the 
 dunes and my heart beat like a trip-hammer what 
 would happen? 
 
 My guides, philosophers and friends, promptly set- 
 tled themselves on a packing case under a shed roof 
 spanning the lower end of the dock, and sought liquid 
 comfort from a good-sized bottle. Their orders were 
 to wait and they gave me the up and down wondering 
 why I hung around. 
 
 For once in her life Clarissa yearned to be a Bay- 
 man, to smoke a dirty pipe and linger swopping yarns 
 with another human being and then she turned to 
 face the lions. 
 
 Board walks, built level over the rolling ground 
 drifted with sand, or wind swept above the tops of 
 stark bushes, stretched slippery and uninviting in both 
 directions. My way led to the shore and eastward.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 133 
 
 Slowly I footed it past the backs of a row of summer 
 homes, standing now with all eyes blinded, and their 
 hospitable souls turned inward. At the end of the row 
 civilization made one valiant effort with a few loose 
 planks and stopped abruptly. I must choose either to 
 scramble through deep soft sand, overgrown by scrub, 
 or climb the dunes to the beach. And I chose the 
 dunes. How splendid and desolate they looked lying 
 seaward, a lumpy line of unfriendly, tousel-haired 
 giants crouching asleep. Coarse fringes of grass along 
 their spines moved in a breath of wind. Did you ever 
 see a beast twitch its skin while dreaming? Those 
 hummocks looked so alive I dreaded to wake them. 
 Shivering weakness flowed through me I wanted to 
 run. I did turn, but the moment was too cowardly 
 even for flight. What if the men in the boat spotted 
 my funk and refused to take me off? 
 
 Between the devil and the deep blue sea I chose the 
 sea; and as soon as I placed my heel on the neck of 
 the first monster, and caught the air and the sound of 
 open water, I could have gone to the under world 
 without battin' an eye. Only I was hungry and very 
 wet. 
 
 There stood the gray house, farther back from the 
 shore than the others, and almost hidden among the 
 dunes. Though the front door and windows boarded 
 up put it in the same class as the closed cottages, I found 
 a little puff of smoke rising from the chimney and cut 
 across to the back. The roll and crash of a dead-swell 
 surf obliterated minor sounds, but I thought as I 
 knocked that a snatch of song, drunken and ribald, 
 floated by. 
 
 I knocked again and again, each time more loudly,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 and at last drummed with both fists. The ground fell 
 away toward the rear of the house. I was standing 
 on a high veranda which must in season have been a 
 kind of summer kitchen. Rags of faded mosquito net- 
 ting hung on rusty nails ; dirty cloths littered the floor ; 
 the whole place looked rotten. I had knocked my 
 knuckles sore and was at my wits' end for the next 
 move, when a grating and shuffling below made me 
 double over the banister, peering underneath the open 
 steps. 
 
 A rough sailor-like head was thrust cautiously out of 
 what might be called the cellar door, opening hard on 
 the sand. 
 
 Crusty but kind, I doped him. 
 
 The old fellow laid his fingers on his lips as though 
 warning me, and beckoned. I slipped quietly down 
 and around. We stood inside a dark foundation built 
 out of rough planks nailed on posts, and lighted only 
 through their gaping edges where diagonal pieces had 
 broken away. Old clothes were rammed into crev- 
 asses in the floor, but they did not prevent the sand 
 from drifting and piling itself through the gaps. A 
 row-boat, bottom side up, with ropes, buckets and a 
 confusion of sea gear filled one-half, the rest being 
 given over to cases of booze. 
 
 " Not hard to tell which side you're on," I said, nod- 
 ding toward the fishing nets, and I knew at once the 
 old man was pleased with even so little attention. 
 
 " You're the lass as is to come for the package? " he 
 asked, eyeing me keenly. 
 
 And I, scared of giving my ignorance away, mum- 
 bled some assent. 
 
 " Then I'd not anither time. This is no place for
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 135 
 
 the bonny likes of you," he remarked calmly, preparing 
 to lead the way upstairs. 
 
 Gripes! If I couldn't bluff that old top, how was I 
 going to fare with the rest of the bunch ! 
 
 We mounted directly to the kitchen where the heat 
 of a wood stove, a strong smell of stale fish, and sing- 
 ing mingled with the clink of glass made my senses 
 reel. Something very very must be afoot. I trem- 
 bled with apprehension. 
 
 " Come thy ways in," said the sailor, indicating a 
 chair. " That is 'gin you're no afraid," he added, a 
 gleam of humour livening his watery blue eyes, as a 
 burst of filthy language interrupted the song. 
 
 " They're uncu' rough. It was na so when the 
 muckle woman came hersel'. She held them a' in 
 hand." 
 
 Excitement coursed in my veins for the last ques- 
 tion of being on Jacobs's track vanished in his refer- 
 ence. Who could the " muckle woman " be but An- 
 gelica Deering, or the woman who was impersonating 
 her ? Poor Griggsy ! 
 
 I would have pushed right in, but he motioned me 
 aside. 
 
 " Bide ye here, lass. He's cursing for his drink." 
 And twining his gnarled fingers about the necks of ten 
 or a dozen bottles, the old chap walked off, through an 
 adjoining room into the main den. 
 
 I followed hot- foot, keen to see without being seen ; 
 and, hiding behind a flimsy cretonne drape, took a slant 
 at the enemy's position. 
 
 Gee ! The heart of that home was in worse disorder 
 than its extremities some show ! The furniture, 
 any old cast-off thing, set the scene cheaply, and the
 
 136 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 actors seemed to me more punk than their surround- 
 ings. A <lirty table, spattered and littered, occupied 
 the middle; and beyond it, with glass raised as though 
 proposing a toast, wavering slightly on his feet, stood 
 the horse-faced man the very man I had seen a year 
 before closeted with Jacobs in his elegant apartment 
 counting powders. Another fellow had flung himself 
 on the couch, partly on top of a woman's coat and a 
 feathered hat, and in this discomfort lay snoring. The 
 owner of the tawdry plumes, dead to their destruction, 
 slumped sidewise on a wooden seat, paying no heed to 
 either of her companions. She was plump, badly over 
 dressed and a Gentile. Quantities of untidy red 
 hair set off a puffy white skin, while the unhealthy leer 
 of fast living bespoke her station. 
 
 Caruso emptied his glass and attempted to toss it 
 behind him, but the throw miscarried. The common 
 heavy tumbler flying from his uncertain hand like a 
 shot out of a gun hit the woman. It fell unharmed 
 and rolled along the floor. No one troubled to pick it 
 up. The hussy understood this as a playfully inten- 
 tional stroke and glared at her tormentor; then rous- 
 ing she pulled her dress above her fat white knee, and 
 embracing her leg, twisted to inspect the damage. 
 
 The man laughed. She spat back at him. It shaped 
 awfully like a row. 
 
 I quit, crept noiselessly out to the kitchen, and was 
 pretending to warm myself when the sailor returned. 
 
 Sounds of the gathering quarrel stormed upon us. 
 
 " Ay, they're savage," he commented. " It's the 
 baggage. The master's that way wi' his women." 
 And suddenly he burst out against them, shaking his 
 clenched fist.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 137 
 
 " It's easy laffin' but ye'll laff t'ither side o' ye ugly 
 faces one day. Ye muckle liar, ye stammering stirk, 
 ye owd addle egg! 'Twill nob'but serve ye right, I'm 
 thinking. I've tholed mair fra him, lass, than I ever 
 thoct to thole from any man." 
 
 I knew from the whimper in the last words that he 
 had been drinking too. 
 
 A gust of oaths, a female voice crying, fear and ma- 
 lignity in its tone, warned me to let them be. So I 
 waited for the hymn of hate sung as duetto. 
 
 The pleasant family muttered itself quiet at last, and 
 my custodian gave me the next cue. 
 
 " The package lies on the dresser, it's a' ready, but 
 ye'll ha' to be gaein' for it yersel'. They'd no ha' me 
 touch the danged writin'." 
 
 " What's it all about ? " I asked casually, thinking in 
 his present mood he might split on them. But I had 
 underestimated the old fox. A shrewd, suspicious 
 glance met mine. Our eyes measured each other, and 
 his fell sulkily. 
 
 " I'm sworn to say nowt," he replied. 
 
 And I understood whatever the pressure of his serv- 
 ice, or his grudge against the " Master," of Jacobs's 
 business he knew less than nothing. All at once I de- 
 cided on action. I walked quickly into the anteroom 
 and threw the curtains wide, seeking with such positive 
 action to ground and steady my nerves, for their gentle 
 entertainment had got my goat. 
 
 Red-head had joined the other hog in drunken slum- 
 ber. The horse-faced man sat alone in a shuttered 
 twilight playing patience. He pushed back as I en- 
 tered. 
 
 " Ah so it's a pretty devil ! "
 
 138 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 The blood flamed into my face at his insolence, and 
 speech came like a whistle of icy air through clenched 
 teeth. 
 
 " Have you the paper ready ? You've been a long 
 time rowing here and my men are waiting." 
 
 How I summoned the grit to be high-handed with 
 him beats me, but I had struck the right note. His 
 face clouded, his dignity dropped to the level of a kid 
 disgraced and chided. 
 
 " How d'ya mean rowin'? " 
 
 " Give me the papers," I said evenly. 
 
 He looked up and smiled, blinking his eyes slowly as 
 though seeking a clearer brain and clearer vision. 
 
 " You almost put it over, Dew-Drop. I thought for 
 a minute it was the old woman. Come here ! " reach- 
 ing his hand across. And as I did not move, adding 
 pettishly, " Don't stand staring at me. Come in or 
 get out ! " 
 
 Although my host spoke glib English his accent 
 smacked of the Fatherland, and the recent exhibition 
 of his gallantry to our gentle sex didn't excite any wild 
 longing to be bombarded with his style of bouquets. 
 A few whirling beer bottles liven the scene, no doubt, 
 but I prefer quiet. From the minute he first spoke I 
 had only one idea to make a safe getaway with or 
 without the package. I stuck to the errand simply be- 
 cause I judged taking the swag with me would be the 
 surest and shortest cut to safety. Remember, if not 
 walking in darkness I was at least talking in the dark. 
 Facts shrouded themselves from me in a terrible men- 
 tal fog, through which light filtered sparingly as he 
 talked. I knew he had almost come to terms at men- 
 tion of the old dame, and calculated maybe a hint of
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 139 
 
 the power behind the throne would bring him into 
 line. At best I threw it out as a feeler. 
 
 " Jacobs " I began, and stopped appalled. 
 
 Black fury sprang in him. His open palm whacked 
 on the table, scattering his game pell-mell. 
 
 " Damn Jacobs ! Nothing but Jacobs ! I'd like to 
 know who's boss of this gang? Who'd send a peach- 
 faced gosling butting in here but a fool like Jacobs? 
 I suppose you'll get up on your high horse, eh, and 
 tell me you're his girl. Hands off, eh? So it's 
 hands off all round. Jacobs went against our advice 
 in sending you down. Go back and tell him so, and 
 see what a glad hand he gives you. Ha, ha ! I know 
 the weaknesses of Samuel Jacobs. Nobody's going to 
 double-cross me. You don't get any papers not this 
 trip, my Honey Dew ! " 
 
 I was in about as bad as I could be and without a 
 notion of the way out. Something told me that to take 
 him at his word and try to break away would bring 
 destruction rattling about my ears. I prayed then. 
 There are moments when frail humanity has no other 
 resource. I prayed to the spirit likeliest to send direct 
 and immediate help. In those electric seconds I fell 
 back hard on Henri, and felt him rise to the occasion 
 overpoweringly. He dominated me. Ours was no 
 longer a case of two minds animating one body, but 
 of one mind Henri's mind. He obsessed me all 
 right. He took complete possession. If there is such 
 a thing as " manifestation " a spook assuming the 
 form and features of the dead I believe at that mo- 
 ment de Grasse came as near to doing it as the spiritual 
 law allows. Whether he worked some temporary illu- 
 sive change in me, or just wrapped me in an envelope
 
 140 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 of ghostly tissues evoked from astral space, I shall 
 never know, there not having been a mirror handy. 
 But I should worry the effect proved potent on a 
 drink-disordered mind. To the man opposite I must 
 have assumed literally the face and voice of Henri, 
 otherwise how account for the happenings of the next 
 ten minutes ? My own mind still retained a conscious 
 hold, enough to note the conversation ; but the smile on 
 my face was de Grasse's smile and the words issuing 
 from my lips were not even English as I slid into a 
 seat facing my angry host and, folding my arms, 
 leaned confidently toward him. 
 
 " Felix, you've got a bee in your 'bonnet about old 
 Jacobs and if you two quarrel it's going to cost us 
 much money." 
 
 The stranger ran a hand over his brow, gazing at me 
 stony-eyed. 
 
 " Henri ! " Gott in Himmel ! Oh, fudge ! The 
 jade must have doped my drink! But you called me 
 Felix." 
 
 " Have it your own way, and get down to brass 
 tacks. The police are on partly. The local police 
 I mean are on to this side game the smuggling busi- 
 ness. So Jacobs is rushing to make this last haul good. 
 When we've cashed in on this lot, we'll rest while the 
 smoke evaporates but from what I know we haven't 
 a day to waste." 
 
 " Yes. And how long does the stuff lie in Jacobs's 
 place before he hands over? Where are we when the 
 time comes? Difficult to get a look in, eh and he'll 
 make it more difficult. He'll make sure of the swag 
 and then let our own particular bull-dog loose the 
 bureau is restless too. He knows we'd be too busy
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 141 
 
 covering our tracks to make any claims. No, I don't 
 trust Jacobs." 
 
 " He don't let anything loose, I tell you because 
 he don't know anything. Why, his mind's as innocent 
 of the big thing as a new born babe's." 
 
 " H m. Are you certain? You know what hap- 
 pens to our service when a leak's spotted the long 
 arm smites from some unexpected quarter." 
 
 " What leak are you talking about ? " Henri fired 
 this at him quickly, intending to surprise his secret, 
 but the man called Felix only laughed sneeringly. 
 
 " Places, rendezvous the chain. Don't hoodwink 
 yourself ; it's more than enough if they ever get wise 
 and dear knows what the old lady may have said, she 
 was off her chump after de Grasse's murder. Where 
 am I at? " He ran his hand over his head in a dum- 
 founded sort of way, gazing at Henri as though he 
 couldn't believe his eyes. I don't blame him; to be 
 looking at a person, talking to him, telling him about 
 his own death would mix the sanest of us. 
 
 Henri lighted a cigarette cool as a cucumber and then 
 picked a soiled pack from the table and began toying 
 with the cards. " Pal," I said, " either you or I are 
 wrong about Jacobs I'll play you for the stake." 
 
 " Three hands of draw." 
 
 " And if I win I take the papers." 
 
 He nodded and we sat square. The light being dim. 
 filtered by the boarding on the front windows I could 
 almost feel him watching us as I dealt. 
 
 The first fell to him, for Henri has a generous skill 
 in these matters, and the second to us. My friend 
 Felix insisted on opening a new pack for the last hand ; 
 and while he was about it brought the papers over and
 
 142 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 laid our stake temptingly between us. His moving 
 around waked the woman. She sat up, rubbed sleep 
 away from badly bloated eyes, and yawned; and after 
 she had got the focus stared at me. But she was too 
 well trained to break in on his game. The room re- 
 mained in absolute stillness. 
 
 " A pair of twos beats ace, king," I said, reaching 
 for the papers. 
 
 And to my amazement he made no demur; only 
 asked cordially, raising the bottle : " How do you 
 take it the same ? " 
 
 I was shivering from exposure and nerve strain, and 
 mighty glad to accept, even though the woman rose 
 and joined us, demanding a nip. He scowled. 
 
 " Who were you playing with? " I heard her ask as 
 I left. 
 
 " Henri de Grasse," came the prompt answer. 
 
 "Quit your kidding! De Grasse is planted safe 
 enough I ought to know. Who's the skirt?" 
 
 " Skirt," he repeated, dazed. " It was Henri's man- 
 ner, and Henri's luck and she called me Felix 
 nobody ever called me Felix nobody cared " 
 
 The girl laughed coarsely. " You're drunk, so you 
 are, can't tell a man from a woman ! " adding in a 
 terribly amorous voice, " You're drunk Felix." 
 
 "Take that," he cried. "And leave! Do you 
 hear ? Get out I'm through ! " 
 
 "Oh, cut the comedy stuff! Who'll cook your 
 victuals if I clear? " 
 
 A sound of blows followed. I made a wild dash 
 past the old sailor snoring beside the stove, and down 
 and out and away to an open place of decency and 
 safety.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Of course I removed the worst stains and ironed out 
 the story a bit for Howard I had no call to wallow 
 and as it was he threatened to go stale on the whole 
 business. Didn't approve of my being exposed and 
 all that, and wanted to conduct his family investigation 
 while leaving the smuggling out. I couldn't see where 
 he was going to get off, both charges being up to An- 
 gelica, but one can't rub disgrace in like a soothing oil, 
 so I muffled the mouth organ and we arrived in New 
 York without anything being decided. 
 
 I had saved the package to open in my own room, 
 for now I had seen my confreres at home, I wasn't too 
 sure what ghastly secret it might contain, or how 
 frightful the nature of the job. Several wrappers, tied 
 and retied, and an oiled silk I painstakingly removed 
 before reaching the heart of the matter, and then, be- 
 hold a letter more directions and a large gold 
 ring, a signet, with the winged snake cut in reverse. 
 
 I looked inside the windings again to see if there was 
 a child's rubber along. Would you believe it? That 
 darned twin incubus haunted me so! And then I ex- 
 amined the ring. It showed no sign of opening or 
 hidden poison chamber, and for all I could find was an 
 honest, solid piece of engraved metal; probably their 
 token and guarantee in the delivery of goods, the linch- 
 pin of their commerce what commerce? Smug- 
 
 143
 
 144 
 
 gling, I believed, with murder on the side. We were 
 getting in neck deep too. What was the prize, why did 
 Henri want to stick to it, and would anybody believe 
 I was a self-appointed detective if <he goods were 
 found on me? 
 
 My head hummed with a dozen disquieting fears 
 as I picked up the letter; but the directions being im- 
 mediate and imperative drove everything else from 
 mind. I phoned Howard to come over at once, as he 
 stood; hustled on a serviceable plain dress, and was 
 waiting for him downstairs when he breezed along. 
 
 " Jove ! Are you going in for it ? " he exclaimed, 
 after digesting the contents of the closely typed letter. 
 
 " Sure. What do you take me for ? A busted 
 flush?" 
 
 " But to Canada. It's a bally long chase this 
 time. And you aren't given any idea of later develop- 
 ments." 
 
 " They work on a close mouthed system," I laughed. 
 " Advance a step and ask for light." 
 
 " You oughtn't to go, and I don't see how you can 
 go on a moment's notice." 
 
 " Pooh-pooh ! Don't borrow false comfort. 
 There's no trouble at all. Toronto is almost next 
 door. Leave at eight and arrive in the morning 
 only one night. What does it matter where one 
 sleeps? " 
 
 " Hot stuff, the way you Americans run about. 
 Dashing across the continent and back, plunging into 
 a long journey without a second thought." 
 
 "Who crossed the ocean to shoot birdies?" I re- 
 minded. But he was unconvinced. 
 
 " Clarissa, you ought not really. It's a rum
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 145 
 
 crowd to be mixed up with for a girl," he added, 
 flushing and paling as he thought of Angelica. 
 "Why not consult one of these detective fellows? 
 Give him all our information, wind him up, keep him 
 going don't you know pay him to look sharp " 
 
 " Rot ! " I cut in, fairly provoked. " That's where 
 you English miss life. Always paying people to do 
 things that are fine fun to do yourselves garden- 
 ing, for instance, and breaking horses. If you think 
 we're going to loosen up on this adventure now, you 
 don't know Henri ! " 
 
 He gave me a startled, wounded look. " Who in 
 Christmas is Henri?" 
 
 " Nobody," I said, with a hollow sort of laugh, 
 recollecting how he had crowded me out yesterday. 
 " Henri is a nickname I have for myself my wild 
 self. You're only acquainted with part of me, How- 
 ard." I was cursing my glib tongue. 
 
 " But why Henri? " he persisted, so visibly anxious 
 and upset over this strange, intimate male, I suddenly 
 determined to tell him the rights of my story. 
 
 " Look here," I said rather breathless. " If you'll 
 promise to treat the question seriously, not to howl, or 
 jeer, or show that you think me stark mad I'll tell 
 you a mountain of a secret all about Henri." 
 
 "Are you engaged, Clarissa?" he asked, just like 
 that. 
 
 I roared. " Yes, I am engaged, but it has nothing 
 to do with the story except as a time limit. I'm en- 
 gaged to start on a fresh adventure about seven o'clock. 
 I'm off to Toronto to nose out opium, and, if I'm not to 
 miss the train, let's eat." 
 
 " You have no business to go alone."
 
 146 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Why not come along then ? " The idea stag- 
 gered him into gasping apology. 
 
 "I we couldn't do it at home, you know ! " 
 
 My courage needing a bracer after the happy little 
 party in the house on the dunes, I was more than glad 
 to welcome company, so I pressed him. " Who'll 
 be the wiser anyway? Tell your valet to keep quiet. 
 Pretend to have a cold or something and be staying in. 
 We'll return day after to-morrow or the next day." 
 
 "Jolly awkward for you if it came out! " 
 
 He was so very, very pink now and so very, very 
 nice I almost hugged him. 
 
 " Lordy ! Who cares ! Nobody's watching me as 
 close as that. Be a sport. Come along, Griggsy. 
 Be a sport ! " 
 
 " I'll dine with you, if you'll tell me about Henri," 
 he said, begging a decision. 
 
 The great oval of the Ritz ceiling softly illuminated, 
 brooded over a vast expanse of waiting emptiness. 
 Seated by our lone under one protective edge of the 
 raised gallery, and watching our waiter's back vanish 
 in long perspective amid tables and chairs, we en- 
 joyed a sensation akin to the privacy of the Sahara 
 desert, and yet I hesitated. 
 
 Now it had come to the point of speech I felt nerv- 
 ous and genuinely shy about explaining Henri al- 
 most as though he did occupy the tender relationship 
 Griggs obviously anticipated. We sparred a while 
 with indifferent topics till the soup was served, and 
 my vis-a-vis dropped into the silence best expressing 
 his receptive mood. If we were to get through the 
 tale at all, Clarissa must speak lively. I determined 
 to treat this thing in an airy manner, but in spite of
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 147 
 
 my utmost effort seriousness weighted the opening 
 words. 
 
 " You were present when I first encountered Henri 
 and his other name is de Grasse." 
 
 Then in a few sentences I carried Howard back to 
 the afternoon of the seance, and as clearly as possible 
 pictured my strange experience. I have never before 
 or since seen any one so stirred so thrilled. Griggs 
 not only grasped the situation at once, but enlarged 
 upon it. He bolted with the bit in his teeth. 
 
 " This explains you this explains you ! I have 
 always wondered " 
 
 And such remarks flung from rash heights of gulli- 
 bility, began to make me a trifle uneasy. Was I such 
 a freak? 
 
 He counted my relations with de Grasse of most 
 vital importance, and spoke of writing instantly to cer- 
 tain scientific big-wigs. Wanted to have the condi- 
 tion published in scientific papers; wanted to have me 
 interviewed, perhaps experimented on no, of course, 
 not quite that, but the same thing. 
 
 Nix for little Clarissa. I commenced to feel about 
 as happy as a pup living next door to the Rockefeller 
 Institute. 
 
 " Write what you will," I gave permission. " But 
 lacking dates, mind, and no names mentioned. I 
 won't stand for interviewing, or examination, or mi- 
 croscoping Henri has a prejudice against folks get- 
 ting too familiar." 
 
 I was joshin' to rarefy the atmosphere, but he took 
 it dead serious. 
 
 " Perhaps you and he feel so now, but in time, 
 Clarissa, I trust you will both realize of what tremen-
 
 148 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 dous value this is to Science. A position so unique sets 
 your price above rubies separates you from your 
 kind. Your kind, indeed. Where are they to be 
 found ? You and he no longer belong to the rank and 
 file. It is stupendous stupendous! I must write 
 to Sir Herbert I must tell Angelica " 
 
 He broke off short. 
 
 " Rave on. But don't tell anybody," I admonished. 
 " It's not your funeral." And we ate in silence for a 
 time. 
 
 At last Griggs raised his head and regarded me with 
 a determined eye. 
 
 " Clarissa, I am going north that is, if you will 
 permit it." 
 
 " Good business ! " I cried, more than delighted. 
 " I knew you'd see me through, old pal. I knew you 
 wouldn't drop for old Grundy ! " 
 
 "It is not a question of form now," he fal- 
 tered. " Henri's presence your recent confidence 
 alters everything. I feel it would not be right to allow 
 you to proceed alone and unprotected on on this 
 wild goose chase. What use are a few miserable dol- 
 lars, more or less, in the pockets of the American gov- 
 ernment! Jove! Clarissa, you can't imperil the 
 chances of this research, perhaps the most important re- 
 search ever conducted, for the sake of catching a bunch 
 of smugglers red-handed. I know you don't under- 
 stand yet don't appreciate your own consequence. 
 But I beg of you to be careful. Until such time as you 
 awaken to the vital interest in these facts permit me, 
 my dear girl, to constitute myself a a sort of guar- 
 dian " 
 
 That was too rich altogether!
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 149 
 
 " Angelica and me ! " I shouted, limp with mirth. 
 " Wow ! You mayn't know it, Griggsy, but you're 
 taking on a tandem. One's sprinting after the other 
 now and Henri's hot under his collar." 
 
 He couldn't help laughing, but he meant every word 
 he had said, all the same. 
 
 In the train I had time to explain to Griggs how I 
 doped out Henri's conversation with the man Felix. 
 They were evidently co-criminals in a world series of 
 major and minor crimes; on one hand smuggling with 
 Jacobs ; on the other, leaders or operators for some big 
 organization " the bureau " probably a foreign 
 bureau, else why had they fallen into familiar foreign 
 talk ? I understood now why Henri had been ashamed 
 to take me into confidence and had made me a sort 
 of detective trailing his evil nature. 
 
 Griggs proved immensely interested and helpful. 
 He vowed their principal must be the secret service, 
 for it indeed reached with an almighty long arm. 
 The thought both eased and damped his spirits. 
 
 If they were secret service agents, then the woman 
 he was after might really be Angelica even Lady 
 Deering could be almost honorably involved for her 
 government. 
 
 But the old woman at Jacobs's, I reminded him, had 
 been up to her neck with them in both games. 
 
 Then he fell back on his first argument, that it 
 couldn't be his niece at all but just some one disguised 
 to look like her. And I suggested perhaps they had 
 been putting one over on the lady too. Well, if it 
 was Angelica, it must be secret service. So we rea- 
 soned in circles and finally went to bed to hum the 
 argument over on the rail ends all night long.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Arriving in Toronto I knew the ropes and took com- 
 mand, detailing Howard to taxi straight to the King 
 Edward Hotel and await my return in that mezzanine 
 palm room from where I had spied Charley Ross. 
 
 The address on Yonge Street, given in the thief's 
 schedule, turned out to be a prosperous little retail 
 jewelry shop, chiefly consisting of one large window 
 and one small door, with a long counter of show cases 
 running up its interior like a nicely jointed spine. I 
 . walked in at exactly the hour appointed, city hall time, 
 and spoke to the only human on deck, a man bending 
 over a high account desk 'way up back. He climbed 
 down from his perch and bustled forward as though to 
 greet a customer. But when I handed over the ring, 
 at once my identification and plausible errand had any 
 one else happened to be in the shop, he said : 
 
 " Ah, it is not ze old lady zis time. Welcome mine 
 goota freund," and leaned his arms on the counter 
 smiling unctuously. 
 
 " You haf been very busy lately, eh? " 
 
 I noticed that his lips did not move, and fascinated 
 by this prison trick, wondering where and when and 
 for what crime opportunity had taught it to him, I 
 lost the sense of the remark and only shrugged. 
 
 Fortunately he took the reticence as reproof, mur- 
 muring: "We are here quite safe. Bof ze boys are 
 out to zair lunch. But Fraulein is wise we might 
 
 150
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 151 
 
 be observed from ze .windows. I will ze package im- 
 mediately bring." 
 
 Another package! It wouldn't have taken Jack 
 Johnson to knock me over with a feather. I antici- 
 pated starting for China or the North Pole. 
 
 The German returned carrying a box about twelve 
 inches long, by five wide, and four deep, neatly done 
 up in paper. A jeweler's parcel which any lady might 
 have escorted from his store without occasioning re- 
 mark. But he had removed it from a huge safe a 
 safe proportionately fifty times the size of his regular 
 trade. Doubtless safes are a hobby with some men 
 just as razors are to others. 
 
 Old Stutz, for so read the legend over his door, 
 handed the box to me with a considerable flourish, 
 saying, " Ze letter is inside." I must have taken it 
 casually, for a spasm convulsed his florid face, and he 
 whispered, " Fraulein understands the value? " 
 
 " Oh, perfectly," I hastened to reply, and as a 
 woman entered the shop, added quickly, " When can I 
 call for my ring? " 
 
 How I blessed the native Torontorian in her flat- 
 heeled shoes and rainy-day hat, as I made good my 
 escape. But I couldn't help wondering if she was a 
 bona fide customer, or a detective, or another agent of 
 his foreign policy. One would have fancied, from my 
 cool manner, that I received opium in packages, mas- 
 querading as the family spoons, every day; but my 
 feet trod on thin air all the same, and I had walked 
 several blocks in the wrong direction before I collected 
 my scattered wits, and remembered to board a down- 
 town car. 
 
 Talk about feeling biggity ! I chortled all the way
 
 152 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 back over my prowess as a Sherlock Holmes. Report 
 said the police had been sniffing on these tracks for 
 dear knows how long, and hadn't even started a hare 
 and here I was with the brush. Wasn't I going 
 to show them? With this evidence, and the gang's 
 several rendezvous and dives to name, mine would be 
 a perfectly splendid beat. But maybe it would be 
 more fun to give it to the newspapers instead of the 
 police. Tom could make a nice pot of money out of 
 the scoop, if he handled it properly. I decided to give 
 it to Tom. 
 
 Griggs's first exclamation on meeting rather dashed 
 my roseate plans. " Why, how small it is ! They 
 can't make any profit on that amount ! " 
 
 " But opium's awfully valuable," I insisted. 
 
 " Yes in ship loads. Haven't you ever read 
 'The Wrecker'?" 
 
 " Well, maybe there is more to come. Maybe the 
 rest is cached. The directions are inside." 
 
 "What! Again! This is growing monotonous, 
 don't you know. Jolly stupid pastime, Clarissa, why 
 not throw it up ? " 
 
 " We may have to go round the world," I laughed. 
 " Jews have no physical courage. Working over the 
 counter is safe and inconspicuous but they do fol- 
 low rather close to form. Suppose you order a bracer 
 while I open the box." 
 
 The envelope lay on top. Griggs seized it, and 
 peeped under the lid. One glance was enough to re- 
 assure me. There lay the identical mate of Jacobs's 
 black leather cases, looking and bulking so much like 
 the ones in his secret closet.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 153 
 
 " We're on ! " I crowed. " Let the police locate the 
 cache good enough job for them, eh? This sample 
 of the dope will serve our turn." 
 
 I looked up to meet Griggs's eyes, large and round 
 and troubled. 
 
 " Jove ! It's bally intricate ! Riding around in the 
 middle of the night, with strange men in utterly strange 
 places and alone that is without me without 
 any one you can depend on. I don't sanction your go- 
 ing, Clarissa," he said, handing over the sheet. 
 
 I read and frowned. " No mention of a cache, none 
 whatever. I don't see where all the anxiety lies. 
 Don't see what this leads to ; don't get why they are so 
 scared and cautious. You or I can sneak this little 
 shrimp of a package through on any train without a 
 qualm. And if the price is no more than you say, one 
 could afford to pay the duty." 
 
 " We haven't seen the inside yet. We are jolly 
 ignorant of what it contains. Shall we " 
 
 " Oh, no ! Not here ! We'd better not look here. 
 Let's go eat and think the matter over." 
 
 " Top hole," he replied. 
 
 Griggs in his London clothes looked, to the Canadian 
 eye, like easy money, so we were steered over to an 
 excellent table commanding the room from the angle 
 of the great windows. And who should I spy, almost 
 before we were seated, but the Terrier and Bully Bill. 
 I couldn't wait for them to change gears discarding 
 the menu for the middle distance and so pick up my 
 lady-like nod. No, sir-ee. I whirled right across and 
 shook their arms nearly out of joint; and we made a 
 date for coffee upstairs after lunch. Terry apparently
 
 154 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 bore me no malice. I dare say he had fallen for a 
 dozen disappointments since the Lelland that is, if 
 he was keeping up to concert pitch. 
 
 Being lit with the joy of reunion and a touch of 
 regret, for compared to my last summer, life at Doc's 
 seemed cosy as an old hen's wing, I started to give 
 Howard a personal sketch of the boys; and while I 
 talked the big idea came alive. 
 
 " Howard," I said, looking very serious. " You 
 are going to turn smuggler all by your lonesome, tak- 
 ing this package down to-night ; and me and the mine- 
 gang will follow directions and see where it leads. If 
 we don't find opium, we'll at least reap knowledge in 
 large quantities but for me, I'll bet on there being 
 a cache somewhere around." 
 
 To my amazement he refused absolutely, point-blank. 
 
 " I cannot allow you to go on this escapade. It's 
 sheer madness. I feel I have a solemn duty to man- 
 kind. Don't make it hard for me, Clarissa. As you 
 are at present you and Henri your loss would 
 be appalling, too terrible to estimate. Think of the 
 scientific world. Why, Jove! You might never be 
 discovered again." 
 
 I roared, remembering Cobalt, that large free place 
 of deeds. The tang of its wild mood, all do and dare- 
 devil, keyed me to adventure, making his sob of a sci- 
 entific surrender less than useless. 
 
 " You'll have to catch this butterfly, Griggsy, before 
 you impale her on a hat pin. Maybe I'm a specimen, 
 but I'm human. We don't deny our worth as a frolic, 
 but we very much question the candles. Of what 
 value is science to us except as a wing-clipper? If 
 you loved me, if you had only begged me to forego
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 155 
 
 the risk for love for friendship for the sake of 
 somebody. For something warm and personal and 
 instant but for Science ha, ha!" 
 
 He blushed scarlet. " Clarissa, I do I do ! You 
 know I care about your safety for yourself! Ah, you 
 take a man up so ! " 
 
 " For Science Science first. Oh, Howard, what 
 a drop!" 
 
 My friend leaned his elbows on the table after that 
 bad American habit, and began talking fast. His face 
 quite submerged itself in color. He looked as if he 
 had glammed his courage with both hands and was 
 holding it rampant. 
 
 " You know I love you, Clarissa, you know I do. 
 I've been determined to marry you ever since ever 
 since you refused to you remember. But I'm all 
 balled up about Angelica. I can't ask you till the name 
 of Griggs is cleared. And now you've told me this 
 about Henri. Why, marrying might upset it, don't 
 you see! I wouldn't be Jove, the whole thing's so 
 dashed complicated ! " 
 
 " Science " I gasped, striving to control my voice, 
 hardly taking him seriously. But a shaft of honest 
 woe, a glance of appeal in his eye shut me up. 
 
 " Look here," I said. " Forget it ! Leave every- 
 thing as it is till we settle the opium business. I see the 
 boys have quit; we'll go and have a pow-wow with 
 them and start something. I promise you I won't 
 step an inch unless they say we can pull it off." 
 
 Being unacquainted with the Terrier and Bully, 
 Griggs rested on that pledge, but after five minutes of 
 wild huzzas for of course they were crazy to go 
 he tumbled to my fraud; and still laboring under a
 
 156 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 mistaken sense of his own responsibility commenced 
 to throw bombs. He fussed and fumed and mur- 
 mured and objected, saying all he dared before 
 strangers, trying to arouse Henri and me to a fitting 
 sense of our value; and having no luck there endeav- 
 oured to fit himself into various odd corners of our 
 arrangements, cavilling at this and that till he got to 
 be a regular nuisance. 
 
 Isn't a man with a purpose in life the limit! Spe- 
 cially when that purpose settles on an object, and 
 you're IT; and there are two free souls standing by, 
 laughing up their sleeves, and wondering where the 
 professor got aboard? 
 
 At last quite dazed, and seeing himself completely 
 lost amid the threatened hurly-burly of trains, auto- 
 mobiles, boats and guns, let alone the Canadian wilder- 
 ness, Griggs consented to follow my original plan, and 
 return to New York with the goods on him. 
 
