fainted for 
 
 AN PROPOSES"
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 5
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 OR, THE ROMANCE OF JOHN ALDEN SHAW
 
 Novels by 
 ELIOT R. ROBINSON 
 
 Man Proposes, 
 
 or 
 
 The Romance of John Alden Shaw 
 9 
 
 ''Smiles' 
 
 A Rose of the Cumberlands 
 
 * 
 
 Each, cloth decorative, 12mo, 
 illustrated, $1.65 
 
 fs? 
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 53 Beacon St., Boston
 
 MAIN PROPOSES 
 
 I \\K.\T TO MY PLACE WITH THE COLD DETERMINATION 
 
 TO WIN TII\T MATCH ". (Stc jxt(J( ;>3
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 OR 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF JOHN ALDEN SHAW 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIOT H. ROBINSON 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 WILLIAM VAN DRESSER 
 
 " Man proposes, but God disposes " 
 
 Thomas a Kemp is 
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON * PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1916, by 
 THE PAGE COMPANY 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 First Impression, August, 1916 
 Second Impression, March, 1920 
 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY, BOSTON, U. S. A.
 
 P5" 
 3535 
 
 TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 1521082
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. IN WHICH I AM, BUT Do NOT APPEAR 
 
 TO BE SURPRISED I 
 
 II. IN WHICH I AM TOLD A SECRET . . 15 
 
 III. IN WHICH I TOIL NOT, NEITHER Do I 
 
 SPIN 26 
 
 IV. IN WHICH ARE RECORDED A FEW IM 
 
 PRESSIONS 41 
 
 V. IN WHICH I MEET A FAMOUS DETEC 
 TIVE 55 
 
 VI. IN WHICH FATE SUPPLIES ME WITH A 
 
 FRIEND 67 
 
 VII. IN WHICH I MAKE AN INTERESTING 
 
 DISCOVERY 79 
 
 VIII. IN WHICH I MAKE AN ENEMY . . 93 
 
 IX. IN WHICH I BECOME A HERO . . . 106 
 
 X. IN WHICH I SCALE A CITADEL . . . 120 
 
 XL IN WHICH THE SIEGE Is COMMENCED . 138 
 
 XII. IN WHICH I LOSE MY HEAD AND 
 
 HEART 150 
 
 XIII. IN WHICH Two START OUT AND THREE 
 
 RETURN 170 
 
 XIV. IN WHICH AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS . 186 
 XV. IN WHICH OF Two MORE ENGAGE 
 MENTS 199 
 
 XVI. IN WHICH PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A 
 
 FALL 215
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XVII. IN WHICH SOME SPORTING HISTORY Is 
 
 RETOLD 228 
 
 XVIII. IN WHICH OF A ROMAN HOLIDAY . . 244 
 XIX. IN WHICH THE CLOUDS LIFT AND I SEE 
 
 THE LIGHT 256 
 
 XX. IN WHICH THE LIGHT TURNS TO UTTER 
 
 DARKNESS 281 
 
 XXI. IN WHICH THE DIE Is CAST . . . 291 
 XXII. IN WHICH I BURN MY BRIDGES . . 301 
 
 XXIII. IN WHICH OF CERTAIN NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 SUCCESSFULLY CARRIED THROUGH . 315 
 
 XXIV. IN WHICH I LIFT MINE EYES UNTO THE 
 
 HILLS 329 
 
 XXV. IN WHICH MORE THAN Two YEARS 
 
 PASS 342
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 DETERMINATION TO WIN THAT MATCH 
 
 (See page 237) . . . Frontispiece 
 
 " HE PAWED OVER MY MEAGER BELONGINGS " . 36 
 
 " IN OUR HEAT WE HAD BOTH RAISED OUR VOICES 
 
 UNCONSCIOUSLY " . . . -94 
 
 " ' IT'S A CRYING SHAME TO SIT HERE IDLY AND 
 
 GOSSIP "' . . . . . 258
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN WHICH I AM, BUT DO NOT APPEAR 
 TO BE, SURPRISED 
 
 IN the life of every man there occurs, I suppose, 
 at least one incident, perhaps a closely connected 
 series of incidents, which stamps its image so 
 ineffaceably upon his mind that nothing can destroy 
 or even dim it, save the all-obliterating hand of 
 Death. 
 
 For my own part, I am certain that no matter 
 what may be in store for me during that part of my 
 allotted span of years which is to come, it cannot 
 surplant or dull the recollection of that never-to-be- 
 forgotten fortnight now nearly five years past, ac 
 cording to the calendar, but still so vivid in my 
 memory that by merely closing my eyes I can to-day 
 live again its joys in all their sweetness, and its pain 
 in all its poignancy. Other memories, even of 
 events which have happened since that time, are be- 
 
 1
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 coming mistily vague, but the most minute and 
 trivial matters even of the day on which my " Great 
 Adventure " had its inception, are still as clean cut 
 in my mind as the tiny facets upon a diamond. 
 
 I can remember thinking somewhat rebelliously, 
 as I began my work that August morning, that 
 I was beyond cavil the very busiest man in 
 Boston. And indeed my thought was probably 
 founded upon fact, for it is fair to say that the 
 youngest member of one of the oldest, largest and 
 busiest firms of lawyers in a big city has at the best 
 no sinecure, and such was my position in the 
 office of Thomas, Richards and Henry. 
 
 Not only is such a one continually at the beck and 
 call of the members of the firm, all of whom 
 quite naturally expect their particular cases to 
 receive first attention, but each and every one of the 
 remainder of the office force is forever celebrating 
 his relief from a similar bondage by cheerfully 
 placing upon the already over-laden shoulders of 
 the unfortunate man who answers to the most lowly 
 name upon the office door, any matter which may 
 conceivably be regarded as beneath his august con 
 sideration. 
 
 I can say truthfully that I am neither a shirk nor 
 one by nature particularly addicted to whining, 
 but there were times, nevertheless, such as the day 
 of which I speak, when even my willing spirit re-
 
 \ > * 
 
 IN WHICH I AM SURPRISED 3 
 
 belled in bitterness, and I felt, with considerable jus 
 tice, that the famous Emancipation Proclamation 
 had by no means completely terminated the institu 
 tion of slavery in this land of the free and home of 
 the brave. 
 
 On that particular day, indeed, my lot seemed to 
 me especially bitter. The combination produced by 
 the hottest day of the whole summer, the realiza 
 tion that one's vacation is a thing of the past 
 having ended the evening previous the sight of 
 a desk completely covered with folders of old and 
 new cases to be prepared immediately for trial, let 
 ters to be read and answered, memoranda of tele 
 phone calls to be made, and notes the general 
 purport of which is, " Mr. Shaw. Please see me 
 at once upon your return in regard to this, or that 
 matter," is hardly likely to be conducive to pleas 
 ant thoughts. 
 
 " The daily round, the common task," may fur 
 nish all we need to ask, as the hymnist wrote, but 
 I looked forward with no very keen anticipation to 
 fifty weeks of this sort of thing before another 
 season's vacation should bring respite. 
 
 So, perhaps, I can scarcely be blamed for having 
 tittered an earnest and soul satisfying " Damna 
 tion! " when the telephone bell at my elbow jangled 
 noisily for the fifth time in ten minutes. I jerked 
 the receiver off angrily, saying "Well?" in none
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 too pleasant tones, and over the wire came the tired 
 voice of our switchboard operator, " Mr. Shaw ? 
 Mr. Thomas wishes you to step into his office im 
 mediately." 
 
 When the head of the firm " requests," the 
 youngest member thereof stands not upon the order 
 of his going, but goes at once. Needless to say, I 
 went, saying savagely to myself, " I hope to heaven 
 he fires me," although, in fact, I hoped nothing of 
 the sort. 
 
 A few seconds later I stood within the compara 
 tively cool, dimly lighted and beautifully appointed 
 office of the chief, and was listening to the bland 
 greeting of that famous lawyer, to which was 
 joined the kindly expressed hope that I had en 
 joyed and been benefited by my vacation. From 
 my reply surely no one would have suspected my 
 inward feelings of a moment previous. 
 
 Not until his well-modulated voice continued, 
 " You are acquainted with Mr. Willard, are you 
 not ? " did I realize that there was a third person 
 present. 
 
 I was. And who, in Boston, was not acquainted 
 with him, at least by reputation? Was he not at 
 this time the acknowledged leader of Hub society, 
 wealthy, handsome, a member of the Back Bay's 
 aristocratic lineage, an exceptionally capable busi 
 ness man, and, in the world- of sport known as a
 
 WHICH I AM SURPRISED 
 
 yachtsman, hunter, tennis star and polo player par 
 excellence ? 
 
 Moreover, he had recently been more than usu 
 ally in the public eye because of his romantic mar 
 riage, only a. fortnight previous, to Miss Margaret 
 Lee, one of Virginia's most beautiful young de 
 butantes, herself the possessor of very considerable 
 fortune as well as exceptional loveliness, 'twas said. 
 With this fact fresh in mind, and * recalling the 
 newspaper items , which 'stated that the happy 
 couple had sailed immediately after the marriage 
 ceremony on Mr. Willard's steam yacht, The En 
 chantress, for a lengthy honeymoon in the Mediter 
 ranean, I was considerably astonished at his pres 
 ence in our office. 
 
 As a matter of fact, I knew Mr. Willard per 
 sonally somewhat, having met him socially a num 
 ber of times and played tennis against him at Long- 
 wood, and I had also, as it chanced, the previous 
 year tried a small unimportant case for him, so I 
 answered in the affirmative and we exchanged the 
 usual perfunctory greetings. 
 
 As we shook hands the thought struck me that 
 his clasp was nervous and feverish, and a quick 
 glance at his face disclosed unmistakable indications 
 of worry and a strong hidden emotion. 
 
 " Please be seated, Mr. Shaw," said the chief. 
 
 " Have a cigar, Shaw ? " broke in Mr. Willard
 
 v -^ ( - - 
 
 6 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 nervously, at the same time selecting one for him 
 self from a monogrammed silver. case. 
 
 I glanced t enquiringly toward Mr. Thomas, for 
 by an unwritten law, smoking in the office by any 
 member of the force at least was tabooed since 
 the head did not indulge in the solacing weed him 
 self, and in this sanctum sanctorum not to be 
 thought of. 
 
 He caught my questioning glance as I was on the 
 point of refusing, and said, with the suggestion of 
 a smile, " By all means, if you care to. I should 
 imagine that friend Willard's brand might be some 
 what different from that which you are accustomed 
 to, at least if your income is limited to what 
 you receive from us. Their mellifluous fragrance 
 makes even me wish at times that I could afford to 
 indulge in the frivolity of smoking." 
 
 Such an invitation was not to be refused lightly. 
 I accepted the proffered cigar accordingly, took the 
 chair indicated by a wave of Mr. Thomas' hand 
 and prepared to await developments, Mr. Willard, 
 meanwhile, beginning to pace restlessly about the 
 room and having frequent recourse to his cigar 
 lighter. 
 
 Being acquainted with the methods of my chief, 
 I was not in the least surprised at what followed, 
 but I verily thought that our client would go mad 
 with impatience.
 
 IX WHICH I AM SURPRISED 7 
 
 Mr. Thomas turned to his desk, deliberately 
 opened and read a letter, rang for his secretary, 
 dictated an answer, and then turning, regarded me 
 in silence for a full moment. I glanced at Mr. 
 Willard fully expecting him to explode. 
 
 Finally my chief spoke quietly. 
 
 " What you may learn here this morning, Mr. 
 Shaw, we shall expect you to regard as told in the 
 strictest confidence. Whether we do or do not de 
 cide to call upon you further in this matter, you 
 will, of course, refrain from mentioning this con 
 ference or its purport to a person. That is under 
 stood." 
 
 I effected something between a nod and bow of 
 assent. 
 
 . " I am somewhat acquainted with your antece 
 dents. Your good father is a warm friend of 
 mine, and I may say that during the years that you 
 have been associated with me I have seen nothing 
 to indicate that you are not a worthy representative 
 of a splendid family." 
 
 At these unexpected words of commendation, 
 I felt my face grow red with embarrassed pleas 
 ure. Praise from Caesar was praise indeed, and 
 Mr. Thomas was never noted for fulsome flat 
 tery. 
 
 " First, I want to ask you a few, perhaps unusual, 
 questions about yourself, if you do not object."
 
 8 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 The last sentence was spoken with a rising inflection 
 and I bowed again, concealing as well as I could my 
 astonishment at this decidedly unusual opening to 
 a legal conference. 
 
 " If I recall correctly, you went to Harvard and 
 the Harvard Law School?" Again I gave my as 
 sent. " And I have been given to understand that 
 you may be called the society member of our office," 
 he continued with a twinkle in his eye. 
 
 I laughed with embarrassment, replying, " I'm 
 afraid that I cannot lay much claim to such a repu 
 tation, sir, even if I should care to. My successes 
 in that line, if any, are pretty well restricted to the 
 narrow limits of my home town." 
 
 " I hope that you will pardon my apparent curi 
 osity but, you sing, I believe ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, a little." 
 
 "Play golf, tennis, and all that sort of thing?" 
 
 This time my assent was more unqualifiedly 
 given for although I was no Travers or Larned, I 
 held my ability in sport in rather high regard, and a 
 recent triumph on the courts over Mr. Willard him 
 self lent some color to my high opinion of my skill 
 as a racket wielder. 
 
 "Dance?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 " In short, you are fairly well supplied with all 
 the social graces."
 
 IN WHICH I AM SURPRISED 9 
 
 I did not know whether to take this as a com 
 pliment or the reverse, so wisely said nothing in 
 reply. 
 
 "Are you acquainted with Newport? " 
 
 " Somewhat, sir. I have played several times in 
 the National tennis championship there, and know 
 the city fairly well." 
 
 " How about the summer society folks ? The 
 ' four hundred,' I believe they are sometimes 
 called." 
 
 By this time my previous astonishment over his 
 peculiar questions had shrunk into insignificance, 
 but, in as matter a fact manner as possible, I an 
 swered, " If I can claim acquaintance with any of 
 them it is extremely limited. I knew a few of my 
 own generation at college, but can scarcely claim 
 intimacy with any of them." 
 
 " Conversely they would not know you in 
 timately, or know of your connection with this 
 office. That is excellent," he added, nod 
 ding. 
 
 " Are you familiar with the so-called ' cottages ' 
 along Bellevue Avenue and the cliffs?" 
 
 " Oh, I know most of them by name, of course. 
 I have taken friends on the Ocean Drive with the 
 local jehus and have had them pointed out to me a 
 number of times." 
 
 " Have you the entree to any of them ? "
 
 10 
 
 At this I could not help laughing outright. 
 " Certainly not in the manner your question sug 
 gests, Mr. Thomas. I've been inside ' The Break 
 ers ' on one or two occasions at charity bazaars and 
 plays, and once I went through the Oilman resi 
 dence on Bellevue Avenue." 
 
 At this statement Mr. Willard stopped his pacing 
 abruptly and asked in a startled voice, " What was 
 the occasion of that visit? " 
 
 " Well, I'm not sure that it was altogether credi 
 table to me, Mr. Willard. It came about as the re 
 sult of a wager I once made with a tennis friend 
 when I was considerably younger than I am now. 
 We had been commenting none too politely upon 
 the society of Newport as a close corporation, and 
 he finally bet that I could not, without introduction, 
 gain access to one of their homes and go all over 
 it. I won the wager, that's all." 
 
 " How ? " interrupted my chief, with a slight 
 show of interest. 
 
 " It was really largely a matter of luck. I heard 
 that there was to be a big reception at the Oilman 
 residence the next night, and, with more nerve than 
 modesty, seized the occasion when the decorators 
 were at work, to enter and gratuitously help direct 
 the arrangements. The workmen evidently thought 
 that I was one of the household, and the family 
 and servants took the opposite view, apparently
 
 IN WHICH I AM SURPRISED 11 
 
 taking it for granted that I was in charge of the 
 work, I made suggestions so liberally. At any 
 rate I saw the palace from garret to cellar. And I 
 remember that I was rather proud of the finished 
 decorations." 
 
 The unusual trend of these questions had now 
 put me on my mettle, and as I finished this story I 
 saw a glance pass between Mr. Thomas and his 
 client, and, out of the tail of my eye, caught the 
 latter's nod of assent, and I saw his lips form the 
 words, " He'll do." 
 
 Another moment's pause succeeded. Then Mr. 
 Thomas said abruptly, " You are perhaps aware, 
 Mr. Shaw, that Mr. Willard was married a fort 
 night ago." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I read with interest the account of his 
 marriage at the time. May I tender my belated 
 congratulations, sir ? " I added, addressing the 
 bridegroom, but as I did so I noticed that Mr. 
 Thomas' hand was raised slightly from his desk as 
 though in warning, and the look of pain which 
 passed over Mr. Willard's countenance told me that 
 for some, to me unknown, reason, I had put my foot 
 in it. 
 
 My chief terminated the awkward silence which 
 ensued after my commonplace though apparently 
 inopportune remark, by saying, 
 
 " Friend Willard is, I am sure, to be congratu-
 
 12 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 lated, although just at the present moment, there is 
 a little cloud temporarily obscuring the sunlight of 
 his felicity." 
 
 "'A little cloud!' My God, Thomas, do you 
 call this thing little! " burst out the latter vehe 
 mently, his voice trembling with pent-up emotion. 
 
 Without answering him, and without comment, 
 the chief passed me a letter which bore the caption 
 of one of the leading firms of attorneys in New 
 York and was dated the previous week. 
 
 It ran: 
 
 " Roland Lawrence Willard, Esq., 
 
 Beacon Street, 
 
 Boston, Massachusetts. 
 " Dear sir : 
 
 " It is with the greatest regret that we find it en- 
 cumbent upon us to advise you that your wife, Mar 
 garet Lee Willard, has retained us for the purpose of 
 bringing against you a libel for divorce. 
 
 " We may say that this contemplated move on her 
 part is taken against our advice, and that we are writ 
 ing you on our own initiative. 
 
 " Were she to know of this action, it would un 
 doubtedly meet with her disapprobation. We feel, 
 however, that under the exceptional circumstances 
 which exist, it is only right to inform you of the situa 
 tion before the libel is entered, so that you may have 
 an opportunity for effecting a reconciliation, if such is 
 possible and should be your desire. 
 
 " Mrs. Willard alleges as cause for her action, cruel
 
 IN WHICH I AM SURPRISED 13 
 
 and abusive treatment suffered by her upon the day of 
 your wedding, as a result of which, as you are aware, 
 she left you that afternoon. We must further advise 
 you that, in our opinion, the facts which she sets forth 
 are, from a legal standpoint, sufficient to constitute 
 cause for divorce, yet we cannot help but believe that 
 your actions, of which she complains, are capable of 
 some explanation, and should not be used as the basis 
 for such a serious breach as she is contemplating. 
 
 " You will, we are sure, regard this letter as strictly 
 confidential, inasmuch as it contains matters which 
 may be regarded as privileged communications be 
 tween client and attorneys, but the circumstances are 
 so unusual that we feel justified in taking this course 
 of action. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 " ABBOTT, BROWN AND CUMMINGS." 
 
 The astonishing contents of this epistle surprised 
 me beyond words, the more so because the fact was 
 borne in upon my mind that two whole weeks had 
 elapsed since Mrs. Willard left her husband, and 
 not a word had been printed or whispered in con 
 tradiction of the report that the happy pair were on 
 their honeymoon on the broad Atlantic. Never 
 theless, I managed to conceal my amazement, and 
 after reading the letter through, very carefully, a 
 second time, handed it back in silence. 
 
 My chief regarded me quizzically for an instant, 
 then said, 
 
 ! ' This disclosure causes you no surprise, Mr.
 
 14 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Shaw ? " and smiled appreciatively when I re 
 sponded, " I have schooled myself never to show 
 astonishment over anything I may see or hear in 
 this office, sir." 
 
 At this juncture, Mr. Willard, who had been pac 
 ing about the room like a caged animal until it was 
 getting on my nerves, broke in again. 
 
 " Oh, I can't stand this, Thomas ! You tell him 
 about the whole cursed mess, and I'll talk it over 
 with him later, if you think there's any use." 
 Nervously putting on a long dust cloak and a pair 
 of huge dark auto glasses, he hurriedly left the 
 room, to my relief. 
 
 By this time my curiosity was naturally at a boil 
 ing point, but once more I had to wait with an out 
 ward show of unconcern while Mr. Thomas leaned 
 back in his chair, placed the tips of his fingers 
 against each other with great solemnity an old 
 trick of his when thinking deeply and studied my 
 face intently.
 
 CH 
 
 IN WHICH I AMf TOLD 
 
 " Dm it ever occur to youj Shaw," began Mr. 
 Thomas at length, " that we lawyers are constantly 
 running across situations which most strikingly bear 
 out the trite but true adage that ' truth is stranger 
 than fiction ' ? " 
 
 " The average persons saturate their minds with 
 the latest novels and then complain bitterly that 
 real life is a dull, monotonous and uninteresting 
 thing, willfully blind to the fact that, on the con 
 trary, it is simply teeming with romance. 
 
 " The commonplace appearing man who sits op 
 posite you in the street car, the tired-looking shop 
 girl, who waits on you over the counter daily, may 
 be living out a romance or deep in the throes of a 
 moral problem story which your author of the lat 
 est ' best seller ' would gladly give a thousand dol 
 lars to know about. 
 
 " Every day of your life you listen to the same 
 sort of wit and wisdom that you read in your 
 favorite fiction. All the writer does is, after all, 
 
 to condense and eliminate the unessential. 
 
 15
 
 4 . . - 
 
 16 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " I'm not much on poetry. Don't have time. 
 But one verse* which I read some years ago, and the 
 author of which I have^ja^otten, if I ever knew, 
 has stuck. 'This life M I full of a number of 
 things that I'm sure we^PBuld all be as happy as 
 kings ' if kings ever are happy. 
 
 " Take, for example, this present ' mess,' as Wil- 
 lard terms it. 
 
 " I don't know yet whether it is going to turn 
 out a tragedy or a comedy, but what a situation it 
 would make for your skilled writer-man. 
 
 " A wealthy, handsome and popular man of so 
 ciety i our friend Willard still a bachelor at 
 thirty-eight, meets a beautiful young orphan, Miss 
 Margaret Lee, a Virginia girl of splendid stock, 
 and possessed of considerable property herself. 
 She is little more than a child just passed twenty, 
 I believe and, from what I can gather, quite a 
 different sort from the average debutante one meets 
 in New York or even in Boston. Indeed, Willard 
 admits that notwithstanding her exceptional beauty, 
 her chief charm for him lay in her unsophistica- 
 tion, and sweet and childlike innocence. 
 
 " It was a case of love at first sight, at least on 
 his part, for he was mad about her from the start. 
 From all reports, his courtship was as impetuous as 
 his polo playing, and since he embodies all that is 
 regarded as fine and attractive in a man, it is
 
 I AM TOLD A SECRET 17 
 
 scarcely to be wondered at that she surrendered 
 shortly. 
 
 " A few weeks after the engagement was an 
 nounced they were married at the residence of the 
 Gilmans in New York, Mr. Oilman having been 
 one of her late father's most intimate friends and 
 business associates. The wedding was small and 
 very quiet, for the Lee girls there are two sis 
 ters, Margaret and Marion were not widely ac 
 quainted in the metropolis, and, moreover, still in 
 mourning for their brother who had died only a 
 few months previous. 
 
 " Immediately after the wedding breakfast the 
 party went on board Willard's steam yacht, The 
 Enchantress, which was moored at the New York 
 Yacht Club pier. 
 
 " The next incident in our story is still some 
 what cloudy, for the recollection of the hero or 
 villain, as the case may be is very hazy about it, 
 for he admits that he had unfortunately looked upon 
 the wine when it was red over-often at the break 
 fast and afterwards on board, although he will not 
 bring himself to acknowledge that he was actually 
 intoxicated. 
 
 " However that may have been, he followed his 
 newly-made bride down into the main cabin after 
 the guests had departed, and apparently attempted 
 to become too affectionate to suit his wife; in short,
 
 18 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 to kiss her without her consent. In his condition 
 it did not occur to him, he says, that his bride could 
 have had any really serious objections to his having 
 drunk more than was altogether good for him, since 
 she came from a section where heavy drinking is 
 or rather was considered a manly virtue and 
 quite the usual thing. At any rate, under the im 
 pression that she was not really in earnest in re 
 pelling his advances, or laboring under the false 
 assumption that every woman adores a masterful 
 man he must have been drunk he attempted 
 to take a kiss by force. 
 
 " She fought back like a wildcat, and, forgetful 
 for the moment how very powerful he, and how 
 slight and girlish she, was, he may have used more 
 force than he realizes and have actually hurt her, 
 although he won't even now admit the possibility of 
 such a thing. 
 
 " She finally managed to break away from him 
 and ran and locked herself in her cabin. 
 
 " Some time later, when The Enchantress was 
 well down the harbor, and he, having had time to 
 cool down a bit, sought her again to apologize and 
 * make up/ she was gone." 
 
 " Great Scott," I ejaculated. 
 
 " There, you see ? " replied my chief, smiling, 
 " and I am only giving you a bald statement of 
 facts, without attempting to dress them up with any
 
 I AM TOLD A SECRET 19 
 
 of the embellishments that a writer would employ 
 in working up his plot. 
 
 " Willard was naturally wild with anxiety. 
 Upon questioning the captain he learned that just 
 before they cast off, a young woman, heavily veiled, 
 had left the yacht hurriedly, but his informer 
 merely thought that she was Mrs. Willard's sister 
 who he knew had stayed aboard after the other 
 guests had left. 
 
 " The Enchantress was immediately put about on 
 the pretext, as the other members of the crew were 
 to be told, that business^ matters had caused a tem 
 porary change of plans, and after dark Willard 
 went ashore. The captain, who is an exceptional 
 man, one who may be relied upon to obey orders, 
 was instructed to proceed to Naples and there 
 await the arrival of the owner and his bride next 
 month. 
 
 " As you may imagine, Willard was about fran 
 tic, but, even so, he had sense enough to decide that 
 he must locate his truant bride secretly if possible, 
 desiring to avoid all publicity as much for her sake 
 as his own. For the past fortnight the poor fellow 
 has been keeping himself out of sight like a hunted 
 criminal, living in a small out-of-the-way apart 
 ment, and disguising himself as you saw him just 
 now whenever a clew to her whereabouts necessi 
 tated his appearing in any place where he might
 
 20 
 
 be recognized. If the matter were not so serious 
 it would be ludicrous, would it not: ^ 
 
 " His first step, after consulting me, was to en 
 gage the services of a leading firm of private de 
 tectives, and to furnish them with a list of .places 
 where, and names of people with whom, his wife 
 might possibly have taken refuge. Among them 
 was that of the Gilmans which accounts for Wil- 
 lard's peculiar interest when you mentioned having 
 gone through their residence. He knew that her 
 sister Marion was to have gone with them to New 
 port immediately after the wedding, and there, sev 
 eral days later, the detective located Margaret, like 
 himself, in deep seclusion. Willard, incognito, 
 followed her there at once, but she absolutely re 
 fused to see him or listen to a word of explanation 
 from him. Then he tried writing to her but his 
 letters were all returned unopened or unread. 
 
 " In the meanwhile came this letter from her at 
 torneys in New York. I went to see them with 
 him immediately, and we talked over the matters 
 at length. As an upshot of our conference they 
 willingly agreed to intercede on his behalf, but a 
 few days later telephoned to report their complete 
 failure. She was still utterly obdurate, even threat 
 ening to dismiss them and retain other and less 
 conscientious counsel and, needless to say, there 
 are plenty who would give their eye teeth to get
 
 I AM TOLD A SECRET 21 
 
 hold of this case for the advertisement there would 
 be in it. 
 
 " Then, at my suggestion, Willard broke his deep 
 silence by taking one of his most intimate friends 
 into his confidence, and the latter attempted to act 
 as a go-between and reason with Mrs. Willard. 
 He did succeed in reaching her, but met with a 
 mighty chilly reception, and the moment he men 
 tioned her husband's name and attempted to plead 
 for him, she left the room, and, try as he would, 
 he couldn't succeed in seeing her again. 
 
 " This is a queer old world, isn't it ? This 
 thing seems almost incredible, and yet, the way mat 
 ters stand now, this seemingly insignificant act on 
 Willard's part begins to look as though it were go 
 ing to wreck his whole life and hers as well. 
 Why, you and I know Willard, and know that he 
 isn't a rake or a drunkard. Indeed he's a splendid 
 chap, infinitely better and cleaner than the majority 
 of his set. Wouldn't it be the very irony of fate if 
 this slip ruins his whole happiness? 
 
 " As far as I can make out, the whole trouble 
 grew from the fact that Mrs. Willard is not only 
 very young and unsophisticated, but a descendant 
 of an old Southern family of hotheads, to all of 
 whom, back in the days before the war at least, 
 even a fancied insult was the signal for a duel to 
 death, and this fiery trait has not yet been eradi-
 
 22 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 cated from the splendid blood which runs in her 
 veins." 
 
 " But that fact doesn't excuse her unreasonable 
 attitude now," I broke in. " He has shown clearly 
 enough that he is penitent, and she has no right not 
 to give him at least a hearing. What the little spit 
 fire needs is a good old-fashioned spanking." 
 
 Mr. Thomas smiled a little at my youthful arro 
 gance, but replied, " Perhaps you're right. That 
 might be the solution, but, as the Welsh say in their 
 receipt for rabbit stew, ' First catch your hare,' 
 and that's just what we haven't succeeded in do 
 ing yet. 
 
 "You see, we have apparently come to an im 
 passe, and, moreover, there now comes the unsatis 
 factory report from the detective that both Mrs. 
 Willard and her sister have left the Gilmans' roof, 
 although they still seem to be somewhere in New 
 port, for he has seen at least one of them several 
 times recently, still heavily veiled. Somehow or 
 other she has eluded our sleuth, and he * regrets to 
 report ' that he has not yet discovered their present 
 abiding place." 
 
 At the close of this surprising story I sat silent, 
 astonished not only at the account, but by my chief's 
 attitude. I had never seen him unbend or take so 
 much sympathetic and human interest in anything 
 before, and I doubted if anv-one else had.
 
 I AM TOLD A SECRET 23 
 
 At last I said, " But I don't just see where I fit 
 into this extraordinary tangle. Of course, if you 
 think that I can be of any use to you or Mr. Wil- 
 lard, I should be more than happy to, Mr. Thomas." 
 
 He regarded me thoughtfully again for a space, 
 then said: 
 
 " As you see, the situation as it now stands is 
 this: Mrs. Willard is obdurate, Mr. Willard has 
 failed to move her, her own attorneys have failed, 
 his intimate friend has failed, I have failed, for my 
 letters to her met with the same sort of reception 
 as his." 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 " It seems that it would be utterly futile to try 
 again any of the methods which we have employed 
 in the past, at least if she continues to maintain her 
 present attitude toward her husband. If she 
 should voluntarily change her mind, why, well and 
 good, but there seems to be little likelihood of that, 
 and we are not yet ready to give up the fight. 
 
 " I am frank to say that I am puzzled how to 
 proceed. Mr. Willard still insists upon the utmost 
 secrecy. We have this thing in our favor, how 
 ever, the New York attorneys promise to take no 
 overt action until we have had a reasonable time to 
 make every possible attempt to effect an under 
 standing, and to let us know in advance when they 
 are forced to proceed. Now, there may be noth-
 
 24 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ing in this plan of mine, but although it is consider 
 ably removed from ordinary legal methods, it might 
 bear fruit. It is this, in short: You say that you 
 are fairly well acquainted in Newport, that you al 
 ready know, at least slightly, a few of the summer 
 residents, but not too well. I mean by that, that if 
 you should gain an introduction to the people who 
 are harboring the Lee girls now, the chances would 
 be all against any of them knowing that you are 
 even acquainted with Willard, or associated with 
 his counsel. If she is still in that city, you, with 
 the help of the detective, might reasonably be ex 
 pected to discover her hiding-place. That accom 
 plished, I have every confidence in your ability to 
 gain an acquaintance with the family with whom she 
 is staying, especially as we can provide you with let 
 ters of introduction to several of the leaders in 
 Newport society. If you are successful in this, the 
 next step will be to become acquainted, and then 
 on friendly terms with the young vixen herself, 
 and to this end I am counting on your social accom 
 plishments. I haven't the faintest idea just how 
 that desired result is to be brought about. That 
 is distinctly up to you. But you get my idea? I 
 want you, by whatever means you may find 
 available, to gain the friendship of Margaret 
 Willard, and then, using your own judgment as to 
 the method to be pursued, win her over and ef-
 
 I AM TOLD A SECRET 25 
 
 feet a reconciliation between her and her husband. 
 
 " I need hardly say that such a task will require 
 the most infinite care, patience and tact on your part, 
 should you decide to undertake it, and that there 
 is a great deal at stake. Will you attempt it ? " 
 
 Such an astonishing request, which gave promise 
 of a most unusual and interesting adventure in my 
 wholly uneventful life, coming like a thunderclap 
 out of a clear sky, left me in a momentary daze. 
 
 Kaleidoscopic thoughts concerning the possible 
 romance in the situation, the prospect of another 
 semi-vacation, the splendid service I would be ren 
 dering if I succeeded and its influence on my fu 
 ture, and most of all, it must be admitted the 
 recollection of my desk in the other office piled high 
 with work, work, work, raced through my mind. 
 
 The last thought settled it. 
 
 I rose, and, utterly forgetful of whom I was ad 
 dressing, and of my own professional dignity, said 
 succinctly, " I'm on ! "
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 IN WHICH I TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO I SPIN 
 
 THIRTY-SIX hours after making this momentous 
 decision, one which was in fact although I did 
 not then realize it, of course to change the whole 
 current of my life, I found myself installed at the 
 Meunchinger-King in the summer capital of Amer 
 ica's Four Hundred, to all intents and purposes a 
 young gentleman of leisure, certainly a new man, 
 at least I was nothing less, if the ancient saw about 
 clothes making the man is to be accredited. 
 
 On the morning of the day previous I had con 
 sidered, and would have said unhesitatingly, that 
 no man could have been busier than I. Foolish as 
 sumption, as I was shortly to learn. 
 
 The eighteen working hours which had intervened 
 between that moment when I left Mr. Thomas' pri 
 vate office, and the one when I boarded the train 
 for Newport, seemed to me in retrospect like an 
 impossible nightmare. Yet during them, I, the cen 
 tral figure in the mad scramble and rush of prepara 
 tion, did little or nothing of my own initiative. 
 From a thinking, acting agent, I had suddenly be- 
 
 26
 
 I TOIL NOT 27 
 
 come changed to and was to remain for many a 
 day a helpless though animate shuttlecock in the 
 moving hand of Fate. 
 
 Scarcely had I spoken the words which were to 
 turn my life into a new and unsuspected channel, 
 when Mr. Willard hurriedly reentered my chief's 
 office, saying, " Well, Thomas, what is the deci 
 sion?" 
 
 The latter briefly summed up our conversation 
 and announced my willingness to do what I could, 
 and our client gripped my hand hard. Turning to 
 me, Mr. Thomas added, " From now on until your 
 mission is accomplished, Shaw, or until you are 
 relieved from duty, you will be wholly under friend 
 Willard's direction. And now, as it happens that 
 I'm already twelve minutes late in keeping an ap 
 pointment in the judges' lobby, I'll leave you two 
 together here to formulate your plans of campaign. 
 I assume that you can start at once, Mr. Shaw." 
 
 I made some half-hearted objections concerning 
 my desk load of work needing to be done, but he 
 swept them aside, saying, " Never mind that. This 
 present matter is of primary importance, and I will 
 have it understood that you have been comman 
 deered by me for a personal case, and that your 
 other duties will have to rest. Anyway, I have, for 
 some time past, been considering the desirability of 
 having another young man come into the office to
 
 28 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 aid with the routine work, and have one in mind, 
 who will be glad to come in immediately, I imagine," 
 at which news my heart sent out a pean of thanks 
 giving. 
 
 Mr. Willard's earnest conference with me lasted 
 fully an hour, and during it we spelt out, step by 
 step, my proposed method of procedure; discussed 
 at length every conceivable contingency which we 
 could imagine might arise during the progress of 
 my mission, and constructed our plans to meet them. 
 
 First of all, Mr. Willard insisted that I resign 
 my position in the office, saying, " It is, of course, 
 all essential that the fact that you are a friend of 
 mine or associated with my attorney be carefully 
 concealed, so that no chance remark, even, put Mrs. 
 Willard on her guard, and if you are to play your 
 part with the proper conviction you must be wholly 
 free from the necessity of prevaricating, no matter 
 how mildly." 
 
 With some inward amusement I assented, for, 
 after all, it seemed to me that this would merely be 
 beating the devil around the bush, since, obviously, 
 I could get my place back again later. When I 
 suggested this fact, however, my new employer 
 gave me some food for thought by saying, " I know 
 that, but if you succeed in this matter, which has 
 become so vital to me and my happiness, you will 
 very likely not care to avail yourself of that oppor-
 
 I TOIL NOT 29 
 
 tunity. I think that my affairs warrant my engag 
 ing a private secretary, or, perhaps I had better say, 
 a personal legal representative." 
 
 He likewise made it clear that, although he would 
 expect me to report my progress to him from time 
 to time, he had no intentions of interfering or even 
 making further suggestions. I was to run my own 
 course unhampered. 
 
 To give color to what might prove to be a some 
 what prolonged stay in Newport, we decided that I 
 should enter and play in the National All-comers 
 tennis tournament, which, most opportunely, was to 
 begin a week from the following Monday, and to 
 give me the " open sesame " to the society in which 
 our quarry would probably be found, he was to 
 and later did supply me with several letters of 
 introduction, indicted by that friend who was al 
 ready in his full confidence. 
 
 " Now," continued Mr. Willard, at last, " since 
 we must leave no stone unturned in providing 
 against every contingency, I want to ask you a few 
 frank questions about your externals," and there 
 followed an exhaustive cross examination, during 
 the course of which my interrogator displayed the 
 keenness of business acumen for which he was 
 noted. 
 
 He subjected to a searching X-ray examination 
 such intimately personal matters as my worldly pos-
 
 30 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 sessions, income and wearing apparel, and not until 
 that moment had I ever realized how pitiable meager 
 they were at least from the standpoint of a man 
 of wealth and high social standing. 
 
 I must admit that before he began to dissect them 
 ruthlessly, I had always regarded my thirty-five 
 dollars a week and occasional fees from personal 
 cases not at all a bad income for a young man but 
 three years out of the law school, and looked upon 
 my clothing as excellent ; indeed, at home I had more 
 than once been dubbed the " Beau Brummel "of 
 the town. But before his catechism was over I had 
 begun to feel, instead of a sense of self-satisfaction 
 over my possessions, that I should at that mo 
 ment be standing on some street corner holding forth 
 my cap for alms, with my poor rags a source of 
 shame and ignominy. 
 
 However, this matter could be more lightly dis 
 missed than the others, according to Mr. Willard, 
 who, accordingly, did dismiss it lightly by saying, 
 " Well, we mustn't overlook the slightest detail 
 which might cast even the shadow of a doubt upon 
 your implied claim to the position of a young man 
 of means and leisure, for in appearing as such lies 
 your one hope of getting in on the inside at New 
 port, as you know. My wife has been staying, and 
 very likely still is, with one of the richest families 
 in America, and, undemocratic. though it may sound,
 
 I TOIL NOT 31 
 
 the fact remains that with most of that crowd the 
 only sure method of gaining admission to their in 
 nermost circles is by means of a golden key. 
 
 " I will place to your credit in the bank a sum 
 sufficiently large to cover all your immediate neces 
 sary expenses, and shall expect you to call on me un 
 hesitatingly for more should the need arise. And, 
 while we are on this subject, I want to warn you 
 that you have got to be a free spender. If you have 
 any habits of economy fixed upon you, as laudable 
 as these are in the abstract, you have to unlearn 
 them for the time being; and that may not be as 
 easy as it sounds, either. You see, I am a New 
 Englander, too. But this is a case where good busi 
 ness demands not thrift but prodigality. 
 
 " As to your clothing," he added, " we need give 
 that no further consideration. I'll turn you over to 
 the tender mercies of my man, Jamieson, who, by 
 the way, is quite a wonder. He will enjoy nothing 
 more than having the cart blanche to rig you out in 
 up-to-the-minute apparel. Don't get the idea, old 
 man, that I am casting any reflections upon your 
 own ability to dress well, but Jamieson is the high 
 est court of appeal in matters pertaining to wearing 
 apparel, and has ' What's What in Togs ' at his 
 tongue's end. He is my own brains in these mat 
 ters and can save you much valuable time. 
 
 " Now, I want to tell you all that I can about
 
 32 
 
 my wife, for any information of this nature may 
 come in very handy later. Here is her picture." 
 He drew from his pocket a kodak snapshot of a 
 girl so lovely that even that inadequate method of 
 portrayal seemed as though it must flatter the orig 
 inal. 
 
 It was taken on their marriage day apparently, 
 for she was in bridal attire. Her veil was so filmy 
 that it appeared scarcely more than a mist over a 
 mass of dark hair done like a coronet high on her 
 head ; her face a perfect oval with large express 
 ive eyes and a sensitive mouth bore a serious ex 
 pression which gave the impression of character to 
 the somewhat childlike beauty, and she was appar 
 ently slender and not over medium height. 
 
 I returned the picture after a moment. There 
 was no need of retaining it. I would know that 
 face again anywhere. 
 
 He regarded it in silence and then said quietly, 
 " That is Margaret. Her sister Marion looks 
 strikingly like her, 'though somewhat younger. 
 They are twenty and nineteen years old respectively, 
 both essentially frank, unaffected and out-of-doors 
 sport-loving girls, light-hearted and merry by na 
 ture, but of late their life has been saddened first 
 by the death of their father about three years ago, 
 then by that of their mother a year later, and only 
 this spring their only brother died, leaving them
 
 I TOIL NOT 33 
 
 practically alone in the world. By these three 
 deaths the two sisters came into the possession of 
 a very considerable fortune carefully invested, and 
 a large estate in Fairdale, near Petersburg, Vir 
 ginia." 
 
 He hesitated, then added, " I cannot believe but 
 that Margaret did love me. I will not pretend, 
 however, that her grief over these sad losses, and the 
 fact that she was left practically alone, did not have 
 something to do with our early marriage." 
 
 I expressed my sympathy as well as I could in a 
 few carefully chosen words, and our conference was 
 ended. 
 
 After calling up my home on the long distance 
 telephone and telling my mother that, for a period 
 of unknown duration, I could not be counted upon 
 for my usual week-end visits, since I was making a 
 trip for the chief, I prepared to accompany Mr. 
 Willard to his secluded lodgings. 
 
 And so it came about by a queer twist of fate, 
 that, little more than an hour from the time that 
 I had opened my desk, my vacation ended, and, 
 over my head in work, had sat there inwardly 
 roundly cursing at the cruel fortune which held me 
 a slave to the exacting and ungrateful firm of 
 Thomas, Richards and Henry, in that sweltering 
 heat, I passed down the office corridor with barely 
 one gloating glance into my prison chamber, and so
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 out of the door on which appeared my own name in 
 lowly position, never to enter it again as a member 
 of the office force. 
 
 A closed taxicab bore us speedily to our destina 
 tion. There Mr. Willard spoke a few final words 
 of instruction, admonition and hope. I gave him 
 my pledge that D. V. I would not fail in my 
 great mission, and received his earnest assurance 
 that he really believed that I would succeed. His 
 returning confidence was further evidenced by his 
 hearty handclasp, infinitely cooler and firmer than 
 the one with which he had greeted me that morning, 
 and my heart glowed at his words of implicit faith 
 and trust in me. 
 
 Then the accomplished Jamieson was summoned 
 and presented, and immediately I sunk from my ex 
 alted estate of trusted friend and counselor to a po 
 sition of insignificant nonentity. 
 
 I can scarcely think of Jamieson as a personality. 
 He was merely a type. Call to mind your own con 
 ception of an English valet and you have him. 
 
 I towered above him by nearly a foot; I knew 
 myself far his superior in birth, brains and estate; 
 yet before I had passed an hour in his company I 
 felt like a mere nobody. Indeed, after twelve hours 
 spent in desperate endeavor to meet the pace he set, 
 I mentally assented without reservation to Mr. Wil- 
 lard's remark that Jamieson was quite a wonder in
 
 I TOIL NOT 35 
 
 his way. Likewise, to the phrase " The Lord pity 
 the poor rich " at least if they are all afflicted with 
 such superior man servants as this. 
 
 During those dozen hours spent in my company 
 he bowed servilely at least a thousand times or 
 so it seemed to me said, " Yes, sir," " Thank 
 you, sir," and " Quite so, sir," fully a million, yet 
 the whole time managing to convey the impression 
 that he regarded the performance of his duty as a 
 very great condescension on his part, and me as a 
 poor untutored savage, pitiably ignorant on that all 
 absorbing and important topic, " What's What in 
 Togs," as indeed I was. 
 
 It may be, as 'tis said, that no man is a hero to 
 his own valet, but the present instance furnished 
 the exception which proved the rule then. In 
 Jamieson's eyes, Roland Willard was undoubtedly 
 quite the paragon of all created beings, and, by in 
 ference, I gained the impression that he did not 
 consider me as worthy of a place upon the same 
 earth with him. 
 
 Not since that time (some twenty-four years 
 previous), when as a small lad of four I had been 
 tied to a nurse's apron strings, had I ever been so 
 completely personally conducted. 
 
 The humbling process started as soon as we 
 reached my "rooms," they consisted of a me 
 dium-sized living-room or den, and a bedroom about
 
 36 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 the size of a postage stamp. Jamieson sniffed audi 
 bly as we entered, but discreetly covered his slip 
 by blowing his nose violently. Then, recovering 
 his poise, he suggested that he be allowed to glance 
 over my wardrobe as a preliminary to our shopping 
 excursion, saying, deferentially, " H'it might be 
 well, sir, for me to know just 'ow you h'are fitted 
 h'out, before miking h'any suggestions h'as to pos 
 sible h'additions to your h'apparel, sir." 
 
 When, with many inward misgivings, I granted 
 him the permission asked, he thanked me as effu 
 sively as though I had just given him the whole 
 outfit which he probably wouldn't have taken, 
 even as a gift. 
 
 Had my self-esteem as a well-dresser not been 
 undergoing a series of rude, perhaps fatal, shocks, 
 I am sure I should have found the examination 
 which ensued ludicrous in the extreme. He pawed 
 over my meager belongings with such a shocked ex 
 pression upon his countenance, and indulged in so 
 many shakes of the headland grieved duckings of 
 the tongue, that I almost saw once more my rock 
 of refuge at Harvard when funds had vanished, 
 Max Keezer, old clothes merchant, and half ex 
 pected him to say any moment, " I can't gif you a 
 cent over tirteen dollars for the lot, and I'm tak 
 ing the bread out of my children's mouths to do 
 that."
 
 *v'illil.i\ uflt, 
 
 HE PAWED OYI.K MY MEAGER BELONGINGS
 
 I TOIL NOT 37 
 
 The final result of his heart-to-heart interview 
 with my clothing was summed up briefly in the 
 words, " Wery nice, sir, but not 'ardly h'altogether 
 suitable for your present wisit, h'l should say " 
 he pronounced it " sigh," and the tone of his voice 
 indicated that his feelings coincided with the word. 
 
 " H'if h'it meets with your h'approval, sir " (my 
 approval indeed, what had I to say about it?) "we 
 might start at the beginning, thenk you, sir." And 
 at the beginning we verily did start. 
 
 The taxicab was again requisitioned and we were 
 whirled off down town. Then commenced a series 
 of brilliant raids and sorties through the shopping 
 district, in which Jamieson acted as commander-in- 
 chief, and I, the balance of the " light-brigade," 
 whose duty was not to reason why, make reply, 
 only to do or die. 
 
 My companion was in his element, displaying a 
 wonderful command over his subject, and I made 
 no suggestions, for I was sure that he would ig 
 nore them if I did. Without a pause, 'though never 
 ceasing to lament over the lack of time which pro 
 hibited my having a complete outfit tailor-made, he 
 rushed me from boot shop to haberdashery, from 
 haberdashery to clothing house, never failing to pick 
 out the most expensive one, or select the highest- 
 priced garment or article therein. 
 
 For a brief time I protested against the lavish-
 
 38 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ness and extravagance of his purchases, thereby ful 
 filling to the letter Mr. Willard's prophecy that my 
 habits of economy would die hard, but Jamieson 
 finally silenced me with the crushing reply, " H 'or 
 ders is h'orders, sir, an' Mr. Willard h'expressly 
 said, ' Nothin' but the best h'obtainable, sir.' " 
 
 Fortunately, for my own sake and Jamieson's 
 mental condition, I was of normal build, with pro 
 portions which conformed very closely to those pre 
 scribed for a six-footer by the makers of styles, and, 
 as a result, no long delays were necessitated. 
 
 As time wore on, and my purchasing agent con 
 tinued to drum into me incessantly that Mr. Willard 
 would actually be incensed if I failed in a single de 
 tail to have my equipment perfect, even the last 
 scruple of my New England conscience vanished, 
 and I found myself ordering a complete new set of 
 golf clubs, and not one, but two, of my favorite 
 eight-dollar tennis rackets. 
 
 I say, without exaggeration, that I believe this 
 shopping expedition of ours established a world's 
 record which may last for all time, a record to fill 
 the soul of the most expert and energetic woman 
 bargain-day fiend with envy, a high water-mark 
 to be striven for but never attained. 
 
 To my keen amusement I shortly began to notice, 
 moreover, that as the day passed and my capacity 
 as a spender, and with it my worldly possessions,
 
 I TOIL NOT 39 
 
 increased, Jamieson's attitude toward me began to 
 undergo a marked and steady reversal. By the 
 afternoon of our second day he had become as re 
 spectful and servile even as the most exacting pluto 
 crat could have desired, and when he finally parted 
 from me with a fast " Thenk you, sir," his hand 
 tightly clasping my small tribute to his wonderful 
 ability, I indulged in a hearty laugh. 
 
 " Verily," thought I, " the worshipers of Baal 
 and the Golden Calf are by no means all dead yet. 
 Jamieson has personally constructed his own idol 
 and then fallen down and worshiped it." 
 
 Before the sun had set behind Beacon Hill on 
 this, the second day of my great adventure, a train 
 was bearing me speedily southward toward New 
 port, and, in the baggage car ahead, reposed two 
 brand new trunks and a suitcase, all judiciously 
 marred, dented, be-labeled, and inscribed with the 
 motto, " J. A. S., Boston," packed to their capac 
 ity with a complete and high-priced wardrobe from 
 underwear to overcoat, tennis, golf and riding cos 
 tumes, formal and informal evening regalia, boots, 
 shoes, hats, caps and every possible accessory in 
 fact more apparel than I had possessed in all my life 
 together, it seemed to me certainly more than I 
 could hope to wear in a year. 
 
 And thus it happened that upon the evening of 
 that August day I sat on the veranda of the
 
 40 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Meunchinger-King a new man, although in achiev 
 ing that result I had, myself, neither toiled nor 
 spun, and certainly Solomon, in all his glory, was 
 never arrayed like unto me.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN WHICH ARE RECORDED A FEW IMPRESSIONS 
 
 NEWPORT, city of continual contrasts! 
 
 I had made no misstatement in saying to Mr. 
 Thomas that I was well acquainted with it. Dur 
 ing my three previous visits to this fascinating old 
 town for, after all, despite its size and form of 
 government, it is scarce else whither I had gone 
 to participate in the national tennis championship, 
 I had come to find that it had a peculiar appeal for 
 me. Excepting my own city of Boston, no other 
 place that I had visited had ever drawn me so irre 
 sistibly, or made me feel so soon like " one of the 
 family " I am speaking now of the city itself, not 
 that portion which has achieved world fame as the 
 summer home of America's aristocracy of dollars. 
 Was it, perchance, the result of a subconscious pre 
 sentiment of what was one day to befall me here? 
 
 And where, after all, is there to be found a city 
 quite like it, so full of inherent charm, strange 
 anomalies, and bewildering contrasts? 
 
 As I sat upon the veranda of the Meunchinger- 
 King that evening, musing on the strange circum- 
 
 41
 
 42 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 stance which had brought me there so unexpectedly, 
 and looking up Bellevue Avenue toward Touro 
 Park with its historic old stone mill, famed in pic 
 ture and story as a relic of some wandering Norse 
 man's visit, my mind's eye saw, not one, but two 
 cities, utterly distinct the one from the other in per 
 sonality and appearance, yet as irrevocably bound 
 together and dependent upon each other as the Sia 
 mese twins. 
 
 To the right and below me across the beautiful 
 boulevard which marks the ending of the old, the 
 beginning of the new lay the quaint and fasci 
 nating Newport of history, a city still permeated 
 with the spirit of Colonial days. I did not need 
 to wait for the daylight to see it; my mind visual 
 ized it plainly, rising sharply from the harbor front 
 along which ran the narrow, fascinating Thames 
 Street, oldest avenue in America, the steep ascent 
 made by many still narrower cross ways, most 
 of which bore good old Christian names John, 
 William, Anne, Mary and all bordered by ven 
 erable hoary trees, and little old-time houses whose 
 miniature front porches or steps trespass boldly 
 upon the already crowded and uneven sidewalks. 
 Antique shops, old churches and burial grounds, 
 sites of historic memories were there in numbers 
 I knew, and only an occasional jarring note broke 
 the quiet harmony the inevitable " movie " house
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 43 
 
 or some ultra modern building like the magnificent 
 Y. M. C. A. club house, then being built for the sailor 
 boys who nightly filled the town from the nearby 
 training school, torpedo station or battleships. 
 
 I knew it well, and loved it, too. But this was 
 only one part of Newport, the unobtrusive quiet 
 part, which hibernates during the winter months 
 only to awake with spring and prepare to fatten 
 upon its other half, when summer brings the tran 
 sient birds of paradise which are supposed to shed 
 their golden feathers so lavishly. Supposed? Let 
 it be whispered underneath the breath that some 
 times they migrate southward to New York, leav 
 ing more unpaid bills than golden plumage, 'tis 
 said. 
 
 I swung the searchlight of my mind to the left 
 and over that other half, and lo! there is wrought 
 a change more instantaneous, more astonishing, 
 than ever Aladdin with his wonderful lamp could 
 have effected. It is a different world. 
 
 Before me, close at hand, stood one outpost of 
 the old order, the historic library behind its ma 
 jestic spreading redwood trees, but shortly ap 
 peared the advance guard of the new in the form 
 of scattering shops and offices, branches, many of 
 them, of the leading Metropolitan houses. A little 
 further my mental vision saw the world-famous Ca 
 sino, summer playhouse of America's monied pleas-
 
 44 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ure pursuers, and then, beyond it and beyond, out 
 to the awe-inspiring cliffs which, two miles further 
 away, beetle over the broad Atlantic, and to right 
 and left along these magnificent walls of seamed and 
 craggy rocks, palaces and mansions of marble, brick 
 and stone, vicing with one another and with na 
 ture's building, in impressive grandeur and magnifi 
 cence. 
 
 Like a broad unrolling ribbon of dark satin lay 
 beautiful Belle vue Avenue, acme of the road build 
 ers' art, by day and night the thoroughfare for hun 
 dreds upon hundreds of imposing equipages and 
 motor cars with their liveried attendants, each bear 
 ing some man, woman or child whose name 
 and fame was country wide. On either side stood 
 the wonderful " cottages " ironical description 
 each flanked by broad acres and perfect hedges of 
 privet (and where else grows privet so luxuri 
 antly?), extensive lawns, lovely fields, mighty trees, 
 God and man in harmonic partnership producing an 
 earthly paradise. 
 
 Many a time and oft had I walked the length of 
 this avenue, and one way or the other along the 
 cliff path, my soul drinking in the constantly unfold 
 ing beauties. Envious I may have been at times, 
 but never begrudging. I was no socialist, and these 
 external evidences of the power of gold, instead of 
 producing any bitterness within me, thrilled me, and
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 45 
 
 gave birth to glowing thoughts. I built many an 
 air castle upon some vacant spot upon this Belle- 
 vue Avenue or the Ocean Drive, and ah, the day 
 dreams I indulged in over that imaginary time in the 
 dim future when my ship should come in, for 
 thought is free even in Newport and 'though 
 the monied power can, and does erect about it 
 self and its possessions barriers impassable to all 
 save the favored few who hold the golden key, it 
 cannot keep on the outside the man blessed with 
 imagination. 
 
