on Gld~& &tn THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD- FASHIONED GENTLEMAN 1 It is all her doing, Phil." THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN BY F. HOPKINSON SMITH "I ILLUSTRATED BY A. I. KELLER CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS NEW YORK : : 1907 Copyright, 1907, by CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS Published, October, ILLUSTRATIONS " // is all her doing, Phil" Frontispiece Facing page And so the picture was begun 28 Adam sat with his head in his hand:: 80 " It is by a man I know, I saw him paint it " 96 cc Promise me that you will stop the wbolt business" 150 MI5568 THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN THE ROMANCE OF AN OLD- FASHIONED GENTLEMAN BLOSSOM week in Maryland! The air steeped in perfume and soft as a caress; the sky a luminous gray inter woven with threads of silver, flakings of pearl and tiny scales of opal. All the hill-sides smothered in bloom of peach, cherry, and pear; in waves, wind rows and drifts of pink and ivory. Here and there, fluffy white, a single tree upheld like a bride s bouquet ready for my lady s hand when she goes to meet her lord. In the marshes flames of fringed azaleas and the tracings of budding birch and willow m THE ROMANCE OF AN outspread like the sticks of fans. At their feet, shouldering their way upward, big dock leaves vigorous, lusty leaves eager to flaunt their verdure in the new awaken ing. Everywhere the joyous songs of busy birds fresh from the Southland flying shuttles these, of black, blue and brown, weaving homes in the loom of branch and bud. To the trained eye of young Adam Gregg, the painter, all this glory of blos som, hill-side, and pearly tinted sky came as a revelation and a delight. Drawing rein on his sorrel mare he raised himself in his stirrups and swept his glance over the land scape, feasting his eyes on the note of warmth in the bloom of the peach a blos som unknown to his more northern clime, on the soft brown of the pastures, and on [4] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN the filmy blue of the distant hills melting into the gray haze of the April morning. Suddenly a thrill shot through him and a fresh enthusiasm rose in his heart: with all this wealth of color about him, what would not his brush accomplish. Swinging in his seat he readjusted the rain-cloak and painting-kit that were strapped to his saddle-bags, and rode on, his slouch hat pushed back from his fore head to cool his brow, his gray riding-coat unbuttoned and hanging loose, the brown riding-boots gripped about the mare s girth. As he neared his destination the conclud ing lines of the letter of introduction tucked away in his pocket kept recurring to his mind. He was glad his subject was to be a woman one near his own age. Women understood him better, and he them. It [5] THE ROMANCE OF AN was the face and shoulders of a young and pretty woman and a countess, too which had won for him his first Honorable Men tion in Munich. Would he be as lucky with the face and shoulders of the " beau tiful girl-wife of Judge Colton "? Soon the chimneys and big dormer-win dows of Derwood Manor, surmounting the spacious colonial porch with its high pil lars, rose above the skirting of trees. Then came the quaint gate with its brick posts topped by stone urns, through which swept a wide road bordered by lilac bushes. Dis mounting at the horse-block the young painter handed the reins to a negro boy who had advanced to meet him, and, mak ing his way through a group of pickanin nies and snuffing hounds, mounted the porch. The Judge was waiting for him on the [6] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN top step with both hands outstretched in welcome: a man of fifty, smooth-shaven, with iron-gray hair, a thin, straight mouth and a jaw as square as a law book. * You needn t look for your letter, Mr. Gregg," he exclaimed heartily. " The nephew of my old classmate is always a welcome guest at Derwood Manor. We have been expecting you all the morn ing " and the Judge shook the young man s hand as if he had known him from babyhood. It was in the early fifties, and the hatreds of later years were unknown among men of equal social position in a land where hospitality was a religion. " Let me present you to Mrs. Colton and my little son, Phil." Adam turned, and it seemed to him as if the glory of all the blossoms he had seen that day had gone into the making of a THE ROMANCE OF AN woman. Dressed all in white, a wide blue sash about her slender waist; graceful as a budding branch swaying in a summer wind; with eyes like rifts of blue seen through clouds of peach bloom; hair of spun gold in lifted waves about her head, one loosened curl straying over her beau tiful shoulders; mouth and teeth a split pomegranate studded with seeds of pearl she seemed the very embodiment of all the freshness, beauty, and charm of the awakening spring. Instantly all the flesh tones from rose madder and cadmium to indigo-blue ran riot in his head. " What coloring," he kept saying to himself " What a skin, and the hair and shoulders, and the curl that breaks the line of the throat never was there such a woman ! " Even as he stood looking into her eyes, [8] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN pretending to listen to her words of wel come, he was deciding on the colors he would use and the precise pose in which he would paint her. " And it is such a delight to have you with us," she was saying in joyous tones, as though his coming brought a holiday. u When I knew you were to be here I be gan right away to build castles. You are to paint my portrait first, and then you are to paint Phil s. Isn t that it, Judge? Come, Phil, dear, and shake hands with Mr. Gregg." " Whichever you please," Adam replied simply, the little boy s hand in his. " I only hope I shall be able to do justice to you both. It will be my fault if I don t with all this beauty about me. I am really dazed by these wonderful fruit-trees." " Yes, we re going to have a good sea- [9] THE ROMANCE OF AN son," exclaimed the Judge " best we have had for years, peaches especially. We ex pect a " " Oh, I only meant the coloring," in terrupted Gregg, his cheeks flushing. " It s wonderfully lovely." " And you don t have spring blossoms North? " asked Mrs. Colton. Her own eyes had been drinking in the charm of his personality; no color-schemes or palette- tones were interesting her. The straight, lithe figure, square shoulders, open, hon est face, sunny brown eyes, with the short, crisp hair that curled about the temples, meant something alive and young: some thing that could laugh when she laughed and be merry over little things. " Yes, of course, but not this glorious rose-pink," the young painter burst out en thusiastically. " If it will only last until I [10] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN finish your portrait ! It s really your month to be painted in, Mrs. Colton. You have all of Sully s harmonies in your coloring pink, white, blue " he was still looking into her eyes " The great Thomas should have seen you first, I am only his humble disciple," and he shrugged his square shoul ders in a modest way. " And what about Phil? " she laughed, catching the fire of his enthusiasm as she drew the boy closer to her side. " Well, I should try him in October. He has " and he glanced at the Judge " his father s brown eyes and dark skin. Nuts and autumn leaves and red berries go best with that," he added, as he ran his fin gers through the boy s short curls. " And an old fellow like me, I suppose, you d paint with a foot of snow on the ground," laughed the Judge dryly. Well THE ROMANCE OF AN anything to please Olivia. Come, all of you, dinner is waiting! " The warmth of the greeting was as great a surprise to the young Northerner as the wealth of the out-of-door bloom. He had been hospitably received in similar jour neys in his own State, but never quite like this. There it was a matter of business un til he had become " better acquainted," even when he stayed in the houses of his patrons. He remembered one old farmer who wanted to put him in a room over the stable with the hired man, and another, a mill-owner, who deducted the sum of his board from the price of the picture, but here he had been treated as one of the family from the moment his foot touched their door-step. The Judge had not only placed him on his right hand at table, but [12] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN had sent old Bundy, the family butler, down into the wine-cellar for a bottle of old Madeira, that had " rusted away in his cellar," he said, for thirty years, and which he would open in remembrance of his col lege days, when his guest s uncle was his chum and classmate. Several days had passed before he would even allow Adam to take out his brushes and prepare his canvas for work; his ex planation being that as he was obliged to go on Circuit, he would like to enjoy his visitor s society before he left. There would be plenty of time for the picture while he was away. Then too it would come as a full surprise on his return not a half-completed picture showing the work of days, but a finished portrait alive not only with the charm of the sitter, but with the genius of the master. This was pro- [13] THE ROMANCE OF AN claimed with a courteous wave of his hand to his wife and Adam, as if she, too, would be held responsible for the success of the portrait. The morning before his departure he called Olivia and Adam, and the three made a tour of the rooms in search of a suitable place where his easel could be set up and the work begun. All three admitted that the study was too dark, and so was the library unless the vines were cleared from the windows, which was, of course, out of the question, the Judge s choice finally rest ing on one corner of the drawing-room, where a large window let in a little more light. In acquiescence the young painter drew back the curtains and placed his sub ject first on the sofa and then in an arm chair, and again standing by the sash, and once more leaning over the window-sill; [14] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN but in no position could he get what he wanted. " Suit yourselves, then," said the Judge, " and pick out your own place, and make yourselves as comfortable as you can only don t hurry over it. I shall not be back for a month, and if that is not time enough, why, we have all summer before us. As to your other comforts, my dear Adam and I rejoice to see you know a good bottle of wine when you taste it I have given Bundy express orders to decant for you some of the old Tiernan of 28, which is a little dryer than even that special bottle of the Madeira you liked so well. My only regret is that I cannot share it with you. And now one word more before I say good-by, and that is that I must ask you, my dear Gregg, to do all you can to keep Mrs. Colton from becoming lonely. [15] THE ROMANCE OF AN You will, of course, as usual, accompany her in her afternoon rides, and I need not tell you that my own horses are at your dis posal. When I return I hope to be wel comed by two Olivias; one which by your genius you will put on canvas, and the other " and he bov/ed grandiloquently to his wife " I leave in your charge." The young painter took the first oppor tunity to discharge his duty an opportu nity afforded him when the Judge, after kissing his wife and shaking hands with Adam the morning he left, had stepped into his gig, his servant beside him, and with a lifting of his hat in punctilious cour tesy, had driven down between the lilacs. It may have been gallantry or it may have been the pathetic way in which she waved her handkerchief in return that roused the boyish sympathy in his heart : [16] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " Don t worry," he said in a voice full of tenderness. " He won t be long gone only a month, he says; and don t be un happy I m going to do everything to cheer you up." " But I m never lonely," she answered with an air of bravado, " and I try never to be unhappy. I always have Phil. And now," and she broke out into a laugh, " I have you, and that makes me feel just as I did as a girl when one of the boys came over to play with me. Come upstairs, right away, and let me show you the big garret. I m just crazy to see you begin work, and I really believe that s the best place, after all. It s full of old trunks and furniture, but there s a splendid window " " On which side of the house, north or south? I must have a north light, you know." THE ROMANCE OF AN " Yes north; looking straight up into your freezing cold country, sir ! This way I Come along!" she cried joyously as she mounted the stairs, little Phil, as usual, tumbling after them. Adam entered first and stood in the mid dle of the floor looking about him. " Superb! " he cried. " Just the very place! What a magnificent light so di rect, and not a reflection from anything." It was, indeed, an ideal studio to one ac customed to the disorder of beautiful things. Not only was there a hip roof, with heavy, stained beams and brown shingles, but near its crotch opened a wide, round-topped window which shed its light on the dilapidated relics of two generations old spinning-wheels, hair trunks, high- post, uncoupled bedsteads; hair-cloth sofas, and faded curtains of yellow damask, while [18] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN near the door rested an enormous jar brought up from the garden to catch the drip of a leaky shingle all so much lum ber to Olivia, but of precious value to the young painter, especially the water jar, which reminded him of those he had seen in Sicily when he was tramping through its villages sketching. " Just the place oh, wonderful ! Won derful ! Let me shout down for Bundy and we ll move everything into shape right away." " Are you going to take them out or push them back?" exclaimed Olivia, her eyes growing wide with wonder as she watched him begin work. " No, not going to move out one of them. You just wait I ll show you!" The boy in him was coming out now. And Olivia did wait, uttering little cries [19] THE ROMANCE OF AN of delight or inquiry meanwhile, as she tripped after him, her skirts lifted above her dainty ankles to keep them from the dust. " Oh, that ugly old bureau; shan t we send it away? " followed by " Yes, I do think that s better." And, " Oh, are you going to put that screen there ! " gouty old Bundy joining in with u Well, fo de Lawd, Miss Livy, I neber did see no ol truck come to life agin befo by jes shovin it rounV " And now get a sheet! " cried Adam, when everything had been arranged to his liking. ;< We ll tack it across the lower half of the window. Then Bundy, please go down and bring up two buckets of water and pour it into this jar. Now, Mrs. Col- ton, come along, you and I will bring up blossoms enough to fill it," and the two dashed downstairs and out into the orchard [20] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN with the swoop of two swallows out for an airing. Even Bundy had to admit to old Dinah, when he had returned to the kitchen, that the transformation of a lumber-room into a cosy studio was little less than miraculous. " Dat painter gemman do beat de Ian ," he chuckled. " Got dat ol garret lookin like a parlor fixed up for comp ny. Ye oughter see dem oP hair-backs wid de bot toms busted got em kivered up wid dem patchwork bedspreads an lookin like dey was fit for de ol mist ess s bedroom. An he s got dem oP yaller cut ains we useter hab in de settin -room hung on de fo -post- ers as sort o screens fencin off one corner ob de room jes by de do . Dat ol carpet s spread out; dat one-legged spinnin -wheel s propped up and standin roun ; dem oP stable lanterns is hung to de rafters. I clar [21] THE ROMANCE OF AN to goodness, ye wouldn t believe! Now dey jes sont me down for two buckets o water to fill dat oP jar we useter hab set- tin out here on de po ch. He and de young mist ess is out now lookin for peach blos soms to fill it. He s a wonder, I tell ye! " The masses of blossoms arranged in the big jar the tops of their branches reach ing the water-stained roof; a canvas for a half-length tacked on a stretcher and placed on an improvised easel, Adam began pry ing into the dark corners for a seat for his model, Olivia following his every move ment, her eyes twice their usual size in her ever-increasing astonishment and delight. "Hello, here s just the thing!" he shouted, dragging out a high-back chair with some of the lower rungs gone, and dusting it off with his handkerchief. u Sit here and let me see how the light falls. No, [22] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN that isn t good; that dress won t do at all." (The gown came too far up on her neck to suit this artistic young gentleman s ideas regarding the value of curved lines in por traiture.) That collar spoils everything. Can t you wear something else ? I d rather see you in full dress. I want the line of the throat ending in the sweep of the shoul der, and then I want the long curl against the flesh tones. You haven t worn your hair that way since I came; and where s the dress you had on the day I arrived? The colors suited you perfectly. I shall never forget how you looked it was all blossoms, you and everything and the background of the dark door, and the white of the porch columns, with just a touch of yellow ochre to break it Oh, it was delicious ! Please, now, put that dress on again and wear a low-neck waist [23] THE ROMANCE OF AN with it. The flesh tones of the throat and shoulders will be superb and I know just how to harmonize them with this back ground." It was the picture, not the woman, that filled his soul. Flesh tones heightened by a caressing, lingering curl, and relieved by green leaves and flowers, were what had made the Munich picture a success. " But I haven t any low-necked gowns. Those I had when I was married are all worn out, and I ve never needed any since. My nearest neighbors are ten miles away, and half the time I dine with only Phil." "Well, but can t you fix something?" persisted Adam, bent on the composition he had in his mind. " Everybody s been so good to me here I want this portrait to be the very best I can do. What is in these trunks? There must be some old dresses OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN belonging to somebody s grandmother or somebody s aunt. Do you mind my open ing this one? It s unlocked." Adam lifted the lid. A faded satin gown belonging to the Judge s mother lay on the top. The old lady had been born and brought up under this roof, and was still alive when the Judge s first wife died. " Here s the very thing." "And you really want that old frock? All right, Mr. Autocrat, I ll run down and put it on." She was like a child dressing for her first party. Twice did her hair fall about her shoulders and twice must she gather it up, fingering carefully the long curl, patting it into place; hooking the bodice so that all its modesty would be preserved and yet the line of the throat show clear, shaking out the full, pannier-like skirt until it stood out THE ROMANCE OF AN quite to her liking. Then with a mock curtsey to herself in the glass, she dashed out of the room, up the narrow stairs and into the garret again before he had had time to sort over his brushes. " Lovely! " he burst out enthusiastically when she had whirled round so he could see all sides of her. " It s more beautiful than the one I first saw you in. Now you look like a bit of old Dresden china No, I think you look like a little French queen. No, I don t know what you do look like, only you re the loveliest thing I ever saw ! " The gown fitted her perfectly; part of her neck was bare, the single curl, just as he wanted it, straying over it. Then came the waist of ivory-white flowered satin with elbow sleeves, and then the puffy panniers drooped about the slender bodice. As he [26] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN drank in her beauty the blood went tingling through his veins. He had thought her lovely that first morning when he saw her on the porch: then she was all blossoms; now she was a vision of the olden time for whose lightest smile brave courtiers fought and bled. " That s it, keep your head up ! " he cried, as with many steppings backward and forward, he conducted her to the old chair, and with the air of a grand cham berlain placed her upon it, adding in mock gallantry : " Sit there, fair lady mine, while your humble slave makes obeisance. To touch the hem of your garment would be Oh, but aren t you lovely ! And the tone of old ivory in the satin, and the exquisite flesh notes and the way the curl lies on the shoulder! You are adorable! " [27] THE ROMANCE OF AN And so the picture was begun. The hours and the days that followed were hours and days of never-ending joy and frolic. While it was still " Mr. Gregg " and " Mrs. Colton," it was as often " Uncle Adam " by little Phil (the three were never separated) and now and then " Marse Adam " by old Bundy, who sought in this way to emphasize his mas ter s injunction to " look after Mr. Gregg s comfort." Nor did the supervision stop here. Un der Olivia s instructions and with Bundy s help, the big dining-room table, with the Judge s seat at one end, hers at the other, and little Phil in his high chair in the mid dle, was given up and moved out as being altogether too formal and the seats too far apart, and a small one, sprinkled daily with fresh damask roses that she herself had [28] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN culled from the garden, was substituted. The great window in the library, which had always been kept closed by reason of a draught which carromed on the door of the study and struck the Judge somewhere be tween his neck and his shoulders, was now thrown wide and kept wide, and the porch chairs, three of them, which had precise positions fixed for them between the low windows, were dragged out under the big apple-tree shading the lawn and moved up to another table that Bundy had carried down from one of the spare rooms. And then the joy of being for the first time the real head of the house when " com pany " was present free to pour out her hospitality in her own way free to fix the hours of breakfast, dinner, and supper, and what should be cooked, and how served; free to roam the rooms at her pleasure, in [29] THE ROMANCE OF AN and out of the silent study without the never-infringed formality of a knock. And the long talks in the improvised studio, she sitting under the big north win dow in the softened light of the sheet; the joy she took in his work; the charm of his sympathetic companionship. Then the long rides on horseback when the morn ing s work was over, she on Black Bess, he on his own mare; the rompings and laugh ter in the cool woods ; the delight over the bursting of new blossoms; the budding of new leaves and tendrils, and the ceaseless song of the birds! Were there ever days like these ! And the swing and dash and freedom of it all ! The perfect trust, each in the other. The absence of all coquetry and allurement, of all pretence or sham. Just chums, good fellows, born comrades; joining in the same [30] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN laugh, stilled by the same thoughts; ab sorbed in the same incidents, no matter how trivial : the hiving of a swarm of bees, the antics of a pair of squirrels, or the un folding of a new rose. He twenty-five, clean-souled, happy-hearted; lithe as a sap ling and as graceful and full of spring. She twenty-two, soft-cheeked as a summer rose and as sweet and wholesome and as inno cent of all guile as a fawn, drinking in for the first time, in unknown pastures, the fresh dew of the morning of life. And the little comedy in the garret was played to the very end. Each day my lady would dress herself with the greatest care in the flowered satin and coax the stray curl into position, and each day Adam would go through the cere mony of receiving her at the door with his mahl-stick held before him like a staff of THE ROMANCE OF AN state. Then, bowing like a courtier, he would lead her past the yellow satin screen and big jar of blossoms and place her in the high-back chair, little Phil acting as page, carrying her train. And so the picture was finished! On that last day, as he stood in front of it, the light softened by the screening sheet falling full upon it, his heart swelled with pride. He knew what his brush had wrought. Not only had he given the ex act pose he had labored for the bent head, the full throat, the slope of the gently fall ing line from the ear to the edge of the corsage, the round of the white shoulders relieved by the caressing curl; but he had caught a certain joyous light in the eyes a light which he had often seen in her face when, with a sudden burst of affection, she [32] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN had strained little Phil to her breast and kissed him passionately. " I m not so beautiful as that," she had said to Adam with a deprecatory tone in her voice, as the two stood before it. " It s only because you think I am, and because you ve kept on saying it over and over until you believe it. It s the gown and the peach blossoms in the jar behind my chair not me." The servants were none the less enthusi astic. Bundy screwed up his toad eyes and expressed the opinion that it was " de spress image," and fat old Aunt Dinah, who had stumbled up the garret stairs from the kitchen, the first time in years her quarters being on the ground floor of one of the cabins put on her spectacles, and lifting up her hands, exclaimed in a camp- meeting voice : [33] THE ROMANCE OF AN " De Lawd wouldn t know t other from which if both on ye went to heaben dis minute ! Dat s you, sho nuff, young mist ess." Only one thing troubled the young painter: What would the Judge say when he returned in the morning? What altera tions would he insist upon? He had been compelled so many times to ruin a success ful picture, just to please the taste of the inexperienced, that he trembled lest this, the best work of his brush, should share their fate. Should the Judge disapprove Olivia s heart would well nigh be broken, for she loved the picture as much as he did himself. The night before Judge Colton s return the two sat out on the porch in the moon light. The air was soft and full of the [34] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN coming summer. Fire-flies darted about; the croaking of tree-toads could be heard. From the quarters of the negroes came the refrain of an old song : " Corn top s ripe and de meadow s in de bloom, Weep no mo me lady." " I feel as if I had been dreaming and had just waked up," sighed Olivia. " Is it all over?" " Yes, I can t make it any better," he an swered in a positive tone, his thoughts on his picture. " Must you go away after you finish Phil s? " Her mind was not on the por trait. " Yes, unless the Judge wants his own painted. I wish he would. I d love to stay with you you ve been so kind to me. No body has ever been so good." [35] THE ROMANCE OF AN " And you ve been very kind to me," Olivia sighed. " Oh, so kind ! " " And just think how beautiful it is here," he rejoined; " and the wonderful weather; and the lovely life we have led. You ought to be very contented in so beau tiful a home, with everybody so good to you." " It s all been very, very happy, hasn t it? " She had not listened, nor had she an swered him. It was the refrain of the old song that filled her ears. " Yes, the happiest of my life. If you d been my own sister you couldn t have been lovelier to me." "Where shall you go?" She was not looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on the group of trees breaking the sky line. " Home, to my people," he answered slowly. [36] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " How far away is it? " " Oh, a long distance ! It takes me three days constant riding to get home." " And you love them? " " Yes. 7 " Do they love you? " " Yes." Again the song rolled out : " Few mo days to tote de weary load, Weep no mo me lady." [37] II THE home-coming of the master brought everybody on the run to the porch : the men in the neighboring field; the gardener, who came bounding over his flower-beds; Aunt Dinah, drying her fat hands on her apron, to grasp her master s; Bundy, who helped him to alight; half a dozen pickaninnies and twice as many dogs, and last Adam and Olivia, w r ho came flying down the front stairs, followed by little Phil. The Judge alighted from the gig with some difficulty, Bundy guiding his foot so that it rested on the iron step, and helped him to the ground. The ride had been a [38] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN trying one, and the heat and dust had left their marks on his face. "And how about the portrait?" were his first words after kissing his wife and child and shaking hands with Gregg. " Is it finished, and are you pleased, my dear? " Yes, and it s lovely, only it s not me, I tell him." " Not you? Who is it, then? " " Oh, somebody twice as pretty! " " No. It s not one-quarter, not one- tenth as beautiful! " There was a ring in Adam s voice that showed the tribute came from his heart. " But that s the dress and the back ground; and the lovely blossoms. Oh, you d never believe that old jar could look so well!" "Background! Jar! Where did you [39] THE ROMANCE OF AN sit? " He had changed his coat now, and Bundy was brushing the dust from his trousers and shoes. " Oh, up in the garret. You wouldn t know the place. Mr. Gregg pulled every thing round until it is the cosiest room you ever saw." The Judge shot a quick, searching glance at Adam. Then his eye took in the lithe, graceful figure of the young man, so buoy ant with health and strength. " Up in the garret ! Why didn t you paint it here, or in the front room? " " I needed a north light, sir." " And you could only find that in a gar ret? I should have thought the parlor was the place for a lady. And are you satis fied with the result? " he asked in a more formal tone, as he dropped into a chair and turned to Adam. The long ride had fa- [40] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN tigued him more than he had thought pos sible. " Well, it certainly is the best thing I have ever done. The flesh tones are purer, and the " The Judge looked up : " Of the face? " " All the flesh tones especially the tones around the curl where it lies on the bare shoulder." He was putting his best foot forward, arguing his side of the case. Half of Olivia s happiness would be gone if her hus band were disappointed in the portrait. " Let us go up and look at it," the Judge said, as if impelled by some sudden re solve. When he reached the garret Adam and Olivia and little Phil had gone ahead he stopped and looked about him. " Well, upon my soul ! You have turned [41] THE ROMANCE OF AN things upside down," he remarked in a graver tone. " And here s where you two have spent all these days, is it? " Again his eye rested on Adam s graceful figure, whose cheeks were flushed with his run upstairs. With the glance came a certain feeling of revolt, as if the lad s very youth were an affront. " Only in the morning, sir, while the light lasted," explained Adam, noticing the implied criticism in the coldness of the Judge s tones. " Turn the picture, please, Mr. Gregg." For a brief moment the Judge, with fold ed arms, gazed into the canvas; then the straight lips closed, the brow tightened, and an angry glow mounted to the very roots of his gray hair. " Mr. Gregg," said the Judge in the same measured tone with which he would [42] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN have sentenced a criminal, " if I did not know you to be a gentleman, and incapable of dishonor, I should ask you to leave my house. You may not have intended it, sir, but you have abused my hospitality and in sulted my home. My wife is but a child, and easily influenced, and you should have protected her in my absence, as I would have protected yours. The whole thing is most disturbing, sir and I " " Why why what is the matter? " gasped Adam. The suddenness of the at tack had robbed him of his breath. " Matter ! " thundered the Judge. " Bad taste is the matter, if not worse ! No woman should ever uncover her neck to any man but her husband! You have imposed upon her, sir, with your for eign notions. The picture shall never be hung!" [43] THE ROMANCE OF AN " But it is your own mother s dress," pleaded Olivia, a sudden flush of indigna tion rising in her face. " We found it in the trunk. It s on my bed now I ll go get it " " I don t want to see it ! What my mother wore at her table in the presence of my father and his guests is not what she would have worn in her garret day after day for a month with her hus band away. You should have remembered your blood, Olivia, and my name and position." " Judge Colton ! " cried Adam, stepping nearer and looking the Judge square in the eyes all the forces of his soul were up in arms now " your criticisms and your words are an insult! Your wife is as un conscious as a child of any wrong-doing, and so am I. I found the dress in the trunk [44] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN and made her put it on. Mrs. Colton has been as safe here with me as if she had been my sister, and she has been my sister every hour of the day, and I love her dearly. I have told her so, and I tell you so I " The Judge was accustomed to read the souls of men, and he saw that this one was without a stain. " I believe you, Gregg," he said, extend ing his hand. " I have been hasty and have done you a wrong. Forgive me! And you, too, Olivia. I am over-sensitive about these things: perhaps, too, I am a little tired. We will say no more about it." That night when the Judge had shut himself up in his study with his work, and Olivia had gone to her room, Adam mounted the stairs and flung himself down [45] THE ROMANCE OF AN on one of the old sofas. The garret was dark, except where the light of the waning moon filtering through the sheet, fell upon the portrait and patterned the floor in squares of silver. Olivia s eyes still shone out from the easel. In the softened, half- ghostly light there seemed to struggle out from their depths a certain pleading look, as if she needed help and was appealing to him for sympathy. He knew it was only a trick the moonlight was playing with his colors lowering the reds and graying the flesh tones that when the morning came all the old joyousness would return; but it depressed him all the same. The Judge s words with their cruelty and injustice still rankled in his heart. The quixotic protest, he knew, about his mother s faded old satin must have had some other basis than the one of immod- [46] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN esty an absurd position, as any one could see who would examine the picture. Olivia could never be anything but modest. Had it really been the gown that had offend ed him? or had he seen something in his wife s portrait which he had missed be fore in her face something of the joy which a freer and more untrammelled life had given her, and which had, therefore, aroused his jealousy. He would never for give him for the outburst, despite the apol ogy, nor would he ever forget Olivia cow ering, when she listened, as if from a blow, hugging little Phil to her side. While the Judge s words had cut deep into his own heart they had scorched Olivia s like a flame. He had seen it in her tear-dried face seamed and crumpled like a crushed rose, when without a word to her husband or himself, except a simple " Good-night, [47] THE ROMANCE OF AN all," she had left the room but an hour before. Suddenly he raised his head and listened: A step was mounting the stairs. Then came a voice from the open door. " Adam, are you in there? " " Yes, Olivia." "May I come in?" Like a wraith of mist afloat in the night she stole into the darkened room and set tled slowly and noiselessly beside him. He tried to struggle to his feet in protest, but she clung to him, her fingers clutching his arm, her sobs choking her. " Don t don t go ! I must talk to you nobody else understands nobody " " But you must not stay here! Think what " " No! Please please I can t go; you must listen ! I couldn t sleep. Help me ! [48] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Tell me what I must do! Oh, Adam, please please! I shall die if I have to keep on as I have done." She slipped from the low cushion and lay crouching at his feet, her arms and face resting on his knees; her wonderful hair, like spun gold, falling about him, its faint perfume stirring his senses. Then, with indrawn, stifling sobs she laid bare her innermost secrets; all her heartaches, misunderstandings, hidden sor rows, and last that unnamed pain which no human touch but his could heal. Only once, as she crouched beside him, did he try to stop the flow of her whispered talk; she pleading piteously while he held her from him, he looking into her eyes as if he were afraid to read their meaning. When she had ended he lifted her to her [49] THE ROMANCE OF AN feet, smoothed the dishevelled hair from her face, and kissed her on the forehead : " Go now," he said in a broken voice, as he led her to the door. " Go, and let me think it over." With the breaking of the dawn he rose from the lounge where he had lain all night with staring eyes, took the portrait from the easel, held it for a brief instant to the gray light, touched it reverently with his lips, turned it to the wall, and then, with noiseless steps, descended to his bedroom. Gathering his few belongings together he crept downstairs so as to wake no one, pushed open the front door, crossed the porch and made his way to the stable, where he saddled his mare. Then he rode slowly past the lilacs and out of the gate. When he reached the top of the hill and [50] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN looked back, the rising sun was gilding the chimneys and quaint dormers of Derwood Manor. Only the closed shutters of Olivia s room were in shadow. " It s the only way," he said with a sigh, and turned his horse s head toward the North. Ill THE few weeks Adam Gregg spent in his father s home on his return from Derwood Manor were weeks of suf fering such as he had never known in his short career. No word had come from Olivia, and none had gone from him in return. He dared not trust himself to write; he made no inquiries. He made no mention, even at home, of his visit, except to say that he had painted Judge Colton s wife and had then retraced his steps. It was not a matter to be discussed with any one not even with his mother, to whom he told almost every happening of his life. He had seen a vision of transcendent [52] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN beauty which had filled his soul. Then the curtain had fallen, blotting out the light and leaving him in darkness and despair. What was left was the memory of a tear- stained face and two pleading eyes. These would haunt him all his days. At the end of the year he found himself in London : Gainsborough, Romney and Lawrence beckoned to him. He must mas ter their technique, study their color. The next year was spent in Madrid studying Velasquez and Goya. It was the full brush that enthralled him now the sweep and directness of virile methods. Then he wandered over to Granada, and so on to the coast and Barcelona, and at last to Paris. When his first salon picture was exhib ited it could only be properly seen when the crowd opened, so great was the throng [53] THE ROMANCE OF AN about it. It was called " A Memory," and showed the figure of a young girl standing in the sunlight with wreaths of blossoms arched above her head. On her golden hair was a wide hat which half shaded her face; one beautiful arm, exquisitely mod elled and painted, rested on the neck of a black horse. A marvellous scheme of color, the critics said, the blossoms and flesh tones being wonderfully managed. No one knew the model English, some sug gested; others concluded that it was the portrait of some lady of the court in a cos tume of the thirties. The day after the opening of the salon Clairin called and left his card, and the day following Fortuny mounted the stairs to shake his hand, although he had never met Gregg before. When, later on, Honorable Mention was awarded him by the jury, [54] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Boisseau, the art dealer, rang his bell and at once began to inquire about the price of