 Argument had wasted valuable time ; Terry hustled 
 us out. " You'll have to look alive and keep moving, 
 Clarissa, if we're to catch the western express. 
 Good-by, Mr. Griggs. Good luck." 
 
 Hastily I handed over the package, and Howard, 
 reading my disappointment, swore not to open it till 
 I was present. " You shall be in at the death, old 
 thing. Cross my heart."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 We nearly missed the train as it was, on account 
 of me having to buy a red rose. Directions were to 
 sport a red rose as identification, and of course there 
 wasn't a red rose to be got in the hotel all sold, they 
 declared. And I hadn't the ghost of an idea where a 
 florist shop could be found in Toronto. Seeing our 
 game go up the flue, if first aid didn't come at once, I 
 called for help. It was a trying moment till Bully re- 
 membered spotting a red rose among the table decora- 
 tions. He burst into the dining room, stole the trophy 
 and bore it off right under the nose of a pompous head- 
 waiter. Then we ran for it. Of course I had to 
 have a separate taxi. My tickets had been all ready 
 with the directions, a chair was reserved, and when 
 I had captured my breath, I looked around to size up 
 the passengers. 
 
 Holy smoke! Laugh? Folks must have thought 
 the magazine I held the funniest out. Every seat in 
 that car was full and nearly every traveller wore a red 
 rose both men and women. The girls being all 
 young and well dressed like me, my personality sub- 
 merged itself in the crowd. I was lost. 
 
 The conductor told me it was a wedding party going 
 up for some swell girl's send off the next day, and as 
 the bride was daughter to a turf king, they were all 
 wearing his color for luck. Red ! I saw red. Here 
 was a pretty how d'ye do.
 
 158 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 The long afternoon wore away in utter boredom. 
 One of the wedding guests tried to get up a conversa- 
 tion with me on the strength of the badge, but I 
 snubbed him short I must keep free, and have my 
 eyes on all sides to pull out of this blooming mix-up. 
 The boys, of course, were in a separate car blissfully 
 ignorant. 
 
 About a half hour before we were due, the train 
 stopped at a junction, and a very few minutes later a 
 short, bandy-legged fellow came through the car. 
 
 " Well, I be blowed ! " he said, soto voce, looking 
 from one passenger to another then something 
 seemed to come over him I saw him turn green 
 around the gills and spotted him for my man. 
 
 He went away and stayed long enough to go all 
 through the train, but it looked as if our car had 
 cornered the rose market, for he presently reap- 
 peared. 
 
 Sitting near the door as I was I could take good 
 stock of him. His quivering nostrils alone betokened 
 the state of his nerves. His shrewd gray eyes shifted 
 constantly hither and thither. Time grew short. I 
 was sure sure enough to take the risk. Suddenly 
 I tore my wilted flower off and threw it aside. The 
 quick action caught his glance and focussed his atten- 
 tion on me. 
 
 " Wouldn't it crimp a snake ! " I exclaimed. I 
 wanted that last word to get to him. 
 
 He walked on as though he were going to pass, 
 but I could see he was watching. Then I made a bold 
 move. At my hand was the window glass all steamed 
 over from the chill evening air. In a second, with a 
 few strong lines I had drawn a rough picture of Henri's
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 159 
 
 winged sign. Had he been a detective instead of a 
 confederate good night, Clarissa! 
 
 The man stopped as if I had spoken, and smearing 
 my sketch from the glass with a rather dirty hand, he 
 peered through the rubbed spot. 
 
 " We are almost there, Madame," he said. 
 
 It was true. We were already steaming into a 
 brightly lighted station there was no time to talk. 
 
 " If you are on business, I'd advise you to dine at 
 the Equadore it's a good hotel," he said, and with- 
 out more ado walked away. 
 
 I didn't like him from the start. He was so cold 
 blooded. An ugly little shrimp, not too respectful 
 and after dinner I was due to start on a wild adven- 
 ture with him. I shivered, and you may be sure I 
 took long enough getting into a taxi and away, to 
 make certain of the boys being able to follow me. 
 
 I carried a small dressing case which might easily 
 have contained Stutz's package, but which held in- 
 stead the nasty black six-shooter that Terry had in- 
 sisted on my taking along. I noticed my man eyeing 
 the bag and his look tipped me off not to check it at 
 the dining room door. Evidently I was supposed to 
 have that valuable sample along, and to cling to it. 
 Well, I had no kick coming a Colt is a good, steady 
 friend. 
 
 The Equadore was a medium-busy commercial hotel 
 where the stranger could and did join me at dinner 
 without attracting any undue attention. I explained 
 the matter of the wedding party to him, and he made 
 no comment. He seemed a stolid soul. 
 
 " What happened to the old lady? " he asked pres- 
 ently, and gave it as his opinion it was poor policy to
 
 160 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 change messengers every time. Pretending to be as 
 taciturn as himself, I told the few words of explana- 
 tion I knew and he seemed satisfied. 
 
 When he had finished eating, he brushed the crumbs 
 from his clothes, reached for a toothpick, and said the 
 car would be waiting in front at nine o'clock. 
 
 I strolled into the lounge where the boys sat chat- 
 ting and smoking as though nothing were further 
 from their minds than adventure. Sitting opposite 
 trying to read, I got to thinking instead; comparing 
 the Terrier with his splendid physique, free life, merry 
 wit and kind heart with the sort of men I had been 
 meeting in New York. Even Beaty Swanhill, his soul 
 set on money getting, didn't bulk any too big, and a 
 fellow like Jim Gower showed up for the rotter he 
 was. Money isn't everything, Henri, I admonished; 
 friendship's a whole lot look at Terry and Bill. 
 Of course Griggs had been pretty true to me. But 
 I couldn't think of Howard and Terrance together. 
 They were both gentlemen. Well, I wanted the ac- 
 cent on the last syllable Howard's goose was 
 cooked. 
 
 These thoughts didn't intrigue me so deep as to for- 
 get time; prompt on the stroke of the hour my black 
 bag and I were in the vestibule to find my escort and 
 his motor just as prompt. Thus I came to be tearing 
 over a bad road in the middle of the night, with a thin, 
 small, alert man whom I had known less than a few 
 hours; rushing from a half baked city in Ontario to 
 the north shore of Lake Erie, where, according to the 
 latest bulletin, a boat would be waiting. 
 
 Every time the car did a bunk into a road valley, or 
 rattled out on to the crest of a rut, imagination made
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 161 
 
 a wallop around the entire loop of Jacobs's activities. 
 I had quite fully made up my mind what his line was. 
 I was still keen on a cache, though there had been no 
 word of it. Griggs had spoken lightly of opium in 
 ship loads maybe that boat would be ballasted. 
 
 We swayed from side to side perilously. We skid- 
 ded in the sand. Sticks broke beneath our wheels and 
 stones flew out. But nothing happened to slow our 
 pace and nothing more piquant than these little events 
 interrupted the gallop of my thoughts for the driver 
 paid me no attention. He was bent on getting over 
 the ground as fast as chain lightning, and that though 
 quite unconscious of the Terrier and Bully hitting it 
 up behind, doing their own happy turns on this poetry 
 of a turnpike; but keeping at a discreet distance until 
 I found a chance to spike the enemy's guns. 
 
 After a million miles or so of flirting with sudden 
 death we turned sharp to the right, and struck a single 
 mud track leading through the scrub. Just where- 
 abouts on the shore that boat lay three of the combined 
 party had no idea. But I calculated, from the looks 
 of things, there wouldn't be much complication in the 
 automobile route. This road promised to lead to the 
 back of beyond without intersection ; and at worst my 
 chauffeur could be pressed into usefulness by the ju- 
 dicious manipulation of a shooting iron. 
 
 On and on and on we sped. Thickets of stunted 
 trees thinned and fell away altogether. We shot over 
 stony patches between bare uplands. We rolled on by 
 miles of rock and blueberry bushes, and finally into 
 heavier soil and taller growth. 
 
 All guidance as to the country or locality had to be 
 guessed from the flying edges of the narrow path, one
 
 1 62 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 instant illuminated by our lamps, the next whirled into 
 oblivion. And on this too hung the decision of time 
 and place. 
 
 Down the wind came a strong smell of water, warning 
 me to be quick. I fumbled for my hand bag, opened it, 
 and leaning far out on the side of the car thrust my 
 automatic toward the wheel and pulled. With a vi- 
 cious noise that might well have been the bursting of 
 an overheated tire, and a terrible lurch, almost pitch- 
 ing us to kingdom come, we settled on to the rim. 
 My driver slowed down at once, cussing. 
 
 I threw the smoking revolver far into the night, and 
 turned panicky, calling in alarm : " What is it 
 help!" 
 
 "Shut yer noise! Puncture," he replied; and go- 
 ing around to look at his wheel, " Now what in the 
 devil did that?" 
 
 " Can't you go on ? These are some roads you have 
 in Canada!" I climbed out and joined him, for it 
 was up to me to lengthen our delay. 
 
 The man seemed to resent that national dig, and 
 eyed me in a surly sort of way. And wishing to re- 
 establish confidence I offered to walk. " It's not far 
 now, is it? " 
 
 " Mind your own business. I'll get you there." 
 The brutal snub set me thinking. This was no coun- 
 try bumpkin awed by an accomplice from the great 
 white city. I surely felt we had one of the heads of 
 the gang to deal with, and began to tremble in my 
 shoes. 
 
 A second later he straightened, stood tense, listen- 
 ing, and then spoke in abrupt command:
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 163 
 
 " Somebody's coming. We stay here. Get back 
 to the car." 
 
 The drumming of the boys' automobile could now 
 be distinctly heard. My man would not give them a 
 lead to the shore behind his lights, nor did he wish to 
 open any controversy unless forced. Time was evi- 
 dently precious. He squatted to his tire; but I could 
 see him watching from ambush, catlike, ready to 
 spring. 
 
 The Terrier and Bully whizzed past crashing 
 through underbrush. For a moment we were stark in 
 their lights; then they slowed just beyond the reach of 
 ours, and walked back boldly in the center of the road 
 as if to offer help. God knows it was a lonely enough 
 place to smash, and to have left any one there in the 
 lurch wouldn't have been decent. They shouted, and 
 not getting any answer dipped into the darkness. Mr. 
 Driver had spotted a trap before it was fairly sprung. 
 His hand flew to his hip. But the boys were too swift. 
 They shot like bolts out of the inky blackness behind 
 his lamps, and kneeling as he was to jack the wheel 
 the smuggler hadn't a chance. A regular mix up fol- 
 lowed. They fought in the ditch, smothered by 
 strong dead grass and decayed leaves. Fearfully I 
 heard the grunts and groans and the snapping of dried 
 wood. Then Bully's voice called for a light. 
 
 Terry covered their prisoner, while Bully searched 
 him. In the glow of an electric candle I could see his 
 glance hunting me, alarmed for what I was supposed 
 to be carrying, and now mistrustful. With hands 
 raised, his breath coming hard and cold murder in his 
 eyes, he was planning. But he looked such a bandy-
 
 164 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 legged, hopeless shrimp beside the two giants that mu- 
 tiny became a bare-faced impertinence. We should 
 worry ! 
 
 " I'm not going to damage yon," the Terrier said 
 quietly. " We have a keen desire to take a ride with 
 this lady and you'll show the way. Do you get 
 me?" 
 
 He shrugged. " It's all the same to me. . I'm paid 
 to drive the young woman out here." And with a 
 short ugly laugh, " Wouldn't like anything to happen 
 to her." 
 
 " Nothing's going to happen to her." I marvelled 
 at their control. 
 
 My friends were a bit careless with him on purpose, 
 as we walked to their car, and he managed to whisper : 
 
 "Chuck it over. I'll make a break for it you 
 lose, girl. Why in hell weren't you armed ? " 
 
 Bully wheeled like a flash and covered me too a 
 magnificent piece of acting. Whether it would be 
 useful or not, the man must now believe me one of his 
 own gang. I wrapped a smile about us in the dark- 
 ness. 
 
 The road curved again sharply and ran from there 
 a half mile straight to the shore, where it grew sick 
 of its own rottenness and expired suddenly on the edge 
 of a picnic clearing. Logs lay about, and boards had 
 been nailed from stump to stump where the position 
 of the trees invited benches. On one hand stood a 
 deserted shanty with an open booth for selling drinks. 
 And on the other a great cairn of stones surmounted 
 by a miniature lighthouse, used no doubt during the 
 summer season. Smooth ground, grass grown, cut 
 an abrupt line against the water; and below this a clay
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 165 
 
 bank dropped some twenty feet or more to a stony 
 beach. We could hear the lap of Erie on her pebbles 
 as she lay licking her lips, mindful even in a smooth 
 hour of her evil propensity to storm. 
 
 Our lamps revealed the inky surface of the lake, 
 and a flight of steps leading from the tufted slope to 
 the little jetty at its feet. Away at the end lay the 
 promised boat, a dim form half hidden in darkness. 
 No sooner had our engines stopped than silence closed 
 over and around us. It muffled nature in a blanket. 
 The place must have been miles from anywhere. 
 
 Bully jumped out directly and ran down on the pier. 
 The boatmen, expecting us and busy getting her ready, 
 were taken completely by surprise. His was an easy 
 victory. We heard faintly the cry, " Hands up ! " 
 And soon two heads and another one bobbed above 
 the bank, as our ally marshalled his brace on shore. 
 He covered the driver and these wops, while Terry 
 dug some rope out of our tonneau. The boys had 
 made a show of searching me for arms, and I was al- 
 lowed to sit there, neglected, an onlooker, rather en- 
 joying the game. 
 
 The police business, thought I, is mighty easy. 
 Firemen can put it over any risky duty squad for 
 courage and heroism. Of course we might have made 
 a spill up yonder if the thug had pulled a second too 
 soon. But he didn't pull. He didn't get a chance. 
 Pistols aren't nearly so deadly at close range as a 
 knife; and it would take a man with a cast-iron skull 
 not to fall for Bully's fist when smartly applied. Look 
 at the boobs three to our two and weren't we 
 putting it over them from every angle of the compass! 
 Once tied and loaded on to their own craft what a
 
 1 66 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 fools' cargo they'd be! Luck ahoy! Happy day Ja- 
 cobs! Wait till we get loose with your ballast! 
 
 Gripes! Right in the middle of my self -congratu- 
 lation a sinister throbbing merged with the silence. It 
 tickled my nerves. I opened my lips to speak, and 
 saw the Terrier drop his rope end. He put a hand to 
 his ear. The throbbing grew louder. It purred. 
 All of us could hear the sound distinctly. It hummed. 
 Six desperate adventurers stood spellbound, while from 
 back along the road, came that steady high power 
 droning of another automobile. For a moment in- 
 stead of enemies we felt together one common instinct 
 of self-preservation. But circumstances cleft a nice 
 division between hope and fear the smugglers cal- 
 culated they couldn't be much worse off. It was our 
 turn to tremble. 
 
 A pistol cracked prematurely. That familiar sound 
 galvanized the Terrier. 
 
 " Beat it back to the other car, girl ! There's going 
 to be trouble." 
 
 Never had his voice rung clearer or more master- 
 ful. Yet as I stepped out on the far side from our 
 prisoners, his fingers closed over my wrist like a vice, 
 and he hissed: 
 
 " Drop ! Get under cover in the bushes ! " 
 
 On our hands and knees, sheltered from sight by 
 the bulk of the car, we crawled away into the dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Bully backed toward the wharf still holding the gang 
 under menace of seven deadly shots. The Terrier 
 called to him tersely, loudly, in a foreign tongue. 
 Bully replied. They spoke Cree, and it was pretty 
 sure to get by even among a mixed crowd. These
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 167 
 
 two hadn't been knocking around ten years with the 
 redman for nothing. Having settled their plans, 
 Bully suddenly disappeared into the night. I think 
 he continued to hold his party under cover but who 
 could be sure? they least of all. Anyway they 
 didn't take liberties with the possibility. 
 
 The smugglers stood for suspense till a pair of 
 headlights glared at them down the straight road, and 
 then they got cold feet and broke for the boat. 
 
 Hardly a minute later a flivver bounced into the 
 clearing and a throaty voice a voice that made me 
 jump called them by name. Three forms slowly 
 emerged from nowhere and gathered in a family pow- 
 wow. 
 
 " We were held up," the chauffeur explained. 
 " The girl and me. She was plucky but tricky. 
 Maybe she made a getaway just now. Those tikes 
 heard you coming an' funked it." 
 
 " Himmel ! Nothing to be afraid of she had not," 
 the German jeweler replied. " She iss an impostor 
 a zeif! I haf telegrams from New York zis day 
 but too late, too late ! " Sobs choked him. I remem- 
 bered the unctions laugh and smiled. 
 
 A long-drawn whistle expressed bandy-leg's sur- 
 prise. " Thought the dub meant to let her run. So 
 she was fooling me. Damn ! " Then his opinion 
 flopped over. " Why should she come here, if she 
 had robbed us? That wouldn't be likely, Stutz, you 
 know damned well ! " 
 
 " She iss a government spy. Zey fear nottings. 
 Poys, zey are out after us. Let me get in der poat 
 quickly und run away. My business ruined my 
 goot business my peautiful little store! " He wept.
 
 i68 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Zey will be going now to spread ze alarm let me 
 get away." 
 
 " Quit? Not on your tintype! First we shut their 
 gab see? And then we go after the stuff. Hustle, 
 boys." 
 
 " Boss told her to breeze for the car," mumbled one 
 of his boatmen. 
 
 " Cut them off. They'd be sneaking back in the 
 dark while Stutz came down. It takes time to fix a 
 tire, though, and, if they run on the rim, we can easily 
 shove our nose along. Hell! It's a cinch! We're 
 five to nothing." 
 
 Terry had expected them to do just this; act on 
 his command to me and go back after us on a wild- 
 goose chase. Lying low in the scrub, not a stone's 
 throw from the speaker, he pinched me as his stratagem 
 carried through. 
 
 Excited? Possibly we were just a suspicion above 
 our usual spirits; but so far I hadn't felt much afraid. 
 Terry was equal to any of the gang, I knew, and our 
 third hand also was a confidence supporter with a 
 fighting record. The idea of Stutz in any shooting 
 row made it a gallery play. However, the old Herr 
 didn't see that side of the farce himself, and proved 
 very reluctant to go back seeking trouble. The cap- 
 tain, my driver, insisted. It was better, he said, to 
 take a pot shot at us from behind, than make good their 
 escape by water and land plump into the government's 
 arms; for, of course, if we escaped and gave official 
 notice of their having a boat, every port would be 
 watched. 
 
 With that he took the wheel and old Stutz clambered 
 in, whimpering about his "peautiful pizness."
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 169 
 
 We waited for them to get quite away. Not till 
 all was safely quiet did Terry draw me out of the 
 bushes and explain the plan he had made with Bill in 
 their Indian jabber. 
 
 " Looks as if the cairn were the best cover here. 
 Bully is going to swipe their boat. Ah, he has her 
 now I hear the engine. He will come in for us 
 farther up shore when things have quieted down, for 
 we're going to have fun here yet. They are due to 
 find the automobile ditched and turn right back. We 
 will go hide behind the cairn. Its shadow will pro- 
 tect us from their lights, and we can slip away from 
 that position, easy ! " 
 
 Walking over rough ground in pitch-black night, 
 with insecurity befront and melodrama behind, and a 
 crisp wind newly sprung across leagues of fresh water 
 driving through your town clothes like tissue paper 
 and into your marrow bones, must be charged on the 
 debit side of Romance. Under the above mentioned 
 disadvantages it took some fifteen minutes, seemingly 
 as many years, to reach the hospitable defence of piled 
 rocks, standing on the highest and least sheltered ridge 
 of land. Moreover, our wits having been in close 
 communion with our feet during the pilgrimage, we 
 missed something. Either preoccupation, or the 
 change in the wind, numbed our ears. Suddenly, 
 without warning to us, the road behind broke into a 
 roar of execrations. Shots rang out. Oaths volleyed. 
 Cries, confusion, and the whirring, whirring, whirring 
 of machinery beat our brains. 
 
 "What in thunder! Is it the boat? Have they 
 missed the boat ? Look sharp ! " 
 
 We dodged behind the cairn. A velvet void sur-
 
 i;o WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 rounded it. Only the ugly noise and our second 
 senses guided us at all. We could hear, thank 
 heaven! And the Terrier made an attempt to feel. 
 His hands groped wildly. 
 
 " A door, kid ! In you go." 
 
 One step forward my shin struck iron. I yelled, 
 and shivered clutching at the jamb. Then taking my 
 nerve in both hands bent cautiously to explore. 
 
 " It's the first rung of a spiral stair. Shall I 
 climb?" 
 
 " Glory be to goodness ! Yes," he cried. " This 
 is luck! I can hold out here forever as long as 
 the cartridges last." 
 
 Stealthily, hand over hand, feeling my way before 
 taking it, I made good up that ladder, the Terrier press- 
 ing me close behind. My fingers struck wood, presently, 
 and my head came out above a platform a narrow 
 affair, nothing more than a shelf bridging half of the 
 rude dome, and too near the top for comfort. A big 
 light filled most of the space above this. I crawled 
 in at one side and Terry on the other. There was 
 just room enough for us to sit with our legs hanging 
 over. He struck a match and we examined the in- 
 terior. It showed only rough stones and rough 
 boards, a shutter closing the window in front, and 
 the lamp staring at us with a hollow eye. 
 
 The racket outside still kept up, but not for us with 
 such ear-splitting intensity. Cased behind rock, and 
 mortar and thick plate glass we began to breathe freely ; 
 and the Terrier gave way to curiosity concerning our 
 dumb neighbor. 
 
 "I wonder how big she is. What candle power? 
 Do you suppose there's any oil ? "
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 171 
 
 He pulled the shutter and found it slid easily. 
 " This joint can't have been closed long. Say Clar- 
 issa, I'm going to light up. Give them a shock when 
 they come back. They'll think we are government, 
 sure, then though I guess this burial ground is run 
 by some soft drink, Sunday-school corporation." 
 
 All the time he was examining her wick, turning it 
 up slow and coaxing her to burn, the chimes inland 
 rang merrily. Bullets flew like hail. 
 
 " Bad mess. Coming this way too. Glad we're 
 out of range." 
 
 "What do you make it? Have they quarrelled 
 among themselves? Are they murdering Stutz? 
 Are they being chased ? Listen ! " 
 
 We could hear nothing at that instant, and their 
 silence screamed calamity. I sweated, murmuring in 
 a sort of mouse squeak, "Are they after us?" 
 
 " Don't know. Show you in a minute." The Ter- 
 rier was busy and laconic working over his old lady. 
 He had her fairly going now; and her light and heat 
 scared my mortal days from ever taking any interest in 
 the future. Blinded and baked, yet with chattering 
 teeth, I stuck on the perch and gave him a hand with 
 the shutter. 
 
 " One two three ! " 
 
 We drew it sharply open. All the power of her 
 great big glorious soul rushed forth, spreading panic 
 and truth below. 
 
 The naughty road, the slovenly park, the naked jetty 
 and a strip of sullen water cowered under her long 
 white reach. We crowded to look, and two great blots 
 the shadows of our heads, fell athwart the ghastly 
 picture. 'Way down below, the smugglers' little fliv-
 
 172 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ver was dancing a war dance toward the lake, cutting 
 capers over stones in a blistering heel and toe madness, 
 while behind, a brute of a touring, car swept along at 
 breakneck speed, gaining on them with every revolu- 
 tion. Our enemies hugged the cushions, not daring 
 to rise and fire, for they ran now in the full glare of 
 the other's electric lamps. 
 
 The rackety-packety chase bent away to the right, 
 then swerved and drove hard on the shore line, bandy- 
 legs steering for a point beyond the circle of illumina- 
 tion, where the murk lay thickest and the going must 
 be a sad, bad hazard. We thought they were beating 
 it to get out of sight; to duck behind their own bul- 
 wark and open the music their one frantic chance. 
 We waited for them to slow, to chivy round, to dip 
 for shadow. But nothing doing. The little devil- 
 driver, with his jaw set and his arms braced, held her 
 head straight on destruction. She rose and fell like 
 a galloping horse. She skimmed from ridge to ridge. 
 
 "Great God! " cried Terry, as the crazy man's ob- 
 ject burst upon us. " He's going over ! They'll 
 both go over ! He's trapped them ! " 
 
 Suddenly he thrust his weight against our light an4 
 she tilted back a fraction, sending a cold ray after the 
 scudding Ford. It was already on the brink. It 
 rocked and cavorted friskily, as though an imp had 
 seized it ; and in the same instant that it hung over the 
 black vacuum, we saw three forms rise and jump. 
 'Stutz and the captain went down with their car. She 
 leaped into open air and somersaulted, her lamps for 
 one moment revealing the horror, then soused into 
 eternal night.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 173 
 
 Two men made good their escape. One lay prone. 
 In less than a jiffy the only life left on that silent stage 
 was the mile-eating plunger booming along racing 
 and tearing swiftly propelled to damnation. Too 
 late to stop? Death rose and mocked them. Doom 
 opened her arms. It was all the same whether they 
 steered ahead or turned, for no weight of chassis 
 could hold her down on a swing at such an angle, and 
 in such a speed, over the rolling turf. 
 
 We held our breath. The thing looked alive 
 looked so brave and beautiful dashing ahead gallantly 
 joshing Fate. She achieved personality. Her load 
 became merely springs and wires animating disaster. 
 We trembled and feared and admired. But at the 
 last minute her driver lost his nerve. He twisted her. 
 Instead of making a magnificent end the poor car 
 reared, toppled, turned turtle and dropped ignomini- 
 ously, with a terrific splintering crash, to the beach 
 below. 
 
 Cries of pain and cries of fear, yells, threats, oaths 
 convulsed the darkness there. I shivered and stopped 
 my ears. But the Terrier remained gazing out, his 
 bright eyes and white face shining. 
 
 " Courage! Did you ever see anything like it? " he 
 cried. "And vengeance! I take my hat off! Un- 
 less that fellow was stuck in high he's a rare sport 
 but a damned good kind to fight shy of all the same. 
 I'm glad his whim didn't seize him earlier. He must 
 have been in bad to do it. This is no place for you, 
 Clarissa. Let's quit. This is no playground. It's 
 a bloody battle. That last car held the police." 
 
 Erie's high banks shut us off from sight of the
 
 174 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 wreck, and that was just as well. Hearing was one 
 too many. But I felt we ought to do something by 
 way of rescue. 
 
 " And get a shot in the back for our pains. No, sir ! 
 The last car is a wreck but the first one went into 
 the water they may come off alive we know at 
 least one of the gang is free hereabouts to help them. 
 We'll leave him the light. It's cut and run, now, while 
 we can and mighty lucky to get the chance." 
 
 Quickly an awed girl and a silent man climbed down 
 the narrow stair. Once started we had no difficulty 
 in reaching the water edge, for we just stood together 
 and slid down in a landslip of soft clay. The shore 
 lay flat. We footed it for twenty minutes on pebbles 
 and hard sand, and then ventured a soft coo-e-e. No 
 answer. The coast changed gradually to flat stones 
 and large boulders. After an hour's weary scramble 
 we came suddenly upon Bully holding the smugglers' 
 boat off the rocks. She was riding in deep water, but 
 the Terrier's flash showed her much damaged as to 
 complexion. 
 
 " What delayed you ? I had a devil of a time mak- 
 ing landing single-handed never would have been 
 able to get in here except for the calm." 
 
 " Tell you later. Shove her off. Lots of people 
 around. Nasty mess." 
 
 Her engine chugged. We backed between sharks' 
 teeth, curved sharply, ducked from side to side. We 
 missed twenty separate and distinct sizes of sudden 
 death above water and heaven knows what below. 
 Bully yelled directions to beat the band, then glided 
 into splendid peace. 
 
 " Boost her ! " ordered Terry.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 175 
 
 He moved a handle and we shot straight out. No 
 lights guarded her. Our wake lay pale to a clouded 
 moon. Only the stars, once in a while, and the splash- 
 ing of mounting waves bore us company. 
 
 After a while the Terrier and I sitting forward 
 began to talk of former days, Cobalt, and our friends, 
 who had made good and who had gone under. Ross, 
 driving away, had struck it again on the Victoria and 
 was cleaning up a pile. Doc? Just the same. 
 Jake? just the same; sitting most all day on the 
 porch with his wicked spurs dangling. I felt a kind 
 of sinking that I thought was homesickness for the 
 wilds and put it into words. 
 
 "Hunger," pronounced Terry. "Me too! When 
 you were in Cobalt you wearied for fashion. And 
 certainly a life of fashion hasn't been dull if to-night's 
 jamboree is a sample. Why, you've had more excite- 
 ment to-night, Clarissa, than most women know in a 
 lifetime." 
 
 " Excitement's very emptying. Where do they put 
 on the dining car? What's our next move? " 
 
 " Starvation," he laughed. " We've got to lie off 
 till morning, run in where it looks good and foot it to 
 a village. There's nothing suspicious about this party, 
 but dirty shoes. Besides, it will take time for the 
 news to spread. The police are down and out. 
 Thieves don't tell tales, and we'll keep mum. By way 
 of precaution Bully might go east while we visit De- 
 troit. Suppose the authorities did search you, there's 
 not a thing not even a revolver. Say ! What did 
 you do with it? " 
 
 " I threw it away." 
 
 "With five perfectly good shots! Whew! Your
 
 1 76 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 place is on Fifth Avenue, all right or in the movies. 
 That whole road drama might have been omitted, 
 girl several hundred feet of film. Why bust a tire 
 and risk your neck in the toss, when you're riding be- 
 hind a flesh and blood driver and holding a loaded 
 six?" 
 
 " Hold him up ! I'd never have dared." 
 
 " Clarissa, you're a wise one. It doesn't do for a 
 woman to be too cold blooded." He beamed at me. 
 
 " Well, there is nothing in the boat ; as far as locat- 
 ing your imaginary cache goes we'd have come as near 
 it in our beds. We have nothing on us and the po- 
 lice can't get anything on us. It was a fine idea send- 
 ing that box down with the English dude. I'd make 
 away with the stuff burn it or something and 
 then keep out. The criminal action looms large 
 it's safer to be out than in." 
 
 " Oh, I intend to," I gasped. " I'm sure Griggs 
 will holler ' enough ' when he hears about this. He's 
 fussy, but really a good sort, and has stood by me 
 through several funny stunts." 
 
 With my head on my arm leaning against Terry's 
 knee, for I was tired after our rampage, I told him 
 the story of the sniff-bottle, and how I had taken a 
 French borrow to raise my fare north. 
 
 " Decent of Griggs to keep quiet knowing me so lit- 
 tle, wasn't it? Not many would have been game.'' 
 
 " Not many." The Terrier gazed down at me, his 
 eyes glowing, shiny and warming. " You're full oi" 
 pluck chuck full, aren't you, little pal ? " 
 
 Something in his tone, his glance, pierced my soul. 
 All at once I knew him the only person in the whole 
 world who would ever appeal sufficiently to both Henri
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 177 
 
 and me. Little ways, almost feminine intuition, dally- 
 ing with poetry and such trifles, on one side, and his 
 recklessness, his dash and sanity and strength, on the 
 other, bound together by a bon camaraderie which 
 never failed even in the worst of weather, had thrown 
 a lasso round our man and woman instincts. The 
 look on his face now pulled it tight and dragged the 
 maverick to earth. I wanted to hug him. I longed 
 to be hugged me, Clarissa Kendall, lady of the icy 
 mitt! I was so happy I felt like crying and so miser- 
 able I wanted to laugh ; for of course this hour couldn't 
 last eternally. I knew the Terrier must be the most 
 wonderful companion in the Universe stronger, 
 braver, finer, truer than all others. He was real. 
 Master in the fight back there, and now so under- 
 standing. I longed for him to brand me with all the 
 legal formalities going, and take over Henri's for- 
 tune. 
 
 Goodness knows what might have happened, if hu- 
 mor hadn't leaped to the rescue. Instantly, clearly as 
 a living picture, I saw my beloved running away into 
 the woods on the Lelland rush. He was doubled over, 
 a canoe rested on his shoulders, and he crabbed it 
 through the bushes at an eager pace. It seemed to me 
 he wasn't only hustling to beat Ross and the rest, but 
 was scared stiff, and happy to be lighting out from the 
 toils of the original New York scalp-hunter who had 
 hung upon his track in Cobalt so persistently. 
 
 I'll bet love was the only thing the Terrier ever did 
 run away from! But remembering how he had 
 shunned me then put the kibosh on sentiment all the 
 same, and I murmured, just to carry us over that preg- 
 nant silence:
 
 178 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " It was decent of Griggs." 
 
 " Yes. The man's all right." 
 
 After a pause, from what looked like a miscarriage 
 of mental telepathy, Terry added : 
 
 " But don't marry him, Clarissa. He isn't your 
 sort." 
 
 " How do you know he's asked me? " 
 
 "Oh, he has. Sure thing! They all have I 
 don't blame them." And with a quizzical smile, " I 
 guess I'm the only one you've ever known so far who 
 hasn't." 
 
 "And never will, eh what?" I mimicked laugh- 
 ing, though the cockles of my heart went cold. 
 
 A queer spasm of expression crossed his face. 
 " Might. Can't tell. A man never knows his luck." 
 
 Good old scout. His luck was so persistently bad! 
 
 " Even this didn't come off as we planned it," he 
 said, finishing my thought for me. And then he 
 turned very serious. 
 
 " Keep out of these things, girl, promise me. 
 You've got brains, don't let them run away with you. 
 Fight the day-wasters and the Broadway-bats off your 
 hoard. And go slow on the wedding bells. When 
 a woman marries, she ought to look up, not down, and 
 there aren't very many men can keep you looking up 
 for long."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 I wired Griggsy the hour of my return, and he was 
 on the platform to meet me, tearing his hair. 
 
 " What's new? " I hailed cheerily, for I saw the boy 
 looked worried. 
 
 He opened on me like a machine gun. Crack! 
 R-r-r-r-r-r- ! First blood to Murphy, and then the 
 rapid fire. 
 
 " Jove ! Clarissa ! I thought you would never 
 come! I've pictured you dead, dying, mangled, 
 wounded, cast away somewhere in the wild woods 
 maybe arrested! I didn't hear a single w r ord and I 
 went pretty nearly crazy. Wherever have you been 
 hiding?" 
 
 " I've been asleep like Periwinkle," I laughed. 
 " Trying to square myself for a night's adventure. 
 Say ! It seems a thousand years ! " 
 
 " Jolly awkward for me left here having the box, 
 don't you know, and not a ghost of an idea what to do 
 with the bally thing where to put it how to pre- 
 serve it." 
 
 " Put it in your bureau drawer, bonehead ! It ain't 
 worth much." Fuss about nothing always did peeve 
 me, and, moreover, I had just alighted from a long 
 journey. 
 
 " Bureau drawer ! " he gasped. " Are you crazy ? 
 I've stayed in bed every minute of the time and nursed 
 it under my pillow. I haven't had proper food or 
 sleep I could hardly take a bath. Jackson's an 
 
 179
 
 i8o WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 excellent valet but . Here's your bally box. 
 Keep it." 
 
 He whipped the black case out of his inner pocket 
 and thrust it on me, and I was obliged to crowd it 
 aboard in spite of my umbrella and bag and gloves. 
 I can't think of anything more irritating. 
 
 We were standing on the ferry by then and a sudden 
 inspiration to get even with him made me raise my 
 hand. 
 
 "If the stuff is such a bugbear, perhaps we'd just 
 better throw it overboard and be shut of it. All ready? 
 Shoot." 
 
 " Clarissa ! " snatching my arm. 
 
 I don't know whether or not I really intended to 
 chuck the case away. I was sore at not having found 
 any cache, and determined to go out of detective work. 
 This was quick and simple. Besides Griggs was rais- 
 ing such an unheard-of fuss. It didn't matter, how- 
 ever, for his arm action controlled mine. The thing 
 went flying out of my hand, struck the rail, and rico- 
 chetted on to a heap of coal that was being run through 
 to the hold. Howard in his light tweeds made a leap 
 for it. His foot struck the open cover and he 
 sprawled. Everybody roared, and no one seemed to 
 realize his object. The grimy giant shovelling wiped 
 the grin from his Irish mug and stuck his spade deeper. 
 A soft shower followed instantly. But Griggs was 
 on his feet again, and down the chute like a flash. 
 Mirth turned to consternation at his disappearance. 
 The deck hands got wise to something valuable hav- 
 ing been lost and did their level best to stem the steady 
 flow of coal from the carts, but it was impossible to 
 back water quick enough. My escort came up against
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 181 
 
 a scattered bombardment. He stood erect, dancing a 
 Highland fling to keep his footing, and gradually sink- 
 ing as the yielding mass below gave under his weight. 
 In a half minute he had sunk from his waistband to 
 near his chest. Fellow passengers tugged on his arms, 
 too weak with laughter to raise him. And I sat limp. 
 