 The old city I already knew as a friend always 
 ready to meet my advances half way, but the new 
 was still a beautiful but haughty stranger, to be 
 gazed upon with admiration, nothing more. 
 
 So much for the past. Did the future, the next 
 few days or weeks in fact, hold anything different 
 for me? Was this year to bring a total readjust 
 ment in the aspect? Was I indeed destined to see 
 the brazen gates swing open before me? Was I at 
 last to enter the charmed precinct of this kingdom 
 of the world, and, for a time at least, to play my 
 part in company with those resplendent creatures set 
 apart from the common herd? 
 
 Thus I sat and dreamed dreams and saw visions 
 for a time, but soon a less pleasant thought crept 
 into my imaginings. Even if I should find my lot 
 cast in these pleasant places, it would only be for
 
 46 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 the moment and all play-acting on my part. I was 
 not sent to Newport to tread the primrose path of 
 dalliance, but to perform, as a matter of pure busi 
 ness, a difficult and delicate task. I must needs 
 banish fond dreaming and be up and about my mis 
 sion. 
 
 Mentally shaking myself together, I went inside 
 and telephoned to my co-worker, Mr. Willard's 
 ! sleuth, whom, I had been advised, was stopping at 
 the United States Hotel on Thames Street. 
 
 Fortune favored, he was in, and, not caring to be 
 seen in his company at my hotel, I arranged to meet 
 him at his, for a conference later that evening. 
 
 The clock was striking nine when I sallied forth, 
 plenty of time for a walk down the familiar street 
 before entering upon my real labors, and, in a few 
 minutes, I was passing beneath the arch of the Ca 
 sino and into that artistic rambling Norman struc 
 ture, greeting a former acquaintance here and there 
 among the gatemen, and on into the inclosed court 
 yard. 
 
 There in the central pavilion was the splendid 
 orchestra symphony players all during the win 
 ter months deep in one of the numbers of the mid 
 week concert. 
 
 How natural it all seemed, for during previous 
 visits I had never missed one of these concerts if 
 I could help it. The pavilion brilliantly lighted,
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 47 
 
 the mystic glow from a string of Japanese lanterns 
 beyond, fading quickly into darkness which 
 shrouded the tennis courts, the illumined face of the 
 clock in the turret above me on the left, the pleas 
 ant " feel " of the velvety turf underfoot, the liquid 
 strains of music on the soft night air, the fair 
 women in evening attire, strolling about or seated, 
 all combined to create an atmosphere whose effect 
 was as potent as wine, and my heart warmed at the 
 thought that I was a part of it all. 
 
 The selection which the orchestra was playing 
 was unfamiliar to me. I glanced at my program, 
 found the number, and suddenly my self-satisfied 
 contentment vanished, and a chill ran through me 
 akin to the physical sensation arising from an un 
 expected douse of ice cold water, for the words I 
 read were, " Selections from The Impostor." 
 
 I do not know why, at this moment, the mere 
 suggestion arising from that final word should have 
 sent my soaring spirits hurtling earthward, unless 
 the nervous tension of the past day or two, and the 
 unconscious realization of the magnitude of my 
 undertaking, had keyed my sensibilities up unnatu 
 rally. 
 
 But the fact is that I mentally recoiled as though 
 from a blow. 
 
 Was this a writing on the wall, a mystic warn 
 ing to me for my presumptuous dreams ? Was I to
 
 48 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 be reminded continually that, after all, no matter 
 how far I might advance into the charmed circle, 
 I was, in fact, an " impostor " ? Was the truth al 
 ways to be kept before my mind, plaguing me, that 
 despite my correct appareling, my for the time 
 being liberally filled pocket-book, the indisputable 
 fact that as good blood ran in my veins as any in 
 America, and that I was probably possessed of more 
 gray matter and was better educated than most of 
 these scions of the false aristocracy of wealth 
 around me, I did not " belong " ? 
 
 My unpleasant thoughts were interrupted by a 
 somewhat familiar voice beside me. I turned, and 
 recognized one of a little group of society folk, a 
 classmate and former glee club member at Harvard, 
 Bob Goodwin, the son of a famous sugar trust mag 
 nate. 
 
 With him was a magnificently attired woman of 
 middle age, obviously his mother, and two stunning 
 and superbly gowned young women. 
 
 " Down for the tennis ? " he asked, and, remov 
 ing my spotless panama, I assented eagerly. 
 
 With a supercilious nod he moved away, leaving 
 me without the thought of presenting me to the rest 
 of his party apparently entering his head. 
 
 " There's a fine sample," I thought savagely to 
 myself. " Bob Goodwin and I knew each other for 
 four years at college, practically lived together for
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 49 
 
 days at a time on glee club trips, called one another 
 by our first names, yet here, instead of introduc 
 ing me to his party, he probably thinks that he has 
 conferred a real favor upon me by recalling my last 
 name and recognizing me at all. I'd like to kick the 
 puppy, confound him." 
 
 But the sober second thought followed, " I had 
 a whole lot better kick myself for expecting any 
 thing else. Why find fault with his attitude? He 
 is simply behaving in a perfectly natural manner, 
 the logical result of his bringing up, and is fully 
 justified by his standards. Whether those stand 
 ards are false or not is beside the point, but there are 
 no two sides as to the falsity of my own position. 
 I am a rank outsider, nothing more, and even if 
 my well-laid plans mature, and I manage to worm 
 my way into this society as I hope to, I will still re 
 main in fact a fraud and an impostor I, John 
 Alden Shaw, who have ever raved inordinately 
 against anything savoring of sham, deceit and hy 
 pocrisy." 
 
 I almost spoke aloud the thought, " I'll be 
 damned if I'll do it," and without rime or rea 
 son, rushed away from that atmosphere of beauty, 
 fashion, music and laughter, with my heart hot 
 within me against it all. 
 
 The truth of the matter is, not until that mo 
 ment had I regarded my mission really seriously or
 
 50 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 in any other light than that of a semi-vacation, a 
 lark, perhaps a romantic adventure. Now, for the 
 first time, strangely enough, there rushed over me, 
 like an engulfing wave, the realization of the utter 
 falseness of my position, and how underhanded 
 were the methods which I had to pursue to attain 
 my end. In that moment it seemed to me that I 
 was deliberately planning to become a very Judas. 
 Had I not undertaken to hound out a young girl, 
 who, hurt and frightened, had hidden herself from 
 her pursuers, to win her friendship and trust by 
 the rankest of deceptions, and then betray her for a 
 price? The mental reaction plunged me into the 
 depths of shame and disgust, and, once well started 
 in this new direction, my mind swung, pendulum- 
 like, to the other extreme, and as my thoughts grew 
 by what they fed upon, I began to convince my 
 self that Willard was all that I had thought he 
 was not, and that his young and lovely bride was, in 
 all probability, fully justified in the step which she 
 had taken. 
 
 From this confession it may be gathered that be 
 neath an outward assumption of professional calm, 
 and an ordinary matter-of-fact appearance, there 
 lay hidden a somewhat turbulent, over-sensitive 
 spirit subject to absurd extremes, and a supernor 
 mal imagination and, I must admit, that such was 
 the case. The trivial, but -as they then seemed
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 51 
 
 to me highly significant occurrences at the Casino, 
 shattered like a bubble the mental exuberance which 
 had been mine for the past two days, and left my 
 mind a prey to morbid imaginings, wholly out of 
 proportion to the facts. 
 
 With such thoughts running through my mind, I 
 walked heedlessly down Bellevue Avenue, towards 
 the cliffs as it chanced, and, in a brief time, my up 
 set feelings began to respond in part to the mere 
 physical exercise, and, in part, to the calm influence 
 of the night. 
 
 It was an evening fit for the gods. The first cool 
 breeze in some days was blowing softly in from the 
 ocean, bringing with it a low hanging, phantom 
 mist, above which the stars, viewed through the 
 Florentine framework made by the dark interlacing 
 branches overhead, twinkled with added brilliancy. 
 
 A practically continuous line of magnificent motor 
 cars hummed and purred past, their powerful lights 
 boring paths through the half mist, illuminating 
 those ahead, and bringing into sharp relief the heads 
 and shoulders of fair women from whose ears and 
 necks, priceless jewels or their counterfeit pre 
 sentments sent out a myriad of tiny flashes of 
 living fire, or displaying the silk hat and black shoul 
 ders of a man whose worldly possessions staggered 
 the imagination. 
 
 Newport was on evening parade, and the wholly
 
 52 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 customary, and therefore unostentatious display of 
 wealth and its outward and visible evidences, shed 
 abroad a powerful, though perhaps insidious, influ 
 ence, which in turn took possession of my mind. 
 
 All these sudden changes in my mental attitude 
 may seem to indicate weakness or vacillation. Per 
 haps they do, but it must be remembered that I am 
 here merely recording facts, and not in any way 
 trying to create the majestic and iron-willed figure 
 of a hero. 
 
 However, it is true that all these worldly pleas 
 ures and possessions soon began to seem most de 
 sirable once more, and I looked forward with eager 
 anticipation to the time when I might hope to parti 
 cipate in them. My proposed method of effecting 
 that desired end might not be wholly ideal, but, I 
 shortly concluded, it was not, after all, so very repre 
 hensible. It was a matter of pure business in which 
 I was merely an agent. I was under orders. 
 Moreover, if Mr. Willard's story were true (and 
 I had before that night felt no reason whatsoever 
 to doubt it in a single particular) the end fully 
 justified any means which I might find necessary to 
 employ in obtaining it. 
 
 Once reconciled as a result of my efforts, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Willard would live happily ever after, like 
 the two in the fairy tale, and upon my head would be 
 showered their blessings.
 
 A FEW IMPRESSIONS 53 
 
 As my thoughts arrived at this pleasing conclu 
 sion, the dazzling headlights of a big car, which was 
 just swinging back into line after passing by its fore- 
 courser, swept from left to right across the front of 
 a machine which was rapidly coming toward me. 
 It was brightly illumined only momentarily, but I 
 chanced to be looking squarely at it, and my heart 
 stopped suddenly and then began to race exultantly, 
 for this passing glance of the fiery eye had disclosed 
 to me seated in the tonneau two young women. 
 
 The nearer one, who wore a filmy white veil just 
 at that moment floating backward like a streamer 
 in the breeze which the car created, was, beyond the 
 shadow of a doubt, none other than the object of my 
 quest Mrs. Willard herself. 
 
 I could not be mistaken. That fleeting glance 
 had left stamped upon the retina of my eye an image 
 which matched in every respect the picture of his 
 runaway bride which Mr. Willard had shown me, 
 save that this face was a trifler thinner and paler 
 perhaps, as well it might be, I thought, considering 
 the real or even fancied trouble she had recently 
 passed through. 
 
 The other girl may have been her sister, but the 
 only impression I had received of her was a mass of 
 brown hair, dark but indescribably flecked with 
 shimmering gold, which was done in a girlish man 
 ner low against her neck,
 
 54 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 The light passed by, and the car and its occupants 
 vanished from my sight. The surprise which this 
 wholly unexpected apparition produced, paralyzed 
 my intellect for an instant, and when I recovered 
 sufficiently to wheel about and attempt to catch the 
 number of the car it had disappeared into the mist 
 and darkness. 
 
 Glancing at my watch the only really old and 
 personal thing about me I was startled to dis 
 cover that it was nearly ten. 
 
 I had forgotten all about my appointment, and 
 now I hastened back toward the city with swinging 
 strides, my mind gloating over my discovery, and 
 eager to play the game again. As the clock in the 
 old City hall boomed out the hour, I was hurrying 
 down Pelham Street through the sleepy and sleeping 
 old town, such good time had I made. Below me 
 I caught momentary glimpses of a fairyland beyond 
 the low buildings which lined the waterfront, for the 
 inky harbor was dancing with the reflections from 
 many lights on men-of-war, and those floating 
 palaces, the millionaires' yachts. 
 
 Breathless I entered the United States Hotel and 
 looked around for the detective.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 IN WHICH I MEET A FAMOUS DETECTIVE 
 
 MY acquaintance did not include many detectives, 
 but, somehow, in the back of my mind, I had the 
 vague impression that a sleuth should be tall and 
 spare, with a long drooping mustache, heavy eye 
 brows overhanging eyes as piercing as an eagle's, 
 and tread as silent as a cat's. 
 
 I looked in vain for such a personage. The only 
 man in the corridor was rather short and decidedly 
 rotund, with a flushed and moonlike countenance 
 and two very light blue eyes with wrinkles at the 
 corners which told of a merry disposition. 
 
 Furthermore, he was exceedingly bald. 
 
 The clerk was not in evidence, so I approached 
 the aforesaid stranger and asked doubtfully if he 
 happened to know of a Mr. William Sherlock, 
 whom, I understood, was stopping there. 
 
 " My name," he responded shortly. " Who are 
 you?" 
 
 I introduced myself and proceeded to apologize 
 for my tardiness. He acknowledged my humble 
 
 words of regret with a disconcerting, " Huh." 
 
 55
 
 6 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 This was scarcely a propitious opening, but I 
 ascribed his mental state to the broiling heat, for 
 the ocean breeze had not yet penetrated the swelter 
 ing lower city. 
 
 At last he suggested none too graciously that 
 we go to his room to have our talk, and on the 
 way thither he harangued me fluently upon the 
 impropriety of a young man like me keeping 
 a very busy one like him, waiting for half an 
 hour. 
 
 By the time we were closeted in his chamber I 
 had entirely changed my mind as to the cause of his 
 flaming countenance. Mr. Sherlock, I was now 
 convinced, had most certainly been solacing him 
 self with the cup which both cheers and inebriates, 
 and my lateness had apparently been the excuse for 
 at least one more drink than he actually needed, 
 probably several more. 
 
 Never shall I forget the conference, if conference 
 I can call it, which ensued. 
 
 My companion lowered his bulky form gingerly 
 but impressively into the only chair in the bedroom, 
 filling it thereby to overflowing, and I was obliged 
 to find a seat on the single bed. He paused long 
 enough to regain his breath and then began to talk, 
 much as a train starts on a long journey, at first 
 slowly and with many a jerk and puff, then faster 
 and faster, gesticulating freely and impressively
 
 meanwhile, holding a vile smelling cigar butt be 
 tween two pudgy fingers. 
 
 Never have I listened to such sustained grand 
 iloquence. 
 
 He commenced by anathematizing Newport in 
 general, and Newport during a hot spell in particu 
 lar, in sonorous rounded periods. Then he swung 
 onto the subject of my tardiness once more, and 
 from the impressively reiterated proposition that no 
 man had any right to keep waiting, even for an in 
 stant, a detective whose time was as valuable as 
 his, he passed naturally to a vivid elucidation of 
 just why his time was so very precious. 
 
 There was no question but that, at this moment, 
 Mr. Sherlock regarded himself as without a doubt 
 the peer of all detectives, and, had I been able to be 
 lieve all the exploits which he recounted in sub 
 stantiation of his proposition, I must needs have 
 agreed. 
 
 But, unlike the White Queen in " Through the 
 Looking Glass/* I could not believe the impossi 
 ble. 
 
 As I sat hearkening to his steady flow of eloquence 
 with secret amusement, I began to find my mind 
 groping among a vague association of ideas for his 
 counterpart. Suddenly I found the answer, Eu 
 reka ! My host was none other than the reincarna 
 tion of the famous Sir John Falstaff, and as he com-
 
 58 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 menced another tale more thrilling than the last 
 " But that was nothing compared with the time," 
 etc., my mind conjured up ten men in Lincoln 
 green. 
 
 " What an absurd parody on a detective this man 
 is," I thought, " and no wonder Mr. Willard had 
 not been getting results." Yet I learned later that, 
 sober, he was an extremely efficient and skillful 
 sleuth, his appearance, so unlike what was to be ex 
 pected, inuring greatly to his advantage. 
 
 I wish that space permitted me to recount some of 
 the marvelous exploits in which he figured as hero, 
 and I could have listened longer with much enjoy 
 ment, but the hour was growing late, and I finally 
 took advantage of a momentary pause in the flow 
 of his eloquence while he rang for a bell boy and 
 ordered another drink which he certainly did not 
 need to suggest humbly that he get down to busi 
 ness. 
 
 Mr. Sherlock drew himself up with injured 
 dignity, and replied, 
 
 " This present matter, sir, is wholly unworthy of 
 our consideration. I repeat, I reiterate, I say it 
 again, wholly unworthy of consideration. The 
 idea, the very idea of a man of my ability, my un 
 deniable ability (and he stared at me threaten 
 ingly as though daring me to question it) being 
 set to perform the menial task of spying upon, in
 
 I MEET A DETECTIVE 59 
 
 fact, I might say, playing chaperon for a mere run 
 away bride. The very idea is an insult, sir, an in 
 sult. Now, if the young lady had left her husband 
 for the purpose of eloping with another man, ah 
 (and what a world of meaning he crowded into that 
 'ah') then the case would have been ver' differ 
 ent, and worthy of my efforts. Yes, had she eloped 
 with another man it would have been ver' differ 
 ent." 
 
 At this I with difficulty suppressed a laugh and 
 could not help feeling that if Mrs. Willard could 
 have seen how badly he felt then, she would have 
 been thoroughly ashamed and sorry that she had not 
 provided a paramour in her escapade. 
 
 At this juncture the bottle arrived, and, when I 
 refused his somewhat hesitating request to join him, 
 my host seemed distinctly relieved. 
 
 " In fac', I might say, sir," he continued, " that 
 this present is a H 11 of a job for a man of my 
 caliber. I dunno what th'office was thinkin' of. 
 Politics ! Thas what it was, politics. Some one, 
 in fac' several, are jealous of my ability 'an' they 
 pull strings to have me shent down to thish God- 
 forshaken hole. I'm dishgraced, everlashingly dish- 
 graced, thash what I am," and here he gazed at the 
 bottle almost tearfully, seeking, and apparently find 
 ing, comfort in it. 
 
 " Dishgraced. Sent down to Godforshaken hole
 
 60 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 to play chaperon for harmlesh, half -sick young lady. 
 Lovely young lady, hup," a long pause, " Gor'- 
 blesher." 
 
 Taken with the close atmosphere in the little 
 room, the last bottle had proven the straw which 
 broke the camel's back, and I began to fear that my 
 companion would pass into a state of complete 
 maudlin intoxication before I had acquired the in 
 formation which I sought. 
 
 " Why, she'sho innocen' she doeshen' even know 
 she's being watshed, an' she would'n giva damn, 
 pardon th'expreshion " (and he bowed apologeti 
 cally as though the object of his remark were actu 
 ally present, very nearly losing his balance and top 
 pling out of his chair) " if she did." 
 
 For a moment he straightened up and took a new 
 grasp on his tongue. " Hard, interesting job for 
 a man ushed to wrestlin' with the mos' in-in-in 
 tricate problemsh, hup, hangin' around thish God- 
 forshaken placsh with nothin' to do an' not a shingle 
 shoul to do it wi'. An'all on account of fool girl 
 who doeshn know when she'shwell off. Shay what 
 you may, I deny no one the right to hish own 
 opinion, Mishter Willard'sh a perfec' shent'le- 
 man, perfect shent'leman, an' rollin' in money, 
 one of the rishes' men in worl'. John D'sh a pauper 
 shide of Mishter Willar' hup." 
 
 I thought it high time to interrupt, and so, as
 
 I MEET A DETECTIVE 61 
 
 tactfully as possible, expressed my sympathy over 
 his sad situation, and added cheerfully, " Well, buck 
 up, old man, your troubles are about over. All 
 you've got to do is to tell me where Mrs. Willard is 
 staying now and then pack up your grip and leave 
 for the white lights of New York town. Where 
 is she? Where is Mrs. Willard staying?" I 
 repeated in an endeavor to drive my question 
 home. 
 
 He looked at me vacantly a moment, then replied. 
 " Dam-'fl-know." 
 
 "What did you say?" 
 
 " I shaid, ' Dam-'fl-know/ Thash what gets 
 me." 
 
 " You don't know ? Why, you just said " 
 
 " I shaid nothin' of short, never sho mush as in 
 timated shuch a thing, sir. Why, mi'swell look for 
 a needle in a hayshtack as for tha' girl in N'port. 
 Lef Gilman'sh lashweek. Dishappeared into thin 
 air." He looked vaguely up into nothing, then 
 glared at me, adding, " There'sh no use tryin' to 
 deny she lef Gilman'sh. I had it shtraight from 
 shecon' maid, one of shecon' maidsh, should shay. 
 Gilmans hav' hundred shecond maidsh. Thash 
 foolish, can't be hundred shecon' maidsh. Only one 
 shecon' maid, then thir', fourth, fifth, shixsh," I 
 stirred nervously. Was he going to count maids 
 up to the hundred?
 
 62 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 But no, he here reverted to his original thought, 
 saying, " Always shtand in wi' the shecon' maidsh 
 an' kitchen mechanics, thash my motto, greatesh 
 li'l helpers in the worT, Gor blesh 'em. Alwaysh 
 make love to ash many ash possible. Why, would 
 you believe me (his voice sunk to a confiding 
 whisper) fool shecon', the big blond one, 
 achually believesh I'm goin' to marry her nex' 
 week. Huh, marry her an' get 'reshted for bigamy ? 
 Not mush. But thasha dope. Make love to 'em 
 an' they'll tell you all they know, an' more, in 
 finitely more." 
 
 " I'm very glad to know about your system," I 
 replied, " and I'm sure that it works like a charm, 
 but just now I'm a good deal more interested in 
 locating Mrs. Willard. I understand that she had 
 left the Gilmans as you say, but from your remarks 
 about this task of yours being too easy for a man of 
 your talents I assumed that you had located her 
 again." 
 
 " Wholly unwarranted 'sumption, sir. An' ash 
 for tas' being easy, don' fool yoursel', my f rien', 
 don' fool yoursel'. Why, she'sh shlickes' li'l propo- 
 shition I've run tip against in week of Shundays." 
 
 He leaned forward confidentially and tapped my 
 knee with his fat forefinger. " She'sh sho blame' 
 shmart she eshcapesh me ever' time, an'," >very 
 impressively," she doeshn't even know that I'm
 
 63 
 
 followin' her. I've trailed her up hill an' down 
 dale," he almost sobbed, " but still she eshcapes 
 me." 
 
 There was absolutely no use attempting to argue 
 with him in his condition, so I asked as patiently as 
 possible, " But if you say that she has eluded you, 
 and that you have been following her she must still 
 be in Newport." 
 
 " Thash right, she mus* be in N'port ash you 
 shay," he replied, as though I had made an illuminat 
 ing discovery. 
 
 " When and where did you see her last? " 
 
 " Lash ? Yes, thas right. Lash night. Out on 
 Bellevue Avenue she was, ridin' wither shister in a 
 shix cylinder car. Too dark to shee number or 
 who was drivin' ; mush too dark, mush ! " 
 
 This statement took the sting out of my own like 
 failure. 
 
 " Sheen her number of other timesh out shame 
 place mornins ridin' like the devil on Cheshnut mare, 
 an' she nev' shaw me at all. Mosh complete dish- 
 guish, wonderful, wonderful. Don't know where 
 she came from, don' know where she went, rides 
 like the devil, sir, faster than the devil, mush faster. 
 Too fash to recognize number of mare, or make. 
 Fifty maresh jus like it in N'port, five hundred, fi' 
 thoushand. Like huntin' for needle in hay stack, 
 tryin' to fin' cheshnut mare in N'port. Can' be
 
 64 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 done," and here his voice trailed off into a maud 
 lin wail, " Oh, I'm helofa detective, can't fin' chest 
 nut mare." 
 
 I thought so, too, and, thoroughly disgusted, got 
 up and gave him a vigorous shake and fairly bawled 
 at him, " What in thunder are you talking about ? 
 How can a half sick woman like Mrs. Willard be 
 riding a chestnut horse like the devil around New 
 port?" 
 
 He gazed at me with a hurt, dreamy expression 
 for a moment, waved his hand slowly but elo 
 quently, and murmured, " Shister," and passed 
 away. 
 
 Angry clean through, and determined to give him 
 his release on the morrow, I left him as he was, 
 snoring heartily, slammed the door and made my 
 way downstairs and to my own abode. 
 
 Once back in my bedroom and soberly going over 
 in my mind the confused events of the past few 
 hours, I found my wrath cooling somewhat. I de 
 cided not to take any hasty action in regard to the 
 detective. Obviously the fact that he was employed 
 by a leading firm in su^h a delicate matter was 
 pretty fair indication that he possessed real ability, 
 and, after all, Newport was a big place, the Lee 
 sisters were practically unknown except to the Gil- 
 mans and whoever was now harboring them, and 
 certainly the former would not divulge their retreat
 
 I MEET A DETECTIVE 65 
 
 since they had fled to them for sanctuary. There 
 were probably fewer clews to run down scientifically 
 than would have been left by a real criminal, and 
 the discovery of their refuge would come eventually, 
 and almost any day, by chance. Two were twice as 
 likely to run upon it as one. 
 
 While I undressed, my imagination conjured up 
 at least twenty different ways in which I might meet 
 the object of my quest, varying from a common 
 place introduction by a mutual acquaintance, after 
 I had learned with whom she was staying and had 
 won my way into their particular set, through vari 
 ous stages of increasing absurdity until I pictured 
 myself the hero of a dramatic rescue from certain 
 death just as her chestnut horse in a wild runaway 
 was to plunge over the cliffs. 
 
 So active was my brain that, when, well after mid 
 night, I finally fell asleep the same theme was car 
 ried on in my dreams. 
 
 Now I was carrying off the prize to my employer 
 in a big Packard car, madly pursued meanwhile by 
 a huge chestnut mare with a face strangely like that 
 of the detective. Then the two of us were escaping 
 together in the automobile while Mr. Willard was 
 following us on the same horse ; and still again we 
 had mysteriously changed places and I was mounted 
 upon the flying steed like young Lochinvar 
 bearing the unhappy bride before me in my arms,
 
 66 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 closely pursued by the irate husband in the motor 
 car. 
 
 I seemed to hear the clatter of our horse's hoofs 
 on the pavement and see about me the bright radi 
 ance from the car's headlights. An irresistible de 
 sire to look around and see how close it was upon 
 us seized possession of me. At last I yielded to 
 that awful fascination. As I turned my head the 
 piercing, dazzling ray flashed straight into my eyes, 
 blinding me. I reeled in the saddle, my charge 
 slipped from my arms. I saw her fall down, down, 
 down into infinite space. With a scream of terror I 
 awoke, the cold perspiration starting all over me. 
 
 The blinding morning sunlight was streaming full 
 into my face, I lay half out of bed and my pillow was 
 on the floor. From beneath my window came the 
 rattle of an early milkman's cans. 
 
 Here, then, were my automobile lights, steed, elop 
 ing bride and thundering hoofs.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN WHICH FATE SUPPLIES ME WITH A FRIEND 
 
 THE glorious dawning of my first day in New 
 port seemed to me to furnish a bright augury for 
 the success of the mission which brought me there, 
 and, despite the earliness of the hour, I jumped out 
 of bed and dressed quickly, eager to start about its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 Save the servants, no one was stirring in the 
 house. I stopped for a moment in the writing-room 
 to make out my entry for the coming tournament 
 to be posted at the first mail box, and then going 
 out into the invigorating morning, strode off down 
 Bellevue Avenue taking deep breaths of the fresh 
 clean air, for the atmosphere of a city, it has always 
 seemed to me, is never really clean except in the very 
 early morning hours, or when it has been thoroughly 
 washed by a good rain. 
 
 With quick strides I followed my course- of the 
 previous evening, but with my thoughts as differ 
 ent from those dark ugly ones which had then af 
 flicted me, as white is from black. Who could be 
 
 moody or distrait on such a morning? It was not 
 
 07,
 
 68 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 a day in June, but it was a rare one, and whether I 
 looked or listened I could " hear earth murmur or 
 see it glisten." 
 
 On my way down the Avenue I had provided my 
 self with a temporary check against the pangs of 
 starvation, in the shape of a little fruit purchased at 
 one of those attractive shops, but by the time I had 
 passed the polo field and was almost out to Rough 
 Point my internal anatomy was sending out -pre 
 liminary warnings that it was past my usual break 
 fast hour. 
 
 I was just on the point of regretfully turning 
 back when I heard the sound of a galloping horse be 
 hind me, and, looking around, beheld a big chest 
 nut horse thundering down the avenue, expertly 
 ridden by what I at first thought was a boy. But 
 no, it was a young woman clad in a close-fitting and 
 becoming riding habit, breeches and black leather 
 puttees. From her head floated, banner-like, a 
 gauzy white veil. 
 
 I needed no second glance, and no detective to tell 
 me that here was the object of my search again, 
 or, at least, her sister, as the sleuth's final remark 
 had suggested but the flying steed carried its 
 rider by me so fast that I could not satisfy myself 
 on that question. 
 
 The pair swung around the right angle turn into 
 Ocean Avenue and disappeared from sight, and, al-
 
 FATE SUPPLIES A FRIEND 69 
 
 though I broke into a sprint, when I reached the 
 turn there was nothing in sight except a lonesome 
 cab jogging its way toward its daily stand by Touro 
 Park. 
 
 I now knew as much of the elusive Miss Lee as 
 the detective could tell me, and my curiosity to 
 know more was mounting momentarily. 
 
 Three hours later found me at the Casino again, 
 greeting that king of groundsmen, " Tom " Petit, 
 and other acquaintances of former years among his 
 younger assistants, and in their company treading 
 the perfect surface of the championship court with 
 words of appreciation and praise for its condition, 
 and wondering if I should ever tread it in a contest. 
 What a marvelous combination of nature's aid and 
 man's art the greensward of a perfect tennis court 
 is, after all, smooth and even as a billiard table and 
 as green, soft and resilient as velvet above but firm 
 as a rock beneath, its geometric pattern laid out in 
 snow white lines. What an ideal setting for this 
 greatest of games. 
 
 As we walked back to the locker building I had 
 a brief opportunity to speak a word in private to 
 Mr. Petit, whom I had known not only at Newport 
 but in the Tennis and Racquet Club in Boston 
 where he ruled supreme during the winter months 
 I confided to him that- 1 had run across a gold mine 
 and would not be adverse to adding, this vacation,
 
 70 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 to the tennis a little more social diversion than in the 
 past, and named over several men, all shareholders 
 in the Casino and who played their tennis there, to 
 whom a kind friend had given me letters of intro 
 duction. 
 
 I had laid my plans well, for he was the one man 
 who knew everybody, and he gained my everlast 
 ing gratitude by promising, in his hearty way, that 
 he would see to it that I met them and had my; 
 " day in court." 
 
 We had just reached the veranda and were stand 
 ing looking over the row of " second best " courts 
 toward the orchestra pavilion when I heard a voice 
 behind me saying, " Hello, John Alden Shaw, down 
 for tennis week ? " 
 
 I almost jumped, so startled was I by the similarity 
 of the question to that which, the night before, 
 had started my train of ugly thoughts. Turning 
 quickly, I looked into the eyes and saw the out 
 stretched hand of a fellow tennis team-mate at Har 
 vard, Dick Witherbee, a prince of good fellows and 
 idolized son of a Newport millionaire. 
 
 There was no mistaking the real heartiness of his 
 greeting however, as he clapped me on the shoulder, 
 and he immediately proceeded to present me to his 
 two companions who had just emerged from the in 
 door court where the youthful world's champion 
 had been practicing.
 
 FATE SUPPLIES A FRIEND 71 
 
 " John, shake hands with Will Hammond and 
 Ned Manners, both members of this club. Girls, 
 meet John Alden Shaw, of Bosting, the man who 
 made Hen Longfellow famous. You should know 
 that John, here, had the honor of being a class-mate 
 of mine at dear old Harvard, where he was famous 
 for being the worst tennis player who ever got a 
 place on the team, and thereby hangs a tale." He 
 ran on gayly while we shook hands, " It happened 
 like this. Jack Swift you know Jack? was 
 captain of the tennis team and leader of the glee club 
 as welX, our sophomore year. This John tried for a 
 place on both the same day, and the ordeal of seeing 
 and listening to him perform twice within a few 
 short hours was too much for Jack. That evening, 
 to steady his horribly shaken nerves he took a little 
 something, then another, and in fact several other 
 somethings. About midnight he blew into my room 
 and confided to me with great sobs that as a tennis 
 player John Alden Shaw was the very best little 
 singer he had ever seen, and vice versa. The long 
 .nd short of it was that the idea became so firmly 
 fixed in his mind that he straightway seized a sheet 
 of glee club paper and wrote Shaw that he had made 
 the tennis team, and notified him that he had been 
 retained for further trial in the glee club, on some 
 tennis team stationery." 
 A good-natured laugh at my expense followed this
 
 72 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 absurd tale, and the atmosphere of good-fellowship 
 which was immediately established emboldened me 
 to say to Mr. Hammond, whom I recognized as a 
 leader in Newport's sport loving set, " Dick's refer 
 ence to my ability as a tennis player has dealt a mor 
 tal blow to my pride, but since I used to play num 
 ber two and he number four on the team you can 
 imagine how good he was, and, by the way, Mr. 
 Hammond, George Wing, whom you know, and 
 with whom I have played frequently at Longwood, 
 was kind enough to give me this note to you, when 
 he heard that I was coming down for the tourna 
 ment," and I handed him one of the letters which I 
 had in my pocket in readiness for just such an 
 emergency. 
 
 My heart was warmed by his quick and gratifying 
 response of, " That's fine, Shaw. You may count 
 on me to furnish you with the keys of the city if 
 you are all George has said about you. Now, I've 
 got an idea " 
 
 " Good heavens, how did that happen ? " inter 
 rupted Manners, jocosely but half sneering. 
 
 " Why don't you make your headquarters at my 
 shack while you're here? My better half's away 
 and I'm keeping bachelor hall, and I tell you, it's 
 lonesome business. That's the very thing, and I 
 won't take no for an answer, so don't try to pro 
 test. Where are you hanging out? Meunchinger-
 
 King? All right, I'll send my man there for your 
 duds this afternoon." 
 
 My faint protestations were swept aside like chaff 
 by his breezy insistence, and, before I knew it, I had 
 assented, and thus, less than twenty-four hours after 
 my arrival in Newport, I saw the brazen gates swing 
 open for me. Truly the good augury of the morn 
 ing was being speedily fulfilled, and the Fates were 
 smiling upon my mission. 
 
 " Now isn't that just like Will Hammond," broke 
 in Dick in real or feigned disgust. " Next to Teddy 
 Roosevelt he's the darndest man for butting in and 
 running things to suit himself that the world has 
 ever seen. Why, they say that he is positively 
 afraid to go to church lest an irresistible impulse 
 force him to mount the pulpit and preach the ser 
 mon. If he ever did that, I bet I know just what 
 his text would be, and it's the only quotation from 
 the Good Book that I know, too ' Take a little 
 wine for thy stomach's sake and for thine often in 
 firmities.' That's your motto, isn't it, Ned?" he 
 added, addressing Mr. Manners, and I judged from 
 the flushed, 'though handsome countenance, and 
 puffy eyes of the third member of our group, that 
 he somewhat frequently indulged in that ancient 
 remedy. 
 
 Without expecting or waiting for a reply, Dick 
 rambled on merrily, " I wanted John myself, but I
 
 74 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 suppose there's no use trying to buck up against the 
 irrepressible Hammond. Why, when he's at a wed 
 ding he wants to be the bride, and the corpse at a 
 funeral." 
 
 " Oh, cut it, Witherbee," broke in Manners again, 
 wearily. " That chestnut has been told about Roose 
 velt so many years that it's old enough to vote." 
 Something in his way of speaking and the tone of 
 his voice caused me to take an instant subconscious 
 dislike to him, as I had been instantly attracted to 
 Mr. Hammond. 
 
 Dick, however, proved to be irrepressible and tak 
 ing no notice of Manners, continued, " How's the 
 old arm, John, hitting 'em any this year ? " 
 
 I was about to commit myself when Mr. Ham 
 mond said, " Don't bother to answer. I've got an 
 other idea, and two in one day is a record. Come 
 up to the office, till I put you up here at the Casino 
 as my guest until the tournament starts, when you'll 
 have the privileges anyway, then I will send you 
 down to the Meunchinger-King and you can get into 
 your tennis flannels and we'll try you out in a set of 
 doubles. Seeing's believing, you know." 
 
 This proposition met with my approval, although 
 I felt it incumbent upon me to make the stereotyped 
 remark, " But you mustn't expect too much of me 
 to-day. I've had little chance to practice this sum 
 mer, and none at all on grass to date."
 
 FATE SUPPLIES A FRIEND 75 
 
 " That's what they all say," replied Manners, who, 
 apparently, had a thoroughgoing grouch on this 
 morning. 
 
 Mr. Hammond executed as well as he planned; 
 the morning was passed according to schedule, and 
 two o'clock found us seated on the veranda restau 
 rant at Guntha's looking down upon the scene of 
 our recent defeat, for Dick and Manners had taken 
 three straight sets from my partner and me which 
 \vas scarcely a cause for wonder considering the 
 fact that I was out of practice, and Mr. Hammond 
 played merely for fun and exercise and was cor 
 respondingly erratic, whereas Manners a few years 
 previous, had been ranked among the magic " first 
 ten " players and might perhaps have been numbered 
 there still had he been willing to train faithfully. 
 As it was, each year's rating found him well up on 
 the list. 
 
 As I might have expected, my partner proved to 
 be a good loser, and I trust that I gave a similar im 
 pression. Furthermore, he insisted upon assuming 
 my proportion of the cost of the luncheon which was 
 the stake for our little sporting match. 
 
 Former years had made me sufficiently familiar 
 with Newport customs not to be surprised when 
 Dick ordered highballs for four as soon as we had 
 reached the locker building after our game, but as 
 I was not accustomed to drinking at mid-day I
 
 70 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 passed when cocktails : several of them were 
 called for at luncheon. 
 
 Not so the others however and, as always, the 
 drink brought out more sharply the natures of the 
 three. Mr. Hammond became more and more mel 
 low and friendly, Dick ever more hilarious and silly, 
 and Manners glummer and more sarcastic. 
 
 " Name your sustenance," said Mr. Hammond, 
 and, after due consideration of the menu, we se 
 lected ragout of lamb, grilled bones and rabbit stew. 
 
 " Waiter," called Dick in clarion tones, and when 
 that dignitary approached, beckoned confidentially 
 to him to lean down, and then shouted in his ear, 
 
 " You may bring us ' a rag, and a bone and a hank 
 of hair.' " 
 
 " I beg you pardon, sir," was the bewildered 
 response. 
 
 " What for? You haven't spilled anything yet," 
 and so, throughout the meal Dick's persiflage ran on 
 like Tennyson's " Brook " until I, at least, the only 
 abstemious member of the party, was thoroughly 
 tired of his inane nonsense. 
 
 We took our time over the repast, and I had an 
 excellent opportunity for studying the characters 
 of my three table companions as we ate and smoked. 
 
 Dick I knew of old, and I found him little 
 changed the same irresponsible, light-hearted boy 
 of ten years before but the other two represented
 
 FATE SUPPLIES A FRIEND 77 
 
 types new to me as far as intimate acquaintance 
 went. 
 
 Both were good-looking, well-groomed men of 
 the world, well along in the thirties, polished in man 
 ner, highly educated, at least along the lines of 
 the typical American of wealth and assured social 
 position, as alike as two peas as far as externals 
 went. 
 
 But the resemblance ceased with that. 
 
 My host-to-be was beaming with good nature and 
 kindliness, in every sense a good sport. With Man 
 ners there was a subtle difference. It would be 
 absurd to say that he was a typical villain in the 
 play muttering " curses " at every other line, but he 
 gave the impression of having a cold, calculating 
 nature and an inherent tendency to sarcasm. In 
 deed the more I saw of him the less I liked him, and 
 I could not force myself to make any advances in 
 spite of the fact that discretion told me that I ought 
 to do everything in my power to strengthen this 
 chance acquaintance into at least an outward form 
 of friendship (if there can be any such thing), 
 for who could tell but that he might be the one man 
 who held the key to the position I was planning to 
 storm ? 
 
 Some people cause an instinctive dislike in others 
 just as cats or snakes do. Manners affected me in 
 this manner, and it was all that I could do not to be
 
 78 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 positively rude to him despite the dictates of wis 
 dom, and he made no effort to be courteous. 
 
 During the course of our desultory conversation 
 I tried several times to introduce casual remarks 
 which might lead it around to the subject which was 
 uppermost in my mind the whereabouts of the 
 Lee girls but my bait caught no fish, and I came 
 to the conclusion that my present companions were 
 not acquainted with them. 
 
 Still, I could not but feel that the morning had 
 meant a long step forward in the accomplishment 
 of my scheme, and I experienced a deep satisfaction 
 over the way things were going. 
 
 At last the meal was ended and our simple repast 
 together with the tip, spoiled a twenty-dollar bill. 
 
 As we rose to depart I noticed that the sky had be 
 come suddenly overcast, and, during our ride to my 
 new domicile, it began to sprinkle gently.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN WHICH I MAKE AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY 
 
 IT may rain as hard in other cities of the East 
 as it does at times in Newport, but I doubt it. 
 
 A few years ago, at least, it seemed as though 
 J. Pluvius invariably selected the month of August, 
 with its tennis and horse show weeks, for his an 
 nual visit to this famous summer resort, and, despite 
 his unpopularity, stayed with all the usual persist 
 ence of the unwelcome guest. 
 
 It happened that the gentle shower proved to be 
 the advance guard of the army of General Humidity 
 and Major Storm, and for three full days the rains 
 descended and the floods came, the only periods of 
 intermission in the steady downpour being rilled with 
 unendurable sultry mists. 
 
 The streets glistened like mirrors, under the lash 
 ing of wind and rain the trees shed their leaves, 
 and within the Casino grounds, whither I, with 
 others, made daily journeys, the paths were turned 
 into brooklets and the turf courts into a mo 
 rass. 
 
 Many times during this period of enforced idle- 
 79
 
 80 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ness I should verily have passed away from ennui 
 had I been cooped up alone in the Meunchinger- 
 King, and I thanked my lucky stars which had sent 
 me to Mr. Hammond's. Not only was mine host a 
 prince of entertainers, an excellent pianist and skill 
 ful billiard player, but his residence had a well- 
 stocked library and the time passed pleasantly, al 
 though toward the end I began to grow restive and 
 as eager as a hound in the leash to take up the trail. 
 
 My new abiding place was situated to the right of 
 Bellevue Avenue (as one faces the cliffs), on a cross 
 street running out toward the golf course, and over 
 looking one of the two ponds. It was an artistic, 
 rambling, low, silvery-shingled mansion like a glori 
 fied bungalow, with stables, garage and tennis court 
 spreading over a considerable stretch of land. 
 
 A quarter of a mile nearer the Avenue was the 
 Manner house and somewhat further in the other 
 direction, on a little rise, stood a handsome colonial 
 mansion set well back from the street, which was 
 here scarcely more than a dignified country road. 
 This, I learned, belonged to the Aldriches, a family 
 of great wealth, but of the older school of New 
 York aristocrats, therefore quiet and seldom mixing 
 with the ultra smart set. 
 
 On the morning of the third day of my stay 
 with Mr. Hammond he received a telephone invita 
 tion from Manners to dine that evening at the lat-
 
 AX INTERESTING DISCOVERY 81 
 
 ter's house informally, and the suggestion, be- 
 grudgingly made, I imagined, that he bring me 
 along. At first I suggested to my host that he 
 go without me, but he seemed so much in earnest 
 in insisting upon my accompanying him, saying that 
 it was merely a stag affair with perhaps cards after 
 dinner and that I would have a splendid opportunity 
 of meeting some of the other neighbors, that I 
 yielded. 
 
 Thus Fate gave the wheel another turn, and at 
 seven that evening the fifth day of my stay in 
 Newport I was seated at table with a dozen of 
 the most wealthy business and society men of New 
 York and Newport, and the first step in my scheme 
 had been accomplished as easily as though I had 
 been possessed of the magic wishing ring. 
 
 To the others of that gathered assembly the meal 
 which followed may, indeed, have seemed plain and 
 informal, but not to me. 
 
 From cocktails to cafe noir and cigars it was a 
 perfectly appointed and elaborate dinner, served by 
 a stately English butler and two assistants, w r ho bore 
 out the general scheme of things in the Manners' 
 residence the family consisted of Manners and 
 his mother, still a leader in society, who was not 
 present which was inside and out magnificent, 
 but too modern and showy to suit my New England 
 tastes. Hammond's more homelike and comfort-
 
 82 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 able abode, with its trim maids, fell in with my 
 fancies far better. 
 
 All that savored of informality during the meal, 
 as far as I could see, was the fact that instead of 
 wine, highballs were served, the guests all voting in 
 favor of them, and the further fact that the stories 
 were many of them hardly fit for mixed company, 
 as it seemed to me, and some of them, indeed, highly 
 salacious. After one particularly suggestive tale, 
 I remarked to Mr. Hammond in an undertone that 
 it was just as well that it was a stag affair and he 
 promptly called over to the raconteur, " Our young 
 Puritan here, thinks that that last joke of yours had 
 better be taken out in the back yard and buried, and 
 blushes to think how he would feel if there were 
 ladies present." 
 
 A general laugh followed, during which I blushed 
 in fact. As it subsided, the man addressed, a 
 fatherly and rather ministerial appearing gentleman, 
 replied good-humoredly, " Then for the sake of his 
 Sir Galahadean ideals I'm glad too, for that very 
 story was told at the Bermans' dinner Saturday 
 night by Mrs. Becker-Tolman." 
 
 Verily the society in which I had shone accord 
 ing to Mr. Thomas was not like this, and in my 
 mind the present one did not gain any by the com 
 parison. 
 
 Dinner finished, we adjourned to the library, and,
 
 83 
 
 for a little while, I wandered about, feeling much 
 like a fish out of water, for those generals of finance 
 could not, it seemed, go through a whole evening 
 without " talking shop," and I must admit that much 
 of their conversation was Greek to me, all of whose 
 stocks and bonds consisted of a few isolated shares 
 of corporations which I had assisted in organizing, 
 given to make me eligible to be dummy president 
 for a day or two, and whose most important invest 
 ments were covered by a small subscription to my 
 home cooperative bank. 
 
 I drifted naturally to the library table, and began 
 to glance casually at the books strewn about it, 
 popular best sellers most of them, and, thinking 
 that a man's taste in literature is, after all, a pretty 
 accurate indicator of his character, was just about 
 to turn away again when my eyes fell upon one 
 volume, lying open back up, and partly hidden by a 
 newspaper. Without thinking particularly I read 
 the title, " The Lee Family of Virginia," and my at 
 tention was instantly riveted. 
 
 It is strange how even the smallest incidents loom 
 large when they chime in with and receive a special 
 significance from something which is filling all one's 
 thoughts. 
 
 Covertly glancing about and seeing that no one, 
 especially the owner of the house, was paying any at 
 tention to me, I turned the volume over. It was
 
 84 
 
 opened to a chapter and page descriptive of the 
 homestead and possessions of Colonel William Kent 
 Lee, of Fairdale, and now my interest was vitally 
 gripped indeed, for this same Colonel Lee was none 
 other than the late father of Margaret and Marion, 
 and Fairdale was their home country-seat. I read 
 a few words which had to do with the more recent 
 additions to their famous estate, and then turning 
 to the front of the book, made mental note of the 
 name of the firm of publishers, for possible future 
 reference. As I replaced it I saw that it had been 
 resting upon an atlas, and that from between the 
 pages of this protruded a little marker slip. My 
 curiosity was now sufficiently aroused to cause me 
 to open this to the place indicated, and, as I had 
 more than half anticipated, the plate at that page 
 showed a map of this same Fairdale County. 
 Moreover, it bore certain outlines in red ink, whose 
 meaning, however, was an enigma to me. 
 
 Just at this stage in my investigations the various 
 small groups split up as though by the result of 
 telepathic suggestion, and our host bade us find 
 places at the three card tables which had been set up 
 by the gliding attendants. 
 
 Fate sent me to one of them with two new ac 
 quaintances, and the others being quickly filled with 
 the full quota our table held the only empty seat. 
 None too well pleased, it seemed, Manners took pos-
 
 AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY 85 
 
 session of this, and, while the cards were being 
 shuffled the silent-footed servitors made the rounds 
 again, leaving at each table four tall glasses, a de 
 canter, a syphon of charged water and ash trays. 
 
 All these arrangements, and the business-like way 
 in which several of the guests threw aside their din 
 ner jackets, told their own story. I was in for an 
 evening of it, and I cut for deal with considerable 
 inward trepidation. I was only a fair card player, 
 and my mind recalled tales which I had heard at the 
 Casino of the exalted stakes these men sometimes 
 played for. 
 
 My fears received justification a moment later for 
 Manners remarked in an off hand manner, but with 
 a side glance at me which I read as a challenge, 
 "Usual stakes?" 
 
 " Uh, huh," grunted my partner, a captain of in 
 dustry daytimes, now busily engaged in masticating 
 the end of an unlighted dollar cigar, " Dollar a 
 point." 
 
 My mind did a quick sum in mental arithmetic. 
 A little streak of bad luck and we might easily drop 
 a thousand points, and any schoolboy knows that a 
 thousand times one dollar is a thousand dollars, 
 which represented nearly all my worldly goods. 
 
 Manners broke in upon my train of thoughts, 
 saying, with thinly veiled sarcasm, " Perhaps that's 
 a little out of Shaw's line. Half a cent might seem
 
 86 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 more natural that is, if his tender conscience per 
 mits him to gamble at all." As a matter of fact he 
 had hit on the truth in both particulars for I next 
 to never played for money, and, under usual con 
 ditions, half a cent a point would have looked large. 
 But his manner affected me as a red rag does a bull, 
 and, moreover, I recalled Mr. Willard's parting in 
 junction about the necessity of spending freely in 
 order to win my way into the society where I ex 
 pected to find the truant bride. The opening wedge 
 had already been driven in, but I must not allow it to 
 become blunted now, I thought. 
 
 With as much nonchalance as I could muster I 
 replied, " Suits me. But, with your permission, I 
 am going to ask to be allowed to quit at midnight, 
 in case you have not finished before that. You see, 
 I'm supposed to be in strict training for the ' all 
 comers ' next week, and fond papa didn't send me 
 down here to sit up into the small wee hours play 
 ing cards by way of preparation," which was 
 strictly true, he had not. It was a rather feeble at 
 tempt to restrict my possible losses but the best I 
 could think of on the moment. 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," broke in my vis-a-vis. 
 " Want to knock off early myself to-night, for I'm 
 dog tired. Had to go to the city this morning, and 
 slave like a coal heaver in the awful heat putting 
 through a little two for a cent deal. We idle rich
 
 AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY 87 
 
 are such lucky cusses, you know. By the way, Man 
 ners," he added as he dealt, " how's that deal of 
 yours for the Virginia woodland progressing?" 
 
 I pricked up my ears with interest. 
 
 " Rotten," was the frank reply. " The corpora 
 tion got control of one of the prettiest bits of hard 
 wood land south of the Mason and Dixon line prac 
 tically for a song and then ran plumb up against a 
 snag. It's like this." He took out a silver pencil 
 and hastily sketched a rough map on an ace of dia 
 monds. One glance told me that it corresponded 
 with the one of Fairdale County in the atlas. 
 " Here's our present holdings. This little strip al 
 most cuts it in two, you see, and separates the west 
 section from this stream. It's almost absolutely es 
 sential to us in order to cut and get the stuff out with 
 facility. Old Colonel Lee evidently smelt a rat and 
 bought it up to protect his property, just before he 
 died three years ago. Their house is just about 
 here, right on the edge of it, you see. The whole 
 shooting match went, on his death, to his only son 
 and we had him on the run and just about to fall for 
 our proposition, when he had the damn bad taste to 
 drink himself to death. Now, it's all off again, for 
 the two girls who own it won't listen to selling it, 
 ' No, sah, not a single foot of our f am'ly possessions, 
 sah.' Damn these sentimental females, with their 
 highfaluting, Southern ideas of family honor and
 
 88 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 such trash. We're ready to pay 'em a big figure, 
 but, unfortunately, they've got money to burn 
 themselves, and a little more's no object to 
 them." 
 
 His tale of woe was greeted with gibes and 
 laughter, for a successful man of business always 
 enjoys seeing another caught, especially by one of 
 the weaker sex, but their merriment goaded him 
 into bursting out, " Oh, well, we're not done yet. 
 We've had a shyster lawyer or two on the ground 
 for several weeks and they've got an idea that 
 there's some sort of a flaw in the title to this very 
 strip, and are chasing up the heirs of the grantor 
 now. If they're right, we'll buy the whole outfit for 
 a plugged nickel and the girls can whistle for their 
 * fam'ly possessions, sah.' ' 
 
 " So you think you have the ladies on the hip, 
 eh ? Shame on you, Shylock," laughed my partner. 
 
 " Why, you know who they are, at least by repu 
 tation, Knowlton, one of them married your friend," 
 this spoken in sarcasm "Roland Willard, of 
 Boston, a while ago, and I'll bet a house and lot that 
 he's behind the whole thing." Manners stopped sud 
 denly. He had drunk heavily before and during 
 dinner, his tongue had become loosened and he had 
 blurted out this whole story with never a thought, 
 apparently, that there was a stranger, and a Bos- 
 tonian at that, present. Now, quite naturally, the
 
 AX INTERESTING DISCOVERY 91 
 
 sudden puperimposed, so, with a sigh of regret, I 
 
 brought hand down, saying, " Gentlemen, the fatal 
 
 shot a gl struck for me, and, in accordance with my 
 
 terrogatin : se, I must get me gone to my little white 
 
 my facial 
 
 dently appefle," said my partner, " you are not go- 
 
 for he lookeight in the middle of a hand." 
 
 ject to a safed I went on in a half jesting tone. 
 
 A moment e if I didn't keep faith with myself, 
 played auction, hate to pin medals on my own per- 
 at the table waishow what a really wonderful will 
 All of them had .ot the best hand yet." 
 and now frequentl;ce," laughed Manners disagree- 
 their elbows as they pressing the others: " Trust a 
 abstemious and comp to take advantage of a tech- 
 and only this fact enabiwell to stop when you're 
 as I have said, I was morhaw* knows that that last 
 to be compared with any 01" 
 skill. TS, and my temper 
 
 But, unfortunately, as time wenc clear and cool 
 became more enthralling and the roon vhich some- 
 hotter no breeze having sprung up the. king and 
 to dispel the torrid humidity I, too, uncon critical 
 began to have somewhat frequent recourse k \Mr. 
 highball glass beside me constantly replenished t , 
 a watchful servant in which the ice tinkled invit 
 ingly. How easy and natural it is to pick up a 
 cooling glass almost without thinking, and take a
 
 88 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 such trash. We're ready to pay 'em a bbmething 
 but, unfortunately, they've got money 
 themselves, and a little more's no cers in the 
 them." le was be- 
 
 His tale of woe was greeted with ie in name 
 laughter, for a successful man of busivas given or 
 enjoys seeing another caught, especialli once when 
 the weaker sex, but their merriment nd me three 
 into bursting out, " Oh, well, we're 
 We've had a shyster lawyer or two our hands were 
 for several weeks and they've gfirted with each 
 there's some sort of a flaw in th& kept almost even 
 strip, and are chasing up the listen my earlier re- 
 now. If they're right, we'll bu- it until, like poor 
 a plugged nickel and the girlfolling out the hour set 
 ' fam'ly possessions, sah.' ' 
 
 " So you think you h% certain in my own mind 
 eh ? Shame on you, SVj played in the melodrama 
 
 " Why, you knoy that of a hero or, like Dogberry 
 tation, Knowlts About Nothing," I should be writ- 
 this spoh ass. 
 
 Boston, al had just been dealt out, and I had corn- 
 he's besorting it with the thrill that comes to a card 
 denll upon viewing an unusual hand, namely eight 
 perfect clubs ; queen and two other spades, king and 
 queen of diamonds, and no hearts, when midnight 
 struck. An appeal to my own trusted timepiece 
 helped not at all. Its hands were also perpendicu-
 
 AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY 91 
 
 lar and superimposed, so, with a sigh of regret, I 
 laid the hand down, saying, " Gentlemen, the fatal 
 hour has struck for me, and, in accordance with my 
 self -promise, I must get me gone to my little white 
 bed." 
 
 " Oh, piffle," said my partner, " you are not go 
 ing to quit right in the middle of a hand." 
 
 " Yes," and I went on in a half jesting tone. 
 " I'd lose caste if I didn't keep faith with myself, 
 and although I hate to pin medals on my own per 
 son, I'll say, to show what a really wonderful will 
 I have, that I've got the best hand yet." 
 
 " Huh, fine chance," laughed Manners disagree 
 ably and added, addressing the others : " Trust a 
 lawyer to know when to take advantage of a tech 
 nicality. It's always well to stop when you're 
 ahead, and, of course, Shaw* knows that that last 
 rubber put him in the lead." 
 
 I could scarcely believe my ears, and my temper 
 flared up, while my brain became as clear and cool 
 as crystal with the abnormal calmness which some 
 times comes to a man who has been drinking and 
 suddenly finds himself face to face with a critical 
 situation. " Pardon me for contradicting, Mr. 
 Manners," I answered, "but, as a matter of fact, 
 I was under the impression that you were ahead. 
 You have been keeping score. I haven't." 
 
 " What the devil ? Do you mean to insinuate,
 
 92 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 sir, that your first proposition was dependent on the 
 second? " my host shot back. 
 
 " Not at all. I merely stated two independent 
 and uncorrelated facts, both of which are perfectly 
 true, whether you care to believe it or not. Further 
 more, Mr. Manners, you made an insinuation a min 
 ute ago that I didn't like the sound of, even as a 
 joke, as I presume it was meant. I refer to the fact 
 that when I said I was holding the best hand I'd 
 had this evening, you replied ' fat chance ' or ' fine 
 chance,' or something like that. It didn't sound 
 good to me, and, if you think that I was bluffing 
 and are still inclined to doubt my statement, I'll 
 change my mind, postpone my departure just long 
 enough to play this hand out and give you a chance 
 to satisfy yourself on both points, or show me up. 
 In plain English it's up to you to make good your as 
 sertions or retract them, Mr. Manners."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IN WHICH I MAKE AN ENEMY 
 
 Now all this was, of course, very youthful, very 
 melodramatic. 
 
 Yet human nature is much the same in all ages 
 and the world over. Men have quarreled over silly 
 games, called hard names, passed the lie like chil 
 dren, and are we not, after all, but children of an 
 older growth? If it had been out West and poker 
 we had been playing, and, instead of mild highballs, 
 we had been drinking our whisky straight, by this 
 time one or the other of us, or both, would have btfen 
 punctured with bullet holes. 
 
 In a lower strata of society we would now be roll 
 ing over the floor pummeling each other energeti 
 cally. Being in Newport, and gentlemen, we merely 
 glared at each other and spoke cutting, sarcastic sen 
 tences, which was highly civilized, but worse, in a 
 way, than either of the other methods mentioned. 
 The saying " Sticks and stones may break my bones 
 but words will never hurt me," which we used to 
 chant as children, is far from the truth. It is per 
 fectly possible for men to express their primeval 
 
 93
 
 94 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 passions by pounding one another and afterwards 
 be the best of friends, but repressed dislike which 
 finds its only expression in bitter words strikes in 
 ward, and often engenders a more lasting hatred 
 than any physical licking. 
 
 In our heat we had both raised our voices uncon 
 sciously, and now the players from the other tables 
 gathered about us with questions, and, scenting some 
 real sport, began joyfully to egg us on. 
 
 I had believed that Manners was wavering and 
 was on the point of complying with my request that 
 he retract his insinuations, but the presence and bait 
 ing of the others overcame his better judgment, 
 and, taking another hasty glance at his own cards 
 and without deigning to answer my remark in 
 words, he said, " All right, we will play it out. It's 
 your bid, Gramm." 
 
 " No bid," responded his partner, regarding his 
 hand disgustedly. 
 
 " Hold on a minute," broke in Mr. Ham 
 mond, who had come and taken his stand behind 
 me. " You two are a little excited and pretty sure 
 to overbid your hands in consequence. There's no 
 sense pulling your partners into it. I suggest that 
 they settle on the basis of the present score." 
 
 " Great little head, Hammond," promptly an 
 swered my partner. " Let Manners and Shaw bid
 
 IN OUR HEAT WE HAD BOTH RAISED OUR VOICES UN 
 CONSCIOUSLY "
 
 I MAKE AN ENEMY 95 
 
 their blocks off if they want to. I'm the provider 
 for a large and hungry family " 
 
 " Alas, poor man struggling to make both ends 
 meet on an income of a paltry half million a year, 
 and support in penury one blond wife and two blond 
 babies," interpolated Hammond. 
 
 " Yes," said Gramm, " but think of the terrible 
 cost of keeping that wife a blond twelve months in 
 the year." But the object of these gibes continued 
 unmoved, " and I don't intend to be offered 
 up a sacrificial lamb on the altar of the Gods of 
 Chance because of the whim of these mad game 
 sters." 
 
 " Righto, I agree," said Gramm, " you owe me 
 to date the magnificent sum of twenty-seven dollars, 
 the receipt whereof I will be pleased to acknowledge 
 with thanks." 
 
 Mr. Hammond picked up the score and after look 
 ing it through, said, " You're games all. Are you 
 going to count the rubber also if either of you 
 scores another on this hand?" 
 
 " Just as Mr. Manners desires," I replied, deter 
 mined to go the limit now. 
 
 My patron gave my shoulder an approving 
 squeeze, and bending over whispered in my ear, 
 " That's the way, boy. I'm your banker if you 
 lose and get in over your head." 
 
 I nodded my thanks, and Manners now thor-
 
 96 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 oughly aroused, replied, " Let's go the limit by all 
 means; I guess that I can stand it if he can." 
 
 I thought so, too, when I remembered with a 
 sickening sinking in the pit of my stomach that my 
 bank account stood at little more than the thousand 
 dollars, with which Willard had supplied me, and 
 which was to all intents and purposes a trust fund. 
 
 " Well, it's your bid ; Gramm passed," said 
 Manners testily. 
 
 Discretion told me to bid on my wonderful club 
 suit, but I threw it to the winds, and, taking a 
 gambler's chance on the hearts, replied, 
 
 " Without trumps." 
 
 " Two royals," said he, being seated at my left. 
 My partner passed, as did Gramm, and the battle 
 was obviously between us two. 
 
 "Two without." 
 
 " Three royals." 
 
 " Three without." 
 
 He ran over his cards again nervously, then said, 
 " Double it." 
 
 " Re-double." Those who were behind him 
 whistled. Manners led the ace of spades. My 
 partner's hand was laid down and proved to be 
 negligible and Manners smiled, but I was not yet 
 worried, for, my queen being twice guarded, his 
 spade suit was blocked, as he realized when he led 
 the king and the queen did not fall. Had he known
 
 I MAKE AN ENEMY 97 
 
 my lack of hearts he could easily have won, since 
 he held both red aces, but his natural play was to 
 lead another spade in order to force the queen and 
 establish his suit, holding his aces for re-entry. 
 This he proceeded to do. Taking the trick with 
 my queen, I quietly played out my eight winning 
 clubs, leaving him to take the last two tricks with 
 his two aces. 
 
 "Whew, some hand and some bidding!" said 
 Hammond, in an exultant tone. " Let's see," and 
 he began to figure out loud, " Three odd, thirty, 
 doubled and redoubled, one-twenty; fulfilling con 
 tract one hundred more, that's two-twenty. Less 
 thirty for Manners' honors, one-ninety. Add two- 
 fifty for rubber, four-forty. Add twenty-seven on old 
 score. Four sixty-seven iron men total damages." 
 
 " Might have known as much," replied Manners 
 in deep disgust. " Betting on a sure thing." 
 
 " Not in the least. You could have made four 
 royals even if I hadn't gone up to four without, as 
 I probably should, and been set. And, as for your 
 knowing as much, I certainly told you times enough 
 that I had a splendid hand. As far as I can see, 
 you have no one to blame but yourself." 
 
 " Well, I call it pretty small potatoes, considering 
 the stakes we were playing for. You had the win 
 ning tricks right in your own hand." 
 
 Now thoroughly exasperated as much by his man-
 
 98 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ner as his words, and aroused by the liquor 
 for I must have drunk more than I had realized 
 I answered hotly, " It seems to me, Mr. Manners, 
 that if either of us can be accused of being a poor 
 sport I am not the one who has laid himself open 
 to that charge. Didn't I warn you at the start that 
 I had an unusual hand and didn't intend to play 
 it? Your attitude forced me to do so against my 
 will. Now I'm going to make you one other propo 
 sition to settle once and for all whether there is 
 anything in your insinuations, or not. You owe me 
 four hundred and sixty-seven dollars, I believe it 
 is. I'll cut with you to see whether you pay me 
 double or nothing, low card winning." 
 
 This suggestion met with a hilarious welcome 
 from the rest, who assailed my opponent with all 
 manner of taunts, and there was nothing for him 
 to do but accept or be marked down a quitter. 
 
 Taking the Hobson's choice he shoved the pack 
 over to me and I turned up a knave. Biting his lips 
 he cut, a trey, and I arose as calmly as I could, 
 saying " We're quits." 
 
 Manners immediately became jubilant, and as Mr. 
 Hammond drew me toward the door he said in un 
 mistakable disgust and without attempting to lower 
 his voice, " Hang it all, I was praying all I knew 
 how that you might win that, Shaw. Why, I'd 
 have been willing to pay the damages myself to see
 
 I MAKE AN ENEMY 99 
 
 that tightwad get stuck a thousand dollars. He's 
 fairly reeking with money, and all he'll ever spend 
 except on himself is the evening." 
 
 Dismissing the motor which had called for us, 
 we walked home through the tropical midnight air, 
 Mr. Hammond meanwhile commenting freely and 
 forcibly on our late host and his methods in busi 
 ness and otherwise. One of his apropos remarks 
 led me to mention what I had heard him say earlier 
 in the evening in regard to the Virginia land deal. 
 My companion swore, remarked that it was thor 
 oughly characteristic of his methods, and, a mo 
 ment later, to my astonishment, began to laugh 
 heartily. 
 
 " Let me in on the joke, if it's that good," said 
 I, and as he answered, stopped short with a sur 
 prise which drove every other matter completely 
 out of my head, for I heard him saying, " It just 
 struck me that perhaps friend Manners wouldn't 
 have been so free in discussing his plans as to the 
 Lees if he knew that Miss Lee herself the unmar 
 ried one was within half a mile of him at this 
 moment, and all of his guests likely to meet and 
 become friendly with her almost any time. If he 
 got up a little earlier in the morning he would have 
 found it out for himself, for she has been riding 
 right underneath his nose before breakfast every 
 day for a week past, and ride ! say, she's a regu-
 
 100 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 lar centaur you had ought to see her, and she's a 
 little peach, too." 
 
 As well as I could I controlled my voice, but, even 
 so, my answer, " I should like to see her," was as 
 tonishingly hearty. 
 
 " Oh, you will in time, I guess ; in fact we might 
 run up to the Aldriches and call some day. I've 
 been intending to wait until my better half got back, 
 but, if you like, I'll sacrifice myself and go as your 
 chaperon." 
 
 "The Aldriches?" 
 
 " Yes, she's visiting there the big colonial 
 house up the pike, you know. Why, if Manners 
 gets wind of it I'll bet a spring bonnet that he's got 
 just nerve enough to gain an introduction and lay 
 siege to her heart, hand and land." 
 
 " Not if I know it," I thought to myself, and 
 Mr. Hammond must have regarded me as peculiarly 
 inattentive the rest of the way, for I heard scarcely 
 another word that he said, so full was my mind of 
 this latest and wholly unexpected disclosure, and the 
 manner in which fate was furnishing the solution to 
 all of my problems, one by one. It had begun to 
 seem positively uncanny. 
 
 With the usual unreasonable conceit of youth I 
 gloated over the knowledge that I had run the 
 quarry to earth or her sister at least, and I felt 
 confident that where one was, there should I find
 
 I MAKE AN ENEMY 101 
 
 the other also utterly overlooking the plain 
 truth that I had personally done not a single thing 
 to achieve the result, but had merely been the fa 
 vored child of fortune. I hummed in high spirits 
 as I undressed, feeling that my mission was already 
 as good as accomplished, my exultant mind scorn 
 ing the idea of any obstacles which I could not 
 surmount with ease. When I was ready for bed, 
 I found that all inclination for sleep had vanished, 
 and, having thrown a light bath robe over my pa 
 jamas, I picked up a book which I was in the mid 
 dle of, wholly forgetful of my earlier remarks about 
 being in training and wanting to retire early. But 
 neither could I concentrate my mind on the story, 
 despite its being a most entertaining one. The ex 
 citement and thronging impressions left in my mind 
 by the occurrences of the evening were too strong, 
 and, laying the book aside, lighting a cigarette and 
 leaning back with my hands clasped behind my 
 head, I let my thoughts run over the various inci 
 dents again and again. 
 
 In time the discovery of Mrs. Willard's retreat 
 ceased to present itself as the most important of 
 the evening's events, and the facts which I had 
 learned by chance about Manners' operations and 
 plans, to assume first place in my thoughts. I be 
 came convinced that it was very much up to me to 
 make use of the information which I had acquired,
 
 102 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 and, moreover, to act upon it quickly, if I were to 
 accomplish anything. 
 
 The more I thought over the situation the more 
 clearly it appeared that I owed it as a corollary to 
 my duty to Mr. Willard to protect his wife's inter 
 ests, if possible, even though I was not employed for 
 that purpose. And I also began to feel a chivalric 
 desire, like Robin Hood, to prevent injustice being 
 done by the stronger to the weaker especially 
 since that weaker was a woman. 
 
 Getting paper and fountain pen I proceeded to 
 write out for my employer a concise account of 
 what I had learned at the Manners', and added the 
 name of the publisher of the volume in which he 
 could find the name of the grantor whose defective 
 deed might yet be the cause of so much trouble for 
 the Lee family. 
 
 This done, a sudden mad impulse seized me. I 
 would accomplish the whole thing single-handed. 
 The thought that I might not possess the ability to 
 do so never entered my head. After the briefest 
 moment's hesitation I tore up the letter, and get 
 ting a clean sheet of paper wrote as follows to a 
 friend and classmate at the law school, Jack Bor- 
 roughs, whose home was in Petersburg a fact 
 that had been recalled to my mind a few weeks pre 
 vious by the receipt from him of an announcement 
 that he had opened his own office in that city.
 
 I MAKE AX ENEMY 103 
 
 "Dear Jack: 
 
 " Upon receipt of this epistle you are to call off 
 everything that you may be doing else, and immedi 
 ately devote the whole of your time and gray matter 
 to the accomplishment of what may prove to be a dif 
 ficult and delicate task, on my behalf. I feel sure that 
 if you cannot do this, or chance to be retained already 
 by conflicting interests you will let me know at once, 
 and consider this letter as strictly confidential and not 
 to be taken advantage of in any way. You see what 
 a compliment I am paying you in suggesting that even 
 a lawyer can be so honest. 
 
 " I am attorney for a Mr. Roland Willard of Bos 
 ton, whose name may be familiar to you for he re 
 cently married one of the belles from your vicinity, 
 Miss Margaret Lee of Fairdale. I am now in New 
 port for him on another matter, and only to-night 
 learned, by the merest chance, that a certain New 
 York corporation (whose name I unfortunately do 
 not know), which is controlled by a Mr. Edward 
 Manners, the big financier, has acquired a large tract 
 of hardwood land somewhere in your neighborhood. 
 
 " He believes that it is essential to gain possession 
 of a strip owned by the Lee family, which apparently 
 cuts their holdings almost in two. 
 
 " The Lee homestead is situated right at the edge of 
 it, and they refuse to sell. 
 
 "It further seems that this iniquitous corporation 
 (all corporations are that, we attorneys know), has 
 had a lawyer on the spot for some time, and he (I 
 hope that he is not you) has or thinks he has, discov 
 ered a flaw in the title to that particular strip of land.
 
 104 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 If the Lee girls persist in their refusal to sell, the 
 company plans to subsidize the heirs of the grantor 
 I presume that he is dead and get them to void the 
 title, if possible, on behalf of the corporation. 
 
 " Here's where you come in, D. V. It is up to you 
 to find out who that grantor was, look up the deed and 
 if you find that they are right about it, and that it is 
 defective, turn Sherlock Holmes, run to earth the 
 heirs and get from them a confirmatory deed before 
 they fall for any proposition which the company may 
 make. 
 
 " This is sort of a leap in the dark, and my informa 
 tion is very meager, but if the facts are as I have 
 learned them it's worth one of the biggest fees you ever 
 received to get that deed for us and slap it on record 
 P. D. Q. 
 
 " I assume that you can trace the title through your 
 grantee's indexes in the registry, but if you have any 
 difficulty you can find more than I have been able to 
 tell you about the strip and its grantor in a volume 
 called ' The Lees of Virginia,' at page 211. 
 
 " Good luck to both of us. 
 
 " Sincerely your friend, 
 
 "JOHN ALDEN SHAW." 
 
 Strange, is it not, how the merely associating 
 with men of big affairs and almost unlimited means 
 and a few highballs can affect one ? 
 
 Here was I, John Alden Shaw, to all intents and 
 purposes, penniless and little more than the slav 
 ing junior member of a law office, one who had al 
 ways considered long and carefully before spend-
 
 I MAKE AN ENEMY 105 
 
 ing a ten-dollar bill, pledging myself for the pay 
 ment of a big counsel fee without any authority, 
 and giving instructions on my own initiative in a 
 matter in which tens of thousands might perhaps be 
 involved. 
 
 The letter written and deposited in the mail re 
 ceptacle I tumbled into bed and slept the sleep of the 
 just.
 
 V ' 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN WHICH I BECOME A HERO 
 
 WHEN I awoke the following morning the thrice- 
 welcome sun since unseen for three days was 
 well up in the heavens. 
 
 I bounded out of bed and looked at my watch. 
 Nine-thirty ! 
 
 My temples felt somewhat constricted, but an in 
 vigorating cold plunge, and a few deep breaths at 
 the open window dispelled this quickly, and in 
 twenty minutes, shaved and clothed in my right 
 mind, I was tiptoeing past Mr. Hammond's door 
 from behind which gentle snores informed me that 
 my host was still in the land of Nod. 
 
 Exercising the freedom of the house a priv 
 ilege freely extended to me by Mr. Hammond I 
 ordered my solitary breakfast, and then started out 
 for a brisk walk alone. 
 
 The air, clear and cool after the three days' rain, 
 was like ambrosia to the taste, and the countryside, 
 now washed and smiling after its bath, looked like 
 the Elysium fields. I was clad in a faultless and 
 spotless flannel outing suit and wore a becom- 
 
 106
 
 I BECOME A HERO 107 
 
 ing panama, and the feeling of satisfaction which 
 my fine raiment produced, the bright sunshine and 
 the high hopes which I held for a speedy meeting 
 with Miss Lee or rather Mrs. Willard all com 
 bined to make me revel in the mere fact of living. 
 
 Two of Air. Hammond's dogs, a stately 
 Newfoundland and a frisky Scottish terrier, had 
 joined forces with me for the ramble, and their char 
 acteristic antics showed that they responded as I 
 did, to the glorious morning. 
 
 Together we alternately raced and walked down 
 the road in the direction of the Aldrich mansion, 
 for I had it in mind to let no time elapse before 
 giving my patron saint the opportunity for working 
 another miracle on my behalf, to wit, presenting 
 the object of my mission to me, and I had no doubt 
 but that this desired result would shortly be accom 
 plished. 
 
 As we approached a rustic wooden bridge which 
 spanned the brook, I noticed a pretty little tot of 
 four or five summers playing on it, while her nurse 
 sat, deeply engrossed in a book, under a tree by the 
 roadside. The child was balancing herself over 
 the lower of the rails dropping pebbles into the 
 stream, and as we drew near her, the terrier rushed 
 forward barking furiously after the nature of the 
 beast, but only intent on play. The little maiden 
 misread his intentions, however, screamed in terror,
 
 108 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 lost her balance and pitched headlong over the rail 
 and into the water. 
 
 Simultaneously came another shrill scream from 
 her attendant and a shout from me and we both 
 dashed madly for the spot. A dozen leaps carried 
 me to the bridge, and, without pausing to think, I 
 dove dramatically headfirst over the railing. 
 
 An instant later I was standing up, the strug 
 gling, sobbing miss in my arms, both of us covered 
 from top to toe with thick, slimy mud with the 
 water not up to my waist. 
 
 As I shook the liquid mud from my eyes, the first 
 thing which they lit upon was the lithe, boyish fig 
 ure of a young woman racing at full speed down 
 the lawn from the Aldriches' in short, none other 
 than my rider of the chestnut mare, Miss Lee. 
 
 My chagrin may better be imagined than de 
 scribed. Here, forsooth, was a brave meeting, a 
 fine climax to my deed of valor. 
 
 Completely downcast, and swearing inwardly, I 
 waded dejectedly ashore, the mud sloshing ludi 
 crously at each footstep, and surrendered my bur 
 den into the outstretched arms of the vision, who 
 began to cuddle and comfort the frightened young 
 ster, utterly oblivious of the fact that her own im 
 maculately snowy lawn dress was speedily being 
 reduced into dank and muddy bedraggledness. 
 After a moment, during which I stood uncertainly,
 
 1 BECOME A HERO 109 
 
 she passed the child over to her nurse, whose apron 
 straightway suffered the fate of the vision's dress, 
 and held out both her hands to me, saying, " How 
 can I thank you, sir ? It was the quickest and brav 
 est thing I ever saw." 
 
 "Brave!" I ejaculated in deep disgust, wholly 
 forgetful of my manners. " Do you call this 
 brave ? " Simultaneously we looked down at my 
 mud encrusted form and burst into a shout of 
 laughter. 
 
 As soon as we could catch our breath after a 
 moment of hysterical giggling, like school-girls, 
 she replied earnestly, " Yes, of course I do. You 
 couldn't know that the brook was only a mud hole, 
 and it is the spirit that counts. Besides, three feet 
 of water was enough for little Janet to drown in," 
 and she again extended her hand. 
 
 " Thank you. Your words take at least the 
 worst sting out of my present ignominy, Miss Lee." 
 Her name slipped out unconsciously, and I would 
 have given a good deal to have recalled it, for I 
 felt her start, and she instantly withdrew her hand 
 from my muddy but close clasp. 
 
 "How did you know my name?" she asked 
 quickly, and in some agitation. 
 
 Realizing that I had put my foot in it, but de 
 cided to carry my slip through as well as I could, 
 I continued breezily, " I didn't."
 
 110 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 "Then how . . . why . . .?" 
 
 " I spoke it absolutely unconsciously," I replied 
 truthfully, " and I suppose my mind struck upon it 
 by a process of subconscious reasoning. You see, 
 I had been told that a Miss Lee was staying with 
 the Aldriches I am a guest of your neighbor, 
 Mr. Hammond. Moreover, I recall having seen a 
 newspaper picture of that Miss Lee from Virginia 
 who recently married Roland Willard, and having 
 read that she had a younger sister who was almost 
 the image of her as you indeed are of that photo 
 graph. Voila, there you are. Isn't it simple ? " 
 
 " I thought Sherlock Holmes was dead," she an 
 swered, smiling again, a bewitching smile so natural 
 and infectious that it captivated me at once. 
 
 " His methods live, you see." 
 
 " I suppose I ought to say ' marvelous.' ' 
 
 " Of course. And now, since you admit the 
 identity, may I introduce myself as John Alden 
 Shaw, of Boston, attorney at law, at your service, 
 so we start even again." With this I, in turn, 
 extended my hand, and after just the barest mo 
 ment of hesitation, she took it with another peal 
 of laughter. 
 
 We were so engrossed that we had not noticed a 
 motor car come up behind me as we stood in this 
 striking but ludicrous posture. A young man 
 sprang out of it onto the bridge, exclaiming, " Well,
 
 I BECOME A HERO 111 
 
 for the love of Mike!" Then, as he caught sight 
 of my mud-streaked face, he sat down suddenly on 
 the auto step, placed his hands to his sides and 
 went off into a roar of laughter, shouting, " John 
 Alden Shaw, by all that's good and holy! I sup 
 pose you've read that we Newport profligates some 
 time indulge in a swim fully dressed for novelty, 
 but I assure you that we don't consider it an fait 
 to do it at ten o'clock in the morning, nor choose 
 a mudhole like this in which to disport ourselves. 
 What are you doing in Newport, anyway except 
 taking mud baths ? " 
 
 " You needn't laugh, Bert Aldrich," broke in 
 Miss Lee with some energy. " It isn't any laugh 
 ing matter. If it hadn't been for Mr. Shaw's pres 
 ence, and his promptness and bravery, your niece 
 might be dead this minute. I can imagine you div 
 ing headfirst into a brook to save any one, with 
 out thinking it over for an hour, during which she 
 would have had time to drown a dozen times." 
 
 This sarcastic and somewhat illogical remark had 
 an immediate sobering effect upon the newcomer. 
 He demanded, and was given, full explanations, and 
 then also joined the ancient and honorable order of 
 the Muddy Hand, by seizing and shaking mine 
 vigorously. 
 
 Could anything have been more opportune? 
 Surely Fate was working overtime in my behalf, for
 
 112 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 it happened that Bert Aldrich was the third and 
 last of the New York-Newporters whom I had 
 known at Harvard. And I had known him well, 
 too, as we were members of the same society, and, 
 once more, my heart sent up a little silent hymn of 
 thanksgiving and exultation over this further piece 
 of luck, for was not the object of my quest actually 
 domiciled at his home? 
 
 " Miss Lee has exaggerated, of course. Any 
 body would have done what I did, and most would 
 have had sense enough to wade in and make the 
 rescue without the dramatics. But, you bet that 
 I'm mighty glad to have been Johnny on the spot, 
 Bert. As a matter of fact though, my dog or 
 rather Hammond's was the cause of little Janet's 
 being in the brook at all, so I was to blame for the 
 accident in the first place." 
 
 When I said " Miss Lee " I saw Bert glance in 
 quiringly at the other, and she, reading his look 
 aright, replied, " Yes, you see we have already in 
 troduced ourselves to one another." 
 
 " Well, under these rather exceptional circum 
 stances I don't see how I can enter any objections, 
 even though I am your chaperon and responsible 
 for your friends in Newport. Anyway, certainly 
 neither of you would ever recognize the other again 
 in conventional attire." 
 
 We laughingly denied the allegation.
 
 I BECOME A HERO 113 
 
 And certainly I was not likely ever to forget 
 the picture Miss Lee made, her bewitchingly lovely 
 face rising above her mud and water soaked 
 dress like a beautiful water lily from out the river 
 mire. 
 
 When a woman can look so charmingly sweet and 
 attractive under such circumstances, I thought, she 
 must indeed be blessed with rare loveliness, and as 
 I covertly studied her beautiful face still childlike 
 in its contour, crowned by a mass of wonderfully 
 soft hair, brown but indescribably streaked and 
 flecked with burnished gold, coiled close against her 
 neck, her large expressive eyes, similarly colored 
 and shaded, and her graceful slender form, its girl 
 ish curves accentuated by the moist clinging gown, 
 I knew, on the instant, that in her I had found my 
 very ideal of womanly beauty. 
 
 My thought was interrupted by Bert's hearty 
 voice, " Come on, pile into the machine and I'll take 
 you up to the house for a bath and change ; I guess 
 you can wear my duds." 
 
 But I refused with thanks, saying, " There's no 
 need of that, old man, for it's only a few minutes' 
 run down the street to my own abode, and nobody is 
 likely to see me on the way. You take Miss Lee 
 right along before she catches cold, for she is pretty 
 moist, I'm afraid. If I may though, I'll run over 
 this afternoon to inquire whether or not little Janet
 
 114 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 has suffered any ill effect from her unexpected 
 bath." 
 
 " Sure. After this morning's episode our house 
 and all therein is yours. Eh, ' sister ' ? " Miss Lee 
 blushed rosily, but whether at the familiar pet name 
 or the insinuation, I could not say. 
 
 She seemed about to reply, then hesitated, so Bert 
 continued, 
 
 " Silence gives assent, so you may consider your 
 self unanimously elected, only I warn you that when 
 my real sister, Ethel, hears of this deed of valor and 
 sees you coming, even a long way off, like old father 
 Prodigal, she will run and fall on your neck, for 
 saving her child. Incidentally, don't consider it a 
 call, but come early, bring your tennis bat if you 
 are still playing at the game and stay to dinner, 
 there'll be no one there but the family " here he, 
 too, stopped as though struck by a sudden hitherto 
 unconsidered thought, but after an almost inper- 
 ceptible pause continued, " and all of them will be 
 ready to start * Hail the Conquering Hero Comes ' 
 on the phonograph at your approach." 
 
 The meaning of these two pauses was evident 
 enough to me, but far from being deterred by the 
 presence of the recluse, I accepted the invitation in 
 its entity all the more eagerly, and after a final 
 hand clasp, left them and started off down the road 
 on the run.
 
 I BECOME A HERO 115 
 
 I had confidently prophesied that I would meet no 
 one. Foolish forecast. Hardly had I covered half 
 the distance when I saw a group of riders approach 
 ing on the gallop. In the lead were Will Manners 
 and Robert Goodwin, and closely following them 
 the two young women whom I had seen in the lat- 
 ter's company that evening at the Casino. 
 
 At my astonishing appearance they all drew rein 
 suddenly, and Manners greeted me in cold polite 
 tones, " Good morning, Mr. Shaw. Gathering 
 ammunition this morning?" 
 
 I removed my sadly dilapidated head covering, 
 but before I could answer they rode on, laughing 
 among themselves. 
 
 " Now what in the devil did he mean by that," 
 I thought, as I started off at full speed again. 
 " * Gathering more ammunition ? ' The only thing 
 I had been gathering so far as I could see, was 
 mud." 
 
 The meaning of his remark flashed through my 
 mind. Manners was subtly accusing me of being 
 a mud slinger, was he? I stopped, turned around 
 angrily and shook my fist at the fast disappearing 
 backs. 
 
 More laughter at my expense, good-natured this 
 time, awaited me when I attempted to sneak into the 
 Hammond domicile, but when I had reluctantly re 
 counted the story of my morning's adventure my
 
 116 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 host clapped me on the shoulder, with, " Bully for 
 you again, old man! But I warn you that if you 
 continue to become the hero of daily adventures like 
 this and the one last night, the young unmarried 
 Newporters will soon be riding you out of town on 
 a nice sharp rail. Two of last evening's little 
 gathering have already called me up this morning to 
 gloat over your tilt with Manners, and I lose my 
 guess if the whole story, with embellishments, isn't 
 in next week's ' Town Topics.' ' 
 
 I laughed somewhat uncertainly, and becoming 
 serious, he added, 
 
 " But a word to the wise should be sufficient. 
 Don't let this morning's romantic introduction lead 
 you into any indiscretions, my lad." 
 
 Really puzzled I said, " I don't quite get your 
 meaning." 
 
 " Oh, perhaps my remark hasn't any. I was just 
 throwing out a hint at random, but your somewhat 
 vivid description of Miss Lee led me to think that 
 perhaps you were a bit smitten at first sight, that's 
 all." 
 
 Again I laughed uneasily for I knew that his 
 chance shot had scored a touch. He went on, " You 
 mustn't forget that your heroine is somewhat of an 
 heiress and a great belle at home and it would be 
 hardly wise to get serious. Don't think that I mean 
 you might not make an ideal husband in every
 
 I BECOME A HERO 117 
 
 respect," he added hastily, " but you will pardon 
 my saying that, although you have not said it in so 
 many words, I have gained the impression that you 
 yourself are not rolling in wealth, despite your in 
 dications of unbounded means last evening." 
 
 I flushed with chagrin over the thought that my 
 deception had been so easily pierced, a fact which 
 might speak badly for my further success in that 
 role, but my mind was eased somewhat when he 
 said, " Of course I may be wrong, and it's none of 
 my business anyway. If I have guessed right it is 
 from certain little things which you have let slip 
 in our many confidential talks together the past few 
 days, for let me say that you certainly play the part 
 of a Croesus to the manner born." 
 
 There was nothing to be gained by further decep 
 tion so I admitted the truth of his surmise frankly, 
 adding, " I suppose you think me a fool, but it was 
 a holiday whim, not likely to injure any one." 
 
 " Certainly no one but yourself at the most," he 
 corrected. " And personally I've been tickled to 
 death at getting hold of you. I see so much of the 
 petered out nonentities which constitute most of our 
 present younger generation to-day hopeless bores, 
 all of them that it's positively refreshing to run 
 across a man like you with some fresh originality 
 and brains." 
 
 I made a mocking curtsy of thanks,
 
 118 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " I'm in earnest. I believe that you represent an 
 earnest, energetic type that is conspicuous by its ab 
 sence in the younger scions of wealth. There are 
 striking exceptions of course, fellows coming along 
 who have all their father's brains and ability, like 
 your friend Bert Aldrich, for example, a fine virile 
 young chap in whose hands can be entrusted without 
 any misgivings the great wealth which will some 
 day be his. But most of the present crowd make 
 me sick. Bob Goodwin is a fair sample, a society 
 snob of no value whatsoever to the world, and even 
 the genial Dick Witherbee hasn't a serious thought 
 in his head and probably never will have. 
 
 " I like you, John. I'll be glad to help you play 
 your little game and be damned sorry to see you go 
 back to you ten per or whatever may be your 
 princely remuneration." 
 
 I thanked him again, with some embarrassment 
 but filled with gratitude for his appreciative words, 
 and before he left me he added one more sentence 
 in line with what he had said previously. 
 
 " I am perfectly honest in the expression of my 
 regard for you personally and as a type, but just the 
 same there was some meat in my remark a minute 
 ago. This business of the worthy but poor young 
 man falling in love with the rich and beautiful 
 heiress is very romantic and charming in books. 
 But, unfortunately, ninety-nine times out of a hun-
 
 I BECOME A HERO 119 
 
 dred it doesn't work out that way in this old world 
 of sin and tribulation. No man with any stuff in 
 him can be happy when dependent on his wife's 
 charity. Have a good time, make hay while the sun 
 shines, but wear a good strong shirt of mail against 
 Mr. Cupid's darts, is the advice of an old and very 
 wise man. And now enough of moralizing. Get 
 cleaned up and we'll have an early lunch. So long." 
 Good sound advice, truly. I knew it, and firmly 
 resolved to remember and be guided by it. But, as 
 Bobby Burns so aptly said, " The best laid schemes 
 o' mice and men gang aft agley."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 IN WHICH I SCALE A CITADEL 
 
 INSISTING that I make my triumphal entry at the 
 Aldriches in fitting style, Mr. Hammond sent me 
 over, after luncheon, in his car, and as we rolled up 
 the long curving driveway, the thought came to me 
 that the Lee girls could not well have selected a bet 
 ter place of retreat from spying eyes, nor one more 
 likely to be pleasing to the taste of Southerners, for 
 the house was an exact reproduction of an old time 
 Virginia mansion of perfect type. 
 
 It was of red brick, vine covered, low, but spacious 
 and having the inevitable broad verandas and tall 
 stately white pillars. Nor were the grounds af 
 fected with any of the stiff formality so frequently 
 seen about the Newport " cottages." The gardens 
 were strictly of the old-fashioned variety, and the 
 lawns, although perfect, somewhat limited. They 
 gave on both sides into broad fields unmarred by 
 the conventionalizing handiwork of man. At some 
 distance on the slope, which ran down to the little 
 stream, was a lazy flock of snow-white sheep con 
 tentedly grazing. 
 
 120
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 1 121 
 
 Drowsy peace fulness and contentment character 
 ized the very atmosphere of the place, and from the 
 cupola atop the house to the rambling outbuildings 
 behind it, the picture was so typically Southern, 
 that I fully looked to see a colored butler open the 
 door at my ring and I was not disappointed. 
 
 As he stood there bowing, an animated little 
 bundle of outstanding flounces and petticoats rushed 
 underneath his arm and flung herself into mine. I 
 don't know how little Janet recognized me, but she 
 did, and she, at least, was living up to Bert's 
 prophecy on behalf of the family. Her mother, 
 Mrs. Gary, was close behind her, and although she 
 did not follow suit exactly, the warmth of her greet 
 ing instantly made me feel that I was to find in her 
 a true and everlasting friend, and so it was to prove. 
 
 We had not conversed over a minute before we 
 discovered that we really were old acquaintances, 
 for I had met and danced with her at Harvard, both 
 at the Junior Prom and on Class Day, and admitted 
 to having fallen violently in love with her for nearly 
 twenty-four hours on each occasion. And indeed 
 she was a most lovable soul, rather petite and plump, 
 and overflowing with good spirits. 
 
 While we were still in animated conversation re 
 calling old times, Bert put in his appearance, and 
 after demonstrating some surprise over the rapidity 
 with which our acquaintance had ripened into in-
 
 122 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 timacy, and threatening to telegraph at once for his 
 brother-in-law, led me away to a summer-house to 
 meet his mother and father. My walk thither was 
 somewhat impeded because of the fact that little 
 Janet insisted upon clinging to one of my legs. 
 
 As I had heard, now I found Mr. and Mrs. Al- 
 drich to be a quiet, retiring and happy couple of more 
 than middle age, who, indeed, seemed to resemble 
 a country clergyman and his spouse more than the 
 ordinary conception of master and mistress of a 
 fortune counted in eight figures to the left of the 
 decimal point. 
 
 The former was very tall, angular and wore the 
 mutton chop whiskers of a period thirty years previ 
 ous with a complacence unshaken by Bert's frequent 
 irreverent remark that, " a hare lip is a misfortune, 
 a club foot a deformity, but side whiskers are a 
 man's own fault." The latter was very short, very 
 plump, very rosy and had a quick lively birdlike way 
 of moving and talking which I found extremely fas 
 cinating. Both were the very soul of hospitality, 
 and their welcome, too, was so hearty and unaffected 
 that it brought a mist before my eyes and I straight 
 way felt that Bert's promise that I would be received 
 into the family circle as a bona fide member thereof, 
 was no idle words. 
 
 Inside of half an hour, spent in general talk, I 
 felt as though I ought to be calling them Aunt Mary
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 123 
 
 and Uncle something I had not heard his given 
 name, for his better half always addressed him as 
 " Mr. Aldrich," which made me feel more like a 
 relation than ever, for I had never heard my ma 
 ternal grandmother call her husband anything but 
 " Mr. Alden." 
 
 I was really sorry when Bert appeared again to 
 carry me off to his room, there to change into tennis 
 regalia, and on the way he jollied me well over the 
 impression that I had created. 
 
 As soon as we were closeted together, however, 
 he dropped his bantering tone and said very seri 
 ously, " John, old man, I've got to tell you something 
 which I know you will regard as strictly con 
 fidential." 
 
 I surmised, in a general way, what was in the 
 wind, and, of course, assented. 
 
 " We all want you to feel and make yourself very 
 much at home in this house while you are in New 
 port, and, in fact, if you feel like deserting Ham 
 mond and making your headquarters here I should 
 be delighted. Even if it were not for our good 
 friendship at Harvard, this morning's event would be 
 aplenty to give you the ' open sesame ' here, you may 
 be sure." 
 
 I thanked him, but said I hardly thought I would 
 take advantage of the second half of his invitation, 
 adding, however, that I most certainly would use,
 
 124 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 and perhaps abuse, the privilege granted in the first 
 part thereof. 
 
 " Do that," he added, " but unless you learn with 
 out delay about the decidedly unusual and peculiar 
 condition which obtains in our household at present 
 and govern yourself accordingly, your presence 
 might cause much embarrassment to one of our 
 guests. You might innocently but inadvertently let 
 slip a chance remark which would upset the whole 
 kettle of fish, so it seems to be up to me to tip you 
 off to existing conditions. 
 
 " I should not take the trouble to do this, but in 
 stead would take a chance that you wouldn't think 
 anything peculiar in the fact that there is not one, 
 but two Miss Lees staying with us, if it were not 
 that I've heard that you already know all about the 
 recent marriage of one of them to your Boston 
 Willard, and had by a peculiar and perhaps unfor 
 tunate coincidence recognized ' sister ' this morning 
 from her likeness to a newspaper picture of the 
 bride." 
 
 When he spoke of " two Miss Lees " I could 
 scarcely suppress a start, for this seemed to in 
 dicate a still further complication. 
 
 I had, of course, expected him to say that Mrs. 
 Willard was the other guest to whom he had been 
 referring. But he misconstrued my look of evident 
 surprise, and continued, " I don't wonder that you
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 125 
 
 seem astonished. As a matter of fact, the situation 
 is a decidedly peculiar and mixed up one, and our 
 staid old-fashione^l family is, as a consequence, just 
 now involved in about as queer a family tangle as 
 you could imagine. 
 
 " But it is up to you to get any surprise that you 
 may experience over the Arabian Night's tale I'm 
 going to tell you, out of your system while you're up 
 here with me. You know that my purpose in telling 
 it is so that hereafter you won't indicate by word 
 or look, either that you're acquainted with the cir 
 cumstances or find anything out of the way in the 
 situation. That's the way we're all acting by mu 
 tual assent, in order to save Mrs. Willard from fur 
 ther pain which would come if we constantly re 
 minded her of her trouble. Instead we're trying 
 to take hef mind off it all the time. Get the 
 idea?" 
 
 Here was a pretty state of affairs from my stand 
 point, if I were to be pledged never to speak to Mrs. 
 Willard about her husband, and my mind was in a 
 turmoil. I managed to say, " Yes, I think so, 
 but" 
 
 " Wait 'til you hear the tale I am about to un 
 fold," broke in Bert. " It is in brief, this. Mrs. 
 Willard was married a few weeks ago, as you know, 
 but as you don't know, she left her husband on the 
 afternoon of their wedding day, and now she is
 
 126 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 planning to divorce him. I haven't been told her 
 reasons in detail, but I do know that they absolutely 
 justify her in her own mind, and that's enough 
 for me. 
 
 " At first she was so hurt and broken up over her 
 trouble and disgrace, that she was nearly insane and 
 her one and only thought was to run away and hide 
 somewhere. She couldn't face the thought of any 
 publicity just then, and after she had conferred with 
 her attorneys about a divorce she wrote them to 
 hold their horses for a while. Moreover, Willard 
 has, either from a sense of decency, or fear of a 
 scandal, himself maintained a complete secrecy 
 about the whole affair and his own presence in 
 America, you see the two of them are supposed to 
 be off for a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean. 
 It's a darned funny thing that in this age of perni 
 cious newspaper activity, especially about the family 
 affairs of people who happen to be at all in the lime 
 light, that this hasn't leaked out somewhere, but it 
 hasn't, and, so far, not a word has appeared in print 
 about it. 
 
 " Willard hasn't been sulking in his tent, 'though, 
 and has tried a dozen ways of getting his wife to 
 change her mind and return to the family fireside, 
 but nothing doing. Her first red-hot anger has 
 cooled off, but her present calm, and what almost 
 seems like contented, determination never to see the
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 127 
 
 villain again, makes any reconciliation very im 
 probable. 
 
 "Both she and her sister are staying here for 
 a while claiming sanctuary from mother, who 
 was a Virginian, too, and their mother's most in 
 timate girl friend. Their coming to our house 
 was the result of another peculiar trick of fortune, 
 too. 
 
 " Mrs. Willard's first idea on leaving her husband 
 was, of course, to get to her sister. She had come 
 here to Newport, directly after the marriage, with 
 the Gilmans, at whose New York place the wed 
 ding took place, and when she Mrs. Willard I 
 mean arrived that night, almost a wreck, she 
 didn't have much trouble in persuading them to har 
 bor her until she was in a condition to start for 
 home. They had planned to go in a couple of days, 
 but the very morning set for their departure fate 
 butted in again and Marion came down with an 
 accute attack of appendicitis." 
 
 " Great Scott," I interrupted, " that was sort of 
 piling Pelion on Ossis, wasn't it? " 
 
 " It was. And, furthermore, just about that time 
 Willard managed to locate his truant bride somehow 
 or other sleuths I suppose and, in her nervous 
 condition, she couldn't bring herself to face him or 
 even thresh the matter out with his attorneys. She 
 felt that she simply had to run away and hide again,
 
 128 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 and what more natural than that they should come to 
 us until they were able to travel, or she got her nerve 
 enough to have it out with her husband. Be 
 tween you and me, I think that she has now about 
 decided to have the scrap out and done with before 
 going back to Virginia. 
 
 " Now, you know the whole story or at least 
 as much of it as I do and just why we happen to 
 be harboring a maiden in distress, or a runaway 
 bride, according to how you look at it. Moreover, 
 partly to help conceal her identity from prying eyes 
 or ears in case Willard's agents are still on the 
 job, you know partly to make her feel more natu 
 ral and comfortable, we all at her own suggestion 
 and request call her Miss Lee, and treat her as we 
 always have. 
 
 " The girls have always been almost like members 
 of this family. We've known each other ever since 
 we were babies, and I've been stuck on them both, off 
 and on, since I was old enough to have a cub love, 
 but, alas ! they were not for me. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, I think it's true that no 
 one except our family, the Gilmans and now you, 
 even guess that we are harboring Mrs. Willard, for 
 the servants have only heard us call and speak of 
 her as * Miss Lee/ although the last few days she has 
 been going out somewhat, and apparently is coming 
 not to care whether her refuge is discovered or not.
 
 i SCALE A CITADEL; 120 
 
 But say, old man, did you ever hear a queerer yarn 
 even in romantic fiction?" 
 
 During this somewhat lengthy recital I had re 
 frained from interrupting except for my one in 
 terpolation, but had been smoking and thinking 
 furiously. 
 
 Here was I on the horns of a dilemma indeed. 
 If, as policy dictated, I continued to conceal my con 
 nection with the matter, I would be rankly abusing 
 Bert's confidence and friendship. On the other 
 hand, if I disclosed my true purpose in Newport, he, 
 as her ardent supporter, would almost certainly feel 
 it up to him to warn Mrs. Willard of my presence 
 and real character upon learning which she would 
 undoubtedly leave their home at once or at least 
 put me on my honor not to take any advantage of 
 the hospitality which had been so freely extended to 
 me by his family. Any one of these alternatives 
 .would make my mission fail ipso facto. 
 
 So completely was I immersed in this mental 
 tangle and seeking vainly for the way out, that when 
 Bert finished his story and asked his question, I 
 utterly forgot to reply but, instead, walked to the 
 window and stood there whistling softly. 
 
 My peculiar behavior dumbfounded him, and at 
 last he burst out with some impatience, " Well, for 
 Heaven's sake, John, what's the matter with you, 
 anyway? Aren't you ever going to speak? Here
 
 180 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 I've been spending my time, brain and breath in 
 telling you what is supposed to be a most remark 
 able tale, and you walk off whistling as uncon 
 cernedly as though I'd remarked that it was a lovely 
 day. You are a queer one." 
 
 Suddenly making up my mind, I wheeled about, 
 and replied, " I beg your pardon, old fellow, but 
 your story completely floored me, under the circum 
 stances." 
 
 " What circumstances ? " he interrupted, but I 
 continued, " It is a peculiar story and situation, of 
 course, but I'm going to tell you a tale, to my mind 
 one step more remarkable, and, if you will, I want 
 you to hear me through without comment. I won't 
 attempt to pledge you to secrecy or even to regard it 
 as a confidence that would hardly be fair under 
 present conditions but, when I get through, I 
 want you to do some tall thinking and tell me frankly 
 just where I am to stand and what the next act in 
 this problem play is to be, for it's apparently up to 
 you." 
 
 " To me? I don't follow you at all, John." 
 
 " I don't wonder, but, as a matter of fact, your 
 story, except for some minor details, was no news 
 to me," and thereupon I proceeded to begin at the 
 beginning and tell him fully all I had heard about 
 this peculiar case, and my own connection with it, 
 nothing extenuating. I did, to be sure, set out as
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 131 
 
 forcefully as I possibly could Mr. Willard's version 
 of the starting point for the whole unhappy affair, 
 and tried to make it clear that in undertaking my 
 mission I had believed, and still did believe abso 
 lutely, in his honor and veracity. Incidentally, too, 
 I painted in glowing colors the deserted husband's 
 great distress and grief, and his indubitable love and 
 repentance. 
 
 When I had concluded, it was Bert's turn to 
 whistle, and his astonishment over my disclosures 
 and the peculiar twists of fate which had brought 
 the circles of my life and Mrs. Willard's tangent at 
 his home, was adequately expressed by the simple 
 sentence, " Well, I'll be damned! " 
 
 After a moment's silence he said, " Your problem 
 is altogether too big for my feeble intellect to hope 
 to solve, John. I admit it, and you've gone and put 
 me in a mighty embarrassing position as well. I'm 
 between the devil and the deep sea, and you may 
 guess which is which. I owe a duty to Mrs. Wil- 
 lard as a refugee with whom I sympathize heartily, 
 but now having had your confidence so unreservedly, 
 I owe a similar one to you. Frankly, I don't know 
 where I stand. 
 
 " I'll admit that your errand is in itself harmless 
 enough, and, looked at from your point of view, 
 beneficent. Just the same, I'm not keen about the 
 methods you are using in accomplishing your result,
 
 132 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 although I understand well enough that they seem 
 to be the only ones left. You understand that I 
 wouldn't speak of this if you hadn't done so your 
 self." 
 
 He paused, deep in perplexed thought, hands in his 
 pockets and long legs stretched out. There was 
 nothing I could say further to help him. Finally he 
 rose with an energy which bespoke a decision and 
 said, " I'll tell you what I purpose to do, if I have 
 your permission. I'm going to tell your whole story 
 to Mother and Ethel. Honestly, I want to shirk 
 the responsibility of making a decision unaided in a 
 matter upon which so much depends, and between 
 you and me and the lamp post, my guess is that they 
 will say, ' Go ahead.' Although they both love her 
 dearly, neither has sworn unchanging allegiance to 
 her cause as I have, for both mother and sister still 
 cling to the old-fashioned ideas about divorce, and 
 a woman's duty to her lord and master, and both 
 have tried, and tried vainly, time and again, to get 
 her to change her attitude. 
 
 " But believe me, if I were not sure that in 
 whatever you may do you will be nothing but a 
 gentleman and play the game on the level, I 
 wouldn't give you even this chance, John. Do you 
 agree?" 
 
 "Of course I do I don't mean to your remarks 
 about the ' gentleman ' for I'm beginning to have
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 133 
 
 serious doubts on that point lately but to your 
 proposal," I answered. 
 
 " As a matter of fact when I met Miss Lee 
 this morning under such unusual circumstances, it 
 seemed to me that fate was verily opening the way to 
 the speedy accomplishment of my mission. Such 
 an introduction, I thought, would certainly make it 
 easy for me to gain the friendship of Mrs. Willard 
 or Miss Lee as you want me to call her and 
 even after I knew to all intents and purposes, that 
 it was at your house she was staying, it didn't occur 
 to me to change my plan of campaign in the slight 
 est, or take you into my confidence. You see, I am 
 laying all my cards on the table. 
 
 " I may even add that the enquiry after little Janet 
 was in the main merely an excuse to get in here and 
 meet Mrs. Willard so, you see, there's not much 
 of the saint about me after all. Of course, your 
 confidences made necessary a change in my plans. 
 It goes without saying, Bert, that I hope and pray 
 that your guess as to what your mother's and sister's 
 attitude toward my mission is likely to be, is an ac 
 curate one." 
 
 It seemed to me that during this confession Bert 
 was regarding me with a peculiar expression on his 
 countenance. When I had finished he started to 
 speak, hesitated, then said, " Well, if my assumption 
 is right, don't forget that from now on my position
 
 184 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 is one of strict neutrality. Your confidences have 
 tied my hands, too. I can't remain an active ally of 
 Mrs. Willard now, but neither can I wish you luck, 
 knowing the way she feels and sympathizing with 
 her." 
 
 " That's understood. All I want is a fair field 
 and no favor," I replied heartily. 
 
 "If the mater says the word, you'll get it. But 
 there's another thing I want to throw out a friendly 
 warning about. Cave fcminam! You'll be play 
 ing with fire, don't forget that. Both the girls are 
 beautiful, fascinating and Southerners. Don't let 
 any siren voices lure you from the straight and 
 narrow." 
 
 I attempted to make a light answer, but it didn't 
 ring true, and he added, "Of course, there is no need 
 of warning you against the converse. You're not 
 the kind of a chap to trifle with a girl's affections 
 for the purpose of making capital out of the trust 
 you win. To be concrete, I know that you would 
 not make love to Miss to gain a hold on Mrs. 
 There's my golden opportunity this minute," and, 
 without waiting for me to answer, he indicated the 
 summer house where Ethel was just joining her 
 mother, and started for the door, calling back over 
 his shoulder, " You stay here and finish your elab 
 orate toilet while I go and find out what the powers- 
 that-be are to decree,"
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 135 
 
 Out of the turmoil that had been left in my mind 
 by his remarks and hasty departure, one sentence 
 stood out boldly and insistently, " You're playing 
 with fire." 
 
 This was the second warning of that same nature 
 in one day. First Mr. Hammond, now Bert, had 
 felt it incumbent upon themselves to warn me 
 against the possibility of falling in love with Miss 
 Lee. The advice was sound, no doubt, but why 
 everybody should think that I needed it particularly 
 was beyond my comprehension. 
 
 The more I puzzled over it the more wrought-up 
 I became, and by the time Bert returned from his 
 interview I had worked myself into serious mental 
 agitation. 
 
 He closed the door and looked at me quizzically. 
 The fate of my enterprise veritably hung in the 
 balance. Had the Goddess of Fortune been smiling 
 or frowning upon my task ? 
 
 I was not left long in doubt, for Bert said, " You 
 win, as I knew you would. Woifc\)ntike, both 
 mother and Ethel went into raptures ovl>your ro 
 mantic mission and fell for it without a moment's 
 hesitation, just as I expected. Mother was for do 
 ing everything possible to bring your enterprise to a 
 climax in a hurry, but Ethel had sense enough to 
 realize that if they were too officious in their aiding 
 and abetting, they might gum up the whole thing.
 
 136 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 But you can count on their moral support, for they 
 are both crazy for a happy reunion, tears, forgive 
 nesses, another honeymoon and all that sort of 
 stuff." 
 
 ' That's more luck than I deserve," I broke in. 
 " It is. You can't get up an argument on that 
 point," he responded frankly. " The plan they've 
 cooked up to salve their own consciences for this 
 partial breach of trust towards their refugee is 
 something like this. Since you knew the whole 
 story before coming here, they think that their con 
 sciences are clear, and they're guilty at the most only 
 of a white sin of omission in not forthwith disclos 
 ing your real identity to Mrs. Willard. They are, 
 however, going to tell her that since you are likely 
 to be hanging around here for some time like one 
 of the family, they have thought it wise to tell 
 you something of the true situation and that 
 you have promised to play the same game we 
 are playing, overlook the fact that she is a curiosity, 
 and forget that things aren't always what they 
 seem." 
 
 I drew a deep breath of relief and thankfulness, 
 immediately regarding myself once more as the 
 chosen instrument of fate for the accomplishment 
 of the task in undertaking. Verily, whom the Gods 
 destroy they first make mad! 
 
 " Get a move on you, John," said my companion,
 
 I SCALE A CITADEL 
 
 137 
 
 evidently glad to get the whole complicated matter 
 off his mind. " It's after five now, and if you don't 
 hurry I won't have time to beat you even one set be 
 fore dinner."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IN WHICH THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 
 
 " MARGARET, permit me to present, ' our hero,' 
 John Alden Shaw, a class-mate of mine at Harvard. 
 John, Miss Lee." 
 