portraits. Madame X. and the Countess M. had been captivated, he said, by the " Memory," and wanted sittings. If the commissions were sufficient the dealer could arrange for very many orders, not only for many women of fashion, but of members of the Government. The following year his portrait of Baron Chevrail received the Gold Medal and he himself a red ribbon, and a few months later his picture of " Columbus before the Council " took the highest honors at Genoa, and was bought by the Govern ment. During almost all the years of his tri umphal progress he lived alone. So seldom was he seen outside of his studio that many of his brother painters were convinced that [55] THE ROMANCE OF AN he never spent more than a few days at a time in Paris. They would knock, and knock again, only to be told by the con cierge that monsieur was out, or in London, or on the Riviera. His studio in London and his occasional visits to Vienna, where he shared Makart s atelier while painting a portrait of one of the Austrian grand dukes, helped in this delusion. The truth was that he had no thought for things out side of his art. The rewards of fame and money never appealed to him. What en thralled him was his love of color, of har mony, of the mastering of subtleties in composition and mass. That the public approved of his efforts, and that juries awarded him honors, caused him no thrill of exultation. He knew how far short his brush had come. He was glad they liked the picture. Next time he would do better. [56] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN These triumphs ruffled his surface as a passing wind ruffles a deep pool. As he grew in years there came a certain dignity of carriage, a certain poise of bear ing. The old-time courtliness of manner was strengthened; but the sweetness of na ture was still the same a nature that won for him friends among the best about him. Not many only three or four who had the privilege of knocking with three light taps and one loud one at his door, a signal to which he always responded but friends whose proudest boast was their intimacy with Adam Gregg. The women smiled at him behind their lorgnons as they passed him riding in the Bois, for he had never given up this form of out-door exercise, his erect military fig ure, fine head and upturned mustache lend ing him a distinction which attracted at- [57] THE ROMANCE OF AN tention at once; but he seldom did more than return their salutations. Sometimes he would accept an invitation to dinner, but only on rare occasions. When he did it was invariably heralded in advance that " Gregg was coming," a fact which always decided uncertain guests to say " Yes " to their hostess s invitation. And yet he was not a recluse in the ac cepted sense of the word, nor did he lead a sad life. He only preferred to enjoy it alone, or with one or two men who under stood him. While casual acquaintances especially those in carriages were denied access when he was absorbed on some work of importance, the younger painters those who were struggling up the ladder were always welcome. For these the concierge was given special instructions. Then [58] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN everything would be laid aside; their sketches gone over and their points settled, no matter how long it took or how many hours of his precious time were given to their service. Many of these lads not alone his own countrymen, but many who could not speak his language often found a crisp, clean bank-note in their hands when the painter s fingers pressed their own in parting. Of only one thing was he in tolerant, and that was sham. The insin cere, the presuming and the fraudulent always irritated him; so did the slightest betrayal of a trust. Then his dark-brown eyes would flash, his shoulders straighten, and there would roll from his lips a de nunciation which those who heard never forgot an outburst all the more startling because coming from one of so gentle and equable a temperament. [59] THE ROMANCE OF AN During all the years of his exile no word had come from Olivia. He had once seen Judge Colton s name in one of the Paris papers in connection with a railroad case in which some French investors were inter ested, but nothing more had met his eye. Had he been of a different temperament he would have forgotten her and that night in the improvised studio, but he was not constituted to forget. He was constituted to remember, and to remember with all his soul. Every day of his life he had missed her; never was there a night that she was not in his thoughts before he dropped to sleep. What would have been his career had fate brought them together before the blight fell upon her? What intimacies, what enjoyment, what ideals nurtured and made real. And the companionship, the instant sympathy, the sureness of an echo [60] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN in her heart, no matter how low and soft his whisper! These thoughts were never absent from his mind. Moreover, his life had been one of standards : the greatest painter, the greatest picture, the finest piece of bronze. It was so when he looked over curios at the deal er s : it was the choicest of its kind that he must have; anything of trifling value, or anything commonplace he ignored. Olivia had also fixed for him a standard. Compared to her, all other women were trite and incomplete. No matter how beau tiful they might be, a certain simplicity of manner was lacking, or the coloring was bad, or the curve of the neck ungraceful. All of these perfections, and countless more, made up Olivia s personality, and unless the woman before him possessed these several charms she failed to interest [61] THE ROMANCE OF AN him. The inspection over and the mental comparison at an end, a straightening of the shoulders and a knitting of the brow would follow, ending in a far-away look in his brown eyes and an unchecked sigh as if the very hopelessness of the compari son brought with it a certain pain. As to much of the life of the Quartier about him, he shrank from it as he would from a pes tilence. Certain men never crossed his threshold never dared. One morning there came to him the crowning honor of his career. A new hotel de ville was about to be erected in a neigh boring city, and the authorities had selected him to paint the great panel at the right of the main entrance. As he threw the letter containing the proposition on his desk and leaned back in his chair a smile of supreme satisfaction lighted up his face. He could [62] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN now carry out a scheme of color and mass ing of figures which had been in his mind for years, but which had heretofore been impossible owing to the limited area cov ered by the canvases of his former orders. This space would give him all the room he needed. The subject was to be an incident in the life of Rochambeau, just before the siege of Yorktown. Gregg had been se lected on account of his nationality. Every latitude was given him, and the treatment was to be distinctly his own. It was while searching about the streets and cafes of Paris for types to be used in the preliminary sketches for this, the supreme work so far of his life, that he took a seat one afternoon in the early autumn at a table outside one of the cheap cafes along the Seine. He could study the faces of those passing, from a position of this kind. In THE ROMANCE OF AN his coming picture there must necessarily be depicted a group of the great French man s followers, and a certain differentia tion of feature would be necessary. On this afternoon, then, he had taken his sketch-book from his breast pocket and was about to make a memorandum of some type that had just attracted him, when a young man in a student s cap twisted his head to get a closer view of the work of Gregg s pencil. An intrusion of this kind from any one but a student would have been instantly re sented by Adam. Not so, however, with the young fellow at his elbow; these were his wards, no matter where he met them. " Come closer, my boy," said Gregg in a low voice. " You belong to the Quartier, do you not? " " Yes." [64] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " Are you English?" " No, an American. I am from Mary land." " From Maryland, you say ! " exclaimed Adam with a sudden start, closing his sketch-book and slipping it into his pocket. The name always brought with it a certain rush of blood to his cheek why, he could never tell. " How long have you been in Paris, my lad? " He had moved back now so that the stranger could find a seat beside him. " Only a few months, sir. I was in London for a time and then came over here. I m working at Julian s " and the young fellow squeezed himself into the chair Adam had pulled out for him. " Are you from one of the cities? " " No, from Montgomery County, sir." THE ROMANCE OF AN " That s next to Frederick, isn t it? " " Yes, sir." Both question and answer set his pulses to beating. Instantly there rushed into his mind the picture he never forgot the figure in white standing at the head of the porch steps. He recalled the long curl that lay next her throat, the light In her eyes, the warm pressure of her hand; the wealth of bursting blossoms, their perfume filling the spring air. How many years had passed since he had ridden through those Maryland orchards ! For some minutes Adam sat perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the line of trees fringing the parapet of the Seine. The boy kept silent; it was for the older man to speak first again. Soon an overwhelm ing, irresistible desire to break through the reserve of years surged over the painter. [66] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN He could ask this lad questions he had never asked any one before not that he had ever had an opportunity, for he had seen no one who knew, and he had de termined never to write. Here was his chance. " Perhaps you can tell me about some of the old residents. I visited your part of the State many years ago in the spring, I remember and met a few of the people. What has become of Major Dorsey, Mr. Talbot and " there was a slight pause " and Judge Colton?" " I don t know, sir. I ve heard my father speak of them, but I never saw any of them except Judge Colton. He used to stay at our house when he held court. He lived up in Frederick County a thin, sol emn-looking man, with white hair. He s dead now." THE ROMANCE OF AN Gregg s fingers tightened convulsively. " Judge Colton dead! Are you sure? " " Yes died the week I left home. Father went up to his funeral. He rode in the carnage with Mrs. Colton, he told us when he came home. They re pretty poor up there, too; the Judge lost all his money, I heard." Gregg paid for his coffee, rose from his seat, shook hands with the boy, gave him his name and address in case he ever wanted advice or help and continued his walk under the trees overlooking the river. The news had come to him out of the sky, and in a way that partook almost of the supernatural. There was no doubt in his mind of the truth. The boy s Southern accent and his description of the man who ten years before had denounced Olivia and himself, was confirmation enough. [68] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN As he forged along, elbowing his way among the throng that crowded the side walk, the scene in the garret the night he parted from Olivia took possession of him the one scene in all their past relation on which he never allowed himself to dwell. He recalled the tones of her voice, the out line of her figure crouching at his knees, the squares of moonlight illumining the floor and the room, and now once again he lis tened to the story she had poured into his ears that fatal night. By the time he had reached his studio his mind was made up. Olivia was in trouble, perhaps in want. In the conditions about her she must be threatened by many dangers and must suffer many privations. The old ungovernable longing again gripped him, and with renewed force. What was there in life but love? he THE ROMANCE OF AN said to himself. What else counted? What were his triumphs, his honors, his posi tion among his brother painters, his wel come among his equals, compared to the love of this woman ? What happiness had they brought him? Then his mind re verted to his past life. How hungry had he been for the touch of a hand, the caress of a cheek, the whispered talk into respon sive ears. No ! there was nothing noth ing but love ! Everything else was but the ashes of a bitter fruit. He must see Olivia, and at once; the long wait was over now. What her atti tude of mind might be made no differ ence, or what her feeling toward him for deserting her on that terrible night. To day she was unprotected, perhaps in want. To help her was a matter of honor. With these thoughts crowding out every [70] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN other, and with the impetus of the resolve hot upon him, he opened his portfolio and wrote a note, informing the committee in charge of the Rochambeau picture of his sudden departure for America and the con sequent impossibility of executing the com mission with which they had honored him. Three days later, with a new joy surging through his veins, he set sail for home. [71] IV AGAIN Adam drew rein and looked over the brown hills of Maryland. No wealth of bursting blossoms greeted him; the trees were bare of leaves, their naked branches shivering in the keen No vember wind; in the dips of the uneven roads the water lay in pools ; above hung a dull, gray sky telling of the coming cold; long lines of crows were flying southward, while here and there a deserted cabin showed the havoc the years of war had wrought a havoc which had spared neither friend nor foe. None of these things disturbed Adam nor checked the flow of his spirits. The [72] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN cold would not reach his heart ; there was a welcome ahead of eye and hand and heart. No word of him had reached her ears. If she had forgiven him, thought of him at all, it was as across the sea in some un known land. Doubtless she still believed he had forgotten her and their early days. This would make the surprise he held in store for her all the more joyous. As he neared the brow of the hill he be gan to con over in his mind the exact words he would use when he was ushered into her presence. He would pretend at first to be a wayfarer and ask for a night s lodging, or, perhaps, it might be best to inquire for young Phil, who must now be a great strap ping lad. Then be began thinking out other surprises. Of course she would know him know him before he opened his lips. How foolish, then, the pretence of deceiv- [73] THE ROMANCE OF AN ing her. What was really more important was the way in which he would enter the house; some care must therefore be exer cised. If he should approach by the rear and meet either Dinah or old Bundy, who must still be alive, of course they would recognize him at once before he could cau tion them, the back door being near the old kitchen. The best way would be to signal Bundy and call to him before the old man could fully identify him. He could then open the door softly and step in front of her. Perhaps another good way would be to leave his horse in the stable, and wait until it grew quite dark the twilight was al ready gathering watch the lights being lit, and in this way discover in which room she was sitting. Then he would creep un der the window and sing the old song they [74] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN had listened to so often together, " Weep no mo , me lady." She would know then who had come all these miles to see her ! Soon his mind ran riot over the gown she would wear; how her hair would be dressed would she still be the same slight, graceful woman, or had the years left their mark upon her? The eyes would be the same, he knew, and the lips and dazzling teeth; and she would greet him with that old fearless look in her face courage and gentleness combined but would there be any lines about the dear mouth and under the eyes? If so would she be willing to let him smooth them out ? She was free now ! Both were free to come and go without restraint. What would he not do for her ! All her future and his own would hereafter be linked together. His life, his triumphs, his honors everything would be hers ! [75] THE ROMANCE OF AN As these thoughts filled his mind some thing of the spring and buoyancy of his earlier youth came back to him. He could hardly restrain himself from shouting out in glee as he had done in the old days when they had scampered through the woods to gether. With each familiar spot his en thusiasm increased. There was the brook where they fished that morning for gud geons, when little Phil came so near falling into the water; and there was the turn of the road that led to the school-house; and the little cabin near the spring. It would not be long now before he looked into her eyes 1 The few friends who knew him as a grave and thoughtful man of purpose and achievement would never have recognized him could they have watched his face as he sat astride his horse, his whole body quiver- [76] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN ing with expectancy, the hope that had lain dormant so long awake once more. Now it was his turn to be glad. He had reached the hill. Another mo ment and he would pass the mass of ever greens to the left, and then the quaint dor mer-windows and chimneys of Derwood Manor would greet him. At the bend of the road, on the very verge of the hill, he checked his horse so suddenly as almost to throw him back on his haunches. A sudden chill seized him, followed by a rush that sent the blood tin gling to the roots of his hair. Then he stood up in his stirrups as if to see the better. Below, against the background of rag ged trees, stood two gaunt chimneys. All about was blackened grass and half-burned timbers. THE ROMANCE OF AN Derwood Manor had been burned to the ground ! Staggered by the sight, almost reeling from the saddle, he drove the spurs into his horse, dashed through the ruined gate, and drew rein at the one unburned cabin. A young negro woman stood in the door. For an instant he could hardly trust him self to speak. " I am Mr. Gregg," he said in a choking voice, " and was here ten years ago. When did this happen? " and he pointed to the blackened ruins. He had thrown himself from his saddle and stood looking into her face, the bridle in his hand. "In de summer time las August, I think." " Where s your mistress ? Was she here when the house was burned? " " I ain t got no mist ess not now. Oh, OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN you mean de young mist ess what used to lib here? Aunt Dinah cooked for em she b longed to em." " Yes, yes," urged Gregg. " She s daid!" " My God ! Not when the house was burned?" " No, she warn t here. She was down in Baltimo she went dar after de Jedge died. But she s daid, fo sho , cause Aunt Dinah was wid her, and she tol me." Adam dropped upon a bench outside the door of the cabin and began passing his hand nervously over his forehead as if he would relieve a pain he could not locate. A cold sweat stood on his brow; his knees shook. The woman kept her eyes on him. Such incidents were not uncommon. Almost every day strangers on their way South [79] THE ROMANCE OF AN had passed her cabin, looking for friends they would never see again a woman for her husband; a mother for her son; a fa ther for his children. Unknown graves and burned homes could be found all the way to the Potomac and beyond. This strong man who seemed to be an officer, was like all the others. For some minutes Adam sat with his head in his hands; his elbows on his knees, the bridle still hooked over his wrist. Hot tears trickled between his closed fingers and dropped into the dust at his feet. Then he raised his head, and with a strong effort pulled himself together. " And the little boy or rather the son he must be grown now. Philip was his name what has become of him? " He had regained something of his old poise his voice and manner showed it. [so] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " I ain t never yeard what come o him. Went in de army, I reck n. Daid, I spec mos ev ybody