 At last the darkey driver climbed out of his cart 
 and rammed one of his tail-boards down the hole on 
 an incline. Up this, with much assistance, poor 
 Griggs scrambled. He was quite white about the face, 
 barring streaks, and very black about his pants. But 
 he held the cherished package, and continued to hold 
 it, not deeming me in my sane senses. 
 
 " Why didn't you smoke the stuff while you were in 
 bed, and have a good time? " I asked spitefully. 
 
 A dawning amazement kindled his eyes. " Haven't 
 you seen the papers? " 
 
 " Not a one. I've been in bed too, but I had rea- 
 son." 
 
 I was ready to launch at once into the terrific story 
 of real night life, but the boy cut me off short. 
 
 "Wait!" 
 
 He hurried away and after a wild tour of unoc- 
 cupied seats ran a daily to earth. This he handed me 
 folded in half. It was a Hearst paper and bore the 
 day's sensation in enormous letters right across the 
 top: 
 
 UNITED STATES ROBBED OF MILLIONS 
 GANG OF SMUGGLERS TAKEN RED HANDED FIGHT 
 
 POLICE 
 
 Detectives Working Diamond Clues Make a 
 Smashing Finish.
 
 182 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 (" They did," I murmured.) 
 
 Big fight on Canadian Border. Three killed. Gov- 
 ernment Officer Wounded. Two Arrests. 
 Boatman Turns King's Evidence. 
 
 GIRL ROBBER ROBS THE ROBBERS 
 WHERE ARE THE DIAMONDS ? 
 
 I knew the answer to that question. In Howard 
 Griggs's inner pocket. And five minutes before they 
 had been down an Erie Ferry coal-hole ! 
 
 " You'll lunch with me at the Ritz ? Is your car 
 waiting?" I felt weak about the knees. 
 
 Looking back it seems this tale is one continual per- 
 formance of meals, Griggs and I vis-a-vis. But what 
 can you do with a story of New York life and have it 
 life-like. We ordered three courses served upstairs, 
 and ensconced ourselves with the latest copy of every 
 local newspaper piled around. There I told of our 
 wild night. How the boys had chased Bandy-legs and 
 sprung their trap. And the smugglers getting wise 
 had come flying after me. And how the Government 
 had swooped down on the lot and been decoyed into 
 a cold bath. Take it from me, on top of my version, 
 the Evening Journals' read tame. They gave us a 
 quantity of information on minor points things it 
 is well to know. For instance : that diamonds are al- 
 ways packed in paper, folded like a powder. I sat up. 
 
 " Ah, Jacobs ! You're it ! Diamonds ! Say. 
 Griggsy, I took him for a doctor collecting drugs 
 ain't I the simp ? " 
 
 Strange to say the papers made no mention of Ja- 
 cobs, gave not a hint of the pawnshop, or the cottage
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 183 
 
 on the beach, or of any of the items we knew so well, 
 and which were really vital. Our bunch was working 
 on the inside track and the police racing us neck 
 and neck outside. The two pursuits had come danger- 
 ously near collision. 
 
 Griggs, firm in his convictions, maintained if I could 
 only receive Henri's messages clearer, we would know 
 all there was to know. 
 
 " Maybe they got rid of him because he knew too 
 much," I suggested. 
 
 " Jolly likely! And we're in a jolly awkward mess 
 now because of him, and he's got to get busy and get 
 us out. Nice case, don't you know, if anybody found 
 the stones, refused to believe us innocent, and all that. 
 Has de Grasse any remarks to make, Clarissa? " 
 
 His tone sounded haggard. I knew it was fear 
 for Angelica and the name of Griggs, so I gave five 
 minutes to silent thought, my spiritualistic companion 
 keeping respectfully in the background. 
 
 By and by the winged snake began to dodge around, 
 always with his little rubber dodging alongside, and 
 suddenly I snapped the shutter on an idea, and pro- 
 ceeded to develop it for Howard. 
 
 "Listen, Griggsy! These sparklers don't belong 
 to us. We know where they do belong, and the safe 
 deal is to return them. What I undertook as a lark, 
 or at best to hound Henri's murderer, has landed us in 
 the criminal class. ' Girl Robber Robs the Robbers ! ' 
 That makes me feel good! If I hand them over to the 
 police, do I get away with it? Nix ! Too many ques- 
 tions. Can I put this case in a deposit vault? Every 
 bank throughout the country will be watching for it. 
 And I'm not going to offer it board and lodging here.
 
 184 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Don't let's fool ourselves. Jacobs isn't one to lie down 
 under his loss. He'll sic a search party on, hot foot, 
 and invest enough small change to afford milady a 
 single-trip ticket to Sing Sing. He's all fitted out with 
 the American court regalia, money and politics, and 
 not a principle as big as a peanut to stumble over. 
 He needs to cover his own track, also. There's in- 
 centive for you! Of course I can squeal on him, 
 make a horrid noise, but he don't guess it. Besides 
 the public still calculates smoke rises from fire, and it's 
 hard to reason with an old-fashioned mule. I'd look 
 fine trying to explain Henri to a grand jury of New 
 York voters ! Exposure means dirty work all around 
 time, trouble, annoyance. There's only one thing 
 to be done then. Dump the rhinestones on the gang. 
 We can breeze out to the beach, unburden, and skip. 
 No call to leave cards. Probably the place will be 
 deserted. Business as usual under tbese conditions? 
 I don't think." 
 
 "This is de Grasse speaking marvellous!" said 
 Griggs, with a rapturous roll of his eyes. 
 
 " My plan is to wire for the Swallow.- Board her 
 at Ereeport. Run east. Dock five or ten minutes at 
 the bar, and come away with clean hands. Who'll be 
 the wiser? " 
 
 " It's late in the year for boating," ventured Howard. 
 " Jolly conspicuous, don't you know." 
 
 " You bet it's conspicuous, and we'll make it more 
 so. I can race around those waters every day for a 
 week two weeks five till Christmas. Have a 
 bee in my bonnet. Get my name in print ' Clarissa 
 Kendall of the Kendall Mines dippy on the dashing 
 wave.' I ought to be a reporter! And talking of
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 185 
 
 print. We'll tell Tom Landy, afterwards, and warn 
 him to clam up. I was going to give him the dope 
 anyway for a scoop perhaps it's too risky now." 
 
 Griggs, hynotized by the thought of de Grasse as 
 a supernatural agent, hailed the scheme as a wonder, 
 and agreed to come along.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 On Tom's advice we selected a quiet day for our 
 jaunt, at least it was quiet in Manhattan, but by the 
 time we arrived on the south shore of Long Island, 
 the wind was beginning to whoop it up; and that's 
 just a sample of how every detail went wrong from the 
 start. 
 
 First calamity, Griggs jammed his foot while trans- 
 ferring from the small boat into the Swallow. He let 
 out an unearthly, unEnglish squawk, and we tried to 
 persuade him to go ashore there and then. But I 
 fancy he was a bit riled over having cried, and he 
 stuck to it that the wound was a mere scratch. Of 
 course we had to ship him, against better judgment. 
 Any one with half an eye could see he suffered. And 
 he would be a dead weight in case of emergency. 
 Twenty minutes later he slipped his boot off and con- 
 fessed himself on the shelf. His toes were swelling 
 to beat the band. 
 
 Fussing about Howard one way and another the 
 tide dropped on us. Before you could say Jack Robin- 
 son we'd missed the confounded channel, and the 
 Swallow was all tied up in grass. It was my fault. 
 I was at the wheel. But that didn't make me any the 
 nicer tempered. Neither Tom nor I knew this shore 
 for we had always played her off the Jersey coast. 
 
 We reversed and drove out, and combed the weeds 
 from her gear as much as possible. Then Tom said 
 
 186
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 187 
 
 it would be madness to try to run through a tricky, 
 winding, roundabout canal in two inches of water. 
 We must either go by the open ocean, or hunt a pilot, 
 or wait for high tide. Which left us but one choice, 
 for the last alternatives meant putting off the trip till 
 another day. After doing my bit as guardian of the 
 loot, I was strong on immediate action. So we turned, 
 glided through the harbor, and launched our expedi- 
 tion on a heaving sea. 
 
 The Swallow's nimble but she doesn't bulk large, 
 and being about as slim as they're built waves can't do 
 a thing to her ! The wind was rising fast. It would 
 strike us harmlessly from behind, going east. But 
 we had to navigate the bay on an angle and poor 
 Griggs added that leave-me-to-die feeling on top of 
 his other anguish. His measure of woe was pressed 
 down and literally running over. 
 
 I noticed Tom looking seaward every little while, 
 anxiously trying to calculate the wickedness of a black 
 cloud mass piling from the horizon. Calculating on 
 sea moods isn't ever too easy. And conversation 
 don't help. I left him to figure to himself. 
 
 " How are we going to recognize the place when we 
 do arrive? " Howard asked, between spasms. " I 
 never saw so many houses all so jolly alike." 
 
 " You voice my sentiments," I yelled, and would 
 have said more, but it made one's head sing to talk 
 against that gale. The whole shore lay before us, 
 linked house to house, showing less variety than a 
 machine-made chain. It struck me cold till I remem- 
 bered Uncle Sam's soldier standing to the south, which 
 had loomed out as we neared the bar from the other 
 side. I consulted Tom, with difficulty, for busting
 
 i88 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 my lungs only made me sound like a sick graphophone, 
 and he allowed it must have been the Fire Island Light. 
 Soon I spied a gray finger pointing out of nothing, 
 and kept the Swallow's head hard on. She did the 
 bird-act all right, when we gave her water. 
 
 Lickety-split down the coast at the height of my 
 hobby's power! The air cut with a knife edge. 
 Poor Griggs! What would it be going back? Tom 
 hung over her rhythmic throb attentive as a lover to 
 his lady's lips. For me there was the intoxication of 
 speed. To-day, amid pounding seas, and a gale shov- 
 ing behind, holding her wheel grew into a savage joy. 
 Something of the lawlessness of our errand got into 
 our blood. We shouted snatches of old salt songs, 
 each taking his pick in a tune. We rioted like a pair 
 of kids pretending to be bloody pirates. I was hav- 
 ing a whale of a time. I wouldn't have asked for a 
 better half hour, if only we had been out for the fun 
 of the ride, and Griggs not so uncomfortable. 
 
 Good things generally call a quick halt. Our knock 
 came as we sighted a gray house on the dunes, and I 
 passed the word to stop. Tom put her engine at half. 
 I turned her nose toward land, and it took one broad- 
 side to tell us trouble. The crash of water hit her in 
 the midriff. She staggered. Her light sides shud- 
 dered. Her joists groaned. The little bird straining 
 bravely slid from beneath that terrific weight; but 
 another would put her out of business. I tugged at 
 the stearing gear uselessly, for the tide had us and 
 its ebb was strong. A second mountain rose, towered 
 and Tom's iron hand fell on mine. He seemed to 
 be dragging the whole bottom out of the ocean, but he 
 turned her wheel over. The lump of a wave vanished,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 189 
 
 flowing under our keel, lifting instead of swamping us. 
 I pushed the high speed and we leaped ahead. The 
 beach with its landmarks whirled away on our left. 
 
 Tom sprang back to his engine and stood calling 
 directions. His voice sailed to me like a trumpet 
 note. 
 
 "See that line of foam on the starboard? She's 
 chewing the rag there. It means sand. At low water 
 that bar will break the surf. Keep inside and you'll 
 find shelter." 
 
 " We've passed the place. There ! " I cried, point- 
 ing backward. A gray cottage flashed into sunshine 
 and fell cold and cheerless again as the rift in the 
 clouds above it closed. No smoke curled from the 
 chimney. 
 
 We spun on. I knew how fast my Swallow trav- 
 elled, and began to worry. The fortune, securely car- 
 ried in a camera case slung beneath my coat, nagged 
 me every time I moved. I was anxious to be quit of 
 it but how to land ? Where to land, in that welter 
 of pounding surf? 
 
 " Port your helm ! " roared Tom. 
 
 I jumped. Most unexpectedly the bars we were 
 skimming between curved. The south shore widened, 
 sparsely covered with grass; and the sea narrowed to 
 a deep channel sweeping inland. The long point of 
 Fire Island protected us on one side, while our goal 
 lay open on the other. We followed around, and two 
 miles perhaps beyond our object, slowed up in com- 
 parative safety. Tom dropped anchor near shore and 
 prepared to carry me off. 
 
 Then arose problem three-hundred-and-sixty-nine. 
 Criggs had joined the party for the express purpose of
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 accompanying me to the dunes. We had touched on 
 scientific value once or twice while discussing plans; 
 but he didn't have to argue half so hard this time. 
 Knowing all I knew about the interior of Jacobs's 
 menagerie I made no bones about accepting escort. 
 I'd have taken an armed guard with delight. How- 
 ever jammed toes and nausea are poor preparation 
 for a big adventure. We excused Howard from the 
 lists. The question on the carpet was whether Tom 
 would step along with me or remain by the boat. 
 
 We all wanted it to be both ways, and that set the 
 programme for a peach of a wrangle. I desired Tom's 
 company. Heaven witness! I yearned for his 
 strong right arm. But I wouldn't consent to leave 
 the boat to Howard, who doesn't know a thing about 
 engines; nor Howard to the Swallow, considering the 
 high wind, the choppy sea, and the devilishness of 
 Fate. Griggs gnashed his teeth ove- risking the scien- 
 tific possibilities hid in de Grasse and me on another 
 wild-goose chase. But all the same, he'd as soon have 
 crawled along on his wounded anatomy as have stayed 
 in the boat alone. Tom said he hated to have me walk 
 back that two miles against a tearing wind. He 
 argued for comfort, not dreaming of any gamble on 
 safety, and let it be clearly seen that he thought the 
 Swallow and Howard mismated. 
 
 One can't explain the ins and outs of a delicate situ- 
 ation to a man wading above his knees, ready to carry 
 one to shore, and the thermometer at fifty. 
 
 " Maybe you aren't saving me from cold feet, 
 Tom," I said, as he took me in his arms. 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," he answered cheerily, ac- 
 cepting the obvious meaning of my words. " Your
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 191 
 
 friend's a dub in a boat, Miss Clarissa a regular 
 landlubber. They'd go to the bottom together, sure, 
 if we left them at large." 
 
 As I watched him climb back into the Swalloiv, his 
 wet legs gleaming against her black sides, it occurred 
 to me I might have sent Tom with the package and 
 have stayed aboard myself. But I was too proud to 
 show the white feather at that late date. Instead, I 
 had an inspiration and called to him through cupped 
 hands : 
 
 " Try if you can make it through the channel and 
 moor at the dock on the bay side. I landed there once. 
 It's deep water. It will save me the walk back." 
 
 " Why can't we take you around, then ? " 
 
 I shook my head. " You may not be able to run 
 through. We can't afford to waste time. I'm off." 
 
 I reckoned the Swallow had done about four miles 
 in her last ten minutes and walking back to that cot- 
 tage, which must have been half way, was likely to be 
 some little stunt. I was surprised to find the going 
 easy I had started on a sheltered end of the beach, 
 and didn't allow for it. I skimmed along, feeling 
 keyed up, full of energy, fresh charged by a dash 
 through wind and spray, that must have awakened 
 the spirits of a mouse. I ran. I walked. I played 
 at being a speed boat. I licked up the distance, till, 
 suddenly rounding a point, the full force of a rip- 
 splitting gale hurled me back. It wrapped my skirts 
 about my knees and held me so, drenching me with 
 salt water. Lot's wife had nothing on me as a help- 
 less pillar of brine. And then the wind unlashed me 
 and prepared to play other pranks. Just to brace 
 against it took all my effort. I labored sidewise,
 
 192 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 panting, and gained a partial shelter among the dunes. 
 
 Here it was possible to work forward in stages. I 
 had peace at least dodging from hummock to hum- 
 mock, though the wind roared between. The sea 
 made a tremendous noise. I couldn't hear my own 
 voice. Some places I was obliged to climb over the 
 dunes, and the up and down ate into time. And worst 
 of all, the sand began to blow off them in great sting- 
 ing clouds. When one of these gusts swirled down 
 on me, there was nothing to do but grit my teeth, shut 
 my eyes, and hold my head low against it. Sunshine 
 flashed over the scene, and gave way to shadow, 
 glowed brightly, and faded. The two played tag up 
 and down the beach. 
 
 " Jumpin' Jimminy ! " I cried. " Why go to Egypt 
 to enjoy sand?" And the storm caught my words 
 and whisked them away so I might as well have been 
 speaking to deaf ears. This gave me an uncanny feel- 
 ing. 
 
 In spells it seemed as if I just stood there and pawed 
 the atmosphere with my hands and feet, locomotion 
 not getting an inch forwarder. But I must have been 
 moving all the time, because, finally, I came over one 
 of the dunes into full view of the house. The wind 
 abated at that minute, and in the lull I slid down the 
 sloping sandbank, and sat considering, trying to catch 
 up with my breath, wondering what next? Sand was 
 swirling around the cottage, and the sun shone out 
 making all those crazy particles dance in its light. 
 I saw the picture drifting in a golden mist and it 
 looked mighty pretty. 
 
 While I was resting there, toying with admiration 
 and thinking how unlike Felix the outside of his jolly
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 193 
 
 little shack appeared, the cellar door opened, and out 
 popped my old sailor man. He carried a small bundle 
 in a red handkerchief, I could see the color plainly, 
 and he stood blinking, peering this way and that as if 
 wondering where he must start to. Perhaps he saw 
 me. He saw something that scared him. For all of 
 a sudden he whisked about and made off in the op- 
 posite direction. Trying to move fast against the 
 wind he looked like a funny, bent old crab. 
 
 "Canned it!" thought I. "He tholed mair from 
 Felix than his aged nerves could stand. Maybe they're 
 all gone and he's making good his escape." 
 
 The door was open anyway, and my course lay clear. 
 I had only to go in and put the case on the buffet, or 
 in a drawer. Diamonds don't depreciate by lying 
 around, however, I intended, if the place showed signs 
 of desertion, to fix them snug. You see Henri took 
 a loving interest in that white treasure. This disposal 
 was his idea from first to last, and owing to twinges 
 in my upper region I began to fear it had been evolved 
 as a sop to Griggs. Rather than suffer the actual loss 
 of police interferences de Grasse preferred to hand the 
 plunder to confederates, and trust his wits for getting 
 a share back later. 
 
 Cautiously I slipped into the dark, boarded cellar. 
 I listened. Silence. Not an indication of life. 
 Sneaking into another person's house after I had seen 
 the caretaker cut and run gave me a curious sensation. 
 There was no need to feel fishy. I had come to re- 
 store, not to practise deceit, and yet I felt like a thief. 
 My jumpiness was not fear of Felix though I 
 loathed meeting the woman. I knew at heart Henri 
 and the diamonds were more llian a match for him.
 
 194 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Tiptoeing past the upturned boat and the empty 
 booze cases brought me to the heavily built ladder. 
 Everything was damp, mildewed, swollen. Not a, 
 sound heralded my approach. The absolute quiet fell 
 over one's spirits cheerful as a wet blanket. I should 
 have been capering and singing paeans at missing a 
 round with the family pets. Instead, I progressed 
 like a funeral. 
 
 If the cellar felt eerie, the kitchen looked human 
 enough, and just about their class of human. It was 
 stacked with dirty dishes and refuse of food. Plates 
 piled under the table and on the table gave the lie to 
 my host's absence. Cups and bowls overflowed the 
 sink. Stew pans found a last port on top of a dirty 
 lighted stove lighted, mark you! Somebody be- 
 sides the old boy must have been living here. 
 
 I listened again. Only the roar of the surf and the 
 wind racketed without. 
 
 I stole through the anteroom and peered from be- 
 hind their cotton drape. Silence! The whole place 
 seemed larger, but it was still dimly lighted. The 
 shutters had not been removed, and when old Sol fled 
 behind a cloud, darkness struggled with the day filter- 
 ing through back windows. The dirty dining-table 
 stood as before, blocking my entrance, its draggled 
 cover pulled awry. But Felix no longer swayed be- 
 hind it. The sense of space must have come from his 
 absence his and the rest of the sweet bunch! 
 Neither drinks, nor cards, nor chips offered hospital- 
 ity. The couch was empty of its swinish load. Sis 
 had removed her hat and coat. Compared to the last 
 set, this scene was a heaven of order. 
 
 My glance, eagerly growing accustomed to twilight,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 195 
 
 wandered back over the table. Ah! Spread upon it 
 lay a paper yesterday's Sun announcing in large 
 type: DIAMOND SMUGGLER TRACKED, and 
 right below this presenting the picture of the horse- 
 faced man. Peach of a portrait, too! Felix's grim 
 mouth, hawk beak and stony eyes to the life! 
 
 I went quickly forward. I felt at home and sure 
 of myself now they were gone. I wanted to see that 
 picture. 
 
 God! There on the floor, his body hidden by the 
 dirty cloth, lay the man himself. An ashy human face 
 stared up at me the spittin'. image of that newspaper 
 face staring from the table about the same color 
 too! Cold fear clutched my heart. Did you ever in 
 your dreams keep on standing in a spot you knew was 
 hell, from lack of power to move away? I stood like 
 that, watching his eyes glaze, watching him die. He 
 plucked at the crex rug. He gurgled. His throat 
 contracted. I thought he tried to say " Henri." 
 
 Beyond Felix lay the woman. She was prone, and 
 differently dressed neater but I recognized her 
 from her mop of red hair. Even in extremity I knew a 
 sensation of thankfulness that her fat foolish face re- 
 mained hidden. A little trickle of blood oozed out 
 of her body. It started from underneath. It length- 
 ened. It ran toward me inexpressibly grewsome. 
 Half lying myself, hanging on the table open-mouthed, 
 gasping, I watched it, fascinated. 
 
 A revolver had fallen between them. I noticed a 
 shred of bluish smoke floating in the heavy atmosphere 
 hardly above the floor. It swirled weakly from corpse 
 to corpse. The wraith of movement in this charnel 
 galvanized me. I looked again, keenly alert. The
 
 196 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 horror was brand new then! It must have happened 
 while I sat watching on the dunes; admiring the silly 
 cottage lost in a golden haze, a million sunbeams join- 
 ing hands to drown it. No wonder the old chap had 
 fled! 
 
 Theirs was an easy end to understand. Caught here 
 he had stayed, hoping to escape the police. Peril 
 sobered them at first, the house bore evidence of that. 
 But they had quarrelled, crazed by confinement, weary 
 of being shut away together in this god-forsaken place 
 with FEAR. How the news must have jangled 
 his nerves! I remembered his bullying laugh, and her 
 dreadful sarcasm. Had she been a member of the 
 gang? The gang I was mixed up with! Or was she 
 only his woman ? Why in thunder did any man have 
 any traffic with a grouch like her? Wondering, I 
 straightened up. My mind was working and my heart- 
 strings grew less taut. I breathed. I moved closer 
 to the table, wanting to see, and my toe touched the 
 sole of Felix's dead foot sticking beneath it. 
 
 Yell? I opened my head and let one holler out of 
 me! The marvel is it didn't wake them! And then 
 I ran. Gee whelikins ! I fell down those cellar stairs. 
 I ran as if fifty million devils were after me. I 
 jumped straight into the middle of the bushes, and 
 rammed right through, tearing and ripping the clothes 
 off my back ; satisfied with any conditions that put 
 space between IT and me. There was no speed limit. 
 I couldn't go fast enough. Once out of the gorse I 
 flew down those rickety old plank walks like flame. 
 And if the boat hadn't been there, I'd have licked clear 
 on to Babylon. 
 
 But she was there, lying off the end of the pier, un-
 
 An ashy human face stared up at me
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 197 
 
 moored, ready. Tom and Griggs had seen me com- 
 ing. 
 
 I pounded over the boards and jumped in. I 
 dropped dead on the floor. I had no wind, no words. 
 My throat was parched, my lungs pumping. Condi- 
 tions yelled at Tom to quit sudden. He turned her 
 loose and sprang for the wheel. In a jiffy we were 
 racing across the bay. 
 
 Those two were the sickest boys I've ever seen. 
 You must remember Griggs had only heard a polite 
 version of my last experience on the beach and 
 Tom knew nothing about it. But the fact was per- 
 fectly evident that something terrific had happened. 
 
 " We shouldn't have allowed you to go ! " Howard 
 kept on repeating. " We shouldn't have allowed you. 
 Damn this foot ! " He got out the whisky flask and 
 made me drink. He bathed my face and hands in 
 cold sea-water. Both helped. 
 
 " What in the Sam Hill's wrong? " 
 
 " Murder ! " I gasped. " Suicide ! " I couldn't 
 say anything more, just lay weakly with Griggs patting 
 me and Tom steering up and down the bay not know- 
 ing where to go. 
 
 We dropped to low power and ran around heeding 
 neither waves nor gale till I recovered breath and 
 courage to tell them. I've never seen a human being 
 more upset than Howard. Tom was silent till the last 
 word. 
 
 " How long ago did this this killing happen? " 
 
 " It came off now," I said. " Not ten minutes ago, 
 not five. I saw Felix die." 
 
 " Did yon know the fellow ? " asked both amazed. 
 
 I shook my head. " That's his name. He's in the
 
 198 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 paper his picture. He's one of the diamond gang." 
 
 Tom whistled. His face fell into serious lines. 
 
 " I saw an old seaman scuttle past. Was it the 
 caretaker? Jove! Clarissa, did he see you?" asked 
 Griggs. 
 
 "I don't know. How can I tell? I saw him. 
 Don't pester me with questions or I'll cry." 
 
 I'm not the crying kind so cataclysm indicated my 
 limit. Howard began to pat me quietly, and Tom 
 took command. 
 
 " Well, we'd better make tracks. We're too near 
 this place for comfort. Townspeople have such glar- 
 ing memories ! Nevertheless I'm afraid we will have 
 to storm the mainland. We can't go outside. I 
 daren't attempt to run up against this sea. Guess we'll 
 land at the public wharf and play it open. Hanging 
 back won't do us any good. The Swallow is the only 
 craft afloat here, and mighty conspicuous." 
 
 That was truer than he imagined. On the town 
 dock we found a bunch of old tars, bay -men and loaf- 
 ers gathered to watch the speed boat doing her first 
 flights up and down the harbor. Griggs with his lame 
 foot, and me all in, as I was, we certainly looked a 
 queer crowd to be wasting our time in such sport. 
 And the story of our coming from Freeport by open 
 ocean, a perfectly crazy lark in such weather, didn't 
 help any. The crowd received us with incredulous 
 stares. Had we laid ourselves out to attract atten- 
 tion we couldn't have planned better. 
 
 Tom inquired about the trains, and called a taxi. 
 
 " Been a bit too much for her," with a nod towards 
 me, was the only comment he offered. 
 
 The local was full. We had difficulty in finding
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 199 
 
 seats, and I believe being up against it having to 
 hustle was our best medicine. Griggs and I sat 
 side by side, inefficiency making us feel like naughty 
 children, while Tom superintended things from down 
 the aisle. 
 
 The train crawled, stopping to take up the tracks 
 and relay them at every crossroad. Her trip must 
 have been timed to test the passengers' patience. 
 Every five minutes she'd spend an hour anchored to 
 some tiny cowshed. It grew hot, steaming hot. The 
 air was rank. Not a ventilator open and the tempera- 
 ture overburdened with odors of humanity. 
 
 " I can't stand this ! " I cried, rising to take off my 
 coat. As my arms slipped out, something slipped on 
 my shoulder the camera case. The diamonds ! 
 
 " Howard," I confessed, in a sepulchral voice, " I 
 forgot to leave them."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Two days later little Clarissa, all sunned up in a new 
 suit and splendid spirits, sallied forth to visit Mr. 
 Howard Horatio Griggs, to condone with him about 
 a mysteriously wounded foot, and drink a cup of tea. 
 The Swanhills were invited for form's sake. (After 
 Griggsy and me kiting up to Canada through the lone 
 dark night, without a thought of sin! Isn't it the 
 limit?) Yet a bachelor apartment is a bachelor apart- 
 ment, and that obscure remark " the higher the fewer " 
 does not necessarily apply. 
 
 Conversation over a telephone is circumscribed at 
 best, and our parting had left much to be said. So 
 I arranged to go late, trusting the chaperones would 
 leave early, determined to brave Mrs. G. and sit them 
 out at a pinch. 
 
 Dear Aunt Elizabeth's ear-rings, furbished up by 
 Tiffany, their original garnets replaced with pigeon 
 bloods as big as cobblestones, had just come home. 
 The designer claimed diamonds wouldn't have been 
 fashionable in the old lady's time, and the reds were 
 sweller they were a swell price anyway! If he'd 
 put twinklers in, I don't believe I'd have had the nerve 
 to wear them, but as it was I hung the decoration on, 
 and pranced. Savvy? It was my fell intention to 
 make that Erma madder than a wet hen. 
 
 Her blessed brother played right into my hand at the 
 start. 
 
 200
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 201 
 
 " You look so different, Miss Clarissa, awfully grown 
 up. I don't believe I ever saw you wearing danglers 
 before. Very becoming." 
 
 " The ear-rings," I laughed. " Old stuff. I don't 
 sport them often, but I have an affection for them all 
 the same. Great-grandaunt Elizabeth's wedding pres- 
 ent." I made a courtesy in grand style and, unhitch- 
 ing one, handed it over for inspection. I wanted them 
 to note the setting was genuine antique. Sister 
 grabbed it instantly and began purring over the stone 
 anything to get next to Howard ! 
 
 " I've often wondered what kind of a stock was up 
 to producing Clarissa Kendall of Kendall Mine fame," 
 Swanhill bantered, admiring, yet with a question 
 tucked inside. 
 
 I smiled. " One of the great-grands held a com- 
 mand under Nelson"; (It was no lie either.) and 
 added, " but my people didn't emigrate in the May-- 
 flower, they were some punkins before that." 
 
 Griggs turned scarlet. Beaty laughed. And 
 Erma slapped her furs around her neck quick, saying 
 she'd have to leave another engagement the re- 
 liable old gag. 
 
 " Sit down, sis. Lots of time. We can miss a 
 dance or two." He came around behind my chair. 
 "What have you got here? Candy? I'm starving 
 for candy." The great baby lifted a beaded bag that 
 hung on the knob and commenced to pull its neck 
 apart. His frank curiosity was rather attractive. I 
 saw he would burn his ringers in a minute. 
 
 " Not so fast ! Smarty ! You'll be discovering all 
 my secrets." My vehemence startled him. I snatched 
 the bag which was really too large and bulky for aft-
 
 202 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ernoon use, and holding it securely, tried to laugh the 
 incident off. 
 
 " How's rubber? " That was a safe subject to di- 
 vert Mr. Broker Beaty, but it didn't work, not for a 
 minute. 
 
 " Don't talk shop not on a dandy afternoon like 
 this," he began to jolly me. " Where have you been 
 since a dog's age? I called twice. They hit me over 
 the inoffensive cranium with a brick bat ' out of 
 town.' Out of town, indeed! Why don't you give 
 us warning? You certainly ought to leave me your 
 address on account of the market. Rubber's up 
 sky high. Better sell. Something might happen." 
 
 " Shucks ! " I said. " Who appointed you my uncle 
 Dudley? Let it happen." 
 
 " I believe you carry the midnight kit in that bead 
 bag. Ah, it's hard ! Not a negligee." 
 
 His fingers itched and I kept them itching. We 
 bandied personal criticisms for a time, till Erma 
 " really had to " and towed him away, unresisting and 
 humble. 
 
 I rounded up Aunt Elizabeth's own, and Griggs sat 
 watching me put it on. 
 
 "Jove! I don't see how you can look a jewel in 
 the face let alone hook it in." 
 
 " Hook nothing ! It screws see. One hole in 
 anybody's ear is sufficient. You can go up head, 
 Griggsy. You are learning the great American lan- 
 guage." 
 
 " What have you done with the bally things ? " he 
 asked wearily. 
 
 " They're here." I swung the disputed bag. 
 " Bought this yesterday at daybreak. I'm obliged to
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 203 
 
 carry them around. Wouldn't Swanhill have thrown 
 fits, if he'd seen my brand of candy? " 
 
 " Have you ever taken a peep? " 
 
 " Nix ! Why should I ? Diamonds are diamonds, 
 specially unset. And I never feel safe and sure alone 
 in a hotel the maids having pass keys and all." 
 
 " We're safe now. Jackson wouldn't dream of com- 
 ing in, unless I rang. Let's look, Clarissa." 
 
 " Children cry for it," I said tossing over the bag. 
 And he, bored and curious and idle, was as pleased as 
 a kid with a new toy. 
 
 I didn't trust any person those days, so I locked both 
 doors. 
 
 Stealthily, eagerly he pulled out the black case and 
 opened it over my lap. A snowstorm of folded paper 
 tumbled together. We grabbed one each and started 
 unfolding. Now I'd begun, I was keener than he, 
 and my fingers being nimbler I beat him to it. 
 
 "Look!" I cried, before I'd fairly looked myself. 
 Our heads drew close. Instead of a bright tear-drop 
 glistening on the paper we saw only a dull white pebble. 
 
 " In the rough. Always look like that, don't you 
 know." 
 
 " Tain't in the rough," I objected. " No rough 
 about this. It's smooth as a job hunter. It's only a 
 durned smooth freshwater pebble picked out of some- 
 body's front walk ! " 
 
 Griggs examined the stone. " I believe you're 
 right," and opening his, exclaimed, " Here's another 
 jolly little bounder ! " 
 
 Working fast and furious we opened every paper, 
 with a net result that wasn't worth five cents. We 
 didn't find a single sparkler in the lot just common
 
 204 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 or garden pebbles. Stutz had handed me nothing. 
 The gang had fought for a leather case, and lost their 
 freedom for a song on the wild, black shore of Erie. 
 Griggs had lain awake guarding vacuum, as values 
 went, and I had been transporting a sample of the foot- 
 path on my sacred person. Gee! We gazed at each 
 other dumfounded. And then a curious thing hap- 
 pened. 
 
 Without choice or intention I up and let them have 
 it in the ripest volley of ripe oaths ever unloaded on 
 New York. I consigned Jacobs to perdition, whole 
 and in fractions, and mentioned half a dozen stopping 
 places en route where he wouldn't need an arctic out- 
 fit. I named them over every one apart. I blistered 
 him. I blazed. I blew up and descended in lava, and 
 sank back on to my chair stuttering. Minor curses 
 rose like smoke from an explosion. And all the time 
 acute pain racked me to think that crafty Jew had put 
 one over on Felix. 
 
 Griggs, rallying from his first shock, bounced for a 
 pad and pencil and began taking notes. 
 
 When I had simmered down and sat glaring after 
 he manner of an irate tiger, he tried to soothe me. 
 
 "Jove, this a sell! But it doesn't make the least 
 difference. We've been at our wits' end to lose the 
 bally things," he laughed. " It looks as if our troubles 
 were over." 
 
 "If you think losing a fortune is anything to laugh 
 at, you've got another guess coming," I snapped. 
 " It's a crime." 
 
 Griggs made a note. He balanced himself on a 
 Jacobean stool, nursing his game leg, and turned to me 
 with an assumption of dignity quite out of class.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 205 
 
 " Clarissa, it is a crime for you not to give Science 
 a chance. This afternoon's afternoon's excitement 
 has been a magnificent display. I don't know that I 
 have ever witnessed any exhibition I prized more. 
 For five minutes you were completely under the influ- 
 ence of your familiar spirit, if I may mention de 
 Grasse so. Could Sir Gillespie have taken part " 
 
 " Oh, cut it out ! Science has got you buffaloed ! 
 Jacobs has got us all buffaloed ! " I cried. " No won- 
 der he showed me those empty closets, going to intro- 
 duce me as evidence make me swear to his childlike 
 simplicity. What's the betting that he's got the loot? " 
 
 " I only hope he has," said Howard, thinking of 
 Angelica. " We're a great deal better off as it is, old 
 thing," were his words at parting. 
 
 A man had been waiting to see me a long time, 
 they said at the desk. And in the softly carpeted, 
 roseately lighted corridor leading to my suite I found 
 Tom Landy supporting the door jamb. His mood 
 struck antagonistically against its surroundings from 
 the start, as he said shortly: 
 
 " Afraid you'd come in and go out again, and I'd 
 miss you." 
 
 And he didn't waste half a dozen words on polite- 
 ness before he came to the point. " How would you 
 enjoy a trip abroad Europe, Africa, Australia? 
 The farther the better." 
 
