THE THIRD DIAMOND
 
 THE 
 THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 BY 
 
 AUTHOR OF "FRAN" 
 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 CIjc <orJja 
 BOSTON
 
 Copyright, 1913, by Richard G Badger 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 Entered at Stationers Hall 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS, BOSTON, U. S. A.
 
 Some lay their roses on the grave, 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 Rest mine upon your brow; 
 
 Some distant day, perchance, the tender 
 
 recollection 
 The perfume, now.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I AN ENGAGEMENT 9 
 
 II CONFIDENCES 28 
 
 III THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN ... 45 
 
 IV THIN ICE 68 
 
 V THE PROMISE 86 
 
 VI THE PROPOSAL 102 
 
 VII RICHARD'S Kiss 120 
 
 VIII Two MARRIAGES 141 
 
 IX THE THREE DIAMONDS . . . .165 
 
 X THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY . . .179 
 
 XI AN ORIENTAL LADY 197 
 
 XII THE MASKED BALL 219 
 
 XIII OLD TIMES AND NEW 245 
 
 XIV THE DIAMOND NECKLACE .... 266 
 XV Two CALLERS 276 
 
 XVI JUANITA'S Kiss 299 
 
 XVII THE DIAMOND BRACELET . . . .312 
 
 XVIII FACE TO FACE 321 
 
 XIX TIHE RETURN 345 
 
 XX UNDER THE COTTONWOOD .... 363
 
 THE 
 THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 
 
 " " ^^ O you want to go, too, Father?" 
 asked Minna as she stepped lightly 
 
 J J into the automobile. 
 
 Until then, he had not thought of her going 
 to the station without him, but something in the 
 tone of her voice made him say, hesitatingly, " I 
 suppose it's not necessary." 
 
 Mrs. Flood, divining her husband's disap- 
 pointment, called timidly from the front porch, 
 " Your father has been driving the machine 
 all his spare time, since he bought' it for you, a 
 month ago; I'm sure he understands how to 
 manage it, even as well as you do." 
 
 Minna, just back to the farm from her last 
 
 9
 
 io THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 year at a fashionable young ladies' boarding- 
 school, smiled sweetly. " Awfully good of you, 
 Father, to take so much trouble. And so splen- 
 did of you both to get me the auto I just love 
 it! But I won't need anybody to drive me." 
 
 Mrs. Flood beamed. " We could tell from 
 your letters how you'd miss the automobile when 
 you came home, so we determined to surprise 
 you. And its brown color just matches your 
 brown hair and eyes. If you want your father 
 to go" 
 
 " Oh, no, Mother, there's really no need at 
 all," cried Minna, gayly. " I know how tired 
 he is, overseeing all those carpenters and farm- 
 hands. Good-by good-by!" And the ma- 
 chine which all this time had been quivering and 
 panting impotently, turned toward the gate 
 and started down the road across the pasture. 
 She did not suspect that her father really wanted 
 to go she had already been home twenty-four 
 hours, after her nine months' absence, so of 
 course everybody had had time to get tired of 
 looking at her. Besides, it did not seem that 
 age and automobiles went together. The
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT n 
 
 farmer was already turning gray it was so 
 comfortable always to find him right there on 
 the farm whenever she came back, looking after 
 his men and cattle. 
 
 Minna did not intend to go straight to the 
 station ; there was too much time to waste it on 
 a three-mile drive. Ever since hearing that 
 Jack Palmer was engaged to Juanita Smith 
 news her father had been eager to im- 
 part she had felt a strong desire to see Jack, 
 to find if he looked different from the days when 
 he was engaged to her. Of course, that was a 
 year ago, when she was a mere child now, 
 she was eighteen. And, of course, she didn't 
 mind, and Juanita Smith was welcome to Jack; 
 Minna did not care for Jack or anybody else; 
 all the same, she wanted to see him it must 
 be so interesting to watch Jack in his anomalous 
 condition of being engaged to somebody else. 
 But her father would not have understood this 
 desire to turn out of the way to pass Jack's farm, 
 to stop, if necessary, and cry gayly, blithely, " O 
 Jack! " Grown people, that is, people old 
 enough to be young ladies' fathers and mothers,
 
 12 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 live in an old-people's world. Minna lived in a 
 young-people's world, the world that Jack lived 
 in Jack and his Juanita Smith how oddl 
 
 Zack Flood, shirt-sleeved and straw-hatted, 
 walked slowly back to the house mechanically 
 twisting a straw about his fingers; that meant 
 that he was disappointed; but his wife, watching 
 from the porch, could see only their daughter. 
 
 " Zack, she's the prettiest girl in the county 
 look how she holds herself the auto is just 
 like a feather in her hands. . . . And so dainty 
 and aristocratic-looking so sweet about our 
 surprising her with the machine nobody was 
 ever more grateful for little kindnesses than our 
 Minna. I wish you'd gone with her as far as 
 the road-gate. She would have liked to have 
 you along, and, besides, sometimes it doesn't 
 spring open when the wheel presses the rod." 
 
 " If I can't go all the way," remarked Zack, 
 dryly, " Pm not going to the gate." 
 
 Mrs. Flood was instantly on the defensive. 
 " There was no reason why you shouldn't have 
 gone to the station with Minna and she knew 
 you were tired out but there was no reason
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 13 
 
 for you to go it's well enough for Minna to 
 meet her cousin alone; young people get ac- 
 quainted better when old people are not 
 around." 
 
 " Who are ' old people,' Minnie? Well " 
 he stood beside her watching the automobile as 
 it successfully passed through the big gate, " you 
 are right about her looks. She is certainly cut 
 out of high-grade cloth, and, in comparison, the 
 girls around here look like they'd been picked 
 up at a loom-end sale." 
 
 His wife patted his arm. " Look, Zack, how 
 the sunlight gleams on her hair. Was there 
 anything as pretty in the world? And that 
 profile of peach-blossom, so dainty, so so 
 aristocratic. . . . Let's turn away, it's bad luck 
 to watch her out of sight." 
 
 " And bad luck to lose sight of our carpen- 
 ters, Minnie I do believe every hammer has 
 stopped. And that'll never do, for we've got 
 to build fast to keep up with Minna. You know 
 we've added a room to our original shack every 
 time daughter has expanded a new notch." The 
 tall, sandy-mustached farmer smiled tolerantly.
 
 14 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " This old-and-new farm-house is a record of her 
 progress from the cradle." 
 
 Mrs. Flood did not smile because she was 
 afraid there might be some lack of respect to 
 Minna in these words. " I don't know just 
 what you do mean, Zack, you are sometimes so 
 strange, when you try to express yourself 
 (Minna has noticed it, too), but one thing is 
 certain, no one ever had a more obedient daugh- 
 ter than Minna." 
 
 " How do you know, Minnie? Did you ever 
 test her?" 
 
 His wife's face was blank. 
 
 " I mean, honey, did you ever tell her to do 
 anything unless you knew beforehand that she 
 wanted to do it? " 
 
 While Mrs. Flood was indignantly refuting 
 this half-humorous charge, the object of the 
 fond parents' discussion was speeding not 
 toward the station, but in the direction of Jack 
 Palmer's farm. When you have known a young 
 man well enough to be engaged to him, what 
 harm lies in seeking a casual greeting a call, 
 as it were, across the fence he has erected by
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 15 
 
 his recent engagement to another girl? Min- 
 na's veins tingled with the excitement of doing 
 something she knew to be quite innocent, but 
 which old people might not understand. Her 
 cheeks were rosy, her eyes sparkled, her red lips 
 trembled in the melting ripples of swiftly suc- 
 ceeding smiles. Ah, it was good to be home 
 after a horrid year's grind at school which, 
 by the way, did not seem at all horrid now that 
 she looked back upon the past months with their 
 keen delights of sorority suppers and their pale 
 reminders of recitation-hours. Those recita- 
 tion-hours had always been interrupting the real 
 business of life if it hadn't been for the ac- 
 tual necessity of studying, possibly the theater- 
 parties and midnight-suppers and the constant 
 use of a friend's automobile might have kept 
 her less homesick. Anyway, here she was once 
 more at home, and her heart leaped high 
 yonder was Jack's farm, smiling in the sunlight 
 like an old friend. 
 
 And there was Jack, himself, the same Jack, 
 even stouter perhaps, but not handsomer that 
 was impossible. He was not glad to see Minna
 
 1 6 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 had she been an angel of light in an automo- 
 bile it would have been all the same to the spir- 
 ited young horse he was exercising; and any- 
 thing that made Jack get out in the middle of a 
 dusty country-road in the hot sun to hold a 
 troublesome horse was an unwelcome thing to 
 him. The young man made no secret of the 
 fact that he found all violent exertion distaste- 
 ful, but he wore his laziness with such a charm- 
 ing air that the very souls of industry regarded 
 him with tolerance. 
 
 In the college-town where Minna had en- 
 joyed her friend's machine, automobiles were 
 no more terrifying to the horses than milk to a 
 pet lamb brought up on the bottle. In the pres- 
 ent dilemma she did not know whether to dart 
 past the frantic animal, or try to stop before 
 reaching it. On one side was a tree, on the 
 other, a long, steep ditch. Jack stood near the 
 tree clinging desperately to the horse which was 
 kicking the buggy to pieces. Minna had slowed 
 down, at the same time edging toward the ditch. 
 A frantic plunge of the horse unnerved her, and 
 the automobile ran over the margin of the ra-
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 17 
 
 vine before she could shut off the power. It 
 paused on the steep depression, its lower side- 
 wheels buried in mud so far below the upper 
 ones that it seemed a miracle its equilibrium was 
 preserved. 
 
 The last frenzied effort of the horse freed it 
 of the buggy, and rearing on its hind legs it 
 threw off the hands of its master. With a 
 bound it shot forward and went racing down the 
 road like a fleeing shadow. " Go on ! " shouted 
 Jack, waving his arm after it. " Go on ! Go 
 on ! Go on to the I beg your pardon, 
 Minna, glad to see you. Got back from col- 
 lege, eh? And how are you? " 
 
 He slowly crossed the street, languidly dab- 
 bing at his handsome dark face with his hand- 
 kerchief, and emitting a long whistle to express 
 exhaustion. His smile was not all one of hu- 
 morous recognition of his dusty plight; the pic- 
 ture presented by Minna as she still clung to the 
 guiding-wheel was too charming to fail to evoke 
 a gleam of admiration. His mind slipped back 
 to the days when Juanita Smith was a negligible 
 factor in the sum of his social adventures.
 
 i8 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Oh, Jack, I am so, so sorry! " 
 
 " Let me help you out of that thing before it 
 turns over; and being sorry, I'll prepare for you 
 the stool of repentance." 
 
 She looked down at him with a distressed 
 curve of her mouth, but with fun in her eyes 
 he was so like the good old times. 
 
 " You may help me down but where is the 
 stool of repentance? " 
 
 " Here's a nice shady tree I'll spread my 
 coat for you if it's still in the buggy; there's a 
 lovely little hillock right where the shade's thick- 
 est. You'll have to cross the road, though, and 
 that will ruin your slippers; would you permit 
 me to carry you as they did in the romances? " 
 
 She answered lightly, " I am not in a ro- 
 mance," but there was something wistful in her 
 far-away look. 
 
 " But you are in white slippers. No? Very 
 well I'll get my coat if the horse hasn't 
 kicked it to rags." 
 
 " But we mustn't sit under that tree. I am 
 on the way to the station to meet Richard, and 
 the train is on time. And besides, I believe you
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 19 
 
 could get my auto out of the mud with one of 
 those fence-rails, especially if you called some- 
 one to help." 
 
 He cast a fleeting look at the automobile but 
 kept on toward his smashed-up buggy. 
 " Here's the coat it still has the collar on." 
 He spread it on the grass, where the shadow fell 
 at an inner angle of the fence. " You must ex- 
 cuse me, Minna, for speaking plainly to an old 
 friend, but I'm not going to work myself to 
 death to prize your auto out of the mud. And 
 as for walking to the next farm after help, it 
 wouldn't be any use. Everybody is out in the 
 cornfield except Alfred and he's in his buggy 
 driving up and down by your father's place hop- 
 ing to get a glimpse of you." 
 
 Minna laughed. " But, Jack, it will be so 
 perfectly ridiculous, sitting here on the road- 
 side " 
 
 " Minna, you pretend to be repentant but 
 you're not half sorry enough. Let me tell you 
 I have nothing left in this world. The buggy 
 is ruined, and the horse is gone. Now, will you 
 sit down and be good? And I hope you won't
 
 20 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 mind if I smoke." He seated himself with his 
 back against the tree and sighed in content 
 " This is comfort ! " He looked at her in full 
 appreciation of her radiant beauty. 
 
 Minna, seated upon the coat, leaned forward 
 to pluck a seeded stem of bluegrass. " You 
 have your farm, you know," she reasoned. 
 
 " Oh, no, I haven't. Everything's gone." 
 
 "Everything?" 
 
 " Yeh." 
 
 "But but how?" 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know just went." 
 
 " Everything, Jack? " 
 
 " Everything." 
 
 " No, no you have Juanita." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I'd forgotten her." Jack lit a 
 cigarette. There was an uncertain silence, then 
 " Yes, I have Juanita. Minna, what was it 
 you and I quarreled about, last year? " 
 
 "Did we quarrel? " she asked, opening her 
 eyes wide. 
 
 " If we didn't, where did Juanita come in? " 
 
 " I don't understand you in the least. And 
 I believe that's the train whistling."
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 21 
 
 " I think it is, too. I guess Dicky will have 
 to walk." 
 
 " If you would find somebody to help prize 
 the car out of the ditch I know you could find 
 a man if you'd try." 
 
 " But the sun is so hot and it's so dusty 
 Minna, just think about how sorry you are, 
 that ought to fill your mind to the brim. Yes, 
 it was because you persisted in dancing with 
 Alfred Montgomery; you knew he was in love 
 with you, yet knowing it, and him with that name 
 such as no son of the soil has a right to ! and 
 after I had marked that dance, too Well, it's 
 all over, of course. Minna, did your father 
 ever find out we were engaged?" 
 
 " I don't know how you can call it that 
 we were just children." 
 
 " Well, whatever you call it, did your father 
 know about it? " 
 
 Minna dimpled. " You don't think I'd 
 bother father and mother with such things do 
 you? they'd worry, and couldn't understand." 
 
 " I'm glad I don't think as little of myself as 
 your father does! Mr. Flood can't bear the
 
 22 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 sight of me and that's why I've imagined you 
 told him of our engagement and he put his foot 
 down. Then you didn't dance with Alfred 
 Montgomery that time because your father 
 scolded you for wearing my ring? " 
 
 Minna was amused and astonished. " Surely 
 you can't imagine I'd tell him about rings. A 
 father wouldn't understand. Of course not, 
 Jack, you are just as ridiculous as ever! I 
 danced with Alfred because I wanted to." 
 
 " No, that isn't the reason; it was because you 
 didn't want to. Listen are those wheels? 
 If it's your father coming, I imagine he'll find 
 something else hard for him to understand." 
 
 " Ditto Juanita Smith," murmured Minna, 
 who felt secure about her father and indifferent 
 about Juanita. 
 
 A buggy came in sight. " Blessed if it isn't 
 that Alfred Montgomery ! " exclaimed Jack with 
 a whistle. " That fellow seems to know by in- 
 stinct which way you go." He rose, impa- 
 patiently. 
 
 " Yes, help me up," murmured Minna, reach- 
 ing out her hand; "one is always so proper
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 23 
 
 when Alfred is present. When he comes into 
 a room, people remember to try to be good." 
 
 ' That's why he's so unpopular," Jack re- 
 marked. 
 
 When the buggy stopped abreast of them, 
 the driver presented a sharp contrast to the 
 young man standing under the tree. Alfred 
 Montgomery seemed taller and thinner from 
 being brought into the same field of vision with 
 Jack Palmer's one hundred and ninety pounds, 
 and any charm of the gaunt young student's 
 face was discounted by the rounded cheeks, the 
 full, well-formed mouth, the jolly black eyes 
 in a word the whole air of good-feeding, good- 
 feeling and graceful languor of Minna's com- 
 panion. 
 
 Alfred leaped to the ground and there were 
 greetings full of delicious romance for him not 
 untouched by vague misgivings. Minna threw 
 a weight of pleased surprise into her smile and 
 handclasp, because, found under the tree with 
 Jack, she marked the more distinctly all exter- 
 nals of delight. She said she was so glad to 
 see him after her year's absence and why should
 
 24 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 he doubt it, since he was thrilled to the heart at 
 the touch of her hand. But was she that glad? 
 Why not, since Jack was now safely out of the 
 way irretrievably betrothed to Juanita Smith, 
 the fact publicly and officially stamped with a 
 dinner and a " shower " looking forward to the 
 wedding-day, three months distant. 
 
 ' You'd better hold that horse of yours," re- 
 marked Jack, who found the greetings too pro- 
 tracted; they had shaken hands, they had asked 
 how each other was, they had talked about the 
 mired machine, and now Alfred had better go 
 along. " That horse of yours is skittish ; it's 
 no more auto-proof than the beast I once 
 owned." 
 
 Alfred was ready to go. He would take 
 Minna home and bring strong men to exhume 
 the wheels 
 
 " Oh, no, you don't," retorted Jack, decidedly. 
 " Minna can't leave this spot. She has to 
 watch her I mean that train has already come 
 and Richard must be met; you can meet her." 
 
 " Oh, please do, Alfred! " exclaimed Minna 
 in sudden distress she had forgotten Rich-
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 25 
 
 ard. " Poor little thing, it will seem so strange 
 to her Richard is my little cousin ; do you re- 
 member her? " 
 
 Alfred shook his head. " If Jack knows 
 her," he suggested, " he can take my horse " 
 
 " Oh, come ! " Jack expostulated. " Look 
 here, Alf, do you mean to pretend you've for- 
 gotten that little girl that visited Minna two or 
 three years ago the skinny little creature with 
 the very dark complexion and the very big eyes, 
 the girl that was named Richard, in short? " 
 
 Alfred turned to Minna with the air of a 
 martyr " Do you want me to go ? " 
 
 " Alfred, it would be perfectly lovely of 
 you. Poor Richard lost her father a year ago, 
 and now she's coming to live with us she has 
 no one else I know she is at the station now, 
 feeling miserable because we aren't there to 
 meet her won't you explain about the auto- 
 mobile?" 
 
 With grave cheerfulness, Alfred climbed into 
 his buggy. " I'm to look for a little girl named 
 Richard?" 
 
 " Richard Warding."
 
 26 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 "Very skinny; very big eyes; very 
 dark?" 
 
 " Yes; or at least was, about three years ago." 
 
 " Also very young? " 
 
 " She ought to be sixteen, now, I think." 
 
 " Let us hope she's been good," remarked 
 Jack, " and that she is sixteen. To that, you 
 must add a long period of waiting at the sta- 
 tion." 
 
 "Poor Richard!" Minna exclaimed with 
 compunction. 
 
 " And if she has her Almanac, that would 
 help identify her," Jack added as an after- 
 thought. 
 
 Minna turned her back upon Jack. " Al- 
 fred, I can't thank you enough for this trouble 
 and and kindness." 
 
 As her grateful eyes met his, Alfred's thin 
 face glowed. He shook the lines, and his rest- 
 ive horse dashed away that Richard might not 
 wait a moment longer than necessary. 
 
 When he was gone, Minna turned to her com- 
 panion and looked at him with a slow smile. 
 " Almanac ! " she repeated. Her rebuke might
 
 AN ENGAGEMENT 27 
 
 as easily have been a laugh. She found him a 
 mere boy after Alfred's earnestness ; his physical 
 appeal was enhanced, and the lightness of his 
 wit still unapproachable. Of course the old 
 days were dead and buried but there could 
 never be another Jack Palmer. Apparently Al- 
 fred Montgomery was as devoted as ever; no- 
 body was truer, or more useful, or more willing 
 than poor Alfred. But oh, the sunny, good- 
 natured, easy-going, life-enjoying selfishness of 
 this Jack Palmer! It made her smile to think 
 of it. 
 
 "Aren't you tired?" inquired Jack, looking 
 about for the densest shade ; " let's sit down ! "
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 CONFIDENCES 
 
 WHEN Alfred drove up to the 
 Pendleton station its closed doors 
 and windows, and his knowledge 
 that there would not be another train till morn- 
 ing, made him conclude that the place was de- 
 serted; but as he turned half-round with the 
 intention of seeking Minna Flood's cousin at the 
 hotel, he caught sight of someone around the 
 corner. On the platform skirting the sidetrack, 
 the shadow of the station-house threw a trian- 
 gular shadow and in the apex of this shadow 
 sat a girl on a small trunk, her back toward the 
 young man. 
 
 Alfred tied his horse to a ring in the floor 
 and went around the red building which was 
 silent save for the spasmodic clicking in the 
 empty telegraph-office. The girl held a note- 
 book in one hand, a pencil in the other, while 
 28
 
 CONFIDENCES 29 
 
 her handbag rested upon her lap, its black, shiny 
 side doing service as a desk. A broad-brimmed 
 hat concealed her face, but her thin, angular 
 form was revealed in the homely dress designed 
 to wear rather than to fit. The economy scheme 
 suggested by the cheap hat and meager skirt 
 was carried out in the heavy shoes; there could 
 be no doubt that here sat a poor relation. 
 
 " Very skinny," reflected Alfred; and, in or- 
 der to verify the rest of Jack Palmer's descrip- 
 tion, he said, aloud, " Writing back home? " 
 
 The big hat flashed round and its flaring 
 white band framed a dark face strongly sug- 
 gestive of a certain type of beauty which as yet 
 sixteen years had failed to realize, a face 
 marked by vivacity which no additional number 
 of years could be expected to quicken. Perhaps 
 her spectacles interfered with good looks and 
 heightened the impression of wisdom; at any 
 rate, they were the finishing touch to a picture 
 so quaint and unusual that he was both amused 
 and touched. 
 
 " I was plotting," she said, getting off the 
 trunk as quickly as the handbag, notebook and
 
 30 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 pencil permitted. " How do you do, Mr. 
 Montgomery. Did they send you for me?" 
 
 "Then this is Richard?" They shook 
 hands. " But how could you know me? " 
 
 " I was here three years ago," she reminded 
 him, with a grave smile; " I remember all the 
 old people, you especially." 
 
 "Was I especially old, three years ago? 57 
 He reached for her handbag protestingly. Per- 
 haps the loneliness of the scene strengthened his 
 sense of her unusualness. Against the back- 
 ground of dusty freight-cars standing with doors 
 rolled back, of tracks glimmering away to steel 
 points, of rutted roads with their white glare 
 and smell of sun-scorched weeds, the girl stood 
 out sharply-defined as a newcomer from some 
 unknown world. 
 
 " I'd rather carry it, please," she said, hold- 
 ing the handbag against her breast; " my manu- 
 script's in it." 
 
 Alfred found himself wondering why he 
 didn't laugh ; the inclination was strong, though 
 he was a rather serious, thoughtful young man; 
 it must have been her eyes that preserved his
 
 CONFIDENCES 31 
 
 gravity. Jack Palmer had pronounced them 
 " very big " and so they were, while in their 
 dark gray depths, timid yet investigating, looked 
 forth a spirit of unrest. 
 
 " I thought you very, very old, because I 
 was so young," she went on. " But I liked it. 
 Children have never appealed to me, because 
 they interrupt one. I think children the great 
 interruptions of life." She made a step toward 
 the buggy as if to indicate that she had closed 
 that subject. " Can we get my trunk hauled out 
 to the farm this evening? I thought Uncle 
 Zack would have sent a wagon." 
 
 Alfred explained that the trunk was to have 
 been put in the automobile however, the 
 owner of a spring-wagon devoted to light haul- 
 ing, lived not far out of their way. 
 
 " Is it a 'very small wagon? " Richard asked, 
 doubtfully. " My property will come in a few 
 days and a small wagon might not be able to 
 hold it all. And we ought to make a bar- 
 gain with whoever hauls the trunk, to haul 
 my property; you can get it done cheaper that 
 way."
 
 32 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Alfred was unfastening his horse; he looked 
 up in surprise. " So you are moving here? " 
 
 " I am to live with Uncle Zack. When 
 father died everything was sold that I could 
 spare. Uncle Zack wanted me to come right 
 to his place, then, but there's no place like Tins- 
 ville. Ever since I can remember, father 
 preached for a church there ; we got poorer and 
 poorer, but he was determined for me to gradu- 
 ate at Tinsville College were you ever at 
 Tinsville?" 
 
 " I may have passed through," Alfred could 
 not remember having ever heard of the place 
 before. He helped her in the buggy and they 
 drove off. 
 
 " It's the dearest town ! The people are not 
 very friendly, but I just love the sidewalks I 
 know where all the broken planks are. After 
 everything was sold, there was enough to board 
 me a year and get me through college; I'm 
 pretty young to graduate but I got started a 
 long time ago. Uncle Zack he's my 
 guardian agreed to let me stay to finish, it 
 was, oh, so independent, paying my own money
 
 CONFIDENCES 33 
 
 for everything, the money father had earned 
 with his very heart's blood. And oh, it was so 
 dear, living right there in Tinsville . . . 
 seemed like I could hear his voice and his foot- 
 steps and the way he'd shut the gate and then 
 shake it to be sure it was fast. All the time the 
 train was bringing me here, father's footsteps 
 seemed to be dying away dying away " 
 The voice broke with a sob. " I'm afraid I'll 
 not hear them again so far away from home." 
 
 " But this is home, now," Alfred gave her 
 arm a sympathetic pat as he drove rapidly away 
 from the straggling outskirts of Pendleton. 
 
 " Yes. And of course the place doesn't 
 adorn the person," she remarked in a matter-of- 
 fact tone, as she dried her eyes. " I realize 
 that whatever I'm to be depends on what I do 
 before I can be it." She folded her small hands 
 on her knees and looked through her spectacles 
 very intently as if trying to make out the peak 
 of some high but exceedingly remote ideal. 
 
 " May I ask what you are to be, Richard? " 
 
 " A Power," she answered, simply. 
 
 He glanced sidewise at the thin, girlish figure
 
 34 
 
 which could hardly have looked less like the 
 realization of her ambition. " Perhaps you 
 were plotting for power," he suggested respect- 
 fully, " when I first saw you? " 
 
 " I am an author," she explained simply. 
 " Have you forgotten about the wagon to haul 
 my trunk? " 
 
 " The fact is, after what you said about 
 your property, I concluded it would be best for 
 Mr. Flood to order the dray by telephone 
 one large enough to hold your furniture. Have 
 you had any of your works published? " 
 
 " Yes, but only in the Tinsville Weekly," she 
 answered, modestly. " I suppose you have 
 never seen the Tinsville Weekly it is local. 
 It isn't furniture to be hauled, but books. 
 That's all I have, just books ; sixteen boxes full, 
 and the boxes are quite large. It takes four 
 men to lift some of them. It's a library. The 
 books are my tools. I hope with these tools," 
 she added, cheerfully, " to break open the door 
 of Fame. Of course I know it'll be pretty 
 hard, but I don't enjoy doing easy things, do 
 you ? It makes you feel that you are only an or-
 
 CONFIDENCES 35 
 
 dinary person when you do what everybody else 
 is doing. I have always been serious-minded. 
 You must be serious-minded to accomplish very 
 much. You see, there are so many things for 
 me to overcome I am poor, oh, you can't feel 
 how poor; though you know I haven't a thing 
 but those books, it's different from feeling it. 
 You've got to be the thing to feel how it is. 
 And then, besides poverty, I am homely " 
 
 " I do not think you at all homely, Richard; 
 your face if you will let an old man say so, is 
 very bright and and very sweet." 
 
 The color stole into her cheeks. " I do not 
 think you are an old enough man for me to per- 
 mit you to call me that. Of course I am just a 
 child to you, but I am a grown woman to myself. 
 It's what you are to yourself that makes you 
 anything at all to outsiders." 
 
 Alfred inquired gravely, " Perhaps it is 
 wrong in me to call you ' Richard.' Should I 
 say 'Miss Warding'?" 
 
 " I think it would be very nice of you. And 
 I will admit that it didn't really displease me, 
 what you said I mean about my looks. I
 
 36 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 know I am not what you would call ugly; but 
 all you have to do is to put me beside Cousin 
 Minna to know that if I ever succeed, it'll not 
 be because of my face. As for form, there is 
 none." 
 
 Alfred had an impulse to laugh outright, and 
 another impulse to put his arm about the ex- 
 ceedingly erect figure and give her a hearty em- 
 brace as a sign of the exhilarating delight he 
 took in her personality. Repressing these tend- 
 encies, he addressed her with the solemnity due 
 one philosopher from another " Authorship, 
 I presume, comes natural to you? " 
 
 She glowed. " I look around on these 
 beautiful farms we are passing the miles of 
 fields and pastures with the ponds and the cows 
 standing in the shade and it makes me want 
 to write. What? I don't know. I suppose 
 in due time I shall know just what to write; 
 now, I only feel that I must write something. 
 That shows that it was born in me. Some 
 authors are made. I may be made, too; but I'll 
 be made out of what I was in the beginning. 
 The main thing I need is experience. When
 
 CONFIDENCES 37 
 
 father died, somehow it was the people who had 
 lost their fathers that could say something in a 
 way to do me good. They said the same things 
 the others said and oh, Mr. Montgomery, 
 there isn't anything to say unless you've 
 felt the words for yourself. If you've felt it, 
 don't be afraid to speak out. I don't want to 
 write words, I want to write feelings. That's 
 why I'm so limited by my age, and by having 
 never traveled, or known many different kinds 
 of people. Almost everybody I ever knew 
 were all of the same kind." There was a pause, 
 then she added, musingly: 
 
 " I have looked on death, but I have never 
 known love." 
 
 " They're similar," Alfred declared, 
 promptly. 
 
 Richard looked at him with no suggestion of 
 humor in her eyes which were at once shy 
 and brave. Her eagerness for enlightenment 
 seemed blended with gentle sympathy while her 
 thought hovered on the farthest verge of speech. 
 Alfred had the queer impression that she was 
 reaching forth with a sort of spiritual dipper
 
 38 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 to ladle a brimming bowl of experience out of 
 his heart; but so kind and delicate was the hand 
 on the handle that he did not flinch. 
 
 " You may ask any question," he said, with- 
 out a smile. 
 
 " Do you still " She hesitated, anxious 
 to find words which would express exactly what 
 she meant, but at the same time avoid wound- 
 ing him by being muffled in general phrases. 
 " Does your heart still go forth to my 
 cousin? " 
 
 He started, but there was not a trace of dis- 
 pleasure on his face. " What an observant lit- 
 tle girl you must have been, three years ago! " 
 he explained. 
 
 " Yes," she explained, simply, " part of my 
 business is to observe Nature. Father used to- 
 say that there was a prime essential for one in 
 my field of work, just as there was one prime es- 
 sential in his. Mine was Observation. His 
 was Audiences. His were not very large, for 
 Tinsville has only about fifteen hundred 
 in it, and there are six churches, not count- 
 ing the Stay Outers, so you had to di-
 
 CONFIDENCES 39 
 
 vide up the people to go around or to stay out 
 (Stay Outers are those that had belonged to 
 churches before they moved to Tinsville but 
 didn't want to go on with their religion). So 
 father and I worked together; he had his audi- 
 ences and I observed." 
 
 She stopped talking and looked at him in re- 
 minder that he had not answered her question. 
 Alfred said, " Yes it still goes forth." 
 
 " I don't wonder," she declared. " I think 
 Cousin Minna is the prettiest woman in all the 
 world ; she is just perfectly lovely and the 
 sweetest thing ! " Her face glowed with such 
 generous enthusiasm that she was fairly pretty, 
 herself. 
 
 " She is ! " he cried, his thin cheeks touched 
 with red. " Her loveliness is beyond expres- 
 sion. And she is so good, so kind " 
 
 " She wouldn't hurt an insect! " Richard cor- 
 roborated. " I remember how bad the ants 
 were that summer I staid on the farm, and 
 everything was set in water; but Cousin Minna 
 wouldn't kill one of 'em. Uncle Zack said he 
 believed Cousin Minna would stand on one foot
 
 40 
 
 in a bowl of water so the ants couldn't get to 
 her, rather than destroy them." 
 
 Alfred felt that Minna's father had gone too 
 far in presenting such a picture to the imagina- 
 tion, and only said, as if giving the final word, 
 " She is in every particular altogether ador- 
 able." 
 
 " I hope," said Richard, heartily, " that 
 yours is a happy attachment." 
 
 He uttered a groan half humorous, half real. 
 "O Richard I beg your pardon, Miss 
 Warding I'm afraid it'll never be any use. 
 Maybe if we hadn't always known each other 
 and lived so near. . . . Maybe if I could be 
 different I'm so stupid in company, so dull 
 and awkward such a wretched companion 
 for that gay, care-free angel ! I try to think of 
 something to say that'll be worth her hearing, 
 and in the meantime somebody else has poured 
 a bushel of words into her ear. I can't offer 
 chaff to a girl like Minna, little inane common- 
 places seem sacrilege when her glorious brown 
 eyes, all full of heavenly light, are looking into 
 mine. There's an air about her, like meadow-
 
 CONFIDENCES 41 
 
 air before the sun is up it makes me want to 
 bare my head and stand motionless and just 
 breathe in the fragrance; yet the difference is 
 great one feels his right to the meadow- 
 air with all its cooling dews and early bird- 
 songs but I'll never have a right to Minna, 
 I'm so different, so commonplace I feel so 
 heavily conscious that I'm that I'm a a 
 man." 
 
 11 This is deep," Richard said. " I'm not 
 old enough to understand. As far as I have 
 got, I think it's perfectly splendid to be a man 
 if I were a man, only the world would be 
 big enough to hold me being a woman, Tins- 
 ville is big enough for me. Oh, there's that 
 great cottonwood-tree I just loved, three years 
 ago, the only tree in sight nothing else but 
 fields of corn and this road. I published a 
 poem about that tree last year. Would you 
 like for me to tell you the sentiment? " 
 
 " Thank you; by all means." 
 
 " The first stanza described the tree. I 
 made you hear its leaves crinkling in the breeze 
 like the sound of a little waterfall. Then I
 
 42 
 
 said, ' There it stands with its shade on the 
 thick grass, laughing all day and night, most of 
 the time with not a soul to look at it. Some- 
 times a bird comes, but more often not' (it 
 was all in rhyme). 'And yet' I said 'if 
 I should go back there, twenty years hence, the 
 same tree with the same rippling laughter and 
 the same cool shade would be waiting for me. 
 If it is my lot to stand alone ' that was the 
 last stanza ' with no friends to share my days 
 and nights, perhaps not even the birds to sing 
 for me, will / be as brave as that tree, always 
 rippling out my happy music, always keeping 
 my shade ready for some weary traveler? ' 
 That was all. It stopped with a question be- 
 cause I don't know. But I hope the answer is 
 ' You will! ' " 
 
 " I'm sure it is ! Minna's automobile was 
 ditched in front of the Palmer farm; we'll go 
 by and find if Jack has righted it." 
 
 " Is he as fat as ever? " 
 
 " He's very fat," Alfred replied briefly, not 
 caring to discuss his rival. " But he's en- 
 gaged, now."
 
 CONFIDENCES 43 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " Richard exclaimed in consterna- 
 tion. " To Cousin Minna ? " 
 
 There had been too much reason for this 
 conclusion, to permit Alfred the relief of 
 laughter. " No, Miss Warding, to Juanita 
 Smith." 
 
 "Juanita Smith! But she is so very little, 
 and Mr. Jack is so very big and fat. And 
 Juanita was so still and dissatisfied; and 
 Mr. Jack was so noisy and knocking-down- 
 things." 
 
 " Please don't try to dissatisfy Jack with 
 Juanita!" said Alfred, drily. "Ah there 
 they are." 
 
 A turn in the road spread out the scene be- 
 fore them like a picture flooded with sunshine. 
 Five men were toiling with the automobile 
 while a sixth, with his back on the ground, was 
 studying its lower parts. In the Palmer yard 
 which rose directly from the road in a gentle 
 ascent, Jack Palmer and Minna Flood were 
 seated in chairs on a grassy knoll whence they 
 could watch operations and at the same time 
 keep cool. Minna's lace fan looked absurdly
 
 44 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 incongruous as wielded by the young giant, but 
 in spite of much flesh, his dainty shirtwaist, his 
 scrupulously neat collar and tie, and his jealous 
 avoidance of unnecessary forms of exertion, 
 saved him from any suggestion of coarseness. 
 
 " They see us ! " exclaimed Richard ex- 
 citedly. 
 
 As she spoke, Jack started to rise, then sank 
 back as if unequal to the effort. He lazily 
 waved his handkerchief, turned to Minna, and 
 said something that made her laugh. 
 
 Richard remarked gravely, " Miss Juanita 
 should be there."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 
 
 SEVERAL weeks had passed since the 
 misadventure of Minna's automobile 
 before Minna decided to combine a 
 cool, fragrant afternoon in early July with a 
 dainty new pink dress, by going fishing. She 
 had done everything since her return from col- 
 lege but fish given house-parties, gone to 
 house-parties, entertained, been entertained, 
 driven to town in her automobile Jack did 
 not like to drive to the club-dances, taken 
 select parties to the city, thirty miles away, to 
 attend the lightest of light operas Jack did 
 not care for anything heavy. Of course there 
 were other people besides Jack Palmer. But 
 these others rather unimportant people, such 
 as Juanita Smith, Alfred Montgomery and the 
 like shaped their wishes after Jack's; for if 
 Jack did not want to do a thing, he wouldn't 
 do it. 
 
 45
 
 46 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Having done everything else, Minna now 
 went in search of fishing-rods wondering rather 
 ruefully what she would do after she had fished. 
 She might spend a week or two with a school- 
 mate in Wyoming or with another at Palm 
 Beach, for it distressed her to witness how hard 
 her mother worked. As long as she stayed on 
 the farm, she would have to see that. It was 
 hard to induce a cook and housemaid to stay 
 three miles from Pendleton, so a good deal of 
 the housework fell upon her mother who was 
 not very strong. But that was not the worst; 
 Minna was used to that. It was the dresses; 
 her dresses. It was absolutely necessary for 
 her to be decently dressed ; she did all she could 
 to help made trips to the city to buy the 
 goods, consulted patterns and made artistic se- 
 lections; but after she had taken any amount 
 of trouble, the goods still had to be stitched to- 
 gether. Hired dressmakers spent weeks at a 
 time in the big, cool sitting-room where the elms 
 softened the glare of the windows; but her 
 mother was obliged to oversee, even to help. 
 
 However, there was no use to bother about
 
 47 
 
 it, this afternoon; the new pink dress was only 
 a plain, home-affair, nothing that she could 
 dream of wearing to town, or receive in it 
 was for the farm, and would go better with 
 fishing than with anything else. Elaborate cos- 
 tumes would be out of place at the branch, and 
 yet if any one did happen to find her there, a 
 new pink dress would not prove discreditable. 
 Jack would see at a glance that it was very 
 plain but he would find her face and neck set 
 off to a certain advantage. 
 
 The fishing-rods used to be kept in the tool- 
 house and thither Minna picked her dainty 
 way, her care-free song mingling with the ham- 
 mering of carpenters which resounded from the 
 new room being finished over the old dining- 
 room. That was to be Minna's library and 
 there she would keep all those beautiful gift- 
 books into whose mouths she never looked. 
 
 Zack Flood stood under the ladder oversee- 
 ing his carpenters just as Mrs. Flood was 
 overseeing her dressmakers, and Minna went 
 out of her way to pat his arm. " Dear Father," 
 she said, breaking off her song, " you are so
 
 4 8 
 
 good to me." Then she tripped to the tool- 
 house where she found her young cousin, pen 
 in hand. Richard, at the interruption, looked 
 up from her desk with an agonized expression 
 as if her brain were in labor to give birth to 
 a great thought. 
 
 " Do come on, dear," cried Minna, breezily, 
 as she took down the dusty rods and daintily 
 brushed them, " I'm going fishing and you must 
 go, too. What a little hermit! This stuffy 
 old place." 
 
 " Cousin Minna, I haven't time to go." 
 Richard looked despairingly about the uncar- 
 peted room with its long knife-hacked work- 
 bench, its tools on shelves along the board walls, 
 and the loose planks laid across the rafters. 
 The little desk stood at the low wide window 
 opposite the workbench while at its other side 
 her boxes of books stood on end to form a par- 
 tition. True, she could look over them at the 
 rest of the room, and when feeling the need of 
 company, she did so; otherwise it was easy to 
 imagine herself securely isolated. 
 
 Minna, however, came around the rampart
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 49 
 
 as if it did not exist. u You are not going to 
 stay in this smelly old toolhouse while I'm en- 
 joying the breezes down at the branch. Come, 
 dear, don't be an old maid! " 
 
 The other rose with a sigh. Whenever 
 Minna made up her mind to make Richard 
 happy, there was no use to resist. The girl 
 snatched up her tablet and pencil, and followed 
 down across the pasture to the little stream that 
 traversed a lower corner of the Flood estate. 
 
 " We have forgotten to bring any bait," ob- 
 served Minna, cheerfully, as they stopped at 
 the spring, " but maybe a grasshopper will hop 
 this way." They sat down near the margin 
 of the stream where shade and thick bluegrass 
 conspired for the safety of the fish. Minna 
 looked demurely at her cousin from under her 
 charming headdress which was sunbonnet 
 enough to- protect her complexion, and lace 
 enough to refine utility. " Richard, you are 
 just dying to scribble, I know. Well, I'll wan- 
 der down the branch there used to be a hole 
 where the fish always bite; I'll leave you a rod. 
 I'm tired of this place, already. If you catch
 
 50 
 
 anything, call, and if I catch anything I'll call 
 
 I'll stay within sound of your voice." 
 Richard watched the lithe figure as it passed 
 
 gracefully to the summit of a ridge running 
 slantwise from the stream. For a few mo- 
 ments it was sharply defined against the lumi- 
 nous sky though itself almost blackened by 
 overhanging boughs of forest trees. One mo- 
 ment the dress, gracefully held back from ex- 
 quisitely shaped feet and ankles, was somber 
 of hue ; the next, as the sun flooded the shadow- 
 gap, it was vivid pink set in gold. Whether 
 Minna's face was radiant in the light or sof- 
 tened in the shade, it was the prettiest thing in 
 all that landscape. After it had disappeared 
 
 for on the farther side of the ridge, Minna 
 was safe from observation Richard sat very 
 still, pencil in hand, looking at the shadow- 
 leaves fluttering in the clear stream, listening 
 to the many silken voices as tiny waterfalls 
 answered each other from pebbly ledges, and 
 thinking all the time of her cousin's beauty. 
 Then she tried to get it into a poem but it was 
 impossible to build one large enough to hold
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 51 
 
 anything so supreme. After many strivings, 
 she wrote with an impassioned hand: 
 
 " Oh, flowers of all the world, and every south- 
 ern breeze 
 
 And every sparkle of the brook, whispers of 
 all the trees " 
 
 She read it over several times with long inter- 
 vals between the readings. After the last time 
 she took off her spectacles, and exclaimed in 
 despair, " Words! That is all." 
 
 Hearing footsteps in the long grass she 
 turned swiftly, at the same time thrusting her 
 tablet under her skirt with the instinct of the 
 miser who begrudges a sight of his gold to his 
 dearest friend. 
 
 "What is the matter, Miss Warding? " 
 asked Alfred Montgomery anxiously, as he hur- 
 ried forward. " You are sitting in the burning 
 sun, and you look so troubled." 
 
 Richard started up as if a spring had been 
 touched to bring her back to real life. " I was 
 in the shade when I sat down, but that must 
 have been a good while ago. Thought and
 
 52 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Time are not very good friends, and in writing 
 they often forget each other." She looked at 
 him earnestly, and finding his face as sympa- 
 thetic and respectful as usual, confided, " I was 
 trying to write a poem to describe Cousin 
 Minna. I thought of all the beautiful things 
 of Nature, but when I read what I'd written, 
 there wasn't in it even so much as one of Cousin 
 Minna's little fingers." 
 
 " May I read it? I'm very much interested 
 in your subject. Are there just these two 
 lines?" 
 
 " There are not many lines," Richard ad- 
 mitted. " I tried to boil down my thoughts 
 and catch the grains of sugar. I thought of 
 the gorgeous flowers of California, and the 
 dainty blossoms on the mountain-side, and 
 the early violets in the woods, and the crocuses 
 in the snow. And then I tried to bunch 'em, 
 and just said, ' Flowers of all the world.' I 
 pursued the same method with ' breeze ' which 
 I was presently to rhyme with ' trees.' I 
 thought of all the sweet, soft summer-breezes 
 that seem to lie on your brow when the ther-
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 53 
 
 mometer is near a hundred, and the horses can't 
 stand still because the flies annoy them every 
 minute. I remembered one day when father 
 was preaching, so thin and tired and weak, and 
 the church was oh, so hot and close and still, 
 and everybody wished it was over and all 
 of a sudden a little breeze that smelt like 
 mignonettes came right down the aisle and 
 stopped on father's face and played with his 
 gray hair and freshened his eyes and made him 
 seem strong and young. I'll never forget that 
 breeze. I tried to put it in this poem when I 
 said * And every southern breeze.' But you 
 can see, it isn't in the poem. It wouldn't come 
 out of my heart. If I only knew how to get 
 on paper what's in my heart 1 " 
 
 " That comes with long practice," Alfred an- 
 swered, gently. 
 