 Commonplace words enough, but to me full of 
 deep significance and great possibilities. While my 
 lips were forming the stereotyped phrase, " I am in 
 deed pleased to have this honor, Miss Lee," my 
 mind was exulting, " My quest is ended, I have 
 found her, Mrs. Willard is before me." 
 
 Mrs. Willard, as I still named her in my mind, 
 although the others chose to speak of her as Miss 
 Lee, extended her hand in friendly greeting, and 
 murmured some words which I understood in a gen 
 eral way to be praise for my morning's exploit and 
 pleasure upon meeting the rescuer, 'though I scarcely 
 heard them, so intently were my thoughts bent upon 
 this meeting fraught with such deep meaning for us 
 both. 
 
 Bert and I had played our match, and just de 
 scended after dressing for dinner. To my inor 
 dinate joy my strokes had been going much better, 
 
 138
 
 THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 130 
 
 and I had fairly swamped my host on the court and 
 I had gloated so over my victory that his disgust was 
 ludicrous and he had refused to continue, although 
 I was still eager for more. 
 
 During the afternoon neither of the sisters had 
 been in evidence, to my keen disappointment, for, 
 manlike, I would have enjoyed a witness to my 
 prowess, but Ethel reported that Margaret was 
 resting and her sister keeping to her room for the 
 purpose of writing letters. 
 
 We had found the former seated in a reclining 
 chair upon one of the broad verandas within the 
 checkered shadows cast by a thick tracery of vines 
 which interposed between her and the sunset glow, 
 for the sun was just disappearing, making its tri 
 umphal departure in a magnificent flood of irides 
 cent glory, the whole western sky being brilliantly 
 aflame with color. Such a scene depicted by the 
 brush of a mere mortal artist would have been char 
 acterized as absurd, impossible. The shimmering 
 rose which predominated in the bold color scheme 
 an intermingling of that tint with purple, pale 
 green, gold and streaks of angry red cast its warm 
 glow over heaven and earth alike, bathing the fields 
 and trees in its refulgence and lending a lovely flush 
 to the invalid's cheeks, in themselves as white as 
 pure alabaster. 
 
 Her wonderful hair, coiled on top of her shapely
 
 140 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 head like a crown, was the counterpart of Marion's, 
 and her eyes the same indescribable brown and gold. 
 At this moment they looked in contrast to her pale 
 face, even more lustrous and larger than her sis 
 ter's, and her mouth, 'though similar in shape, I 
 thought more serious in its expression and lacking 
 in that irresistible tendency to curve momentarily 
 into the suggestion of a smile, which I in a short 
 space of time, had learned to recognize as a marked 
 characteristic of my champion at the mud hole. 
 
 Less impetuous and fun-loving, more serious and 
 mature than Marion, I thought, as I studied her ex 
 pression while we conversed, but aside from this and 
 the imprint left upon her lovely countenance by her 
 recent trouble and illness, as much like her as though 
 the two had been stamped by the self -same dye, and 
 certainly no older in appearance. 
 
 No wonder Willard had loved her madly. But 
 how could any man abuse ever so slightly such a 
 girl as this? It was inconceivable, or else he must 
 indeed have been utterly irresponsible through 
 drink. 
 
 Scarcely had I spoken a dozen words to Mrs. 
 Willard, as I could not but continue to think of her 
 still, when her sister appeared. 
 
 As I caught sight of her standing in the tall 
 Venetian window which served as a door for the 
 side veranda, in her turn suffused with the heavenly
 
 THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 141 
 
 light, my heart gave a mad leap, and straightway the 
 impression of the other's beauty was banished from 
 my mind. So the calm and lovely moon pales into 
 insignificance when the dazzling sun appears. 
 
 Marion was now clad in a modest evening gown 
 of filmy black without ornament or jewelry of any 
 nature, the only bit of color about her being fur 
 nished by her hair and eyes, and the healthy glow of 
 youth upon her cheeks. Her hair was again done 
 low at the back of her neck in the girlish fashion 
 which had proved so alluring to me before. 
 
 A flicker of a smile passed over her lips as she 
 extended her hand, saying, " Can this convention 
 ally clad creature be my Mr. Shaw ? " 
 
 " I do not wonder that you doubt it," I replied. 
 " When you last saw me I must have been a picture 
 no artist could paint." 
 
 " Certainly one no artist would want to paint," 
 broke in Bert. 
 
 " Whenever I hear the word HERO hereafter 
 for * sister ' here, still persisting in the absurd idea 
 that you qualified for that honor this morning my 
 mind will conjure up the vision of a water-soaked, 
 mud-beplastered individual with dank hair falling 
 over his eyes, and a most sheepish expression on his 
 slimy countenance," and he burst into a loud haw 
 haw over his own mental picture, the rest of us join 
 ing him, save one whose eyes flashed angrily and
 
 142 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 who said, " Bert Aldrich, you ought to be ashamed 
 of yourself making fun of Mr. Shaw like that." 
 
 " Ashamed ? " he replied, doubled with mirth. 
 " Oh, Lord, I should say I am but I'd rather be 
 ashamed than stop laughing. You see, the fact is, 
 that all this laughter is merely a mask to hide my 
 real feelings. In my wrought-up condition if I 
 didn't laugh I should certainly burst into tears and 
 fall on John's neck, and that might establish a 
 dangerous precedent, for Ethel would undoubtedly 
 follow suit, and you well, you know how hys 
 terically hero-worshipers are apt to act." 
 
 At this gibe Marion blushed a rosy red and 
 hastened to change the topic of conversation to the 
 apparently harmless subject of the sunset, but Bert 
 ever an awful tease would not let her alone 
 and hastened to add, " Yes, isn't it lovely, and its 
 reflection on your cheeks is most becoming too, * sis 
 ter.' " 
 
 " Bert, stop teasing her immediately. And you 
 know that she doesn't like to have you call her * sis 
 ter,' " said Ethel. 
 
 " Why not ? " he asked in a most surprised and in 
 nocent tone. " I'm sure that she has given me that 
 right by saying she'd be a sister to me times enough, 
 alas. Beware these Southern girls, John. Their 
 chief aim and occupation in life seems to be that 
 of enticing poor deluded male creatures into their
 
 nets, and then watching with fiendish glee while they 
 beat out their little lives in a vain effort to escape." 
 This he said in a jesting tone, but the look he gave 
 me carried no merriment. 
 
 I gave an embarrassed laugh and replied, " I ut 
 terly refuse to believe any such calumny on Miss 
 Lee." 
 
 " Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Your chief aim and 
 occupation in life just at present at least, seems to 
 be coming to the rescue of maidens in distress. 
 This morning you saved little Janie, and now me, 
 from the mire," responded the object of his slander 
 ous remark. 
 
 " Don't pay any attention to Bert's ravings, Mr. 
 Shaw," interpolated his sister Ethel. "If God chose 
 to make Southern girls especially attractive to men, 
 it's not their fault, and I'm sure Marion never gave 
 Bert any encouragement, yet the fact is perfectly 
 obvious that he is horribly jealous." 
 
 " Aha ! my great secret is discovered at last," he 
 returned with mock chagrin. " I admit the allega 
 tion, but, nevertheless, Marion, I feel it my duty to 
 warn you not to flatter him too much. If you keep 
 on as you have begun, John will become as * stuck 
 up,' metaphorically speaking, as he was actually, 
 after the first mentioned rescue." 
 
 " Albert Aldrich, what on earth is the matter with 
 you to-day?" again broke in Ethel. "I declare I
 
 144 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 never heard you so downright nasty before; you're 
 as catty as a woman." 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! " he replied, but I, who knew as 
 the others did not the hidden meaning which lay be 
 hind his remarks, agreed with Ethel, for Bert was 
 ordinarily the mildest and most easy-going in 
 dividual imaginable. 
 
 " One good turn deserves another," said Marion 
 accepting his challenge, " and I don't intend to be 
 influenced by any such slanderous statement. To 
 prove that I don't place any credit in a word he has 
 said, Mr. Shaw, I'm going to thrust upon you the 
 honor of an invitation to ride with me some morn 
 ing, which means that if you care to accept I will 
 share with you my greatest pleasure, and it isn't 
 everybody I would ask to accompany me." 
 
 " Huh, I don't see that that's such an honor. 
 You've asked me," said Bert. " Besides, John, it 
 means getting up at the ungodly hour of six A. M." 
 
 " I accept with the anticipation of much pleas 
 ure that is, if I can get hold of a kind, gentle 
 horse with a speed limit of ten miles an hour." 
 
 " Oh, I can arrange that for you, you can ride 
 Bert's; he just fills the bill." 
 
 " What's the use of trying to engage in a battle 
 of repartee with a girl like that," Bert responded. 
 " However, the steed is yours, and I hope that he 
 throws you. Moreover, I wish you joy of your
 
 THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 145 
 
 bargain. Getting up at six o'clock isn't my idea of 
 a hilarious time." 
 
 " You can't frighten me a little bit. Fortunately, 
 I'm not one of your effete New Yorkers who would 
 have to be introduced to a sunrise." 
 
 " Bet I have seen more sunrises than you, you 
 New England preacher, for all your national motto 
 of ' early to bed and early to rise.' ' 
 
 " Maybe so, but I meant as the prologue to the 
 day, not the final act in an all night performance, 
 young man. Furthermore, I assent most heartily 
 to the proposition that the early morning hours 
 really are the best of the whole day, and I'd agree 
 with equal pleasure if Miss Lee had made it four- 
 thirty. They say the sunrise from the cliffs is 
 wonderful." 
 
 " Hopeless," groaned Bert. 
 
 " Splendid ! " Marion cried enthusiastically. 
 " Here is a man after my own heart. I've been 
 simply crazy to do that very thing for days, but I 
 didn't dare suggest going without an escort, and 
 Bert would rather take a good licking than get up 
 before eight. Are you really in earnest, Mr. 
 Shaw?" 
 
 " Never more so." 
 
 " Good, we'll do it then. To-morrow, if it's 
 pleasant? " 
 
 I assented with alacrity, from a mixture of mo-
 
 146 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 tives. Aside from the pleasure inherent in such an 
 adventure in company with a beautiful and fascinat 
 ing girl was the fact that such a ride would give me 
 a wonderful opportunity for further cementing our 
 growing friendship and thus indirectly help me 
 toward my goal a similar footing of intimacy 
 with her sister, Mrs. Willard. 
 
 Bert glared at me with frank disapproval, and 
 Miss Margaret, as I was beginning like the others 
 to think of the sister, interposed several conven 
 tional objections, over which my champion rode 
 rough shod and laughing. 
 
 And so it was arranged, and it had come about 
 that despite Bert's over-zealous efforts to save me 
 from danger, real or imaginary, my chance acquaint 
 ance with Miss Lee was ripening into intimacy with 
 the speed of an express train. 
 
 Further conversation was here forestalled by the 
 arrival of the old colored butler to announce dinner, 
 and Ethel Aldrich assigned me as escort and dinner 
 companion to Miss Margaret. 
 
 The meal which ensued was as different from the 
 dinner I had attended the evening previous, as day 
 is from night. Marked simplicity and an atmos 
 phere of homelike happiness was its distinguishing 
 feature. Cocktails and highballs there were none, 
 the only drink being a little mild and fragrant 
 sherry. Instead of supercilious English butlers,
 
 THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 147 
 
 there were an aged colored man and a trim maid of 
 the same race, who served the viands with an air of 
 having a personal interest in supplying our every 
 want, the former frequently even with terms of 
 endearment for the ladies urging us to try just a 
 little more of this or that. 
 
 The table was large, which made difficult any 
 discussion or the bandying of words and ideas back 
 and forth, and the little general conversation was 
 quiet and on a high plane. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich, 
 both of whom were getting a little hard of hearing, 
 sat side by side, Bert was placed between his real 
 and his adopted sister and I had Miss Margaret 
 practically to myself. Although now fast con 
 valescing, she was still regarded as an invalid, and 
 treated by all the family with a loving solicitude 
 which indicated not only sympathy but a deep affec 
 tion as well, and before I had talked with her ten 
 minutes I knew the reason for their attitude. 
 
 During that meal there began to unfold before my 
 mental vision one of the most lovely and lovable 
 natures it has ever been my privilege to know, and 
 each new day was to disclose new virtues to me. 
 
 Her character was obviously firm enough. I 
 knew that this must be the case to have enabled her 
 to take the step she had taken; she was high-spir 
 ited too though not as impetuous as her sister 
 but her soul was so sweet and pure that her very
 
 148 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 presence shed an influence of calm happiness around 
 her. Indeed the two sisters, so much alike as to 
 appearance, were wonderfully similar in nature as 
 well, although the characteristics of each were 
 more marked in different directions. 
 
 Marion was the more vivacious and fascinating, 
 Margaret the quieter and more inspiring of con 
 fidences, and, unconsciously, I found myself telling 
 her my whole life history down to the time I be 
 came associated with Thomas, Richard and Henry, 
 that is and opening my heart as to many of my 
 aims and ideals, as a man sometimes does to his 
 mother or a much older friend and sometimes, 
 though more rarely, to a sister. 
 
 So completely did I fall under the spell of her 
 friendly charm that when there suddenly came to 
 my mind the unbidden thought of how rapidly I was 
 attaining to the plane of intimate friendship which 
 I had planned in cold blood to achieve, I found it 
 most distasteful. Margaret Lee was an object to be 
 desired as a comrade for herself, not from any 
 materialistic reasons, such as those which actuated 
 my mission. 
 
 And yet I knew that my growing feeling for her 
 was one of pure friendship only. My heart was 
 warmed by her presence, but not thrilled, whereas 
 whenever I glanced across the table and caught 
 Marion's expressive eyes, now alluring, now flash-
 
 THE SIEGE IS COMMENCED 149 
 
 ing, now filled sparkling with merriment, it started 
 thumping anew without rime or reason. 
 
 Nor was I the only giver of confidences during 
 dinner. My companion must have found some an 
 swering chord in my make-up, for she spoke simply 
 but freely of her Virginia home, her family and re 
 cent bereavements, but as I had avoided mention of 
 my particular mission, so she refrained from once 
 speaking Roland Willard's name. 
 
 I had steered our conversation by some rather 
 adroit questions using the name of my Peters 
 burg correspondent as a rudder to their home 
 plantation and that neighborhood, and was soon in 
 possession of several new facts about that territory 
 and the operations of the lumber company which 
 had been trying so desperately to purchase part of 
 their possessions, and took the opportunity of slip 
 ping in a disguised warning against that corporation 
 and the suggestion that they tell the whole matter to 
 their family lawyer and thereafter act only upon his 
 advice. 
 
 Altogether the meal was to me a most delightful 
 one, and when the signal to rise and repair to the 
 drawing-room for coffee was given, I breathed a 
 sigh of regret.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 IN WHICH I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 
 
 A FLOOD of golden moonlight half illuminated the 
 room, casting a spell of enchantment over the 
 familiar objects, and as we entered, Ethel cried, 
 " Oh, let's sit without the lights for a while and have 
 Marion play. It would be a sacrilege to banish this 
 fairy illumination with modern electricity." 
 
 I thought and said so, too, and Marion straight 
 way went to the piano without needing to be urged 
 as do so many artists; a fact which takes half the 
 enjoyment away from their playing. 
 
 She sat for a moment with her hands resting 
 quietly on the keys and her gaze out of the win 
 dow, and then began to draw from the very heart of 
 the instrument that immortal, soulful melody, 
 Beethoven's " Moonlight Sonata." 
 
 The pale radiance from the low hanging orb fell 
 full upon her and as I stood motionless by the piano 
 forte, scarcely feeling myself breathe, my eyes fixed 
 immovably upon her lovely face, I knew of a sudden 
 and with a deep sense of awe, that there was no 
 other mate in the wide world for me, 
 
 150
 
 So intent was my gaze, which must have come 
 more from my soul than from my eyes, that when 
 she finished, she turned slowly toward me as though 
 her will were drawn to mine as a needle to a mag 
 netic pole, and without lowering her own eyes she 
 looked up into mine for a brief moment which, 
 nevertheless, seemed to hold all the meaning of eter 
 nity for me. 
 
 Then Bert moved restlessly. Her eyes dropped, 
 and a warm flush overspread her face and neck, a 
 flush which even the cold moonlight could not dis 
 guise. 
 
 I do not know whether any of the others in the 
 room felt that strange telepathic message, but I 
 suspect that Bert did, for he broke the spell almost 
 immediately by jumping up quickly, and switched 
 on the lights, saying with forced lightness, " It's 
 darned lucky for Paderewski that he didn't hear 
 you then, ' sister ' ; he would have been green with 
 jealousy. 'Twould be altogether too bad if the 
 heart of that great artist, who has tried so hard 
 to cling to the top of the ladder these many years, 
 were broken by the hopeless despair of ever equal 
 ing your inspired touch. And, speaking of ' touch,' 
 John, my own heart was pitifully touched at wit 
 nessing your expression of pained bewilderment 
 over the intricacies of that composition. 
 
 " You must know that John's musical education,"
 
 152 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 he said, turning to the others, " came to an abrupt 
 stop when it was in a ' Pinafore.' This is more 
 suitable to his appreciation. Move over, ' sister,' ' 
 and, sliding into her place on the bench, he began 
 to rattle off the song from that ever favorite Gil 
 bert and Sullivan opera, which runs, " He loves, 
 and loves, alas, above his station," putting so much 
 stress upon the repeat, " Ah, yes, the lass is much 
 above his station," that the implication seemed to me 
 pointed almost to an insult. 
 
 I managed to join in the laugh which followed, 
 but at the same time felt myself grow hot and cold 
 by turns, and I received the impression that some 
 of the rest laughed without the convincing ring. 
 Furthermore, a covert glance around showed me 
 that Ethel's look was reproachful, Margaret'e trou 
 bled, and Marion's eyes were flashing ominous!}'. 
 
 What mad impulse drove me to pick up the gaunt 
 let I do not know, for I had always been extremely 
 reticent about displaying my abilities as a musi 
 cian before strangers, but the plain fact remains 
 that I answered curtly, " Bert underestimates my 
 musical appreciation, Miss Lee. I understood! 
 Indeed, my intimates have frequently told me that 
 my taste in music far outstrips my poor ability to 
 follow, and with all due respect to Messrs. Gilbert 
 and Sullivan, their light melodies do not satisfy my 
 soul to-night. Some such composition as this
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 153 
 
 has a stronger appeal to me," and, without waiting 
 for even the suggestion of an invitation, I strode to 
 the pianoforte, and, displacing Bert, began Chad- 
 wick's masterly arrangement of the " Bedouin Love 
 Song," with a fiery intensity which surprised even 
 myself. 
 
 I had been told more than once half in jest, that 
 I had missed my vocation and that I possessed a 
 voice which might have marked me for a singer 
 of more than ordinary ability had I gone into music 
 seriously, but never, before nor since, have I sung 
 as I sang then, with a warmth of tone and feeling 
 which did not seem to be my own. For the mo 
 ment I must have been touched with a divine in 
 spiration, and the words, " I love thee, I love but 
 thee, with a love that shall not die," rang out with a 
 passion which shook my very soul. 
 
 When I ended no one spoke for a moment, and 
 the air was charged as with an electric current. 
 
 Then Marion's low voice broke the silence. 
 " Thank you." Her quiet, well-controlled tone and 
 frank look removed this perhaps ambiguous phrase 
 to the commonplace. 
 
 Instantly came the mental reaction, and I found 
 myself thinking, " What an absurd young fool you 
 are, John Shaw, thus to wear your heart upon 
 your sleeve for daws to peck at, or to imagine for 
 an instant that even if 'Miss Lee should read the
 
 154 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 hidden message in my song, such a melodramatic 
 exhibition could appeal to her." It was the height 
 of mad presumption. I had known her, even as a 
 mere acquaintance, only a few short hours. I felt 
 myself growing hot again, this time with embar 
 rassment. 
 
 Bert came to my rescue while at the same time 
 continuing his ragging of me, by saying, " Won 
 derful. You sing with a pathos which can only 
 come as the result of long practice. How many 
 girls have you sung that to with such feeling, 
 since that little Spanish Sefiorita at Cambridge, 
 John?" 
 
 His gibe carried my effort from the sublime to 
 the ridiculous, and I did not know whether to feel 
 angry or relieved, but before I could deny the ac 
 cusation, as I was minded to, the sound of a motor 
 car on the driveway outside interrupted, and the 
 possible arrival of some one else, caused Margaret 
 to rise hurriedly and say, " If all of you will ex 
 cuse me, I think I will retire. Somehow I don't yet 
 feel strong enough to meet strangers." But from 
 her somewhat nervous manner I imagined an en 
 tirely different reason for her disinclination to meet 
 people. 
 
 She came to me with outstretched hand as I 
 rose, and thanked me most sincerely for our pleas 
 ant conversation during dinner and for my song,
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 155 
 
 and then with a hurried " good-night," departed, 
 in company with her sister. 
 
 They left the room with their arms about one 
 another's waists, and it seemed to me that I had 
 never seen so lovely a picture of young womanhood 
 and sisterly affection. 
 
 As I turned about, after escorting them to the 
 doorway, I found myself face to face with Man 
 ners, who had just stepped into the room through 
 one of the open Venetian windows from the porch. 
 
 I stopped short in surprise and anger, but he 
 showed no embarrassment, making the easy-going 
 greeting, " Good evening, everybody," and then, as 
 though just catching sight of me, " Ah, good eve 
 ning, Mr. Shaw." 
 
 "Hello, Manners," said Bert. "Didn't know 
 that you were acquainted with Shaw." 
 
 " I have had that pleasure," was the suave an 
 swer. " Indeed he dined with me last night." 
 
 " So. I didn't know that you had joined the 
 four hundred, John." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," I replied to conceal my true feel 
 ing with a tone of levity, " last night I was initiated 
 into the mysteries of that famous company as the 
 four hundred and first member " 
 
 :< Which leaves you just outside the pale," inter 
 rupted Bert. This remark seemed to me to be 
 carrying his insinuations beyond the limit, and I
 
 156 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 saw Manners smile ever so slightly, but he changed 
 the conversation instantly by saying, 
 
 " I heard a bit of news to-day which reminded me 
 most forcibly that I haven't been overneighborly of 
 late. The news was that you had a guest staying 
 with you, that said guest was a young lady, and said 
 young lady most attractive." 
 
 " Knowing you fairly well, as I do," drawled 
 Bert, " the news of such a combination which hap 
 pens to be true in all respects is quite sufficient 
 reason for this sudden realization of your lapses. 
 To tell the truth, I've been rather surprised that your 
 smiling countenance hasn't been seen on the scene 
 long ere this. Always thought, you know, that you 
 were possessed of a seventh sense which led you in 
 stinctively and unerringly to the spot where hap 
 pened to be any fair damsel. Mr. Manners is our 
 very greatest little squire of dames, John," he added 
 for my enlightenment, " and the very faintest swish 
 of a woman's skirt brings him bounding to the spot 
 eager for conquest." 
 
 This characterization did not seem to please its 
 subject any too well, and I gathered that Bert held 
 some animosity toward his neighbor, or else was 
 thoroughly out of sorts to-night and correspond 
 ingly sharp in speech. 
 
 " It's no such thing," interrupted Ethel, as al 
 ways ready to fight on the side of the oppressed.
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 157 
 
 " Bert's jealous again, this time over Mr. Manners' 
 deserved popularity with our sex, and I may add 
 that if more of you were as considerate and atten 
 tive as he is, this dreary world would be a merrier 
 place for poor down-trodden females." 
 
 " Ouch," responded her brother. " Every time I 
 open my mouth I seem to put my foot in it. But 
 Manners knows that I'm joking, and I might as well 
 plead guilty to the accusation of being chronically 
 jealous of his successes in that line. When he en 
 ters the lists we other mere men have to be content 
 to be classed as * also rans.' ' 
 
 " Such fulsome flattery is wholly unmerited," ob 
 served Manners. " The fact that I'm still a mourn 
 ful bachelor at forty ought to be sufficient to prove 
 that I'm nothing like the success as a lady killer that 
 you would make me out to be." 
 
 " Not necessarily," said Ethel. " You may be 
 particularly careful " 
 
 " Or lucky," finished Bert. 
 
 " Well, anyway, I hope that you'll refrain from 
 giving me such a reputation to your present guest. 
 May I ask who she is ? " 
 
 " You may. She's an old friend of the family, a 
 Miss Lee from Virginia." 
 
 " Surely you don't mean the Miss Lee, sister of 
 the belle who was married to Roland Willard last 
 month ? "
 
 158 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Why ' surely ' ? Are you so surprised that we 
 should have such a celebrity as our guest ? I assure 
 you that such is the fact." 
 
 Manners started ever so slightly, glanced hastily 
 at me, but I assumed as innocent an expression as 
 possible, and I thought that he assumed that I had 
 either taken no notice of his remarks about the Lees 
 the previous evening, or had forgotten them. 
 
 " Not surprised, but highly delighted. From all 
 reports Miss Lee " 
 
 He stopped suddenly, for at this moment Marion 
 herself appeared in the door, and I saw a look which 
 I did not enjoy, pass over his face at the first sight 
 of her radiant loveliness. 
 
 Formal introductions were made, and almost im 
 mediately Ethel suggested an adjournment to the 
 cooler veranda, a plan which found a hearty sec 
 onder in me, for, as the company was now consti 
 tuted, I had no wish to hear Marion play again, as 
 she might have been persuaded to had we remained 
 indoors. 
 
 It would be hopeless to try to recount the gen 
 eral conversation and swift repartee which followed 
 for the next half hour, but before that period of 
 time was ended I had to admit to myself, begrudg- 
 ingly, that if this were a fair sample, Manners' suc 
 cesses with the fair sex were fairly earned. Never 
 had I listened to such a finished conversationalist,
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 159 
 
 and though I soothed my harrowed feelings with 
 the thought that his talk was wholly superficial, I 
 could not but acknowledge that it was highly enter 
 taining, and his wit as keen as rapier play. 
 
 Manners' conversation fairly sparkled and scin 
 tillated, and his fund of information, whether super 
 ficial or not, was truly amazing. He knew when to 
 listen intelligently as well, and quite naturally the 
 more his marked superiority to me in these social 
 graces was borne in upon my mind, the glummer 
 and glummer I correspondingly became, and the 
 more I withdrew into my tent and sulked. 
 
 Moreover, my perturbed state of mind was not 
 helped any as I saw that Marion was most favorably 
 impressed with the new guest, and was enjoying 
 his lively humor to the utmost, generally giving as 
 good as she got in the fine interplay of wits. 
 
 My disaffection became so patent that after a 
 while Bert leaned over and said in a whispered aside, 
 " What the deuce has come over you, John ? 
 You're about as festive as a clam, and as nervous 
 as a cat, which is certainly an astonishing amalga 
 mation of animal attributes, to use alliteration's art 
 ful aid." 
 
 " Let'us get away from here for a moment. 
 There's something I want to tell you," said I, acting 
 upon a sudden intuitive impulse to take him into 
 my confidence on the one matter which I had not
 
 160 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 previously mentioned. Excusing ourselves on the 
 ground that I must collect my tennis belongings, we 
 went up to Bert's room. 
 
 There I immediately disclosed to him all that I 
 had heard Manners tell about his interest in the Lee 
 woodlands, the remark Mr. Hammond had made in 
 regard to what might be expected of him if he met 
 Miss Lee in Newport, and what I had myself done 
 in the matter. 
 
 "Whew!" whistled Bert. "The plot thickens 
 for fair, and you've certainly got your nerve right 
 with you, but I can't think of any better plan than 
 you have acted on. If you succeed in beating Man 
 ners in this scheme I raise the flag, and if you need 
 any money to put it through and don't want to call 
 on Willard, why just say the word and I'll shake 
 a few coins out of the baby's bank for you my 
 self." 
 
 " Thanks, old man," I said, gripping his hand. 
 " I'm glad to have some one else whom I can confer 
 with, but what's worrying me principally just this 
 minute is the way that snake is insinuating himself 
 into her friendship. Talk about ' nerve.' He must 
 know that I heard his damaging admissions last 
 night, and yet look at him to-night." 
 
 " Oh, you can set your mind at rest on that point. 
 There is no need of worrying yet over the progress 
 that he seems to be making toward Miss Lee's
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 161 
 
 friendship. She is a mere chicken in years, but, 
 nevertheless, she's too old a bird in experience with 
 men to be caught by the kind of chaff he is using. 
 Besides, if it goes too far I can drop a hint " 
 
 " For the Lord's sake, don't do that ! " I broke in, 
 in some alarm. " Judging from what I've seen, or 
 heard, rather, this afternoon, your hints generally 
 result in just the opposite occurring from what you 
 intend." 
 
 " It has apparently proven so in your case," he 
 replied with some heat. " But, seriously, John 
 to change the subject for a moment I have been 
 and am dead in earnest in trying to prevent you 
 from letting your feelings become entangled here." 
 
 "Why?" I asked bluntly, somewhat piqued by 
 these continued warnings. 
 
 " Oh, hang it all, I can't tell you outright, but 
 you ought to be able to draw your own conclusions. 
 Now, don't get sore, old fellow, and if you've got 
 an idea that I have anything against you personally 
 please disabuse your mind of it forthwith. Only 
 under the present conditions and the way society is 
 constituted damn it, I don't know how to put it, 
 John, but I wish for your own sake that you would 
 go easy. I feel as though I'd been acting like a 
 cad this afternoon and to-night, but I know that 
 my advice is sound. Won't you follow it and ask 
 no questions ? "
 
 162 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " All right, Bert," I responded a bit penitently, 
 " I'll do my best to be good. But as to the other 
 matter, if worse comes to worse I'll take the chance 
 of getting in wrong myself by warning Miss Lee 
 against this fellow impostor. However, I wanted 
 you to know just why I dislike and fear your neigh 
 bor." 
 
 " I see. Go as far as you like in the dislike 
 line; we don't any of us love him too well in spite 
 of his position in society, and he really is a devil 
 with the women." 
 
 " So I should judge, and now that the atmos 
 phere is clear again, let us go down and face the 
 common foe." 
 
 When we reached the veranda, Manners was just 
 rising to take his departure, having the wisdom not 
 to overstay his welcome on the first call and to 
 leave while the impression he had made was 
 strongest. 
 
 "Jump in my car, Shaw," he said pleasantly; 
 " I go past your place." I wanted to stay a little 
 while after he had gone, but there seemed to be no 
 good reason for refusing, and I, therefore, accepted 
 his invitation with as good grace as possible and be 
 gan to make my own adieux. 
 
 As I held Miss Lee's hand a moment in saying 
 good night she said, " You won't forget our engage 
 ment for to-morrow morning, Mr. Shaw."
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 163 
 
 " I may forget to go to bed probably shall 
 but you may be sure that I won't forget that, Miss 
 Lee. From the desert I'll come to thee on Bert's 
 stallion, shod with fire, and the night wind shall hear 
 my cry, ' Come on down.' ' She laughed merrily 
 at my misquotation and answered, " You will find 
 me waiting for you. For a few hours then, good- 
 by." 
 
 I turned from her with the warm pressure of her 
 hand still thrilling me, to the uncertainty which the 
 coming ride with my enemy held. 
 
 His own farewell was the acme of good breeding, 
 and his request for me to precede him into the car, 
 as pleasant as a May morning. 
 
 We sailed away from the house with the easy 
 gliding motion and gentle purr which distinguishes 
 a perfect engine, but no sooner were we well away 
 from the Aldriches' than Manners rapidly increased 
 the speed and in a few seconds we were rushing 
 madly down the curving drive into the blackness of 
 the night. He took the corner at terrific speed, and 
 although the machine responded perfectly to his 
 master touch upon the wheel, it nevertheless pro 
 tested angrily at such abuse, swerving like an out 
 raged broncho. 
 
 My heart verily rose into my mouth, but by keep 
 ing my teeth tightly clinched, I managed to retain 
 it as part of my anatomy, and at the same time re-
 
 164 MAN PROPOSES' 
 
 strain an almost irrepressible impulse to cry out. 
 
 Suddenly it occurred to me that, for some reason 
 or other, Manners was endeavoring to shake my 
 nerve. With this thought I braced myself mentally, 
 and, outwardly at least, remained as cool and im 
 perturbable as he himself and he drove with the 
 skill and daring of a maniac. After a moment or 
 two he slowed the machine down a little and spoke, 
 it seemed to me, nervously. 
 
 " Shaw, you and I don't seem to get along very 
 well. I may as well frankly admit a feeling of 
 antipathy toward you, although I can't imagine why 
 I should care a hang one way or the other, where 
 you are concerned." 
 
 I remained discreetly silent, and he was forced to 
 continue to lead. " Last night I er perhaps 
 indiscreetly happened to mention a certain personal 
 business matter in your hearing." I still said noth 
 ing, and he went on, feeling his way, " I think that 
 you know to what I am referring." 
 
 " Yes," I answered briefly, and he added suavely, 
 " I assume that you are too much of a gentleman to 
 make use of any information so gained, even if it 
 were of any value to you and, of course, in this 
 case it is not." 
 
 Again I refrained from replying to his implied 
 question, and he asked a little sharply, " I am right, 
 am I not?"
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 165 
 
 " Considering the subject matter of your ' indis 
 creet ' disclosure, do you think, Mr. Manners, that 
 there is any necessity of bringing the question of 
 being a * gentleman ' into this discussion ? " I an 
 swered as coolly as possible. 
 
 " Am I to understand that you are thinking of 
 trying to make use of that information against me ? " 
 he queried in feigned surprise. 
 
 " I have not said so," was my calm retort which 
 proved exasperating, for he went on rather hotly. 
 " See here, Shaw, we might as well come to an un 
 derstanding in this matter. Do you want me to 
 get the idea that you are the kind of a fellow who 
 would deliberately take advantage of information, 
 given in confidence, which you accidentally obtained 
 in the house of your host, and " 
 
 " I don't see that there is anything to be gained 
 by becoming insulting, Mr. Manners, and besides, 
 the information was not imparted in confidence to 
 me," I broke in, wishing to lead him on and find 
 out just what he was driving at, and my words had 
 the desired effect, for he replied with a flash of 
 anger that he could not hide, 
 
 "Oh, you don't, don't you?" and then regaining 
 his outward composure, he added smilingly, " I hope 
 that, under the circumstances, you will not consider 
 it unpardonable, but well, the fact is that, acting 
 on impulse this morning, I had my personal repre-
 
 166 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 sentative in Boston look you up rather carefully." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Well, the information which he telephoned me 
 this evening was somewhat interesting sufficiently 
 so to lead one to draw the conclusion that things are 
 not always what they seem," he added, meditatively 
 knocking the ashes from his cigar. 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " Yes. I don't suppose that it is any crime for 
 a lawyer's clerk, who gets twenty-five or thirty dol 
 lars a week to pass himself off in Newport in the 
 guise of a wealthy society man, and thus secure the 
 hospitality of one of our set, given under a misap 
 prehension it's been done before but " 
 
 "Don't let that thought disturb you, sir. You 
 are at perfect liberty to tell Mr. Hammond yourself, 
 if you desire. I may as well tell you now, however, 
 that it will be no news to him." 
 
 " So ? And knowing that, he brought you around 
 to my house and let you play cards with me for a 
 thousand dollars, when you probably hadn't ten in 
 your pocket. I owe him one for that. But be 
 that as it may. I was going to add, when inter 
 rupted, that it is somewhat more serious to play the 
 same sort of game on a rich, young heiress may 
 we say Miss Lee, for example? You may have 
 heard the word * fortune-hunter,' and know that a 
 certain odium attaches thereto."
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 167 
 
 This thrust stuck a tender spot, and I must have 
 winced enough to show him that he had scored at 
 last, for he added with an unpleasant laugh, " The 
 junior clerk in the office of Roland Willard's at 
 torneys for such I'm told is your job would 
 be a splendid match for his little sister-in-law." 
 
 So he knew with whom I was associated, too! 
 This thought worried me more than a little, for al 
 though I cared not at all whether he disclosed my 
 real financial condition to Miss Lee, my plan would 
 be dealt a death blow if he inadvertently mentioned 
 to her that I was in the employ of Willard's counsel. 
 
 " I don't, of course, pretend to know just what 
 your little game is, but I do know enough to make 
 it rather unpleasant for you here in Newport, and 
 perhaps at the Aldriches' as well, if I should feel 
 forced to." 
 
 "What's the answer?" I asked apparently very 
 much disheartened. 
 
 " Why, simply that if you are a wise young man, 
 you will decide that discretion is the better part of 
 valor, and forget all about the little break I made. 
 Nevertheless, I'm a man of business, Shaw, and I 
 think I'll make you a little proposition that you will 
 probably recognize the advantage of ascribing to 
 that is, if you will first answer a question or two, 
 and I pay you the compliment of assuming that you 
 will answer them truthfully."
 
 168 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 " And the questions ? " 
 
 " Have you as yet told Miss Lee anything about 
 me, or even hinted to her regarding what I said ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Nor your employers, Mr. Willard's counsel?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Nor any one likely to tell them ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Needless to say, I'm glad to hear it, and that 
 being the case I will agree to keep under my hat 
 what I know, if you will promise to keep silent about 
 what you have learned. You see, we're both in the 
 same boat." 
 
 " Agreed," said I, shortly, with an inward sigh of 
 relief, although I could scarcely believe my ears 
 when he had so worded his questions that I was able 
 to answer all of them truthfully and yet not divulge 
 that fact that I had already set the wheel in motion 
 to frustrate his carefully laid plans. In trying to 
 be explicit and cover all the ground he had left me 
 the one loop-hole of escape wide open. I was now 
 apparently safe to pursue the even tenor of my 
 course without fear from his direction. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was waiting for me, and hugely 
 enjoyed my somewhat expurgated account of the 
 doings of the afternoon and evening, especially the 
 part relating to Manners' nerve in seeking the ac 
 quaintance of Miss Lee as he had prophesied that
 
 I LOSE MY HEAD AND HEART 169 
 
 he would. Needless to say, I made no mention of 
 my flat disregard of his warning signal where the 
 same young lady was concerned, but he may have 
 had his suspicions when I spoke of the morrow's 
 ride with her. 
 
 However, he did not attempt to repeat his advice, 
 but rather insisted that I use one of his own horses 
 upon that expedition, and straightway called up his 
 stable-keeper, and ordered a safe and sane steed for 
 4 A. M. for I admitted that I was no cowboy. 
 
 And, needless to say, I slept but little the rest of 
 that night, what with my mind keyed up by the 
 events of the day, the thought of my new bitter 
 sweet secret, and with looking at my watch every 
 half hour.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IN WHICH TWO START OUT AND THREE RETURN 
 
 ROMANTIC I felt indeed the following day as I 
 rode through the gray mist of early morn toward 
 the abode of my enchantress. 
 
 No one was astir when I arrived at the Aldriches' 
 and the mansion appeared to be still wrapped in 
 slumber. I pulled up uncertainly wondering how 
 to proceed, and as I did so heard the click of a shut 
 ter above me, glanced up and saw a lovely arm bare 
 to the elbow, and a few inches of creamy white lace 
 in the aperture, and heard a sweet voice call softly, 
 " You caught me napping actually as well as 
 figuratively and I'm covered with shame, and not 
 a great deal else," the last words were spoken so 
 low that I scarcely heard them. 
 
 " Please wait just a moment and I'll show you 
 that one woman at least can dress expeditiously." 
 The arm disappeared and I dismounted to wait re 
 signedly, but Miss Marion was as good as her word 
 and in a shorter time than I could have accomplished 
 it, was down on the portico arrayed in a neat riding 
 habit and appearing as fresh and bright as a dew- 
 washed flower. 
 
 170
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 171 
 
 " There is no necessity for my going to the cliffs 
 for the sunrise," I said gallantly. " Your presence 
 has dispelled the night." 
 
 " A speech worthy even of a Virginian," she an 
 swered, smiling brightly. " You are far more ro 
 mantic and interesting this morning than during the 
 latter part of last evening." 
 
 " Ah, but now there is no rival present to put me 
 in eclipse, you see. I have the inspiration all to my 
 self." 
 
 " Isn't this delightfully romantic? I've done lots 
 and lots of unusual things, but this is a brand new 
 experience, and sister scolded me dreadfully last 
 night for my bad, bold behavior. It's just like an 
 elopement, isn't it?" 
 
 For an instant the mad impulse possessed me to 
 seize this opening to suggest that we turn it into a 
 real one, but cooler judgment immediately prevailed 
 and I answered in the same light vein, " Yes, but 
 hopelessly old fashioned. I wouldn't think of ask 
 ing a modern maiden to elope with me in anything 
 less than an aeroplane." 
 
 " I'm not so sure but that the old way was best," 
 she replied pensively. 
 
 In a few minutes we were riding at a brisk trot 
 down Bellevue Avenue, my inaptitude on horseback 
 preventing me from conversing freely, and the joy of 
 the morning and the exhilarating exercise sufficing
 
 172 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 for her. The few remarks that we did exchange 
 were all on the subject of health-giving sport, and 
 we quickly found a kinship in our love of games and 
 the out of doors. 
 
 As we rode, the sky in the east changed from pearl 
 gray to mauve, then to faint lilac, and then became 
 filled of a sudden with a warm golden glow. 
 
 We reached the end of the Avenue, drew rein and 
 faced our horses toward the Orient, and now, as 
 though nature had been waiting for this signal, the 
 couriers of Aurora, swift flashes of light, ran up 
 the heavens, an inestimable army of attendants in 
 multi-colored gay array followed, covering the sky 
 with a spreading glory more beautiful than a sun 
 set, and then the fiery sun himself sprang into view, 
 causing the waves on the curving bay to dance with 
 joy at his coming. 
 
 Neither of us spoke for several minutes while 
 this gorgeous spectacle was being enacted before our 
 eyes. Then my companion sighed regretfully, " It 
 was worth it, wasn't it ? " 
 
 " It was magnificent, but I did not need the sun 
 rise to make my ride worth while," I responded, in a 
 low voice. She did not reply, but once more a flush 
 not attributable to the color still lingering in the 
 heavens, mounted over her cheeks. 
 
 At last with one accord we wheeled about and 
 rode slowly along the Ocean Drive. Miss Lee was
 
 very silent and I waited patiently for her to shake 
 off the spell of the vision. 
 
 Finally she said thoughtfully, " How much we 
 creatures of civilization miss after all. How few of 
 us ever see that glorious picture which nature paints 
 anew almost daily with such prodigal liberality. 
 Our lives and interests are so restricted and nar 
 rowed in some ways by conventionality, that all the 
 manifold beauties of the natural world have come 
 to mean very little to any of us. I often wonder if 
 it is really worth while." 
 
 " I know. I sometimes have the same feeling. 
 In gaining so little we have lost so much." 
 
 " That's just it. The primal savage, whose life 
 seems to us so narrow and meaningless, had an ap 
 preciation of the natural universe which we have 
 lost utterly. We boast of our vaunted progress and 
 the constant broadening of our horizon. Intellectu 
 ally it is true, but I wonder. To most of us a 
 rock is merely something hard to stumble over and 
 be gotten out of the way ; a tree is shade, or a thing 
 to get wood from ; grass is something to keep off of 
 and cut, and I doubt if any of them mean as much 
 even to your trained geologist or botanist as to the 
 untutored savage who vested them with spirits and 
 made them his friends or enemies. 
 
 " Civilization with all its man-made laws, hasn't 
 made the world better, in one way. There is ir,-
 
 174 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 finitely less crime among the animals of the forest 
 than among men. They obey nature's laws abso 
 lutely and need no others. They love and mate and 
 rear their offspring with none of the narrowing 
 restrictions of man which kill the spirit. Oh, why 
 can't we have their joy of freedom? " she flung her 
 arms wide in a gesture of protest. 
 
 " That is one of the penalties of progress," I an 
 swered rather lamely, for I, too, was affected by her 
 mood induced by the spell of nature, and would have 
 liked to have thrown custom and laws to the winds 
 and, like the savage of old, taken her then and 
 there and carried her away to my cave or wigwam. 
 " Knowledge brings with it evil as well as good. 
 Nature is unmoral, but along with civilization comes 
 active morality and immorality, good and bad, and 
 laws and conventions must need go hand in hand 
 with them, to restrain the awakened imagination and 
 the growing capabilities for harm." 
 
 " Bromide," she replied. "Of course your argu 
 ments are unanswerable, but they don't answer the 
 big question ' Is it all worth while ? ' My intellect 
 tells me that I am talking nonsense and that it is the 
 best way, or God would not have so ordained it, but 
 at times, r mes like this, my soul revolts. I'm a 
 good deal of a cavage at heart, I guess." 
 
 " And are we not all of us? " I answered. " Our 
 civilization is, after all, only the thin veneer laid on
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 175 
 
 by a few ages which count as nothing as against the 
 innumerable ones which went before. The prime 
 val feelings are deeply ingrained, and we are still 
 children of nature and nature's laws, however much 
 we may rant about the power of the mind over mat 
 ter. The two great wOrld-old instincts, self-preser 
 vation and propagation, are as strong among our 
 most advanced peoples as among the lowest animals, 
 and it is no wonder that there come times when all 
 of us hear the atavistic call of the wild, and we feel 
 like harking back to the so-called ' good old days 
 when the world was young ' which, as a matter of 
 fact, weren't good old days at all." 
 
 " Yes, we haven't advanced very far on the road 
 to perfection after all, and since our primal instincts 
 are the same as of old, how unjust seem many of 
 our pretty conventionalities and restrictions. Mr. 
 Shaw, do you believe in divorce? " 
 
 This surprising question, coming like a bolt out 
 of the blue, staggered me and almost left me speech 
 less. 
 
 Putting two and two together, I quickly con 
 cluded that the trend of our unusually serious con 
 versation had carried her thoughts to the law which 
 had welded and must be made to break ar'mder her 
 sister's distasteful marriage bond the only solu 
 tion from her standpoint. 
 
 " My answer must be the unsatisfactory, hydra-
 
 176 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 headed one of ' yes and no,' " I replied, choosing 
 my words carefully, for I knew that whatever I 
 said might be used against me later. " May I in 
 quire why you ask that peculiar question in con 
 nection with our present conversation ? " 
 
 " Why, I should think that the connection was ob 
 vious. Marriage is a man-made institution, not one 
 of nature, and death and divorce are the only ways 
 which man-made law recognizes for terminating it. 
 Somehow my whole soul cries out this morning for 
 the natural life, for freedom from restrictive rules 
 and confining conventions. I'm kicking against the 
 pricks. You mustn't think, Mr. Shaw, that I am a 
 new woman or a * feminist.' We Southern girls are 
 brought up along old-fashioned lines, and this is a 
 personal perhaps merely temporary revolt on 
 my part, but a morning like this, when all the world 
 seems so free and joyous, I can't help feeling that 
 every one should have an inalienable right to be 
 as happy as possible especially women. Heaven 
 knows that their lives nowadays are seldom their 
 own to live in liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
 Modern rules and conventions restrict a man, but 
 they fetter a woman, and, even aside from this in 
 equality, his interests are so much broader and more 
 varied than hers, that were their effect the same, 
 he would not ever be bound down as she is. A 
 man's home and family may be a principal part
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 177 
 
 of, but they are not his whole world. They are a 
 woman's. The institution of marriage and bearing 
 of children could not persist, if her very existence 
 were not bound up in her husband and children 
 if they were not her very life. But see how custom 
 and law act. They say, ' with this man you shall 
 live willy nilly, no matter if, after marriage, you 
 discover that you have made an appalling mistake, 
 that that which you thought was real love was only 
 fascination, perhaps only the romantic fiction that 
 a young girl so often weaves about the person of her 
 lover, especially if he is considerably older and seems 
 very grand to her.' What matters it if after the 
 wedding she finds that she was mistaken in the 
 man, and that he is not all she believed him to be, 
 the die is irrevocably cast no, don't speak! I 
 know what you would say, that that is the almost 
 inevitable result. I suppose it is, but now I don't 
 mean in the little human frailties, but in something 
 really important something that counts. Is it 
 right, is it just that she should be confined to a life 
 of mental torture within her narrow circle with 
 such a partner, simply because the marriage law 
 says, ' till death do ye part/ and the civil law adds, 
 * for this or that reason only will we dissolve the 
 bond'? 
 
 " Why, don't you see that many of the causes 
 that man in his finite wisdom has selected as suffi-
 
 178 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 cient reason for decreeing a divorce, would not 
 cause the wife anything like the mental anguish 
 that comes from utter uncongeniality with her hus 
 band?" 
 
 She paused a moment, almost breathless from the 
 force of her own invectives, and I was too astounded 
 at this surprisingly frank and thoughtful discus 
 sion on the lips of little more than a girl, to attempt 
 to answer her. 
 
 " Why should she and her right to seek and 
 find happiness elsewhere be ruthlessly sacrificed just 
 because man-created law and custom say they 
 must ? " 
 
 She was breathing quickly, her cheeks flaming 
 and every nerve and muscle was responding to her 
 wrought-up feelings. " What a woman this is." 
 I thought, " With all this force and strength of 
 character not tamed, but merely molded and di 
 rected by the all-powerful influence of love, where 
 could I find another like her? " 
 
 I was facing a difficult situation, however. If 
 this was the way she and her sister felt now about 
 divorce, and I couldn't change their attitude of 
 mind, my mission was doomed to abject failure at 
 the outset. With no too great confidence I began: 
 
 " The answer as it seems to me and I must 
 admit to being too young in wisdom to hope to 
 qualify as a sage is just because, as you just said
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 179 
 
 yourself, ' law and custom say they must.' I can't 
 pretend to say ' here is the real reason for things as 
 they now exist/ nobody can, the whole question is 
 too big, too complex, but, in my mind, it works out 
 something like this. 
 
 " With the growth of the intellect and knowledge 
 (which is not at all synonymous with wisdom), 
 came a corresponding weakening in the primitive 
 animal instincts and powers. A real family life be 
 came necessary for the protection of the children in 
 infancy, and, for this, a real marriage became abso 
 lutely essential, as you know, for this is merely 
 elementary sociology. This institution did come 
 from heaven in the sense that it was a necessary ad 
 junct to God's plan for the development of the 
 world and mankind. Marriage is the safeguard of 
 the family and the home, and as such as the 
 prayerbook service says not a thing to be en 
 tered into or regarded lightly, not yet a tie to be 
 broken lightly, as the law says in confirmation. 
 
 " This general rule is the outgrowth of plain ne 
 cessity. There are, doubtless, men and women per 
 fectly capable of living noble, upright, and, in the 
 truest sense, virtuous lives together out of wedlock, 
 and so, too, there are people who would be mutually 
 and inestimably benefited by a dissolution of the 
 marriage tie between them people who have 
 found that they made a mistake in choosing their
 
 180 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 mates. Such people are of a high moral fiber who 
 do not need the restraining influence of law or cus 
 tom in order to develop morally. But these are in 
 finitesimal in number compared with the millions 
 whose passions and impulses do need some check 
 from without because of their human frailties. 
 Custom and laws, the product of what mankind has 
 found to be for its own good through the ages, 
 furnish this necessary check. Where they work 
 well for the mass of men and women, they are benef 
 icent customs, good laws. I won't pretend but that 
 some few individuals may, nay, must, suffer from 
 them, but in Mother Nature's big plan the individual 
 counts for nothing, the race for everything." 
 
 " I see that you are not only a champion of the 
 theories of sociology, but can see no wrong in the 
 law just as I might have expected from a law 
 yer," she interrupted, somewhat bitterly. 
 
 " As to the first statement, unequivocally * yes ' ; 
 as to the second you are wrong. Undoubtedly the 
 law, as a whole, is as good as man with his count 
 less limitations can make it, but it is a human not a 
 divine product, and I'll admit freely that although 
 it is good as a statement of general working prin 
 ciples, it often results in injustice and harm to in 
 dividuals. The rules of our divorce courts, which 
 you seem to regard as so unjust, of course fall un 
 der my general proposition, and now in answer to
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 181 
 
 your original question I can say that I do believe in 
 divorce, but only to the extent it is permitted by the 
 laws of a conservative state, like my own for ex 
 ample. Mankind has realized that not to allow the 
 marriage tie to be broken under any circumstances 
 would be both unjust and wicked, but, on the other 
 hand, to permit it to be dissolved almost at will 
 which is pretty nearly what your plea amounts to 
 would soon be fatal to that necessary institution. 
 
 " We are all of us still creatures of impulse, blown 
 hither and thither by the winds of passion. If men 
 and women were free to break the marriage bond 
 because of a passing whim one which they might 
 deeply regret on sober second thought the whole 
 system would soon fall, free love would result, mor 
 als would disappear, and in time civilization would 
 revert, much faster indeed than it has been built up, 
 and ' the last state would be worse than the first.' 
 
 " It seems to me that every thinking person must 
 ascribe to this, and especially we Americans who 
 have been brought up to believe in the sacredness of 
 the majority, and to bow to it without rancor, how 
 ever much its rule may be opposed to our own inter 
 ests as we see them. We, of all people, ought to 
 ascribe to the laws whose purpose is to serve the 
 masses, not favored individuals." 
 
 " Doubtless you are right in theory but isn't 
 it pretty hard on the special individuals who must
 
 182 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 suffer through no fault of their own?" she an 
 swered thoughtfully. 
 
 " I have already admitted that. And of course 
 the knowledge that the law which injures them is in 
 fact a good law, doesn't help any. There is one 
 other consideration however, which neither of us 
 have yet taken into account, which should come to 
 their aid." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " The Christian ideal of the necessity and beauty 
 of self sacrifice of the individual for the good of 
 others. We cannot possibly tell how great harm 
 may come from the refusal of one man or woman to 
 ascribe to the law, even though their own souls may 
 justify them absolutely in the stand which they 
 take. They may not themselves suffer, although 
 any one who opposes custom is pretty sure to, sooner 
 or later, but because of their selfish act many 
 others with less provocation may be led astray and 
 damned." 
 
 " * Almost thou dost persuade me/ " she answered 
 sadly. " But you must not forget that in the or 
 dinary individual who finds himself or herself in the 
 clutch of the fell circumstances which I have sug 
 gested, the older instinct of self preservation at 
 whatever cost is pretty likely to be paramount. 
 Anybody can generalize as you have been doing, but 
 how much do generalizations count to the heart and
 
 TWO START, THREE RETURN 183 
 
 soul in revolt? Only a truly great spirit, like 
 Christ's, can sacrifice itself without a murmur in 
 such a case. Could you? " 
 
 Again the sudden and unexpectedly personal 
 question startled me. After a long pause I replied, 
 " I don't know. I only hope that I may never be so 
 tested." 
 
 Of course our discussion and dissertations had 
 been frequently interrupted by pauses and questions, 
 and now we had nearly completed the circle and were 
 entering the old town from the west. 
 
 We had been riding in intimate silence for a time 
 after this remark of mine, when I heard the sound 
 of another horse's hoofs, and suddenly out of a side 
 street appeared my bete noire, Manners, at the 
 gallop. 
 
 I was far from pleased to see him. Moreover I 
 thought that a shadow of regret passed over Miss 
 Lee's face, but the intruder's countenance wore a 
 smile, although the look he gave me was not pleas 
 ant, his expression being one of mingled triumph 
 and hostility. 
 
 "Bless my soul, do my eyes deceive me?" he 
 cried, drawing up suddenly directly in front of us, 
 and I felt instinctively that this was in reality no 
 chance meeting, and that having drawn his own 
 conclusions from our parting words the night be 
 fore, he had deliberately set out to intercept us.
 
 184 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 But he continued gayly, ignoring the coolness of 
 his reception, "If the old saying about early birds 
 gathering the worms is true, you two must have 
 cornered the market in annelids this morning." 
 
 Miss Lee greeted him pleasantly but without an 
 swering the implied quaere or attempting to explain 
 our morning's occupation. My own greeting was 
 decidedly churlish, I am afraid. 
 
 Without waiting for an invitation, he wheeled 
 about and joined himself to our company, and I 
 forthwith withdrew into my shell again, thankful 
 for even the small comfort afforded by the thought 
 that we were nearly home. 
 
 Manners chatted lightly, but the pace Miss Lee 
 set precluded any great amount of conversation, 
 and as he came in view of the house she interrupted 
 to issue an inclusive challenge for a race to the 
 stable, and we were off at the gallop. 
 