 " In the Swallow? " I queried laughing. " Let me 
 order something for you, Tom. Waiting is a dry 
 job." 
 
 But my buoyance broke to smithereens against his 
 gravity. 
 
 " That interesting news item on the sand bar has
 
 ao6 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 been uncovered. Babylon is crazy everybody talk- 
 ing." 
 
 I was nonplussed. He stepped to one door after 
 the other, glanced outside, and closed and fastened 
 them. Even a matter of fact manner could not hide 
 the suggestiveness of such actions. Then he sat on 
 the edge of his chair, leaned forward, and talked earn- 
 estly in a low voice. 
 
 "Babylon is humming with the murder now, but 
 up to seven o'clock this morning its wharf loafers 
 talked of nothing but a certain black speedboat Her 
 having dared to run from Freeport by open sea, a craft 
 of that size, so late in the year, too the season long 
 over and dirty weather almost certain. And the queer- 
 ness of her having landed with a wounded man and 
 a plumb scared girl on board. It doesn't take long 
 for the dullest wits to hang a connecting link between 
 these two sensations; particularly as they happened on 
 the same day or thereabouts. (The coroner's in- 
 quest win fix an exact date for the deaths.) Report- 
 ers on several sporting pages were down to see me 
 and the Swallow yesterday." 
 
 " I planned to make boating a feature," I admitted 
 weakly. 
 
 "ItTI be featured all right! One tenacious fellow 
 with a steel trap of a mind hung around to-day from 
 twelve to two. If he isn't a detective I miss my 
 guess!" 
 
 " Perhaps I'd better look up sailings and get some 
 clothes" 
 
 "Clothes!" he snorted. "You'd better get out 
 quick!"
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 207 
 
 "But one can't travel without clothes it would 
 spoil all the fun " 
 
 He looked at me open-eyed. " Say, Miss Clarissa, 
 this isn't fun. Being arrested, even on suspicion, is 
 no fun!" 
 
 "Arrested." My voice died in a dry throat I 
 swallowed. " They couldn't do it they haven't any 
 any proof." 
 
 " How do we know what they've got? You were 
 on the bar. You were right in the house at that very 
 time, or mighty soon after. I don't know why you 
 went there, and I don'-t want to know. Maybe you 
 could explain it satisfactorily, but any chance of your 
 having to do so in court is what we want to prevent. 
 Arrest is a nasty business it's a splash of indelible 
 ink!" 
 
 His use of the plural unnerved me. Griggs the 
 honorable name of Griggs would be dragged in the 
 mud too, and the Terrier and Bully. "But isn't it 
 foolish to run away doesn't it make us look guilty? " 
 I asked. 
 
 " We fouled our innocence by not reporting at the 
 time. And in America, running is pretty good medi- 
 cine. Public indignation is short-lived here. The 
 police are pushing this case like fury, and it's being 
 read and studied as few are, but the next excitement 
 is sure to snuff out interest. Absence may save you 
 a lot of annoyance at the worst they'd have to lo- 
 cate you, and it all takes time. There's the old chap 
 to reckon with too." 
 
 He drew a wallet from his inside pocket and handed 
 me a paper dipping. An inconspicuous notice of an
 
 208 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 old sailor being found in an open boat, out of his 
 head from exposure, and taken to Bellevue Hospital. 
 
 " He could tell all about the murder, if it's the same 
 man." 
 
 " W T hy should he tell maybe he did it himself, and 
 the surest way to get clear would be to have another 
 suspected. He'd have everything to lose and nothing 
 to gain in helping you he'd never seen you before." 
 
 " Oh, yes, he had ! I was there not so long ago. 
 He was nice, kind old chap, called me ' Missy ' and 
 said it was no place for the likes of me " 
 
 Tom's face went white as a boiled shirt. He 
 stared. " You didn't have anything to do with the 
 gang, did you, Miss Kendall ? " 
 
 " Good heavens, no ! I never spoke to any of them 
 in my life except when I went out there for a lark. 
 I just got in by chance I didn't know what I was 
 doing. You scare me, Tom, with your wild sugges- 
 tions." 
 
 " Not as bad as you scared me," he answered. " We 
 can't bank on the old fellow. Take my advice and 
 cut it get off under another name lose yourself 
 for a while." 
 
 "Is it as bad as that? I'll go. I'll do anything 
 you say only leave me now." 
 
 I shoved a roll of bills into his hand and shoved him 
 toward the door. Henri and I had had ill we could 
 stand.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 The steamship Carbothia, sailing from a Jersey pier 
 at two o'clock next day, carried among her first cabin 
 passengers a certain Mrs. J. J. Brown, who resembled 
 Clarissa Kendall surprisingly: same latitude, same 
 longitude, same weight to an ounce, same eyes and 
 teeth and complexion, same voice, same laugh, even 
 the identical clothes. Only a plain gold band encir- 
 cling her third finger on the left hand gave sameness 
 the lie. Had you been rushing forward to greet Clar- 
 issa, arms extended, and a gush about old times bub- 
 bling under your tongue, one glimpse of that band 
 must have faced you about, feeling all sorts of a fool. 
 Naturally, Clarissa Kendall wouldn't be wearing a wed- 
 ding ring. Tom Landy had supplied the disguise along 
 with my ticket. 
 
 Only one person came down to see Mrs. Brown off, 
 and he didn't seem to have much to say to her. Em- 
 barrassed silence hung over them. Their thoughts 
 were much too serious for words in public ; and 
 each shivered in his shoes, secretly fearing an official 
 interruption. But when the moment came, the youth- 
 full widow shook her henchman's hand warmly, say- 
 ing: 
 
 " Remember, Tom, you're in charge till I get back. 
 I'll send my address. Take another job, if you need 
 it to keep out of mischief, but you salary's doubled 
 and will go on just the same. Good-by, and a thou- 
 
 209
 
 210 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 sand thanks. Don't forget to call on Mr. Griggs this 
 evening." 
 
 Whistles blew, kisses were smacked, embraces given, 
 handkerchiefs waved. Stay-behinds hurried on shore. 
 The Carbothia began to back out, separating loving 
 thousands. A jammed pier-end became only less ani- 
 mated than her thronged rails. Aristocracy waved 
 five-dollar cambric and fifty-dollar lace from her cabin 
 deck, and farewells graded themselves suitably down 
 to the steward leaning from a scullery port, chucking 
 an orange peel at his best girl. A pretty scene, a 
 lively scene, an exciting scene, one to which every good 
 American looks either forward or back born to be 
 part and parcel of it. An opening scene which ninety- 
 nine per cent, of a ship's passengers can bank on see- 
 ing, no matter what the state of their livers. Little 
 Mrs. Brown, on her virgin trip, was the exceptional 
 one per cent. 
 
 I waited not to single Tom's shoulders from the 
 mass; to watch the Woolworth Building drape her 
 head in mist; to serve my term at the writing desk, 
 or sight Liberty lighting our outward path. I had 
 already sighted a personality much more impressive, 
 and, to me, confounding. Jim Gower, who for one 
 fleeting night had been so gone on me, stood with a 
 woman, not ten feet forward, absorbed by the passing 
 show. He held her arm possessively, and from the 
 childish face sunning itself in dimples, I guessed it 
 was her maiden voyage too. With sarcasm priming 
 memory I faded away into deep seclusion. It didn't 
 take five minutes, going down the Hudson River in 
 midstream, to prove Mrs. J. J. B. a rotten sailor. She 
 undressed at once, and slipped into her berth. There
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 211 
 
 a husky stewardess found her in due time, clad in a 
 crepe nightie and a flowery cap, sleeping the sleep of 
 innocence and great fatigue. From the shadows un- 
 der her eyes " bon voyage " must have been a regular 
 razzle-dazzle for Mrs. Brown strenuous anyway ! 
 
 " Humph," remarked the company's employee, 
 quickly appraising my clothes and hand baggage. She 
 sensed she was likely to find work in this room and 
 figured the probable size of a hard-earned tip. 
 
 Packing an entire night on top of recent excitement 
 had about finished me. For two days I lay a weary 
 rag, cozening the Irishwoman's superior knowledge 
 into voluble sympathy. But as my eyes brightened and 
 my cheeks grew pink, helped by the strong salt air 
 blowing into an open port, she waxed impatient. 
 
 " Are you minded to hug your cabin all the way 
 to the auld sod? Sure, and it's the splendid weather 
 we're havin'. You'd do finely on deck." 
 
 But Mrs. Brown continued to lie abed, eating like 
 a wolf, devouring books between meals and limiting 
 her chances of conversation to the attendance of Kath- 
 leen O'Doyle. 
 
 " Begorra, ye make me ashamed of my sex ! " she 
 upbraided. " There's anither of ye across the hall. 
 Older than you by thirty year, but not a hap'orth 
 spryer or a hap'orth more sick. Baroness von Rath- 
 gartz, they have her down. She don't look it but 
 thin she's only wan of them furrin quality and what 
 can you get from a hog but a grunt? It's the truth, 
 I'm tellin' you. She hasn't had a blessed mouthful of 
 fresh air yet. ' The sunlight hurts my eyes,' says she. 
 ' Musha, you could be takin' a turn after dark/ I told 
 her."
 
 212 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Mrs. Brown allowed the worthy tongue to wag, 
 but took a cue from its advice. After that I spent an 
 hour on deck each evening while the saloon dined and 
 wined itself, Gower first to enter and last to leave, un- 
 doubtedly. By avoiding companionways and stealing 
 up a little stair just near my own door, I managed 
 to pass out unobserved, and enjoyed a grand trot 
 around the deserted decks in perfect safety. Night 
 after night old ocean rolled the same monotonous but 
 charitable mood; tossing us lightly, regularly, on a 
 lullaby swell. We were making a record voyage. 
 Hardened travellers marvelled over our daily runs; 
 the betting pool became a riot; but in fair weather 
 nobody kicked at her driving ahead. Passengers be- 
 gan to congratulate themselves and each other on sav- 
 ing a day. The captain received their felicitation 
 with reserve. He was not much in evidence. Men 
 hit it off at shuffle-board, smoked and told stories. 
 The women idled and enjoyed themselves, and also 
 told stories. I felt as peeved over being out of it all, 
 as the stewardess, who painted these delights, was with 
 my laziness. But I continued to lie low till that fate- 
 ful hour, throwing even the most supine of us into 
 terrified action. 
 
 Stop here and mark a foot note on your memory- 
 file. All this happened a decade ago. Quite before 
 sea tragedy dropped to the level of the commonplace ; 
 before submarine commanders were iron-crossed for 
 their glorious achievements in destroying women and 
 children; before torpedo warfare had blazed a bar 
 sinister on civilization's shield ; before even the Titanic 
 with her thousand victims, or that bit of Chicago care- 
 lessness with its nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine, had
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 213 
 
 electrified the world. We have learned to take our 
 list of drowned now every morning at the breakfast 
 table, very much as we take our cup of coffee, unemo- 
 tionally counting the lumps of sugar fading into its 
 dark depths. But in those days it was not so. Pas- 
 sengers claimed a certain amount of security when 
 they embarked. They chose a first class boat on a 
 good line and expected to be looked after. And they 
 were preserved alive, mostly. Therefore the total 
 destruction of the good ship Carbothia stood out 
 largely in the headlines, and darkly in the hearts of 
 New York. Newspapers went into mourning. Quite 
 disinterested people wore a black ribbon. Crowds 
 surged around the bulletin boards night and day. 
 Loss of a passenger ship, with a name like Gower's 
 heading the list of missing, was a stern, attention-com- 
 pelling catastrophe then. 
 
 It stands out grimly in my mind's eye now; every 
 detail black-faced, clear as a first impression. 
 
 We were steaming along at a good clip, not far 
 off the coast of Ireland. It was early morning 
 about six, I fancy not yet light. I had climbed up 
 to take a look out of my port and get a breath of raw 
 fresh air, and I stood planning the fun I would have 
 on shore. I was fed up with rest and quiet now. 
 Excepting that sprint on deck every evening I had 
 taken no exercise for six days. Try it. Makes one 
 boy-hungry for a lark. 
 
 While I was standing there, musing on the face of 
 the gray waters, thinking of London and Paris, and 
 the shops, she went off. Whoo ! Gripes ! What 
 a racket! Immediately a cloud of dense black smoke 
 roared out of the front part of the ship. I waited to
 
 214 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 see no more, but jumped for my skirt and coat, hang- 
 ing right at hand, slung them on over my negligee, 
 and dashed into the passage. The whole place was 
 already in wildest disorder. Men, women and chil- 
 dren poured out of their staterooms making for the 
 main stairway, some of them not dressed at all, and 
 everybody pulling and jostling and screaming. As 
 I hesitated, calculating on the best chance, I heard 
 cries from the berth opposite mine the one where 
 the Baroness, as reported, had loafed away her days. 
 Say! I couldn't listen to a dog cry like that and not 
 do something. I ran back to her rescue, flung the 
 door open and stood petrified. There on the bed, half 
 in, half out, lay Angelica Deering. No! Impossible! 
 But it was the woman who had been hidden in Jacobs's 
 secret room. I knew her. I couldn't miss. I recog- 
 nized those fear-glazed eyes staring at me as they had 
 stared that first time. She was scared now more 
 scared than on the former count. I'd have said she 
 was worse frightened than anybody else on board. 
 And I tell you some pretty ghastly faces had greeted 
 mine in the hall. 
 
 " (Help ! Help ! " the old thing called, without at- 
 tempting to move or help herself. 
 
 There wasn't a minute to lose, a minute to reason. 
 I hated her, but I couldn't leave a living soul to drown 
 like a rat in a hole. I reached right across and yanked 
 her out of bed by the breast of her stout flannel gown. 
 She was absolutely numb with fear whether of the 
 accident, or of me, or of the blend I had no way to 
 tell. I rolled a dressing robe, a soiled gray garment, 
 around her, and seeing my enemy in its folds removed 
 the last lingering doubt of her identity. Luck had
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN '215 
 
 given me a chance to get even with her all right, but 
 what did I care for the chance with the ship sinking 
 under us a mile a minute. Luck and circumstances 
 do pass the buck in private sure ! Time was the only 
 thing worth reckoning. We weren't set to compare 
 notes or fill each other's ears with invective not we ! 
 I gave her a shove towards the door. She cowered. 
 I pushed, and seeing that was no use, dodged through 
 myself and commenced to drag. She tore away from 
 my grasp, and diving back, grabbed a bulky pocketbook 
 from under her pillow. 
 
 " This must be saved ! Must must ! It must be 
 saved ! " she whimpered. " I've been a bad old 
 woman, and there's no use living none at all if I lose 
 it. And I have no safe place no place!" All the 
 time she was pawing over her dressing gown, trying to 
 find a pocket that didn't exist. And all the time the 
 ship was going down. Suddenly she held the wad to 
 me crying: 
 
 "Take it put it away save it! Give it to me 
 afterward only save the key." I stuck the case 
 into my Norfolk coat and hauled her out, now unpro- 
 testing. And all the time she muttered and wailed. 
 " The papers the key the box at Schlossgartz. 
 Fritz has the papers my papers my secret My 
 boy, oh, my boy ! The little gray dispatch box. Save 
 it!" 
 
 By this time Clarissa was entertaining qualms for 
 her own safety. 
 
 The long passage leading from our doors had emp- 
 tied. I saw a mob farther on, every man-jack of them 
 crowding toward the main companionway. I saw 
 we couldn't make it, and in a flash remembered the side
 
 216 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 door I had used taking my little airings unobserved. 
 A second later I had the old baggage faced about. 
 How I managed to get her up the ladder Heaven only 
 knows, for she was massive, though not stout, a half 
 head taller than I and stupid from fright. 
 
 We did get up, and just in time, too. The water 
 began to come in on our level a few minutes later. 
 Most of the folks on the lower deck were drowned. 
 
 The coal had been burning for three or four days ; 
 good reason for our jamming ahead breaking all rec- 
 ords. Our captain set shifts to fight the fire and kept 
 the danger to himself fearing panic among his pas- 
 sengers. Aside from the risk of accumulated gas ex- 
 ploding, a fire in the coal bunkers isn't half so infre- 
 quent nor half so terrifying as one might suppose. 
 Our crew had discovered the source and location of 
 the mischief, and had the fire in hand. We were mak- 
 ing smart time in wonderful weather. With just a lit- 
 tle luck all would be well. Nevertheless captain and 
 purser wore troubled faces; mindful of the high ex- 
 plosives invoiced in her cargo. The only outward sign 
 of this situation was the lifeboats ready swung over 
 the water; and such is the sloth of idle brains, after 
 they had been carried that way for twenty- four hours, 
 even the most curious ceased to bother. As I had been 
 told, everybody was enjoying himself to the hilt. 
 
 Then suddenly, before the cock crew on our last 
 day out, a pocket of the foul gas blew off. Nothing 
 to worry about in itself, that little explosion, if it 
 hadn't started the combustibles in her hold. 
 
 Nobody knew these facts during the reign of ter- 
 ror; nor stopped to care nor to inquire as they were
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 217 
 
 vomited forth from the ship's interior, or held below, 
 a seething, striving, obstructive mass. I realized then 
 only what I saw as we climbed to the boat-deck : the 
 front of the vessel burning and settling, with a heavy 
 pillar of smoke blowing away from her. A splendid 
 sort of funeral plume waving the last journey for 
 many human souls. 
 
 At the top of our ladder Grandma and I came out 
 almost opposite a lifeboat. The chief officer stood 
 calmly at his post loading folks into it. 
 
 " Room for one more ! " his stentorian voice bel- 
 lowed. 
 
 A worm sprang forward and was hauled back. 
 Dozens of hands clutched him. Fists doubled them- 
 selves in defence of the world edict. Threats were 
 shaken in his face. I rather pitied the poor thing that 
 wanted most to live. Hisses started and dropped, 
 spurted here and there venomously, fainted, died away. 
 The officer glanced in our direction. I shoved the 
 Baroness toward him, and two husky sailors lifted 
 her in. They'd have glammed me also, I being the 
 only other female in sight But I backed off. The 
 boat was full. Henri is a sane coward. His male 
 instinct prefefred to take its lone chance outside. 
 Hardly were the old thing's skinny legs hidden by the 
 gunwale when the ropes began to strain on their davits 
 and run out. They ran out, but they ran wrong. 
 First one rattled free, so that the boat was all down 
 in her stern, then the front jerked even, pitching its 
 occupants topsy-turvy. Then both ripped along to- 
 gether. The crew seemed absolutely unable to hold 
 her weight back. Tarred hands hung on till the ropes
 
 2i8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 burnt, till they lost control of her altogether. The 
 big boat, loaded to capacity, hit a mounting swell ker- 
 flop and keeled over. 
 
 Those of us left on deck breathed soft prayers of 
 pity prayers for ourselves inclusive. The man who 
 had been mauled out of her commenced to cry child- 
 ishly. I lie awake nights now when I think of that 
 scene, but at the moment it struck me like a moving 
 picture. I blessed the darkness in the house half hid- 
 ing it. Hands and arms and legs all flounced in the 
 sea together, trying to get themselves righted and not 
 considering anybody else's chance till they made good 
 on their own. Some were content to hang to the boat, 
 while others fought to climb on top; and one fierce, 
 crazy vampire mounted astride her keel worked like 
 a nailer shoving the rest off. De Grasse and his gang 
 stripped me stark of confidence, but I've still enough 
 faith in human nature to believe she thought, in her 
 blind confusion, she was helping to save souls. 
 
 I gazed down thrilled and fascinated, not realizing 
 the truth of their being alive. All the time my eyes 
 subconsciously hunted for Jezebel's gray thatch but 
 never glimpsed it. She must have gone down like a 
 bullet, unable to take her own part, doomed by the 
 excess of her numbing fear. 
 
 By and by, it seemed hours but may have been a 
 couple of minutes, a man passed me. Folks had all 
 moved along by then, storming the remaining boats, 
 and this fellow was so struck by my standing there, 
 watching, when I had every chance of shooting to de- 
 struction myself next thing, that he pulled up short. 
 
 " Aren't you thinking about saving yourself? " 
 
 " See what comes of trying! "
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 219 
 
 His glance followed my pointing arm. The wick- 
 edness of their fight had ceased. Most of the feeble 
 were gone for good dramas of life and death in 
 an ice-cold sea move quickly. The upturned boat 
 wasn't any worse to look on now than panic-torn 
 groups to right or left. 
 
 " Bad management. Nothing in order. Inexcus- 
 able but it's always the same." 
 
 " I think the officers are mighty cool and collected." 
 
 " It looks as if our future destinations depended en- 
 tirely on our past lives." 
 
 That was my cue for a stare. The idea of any one 
 being able to josh at such a time, and standing himself 
 in the very same make of shoes. Perhaps, though, it 
 was nerves. I recollected nerves acted odd in certain 
 constitutions. His bulky shoulders hunched beside 
 me, glooming through blackish dawn, appeared to be 
 quite controlled almost at ease. And his next sen- 
 tence gave the lie to fright. 
 
 " You talk more like a man than a woman. If 
 you're not hysterical, come along with me, and we'll 
 have a try for a whole skin anyway. Up there, be- 
 hind the bridge, is a pile of rafts. I've smoked on them 
 every evening. Not a soul thinks of those rafts 
 and wouldn't go for them if they did. They're clean 
 daft scared of the fire packing aft as tight as 
 sardines." He paused to eye the listing deck. 
 
 " The Carbothia '11 sink before she burns. We can 
 sit still on our perch and the waves will wash us off 
 as she settles." 
 
 His crisp assurance carried hope with it. For the 
 first time I felt a wild desire to live. I grasped the 
 probability of coming through alive; as he fed it to
 
 220 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 me, and joy must have brightened my countenance. 
 The man smiled. 
 
 " You'll do," he commented. " Up the bridge lad- 
 der nothing's forbidden now ! " 
 
 \Ve turned our backs on the tortured mob and scur- 
 ried aloft. The captain, who stood at his post 
 grown an old man in ten minutes saw what we were 
 after and nodded approval. 
 
 " I wish the people had more horse sense." 
 
 It was then he told us about the coal, ending with 
 reassurance. 
 
 " The water has put out the fire already, and the 
 pumps are working have been right along. They'll 
 keep her afloat for a margin of time. We have been 
 in close communication with other vessels during the 
 last three days. Their ear is open for our S. O. S. 
 If you can manage to hang on to your raft help won't 
 be long coming. 
 
 " I wish you luck," he added. And we would have 
 wished him the same but his face forbade it. 
 
 My heart sank when I saw the unwieldy thing 
 a straw between us and destruction. But I turned in 
 vigorously to help free her. And once she was loose 
 we sat down side by side. 
 
 " Look around now for the best hold you can get, 
 for you'll need it when the swirl comes." 
 
 We picked and planned against the deluge, and then 
 sat erect, our hands firmly clasped together; for, al- 
 though he was a stranger, that childish attitude brought 
 me into touch with human strength. I badly needed 
 bucking up. The man neither by word nor glance 
 gave hint of fear. His attitude was not whistling to
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 221 
 
 keep his courage alive. He simply did not concede 
 the desperateness of our straits. 
 
 " Are you a Christian Scientist ? " I asked, suddenly 
 overcome by an idea that he must be pretending. No 
 person could actually feel unafraid! 
 
 He laughed. " C. S. doesn't interest me any more 
 than Ibsen interests me. Man's brain's a dynamo of 
 power all the same. Send out your signals the way 
 you want facts to hang. Be practical in emergency. 
 If mind doesn't control matter, it at least controls other 
 minds. See what comes of letting imagination 
 sparkle as you told me." 
 
 He indicated the tempest below. We got a bird's- 
 eye view of the scene, and a notion of our own position. 
 The ship was listing something awful. 
 
 " We might fancy ourselves sitting in two deck 
 chairs," I said. " Only the vessel doesn't rock up 
 again." 
 
 " That's better ! I knew you were plucky. Now 
 give over worrying about the passengers. Remember 
 those who ought to be saved will be saved. Forget 
 them and think entirely about us." 
 
 Henri de Grasse was fired with kindling joy in this 
 man's mood, but it rather appalled Clarissa. How 
 cruel he could be how ruthless evolving his doc- 
 trine of SELF! As if to contradict my unexpressed 
 doubt, he asked kindly : 
 
 "You're not afraid of the water?" 
 
 "Afraid! I'm shivering in my shoes. I'm shiver- 
 ing literally and figuratively. But I can swim. Can 
 you?" 
 
 " Swimming's my second name. My last is Duffy.
 
 222 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Constant effort of little Willie my first name's Wil- 
 liam to keep it from being spelt with a final r." 
 
 " Oh," I said, nonplussed. 
 
 He waited expectantly. 
 
 " I should think you'd succeed." It was a lame fin- 
 ish, but he forgave the pause. 
 
 " You bet ! I always succeed. Nothing succeeds 
 like success. Maybe you fancy it's late for introduc- 
 tions, and that names don't count here. Stop think- 
 ing you never can tell, anyway. There's a whole 
 lot in names. I don't know yours. I figured the list 
 out but you haven't been on deck. Where have you 
 kept yourself hidden? If I'd seen you about, we'd 
 have become acquainted earlier. I always know what 
 I want." 
 
 The man's cheek stunned me, but I was cool enough 
 now to diagnose the symptoms. " He's overdoing 
 nerve," I thought, " that's it. Playing for self-control 
 and sane action when the test comes." With Henri 
 admiring him so much I couldn't absolutely freeze, 
 and besides I found a sort of reflex dare-devilish 
 bravery springing from his attitude. 
 
 " I've been in bed most of the time." 
 
 " Sick ! On a flat voyage ! You don't look it 
 why nobody's been sick! This is some cure for sea- 
 sickness ! " 
 
 I disliked his scoffing disliked the threatened 
 cross-examination, and to avoid it said, q -'ckly, 
 
 "What's become of Gower?" 
 
 "Golden Gizzard! Do you know him?" He 
 queried, a new note in his voice. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 There was a pause. With Duffy's next remark his
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 223 
 
 tone changed again. Its sharp penetrating alertness 
 had melted to tentative suggestion. Nothing definite, 
 yet enough to rile me. 
 
 " He has a girl along." 
 
 " Indeed. I have not spoken to Mr. Gower on the 
 trip," I answered frigidly. 
 
 " My mistake." 
 
 I felt we were drifting apart far, far apart, al- 
 though our fingers intertwined. A sense of loss, terri- 
 ble and tragic, overwhelmed me. If the crazy, im- 
 pudent human comforter failed, where would I be? 
 How would I come through alone? Alone! Why 
 once the ship sank, if our raft survived, the entire fran- 
 tic pack below, whose crying we heeded now no more 
 than the din of a distant elevated, would be on our 
 backs, desperate to crowd us from our few feet of 
 well-earned safety. I remembered the witch astride 
 a keel working to shove others off. Terror surged in 
 me. I clung to Duffy. I lifted my eyes to heaven 
 appealing to Something somewhere in the universe 
 a Something all powerful and steady. Low on the 
 horizon lay a shaft of chill, pale yellow, outlining an 
 ocean undulant and gray. My eyes swept the world 
 claiming help, hope, to face the nightmare death. And 
 as I looked, suddenly the sun's rim sprang above that 
 steely girdle flooding the mad scene in ruddy beams. 
 
 I turned to my companion. I saw him for the first 
 time. ilj 
 
 He was less than thirty and splendidly built, wear- 
 ing only a blue coat and trousers, without collar or 
 polite embellishment almost a bathing suit effect. 
 Clear gray eyes gazed level into mine, and his hair 
 rose straight on end from a high, flat brow.
 
 224 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Hello ! " I cried, surprised out of my hereafter 
 mood. " Didn't you race a black speedboat off the 
 Jersey coast last summer? " 
 
 "Tried to, yes. How do you know about it?" 
 
 " I was at the wheel. That's the only craft she ever 
 saw the heels of." 
 
 " Quitter! " he jeered, with a flash of memory mak- 
 ing de Grasse bow down and worship. 
 
 " And she wouldn't have seen yours," I blazed, " if 
 my man had done as he was told." 
 
 Duffy laughed, revealing perfect teeth, even, strong, 
 white, cruel I noted them, thinking of his preach- 
 ment, and observed the calculating satisfaction which 
 overspread his features. 
 
 " A great day ! I admired the young lady more 
 than I can tell or I wouldn't have invited her to 
 lunch I never waste myself. I feel sure a girl like 
 her can come out of this little affair O. K. If she 
 does if we do will you promise to give me 
 another chance in a longer race?" 
 
 " You don't waste time either, do you? " 
 
 " I always know what I want the minute I see it. 
 And as for wasting opportunity wasting anything. 
 What's the use?" 
 
 Again I gazed open mouthed. What was the man's 
 game? Was he having a frolic with me, a blasphe- 
 mous, exciting frolic in words to hold our hearts steady 
 amid the weltering flood now rising swiftly? Pride 
 forbade me to miss a trick. 
 
 " What's the use of proposing to a woman that's all 
 aboard for kingdom come?" I gulped. The water 
 was beginning to lick my feet. Cold feet ! Gee ! 
 
 " You don't believe you are going to die," he replied
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 225 
 
 firmly. " And I only ask for a chance. Will you ? " 
 He shook free of my hand clasp and clutched the raft 
 as a big wave mounted. " Will you ? " 
 
 "Yes! Ouch!" A ravenous lump of fluid ice 
 poured round me. " What do we do next? " I gasped. 
 
 " Sit tight and hang on ! " He did not offer to 
 weaken his own position by lending a helping hand. 
 
 The raft lay on a horrible incline. It was all we 
 could do to cling to her. Then quite unexpectedly she 
 began to regain equilibrium, to float off. The waves 
 caught her, raised her and washed her clear of the 
 ship. 
 
 " Worked. Didn't it? " the man shouted. 
 
 We filled our lungs with a great breath and hugged 
 the planks while amid a perfect turmoil of waters the 
 old Carbothia sank. Were we unconscious or only lost 
 momentarily in a strange world of spars and fishes? 
 The raft whirled dizzily, was sucked under, thrown 
 up again, tipped and bucked and twisted, but with an 
 oiliness of motion that failed to break our death grip. 
 In the end I was amazed to find myself alive and un- 
 harmed, lying face to the boards, as our raft lay on 
 the bosom of the swell. 
 
 I sat up and gazed around. The sea looked so 
 empty! The sky was blotched with a huge present- 
 ment of Henri's winged snake, and schools of young 
 galoshes swam in azure blue. Onslaught from behind 
 made me collect my wits. The whole ocean seemed 
 alive, swarming with would be destroyers. We 
 hadn't expected to hog our safe quarters, but we did 
 intend to keep afloat, and I knew now the necessity was 
 going to call for moral courage of another brand. 
 Women and children clung to us what's to be done
 
 226 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 with women and children? We hauled some of them 
 up. More scrambled on of their own liberty. Men 
 came too, rough seamen. Very soon I needed both 
 hands to prevent being divorced from my rightful her- 
 itage. The raft groaned and creaked, threatening to 
 go to pieces. She began to founder. Duffy pushed 
 a couple of men off and then decided to quit himself. 
 But first he made us an astonishingly characteristic 
 speech. 
 
 " I'm going to leave this life station to you women. 
 Remember, she's got all she can carry. I was first 
 on here, and I've a permit to stay ; but I'm leaving so 
 she'll be a bit lighter. Don't get soft-hearted, any of 
 you. If other folks come hanging on to your edges, 
 shove them off quick. Understand ? Quick ! Be- 
 fore they get a good hold. Those that ought to be 
 saved will be saved. It's better for the raft to float 
 with a few than founder and lose the bunch. Good-by, 
 for a while." 
 
 I knew he was talking at me all through, even be- 
 fore he added, 
 
 " Don't forget your promise. Au revoir." 
 
 He slid into the water and swam with the ease of 
 a fish to a nearby, substantial looking piece of wreck- 
 age. Some current carried it away from us. I 
 watched him drifting till his head was no larger than 
 a pea. 
 
 During the next three hours our load eased up con- 
 siderably. Lots of women couldn't stand the chill. 
 We'd see them hanging on one minute and their space 
 would be empty a second later. I was pretty well all 
 in myself before help arrived. I was sogged through 
 with cold, cramp fairly twisted my bones, and the
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 227 
 
 loneliness drove me dippy. Lonesome! I can't de- 
 scribe it! Nothing but sky and waves and ourselves 
 hemmed in by water and clouds. Occasionally we'd 
 get a glimpse of one of the boats away beyond. But 
 floating so low there, level with the sea, it was useless 
 to try to make signals. We just had to abide quiet and 
 wait to be picked up.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Clarissa's earliest clear impression of being rescued, 
 was lying snug in a woolly blanket in somebody's 
 berth ; and hearing a strange doctor say to a strange at- 
 tendant, 
 
 " She'll do very well now." 
 
 I didn't bother to speak. I gave them the glad eye 
 for a minute and sank immediately unconscious again 
 this time into sleep. 
 
 The next thing I knew I was wide awake, sitting bolt 
 upright, clamoring for food. 
 
 Soup and a ship's officer came along together. Per- 
 haps it was haste, the pressure of contemporaneous 
 events which led me into crime the fall itself smacks 
 of de Grasse anyway, they wanted my name and all 
 that facts, facts, and the heathen starving ! Be- 
 tween mouthfuls I bit back " Kendall " on an honest 
 tongue. Von Rathgartz sprang to my lips, and with- 
 out a pause to reckon cost or privilege, I opened up 
 and let her fly. A serious minded man wrote the title 
 in a serious list of survivors I had burnt my bridges ! 
 
 Of course I carried the old woman's papers, and 
 there wasn't a scrap, not even a name in the passenger 
 list, to prove anything on Mrs. Brown. I allowed her 
 therefore and from henceforth to fade into black obliv- 
 ion one more victim of a noble wreck. 
 
 Prevarication sat lightly upon me. I was feeling 
 
 fine, delighted to hear we had sailed into the Thames, 
 
 228
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 229 
 
 and all agog to go on deck. The Roman nosed matron, 
 however, whose bunk I filled, received this suggestion 
 with a wide bias of disapproval ; stating positively that 
 my clothes weren't fit. 
 
 I laughed. " You can't expect to be tailor's model 
 after your coat has soaked in brine and dried in the 
 boiler room." 
 
 But she was adamant ; and as there are worse things 
 than a mother's touch after battle, fire and sudden 
 death, I remained cheerfully in seclusion, awake all 
 night, counting the sights I could see through my port- 
 hole. 
 
 My newly adopted proved so strong on propriety 
 and so weak where it came to preferring herself be- 
 fore others notably me I was thoroughly amused 
 as well as bemused. I failed to get her measure at all, 
 till she brought her daughters, weedy girls in blue serge, 
 to be presented to the Baroness. 
 
 Gosh! Other people were going to make me live 
 up to that title! 
 
 " You've been and gone and done it, Clarissa," I told 
 myself. " Absconding like a queen of melodrama, 
 with the spotlight turned upon your exit. Hasn't 
 Henri warned you many times and oft? Didn't faith- 
 ful Tom lead you gently to the fountain head of lost 
 identity? Recollect his words. ' Safest name on 
 earth drab as a city sparrow. Wise guys picking it 
 up in a register pass the wink but at the same time 
 there's the ghost of a chance of having been born 
 Brown.' Apologies, Tom. You can sure lead a don- 
 key to the trough, but you can't make her learn." 
 
 From my inside knowledge I judged the original Bar- 
 oness might have been fleeing too, and I panted to read
 
 230 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 her private correspondence. My plans were vague but 
 comprehensive. First to know where the old lady had 
 been expected and then to travel in a far direction. 
 For the moment even so much was held in abeyance. 
 Mrs. Higsbie had given my pocketbook to the purser, 
 so she said, and no amount of pleasant asking egged 
 her up to getting it again. Confusion bore the blame, 
 but I verily believe she held it back as a guarantee of 
 chaperoning me on shore and thus cementing social 
 friendship; her imagination grasped tenaciously the 
 God-given chance everything else would be accord- 
 ing to my least suggestion, as became a High-and- 
 Mightiness. Therefore the excellent lady removed my 
 valuables with one hand and offered me her best boots 
 with her other. I had no choice but surrender. Shoes 
 on my feet might lead to a noose about my neck a 
 Baroness in stockings was ridiculous. 
 
 Three items stand to my London credit. I examined 
 the von Rathgartz papers, wrote a bulletin to date for 
 Howard, clearing Angelica and exonerating the classic 
 name of Griggs, and bought rubber. The boom was 
 nearing its zenith. Sitting in a brokers office watch- 
 ing yourself grow richer by hundreds of pounds every 
 hour is some fun Henri thought so ! We went batty 
 about rubber. I cabled Swanhill to sell railway and 
 steel stock, and we bought our beans off. 
 
