s. I Hi THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Clarence Staples BLACK FRIDAY BLACK FRIDAY By FREDERIC S. ISHAM AUTHOR OF UNDER THE ROSE THE STROLLERS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON FISHER INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1904 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY OCTOBER PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. ?s TO H. F. I. CONTENTS BOOK I FLUCTUATIONS CHAPTER PAGE I THE PHJNCE AND THE CHARIOT 1 II A FLURRY is HEARTS 19 III DEVELOPMENTS 33 IV A LITTLE SMILE; A Bio WEDDING 45 V WHY TIM WAS EXCITED 58 VI AT GAY SARATOGA 67 VII THE TELEGRAM AND ITS SEQUEL 78 VIII AN INTERRUPTED HONEYMOON 91 IX THE RETURN OF RICHARD STRONG 100 X A FLUTTER IN VALUES 111 XI CHARLIE ENDEAVORS TO NEGOTIATE AN IDEA 123 XII MR. ROSSITER VISITS THE STREET 136 XIII A DAY FOR REFLECTION 148 XIV ELINOR MAKES A RESOLUTION 162 XV ELINOR BREAKS A RESOLUTION 170 XVI MR. DALTON TAKES A SUDDEN RESOLUTION 180 XVII AN INTERRUPTED DANCE 193 BOOK II BLACK FRIDAY I MR. STRONG RETURNS 207 II CHARLIE VISITS THE GOLD-ROOM 216 III RICHARD STRONG is STARTLED 225 IV A FIGURE IN THE MOONLIGHT 232 CHAPTER PAOK V ELINOR SITS UP LATE 245 VI THE WRITER OF THE LETTER 254 VII BEFORE THE BATTLE 262 VIII BLACK FRIDAY 278 IX NOON 286 X THE END OF THE DAY 294 XI THE MASTER OF THE SITUATION 300 XII THE DAY OF SETTLEMENT 308 XIII DALTON is PUZZLED 319 XIV THE SHADOW REPUDIATES His ALLEGIANCE 327 BOOK III READJUSTMENT I AN INTERRUPTED SONG 337 II AN ENFORCED SOJOURN 348 III THE GAMIN AND THE ROSE 356 IV AN UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH 364 V A STRANGE ENCOUNTER 373 VI THE BREAKING OF THE DAY 379 VII A MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE 385 VIII RICHARD STRONG LEAVES PARIS 392 IX AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS 397 BLACK FRIDAY BOOK I CHAPTER I THE PRINCE AND THE CHAEIOT The white fingers moved uncertainly over the whiter keys, a hesitating accompaniment to a voice, once a tenor, now a breath. "Ah, Roberto" A fit of coughing interrupted the singer ; one hand yet continued to play irresolutely, as if waiting for the vocal melody, but bravura and recitativo were gone be- yond recall ; the fingers ceased their hopeless strumming, and rested, at a loss, on an unresolved chord. Some one laughed. "Oh, papa, you are too droll !" A small hand held back the frayed, somber drapery of the doorway; a girlish figure stood framed by the dark 2 BLACK FEIDAY walnut. A morning toilet of mauve-colored fabric caught the sheen of sunlight; voluminous as one of the gowns of Lely, it swathed, yet clung not to, the slender form. Beneath a head-dress of chenille and bead net- work, brown curls gently swept the white brow. The performer arose, a half-petulant look on his thin, refined face. "And you, my child, are too forward !" he said. "I couldn't help it, papa!" Another laugh, and the frame lost its picture; the voluminous skirt rustled as the speaker entered the room. "Besides, it was too absurd !" she added. "Absurd ! " "Not you, but the butcher !" He stared at her. In the full light, the dominant characteristics of his face were pitilessly revealed ; weak- ness and pride ; artistic effeminacy, mixed with a certain hauteur; a man of dilettantism, perhaps, but the dilet- tantism of the old school that included pre-Raphaelite pictures, arias, cadenza's, and the Sapphic stanzas ad- dressed to our foremothers' gloves, or ringlets. "The butcher ?" he repeated incredulously. She nodded. "Yes; our neighbor; our bosom friend, the butcher ! He called at the front door !" And she held up a card. "Mr. Thomas Jenkins, Esquire! He asked for mama, and when the maid said mama was out. THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 3 he went out and slammed the front door. It's about the bill, I suppose, papa. Shall I put the card on the tray with mama's other callers? Fancy their consternation, sandwiched with Mr. Thomas Jenkins, dealer in tender- loins !" flourishing the bit of pasteboard. "Put the card in the fire, Elinor," he said absently. "We shall trade with Jenkins no more." "He cut us off a fortnight ago," she laughed. With this the speaker relapsed into silence and a chair, stifling a little yawn as she sank back into the capacious depths, and patting down reflectively her gown which outflowed with that prodigal waste of material characteristic of those days of silks, satins, pop- lins and passementeries. So she seemed buried, over- whelmed beneath the multitude of delicate flowers woven in the pattern of her dress. Her face looked out from lilacs; the tip of a foot, very small, peeped from beneath the flowery vestment, and impatiently tapped a faded carpet that had once been quite grand, but which was now only a mournful reminder of gorgeous roses and rococo wreaths ; the more mournful, alas ! because car- pets, unlike pictures, do not improve with age and the partial obliteration of their pristine brightness. "Bills! bills! bills!" A tap of the foot with each word. 4 BLACK FRIDAY The old gentleman just perceptibly shrugged his shoulders as if to say : "Well, my dear, what of it ?" ' 'From Thomas Jenkins, Esquire ; from Brown, Jones and Robinson; from Madam Upstart and Mademoiselle Parvenu papa, is there anybody we don't owe?" Another faint shrug of the shoulders; an angrier tap of the foot. "Yesterday I bought a habit. 'Send that to Miss Eli- nor Rossiter/ I said to the clerk. What did he reply? *Mise Rossiter ! Oh, certainly ! And won't you look at this coiffure? Won't you take this ruff?' No: that's the way he would have answered the other women. Hi didn't urge poor me, but hesitated ; wrote the address in a melancholy manner, and bade me a thoughtful good day. And" with flashing eyes "the habit hasn't come yet! Papa, why don't you fix things with the shop- keepers and other tradespeople?" "Quite right, my dear ; quite right !" spoke up a deep voice, and, with the words, the speaker, bearing the weight of her presence to lend emphasis to her approval, swept into the room. A woman of decided emphasis herself ; a chin that was emphasized by being double ; a face that was emphasized by the height of her hair ; a figure that was emphasized with avoirdupois ; the whole, or sum total of her appear- ance being emphasized by a stupendous dress which stood THE PEINCE AND THE CHAEIOT 5 out like a bell; an expansive pardessus of black silk, an exaggerated underskirt, vastly trimmed and adorned; ridiculous, perhaps, yet "with circumference mighty, to repel all invasion," both formidable and disconcerting to the masculine mind ! "Quite right !" repeated Mrs. Eossiter, majestically. Mr. Eossiter's shrug gave way to words; Miss Eossi- ter's queries might be dismissed with a gesture, but Mrs. Eossiter was not lightly to be set aside. "Certainly, Madam ; exactly !" murmured Mr. Eossi- ter, vaguely. "There's Charles, the coachman," went on Mrs. Eossi- ter. "He had the impudence to come to me for his wages and when I told him to apply to the proper au- thority, muttered something about 'much good it would do him. 5 " "And look at Susan, mama !" spoke up Miss Eossiter. "When I asked her to be quick about dressing my hair for the madrigal concert, she said something about slow pay." "I was thinking, my dear," said Mr. Eossiter, passing his white hand languidly through his white hair, "we might dispense with Charles' services and dispose of the horses." "What ! sell my horses ! Walk !" "Why not?" gently. 6 BLACK FRIDAY "Edwin, you're a fool." This time Mr. Kossiter did shrug his shoulders, but whether in mild expostulation, incredulous dissent, or implied contradiction was not made clear. At that mo- ment he was more concerned with the fact that the truth must come out, sooner or later. Sooner, by Mrs. Rossi- ter's present temper! The disagreeable, bare, bald truth! Mr. Kossiter preferred to drift through life's troubled seas; with him, it was "better to hold back the truth than speak it ungraciously." Virtues that plagued you ! fie ! Infirmities, without the thorn, were the more eas- ily entertained ! Unconsciously, in his policy of the art of living with the least trouble to himself, he modified the old proverb, and "Peace if possible, but truth at any rate" became with Mr. Kossiter "Truth if possible, but peace at any rate." "You know, my dear," he at length said, "we have for some years been encroaching on my capital. Instead of confining ourselves to the income we spent double. Proportionately as the principal and the income de- creased, our expenses increased. It is a simple banking problem to compute how long on this diminishing scale the capital will last. In our case about twenty years have gone by and now the income has at length devoured THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 7 the principal ! Both are gone. We have killed the goose that laid the golden egg." It was a long speech for Mr. Rossiter; almost a maiden effort from the domestic rostrum. He was in the main a silent man; one of that great army of dis- creet persons who hold "a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral." Now that, perforce, he had discarded the habit, he waited calmly the eruption that would follow. "We have spent your money," said Mrs. Rossiter, grimly. "It was not much." "But somewhat more than your own fortune, Mad- am." "I was a vain, silly, romantic girl, or I would not have married a diminishing income." "It is highly nattering, my dear, that you married me," answered Mr. Rossiter, in a courtly manner. "You ! Fudge ! All my friends warned me against the match." "And in spite of their warnings, you had your way." "Goodness knows where ifs all gone to!" observed Mrs. Rossiter, irrelevantly. "I never bought a hat and paid what they asked. I never missed a bargain sale in my life, and no one ever bought more at them. No woman ever stinted and pinched as I have done ! Hasn't the cook always had orders to save the cheese parings 8 BLACK FRIDAY and candle ends? Was anything ever wasted? But it is so like the man to blame the woman " "My dear, I am not blaming any one ; I am only stat- ing a fact." "That I must give up my carriage ? Never ! If you've spent your money use mine." Mr. Rossiter flushed furiously. His throat felt very dry ; his supineness was followed by a momentary excita- tion of feeling. "I am very sorry, my dear, but " he began. "But what but what? Why doesn't the man speak?" "Your money, Madam, as you know, was invested by me in bonds of the southern states." Mr. Rossiter hesi- tated. "Well? Well?" impatiently. "And these bonds" speaking with difficulty "have been recently repudiated." "Bonds ! repudiated ! What does that mean ?" "It means, my dear, that a community which sold its paper and received money for it, now declares that paper invalid. In other words, the bonds, purchased in good faith by innocent investors, have been outlawed by the legislature of the very state which issued them." Mrs. Rossiter did not turn white, that was impossi- ble; but her face grew a shade less rosy; her eyes snapped; her figure appeared to expand indefinitely. THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 9 Mr. Rossiter grew proportionately smaller; he also be- came absently interested in what was going on outside the pictures in the room anything save Mrs. Rossiter. Miss Rossiter's lips parted ironically ; she curled up more easily in the great chair like a spectator who settles her- self for comfort as the curtain goes up. Les Precieuses Ridicules or Ecole des Maris! Miss Rossiter had not been long home from school, and the French comedies were still fresh in her mind. Her head lay daintily against the rosewood carving of the chair; her toe had vanished ; the shadow pf a smile now played about her mouth. The comedy; the irony; the tragedy of pounds, shillings and pence ! "You mean my money's gone I" spoke up Mrs. Rossi- ter, ominously. "I mean it is invested in southern states bonds," said Mr. Rossiter, clearing his throat. "Which are valueless I" "The action of the legislature was entirely unexpected, Madam. Some of the best banks hold these bonds. When I invested your money in them, it was, as I told you, on the most conservative advice in the Street. The credit of the state has heretofore been held in- violable." "Fiddlesticks ! After frittering away your own for- tune you now rob me of mine !" 