 " Yes, but won't one's heart be worn out by 
 practicing? " 
 
 There was such an earnest fire in her eyes, 
 such a pathetic wistfulness about her tremulous 
 lips that it was impossible for him to regard 
 her as a mere girl of immature age; doubtless
 
 54 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 it was because he had always treated her as a 
 woman that he had gained her unreserved con- 
 fidence, for certainly she had never discussed 
 her inner thoughts thus simply with anybody 
 else. 
 
 Not being able to answer her question be- 
 cause it was beyond his experience, he inquired 
 for the subject of her poem; at the house, they 
 had told him that Minna was fishing. Alfred 
 was sufficiently interested by Richard's quaint 
 speech and her eloquent face to enjoy her so- 
 ciety when there was no hope of doing better. 
 Now, he entertained such a hope. He had rid- 
 den over from his father's farm to visit Minna 
 informally and, if possible, present to her con- 
 sideration the thought that she might possibly, 
 in her spendthrift goodness, have been bestow- 
 ing rather too many favors upon Jack Palmer. 
 Alfred did not know if he would find courage 
 to act thus chivalrously for Juanita Smith's 
 sake, and, so far as that was concerned, for 
 Jack's sake, and Minna's own irreproachable 
 good name. The difficulty was that Minna 
 might imagine Alfred was speaking for his own
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 55 
 
 sake. On learning that Minna and Richard 
 were fishing " down at the branch," fortune 
 seemed to smile. Indeed, fortune had smiled; 
 but Alfred, so far from taking warning, was 
 eager to follow Richard's direction and seek 
 Minna on the other side of the slanting ridge. 
 
 In the meantime, Minna had not been sitting 
 idly upon the bank with a rod in her hand and 
 her eyes on the cork; for being made the sub- 
 ject of a poem is not the same as posing for 
 one's picture. Secured by the ridge from Rich- 
 ard's thoughtful and adoring eyes, and com- 
 forted by the conviction that Richard would 
 scribble in her own grassy spot till called home, 
 Minna was sensible of the buoyant joy of free- 
 dom rather enhanced than otherwise by the sud- 
 den appearance on her side of the ridge 
 of Jack Palmer. 
 
 Why he should have come just then and just 
 there, Minna could not imagine. It is true 
 that, the night before, having nothing else to 
 say, and not supposing he was listening, she 
 had remarked that on the next afternoon she be- 
 lieved she would fish, as it seemed a pity to let
 
 56 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 the summer pass away without one exploration 
 into the adventures of childhood. It was said 
 in jest, and Jack had taken it in earnest; that 
 is what so amused Minna, now. He had actu- 
 ally believed she intended to fish, and to fish 
 at this hole where he and she had fished years 
 and years before Juanita Smith. Well, here he 
 was she must try to make the best of it. So 
 while Richard was culling her flowers of mem- 
 ory and distilling all the breezes of the South- 
 land into one composite breeze to rhyme with 
 her " trees," Minna and Jack talked in low, 
 languid undertones like the muttering of far- 
 distant thunder, occasionally pierced by a sud- 
 den flash of laughter. 
 
 Among other things they talked of Richard. 
 Jack, lying gracefully at ease, cheek on palm 
 and elbow cushioned on the thick grass with 
 Minna's sunbonnet dangling from his disen- 
 gaged hand, looked up into Minna's face with 
 restful enjoyment. Seated opposite with hands 
 folded on her lap and the right foot extended 
 far enough beyond the left knee to show that
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 57 
 
 the stocking matched the dress, Minna looked 
 at him with the calmness that comes only from 
 knowing that one's hair, one's dress, one's 
 stocking are all they should be. There was 
 no possibility of the situation degenerating into 
 mere midsummer dullness, for there was al- 
 ways the farm-house to be watched one's 
 father and mother never understand when they 
 see their little girl's bonnet in a young man's 
 hand, instead of on her very pretty head. 
 
 " And Richard is just on the other side of 
 that hill," Minna nodded toward the long 
 ridge and Jack noted how the sunflecks danced 
 on the rhythmic brown hair like scattering 
 gold-dust. The great desire of his heart at that 
 moment was to tell her how beautiful he found 
 her, how inexpressibly dear. Duty to his be- 
 trothed steeled his heart and silenced his tongue, 
 but Jack could not steel his heart without letting 
 somebody know it. He sighed deeply, then 
 spoke as if casting his words aside from his real 
 thought : 
 
 " I wonder if she'll stay there? "
 
 58 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Oh, yes," Minna answered, comfortably. 
 " She's writing. She'll not move till I call 
 her." 
 
 "Writing? What for?" 
 
 " Oh I don't know. She's going to write 
 a book." 
 
 "A book!" echoed Jack, in dismay. 
 " Does she have to do it? " 
 
 Minna laughed. " She thinks she does. 
 Just fancy when I asked her to come with 
 me, fishing, she said she hadn't time! " 
 
 Jack whistled. " I wish I could give her 
 some of mine. I am bored to death all day 
 long except what time I am with " He 
 grabbed up a handful of grass and threw it 
 into Minna's lap. 
 
 It seemed to her that there was a certain 
 tension in the atmosphere Jack looked in 
 earnest about something. She murmured, 
 " Richard is such a queer little thing! She is 
 a darling, but so queer. She likes to work, 
 don't you know, and we can't keep her from 
 doing things about the house it's awfully 
 hard to keep enough servants and when she
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 59 
 
 sees mother at last seated for the morning 
 it's awfully long before you can get mother to 
 sit down, she just loves to potter about the 
 house What was I saying?" 
 
 " Oh, Minna, it doesn't matter what you say, 
 just keep your voice moving, do ! " Jack 
 closed his eyes as if to be lulled to sleep. 
 
 " You ridiculous boy ! You are just like you 
 used to be." 
 
 " I am, Minna, just like I used to be 
 about everything." 
 
 " Well, I don't want to talk about you, but 
 about Richard. Then when she can't find a 
 room to straighten, or vegetables to gather, or 
 berries to stem, she runs off to the toolhouse 
 and writes on her book. I never can get her 
 to come into the parlor when I have company 
 unless I coax and coax till I believe my hair is 
 getting gray; do you see any gray hairs?" 
 
 " I see only the most high-class, up-to-date 
 rigging-out of what in its natural state is 
 surely the prettiest " 
 
 " And then, when I do get her into the par- 
 lor, there she sits as dumb as as anything,
 
 60 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 and ' yes,' and ' no ' is all she will say though 
 I know she's just full of thoughts. Do you 
 know, it's the same way when she and I are 
 alone together! I can no more think of any- 
 thing to say to Richard than if she was was 
 a a oh, you know what I mean." 
 
 " Yes, yes, Minna, don't try so hard, it's too 
 hot. Dicky is just a joke to me, but you take 
 her seriously. Laugh and forget her. That's 
 the best way." 
 
 " You ought to know." 
 
 " Now, Minna, I never laughed about 
 you" 
 
 "Jack, I wasn't thinking of myself how 
 could you say that! " 
 
 " I can say a good deal worse than that." 
 
 " I don't care. In a few days I'm going 
 away where people can't say * a good deal 
 worse ' to me. It'll either be Palm Beach or 
 Wyoming. I can't fish all the time, especially 
 when my company is too lazy to catch me just 
 one tiny little grasshopper." 
 
 Jack sat up suddenly. " Do you mean that, 
 Minna?"
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 61 
 
 She was somewhat startled by his abruptness. 
 
 " Are you really thinking of going away? " 
 
 " I am going away. I've done everything 
 else." 
 
 He rose and brushed the grass-seeds from 
 his perfectly-kept trousers. In a community of 
 hard-working farmers, such trousers were by no 
 means to be seen every day, nor such an immac- 
 ulate white shirtwaist a shirtwaist of fairy 
 whiteness intensified by a narrow blue tie, hid- 
 ing none of its light under the bushel of coat- 
 and-vest. He reached down his hand to help 
 her to her feet. 
 
 " But it's so pleasant down here," objected 
 Minna. 
 
 " People don't sit on the ground when they 
 say what I want to say to you," replied Jack, 
 authoritatively. " Stand up." She let him 
 lift her from the grass, but her face had sud- 
 denly grown troubled and the peach blossoms 
 deepened in her cheeks. 
 
 " I want to know, now," he said, with some 
 severity, " if you are really going away from 
 Pendleton?"
 
 62 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Piqued by his masterful attitude she returned 
 firmly, "I really am." 
 
 " Then I want to say that I can't stand this 
 any longer; that it's impossible to keep this up, 
 and that and that what you know very well 
 is the truth, and the only truth in the world 
 for me and and I'm not going to stand it! " 
 
 He was so tremendously in earnest, so won- 
 derfully unlike the apathetic Jack she had so 
 long admired that she found his phrases 
 touched by divine eloquence. This tumultuous 
 vitality was on her account; by the power of her 
 words, her smiles, her quick brown looks, her 
 pink dress, her pink slippers how could she 
 tell ? the old days were come back. 
 
 " But you can't " she stammered, her face 
 deep-stained with crimson. " It you know 
 it can't be " 
 
 " It can be. Minna, it is." 'He came 
 quickly to her. " Minna, it is. And what's 
 more, you know it. And you know in your 
 heart that it couldn't ever be any other way 
 that anything else is simply impossible. That's 
 all. That settles it. When I try to think of
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 63 
 
 anything else, I find that anything else is im- 
 possible. And so there's no use trying to play 
 hide-and-seek with the truth. Just the instant 
 you said you were going far away, and I saw 
 you meant it, something snapped in my heart. 
 It was the last bond, that's what it was, the last 
 raveling of the tie that ever chained me up to 
 anything else." He put his arm about her. 
 
 She did not try to draw away, but she began 
 to sob pathetically. 
 
 'You love me, Minna; what's the use of 
 anything else." 
 
 "But, O Jack she!" 
 
 " Yes, I know, but it can't be helped. I've 
 always loved you and you know it. When you 
 went away I was so lonesome and she but 
 there's no good talking about it. Don't cry, 
 Minna." 
 
 " And I know poor father and mother will 
 think . . ." 
 
 " Just rest your head here, darling, and have 
 it out. I suppose nobody can be happy with- 
 out walking over a lot of hearts. But we've 
 got to do our duty and our duty is to ourselves.
 
 64 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Your father and mother have had their life 
 and now you must have yours." 
 
 " But she! " sobbed Minna. " Oh, but she 
 hasn't had her life. And if she loves you, 
 Jack, like like I think she does " 
 
 " No, no, no, no, Minna, that isn't what you 
 started to say." 
 
 " Well, then, like / do . . ." 
 
 He covered her face with kisses. 
 
 " We mustn't be too happy," she whispered. 
 
 He kissed her lips. 
 
 " It seems so sad," she murmured, with closed 
 eyes. Then she put her arms about his neck 
 " But, oh, Jack, I want you so ever since 
 I heard of your engagement and when I 
 came home, the very second I saw you I knew 
 everything I'd been telling myself was no use 
 because I want you so ! " 
 
 A few minutes later there came to them a 
 far-away voice from beyond the ridge " O 
 Cousin Minna ! O Cousin Minna ! " 
 
 " It's Richard ! " exclaimed Minna, breaking 
 from his embrace. " That's to signal if she 
 catches anything."
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 65 
 
 The voice came again: "Cousin Minna! 
 Mr. Montgomery is here ! O Cousin Min-NA ! 
 Mr. Montgomery is HERE ! " 
 
 "So that's what she's caught!" ejaculated 
 the young man in deep disgust. 
 
 " What shall I do ! " Minna clasped her 
 hands in despair and raised her deeply flushed 
 face to her companion. 
 
 " If that blush won't come off, Minna, you 
 might as well announce your engagement." 
 
 " But I can't see him I can't see anybody, 
 but especially Alfred. Jack, he is such a bore 
 he tires me to death talking about Things 
 What shall I do!" 
 
 " Come quick I want to hide as much as 
 you do; I'm not supposed to be on this farm 
 and your father as good as said, this morning, 
 that he could live without me. Down through 
 this grove!" They fled among the maple 
 trees. Despite his flesh, he was as active on 
 his feet as his companion, but unfortunately he 
 began to laugh. 
 
 " You are taking me toward the house," 
 Minna panted reproachfully.
 
 66 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Never mind we'll slip up to the rear of 
 the toolhouse and in that way, they can't see 
 us from the house. Listen at that ! " 
 
 It was Richard's voice " O Minna ! Mr. 
 Montgomery " 
 
 Jack shook with suppressed laughter and 
 dried his eyes with his handkerchief. " If she 
 don't stop, she'll be the death of me," he 
 gasped, holding the handkerchief over his 
 mouth. 
 
 " Jack. How can you ! there's nothing 
 to laugh about. Alfred will stay two hours at 
 the very least. I shall just die if he finds me." 
 
 " He'll not find you. We'll sneak under the 
 toolhouse I guess the ice is still kept under 
 there, isn't it? And the outside-door will let 
 us in right under the floor of the toolhouse. 
 My, how hot it is! I can't think of a nicer 
 spot on earth or under it, than that icehouse. 
 Now, dodge behind this bush." 
 
 " But you'll get sawdust all over your clothes 
 you'll be ruined." 
 
 " I'll be cool, at any rate." They had 
 reached the upper end of the pasture and now
 
 THE ENGAGEMENT BROKEN 67 
 
 Richard and Alfred could be seen, climbing the 
 ridge. " Hold your head lower, sweetheart, 
 just a little farther and we'll be safe behind the 
 woodpile. I reckon there never was such a test 
 of love as I'm going to give you. Whoever 
 heard of a girl putting her lover on ice to find 
 out if his heart was true? " 
 
 From a quarter of a mile away came a thin, 
 insistent call. 
 
 It was Richard's voice " O Minna ! Mr. 
 Montgomery is HERE ! " 
 
 Jack exploded. " O Lord, what shall I 
 do ! " he gasped, in convulsions. ' You go 
 ahead and open the door that girl will be 
 the death of me ! "
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THIN ICE 
 
 IT was some time after Jack Palmer and 
 Minna Flood sought refuge in the ice- 
 cellar under the toolhouse floor, before 
 Richard and Alfred opened the door of the 
 girl's " study-room." They had searched the 
 premises for her missing cousin, and Mr. 
 Flood's certainty that she had not come to the 
 house confirmed their conclusion that she had 
 slipped away to a neighbor's. The nearest 
 neighbor lived half a mile away, but Richard 
 did not think half a mile too far for Minna, 
 when Alfred was the only alternative. Alfred 
 himself began to understand conditions better 
 than ever before; arid although there were such 
 books in the boxes facing the window as at 
 other times would have made his eyes brighten 
 either with the smile of an old acquaintance, 
 or with the eagerness of one desiring an intro- 
 68
 
 THIN ICE 69 
 
 duction, he now looked at everything with im- 
 partial indifference. 
 
 " Miss Warding," he said abruptly, as he 
 perched upon one of the boxes, " I am thor- 
 oughly discouraged." 
 
 Richard seated herself at her desk, took off 
 her spectacles, and looked at him with a slight 
 nod. 
 
 " As friend to friend," he persisted, " don't 
 you believe that Minna ran off to hide when 
 you called out that I was here? Don't you be- 
 lieve I am the cause of her being driven away 
 from her own farm? And don't you think that 
 as soon as I am seen crossing the hill on the 
 west, Minna will reappear from some secret 
 retreat? I want you to answer me as friend to 
 friend, for I'll not deny that I place great im- 
 portance on what you may say." 
 
 Richard answered with the solemnity of a 
 very old and very stilted lady, as if speaking 
 out of the pages of a last century's romance: 
 " I cannot always speak freely as friend to 
 friend when it is concerning one in whose rela- 
 tionship I stand as cousin to cousin."
 
 70 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Alfred looked at her with parted lips, mak- 
 ing a painful effort to concentrate his mind 
 upon her complicated phrasing. Then he said, 
 bitterly, " I'm right she runs away from me. 
 She always avoids me when possible. And yet, 
 I can't give her up I'm always thinking 
 maybe I've drawn my conclusions too hastily. 
 I ask myself, is it possible that she might care 
 for me, even if she doesn't now; and then I 
 wonder if she does care just a little, you 
 know and if it's timidity that causes her to 
 avoid me. Heaven knows there's no reason 
 why she should care for me, except the fact 
 that I've always loved her that I adore her 
 I can't tell you how I idolize that girl but 
 I could tell you a thousand times easier than I 
 could tell her. Oh, Richard let me call you 
 Richard I can't tell her, because she is so 
 beautiful and good and ethereal and I am so 
 unworthy! If I knew she cared for me, it 
 would almost be my duty to tell her don't 
 only I couldn't do that, for I'd be the happiest 
 man on earth O Richard ! the man that 
 Minna loves how would he feel ! "
 
 THIN ICE 71 
 
 "Have you revealed your affection?" 
 Richard inquired. 
 
 " Revealed it! I couldn't any more conceal 
 it than I could hide the rising sun by trying to 
 throw my coat over it. It's revealed, Richard. 
 But not in words. Minna has just come home 
 from college and all the world is before her, 
 she has beauty oh ! that melting charm of the 
 lips but I feel that I shouldn't speak of them 
 and she has wealth and education. But // 
 Richard, I'm nothing. My health has never 
 been good I can't work on the farm never 
 could. All I'm fit for is to go to college. 
 Last year was my first at Harvard and I hope 
 to rest enough this summer to go back. I can't 
 do a man's work if I could go out and plow 
 under the burning sun from morning till night, 
 and be strong to get up the next morning to 
 go at it again, I'd feel independent. I don't 
 mean to complain, but you see I can't offer 
 what little there is of me to a girl like Minna. 
 If my father were wealthy it would be differ- 
 ent, but he is barely able to keep me at col- 
 lege. There will be three more years before
 
 72 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 I can practice I'm to go into a cousin's law- 
 office when I've graduated. But will Minna 
 stay single all that time? " 
 
 " No," said Richard, " I do not think it." 
 
 "She won't!" Alfred groaned. "I won- 
 der why it is that what we want most is in our 
 reach only while our hands are tied behind our 
 backs?" 
 
 " I don't understand it, either," said Rich- 
 ard. 
 
 " Sometimes I am tortured by this : I've ex- 
 plained why I can't tell Minna of my love; but 
 suppose, after all that she does care for me 
 I mean just a little is it fair to her for me 
 to keep silent? " 
 
 " I wouldn't be tortured over that," Richard 
 counseled him. " I would go on and get my 
 education and begin practicing my law, and 
 then, if Minna has married somebody else " 
 
 "Don't finish; I can't think about that. 
 You see, my love for Minna is my life it's 
 simply my life. It's been, ever since I can re- 
 member. Jack Palmer and I used to fight 
 about her when we were in the infant class.
 
 THIN ICE 73 
 
 If she marries somebody else I'll I'll just 
 stop; you see, there'd be no place left to reach; 
 there wouldn't be any direction." 
 
 " Love is an awful responsibility," Richard 
 commented. " I think it far better to make 
 up your mind while young never to marry. I 
 shall not be in love. I will have my life- 
 work." She picked up some loose sheets from 
 the desk. " Here is what I say about it; shall 
 I read you the program of my lifework? It 
 is a long prologue." Suddenly she gave a 
 start. "Did you hear that listen! It 
 sounded like a muffled groan." 
 
 " I thought I heard a groan it was the 
 wind, of course. Richard, forgive me, but I 
 can't fasten my mind upon any reading. I'm 
 going to tell you why I came over this after- 
 noon. Then I want your advice. It may 
 sound worse than it is but Richard, do you 
 think Minna has any faults? " 
 
 " As cousin to cousin " 
 
 " You needn't answer. But there is some 
 talk faint whispers that that Minna 
 and Jack . . . you see, he is engaged, and it's
 
 74 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 not fair to Juanita Smith . . . but they say 
 Minna and Jack " He broke off in perplex- 
 ity. 
 
 " They have always been friends," Richard 
 explained. " When I visited here, three years 
 ago, they were chums." 
 
 " But . . . Richard, would you be willing to 
 hint to Minna that she and Jack ... I think 
 she'd take it better from you than from me." 
 
 " He calls me ' Dick ' ! " exclaimed Richard, 
 severely. " He is so familiar ! " 
 
 " He could never have been worthy of 
 Minna," cried Alfred, " Juanita Smith, or no 
 Juanita Smith. The idea of his setting his eyes 
 on that dainty, spiritual, sensitive, illumi- 
 nated " 
 
 " He is fat," Richard added, " positively fat. 
 And so lazy that it nearly kills him to open the 
 gate." 
 
 " I admit," pursued Alfred, " that he is 
 handsome in his way. I believe anybody see- 
 ing him for the first time would call him re- 
 markably handsome. And he's good-natured, 
 and all that. But! Why, you see, it's ridic-
 
 THIN ICE 75 
 
 ulous for a fellow like that he never would 
 stay at school, he doesn't know anything, and 
 the worst is, he doesn't know that he doesn't 
 know anything worth while. He doesn't 
 know what is worth while. How could he en- 
 noble Minna's life when he has no ambition? " 
 
 " But he is already engaged, Mr. Montgom- 
 ery." 
 
 " I know he is already engaged, but! And 
 don't you think you could give her a nice, quiet, 
 friendly little hint? Just as cousin to cousin! " 
 
 "He is so physical!" exclaimed Richard. 
 " He weighs nearly two hundred. And he calls 
 me ' Dick.' I have rebuked him for it al- 
 though I was afraid of hurting his feelings. I 
 needn't have been afraid of that. He 
 laughed." 
 
 " Just a gentle, cautious little hint, Rich- 
 ard, don't you think you might? " 
 
 " I can't think it necessary. I don't believe 
 Cousin Minna could possibly admire as fat a 
 man as that. He is too fat. They have hap- 
 pened to get together at parties because both 
 know the same old songs while Miss Juanita
 
 76 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 can't sing. Nor I ; but I write. Miss Juanita 
 does nothing. No, Mr. Montgomery, Cousin 
 Minna would have a right to feel hurt if she 
 thought I imagined that she could admire a 
 man so so big and and and different 
 from our kind of people. You asked me if 
 Cousin Minna has any faults. She may have, 
 but I don't know what they are she is per- 
 fectly splendid. You have spoken of her in 
 high terms, but they are not too high." Rich- 
 ard exclaimed with restrained passion while her 
 face glowed, " She is just the sweetest thing 
 in all the wide world." 
 
 Alfred could have embraced her, but for the 
 awe inspired by her spectacles. He felt 
 ashamed of his vague suspicions regarding 
 Jack, but when he left the toolhouse his heart 
 was lighter than it had been for weeks. 
 
 Richard, left alone, sat for some time mo- 
 tionless, her hands clasped upon the desk, 
 thinking about Alfred. When footsteps 
 roused her, she reached for the pen to resume 
 work upon her book; but she was destined to 
 another interruption Zack Flood and his
 
 THIN ICE 77 
 
 wife came in, talking briskly and looking about 
 them at each step, for Minna was still missing. 
 
 Of course they paid no attention to such 
 child's play as Richard's scribbling. Mrs. 
 Flood perched upon the box of books recently 
 vacated by Alfred, and the farmer leaned 
 against the open door, while they continued 
 their conversation as if it didn't matter whether 
 Richard listened or not. In fact, Mrs. Flood 
 had found a few moments of leisure, and fan- 
 cying that her niece must be lonesome if alone, 
 had brought her husband thither meaning to 
 cheer up Richard by their mere presence. 
 
 Richard, finding her pen useless, laid it down 
 mournfully and smiled at her aunt and uncle 
 with deceitful cheerfulness. Mrs. Flood 
 looked strangely girlish as she swung her foot 
 to and fro, her face lighted up in great ani- 
 mation, her eyes eloquent. For the moment, 
 care and labor cast its net of tiny lines off her 
 countenance and her forty-eight years seemed 
 cut in two. Zack Flood was not a man to melt 
 back to boyhood in the heat of enthusiasm. 
 He was forty-nine, and forty-nine is what he
 
 78 
 
 looked; not a gloomy, complaining, sport-spoil- 
 ing forty-nine, but for all that, a fifty-less-one 
 that realizes there is to be no more foolishness 
 in dealing with Father Time. 
 
 " And Minna says," continued Mrs. 
 Flood, " that our telephone simply drives her 
 wild. It's always ringing, though I hadn't no- 
 ticed it till she came home. She counts every 
 time whether it's for us or not. We must get 
 off the party-line." 
 
 " Then I'll have to pay the expenses of a 
 whole half-mile's connection." 
 
 " Yes, it's bothersome and expensive, but 
 Minna's nerves are in a frightful state; I'm 
 glad her schooling is ended, for she has worn 
 herself out with her studies. And Minna says, 
 if we just had electric lights! Dear, don't you 
 think we could " 
 
 "What! Three miles from Pendleton " 
 
 " But Minna says she knows girls at college 
 whose fathers have ranches and they put in 
 their own plant. And if you had an artesian 
 well and a windmill we could have our own 
 waterworks, too. You can't imagine how sen-
 
 THIN ICE 79 
 
 sitive Minna is to the smell of coal oil. Every 
 year she has spent nine months where there are 
 electric lights and bathrooms and then to 
 come home and find no bath and only coal oil 
 it's enough to make her dissatisfied al- 
 though nobody is more contented or loves her 
 home more than Minna." 
 
 " I reckon," remarked Zack, " that she's out, 
 now, hiding from the coal oil smell." He 
 spoke with tolerant amusement, but any amuse- 
 ment at the expense of their daughter was heresy 
 in Mrs. Flood's eyes. 
 
 " Sometimes, Zack, you speak as if you don't 
 care for higher things (Minna has noticed it, 
 too), but I'm sure you do." 
 
 " The trouble is, Minnie, that higher things 
 all come at higher prices. You know I didn't 
 make a cent out of my cattle last year, and 
 from the way this season has set in, there'll not 
 be a half crop of corn. Minna's boarding- 
 school made a big hole in our reserves " 
 
 " I certainly do hope, Zack, that you don't 
 regret the education we have given our daugh- 
 ter! "
 
 8o THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Of course not. But now that we've fin- 
 ished her at school, I don't want her to finish 
 us at home." 
 
 " I can't imagine what you mean. Minna 
 says " 
 
 " I mean that a private electric-plant and a 
 private waterworks-system would seriously 
 handicap me, honey." 
 
 " But Minna says that we have too large a 
 farm, anyway. It's too big for you to get the 
 best results; if you sold North Acres you could 
 concentrate better on the five hundred acres 
 that would be left; and for what North Acres 
 brought, you could get rid of this coal oil. No- 
 body has coal oil in their houses, nowadays; 
 and whenever Minna gives a house-party, I 
 know she's ashamed of the lamps. We've 
 spared no expense in ornamental shades, but 
 there is the coal oil smell." 
 
 " Possibly, honey, next year " 
 
 " But we are living in this year, Zack, this 
 is the time of Minna's youth. She'll never 
 have her youth again. Even if you're unwill- 
 ing to sell North Acres, Minna says all the
 
 THIN ICE 8 1 
 
 girls' fathers carry mortgages on their ranches, 
 they do it on purpose, so they will have capital 
 to invest in their business; it pays 'em to be in 
 debt, and if they were out of it, they'd get in 
 directly for their own interests." 
 
 " I don't see how an electric-and-waterworks 
 investment would pay me, honey." 
 
 " Wouldn't it pay you to see your daughter 
 happy? Is everything to be measured in dol- 
 lars and cents? People don't do everything 
 because there's money in it! " 
 
 "Well I'll think it over. Richard, I 
 want to ask you a question : have you seen Jack 
 Palmer, to-day? " 
 
 Startled at being thus abruptly included in 
 the conversation, Richard looked at him, 
 slightly pale, wondering if he had in any man- 
 ner been advised of the silly rumors then cur- 
 rent. " No, sir I haven't seen anyone to- 
 day except Mr. Montgomery." 
 
 Zack Flood's face brightened. " There's a 
 fine young fellow," he declared. " Pity he 
 isn't stronger nobody will ever know what a 
 giant will he has. Any other man in his place
 
 82 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 would have given up long ago. He started out 
 with his own mother's weaknesses and he took 
 all his step-mother's diseases as fast as they 
 'developed. Every time he gets up he's down 
 with the typhoid fever or the diphtheria." 
 
 "Zack! I'm ashamed of you I like Al- 
 fred Montgomery real well, and if he's dull, 
 as Minna says, can he help that? ' r 
 
 " And / like him," the farmer declared, with 
 unmistakable heartiness. " A fellow can be 
 hounded by ill-luck till it's actually funny to 
 others; but it's no joke to Alfred. How he has 
 the grit to go ahead with his education is a 
 mystery. It's like making himself smart and 
 fit for his winding-sheet. I never hear of him 
 being up and about but I look for him to be 
 down." 
 
 Richard opened her eyes very wide. " I 
 have talked to Mr. Montgomery a good deal," 
 she said, " and he never once told he had been 
 sick." 
 
 " He gets enough out of it without talking," 
 Zack explained. Then he added, gravely 
 enough, " I doubt if he'll live to graduate.
 
 THIN ICE 83 
 
 He's got nothing but his will to keep him afloat, 
 and if it springs a leak, he'll go under." 
 
 " O Uncle Zack! " cried Richard, in distress. 
 "But what's the matter?" 
 
 " Richard, did he ever tell you how he saved 
 Minna's life?" 
 
 "No, never. Oh, did he, though? And 
 not one word did he breathe of itl " 
 
 " That's because he's Alfred Montgomery. 
 And did Minna tell you about it, and how he 
 lost what health he had because of his exposure 
 during a long ride in dripping clothes and then 
 pneumonia? " 
 
 " No-o-o." 
 
 " That's Minna," remarked Zack, good-hu- 
 moredly. 
 
 " Now, Zack," cried his wife, flushing, 
 " Minna has been home only a few weeks and 
 couldn't possibly have time to think of every- 
 thing to tell Richard. Why, I haven't told 
 her, myself; and you haven't." 
 
 " I must go back to those carpenters," de- 
 clared Zack, inclining his ear. " Not a ham- 
 mer astir! Well, Richard, I'll say this while
 
 84 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 we're on the subject that if you ever need 
 to trust mortal man with a secret, no matter 
 how sacred, just you go to Alfred Montgom- 
 ery; and if he's still alive you'll find a man to 
 depend on ! So long ! " 
 
 " Wait, I'm coming," cried Mrs. Flood, still 
 looking as fresh as a girl, but climbing down 
 from the box with the caution of maturity. " I 
 want to show you just where the wires could 
 go into the house without touching a single tree. 
 Richard, hadn't you better come to the house? 
 we hate to leave you all alone where you 
 can't even hear our voices." 
 
 But Richard was content to remain. She 
 was thinking, thinking, thinking and every 
 one of her thoughts were connected with Alfred 
 Montgomery. She had been left alone a long 
 time, trying to imagine how Alfred had rescued 
 Minna to the loss of his health, when she was 
 startled in a manner to cause her heart to stop 
 beating. Immediately under the floor, as it 
 seemed under her very feet, a hoarse, deep- 
 mouthed voice reverberated: 
 
 " Speaking of Miss Richard Warding "
 
 THIN ICE 85 
 
 She sprang to her feet, terrified. 
 
 The fearful voice continued; its words were 
 those of human speech, but its tones were those 
 of a wild lion: "Did you ever notice how 
 thin and scrawny she is? She is thin; too thin. 
 She is lean she is too lean for ' our kind of 
 people.' ' 
 
 Then came a smothered giggle. 
 
 " She is not physical," resumed the deep 
 voice. " She weighs fifty-seven and a few 
 ounces. Do not call her Dick, lest you be re- 
 buked!"
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PROMISE 
 
 WHEN Minna opened the toolhouse 
 door and went in, Jack Palmer 
 had made good his escape. At 
 first she thought the room deserted, but a 
 closer inspection revealed a little huddled figure 
 at the window, face buried in arms, body quiv- 
 ering with sobs. Minna had opened the door 
 with the look of one deeply offended, and her 
 expression was unaltered at what she consid- 
 ered a manifestation of futile anger. 
 
 " It's no more than you deserve," she said, 
 coldly. " He had to hear your opinion of him, 
 which unfortunately is not flattering, and now 
 you know what he thinks of you" She stood 
 with her hand on the closed door; it was evi- 
 dent that she had come for a brief word, and 
 as soon as she could master her indignation she 
 would speak and go. Minna felt grievously 
 
 86
 
 THE PROMISE 87 
 
 wronged. Had Richard and Alfred trapped 
 her in the cellar, forcing her to hear their con- 
 demnation of Jack, her sense of injury would 
 have been no greater. It seemed to her that 
 this little girl, always so silent, so meek, so 
 wrapped up in literary ambitions, had proved 
 herself a spy. 
 
 Richard said nothing only wept. 
 
 Minna looked at her, unsympathetically. 
 What right had a girl who had been given this 
 home because she had no other, a girl received 
 as much on the ground of charity as on that 
 of family-duty, a girl with no prospects but 
 such as she might expect as a favor from her 
 uncle what right had this Richard Warding 
 to any opinion except such as might be permit- 
 ted by the family? It was preposterous that 
 she should think about Jack at all, and that she 
 should think ill, was the height of ingratitude. 
 And what a wretched temper she must have, to 
 be enraged by Jack's ironic utterances ! 
 
 At last Minna said, " I am in a hurry, Rich- 
 ard; can you give me your attention a moment? 
 I am sorry you are so angry."
 
 88 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Richard raised her disheveled head. " Yes, 
 I'm listening," she said, in a muffled voice. 
 
 " It's important for you to understand," re- 
 marked Minna, critically examining her, " and 
 I'm afraid you're too angry to pay atten- 
 tion." 
 
 " Oh, Cousin Minna ! " cried Richard, some- 
 what wildly, " angry? I? No!" 
 
 " Then what are you crying about? Are 
 you hurt? " 
 
 " Yes, oh, I am hurt here " Richard 
 struck at her heart. 
 
 " After all, Richard, he said nothing except 
 that you're thin." 
 
 " It's you, Minna it's you! And it makes 
 me feel so queer, as if everything was slipping 
 away. ... I don't know what's left I don't 
 know what's left " Down went the flushed 
 face in the quivering arms, leaving Minna to 
 stare in blank amazement. 
 
 " I can't imagine what you mean " 
 
 " When I lost father, the world seemed 
 empty and then I found you." Richard ex- 
 tended her arms before her. " But it is like
 
 THE PROMISE 89 
 
 this emptiness ! " She dropped her arms. 
 " I guess you haven't known how I've wor- 
 shiped the very ground under your feet. I 
 didn't want to trouble you with it, just kept it 
 in my heart, and loved it my feeling. It 
 was company for me. That's why I can't help 
 crying, but it's like when father died, I'd like 
 to be all alone not to bother others. Won't 
 you please let it be that way, Cousin Minna? 
 And when you see me again, I'll be all right." 
 
 " If you mean that you want me to go, you'll 
 be satisfied. Yes, I'll leave you alone as much 
 as you please. I just wanted to caution you to 
 say nothing about Jack's having been on the 
 farm, because father and mother wouldn't un- 
 derstand and and it's much better for all 
 concerned." 
 
 " I'll not breathe one word unless they ask 
 me." 
 
 " Well, if they do ask, you needn't tell. 
 And you mustn't! " 
 
 " I won't if I can help it." 
 
 " People can always help it if they want to. 
 I'm not asking you to tell a story, that wouldn't
 
 90 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 be right. But you can make them think in the 
 negative without saying 4 no.' ' 
 
 " If they ask me if he was here, I'll have to 
 say * yes.' ' 
 
 " Richard, I don't believe you would do that 
 after all the kindness I have shown you I " 
 
 " But I would have to say * yes.' ' 
 
 " Because Jack made fun of you, that's the 
 reason! Because you want your revenge by 
 getting us into trouble." The tears came to 
 Minna's eyes; she felt that she had never been 
 so cruelly used in all her life and by this 
 interloper ! " Richard, if you tell on us, we'll 
 never forgive you. How could you stay in our 
 house knowing that you had made us dislike 
 you? I don't believe it's in your heart to be 
 so cruel." 
 
 " Cousin Minna, Uncle Zack has already 
 asked me, so it's not likely he'll ask again." 
 
 " But if he does " 
 
 " I'll have to tell him. But it would be 
 strange if he asked me instead of you." 
 
 Minna went out, slamming the door sharply. 
 Her little face was hard and set as she sought
 
 THE PROMISE 91 
 
 her room upstairs, and though, the hammering 
 was enough to distract anybody, she told herself 
 she didn't care because all the world had gone 
 wrong, anyway. It was here Zack Flood came 
 to seek her; and the first covert glance at his 
 face gave warning that the serious hour of her 
 life had come. 
 
 She had never seen that look on his face, and 
 it made her forget everything else in a sense of 
 fear, fear of this bronzed farmer who had 
 never waited to meet her wishes half-way, but 
 had run to greet them at the first opening of 
 the door of her fancy. It made her feel mis- 
 erably strange and small, that look of stern 
 authority, as if there were physical danger to 
 be apprehended. Her lips could not utter a 
 word ; her eyes sought in vain to leave the floor. 
 
 He shut the door, crossed to the open win- 
 dow and seated himself upon the sill. A sugar- 
 maple which almost touched the house, flecked 
 his shirt with overlapping shadows, occasionally 
 revealing between fringed edges a sudden dart- 
 ing sunbeam like a tongue of flame. When he 
 spoke, the absence of dreaded harshness made
 
 92 
 
 her shiver with relief. Although he had never 
 shown harshness, her expectation of it now 
 seemed so simple, so inevitable, that she had 
 already hardened herself to the attitude of one 
 suffering unmerited reproach. 
 
 " Honey," his voice was grave, considerate, 
 " why did you hide from Alf Montgomery? " 
 
 Minna raised her head, courageous from the 
 belief that Richard had not "told." "It 
 wasn't the right time of day for a young man 
 to come visiting." 
 
 " From what I have just heard " Minna 
 had never thought of her father as dignified, 
 but his face now wore a look of dignity 
 " Jack must have felt differently." 
 
 Minna flushed. " Who told you that? " 
 
 " Nobody, until I forced an answer." 
 
 " It was Richard, of course. I think you 
 might have asked me." 
 
 He gave her a long look. " Jack knows I 
 don't want him to come here so often. I made 
 that plain enough to him this very morning.'"' 
 
 "Father!" 
 
 " And, Daughter, you know it, too."
 
 THE PROMISE 93 
 
 He had scolded her at last, and at the ex- 
 pected injury, she burst into sudden weeping. 
 " I don't know what you have against Jack," 
 sobbing, " I know he thinks a great deal of 
 you." 
 
 " If there were nothing else, the fact that 
 he's engaged to Juanita Smith . . ." 
 
 She buried her face in her handkerchief. 
 " But you don't understand! " 
 
 " I dare say Juanita doesn't, either; nor the 
 neighbors; nor your mother either. He must 
 be the smartest fellow in the county not to leave 
 a few clews around to his mystery." 
 
 Minna looked up with a flash. " I believe 
 you hate him! " 
 
 " Who, Jack? I couldn't. He's too no-ac- 
 count. There's nothing in him to hate." 
 
 Minna raised her head higher. " He is my 
 friend, Father. And as far as that is con- 
 cerned, he's more he's brighter and more in- 
 teresting and and everything than any other 
 young man I know of in this part of the coun- 
 try." 
 
 " Well, I'll admit there's a pretty poor crop.
 
 94 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 But he's no-account. Nobody ever had a finer 
 start; but before his mother died, he'd mort- 
 gaged that big farm his father left him for 
 every dollar it would carry. He hasn't a thing 
 on earth yet dresses as if he owned it all. He's 
 too lazy to earn a penny and too extravagant 
 to save one. I like Jack, and if it wasn't too 
 much trouble, I believe he'd do me a good turn; 
 but he's no-account Minna, he is wo-account" 
 
 Minna's face had grown cold, her voice 
 formal. " You don't understand," she com- 
 mented, hardly above a whisper. 
 
 "The point is simply this, Daughter: Jack 
 must stop coming to my place, and if you meet 
 him elsewhere, you are to have as little to do 
 with him as possible." 
 
 The tears came into her eyes. " Father, I 
 never thought you could be cruel to me ! " 
 
 " I know this is for your good," he rose 
 from the window-ledge as if to leave the room, 
 then turned to her suddenly. " You have hurt 
 me, Minna." 
 
 Instantly Minna's kind heart was touched. 
 She ran into his arms, and sobbed upon his neck.
 
 THE PROMISE 95 
 
 " I know you think it for my good ... I 
 know you have always been the best father in 
 the world ... I know you love me as deeply 
 as I love you. . . . You have done everything 
 on earth for me given me whatever you im- 
 agined I'd like to have and but but 
 now this is more than everything else in my life. 
 . . . O Father, what shall I do ! " 
 
 He stood very still while she clung to him, 
 saying at last, " Can it be? . . ." 
 
 " Oh, it is; it's the greatest truth in my life; 
 it's for always, Father, now you know how big 
 a thing it is, because it's for always ! I'm glad 
 for you to know, after all. We thought we 
 wouldn't tell for awhile because we knew you'd 
 be bewildered. . . . But you'd have to have 
 known, at last, wouldn't you, Father? It's our 
 destiny, it couldn't have been helped, it had to 
 be. And, oh, it has made me happier than I 
 dreamed happiness could be, and and I am 
 so miserable ! " 
 
 He placed her in her chair, and drew away, 
 sorrowful but not unkind. " What has to be, 
 Minna?"
 
 96 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " He loves me and I and I ... but I 
 couldn't be happy without him. You are my 
 father and you could make him go away from 
 me, but it would break my heart. And his 
 heart would be broken, too, because we have 
 always loved each other since we can first re- 
 member, that's why it has to be. Neither of 
 us has ever really cared for anybody else." 
 
 " Juanita Smith " 
 
 Minna interposed impatiently. " O Juanita 
 Smith ! " It seemed to her that somebody was 
 always referring to that tiresome Juanita 
 Smith. " She was never anything to him. 
 Not really, you understand." 
 
 " Does she know that? " 
 
 " He will tell her, of course, he will have 
 to tell her, now, but he hasn't told her yet, 
 because our engagement was was so sudden. 
 Father, he has been fighting against me ever 
 since I came back from college, all this time, 
 three weeks and a half his sense of honor 
 wouldn't let him give her up without a terrible 
 struggle. He wanted to be true to her because 
 he'd given his word, but it wasn't any use be-
 
 THE PROMISE 97 
 
 cause, oh, we why, Father, we were made 
 for each other, nothing else could be possible. 
 Of course he will explain it all to Juanita 
 he will break that off honorably and " 
 
 " There's no need for him to tell Juanita a 
 word about you, Minna, since this is going no 
 farther. You'll not see him any more unless 
 by the barest chance." 
 
 " But I can't live " 
 
 " It's just because I want you to live, and 
 live happily " 
 
 " But I couldn't be happy without Jack." 
 
 " Maybe so; but you can be happier without 
 him than with him. I have never been firm 
 with you, dear, because you've been the darling 
 of our lives, and all we ask for is to see you 
 happy " 
 
 She started from her chair and held out her 
 arms. " I know you've been the sweetest, the 
 dearest father " 
 
 But before she could embrace him, he took 
 her hands in his, and looking steadily in her 
 eyes " Minna, I must be firm now because I 
 know Jack couldn't make a good husband; he's
 
 98 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 never made anything of himself, and good hus- 
 bands are a thousand times harder to make 
 than good farmers. No don't begin to cry 
 don't pull away, for you must hear me : I 
 simply do not propose to see all the years your 
 mother and I have devoted to you, going to 
 waste. You can never marry Jack Palmer with 
 our consent; if you marry without it, I can't 
 speak for your mother, but I tell you now, I 
 shall never be reconciled. I don't mean to be 
 unkind good Lord! isn't my life wrapped up 
 in your welfare? I'd say all this on my knees, 
 if that would make it any different." He re- 
 leased her hands and returned to his seat in the 
 window. 
 
 " Father," said the other impetuously, com- 
 ing to his side, " it's only because you and 
 mother don't understand. Won't you try to 
 understand that I know what is best for my 
 own welfare? I belong to the new age we 
 young people look at everything differently; 
 you are back there twenty or thirty years ago. 
 Young people can't let their future be spoiled 
 because old people think they should act thus
 
 THE PROMISE 99 
 
 and thus. I know what is good for me and I 
 know that while you mean the best in the world, 
 you are in another age, you have different 
 standards. I am not nearly twenty years old 
 you are nearly fifty. It's impossible for 
 you and mother to to understand. It's a 
 matter of age there's a chasm between us. 
 And I know that Jack and I must have each 
 other, or our hearts will be broken." 
 