 That's about all I saw of the smoky city. We car- 
 ried away a very happy impression, but, nevertheless, 
 it's Paris for mine! Her lure got me in Bain & Ding- 
 ley's. Every girl behind a counter sees golden halos 
 ringing the magic word. Most of them would have 
 called it a toss between Paris and heaven with long 
 odds on Paris as a temporary choice.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 231 
 
 Considering the way we fitted in, Henri must have 
 spent a lot of time and money in the French capital 
 previous to my acquaintance. For a week he let me 
 riot, then tired of dissipation, we shut our purses, 
 opened our eyes, and I really began to enjoy the place. 
 " Whence her charm? " I asked myself. " Our shops 
 are as smart and larger; our women are as beautiful 
 and larger also; our traffic is as congested and noisier; 
 our opera as excellent and more expensive ; our every- 
 thing much, oh, much more expensive yet we don't 
 get the rhythm." In the end I answered with a truism 
 Paris is inhabited by Frenchmen. Music throbs in 
 a Frenchman's pulse, gaiety twitches his toes Henri's 
 twitched me through some odd corners out of sym- 
 pathy, but he surprised me so much in other matters he 
 selected to enjoy such as picture shows I forgave 
 him all past issues. 
 
 I couldn't guess whether my second was lying low 
 for more mischief, or, now that he had money to burn, 
 would be content with living as a gentleman. The un- 
 timely end of the Baroness von Rathgartz had taken a 
 reef in our vengeance. De Grasse had been wildly ex- 
 cited over the idea of reading her papers; at least I 
 blamed it on him, but maybe I'm the romantic chump. 
 Anyway somebody worked us into a fine heat about 
 nothing for that's what it proved to be the key, a 
 letter of credit, and a bunch of family documents. 
 The old sinner was far too cute to commit herself in 
 black and white. And I decided to take a leaf out of 
 her book. The papers which were of an intricate char- 
 acter proved a dozen living interests, and with them 
 was one sheet closely written in Yiddish. Not daring 
 to have it translated, I regarded the latter as an inno-
 
 232 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 cent person might look on the outside of a time-bomb, 
 not knowing whether it was set ; and, when the chance 
 offered, I threw the whole lot into the Channel. Let 
 her affairs drown with her their proximity made me 
 jumpy. By way of souvenir I kept the key and the 
 old woman's words reverberating in my ears. A Fritz, 
 a Schlossgartz, and a little gray dispatch box existed 
 somewhere but Henri didn't show the slightest in- 
 terest. 
 
 Instead of ramping off on this fresh trail, de Grasse 
 seemed bent on offering himself as a sacrifice; he laid 
 himself out to perfect me. We went to the corsetiere's 
 together, we progressed from shop to shop I was 
 never so happy before. We studied the thing at hand 
 and improved upon it ; our equipage began to occasion 
 remark. Then he whispered in my ear the necessity 
 of a maid. 
 
 " Nothing doing," I said. " You ought to know I 
 don't like being pawed over." 
 
 " You have never been touched by experienced hands 
 ah, exquisite ! There is just the person " 
 
 "Shut up!" 
 
 It beats the Dutch how, if you ever start talking about 
 a luxury, some darned fool extravagance you don't half 
 want, that thing will nag at you until it grows to be a 
 vital need. Henri commenced to point out the differ- 
 ence between my hair and the heads surrounding us at 
 the opera. I capitulated, and I must confess, though I 
 did pretty well in hats, the smartest of all my invest- 
 ments in Paris was Annette small, dark, distract- 
 ingly lovely, and as dishonest as it is possible to be and 
 keep out of prison. Adopting an orphan from the
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 233 
 
 Carbothia would have been play compared to under- 
 taking such a spark. 
 
 From the moment her trim high-heeled shoe stepped 
 over the threshold she became my cricket on the hearth. 
 Bright eyes, light words, coquetry and grace awaited 
 Madame's coming. She was equally happy to occupy 
 the front seat of the touring car, or to walk a couple of 
 paces in the rear exercising Mimi-Frou-Frou, the latest 
 addition to our family. And the way that girl made 
 me look the way she turned me out ! I had simply 
 never been dressed before, my clothes had been pitch- 
 forked into place. She grafted more distinction on to 
 me in five days than I could have achieved alone in as 
 many centuries. If you want to be a perfect lady, get 
 a perfect maid. 
 
 Everything was running on ball bearings till one 
 morning I dashed into the salon, and discovered the 
 beautiful creature in the arms of the valet de chambre. 
 Of course, it was my fault, as she tactfully explained; I 
 should have given her warning. All the jealousy 
 Henri is capable of rushed to my temples. I stormed 
 I reproved, while Annette continued to look plain- 
 tive, thoroughly satisfied with herself and her late posi- 
 tion : " What would I wish hein? " 
 
 De Grasse wished but one thing to separate her 
 from the valet. We moved and peace reigned for the 
 moment. 
 
 Unfortunately the night clerk was a personable 
 young man with too many daylight hours hanging idle 
 on his hands. We changed our address again. Next 
 time it was the waiter who mounted my little breakfast. 
 Fearing the first class hotels wouldn't be numerous
 
 234 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 enough to stand the racket I grew crafty. I left doors 
 ajar, I pounced upon her in unexpected places. And 
 for my pains I learned Annette's waking hours were 
 one triumphal progress of flirtation. She flirted with 
 my chauffeur, a respectable married man; she flirted 
 with the footman till I fired him. She made eyes at 
 the proprietor and caressed the bell-boys. She lingered 
 before the statue of Apollo, admired the dummies in a 
 tailor's window, and even tried to cajole Le Pcnseur. 
 There was nothing for it we must leave Paris. The 
 idea of giving up Annette never entered my head, so I 
 arranged to take the night train south. 
 
 My maid was delighted. Her last mistress had win- 
 tered at Nice. " Ah ! It was such a beauti f ul place, 
 Nice ! Would Madame expect her to travel second ? " 
 
 No. Madame wouldn't. " You're bunking right 
 alongside me, Annette, and with the doors open so I 
 can keep my eye on you." 
 
 " Excellent, Madame."
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 From the day Charley Ross paid me over my share 
 of the Lelland purchase, I had felt a sneaking desire to 
 go to Monte Carlo; and now, although the labels on 
 our fifty trunks advertised Menton, I knew without 
 asking where we would alight. The thought of bac- 
 carat was to de Grasse like a red rag to a bull, or male 
 attire to Annette, so scenting the battle from afar we 
 landed in the gambler's heaven. 
 
 Never having seen any tropics, except New York in 
 summer, Monaco thrilled me. I adored the blueness of 
 the blue and the greenness of the greenery. And say ! 
 It's some town for spending money ! Only the cream 
 de cream in the shops not a scallop, not a button, not 
 a shade but makes one's teeth water. A f ter a dull win- 
 ter in the north, color and light went to my head. I 
 wallowed by day, and Henri wallowed at night, spurred 
 on by a persistent run of luck. We broke about even. 
 Every centime flowing in to him across the tables 
 flowed back to doll the Baroness ! 
 
 Position, easy money, and Annette's finish on the 
 article introduced me to the limelight. I was talked of 
 my aura permeated soon I found myself in a de- 
 lightful eddy with a lively group supporting a certain 
 Mrs. Sue Mainardy and Sue's husband Americans 
 living abroad, Baltimore originally, but now nearly 
 Europeanized. I liked them, man and woman, as well 
 
 235
 
 236 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 as any harnessed team I've ever met. Their long suit 
 was low voices, elegant manners, and any amount of 
 sophistication. But a blue-eyed kid niece gave her 
 elders away right and left. She was a riot, and Henri 
 and I loved her. We loved them all. 
 
 One evening, the Mainardys and our bunch had ven- 
 tured their last louis and were fixing to depart. Very 
 late it was, already play had stopped except on the 
 table by which we stood. All at once the doors opened 
 impressively from without. An amazed few of us 
 turned to see who came so late. The instant's expecta- 
 tion needed only an event to make it most dramatic, 
 and then, as if to crystallize the moment, a voice called 
 boldly from the threshold, 
 
 "Banquet " 
 
 " Est-il possible? Ccs Amcricalns!" murmured a 
 princeling, while I stood staring at the new comers, 
 open mouthed. 
 
 The taller gave one an impression of a walking skele- 
 ton. He must have been near seventy. Excessively 
 smart clothes contrived to hang loosely over his bony 
 frame without sacrificing a jot of style. He carried 
 himself very erect, but his cheeks sagged, and the flesh 
 wrinkled at his Adam's apple. He wore a monocle, 
 grimly refused to acknowledge the claims of a gouty 
 foot, and twisted the long ends of his moustaches with 
 crumpled fingers. I don't believe I ever saw him 
 and I learned enough of him later, heaven witness 
 when he wasn't nervously twirling or twisting some- 
 thing. From watery eyes half hidden under heavy 
 lids, this old fossil regarded the room with cold, ironical 
 humor. 
 
 His companion the man who had called banque,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 237 
 
 thereby taking to himself without inquiry the full 
 chances of the table was William Duffy. 
 
 He made directly toward me, hands extended like a 
 bosom friend, and his voice which had boomed above 
 the waters, fairly bellowed in the spacious chamber. 
 
 " Well met ! Well met ! Little Willie had a notion 
 we might run across each other hereabouts. Mark it ! 
 I'm never wrong. But I've been to America and 
 back since parting. Not my fault. They just took 
 me. What did I tell you? Those that ought to be 
 saved will be saved in spite of themselves, ha, ha ! 
 Much gold wouldn't turn her face towards Mecca, so I 
 looped the loop to Jersey, and once on Uncle Sam's 
 sod, business nailed me. That's why I haven't yet 
 handed in my card for entry." He glanced at the men 
 assembled. " I do it now though on the minute. 
 This race looks like crowding at the post. Ha, ha ! " 
 
 I was overwhelmed with embarrassment. What 
 would Sue Mainardy think of such a rank home prod- 
 uct? What would she think of me? At least he rep- 
 resented her America as much as mine! It was up 
 to her to help. I hadn't a ghost of a chance to cut 
 Duffy. He was too darned sure of himself. His en- 
 trance had made an impression, and his jubilance 
 rather took. Everybody turned to watch. Moreover 
 he was keeping the game waiting. 
 
 " I'm no quitter, you'll find out. And I've a long 
 start on some eh ? No time for fooling at that ! 
 Precious lucky we dropped in here to-night. We 
 might have missed you. My chum said it was too 
 late, but I said, ' Not a bit of it. Get into your glad 
 rags and hop along,' and here we are. We'd just 
 arrived from Genoa by motor, and my friend "
 
 238 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Remembering the claims of comradeship, he nipped his 
 story in the bud. " Where is he? Ah, let me pre- 
 sent my friend! Shake hands with the Baron von 
 
 Rathgartz." 
 
 ******** 
 
 The stars are what I saw ! 
 
 Duffy loved a title. His clear utterances sent 
 " Baron " ringing to the rafters; and from an immense 
 distance I heard it thrown back. Sound rained upon 
 me, crashing in the ruins of my house of glass. 
 
 The aristocrat folded himself over in a low obeisance, 
 and chattering teeth hummed an accompaniment to my 
 stunned salute. 
 
 Was this her husband? MY HUSBAND? 
 
 Crude instinct bade me fly vanish skidoo. I 
 cared not whither through the floor or upward. All 
 routes looked alike and welcome. I reckoned time and 
 distance for a sprint to the door, and our relative strate- 
 gic positions. While I was thus mentally engaged, 
 reason flashed me her S. O. S. Duffy didn't know my 
 name! In spite of blatant fellowship, he knew no 
 designation for me real or false. His opening imper- 
 tinence remained unanswered, thanks to Tom, and I 
 had not told him when he hinted on the raft. The 
 odds were all against his having found opportunity, 
 amid the hammer strokes of business in America, to 
 look me up. My plight, therefore, became a question 
 of skating over thin ice. It was a delicate situation in- 
 deed one to be carried by cool nerve. With alert- 
 ness and ready turns of phrase, giving the Baron no 
 chance to put in an oar, I might get the introduction 
 over, make them all acquainted with each other, and 
 make good my escape. We need not meet again. Set-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 239 
 
 tling with Sue and society would be a good twelve- 
 baskets full left from this little love feast, but once out 
 of here the fragments would at least lie scattered. 
 
 Sheer relief at this remembrance bowed my lips and 
 sent loud laughter reverberating through the room. 
 Sue started. Duffy beamed. My mirth rang hollow 
 death blows on good taste, but noise assured him of a 
 conquest. 
 
 Thought moves quicker than a clock-tick. After 
 these mental gymnastics I opened my mouth to continue 
 the proceedings hitchless and shut it again. For at 
 that minute, the kid's voice, youthfully raw, treacher- 
 ously keen, rising like a boy soprano's high above the 
 limit of suppression, sang a tardy echo of the stranger's 
 final word. 
 
 " Von Rathgartz ! Baron von Rathgartz ? Say ! 
 She's the Baroness von Rathgartz. They must be mar- 
 ried!" 
 
 In the profound hush following, the monocle of my 
 aristocratic spouse was heard to clatter on his waistcoat 
 buttons. Surprise had twitched it from its socket, but 
 with admirable presence of mind he let her swing, pre- 
 tending to have shed the bauble by an act of will, and 
 dropped his eyelids ambushing expression. 
 
 I drew my chin to the fighting level. One way of 
 showing fear if they had known, but indignation 
 seemed more meet. My impulse passed for hauteur. 
 It worked havoc with the old boy. Smiting his hand 
 hard where anything but a skeleton would have had a 
 stomach he doubled in a spasm, a record-breaking bow, 
 murmuring of " the honor." 
 
 " A landslide! " chirped the matchmaker. 
 
 " An uncommon name," somebody suggested.
 
 240 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 The Baron bowed again. " Most uncommon," he 
 answered in excellent English. " Madame and I are 
 the last of the line." 
 
 How much did the inclusion indicate ? " Oh, why 
 in a city of forty-five million, oh, why do you pick upon 
 me?" I whistled the air between clenched teeth. No, 
 I couldn't have whistled that air because it wasn't writ- 
 ten then, but I whistled the miserable idea, while his 
 Nibs regarded me with knife-blade penetration. 
 
 He was manager. He was handing out the parts 
 roling the cast in topsy-turvydom. I realized he 
 spotted me for an impostor, and he knew that I knew 
 he knew. The fear of his breaking loose, doing or 
 saying something to give me dead away, had passed. 
 I saw he was a different type. A man rooted and 
 grounded in forms and ceremonies not one to make 
 a scene, nor one to leap before looking. Up to the 
 present he had neither acknowledged nor denied me. 
 And I felt sure he would avoid the issue until he be- 
 came perfectly certain on which side his greatest ad- 
 vantage lay. 
 
 Assured the lion wasn't crouched to leap, I instantly 
 became aware of pussy's claws. The Mainardys had 
 faded to a safe and inconspicuous distance. My 
 Princeling suitor, endeavoring to gather penciled eye- 
 brows across a stormy front in dreadful anger, was so 
 preoccupied with the part he forgot me. Duffy had 
 already joined the tables, and the Terror, highly satis- 
 fied with her recent discovery, had followed to watch 
 his luck. So long as that determined young person 
 stayed we were bound to chaperone at least Sue was, 
 and I wouldn't quit till my cue. I was equally scared 
 to show fright by running away, and scared to linger
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 241 
 
 on. Small fry talked to me, sifted through and joined 
 the Baron. No one seemed anxious to mark our sepa- 
 ration openly, nor yet at ease while including both of us 
 in the same pocket of conversation. Evidently he and 
 I had quarrelled. We were mismated; we were sur- 
 prised to meet they drew their own conclusions. 
 Imagination outran facts, and cackle grew desultory. 
 In spurts wit lashed itself to frenzied nothings. But 
 when the game broke up, and Duffy's boom arrested 
 everybody's speech, men and women expanded their 
 stays with a huge sigh of relief. 
 
 William W r atson had won, and true to his country's 
 form desired to put up the drinks. He must treat. 
 Natural crassness fired by success helped him to knock 
 out such little obstacles as other people's mental com- 
 fort on the first round, as though he had been swatting 
 flies. He must treat ! Yes. Yes ! He must treat the 
 whole crowd! We must drink our safe preservation 
 his and mine. He commenced to tell the story of 
 the wreck, and interrupted it to form his party. We 
 must drink his winning! Not to celebrate success 
 would foul the luck to-morrow. There was no gain- 
 saying the man. 
 
 Personally I trembled to refuse and perhaps put the 
 Baron's back up. Sue had tried to pry her responsi- 
 bility loose and failed. The kid stuck a hand under 
 Duffy's arm, and his closed over it. Hangers-on, of 
 both sexes, watched the cat jump with satisfaction, 
 glad to get a supper at anybody's expense.. 
 
 We were no sooner in the restaurant than a game of 
 tag began around the table. Duffy wanted a place by 
 me. Grass-widowhood, or divorce, or genteel indif- 
 ference however you figure the von Rathgartz family
 
 242 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 situation didn't phase him not a little bit. The 
 Kid had gone dippy about William Watson and showed 
 it, stalking his every motion. Principality and Power, 
 represented by the fair and perfumed males, always 
 fought over Clarissa ; and she in turn was actuated by a 
 single thought to camp beside Sue's precious squab 
 and kick her young shins black and purple at her first 
 hint of springing any more matrimonial agency stuff. 
 
 A man ought to know his limit. Duffy had calcu- 
 lated his early in life, and not yet reached it. Along 
 the lines of giving a dog his due he can reap special 
 bouquets for carrying that party on the crest of a tidal 
 wave. If noise is any symptom of joy, our spirits 
 touched delirium. The Baron devoted himself to Mrs. 
 Mainardy. Common decency had placed us far 
 asunder, opposite in fact, and each time I chanced to 
 glance that way, I caught the face of his monocle glar- 
 ing at me. Perhaps it was only a trick in reflected 
 rays, but it looked mighty like the evil eye. I shud- 
 dered. He was so concrete, so indisputable, so much 
 cock of the walk. I felt myself shrinking visibly. My 
 courage oozed, the shoes pinched. I'd eaten my cake 
 and was about to experience the consequences, and, 
 like Alice, I longed to cry. 
 
 Von Rathgartz sat amid the maze of tinkling bril- 
 liancy devouring food and considering me off hand, as 
 a big, black, leggy spider might king it in his web, say- 
 ing to the insect already caught, " Stay put, nice little 
 juicy fellow. I'll have plenty of time to attend to you 
 later." 
 
 That wasn't the phrase he entangled me with when 
 the party dissolved but it may as well have been. 
 He was the first to go and made his bow before two
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 243 
 
 dozen searching eyes. What choice had I, but acquies- 
 cence to his purred request. 
 
 " Madame will grant me the family privilege of call- 
 ing?" 
 
 Noncommittal ! Yes. And not a touch of supplica- 
 tion in the asking. His tone was neither more nor less 
 than a pleasant statement of fact. All very polished 
 and agreeable, till one caught the smug grin stretched 
 tight-lipped upon a smoker's teeth, half hidden by his 
 drooped moustache.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 I beat it to my own room and threw myself across 
 the bed, soul sick in consternation. 
 
 "Family privilege of calling!" How about it? 
 What in thunder was the old chap's game? To pass 
 me as his wife? Ridiculous! Through claim of kin- 
 ship to draw down the ready? It must be money, but 
 how could a stranger know my circumstances. Ah! 
 Was the man a stranger? Why had he come and 
 where had he bagged Duffy ? William Watson showed 
 all the earmarks of an easy capture. He fell-in for the 
 asking, but the other walked with circumspection and 
 design. Was he the big stick in Samuel Jacobs's hand ? 
 If so, I risked my neck by staying. Suppose I left sud- 
 denly now between two days ? But where would 
 I go ? What sanctuary offered for a fool adventuress 
 masquerading under stolen honors? Was ever any 
 woman thing in such a mess ! And in Monaco 
 where even suicide is counted as an incident ! 
 
 If the Baron was Jacobs's man, he would weasel me 
 out, run me to earth in every port as he had holed me 
 here; and doubtless he would blast my reputation first 
 among my friends. A false name is a bad affair but 
 oh, you little title! It had not been my intention to 
 collar social prestige under wrong pretenses I had 
 .passed as a huge joke to myself but who would be- 
 lieve me? Not the sophisticated, world-wise Main- 
 ardys. 
 
 244
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 245 
 
 What crazy gain had Henri hoped to win by snatch- 
 ing that old crook's identity? And why, if I kept her 
 name, hadn't I held on to her papers ? The Baron had 
 something on me sure ; with that yellow sheet to hold 
 above his head I might have had something on him. 
 
 I suddenly sat erect. 
 
 "Fritz" was his name Fritz? and " Schloss- 
 gartz ! " Memory turned on a great white light ; my 
 imagination flamed over the past and future. I sprang 
 off the bed, fumbled for my jewel case, and made cer- 
 tain the little key was safe. The key to the actual box 
 in the actual castle the key to their secret. But was 
 it his secret? Had it anything to do with him? 
 Who knew ? I didn't believe that it had anything to 
 do with Jacobs. This was another family privilege, 
 and was I going to throw the chance away on account 
 of cold feet. Going to run from a man of whom I 
 knew nothing except that he had acted with great cir- 
 cumspection under amazing circumstances. 
 
 I laughed at Caution whispering he might well be 
 Jacobs's agent, as his wife had been, and rang for 
 Annette. 
 
 Of one thing I was certain, the Baron was a baron. 
 He had been received as an habitue and folks here 
 knew the Almanac de Gotha like a traffic cop. 
 
 Noon brought reassurance and a morning head. I 
 determined to hug my rooms till the monster should ar- 
 rive. If the old grandee was a crook, he would pretty 
 surely have a vulnerable spot around his pocket ; travel- 
 ing with a spender such as William Watson bespoke 
 the indigent or miserly and if he was not, it seemed 
 the cards were all in my hand. Having made up my 
 mind, the opera-bouffe might cost me heavily in riches
 
 246 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 or reputation, I was determined to see it through, and 
 proceeded to copy the score, and mail the same to How- 
 ard Griggs, while I waited. 
 
 " The brother of Madame, doubtless? " Annette sug- 
 gested, presenting the Baron's card. " Madame does 
 not resemble him at all except in the good style. Ah, it 
 was unmistakable Monsieur was of the best society. 
 But certainment qucl stupide! Monsieur would be 
 le beau- fr ere de Madame n'est ce pas? " 
 
 How stupid I had been not to think of passing for 
 his sister or his sister-in-law or his daughter. I 
 received him with a grin ! 
 
 My visitor stood some six foot two, and every inch 
 in sjght, from the fairish gray hair combed up to cover 
 an otherwise bald dome to the square ends of his 
 French shoes, was spic and span. Aristocracy stuck 
 out of him in bunches. He was a man of fashion, as 
 disreputable a fellow, possibly, as ever pinched past the 
 committee of a gentleman's club but a von Rath- 
 gartz. 
 
 While I was taking him in, I observed sharp glances 
 burned behind his lidded lamps. Not an item of the 
 show last night or now my automobile, its liveried 
 attendants, my salon, maid, clothes, comforts, escaped 
 the valuation. In spite of his affected indolence, he 
 was busy summing up. I appeared to be a young thing 
 rolling in gold, and indiscreet receiving strangers 
 alone in my own room but that's where judgment 
 skidded. Well, I knew Annette would be hovering 
 within call, her ear glued to the keyhole. 
 
 My method is to have trouble out and over with. I 
 held no weapon but the blunt truth, and the blunter the 
 better for knocking, so I let fly.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 247 
 
 " Baron, you ask for the family privilege of calling; 
 you honor me with an early visit, and yet you are per- 
 fectly aware that I don't possess the ghost of a right to 
 use your name. What about it? " 
 
 He bowed gravely. " Doubtless Madame has her 
 reasons for the intrusion. If she wishes to inform 
 me, I shall consider it a mark of confidence, if not " 
 He shrugged. 
 
 Was ever any one so delicately generous? But his 
 drawl continued: 
 
 " On a certain point I cannot be mistaken. There 
 sits here by you, positive as death, the last of the von 
 Rathgartz. Honor depended on that fact a dozen 
 years ago. The law searched far and wide. We did 
 not find so much as a natural son of my father." 
 
 Mental note : chances of wiggling by as a connection 
 absolutely nil. Whatever front I hereafter present to 
 Monaco will be at his dictation. The man's coolness 
 floored me. I wished he had not talked of " honor " 
 and the " law," and said " positive as death " as though 
 referring to a state of mind. I saw I must preserve 
 the social form alive. The most complimentary 
 course, under the circumstances, would be to tell him 
 my story. In his subtle, polite way he had almost de- 
 manded an explanation a matter of tones, not 
 phrases, for he spoke volumes in a sentence. 
 
 De Grasse is some little speaker too; he can serve a 
 few mitigating clauses, without the sauce of detail, and 
 make them a tit-bit to be swallowed by the most fas- 
 tidious. I dropped my chin and my words came sepa- 
 rately, slowly, flute notes, pianissimo in shame, and 
 sweet as honey. 
 
 " When young a child I married foolishly.
 
 248 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 He called himself the Baron von Rathgartz. There 
 are many very many impostors in the United 
 States. He was dashing, generous, well mannered 
 and I had no one to look after me. Six months later I 
 discovered he left me but my friends knew noth- 
 ing. The name alone saved me from disgrace." 
 
 Beauty in distress visibly touched my hearer's heart. 
 His lids drooped lower, tears glistened beneath them. 
 His voice was myrrh. 
 
 " Do not apologize, I pray you. My humble name is 
 at your service now and always, lovely lady. It is I 
 who must apologize for not having been in America in- 
 stead of that worthless dog. And last night in the 
 Casino surprise took me unawares. I am humor- 
 ous, and the temptation, I ask you to consider the 
 temptation to own, for even a few hours, one so per- 
 fect, beautiful, elegant Ah ! it was not to be resisted, 
 Madame. Pardon." 
 
 I laughed at his rush of words, his profound bow. 
 After all he seemed a kind old thing. He had not 
 come to pester me nor armed with a writ for my arrest. 
 The pendulum swung over. I accepted the blase roue 
 at the face value of his conversation. 
 
 " Referring to your affairs, Madame, I understand. 
 Each has his own trouble. We will not mention it 
 again. C'est fini. But that a child, with all this " 
 motioning airily to include the rooms, " should have no 
 guardian! Ces Americans! They are incredible." 
 
 How easy his manner, how mannerly his ease ! The 
 terrible plight of my maidenhood was wafted into for- 
 get fulness. By a gracious turn of phrase he con- 
 doned me and spread my sin on the nation. And I 
 was jubilant, poor simp ! I believed he had swallowed
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 249 
 
 the bait. I felt sure he could not be Jacobs's agent, and 
 my vanity plunged into the trap. 
 
 " We are a bit incredible," I boasted. " But not in 
 the sense you mean. I was poor when I married. 
 This is the fruit of honest toil it's mines and rub- 
 ber." 
 
 " Ah ! The Baroness is in rubber ? " he beamed ap- 
 proval. 
 
 " To the neck. Bought at the start and have been 
 buying all the way along. Honest, I don't even know 
 how much of the stock I'm good for but she's still 
 mounting." 
 
 My guest shook his head. " Dangerous speculation. 
 I see you are a gambler. With so much, why do you 
 not begin to sell ? I would advise, Madame. Brokers 
 are none too honest, when it's a lady's loss and no 
 challenger." 
 
 " Pistols for two and coffee for one. Great old sys- 
 tem. What a bloody battle the Exchange would be if 
 we lived up to it. Since I haven't a living relative to 
 fight, I guess I'd better unload." 
 
 Too late I realized the oily old insinuator's drift. A 
 girl and her money are soon parted specially if 
 there's nobody round to raise a row about it. But he 
 was counting without de Grasse. I smiled. 
 
 All in all the Baron proved a very cheerful caller. 
 He chirped delightfully on almost any topic, steadily 
 preserving the buoyant action of a thoroughbred. 
 More and more concern fell from me. He certainly 
 did not represent the law ; he came with no fell inten- 
 tion. He came with no intention whatever, it ap- 
 peared, but to suggest an expedition for the following 
 morning of course with my friends. If I wanted
 
 250 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 to find out the secret of Schlossgartz, there was noth- 
 ing to do but accept. He set the hour at eleven and 
 rose to go and on his going dropped a sentence like 
 a bomb. 
 
 " It was divorce I mentioned to Madame Mainardy. 
 You will pardon, but a plausible relationship was neces- 
 sary. You were surprised pained at least not 
 well pleased at the meeting. Divorce is a perfect ex- 
 planation. Inasmuch as I have wronged this charm- 
 ing lady, I am in the dust. I promise you I will let 
 them understand my penitence I only am to blame. 
 They shall see me grovel." 
 
 Now what do you think about that ! 
 
 The colossal gall dumfounded me, and before I re- 
 covered from my blank surprise he was gone. 
 
 Last night's panic was as child's play to my present 
 anger. He had told Sue Mainardy a devilish lie had 
 told it with tears. He had queered me in her eyes by 
 the readiness of his own confidence. And then he had 
 called, and been received, and had spent an hour in my 
 private salon how could I refuse to meet him? 
 
 Villain! Thrice damned but, oh, a genius! 
 Down to the last jot and tittle I would be made to act 
 the offended wife, and receive his humble attentions. 
 But why ? Jacobs could not care for such revenge ; 
 and short of Jacobs what quarrel had the man with 
 me?
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Moods were badly mixed from thenceforth, and our 
 game of tag around the table grew to habit, for Henri's 
 sporting blood was up. He stayed to fight von Rath- 
 gartz; the lists were all Monaco; and our public soon 
 took sides. 
 
 Whatever my tormentor said to Sue worked havoc in 
 her womanly sympathies. Where it had been 
 " Clarissa," it was now " dear Baroness." An ad- 
 der's sting! My divorced state she thought ought to 
 have been mentioned between friends. And quaintly, 
 and the wonder is sincerely, held to bring about reunion 
 with my poor, heartbroken, gallant, sorry, fascinating 
 husband would count a worthy work of supereroga- 
 tion. 
 
 Matchmaking kept her busy those days, for the kid 
 still haunted Duffy, and our compatriot, who was win- 
 ning and spending at a terrific rate, so reeked of money 
 it behooved a wily aunt to put her best foot forward. 
 His rampant commercialism suggested an office perched 
 high above the mart of rich Manhattan, as Russians 
 conjure up the steppes; but William Watson was not 
 expansive over his own affairs. The savage in him 
 made no bones of snubbing man, woman or child. 
 
 He showed himself coy and disappointed in me. I 
 believe he despised my situation more than I hated it 
 myself. A girl who had had the pluck to kick loose 
 once to let herself be steadily dragged back into the 
 
 251
 
 252 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 toils? The sight disgusted his blatant independence. 
 He avoided me, and his cold-shouldering worked the 
 dickens with my plans. Duffy knew the ins and outs 
 of the Baron's business and it was far easier to pump 
 an unsuspecting American, particularly one who dwelt 
 on castled moats with large enthusiasm, than to trap 
 von Rathgartz into details. Princelings and popu- 
 larity tripped me at every move I turned savage 
 also. 
 
 My tempers left the Baron anything but disconcerted. 
 He sure admired spirit. He courted me so assidu- 
 ously I never had a minute to myself except asleep. 
 One afternoon I cajoled Duffy into calling, and over 
 tea cups planned to win my goal. But scarcely five 
 minutes after his arrival, before we got the ice well 
 broken on the how-d'you-dos, the old top pussy- footed 
 up. Heaven only knows how much he tipped Annette ! 
 
 At first he worked the deep repentance gag, and later 
 made it look as if I was encouraging a declaration. 
 Flowers, flowers all the time! He snowed objections 
 under offering remarks in public. What had become 
 of his poor posies? if I did not wear them and 
 smirks and grimaces if I did. By and by, when every- 
 body else was aeons old in wisdom, the full farce 
 dawned upon me. I was being seriously wooed. 
 Bets were being made. Gee ! How I hated him ! 
 But I was more than ever determined to smoke out the 
 ground-hog. 
 
 In self-defence I commenced to propose wild esca- 
 pades. Desire for the near impossible, never before 
 troubling my sober constitution, suddenly broke out 
 like a rash. I absolutely must do this and that go 
 here and there anywhere that age should hesitate to
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 253 
 
 follow. But age never hesitated not for single mo- 
 ment; it just naturally mixed and coalesced with my 
 craziest prank. Von Rathgartz set himself to carry 
 through my every whim, thereby placing a halo of mar- 
 tyrdom on his thin gray hair; and getting me in all 
 wrong. 
 
 " She's a hard one to follow and the devil to beat ! " 
 I heard a man remark to Sue Mainardy. Her answer 
 was the more general and less complimentary view of 
 our case. 
 
 " What a dance she must have led the dear old 
 chap." 
 
 I danced him right enough. I was getting desper- 
 ate. I fox-trotted him from morn till dewy eve all up 
 and down the glad Riviera. I dandled him from giddy 
 heights, I raced with him on shingly stretches. I was 
 hoyden, termagant, shrew, proud princess, lofty, 
 stupid, vacant, boring, childish and never made him 
 turn a hair. Only when I took to gaming, played 
 steep and kept on playing though every click of the 
 ivory ball stripped me of thousands did he offer re- 
 monstrance. And that was a rummy way to make him 
 wiggle. Danger, fatigue, trouble simply didn't exist 
 for him where I dictated, and the net result of my 
 strenuosity was to land us on strange expeditions alone. 
 
 The last of these was a donkey ride away up in the 
 hills above La Turbie. It was a stunning day. The 
 idea seized me at luncheon, and I threw down my 
 gauntlet hoping Duffy would snatch it, for some ref- 
 erences to the Carbothia had got him going nicely. He 
 did make one convulsive effort, while the Kid gave me 
 the up and down. * My heart jumped into my mouth 
 this looked like business. And then Mrs. Mainardy
 
 254 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 dusted her voice and reminded dear Dolly that she and 
 Mr. Duffy had promised to carry a message for her to 
 the Coalport's villa. Rot! W. W. choked on his 
 mousse. Sue gave him a blasting glance. He glow- 
 ered back, caught sight of the Squab who was wearing 
 filmy white and seemed as innocent as swan's-down, re- 
 considered the satisfaction of murdering aunty, and 
 left the jaunt to von Rathgartz and me. 
 
 Of course I had to carry the thing through. We 
 were to motor to La Turbie and my only hope lay in 
 not finding any donkeys. But no such luck. I craned 
 my neck at the last corner pretending to be frightfully 
 keen about them, and then had to burble artificial joy 
 while the Baron bargained for the two husky beggars 
 dozing there in the sunshine, fair, fat and fit for a long 
 trek. The ebullition though insincere affected my 
 spirits. Altitude, fresh air, sparkling light, a swift 
 flight in the car, the broad grins of the donkey boy all 
 combined to jack me up. The Baron, though always 
 unwelcome, was never unpleasant. He waxed quite 
 funny on occasion, and was in fine feather to-day. He 
 threw one leg over the silly critter's back with as much 
 dignity as if he had been mounting a racer from the 
 King's stable, and a grand display of humor. I must 
 own he never allowed himself to play the fool. 
 
 Between this and that we made a good start. I had 
 a sneaking notion we would both enjoy the outing. 
 It's difficult to nurse antagonism and keep a dour mood 
 when descending to childish things. Watching the 
 Baron's feet which almost dragged, and trying to cal- 
 culate whether, by an effort, he could stand on tip-toe 
 and let the animal walk out, I found it difficult to credit 
 him with wickedness. He jollied me, and 1 returned
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 255 
 
 the challenge. He told funny stories, acting them in 
 part, till laughter rocked me in the saddle. He 
 wreathed himself in smiles, and at the sign I recollected 
 how he played with me for his amusement, and all the 
 shine went off. 
 
 Black thunder wasn't in it with my nastiness. Clar- 
 issa spiced up pretty well those days. I'd bite the hand 
 that fed me just as soon as not; and since my keeper 
 knew it, he let me be, and fell back several paces. So 
 we mounted slowly. 
 
 Silence is golden, says the seer. Von Rathgartz 
 knew the ring of gold in every language. He kept on 
 coming sixteen paces back, and gave the tang of lone- 
 liness a chance to get its work in. The road laps it- 
 self up and up, back and fore across the front of the 
 hills like the tail of Henri's snake. By the time we 
 reached the fork where one branch led to the club, my 
 temper had toned down. I was ticklish, but bearable. 
 I hailed him : 
 
 " Let's go to that small spot of mountain top com- 
 pletely surrounded by view, and play the honorable 
 game." 
 