s daid dat was here when I growed up." Adam turned his head and looked once more at the blackened ruins. What fur ther story was yet to come from their ashes? " One more question, please. Were you here when the fire came? " " Yes, suh, me and my husban was both here. He ain t home to-day. We was takin care of de place when it ketched fire dat s how we come to save dis cabin. Dere warn t no water and nobody to help, and dis was all we could do." Again Adam bowed his head. Was there nothing left? nothing to recall even her smile? Then slowly, as if he feared the result: [81] AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " Was anything saved any furniture, or pictures or " " Nothin but dem two chairs inside dar and dat bench what you s settin on. Dey was on de lawn and dat s how we come to git em." For some minutes Adam sat looking into the ground at his feet, his eyes blurred with tears. " Thank you," was all he said. And once more he turned his horse s head toward the North. [82] A THIN, shabby little man, with stooping shoulders, hooked nose and velvet tread, stood before the card rack in the lower corridor of the old studio building on Tenth Street. He was scan ning the names, beginning at the top floor and going down to the basement. Sud denly his eyes glistened : " Second floor," he whispered to him self. "Yes, of course; I knew it all the time second floor," and " second floor " he kept repeating as he helped his small body up the steps by means of the hand rail. The little man earned his living by ob- THE ROMANCE OF AN taining orders for portraits which he turned over to the several painters, fitting the price to their reputations, and by hunting up undoubted old masters, rare porcelains, curios and miniatures for collectors. He was reasonably honest, and his patrons followed his advice whenever it was backed by somebody they knew. He was also cunning softly, persuasively cunning with all the patience and philosophy of his race. On this morning the little man had a Gil bert Stuart for sale, and what was more to the point he had a customer for the mas terpiece : Morion, the collector, of unlim ited means and limited wall space, would buy it provided Adam Gregg, the distin guished portrait painter, Member of the International Jury, Commander of the Legion of Honor, Hors Concours in Paris OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN and Munich, etc., etc., would pronounce it genuine. The distinguished painter never hesi tated to give his services in settling such matters. He delighted in doing it. Just as he always delighted in criticising the work of any young student who came to him for counsel a habit he had learned in his life abroad and always with a hand on the boy s shoulder and a twinkle in his brown eyes that robbed his words of any sting. When dealers sought his help he was not so gracious. He disliked dealers another of his foreign prejudices. Tender-hearted as he was he generally exploded with dy namic force and he could explode when anything stirred him whenever a dealer attempted to make him a party to anything that looked like fraud. He had once cut THE ROMANCE OF AN an assumed Corot into ribbons with his pocket-knife and this since he had been home in New York, fifteen years now and had then handed the strips back to the dealer with the remark : " Down in the Treasury they brand counterfeits with a die ; I do it with a knife. Send me the bill." The little man, with the cunning of his race, knew this peculiarity, and he also knew that ten chances to one the great painter would receive him with a frigid look, and perhaps bow him out of the door. So he had studied out and arranged a lit tle game. Only the day before he had ob tained an order for a portrait to be painted by the best man-painter of his time. The picture was to be full length and to hang in the directors room of a great corpora tion. This order he had in his pocket in [86] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN writing, -signed by the secretary of the board. Confirmations were sometimes valuable. As the little man s body neared the great painter s door a certain pleasurable sensa tion trickled through him. To catch a painter on a hook baited with an order, and then catch a great collector like Morion on another hook baited with a painter, was ad mirable fishing. With these thoughts in his mind he rapped timidly on Adam Gregg s door, and was answered by a strong, cheery voice calling : "Come in !" The door swung back, the velvet cur tains parted, and the little man made a step into the great painter s spacious studio. " Oh, I have such a fine sitter for you ! " he whispered, with his hand still grasping THE ROMANCE OF AN the curtain. " Such a distinguished-look ing man he is like a pope like a doge. It will make a great Franz Hal; such a big spot of white hair and black coat and red face. He s coming to-morrow and " "Who is coming to-morrow?" asked Gregg. His tone would have swamped any other man. He had recognized the dealer with a simple " Good morning," and had kept his place before his easel, the overhead light falling on his upturned mus tache and crisp gray hair. The little man rubbed his soft, flabby hands together, and tiptoed to where Gregg stood as noiseless as a detective ap proaching a burglar. " The big banker," he whispered. " Did you not get my letter? The price is no object. I can show you the order." He [88] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN had reached the easel now and was stand ing with bent head, an unctuous smile play ing about his lips. " No, I don t want to see it," remarked Gregg, squeezing a tube on his pallette. " I can t reach it for some time, you know." " Yes, I have told them so, but the young gentleman wants to have the entry made on the minutes and have the money appropriated. I had great confidence, you see, in your goodness," and the little man touched his forehead with one skinny finger and bowed obsequiously. " I thought you said he had white hair." " So he has. The portrait is to hang up in the directors room of one of the big copper companies. The young gentleman is a member of the banking firm that is to pay for the picture, and is quite a young man. He buys little curios of me now and THE ROMANCE OF AN then, and he asked me whom I would rec ommend to paint the director s portrait, and, of course, there is but one painter " and the dealer bowed to the floor. " He s coming to-morrow afternoon at four o clock and will stay but a moment, for he s a very busy man. You will, I know, receive him." Gregg made no reply. Rich directors did not appeal to him ; they were generally flabby and well fed and out of drawing. If this one had some color in him and the dealer knew some of the sort of vigor and snap that would have appealed to Franz Hal, the case might be different. The little man waited a moment, saw that Gregg was absorbed in some brush stroke, and stepped back a pace or two. Better wait until the master s mind was free. Then again he could sweep his eyes around [90] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN the interior without being detected there was no telling what might happen: some day there might be a sale, and then it would be just as well to know where things like these could be found. Again he tiptoed across the spacious room, stopping to gaze at the rich tapestries lining the walls, ex amining with eye-glass held close the gold snuffboxes and rare bits of Sevres and Dresden on the shelves of the cabinet, and testing with his nervous fingers the quality of the rich Utrecht velvet screen ing the door of an adjoining room. Gregg kept at work, his square, strong shoulders, well-knit back and straight limbs a fulfilment of the promise of his youth in silhouette against the glare of the overhead light, its rays silvering his iron- gray hair and the tips of his upturned mustache. [90 THE ROMANCE OF AN The tour of the room complete, the little man again bowed to the floor and said in his softest voice : 44 And you will receive him at four o clock?" 44 Yes, at four o clock," answered Gregg, his eyes still on the canvas. Again the little man s head bent low as he backed from the room. There was no need of further talk. What Adam Gregg meant he said, and what he said he meant. As he reached the velvet curtain through which he had entered, he stopped. 44 And now will you do something for me?" Gregg lifted his chin with the movement of a big mastiff throwing up his head when he scents danger. u I was waiting for that ; then there is a string to it? " he laughed. The little man reddened to his eyebrows. [92] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN The fish had not only seen the hook under the bait, but knew who held the line. " No, only that you come with me to Schenck s to see a portrait by Gilbert Stu art/ 7 he pleaded. " I quite forgot it is not often I do forget; I must be getting old. It s to be sold to-morrow; Mr. Morion will buy it if you approve; he said so. I m just from his house." " I have a sitter at three." Yes, I know, but you always have a sitter. You must come it means some thing to me. I ll go and get a cab. It will not take half an hour. It is such a beauti ful Stuart. There s no doubt about it, not the slightest; only you know Mr. Morion, he s very exacting. He says, If Mr. Gregg approves I will buy it. These were his very words." Gregg laid down his brushes. Little [93] THE ROMANCE OF AN men like the one before him wasted his time and irritated him. It was always this way some underhand business. Then the bet ter side of him triumphed. " All right! " he cried, the old sympa thetic tone ringing out once more in his voice. " Never mind about the cab ; I need the air and the walk will do me good ; and then you know I can t see Mr. Morion swindled," and he laughed merrily as he looked quizzically at the dealer. The entrance of the distinguished painter into the gallery of the auctioneer with his quick, alert manner and erect, mili tary bearing, the Legion of Honor in his lapel, soon attracted attention. Schenck came up and shook Gregg s hands cor dially, repeating his name aloud so that every one could hear it especially the [94] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN prospective buyers, some of whom gazed after him, remarking to their fellows, as they shielded their lips with their cata logues : " That s Gregg ! " a name which needed no further explanation. " I have come to look at a Stuart that Mr. Morion wants to buy if it is genu- uine," said Gregg. " Tell me what you know about it. Where did it come from?" "I don t know; it was left on storage and is to be sold for expenses." " Is it to be sold to the highest bidder? " " No, at private sale." "Where is it?" u There behind you." Gregg turned and caught his breath. Before him was a portrait of a young woman in an old-fashioned gown, her golden hair enshrining a face of marvellous [95] THE ROMANCE OF AN beauty, one long curl straying down a shoulder of exquisite mould and finish, the whole relieved by a background of blos soms held together in a quaint earthen jar. Strong man as he was, the shock almost overcame him. He reached out his hand and grasped the back of a chair. Tears welled up in his eyes. The auctioneer had been watching him closely. " You seem to like it, Mr. Gregg." " Yes," answered Adam in restrained, measured tones. Yes, very much. But you have been misinformed; it is not by Gilbert Stuart. It is by a man I know, I saw him paint it. Tell Mr. Morion so. Send it to my studio, please, and credit this gentleman with the commission I ll buy it for old association s sake." [96] "It is by a man I know, I saw him paint it." OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN That night, when it grew quite dark, he took the portrait from where the cartman had left it in his studio with its face to the wall never again would it suffer that in dignity and placed it under his skylight. He wanted to see what the fading light would do whether the changed colors would once more unlock the secrets of a soul. Again, as in the dim shimmer of the dawn, there struggled out from the won derful eyes that same pleading look the look he had seen on its face the morning he had left Derwood Manor as if she needed help and was appealing to him for sympathy. Then he flashed up the circle of gas jets, flooding the studio with light. Instantly all her joyousness returned. Once more there shone out the old happy smile and laughing eyes. Loosening the nails that held the canvas, he freed the portrait [97] THE ROMANCE OF AN from its gaudy frame, and with the re mark u It was unframed when I kissed it last," placed it over the mantel, moving some curios out of the way so it would rest the more firmly; then he dropped into a chair before it. He was in the past again twenty-five years before, living once more the long hours in the garret with its background of blossoms; roaming the woods; listening to the sound of her joyous laughter when she caught little Phil to her breast. Then there rang in his ear that terrible moan when Judge Colton denounced them both; and the sob in her voice as she sank at his feet that night. He could catch the very perfume of her hair and feel the hot tears on his hand. If only the lips would open and once more whisper his name ! What had sent her back, to soothe him with her beauty? [ ^ j OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN His whole life passed in review his hopes, his ambitions, his struggles; the years of loneliness, of misunderstanding, and the final triumph a triumph made all the more bitter by a fate which had pre vented her sharing it with him. With this there arose in his mind the picture of two gaunt chimneys outlined against a cold, gray sky; the trees bare of leaves, the grass shrivelled and brown and then, like a refrain, came the long-forgotten song: << Weep no mo , me lady." Raising himself to his feet he leaned over the mantel and looked long and stead ily into the eyes of the portrait. " Olivia," he whispered in a voice that was barely audible " I did not intend to be cruel. Forgive me, dear; there was [99] AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN nothing else to do it was the only way, my darling! n He was still in his chair, the studio a blaze of light, when a brother painter from the studio opposite, whose knock had been unheeded, pushed open the door. Even then Gregg did not stir until the intruder laid a hand upon his shoulder. VI BY noon the next day half the occupants of the old studio building came in to see the new portrait. He had not told of this one, but the brother painter had spread the news of the " find " through the building. It was not the first time Adam Gregg s " finds " had been the subject of discussion among his fellows. The sketch by Velas quez now the pride of the gallery that owned it and which had been discovered by him in a lumber-room over a market, and the Romney which had been doing duty as a chimney-screen, had been the talk of the town for weeks. [101] .THE ROMANCE OF AN " Looks more like a Sully than a Stu art," said the brother painter, his eyes half closed to get the better effect. " Got all Sully s coloring." "Stunning girl, anyway; doesn t make any difference who painted it," suggested another. That kind seem to have died out. You read about them in books, but I ve never met one." " Wonderful flesh," remarked a third with meaning in his voice. " If it isn t by Sully it s by somebody who believed in him." No one suspected Gregg s brush. His style had changed with the years so had his color: that palette had been set with the yellow, red, and blue of sunshine, blos som and sky, and the paints had been mixed with laughter. Nor did he tell them he himself had painted it. This part of his [102] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN life was guarded with the same care with which he would have guarded his mother s secrets. Had he owned a shrine he would have placed the picture over its altar that he might kneel before it. " These blue-eyed blondes," continued the first speaker meditatively with his eyes on the portrait, " send a lot of men to the devil." Gregg looked up, but made no reply. Both the tone of the man and his words jarred on him. You can forget a brunette," he went on, " no matter how bewitching she may be, but one of these peaches-and-cream girls the blue-eyed, red-lipped, white- skinned combination takes hold of a fel low. This man knew all about it " and he waved his hand at the portrait. " Is that all you see in it? " rejoined [103] THE ROMANCE OF AN Gregg coldly. " Is there nothing under the paint that appeals to you? Something of the soul of the woman? " * Yes, and that s just what counts in these blondes ; that soul you talk about. That s what makes em dangerous. That s what captured Hartman, I guess. Mrs. Bowdoin s got just that girl s coloring not so pretty," and he glanced at the can vas, " but along her lines. Old man Bow- doin says he s ruined his home." " Yes, and it s pretty rough I tell you on the old man," remarked a third. " I saw him yesterday. The poor fellow is all broken up. There s going to be a row, and a hot one, I hear. Pistols, divorce; the air s blue; all sorts of things. Old fellow blusters, but he looks ten years older." Gregg had risen from his chair and stood facing the speaker, his brown eyes [ 104] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN flashing, his lips quivering. The talk had drifted in a direction that set his blood to tingling. " You tell me that Hartman has at last run away with Mrs. Bowdoin!" he ex claimed angrily, his voice rising in inten sity as he proceeded. " Has he finally turned scoundrel and made an outcast of himself and of her? I have been expecting something of the kind ever since I saw him in Bowdoin s studio at his last reception. And do you really mean to tell me that he has actually run off with her? " Well, not exactly run off she s gone to her mother. She s only half Bowdoin s age, you know. Hartman, of course, pooh- poohs the whole thing." " And he s Bowdoin s friend, I suppose you know ! " Gregg continued in a re strained, incisive tone. [105] THE ROMANCE OF AN 1 Yes, certainly, studied with him; that s where he met her so often." Gregg began pacing the floor. Stopping short in his walk he turned and faced the group about the fire : " Does he realize," he burst out in a voice that rang through the room and fas tened every eye upon him " what his cowardly weakness will bring him? The misery it will entail; the sleepless nights, the fear, the remorse that will follow? The outrage on Bowdoin s home, on his children? Has he thought of the humilia tion of the man deserted the degradation of the man who caused it? Does he know what it is to live a life where every decent woman brands you as a scoundrel, and every decent man looks upon you as a thief?" The outburst astounded the room. One [106] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN or two arose from their chairs and stood looking at him in amazement. Gregg was often outspoken; right was right with him, and wrong was wrong, and he never minced matters. They loved him for his frankness and courage, but this outbreak seemed entirely uncalled for by anything that had been said or done. Surely there must be a personal side to his attitude. Had any friend of his any such experience that he should explode so suddenly? What made it all the more unaccountable was that he never talked gossip, and never al lowed any man to speak ill of a friend in his presence, no matter what the cause and Hartman was his friend. Why, then, should he pounce upon him without proof of any kind other than the gossip of the studios? Well, my dear Gregg, don t blame THE ROMANCE OF AN me," laughed the painter who had borne the brunt of the outbreak and whom Adam had singled out to listen to his attack. " I haven t run off with pretty Mrs. Bowdoin,, or made love to her either, have I ? " " But you still shake hands with Hart- man, don t you? " " Of course I do. I couldn t show him the door, could I? He s made an ass of himself, but it s none of my business. They ll have to patch it up between them. Don t get excited, Gregg, and don t forget that the jury meets this afternoon at four o clock in my studio." " I will be