 Zack Flood pondered for some time, while 
 Minna remained leaning upon the back of her 
 chair, expecting him to relent. At last he rose 
 and walked heavily to the door. There he 
 paused. " Minna, you must admit that in re- 
 turn for what we have tried to do for you, you 
 are under a certain obligation." 
 
 Minna's face quivered. " I never dreamed 
 you could be cruel to your little girl. I owe 
 you everything. I'd do anything on earth to 
 show my gratitude except give up my only 
 chance of happiness." 
 
 " You are eighteen," he continued, as if she 
 had not spoken. " And we have tried to make 
 them eighteen happy years."
 
 ioo THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " You have, Father. No girl was ever hap- 
 pier than I have been." 
 
 " Now I am going to ask the next six months 
 of your life just six months, Minna. You 
 say I have given you eighteen happy years; 
 you say you'd like to show your gratitude. 
 Then promise me the next six months." 
 
 " How? Why, Father, my life is yours." 
 
 " Promise that during the next six months 
 you will be as a perfect stranger to Jack Palmer 
 except when circumstances compel you to act as 
 a casual acquaintance. At the end of six 
 months during which there is to be no shadow 
 of romantic nonsense, if you and he are still 
 determined to marry, I shall not consent; but 
 I'll offer no opposition." 
 
 Minna sat down, looking miserable. The 
 whole summer would be spoiled, the autumn 
 would prove a perfect blank. " I must prom- 
 ise, Father, if you really insist. But " 
 
 " I insist." 
 
 " But Juanita Smith! " cried Minna, herself 
 introducing the tiresome name. 
 
 " She is not our affair. Jack Palmer will
 
 THE PROMISE 101 
 
 tell her or not as he thinks best. Give me 
 your word, daughter, your word of honor, your 
 most sacred honor. Come! It isn't a great 
 deal to promise. Just six months." 
 
 " Very well," said Minna, faintly. " Very 
 well, then. I promise."
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PROPOSAL 
 
 Annual Pendleton Picnic took 
 place in early September more 
 than two months since Minna's 
 promise to her father. During the summer 
 holiday, Alfred Montgomery recovered some 
 of the strength spent in hard study at the uni- 
 versity; but so far from mental relaxation, his 
 mind worked as hard with thoughts of Minna, 
 as if it had been trying to take a degree in 
 love. He had seen her as often as he dared, 
 and, since the disappearance of Jack, that had 
 been nearly every day. Sometimes it was a 
 mere glimpse of her as he drove past Zack 
 Flood's farm the road past Zack's farm was 
 the most attractive in the county sometimes 
 they met at gatherings of the young set of Pen- 
 dleton, that curiously amalgamated " set " 
 which comprised the very few sons and daugh-
 
 THE PROPOSAL 103 
 
 ters of the " best people " and enough of the 
 others who never quite understood how they 
 " got in " to make up the club dances. And 
 then, there were the evenings when he called, 
 sitting with Minna in the front room, with a 
 view of the living-room where Richard was al- 
 ways reading or writing at a desk, Mrs. Flood 
 sewing, and Zack, in a blue shirt and yellow 
 suspenders, the cuspidor at his feet and the 
 newspaper in his hand, flavoring his politics 
 with a favorite twist. 
 
 But although he saw Minna so often, she 
 was as tantalizing a mystery as ever. In some 
 vague way, he found her changed, but though 
 this change was favorable in that it encouraged 
 his attentions, it was disconcerting because 
 nothing seemed to come of it. Every time they 
 were thrown together, it had to be begun all 
 over and it was just as hard to work up to a 
 point in September as it had been in June. 
 Oh, that inscrutable Minna ! He could not im- 
 agine what was in her mind, and though he 
 often consulted Richard, nothing was gained but 
 the comfort of telling somebody how much he
 
 io 4 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 loved the purest, noblest, most modest and re- 
 fined of earthly creatures. 
 
 " I'm going to tell her, the day of the pic- 
 nic," Alfred confided to Richard as he took her 
 for a drive through country lanes. " It'll be 
 my best chance and my last, for I'll soon be 
 hurrying back to Harvard for another year's 
 grind. I mustn't ask you if you think there's 
 any show for me if she's confided in you, I 
 mean, because in that case I shouldn't have 
 your own thought " 
 
 " Cousin Minna never confides in me," re- 
 sponded Richard, quietly. 
 
 " She's a perfect reservoir of crystal 
 sweetness ! " he exclaimed, enthusiastically. 
 " There's no outlet. Any other girl would 
 have told you long ago just what she thought 
 of me loving you as Minna does. But it's 
 because she doesn't reveal her heart that I can 
 ask your opinion. When I asked her company 
 to the Annual Picnic, she consented instantly. 
 There wasn't the slightest hesitation. That 
 must have meant that she was willing to go 
 with me."
 
 THE PROPOSAL 105 
 
 " It seemed propitious," was the grave re- 
 sponse. 
 
 " She didn't have to consent," Alfred argued. 
 " There are plenty of other fellows who'd give 
 the world to take her. Besides, she had in- 
 tended to go in the carriage with you and her 
 parents. But just as soon as I said it Would 
 be our last drive, and would she go with me, 
 she consented. What would you call that? 
 She must like me, in a way in some way. 
 Besides there was a distinct color in her cheeks. 
 Before I mentioned driving her to the grounds, 
 there was no color she was even paler than 
 usual, and I have thought, lately, that she is 
 losing that delicate glow so beautiful, like a 
 visible warmth. Then when I said it would 
 be our last drive, she blushed. It must have 
 been a blush, because she was pale and then 
 she was rosy she was more than that, she 
 was red, she was crimson. Could she have been 
 blushing at me?" 
 
 Richard looked straight ahead and answered, 
 sedately, " I do not know why Cousin Minna 
 blushes."
 
 io6 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Of course she knows I love her. And 
 when I said it would be our last drive, she must 
 have read in my face that I meant to speak out. 
 She must have blushed on that account. And 
 yet she might have done that without wanting 
 me to speak out mightn't she ? It could 
 have been mere surprise, couldn't it, or just 
 the thought of the of the deed and not of 
 the performer? Look here, Richard, you 
 blush sometimes, you know. I've seen you 
 do it." 
 
 She turned quickly to look at him with 
 startled eyes and parted lips. 
 
 " You're doing it now and upon my word, 
 Richard, you look quite charming. It's because 
 I surprised you by speaking of it; you were 
 startled, you looked at me now you're blush- 
 ing. It must have been that way with Minna." 
 As Richard seemed unduly embarrassed, he 
 went on talking in a matter-of-fact voice. " Of 
 course there's nothing in me to win a girl like 
 your cousin, or any other girl. The only hope 
 I have is based on the curious fact that some- 
 times people fall in love with the most unlikely
 
 THE PROPOSAL 107 
 
 characters with ugly, stupid folk Beauty 
 and the Beast. Minna might take a fancy to 
 me just because I'm not worthy of it. She 
 might be blind. The rule with women is to ad- 
 mire only strong men, men who can lift weights 
 and strike down powerful foes. I believe if I 
 were real strong, if I could just go out and lift 
 gates on my shoulder or if I could plow all 
 day long without a thought of the shade over 
 in the fence-corner But I have to be always 
 guarding myself I can't sit in draughts and 
 a fellow of my age oughtn't to know when he is 
 in a draught. . . . It's not that I complain for 
 myself, but how can Minna admire one who 
 couldn't stand up in a good stiff fight? She 
 must feel that I couldn't properly take care of 
 her and yet, just because that's the rule 
 with women, Minna may be the exception, be- 
 cause she isn't like any other girl in the 
 world." 
 
 Her manner was so severe that he fancied 
 
 her displeased about being forced to blush. 
 
 ' This isn't the first time you have talked about 
 
 wanting to plow. And now you want to fight!
 
 io8 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 And lift gates ! And sit in draughts ! I 
 thought you had a higher aim." 
 
 " The highest aim I have is to win Minna's 
 love; beside that, all my other ambitions pale 
 like little stars near a full moon. I'm not in- 
 terested in anything but Minna. Women like 
 men who can endure hardships, get drenched 
 by rains and not have to take to their beds 
 spend days under the harvest-sun without get- 
 ting faint. Minna is so dainty and fairy-like, 
 she needs a muscular husband to protect her. 
 But at the same time, her very delicacy may 
 lead her to prefer a man that's not particularly 
 full-blooded. You see it may be either way 
 you can't apply logic to Minna. When a 
 girl's in one of the premises, there isn't any 
 logical conclusion." 
 
 " There's a logical conclusion to me." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " Brains are more important in men, and 
 muscle in horses. Therefore " 
 
 " Yes, but would Minna think so? " 
 
 " She ought to think everything of you 
 Uncle Zack says you saved her life."
 
 THE PROPOSAL 109 
 
 " I can't understand," cried Alfred, with dis- 
 pleasure, " why Mr. Flood is always talking 
 about that!" 
 
 " He has only mentioned it once in my hear- 
 ing." 
 
 " That was once too often. There is noth- 
 ing in it, nothing." 
 
 "But didn't you?" 
 
 " Anything can happen to affect anything else. 
 There's nothing in all this talk of saving life. 
 My life may be saved this minute because you 
 are in the buggy with me it may be your 
 weight that keeps the horse from running away. 
 If I hadn't kept Minna from drowning others 
 would, if they'd been there." 
 
 " Yes, that is the way for you to feel. But 
 Cousin Minna ought to feel the other way." 
 
 " I hope she doesn't. I don't want any fa- 
 vors because of an accident. I want her to 
 weigh me as I am, recognize the fact that I'm 
 weakly, nothing but a student, that I couldn't 
 fight, couldn't plow " 
 
 " Mr. Montgomery," she exclaimed, sharply, 
 " I wish you would turn about. This drive is
 
 no THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 protracted." Alfred obeyed mechanically, 
 plunged so deeply in blue thoughts that her 
 manner was unobserved. Suddenly Richard 
 exclaimed, her face quite red, " Nor do I want 
 to be driving with a man who wants to cut him- 
 self by any woman's pattern ! " 
 
 He looked at her in surprise as if just real- 
 izing her presence, then smiled. " Well, Rich- 
 ard, I'd give the world to be everything your 
 Cousin Minna would like for me to be." 
 
 Richard was strangely angry. " Why don't 
 you get your stage-directions from her, and 
 learn your part? " 
 
 He was perplexed. " Wasn't it your boast 
 that you are logical? Stage-directions couldn't 
 give me a man's strength and endurance. Are 
 you displeased with me, Richard? " 
 
 " That doesn't matter, if you please Cousin 
 Minna!" 
 
 " My dear friend, you don't understand. 
 At sixteen, one hasn't entered the real world. 
 Whenever you fall in love you'll discover that 
 all the feelings you ever had were like shadows 
 scattered before the sun. You must know how
 
 THE PROPOSAL in 
 
 dearly I esteem you, for to nobody else do I 
 confide these sacred secrets. But friendship 
 isn't any more like love, than courage or hon- 
 esty. There isn't anything like love. You can 
 compare the sun to the moon, but there's no 
 comparison for love. It's just one like God. 
 I can't describe it except to say that it means 
 with all the strength of your soul to want to 
 please somebody I mean, Minna. If she 
 could find this a happier world because I am in 
 it with her I wouldn't ask for fame or wealth 
 or health or friends; just her adorable self 
 would fill the outlines of my dearest dreams." 
 Not another word did Richard speak during 
 the drive perhaps she could not. Her face 
 was still dully red when Alfred drew up at her 
 uncle's gate. He looked hopefully about for a 
 glimpse of Minna, feeling no resentment for 
 Richard's ill-humor though he had hardly re- 
 covered from surprise at its manifestation. 
 Perhaps it had sprung from a young girl's im- 
 pulse to monopolize her only friend and, 
 after all, it was of little moment. What mat- 
 tered just then, was a lovely face at the window
 
 ii2 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 where the sugar-maple nodded. Either the 
 face smiled sweetly, or the sunlight among the 
 branches played him a trick he was thrilled 
 with happiness on the barest benefit of the 
 doubt. In the meantime, Richard, unobserved, 
 had hurried to the toolhouse, and now with face 
 buried among the sheets of paper that described 
 her latest heroine's tears, she shed her own. 
 
 If the glimpse of Minna's face at a distant 
 window brought joy, why was not Alfred in 
 ecstasy when that face was almost touching his 
 shoulder, on the morning of the drive to the 
 Annual Pendleton Picnic? That was another 
 mystery about Minna that the young man had 
 not solved: Happiness did not increase as dis- 
 tance lessened. Being so close to him, he could 
 hardly see her at all that immense-brimmed 
 hat hid not only the little head but most of the 
 body from an eye of Alfred's height; and being 
 so close to him, he must talk. What about? 
 Ah, that is what Alfred should like to have 
 known. It was the cool of the morning, the 
 clear sky promised no rain at the picnic, there 
 would be a great crowd, the scent of September
 
 THE PROPOSAL 113 
 
 fields reminded one of schooldays all this 
 had been diligently discussed. What next? 
 
 He remembered how Richard had looked, as, 
 waiting for Zack Flood to hitch up the carriage 
 that was to take her with her uncle and aunt, 
 she had gazed solemnly after her lovely cousin. 
 " Isn't Richard quaint! " he exclaimed, with a 
 sudden affectionate smile. 
 
 " Very quaint," was the dry response. No, 
 Minna did not want to talk about Richard. 
 After all, there was but one subject needful of 
 elucidation. The shadows were still sweet in 
 the lanes and the sunlight was mellowed in a 
 glowing haze that softened all the sharp edges 
 of the world. Two miles would bring them 
 to the small town of Pendleton; his story of 
 love must not be more than two miles long. 
 He tried to approach it lightly, feeling that 
 Minna must not be frightened by the holding 
 forth of commonplace marriage-bonds. 
 
 " Minna, this is our last ride, you know . . . 
 and I would like to drag in a subject that's all- 
 important to me, before I go back East. It's 
 a subject, a subject that I must drag in by
 
 II 4 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 drag in by my hook a la Captain Cuttle, you 
 understand . . ." Alfred could not dance on 
 eggs. 
 
 " Oh, yes, Captain Cuttle," said Minna in 
 an interested tone. " He was the man in that 
 horrid trig, example, that made us find the leg 
 of the triangle, wasn't he? Some of the girls 
 sat up all night to figure it out to the tenth deci- 
 mal place, but I had such an awful headache 
 that night I was excused. Yes, I'll never for- 
 get the leg of that triangle." 
 
 He would gladly have let it go at that, had 
 she not shown such an antipathy for her mathe- 
 matical Cuttle that he feared she might asso- 
 ciate his legs in the same low standing. " I re- 
 ferred to ' Dombey and Son.' " 
 
 " Oh, yes," cried the other with such anima- 
 tion that she tilted her hat-brim high enough for 
 him to see her smiling lips and one eye. 
 ;< Wasn't that the longest novel you ever read in 
 all your life! They made us take it as supple- 
 mentary reading and honestly I just thought I 
 wouldn't last through it. Everybody died at the 
 beginning of it, and got divorced at the end, but
 
 THE PROPOSAL 115 
 
 they were so long about it. I'll never forget 
 that novel to my dying day; we girls had a big 
 supper one night up in my room, and Jenny 
 Black overturned the lamp ; it was perfectly ter- 
 rible, and all the girls sitting on the floor mak- 
 ing Welsh rarebit and getting in each other's 
 way and just dying with chilled laughter 
 that's the kind the matron mustn't hear. I 
 grabbed up ' Dombey and Son ' to try to work 
 off a chapter before the midnight luncheon was 
 ready so I'd have that much out of the way, 
 when Jenny Black - she was working away at 
 that horrid example about the other leg of the 
 triangle yes, I got Captain Cuttle out of my 
 book into hers, didn't I? It was Cauvenant's 
 example, or Chauvenant's, or somebody begin- 
 ning with C. Jenny got so mad because she 
 couldn't get the answer (we'd chipped in to 
 buy a ' key') that she said, of a sudden but 
 it doesn't matter what she said, it was just about 
 the triangle's leg, and with that she stuck out 
 her own she moved her foot real quick, and 
 it sent that lamp rolling. We were almost 
 bursting to keep from laughing at what she said
 
 n6 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 it wasn't anything and perfectly wild 
 with terror for fear we'd be burned alive. Oh, 
 those days at school, weren't they too lovely to 
 last!" 
 
 Alfred had never found her so bewitching. 
 Such nai'vety, freshness, innocence, confidence! 
 And how joyous she was ! Evidently she was 
 glad to be with him. His heart beat rapidly, 
 and it was impossible to restrain the admiration 
 inspired by her adorable personality. " Oh, 
 Minna I love you I " His emotion was so 
 profound, so irrepressible, he felt he could go 
 on pouring forth words to the end of time, 
 words painting her charms and depicting his 
 devotion. But he couldn't. All had been 
 said. He sought desperately for any adequate 
 addition everything was a blank but the one 
 truth. He uttered it again in a thrilling voice 
 "I few you!" 
 
 " You mustn't." All the ripple had van- 
 ished from her voice. 
 
 "I I can't help it. I love you. Minna, 
 listen : I love you ! " 
 
 " But you mustn't! " Her tone was faint.
 
 THE PROPOSAL 117 
 
 He hoped her opposition was no stronger 
 than her voice. Again he sought desperately 
 for words. In talking to Richard about Minna, 
 there had been more than enough. He remem- 
 bered vaguely that he had said something to 
 Richard which, after pronouncement, had 
 struck him as pretty good. It was about wealth 
 and health and fame and about the outlines of 
 all his dreams. He couldn't remember enough 
 of it to use. " Minna but I can't help itl 
 Dear Minna if there were any prospect 
 any prospect in the world that some day I 
 don't care how far off some day you might 
 be my wife . . ." 
 
 " There'll never be the prospect," she said, 
 still faint and trembling. 
 
 " But you are quite sure?" 
 
 ** I know it. Yes, I am sure." 
 
 "You couldn't possibly love me? I don't 
 mean to annoy you with it, Minna, but I've 
 loved you so long that I can't give it up till 
 you've made it clear that it will never be any 
 use. I'd wait for you forever." 
 
 " It couldn't ever possibly be. You know
 
 we've always been friends, Alfred. I hope 
 we'll always be good friends." 
 
 " But you don't like me enough to feel that 
 you could ever like me better? " 
 
 " No. I never could." 
 
 " I'm not surprised, dear, the wonder would 
 be if you could care for me. But when we're 
 in love, we expect wonders, and I've almost ex- 
 pected you! But I'll not distress you with 
 letting you see how much I care. I'm nat- 
 urally a serious sort of chap a stick; but I'll 
 be as gay at the picnic as I ever am anywhere. 
 So you mustn't think your day is to be spoilt. 
 Minna, this is a sort of good-by not that I'll 
 ever cease to love you, for I couldn't possibly 
 love another the feeling has grown up 
 within me from early boyhood. I've never had 
 
 
 
 any dream of happiness except the one with 
 your name dear name ! Minna! I al- 
 ways knew I wasn't worthy of the dream but 
 it came anyway, came with the air I breathed. 
 I suppose many a king's dream has slipped 
 through a peasant's window. Minna, I'll say
 
 THE PROPOSAL 119 
 
 good-by to all that and and will you let 
 me kiss you good-by? " 
 
 \ 
 
 " But you are not going to leave me, Al- 
 fred." 
 
 " I know; but it's good-by all the same." 
 
 " I can't let you do that." 
 
 " Not as a comrade bidding adieu to a 
 wounded soldier? " 
 
 " But I can't let you do that. No, I can't 
 let you ! " 
 
 " You think even so little of me? " 
 
 She did not answer. But her hat continued 
 in the negative, and he said no more.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 
 
 Annual Pendleton Picnic was 
 held in Gridge's pasture, whose ten 
 acres of deep ravines and steep 
 ridges lay just beyond the southern limit of the 
 straggling town. B. M. Gridge was one of 
 the most interesting men in the community, not 
 by virtue of anything he ever did, said, or 
 thought, but because he owned and conducted 
 the largest drygoods store in Pendleton, and 
 because he had never been married. 
 
 " He's a mighty fine fellow," declared 
 Zack Flood earnestly, in answer to Juanita 
 Smith's slighting remark. Her ridicule de- 
 served serious rebuke, but Zack was so glad to 
 meet her in the noisy crowd, that he could not 
 help smiling. Juanita was running away from 
 B. M. Gridge at that moment. 
 
 " Help ! help ! " she panted. " I have to go
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 121 
 
 to the city with him on the four o'clock train 
 aunt will chaperone us there's a great ac- 
 tress at the Western Opera House, first of the 
 season, and I have to go. You know how per- 
 severing he is. He never lets up and at last 
 aunt said I must, isn't it awful! But I won't 
 spend the day with him, the night's enough." 
 Zack listened with his slow, amused smile. 
 He was always glad to meet Juanita because she 
 always treated him as if he were young. And 
 she was so little surely the smallest creature, 
 in the world who ever had a lover as big as 
 Jack Palmer it was impossible for the 
 farmer to take her quite seriously. He 
 couldn't help liking the girl who talked to him 
 at greater length and with more freedom than 
 his own daughter, and who was so quick, so 
 animated, so bright- faced; and whose diminu- 
 tive stature made her harshest word seem 
 amusing. Moreover, if there was in the 
 world a bigger bore than any other in Zack's 
 world, it was this Annual Pendleton Picnic. 
 To walk from one hollow to another, drink at 
 the lemonade-stand, eat at the peanut-wagon,
 
 122 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 listen to the public speakers who could not be 
 condensed as if they were newspapers what 
 was this to the farmer? It was worse after 
 dinner because you always ate too much and 
 there was that to consider. But Minna liked 
 it, the noises and flashing colors of several 
 thousand people completely absorbed her 
 there was not left to view so much as a bit of 
 her hat brim. She was everywhere, mingling 
 in the gay laughter then presto ! she was 
 nowhere. 
 
 In the meantime here was Juanita, hurrying 
 Zack from one crowd to another in mad flight 
 from B. M. Gridge. " He looks like a dry- 
 goods man," said Juanita, " and like nothing 
 else. You can't be near him without feeling 
 like walking up to his counter. He lets this 
 pretty place all go to waste while he steeps his 
 soul in thread and pins." 
 
 " He'd like to steep his soul in you," re- 
 marked the other, knowing how hopelessly his 
 old friend was infatuated in the tiny morsel 
 clinging to his arm. 
 
 She gave her head a sharp toss that made
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 123 
 
 him laugh. " I never held his age against 
 him," she declared, " but he's not satisfied with 
 it, himself. If I was a hundred, I'd be a cen- 
 tury. But Mr. Gridge is all the time trying to 
 get back his youth. They say that he stands 
 on his hands every morning before breakfast 
 that's for suppleness. And I know myself 
 that when he comes to see me, he spends half 
 the time trying to balance himself on one chair- 
 leg, thinking I'm not noticing what he's do- 
 ing that's for control of his muscles. I 
 wish he'd fall over, and maybe some evening he 
 will! He doesn't care for anything but physi- 
 cal exercises and his store. I thought when my 
 engagement was publicly announced that I could 
 do something, but no ! You see, aunt is 
 blinded, she thinks he's everything, and he 
 pretends to come to see us both; and it's aunt 
 that he declares must see that great actress. 
 I'll just be tagging along. But / under- 
 stand 'em. They can't fool me I I know 
 aunt wouldn't marry him if he owned half 
 a dozen stores. All right neither would I ! " 
 she added defiantly. Then she laughed rue-
 
 i2 4 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 fully. " But did you ever know anything like 
 it to be engaged to one man, and have your 
 own family encouraging another one in his at- 
 tentions ! " 
 
 " Perhaps your aunt thinks . . ." 
 
 " I suppose she does. But what of it? 
 Everything's fixed. Who's going to change be- 
 cause of what she thinks? Let her have your 
 B. M. Gridge!" 
 
 Zack Flood turned abruptly to the thought 
 uppermost in his mind. " Juanita, Richard 
 told me a while ago But do you know where 
 Jack Palmer is, to-day? " 
 
 She smiled with a pretty blush of happy 
 proprietorship. " He's in the city, hard at 
 work, as he's been for two months. He'll 
 show you worldly-wise farmers that he can 
 make a living as well as lose a farm. When 
 Jack had to go to work because nothing was 
 left, he just went to work. Poor fellow, it's 
 awfully hot for him over there, and every day 
 just the same but he'll come out at the top ! 
 You'll see, Mr. Zachariah Flood ! I want you 
 and your old school-chum, B. M. Gridge, to be
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 125 
 
 in the front row at the church when the pews 
 are ribboned off." 
 
 " Poor B. M. I " murmured Zack. " There 
 never was a kinder or more reliable man. He 
 deserves a better fate than your front bench. 
 The reason I asked about Jack Richard told 
 me, not long ago, that she saw him in a buggy." 
 
 "When?" ' 
 
 " About two o'clock." 
 
 " To-day? Oh, that was somebody else. It 
 must have been somebody else because Jack is 
 hard at work. He asked for a holiday to come 
 to the picnic, and those horrid bears that think 
 they own him body and soul, wouldn't let him 
 off. I had a note from him last night telling 
 me not to expect him." 
 
 " Then of course it was somebody else. 
 And Richard is near-sighted, anyway. But 
 Jack is pretty easy to distinguish in a crowd." 
 
 " It was somebody else," remarked Juanita, 
 indifferently. " Richard is such an odd little 
 hermit I don't think she knows how anybody 
 looks, for she always has her eyes in a mag- 
 azine."
 
 126 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Just then a bevy of some twenty girls all of 
 about the same age, and all in white dresses 
 and white slippers and stockings came surging 
 upon them, and Juanita was borne away, the 
 smallest by far of the crowd, and the merriest. 
 Thus rudely snatched back from his dip into 
 the far-away years, Zack Flood, with a smile 
 that showed the youth-light still lingered, went 
 in search of his wife. 
 
 He found her on a long bench appropriated 
 by tired mothers and a few bored fathers. 
 They were all farmer-folk looking rather 
 wistfully at the town throngs that swept noisily 
 by, and thinking of the homegoing and the 
 cares and chickens at the end of it. Their 
 forms were shrunken forward as if feeling the 
 need of accustomed burdens to hold the shoul- 
 ders erect, but their faces had the grim de- 
 termination of those who never meant to say 
 die. 
 
 Zack sank upon the bench beside Mrs. Flood 
 with " When do you reckon Minna will get 
 enough of this? " 
 
 "O Zack!" she reproached him. "The
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 127 
 
 afternoon has hardly begun. She will want to 
 stay till the moon rises. And I'm not a bit 
 tired. I'm enjoying myself the best in the 
 world!" 
 
 " Yes," said Zack, staring at the trees that 
 shaded them, " it's awful fun. Wonder why 
 B. M. doesn't cut out those dead branches? 
 To-morrow I'm going to change my cattle to 
 the East Meadow. It ought to have been done 
 to-day. Say, honey, Richard told me awhile 
 ago that she saw Jack Palmer in a buggy, driv- 
 ing out of the grounds." 
 
 "Jack Palmer!" echoed his wife, with an 
 uneasy movement. 
 
 " Yes. But Juanita says he isn't here. 
 Richard says he had a girl with him but she 
 couldn't see who it was, he drove so fast. 
 Juanita might be mistaken, you know. Jack 
 has a way of bobbing up. It'd be pretty tough 
 on Juanita if he is after some other girl 
 Richard ought to know Jack half a mile 
 away." 
 
 She spoke with some severity. " Richard 
 shouldn't have said a word about it unless she
 
 128 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 were certain. And if she knew it was Jack, 
 she ought to know the girl with him." 
 
 He scrutinized her silently. He knew his 
 wife's ways so thoroughly that he was instantly 
 aware of something hidden. It might be that 
 she was displeased with Richard about some- 
 thing, in which case especially if it related 
 to Minna whatever Richard might say or do 
 would be censured. Mrs. Flood had no more 
 use for Jack Palmer than he, and they were 
 equally pleased that " business in the city " 
 should keep him out of the community. " Rich- 
 ard was just surprised and told me because 
 she thought " 
 
 " Of course she would tell you" Mrs. Flood 
 interposed, displeased. " She has not been 
 near me since dinner. I think it strange that 
 she should say she doesn't know who the girl 
 was. If she knew Jack, she ought to have 
 known the girl. Juanita is going to the city 
 with Mr. Gridge to the theater, and while 
 there, she expects to see Jack. Her aunt told 
 me so. I think Richard had very little to do 
 to report what she couldn't have been sure of."
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 129 
 
 Zack wandered away, thoughtful. His 
 wife's speech had convinced him that she was 
 hiding something of serious import. He could 
 have found out what it was by inquiry, had he 
 known what to ask. This vague uncertainty 
 made him restless, and having nothing else to 
 do, he concluded to seek Richard and, if pos- 
 sible, learn something definite. 
 
 It was difficult to find any one in that ever- 
 shifting scene, and particularly Richard who 
 had developed no intimacies since coming to 
 live with the Floods, hence was not to be ex- 
 pected as part of any flying squadron of femi- 
 ninity. However, Zack continued his search 
 moved by a nameless uneasiness concerning he 
 hardly knew what. 
 
 In the meantime, if Richard had feared she 
 might be sought for, she could hardly have 
 found a more advantageous hiding-place than 
 the little hollow where, at that very moment, 
 she lay on shadowed turf. It was a sort of 
 grass-well, sunk in the midst of that dry world 
 of social activity for the catching of happiness. 
 It was not deep enough to tap such a bubbling
 
 130 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 spring, but there was at least promise of con- 
 tent. Resting upon the sloping side, Richard 
 could hear the blending of myriad voices, the 
 passing footsteps, the stamping and neighing 
 of tethered horses, and always the violent 
 clashings of the local band with the steam 
 merry-go-round. Best of all, nobody could see 
 her, unless beaten paths were forsaken and 
 nearly everybody follows the paths made by 
 other feet. She had found this verdant well 
 because of a tendency to avoid places where 
 everybody goes; happiness started a trickling 
 vein when Alfred Montgomery peeped over 
 the margin. 
 
 " I see ! " cried Alfred, scrambling down be- 
 side her, and propping himself against the only 
 tree. " The way to enjoy a picnic is to keep 
 away from it." His manner was so gay that 
 Richard fairly glowed, and glowing, looked 
 like a new Richard, a Richard too thin, no 
 doubt, but counting a great deal for what there 
 was of her. 
 
 Unfortunately, Alfred's gaiety was the 
 forced nonchalance of a hero, who calls his
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 131 
 
 mortal wound a " mere scratch." It was too 
 great an effort to keep it up. " I'm all in, 
 Richard," he confided, but without uttering the 
 groan in his heart. " I mention it to post you 
 up; and now we'll not speak a word just 
 rest in silence." 
 
 He closed his eyes to indicate that he wasn't 
 there. 
 
 Her color ebbed, vanished. The hollow 
 seemed coldly deserted, whereas before the 
 young man's coming, thoughts had filled it to 
 the brim. 
 
 " She said," suddenly announced Alfred, who 
 was there after all, u that she could never care 
 for me. I am simply impossible. I'm so dry 
 and prosy and boresome that a million years 
 wouldn't make me mellow. The longer I am, 
 the more knotty and gnarled I grow! She 
 plunged those heavenly autumn-brown eyes into 
 the remotest future, but she couldn't see me." 
 He relapsed. 
 
 Richard stirred uneasily. 
 
 A shower of confetti directed against an in- 
 visible enemy rained down upon them. The
 
 132 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 whine of the merry-go-round continued to jab 
 into the continuity of the brass band's popular 
 air. The high notes of a public speaker evoked 
 visions of a pungent platform of undressed 
 pine, its uprights swathed in'red, white and blue, 
 the sun boiling the resin out of its exposed 
 boards, and the bit of ice early giving up the 
 unequal contest in the water-pitcher. 
 
 " It doesn't matter whether I'm here or 
 there," he suddenly declared. " I've lost the 
 sense of variety. China would seem the same 
 as California, without her. And there'll never 
 be an end to this. . . . I'll always want her and 
 she'll never want me. If it were any physical 
 hurt, you'd know time would cure it, or you'd 
 die. But I'll never be cured and I suppose I 
 won't die. I'm too weakly. Did you ever 
 notice that it's generally the strong people that 
 do the dying? " 
 
 Richard started to her feet. u I wish you 
 wouldn't talk about dying," she exclaimed. 
 " It hurts me." 
 
 " It needn't. I don't mind. There's no 
 Minna for me, and I don't want anything else.
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 133 
 
 I'll go to-morrow not that I care whether I 
 do anything at the university or not that's 
 ceased to interest me. But I must get away, I 
 mustn't see her again." 
 
 Richard saw the world in cold gray tints. 
 
 " I'm a brute to come here and spoil your 
 reveries. But the truth is, Richard, I'm so 
 selfish, I'm willing to make you unhappy to get 
 ever so little comfort. You see how weak I am 
 in every way. But it would be different if I 
 didn't know it's for always. I'll never be any 
 good because I'm too poor to live in the open 
 air in a climate that might make me strong. I 
 must make my living with my wits, practicing 
 law when I'm fit for it, and there's nothing 
 about me for a woman to love, nobody could 
 care for me because I'm no good, and oh, you 
 can't imagine how I want to be loved by 
 her! I don't know why I let myself suppose 
 she or anybody else could take a fancy to me. 
 This isn't despondency. The only merit I 
 claim is looking squarely in the face of facts." 
 
 Richard interposed breathlessly: " If you 
 go to-morrow, I won't see you again, will I ? "
 
 134 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Not until next vacation a whole year 
 a long, long doleful " 
 
 " Then if this is the last time we are to 
 meet . . . And you are very, very sure that 
 your unfortunate attachment is forever and 
 ever? " 
 
 " Yes just the way you said it, Richard. 
 You understand me." 
 
 " Then, since we're to meet no more, and you 
 are always to love Cousin Minna I am go- 
 ing to tell you something." But instead of 
 telling him what was in her mind, she stopped 
 short and colored painfully, trying in vain to 
 still the strange, wild beating of her heart. 
 
 Alfred, seated with his back against the tree, 
 hands lying loosely between his knees, did not 
 look up. In his mood of utter dejection, what 
 could he care to see? 
 
 " There is one thing," exclaimed Richard, 
 escaping from her former purpose and seeming 
 harsh because desperately hiding her real feel- 
 ing; " you are a great deal more than you claim. 
 There is a world of entertainment and and 
 high talk in you. Why will you try to make
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 135 
 
 yourself out nothing? Why are you deter- 
 mined to make everybody believe you a minor 
 character? Did you ever hear me say I'm 
 nothing but a poor orphan? I know there's 
 something in me I can feel it ; some day it'll 
 come out in a big book, then people will find 
 me out. Now they think me what you say you 
 are nothing! But I know I'm great that 
 upholds me ! " Her eyes burned and her head 
 lifted itself proudly, but the next moment, tears 
 came at sight of his haggard face. She moved 
 impulsively to his side. " Oh if I could 
 give you some of my courage ! " she exclaimed, 
 clenching her hand over her heart. 
 
 " Dear little friend ! " he murmured, reach- 
 ing up to take her hand. " You'd make me 
 brave if you could, but at this moment, I con- 
 fess, I'm a coward. Isn't there a tiny bit of 
 credit just in the confession? I'm afraid, oh, 
 Richard, I'm afraid of life and its long des- 
 ert stretches ! " He smiled in a way to touch 
 her deeply. " My ' high talk.' Thank you ! 
 But that's really a disadvantage, it's a barrier 
 I can't surmount. ... I wonder what Jack
 
 136 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 says to her? They can talk together. . . . 
 Do you observe that I want a little credit even 
 in giving everything up? I'm still human, you 
 see ! Don't be unhappy about me ; the fact is, 
 I'm not worth it. Truly, I am an exceedingly 
 minor character and so uncomfortable, for with 
 every bit of my soul which seems unusually 
 large, now that I think of it " another smile 
 half whimsical, half melancholy " I want 
 what is never to be mine." 
 
 " Make it yours by wanting it all the harder. 
 Oh, be brave be brave so you'll not dis- 
 honor me ! Because I have made you my 
 knight." Richard swiftly stooped and kissed 
 him upon the brow. " It's good for you to 
 know," she faltered, panic-stricken at what she 
 had done, "that somebody can love you 
 . . . somebody does! " With that, she fled, 
 leaving him breathless, gazing after her with 
 bewildered eyes, still feeling the soft warmth of 
 her lips. 
 
 Richard was so dazed by the deed she could 
 never have thought possible, that she almost 
 ran into her uncle without observing him.
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 137 
 
 " Found at last! " exclaimed Zack, catching 
 her arm as she fled. " Look here, my dear, 
 haven't you the slightest notion who that girl 
 was?" 
 
 She looked at him, her face crimson, her 
 bosom tumultuous. " I don't understand," she 
 faltered guiltily. Did he mean herself? She 
 was conscious that he watched her narrowly 
 and that she looked stupidly over his head, but 
 it was impossible to collect her wits or control 
 her features. 
 
 He tried again : " Absolutely sure that was 
 Jack Palmer in the buggy? " 
 
 " Oh," faltered Richard, still panting. 
 " Yes. I know it was. I know it." She re- 
 peated the words in a wild effort to regain com- 
 posure. " Oh, yes, it was Mr. Jack Palmer 
 not a doubt of it." 
 
 "Which way did they go?" he demanded 
 sternly. Her manner confirmed his worst 
 fears. She pointed with trembling hand. In 
 that direction lay his farm. 
 
 It was not long after, when he drew his wife 
 to one side : " Honey, I've hitched up go-
 
 ing over to the house for awhile thought I'd 
 explain, so if you missed me . . ." 
 
 "Going home?" Mrs. Flood echoed, start- 
 led. " But what will Minna say? Minna 
 might want the horses for something; or she 
 might need you." 
 
 " I don't expect to be gone over an hour. 
 Two-mile drive there and back and " 
 
 " But aren't you enjoying the picnic? It will 
 seem so strange to Minna for you to go back 
 home." 
 
 " I've taken a notion in my head," he an- 
 swered, rather jerkily, " that Jack Palmer is up 
 to something. Richard says he drove in that 
 direction and I wouldn't be surprised to find 
 him at our house, both him and that girl. Of 
 course it's a curious notion. All mine are. 
 Anyway I'll be glad to tell you when I come 
 back, that I found the farm deserted." 
 
 " I'm going with you." Mrs. Flood was 
 pale. 
 
 " But if Minna missed you, honey, wouldn't 
 she think it strange? " 
 
 " As you said, we won't be gone long."
 
 RICHARD'S KISS 139 
 
 She hurried after him to the outskirts of the 
 grove where many horses were fastened. 
 
 He made no effort to dissuade her. " When 
 did you see Minna last? " he inquired as he 
 turned the wheel for her to get into the car- 
 riage. 
 
 " Oh, not so very long ago at noon at 
 the picnic dinner. What time is it now?" 
 
 " After four. Juanita and her aunt have 
 already left for the city with B. M. Gridge." 
 He drove rapidly out upon the road. 
 
 " I thought / saw Jack Palmer in a buggy, 
 about one o'clock," faltered Mrs. Flood, pres- 
 ently. " I didn't say anything because I wasn't 
 sure. There was just a flash of him as he 
 passed. I saw the girl plainer than I did him." 
 
 " Know her ? " he looked swiftly back over 
 the front seat. 
 
 "I it seemed so." She was leaning back 
 against the cushion with a pallid face. 
 
 " Who did you think it was? " 
 
 " Everything was so sudden," she murmured 
 faintly. 
 
 He lashed at the horses, and they, unused to
 
 140 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 the whip, bounded forward. It was all he could 
 do to draw them down from a gallop, and not 
 another word was spoken till the yard-gate was 
 reached.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 
 
 AT the gate, Zack Flood leaped out and 
 began tying the horses. 
 "What are you doing?" ex- 
 claimed his wife, with apprehensive gaze. 
 " Aren't you going to drive me up to the 
 house? " 
 
 As he swiftly tightened the slipknot, his eyes 
 devoured the yard, house and barnlot beyond. 
 Everything in sight was exactly as he had left 
 it on driving away to the picnic that morning 
 with one exception. An upstairs window 
 was open the window near which the sugar- 
 maple held its leafy screen the window of 
 Minna's room. 
 
 It seemed to Mrs. Flood that he had hardly 
 touched the ground before he was darting over 
 the stile. " Zack ! " she called, piteously, " oh, 
 Zack!" 
 
 141
 
 i 4 2 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 He looked back, without slackening his pace. 
 His feet were winged with the magic of youth; 
 but the face he turned toward her was pinched 
 and whitened as with sudden age. His boot 
 rang upon the front porch before she could find 
 strength to creep from the carriage. 
 
 The front door was locked, as he had left it. 
 Even while thrusting the key into the lock, he 
 shot a glance toward the lot, thinking that from 
 the porch-elevation, he might catch sight of a 
 horse and buggy hidden behind the barn. The 
 grassless extent surrounding the barn showed 
 nothing in the mellow sunlight but the long 
 feeding-trough where a cat lay sleeping, the 
 scattered corncobs forming a network of sil- 
 ver, pearl and gold and six or seven mules 
 that had straggled up from the pasture against 
 feeding-time. 
 
 He dashed open the door, and almost fell 
 into the front room. The house was as silent 
 as the deserted farm. There was the sudden 
 deadness of wall-enclosed air after a hot day 
 spent in the open, and the strangeness of 
 deathlike stillness to oppose his agony.
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 143 
 
 The large apartment, a sitting-room, had 
 four doors. Besides the one he had entered, 
 there was one opening out upon a side-porch, 
 one leading to the parlor, and one communi- 
 cating with the dining-room. With swift 
 strides he reached the other outside door and 
 drew it open since his departure that morn- 
 ing, it had been unfastened. 
 
 He ran next to the dining-room door, for in 
 that room was the staircase. This door was 
 never locked, but now he could not open it. 
 Some one held the knob on the other side in 
 a grip not to be overcome. 
 
 Resistance infuriated the farmer. He mut- 
 tered between his teeth in a low voice, as if to 
 himself, " I'll get it open ! " 
 
 In a corner behind an old-fashioned etagere 
 stood his shotgun. He darted thither, but it 
 had been so long since the weapon was in his 
 hand, that the piece of furniture had become 
 wedged against it. In drawing it out, the con- 
 tents of its fragile shelves came crashing to the 
 floor shells, albums, loose photographs, bits 
 of coral, gilt-edged books of poems. Because
 
 144 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 of the delay from this downfall, the inner door 
 opened before he could snatch forth the gun. 
 When he wheeled about, his antagonist had al- 
 ready entered the room he stood, now, with 
 his back against the closed door. 
 
 With the man he sought unexpectedly before 
 him and in his power, Zack Flood lost his fever- 
 ish sense of the need of haste. Standing in the 
 midst of the wreckage, he raised the gun to his 
 shoulder, pausing before it was adjusted, then 
 overcoming his hesitation rather by force of will 
 than flame of passion. 
 
 " I am going to kill you," he said, and his 
 tone was touched by something like surprise. 
 
 If he had seen any cowardly shrinking, any 
 craven show of mortal terror, of impotent guilt, 
 all would have been over in a moment. But 
 Jack Palmer stood not only erect and brave, but 
 calmly at his ease. Into the chaos of the 
 farmer's mind shot the disconcerting thought 
 that the young man was wonderfully handsome 
 while the impression he produced of bulk and 
 vitality somehow gave to the deadly threat a 
 touch of the grotesque. What had happened
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 145 
 
 between this interloper and his daughter had 
 happened for all time ; but if he took the other's 
 life, it must be now, and the instant the parlor 
 door was snatched open and his daughter darted 
 into the room with a wild scream, he knew the 
 decisive moment was lost. 
 
 As Minna, with outstretched arms, rushed 
 forward to seize the threatening weapon, her 
 mother came in from the front porch, and stood 
 appalled. 
 
 "Father!" shrieked Minna. "You don't 
 understand. He is my husband we were 
 married more than a month ago . . ." 
 
 " Married ! " Mrs. Flood echoed. 
 " Minna ! " Her amazement kept her voice 
 scarce above a whisper, but even on receiving 
 this astounding fact, she sought desperately to 
 turn it to her daughter's defense. " Now you 
 understand, Zack," she faltered, addressing her 
 husband with glazed eyes. " You see how it is. 
 They they married and and were afraid 
 to tell." 
 
 "Did you know?" he asked, with sudden 
 fierceness.
 
 146 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " You see," she cried, laughing hysterically, 
 " it was all to be explained at the right time 
 . . . at the right time " She fell to the 
 floor, unconscious. 
 
 Zack turned away from Minna, and quietly 
 replaced the gun in the corner. " Did your 
 mother know?" he asked, not looking round. 
 