 She was a wonderful rider, Manners no less so. 
 On they flew neck and neck, with me a poor third 
 and steadily losing ground. 
 
 Just as they passed the house he drew rein suffi 
 ciently to let her go in winner by a nose, his gen 
 tlemanly conduct only gaining the unspoken char 
 acterization, " hypocrite " from me, and I rode up 
 a moment later with my heart hot with indigna 
 tion over this anticlimatic ending to my wonderful 
 morning.
 
 As we came to a standstill and were dismounting 
 I none too gracefully for I was decidedly stiff 
 Bert appeared on the side veranda with a napkin 
 over his arm and vigorously beating away at a 
 Chinese gong, and shouting, " Last call for break 
 fast in the dining-car. Come on, John, there's a 
 bowl of mush and milk set out for you. 'Morning, 
 Manners." 
 
 The fact that no similar invitation was extended 
 to the latter cheered me up considerably, and once 
 more I realized what a real friend at heart I had in 
 Bert, thus on my behalf to ignore the rules of hos 
 pitality.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IN WHICH AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 
 
 WHEN breakfast was over, the various members 
 of the family departed one by one to their several 
 duties or engagements. Even Bert, with the free 
 dom born of old friendship, left me, taking it for 
 granted that I could amuse myself for a little while, 
 and in fact this seeming discourtesy pleased me 
 mightily for it told its own story of how truly I 
 was becoming regarded as " one of the family." 
 
 Before she went to her room to get off some cor 
 respondence Miss Marion gave me her hand with a 
 clasp of comradeship, saying, 
 
 " I want to thank you now, Mr. Shaw in case 
 I shouldn't see you again this morning for our 
 wonderful ride, and and all the rest. I can not 
 promise to ascribe to all your ideas, but I shan't for 
 get either them or the sunrise." 
 
 I have said that all the members of the family 
 departed from me ? Not so. Little Janet straight 
 way annexed herself to me, calmly but firmly refus 
 ing to go on her usual morning walk with her nurse, 
 and after leading me, a willing subject, to a Glouces 
 ter hammock on the piazza, appropriated a seat in 
 
 186
 
 my lap. I loved children passionately so her com 
 pany was no cross to me, but her very first ques 
 tions and I knew enough of four-year olds to 
 look for a perfect flood of them proved rather 
 embarrassing, or would have, had any one else been 
 present. 
 
 " Has you any little girls, Unke John? " 
 " No, dear, I'm sorry to say I haven't any little 
 girls." 
 
 " Why hasn't you any little girls, Unke John? " 
 " Oh, because I'm an old bachelor and never got 
 married, I expect." 
 
 " Does you has to be married to have little girls ? " 
 " Yes, dear." 
 
 " Why ? I should sink ol' bach'lors would spe 
 cially want little girls. They must get awful lone 
 some." 
 
 " They do get lonesome many times." 
 " Then why don't you get married and have some 
 little girls, Unke John." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know. I guess nobody'd have me." 
 " Wouldn't Auntie Lee have you ? " 
 " I never asked her, but I don't believe she 
 would." 
 "Why?" 
 " Oh, because." 
 
 " Muvver says ' because ' isn't any reason, Unke 
 John."
 
 188 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Well, it isn't usually, sweetheart, but I could not 
 think of any other just then." This seemed to sat 
 isfy her as an answer, but in a moment she began the 
 inquisition again. 
 
 " Would you like to marry Auntie Lee, Unke 
 John?" 
 
 " You bet I would." 
 
 " You mustn't say ' you bet/ Unke John, Muvver 
 says so." 
 
 " Mother's right as usual. I take back the * you 
 bet ' part." 
 
 " I sink Auntie Lee's awful mean if she 
 won't marry you " a pause " but if she won't, 
 I will, Unke John." This spoken with deep resig 
 nation. 
 
 " Why, thank you, dear. That would be lovely." 
 
 " Now we're 'gaged. You may kiss me." I 
 tilted back the sweet little flowerlike face and 
 obeyed, wishing ardently that it belonged to one 
 other. 
 
 She settled herself more comfortably and said, 
 " Now you must tell me a story." 
 
 The idea of having to tell a story as the logical 
 results of becoming engaged struck me as particu 
 larly appropriate. Most men do, many of them. 
 So I began immediately. ' Once upon a time when 
 your betrothed \vas ' ' : 
 
 "What's a 'betrothed'?"
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 189 
 
 " A betrothed means the man you're engaged to, 
 Janie." 
 
 " Then why don't you say what you mean? " 
 
 Properly rebuked and determined not to err 
 again, I recommenced, 
 
 " Once upon a time when some other fellows and 
 I were hunting up in Maine " 
 
 " Where's up in Maine ? " 
 
 " Oh, it's a place way, way up there," I explained, 
 pointing vaguely in the direction of the north, and 
 she nodded sagely. 
 
 " It was almost winter time this trip. One 
 morning we started out to climb a big moun 
 tain " 
 
 " Oh, I know a mountain where we went once. 
 It had a funny name. The Adrumdacks. Was 
 your mountain bigger than that ? " 
 
 " Yes, infinitely bigger, you couldn't imagine such 
 a big mountain." 
 
 " I could 'magine a mountain so big that it 
 touched the sky," she replied dreamily, looking up 
 into the azure. " Was your mountain as big as that, 
 Unkejohn?" 
 
 " Well, now, I don't believe that it was," I replied 
 dubiously, then added sternly, " If you want me to 
 tell you a story you must not interrupt me all the 
 time." 
 
 " 'Scuse me," she said so penitently that I had to
 
 190 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 give her a forgiving kiss. " But," she continued, 
 " you shouldn't scold your 'gaged.'' 
 
 This sounded reasonable, so I apologized in turn, 
 and went on. 
 
 " We walked all day long through a big, dark 
 wood until it was nearly night." She shivered ap 
 preciatively. " Suddenly I saw a a a wild 
 cat." 
 
 " Ooooooh." 
 
 " I left the rest of the party and began to follow 
 the tracks all alone. At last I noticed that it was 
 getting darker, and DARKER, and DARKER, and 
 looking up through the trees I saw that the sky was 
 all covered over by big black clouds, and pretty 
 soon it began to snow. You can't imagine how it 
 snowed." 
 
 " I can 'magine " she recommenced, but I hur 
 riedly headed her off. " It came down so thick and 
 fast that I couldn't see my hand in front of my 
 face." At this statement she began to experiment, 
 holding her own chubby fist at varying distances 
 from her upturned nose until it was all I could do 
 to hold my laughter in. " The snow piled up on the 
 ground so fast that in a few minutes it was up to 
 my knees." And here she pulled her little skirts up 
 from her bare legs and meditatively regarded her 
 own. Truly I had a most appreciative audience. 
 
 " The snow soon obliterated eh, that is, covered
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 191 
 
 up the trail, and, to my great horror, I found that 
 I was lost; lost in the dark woods on a high moun 
 tain, in an awful snow storm." She cuddled up 
 closer at this terrifying thought, and, wiping the 
 perspiration from my face, I continued : 
 
 " I tried to remember where the camp was but 
 after walking for hours and hours I couldn't find 
 it." 
 
 " Why didn't you shoot off your gun? " she asked 
 practically. 
 
 " Oh, I did, over and over again until all my 
 cartridges were gone, but the snow was so thick the 
 noise couldn't go through it, in fact the bangs all 
 stayed so close around me that they almost made me 
 deaf. Well, at last I was awfully scared and al 
 most ready to cry " 
 
 " I sink I should have cried long ago," she said 
 sympathetically with a little sob at my frightful 
 dilemma, and I had to give her a comforting hug. 
 
 " Suddenly, away off through the trees, I saw a 
 little gleam of light. ' Ah, there is the camp at 
 last/ I thought." 
 
 "But it wasn't?" 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed. It came from a little cabin 
 hidden in the middle of the woods. 'Most dead by 
 this time I stumbled to it, mighty happy, you may 
 be sure, to think that I had found a refuge for the 
 night. I knocked on the door. Nobody answered",
 
 192 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 although I could hear people walking about inside 
 and talking.'' 
 
 " P'raps they didn't hear you if they was talking 
 real loud." 
 
 " That's what I thought at first, so I began to 
 pound on the door with my gun. Instantly the talk 
 ing stopped but the door was not opened, so I 
 pounded again, as hard as I could, and shouted too, 
 but my voice was pretty weak by this time, I guess. 
 At last the door was opened just the tiniest crack 
 and a gruff voice said, ' WHAT D'YE WANT ? * Just 
 like that, ' WHAT D'YE WANT ? ' 
 
 " They wasn't very polite, was they ? " 
 
 " That's just what I thought, so I said, * Let me 
 in, please ' I was glad I remembered the ' please ' 
 ' I'm lost in the woods and almost starved and 
 frozen.' 
 
 " I heard more low talking and then the voice 
 said, ' Ye can't come in here,' and somebody tried 
 to shut the door in my face, but I managed to slip 
 my foot into the crack, and so keep it open. They 
 held the door on the inside but using all the last of 
 my strength, I pushed it open, and fell sprawling on 
 the floor inside." 
 
 " Goody ! " she cried, clapping her hands. 
 
 " Well, you can't guess what I saw." 
 
 "Twasn't the wildcat, was it?" she hazarded 
 uncertainly.
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 103 
 
 " No, not the wildcat, but three of the funniest 
 looking women you ever did see. One of them was 
 very old and all bent over and wrinkly, the second I 
 guessed was her daughter, for she was about half as 
 old and as big and strong as a man, and the third 
 was her daughter, about as old as Auntie Lee I 
 should say, but, oh, so different. She wasn't nice 
 and sweet and pretty, but very big and ugly and 
 cross. They all wore horrid rough dresses made 
 out of bags, and the room was all bare except for 
 three shelves on the wall where I guess they slept, 
 a board table and three stools. But there was one 
 thing that pleased me to see. It was a big iron pot 
 bubbling away merrily over a little fire in a fire 
 place. 
 
 " They all stood and scowled at me fearfully, and 
 finally the oldest one said in a harsh voice, * We 
 didn't ask you in, and you can't have any of our 
 supper; besides there's only just enough to go 'round 
 and not another thing to eat in the place.' ' 
 
 " Oh, the stingy old things, I would have gave 
 you some of mine, Unke John. I sink they was 
 meaner than Auntie Lee." 
 
 " I'm sure that you would have shared your por 
 ridge that's what was in the pot with me, 
 sweetheart. But they were so stingy, and I was so 
 awfully hungry, that I got real angry and said, 
 ' Ladies, I wouldn't ask for any of your supper but
 
 194 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 for the fact that I haven't had anything to eat all 
 day, and am simply starving to death.' They just 
 laughed at me, such a sneering sort of laugh that I 
 got madder and madder, and finally walked right 
 over to the pot and said, ' Ladies, if you won't give 
 me any supper, I declare to goodness I'll tip it over 
 and you shan't have any, either.' 
 
 " You may imagine that this frightened them 
 dreadfully, and after whispering together for a mo 
 ment the youngest one said, real pleasantly for her, 
 ' Kind sir, if you won't spill our supper, we'll give 
 you a chance to get a share of it, provided you 
 promise to agree to what we say.' 
 
 " I couldn't for the life of me guess what she 
 meant, but I was so very hungry that I promised, of 
 course, and she went on, * We are called the Three 
 Jumping Women. Before every meal we have a 
 jumping match to see which shall have the biggest 
 helping. The one that jumps the farthest gets the 
 most, and so on. Now, if you are willing to jump 
 with us, and manage to beat any one of us, you may 
 have her share.' 
 
 " I had never heard of such a funny way of get 
 ting a meal, but I had promised, so I said ' all right,' 
 thinking that it ought to be easy to beat women, for 
 I used to be a broad jumper at Harvard with Uncle 
 Bert. 
 
 " Then they got ready to jump. First they
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 195 
 
 moved the table up against the wall, and one of 
 them got out a piece of chalk to mark where each 
 landed, then the old lady said, ' You first, Alpha.' 
 So the youngest of the three stood up side of the 
 fireplace, and gave a jump away out into the middle 
 of the room about as far as across the piazza, I 
 should think. This was a pretty long jump for a 
 woman to make and it surprised me awfully, but 
 I thought I might be able to beat it. Then the old 
 one said again ' You next, Beta,' and the middle- 
 aged one got ready, and, to my consternation " 
 
 " What's constern " 
 
 " I mean it frightened me, for she jumped nearly 
 a foot farther. This was a mighty long jump for 
 any one, and I was pretty worried and saw my meal 
 vanishing rapidly. She looked sort of pleased over 
 it and said, * Now it's your turn, Gamma,' or, per 
 haps, it was ' Grandma,' I didn't quite catch it. 
 
 " The old, old woman hobbled to the wall and 
 crouched down into a little heap, but when she did 
 jump, my goodness, she went a-flying through the 
 air clear across the hut at least as far as the drive 
 way out there. Now I was frightened indeed, for 
 I didn't think that I could possibly jump that far, 
 and I was fearfully hungry, too. 
 
 " They all looked at me and laughed again, as 
 much as to say, ' There now, see if you can beat 
 that' This made me ripping mad, for not only
 
 196 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 was I hungry enough to eat the jamb off the door, 
 but somehow I've always hated to be beaten in jump 
 ing by an old lady. So I took my place and after 
 balancing for a moment gave a tremendous leap." 
 Here I very nearly bounced little Janet out of my 
 lap in my own excitement. 
 
 " I went sailing through space across the floor 
 and just as I thought I was going to go bang up 
 against the door, the old woman flung it wide open, 
 and out into the deep snow I went sprawling. 
 
 " I was somewhat dazed by my fall and when I 
 recovered enough to pick myself up and turn 
 around, the door was shut tight, and I could hear 
 those terrible women inside the hut, laughing fit to 
 kill themselves." 
 
 " And you didn't get any supper ? " wailed the lit 
 tle maiden almost in tears. 
 
 " Well, as a matter of fact I did," I said, invent 
 ing a rather lame postlude to sooth her harrowed 
 feelings on my behalf. " The other fellows who 
 had been hunting for me all day, finally found me 
 just before I starved to death, but they couldn't find 
 any trace of the hut of the Three Jumping Women." 
 
 "John Alden Shaw aren't you ashamed to tell 
 such a wild tale to a credulous little maid ? " said a 
 laughing voice in the window behind us, and I turned 
 in consternation to face Miss Marion, fairly burst 
 ing with merriment.
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT OCCURS 197 
 
 " For heaven's sake, how long have you been 
 there?" I asked in alarm, thinking back over the 
 first part of our conversation. 
 
 " Oh, I arrived at this point of vantage about the 
 middle of your story, I should guess, and couldn't 
 resist the impulse to -hear the end of your weird and 
 wonderful adventure. But apparently eavesdrop 
 pers sometimes hear more than is good for them, 
 and I'd like to know what on earth Janie meant 
 by saying that the old women were even meaner 
 than I." 
 
 " That's our secret," I responded hastily. " We 
 have a great many secrets, you know." 
 
 " Yes," broke in Janet, " one of them's that we're 
 'gaged to be married." 
 
 " Now, isn't that lovely ? I am sure I congratu 
 late you both." 
 
 " Thank you, Auntie Lee. But I only got 'gaged 
 to him after he said you wouldn't have him. I'll 
 give him up, if you want," she added with true 
 Christian generosity. 
 
 Miss Lee's face flamed at this naive suggestion, 
 and she hurried to reply, " Oh, I couldn't think of 
 robbing you, nor being second choice, so you may 
 keep him." 
 
 Generally I swore inwardly when any one inter 
 rupted our tete-a-tetes, but this time I blessed Bert, 
 as, just at this very opportune moment he came
 
 198 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 around the corner and put an end to a most em 
 barrassing situation. 
 
 " Come on, John," he cried, " let's have a wee bit 
 round of golf before lunch." 
 
 " Can't do it. You seem to forget that the ten 
 nis tourney starts day after to-morrow, and I'm 
 going to the Casino and see if I can't get up a prac 
 tice match with one of the professionals. Goodness 
 knows that I need it." 
 
 " Well, I'll make it tennis to oblige you." 
 
 " I said that I wanted some real practice, young 
 man." 
 
 " Squelched," said he with a simulated meekness. 
 " How sharper than a serpent's tooth is man's in 
 gratitude. Get thee gone then, I'm through with 
 you," and, with formal adieux, I went.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 IN WHICH OF TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 
 
 SOME people a man may see every day for a year, 
 and at the end of that period feel that he does not 
 really know them. A week or less in the com 
 pany of others brings the sense of intimate acquaint 
 anceship. 
 
 Mr. Hammond was of the latter variety. When 
 I returned to his home that morning and found 
 that he was nowhere about, so sure of my stand 
 ing there did I feel that I had no hesitancy in re 
 questing the chauffeur to take me over to the Ca 
 sino, as though I myself were the owner of the car. 
 We went by the way of Thames Street, where I de 
 sired to make a small purchase or two. 
 
 Strange though it may appear, at least two mat 
 ters of primary importance had been wholly driven 
 from my mind by the incidents of the morning and 
 the thoughts to which they gave rise, but now the 
 sight of the United States Hotel on one side of the 
 street and the Western Union office on the other, 
 brought them back with a rush. 
 
 I stopped at the latter place and upon giving my 
 199
 
 200 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 name was handed a telegram hot off the wire from 
 Petersburg. It ran, " INSTRUCTIONS RECEIVED I'M 
 
 ON LETTER FOLLOWS CARE GENERAL DELIVERY NEW 
 PORT." 
 
 With a feeling of deep satisfaction and elation I 
 started across the street toward the hotel, and, just 
 as I reached the entrance, ran into the loquacious 
 sleuth emerging therefrom. 
 
 He was sober enough this time, the day being still 
 young, but was soon to become soberer still, for, 
 after we had greeted each other formally, I told him 
 as kindly as possible, but a bit triumphantly, that I 
 had, myself, succeeded in locating Mrs. Willard, 
 that therefore his services would be no longer re 
 quired, and that I intended to write Mr. Willard 
 to that effect immediately. 
 
 Despite his former protestations that he was dead 
 sick of his job and extremely anxious to get through 
 with it, he appeared decidedly downcast on hear 
 ing that the goose which laid the golden egg was 
 dead for him and this fact seemed to trouble 
 him infinitely more than that a mere layman had 
 succeeded where he, the world's greatest detective, 
 had failed. 
 
 I had just entered the car again and was demo 
 cratically shaking hands with Air. Sherlock, whose 
 red and bibulous countenance was scarcely a thing 
 of beauty, when another motor, driven by Manners,
 
 TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 201 
 
 approached from behind us, slowed up, and I heard 
 his sarcastic voice saying in a low tone, " Ah, I see 
 that you have a wide and varied acquaintance in 
 Newport, Mr. Shaw. Why don't you introduce me 
 to your friend? " 
 
 " You might find him a valuable acquisition to 
 your list, Mr. Manners," was my reply. " He's a 
 detective." 
 
 Manners muttered something I took to be an oath, 
 and speeded up, and I laughed to myself at having 
 scored this hit. 
 
 I then continued to the Casino where, before don 
 ning my flannels for my practice, I went up to the 
 writing-room and penned a short and non-commit 
 tal note to my employer, stating that success had 
 crowned my preliminary efforts, and that, through 
 the patronage of a favoring Goddess of Fortune, I 
 was already on the high-road to Mrs. Willard's con 
 fidence. 
 
 The balance of the daylight hours brought forth 
 nothing out of the ordinary. I played my prac 
 tice match, performing therein with a discourag- . 
 ing erraticalness, dressed, and dined in solitary state 
 at Bergers', where the music by the Hungarian or 
 chestra soothed my injured feelings a little, re 
 turned to the Casino, tried to read the latest maga 
 zines, failed, loafed about a bit and renewed a few 
 old acquaintances with several of the contestants
 
 202 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 in the coming tourney, who, like me, had arrived 
 a little early, and arranged and played a second 
 practice match, this time against a Southerner who 
 had not been on turf that season and so was a shade 
 worse than I, which encouraged me materially. 
 
 All this time I was having to exert my strongest 
 will power to counteract the attractive force which 
 was constantly pulling me toward the Aldriches', but 
 I was determined to keep away until the morrow at 
 least, lest I wear out my welcome. 
 
 At six I returned home and partook of an early 
 and quiet dinner with my host, who had to leave 
 immediately after it for a function to which I had 
 not been bidden, and, left alone, I went out of 
 doors and strolled about, aimlessly smoking count 
 less cigarettes to while away the time. 
 
 There, in the gathering twilight, the demon of 
 utter loneliness seized hold upon me. For the first 
 time I realized that I was wholly dissatisfied with 
 my lot in life, that my existence, which I had al 
 ways thitherto regarded as so " full of a number of 
 things," as Mr. Thomas had put it, was weary, 
 stale, flat and unprofitable, an aching void, a desert 
 of dreariness, empty of everything which made the 
 living worth the while. There is no getting away 
 from it, a man in love is a sad contradiction, now 
 raised to the heights, now cast down to the lowest 
 depths.
 
 TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 203 
 
 For a while I brooded moodily over the cursed 
 inequalities of this world. Why, since I was 
 neither rich nor in the possession of any expecta 
 tions of ever becoming so, had Fate mocked me 
 by decreeing that my first real passion should have 
 as its object one of such exalted estate, so lovely, 
 and wealthy? 
 
 Plunged into the depths of such gloomy thoughts 
 as these, I walked out into the road and on and on, 
 wholly unconscious of direction, until suddenly I 
 found myself turning into the driveway at the 
 Aldriches'. This brought me back to earth with a 
 start, the phrase from Shelley's " Lines to an In 
 dian Air," springing unbidden to my mind, " And a 
 spirit in my feet, has led me, who knows how? to 
 thy chamber window sweet." 
 
 " Since you have come so far," whispered a 
 tempting voice inside, " you might as well go on." 
 My resistance to this plea was merely nominal, and, 
 after a very brief struggle, I went. 
 
 I found Ethel alone on the veranda, and she wel 
 comed me with a natural simplicity and frank 
 friendliness which went a long way toward indi 
 cating that the fears which had formed a basis for 
 my decision to stay away were merely creatures of 
 my own imagination. Nevertheless I felt con 
 strained to justify my presence there so soon again 
 to myself, at least by saying apologetically,
 
 204 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " I had to run over for a moment to say ' good 
 night ' to my little sweetheart. I suppose you have 
 been told that Janet and I are 'gaged now." 
 
 " Yes, I've heard the wonderful news, and, of 
 course, I'm delighted, John I may call you John 
 now, may I not? As your future mother-in-law 
 I ought to kiss you, but as it's still light and such 
 an act might give rise to gossip, I'll postpone 
 that pleasure. Be good to my little girl, won't 
 you?" 
 
 " You bet I will excuse me Janet told me 
 this morning that you don't approve of the expres 
 sion ' you bet.' ' 
 
 " Quite right. You see, that as a member of 
 my family you will have to mind your ' P's and 
 Q's.' But if you really want to say good night to 
 Janie come on up with me. I'm just going to tuck 
 her into bed." 
 
 I gladly went with her to the little blue and white 
 bedroom where my 'gaged slept, but scarcely had 
 we reached it when a maid appeared announcing 
 that Mr. and Mrs. Huntington had called to con 
 fer with Mrs. Gary about some charity, and that 
 they could stay only a moment. 
 
 " Oh, pshaw, John, it seems as though some 
 thing was always calling me away from this, the 
 greatest pleasure of my whole day. You may as 
 well get broken in as a family man. Stay and hear
 
 Janet's prayers and get her to bed if I don't get back 
 before, will you? " 
 
 I assented with some embarrassment, but my 
 little sweetheart showed none, and was instantly 
 kneeling by my side, her little pink feet protrud 
 ing from her snowy nightie, saying her " Now I lay 
 me." 
 
 A big lump rose in my throat. This loving, con 
 fiding child at my knee brought back more poign 
 antly than ever all the sense of utter lonesome- 
 ness that I had been experiencing, and as I gently 
 caressed her golden curls while she babbled the 
 homely prayer, the thought burst upon me that I 
 wanted even more than the love and comradeship 
 of a wife; I wanted children. 
 
 I gave little Janet a good-night kiss, her soft, 
 warm arms hugging my neck tightly, and she was 
 in the fairyland of dreams before I had finished 
 tucking the sheet about her. 
 
 In spite of my loneliness I somehow felt that I 
 wanted to be left to myself and so sneaked quietly 
 downstairs and was just passing through the big 
 hallway when Bert caught sight of me from the 
 music-room. 
 
 " Who goes there, friend or foe ? " he shouted, 
 covering me with an imaginary revolver in the shape 
 of his forefinger. 
 
 " Friend," I answered.
 
 206 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Advance, friend, and give the countersign." 
 
 " Sweet spirits of nitre," was my reply, the first 
 absurdity that popped into my head. 
 
 " Right ! Sit down, friend ; take a weight off. 
 your feet and smoke a pipe of peace." 
 
 " Can't do it, old man," I responded, sinking into 
 a chair and accepting the cigar which he held out. 
 " Got to go right along." 
 
 " So I see. And now, having settled that point, 
 give an account of yourself to-day. Why haven't 
 you shown up? My women- folk have been crying 
 their eyes out over your neglect." 
 
 " Fine chance ! Do you suppose I want to camp 
 here until you all regard me as a pest ? " 
 
 " You needn't begin to worry over that happen 
 ing yet," broke in Miss Marion. 
 
 " And even if you do become one, I'm certain 
 sure Marion would be glad to add you to her col 
 lection. I understand that she owns the finest col 
 lection of assorted pests extant," added Bert. 
 
 " You ought to know, dear," she replied sweetly, 
 " since you're the charter member of that organiza 
 tion." 
 
 "Help! I should think that by this time I 
 would have sense enough not to leave an opening 
 like that. Now you've simply got to stay and lend 
 me your moral support, surrounded as I am on all 
 sides by the enemy, and as Mr. Kipling so well said,
 
 TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 207 
 
 * The female of the species is more deadly than the 
 male/ as you'll learn if you live long enough. 
 Come on, make a day of it I don't mean a day 
 of twenty-four hours, of course," he added hastily, 
 " even my liberal nature could not countenance your 
 staying until four A. M. to-morrow." 
 
 " I'll accept on just one condition, that you all 
 come with me to Freebody Park as my guests this 
 evening." 
 
 " Agreed for the crowd," was his reply. " I'll 
 telephone down for seats. What do you want? 
 Peanut gallery ? " 
 
 "Of course, but if you can't get those, compro 
 mise on a box. And at the same time order a taxi, 
 won't you ? " 
 
 ' Yes, I won't. I guess that we can provide the 
 means of conveyance, with a stable full of motor 
 cars simply eating their heads off." 
 
 "Don't you think that you could go, dear? It 
 would do you good," Marion asked of her sister. 
 
 " No, I think I had better not. Bed is the best 
 place for little folks like me." I joined my request 
 to Marion's, but Margaret was not to be persuaded. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich also refused on the ground 
 that they were getting too old for such frivolities, 
 and Bert departed to return in a moment with word 
 that the car would be around for us in half an 
 hour.
 
 208 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 He continued, " Just to prove that I, at least, am 
 not yet weary of your company I'll swallow my 
 pride and renew my invitation for a game of golf 
 or tennis to-morrow morning. Being Sunday, and 
 my fond parents still imbued with antiquated ideas 
 concerning its observance, such wicked relaxations 
 as theaters, cards and dancing are tabooed here, and 
 we have to content ourselves with such harmless 
 recreations as tennis, golf, motoring, riding and the 
 like." 
 
 " And I invite you to go to church with us," said 
 Miss Margaret. 
 
 " And I accept the latter invitation, being some 
 what old-fashioned myself," I responded promptly. 
 
 " Thwarted again. What's the use of a mere 
 man trying to butt up against the eternal feminine. 
 But fie upon you, John, I'm surprised that an atheist 
 like you should abnegate his principles merely to be 
 in company with lovely women." 
 
 "An atheist? What are you trying to do, ruin 
 my reputation ? " 
 
 "Well, agnostic then. If my memory serves me, 
 it was you who pretty nearly broke up the class in 
 philosophy once by a wholly uncalled for disserta 
 tion on the subject of religion." 
 
 " Do you mean to tell us, Bert, that there is really 
 a man alive not afraid to speak his mind on the 
 one most important subject in the world? "
 
 TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 209 
 
 " He stands or rather, sits before you in 
 flesh and blood. Look at him well, ladies. You 
 may never see his like again." 
 
 " What have you got to say in answer to this 
 serious charge?" said Ethel, sternly. 
 
 " Guilty ! I may be unique, but although I have 
 never flaunted my ideas in public, in spite of Bert's 
 remark, I admit that it has always seemed peculiar 
 to me somehow that the average normal young per 
 son, either man or woman, never mentions the 
 name of their God outside of church except in 
 profanity, of course without giving the impres 
 sion that he or she is fearfully embarrassed 
 and ought to apologize for the slip." 
 
 " That's a sad truth, Mr. Shaw," interposed mild 
 little Mrs. Aldrich. " This is a terribly frivolous 
 age, and I don't know what we are coming to." 
 
 " I think that we are coming to a very great 
 change for the better, Mrs. Aldrich. I don't pre 
 tend to be a prophet or anything like -that and I 
 may be wrong, but serious thinkers don't laugh, 
 Bert, I'm not classing myself with them seem to 
 agree that we are just beginning to feel the ground 
 swell which is the forecourser of a mighty tidal 
 wave of awakened individual, and social conscience, 
 internationalism and real religious feeling. I don't 
 mean that we can look for the millennium next week 
 or next year, but better things are coming. The
 
 210 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 present materialistic order may die hard and prob 
 ably will, but its death throes will be the birth pains 
 of a new and better era." 
 
 " Yes, it certainly looks very much that way 
 now," answered Bert sarcastically. " Europe an 
 armed camp, the nations itching for an excuse to 
 fly at each others' throats, America ditto with cap 
 ital and labor in a death grapple, sensualism and 
 worldliness rampant, and the whole shooting match 
 going to the tarnation bow-wows." 
 
 " You've described the attitude of the perpetual 
 pessimist to a T, but I know and you know that you 
 don't believe it yourself. Didn't you ever hear the 
 saying * darkest just before dawn'?" 
 
 " Yours is a comforting doctrine, anyway," put in 
 Marion. 
 
 "Yes, it is the belief of an optimist, but don't 
 give me credit for it." 
 
 " But why should Bert have said that you 
 were an agnostic, Mr. Shaw?" persisted Mrs. Al- 
 drich. 
 
 "Oh, he was joking; he didn't mean it, Mrs. 
 Aldrich, except perhaps in the literal sense of 
 ' one who admits that he doesn't know.' In that 
 sense even a true believer in religion may be an ag 
 nostic, I suppose." 
 
 " Well, anyway, you know that you did knock the 
 accepted principles of religious belief, old man, al-
 
 though I can't remember just what it was all about 
 now," he said in self-defense. 
 
 " That is evident, or you wouldn't say that ' I 
 knocked ' any religious principles. I didn't, never 
 have, never shall. As I recall, I said that I couldn't 
 ascribe to many of the accepted ideas and beliefs in 
 cidental to our religion as it is generally preached 
 and believed, and Professor James made me eluci 
 date, to my great dismay." 
 
 " All right, then I'll hedge once more and get it 
 right at last by explaining that you ' merely knocked 
 the accepted ideas and beliefs incidental to our re 
 ligion as it is commonly preached and believed.' 
 Dost that suit your highness ? " 
 
 " No ! To be entirely right, my boy, you've got 
 to go a step further still. I didn't knock at all; I 
 merely said that I personally could not agree with 
 and ascribe to them." 
 
 " You arouse my interest and curiosity, Mr. 
 Shaw," said my host. " Would you object to go 
 ing a little further yourself and explaining what you 
 mean ? " 
 
 " Yes, please do, Mr. Shaw," Miss Margaret 
 added her word of entreaty. " It will at least be 
 refreshing to hear a young man talk on some sub 
 ject other than shop, sport or sentimentality, which, 
 with gossip, seem to be the only topics of conversa 
 tion indulged m nowadays."
 
 " Good Lord, I've put my foot in it again, and as 
 usual ! " groaned Bert. " John is the direct de 
 scendant of one of those ranting Puritans that 
 noble army of martyrs who came over in the May 
 flower to this hitherto happy country, to worship 
 God in their own way, and make everybody else 
 worship him in their way, too. If he ever gets 
 started sermonizing, good night vaudeville show." 
 
 " Don't be too concerned, Bert," I replied, begin 
 ning to feel as much embarrassment as any one of 
 the general public against which I had been inveigh 
 ing. " I had no desire to air my views, nor to 
 preach what I try to practice. I hope that my in 
 terrogators will let me off on saying that I don't 
 profess to be a saint myself, I hate the kind of hy 
 pocrisy which passes so often for religion, and that I 
 believe that a man's religion, if it means anything to 
 him, should not be carefully hidden under a bushel 
 six days in the week and taken out, dusted and set on 
 a candlestick for an hour or two on the seventh. 
 One's immortal soul, it seems to me, is in one respect 
 precisely like one of his muscles. Give it proper and 
 consistent exercise and it will expand and grow 
 stronger, but ignore its existence and it will shrivel 
 to flabby uselessness." 
 
 " Very true, but you are not going to escape that 
 easy, John," broke in Ethel. " As your mother-in- 
 law-to-be I think that I have a right to sit as a
 
 TWO MORE ENGAGEMENTS 213 
 
 national board of censors upon all your theories. I 
 don't want any Bob Ingersoll marrying my daugh 
 ter, so begin at once." 
 
 " Oh, come now, you're not in earnest," I said, 
 squeaming inwardly. The response was heartily af 
 firmative, and, at last, with considerable hesitation, 
 I said, " Well, supposing you ask me some questions 
 and I'll do my best to explain just where I cannot 
 follow all the generally accepted beliefs called by 
 the name of religion." 
 
 "Very well, then, I'll start the ball a-rolling," 
 began Bert cheerfully. " Do you believe that Jonah 
 swallowed the whale ? " 
 
 " Albert, you were not brought up to treat serious 
 subjects like religion with levity," reprimanded his 
 mother. " Do you, Mr. Shaw " 
 
 Her question was interrupted by a vigorous honk 
 ing from the direction of the driveway without, and 
 Bert sprang to his feet, laughingly patting his 
 mother's cheek and crying, " My lord and ladies, 
 the auto waits and so can John's dissertation, but a 
 vaudeville show like time and tide waits for 
 no man. Come along." 
 
 With an inward relief as great as his own I rose. 
 
 Mrs. Aldrich sighed softly, saying, " I suppose 
 that we'll have to excuse you, but this incident is 
 wonderfully typical of the attitude of this whole age. 
 A show inevitably takes precedence over what
 
 214 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 should be the most serious and important thing in 
 our lives." 
 
 And I could not but agree in my heart that she 
 was right.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN WHICH PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL 
 
 IT may have been merely the natural exuberance 
 of spirits of four fun-loving young people on pleas 
 ure bent, or, perhaps, the reaction from the unusual 
 seriousness of our recent conversation, but from 
 whatsoever cause, our visit to Freebody Park was 
 attended with wild hilarity. 
 
 The show itself, as I remember it, was of a de 
 cidedly mediocre variety, but we needed no help 
 from the other side of the footlights to keep us in 
 a perpetual state of giggles and merriment. Bert 
 was a whole show in himself, and his running stream 
 of side remarks at the labored efforts of the paid 
 performers were so provocative of mirth that we 
 must have been public nuisances or would have 
 but for the fact that the occupants of the boxes at 
 the Park seldom pay any serious attention to what 
 is passing on the stage, anyway. Many of our 
 neighbors knew Ethel and Bert intimately and sent 
 glances and even words of tolerant amusement in 
 our direction, apparently ascribing our behavior to 
 
 an over-generous indulgence in cocktails at dinner. 
 
 215
 
 216 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Marion alone tried occasionally and f utilely 
 to stem the tide of our boisterous gayety, and finally 
 said in despair, " Bert Aldrich, beware how you give 
 way to this inordinate worldly gayety, or your im 
 mortal soul will surely shrivel." 
 
 " Let it shriv, then. I've simply got to do some 
 thing to offset the sobering effect of John's recent 
 lecture, or I'll find myself running away and join 
 ing a convent " 
 
 " You mean monastery, don't you ? " 
 
 "I, a monastery? Not on your life. I meant 
 just what I said, and just think what a heart-break 
 ing loss that would be to the Great White Way, 
 and how many choreens would starve to death with 
 their steady meal ticket gone. Besides, why pick 
 on me? John's last jest was infinitely worse than 
 any I've perpetrated to date, although I've almost 
 thought of one which will simply make you scream." 
 
 How changed circumstances affect one's point of 
 view! Many a time I had sat behind the barrier 
 which separates the favored boxholders from the 
 common herd in the stalls, and inwardly cursed the 
 society folk whose constant chatter detracted so 
 much from the enjoyment of the show. Yet now, 
 without a thought for others, I was myself acting 
 in precisely the manner that had once so disgusted 
 me. 
 
 Thus time passed on wings until the big act on
 
 BEFORE A FALL; 217 
 
 the bill, a widely advertised dancer, was next in 
 order. When the placards bearing her name were 
 placed on the two easels at either side of the stage, 
 we calmed down a little, prepared to give more at 
 tention to the performance of this apparently fa 
 mous terpsichorean expert. 
 
 Her first number was commonplace and harmless 
 enough, but thereafter followed a series of bodily 
 contortions, performed in a most abbreviated cos 
 tume, which, by no stretch of the imagination, could 
 be called graceful, pleasing, or even dancing. 
 
 I won't pretend to say whether I should or should 
 not have been amused by it had I been alone, or 
 with men only, but, in the company as it was con 
 stituted, the exhibition was a torture to me, and 
 alternate hot and cold waves of shame and embar 
 rassment passed over me. We all of us felt, ap 
 parently, that to leave would have been too pointed, 
 for no one made a move in that direction, but I re 
 joiced to see, by a covert glance, that Marion would 
 not even look at the performer but had turned away 
 from the stage and was reading her program 
 earnestly. 
 
 When the dance if dance it could be called 
 was over I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was de 
 cidedly premature, for the star, having thrown a 
 cloak about her, began to throw broadcast into the 
 audience mementoes of her act in the shape of those
 
 218 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 articles accessory to wearing apparel made famous 
 by the British order whose motto is, " Honi soit qu'i 
 mal y pense." 
 
 Many of the men spectators displayed their 
 proficiency as ball players and so obtained one of 
 her favors, until she had only one left to throw, and 
 this came sailing straight into our box. 
 
 Bert intercepted it, and upon examination dis 
 covered a card attached thereto on which was writ 
 ten, " Dear Johnny. I seen and recognized you be 
 fore the act. If you can shake your lady friend 
 after the show, come around to No. Beach 
 Street and we'll have a cozy little bird and bottle like 
 we used to." 
 
 This broke the tension a little and we all began 
 to jolly Bert in the most approved fashion over his 
 latest conquest, he, himself, entering into the fun 
 at his expense with ardor, but, after a moment, 
 turned the card over and exclaimed in astonish 
 ment, " Here, this billet doux wasn't meant for me 
 at all, but for you, John ! " and he read aloud, " Mr. 
 John Alden Shaw." 
 
 We burst into renewed laughter at this attempt 
 to put the joke on me, but he added seriously, " I'm 
 not jesting. Here, see for yourselves, if you don't 
 believe me," and he handed the souvenir over to 
 Ethel. 
 
 I could not credit my eyesight, for the card did
 
 BEFORE A FALL 219 
 
 in fact bear the words which he had read. There 
 was a moment of strained silence. Then I said 
 with a forced laugh, " Well, this is one on me, all 
 right I guess that the lady must be a clairvoyant 
 as well as some other things. I'm sure I never set 
 eyes on her before. It's safe to say that once would 
 have been enough or too much." 
 
 " Oh, come now," replied Bert, anxious to get 
 back at me for his recent unmerciful grueling. 
 " That's a likely story, and I'm surprised and grieved 
 that you would deny an old friend like this. There 
 is a chapter in John's life that I wot not of ap 
 parently. Take me with you when you accept her 
 invitation, won't you? Of course, you're going 
 yourself? " 
 
 " Don't talk tommy rot," I replied with unneces 
 sary heat. " And cut out the insinuations. I know 
 that you're only joking, but the idea of ever hav 
 ing had a bird and bottle with that, bah! How in 
 the dickens did she learn my name? Oh, come on, 
 let's get out of here," and so stirred up was I that, 
 without waiting for the others to agree, I jumped 
 up and led the way from the theater, hardly know 
 ing whether to try to treat the matter as a joke or 
 give way to' the real anger which I felt over it. 
 One thing was certain, I was thoroughly disturbed 
 over the thought of what impression this unpleas 
 ant and inexplicable incident had left on the minds
 
 220 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 of these two refined and sensitive girls espe 
 cially Marion's. 
 
 Nor was I to be kept long in doubt. During the 
 ride home Ethel and Bert talked to me continually 
 in a light vein of anything and everything, but Miss 
 Lee hardly addressed me, and indeed spoke scarcely 
 at all, and my misery grew until I felt that I could 
 return and assassinate the cause of my disgrace with 
 the greatest pleasure. 
 
 Moreover, I puzzled my brain over and over 
 again without arriving at any reasonable or un 
 reasonable explanation of the affair, and when Miss 
 Marion said, " Good night, Mr. Shaw," in a very 
 cold and formal tone, and without offering me her 
 hand, I blurted out in despair, " For Heaven's sake, 
 Miss Lee, surely you don't believe " 
 
 " I don't know what to believe, Mr. Shaw," and 
 with this far from comforting remark she left me. 
 
 I walked home, utterly at sea to find any explana 
 tion for this singular occurrence, and torn between 
 bitterness and distress, now angry over Miss Lee's 
 unjust attitude, and now saying to myself that she 
 could not possibly be blamed, she knew nothing 
 about me and the circumstantial evidence against me 
 was most certainly strong and convincing. 
 
 The next hour wa$ the bitterest I had ever spent, 
 and made no less so by the fact that I was wholly 
 innocent. I saw all my beautiful air castles crum-
 
 BEFORE A FALL 221 
 
 bling into dry dust, and any resentment that I had 
 theretofore felt against Fate, shrunk into insig 
 nificance beside that which now possessed me. 
 After tossing and turning for an hour I fell into a 
 disturbed sleep, only to wake the following morn 
 ing with the troubled consciousness that there was 
 something rotten in the State of Denmark. For an 
 instant I could not collect my thoughts. Then the 
 sickening realization of the night before came over 
 me with a rush, and the thoughts with which I had 
 fallen asleep returned magnified and sinister de 
 spite the broad and cheerful sunshine that was flood 
 ing the room. 
 
 I dressed dejectedly and went down to breakfast. 
 This time Mr. Hammond was ahead of me, and, 
 as I entered, greeted my arrival with a shout of 
 laughter. 
 
 " What's the joke now ? " I asked with little en 
 thusiasm. 
 
 " I guess from your disconsolate countenance that 
 you have seen the morning paper, but if not, read, 
 mark, learn and inwardly digest this," and he 
 handed me the New York Sun opened to a sporting 
 page, and indicated a column article headed, " Entry 
 List and Drawings for the National Champion 
 ship." 
 
 I skipped the lead, and my eyes ran rapidly down 
 the list of names. It is remarkable how one's own
 
 222 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 cognomen sticks out from a printed list like a sore 
 thumb and I found mine almost immediately and 
 read, J. A. Shaw vs. winner W. B. Brownley 
 E. F. Manners match." 
 
 The thought immediately flashed through my 
 brain, " That brings me against Manners in the sec 
 ond round as sure as shooting, for he is bound to 
 win his first match, and slim chance I've got of win 
 ning from him which means my exit right at 
 the outset." Truly, calamities seldom come singly, 
 and it never rains but it pours. 
 
 " I can imagine what Manners will do to you," 
 laughed my host. " Have you seen last week's 
 Town Topics yet ? " 
 
 " No," I replied, wondering what new unpleas 
 ant disclosure was in store for me. 
 
 He sent a maid for it, and pointed out an item 
 which read as follows : " All Newport is chuck 
 ling over an incident which happened on Thursday 
 night at the residence of one of its leading, if not 
 most popular, bachelors, who is both a former ten 
 nis star of National reputation but known as a most 
 successful promoter, and all-'round sportsman. He 
 was host at a friendly game of auction which fol 
 lowed a select stag dinner, one of the guests in 
 vited, 'tis rumored, merely because staying with a 
 neighbor who was really wanted being a young 
 Bostonian blessed with a name made famous in
 
 BEFORE A FALL 223 
 
 history. The host and unwelcome guest found 
 themselves pitted against one another in play, which, 
 it is said, was for comfortably high stakes, and the 
 latter rose to depart at midnight when slightly ahead 
 of the game. This led to an accusation of poor 
 sportsmanship by his entertainer, the implication 
 was hotly denied, and the accused offered to play 
 one more hand to settle the score and the possession 
 of the stakes for the evening, the cards having al 
 ready been dealt. This was agreed to and played 
 amid heavy betting on both sides, and the interloper 
 won from his famous opponent who considered 
 himself some expert to the tune of something 
 like a thousand dollars, which loss hurt consider 
 ably more than the mere defeat, it is whispered. 
 Moral: Beware of the unsophisticated youths from 
 Beantown." 
 
 I read it through twice, and then whistled say 
 ing, " Do you suppose that he has seen this ? " 
 
 " Seen it? Of course he's seen it. Why, Toivn 
 Topics is the Newporter's Bible. He must be 
 thinking that you were invented for the particular 
 purpose of plaguing him, and love you correspond- 
 ingly." 
 
 " I should say as much." 
 
 " And I'll bet he looks on this tennis meeting as 
 arranged by a special providence to give him a 
 chance to take it out of your hide. You'd better
 
 224 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 default and dodge the licking as gracefully as possi 
 ble." 
 
 "Default?" I said wrathfully. "Well, hardly. 
 I can take a defeat, if necessary, but give him the 
 satisfaction of thinking that I am afraid of him? I 
 guess not ! " 
 
 " That's the way to talk, and I expected as much 
 from you. I'm going to make a burnt sacrifice to 
 the Weatherman to-day in hope that he'll send the 
 hottest day of the year to-morrow. Manners is so 
 pickled in alcohol now that he could not possibly last 
 through a long match if the thermometer were flirt 
 ing with the hundred mark. But, cheer up. I 
 thought that you were having altogether too smooth 
 sailing of late and about due for some bumps." 
 
 " Much obliged; you are a fine Job's comforter. 
 As a matter of fact, I am getting them in 
 bunches," and I proceeded to give him an account of 
 the peculiar affair of the previous evening. 
 
 " Whew ! That is a fine state of affairs, and I 
 don't wonder that you're sore. But why don't you 
 hunt up your dancer friend this morning and choke 
 the source of her information from her? " 
 
 " I'd like to, fast enough, but if I should go to 
 see her it would be just my luck to have the Lees go 
 riding by at the psychological moment when I was 
 leaving her, and have her throw her arms around 
 my neck and kiss me good-by."
 
 BEFORE A FALL 225 
 
 Mr. Hammond burst into a roar of laughter at 
 this picture, and I glared at him, my sense of humor 
 being in total eclipse at that moment. 
 
 " Besides," I added, when he stopped, " I happen 
 to have another engagement this morning." 
 
 "Well, I'll be hanged if I don't do it myself 
 then. It would be a rare lark. I tell you what, 
 I'll go in the guise of your lawyer and threaten her 
 with everything I can think of from a suit for arson 
 to manslaughter. Oh, I'll get the truth out of her 
 all right, if I have to operate with a bowie knife." 
 
 " Do you really mean it ? " I asked eagerly. 
 
 " Sure as you are an inch high, my boy, and I 
 will have the time of my life doing it." 
 
 " Mr. Hammond, you're a brick ! " said I, jump 
 ing up and wringing his hand. " Now I'm off to 
 keep my appointment." 
 
 " Now you're nothing of the sort. The Lord de 
 liver me from ever falling in love again ! Oh, I can 
 see through a wall when there is a hole in it. Sit 
 down, man, you haven't had breakfast yet." 
 
 Considerably abashed I obeyed, but a half hour 
 later was approaching the Aldrich mansion with a 
 comparatively light heart, confident that all my trou 
 bles were soon to blow over. 
 
 Bert met me at the door with a long face. " Pre 
 pare for the worst," he said dolefully; "you are in 
 deep disgrace, young man."
 
 226 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Go ahead and get it over with," I responded 
 with sinking heart. 
 
 " Margaret really isn't so well and doesn't feel like 
 going to church this morning, and Marion pleads 
 a headache and begs to be excused. I think that she 
 has gone for a walk to get the air, or, more likely, 
 to escape from the persecutions of a certain very 
 depraved young man I know of. So you see there's 
 nothing left for you to do but stay and play tennis 
 with me." 
 
 With the milk of human kindness thoroughly 
 soured within me I refused curtly, and said that I 
 was going to church anyway. 
 
 " Well, you are the limit ! " he said, in deep dis 
 gust. " You're about as stubborn as a mule I 
 was going to say * had about as much sense as one,' 
 but I wouldn't insult the mule that much." 
 
 " Thanks. Good-by." 
 
 " See you this afternoon?" 
 
 " Not if I know it," and with the absurd arro 
 gance and hot-headedness of youth, I rode away on 
 my high horse, utterly forgetful of the obvious fact 
 that I had no quarrel with Bert. 
 
 Moreover, I did go to church, but found no com 
 fort nor consolation there. I read the prayers with 
 all my thoughts racing madly over the recent un 
 happy experiences, heard the 'sermon without tak 
 ing in a word of it, and picked flaws in the singing,
 
 BEFORE A FALL 227 
 
 which I doubt not was excellent, the choir being a 
 very good one. 
 
 Even the walk home through the beautiful coun 
 tryside helped little, and when I reached Mr. Ham 
 mond's, he added to my affliction by reporting that 
 he had sought the dancer, but found that the bird 
 had flown to her next stand less than an hour be 
 fore. 
 
 That afternoon and evening I enjoyed being thor 
 oughly miserable, and this time my misery loved 
 company and I stuck to my host like a leech. In 
 deed, my society must have been anything but edify 
 ing, but he bore with me with unfailing good humor, 
 thus proving himself more and more my friend, and, 
 verily, a man in a thousand.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN WHICH SOME SPORTING HISTORY IS RETOLD 
 
 WHEN I arose the next morning I began to be 
 lieve in the efficacy of prayer over material things, 
 for the opening day of the big national tourney 
 dawned fair and exceedingly hot. By ten o'clock, 
 when play was scheduled to commence, it was siz 
 zling. By noon the sultry atmosphere was fairly 
 vibrating with heat waves which seemed to come 
 from an inferno. 
 
 I was on deck at the Casino early, and the bus 
 tle and excitement of preparation proved sufficiently 
 infectious to cheer me up considerably, and I be 
 gan to greet with real enthusiasm, old friends 
 among the new. arrivals as they flocked in, bag and 
 baggage. After all, I thought at last, the play is 
 the thing, and what profiteth it for a husky, vigor 
 ous young man to go about moping and eating his 
 heart out over a fickle girl ? 
 
 The Little Doctor, then president of the National 
 Association, I found enthroned upon a folding chair 
 on the veranda to the locker building, surrounded 
 
 by his aides-de-camp, welcoming contestants, check- 
 
 228
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 229 
 
 ing up their names, assigning lockers and schedul 
 ing courts, as busy as a bee, and, indeed, the gen 
 eral hum and buzz carried out the simile. I re 
 ported to him, and then stood for a moment look 
 ing down the stretch of turf upon which several 
 pairs were already hard at it, watched by an ever 
 swelling gallery who would line the main path un 
 til the hour for the featured match struck, when a 
 great rush for the grand stand would occur. 
 
 How much a modern tennis tourney resembled, 
 while differing from, a meeting of the olden days, I 
 mused. 
 
 Here, as then, were the grassy lists, the eager 
 warriors keen to gain the honor of challenging the 
 mighty champion for his crown and honors, the gal 
 lery filled with fair women, many of whom, doubt 
 less, had a hero entered for the fray with cour 
 age doubled by a smile from their dear lips. Ah, 
 that I might be so encouraged! The proud steeds 
 arching their noble necks and champing fiercely at 
 their bits, each bearing his mail-clad, behelmeted 
 warrior, were no more, to be sure. Their martial 
 aspect had given place to the more peaceful, but 
 scarcely less attractive, scene made by the lithe and 
 graceful contenders all clad in spotless white, and 
 bearing, instead of warlike spear or sword, the light 
 and perfect racket a weapon requiring far greater 
 skill of hand and brain to manaee. The fan fare
 
 230 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 of trumpets did not echo down the field, but the 
 merry fiddle was tuning up in the pavilion at the 
 other end of the stretch of courts. The game had 
 truly changed, but the old spirit still lived. 
 
 Since I did not have to play until the second 
 round I volunteered my services as an official, an 
 offer which was gratefully taken up, and I was as 
 signed to the post of base line umpire for the " big " 
 match of the first round the meeting of two 
 " first ten " players, which was to be staged at 
 eleven upon the so-called Championship Court, and 
 the prescribed hour found me at my post facing the 
 grandstand where the favored Croesuses viewed the 
 play shaded by the row of tall trees behind it. 
 Now it was being rapidly filled with gayly attired 
 society women and their more somberly arrayed 
 male escorts. 
 
 The match was started promptly, and from the 
 first service proved to be as hard fought and thrilling 
 a battle as one could wish to see, replete with bril 
 liant shots calling for close decisions, and, for a 
 time, my mind was wholly engrossed with my duties 
 and the play. But the extreme heat and the con 
 tinued tension finally caused a reaction. I found 
 my thoughts and eyes wandering, and at last, for 
 getful of my task for the moment, I looked aim 
 lessly toward the grandstand just in time to see 
 Ethel, Bert, and last but not least Marion en-
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 231 
 
 ter three of the seats directly opposite me. I 
 straightway forgot all else save the presence of my 
 enchantress, but the next instant was brought to 
 earth by hearing the voice of the veteran referee 
 call, " How was it, Mr. Shaw ? " 
 
 I had been asleep at my post, ana, during that 
 fatal moment, a deep drive had struck so close to 
 my base line that the scorer was in doubt whether 
 it had landed good or out. And, horrors, I real 
 ized instinctively at the same moment that if the 
 shot were good it meant the end of the match, for 
 the score then stood forty-fifteen and five games 
 to three in the third set. 
 
 In desperation I called, " Out," hoping against 
 hope that some beneficent fate would come to my 
 rescue and decree that my guess were right, but the 
 protesting chorus of " In," from spectators behind 
 me, immediately confirmed my worst fears, and the 
 man on the service line looked at me in deep sur 
 prise. 
 
 " Forty-thirty," sang the referee, and although 
 the player on the other side of the net gave me a 
 reproachful glance, he went back and prepared to 
 serve again without a word, for in this sport of gen 
 tlemen it is the unwritten rule that there shall be no 
 protesting of decisions, however flagrantly wrong 
 they may be. 
 
 I would have rejoiced to have had the earth open
 
 232 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 and swallow me up then and there, and the fact 
 that the gainer by my erroneous decision deliberately 
 and plainly " threw " the next point and the match, 
 as a true sportsman would, did not help matters any, 
 as far as I was concerned. 
 
 Feeling everlastingly disgraced, I left hurriedly 
 and made for the locker building to waylay the 
 winner and apologize, but as I was about to enter 
 the door, the Little Doctor hailed me with the far 
 from comforting information that I was wanted 
 immediately to play Manners, whose first opponent 
 had found discretion the better part of valor and de 
 faulted to him. 
 
 I went to my locker and dressed, outwardly calm, 
 but within as nervous as a witch, and upon report 
 ing to the " powers that be " was informed that we 
 had been assigned to the " second best " court, that 
 directly in front of the building. " You two ought 
 to be a pretty good attraction," was the cold-blooded 
 remark, but I knew at heart that Manners, and not 
 I, was meant. 
 
 My opponent, after the detestable custom of a 
 few stars, kept me waiting fully ten minutes, which 
 did not tend to lessen my nervousness any, and by 
 the time he did appear, looking big and business-like, 
 I was pretty nearly in a blue funk. 
 
 We took our places and proceeded to " warm up " 
 foolish term on such a day Manners from the
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 233 
 
 outset driving the ball across with an enviable free 
 dom of stroke, speed and accuracy and smashing 
 with deadly precision, while I could scarcely get it 
 in the court at all. 
 
 After a few rallies he took his position at the base 
 line, saying shortly, " Let's start ; I'm ready," with 
 out even adding the customary, " Whenever you 
 are," and although I might have demanded the 
 privilege of further practice, my pride forbade and 
 I prepared to receive, saying, " All right ; I guess 
 I'll never be any worse than I am now." 
 
 Manners was a left-handed player, and his twist 
 ing American service came to me with an awkward 
 bounce which completely disrupted my returns, his 
 drives were as true and speedy as rifle bullets, and 
 his volleying for he rushed to the net at every 
 occasion quick as lightning. Try as I would 
 drive, chop, or lob nothing went right and I 
 became bemired in a slough of execrable errors, 
 all the time having the discomforting feeling that 
 the gallery was either amused or worse, sympa 
 thetic which did not tend to improve my playing 
 any. 
 
 Others may have found the day delightful. 
 Certainly the sun was shining, the surroundings 
 charmed the eye, and a splendid orchestra was dis 
 coursing sweet strains nearby, but none of these 
 things pleased me, for I was getting unmercifully
 
 234 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 beaten. The first fifteen games were waking night 
 mares. With monotonous regularity the umpire 
 called off one after the other, until the score stood 
 two sets to love in my rival's favor, three games 
 having been the best I could do against his almost 
 machine-like playing. - 
 
 With this comfortable lead, Manners smiling 
 sarcastically eased up a bit and obviously decided 
 that he could toy with me and save himself. But 
 at the same time I thought that I detected in his 
 movements some signs of physical distress, for, in 
 spite of the terrific heat, he had been forcing the 
 pace continually and was perspiring profusely, re 
 quiring frequent recourse to the towel as well as the 
 pitcher of ice water. 
 
 This combination lent me new heart and with 
 my returned courage came a remarkable return 
 to form. Steadily I felt my control improving 
 and my confidence growing in the same ratio, un 
 til I was soon playing nearly up to my capabil 
 ities and meeting his softer shots with clean, hard 
 strokes. 
 
 As was inevitable, his let-down was fatal to my 
 opponent. He simply found it impossible to get 
 started again against my materially improved play 
 ing, and finally threw the set away at 6-3, evidently 
 preferring to let it go without the tremendous effort 
 it would require to pull it out of the fire, and to fin-
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 235 
 
 ish off the job by taking the fourth set after the 
 rest which the seven-minute intermission would give 
 him. 
 
 It seemed to me that he walked a trifle unstead 
 ily to the dressing room, whereas I was beginning to 
 feel stronger than ever, and as I came out of the 
 shower room and passed his compartment, I saw 
 him drinking a higloball, a sight which encouraged 
 me still more. If he needed stimulant he must be 
 further gone than I had imagined. 
 
 When I reached my own locker, Ned Witherbee, 
 whom I had not laid eyes on since the day he in 
 troduced me to my rival, was waiting for me, and 
 as he helped me into dry flannels he sputtered away 
 like a roman candle. 
 
 " It's an outrage, John ! That that that 
 snake is simply cheating you out of the match! 
 Upon my soul, I never saw such outrageously 
 flagrant footfaulting! He's stealing a clean yard 
 on you every time he serves. No wonder that he 
 can get to the net and smother your returns. Why 
 the dickens don't you put up a kick ? " 
 
 " I imagined that he was doing it, Ned, and that, 
 with his infernal service, has knocked my game 
 galley west. But what can I do? I would look 
 fine, wouldn't I, calling for a footfault judge to 
 watch a man of his tennis standing just because I 
 was getting whipped. I'm no cry-baby."
 
 SS6 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 " No, of course you can't do anything, but I'll 
 be damned if I can't," and he rushed off in high 
 dudgeon. 
 
 I was ready to resume well within the time limit, 
 but no Manners appeared, and, after waiting several 
 minutes, one of the executive committee went to 
 hunt him up, swearing to chalk up a default against 
 him if he didn't come out immediately. 
 
 As I walked to the railing I saw an extra chair 
 at each base line and seated in one of them the cham 
 pion himself, a man death on footfaulting and hav 
 ing not only a clear eye and judgment, but the cour 
 age of his convictions. 
 
 As I was standing there, inwardly elated, I felt 
 an arm over my shoulders and found Mr. Ham 
 mond at my side, " No more footfaulting, I guess, 
 John," said he. " Manners will go clean up in the 
 air when he sees Bill on the job, for they love each 
 other like a couple of cats, tails tied together and 
 hung over a clothesline. I haven't seen Manners 
 play like this in years but I told you to expect as 
 much. You've got him going at last just the 
 same." 
 
 " Yes, it is beginning really to look like it," I 
 responded, glowing with gratitude at his words of 
 encouragement. " But I haven't got his strokes, 
 confound him." 
 
 " Did you ever hear how Beals Wright beat the
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 237 
 
 mighty Brookes in Australia a while ago, on a day 
 just like this?" 
 
 " Yes," I replied with a flash of inspiration. 
 
 " Well, a word to the wise, you know. Go thou 
 and do likewise." 
 
 At this moment Manners put in an appearance 
 and we went out into the broiling sun again. 
 
 As I stopped at the referee's high chair to pick 
 up my racket my eye chanced to go up to the bal 
 cony of the locker building, and there, in the very 
 front row, stood Marion. 
 
 Scarcely could I credit my senses, for as I looked 
 her eye caught mine, she smiled and waved her 
 program encouragingly, and I went to my place 
 with the cold determination to win that match or die 
 in the attempt. 
 
 Manners annexed the first game, and then served 
 and ran in to the net as usual, bent on finishing me 
 off as soon as possible. I waited patiently and then 
 lobbed the ball deep. This change of tactics took 
 him off his guard, the ball cleared his racket cleanly 
 and forced him to turn and race to the back line 
 for it at full speed. It was the opening shot in 
 my campaign of tossing every ball well in the air 
 whenever he elected to run in, and merely patting 
 it over when he hugged the back court. Even the 
 simplest bounces which I knew that I could stroke 
 hard for aces, met the same reception at my hands.
 
 238 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 What with the repeated calling of faults by 
 the new umpire when he overstepped the line in 
 serving, and my own baiting, Manners lost his 
 head completely. Against any other opponent his 
 knowledge of tactics would undoubtedly have saved 
 him, but in this instance personal venom entered 
 and robbed him of his capacity to think. Utterly 
 disregarding the lessons that his long tournament 
 experience should have taught him, he began to try 
 to win every point outright, and rushed around 
 like one possessed. On such a day the result was 
 inevitable. 
 
 Slowly his strokes lost their sting and became 
 uncertain, his feet began to lag. Before that set 
 was over he had called for spirits of ammonia, and 
 when I had won it at 6-2 and was on even terms 
 again, I felt that the time had come when I could 
 meet and beat him at his own game. 
 
 With a masterfulness I had never felt before, I, 
 in turn, assumed the offensive and with clean tell 
 ing drives and volleys ran out the games until five 
 stood on my side of the ledger and none on his. 
 Then came a final burst of speed from him to pre 
 vent a love set, but it was only a flash in the pan, 
 and I was trotting off the court with a joy of con 
 quest such as I had never known, filling and thrill 
 ing me. 
 
 Nor was this all. When I emerged from my
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 239 
 
 shower bath one of the red-jerseyed ball boy imps 
 handed me a note, hurriedly written in pencil on 
 half of a score card. I read it with soaring spirits, 
 for it ran, 
 
 " Hearty congratulations on your famous victory. 
 Sorry that I cannot wait and offer them in person, but 
 we are off in a few minutes for a yachting trip which 
 is to last until to-morrow night. Am sure Margaret 
 would be glad to see you in the meantime if you have 
 time to call upon her. 
 
 " Sincerely, 
 
 "M. 
 
 " P. S. Saturday night's episode all explained and 
 you are vindicated." 
 
 With this wonderful postscript and how like 
 a woman it was filling my thoughts and carrying 
 my spirit into the heights again, I dressed and went 
 out into the bright sunshine infinitely more glori 
 ous than when I had left it to receive the con 
 gratulations of many friends and acquaintances. 
 Ned Witherbee had already begun to celebrate my 
 victory at the refreshment counter, and by the time 
 that he sighted me and had almost carried me bodily 
 to his base of supplies, there to regale myself with 
 an inoffensive ginger ale, he had arrived at a point 
 where he took most of the credit for Manners' de 
 feat to himself and I will not say that he was 
 wrong.
 
 240 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 He further insisted that I be his guest at lunch 
 eon, and I very nearly turned him from an ardent 
 friend into a bitter enemy by steadily refusing the 
 rich viands and potent liquid refreshments with 
 which he persisted in plying me. 
 
 Not until the middle of the afternoon did I begin 
 to realize how much that hard five set match at 
 noontide had taken out of me, and then I sought 
 out Mr. Hammond and got him to take me home. 
 At my request we went via the Postoffice, where I 
 found the expected letter from Jack Borroughs in 
 Petersburg. We read it together, after I had first 
 taken him fully into my confidence as to all the steps 
 which I had taken on behalf of the Lees' Virginia 
 property, explaining my action by telling him that 
 I was associated with Willard's lawyers, but asking 
 him not to divulge this fact. 
 
 It ran: 
 
 " PETERSBURG, VA. 
 
 "August , . 
 
 " Dear John : 
 
 "I'd rather have your luck than a million dollars. 
 There you are, leading a gay sporting life in Newport, 
 mingling freely with the disgustingly rich, and simply 
 tumbling onto big cases, while here I am slaving away 
 in a little stuffy office, and working early and late to 
 support a large and hungry family. 
 
 " And then the very idea of your making a chance 
 shot in the dark and hitting me for your mark ME,
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 241 
 
 probably the one man in all the Old Dominion most 
 bitter against that grasping New York bunch. Why, 
 I've been fighting them tooth and nail for a year, 
 which may or may not account for the fact that they 
 have not found their going any path of roses. Al 
 though I shall probably not return the munificent fee 
 which you hinted at, I would be glad to do your job 
 simply for the pleasure it would give me to slip an 
 other one over on them. 
 
 " And, as a matter of fact, your luck doesn't stop 
 there. As far as my preliminary examination has dis 
 closed, the only living heirs of old deVignier the 
 Lees' grantor are still living in the little town which 
 still considers itself under the protection of the Lee 
 estate, and they regard the two sisters as angels upon 
 earth which, being Virginia girls, they probably are 
 and would gladly swear away their hope of Heaven 
 for them. I've already got a confirmatory deed from 
 them and there only remains their old brother, who 
 ought to be easy when I catch him. So, if no others 
 come to light, your troubles are ended. I'll keep you 
 posted. 
 
 " With best regards to you and yours if there are 
 any ' yours ' yet I am, 
 
 " Sincerely, 
 
 "JACK." 
 
 " I'll be hanged if I don't agree with your cor 
 respondent's first sentence, John," said Mr. Ham 
 mond. " A chap as lucky as you does not deserve 
 to live. Don't allow yourself to acquire an en 
 larged cranium, my boy; remember the old adage
 
 242 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ' Whom the gods destroy they first make mad ' 
 and you have tempted Fate several times lately." 
 
 These frank words caused a chill of foreboding 
 to pass through me for a second, but the feeling did 
 not last. I was too supremely happy over the pres 
 ent to worry about the future. 
 
 "When Manners learns of how to reverse the 
 quotation you have added injury to insult, I 
 wouldn't be in your shoes," he added. 
 
 The balance of the afternoon I spent reading 
 quietly, but early evening found me once more at 
 the Aldriches' as suggested by Marion. 
 
 Mrs. Willard was on the portico, and the sound 
 of our voices in greeting must have reached little 
 Janet's room, for in a moment or two her nurse 
 came down to say that her charge would not go to 
 sleep until " Unke John " came up and tucked her 
 in. I complied gladly, and after returning to the 
 piazza spent a delightfully soothing hour with Mar 
 garet, during which our friendship deepened ma 
 terially. 
 
 Time and again I was about on the point of 
 speaking of my mission, but the occasion never 
 seemed to serve exactly, and I had not the strength 
 of will to terminate our congenial chat with such a 
 serious matter. Moreover, I temporized with my 
 self by thinking that, after all, my best method of 
 attack would result from first securing Marion as
 
 SPORTING HISTORY 243 
 
 my staunch ally. Procrastination, thou art fatal! 
 If I had only spoken then, how many heart aches, 
 what deep despair would have been saved ! 
 
 In the course of our rambling talk I mentioned 
 Saturday night's episode, and asked if she knew 
 what the explanation of it that Marion had learned 
 was. 
 
 To my astonishment she replied that her sister 
 had not mentioned the matter to her at all, and as 
 I walked homeward, my heart warmed anew at this 
 evidence of her loyalty, and reproaching myself bit 
 terly for my earlier thoughts over her apparent mis 
 trust.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IN WHICH OF A ROMAN HOLIDAY 
 
 ACCORDING to all rules laid down by the poets, a 
 man as much in love as I was should have spent his 
 time sighing like a furnace and making woeful bal 
 lads to his mistress' eyebrows. 
 
 As a matter of fact, if the sun is bright, the young 
 man's digestion is working well, and he has some 
 absorbing endeavor to busy himself with, he is 
 likely to devote very little, if any, time to such dole 
 ful occupations. 
 
 Such was the case with me during Marion's brief 
 absence on her yachting trip. Tuesday was indeed 
 a very busy day for me at the Casino, and it is fair 
 to say that not until evening did I mope any over 
 the fact that I was parted from my charmer. 
 
 The third round found me pitted against a cer 
 tain Yale star who had been cutting a wide swath 
 in college tennis circles that spring, and had won 
 a number of fairly important events later. 
 
 He was a young " comer," fast approaching the 
 front rank, brilliant but decidedly unsteady, whereas 
 I was just the reverse, and the self-confidence which 
 
 244
 
 A ROMAN HOLIDAY 245 
 
 had come to me as a result of my unexpected vic 
 tory over Manners, carried me through our match 
 with flying colors. Since I was seeking no special 
 honors, I could not but feel somewhat sorry for my 
 vanquished rival, for his disappointment over being 
 defeated by a nobody, as he apparently regarded 
 me, after his splendid early season record, was keen. 
 With it he saw his hopes for a place well up in the 
 National ratings go a-glimmering. 
 
 I w T as just congratulating myself upon getting my 
 day's work off the docket, so as to be free to enjoy 
 the challenge contest for the National Doubles 
 Championship that afternoon, when the Secretary of 
 the Association buttonholed me, remarking, " I see 
 you won from young Willett, Shaw. Great work! 
 If you keep up the pace you're traveling at now, the 
 championship is going to change hands this year. 
 Perhaps as a result, you are feeling good natured 
 enough to grant a favor to your next victim, Phil 
 Hasbrooke. He is really extremely anxious to get 
 back to town on account of business, but had rather 
 not default if he can help it. He wants to play this 
 afternoon if possible, and ought to be easy for you. 
 Can I put you down, say for two-thirty?" 
 
 The dictates of wisdom bade me refuse, for my 
 morning match had been a strenuous one and the 
 day was another sizzler, but I wanted to oblige the 
 committee, and finally reluctantly consented.
 
 X 
 
 246 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Thus while the enthusiastic gallery was drinking 
 in its fill of thrilling tennis on the grandstand court, 
 I had to go out again into the broiling sun, and 
 while my ears were being greeted with continual 
 bursts of applause from the other side of the field, 
 struggle through a long drawn out and uninspiring 
 match against an aggravatingly soft hitter who got 
 everything back with disconcerting persistence. So 
 little was my heart in the game that I practically 
 fooled away the third set, and then had to work like 
 a Trojan to get back into my stride and win the 
 fourth and match. 
 
 Still, I had the slight consolation of seeing my 
 name chalked up on the big blackboard along with 
 that of one of the most popular and brilliant of the 
 young California stars, in the fourth round, one 
 step ahead of all the rest. This match would, of 
 course, spell my elimination from the tourney, and 
 I was prepared to put up as good an argument as 
 possible before bowing to my master, quite content 
 with my showing in the event. 
 
 Wednesday morning I slept late, breakfasted in 
 a hurry and, as strange as it may appear, utterly 
 neglected to read the tennis story in the paper before 
 rushing off to the Casino. 
 
 What then, was my amazement and consterna 
 tion upon reaching the entrance at being greeted by 
 the horror-producing neatly printed words upon
 
 A ROMAN HOLIDAY 247 
 
 the announcement blackboards on either side, 
 " Championship Court. M. E. McLoughlin vs. J. 
 A. Shaw at ii o'clock." 
 
 I could not believe my eyes. The idea that our 
 match should be selected to be staged on the exhi 
 bition court had never for an instant entered my 
 mind, and with wobbling knees and blood turning 
 to water, I hastened to the locker building. So 
 nervous was I that I could scarcely voice my stam 
 mering protests to the " Little Doctor," and, as it 
 was, I might just as well have saved my breath, or 
 talked to a stone wall. 
 
 "Of course I realize the way you feel, Mr. 
 Shaw," was his propitiating response, " but the 
 committee chose your match because there hasn't 
 been a chance to put Mr. McLoughlin on the Cham 
 pionship Court before, and the gallery are clamor 
 ing for him. All the others who might properly 
 be put on there have already had a chance or have 
 easy matches to-day. Beside, your defeats of Man 
 ners and Willett are worthy of recognition, and we 
 believe that you are quite capable of giving Mac a 
 real match ; so, you see, it's up to you." 
 
 " But for heaven's sake, I couldn't get a game 
 from him ! It'll be a slaughter, and, somehow, I'm 
 not keen about furnishing a Roman holiday for the 
 assembled multitude. Great Scott, can't you put 
 yourself in my place and have a heart?"
 
 248 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 " Oh, you are too modest, Shaw. If we think 
 you can make it interesting for him that ought to 
 satisfy you. Why, I thought you would be pleased 
 to get a chance on that Court ; it isn't everybody that 
 does." 
 
 " I know that, and I feel highly honored, but 
 I'm plumb scared to death. I'd rather default now 
 than play there." 
 
 " Oh, come now, be a sport," chimed in several 
 of the others, who were standing around us. " You 
 can't any more then get beaten, and Maurie's hu 
 man. You may catch him off his game, and, if you 
 do, and play as you did against Willett, you'll give 
 him a good run for his money." 
 
 " Sure," broke in Ned Witherbee, " you might 
 lick him." 
 
 " Yes," I replied in deep disgust, " I might if 
 he broke a leg or fell dead on the court." But in 
 the end I yielded, nevertheless, and with palpitat 
 ing heart and a feeling inside as though I had eaten 
 a pound of lead for breakfast, went to dress for the 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Many a time and oft had I sat on the side lines 
 and criticised some poor floundering fellow who 
 was suffering an unmerciful beating at the hands of 
 some star of the first magnitude, saying to myself, 
 "Why on earth doesn't he do this, or that?" 
 Never shall I do so again!
 
 A ROMAN HOLIDAY 249 
 
 When I finally walked onto the court behind the 
 flaming red head of the popular " California 
 Comet," it seemed to me that each foot weighed a 
 ton, and my head nothing at all. The quick burst 
 of applause sounded in my ears like distant thun 
 der, and the gallery, now rapidly filling the grand 
 stand, appeared to be a confused and meaningless 
 mass of swimming color. 
 
 " God favors the side having the heaviest artil 
 lery," said Napoleon, and, quite naturally, my 
 mighty rival won the toss and elected to take the 
 first service. 
 
 Mere instinct caused me to take the proper posi 
 tion, although the referee gave me a word of en 
 couragement as I passed his stand, and I began to 
 return the cannon ball shots as well as I could and 
 frequently not at all. And, in due time, the battle 
 was on. 
 
 My body truly acted automatically, but my brain 
 refused to perform its natural function, and when 
 I managed to return the elusive white sphere, I had 
 the doubtful pleasure of seeing it go sailing straight 
 over the center of the net as though I were aiming 
 at him as a target, and high enough to give the wait 
 ing Nemesis an absurdly easy chance to kill it off 
 which he invariably did with ease and dispatch. 
 
 After a few rounds of applause produced by his 
 brilliant shots, the gallery ceased to pay any par-
 
 250 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ticular attention to our exhibition, some departed, 
 and from the rest arose a hum of many voices in 
 discussion of anything and everything except the 
 so-called contest. In time the idea grew in my 
 brain, " How much that buzzing resembles the twit 
 tering of a multitude of gayly plumaged birds," 
 an imagery which carried my thoughts to a forest, 
 and I heartily wished that I was in the very middle 
 of one at that moment. 
 
 Then my mind began to drum out, over and 
 over, the phrase, " What a poor fool you are to lose 
 your nerve like this, when nothing's at stake but a 
 silly game," but that did not help any in changing 
 the disheartening fact that I had lost it, and 
 the answering thought came in time, " What a 
 poor fool you are to let a mere boy, almost ten 
 years your junior, make an exhibition of you like 
 this." 
 
 The sing-song voice of the famous referee called 
 off game after game for my opponent with clock- 
 like regularity, and as I afterwards learned 
 in just eleven minutes, one red ball, representing 
 a love set, was hung up on the arm of the scoring 
 machine under his name. 
 
 As I stood wiping the perspiration from my face 
 and hands, by the canvas backstop, behind which the 
 members of the press were seated in listless atti 
 tudes, I overheard one of them say, " Worst case
 
 A ROMAN HOLIDAY 251 
 
 of plain stage fright I ever saw. He can do a 
 darned sight better than that, but to-day he can't 
 even hit the ball." 
 
 " Poor fellow, he must feel cheap," replied a 
 young miss who had been smuggled into that sacred 
 precinct. 
 
 This pitying remark furnished the last straw. I 
 saw red, something actually seemed to snap in my 
 brain, and the spell was broken. 
 
 My mind reasserted itself, I became cool and de 
 termined and toed the mark a different player, 
 ready, nay, anxious, to get at the demon oppo 
 site. 
 
 The champion in the making had too old a head 
 upon his youthful shoulders to let up even against 
 a hopelessly beaten opponent, his world-famous 
 service came hurtling in as swift and deadly as be 
 fore, and, in another moment, another game, also 
 won at love, was added to his fast growing string. 
 But this time the feeling of utter helplessness within 
 me did not follow, and with an assurance which 
 surprised myself, I took up the task undaunted, and 
 a short while after had the keen satisfaction of wit 
 nessing a small white ball: the first go up on 
 my side of the announcer. 
 
 The spectators, always ready and eager to en 
 courage the under dog, applauded faintly, and this 
 added a jot to my new determination.
 
 252 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Still almost helpless against his services, many 
 of which I failed to get my racket on at all, so swift 
 were they and so weirdly did they bounce, I never 
 theless with dogged determination fought out three 
 games on my own service, and the set terminaed 
 with the very respectable score of 6-3. 
 
 Tis said that nothing succeeds like success, and 
 as we paused at the end of this set to make liberal 
 use of the towels, which the ball boys tossed to us, 
 Ned rushed over to the barrier next me, saying 
 exultantly, " Now we've got him on the run, old 
 boy. I'm on my way out to telephone the city 
 band to come right up here and we'll have a swell 
 little parade down Bellevue Avenue as soon as 
 you administer the coup de grace," but I paid little 
 heed to him, for just at this juncture my eye fell 
 upon Marion and her two escorts in the gallery, 
 and she was looking toward me and smiling encour 
 agingly. 
 
 Knights of old, story tells us, achieved deeds of 
 marvelous valor when fighting under the eye of 
 their ladies fair, and the presence of my dear one 
 sent a stream of new courage and inspiration flow 
 ing into my heart. I gripped my racket as though 
 it had been a battle ax, and strode forward to 
 serve with my jaw set ominously. Let my wonder 
 ful young opponent beware now! 
 
 His first return came to me like a catapult, but
 
 A ROMAX HOLIDAY 253 
 
 with the courage of a lion I smote it back even 
 harder. If I had looked for " The Comet " to wilt 
 in fear before my burst of speed I was doomed to 
 disappointment. With a panther-like spring he 
 shot the ball over the net for a clean ace. 
 
 I, not he, was the one surprised, but still un 
 daunted I kept up the pace, playing as I had never 
 played before, but as my game improved, so did 
 his. The committee was right. I had found my 
 self and rejoiced in the realization that I was giv 
 ing the Pacific champion a real battle. But to what 
 end? Try as I would, forcing game after game 
 to deuce, sometimes repeatedly, I had not the punch 
 to win a single one, and the set, although so differ 
 ent, ended as had the first, 6-0. 
 
 And so, in spite of the fact that I knew in my 
 heart of hearts that I had performed better than 
 ever before in my life, and put up a very creditable 
 fight, tennis annals indicate that on that day in 
 August, John Alden Shaw met with a crushing de 
 feat at the hands of the boyish California marvel. 
 But what of that? My friends all made a point of 
 congratulating me upon my excellent showing, and 
 commenting upon the fact that the last set, in which 
 I had failed to capture a game, was, in reality, closer 
 than the second in which I had won three. But I 
 needed no words of praise or consolation. Let the 
 score be what it might, I knew that I had mastered
 
 254 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 my weakness and would never again be afraid to 
 face any player no, not the champion himself 
 and this moral victory took all the sting out of the 
 defeat. 
 
 When I emerged from the dressing-room I found 
 all the Aldrich party waiting for me on the piazza, 
 and with Marion's hand clasping mine in approval 
 I scarcely heard Bert rant forth, " Hail, mighty in 
 defeat. Yours is the unique distinction of having 
 lost the only love set of deuce games in the history 
 of the world. I've been subsidizing the press in 
 your behalf and to-morrow morning all men will 
 read the scare headlines, ' JOHN ALDEN SHAW 
 almost BEATS THE COMET, in spite of getting 
 licked 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.' " 
 
 " We're all proud of you," said Marion, with a 
 look which meant more to me than an actual vic 
 tory possibly could have. 
 
 " But isn't he a wonder ? " I replied enthusiasti 
 cally. " In another year or two he will top them 
 all, mark my words." 
 
 I would have been well pleased to have gone 
 home with them, but at this point a group of their 
 Newport friends joined us and insisted in carry 
 ing them away to luncheon, and I was not included 
 in the invitation. As they departed I managed to 
 slip in a whispered question to Marion, " What 
 about last Saturday night? "
 
 A ROMAN HOLIDAY 255 
 
 " I can't tell you now," she whispered back, " but 
 will to-night; that is, if you care to run up to the 
 house." 
 
 DID I care to?
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Now and then there comes a night which seems 
 as though it were too perfect to belong to this old 
 world so filled with flaws. 
 
 Such a one was that which brought to a close the 
 day of my defeat on the courts. 
 
 A refreshingly cool but wondrously soft breeze 
 blew in from the sea like a messenger laden with 
 tidings of peace and comfort. By its magic the 
 sultry air was changed into life-giving elixir. It 
 whispered gently through the foliage suggestions of 
 love and happiness, and, under its caressing touch, 
 the leaves murmured their happy response. 
 
 The distant stars, usually so unattainably far 
 away, seemed nearer and brighter, and in the west, 
 the moon in her last quarter appeared more like a 
 jeweled crescent on the gem encrusted sable robe of 
 Night, than a dead world. It was a dangerous 
 night, a night made for dreams of love. 
 
 Nature held me completely in its thrall as, with 
 fast beating heart, I made my way toward my goal. 
 
 256
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 257 
 
 My soul yearned to declare its love, but my brain 
 answered, " No, you must be calm and strong, that 
 cannot, must not be." 
 
 The spell of the night was on the Aldriches, 
 too, and all the members of the family were seated 
 upon the broad western veranda in a strangely si 
 lent mood, each deeply immersed in his or her own 
 thoughts, when I crossed the velvety lawn and 
 joined them. Even Bert's customary boisterous 
 greeting was conspicuous for its absence, and I took 
 a vacant seat and scarcely more than a nod or low 
 word of welcome from each. It was an hour when 
 nature's power draws men instinctively closer to one 
 another and to their Creator in silent communica 
 tion of the spirit. 
 
 Finally Ethel sighed deeply, and brought our 
 minds back to the commonplace things of life, by 
 saying, " I wish Tom were here. It's too bad to 
 waste such a night as this, and I feel dreadfully 
 spoony." 
 
 " Perhaps John might be persuaded to act as sub 
 stitute," answered Bert, ever ready to seize upon 
 such an opening. " I imagine that he could make 
 good, and as homely as he is, he's certainly infi 
 nitely better looking than Tom." 
 
 " He's certainly not ! " she replied heatedly, for 
 she was a wife still passionately in love with her 
 own husband.
 
 258 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " There, that's the kind of a wife for you," said 
 Margaret. 
 
 " Oh, when outsiders are around the king can do 
 no wrong and is the handsomest man alive, accord 
 ing to Ethel. But, take it from me, it's only for 
 effect," replied the tormentor. " You'd ought to 
 hear her rag him when they are alone, though 
 it's something scandalous and as for admitting 
 before him that he is even passably good looking 
 she'd lose a hand first. Oh, these women, these 
 women, their name is inconsistency." 
 
 " I don't believe a word of it," I protested 
 stoutly, putting my arm protectingly about Ethel's 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Good for you, son-in-law-to-be, you are a man 
 after my own heart, and you stick up for me," and 
 she patted my hand affectionately. " You poor 
 boy, you must be simply dead after your three days 
 of hard matches." 
 
 " Dead ? Not by a long shot ! " I responded. 
 " I feel as strong as a lion," and, to substantiate my 
 assertion, I picked her up, chair and all, and swung 
 her around till she shrieked out for mercy. " Why, 
 I could go out and walk ten miles right now." 
 
 " So could I," broke in Marion. " And what a 
 perfect night it is for a good walk. It's a crying 
 shame to sit here idly and gossip." 
 
 " My idea of ' nothing to do ' is taking a walk
 
 |io $r? 
 
 V 
 
 ITS A CRYING SHAME TO SIT HERE IDLY AND GOSSIP
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 259 
 
 when you're not going anywhere," said Bert, lean 
 ing back lazily and blowing out smoke rings. " If 
 any foolishly callow youths and maidens want to go 
 and deliberately wear out shoe leather, they may, 
 there is no law against it, but you may count * yours 
 truly ' out." 
 
 Marion ignored him and said, " Come on, Mar 
 garet, I'm sure a little walk would do you a world 
 of good, you need mild exercise as much as rest, 
 now. Don't you feel like it, dear? " 
 
 " Not to-night I guess, honey. I'll stay here and 
 watch Bert take his exercise in an arm chair, and, 
 if you go, don't forget that the ball at the Casino 
 comes to-morrow evening. I shall expect you to 
 be sound asleep in your little bed by ten at the 
 latest." 
 
 " You come, Ethel," urged Marion, and 'though 
 there was little heart in my words, I had, out of 
 politeness, to join my request to hers. 
 
 " All right," she replied, promptly jumping up. 
 " You two need a chaperon, anyway. I'll run in 
 and put on my old gray bonnet and be with you in a 
 minute." 
 
 This ready acceptance made my heart sink dole 
 fully, but a few moments later it rose again with a 
 bound, for Ethel came prancing out of the house in 
 wild excitement crying, " Hoo-ray, speaking of 
 angels. I just got a telephone, and what do you
 
 260 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 think? Tom's back unexpectedly. He's at the 
 depot now. He wanted to surprise me but the 
 dear old thing simply couldn't wait to get here and 
 had to 'phone the very minute he got in. That's 
 the kind of a husband to be, John," and seizing 
 me by the arms, she did a mad war dance about 
 the piazza. " Go ahead and take your old walk, if 
 you want to. I've got something a million times 
 better to do now," and she hugged herself ecstati 
 cally in anticipation. 
 
 And thus Fate pulled the strings once more, 
 and we two set forth into the magic moonlight, 
 alone. 
 
 For a time we walked briskly and in silence, giv 
 ing free play to our muscles and exulting in the 
 rhythmic swing together, for Marion walked with 
 the springy stride of a boy. Instinctively we 
 turned down the avenue toward the cliffs, and, as 
 we progressed, our pace slackened little by little, 
 and we began to talk quietly of those things which 
 interest a man and a maid. 
 
 I ended one long pause pregnant with silent night 
 music, by saying suddenly, " Well, I never ! Your 
 mere presence has driven one thing that I have 
 been meaning to ask about especially, entirely out 
 of my mind until this instant." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 " Why, your promise this morning, of course/*
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 261 
 
 " My promise ? " 
 
 " To be sure. Don't you remember that you 
 were going to tell me to-night what you had dis 
 covered about my mysterious epistle ? " 
 
 " I didn't really promise, did I ? " she asked hesi 
 tatingly, after a moment. 
 
 " You sure did." 
 
 " But I'm not so certain, on second thoughts, 
 that I had better, or want to. It's a woman's 
 privilege to change her mind, you know." 
 
 " So I've heard, but you promised." 
 
 " Oh, as for that, if I didn't cross my heart and 
 hope to die, it isn't binding." 
 
 Helpless before this womanly logic, but all the 
 more anxious to hear the story, I retorted, " All 
 right, but I've got a secret about you which I won't 
 tell unless you agree to disclose forthwith all you 
 know about that affair of mystery." Oh, wise be 
 yond my generation. What woman could with 
 stand this method of attack? 
 
 " Very well, then, I'll agree. .What is your 
 secret ? " 
 
 " Oh, come now, you surely don't expect me to 
 get caught that easily a second time. Your story 
 first, if you please." 
 
 " Well," she began slowly, " it really isn't much. 
 That note was nothing but a joke a friend was play 
 ing on you."
 
 262 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " A joke? I must say that it is not my idea of 
 humor. How did you find that out ? " 
 
 " Why, I I'd rather not tell." 
 
 " Ah, but you did promise this time.." 
 
 " Well," she hurried on, " somehow I thought 
 that it must have been a joke. You see, I could not 
 believe that you you . . ." 
 
 " Well, I should hope not. I don't pretend to be 
 any saint, but that particular kind of thing doesn't 
 appeal to me." 
 
 " Sunday morning I ran away from the folks, 
 and went to see her." 
 
 " You ? You went to see her ? You did that 
 for me?" 
 
 " No, you mustn't judge hastily. She really is 
 not bad at heart, a bit. I stayed and talked with 
 her about all sorts of things and really enjoyed my 
 visit immensely." 
 
 " Well, you are an angel ! I believe that you 
 would see some good in Satan himself." 
 
 " Hardly that, although, indeed, I've often 
 thought that his Satanic majesty was often blamed 
 for things that he didn't have any hand in. And 
 as for being an angel it's plain to see that you 
 have not known me very long. But this is beside 
 the point. She admitted at once and without hesi 
 tation, that a man whom she had never seen be 
 fore, but who told her that he was a friend of yours
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 263 
 
 and wanted to play a little joke on you, wrote the 
 note and gave her ten dollars to toss it into our 
 box." 
 
 " And who was this thoughtful ' friend ' of 
 mine? " 
 
 " She did not know his name, and could only de 
 scribe him vaguely." 
 
 " What was the description ? " I persisted with a 
 quick premonition that filled me with seething 
 anger. 
 
 "Oh, it doesn't matter, does it? It really was 
 only a joke, so never mind who the perpetrator 
 was. The whole thing is not worth giving another 
 thought to." 
 
 "Was it Mr. Manners?" I insisted. 
 
 "I refuse to answer, by advice of counsel; be 
 sides, I really don't know," she replied with some 
 thing of a start, as though my tone disturbed or 
 surprised her. I needed to press my questioning 
 no further and therefore replied lightly, " The 
 question may be stricken out," and changed the 
 subject abruptly. 
 
 Both scenting danger, we purposely kept the con 
 versation thereafter along the lines of airy persi 
 flage until we had reached the cliff walk, and, in 
 time, the famous " Forty Steps." 
 
 Here I stopped as the result of a sudden inspira 
 tion, saying, " Let's climb down them for a mo-
 
 264 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 ment and shut out the world of men above. Don't 
 you hear the sea calling? " 
 
 She hesitated just an instant, then acquiesced, 
 and with her hand in mine, and my heart pound 
 ing loudly, I aided her down to the little beach 
 below. 
 
 Behind us now towered the ancient cragged cliffs 
 fronting the broad Atlantic, and the rough stone 
 ladder we had descended. Before, to the vague 
 horizon stretched the mighty ocean across which 
 the low hanging moon to the right sent a shimmer 
 ing path of light straight to our feet. The sea 
 was waveless, but everlastingly swelling and drop 
 ping like the breast of a calmly slumbering woman. 
 
 As we stood there in silence, side by side, drink 
 ing in the perfect beauty of the scene, I heard Mar 
 ion sigh gently while the majestic power of nature 
 laid its overwhelming influence upon our very souls. 
 
 She spoke at last, softly, " I am glad the cliffs 
 hide from view those palaces of wealth above us. 
 Nature in such a mood is too wonderfully perfect 
 to be spoiled by any work of man's hand." 
 
 I did not answer. At that moment a great strug 
 gle was taking place within me. All my being cried 
 out for me to tell of my passion, but I dared not, 
 nor did I wish to speak at all while her mood 
 lasted. 
 
 " Oh, when we have ever before us such mighty
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 265 
 
 patterns of God's truth and grandeur as the sea, 
 the mountains, the desert, how can we men and 
 women be so terribly narrow, petty and full of de 
 ceit? How can we little mortals help realizing how 
 insignificant we really are, in the face of such ma 
 jestic mightiness? And yet, so full of foolish ar 
 rogance and petty conceit are we, that, except on 
 rare occasions like this perhaps, we blind ourselves 
 to all this colossal perfection, and go about our own 
 pitiably small affairs, filled with deceit fulness and 
 meanness. Isn't this," and she flung her arms sea 
 ward, "almost too wonderful? Doesn't it seem as 
 though you could actually hear the heart of the 
 great deep throbbing?" 
 
 " Yes," I barely whispered. " But this beauty 
 and your words have stripped my soul and left it 
 naked and ashamed, Miss Lee. I realize now, as I 
 have never before, that I, myself, am infinitely 
 more filled with the deceit against which you have 
 been protesting, than are most, and I know that I 
 should not ask your friendship even for a moment 
 longer, unless you are willing to hear my confession 
 and be merciful to me, a sinner." 
 
 "You, full of deceit, Mr. Shaw? I don't think 
 I understand." 
 
 " I do not wonder. Perhaps I should not even 
 hope to make you understand in the way I should 
 like to, but it is a fact. Will you let me tell my
 
 260 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 story? " and as she nodded her assent I hurried on 
 nervously, " That I have never told you any spoken 
 untruth about myself is no mitigation of the fact 
 that, for the past week, I have been living a lie, 
 for actions really do speak louder than words. I 
 don't know whether I actually have, or have not, 
 given the impression that I was a wealthy man of 
 social standing one, that is, belonging to the class 
 which you belong to, and so worthy of your intimacy 
 but I have, nevertheless, tried hard enough to 
 do so. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, I am nothing of the sort. 
 I am as poor as a church mouse, and have little real 
 prospect of ever being much else. And I know ab 
 solutely that, being such as I am, and the accepted 
 standards of the world being as they are no mat 
 ter how false they may be, theoretically I have 
 no right whatsoever to force myself into that class 
 and accept of its favors and yours, extended under 
 a misconception of the true facts." 
 
 I do not know just what sort of an answer I 
 looked for to this humble confession. Certainly I 
 did not expect her to laugh, and when her silvery 
 laughter rang out merrily as I finished, I was both 
 deeply surprised and hurt. 
 
 But the latter feeling quickly vanished, for she 
 replied, " My dear boy, I have known that for 
 days, and that I have not in any way withdrawn
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 267 
 
 my friendship and confidence, should be enough to 
 convince you that I have believed you worthy of 
 it in spite of the fact that you may not theoretically 
 belong to the so-called aristocracy of dollars for 
 the existence of which, indeed, there is no possible 
 excuse." 
 
 Somewhat dazed by the naive disclosure, which 
 indicated that my great secret was no secret at all, 
 I stammered, " You have known it all along? But 
 how?" 
 
 " I think that I could have guessed it anyway, 
 simply by reading between the lines of your con 
 versation, for you have an earnestness and pur- 
 posefulness which I don't find in the average young 
 man of society, wealth and leisure to-day. But I 
 won't pretend to second sight, and the truth is that 
 somebody told me all about you, and I found noth 
 ing in the recital that should cause you to be 
 ashamed of yourself or your position. Indeed it 
 has never occurred to me that you were masquerad 
 ing or trying to appear other than you were." 
 
 My thoughts got no further than her confession 
 that she had been told all about me, however, and I 
 interrupted shortly, " Some one told you ? Has 
 Bert broken his promise to " 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed. You need not blame poor 
 Bert, if he was supposed to conceal your purpose, or 
 your lack of wealth. Indeed, if there had been any
 
 268 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 need, I might perhaps have guessed the truth from 
 the fact that he has tried so hard to give the op 
 posite impression." 
 
 " Then, who on earth " 
 
 " A little bird whispered it to me." 
 
 Again I experienced a feeling of hot anger which 
 accompanied a premonition of the truth. 
 
 " Was it the same ' friend ' who favored me with 
 that epistle last Saturday night? " I demanded. 
 
 She did not respond, so after a moment I con 
 tinued quietly, 
 
 " Miss Lee, I wish that you would answer that 
 question this time. I can not just now tell you why 
 I want you to do so, but I hope that you will be 
 lieve me when I say that something extremely im 
 portant depends upon your answer important for 
 you as well as for me, that is." 
 
 " Perhaps I ought to consider the source of my 
 information as confidential," she replied doubtfully. 
 " But you seem so very much in earnest " 
 
 " I am, indeed." 
 
 " Well, then, your guess was right ; although I 
 don't see the meaning of it all." 
 
 " Manners told you ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " But what was the occasion ? Why should he 
 think it necessary to make such a statement about 
 me at all to you? I don't understand."
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 269 
 
 " Nor did I unless perhaps he saw you with 
 me so much that he foolishly thought you might be 
 a a possible rival, and felt that * all was fair in 
 love and war.' ' 
 
 " Love ? Do you mean to say that he has 
 'dared?" 
 
 It was apparently her turn to be astonished, for 
 she said rather coolly, " Dared ? Pray, why 
 shouldn't Mr. Manners honor me with a proffer 
 of his heart and hand, Mr. Shaw?" 
 
 I regret to say that my feelings overcame my 
 self control. I uttered a crisp oath full of mean 
 ing, and she said in great surprise, " Why, Mr. 
 Shaw!" 
 
 " Forgive me, Miss Lee, that was unpardonable, 
 I know, but the utter nerve and perfidy of that man 
 made me forget myself." 
 
 " I think that you had better explain." 
 
 " You may be sure that I intend to. A short 
 time ago I happened to learn something very much 
 to Mr. Manners' discredit, something that would 
 make his asking you to marry him outrageous, if 
 not actually an insult. In order to prevent me from 
 disclosing it, especially to you, he set a detective to 
 work in Boston to attempt to discover something 
 that would give him the whip hand over me, and 
 make me afraid to speak. The worst his agent 
 could learn was, apparently, that I was not what I
 
 270 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 was pretending to be here in Newport, but was 
 masquerading as I have confessed to you to 
 night, and to Mr. Hammond some time ago. He 
 failed to fathom my true motive for trying to pass 
 here for what I am not a motive that you shall 
 hear in a few minutes but he did guess, and guess 
 rightly, that, for a time at least, I wanted the facts 
 concealed. At his own suggestion he bargained 
 with me that if I would promise not to disclose 
 what I had inadvertently learned about his affairs 
 to his discredit, he would not divulge to any of you 
 what he had deliberately found out about me. I 
 have kept my promise, he has not. Now you know 
 why I swore." 
 
 " I don't wonder that you are angry, Mr. Shaw, 
 and, to tell the truth, I was myself. That method 
 of trying to discredit one who, he believed, no mat 
 ter how wrongly, was a rival, did not agree with my 
 ideas of the most honorable way of pressing one's 
 suit." 
 
 " No matter how wrongly? " I thought. Was it 
 possible that she did not guess the true state of my 
 feelings ? 
 
 " He intimated in no uncertain terms that you 
 were in Newport simply hunting a fortune," she 
 continued, " but I think that I made it clear that I 
 did not care either for his remarks about you, or his 
 proposal. But still I do not see why his offer was
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 271 
 
 outrageous or insulting, even though his methods 
 were not to my liking." 
 
 " Since he has first broken our agreement I am 
 free to speak. Miss Lee, do you know who Man 
 ners really is ? " 
 
 " Why, no, I know nothing about him other than 
 that he has the reputation of being an extremely 
 rich bachelor and, as such, a fine catch." 
 
 " Have you ever heard of the Virginia Wood 
 land Development Company?" 
 
 " Have I ? I should say I had. That iniquitous 
 corporation has left no stone unturned to get hold 
 of, and swallow up our own property in Fairdale, 
 but unsuccessfully, I'm glad to say." 
 
 " Mr. Manners and ' that iniquitous corporation ' 
 are one and the same thing. He owns practically 
 all of its stock." 
 
 " Do you mean it ? " 
 
 " I do, indeed, and this is part of the interesting 
 information that I stumbled on, and that he was so 
 anxious to conceal from you and your friends. 
 Mr. Hammond suggested that when he found out 
 that you were in Newport he would probably try 
 to acquire the land that he wants so much, by mar 
 riage, but I took that to be a joke and never thought 
 for a moment that he would have the nerve to try 
 it, although I won't pretend to say that this was his 
 only reason for wanting to marry you. I'll do him
 
 272 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 the justice of admitting that you yourself are an 
 object altogether worthy of his coveting." 
 
 In the pale moonlight I saw her countenance take 
 on lines of stern anger, and, after a pause, she said, 
 " Will you please repeat your swear word for me, 
 Mr. Shaw?" 
 
 " Gladly." Just for an instant I thought of tell 
 ing her the rest of Manners' plans, and expecta 
 tions, and what steps I had taken to circumvent 
 them, but, on second thought, decided that it was 
 wiser not to disturb her further until after I 
 had completed my self-appointed task and averted 
 the danger, since everything was apparently going 
 smoothly in that direction. So I changed the sub 
 ject by adding: 
 
 " But, Miss Lee, what you learned from Man 
 ners, and what I have confessed about myself to 
 night is only a part of the truth about my masquer 
 ade, and a small part. It doesn't explain the pur 
 pose of it, which is not ' fortune hunting.' I want 
 to make a clean breast of it now, for it is something 
 that you ought to know." 
 
 "What do you mean?" she asked in surprise, 
 
 " Will you please hear my story to the end with 
 out comment, and then judge me as fairly as pos 
 sible?" 
 
 She nodded her assent without answering. 
 
 " Strange as it may seem, my pose was assumed
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 273 
 
 at the start as a method of getting to know you, 
 yourself or rather, your sister and, I hoped, 
 of becoming intimate with her. Needless to say, 
 it has succeeded almost beyond my wildest hopes, 
 perhaps beyond my deserts." 
 
 At this information she started, and looked 
 amazed, but did not interrupt me, and I hastened 
 on, unfolding as honestly as possible, but probably 
 instinctively excusing and defending myself for the 
 methods employed, the true purpose of my mission 
 in Newport. 
 
 Although apparently several times on the point 
 of giving expression to her astonishment, she re 
 mained silent, and I saw her face become paler and 
 paler and assume a drawn look as I spoke. 
 
 When I had ended I waited for her to speak, it 
 seemed to me an interminable time. Finally, she 
 said, in a low agitated voice, 
 
 " Why do you tell me this, Mr. Shaw ? " 
 
 " For two reasons. The first one, which has ex 
 isted from the beginning of my mission, and is the 
 least creditable, is because I wanted to gain you for 
 a friend and ally, one whom I could count upon to 
 help me move Mrs. Willard from the position she 
 has taken, and at least to listen to her husband's plea. 
 For truly I have not exaggerated a bit. You must 
 believe me when I tell you that he is really more 
 than ever deeply in love with her, repentant, and,
 
 274. MAN PROPOSES 
 
 indeed, nearly heartbroken over this unhappy af 
 fair." 
 
 She did not wait for me to state the other, but 
 interrupted saying, " You have told me fearlessly 
 and frankly Mr. Willard's and your own version of 
 the tragedy which promises to wreck his life and 
 hers, and have quite naturally minimized the occa 
 sion. Will you now in your turn let me tell a story 
 which may convince you that there are really two 
 sides to this affair, as usual one that may per 
 chance convince you that Mrs. Willard was justi 
 fied in what she did ? " 
 
 "Of course." 
 
 Sh,e stood a moment in deep thought, and then 
 commenced to speak in a low hurried voice : 
 
 " It is not easy for me to say what I have got to, 
 to make you understand her feelings. For a great 
 many generations the men of our family which, 
 incidentally, is only distantly connected with the 
 branch which produced our idol, Gen. Robert E. 
 Lee, has been afflicted with a terrible, inherited 
 taste for liquor. The women, on the contrary, in 
 stead of being similarly affected, have, by a peculiar 
 twist of heredity, always abhorred drink with a bit 
 ter ingrained hatred. It is a sad fact that not a 
 few of my male ancestors have died little better 
 than drunkards, and my own grandfather, whom I 
 remember well, was one of the old school Southern
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 275 
 
 gentlemen who drank heavily all his life. The trait 
 skipped my father, who was always bitterly opposed 
 to alcohol, but made its appearance again in my 
 brother. Poor boy, he died only a few months ago, 
 and his death, at only twenty-six, was hastened by, 
 if not almost entirely attributable to, the insidious 
 effects of drink." 
 
 She paused in deep distress and I was about to 
 utter a word of sympathy, but she stopped me by 
 raising her hand, and, as she let it fall, I caught and 
 held it firmly in mine, and, somehow, I felt that 
 she scarcely noticed this. 
 
 " Another singular characteristic has also run 
 through our family. Although our men folks have 
 always been gentle and courteous in the treatment 
 of their women, they are not naturally demonstra 
 tively affectionate except when under the potent 
 influence of liquor. Thus sister and I always knew 
 when Bob had been drinking heavily, from the 
 fact that at such times he was ever so loving 
 and affectionate in his actions. Indeed, this, 
 in time, came to make both of us instinctively 
 shrink from any lavish display of affection from 
 others." 
 
 Again she paused, as though struggling to gain 
 fresh courage to continue her recital, but spoke at 
 last in scarcely more than a whisper. " When Ro 
 land Willard asked Margaret to be his wife, last
 
 276 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 spring, the memory of Bob's unhappy end was still 
 fresh in her mind, and, knowing that he drank like 
 most society men, although, as far as she had ever 
 seen or heard, always in moderation, she required 
 from him a solemn promise to give it up entirely 
 for her sake. He swore by all the vows a lover 
 can utter that she was more to him than all the liq 
 uor in the world, and that if she would marry him 
 he would never touch another drop. 
 
 " There are, doubtless, some cataclysmic up 
 heavals in the soul which can change a person's 
 whole nature, but any one who thinks that marriage 
 is going to change or reform either a man or woman 
 is, I'm afraid, doomed to bitter disappointment. 
 You can guess the rest. Within an hour after the 
 marriage the old tendency reasserted itself, he broke 
 his promise to her I won't say, willfully, but 
 through a woeful weakness and there then fol 
 lowed that scene in the cabin which brought Bob so 
 vividly before her and filled her soul with such 
 overwhelming shame, disgust and horror, that her 
 only thought was to escape from him and the sacred 
 bond which he had outraged and made unbearable 
 by the unfaithfulness to his promise. And to this 
 was added the fact, less in importance, that he 
 really did hurt her physically as she struggled 
 against his demonstrations. " Now I have told ,you 
 all, and you know why we feel as we do, why never,
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 277 
 
 never will Margaret go back to Roland Willard as 
 his wife." 
 
 Her story had affected me powerfully. A flood 
 of ungovernable anger rushed over me at first, but 
 even though my sympathies were all arrayed against 
 him, at least temporarily, stern duty counseled re 
 straint, and I answered as calmly as I could, 
 "Blame Margaret? Of course I can't, and don't 
 blame her. Obeying her impulses as was wholly 
 natural that she should, what else was there possible 
 for her to do? And your disclosures contain more 
 than enough to account for what at first seemed to 
 us a strange and unnatural course of action. You 
 can see yourself how strange it must have seemed 
 to all of us, knowing only the fact of her desertion, 
 that any woman who loved a man enough to marry 
 him, could leave him on such apparently slight pro 
 vocation. And please don't think me unfair if I say 
 that even now it seems to me that the great love of 
 a wife should forgive a lapse like his at least once, 
 since to err is human perhaps not at the moment 
 of its occurrence, when she was all stirred up, but 
 later, when her instinctive anger had had time to 
 pass, and calmer reason to return. While wholly in 
 sympathy with her I can still plead for Willard, you 
 see, for I know that he is sorry to the very bottom 
 of his soul. I believe truly that this affair has 
 caused the kind of upheaval in his being that you
 
 278 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 spoke of and that he would spend his life in expia 
 tion if she will but give him one more chance. 
 Can't you believe it? Can't you see my point of 
 view and promise me your help in bringing about 
 a reconciliation, so that he may have at least that 
 one last chance ? " 
 
 For a full moment she did not reply, and J "cnuld 
 see her breast rising and falling rapidly, as though 
 she were physically wrestling with a great problem. 
 
 " No, no, I cannot. Don't ask me that," she 
 broke out at last. " It would be a sacrilege. She 
 cannot go back to him. She does not love him. I 
 believe that she never loved him, it was only the 
 infatuation of a young girl in love with love, and 
 overpowered by his ardent wooing. No, no, not 
 that. She must set him free. It is only fair : : 
 to him as well as to her." 
 
 " But he doesn't want to be set free, he loves her 
 more than all the world, and, in spite of his broken 
 promise, he is a man worthy of his love. Let her 
 give him the chance and he will make her love him 
 again surely. Then, besides, don't you see that her 
 duty lies that way, and isn't doing one's duty the 
 greatest thing in the world ? " 
 
 " No, it is not ! It is not ! " she burst out again, 
 trembling. " Love is that greatest thing, not duty. 
 You plead well for another, -John Alden Shaw, but 
 suppose that you loved that wife greatly yourself.
 
 THE CLOUDS LIFT 279 
 
 Could you urge her then as you do now, or would 
 you rejoice to hear her say, * Why don't you speak 
 for yourself?' Would you then stand there and 
 say that duty is the greatest thing in the world, I 
 wonder? " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know." 
 
 " That was your answer the morning that we 
 talked about divorce, in the abstract. Now I am 
 pleading for the woman whose heart and soul is 
 actually in rebellion. She will not, she must not, 
 go back to that hated bondage, sacrificing herself 
 that others may not be led astray, as you put it 
 then. She will be free, free to love again if she 
 can, and find happiness where she can. Oh, don't 
 let us talk about this any more, please; let us go 
 home." 
 
 Now I was so aroused that reason ceased to be, 
 and, forgetful of all my promises to myself and 
 others not to give way to my hopeless passion, for 
 getful of my position and hers, forgetful of every 
 thing except my love for her, I cried. 
 
 " No, I cannot let you go yet, at least not until I 
 have told you the other reason why I had to con 
 fess to you about my own deceit and perfidy. You 
 must listen to me now, Marion, even though you 
 tell me afterwards that I can never see you again." 
 
 She looked at me with terrified eyes and barely 
 whispered, " What what do you mean? "
 
 280 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " That I love you love you, heart and soul ! 
 That love my love is the greatest thing in the 
 world to me, and that for it and for you I would 
 sacrifice everything else, duty and even my hope of 
 eternity." 
 
 She looked at me with the terror in her eyes 
 growing until I found it unbearable, and then with 
 a moan, which pierced me to the heart, sank at my 
 feet, and, throwing her arms out across a rock, 
 buried her head in them and began to sob bitterly. 
 
 I fell on my knees beside her, trying to take her 
 into my arms and uttering wild inconsequent words 
 of inquiry, pity and love, but she thrust me away, 
 sobbing out, " Oh, what have I done ! What have 
 I done! I am a most unhappy and a wicked, 
 wicked woman ! " 
 
 At length I pulled her hands away from her tear- 
 stained face, and, holding them close to my breast, 
 begged. " Don't say that. Tell me, sweetheart 
 tell me what is the matter." 
 
 I felt her hands grow cold, her whole body 
 stiffen. Then she answered in a low pitiful voice, 
 " I am not Marion. I am Margaret Roland Wil- 
 lard's wife."
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 IN WHICH THE LIGHT TURNS TO UTTER 
 DARKNESS 
 
 THERE are moments when a mental blow has all 
 the effects of a physical one. My senses reeled and 
 flashes of light passed before my eyes. 
 
 Holding her hands with a grasp which must have 
 nearly crushed them, I cried out, " Oh, no, not 
 that ! You can't mean that ! It is unthinkable ! " 
 
 "It is true. Oh, why did I not foresee this, or, 
 guessing it, why have I let it go on ? My woman's 
 instinct warned me that I was playing with fire and 
 that it would consume us both at last, and yet I 
 could not tell you." 
 
 " Both ? " I asked, the implication that she too 
 loved, for the moment utterly wiping out the terri 
 ble facts. 
 
 " Yes both, for I, too, have come to love you, 
 John; love as I never have before or can again, and 
 I am justly punished, but oh, why should the pun 
 ishment for my sin fall upon you, too, my beloved 
 one?" 
 
 " You love me, nothing else in Heaven and earth 
 
 281
 
 282 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 matters," I replied triumphantly, again attempting 
 to draw her into my arms, but she pushed me away, 
 saying, " No, no, you must not. It would be 
 wicked. We must be strong." 
 
 " Tell me dear one, that it is not true. Of course 
 it cannot be a joke, and yet " I stopped in sheer 
 bewilderment, and she replied with the suggestion 
 of a smile more pitiful than her tears. " A sad 
 jest. It is true, Heaven help me, but oh, how little 
 Marion and I saw into the future when we began 
 it. John, John, until to-night I was, oh, so young 
 and light. It has always been like that ever since 
 we were children. Marion has always been the 
 sensible, serious one, the one with the big heart and 
 brain, and I thoughtless, pleasure-loving, flighty. 
 She is really years older than I in everything that 
 counts, everything except mere years. I do not 
 wonder that you cannot believe it, and yet it came 
 about so easily." 
 
 Then in halting, pathetic sentences, often inter 
 rupted by words of pity and exclamations from me, 
 she told her story. 
 
 " When my cross fell upon me the only great 
 tragedy in my life, for the death of my father, 
 mother and brother were natural events my first 
 and only thought was to flee to Marion's dear arms 
 for refuge and comfort, terribly hurt of course, but, 
 as I know now, not broken in heart nor really
 
 LIGHT TURNS TO DARKNESS 283 
 
 deeply stricken. In a few days the bitter anguish 
 from which I had thought I should never be free, 
 began to pass away from me like a bad dream. 
 Soon I became almost carefree, and, at times, nearly 
 as gay as before. You see what a weak, worthless 
 woman you have selected to fall in love with, how 
 unworthy of your, or any man's, love. I have no 
 excuses to make; there is not a soul to blame but 
 myself. 
 
 " And so my enforced retirement began to be 
 come irksome. I found that I still loved life and 
 gayety ; that I was as capable of finding pleasure in 
 them, even as I had before my marriage. I craved 
 excitement to make me forget for there were 
 brief hours when the remembrance of that scene 
 settled over me again like a dreadful pall. And 
 then, just as we were about to leave Newport and 
 go home to face the unhappy situation, Marion be 
 came seriously ill, and we had to stay. Oh, how 
 Fate has been playing with me as a cat does with 
 a mouse these last few weeks, letting me half es 
 cape only to draw me back and torture me again, 
 me, whose life had always been so quiet and com 
 monplace. 
 
 " Marion was confined to her bed ; I was wild for 
 the out-of-doors, where I had lived all my life. In 
 a moment of reckless inspiration I suggested that 
 while we were in Newport we change identities.
 
 284 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 You see, at this time Roland was leaving no stone 
 unturned to reach me, even having a paid detective 
 watching me, and it seemed as though this plan 
 furnished a splendid way of eluding him, too. 
 
 " Marion, ever the wiser, did not want to agree 
 to my mad suggestion, but at length against her bet 
 ter judgment yielded to my importuning I have 
 always been able to wheedle people into giving me 
 my own way like that and, naturally, she did not 
 see how any real harm could come from such a 
 masquerade. Who could have? The change was 
 an easy one to effect; it merely required that I 
 should throw off my newly acquired womanhood 
 and become a girl again, which was easily done, and 
 we exchange names for we were on the point of 
 going from the Gilmans' to the Aldriches' where 
 the servants did not know us. And as for the outer 
 world, we looked so much alike that should any 
 one meet me as Miss Marion Lee they could scarcely 
 guess that I was not indeed my own sister, we were 
 so little known in Newport. I did not go out into 
 society, of course, but, on the other hand, ceased 
 trying to conceal myself, and met people frequently, 
 none of them ever suspecting that I was other than 
 I pretended to be, nor would they have been likely 
 to had they seen Marion as well, for, as a result 
 of her illness, she looked older than I. I had some 
 trouble in winning over the Aldriches, they were
 
 LIGHT TURNS TO DARKNESS 285 
 
 very loath to be parties to such a deception, but I 
 succeeded there as well. Indeed, the idea of cir 
 cumventing the detective was the only thing that 
 won them over, and, although they finally agreed to 
 let me be known as Marion, they would not call 
 sister, ' Mrs. Willard.' 
 
 " Then you came, and, you will remember, on our 
 first meeting, jumped at the conclusion that I really 
 was Marion, not Margaret. I thought it a great 
 joke then, and, although the others urged me to let 
 them tell you the truth, I overpersuaded them again, 
 from a spirit of pure mischief. You were only a 
 passing acquaintance, I thought, never, for one in 
 stant, imagining that you would at once become so 
 intimate in the family, and such a constant visitor. 
 They consented temporarily with the utmost reluc 
 tance, particularly Bert, who told me, with broth 
 erly frankness, that I was a fool and would surely 
 regret it " 
 
 " Yes," I interrupted, with a flash of enlighten 
 ment over his remarkable behavior when he thought 
 that I was becoming too interested in her at the out 
 set. " Bert, you see, was the only one in Newport 
 who knew my real errand here, and he warned me, 
 too, in no uncertain terms against just what has 
 happened." 
 
 "If he had only told you the truth then, how 
 much would have been saved for both of us! Poor
 
 286 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 boy, no wonder he has been nervous and irritable 
 lately, knowing that we were living over a sleeping 
 volcano. 
 
 " As time went on and our friendship grew more 
 and more, it became constantly harder for me to dis 
 illusion you, although all the while I knew how 
 wicked it was to keep up the deception and dan 
 gerous, too you see, a woman is born with a pe 
 culiar instinct which warns her when a man is be 
 coming really interested in her. But I don't see, 
 even now, why you didn't guess the truth. The 
 family over and over again made the slip of calling 
 us by our true names in your presence." 
 
 " I did notice that several times, but if I thought 
 of it at all, it was only to believe that the slip was 
 a natural one, you looked so much alike, and so 
 firmly established was the error in my mind." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so. At last there came a time 
 when, to my terror, I found that I was really falling 
 deep in love myself, John, and every night since last 
 Saturday I have lain awake for hours, in bitter dis 
 tress, trying to screw my courage to the sticking 
 point and tell you the truth before it was too late, 
 but when you were with me I never had the cour 
 age to speak. How little we foresee the possible 
 consequences," she wailed, " or how, when we take 
 the first step in deceit, we may be obliged to go on 
 and on, ever sinking deeper into the quicksands of
 
 LIGHT TURNS TO DARKNESS 287 
 
 falsehood, until they swallow up our very souls. 
 You have every reason to hate me now with deadly 
 hatred. But, oh, don't despise me, John, pity me ! " 
 
 " Despise and hate you, you poor darling?" I 
 cried, once more trying to gather her into my arms, 
 but she still eluded me. " I love you infinitely more 
 than before. We are both of us unhappy victims 
 of fell circumstance, and I am infinitely more to 
 blame than you, for my deceit was premeditated, 
 and but for it this would not have come upon us. 
 The future is dark. I do not know whither we are 
 going, but I do know that I love you with all my 
 being, and that you love me. Nothing else counts." 
 
 "Duty?" she asked, with that wan smile most 
 pitiful to behold. 
 
 "Duty? Can you ask? Margaret, I have just 
 been thinking how true the old Persian proverb is, 
 ' We mortals walk through this life backwards, 
 seeing only the path which we have traveled; the 
 future, unseen and unknown, is unrolling upon us 
 from behind.' We do not face it, as we so often 
 say. No wonder we stumble and walk haltingly. 
 But what are we to do? " 
 
 " I do not know, but we must be strong, oh, so 
 strong. And now we must go home at once." 
 
 This time I did not oppose her wish. In silence 
 I aided her up the cliff, and in silence, only speak 
 ing occasionally of every-day things, and each
 
 288 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 studiously avoiding the one subject that was filling 
 our hearts, we walked through the darkness home 
 ward. Once she stumbled slightly, and, for a single 
 moment, filled with ecstasy, I held her close to my 
 breast, and thereafter I held her hand unrebuked, 
 the mere physical contact making a medium through 
 which our souls passed into one another's. 
 
 When we reached the door of the Aldriches', I 
 burst out in a wild, passionate whisper, " Margaret, 
 I can't, I won't give you up ! You are mine ! 
 What does anything else count if we are together? " 
 
 " Hush," she said, placing her two hands in mine, 
 and I pressed my lips passionately first to one palm 
 then the other. " You must go, go at once. We 
 have got to think I almost said ' to sleep ' 
 over this, John, but I'm afraid there is little sleep 
 for either of us to-night." 
 
 "Will you tell Marion?" 
 
 " No, no, I could not yet. It will be the first 
 secret I have ever had apart from her in my whole 
 life," she added, with a little sob. 
 
 At this instant the door was flung open, and 
 Bert's merry face appeared. " Come inside at once 
 or you'll take your deaths o' cold standing out there 
 in the snow saying good-by like a couple of moon 
 struck idiots." 
 
 How quickly we mortals can assume that which 
 we do not feel! I found myself responding lightly,
 
 LIGHT TURNS TO DARKNESS 289 
 
 and, for a little while, we talked about the com 
 ing ball, Margaret promising me the last dance. 
 Then I said formally, " Good night, Mrs. Wil- 
 lard." 
 
 Bert looked at me in growing astonishment, and 
 then a wave of tremendous relief passed over his 
 countenance. "You know?" 
 
 " Why, of course," I replied calmly. " I have 
 known for moons." 
 
 " Thank God, that's a weight off my chest. And 
 now that you know the true inwards of our mixed- 
 up affairs, I can impart to you both a bit of marvel 
 ous information. Before you stands the happiest 
 man alive, for Marion the real one has to 
 night reconsidered her oft-repeated refusal and 
 promised to be the future Mrs. Aldrich. How does 
 that sound? " 
 
 I did not dare to look at Margaret. This new 
 happiness which had come to her sister and to Bert, 
 must needs make her trouble, as it did mine, seem 
 blacker than ever by contrast. 
 
 Instinctively my lips formed the stereotyped 
 words of felicitation, and so engrossed was Bert in 
 his new-found happiness that if my sentences lacked 
 anything of honest warmth he did not appear to 
 notice it. 
 
 Margaret stood silent a moment, then said, " My 
 dear, I wish you all the happiness in the world. Be
 
 290 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 good to her, boy; she is worthy of the best that 
 life can hold." Drawing his head down, she kissed 
 him on the cheek, and then with a sob that wrung 
 my heart, ran inside and up-stairs.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 IN WHICH THE DIE IS CAST 
 
 WITHOUT, Japanese lanterns full of soft colors 
 \vhich made the distant gleam of the stars look 
 diamond white; the Casino balcony converted into 
 an added corridor with striped awnings, its plain 
 board floor canvas covered. Within, a glare of 
 radiance, strains of sweet dance music coming from 
 the orchestra concealed in a leafy bower on the 
 stage ; men in conventional evening garb men 
 the possessors of princely fortunes: women, the 
 cream of America's society, in gowns of shimmer 
 ing silk, satin, priceless lace or cloth of gold 
 women on whose necks, arms, fingers, and in whose 
 ears gleamed and glistened countless jewels a 
 king's ransom. This was the Casino on the night 
 of the tennis ball; light, music, merriment, laughter 
 everywhere. 
 
 Everywhere? There was one at least in the as 
 semblage of merrymakers to whom this scene of 
 wondrous beauty seemed a sham, an empty show. 
 
 The end of a day during which I had suffered 
 the tortures of a mental Golgotha, found me with 
 soul still on the rack, mind tortured, the clear light 
 
 291
 
 292 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 of reason utterly unable to pierce the swirling 
 clouds of dark despair. 
 
 I had not seen my dear one during the day, nor 
 even dared to talk with her over the telephone, but 
 in a moment perhaps, I was to meet her, hear her 
 loved voice, hold her in my arms in the dance. 
 
 I had purposely not gone to the Casino until 
 nearly midnight, excusing my late arrival to Mr. 
 Hammond with the plea that I had to pack for my 
 departure on the morrow, for I knew that the ball 
 would hardly be in full swing before that hour, and 
 I guessed that Margaret would not arrive much 
 earlier to endure the gayety which must pain her as 
 it did me. 
 
 For some moments I stood in the doorway, 
 moodily regarding the happy dancers. She was not 
 on the floor, I thought. Suddenly my heart 
 stopped. Mr. Hammond had just swung past me, 
 and in his arms was a vision of wondrous loveliness, 
 gowned in creamy white, her neck and arms bare 
 Margaret. She wore no jewels, and needed 
 none, but in her lustrous dark hair was a solitary 
 red rose. I had never seen her before save in 
 black, or a simple dress of white, and her beauty 
 smote my senses like a blow. They disappeared 
 into the whirling crowd, and I went outside and 
 walked up and down the gravel path, still seeing her 
 face and figure everywhere.
 
 The music stopped. I returned to the ballroom 
 and, with almost unseeing eyes, found her with her 
 late partner and Bert, her escort. 
 
 I do not know just how we greeted each other, 
 but the while I talked in sentences which seemed 
 natural and commonplace enough to my ears, the 
 one thought filling my brain was that we were to 
 gether again. We might have been the only two 
 in the room for all I saw or considered the others. 
 
 The orchestra broke into the staccato, whispering 
 chords which prelude the wonderful melody of 
 "The Barcarole" from the "Tales of Hoffmann," 
 accenting it in slow waltz time. In every-day tones 
 I asked the stereotyped question, " May I have the 
 pleasure ? " and found Margaret in my arms for the 
 first time, her soft breath caressing my cheek as I 
 bent over her. 
 
 She danced divinely, but I was not then think 
 ing of that fact, and, after we had moved once 
 about the floor, I guided her through the doorway, 
 and down the veranda to a dim shadowed corner at 
 the south end. 
 
 There we came to a stop, my arms still about her. 
 I could feel her breast rising and falling close to 
 mine. Without speaking, I drew her slowly closer 
 and closer into my embrace. Her hands crept up 
 from my shoulders and met behind my neck, her 
 soft arms clinging tightly, while Heaven and earth
 
 294 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 were forgotten in the wild throb of our pulsing 
 hearts. She whispered something so softly that at 
 first I did not catch it, but bending my head close to 
 hers heard the barely spoken words, " Kiss me." 
 
 My eager lips sought and found her own in a 
 lingering kiss which spelt forgetfulness. After 
 one exquisite moment she said gently, " Now let 
 me go, John." 
 
 Slowly my arms, and hers, dropped, she turned 
 toward the railing and stood looking over the dim 
 courts. I joined her and once more tried to take 
 her in my arms, but she held me off gently, with 
 her hands on my breast, saying, " No, you must let 
 me go, John." 
 
 " Let you go ? " I answered in an intense whis 
 per. " Let you go? Not while I live ! I love you 
 more than life itself." 
 
 " What would you do ? " she responded sadly, 
 but in a calm, well controlled voice. 
 
 " Do ? I would take you far away. Now, to 
 night, and never let you go again. Divorce Wil- 
 lard as you have planned, or, if you fail in that, 
 Margaret, come with me, anyway. I will be all 
 the world to you, dear. I will spend my life in lov 
 ing you, serving you. I will make up to you all you 
 may lose, my darling, if you will but let me." 
 
 "Would you then sacrifice everything for your 
 love for me ? Think what it would mean, John .
 
 WHICH THE DIE IS CAST 295 
 
 friends, your fair name, duty, your honor itself." 
 
 " Yes, I would sacrifice all of those if you love 
 me enough to come. 
 
 " Margaret, I tell you truly that, although I am 
 poor, I am as proud as Lucifer. I would joyfully 
 give all the little that I have if you, too, were in 
 poverty. There is nothing that could gall my spirit 
 more than the feeling that I was, even for a little 
 while, dependent upon your wealth and charity. 
 Yet, even under these conditions, I can humble my 
 pride and beg you to take me yes, support me 
 until I can make a new start in life and earn for 
 us both, so much do I love you. And, have no 
 fear, with you for my incentive I would suc 
 ceed." 
 
 " Wait, John," she interrupted. " Your love is 
 overriding your reason. What of all your former 
 pleas on behalf of law, conventions, duty? " 
 
 " I was wrong, all wrong, and you were right, 
 I admit it freely. You, yourself, have persuaded 
 me that love is the greatest thing, greater than all 
 these." 
 
 " No, my dear. I have not persuaded you. 
 Your own heart has convinced itself, but not your 
 mind, and when you pause to think oh, don't 
 tempt me too far, John, or I But you are a 
 perfect lover, dear. Do you really care that 
 much ? "
 
 296 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Yes, and more. But you you do not love 
 me enough to -" 
 
 The fierce intensity of her reply thrilled and al 
 most frightened me. "Not love you enough? I 
 do, I love you enough to sacrifice all these things 
 too, and to do as you ask without a thought of the 
 future. I could divorce my husband, or, if that is 
 impossible, come to you without it, even though 
 my reason shouts out that by doing so I would be 
 deliberately entering the gates of Hell itself. 
 How strange it is, John, that my wild plea for love 
 supreme over all else has so captured you, while the 
 seeds of reason which you sowed in my mind that 
 morning on the cliffs only needed this great storm 
 in my life to bring them to full growth. I see 
 now, as never before, that to yield to our desires 
 would mean that we were blindly sowing a crop 
 of tares which, in after life, we would have to reap 
 in bitterness of soul. Yes, your man-made laws 
 and conventions are the safeguards of morality and 
 the race, and no human being can safely say, * I can 
 ignore them with impunity.' He or she must 
 sooner or later suffer the loss of everything worth 
 while except love, and even that, my dear, might 
 fail at last. A house builded upon the shifting 
 sands, you know." 
 
 " No, never our love, surely." - 
 
 " I'm not so sure. When self-respect is gone
 
 IN WHICH THE DIE IS CAST 297 
 
 and the world has turned its face away, even that, 
 too, is likely to wane. But, John, I love you enough 
 to take my chance with you, open eyed. It would 
 be easy, oh, so easy." 
 
 " Then you will " I began exultantly. 
 
 " No. I love you that much, and more. Even 
 if I were sure that on sober second thought you 
 would not repent of your hasty step, I can not suf 
 fer you to make that sacrifice. Think, John, what 
 it would mean beside the inevitable results in this 
 case, if you, coming here to take me back to my 
 husband, his trusted friend and counselor, should 
 abuse that sacred trust and steal the wife for your 
 self. You would be the worst kind of a traitor, a 
 very Judas who betrayed his friend with a kiss. 
 We cannot help our love. It came unbidden. This 
 wicked thing we can prevent, and my love for you 
 makes your honor so dear to me that I will not let 
 it be sullied." 
 
 " What do you mean, Margaret ? You cannot 
 think of going back. . . ." 
 
 " Yes. To-morrow morning I am going back 
 to " her voice broke, " to my husband." 
 
 " Oh, no, not that ! You must not ! There is 
 still divorce." 
 
 " No. I have thought it all out to-day. Now I 
 would not be seeking my freedom honestly, nor for 
 the reasons that have moved me to. The evil would
 
 298 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 still persist, and if I married you afterwards, your 
 breach of trust would be the same." 
 
 " But I cannot, will not, let you sacrifice your 
 self thus for me," I protested in anguish. " I can 
 go away, never see you again, but not that. Why, 
 don't you see? You are deliberately planning to 
 condemn yourself to a life of hateful slavery, noth 
 ing less." 
 
 " No, John, you are wrong. Roland Willard is 
 a good and worthy man. I believe it implicitly, 
 now that my eyes have been opened. I shall be a 
 faithful, perhaps in time, a loving wife to him. I 
 may, in time, even be really happy I'm sure I 
 hope so and I will be doing my sacred duty. I 
 cannot pretend that I shall ever love him as I do 
 you, or that he can ever be first in my heart, al 
 though he must never know that. No, dear, it is 
 not for myself that I am afraid, but for you. I 
 shall always pray that you may be strong for my 
 sake, as I shall be, in the knowledge of your love. 
 I shall even pray that in time you may come to 
 love another and marry her." 
 
 "Never!" 
 
 " Don't make any rash promises, boy. A man 
 may really love deeply many times, a woman only 
 once, 'tis said." 
 
 " Oh, but Margaret, you are not really in earnest ! 
 This unthinkable thing must not be."
 
 IN WHICH THE DIE IS CAST 299 
 
 " It must be. It is the only way out of the 
 shadows." 
 
 The utter finality of her answer left me in a daze. 
 I could not force my mind to the realization that. I 
 was actually losing her. From within came float 
 ing the appealing strain, the English words to which 
 run, " Lovely night, oh, night of love, be kind to 
 happy lovers." Happy lovers! All the world was 
 becoming a bitter jest. 
 
 I turned rebelliously and tried again to take her 
 in my arms and kiss her, but she held me away. 
 
 " Not again, dear. I wanted that one kiss to test 
 my purpose and to hide away in my memory book, 
 which I now seal and put away in sweet lavender so 
 that moths may not creep in and corrupt. I may 
 take it out sometimes when I am alone, and cry over 
 it a little. That is all." 
 
 Helpless before this unshakable decision, I could 
 only whisper brokenly, " You are a braver woman 
 than I am a man, and infinitely better." She placed 
 her fingers over my lips. With a sudden resolve 
 born of her courage, I said, " I will take you to Bos 
 ton to to him, to-morrow." 
 
 " No ! no ! I could not bear that ; I must go 
 alone ! Come, we must go in, they are playing an 
 other number and Bert will be wondering where I 
 am," and, although I gave her my arm, it was she 
 who directed our course back to the ballroom. I
 
 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 surrendered her into Bert's charge, and without 
 touching her hand, bowed, and said, " Good-by," 
 and then made my way as quickly as possible out 
 side. 
 
 How I spent the remaining hours of the night 
 I cannot remember clearly. At one time I stood 
 on the spot where we had watched the magic sun 
 rise together, at another, at the foot of the Forty 
 Steps, the bitter-sweet memories adding poignancy 
 to my despair. 
 
 Once the idea came, to end it all there, but the 
 ingrained instinct of self-preservation was too 
 strong, and the thought passed. 
 
 As the gray dawn began to break dully, I headed 
 for home. Once an early milk wagon passed me, 
 and I heard, as though spoken afar off, the words 
 which the driver did not try to keep from my ears, 
 " Lookit the society souse beating it for home in 
 his glad rags. Wonder where he lost his buzz 
 wagon." 
 
 No one was astir at the Hammond house and I 
 let myself in and reached my room unnoticed. 
 Once there I cast myself upon the bed, still dressed, 
 and fell into the sleep of utter exhaustion.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 IN WHICH I BURN MY BRIDGES 
 
 MR. HAMMOND'S hearty voice and heavy hand on 
 the door aroused me. 
 
 " Wake up, lazy bones ! You may not know it, 
 but you're far too busy a man to oversleep of a 
 morning. Here's a telegram that requires your im 
 mediate attention," and he slipped the thin yellow 
 envelope under the door, and added, " Have a good 
 time last night? " 
 
 " Very fair," I answered mechanically and only 
 half awake, and then the flood of black memories 
 engulfed my mind, and I turned on the bed with a 
 groan and hid my face in the pillow. My host must 
 have caught the sound, for he called, " Not sick, are 
 you, John ? " 
 
 " No, thank you. Just done up a bit." 
 
 " Well, don't get up unless you find that you have 
 to. I guess you've been overdoing it a bit lately, 
 burning the candle at both ends. Take it easy this 
 morning, breakfast will keep." 
 
 I rose and picked up the telegram, surmising that 
 
 301
 
 302 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 the message was from my Petersburg correspondent 
 since he was about the only person to whom I had 
 sent my Newport address, but before opening it, 
 undressed and indulged in a stinging cold plunge 
 which revived my body, without helping my mind. 
 The message read, " OLD BROTHER REFUSES TO 
 
 SIGN UNREASONABLY HOSTILE TO L FAMILY BUT 
 THINK HE MAY BE BOUGHT FOR WHAT SUM HAVE 
 I YOUR AUTHORITY TO DRAW ON YOU FOR FUNDS IF 
 NECESSARY." 
 
 I experienced a further feeling of deep deject- 
 ment. Was I to fail in this endeavor too, just when 
 success seemed assured? 
 
 In my present upset state of mind it seemed to me 
 that Fate had suddenly turned upon me maliciously, 
 and after leading me deep into the bog by her will- 
 o'-the-wisp of early successes which gave such 
 glowing promise of final accomplishment of all my 
 dreams, was now leaving no stone unturned to 
 thwart and injure me. 
 
 " Whom the gods destroy they first make mad." 
 Mr. Hammond's quotation came afresh into my 
 mind. Truly I had been mad. Was I now to be 
 destroyed utterly? 
 
 But, as I dressed, the thought grew in my mind 
 that this new turn of affairs offered, in a way, a par 
 tial solution to my immediate problem, for my be 
 ing revolted at the thought of returning home to
 
 I BURN MY BRIDGES 303 
 
 take up the dreary work again at the office where 
 my disastrous mission had had its inception, with 
 the chance of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Willard at any 
 time. 
 
 It was peculiar but true, that at this time so 
 filled was I with my own trouble that I entirely 
 overlooked the fact that in reality my main mission 
 had been successfully ended and that I had accom 
 plished exactly what I set out to do. 
 
 Here, then, was an opportunity for temporary re 
 lief. I would go to Petersburg myself and, if pos 
 sible, complete the task Jack had undertaken and 
 begun for me, for I knew that even if I had to draw 
 on Mr. Willard's money, it would meet with his 
 approval from a business standpoint, and I cared 
 in no other way. 
 
 The more I thought about it the stronger it ap 
 pealed to me. The very bottom of my little world 
 had fallen out, I could see no light in the dark fu 
 ture, and all I knew was that I wanted to get far 
 away from everything that would remind me of the 
 past. 
 
 To get away from it all! The idea became an 
 obsession and as soon as I got down-stairs, entirely 
 careless of the future, I wrote a brief note to 
 Thomas, Richards and Henry advising them that 
 I would not return to their employ. I would burn 
 all my bridges behind me, come what might.
 
 304 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 After a tasteless breakfast, during which my host 
 insisted that I must be ill, I used the telephone to 
 such good advantage that in a few moments I had 
 engaged passage and berth on the nine-fifteen train 
 for Virginia that evening. 
 
 I explained the reason for my hasty departure 
 to Mr. Hammond, and he once more proved him 
 self a true friend, by taking me to his bank and giv 
 ing me a certified check for twelve hundred dollars 
 in exchange for my own which represented Mr. 
 Willard's thousand, still practically intact, and all 
 my own worldly goods, with the exception of a 
 moderate sum in a savings bank. 
 
 We parted at noon with expressions of much re 
 gret on both sides and with mutual promises to re 
 new our friendship at another time, and by the mid 
 dle of the evening I was speeding away from the 
 scene of my tragedy, as fast as a modern express 
 train could carry me. Before retiring I wrote a 
 letter of thanks to Hammond and the Aldriches, 
 one of congratulation to Marion and Bert, and tried 
 many times to indite a note to Margaret, finally 
 tearing up the final copy. There was really noth 
 ing more to be said. 
 
 But twelve days had elapsed since that fatal 
 morning in Mr. Thomas' office a long or short 
 period depending upon how one regards it. For 
 some it would represent as many days of toil and
 
 I BURN MY BRIDGES 305 
 
 sleep and thirty-six meals, to others it is time 
 enough in which to win a kingdom or make a for 
 tune. In it I had found and lost a soul, and changed 
 from a happy boy into a sober, serious man. 
 
 By this time doubtless, my former chief had 
 learned from Mr. Willard that my mission had been 
 crowned with complete success, and was congratu 
 lating himself upon his perspicacity in the choice of 
 his agent, and perhaps wondering what would be a 
 proper fee for professional services in re " return of 
 one erring bride to her husband's arms." 
 
 As I lay tossing and turning in my stuffy berth, 
 the heat almost unbearable in spite of wide open 
 window and electric fan, my thoughts pictured 
 kaleidoscopically again and again each incident of 
 my stay in Newport until the moment that Mar 
 garet had parted from me. 
 
 Beyond that point they refused to go. The 
 thought of her as Roland Willard's wife was in 
 tolerable. 
 
 Before leaving New York I had telegraphed to 
 Jack of my coming, and when, just before eight 
 o'clock on Saturday morning, I disembarked from 
 the train at the Byrd Street station in Richmond, I 
 found him waiting to meet me. 
 
 We had not set eyes on each other since law 
 school days four years previous, but the unmistak 
 able warmth of his welcome went a long way to-
 
 306 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ward cheering me up. Together we made the short 
 trip to Petersburg and there he carried me off to his 
 own home. When we were inside he turned and 
 placed his hands on my shoulders, saying, " Old 
 man, pardon my frankness, but you look like the 
 devil. Either I've been doing you a grave injus 
 tice, and you really have been working your head 
 off, or else the gay life of Newport has done its 
 deadly work. Now I've got an idea and a proposi 
 tion, and since I won't take ' no * for an answer, you 
 needn't bother to reply at all. 
 
 "Usually about this time of year I take my va 
 cation. Go on a camping trip all by my lonely 
 among the Cumberland mountains, which are now 
 adays so much before the public eye as a result of 
 the innumerable thrilling novels they are grinding 
 out, dealing with the manners and feuds of our un- 
 regenerate mountaineers there. I've postponed it 
 to date in order to get this affair of yours cleaned 
 up first, but just the minute that's finished, it is me 
 that is, us, now for the tall hills and the tall 
 timber. It's God's own country for beauty, and in 
 the part I visit, about as wild as they make it. In 
 fact, few men could go there and carry a gun with 
 impunity. The ordinary stranger who tried to hunt 
 it, would pretty surely meet with a fatal accident 
 sooner or later, but I'm a privileged character, so 
 to speak.
 
 I BURN MY BRIDGES 307 
 
 " My father came from that beautifully uncivi 
 lized blood-pure stock and although I am looked 
 down upon as a degenerate, I am not a ' f urriner ' 
 but still one of the clan, and can therefore wander 
 about at will. I suppose they regard me something 
 as we would a harmless idiot, to be pitied, but free 
 to come and go unmolested and regain a little health 
 and strength at the fountain source. 
 
 " It is truly a wonderful country, and you're sure 
 to enjoy it tremendously. Why, a fortnight there 
 will make a new man of you, or I miss my guess. 
 
 " Now that being all nicely settled " I had not 
 had an opportunity to say a word " let's get down 
 to business and get it over with. I'll blow up and 
 burst if I have to stay in this sweltering heat an 
 other day." 
 
 I had no thought of refusing his proposition. It 
 came to me like a gift from Heaven : a floating spar 
 to the clutch of a ship-wrecked mariner adrift on 
 a stormswept sea, and like a drowning man, I seized 
 upon it, for it offered a chance to see and do some 
 thing new which might make me forget a little. 
 
 In the hour before lunch I told him all I knew 
 of Manners' plans and operations, and Jack added 
 materially to my own knowledge about the com 
 pany's methods and the present situation. 
 
 The Lee homestead, together with quite an ex 
 tensive estate and holdings, he said, were located
 
 308 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 some twenty miles west of the city, just at the edge 
 of one of the sections of the commonwealth rich 
 in forests of cypress, short-leafed pine, and red 
 cedar. This whole tract of valuable woodland, ex 
 cept for a comparatively narrow strip which pretty 
 nearly bisected it, had been acquired, much of it, by 
 the most bald-faced chicanery, by the Virginia 
 Hardwood Development Company, a corporation of 
 unscrupulous New York promoters under the lead 
 ership and thumb of Manners. Borroughs had al 
 ready been retained in several instances to fight its 
 encroachments, and had been generally successful, 
 although with its almost limitless resources and the 
 services of several of the leading New York and 
 Richmond attorneys at its command, it had come 
 out victorious in one or two cases. 
 
 He was, therefore, in the present fight heart and 
 soul, and extravagantly protested that he would 
 give a year from his life to beat them soundly on 
 this particular point, for the narrow strip of land 
 which belonged to the Lee family was, if not ex 
 actly indispensable, of tremendous value to the 
 corporation in getting out its cut wood with facil 
 ity. 
 
 Colonel Lee had purchased this strip nearly three 
 years before, primarily to protect his homestead, 
 which was situated near it, foreseeing, even then, 
 just what was now occurring, and in that deed,
 
 I BURX MY BRIDGES 309 
 
 given by one Edith deVignier, occurred the possibly 
 dangerous flaw which one of the aforesaid un 
 scrupulous but clever lawyers had lit upon. 
 
 It had taken Jack some time to untangle the facts 
 surrounding the giving of the deed in question, so. 
 peculiar were they. It seemed that the estate proper 
 had been purchased by a Lee forebear from the 
 father of the present generation of deVigniers, 
 more than sixty years before, but the original grant 
 did not include the wood strip which was the sub 
 ject of the present controversy. 
 
 This had passed by will in the distributing of 
 deVignier's remaining estate, to his youngest 
 daughter Edith, a minor, much younger than her 
 next oldest sister. She had sold it for a moderate, 
 but wholly adequate consideration to Colonel Lee, 
 as they all supposed on the very day that she be 
 came of age, some three years before. She died 
 within a year, leaving as her only heirs the two old 
 sisters whose signatures to a confirmatory deed 
 Jack had already acquired easily, and a still older 
 brother who was our present stumbling block. 
 All this history Jack had dug out with the help of 
 the two living sisters and the old family Bible, and, 
 according to its testimony, Edith had indeed at 
 tained her majority on the day that the deed was 
 dated. They could distinctly recall that all her little 
 birthday parties were held on that day of the month,
 
 310 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 bolstering up their memories by the means of in 
 numerable family incidents connected therewith. 
 
 But despite all this accumulative evidence the 
 Parish register, through some mistake, inexplicable 
 to them at first, had her birth recorded as a day 
 later, and in time one of the good old ladies re 
 membered that their baby sister was born almost ex 
 actly at midnight and whereas their father had evi 
 dently decided that the great event occurred on 
 the twenty-first, the family doctor had apparently 
 in making out his certificate called it the twenty- 
 second. This record being prima facie evidence of 
 her age, she was still a minor when she gave the 
 deed, and if it, rather than the family Bible, were 
 right, the deed was voidable. 
 
 The attorney who had discovered this discrep 
 ancy had not talked with the old ladies, but Jack 
 strongly suspected that he had with their brother. 
 If his memory of the facts had been refreshed 
 along the lines of the corporation's desires, and he 
 could be prevailed upon by it to make its interests 
 his own, we might be up against it, for a deed given 
 by a minor is voidable unless reaffirmed by the 
 grantor after coming of age, and in this particular 
 case she had died a short time after without either 
 reaffirming or avoiding it. Her right to do so of 
 course passed to her legal heirs. 
 
 Since all parties took it for granted that the deed
 
 I BURN MY BRIDGES 311 
 
 was a perfectly proper one, her sisters and brother 
 had, up to the present, taken no action either. 
 
 By law, if Edith were really a minor when she 
 gave the deed, she would have a reasonable time 
 after she became of age to avoid it, and since she 
 died before such a time had expired, the question 
 then arose, whether or not her heirs, by sleeping for 
 three years on their right to do what she might have 
 done that is, avoid the deed and reclaim the land 
 had lost it. 
 
 This was a very pretty legal question, and, Jack 
 told me, close to the line under Virginia law. He 
 had found no case directly in point but there was 
 a decision back in the eighties, and prior to the 
 statute enabling a married woman to convey as 
 though single, which allowed one who had conveyed 
 property when under legal age, to avoid that deed 
 twenty-eight years later and three years after her 
 husband died. Jack was afraid that the corpora 
 tion attorney would see the analogy between this 
 and the present case and rely upon that decision as 
 authority that three years after becoming enabled 
 to act was not so long a time as to bar the heirs, 
 or any one of them, from acting. 
 
 Pie pointed out that whether this theory would 
 hold water was a doubtful question, even admitting 
 that the deed was given while Edith was still a 
 minor, but if the corporation could, for a small
 
 312 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 sum, buy the elder brother to make the claim, they 
 would have at least a fighting chance of getting the 
 land for little or nothing, or they might be hoping 
 to use the threat of a law suit over the land to force 
 the Lee sisters to sell it to them. Personally, Jack 
 thought this the more likely. 
 
 As he had told me before, he had easily gained 
 the signatures of the two old sisters to a confirma 
 tory deed, as soon as he could make them under 
 stand what it was all about, for they looked upon it 
 as their sacred duty to do everything in their power 
 to carry out the clear intentions of their dear, dead 
 sister, and so prevent injustice being done through a 
 technicality. Not so their brother. Jack said that 
 he could not say for certain whether or not he had 
 actually been approached by the corporation's at 
 torney, but if not, he had displayed a surprisingly 
 keen grasp of the fact that here was a situation 
 which might somehow be turned to his advantage, 
 and with an acuteness that took Jack off his feet, 
 had calmly refused to join in the confirmatory deed, 
 until, at least, he had given the matter his most care 
 ful consideration. 
 
 This was the situation at the present moment, but 
 so confident was Jack that even if the company did 
 succeed in bribing deVignier to make entry for the 
 purpose of avoiding the deed, we could defeat the 
 claim, that he strongly advised me not to offer the
 
 I BURX MY BRIDGES 313 
 
 old codger over a hundred dollars at the most, for 
 his signature to the confirmatory instrument. 
 
 Our discussion of the various points of this pe 
 culiar situation lasted through lunch. At its ter 
 mination Jack rose, saying, " There's nothing like 
 striking while the iron's hot. Just about this time 
 of day we should run into the ' Colonel ' ensconced 
 on the piazza of the ' Mansion House ' " which, 
 he explained, was a family hotel where many of 
 the old customs of " befo' de war " still persisted. 
 
 As we walked toward that hostelry he primed me 
 for the coming interview. " You'll find that you 
 will have to handle the old fellow with kid gloves, 
 John. He's quite a character, in fact I think that 
 he prides himself on being an exact reproduction 
 of a Southern ' colonel ' as they are caricatured by 
 your comic weeklies up North. The ' Colonel ' part 
 of his name is, by the way, only a myth. He has 
 gracefully appropriated that honorable title for 
 years, although he never belonged to any military 
 organization in his life, and, it is said, went so far 
 as to sham illness to escape being drafted at the end 
 of the Civil War. But, knowing this, don't for 
 goodness' sake look astonished if he should apologize 
 for failing to rise when you meet him, on the ground 
 that his old wound is so stiff." 
 
 " That's another myth, but he has told the story 
 so often that it has become one of his pet memories,
 
 314 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 and I should not be surprised if he really believes 
 it himself by this time. The fact of the matter is 
 that he broke his ankle falling over a stone wall in 
 his mad rush to escape when a false alarm was 
 raised that the Yankees were headed toward his 
 home. I don't know where his share of courage 
 went to, for his 'father and all his ancestors were 
 regular fire-eaters."
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 IN WHICH OF CERTAIN NEGOTIATIONS SUCCESS 
 FULLY CARRIED THROUGH 
 
 WE set forth, and, sure enough, there on the low 
 veranda of the Mansion House was the object of our 
 search, leaning contentedly back in a cane-seated 
 chair, with his feet elevated to the railing. A heavy 
 cane lay on the floor at his side. It was all I could 
 do to retain my mirth, his appearance coincided 
 with Jack's description so exactly. " Colonel " 
 deVignier was, at this time, in the neighborhood of 
 sixty-five years old, tall and stately in bearing 
 though somewhat gaunt and possessed of a won 
 derful sweeping mustache and goatee, snow white 
 save where stained a rich seal brown by tobacco 
 juice, and his head was covered by a thatch of thick 
 white hair worn long. He was clad in a loose suit 
 of butternut brown almost martial in cut, but gen 
 teelly shabby, and wore a broad-brimmed gray felt 
 hat and a flowing black tie. Every moment or two 
 he expectorated over the railing with wonderful 
 accuracy without even changing his position. 
 
 Jack, with his hand on my arm, steered me half- 
 
 315
 
 316 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 way past the house, then stopped suddenly, as 
 though having just noticed the " Colonel," and 
 turned into the path casually, calling, " Good after 
 noon, Colonel deVignier. Seeing you here reminds 
 me of that little matter we have been discussing. 
 Can't I bring that deed around for your signature 
 this afternoon? Oh, pardon me, John, you must 
 meet our Colonel deVignier. Colonel, allow me to 
 present John Alden Shaw of Boston." 
 
 " Ah'm honored, sah," said the colonel, removing 
 his hat with a stately movement, in spite of the fact 
 that he was seated. " Ah trust that yo'll pardon ma 
 not risin' to greet yo', sah, but this damned humid 
 weather inev'tably starts ma old wound to throb 
 bing afresh. ' John Alden Shaw,' did yo' say, Mis 
 ter Borroughs ? The name has a familiar ring to it, 
 sah. Perhaps yo' are a descendant of that worthy 
 Puritan so famous in hist'ry and lit'rature." 
 
 I modestly admitted the allegation. 
 
 " Ah congratulate yo', sah. A splendid and virile 
 band of heroes scarcely inferior to our Virginia 
 gallants who reached this continent a few years 
 previous, and from one of whom Ah have the honor 
 of descending. A great race, sah, a splendid herit- 
 age." 
 
 I was a little in doubt whether he was now re 
 ferring to my ancestors or his own, so I replied, 
 " I am indeed honored to know you, Colonel."
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 317 
 
 He waved his hand with a depreciatory gesture, 
 saying, " Won't yo' take a char, sah? " His invita 
 tion did not include Jack, so I thanked him but re 
 mained standing, and my comrade, grinning de 
 lightedly behind our host's back, said, " Well, 
 Colonel, what about that little matter? Of course 
 you're going to do the right thing and give us your 
 signature to the confirmatory deed." 
 
 The colonel drew himself up impressively and 
 gave Jack a withering glance from beneath his 
 heavy eyebrows. " Mister Borroughs, sah, Ah do 
 not car' fo' the implication contained in yo' remark, 
 sah. Yo' may be sho' that Ah will do the right 
 thing, as ma conscience shows it to me. As yet Ah 
 have not given the matter ma serious consideration. 
 Ah beg that yo' will not bother me with such a trifle 
 now, nor am Ah in the habit of discussin' matters 
 of business in the presence of ma guests." 
 
 Jack did not appear a particle impressed, but re 
 plied breezily, " Oh, as far as that goes, you need 
 not worry. It happens that Mr. Shaw is Miss Lee's 
 Boston attorney and, as such, somewhat familiar 
 with the facts." He winked at me and I seized this 
 cue to ask, " What matter is that, Borroughs ? " 
 
 " Why, that possible question about the deed to the 
 Lee woodland. You know that it has been sug 
 gested, because of the recent activities of a question 
 able nature by the Hardwood Corporation, that we
 
 318 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 make assurance doubly sure and cure that possible 
 technical flaw in the deed by imposing upon the pres 
 ent deVigniers' good nature for a confirmatory in 
 strument, rather than go to the bother of having the 
 Parish register corrected so that the day of Edith's 
 birth would appear thereon to be August 2ist, as it 
 really was." 
 
 " Pardon me, sah, but without going into the mer 
 its of the affair Ah might say that yo' second prop 
 osition may be easier said than done," broke in the 
 colonel. " Ah have not gone deeply into the mat 
 ter, as Ah said, but Ah have casually inquired of our 
 fam'ly doctor's descendants the good old doctor, 
 a truly remarkable practitioner has gone beyond " 
 
 he added for my benefit " and they have given 
 me access to his memorandum book. It distinctly 
 gives the date of ma baby sister's advent into this 
 world Ah think of her still as a baby, gentlemen 
 
 as August 2 ist, and if ma memory and Ah 
 might say that Ah have a really remarkable one 
 serves me, that is correct, family tradition to the 
 contrary." 
 
 This information was hardly encouraging, but I 
 replied in as off-hand manner as possible, " Oh, yes, 
 I remember, that was one of the minor matters 
 about which I came to confer with Mr. Borroughs." 
 I salved my conscience with the quibble that it was 
 in reality a " minor " matter. " So this is the
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 319 
 
 Colonel deVignier. That being the case you need 
 not regard me as a stranger to the matter, and, in 
 deed, I'll add my request to his so that I may report 
 the satisfactory termination of this question to Miss 
 Lee Mrs. Willard, I should say. There is no 
 question about the propriety of your signing the deed 
 which Mr. Borroughs has asked you to, I assume." 
 
 " Yo' assumption is wholly unjustifiable, sah," 
 he replied hotly. " As Ah have previously remarked, 
 Ah have not yet given the matter any serious con 
 sideration, but if, upon looking car' fully into the 
 facts all the facts Ah should find that any ad 
 vantage had been taken of my dear deceased sister, 
 merely a child when she died, Ah assure yo' that Ah 
 would consider it ma sacred duty ma sacred duty, 
 sah, to see that belated justice was done. Fo' 
 maself, Ah have absolutely no desire to add to ma 
 possessions, but fo' ma po' sisters," he brushed his 
 hand across his eyes affectingly, " if they have been 
 robbed of their birthright all these years, Ah tell yo' 
 Ah would fight the matter to the highest co't in the 
 land, sah, until justice is done." 
 
 " Your stand does you credit, sir, and I trust that 
 I would do the same myself," I responded warmly. 
 " I honor you for it, but if the facts are as I under 
 stand them, no injustice has been done, but a very 
 grave one would result if because of a mere technical 
 error in recording, your sister's clear intention was
 
 320 MAX PROPOSES 
 
 defeated and the Lees robbed of their purchase. 
 The question arose in our minds only because a cer 
 tain Northern corporation, with whose name and 
 purpose you are doubtless familiar, having failed 
 to buy this land from those patriotic girls, your 
 Misses Lee, to strip of its verdure and beauty, have 
 openly boasted that they expect to obtain it because 
 of the flaw which they say makes the deed avoidable. 
 Of course the only inference is that they expect to 
 bribe one of Miss deVignier's heirs to contest the 
 validity of the title on their behalf." 
 
 " Do yo' mean to insinuate that a corporation, and 
 a Northern corporation at that, could bribe a de- 
 Vignier ; could bribe me, sah ? " 
 
 " Most assuredly not, Colonel. Such a thought 
 is impossible. I merely mentioned that as our rea 
 son for thinking of taking up this matter at all. By 
 the way, won't you join us in something a little re 
 freshing, sir? In fact, since I am a stranger in 
 your beautiful city, won't you order for us on my 
 behalf?" 
 
 The colonel beamed, then scowled quickly, " Ah 
 hope, sah, that yo' do not expect to influence ma de 
 cision on this matter in this way." 
 
 " No, indeed. Life is too short and full of dis 
 agreements at the best, for a lawyer to make the 
 quarrels of his clients his own. I try to play the 
 game all open and above board with all the cards
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 on the table, and keep on friendly terms with my 
 opponents outside the court room, and can there 
 fore ask them to drink with me, with no concealed 
 or sinister meaning." 
 
 <r just my position, sah," he replied, smiling in 
 anticipation again, " In ma younger days Ah al 
 ways said Ah could drink with an enemy and kill 
 him with equal pleasure. On a warm afternoon like 
 this Ah suggest one of our inimitable mint juleps, 
 if it meets with yo' approval." 
 
 " The very thing. I have always wanted to try 
 your famous Southern drink in its own habitat." 
 The juleps were mixed under the colonel's own eye, 
 brought, and consumed in the most friendly man 
 ner imaginable, and Jack insisted that one good 
 drink deserved another, and a second round was 
 prepared at his order. 
 
 The air became charged with good spirits, and the 
 colonel with interminable long-winded reminiscences, 
 and so half an hour passed. 
 
 Then Jack and I arose to take our departure, on 
 a signal by him. The colonel evidenced great sur 
 prise at our early termination of a most delightful 
 afternoon, and added earnestly, " Allow me to say, 
 gentlemen, that Ah will give the trifling matter yo' 
 have mentioned, ma close and immediate attention. 
 Of co'se, sah, if the facts are as yo' have stated 
 them - an' Ah have no reason to doubt yo' word
 
 822 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 in the matter the honor of ma fam'ly demands 
 that Ah sign yo' deed, yo' er affirmatory deed at 
 once, as yo' request. 
 
 " In fac', as a gentleman dealing with gentlemen, 
 Ah should not hesitate a moment to do so without 
 mo' than yo' request, were it not fo' ma po' sisters. 
 But sah, Ah could not in honor, permit them to be 
 robbed of their birthright. That Ah could not per 
 mit, and it is for them only that Ah think." 
 
 " I understand and appreciate your feelings, 
 Colonel, but I feel certain that upon full investiga 
 tion you will arrive at the conclusion that our con 
 tention is entirely correct, and your attorney will 
 doubtless advise you the same way." 
 
 "Ah'm inclined to believe that yo're right, but 
 Ah do not wish to act over-hastily. Mr. Borroughs 
 has been kind enough to act fo' me in a few matters 
 of minor impo'tance " Jack later confided to 
 me that once, out of charity, he had appeared for 
 him in a poor debtor suit against him " and were 
 it not that he represents my possible opponents in 
 this, Ah would refer it to him with perfect confi 
 dence. Ah rely upon his judgment entirely sah, an' 
 Ah assure yo' that he is one of, if not the leading 
 young member of the bar of this city." 
 
 Jack thanked him seriously for his kind apprecia 
 tion and I added, " In a case of this nature Colonel, 
 there is always the possibility that your counsel,
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 323 
 
 while believing that your rights, if any, were so un 
 certain that the chances were that a suit would 
 terminate against you, might, nevertheless, advise 
 you to commence action to protect them. Any liti 
 gation of that nature would, I am sure, be distaste 
 ful to my clients, and I feel that I have their tacit 
 authority to give you what such a suit would cost 
 us to defend, say one hundred dollars, to pre 
 vent its being instituted." 
 
 " Ah couldn't think of accepting such an offer, 
 generous as it undoubtedly is from yo' standpoint, 
 sah. Ah could not but feel that it was selling ma, 
 that is, ma sisters' birthright fo' a mere mess of 
 pottage." 
 
 " Or even two hundred. I am sure the Lees 
 would not want me to haggle with a friend and 
 neighbor over any amount within reason." 
 
 " Ah ver' much appreciate their attitude and yo's, 
 sah, but " 
 
 I had cashed my certified check on the way down 
 town, and now meditatively drew forth a most im 
 posing roll of yellowbacks, and began to thumb them 
 over thoughtfully, saying, " Perhaps I might even 
 say that if three hundred would be an object " 
 
 I heard Jack gasp, and a stolen glance showed me 
 that the colonel's eyes were nearly popping out of 
 his head, but he was game. " As Ah have intimated, 
 Mr. Shaw, between friends money is no object. It
 
 324 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 is the principle involved, and Ah must refuse. Yo' 
 may be assured, however, that Ah shall give the 
 question my painstaking attention without delay, 
 and furthermore, if Ah can see ma way clear to 
 oblige yo', yo' may be sure that Ah will cooperate 
 with ma neighbors against the common enemy, the 
 Northerners begging yo' pardon, sah." 
 
 " I am delighted to hear that, sir, and for such 
 an ally in our just fight against the further en 
 croachment of a grasping corporation, I would even 
 say four hundred." 
 
 He shook his head with a sad smile. " Yo' forget 
 ma sisters. No sah, Ah could not consent without 
 first conferring with ma old friend and counselor, 
 Judge Roberts of our supreme co't." 
 
 " Or even five hundred," I finished, regretfully 
 returning the roll to my pocket, whereat Jack drew 
 a big sigh of relief, and the expression on the 
 colonel's countenance was so ludicrous that I nearly 
 laughed in his face. With a final word of adieu we 
 started for the steps, Jack fairly pushing me out of 
 danger's way, and I said over my shoulder, " Col 
 onel, this meeting has given me much pleasure." 
 
 ' The honor is mutual sah," he fairly shouted, 
 " and believe me, Mr. Shaw, rather than let yo' 
 depart with the idea that Ah am unreasonable in 
 the position Ah have taken, or that Ah'm influenced 
 by the prospect of acquiring a ver' considerable for-
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 325 
 
 tune for the land, though sold for a mere song, 
 Ah repeat, a mere song, is now of great value, Ah'm 
 informed Ah would agree to accept yo' proposi 
 tion on the spot. Indeed, sah, rather than that, Ah'll 
 now waive all personal considerations and accept 
 the, er, five hundred was the figure Ah believe, in the 
 spirit in which yo' offer was made and here's ma 
 hand on it, sah." 
 
 From the agility with which he came down the 
 steps one would never have supposed that he was 
 crippled by an old wound, and I thought Jack was 
 going to drop dead at this turn of affairs. 
 
 I could imagine the thoughts that were running 
 rampant in his mind, and he may well have con 
 sidered me the victim of a sudden attack of insan 
 ity thus to pay such a sum to defeat a possible claim 
 so remote that the chances were one hundred to 
 one against its validity. But he could not read my 
 mind, or possibly know that I would have given all 
 I had to protect Margaret's property from a hint 
 of danger, and her from a moment's worry. It 
 had wholly ceased to be a business proposition with 
 me. It was an offering on the altar of love. 
 
 A moment later the colonel's flourishing signature 
 had been affixed to the deed and a receipt, he was 
 richer by five brand new hundred-dollar bills, and 
 was toasting us in flowing periods and a third julep, 
 ordered this time at his expense.
 
 326 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 With a mighty effort Jack mastered his feelings 
 until we were out of earshot. Then the vials of his 
 wrath burst forth upon me. In no uncertain terms 
 he told me just how many kinds of a fool I had 
 been, completely exhausting his vocabulary on me 
 and ending up by saying lamely, " And in spite of all 
 my advice, legal and otherwise, here you allow your 
 self to be robbed outrageously by the biggest fake 
 south of the Mason and Dixon line. I'm ashamed of 
 you," he continued, with his disgust growing again. 
 " Either you've got money to burn, or are plumb 
 crazy. If this is a sample of you Northern lawyers' 
 methods, I'm going to pack my grip this minute and 
 take the next train for Boston. I could make my 
 everlasting fortune in six months skinning you." 
 
 When he finally stopped for lack of breath, I 
 laughed and said, " My boy, from your standpoint 
 your energetic remarks are pertinent and probably 
 justified, but in this particular case there is a reason 
 which I cannot impart to you, that makes the clean 
 ing up of this apparently small matter of the first 
 importance to me, personally, as well as to the Lees." 
 I was thinking of Manners and our quarrel. 
 
 The money I had used was, strictly speaking, my 
 own, for Mr. Willard had given it to me to use 
 without any strings attached, but I preferred to 
 regard it as his still, and I knew that he would 
 heartily approve of the use to which I was putting
 
 NEGOTIATIONS 327 
 
 it. I shuddered at even the thought of keeping it 
 myself; it would be no other than blood money in 
 my mind. 
 
 " And now, Jack," I continued, " I'm going to 
 fix your fee in this affair myself and you are to have 
 nothing to say about it. You have done a good job, 
 but your compensation is not to be based upon the 
 work you have done but upon the amounts involved 
 and the importance of the victory in our eyes," and 
 I counted out the other five hundred, and, rolling it 
 up tightly, slipped it into his side pocket. 
 
 He looked at me as though he really thought I 
 were mad, and then replied, " Well, you are crazy 
 if you think for an instant that I'm going to accept 
 that, for a day's work, especially when you did the 
 most important part of it yourself. If I ever tell 
 the Lee girls about your behavior this afternoon, 
 and the way you have thrown their money away, 
 they'll fire you P. D. Q. and sue you for breach of 
 trust and misappropriation of funds to boot. Here, 
 take this back." 
 
 " No. I'm in earnest, and I promise you that they 
 will find no fault with my liberality. Take it, Jack, 
 and my heartiest thanks go with it, only don't 
 spend it all in riotous living." 
 
 " I can't make it out at all," he said, shaking his 
 head. But my heart was beating with exultation. 
 However slight the possibility of trouble for the Lee
 
 328 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 girls may have been, I had beaten Manners' horse, 
 foot and artillery, and won for Margaret. And I 
 had got rid of the money, the very sight of which 
 filled my soul with loathing and I knew that Wil- 
 lard would never agree to receive it back. 
 
 Jack continued to shake his head, saying, " Either 
 there's something back of this beyond my compre 
 hension, or you've suddenly lost your mind. A 
 cool thousand dollars for a deed that, in all prob 
 ability, is absolutely unnecessary. That's my idea 
 of tossing good money into the fire, and I bet I'll be 
 pinched yet for receiving stolen goods, or as an 
 accessory to embezzlement or highway robbery or 
 something. However, since I don't see how I can 
 very well have you thrown into jail or shut up in a 
 lunatic asylum, here goes," and he put the roll into 
 his pocket-book. 
 
 " Now, young man, you're my guest for the next 
 two weeks, and if during that time you offer to pay 
 a bill of any kind, nature or description, I'll have you 
 taken out and shot at sunrise. I warn you fairly. 
 You deserve to die for to-day's work, anyway."
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 IN WHICH I LIFT MINE EYES UNTO THE HILLS 
 
 To me, a man city born and bred, whose nearest 
 approach to real nature had hitherto been an occa 
 sional brief fishing or yachting trip, the succeeding 
 fortnight was a revelation, and had it not been for 
 the inward pain gnawing at my heart, would have 
 been one of unmixed delight. 
 
 We traveled light, our paraphernalia consist 
 ing of a small tarpaulin shelter tent, a change of 
 clothing, bedding, guns, fishing tackle and a few pro 
 visions for emergencies being " toted " by a mild 
 gray mule, while we footed it. 
 
 We left the train at a small way station at the 
 very base of the Cumberlands and climbed through 
 forest, pass and ravine over the mountains to the 
 Tennessee side, amid scenes of unrivaled, rugged, 
 wild beauty and past many little settlements or soli 
 tary cabins of the primitive mountaineers. This 
 was an old stamping-ground for Jack, and at every 
 cabin he met with a welcome, which, had I not 
 known in advance that he was a privileged char 
 acter in this section, would have seemed to give the 
 
 329
 
 330 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 lie to the writers whose novels laid so much stress 
 on the distrust and hatred of these people for all 
 " furriners." 
 
 Save for an occasional terrific thunder-storm, 
 characteristic of that region and altitude, the weather 
 was ideally clear, and I found the people so quaint 
 and interesting, and so genuinely hospitable and 
 friendly withal, that my heart opened to them at 
 once. Homely, uncleanly, and illiterate they were 
 as a class, to be sure, and yet their splendid blood, 
 the purest in America, made itself evident in many 
 sterling virtues, and here and there I found a 
 maiden of wonderful beauty and sweetness, or an 
 old philosopher, who, with the added education and 
 polish of civilization, would have shone unexcelled 
 in any city of the land. 
 
 If I had unconsciously anticipated any thrilling 
 adventures I was doomed to disappointment, for our 
 trip was wholly uneventful. 
 
 We made and parted from new friends day by 
 day, we hunted and fished when the spirit moved, 
 explored deep woods, their virgin splendor yet un- 
 marred by the ax of man, or deep picturesque 
 ravines. We lost our way if it could be said 
 that we had one to lose found it again, or another 
 even more interesting, loafed, smoked, and slept the 
 sleep of the just from early even to sun up. 
 
 I learned to find the purest gems of thought hid-
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 331 
 
 den in the rude speech of some wayside sage, and 
 spent many an hour acquiring wisdom at the feet of 
 some uncouth mountaineer, whose natural intellect, 
 scarcely scratched by the cultivating tools of educa 
 tion, towered far over my own. 
 
 Under the trees at noontide or the stars at night, 
 I came at length to learn something of Mother Na 
 ture's wonderful lesson to man, and, in the solitude 
 of the mighty mountains, to find peace. 
 
 Fate had surely sent me there for this purpose. 
 If a man is troubled at heart or sick at soul let him 
 flee the city and the haunts of men. For a little 
 time indeed, his thoughts may torture him more 
 keenly in the silence of the woods and hills or sea, 
 than amid the excitement of his everyday life. But 
 as surely as the sun rises and sets, Nature will speak 
 to his soul at last. 
 
 Before the calm, majestic greatness of the out-of- 
 doors his little spirit will gain a realization of its 
 own insignificance, and as the readjustment comes, 
 the grief, which before seemed to him so overwhelm 
 ing, will slip from his heart like a heavy weight. 
 The memory of it may never be effaced, but the bit 
 ter poignancy is gone forever. 
 
 So, at least, I found it. 
 
 A friend may speak words of consolation for a 
 moment; the cheerful mountain brook is forever 
 whispering a message of hope and encouragement.
 
 332 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 A friend may try to ease your burden by reminding 
 you that, heavy as it is, it might have been worse; 
 the tempest and the hurricane beat their awe-inspir 
 ing message into your brain, " Behold in us the vials 
 of the wrath of God. What is a grief like yours 
 compared to that we, in a single moment, can cause 
 to a thousand hearts ? " A friend may tell you that 
 although your sorrow is bitter, the Lord is pitying 
 and will help you bear it; the stars and trees and 
 rocks whisper together, " Here is God, commune 
 with Him through us, and find rest for your soul." 
 One evening as we sat in silence on the highest 
 point of the divide and watched the sun set in flam 
 ing glory behind the lower range to the west, this 
 message of Nature came to me and filled my heart. 
 It seemed as though on the instant an invisible sooth 
 ing hand had passed over my fevered soul. The 
 thought of Margaret's love changed from one of 
 torture, to a lovely memory, a message of strength 
 and cheer for the long years to come. I felt my 
 spirit growing bigger, stronger. 
 
 At the end of our stay, to Jack's unbounded de 
 light, I was cheerful, at least ten pounds heavier, 
 hard as iron, and my summer's tan had deepened into 
 a weather-beaten brown through which the healthy 
 red showed warmly wherever my face was not cov 
 ered by a fortnight's growth of beard.
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 333 
 
 With the keenest regret we parted from our 
 friends, human and inanimate, and last but not least, 
 from our faithful pack mule, and took the train for 
 Petersburg. 
 
 As we neared civilization once more, a little of 
 the old restiveness came upon me, and it increased 
 markedly as we approached our destination. 
 
 My watch told me at last that we were within 
 half an hour's ride of the city. Jack had gone into 
 the smoker for a few puffs at the solacing weed, and 
 I was alone with the equipment as the train sped be 
 tween broad cultivated acres and pretty little villages 
 in the windows of which evening lights were begin 
 ning to twinkle. 
 
 Suddenly the voice of the guard broke in upon my 
 somewhat somber thoughts, calling, " Fairdale, 
 Fairdale." 
 
 Fairdale! The name startled me inordinately. 
 For a moment I could not account for the quick 
 pounding of my heart. Then I remembered. Fair- 
 dale County and the little town, the nearest station 
 to the Lee homestead ! The brakes sang ; the train 
 leisurely came to a standstill. A passenger or two 
 arose and prepared to make their departure. 
 
 Suddenly an irresistible impulse seized upon me. 
 I must get off and look for a moment at least, upon 
 the home of my dear one, the house where she had 
 been born and lived all her life.
 
 334 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Hastily scribbling on an old envelope, a note of 
 vague explanation for Jack, closing it with the 
 promise to join him later in the evening, I swung off, 
 just as the train was gathering headway again. 
 
 I had no trouble in learning the road that led 
 to the Lee mansion, which lay a full half hour's 
 walk from the railroad, and as the last of the twi 
 light failed and the newborn moon appeared in the 
 distant east, I was walking slowly, with turbulent 
 thoughts, up the broad driveway o'ershadowed by 
 giant sycamore trees. As I had anticipated, the 
 splendid old Virginia house was in total darkness 
 although in one of the many outbuildings and cot 
 tages behind it a light shone dimly. Against the 
 blue-black sky the big mansion itself, with its massy 
 pillars, all a ghostly white, stood out majestically. 
 
 I do not know how long I stood at the foot of the 
 broad steps within the deep shadow of the house, 
 dreaming. 
 
 Suddenly the perfect silence was broken by the 
 notes from a piano played within the room to my 
 right, whose long windows gave upon the broad 
 veranda. My blood chilled ; it was like spirit music 
 played by a ghost of old memories, for the melody 
 was that of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." I 
 stood transfixed to the spot as though in a trance. 
 Who but one being in all the world played that 
 composition with just that touch?
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 335 
 
 The music died away but I stood immovable. The 
 great door swung open and in the perfect doorway 
 stood Margaret ! 
 
 The picture was almost the replica of the one 
 which had greeted my sight that never-to-be forgot 
 ten moonlight night three weeks before in Newport, 
 save that it was all dimmer, as though I now saw a 
 vision in a dream. 
 
 .What spirit message passed from my soul to 
 hers I know not, but despite the dim light that con 
 cealed more than it revealed my rough mountain 
 costume and bearded face, she knew me instantly, 
 and whispered, " You you here?" and her hands 
 went up to her breast. 
 
 " You ? " was all I could reply. She looked paler 
 than before, but to me, infinitely more beautiful, 
 with a perfect loveliness almost ethereal. Her 
 countenance appeared almost as white and transpar 
 ent as a spirit's in contrast to her black gown. 
 
 For a full moment we stood thus, making no move 
 to approach each other. Then, slowly, the thought 
 that if Margaret were here her husband must be 
 also, burned its way into my brain. I turned un 
 certainly, saying in a dull voice, " I will go." 
 
 My words seemed to quicken Margaret to a real 
 ization of the present. She came immediately down 
 the steps and as she passed me said, " No, you must 
 not go yet, John. Come, there is something that
 
 336 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 you must know first something that I must tell 
 you." She did not ask where I had been or what 
 brought me to her home, nor did it occur to me that 
 such a question would have been natural, or that any 
 explanation was necessary. With my mind in a 
 bewildered turmoil of uncertain thoughts I followed 
 her to a deeply shadowed arbor at one side of the 
 spacious lawn, and there faced her, still standing, 
 although with a listless motion of her hand she in 
 dicated a place beside her on the seat where she had 
 sunk. 
 
 Again ensued a prolonged silence which I could 
 not bring myself to break, and when she did begin 
 to speak, it was in a low, monotonous voice, as 
 though her spirit were dead, and another were me 
 chanically telling her story. 
 
 " My little world has come to an end, I think, 
 John," she began hesitatingly, " if the future holds 
 anything for me it is now wholly hidden, as though 
 behind an impenetrably dark curtain which I have 
 not the will to try and push aside, even if I could. 
 It seems to me as though my soul had become numb, 
 and even my love for you " I started, trem 
 blingly, but she stopped my half-formed impetuous 
 outburst by raising her hand, and continued, 
 " cannot now arouse it." 
 
 After another pause she continued, " The morn 
 ing after you left me, I went back to Roland, pre-
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 337 
 
 pared to be and do all that I told you I had made 
 up my mind to. His first great happiness over my 
 seemingly voluntary return was wonderful, and yet 
 heartbreaking to me, but soon . . . 
 
 " Perhaps a great love like his for, oh, I know 
 now that he did love me, as I had never realized 
 instead of making one blind, as is so often said, 
 brings a clearer vision than most mortal men 
 possess, for soon he must have seen beneath the 
 mask which I was trying to wear so bravely, and, 
 with first a bewilderment, and later a deep sadness 
 that wrung my heart to its depths, he gently drew 
 from my unwilling lips, little by little, the true rea 
 son for my return and the story of our love." 
 
 Again I started, with a question trembling upon 
 my lips, but she forestalled its utterance by saying: 
 " I need not conceal from you the fact that with 
 his first great grief upon discovering that it was not 
 love for him which prompted my return, came a bit 
 ter anger against you, but, in time, reason re-asserted 
 itself, his better judgment showing him that you 
 were in no wise blameworthy, being, like himself 
 and me, merely the victim of a bitter jest of Fate. 
 Nor did he blame me, even for my foolish yes, 
 wicked ; deception from which came the tragedy 
 into which all of our lives have been plunged. 
 
 " He seemed to realize, with a more than mortal 
 understanding, that I had already suffered punish-
 
 338 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ment enough in the travail of my soul which had 
 preceded and prompted my sacrifice. He left me 
 almost immediately, and I spent an hour alone in 
 misery, while he fought out alone the greatest battle 
 that a man is ever called upon to fight the battle 
 with Self. When he came back his mind was made 
 up, his course of action fully determined upon and 
 he imparted his decision to me almost with the 
 calmness and impartiality of a judge. He would 
 not accept my sacrifice, for he said that he could 
 never take to himself as his wife a woman whose 
 heart he knew belonged to another. Neither would 
 he set me wholly free, for he told me, as though he 
 were reading me like an open book, that I was young 
 and my character still unmolded. I might not even 
 yet know my real mind or be certain that my love for 
 you was true and enduring not a mere passing 
 romantic passion. Then, with a pitying gentleness 
 that cloaked an iron resolve which I knew could not 
 be shaken, he imparted his plan for my for our 
 future. He was to leave me free to act in what 
 ever way my conscience might dictate, and himself 
 go abroad immediately. For three years he would 
 stay away from America, nor during that time 
 would he write to me or supply me with any money 
 for, of course, he knew that I was well supplied 
 with the necessities of life although he said that 
 he did not intend to alter .the will he had already
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 339 
 
 made in which he had left to me all that he 
 possessed." 
 
 This time my look of growing understanding 
 caught her glance and she answered my unspoken 
 thought, saying, " You have guessed his purpose, 
 which was, as he told me, in this way to furnish me 
 with a legal cause under the laws either of Massa 
 chusetts or Virginia for divorcing him quietly and 
 without a contest, if, at the end of that long period, 
 I found that my heart still remained steadfastly 
 yours. 
 
 " He promised me that during these years he 
 would so live that if I should ever change my mind 
 and feel that I really wanted him, he could come 
 back to me more worthy of my love and respect 
 than he had been before, and he said that one word 
 from me would suffice to bring him home, but of 
 his own volition he would not come. Destiny had 
 decreed that each of us should bear a cross, and, 
 whatever ive might do, he would bear his patiently 
 and without complaint. Yours, if you were man 
 enough to take it up and carry it, would be to leave 
 me as he had, refraining from any endeavor to in 
 fluence me by word or action, while I underwent 
 alone and unaided, the test which should make or 
 break my soul and decide the future for us all. 
 This would be my burden, and to it would be justly 
 
 Padded the necessity of facing an inquisitive and
 
 340 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 callous world, for he meant to leave me without any 
 explanation, and I could scarcely hope to keep such 
 a rare morsel as our separation from insinuating 
 and gossiping tongues. 
 
 " As Roland unfolded his plan it seemed to me as 
 though not he, but some deity were pronouncing an 
 immutable decree which must be obeyed, nor could 
 any arguments or pleas of mine shake his deter 
 mination. He left me that evening, and I have 
 come home to face my little world without explana 
 tion or complaint, if I can, and to bear my cross as 
 he willed, until God takes it from me and shows 
 me the true path through the shadows in which the 
 future is now enshrouded." 
 
 She stopped, and then added slowly, and with a 
 calmness which brought its counterpart out of the 
 chaos that filled my soul, " And I know that you will 
 do the same, John, sure as I am that our love 
 will somehow find a way to teach us how to bear 
 our lot unflinchingly until the clouds are lifted." 
 
 Not one word had I uttered during her recital, 
 nor could I speak even now. Understandingly, 
 Margaret rose, and with a stifled sob which shook 
 her whole being, she passed by me without even a 
 touch of the hand or a glance, and walked very 
 slowly from the arbor and across the lawn to the 
 darkened house. 
 
 I stood immovable until I heard the big front
 
 I LIFT MINE EYES 341 
 
 door close behind her, and then turned and faced the 
 future with a feeling as though the greatest part of 
 myself had been suddenly taken away from me, 
 leaving a void which nothing could ever fill.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 IN WHICH MORE THAN TWO YEARS PASS 
 
 FORTUNATELY for mankind it has been endowed 
 with a God-given power to endure the many ills that 
 flesh and mind are heir to until the bodily pain or 
 mental torture, be it ever so sharp, eventually yields 
 to the great healer Time. Indeed, it is more 
 than fortunate; it is an absolutely necessary adjunct 
 to the Creator's plan for the world that man can 
 turn from the bitter loss of his loved ones, sure, 
 from the experience of other men throughout all 
 the ages, that the poignancy of his heartache will, 
 in time, pass from him, and that he will receive the 
 required strength and courage to enable him to re 
 turn to his daily round of duties to find in them, 
 if not the happiness he formerly knew, at least an 
 antidote to his pain. 
 
 So it was with me. With my will made strong by 
 the memory of Margaret's strength and purity of 
 purpose, I returned home at once to take up my 
 burden, and, if I could, bear it as unfalteringly as I 
 knew she was to bear hers. 
 
 Jack Borroughs had importuned me to remain 
 
 342
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 343 
 
 in Petersburg and form a partnership with him, 
 when I told him that I had ended my connection with 
 my former employers, but, greatly as such an ar 
 rangement might have appealed to me under other 
 circumstances, I could not then bear the thought of 
 being constantly so near to Margaret. I felt that 
 my will could not endure so great a test. 
 
 Firmly resolved to start in practice for myself, 
 I hastened back to Boston immediately, nor was my 
 decision to be altered, even though Mr. Thomas most 
 kindly urged me to resume my former connection 
 with his firm, adding financial inducements which, 
 a month previous, would have sent my spirits soar 
 ing skyward. Incidentally, during our conversation 
 in his office, whither I had gone to make a brief 
 formal report of my mission, he told me that Mr. 
 Willard had ascribed to me the full credit for its 
 successful outcome as far as the return of his wife 
 was concerned, but had added that, unhappily, they 
 had found that the breach between them was too 
 wide to be bridged at once. He had apparently dis 
 missed the matter with that unsatisfactory explana 
 tion coupled with the request that the same secrecy 
 be maintained about the whole matter as thereto 
 fore, and I could see that this marked reticence, con 
 trasting so strongly with his former full disclosure 
 of all the details of his marital difficulties to his 
 counsel, had strongly aroused Mr. Thomas' curios-
 
 344 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 ity. But if he had hoped to have some light shed 
 on the true status of the affair and the reason for 
 his client's sudden change of attitude by his inter 
 view with me, he was doomed to disappointment, 
 for I felt under no obligation more than briefly to 
 outline the manner in which I had come to know 
 Mrs. Willard. 
 
 Mr. Thomas also handed me to read, several clip 
 pings from the news and society columns of New 
 York and Boston papers of the week before, which 
 commented with all manner of pertinent and im 
 pertinent conjectures upon the astonishing fact that 
 Mrs. Roland Willard, who had been married less 
 than a month before, had re-appeared at her own 
 home in Fairdale without her husband, or vouch 
 safing any explanation for this singular fact. And, 
 because of her complete and unaccountable silence, 
 and the fact that no one could discover where Wil 
 lard was for he had apparently somehow suc 
 ceeded in reaching Europe and joining his yacht 
 without his identity having been disclosed this as 
 tonishing mystery in high social circles became a 
 seven days' wonder, and my heart bled for the girl 
 who, alone and with no one to share her sorrow, had 
 to endure this painful notoriety and these unpleas 
 ant insinuations. But, like all seven days' wonders, 
 the world hastened to forget it as soon as some new 
 sensation occurred to tickle its imagination, and it
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 345 
 
 was only referred to again at longer intervals there 
 after when Willard was reported as having been 
 seen in some out-of-the-way part of the world as a 
 member of some daring hunting or exploring ex 
 pedition. At such times the old flame was tem 
 porarily fanned into life again and the story retold 
 with new conjectures and embellishments. 
 
 Shortly after my return I received a letter from 
 Jack which finally closed one of the matters in which 
 my life had been involved, for in spite of Mr. Ham 
 mond's prophecy, Manners, realizing that he was 
 squarely beaten, made no further attempt to secure 
 the Lee property, and my path and his have never 
 crossed since. 
 
 The letter read, 
 
 " Dear John : 
 
 " I have a piece of news for you which has been to 
 me as much of a riddle as your own behavior when you 
 were here, but perhaps you may have the key and 
 discover the answer. 
 
 " A few days after you left, I was astonished to re 
 ceive a call from Mrs. Roland Willard. I had known 
 her by reputation for some years, of course, but never 
 met her personally, and, of course, I had read about 
 her inexplicable separation from her husband. For a 
 moment I did not know but that she had come to con 
 sult me about that very matter, and I had visions of 
 being one of the central figures in a sensational divorce 
 case. But no such luck. It seems that the old de-
 
 346 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Vignier ladies had told her something about what had 
 been going on in her absence with relation to her prop 
 erty, and, of course, got it all hopelessly twisted up. 
 She wanted to hear the truth and I explained the situa 
 tion in detail, showing her your first letter and de 
 scribing what, under your instructions, I myself had 
 done, and what you had accomplished personally. 
 
 " During my recital Mrs. Willard acted about as 
 strangely as you had, and I firmly believe that it was 
 the first time she had heard of the matter. Indeed I 
 would not have been surprised to have had her repudi 
 ate the whole transaction and demand my fee back, 
 but instead of that she sat almost without moving until 
 I had finished, and then amazed me by bursting into 
 tears. When she had calmed down a little she further 
 dumbfounded me by trying to get me to accept a still 
 further fee in the matter, and when I refused, some 
 what brusquely, I'm afraid, insisted that henceforth I 
 regard myself as her attorney for the purpose of man 
 aging her affairs in Virginia, so I have something more 
 to bless you for. 
 
 " But what struck me as the strangest part of the 
 whole interview, in thinking it over later, was the fact 
 that she did not once speak your name or either com 
 mend or condemn you for the action you had taken. 
 The whole affair is beyond me." 
 
 There was a little more to the letter but it was 
 immaterial, and I had my reward in knowing that 
 Margaret knew what I had accomplished for her. 
 
 I opened a modest office alone, and, as though the 
 fickle Goddess of Fortune were at last trying to make
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 347 
 
 material amends for the injury she had done me, 
 she caused my practice to prosper beyond my ex 
 pectations. Not only did Thomas, Richards and 
 Henry turn many a small matter in my direction, 
 but in Mr. Hammond and Bert and Marion Aldrich 
 I found splendid clients indeed I sometimes had 
 a feeling that they purposely " made " business for 
 me. The latter two were married during the first 
 winter after my visit to Newport, and I had almost 
 sacrificed Bert's friendship by refusing, without be 
 ing able to give a convincing excuse, to act as his 
 best man at the wedding which, of course, took 
 place at Fairdale. 
 
 And thus the days dragged on into weeks and the 
 weeks into months until two long years of working 
 and waiting had passed, and a third had begun. 
 
 The passing days had left their sobering mark 
 upon me, and my life moved on monotonously, to all 
 outward intents and purposes as though nothing out 
 of the ordinary had ever occurred in it. Pleading 
 the necessity of close application to my professional 
 work, I went rarely into society and consequently 
 soon acquired the inevitable reputation, bestowed 
 by the careless, self-centered world, of being a hope 
 less recluse and utterly lacking in interest. 
 
 During all this weary time not a single word had 
 passed between my dear one and me. Hear of her 
 I did at infrequent intervals, from Bert, and more
 
 348 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 rarely still Marion, but whereas the former spoke 
 of her freely, though casually, the latter's remarks 
 were always studiedly impersonal, and I assumed, 
 rightly, that Margaret had taken her wholly into 
 her confidence at last and pledged her to treat the 
 situation as we did and to think of us as mere ac 
 quaintances. 
 
 Yet their brief mentionings of Margaret and her 
 doings, meager though they were, seemed to me at 
 first like oases in the dreary desert of dragging days, 
 or, as time passed and my vision of the personal 
 Margaret changed into a dreamlike bitter-sweet 
 memory more like unreal mirages creating within 
 me yearnings which they could not satisfy. 
 
 From them I learned that, like myself, she had 
 sought solace in labor, and, because of her sympa 
 thetic understanding of the troubles of others, her 
 helpfulness and unostentatious charities, not only in 
 their own little village but in the neighboring city 
 as well, had won for herself a place deep in the 
 hearts of the suffering and needy. And so, be 
 tween the lines of their spoken words, I read the 
 story of the ever broadening and deepening of Mar 
 garet's nature, and was by it inspired to do my 
 poor best to make my own more worthy. 
 
 In but one way did I ever offend against even the 
 spirit of the law laid down by Roland Willard, and 
 then it was not with any idea of influencing Mar-
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 349 
 
 garet, but rather as an offering secretly placed upon 
 the altar of my love. On each Christmas, and Mar 
 garet's birthdays, I got Marion to procure for me 
 a bouquet of beautiful red roses and place them with 
 the other floral offerings made by the family, but 
 they bore no distinguishing mark, and if she ever 
 suspected that they were other than a gift of one of 
 the household, I never knew it. 
 
 When the second August had come and gone, 
 and we had entered upon the third year of the pro 
 bationary period decreed by Roland Willard, my soul 
 suddenly began to feel the stirrings of the former 
 restlessness. 
 
 Not even by applying myself more diligently than 
 ever to my work could I revest my spirit with the 
 calm with which it had been clothed for so long, 
 and each day found my agitation increasing. As 
 the nerves of a distance runner after the weary grind 
 has been almost completed, respond to the cry of 
 " last lap," so my thoughts responded to the knowl 
 edge that in less than a year my dreams might have 
 their fulfillment. 
 
 At the same time the terrible uncertainty as to 
 what the future really held in store for me added to 
 my mental tension. Was Margaret's heart still 
 mine? Would she bring herself to cut for my sake 
 the Gordian knot and free herself from the legal 
 bond which bound her to Willard so that we might
 
 350 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 at last be united? No matter how hard I tried to 
 apply my mind to the solution of the legal problems 
 which my fast growing practice presented, these two 
 thoughts sooner or later insinuated themselves anew 
 into my consideration, for I could never answer and 
 so dispose of them. 
 
 Eventually my restless uncertainty became almost 
 unbearable. I could not work properly: my rest 
 was so broken that I became physically as well as 
 mentally nervous ; the idea that I must see Margaret 
 and learn the truth, even if it spelt the doom of all 
 my hopes, became an obsession. In an endeavor to 
 fight it off and recover something of the calm 
 strength which I had found in the Cumberland 
 mountains two years before, I eagerly accepted from 
 a friend the offer of his camp in the Berkshires for a 
 fortnight, closed my office without explanation and 
 sallied forth again into the hills in search of peace. 
 
 But this time it was not a hopeless grief which I 
 was seeking to allay, but a perpetually upspringing 
 hope which could not be kept down, and after the 
 first soothing influence of the out-of-doors had 
 passed, the solitudes of nature were worse to me 
 than the city with its multitudinous calls and diver 
 sions. 
 
 Within the week I had returned to Boston, as 
 though drawn back by a vague but irresistible desire 
 to be in instant touch with the world of men, so
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 351 
 
 that if anything, whatever it might be, did happen, 
 I would be ready to act at once. Little did I 
 realize what Destiny had prepared for me, or with 
 what speed the future was rolling down upon us. 
 As though some active will other than my own 
 were directing my every movement, I purchased a 
 paper the afternoon of my return, and, with barely 
 a glance at the heavy-faced headlines on the first 
 page, turned instinctively to the second and read, 
 " FAMOUS SPORTSMAN RETURNS, Roland Willard 
 back from Africa. Roland Willard, the Back Bay 
 society leader and sportsman of international repu 
 tation, who, it will be recalled, disappeared from 
 America more than two years ago leaving behind 
 him his bride of a fortnight (the beautiful Margaret 
 Lee of Virginia) under circumstances which have 
 never been explained, has returned as unexpectedly 
 as he went. He arrived in New York yesterday 
 noon on the Hesperian and left immediately on the 
 Richmond train, presumably en route to rejoin his 
 wife who lives just outside of Petersburg, and whom 
 he has not seen since their honeymoon." There 
 was more to the article the old story over again, 
 together with a brief review of Willard's recent ex 
 ploits in India and the jungles of Africa, but al 
 though my eyes read it again and again, my brain 
 refused to register any impression save the one pro 
 duced by the first paragraph.
 
 352 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 " Roland Willard had returned to America. He 
 had gone immediately to Margaret^" 
 
 These thoughts hammering at my brain in time 
 shaped another. 
 
 " Either Margaret had sent for him and it was 
 at her desire that he had come, or he had broken his 
 promise to her and returned on purpose to prevent 
 the running out of the three-year period which would 
 give her the right to divorce him." In either case 
 the ban had been raised and I was no longer bound, 
 even by my own conscience, to remain away from 
 her whom I desired, or to refrain from trying to 
 win her for my own. 
 
 As a supposedly extinct volcano sometimes bursts 
 through the hardened crust above its long smolder 
 ing fires, so my primal nature burst through the 
 superimposed restraint of civilization. 
 
 The first alternative I had put out of my mind at 
 once. I would not allow myself even to consider 
 it. But, as the thought of Willard's breach of faith, 
 and his treachery toward us became more and more 
 firmly fixed upon me, my nature for a little while 
 must have reverted to the underlying primeval which 
 is in all of us. I swore that no matter to what ends 
 I might have to go I would keep Margaret from 
 him, and make her my mate. Maddened and 
 blinded with pent-up passion, anger and fear, I 
 raved about my room like an enraged beast. At
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 353 
 
 last however, the restraining influence of the ages 
 slowly reasserted itself. I became calmer, my 
 thoughts more collected, although my purpose re 
 mained unaltered. 
 
 Careless indeed wholly regardless of conse 
 quences and with no real plan of action in mind, 
 but only the idea of making a bitter fight for the 
 love which was all in all to me, I took the first 
 train for New York and the South, and late in the 
 afternoon of the following day found myself at 
 Fairdale, still without a course of action settled 
 upon but just as determined as ever to face what 
 ever situation I might find existent, and to fight for 
 Margaret by whatever means. 
 
 She herself came to the door in answer to my per 
 sistent ringing, and at the sight of her beloved face 
 the last slim barrier to restraint broke down and 
 my love overwhelmed me. 
 
 " Margaret ! " All the repressed love and long 
 ing of the two slow, silent years burst out in my 
 cry. 
 
 " Margaret ! He has come back to take you from 
 me, but he shall not have you ! He shall not have 
 you, you are mine ! " I repeated the phrase wildly, 
 seizing both her hands in a viselike grasp. 
 
 Without uttering a word of greeting or surprise 
 she looked at me, at first with her breast rising and 
 falling rapidly, an unmistakable lovelight in her
 
 354 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 dear eyes called into being by my impetuous, pas 
 sionate outburst, but, after a moment, her coun 
 tenance changed, and over it there settled a look of 
 such unutterable sadness that I was silenced and 
 filled with a wave of feeling in which bewilderment 
 and shame, I knew not why, shared equally. 
 
 Still without speaking she turned, holding one of 
 my hands as I slowly relinquished hers, and led me, 
 as a mother might her angry, rebellious son, quietly 
 up the broad stairway within, along the upper hall 
 and into a darkened chamber. 
 
 Upon the snowy bed lay the figure of a man. 
 From his pallid, bearded face two piercing eyes 
 turned toward me with a feverish light in them. 
 I knew, more by instinct than otherwise, that it was 
 Roland Willard, but so sadly altered was he that 
 had I met him elsewhere I should not have known 
 him. 
 
 Slowly, and without the conscious will to do so, I 
 moved toward the bed, feeling, rather than hearing, 
 Margaret depart from the room leaving us alone to 
 gether. 
 
 One of Willard's hands, in which the sinews and 
 veins stood out piteously, moved restlessly on the 
 counterpane. He regarded me quietly a full mo 
 ment while I stood there unable either to speak or 
 think coherently, then spoke in a low voice the one 
 word, "John." Never before had he called me by
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 355 
 
 my given name, and yet somehow his use of it now 
 did not strike me as strange ; indeed I again experi 
 enced the feeling of sudden immaturity, and it 
 seemed to me that the speaker was separated from 
 me by a gulf of many years. 
 
 " I know why you have come," he said at length, 
 speaking very slowly, and as though each word cost 
 him an infinite amount of strength, " but it wasn't 
 necessary, John. I have not come home," the 
 word was uttered with obvious effort, " to take Mar 
 garet from you. A Will other than yours or mine 
 has decreed that she is not for me, and, even were I 
 to live, w r hich is not possible and God forbid it 
 I know now that she could never be mine." 
 
 " Roland," came Margaret's low, piteous cry 
 from the doorway, for, unable to tear herself away 
 from the spot, she had remained in the hall listening 
 mutely. Coming in, she hurried to his side, and 
 taking his wasted hand pressed it against her cheek 
 as she knelt by the bed. Slowly releasing it, he 
 gently caressed her glorious hair as he continued, 
 with the slightest suggestion of a sad smile touching 
 his lips, " You must not blame yourself, dear one, but 
 I realize as well as you do yourself now, that your 
 heart is John's only perhaps was never really 
 mine and even your sympathetic, sweet tender 
 ness which has helped me bear my pain to-day with 
 fortitude, could not deceive me."
 
 356 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 Her slight figure was shaken by a deep, restrained 
 sob, and, gently patting her hand, Willard went on 
 almost as though we were not present and he was 
 merely speaking his thoughts aloud, 
 
 " It is indeed strange and wonderful how mysteri 
 ously God works out His plans for men. Two years 
 ago, although my heart was rebellious against itself 
 and all the world, I tried to arrogate to myself the 
 qualities and powers of a judge, even, indeed, some 
 thing of the omnipotence of the Almighty Himself 
 and I attempted to decree how three lives should 
 be lived, little thinking that what I might say or do 
 counted not at all in His great plan for us. But 
 now my soul has at last been taught the great lesson 
 of life, and I am sure that, even if I had not fallen 
 a prey to this fatal disease, which, more deadly than 
 the wild beasts, lurks for men in the African jungles, 
 I would have bowed to the inevitable without further 
 protest even happy in her happiness." He paused 
 a moment, then added, " But this is the better way, 
 and I am content. I have learned in solitude to 
 conquer self and play the part of a man as you 
 have, John and I am ready to go whenever my 
 summons comes." Again he stopped, this time with 
 the silence which comes from exhaustion, and 
 neither Margaret nor I spoke or moved. At length 
 Willard went on, in a voice so low that I could 
 barely catch his words,
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 357 
 
 " Into your loving keeping, John, I entrust my 
 Margaret, and I pray that the years which are to 
 come will mean for you, what I had once fondly 
 dreamed that they might mean for me. Now 
 I am very weary. Please leave me for a little 
 while." 
 
 Margaret rose from her knees beside him and 
 turned with me toward the door as I moved away 
 after grasping Willard's hand and murmuring some 
 almost unformed words more pregnant with feeling 
 than any real sentences could have been. Tears 
 which welled into her eyes and ran unheeded down 
 her cheeks, blinded her. " Margaret, don't go," 
 called Willard in tones filled with pleading and 
 pain. She turned quickly back to him, and, alone, 
 I blindly found my way from the room, down the 
 stairs and out into the cool evening. Instinctively 
 my steps turned toward the arbor where, two years 
 previous, Margaret had told me of her husband's 
 decree. 
 
 Long wavering shadows were beginning to fill it 
 again. 
 
 The last fading rays of daylight slowly died; 
 darkness came on. 
 
 The stars shone out one by one, the new moon 
 appeared, but I did not move, and scarcely thought 
 logically. The great revelation of a love too pure 
 and great to be long of this earth, which I had been
 
 358 MAN PROPOSES 
 
 witnessing, had left my sensibilities powerless to 
 respond to their ordinary functions. 
 
 An hour passed perhaps several, I do not know. 
 Then I saw Margaret approaching me through the 
 night, a dim, unreal figure. When she was close 
 enough for me to see her face, I saw that it wore a 
 look of such etherially sweet sadness that I did not 
 need to hear her low spoken, " It is all over, John," 
 in order to know the truth. 
 
 Her voice broke the spell which had been laid upon 
 my heart, and my love, a love now mixed with a 
 great pity, welled up within me until it filled my 
 whole being, and yet some invisible power still re 
 strained me from taking her in my arms. I felt at 
 that moment, as though our former love had been 
 purged of all worldly passion in the fiery test which 
 we had undergone, Margaret so steadfastly, I falter- 
 ingly, but saved by her strength. 
 
 Quietly she took my hands as if the 
 same thoughts were in her mind, saying, 
 " Come." 
 
 I stepped close to her side, and, as I did so, her 
 form seemed to relax and sink down limply, and to 
 save her from falling I caught her close to my breast. 
 Instantly the pent-up sobs, no longer to be denied 
 expression, broke from her and she clung to me 
 with her soft arms tightly encircling my neck.
 
 TWO YEARS PASS 359 
 
 " Oh, don't leave me, John ! Don't ever leave me 
 again ! " she shuddered. 
 
 " No, dear heart, I shall never leave you again," 
 I whispered, my lips seeking and meeting hers. 
 
 THE END
 
 SMILES, A ROSE OF THE 
 CUMBERLANDS 
 
 Eliot Harlow Robinson 
 
 Author of "Man Proposes" 
 Cloth decorative, izmo, illustrated, $1.50 
 
 Smiles is a girl that is sure to make friends. Her 
 real name is Rose, but the rough folk of the Cumber- 
 lands preferred their own way of addressing her, for 
 her smile was so bright and winning that no other name 
 suited her so well. 
 
 Smiles was not a native of the Cumberlands, and her 
 parentage is one of the interesting mysteries of the 
 story. Young Dr. MacDonald saw more in her than 
 the mere untamed, untaught child of the mountains 
 and when, due to the death of her foster parents a 
 guardian became necessary, he was selected. Smiles 
 developed into a charming, serious-minded young wo 
 man, and the doctor's warm friend, Dr. Bently, falls in 
 love with her. 
 
 We do not want to detract from the pleasure of 
 reading this story by telling you how this situation was 
 met, either by Smiles or Dr. MacDonald but there 
 is a surprise or two for the reader. 
 
 Press opinions on "Man Proposes": 
 
 " Readers will find not only an unusually interest 
 ing story, but one of the most complicated romances 
 ever dreamed of. Among other things the story gives 
 a splendid and realistic picture of high social life in 
 Newport, where many of the incidents of the plot are 
 staged in the major part of the book." The Bookman. 
 
 " It is well written ; the characters are real people and 
 the whole book has ' go." " Louisville Post. 8 
 
 jg 
 
 ^03^10KSC8XOSOS^1CX!8^
 
 TWEEDIE, THE STORY OF 
 A TRUE HEART 
 
 Isla May Mullins 
 
 Author of "The Blossom Shop Stories" etc. 
 Cloth decorative, izmo, illustrated, $1.65 
 
 In this story Mrs. Mullins has given us another de 
 lightful story of the South. 
 
 The Carlton family lovable old Professor Carl- 
 ton, and his rather wilful daughter Ruth twenty- 
 three years old and with decided ideas as to her future 
 decide to move to the country in order to have more 
 time to devote to writing. 
 
 Many changes come to them while in the country, 
 the greatest of which is Tweedie a simple, unpreten 
 tious little body who is an optimist through and 
 through but does not know it. In a subtle, amus 
 ing way Tweedie makes her influence felt. At first 
 some people would consider her a pest, but would 
 finally agree with the Carlton family that she was 
 " Unselfishness Incarnate." It is the type of story 
 that will entertain and amuse both old and young. 
 
 The press has commented on Mrs. Mullins' previous 
 books as follows : 
 
 "Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and 
 lovable as is a fairy tale properly told. And the 
 book's author has a style that's all her own, that 
 strikes one as praiseworthily original throughout." 
 Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 "A rare and gracious picture of the unfolding of life 
 for the young girl, told with a delicate sympathy and 
 understanding that must touch alike the hearts of 
 young and old." Louisville (Ky.) Times.
 
 Author of "Blue Bonnet Debutante," etc. 
 Cloth decorative, I2mo, illustrated, $1.50 
 
 Henrietta was the victim of circumstances. It was 
 not her fault that her father, cut off from his expected 
 inheritance because of his marriage, was unexpectedly 
 thrown upon his own resources, nor that he proved to 
 be a weakling who left his wife and daughter to shift 
 for themselves, nor that her mother took refuge in 
 Colorado far away from their New England friends and 
 acquaintances. Youth, however, will overcome much, 
 and when Richard Bently appears in the mountains, 
 life takes on a new interest for Henrietta. 
 
 When her mother dies Henrietta goes to live with 
 Mrs. Lovell, who knew her father years ago in the 
 little Vermont town. Mrs. Lovell determines to do 
 what she can to secure for Henrietta the place in 
 society and the inheritance that is rightfully hers. 
 The means employed and the success attained but 
 that's the story. 
 
 " Only Henrietta " is written in the happy vein that 
 has secured for Mrs. Richards a host of friends and 
 admirers, and is sure to duplicate the earlier suc 
 cesses achieved for the young people by the Blue 
 Bonnet Series. 
 
 " The chief charm of the book is that it contains so 
 much of human nature and it is a book that will gladden 
 the hearts of many girl readers because of its charming 
 air of comradeship and reality." The Churchman, 
 Detroit, Mich.
 
 &OSXXQ8X&ttQ^^ 
 
 THE AMBASSADOR'S TRUNK 
 
 FJg $y George Barton 
 
 Author of "The World's Greatest Military Spies and 
 
 Secret Service Agents" "The Mystery of the, 
 
 Red Flame" " The Strange Adventures 
 
 of Bromley Barnes" etc. 
 Cloth decorative, I2mo f Illustrated, $1.63 
 
 Bromley Barnes, retired chief of the Secret Service, 
 an important State document, a green wallet, the 
 Ambassador's trunk these are the ingredients, which, 
 properly mixed, and served in attractive format and 
 binding, produce a draught that will keep you awake 
 long past your regular bedtime. 
 
 Mr. Barton is master of the mystery story, and in this 
 absorbing narrative the author has surpassed his best 
 previous successes. 
 
 "It would be difficult to find a collection of more 
 interesting tales of mystery so well told. The author 
 is crisp, incisive and inspiring. The book is the best 
 of its kind in recent years and adds to the author's 
 already high reputation." New York Tribune. 
 
 "The story is full of life and movement, and pre 
 sents a variety of interesting characters. It is well pro 
 portioned and subtly strong in its literary aspects and 
 quality. This volume adds great weight to the claim 
 that Air. Barton is among America's greatest novelists 
 of the romantic school; and in many ways he is re 
 garded as one of the most versatile and interesting 
 writers." Boston Post.
 
 THE BUSINESS CAREER 1 
 OF PETER FLINT 
 
 By Harold WUlehead 
 
 Assistant Professor of Business Method, The College 
 
 of Business Administration, Boston University, 
 
 aitihor of " Dawson Black, Retail Merchant," 
 
 "Principles of Salesmanship" etc. 
 
 Illustrated, cloth, I2mo, $1.6$ 
 
 As Assistant Professor of Business Method in Boston 
 University's famous College of Business Administration, 
 the author's lectures have attracted widespread atten 
 tion, and the popularity of his stories of business life, 
 under the title of "The Business Career of Peter Flint," 
 which have appeared serially in important trade mag 
 azines and newspapers all over the country, has created 
 an insistent demand for their book publication. 
 
 The public demand for these stories compelled the 
 author to continue them so long that, were they all 
 published in book form, they would constitute a set of 
 several volumes. By careful and scrutinizing editorial 
 work the author has recast the very best of this material 
 for book publication, the result being a story that is 
 virile, compelling and convincing as it leads the reader 
 through the maze of business entanglements. 
 
 A New York business man wrote: " I have read with 
 much interest the ' Career of Peter Flint,' appearing in 
 the Evening Sun. 
 
 " Having come to New York fresh from college 
 8 twelve years ago, I appreciate fully Peter's experience. 
 | I want to say that I think your knowledge of human 
 8 nature almost uncanny."
 
 ROLLO'S JOURNEY TO 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 Richard D. W are 
 
 Illustrated with unique woodcuts by Robert Seaver. 
 Price 
 
 The boy of yesterday the man of today knows 
 the Rollo books, and is familiar with the method by 
 which the mind of young Master Mollycoddle was 
 improved by the guidance and precepts of his father 
 and Uncle George. Those who survived such a course 
 of purification and still live will enjoy this story of 
 Rollo's journey to our national capital. 
 
 It is not written for the young in years, but for the 
 young in heart for the good citizen who can see the 
 funny side of a situation that is serious, and can laugh 
 at the mistakes and foibles of our great men of today 
 without malice or viciousness. 
 
 The book is about the Great War which has caused 
 so many tears of sorrow, and the author's only desire 
 is to replace those litter tears with tears of mirth.
 
 Selections from 
 
 The Page Company's 
 
 List o Fiction 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 ELEANOR H. PORTER 
 
 Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.75 
 
 POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (430,000) 
 
 Trade Mark Trade Mark 
 
 Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for 
 the Philadelphia North American, says: "And when, after 
 Pollyanna has gone away, you get her letter saying she is 
 going to take 'eight steps' tomorrow well, I don't know just 
 what you may do, but I know of one person who buried his 
 face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort of sadness 
 and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all 
 gladness for Pollyanna," 
 
 POLLYANNA GROWS UP: The Second GLAD Book 
 
 Trade Mark (^20 (XX)) Trade""" """Mark 
 
 When the story of POLLYANNA told in The Glad Book was 
 ended, a great cry of regret for the vanishing " Glad Girl " 
 went up all over the country and other countries, too. Now 
 POLLYANNA appears again, just as sweec and joyous-hearted, 
 more grown up and more lovable. 
 
 " Take away frowns ! Put down the worries ! Stop fidgeting 
 and disagreeing and grumbling ! Cheer up, everybody ! POLLY- 
 ANNA has come back ! " Christian Herald. 
 
 The GLAD Book Calendar 
 
 Trade Mark 
 
 THE POLLYANNA CALENDAR 
 
 Trade Mark 
 
 (This calendar is issued annually; the calendar for the nev 
 year being ready about Sept. 1st of the preceding year. 
 
 Decorated and printed in colors. $1.50 
 
 " There is a message of cheer on every page, and the calen 
 dar is beautifully illustrated." Kansas Citv Star.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 WORKS OF ELEANOR H. PORTER (Continued) 
 
 MISS BILLY (22nd printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by G. Tyng 91-J6 
 
 "There is something altogether fascinating about 'Miss 
 
 Billy,' some inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to 
 
 demand the individual attention of the reader from the moment 
 
 we open the book until we reluctantly turn the last page." 
 
 Boston Transcript. 
 
 MISS BILLY'S DECISION ( 15 th printing) 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 painting by Henry W. Moore. 
 
 $1.75 
 
 "The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty 
 of action and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are 
 her friends." New Haven Times Leader. 
 
 MISS BELLY MARRIED (i2th printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a 
 
 painting by W. Haskell Coffin. 
 
 $1.75 
 
 "Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss 
 Billy is just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just 
 as much gladness. She disseminates joy so naturally that we 
 wonder why all girls are not like her." Boston Transcript. 
 
 SIX STAR RANCH ( 20th Printing) 
 
 Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Fanington Elwell. 
 
 $1.75 
 
 " 'Six Star Ranch' bears all the charm of the author's genius 
 and is about a little girl down in Texas who practices the Tolly- 
 anna Philosophy* with irresistible success. The book is one of 
 the kindliest things, if not the best, that the author of the Polly 
 anna books has done. It is a welcome addition to the fast- 
 growing family of Glad Books." Howard Russell Bangs in the 
 Boston Post. 
 
 CROSS CURRENTS 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated. " $1-35 
 
 "To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its 
 
 sorrows as well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal." 
 
 Boo A; News Monthly. 
 
 THE TURN OF THE TIDE 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated. $1.35 
 
 "A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to 
 the developing of the life of a dear little girl into a true and 
 good woman." Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 L. M. MONTGOMERY 
 
 THE FOUR ANNE BOOKS 
 
 Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.65 
 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (45th printing) 
 
 " In ' Anne of Green Gables ' you will find the dearest and 
 most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice." 
 Mark Twain in a letter to Francis Wilson. 
 
 ANNE OF AVONLEA ( 3 oth printing) 
 
 " A book to lift the spirit and send the pessimist into bank 
 ruptcy ! " Meredith Nicholson. 
 
 CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (8th printing) 
 
 " A story of decidedly unusual conception and interest.** 
 Baltimore Sun. 
 
 ANNE OF THE ISLAND (isth printing) 
 
 " It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of 
 Anne, and the privilege of being on intimate terms with her 
 throughout the process has been properly valued." New 
 York Herald. _ 
 
 Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.50 
 
 THE STORY GIRL (loth printing) 
 
 " A book that holds one's interest and keeps a kindly smile 
 upon one's lips and in one's heart." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (isth printing) 
 
 " A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the 
 sweet life of the primitive environment." Boston Herald. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ROAD (6th printing) 
 
 " It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now 
 and then, by delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos.'*' 
 Chicago Record-Herald.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY'S 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 ISLA MAY MULLINS 
 
 Each, one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, $1.64 
 
 THE BLOSSOM SHOP: A Story of the South 
 
 " Frankly and wholly romance is this book, and lovable as 
 is a fairy tale properly told." Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 ANNE OF THE BLOSSOM SHOP: Or, the Growing 
 Up of Anne Carter 
 
 " A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, 
 refreshing as a breeze that blows through a pine forest." 
 Albany Times-Union. 
 
 ANNE'S WEDDING 
 
 " Tke story is most beautifully told. It brings in most 
 charming people, and presents a picture of home life that is 
 most appealing in love and affection." Every Evening, Wil 
 mington, Del. 
 
 THE MT. BLOSSOM GIRLS 
 
 " In the writing of the book the author is at her best as a 
 story teller. The humor that ripples here and there, the 
 dramatic scenes that stir, and the golden thread of romance 
 that runs through it all, go to make a marked success. It is a 
 fitting climax to the series." Reader. 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 DAISY RHODES CAMPBELL 
 THE FIDDLING GIRL 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated 91.65 
 
 "A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein 
 of sympathetic comprehension." Boston Herald. 
 
 THE PROVING OF VIRGINIA 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65 
 
 " A book which contributes so much of freshness, enthusiasm, 
 
 and healthy life to offset the usual offerings of modern fiction, 
 
 deserves all the praise which can be showered upon it." 
 
 Kindergarten Review. 
 
 THE VIOLIN LADY 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.65 
 
 " The author's style remains simple and direct, as in her pre 
 ceding books, and her frank affection for her attractive heroine 
 will be shared by many others." Boston Transcript.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 MARY ELLEN CHASE 
 THE GIRL FROM THE BIG HORN COUNTRY 
 
 Cloth 12mo, illustrated by E. Farrington Elwell. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 " ' The Girl from the Big Horn Country ' tells how Virginia 
 Hunter, a bright, breezy, frank-hearted ' girl of the Golden 
 West ' comes out of the Big Horn country of Wyoming to the 
 old Bay State. Then things begin, when Virginia who feels 
 the joyous, exhilarating call of the Big Horn wilderness and 
 the outdoor life attempts to become acclimated and adopt 
 good old New England ' ways.' " Critic. 
 
 VIRGINIA, OF ELK CREEK VALLEY 
 
 Cloth 12mo, illustrated by E. Farrington Elwell. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 "This story is fascinating, alive with constantly new and 
 fresh interests and every reader will enjoy the novel for its 
 freshness, its novelty and its inspiring glimpses of life with 
 nature." The Editor. 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 MRS. HENRY BACKUS 
 THE CAREER OF DOCTOR WEAVER 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by William Van Dresser. 
 
 $1.60 
 
 " High craftsmanship is the leading characteristic of this 
 novel, which, like all good novels, is a love story abounding in 
 real palpitant human interest. The most startling feature of 
 the story is the way its author has torn aside the curtain and 
 revealed certain phases of the relation between the medical pro 
 fession and society." Dr. Charles Reed in the Lancet Clinic. 
 
 THE ROSE OF ROSES 
 
 Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 The author has achieved a thing unusual in developing a love 
 story which adheres to conventions under unconventional cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 " Mrs. Backus' novel is distinguished in the first place for its 
 workmanship." Buffalo Evening News. 
 
 A PLACE IN THE SUN 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated by William Van Dresser. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 " A novel of more than usual meaning." Detroit Free Press. 
 
 " A stirring story of America of to-day, which will be enjoyed 
 by young people with the tingle of youth in their veins.' 
 Zion's Herald, Boston.
 
 THE PAGE COMPANY^ 
 
 NOVELS BY 
 
 MARGARET R. PIPER 
 SYLVIA'S EXPERIMENT: The Cheerful Book 
 
 Trade Mark 
 
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 " An atmosphere of good spirits pervades the book ; the 
 
 humor that now and then flashes across the page is entirely 
 
 natural, and the characters are well individualized." Boston 
 
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 "It has all the merits of a bright, clever style with plenty 
 
 of action and humor." Western Trade Journal, Chicago, III. 
 
 SYLVIA OF THE HILL TOP: The Second Cheerful 
 
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 painting by Gene Pressler $1.50 
 
 "There is a world of human nature and neighborhood con 
 
 tentment and quaint quiet humor in Margaret R. Piper's second 
 
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 " The bright story is told with freshness and humor, and the 
 experiment is one that will appeal to the imagination of all to 
 whom the festival of Christmas is dear." Boston Herald, Bos 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 "Sylvia proves practically that she is a messenger of joy to 
 humanity." The Post Express, Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 SYLVIA ARDEN DECIDES: The Third Cheerful 
 
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 " Its ease of style, its rapidity, its interest from page to page, 
 are admirable; and it shows that inimitable power 'the story 
 teller's gift of verisimilitude. Its sureness and clearness are 
 excellent, and its portraiture clear and pleasing." The Reader. 
 " It is an extremely well told story, made up of interesting 
 situations and the doings of life-like people, and you will find 
 it very easy to follow the fortunes of the different characters 
 through its varied scenes." Boston Herald.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS 
 
 HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES 
 
 Cloth decorative, with many drawings by Charles Livingston 
 Bull, four of which are in full color. $2.50 
 
 The stories in Mr. Roberts's new collection are the strongest 
 and best he has ever written. 
 
 He has largely taken for his subjects those animals rarely 
 met with in books, whose lives are spent " In the Silences," 
 where they are the supreme rulers. 
 
 " As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an envi 
 able place. He is the most literary, as well as the most imag 
 inative and vivid of all the nature writers." Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 RED FOX 
 
 THE STOUT OF His ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK 
 WILDS, AND OF His FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF 
 His KIND. With fifty illustrations, including frontispiece in 
 color and cover design by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative $2.50 
 
 " True in substance, but fascinating as fiction. It will inter 
 est old and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know 
 animals and those who do not" Chicago Record-Herald. 
 
 THE KINDRED OF THE WILD 
 
 A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates 
 
 and many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston 
 
 Bull. 
 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative $2.50 
 
 " Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal 
 
 stories that has appeared; well named and well done." John 
 
 Burroughs. 
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS 
 
 A companion volume to " The Kindred of the Wild." With 
 forty-eight full-page plates and many decorations from 
 drawings by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative $2.50 
 
 " These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet 
 robust in their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of 
 woodcraft. Among the many writers about animals, Mr. Rob 
 erts occupies an enviable place." The Outlook.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 Form L9-Series 4939 
 
 cuaracter.' noston Transcript. 
 
 "A very fine novel. We unhesitatingly pronounce it . . . 
 one of the books that stamp themselves at once upon the imag 
 ination, and remain imbedded in the memory long after the 
 covers are closed." Literary World, Boston.
 
 
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