there," replied Adam curtly, " but I cannot stay very long. I have an appointment at four. The room was full of his brother paint ers when, some hours later, his red Spanish. [108] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN bolna on his head he always wore it when at work Gregg entered the studio on the floor below his own. It was the first in formal meeting of the Jury of the Acad emy, and an important one. Some of the men were grouped about the fire, smoking, or lolling in their chairs; others were stretched out on the lounges; two or three were looking over some etchings that had been brought in by a fellow-member. All had been awaiting Adam s arrival. Those who had been gathered about the por trait were discussing Gregg s denunciation of Hartman. All agreed that with their knowledge of the man s universal kindness and courtesy that the outburst was as un accountable as it was astounding. Gregg shook hands with the group, one by one, those who were reclining rising to their feet and the others pressing forward [ 109] THE ROMANCE OF AN to greet him; then drawing out a chair at the end of the long table, he called the meeting to order. As he took his seat a man of thirty in an overcoat, his hat in his hand, walked hurriedly in through the open door, and stood for a moment looking about him, a sickly, wavering expression on his face, as if uncertain of his welcome. It was Hartman. He was a member of the Council, and therefore privileged to attend any meeting. Gregg pushed back his chair and rose to his feet, a certain flash of indignation in his eyes that few of his friends had ever seen. " Stop where you are, Mr. Hartman," he said in low, cutting tones. " I prefer to conduct this meeting without you." " And I prefer to stay where I am," an swered Hartman in an unsteady voice, gaz- [no] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN ing about as if in search of some friendly eye. " I have as much right to be at this meeting as you have," he continued, ad vancing toward the pile of coats and hats. Adam was in front of him now, his big, broad frame almost touching the intruder. The quick, determined movement meant danger. No one had ever seen Gregg so stirred. * You will do as I tell you, sir ! Leave the room now at once ! Do you hear me!" Every man was on his feet. Those who had heard Gregg s outburst a few hours be fore knew the reason. Others were en tirely ignorant of the cause of his wrath. You are not responsible for me or my actions. I m a man who can " Man ! You are not a man, sir ! You are a thief, one who steals into a brother THE ROMANCE OF AN painter s home and robs him of everything he holds dear. Get out of here ! Go and hide yourself in the uttermost parts of the earth where no man you ever saw will know you ! Jump into the sea destroy yourself ! Go, you leper ! Savages protect their women ! " He had his fingers in Hartman s collar now and was backing him toward the door. One or two men tried to stop him, but Gregg s voice rang out clear : " Keep your hands off ! Out he goes, if I have to throw him downstairs. Stand back, all of you " and with a mighty ef fort he caught the younger and apparently stronger man under the armpits and hurled him through the open doorway. For some seconds no one spoke. The suddenness of the attack, the uncontrollable anger of the distinguished painter so gen- [112] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN tie and forbearing always the tremendous strength of the man; the cowering look on Hartman s face a look that plainly told of his guilt had stunned every one in the room. Gregg broke the silence. He had locked the door on Hartman and was again in his chair by the table, a flushed face and rumpled shirt the only marks of the encounter. " I owe you an apology, gentlemen," he said, adjusting his cuffs and speaking in the same voice with which he would have asked for a match to light his cigar. " I did not intend to disturb the meeting, but there are some things I cannot stand. We have curs prowling around in society, walk ing in and out of decent homes, trusted and believed in, that are twice as dangerous as mad dogs. Hartman is one of them. [113] THE ROMANCE OF AN When they bite they kill. The only way is to shut your doors in their faces. That I shall do whenever one crosses my path. And now, if you will excuse me, I will ask one of you to fill my place and let me go back to my studio. I have an appointment at four, as I told you this morning, and I m late." Once in the corridor he stepped to the rail, looked over the banisters as if in ex pectation of seeing the object of his wrath, and slowly mounted the stairs to his studio. As he approached the velvet curtain he heard through the half-closed door a heavy step. Some one was walking about inside. Was Hartman waiting for him to renew the conflict? he wondered. Pushing aside the curtain he stepped boldly in. On the mat before the fire, with his back to the door, his eyes fixed on Olivia s por- [114] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN trait, stood a young man he had never seen before. As the overhead light fell on his glossy hair and over his clean-shaven face and well-groomed body, Gregg noticed that he belonged to the class of prosperous busi ness men of the day. This was not only ap parent in the way his well-cut clothes fitted his slender body perfect in appointment, from the bunch of violets in his button-hole to his polished shoes but in his quick movements. " Have I made a mistake? " the young man asked in a crisp, decisive voice. This is Mr. Adam Gregg, is it not? I found your door on a crack and thought you were not far off." " No, you haven t made a mistake," answered Adam courteously, startled out of his mood by the bearing and kindly greeting of the stranger. " My name is THE ROMANCE OF AN Gregg what can I do for you?" All trace of his former agitation was gone now. " Well, I am here on behalf of my special partner, Mr. Eggleston, who is also a director in one of our companies, and who had an appointment with you at four o clock. He is detained at the trust com pany s office, and I came in his stead. The portrait, as I suppose that little fellow I forget his name has told you, is to hang up in the office of the Portage Copper Company that s our company. We want a full-sized portrait big and important. Mr. Eggleston is a good deal of a man, you know, and there s a business side to it business side to most everything in the Street," this came with a half-laugh. " I ll tell you about that later. You never saw him, of course. No? he s so busy he [116] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN doesn t get around much uptown. Fine, large, rather imposing-looking white hair, red face and big hands lots of color about him ought to paint him, I suppose, with his hand on a globe, or some books. I m not posted on these things, but you ll know when you see him. He ll be up any day next week that you say. We want it right away, of course. Some business in that, too," and another faint laugh escaped his lips. All this time Gregg had been standing in front of the stranger waiting for an op portunity to offer him his hand and tell how sorry he was to have kept him wait ing, explaining the meeting of the jury and his being obliged to be present, but the flow of talk had continued without a break and in a way that began to attract his attention. THE ROMANCE OF AN " Got a nice place here," the young man rattled on, gazing about him as he spoke; " first time I was ever in a studio, and first time, too, I ever met a real painter in his workshop. I m so tied down. Valuable, these things you ve got here, too cost a lot of money. I buy a few myself now and then. By the bye, while I was waiting for you to come in I couldn t help looking at the pictures and things." He had stepped closer now, his eyes boring into Gregg s as if he were try ing to read his mind. For an instant Gregg thought an extra cocktail on the way uptown was the cause of his garru- lousness. " Of course I know it s all right, Mr. Gregg, or you wouldn t have it and you needn t tell me if you don t want to may be I oughtn t to ask, been so long ago and [118] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN everything lost track of but you won t feel offended if I do, will you? " He had his hand on Gregg s shoulder now, his lips quivering, a peculiar look in his eyes. " Come across here with me, please. No this way, to the fireplace. Where did you get that portrait? " Gregg felt a sudden relief. The man wasn t drunk it was the beauty of the picture which had affected him. He could forgive him that, although he felt sure the next move would be an offer to purchase it. He had met his kind before. " I bought it at private sale," he an swered simply. "When?" " Yesterday." "Who sold it to you?" " Schenck, the auctioneer." [119] THE ROMANCE OF AN " Will you sell it to me?" "No; I never sell anything of that kind." " Not at a large price? " " Not any price," Gregg replied in a de cided tone. It was just as he expected. These men of business gauge everything by their bank accounts. One of them had had the impertinence to ask him to fill up a blank check for the contents of his studio. " Where did it come from? " " Schenck told me he didn t know. It was held for storage. It seems to interest you? " There was a slight tone of resent ment in Gregg s voice. * Yes, it does, more than I can tell you, more than you can understand." His voice had lost its nervousness now. u It reminds you of some one, per- [ 120] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN haps? " asked Gregg. There might, after all, be some spark of sentiment in the young man. " Yes, it does," he continued, devouring it with his eyes. " I haven t seen it since I was a child." " You know it, then ! " It was Gregg s turn to be surprised. " Where did you see it, may I ask? " " Down in Maryland, at Derwood Manor, before it was burned." The blood mounted to Gregg s cheeks and he was about to speak. Then he checked himself. He did not want to know of the portrait s vicissitudes. That it was now where he could be locked up with it, made up for everything it had come through. Yes, these memories are very curious," remarked Gregg in a more gentle tone. AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " It reminds me also of some one I once knew. Don t you think it is very beau tiful?" "Beautiful! Beautifull It s the most beautiful thing in the world to me ! Why, it s my own mother, Mr. Gregg I " " Your your own mother I What s your name? " " Philip Colton." [ 122] VII THE same poise that restrained Adam Gregg when he came suddenly upon Olivia s portrait in the auction-room sustained him when he looked into the eyes of the young man whom, years before, he had left as a child at Derwood Manor. " Are you sure? " he asked. He knew he was he only wanted some fresh light on the dark record. For years the book had been sealed. " Am I sure? Why it used to be in the garret till my father died, and then my mother brought it down into her room. I have seen her sit before it for hours she loved it. And once I found her kissing it. [ 123] THE ROMANCE OF AN Strange, isn t it, how a woman will regret her youth? and yet I always thought my mother beautiful even when her hair turned gray." Gregg turned his head and tightened his. fingers. For an instant he feared his tears would unman him. " If it is your mother s portrait," he said y " the picture belongs to you, not to me. I bought it because it recalled a face I once knew, and for its beauty. A man has but one mother, and if your own was like this one she must be your most precious mem ory. I did not intend to part with it, but I ll give it to you." " Oh! you are very good, Mr. Gregg," burst out the young man, grasping Adam s hand (Adam caught Olivia s smile now, flashing across his features), "but I have no place for it not yet. I may have later, OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN when I have a home of my own; that de pends upon my business. I ll only ask you to let me come in once in a while to see it." Gregg returned the grasp heartily, de claring that his door was always open to him at any time and the picture at his dis posal whenever he should claim it. He did not tell him he had painted it. He did not tell him that he had known either Olivia or his father, or of his visit ten years later. That part of his life had had a sad and bitter end. Both of them were dead; the house in ruins why rake among the cinders? All that spring, in response to Adam s repeated welcomes, Philip Colton made ex cuses to drop into Gregg s studio. At first to postpone the time for Mr. Eggleston s THE ROMANCE OF AN sittings; then to invite Gregg to dinner at his club to meet some brother financiers, which Gregg declined; again to get his opinion on some trinkets he had bought, and still again to bring him some flowers, he having noticed that the painter was never without them nor was the portrait, for that matter, Adam always placing a cluster of blossoms or a bunch of roses near the picture, either on the mantel beneath or on the table beside it. Sometimes Adam when leaving his door on a crack would find that in his absence in an adjoining studio, Colton had come and gone, the only record of his visit being a mass of roses he himself had placed be neath his mother s portrait. Once he sur prised the young man standing before it looking up into the eyes as if waiting for her to speak. Incidents like these showed [126] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN his better and more sympathetic nature and drew Adam to him the closer. And the growth of the friendship was not all on one side. Not only was Gregg s type of man absolutely new to the young financier, but his workshop was a never- ending surprise. The fact that neither bonds nor stocks, nor anything connected with them, was ever discussed inside its tap estried walls, opened up for him new vistas in life. The latest novel might be gone into or a character in a recent play; or the rendering of a symphony, or some fresh discovery in science, but nothing of gain. What struck him as more extraordinary still was the air of repose that was every where apparent, so different from his own busy life, and at any hour of the day, too. This was apparent not only in the voices, but in the attitude and bearing of the [ 127 ] THE ROMANCE OF AN men who formed the painter s circle of friends. Sometimes he would find Macklin, the sculptor up from his atelier in the base ment buried in a chair and a book, pipe in mouth, before Gregg s fire had been there for hours when Phil entered. Again he would catch the sound of the piano as he mounted the stairs, only to discover Put ney, the landscape painter, running his fin gers over the keys, while Adam stood be fore his easel touching his canvas here or there; or he would interrupt old Sonheim, who kept the book-shop at the corner, and who had known Adam for years while he read aloud this and that quotation from a musty volume, Adam stretched out at full length on his divan, the smoke of his ciga rette drifting blue in the overhead light. These restful contrasts to his own life OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN interested and astonished him. Since his father s death he had had few hours of real repose. While not yet fifteen he had been thrown out into the world to earn his bread. A successful earning, for he was already head of his firm, in which his prospective father-in-law, Mr. Eggleston, the rich banker, was special partner, and young Eggleston the junior member. An honor able career, too, for the house stood high in the Street, and its credit was above re proach in the commercial world, their com pany the Portage Copper Company, whose securities they financed being one of the many important mining properties in the great Northwest. All this he owed to his own indomitable will and pluck, and to his untiring industry a quality devel oped in many another young Southerner the victim of the war and its aftermath. [ 129] THE ROMANCE OF AN And he was always welcome. Apart from the tie that bound them to gether of which Philip was unconscious Adam s heart went out to the young fel low as many another childless, wifeless man s has gone out to youth. He loved his enthusiasms, his industry, his successes. Most of all he loved the young man s frankness the way in which he kept noth ing back even his earlier escapades, many of which he should have been ashamed of. Then again he loved the reverence with which Phil treated him, the deference to his opinions, the acceptance of his standards. Most of all he loved him for the memory of the long ago. It was only when the overmastering power of money became the dominant force the one recognized and gloated over by Philip that his face grew grave. [130] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN It was then that the older and wiser man, with his keen insight into the human heart, trembled for the younger, fearing that some sudden pressure, either of fortune or misfortune, might sweep him off his feet. It was at these times Philip s face all excitement with the telling that Adam s penetrating eyes, searching into the inner places, would find the hard, almost pitiless lines which he remembered so well in the father s face repeated in the son s. There was, however, one subject which swept these lines out of his face. That was when Phil would speak of Madeleine, the rich banker s daughter Madeleine with her sunny eyes and merry laugh " Only up to my shoulder such a dear girl ! " Then there would break over the young man s face that joyous, irradiating smile, THE ROMANCE OF AN that sudden sparkle of the eye and quiver of the lip that had made his own mother s face so enchanting. On these occasions the Street and all it stood for, as well as books and everything else, was forgotten and Madeleine would become the sole topic. These two influences struggled for mastery in the young man s heart; influences un known to Philip, but clear as print to the eye of the thoughtful man of the world who, day by day, read his companion s mind the clearer. As to Madeleine no subject could be more congenial. When a young fellow under thirty has found a sympathetic old fellow of fifty to listen to talks of his sweetheart, and when that old fellow of fifty has found a com panion with a look in his eyes of the woman he loved and who carries in his face some- [13^3 OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN thing of the joy he knew in youth, it is no wonder that these two became still greater friends, or that Philip s tread outside Adam Gregg s door was always followed by a quick beat of the painter s heart and a warm grasp of his hand. One afternoon Philip came in with a spring quite different from either his ner vous walk or his more measured tread his " bank director s step " Adam used to call it with a smile. This time he was on his toes, his hands in the air tossing the velvet curtains aside with a swing as he sprang inside. Madeleine s home from the West!" he burst out. " Now at last you ll see her, and you ve got to paint her, too. Oh, she knows all about the portrait and how you found it; and this studio and the blossoms you love, and everything. My letters have [133] THE ROMANCE OF AN been full of nothing else all winter. She s crazy to see you." " Not any more crazy than I am to see her," laughed Adam, with his hand on the young man s shoulder. And so one spring morning all beauti ful things came to him on spring mornings, Adam told her Madeleine pushed her pretty little head between the velvet cur tains and peered in, Phil close behind her, a bunch of violets in his button-hole. " This is dear Adam Gregg, Made leine," was her lover s introduction, " and there s nobody like him, and never will be." The girl stopped, the overhead light fall ing on her dainty hat and trim figure; her black eyes in comprehensive glance taking in Adam standing against a hazy back ground of beautiful things with both hands outstretched. [134] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " And I am so glad to be here and to know you," she said, walking straight tow ard him and laying her little hands in his. " And so am I," answered Adam. " And I know everything about you. Phil says