 Minna sank down beside the prostrate 
 figure. " Oh, my darling mother ! " she 
 moaned. "Mother! Have I broken your 
 heart? Won't you speak to me? Father! 
 she doesn't move she isn't breathing. Come 
 quick. Mother ! Mother ! " 
 
 Mrs. Flood quivered, brought back to the 
 world by the voice that might almost have re- 
 covered her from death. 
 
 Minna lifted the white face in her arm and 
 kissed it convulsively. " You have forgiven 
 me, haven't you, Mother? You have forgiven 
 us both, haven't you ? " She burst into pas- 
 sionate weeping. " Oh, I'm afraid you are go- 
 ing to be ill Father, I'm afraid she is going 
 to be ill!" 
 
 Mrs. Flood tried to whisper a protest.
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 147 
 
 " Let me lift her on the couch," said Jack, 
 coming forward. 
 
 Zack stepped between him and the women. 
 " Did she know about your marriage? " he de- 
 manded in a restrained voice. 
 
 " Now I know this is a great surprise to you, 
 Mr. Flood, and I'm awfully sorry about that 
 part of it, though there didn't seem any other 
 way. And I can understand! very well, that 
 you'd rather see the devil than me, at present 
 so I'll leave. We were married at the 
 county-seat the day of Minna's auto-party . . . 
 and when Mrs. Flood is well, we can talk it 
 all over, and decide on what we are to do." 
 
 " Don't go that way," came the feeble 
 voice of Mrs. Flood. " Come here, Jack." 
 
 With a light step he gained Minna's side, 
 and knelt beside her. 
 
 "You love Minna," Mrs. Flood faltered, 
 " love me, too." 
 
 He answered heartily, " Sure ! Why, Mrs. 
 Flood, haven't I always loved this family? I 
 don't see why we couldn't be perfectly happy, 
 all of us together. Let me lift you up."
 
 148 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " No, I want to lie here, awhile. I am so 
 tired. My heart isn't as strong as it used to 
 be, and that picnic was very hot and tiresome 
 and so long." 
 
 " Bring the sofa-pillow, Jack," whispered 
 Minna. 
 
 " Oh, no, Minna, dear, you aren't tired hold- 
 ing my head, are you ? " 
 
 "How could I be tired of holding you?" 
 exclaimed Minna in self-reproach. " And, 
 Mother, you are a perfect angel. We had to 
 marry, or be miserable all our lives. You 
 wouldn't want your little girl to die of a broken 
 heart, I know." 
 
 " I want my little girl to be oh so, so 
 happy " Mrs. Flood suddenly burst into 
 uncontrollable sobbing. " You'll make her 
 happy, Jack, won't you? " 
 
 " I'm going to do my best, Mrs. Flood, my 
 very best." 
 
 " He is all my happiness ! " cried Minna. 
 " But father was so set against it that we knew 
 he never could understand; it wouldn't be any 
 use to try to make him see things in their true
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 149 
 
 light. If we'd waited a thousand years, it 
 would have been the same to him." 
 
 " You only promised to wait six months," 
 said Zack. 
 
 " And and besides anyway, it's done, 
 now; we can't have it any other way; it's done." 
 
 " As I understand it," said Zack, re- 
 strainedly, " you got married the day you toured 
 to the city? There were four of you in the 
 car you two and Juanita Smith and B. M. 
 Gridge?" 
 
 " Yes, and Mr. Gridge was so devoted to 
 Juanita " 
 
 " Who was your betrothed, I believe ? " he 
 turned to Jack, politely. 
 
 " Well and and Jack and I thought it 
 would be a it would be so so funny, you 
 know oh, Father, you could never understand. 
 It's all in the new world, the new thought . . . 
 We stopped at the county-seat for dinner, and 
 while Mr. Gridge was showing Juanita the 
 town, we slipped to the justice's " 
 
 Suddenly Jack gave a curious sound which 
 he tried to cover by a racking cough. He felt
 
 150 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 sincerely sorry for all this unhappiness, but to 
 save his life he couldn't help remembering how 
 the infatuated B. M. Gridge had triumphed 
 when carrying away Juanita to see the sights. 
 
 " I believe I am all right, now," murmured 
 Mrs. Flood. " Help me up, Daughter and 
 and Jack my son . . ." 
 
 They lifted her gently to a chair while her 
 husband looked on without protest. He said 
 to Minna: 
 
 " And you call that * funny.' I should call 
 it but I am old-fashioned, no doubt." 
 
 " Yes, Father," she cried, quickly, " you are 
 old-fashioned, the dearest old-fashioned father 
 that ever lived, but still but still, you are not 
 in in the current of life as it is lived 
 to-day, and you can't see how we look at it 
 I mean, Jack and I ..." 
 
 " And Juanita," added her father, simply. 
 " She thinks it funny, too ? Or does she know 
 anything about it? " 
 
 " You see," Minna explained, " it had to be 
 kept a secret from her because if it was to be 
 a secret, nobody must know ; and of course we'd
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 151 
 
 have told you and mother if we'd told anybody. 
 So we couldn't tell Juanita, though Jack felt 
 miserable about it." 
 
 " I've felt all the time that she ought to 
 know," declared Jack, " and since I couldn't 
 explain, I've kept out of her sight. I just drove 
 over to-day from the nearest station to see 
 my wife. I didn't mean for any of you to 
 know. I hoped this could be kept hidden till 
 Minna's six months' promise was up so that 
 well, I hardly know how to explain it. I might 
 as well say frankly that we loved each other 
 and couldn't wait, but we did our best to spare 
 your feelings." 
 
 " I'll telegraph to Juanita," remarked Zack, 
 collectedly; " I can get her at the hotel and I'd 
 rather she'd know how things stand, before she 
 comes back to Pendleton." 
 
 "Hadn't you better leave that to me?" 
 asked Jack, coldly. 
 
 " Oh, no, I'm afraid you wouldn't do it." 
 
 Minna burst into tears. 
 
 " Zack! " his wife reproached him. " Isn't 
 everything sad enough without making it worse?
 
 152 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 As Minna says, it can't be helped. It's done, 
 now. Zack, you are as hard as stone you 
 are breaking Minna's heart." 
 
 " But she's not going to break mine," said 
 Zack, suddenly bringing his clenched fist down 
 upon his desk with such violence that the top 
 was split. He turned his back on them, but 
 it was only for a moment. When he turned 
 again, his face was white, but his eyes steady, 
 his voice in good control. He looked at Jack. 
 " You made a good suggestion awhile ago. I 
 wish you'd leave us till I can get this thing 
 thoroughly fixed in my mind." 
 
 The young man stepped to the door with 
 alacrity, saying, " I am awfully sorry . . . 
 I'll do everything in my power to make you like 
 me." 
 
 " I do like you," was Zack's surprising re- 
 sponse. 
 
 " Minna's happiness is the first consideration 
 of our hearts," called Mrs. Flood, consolingly. 
 " It's hard for us to understand how our little 
 girl without letting us know oh, without
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 153 
 
 a word!" She started laughing again the 
 laughter that never provokes response; but she 
 clenched her teeth in the fierce determination to 
 master herself. "We'll be all right," she 
 gasped. " We do like you, Jack, and we would 
 give our lives to make Minna happy." 
 
 When Jack was gone, the little family, now 
 so strange to one another, remained silent for 
 some time. Although Minna felt that her 
 father had just cause to be disappointed in her, 
 she did not think him justified in such lengths 
 of disappointment. It was axiomatic that she 
 and Jack must marry, and the delay of six 
 months could have made no difference, except 
 to lose that space of happiness out of their lives. 
 And at the end of six months, it would have 
 been just as bitter for her parents. Of course, 
 it seemed wrong to take so vital a step without 
 a word of warning. Yes, it was wrong. But 
 if one's father and mother do not forgive, 
 surely forgiveness is a mockery. Everything 
 considered, her mother had been brave. She 
 was a real mother, and Minna, kneeling beside
 
 154 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 her chair with her arms about the fragile form, 
 sobbed repentently, and pled for the old love, 
 knowing it was hers already. 
 
 When Zack roused himself from a state of 
 intense reflection, he telephoned a telegraphic 
 message to the Pendleton station-agent for 
 Juanita Smith's aunt. Then he drew a chair 
 near his wife, and bade Minna take it. 
 
 " I want you both to listen to me with close 
 attention," he said, at the same time seating 
 himself opposite them. If his hand or voice 
 had trembled, if his eyes had dimmed, Minna 
 would have thrown herself in his lap with pas- 
 sionate entreaties for Jack's pardon. But he 
 was so matter-of-fact and apparently so indif- 
 ferent, that the girl was hardened. She turned 
 a cold, set face to him; it was Mrs. Flood, un- 
 derstanding him better, who showed great agi- 
 tation, threatening every moment to interrupt 
 his even flow of carefully-chosen words. 
 
 " I am forty-nine. To young people like 
 Minna and Jack, that seems pretty old old 
 enough for me to be willing to retire as a 
 back number to fall quietly into the ranks
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 155 
 
 of the old men. But to a fellow of sixty or 
 seventy, I'm still in my prime. It's all as you 
 look at it. And this is the way that / look at 
 it: my life isn't finished, yet. Since I bought 
 this farm I've been at the head of it; I've added 
 to it till we have about seven hundred acres; 
 and it's mine. If crops are good or bad, it's 
 all between me and the weather. Everything's 
 planted as I say, and grows as the Lord pleases. 
 This means living, to me, and I don't feel 
 ready, yet, to have others regulate my life. 
 I'm not young, neither am I so far along as 
 to let others lead me where I would not go, as 
 the Bible says." 
 
 " Poor Minna I " murmured Mrs. Flood, 
 stroking her erect head. " You mustn't feel so 
 toward your father. There's nothing he 
 wouldn't do for your sake." 
 
 " Yes," responded Zack, " there's one thing 
 I wouldn't do. I can't cease being Zack 
 Flood. I'd give my life for Minna, I'd give 
 every cent I have in the world to you two, if 
 necessary; but I'll not give up my independence. 
 So I am going away."
 
 156 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Going away! " his wife echoed, in terror. 
 " Zack ! When ? For how long ? " 
 
 " And the question for you to decide, honey," 
 his voice suddenly softened, " is, whether or not 
 you'll go with me." 
 
 " But I can't go anywhere, now. I'm not 
 ready for any kind of journey " 
 
 " You won't have to get ready. It isn't the 
 sort of journey you need make preparations 
 for. It's simply to drop out of our lives." 
 
 She was thrilled with the quick thought that 
 he must have lost his mind. 
 
 " And we'll begin all over again," he added, 
 simply. 
 
 " But I'm too old to begin life all over," she 
 reasoned. " And our life is good as it is. We 
 have Minna and we have our home and " 
 
 " It'll be a week before I can get things in 
 shape," he remarked. " That'll give you time 
 to think it over carefully " 
 
 " But there's nothing to consider. We can't 
 leave Minna and besides, here is your farm " 
 
 " I'll have a lot to do," he said, rising 
 abruptly. " There's all that cattle to be put
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 157 
 
 in the other pasture . . . yes, while I stay, I'll 
 look after things the same as if it were for 
 always. But I'll have to go to the city the first 
 of the week I'll be gone only a day, I think. 
 Then I'll come back and make out the papers. 
 You'll have to make up your mind by that time, 
 honey, whether you'll go or stay. I'll divide 
 this farm into two equal parts, and make over 
 half of it to Minna. If you go with me, I'll 
 sell the other half and we'll take the money to 
 start our new lives in another state. But if 
 you stay here, I'll have the other half made 
 over for you to do what you please with." 
 
 " Zack, are you losing your mind? O 
 Zack ! " she started up and ran to throw her 
 arms about him. " What can you mean? God 
 help us all you are thinking of deserting me 
 deserting your wife deserting after our 
 vows to cling to each other till death I won't 
 let you go away you wouldn't do what you 
 have said it's because you're angry with 
 your poor little girl who is miserable enough 
 without this cruel blow from you." 
 
 Minna's mouth was compressed to a hard
 
 158 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 pale line. She did not believe she could ever 
 feel the same toward her father after his hor- 
 rible threat. 
 
 " No, honey, I'll not desert you," he cried, 
 putting his arm about the thin, quivering form. 
 " I'll take you with me and we'll find what hap- 
 piness we can. I never dreamed of going 
 without you, if you consent. Say you'll go." 
 
 " But how can we go? Here is the farm. 
 And we can't leave Minna." 
 
 " Minna is provided for. She has a hus- 
 band, and I will deed her three hundred and 
 twenty-five acres. Minna won't need us." 
 
 " But we need her, Zack." 
 
 " No. I used to think we did, but we don't." 
 
 " / need her, Zack, I couldn't be happy very 
 far from Minna. Would it be very far? " 
 
 " So far, we would neither hear of her nor 
 see her again at least till five or ten years 
 had passed." 
 
 " But I couldn't agree to that you know I 
 couldn't take the heart out of my bosom " 
 
 " Then I shall go alone." 
 
 " You do mean to desert me ! Oh, my
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 159 
 
 God ! After all these years and I have 
 tried to be a good wife to you I have been 
 a true wife, true and devoted." 
 
 " As there is a God, I shall never desert you. 
 If I go alone, it will be because you refuse to 
 go where I go and lodge where I shall lodge." 
 
 " Go with him, Mother," said Minna, bit- 
 terly. " He cannot forgive me and I must not 
 separate you." 
 
 Zack looked at her, unmoved. " I have for- 
 given you, Daughter; I have no feeling toward 
 you but love and pity." 
 
 She laughed. " Then you must hate Jack as 
 much as I love him." 
 
 " I like Jack well enough. This is no sud- 
 den impulse; I'm not moved by resentment or 
 anything of the sort. Of course some will call 
 me crazy and others will say it's pure stubborn- 
 ness. But I made up my mind long ago. IF 
 you'd kept your promise to wait six months " 
 
 "Don't reproach her, Zack. Doesn't she 
 feel bad enough ? " 
 
 " If you'd waited the six months, then mar- 
 ried Jack, it would have been the same. Jack
 
 160 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 and I couldn't live together on a farm there 
 never was one laid out big enough. He 
 wouldn't do a day's work in ten years, and I 
 couldn't help working as hard as ever only 
 I'd feel I was doing it all for Jack I mean 
 to get away while I can. I want my work to 
 be done for my wife and child or just for 
 myself if it must be not for a big, lazy 
 oh, yes, I like him. . . . There's no use talk- 
 ing; it doesn't help." 
 
 "You are cruel, Father. You are terribly 
 unjust. Jack means to go to work " 
 
 " Of course he means to. Only, he'll never 
 begin. He let his own farm melt away from 
 under his very feet though he knew that if 
 his mother lived she'd be without a home, yet 
 it didn't stir him to act. I'm not blaming him, 
 that's not my business. But I know he'd never 
 do anything. I'm a very plain sort of ordinary 
 individual, there are no trimmings or flutings 
 about me but I don't mean to be any man's 
 servant." 
 
 " But Jack is going to work. He was un- 
 fortunate with his farm. Could he help it if
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 161 
 
 the corn wouldn't grow? And he is deter- 
 mined to exert himself. He says he means to 
 go into work for all there is in him. People 
 change, Father. And and it's very unkind 
 for you to hold the past against Jack. Peo- 
 ple work hard enough when there's something 
 to work for. You think you can see into the 
 future, but nobody can. Just because he didn't 
 work himself to death when he was a boy, you 
 imagine he won't work now that he has a wife 
 to support! You are wrong, but you're so 
 sure you're right, how can anybody convince 
 you?" 
 
 " How could Minna ever hold up her head 
 again? " cried Mrs. Flood. " A father has no 
 right to make himself a reproach to his daugh- 
 ter. It would be a disgrace to her not to know 
 where her father was. Whenever your name 
 was mentioned, people would remember and 
 and it would be an eternal punishment. Minna 
 doesn't deserve that." 
 
 " I shall go away in about a week," Zack 
 said, firmly. " I'll not appeal to you, honey, to 
 go with me, I'll not work on your feelings by
 
 1 62 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 saying how lonely I'll be without you, because 
 in all this, I consider your happiness; if you 
 think you'll be happier with Minna " 
 
 " But I can't leave Minna. I know she'll 
 need me." 
 
 " Yes I'm afraid she will. You must 
 think it over carefully, for if you go with me, 
 there'll be no coming back." 
 
 " You don't want me to go with you ! " she 
 cried, despairingly. 
 
 At that, Zack lost his composure. The tears 
 rushed to his eyes and he reached out his arms 
 blindly. " Minnie ! Minnie ! You're all I 
 have left!" 
 
 He was a man who, though uniformly kind, 
 rarely showed tenderness, and at sight of his 
 quivering face, her heart leaped in swift re- 
 sponse. " My husband ! " she exclaimed 
 brokenly, and was about to throw herself into 
 his arms, when Minna's unhappy face arrested 
 her. 
 
 " Poor Minna ! We are tearing her heart! " 
 And Mrs. Flood stopped to shed her tears on 
 her daughter's neck.
 
 TWO MARRIAGES 163 
 
 The next day brought no change in affairs 
 at the Flood farm. Zack was kind and gentle 
 but unalterably determined; his wife was tor- 
 tured between conflicting emotions; and Minna 
 was beginning to think that if her father really 
 did mean to go away, it might be better for 
 him to go at once. In the evening, a big piece 
 of news came over the telephone. In answer 
 to a long-distance call, Zack found himself in 
 communication with B. M. Gridge. 
 
 " Where are you? " asked Zack. 
 
 " Still in the city. Say, Zack" 
 
 Zack interrupted: " I'm anxious to have a 
 talk with you, B. M. When can I get the 
 chance? " 
 
 " I'll be in Pendleton, Monday. Say, 
 Zack" 
 
 " B. M ! did Mrs. Smith get my telegram 
 about Minna's secret marriage to Jack Pal- 
 mer? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, it came O. K., last night." 
 
 " How did Juanita was Juanita did 
 she" 
 
 " Oh, it wasn't anything to Juanita. Say I
 
 164 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 I called you up to tell you the news. About 
 an hour ago, Juanita and I well, you under- 
 stand, don't you? Congratulations are in or- 
 der."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 
 
 AS he had intended, Zack Flood went 
 to the city Monday morning. It 
 was two o'clock on the following 
 afternoon when he returned to Pendleton, and 
 half-past two before he found B. M. Gridge 
 at the latter's drygoods store. They had not 
 met since the merchant's hurried marriage, and 
 Zack resigned himself to a few moments of at- 
 tentive silence while his friend poured forth his 
 enthusiastic tale of happiness. Presently, how- 
 ever, he interposed: 
 
 " B. M., where can I talk to you privately? " 
 
 The merchant read serious purpose in his 
 
 friend's face. " Upstairs come along. I 
 
 hope everything's all right with you. I thought 
 
 you looked solemn when you came in the door, 
 
 but I can't think of anybody's troubles just now. 
 
 You see, I set my heart on Juanita when she 
 
 165
 
 i66 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 was nothing but a kid in short dresses. Being 
 double her age and not used to society a dry 
 old bachelor, nothing but business all my life 
 and knowing Jack Palmer had his eye on 
 her, and then was engaged to her seemed I 
 was laboring under serious disadvantages, eh? 
 Look out for these narrow steps. So I says to 
 myself, ' There's only one chance for you, old 
 horse, you've got to limber up.' That's what 
 I done. I went in for these physical stunts 
 and I stretched my muscles and flexed up my 
 ligaments, yes, sir, I limbered up. You look 
 pretty stiff, Zack, you'd better try it, yourself." 
 
 They were upstairs, in a waste of boxed-up 
 goods, where the light came through cobwebbed 
 windows. The ceiling was low, the walls ir- 
 regular. 
 
 " This place'll do," Zack said, threading his 
 way to a window, and seating himself upon a 
 long box where there was room for his com- 
 panion. " B. M., I'll only keep you a few 
 minutes, but every minute you let me talk will 
 be crowded; for I've reached the most impor- 
 tant event of my later life."
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 167 
 
 The merchant, large, florid, red-mustached, 
 nodded his round, short-cropped head. 
 " We've always stood by each other, Zack, and 
 you know you can depend upon me for what- 
 ever you want. But, oh, man! " he laid his 
 hand on the other's shoulder, " she's the pret- 
 tiest thing God ever made. And she's mine 
 mine, you rascal, do you understand! She 
 loves me. It may not seem becoming in me to 
 say so, but she actually seems half mad with 
 love for me so excited, she's like a streak of 
 lightning and I'm crazy, too. Wonder 
 what she's doing now? I'll go around to the 
 house pretty soon. . . . Lord, it's come late in 
 life but it's hit hard. Nothing like limbering 
 up. Let me show you how I can walk on my 
 hands" 
 
 But he forgot his great happiness when Zack 
 told him how he meant to go away, perhaps 
 never to return, certainly not for years. " I 
 wouldn't do this, Zack. Of course a man nat- 
 urally feels like you do, and most men cut up 
 terrible at first when their children act so; but 
 after they come 'round, it's always harder be-
 
 1 68 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 cause they didn't take their medicine. You're 
 bound to come 'round in time, you know, 
 fathers and mothers always do, and they just 
 make themselves miserable while they are hold- 
 ing out. When all's said, she's your daughter 
 and you've got to take him in I know how 
 you feel about Jack; when he was engaged to 
 Juanita, / felt bad enough about him. But 
 there's no real harm in Jack, you know, and if 
 I were you " 
 
 " Of course," said Zack, quietly, " I didn't 
 come here to discuss all the things you would 
 do. I've come for your help. I can't depend 
 on anybody else in this emergency, but I know 
 you through and through and you're a man I 
 can trust; you're the man. We've been through 
 a good deal together and I know you down to 
 your boots. Well, you're going to stand by me, 
 aren't you ? " 
 
 "Sure! You know it! I know how it'll 
 all end, and I'm only sorry you can't skip to 
 the last chapter without all this unhappiness, for 
 the last chapter's bound to find you and Minna 
 and Jack all making up and living together
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 169 
 
 happy and contented. But go ahead; what's 
 wanted? " 
 
 " I'm going to give Minna a title to one-half 
 of the farm, and Minnie is to have the rest. 
 There's nearly seven hundred acres and that 
 ought to carry them along five or ten years, ac- 
 cording to their rate of speed. Of course all 
 I give my wife will go to Minna, and all she 
 has goes to Jack, and all he gets " Zack 
 waved his arm at the upper air. " But it'll 
 take time to eat up that much dirt. I want to 
 stay away till the last clod's gone." 
 
 " Jack may take an idea to turn industrious." 
 " He won't be satisfied till it's all gone," said 
 Zack, as if the other had not spoken. " Of 
 course Minna will want to keep him happy, so 
 she'll pour everything into his pocket. When 
 there's nothing left, not even a likely father-in- 
 law, maybe he'll hit a few licks, I don't know. 
 But in the meantime, I'm afraid my wife may 
 have a hard time. I had five thousand dollars 
 in the bank but I daren't make it over to her 
 because it would be the same as throwing it at 
 Jack's head. Look at this."
 
 i yo THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Between them, on the box, he opened a 
 package which until then he had carried in a 
 firm grip. 
 
 "Diamonds!" whispered B. M. Gridge in 
 amazement. " What beauties ! " He looked 
 quickly about the bare room to make sure no 
 one was listening. The sunlight streaming 
 through the gritty panes, seemed turned to 
 liquid fire as it quivered on the glorious stones. 
 
 Zack spoke in a low tone, but without the 
 other's enthusiasm. " This butterfly pin is 
 worth a thousand dollars. This necklace cost 
 two thousand five hundred. This third dia- 
 mond the bracelet came at fifteen hun- 
 dred." 
 
 " Gorgeous ! " exclaimed Gridge, his eyes 
 sparkling. " Lord, how they would set off 
 Juanita! I must get her something like that 
 when I can afford it. And if I do as well this 
 year as I did last, by George, I'll fix her up at 
 Christmas! How on earth, Zack, did you 
 come by all these ornaments? " 
 
 " All the money I had except five hundred 
 I mean to carry with me is in these diamonds.
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 171 
 
 They are for my wife, and you'll keep them for 
 her" 
 
 "I? Oh, no! This is too great a respon- 
 sibility." 
 
 "You'll keep them for her; and when you 
 find that she is in need, you'll give her first the 
 pin, without letting her know you have any 
 more; then when she gets hard up, give the 
 necklace as if you had just received it from 
 me but without knowing where it came from; 
 as a last resort, give her the third diamond. 
 She can easily convert any of them into cash, 
 and if she wants to keep her money in this form, 
 it would be convenient. Whenever you give 
 her a piece, do it without her daughter or Jack 
 knowing. Of course, she'll tell 'em. But that 
 will be her doing." 
 
 " Zack, have you lost your mind? You are 
 not going away ! " 
 
 "I am going away; Minnie refuses to go 
 with me, so I mean to provide for her the best 
 I can." 
 
 " But how can I tell when she is hard up? " 
 
 " As soon as she turns over her land to
 
 172 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Minna, you might give her the pin because 
 she'll be in a tight fix then. And afterwards, 
 just keep your eyes open." 
 
 " I can't have such valuable jewels about 
 I'd always be afraid " 
 
 " The bank will keep them for you ; put 'em 
 in your strong box. Here ! " He closed the 
 box and laid it upon Gridge's knee. " I don't 
 ask your promise. If I had to depend on 
 promises, I'd be afraid to undertake it. I 
 know you as I know myself. And I can't be 
 uneasy about Minnie's welfare while you're pro- 
 vided to help her. Nobody knows this but you 
 and me. If the worst doesn't happen if my 
 wife keeps her land, and remains independent, 
 just retain the diamonds for for say, ten 
 years, when I may or may not turn up to claim 
 them; if I don't come back within ten years you 
 can conclude I'm dead. In that case, of course, 
 you'll turn 'em over to my wife." 
 
 " By George ! Zack, you come here when 
 I'm as happy as a schoolboy, and you take all 
 the pleasant taste out of my mouth. There's 
 no sense in your going away. . . . Well, I'll
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 173 
 
 give you a receipt for these things, I won't 
 accept 'em without giving a regular receipt de- 
 scribing 'em in full." Then his tone of reluc- 
 tance was fused with eagerness : " I don't see 
 how you can even imagine leaving Mrs. Flood 
 after all these years. Juanita and I have been 
 man and wife only a few days, but I can feel 
 it's for always I know it would be as impos- 
 sible for me to leave her at the end of half a 
 century as at this very second. Love is for 
 eternity and you'll be miserable away from your 
 farm ; what's more, your wife will be miserable 
 without you why, Zack, how can she hold up 
 her head after you've I don't like to say the 
 word . . ." 
 
 Zack put his hands before his face, and 
 Gridge, not understanding, stared at the motion- 
 less figure in silence. For a few moments the 
 room was so still, nothing could be heard but 
 the gnawing of a distant mouse. Then the tall 
 wiry form quivered, and a single sob escaped 
 the strained throat. It sounded so helpless, so 
 at variance with the resolute spirit of the man, 
 that Gridge felt unreasonably ashamed for hav-
 
 174 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 ing heard it, as if he had pried into the secret 
 soul of his friend, producing agony by his 
 clumsy touch. 
 
 Zack started up, making a determined effort 
 at self-control. " Nobody will understand 
 me," he said, brokenly. " I knew that. No- 
 body will be blamed but myself. I can bear 
 it. God knows the worst I suffer is from fear- 
 ing how it must be with my wife. But I can't 
 stay here." He clenched his fists unconsciously, 
 and his blue eyes flashed with quick light that 
 seemed to come and go and dart again. " B. 
 M., you're about my age. You know what it 
 is to begin life over you're doing that with 
 Juanita. Would you tell me that my life has 
 ended? But, oh, you can't see nobody can I 
 It can't be helped." His voice grew steady 
 once more. " You understand about the dia- 
 monds, don't you ? " 
 
 Gridge nodded. " Come below and I'll 
 write out the receipt." 
 
 " Nonsense! what do I care for that? Very 
 well, since you'll feel better. And, yes, an- 
 other thing, B. M. : there's Richard Warding
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 175 
 
 my niece. She has nothing on earth except 
 what she gets from us. It may be after I'm 
 gone, she'll come to hard lines. I don't want 
 my sister's child to have to work for her daily 
 bread. Look out for her. If she's thrown on 
 the world without anything, count her in with 
 my wife, sell part of the diamonds and give 
 her something to keep her on her feet. You'll 
 know how much to give without taking too 
 much from my wife. In that case you'll have 
 to convert the jewels to money everything is 
 in your power. Old man give me your 
 hand." 
 
 The merchant extended his hand and the 
 farmer held it close, looking fixedly into the un- 
 wavering eyes. In the tense silence, good 
 faith was not asked, but taken for granted. 
 Presently, still holding his hand, Zack said with 
 deep emotion, " Thank God for such a friend 1 " 
 
 Then they went downstairs, silent once more, 
 and the receipt was written and given, still 
 without words. There was another handclasp 
 at the store door, then Zack unfastened his 
 horse and rode away without looking back.
 
 176 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 The merchant watched till the horseman had 
 disappeared far down the country road leading 
 out of Pendleton. 
 
 As Zack rode across the pasture toward his 
 yard, he turned aside on catching sight of the 
 flutter of a dress down by the branch. It was 
 Richard, slowly walking in the shade of the 
 trees, her eyes on the ever-changing lights and 
 shades of the stream. The news of the secret 
 marriage had been spread abroad. An account 
 of it under the title " Muffled Marriage Bells " 
 had appeared in the county paper written with 
 a lightness of touch to insure the future good 
 will of the " high contracting parties." This 
 Richard knew, but as yet she had had no inti- 
 mation of her uncle's purpose. So grave and 
 quiet had been his demeanor since the annual 
 picnic that she was unable to decide whether or 
 not he had taken the marriage as a severe blow; 
 and but for the fact that he no longer joked 
 and laughed according to his daily wont, she 
 might have thought him altogether unmoved. 
 Certainly he was as different as possible from 
 any outraged father that might have filled a
 
 THE THREE DIAMONDS 177 
 
 noisy part in one of her impetuously-wrought 
 stories. 
 
 Zack checked his horse at her side. " Are 
 you happy, my dear? " he asked, as he thought- 
 fully stroked the animal's arching neck. 
 
 Richard smiled up at him. " The world is 
 so beautiful," she said. 
 
 He stared out over the farm that seemed a 
 part of his very spirit. Meadow, pasture, 
 field, pond, grove, stream, ravine, sloping hill- 
 side and soft-curving hollow beautiful in- 
 deed, scenes of his young love, his proud father- 
 hood! 
 
 He found himself unable to speak of it, the 
 mere thought was too vast, too profound. 
 " Alfred Montgomery has gone off to law-col- 
 lege," he said, aimlessly. " Fine fellow. I'd 
 trust Alf with my very life. You like him, 
 don't you, dear? " 
 
 Her face burned as she turned aside her 
 head, but he was unheeding. "Oh yesf" 
 
 " I'm glad you are friends. People need all 
 the friends they can accumulate on their way 
 through this neck of the woods meaning
 
 178 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Life, Richard." He smiled wistfully. " Well, 
 I must go on to the house. But I wanted to 
 tell you " He stopped perplexed by the dif- 
 ficulty of making her understand. 
 
 She turned toward him, trustfully. 
 
 " If you're ever in need, dear, when I'm not 
 at hand to help you, don't think I ran away 
 without making some provision for your wel- 
 fare. You'll understand, later on, what I'm 
 talking about. Don't ever imagine you were 
 forgotten. I've talked this all over with a man 
 I know I can trust as I trust myself; I've placed 
 the means in his hands to be turned over to you 
 in case you're ever in want." He paused, while 
 she looked at him in wondering silence, her 
 eyes opened wide. 
 
 He wanted to tell her that he had provided 
 in like manner for his wife. He was withheld 
 by the conviction that if she knew of any treas- 
 ure in reserve, she would feel an immediate 
 need of it. With a deep sigh, he turned the 
 horse sharply, and rode away. 
 
 " He must have meant Alfred," thought 
 Richard.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 
 
 RICHARD'S confession of love had 
 at first only dazed Alfred Mont- 
 gomery; but as time passed, he be- 
 came conscious of a decided change in his 
 mental attitude toward both her and himself. 
 If he had not then been hopelessly in love with 
 Minna Flood, his feeling for Richard might 
 have taken the course of tender regret or even 
 tender liking. With all his heart given to 
 Minna, nothing was left Richard but the sur- 
 prise of a disconcerted mind, and the uneasiness 
 of emotions unable to respond to sudden de- 
 mand. To be sure, Richard, in declaring her- 
 self, had made it plain that she expected no 
 return, her kiss was given on the understanding 
 that he was going away " forever " that is 
 to say, for a year; but whatever she expected, 
 the fact remained that there was a void in her 
 179
 
 180 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 heart an acknowledged void which could 
 only be filled by him, yet which he could not fill. 
 
 Being thus pushed to the wall by the convic- 
 tion that he could never meet conditions, Alfred 
 felt aggrieved, even hurt, as if he had been 
 thrown in the wrong. His love for Minna 
 died so sudden, so violent a death the dis- 
 covery that she was married to Jack Palmer at 
 the very time he was pouring out his soul to 
 her proved the mortal blow that if Rich- 
 ard's confession had come later, everything 
 might have been different. As it was, although 
 amazedly aware of the fact that Minna (Mrs. 
 Palmer!) was no more to him than any other 
 woman, she seemed, like a cold ghost, always 
 standing between him and Richard. 
 
 Richard was just a girl, anyway a mere 
 child. She had a way of looking you in the 
 eye as if she would always mean what she 
 meant to-day she would perhaps go on lov- 
 ing him to the end of the chapter. That was 
 the trouble. And he felt she was not the sort 
 of woman he could ever love. It had been 
 a great relief to confide in her all his fears and
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 181 
 
 hopes she was born to be told about one's 
 love for somebody else but suddenly to force 
 herself forward as a principal in the play was 
 as if the Chorus should mutiny and capture the 
 entire stage. She was not only a child, but a 
 dreamer, a writer about other folk. It was 
 too bad that she should decide to be a real per- 
 son. 
 
 Under the circumstances, Alfred thought it 
 best not to spend the next year's vacation at 
 home. There is nothing so good for disap- 
 pointed love as starving the eye, and he was 
 determined that Richard's cure should be com- 
 plete accordingly he spent all summer in 
 the Ozarks hoping he was doing the little girl 
 good by his absence, and certain he was improv- 
 ing his health by months spent under the open 
 sky. As his skin bronzed under the glowing 
 sun and his muscles toughened in fishing and 
 long walking expeditions, there was a corre- 
 sponding strengthening of the soul-ligaments 
 a gain in confidence verging toward assurance. 
 He owed this spirit of potential conquest to 
 Richard. However he might shrink from her,
 
 182 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 she had taught him to be much better pleased 
 with himself; he could be loved. 
 
 Between Alfred and his step-mother existed 
 a friendship most delicately poised. While it 
 stood, it was perfect, and in order for it to 
 stand, he took the greatest care to stop up all 
 crevices before she discovered them. Mrs. 
 Montgomery, the Second, was so anxious for her 
 husband's son to like her, that she was always 
 afraid he wouldn't, while he, eager to show the 
 sincerity of his regard went three miles out of 
 his way when she required only one. That is 
 why she learned about Richard. 
 
 That Alfred should stay away from the farm 
 an entire summer, thus making his absence last 
 two years, was so unheard-of, nothing but the 
 clearest explanation could satisfy Mrs. Mont- 
 gomery. To talk about health down in the 
 Ozarks was absurd wasn't there plenty of 
 health on the Pendleton acres? Wasn't it that 
 Alfred had learned at the university to dis- 
 credit his humble neighbors, his hard-working 
 father, his sensitive step-mother? Hadn't his
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 183 
 
 education struck in, to destroy the simplicity of 
 boyhood's content? 
 
 Alfred, knowing how these suspicions would 
 arise and flourish, determined to nip them in tHe 
 bud. Under conditions of inviolable secrecy 
 
 the letter must be burned the instant it was 
 read he wrote to his step-mother: Richard 
 was in love with him had told him so was 
 a girl of fixed ideas, and would not easily ban- 
 ish this romantic attachment it was best for 
 him to wait another year before seeing her 
 by that time she would doubtless be healed of 
 her malady. 
 
 In a way, it hurt Alfred to write this letter 
 
 the face of Richard seemed looking its re- 
 proach from the shadows beyond his desk, and 
 in those great dark eyes he discovered some- 
 thing that made him feel half ashamed. But 
 the temptation to tell the truth was simply irre- 
 sistible. Everybody knew he had courted 
 Minna and had been rejected; that was as much 
 a matter of history in Pendleton as if he had 
 proposed to her at the opera-house in the full
 
 1 84 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 glare of the footlights. Naturally it would 
 be concluded that his staying away was because 
 of a broken heart he wanted his step-mother 
 to know different, and he knew she would appre- 
 ciate the compliment of his confidence. He 
 even believed that she would keep the secret. 
 And besides, she would know that somebody 
 could love him. It seemed to make him larger, 
 the writing of that letter. 
 
 Mrs. Montgomery faithfully burned the 
 epistle, not even showing it to her husband. 
 As to repeating its contents, she was incapable 
 of such bad faith. Of course she told Juanita 
 Gridge, but that was because she knew she 
 could trust Juanita. She could not let Juanita 
 imagine that Alfred was staying away from 
 home on account of Minna. Juanita under- 
 stood Minna so well she would be glad to 
 know that not every man in the county was a 
 fool about her! Alfred didn't care that for 
 Minna; the secret marriage had cured him in 
 a day but you see, poor little Richard . . . 
 
 Juanita saw; and the clearer she saw, the 
 more impossible it was for her to keep silent
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 185 
 
 when rumor spread abroad that Alfred, still 
 hopelessly in love with his old sweetheart, had 
 not the heart to risk meeting her again. Min- 
 na's designs upon Jack Palmer had proved 
 successful, but just as Mrs. Montgomery had 
 said, it did not follow that every man was a 
 fool. Juanita certainly hoped Jack had never 
 regretted his choice, though sometimes she 
 feared it, and now that she was so happy in 
 B. M. Gridge and his station and fortune, she 
 would like to have known if Jack were really 
 happy with Minna. But there was no use for 
 people to imagine that Alfred was pining away 
 for Minna, as if she were some enchantress 
 blighting every life that came in her way. The 
 fact was, Alfred had learned that but you 
 would never guess! . . . 
 
 When Alfred came home, at the end of two 
 years, he was greatly changed no longer 
 awkward or cadaverous, no longer shrinking or 
 setting too low an estimate on his abilities, he 
 exhibited a serenity, a quiet mastery of himself 
 was more manly in every way. Already he 
 saw his way clear to cheating the clammy clutch
 
 1 86 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 of constitutional ill-health. The knowledge 
 that he had been loved, might be loved again, 
 had put firm ground under his long, thin legs. 
 Moreover his university life impressed him with 
 the general inferiority of Pendleton society 
 gave him such a satisfactory estimate of his 
 own qualities that he was happy to the point 
 of breaking out in song. All his life he had 
 been a slave to the Minna-ideal, but now, in 
 perfect freedom, he was anxious to encounter 
 Minna in the flesh to discover, if possible, why 
 he had ever loved her.. He had bowed down 
 to an image made by his own hands; since that 
 had been hurled in the dust, he might find out 
 what the real Minna was like. 
 
 As soon as Alfred had renewed intimacies 
 with his father's farm, duty called him to visit 
 his old friends. Above all, there was Richard 
 she would expect him, alas I with too tender 
 an interest, he feared. However that might 
 be, he must go; but one thing was certain, he 
 would not risk seeing her alone. At the store 
 he spoke of it to B. M. Gridge, his father's 
 intimate friend.
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 187 
 
 " I must go out to the Flood farm . . . but 
 I don't like to go there by myself . . . the ride 
 is too lonesome . . . and besides . . ." 
 
 " I'm going, this evening," said the merchant. 
 " Seen Juanita, yet? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Suppose you go up to the house and see 
 her; I'll be there in about half an hour with 
 the buggy and we'll drive out to Palmers' you 
 see, we don't call it the Flood farm any more." 
 
 " Has Mr. Zack Flood been heard from 
 since he disappeared?" 
 
 Gridge hesitated. " The fact is, I'm going 
 out to the farm this afternoon on Zack's ac- 
 count. He has something for me to give his 
 wife it's a very handsome diamond a but- 
 terfly pin, easily worth a thousand dollars." 
 
 Alfred was astonished. " Do you mean he 
 has sent this to you? " 
 
 " Fact is, I'm not at liberty to explain just 
 how I got it. Anyway, I don't know where 
 Zack is, he hasn't revealed that." 
 
 " It shows, at least, that he's still alive 
 and cares for his wife."
 
 1 88 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 The other did not answer. It would com- 
 fort Mrs. Flood to think so, and after all, it 
 might be true. 
 
 " You are looking well," Alfred declared, 
 wondering for the thousandth time how dainty 
 little Juanita could have fallen in love with 
 him so suddenly, and telling himself, as he had 
 often done, that if it hadn't been suddenly, it 
 could never have been. Gridge had grown 
 redder of face and louder of breathing, and he 
 filled up so much room, his boots creaked so 
 maddeningly! Alfred gazed in mute admira- 
 tion; it was like taking a study in Hope to 
 look at him. If Juanita could love a man so 
 suggestive of beef and newspapers, what might 
 not happen? 
 
 " Well ! " echoed Gridge, going with him to 
 the door but keeping an eye on a clerk who had 
 half a mind to sit down, " why, I'm as spry as 
 a boyl I'll never be old, for it's all as you 
 have a mind about it, and I'm as strong as an 
 ox. I credit most of it to my physical exer- 
 cises always stand on one foot of a morning 
 as I draw my sock on the other, and take a
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 189 
 
 turn about the room walking on my hands, lim- 
 bering up. Ah, my boy, get married if you 
 want to see life double. Don't wait as long 
 as I did, unless you've the prospect of nabbing 
 such a high stepper as the woman I got. She 
 was worth waiting for never were two peo- 
 ple of the same mind brought together like us 
 what she wants I want, and what I want 
 she puts up with . . . and she's the prettiest 
 woman in Pendleton. You just go out there 
 and see if she isn't. She's all for society and 
 I'm all for business, and we keep out of each 
 other's sphere. As long as I can make the 
 money to keep her going, the clock strikes reg- 
 ular. I'm in pretty deep right now, because 
 I've laid out to build her the finest residence 
 in Pendleton, but I'll get on my feet again 
 when the holiday trade comes in." 
 
 If Alfred had expected to see Juanita more 
 or less coarsened by association with B. M. 
 Gridge, he was agreeably surprised. He found 
 her dressed to entertain the Ladies' Card Club 
 of Pendleton whose hour was almost at hand, 
 and the effect of her dainty white dress, her
 
 190 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 little white slippers and her skin-colored 
 stockings which a providential fashion revealed 
 in generous perspective, soothed him as with 
 a cool touch. She had all the archness, the 
 gaiety, the solemn airs of two years ago which 
 her diminutive form rendered charmingly amus- 
 ing. Alfred made an effort to picture her 
 perched upon the edge of her bed, or looking 
 from snowy pillows while B. M. Gridge stood 
 on one foot to draw on the other sock but 
 it was impossible. Looking at Juanita, he 
 could not see her husband. 
 
 " You are not at all interrupting my plans," 
 she assured him. " I have nothing to do but 
 wait for the ladies, and there's always time 
 for an old friend." She found him wonderfully 
 improved, but like everybody else, she consid- 
 ered him the same Alfred Montgomery who 
 had always depreciated himself. Having been 
 taken at his own original valuation, he would 
 never be marked higher in the popular estima- 
 tion of that community. Fortunately Alfred's 
 new-fledged self-respect was strong enough to 
 soar alone. The very fact that Juanita never
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 191 
 
 once troubled herself to find out how far the 
 rocking chair had separated her skirt-ruffles 
 from her feet, showed that Alfred " didn't mat- 
 ter." During the conversation, he received the 
 impression that B. M. Gridge " mattered " as 
 little. Jack Palmer was a sort of home base 
 from which most of her thoughts described cir- 
 cles. As she showed no embarrassment in 
 speaking of him, his farm, his wife, his plans 
 she knew all his plans of course it was all 
 right. Two years with B. M. Gridge should 
 have safely insulated her from any current of 
 electrical disturbance. Alfred was far enough 
 away from his infatuation for Minna to under- 
 stand how very dead a dead love may be. 
 Still, Jack had been engaged to Juanita, and 
 there seemed a little just a little too much 
 Jack in the whole conversation. 
 
 " Jack's going to move to town as soon as 
 his house is built," she said, gazing out the 
 window. " He's bought the lot next ours on 
 the only street in Pendleton it'll be a race 
 between him and Mr. Gridge, whose house'll 
 be built first. Jack is to build a very expensive
 
 i 9 2 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 mansion. I don't think ours will make a bad 
 showing, however," she smiled. 
 
 Alfred, following the direction of her eyes, 
 admired the distant woods and pasturelands 
 where, at the annual picnic, he had parted from 
 Minna with heart so sad. Now that he cared 
 nothing for Minna, he felt a sentimental at- 
 tachment for the scene of their parting. He 
 waved at the lovely view: 
 
 "Won't it hurt you to leave all this?" 
 
 Juanita shrugged her shoulders. " It's too 
 much like the horrid country," she explained, 
 " and in winter, it's fearfully dismal. Jack 
 Palmer says he can't stand his farm any longer 
 it's sold he sold his half and Mrs. Flood 
 sold hers so it could all go together. Society 
 will be pretty lively next season, I imagine." 
 
 "Will Mrs. Flood enjoy living in town? 
 She has always lived out there " 
 
 " Oh, she likes it wherever Minna is, she's 
 so blindly wrapped up in her daughter. But 
 of course it won't suit her I don't know 
 what they will do with Mrs. Flood, she has 
 headaches or something and is so uncertain in
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 193 
 
 company people and things remind her of 
 her husband and it keeps her from being cheer- 
 ful. It's not very amusing, you know, when 
 everybody else is disposed to gaiety. Of course 
 one can't exactly blame her for being droopy, 
 but we feel that she might do like Richard." 
 
 Alfred felt uncomfortable at the name just 
 as he always did at the thought of the one who 
 loved him, uncomfortable, yet inquiring. 
 "Richard?" he repeated; "and how does 
 she do?" 
 
 " Lives in the back rooms refuses to see 
 anybody hides. Never goes anywhere, or 
 comes into the parlor, and that sort of thing. 
 She says she's an author but there hasn't been a 
 book. Her uncle must have been crazy to go 
 away as he did, and I guess she's got something 
 the matter with her mind to keep her shut up 
 that way a sort of family strain. Now, why 
 can't Mrs. Flood imitate her? She could have 
 her nice quiet rooms at the back of the house 
 with her books and embroidery and her nice 
 view from the windows and all that . . . but 
 no! She has the notion that Minna wants her
 
 i 9 4 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 to be present at her dances and card-parties, 
 and present she is, a perfect martyr, trying to 
 look pleased, but on the verge of tears half the 
 time. Of course Minna can't tell her that she 
 oughtn't to distress herself that way Jack 
 * feels so sorry about it. As long as Mrs. Flood 
 can't forget how her husband's done, she ought 
 to keep retired, don't you know? Minna fills 
 the house with young people that her mother 
 couldn't understand, and if she'd keep out of 
 their way it would be perfectly all right. Well, 
 it's pretty hard on Jack and Minna out 
 there; but when they have their town house, 
 goodness knows what they will do ! " 
 
 When Alfred was being driven out of town, 
 he said to B. M. Gridge, " Mrs. Gridge tells 
 me that Richard is er " 
 
 u That's right," observed the merchant, 
 " just about the prettiest girl in the county." 
 
 Alfred opened his eyes. "Who?" 
 
 "Didn't you say Richard?" 
 
 " Yes, but I was only going to say. . . . 
 Look here, B. M., what do you mean? Rich- 
 ard is the last girl to set up for good looks
 
 THE DIAMOND BUTTERFLY 195 
 
 dark and thin and bony and wide-eyed. . . . 
 Mighty fine girl, and bright as you please, but 
 pretty? Why, that little girl is absolutely 
 plain, yes, and I might use a harder word than 
 that." 
 
 " Richard's no little girl," retorted Gridge, 
 amused. " And she's not thin, or bony. You 
 must remember she's eighteen years old; she 
 was a sort of spindling bud the last time you 
 saw her, but let me tell you, she's bloomed 
 since then. She's prettier than ever Minna 
 was, for there's more sense in her good looks. 
 Minna wasn't anything but pretty. That was 
 all she could do." 
 
 Alfred laughed. " Either you are blind, or 
 there's been a miracle on the Flood farm. But 
 we can soon settle the question." 
 
 " I don't know whether you can or not. It's 
 not easy to see Richard." 
 
 " She'll see me." It was impossible to re- 
 strain that boastful word. 
 
 " Maybe so. But it's not her custom. She 
 just ups and says she won't come down, even 
 when she's asked for, and that's not often.
 
 196 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 And it sorter suits Minna, I do believe. Minna 
 isn't as good looking, somehow, when Richard 
 comes in the room." 
 
 Alfred began to find himself strangely in- 
 terested. " Of course it's been a long time 
 since I saw her and it seems impossible 
 but she was a very bright girl and a good friend 
 of mine. I'll have to scold her for avoiding 
 society; that isn't right. And if she's as pretty 
 as you think, why should she bury herself? I 
 don't like that." He was a trifle indignant. 
 
 Gridge laughed. "Going to scold her, eh? 
 Well, here's the Palmers' farm do you know, 
 it's just been sold, the last foot of it? Yes! 
 Biggest piece of news this year! Going to 
 scold Richard? Come, that's mighty funny to 
 me. If you lay eyes on her this summer, con- 
 sider yourself lucky I "
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 
 
 IN spite of his eagerness to see Richard 
 that he might scold her Alfred 
 thought it best to stay in the buggy until 
 B. M. Gridge should have delivered the dia- 
 mond ornament; to this proposal, however, the 
 merchant decidedly objected. He was as anx- 
 ious to have some one at hand during the pres- 
 entation, as had been Alfred to have a spectator 
 during his expected meeting with his old friend. 
 Mrs. Flood would naturally ask many questions 
 which Gridge would be unable to answer and, 
 altogether, he faced the situation with deep un- 
 easiness. 
 
 They found Mrs. Flood alone. Minna had 
 
 gone to the Ladies' Card Club meeting at Jua- 
 
 nita Gridge's, and Jack was in the city. She was 
 
 so sorry Minna was not at home of course 
 
 197
 
 198 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 she supposed Alfred had come solely to see the 
 one for whom his heart was broken. There 
 was a tenderness, a motherly caress in her tone, 
 her look, as she enfolded him in affectionate 
 regard. Any one who appreciated Minna had 
 the secret clew to her heart and this fine, 
 tall young man with his grave air that gave dis- 
 tinction, with his direct look that spoke an open 
 soul it seemed a pity that his life should be 
 ruined; but of course he couldn't help loving her 
 daughter, for everybody loved her. His heart 
 would never be healed. Mrs. Flood would 
 have thought less of it were it otherwise, but 
 she would do all she could to console. 
 
 Alfred found her greatly changed. It was 
 not so much that her hair was fast turning 
 gray, or that her form was thin, her face pallid, 
 but rather that her movements indicated the 
 consciousness of age. She had evidently ac- 
 cepted her daughter's opinion that she belonged 
 to the past, and in the past she lived. She 
 talked about Minna most of the time, and it 
 was only in those little pauses that come when 
 thoughts fail to overlap, that the deep sadness
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 199 
 
 of her eyes looked forth; sometimes, a trivial 
 word would provoke unshed tears. 
 
 Thus, when Alfred, with a smile told how 
 he had surprised his father after his two years' 
 absence, how his father had seen him coming 
 across the meadow and had started toward him 
 on the run with a shout that made the pigs 
 seek their troughs and the cows start toward 
 the back lot : 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Flood, suddenly 
 bowing her head in her hands. 
 
 She was so fragile, so helpless, so pitiful, 
 Alfred could have put his arms about her neck 
 to implore her be of good courage, just as 
 she could have laid her transparent hand upon 
 his head to beg him not grieve too much. She 
 would never have let him see the tears in her 
 mournful eyes, had she known him emancipated 
 from Minna's tyranny. Deceived, she opened 
 to him her heart of hearts " My sorrow, also, 
 is lifelong," she seemed to say. 
 
 B. M. Gridge produced the diamond butter- 
 fly. No one could possibly have done the thing 
 worse. With his blundering clumsiness, his
 
 200 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 desperate effort to tell no more than should be 
 told, he made a sort of rampart for the conceal- 
 ment of Mrs. Flood's emotion. By the time 
 he had ended explaining that there was noth- 
 ing to explain, she had back her pensive air of 
 submission to destiny. 
 
 In truth she could not exult in this proof of 
 her husband's thoughtfulness. Why should he 
 send diamond butterflies to her, and not one 
 word of forgiveness to their only child? It 
 was poor Minna who needed assurance of his 
 love, not she who never doubted it, even despite 
 his cruel absence. Wherever he was, she could 
 not think him changed to her, but poor Minna 
 often said that her father no longer loved her. 
 Mrs. Flood held the gem somewhat shrinkingly, 
 as if her tired eyes were not equal to its 
 radiance. Already she saw that pin sparkling 
 on Minna's bosom. And why not? She had 
 no use for ornaments diamonds are for the 
 young, and the gift would bring to Minna's 
 eyes the love always in her heart, though some- 
 times fast asleep. Once more in life, Minna
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 201 
 
 would be given something from both father 
 and mother. 
 
 It was strange to see the tears slipping down 
 those thin cheeks while not the quiver of a mus- 
 cle hinted at weeping. Gridge felt a fierce 
 desire to lay hands on Zack Flood his greet- 
 ings would have been very far from affection- 
 ate, could they have met. 
 
 As yet, not a word had been said about Rich- 
 ard; Alfred now asked to see her. Change of 
 ideas brought relief to all three. 
 
 " Didn't Mr. Gridge tell ... ? " Mrs. 
 Flood shook her head with gentle regret. 
 
 " But I'm sure she'll see me," Alfred said, 
 confidently. " If you will tell her who it is 
 and how much I'd like to renew our acquaint- 
 ance." 
 
 Mrs. Flood departed on her mission, not 
 hopefully. 
 
 Gridge rose. 
 
 " I'm not going yet," Alfred explained, de- 
 cidedly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you are," his friend returned with
 
 202 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 a good-natured grin. " We've imposed on 
 Mrs. Flood long enough she'd like to be 
 alone to think over what's happened." 
 
 " I'm going to have a talk with Richard." 
 
 Mrs. Flood returned. " She asks to be ex- 
 cused." 
 
 Alfred suddenly grew uncomfortably red. 
 " Mrs. Flood, it's not right for a young girl 
 like Richard to make a hermit of herself. I 
 shall tell her so, and I'll find the opportunity 1 " 
 
 When outside, he added to Gridge, " Guess a 
 letter'll get to her! " The day before, he had 
 been afraid he would have to meet Richard, 
 now he feared the meeting might not take place. 
 That he had been told of her marvelously 
 developed beauty could have nothing to do with 
 his desire, though if she were really pretty, he'd 
 like to know it; but he meant to act for her 
 good he must rescue her from such un- 
 heard-of morbidity. Duty urged him to push 
 Richard out among her fellowmen, and he did 
 not mean to falter in this self-imposed obliga- 
 tion. 
 
 However, his letter must not command.
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 203 
 
 He wrote, asking permission to call on her 
 the following Friday evening. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. MONTGOMERY," was her 
 reply, " I have a very pressing engagement for 
 Friday evening that will prevent the renewing 
 of our acquaintance. Please accept my best 
 wishes for a happy summer at home. You are 
 so far behind in the pleasures of Pendleton 
 life, it must crowd your days to catch up, and 
 the months will be gone before you know it. 
 I hope everything will conspire to make it a 
 vacation long to be remembered. You ex- 
 press uneasiness lest my health may not be so 
 good as when I last saw you, and first I must 
 thank you for so friendly an interest, then as- 
 sure you that I never felt better in my life. 
 Yes, it is too bad that I could not see you the 
 day of your visit at the house, but I dare not 
 invite you to try some other day lest I should 
 be obliged to send down my excuses. If we 
 should not meet this summer, be assured that 
 you will carry back to the university my heart- 
 iest wishes for your success."
 
 204 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 At least, it was with a friendly smile that she 
 closed the door in his face. Alfred knocked 
 again, and somewhat louder. The result - 
 her second note: 
 
 "Mv DEAR MR. MONTGOMERY: I have 
 just taken your letter from our box, and have 
 stopped at the Spring to answer it that ex- 
 plains, and I hope excuses, the use of a lead- 
 pencil. I know I should go up to the house 
 and be proper with pen and ink, but the after- 
 noon is so glorious and I worked so hard this 
 morning at my desk that I can't bear to shut 
 myself up from birds and sunshine and above 
 all, the brook-murmurings. I feel first-cousin 
 to Out-of-doors. It's so good of you to want 
 to see me that I can't thank you enough for 
 your interest; and you are so anxious about my 
 welfare, so afraid I am losing the best out of 
 life by ' living as a hermit ' that you would ' do 
 anything to change my habits,' and I appreciate 
 all this disinterested kindness. I do wish I 
 could repay it even in part, and I know I must 
 seem horribly selfish to accept so much consid-
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 205 
 
 eration and not seem to give any in return. 
 But, no, I just can't see you next Thursday be- 
 cause on that day I have an engagement that 
 will not permit me to be ' visible.' If you had 
 said Wednesday but, now that I think of it, 
 Wednesday would have been just as unfortu- 
 nate. I seem placed in the ridiculous aspect of 
 an oriental lady whom it is impossible to visit 
 if I were you I should simply give me up, I 
 am sure I deserve it! 
 
 " Hoping you are getting all out of your 
 vacation that your heart could desire 
 
 " Sincerely yours, 
 " R. W." 
 
 " Very well," exclaimed Alfred, on reading 
 this communication, " then be an ' oriental 
 lady ! ' " And for two weeks he made no sign 
 to any one that he was aware of R. W.'s exist- 
 ence. But it did not make it easier for him 
 that in all that time nobody else pronounced 
 her name. He was always wanting to hear 
 something about her; but though he led the con- 
 versation to the Flood farm, though he dis-
 
 2o6 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 i 
 
 cussed the approaching removal of the family 
 they would have to board in town until Jack 
 Palmer's mansion was built nobody thought 
 of Richard. Even his step-mother's mind 
 seemed a blank in her direction. 
 
 One night, at a party given by the Gridges, 
 he suddenly exploded from his long silence 
 he was seated on a divan with Minna, and for 
 some time had been slightly bewildered by the 
 flatness of " old times " as she served them up 
 from memory; he had the heartiest good-will 
 to relish those morsels from the past, but alas 1 
 the sauce of sentiment was not there, and every 
 " Do you remember . . .? " seemed cooked in 
 the same dish. 
 
 He asked, with ill-smothered resentment, 
 " What are all those engagements that keep 
 Richard from ever seeing a fellow? " 
 
 Minna laughed gaily. " Engagements ! " 
 Evidently there were none. 
 
 "But I want to see her!" Alfred cried. 
 " And I want to see her all the more because 
 she keeps putting me off." 
 
 " Oh"! You want to see her? " Minna was
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 207 
 
 charmingly grave. Alfred found her charac- 
 teristics more strongly marked. She was 
 prettier than ever, she was more difficult in 
 conversation. He had the odd fancy that 
 sometimes she set her face shining, then went 
 away and left it like a lamp in an empty 
 room. Perhaps she did not find it fitting that, 
 after declaring his love was his life, he should 
 be interested in any Richards. 
 
 " Yes, and I must see her I'm tantalized 
 just as if she were a sort of mystery crying for 
 solution. She must have engagements, she was 
 so explicit about them, and she was always a 
 perfectly truthful girl." 
 
 Minna smiled because she was not listening. 
 Jack, as big and handsome as ever, sat beside 
 Juanita, his jolly laugh ringing above the hum 
 of many voices. Evidently Minna was over 
 there on that same divan right between her 
 husband and Mr. Gridge's wife. Juanita's 
 arm touched his coat little arm so white and 
 slender, faintly blushing at the elbow I 
 Minna looked down at her own rounded, ex- 
 quisitely-curved whiteness tapering to an elbow
 
 208 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 that could look anybody in the face. What 
 could Jack see in that little creature to make 
 his eyes so bright? That is what Minna never 
 had understood. She knew Juanita not only 
 from her toes to her deceptive hair, but all the 
 inner parts of her; and she knew Jack from his 
 love of a good dinner and a peaceful smoke, to 
 his ecstasy over music any sort of music, 
 even to the marking of time on a snare-drum. 
 But Juanita-and-Jack, she did not know. Judg- 
 ing from their ill-advised engagement and its 
 swift breaking-off, neither did they. 
 
 " I'm going to give a Good-by-to-the-Farm 
 Dance," said Minna, withdrawing her thoughts 
 from the other side of the room. " You ought 
 to have a chance, then, if you are so anxious to 
 see Richard. Everybody'll be invited, and 
 possibly among such a crowd, she may conde- 
 scend to show herself." 
 
 Alfred offered excuses, finding her tone 
 vaguely reproachful. " You know, Rich- 
 ard and I were such good friends, once. . . . 
 I don't like to go away without seeing 
 her."
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 209 
 
 " Yes it is thought she has improved, in 
 looks." 
 
 " Is she really pretty, though? " 
 
 Minna reflected. " But I could never judge 
 of that type," she finally confessed. " Any- 
 way, nobody finds fault with her looks. It's 
 her but she was always very queer. It seems 
 such a pity, for in some ways she is really 
 bright." 
 
 As the result of this conversation, Alfred 
 wrote once more to Richard, and in reply re- 
 ceived his third note : 
 
 " No, your five-paged letter did not seem at 
 all too long, dwelling as it did upon the inci- 
 dents and memories of two years ago. Most 
 of these occurrences and bits of conversation 
 have been so long forgotten by me that it was 
 like getting acquainted with myself again and I 
 am surprised more and more that you should 
 remember. The recollection of my first days 
 on coming to this farm, then so strange a place, 
 have been blurred and overcrowded by succeed- 
 ing years. More distinctly than anything else
 
 210 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 I remember our first meeting on the station- 
 platform, to which you refer. . . . What will 
 you think when I tell you that just at these dots, 
 I went to perch upon my trunk the very 
 trunk where you first found me and said to 
 myself very commandingly, and then very en- 
 treatingly, ' BE a little girl again ! ' But I could 
 not be, even for one moment. One day I woke 
 up to look out the window and oh, how strange 
 it was! I had been carried out of girlhood. 
 When one is a child, one finds almost within 
 one's reach, tickets to all sorts of destinations 
 to wealth and fame, principally; but there's 
 one kind of ticket never, never found in the 
 borderlands of youth the return-ticket. 
 Good-by I think I hear my train whistling 
 now, getting ready to carry me farther and 
 farther away from the days you write about. 
 
 " R. W. 
 
 " P. S. Oh, about that Good-by-to-the-Farm 
 Dance, to be given here by Minna: it makes 
 me so sad to think of leaving this dear, dear 
 place that I couldn't possibly dance to celebrate 
 the mournful event, so I will not be downstairs
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 211 
 
 on the festive night. I thank you for wanting 
 the first two dances with me, and may as well 
 explain that I don't know how to dance, and 
 never expect to learn. I don't want to do it, 
 which is perhaps an out-cropping of my well- 
 known queerness. Ah, I see you anticipated 
 that, but no, I couldn't sit out the dances with 
 you. It would almost kill me to sit out any- 
 thing, and it would make me hate my partner 
 my fellow-prisoner in dull captivity. You 
 wouldn't want the hate of 
 
 " The Little Oriental Lady." 
 
 Alfred put his three notes together, read 
 them one after the other, sought to extract the 
 essence of the Collection. Taken in connection 
 with the fact that Richard would not see him, 
 what did the friendliness, the simplicity, the 
 frankness of the style signify? Was she prac- 
 ticing on him, thus perfecting her manner asr 
 an author? To Alfred, only one thing was 
 definitely certain he wanted to see her more 
 after her second note than her first, much more 
 after her third than her second. If the corre-
 
 212 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 spondence continued, he would surely grow des- 
 perate with vague longings, yet it must continue 
 as the only means of bringing her to him, 
 though she come only on paper. 
 
 He went to the Good-by-to-the-Farm Dance 
 from social duty; he staid as long as he must, 
 in a state of marked melancholy. The filmy 
 dresses, the bright faces, the merry voices, the 
 orchestral sighs all reminded him of Richard, 
 hidden somewhere upstairs no doubt, lonely, 
 yet determined the little hermitess ! Some- 
 times he was indignant because she treated him 
 so, and declared he would make no further ef- 
 forts to see her, would live henceforth as if 
 she had no existence. Then he remembered 
 that she treated him no worse than she did the 
 rest of the world, and was filled with pity for 
 her strange obstinacy. Then he wondered why 
 he should so eagerly wish to see her, after 
 staying away so long lest they meet; and then 
 the desire grew fiercer not according to logic 
 but nature, and he told himself see her he 
 would in spite of everything meaning in spite 
 of herself- cruel little " Oriental Lady"!
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 213 
 
 He observed that her absence from the par- 
 lors was taken quietly, as a matter of course, 
 by all the guests. A few made a faint show 
 of regret that she should be so retiring in all 
 her ways, but nobody showed surprise. They 
 had grown so accustomed to her isolation that 
 they could hardly have understood Alfred's re- 
 bellious mood. One young man ventured in a 
 guarded whisper that if Richard had come 
 down, she would have been by far the 
 most beautiful woman present " Woman 1" 
 thought Alfred, with an impatient shrug. 
 
 If the young man were right, who could 
 blame the rest of the women for being inter- 
 ested in something else? And certainly, there 
 was something else to brighten their eyes, and 
 awaken pangs, or enthusiasm it was the first 
 public appearance of the diamond butterfly. 
 
 How it sparkled on Minna's bosom! Her 
 mother was so proud that she took half a step 
 backward from old age. Never a movement, 
 a toss of the little head or bend of the perfect 
 arm, escaped that mother's eye which bright- 
 ened with every smile that flitted across the
 
 2i 4 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 daughter's face. And when Minna said some- 
 thing to make people laugh, Mrs. Flood bent 
 and waved like a tall flower stirred in a happy 
 breeze. When Minna floated to the delicious 
 strains into the bright remoteness of the back 
 parlor, Mrs. Flood sent a thousand little 
 thoughts and cares to attend her like fluttering 
 sprites to ward off evil. And when she was lost 
 from sight, Mrs. Flood talked about her to any 
 one who would listen. If the world had not 
 been created for Minna, Mrs. Flood was very 
 much mistaken; what place in it, then, for 
 Richard? 
 
 Juanita, however, did not believe the world 
 had been created for Minna; and finding her 
 husband out in the moonlight, smoking his cigar 
 and wishing it time to go home, she intimated 
 as much. Juanita might have passed a delight- 
 ful evening, for she had danced oftener with 
 her host than with any one else, and Jack Pal- 
 mer, though fat, was wonderfully light of foot 
 ordinarily it would have been a night to 
 dream about; but there was that diamond but-
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 215 
 
 terfly. Juanita naturally supposed it a gift 
 from Jack to his wife, for Mrs. Flood had not 
 cared to stir up discussion regarding her hus- 
 band that always seemed like a reproach to 
 Minna. Of course Jack had a right to give his 
 wife what he pleased; but B. M. Gridge had 
 never given Juanita a diamond butterfly. Did 
 Jack care more for his wife than 
 
 " You bet he don't! " declared the merchant, 
 throwing away his cigar. " Why, Juanita, lit- 
 tle one, you know how I worship you, there's 
 nothing I wouldn't do " 
 
 " You've never given me diamond butter- 
 flies," with an adorable pout that made him 
 want to kiss her even in front of the brilliant 
 windows. 
 
 " I'll give you a dozen of them when I can 
 afford it. Just now that new house calls for 
 every penny I can spare " 
 
 " Jack is building a new house, too, and 
 he can spare enough pennies to make his wife 
 happy " The little creature looked so like 
 a child, and spoke so like a child, that her hus-
 
 216 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 band was lost in admiration. She was so un- 
 sophisticated, anybody could tell just what she 
 was thinking! 
 
 He said, benignly, " You wouldn't love me 
 more if I gave you diamonds, I hope." 
 
 " But I would know you loved me more," 
 she murmured, ingenuously. 
 
 He laughed the transparent little rascal ! 
 If he could have explained that Jack knew noth- 
 ing of that diamond-pin but no, since Mrs. 
 Flood had kept silent, he was afraid to venture 
 on explanations of any sort; if you gave Juanita 
 the tiniest end between her fingers, she had a 
 way of pulling out the entire thread, no matter 
 with what damage to the fabric. 
 
 Suddenly Gridge had an idea. How it had 
 come he did not know ; doubtless it was evolved 
 by the languorous music from within, the moon- 
 light that bathed the meadows and flecked the 
 gravel walks with silver dots, the nearness of 
 Juanita's coaxing face, the perfume of her hair, 
 the starry sparkling of her eyes. 
 
 " Well, little wife, shall we give a Farewell- 
 to-the-Old-Home Masked Ball, and put you in
 
 AN ORIENTAL LADY 217 
 
 the middle of it with a diamond necklace about 
 that lovely neck? " 
 
 " I'd be ashamed to have anything cheaper 
 than Minna's butterfly." 
 
 " Suppose we say a necklace twice as costly, 
 eh? That will rather put a spoke in Minna's 
 wheel, don't you think? " 
 
 "How you talk, Mr. Gridge! It isn't be- 
 cause I want anything better than she has, 
 but because I don't like to believe that you think 
 less of me than . . . than you ought to think." 
 
 "All right that's decided; I'll think of 
 you in a two-thousand-five-hundred-dollar dia- 
 mond necklace, at your next party, and then it'll 
 be Jack's move ! " 
 
 Two thousand five hundred dollars was the 
 estimate Zack Flood had placed upon the dia- 
 mond necklace left in Gridge's care for 
 Mrs. Flood. In fact it was this very 
 necklace which Gridge had determined to 
 give Juanita. And why not, after all? 
 Flood had given him the alternative of selling 
 the diamonds if necessary; Gridge would charge 
 the value against himself. Whenever he was
 
 218 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 able, he would give the money to Mrs. Flood, 
 and in the meantime, Juanita might as well 
 enjoy the necklace. It was doing no good in 
 that strong box at the bank.
 
 1 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE MASKED BALL 
 
 masked party which presently be- 
 came the talk of Pendleton, was the 
 last to be given in B. M. Gridge's an- 
 cestral home. The Flood farm, or, as it was 
 now called, the Palmer farm, had passed into 
 alien hands, and the Palmers were boarding at 
 the big Pendleton Hotel. After the masked 
 party, the Gridges would also stay at this hotel, 
 a three-story brick, much too large for Pendle- 
 ton, at once the pride of the town and the de- 
 spair of its owners. The Palmers and Gridges 
 would be like a family-party under that impos- 
 ing roof; they would lend a certain dignity 
 hitherto unattained by flitting strangers, not 
 a dignity of restraint or solemnity, but a gay, 
 proper dignity, a social dignity. Juanita and 
 Minna were recognized as the rival queens of 
 society, and the day they determined to pa- 
 219
 
 220 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 tronize Pendleton Hotel until their mansions 
 should be built, that day Pendleton Hotel be- 
 came fashionable. 
 
 All guests to the masked party were warned 
 to come so artfully disguised that identification 
 would be as difficult as possible. There were, 
 of course, prizes, for no Pendleton function was 
 possible without them; and he and she who 
 were the last to be discovered would carry off 
 the first two. B. M. Gridge was the only one 
 on that gay evening who appeared in his own 
 character; he could not possibly have been any- 
 body else, and besides, it was well enough for 
 somebody to seem to be at home to receive. 
 Juanita, who did not show herself till the Pal- 
 mers had come, glided into the hall dressed 
 in deep black. Very slim and little she looked 
 and very weird so little, no one could be in 
 doubt a moment as to who she was; and so 
 black, in slippers, stockings, dress, head-cover- 
 ing and velvet mask, that the diamond necklace 
 seemed a line of fire about her black collar. 
 Long gloves concealed her arms, even the sharp 
 little red elbows not a morsel of skin was
 
 THE MASKED BALL 221 
 
 shown. She was not seeking to represent any 
 character from history or fable this was 
 frankly an exploitation of the diamond neck- 
 lace. It was enough. Such a necklace as that 
 had never been seen in Pendleton; it might have 
 gotten a Marie Antoinette into trouble. 
 Surely this was Juanita, but heavens ! where 
 could she have found that glittering wonder? 
 Minna Palmer was a butterfly, or rather a 
 hundred butterflies. Her headdress quivered 
 with artificial butterflies. Her yellow satin 
 robe with its wings of lace typified a most 
 gorgeous specimen; on the toes of her white 
 satin slippers were crimson butterflies, and they 
 were worked on her stockings, one two 
 three oh, there was no knowing how far up 
 they might be flying! But the last word was 
 said by the pin upon her bosom, the diamond 
 butterfly. A few crimps, one might say, were 
 taken out of its wings when it encountered that 
 necklace; still, its diamond eyes still shone 
 bravely. As there was only one such ornament 
 in the county, Minna's name would not be hard 
 guessing; however, it was worth more to her
 
 222 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 to wear that pin than win any prize (but how 
 on earth had Juanita come by that necklace? 
 Even diamond butterflies are not always unal- 
 loyed delights). 
 
 Alfred set himself to discover the identity 
 of all his former schoolmates, taking very little 
 care to preserve his own disguise. It was all 
 amusing, well worth his coming home, to force 
 so much gay laughter out of the past. He was 
 particularly light-hearted with Minna, remind- 
 ing her of his boyhood affection with the cool- 
 ness shown by a scientist toward a dried speci- 
 men. And when he found Jack Palmer, too 
 fat for incognito, bestowing all his blandish- 
 ments as a German Baron on the tiny black 
 sprite of the diamond necklace, he did not 
 hesitate to warn him away with " B. M. 
 Gridge has his eyes on you, Jack the Giant 
 Killer! " (pronouncing Giant in such a manner 
 as to make it a miserable pun for Juanita). 
 
 But there was a late comer whom Alfred 
 failed to recognize. " Hav*e we ever met? " 
 he asked, seating himself beside her as soon as 
 she had found a chair. Her figure was strik-
 
 THE MASKED BALL 223 
 
 ingly handsome, tall and graceful, her bearing 
 was free and easy. 
 
 ' Yes." The reply was so brief, the voice 
 failed to offer a clew. She was simply dressed, 
 all in white but for the pink mask. 
 
 " If your face can at all compare with your 
 hands, your form, and that promise your atti- 
 tude gives, you are surely the most beautiful 
 of my acquaintances I " he hazarded. 
 
 " My beauty does not stop at my face." 
 " And your voice is like perfect music." 
 " Shall I play you some more? " 
 " Do ! Tell me what character you repre- 
 sent, for so far as I can make out, you are dis- 
 guised as an ordinary mortal." 
 
 " I am playing Richard, the Second." 
 " Richard, the Second? " 
 "Yes; you were very well acquainted with 
 the First." 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me that this is Rich- 
 ard? " 
 
 " Did you not have to be told? " 
 " But it isn't fair you are not supposed 
 to be here ! "
 
 224 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I shall vanish before the unmasking and the 
 dancing." 
 
 " Oh, please don't, please don't ! I for I 
 must see you, I must! " His tones vibrated 
 with earnestness. He was all excitement, all 
 delight. Who could have imagined that Rich- 
 ard would develop into this splendid woman! 
 And she had come to him, as it were at least, 
 she had made no attempt to escape. He might 
 have guessed forever and all in vain. 
 
 "Why must you see me?" 
 
 " How can you ask? After our dear friend- 
 ship for it was very dear to me can I 
 help wanting to meet you face to face? O 
 Richard, how could you be so unkind, this 
 whole summer? What hours you made 
 me lose when all the time we might have been 
 enjoying each other's hopes and plans, as in 
 the old days! " 
 
 She shook her head. " Not as in the old 
 days, sir, for remember, I am Richard, the Sec- 
 ond. I have no old days. I took all my old 
 days and made them into a necklace of pearls, 
 then I wound them about young Richard's neck
 
 THE MASKED BALL 225 
 
 and buried her. There's no young Richard, 
 nowadays." 
 
 Her voice slightly faltered. 
 
 " But part of those bygone times belonged 
 to me, and you had no right to cover them up." 
 
 " I did it, though. And nobody can bring 
 them back to life. You can't have your share 
 again! " 
 
 "You admit part was mine, once?" 
 
 " Yes, but you went away and left it." 
 
 " Oh, Richard, I never knew what a fool I 
 was, till I wasn't one any longer ! " 
 
 " No one ever does, I imagine. And how 
 wise you suddenly became, sir! " 
 
 " I've never made any such claim. Wise in 
 what?" 
 
 " The art of healing, to be sure. Where did 
 you learn it all? " 
 
 Alfred burned scarlet behind his mask. Evi- 
 dently his step-mother had betrayed the sacred 
 secret and Richard had heard of it. Angry 
 with himself for having ever written that un- 
 happy letter, filled with mortification, he was 
 speechless.
 
 226 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 The masked figure laughed without bitter- 
 ness. " And your fame as a healer has spread 
 abroad ! " she added, lightly. 
 
 It was another way of telling him that the 
 whole neighborhood had learned why he staid 
 away last summer. He cringed. Then with 
 a smothered groan he exclaimed, " Taunt me, 
 Richard! Say to me, ' Physician, heal thyself.' 
 I deserve it, and I couldn't deny the implica- 
 tion." 
 
 " Why should I taunt you, I who am Rich- 
 ard, the Second, and have nothing to do with 
 doctors? No, I came to this party on purpose 
 to find you." 
 
 "To pardon?" 
 
 "To petition." 
 
 '* You have a favor to ask? What a kind 
 chance ! I make only one condition that you 
 let me see you without your mask." 
 
 " If I were to ask a favor as coming from 
 you, I suppose I should be obliged to comply. 
 Fortunately the favor is from my uncle; and 
 you are only the medium of communication a 
 sort of post-office box."
 
 THE MASKED BALL 227 
 
 He strove desperately to catch her meaning; 
 why post-office box? 
 
 " I am in need, Mr. Montgomery," she 
 added, gravely, " and I must ask you for 
 money." 
 
 " Yes," he faltered, faintly. " Oh, yes, cer- 
 tainly." Richard, the Second, did not approach 
 him as a stranger, after all ! " I see . . . 
 money." He was too astounded to collect his 
 wits. 
 
 She spoke with greater decision, thinking him 
 hesitating: "I must have twenty-five dol- 
 lars, and must have it at once." 
 
 He repeated vaguely, "twenty-five dollars? 
 By all means." 
 
 " Perhaps I should explain just why I need 
 this amount." 
 
 " Oh, not at all ... that is immaterial. I 
 understand, then, that you ask me to give you 
 twenty-five dollars? " 
 
 " Yes. That will be enough." 
 
 " You wouldn't like fifty? " he asked, with a 
 secret flash of humor to illumine his astonish- 
 ment.
 
 228 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I'd like only what's necessary." 
 
 " Well," Alfred remarked, somewhat drily, 
 " I'm the sort of post-office box that's full of 
 registered letters. You can draw out the 
 twenty-five. But you'll surely give me a 
 date?" 
 
 " You can send it to-morrow, to the hotel." 
 
 " I mean you'll let me have an evening 
 with you an hour, at least?" 
 
 " I'm afraid all my hours are engaged." 
 
 " But I should have some reward, you know, 
 for for cashing your wish." 
 
 " You'll have the consciousness of knowing 
 you have kept your trust," she returned, rather 
 coolly. 
 
 Alfred pondered these words. " Somehow, 
 the reward doesn't seem enough." 
 
 " I'm sorry." Richard had no more to say 
 on that point. 
 
 Suddenly Alfred began to laugh. He ex- 
 cused himself with, " It's so odd, you know ! " 
 Then quickly, " Yes, you'd better tell me why 
 you want the money, it may shed some light 
 on the mystery of all those engaged hours."
 
 THE MASKED BALL 229 
 
 " I think it best, too, so you may make a 
 memorandum." 
 
 " Then you expect to pay back, some day? " 
 
 For an instant Richard was silent, weighing 
 the propriety of letting him take such command 
 of her affairs. " Do you ask that as one who 
 assumes the right to know? " 
 
 " Haven't I the right to know what is done 
 with my money? " 
 
 " It isn't your money." 
 
 " I don't quite understand you, Richard, but 
 certainly I have no rights." 
 
 " Then I will tell you. Shall we go out in 
 the moonlight? " He followed her from the 
 house, perplexed but charmed. There was in 
 her walk a grace, and in her figure a beauty of 
 line and motion, that made him eager to accept 
 the popular verdict regarding her face. Surely 
 it, too, was surpassingly lovely, and in the mild 
 influence of the summer night, the tantalizing 
 emotions inspired by her imagined loveliness 
 and the moonlight that surrounded her, brought 
 back the half-forgotten thrill of boyhood's love. 
 Of course he did not love, except so far as one
 
 2 3 o THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 may worship the features existing in a dream, 
 or may concentrate the perfume of dewy flow- 
 ers and the mystic charm of silvered meadows 
 and gleaming ponds, weaving the whole into 
 the semblance of a woman's face. 
 
 She led him to a bench at a distant corner 
 of the yard, and they became one group in 
 many, scattered over the lawn. Occasionally 
 laughing couples accosted them, but there was 
 less danger of being overheard than in the 
 house, and it soon developed that Richard 
 spoke in confidence. 
 
 " If you do me the honor to remember my 
 ambition when you were here last," she said, 
 " you'll remember that I wrote, and expected 
 to become an author. I've never given up this 
 expectation, and never shall, but I have found 
 it impossible to get any of my writings pub- 
 lished for pay. The sending back and forth 
 of manuscripts takes a good deal of money, 
 when in every envelope you must inclose return 
 postage. And I have no money. It is terrible 
 to have to ask Cousin Minna for any, because 
 yes, just because. . . . And I have been
 
 THE MASKED BALL 231 
 
 thinking of trying a literary agent. Something 
 must be the matter with my stories, or some- 
 body would take one of them! Maybe a lit- 
 erary agent could show me what's the matter. 
 But they want money to do such work. Every- 
 thing requires money I don't know how the 
 grass grows without it! The worst thing 
 about my work is, that there's nothing to show 
 for expenditures. At the end of two years I 
 have not one check, not one printed word, to 
 show for my investment. I don't blame every- 
 body for thinking I'm wasting my time. But I 
 feel I'm growing stronger in my art, and must 
 be nearer success every day. You see, there's 
 no mystery about how I spend my time; I'm 
 engaged to my art. I slave at my desk, never 
 showing myself a particle of mercy, for oh 
 for oh, Alfred! if I can just win independ- 
 ence not fame, that isn't what I want, but 
 to be able to pay my own way not have 
 to depend on on other people on char- 
 ity . . . 
 
 She stopped abruptly, resolute to spare her- 
 self the humiliation, and himself the embarrass-
 
 232 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 ment, of a broken voice. He waited for her to 
 continue, but it was a good while before she 
 could do so. All at once the cruelty of her 
 position had seized her by the throat. There 
 was crowded upon her heart the burden of a 
 hundred failures, the ruined fragments of a 
 thousand castles in the air; and just for the 
 moment, those architects of hope which ordi- 
 narily built for her so swiftly, so skillfully, out 
 of mere dream-stuff, showed leaden fingers 
 their fairy touch was lost. 
 
 Alfred had a curious impression of being 
 suddenly awakened from a summer's revery. 
 Though he could not see the face behind the 
 mask, he could, to some degree, penetrate the 
 heart behind those clasped hands. There 
 opened before him a world of labor in which 
 the breezes are grateful because they cool 
 one's brow wet with sweat, and the light is 
 holy because it follows creative work. He was 
 bewildered as he grasped this idea of ceaseless 
 activity, unending endeavor. To his mind, 
 Richard was like one striving to reach the lofty 
 branches of the tree of success, with nothing
 
 THE MASKED BALL 233 
 
 upon which to climb but the dead leaves of suc- 
 cessive winters. 
 
 " I ought to say," added Richard, when sure 
 that her voice would not falter, " that whether 
 I needed the money or not, I should write, be- 
 cause, well being a writer seems being my- 
 self. But I do need the money, I need it to 
 save me from from an intolerable position. 
 Think of it! See how I'm placed but you 
 can't understand." 
 
 " It isn't right," he cried, impetuously, " for 
 you to give up all pleasure society and all 
 that to work day and night. You'll kill 
 yourself, and and it's unkind to other peo- 
 ple. I should think you'd rather go away 
 teach school, or something, if you feel that you 
 aren't independent with the Palmers." He 
 might have added that a salary would spare 
 her the necessity of applying to him for money. 
 
 "But I can't go away that's what you 
 don't understand. My aunt needs me. I am 
 all she has to depend on." 
 
 " You are right to say I can't understand 
 that! She has her own daughter! "
 
 234 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " She needs me," Richard said, quietly, " and 
 will need me more." 
 
 " Richard, if you'll permit, I'll undertake to 
 get you a country-school which you can begin 
 teaching the very month I go back to the uni- 
 versity." 
 
 " I can't leave my aunt." 
 
 " Between school hours, you'd have an oppor- 
 tunity to do your writing." 
 
 Richard was silent. 
 
 Alfred exclaimed, impatiently, " Oh, the ob- 
 stinacy of the self-sacrificing! " 
 
 From the house came the sounds of sudden 
 movements indicating that the time of unmask- 
 ing was at hand. The warning was shouted 
 across the lawn. 
 
 " Time for Cinderella to slip away," said 
 Richard, starting up. " Don't be uneasy about 
 me I'll dive into that grove, come out upon 
 the street below the meadow, and be in town at 
 once. Good-by." 
 
 He stepped with her into the heavy shadow. 
 " But Cinderella must leave her clew that 
 pink mask, for instance. Oh, Richard, I must
 
 THE MASKED BALL 235 
 
 see your face, I have no intention of letting you 
 escape until I have that great happiness. I 
 know too well how difficult it is to find such op- 
 portunities." 
 
 Richard laughed lightly. " This is not an 
 opportunity, it's just something that looks like 
 one, one of those things I've been grasping at 
 all my life! No, you cannot have the mask 
 and I shall certainly not leave my slipper, for 
 I must walk haven't even a pumpkin-car- 
 riage." 
 
 Alfred stepped in the path. " Listen, Rich- 
 ard," he said, earnestly, " I shall not remind you 
 of the twenty-five dollars " 
 
 " No need to, it's the last thing I could for- 
 get." 
 
 " But on the. strength of our past friend- 
 ship or because I am determined yet to be 
 your friend or for whatever reason you 
 please, I declare to you that with your kind per- 
 mission (I hope) or without it, if it must be, 
 I will see your face this night ! " 
 
 Richard hesitated, and he saw her bosom 
 swell as if agitated by quick emotion.
 
 236 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I'm sorry to be so rude, so brutal," said 
 Alfred, grimly, " but the fact is, I'm desperate 
 to see you, Richard, and you are so absurdly 
 unkind . . ." 
 
 " Very well then, you shall have the mask, 
 you shall look at me if you insist upon it, after 
 I have told you why I object. I'll make the 
 story so short that by the time you go with me 
 through the grove, you'll know it all. When 
 you left Pendleton two years ago, Richard, the 
 First, you will remember, was in love with you. 
 She was a very lonely child, and after her 
 father's death, you came into her life in such 
 a way that there was no one but you to fill it. 
 She could never have told you of her love if 
 she hadn't known that you loved her cousin, 
 and you were so down-hearted, she thought it 
 would give you courage to take up your life 
 after you'd been refused; besides, you were go- 
 ing away and then, well, she loved you so 
 that when you were sitting there miserable, 
 broken-hearted, she couldn't help wanting you 
 to know. Such a queer child! She's dead,
 
 THE MASKED BALL 237 
 
 Alfred, with bowed head, listened intently, as 
 he kept beside her through shadows. 
 
 "When you were gone, it was her life to 
 write, and think of you. She loved to stretch 
 herself on the grass down by the Spring 
 where you had rested and recall your fea- 
 tures, your voice, your words, and imagine you 
 standing there, the Alfred she prayed for every 
 day, whom she had called her ' Knight.' And 
 when winter came, she used to wonder if you 
 would ever write to her, just a note, a line, to 
 say that you were happier, that you were learn- 
 ing to bear the great sorrow of always loving 
 Minna, but never being loved for the ridic- 
 ulous little girl imagined you could never cease 
 loving Minna, for you had told her so! And 
 she thought what a white star day it would be 
 if a message came from you signed, * Your 
 Knight.' Foolish Richard, the First, to think 
 she was ever in your mind! " 
 
 " But she was often in my mind ! " cried Al- 
 fred. 
 
 " As she wandered over frozen ground, she'd 
 make dreams about you as pure and beautiful
 
 238 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 as the snow: you would always live alone, and 
 so would she and perhaps, some day, in the 
 same city; and you would come to talk about 
 your work, and she would tell you about her 
 books, never more than that because your heart 
 would never love again; while she could never 
 love another. Such little-girl's fancies, clear 
 and white like the snow scattered on the frozen 
 ponds! So she carried you to every nook of 
 Uncle Zack's farm how she loved that dear 
 place, now in strangers' hands. They'll never 
 see you waving in the long grass or rising from 
 the snow." 
 
 Alfred bent his head lower. 
 
 " There wasn't any change in the little thing 
 until last summer when everybody said you 
 couldn't come home because I let us say she 
 was in love with you and had told you so! 
 And everybody was so sorry for the little thing, 
 and so curious to see how she looked in love ! 
 Minna and Jack had to get acquainted all over 
 with her, and people said it was such a pity, 
 such a pity but so strange! It was strange. 
 So the little thing shut herself up in her room
 
 THE MASKED BALL 239 
 
 and wrote till her hand cramped, and her brain 
 was hardly clearer than her ink, trying not to 
 think about it, trying only to write something 
 worth while to write, to write, to write to 
 write you out of her heart, to cross you all 
 over, to cover you with other thoughts. But 
 you were pretty deep in the child's brain or 
 heart." 
 
 They came to a thorn bush that stretched 
 across the footpath and Alfred reached out to 
 draw aside the branches. 
 
 " No, let me," cried Richard, quickly. " I 
 don't want other people to clear the difficulties 
 from my path. Then I heard from your step- 
 mother that you were coming home, which 
 meant you had given Richard, the First, time to 
 get over her infatuation. So she looked into 
 her soul to discover if it were quite healed, for 
 she had been so frantically absorbed in her 
 work, she had not taken time to inquire. And 
 what do you think she found? That whether 
 for good or ill, you were so intertwined among 
 the fibres of her being, that she couldn't tell 
 where you began and where you ended ! You
 
 2 4 o THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 couldn't be plucked out, for you were part of 
 her life. So I said I would kill Richard, the 
 First, with all her memories, with all her love. 
 And I buried her." 
 
 "You couldn't!" he exclaimed in a low 
 voice. " Richard, if I was there in your 
 heart so securely you couldn't have driven 
 me out by any act of will." 
 
 " I could, and I have done so ! " she de- 
 clared. " For I am not the child that loved 
 you, I am the woman who has nothing to do 
 with love. I will not have those old days dug 
 from their grave. My life is a very serious 
 one, and my work is very jealous. I tell you, 
 nothing shall interfere with it! Society shall 
 not distract me, temptations of idleness shall 
 be unheeded, and as I cannot make friends, I 
 owe no time to friendship. I am Richard, the 
 Second, and, Alfred forgive me I have no 
 time for you. My need is too desperate for 
 you to accuse me of selfishness. I must succeed; 
 I must make my way; I must gain independence 
 and I haven't the leisure to let the ink rust 
 on my pen. Maybe I'd write better if I
 
 THE MASKED BALL 241 
 
 rested, but how can I rest until I have written 
 something to make me free? " 
 
 " If you would leave the Palmers board 
 in the country or city and teach school " 
 
 " I can't leave my aunt. She depends on me 
 couldn't do without me. If I were gone, 
 she'd be left alone half the time, and it terrifies 
 her to sleep in an empty house at the mercy of 
 uncertain servants. Minna and Cousin Jack go 
 to the city once or twice a week with a theater 
 party, or take overland auto-rides, and when 
 they stay at home, they are out till midnight at 
 parties, or have their own house filled with 
 guests. If my aunt didn't have me, what could 
 she do but die of loneliness and fear? When 
 Uncle Zack comes home, as I'm sure he will, 
 some day, I shall be proud to show that I've 
 been worthy of his confidence and love. Minna 
 and Jack give me shelter and food just be- 
 cause my uncle left me on their hands. You 
 see why I am desperate for money? That's 
 why I dare not stop writing, even to breathe I " 
 
 " I have had several long talks with Mrs. 
 Flood this summer," Alfred remarked, hesi-
 
 242 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 tatingly, " and she has never once intimated 
 that she depends upon you for anything." 
 
 " Oh, my aunt doesn't know that she needs 
 me. I'm just like the air she lives on it 
 without a thought. When I sit writing beside 
 her while the house is ringing with gaiety, or 
 is silent from desertion, very likely she 
 imagines I am rather in her way! But if I 
 weren't there, you'd see ! Sometimes it's 
 the strangest thing! she actually resents find- 
 ing so much comfort in my company because it 
 seems to cast a reflection upon her daughter 
 whom she worships. She wouldn't for the 
 world praise me for being faithful, it would 
 seem to hint that Minna neglects her. The 
 fact is, she quite deceives herself she has to 
 her faith in Minna is like the breath of her 
 nostrils. Shall we say good night? here is 
 the road." 
 
 "Must we say it?" 
 
 " Yes they'll miss you from the ball. 
 And I don't want you to see my face, because I 
 want to be strangers with you do you 
 mind?"
 
 THE MASKED BALL 243 
 
 " Oh, yes, Richard, I mind cruelly. You'll 
 never know how my heart has been wrung by 
 what you have told me " 
 
 " That's well. I don't want to know any- 
 thing but my work. You've heard of artists 
 making a choice between art and life, but I'm 
 spared the need of choosing for I've not the 
 alternative. It's just plain work for me 
 anything that interferes with that, is my enemy. 
 Alfred," she added very earnestly, but gently, 
 too, " you would interfere with my work 
 you would destroy it! " 
 
 " Good night," said Alfred, opening the 
 gate and letting her pass into the moon-lighted 
 road, without offering his hand. " It shall be 
 as you said: I will be strangers with you." 
 
 " Thank you." She moved quickly away. 
 
 Alfred called tremulously, " But not for al- 
 ways, Richard, not for always? " 
 
 There was no hesitation in the white figure 
 as it slipped along the shadow-fringe where the 
 grove overlooked the smooth, gleaming coun- 
 try-road. 
 
 Alfred stood in the open gateway and called
 
 244 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 again, " Say not for always, Richard, not stran- 
 gers for always ! " 
 
 Her voice came to him faintly, but full of 
 sweetness: "Who knows? Perhaps not for 
 always."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 
 
 ^" ""^HE solitary cottonwood-tree which 
 had attracted Richard's attention the 
 evening Alfred drove her from the 
 Pendleton station to her new home, was little 
 changed since then, and yet through the sum- 
 mers of nine successive years, its leaves had 
 whispered of fragrant breezes, or roared in the 
 sudden storm. Early summer had come for 
 the tenth year and its shadow danced on the 
 long meadow-grass as gleefully, as much at 
 home, as if the song of those agitated branches 
 had never been interrupted by the touch of win- 
 ter. The same fence of wire and hedge-posts 
 divided the unbroken field of bluegrass from 
 the fringe of goldenrod, mullein and Spanish 
 needles which had not yet achieved their yellow 
 glory along the broad country road. It seemed 
 to the wanderer, as he halted in the shade of 
 245
 
 246 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 the lofty tree, that the very ruts of the road 
 were those in which his wheels had sped, so 
 long ago. Everything was the same fields 
 of corn and timothy and red clover; fences, 
 road, cottonwood-tree ; blue sky and golden sun ; 
 fragrance of earth and shrill sweetness of 
 meadowlarks nothing had changed in all 
 that landscape, but himself. 
 
 Zack Flood had no delusions about himself, 
 or, so far as he could help it, about anybody 
 else. He knew his feet were ten years heavier, 
 his hair ten years grayer, his heart ten years 
 older, than on the day he last passed under the 
 shadow of this old landmark. To another it 
 might have occurred that nature was cruel to 
 keep eternally young as if reminding him that 
 long after he had passed for the final journey 
 beyond the cottonwood-tree, its shade would be 
 as sweet for somebody else, while in its rippling 
 melody would be no memory of him. But even 
 if Zack had been susceptible to such generaliza- 
 tions he would have grimly declared that one 
 life was enough for him, and the tree could
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 247 
 
 shelter whom it might when he had no further 
 use for it. 
 
 After a brief rest, he resumed his way toward 
 the farm, his sturdy pace never quickening, but 
 his eye growing brighter and brighter as the 
 distance from the station increased. On leav- 
 ing the train, nobody had recognized him, 
 though he could have called a dozen of the 
 platform-loungers by their first names. If pos- 
 sible, he would conceal his identity on reaching 
 his old home, that is, just for an hour or so, 
 addressing his wife, his daughter, his niece, 
 and that lazy son-in-law of his, as a complete 
 stranger. Of course they would be there, sit- 
 ting on the porch, very likely at least Jack 
 would be sitting and he would walk forward, 
 diffidently, asking either for work or for some- 
 thing to eat. While trying to choose his part 
 between that of a farmhand and a mendicant, 
 he laughed with impatience and a mist rose to 
 his eyes but he would not hurry. There 
 was time enough or, if not, running would 
 avail nothing. One does not run forward to
 
 248 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 seize the days that have flown over one's shoul- 
 der. 
 
 As luck would have it, he had met B. M. 
 Gridge face to face in the station; his old friend 
 had stared at him intently, but as one who gazes 
 upon a stranger. Ten years had greatly 
 changed " B. M." Zack doubted if he could 
 stand on his hands nowadays! but evidently 
 Zack was changed much more. It would be 
 such a joke if his wife failed to recognize him ! 
 . . . Zack found himself running, and brought 
 up short, with a severe, " You old fool! " 
 
 His destination came in sight the dear old 
 farm, looking so new! The spring still 
 trickled into the brook, the brook slipped away 
 between the same green banks, with the same 
 murmur of tiny waterfalls. There, in the back 
 lot, stood three mules at the wormeaten feed- 
 trough, and through the open loftdoor could 
 be seen hay stacked to the cupola it was just 
 like Jack to leave open that door . . . but it 
 was not like him to have so much hay in his 
 barn. And the house, so well-kept, so neatly 
 painted had he misjudged Jack, after all?
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 249 
 
 If so, he had been sufficiently punished by his 
 long exile. 
 
 As he opened the yard gate he remembered 
 the day of the annual picnic when he had 
 sprung over the stiles half-stifled with rage and 
 terror. Passing the honeysuckle arbor he re- 
 called the days of its planning and making. It 
 seemed to him that he could see baby Minna's 
 bare feet running before him along the walk, 
 and that from the window where the sugar 
 maple tapped against the weather-boarding, 
 looked out the older Minna, as beautiful as only 
 one's own child can be. At the front porch he 
 paused, staring at the wooden seats fastened 
 in each side, and remembering how he and his 
 wife had sat there at the close of day, looking 
 out over the green world with its wind-ruffled 
 ponds dark and gleaming by turns, in the young 
 days when there was no Minna. 
 
 He was so overwhelmed by these recollec- 
 tions which defied any logical or chronological 
 order, that he stood a long time, seeking to 
 compose himself, grateful that he had not been 
 discovered. The distant hum of voices told
 
 250 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 him that the family was on the side-porch. It 
 was about five o'clock the time when he and 
 his wife had been wont to enjoy a restful pause 
 before taking up those duties that cluster about 
 the supper-hour. He was none the less impa- 
 tient to greet his loved ones because he had 
 voluntarily staid away, and had denied himself 
 all possible means of hearing from them during 
 ten years. The deepest love and the most 
 unyielding obstinacy are often found in the 
 same heart; and while to his last breath, Zack 
 would maintain that his staying away had been 
 for the best, and under the same circumstances 
 he would do it again, it was equally as true that 
 his starved soul had been kept alive only on 
 the expectations of a happy reunion. He was 
 even ready to put his arms about Jack and say,- 
 " Be as worthless as you please, I'll support 
 you the rest of my life ! No, I'm not sorry I 
 went away but I'm not going again." 
 
 When he hoped he could trust himself, Zack 
 went around the house, giving love-glances to 
 the uneven stones before the side porch, the 
 damson-tree that had grown amazingly since
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 
 
 Minna used to climb it, and, over yonder, the 
 toolhouse where he had made so many things 
 to outlast himself, and where Richard had scrib- 
 bled herself into the belief that she had a ca- 
 reer. 
 
 On the long side-porch sat a man and woman 
 of middle age whom Zack had never seen. 
 The porch itself was painfully familiar. The 
 water-bucket hung from the very nail he had 
 driven in the wall. The woodbox by the 
 kitchen-door had been papered, but he could 
 see it was the same he had made from lumber 
 left after one of the many additions built for 
 Minna's benefit. Suppose, on learning of her 
 secret marriage, he had made no complaint, had 
 not gone away had simply built another 
 room! Upon the wall three feet above the 
 bench, hung a sunbonnet, blue, shapeless. That 
 was Minna's nail; she used to climb upon the 
 bench and reach up, oh, so proudly then look 
 round at her father and mother with eyes say- 
 ing, "You see I can do it!" And what a 
 marvel it was to them that she could do it 
 that she could do anything! Was ever such
 
 252 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 another wonder in the world as that little 
 Minna? 
 
 " Good evening," said the sturdily-built, 
 smooth-faced man who sat in a great round- 
 backed chair, speaking and sitting as one hav- 
 ing authority. 
 
 " Could I see Mr. Palmer Mr. Jack Pal- 
 mer? " asked Zack, doubtfully. Already he sus- 
 pected the truth. No stranger would be sitting 
 in that round-backed chair with such an air of 
 having filled it many a time; either this was a 
 renter, or 
 
 " I guess you're mistaken," said the man, re- 
 moving his pipe. " Mr. Palmer used to own 
 this place, but I bought it of him eight years 
 ago. You'll find him in town, I guess. Been 
 a good while since you were in these parts? 
 Have a chair. Don't happen to be looking for 
 a job, do you? Porter's my name." 
 
 Zack sat down heavily; at last he was once 
 more under his own roof. " Oh, he sold out, 
 did he? I'm surprised and yet, now I think 
 of it, that's exactly what I expected. Yes, I've 
 been down in Arkansas a long time. I I
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 253 
 
 used to work on this farm, not for Palmer, 
 however; I always worked for Zack Flood." 
 
 The woman spoke, persuasively. " The 
 Hand's House is empty and until we can find 
 a family to live on the place, there it is. ... 
 If you could cook for yourself Mr. Porter 
 has been left to do the milking and he wouldn't 
 be very particular; our man that did the 
 jobs about the house went away without a 
 word, day-before-yesterday. Would you be 
 strong enough? I'm afraid you're pretty 
 old." 
 
 " Strong? Why, yes, I can bear a good 
 deal," said Zack, in the slow voice he had ac- 
 quired in the solitude of his Arkansas farm. 
 He had grown into the habit of talking to 
 himself, where there were few to talk to, and 
 his tones had a special significance to himself 
 which was lost on other ears. " Yes, I can 
 bear a good deal. The Hand's House is the 
 place for me, the very place ! As for cooking, 
 that's what I've done the past ten years, all my 
 own cooking. Yes, I'll milk your cows and do 
 anything else you want. I'm about sixty years
 
 254 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 old, but I'm good for a long life yet, unless 
 somebody takes and kills me." 
 
 " So you used to work on this place when it 
 belonged to what-do-you-call-'im, Jack Palmer's 
 father-in-law, eh? " said Porter, interestedly. 
 " You ought to know what kind of a chap he 
 was." 
 
 " I expect I know Zack Flood better than 
 most folks." 
 
 " Did you ever see any signs of craziness 
 on him? " 
 
 Mrs. Porter added, " He was crazy when he 
 went away. What kind of looking man 
 was he? " 
 
 " As different from me as could be," replied 
 Zack, meditatively. " Where my face is run- 
 ning wild with whiskers, his was clean-shaven 
 except for a mustache that he kept sort of 
 lawn-mowed just so it could speak for itself, 
 but never interrupt anybody. He was my 
 height, about, but Lord! he was always as 
 straight as a young sapling, his shoulders fairly 
 r'ared back and you see I'm all bunched over 
 like a beanpod curling up in dry weather. He
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 255 
 
 stepped as light and brisk as a girl, and he did 
 no little stepping as I can testify, for if he 
 hadn't a-kept ahead of his daughter's expense- 
 account he would sure have been run over." 
 
 She interrupted: " But I meant, did he look 
 sort of wild and curious at times? Seems that 
 he was losing his mind without any one sus- 
 picioning it. He just went off and left this 
 farm, nobody knew why deeded it to his 
 wife and daughter, between them, and 's never 
 been heard of since." 
 
 " I think his eye was sort of fixed at times, 
 ma'am. I suppose his wife and child are living 
 in town? " 
 
 " His daughter Mrs. Jack Palmer 
 lives in Pendleton. But his wife " Mrs. 
 Porter shook her head. 
 
 - " Don't tell me," Zack cried out so wildly 
 that they looked at him curiously. " Don't 
 don't tell me that she is dead. I I you 
 know, I never thought of that." 
 
 "Dead? No." Mrs. Porter spoke in an 
 angry voice. " Oh, no, she's not dead. But 
 they've put her in an almshouse."
 
 256 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 ' They wouldn't dare ! " cried the wanderer, 
 starting up, fiercely. " Wasn't she given half 
 of this farm? I guess you've got that wrong, 
 ma'am. I don't think Jack Palmer's that 
 cruel, and I know Minna would have died 
 first." 
 
 " Sit down and take it cool," said the farmer, 
 with dry kindliness. " My wife always puts 
 that wrong end foremost. She will have it an 
 almshouse. Take my word, it's nothing of the 
 sort." 
 
 " Excuse me," said Zack, slowly seating him- 
 self. " I guess I caught some of Flood's in- 
 sanity, working for him so long. Well, if it 
 isn't an almshouse, what is it? " 
 
 Porter stared at the ceiling, then at his pipe. 
 " It's a refuge," he explained, at last. 
 
 "What was she escaping from? Her 
 daughter?" 
 
 Mrs. Porter remarked, " You must have 
 thought a great deal of her husband ! " 
 
 " I've got a mighty low opinion of him, now. 
 Where is that refuge?" 
 
 " Five miles out of town. A few years ago,
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 257 
 
 her church built a Home for this state a 
 Home for Old People. She's out there." 
 
 " Didn't she have a home of her own? " 
 
 " She gave that to Jack Palmer." 
 
 " But she's not old enough to be taken into 
 such a place." 
 
 " I guess she's older than you think. They 
 all call her * Old Mrs. Flood.' She's never been 
 young since we moved to this county. She was 
 so o-o-old, and weakly, and in-the-way, that they 
 didn't know what to do with her. And when 
 they went to Europe of course they couldn't 
 take her along, and there was nobody to keep 
 her; but I always said it was wrong to send her 
 to an almshouse." 
 
 Porter corrected, " 'Tain't an almshouse, it's 
 a refuge. It's a Home." 
 
 " My God ! " muttered Zack. " Is there 
 anything on earth more desolate than a Home 
 that begins with a capital * H ' ? Her husband 
 deserves " 
 
 " Oh, he was crazy, I reckon he couldn't help 
 it," interposed Mrs. Porter. " He just went 
 off. Wasn't any reason or anything he just
 
 258 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 went. He got up and put out. Sometimes I 
 think if he ever gets his senses and comes back 
 and finds his wife in an almshouse, he'll do 
 something." 
 
 "Yes," said Zack, slowly. "He will. I 
 know him and I can vouch for him that he'll 
 do something. That is, // he ever gets his 
 senses. Wasn't any reason for him to leave his 
 family, you say? " 
 
 " Not a thing. None of his folks ever knew 
 why he pulled loose. They say he hadn't ever 
 mistreated his family, that is with quarreling 
 and the like, though he was pretty close with 
 his daughter. She'd set her heart on an auto- 
 mobile for years, but he wouldn't hear to it. 
 She got one after he left. She's had two since 
 then." 
 
 " I reckon her mother doesn't handle one, 
 does she? " 
 
 Porter started from his chair, on discovering 
 a horseman riding up to the gate. " Come in, 
 come in, Mr. Gridge 1 " he called. 
 
 B. M. Gridge dismounted, tied his horse to 
 the gate, and came over the stiles with a step
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 259 
 
 as slow and heavy as that of the wanderer. 
 Zack shrank a little from his gaze, for already 
 half-formed plans which depended upon his es- 
 caping recognition, were forming in his agitated 
 mind. 
 
 The merchant greeted the Porters with none 
 of his old-time heartiness, then glanced care- 
 lessly at Zack Flood, remarking, " I saw you 
 get off the train." 
 
 Zack nodded, afraid his voice would be- 
 tray him, for he was unconscious of its altered 
 tone. 
 
 " Our new hand," said Mrs. Porter, with 
 an air of grateful proprietorship " Mr. 
 Sprized." Zack wondered where she had 
 found that name, then decided that when he 
 had said " I'm surprised," she had fancied he 
 was introducing himself. 
 
 " Yes," he ventured, " I'm Sprized." The 
 voice awoke no suspicions. 
 
 " I was at the station," remarked Gridge, 
 heavily, " when the train came in, and as I hap- 
 pened to have my horse there, I thought I'd 
 ride out here. I can't explain it, but I got to
 
 26o THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 thinking about Zack Flood man that used to 
 own this farm and he got so bodily natural 
 I could just see him, and that put me to think- 
 ing of the old place . . . and I remembered 
 I'd never taken time to call on you people . . ." 
 
 " We've been talking about nothing but old 
 Mr. Flood for the past hour," cried Mrs. 
 Porter. " This man used to work for him, and 
 knew him like a book." 
 
 Gridge looked at Flood again, but without 
 much interest; farmhands flitted to and fro in 
 that neighborhood like birds alternating be- 
 tween north and south. Flood carried his 
 chair out under the damson-tree that the others 
 might feel relieved from his presence, and 
 while they indulged in general conversation, he 
 watched his old friend, pained to find how much 
 he had aged in every way, and apparently with 
 no recompensing gift of cheerful patience. 
 
 At last he heard Gridge say, " Well, you 
 don't know how odd it is for Zack Flood to 
 seem so near! It's the farm he was almost 
 a part of it I can just see him driving in that 
 gate and throwing the lines to his man this
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 261 
 
 very man, likely enough." Then to Zack " I 
 understand you're from Arkansas." 
 
 " Yes, I worked for a man down there a 
 long time, and strange enough, he was named 
 Flood, too." 
 
 " He was? Couldn't have been my friend, 
 could he?" Gridge looked startled. 
 
 "Who? The Mr. Flood I worked for 
 up here? If he'd been the same, I'd have 
 known it." 
 
 " Of course." Gridge seemed relieved. 
 " Yes, of course you'd have known it. When 
 he went away, he said he'd come back in ten 
 years if he was alive. Well it's ten years 
 this summer. But he'll never come back. If 
 he hadn't been dead long ago, of course he'd 
 have written, or people would have come across 
 him. You can't hide away ten years in this 
 world. There's too many newspapers." 
 
 " I guess that's so," said Zack, " generally 
 speaking." 
 
 " Yes. Oh, Zack Flood'll never come back. 
 Never!" 
 
 " From what I've been hearing," remarked
 
 262 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Zack, " there isn't anybody wanting him much." 
 
 Mrs. Porter exclaimed, " I'll bet his wife 
 would 'most die of joy to see him coming up 
 the walk of that elegant new almshouse. But 
 I reckon his daughter would die of shame, I 
 know I would in her place." 
 
 " It would be awful responsible for him," 
 Zack observed, " to cause two funerals." 
 
 " But he's dead," interposed Gridge, posi- 
 tively. " He must be dead, you know I " 
 
 " Yes," Porter agreed, " one funeral will 
 have to satisfy him it would me." 
 
 After a pause, Gridge said, " But you don't 
 put that right, Mrs. Porter. She's in no alms- 
 house. That's a Home for Old People, and 
 it's kept up by her church. It's it's a reli- 
 gious institution. Mrs. Flood likes it there. 
 I've discussed it with her several times. She 
 prefers staying there where she can be inde- 
 pendent and be waited on without disturbing 
 her friends. Minna wouldn't have let her go 
 there if she hadn't insisted." 
 
 Mrs. Porter sniffed skeptically while her hus-
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 263 
 
 band remarked that he was always arguing it 
 wasn't an almshouse. " Seems like you have 
 to keep saying so, for fear you'll forget," he 
 explained, as he refilled his pipe. 
 
 Suddenly Zack lost control over himself. 
 " God will hold somebody to account for this ! " 
 he cried, looking at Gridge as if to penetrate 
 his very soul. It had been only eight years 
 since the farm was sold; surely Mrs. Flood had 
 not been found in the way at first. And the 
 diamonds were worth five thousand dollars 
 not very much, but enough to keep her out of 
 the Home for Old People. " Had she no 
 friends to prevent this?" Then, abruptly, 
 " Weren't you a friend of her husband? " 
 
 " She wanted to go there," Gridge answered; 
 instead of resenting the other's manner, he 
 seemed anxious to defend himself. " She likes 
 it. You see, there isn't any other place where 
 she can feel at home, like. When she had a 
 home of her own, she was so proud of it, so 
 close-bound to it, that after her husband de- 
 serted her "
 
 264 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 "The d scoundrel! " ejaculated Porter, 
 
 knocking out his pipe with sudden energy. 
 
 Zack started up with a flush. " Mr. Por- 
 ter," he cried, " you'll please remember that 
 that " He checked himself with a grimace 
 " that he was Mr. Gridge's friend and it's 
 not nice to say hard things about the dead." 
 
 " If he's dead, I'm sorry I said it," re- 
 marked the farmer. " But if he's alive, I don't 
 think Mr. Gridge's friendship will stand in the 
 way of expressing the truth. Most friendship 
 in this world is just 'How do you do?' and 
 passing on." 
 
 " I was a real friend to Zack Flood! " de- 
 clared Gridge, striking his chair with clenched 
 hand. " If I could have done anything for his 
 wife, I'd have done it. I'd have been willing 
 to share with her what I had, but she'd have 
 been too proud to take it. When her husband 
 went away he left in my care a diamond pin 
 to be given her in case she sold this farm." 
 
 " Just a diamond pin? " inquired Zack Flood, 
 without looking up. 
 
 " Well," returned Gridge, " it was very val-
 
 OLD TIMES AND NEW 265 
 
 uable worth fifteen hundred dollars. When 
 she sold the farm, I handed it over; but she 
 gave it to her daughter off-hand. If Flood had 
 left me anything else for her it would have 
 been the same. Just the same! Jack Palmer 
 would have gotten it I might as well have 
 thrown it in the big road." 
 
 " Is that the diamond butterfly I've seen her 
 wear at church? " asked Mrs. Porter, with sud- 
 den interest. 
 
 " Yes the diamond butterfly." 
 
 " Zack Flood didn't leave you anything else 
 for her, then?" inquired Zack. 
 
 " No just the diamond butterfly." 
 
 Zack rose. " Mr. Porter, if you please, I'll 
 thank you to show me the way to the Hand's 
 House."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 
 
 RIDING homeward, B. M. Gridge se- 
 lected the longest way, occasionally 
 following lanes that carried him 
 back over the same roads. He was in a state 
 of intense excitement produced by a sudden rev- 
 olution of all his purposes. Consciously, he 
 did not associate the stranger with his changed 
 attitude toward the future; it seemed but a sud- 
 den impulse, springing from renewed intimacy 
 with the Flood farm. As he had explained, 
 Zack Flood was almost materially before him, 
 so clearly and inexplicably had his mental vision 
 reproduced that long-absent friend; but though 
 so clearly present, he did not cease to assure 
 himself that Zack was dead must be dead. 
 
 It must be so, because, otherwise, he would 
 surely return, and the time of his coming was 
 at hand. It must be so because, if he returned. 
 266
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 267 
 
 ... It was with no friendly smile that Zack 
 Flood looked at him from out the past. And 
 then his conscience which for eight years had 
 never ceased to torment him, cried out that 
 whether Flood were alive or dead, his trust 
 was the same. He had dishonored the holy 
 name of friendship, but it was not too late to 
 make some amends; or, if too late to undo the 
 wrong of the past, there was still time to check 
 the impulse to add to that wrong a fresh crime. 
 
 Gridge wondered dully why he should hesi- 
 tate now. Until this afternoon, his intention 
 had not wavered of adding to his sins against 
 Zack Flood, in spite of remorse over former 
 wrongs. He had been sure he would dispose 
 of the third diamond for his personal ends, as 
 he had of the diamond necklace. Either that, 
 or ruin. To be sure the third diamond could 
 not save him, could only put off the inevitable 
 day of failure a few months, but in those few 
 months, what might not happen to save his com- 
 mercial honor? 
 
 Yet as he rode homeward, and even after he 
 reached Pendleton and came in sight of his big
 
 26.8 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 house on the " only fashionable street," his 
 sudden resolve to carry that third diamond to 
 Mrs. Flood was unaltered. 
 
 "What is the matter?" Juanita asked, 
 alarmed, when he came upon her in her dress- 
 ing-room. 
 
 He stopped just within the closed door, look- 
 ing grimly about upon the thousand little ap- 
 pliances that kept his wife young and pretty. 
 He thought her distractingly pretty in half-un- 
 dress, pausing in leisurely hair-brushing to look 
 up at him with that birdlike tilt of her head. 
 She thought him as heavy and awkward and 
 preposterously old as usual; but his face was 
 fixed in soul-agony that gave it a cast of cruel 
 mirth, as if it were laughing at her empty life. 
 She was dressing for that eternal Ladies' Card 
 Party. A smothered groan was upon his lips 
 
 a wild desire to cry out against her futility 
 
 but she was so tender, so little, so innocent, 
 so pretty. She had cost him the best of him- 
 self, and now the house threatened to fall upon 
 them in chaotic ruin but she was so pretty. 
 
 "I believe you're ill!" said Juanita, some-
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 269 
 
 what sharply, as if in rebuke. " Why don't you 
 consult a doctor? You've been looking that 
 way six months, I know." 
 
 " It's the way a man looks, I guess, when 
 he's ruined. Juanita, you'd have to know the 
 truth to-morrow, you might as well hear it now. 
 We're ruined. Yes, I mean it we haven't 
 anything. The store-doors won't open to-mor- 
 row. And after the inventory, there'll be a 
 sacrifice sale that'll mean something for my 
 creditors, not much. This house must go " 
 
 Juanita uttered a piercing scream and threw 
 her brush upon the floor. "You are mad!" 
 she cried shrilly. "You are mad! You are 
 mad!" 
 
 " I wish I were, Juanita. If I keep my 
 senses, how can I live? For we have nothing." 
 
 " Do you mean that when the stock is 
 sold" 
 
 " Yes, and this house, too ; that won't wipe 
 out the debt." 
 
 " Then why, in the name of heaven, did you 
 plunge into debt? " 
 
 Gridge stared at her, blindly.
 
 270 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I say, why didn't you live within your in- 
 come?" cried Juanita, leaping to her feet. 
 " Didn't you have anything when you married 
 me? You made me think so. Were you in 
 debt then? How have you got into debt? " 
 
 " We haven't lived very economically, dear," 
 he faltered, weariedly. 
 
 "/ haven't been extravagant. / haven't 
 spent any more than one in my position is 
 obliged to spend. Good heavens! one owes 
 something to one's station, one owes a little to 
 society. I've been as economical as Minna 
 Flood, and her husband doesn't do anything 
 for a living! You work from morning to 
 night, you are always grinding away. How 
 does Jack Palmer support his wife? " 
 
 " I fancy he has very little." 
 
 " You fancy ! And this is what it meant 
 when I chose you ... it was to be ruined. 
 That was what you wanted with me to 
 shame me before the world. Oh, I can't bear 
 it, and I won't bear it! You can stand there 
 with that patient, doglike humility and say with- 
 out a quiver, * I'm ruined I'm ruined.' But
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 271 
 
 / shall not say it. / shall not be patient. / 
 shall not show humility. If you think Minna 
 Flood will ever point at me and say, ' She's 
 ruined,' you don't know me." She burst into 
 passionate sobbing. 
 
 Gridge was helpless. He silently bowed his 
 head, as if acknowledging the justice of his pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 " And what did I do when I wanted to go to 
 Europe?" cried Juanita. "Jack could take 
 Minna without any trouble, but you couldn't 
 let me go with them, because you were ' hard 
 up ' you've always been hard up, hard up ! 
 And I told you I'd sell the diamond necklace, 
 I'd sacrifice it, yes, I'd strip myself of the only 
 ornament worthy of me, to raise the money. 
 And I did it. Minna could keep her diamond 
 butterfly but I had to give my necklace to the 
 brokers to raise passage-money. You promised 
 to redeem it." 
 
 " As there is a God, Juanita, I expected to 
 buy back that necklace, I would rather hold it 
 in my hand now, than live another day." 
 
 Juanita's frenzied outburst was checked.
 
 272 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Her voice dropped. " I'm so excited," she fal- 
 tered. " Of course I'm sorry for you, too. 
 It's hard for you, I know, but it's broken my 
 heart. I've said too much. Don't mind that. 
 But, oh, why didn't you tell me sooner? " 
 
 " I didn't know it would come just now. I 
 thought I had a way to put off the crash " 
 He was thinking of the third diamond, already 
 taken from the bank and now lying upstairs in 
 his cabinet drawer. 
 
 "Then put it off! put it off!" 
 
 " I thought there was a way, but but " 
 
 " There must be some escape, or you 
 wouldn't have thought so." 
 
 "Listen, Juanita, it's like this: if some one 
 had given me money to keep in trust, and if I 
 drew it to tide us over this emergency " 
 
 " But why not? You owe it to me." 
 
 " It might be like that necklace I was never 
 able to redeem; there's no assurance that I 
 could ever recover this trust-money." 
 
 " But you have the assurance that without it 
 you are lost I am lost! " 
 
 " Yes."
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 273 
 
 Juanita ran to him and seized his arm. 
 
 " Is it enough to ward off the blow? " 
 
 " For a few months." 
 
 " And there's this house, you could get an- 
 other loan on it." 
 
 " No, dear, it's mortgaged to the last penny 
 it can carry." 
 
 " Never mind, something will happen, some- 
 thing must happen." 
 
 " That's what I thought when you sold the 
 necklace to go with Minna to France. But I'm 
 thinking nothing ever happens but trouble." 
 
 " Anyway, it needn't be now, this disgrace. 
 Don't you love me? You used to love me! 
 Look at me, look at me, save me while you 
 can ! And I was getting ready for the biggest 
 party of the season everything is spoiled 
 I shall never hold up my head again. But you 
 won't let your poor little Juanita drop out of 
 life I tell you if it happens, it'll kill me. 
 Tell me that you do love me after all, and that 
 you'll save my life." 
 
 Gridge sank in a chair, drew her upon his 
 knee and crushed her against his bosom. " I
 
 274 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 love you my God, how intensely I have al- 
 ways loved you! You beautiful, exquisitely 
 beautiful darling ! darling, kiss me kiss 
 me once, just once of your own dear sweet will." 
 
 " Then you are going to borrow that trust- 
 money? " 
 
 " The owner isn't here to give his consent. 
 Kiss me, beautiful one, just once." 
 
 " But you'll take it, won't you, since it's in 
 your trust I mean take it just long enough 
 to tide you over these horrible troubles? " 
 
 " No," cried Gridge loudly, as if denying 
 himself, " not for an hour! " 
 
 " You'll see us ruined first? " 
 
 " Yes, by " he uttered a strangled oath 
 " I'll see us both ruined first ! " 
 
 She struck him in the face and leaped from 
 his embrace. " Then go go " all her for- 
 mer passion rushed upon her, turning her face 
 to crimson " go, I never want to see you 
 again you shall never touch me or speak 
 to me or look at me or " She flung 
 herself upon a couch and quivered from head 
 to foot with violent sobs.
 
 THE DIAMOND NECKLACE 275 
 
 Gridge stood looking down upon that mis- 
 erable figure for only a moment, then left the 
 room and ascended the stairs with the tread of 
 an infirm old man. As he sought his pistol in 
 the cabinet, as he slipped the diamond bracelet 
 into his bosom, the dull wonder returned 
 Why was he about to carry this bracelet to 
 Mrs. Flood when, until this afternoon, he had 
 been resolute in his purpose to convert it into 
 money? What unforeseen strength had armed 
 him against the charms of his wife which hith- 
 erto had always proved irresistible? 
 
 He did not know, but he was conscious of 
 that swift, soul-flooding exaltation known to 
 the criminal who after years of silence, volun- 
 tarily gives himself up to be punished for a 
 crime of which none but he knows himself 
 guilty. From baseness blossoms unexpected 
 heroism, flowers springing from the mire; and 
 B. M. Gridge, rather weak than base, rode 
 away toward the Old People's Home, his face 
 still marked in the cruel lines of soul-agony, 
 but with head erect, eyes unfalteringly bright.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 TWO CALLERS 
 
 WHILE B. M. Gridge was on his 
 way to the Old People's Home, 
 Mrs. Flood had already received 
 a visitor in the single room which now marked 
 the horizon of her life. 
 
 " Thought I'd drive out and see you 
 thought you might be getting lonesome," said 
 Jack Palmer, on entering. His great physical 
 dimensions seemed augmented in the chamber, 
 as if he filled the space of half a dozen men; but 
 although there was so much of him de- 
 cidedly more than in his younger days his 
 mother-in-law did not begrudge him one square 
 inch of room. He went, as by instinct, to the 
 only window, drew off his coat, and, sitting 
 down, blotted out the June landscape whose 
 early twilight bathed grazing cattle and horses 
 drinking at the ponds, and woods waiting for 
 276
 
 TWO CALLERS 277 
 
 their nests to be closed for the night. Mrs. 
 Flood could see nothing but the handsome head 
 of her visitor, and the light peeping around his 
 neck it was as if he had flung his coat over 
 a toy Noah's ark. However, she asked to see 
 nothing but Jack. It was somewhat like seeing 
 her daughter. 
 
 "Lonesome?" repeated Mrs. Flood, "oh, 
 no, I never get lonesome." 
 
 " That's what Minna always says." Jack 
 looked at her kindly. It did not strike him 
 that a great change had taken place in face and 
 form since his marriage, because that change 
 had been wrought under his very eye. He only 
 thought that she was getting pretty old, while 
 the whiteness of her skin, the thinness of her 
 body, the little tremulousness noticeable at 
 times when she sought to sit erect, touched him 
 with compassion. Of course, when one grows 
 old, one cannot expect to be strong or well, one 
 cannot, for that matter, expect to live so very 
 long. But it seemed a pity. 
 
 " Is there anything I could do for you, 
 Mother? Is there anything you want?"
 
 278 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Oh, I have all that heart could wish," said 
 the other, smiling bravely, " unless I might 
 have seen Minna a little oftener but the five- 
 mile ride is too much for her, I know. If 
 the Home had only been built in Pendletonl 
 But you can't have everything you wish 
 and there's a splendid view from my win- 
 dow." 
 
 Jack turned his head and looked out. He 
 seemed to stare right through the cows, horses 
 and woods, and see nothing. " It would 
 kill me," he remarked frankly. " Don't any- 
 body ever pass? Doesn't anything ever hap- 
 pen?" 
 
 Mrs. Flood grew slightly reserved in her 
 manner, to reprove such ingratitude. " There's 
 a great deal of cattle-driving past the Home," 
 she said, sedately. 
 
 " And I reckon," remarked Jack, reflectively, 
 " that it's better for you than all the noise and 
 confusion at our place. Minna says you enjoy 
 the quiet. She says you haven't had a headache 
 since you got out of town." 
 
 " It's true, the country air is so delightful
 
 TWO CALLERS 279 
 
 yes, and, as you say, the quiet. It is very 
 quiet. No more headaches ! " Then she 
 smiled, uncertainly. " Sometimes just a little 
 a little heartache to see Minna. But I know 
 she isn't strong, the ride is long and rough. . . . 
 I'm so glad you came. Oh, please don't go, 
 yet stay with me, Jack it's so, it's so 
 I never am lonesome, you must understand, but 
 it's so different from the old times ... I 
 just want to keep you with me." 
 
 Jack, who had risen, sank back in his chair, 
 and Mrs. Flood crossing the room, patted his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " I just came for a minute," he said, giving 
 up his purpose of immediate flight. 
 
 "How big you are getting!" She still 
 patted his arm, wildly casting about in her mind 
 for some means of fastening him to his chair 
 for big as he was, experience told her that he 
 had rare agility in transporting himself beyond 
 her portal. " Listen, Jack ! What would you 
 say to a dish of strawberries? the first dish of 
 the season." 
 
 " That sounds mighty interesting to me,"
 
 280 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 said Jack, crossing one leg over the other knee 
 with the aid of both hands. " But I don't sup- 
 pose such a thing as real cream ever showed 
 itself in this place, did it, Mother? " 
 
 Mrs. Flood was in raptures. " Yes, yes ! " 
 she cried, triumphantly. 
 
 " And you mean to tell me that the old ladies 
 live on strawberries, while we miserable young 
 people are dying of hunger? " 
 
 She put her finger to her lips and spoke in 
 an undertone. " Just one old lady, Jack, just 
 one. We must be very quiet about it don't 
 speak too loud or the next room will hear. 
 There's just enough for one, and we mustn't 
 make the others feel bad. Yes, Jack, big, 
 juicy strawberries, each as large as that " she 
 measured with her thin hand. " And thick yel- 
 low cream, and no stint of sugar; and a slice 
 of cake as light as air." 
 
 " O Lord ! " cried Jack, remorsefully, " but 
 I mustn't eat it up from you, Mother, I couldn't 
 do that." 
 
 " S-h-h 1 Don't let her hear, Jack, but 
 really, strawberries do not agree with me, very
 
 TWO CALLERS 281 
 
 well. Not always and I mustn't have those 
 headaches coming back " 
 
 " Mother, you're a fraud! " 
 
 " Just you wait just you wait ! " She hur- 
 ried excitedly to her small table, drew back the 
 cloth, touched a callbell, then went to the door 
 and waited. Presently a step was heard on 
 the other side. She half opened the door. 
 
 " Thank you, thank you," she said, breath- 
 lessly, to the invisible waiter. " No, you 
 needn't arrange the table, I will see to that. 
 . . . Excuse me if I say you needn't come in 
 I have some business to attend to yes, I 
 can carry the things quite well good-by, 
 dear." The door closed and she bore cake, 
 berries, cream, and sugar to the little table. 
 " Now sit right down here, Jack, for I have 
 something in this dish fit for a king." 
 
 " Aha 1 " Jack quickly exchanged the win- 
 dow for the table. " That's an invaluable 
 servant, Mother. How can the Home afford 
 to employ such a fairy? " 
 
 " Don't you remember, Jack? It's Rich- 
 ard."
 
 282 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 "Oh, yes. So she's still here, is she? 
 Well, that was certainly the funniest freak that 
 the freakiest girl I ever knew, was guilty of. 
 There's Dicky with a good education, know- 
 ing all sorts of things and thinking she knows 
 everything why, she could have been teach- 
 ing school, or working in an office, instead of 
 being a servant doesn't seem right to me. 
 Minna thinks it's pretty hard on the family. 
 It did seem more respectable when she hid in 
 her room and refused to see anybody. That 
 gives you a sort of high and noble name. But 
 to act as a maid in a Home " He selected 
 the largest berry and let it close his sentence. 
 
 " She's a great comfort to me," Mrs. Flood 
 said, timidly. " Yonder in the corner is her 
 desk, and as soon as it's dark she comes and 
 does her writing while I sit near, knitting or 
 sewing or just with folded hands when my eyes 
 are resting. It's like having somebody near 
 that belongs to me. She's a little piece of the 
 old life, left over. All day long she never 
 rests, waiting on the old ladies, going errands 
 for them and her wages are very little more
 
 TWO CALLERS 283 
 
 than her board; but at dark the agreement is 
 that she's not to be called she belongs to me. 
 She knows every ailment of every old lady, 
 and she asks about each one without ever mak- 
 ing a mistake; and she reads to us and tells us 
 about the outside world, and knows how to 
 make our pains lighter and how to send our 
 minds off visiting in gay places when they get 
 to brooding some of the old ladies are like 
 homesick school-girls. I don't know what we'd 
 do without Richard." 
 
 " Of course it's nice for you, Mother 
 but" 
 
 " I don't see how she could do as much good 
 at any other work." 
 
 " I expect not. But the name of it isn't as 
 high as teaching, you know. She's just a 
 servant people call her a servant, and let 
 her go at that. But there's no use to argue 
 with her, nobody can turn Dicky's head. By 
 the way, Alfred Montgomery has come back on 
 a visit. I wish he'd marry Richard and carry 
 her away to the sort of life she's fit for. Al- 
 fred's made good. He has as much practice
 
 284 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 as any young lawyer in the city. Lord, how 
 industrious that chap always was ! " Jack 
 sighed and poured out more cream. 
 
 "Alfred marry Richard!" echoed Mrs. 
 Flood, pale and trembling. " What do you 
 mean? Alfred was in love with Minna . . ." 
 
 " Yes, he was till she married me. But 
 Richard was dead in love with him, and even 
 told him so don't you remember how every- 
 body nearly died about it? Well, Dicky never 
 changes; if she loved him then, she loves 
 him now. And he knows it. That's the sort 
 of thing to work on a fellow's feelings. I 
 wish they could be brought together. I'd like 
 to have her dragged out of this sort of thing 
 Minna feels it I wouldn't mind that so much 
 if she wasn't all the time talking to me about 
 it. I think they'll get together this summer. 
 I'll help on the good work if I can. What 
 they need is a cellar remember that old ice- 
 cellar out on the farm?" Jack's vociferous 
 laughter suddenly echoed from the walls. " If 
 I could get 'em in there, I'd have 'em for bet- 
 ter or worse! "
 
 TWO CALLERS 285 
 
 Mrs. Flood understood nothing of this al- 
 lusion, and the prospect of losing Richard 
 rather terrified her; but the sound of that ring- 
 ing laugh made her heart dance with pleas- 
 ure. Surely it was one of her festive days 
 when her son-in-law laughed in her room so 
 joyously. 
 
 Jack slowly finished his repast. " Ever read 
 any of that stuff Richard's always writing?" 
 
 " She has read her book to me the book 
 she's just had published, the one she's worked 
 on for I don't know how long." 
 
 He rose. " What do you think of it? See 
 any signs of a gold mine in it? " 
 
 " I wouldn't say it to anybody but to you 
 or Minna," she answered in a cautious voice, 
 " but I'm afraid it'll never sell. You see, it 
 doesn't sound like a book, at all. It's just like 
 you and me talking here in the room." 
 
 " I thought so! " he exclaimed, with a nod. 
 " You can't expect anybody living around here 
 to do the real thing. If a book doesn't sound 
 like a book, how is it going to take any rank? 
 I might as well listen to my own voice as read
 
 286 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 about a chap that talks in my strain. Yes, 
 she'll never be anything but a servant, unless 
 Alfred marries her. Now, before I go " 
 
 He came around and stood in front of her. 
 " Mother, we're going to make a change. We 
 haven't said anything to you because we didn't 
 want to bother you with our troubles " 
 
 She cried out, impulsively, " But that's what 
 I want to know your troubles, your plans. 
 Don't you understand that everything Minna 
 and you do or think of doing " 
 
 " Of course, but you're not strong, and it's 
 not right, at your time of life, to be bothering 
 about us young folks. But we're going to 
 make a change." 
 
 " Not a bad change, I'm sure," she faltered, 
 clasping her hands unconsciously. 
 
 " It's an awful change to me, I can tell you. 
 I'm going to work." 
 
 "Oh, Jack!" 
 
 " Yes, that's what I say to myself. But you 
 see, I have to." 
 
 " Like the real-estate office you talked of 
 opening? "
 
 TWO CALLERS 287 
 
 " No, I mean hard digging. Mother, we've 
 got to sell the house " 
 
 "Oh, Jack!" 
 
 "Yes, you're right, it is, ' Oh, Jack!' But 
 I should have been hard at it long ago. I've 
 nobody to blame but myself. The trouble 
 was, I didn't want to go into business till I 
 found something congenial. A fellow can't do 
 himself justice unless his work is congenial. 
 But, Mother, between you and me, I don't be- 
 lieve there is any so I'm going to do the first 
 thing at hand. I've drawn one hundred and 
 sixty acres in Oklahoma and we'll go out there 
 and settle on it like two poor little lonesome 
 bees." 
 
 " Oklahoma ! You'll take Minna away out 
 there?" 
 
 " She's true blue and more anxious to rough 
 it than I am ! We'll put up a shack and go to 
 digging all this fine life must be cut out, and 
 we must do the cutting before it swamps us. 
 Yes, ma'am, we've been to France, now let us 
 die in Oklahoma ! " 
 
 Mrs. Flood started to her feet. " Take me
 
 288 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 with you ! " she cried. " I didn't belong to 
 your gay life in town, I wasn't able to keep 
 up with it, but out on a farm out there 
 anywhere with Minna " 
 
 " Do you think we'd hear of it? " he ex- 
 claimed, reproachfully. " Why, Mother, you 
 are no longer young. Such hardships would 
 kill you." 
 
 " Oh, no, they wouldn't. There isn't any 
 hardship like being separated from my child." 
 
 " It's awfully good of you to feel that way. 
 But we are young, we can stand it you 
 couldn't. It isn't the life for you. No, here 
 you are quiet and waited on " 
 
 "Jack, listen to me: Let me go! I don't 
 want to be waited on I'll wait on you. 
 There's lots of strength in me yet, if I could 
 be with you and Minna. I don't want to live 
 in quiet, I want to go out there " She 
 paused, quivering with the intensity of her de- 
 sire. 
 
 " Don't you worry, Mother," he said sooth- 
 ingly. " It'll be all right. It'll be all right. 
 We are young, and it's a young world out there,
 
 TWO CALLERS 289 
 
 and when we've fought our way and made a 
 good, comfortable home in a few years 
 we'll come for you. We young folks have to 
 shoulder our own burdens, because you wouldn't 
 understand. But when we've got a nice place, 
 if you are living, you shall sure have the best 
 room in the house and the best things to eat." 
 
 " I don't want a good room. A crust would 
 satisfy me, if if if " 
 
 " I'm proud for you to feel like that, but we 
 mustn't let you sacrifice yourself. Anyway, 
 Minna will see you before we go, of course. 
 We wouldn't think of leaving without a farewell 
 visit. I oughtn't to have disturbed you with 
 this news at all. It wasn't to be told, yet. I 
 guess those strawberries mellowed me up and 
 made me a little too confidential. Forget all 
 about it, and try to be surprised when Minna 
 breaks the news." 
 
 Before Mrs. Flood could calm herself, a 
 servant not Richard announced that a 
 gentleman in the parlor waited to see her, and 
 it was by her earnest, persuasion that Jack was 
 induced to accompany her below.
 
 290 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " My minister, perhaps," said Mrs. Flood, 
 a little proudly. " Or that man that's getting 
 up a history of the county oh, I have my 
 callers as well as other people ! " She was de- 
 lighted that somebody should have called for 
 her while he was there; it would do to tell 
 Minna as a proof that she was not without her 
 diversions at the Home. This small social tri- 
 umph took away for a moment the sting of 
 Jack's involuntary disclosure. 
 
 B. M. Gridge, pale and stern, was waiting 
 near the door with a small box in his hand. A 
 look of relief at sight of Jack flashed over his 
 face which instantly became hard and void of 
 light. 
 
 " Glad you happened to be here, Jack . . . 
 No, thank you, ma'am, I can't sit down 
 haven't time. Came on business. I'm not 
 very good at explaining, but you'll remember 
 that diamond butterfly I gave you eight years 
 ago, when you sold the farm the pin, you 
 know, from Zack. Well, you see " He 
 suddenly bit his lip, uncertain how to pro- 
 ceed.
 
 TWO CALLERS 291 
 
 Mrs. Flood had sunk in a chair smitten by 
 undefined presentiments. Her husband's name, 
 seldom heard, pronounced now by his bosom 
 friend the recollection of the mystery at- 
 tending the presentation of the pin that box 
 clutched in the bloodless hand and this un- 
 wonted visit. . . . Surely but how could 
 that be? Thus her agitated mind leaped from 
 point to point of the dark unknown, while Jack 
 saw only the immediate present. 
 
 " Sure," Jack nodded. " Minna will show 
 that pin at the party, to-night." 
 
 Mrs. Flood made a violent effort to compose 
 herself, fearful that her son-in-law would credit 
 her weakness to old age. " I suppose Juanita 
 will be there, too," she said, a little tremulously. 
 " They say it's the event of the season the 
 climax of all the Ladies' Card Parties." Her 
 eagerness to show herself posted in the fash- 
 ionable news of the day smote upon even Jack's 
 sensibilities. 
 
 " No," said Gridge, abruptly, " Juanita will 
 not be there." Something like a threat sounded 
 in his heavy voice.
 
 292 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Jack raised his head quickly. He did not 
 like that tone applied to dear little Juanita. 
 
 "Oh, is she ill?" faltered Mrs. Flood. 
 Then suddenly she cried out, " Mr. Gridge, do 
 you know anything? Have you heard ?" 
 She caught her breath. 
 
 " This box is for you." He placed it in her 
 lap. " It's from him. He" 
 
 Jack caught her as she was about to fall. 
 The box slipped to the floor and was jarred 
 open. The glittering bracelet was revealed. 
 
 " We're all right, Mother," said Jack, softly, 
 " we're all right, now. Here is the present 
 magnificent's no word for it I " 
 
 He put the ornament in her hand, but she 
 looked at Gridge, unblinkingly. " Have you 
 seen him? Is he did he come " 
 
 " He made me promise not to explain how 
 the gift reached me," said Gridge. " I prom- 
 ised on my honor; that's why I can't tell you 
 more." 
 
 " But you'll tell me more than just those 
 few words, won't you?" 
 
 " I'm sorry I can't."
 
 TWO CALLERS 293 
 
 " If he is here in town if he brought 
 the box and gave it to you, somebody must 
 have seen him. . . . Doesn't he want me ever 
 to know where he is, or what he is doing? " 
 
 " I haven't seen him for years there's no 
 harm in saying that much." 
 
 " But wasn't there a postmark on the wrap- 
 per? Or if it came by express " 
 
 " I haven't any idea where your husband is 
 Mrs. Flood, none." 
 
 " You see, he's alive. He's alive, Jack, he's 
 alive and and he's thinking of me ! " 
 
 Gridge was troubled that she should build 
 up false hopes. " Mrs. Flood, there's no 
 knowing. He might have left this bracelet in 
 the care of some one, when he first went away. 
 I wouldn't set my heart too much on thinking 
 anything else but that that perhaps some 
 bank or institution has had this trinket the past 
 ten years." 
 
 " But I wouldn't be here if that were so," 
 cried the other, eagerly. " I wouldn't be here 
 if he'd left it with anybody in trust. Don't 
 you see? Would I, Jack? Because when they
 
 294 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 found out I was going to the Home, they'd have 
 sent the bracelet, or the money it's worth. 
 You see that ! " 
 
 Gridge dropped his head and muttered some- 
 thing they could not hear. 
 
 " Oh, yes, he's alive," she cried, excitedly. 
 " You see, I wanted to come to the Home be- 
 cause this is the very place for me I feel I'm 
 not in the way because it was built for old peo- 
 ple. But the world doesn't understand. I re- 
 member when / had a wrong idea about 
 Homes ; I imagined they were for for neg- 
 lected folks, you know. And if the bracelet 
 had been left for me in somebody's care, he'd 
 have sent it just as soon as he heard I was 
 here. Because he wouldn't have understood. 
 If it had been left in a friend's trust, or in a 
 bank, it would have been the friend's business 
 to keep posted about me, and he'd have known 
 when I was sent when I came to the Home. 
 But Zack went away and cut himself off from 
 us all, and he's just heard about me, so he sends 
 the bracelet and I expect he'll come, himself 
 before long. Oh ! " she stared up wildly.
 
 TWO CALLERS 295 
 
 " It's so clear there can't be any mistake 
 he's alive and and he's found out about me 
 he's just heard " She flung her arms 
 about Jack's neck, and sobbed in complete 
 abandonment. " He's alive ! And he cares 
 for me he thinks abput me and and 
 he'll come he must be coming, he wouldn't 
 send the bracelet and leave me to die without 
 knowing more, without seeing him, without 
 holding his hand once more that strong, 
 rough, faithful hand. . . . He wanted me to 
 go with him it nearly killed him because I 
 couldn't (but how could I leave Minna?) and 
 now he's coming to me 1 " 
 
 Gridge turned away, his hands covering his 
 face, and his burly form shook convulsively. 
 
 "There, there, Mother, dear!" Jack pat- 
 ted her and whispered soothingly, as to a very 
 little child, " It will all be right." The mist 
 was in his eyes. 
 
 " Take the bracelet, Jack ! " she cried in sud- 
 den thought. " Sell it. Here it's yours. 
 Now you won't have to go to Oklahoma, 
 will you? You needn't take Minna away
 
 296 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 from me, you see ! What is such an ornament 
 worth?" 
 
 " A thousand dollars," Gridge told her. 
 
 "You hear that?" 
 
 " It might tide us over the riffle," Jack ac- 
 knowledged, " for a little while. But it won't 
 last much longer than snow in summer. No, 
 you keep it, Mother " 
 
 " If it will hold you near me for just a few 
 months, that's all I ask. Life's so uncertain 
 at my age I may not live longer than the 
 money'll last. And then, Zack's coming home, 
 I know, I feel it, I feel it! If you must go, if 
 Minna is to live in another state, there wouldn't 
 be anything in life, anyway unless Zack 
 comes home. But there'll be so much more in 
 life than I ever knew or even dreamed about 
 when Zack comes home ! I won't seem old 
 to Zack, and he'll have the notion that all my 
 life hasn't been lived; he always argued that a 
 person should go ahead as if he was to live 
 forever. He'll want to fix up a little house for 
 us, I expect, and have a cow and horse and 
 chickens and a garden I know you think I'm
 
 TWO CALLERS 297 
 
 talking foolishly, and I guess I am, I feel so 
 light-headed, as if I were a girl ... so I'll 
 not talk that way any more, for Old People's 
 Homes are not places for girls." 
 
 Jack looked over her head at Gridge with 
 questioning eyes. Gridge slowly shook his head 
 to indicate that there was no reason to suppose 
 Zack Flood living much, indeed, to conclude 
 the contrary. Jack held up a warning finger: 
 it was as well for her to delude herself with the 
 fancy. See how tearfully happy the idea had 
 made her! Let her think so to the end, said 
 Jack's finger perhaps the end was not so 
 very far away, as she had said. 
 
 When Jack went out to his buggy, he took 
 the third diamond with him, little suspecting 
 that it was the third. Gridge had already 
 leaped upon his horse and dashed away, vainly 
 seeking to adjust his thoughts to the failure 
 that would shock the community with the mor- 
 row's dawn. Mrs. Flood crept back to her 
 room, and laughed and cried with broken ejacu- 
 lations, with plaintive moaning. 
 
 There was nobody to put her arms about
 
 298 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 her like a daughter and draw her gray hair to 
 a loving breast, nobody to bathe her face, and 
 kneel at her side, listening to the torrent of 
 words that told unconsciously of ten years of 
 starved love, of heart-broken longings, of hope 
 that dared not hope, of waiting that was ever 
 dumb lest others grieve to know she still be- 
 lieved her husband would return; and, at a 
 later hour, there was nobody to imprint a good- 
 night kiss upon her forehead, and encourage her 
 to dream her sweetest dreams of hope, and to 
 assure her that whoever came or went, one faith- 
 ful soul would be true to her till death. 
 Nobody, but Richard.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 
 
 JACK PALMER felt depressed as he drove 
 out of sight of the Home for Old People 
 of course he could not stay with his 
 mother-in-law all the time, nor could she expect 
 such a thing, but it saddened him to reflect that 
 in her necessary isolation she must often feel 
 lonely. There was nothing to be done about 
 it; old age comes and one is thereby removed 
 from any part in the world of to-day; it was 
 lucky there were such asylums as Old People's 
 Homes since there was no place for her in young 
 people's homes, and yet it was a pity. Jack 
 breathed a deep sigh at the cruelty of life. 
 
 His sorrow was almost a luxury because he 
 knew that when he chose to put it aside, happi- 
 ness lay before him, and while indulging it, he 
 felt disinterestedly generous. At the end of 
 the first mile he had almost forgotten Mrs. 
 299
 
 300 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Flood in his satisfaction over the diamond brace- 
 let. There would be no use to show it to 
 Minna, because she would want to wear it, 
 whereas clearly it should be sold to keep them 
 longer in Pendleton. That was Mrs. Flood's 
 wish and it should be respected, since the gift 
 came from her and it would put off that hor- 
 rible prospect of going to work and, then, it 
 would enable him to enjoy for some months 
 longer possibly all summer the friendship, 
 the near, close friendship of Juanita. 
 
 Jack never found himself wishing that he had 
 married Juanita doubtless he thought more 
 of her because he had not. Ten years with 
 Minna had taught him just how she would look 
 and just what she would say in any of the little 
 stock situations of daily life, but about Juanita 
 you could never tell. What she liked yester- 
 day she didn't like to-day and her convictions 
 of to-day could not be guaranteed beyond sun- 
 set. Jack was not so much charmed by her 
 different phases as interested in their swift de- 
 velopment, their gay evanescence. On that 
 wonderful voyage to Europe, how she had
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 301 
 
 laughed and sung, how she had bloomed in the 
 salt air and in the absence of her husband! 
 How could she endure that coarse-fibred, heavy- 
 witted, dull-eyed B. M. Gridge? And it was 
 for life! Jack felt sorrier for Juanita than for 
 any one he had ever known, even himself. She 
 was so little, so dainty, so pretty and Gridge 
 had habits to drive one mad, just little things, 
 but eternally coming into evidence such as 
 taking his coffee from his saucer. And he had 
 a tooth with which he could not dwell in peace. 
 Jack squirmed in the buggy as he remembered 
 the torture he had endured from its incessant 
 visitations. What must Juanita have suffered? 
 " Poor little Juanita ! " Jack thought he 
 would drop around and see her that very even- 
 ing after his wife was safely off to the Ladies' 
 Card Club. Gridge had announced so oddly 
 that she would not attend the party, evidently it 
 was no case of illness; there must have been a 
 quarrel and heaven knew there was sufficient 
 grounds for one. Jack himself could have 
 picked a quarrel with Gridge just because he was 
 Gridge, and Juanita's husband. Yes, he
 
 302 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 would go around it was only next door, there 
 would be no formality, he would simply express 
 surprise that she had withheld her presence 
 from the event of the season the gayest pos- 
 sible function from which men were debarred. 
 And then, perhaps, she would tell him the rea- 
 son, would confide in him her wrongs, for 
 she was very confiding, would look up into 
 his eyes with that gaze that always seemed in- 
 congruously deep and soulful for such a sweet 
 little creature. Poor Juanita ! yes, he must see 
 her that evening and cheer her up. 
 
 Nobody could cheer her up like Jack. She 
 had told him so he smiled indulgently as he 
 drove on through the gathering dusk. She had 
 never got over her sentiment for him, he was 
 afraid, but that did not make their friendship 
 any less charming. While Minna was away at 
 college, he had even fancied himself in love with 
 her and during their engagement they had 
 acted toward each other like real lovers. He 
 liked to think about those young days when 
 kisses bloomed in the warm spring evenings be-
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 303 
 
 cause love was in its flower. No kisses now, to 
 be sure, since every one was proper in Pendle- 
 ton! but often when he sat beside her, those 
 caresses of past years rustled in his memory like 
 dried roseleaves in a drawer. 
 
 " Ha ! " cried Jack, " this is something like ! " 
 It was two hours later and he had drawn up his 
 chair opposite Juanita's by the open window. 
 Over the sill floated the fragrance of the warm 
 night, and from across the street, an arc-lamp 
 shed sufficient light to reveal the pale presence 
 and suggest the quaint charm of the woman he 
 had once loved. " Something like " was Jack's 
 equivalent for this perfumed semi-darkness, this 
 nearness of tantalizing womanhood, and the 
 blissful assurance that B. M. Gridge was some- 
 where else. Of course, had B. M. Gridge been 
 there, he would have insisted, stupidly, on blind- 
 ing them with prosaic house-lights, and he 
 would have felt obliged to take a part in the 
 conversation, sterilizing it with politics and busi- 
 ness.
 
 304 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 "What! all in the dark," he would have 
 exclaimed. Then click! Oh, that B. M. 
 Gridge was such a bore ! Poor Juanita 1 
 
 Before she knew it, she was telling him all 
 her troubles; and before Jack knew it, he was, 
 in his big, awkward, handsome way, consoling 
 her with a voice that breathed lullabies and a 
 hand that could not keep away. 
 
 "We are ruined and to-morrow every- 
 body will know it he hasn't trusted me, Jack, 
 he hasn't been true to me, letting all this hideous 
 disgrace swoop upon me unprepared no, he 
 hasn't loved me; I thought he did but I've been 
 deceived, for if he loved me, wouldn't he have 
 given me his confidence? Didn't I tell him all 
 about you, and how we were all in all to each 
 other once? Yes, and how you used to but 
 never mind, it is over. Anyway, I told him my 
 secrets and he hasn't told me a thing. No, he 
 doesn't love me and and I don't love him, 
 there! Isn't it horrible ! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do, Juanita, of course you do." 
 
 "Of course I don't. After this failure? 
 No! Love him? Him?"
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 305 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do ! " He did not know what 
 else to say, so he said it again: " Oh, yes, you 
 do, Juanita little Juanita ! " 
 
 " I don't, and you know I don't. There! " 
 And she covered her face with her little hands 
 and shook gently. Heavens! How sweet the 
 flowers smelled as the June breeze sent their 
 fragrance in delicious puffs over Juanita's head 
 to Jack's burning brow! As he inhaled, he 
 seemed breathing in Juanita, as if all out-door 
 perfume came from her flower-self. 
 
 " And what will we do ! " she said, clasping 
 her hands. "The store is shut up for good; 
 this house will be auctioned off, and he is too 
 old to start life all over he's too old. Do 
 you know how old he is? A man like that who 
 has lived his life and fails in all his responsibili- 
 ties to his wife fails from lack of business- 
 sense there's no place for him in this world, 
 no place except something like that Old Peo- 
 ple's Home. . . . That's where he ought to be. 
 Yes, I know I'm bitter, but I don't care. He 
 has ruined my life and this is worse than death." 
 
 " This is sure a stunner ! " Jack admitted.
 
 306 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I imagined B. M. was rolling in wealth, 
 whereas he and I might go into partnership in 
 misfortune. I've got nothing, either I'm 
 just where he is except that I haven't worked 
 myself to death, that's one thing nobody will 
 ever reproach me for. Look! Juanita, this is 
 the only difference between your fortune and 
 mine " And he drew forth the diamond 
 bracelet. 
 
 " Oh, oh ! " cried Juanita, as the distant 
 light caused it to burn, like a tiny star fallen 
 through the dusky night. " How perfectly 
 gorgeous! " She slipped it upon her arm. 
 
 " That'll keep us floating awhile," Jack ad- 
 mitted, " but we'll soon have to pull up and go 
 out West." 
 
 " And we won't have enough to take us 
 away! " said Juanita, admiring the bracelet. 
 " Oh, Jack, how splendid ! Did you get it 
 for" 
 
 " How could / buy such a bracelet? No, 
 Minna has never seen it. Mother got it to- 
 day by express from my mysterious father-in- 
 law, and she has given it to me."
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 307 
 
 As they talked in low tones, the magic of 
 soft, vague light on a woman's face and form 
 deepened upon his senses. It was natural to 
 hold her hand as he talked about the bracelet, 
 it was natural for him to admire the bare arm 
 where the jewel glittered, and it was natural 
 for her admiration of the gem to express itself 
 in the warm handclasp. And then, when the 
 tears came and he sought to show her that all 
 the future was not desolate, it was natural for 
 her little head to droop and find a sturdy sup- 
 port. Minna knew nothing of the diamond as 
 yet and need never see it since it was to be sold 
 at once . . . she could never know how much 
 it was worth except through his telling. 
 
 Suppose suppose he found a place for 
 Gridge out in Oklahoma; then there need be 
 no indefinite separation of the families. 
 
 " Don't sell the diamond, Jack! " she urged, 
 suddenly. " Don't sell it ! Let your house 
 go as we must let ours hurry to your new 
 home and send for Mr. Gridge. ... If we 
 can be together, I'll not feel that life is dead 
 ashes."
 
 308 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Jack kissed her arm where the bracelet lent 
 magic beauty. 
 
 " I thought you'd stay here in your fine 
 house, Jack, and that we'd be driven out into 
 the street that's why I was so miserable. 
 But if you have failed, our failure is a blessing. 
 It will keep us together. Is it wrong for me 
 to want to see you every day? That's all I 
 ask of life, to be near you. We thought once 
 there was much more in life than that, but 
 never mind, we have that, at least. I shouldn't 
 have told you that I do not love my husband, 
 but you knew it, anyway. Didn't you, Jack? 
 Didn't you always know it? " 
 
 " Poor Juanita 1 " 
 
 " You knew I married him just from foolish 
 pride, didn't you, Jack? " 
 
 "Dear Juanita!" 
 
 "And and O Jack what shall I do? 
 All these long years . . . and and what 
 can I do? Because I am so miserable, all 
 the time " 
 
 Her arms were about his neck, now, and their 
 lips met in a fierce, mad kiss. It was the more
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 309 
 
 passionate, the more prolonged, because from 
 the day of their first kiss, her love had never 
 lessened. Throughout her aimless life that 
 one thing had remained permanent, all-absorb- 
 ing, and her embrace was the more intense be- 
 cause during these past years she had never once 
 imagined that her secret would be revealed. 
 It was as if one about to suffocate should sud- 
 denly break the window of a stifling prison-cell 
 and find one's lungs unexpectedly filled with life- 
 giving air. She was panting, as if at the end 
 of a race, while he held her from the floor in 
 his great arm. 
 
 "Jack! Jack! You love me, too! You 
 love me after all. This this is just the be- 
 ginning. . . . And we might have all the 
 time, we might have " In the free, wild air 
 rushing through her broken prison-window, 
 there thrilled a million voices of ecstatic hope. 
 Her heart surged with strange exaltation as if 
 she had just begun to live. 
 
 " Poor, poor Juanita ! " He set her feet 
 upon the ground and gently removed her arms. 
 It was no longer " Dear Juanita " even in his
 
 3 io THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 imagination. "We mustn't, you know, it 
 it won't do, you see." To have saved his life 
 he couldn't have helped kissing her for 
 years he had tantalized himself with wonder- 
 ing how it would be if their lips met if he 
 should suddenly seize her in his arms and lift 
 her to his heart as when they were boy and 
 girl. Now he knew how it was, and he was 
 content. He had kissed her again, it was 
 enough. He had felt her arms tighten about 
 his neck and it was like reaching the last word 
 of a delightful story, a story without a sequel, 
 complete in itself. 
 
 "Jack!" 
 
 " Yes, I know, but you see " He felt in- 
 adequate to the situation. 
 
 " You love me, Jack, now I know it. You 
 have betrayed yourself, just as I and I never 
 meant to tell you, never, never. But before I 
 knew, I was showing you my heart. And I 
 have seen your heart, at last." 
 
 " But you see, Juanita you know very well 
 that that " 
 
 A heavy step was heard on the porch. " O
 
 JUANITA'S KISS 311 
 
 Jack, he mustn't find us here all in the darkness 
 quick, this side door." 
 
 "But" 
 
 " But if he comes in, I you oh, please 
 hurry, please hurry he'd read our faces 
 my face and he's desperate, to-night 
 there, he's in the hall! Jack if you love 
 me!" 
 
 She held open a door that led out upon the 
 piazza overlooking the garden. 
 
 " No," said Jack, stepping to the wall and 
 switching on the electric light, " I'll take what's 
 coming to me. Close your door, Juanita." 
 
 " But I tell you he's mad, to-night I tell 
 you he's lost his senses." 
 
 " Well, I haven't. ... Not yet. And I'm 
 not going to run away."
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE DIAMOND BRACELET 
 
 G RIDGE opened the door loudly and 
 looked into the room, turning his 
 head from side to side. Juanita had 
 swiftly closed the outer door, but still stood 
 near it, trying to make it appear that she was 
 there by accident, though her cheeks burned, her 
 bosom heaved. 
 
 Looking at Jack distrustfully, the merchant 
 asked, "Were you both in the dark? Oh, 
 you needn't have turned on the light for me." 
 " There was light enough outdoors for us," 
 Jack explained, " but I thought you liked it 
 brighter." 
 
 The other came into the room, closing the 
 door. "Where did you get that?" he asked, 
 his eyes riveted upon his wife. 
 
 Her eyes were wide open, fixed without un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 31*
 
 THE DIAMOND BRACELET 313 
 
 Gridge pointed at her arm. " That," he 
 said, roughly. 
 
 Juanita looked down. She had forgotten 
 the diamond bracelet. She caught her breath. 
 "Oh that?" 
 
 He looked at her as if seeking to pierce her 
 soul with his relentless gaze. 
 
 A long pause of absolute stillness ; then 
 
 " It's a friend's," she explained, holding 
 up her head as if indignant at some covert 
 taunt " There are still some who trust me 
 and love me and she " 
 
 " She? " echoed her husband, with a sneer. 
 
 " Yes, she ! My friend insisted on my 
 wearing her bracelet for awhile." Juanita 
 rapidly regained composure as she continued: 
 " I told her I might lose it, I told her you 
 wouldn't think it right just at the time you have 
 failed and haven't a penny in the world, but 
 she insisted she made me consent." 
 
 Gridge turned to Jack: "Nice to have a 
 friend like that, don't you think? " Then to 
 Juanita, with a smile of scorn : " Why, I saw 
 Mrs. Flood give Jack that bracelet not four
 
 314 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 hours ago. Zack placed it in my care and it 
 was I who gave it to Mrs. Flood." 
 
 Juanita was transfixed. She looked from 
 
 one to the other, turning red and pale by turns. 
 
 4 That's right," Jack assented, prosaically. 
 
 Gridge laughed, unpleasantly. 
 
 " I don't know what you saw given Mr. Pal- 
 mer, or what you didn't see given him " al- 
 ready Juanita had rallied bravely "and I 
 don't care. All I know is that Minna gave 
 me the bracelet to wear. Of course if Mr. 
 Palmer gave her the bracelet, there was noth- 
 ing to keep her from giving it to me for a 
 little while. I don't know what you mean by 
 your looks and your tone of voice and your 
 way of standing there as if you imagined your- 
 self a judge ready to pronounce some sort of 
 sentence." 
 
 " Oh, no," Gridge retorted, " I'm not going 
 to pronounce any sort of sentence, I mean to 
 execute the sentence that your own conscience 
 has pronounced. Minna never gave you that 
 diamond; she is at the party and couldn't have 
 given it to you while I was from home, and I
 
 THE DIAMOND BRACELET 315 
 
 was here until she left her house. I don't 
 imagine she sent it to you by Jack! I don't 
 think she knows anything about it." 
 
 " You mean, then, that I am not telling you 
 the truth, Mr. Gridge?" 
 
 "He gave you the bracelet! He gave it 
 to you here in the dark of course it was 
 light enough for you two people don't have 
 to turn on the electric light to make such pres- 
 ents." Suddenly his voice trembled with pas- 
 sion : " Juanita, take off that bracelet and 
 throw it at his feet." 
 
 She turned scarlet and threw back her head 
 in flashing defiance. " I am not your slave." 
 She held out her arm. " Well, yes, he did give 
 it to me. And it shall stay on my arm until 
 he orders me to return it." 
 
 " I have seen this for years," her husband 
 said, slowly. " I thought after our marriage 
 that you'd forget your broken engagement, 
 broken through no fault of yours. He cared 
 more for Minna, and I believed that would 
 give you some pride if you'd never had any be- 
 fore. That's why I didn't object to your
 
 316 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 friendship. I couldn't think you such a fool 
 as to go on caring for a man who cared so 
 little for you. So, although I've seen your 
 petty plays of sentiment for years, although I 
 knew you went to Europe simply because he 
 went, it didn't seem dangerous. I give you 
 my word of honor that had I suspected harm 
 could come of your liking for Jack, I'd have 
 taken you away, or driven him away. Because 
 I knew he never loved you, and my God, how 
 I have loved you until to-day! " 
 
 " B. M.," cried Jack, hotly, " a fellow can't 
 stand this, you know. Just because I slipped 
 that bracelet on Juanita's arm " 
 
 "Take it off!" cried Gridge, loudly. 
 " Fling it upon the floor." His eyes flashed. 
 
 " Keep it on! " shouted Jack, stung to des- 
 peration. This merchant thought to intimidate 
 him! 
 
 " Oh, I'm going to let you have her," Gridge 
 said, between his teeth, " just as soon as we 
 can get a divorce. Don't be uneasy about that, 
 Jack; cover her with diamonds from head to 
 foot as soon as she's free that'll be between
 
 THE DIAMOND BRACELET 317 
 
 you and Minna. But as long as she's my wife, 
 I swear she'll not wear the jewels of any other 
 man. I'm done with you, Juanita you 
 showed me your soul to-day and little as you 
 are, it's too small for your body. But we've 
 still got the name of man and wife Take 
 off that bracelet." 
 
 "And I say, no, no, no! That bracelet 
 comes off only on one condition that the one 
 who gave it to me asks it back. And I've 
 nothing else to say to you." 
 
 " Then he must ask it back." 
 
 "Must I?" cried Jack. "Well, I think 
 not! No, keep it, Juanita." 
 
 " He doesn't love you, Juanita. He never 
 did. And he's telling you to keep that brace- 
 let through pure obstinacy. Are you going to 
 let one of us be killed before your eyes, on 
 account of that trinket? for both of us can't 
 live if it stays on your arm." Despite his level 
 voice, his steady hand, his slow movements, he 
 gave an impression of intensity difficult to ex- 
 plain. It was the stranger because found in a 
 man naturally commonplace, but he burned none
 
 318 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 the less fiercely because the kindling had been 
 slow. 
 
 Juanita smiled at him scornfully, not com- 
 prehending. " Oh, is it as bad as that? " she 
 mocked. 
 
 " And you," exclaimed her husband, turning 
 upon Jack, " can be false to a woman like 
 Minna for a creature like that! But please 
 wait until the courts set us free. Will you ask 
 back that bracelet?" 
 
 " No, I'll not ask it back. She shall have it. 
 She shall keep it, yes, forever. It's hers. I 
 give it to her. And what are you going to do 
 about it? You failed in business and that's 
 made you crazy. You come here insulting your 
 wife and insulting me and insulting Minna, 
 and I'm not going to stand it. I've been pa- 
 tient with you, but there are some things that 
 a man can't endure." 
 
 Gridge drew his revolver, causing Juanita 
 to utter a scream which drowned the peal of 
 the doorbell, and the sound of footsteps. 
 
 " I haven't anything to live for," Gridge 
 said, grimly. " You have two women to look
 
 THE DIAMOND BRACELET 319 
 
 after, it seems; I don't know but your part is 
 the worse. We'll leave it to Juanita: Here, 
 my wife, take the weapon and hand it to the 
 one you choose, husband or lover you will 
 do admirably for an impartial judge! . . . 
 Oh, no, I see you mean to fling it out the win- 
 dow. That won't do. Will you draw straws, 
 Jack?" 
 
 " Gridge, you're a fool." 
 
 " Oh, yes, all three of us are fools. There 
 are very few wise men nowadays. Wfien I 
 first realized that we were utterly ruined, I 
 got my pistol but there was Juanita and 
 I was fool enough to think she might stand by 
 me, so I didn't kill myself for her sake ! 
 But she's fool enough to love a man that 
 doesn't care for her and you are fool 
 enough to hold your tongue when a word would 
 save a life and a double dishonor." 
 
 At the other's contemptuous smile, he lost all 
 self-control. " Jack, you think you know me, 
 but you're mistaken. I offered you a chance, 
 and you wouldn't take it. I'm quite desperate, 
 I don't care what I do. Perhaps as you say,
 
 320 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 I'm crazy; it's certain that the longer I see 
 that devil's glitter on my wife's arm, the nearer 
 I find myself about to kill you where you 
 stand." The last words came through clenched 
 teeth. 
 
 " Wait I " cried Juanita, in wild haste. " I 
 will take it off." She wrenched at the brace- 
 let but it defied her quivering fingers. She ut- 
 tered a terrified shriek as the weapon was 
 raised, while Jack, pale but seemingly com- 
 posed, with folded arms, big and handsome, 
 stood looking his enemy in the eye. 
 
 The door was opened by the maid, but at 
 sound of the terrified cry two arrivals, lingering 
 behind, brushed past her into the room. One 
 was Minna Palmer in her party-dress. The 
 other was her father. 
 
 Jack, not daring to release Gridge from his 
 steady gaze, was subtly aware of his wife's 
 presence, and his mind leapt back to the day 
 when he had stood facing her father's gun, ten 
 years ago.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 FACE TO FACE 
 
 MINNA, still dazed by the sudden ap- 
 pearance of her father at the 
 Ladies' Card Club, as by the appari- 
 tion of one returned from the dead, stared be- 
 fore her uncomprehendingly, but only for a mo- 
 ment. Juanita's scream had sounded terror 
 the pistol in Gridge's hand must have been the 
 cause of it. That any one in a well-appointed 
 drawing-room should have in his possession a 
 weapon, much more that he should hold it in 
 threatening attitude, seemed as fantastic as an 
 incongruous nightmare wherein savagery and 
 civilization go arm-in-arm. But in a flash of 
 thought every consideration was burned from 
 her consciousness save the vital fact of her hus- 
 band's danger. 
 
 She rushed to where Jack stood with his back 
 to the open window, and threw her arms about 
 321
 
 322 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 him, thus interposing her body between him 
 and danger. That is what Juanita would like 
 to have done, if she had not been afraid the 
 pistol might explode. Minna thought only 
 that if it did, the bullet must penetrate her own 
 flesh before it could harm her darling. 
 
 She looked at Gridge from over her shoul- 
 der. " Oh, you wicked man ! " she cried, 
 fiercely. " You! Have you lost your senses? 
 Oh, you wicked man ! " There was such pas- 
 sion of indignation in her deepened voice that 
 Gridge, who had already lowered the weapon, 
 hung his head, ashamed. Matters stood pre- 
 cisely as before, and yet everything seemed 
 changed by her attitude of supreme devotion. 
 He no longer wanted to kill Jack, or to die 
 in the supreme moment, anything might have 
 happened to furnish lifelong remorse, but that 
 moment was gone forever and his bewildered 
 brain sought for some plausible explanation of 
 his tragic pose. 
 
 Zack Flood, saved from recognition by his 
 long beard, his mass of unkempt hair, his stoop- 
 ing form, his workman's clothes, coughing
 
 FACE TO FACE 323 
 
 loudly as he moved, shut the door that the serv- 
 ants might not overhear. 
 
 " After all our kindness to you ! " Minna 
 still addressed B. M. Gridge. " After all we 
 have done listening to your long stories and 
 making you welcome whenever you came 
 and we thought you such a good man, so harm- 
 less and and retiring ! And look at you, 
 to-night, a highwayman. . . . With that 
 pistol " 
 
 " I was I was just showing it to Jack," 
 faltered Gridge, bending before the storm. 
 
 " Show it to me," said Zack Flood, stepping 
 forward. 
 
 " Yes," cried Minna, " give that horrid 
 thing to Father how can we draw a free 
 breath while it's in your hand? Oh, oh, you 
 wicked man ! " 
 
 " Give it to your father? " faltered 
 Gridge, shrinking back. 
 
 " Yes, that's me," said Zack, taking the 
 weapon from the nerveless hand. " No won- 
 der you don't recognize me " he stopped to 
 cough violently. " Oh, my back my back !
 
 324 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 I'm not good for this world, I reckon. You 
 must have had a sort of premonition when we 
 met out on the farm Porter's farm that was 
 once Palmer's farm. But of course you 
 couldn't know your old friend such a wreck 
 one foot in the grave . . ." He bent al- 
 most double with his racking cough from 
 which he had been singularly free that after- 
 noon. 
 
 "My God!" muttered Gridge, retreating 
 farther. 
 
 "But I say!" cried Jack, putting his 
 wife aside, " this can't be your father can it, 
 Minna? Why, your father was entirely unlike 
 this" 
 
 " I'm changed," Zack coughed. " Oh, my 
 back, my back! We're all miserable mortals. 
 I'm here to live with you, children, to be taken 
 care of in my old age. Isn't anybody glad to 
 see me? Not one hand stretched forth in wel- 
 come! Oh, my back! When I went to your 
 house and they told me Minna was at the 
 party, I couldn't wait, I was so eager to see 
 her. But she wasn't eager to see me." He
 
 FACE TO FACE 325 
 
 shook his head. " I think she's sorry I came. 
 She was in the middle of a game of cards. 
 That game will never be finished such a pity, 
 such a pity! " 
 
 " By George ! " muttered Jack, looking upon 
 the disreputable figure in the greatest pertur- 
 bation. " What on earth are we to do, 
 Minna?" 
 
 " Do? " The old man caught at the word. 
 " There's nothing to do but give me a place at 
 your table and a warm corner by your fireside 
 when the winter winds howl. Oh, there's 
 nothing to do I'll not last long, I dare say. 
 Give me your hand, Jack, and say you are glad 
 to see me." 
 
 "Give you my hand? After the way you 
 deserted your wife leaving her to think you 
 dead and now coming back like a tramp ? 
 Well, all right, if Minna stands for it. Of 
 course, if Minna cares to share her last crust 
 with the father that's disgraced her, she may 
 and we've about come to the last crust, if 
 it's any comfort for you to know." 
 
 " Oh, we're all miserable mortals ! " whined
 
 326 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 the wanderer, turning to Gridge. " Come, 
 B. M. you were my bosom friend; you're 
 glad to see me, aren't you ? Let me grasp that 
 honest hand once more, old fellow oh, my 
 back, my back ! " 
 
 " If your own children disown you, Flood, 
 don't come to me," stammered Gridge, his face 
 darkening. " I'm ruined I have nothing. 
 Don't expect me to be true to my friends when 
 nobody is true to me nobody, I say." He 
 turned upon Juanita. " Leave the room, 
 Juanita ! " He grasped her arm. " Go I 
 must talk to this man alone." He was so mas- 
 tered by torturing fears that his very form was 
 shrunken. 
 
 "Don't make her go, yet!" cried Zack, 
 reaching the halldoor with surprising agility. 
 " Maybe she'll give me a kind word a warm 
 handshake . . . it'll be worth so much to me; 
 I'm getting hungry for a little kindness." 
 
 " Stand aside! " Gridge gasped, breathlessly. 
 
 " Take your hand from her arm, B. M. Let 
 her at least shake hands with me." 
 
 " Let me pass, Mr. Flood," Juanita ex-
 
 FACE TO FACE 327 
 
 citedly commanded. " I have no time for 
 you." 
 
 " You see, Father," Minna spoke up with ex- 
 ceeding bitterness, " nobody can be glad to see 
 you after the cloud you've cast upon your fam- 
 ily. Nobody knows where you've been, or how 
 you've lived; have you come back here expect- 
 ing the town to throw open their doors? Don't 
 you realize that your presence reminds every- 
 body of the old disgrace?" The tears came 
 to her reproachful eyes. 
 
 " Oh, we're all miserable mortals ! " mum- 
 bled Zack. " Take your hand from her arm, 
 B. M." 
 
 " If you don't get out of the way," Gridge 
 said through his teeth, " so Juanita can go 
 through that door, I'll use force." 
 
 "Use force? On an old weak man like 
 me?" 
 
 Stung to desperation, Gridge shot out his 
 clenched fist. The blow, aimed at the other's 
 shoulder was evaded, and the next moment 
 Gridge was sent reeling back against the wall. 
 
 " By George ! " Jack exclaimed, with a short
 
 328 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 laugh, " that back of yours flies back as if on 
 springs!" The next instant his face length- 
 ened as he caught sight of the diamond bracelet 
 glittering on the freed arm. Then he realized 
 that it was in order to hide that ornament that 
 Gridge had grasped her arm, and that for the 
 same reason Juanita had tamely submitted. 
 
 She would have darted through the door 
 had not Flood stood in the way. As the latter 
 looked at Gridge who remained motionless 
 against the wall where he had been thrust, Zack 
 forgot to stoop or cough. There was in the 
 wanderer's eyes a look that burned to the depth 
 of the merchant's soul. 
 
 " You have given your wife a pretty brace- 
 let," he said, his voice sounding out clear and 
 vibrant. " And it is one I have seen before." 
 He wheeled upon Juanita so suddenly that she 
 turned deathly pale. " Did you know that I 
 had seen it before? " 
 
 " Yes." The faint assent was forced from 
 her frightened lips. 
 
 Minna looked in bewilderment at Jack and 
 was astonished to find him turning red.
 
 FACE TO FACE 329 
 
 Where could Juanita have got such a valuable 
 bracelet on the night before her husband's fail- 
 ure? Oh, that wicked B. M. Gridge, to go 
 into bankruptcy while his wife was decked with 
 jewels ! 
 
 Zack held Juanita with his relentless eyes: 
 " Did you know I gave that bracelet to your 
 husband in trust for my wife?" 
 
 Again her answer came faint, mechanical, 
 " Not at first." 
 
 " But you took it from him, you are wearing 
 it while my wife, for whom it was intended, is 
 out there shut up in that Home ! " 
 
 Juanita was mute. 
 
 " Intended for Mother?" exclaimed Minna. 
 " The bracelet was left for Mother? You hear 
 that, Jack? Oh I begin to understand . . . 
 but who could have imagined that Juanita 
 would stoop so low! No wonder Mr. Gridge 
 draws his revolvers and threatens to kill every- 
 body. Juanita, oh, Juanita, how I have been 
 deceived in you ! taking the diamond and 
 Mr. Gridge giving it to you the diamond 
 that belongs to Mother. My poor, dear
 
 330 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 mother, how she has been deceived . . . how 
 I have been deceived and Jack ! " 
 
 " Yes! " her father cried, " and if I'd never 
 come back, you'd never have known. They'd 
 have kept it, those two my friend and his 
 wife. And to think that I used to believe in 
 friendship ! " Suddenly he remembered the 
 part he had intended to preserve. " But, oh, 
 my back my back ! This is too much excite- 
 ment for a worn-out wretch like me, far too 
 much. You're glad I came now, I hope, my 
 children. You'll shelter me, I know. I've re- 
 turned to make my home with you till I die." 
 
 " Get the bracelet from her, Jack," cried 
 Minna, her eyes flashing. 
 
 " Minna, you'll let me live with you, won't 
 you, my daughter? " 
 
 " She whom I thought my friend ! " Minna 
 flashed. " I don't know her. No wonder she 
 looks so strange ! Get that bracelet, Jack ! " 
 
 " You can't live with us, Mr. Flood," expos- 
 tulated Jack, not daring to look at Juanita. 
 " We're going to rough it in Oklahoma on our 
 quarter-section. But I'll do my best to get you
 
 FACE TO FACE 331 
 
 in where your wife is, although the Home is 
 crowded. We'll do what we can for you." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, son-in-law, you are just the 
 same, you haven't changed a mite! But are 
 you going to let Juanita keep that bracelet? 
 she hasn't shame enough to give it up ! Minna 
 wears the diamond butterfly, I see. Of course 
 her mother gave it to her, but where's the dia- 
 mond necklace? " 
 
 The merchant uttered a groan and cowered 
 back in an agony of remorse. 
 
 "The necklace!" echoed Minna, her eyes 
 blazing. " She had that, too ! Oh, I see ! 
 So that was mother's, as well? Juanita wore 
 it till she sold it to raise enough to take her to 
 Europe. You see, sir," turning upon her 
 father, " what your wandering the face of the 
 earth has done for Mr. Gridge you have 
 been supporting his wife, buying her pleasures 
 it was very generous of you while your 
 own daughter was mortified half to death ! " 
 
 "Is this true?" Juanita turned upon her 
 husband a face oddly sharp in all its lines. 
 "Was that necklace stolen, also?"
 
 332 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Why do you say ' stolen also '? " exclaimed 
 Gridge, stung to desperation. " I never gave 
 you that bracelet." 
 
 " Oh, you didn't ! " she retorted. " Then 
 how came it on my arm? " 
 
 Jack paled with sudden hope. 
 
 " Juanita ! " cried her husband. " My God, 
 how I have been deceived in you ! " 
 
 " I think we are all more or less deceived in 
 one another," remarked Zack Flood, " and all 
 more or less guilty. So you gave my jewels to 
 your wife, did you, B. M.?" 
 
 " I let her wear the necklace there seemed 
 no harm in that, until Mrs. Flood should need 
 it, according to your instructions. When she 
 sold it to raise money for her voyage, I saw 
 no harm in that, either, meaning to refund; 
 but I've had bad luck for years. Everything 
 goes wrong and now I'm ruined. I swear to 
 you I had no other thought but to pay back 
 and now I can't, and as I can't, it's as Juanita 
 said I stole . . . I'm a thief ! When I saw 
 how it was ending, I bought the pistol meaning 
 to put an end to myself as well; perhaps I
 
 FACE TO FACE 333 
 
 should, if you and Minna hadn't come when 
 you did." 
 
 " Sorry I interrupted any of your plans," 
 said Zack, grimly. " When you told me, out 
 on Porter's farm that used to be the Palmer 
 farm how you'd been given only one dia- 
 mond, the butterfly, I suspected what had hap- 
 pened that's why I came to town couldn't 
 wait. And it seems I'm in time to capture the 
 bracelet before Juanita goes to some foreign 
 land on it." 
 
 " I say, Mr. Flood," interposed Jack, in des- 
 peration, " you're too hard on Gridge, you 
 know. About the necklace, it's between him 
 and you. But as for this bracelet, he gave it 
 to Mother all right, this very evening after 
 he'd had his talk with you, I suppose. And 
 Mother gave it to me. Understand? " 
 
 Minna looked at him blankly. " / don't un- 
 derstand, at all." 
 
 " It's very simple," Jack protested. 
 
 Juanita flashed a warning glance at him and 
 said, " He wants to shield Mr. Gridge, I sup- 
 pose."
 
 334 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " He need not," Gridge declared, drawing 
 himself up. " I deserve the punishment, and 
 I'll take it in silence." 
 
 ' Yes, but I've got myself to consider, you 
 know," Jack explained, " my own conscience. 
 I gave Juanita that bracelet and I can't keep 
 still any longer and have people accusing Gridge 
 of giving it to her. I've no defense to make 
 of Gridge about the necklace he was a scoun- 
 drel, pure and simple; but I'm not exactly 
 blameless myself, about the bracelet. I see 
 that now. At the time I I was thinking of 
 something else not the moral point of view. 
 But I see it now. I shouldn't have let Juanita 
 have the bracelet. You see, I was just show- 
 ing it to her, and she tried it on. That's how 
 she came by it, she was trying it on. Gridge 
 came here and made such a scene that I got 
 stubborn, but that was all it amounted to, she 
 was trying it on." 
 
 " Jack ! " His wife grew frightfully pale. 
 ' You didn't come here with that bracelet be- 
 cause you because you because you care 
 for . ."
 
 FACE TO FACE 335 
 
 " I've never cared for anybody but you, 
 Minna, and you know it." 
 
 " I couldn't bear it, Jack I should die if 
 you you, too. . . . Father failed me, and 
 now if you " 
 
 " But, my darling, there was nothing of the 
 kind. Don't look so frightened, everything is 
 all right. You are all in all to me, and I 
 couldn't care for anybody else if I wanted to. 
 I might try I might deceive myself with the 
 idea that somebody else was more attractive in 
 a certain sort of way but it wouldn't be any 
 use. Because I love you, don't you see? It's 
 a question of love, with us. We're just suited 
 to each other. Juanita tried it on, that's 
 all." 
 
 Juanita tore the bracelet from her arm, and 
 flung it at his feet. After that one frantic ef- 
 fort of strength, she seemed about to fall. 
 Then she made a step toward B. M. Gridge. 
 ' You see . . . how you were mistaken," she 
 stammered, with a little shiver. 
 
 Jack picked up the bracelet and fitted it to 
 Minna's arm. Her bosom was heaving with
 
 336 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 tempestuous sobs, but she threw her arms about 
 him in passionate joy. 
 
 " She's nothing to you, is she, Jack? " 
 
 " Nobody's anything to me but you, dear. 
 Out yonder in Oklahoma we'll have each other 
 and we'll get away from all this confounded 
 complication, and there you'll be happy and 
 I'll work oh, Lord!" 
 
 " And If " cried Zack, beginning to cough. 
 
 " The Old People's Home's for you, I 
 guess," remarked Jack, " unless you can dig 
 up some more diamonds. There, there, 
 Minna, everything's all right everything's 
 bound to be, you know. It always has been; 
 don't worry. Juanita just tried it on." 
 
 " But, oh, Jack oh, Jack, I'm afraid you 
 
 that you tried it on just a little, yourself! " 
 " But I don't see why you can't cheer up, 
 
 dear, when everything's all right. If there 
 was anything to cry about, I'd cry too. There 
 
 there ! " He patted her affectionately, im- 
 mensely relieved that the break with Juanita 
 was now irreparable. Why he had spent so 
 many hours dreaming of her childish charms,
 
 FACE TO FACE 337 
 
 why he had been on the verge of ruining him- 
 self and breaking Minna's heart for one kiss 
 of those lips that could never again stir his 
 imagination, for one embrace of that form that 
 had miraculously lost all appeal, was so far 
 beyond comprehension that in his bewildered 
 state the old reliable love of Minna seemed 
 the only firm ground for his feet. He stood 
 upon that ground, therefore, and he maintained 
 it, letting the consequences to others be what 
 they might. 
 
 The same reckless pride that had prompted 
 Juanita to marry another when her girlhood's 
 lover failed her, now caused her to draw near 
 her husband. Her face was still white and set, 
 her voice hard and somewhat shrill, her eyes 
 steel-like, while only the curve of her mouth 
 which pain cut downward and a resolute will 
 held unquivering, told of her crushed spirit. 
 
 " I shall share your failure, Mr. Gridge," 
 she said, " for we are both failures. We'll 
 take up life again. I know, at your age, it'll 
 be very hard for you, but I can help " 
 
 " You ! " he retorted fiercely. " No ! That
 
 338 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 is all settled. I shall go my way alone. I un- 
 derstand you now, Juanita, I know what you 
 
 are." 
 
 " Well," remarked Zack, " and she knows 
 what you are; seems to me it's a bargain, 
 Gridge. Better take it. Lots of misery'd be 
 spared if we'd remember our own failings while 
 we're abusing other people. Think of that 
 necklace and then set yourself up for virtue, if 
 you can! Say to your wife that whatever 
 faults she's committed, you can't afford to re- 
 proach her with them, since you're a thief. 
 And that's not a pleasant word, you'll admit. 
 As for my son-in-law, very evidently he's not 
 in a position to act the high and noble judge. 
 As for me oh, my back, my back ! coming 
 here in my poverty and weakness and venerable 
 old age, being next door to sixty I admit 
 freely that I was a fool to go away and a big- 
 ger fool to stay away; but the biggest fool 
 is the man that comes back as from the 
 grave, expecting welcome. I'm that man. But 
 there's one comfort. Although none of you 
 would shake hands with me when I came, be-
 
 FACE TO FACE 339 
 
 cause you felt yourselves so much better, we've 
 found out that one is about as blamable as 
 the other I imagine that's the rule in life, 
 only it isn't always found out. I've been a 
 wretch, I own ; but there's nobody here who can 
 throw the first stone." 
 
 " Zack," exclaimed Gridge, impulsively, 
 " I'm not worthy, but if you'll take this hand, 
 God knows how I shall bless you and take fresh 
 courage. It isn't as if I meant to wrong you 
 about that necklace. And though I was 
 tempted to sell the bracelet I well, I re- 
 sisted; isn't that something?" 
 
 " I'll take your hand, Gridge, and forgive 
 all the past, if you'll give your other hand to 
 Juanita. I'm not saying she deserves it we 
 are all miserable mortals, and don't deserve 
 half we get." 
 
 " Then / shall throw the first stone ! " ex- 
 claimed Minna, flashing a disdainful glance at 
 Juanita's hand in that of her husband. " You 
 try to put us all in the wrong, Father, so we'll 
 not reproach you for deserting us for letting 
 the neighborhood gossip about us breaking
 
 340 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 my poor mother's heart. But somebody ought 
 to show you what a terrible wrong you have 
 done your family and I shall tell you, yes, I can 
 speak openly ! " 
 
 " You, Daughter, least of all, can throw the 
 first stone," 'replied Zack, his eyes flashing. 
 "Where is your mother?" Before his pen- 
 etrating gaze her eyes fell. With form no 
 longer bent, with face touched by calm author- 
 ity, he waited for her to speak. 
 
 " But she wanted to be out there it was 
 her wish," Minna faltered. 
 
 " Her wish ! Your mother never had a 
 wish except for your happiness. She found out 
 it relieved you to be rid of her that she was 
 a burden to you when in your house. So she 
 let herself be shut up in that prison because it 
 was your wish. She's starving there for a sight 
 of you, for the sound of your voice and you 
 give your smiles to strangers, you lavish your 
 charms on people who care nothing for you 
 except as they need you at cards, or in the ball- 
 room. She would give her life to spare you 
 pain, but you are too selfish to take a five-mile
 
 FACE TO FACE 341 
 
 drive that she may be made happy at the mere 
 sight of you. And now you are planning to 
 go to Oklahoma with no more thought of her 
 desolate loneliness than if she were already in 
 her grave. And all the time you deceive your- 
 self, saying that she is old and mustn't be dis- 
 turbed by your troubles, though in your heart 
 you must know that those who have no troubles 
 to worry about, are already dead. You know, 
 or should know, that what interests you is the 
 only thing that could interest her. She let you 
 swallow up her farm that you might live in 
 ease she gave you the diamonds she'd 
 give you herself, only you don't want her! 
 She refused to go with me, though I knew how 
 it would be, and begged and implored her to 
 go. If she died, the world would be just what 
 it is now, to you; but if you died, did you ever 
 wonder how she would feel? Oh, no, Minna, 
 let anybody else reproach me, but not you 
 not you ! " 
 
 " But, Father," said Minna, piteously, " you 
 don't understand. You are so bitter and cruel, 
 because you don't understand. The world
 
 342 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 isn't what it was when you were young and 
 and mother wants to be out there, because 
 it's she feels that it's the place for her." 
 She began to sob. 
 
 "Well," said Zack, shortly, "it's not the 
 place for me, I understand that much 1 I guess 
 this isn't a world for old people, anyway. You 
 young folks just sort of rent it out to us, tem- 
 porarily, so to speak." He moved toward the 
 door. " But I must ride back to the Porter 
 farm that was Palmer's, you know for 
 I'll have to be up early at my milking before 
 I can get over to the Home to see your mother. 
 Yes, I've got a job at the Porters'; lucky, I 
 think! Milking cows beats sitting up and be- 
 ing an Inmate, to my way of thinking." 
 
 Jack and Minna followed him out of the 
 house to where his horse was fastened to the 
 post. " Come and stay all night with us, Mr. 
 Flood," said Jack, heartily. " And Minna can 
 ride out to the Home with you to-morrow and 
 talk it all over, and you'll see it in the true 
 light."
 
 FACE TO FACE 343 
 
 " And, Father," added Minna, between her 
 sobs, " it will look awful for you to be out at 
 the farm working like an ordinary farmhand. 
 Everybody will wonder and think we oughtn't 
 to allow it. Please, don't. It will be a thou- 
 sand times worse than it was when you went 
 away." 
 
 " I guess I'd better go away again and 
 stay. I'm thinking of it." He mounted the 
 horse with easy grace, then began to cough, 
 muttering, " Bless that cough, I'd forgotten 
 it! No, thank you, Jack, not to-night. But 
 I'll see you later. Wonder if there'd be any 
 opening for me out in Oklahoma? " 
 
 " Yes, there would ! " Jack exclaimed, with 
 sudden hopefulness. "You bet! Why, say, 
 there'll be an awful lot of work to be done on 
 our place, and you know all about farm- 
 ing . . ." 
 
 " Oh, yes, but my back ! " 
 
 His son-in-law looked at him with an intelli- 
 gent twinkle. " Treat it as you do your cough 
 forget it."
 
 344 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Jack," said his father-in-law, " there's 
 something in you, after all and one good 
 thing: whatever there is, comes right to the 
 surface. Good night, Minna, try to get used 
 to the idea." 
 
 " Father," Minna returned unsteadily, " I 
 don't know what you mean you always ex- 
 pressed yourself so queerly (Mother used to 
 notice it, too). I want you to stay right here; 
 it would look so much better " 
 
 " Tell 'em not to look," said Zack, dryly. 
 
 " And I had never thought of Mother as 
 you said she seemed to belong to the past, 
 don't you know, because when a person is real 
 old and has lived one life she oughtn't to be 
 burdened with the cares of us young people. 
 . . . You have made me perfectly wretched 
 I know I shan't sleep all night long." 
 
 " Well, Minna, if you should stay awake, re- 
 member that you're not so young as you used to 
 be. I can see quite a difference ! " 
 
 He rode away.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE RETURN 
 
 AS soon as he could be spared from 
 his morning's work, Zack borrowed 
 Mr. Porter's horse and galloped 
 across country to the Old People's Home. Al- 
 though his heart was bounding with eager im- 
 patience, he slowed up as he came in sight of 
 the handsome brick building, and as he walked 
 across the yard, his step was deliberate, his 
 exploring glances cautious. 
 
 No wonder Richard, as she met him in the 
 hall, failed to recognize in the stooping figure 
 of bushy whiskers, downcast gaze and hesi- 
 tating feet, the uncle who had been to her as 
 an impersonation of activity and dauntless res- 
 olution. 
 
 Without the information imparted by the 
 Porters, neither would he have known the tall, 
 self-reliant woman whose simple dress of serv- 
 
 345
 
 346 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 ice made her beauty more remarkable. There 
 was just enough of his sister's look to give to 
 her loveliness a charming touch of familiarity; 
 and it was difficult to preserve his calm exterior 
 and keep in mind the need of revealing him- 
 self by slow degrees. 
 
 " They tell me," he said, in a faint, old 
 voice, " that a woman is kept here named Mrs. 
 Flood. If that's a fact, I'd like to speak to 
 her." 
 
 Richard looked at him, intently. " Mrs. 
 Flood rooms here." She hesitated. 
 
 " How is she? Strong enough to talk to a 
 stranger? I don't want to do any harm if her 
 heart's uncertain, though I judge it ought to 
 be fairly well seasoned by now." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed the other, clasping her 
 hands, " have you come with with some 
 news ... ? " 
 
 " I think it'll be sort of tidings to her. Yes, 
 young lady, it's about her husband." 
 
 "Is he alive?" she demanded, quickly. 
 " Do you know where he is? I'm his niece. 
 Is he ill?"
 
 THE RETURN 347 
 
 " His back isn't what it was, young lady, and 
 he has a cough, sometimes. But he's alive, all 
 right" 
 
 She grasped his hand, convulsively. " And 
 you have come to tell us? God bless you! 
 God bless you! You know my Uncle Zack? " 
 
 " I've got a tolerable speaking acquaintance 
 with him." 
 
 " Come this way." 
 
 " But oughtn't it to be broken to her grad- 
 ual, that a man has come to talk about her 
 husband? " 
 
 " Oh, no Aunt Minnie is prepared for 
 more than that. She's been expecting Uncle 
 Zack every hour." 
 
 " How on earth can she be expecting him? " 
 
 " A diamond bracelet came from him yes- 
 terday, so she's sure he will follow it. And so 
 you know Uncle Zack ! and he's alive and 
 well! It seems too good to be true." And 
 she clasped his hand warmly as she hurried him 
 toward the staircase. 
 
 Mrs. Flood had darkened her room because 
 the glare of the sun against the unshaded house
 
 348 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 hurt her eyes; it was perhaps on that account 
 that she failed to recognize her husband even 
 after Richard had left them alone together. 
 
 " I hope it won't agitate you, ma'am, to be 
 told of Zack. I wanted the young lady to 
 break it gradual " 
 
 " Oh, no, oh, no, I knew he'd come or send 
 somebody. He sent you, didn't he?" She 
 stood putting her hands tremulously together 
 and drawing them apart, with a mighty effort 
 at composure. 
 
 " Well, ma'am, in a way, I may say, yes. 
 But won't you sit down? for I can see plain 
 that you're not strong. From what Zack said, 
 I expected to see a younger woman I 
 couldn't believe my ears when they said you 
 were in a Home for old folks." 
 
 She sank upon a chair and tried to sit erect 
 as in former days. " But when is he coming? " 
 she faltered. " And and, oh, where is 
 he?" 
 
 " You see, ma'am, he wanted to know, first, 
 if you'd be willing to so much as look at him, 
 after his leaving the country the way he did."
 
 THE RETURN 349 
 
 She drew herself up. " My husband was 
 greatly tried," she returned, with dignity. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, but you see he feels that his 
 keeping out of sight and sound of his family 
 all these years has made him a renegade and 
 he's ashamed " 
 
 " It isn't too late, it isn't too late I n She 
 started up, wildly. " Thank God it isn't too 
 late, yet. But if he doesn't come soon " 
 
 " How can he look you in the eye," cried 
 the stranger, " after his desertion? He didn't 
 know it wouldn't be too late. (He wanted me 
 to say all this.) It was his obstinate stubborn- 
 ness that kept him from writing, or from ever 
 reading a line about this part of the country. 
 You might have been dead and in your grave, 
 and he'd have been down there in Arkansas 
 tinkering away like a fool " 
 
 She staggered toward him, blindly. 
 
 " And you in this damned Home " 
 
 " It's Zack ! " She was in his arms, laugh- 
 ing and sobbing. " It's Zack! " 
 
 He burst into tears. " Oh, Minnie ! " 
 
 " It M Zack. Oh, hold me close to you
 
 350 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 close I've been so lonely but you've come. 
 / knew you'd come, Zack, / knew it! I'm go- 
 ing with you wherever you go, if it's to starve 
 together." 
 
 " But I know you can't forgive me, honey, I 
 can't forgive myself." 
 
 " It's not a matter of forgiving, or being 
 forgiven. It's just that you are here here! 
 You'll never leave me again will you, Zack? " 
 
 " Not if you'll go with me." 
 
 She looked at him with a pathetic at- 
 tempt at old playfulness. " Suppose I won't 
 leave?" 
 
 " Don't try me, honey, don't try me again ! " 
 
 " No, never again why, I'd follow you to 
 the ends of the earth. Dear one, you mustn't 
 cry, it'll break my heart. I didn't feel like 
 this at first. Part of me seemed frozen the 
 part that belonged to you, and I was hard and 
 cold when I thought of you. But after some 
 time some years I began to feel an ache, 
 always a dull pain that woke when I woke. 
 Oh, there's nothing like a Home to bring a 
 woman to her senses ! "
 
 THE RETURN 351 
 
 " Hush, Minnie, I can't bear to hear you 
 say such things my dear, proud " 
 
 " I'm not proud, I'm as humble as a little 
 child. All I ask is to go with you if you'll 
 let me" 
 
 " I won't have you saying that. It's I who 
 implore you to come with me." 
 
 " I'll come ! " She sank upon the couch and 
 drew him down beside her. Half an hour 
 passed but it seemed to her that he had just 
 stepped through the door. " When I hold 
 your hand, Zack, it makes me feel you're not 
 going to slip away. You've had a hard time, 
 poor dear such a lined face, oh, I hate to see 
 all these lines! And that wonderful beard 
 are you very poor? Isn't there some little 
 spot that we can call our home, somewhere, in 
 this big world? " 
 
 " I've got the spot, honey." 
 
 14 With a house on it? A cottage a cabin 
 
 just a roof where we can lay our heads, and 
 a bit of yard that we can call our own? Have 
 you? Oh, Zack! To be at home once more 
 
 to die at home! You don't know how I
 
 352 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 felt when I used to think I might not die at 
 home." 
 
 " Say Live at home. Why, Minnie, we're 
 good for many a year, yet. Of course we can't 
 keep up with the pace of young people, but 
 dang 'em ! I'll set a pace of my own. We'll 
 hike out for an old people's world, and live 
 according to our wishes and our ailments. 
 Down there in Arkansas, a fellow can grow 
 whiskers till they sweep the ground and no- 
 body'll want to put him in a cage ! the cu- 
 riosities all live in the open. You bet, I've got 
 a roof and a bit of yard! Why, Minnie 
 but tell me about yourself. I'm feeling too 
 good; explain this gray hair and these wrinkles 
 remind me of my wickedness for I'm the 
 cause of all your sufferings. As they say in 
 the novels, ' Tell me your story.' ' 
 
 " There's none to tell, dear. When can we 
 go to your little to our little home ? May 
 I say * our,' Zack? " 
 
 " Oh, the villain I've been ! Honey, how 
 long was it before you sold the farm? Did 
 you actually hold to it two entire years ? "
 
 THE RETURN 353 
 
 " Minna wanted to live in town, and they 
 were gone a good deal. I was rather lone- 
 some out there when they were from home 
 of course there was always Richard, but I didn't 
 care for her company, then, I didn't understand 
 her, she was so quiet and odd, you know, with 
 never much to say and I knew she disap- 
 proved of my daughter which made me a little 
 hard toward her, I'm afraid." 
 
 " So you gave Jack the farm. Then in 
 town, you weren't lonesome, of course?" 
 
 " It wasn't Minna's fault, Zack. I was too 
 old to know how to take a hand in all the gay 
 doings, and if I'd known how, I wasn't strong 
 enough, and besides how could I be gay? 
 No, all that life was for the young balls 
 and theaters and auto-parties such breathless 
 haste and sleepless hours! Oh, that's when I 
 learned to prize Richard although to tell 
 you the truth, she and I have never been per- 
 fectly in harmony it isn't as if she were a 
 daughter: I know she thinks hard of Minna. 
 Richard can't understand, for she wasn't raised 
 with plenty of money and never formed a taste
 
 354 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 for society. Richard isn't perfect, but she's a 
 mighty fine girl." 
 
 " So they put you at last in this institution? 
 And I reckon you're safe from breathless haste 
 out here, where the frogs do the main bulk of 
 the chorus-work ! " 
 
 " They didn't ' put ' me here it was my 
 choice I came because oh, you know why, 
 Zack." 
 
 " I hope you won't insist on staying," he re- 
 marked, drily. " That little shack of mine is 
 calling to us this minute." 
 
 She nestled closer. " You've had a hard 
 time, Zack, such a hard time these poor 
 rough hands " She kissed them. "I can 
 hardly wait to go. But won't it be strange, we 
 two old people, setting up housekeeping by our- 
 selves, as if we meant to live forever? If I'd 
 seen Minna every day I'd feel different about 
 it, but it's hardly as if I were leaving her, be- 
 cause she's not here to leave besides, they'll 
 soon be going to Oklahoma. Jack's going to 
 work. There's a fine fellow ! He spent a 
 whole hour with me yesterday I wish you
 
 THE RETURN 355 
 
 could have seen him at that table, enjoying him- 
 self." 
 
 " Yes, it would have been a treat. I always 
 thought he'd do famously at feeding-time. 
 Sorry I wasn't here ! So you're willing to go 
 down there even away from Minna, to a home 
 of your own? " 
 
 " Zack, it'll be like getting to heaven before 
 the rest of my loved ones. Willing? Can't 
 we start to-day? " 
 
 "What a villain I've been! But there's 
 some excuse for me, honey. When I went 
 down there it was mighty hard rowing for 
 awhile. I bought a place according to the style 
 that's in fashion paid down about all I had, 
 and gave a mortgage for the rest. It was a 
 little orchard, and let me tell you there was tall 
 traveling before a penny came my way! The 
 trees were young, and the seasons were bad for 
 several years in succession, and half a dozen 
 different kinds of bugs had to be sprayed with 
 that many different assortments of sprays, 
 which isn't furnished free by the State, let me 
 tell you ! and then, when a rousing big crop
 
 356 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 did show up, blessed if every tree in the coun- 
 try wasn't bursting with fruit so that nobody 
 got anything for apples. And, in the meantime, 
 there was the mortgage-interest to be paid, and 
 corn-meal and bacon to be bought. The hard- 
 ships would have killed you, honey, not to 
 count starving to death. But I just held 
 my tail between my legs and clung on by my 
 teeth and at last what I was looking for, 
 came! " 
 
 " Always does ! " she cried, a smile flashing 
 through her tears " look at you ! " 
 
 " What I hate about this is that I'm never 
 going to be punished as I deserve! You quit 
 a-looking pleased, Minnie, I need discipline! 
 Then a year came so stampeding with good 
 luck that I was able to pay off the mortgage. 
 That made me feel that I was ready to go to 
 living. Next year I made a little not 
 enough to surprise me, because a small orchard 
 hasn't got a great many trumps up its sleeve. 
 Last year saw me out of the woods; and this 
 year, there's a prospect that 'most any orchafd- 
 ist would shed tears of joy over thanks to
 
 THE RETURN 357 
 
 my patience and learning through many failures, 
 I suspicioned that a new kind of bug was on 
 its way and I sprayed for him betimes and 
 nearly all the other fellows are watching their 
 fruit fall off the trees while I'm taking a trip 
 back home, knowing mine's going to stick ! So 
 last year I had enough to build a house for 
 you " 
 
 " And however humble it is, Zack, however 
 little and plain " 
 
 " Humble! " cried Zack, scornfully. " Lit- 
 tle? Well, I guess when you see that man- 
 sion " At that moment his quick eye 
 recognized his daughter and Jack in a buggy, 
 drawing up before the Home. 
 
 "What do you mean, Zack? It is a hum- 
 ble, little cabin, isn't it? " 
 
 " Well er you don't have to stoop to 
 get through the door. Of course there isn't 
 room in it for a great many people " 
 
 " But just you and me, dear, just you and 
 me?" 
 
 " Yes, I 'low enough room'll be found for 
 us two ! "
 
 358 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " And the orchard? You spoke as if it were 
 a rather large one, with all that fruit" 
 
 " Oh, a few trees, honey, a few trees. 
 When you want to, you can go out and shake 
 down a few eating-apples, enough to make up 
 in dumplings, and then some. Yes, there are 
 a few trees here and there . . ." 
 
 Minna opened the door abruptly, and, hurry- 
 ing to the couch, sank upon her knees before 
 her mother, whose glad cry of surprise Zack 
 pretended to echo. 
 
 " Mother, let me say what I've come to say 
 before everything Father talked to me last 
 night as nobody in the world ever did before, 
 and and at first I was too amazed, too as- 
 tonished, to know what to think. But it kept 
 me awake all night. It was the truth. It was 
 as if I'd been blind for years. And, oh, 
 Mother, you ought to have told me; although 
 I have failed in my duty as a daughter, isn't 
 there a tiny excuse because you never taught me 
 what my duty really was? If you had made 
 me thoughtful of you instead of always sure
 
 THE RETURN 359 
 
 that whatever I wanted to do was the thing 
 to be done ! " 
 
 " Hush, hush ! " cried her mother, in distress, 
 throwing her arms about the bowed head. 
 " It's all right I'm going away with your 
 father, he has a little cabin built for me, and 
 a few trees " 
 
 " A very rocky country," added Zack, dis- 
 couragingly. 
 
 Minna brightened up. " But I thought 
 father had nothing, and Jack and I have come 
 to ask both of you to go with us to our Okla- 
 homa farm. You see, it's under the home- 
 stead act and somebody must stay on the place 
 three years, and we thought it would be fine 
 for you out there, and then Jack and I needn't 
 be there all the time. It would be a good thing 
 for you, Jack says, and it would be a good 
 thing for us." 
 
 " You must excuse me, Minna, from going 
 to do any sitting on your land Jack'll have 
 to hold it down himself that little orchard 
 of mine needs all my time."
 
 360 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " I don't blame you," said Jack, stepping 
 into the room. " I wouldn't go there myself, 
 if I could help it." 
 
 " But that isn't what I wanted most to say," 
 Minna interrupted, and then she began to sob 
 convulsively. It was very hard for her to 
 break through that crust of selfishness which 
 had formed about her heart from tenderest 
 years altogether unsuspected by herself. It 
 was almost impossible to confess herself wholly 
 in the wrong without clinging to some excuses, 
 or propose atonement without adding some 
 clause to her own advantage. But she had 
 spoken truly when saying that all night long 
 she had meditated her father's accusation. Its 
 justice she admitted to herself, and now she 
 tried to confess it to her parents. And as, in 
 broken words and with many tears, she tried 
 to express repentance for having placed Mrs. 
 Flood in the Old People's Home, to a greater 
 degree did she realize the loneliness and suf- 
 fering of which she had been the thoughtless, 
 careless cause. 
 
 Mrs. Flood would have spared her every
 
 THE RETURN 361 
 
 word of remorse, but the daughter's heart was 
 too sincerely moved to spare itself. Her flood 
 of tears with which her mother's freely min- 
 gled, swept away all barriers between the hearts 
 of the small family group, and it ended with 
 many kisses and warm handclasps. 
 
 " I've an ax to grind, out here," Jack said, 
 at last, when tranquillity had been restored, 
 when the parents had forgiven them everything 
 and Minna had forgiven her parents for bring- 
 ing her up in the ways of selfishness. " I must 
 hunt up Richard, for I've undertaken to bring 
 her and Alfred Montgomery together." 
 
 After he had left the room, Minna began 
 whispering to her mother as they sat close on 
 the couch. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks 
 flushed. 
 
 " It has made me see everything in such 
 a strange way, Mother," she added, aloud. 
 " It's like a different world when I look around. 
 And and that's what's brought me to you 
 more than father's scolding. Because well, 
 I think in a different way about mothers since 
 I learned . ."
 
 362 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 Zack heard only a few of these words, but 
 he turned suddenly away while the tears leaped 
 to his eyes. As it chanced, he found himself 
 facing a mirror, and its reflection showed his 
 face so strangely moved, that his wife ex- 
 claimed in alarm, " Zack ! Zack ! what's the 
 matter? " 
 
 He dashed away the mist, and said with a 
 laugh, as he stared at his image in the glass 
 " I think I see a grandfather! "
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 
 
 WHILE Zack Flood had been culti- 
 vating an orchard and building a 
 house in Arkansas considerably 
 more pretentious than he thought it wise to 
 disclose, Alfred Montgomery was building up 
 a substantial law-practice in the city. His 
 health was now excellent, his income assured, 
 and he had developed into a well-proportioned, 
 handsome man, very popular in those social cir- 
 cles which he found most congenial. 
 
 This, however, did not content him. He 
 was entering the cool years of the late thirties 
 cool when one lives alone and returns from 
 some gay party or a hard day's work to find 
 no companionship but that of bachelor-fancies. 
 Unable to drive Richard from his mind, unsuc- 
 cessful in his efforts to persuade her to receive 
 him, and too proud to force himself upon her 
 363
 
 364 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 against expressed wishes, still he did not try 
 to replace her image in his imagination by any 
 other. 
 
 " But if she won't see me this time," he told 
 Jack Palmer, " I shall never come back to Pen- 
 dleton." 
 
 He had formed the same resolution on his 
 previous visit, only to break it; and if he did 
 not fall in love with somebody between now 
 and next summer, Jack thought it more than 
 likely that he would come again only, in that 
 case, Richard would be in Arkansas with the 
 Floods. 
 
 " I tell you," Jack complained to his wife 
 as they drove back from their visit to the Old 
 People's Home. " I'm discouraged. Alfred's 
 nailed now, but that thing wears out, you 
 know." 
 
 " What thing? " Minna returned, coldly. 
 She had not forgotten Juanita and that curious 
 affair of the third diamond. 
 
 '' Why oh, not love like mine for you, of 
 course, that's something rather rare in this 
 world, I fancy but like Alfred's, where
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 365 
 
 there's nothing to keep it warm. I reasoned 
 with Dicky, I coaxed like a good fellow, ar- 
 gued that since Alfred's father's dead and his 
 step-mother has married again and gone to 
 Kansas there's nothing here to draw him from 
 his work but she won't see him. Used to 
 have the excuse that Mother needed her, but 
 now since the old man's on deck Minna, do 
 you reckon I'll ever make as wiry and lasting 
 a father-in-law as the one I've got? Expect 
 he'll outlive us all he's got the makings of 
 a Methuselah in him ! " 
 
 " I've never understood Richard, and never 
 pretended to," remarked Minna, shaking her 
 head, " but I believe she is a good girl, and 
 tries to do her duty as she sees it." 
 
 " She never had any interest in live peo- 
 ple," Jack commented. " Life's nothing to her 
 but ink and paper. If Alf was a manuscript 
 she might get him published; but being a man, 
 she don't know what to do with him. Now 
 that they've actually printed her book, I'm 
 afraid she's done for will just dry up to a 
 parchment and we'll finally bury her with a
 
 366 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 pen. Alas, poor Richard! Oh, I'm discour- 
 aged." 
 
 So was Alfred, when Jack reported the re- 
 sult of his interview. Pride urged him to flee 
 from the woman who treated him thus un- 
 kindly, but pride seldom consistent also 
 counseled him to stand his ground, proving 
 himself indifferent to her indifference. Accord- 
 ingly he remained at the hotel as long as the 
 Floods and Richard staid with Jack and Minna, 
 but without any further effort to meet the girl 
 who had once loved him. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day preceding that 
 set for the journey to Arkansas, Alfred was 
 told that a buggy had stopped before the hotel 
 and a lady asked to see him. Supposing he 
 was about to be invited to an informal outing 
 or evening party, he obeyed the summons, ex- 
 cuses forming on his lips. He wished to be 
 alone ; no one in that waiting buggy could have 
 surprised him greatly, or caused him a sudden 
 thrill of delight unless it were Richard. 
 
 As it was Richard, he was greatly surprised, 
 and thrilled yet more deeply. Her identity
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 367 
 
 was not to be questioned; the figure and bear- 
 ing were those of the night of the masked ball, 
 and the face, though ten years older was the 
 face that had kissed him at the annual picnic. 
 How startled he had been when, that summer 
 afternoon, he looked up, astonished, to catch 
 Richard's features transfigured in a glow of 
 beauty. As he looked up now, he fancied that 
 the girl's affections in their innocent loveliness 
 had been stamped upon cheek and brow, touch- 
 ing them with their charm to a grace never to 
 fade. As their hands clasped, it seemed to 
 him that the fragrant breath of that warm day 
 with its scents of woods and meadowlands came 
 wafted to him across the intervening years. 
 
 "Richard! " He still held her hand as if 
 to secure a vision forever eluding him. 
 
 "Will you ride with me?" She was not 
 able to conceal her agitation; "I want to say 
 to discuss business matters with you." 
 
 He took his place beside her, moved by the 
 familiar quality of her voice, and at the same 
 time haunted by the fear of late years that she 
 had really lost all interest in him that her
 
 368 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 very love might have reacted against him. 
 For the present, however, it seemed enough to 
 be near her, to feel the light touch of her arm 
 against his, to hear that dear accent, though 
 indeed somewhat unsteady. 
 
 As long as they were in town, their topics 
 were impersonal, chief of these, the failure of 
 B. M. Gridge, the rumor that he was to be 
 employed as a clerk in the house where he had 
 so long been the master, the wonder that so 
 careful a man should have lived so far beyond 
 his income, and the fear that Juanita would 
 find her altered circumstances hard to bear. 
 Richard answered abstractedly as if forming in 
 her mind the best way to present those mys- 
 terious " business matters " which at the begin- 
 ning had been sounded as the keynote of their 
 interview. 
 
 But Alfred had no intention of letting their 
 relationship rest upon a business plane, and 
 when they were surrounded by green fields 
 
 " Richard, you are just what I wanted you 
 to be, only you needn't have been half so beau- 
 tiful. And that good, true voice that always
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 369 
 
 expressed a thousand times more than the 
 words spoken putting everything into italics 
 and big capitals I feel as if I hadn't 
 breathed deeply since I heard it last. You've 
 held yourself toward me as a perfect stranger 
 but I can't be a stranger to one with so much 
 of the old-time days in her smile." 
 
 " It had to be," she spoke, hurriedly. " My 
 life was so full, so full ! " 
 
 " Full ! " he cried, protestingly. " Yes 
 of a thousand tasks little duties without end 
 that somebody else should have performed. 
 But a life that's full of ceaseless toil work 
 that must be done but means nothing in itself 
 is a very empty life, after all." 
 
 " Oh, I had my escape you forget my 
 writing." Her eyes were starry bright. 
 
 " No, I remember your writing, but it could 
 only come at the close of day when you were 
 tired out. If you could know how I have suf- 
 fered, thinking of you in that Home working 
 with these hands and feet as if they were the 
 hands and feet of just of anybody else." 
 
 " I am just anybody," Richard laughed.
 
 370 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 " Just anybody who works gladly that some- 
 body else may be happy." 
 
 ' Yes I thought of that, I knew why you 
 did it; it didn't make me suffer less to think of 
 your weariness and starved youth but, oh, 
 how it did teach me to love you ! " 
 
 She looked at him with clear, earnest eyes, 
 no blush answering his impetuous words. 
 " Don't praise me," she said, gently, " such 
 work should be its own reward. Please let me 
 talk business." 
 
 There was something in her manner of 
 speaking the phrase that reminded him of the 
 quaintness of her girlhood. She was so deter- 
 mined to remain calm and self-controlled, as 
 if there were nothing between them after this 
 long separation but " business." 
 
 " Richard, kindness to one lonely life hardly 
 justified your unkindness to another lonely mor- 
 tal the mortal who now protests that you owe 
 him something " 
 
 She interposed with a sudden flashing smile, 
 " Yes ! That's exactly why I asked you to take 
 this ride; indeed, I do owe you entirely too
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 371 
 
 much ! But I have all the items in this note- 
 book and if you'll take the lines', I'll check them 
 off." 
 
 He obeyed ruefully, and Richard read the 
 sums of money she had received from him by 
 mail, while he, looking down, thought there 
 had never surely been such a charming mouth so 
 filled with unwelcome figures. 
 
 " It adds up two hundred and fifty dollars," 
 she concluded, " and seventy-five cents." 
 
 ' Yes," carelessly, " I knew it was very 
 little." 
 
 " And now," she said, svith portentous grav- 
 ity, " do you know why I applied to you for all 
 this money? " 
 
 ' You wanted some little extras for your 
 aunt and ready money was hard to get." 
 
 " But what could you think of a girl who 
 coolly and deliberately asked money of you, not 
 as a favor, but a right and yet refused to 
 see you? " 
 
 :< What did I think of you? In such a way 
 that no other girl has ever seemed worth think- 
 ing about."
 
 372 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 She reproved him gently, " You mustn't an- 
 swer like that. Because, there is an explana- 
 tion. When Uncle Zack went away, he said 
 arrangements had been made with some one we 
 both trusted, and that whenever I found myself 
 in need, I'd be provided for. Your name had 
 just been mentioned and I was sure that he 
 meant you. But to-day I found out that he 
 meant Mr. Gridge! And I'm wondering what 
 you must have thought of me all this time." 
 
 His heart sank. " Don't say you asked my 
 help only because you thought your uncle had 
 commissioned me to help you." 
 
 " But could I possibly have done it, other- 
 wise? " 
 
 " But I thought " he looked at her 
 blankly. " Oh, Richard, this is such a disap- 
 pointment! I thought . . ." 
 
 " Yes, I was afraid of that," she answered, 
 somewhat breathlessly, while the color stole to 
 her cheeks. " Just as soon as Uncle Zack ex- 
 plained this morning I was afraid that you 
 must have had some thought, and " 
 
 He drove on for a time in silence, more de-
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 373 
 
 pressed by her explanation than he cared to 
 confess. " It seemed all that I had left of 
 your friendship," he said, presently. " I'd lost 
 your dear comradeship, but I still had your 
 faith in me. Now it seems even that was 
 meant for somebody else." 
 
 She interrupted, in a fluttering voice, trying 
 to hold her gaze steady. " But you must tell 
 me what you thought, even if it is hard for you, 
 because only in that way can everything be made 
 clear. Do not let us part this time, Alfred, 
 with any misunderstanding. You thought ? " 
 
 " Oh, what does that matter, Richard? It 
 is past. It seems I was mistaken." 
 
 " You thought yes, I must tell you that 
 I could ask it of you because I because of 
 what you learned that day at the picnic 
 Won't you help me, Alfred? It isn't as easy to 
 say it as it was ten years ago." 
 
 " I will say it for you," he answered, his 
 heart suddenly leaping in tumultuous hope as 
 the color deepened in her cheeks, while her 
 eyes no longer met his searching look. " I 
 thought that you still loved me."
 
 374 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 "I was afraid of it! I knew it!" she 
 faltered. " And because you imagined that I 
 still did, it kept me in your thoughts and so 
 and that is why " 
 
 " Richard, do you want me to think that you 
 no longer love me? " 
 
 Her face paled, but her voice grew firmer. 
 " Yes I want you to think that it is all 
 over." 
 
 " And I must go away back to the city 
 back to my life of loneliness with no hope that 
 your love for me is as strong as it used to be? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Even when I tell you that the thought of 
 you has become the most sacred influence of my 
 life that every year of your humble and 
 silent service has added its weight to the 
 strength of my love, yes, that I loved you be- 
 fore I saw you, loved you for your life, your 
 beautiful life and now that I see your face, 
 I find it the symbol of all I ever truly loved ! 
 in spite of all this, can you say that you do not 
 love me? " 
 
 " But, Alfred but, don't you see, all this
 
 UNDER THE COTTONWOOD 375 
 
 what you say now is because of what I told 
 you that day at the picnic? And if you hadn't 
 learned about it, and imagined I still cared for 
 you as I did when a child " 
 
 " It doesn't matter how love comes, if it 
 comes to stay. If you can deny your love, I'll 
 believe what you want me to believe. You 
 couldn't wrong anything so beautiful, so sweet, 
 so pure, by refusing to acknowledge it if it still 
 lives. I tell you once again, I love you, dar- 
 ling. Can you say that you do not love me? " 
 There was a pause. " Say it if you can! " he 
 cried out, with something like triumph in his 
 voice. " Say it, Richard ! " 
 
 But Richard could not say it. 
 
 It was not long after that before they came 
 in sight of the cottonwood tree for where 
 there is love there are trees. " Oh, that faith- 
 ful tree ! " cried Richard, smiling through her 
 tears. " Look it has been waiting for us 
 ever since the day we passed it on our way 
 from the station do you remember? " 
 
 " And I remember you told me about your 
 poem that described it. You wondered if you
 
 376 THE THIRD DIAMOND 
 
 would be as brave as it if you were left to stand 
 all alone, no friends near you, no birds, perhaps, 
 to sing for you would you go on ' rippling 
 out your happy music, keeping your shade for 
 some weary traveler ' ? " 
 
 " I had forgotten all about it," she answered, 
 happily. " To think of your keeping that in 
 your mind ! " 
 
 " No, in my soul ! Many and many a time 
 I've thought of it; for you have stood all alone, 
 no friends, no birds but bless your dear face, 
 your dear, faithful heart! your music has rip- 
 pled out, and you are a blessing to the weary 
 traveler. You're a true sister to the tree 
 wave it good-by." 
 
 Richard laughed and waved at the waving 
 tree, and passed on with smiles and tears, never 
 again to stand alone. 
 
 THE END

 
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