 " Golf? I thought you wanted something infinitely 
 wilder, more difficult, picturesque, free ! " 
 
 " Sea-scape and sky make keeping one's eye on the 
 ball a million times difficult. Fact is I never succeed." 
 
 " Then we won't play," he answered with happy 
 assurance. " I desire above all else that Madame shall 
 enjoy herself. What is a game? I forego it with 
 pleasure." And he commenced to ride away up the 
 less frequented road leading over the pass. 
 
 I was mad. Somehow or other, just on the brink of 
 adventure, I didn't feel like hills. Of course it wasn't
 
 256 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 his fault. I had brought the expedition on my own 
 head. He was only doing the gentlemanly act in es- 
 corting a lady whither she wanted to go. But he 
 needn't be so keen about making me live up to the let- 
 ter of my idea. Duffy's philosophy jingled in my 
 brain : Those that ought to be saved will be saved 
 in spite of themselves. Well, I didn't like " in spite 
 of." I was tempted to turn my Nanny head to tail 
 and amble home alone. Second thoughts delayed me. 
 During the past few days I had learned many points 
 in my opponent's character. One was that he never 
 argued. He sacrificed, gallantly, gratuitously, on your 
 altar the. thing you suggested doing, and went ahead 
 and carried out his own plans. By this simple means 
 he avoided the appearance of selfishness. But he was 
 selfish, clear through from the hide to the backbone! 
 And he could make himself more offensive in fewer 
 words than any human being I have ever fallen foul of. 
 Now how would my dear old beau comport himself, if 
 peeved? I pondered a full minute and then decided to 
 hike along. It seemed best to stick the trial out and 
 jog trot with him till I got a clue. Then me for action. 
 Gee! What a place that was on the other side of 
 the first little pass ! And wouldn't it have been the set 
 for Duffy's confidence ? Little Clarissa is no bum plan- 
 ner only her plans don't always come off as planned. 
 The country rolled around us wild and lonely as the sea 
 and so much of it. I had not dreamed such miles 
 and miles of mountains divided Monte Carlo from the 
 provinces. They swelled and billowed northward, 
 monstrous, deserted, giving neither sign nor sound of 
 life. I shivered, eyeing the Baron askance, for once we 
 had gone beyond the sentinel mounds and laid a fold
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 257 
 
 of the road behind us, I would be as completely shut 
 away from human aid, as if buried in dungeon depths. 
 The path soon merged in grassy wilderness. Tilted 
 grassy slopes surrounded us. An uncouth Gypsy 
 Italian-looking fellow passed, and was lost beyond a 
 hill. 
 
 "If that's the kind who travel here, then let's go 
 back ! " I cried. " I've read of brigands and I think 
 I like them best in books." 
 
 " Bah ! Madame need not fear with me. I carry a 
 revolver always but for such why waste a shot ? " 
 
 Von Rathgartz stretched out his long right arm and 
 it came up like a jointed iron rod. A show of strength 
 which had the reverse effect from its advertised pur- 
 pose. Madame immediately began to shake in her 
 stirrups. 
 
 I was determined not to get farther away from the 
 golf club road than need be, and set myself, without 
 open contradiction, to combat the old beau's purpose. 
 So I called a halt and dismounted, complaining of 
 cramp. 
 
 My escort handed me down without demur, and I 
 stood and raved about the mountains, while that subtle 
 smile played under his moustache. Three minutes' 
 spouting emptied the vats of my first enthusiasm. I 
 had used up every polite adjective in the vocabulary 
 charming, exquisite, enchanting, attractive, delightful. 
 While all the time my nerves tingled to yell the one 
 supreme qualification of the scene LONELY! 
 
 Just because I felt isolation, breathed it and, 
 above all else, feared it, diplomacy kept me babbling 
 nothings about the heavenly view. I was booked to fill 
 time by sheer lung power, like blowing up an air cush-
 
 258 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ion. I barked trivialities. I swept the horizon with 
 eyes fierce for suggestion. I dropped my glance. I 
 saw growing things little things blades of grass, 
 and cried eagerly: 
 
 "Are there any flowers here mountain flowers? 
 I've never picked a posy on a pinnacle. What is it 
 again you call the poets' joy guaranteed to act like 
 absinthe ? " 
 
 As I talked, I walked slowly around searching in the 
 coarse grass. 
 
 The Baron laughed. " Ah, you will look a long 
 time here and not find edelweiss it is of the Alps. 
 But we poets do not miss the stars when our sun is 
 shining." 
 
 Ignoring his compliment, I continued to move in 
 circles ever backward toward the open road. We 
 made a swell show there among the panoramic hills. 
 I, the complete product of Annette's skill, turned out as 
 I had lunched, and not for donkey riding; holding hard 
 on Nanny's bridle, and stepping lively; and my com- 
 panion pacing back of me, determined to come even, 
 but sadly handicapped by a self-willed ass. His mount 
 wanted to quit our circus procession and study the flora 
 for himself. Von Rathgartz was obliged to stop and 
 reason with him, and every time they lingered, I scur- 
 ried on. Finally, they caught me up. He was close 
 beside me, and spoke softly. 
 
 " La Baronne has flowers at her belt more beautiful 
 than any ever growing in the mountains. These lilies 
 of the valley Ah! " The tall old man bent to smell 
 my bouquet, letting one hand fall upon my arm. 
 
 The cheek of it ! I drew away quickly. 
 
 " You are unkind, Madame, such a small liberty."
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 259 
 
 His omission of apology acted on my mood like a 
 match on a cannon cracker. 
 
 " I don't like snakes ! " I cried rashly. 
 
 Von Rathgartz's expression clouded, his lip curled. 
 " You will more probably meet wolves here," he said, 
 with a sneer. 
 
 I regretted my rudeness, and followed in silence as 
 he strode along. After we had gone a little distance, 
 he began to speak with a fine dignity. 
 
 " Madame, I have sent you flowers twice a day since 
 the episode of our introduction. I have called on you 
 as often as propriety allowed. I have made a point of 
 being always where you were likely to be of meet- 
 ing you with your friends. They, perhaps, do not ex- 
 actly understand our position. They do not know 
 what lies behind. It is immaterial to fool them was 
 my pleasantry. But you have known, and you must 
 have understood because I was always everywhere at 
 your service. In America, as in Europe, such a course 
 speaks for itself, does it not? " 
 
 I did not answer. I was struck all of a heap by his 
 reference to what lay behind. Was he referring only 
 to his joke, or could he mean the Baroness and Jacobs? 
 
 " These circumstances indicate much in your society, 
 n'est ce pas? " 
 11 It means you like me " 
 " Only so much ? " 
 
 He waited for an appreciable length of time, walk- 
 ing with his chin sunk on his breast, and eyes downcast. 
 I believe the old Don Juan cared to win me on his 
 merits. My stolid silence piqued him. He shrugged, 
 muttered " Helas ! " and stopping, so that we stood face 
 to face surrounded by our asses, said coldly:
 
 260 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " I am a widower, Mademoiselle. There is no rea- 
 son why we should not marry." 
 
 The tone, more than his words, confirmed my worst 
 fears, though it needed nothing further than the 
 changed style of address to show he was up to mis- 
 chief. Unless he wished me to realize that Jacobs's 
 confederate had been his wife why put it that way? 
 My blood ran cold and hot by turns, my tongue stuck to 
 the roof of my mouth. Never had any spot on earth 
 seemed so vast so LONELY ! 
 
 " There is no reason," he repeated, softly now. 
 
 " Except that I can't stand you." The very crude- 
 ness of my answer heightened my anger. I was a bar- 
 barian. I did not know how to be positive without 
 being vulgar. And this adroit personality matching 
 me would steal advantage from every break. He 
 smiled already with perfect good form, overlooking 
 my incivility as one forgives a naughty or excited child. 
 He commenced to remonstrate with me gently. 
 
 " Society, in my country, does not consider that a 
 reason. You do not care for me to-day, but in six 
 months hence eh? The lover is despairing for his 
 lady now, sincerely grieved for her, and yet he will en- 
 joy, three, four, six others before the leaves fall. Per- 
 sonal feeling plays too great a variation to make like 
 and dislike reputable authority. Here we arrange 
 these matters for the mind as well as for the heart. 
 Ah, but doubtless you are expecting a lyrical motif! 
 I know it is so managed in America. Je t' adore! 
 There will be a place for that later." 
 
 I had no choice but to remain silent, checking my 
 wrath, thanking the powers that I was spared senti- 
 mentality. His next move took me by surprise.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 261 
 
 " Shall I announce our engagement, then? This will 
 amuse our friends. You could not hate me, quite, 
 since you had not even changed your name. It has 
 been remarked." 
 
 The reference to their impudent bets, the neat re- 
 minder of my questionable position, and his own hold 
 over me tipped the lid off. 
 
 " You will do nothing of the kind! " I cried, beside 
 myself with anger. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because I won't marry you. I wouldn't marry 
 you, if you were the last man on earth! I hate, loathe 
 and despise you! I don't appreciate your sense of 
 humor, nor fancy your pleasantries. This week hasn't 
 been any fun for me. You held me here in a horrible 
 predicament and pestered me with your attentions. 
 Masquerading as your divorced wife was bad enough 
 but if you think I'm going to be a perfect fool and 
 marry you really you've got another guess coming." 
 
 I stopped for breath, and we remained measuring 
 each other eye to eye. I felt he was strong and deter- 
 mined. What did he know of me except my own 
 story? I must force his hand. If he belonged to 
 Jacobs, he must speak of Jacobs. 
 
 " My husband " I began, for the trouble with a 
 stupid lie is that you have to stick to it. 
 
 " Mademoiselle, you are not married." Two pin 
 points of blue steel glittered in his hard face. " Even 
 if I had masticated such a foolish tale, marriage under 
 an assumed name is not legal. I repeat there is no 
 obstacle." 
 
 So he had never accepted Henri's bluff! But how 
 did he know I was single unless he knew all ? At
 
 262 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 that minute he wore the grim look of one who takes 
 his foe alive or dead ; and suddenly I understood. He 
 was playing for himself and his own fortune first. If 
 I married him, nothing more would be said. Fear of 
 the past overwhelmed me, along with fear of the man. 
 Uncertainty drove me crazy. I stamped my foot. 
 
 11 Why do you bring me here to hector me ? What 
 do you want ? If you want money, I can pay " 
 
 He leaned against his donkey, smiling again, and, as 
 his grin broadened, I saw my mistake. 
 
 " Why should you pay me? " the Baron asked, coldly 
 insolent. " And why should I accept part, when I can 
 have the disposal of the whole fortune? When a beau- 
 tiful lady is ready to give money, she can be persuaded 
 to give much beside money I want everything." 
 
 I drew myself to my full height, my eyes flashed; I 
 felt tall and bold as a hawk. I hated him. 
 
 " Want then! Want! " I cried. " You won't get 
 one red cent ! " 
 
 The beast had the cheek to admire me. " Ach, so 
 you are magnificent! That is the way I like you best! 
 It will be necessary -to tease you sometimes. La figure! 
 It is superb! " 
 
 That touch of patronage roused the American eagle. 
 She flew at him. " Damn you ! Damn your hideous 
 tricks! I won't give you anything. Marry you! I 
 wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole ! " 
 
 I lashed desire, and spurned his admiration all in 
 one. The man's face changed. His watery eyes 
 turned red-rimmed, beads of perspiration stood upon 
 his forehead. He was inordinately vain, and I had 
 flicked him on the raw. Perhaps he really fancied a 
 girl like me could love him.
 
 "I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth"
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 263 
 
 " You won't pay me a red cent, hein ! You refuse 
 to give me anything! You will give me a kiss, now, 
 my beauty ! " 
 
 He swept over me. Long arms circled around, en- 
 closed me, pressed me tight against his hard, flat body. 
 He bent me backward. He covered my face with that 
 hateful moustache. I had never been kissed before. 
 Never! I thought only of his yellow teeth. 
 
 During the next fifty seconds hours years, my 
 wits bust a record, while I stood quiet and suffered his 
 shameful embrace, alone with him there, far from as- 
 sistance. What a fool I had been to rouse the sleeping 
 wolf ! I could easily have promised easily have 
 broken the promise. To struggle against him now 
 would only make matters worse. I must wait, I had to 
 endure, I counted madly: one, two, three, four, five, 
 six, seven, eight, nine, ten; one, two, three, four, five, 
 six, seven, eight, nine, ten while his hideous kisses 
 rained on my face. I wasn't so much scared as dis- 
 gusted. He had offered marriage, he wanted above all 
 things to marry me, and, however upset for the mo- 
 ment, he was too calculative to endanger a possible for- 
 tune. At the worst I must accept him. And once de- 
 livered out of this, shake the dust of Monte Carlo from 
 my feet forever. Let him follow let him do his 
 worst anything was better than being embraced. 
 Bah ! I would rather be hung for murder than marry 
 the beast ! One, two, three, four, five, six 
 
 " Whe-he-e-e-y-yo-yo-o-ho-ho-hoh ! " 
 
 Violetta lifted up her voice and brayed. 
 
 We shot apart like an explosion, while east and west 
 the glorious noise resounded. My Nanny joined its 
 echoes; and von Rathgartz turned upon the twain to
 
 264 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 slay them. Then realizing love was free he grabbed 
 for her and caught a donkey's tail. 
 
 Clarissa left him suddenly amid the music; nor did 
 her scooting shadow waver until La Turbie and the 
 waiting automobile came in sight.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Thanks to the donkeys I had not been forced to go 
 through the humiliating pretense of accepting von 
 Rathgartz. But he had kissed me, had held me in his 
 arms, had taken a lover's privilege and how was I 
 to put the mum plaster on his tongue? To-morrow he 
 would do one of two things report me to Jacobs, or 
 announce our engagement to the Mainardys, and make 
 a story of his conquest in the smoking room. He could 
 be trusted to do the latter anyway. One had only to 
 picture him, deserted, descending alone, flanked by the 
 two animals, to know how bitterness must animate his 
 memory. 
 
 Laughter took some of the disgust out of me, though 
 I realized my plight. And when I had washed his 
 kisses off, I donned a negligee, made fatigue an excuse 
 for getting out of a dinner date ; and settled my mind 
 to some long, deliberate cogitation. 
 
 This was to be no wild riot of pangs and fears such 
 as I had experienced earlier. Our wits were clear. 
 The woman stuff of the afternoon had not affected 
 Henri as it upset me, and it was de Grasse to the helm. 
 
 Blunder by blunder we reviewed the situation and 
 its causes. First, there was the charge of murder 
 hanging fire from that beach affair, negligible in itself, 
 the inquest having laid both deaths to Felix's hand. 
 Of course, if I should be hauled up on other accounts, 
 it was still in line to form an unpleasant addition, but 
 
 265
 
 266 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 old Stutz loomed more terrible on my horizon. Terry 
 had been right about the little flivver that went flop into 
 the water Stutz was struggling back to health in a 
 prison hospital cot, and there was where my fortunes 
 struck a bunker. He honestly believed he had been 
 robbed before the hand of justice fell upon him. How- 
 ever, he had come by that black case, he had certainly 
 handed it over to me in good faith. He would swear 
 through thick and thin that Clarissa took his diamonds, 
 and being one of Jacobs' s dupes, Jacobs would nat- 
 urally be the last to disabuse him on that score. 
 Should he turn King's evidence, like the boatman, the 
 thing looked black. 
 
 Jacobs himself was the immediate menace. Griggs 
 and I knew he had planned to send a bona fide messen- 
 ger to the beach a girl who would find no automo- 
 bile and no boat. She must have been sadly at a loss, 
 poor innocent, if she ever got that far. I wondered 
 \vhat she had done. Whatever her course she had lost 
 time, luckily for us, and Jacobs had lost more com- 
 municating with Felix or Felix with Jacobs. Jacobs 
 wouldn't have hurried, knowing that load of diamonds 
 was fake, he'd just as soon have had them disappear, 
 and Felix must have been fine and drunk by then. 
 Eventually, they must have worked round to the pawn- 
 shop man and that's where I got off. He would be 
 able to spot me again among a million. 
 
 There remained the Baroness mixup. If she had 
 been working for Jacobs, she had failed to carry out 
 his business. He must get wise. It was dead easy to 
 trace me what an ostrich I had been to hide myself 
 with a blare of trumpets! That Yiddish letter com- 
 menced to haunt me. Jacobs possessed power and
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 267 
 
 money. It looked as though he had already set his 
 spies at work ; and his ability to do me dirt was limit- 
 less. 
 
 On top of all these fears the Baron's pretensions to 
 my hand raised an immediate issue. I could not re- 
 main in Monte Carlo. At any moment he might turn 
 and rend me blow my reputation to a bomb pit. I 
 must give the man the slip ; skidaddle with a big SK ; 
 go while the going was good, and go alone. Well I 
 knew he had bribed Annette, and that she would cheer- 
 fully fly with me, and telegraph our whereabouts. 
 Henri was always good at a start. A dozen schemes, 
 melodramatic, humorous, impossible, whirled through 
 my head, but none of them wound up just right ; none 
 of them carried me beyond Monaco let alone my 
 trunks. " Trunks ! You rave ! This time it's to be 
 no spotlight exit," Henri warned me. 
 
 Seeing I couldn't take everything, I decided to take 
 nothing; to feign an illness, shake my friends and 
 board the Ventimiglia train at lunch time, when Monte 
 Carlo would have settled to the serious business of its 
 day. 
 
 Woman's everlasting gag, the headache, served to 
 lay me out of promenade and luncheon party. I sent 
 Annette around with a cool note of explanation, writ- 
 ten so as to curb Sue's sympathy short of a call, and 
 added a shopping list bound to take her two hours, 
 with Paul driving the car. I did have a touch of head, 
 and I wore a fit of the blues that for pure color rivalled 
 an artist's palette. 
 
 The girl tucked me up, supplied me with salts and a 
 copy of the Paris Herald, and, after repeated offers of 
 service, trotted down the hall happy as a cricket over
 
 268 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 her outing. When she was gone, I sprang erect and 
 fired my paper clear across the room. It was madden- 
 ing to think Annette would never minister to me again. 
 I had been a fool not to quit when the Baron put in an 
 appearance. I had lost every trick without so much as 
 hearing him mention Schlossgartz. In fact, he had so 
 persistently avoided details I began to wonder if he 
 really was a title. I lost myself in morbid fancy. 
 The winged snake came and set upon my eyeballs. It 
 had pestered me outrageously since these strangers 
 crossed my path, the little rubber growing daily in im- 
 portance. Did that indicate to sell? The Baron had 
 seriously advised me to sell more than once, and the 
 market had gone off a few points during the week. 
 Now it was booming again. Were he and Duffy stock 
 manipulators and laying for me there, too? I pon- 
 dered Duffy the habits of the beast at home and 
 guessed he was a good deal less of a spender in Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 Thinking about my money perked me up. Why 
 should a woman with millions five, eight, ten my 
 fortune varied day by day lie down under anybody's 
 thumb? 
 
 " Me for my own name and my own country ! " I 
 cried, jumping out of bed. 
 
 " I reckon I can put up a pretty spunky fight against 
 prosecution in New York City. And as for folks here 
 I lived a long time without the Mainardys, and 
 there's as good fish in the sea as ever was caught ! " 
 
 Compared to our arrival, my preparations for leav- 
 ing were a fair joke. If I escaped with my dressing 
 case, I would do well. It was a very magnificent affair 
 wonderfully fitted, dozens of bottles and brushes made
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 269 
 
 it heavy as lead but not too heavy for Clarissa in 
 an emergency. Remember I was no fine lady pam- 
 pered from the cradle up. As I hefted the case in one 
 hand, I thought of the boxes of lingerie which I had 
 been expected to swing from the high shelves at Bain 
 & Dingley's down to the counter and up again. The 
 scene of my early victories trumpeted a bugle note. 
 Running away with one's pockets full of honest money 
 is a cinch ! Doubts scurried in all directions before a 
 great heart-sized laugh. 
 
 My hands fairly twinkled as I stowed in jewels and 
 private papers. There was plenty of time, but An- 
 nette might return, and must not find me packing. 
 Suddenly I went up in the air. A time table! My 
 kingdom for a time table! When did the Venti- 
 miglia train go through? Rummage, rummage 
 but nothing doing! The property man had tricked 
 me. I daren't arrive at the station early and await 
 results; I was too conspicuous. And I daren't face 
 those sunlight streets before the hour when man would 
 be intent upon his midday meal. I was too popular. 
 I would be seen, recognized, accosted, roped in for 
 something. 
 
 I fumed, I rummaged, but I dare not ring. None 
 knew better than the Baron how to fathom a bell- 
 boy's knowledge by the weight of a small coin dang- 
 ling on a string of questions. To have a sheet sent 
 up was to advertise whither I journeyed. I must just 
 go down myself, loiter through the hall, perhaps buy 
 a copy of the papers I already had, and snoop a 
 folder. The earlier the safer for this little curtain 
 raiser but first to dress. 
 
 Gown after gown I took from its place, tried and
 
 270 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 discarded, finally picking on a neutral toned suit more 
 in the style of Mrs. Brown than any giddy aristocrat. 
 Plain accessories added themselves without effort, but 
 deciding on a hat ate up my courage. To choose one 
 only one, and forsake the others. My eyes watered. 
 I tried on all the favorites the ruby straw, the oys- 
 ter gray with its soft plumes exactly matching, a 
 black lace and jet real lace and real jet, several 
 suedes perfect dolls tan and pink and green ; and 
 last, the fairy blue the blue with the soft tulle un- 
 derrims and the misty white lace veil. I tried this one 
 on over and over. How tragic that it would never 
 again crown my titled head. Could I bring myself to 
 carry a bandbox? No, I could not. My training as 
 a perfect lady, though brief, had been too thorough. 
 So I kissed its dainty edge as I laid it away in snowy 
 tissue paper. I hoped Annette would take it. 
 
 Jimminy Crickets! The idea of what was about 
 to become of all my things opened vistas. They'd 
 think I took French leave lacking spondulics. I'd 
 talked about rubber, but never shown my certificates, 
 and I'd been losing heavily in the Casino. The Baron- 
 ess was busted! Rather than face it, I'd left the pro- 
 prietor to pay himself out of my effects. If gossip 
 didn't put a spoke in von Rathgartz's wheel, I missed 
 my guess. In twenty-four hours he'd be drinking 
 himself to death over his lucky escape. 
 
 Surveying myself critically in the mirror, dressed 
 by my own hands for the first time in months, I real- 
 ized the Baroness von Rathgartz, that final letter in 
 the art of womanhood, was indeed dead. 
 
 " Absolutely safe," I murmured, heart and body
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 271 
 
 sinking together in the elevator. " Nobody will rec- 
 ognize me this way." 
 
 Alas! I had hardly returned to find Annette open- 
 jawed regarding the litter of my toilet than I heard 
 the unmistakable bony-fingered rap-a-tap-tap of the 
 Baron's arrival. He had recognized me! I almost 
 loved the creature out of sheer gratitude! But how 
 to escape him what to do? My paragon maid 
 would let him in, if he so much as offered her a louis. 
 
 One of Henri's inspirations saved the day. An- 
 nette being a sort of female edition of de Grasse he 
 understood her wiles. 
 
 " I have been looking over some gowns," I said, 
 airily waving away thousands of francs' worth in cre- 
 ations by Paquin, Cheruit, Beer. " The sapphire and 
 the taupe and these trifles on the ottoman are for my 
 right hand. You will look nice in the hat. I feel 
 better, and am going out ; maybe I won't be in to din- 
 ner you can have the afternoon off. Whoever that 
 is, say Madame is not at home." 
 
 The knocks grew urgent. 
 
 " Annette," I added, looking her straight in the eyes. 
 "If that is the Baron von Rathgartz, hold him a little 
 in conversation. I do not wish to meet him going out. 
 Here. Let me see you." 
 
 It was farewell. Placing the cherry hat on her 
 dark hair, I tilted her chin. I gazed at her. I kissed 
 her. We were both embarrassed. 
 
 But my munificent gift had satisfied her avarice. 
 "Madame is kind they are so beautiful!" she 
 gasped, white teeth gleaming, and hastened away to do 
 my bidding on an expert specimen of the flirtatious
 
 272 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 male. Common jealousy knows no pang like Henri's. 
 Think of the eyes she would make! 
 
 I heard his voice, " Mais, Madame has just come 
 up. I saw her take the elevator this minute " 
 
 My maid's reply began with a zip and ended in a dove 
 coo. It got him. 
 
 " What have you been contriving in her absence ? 
 Trying on the dresses, hein? How does she look, the 
 little one ? " 
 
 Ah! He would soon know. The door closed. It 
 was diamond cut diamond. I was saved at the price 
 of Annette but Henri raged! I grabbed my bag 
 from where it stood ready, beat it down the stairs and 
 jumped into a cab. 
 
 Ever so little later we were steaming out of Monte 
 Carlo, second class a girl and a valise with no 
 concern in the world but where we would book from 
 Ventimiglia.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Clarissa Kendall ambling the streets of Naples felt 
 small and unimportant, but astonishingly happy. I 
 had written to Griggs at once ; my real need being ex- 
 pert advice on European morals, and counsel as to 
 what direction things were likely to take. And he, 
 good scout, cabled back to sit tight till he arrived. 
 Evidently he wasn't wasting sleep over the Baron, so 
 fear didn't weigh me down perceptibly either. The 
 paving stones hadn't scuffed one dainty pair of shoes, 
 before I guessed that Henri's heart was pretty much 
 at home in Italy. Indeed, his persistence in explor- 
 ing the narrow ways and mangy houses prevented us 
 from being on the dock to welcome Howard. 
 
 Big busses full of passengers were already bowling 
 from the wharf as my carrozzella whirled along the 
 water front. With the driver lashing and swearing, 
 plying his tongue as vigorously as his whip, me stand- 
 ing to urge him on, and frightened pedestrians turn- 
 ing from cover to swell the torrent of abuses gathering 
 in our wake, we made a cheering bit of local color. 
 And Griggs, his round face burnt but beaming, jump- 
 ing out of his carriage as I threw myself from mine, 
 added the last un-English note. We fell upon each 
 other's necks. 
 
 "Clarissa, old thing! Jove! I hardly knew you. 
 I think that is you're changed. You know what 
 
 273
 
 274 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I mean I believe you're prettier than ever ! " He 
 was holding my two hands, apoplectically red. 
 
 I squeezed his. " You're a sight for sore eyes ! " 
 " Hot stuff, this meeting here, eh what? " 
 We proceeded to a high balcony overlooking the 
 kingdoms of the earth, and lunched with a tarantella in 
 our ears and questions flying. But first I took the 
 menu from him. 
 
 " Not on your life, old boy. I've eaten nothing but 
 pension food for full three weeks, twenty-one mortal 
 days, sixty-three nearly fatal meals. This is my treat 
 you can pay for it, if you like ! " 
 
 When he had pronounced my selection an extremely 
 sound effort, we unbosomed ourselves freely. My 
 tale was the best, or seemed so then, because its pat- 
 tern was all worked through in detail and didn't need 
 any aniline dyes of imagination to make it vivid. 
 But I could see Griggs was dying to talk. 
 
 In New York they were tearing up certain streets 
 and paving others the subway was still under con- 
 struction. That's about all the home news I got out 
 of him, his mind being largely projected into the com- 
 ing weeks. He was full of a big spiritualistic pow- 
 wow due to take place a regular time ! Big-wigs 
 planned to hurl themselves from London for the sole 
 purpose of experimenting through a strange and pow- 
 erful medium; a riot of Science had been organized 
 to make wise this gay, shallow, colorful, aching, pov- 
 erty-stricken, crime-bespotted, glorious city of Naples. 
 Well, Henri and I can milk as much interest out of a 
 joust with the other world as anybody. But I was 
 disappointed. I'd expected to be breezed about by 
 Howard, and enjoy life, and here he was figuring to
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 275 
 
 shut himself up in a tomb. All those famous John- 
 nies would cut me out of his company. I thought it 
 a raw deal and told him so, gently. Thereupon he 
 braced his courage and drew himself together for the 
 plunge. 
 
 " Clarissa, I legged it over as soon as I received 
 your message, but I was booked for Europe anyway. 
 Nothing not even Angelica could keep me out of 
 Italy just at present. It was my great ambition to 
 persuade you to come on here from Monte Carlo 
 if you know what I mean I wanted most awfully 
 to have you and de Grasse on the spot. Sir Herbert 
 Slawson and Sir Gillespie Drake, personal friends of 
 my governor, aren't like like members of the vulgar 
 crowd, don't you know. Wouldn't you ah, I 
 mean will you consent to meet them?" 
 
 "Meet them! Sure. If they stay here and they're 
 friends of yours, I guess I'd have to do some dodging 
 to avoid it." 
 
 ' Yes, certainly, of course. But I mean talk to 
 them tell them take them into confidence. You'll 
 like Sir Herbert. He's by way of being rather a 
 topper." 
 
 " Talk to them about de Grasse ? Always the 
 same old song, Griggsy ! " 
 
 He flushed, opened his mouth, shut it again and 
 sighed. 
 
 " Get it off your chest," I said. " I'll listen." 
 
 He spoke earnestly. His utterance was positively 
 thick with desire. 
 
 " You know, old girl, if you'd only talk it over with 
 the two of them and then do what they say asleep 
 or something tremendous things might happen.
 
 276 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 When I think of what might happen and what hasn't 
 got a chance to happen so long as you continue selfishly 
 to keep Henri bottled up inside you well I mean 
 as long as you refuse to give him a free hand to 
 allow other other mediums to get at him. I feel 
 it's it's " 
 
 " Like taking candy from a child ? Cheating the 
 future generations, eh ? " 
 
 " Isn't it rather like cheating something or some- 
 body? Don't you feel you kind of owe a turn to the 
 world to people? Life's doing pretty well by you, 
 and even if you refuse to admit it, you and de Grasse 
 are of of thundering importance to Science. Jove! 
 Don't laugh ! How am I to talk about the bally thing, 
 if I can't can't mention it? " 
 
 I did laugh, but he brooded, steeped to the chin in 
 serious purpose. I began to consider the suggestion. 
 Tremendous things. H'm, as long as they weren't 
 too upsetting I rather thought I'd like to go the limit. 
 
 " Howard," I said at last, " you're much nicer when 
 you philander than when you philosophize most 
 men are. Philosophy's a bore. Knowledge is a bore. 
 Science is a bore especially in Naples. You're a 
 bore. Worse you're the slave of an idea. You 
 make me mad. But I could never stay mad with you. 
 You're a nice thing to have around and, because I'm 
 threatened with the loss of your society, I feel real 
 peeved. You fix it up with the old highbrows to let 
 me in on their seances, and maybe I'll let them in on 
 Henri." 
 
 " Clarissa, you're a splendid fellow ! " He seized 
 my hand. He gloated. 
 
 " There's another matter. I was touching on it
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 277 
 
 when I spoke about life doing you well not that I 
 want to to take liberties with your private affairs 
 but Swanhill gave me a message for you." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " He told me rubber looked shaky. He thought it 
 was high time to get out. I promised to mention it 
 to you as soon as possible." 
 
 " H'm he's been cabling since. Thanks, Griggsy. 
 This matter cuts some ice. The boom can't last for- 
 ever, and I guess it is time to quit. I've got a lot to 
 unload," I informed him, leaning on the table, with 
 shining eyes. Henri couldn't be restrained from brag- 
 ging. " We've invested every red in rubber. Hon- 
 est! I wired New York to sell my railroads and a 
 few industrials, and then we simply tossed the dollars 
 over. In those days the price was stepping lively and 
 always in the right direction. Say, we used to sit 
 in an office in London and watch the pile roll up. 
 Take it from your uncle Dudley we've made a pretty 
 penny." 
 
 Along the city end of the Villa Nazionale, fronting 
 on the bay, there stands a pile of stone and mortar 
 called a palace. Walls nearly three feet thick rear 
 themselves square about an ample court. A splendid 
 stairway leads from the street level to the topmost 
 skylight without scamping an inch of its breadth. 
 High rooms opening off both sides of the four cor- 
 ridors are lit by narrow windows, and stone, stone, 
 stone, whichever way one turns, makes the place as 
 cold as charity. It sure must have been some dog 
 under an old regime, but its day is over. Now each 
 story rents to a separate tenant, and one, at that time, 
 was placarded largely on the park side: Pension
 
 278 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Frascati. In a back room of this pretentious " board- 
 ing house," with a window looking on the court, and 
 only one door, the wise men chose to spread their 
 scientific feast; and during the period of their occupa- 
 tion nobody was allowed to enter it except themselves, 
 the medium, a reporter and Clarissa. 
 
 Don't let disbelief make a joke of you by suggesting 
 that electric wires were introduced through three feet 
 of solid stone floor; or that any person contrived to 
 play, on such a stage, tricks clever enough to dazzle 
 those clear thinking, gifted, educated minds. Yet 
 queer things happened within the four square of that 
 compact masonry. They were all written down in 
 shorthand minute by minute, and later published in 
 a bulky book that he who reads may run. But it 
 was up to Griggs to keep me posted during the per- 
 formances, for I was only allowed to do a couple of 
 heats in the spook race, as they feared excitement 
 might upset de Grasse. 
 
 Griggs had sorted out of his clippings the guarded 
 little paragraph I'd given him permission to write 
 about us; and which, being so guarded, had appeared, 
 said its piece, and faded from publicity without having 
 raised a flutter in the scientific pulse. He showed 
 this to Sir Herbert, who passed it to Sir Gillespie, and 
 by-and-by they slipped it to the crowd. Howard kept 
 on barking about us, as if we'd been a patent medicine. 
 The old boys pricked up their ears, and one or two of 
 them came round to pass the time of day. 
 
 You see I'd made good on the Lelland and on rubber, 
 and aside from diamonds, mine was quite a fast record 
 for a perfectly normal young lady whose finishing 
 school had been a counter. They cranked her up on
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 279 
 
 questions, but in such a polished way my feelings 
 weren't damaged any. Wanted to know who and 
 what my people were. How far I'd been educated, 
 and all that. 
 
 Sir Gillespie lost his breath at the start, and the 
 longer I talked, the harder he found it to catch up 
 with facts. They were amazed, nonplussed, and 
 couldn't figure it that a well dressed, beautiful, rich 
 young woman had come unassisted through all I'd 
 planned and got away with. 
 
 " Mind you, gentlemen," I finished. " This is every 
 word in strictest confidence. Any one of you could 
 land me in the dock." 
 
 They bowed as serious as the woolsack and crossed 
 their hearts. Then a scrawny chap began to hand me 
 problems square roots of XYZ, and the like. I 
 multiplied the alphabet by the alphabet and brought 
 out a telephone number. He thought it marvellous 
 for that matter, so did I. He tried to corner me 
 on names of mountains; and how to go from place to 
 place journeys I'd never made this-and-the-other- 
 les Bains. Later, I had to play bridge with three of 
 them, and as they were roaring good players, that was 
 the best end of the business. I wanted to have an- 
 other rubber, but they insisted on sitting round like 
 a council of owls, and continuing to fire questions. 
 
 " You say, Miss Kendall, your education stopped 
 abruptly before you had even graduated from the pub- 
 lic school? " 
 
 " Quite impossible for an untrained mind to do that 
 problem in that way," interpolated the mathematician. 
 
 " And you never played any card games till after 
 the mesmeric sleep? "
 
 280 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " You bet I didn't ! Granny was dead against cards 
 and dancing and on the farm anybody who cared for 
 himself followed Granny's lead." 
 
 " Very strange," mused a little red-haired man wear- 
 ing bone-rimmed spectacles. " Indicates a vaster field 
 than the theory of subjective self could ever cover." 
 
 "Most astonishing case on record!" boomed Sir 
 Herbert. 
 
 It's classy to be a case under such specialists. They 
 used to dine all round my table just to get a chance of 
 watching me, till I began to feel like the only auto- 
 mobile in the village. If I sat down in a corner for 
 five minutes, one of them would materialize and try 
 to draw me out. When I shifted, another turned up. 
 I hopped about one morning, as if I'd been a hen on 
 a hot griddle, for the fun of seeing how many I could 
 signal. And, by gum, I got the whole eleven 
 Griggs, of course, didn't count. Maybe they were put 
 on by him to do the guardianship act, but their mo- 
 tives were carefully wrapped in conversation and sealed 
 with a compliment the disinterested, almost imper- 
 sonal flattery which elderly men, of the right sort, 
 spiel to a girl in public. 
 