you can ride like the wind, and dance so that your toes never touch the floor, and that you " " Yes, and so do I know every single thing about you " here she looked at him critically " and you yes, you are just as I hoped you, would be. Phil s letters have had nothing else in them since you be witched him and I ve just been wild to get home and have him bring me here. What a lovely place! Isn t it wonderful, Phil? . . . And is that the portrait? Oh! what a beautiful, beautiful woman! " She had left Gregg now before he had had time to say another word in praise of [135] THE ROMANCE OF AN her and was standing under the picture, her eyes gazing into its depths. Adam kept perfectly still, completely charmed by her dainty joyousness. He felt as if some rare bird had flown in which would be fright ened away if he moved a hair s breadth. Phil stood apart watching every expression that crossed her happy face. He had been waiting weeks for this moment. " You haven t her eyes or her hair, Phil," she continued without turning her head, " but you look at me that way some times. I don t know what it is she s happy, and she s not happy. She loved somebody that s it, she loved somebody and her eyes follow you so they seem alive and the lips as if they could speak. " And now, Mr. Gregg, please show me every one of these beautiful things." She had already, with her quick intuition, seen [136] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN through Adam s personality at a glance, and found out how thoroughly she could trust him. He obeyed as gallantly and as cheerfully as if he had been her own age, pulling open the drawers of the cabinets, taking out this curio and that, lifting the lid of the old Venetian wedding-chest that she might her self pry among the velvets and embroid eries; she dropping on her knees beside it with all the fluttering joy of a child who had come suddenly upon a box of toys; Phil following them around the room put ting in a word here and there, reminding Adam of something he had forgotten, or calling her attention to some object hidden in a shadow that even her quick absorbing glance had overlooked. Once more she stopped before the por trait, her eyes drinking in its beauty. [137] THE ROMANCE OF AN " Don t you love it, Mr. Gregg? " " Yes, but I m going to give it to your to Philip." "Oh! you know! do you? Yes, just say it out. We are going to be married just as soon as we can next October is the very latest date. I told father we were tired of waiting and he has promised me; we would have been married this spring but for that horrid copper mine that the deeper you go the less copper " " Oh, but Madeleine," protested Philip with a sudden flush in his face, " that was some time ago; everything s all right now." "Well, I don t know much about it; I only repeated what father said." And then having had her fill of all the pretty things some she must go back to half a dozen times in her delight espe cially some " ducky " little china dogs that [138] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN were "just too sweet for anything"; and having discussed to her heart s content all the details of the coming wedding espe cially the part where Adam was to walk close behind them on their way up the aisle of the church as a sort of fairy godfather to give Phil away the joyous little bird, followed by the happy young lover, spread her dainty wings and flew away. And thus it was that two new spirits were added to Adam Gregg s long list of friends: One the young man, earnest, alert, losing no chance in his business, awake to all the changes in the ever-shift ing market, conversant with every move of his opponents and meeting them with a shrewdness and sometimes, Adam thought with a cunning far beyond his years. The other, the fresh, outspoken, merry young girl, fluttering in and out like [139] AN OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN a bird in her ever-changing plumage now in hat loaded with tea roses, now in trim walking costume fitting her dainty figure; now in her water-proof, her wee little feet " wringing wet " she would tell Adam with a laugh always a welcome guest, no mat ter who had his chair, or whose portrait or what work required his brush. [ 140] VIII ONE afternoon, some days after Philip s return from an inspection of the mines of the Portage Copper Com pany, and an hour ahead of his usual time, the velvet curtain was pushed aside and the young man walked in. Not only did he move with his most important " bank di rector s step," but he brought with him an air of responsibility only seen in magnates who control the destinies of corporations and the savings of their stockholders. "What s the matter, Phil?" asked Adam with a laugh. " Have they made you president of the Stock Exchange, or has the Government turned over its de- [141] THE ROMANCE OF AN posits to your keeping, or has the wedding- day been set for to-morrow? " "Wedding-day s all right; closer than ever, but I ve got something that knocks being president of the Exchange cold. Our scheme is about fixed up and it s to be floated next week float anything on this market that s better than being president or anything else. Our attorneys brought in the papers this morning, and they will be signed at our office to-morrow at eleven- thirty. The Seaboard Trust Company are going to take half the bonds and two out- of-town banks the balance. That puts us on our legs and keeps us there, and I don t mind telling you " and he looked around as if fearing to be overheard " we ve got to have this money or Well, there s no use of my going into that, because it s all over now, or will be when this loan s float- OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN ed. But I want to tell you that we ve had some pretty tough sledding lately some that the old man doesn t know about." Adam looked up; any danger that threatened Phil always enlisted his sym pathy. u Tell me about it. I can t follow these operations. Most of them are all Greek to me." " Well, as I say, we ve got to have money, a whole lot of it, or there s no tell ing when Madeleine and I will ever be mar ried. And the Portage Company has got to have money ; they have struck bottom so far as their finances go and can t go on without help. God knows I ve worked hard enough over it been doing nothing else for weeks." " What do you float? " Adam was pre pared to give him his best attention. [143] THE ROMANCE OF AN " One million refunding bonds half to take up the old issue and the balance for improvements. Our wedding comes in the improvements/ " and Philip winked meaningly. " Is there enough copper in the mine to warrant the issue? " Adam asked, recalling Madeleine s remark about the deeper they went the less copper there was in the mine. " What s that got to do with it? " " Everything, I should think. You ex amined it didn t you ? and should know." " Yes, but nobody has asked me for an opinion. The company s engineer attends to that." " What do you think yourself, Phil? " " I don t think. I m not paid to think. The other fellow does the thinking and I do the selling." [ 144] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " What does Mr. Eggleston say? " " He doesn t say. He isn t paid for say ing. What he wants is his six per cent, and that s what we ve got to earn. This new deal earns it." " Does the trust company know any thing about the mine? " * Why, of course, everything. Those fellows don t need a guardian. They ve got the mining engineer s sworn certificate, and they trust to that and " " And to the standing of your house," Adam interrupted. u Certainly. Why not? That s what we re in business for." " But what do you think of it you, remember; you Philip Colton are you willing to swear that the mine is worth the money the trust company will lend on it?" [145] THE ROMANCE OF AN "I make an affidavit! Not much! What I say is everybody s property; what I think is nobody s business but my own. The mine may strike virgin copper in chunks and it may not. That s where the gamble comes in. If it does the bonus stock they get for nothing will be worth par." He was a little ashamed as he said it. He was merely repeating what he had told his customers in advance of the issue, but they had not returned his gaze with Adam s eyes. " But you in your heart, Phil, are con vinced that it will not strike virgin copper, aren t you? So much so that you wouldn t take Madeleine s money, or my money, to put into it." These search-lights of Gregg s had a way of uncovering many secret places. Philip turned in his chair and looked at OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Adam. What was the matter with the dear fellow this afternoon, he said to him self. "Certainly not and for two reasons: first, you are not in the Street; and second, because I never gamble with a friend s money." " But you gamble with the money of the innocent men and women who believe in your firm, and who in the end buy these bonds of the trust company, don t you? " " Well, but what have we got to do with the bonds after we sell them? We are not running the mine, we re only getting money for them to run it on, and incidentally our commissions," and he smiled knowingly. " The trust company does the same thing. This widow-and-orphan business is about played out in the Street. The shrewdest buyers we have are just these people, and EH?] THE ROMANCE OF AN they get their cent per cent every time. Don t you bother your dear old head over this matter; just be glad it s coming out all right I am, I tell you ! " Gregg had risen from his chair and was standing over Philip with a troubled look on his face. " Phil," he said slowly, " look at me. From what you tell me, you can t issue these bonds! You can t afford to do it no honest man can ! " The young financier lay back in his chair and broke out into laughter. " Old Gentleman," he said, as he reached up his hand and laid it affection ately on Gregg s waistcoat it was a pet name of his " you just stick to your brushes and paints and I ll stick to my com missions. If everybody in the Street had such old-fashioned notions as you have OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN we d starve to death. We ve got to take risks, everybody has. You might as well say that when a stock is going up and against us we shouldn t cover right away to save ourselves from further loss ; or that when it s going down we shouldn t sell and saddle the other fellow with the slump while we get from under. Now I m go ing home to tell Madeleine the good news; she s been on pins and needles for a week." Gregg began pacing the floor, his hands behind his back. His movements were so unusual and his face bore so troubled a look that Philip, who had thrown away his cigar and had picked up his hat preparatory to leaving the room, delayed his departure. Adam halted in front of him and now stood gazing into his face, an expression on his own that showed the younger man how keenly he had taken the refusal. THE ROMANCE OF AN "I know I m old-fashioned, Phil I have a right to be. I come of old-fashioned stock so do you. All that you tell me of your father convinces me that he was an upright man. He was severe at times, and dominating, but he was honest. Your mother s purity and goodness shine out here," and he pointed to the portrait. This is your heritage, and your only heri tage something that millions of money cannot buy, and which you cannot sell, no matter what price is paid you for it. You, their son " Gregg stopped and hesitated, the words seemed to clog in his throat " must not shall not \ " (the way was clear now) " commit a crime which would bring a blush to their cheeks if they were alive to day. Don t, I beseech you, my boy, lend your young manhood to this swindle. It is infamous, it is damnable. It shall not [150] "Promise me that you will stop the whole business." OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN cannot be. You love me too well to refuse; promise me you will stop this whole busi ness." Colton was astounded. In all his inter course with Gregg he had never seen him moved like this. He knew what had caused it. Gregg s sedentary life, his being so much away from the business side of things had warped his judgment and upset his reasoning powers. Not to make commis sions on a loan that the first mining expert in the country had declared good, and which the biggest trust company in the Street and two outside banks were willing to underwrite! Gregg was crazy! This came of talking business to such a man. He should have confined himself to more restful topics topics which he really loved best. After all, it was his fault, not Adam s. THE ROMANCE OF AN " All right, old fellow ; don t let us talk any more about it," he said in the tone he would have used to pacify a woman who had lost her temper. " Some other time w hen " Adam resumed his walk without listen ing further. He saw how futile had been his appeal and the thought alarmed him all the more. " Put down your hat, Phil." The calm ness of his voice was singularly in contrast to the tone of the outburst. " Take your seat again. Wait until I lock the door. I have something to say to you and we must not be interrupted." He turned the key, drew the heavy cur tains together, and dragging his chair op posite Phil s so that he could look squarely in his eyes, sat down in front of him. " My son," he began, " I am going to OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN tell you something which has been locked in my own heart ever since you were a boy of five. Something I have never told you before because it only brought sorrow and suffering to me, and I wanted only the sunny side of life for you and Madeleine, and so I have kept still. I tell you now in the hope that it may save you from an act you will never cease to regret. ;< There comes a time in every man s life when he meets the fork in the road. This is his crisis. One path leads to destruction, the other, perhaps, to misery but a misery in which he can still look every man in the face and his God as well. You have reached it. You may not think so, but you have. Carry out what you have told me and you are no longer an honest man. Don t be offended. Listen and don t in terrupt me. Nothing you could say to me [153] THE ROMANCE OF AN would hurt my heart; nothing I shall say to you should hurt yours. I love you with a love you know not of. I loved you when you were no higher than my knee." Phil looked at him in amazement, and was about to speak when Adam waved his hand. " No, don t speak. Hear me until I have finished. Only to save the boy she loved would I lay bare my heart as I am going to do to you now. Turn your head ! Do you see that picture? I painted it some twenty-five years ago; you were a child then, five years old. I was younger than you are now; full of my art; full of the promise of life. Your father s home was a revelation to me: the comfort of it, the servants, the luxury, the warm welcome he gave me, the way he treated me, not as a stranger, but as a son. A few days after [154] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN I arrived he left me in charge of his home. Your mother was three years younger than I was; you were a little fellow tugging at her skirts. " The four weeks .hat followed, while your father was away and I was painting the portrait, were to me a dream. At the end of it I awoke in torment. I had reached the fork in my road: one path lay to perdition, the other to a suffering that has followed me all my life. Your father was an austere man of about my own age now; it was not a happy union it was as if Madeleine and I should be mar ried. Your mother, girl as she was, re spected and honored him and had no other thought except her duty ; I saw it and tried to comfort her. The day of your father s return home he came up into the garret which had been turned into a studio to [155] THE ROMANCE OF AN see the portrait. The scene that followed has always been to me a horror. He de nounced her and me. He even went so far as to say the picture was immodest because of the gown, and in his anger turned it to the wall. You can see for yourself how unjust was that criticism. He found out he was wrong and said so afterward, but it did not heal the wound. Your mother was crushed and outraged. That night she came up to the studio and poured out her heart to me. I won t go over it I cannot. There was in her eyes something that frightened me. Then my own were opened. Down in front of me lay an abyss; around it were the two paths. All night I paced the floor; I laid my soul bare; I pleaded; I argued with myself. I reasoned it out with God; I urged her unhappiness the difference in [156] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN their ages; the harshness of the older man; her patient submission. Then there rose up before me the sterner law my own re sponsibility; the trust placed in my hands; her youth, my youth. Gradually the mist in my mind cleared and I saw the path ahead. There was but one road: that I must take ! " When the dawn broke I lifted the por trait from where your father had placed it with its face against the wall; kissed it with all the reverence a boy s soul could have for his ideal, crept down the stairs, saddled my horse and rode away. " Ten years later after your father s death I again went to Derwood Manor in the autumn in November. I wanted to look into her face once more even be fore I looked into my own father s to see the brook we loved, the hills we wandered [157] THE ROMANCE OF AN over, the porch where we sat and talked. I had heard nothing of the house being in ruins, or of your mother s death. Every thing was gone ! Everything every thing! " Adam rested his head in his hands, his fingers shielding his eyes. Philip sat look ing at him in silence, his face torn with conflicting emotions astonishment, sympa thy, an intense love for the man predomi nating. Adam continued, the words com ing in half-muffled tones, from behind his hands, as if he were talking to himself, with now and then a pause. " You wonder, Phil, why I live alone this way you often ask me that question. Do you know why? It is because I have never been able to love any other woman. She set a standard for me that no other woman has ever filled. All my young life OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN was bound up in her long after I left her. For years I thought of nothing else; my only hope was in keeping away. I would not be responsible for myself or for her if we ever met again. She wasn t mine; she was your father s. She couldn t be mine as long as he was alive." He raised his head and resumed his old position, his voice rising, his earnest, deter mined manner dominating his words. " I ask you now, Phil, what would have become of you if I had left that stain upon his name and upon yours? Who brought me to myself? She did! How? By her confidence in me ; that gave me my strength. I knew that night, as well as I know that I am sitting here, that we could not go on the way we had been going with safety. I knew also that it all rested with me. For me to unsettle her love for your [159] THE ROMANCE OF AN father during his lifetime would have been damnable. Only one thing was left flight That I took and that you must take. Turn your eyes, Phil, and look at her. She saved me from myself; she will save you from yourself. Do you suppose that anything but purity, goodness, and truth ever came from out those lips? Do you think she would be satisfied with any thing else in her boy? Be a man, my son! Strangle this temptation that threatens to stain your soul. No matter what comes even if you beg your bread put this thing under your feet. Look your God in the face!" During the long recital Phil s mind had gone back to his childhood s days in con firmation of the strange story. As Adam talked on, his eyes flashing, his voice trem ulous with the pathos of the story he was [160] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN pouring into the young man s astonished ears, one picture after another rose dimly out of the listener s past: The big lounge in the garret where his mother held him in her arms; the high window with the light flooding the floor of the room; the jar of blossoms into which he had thrust his little face. He did not move