10 BLACK FRIDAY The slight figure of the man came to life; it seemed about to spring into resentful action; but the great fig- ure grew greater, more overwhelming, more indignant, more crushing! "Yes, rob! rob P He did not answer. A moment she waited. "You're a fool; you always were; you always will be !" And Mrs. Rossiter swept from the room. Mr. Rossiter stood by the window. He was paler than his wont; his hand trembled. The girl continued to watch ; she seemed studying him impersonally, as one might almost observe a stranger. Was he handsome? Yes ; after a fragile, womanly fashion. The strength of his family had gone into his ancestors ; he remained the surviving shadow. Without, a hand-organ began to play, and the strains of the latest popular piece of the concert saloons, the sad melody of Polly Perlcins, floated far and near in that aristocratic neighborhood : "I'm a broken-hearted milkman, in grief I'm arrayed, Through keeping the company of a young serving-maid " The man at the crank thought Mr. Rossiter was look- ing at him and all the sunshine of Italy beamed from his countenance ; he even sent a monkey toward the window, but at the aspect of that agile and hairy form, and tha THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 11 gibbering face suddenly and unexpectedly thrust before him, Mr. Rossiter drew back with an abrupt exclama- tion. The girl in the chair began to laugh. "Give him something, papa," she said. "Just to show we can give him, if we want to." Mechanically Mr. Rossiter felt in his waistcoat and drew forth a piece of silver, which he regarded du- biously. "Give it to him." "But, my dear, this is twenty-five " "We can't be any poorer. And imagine how rich he'll think we are !" "The monkey, or the man?" observed Mr. Rossiter, with a feeble attempt at levity. "Both, you goose!" Whereupon the father lifted the window and handed the coin to the chattering petitioner^ who grasped it in his eager paw and vanished downward with mercenary and sordid glee. But the expression of the performer is beyond words to depict ; doffing his cap, he bowed and bowed, and smiled and smiled ; then grasping the handle of his instrument he played frantically, presto, prestis- simo, the while he bobbed the monkey up and down with a string, as if the higher its leaps the more apparent his own overwhelming gratitude. "There !" observed the girl. "In his mind deluded 12 BLACK FEIDAY heathen ! we are richer than any one on the street. I'm sure Miss Vanderhoff, who is worth five millions, never gave him more than five cents. As we gave him five times that, we must be worth twenty-five millions at least. Think of it, papa ! Are there twenty-five millions in the world?" Mr. Eossiter started. "Twenty-five millions !" he re- peated slowly. "They say Richard Strong has twice that." "Mr. Strong," repeated the girl. "Such a common- place man and such a princely fortune !" "My dear, it is the commonplace men, as you call them, who are the princes nowadays." "I suppose so. The modern Cinderella is carried off by Mr. Nobody who everybody thinks is Somebody. There is no such thing as fairy tales in this prosaic life any more." Mr. Eossiter did not answer. "The handsome prince with his golden chariot !" went on the girl. "Where is he ? The only man I know who really looks like a prince is Cousin Charlie, and I'm sure lie hasn't any golden chariot. He's as poor as Cinderella herself." She thrust out her foot with a little ironical exclamation. "It isn't so very large, is it?" and then tucked it back quickly ; "but too large for Cinderella !" "My child," said Mr. Eossiter, deliberately, although THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 13 hesitatingly, "Mr. Strong called on me not long ago. He asked permission to pay you his addresses." The rose-pink of her cheek deepened. "You mean to marry me?" she asked with feigned composure. Then she gave a little gasp and laughed. "He makes up his mind very quickly, doesn't he, papa? I suppose that's because he is such a good busi- ness man. A man of quick decision ! That's what the newspapers say of him. 'Mr. Strong buys the famous running-horse, Jolly Fellow. Took in his points at a glance !' Or, 'Mr. Strong buys a railroad. Just five minutes in deciding. He will rehabilitate it.' Per- haps he wants to rehabilitate me! What did you say when he asked you, papa ?" Mr. Rossiter regarded her helplessly. "That it was your affair, not mine!" The girl arose quickly and threw her arms around Kis neck. "You're a dear !" she said. "A moment ago it was a goose," he answered, as she drew back, surveying him with a half-maternal, half- affectionate regard. "Well, a dear goose, then!" Her look became very searching. "Why didn't you tell mama?" He shifted uneasily. The question was obviously 14 BLACK FRIDAY both embarrassing and unexpected. "How do you know I did not?" "Because she hasn't said anything about it. Be- cause she hasn't " Abruptly she broke off. "The truth !" placing her hands on his shoulders. "Why didn't you tell mama ?" <( Well, the fact of the matter is," he began, "I was afraid" "That mama might jump at the chance !" His manner became apologetic. "Well, you know your mother is we might say a practical sort of woman, and I was afraid she " The girl laughed loudly; the explanation died away. "Poor mama !" said Elinor. "What she has missed ! This is delicious ! And what did he say ?" "He who?" "The fairy prince !" Mr. Rossiter was becoming more bewildered. His daughter's mood was like the whirlwind; it blew him hither and thither. "Mr. Strong said ahem " "His exact words, papa!" The hands tightened on his shoulders; the brown eyes probed him. "He didn't really say anything, my dear. Perhaps he looked a little taken aback " The hands fell from the old man's shoulders. THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 15 "Of course," she said, "he is used to getting control of whatever he wants. Anything that is wrecked ! Then he restores the circulation ! isn't that what you call it ? Did you speak to him about mama's bonds, papa?" Mr. Rossiter sighed. He had wished to forget the scene his daughter had witnessed. "I believe I did mention the matter to him some time ago. I asked him if he regarded the bonds as a hope- less investment and he replied he so regarded them ; that he had never had any confidence in them !" "Then he knows that we are anemic ; like some of the railroads he picks up ?" "Really, my dear, I will say that Mr. Strong is a man of unimpeachable rectitude. That he has a genuine re- gard for you, I have no doubt. 'Mr. Rossiter,' he said, 'I have met your daughter and ' " The girl placed her hand playfully over her father's lips. "Hush, papa !" she said. "He met me but twice. Once at Mrs. Tanning's and once at Miss Van Dolsen's. On both occasions he spoke to me; I answered; we parted ! Quite romantic, dear, don't you think so ?" "I had made up my mind not to mention the matter, Elinor," he said, not without compunction. "Then why did you ?" quickly. "It seemed to come out naturally " 16 BLACK FEIDAY "In connection with the fifty millions !" An expression of real distress mantled his oversensi- tive face. "Elinor" "There ! I'm not blaming you. After all, it was the monkey's fault !" she said, smiling. "I believe that mon- key will haunt me," she went on, after a pause. "How he wanted the money ; the money ! How he begged for it ; implored it ! And how he jumped when he got it ! What a frightfully terrible and human thing he looked like peering through the window ! As if he would have done anything to get it !" Mr. Eossiter again shifted uneasily; philosophizing was not in his line. Besides, the morning had been a trying one and he felt the need of fresh air. "Well, my dear, I think I had better be off to the club. Eem ember, don't tell your mother. I am sorry to have distressed you. And as for Mr. Strong, I don't think we shall be troubled by him. He said he would do himself the honor to call ; he has not done so, however " "But he has walked by the house every morning for the last week !" Mr. Eossiter looked startled for a moment. "It is on his way to the office," he then said. "Good-by, my dear." THE PRINCE AND THE CHARIOT 17 He bent over and would hare touched her brown hair with his lips, but she lifted her face. "Tut ! what's this ?" he asked playfully. "Would you refuse a lady's lips, sir ?" she laughed. As he kissed her, a light in her eyes, half -wistful, rested on him for a moment. When he turned she looked after him, almost pityingly. "Oh the man that has me must have silver and gold, Must have a chariot to ride in, must be handsome and bold; His hair must be curly as any watch-spring, And his whiskers as big as a brush for clothing!" The hand-organ man was moving away and the am- bitious lay of Polly Perkins died in the distance. Miss Rossiter went to the window. The street was now fairly awake; the precipitate delivery wagons mingled with the luxurious landau, brougham and vic- toria. Across the way a maid scrubbed the front steps of the Garnett mansion with- a diligence as hearty as that of the inmates' Dutch ancestors, who chased out dirt and the devil with the mop and the broom. As Elinor was about to turn away, a figure approached that arrested her attention; a flush overspread her face; she started again to draw back, but did not. Some power seemed to hold her there against her will. % What business had he to walk by every morning? Then she noticed Miss Garnett, a hopeless spinster, peer- 18 BLACK FKIDAY ing from one of the broad windows opposite. "Hateful thing!" thought the girl. The figure drew nearer; he was looking down; he even seemed to walk more slowly. With growing antagonism the girl watched him. "How strong he looks !" she thought. And then triumphantly : "He is not so confident as he seems. I am sure he is hesitating. He wants to call and he doesn't dare ! He is afraid ! afraid " she repeated "of me !" Her lip curled; in her eyes was an indefinable light. "How I hate him !" she said, and at that moment he looked up. He started perceptibly when he saw her; the glance they exchanged seemed of indefinite duration. He bowed formally, and then she suddenly smiled. He stopped outright ; she was gone. Thoughtfully he walked on, but his countenance appeared transfigured. CHAPTER II A FLURRY IN HEARTS A woman, saith the moralist, has two smiles an angel might envy the smile that accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first-born babe. Miss Rossiter's smile might or might not belong to the former category, but whether, in any event, the heavenly host be- held it with a jaundiced eye remains a hypothetical prop- osition. Mr. Richard Strong, being of the earth, saw in it something supernal, without pausing to analyze whether it conveyed a promise or covert encouragemeat. Hd had dealt in some valuable commodities, but a woman's smile her smile ! was an unknown quantity, and he knew not by what standard to gage it. As he turned from the house, continuing his walk, his thoughts traveled retrospectively, accumulating, classi- fying after his wont, all the scanty data of their brief ac- quaintance. A "How-do-you-do?" at Mrs. Fanning's; a clear, musical voice rising above the bibble-babble ; brown eyes, that looked at him as he liked to look at peo- 19 20 BLACK FRIDAY pie straight, deep; the impression of an erect, proud figure, though light and youthful ! "Who are the Eossiters?" he had said to the hostess, when the young girl had turned. "The Eossiters/' that lady had replied, "have a list of ancestors as far back as the Dutch pirates who scuttled the Spanish treasure ships." At Miss Van Dolsen's there had been a few more words, conventional, yet well-remembered: "I believe I met you once before, Mr. Strong at Mrs. Tanning's, I think ?" "At Mrs. Tanning's, I am sure, Miss Eossiter." "How delightful to be always positive ! You have the reputation of being a positive man. Perhaps you are one of those who believe men are always sure, while women only think, or guess." "Perhaps our first meeting impressed me more than it did you." "Perhaps," indifferently. That had been about all ; a little more, but nothing of moment. Slender data for Mr. Eichard Strong to pon- der over ; he who was insatiable for details ! Later Mr. Eossiter had said: "It is my daughter's affair; not mine." Mr. Strong knew how to deal with men, but not with women. For the first time in many years he had been at A FLURRY IN HEARTS 21 A loss what to do. He might compel the market; he might compel competition to step aside; he might com- pel trunk lines to sell out; but he could not compel a woman's inclination. It was too intangible, subtle and delicate a commodity for his strong grasp; he might reach for it for ever yet never touch it; his hand would close on air. This had been the burden of his thoughts as he walked by her house once a day. But suddenly a new factor had altered the tenor of the situation. The proposition that had of late seemed du- bious so dubious he had almost abandoned all hope of it now seemed as golden as the dream of Alnaschar. From Miss Rossiter at Mrs. Fanning's cold, proud ! to Miss Rossiter in the window, became a space abruptly spanned by a rainbow. He came to himself with a start, finding that he stood at the head of the street; the Lombard Street of the rocky isle that bears on its crest the affluent city. Clang, clang, tolled the bells of Trinity. For the moment, the first time almost in his career, his office was distasteful to him, and he who always turned to the left into the thoroughfare that is the golden artery of the heart of the western world, now wheeled to the right, where beneath the shadow of the spire slept those who cared not for the heavy or the light purse, or the loaves and the fishes. Here, in God's-acre, the bobolink and the robin were 22 BLACK FEIDAY singing merrily. Bird-songs and the fragrance of flowers what had they for Eichard Strong ? Now, if it had been the gentle Halleck ; he who mixed stocks with poetry, and poetry with stocks ! But Eichard Strong ! Yet he sat there; aye, sat and listened! And dreamed, perhaps; dreamed of kinsmen and kinswomen gone; of life and death ; the battle of the strong ; the light of love, a sun shining on the field of strife ! One hour he re- mained in the churchyard; no more, no less, for he arose when from the "undaunted steeple" came the toll- ing anew. Clang ! clang I "Work ! work I 5 * said the brazen bells. "Counting the dead men, Eichard?" said a voice at his elbow, as he was leaving the burial-ground. For an instant, he felt disconcerted ; guiltily culpable. "There is no need of looking for them here in the ceme- tery, Commodore," he replied, confronting his ques- tioner. "Since you twisted the tail of the legislature, they're all in Albany." At this reference to the famous Harlem corner, the other's eyes sparkled; the ends of his white choker seemed to stand out more aggressively beyond the ag- gressive whiskers that adorned the sides of his aggres- sive, round, bluff face. "We did disturb them a leetle, Eichard," said the A FLUEEY IN HEARTS 23 commodore. "They broke their word and needed a leetle dressing down." But later Mr. Vanderbilt said to his old friend, John Tobin, the one-time gate-keeper at Staten Island : "John, I saw Richard Strong in the graveyard. What do you suppose he was there thinking about ?" "Dunno," answered Tobin. "Got a right to be there, I guess." "He didn't look, John, as if he was trying to get a corner on tombstones. Something's up !" "Then we're likely to hear of it," answered Tobin, philosophically. Along the street where Captain Kidd and Benedict Arnold once had lived, where George Washington had taken the oath of office and the Stamp Act Congress had assembled, Richard Strong walked with quick, firm step, threading a procession of people which at this hour thronged the sidewalk. Clerks, alert, and clerks, heavy- eyed from the concert-saloons the night before mingled with the broker, brisk as a bee, and the old spec- ulator, hobbling on his cane. The professional distribu- tors of "tips," the waifs and estrays from the bubbling pot of finance, rubbed elbows with Plutus and Midas; wealth walked before, or behind, poverty; and see ! amid all, strode Wisdom and Learning, the benign, the com- plaisant Greeley ! Scamps and runagates ; saints and sin- 24 BLACK FRIDAY ners ; good men and bad men all merging in a common channel, like a shoal of minnows scurrying toward a feeding-ground ! But a short distance and Eichard Strong reached an unpretentious building, his place of business. Here modest offices, nearly opposite the Treasury's marble front, looked down on the busiest spot of all that busy neighborhood "where Jews and Gentiles most were wont to throng for trade and latest speculation." Entering his own private office, Eichard Strong plunged at once into his work. Upon a table a mass of documents and maps were arranged with some semblance of order, and over these he bent, glancing rapidly through the former and keenly at the latter, finally leaning back with de- cision in his chair and touching a bell. A tall, thin man, with a hooked nose, Eoman but not Hebraic, straggling white hair and the unruffled smile of a child, responded, standing hesitatingly on the threshold and entering not without deference. "Good morning, Tim Taplin. Sit down, sir," com- manded Eichard Strong. "There is a good deal to be done and we'd better get at it." "Yes, sir ; certainly, sir !" said Tim. "Have you the papers of the D. B. and C. line ? Ah, here they are ! Make a note that between A and B, on Diagram 4, the road will have to be reballasted. Also, A FLUKEY IN HEARTS 25 at certain points indicated, steel bridges must replace the wooden ones; the line to be extended to " And so on indefinitely, spinning a web with those fine tracings on the map; the sustaining strands, the main lines; the branches, mere feeders strengthening the meshes ! A filament requiring much patience to put to- gether, that it might not ultimately glitter with dew- drops instead of dividends ! The life of a weaver may be short, as the Holy Book says, but it is, also, absorb- ing, and, engaged in this subtle and delicate task to which in the beginning that day he had, perhaps, forced himself Richard Strong noted not how the hours slipped by. Tim wrote and listened; departed on errands and came back again; yawned and looked at the picture on the wall of that big man, Jacob Little, who had made and lost nine fortunes ; yawned again and thought of Hack- ett as Falstaff, and whether he and his sister would go to Niblo's Garden, or for the lark of it! take in the mermaid, the stuffed elephant, the fat woman and the Albinos at Barnum's, and "Tim Taplin, you're wool-gathering I" Richard Strong was regarding him quizzically but not unkindly. Tim recovered himself with an effort. The shadows were falling without; his employer was a hard taskmaster. 26 BLACK FRIDAY "Yes, sir; I'm afraid I was, sir/' answered the clerk. "That will do. You may go." He spoke less bruskly than usual, and, when Tim had departed, fell into a reverie himself. The strident tones of a newsboy without, crying some new iniquity of the Tweed Ring and the immoral, if not immortal, "What-are-you-going-to-do-about-it?" Boss, aroused him. "Richard Strong, you're wool-gathering !" he said half-aloud, and arose. At eight o'clock, he stood resolutely, if not altogether confidently, at the door of the Rossiter mansion. He wondered if Miss Rossiter had gone out; he half -wished that she had; his card would the better pave the way for the future than jHK No ; the ladies were at home, said the waspish-looking maid (salary-in-arrears written on her face!). Would he wait in the reception-room? The visitor complied. Mechanically he turned over the day's events in his mind and strove to approach the business in hand with a lucid understanding of what was required of him. But some- how his usual clearness of perception failed him ; he was conscious of waiting and expecting some one, but not planning what he should say when he saw her. A rustling gown ; a large, not a slender, figure crossed the threshold, and Mrs. Rossiter, with bare arms and bare A FLUKEY IX HEAKTS 57, shoulders, her hair a little higher, her gown a little lower, approached with outstretched hand and obvious cordial- ity. "Mr. Strong, how delightful ! I have not seen you since since we met at Miss Van Dolsen's. My daughter will be down presently. We were speaking of you only the other day" a conventional fib "and Mr. Eossiter was telling me that " "I asked him for Miss Eossiter's hand," blurted out Richard Strong. Mrs. Eossiter's face would have made the fortune of a painter, could he have succeeded in depicting on can- vas the amazement, incredulity, joy, chagrin, struggling for mastery on her features. "Asked for her hand !" she repeated. "For Elinor's" she almost gasped. "I should have waited I know " "When did you speak to Mr. Eossiter?" Mrs. Rossi- ter strove to regain her composure; her snapping eyes boded no good for her better half. "Some time ago." The lady's lips were firmly compressed. She endeav- ored to smile and partly succeeded. Not entirely a nat- ural smile, but rather of the frozen variety, as if behind 28 BLACK FRIDAY it lay a tragic mask; a transformation waiting for Mr. liossiter ! "And what did he say?" "That it was Miss Rossiter's affair, Madam." His hearer's bosom rose and fell violently; her fan fluttered ; she dared not trust herself to speak just yet. Mr. Strong, with his millions rejected ! at least, cold- ly received ! and the wolf at the door, and the creditors, too herself put to the utmost shift out of pocket, if not out at elbows ! Richard Strong, for whom many a net had been cast by ambitious matrons, yet who had heretofore escaped through the meshes, between the buoys or beneath the sinkers ! But finally with an effort Mrs. Rossiter controlled the raging tempest of her mind ; the heaving ceased, or became more calm and tranquil. "Of course, Mr. Strong," she said, "Mr. Rossiter 'was right." What language could tell how much the sentence cost her! "We could not think " she went on. "A young girl should be free to bestow her hand with her heart. Though, to be sure, young people are young people and a little guidance " Her voice faded into vagueness. "A mother's solicitude is naturally very great, Mr. Strong," she ended helplessly. A FLUKEY IX HEARTS 29 The listener remained silent. Mrs. Bossiter gradually recovered her equanimity. "Won't you be seated, Mr. Strong?" she said solici- tously. "Thank you, Madam," he answered, and followed her example. "We are, Mr. Strong, one might say " "Comparative strangers ?" "Hardly that; no, I would not say that. Of course, one hears all about people and almost feels as if one knows them. You probably know us. The Rossitera are a well-known if you will pardon the expression a well-known family. General Rossiter, as you are un- doubtedly aware, was on Washington's staff. On my side, there is my great-great-grandfather, one of the pa- troons who, when he came to New York in his coach and six and liveried servants, created such a sensation that the people lined the very walk to see him pass I" "There, Madam, you have the advantage of me," said Richard Strong, bluntly. "I don't know where my an- cestors were during the Revolution, but I am sure none of them ever rode in a coach and six down Broadway." "Ah, well," answered Mrs. Rossiter, graciously, "some of us have ancestors ; and some of us have " "money" she was about to say, but didn't "and some of ua 30 BLACK FRIDAY. haven't ! Not that it matters or it shouldn't in this free and democratic country, or republic, should it?" Although Mrs. Rossiter's style in conversation was apt to become somewhat involved, her meaning was generally plain. "My father, Madam, was a western cattle drover," continued Mr. Strong. A flutter of Mrs. Rossiter's fan. "My mother kept a boarding-house in a mining town." More violent agitation ! "From her" with a laugh "I must have inherited what little executive ability I pos- sess. It was said and one or two of her boarders are to-day prominent figures from the western world in Wall Street she could carve a poor bird with such nice discre- tion for a company of twenty that every man always got up satisfied. Sometimes, to me" clasping his hands over his knee "a lean railroad suggests the boarding- house turkey it takes a deal of skilful carving to satisfy the ravenous appetites of the stock-holders !" "Dear me !" said Mrs. Rossiter, feebly. "Of course," she added, with a faint sigh, "a boarding-house out West is not exactly the same thing as a boarding-house in New York City." "Worse, Madam !" Mrs. Rossiter straightened rather haughtily, but im- mediately relaxed. I A FLURRY IX HEARTS 31 "Out there, the boarders wear revolvers in the dining- room, and carry their bowie-knives into the parlor !" The hostess laughed ; she felt in duty bound to do so ; but it was not a hearty laugh; it rang artificially. Richard Strong regarded her keenly, when suddenly his thoughts shifted from boarding-houses and decrepit rail- roads and Mrs. Rossiter's ancestors to a tall and grace- ful form that seemed to appear by magic, and now stoocL before him, clad in white, her head very proudly raised, but her face paler than it had impressed him at Mrs-. Tanning's. If Richard Strong was not Miss Rossiter'r prince of the fairy tale, she certainly seemed to his eyes more beautiful than all the gracious beings of child- hood's lore, and, when she gave him her hand, he bent over it silently, having no words ; like a courtier, voice- less before his queen. A great joy leaped in his heart ; he looked into her eyes ; to him they were full of wonder- ful lights. The vanities of the world fell magically from his shoulders; they two seemed alone; dwellers of a new earth; a garden, variously called Eden, the Elysian Fields, the Bowers of Bliss ! Perhaps Mrs. Rossiter felt that she was intruding in that Hesperidian atmosphere, for, murmuring something about "dear Edwin," she managed to effect a not too pointed exit, effacing herself from the presence of Richard Strong in a most quiet and unobtrusive manner 82 BLACK FRIDAY for a person of such weight and importance. Not that she did not listen after a memorable interview with Mr. Eossiter which that gentleman never forgot at the hea'd of the balustrade, but was little rewarded for her pains. Mr. Strong was not so self-assertive as he had been earlier in the evening; at least, he seemed to have less to say, and that in a tone that did not carry to the spot where Mrs. Rossiter, red from bending over, was peering downward. "Well, my dear, what did you find to talk about ?" said Mrs. Rossiter, when it was all over, and Mr. Strong's footsteps could be heard echoing down the front steps. "Not very much, mama !" was the light reply. "And did he not even say when he would call Bgain?" asked the elder lady, in what might almost be designated a playful tone. "He has asked us to go to La Juive Monday night.''" "La Juive ! my dear ! One of my favorite operas ! Such soulful music ! And Mr. Strong's box is one of the most prominent in the theater although they say he's seldom there, himself. Good night, my dear; good night! How beautiful you are looking to-night !" And Mrs. Rossiter's pent-up affection expended itself in a parting caress. CHAPTER III DEVELOPMENTS The world stared to see Miss Roesiter and Mr, Strong together at the opera ; it also had a pre- text to stare on sundry other occasions at the Ole Bull concerts, the Robertson plays, the artists' ex- hibition. Of course, every one knew Mr. Strong, but heretofore, society had seen little of him; not that he appeared to care for it now save for one member of it. The latter fact was patent to all, and furnished the basis for much talk over tea-cups. Mrs. Rossiter was given due credit; truly she had the managerial eye, and her daughter scarcely "out" ! If Elinor realized what people were saying and how she was the central figure of neighborly tittle-tattle, her manner did not betray such consciousness. With Mr. Strong she carried herself much as with other people, only perhaps in his case her girlish imperiousness was slightly emphasized. The self-consciousness she had felt on the occasion of his first visit had quickly vanished. He had not appeared the aggressive, dominating charac- 33 34 BLACK FKIDAY ter her preconceived notion had pictured him, and his obvious constraint put her entirely at her ease. It may be the very knowledge of her power over him brought with it an unconscious satisfaction which called for the exer- cise rather than the disuse of those weapons belonging to her sex. Here was some one whom the world counted a leader, a man of iron, yet he was to be swayed by a word, a gesture. In her presence he was sometimes embar- rassed, almost awkward, and then she would study him with the superior smile of girlhood. She d'id not realize the difference in their ages that the balance of years lay to his credit for on the occasions when they were alone his reserved diffidence made him almost boyish. She even, perhaps, found pleasure in testing her in- fluence, and at least once, with the result that her con- fidence in herself was slightly shaken. He had asked them all to occupy his box for a certain opera, where- upon Elinor suggested another night when a different and, to her, more pleasing work was to be given. "I am sorry," he said, "but on that evening I can not join you. I have a business engagement." The girl looked somewhat surprised; it was the first time he had not been swayed to her will. "And would you rather talk business than listen to music?" she said. DEVELOPMENTS 35 "I have to," he answered simply. "At least, on this occasion." She lifted her brows. "How disagreeable !" she said. "To have to do things !" Her manner that night puzzled him, for he was not cognizant he had given her cause for offense. When he called a few evenings later, she kept him waiting no in- considerable period, and when she did come down, her eyes expressed just a trace of malice. "Thank you for the flowers," she said, giving him the tips of her fingers. "Did you like them?" he asked dubiously, noting at the same time that she wore none of them. "Oh, yes," she answered pointedly; "I was over- whelmed by them." Mr. Strong flushed. "Send up all the red roses you have in that case," he had said to the florist. At her words and accent, he wondered for the first time if the mere lavishness of his gift had not savored of ostentation. He was a most unostentatious man in his own tastes and requirements, and he vaguely regret- ted that he had 1 not looked to see how many flowers there really had been in the case. At the same time he ar- gued from cause to effect the fact she had not a single 36 BLACK FEIDAY flower in her dress augured she was not pleased, but he did not blame her ; he himself was the delinquent. The next time, however, he sent her only a single rose, the selection of which caused him considerable trouble and solicitude. In fact, he was so long in casting about for what he wanted, that when he reached his office he surprised himself by being ten minutes late at a di- rectors' meeting. The six grave faces that confronted his from the long table seemed like a reproof, and, as Eichard Strong called the meeting to order, he de- spatched matters with a vigor that atoned for that half- hour's dalliance in the primrose path. That night he felt even less confident than usual when he went to the Eossiter house. Women, he told himself, were like flowers; he knew as little of the one as of the other. But when he entered the room and she came in with his rose on her dress, the scales seemed to fall from his eyes. His face changed: she did care for him a little perhaps His cause for self-congratulation, however, was as ephemeral as it was sudden. She was more capricious than ever, leading the conversation to the most frivolous depths, until a gradual change settled on his spirits and a conventional distance once more separated them. Then she was satisfied, for she could not quite forget the ex- pression with which he had first regarded her. DEVELOPMENTS 3? During all this time he had not spoken to her of that other vital matter, though once or twice he had appar- ently started to approach it, but with a quick divination she had somehow managed to elude the subject. Soon, however, she was to learn that her position was not so impregnable as at first it had seemed. One night he was unduly thoughtful, she lighter, more animated; but her gaiety failed of its usual effect. When he did speak he said: "Miss Eossiter, I don't know whether your father ever spoke to you about a conversation I once had with him." Elinor's color swiftly changed; she endeavored to in- terject some remark not germane to the subject, but this time he persevered, stubbornly, firmly, and' instinc- tively she felt she could not stop him. His eyes were dark, deep, glowing; they dismayed her, yet she could hardly look away from them. Quickly she arose. His face grew paler. "I told him that I wanted you to be my wife." The girl's hand trembled; she stood half-turned from, him. He too, arose, his features strong, powerful. "There isn't much to say/' he went on. "When one has said that, it seems to be all." For the moment the resources of the past seemed to desert her. "Won't you look at me ?" he said. 38 BLACK FRIDAY She raised her eyes, almost defiantly; her face was sober enough now. "Could you care for me enough for that ?" She strove to tell him what was in her mind; that she could not, never could marry him, but at that mo- ment a strange thing happened to her. She asked her- self if it was really true she didn't care for him at all. For an instant he waited ; a wave of force seemed draw- ing her against her will. Steadfastly she resisted it. Of course, she did not care. "Good night," he said. She gave him her hand almost mechanically. Her eyes could not meet his now. "Good night," he repeated, holding her hand. He dropped it. For a moment there was silence. "May I call again ?" Did she speak? Did she bow her head in assent? She knew that if he went with no sign from her, she would never see him again. She remembered after- ward the look of joy in his eyes as he left. What did it mean? She pressed her hands to her head. "He made me," she thought, and her cheeks burned. Then into her eyes came a flash. "He may call," she said, "but he will find me firm firm!" DEVELOPMENTS 39 In thus determining upon her future course and seeking to intrench herself in a stronger citadel than before, Elinor learned, however, that it is easier to give an advantage than to regain it. The next bit of gossip the World heard and the World had been expecting it, and, therefore, evinced no surprise was the an- nouncement of the engagement of Miss Kossiter, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Kossiter, to Mr. Eicharu Strong. "Made the most of her opportunity!" said Society. "I am very glad, my dear, for your sake," had been Mrs. Eossiter's comment. Mr. Eossiter only kissed her. At this period Elinor, be it confessed, occasional^ looked a little troubled, yet not unhappy, as a per- son might appear who was asking herself questions sometimes finding the answers to her liking; again, of a character to cause inward study. But every girl, no doubt, thus communes with herself during this, the momentous epoch, and she discovered no reason, perhaps, to think she was undergoing experiences un- usual or so much out of the ordinary. "The serious duties of life ! The responsibilities you assume, young ladies, when you enter upon the broad- er field of woman's destiny " The echoes of that last address at boarding-school seemed fitted to her case; 40 BLACK FFJDAY she could smile at it now, as then, but those tremen- dous, inevitable obligations, whatever they were, had come to nest, or rest, on her untried young shoulders. She could endeavor to shake them off, but they only came back to her. So she sighed, laughed, and let them be. Certainly Mr. Strong appeared the imperson- ation of what the essayist would have called "her des- tiny." She still treated him as at first although fore- warned that her power was at times subject to his will and he bent his head to that pleasant yoke, finding her caprices as charming as bewildering. But very shortly after the public proclamation, Mr. Strong sud- denly announced to her his intention of going away to England, on an imperative matter, to be gone two months, possibly longer. "Two months !" she said, studying him with clear eyes. Could he leave her so long now? "Yes," he answered, and added in his direct fashion : "It is necessary." As if that disposed of every phase of the situation! "When do you go?" "To-morrow." She opened her eyes wider; for a moment there was silence. DEVELOPMENTS 41 "Why are you going?" she then asked in a serious tone. "The success, of a railway system I am inaugurating depends upon the conversion of certain bonds and the cooperation of the English holders of various interests." "I'm sure I don't understand," she observed, holding herself more erect. "You see," he went on, "conservative England has taken a great interest in my plans. And it is to Eng- land we turn for much of the backbone of our railroad enterprises." "Oh !" she said, looking at him from a cold distance. And then in a more lively tone : "How nice it must be to have so much business ! I suppose you think of it all the time ! Of course you must go. I wonder if you will succeed in what was it? converting certain bonds? That means making some more money, doesn't it ? But you always succeed, don't you ?" "Not always," he said, smiling. "But then, you know, success is often built on failure." "Most of the people I like best in the world, in the category of your Street, would be considered failures," she observed lightly. He looked at her, but did not answer. "Some of them are so delightfully irresponsible !" she continued. 42 BLACK FRIDAY "Yes?" he assented, rather puzzled. Capriciously she stood before where he was seated. "Indeed, they awaken a fellow-feeling!" "Why?" he asked, thinking more of her than of her words. "Didn't you know that / am irresponsible?" He looked at the mocking lips, the kindling eyes, the graceful, proud figure. "I know you are beautiful !" he said, leaning for- ward, with his heart in his eyes. It was the first outburst of flattery she had ever heard from him ; it sent the hot blood to her cheeks ; drowned the half-defiance in her eyes. At the same time, coupled with what had gone before, it angered her, and this feel- ing became paramount. But almost immediately he looked down ; his face became grave ; his brows concealed something wistful in his gaze. "I'll try to expedite the matter as much as possible," he said. Her lips pressed firmly together, and the conversation lagged on other matters. When he arose to go he looked at her longingly a mo- ment; then taking both her hands in a close grasp, he strove to speak to her of what was most on his mind. "Of course it is too bad, but of course, too, you must go, 1 ' she had answered with shining eyes and a frosty DEVELOPMENTS 43 little smile. He did not seek to analyze the reason, but never before had he found it so difficult to express him- self ; and, at a loss, he drew her into his arms. After- ward', as he turned from the house, he had but the re- membrance of a parting that seemed inadequate and disappointing. When he had gone Elinor stood for a moment in an inflexible attitude ; then stole to the window in the dark- ened sitting-room and looked out. Eetracing her steps to the hall, a snatch of a song came from her lips, but the musical impulse soon expended itself and silently she began to rearrange the waltzes, opera scores and ballads with which the top of the piano was littered. As she went up the stairs, a sudden blankness or sense of loss seemed to deaden her spirits. Thereafter, however, any feeling she may have enter- tained toward him or business did not interfere with her pleasures. Possibly, even, she exerted herself to un- usual gaieties. The season, with Parepa Eosa operas, the concerts at Steinway Hall, assemblies in the salon ~bleu of the famous caterers', and dances at the Four-in- Hand club-house, did not lack festivities, and in a whirl of multitudinous diversions, she obeyed the Chesterfield- ian adage and snatched the passing flowers of joy with the best grace imaginable. It may be she sometimes thought of ending a situa- 44 BLACK FRIDAY tion fraught with perplexities, but the World had heard and accepted the announcement, and she shrank from the publicity that would follow the severing of the tie. Also, she had passed her word, and to a girl of her pride, that meant a great deal. Other reasons which she might not fully acknowledge, yet which existed, were in all likelihood delicate threads further shaping the fabric of her fate. Certainly she did not appear to regret his absence, but accepted other attention freely. Society even went so far as to comment thereon, but Mr. Eos- siter, who knew Elinor well, saw nothing anomalous in her bearing. "Did you convert the bonds?" were almost her first words to Mr. Strong upon that gentleman's return. "Yes; everything's all right," he answered. "I'm sorry I was delayed a little longer than I thought I should be. I hope you didn't mind?" "I ?" she laughed, but her voice sounded rather hard. "I've had a perfectly lovely winter !" CHAPTER IV A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDING Happy the bride the sun shines on ! Miss Ros- siter's felicity, measured by the standard of the familiar saw, should have been unequivocal, for on that day of days the sunlight lay in shimmering lus- ter on the city. The marriage was to be celebrated in Mrs. Rossiter's church, a fashionable place of meeting, or exclusive ec- clesiastical club, where the Word and the World lay down together like the lion and the lamb in the millen- nium; where soft lights and short sermons tranquil- ized the congregation and assuaging oil was poured' on the troubled conscience. Once it is indeed chronicled the rector had awakened and roared as gently as any sucking dove, but the sermon occasioned so much dis- approval that he immediately relaxed to moderation, and the poppy and mandragora again prevailed in the sacred place. Richard Strong was not, in the strict sense of the word, a church-goer, but he had been prone often to re- 45 46 BLACK FRIDAY pair to the great white chapel on Brooklyn Heights, to listen to Mr. Beecher, and to become a part of that vast, democratic congregation wont to feed, not on dis- courses mild as mother's milk, but on a more invigorat- ing, strength-giving, moral diet. Thus it came about that because of his friendship and admiration for Mr. Beecher and in his ignorance of hymeneal etiquette, Mr. Strong had the temerity to suggest that it would be a fine thing to have the ceremony performed by that minister. Mrs. Ros- siter's face was a study. Her daughter married in that common auditorium, where the people surged and strug- gled and even climbed on to the window-sills; where the children sat on the very steps of the pulpit while the minister was preaching ! Mr. Beecher was a great man, no doubt his salary was evidence of that, but the Ros- siters had never taken kindly to revivals or evangelists "theology T}ouffe," or "religion bouffe" they accepted the apostles, of course, but they had lived so long ago the Rossiters had never been brought into personal con- tact with them ! ''Of course," she said, "the ceremony could only take place in the bride's church." Mr. Strong laughed and quickly abandoned the point. Temple, tabernacle, or ecclesiastical club, it was really all one to him, the result would be the same, and he A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDING 47 was a man who sought results without quarreling need- lessly with ways and means. For many years the Rossiter mansion had not assumed so festal an aspect as on that particular wedding-day, and all the street was up in arms or rather, up in eyes to do honor to the occasion. Windows com- manding a view of the house especially the windows of those residences belonging to people that had not been invited to the marriage were at a premium among the respective feminine members of the various families. In fact, during all the past week, these windows had had eyes, watching the tradespeople coming and going. "Parcels ! parcels ! parcels !" had murmured Mrs. Par- ker, who was not of Mrs. Rossiter's circle. "And only a few months ago, no one would trust them !" And truly the Rossiter credit had soared of late; Brown, Jones and Robinson had not only been very glad to send up what Mrs. Rossiter selected, but had urged that good lady to the temptation of further extrava- gances. Even Thomas Jenkins, Esquire, had called this time at the back door and humbly solicited the continuance of that patronage that had suddenly be- come so desirable. In the reception-room of the old homestead the shab- by-genteel aspect of furniture, draperies and carpet was overshadowed and lost sight of in the profusion of deco- 48 BLACK FEIDAY rations and floral adornments. Here were gathered the heroine of the occasion and her bridesmaids. Did Miss Eossiter realize the importance of the step she was tak- ing? With more than usual vivacity she was chatting with her fair bevy of assistants, the whiteness of her at- tire emphasizing a heightened color which gave to her cheeks the tint of wild roses. The mother of the bride, adorned in the splendor of green silk, trimmed with point applique the material from the now obliging Brown, Jones and Eobinson glanced from time to time severely, almost disapprov- ingly, toward her daughter. "Why, the child's frivolous," she thought. "In my day young people looked upon marriage as a very solemn occasion." Obviously Miss Rossiter's bridesmaids also belonged to a newer and more volatile generation, for they were all talking at once and fluttering like so many white pigeons around the cote at feeding-time. "Oh," said one of them, familiarly known as "Posie" Stanton, "to get married and then not spend the honey- moon in Paris is like not getting married at all !" "You should have made Paris one of the conditions, Elinor P "And then reveled in gig-top hats and Eistori bon- nets P A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDD1XG 49 "And seen the Empress Eugenie at one of the balls at the Hotel de Ville. They say her dresses are dreams."* "Yes, I should certainly have insisted on the gig-top hats and Eistori bonnets !" said Miss Eossiter, with a laugh that sounded a little forced. "How stupid they forgot the orange-blossoms!" ex- claimed a miss, who wore a small shepherdess wreath and a string of flowers which fell over her throat like a necklace. "Fancy a bride without orange-blossoms F "Oh, Charlie Dalton has gone after them and hero he comes !" as the front door opened and the servant ushered in a young man who approached without that precipitancy that the importance of the errand seemed to demand. Tall, broad-shouldered, moving with a certain careless grace, he presented a figure any woman would have re- garded twice. And looking twice, the chances are her glance, the second time, would have lingered unduly, if not approvingly, on the well-set head, clear-cut features, and rather cynical dark-blue eyes. Following this new-comer closely came a short homely little man, with side whiskers, and the kind brown eyes of a spaniel, whose manner betrayed considerable per- turbation, if not positive alarm, at being thus suddenly plunged, as it were, into a roomful of vivacious young 50 BLACK FKIDAY ladies; especially as he was seized upon at once by one of the aforesaid intimidating personifications of pi- quancy, Miss Posie Stanton, the box which he carried promptly confiscated and its contents admiringly sur- veyed by the whole party. The bride turned to the first new-comer. Her eyes were bright; above the clear, delicate brow, her brown hair, with its tinge of gold, fulfilled the scriptural re- quirement, and was a glory to her ; with a nervous hand she pushed it back. "Thank you, Cousin Charlie !" she said lightly. "There was really no need, but mama wanted to make sure. She is so afraid something will go wrong." "Don't mention it!" he answered. His glance passed over her from head to foot, a gleam of involuntary admiration replacing the irony in his look. The gown of rich white silk sheathed her in shimmering folds; her figure was replete with girlish grace as she stood there, her hands loosely clasped before her, her head very erect above the white neck. A suc- cession of giggles from Miss Posie and the bridesmaids caused him to look away. His expression changed. "They are trying on your orange-blossoms, Elinor," he said. "How they all envy you! Each little heart ie filled with a big wedding !" "Yes," she laughed. "It is certainly a very important A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDIXG 51 event!" And turning, she walked toward the brides- maids. He looked after her moodily. The Eossiters, he was well aware, had suffered deterioration, if not collapse, of fortune. Miss Eossiter was rich in all that makes a young girl attractive ; Kichard Strong "Come on, Tom," he called impatiently to the young man who had accompanied him. "The other ushers will be at the church. It's time we were off." And Tom or the Shadow, Charlie's Shadow, as he had been dubbed at college obeyed with an alacrity that denoted a glad desire to escape from the bewildering proximity of Miss Posie and her friends. "My dear child, are you all ready?" The voice of Mrs. Eossiter impressively dominated the scene. "It wouldn't do to keep all the people waiting," she added. "The people!" murmured Miss Eossiter, vaguely, as one of the maids arranged the fragrant blossoms and another applied a caressing hand in a final 'adjustment of tulle. "Will there be many of them?" "Many of them ?" repeated Mrs. Eossiter. "The place will be full. They'll be packed in as close as Jamaica figs!" "Oh, Mrs. Rossiter!" cried Posie, rushing upon that lady like a miniature whirlwind. "The carriages are at the door !" 52 BLACK FKIDAY "I believe the hour has approached," said Mrs. Ros- siter, majestically, drawing herself up. "Elinor, I see your father in the hall. You had better go now." The adjoining windows and those across the street awoke to sudden life and interest. Alas ! that the pride and pomp of the once ceremonial bridal procession of the days of Jacob and Samson has fallen into disuse; that Miss Eowley and Mrs. Crowley and the other inter- ested neighbors could look down in the present instance on an aggregation of carriages only, each vehicle dashing away independent of the other equipages, presumably to a common destination ! On their way to the church, Mr. Rossiter and his daughter were both rather quiet. For the time her vi- vacity seemed to desert her. He took her hand; she leaned her head a little toward him. "How would it be," she said suddenly, "if we didn't go to the church at all ?" "My dear !" he exclaimed, startled. "Isn't mama happy ?" she went on irrelevantly. "And you" "I?" she repeated. "Of course!" He stroked her hand'. "You like him, don't you, papa?" she whispered. "Very much, my dear !" "Within the hymeneal temple crowded an ostentatious A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDING 53 gathering. The majesty of robes a queue contrasted with the airiness of feathers. If the diminution of the circumference of skirts to the tiny circle of the waist was suggestive of an hour-glass, the tongues that moved incessantly were like Time. Every lady gleamed as if swathed in delicate armor, for no dress, sack or bonnet was considered complete in those redoubtable days un- less plentifully peppered with glass beads. After a wedding or a church service, the sextons, it is chronicled, did a thriving business, picking up beads and bugles from pews and vestibule ; and it was a notorious fact that when Mrs. Bullion entered the sacred edifice, the path- way behind her was so strewn that Mr. Bullion, who fol- lowed meekly in her wake, set the nerves of the sensi- tive on edge with the crunching and crushing of his boot-heels. Everybody was there! All the people the Kossiters knew and many they didn't know. Packed as close as figs, truly, as Mrs. Eossiter had surmised, for Miss Eossiter was a girl of acknowledged beauty and Mr. Strong a man of acknowledged substance. Those shut out the rank and file to whom the sight of a grand wed- ding was the great desideratum, and, failing that, the sight of the grand people the next best thing employed themselves in the endeavor to identify those who flitted across the sidewalk, and then flitted up^the steps of the 54 BLACK FRIDAY church, exuding faint odors delicate as the perfumes of Arabia. Occasionally some one not from Madison Avenue, or the other sacred residential precinct, crossed their range of vision and got in "Tennessee" Claflin, for example, spiritualistic medium to the great commodore, and her sister, Victoria C., who wore an "Eve hat" a leaf trim- med around with a feather! And, like th'6, hallowed court of the temple of old, the modern holy place be- came also invaded by the "money-lenders" ; x Brewster dressed like a drover, with Avarice written- pn his face and Eeligion shining from his eyes; and f . ( "There goes Jim Jubilee, Junior," said one of those on the outside to his companion, a pert-looking serving- maid, as an alert figure mounted the steps of the re- ligious edifice. "Who's he?" she asked'. "Don't know who Jim Jubilee is! Jim Fisk, what owns all the banks and all the gold mines and a bench of judges and a bevy of ballet girls." How long was Miss Eossiter forced to wait at the en- trance of the main aisle into the church ? It seemed an interminable period. Yet the minister was there, and near the altar "Behold the bridegroom, go ye out to meet him !" Her hand shook a little. Then she heard the organ A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDING 55 low, deep, reverberating and, after an interval, found herself walking, apparently through no volition of her own, leaning ever so lightly on her father's arm, her hand like a leaf clinging to a branch that was shaking somewhat itself ; wondering at the beauty of the flowers ; conscious of the concentrated staring of many, many eyes. How far was the altar ! how strong the perfume of flowers ! Flowers, flowers, everywhere ! What a bower of them ! And through them the luster of the lights beaming, twinkling, flickering! Was she dreaming; were the people illusive; the flowers, fantasies of grace and color? No; she really stood there before an actual altar in the actual glamour of that radiant scene. Not only stood there, but stood and answered soft and low, thrilling the heart of Eichard Strong as it had never thrilled before; then suddenly a broken "God bless you, dear !" her father's voice ; it was over then ; over. Ab- ruptly she awoke and looked around her. Standing near, Charlie Dalton watched her atten- tively. Her face was shadowed with a short veil; from each side floated a mass of tulle. The veil shrouded her with mystery ; through aroma and redolence he breathed the sweet fragrance of the orange-blossoms; the flowers she held which seemed a part of herself. Then he saw Eichard Strong, his face illumined; no conceal- 56 BLACK FRIDAY ment, no mystery there; the light of throbbing passion resting on his powerful features. The bland, demulcent tones of Mrs. Eossiter's rector died away in the distance ; with the best taste and sweet- est manner he had tied the nuptial knot. Some minis- ters would have gone at it roughly, like a sailor with a hempen cord; Mrs. Rossiter's rector performed the task as gently as a lady's maid tying a sash, smoothing out the ends, and adjusting the whole to a pretty effect. First it had been up the aisle ; now it was down the aisle. This time Richard Strong walked with the bride, who seemed slenderer in contrast with his stalwart figure, and beautiful as one of the lilies near the altar. A hum from those without; the patient rank and file at length were again to be rewarded with the sight of the bride ! "There she comes !" from nurse-girl and serving-maid; exclamations of praise unqualified, as the couple crossed the sidewalk; honest admiration which gave credence to the adage that all the world loves a bride. The carriage door was flung open ; the bride stepped in and the equipage was about to dash away, when a tall figure pushed through the spectators to the vehicle. It was the clerk, Tim Taplin, hatless and unmistakably excited. A LITTLE SMILE; A BIG WEDDING 57 "One moment, sir, there's a little matter of busi- ness " "It'll have to keep," said Kichard Strong. The carriage drove away and the crowd laughed heart- ily and even jeered at Tim, who continued to stand there as in a maze. "It's all very well to say it'll have to keep," muttered the clerk, "but suppose it can't keep?" And Taplin sighed half-disheartedly. Another than himself was staring after the departing vehicle. "Well, Tom," said Charlie Dalton, quickly, as his glance met that of his satellite, when the equipage had turned a corner, "what did you think of the perform- ance, old man?" ' 'Never saw anything go off better," returned the Shadow. "It was a great success." Charlie's lip curled. "Success ? Yes. But devil take it, Tom," he added bruskly, "he gets a good bargain !" CHAPTEE V WHY TIM WAS EXCITED "Mr. Strong's chief clerk, sir!" Tim Taplin had whispered to the usher of tLe church some time before the wedding ceremony, and that obliging in- dividual had conducted him to a pew not far from the front. Here Tim settled back with a sigh of complete satis- faction. Splendid ornamentation, beautiful ladies, daz- zling costumes it was almost as interesting as the nightly spectacle from the gallery at Wallack's ! In one sense it seemed even more alluring; at the theater Tim remained perched near the ceiling, remote from the fashionable portion of the audience, from whom he was separated by the inexorable decree of fate or fortune ! In the church, on the contrary, he found himself a veritable part of the bon ton, lolling back on a cushioned seat, the soft luxury of which contrasted forcibly with the uncompromising hardness of the wooden benches in the palace of amusement. For a few moments Tim closed his eyes with a thrill 58 WHY TIM WAS EXCITED 59 of sensuous pleasure, while through his mind floated the old couplet: "Shall I be wafted to the skies On flowery beds of ease?" Then, after a brief enjoyment of bodily gratification, he again looked around him. At first the extraordinary amount of originality al- lowed in hats impressed him to the exclusion of other ideas, but gradually he became aware that amid the scene of vainglory, faces familiar were set Tennie Claf- lin, who might be "short" on stocks, but was always "long" on spirits, with a rising market for floating ban- joes and phantom guitars; fair "Jennie June" who sometimes ventured albeit timidly on the Street; and yes there sat Uncle Samuel Brewster in a pew just in front of him, improving the passing hour, not by study- ing the worldly spectacle in the church, but by reading from the Good Book which he held upon his knee. "When Uncle Sam'l quotes the Scriptures, look out for David and his sling," some one had said of the old man. Now, however, he was only immersed in the Book. If Avarice sat in his heart six days of the week, Religion ever wrestled with his soul on the seventh day and sometimes, on other special occasions. Uncle SamTs 60 BLACK FRIDAY face at that moment betrayed unwonted piety and sanc- titude. Now to Jam that worJceth is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt For by grace are ye saved. The old man closed the book and clasped his hands. "By grace by grace!" he murmured. Again he opened the sacred volume, but his finger had slipped from the leaves and his eyes fell on a different chapter. "Talent" "shekel" caught his eye; "the gold of Sheba !" Now Avarice, a misshapen Caliban, jostled rudely with humility and reverence in Uucle SamTs breast ; not only jostled, but grew and grew in misshapen ugliness and deformity. "The gold of Sheba !" Uncle Sam'l fell to wonder- ing what it was like; how it was fashioned; how much there was of it. Illusive indefmiteness of the Holy Book ! A shekel weighed, he knew, just three hundred and eighty-four barleycorns. But how much did a barleycorn weigh? From consideration of the barleycorn to the conspir- acy against Richard Strong, hatched in the church, rep- resented but one of those processes of association of ideas by which many human inspirations for better or worse are evolved. Three hundred and eight} r -four barley- corns made about a handful, thought Uncle Sam'l; in imagination he held them in one hand and the shekel in WHY TIM WAS EXCITED 61 the other, then fell in his mind's eye to examining the coin. A pot of manna on one side Uncle Sam'l had read' all the Good Book could tell him about gold and si her, the "king's weight" and the "weight of the taber- nacle" on the other side, Aaron's rod ! Why Aaron's rod, pondered Uncle Sam'l. A rod was something to smite with; to use upon your enemy. Gold, then, was it also a lash? Uncle Sam'l knew it was. Had he not often felt the castigation of it? He began figuring how much it had cost him at different times, when some one had caught him in the pillory on the Street ; how many talents and shekels would it make ; IIOTT many grains of barleycorn? One occasion arose in his mind : when he had set him- self against Eichard Strong, and when like a giant, re- sistless, that builcler and promoter of values had' stridden steadfastly to his end. What a scourging that had been ! He felt the stings of it yet. In Uncle Sam'l's hand the imaginary coin he held grew and changed; Aaron's rod became a ser- pent, the personification of all that is wise and wily. The serpent crawled up to his shoulder and hissed in his ear, hissed and whispered, and its voice was dulcet and mellifluous. The listener, with the book on his knee, a rapt, if not holy, expression on his face, seemed to see ten thousand talents and ten thousand Aaron's 62 BLACK FRIDAY rods all suddenly turned into serpents, before wkich Kichard Strong was fleeing. Uncle SaniTs worn and wrinkled face gleamed and glowed with unhallowed joy. A field of serpents let loose on his enemy what a retribution ! "Uncle Sanrl," said a stammering voice by his side, "y-y-you are very de-v-v-vout this morning !" It was the witty Travers, the courtly jester of the Street, who thus rudely awakened the old man from his avenging dream. "I suppose you are r-r-reading where it says to the p-p-plundering money-lenders: Thou shall not have d-d-divers weights in thy bag." "Travers/' said Uncle Sam'l, a deep and cunning purpose shining from his watery eyes, "do you remem- ber how Strong gave me a drubbing once? Well, I've got a rod in pickle for him." He could not get Aaron out of his mind. "I've got a rod in pickle for him/' he repeated. "Strong is going away. It will cost him more than railroad fares and hotel bills. It will cost him a few shares in some of his railroads. You had better get on the right side of the market. I have got it all planned out." In spite of the place in which he found himself Tra- vers could hardly restrain his laughter. "You hoary old s-e-einner !" he replied. "So that's WHY TIM WAS EXCITED 63 w-ir-what you got out of the Holy Book ! It m-m-may be an inspiration, but not of the L-L-Lord I" "A honeymoon/' chuckled Uncle Sam'l, "is a luxury few of us can afford." And he closed the Book and put it back on the rack. Neither of the speakers had noticed Tim Taplin be- hind them ; if they had noticed' him it is doubtful if they would have remembered who he Avas. Tim was but one of that army of small workers whose name is legion. But he had eyes to see, ears to hear with, and a moderate capacity of intelligence which, when not pushed to too high pressure, responded fairly to the occasion. It is undeniable that in the present instance the pressure was great; a little more horse-power seemed demanded than the engine of understanding was capable of, but Tim did his best. He began to realize that Uncle Sam'l, a tough, wiry old prize-fighter, was about to enter the arena again ; that he was looking for retaliation and Richard Strong. Tim made this out after a fevered contest in his own mind with the pros and cons. The clerk, also, remembered the "drubbing" his employer had bestowed upon the other; he had a vivid recollection of how Uncle Sam'l had sought to overthrow, upset and annihilate the care- fully conceived, elaborately worked-out plans of Richard Strong ; and how the latter had opened wide the throttle 64. BLACK FRIDAY and driven to success with a force that had swept aside all opposition and carried consternation to the camp of the obstructionists. But Uncle Sam'l had crawled up again and now was once more in excellent position for battle. "Strong is going away. I have it all planned out." These were the ominous words that rang again and again in Tim's brain. What planned out? A cam- paign of some kind, of course, against his emplojer. The "right side of the market" could only be interpreted that Richard Strong would be on the wrong side. Tim had an abiding faith in Richard Strong, single. But Seneca, seeing a house falling to the earth, looked around and observed : "Where is the woman ?" Tim had only to look up to see her. There she was, walking up the aisle; how fair! yet Tim had his doubts. He gazed at Uncle Sam'l. That individual was re- garding her intently a keen, knowing, penetrating glance ! Was he measuring the strength of Richard Strong's absorption in her beauty? Uncle Sam'l chuckled; her every charm was his ally. And Richard Strong railroads had no substance for him; he was now engaged in the fantastical occupation of castle- building! Uncle Sam'l unctuously clasped his hands before him and rubbed them. She was more comely than he expected, although he had heard there had been many well-favored women in the Rossiter family. He WHY TIM WAS EXCITED 65 did not envy the groom the possession of such a bride; he rejoiced with him, as it were; his mood reechoed for the other the praises of the Canticles in her behalf. "I must get to Mr. Strong; I must warn him," thought Tim. But how ? The words of the rector were already float- ing through the sacred edifice; in a moment the cere- mony would be finished and RL'^ard Strong and his bride would be gone. "Excuse me, please !" whispered Tim to his neighbor. "A sudden indisposition " and rising, he passed be- fore him and out of the church. Fortunately the aisle was thickly carpeted; his foot- steps were noiseless, and his sudden departure attracted little attention. How could it be otherwise when the eyes of the multitude were riveted upon a slender figure in white ; when the ears of the entire gathering were in- tent to catch the answer of her lips? Thus Tim stood waiting when Richard Strong and his bride at length drew near. The clerk's heart throbbed ; he had forgotten his hat in his anxiety to get out. It was the hardest task he had ever set himself to perform, and he held back until the last moment. But finally he nerved himself to the ordeal, and "It'll have to keep !" That was all the satisfaction he had received for the important information he had to impart. 66 BLACK FEIDAY A flutter of the bride's veil, through which the girl's white face shone, and the carriage was off. The congre- gation poured out, with clatter and chatter a bibble of praise, and a babble of dispraise an animated stream of loquaciousness and color that divided and subdivided it- self into no less mercurial streamlets which, in turn, themselves flowed unquietly into many streets, and grad- ually ran themselves out into various houses and man- sions. What should he do now? asked Tim. Eisk another rebuff ? After all, perhaps, was he not exaggerating the danger? Did not Eichard Strong know how to defend himself ? The "right side of the market" ! It might mean but a point or two; not a collapse one of those small victories, the effect of which would be as ephemeral as unmomentous. A few lambs might be sheared, but the leaders would they not come out comparatively un- injured? Such skirmishes were of daily occurrence and Thus the mechanism of Tim's understanding, which had' run so erratically during the church service, now relapsed to its normal activity or inactivity. "I'll wait until to-morrow," he said. "I've made a mountain out of a mole-hill and an idiot out of my- self." And Tim went back to find his hat ! CHAPTER VI AT GAY SARATOGA "Bride and groom ! There's no mistaking her." "Nor him !" At Saratoga, in those gala days, when society threw over the popular resort the radiance of its reflected glory, the pleasure of watching the people arrive at the hotels was not among the least of the many attractions. From far and wide came the guests, a cosmopolitan, complex gathering, all seemingly bent on the enjoyment of a perpetual festival, and, incidentally, drinking the waters. The great spa was then the playground of the country, where grown-up people, as well as children, capered and frolicked, and only the man of many ail- ments was relegated to a special background of his own. With a rattle and a rumble, on the night of Miss Kossiter's wedding, the stage had stopped before the front entrance of one of the principal hotels and was emptying itself of its load of living freight inside, and 67 68 BLACK FKIDAY its dead freight outside portable Xoah's-ark sort of trunks, called "Saratogas'' when closely following the greater vehicle out of the darkness came a carriage, which drew up sharply behind the coach and from which emerged a stalwart, rather thick-set gentleman, and a young girl. From the coach to the carriage the staring gaze of the assembled watchers was transferred, and slowly, beneath this general survey, the pair mounted the steps, moving into the bright light from innumerable gas jets on the broad veranda. The girl was tall, taste- fully dressed, and such seemed the consensus of opin- ion carried herself well, rather proudly, perhaps. She looked tired, as if the journey had been long, and ap- peared to take no special interest in the brilliant scene with which she was suddenly confronted. Nor was her manner marked with embarrassment at the almost silent contemplation of the crowd; she acted either uncon- scious of the observant, inquisitive eyes, or indifferent to them. "Yes; their wedding trip !" "Where are they from ?" "New York you couldn't mistake her !" Amid such comment, the man, followed by his fair companion and several porters bearing hand luggage, made his way across the extensive lobby to the desk and AT GAY SARATOGA 69 inquired for the proprietor. That gentleman came for- ward at once with an urbane smile and conciliatory manner. "I telegraphed you to reserve rooms/' said the new- comer. "What name ?" "Richard Strong." The hotel man's smile grew broader ; his hand shot out affably; he beamed on the young woman. How many brides and grooms had he sheltered in that vast hostelry ! "Just so," he said. "I have reserved for you part of the Vanderbilt suite. You will find the rooms all ready and waiting for you, Mr. Strong." And that gentleman did. High- walled, spacious apartments fairly blazed with the brilliant illumination from crystal chandeliers. Thick, brightly-flowered car- pets lent cheerfulness to the rooms, while massive, open- carved, rosewood' chairs and sofas were in keeping with the palatial expanse of the apartments. "Well, here we are !" said Eichard Strong. "In spite of the hotel runners and porters at the depot ! Confess, Elinor, they rather startled you." "They were a little persistent." "Persistent!" he exclaimed. "Donnybrook Fair is order and quiet ^compared to that depot when a train comes in. But " glancing around him cheerfully when 70 BLACK FRIDAY the porters had withdrawn and they were left alone "they are not sparing of their lights." Her gaze followed his to the great chandeliers ablaze with scores of flaring gas jets. "It's quite like a fete, isn't it?" he continued. "Would you mind turning out some of them?" she asked, with a faint smile, as she sank down on one of the settees. "Mind ? 'Not a bit !" and suited the action to the word. "How is it now? And the rooms are they to your liking?" "They are large enough, aren't they?" she answered mechanically. "Everything is large here," he laughed. "It is the proud boast of the proprietor that he has verandas a mile long and twenty-two acres of carpet." She made no reply to his comment and he looked at her quickly, noticing she had not yet removed her hat or wrap. "You are tired, Elinor ?" "Yes," she confessed, passing her hand across her brow. A sympathetic expression shone from his eyes. He gazed down at her proudly, anxiously. Perhaps that consciousness of his own bodily strength made him but the more solicitous for her. He smiled gently. AT CAY SARATOGA 71 "It has been a hard day for you. !Mowadays to get married is an ordeal for any woman. But you went through it bravely, and, as Mrs. Eossiter would say ' a gleam of humor shining from beneath his heavy brows "it went off without a break !" "She studied the carpet attentively. With her head down-bent, her hair threw a shadow on her face a shadow that darkened her eyes. "I don't know how you'll like it here," he continued, sah ! I'se done been huntin' ebber since !" Mechanically Eichard Strong took it. The lad still remained, shifting from one foot to the other. "Done been huntin' " he began again, when the re- cipient of the message handed him something. With a grin broader than ever the dusky messenger vanished. "What can it be?" said Eichard Strong, opening the envelope. "It's in cipher at any rate," he continued, glancing at the missive. "Would you mind going back to the hotel with me, Elinor ?" She, too, looked at the telegram and her face changed a little. "Oh, no," she answered carelessly. "I left my code in the room," he explained. "This may be something important certainly, it's a long mes- sage! I wonder" as they retraced their steps "if it has anything to do with Tim and what he wanted to tell THE TELEGRAM AXD ITS SEQUEL 87 me yesterday in front of the church. He seemed ex- cited." An indefinable light came into her eyes. "Didn't he say something about business?" "Yes. But I can not think it a pressing matter. Every- thing seemed in good shape when we left, although" thoughtfully "yesterday, as they say, is ancient history in the Street !" Once more in their rooms, after a brief search, he found his code, and, seating himself with the little book and the telegram before a desk, worked silently for some time. Standing near the window Elinor mutely watched him. The sunlight threw a strong glow on his features emphasizing that which was massive and bringing out all the resolute characteristics of a man who had never spared himself or others. It was a hard face when he set himself to a task, she thought ; too hard ! She ob- served how slowly he proceeded, searching for each word carefully, verifying it, and setting down its equivalent neatly with the pencil he held in his hand. His coun- tenance betrayed no emotion; only once or twice he started a little. His mouth grew firmer; his jaw more pronounced; a harshness of expression that now awoke a secret resentment in her breast. Abruptly he arose. "What is it?" she asked mechanically. 88 BLACK FRIDAY "My absence has been the signal for attack/' he an- answered tersely. "What sort of attack ?" "A cowardh r , despicable one !" Deliberately, heavily, he strode across the room ; stood with his back to her a moment, and then returned. "Elinor," he said suddenly, and his voice sounded to her as harsh as his face had looked, "we must leave here P "Leave?" She could not conceal a start of surprise. "Where for?" "For ^ew York. At once !" She regarded him steadily. If she had heard and di- vined all he had said, she heeded not its significance; only his. expressed determination to leave abruptly for home. This fact, without the rhyme or reason for it, be- came paramount in her mind to every other considera- tion. "But," she said, rising, her hands clasped nervously, a fine irony in her voice, "for business a matter 01 a few stocks a little money you would give up our wed our trip ?" . He made no reply. Looking down at the carpet, mo- tionless, he was considering possible combinations, prob- able moves, and the strategic position his enemies had al- ready taken. He again glanced over the telegram. Had THE TELEGRAM AND ITS SEQUEL 89 ho read aright? Yes; even his honor had been attacked. Hints were rife of mismanagement ; of funds improperly applied. His silence, his disregard of her, caused her features to harden. In her tense mental mood, every act, ever}' expression, bore an exaggerated significance. Something seemed to rise in her throat and choke her. What she endeavored so hard to hide threatened to overpower her. She yet strove to fight it down. Suddenly he saw her face. "Elinor !" he cried. "Well?" she said, very white. He paused. His mind moved slowly from one object to another. "You do not mind ? You " "I ? Not in the least," she answered coldly. Romance ! business ! the modern prince would turn back with his bride for a little money. "It is harder for me than for you to give it up," he said. "You do not know what it has been to me being here with you ! Elinor, darling ! " Perhaps it was the strangeness in her eyes, but he caught her suddenly to his breast ; kissed her passionately again and again, as if by physical force he would hold her to him for ever. A moment : an eternity ! A terrible weakness ; a ter- 90 BLACK FE1DAY rible strength and suddenly she tore herself from him and sank into a chair, her head buried against the arm. Sobs shook her figure. "Elinor/' he said. Compassion, tenderness, transformed his face. "Elinor," he repeated, in pitying wonder.