 After this kind of thing had been going on for a 
 week Howard broke the news. The old boys wanted 
 to get up a real cracker-jack of a soul search per- 
 haps a series with me featured as the sleeping 
 beauty and their precious medium pulling the puppet 
 strings an all star cast. Henri was to play puppet. 
 They calculated, as he'd been a dab at hypnotism, she 
 wouldn't have any trouble getting into touch with 
 him. I wasn't awful keen on it myself, because that 
 Italian woman had been doing some creepy stunts,
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 281 
 
 But I hated to show the white feather, and Howard 
 kept on pressing me, morning, noon and night, to come 
 across. 
 
 " Science " and " Opportunity " were the burden 
 of his song, until my temper flew out and I snapped 
 at him. 
 
 " Science runs a long way ahead of friendship with 
 you, young man! You're deaf to compunction and 
 blind toward misadventure. Suppose she turns us into 
 spooks? What if I go off in blue vapor? You 
 should worry! " 
 
 Jokes and sarcasm were wasted. His second name 
 was serious. The twelve set their jaws to have their 
 own way, and I, like a simp or a woman, gave in. 
 I said I'd stand for it, and in the saying I kissed my 
 liberty good-by. 
 
 Once she had consented to be the party, there was 
 nothing left for little Clarissa but to sit back and 
 contemplate Slawson and Drake making arrangements 
 to give it. This was to be their treat extra and above 
 the meetings listed on the society's curriculum, and the 
 note of competition promised to sharpen interest a 
 whole lot. They went to elaborate pains to set the 
 scene correctly. Not wishing to interrupt the regular 
 business at Frascati, they hired a room in our hotel 
 and laid it out according, to rule, black cabinet and all. 
 You see, if you don't play this game according to 
 Hoyle, you don't score any honors, no matter how 
 startling your results. It seemed they wanted to con- 
 trive a bodily manifestation of Henri, and then ram it 
 down people's throats as a fact. 
 
 Henri was a perfect stranger to the bunch, and, ex- 
 cept that Griggs was present, it would have been dead
 
 282 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 easy for some charlatan ghost to step in and play his 
 part. Think of a clever little Vesta Tilley from the 
 spiritland skipping over our border, doing a turn in 
 the spotlight, and handing a lemon to all those brainy 
 toffs! Of course, nothing like that could happen with 
 Howard acting as a safety brake. He was the only 
 living soul who could vouch for having seen me and 
 Henri as separate human beings. Besides his identi- 
 fication, I wrote a description of de Grasse, and they 
 stowed it safely away in a strong box, incontrovertible 
 testimony to be opened for comparison after the event. 
 It was a flowery document, believe me ! Henri's idea 
 of himself with elbow jogs by an eye witness. 
 
 Griggs and his friends intended doing the thing up 
 in regular style a manifestation first and a supper 
 following, at which the whole performance could be 
 sized up. It was a rattling good plan, calculated to 
 bring their guests back at the double quick from higher 
 spiritualistic planes to real life, and so provide im- 
 mediately a sane perspective toward past events. The 
 medium and I were both invited, she to countenance 
 me, but I gathered women were expected to retire early 
 and take their astral bodies with them. 
 
 Starting from the hour I said, "Shoot!" Griggs 
 fussed over me like a hen with a lone chick. I wasn't 
 any more myself to him. Clarissa Kendall, the girl 
 pal in risky exploits, clothed in femininity and 
 wearing corking gowns was dead as a door nail. He 
 erected on her peaceful resting place a monument to 
 Science, and thought I ought to show as little anima- 
 tion as one of those busted torsos in the Louvre. I 
 hardly dared to move or think or eat. I cut out the 
 daily jaunt through Henri's quarters. Howard was
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 283 
 
 genuinely shocked to find I had been hunting in such 
 holes alone. 
 
 " If anything should happen to you! " 
 
 " Fiddlesticks ! It's safe as a church parade ! " I 
 objected. " They're really very decent when I talk 
 to them." 
 
 "But you don't speak Italian?" 
 
 " They understand my lingo. Oh, for pity's sake ! " 
 
 He'd drawn a notebook from his pocket, and com- 
 menced to write. I sat frowning. When he'd finished 
 his comment and returned his pencil to its proper stall, 
 he regarded me in some concern. 
 
 " Clarissa, old thing! You appear distinctly pipped. 
 There's something rummy in your manner which gives 
 me an idea you're not keen on this investigation, don't 
 you know." 
 
 " Keen ! How can I be keen when you're always 
 croaking at me? 'If anything happened! If any- 
 thing happened ! ' I'm the goat that ought to be but- 
 ting in on trouble. The Lord only knows what's go- 
 ing to happen Wednesday evening and I want to 
 forget it. Do keep quiet you'd make a hippopot- 
 amus nervous ! " 
 
 I was shaking in my shoes and I left off trying to 
 hide it. One overt act before the seance showed my 
 mental attitude. I made a will. The notion took me 
 all of a sudden, and I put it up to Sir Gillespie. He 
 pooh-poohed me at first. 
 
 " My dear young lady, nothing can possibly happen 
 to you in a simple hypnotic sleep. Why do you imag- 
 ine, if we thought there was risk the slightest risk 
 that we would permit you to expose yourself? " 
 
 " Look what happened last time."
 
 284 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 He hummed and hawed. " Most unfortunate circum- 
 stances most unusual. I think we can guarantee that 
 murder will not take place among us." His blue eyes 
 twinkled behind round glasses, but seeing me grave as 
 a tomb, he hastened to add : "Of course if it would 
 be any satisfaction to you a will is an excellent 
 institution. We each like to feel we have left our lit- 
 tle legacies into a particular pocket. I shall be de- 
 lighted to find a solicitor. Plenty of time to-morrow 
 morning. I'll bring the fellow here and he will tie 
 you up in reddest of red tape." 
 
 The dear old chap would have sung another tune 
 had he known what strange intention lay behind Clar- 
 issa's girlish thanks. 
 
 The next day a lean Italian, speaking English like 
 a dictionary with all the biggest words at his tongue's 
 end, and no conception of a sound slang phrase, waited 
 on me in the hotel. I knew exactly what I wanted to 
 say and said it, and he repeated the words with a hair- 
 splitting .pronunciation. The writing proved to be 
 an elaborate affair. But when it was finished, and 
 our names signed, and the gist of it bound as tight as 
 a lasso on a wild steer, I went to hunt Sir Gillespie. 
 
 " And so you have apportioned your little pile, young 
 lady?" he said, beaming. "Do you feel better and 
 safer?" 
 
 " The paper disposes of about two million pounds, 
 sir, so I hope you wonit lose it. Not having any rela- 
 tives the document can't be legally contested. You 
 will find, if you have occasion to read it," he smiled, 
 " I have named you and Sir Herbert and Mr. Griggs 
 as executors ; and I trust, when you get the connection, 
 you won't have any objections to acting."
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 285 
 
 Objections! I guess they wouldn't! I had given 
 instructions to Swanhill, and the Paris and London 
 brokers, to sell my rubber shares, all of them, im- 
 mediately, at the market. (Gee! Afterwards I al- 
 most wished I'd died!)* And I had willed the bulk of 
 my fortune to the cause of Science to be used in 
 research. I was dead scared that Henri, being so 
 much smarter, would take this opportunity to push me 
 out ; or maybe we'd get balled up by accident and both 
 practise a skidoo. Anyway, if Clarissa Kendall was 
 left among the spooks, I meant her to have a human 
 chance of getting back again. And I knew the three 
 Englishmen would give me a square deal.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 I shall never forget the appearance of the seance 
 when I was ushered in. The room was oblong, large 
 and' high. A good part of its furniture had been re- 
 moved to make way for their work, but heavy cur- 
 tains, close drawn over every window, lent it com- 
 fort; and it was lighted like the Great White Way. 
 Afterwards, they switched off the illumination so that 
 rays from one lamp only played upon the medium, but 
 at the time I found those gay electroliers most reassur- 
 ing. Seats for the guests had been arranged in a 
 semicircle, and the guests were sitting on them. 
 Everything suggested law and order. Beyond the 
 folding doors the supper was preparing and here we 
 waited for an entertainment. In the arch of the bow 
 formed by our earnest friends stood a common little 
 deal table with a vacant chair placed on either side of 
 it, and in front of this again was the cabinet. 
 
 " Jumpin' Jupiter ! " I cried. " Are you going to 
 put me in there ? " And I began to back away. But 
 Sir Herbert explained it was only a shelter for Henri, 
 should he care to manifest himself. 
 
 Spirits, being in the know and shy of mankind's 
 tricks, won't consent to parley unless they can have 
 their backs to the wall. In fact they prefer the se- 
 curity of three walls, and invitations are issued to them 
 through a sort of coffin; which is very natural seeing 
 it's their last association with an actual body in a ma^ 
 
 286
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 287 
 
 terial world. All the same the idea took the tuck out 
 of me. 
 
 " I fail to get your drift," I answered. " This whole 
 contrivance is for the reappearance of the dead, while 
 Henri is a fine live wire and don't you folks forget 
 it!" 
 
 Of course the heavy-weights smiled at my simple 
 protest, and then we sat as solemn as elders at a cottage 
 prayer meeting. The services of the reporter had 
 been dispensed with out of consideration for me, and 
 I'll bet the bunch were mighty glad of it later on. 
 We waited. The red-haired chap and another got 
 their heads together in an argument and were frowned 
 down by higher authority. Still we waited. The 
 party couldn't begin without the leading lady, and she 
 took her own time. 
 
 The medium was a substantial person, decidedly of 
 the lower classes, with a kind face and a good charac- 
 ter. Nothing less witchified could have been imagined, 
 except that her eyes held pots of knowledge. When 
 she did come, she got busy right away and that was 
 all I savveyed. It was all Clarissa Kendall knew for 
 seven ghoulish days and eight uneasy nights. 
 
 Gee ! What a scare I gave them worse than 
 sharks in Jersey waters or infantile paralysis! 
 
 Every man- jack was trembling in his shoes and 
 hanging around the hotel corridor asking, " How is 
 she ? " with chalk-white faces and care-crushed mien. 
 
 Quite a change from the " happen " motif, wasn't 
 it? 
 
 Griggs felt the deepest-dyed villain, seeing he had 
 urged it on me, and was largely responsible for my 
 consenting. He explained the context to me after-
 
 288 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ward, sitting by my bedside and covering my wrist 
 watch with a firm, strong hold, as if he half antici- 
 pated I would spark away in flame as they had seen 
 de Grasse go out. For they did see Henri of all 
 the funny stunts! Can you tie it? Did you ever 
 hear it beaten ? 
 
 During two full hours that evening the scientists 
 fairly revelled, enjoying the time of their lives. I 
 had gone straight off into a beautiful sleep, for de 
 Grasse knew how to work it from his end too and 
 there wasn't a hitch. But the medium, well aware 
 she ventured on unbroken ground, proceeded cau- 
 tiously. The seance opened in the lowest grade with 
 table-rapping and a bluish light. The unnatural ra- 
 diance, which seemed to be the evidence of Henri's 
 spirit, hovered around the cabinet for a while and then 
 decided to peep inside. She spoke to him and he 
 talked back. At first there resounded a mad riot of 
 knocking. She listened to the very end of the clatter 
 and then translated it. He'd been telling her what 
 he did in New York with Lady Deering, and how he 
 had been shot. They asked him if he was wise to 
 who did it ? He rapped, " yes," and added, " Rath- 
 gartz." But he refused to say why. 
 
 " Was it about money? " she asked. 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Spiritualism?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Love? " suggested a man at the end of the line. 
 
 " Love ? " repeated the Italian woman. And Henri 
 laughed quite distinctly there in the black box. 
 But he didn't answer. 
 
 " Crime? " asked Griggs. The rest murmured, say-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 289 
 
 ing it wasn't any sort of a position to put a decent 
 spook into, and he changed the form of the question. 
 
 "Diamonds?" she repeated. 
 
 Suddenly the light went clean out of the box. The 
 winged snake appeared vividly to all of them and 
 floated across the room. They didn't pay it much at- 
 tention and were regularly cut up over their careless- 
 ness when I drew a sketch of the D. T's for them later. 
 But at the time they felt so disappointed over fright- 
 ening de Grasse away they let it slip. 
 
 I stirred in my sleep and moaned a little, Sir Her- 
 bert said. He was nearest to me. It must have been 
 a baby moan, because the rest all thought absolute 
 silence had fallen on his flight. 
 
 There was nothing to do but begin over again. The 
 medium knew now she was working along with a 
 master and could attempt high A, so she placed her- 
 self inside the cabinet and went to sleep. They sat 
 waiting, waiting for the longest while. All saw her 
 plainly the oval of her face foreshortened as her 
 head drooped, and the white blur of her folded hands 
 sunk in her lap. 
 
 The whole twelve men longed so ardently for Henri 
 to show himself, if it hadn't been for the grand smash 
 at the end, I'd have held they projected his image by 
 the concentrated power of their own idea. They say 
 when fellows get side-tracked on these lines, go dippy 
 for the supernatural, they're able to persuade each 
 other black is white and right is wrong. Maybe so, 
 reason does a heap of funny stuff even at its sound- 
 est. All I can write about this is the facts as Howard 
 related them. 
 
 Hope was lingering in the last throes and some of
 
 290 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 the doubters were commencing to fidget, when, bingo ! 
 Without a particle of warning that white light glided 
 over the box again and dipped inside it. Attention 
 rose to fever heat. Griggs says he could feel his soul 
 kind of parting asunder as if it was being stretched 
 on a rack, his way of expressing that the pace was 
 strained. Blue is blue and white is white in spiritual- 
 ism. The glow just witnessed indicated a manifesta- 
 tion. 
 
 The curtains thrown open on the face of the cab- 
 inet twitched as if somebody was fooling with them, 
 and, finally, gave a wallop, a life-sized yank, and hung 
 down closed together. Through two scallops where 
 the edges didn't quite meet, they could see the light 
 was still inside, but it had grown dimmer. It ex- 
 panded. Presently it seemed to envelop the box turn- 
 ing it grayish in the gloom. Then complete motion- 
 lessness fell over the room. The deadly calm not only 
 surrounded the cabinet, but gathered the watchers into 
 one intense emotion. The sensation was that of be- 
 ing in a void, absolutely detached, floating where there- 
 was no air to breathe, nothing to convey sound, no 
 means of reckoning the period involved. Griggs only 
 knew it lasted till the curtains quivered and Henri 
 stood before them. 
 
 He was dressed in the same dark nondescript clothes 
 he had worn at the first seance, and his body was 
 strangely shadowy. But his face, the handsome, 
 mocking, evil face with its suavity and its unreliability 
 could easily be distinguished even at a distance. 
 
 " Jove ! " Howard said under his breath. 
 
 The red-haired man asked, " Are you de Grasse? " 
 And Henri bowed.
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 291 
 
 The movement was unmistakable. He raised his 
 hand and allowed his fingers to rest on the end of his 
 moustache. He did not twist it. The act remained 
 unfinished, suggesting the incompetence of a mechan- 
 ical doll. Henri was evidently not quite at home with 
 himself. 
 
 Remembering their earlier imprudence our bunch 
 dared not question him. They had achieved enough 
 for a first trial by simply getting into touch. So they 
 sat and watched him like a row of mummies in a show 
 case, while he proceeded to glide toward the table. 
 
 All this time the medium slept soundly in her sentry 
 box and I slept where she'd left me in a chair at the 
 end of that same table. 
 
 Our big- wigs can't agree among themselves as to 
 whether the spirit wearing Henri's personality was 
 really Henri, or a fresh guy who had borrowed his 
 Sunday suit, hands and face and all, and was out for 
 mischief. The burning question up to Science is what 
 they've bagged after they've made the killing. But 
 whichever way you work it, one thing's certain. The 
 garments of humanity these spookies hang about them- 
 selves are gathered from the astral body of the sleep- 
 ing medium. In this affair the spirit may have mixed 
 my aura up with hers, or may have wanted to. He 
 evidenced a skimpy line of goods. None of the twelve 
 wise men could tell the size or pattern of his shoes. He 
 did not walk the footless do not walk. He just 
 proceeded toward me a fiend or a friend, crafty, 
 yet with a I-don't-care-a-damn manner that was de 
 Grasse incarnate. 
 
 When he reached a spot exactly behind my chair, 
 opposite Sir Herbert, the demon leaped.
 
 292 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Those wooden hands unskilled in detail were not 
 necessary for the finish. A something infinitely 
 stronger seized my throat. His body seemed to cover 
 me like water, transparent, fluid. A dog's snarl ripped 
 the silence; but the struggle, if there was a struggle, 
 took place within my body. 
 
 Instanter the men rose to their feet. I wonder 
 partly if the sounds were not emitted from their own 
 dry throats? 
 
 Quick as thought Sir Herbert sprang on the as- 
 sassin. He swears he was at grips with something for 
 a second. They only saw him clutch the air and fall 
 across my knees. 
 
 On the instant a terrific racket started in the cab- 
 inet. The curtains hung together tightly as if a great 
 hand closed them. Forms writhed behind their folds. 
 The gray shroud melted from the box like yards of 
 chiffon tossed and tumbled altogether, and then the 
 light burst forth a bright, white, splendid incan- 
 descence threefold the power that had entered. It 
 blazed and vanished. A cry, sharp but not loud 
 the agony of soul surrender marked its going. The 
 cry had come from me. 
 
 Griggs was the first to pull himself together and 
 switch on the current. Except for frightened faces 
 and standing instead of sitting guests the room was as 
 it had been. I lay easily in the chair, my clothing 
 was unruffled, no sign of personal violence showed. 
 Presently the medium came out of sleep and started 
 on the regular reviving stunt. She turned the trick 
 three times but nothing doing ! Clarissa slumbered 
 sweetly. The old guard exchanged glances, and Sir
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN '293 
 
 Herbert commenced to wring his hands, he was ter- 
 ribly upset, poor dear. 
 
 When I'd lain locked in the arms of Morpheus, and 
 withstood her ablest efforts for an hour, the medium 
 gave up. She said de Grasse must have quit his 
 lodgings and thrown the key in the river or words 
 to that effect. Maybe I was suffering from physical 
 collapse and needed a medicine-man, anyway she'd 
 reached her limit. And with that she put on her hat 
 and coat and walked out. 
 
 They sent for doctors, and doctors found my heart 
 just beating, my pulse hardly noticeable, and my breath 
 not noticeable at all except on the edge of a feather. 
 They returned the same verdict " Collapse." 
 
 Griggs, white about the gills, tore up the place like 
 a forty-two centimeter shell. The manager was sum- 
 moned, a nurse installed, I was carried to my room and 
 put to bed. Ice packs were ordered, hot water bags, 
 electrical appliances, everything that could be done 
 was done but there I lay. 
 
 Hourly day and night a scared inquirer would tip- 
 toe to my closet, and, tapping, whisper eagerly the new 
 refrain : " How is she ? " Always answered by three 
 pregnant notes, 
 
 " No change, sir." 
 
 I was alive but not present where then? Had I 
 gone callihooting off on the trail of the spirit? And 
 him such a dangerous fellow! 
 
 My chaperones rang the changes in every known 
 form of fear, with a few new patterns recently im- 
 ported to add distinction. Aside from the extreme 
 inconvenience of having me die on their hands, I be-
 
 294 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 lieve it would have knotted crape about their very 
 souls had I telegraphed a change of plans and gone 
 away, without so much as treating them to a picture 
 post card of my recent trip. They longed to hang 
 upon my words, and I kept right on saying nothing. 
 
 At the end of the third day Griggs wired to Paris 
 for a specialist a pink of doctors. He came, 
 he saw, he lingered. He felt my pulse, listened 
 to my heart, tested my breathing, lifted my eyelids, 
 did all the local men had done no more, and charged 
 a thousand pounds for telling them to let me lie and 
 watch me. There was nothing else to do but watch me. 
 And then he also joined the waiting group. I was 
 sure some case ! Extreme physical depression follow- 
 ing mental shock had been his diagnosis. I might re- 
 cover and, on the other hand, might die. Probably if 
 I recovered, the carus would save me from insanity. 
 
 They held no more seances at Frascati. The So- 
 ciety's meeting officially closed. Its members were all 
 in the same boat and it was no use to squeal, but some 
 of them drummed up excuses for ducking out in a 
 hurry. The Englishmen stood by their guns. How- 
 ard grew positively thin, his once-upon-a-time round 
 face lost its perpetual ruddiness, and Sir Herbert and 
 Sir Gillespie added many gray hairs. They took the 
 biggity nerve chap into full confidence and put it up 
 to him whether or not Henri could be lying about 
 loose. He was a Catholic and wouldn't express any 
 opinion beyond crossing himself. It's one of the 
 points that puzzles me yet. Is Henri lying around 
 loose? Did the devil send one of his patrolmen to 
 run him in first time he crossed the border, or was 
 Henri mad at me on some account? Did he wish to
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 295 
 
 finish me or liberate my spirit? Was it only clumsi- 
 ness in handling the astral stuff? Had he planned 
 the exit? Was he sick and tired of masquerading as 
 a skirt? I really can't conceive de Grasse wanting 
 to divorce eight million dollars, so I guess the spirits 
 must have snatched him. 
 
 Where am I at ? I always get mixed thinking about 
 this! 
 
 My three friends stood by me loyally and did their 
 turns in watching. It was Griggs, brooding like a 
 statue in a cemetery, I first saw when the lamps lit up. 
 I took him for Madame Buniva come to call me. 
 
 " What time is it? Am I late? " I cried, trying to 
 spring out of bed. But the effort ended in a little 
 quiver under the clothes. I couldn't any more have 
 turned myself over than a shark on dry land. You 
 see, capping the nervous prostration, I'd omitted eat- 
 ing for a week. My resistance bulked about as strong 
 as an empty barrel with the hoops off. 
 
 Howard sprinted for the specialist, and when he 
 came in all bushy black beard and piercing eyes I be- 
 gan to feel better. He allowed me a cup of warm 
 milk, told them to close the blinds and not on their 
 life to let me talk, and then he beat it for Paris. My 
 healing was scheduled as a long job. After fifteen 
 days of nourishment and nothings I was pronounced 
 fairly well and Griggs risked the telling of their story. 
 To their bitter disappointment I had not a line to 
 add. From the instant sinking into slumber until the 
 natural awakening my mind had ceased to function. 
 Only one thing I could assure them about de Grasse 
 was no longer a member in the firm of Kendall & Co. 
 
 Well, they'd drawn blank and so had I. We de-
 
 IP 
 296 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 cided to bury the hatchet. Still, my own loss was a 
 purely personal matter and I felt it keenly. I couldn't 
 restrain a few tears when Sir Gillespie came to say 
 good-by and handed me my will. 
 
 " You didn't need the document after all," he said 
 kindly. " Though we came much nearer to it than I 
 imagined possible closer than I ever want to come 
 again ! " 
 
 I opened the paper and let him read the plan for sav- 
 ing myself from a ghost's career. He was amazed 
 and trotted it off to his colleague, to return bubbling 
 and ask for a handsome gift of the paper. It was 
 strong evidence of some premonition theory. They've 
 always got a second iron in the fire, these Johnnies. 
 He joshed me a bit over being afraid. I confessed 
 to having had cold feet. 
 
 " And yet you went in for the seance ? You are 
 very brave as well as clever." 
 
 " I was," I whimpered. " Bu bu but I'm 
 afraid you've spoiled me now. I'm just a girl that 
 served in a shop." 
 
 " My dear young lady/' he began, wiping his glasses 
 and readjusting them, " this will provides for the dis- 
 tribution of millions. Any girl with a charming, 
 pretty face and ahem a fortune, is bound to have 
 a splendid sort of life. You must come to England 
 and meet my daughters Lady Drake will write to 
 you, care of the Ritz Carlton, New York, isn't it? 
 Between hunts we will talk a great deal about this 
 matter. I am most anxious to know every detail in 
 which you could recognize de Grasse while while 
 he was alive."
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 297 
 
 "Bu but I'm so silly. I feel so stupid. I'll 
 never be worth anything again ! " Pride had been 
 horribly cut by my loss, for of course I'd enjoyed be- 
 ing two to everybody else's one and having such a 
 fuss made over me. 
 
 " Can't you tell me what it was that night that made 
 you cry out or moan? Sir Herbert insists upon the 
 moan." 
 
 "I didn't feel if I had, likely I wouldn't tell it 
 straight. You know how an alarm clock striking on 
 your dreams will turn into a gas attack before your 
 eyes are open. No, I guess you don't either. I knew 
 it good and plenty in the old days." 
 
 I told him again of the splendid tidal wave of vigor 
 which had swept upon me at the time de Grasse's soul 
 shot into mine. How I had been uplifted, eager to 
 face lions mentally and physically fit. Evidently, 
 during the hypnotic sleep the virility had been with- 
 drawn. I had grown perfectly accustomed to twice 
 the human share of force and its ebbing left me limp. 
 
 " I've lost my pep ! " I blubbered. " I'm just a dish- 
 rag ! Look at me crying like this Henri never 
 cried. It's womanish ! I'll never get over it I'll 
 never be remarkable again ! " 
 
 The old boy felt my implied reproach. They were 
 all kind of on the apologetic, as if they'd cheated me. 
 Now for the first time he took up the cudgels in de- 
 fence. 
 
 " Miss Clarissa, I believe you will live to thank us 
 for this accidental separation. It is tremendous to be 
 abnormal, I'll admit that we lesser creatures bow to 
 genius we are obliged to. It is tremendous but
 
 298 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 it is often grievous. I am rather inclined to think the 
 better part, especially for ladies, is to be normal. Why 
 should a woman not be womanly ? " 
 
 " But I'll never have any adventures ! " 
 
 " So far you have missed the greatest adventure of 
 all you have never been in love. Not during de 
 Grasse's reign? Naturally a dual mind conld never 
 be whole-heartedly in love. Each of you must have 
 been oppositely attracted. You to the man and he 
 to the woman." 
 
 I lay quite still and let the idea sink in. Charley 
 Ross arose before me. I had loved Ross. I had come 
 jolly near it anyway, with a strong leaning in that di- 
 rection. But leaning toward was all the sentiment 
 Henri could stomach. There was Swanhill too 
 and others. All at once I understood why it had been 
 so easy to leave them, and on the other hand my having 
 taken such a shine to Sue Mainardy. I remembered 
 the Terrier and that hour in the boat when I had recog- 
 nized his double appeal. Being in love with a man 
 must give you a desire to be swallowed whole well, 
 if you were swallowed h'm! Maybe Henri hadn't 
 been an unmixed blessing. 
 
 Sir Gillespie was enormously pleased with himself 
 for getting me smoothed down. He simmered along 
 in his best fatherly manner, and as he said good-by 
 gave me another nut to crack. 
 
 " You must sleep a great deal, and eat a great deal, 
 and make the roses bloom, so that your pretty hats 
 and frocks will be a setting for a splendid jewel. You 
 have been seeking treasure, my dear, and finding it too. 
 Now it is somebody else's turn to find. Only be care-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 299 
 
 ful don't bestow your hand hastily. If you ever 
 want an old man to act a guardian's part, any one to 
 refer any one to, I shall be delighted. Remember you 
 have a vast amount at your disposal. You hold 
 enough in either hand to turn men's heads and Henri 
 is no longer here to guard it." 
 
 He certainly knew how to set one thinking. So 
 there was still a big game for little Clarissa. Making 
 money wasn't perhaps as hard as keeping it. I thought 
 of the Baron and turned cold. Henri had never been 
 good on the woman act but he had been there. His 
 anti influence served to keep my blood cool. Suppose 
 von Rathgartz, instead of looking like a death's head, 
 had shone with all the beauties of Apollo? I'd been a 
 frost to clerks, but gentlemen are different. They have 
 little ways. I pictured the Baron aged thirty and knew 
 him just the man to wring my fortune from me. As it 
 was, he had advised me to sell rubber. To be sure the 
 stock was weak at the time but it soared afterward. 
 Rubber was a perfectly splendid investment I'd had 
 a hunch. Von Rathgartz wanted to cheat me, and 
 other people would want to flim-flam me too. I 
 mustn't have faith in any of them. Henri had put me 
 wise about rubber and I determined to follow him. As 
 far as money went, one had to buy some sort of cer- 
 tificates with it. Leaving it in the bank was a mug's 
 game, apparently, and I owned too much for my stock- 
 ing. If I was obliged to hold stocks, then I might as 
 well hold rubber as anything else. If it went down it 
 would go up later. They all fluctuated. Swanhill had 
 told me so when I first commenced to buy railways 
 through his office. He said to put them in the bank 
 
 J
 
 300 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 and forget about them and spend the dividends. Well, 
 I could do that with rubber. I'd just wad away 
 Henri's fortune and live on the profits. And nobody 
 would have a chance to cheat me.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Clarissa fancied making up her mind about business 
 was a noble, difficult and all-wise act. But when it 
 came to carrying out the plot, planning seemed to be 
 only a reach-me-down. I was up against the climax 
 before I knew. And I must say Griggs struck me in 
 an unscrupulous hour, when I was out on the veranda 
 for the first time, and every sense steeped in enjoy- 
 ment. The season was over. Naples grew warmer 
 every day, one could only live to enjoy. Laughter gets 
 into the bones there. Griggs and I supped tea and 
 laughed, and my hungry eyes ate up the people. 
 Never having been ill before, the passing weeks lin- 
 gered along like years. 
 
 Howard sat with his cup perilously balanced on one 
 knee and made plans for the immediate future. He 
 appeared to be quite giddy with pleasure over having 
 me around again, and I fell for the gaff and met him 
 halfway maybe a little sooner. I'd been lonely, you 
 see, and it was comfortable to have somebody taking 
 care of me and laying out a summer that was to be a 
 fair treat. Two or three weeks at his aunt's place in 
 Devonshire would make me feel as game as a fighting 
 cock; Hellingham situated in the north offered no at- 
 traction to invalids, its turn must come later, with Lady 
 Drake's invitation. Sir Gillespie had never been a 
 four-flusher in hospitality, and so, of course, I was 
 booked for a visit at the " Grange." Darling woman, 
 
 301
 
 302 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Lady Constance, topping girls, one son a rotter and the 
 other in the army mostly away from home. Their 
 place, he said, was celebrated for its shooting and I'd 
 have a rattling good time there during the autumn, but 
 between this and that he hoped to show me a real Lon- 
 don season. 
 
 " Balls and dinners? " I asked. 
 
 "Jove, yes!" Several a night if I cared to dine 
 double, receptions and all that hardly counted. What 
 he wanted to do was to take me to the Derby on a drag. 
 Show me a real horse race on the real turf. He prom- 
 ised tickets for the Royal enclosure at Ascot. There 
 would be polo at Hurlingham and the Henley regatta, 
 and all the university sprees I cared for. We must do 
 Lord's too 
 
 " Cricket, don't you know," he explained. " One 
 hasn't seen England, unless one has watched a cricket 
 match. Jolly amusing place, Lord's ! " 
 
 " Oh, Griggsy ! " I cried. " You're the grandest 
 planner! De Grasse can go 'way back and sit down. 
 I've never been anywhere or seen anything. When 
 you told me about Angelica, I thought it was a scream 
 and now I almost envy her. As a guardian of the 
 young " 
 
 "Easy on!" 
 
 I laughed joyously. It was a perfect moment ; and 
 right there in the full flight of my enthusiasm, while 
 I was telling him his goodness and his kindness, and 
 calling him an excellent pal, the boy turned traitor. 
 I'm glad to think shame flushed him up a bit, though 
 he always went shrimp pink over tapping the wires on 
 other people's private affairs. 
 
 " I hate to bother you about business. It's tolerably
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN '303 
 
 rummy to be serious on a perfectly top hole day like 
 this. But since you've mentioned it put me in a 
 responsible position, don't you know. I Clarissa, 
 old thing ! You ought to be taking some some ac- 
 tion about your rubber." 
 
 " Rubber! " I bristled. So soon, eh, and from this 
 quarter. The source of the blow more than the blow 
 itself threw me out of my reckoning. I knew Griggs 
 never butted in. He must then be very determined, 
 have a particular object in view. And he was so in- 
 tent on it he failed to grasp my attitude. 
 
 " Swanhill has been pestering me with cables. I was 
 obliged to inform him of your illness, and since that he 
 has been wiring me. Jove! The stuff looks weak. 
 He's afraid when you begin to sell you'll bust the 
 whole bally market." 
 
 " Tell him to keep his hair on," I answered sharply. 
 " I'm not thinking of selling not a single share." 
 
 My companion stared. " But isn't it awfully seri- 
 ous? Of course I'm not a jolly specialist on these 
 matters know jolly little about 'em. Old Dibbs at 
 home looks after all that. Still, if it should go go 
 down what would you do ? " 
 
 Another cup of tea poured in stony silence empha- 
 sized my coolness, and, I hoped, a certain amount of 
 annoyance. 
 
 " Why do anything? Unless I order them to buy 
 some more." 
 
 " It sounds sporting but I it's not safe, Clarissa. 
 The brokers wouldn't have been sending those mes- 
 sages short of a crisis, I mean to say a panic a 
 threatened panic. Swanhill " 
 
 " I'm on to him." My grim words cut Howard
 
 304 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 short. After he had finished his tea, he began again. 
 Beaty certainly had primed him to talk me over. 
 
 " Buying is a splendid idea only Jove ! Won't 
 it take an astonishing amount of cash? " 
 
 " Money! Not more than eight million dollars." 
 
 " But you don't possess eight millions in money, dear 
 girl. Buying will take a lot of gold. How much have 
 you in the bank ? Oh, I say ! I didn't mean that ! " 
 
 His face turned scarlet, and my anger long repressed 
 flashed out. Not so much against him as against the 
 rotten combination they had dragged him into. 
 
 " Howard Griggs, I think it's extremely nasty of 
 you to to try to do me this way when I'm sick 
 not myself that is." 
 
 " Trying to do you ! Dash it ! I'm only making an 
 effort to explain the situation. You can't afford to 
 chuck away the right stuff any more than others." 
 
 " I don't want your old explanation ! I know it 
 runs like a brook. It's arranged to run to wash 
 metal to wash it out of my pocket and into Beaty's. 
 He tells me to sell. You tell me to sell. That wicked 
 Baron chap in Monte Carlo told me to sell long before 
 the stock quit climbing. But I know why all of you 
 are so anxious to get me out. Rubber is an A-i in- 
 vestment. Everybody wants to crowd in, and when I 
 own so much of all the rubber in the world, naturally 
 they have to elbow me away from the trough before 
 they can stand in my place." 
 
 Griggs sat a while silent gazing down on Naples. 
 He was mad clear through and didn't trust himself to 
 speak until the mad looked passed, then his voice was 
 very quiet. 
 
 " You are not yourself, Clarissa, so I'll forgive your
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 305 
 
 lack of confidence. Only allow me to say one thing. 
 Rubber is no investment, even an outsider can see that. 
 The boom is a bally big gamble from start to finish, 
 and, if the brokers have been gassing you about invest- 
 ment, it's a crime." 
 
 " No use to talk ! " I cried excitedly. " With auto- 
 mobiles and new inventions using it up like wildfire 
 rubber's a necessity of life and necessities are good 
 investment. I've got my feet on the swellest planta- 
 tions and I'm going to stay put wild horses won't 
 drag me off. If the stock goes down, it will rise again 
 just you watch. Beaty told me so himself. He 
 said putting first class propositions down artificially 
 and making the little fellows skidoo so the big guns 
 could hog it all themselves was the Wall Street game. 
 They call it fair the only way with brokers is to be 
 too cute for them I'm not surprised over their trying 
 to cheat me, but I am amazed that you should be mixed 
 up in it, Howard." 
 
 " Sorry you take it that way," he replied stiffly. " I 
 sold all my stock before leaving New York, so my ad- 
 vice is at least disinterested. What you say is true. 
 There's manipulation, and bucket shops, and a host of 
 other pitfalls connected with the business, but on the 
 other hand, don't you know, there are some decent 
 brokers. I introduced Swanhill to you, and though he 
 is a bit of a rounder, I believe he's honest looking 
 out for his client's interest and all that. He didn't 
 own a share of rubber when I left." 
 
 " All cleaned up at the top and ready to buy in at 
 the bottom, eh ? " I sneered. 
 
 Griggs refused to discuss the matter further. He 
 was terribly hurt and angry over being called a crook.
 
 306 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 Englishmen don't understand how one can be too keen 
 financially, and quite respectable along other lines. 
 We chatted a while about indifferent things, but neither 
 of us was having any fun, so I allowed I was tired 
 and left him alone to be ashamed of himself. 
 
 Isn't it the limit how huffy a man gets if a woman 
 don't open her mouth and swallow his opinions whole ? 
 Howard stuck to it I ought to sell. His obstinacy 
 seemed to me, then, a part of the big plot, and I kept 
 my back up. He fetched and carried for me till I was 
 on my legs, but our twosums weren't the same lark. 
 Misunderstanding hung between us like a wall. We 
 failed to get each other's jokes. We aggravated each 
 his own nationality with its peculiarities. I began to 
 feel I bored him. Trifles got on his nerves. I'd see 
 him shy away from a slang phrase as if it was a fast 
 one; and that got my Angora. So when I was well 
 enough to leave Italy, I broke it to him straight that I 
 was going back to America. His aunty had come 
 down with her invitation all right, and I dare say How- 
 ard would have carried our program through; but 
 I wasn't going to be under compliment to him not 
 after the mean way he'd acted. Anyhow I guess 
 there's nothing better in London than we can put up in 
 little old New York.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 Granny used to say, " A man's as big as he can 
 build." But then she'd never seen a skyscraper, or 
 else my difficulty lay in not being able to handle Henri's 
 pile. Without de Grasse I wasn't up to the gilt-edged 
 social stunt. As we steamed into New York harbor, 
 which I'd never seen from a ship before, owing to 
 the exclusiveness of my last voyage, I knew I was 
 shrinking to about the size of a peanut. Instead of 
 thrills and throbs and all the advertised emotions, 
 I just naturally felt I was a shop girl, perhaps worth 
 a little more than nine fifty per., but no better able 
 to hold down Miss Stacy's job than to be President of 
 the United States. 
 
 Of course I'd been to places and seen things with 
 my own eyes. No amount of soul shifting could 
 deprive me of experience ; and I'd learned from Henri 
 the tip is to give the world a left-hander, and you'll 
 almost get a black eye from the return rush but 
 for the life of me I couldn't bring it off. Every time 
 I opened my mouth I was afraid of putting my foot 
 into it. I commenced to weigh the idea of going to 
 college and getting more educated so that I could 
 curb my talk, or the chances of butting into the four 
 hundred by doing charity work. Henri always 
 despised the climber squad, but I couldn't think of 
 anything original to do. 
 
 307
 
 308 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I streamed into the Ritz at lunch hour, and imme- 
 diately after called Swanhill, intending to pass him 
 an invitation to dinner and then have our quarrel out. 
 
 The minute they took my name on the wire I 
 twigged things sounded strained. And by-and-by, 
 when Beaty condescended to speak, I got it in the 
 neck. I was busted. Dead down and out! Rubber 
 had kept right on tobogganing in spite of my blockade. 
 The amount I could put up for fresh margins and 
 carry the load wasn't a straw to the Galveston flood. 
 
 " You've been holding a tea cup under Niagara," 
 Beaty explained with the fish ; and conversed at length 
 on the subject of water. 
 
 " I'm the goat," I agreed ruefully. " One lesson 
 like this ought to be enough." 
 
 From the broker's manner I could see he thought it 
 one too many. Of course I'd turned him down on 
 sentiment earlier, so I'd no legitimate kick coming re- 
 garding the icy mitt, and it was decent of him to pay 
 the dinner check, still it hurt to shake hands and know 
 all was over between me and the aristocracy. Unless 
 Clarissa Kendall, by her lone, could strike another 
 Lelland there wouldn't be any invitations for week- 
 ends on the Jersey coast. 
 
 I shut myself solo into my room and waded through 
 stock reports, balance sheets and bank books, till the 
 bare bones of my horrible predicament hadn't a rag left 
 for covering. I owed money to Swanhill, and there 
 was Tom's salary to pay up, my pride insisted on that, 
 and a hotel bill mounting hourly. While my assets 
 But why pile on the agony? The wrong side of the 
 market stuff is being handed out pretty regularly. Oc- 
 casionally it sends a man to the gutter, but mostly it
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 309 
 
 makes him look sharp and join in the job-hunting mar- 
 athon, as it did me. 
 
 A new refrain commenced to sing in my ears : "If 
 I don't find it before the end of the month? " " If I 
 don't get something by next week ? " 
 
 What kind of a job did I want ? Well not behind 
 a counter. Knowing more of proportion now I figured 
 the peachy time Annette put in compared to a sales- 
 lady, and determined, if the worst came to the worst, 
 to go into service. I chased " situations vacant " like 
 a terrier after a rat, up and down elevators, through 
 windy passages, in underground and " L " trains ; wait- 
 ing with my ear cocked at the door of private offices, 
 and my eye on the hole. I got engagements, but they 
 always petered out. Either I wasn't paid, or the boss 
 proved cheeky, or the firm went to the wall. One 
 morning I tried an employment agency to rent myself 
 as a maid. Shades of Annette! The lady with the 
 corn-colored transformer and the cosmetic complexion 
 who ran the place said it wasn't a bit of good without 
 references, and sure none of the dames I interviewed 
 cared to risk a stranger next her diamonds. Finally, 
 when Erma Swanhill appeared at the desk I faded out 
 of the back door. If she had been looking for a maid, 
 she would have been just mean enough to engage me! 
 
 One late afternoon, in a desperate mood, I climbed 
 the inside stairs from the subway to the Times Buildr 
 ing. I had determined to advertise and was endeavor- 
 ing to think up an attractive description of my abilities, 
 and I was so intent on the fancv sketch I failed to no- 
 tice the sleight of hand lad loafing at the head of the 
 steps. 
 
 " Stop thief ! "
 
 310 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 A dozen arms shot out as the ragamuffin scooted for 
 the entrance; but he dissolved among them like a blob 
 of mercury, wriggled away, dashed across the tiles, and 
 jumped into the revolving door at Forty-second Street, 
 before the crowd had well awakened. A man just go- 
 ing out sprang after him into the next compartment. 
 A dark day had settled into torrents of rain, the door- 
 way was jammed by folks waiting for cars, and the 
 pickpocket found himself unexpectedly trapped. See- 
 ing escape shut off to the south, the kid spun round 
 and endeavored to cut back the way he got in. A 
 bunch of us were waiting for him there too, and he had 
 no choice but to travel. He speeded up, the man kept 
 on pursuing, while the glass door purred. They flew 
 around like squirrels in a cage. People arriving from 
 above and below began to horn in on the circus; the 
 crowd beyond got wise to what was happening and 
 commenced to laugh everybody laughed. Laughing 
 put us all in such good humor public opinion eased up 
 on the boy. Obviously being the lighter he couldn't 
 hold out long. The pace slowed, and the young gamin, 
 wild-eyed but game, made a desperate leap and 
 landed clean in the arms of a reporter. A second later 
 the man, grinning broadly, popped from the door and 
 glammed him. 
 
 " Here's the bag ! " said he, holding it aloft. " None 
 the worse for a trip to Coney Island ! Does anybody 
 want to have the kid arrested ? " 
 
 "Not on your life!" I cried, pushing forward. 
 " But it's a darned good thing you froze on to that 
 purse, Terrance O'Shaughnessy, because my last red 
 cent is in it and I'm hungry ! " I underestimated the 
 effect of that speech. A couple of philanthropists
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 311 
 
 moved forward, and I hung my head, half -laughing 
 and half-crying. 
 
 Terry peeped under my hat brim exclaiming, " Clar- 
 issa ! " in accents of joy. 
 
 I felt so happy I wasn't able to speak for a minute, 
 and let him tuck my hand under his arm, saying: 
 " Let's get out of this. Can I call your car? " 
 
 " No, you can't I don't own a car ! I don't own 
 anything any more not even a pair of rubbers. 
 Take me over to Quids' and I'll tell you a Cinderella 
 story backwards." 
 
 Having found him, he looked too good to lose, and 
 I knew the surest way to hold the Terrier was to unload 
 Romance. So over a marble-topped table and a fry of 
 ham and eggs I spun the yarn, starting in Bain & 
 Dingley's and ending up to date. Part of it I'd told 
 him floating on Lake Erie, and much of it he acted in, 
 but ranging scene on scene in order made it a brand 
 new play a thriller too. Not once did he show doubt 
 or scorn or superiority, but just sat watching my face 
 and remarking, " Umph ! " at times, to indicate he was 
 on. 
 
 " You've never known the real Clarissa, and maybe 
 you won't care for her," I finished ; then, struck by an 
 idea, opened my bag and spilt the Baroness's little key 
 out on the table. " Here's my credential that every 
 word is true, this and Ross's nugget are the only talis- 
 mans I keep. Now tell me all you've been up to your- 
 self." 
 
 As the dinner throng thinned the air grew clearer, 
 our hearts were uplifted, and it's difficult to beat white 
 tiles and nickel-plate for striking a cheerful contrast to 
 rain and wind. We ordered fresh cups of coffee, and
 
 312 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 sat on talking. The Terrier's blue eyes beaming op- 
 posite made me feel as safe as an insurance policy. 
 
 " What have you done with your black boat ? " he 
 asked presently. 
 
 " Haven't done a tap with her. The Swallow is 
 stowed away where Tom bunked her last fall. I ought 
 to have tried to sell her but I didn't know how." 
 
 " Good work ! I hoped you hadn't chopped her up 
 for kindling wood, or parted with her under the ham- 
 mer, which I believe is about the same thing. I've 
 got a plan. I'm going down to put the lady in the 
 water, and maybe you'd like to take me boating next 
 Sunday?" 
 
 " Lucky the ocean is nobody's swimming pool," he 
 replied to my enthusiasm. " But that's not all 
 there's method in my madness. Things look very 
 much as if Bully's luck and mine had changed. We've 
 gone into this new moving picture business." 
 
 I burst out laughing. " Terry, Terry ! I'd never 
 have thought it of you! Are you playing hero and 
 Bully the heavy lead ? " 
 
 He puffed his cigarette, holding my glance with an 
 indignant eye. " Bully is the crack camera man of 
 America. And I'm owning actors these days. An- 
 other chap and I got together on a film company 
 making the pictures, you know. It looked pretty good 
 to us six months back and it sizes up better now. 
 We're thinking of building a big studio somewheres 
 over in Jersey." 
 
 " Glad you've made the grade ! " I cried, reaching 
 for his hand and trying to keep a shade of wistfulness 
 out of my voice. 
 
 " Listen, woman ! We're running a story now with
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 313 
 
 a boat in it, and that's where you turn some easy money. 
 Our company will pay you rent for the Swallow, and if 
 you want to steer her yourself we'll pay for your time 
 too. By the Lord Harry ! " He brought his fist down 
 making the cups dance and jingle. " What a dub I 
 am not to have thought of it at once and you look- 
 ing for a job! There's heaps of things to be done be- 
 side motor boating. You can dance and swim and ride 
 and golf and wear clothes wear them with a sting. 
 Will you sign on with us, Clarissa? " 
 
 " Are you offering me work? " I quavered. 
 
 " Work, sure, and play. I'm going to star you in 
 an A-i comedy we've just bought a society plot. 
 Have you any clothes left by chance? " 
 
 " Clothes ! I haven't anything but clothes ! Trunks 
 and trunks full of them in storage. I spent weeks in 
 Naples ordering a wardrobe and I did it good the 
 very latest Paris styles and gee gaws to match. Oh, 
 this is a blissful day, Terry!" 
 
 " Top hole ! You'll be the rage inside three months. 
 There's a stack of money in the movies, girl. \Vhy, we 
 aren't started yet. Wait ! By ten years' time the swell 
 actors will be crawling to us on their hands and knees. 
 We're going to cut the planks clean out from under 
 the feet of the legitimates! " 
 
 " And you're taking me in on the ground floor. 
 You are white ! You know it was Henri worked the 
 Lelland," I added apologetically. 
 
 His twinkling eyes showered me all over with little 
 blue sparks, and I knew from his smile he didn't give 
 a hoot for the de Grasse story ; but all he ever said to 
 show his unbelief was : 
 
 " Honest, old girl, I don't find you a bit changed."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 October found me broken into harness ; Judson had 
 already raised my pay ; and you couldn't have told the 
 Cobalt contingent I wasn't Queen of the Movies not 
 without taking chances. Our company was in shape 
 to build too, and the Terrier and I drove pretty near all 
 over Jersey, in his secondhand Ford, looking for a site. 
 After a Panhard it was some joke to be travelling in 
 a box on wheels with a sewing machine doing the en- 
 ergy act, but we had lots of fun out of it, and, on our 
 final trip, a cussed run of luck, so that by nine-thirty 
 we were still coming along east, trying to pick up 
 Newark and a beefsteak. It was pitchy dark, not a 
 hint of a moon or any light but our own lamps, and 
 we'd fallen foul of a pavement molded on waffle irons. 
 
 " Sleepy ? " asked the Terrier, battling with her fliv- 
 ver steering gear. " Don't spoil your appetite by doz- 
 ing; this lane isn't much to brag of, but it looks like 
 business and we may eat dinner before breakfast yet." 
 
 With that a bright red eye winked in front, then an- 
 other and another, and we nosed up on a barrier where 
 an arrow with the well-remembered legend directed us 
 to " Detour." From the map of the country we had 
 been exploring this bore the ear-marks of some little 
 side-step. We turned sharp and ran into a single-track 
 thoroughfare leading through dense trees, which pres- 
 ently emerged from the bush as a mere rut across 
 ploughed fields. Only a nip of frost in the air made 
 
 314
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 315 
 
 going possible. A dense black curtain of darkness 
 shrouded the sky except to the southwest, and what I 
 saw there petrified my gaze. 
 
 " Thunder and blazes! Am I mad? " I cried, shak- 
 ing myself awake to stare. " Look, for the love of 
 Mike, and tell me what you see ! " 
 
 " Strange constellation," said Terry, and " Take 
 care ! This isn't midocean," as I grabbed his arm. 
 
 " I'm not dippy, then not stark staring? You see 
 it too? What in the Sam Hill can de Grasse's winged 
 snake be doing in the heavens on the open side of 
 nowhere ? Why I haven't had the thing in mind, not 
 a murmur of him, since the final act in Naples ! " 
 
 "Search me!" I thought I heard the Terrier 
 chuckle, and fell silent. 
 
 We continued to draw up on the creature, who stood 
 clear in his gaudy reds and greens, as live a monster 
 as ever wiggled tail or winked an evil eye. My amaze- 
 ment grew. 
 
 "Is it a signal? It's not an hallucination? Are 
 you positive you see it, Terry ? " 
 
 " Can't see anything else ! Somebody's spreading 
 himself. Maybe it's Jacobs's racing stables." 
 
 " Jews don't race, you old Briton ! Honest, what 
 do you think it means? " 
 
 " Cross my heart it's nothing more than an electric 
 sign. A firm manufacturing galoshes uses a trade- 
 mark on that order " 
 
 "Rubbers!" I cried. 
 
 Terry looked at me, and I looked at him, and we 
 both commenced to laugh. We laughed so hard we 
 nearly fell out of the Ford. 
 
 " If it's a case of mental telepathy," I gasped,
 
 316 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " I'll have to wire Sir Gillespie. I do wonder where 
 they acquired the scorpion let's go and ask." 
 
 " I suspect her of needing a drop of gas, so I'm with 
 you," my companion assented, and " Cast your eye on 
 that road," he added, as we crossed a strip of smooth 
 macadam. " It looks as if we'd been on the wrong 
 level all the way down." 
 
 But I was too busy over the idea and memory of 
 Henri's gang to pay him much attention. On we spun, 
 nearer and nearer, darkness enveloping us, with only 
 the winged snake glaring ahead. Then suddenly the 
 crack of a revolver split the night. At least I thought 
 it was a shot and jumped a mile, but it turned out to be 
 a busted tire. 
 
 When the Terrier had let up on his own line of con- 
 versation, I pointed to the bulky formless mass of a fac- 
 tory looming in blackness, and he admitted the scrape 
 might have been worse. We ran on the rim to the 
 gates, and crossing their paved court knocked loud 
 enough to raise the dead. Evidently the watchman 
 Terry expected to raise was on the job, for lights 
 sprang up within and without immediately, and almost 
 as soon the heavy door opened. There in front of me, 
 beneath the sign of Henri's winged snake, stood Wat- 
 son Duffy. 
 
 He recognized me on the spot and was as cool and 
 impudent as ever. 
 
 " Baroness ! Ha, ha ! This is a joke a pleasure 
 too but so unexpected! I told the folks in Monte 
 Carlo we'd run across each other, and we do. You 
 see, I'm never wrong. The third's the charm, too. 
 Come right in. Hospitality's my second name." 
 
 Talking all the time he ushered us into a private
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 317 
 
 office at the rear, where another' person sat at a desk 
 poring over papers. Our entrance caused him to turn 
 and spring up. But I was getting so accustomed to 
 surprises by that time the Baron's bow hardly feazed 
 me at all, except that my eyes fell before his in em- 
 barrassment, not fear I remembered his kiss ! 
 
 My glance, fleeing from his ironical regard swept the 
 littered table, and then, indeed, it was all I could do to 
 cover symptoms of a leaping heart ; for at one side, neg- 
 lected, unopened, evidently out of the count, stood a 
 little gray despatch box. 
 
 My head swam, every instinct toward adventure left 
 in my purely feminine soul, rose to attention. Vaguely 
 I heard Duffy saying, " Shake hands with Baron von 
 Rathgartz," Terry explaining our situation, asking for 
 gas, and the old Austrian, in his most courteous man- 
 ner, offering to hold a light. 
 
 The men departed and I came out of it to realize 
 Duffy was offering me a chair. 
 
 " For goodness' sake where are we? " I cried, relax- 
 ing my trembling knees. 
 
 " You're in the headquarters of the Cat's Eye Rubber 
 Company, that's me, makers of the best wearing and 
 best fitted rubbers in the world. Mark you, I say 
 it and I'm never wrong," he replied expansively. 
 
 "Rubbers!" I gasped. 
 
 " Rubbers rubber the real commodity." He 
 grinned from ear to ear reiterating it, and I understood 
 they knew all about my big financial blunder. 
 
 Struck once more by the cruelty of those even white 
 teeth, and agog with curiosity over where he got his 
 information, and what it had to do with Henri, I fired a 
 string of questions at the man.
 
 3i8 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Why in thunder do you have that beastly serpent 
 up above your roof ? Where did you find him ? Is he 
 your own invention or only borrowed ? Have you read 
 his family history and his pedigree? " 
 
 " Serpent? What are you talking about? Our 
 trade mark? " He threw over a couple of neat adver- 
 tisements both emblazoned with a drawing of Henri's 
 snake, wrongly accented, and ran on about rubbers for 
 a time, telling me how he made them, how he had 
 scraped the capital together, and cribbed the design 
 from a sketch on a dining-car tablecloth. 
 
 " Never miss a chance, you know. I saw this was 
 a snappy fellow and ate him up. Improved him too, 
 don't you think? He's better for commercial pur- 
 poses anyway." 
 
 He punctuated his talk freely with capital I's, and 
 blatant assurances of his own infallibility, and I let him 
 ramble on while my mind leaped from jag to jag of 
 past experience. When the whole world went wild 
 about rubber, I had attributed the influence to Jacobs 
 - never to an outsider. But the thing was under- 
 standable. Duffy was the sort to concentrate his entire 
 powers on a new line, whatever his motive, his mind 
 worked over time a dynamo of power as he'd 
 said himself. On the gigantic interwoven wireless 
 linking public opinion, his virility had flashed a set of 
 private signals to my supersensitive condition. My 
 enormous fortune had not represented de Grasse, after 
 all, but William Watson Duffy. I glanced about no 
 mahogany and silver fittings here, just serviceable light 
 oak. Everything in the office shouted newness and 
 efficiency. So this was Sue Mainardy's millionaire
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 319 
 
 at home. Whew ! He must have risked the whole of 
 his precious rubber making at a single turn ! I smiled. 
 In southern Europe he and I had been a pair of busted 
 flushes, and Sue had taken us on. 
 
 He saw the smile, caught my drift, and cut his reci- 
 tation short. 
 
 "What's the Baron doing here? " I asked. 
 
 " Same old story. Down and out wife died and 
 he lost his allowance or something so I brought him 
 along. He's selling champagne and making good." 
 A gleam of kindly humor lit Duffy's eye as he waved 
 his hand over the table. 
 
 " Fixing up his accounts to see if he can afford 
 Monte next season can you beat it? I felt he'd 
 succeed and I'm never wrong." 
 
 Conversation lagged. My mind was all on the gray 
 box. Presently he vouched : " We've seen you be- 
 fore. Seen you in the Swallow off Deal Beach." 
 
 " Ah ! But the past is past." 
 
 Curiosity as to the source of his knowledge being 
 satisfied in this one illuminating sentence, my fingers 
 itched to touch the mystery. But the chances of com- 
 mitting burglary in a brilliantly lighted office, with a 
 blatant host entertaining me, and another about to re- 
 appear, seemed nil, till I heard the Baron's voice ap- 
 proaching in the corridor. 
 
 " That infernal watchman has locked up the stores! 
 Can't you come and let us have some gasoline? " 
 
 Terry said untruthfully, it didn't matter, we'd get 
 along without. 
 
 " No you won't get on without not at all," re- 
 joined von Rathgartz in the irritability of age, his cour-
 
 320 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 tesy outraged by the idea of allowing anybody to go 
 without anything particularly if somebody else paid 
 for it. 
 
 I listened not to Duffy's apologies. But, insisting on 
 the importance of gas, my thin shoes, the lateness of 
 the hour, and every excuse to emphasize our need, I 
 hurried them all off together. Then with trembling 
 eager hands I sought my talisman. The little key 
 went home, turned like a charm, and a second later 
 nothing but the reading of a printed page lay between 
 me and the Baroness's secret.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 The printed page however shed no light on Jacobs or 
 his precious doings, neither did several sheets of manu- 
 script lying underneath. I found nothing important, 
 for my ends nothing at all, till I opened the last pack- 
 age; and then the facts so stunned me I remained 
 standing stupidly before the criminal evidences of my 
 search. 
 
 My mind looped the loop around our entire adven- 
 ture ; it touched upon the relations I had borne to every 
 character. At once I understood our craven yearning 
 toward that old woman in the secret den ; I knew why 
 I had risked my neck to lug her to the open decks. I 
 was informed and nauseated. I lost count of place and 
 time, mentally engulfed in a hideous nightmare. I 
 was so shocked I was dead to events, but had I realized 
 the return of my hosts I don't believe I'd have given a 
 hoot. I just stood staring into the open empty box till 
 the Baron's voice recalled me. 
 
 " Ah, Mademoiselle has an interest in my poor af- 
 fairs." 
 
 He was on the threshold, courteous and ironical as 
 ever, twirling his long moustache over an ambiguous 
 smile, and watching. The glint in his gray eyes gave 
 the lie to his nonchalance. As the others came up he 
 added, " It is a small liberty for one who was the Bar- 
 oness von Rathgartz." 
 
 321
 
 322 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 I saw Terry stiffen, resenting the twist he gave to 
 that title, but the name itself stung me. Knowing now 
 the horror of the thing I'd seen, I sprang awake and 
 spurned it. 
 
 " Don't ! Don't ever dare to call me Baroness ! 
 That woman that terrible creature ! Her crime is 
 unbelievable ! " 
 
 " Madame ! " In a word he asserted the stern dig- 
 nity always underlying his ease. " I forbid you. 
 Kindly remember the lady whom you impersonated 
 was my wife." 
 
 "If she was a thousand times your wife, it doesn't 
 alter my opinion. I loathe the very thought of her. I 
 wish I'd let her drown like a rat in a hole ! " 
 
 He raised his hand imploringly. A smile, yes, posi- 
 tively, a smile played across his features ; and his voice 
 flowed smoothly as an oily river. 
 
 " My dear young lady, you evidently do not read 
 Italian. You defame a woman whose little shoes you 
 are not suitable to unfasten." 
 
 I gasped. The men in the doorway listened, open- 
 mouthed, strangers to our conversation. The old chap 
 lowered his finger-tips till they touched his lips and blew 
 a kiss. " My wife," he said again, eyes and voice ex- 
 pressing the transports of a lover. 
 
 " Ah ! She was a wonder, that woman a mar- 
 vel! I alone know but I do know. I who enjoyed 
 her youth. Ach! We are great fools!" He bowed 
 his head. 
 
 " Those that ought to be saved will be saved," Duf- 
 fy's voice boomed. " What in the name of all that's 
 questionable are you doing with the Baron's box? " 
 
 Somehow the old man's attitude made my action look
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 323 
 
 very cheap. " You'll admit I had the right of en- 
 trance," I cried, defensively, holding up the key. 
 
 With a sharp intake of breath, sign of the most sin- 
 cere emotion I had ever seen on him, the Baron ques- 
 tioned : " Then you did know her? " 
 
 " I was with her when she died at least, I was 
 the last the nearest. I was on the Carbothia." 
 Giving him time to recover, I ploughed along. " She 
 thrust this on me and a message a mixed-up message 
 papers, a box, a secret to hunt to destroy. I 
 suppose she meant me to destroy the evidence. But, 
 my God ! It is too horrible ! I ought to have con- 
 sulted you." 
 
 He had regained his composure, and his attitude to 
 me had strangely changed. My connection with his 
 dead wife hallowed me. "If Mademoiselle will sit," 
 he said deferentially, " I can tell her much which will 
 be perhaps interesting." So we sat one on each side of 
 the table with my theft between us, while the men drew 
 near to listen. Terry had relaxed, seeing the new set 
 of the wind, but the whole delicate affair was lost on 
 Duffy's thick skin. Curiosity alone kept him from 
 butting in. 
 
 " Mathilda would not have wished you to consult 
 me," he began. " It will surprise you to know I have 
 not been in Schlossgartz for twenty years. There was 
 no evidence against her. She did what she did by 
 Royal command, but she was human and she regretted. 
 She wanted the papers to reassure herself. It was piti- 
 ful. So ambitious, so unforgiving yet the heart 
 triumphed in the end. In extremity she did not think 
 of the diamonds, hidden somewhere and drowned a 
 Government loss. It does not matter. She was bound
 
 324 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 to have hidden them and make a mystery of them. 
 Mystery grew on her. She had a peculiar mind and 
 a very unforgiving nature. She never forgave me, no, 
 never, and to the day of her natural death she never 
 would have forgiven me, for that little affair with 
 Louise that first affair, almost immediately after we 
 were married. Ah! It was unfortunate that she 
 found it out." 
 
 Deep regret breathed in the words, but no least sense 
 of culpability. He waited a moment before continu- 
 ing: 
 
 " We have in Vienna, as you are aware, Mademoi- 
 selle, a Government Bureau for the accumulation of 
 international news " 
 
 " The Secret Service." 
 
 " Since you wish to name it, yes. My wife was a 
 considerable person in the Bureau." 
 
 "A spy, too!" 
 
 Terry shook his head at me, but the old gentleman 
 took no notice of my indiscretion. 
 
 " In those days she was young, and beautiful and 
 clever. Himmel ! What a marvel ! Her control, her 
 readiness, her invention ! I was young, too. I was in 
 the diplomatic service. We had a career before us. I 
 worshipped her. I would have kissed the ground she 
 trod on ; and she, believe me, Mademoiselle, she adored 
 me. And then that trifling episode with Louise 
 and all was changed. We worked together for a while 
 longer, but there was no confidence, it was not the same. 
 Proud, proud ! She never spoke to me except on busi- 
 ness, or for courtesy's sake, when we appeared in pub- 
 lic. All the affection once bestowed on me she trans- 
 ferred to our son. She became the creature of two pas-
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 325 
 
 sions her work and her son. That is the sort of 
 interest they like in the Bureau. Outwardly we had 
 the world at our feet. But it is not in the nature of 
 things to run smoothly for the owners of Schlossgartz. 
 Very soon her two great purposes commenced to inter- 
 fere with each other. The boy turned into a human 
 ferret. He was clever, he was full of questions. She 
 could no longer have him about her business. The 
 future balanced on a sacrifice. She must choose her 
 son or her career. It was difficult, Mademoiselle, be- 
 cause her strong illuminating, dominating spirit lived 
 for these two interests only ; but in sacrificing her work 
 she sacrificed me also, and doubtless that counted. 
 You see, she never forgave. 
 
 " I was no longer the husband of an esteemed and 
 valuable agent, and it was, therefore, no longer neces- 
 sary to keep me in prominent positions in the diplo- 
 matic circle. My wife retired to her castle and made 
 me a generous allowance I drifted into the eternal 
 round from Switzerland to the Riviera, Paris, Norway, 
 Tyrol. All the time the boy was growing up she kept 
 him from me, and as soon as he was a man and free, he 
 left her. There is a rough justice in things. It was 
 then she commenced to eat her heart out; and finally 
 sought to return to her service. She had put herself 
 badly out of favor at court by deserting, but she was 
 too useful still to be neglected. She started in after 
 twenty years to make good her career. Ach, she was 
 a wonderful woman, Mathilda! Wonderful in all 
 ways. I had her youth, and I shall never forget it. 
 But it was a pity she was so unforgiving. That little 
 affair with Louise the petite diable and my wife 
 so affectionate, so tender, so true "
 
 326 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Bah ! " I cried. " Don't cant to me ! Affection- 
 ate, tender, true a woman who shot her own son ! " 
 
 Terry sprang to his feet ; but the Baron only blinked 
 and stared as though I had knocked his sentiment 
 breathless. 
 
 " She didn't," he replied presently. 
 
 I swept the papers with a wide gesture. " These say 
 she did." 
 
 " No." He was smiling amiably. 
 
 ' They all go to prove it. She certainly shot Henri 
 de Grasse, and these documents prove he was her son. 
 Why here is her will " I lifted the page. " You 
 can't prove she didn't do it, unless you prove Henri 
 de Grasse von Rathgartz never existed." 
 
 I heard the Terrier chuckle. " Maybe he never did. 
 Maybe I've been hypnotized ever since," I thought 
 wildly. The air was numb with expectation of the 
 Austrian's next sentence. He spoke, suavely, enjoy- 
 ing my discomfiture : 
 
 " That, Mademoiselle, is exactly what I am able to 
 prove he never existed." After fumbling through 
 the papers he handed me an Italian sheet which I had 
 not been able to read. " See, here is the nurse's con- 
 fession. A baby was born and not baptised, and an- 
 other baby was substituted. It was this my wife 
 wanted to reassure her it was on this account she 
 shot him. After a quarrel more violent than the rest 
 regarding the young man's living out of Schlossgartz, 
 he went down into Italy, obtained this confession 
 witnessed by the priests, and sent it to my Mathilda. 
 Damned puppy! 
 
 " Her love turned to violent hatred. She had given 
 up her whole life, her career she had been imposed
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 327 
 
 upon by an impostor. The fires that had fed two 
 splendid passions rekindled with one mighty purpose. 
 She determined to avenge herself. From then there 
 was open war between them. Henri had worked his 
 way up in the Service ; but he commenced to abuse their 
 secrets. The nurse had been his accomplice and had 
 taught him her black arts. He connected himself with 
 Lady Deering in order to establish a reason for com- 
 ing to America. But he was not so clever as my wife 
 not clever enough to outwit her. Disguised as his 
 principal she made occasions to watch him. As a 
 grande dame she insinuated herself into Jacobs's con- 
 fidence." 
 
 " Does Jacobs belong to the Bureau ? " I asked. 
 
 " Not exactly. But Samuel Jacobs is a tremendously 
 wealthy and influential man; in case of this country 
 ever taking issue with my country, his would be the in- 
 fluence we preferred to secure. The two agents, Henri 
 and Felix, were sent to America to get something on 
 Jacobs. He tempted them with his thriving side-line 
 and they fell. Using our secret sign, the winged snake, 
 they were able easily and safely to forward the dia- 
 monds through minor agents of our office. W r hen my 
 wife reported they were in partnership with Jacobs 
 and lining their own pockets, it was all up with them. 
 We do not employ half measures in the Bureau to 
 the faithful comes reward, and to the unfaithful a 
 swift, sure end. She begged the privilege of shooting 
 Henri. Some other was instructed in regard to Felix. 
 The law of obedience is our law of life. You know 
 the result! 
 
 " Begged the privilege of shooting," I murmured. 
 " Affectionate tender."
 
 328 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 " Helas, Mademoiselle, you do not understand! 
 These charming ladies of America, whose highest pur- 
 pose is appearance, make life a garden for a season, 
 each bud delicious. But our European women weld the 
 line of centuries. Like oak trees their roots are deep 
 and strong, their branches spreading, and their hearts 
 iron and they are proudly beautiful. You think my 
 wife's action unnatural. I say it was magnificent. 
 Devastating, hein? But magnificently natural as an 
 elect, ic storm. Remember the Magyar strain her 
 love, her ambition. Remember that Italian woman's 
 son had robbed her of her whole life the life of 
 accomplishment the life that counts. Then he flung 
 the facts in Mathilda's face, knowing, if she made them 
 public, she became a laughing stock. He was the child 
 of our hereditary enemy; his course a disgrace to our 
 name, and a menace to our country. She was right to 
 kill him but it broke her. She couldn't forgive 
 and she couldn't forget the little chap he used to be. 
 She went to pieces badly afterward, and Jacobs hid her 
 in his own place and communicated with me. But of 
 course she would not have had me interfere. She was 
 great great. The only woman I ever loved." 
 
 He sat quite silent gazing into the empty dispatch 
 box, so symbolic of his empty life following that lit- 
 tle affair with Louise. 
 
 I placed the key in his hand and folded his thin fin- 
 gers over it. A tear splashed on to his well manicured 
 nails. 
 
 " American softness charm vanity," he mur- 
 mured, and seemed to forget all about us. 
 
 Outside while Terry changed his tire Duffy talked 
 loudly of how the old lady's death had broken the
 
 WITS AND THE WOMAN 329 
 
 Baron up. " But he'll recover, mark my words, he'll 
 break the bank at Monte Carlo yet. Born to do it I 
 say so and I'm never ha, ha ! Lots of people have 
 been wrong about that, haven't they ? Ha, ha ! " 
 
 My mind whirled, at one instant I was von Rath- 
 gartz's adopted son in person, the next I was giving 
 a too familiar name to a ship's officer. Duffy boomed 
 unheeded. 
 
 "Didn't understand half of his story de Grasse 
 a pal of yours I take it, and Jacobs too and Jim 
 Gower. Say, you must tell me all about this some other 
 time you're a regular big game hunter, Baroness ! " 
 And in a hurried voice, leaning his arms on the car 
 door as Terry cranked her. 
 
 " You're a pretty live wire, my girl, but not too bright 
 for little Willie; I sized up the situation on the Car- 
 bothia all right, as soon as you mentioned Jim great 
 chap Jim Gower, shipped his wine in variety and 
 thought about drinking it later. You were jealous of 
 the other skirt. You hugged your cabin. Ha, ha ! I 
 spotted you. Some time when you're feeling friendly 
 call me at the factory set your night and you'll not 
 lose by it. I always know what I want any line 
 that's good enough for Gower is good enough for me." 
 
 I had advanced the spark and shoved back the gas as 
 he talked. The rattle of the engine died suddenly so 
 that his last words fell sharp on the still night air. 
 There was a rush from the front, the quick impact of 
 heavy bodies, the sound of falling a moment later 
 we had rounded the factory corner and were racing 
 away down the interminable long white road. Sur- 
 prise gave place to pride. No man could have been 
 more gloriously master than the Terrier in his punish-
 
 330 WITS AND THE WOMAN 
 
 ing attack. I gloated. I cherished a blurred memory 
 of his blow ; I confess to smiling happily over thought 
 of the prostrate Duffy. 
 
 " Who was that damned impertinent fool ? " my 
 companion barked at last, and didn't listen to my an- 
 swer. 
 
 Courage sank into my number fours. Since I quit 
 being a dual personality, I haven't got the proper right- 
 ing spirit, and I certainly didn't want to fight with 
 Terry. How much had he heard ? Could he possibly 
 misunderstand ? What had been said about Gower, the 
 notorious libertine ? I racked my brains to remember. 
 Silence and glumness were so unlike Terry. The mood 
 looked serious. 
 
 On and on we sped. Fields changed to lawns and 
 houses strung themselves on either hand, changing 
 again to shops. The regular lights of the city streets 
 floated toward us. Astonished pedestrians turned to 
 gape as we dashed ahead into the very heart of the 
 town. Traffic thickened. Terry eased off a bit, and 
 when our gait had settled into a gentle roll he turned to 
 me. As a manager he was a martinet. We all knew 
 the set of his jaw. I wasn't expecting any bridal bou- 
 quets. I realized he bulked a little larger than any- 
 thing else on my horizon and held my breath as he 
 slowed to the curb. Was he minded to sack me then 
 and there ? 
 
 " Clarissa," he said sternly, " when will you marry 
 me and put an end to all this nonsense? " 
 
 " We're in New Jersey now," I merely mentioned. 
 
 When I came up for air he roared at me, " Are you 
 ready? " and I answered : 
 
 "Shoot!" 
 
 THE END
 
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