when Adam finished, nor for some minutes did he speak. At last he said in a voice that showed how deeply he had been stirred: " It s all true. It all comes back to me now. I must have been too young to re member you, but I remember the picture. I looked for it everywhere after she died, but I couldn t find it. Then came the fire and everything was swept away. Some one must have stolen it while we were in Bal timore. And you have loved my mother [161] THE ROMANCE OF AN all these years, Gregg, and never told me?" He was on his feet now and had his arm around Adam s shoulder. " Couldn t you trust me, Old Gentleman? Don t you know how close you are to me? Did you think I wouldn t understand? What you tell me about your leaving her is no sur prise. You wouldn t you couldn t do anything else. That s because you are a man and a gentleman. You are doing such things every day of your life; that s why everybody loves you. As to what you want me to do, don t say any more to me " the tears he was hiding were chok ing him. " Let me go home. What you have told me of my mother, of yourself everything has knocked me out. My judgment has gone I must think it all over. I know every word you have said OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN about the loan is true; but I haven t told you all. The situation is worse than you think. Everything depends on it Mad eleine her father all of us. If I could have found some other plan if you had only talked to me this way before. But I ve promised them all they expect it. No! Don t speak to me. Don t say an other word. Let me go home." And he flung himself from the room. Adam sat still. The confession had wrung his soul; the pain seemed unbear able. What the outcome would be God only knew. With a quick movement, as if seeking relief, he rose to his feet and walked to the portrait. Then lifting his hands above his head with the movement of a despairing suppliant before the Ma donna he cried out: u Help him, my beloved. Help him as you did me." IX AT the offices of Philip Colton & Co., just off Wall Street, an unusual stir was apparent an air of expectancy seemed to pervade everything. The cashier had arrived at his desk half an hour earlier than usual, and so had the stock clerk and the two book-keepers. This had been in ac cordance with Mr. Colton s instructions the night before, and they had been carried out to the minute. The papers in the big cop per loan, he had told the stock clerk, were to be signed at half-past eleven o clock the next morning, and he wanted all the busi ness of the preceding day cleaned up and out of the way before the new deal went through. This accomplished, he said to OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN himself, Mr. Eggleston would be able to retire a part if not all of his special capi tal, and his dear Madeleine, to quote a morning journal, find a place by the side of " one of the bright young financiers of our time." Mr. Eggleston, in tan-colored waist coat, white gaiters and shiny silk hat, a gold-headed cane in one hand the em bodiment of a prosperous man of affairs also arrived half an hour earlier ten o clock, really, an event that caused some astonishment, for not twice in the whole year had the special partner reached his son s office so early in the day. Young Eggleston reached his desk a few minutes after his father. His dress was as costly as his progenitor s, but a trifle more insistent. The waistcoat was speckled with red; the scarf a brilliant scarlet decorated [165] THE ROMANCE OF AN with a horseshoe set in diamonds, and the shoes patent leather. He was one size smaller than his father and had one-tenth of his brains. With regard to every other measurement, however, there was not the slightest doubt but that in a few years he would equal his distinguished father s out lines, a fact already discernible in his mid dle distance. In looking around for the missing nine-tenths of gray matter his father had found it under Philip Colton s hat, and the formation of the firm, with himself as special and his son as junior, had been the result. At half past ten Mr. Eggleston began to be nervous. Every now and then he would walk out into the main office, inter view one of the clerks as to his knowledge of Phil s whereabouts and return again to his private office, where he occupied him- [166] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN self drumming on the desk with the end of his gold pencil, and watching the clock. The junior had no such misgivings none of any kind. He had a game of polo that afternoon at three, and was chiefly con cerned lest the day s work might intervene. The signing of similar papers had once kept him at the office until five. At eleven o clock a messenger with a bank-book fastened to his waist by a steel chain, brought a message. " The treas urer of the Seaboard, with the company s attorney, would be at Mr. Eggleston s of fice," the message read, " in half an hour, to sign the papers. Would he be sure to have Mr. Philip Colton present." (The special s social and financial position earned him this courtesy; most of the other mag nates had to go to the trust company to culminate such transactions.) THE ROMANCE OF AN The character of the message and Phil ip s continued delay only increased Mr. Eggleston s uneasiness. The stock clerk was called in, as well as one of the book keepers. " What word, if any, had Mr. Colton given the night before? " he asked impatiently. " What hour did he leave the office? Did any one know of any business which could have detained him? had any telegram been received and mislaid? " the sum of the replies being that neither word, letter nor telegram had been re ceived, to which was added the proffered information that judging from Mr. Col- ton s instructions the night before that gen tleman must certainly be ill or he would have " showed up " before this. A few minutes before half past eleven the treasurer and his attorney were shown into the firm s office, the former a man of [168] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN sixty, with a cold, smooth-shaven face, fer ret eyes and thin, straight lips, thin as the edges of a tight-shut clam, and as bloodless. He was dressed in black and wore a white necktie which gave him a certain ministerial air. His companion, the attorney, was younger and warmer looking, and a trifle stouter, with bushy gray locks under his hat brim, and bushy gray side-whiskers un der two red ears that lay flat against his head. He was anything but ministerial, either in deportment or language. What he didn t know about corporation law wouldn t have been of the slightest value to any body not even to a would-be attorney passing an examination. Both men were short in their speech and incisively polite, with a quick step-in and step-out air about them which showed how thoroughly they had been trained in the school of Street THE ROMANCE OF AN courtesy the wasting of a minute of each other s valuable time being the unpardon able sin. u Glad to see you, Mr. Eggleston," ex claimed the treasurer, with one finger ex tended, into which the special hooked his own. The official did not see the junior partner; he dealt only with principals. " Our attorney," he continued, nodding to his companion, " has got the papers. Are you all ready? Where is Mr. Col- ton? " and he looked around. " I m expecting him every minute," re plied the special in a nervous tone; "but we can get along without him. My son is here to sign for the firm." " No, we can t get along. I want him. I have some questions to ask him ; these are President Stockton s directions." Before Eggleston could reply the door OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN of the private office was thrust open and Philip stepped in. Mr. Eggleston sprang from his chair, and a combination smile showing urban ity, apology, and contentment, now that Phil had arrived, overspread his feat ures. We had begun to think you were ill, Colton," he said in a relieved tone. " Any thing the matter? " " No, I stopped to see Mr. Gregg. I am on time, I believe, gentlemen, half past eleven, wasn t it? " and he consulted his watch. There was a peculiar tremor in Phil s voice that made his prospective father-in-law fasten his eyes upon him as if to learn the cause. Colton looked as if he had been awake all night; he was pale, but otherwise he was himself. " Yes, you are on the minute," ex- THE ROMANCE OF AN claimed the treasurer, picking up the bun dle of papers and loosening the tape that bound them together. " You have just re turned from the property, we hear. What do you think of it? " We have the certificate of the mining engineer," interrupted Mr. Eggleston in a bland tone, regaining his seat. " Yes, I have it here," the treasurer an swered, tapping the bundle of papers. " It is your personal opinion, Mr. Colton, that we want. The president insists upon this; he has a reason for it." Colton stepped nearer and looked the treasurer square in the eyes. " My personal opinion, sir," he an swered in clear-cut tones, " is that the de posit is practically exhausted. I came here to tell you so. The engineer s report is, I think, too highly colored." OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Both father and son started forward in their chairs, their eyes glaring at Philip. They could hardly believe their senses. "What!" burst out Mr. Eggleston " you don t mean to say that " " One moment, please," interrupted the treasurer, with an impatient wave of his hand toward Eggleston: " Do you think, Mr. Colton, that the issue had better be deferred?" " I do. Certainly until the mine makes a better showing." Again Mr. Eggleston tried to interrupt and again he was waved into silence. " When did you arrive at this conclu sion?" " This morning. I thought differently yesterday, but I have changed my mind. So much so that it would be impossible for me to go on with this loan." [173] THE ROMANCE OF AN " Shall I take that message to the presi dent? " " Yes. If I have any cause to change my opinion I ll let him know. But it is not likely I will I m sorry to have given you all this trouble." " Thank you," said the trust company s representative, rising from his chair and extending his hand to Philip. " I might as well tell you that we have heard similar reports and our president felt sure that you would give him the facts. He has great confidence in you, Mr. Colton. If he authorizes me to sign the papers after what you have said to me I ll be back here in a few moments. Good-day, sir! " and with a grim smile lighting his face, the treasurer nodded himself out. Eggleston waited until the trust com pany s attorney had gathered up his papers [174] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN and had closed the door behind him a mere matter of routine with him ; almost every day a transaction of this kind was either deferred or culminated then he swung himself around in his revolving chair, his cheeks purple with rage, and faced Philip. "Well, sir! what do you think of the mess you ve made of this morning s busi ness ! Do you for one instant suppose that Stockton will go on with this deal after what you have told him? " " If he did, sir, it would not be with my consent," answered Philip coldly. Your consent! Your consent! What do you know about it? Did you ever mine a pound of copper in your life? Did you ever see a pound mined until you made this last trip ? And yet you have the effrontery to set yourself up as an expert against one [175] THE ROMANCE OF AN of the best men in his profession ! Do you not know that you have made not only the firm but me ridiculous, by your stupid vacillation and with the Seaboard, of all trust companies ! Why didn t you find out all this before you brought these people down here? " " It is never too late to be honest, sir." " What do you mean by that ! " snapped Eggleston. " I mean just what I say." Philip s voice was without a tremor, low, forceful and decisive. " The floating of these bonds on the present condition of the mines would have been a fraud. I didn t see it in that way at first, but I do see it now. It is done every day in the Street, I grant you, but it will never be done again with my consent so long as I am a member of this firm ! " Eggleston s lip curled. " You seem to [176] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN have grown singularly honest overnight, Mr. Colton," he sneered. " According to your ideas Bates, Rankin & Co. were frauds when they floated the Imperial, and so were Porter & King when they sold out the Morningside for two millions of dol lars." " None of them are paying, sir, and it was dishonorable to float the bonds." He was still on his feet, facing his prospective father-in-law, holding him at bay really. " What s that got to do with it?" snarled Eggleston. " They will pay some time. As to your honor 1 That s the cheap sentiment you Southern men are always shouting. Your kind of honor won t hold water here ! It was your honor when you tried to hold on to your niggers; and it s your honor when you murder each other in duels, and " [ 177] THE ROMANCE OF AN "Stop, Mr. Eggleston!" said Philip, his face white as chalk, every muscle in his body taut " this has gone far enough. No position that you hold toward me gives you the right to speak as you have. I have done what was right. I could not have looked either you or Madeleine in the face if I had done differently." Here the door was swung back, cutting short Eggleston s reply, and a note was passed in, the clerk making a hurried in spection of the faces of his employers, as if to learn the cause of the disturbance. Eggleston read it and handed it to his son, who so far had not opened his mouth. He could reach the game in time, anyhow. " Just as I expected! " hissed Eggleston between his teeth: u Must decline the loan, he says. * Thank Mr. Colton for his frankness. Stockton, President/ Thanks OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Mr. Colton, does he! If you want my opinion I ll tell you that by your con founded backing and filling you ve thrown over the best operation we ve had since this firm was formed. Find the money some where else, Mr. Colton, that I ve put in, and I ll draw out. This morning s work convinces me that no sensible man s in terests are safe in your hands." " That will be difficult, sir, when the condition of our firm is known, as it must be. Furthermore, it would be impossible for me to ask it. Since I ve been here I ve done my best to look after your interests. Some of our ventures, I regret to say, have been unsuccessful. Instead of releas ing your capital I shall need some fifty thousand dollars more to carry us through. The situation is upon us and I might as well discuss it with you now." [179] THE ROMANCE OF AN " We don t owe a dollar we can t pay," blurted out Eggleston, picking up his hat and cane. " That is true to-day, but to-morrow it may not be. The refusal of this loan by the Seaboard will send back to us every copper stock we have borrowed money on. They are good, better than Portage, but the banks won t believe it. I want this ad ditional money to tide this over." " You won t get a dollar ! " " Then I ll notify the Exchange of our suspension at once. If we stop now we can carry out your statement and pay every dollar we owe. If we keep on with the market as it is we may not pay fifty cents. Which will you do?" " Not a dime, sir 1 Not a cent 1 Do you hear me not one cent ! You two fools can work it out to suit yourselves. I m through [180] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN with you both ! " and he slammed the door behind him. The boys were already crying the news of the downfall of his house when, late that afternoon, Philip pushed aside the vel vet curtain and stepped into Adam s studio. He had bought an extra on his way uptown and held it in his hand. " Failure in Wall Street! Philip Colton & Co. suspend! * the head-lines read. " It s all over, Gregg," he said, drop ping into a chair, without even offering the painter his hand. " And he refused to help ! " exclaimed Adam. Yes, not a cent ! There was nothing else to do. We can pay every dollar we owe, but it leaves me stranded. Madeleine is the worst part of it. I did not think [181] THE ROMANCE OF AN she d go back on me. They are furious at her house. I stopped there, but she wouldn t see me nobody would. She s wrong, and when she gets the truth she ll think differently, but it s pretty hard while it lasts." Adam laid his hand on Phil s shoulder and looked steadily into his face. "Do you regret it, Phil?" The old search-lights were sweeping right and left again. " Yes, all the trouble it brings and the injury to the firm and to Mr. Eggleston, for I don t forget he s my partner. I didn t think it would end in ruin. I bun gled it badly, maybe." u Are you sorry? " " No, I d do it over again ! " answered Philip firmly, as he glanced at the portrait. Gregg tightened his grasp on Philip s OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN shoulder. " That s the true ring, my son ! " he cried, his eyes filling with tears. u I ve never loved you as I do this minute. Now you begin to live. This day marks the part ing of the roads: From this day you go forward, not back. It doesn t make any difference what happens or what things you " " And you don t think Madeleine will " " Think Madeleine will lose her love for you ! You don t know the girl not for one minute. Of course, everything is up side down, and of course there ll be bad blood. Mr. Eggleston is angry, but he ll get over it. What he has lost to-day he has made a dozen times over in his career in a single turn in stocks, and will again. Keep your head up ! Finish your work at the office; pay every cent you owe; come [183] THE ROMANCE OF AN back here and let me know if anything is left, and then we ll see Madeleine. You ll find my check-book in that desk at your el bow. I ll sign as many checks in blank as you want and you can fill them up at your leisure. We ll fight this thing out together and we ll win. Madeleine stop loving you! I ll stake my head she won t!" Events move with great rapidity in the Street. When a tin case the size of a candle-box can be brought in by two men and a million of property dumped out on a table, an immediate accounting of assets is not difficult. Once their value is fixed by the referee they can be dealt to those in terested as easily as a pack of cards. By noon of the following day not only did the firm of Philip Colton & Co. know [184] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN exactly where they stood, but so did every one of the firm s creditors: Seventy per cent cash and thirty per cent in sixty days was the settlement. All their outside stocks had been closed out under the rule. Phil ip s thorough business methods and the sim plicity and clearness with which his books had been kept made such an adjustment not only possible, but easy. The net result was the wiping out of the special capital of Philip s prospective father-in-law and all of his own capital and earnings. The junior partner was not affected; his allow ance went on as usual. He did not even sell his stud ; he bought another pony. His father gave him the money; it helped the family credit. So far not a word had come from Made leine. Philip had rung the bell of the Eg- gleston mansion three times since that fatal [185] THE ROMANCE OF AN morning and had been told by the butler in frigid tones that Miss Eggleston " was not at home." None of his notes were an swered. That so sensible a girl as Made leine, one whose whole nature was frank ness and love, could be so cruel and so unjust was a disappointment more bitter than the failure. " She has been lied to by somebody," broke out Philip as he paced up and down Adam s studio, " or she is locked up where nothing can reach her. All my notes come back unopened; the last redirected by Mr. Eggleston himself. Neither he nor his son has been to the office since the settlement. They leave me to sweep up after them dirty piece of business. Will there be any use in your seeing Mr. Eggle ston?" Adam looked into space for a moment. [186] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN He had never met the senior. He had, out of deference to Phil, and contrary to his habitual custom, given him preference over his other sitters, but Eggleston had not kept his appointment and Gregg had postponed the painting of the portrait un til the following season. Phil had made excuses, but Adam had only smiled and with the remark " Time enough next winter," had changed the subject. " No. Let a young girl manage her own affairs," Adam answered in a decided tone, " especially a girl like Madeleine." He had seen too much misery from interfering with a young girl s heart. ;< What do you advise then? " * To let the storm blow over," Adam replied firmly. " But youVe said that for a week and I am no better off. I can t stand it much THE ROMANCE OF AN longer, Old Gentleman. I must see Made leine, I tell you. What can you do to help? Now not to-morrow or next week?" " Nothing that would be wise." " But you promised me to go and see her the afternoon we went to smash." "So I did, and I ll go if you wish me to." "When?" " To-morrow morning. It is against my judgment to do anything until you hear from her. A woman always finds the way. Madeleine is no exception. She loves you too well not to. But I ll go, my boy, and try." " You must go. I tell you I can t and won t wait. I have done nothing I m ashamed of. Our wedding is off, of course, until I can look around and see what I m [188] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN going to do, but that s no reason why we can t continue to see each other." The butler met him with a polite but de cided: " Miss Eggleston is not receiving." " Take her that card," said Gregg. " I ll wait here for an answer." The erect figure of the painter, his per fect address, coupled with the air of com mand which always seemed a part of him, produced an instantaneous curve in the but ler s spine. " Step into the library, sir," he said in a softer tone as he pushed aside the heavy portieres for Adam to enter. Gregg entered the curtain-muffled room with its marble statues, huge Sevres vases and ponderous gold frames, swept a glance over the blue satin sofas and cumbersome chairs in the hope of finding Madeleine [189] THE ROMANCE OF AN curled up somewhere among the heap of cushions, and then, hat in hand, took up his position in front of the cheerless, freshly varnished hearth to await that young lady s coming. What he would say or how he would approach the subject nearest to his heart would depend on her mental attitude. That she loved Phil as dearly as he loved her there was no question. That she had begun to suffer for loss of him was equally sure. A leaf from his own past told him that. Again the butler s step was heard in the hall; there came a sound of an opening door, and Mr. Eggleston entered. As he approached the dealer s descrip tion of his white hair and red face a sub ject Franz Hal would have loved came back to the painter. Adam advanced to meet him with that [ 190] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN perfect poise which distinguished him in surprises of this kind. " Mr. Eggleston, is it not?" " Yes, and whom have I the pleasure of addressing? " glancing at the card in his hand. u I am Adam Gregg. We were to meet some time ago, when I was to paint your portrait. This time I came to see your daughter Madeleine." Mr. Eggleston s manner dropped ther mometer-like from the summer heat of graciousness to the zero of reserve: the portrait was no longer a pleasant topic. Moreover he had always believed that the painter had advised Philip the morning of his " asinine declination " of the trust com pany s proposition. " May I ask what for?" It was a brutal way of putting it, but the banker had THE ROMANCE OF AN a brutal way of putting things. Generally he confounded the person before him with the business discussed, venting upon him all his displeasure. " To try and have her receive Philip Colton, or at least to get her reason for not doing so. It may be that it is due to your own objection; if so I should like to talk the matter over with you." " You are quite right, sir; I do object object in the strongest manner. I don t wish him here. I ve had all I want of Mr. Col- ton, and so has my daughter." " May I ask why?" " I don t know that it is necessary for me to discuss it with you, Mr. Gregg." " I am his closest friend, and have known him ever since he was five years old." " Then I positively decline to discuss it [ 192] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN with you, sir, for I should certainly say something that would wound your feelings. It is purely a matter of business, and that you artists never understand. If you will excuse me I will return to Mrs. Eggleston; she is an invalid, as you have no doubt heard, and I spend the morning hour with her. I must ask you to excuse me, sir. 1 * On his return to his studio Gregg be gan to pace the floor, his habit when any thing worried him. Phil was to return at three o clock and he had nothing but bad news for him. That his visit had only made matters worse was too evident. Never in all his life had he been treated with such discourtesy. Eggleston was a vulgarian and a brute, but he was Made leine s father, and he could not encourage her to defy him. He, of course, wanted [ 193] THE ROMANCE OF AN these two young people to meet, but not in any clandestine way. Her father, no doubt, would soon see things differently, for suc cess was the foot-rule by which he meas ured a man, and Phil, with his energy and honesty, would gain this in time. Phil must wait. Everything would come right once the boy got on his legs again. The failure had in every way been an honest one. In this connection he recalled the re mark of a visitor who had dropped into the studio the day before and who in discuss ing the failure had said in the crisp ver nacular of the Street: "Bitten off more than they could chew, but square as a brick." It was an expression new to him but he had caught its meaning. That his fellow-brokers had this opinion of Philip meant half the battle won. Men who by a lift of their fingers lose or make fortunes [ 194] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN in a din that drowns their voices, and who never lie or crawl, no matter what the con sequences, have only contempt for a man who hides his wallet. " Hands out and everything you ve got on the table, is their creed. This done their pockets are wide open and every hand raised to help the other fellow to his feet. All these thoughts raced through Adam s head as he continued to pace the floor. Now and then he would stop in his walk and look intently at some figure in the costly rug beneath his feet, as if the solution of his problem lay in its richly colored surface. Two questions recurred again and again: What could he do to help ? and how could he get hold of Made leine? As the hours wore on he became more restless. Early that morning before he [195] THE ROMANCE OF AN had gone to Madeleine s his brush, spurred by his hopes, had worked as if it had been inspired. Not only had the sit ter s head been blocked in with masterly strokes, but with such fulness and power that few of them need ever be retouched a part of his heart, in fact, had gone into the blending of every flesh tone. But it was all over now ; his enthusiasm and sure- ness had fled. In fact, he had, on his re turn, dropped his brushes into his ginger- jar for his servant to clean, and given up painting for the day. Soon he began fussing about his studio, looking over a portfolio for a pose he needed; replacing some books in his li brary; adding fresh water to the roses that stood under Olivia s portrait gazing up into its eyes as if some help could be found in their depths his uneasiness increasing OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN every moment as the hour of Phil s return approached. At the sound of a quick step in the cor ridor how well he knew the young man s tread he threw open the door and pushed aside the velvet curtain. Better welcome the poor fellow with a smile and a cheery word. " Come in, Phil! " he cried " Come Why, Madeleine I" She stood just outside the door, a heavy brown veil tied over her hat, her trim fig ure half concealed by a long cloak. For an instant she did not speak, nor did she move. " Yes, it s I, Mr. Gregg," she sobbed. "Are you sure there s nobody with you? Oh, I m so wretched! I had to come: Please let me talk to you. Father told me you had been to see me. He was furious [ 197] THE ROMANCE OF AN when you went away, and I know how he must have behaved to you." She seemed completely prostrated. Buoyant tempera ments pendulate in extremes. He had drawn her inside now, his arms about her, holding her erect as he led her to a seat with the same tenderness of voice and manner he would have shown his own daughter. " You poor, dear child I" he cried at last. " Now tell me about it. You know how I love you both." "Oh, Mr. Gregg, it is so dreadful!" she moaned in piteous tone as she sank upon the cushions of the divan, Adam sit ting beside her, her hand tight clasped in his own. " I didn t think Phil would bring all this trouble on us. I would forgive him anything but the way in which he deceived papa. He knew there was no copper in OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN the mine, and he kept saying there was, and went right on speculating and using up everything they had, and then when it was all to be found out he turned coward and ruined everybody and broke my heart! Oh, the cruel cruel " and again she hid her face in the cushions. " What would you think, little girl, if I told you that I advised him to do it? " he pleaded as he patted her shoulder to quiet her. " You couldn t do it! " Madeleine burst out in an incredulous tone, raising herself on her elbow to look the better into his eyes. You wouldn t do it! You are too kind!" " But I did as much for your sake and your father s and brother s as for his own. All the firm has lost so far is money. That can be replaced. Had Philip not told the [ 199] THE ROMANCE OF AN truth it would have been their honor. That could never have been replaced." And then with her hands fast in his, every thought that crossed her mind re vealed in her sweet, girlish face, Adam, his big, frank, brown eyes looking into hers, told her the story of Philip s resolve. Not the part which the portrait had played not one word of that. She would not have understood; then, too, that was Phil s se cret, not his, to tell; but the awakening of the dormant nature of an honest man, in- crusted with precedents and half-strangled in financial sophistries, to the truth of what lay about him. " You wouldn t want his lips to touch yours, my child, if they were stained with a lie; nor could you have worn your wed ding-gown if the money that paid for it had been stolen. Your father will see it in [ 200 ] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN the same light some day. Then, if he had a dozen daughters he would give every one of them to men like Philip Colton. The boy wants your help now; he is without a penny in the world and has all his life to begin over again. Now he can begin it clean. Get your arms around his neck and tell him you love him and trust him. He needs you more to-day than he will ever need you in all his life." She had crept closer to him, nestling un der his big shoulders. It seemed good to touch him. Somehow there radiated from this man a strength and tenderness which she had never known before: In the tones of his voice, in the feel of his hand, in the restfulness that pervaded his every word and gesture. For the first time, it seemed to her, she realized what it was to have a father. [201] THE ROMANCE OF AN " And won t you talk to papa again, Mr. Gregg?" she pleaded in a more hopeful voice. " Yes, if you wish me to, but it would do no good not now. It is not your father this time, it s you. Will you help Phil make the fight, little girl? You love him, don t you? " "Oh, with all my heart !" " Well, then, tell him so. He will be here in a few minutes." Madeleine sprang from her seat: " No, I must not see him," she cried in frightened tones; " I promised my father. I came at this time because I knew he would not be here. Let me go: We are having trouble enough. No please, Mr. Gregg no, I must go." "And what shall I tell Phil?" He dared not persuade her. [ 202 ] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN " Tell him tell him Oh, Mr. Gregg, you know how I love him! " She was through the curtains and half way down the corridor before he could reach the door. All the light had come back to her eyes and the spring to her step. Adam walked to the banisters and lis tened to the patter of her little feet de scending the stairs to the street. Then he went back into the studio and drew the curtains. Thank God, her heart was all right. Once more he picked his brushes from the ginger-jar where in his despair he had thrust them. Nothing in the situation had changed. The fear that Madeleine had lost her love for Phil had never trou bled him for an instant. Women s hearts did not beat that way. That Phil s future was assured once he got his feet under him [203] THE ROMANCE OF AN was also a foregone conclusion. What Mr. Eggleston thought about it was an other matter, and yet not a serious one. He might be ugly for a time would be but that was to be expected in a man who had lost his special capital, a son-in-law and considerable of his reputation at one blow. What had evidently hurt the banker most was the wounding of his pride. He had always stood well with Mr. Stockton must continue to do so when he realized how many of his other interests depended on his good-will and the trust company s assistance. Phil had not told Adam this when he went over the scene in the office the morning they closed up the accounts, but Gregg had read between the lines. The one bright ray of sunshine was Made leine s refusal to break her word to her father. That pleased him most of all. [204] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN A knock at the door interrupted his rev- ery. It did not sound like Phil s, but Adam had been deceived once before and he hurried to meet him. This time a messenger stood outside. " A note for Mr. Adam Gregg," he said. " Are you the man? " Adam receipted the slip, dismissed the boy and stepped to the middle of the room under the skylight to see the better. It was from Phil. "I cannot reach you until late. Have just re ceived a note from the Seaboard Trust Company say ing Mr. Stockton wants to see me. More trouble for P. C. & Co., I guess. Hope for good news from Madeleine." This last note filled his mind with a cer tain undefined uneasiness. What fresh trouble had arisen? Had some other se curities on which money had been loaned [205] THE ROMANCE OF AN made prior to Phil s awakening been found wanting in value? He hoped the boy s past wasn t going to hurt him. With this new anxiety filling his mind he laid down his brushes he had not yet touched his canvas put on his hat and strode out into the street. A breath of fresh air would clear his head it always did. For two hours he walked the pavements up through the Park ; out along the edge of the river and back again. With every step there came to him the realization of the parallels existing between his own life s romance and that of Philip s. Some of these were mere creations of his brain; others especially those which ended in the sacrifice of a man s career for what he considered to be right had a certain basis [206] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN of fact. Then a shiver crept over him: For honor he had lost the woman he loved : Was Phil to tread the same weary path and for the same cause? And if fate should be thus cruel would he and Madeleine for get in time and lead their lives anew and apart, or would their souls cry out in an guish as his had done all these years, each day bringing a new longing and each day a new pain: he in all the vigor of his manhood and the full flower of his ac complishment and still alone and deso late. With these reflections, none of them logical but all showing the perturbed con dition of his mind and his anxiety for those he loved, he mounted the stairs of the building and pushed open the door of his studio. It had grown quite dark and the studio [207] THE ROMANCE OF AN was filled with shadows. As he crossed to the mantel he rarely entered the room without pausing for a moment in front of the portrait Olivia s face, with that strange, wan expression which the fading light always brought to view, seemed to stand out from the frame as if in appeal, a discovery that brought a further sinking of the heart to his already overburdened spirit. With a quick movement, as if dreading the power of prolonged darkness, he struck a match and flashed up the circle of gas jets, flooding the studio with light. Suddenly he stopped and swept his eyes rapidly around the room. Some one beside himself was present. He had caught the sound of a slight movement and the mur mur of whispering voices. Then a low, rippling laugh fell upon his ears the notes [208] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN of a bird singing in the dark, and the next instant Madeleine sprang from behind a screen where she had been hiding and threw her arms around his neck. " Guess ! " she cried, pressing his ruddy cheeks, fresh from his walk, between her tiny palms. "Guess what s happened! Quick !" The revulsion was so great that for the moment he lost his breath. "No! you couldn t guess! Nobody could. Oh, I m so happy! Father s made it up with Phil! " "Made it up! How do you know?" he stammered. " Phil s just left him. Come out, Phil!" Phil s head now peered from behind the screen. " What do you think of that, Old Gen- [209] THE ROMANCE OF AN tleman?" he cried, clasping Adam s out stretched hand. " And there isn t any trouble, Phil, over Mr. Stockton s note?" exclaimed Gregg in a joyous but baffled tone of voice: he was still completely at sea over the situa tion. "Trouble over what?" asked Phil, equally mystified. " That s what I want to know. You wrote me that it meant more trouble for your firm." " Yes, but that was before I had seen Mr. Stockton. Then I ran across Mr. Eggleston just as he was coming out of the trust company, and he sent me to Made leine and we couldn t get here quick enough. She beat me running up your stairs. Hasn t she told you? And you don t know about Stockton s letter? No! [210] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN Why, he has offered me the position of head of the bond department of the trust company at a salary of ten thousand a year, and I go to work to-morrow! Here s his letter. Let me read you the last clause : " " No, let me," cried Madeleine, reach ing for the envelope. " No I ll read it," begged Phil. " No you won t! I ll read it myself! " burst out Madeleine, catching the letter from Phil s hand and whirling around the room in her glee. "Listen: The Trust Company needs men like you, Mr. Colton, and so does the Street! Isn t that lovely?" " And that s not all, Old Gentleman! " shouted Phil. " We are going to be mar ried in a month. What do you think of that!" [211] THE ROMANCE OF AN "And Mr. Eggleston is willing!" " Willing! Why, you don t think he would offend Mr. Stockton, do you? " Gregg had them in his arms now Madeleine a bundle of joyous laughter; Phil radiant, self-contained, determined. For a brief moment the three stood si lent. A hush came over them. Adam s head was bent, his forehead almost touch ing Phil s shoulder, a prayer trembling on his lips. Then with a sudden movement he led them to the portrait, and in an ex ultant tone, through which an unbidden sob fought its way, he cried: " Look up, my children up into your mother s face. See the joy in her eyes ! It is all her doing, Phil. "Oh! my beloved, now you know." [ 212 ] OLD-FASHIONED GENTLEMAN The picture has never been taken from Gregg s studio. It still keeps its place over the mantel. There is rarely a day that one of the three does not place flowers beneath it; sometimes Madeleine and Phil arrange them; sometimes Adam; and sometimes little blue-eyed, golden-haired Olivia is lifted up in Gregg s strong arms so that she may fill the jar with her own wee hands. THE END [213] LOAN DEPT or T Tk 91 A 50771-11/62 L (D3279slO)476B M15568 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY