RTANCE 
 
.... 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
What a strange, impetuous boy ! " she exclaimed 
 
A PERSON OF 
 SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 r 
 LLOYD OSBOURNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 THE ADVENTURER, INFATUATION. ETC. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 A. B. WENZELL 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
COPYRIGHT 1911 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I DISGRACED . i 
 
 II WHO is JOHN MORT? . . .... 12 
 
 III RESCUE AT SEA ....... 23 
 
 IV THE RUBY RING 25 
 
 V THE KANAKA KING 32 
 
 VI A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE .... 49 
 
 VII CHRISTINE MARSHALL 60 
 
 VIII HEART BREAK HILL 71 
 
 IX MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF ... 92 
 
 X MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 101 
 
 XI THE PRIVATE CAR 1 16 
 
 XII THE KEY TO PARADISE 128 
 
 XIII DISCHARGED 150 
 
 XIV A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 165 
 
 XV PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS . . .180 
 
 XVI DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 193 
 
 XVII CHRISTINE REAPPEARS ..... 208 
 
 XVIII THE ELOPEMENT . 224 
 
 XIX A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN . . .240 
 
 XX A STARTLING DISCOVERY ..... 261 
 
 XXI DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW . . . .274 
 
 XXII BRANDEIS vs. THE PACIFIC OCEAN . . .287 
 
 XXIII JOHN MORT 296 
 
 XXIV LOTOALOFA . 3 r 9 
 
A PERSON OF 
 SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DISGRACED 
 
 MATTHEW BROUGHTON lost his father in 
 1889; and less than two years later, his 
 mother, worn out by privation, poverty and the bit 
 ter struggle to keep a roof over her boy s head and 
 her own, was laid beside her husband in the Manas- 
 wan cemetery. Matt, as he was called, was then 
 fifteen years old, as tall as a man, and pale with the 
 all-day confinement in a lawyer s office where he 
 was employed as a clerk. To his uncle, who had 
 come to his nephew s assistance none too willingly, 
 he appeared an awkward, countrified youth, with 
 neither manners nor looks to recommend him; and 
 Admiral Beatty, whose benevolence was prompted 
 by remorse at having done so little for his sister 
 in her lifetime, was at small pains to hide his dis 
 appointment in her son. 
 
 This old gentleman had little else than his retired 
 pay to live on, and an expensive family to take care 
 of. To him the red-eyed, shabbily dressed young- 
 
 i 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ster appeared as the emblem of drastic economies 
 to come; and as the equivalent of good cigars, cosy 
 club dinners, and a thoroughbred Kentucky mare, 
 he certainly came high ; and the admiral s face, usu 
 ally so genial, grew very overcast at the prospect. 
 
 But he took Matt back to Washington with him ; 
 tried in his stiff way to be kind ; and after some re 
 flection as to what was to be done, secured for the 
 boy an appointment to the Naval Academy at An 
 napolis. Matt s education, as far as it had gone, was 
 of the ordinary, ineffectual character a smattering 
 of everything under the sun, from physiology to 
 Greek art an imposing curriculum that none the 
 less left him unable to spell, or even write, two co 
 herent lines of good English. It took eight months 
 coaching to prepare him for the entrance examina 
 tions, which he not only passed successfully, but had 
 the keen delight of seeing his name third on the list. 
 
 Annapolis did wonders for Matt. In two years he 
 was one of the smartest, best set-up, manliest-look 
 ing fellows in the academy. His half-starved frame 
 filled out; his face grew ruddy with health; erect 
 and graceful, his black head, fine complexion, and 
 dark flashing eyes attracted admiration everywhere. 
 He led in everything, whether in play or studies; 
 the traditions of the place became his religion ; ar 
 dent, clever and high-spirited, his whole nature 
 responded to one of the best-devised systems ever 
 invented for the making of men. 
 
 It was about this time that a Baltimore negro 
 
 2 
 
DISGRACED 
 
 named Raphael Stokes was admitted to the acad 
 emy, to the unbounded resentment of every one with 
 in its walls. He was not the first colored brother to 
 take advantage of his constitutional rights in this 
 respect; but more stubborn than his predecessors, 
 and to do him justice, an able and ambitious young 
 man, he defied the enormous pressure brought 
 against him, and what was almost harder to bear 
 the heart-breaking isolation in which he was doomed 
 to live. In after years, with broadened humanity 
 and a greater sympathy and understanding, Matt 
 was bitterly ashamed of his own part in the persecu 
 tion of Raphael Stokes. But at the period it seemed 
 a righteous task; the honor of the navy appeared to 
 be at stake ; by hook or by crook, by fair means or 
 foul, the service had to be saved from the disgrace 
 of a negro officer. 
 
 Matt was no worse than the rest of the academy; 
 in fact in one way he was better, for with char 
 acteristic directness he once sought an interview with 
 Stokes, and explained the whole matter with boyish 
 candor. 
 
 "We have nothing against you personally," he 
 said. "You re a pretty good sort, Stokes, and it is 
 no pleasure to us to try to make you uncomfortable 
 here. But you are an intruder, and we can t let you 
 stay. I m not saying that such prejudice is right 
 but we ve been brought up to it ; it s in our blood ; 
 even if you stick it out and graduate, you will sim 
 ply pass from one hell to another." 
 
 3 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Thank you, Broughton, but I intend to stay," re 
 turned Stokes, setting a jaw he had inherited from 
 a Presbyterian grandfather. 
 
 Months later, when the negro broke down in 
 class, hysterical and overwrought by the strain of 
 that unequal conflict, he was ordered to the superin 
 tendent s office and a searching inquiry was insti 
 tuted. Matt was less guilty than twenty others, 
 yet he found himself among the four who were 
 placed under arrest. Justice in such cases is always 
 somewhat capricious; too often it is the truthful 
 and straightforward who suffer, while the meaner 
 escape. Summary dismissal followed and Matt 
 turned his back on the Academy for ever. 
 
 Admiral Beatty gave Matt a furious reception. 
 He told the boy that he had thrown away all his 
 chances in life ; that he was irretrievably disgraced ; 
 and read aloud, with fiery emphasis, a scathing edi 
 torial on the affair in one of the administration 
 newspapers. The country was on the eve of a na 
 tional election, and the black vote had to be placated 
 by an appearance of severity toward the four cadets. 
 But Matt knew nothing of these underlying causes, 
 nor did his uncle. All he could see was his name, 
 in staring letters, held up to public obloquy. His 
 career was gone ; his uncle had turned against him ; 
 his whole little world had tumbled about his ears. 
 He managed to blurt out a few words of thanks for 
 the old man s past kindnesses, saluted, and left the 
 house in despair. That night he was in New York, 
 
 4 
 
DISGRACED 
 
 and the next day shipped as an ordinary seaman on 
 the British steel ship, Windsor Castle, bound for 
 Honolulu with coal. 
 
 In South lat. 21, West long. 123, at a point about 
 six hundred and eighty- four sea miles east southeast 
 of the Marquesas Islands, and during the course of 
 a heavy, sweltering afternoon, an old hand named 
 Louey began to sniff in an uneasy, dissatisfied sort 
 of way. After a while he slouched aft, returning 
 with the second mate, who began to sniff, too. The 
 result of their whispered deliberations was to call 
 the first mate, who sniffed and sent for the captain. 
 By this time every one was sniffing, though the hor 
 rifying word for their fears was left unsaid. The 
 captain ordered off the fore hatch, and it had hardly 
 risen an inch before there was a sudden gush of 
 smoke, and the penetrating odor of gas and soot. 
 Careful stowing, ventilation, unceasing watchful 
 ness all had been in vain, for somewhere in the 
 bowels of that three thousand tons of coal, spon 
 taneous combustion the most dreaded, the most 
 mysterious of all disasters had fired the whole with 
 a deadly, tiny flash. 
 
 For a couple of days the Windsor Castle was held 
 to her course, a stifled volcano, half sinking with the 
 weight of water poured into her. But the fire could 
 not be smothered nor drowned ; and it was at length 
 decided to lay her for the Marquesas in the hope 
 of sinking her in some shallow bay before the de 
 vouring demon could pass the hatches. Great 
 
 5 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 patches of her deck had now reddened ominously; 
 her bows hissed as they dipped into the swell; she 
 had become a floating furnace, the sails parching to 
 tinder on her yards, and the men risking their lives 
 every time they went aloft. Two of her boats were 
 made ready, provisioned and equipped, and at the 
 last extremity were lowered and manned. As they 
 pulled clear of the vessel flame could be seen leaping 
 and twisting through the smoke that rose mountain- 
 high above her decks; the sky, as far as the eye 
 could reach, was darkened as though with an im 
 pending tempest. The loneliness, weirdness and 
 awful majesty of the scene held the men spell 
 bound at their oars, and when they were roused to 
 make sail the order was obeyed in silence. 
 
 Matt was in the first mate s boat, which proved 
 much the faster of the two ; and despite the captain s 
 orders, and even entreaties, gave him the slip during 
 the night. The mate was a decent enough man, and 
 well-meaning, but he had a wife in Biddeford, and 
 an old mother to support and self-preservation is 
 the first law. 
 
 They made Uapu in eleven days, and after a brief 
 stay to rest and leave one of their sick, held on to 
 Nuka Hiva, the principal island of the group. Here 
 at Taiohae, the little capital, they were received with 
 extraordinary consideration by the French officials 
 and residents, who gave them a house to live in, and 
 vied with one another to raise a substantial purse. 
 The commandant requisitioned all the vessels in 
 
 6 
 
DISGRACED 
 
 port, and sent them to scour every corner of the 
 archipelago for any trace of the missing boat; but 
 it was never seen again, and the fate it met can 
 only be conjectured. Matt owed his life to the ship s 
 carpenter, Olsen, a big Swede. 
 
 "You take the whaler, sonny," he had said con 
 fidentially, waggling a red eyebrow with immense 
 significance. "Just you stick to the whaler, no mat 
 ter what any one says or orders." It had cost Matt 
 his watch-chain to make the change with an appren 
 tice named Betts, and it gave him a gruesome feeling 
 afterward to remember the price Betts had paid for 
 it. Olsen subsequently confided to him with a mirth 
 less cackle, that the captain s boat was "that rotten 
 you could shove your fist through it, though if I 
 had let on they would have loaded the whaler gun 
 wales under, and nobody would never have got no 
 where!" 
 
 It did not take Matt long to make up his mind to 
 remain in the islands. Exaggerating the disgrace of 
 his expulsion from the Academy, still smarting and 
 humiliated at the thought of his lost career, he was 
 possessed with the idea to hide, to get far away and 
 be forgotten. Three months in a deep-water ship 
 had disillusioned him of the idea of any future there. 
 He could see nothing but years of ill-paid drudgery, 
 wretchedness, hardship and the vilest food, with 
 only the most problematical chance of ever reaching 
 the quarter-deck. Even this had no particular at 
 traction for him the command of tubs like the 
 
 7 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Windsor Castle, with the salary of a railroad con 
 ductor, and microscopic percentages. 
 
 Here, in the Marquesas, he was on the edge of 
 another world, alluring, mysterious and beautiful. 
 He listened greedily to the tales of labyrinthine 
 seas, abounding in pearl and shell; of fortunes 
 won and kingdoms overturned by white adven 
 turers; of lovely islands, with melodious savage 
 names, flying their own flags, and ruled over by half- 
 naked kings and queens. Why should he not be 
 come a second John Caesar Goddefroy, with fleets 
 of ships; or rival Sternberg, who had held Samoa 
 in his hand? Had not Shirley Baker ruled Tonga 
 for twenty years; was not Young s daughter the 
 Queen of Manu a ; were not the Jenkinses of Gente 
 Hermosa the grandchildren of a hardy old seaman 
 who had founded a mimic empire and handed it 
 down to his descendants? Was not Tahiti in the 
 virtual possession of the Branders and the Salmons, 
 the children of two bygone Englishmen who had 
 waged wars and risen to kanaka greatness ? 
 
 Small wonder that the boy s head was full of 
 dreams; that he beheld before him wonderful and 
 picturesque opportunities; that either by love or 
 force of arms he, too, was resolved to gain a king 
 dom. The wife of one of the merchants was a 
 Tahitian, half-white, of extraordinary beauty, who 
 was at home in four languages, and an accom 
 plished musician as well. She helped not a little to 
 stir Matt s imagination and give form to the shad- 
 
 8 
 
DISGRACED 
 
 owy queens and princesses that played so important 
 a part in his fairy tales. The rightful king of the 
 Marquesas also figured conspicuously in these fan 
 cies. He was a grave, dignified, rather silent man, 
 who drew a pension from the French government, 
 and worked hard as a surveyor in mapping out the 
 native lands. He had lent Matt a horse to ride; be 
 friended him in many ways, and often dilated on the 
 former glories of his house. These melancholy con 
 fidences from the lips of a real king, however much 
 reduced, flattered Matt, and moved him with an in 
 toxicating sense of romance. Assuredly the Pacific 
 was the place for him, and he thanked his stars 
 afresh at having escaped from the dingy fo castle of 
 the Windsor Castle. 
 
 The governor, a French naval officer, had also 
 taken a great liking for Matt, giving him the hos 
 pitality of his bungalow in return for lessons in 
 English. This M. Fouquier was a delightful fellow, 
 who regarded his temporary appointment as a huge 
 joke, and ruled his canaques in a most easy-going 
 fashion. "They are children, mon cher" he would 
 say to Matt, "and one must treat them with the same 
 indulgence." The "hard labor" of the convicts con 
 sisted mostly in tidying up the commandant s front 
 yard, or sleeping on his porch. "Step softly, or 
 we may awake them," Fouquier would remark, 
 tiptoeing through the sleeping figures on his way to 
 play billiards at the club. "Though, stop thousand 
 thunders, I m going to lecture yonder miserable 
 
 9 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 he borrowed my music-box, and never took the 
 trouble to return it!" 
 
 When the jailer was discharged because of a short 
 age in his accounts, the commandant offered the post 
 to Matt, who accepted it with alacrity for it car 
 ried a salary of sixty Chile dollars a month, not 
 to speak of occasional perquisites in the way of 
 sucking-pigs and fish. Thus provided for he was 
 very willing to stay behind, and let his fellow 
 castaways go on to Tahiti without him. The 
 British and American consuls there had perfunc 
 torily arranged for the survivors of the Windsor 
 Castle to be brought down, and thence sent on to 
 New Zealand by steamer. Matt saw them off with 
 a light heart, for with their departure the last link 
 that bound him to civilization and to disgrace 
 seemed to snap. How little did he realize, as he 
 wrung those calloused hands, and warmly wished 
 his former shipmates the best of luck, that his de 
 cision was to cost him a terrible price ! 
 
 In the office of Williams and Hadley, ship-bro 
 kers, Honolulu, was a little package of letters for 
 Matt, addressed in their care. One was from Ra 
 phael Stokes: 
 
 "DEAR BROUGHTON: 
 
 "My health and nerves are all gone, and I 
 am out of the Academy for good. I could al 
 ways feel how it went against your generous and 
 kindly nature to treat me ill, though even at your 
 worst you were never so mean as the others. I sup- 
 
 IC 
 
DISGRACED 
 
 pose it will surprise you to hear that I admired you 
 more than anybody in the world, and that a slight 
 from you was a thousand times more wounding than 
 the abominable personal persecutions of your 
 friends. Now you will learn from this that a poor 
 nigger can be grateful for even a little. I have seen 
 the president myself, as per enclosed cutting from 
 the Star, and have managed to beg you off. Put 
 that to my credit and, for God s sake, don t think I 
 ever meant intentionally to give you away. Your 
 dismissal cost me the bitterest tears of the many I 
 have shed, for you were the only one who ever 
 treated me with a spark of consideration." 
 
 In an official envelope was a curt notification from 
 the navy department, to the effect that the president 
 had been pleased to reinstate Mr. Matthew Brough- 
 ton in the naval academy, and that he was to report 
 to the superintendent at once. 
 
 For many years these letters lay unopened and 
 unclaimed in a dusty pigeon-hole, and were at last 
 destroyed on the occasion of the ship-brokers moving 
 to another office. They went up the chimney in 
 smoke, and with them, in all probability, an honor 
 able and distinguished career. 
 
 IH 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 HPHE moonlight streamed through the palms, out- 
 -* lining on the beach a vivid tracery of fronds and 
 stems. Across the lagoon, softened and mellowed 
 by the stretch of glassy water, came the sound 
 of a mouth-organ, and the rhythmic beat of a 
 wooden drum, as the crew of the North Star raised 
 the chorus of "Good-by, My Feleni." At intervals 
 there was a deeper note, as some mighty comber 
 flung its might against the coral and burst with fury 
 on the seaward reefs. 
 
 In all those lonely seas there is no lonelier island 
 than Lotoalofa. On some Pacific charts it is called 
 the "Four Crowns of Quiros," with a question-mark 
 after it. On others, when it is noticed at all, it fig 
 ures variously as "Melampus Reef, p. d.," "Winslow 
 Shoals, p. d.," or merely "Island, e. d." p. d. sig 
 nifying "position doubtful," and e. d. "existence 
 doubtful." In the fifties its handful of inhabitants 
 was carried away bodily by Peruvian slavers; in 
 later years it attracted the attention of Bully Hayes, 
 who had had the intention, never to be carried out, 
 of making it into a sort of pirate stronghold, and 
 to this day there stands his battery of six small, 
 rusty, iron cannon, commanding the anchorage. 
 
 12 
 
WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 Here, leaning against one of these venerable guns, 
 were two men in close and earnest conversation. 
 One of them was about forty-five, tall and thin, with 
 high cheek-bones, and a narrow, ugly, withered face, 
 whose usual expression was one of sardonic melan 
 choly. But it was not a commonplace face nor a 
 weak one. The pale blue eyes were masterful, the 
 nose pronounced, and the general air distinguished. 
 Whatever else he had been in the past, John Mort, 
 as he called himself, was ineradicably a cavalry offi 
 cer, with an underlying military harshness that on 
 occasions could flame up like a volcano. 
 
 His companion was Matt Broughton, now a man 
 of thirty-one, sobered, hardened, and somewhat 
 worn by eleven years on the outposts of civilization. 
 If his boyish dreams were still unrealized, it had not 
 been for lack of striving. He had thrown himself 
 whole-heartedly into that life of danger, daring and 
 romance, and all he had to show for it were a few 
 scars, a smattering of half a dozen outlandish dia 
 lects, and the memory of some desperate chances, 
 taken and lost. At thirty-one he had achieved noth 
 ing more tangible than a hundred dollars a month 
 and the command of John Mort s schooner and 
 even these he was now abandoning, to begin again 
 with nothing. 
 
 "But, my friend, is there anything you complain 
 of?" Mort was asking, his slight foreign accent 
 more marked than usual as the result of his concern. 
 
 "Oh, no, sir." 
 
 13 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Money? Shall I double your salary treble it? 
 That is simple." 
 
 Matt shook his head. 
 
 "It is here," he said, laying his hand to his heart. 
 "I don t know what s the matter with me; but I m 
 tired of it all; homesick, perhaps, dissatisfied, de 
 pressed." 
 
 "And you are determined to leave me ?" 
 
 "Do not reproach me, sir. I told you this before 
 my last trip, not wishing to take you unawares." 
 
 "I m sorry," said John Mort with emotion. 
 "Sorry for myself at losing one I like and admire, 
 who for six years has always been so faithful, so 
 loyal. Sorry, too, for you, my friend, that you 
 should choose to go back among strangers back 
 to that accursed civilization where none fares so well 
 as the greedy and unprincipled where, like a lot 
 of worms in a pot, all are struggling to save them 
 selves on the bodies of those below. What will they 
 do with you? Put a collar on your neck, harness 
 you to the shafts, and lash you till you drop. So, is 
 it that you prefer? So, is it that for which you will 
 surrender this?" Mort raised his hand to the tropic 
 moon. "What a choice!" he murmured. "What 
 a choice !" 
 
 "It is an impulse stronger than I am," returned 
 Matt after a silence. "After all, I am a white man, 
 and those are my people. Have you never felt that 
 sudden longing to get back that overpowering, ir 
 resistible, unreasoning longing ?" 
 
WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 "No," retorted John Mort savagely. "No, no, 
 no ! To me it is a hell I have left for ever." 
 
 "I wonder at myself," said Matt. "There is not 
 a soul in the world I respect more, admire more 
 yes, love than I do you. Yet I am going." 
 
 John Mort s eyes glistened, and he put ont his 
 hand, which the other grasped. 
 
 "Well, so be it," he said. 
 
 "Then, may I sail to-night with land-breeze?" 
 
 "Yes, you may sail." 
 
 "And my accounts, my vouchers, and all that? 
 You ought to pass them, sir, as well as arrange about 
 the North Star s return. Pardon my insistence, but 
 you have put it off and off " 
 
 "What amount have you in the ship s safe?" 
 
 "Nearly eight hundred pounds, sir, in French, 
 English and American gold, besides the chest of 
 Chile silver." 
 
 "My friend, it is yours, and the schooner also, it 
 is yours. It is small enough return for such loyal 
 service ah, indeed, much too small, and I will in 
 crease it with this " As he spoke he drew from 
 his finger a superb ruby ring, and forced it on Matt, 
 whose stammering words of thanks were cut bruskly 
 short. 
 
 "There s another matter much more pressing," he 
 exclaimed, "a pledge to be given, and by you sa 
 credly kept and " 
 
 "But, sir, how will you manage without a vessel ?" 
 expostulated Matt, altogether bewildered. "You can 
 
 15 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 not allow yourself to be marooned here utterly cut 
 off from all" 
 
 "Oh, I fear not that. We are self-sustaining now, 
 and besides, in a couple of years I look forward con 
 fidently for your return. Isolation has no terrors for 
 me rather a charm, a picturesqueness, and a 
 greater sense of security." 
 
 John Mort paused on the last word, peering 
 strangely at his companion. 
 
 "Do you realize, Broughton," he continued at last, 
 "that during our six years close association, in 
 timacy, you have never asked me a question; 
 that you have never betrayed the least inquisitive- 
 ness ; that you have seen me draw forth whole pack 
 ets of Bank of England notes, often thousands and 
 thousands of pounds and never once have you dis 
 turbed me by even a look?" 
 
 "Your private affairs were none of my business, 
 sir." 
 
 "True but you must have wondered?" 
 
 "Oh, yes." 
 
 "And speculated, conjectured, racked your head 
 at a life so peculiar and mysterious?" 
 
 "It has puzzled me, I admit, but I have always 
 made it a point of honor to keep my curiosity to my 
 self." 
 
 "And even now, when you are going away, per 
 haps for ever, with the riddle still unsolved, are you 
 not tempted to ask?" 
 
 16 
 
WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 "Well, I suppose it s just this, sir: if you wished 
 me to know you would tell me." 
 
 John Mort mused as though, indeed, he were very 
 near to making a confidant of his companion. The 
 spell of the moon, the beauty and stillness of the 
 tropic night, the faint, mellow throb of the wooden 
 drum timing a barbaric chant far across the water 
 all were conducive to an access of friendship, of 
 affection and trust, that might sweep away the last 
 barriers of reserve. He struck a match on the cor 
 sair s cannon, lit a cigarette, and with an appearance 
 of some indecision, took a few whiffs before he 
 spoke. 
 
 "It is enough for you to know that I am a ghost," 
 he said oddly. "Mort means dead, and the fancy 
 pleased me to take it for my name. Before I 
 died I was a person of some importance; of 
 sufficient importance, in fact were my existence 
 here ever to be known for the news of it to shake 
 the world. Broughton, I ask no promises, no oaths ; 
 I simply tell you that my life, my happiness, all that 
 is dearest and most precious to me hang on your 
 discretion. Vaster issues are at stake than you can 
 dream of, and to-day there are hundreds on my 
 track. A chance remark of yours, an unguarded 
 word, the most innocent of confidences and these 
 bloodhounds might seize a clue that would destroy 
 me. Broughton, I rely on you to guard my secret." 
 
 "I shall guard it, sir." 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "And you appreciate, even in this half -told way, 
 its supreme, its vital importance ?" 
 
 "I do, sir." 
 
 "Then, let us go back." 
 
 In silence they walked up the path to the broad 
 veranda of the house the house that had taken 
 three years to build, whose massive walls were tim 
 bered with whole trees a low, red-tiled, Spanish 
 structure, in appearance half fort and half mon 
 astery, with a cloistered court where a fountain 
 played. It had taken the North Star a dozen voy 
 ages to furnish it with a splendor almost incredible, 
 considering the remoteness of the island and how 
 recently its only inhabitants had been crabs and sea- 
 mews. Noble pictures, Venetian carvings and old 
 brocades, Flemish tapestry, exquisite furniture still 
 showing the faded gild of mediaeval Italy nothing, 
 so it seemed to Matt, could vie in taste and luxury, 
 in grandeur delicately modernized, softened and re 
 strained with this coral palace that sheltered Mort 
 in exile. 
 
 But of all the beautiful objects within its walls, 
 none could compare with its mistress, that radiant, 
 girlish Mirovna, who shared John Mort s fortunes, 
 and engrossed his entire heart. As fair as he was 
 dark, with crisp golden hair more red than yellow, 
 with captivating blue eyes, and a mouth all wanton 
 ness and dainty impudence, she could hardly have 
 been more than twenty when Matt first remembered 
 her in Guadalcanaar. Who she was or what she had 
 
 18 
 
WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 been, actress, dancer or exalted! lady, Pole, Rus 
 sian, Albanian or Magyar all was a mystery she 
 shared with her somber husband. Matt knew noth 
 ing save that she was one of the most adorable of 
 women. Her caressing and pretty friendship meant 
 much to him, and he repaid it with the profound 
 regard of a man that had no other woman in his life. 
 Had the need arisen he could have died in her de 
 fense, without the slightest thought of heroism or 
 sacrifice, as men still can do on the frontiers of civ 
 ilization. In point of fact, however, his zeal had 
 been more actively engaged in matching ribbons, 
 buying lingerie, choosing Paquin gowns, and using 
 his own judgment in regard to French bonnets in 
 Sydney not always with the success his anxious 
 efforts deserved. 
 
 "Oh, you poor, darling, silly capitan!" Mirovna 
 would only too often exclaim in her bubbling broken 
 English. "What you get that for ? A monkey ? I 
 think you want play organ while I dance up and 
 down with tin cup!" 
 
 But all that was over now, to melt for ever in the 
 swirl of receding years. He was probably seeing 
 that familiar room for the last time, and those 
 dearer faces of his friends. Matt s heart was very 
 full, and he faltered under Mirovna s questioning 
 gaze. 
 
 "I can not persuade him," said Mort with affected 
 lightness, stooping to kiss his wife s hand, "the 
 captain abandons us." 
 
 19 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 There was no reproach in Mirovna s face, rather 
 concern and regret. 
 
 "We have been fortunate to keep him so long," 
 she said, enveloping Matt in a look of tender scru 
 tiny. "And, oh, for six years, always so good, so 
 loyal, so true-hearted gentleman surely never was 
 another like our capitan." 
 
 Matt ought to have replied, but he could find no 
 words. 
 
 "The world calls him," murmured John Mort. 
 "A desert isle and a pair of hermits after all, who 
 can blame him !" 
 
 "No, not the world," protested Mirovna quickly. 
 "It is love a woman every man must have that. 
 But he will find her, and win her, and bring her back 
 to us and, oh, so happy we shall be, and I shall be 
 sister to her, and the capitan must get her just the 
 same size like me, so she can wear my stockings, and 
 everything I have. He know all my size, that dear 
 capitan, like faithful lover or French maid so he 
 had better take tape when he go courting, and meas 
 ure young lady very careful." 
 
 The laugh that greeted this sally was a little con 
 strained, for already the shadow of parting hung 
 over them all, and each dreaded the farewells that so 
 soon must be said. After more desultory talk, half 
 reminiscent and tremulously gay, Matt rose from his 
 place at Mirovna s feet, and stood there, painfully 
 conscious that the moment had come. Mirovna and 
 John Mort rose also with sad formality. 
 
 20 
 
When once the violin had touched his chin he became a different man 
 

WHO IS JOHN MORT? 
 
 "I have, one favor to ask, before I go," said Matt 
 somewhat huskily, "just one favor. Onae," he went 
 on, addressing Mort by his kanaka title, "will you 
 not get your violin that wonderful violin and 
 you, Masiofu Miriovina, take your seat at the piano 
 so that my last picture of you both may be as I 
 have always loved you best, with your music follow 
 ing me out into the night ?" 
 
 John Mort glowed at the request ; the poetic fancy 
 of it touching him to the quick. He drew the violin 
 from its case, his face transfigured, his eyes scintil 
 lating and impassioned, as he gave a few swift 
 strokes of the bow to test the tuning. 
 
 "Music is the only language the divine lan 
 guage," he exclaimed, "and how far surpassing the 
 stupid commonplace of words! Captain, you are 
 a thousand times right ; and all our affection for you, 
 all our sorrow all our unuttered hopes and prayers 
 for you, will find their voice in what I play." 
 
 When once the violin had touched his chin, John 
 Mort became a different man. He was strangely 
 ennobled ; the glamour of his genius lent dignity and 
 beauty to his gaunt frame ; his thin, haggard, deeply 
 lined face took on a new expression, so rapt, so 
 inspired, that he might have been in communion 
 with another world. That night he played as Matt 
 had never heard him play before, with an intensity, 
 a fire, an unendurable pathos that wrung the soul. 
 He had taken as a motive one of those simple, plain 
 tive German folk-songs, passing from improvisa- 
 
 21 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 tion to improvisation till it seemed the cry of all 
 suffering, doomed humanity. Mirovna, herself a 
 brilliant musician, was quick and apt in following, 
 and to Matt s untrained ear marvelously responsive 
 and marvelously perfect. For a while she strove 
 to keep him in her glance, as though loath to 
 miss his going; but as the violin taxed her 
 with increasing severity she had to forego every 
 thing in the absorption of keeping pace with it, 
 and thus it was that Matt went unseen, unnoticed, 
 his eyes suffused with tears to linger for a moment 
 under the moonlight before he could make up his 
 mind to turn his back for ever. 
 
 An hour later he was aboard the North Star, and 
 the rustling land-breeze was bearing him out of the 
 lagoon on the long slant north. Six years of his 
 life were sinking with the palms, behind him. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 RESCUE AT SEA 
 
 EXTRACT from the San Francisco Chronicle of 
 January 24, 1904: 
 
 RESCUE AT SEA 
 
 Among the passengers yesterday on board the 
 incoming Oceanic S. S. Co. s Mariposa was Captain 
 Broughton and nine South Sea Islanders, of the 
 schooner North Star, capsized in north lat. 34, west 
 long. 132, during a heavy squall. Captain Brough 
 ton was below at the time, and hardly managed to 
 scramble out of his cabin before the ship went over. 
 The disaster is ascribed to the carelessness of the 
 kanaka crew, who were all asleep at the moment the 
 squall struck the vessel, which was lying becalmed 
 with her sails up. 
 
 The crew, none of whom was drowned, con 
 trived to perch themselves on the ship s bottom, and 
 after four days of intense suffering were picked up 
 by the W . H. Hall, of this city, in lumber for Suva, 
 Fiji. The Hall, in her turn, transferred them to the 
 mail steamer, which was fortunately intercepted a 
 week later. 
 
 Captain Broughton can not speak too highly of 
 the extreme kindness of Captain Hayward, Purser 
 
 23 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Smith, and the officers and passengers of the Mari- 
 posa toward himself and his crew. A concert was 
 given in aid of the shipwrecked mariners, and the 
 sum of $318.75 realized on their behalf. 
 
 The North Star was of seventy- four tons register, 
 built at Bath, Maine, in 1884, and carried no in 
 surance. It was learned from Captain Broughton 
 that she had been employed in the coprah trade for 
 many years, and was on her way to this port for 
 dry-docking and repairs. Western bound ship-mas 
 ters are warned to look out for the derelict, which 
 was still afloat when last sighted. 
 
 24 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE RUBY RING 
 
 HTHE loss of the North Star, together with the 
 * coin in the ship s safe, cost Matt between 
 eighteen and twenty thousand dollars. The vessel 
 had not been insured, owing to the troublesome and 
 prying questions that would have been asked, 
 which, if truthfully answered, would have inval 
 idated the policy. Had it not been for the ruby ring 
 on his finger, and his portion of the small sum raised 
 by the passengers of the Mariposa, he would have 
 landed in San Francisco utterly penniless. As it 
 was, his crew and he became dependent on a sea 
 men s charitable institution. While others had 
 talked and telephoned, and promised vague assist 
 ance, leaving the poor castaways shivering on the 
 wharf in a circle of newspaper men and photog 
 raphers, it was the Reverend John Thompson, crisply 
 English and bustlingly practical, who descended 
 on them, checked off their names in a note-book, and 
 led them away like so many sheep. 
 
 After a night under this kindly but somewhat 
 austere roof, Matt sneaked away in the morning to 
 try to pawn his ring. Me hated to part with it, yet 
 what else was he to do ? He had not even an over 
 coat, and here it was January and piercingly cold ; 
 
 25 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 he had nothing not a tooth-brush, not a spare shirt. 
 His preoccupation, however, was more to avoid be 
 ing cheated in the disposal of the ring, for though 
 he had little knowledge of jewels, the stone seemed 
 to him of unusual fire and purity, and evidently very 
 valuable. 
 
 He determined to pick out the biggest and most 
 fashionable jewelry store, and, explaining his posi 
 tion, ask the favor of their expert advice. They 
 might be obliging enough to tell him what the gem 
 was worth, and thus help him materially. Matt 
 knew San Francisco well, and accordingly chose 
 Snood and Hargreaves for his objective. His en 
 trance, which he attempted to make as inconspicuous 
 as possible, caused an undercurrent of commotion in 
 this splendid establishment. As he paused at a case 
 of napkin rings, nerving himself for a further ad 
 vance into the glittering stronghold, he was bumped 
 into by a passing gentleman, and as he was receiv 
 ing the apologies of the passing gentleman a hand 
 from behind felt for a possible revolver or bomb in 
 his rear pocket. It was all so quickly and coolly 
 done that Matt had hardly time to realize he was 
 under suspicion. A large mirror gave him the clue, 
 for there, at full length, he saw what a deeply- 
 tanned, wild-haired, ragged desperado he appeared ; 
 and saw also, with the tail of his eye, a scurry of 
 pale employees to guard the exits and block his es 
 cape. 
 
 Flushing to the eyes, more with shame than anger, 
 26 
 
THE RUBY RING 
 
 and still closely followed by the store detective, he 
 made his way to the nearest clerk. 
 
 "I am Captain Broughton, of the shipwrecked 
 schooner North Star," he explained. "All I had 
 went down with my ship, except this ring, and I 
 should be glad to get some idea of its value so that 
 the pawnbrokers can t cheat me." 
 
 "It s hardly in our line," snapped the clerk. "Ex 
 pert valuation is a business in itself, and " 
 
 The conversation was interrupted by a bald, old 
 ish man, who, with an air of authority, demanded to 
 know what was the matter. On its being explained, 
 he took up the ring, looked at it with some surprise, 
 and asked Matt if he belonged to the people that had 
 been rescued at sea by the mail steamer. 
 
 "Yes," said Matt smiling, "and though appear 
 ances are against me, I am neither one of the James 
 brothers nor a bandit." 
 
 The man thawed at this, and requested Matt to 
 step into his private office. 
 
 "I am Mr. Snood," he said, "the managing part 
 ner of this concern." As soon as they were inside 
 the office and seated, Mr. Snood examined the ring 
 carefully. 
 
 "Where did you get this?" he asked suddenly, 
 raising his keen eyes to Matt s face. 
 
 "It was given to me." 
 
 "Permit me to inquire by whom?" 
 
 "My employer the gentleman whose ship I lost." 
 
 "Why did he give it to you?" 
 27 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "I was leaving his service. I had been associated 
 with him for years. He held me in very great 
 esteem and made me a present of the ring on my de 
 parture." 
 
 "He s a very rich man this employer?" 
 
 "Oh, yes very rich indeed." 
 
 "Then you have no reason to doubt that this ring 
 was er legitimately acquired ?" 
 
 "No one who knew him could ever doubt that. 
 Why, it would be utterly incredible." 
 
 "You must pardon me for asking these ques 
 tions," went on Mr. Snood in a kinder tone. "It s 
 a good plan to be careful, you know. After all, it is 
 to your own interest as well as ours, isn t it ?" 
 
 "Quite so/ assented Matt, hoping that Mr. Snood 
 would soon come to the point. 
 
 "I ll tell you what I ll do," said the latter, hesi 
 tating, and examining the ring again with evident 
 admiration. "Mind, I m not saying you mightn t get 
 a better offer elsewhere, but this is the best Snood 
 and Hargreaves can do for you. We ll advance you 
 four thousand dollars on it at seven per cent, inter 
 est, and we ll engage to buy it outright, now or 
 later, for fifty-five hundred dollars." 
 
 This was so much more than Matt had ever 
 dreamed of, that he could only gasp. Fifty-five hun 
 dred dollars! He had thought vaguely of a couple 
 of thousand, trembling at his own presumption. 
 Fifty- five hundred dollars! Why, that was a for 
 tune ! Not that he wished to sell the ring except in 
 
 28 
 
THE RUBY RING 
 
 the last extremity; nor, as he bewilderingly con 
 sidered the proposal, did he care to take so large an 
 advance as four thousand. The interest charges 
 would soon grow beyond his powers to meet them, 
 and the ring would be irretrievably lost. Explain 
 ing his perplexities to Mr. Snood, it was finally 
 agreed that he was to be advanced a thousand dol 
 lars only, with the privilege of selling the ring at any 
 time he wished for the larger sum. 
 
 A little later he left the store with fifty twenty- 
 dollar gold pieces weighing down his pockets, and 
 the following memorandum pinned carefully in 
 side his waistcoat : 
 
 "SAN FRANCISCO, January 24, 1904. 
 "Messrs. Snood & Hargreaves hereby acknowl 
 edge the receipt of a solitaire ruby ring, of an an 
 tique, Oriental setting, from its owner, Captain 
 Matthew Broughton, who, in consideration of one 
 thousand ($1,000) dollars, advanced to him to-day 
 by Messrs. S. & H. on security of said ring, and 
 receipt by Captain Broughton hereby acknowledged, 
 agrees to pay S. & H. seven per cent, interest, semi- 
 annually on said loan. 
 
 "GEORGE H. SNOOD, 
 
 For Snood & Hargreaves. 
 "MATTHEW BROUGHTON." 
 
 Matt returned to the windy street in far better 
 spirits than he had left it. He had a thousand dol 
 lars in his pockets ; four thousand five hundred more 
 to draw on if need be ; and best of all he could now 
 "go home." It was a strange instinct that called him 
 
 29 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 back to Manaswan, for there was not a single tie that 
 bound him to the place unless it were his mother s 
 grave. But after years of wandering, of contented 
 exile, of acquiescence in the life he had made for 
 himself, something within him had at last revolted. 
 Homesick, heartsick, weary of palms and reefs and 
 naked savages, Manaswan appeared to him as the 
 solution of this subtle malady of the soul. At Man 
 aswan a miracle would happen, and he would be 
 happy. The first use he made of his money was 
 to buy his ticket. 
 
 He gave the clergyman five hundred dollars to as 
 sure the safe return of the natives to their various 
 islands; and that afternoon the honest, devoted fel 
 lows, in charge of nine-year-old Master Thompson, 
 accompanied him across the bay to cheer his de 
 parture on the Overland. Standing there in a line of 
 nine, marshalled by that little white boy, they pre 
 sented a singular spectacle on the platform, what 
 with the earrings in their ears, two with tattooed 
 faces, and all weeping copiously. Nor was the effect 
 diminished by their singing a resounding hymn, and 
 then listening, with bowed heads, to the prayer 
 Tanielu, the Tongan, offered up amid the jostle of 
 trunks and passengers. Matt s own eyes were dim as 
 the train moved away, and there was a very real 
 lump in his throat. Why was he going to Manaswan 
 while everything he valued lay behind him? Why 
 was he leaving tried and true friends for strangers? 
 An island fairyland for a prim little Connecticut 
 
 30 
 
THE RUBY RING 
 
 town? Yet his resolution did not waver, and he 
 was inspirited by the thought that in five days he 
 would be "home." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE KANAKA KING 
 
 A /T ATT was less disillusioned by his birthplace 
 "A than might have been expected. The snowy 
 landscape, the sluggish river with its frozen shal 
 lows, the icicled and silent pines, the delight of hear 
 ing sleigh-bells and watching the bright animation 
 of scenes so long unfamiliar all were satisfying to 
 the craving that possessed him. On the human side, 
 however, Manaswan was disappointing; no one 
 seemed to care particularly whether he had come 
 back or not; the most cordial greeting he received 
 came from an old gentleman who mistook him for 
 some one else. In fact, Matt remembered Manas- 
 wan a great deal better than Manaswan remembered 
 him; and when he wrote to Washington and 
 learned that both his uncle and aunt had long been 
 dead, he felt lonelier than ever. 
 
 Matt took up his quarters in Mrs. Sattane s board 
 ing-house on Jefferson Avenue, and fell into an aim 
 less, drifting sort of life, in which the dinner-bell 
 was the most important part of the day. He took 
 long tramps, assiduously read the daily paper, in 
 terested himself in the other boarders, and vaguely 
 turned over schemes for his future. With forty-five 
 hundred dollars he could surely make some kind of 
 
 32 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 start somewhere. But what precise form of "start" 
 and what "somewhere" ? Matt put civilization in 
 review, and was both dismayed and attracted. 
 The Islands had no very great prizes, nor any great 
 downfalls, but here was a country with the evidences 
 of both on every hand. He had been so long away 
 from it that it was almost as novel to him as it might 
 be to a kanaka. It struck him as terribly ruthless, 
 yet very agreeable for those on top. It was his 
 business to crowd in somewhere with his forty-five 
 hundred dollars and shove his way forward ; every 
 body in civilization was shoving determinedly ; Matt 
 watched the battle from the security of Mrs. Sat- 
 tane s boarding-house, and tried to nerve himself 
 for his own entrance into the fight. 
 
 Meanwhile he smoked his pipe and made friends 
 with the other boarders. The principal of these was 
 Hunter Hoyt, a genial, fat old scamp of fifty, never 
 altogether sober, though varyingly drunk, who, in 
 his palmy days, had been a sensational journalist of 
 some celebrity in the newspaper world of New York 
 and San Francisco. Drink had been his ruin, and 
 he had declined to do reporter work for the local 
 Manaswan paper, the Banner. Shabby, jolly, and 
 always with a flower in his buttonhole, and a pleas 
 ant (if often inarticulate) word for everybody, 
 Hoyt was one of those irresistible nuisances who are 
 popular when better men are not. He never paid 
 Mrs. Sattane more than half his bill; his engage 
 ment with the Banner was almost in the nature of 
 
 33 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 alms to fallen greatness; the liquor dealers allowed 
 him to fine them an incalculable number of bottles 
 of whisky; even the flower he was so particular 
 about was never paid for, except by an amiable 
 condescension that Signor Tony Frendo perforce 
 accepted in lieu of cash. There was everywhere a 
 contemptuous affection for the old scallawag, whose 
 courtly ways and husky compliments made him an 
 especial favorite of the women. 
 
 Hunter Hoyt took an instant fancy to Matt, and 
 in many ways, some of them pathetic enough, sought 
 to win his regard. It was a proof of how lonely 
 Matt was that he received these whiskified advances 
 not without gratitude, and grew to look forward to 
 that nightly talk in, the ex-great man s sanctum. 
 This was a small, threadbare room, walled about 
 with dozens of photographs, most of them signed 
 with illustrious names actresses, divas, statesmen, 
 men of science, poets and what not who bore wit 
 ness to Hoyt s bygone glory. A ratty old Navajo 
 blanket was supposed to transform the bed into a 
 "divan"; similar artifices concealed, though mea- 
 gerly, the domestic nature of the chamber; when it 
 was filled with tobacco smoke, and the penetrating 
 reek of bad spirits, no spot ever more deserved the 
 appellation of "den" Hunter Hoyt s invariable 
 term for it with an accompanying air that implied 
 a whole suite, of which this was the cherished corner. 
 
 In spite of his decadence there were often times 
 \vhen he could be both clever and entertaining ; when 
 
 34 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 with the right level of whisky in his sodden old car 
 cass he could regain his former powers, and astonish 
 one with his mocking, humorous, brilliant flow of 
 talk. It was then that contempt changed to admira 
 tion; and intimacy followed. Except in regard to 
 John Mort, Matt kept nothing back from the old 
 fellow, who was insatiable in his questions and as 
 fascinated by the younger man s past as any boy. 
 
 Matt had no conception of what a picturesque 
 figure he was to those watery, bleared old eyes, nor 
 how sincerely Hunter Hoyt adored him. As for his 
 own looks, he had long ceased to give them much 
 thought; at thirty-one most men have outgrown 
 that; he was scarcely aware that his fine, sensitive 
 face was recovering the color it had lost in the trop 
 ics, or that his vigorous frame and broad shoulders 
 and wavy, clustering black hair were likely to attract 
 favorable attention. The key to his whole character, 
 and the underlying cause of his charming manners, 
 could be found in the modest estimate he had of 
 himself. The principal endeavor of the naval acad 
 emy is to teach the midshipman he is a person of 
 very small importance ; who is to do what he is told, 
 keep his mouth shut, and respect the flag and Matt 
 had not wholly outlived this youthful training which 
 had been put in his bones to stay. 
 
 In contrast to Hunter Hoyt, the rest of Mrs. Sat- 
 tane s boarders seemed commonplace indeed. Mrs. 
 Sattane herself was a careworn, middle-aged 
 woman, with a quelling smile and a tendency to 
 
 35 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 moan over the horrors in the daily paper. She 
 would pass over columns of political and general 
 news to pounce, with tremulous zest, on some ob 
 scure paragraph headed: "Laborer Boiled Alive in 
 Soap Vat," or "Girl Candy Maker Loses Entire 
 Scalp," or "Night Riders Whip Fainting Woman." 
 
 Mr. Price and Mr. Goldstein, two grinning young 
 clerks who shared a room together, nicknamed her 
 "Moaning Mary," and found a never-failing enter 
 tainment at the breakfast-table in inventing lurid 
 items of this character and reciting imaginary head 
 lines aloud. They considered themselves amply re 
 warded afterward at supper as "Moaning Mary" 
 would peevishly remark: "I couldn t find that piece 
 about the horrible railroad accident." 
 
 "Why, that s funny, Mrs. Sattane, it was there all 
 right." 
 
 "Sure it was there," Goldstein would confirm, 
 giggling. "Think of the poor little mites all squashed 
 up like custard." 
 
 "The locomotive plunged through sixty of them, 
 and they had to pick little arms and legs off the cow 
 catcher," Mr. Price might add, making half the com 
 pany his confederates with a wink. "The headlight 
 was all splashed with blood and curls; wasn t it, 
 Goldy?" 
 
 If Mrs. Sattane then emitted that familiar, quav 
 ering moan, the two young men were happy for the 
 rest of the evening. 
 
 Another inmate was a night train-despatcher 
 
 36 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 named Smith, who slept all day under the attic a 
 heavy-shouldered, heavy-lidded, stooping man, who 
 seldom spoke to any one, and always had a private 
 stock of bananas. There was a Miss Gibbs, a dry, 
 thin, weather-beaten female in the sour forties, who 
 drove off every morning in a rattletrap buggy to 
 give music lessons in the farm-houses. A venerable, 
 tottering old gray horse named Buggins furnished 
 the motive power for this daily pursuit of Miss 
 Gibbs bread and butter, and was a great deal more 
 popular with the boarders than Miss Gibbs herself. 
 Buggins, when not busy, lived in an outhouse, 
 though what he lived on was a source of perplexity. 
 Miss Gibbs said that the farmers fed him as part 
 of her arrangement with their daughters, which, 
 even if true, left Buggins somewhat in the air on 
 Sundays and holidays. The general impression was 
 that he got nothing but potato peelings and what 
 nourishment could be extracted from licking plates 
 at the kitchen window. Mrs. Crowther, the under 
 taker s wife, used to give Buggins an occasional 
 lump of sugar, or a bit of bread, earning with this 
 economical outlay the character of a philanthropist 
 and a passionate lover of animals. 
 
 The Crowthers did not live in the house, but ped 
 alled there on bicycles for their meals, usually ar 
 riving late and quarrelsome. Mr. Crowther was a 
 dull, sickly man, with a fluffy, capable little blond 
 wife very much his junior, who had a decisive way 
 of contradicting everything he said. Crowther was 
 
 37 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 comparatively well off, with a large and comfort 
 able apartment above his "parlors" on the main 
 street of Manaswan; but on account of his occupa 
 tion, and the coffins in his window not to dwell 
 on more horrifying things elsewhere he was un 
 able to keep a servant, and the pair was thus forced 
 to become "mealers" at the table of others. It was 
 a matter of constant recrimination between them 
 that Mrs. Crowther would not do her own house 
 work, and the boarders were often induced to take 
 sides in this and other disagreements which the 
 boarders did with the recklessness of fools rushing 
 in where angels should fear to tread. 
 
 The last of the boarders was too humble a crea 
 ture to call himself a boarder at all. Matt lived a 
 week at Mrs. Sattane s before he even discovered 
 the man s existence a grave, elderly mulatto of 
 a kindly, open face and ingratiating manners, who 
 was something in the nature of the boarding-house 
 skeleton. His name was Daggancourt a possible 
 corruption of De Goncourt Victor Daggancourt 
 who, although he paid seven dollars a week, while 
 the others paid only five, had what might be called a 
 furtive position in the house. He would wait unob 
 trusively about the porch until the rest had finished 
 their meal, when a second tinkle of the bell would 
 summon him to the disordered table. Here color 
 prejudice forbade that he should be served by 
 Bridget, who placed the dishes near his plate and 
 left him to shift for himself. The sitting-room was 
 
 38 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 of course forbidden to him, though he might linger 
 for a moment in the doorway, without impropriety, 
 and listen to the superior race. He was the owner 
 of a small garage and machine-shop "Victor s 
 Garage" it was called and was a widower without 
 children. 
 
 Matt first made his acquaintance in Buggins shed, 
 where he happened to find him feeding the old horse 
 oats out of a newspaper. Victor explained, some 
 what apologetically, that he was "tuning up the hay 
 motor," and begged Matt not to mention it to the 
 others. "It might seem like criticizing Miss Gibbs," 
 he said, patting Buggins neck; "she has a pretty 
 hard time to get along, having to wear gloves, and 
 be a lady on half nothing, and go out in all weathers, 
 rain or shine and if Buggins gets kind of lost in 
 the shuffle she oughtn t to be blamed too much." 
 
 In the course of further conversation over a cigar, 
 Matt learned that the mulatto kept a sack of oats in 
 the garage, and was accustomed to bring Buggins a 
 nightly allowance. "J ust a h ttle dope to hearten 
 him up and keep him from tumbling to pieces," said 
 Daggancourt, with his quiet smile. "This is a hard 
 world for a colored man, sir," he went on seriously, 
 warmed by Matt s commendation, " specially if he s 
 better educated than the most of his race, and is 
 given to thinking a little, like I do. The majority of 
 them are no company for me, with their common 
 ways and cheap ideas ; and of course I am personum 
 non grata to white folks. Here I am, stuck middle- 
 
 39 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 wise between the two, and when I m tired of my 
 books and my flute I just come around and talk to 
 Buggins. He don t draw any color-line, Buggins 
 don t, and I guess he d rather see me than the king 
 of England." 
 
 Matt saw more of Daggancourt after that, usually 
 under the benignant aegis of Buggins, and in time 
 conceived a sincere regard for the old fellow, whose 
 lowly, effacing life was not without a certain trag 
 edy. There was a fine strain in the mulatto, 
 and an innate dignity and kindness that com 
 manded respect, not to speak of a whimsical humor 
 that gleamed out even in his most earnest moments. 
 "You re a man," he once said to Matt, "while I have 
 the misfortune to be a Problem. That s a bigger 
 difference between us than color itself. The darky 
 can t go anywhere and do anything, but right off, 
 he s a Problem. When we eat, we re a Problem; 
 when we go to a hospital, we re a Problem ; we can t 
 hop on a train but there again we re a Problem; 
 when we die, we re a Problem, for, Lord save us, 
 black bones mustn t lay next to white ; and I guess it 
 goes right up to the pearly gates with us, Problems 
 still, and the poor cherubim is bothered to know 
 what to do with us !" 
 
 Matt snuggled into Mrs. Sattane s boarding-house 
 as though he intended to live there the rest of his 
 days. He did not seem able to see beyond, or make 
 any plans, but drifted along as purposeless as a 
 cork in a stream, not exactly happy nor exactly un- 
 
 40 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 happy, but somehow spent, and with a sense of wait 
 ing for his energies to revive. It was so cold out 
 side of Mrs. Sattane s, and so sleepily hot inside, 
 and there appeared to be such a multitude of ways of 
 investing four thousand, five hundred dollars, and 
 losing it. 
 
 Nothing could be got from the boarders except 
 warnings. Crowther said that undertaking was 
 " fascinating," but there was "no money in it." 
 Hunter Hoyt said that newspapers ate up promising 
 young men and then spat out the bones. Price and 
 Goldstein, vehement socialists, announced that the 
 day of the small man was over, and predicted an im 
 mediate era of blood, when the "proletariat" were 
 going to rise on the "bourgeoisie." Matt, who did 
 not know what either of the words meant, was de 
 pressed by the information. On appealing to Victor 
 the latter foretold the swift finish of the garage busi 
 ness. "Owners are getting to know too much," he 
 said; "you can t sell a ten-dollar pair of gas lights 
 for sixty, like you did once. If I was you, Marse 
 Broughton, I d try mules. There never has been 
 enough mules, and there never will be !" 
 
 Matt accordingly, though rather slackly, it must 
 be confessed, began to look into mules; he ac 
 cumulated stacks of mule information; he wrote to 
 Washington and got for nothing the concentrated 
 wisdom of a whole mule sub-bureau. The sub-bu 
 reau, like Victor, was enthusiastic for mules, more 
 mules, unlimited mules; and hastened to supply, 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 under a mistaken impression that Matt had already 
 laid his hand to the task, sample blank forms for 
 pedigreeing unborn mules. Then the War Depart 
 ment, getting wind of a mule raiser, applied for 
 mules, specifying with extraordinary exactness the 
 precise weight, height, and age of the mules they re 
 quired, submitting blank forms again for sealed 
 
 bids. 
 
 All this was very encouraging, and was made 
 more so by Victor s request to come in as a partner. 
 He thought he could sell out his garage for fourteen 
 or sixteen hundred dollars, and volunteered to be 
 Matt s man Friday. 
 
 "I won t be any trouble to you/ he pleaded ear 
 nestly. "I know my place, and I ll keep it, no matter 
 how close we have to live; and I ll cook, and wash, 
 and do everything till we re on our feet." 
 
 Matt did not commit himself; it was so much 
 easier to dawdle along and coquette with imaginary 
 mules, and work out imaginary mule profits, than to 
 bestir himself with actualities. Mrs. Sattane s was 
 like a sort of feather-bed to him, and he hated to get 
 up. But the idea of a log cabin, set picturesquely in 
 blue Kentucky hills, was not without a strong at 
 traction. Here, waited on by the faithful Victor, 
 like a person in a play, and surrounded by those 
 valuable animals of which the world could never get 
 enough, he saw a vision of himself, content at last, 
 and with that dull, underlying heartache gone for 
 ever. He had a dream, too, of some decayed, lost 
 
 42 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 southern mansion, the perishing relic of before-the- 
 war greatness, where, one day, stopping on his horse 
 for a drink of water, the slender, lovely daughter of 
 the house would look up into his eyes, and Oh, 
 yes, mules by all means! 
 
 One day, after breakfast, while he was in his 
 room, he was called down to the parlor by the only 
 visitor that had ever sought him. Such an unheard- 
 of event put him in a flutter, and he ran down the 
 stairs two steps at a time, hoping that it was an 
 old South Sea acquaintance, or, better still, one of 
 his boyhood chums at Annapolis. But the grizzled, 
 smiling man who rose to greet him was a stranger, 
 and there was no flare-up of recognition on either 
 side. 
 
 "I m the editor of the Manaswan Banner," said 
 the stranger, introducing himself deferentially. 
 "Tom Maynard, my name is, and a very injured 
 man, Mr. Broughton ! Yes, sir, a very injured man, 
 for surely the local paper had the first call on a local 
 boy? Oh, Lord!" he ejaculated in the same key of 
 pretended indignation, "to think you were hiding 
 here all this time, and I didn t know a thing 
 about it !" 
 
 "I don t understand," said Matt, smiling too. 
 "What s this all about, anyway?" 
 
 "And so you are a real live king," went on Mr. 
 Maynard, ignoring the question, and gazing at him 
 in humorous awe. "What a lot of stick-in-the-muds 
 it makes us feel that one of our boys could go out 
 
 43 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and do that, while we stayed at home with the 
 chores." 
 
 "King?" cried Matt. "I don t know what you re 
 talking about. You re mistaken who said I was a 
 king?" 
 
 "Now, it s no good putting me off like that," said 
 Mr. Maynard. "If it s in the New York Clarion 
 first, it has to be in the Manas wan Banner second. It 
 wouldn t be fair if you didn t give us second place, 
 considering you were born and raised here, and owe 
 that much to the town. I ve got a cracker jack sten 
 ographer waiting in the office, two typists, and the 
 operator s holding the wire for the Associated Press, 
 so get your hat, and come along quick, like a good 
 chap." 
 
 "I wish you would tell me what you re talking 
 about," exclaimed Matt, growing impatient. "Is 
 your office in a lunatic asylum or where?" 
 
 "Then you haven t seen it ?" asked Mr. Maynard, 
 offended and incredulous, searching the younger 
 man s face. 
 
 "Seen what?" 
 
 "The big front page Sunday story of the Clarion 
 the New York Daily Clarion?" 
 
 "Of course I haven t." 
 
 The editor, recovering his good-nature, drew a 
 newspaper from his overcoat pocket, and flattened it 
 out with his hand. 
 
 "There it is," he said. 
 
 The staring scare-heads swam before Matt s eyes. 
 44 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 Good heavens, what was all this? He plumped into 
 a chair, holding the paper as though it were a bomb, 
 and feeling as though he were being pilloried naked 
 before the world. The smaller type was lost in a 
 blur, a sentence only caught here and there, but the 
 most danced before him as unintelligible as Sanskrit 
 
 HAIL TO THE KING! 
 
 ROYAL BROUGHTON RETURNS TO 
 
 CHILDHOOD S HOME 
 
 KING OF THE KANAKAS HERE 
 
 PEARL ISLANDS AND DEEP WATER SHIPS FLY HIS FLAG 
 IN FAR-OFF PACIFIC, WHILE COPPER-HUED SUB 
 JECTS LOUT LOW TO MATTHEW FIRST. 
 ROMANTIC STORY OF MANASWAN BOY SHIPWRECKED 
 IN LABYRINTHINE SEAS, AND HIS AMAZING RISE TO 
 GREATNESS. 
 
 Would Murder Him for His Teeth. Isles where 
 Old Men s Beards Pass as Currency. Palm Wine 
 Jags, with Ten Thousand Savages on the Blink. 
 How the Christian Half of Tapatuea Massacred 
 the Heathen Half. Beachcombers, Pirates and 
 Mysterious Characters. Violinist who Held At 
 tacking Cannibals Spellbound till Wind Saved the 
 Becalmed Vessel. Black Pearls and Goldlipped 
 Shell. Fungus, Beachdamar, Ambergris and 
 Sharks Fins. Vast Lagoons Awaiting Modern 
 Exploitation, but Matthew First Would Leave 
 45 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Them as They Are. His Majesty Only Smiles at 
 Questions, and Remarks Significantly that He is 
 Satisfied. $^00,000 Worth of Pearls in a Match 
 box. Royal Plans Uncertain, but Will Probably 
 Remain Here a Few Months. Say, Girls, Don t 
 Any of You Want to Be a Queen f 
 
 Matt had scarcely reached the end when there was 
 a violent commotion outside horses galloping, men 
 descending excitedly, the porch shaking with the 
 tramp of feet, and pull, pull, pull at the bell as 
 though the house were on fire. A second later a 
 crowd of newspaper men and photographers surged 
 into the room, spattering the carpet with mud and 
 snow; a noisy, jostling throng in heavy overcoats, 
 all demanding "the kanaka king." 
 
 "Me first, gentlemen," cried Maynard, grabbing 
 Matt as though he were a bale of goods. "The 
 king s mine till noon !" 
 
 "The dickens he is!" exclaimed one of the mob, 
 elbowing up to Matt. "We re all in on this, aren t 
 we, boys?" 
 
 "You bet we are," came from a dozen ready 
 throats. 
 
 "Tell them they can all go to blazes," cried May 
 nard, tightening his hold on Matt. "They can t 
 make you be interviewed if you won t." 
 
 "Open out there," shouted a photographer, letting 
 up a blind with a crash. 
 
 "Ask him to stand up, George," cried another. 
 46 
 
THE KANAKA KING 
 
 "Better flash him," added a third, busying him 
 self with a sort of pistol. "Say, let s flash him!" 
 
 "Oh, do open out," wailed number one. 
 
 "Sorry to intrude on you like this, king," said the 
 foremost reporter to Matt, planting a muscular dig 
 in Mr. Maynard s anatomy and pressing him away. 
 "Treat us right and we ll treat you right. Better go 
 ahead and get it over with." 
 
 "Is it true you were expelled from the Naval 
 Academy?" asked a voice. 
 
 "How did you get started in this king business ?" 
 inquired another. 
 
 "He s mine till noon," protested Maynard chok 
 ingly. "Mine till no !" 
 
 "The Times would be grateful for a short, brief, 
 signed description " 
 
 "Do open out there !" bleated the photographer. 
 
 Matt rose, speechless with rage, and, tearing him 
 self clear, strode to the door and up to his bedroom. 
 Here with a bang he locked himself in, the whole 
 pack pounding at his heels like school boys after a 
 runaway. 
 
 "I m not a king," he roared through at them. 
 "There s not a word of truth in that idiotic article. 
 The first fellow that breaks down my door will get 
 his head punched !" 
 
 It was fully half an hour before they descended, 
 disheartened and growling, to bundle into their 
 sleighs and depart. "Three hoots for that damned 
 king!" cried one of them, trying to lead off, but his 
 
 47 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 suggestion met with no response, and the jingling 
 bells drowned his solitary effort. 
 
 A little later there was a shuffling, lumbering 
 sound outside Matt s door, and Hoyt s husky voice 
 came through the keyhole. 
 
 "Shay, ole man, you aren t angry with me, are 
 you? Good joke, dresh it up a bit and git fif dol- 
 larsh! Didn t mean any harm shole and honor, 
 didn t mean any harm. Great newspaper stuff, shat 
 story. Royal Broughton returnsh to childhood s 
 home, and I got fif dollarsh for it. Come along and 
 painsh town red -come along, you old stiff!" 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 THE Manaswan Banner printed the Clarion tale 
 in full, and by that one issue lifted Matt from 
 obscurity to local greatness. People stared at him 
 on the street; children ran backward, pointing at 
 him; tradesmen rained cards; Matt could not enter 
 a store but there was a scurry to wait on him. 
 Denials were useless; the whole boarding-house, 
 loyally pledged to disseminate truth and radiate con 
 tradiction, were forced to avow their failure. Price, 
 Goldstein and Daggancourt were brought into daily 
 contact with half the population, yet the public re 
 fused to be undeceived. The public did not wish 
 to be corrected. The public wanted romance, and 
 clung to it with both hands, like the overgrown 
 baby it is; the public would not permit Matt to be 
 dethroned even by himself. 
 
 Matt s own appearance contributed not a little to 
 the deception. Men who have led adventurous lives 
 on the frontiers of civilization usually get a peculiar 
 stamp a peculiar and marked individuality. Matt 
 was not only good-looking, but there was something 
 unusual, attractive, and even distinguished about 
 him. It was impossible for any one to "place" Matt ; 
 
 49 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 the local Sherlock Holmeses were always baffled ; he 
 fitted into no class, and yet had an "air." This 
 capacity to rouse interest favorable interest is a 
 human possession of great value. It has also, of 
 course, its drawbacks. When the Banner raised 
 Matt to kingship Manaswan was thrilled but not al 
 together surprised. Manaswan had long been aware 
 "that he was somebody out of the way." 
 
 One result of the grotesque fiction was to bring 
 Matt into contact with some of the better families of 
 the place. The Cleghorns, the Randalls, the Russells 
 and the Bucks all in some manner or other con 
 trived to scrape acquaintance with him. These social 
 overtures, made first out of sheer curiosity, and 
 in most instances inspired by the women, opened 
 to Matt a number of pleasant, if somewhat stiff 
 and old-fashioned, households. And he was led, 
 finally, into the extravagance of buying evening 
 clothes and began to cut a modest dash in Mana 
 swan society. 
 
 It wasn t the best society, however. There was an 
 upper crust still, to which the Cleghorns, the Ran 
 dalls, the Russells and the Bucks were as houris 
 outside the gates. In this higher realm were the 
 Marshalls the old general and his daughter who 
 rode thoroughbred horses and lived within a vast 
 park; the Derwents, owners of the shoe factories; 
 the Bells, and others an aristocracy of wealth, and 
 compactly exclusive. The old general had been 
 American minister to half the courts of Europe and 
 
 50 
 
A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 was T jcribed as very "grand." Lament, the mil 
 lionaire wheel-manufacturer, was also very "grand." 
 There were also the "grand" Doolittles and the 
 "grand" Bells. When a houri said "grand," the 
 superlative was reached. 
 
 Matt enjoyed the homespun gaieties to which he 
 was now so often invited the candy-pullings, the 
 parties where they played games, the jolly sleigh- 
 rides and suppers. They offered him a more enliven 
 ing companionship than he found in the boarding- 
 house, which in contrast grew drearier every day, 
 till its fly-specked walls took on the aspect of a 
 morgue. The girlish laughter was sweet to hear ; the 
 general cordiality and good-will very warming 
 though it was all extraordinarily strait-laced in 
 some respects. Dancing was barred; Cromwell s 
 Ironsides could not have been more aggressively 
 pious; nobody smoked, nor, great heavens, drank 
 "liquor!" Yet with this there was a freedom no less 
 extraordinary. Chaperons were unheard of; kissing 
 was brisk and unashamed; the romping games ap 
 peared to Matt often very indecorous. There was 
 an Early-Christian atmosphere over the whole, a 
 simplicity and rural innocence that was as charming 
 as it was trying. Matt, in spite of himself, was al 
 ways shocking somebody; the fact of his not being 
 a church-member was in itself shocking; his path 
 lay over egg-shells, and they were continually crack 
 ing beneath him. There loomed before him a dread 
 ed day, when he should either have to join the Re- 
 
 51 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 formed Methodist Episcopal Church or be cast bod 
 ily from the vineyard. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Clarion story was being carried 
 far and wide. It came back to him from every 
 where, tangibly evident in letters. Every morning 
 there was a substantial mail, which was at once both 
 an exasperation and a delight. Here are a few sam 
 ples taken at random from that daily pile beside his 
 plate : 
 
 "DEAR SIR : 
 
 "Having read of you in the Chicago Record-Her 
 ald, I respectfully desire to bring to your attention 
 our unrivaled line of diving and marine apparatus, 
 which, if you will kindly glance at the accompanying 
 catalogue " 
 
 "Matthew First, 
 
 "HONORED SIR: 
 
 "Am a young man in Boston Express Co., driving 
 delivery wagon, but would like to exchange into your 
 service, salary no object if could be captain of your 
 guard, or similar confidential position. When I 
 opened the Transcript and seen your romantic story 
 I decided to apply right off " 
 
 "DEAR KING : 
 
 "Noticing the account in the New Orleans Pic 
 ayune, and learning you intended to make some stay 
 in this country before returning to your island home, 
 I thought perhaps you might care to buy a 36-foot 
 power-boat, only 3 years old, hardwood finish, nice 
 w. c., 1 6 h. p. Snipkin engine, that I should be glad 
 to sacrifice at a bargain " 
 
 52 
 
A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 "DARLING MATTHEW : 
 
 "I am only a high-school girl, but I loved you the 
 moment I took up the Deseret News and found you 
 was looking for a queen. I m afraid I m not very 
 pretty, but if a loving, faithful heart " 
 
 "Mr. Matthew Broughton, 
 
 "DEAR MR. BROUGHTON : 
 
 "May I take the liberty of asking if you are a 
 Sun Worshipper? Or, if this ideal religion has not 
 been brought to your attention, could you not at least 
 find room on one of your lovely isles for a small 
 colony of S. W s., who desire to discard their clothes 
 and attain that simplicity and beauty of existence 
 they find so difficult, nay, so hopeless, here. We 
 number thirty-two, mostly ladies, and in the hope of 
 a favorable answer, enclose a stamped and addressed 
 envelope. Yours in the R. Z., 
 
 "(Miss) HELEN DORMER. 
 
 "P. S. : We would be very willing to pay a small 
 rent, either in cash or early vegetables, or supply 
 one or two of our number in rotation as nurses, edu 
 cators, etc., to those noble, simple people who have 
 elevated you to their throne. H. D." 
 
 Matt made no reply to any of these epistles. His 
 money was ebbing fast enough as it was frighten- 
 ingly fast and he was in no humor to squander any 
 of it on useless stamps and note paper. The arrival 
 of spring, Daggancourt s lengthening face, the im 
 minence of the Reformed Methodist Episcopal 
 Church all hastened his resolution to leave Manas- 
 wan, and pay a flying visit to Kentucky to spy out 
 
 53 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 the land. The mules were calling, and it was time 
 for dreams to become realities ! Daggancourt would 
 have bought a pair in Manas wan, loaded their joint 
 effects on a wagon, and started off. But Matt was 
 not such a burner of bridges. He would prudently 
 inspect mule-territory and mule-conditions, and then 
 return with well- formulated mule-plans. 
 
 While nerving himself to depart, and putting it off 
 from day to day, on one excuse or another, he wrote 
 to Snood and Hargreaves, the San Francisco jewel 
 ers, saying that he had made up his mind to part with 
 the ring, and requesting them to remit him the four 
 thousand, five hundred dollars by express, deduct 
 ing whatever interest had accrued. It was not with 
 out a pang that he dropped this letter into the box; 
 it marked the knell of those easy-going days at Mrs. 
 Sattane s; it had now to be mules in earnest, with 
 hard work and frugal living, and evening clothes 
 put away perhaps for ever. 
 
 He spun out his farewell calls, dilly-dallied, held 
 back all he could, but at last the inexorable morn 
 ing arrived. Daggancourt was there in an auto 
 mobile; Matt s suit-case, packed to bursting, stood 
 ready on the porch, together with a large brown 
 paper package of the overflow; his pockets bulged 
 with hard-boiled eggs and sandwiches; and never 
 was a man more apparently destined for instant de 
 parture when the telephone bell suddenly rang and 
 Bridget came rushing out to say that Mr. Doty 
 wanted Mr. Broughton on the wire. 
 
 54 
 
A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 At the moment it seemed an intolerable infliction. 
 Mr. Doty was the Reformed Methodist Episcopal 
 clergyman, a mild creature of an anxious cordiality, 
 whose acquaintance with Matt was of the slightest. 
 Matt took up the receiver with the intention of 
 making short work of the reverend gentleman, an 
 intention emphasized by the honk of Victor s horn, 
 imperiously bidding him to hurry. 
 
 "Hello," he said. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Broughton," returned Doty, "this is 
 just to remind you of our church social to-morrow 
 night, tickets twenty-five cents, including hat check, 
 and to say I simply can not take a refusal. Please 
 tell me that you will come." 
 
 "Come!" cried Matt. "Why, I m leaving this 
 minute for Kentucky !" 
 
 "Put it off, then," protested Doty. "I have a 
 special reason a very special reason for wishing 
 you to come. Indeed, I must make my request im 
 perative. Oh, Mr. Broughton, refuse me if you like, 
 but do not say no to one of the sweetest and most 
 gracious of our young patricians." 
 
 "Can t help it," exclaimed Matt curtly. "Sorry 
 to disappoint you, but really " 
 
 "Mayn t I try to persuade you, Mr. Broughton?" 
 said a new voice in his ear a girlish voice with the 
 indescribable cadence of good breeding. "I ve been 
 counting so much on meeting you to-morrow night 
 in fact, I only agreed to come for that reason." 
 
 Matt s own tone softened. 
 
 55 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Do tell me who you are?" he asked. "I oughtn t 
 even to wait for that, but I m too flattered not to." 
 
 "I m Miss Marshall," she replied. "General Mar 
 shall s daughter, you know or, I suppose you don t 
 know, though " 
 
 "Miss Marshall !" cried Matt, dazzled at the name. 
 "I had no idea I was talking to angels unawares. Of 
 course I know you, in a far-off, cat-looking-at-king 
 sort of way. Who doesn t !" 
 
 " I know you better than that," she returned gaily. 
 "Let me count yes, it s five times I ve seen you, 
 and once I was so close to you in the music-store that 
 I might have touched you. I am sorry I didn t now 
 hold out my hand, I mean but it s a world where 
 people are too easily misunderstood, isn t it? And 
 here we are, like ships that pass in the night with 
 you going to Kentucky. Must you really go to Ken 
 tucky, Mr. Broughton?" 
 
 "I m afraid I have to." 
 
 "Does that mean you ve found Manaswan horri 
 bly dull? But of course it does. People only stay 
 here who have to like barnacles on a rock." 
 
 "I don t know I ve liked it well enough," stam 
 mered Matt, "though you make me ashamed to ad 
 mit it. I think I m sorry to leave the old place 
 specially now." 
 
 "To me it seems deadly," continued the girl. "It s 
 the Siberia of America without the excitement of 
 chains or fresh prisoners to brighten us up not a 
 single person of the slightest interest till you ap- 
 
 56 
 
A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 peared. Do you know, Mr. Broughton, you express 
 the only bit of romance that has ever come our 
 way?" 
 
 "Oh, no, no," protested Matt. "All I am is an 
 other kind of barnacle from another kind of rock, 
 and just as commonplace as the rest of them, I m 
 afraid." 
 
 "But even that is so interesting," went on Miss 
 Marshall encouragingly. "A strange, remote bar 
 nacle from the South Pacific dear me, how per 
 fectly delightful ! Besides, they say you are a king 
 out there." 
 
 "Oh, Miss Marshall, I am really glad to go on 
 account of all that rubbish; you can t imagine what 
 a bore it has been, what a detestable mortification. 
 I need hardly tell you it is all newspaper stuff not 
 a word of it that isn t a silly lie." 
 
 Matt stopped, trying to nerve himself for an he 
 roic admission. Somehow it seemed suddenly im 
 portant that he should be honest that he should 
 free himself from any meretricious glamour. 
 
 "The prosaic truth is that I m going to Kentucky 
 to raise mules," he added. 
 
 "Mules?" 
 
 "Yes, mules." 
 
 "But can t you do that here?" 
 
 "Well, you see, the book says " 
 
 "The book?" 
 
 "I don t know anything about them so naturally 
 I bought a book." 
 
 57 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 The merriment of the half -caught reply was 
 rather wounding. 
 
 "Oh, it is not so absurd as it sounds," he said. "I 
 have a sort of partner, too a practical colored 
 man." 
 
 "A practical colored man?" 
 
 "Yes, a kind of Man Friday who has attached 
 himself to me. We are going to pool our money 
 and build a log cabin in the mountains." 
 
 There was a moment s pause at the other end of 
 the telephone, followed by suppressed laughter. 
 
 "That settles it, Mr. Broughton, you simply must 
 come," exclaimed the young lady. "Please tell me 
 that you will." 
 
 Matt listened eagerly as she laughed again, and 
 then struck his flag. The sound of his voice startled 
 him with its earnestness. 
 
 "Certainly, if you wish it," he said. "It s too 
 charming an invitation from too charming a person 
 for me to refuse." 
 
 Apparently Miss Marshall was a little taken 
 aback; there seemed a shade less cordiality in her 
 tone as she replied, "Oh, if you would much rather 
 not, you know if it s inconvenient or anything 
 please don t let me put you out." 
 
 "Oh, but I d love to come really and truly I 
 would." 
 
 With an even more ambiguous, "Oh, thanks; 
 then we will expect you, good-by " the phone was 
 closed. 
 
A VOICE AT THE TELEPHONE 
 
 Poor Daggancourt was terribly cast down at the 
 news and expostulated tremblingly, with tears in 
 his eyes. He was so humble, so quaveringly re 
 strained, that his reproaches were harder to bear 
 than if they had been more outspoken. Mrs. Sat- 
 tane and the others were merely surprised very 
 much surprised, indeed and listened with the 
 greediest of ears and the most evident incredulity 
 to the tale of a forgotten promise to Mr. Doty. 
 Hunter Hoyt, buzzing about tipsily, was very 
 pleased to think they were going to keep their dear 
 old boys after all, and made what to Matt was a 
 very opportune diversion by falling off the porch. 
 
 In the confusion attending his rescue, and the sub 
 sequent examination of some highly-prized shrubs 
 by Mrs. Sattane, and of a highly-prized leg by the 
 journalist, Matt managed to slip away without a re 
 mark, and take the river road to the pines. An un 
 reasoning elation possessed him ; he was eager to be 
 alone with himself and dream, for had not a lovely 
 queen stooped to notice him, and thrown him a 
 flower ? 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 IV T EVER was a Saturday night more slow of ar- 
 * ^ rival, yet when at last Matt stood at the en 
 trance of the church, and heard the babel of voices 
 within, he was stricken with a sort of terror. He 
 entered guiltily, and once inside had a fresh spasm 
 of dismay to find he was apparently the only man 
 there in evening dress. The place was crowded and 
 hot and noisy and disconcerting; committeemen 
 with rosettes grabbed his hand and welcomed him 
 as "brother" ; excited young ladies surrounded him, 
 holding up objects for sale, and overwhelming him 
 with saucy pleasantries; little girls, with immense 
 bows in their hair, tried to drag him toward the 
 booths, of which there was a row on either side of 
 the church, forming a sort of street or promenade 
 between. 
 
 There was the comic Irish policeman, embarrass 
 ing everybody (as well as himself) by arresting them, 
 and a comic judge, in false whiskers, before whom 
 culprits were brought. Mr. Price, in pink tights, was 
 exhibiting Mr. Goldstein as a performing bear, who 
 emitted ferocious growls in a Jewish accent ; spoons 
 clattered on emptying saucers; children, already 
 
 60 
 
CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 speechless with ice-cream, were forcing doughnuts, 
 pies and sugared waffles into bursting little bread 
 baskets. Over all, here, there and everywhere, was 
 Mr. Doty, feverishly cordial, perspiringly gay, gim- 
 leting his way through the crush to make sure that 
 every one was having "a good time." 
 
 It was all very kindly and simple and good-na 
 tured and genuine, and had it not been for a devour 
 ing suspense, and a restlessness that kept Matt ever 
 on the alert, he would have entered into the affair 
 with his usual amiability. But at the moment it was 
 maddening. He had to laugh and chatter; to eat 
 things he didn t want to eat; to buy things he 
 didn t want to buy; to be hilarious when arrested 
 by the comic policeman infliction after infliction to 
 one whose heart was in a tumult, and whose eyes 
 were ever on the watch. 
 
 But here-there-and-everywhere Mr. Doty was 
 more to be trusted than Matt had thought ; of a sud 
 den he came bustling up like a rushing little tug, tow 
 ing two statelier ships. Bewildering introductions 
 ensued; Matt found himself shaking hands with an 
 imposing gentleman with a white mustache; shak 
 ing hands with a young lady in blue foulard, whose 
 dark, soft glance lingered curiously on his own. 
 Matt hardly knew whether she was pretty or not 
 or at least very pretty. His first impression was 
 more of graciousness, youth and breeding ; of rather 
 an impudent little mouth, parting continually on 
 perfect teeth; of delicately penciled eyebrows, a 
 
 61 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 nose slightly aquiline, and an abundance of glossy 
 hair, which under the lamplight appeared darker 
 than it really was. 
 
 "I ve met a considerable number of kings in my 
 time," said the general genially, "but always glad 
 to add another to the list, you know. It s rather a re 
 proach to us, I m afraid, that we let the papers dis 
 cover you first." 
 
 "Oh, those papers !" exclaimed Matt. "But really, 
 General, what is one to do? I might as well run 
 after an express train as try to deny all that rub 
 bish." 
 
 "Nobody is safe in this country," agreed the gen 
 eral with great good-humor. "You can go to bed at 
 night an honored citizen, and wake up in the morn 
 ing an alliterative outcast Merciless Marshall 
 Murders Maid, or something equally surprising and 
 unpleasant." 
 
 "It s the smudgy pictures I hate most," put in 
 Miss Marshall. "I ve had mine stuck all round with 
 little cupids shooting arrows into an unfortunate 
 foreign nobleman." 
 
 "We ve all been there," said the general. "When 
 the up-to-date American stops a runaway or saves 
 a drowning lady he invariably gives a false name 
 and address and then scoots out of sight. The mod 
 ern boy on the burning deck would never have ad 
 mitted to the reporters that he was Casabianca. 
 He d have called himself Smith probably and in 
 sisted there wasn t any fire !" 
 
 62 
 
CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 The general, still laughing at his own sally, was 
 greeted and diverted by a passing acquaintance, af 
 fording Matt the opportunity of asking Miss Mar 
 shall if she would not like to make the round of the 
 booths with him. Her face showed her pleasure at 
 the proposal, and in her answering look, so arch and 
 eager, Matt seemed to read something that made 
 him dizzy. She was more than pretty, she was ex 
 quisite, and the sudden realization of her beauty was 
 not without a dart of pain. They moved about, talk 
 ing or rather trying to talk, for the noise and jostle 
 caused constant interruptions talking, and hoping 
 for chairs, and eluding the general like a pair of 
 truants, all the while looking into each other s eyes 
 and laughing. But there were no chairs ; there was 
 not an empty spot in the whole church, except in the 
 pulpit, and that was set inaccessibly in mid-air, like 
 a wooden lily, on a long, twisted stem. Matt gazed 
 at it, much as a castaway sailor might gaze at an 
 airship an unmanned airship, drifting high above 
 his head. But as he gazed his resolution grew, and 
 he announced it recklessly. 
 
 "But they ll all see us!" cried Miss Marshall 
 aghast. 
 
 "Only the tops of our heads, and they won t rec 
 ognize us," said Matt. 
 
 "And Mr. Doty will be scandalized everybody 
 will." 
 
 "Oh, nonsense," said Matt. "It s the dickens to 
 stand up here, with people digging into you and pes- 
 
 63 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 tering you to buy beadwork pin-cushions when you d 
 give everything in the world for a cozy talk." 
 
 "A cozy talk would be nice, wouldn t it ? Though 
 it would take an elephant to get through all " 
 
 "Come along, I ll be the elephant." 
 
 The pulpit was reached by a spiral stair or rather 
 could be reached by pressing apart a stout lady gab 
 bling to another stout lady, sweeping through five 
 gauzy little girls, and disturbing a mounting tier of 
 sweethearts, two to a step. Had Matt not been in 
 evening dress he would never have succeeded in 
 dislodging these lovers, but his swallowtail was an 
 awe-inspiring garb and bore with it a mysterious au 
 thority. Moreover, with quick presence of mind that 
 convulsed his companion, Matt announced that he 
 was going to give a recitation, which allayed resent 
 ment and filled every one with delighted anticipa 
 tion. The blockade was broken, and Matt had the 
 supreme satisfaction of leading Miss Marshall into 
 the pulpit. He would have put her on the chair- 
 there was a chair but she preferred the hassock, 
 insisting at the same time that he should sit on the 
 floor. Here they cowered out of view, trying to 
 restrain their laughter. 
 
 "Now tell me about those five times," said Matt. 
 
 "What five times?" inquired Miss Marshall, pro- 
 vokingly insincere, and with that pretty parting of 
 her lips. 
 
 "Oh, you know what you said over the phone." 
 
 "I d rather hear about your first time." 
 
Now tell me about those iive times " 
 
CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 That s easy. I came here expecting to find you 
 adorable and you are." 
 
 "Men say things like that just as little boys shout 
 Get a horse, get a horse! when you re stuck in a 
 motor." 
 
 "But you really and truly are, and " 
 
 "And what?" 
 
 "In all seriousness, I m almost sorry I came." 
 
 "Oh, dear ! Why ? Isn t the great, splendid, swag 
 gering king happy in his little pulpit ?" 
 
 It became Matt to look grave became his strong 
 features and well-cut mouth. 
 
 "I might like you too well," he said simply. 
 
 "Would that be so dreadful?" 
 
 "I m afraid of life afraid of deep emotions." 
 
 "But you ve got over them before?" 
 
 "Not without scars." 
 
 "Isn t that what life is, Mr. Broughton?" 
 
 "Getting hurt and getting mended ?" 
 
 "No looking for that other half of one." 
 
 "Have you looked ?" 
 
 Miss Marshall nodded with an air of great seri 
 ousness. "I found him, only he was the wrong half 
 somebody else s half, you know anyway, not 
 mine. You mustn t think me altogether jeune file. 
 I am nearly twenty-three, and have broken an en 
 gagement." 
 
 "I suppose it would be horribly presumptuous to 
 ask if I have any of the other half qualities?" 
 
 "Oh, you want to make sure of a doughnut be- 
 
 65 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 fore trading in your cooky. My other half could 
 never be so cautious." 
 
 "But you do like me, don t you? You would 
 scarcely have telephoned to me like that if you 
 hadn t." 
 
 "That s true; it was perfectly crazy of me, and 
 almost entitles you to think everything." 
 
 "Everything? What s everything?" 
 
 "That I meant more than I did." 
 
 "What exactly did you mean?" 
 
 "Oh, how you pin me down ! It s so impossible to 
 tell you. You never could understand." 
 
 "Why not? I m not so conceited as that. I am 
 quite capable of understanding that a woman might 
 like me three cents worth, but not a dollar." 
 
 "It s that very literalness that makes it so impos 
 sible. Men oh, how can I express it men see 
 everything so clearly can express everything in 
 different kinds of symbols, and chart them in their 
 mind, like a barometer record or immigration statis- . 
 tics. We are hazier more, more un formulated 
 all instinct with a tingle where you have a fact." 
 
 "That s awfully clever go on." 
 
 "Is it clever? you see, we re even clever in the 
 same haphazard sort of way, and hardly know it 
 when we are! You came and I saw you, and 
 didn t think anything much about it except that you 
 stayed in my head. Stayed and stayed, you know 
 not right out in front, but in a corner, like a hat- 
 box your maid has forgotten to take away. And 
 
 66 
 
CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 every time I saw you the hat-box grew bigger and 
 more worrying, till finally " She broke off with a 
 smile, adding lightly : "Oh, well, there s your dough 
 nut, and now, please, I want my cooky." 
 
 "It s a darling little doughnut," said Matt, "and 
 instead of eating it, I m going to put it away in silver 
 paper and keep it just to look at. And as for cookies 
 all I know is that the sweetest voice in the world 
 said : Come to the church social to-morrow night 
 and I came to the church social to-morrow night, 
 where I found the sweetest voice in the world be 
 longed to the sweetest girl in the world, and then 
 everything seemed to go round and round till the 
 sweetest girl in the world, who is also the cleverest 
 girl in the world, suddenly became the only girl in 
 the world, and and " 
 
 "Yes, you d better stop there," said Miss Mar 
 shall. "That isn t frankness, that s conventionality. 
 A second later you ll be saying, Love me and the 
 world is mine. 
 
 "Would that be so awfully silly?" asked Matt. 
 
 "Not only silly, but bromidian." 
 
 "Bromidian? What s bromidian?" 
 
 "Repeating commonplaces, like a parrot." 
 
 "Mayn t anybody say I like you without being 
 called a parrot or that bro-name ?" 
 
 "In good society Mr. Anybody never says that to 
 Miss Somebody after an acquaintance so very, very 
 brief as ours." 
 
 "No short cuts allowed, is that the idea?" 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What s the most I could be permitted to say, 
 then? worrying? You said worrying, yourself." 
 
 "It isn t quite fair to steal my word." 
 
 "How clever one has to be to like you. One 
 mustn t say this; one mustn t say that; it s like a 
 complicated game, and terribly beyond a poor sailor 
 like myself. You must forgive me for being blun 
 dering and stupid. I hardly know anything about 
 young white ladies." 
 
 Miss Marshall laughed outright at being thus de 
 scribed. "I never thought of myself as a young 
 white lady," she said, much entertained. "It sounds 
 as funny to me as though you called me a young 
 pink lady, or a young blue lady. Oh, dear," she 
 went on softly, "I don t want to be too hard on my 
 poor sailor, who s awfully nice and winning, even if 
 he is stupid, and doesn t know the right word. 
 Let s just admit that I like you and that you like me 
 and that perhaps in some queer way it was all in 
 evitable." 
 
 This unexpected admission made Matt s heart 
 leap; again there was that dart of pain, that sense of 
 overwhelming and somehow elusive happiness. The 
 fragrance of that enchanting young womanhood was 
 in his brain; the rounded contours, the swell of the 
 girlish bosom, even the small foot with its peep of 
 stocking all intoxicated him with the magic and 
 ecstasy of sex. For a while he remained silent, as 
 though under a spell he was loath to break. "I don t 
 
 68 
 
CHRISTINE MARSHALL 
 
 believe I can laugh any more," he said at last, look 
 ing up strangely at his companion. "I don t believe 
 I can even go on talking as we have done. I would 
 like to go away as I did yesterday, and think, and 
 think, and think." 
 
 He feared a light retort a word that might shat 
 ter the whole fabric of his fancy. But their accord 
 was too subtle for such a blasphemy. 
 
 "That s what I did, too," she returned, in a voice 
 that was almost a whisper. "When great things 
 happen, one wishes to be alone, doesn t one ?" 
 
 "Tell me your name," he said, still in that wonder 
 ing tone. "It s incredible, but I do not know it." 
 
 "Christine though they call me Chris always 
 call me Chris." 
 
 "And mine s such a horrid one Matthew and 
 it s always Matt, you know, which is even worse." 
 
 "I like it. Matt and Chris it sounds old-fash 
 ioned, doesn t it, like one s Mayflower ancestors. 
 And ye aforesaid Matthew was a young man of 
 noble presence, and of signal worth and understand 
 ing, withal sober and upstanding in the fear of God, 
 ye whilk of all ye Pilgrim maids he chose one Chris 
 tine Marshall, avowing for her " 
 
 "Go on don t stop there." 
 
 But she did stop there, looking down at him with 
 eyes like stars, all wonder and tenderness and shin 
 ing girl-light, with just a quiver of the pretty mouth. 
 
 Alas for the lie that came back to roost, accom 
 panied by a peremptory knocking on the pulpit pan- 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 els, and the apparition of a very impatient young 
 man in a high collar. 
 
 "Say, brother, ain t you ever going to give us that 
 there recitation?" 
 
 "It has been unavoidably postponed," said Matt 
 brazenly, rising, as Miss Marshall did the same. He 
 pleaded with her to remain a little longer, but she 
 would not. It seemed that by this time the general 
 would be as a roaring lion, and prudence dictated a 
 return. They found him, not exactly roaring, but 
 certainly fretful, not to say crusty, and his recog 
 nition of Matt was of the scantiest. 
 
 "For heaven s sake, let s get out of this place," 
 he said, smothering an expletive. "You might 
 have had some thought of the horses even if you 
 hadn t for me. Come along." 
 
 "Oh, papa, wait; I ve invited Mr. Broughton to 
 have tea with us to-morrow about four ;" then she 
 added to Matt hurriedly, "Please come, won t you ?" 
 
 "Shall look forward to it," snapped the general, 
 with the manner of a person temporarily blocked 
 in a burning building. "Good night, good night!" 
 And with that, and the pressure of a slender, gloved 
 hand, Matt was left alone more alone, so it seemed 
 to him, than he had ever been before in his life. 
 
 70 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 HE rose the next day a very different man from 
 the night before. A pitiless consideration of 
 his circumstances, begun at dawn, and carried to 
 the bath hour, had shown him facts as they were 
 the dismalest facts imaginable, and as gray as the 
 first peep of that gray morning. Who was he, to 
 be calling on aristocratic young ladies and whisper 
 ing things in pretty pink ears? He whose fortune 
 amounted to less than four thousand five hundred 
 dollars, and who had need to strive very energetic 
 ally to keep his own somewhat large and red ears 
 above the engulfing waters. His business was in 
 dubitably mules not to linger in fools paradises, 
 waste money and time, and drift into the most 
 heartbreaking of false positions. 
 
 He tried to put that sparkling face out of his 
 mind ; tried not to linger on those girlish admissions 
 that made his pulses beat; called himself, oh, so 
 many times, a fool a crazy, silly fool and vowed 
 all sorts of tremendous things. He would excuse 
 himself from that tea ; would leave the next day for 
 Kentucky; would get back to dry land and mules 
 
 71 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and sanity. But he did not wish to appear rude; 
 he would hate to have his action misconstrued; he 
 would go at four, after all, and if the occasion pre 
 sented itself would tell her the truth quite frankly 
 that he had hardly any money, no profession, and 
 a long, uphill fight in front of him. Though how 
 idiotic he was to take it all seriously himself and 
 her and the whole affair as though it were any 
 more than a passing flirtation. It was just the in 
 curable way he had of exaggerating everything of 
 making mountains out of molehills. He laughed at 
 himself a little forlornly. What an ass he was, to 
 be sure! What an ass! 
 
 After breakfast he made it up handsomely with 
 Daggancourt, expatiating on mules with much ardor 
 and enthusiasm, and gradually recovering the mu 
 latto s sorely shaken confidence. It seemed that 
 Victor had not slept all night, so distressed had he 
 been at Matt s indecision. He spoke of it quaver- 
 ingly, like a father to a wayward son, his face yel 
 lower than ever, and puckered with chagrin. He 
 said that no one, even with mules, could go very 
 far without "concentration of purpose. 5 He re 
 peated the phrase several times, always with the 
 same note of timid warning. Matt apologized, ex 
 plained, and promised to "concentrate." Victor was 
 perfectly right! Mules first, and not another side 
 step off the track. He proved his sincerity by 
 promising to leave for Kentucky on the morrow. 
 They shook hands on it, then and there, in front of 
 
 72 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 Buggins ; and any lurking grudge that Victor might 
 still have felt disappeared in that hearty clasp. But 
 there was still a weight on the mulatto s mind. He 
 stammered out something about the San Francisco 
 money hoped that it was all right hoped that it 
 had come. 
 
 "Excuse my mentioning it," he said. "But you 
 know, we ll be needing it pretty soon, and I d rather 
 not sell the garage till " 
 
 "Oh, that s all right," returned Matt. "It ought 
 to be coming along soon, and if it doesn t I ll tele 
 graph. Don t you worry about that," he added re 
 assuringly. "It s one of those splendid jewelry 
 stores with diamond necklaces in the window, and 
 is good for a hundred times the money." 
 
 But Victor s concern remained; he had kept bet 
 ter tally on the dates than Matt; it was exactly 
 twenty-four days since the latter had written a 
 long while, surely. Victor asked for the receipt, and 
 examined it closely. "That s all right as far as it 
 goes," he said, handing it back with a relieved ex 
 pression, "though they don t have to buy the ring 
 if they don t want to, or change their minds." 
 
 "If people like Snood and Hargreaves offered fif 
 ty-five hundred dollars for the ring, it s pretty sure 
 to be worth it," replied Matt. "Even if they backed 
 out, we could sell it somewhere else." 
 
 "Yes, that s true," said Victor, recovering his 
 cheerfulness, "and maybe for a better price, con 
 sidering you took the first bid they made. Depend 
 
 73 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 upon it, you could have raised them a few hundred 
 dollars." 
 
 They lingered a while longer, talking about the 
 three hundred dollars commission Victor hoped to 
 get on a second-hand car, and as to the advisability 
 of taking sixteen hundred dollars cash for the ga 
 rage, or a thousand down, and another thousand 
 on a nine-months note. They also touched on the 
 often-debated and never-solved question of a genu 
 ine, pedigreed Fison jackass. This dazzling animal 
 was capable of absorbing three-quarters of their 
 capital, and would be, if he lived, a four-legged 
 gold mine. His value, dead, was precisely seventy- 
 five cents. No wonder the partners were harassed, 
 blew this way and that, one minute the imaginary 
 possessors of a genuine, pedigreed Fison jackass, and 
 another forswearing him as an unattainable luxury 
 and the embodiment of carking care. Victor went 
 back to work, leaving the perpetual problem still un 
 solved, while Matt, with nothing in his head but 
 mules, walked up and down the porch, raising more. 
 
 Perhaps he kept closer to the veranda that morn 
 ing than usual, for it was warm and sunny, and 
 likely to tempt the presence of Mrs. Sattane with 
 her rocking-chair, her darning, and her interminable 
 tongue. For once Matt was eager for Mrs. Sat 
 tane, and when at length she appeared he was 
 very agreeable and friendly, drawing up beside her, 
 with his pipe, instead of dropping off the end rail, 
 as he ordinarily would have done. After a few 
 
 74 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 false starts he got her on the subject of the Mar- 
 shalls, and though as a narrator she was as uncer 
 tain as a rabbit, and apt to give conversational 
 jumps in the most random directions, Matt always 
 contrived to bring her back, and running again in 
 the way he would have her go. 
 
 The general, when a young cavalry officer, hardly 
 indeed more than a boy, had made a runaway match 
 with a Miss Koenig, of Philadelphia, who was so 
 rich that people used to call her Miss Kilmansegg. 
 He had thereupon given up the army, and taken to 
 law instead, and from law had graduated into poli 
 tics and Congress. After seven or eight years his 
 wife had died, leaving him with two little boys, 
 who were now middle-aged men, one a traveler and 
 writer of some reputation, and the other, an iron 
 master on the lakes, with a railroad of his own 
 and fleets of ships. The general had taken his be 
 reavement terribly to heart, and for a while went 
 all to pieces, until his friends made interest for him, 
 and had him appointed minister to some far-away 
 and insignificant post, more with the idea of bene 
 fiting him by the change of scene than launching 
 him into what was to be a distinguished career. He 
 rose rapidly ; was constantly promoted, and was one 
 of the first American ambassadors, when that grade 
 was inaugurated by President McKinley. 
 
 In the meanwhile he had married again, losing his 
 second wife many years later in a carnage acci 
 dent. His daughter, Christine, had narrowly 
 
 75 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 escaped the same fate, and for several years had 
 been a helpless invalid, nobody ever thinking she 
 would be well again. But at last she recovered, and 
 was as strong as most girls, or stronger, to judge 
 from the daring way she rode and her much-talked- 
 of flights on skis. 
 
 On the Spanish War breaking out, Marshall had 
 thrown diplomacy to the winds, and returned to 
 Connecticut to help organize the state s quota for 
 the national defense, receiving his commission as a 
 brigadier-general of volunteers, and earning much 
 local renown by his energy and patriotism. It was 
 not his fault that the enrolled citizens never saw a 
 Spaniard, or burned anything more deadly than 
 mosquito powder. The picnic stage was hardly past 
 before the war was over and the general reap- 
 pointed to his former post. Since then he had 
 definitely retired, more on his daughter s account 
 than his own, it was said, to let her see something 
 of her own people, and marry in her own land, his 
 regard for courts and court life being none of the 
 best. 
 
 He kept up three establishments one in Wash 
 ington, another at Bar Harbor, and the third, his 
 big, comfortable old colonial house at Fair Oaks, 
 about four miles out of Manaswan moving from 
 one to another as the humor seized him. Fair Oaks 
 was his favorite, as he had owned it ever since his 
 first marriage, and had never closed it, partly 
 from sentiment and partly from the political advan- 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 tage of preserving a roof-tree in his native state. 
 He was a Connecticut man, and there was the proof 
 of it for all to see. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Mrs. Sattane said 
 all this as concisely as it is written. The reader is 
 presented with the maple-sugar of the matter, in 
 one nice, fat brick, and has been spared all the pre 
 liminary boiling and steaming and skimming and 
 bubbling and frantic running to and fro with fresh 
 buckets of the thinnest of thin juice not to speak 
 of extraneous efforts and excitements that had 
 nothing to do with sugar at all. 
 
 Nor are Bridget s interruptions included ; nor the 
 staggering intrusion of Hunter Hoyt; nor the gen 
 eral fuss and cackling attending Miss Gibbs depar 
 ture with Buggins ; nor the arrival of an entrancing 
 stranger, ostensibly in search of board, who subse 
 quently took on the horrid hue of a book agent, with 
 Somebody s History of the World in nine subscrip 
 tion volumes; nor a tramp, who hung gloomily 
 over the fence and speculated aloud whether a pore 
 man might even ask for a glass of water without 
 having the dorg set on him and who departed with 
 a pie, a turkey drumstick, a loaf of bread, and, also, 
 as it seemed afterward, a coil of garden hose 
 though where he hid it, or how absorbed it, remained 
 as impenetrable a mystery as that of the Man in the 
 Iron Mask. 
 
 It was a very dragging afternoon for Matt; he 
 was restless, could settle to nothing, was both stirred 
 
 77 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and depressed at the prospect of his call at Fair 
 Oaks. He had dressed with such care that he was 
 afraid; to sit down; or to leave the porch lest his 
 immaculate shoes might suffer; and was horribly 
 conscious of the crinkling nature of his fresh white 
 waistcoat. No girl could have been in more of a 
 tremor. Periodically he went up-stairs to look at 
 himself in the glass to make sure there was not 
 a hair on the neck of his coat to brush and brush, 
 and worry again that his hands were so large and 
 so sunburned. 
 
 He had ordered a buggy for half-past three, a 
 buggy and a man to drive it, for he meant to take 
 no chances of missing his road. It came too early, 
 and caused him renewed agitation in consequence 
 a quarter of an hour too early, when, as a matter of 
 fact, he would not dare to start before the half- 
 hour giving him a whole fifteen minutes, there 
 fore, to be dawdled through, with more crinkling 
 of white waistcoat, and more risk to shoes, and a 
 whole new access of that suffocating feeling, which 
 he supposed to be pleasure, but was in reality much 
 nearer agony. 
 
 Punctually to the minute he took his seat in the 
 buggy and was just starting, when of a sudden he 
 was hailed from behind. The driver pulled up, and 
 Matt turned to see an oldish man in a silk hat, still 
 breathless from running, who had evidently been 
 exerting himself to overtake them. 
 
 "Hold on there!" he exclaimed, "hold on stop!" 
 78 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 and relaxing his pace, came up slowly on Matt s 
 side, and steadied himself a moment with his hand 
 on the wheel. He was an important-looking per 
 sonage, with a crisp, gray, pointed beard and heavy- 
 lidded, penetrating eyes. His subdued yet fault 
 less costume suggested a judge or a banker, or some 
 one of equal standing certainly not one who was 
 accustomed to run or shout upon the public high 
 way, or to hold on to buggy wheels to recover his 
 breath. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," he said, in a decisive, ar 
 resting sort of voice, "I am looking for a gentleman 
 named Broughton Mr. Matthew Broughton and 
 as you somewhat conform to his description, and 
 were driving from the house to which I was di 
 rected " 
 
 "I am Mr. Broughton," interrupted Matt, sur 
 prised, a trifle alarmed, and most of all impatient. 
 "What do you want?" The memory of the en 
 trancing book agent tinged his tone with a certain 
 belligerency. Was this another manifestation of the 
 History of the World in nine subscription volumes? 
 
 "I ve come a long way, and on very hurried no 
 tice, to have an interview with you," explained the 
 stranger, gazing at him fixedly, "a very important 
 interview, indeed, and you will oblige me greatly by 
 postponing this little excursion of yours, and afford 
 ing me your undivided attention for half an hour. 
 In private," he added, with a glance at Matt s com 
 panion ; "I can not be more explicit here." 
 
 79 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "I am sorry, but it ll have to wait," said Matt. 
 "I haven t a minute to spare. Please let go my 
 wheel." 
 
 "But it can t wait!" exclaimed the stranger with 
 indignant animation. "You do not realize what 
 you re saying, or the issue there is at stake. I sim 
 ply must insist, Mr. Broughton yes, sir, I must 
 insist." 
 
 "So must I," returned Matt angrily. "Tell me 
 what you want in two words, and I ll give you an 
 answer in one and let go my wheel." 
 
 Matt fully thought the stranger would take fire 
 at this, but he did not. Instead, anxiety spread over 
 his upturned face. 
 
 "Where are you going ?" he asked. 
 
 "A short drive to pay a call." 
 
 "Then let me take his place," pleaded the stran 
 ger, indicating the driver. "We can talk on the 
 way and on the way back. For God s sake, young 
 man, don t go on thwarting me like this! I can t 
 tell you how pressing it all is, how peremptory and 
 urgent. Only half an hour if you knew what was 
 at stake, you could not refuse half an hour." 
 
 Matt was thunderstruck; such importunity was 
 startling; yet he had not a moment to spare if he 
 were to be on time at Fair Oaks. Nothing should 
 come between him and Fair Oaks; and the delay 
 already incurred put him in a fever. "Go on," he 
 cried to the driver, and with that the expostulating 
 gentleman was deserted in the middle of the road, 
 
 80 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 with his message still unsaid, and his anus waving 
 madly after the retreating carriage. 
 
 Matt was very much thrilled and tantalized, but 
 at last came to the conclusion that he had been mis 
 taken for some one else. Nobody could want to see 
 him on a matter so secret that it could not be di 
 vulged except in private. Though possibly and 
 here was an idea he was again the victim of those 
 newspaper lies, the "kanaka king" and all the rest 
 of it. Yes, this was the explanation; the man was 
 a Sun Worshipper, or some kindred lunatic, with 
 one of those hare-brained projects that rained down 
 with every mail. How foolish he had been not to 
 think of that before to have allowed himself the 
 least curiosity about the man, whom he contemptu 
 ously put out of his mind and settled back to dream 
 of Miss Marshall with mingled torment and joy. 
 
 They passed through a stone gateway of a mas 
 sive and towering design that reared its head like 
 a mausoleum in the lonely woods. The winding 
 road led through more, and was so narrow that the 
 trees met overhead and the air turned chill in the 
 defile below. It was a very big place, the driver 
 said miles and miles of it, and he flicked his whip 
 in the direction of unintelligible local landmarks. 
 It hadn t been worth taxes till the wood-pulp busi 
 ness began, and now even the stumpage would bring 
 ten dollars an acre. "A stroke of luck for the gen 
 eral, wasn t it, what with pulp getting dearer every 
 day though, he just let it lie like it was, and did 
 
 81 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 nothing. Thousands and thousands of dollars in 
 wood-pulp and stumpage, and as good as money in 
 the bank." 
 
 Matt suffered under these reflections; it made 
 him feel more of an intruder than ever, poorer and 
 of less account. Who was he to be driving through 
 such unnumbered acres of wood-pulp and daring 
 to lift his eyes, however timidly, to its owner s 
 daughter? It emphasized his presumption, and 
 every tree became a new barrier, abhorrent to look 
 upon. It was in a very crushed humor, indeed, that 
 he approached the lawns and shrubberies, the tor 
 tuous brick walks, and at last the house itself a 
 stately old colonial structure, with that dignified 
 frontage of classic white columns so dear to our 
 forefathers, and so expressive of their lives and 
 aspirations. 
 
 Matt descended, dismissed the conveyance with 
 the thrifty intention of walking home, and turned 
 to mount the wide, high steps. He was greeted at 
 the top by Miss Marshall, who seemed to spring up 
 from nowhere, smiling and radiant, and bewitching 
 to look at in her boyish riding costume. Her father 
 and she had just got back and oh, so afraid that 
 he might have been made to wait papa having met 
 a long-lost lovely friend in a teuf-teuf and a tiger 
 coat, and wanting to remain the rest of the week to 
 talk to her. But they must go right in, or papa 
 would be at the muffins and disgracing himself. 
 Papa was terribly elemental about muffins. 
 
 82 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 Amidst this laughing cordiality Matt found him 
 self being guided through a lofty hallway, lined 
 with books and engravings, to a large, low-ceilinged 
 room, where the general, also in riding dress, was 
 standing before a log fire, and refraining in the 
 most exemplary manner from any premature on 
 slaught on the tea-table. This in spite of the fact 
 that it stood temptingly near by, gleaming with old 
 silver, and set about with red roses. 
 
 The breath of out-of-doors was still on the gen 
 eral; like his daughter, he was glowing from his 
 ride, and had a fresh, vigorous appearance. He 
 welcomed Matt with a charming courtesy in 
 which there was not a shade of condescension, 
 and his shrewd, strong, ruddy face lit up de 
 lightfully as his daughter bantered him about 
 the tiger-skin lady. Even at sixty-six the general 
 had not outgrown his attractiveness, nor the desire 
 and ability to please. Somehow, though they 
 were worlds apart, Matt was reminded of John 
 Mort and Mirovna the same ease, the same grace, 
 the same distinction animated father and daughter, 
 lifting them above all other people he had ever 
 known. 
 
 Yet what were his sensations as he sat beside 
 Miss Marshall on the sofa, balancing a tea-cup on 
 his knee, and stealing little sideways looks at her? 
 The dismalest imaginable, it must be confessed. 
 She was prettier than he had remembered her 
 maddeningly pretty, and every mark of her consid- 
 
 83 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 eration came as a fresh stab, as a fresh realization 
 of the gulf between them. 
 
 He was constrained ; he knew he was not appear 
 ing at his best; he seemed to feel her artifices to 
 draw him out, to overcome his awkwardness, to dis 
 play him to some advantage before her father. But 
 those old, profound eyes were not to be deceived, 
 and had the look of wondering at her trouble. An 
 ex-ambassador could read a young man like a book 
 even while eating muffins and joking about tiger- 
 skin ladies in teuf-teufs. It appeared that a teuf- 
 teuf was an automobile. Matt s ignorance of the 
 word seemed to stamp him as a boor. What a mis 
 fortune, he had never heard of it before ! He made 
 an anxious note of it for future occasions, and then 
 it came over him with despair that there would be 
 no future occasions. He would never see Christine 
 Marshall again. Thus altogether daunted and de 
 pressed, how hard it was to affect liveliness, to talk 
 about the Islands, to try to hide that grinding sense 
 of failure. 
 
 He hoped afterward that he had not talked too 
 much about the Islands. It was all he knew to talk 
 about. Cannibals, fighting, pearl-diving, and the 
 shuddering, bloody business of the bark Moroa 
 things that people usually liked to hear, espe 
 cially from a survivor of the last. The general, 
 with a big laugh, called him Captain Othello a 
 sally that induced Chris to repeat, with a whim 
 sical acceptance that made Matt s heart beat : "That 
 
 84 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 it was strange, most passing strange; twas pitiful, 
 twas wondrous pitiful" causing him to flush and 
 feel very self-conscious, indeed, though thrilled, too, 
 as those fine eyes turned on him so kindly and with 
 such smiling significance. How little she realized 
 their havoc on a poor devil who, then and there, 
 could have knelt down and kissed the hem of her 
 skirt, with such reverence and adoration that it 
 would have been an added rapture to include a pair 
 of trim, small riding boots as well and the very bit 
 of carpet on which they stood. These thoughts, 
 however, were not good for sustained and conven 
 tional conversation. Such as it was, it languished 
 terribly at times, and the general s mouth could be 
 seen to purse under his mustache, as though conceal 
 ing yes a yawn ! Captain Othello grew bluer and, 
 bluer, and more abstracted and constrained, until 
 finally an unmistakable yawn brought him to his 
 feet. 
 
 The end had come ; he was holding out his hand ; 
 he was saying good-by; all was over and for ever. 
 No, not quite for ever! Learning that he had sent 
 away his buggy, Miss Marshall offered to walk with 
 him as far as the tennis courts. She volunteered 
 this in spite of rather a sharp look from her father, 
 and a request that had the quality of a command, 
 not to stay out too long. 
 
 Side by side, Matt and she walked together, both 
 silent till the house was left behind. 
 
 "What s the matter?" Miss Marshall asked at 
 85 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 last. "You ve been so different to-day so changed. 
 I couldn t make it out, and, and " 
 
 "And what?" inquired Matt somberly. 
 
 "It hurt me a little. I thought you might be glad 
 glad to come, you know." 
 
 "I was glad to come." 
 
 "Poor fellow I suppose you have to say that." 
 
 "I knew I was dull and disappointing, and the 
 more I tried the duller I got, and that s it, if you 
 want to know." 
 
 She moved closer to him, and announced, with a 
 shade of relief in her voice, that he was a very fool 
 ish person. He hadn t been a bit dull, nor disap 
 pointing the idea! But did not seem himself, that 
 was all, and mopy. Dreadfully mopy. 
 
 "It s because I m going away to-morrow," he 
 said. "Because" and he faltered at anything so 
 outright "because I ll never see you again." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 "You mustn t," she murmured at last. "I don t 
 want you to go away." 
 
 "But I have to." 
 
 "Oh, you have to ?" she repeated questioningly. 
 
 "To do things to start in seriously." He could 
 not say mules. Mules stuck in his throat. 
 
 "But how does that mean never seeing me again ? 
 That s what you said, wasn t it?" 
 
 "It s hard to explain; you wouldn t understand." 
 
 "No, I don t suppose I would," she assented. "I 
 was foolish enough to think that you that you " 
 
 86 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 "That I loved you?" 
 
 "Oh, no, no, not that that would be absurd " 
 
 "But I do/ 
 
 He walked along, grimly, stiffly, in a fury with 
 everything. "That s why I was on such pins and 
 needles up there," he broke out passionately. "I 
 had no right there, and I knew it ; every look at you 
 drove it home the utter hopelessness of it. I have 
 to go away with the few thousands I have and try 
 to do something work earn money. But if I 
 succeeded beyond all my expectations you would be 
 as inaccessible as ever as unattainable. I am noth 
 ing nobody the dirt under your feet. You won 
 der why I was so dull, so stupid I was grinding to 
 pieces, if you want to know, yes, grinding to pieces, 
 and almost hating you!" 
 
 "If I felt like that about anybody, I d stay," she 
 exclaimed breathlessly. "I wouldn t give anybody 
 else a chance. I think if I really loved anybody I 
 would kill them first." 
 
 Matt turned and caught her squarely by the 
 shoulders, those slender, girlish shoulders, and held 
 her out at arm s length in a vise. "You would, 
 would you ?" he cried. "Don t tempt me, or I will ! 
 I give you your choice. I told you I would go. It s 
 for you to choose, the one way or the other. Choose, 
 choose!" 
 
 But his revulsion was as swift as his act. He let 
 her go, stricken at her pallor, her gasp of pain 
 appalled, and incoherently remorseful. He smoothed 
 
 8? 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 her dress with his big hands ; he was a brute, a crazy 
 brute, he quavered convulsively ; he saw her through 
 a blur, trembling, swaying, obstinately averting her 
 eyes, and giving them little dabs with her handker 
 chief. As she recovered he waited for his sentence, 
 his doom. He had transgressed the last law, and 
 might be thankful if she even spoke to him again. 
 Perhaps she would turn away without a word, and 
 that would be the end. 
 
 When she did speak it was not to annihilate him at 
 all. It was all her own fault, she said, tremulously 
 smiling. "That s what always happened when you 
 goaded elemental people great, big, rough, ele 
 mental people. They grabbed you in their great, 
 big, rough, elemental way and shook the curl out of 
 your hair, wanting you to choose. As though any 
 body could choose while being shaken like a rat! 
 And what was she to choose, anyhow? Would he 
 please to tell her, like an ordinary, grown-up, unele- 
 mental person?" 
 
 Matt was more abashed than if the heavens had 
 opened with thunderbolts. He had expected thun 
 derbolts, and in a sort of way had braced himself to 
 receive them; but he had no armor against these 
 teasing shafts. He colored to the ears, and was 
 acutely embarrassed, wincing at every allusion to his 
 outrageous conduct. She seemed to enjoy making 
 him wince found a wicked zest in it. Everything 
 he said was gently ridiculed. That he should be in 
 love with her was apparently the most ridiculous 
 
 88 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 thing of all. She referred to his word "choose," 
 and tangled up all his blurting explanations. 
 
 "Men are all egoists," she said cruelly, "and the 
 contempt you have for us is really disheartening. 
 To you, we re all little ninnies, without the least will 
 of our own just laid out on the sideboard like 
 prizes at a bridge party. It has never dawned on you 
 that I have any courage, any individuality now, 
 has it?" 
 
 Matt vehemently protested that she had both lots 
 of both till he was abruptly cut short. 
 
 "No, no," she said. "To you, I m just a charming 
 little drawing-room ornament, sparkling in the fire 
 light; just a dear little noodle that you d like 
 to put in a crate and take home with you and 
 you re horribly miserable because you can t and 
 somebody else may noodle having no voice in 
 the matter at all, only rather hoping that the crate 
 will be padded with pink silk that being the limit of 
 her poor little noodle intelligence. The last thing to 
 occur to you is that I m a woman, with a head of 
 my own and a heart of my own, able to take my 
 place at a man s side, and work and fight with him." 
 
 She stopped, flushing and overcome. "That s 
 what I meant when I said you mustn t go," she 
 added piteously. "Can t you see?" 
 
 Matt was less backward than stunned. He must 
 have misunderstood ; he could not believe it. It was 
 only when her hands went to her face and her head 
 bowed in an extremity of shame that comprehension 
 
 89 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 really flashed on him. He pulled away her hands, 
 incredulous still, yet mad with joy pulled them 
 away and kissed her on the lips, her burning, averted 
 lips again and again and again, insatiable of her 
 young beauty, and inflamed by a resistance that was 
 no resistance at all, but the panting, shaking and al 
 most terrified surrender of a woman to the man she 
 loved. 
 
 "I hold you to it," he whispered. "I hold you to 
 every word you said. I love you, and you love me, 
 and nothing on earth shall ever separate us !" Then, 
 obeying her stifled entreaty, he released her, and the 
 pair gazed at each other in the deepening dusk, awed, 
 struck to silence, and somehow at one with the trees, 
 the sky, and all nature of which they, too, were one, 
 and at whose altar they vowed themselves to each 
 other and received the benison of the stars. 
 
 Matt would have clasped her again in his arms, 
 but she gently resisted. He was to go, she said. Had 
 he not taken enough already ? Was she not so spent 
 that to take more would kill her? Besides, she 
 wished to be alone to nestle to her heart the sweet 
 est moment of her life, without even that great big 
 him to disturb her. He was such a disturber! He 
 would kiss her again and she would lose all the 
 others those precious first ones that would always 
 be the dearest. No, he was to go. Please, he was to 
 go. Please, it was a favor. 
 
 He perceived that she was in earnest, and some 
 thing told him, moreover, that she was with difficulty 
 
 90 
 
HEART BREAK HILL 
 
 holding back her tears those tears which it would 
 be a sacrilege for him to share. So, manfully, and 
 with a quickening perception, he made no further 
 demur, but turned and left her, looking back once to 
 wave his hand, and to take one last look. 
 
 But she loved him. That was all his dizzy head 
 could hold. She loved him. Christine Marshall 
 loved him. She was willing to strip herself of 
 everything to follow him the wide world over. 
 Yes, men were egoists- blind, stupid egoists, 
 measuring women s love by their own. No won 
 der the Bible said "passing the love of women." 
 The old fellow who wrote that three thousand 
 years ago could think of no better superlative. 
 "Passing the love of women !" Up to yesterday that 
 old fellow had known more than he did. Yesterday 
 he hadn t known anything he had acquiesced miser 
 ably in what he thought was the inevitable. He had 
 sat there that afternoon like a death s head, till even 
 the general, inured to boredom, had yawned; and 
 all the while she had loved him Chris had loved 
 him! Nothing could matter now, nothing could 
 hurt him. Chris loved him ! 
 
 91 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 
 
 HE had completely forgotten the frockcoat per 
 son, he of the silk hat, and subdued masterful 
 ness, who had clung to his front wheel with agitated 
 pertinacity hardly three hours before. Matt was 
 reminded of his existence by finding him on Mrs. 
 Sattane s front porch, wearily blocking the road to 
 supper. By all rights the stranger should have been 
 excessively annoyed, but on the contrary he was 
 suavity itself, rising at Matt s approach, and greet 
 ing him with formidable politeness. 
 
 Might he take the liberty of repeating his request 
 to see Mr. Broughton in private ? Might he, without 
 undue insistence, remind Mr. Broughton of the very 
 serious issues at stake, and the need the very great 
 need of expedition? The heavy-lidded eyes were 
 full of insistence; the pointed grey beard waggled 
 like a goat s a tired but pertinacious goat, with 
 yellow teeth and a cavernous way of talking, till you 
 could see all the way down his throat. He brushed 
 aside the invitation to supper, saying, in an injured 
 tone, that he must beg Mr. Broughton s considera 
 tion. After three hours of waiting was he not en 
 titled to an immediate interview an immediate 
 
 92 
 
MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 
 
 interview in private? No, it need not be long. In 
 some aspects it was a very simple affair l a proposal 
 on the part of certain principals an acceptance er 
 it was to be hoped on Mr. Broughton s. 
 
 Apologizing for having no better place to offer, 
 Matt led the stranger up-stairs to his bedroom, 
 where, after lighting the single gas-jet, he offered 
 him a chair, and himself took a seat on the bed. 
 
 "Now, what s your name?" asked Matt, lighting 
 his pipe and throwing out his long legs. 
 
 The stranger, somewhat stammeringly, replied 
 that he might be called Mr. Kay. Though whether 
 he meant K-a-y or merely the letter K was left 
 obscure. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Kay," continued Matt, "let s get one 
 thing understood right off. I am not a kanaka king, 
 and I haven t any islands, or money, or subjects, or 
 fleets, or pearling beds, or anything. If you have the 
 least misconception of that kind about me, the 
 sooner you get rid of it the better." 
 
 "You refer doubtless to those newspaper ac 
 counts ?" inquired the stranger. 
 
 Matt nodded. 
 
 "Yes, all that rot," he said. 
 
 "I m familiar with them," observed the stranger, 
 drawing up close to the bed. "Perhaps I m also 
 more familiar with the actual facts than you will 
 credit. Circumstances have forced me to acquaint 
 myself with them to separate the wheat from the 
 chaff. From a vast deal of chaff," he added un- 
 
 93 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 bendingly. Well, well, now to business." With that 
 he produced from his pocket a small, flat object 
 wrapped in tissue paper. Divesting it of its cover 
 ing, he passed a little ivory miniature to Matt. "Do 
 you happen to recognize that person ?" he asked. 
 
 Matt took it with surprise, for it was rimmed with 
 diamonds, and backed with gold like an unwieldy 
 brooch with a surprise that changed to consterna 
 tion as he beheld the unmistakable face of John 
 Mort. It was a face younger by twenty years than 
 the John Mort he had known, smoother and more 
 rounded, and with the hair altogether black ; a flat 
 tering picture, much too pink and prettified and 
 youthfully handsome for even the original at the age 
 it represented him. But it was John Mort, just the 
 same; he could have picked it out of a roomful of 
 miniatures a whole gallery ; John Mort, staring up 
 at him from a circlet of diamonds, with an imperious 
 air that somehow had been caught while all the rest 
 was falsified by the obsequious artist. 
 
 Chills ran down Matt s back ; it was as though he 
 were detected in a crime; he was thankful for the 
 poor light that must have screened his expression of 
 dismay. For all Mort s warnings were now upon 
 him in a torrent and his own promises, his own 
 pledged word. Here was what John Mort had feared 
 "the wolves" he had called them in a voice he 
 had lowered even there, apprehensive still on that 
 lost reef, in those lost and lonely seas. The heavy- 
 lidded eyes took on a new and ominous significance, 
 
 94 
 
MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 
 
 as Matt felt their glance on him. What evil were 
 they meditating? What was their sinister purpose in 
 seeking him out to betray his friend? 
 
 He returned the miniature, speaking as he did 
 so with his pipe in his mouth a subterfuge he had 
 found useful before, especially when under fire 
 real fire bullets. It is the mouth that tells secrets, 
 and that in other ways than words. A pipe is a 
 help. It hides agitation, and suggests unconcern. 
 
 "Well, what about it?" said Matt through his 
 teeth. 
 
 "I asked if you recognized him?" 
 
 "Seen this person before, dc you mean? No, I 
 don t know who he is. Why, do you expect me to ?" 
 
 The stranger was not at all nonplussed. It was 
 disconcerting how coolly he took the announce 
 ment. He carefully replaced the miniature in his 
 pocket, remarking that it was "a pity." 
 
 "I ve something here that may freshen your rec 
 ollection," he went on, producing a wallet, and 
 from the wallet a thick roll of notes. Pulling up 
 his chair so close to the bed that his knees touched it, 
 he began to spread greenbacks on the coverlet as 
 though engaged in a singular game of patience. A 
 row of six, another row of six, a third row of six, 
 and Matt, amazed, perceived that they were in de 
 nominations of one thousand dollars each. 
 
 "My God!" he cried. "What are you a mint?" 
 
 The stranger, with a gleam of yellow teeth, and 
 the first smile he had permitted himself, completed 
 
 95 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 a fourth row from a packet that was yet far from 
 exhausted. Then he stopped, and said: "No, not 
 a mint. Merely a person who seeks a little informa 
 tion, and is very willing to pay for it." 
 
 Matt eyed the seried notes; $1,000, $1,000, 
 $1,000 in a green and overwhelming profusion; 
 $1,000, $1,000, $1,000 up and down, with more 
 tightly clasped in those stubby fingers. If anything, 
 the sight stimulated all the obstinacy in him, en 
 hancing his loyalty and determination in proportion 
 to the bribe. But it would not do to affect uncon 
 cern; it would be bad policy to convey the im 
 pression that he could talk if he would. Excited 
 innocence was the part that he ought to play eager, 
 covetous, astounded innocence. 
 
 "Twenty- four thousand dollars!" he exclaimed. 
 "Would you really give me that for recognizing a 
 man? Just for looking at his picture, and saying: 
 That s Walter Jones, or William Riley? Why, 
 bless you, I d do it for a quarter of that for a 
 single one!" He picked up one of the greenbacks 
 as he spoke, and smoothed it out lovingly on his 
 knee. "Even that would be enormous," he said. 
 "People aren t paid for that kind of thing." 
 
 "They will be in this instance," returned Mr. 
 Kay. "We are desirous of finding er Walter 
 Jones, and are willing to go to considerable lengths 
 for any information regarding him, and his present 
 whereabouts. That money there, Mr. Broughton, 
 is but the half of what I m authorized to offer you. 
 
MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 
 
 Think it over a bit, Mr. Broughton. Fifty thousand 
 dollars for five minutes of sincerity." He shot 
 the last word at Matt with a snap. Matt was an ir 
 ritating obstacle to a wolf in a hurry, to an elderly, 
 tired wolf who had already wasted so much of his 
 time valuable wolf -time on Mrs. Sattane s front 
 porch. 
 
 "My dear man," observed Matt, "why not make 
 it fifty millions while you are about it? I haven t 
 the faintest notion whom your picture represents 
 not tha slightest, believe me. I wouldn t know him 
 from Adam, if he came in this minute." 
 
 "Is that your last word ?" 
 
 "It s all I know, if that s what you mean." 
 
 "Oh, come, come; what s the use of denying you 
 could tell if you wanted to. I m not a child to be 
 hoodwinked. There isn t a visit of yours to Sydney 
 or San Francisco that we haven t traced. You were 
 no trader you were in the employ of well that 
 individual we are seeking. You have to admit it 
 and once admitted we have a basis for negotia 
 tions." 
 
 Matt puffed at his pipe, and finally remarked that 
 it was all Greek to him. 
 
 "The ship was Tembinok s," he went on, "old 
 Tembinok s, the king of Apemama, you know, and 
 he sent me off in her originally to buy rifles at some 
 thing like a white price. But I was honest with him, 
 and made her pay carrying coprah, shell and that 
 and so he kept me on till I lost her this winter." 
 
 97 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Mr. Kay gathered up his notes and returned 
 them to his wallet. 
 
 "Think it over," he said. "Fifty thousand dol 
 lars is a lot to lose. Perhaps it may occur to you 
 that you re acting rather precipitately, for, after all, 
 a man s first duty is to himself, and you scarcely 
 seem to be in er very affluent circumstances. If 
 you should care to place a small flag in your win 
 dow a tie, for that matter, or any bright bit of 
 color we shall accept it as a sign that you have 
 er changed your mind. Don t forget that, will 
 you? It is quite conceivable that the sum might be 
 increased if we were assured of your active coop 
 eration, but it would be superfluous to go into that 
 at this stage. Just a little flag at your window, and 
 within six hours I shall be promptly at your serv 
 ice." 
 
 Matt burst out laughing. "Is that your usual 
 method of communication?" he asked. "But why 
 not a skyrocket while you are about it, or a blue 
 light, and masks of course and a password. I ll 
 say Walter, and you answer Jones, or perhaps a sin 
 gle mysterious word, like gurgle. Gurgle s rather 
 good how do you like gurgle?" 
 
 The other s face darkened at this derision. 
 When he spoke it was with perceptible humiliation 
 and embarrassment. "I m only an agent," he mur 
 mured. "Such theatrics are none of my making, 
 though in this affair they seem unavoidable. Laugh 
 all you like, Mr. Broughton ; a man who has thrown 
 
 98 
 
MR. KAY INTRODUCES HIMSELF 
 
 away a fortune for a whim is entitled to, though 
 some day when you re, older and learn how hard a 
 world this is, it may seem considerably less humor 
 ous. Good night," he continued, holding out his hand. 
 "Permit me to apologize for my persistence, and 
 to thank you for your good-nature under the inflic 
 tion. You will let me hear from you, will you not? 
 And remember that the amount might be materially 
 increased. Good night, good night !" 
 
 Matt accompanied him down the stairs and to the 
 front door, where, with a renewed grasp of the 
 hand and another cordial farewell, the stranger 
 walked briskly away. It almost looked as though 
 an automobile had been awaiting him, for a second 
 later there was a clash of gears, a flood of blinding- 
 light, and a magnificent limousine swept headlong 
 into the night. 
 
 Matt turned indoors again, eager for his delayed 
 supper, and in a state of extreme perplexity and ex 
 hilaration. It was not everybody who would have 
 refused fifty thousand dollars. The fact that he 
 had done so put him in a glow of self-esteem. 
 Though why had it been offered ? good God, why ? 
 And who was John Mort, and what could they pos 
 sibly want of him? How strange it all was, how in 
 soluble ! And strangest of all that he, Matt, the ob 
 scurest of mortals, should be caught up in anything 
 that could conceivably "shake the world." That 
 was what Mort had said "it would shake the 
 world." 
 
 99 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Well, it shouldn t shake if he could help it ; he was 
 loyal through and through ; the "wolves" were chas 
 ing the wrong sleigh if they thought they could get 
 a bite out of him. He was wolf-proof; thousand- 
 dollar-bill proof, and they might hang about till 
 their legs dropped off before they would see the 
 tiniest speck of that flag only curtains instead, no- 
 surrender white curtains, defiantly announcing that 
 there was a man inside not a Judas. 
 
 100 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 THE next morning turned out a veritable 
 Black Monday. Not only was it raining a 
 sleety, dismal rain Matt could have endured that 
 but he was assailed, besides, by a succession of dis 
 asters. First of all there was no letter from Snood 
 and Hargreaves; somehow he had fully counted on 
 getting it, and the firm s delay in writing began to 
 take on an ominous aspect. With scarcely eighty 
 dollars in his pocket, and part of that owing here 
 and there, he felt uncomfortably pressed for money. 
 Then there was Daggancourt, whom he had com 
 pletely forgotten in the flow of larger events Dag 
 gancourt, effusively expectant of that immediate 
 departure for Kentucky. To make a man weep is 
 a painful experience and it was in this manner 
 Daggancourt received the news of a second post 
 ponement. His grizzled head sank, and the tears 
 ran through the gnarled and wrinkled hands he 
 raised to hide them. In vain Matt explained and 
 expostulated, promised and protested. The old 
 mulatto was disillusioned; his shoulders heaved; 
 he brokenly repelled all consolation. 
 
 "I d set my foolish old heart on it," he sobbed. 
 101 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "I believed you were in earnest. It s it s a terri 
 ble WQW," : 
 
 v -"But -it s only put off a little while," said Matt. 
 : ;,* * / <j Faf heaven s sake, don t think I ve given it up, 
 Victor! In fact, it s more of a life and death thing 
 to me now than ever before." 
 
 Daggancourt shook his head. 
 
 "I was willing to go my last dollar," he said. "I 
 could have worked for you with both hands, and 
 starved and stinted not for the money in it, 
 Marse Broughton but because you are you; be 
 cause it is the colored man s instinct his curse to 
 love and serve a master. I made a god of you, and 
 put you on a pedestal, and all the reward I looked 
 for was the humblest of places near you, and that 
 little farm of ours in the mountains. And now I 
 see it was all a dream that you were fooling me. 
 Yes, sir, and fooling yourself, and it was nothing 
 but talk after all, and scrawling sheets of paper, like 
 a child with a toy. Say no more, sir. I shall not 
 trouble you again. I am like the Psalmist who put 
 his trust in princes, and verily was he disappointed." 
 
 Matt was conscience-stricken; he had leaned on 
 Victor; he had found comfort and a sense of safety 
 in the old fellow s rugged affection. It was hard to 
 see it go, and it appeared doubly valuable, now that 
 it was lost. It was with a very bereft feeling, in 
 deed, that he saw the mulatto strike out into the 
 rain, and raise the gampiest of gamps above his 
 alienated head. 
 
 1 02 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 Then another disaster! Goldstein, confound 
 him, had developed mumps, and had planted himself 
 for the day near the telephone with a copy of Lu- 
 cile. With the whole house to choose from, there 
 was Goldy at the telephone, swollenly ready for 
 every word that he could catch. Matt, burning to 
 reach Chris over the wire and arrange somehow to 
 see her, or at least to hear her bubbling voice, saw 
 his way blocked by that grinning obstacle. To share 
 that precious talk with Goldstein was an impossi 
 bility. Even the mention of Chris name would 
 throw the creature into a paroxysm of curiosity. 
 It was a great name in Manaswan ; the very apex of 
 everything exclusive and aristocratic; one might as 
 well shoot off a pistol at Goldstein s ear. So there 
 was nothing for it but to brave the sleety rain out 
 side and seek the booth at the candy store. On the 
 road thither Matt stopped at the Western Union to 
 telegraph to Snood and Hargreaves. Their back 
 wardness was becoming intolerable. 
 
 "Snood and Hargreaves, 314 Kearney Street, San 
 
 Francisco : 
 
 "Please give immediate effect to my letter, and 
 remit money for ring by express. Telegraph reply, 
 saying when I may expect to receive it. 
 
 "MATTHEW BROUGHTON." 
 
 When this was accomplished, he encountered the 
 concluding disaster of that whole disastrous morn 
 ing. His request to speak to Miss Marshall was re- 
 
 103 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ceived by a maid, who said that her mistress was ill, 
 and could not come down. Nor could a message be 
 carried to her because she was asleep. One might be 
 left, however. Did the gentleman wish to leave one? 
 
 Matt, wretchedly perturbed, was almost at a loss 
 how to answer. Ill my God, ill ! The freezing rain 
 outside was no colder than the chill that struck 
 against his heart. Urged to haste he could think of 
 nothing else than that Miss Marshall was to be in 
 formed that he had rung her up. "Broughton, not 
 Button B-r-o-u-g-h-t-o-n and please tell her I 
 shall call this afternoon in the hope of seeing her, 
 and perhaps take her for a drive if the weather 
 clears and she is well enough." The maid s tone in 
 dicated how little she anticipated either contingency. 
 Then she cut him off with : Til tell her you were 
 asking for her, and will call at three. Good-by." 
 
 At three he was at Fair Oaks in a worse down 
 pour than ever, only to find himself rebuffed. Half 
 soaked, he stood on the threshold and was told that 
 Miss Marshall could see no one, and that the doctor 
 had given her some sleeping stuff. The general, too, 
 had intrenched himself against callers. Again Matt 
 was asked for a message. He cursed himself for not 
 having written a note beforehand and brought it 
 with him that he had wasted his time like a fool, 
 playing pinochle with Goldstein. Wet as he was he 
 did not dare to ask to be admitted and given pen and 
 ink. All that he could say, therefore, was that he 
 was very sorry to hear that Miss Marshall was ill, 
 
 104 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 and would they please tell her so. He fumbled for 
 his cards. By George, he could write something on 
 a card, even if it were only "heartbroken." He re 
 peated "heartbroken" to himself again as he dived 
 into one pocket after another before those super 
 cilious, patiently waiting eyes. But he had no cards. 
 Oh, hell, he had forgotten his cards! He faltered, 
 then descended the steps; climbed into his buggy, 
 and drove off, sick with despair. 
 
 Splashing along the muddy road he wondered at 
 himself for refusing that fifty thousand dollars. 
 With the money they had offered him Chris, for 
 was not this what it amounted to ? With fifty thou 
 sand dollars in his pocket he might go up to that big 
 house and take her bodily away; marry her; have 
 her for his very own. 
 
 Ninety-nine men out of a hundred would have 
 taken the money would have jumped at it. Fifty 
 thousand dollars ! It might be years before he would 
 be worth a quarter as much. And here he was 
 throwing it out of the window like a quixotic fool. 
 It was not that he was tempted, for all he longed 
 and hungered for it. It was more that he marveled 
 at his own inability to be tempted. It made him 
 understand how little people ought to be praised for 
 their good actions it was a sort of ethical revela 
 tion. It was not in him to betray John Mort. It was 
 simply that he was incapable of it. He almost wished 
 that he was not. It was not principle nor religion, 
 nor anything but a fact. He himself was quite 
 
 105 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 helpless; volition lay altogether beyond him; it was 
 something he could not do, that was all. 
 
 At home there was a telegram awaiting him. It 
 lay on the sitting-room table in state, so to speak, 
 like a corpse surrounded by a death-watch consist 
 ing of Goldstein, Mrs. Sattane and Hunter Hoyt. 
 A telegram was unheard of in that house. The 
 death-watch had been holding it up to the window 
 and trying to read through it. It was all out of con 
 cern for Matt, of course to be helpful in his trou 
 ble, and perhaps break the bad news gently. The 
 bad news, however, refused to divulge itself even 
 against the gas-jet, so the death-watch could do 
 nothing but palpitate and hope for the worst. 
 
 Matt tore it open, and indeed rewarded them by 
 the change in his countenance. He was terribly up 
 set ; he could hardly believe his eyes ; the words, in 
 their blue typing, swam before him. 
 
 "Matthew Broughton, care Mrs. Sattane, Manaswan, 
 
 Conn. : 
 
 "Experts pronounce ruby flawed and worth five 
 hundred dollars only. Firm faces substantial loss 
 on advance already made. If accrued interest be not 
 promptly paid, shall dispose of ring at end of statu 
 tory period. Telegraph instructions. 
 
 "SNOOD AND HARGREAVES." 
 
 He crammed it in his pocket and stumbled up 
 stairs; he could not encounter those prying looks, 
 which at such a moment were intolerable. It was a 
 
 1 06 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 blow to make any man stagger ; defenseless, his first 
 instinct was to hide. An extreme emotion exposes 
 one naked to the world, which gawks and chatters 
 and points its excited fingers. Matt locked the door, 
 and with desperation read the telegram again. Good 
 God, all he had then was the money in his pocket! 
 Here he was with only eighty dollars in his pocket- 
 book he who had counted so confidently with 
 every right to that confidence on well over four 
 thousand four thousand, three hundred at the very 
 least. 
 
 Were it not for Chris he would have been less 
 unmanned. The sea is a hard master, but it will al 
 ways feed and clothe a man who has made it his 
 trade. He couldn t starve it wasn t that. But it 
 meant losing Chris, abandoning all thought and 
 dreams of her as his wife. He saw himself in a 
 dingy fo castle, and heard the hoarse cry of "All 
 hands on deck!" That s what it meant now every 
 thing gone and perhaps a couple of years before he 
 could even contrive to reach Lotoalofa again. 
 
 How did he know that he wasn t being cheated ? 
 Those jewelers, for all their fine shop, might be 
 taking advantage of his powerlessness to rob him. It 
 was so easy to rob him. They had seen that, and 
 were now taking advantage of him. There was no 
 flaw in the ruby. Everything John Mort had was 
 of the best, of the finest. "Experts pronounce ruby 
 flawed!" The chap would have paid him fifty-five 
 hundred dollars then and there for the ring. He was 
 
 107 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 an expert himself that bald man. He hadn t dilly 
 dallied or anything, but had been eagerness itself to 
 clench the bargain. It was inconceivable that he had 
 been mistaken. He was a thief, that was what he 
 was, a low, contemptible, damned thief, who had 
 discovered how to get the ring for a thousand the 
 thousand originally advanced. 
 
 He raged up and down the room in impotent 
 wrath. People knocked and spoke through the key 
 hole, but he disregarded them Hoyt, Mrs. Sattane, 
 and finally Daggancourt, and even Smith, the night 
 train despatches The wonder was that the list did 
 not include Miss Gibbs and Bridget, and Buggins, 
 too, for the entire household seemed to be gathered 
 outside his door, prying and speculating. One, 
 alone, could have been of the least solace to him, 
 and she was lying in that great, grim house, beyond 
 those miles of dripping woods. 
 
 But she would know soon enough too soon. A 
 few days, and they would say good-by for the last 
 time, for ever, unless a miracle happened. The 
 general was the only person capable of figuring 
 in a miracle. But Matt built no hopes there. It was 
 impossible to associate "Bless you, my children," 
 with that keen, proud face rather a withering re 
 sentment, and a glance that would strike like a knife. 
 The miracle would be how to get out alive how to 
 escape with the least shred of self-respect. 
 
 No, with four thousand dollars, with Daggan 
 court, and the aid of Chris intrepid spirit it had been 
 
 108 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 within the bounds of reason. The rose could have 
 been plucked general or no general and carried 
 in triumph to that Kentucky farm. But eighty dol 
 lars was eighty nothing. Better confront the fact 
 once and for all, with whatever courage and resolu 
 tion one possessed. Brace up to it, admit it without 
 equivocation, and beat no more against the bars of 
 the impossible. 
 
 By supper time he had somewhat recovered his 
 composure, and though very pale, contrived in 
 other respects to conceal the crushing nature 
 of his misfortune. He announced gravely that 
 he had received bad news, and begged that he 
 might be excused from giving the particulars. 
 This saved him from direct questioning, but in 
 directly the meal resolved itself into a sort 
 of game of hide-and-seek. Mrs. Sattane ingen 
 iously turned the conversation on departed moth 
 ers, and moaned over the empty chair and the awful 
 sense of loss; Hunter Hoyt continued with fathers 
 shakily, and with pathetic reminiscences of his own ; 
 a favored sister, a beloved brother, passed succes 
 sively in review, only to die in the flower of their 
 age ; Mr. Goldstein introduced a coffin containing a 
 young bride in her wedding-dress but none of 
 these artless efforts served to tap the source of Matt s 
 depression as he sat there in a brown study, ob 
 livious of everything. 
 
 After supper he got his overcoat, and settled him 
 self in a dry corner of the veranda. The rain had 
 
 109 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 stopped, or at least was in abeyance, and the bleak 
 night accorded with his thoughts, and protected him, 
 too, from the distasteful chatter of the others. Here 
 he mused, cold but secure, with no companion save 
 his wretchedness. Life was revealing itself to him 
 in aspects he had never suspected. "Man is born to 
 sorrow as the sparks fly upward," said the preacher 
 another of those disheartening old gentlemen who 
 had known more three thousand years ago than Matt 
 had yet acquired in the twentieth century. 
 
 But he seemed to be acquiring wisdom fast. Look 
 ing back he saw he had moved among the stricken 
 and had not perceived it. He had a new perception 
 of why so many men drank ; of the passionate refuge 
 so many women took in their children ; understood, 
 too, the origin of those unexpected kindnesses that 
 had once surprised him. There was a brotherhood 
 of suffering in the world; in time all joined it ex 
 cept the favored few. This idea of happiness was all 
 a make-believe, a fiction ; you either ran like a don 
 key for the never-reached carrot in front, or if you 
 detected the cheat, you were speeded from behind 
 by a brisk succession of pricks. Such was life, as 
 analyzed on Mrs. Sattane s porch, by one who had 
 previously given the subject scant consideration. 
 
 Matt s reflections were suddenly arrested by the 
 stoppage of an automobile at the gate, and the de 
 scent of a vaguely familiar figure. It was an im 
 mense limousine, not unlike the one he had associ 
 ated with Mr. Kay s departure the night before. In 
 
 no 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 fact, the vaguely familiar figure was Mr. Kay him 
 self, advancing hurriedly up the board-walk. 
 
 "So it s you," said Matt, rising to greet him at the 
 steps. Any interruption was welcome in the general 
 tragedy of things. 
 
 Mr. Kay blinked recognition, and then shook 
 hands in the friendliest manner. 
 
 "Brought the mint with you?" asked Matt. 
 
 "Why, certainly I have," exclaimed Mr. Kay with 
 undisguised eagerness. "I am ready to raise our 
 offer to a hundred thousand, and shall be most 
 pleased to settle the matter at once on that basis." 
 
 "How can I tell they are not counterfeit notes?" 
 objected Matt banteringly. "No offense, Mr. Kay, 
 but it might be rather hard on me if they were." 
 
 Mr. Kay pondered with an appearance of sup 
 pressed irritation. "Yes, you re entitled to say that," 
 he conceded. "In the same situation I should be as 
 cautious myself. But you are acquainted with the 
 local people," he went on. "I have reason to believe 
 you have many acquaintances here. Jump into the 
 car, Broughton, and I will take you to anybody you 
 wish any banker or merchant you may name. 
 Nothing could be fairer than that ! Is it a bargain ? 
 A hundred thousand dollars, and the notes con 
 firmed by some one you trust ? Come along !" With 
 that he laid his hand urgently on Matt s arm, but 
 the latter remained immovable. 
 
 "I gave you my decision last night," he said. 
 "Or rather I told you I hadn t the information you 
 
 in 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 wanted. You surely can not have any better proof 
 of it than this. What man in his senses would re 
 fuse a hundred thousand dollars? I know I 
 wouldn t. I was only joking when I raised you. It 
 was only to see how far you would go. Mr. Kay, 
 you are trying to buy something I haven t got, and 
 there it is in a nutshell." 
 
 "Then who was the violinist you referred to in 
 that newspaper account? The man who played on 
 the ship, and quelled the savages when they were 
 ready to attack you? Answer me that, please. It 
 is very important it is the key to everything." 
 
 Matt started; he had completely forgotten that 
 chance reference to John Mort; the indiscretion of 
 it now took his breath away. What an ass he had 
 been ever to let Hunter Hoyt extort it from his lips ! 
 
 "Answer me that," continued the stranger, with 
 a gleam of his yellow teeth, and clutching at Matt s 
 arm again. 
 
 "Oh, the violinist?" returned Matt, pretending to 
 laugh. "He was nothing to get excited about. In 
 reality, he wasn t a violinist at all, but played the 
 concertina, and he didn t quell anybody. That was 
 all the newspaper men s work, like most of the in 
 terview. It was simply that we had a scare once 
 down in New Britain, and kept him playing till we 
 could get at our pistols." 
 
 "Then there was nothing in it?" 
 
 "Well, there had been a massacre in the next bay, 
 and" 
 
 112 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 "But no violinist? No one at all resembling the 
 miniature I showed you?" 
 
 "No, no! He was a Dutchman named Van Tas 
 sel and had been a waiter in a Sydney restaurant. 
 He was a hot-tempered little fellow, and had hit 
 somebody over the head with a bottle. That s how 
 we came to take him paid us twenty pounds to 
 smuggle him out of his scrape." 
 
 "I see that you can t help us," said Mr. Kay after 
 a pause. "It s disappointing to have to admit it 
 that we thought you knew more than you do. Well, 
 you ve been very obliging; let me thank you for 
 that, Mr. Broughton, and for your patience and 
 good-nature." 
 
 "Oh, don t mention it." 
 
 "I wish I could persuade you to go before my 
 principals, and tell them what you ve told me. They 
 blame me for my failure are not convinced, you 
 know think they could have got this information 
 out of you this information that isn t there. Per 
 haps I might make it worth your while to come 
 out of my own pocket, you know out of my own 
 pocket. Would you consider it?" 
 
 "Where do you want me to go?" 
 
 "Only to the railway station, to a private car we 
 have side-tracked there. You could show them that 
 we are on a wrong scent support me in what I 
 have already reported. I should be glad to pay 
 fifty dollars. Surely that would be worth half an 
 hour of your time? What do you say?" 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Matt hung back. He was confused, undecided, 
 and not unconscious of a vague apprehension. Yet 
 the fifty dollars was terribly tempting. It would 
 allow him to extend his stay in Manaswan ; to put 
 off his departure for a couple of weeks ; to be near 
 Chris to see her, to talk to her, to linger in para 
 dise before he would be cast out of it for ever. Nor 
 would it be any disloyalty to John Mort, but merely 
 a repetition of evasion and falsehood, possibly even 
 helpful, now that he was better forewarned. As to 
 their doing him any harm, that was preposterous. 
 Threaten, perhaps? Well, let them threaten! One 
 could stand a lot of threatening for fifty dollars. 
 He would leave the precious fifty dollars at home so 
 they couldn t get it away from him. That was 
 about the worst they could do take away his fifty 
 dollars. People who threw about thousand-dollar 
 bills, and traveled in limousines and private cars 
 were not the kind to risk violence. Oh, he would 
 be safe enough; he was sure of that; these shivers 
 and qualms were childish. 
 
 "Yes, I ll go for fifty dollars," he said. "Only 
 if you don t mind I d rather have it in advance." 
 
 Mr. Kay hastened to count out two twenties and 
 a ten and then seemed to find it an infliction 
 that Matt should suggest any further delay. It was 
 only to run np-stairs and leave the money and his 
 purse under the pillow, but Mr. Kay chafed and de 
 murred, and Matt, on his return, found him wait 
 ing with ill-suppressed impatience. 
 
 114 
 
MR. KAY OFFERS MORE 
 
 "Come along," he cried, and gripping Matt s arm 
 as though not to allow him to escape again, hurried 
 down the board-walk to the automobile. A moment 
 later they were both inside and the car swiftly mov 
 ing. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 \ 1 7HATEVER misgivings Matt may have had 
 * as to their real destination were set at rest by 
 the clang of a locomotive bell and the noise of heavy 
 freight cars being moved and shunted. There could 
 be no question they were in the railway yards, and 
 bumping over unmistakable railway tracks, and the 
 flash of a trainman s lantern still further increased 
 the sense of security. What was there to fear with 
 such men all about them, busily watchful, and likely 
 at any time to dart up from the unlikeliest places? 
 Nor was there anything alarming in the sight of the 
 side-tracked car. 
 
 Mr. Kay begged Matt to wait at the steps while 
 he went inside to announce their arrival. It was a 
 good ten minutes before he returned, and then, in 
 a state of such discomposure that Matt knew not 
 what to make of it. His movements were nervous 
 and abrupt; his face, even in the dim light, seemed 
 distorted; he was breathing heavily, with short, 
 quick gasps that showed his yellow teeth. Rasping 
 out something that meant to follow him, he turned 
 again, apparently confident that Matt would obey. 
 For a fraction of a second that was in doubt, but 
 
 116 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 the recollection of the fifty dollars quickened Matt s 
 resolutions; he needed that fifty dollars and would 
 earn it, come what might. 
 
 He found himself in a narrow passage, bordered 
 on one hand by a row of state-rooms that ran half 
 the length of the car. The door of every one was 
 closed, and the passage itself ended in darkness. 
 Not a sound broke the stillness, and had it not been 
 for the singular circumstances of his coming and 
 his assurance that there must be others somewhere 
 present, he would have judged the car deserted and 
 wholly abandoned to Mr. Kay and himself. Con 
 vinced of the contrary, however, these state-rooms 
 affected him with a suggestion of secrecy and evil 
 plotting; in imagination he saw crouching figures 
 behind their doors; hushed and stealthy figures, 
 mutely signaling from room to room, and ready to 
 leap forth as soon as he was well within their power. 
 
 Mr. Kay paused at the last door, opened it, and 
 beckoned Matt within. It was an ordinary Pull 
 man state-room, and bore no sign of any recent oc 
 cupancy. There was no break in the serried white 
 towels overhead; the racks were empty, and the 
 pegs supported nothing ; but the fact that the blinds 
 were drawn struck oddly on Matt s attention. 
 
 He seated himself and watched Mr. Kay draw 
 ing the baize curtain across the open doorway. That 
 the latter did not shut the door, but was taking par 
 ticular pains with the curtain, increased Matt s 
 uneasiness. The action was significant and again 
 
 117 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 suggestive of stealth and mystery. Even after lie 
 had settled himself opposite Matt Mr. Kay had to 
 jump up once more and again adjust the curtain, as 
 though his previous efforts had left him dissatisfied. 
 Then he reseated himself, cleared his throat, and 
 leaning forward confidentially, laid his hand on 
 Mart s knee. 
 
 "Now, tell us what you want," he said in a voice 
 that shook a little. "Ask for the moon anything 
 and we ll get it for you." 
 
 "In return for something I haven t got ?" inquired 
 Matt. "Can t you get it into your head once and 
 for all that I don t know the man you re after?" 
 
 "Broughton, that isn t true." 
 
 "Oh, yes, it is." 
 
 "You positively refuse one hundred thousand dol 
 lars for this information?" 
 
 "I tell you once more I haven t got it." 
 
 "But I offered you a hundred thousand dollars 
 and you refused it?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 A rustle of the green baize made Matt feel that 
 the question was less for Mr. Kay s benefit than that 
 of some hidden person. The sensation was disagree 
 able. He would have given a great deal at that mo 
 ment to have had a loaded revolver in his pocket. 
 Mr. Kay s ill-concealed agitation and his almost ter 
 rified glances at the curtain were disconcerting, to 
 say the least of it. 
 
 "Would it help at all," continued the latter, "or 
 118 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 give us a possible basis for agreement, if I could 
 prove to you that you do know the gentleman we 
 are seeking ?" 
 
 "But you couldn t!" cried Matt. 
 
 "Oh, yes," said Mr. Kay, producing something 
 from his pocket. 
 
 "Look at this, for instance." 
 
 Matt, in utter astonishment gazed at the ring 
 lying in Mr. Kay s palm. With a cry, he picked it 
 up and examined it. It was John Mort s ring the 
 ring those rascally jewelers had filched from him. 
 
 "What do you say to that?" asked Mr. Kay, 
 gently but firmly regaining possession of the ring 
 and slipping it over his little finger. 
 
 "Nothing," exclaimed Matt furiously. 
 
 "Who gave it to you?" 
 
 "I shall not tell you." 
 
 "Will you still persist in denying all knowledge of 
 this man?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "That s my affair." 
 
 Matt had risen. He was in a white heat at the 
 way he had been victimized ; at his own helplessness ; 
 at the deliberate villainy of the whole proceed 
 ing. Had these people robbed him of his ring 
 for no other reason than to make him penniless 
 and to place him, as they thought at their mercy? 
 God only knew how they had got the ring from 
 Snood and Hargreaves, but there it was, glittering 
 
 119 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 on that smooth scoundrel s finger, and as like as not 
 an intentional provocation to a violence they would 
 craftily turn to account. But they would learn their 
 mistake; learn that all the rings or blood-money in 
 the world could not swerve him an inch. 
 
 "I ve finished with you/ he said hoarsely. 
 "Good-by." 
 
 He turned toward the doorway, no longer afraid, 
 but in the humor to fling back the curtain and stride 
 right through the eavesdroppers. If they blocked 
 him, so much the worse for them. He was a power 
 ful man; he could hit like a sledge-hammer when 
 his blood was up; he welcomed the chance to land 
 some smashers on those unseen faces and drive them 
 before him like sheep. But he had scarcely moved, 
 before Mr. Kay, with incredible agility, had leapt in 
 front of him, slamming the door shut and locking 
 it, confronting him as he did so with a stare of ab 
 ject terror. There he stood, with his back to the 
 door, shaking in every limb, and holding out his 
 hands before him as though to ward off Matt s 
 blows. 
 
 "Don t, don t!" he screamed out incoherently. 
 "They re crazy! They haven t any sense! I won t 
 be a party to it it s criminal and I won t be a party 
 to it ! I won t be a party to anything criminal !" 
 
 "Let me out !" cried Matt with a suffocating sense 
 of being trapped, and struggling for the door-knob. 
 "Get out of my way or I ll strangle you!" 
 
 "No, no!" expostulated Mr. Kay, resisting him 
 120 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 like a maniac and sobbing while he spoke. "You 
 don t understand. They re determined to get the 
 secret out of you. They re putting themselves 
 within the criminal law, and I ll be no party to it. 
 Good God, Broughton, I m trying to save you to 
 save myself! Once open this door and they ll 
 tear you to pieces !" 
 
 He was interrupted by a loud murmur outside, 
 and the door shook under a heavy impact; shook 
 and shook, threatening at every instant to burst in. 
 Mr. Kay collapsed on a seat. 
 
 "It was none of my doing," he moaned. "You ll 
 bear witness to that, Broughton you ll bear wit 
 ness to that when they ve got us all in the dock. 
 The fools!" he raged, in a sudden outburst. "The 
 damned, crazy fools!" 
 
 There was no escape except through the window, 
 and that was double two panes of almost the thick 
 ness of plate-glass. Matt threw up one without dif 
 ficulty, but the other stuck. He fumbled frantically 
 at the catches, as he endeavored to lift it, while the 
 door shivered now under the deadlier blows of an 
 ax. But, thank God, the cramped passageway gave 
 them no room for a swing. They were striking at 
 an angle, as the lip of the blade once showed as it 
 drove through and remained imbedded for an 
 instant. 
 
 Oh, that window ! Matt dug his fingers into the 
 catches and drove like Samson, his desperation 
 heightened by the splintering of the woodwork and 
 
 121 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 the thud, thud, thud of the ax. But the window 
 was immovable; he could get no real purchase 
 on it; he skinned his lingers and strained his 
 back to breaking and still it defied him. He 
 must burst it then; that was the only way 
 burst it. But with what? Not his elbow. It 
 was too thick for his elbow, though he tried 
 with all his might, ramming it against steel. 
 He looked about wildly, and could see nothing 
 to help him; nothing but a trifling little brush 
 with no handle to speak of. But there was Mr. 
 Kay, crying out inarticulately and handing him 
 something! What if it wasn t Mr. Kay s shoe a 
 patent-leather shoe with buttons, still warm from 
 the foot. He seized it with avidity, this help from 
 a quarter so unexpected seized it with exultation. 
 
 Taking it by the toe, he crashed the heel through 
 the window. Hammer, hammer, hammer, with the 
 glass shattering and the jagged, vicious edges dis 
 appearing beneath a rain of blows disappearing till 
 he could trust his hands on the frame and wriggle 
 out. He went legs first, crawlingly, scraping his 
 wrists and hands on the thin knife of undislodged 
 glass, waistcoat and shirt half pulled to his neck 
 but out, no matter how, till, hanging his full length, 
 he let himself drop to the track alongside the car. 
 
 He heard shouts above as though the broken win 
 dow had filled with emerging heads; he saw the 
 chauffeur jump from the automobile and slink to the 
 ground; there was a vision of the porter with out- 
 
 122 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 stretched arms, rushing to intercept him, and a gut 
 tural voice from somewhere cried out with a sort of 
 wail: "Don t shoot!" 
 
 If anything more were needed to hasten Matt s 
 feet it was this thrilling command. He flew. The 
 lights of the distant station wavered before him. 
 He dodged under freight cars and past the shadow 
 of their murderous w r heels; stumbled and fell over 
 the rails and frogs; ran, till the stitch in his side 
 was insupportable and his heart was ready to burst 
 ran, trotted, limped, till, thank God, there were 
 people all about him, and lights and animation and 
 security. 
 
 It was the hour of the New York express, with 
 passengers waiting, and three hotel omnibuses 
 drawn up for their evening quota. Matt threw him 
 self on a bench between two of his unconscious pre 
 servers, panting and grateful, while they looked 
 at him askance, wondering at his disordered ap 
 pearance. 
 
 There he sat, slowly recovering himself and medi 
 tating what he ought to do. His first idea was to 
 invoke the police; to enter a formal complaint and 
 return to the car with a posse of constables. But 
 as he thought it over the wisdom of this course grew 
 less apparent; his story was not likely to be be 
 lieved; indeed, his cunning foes might turn the 
 tables on him and invent a complaint of their own, 
 with him as the culprit. It might resolve itself into 
 his word against theirs the word of people in a 
 
 123 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 private car against that of a lunatic, prating of an 
 offer of a hundred thousand dollars and of a stolen 
 ruby ring worth a fortune. Thus analyzed, his case 
 was ridiculous a fantasy. 
 
 On the contrary, how easy it would be to accuse 
 him of having forced his way into the car and made 
 a disturbance a crack-brained creature, probably 
 drunk, who broke a window and had to be forcibly 
 ejected. So reasonable did this become that Matt 
 hesitated to remain longer on his bench. His clothes 
 were torn; his hands were scratched and bleeding; 
 he was reminded that he had no hat. He had better 
 get home as fast as he could, and out of harm s way. 
 It was notoriously an unjust world, and it was well 
 not to tempt the lightning. So he hastened home in 
 some trepidation, and only felt really safe when he 
 had snuggled into bed. 
 
 The next day there was a note from Chris, 
 brought by a messenger: 
 
 "You DEAR You: 
 
 "It was so foolish of me to be ill, and spoil every 
 thing, though I got so cross at your being turned 
 away that I improved instantly and ate a whole 
 plate of calf s-foot jelly. This is to ask you to 
 come and share some more with me on a sofa and 
 call it an invitation to lunch. Papa is going to New 
 York on business, and we can be all by ourselves, 
 and I m awfully glad and excited, though I suppose 
 I oughtn t to tell you so or ask you at all, for that 
 matter. But come anyway, even if the heavens fall 
 and you should get your beautiful, wavy hair all 
 
 124 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 covered with plaster. Twelve-thirty, please, and 
 don t think I ve changed, because I haven t, and all 
 
 last night I was thinking and ! I am awfully, 
 
 deliriously happy, and somehow it is your fault, 
 and I just lie back and shut my eyes and if you 
 are a minute late I shall hate you. 
 
 "CHRIS." 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the heart-rend 
 ing effect of this letter on Matt. When his debts 
 were paid he would have exactly one hundred and 
 twelve dollars left in the whole world. True, 
 many a man had succeeded with as little with less 
 but that took time years and Matt had no 
 years to spare. The only thing he could look to, 
 the only thing that offered him a living was the 
 sea. He was as ignorant of civilization and its 
 myriad chances as a child; he exaggerated the 
 special ability needed, the special training; was 
 unaware of what could be accomplished by sheer 
 ability, character and courage. To him there was 
 nothing but the sea and the hardest wages earned 
 under the sun. He was sick with despair; he cried 
 over that letter in the seclusion of his room; it was 
 terrible to resign himself to the inevitable and give 
 up Chris. 
 
 He went out to search for the private car, im 
 pelled by a forlorn hope of regaining his ring. 
 Somehow, perhaps, this might happen; seen in 
 the retrospect, Mr. Kay appeared to be his friend; 
 at any rate, Kay had defended him and held the 
 
 125 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 door against his enemies. Mr. Kay might be terri 
 fied or persuaded into returning the ring. Matt 
 was in that desperate state of mind when a man is 
 fearless. He stopped at a pawnbroker s and bought 
 a cheap revolver for three dollars; stopped at a 
 hardware store and bought ten .38 cartridges for 
 twenty-five cents; loitered under a tree and sur 
 reptitiously shoved six of them into the chamber 
 and then went on with his right-hand pocket bulg 
 ing. 
 
 He was ready for anything was cool and de 
 termined. But there was no private car to be 
 found. He searched the entire yard, and questioned 
 every one, but the private car had vanished. It 
 might never have existed at all for the answers he 
 got. Railway discipline is very strict; chattering 
 to strangers is discouraged; the pertinacious in 
 quirer may be some spying agent of the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission with subsequent dismissal 
 in the division superintendent s office. Nobody 
 knew anything about a private car nothing. 
 
 Matt idled about till it was time to start for Fair 
 Oaks; idled, and smoked pipe after pipe, and wished 
 he had never bought that confounded revolver which 
 weighed down his pocket like a brick. Looking 
 back on those agitating times, it seemed as though 
 he were always waiting, always hanging on an ever 
 lasting clock and waiting. It was worse than bore 
 dom, because it gave him an unlimited opportunity 
 to think ; and all he had to think about was his hun- 
 
 126 
 
THE PRIVATE CAR 
 
 dred and twelve dollars and his lost ring and the 
 desolating hopelessness of everything. 
 
 He walked all the way to save the hire of a car 
 riage, and waited again at the entrance to the 
 grounds to time his arrival exactly for half-past 
 twelve. She had said she would hate him if he ar 
 rived a minute late, so, watch in hand, he dilly 
 dallied until he could make his appearance with the 
 precision of a Monte Cristo. 
 
 "Miss Marshall?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, sir! This way, please." 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 was half reclining on a sofa, propped 
 about with pillows, and in a Chinese wrap of 
 magnificent old brocade, all gold, and twisted, em 
 broidered dragons. Her delicate beauty was unim 
 paired by any trace of illness, though enhanced by 
 the unusual brilliancy of her eyes, and a flush, too 
 hectic for health, that mantled the fine oval of her 
 face. 
 
 Matt ran to her, taking her hands and kissing 
 them, and then sank on his knees beside her. His 
 cares, his wretchedness, the misery of his renuncia 
 tion all were gone as the soft bare arms closed 
 round his neck and drew down his head. Somehow, 
 mysteriously, he knew not how, the load was lifted 
 from his heart. It seemed that he had been mis 
 taken; it seemed that he had been torturing himself 
 for nothing; in that ineffable tenderness he sud 
 denly felt himself secure, protected and consoled, 
 like a frightened child caught close to its mother s 
 breast. 
 
 She raised his face and scrutinized him with a 
 pretty air of ownership and a gravity that dimpled 
 at the corners of her mouth. 
 
 128 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 "A tired boy !" she said, speculatingly. "A won 
 dering, worried, scared boy! A boy who has been 
 thinking too much and eating too little and, oh, 
 dear, what a scratched boy !" 
 
 "I got that climbing out of a Pullman window 
 last night," explained Matt, showing his wrists. 
 "I had to break it with a shoe that an old gentleman 
 kindly lent me, and got out in a hurry." 
 
 Chris eyes opened very wide. 
 
 "What a funny, strange, impetuous boy !" she ex 
 claimed. "Wasn t there any door?" 
 
 "There were people banging that in, yowling for 
 my destruction," continued Matt tantalizingly. "I 
 don t know what they wanted, I m sure, but they 
 were going at it in the liveliest way with an ax, and 
 I chose the window rather than wait and find out." 
 
 "That was a prudent boy but but where on 
 earth did all this happen?" 
 
 "In a private car, side-tracked near the railway 
 station." 
 
 "But how did you happen to go there?" 
 
 "That old gentleman took me there the one who 
 lent me his shoe. Paid me fifty dollars for going, 
 and rode me there in an automobile." 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 "I m telling it all the wrong end foremost," went 
 on Matt. "It s an extraordinary story Chris, it s 
 astounding. I can t make head nor tail of it. I was 
 actually offered a hundred thousand dollars think 
 of it, Chris positively a hundred thousand dollars 
 
 129 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 right there in greenbacks to betray a man I knew. 
 Had it forced on me almost stuffed in my pocket." 
 
 Her surprise, disbelief even, caused him to draw 
 forth the revolver in witness. 
 
 "It s not a joke, Chris," he said. "I bought that 
 this morning, and may be mighty glad I did so." 
 
 The momentary flash of steel was thrilling in that 
 quiet room and amid such peaceful surroundings. 
 Chris uttered a little cry, breathing fast, and gazing 
 at him in amazement. 
 
 "You frighten me," she gasped out. "Matt, I m 
 frightened. What does it all mean ? Tell me !" 
 
 "The trouble is I don t know myself," he re 
 turned, as a tide of depressing recollections swept 
 over him. "I am somehow a blind cog in other 
 people s business, and the thing that hits me hardest 
 is that they have ruined me. I ve lost everything, 
 Chris, everything I counted on to make a start 
 somewhere. I had four thousand dollars, as safe as 
 though it was in the bank, and it s gone, stolen 
 God knows how, but they have got it robbed me, 
 Chris, robbed me." 
 
 His voice was shaking; the realization of his loss 
 was unnerving him; his shoulders heaved. "I ve 
 been in hell, Chris," he continued huskily. "I don t 
 know which way to turn ; four thousand dollars isn t 
 much, of course but it meant you; I I hoped it 
 meant you, after what you had said ; believed it did, 
 anyway counted on it. Yes, you and I together, 
 no matter how poor, but with some sort of a home 
 
 130 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 of our own. And now it s gone, and I haven t any 
 thing, and it means good-by, Chris it means good- 
 by." 
 
 He bowed his head in shame, refusing to 
 be comforted, while she whispered and whis 
 pered that she loved him; that it would never 
 be good-by, never, Matt, never ; that as long as they 
 had each other nothing could hurt them; that he 
 was a poor, precious, foolish, silly, devoted boy- 
 person without any sense at all, who thought he 
 could walk away from love and leave it behind 
 like an umbrella, just because he hadn t four thou 
 sand dollars! As though it made the least differ 
 ence what he had, her lover-boy, her darling, for he 
 was strong and splendid and brave and big, and if 
 that wasn t being rich, what was ? And he had her, 
 hadn t he ? And he wasn t to think she was always 
 a helpless, draggy thing, lying on a sofa in a dragon 
 coat, eating calf s-foot jelly. No, indeed, she 
 wasn t but able to go out and fight, too, and jump 
 out of a Pullman window, if need be, as well as he 
 could, and probably better, judging by his poor, cut 
 wrists and work, yes work her hands off for the 
 man she loved and he was that, wasn t he? He 
 knew he was that. 
 
 After a while Matt was persuaded to get up and 
 have his rumpled hair smoothed and his tie straight 
 ened, and was made to sit on a chair quite far away, 
 lest Watkins should pop in and be shocked. All of 
 which Matt did bewilderingly, but with his eyes 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 shining and a strange, welling feeling at his heart 
 and something so lumpy in his throat that he had to 
 hold himself very still, and dared hardly utter a 
 word. 
 
 Then Watkins did come not poppingly and 
 shocked, but rung for, and composed, with a large 
 tray and all the materials for spreading a small 
 table with luncheon. As this proceeded noiselessly 
 and deftly, Chris carried on a desultory conversation 
 with her visitor that must have shocked even Wat- 
 kins, at the latter s dullness. Matt contributed 
 hardly more than yes or no to that bubbling mono 
 logue which screened his agitation; and was more 
 than thankful when the deft and noiseless Watkins 
 finally withdrew. 
 
 It seemed that it wasn t to be a real lunch at all, 
 but what Chris called a dolly lunch; and a dolly 
 lunch meant that Matt was to squeeze down on a 
 stool beside the sofa, with a tiny table in front of 
 him not much higher than the stool itself and with 
 most of the dishes on the floor. A gay, unusual, 
 little lunch, such as Chris used to have with her 
 favorite doll, only now she was grown up and pre 
 ferred a beautiful, big, handsome lover-boy; and the 
 beautiful, big, handsome lover-boy sat there in a 
 sort of maze, and wondered how he could ever have 
 been miserable or sad or anything, till he scarcely 
 knew the difference between lamb chops and lobster 
 salad, or whether it was Rhine wine or fairy sun 
 shine that sparkled in his glass. Sat there in an 
 
 132 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 ecstasy that brimmed again and again to his eyes, 
 humbling him and ennobling him both at once, and 
 giving a new meaning to a word he had so often said 
 and never understood before. 
 
 Then the great secret trembled on his tongue and 
 it seemed impossible to withhold it any longer, for it 
 had become essential for her to know it. That it 
 was safe in her keeping was a sacrilege to question ; 
 she was as true as himself and had a right to his 
 confidence ; it could be no reproach to him, no real 
 breach of his word that she should now learn the 
 truth. 
 
 Accordingly he began to tell of Lotdalofa; of 
 John Mort and Mirovna, and of his long, lonely 
 voyages at the behest of this strange pair, who in 
 that waste of sea and reefs had founded a mimic 
 kingdom and hidden themselves beyond the ken of 
 men. He told with pride of their reliance on him, 
 of their steadfast trust and friendship; of the si 
 lence he had been pledged to, and which he had 
 hitherto kept so loyally. 
 
 How vividly it all returned to him as he went on 
 those far-off scenes, those faces endeared to him by a 
 thousand recollections that mystery which he had 
 touched and shared and yet had never pene 
 trated! He recalled the money of which there 
 was no end nor stint; the anxious secrecy en 
 joined upon him; the stealth with which the 
 time-expired natives were returned to their homes, 
 often in boats that were prodigally given them, 
 
 133 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and lowered over the ship s side far out at sea. 
 Never did they take more from the same place 
 or see the same island twice; the new men came 
 from new islands, and often from groups as re 
 mote as the Tubuais or the Louisades. Once he had 
 had a weary beat of a thousand miles to get rid of 
 a boy whose only fault was a knowledge of English, 
 which John Mort deemed he spoke too well. "Sav 
 ages, Captain," he would say. "Bring me savages 
 with filed teeth and heathen souls; we haven t any 
 room on Lotoalofa for Bible Christians." 
 
 Then Matt came to the capsizing of the North 
 Star, and the horrible, drowning scramble to ex 
 tricate himself, and perch, with the crew, on her 
 slimy copper. Spoke of it calmly, for all its 
 nightmarish details, and with a mingled earnest 
 ness and laughter and a kind of frightened zest 
 that made it so piercingly real to the young 
 lady on the sofa that she trembled with sus 
 pense, and could have swooned as the Hall 
 broke out the Stars and Stripes and ... It 
 took a cup of black coffee to restore her, which 
 she held in one hand, while she clung tightly to 
 the poor castaway with the other, lest somehow he 
 should slip down and be engulfed in that awful 
 carpet. The poor castaway, too, was revived with 
 black coffee, and none of the passengers of the 
 Mariposa could have been kinder to him than this 
 young lady, or more sympathetically solicitous. 
 
 In this comforting manner she accompanied him 
 134 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 to San Francisco and into the store of those rascally 
 Snood and Hargreaves, an unseen witness of their 
 duplicity. From thence there was a three-kiss jump 
 to Manaswan, where she was made acquainted with 
 Hunter Hoyt and Moaning Mary and Daggancourt 
 and Buggins (quite a disproportionate amount of 
 Buggins), and finally with Mr. Kay and his aston 
 ishing thousand-dollar notes and still more astonish 
 ing insistence to get rid of them. 
 
 "That s the whole story/ said Matt in conclusion. 
 "If you can make head or tail of it go ahead." 
 
 "Of course, he has run away," Chris replied with 
 intense interest. "And they want him back a whole 
 hundred thousand dollars worth." 
 
 "Agreed." 
 
 "A defaulting banker, perhaps?" 
 
 "Knows too little of money I could have robbed 
 him of thousands." 
 
 "A South American president, ousted by a revolu 
 tion?" 
 
 "He can not speak Spanish go on." 
 
 "Perhaps this lovely Mirovna isn t his wife?" 
 
 "I ve never thought she was, but " 
 
 "The husband is enormously rich, and is trying to 
 follow them?" 
 
 "That isn t likely. Besides, he said it would shake 
 the world. Those were his own words." 
 
 "How could anybody being found any man 
 shake the world?" 
 
 "That s the puzzle of it." 
 
 135 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "You are not positive of his nationality?" 
 
 "Well, I think he s a German. He speaks German 
 fluently though French, too, for that matter, and 
 Italian." 
 
 "But a German s a German they are unmis 
 takable." 
 
 "I m pretty sure he s a German." 
 
 "AndMirovna?" 
 
 "Oh, less sure. I couldn t guess what she is, but 
 po ssibly a Pole, or some eastern European. She has 
 a profile like a Byzantine medal." 
 
 "I ve known awfully German kind of Russians 
 stiff, autocratic, and yet delightful." 
 
 "Yes, he might be a Russian." 
 
 "Oh, there it is! Political refugee state secrets 
 the myrmidons of the Czar! It s as plain as day 
 light, Matt ; he s a Nihilist !" 
 
 "An awfully rich Nihilist, Chris? It hardly fits 
 into one s ideas of him or Mirovna. What! A 
 Nihilist with an inexhaustible supply of Bank of 
 England notes?" 
 
 "You may have put your finger on it right there." 
 
 "There ? What do you mean ?" 
 
 "Those notes." 
 
 "Well, what of them?" 
 
 "How do you know he doesn t make them him 
 self?" 
 
 "Not counterfeit them?" 
 
 "Yes, counterfeit ones makes them while you are 
 away were away, I mean in the schooner." 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 "Why, I should have been landed in jail so quick 
 you couldn t have seen my coat-tails." 
 
 "Passing them ?" 
 
 "Yes, passing them." 
 
 "They may be undistinguishable from the good 
 ones?" 
 
 "No counterfeit is ever that, and besides, the Bank 
 of England paper is a secret in itself." 
 
 "A secret your Mr. Mort has learned! Think 
 it over, Matt weren t the notes all small ones?" 
 
 "Yes, by George, they were! The smallest de 
 nomination of all five-pound notes, and a fearful 
 nuisance it was, too, counting them out for anything 
 like a big payment." 
 
 Chris clapped her hands excitedly. 
 
 "There s the explanation," she cried. "Your 
 island was a little money mill, and the moment your 
 back was turned your clever Mr. Mort put on his 
 overalls and got to work !" 
 
 Matt was unconvinced ; he would have staked his 
 life on John Mort s honesty and honor; yet to meet 
 this reflection on his friend he said : "It s incredible, 
 Chris; the false notes, however skilfully imitated, 
 were bound to return to the Bank of England, and 
 be found out. No bank can be successfully victim 
 ized for six years. It would know its own notes, 
 depend on it, and the first batch of forgeries would 
 unloose a still larger batch of detectives." 
 
 "No, Matt, listen," Chris protested with immense 
 vehemence. "Papa told me that the Bank of France 
 
 137 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 \ 
 
 had such clever counterfeits foisted on it once that 
 it was afraid to denounce them publicly or to refuse 
 to receive them. They were so perfect, you know 
 so undetectable that it was risking a panic to say 
 that they were bad, for nobody in France would have 
 felt safe, and there would have been a run on the 
 banks everywhere for gold. Don t you see? The 
 Bank of France was forced to honor them in its own 
 protection, rather than scare the whole of France 
 and bring business to a standstill." 
 
 Matt shook his head. 
 
 "I can knock all that to spillikins," he said. "You 
 forget the miniature they showed me, and its setting 
 of superb diamonds. How can you make that accord 
 with your theory? Whoever it represented, it was 
 certainly not a criminal, but a very aristocratic 
 young man with a military collar. Besides I can 
 not tell you how, exactly Kay didn t handle it like 
 a rogues gallery picture, but with a curious respect 
 a curious, indefinable deference." 
 
 "I give it up, then," Chris exclaimed with a baf 
 fled little air. "If you couldn t have found it out in 
 six years, I suppose I needn t expect to in six min 
 utes. But it just makes you burst not to know, 
 doesn t it?" 
 
 "There s a worse problem still what is to become 
 of me?" 
 
 "Us, Matt," she corrected him jealously. "Poor 
 little hundred-and-twelve-dollar us." 
 
 "I might as well shoot myself as stay on here; 
 
 138 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 there s nothing here, Chris, in this little backwater 
 of a place. What shall it be East or West try for 
 a deep-water ship or strike out boldly for Colorado 
 or Wyoming or somewhere?" 
 
 "Go away?" she cried. "No, I can t let you go 
 away I can t, I can t ; unless you don t care unless 
 it s all " She broke off, looking at him poignantly, 
 only to be crushed in his strong arms, overborne, 
 blinded, panting, and deliciously helpless and ill- 
 used. Of course he loved her! Loved her better 
 than anything in the world; would crush her again 
 for ever doubting it. No, she had to admit how 
 cruel she had been, how wicked and unkind ; had to, 
 or he would hurt her more, obstinate little wretch 
 that she was. But it seemed that she wasn t an 
 obstinate little wretch at all, only terribly smothered 
 and gaspingly eager to be forgiven, and anyhow, 
 how was she to know when he sat there so cold and 
 distant, and talked about going away that he really 
 and truly did love her as though anybody who 
 loved anybody would go away and leave somebody 
 to break her heart. 
 
 Nor was she a clinging, useless, impractical young- 
 lady-person without any sense or ideas no, indeed, 
 she wasn t! They were in a very serious predic 
 ament, and she meant to be mouse to the poor, tat 
 tered, scared, whiny lion, and rescue him somehow 
 and earn his everlasting gratitude keep him from 
 bounding off into the tall grass, at any rate, for the 
 Teddy hunters to shoot at him, and the snakes to 
 
 139 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 bite him, and the hoodlum hyenas to laugh their 
 heads off at his leaving the faith fulest little mouse 
 a lion ever was blessed with. So wouldn t he stop 
 being silly, and snuggle close, and listen to some 
 mouse-sense, and realize that this was her affair just 
 as much as his, and that they were both in the same 
 boat, or rather holding on tight to the bottom of it ? 
 To all of which Mr. Lion acceded meekly, with a 
 dawning sense that there was a stronger nature than 
 he had dreamed behind those dark eyes, and a cour 
 age and self-reliance that shamed him in the con 
 trast. 
 
 "Unfortunately papa has to be left out," she con 
 tinued. "General Mouse would have a fit at the least 
 notion of my liking anybody who hadn t a town 
 house and a country house and a yacht, and a cast- 
 iron social position, studded with iron nails and 
 spiked on top and family heirlooms that his great- 
 grandmother wore at Washington s inauguration. 
 That s General Mouse s view, and he s likely to 
 squeak terribly at a poor little hundred-and-twelve- 
 dollar lion! That s the bad part of it; the good is 
 that when I m twenty-six I come into my mother s 
 money three smug old New York houses, filled 
 with dentists and doctors and sub-letting old ladies 
 who have seen better times somewhere between 
 eight and nine thousand dollars a year. Isn t that 
 nice, Mr. Lion? Isn t that splendid? Come, cheer 
 up, and say it is worth waiting for! Yes, two years 
 and ten months to wait, and then a fearful General 
 
 140 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 Mouse rumpus and me. If you are still of the 
 same mind, that is, and haven t gone off in another 
 direction? Though " 
 
 "Oh, Chris!" 
 
 "But this is a secret I have to be sure you love 
 me first." 
 
 "You know I do." 
 
 "But awfully, awfully well better than anything 
 just terribly." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Don t smile about it I said terribly." 
 
 "I was thinking of all that money ; it frightens me 
 even while I m glad to be called a fortune-hunter, 
 and heaven knows what yet I didn t know; how 
 was I to know? It s staggering, Chris; I I am 
 trying to get used to it; why, we we can get mar 
 ried." 
 
 "That s the secret before then, perhaps !" 
 
 "Before then? Oh, Chris, Chris!" 
 
 "I don t care if it s only one room ; I m not afraid, 
 Matt only sorry about papa, and the way he is sure 
 to take it. You must stay here and get something to 
 do, no matter what it is, and as soon as it is enough 
 for two, I ll come, Matt, dear I ll come, if it s only 
 seventy-five dollars a month." 
 
 Matt gave an appalled glance about the room at 
 the pictures, the tapestries, the rich, dark, old furni 
 ture at the elegance, luxury and beauty that every 
 where surrounded him. "You couldn t," he ex 
 claimed, overcome. "You don t understand what it 
 
 141 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 is to be poor. You see it staged and dressed up, and 
 with a row of footlights, and roses climbing 
 over the cardboard cottage ; but it isn t like that at 
 all, Chris; it s ugly and detestable, and I should be 
 the most selfish brute alive to let you do such a 
 thing." 
 
 "It needn t be ugly and detestable, Matt," she re 
 turned, with a tender, reproving seriousness. "The 
 trouble is that poor people are usually poorer still 
 in taste, and are horribly oil-clothy, and given to 
 chromos of Swiss lakes and screaming green carpets. 
 We won t be that kind of poor, and I promise you I ll 
 surprise you how well I ll manage, and how pretty 
 and cozy everything will be. Other people have 
 done it and been happy and we ll do it and be hap 
 pier. No, it s settled, Mr. Lion, and if you fight 
 about it any more I shall think it is because you 
 really do not want me." 
 
 "Oh, Chris, it isn t that. God knows it isn t that. 
 I I am a man, and I " 
 
 "And you never can remember that I m a woman," 
 she interrupted with an unshrinking look. "It isn t 
 very fair of you, is it ? I am ten years more grown 
 up than you are, though I m only twenty-three ; and 
 I am ready for life to begin greedy for it greedy 
 for the hurts as well as for the other if it s with a 
 man I could love. What would you do in my place, 
 I ask you that ? Suppose you were lying here in a 
 dragon coat, and I was you what would you say 
 then, Matt?" 
 
 142 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 "Just what you ve said, of course." 
 
 "And mean it?" 
 
 "With all my heart." 
 
 "And would you be afraid ?" 
 
 "No, not a bit afraid." 
 
 "And wouldn t you rather risk everything than 
 than wait those three years three long, lonely 
 years?" 
 
 "Yes, I would, Chris it would be just the ques 
 tion whether you loved me well enough, wouldn t 
 it?" 
 
 "And I do." 
 
 "Chris?" 
 
 "Yes, dearest." 
 
 "It s settled then, isn t it?" 
 
 "That s for you to say." 
 
 "Me? I have said it." 
 
 She drew his head to her bosom. "The mouse was 
 some help after all," she murmured with a happy 
 little laugh. "Lion thought he was at the jumping- 
 off place, but mousie caught his beautiful, frightened 
 tail just in time though it took an awful big mouse- 
 pull to save him from going over and now she is 
 going to kiss him for being a stay-at-home work- 
 lion, and ready to fight the whole world rather than 
 let her go." 
 
 "It s going to be a hard business, Chris." 
 
 "I know it but you mustn t get discouraged." 
 
 "Manaswan is such a confoundedly small place; 
 but I know a good many people, and that s some- 
 
 143 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 thing. Anderson, the surveyor, might give me a job. 
 I know something of that, you know a great deal." 
 
 "Then there are the mills." 
 
 "All too skilled for me, I m afraid, and what s 
 worse unionized." 
 
 "And the fire department, as you said. A sailor 
 ought to make a good fire-laddie." 
 
 "That s a long shot politics, you know. Pretty 
 hopeless for an outsider to break in." 
 
 "The telephone company ?" 
 
 "Yes, I ll try them. The electric branch was very 
 thorough at the academy. I could take a dynamo to 
 pieces once, and, what s more, put it together again 
 and make it go." 
 
 "You see, you know lots more than you thought 
 you did." 
 
 "I ll get books out of the Y. M. C. A. library and 
 brush up a bit." 
 
 "Yes, do that, certainly." 
 
 "And there is Beckles Bank. Beckles is such a 
 funny old fellow, Chris insatiable about the 
 Islands, and specially about the girls. Has dreams 
 of going out there, I fancy, and turning Grand Turk, 
 the fat old scallawag. When I said the prettiest 
 women in the Pacific came from Manihiki and 
 Uahine, he carefully wrote down both names in a 
 little book, with the most owlish expression you 
 ever saw right in the middle of stocks and bonds 
 and mortgages." 
 
 "And Doty. Be sure and remember Mr. Doty, 
 144 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 Matt. He likes you awfully well; admires you, and 
 looks up to you tremendously." 
 
 "Oh, I ll manage somehow some way. And 
 then seventy-five dollars a month, and you!" 
 
 "But try to save every penny of what you have 
 and I ll begin saving my allowance. I don t want to 
 live at your horrid Mrs. Sattane s. We must have a 
 little home all of our own." 
 
 "Oh, Chris, when you say that it seems too good 
 to be true! I simply can t believe it." 
 
 "And in three years we ll turn out a dentist and go 
 live in New York, and perhaps sooner if papa comes 
 round." 
 
 "It s dreadful what a schemer he ll think me, 
 Chris. It almost makes me wish you didn t have all 
 that money." 
 
 "Not when he knows you gave up a fortune rather 
 than betray a friend. That isn t like a schemer, is 
 it? It will all settle itself, and the three of us will 
 live happily ever afterward for he s awfully gen 
 erous, too, Matt, and lovable and good and kind, and 
 when he knows it s love real love he ll melt and 
 in a year or two he ll think he s arranged it all him 
 self and be quite proud of it." 
 
 "Well, that s a long way off. The important thing 
 now is to land a pay-envelope every Saturday night, 
 isn t it?" 
 
 "Important? Oh, Matt, you just must!" 
 
 "And then you ll come really come? Chris, I 
 still can t believe it!" 
 
 145 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "You will when you ve got seventy-five dollars a 
 month." 
 
 "I may not even reach that all at once. God 
 knows, it may be hard to get forty." 
 
 "That will be a start, anyway, and if we do have 
 to wait a little my allowance will be mounting up." 
 
 "We shan t wait if I can help it. I ll turn the old 
 town upside down. Oh, Chris, with you to work for 
 what couldn t I do !" 
 
 She rewarded him with a pressure of her hand. 
 
 "I will make it up to you," she said. "All I can 
 give you is love, but you shall have more of it than 
 any man ever had before. Remember that to-mor 
 row, won t you, and think of our little home together 
 s just yours and mine if it s only two rooms." 
 
 Matt strode homeward in a state of indescribable 
 joy, though with many a care running blackly 
 through the bright woof of his hopes and raptures. 
 He was pledged to a desperate plan, and one that 
 would bring down on him a universal reproach ; such 
 a marriage would shake Manaswan to its founda 
 tions and unloose a torrent of gossip that would be 
 harder to endure than poverty itself. Alternately he 
 gloated over Chris fortune those "three smug old 
 houses" and then inconsistently wished them to the 
 devil. Matt was a proud man, and the thought of 
 being misrepresented and misjudged was more than 
 galling. What a humiliating figure he would cut 
 before her father when the inevitable day of reckon- 
 
 146 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 ing arrived! He would be seen as an adventurer 
 preying on innocence and wealth. Yet ever before 
 him, quickening his pulses and stirring him with de 
 light, was Chris herself, with upraised lips and quiv 
 ering body and misty, haunting eyes, all her young 
 womanhood his to take by the divinest of divine 
 rights. No wonder that his hands clenched ; that he 
 put by every doubt and scruple ; that his determina 
 tion was almost brutal in its intensity. He had 
 passed beyond the stage where he could give her up, 
 or even consider it. 
 
 The boarders, assembled at supper, found him at 
 first very backward and moody, while he found them 
 altogether unendurable. The mean dining-room, 
 with its prattling occupants, was purgatory to a man 
 in the throes of an elemental passion. There was 
 a new boarder, a heavy, gray-haired, deferential man 
 with a gold tooth, who was ceremoniously presented. 
 
 "Two good fellows ought to know each other," 
 said Mr. Price, taking it on himself to make the in 
 troduction. "Mr. Broughton Mr. Bates!" Matt 
 politely expressed his gratification, and the two good 
 fellows subsided into their respective seats. Mr. 
 Bates, as it appeared later, was spying out the land 
 for a shoe-factory site in the interests of the famous 
 Walk Eezee Shoe Company, and had been very 
 much impressed by the possibilities of Manas wan 
 yes, sir very much impressed. At this Matt waked 
 up and cultivated Mr. Bates as a potential dispenser 
 of jobs ; grew very animated and friendly ; and was 
 
 147 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 more than pleased to learn that the Walk Eezee Com 
 pany maintained the principle of the "open shop." 
 
 Here was certainly a chance for a non-union man 
 or a shadowy chance, anyhow and Matt, with 
 shoe-factory possibilities dancing in his head, ab 
 sorbed himself in the conquest of Mr. Bates. After 
 supper, over a pipe and a cigar, he continued the 
 good work, even broaching the subject tentatively, 
 and receiving encouragement. A new factory a 
 Walk Eezee factory was a big enterprise, with 
 plenty of opportunities for energetic young men. 
 The trouble, indeed, was to find them chaps with 
 initiative and brains and stick-at-itiveness, who could 
 "handle labor." Mr. Bates would be glad to put him 
 "in the way of something" ; wrote down his name in 
 a large, greasy note-book ; it mightn t be very much, 
 but "enough to get his teeth in." Mr. Bates, with 
 his own gold one very much in evidence, repeated 
 that the great thing was to get your teeth in the 
 rest was easy and sure if you had the needful ability. 
 
 With a feeling that he already had a bull-doggish 
 grip on the shoe business, Matt said good night and 
 went up to his room, more than satisfied with his 
 evening s work. As he lit a match, however, and 
 touched it to the gas, he was confronted by a sight 
 that drove all these reflections from his head. The 
 mattress was tumbled and bare ; the bureau-drawers 
 were open ; his clothes were strewn about everywhere 
 in pell-mell confusion, and his cheap blue ulster lay 
 slashed and destroyed, with every inch of its lining 
 
 148 
 
THE KEY TO PARADISE 
 
 torn away and littering the floor in melancholy rib 
 bons. 
 
 The room had been searched in his absence, and 
 the moment he recovered from his astonishment 
 he knew by whom. They had been there, seeking a 
 clue, a scrap of paper, anything that might put them 
 on John Mort s track. Impelled by an unaccountable 
 instinct he ran to the window and looked out. There 
 below him under the street lamp were two men in 
 close conversation. All at once they turned and 
 gazed upward, revealing the faces of Mr. Bates and 
 Mr. Kay ; and then they passed on and were lost in 
 the dim street. 
 
 149 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DISCHARGED 
 
 THE next morning Matt was scarcely surprised 
 to learn that Mr. Bates had departed. The rep 
 resentative of the Walk Eezee Shoe Company was 
 no more in any boarder sense and all that re 
 mained of him was a two-dollar bill on his dresser, 
 and Miss Gibbs recollection of sundry creakings and 
 tiptoeings in the middle of the night. Yes, he had 
 vanished, that quiet, deferential, gray-haired per 
 son with the gold tooth, and with him also vanished 
 Matt s job in the mythical shoe factory. The mar 
 veling boarders would have marveled more could 
 they have known of Matt s devastated room ; but this 
 he kept to himself, and professed to be as much in 
 the dark about Mr. Bates as any one else. 
 
 Afterward he sallied forth in his best clothes, 
 and as spruce and well-groomed as he could make 
 himself, to offer his services in what Mr. Price 
 called, not without sarcasm, "the busy marts of 
 trade." The first busy mart was Mr. Beckles bank, 
 a small brick structure with plate-glass windows and 
 a red-headed cashier in a cage. Mr. Beckles received 
 Matt effusively in an inner office, proffered a chair, 
 and seemed readier than ever to talk about South 
 
 150 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 Sea maids, and the respective allurements of Mani- 
 hiki and Uahine. The stout old dreamer was frankly 
 and unpleasantly gross, and with many winks and 
 nudges made Matt an unwilling confederate in his 
 fantastic imaginings. They were to sail away to 
 gether, in some undetermined manner, and at some 
 undetermined date, and acquire a bevy of beauty that 
 would stagger Mahomet; to live thenceforth like the 
 patriarchs, waited on by the loveliest of naked 
 nymphs, and fanned to sleep in the arms of their 
 favorites. Hey, it would be great, wouldn t it ? Hey, 
 they d do it, so help him Moses ! 
 
 Matt, though far from squeamish, was disagree 
 ably affected by all this. The atrocious hypocrisy of 
 the old fellow jarred on him, for Mr. Beckles was a 
 pillar of the church, and outwardly at least main 
 tained a rigid respectability. It was hardly a compli 
 ment, moreover, that his own acquiescence should be 
 taken for granted. He would have been wiser in his 
 own interest had he pretended to a greater enthusi 
 asm lingered over and amplified these voluptuous 
 fancies with his fuller knowledge pictured the 
 thing somewhat to Mr. Beckles incomplete though 
 glowing imagination, and given reality to those 
 phantom brown odalisques. Instead, he switched off 
 to the subject of his job with a suddenness that made 
 the Great Turk crimson to the ears and assume an 
 expression of detected guilt. 
 
 Matt left, not only without a job, but with the 
 consciousness of an active ill-will behind him. He 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 was disquieted, too, to learn that, in spite of his re 
 iterated denials, he was regarded as a rich man ; and 
 if not actually a kanaka king, had the reputation of 
 owning vast and far-away estates in the South Pa 
 cific. Given a romantic past and some personal at 
 tractiveness, how easy it is, with a dollar thrown 
 away here and there, to raise such picturesque illu 
 sions. The difficulty, indeed, is to avoid inspiring 
 them. Mr. Beckles had been shocked really shocked 
 and bitterly offended, too, at the truth. He would 
 have parted easily with a thousand dollars to a 
 swindler, but for the honest man, in dire need of 
 work, he had nothing save a curt good day. 
 
 In Anderson s office Matt experienced a similar 
 social tumble and a similar rejection. The engineer 
 was at first incredulous, and then downright rude, 
 for he, also, had a shattered illusion. As Matt 
 left, flushed with anger, and in Anderson s eyes 
 a convicted cheat, he perceived that he had a 
 better chance with strangers than with those he 
 deemed his friends. The telephone superintend 
 ent, to whom he applied next, had no acquaint 
 ance with him and in consequence was quite 
 civil. Courtesy was about all he had to offer, 
 for the company was "full up" and had "men to 
 burn." With this forceful colloquialism Matt was 
 speeded on his way again, to try for a spot where the 
 fires of commerce burned less brightly. That spot, 
 however, was not the Western Union, nor the Buf 
 falo Brewery, nor the Excelsior Planing Mill, nor 
 
 152 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 the People s Ice Works, to which in turn he made un 
 availing application. 
 
 Of course he could have gone to Daggancourt, but 
 at that his pride drew the line. The old mulatto, 
 considering himself deeply ill-used, had shrunk into 
 his shell, and adopted a mien of frozen reproach. 
 He had even ceased to greet Matt any longer, pre 
 tending to look the other way when they met, or as 
 suming an abstracted expression in which there was 
 not the slightest glint of recognition. In a very 
 quiet, wooden-Indian manner, Matt had been "cut," 
 and he was human enough and foolish enough to 
 resent it, although he knew that with two words and 
 an outstretched hand he could instantly have recov 
 ered the old fellow s friendship. The fact that he 
 was beginning to need it made him all the more per 
 verse. This was illogical and unkind, for Victor 
 had ample reason to be wounded, while Matt had 
 none. 
 
 He sought out Mr. Doty instead little, flattered, 
 eager Mr. Doty, who certainly must have concealed 
 angels wings under his threadbare coat. Mr. Doty 
 was sympathetic; Mr. Doty understood; there was 
 no social tumble on his study carpet, but a very 
 practical consideration of Matt s unhappy circum 
 stances. 
 
 It seemed that it was Mr. Doty s principal occupa 
 tion to find jobs for the jobless ; in Matt s case noth 
 ing could be simpler; the sea for the sailor, of 
 course, and they would go right off to his good 
 
 153 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 friend, Captain Jim Bain, who owned half the coast 
 ing craft out of 
 
 Oh, but Matt wished to stay in Manaswan! Oh, 
 the old story I see, I see a young lady, and all 
 the rest of it! Well, well, well! Let Mr. Doty 
 think, let Mr. Doty think ! 
 
 Half an hour afterward Matt was formally en 
 gaged as physical instructor to the Young Men s 
 Christian Association at a salary of sixty dollars a 
 month. It was a struggling institution, situated in 
 what had lately been a disreputable hotel and dance 
 place, and so near the mills that it perpetually shiv 
 ered with the whir of machinery. Unlike its sisters 
 elsewhere, the Manaswan Y. M. C. A. was poorly 
 supported, either by the moneyed people of the town 
 or the horde of illiterate foreigners whom it was in 
 tended to uplift; and it wore a dejected aspect, like 
 that of a forlorn hope whose courage had oozed 
 away at the sight of the enemy. 
 
 Mr. Cummins, the superintendent, a very low- 
 voiced young man with eye-glasses, laid less stress 
 on Matt s capabilities as a physical instructor than 
 whether he would be prepared to "help out." That 
 had been the trouble with the previous instructors 
 they wouldn t "help out." Diplomas and degrees 
 were all right, but what Mr. Cummins really wanted 
 was a young man that would "help out." "Cheer 
 fully," added Mr. Cummins, with an air of extreme 
 depression, as though burdening the camel with the 
 
 154 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 last straw. Would Matt help out cheerfully? Matt 
 promptly replied that he would, and smiling broadly 
 to prove it, inquired for a more precise definition of 
 helping out. 
 
 This, it seemed, included washing the gymnasium 
 windows, scrubbing the gymnasium floor, drying the 
 bathing suits, cleansing the swimming tank, checking 
 the towels, doing whatever painting or varnishing 
 was required in the building, oiling and cleaning a 
 dozen typewriter machines, and volunteering 
 cheerfully for any further services that might be 
 needed. 
 
 Matt s answers were so satisfactory that he soon 
 found himself on the roof, in a suit of borrowed over 
 alls, assisting a deaf and dumb Swede in reshingling 
 it. Here, high above the street, and with a superb 
 view of the flashing dam that provided the mills 
 with power, he crawled over the roof with his mouth 
 full of nails, and perched himself on the edge of 
 eternity. The deaf and dumb instructions were hard 
 to follow ; moreover, they were impatient, and often 
 accompanied by scornful jabs that were calculated 
 to land him in the street ; but Matt held on tight, 
 and even burst out laughing at the absurdity of his 
 position. 
 
 By degrees he won deaf and dumb approval ; got 
 some pats on the back; and soon was sharing an 
 amiable pipe and pounding nails unmolested. He 
 had been so long idle that the work was enjoyable ; 
 he whistled as he thought of his sixty dollars a 
 
 155 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 month; before long, what with "helping out," and 
 "cheerfulness," it would be augmented to seventy- 
 five, and then ! Hammer, hammer, hammer 
 everything was coming his way. Hammer, hammer, 
 hammer if only Chris could see him now! Ham 
 mer, hammer, hammer and it was a lot to be young 
 and vigorous and alive, and it would all happen just 
 as she said it would. 
 
 At six they knocked off and descended through 
 the skylight to the ghostly, silent interior below. 
 Matt reported at the ofHce and was told to return at 
 seven-thirty for his classes. Mr. Cummins had 
 thawed perceptibly ; a physical instructor who could 
 shingle was a gratifying acquisition; he gave Matt a 
 dog-eared volume entitled Simple Gymnastics, to 
 gether with a chart representing the different posi 
 tions for Holt s Manly Exerciser. It was tacitly 
 assumed that Matt s knowledge needed refreshing, 
 which indeed was so much the case that he hurried 
 through his supper at a ten-cent restaurant in order 
 to fortify himself for what was to come. 
 
 He returned to find the gymnasium swarming 
 with young Hungarians in black tights and singlets, 
 and the swimming tank beyond crowded with hi 
 larious bathers. His "classes" were going on merrily 
 without him, and his appearance in their midst 
 seemed almost an intrusion. Black legs were swing 
 ing over trapezes ; panting youngsters were pulling 
 at the exercisers along the wall; others were con 
 torting themselves on mattresses, or turning frantic 
 
 156 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 somersaults; the punching-bag was reverberating 
 loudly, and about it rose a quarrelsome outcry, as 
 half a dozen tried to get to it at once. The athletic 
 side of the Y. M. C. A. was well patronized, how 
 ever small the attendance might be in the other de 
 partments. 
 
 Matt moved about, wondering what he was to do, 
 and finally decided not to do anything beyond keep 
 ing order and encouraging some of the more back 
 ward. Whenever he saw any one looking at all help 
 less and abashed in the general pandemonium, he 
 went up to him and started him pulling at a Holt s 
 Manly Exerciser. He stopped a fist fight and sent 
 the culprits home; stopped a good deal of more 
 or less boisterous horseplay, and gradually asserted 
 a quiet but effective authority. They were a very 
 manageable set, taking it all in all, much more so 
 than the same number of young Americans would 
 have been, and when Mr. Cummins arrived on a 
 flying visit to see how the new instructor was get 
 ting on, Matt was not a little pleased to be com 
 mended. 
 
 By ten the gymnasium was clear, and he was free 
 to return home, which he did with the Simple Gym 
 nastics under his arm and the chart of the Manly 
 Exerciser in his pocket the tiredest man in Manas- 
 wan, and the happiest. He had got a job; he had 
 already won praise; he foresaw promotion and 
 Chris ! He sat down and scratched off a glad little 
 note; the good news was too big to keep; Chris 
 
 157 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 should learn by the morning s mail that he had been 
 unexpectedly gloriously successful. 
 
 At breakfast there was one from her, which he 
 tore open and read with a sickening, deadly disap 
 pointment. It ran : 
 
 "DEAREST : 
 
 "It did not seem right not to tell papa, and now 
 all that is left of me is a poor, limp little 
 coward in the blackest disgrace. It was worse 
 than his being cross I could have stood that but 
 he took it dreadfully more than I can ever bring 
 myself to tell you. I have promised not to see you 
 for three whole months, and not to write to you 
 again, except this, and I promised for you, too to 
 do the same. Please, please don t blame me too 
 much or reproach me. I had no choice, really I had 
 not, and even the three months was a tremendous 
 concession. He insisted I would forget you in 
 three months, and it seemed wiser to take it as a sort 
 of challenge, specially when he said I would be 
 grateful to him all the days of my life. I must just 
 show him that three months won t make the least, 
 tiny difference and then say, Papa, I can t help it, 
 but I love him more than ever. My darling, I will, 
 I will, I will, and do not doubt it or my heart will 
 break. He has a right to know that it is serious, 
 hasn t he ? That s what he said, over and over again, 
 till I gave way. It commits him to admitting it 
 afterward, and will leave him without any argu 
 ment. At any rate, I shall obey him for these three 
 months, and then if he doesn t change, you can come 
 and get me. 
 
 "I am determined not to wait a minute longer 
 
 158 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 than that, papa or no papa, and what you must do is 
 to work hard, and be able to support us when the 
 time comes. I have to take your answer for granted 
 as I solemnly promised you would not write to me. 
 Please don t, my darling, for otherwise you will add 
 to my disgrace and make papa think I have no in 
 fluence with you. 
 
 "We re going to Washington to-day so that I may 
 be distracted. I shall be that in all truth, but not in 
 papa s sense, and with a heart like lead at leaving 
 you. Don t blame me too much, for I love him, too, 
 you know, better than anything in the world except 
 you. Try not to feel too badly, and remember I 
 shall be thinking of you every minute of the time. 
 I dread to stop as I have said everything so badly, 
 but it is not the you I love if you do not under 
 stand. You will, won t you? And love me better 
 than ever, and don t forget that I will come. 
 
 "CHRIS." 
 
 Matt re-read the letter many times, and his first 
 sensation of utter abandonment imperceptibly altered 
 to a more sanguine view. They were both saved, at 
 least, the shame of a clandestine affair, with its un 
 avoidable and mortifying discovery. Better to tell 
 the general than to let him find out Chris had been 
 right there bravely right. Maybe she had shown 
 good sense, too, in conceding the three months, how 
 ever bitter they might be to live through. Yes, he 
 "understood" very well. Chris had accepted in the 
 spirit of a test, and the general would find it im 
 possible to impose new conditions. It was much to 
 be thankful for that he had not made it a year. It 
 
 159 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 would have been so easy for him to make it a year. 
 Three months would give Matt time to solidify his 
 position in the Y. M. C. A., and apply leverage to 
 that sixty dollars a month; the world that loved a 
 lover surely included Mr. Cummins ; besides, a help 
 ing-out, cheerful instructor would soon be worth 
 that extra fifteen. 
 
 No, all was not lost, though it was a smarting, 
 jealous business to have Chris whisked away to be 
 courted and run after in Washington. He choked at 
 the thought, and raged afresh at his own impotence 
 and poverty. Who was he to hold such a woman 
 young, beautiful, and an heiress? She would meet 
 better men every day, and could not but contrast 
 them with himself. Her father would always be at 
 hand, that cool, shrewd, implacable father, for ever 
 inclining the scales against him. Yet there was 
 something steadfast in Chris that it was immensely 
 comforting to recall, something frank and fearless 
 and smilingly resolute. She had contributed all the 
 courage, had made all the plans. His own part had 
 been one of helplessness throughout, and obedience 
 to a braver will humiliating reflections, but not 
 without reassurance. All he had was love, and he 
 had lain like a dog at her feet, leaving the rest to 
 her. That s how it had been the brains, the initia 
 tive, the contriving all hers. Why, then, should he 
 doubt her now? Analyzed, it seemed very foolish. 
 His evident duty was to carry out her instructions, 
 and get seventy-five dollars a month. That was 
 
 1 60 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 what the braver will had decreed, and he should set 
 himself to it, faithfully, unquestioningly. 
 
 He took the road to the Young Men s Christian 
 Association with a dogged determination not to bor 
 row trouble, studying the Simple Gymnastics on 
 the way, and cramming what he could of it into his 
 seething and tormented head. Stopping at a store, 
 in accordance with Mr. Cummins request of over 
 night, he chose a suit of overalls and the regulation 
 tights and singlet which were charged and a 
 couple of coarse, blue flannel shirts which he paid 
 for- and went on, with the parcel under his arm. 
 
 He changed his clothes in the gymnasium, which 
 was as lifeless as the rest of the building, and applied 
 himself vigorously to his task. In a couple of hours 
 the floors had been scrubbed, the windows cleaned, 
 the apparatus polished, the bathing suits set out in 
 long lines to dry, and the tank ready for a new in 
 flux of young mill hands. Then he went up to join 
 the deaf and dumb Swede on the roof, who greeted 
 him with inarticulate cries, like those of a walrus on 
 a rock, and a welcoming wave of the hammer. Matt 
 crawled over, shook hands, lit his pipe, and was soon 
 shingling with a professional deliberation, not to 
 say slowness, that his companion insisted on. 
 
 Thus the long day passed, and the busy, noisy 
 evening came and went, and one s head was no 
 sooner on the pillow than it seemed time to rise 
 again. The days that followed were all alike, and 
 by degrees the world contracted till it consisted of 
 
 161 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 nothing but the Y. M. C. A. at one end and Mrs. 
 Sattane s at the other, with a mile of streets between. 
 Yet Matt was not unhappy; you need leisure to be 
 unhappy; and he was sustained, moreover, by a de 
 termination to succeed. That he was doing so was 
 indubitable; Mr. Cummins was friendliness itself; 
 Mr. Phelps and Mr. Stader, the assistants, had been 
 taught to swim, and were correspondingly grateful; 
 that vague, impressive body, "the directors," had 
 been statistically cheered by an increased attendance, 
 which included a "business men s class," that swung 
 dumb-bells and moved to music every Tuesday and 
 Friday night 
 
 Altogether, the new instructor had good reason 
 to be satisfied, and might look forward to a raise in 
 salary as something he had well earned. He would 
 not overreach himself, however, by asking for it 
 prematurely; he was too wary for that, and was 
 playing for too big a stake. With only three weeks 
 gone from the three months, he felt he had no time 
 to spare. 
 
 The change in his circumstances had cost him 
 much of his former social popularity, and as he was 
 at no pains to preserve the little that remained he 
 was soon dropped by those who had once entertained 
 and run after him. The young women of his ac 
 quaintance were less snobbish than their parents, and 
 some strove hard to keep him, even though he had 
 fallen so far from his bygone glory; but he had 
 no time to pay calls or go to parties; no money to 
 
 162 
 
DISCHARGED 
 
 spend, and was wholly engrossed in the one single- 
 hearted purpose of his life. They might write him 
 scented notes, or waylay him on the street, but noth 
 ing could lure him back; and several pretty faces 
 grew very overcast indeed, and finally passed him by 
 with their pretty noses in the air. It cost him a 
 pang, of course; Matt would not have been human 
 if it had not ; but he had to concentrate every faculty 
 in qualifying for that seventy-five a month, and sav 
 ing what he could of his sixty. So socially he died, 
 and was buried, and Manaswan knew him no more. 
 
 One morning Mr. Cummins called him into the 
 office, and fidgeting with some papers in his hand, re 
 garded Matt with considerable embarrassment. 
 
 "I m afraid I have bad news for you," he said, in 
 his very low voice. "I have been told to let you go." 
 
 "Discharge me?" exclaimed Matt, unable to be 
 lieve his ears. "You don t mean that I am fired?" 
 
 Mr. Cummins nodded, with an expression almost 
 as woebegone as Matt s. "It s none of my doing, 
 Broughton," he explained. "You are the best man 
 I have ever had in that department, and it came like 
 a thunderclap to me. It s worse than unjust, and I 
 said so flat out but orders are orders, and I am only 
 the paid superintendent under the board." 
 
 "But what do they complain of?" 
 
 Mr. Cummins hesitated. 
 
 "The funny thing is that I don t know," he re 
 plied at last. "I couldn t get a reason out of one of 
 them. But somehow they are prejudiced against 
 
 163 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 you, have instructed me to dismiss you at once. 
 Your only means of getting back at them is to de 
 mand a full month s salary, and if I were you, I 
 would do it, and sue them if they refuse." 
 
 Matt s lip curled. "Give me what I have earned," 
 he said. "To take more would be like robbing the 
 poor-box. If I m out I m out and that s the end 
 of it." 
 
 "A very Christian way to take it, Broughton a 
 very Christian and praiseworthy way to take it. Get 
 your things, and Mr. Phelps will settle with you at 
 the desk." 
 
 Matt was settled with at the desk by Mr. Phelps, 
 and left the building with a check for forty-seven dol 
 lars, a paper package containing his overalls, a flan 
 nel shirt, his black tights and singlet, and within his 
 breast a heavy and anxious heart. The world was 
 before him again, and that seventy-five dollars was 
 farther away than ever. 
 
 164 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 FORLORN and discouraged, Matt sought out 
 the only man in Manaswan that he could rely 
 on. He needed more than a job ; he needed a friend, 
 and where else was he more likely to find one than in 
 Victor s garage ? 
 
 Daggancourt was working over a car, and it was 
 not until he had been nudged by a helper that he 
 straightened himself, and recognized Matt. He tried 
 to look unconcerned, but there was a telltale quiver 
 of the cheek, and a startled, constrained air about 
 him which showed his agitation. He grasped Matt s 
 extended hand in both his own and bent his gray old 
 head to hide his emotion. 
 
 "We ve both been fools, Victor," said Matt. "I 
 was ashamed to tell you that they had stolen my 
 money yes, got clean away with it in San Francisco 
 and then you took it all wrong and froze up like 
 a silly old iceberg. I wasn t very considerate, I ll 
 admit, and I m sorry, and " 
 
 "That s all right, Marse Broughton," interrupted 
 the mulatto, lapsing into a broader accent than was 
 his wont. "A gentleman can t say more than he s 
 sorry, and God knows you have made me mighty 
 
 165 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 glad and thankful. I didn t understand, that s all 
 I didn t understand." 
 
 "I m pretty hard pushed, Victor. Can you find 
 me anything here?" 
 
 "Find you anything here, sir?" 
 
 "Yes, a job. It needn t be anything much to be 
 gin with. Let me wash cars anything." 
 
 "Is it as bad as that, Marse Broughton?" 
 
 Daggancourt was shocked, and slowly took in 
 Matt s shabby appearance and his tanned, careworn 
 face. "Well, if that doesn t break me all up to hear 
 you say that." 
 
 "Can you make room for me ?" 
 
 The mulatto reflected. 
 
 "It isn t much of a business," he said, indicating 
 the garage. "It don t pay like mules but if you 
 care to come in as partner, you can have half of 
 what there is." 
 
 "But I haven t a cent, Victor. I didn t mean any 
 thing like that. I meant a job two dollars a day, 
 perhaps." 
 
 "I didn t expect any money, Marse Broughton. 
 You misjudge me when you say that. They call me 
 a cranky old nigger, and it may be I am, but I am 
 most awful cranky in liking you and if you are 
 willing, sure I am." 
 
 The generosity of the offer overcame Matt, but 
 he could not bring himself to take advantage of it. 
 The garage, small as it was, represented the savings 
 of years; and to appropriate half and give nothing 
 
 1 66 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 but his unskilled services in return was simply im 
 possible. It was finally arranged, however, that he 
 was to be engaged at seventy-five dollars a month 
 as "demonstrator" of the Jonesmobile, with a per 
 centage on all sales he might make. 
 
 Victor had recently acquired the agency for this 
 vehicle, which was a spidery, buggy contrivance on 
 carriage wheels that sold for four hundred and fifty 
 dollars and was supposed to make a peculiar appeal 
 to farmers. Even to Matt s unpracticed eyes it had 
 a queer look, as though it had lost its Buggins and 
 was wondering what had become of its shafts; but 
 Daggancourt was technically enthusiastic and 
 prophesied vast possibilities. A Jonesmobile could 
 climb anything, and go anywhere, and had an ex 
 tension back that would hold a calf or a sack of po 
 tatoes. It could also be jacked up to churn butter, 
 or saw wood, or do the family washing; and there 
 was a little book with pictures of it performing 
 these prodigies and winning universal esteem. 
 Farmers were quoted who "did not know how they 
 had ever got along without it," and others whose 
 annual repair bills varied from twelve to forty-nine 
 cents; and there were unblushing accounts of con 
 tinental trips and the ascent of Pike s Peak by this 
 barnyard favorite in its off hours. 
 
 Matt s instructions began at once, and very de 
 lightful and inspiring it was, too, as he hung over 
 Daggancourt, elucidating mysteries, and asking a 
 pupil s innumerable questions. Occasionally cars 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ran in that required gasolene or water, or a small 
 adjustment, or a tire changed and then Matt be 
 stirred himself to be useful, if only it were to pump 
 till he was crimson, or hand tools to Mack or Louey. 
 With his seventy-five dollars assured, an interest 
 ing occupation before him, and a partnership when 
 ever he chose to take it he felt that all his troubles 
 were over and that his foot at last was on the ladder 
 of independence. He was in a glow of contentment 
 and good-will; Daggancourt, the Jonesmobile, the 
 lathes and drills, and the whole long, low, dark 
 garage was seen in the reflection of that inner sun 
 shine. Sitting in the climber of Pike s Peak, and 
 teetering to and fro under the guidance of a black 
 paw, he leaped in imagination to fortune and to 
 Chris. 
 
 Before the week was out he was a full-fledged 
 "demonstrator" and able to run the Jonesmobile al 
 most as well as he could talk it. He knew all aoout 
 batteries now, and buzzers, and check valves, and 
 commutators and frozen gears, and had accumu 
 lated memories of lonely roads and long walks to 
 the nearest telephone for help. Sometimes it was 
 the Jonesmobile s fault, though often as not his, and 
 many a big laugh went up in the garage at his ex 
 pense. He swept daily over the countryside, with 
 his lunch in the tool-box, and stopped at every likely 
 farm-house with an invitation for a ride. 
 
 He made an excellent salesman ; the women liked 
 his good-looking face and pleasant manners; the 
 
 1 68 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 men, while they victimized him without mercy, never 
 ruffled his patience nor extorted from him an angry 
 word. Lean old grafters with no more intention of 
 buying a Jonesmobile than an airship were carried 
 hundreds of miles and regularly saved up their town 
 errands till they could get "that there city feller 
 with the benzine buggy." They would lead him on 
 with a beautifully pretended indecision, and then 
 would be found in a competitor s car, shamelessly 
 repeating the performance. 
 
 Matt, too, was poorly supported by the Jones- 
 mobile. Nothing ever went wrong with it as long 
 as it bore one of these amiable swindlers, but once 
 there was a genuine, eager, would-be purchaser in 
 the seat its tendency was to sputter and give out. 
 It seemed to save up every disaster for these rare 
 occasions; wheels came off, spark-plugs cracked, 
 carburetors decided to carburet no more as the 
 sale was on the eve of being clenched. 
 
 But, everything considered, Matt did very well. 
 In eighteen days he sold two cars, pocketing a 
 ten-dollar commission on each. Victor was jubi 
 lant; keep up that record and they would be rich; 
 keep up that record and in a year they might sell 
 out and go to mule-raising. The old fellow still 
 dreamed of Kentucky and that little cabin in the 
 blue hills. 
 
 It was an agreeable gypsy sort of life. It had the 
 open-air charm of a bandit s, with none of the risk, 
 but the same possibilities of sudden rich prizes. A 
 *.. 169 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 thousand farms invited attack, and the prowling 
 Jonesmobile, often in the guise of a wayfarer want 
 ing the right road, or the favor of a glass of milk, 
 insinuated itself into many a defenseless household. 
 It was part of Matt s policy, also, to give a lift to 
 any trudging, weary figure on foot ; to pick up chil 
 dren on their way to school or home ; to take advan 
 tage of every opportunity to offer assistance and a 
 copy of the little book. Spring was well advanced ; 
 all nature was green and budding; it was exhilarat 
 ing to dart along in the Jonesmobile, making strange 
 acquaintances and looking for adventures, and never 
 knowing what there might be in store at the next 
 turn of the road. 
 
 It was sad, indeed, when it came to an end. One 
 evening, after supper, Daggancourt took Matt to 
 one side and with profound depression said that it 
 was "all up." 7 
 
 "It came like a bum-shell," he quavered. "You 
 know, I started the business on nothing, four years 
 ago, and borrowed twenty-five hundred dollars of 
 old Farelly, the money-lender, at twelve per cent. 
 The banks wouldn t have looked at it, for all I had 
 was a kit of tools and a name for being honest, and 
 it was Farelly s own idea when the place came under 
 the hammer. I had worked for him once, and he 
 had taken a fancy to me, often saying that no Jew 
 ought to throw stones at a colored man ; so that was 
 how I got the garage, and I met the interest every 
 month, right to the last cent every month, for 
 
 170 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 four years, as regular as clockwork, though I never 
 managed to get ahead much on the principal, and 
 mighty pressed at times to manage that." 
 
 "Well, go on/ said Matt, as Victor choked back 
 a sob. 
 
 "I thought he was a very fine man/ the latter 
 continued. "There was nobody I looked up to like 
 old Mr. Farelly, and though folks spoke against 
 him, and called him a Shylock, I knew better for 
 if it hadn t been for him I should still have been 
 working for wages. Twelve per cent, was mighty 
 high, but not too high, considering the security, 
 which didn t amount to a hill of beans and I never 
 grudged a penny of the interest and paid it most 
 pleased and grateful. Now to-day he comes up to 
 me and says, old Farelly does out of a clear sky, 
 and without the least warning, just as he was writ 
 ing the receipt in my office with a fountain-pen : I 
 have to call in that twenty-five hundred, Victor, and 
 will ask you to make an immediate settlement. I 
 said: Marse Farelly, that isn t fair; as God sees 
 us, that isn t fair, and I could no more do it than I 
 could fly/ Then he flubbles with his fountain-pen, 
 and sticks it back most careful in his vest-pocket, 
 and says : Then you ll have to get out ! " 
 
 "And didn t he make any explanation?" 
 
 "No, Marse Broughton, he did not make any ex 
 planation, though when I thought of the little busi 
 ness, and of you doing so splendidly with the Jones- 
 mobile, and perhaps our going away together to 
 
 171 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Kentucky, I almost went down on my knees to him. 
 It s hard for a man to demean himself get right 
 down and eat dirt but I did it, Marse Broughton, 
 and I pleaded and begged something awful, for the 
 business is just beginning to pay, and it was almost 
 like I had been robbed of it. In the eyes of God I 
 am being robbed of it, for it s mine, and Ought to 
 stay mine as long as I paid his interest, which I did, 
 month in, month out, no matter how it pinched. 
 But he wouldn t listen to a word, Marse Broughton 
 not a word, though I got out the books and 
 wanted to show him in black and white how well I 
 stood. But he pushed them away, saying money 
 talks/ and what he wanted was his, or I d be sold 
 up." 
 
 Matt s attention was disturbed by a thought that 
 grew and grew more insistent as the mulatto poured 
 out the tale of Farelly s amazing perfidy. He re 
 membered his singular dismissal from the Y. M. 
 C. A. and, incredible as it might seem, asked him 
 self whether there was not some connection between 
 it and this unexpected catastrophe ; and whether be 
 hind both there was not, somehow or other, a mys 
 terious connection with Mr. Kay. With a dawning 
 fear of something deeper and more underhanded in 
 the old money-lender s action than Victor had any 
 idea of, he interrupted the latter to make certain 
 that Farelly had left the garage without offering the 
 least compromise. 
 
 "He didn t give me as much as a pin-hole to crawl 
 172 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 through," Daggancourt explained explosively. "Not 
 a week s grace nothing but just get right out and 
 be damned, and shoving away the books like they 
 burned his skinny old fingers. But listen, Marse 
 Broughton, that ain t the end of it. There s worse 
 than that." 
 
 "Worse?" cried Matt, unable to conceive how it 
 could be worse, and more perplexed than ever. 
 
 "As soon as he was gone, I reached for my hat 
 and made a bee-line for P. R. Powell," continued 
 Victor. "He s the one who wanted to buy me out 
 for sixteen hundred dollars cash and take over Fa- 
 relly s notes. Been at me for two months past, 
 plaguing and pestering to beat the band. Well, 
 what do you think when I got to the Delmonico 
 garage where he s foreman! Hemmed and hawed, 
 he did, and couldn t make it more than seven hun 
 dred. Had been tipped off, don t you see, and knew 
 that Farelly was going to put me on the street! I 
 would have traded at sixteen hundred and been glad 
 of it thankful, Marse Broughton, to have saved 
 that much from the wreck. But seven hundred! 
 Good God, perhaps I ought to have took it. But I 
 just couldn t I just couldn t." 
 
 "I believe I can get you out of this," said Matt. 
 "It may be crazy, but let s try it. Here, I ll write 
 it on the back of an envelope." 
 
 Victor was astounded; his face, as withered as 
 old leather, screwed itself up into a thousand 
 wrinkles. "Try what?" he demanded. 
 
 173 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "You sit down and copy this off, and have it in 
 his letter-box inside of an hour: 
 
 " DEAR MR. FARELLY : 
 
 " Looking back on our interview, I fear I was 
 not in a state best to explain the prosperous condi 
 tion of the garage, or how, really unwise it would 
 be in your own interests to terminate my connection 
 with it. The fact was that I was very much upset 
 by another matter, a row I had had with my demon 
 strator shortly before you came in. This fellow 
 Broughton acted abominably, and I had to threaten 
 him with a constable before he would go, and after 
 ward he came back again, and tried to clean out the 
 shop with a piece of lead pipe. Excuse me for both 
 ering you with all this, but I am sure that if you 
 will let me bring you the books, and show you how 
 well the garage is going, you will reconsider your 
 wish to call in the note. Our agency prospects are 
 very bright, and the sale of two Jonesmobiles in 
 eighteen days speaks for itself. I feel positive I can 
 satisfy you in regard to everything, if you will only 
 be so very kind as to let me come and go over the 
 figures. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, 
 
 " VICTOR DAGGANCOURT. 
 
 "And I m to write him that?" asked the mulatto, 
 taking the envelope, which had been torn open and 
 was scribbled all over looking from it to Matt 
 with an expression of utter bewilderment. "Sakes 
 alive, Marse Broughton, what in the name of good 
 ness do you want me to do that for?" 
 
 "Because I think I know what s the matter with 
 174 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 Mr. Farelly. I may be wrong, but I believe the 
 whole scheme is simply to get me out of my job. 
 That s why I put in the lead pipe and all that and 
 mind you, stick to it, Victor, for all you re worth." 
 
 "But why should Farelly do that? Excuse me, 
 Marse Broughton, but you re all off. I might as 
 will send him a picture post-card of the Masonic 
 building as this here letter." 
 
 "You try it and see." 
 
 "But what s your job got to do with Mr. Farelly? 
 Or why should he care one way or the other?" 
 
 "Victor, I m in deeper waters than I dare tell 
 you. Mind, I may be wrong about Farelly, but 
 don t you think he s acting very strangely?" 
 
 "Most certainly he is, Marse Broughton. "Cut 
 ting off his nose to spite his face, as one might say. 
 No sense to it at all." 
 
 "What motive could he have in turning on you 
 like that?" 
 
 "None that I can make out though if I might 
 venture to ask " 
 
 "Ask what? Goon." 
 
 Victor seemed afraid to answer. 
 
 "You re acting kind of queer, too," he said at last, 
 with a touch of querulousness. "What do you mean 
 by those deeper waters ?" 
 
 "That there is more in this than appears on the 
 surface." 
 
 "Marse Broughton, can t you trust me?" 
 
 "Trust you? Of course I trust you. Only " 
 175 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Only what, sir?" 
 
 "Victor, it s like this; I have got hold of a little 
 piece of a big secret something extraordinary, in 
 explicable, involving the best friend I have in the 
 world; and I am on my honor to him to keep my 
 mouth shut. If it wasn t for that promise, I d tell 
 you everything." 
 
 "Oh, Marse Broughton, that s enough it was 
 that I took you up wrong, you saying deeper waters 
 like a slap in my face. I m sorry I was so touchy." 
 
 "Don t mention it. It was only that I wanted you 
 to understand that was all." 
 
 "Sure I do now, Marse Broughton." 
 
 "Well, Victor, this friend of mine has enemies 
 people with apparently unlimited money, who first 
 tried to buy what I know; and then tried to frighten 
 it out of me; and now, do you know what I am 
 tempted to think?" 
 
 "What, sir?" 
 
 "That they are trying to starve me into submis 
 sion." 
 
 "You believe they are back* of old Mr. Farelly 
 that it was their doing calling in his notes ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "To ruin me for no other purpose than hitting at 
 you?" 
 
 "That s my idea." 
 
 "Then I guess you don t know old man Farelly, 
 Marse Broughton, or you would never dream of 
 such a thing. He isn t the one to worry about dem- 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 onstrators or their jobs, or to join in any Black Hand 
 business. Take it from me, Marse Broughton, he 
 has his own reasons for wanting to get me out, and 
 this letter of yours is nothing but foolishness and 
 waste of paper; excuse me for saying so." 
 
 "Perhaps it is, but I want you to send it, just 
 the same." 
 
 "Wouldn t it be wiser to talk over Powell s offer, 
 and maybe accept it, mighty hard though it is ? Sup 
 pose we take it, and get a shed somewhere and make 
 out as best we can with the Jonesmobile ? Two cars 
 in eighteen days is some selling, and the law gives 
 me my tools. What do you say to that, Marse 
 Broughton?" 
 
 "One thing at a time, Victor. You get that letter 
 off to Farelly as quick as you can." 
 
 "It ain t a bit of use, sir. Really and truly, 
 Marse Broughton, it ain t a bit of use." 
 
 "Do it to oblige me, anyhow." 
 
 "I d rather go around with the lead pipe you spoke 
 of, and try it on his old head. That s about the only 
 thing that would ever persuade old man Farelly to 
 change his mind, once it was made up. Writing him 
 letters is like putting salt on a bird s tail. Why, 
 Marse Broughton, he don t know there is such a 
 person on earth as you." 
 
 "That s where I disagree with you. Let s make 
 sure." 
 
 "You insist on it?" 
 
 "I would do more than that for you, Victor." 
 177 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "All right, Marse Broughton though couldn t 
 you cut out some of the humble pie?" 
 
 "Not a bite of it! You write it just the way it is, 
 and then leave it at his house to-night." 
 
 They went over the letter, rewriting an illegible 
 word here and there, and changing a few for others. 
 Had it been his own death-warrant, the darky could 
 not have been more dejected, and he argued and 
 grumbled at every phrase. Finally, a clean copy was 
 made in Matt s bedroom, and Daggancourt shuffled 
 off with it, vowing again that it wasn t a bit of use. 
 
 The next morning Matt treated himself to the 
 luxury of getting up late ; so late, indeed, that Dag 
 gancourt had already gone, leaving no message. 
 Matt idled about, waiting for news, not daring to 
 go to the garage lest he be seen, nor to use the tele 
 phone which might find Farelly in the garage office. 
 It was an unfortunate choice of a holiday, if so 
 anxious an inactivity could be called a holiday, for 
 Hunter Hoyt was rampageously drunk, and scandal 
 ized everybody that passed the house. 
 
 He had got possession of a broom, and was charg 
 ing about with it like an overgrown child, draped in 
 a blue table-cloth, laughing uproariously, and pre 
 tending to be a national guardsman on strike duty. 
 He was in that vile condition where the only defense 
 against a tipsy man is to humor him, and one is 
 forced to endure every indignity with no alternative 
 save calling in the police. With his broom lowered 
 to the charge he ran at Daggancourt when the 
 
A LIGHT DAWNS ON MATT 
 
 mulatto finally appeared, excited and breathless 
 prodding him hilariously and shouting: "Back, 
 mobsh, back, keep off company s premishes! Ad 
 vance, nash guard, and give em the bayonet ! Rush 
 em, boysh, rush em !" 
 
 It was with this accompaniment of broom-thrusts 
 and horseplay that Matt learned what had happened. 
 The letter had been miraculously successful; yes, 
 old Farelly, after a pretense of examining the books, 
 had professed himself entirely satisfied; the notes 
 were not to be called in ; everything was to go on as 
 before ; the garage was saved ! 
 
 "What clenched it was when I said I d have to 
 find another boarding-place," added Daggancourt, 
 with a puckered grin. "Said I was afraid to stop 
 where you was, may the Lord forgive me." 
 
 "Didn t I tell you ! The whole thing was aimed at 
 me, Victor." 
 
 By this time they were beyond the reach of the 
 nash guard, which was ceremoniously escorting 
 Miss Gibbs to her buggy. 
 
 "You were right in saying it was deep waters," 
 said Daggancourt, lowering his voice. "For God s 
 sake, get away from here, Marse Broughton, or 
 worse may come of it. Get away quick, and here s 
 a hundred and fifty dollars I drew at the bank." 
 
 Matt pushed the money back. "No, no, Victor," 
 he exclaimed. "I m going to stick it out. I am 
 going to stay in Manaswan if it rains wildcats !" 
 
 179 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 THERE are occasions when the office seeks the 
 man much to the man s astonishment. Matt, 
 wandering through the mill district in search of em 
 ployment, happened to meet a former Y. M. C A. 
 pupil of his, a swarthy, fiercely-whiskered young 
 fellow named Dorotka, who was a machinist in one 
 of the shoe factories. Dorotka had been in the 
 Austrian navy, and this had been a great bond be 
 tween him and his former instructor. He had a 
 European s intense respect for one who has worn 
 an officer s uniform, and he had valued Matt s 
 easy camaraderie, repaying it with a deference that 
 helped not a little to maintain discipline in the gym 
 nasium. He was for ever touching his forelock and 
 saying: "Yes, Lieutenant" "No, Lieutenant" 
 "Very good, Lieutenant" delighting to make others 
 stare and appreciate the fact that they had two naval 
 veterans in their midst. 
 
 Well, here was Dorotka, smiling from ear to ear, 
 and so happy at encountering his lost lieutenant that 
 he could have danced. He had been looking for Matt 
 everywhere, yaas, everywhere, asking everybody, 
 "Vare is Mr. Broughton oh, vare is Mr. Brough- 
 
 180 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 ton?" Would the highborn come into the Radi- 
 wiczky saloon and drink glass-beer ? Please, it was 
 to talk peeziness, vairy important peeziness. That 
 is, if the lieutenant was out of a yob. Was the lieu 
 tenant out of a yob ? Good ! Fine ! A glass-beer 
 and something to surprise the highborn vairy mooch. 
 
 At the bar, which was set at the end of a cut 
 throat cellar and over a couple of frothing steins, 
 the highborn was more fully informed of the "peezi 
 ness" that would "surprise him." Dorotka,it seemed, 
 was engaged to be married to Kitty Jankovitch, who 
 worked in the same factory with him. Now Kitty 
 wished to raise a girls military corps of which she 
 was to be captain. They were all to wear white 
 sweaters, dark short skirts, white gaiters and white 
 caps, and the corps was to be called the "White 
 Cadets." Fifty girls had agreed to join and con 
 tribute twenty cents a week each toward the salary 
 of an instructor, for the lack of whom the project 
 was now languishing. 
 
 "The whole manual, Lieutenant," explained Do- 
 rotka. "With toy guns and tin swords zip, zaff, 
 zooff, attention! Present arms! Prrrrrr! And 
 there is a little Canadian hoonchback named Ce- 
 lestine, who ta-ra-ra-ra-ra real elegant on the key- 
 boogie." 
 
 Matt, though amused, was not backward in vol 
 unteering his services, thanking Dorotka pro 
 fusely for the opportunity. Ten dollars a week was 
 not to be sneezed at, and if the corps fever spread 
 
 181 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 it might easily double. Dorotka said that the firm 
 had offered the girls the use of a loft, and Mr. 
 Highton, the boss, had further promised the corps 
 a silk flag, and all there remained to do was "to feex 
 it up with Kitty." 
 
 This young lady was somehow communicated 
 with, and descended in a freight-elevator with a 
 shawl over her head, to meet them at the factory 
 entrance. She was a thick-set, vivacious little per 
 son, with a broad, good-humored face, and an air 
 of galloping decision; and when she talked there 
 was not a bit of her broad, good-humored face that 
 did not join in and help, beginning at her mouth, 
 and quivering up her cheek, and wrinkling her nose, 
 and waggling her eyebrows, and streaking her fore 
 head; and she could listen just as energetically, and 
 every word you said ran over her like a small earth 
 quake. 
 
 Matt liked her at once, and she liked Matt, and 
 the preliminaries were soon settled and earthquaked 
 all over her. So he would not think it beneath him 
 to drill a lot of girls, and he would not scold them 
 if they made mistakes, and got all tangled up. And 
 was ten dollars a week enough, for they couldn t 
 pay no more than twenty cents each, and it would 
 even be a trouble to jolt that out of some of them? 
 And how short ought their skirts to be, and need 
 they wear gloves? Gloves were elegant, but many 
 of the girls thought white ones would make their 
 hands look too big. What did the lieutenant think 
 
 182. 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 about gloves, and was it too much like policemen? 
 They didn t want to be called the lady cops, did they? 
 And, of course, they wanted a Sunday drill too 
 one every night except Saturday, so as not to miss 
 the balls, though they would give one of their own 
 before long to raise money and show the boys how 
 cute they looked. 
 
 In this headlong and rather incoherent fashion 
 Matt found himself engaged; an appointment was 
 made the same evening for eight o clock, and Cap 
 tain Kitty stepped back on the freight-elevator and 
 disappeared from view. Dorotka, who was em 
 ployed in another part of the building, excused him 
 self and scurried away; and Matt, left alone beneath 
 the vast rumbling structure, thought what a strange 
 world it was, and how good and kind some of its 
 least considered people were. He thought too, not 
 without a pleasurable vindictiveness, that here was 
 an occupation that was Mr. Kay-proof. He had 
 been shoveled out of the Y. M. C. A., and shoveled 
 out of the garage, but if Kitty were anything of a 
 sample of the White Cadets they were to be relied 
 on through thick and thin. His drill was probably 
 somewhat antiquated, but was all the better for 
 that. He had been trained in the school of close 
 formations, which from the spectacular point of 
 view were considerably more effective than [the 
 modern. What the Cadets wanted was not soldier 
 ing, but a brisk, pretty ballet zip, zaff, zoof, as 
 Dorotka had said with fifty white gaiters stepping 
 
 183 
 
i A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 out with precision, while all their respective Dorot- 
 kas looked on and applauded. They should have it, 
 by George, and it would be no fault of his if the 
 White Cadets did not create a sensation, and cover 
 themselves with glory. 
 
 Looking back on it afterward those drills in the 
 loft always stood out in his memory with a peculiar 
 pathos. The girls were so poor, so willing, so gay 
 and so infinitely painstaking; the jaunty caps set so 
 incongruously on the tousled heads ; the home-made 
 gaiters encased such very thick legs ; the hands that 
 held the toy guns and waved the tin swords were so 
 calloused with toil so grimy and large. And the 
 solemnity of it ! The tears that flowed down those 
 pale, puffy faces, when again and again they 
 blundered and misunderstood! The little hunch 
 back with the bugle, who forgot her deformity as 
 she sounded the blithe calls inspiring and inspired ! 
 And the elephantine tramp of those hundred foet as 
 they shook the floor in measured reverberations! 
 
 Matt s popularity was unbounded; his earnest 
 ness, patience and good-nature gained for him an 
 idolizing devotion. Erect and handsome, swinging 
 his light cane, he was to the girls their ideal of 
 everything distinguished and aristocratic their 
 realization of those story-book heroes of romance 
 whom they had dreamed of but never known. It 
 became the custom to wear little stamp pictures of 
 him in gilt brooches; a word of praise was cher 
 ished, and repeated rapturously; Celestine, the 
 
 184 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 hunchback, was regarded as the most favored of 
 mortals, for it was to her and to her only that 
 Matt allowed himself to show any preference; and 
 many a sturdy cadet would have changed places 
 with her gladly, hump and all. 
 
 The corps was a success from the start. In a 
 week it was sixty-three strong, and divided 
 into two companies, with company officers, and 
 Kitty promoted to a majority. No one de 
 faulted on her twenty cents; and Kitty, who was 
 also treasurer and secretary, checked off the roll 
 every Saturday night, and handed Matt a bulky bag 
 of dimes. The general progress was remarkable; 
 the girls were twice as teachable as men, and not 
 nearly so backward or stupid; they saw the drill 
 as a new and complicated dance, and interested 
 themselves in it with the same ardor. From a 
 gawky, ridiculous, uncertain hodge-podge they were 
 soon transformed into a faultless and alert body 
 that it was a pleasure to watch. White gaiters 
 whisked in perfect unison ; wooden guns banged the 
 floor or rose in white arms with an inspiriting regu 
 larity; every evolution was performed not merely 
 well, but with a zest and swing that made Matt 
 proud of his White Cadets. 
 
 A band was spoken of; a public parade; possibly 
 a reception to the Governor on the Fourth of July 
 and a subsequent review in front of the City Hall. 
 The White Cadets chafed at blooming unseen in the 
 factory loft, and longed for the time when they 
 
 185 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 might march through the streets, with drums beat 
 ing and colors flying, to the amazement and admira 
 tion of all beholders. Meanwhile, they worked with 
 a will and adored their instructor, buying him a real 
 sword, which was presented to him by a committee, 
 much to his and their embarrassment. He was 
 immensely touched, for that subscription must have 
 lightened many a lunch-pail, and cut off many a 
 pickle or frankfurter or scrap of finery the sword 
 being quite a sword, with a gold-plated handle, 
 richly chased, and an engraved inscription on the 
 blade. Yes, so touched, that his heart was very full 
 indeed, and brimmed over with tenderness for his 
 funny command; and he went through the ranks, 
 shaking hands with every one of them, and telling 
 them, not without emotion, how happy and how 
 grateful he was. 
 
 One Monday night when as usual he mounted 
 the dingy stairway to the upper stones of the 
 factory, a strange, furious buzzing reached his 
 ears, warning him that something was seriously 
 amiss in the loft. He hastened his steps, and burst 
 in on the Cadets, expecting to stop a hair-pulling 
 match, or one of those squabbles that will happen 
 in even the best regulated of girls corps. There was 
 a dead silence at his entrance, and as he advanced 
 into the room he wondered to see no one in uniform, 
 and wondered still more at the fierce, lowering looks 
 that met him on every side. Suddenly there was a 
 cry of "Oh, there he is, the dirty wretch !" and with 
 
 1 86 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 that the whole assembly made a rush at him, yelling 
 like so many Indians, and engulfing him in a biting, 
 scratching, snarling, kicking, punching mob. 
 
 Before he could realize what was happening, his 
 face was scratched, his clothes were half off his 
 back, and he was defending himself for very life. 
 Once they nearly had him down, and there was 
 nothing pathetic now in those big feet, savagely 
 lunging at him, and ready to scrunch him under 
 their heels. With a superhuman effort he righted 
 himself, and as a hat-pin dug into his side, began to 
 push them away violently with his hands. It was a 
 disagreeable thing to do to be forced to do but he 
 was being murdered by those insane women, and 
 self-preservation is the first law. They screeched, 
 they screamed, they fainted, they clawed him with 
 renewed ferocity ; hanging to his back, his legs, and 
 stabbing at him with their venomous hat-pins, till 
 everything swam before him, and his one coherent 
 instinct was to reach the wash-room in the corner of 
 the loft. 
 
 He got to it somehow; swung round, and shook 
 off his pursuers, and then, slamming the door in 
 their faces, bolted it while those sixty-three voices 
 howled like wolves outside. The partitions did not 
 run to the ceiling, but only to the height of about 
 nine feet; he pulled himself up to one of these nar 
 row ledges, and pantingly gazed on the pandemo 
 nium below. The storm had spent its worst; the 
 wounded were being revived and unlaced ; there was 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 no concerted attempt to smash in the door, though 
 half a dozen furies were pounding on it, and vocif 
 erating with the full strength of their lungs. The 
 sight of him, perched on the summit of the partition, 
 was the signal for a bellow of execration, which 
 gradually quieted, as he raised his hand and tried 
 to speak. Just as he was beginning to make himself 
 heard a toy gun was flung at him, and a cheer of 
 delight followed as it grazed his forehead, and tum 
 bled to the floor. Disregarding the blow he raised 
 his hand again, demanding silence, silence, silence! 
 
 By degrees the cadets hushed, more curious than 
 cowed, and derisively obedient. 
 
 "Will some one kindly tell me what s the matter?" 
 he asked. 
 
 There was a hubbub of response, an undistin- 
 guishable roar, and a flutter of bits of paper waved 
 at him with a significance he was at a loss to under 
 stand. Picking out Kitty in the crowd he made an 
 other attempt, addressing his question to her alone. 
 
 "Kitty," he cried, "won t you answer for the lot? 
 What the devil has happened ?" 
 
 "You re a low, dirty, contemptible swine!" ex 
 claimed Kitty amid loud approval, and more waving 
 of those sheets of paper. They were pink, he no 
 ticed, and seemed to be letters. 
 
 "For God s sake, what have I done?" he roared. 
 "What am I accused of?" 
 
 It was Celestine who replied this time. 
 
 "You might have left me out of it," she said, with 
 1 88 
 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 a break in her voice. "It s bad enough being what 
 I am, without being guyed and pointed at and made 
 a goat of like the rest." 
 
 "Made a goat of? What do you mean? I haven t 
 made a goat of anybody." 
 
 Celestine forced her way through the seething 
 mass, and on tiptoe held up one of the pink letters. 
 
 "Oh, ain t it true?" she asked with an altered ex 
 pression. "Say, didn t you send that to every one of 
 us Sunday afternoon, by a light-complected young 
 man with pompadour hair?" 
 
 Matt read the letter, which was not only on pink 
 paper, but emitted a penetrating perfume and was 
 written in a round copybook hand with elaborate 
 flourishes : 
 
 "Mv OWN SWEETEST, DEAREST DARLING : 
 
 "How can I tell you here all the love that is in my 
 pining heart? Will it surprise you to know that I 
 have loved you madly ever since I seen you in your 
 cute little cap and uniform? Ah, believe me, it has 
 been hard not to show it, and I have had to steel my 
 aching heart every night at drill, and pretend not to 
 care all the time it nearly killed me. This is to ask 
 won t you meet me in front of the post-office at 
 eight o clock sharp, and let me fold my longing arms 
 around the prettiest and dearest sweetheart that 
 ever gladdened a lover s eyes? Breathe it not to 
 anybody. Keep sacred the secret of our love. But 
 come, come, and let me press your lovely form to 
 my heart, and tell you with passionate kisses that 
 there is only one girl in the world for me, and she is 
 
 189 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 you. I shall have an auto waiting around the cor 
 ner, so please dress up warm, and tell the folks you 
 will not be back till late. 
 
 "Thine, and forever thine, 
 
 "MATTHEW BROUGHTON." 
 
 For a moment fie was speechless. He stared at 
 the White Cadets, and the White Cadets stared at 
 him. Then he asked Celestine how many of the 
 girls had received this this detestable forgery. 
 
 "All of them," answered the little hunchback. 
 
 "And how many went?" 
 
 "All of them," said Celestine chokingly. "There 
 was such a jam the street-cars couldn t get through, 
 and" 
 
 The rest of her sentence was lost in a din that al 
 most took the roof off. The Cadets were inflamed 
 afresh at the memory of their wrongs. Alas, for 
 the love that had turned to hate in sixty-three heav 
 ing bosoms. They might have been sixty-three 
 tigers, and yowled as bloodthirstily. Guns flew, old 
 boots, chairs, tin swords, the regimental records 
 with Matt dodging like a monkey on a stick, and 
 rending the air with protestations of innocence. But 
 even when the tumult died down no one would be 
 lieve him except Celestine, who took his part like a 
 little heroine, repeating every word he said in a 
 shrill staccato, and adding torrents of her own. 
 Then Matt grew angry at being misjudged ; he was 
 smarting and sore both inside and out; he dropped 
 
 190 
 
PALE FACES AND PINK LETTERS 
 
 to the floor and faced them with the intrepidity of 
 a man whose temper was boiling. 
 
 "I am done with you," he cried. "You are a 
 lot of fools ! I have told you the truth, and all you 
 do is to hoot and yell. I m sick of explaining and 
 not being believed. I resign! Do you hear? I re- 
 sign!" 
 
 He stalked slowly to the stairs, a lane opening out 
 before him, and not a soul lifting a ringer to check 
 or attack him. But he had scarcely taken a dozen 
 steps before he heard them behind him, as with 
 locked arms and four abreast, they followed, com 
 pact and revengeful. At the bottom of the first 
 flight the murmur of voices resolved itself into a 
 sort of chorus. "Boo, Boo, Mr. Boo! Boo, Boo, 
 we re on to you!" they chanted in unison. "Boo, 
 Boo, Mr. Boo ! Boo, Boo, we re on to you !" till the 
 huge, empty building reechoed in every cranny with 
 the lugubrious refrain. 
 
 It continued to the street, all the riff-raff joining 
 the procession, and pleased to add their hearty con 
 currence to the hounding of that hatless, collarless, 
 torn and scratched tatterdemalion who limped along 
 in front. 
 
 "Boo, Boo, Mr. Boo! Boo, Boo, we re on to 
 you!" With windows opening, people running, sa 
 loons pouring out their mouth-wiping customers, 
 and all mill-town frantically astir. It is difficult to 
 estimate the precise slur conveyed by "Boo, Boo, 
 Mr. Boo! Boo, Boo, we re on to you!" but as a 
 
 191 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 means of expressing public disapproval it was hide 
 ously effective. Not daring to run lest he should 
 unloose an avalanche behind him, and become the 
 victim of a mob that increased in size and anger at 
 every yard, Matt was compelled to lengthen out the 
 agony of the most mortifying experience that had 
 ever fallen to his lot. 
 
 "Boo, Boo, Mr. Boo! Boo, Boo, we re on to 
 you!" Block by block; up one street and down an 
 other; across the bridge, and past the dark, wide 
 river no respite, no mercy, no help from anywhere. 
 One lone figure leading; unnumbered hundreds 
 marching behind ; and that never-ending "Boo, Boo, 
 Mr. Boo ! Boo, Boo, we re on to you !" At last, 
 however, as the lights grew far apart, and resi 
 dences and gardens loomed on either side, the ranks 
 wavered and thinned; the chorus diminished; the 
 mill-town legs lagged, and mill-town throats gave 
 out. Matt strode on unattended. Soon his own 
 footfall was the only sound that disturbed the still 
 ness of the night; he increased his pace to a trot, 
 and in a few minutes more was safe on Mrs. Sat- 
 tane s porch, and awaiting his chance to slip up un 
 observed to his room. 
 
 
 192 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 T T must not be supposed that the boarders had 
 * failed to follow Matt s career with a keen and 
 palpitating interest. They would not have been 
 boarders nor human had he not become the most 
 engrossing subject of their thoughts. The decline 
 of the kanaka king to overalls and wages had been 
 regarded with an absorption only comparable to 
 that of a savant with a new microbe under his mi 
 croscope. Every development was excitedly dis 
 cussed ; sympathy and advice were poured out in 
 unstinted quantities; his battle to earn a living in 
 Manaswan and his successive defeats had roused 
 that little household to an unimaginable degree. 
 
 The boarders were much more concerned with 
 him than he was with the boarders, who, in his 
 intense preoccupation, became mere chattering 
 phantoms, and hardly distinguishable from the 
 wall-paper behind them. Mr. Crowther fell ill : Mr. 
 Crowther had a crisis and rallied; Mr. Crowther 
 had a crisis and died and it all slid past Matt like 
 water off a duck s back. A lover is the greatest of 
 egoists; cities may fall in ruins; tens of thousands 
 of Japs may kill tens of thousands of Russians; 
 
 193 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 political convulsions may shake and thunder and 
 what does Mr. Lover care? Just nothing. 
 
 Of course, in some vague, dim way Matt knew 
 that Mr. Crowther had been gathered to his fathers. 
 In the same vague, dim way he was sorry for Mrs. 
 Crowther, who still bicycled over to lunch and din 
 ner. Even to his absent attention she appeared 
 to be supporting her bereavement with unusual 
 calm. Everybody had told her "to try and bear 
 up" and she had borne up, with a demure and 
 increasing cheerfulness. "He has gone to a better 
 country," said Mrs. Sattane, looking out on Jeffer 
 son Avenue with an air that implied Manaswan and 
 the state of Connecticut. To which the widow re 
 plied: "He has, he has," as though perhaps, after 
 all, it was for the best. "More to be envied than 
 grieved for," added the landlady. "That s what I 
 keep telling myself," agreed Mrs. Crowther, rolling 
 her pretty blue eyes, and wiping them with a very 
 dry lace handkerchief. "He is better off where 
 he is." 
 
 This digression is necessary to explain the events 
 that came after Matt s resignation to put it grace 
 fully from the command of the White Cadets. 
 Lying on a sofa, court-plastered all over, and ban 
 daged like a survivor of a railway wreck, he found 
 himself alone with Mrs. Crowther after lunch. She 
 had a proposal to make, she said, and prefaced it by 
 stating the difficulties of her position. 
 
 "It isn t that I don t know the business inside 
 194 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 out," she explained. "Poor dear Charley wouldn t 
 have been anywhere if it hadn t been for me. I have 
 been the brains of it for years, for my father be 
 longed to the same profession, and almost my first 
 memory was playing peek-a-boo among the coffins. 
 It isn t that, Mr. Broughton. But people who send 
 for us expect a man must have a man. They expect 
 somebody grave, somebody tall and friendly and 
 mournful, who will touch their dear ones with rev 
 erence, and arrange the sad formalities in a Prince 
 Albert coat. I lost the Townleys on that account 
 very tony people who were good for a two-hun 
 dred-dollar casket. They sniffed when they saw it 
 was only a woman, though we had buried Mr. T s 
 mother and Mrs. T s G. A. R. uncle and there 
 they were, telephoning for the Pritchard Undertak 
 ing Company before I was out of the house. If the 
 business and connection is to be kept together, you 
 see I simply must have a man, and the boarders have 
 been talking it over and said why not you." 
 
 An undertaker ! Matt s goose-flesh shivered at the 
 idea. It was less a dread of corpses, and coffins, and 
 half -suspected horrors, than actual shame. How 
 could he ever show himself to Chris in that mortu 
 ary garb ? Romance could confront hardships with 
 out a murmur; meet them bravely; sustain itself 
 under every adversity of fortune. But an under 
 taker! Love would shudder and fly. There was no 
 room in Matt s paradise for an undertaker. An in 
 describable odium, or rather something grotesque 
 
 195 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and grimly ridiculous was attached to such an occu 
 pation. No, he couldn t be an undertaker; he sim 
 ply couldn t be an undertaker; personal dignity, a 
 sense of humor, an invincible repugnance all 
 forbade. 
 
 But Mrs. Crowther was very persistent. The 
 work was light, she said, and the salary so large. 
 She had meant to offer sixty a month, but Matt s 
 resistance induced her to increase it to a hundred. 
 A hundred a month; how could he expect to get 
 better in Manaswan ? She would tell him how to do 
 everything; he wasn t to be the least bit afraid of 
 that; just do what he was told, and be very solemn 
 and kind in his Prince Albert coat. It was a gentle 
 man s business that was what made it so hard to 
 get assistants that was why she had come to Matt. 
 He had the right personality; Mr. C. had often re 
 marked on it the ideal personality. It was awful 
 to have a jarring personality at a death-bed. People 
 who would grudge a hundred and fifty dollars to a 
 jarring personality wouldn t haggle over three hun 
 dred, and four horses, to one they could lean on in 
 their trouble. They spread it about, and that helped 
 the connection and she had noticed that he didn t 
 drink. Drink was the curse of the profession. 
 People expected an undertaker to be on a higher 
 plane. It was what she had said a gentleman s 
 business. 
 
 Matt listened with an increasing indecision. A 
 hundred dollars a month was not lightly to be 
 
 196 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 thrown away. He might find it no easy matter to 
 get half as much. He had canvassed Manaswan 
 pretty thoroughly, and knew what a paucity of open 
 ings it presented. He had been meditating day s 
 work on the docks stacking lumber or unloading 
 coal by no means a pleasant or remunerative 
 prospect. Besides, the mysterious enmity that 
 everywhere surrounded him would find itself baffled 
 by this little woman, whose need of him was so real, 
 and whose position was so unassailable. Moreover, 
 she would give him a two-years contract, which 
 he could break at a month s notice, while she was 
 held rigidly for the full term. She conceded this 
 not unwillingly, imparting the extra information 
 that she had three thousand dollars in the sav 
 ings bank, and owned the property in which the 
 "parlors" were situated. 
 
 Matt questioned her with the assurance of a man 
 who was loath to close the bargain ; with an under 
 standing sharpened by his recent trials. His unseen 
 foes had shown how formidable they were, and 
 here appeared an opportunity of resisting them suc 
 cessfully. Why not be an undertaker, with an iron 
 clad, bomb-proof contract who could smile at his 
 persecutors? He would leave the final decision to 
 Chris, and meanwhile hold tight to that hundred 
 dollars a month. 
 
 But he would want the contract drawn up by a 
 lawyer no home-made affair, full of legal holes 
 but brass-bound, double-riveted, and securely bolted 
 
 197 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and nailed down by an expert. The little widow 
 had no objection; instead, she rippled with satisfac 
 tion at having gained her point; and called him a 
 dear for consenting. Indeed she was so pleased, so 
 overflowing, that Matt felt himself a villain for im 
 posing such harsh conditions. But the White Cadets 
 catastrophe with its attendant blackness and blue- 
 ness had instilled caution. He remembered the Y. 
 M. C. A. too, and the garage, and the speed with 
 which his services in both had been dispensed with. 
 He would protect himself this time from any such 
 repetition, however exacting he might seem to be. 
 Steel should meet steel and Mr. Kay might gnash 
 his teeth. From this aspect, becoming an under 
 taker was not without stimulation; he saw himself, 
 not as a ministerial individual, brooding darkly over 
 clamminess and decay, but as a fighter, hurling back 
 those insidious forces that would destroy him. 
 
 Not caring to show his scratched face on the 
 street, the lawyer was brought to him, and the con 
 tract forthwith was drawn up and signed. Mrs. 
 Crowther, if anything, was more eager than 
 he to have it settled; and afterward she came 
 bicycling back, convoying a tailor, who took 
 Matt s measure for a frockcoat and trousers of 
 grayish black, and was pledged to a feverish 
 hurry. The boarders, impressed but jocular, took 
 great credit to themselves for achieving an arrange 
 ment they deemed so advantageous to both the high 
 contracting parties. At supper there were congrat- 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 ulatory speeches ; Mr. Goldstein opened bottled beer ; 
 Mr. Price, always humorous, foretold a tenderer 
 partnership, and closed a peroration that caused im 
 mense merriment by asking: "Oh grave, where is 
 thy sting? Oh, death, where is thy victory?" Good 
 taste was the only thing lacking in an evening of 
 general hilarity; but as no one noted the omission 
 except Matt he did not consider it his part to be 
 offended. Mrs. Crowther certainly laughed as gaily 
 as the rest, and though she colored at some of the 
 allusions, it was not in reprobation. 
 
 Behold Matt a week later a full-fledged under 
 taker, with a wide band of crape around his silk hat 
 and in mourning for all humanity. Manaswan was 
 one of those deceptive little places that was a great 
 deal bigger than it looked, and this was borne in on 
 Matt by the press of business. People died with as 
 tonishing freedom; the dead-wagon was seldom 
 idle; the daily funeral became almost as much a 
 matter of course as any other daily function. He 
 rehearsed pall-bearers; could rattle off the price of 
 caskets with deep-toned fluency; knew all about 
 death-certificates, the use of ice, the graduated per 
 ishability of human clay, and how stiff and stark it 
 looked in cold storage. There was indeed a dread 
 ful interest in the work. It carried him into many 
 strange houses, and brought him in contact with 
 many strange people. He moved amid grief, some 
 times affected, sometimes so real that it over 
 whelmed him. 
 
 199 N 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Incidentally he was very successful. Awkward 
 secrets had sometimes to be told, and discreetly un 
 derstood. There were night funerals as well as 
 others, and worthy people to be shielded from pub 
 lic and evil curiosity interments by lantern-light, 
 and in graves that might never bear a headstone. 
 He was shocked at the intolerable expense, espe 
 cially in the case of the humbler people, and 
 those least able to afford it. Poor widows, with 
 nothing above their heads but a mortgaged roof, 
 had to be persuaded against ordering rosewood cof-. 
 fins with solid silver handles and name-plates. The 
 bereaved on the whole were so helpless and so easily 
 preyed on; they met imposition half-way, and in. 
 their pious folly encouraged it. It may not have 
 been quite loyal to Mrs. Crowther, but Matt would 
 not let some of his clients be victimized, even by 
 themselves suggesting economy and cotton-velvet 
 and stained pine when a word the other way would 
 have quadrupled their bill. Not that they were 
 always like that, however. One keen Yankee 
 showed him bids from the Pritchard Undertaking 
 Company and the Necropolis Mortuary Parlors, 
 saying : "If you can cut under them, go ahead !" 
 
 Their horses, by an arrangement with the Fash 
 ion Stables, were all "jobbed"; that is to say, they 
 did not belong to Mrs. Crowther, who paid a 
 monthly hire for them and owned merely the hearse 
 and the dead-wagon. Their two men were almost 
 as much "jobbed" as the horses, being paid by the 
 
 200 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 hour when on duty; one was the janitor of the 
 Masonic Temple and the other a nondescript crea 
 ture, who could usually be found fishing off the end 
 of the wharf. When he was not fishing off the end 
 of the wharf you could then be positive that he was 
 leaning against the bar of the Good Fellows Grotto. 
 He wabbled between the two, more often than not 
 with a pail of minnows. 
 
 Mrs. Crowther remained on in her solitary apart 
 ment above the "parlors," refusing, with a mild ob 
 stinacy, to move altogether to Mrs. Sattane s. Matt 
 fell heir to Mr. Crowther s bicycle, and accompanied 
 his employer to and fro for their meals. She was 
 a self-possessed little person, and most capable and 
 quiet, posting her books every Saturday, and strik 
 ing a weekly balance in red ink. It was invariably 
 on the right side, for the business was very profit 
 able more profitable than any one save Matt had 
 any conception of. 
 
 This was a period of great depression for Matt. 
 No convict ever hated stripes more than he hated 
 the livery of that distasteful occupation. The word 
 undertaker ground into his soul. He understood 
 now why it was so largely an hereditary caste; 
 one had to be fortified by an undertaker-descent; 
 one needed, like Mrs. Crowther, to have played 
 peek-a-boo among the coffins, and lisped one s 
 lessons at a paternal, undertaking knee. To become 
 at one bound death s twin brother was to outrage 
 every susceptibility. Could Chris stoop to so igno- 
 
 201 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 minions a husband? Would it not make her hot 
 with shame? An undertaker! Yet she might see it 
 differently ; women were so brave where their affec 
 tion was at stake ; and in a certain sense he had suc 
 ceeded beyond their wildest hopes. A couple could 
 make out comfortably enough in Manaswan on a 
 hundred dollars a month; could be warm and snug 
 and happy on a hundred dollars a month. Why 
 then should he be so unutterably wretched? 
 
 Chris was growing very far away; was receding 
 in the void with an ocean of heartaches and silence 
 constantly widening between them. There were oc 
 casions when Matt could not bear to think of her at 
 all, and felt himself forgotten; when it was of the 
 smallest moment whether he were an undertaker at 
 all in the comparison of that more terrible disaster. 
 She would never come back; she would never write 
 again; some day he would hear that she was mar 
 ried. Her willingness to come to him seemed in 
 credible in the retrospect. It was a girl s ephemeral 
 fancy, as filmy as a bubble, and destined to vanish 
 at a breath. It was not a world where such things 
 happened; lovely princesses no longer condescended 
 to cowherds, or remained true to lowly lovers 
 through thick and thin ; they chose men as desirable 
 as themselves, who could give as much as they re 
 ceived. Money, family, social position what a 
 triple-barred Port Arthur for one little Japanese to 
 scale ! The little Japanese was excessively depressed. 
 
 2Q2 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 He regarded those towering battlements, and then 
 hung his dispirited head. 
 
 Before long he was spared any further bitter self- 
 communion as to the business he was engaged in, 
 and had no reason again to weigh his hundred dol 
 lars against his craped hat and that seat on the 
 hearse. One day, returning with what had once 
 been a grocer before apoplexy and fate had com 
 bined to strike him down, Matt found the "parlors" 
 shut. After much knocking, none of which served 
 to rouse Mrs. Crowther within, Matt scrambled to 
 the second story by means of a gutter-pipe, and in 
 vaded the apartment. Ordinarily so neat, it pre 
 sented a sight of the utmost confusion, as though 
 thieves had ransacked it from end to end. Clothes 
 were heaped on the floor; boots, odds and ends of 
 women s finery, torn-up letters and old magazines 
 all the litter that attends a hurried packing and 
 a precipitate departure. Mrs. Crowther had gone, 
 and with her the three trunks containing shrouds 
 and household linen that used to block the little hall. 
 
 He galloped off to Mrs. Sattane s dead grocer 
 and all hoping for some explanation, some enlight 
 enment. But the landlady was as perplexed as he, 
 and could tell him nothing ; nor was there more to be 
 gleaned from the Fashion Stables, which were 
 thrown into a flutter and convinced that the poor 
 lady had met foul play. Mr. Merrick, the propri 
 etor, followed the dead-wagon at a run as it tore 
 
 203 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 back to the "parlors," with Matt now thoroughly 
 alarmed. A man was in the act of unlocking- the 
 front doors as the former arrived, and he vouch 
 safed the extraordinary information that the prop 
 erty had been sold to Mr. Farelly. 
 
 "But where s Mrs. Crowther?" demanded Matt. 
 
 "How the hell do I know?" returned the man, 
 who was a surly person of the bailiff species. "I am 
 here to take possession for Mr. Farelly, who has 
 bought out the premises, lock, stock and barrel." 
 
 Failing to get any satisfaction Matt called up the 
 money-lender over the telephone. 
 
 "Who s that you say?" 
 
 "I am Mr. Broughton " 
 
 "Veil, what do you want?" 
 
 "I am Mrs. Crowther s assistant." 
 
 "Mrs. Crowther, the lady undertaker?" 
 
 "Yes, yes." 
 
 "She has given up business. Did she not acquaint 
 you with that?" 
 
 "Then it is true you ve bought the place?" 
 
 "Certainly, I buy it, and the two carriages also, 
 and four sets of harness everything." 
 
 "Where can I find her?" 
 
 "Why, ain t she there?" 
 
 "You know she isn t, Mr. Farelly. Where is 
 she?" 
 
 "My dear young man, you astonish me. I do not 
 keep the lady in my pocket. She sell me the prop- 
 
 204 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 erty in a big hurry, and I buy it in a big hurry and 
 that s all I can tell you." 
 
 "Did she say she was leaving Manaswan?" 
 
 "She never say anything." 
 
 "But you must have some address some way of 
 reaching her?" 
 
 "Veil, I took it she was at the boarding-house on 
 Jefferson Avenue; though what for should I reach 
 her? The title was searched, and I have her receipt 
 for the money. You will excuse me if I ask you to 
 ring off." 
 
 "Hold on, please; hold on a moment." 
 
 "Veil, what more?" 
 
 "I have a body in the dead-wagon, and all ar 
 rangements were made to lay it out in the mortuary, 
 and have the funeral take place from here the day 
 after to-morrow." 
 
 "You mean you have a dead person ?" 
 
 "Yes, right here in the dead-wagon." 
 
 "Veil, don t you put him in my premises, or I will 
 sue you for trespass, and send an officer to throw 
 him out." 
 
 "But, good God, man, what am I to do with it ?" 
 
 "That s your lookout." 
 
 "See here, Mr. Farelly, I m tired of this! If 
 you ve bought the business, you have taken over the 
 liabilities as well ; and if you won t assume any re 
 sponsibility I ll drive round to your office and leave 
 the coffin in your doorway." 
 
 "Oh, mem Gott, no, no !" 
 205 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Those people deserve proper consideration, and 
 you ve got to show it to them." 
 
 "But in my office! No, I forbid it." 
 
 "You send word at once to the Pritchard Under 
 taking Company to take charge, and at the price I 
 fixed, and if you haven t by the time I get there, I ll 
 drive to your place and leave the coffin on the floor." 
 
 "Oh, my dear young man, I will do it precisely as 
 you request." 
 
 "And I won t have Mrs. Cowles charged a cent 
 over eighty dollars. If the Pritchards make any 
 difference, you must pay it." 
 
 "I will, I will." 
 
 "And state it in writing." 
 
 "Yes, in writing. Most faithfully will I perform 
 it, if only you will keep your dead man away from 
 my office!" 
 
 Of Mrs. Crowther nothing was ever seen again, 
 though there was a rumor that could not be con 
 firmed, that her name had appeared on the passenger 
 list of an out-going Boston liner. Consultation with 
 a lawyer gave no hope of holding Farelly account 
 able for her breach of contract. Matt could not re 
 cover either his wages or the amount he had spent 
 on clothes. The property was securely in the mon 
 ey-lender s possession, and could not be attached. 
 The bank, under the threat of an injunction, opened 
 its books, and proved that Mrs. Crowther had with 
 drawn her deposit in notes on the day before she had 
 
 206 
 
DEATH S TWIN BROTHER 
 
 disappeared; her outstanding accounts had either 
 been settled at a discount, or sold to a collection- 
 agency. There was as little to distrain upon as 
 though she were the Arab who silently folded 
 his tent. Sand, metaphorically speaking, was all 
 that remained. While every one wondered and 
 speculated and racked their bewildered heads, Matt 
 alone said nothing. For him there was a writing 
 on the wall, invisible to the others, and it was in 
 three letters as bright as flame : K-A-Y. 
 
 207 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 ETTING a job on the water-front was as easy 
 as he had anticipated; but what he had not 
 reckoned on was the overmastering, crushing fa 
 tigue that made it impossible to keep it. A man unac 
 customed to severe and prolonged manual labor has 
 little chance on the docks. Swollen muscles seared 
 his back like fire; the skin came off his hands till 
 they were gummy with blood and dirt ; to stoop be 
 came a torture, and his feet, unused to the heavy 
 weights they were forced to carry, caused him the 
 most poignant distress. One may be a good all- 
 round athlete and in excellent physical condition, 
 and yet give out like a woman when it comes to 
 unloading bricks all day, or holding up your end 
 of three-inch planks for hours at a stretch. 
 
 Matt s opinion of the social fabric underwent a 
 revolution. He is still asking himself why those 
 who toil the hardest should be the worst paid. 
 Everything is piled on the laborer; he bears the 
 world on his straining shoulders; he is the Man 
 Friday of civilization, while Crusoe, nicely got up in 
 goatskins and jingling his money, unceasingly be 
 rates him as the laziest nigger under the sun, and 
 
 208 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 grudges him the pittance that keeps body and soul 
 together. 
 
 Matt, working one day and often recuperating 
 for two, exerted every nerve to find less killing em 
 ployment. Mr. Doty, who might have helped him, 
 was absent at a Chautauqua conference; Matt 
 had no one to lean on save Providence and himself. 
 There were openings here and there for skilled men, 
 but none seemingly for such as he. He was un 
 pleasantly conscious, too, that he had lost caste ; he 
 was under some strange ban ; people froze at his ap 
 proach and were glad to see him leave. Goldstein 
 confided to him that "there was a lot of gossip run 
 ning around the place" and that "somebody seems 
 to have it in for you, old man, and have it in good 
 and hard!" Nothing could induce the bookkeeper 
 to be more specific. "Oh, what s the use?" he said, 
 shying off the subject. "The town s got a down on 
 you and let it go at that !" 
 
 One of the few that did not have "a down on 
 him" was Sullivan, the boss stevedore. Sullivan 
 was a burly, bullying giant of a man, whose original 
 aversion had turned into a genuine liking, and to 
 whom Matt was indebted for many kindnesses. 
 Matt had been quickly promoted from "Hi, you 
 there," to "Sonny," which represented the two poles 
 of boss-stevedore consideration. As "Hi, you 
 there," Matt had been singled out for anything spe 
 cially disagreeable; as "Sonny" he was, compara 
 tively speaking, a pampered pet. His efforts to bet- 
 
 209 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ter himself, as the phrase goes in that class, were 
 sympathetically followed by Mr. Sullivan, who was 
 also "keeping his eye open" in the young fellow s in 
 terest. It opened very ineffectually as it turned 
 out on the municipal watering cart; on a secre 
 tary s job down at Fowler and Beale s ; on a position 
 as chucker-out at the Oriental Cafe. One day Sul 
 livan beamingly announced a new possibility. 
 
 "A fellow has been down here from the Mountain 
 View quarry," he said. "They are opening it up 
 again, and expect to put in a shift of four hundred 
 Hunks. He was a nice-appearing fellow, with a 
 rubber-tired buggy and a diamond pin, wanting me 
 to figure on loading sandstone by the cubic yard, 
 and would I make a contract if I were guaranteed a 
 monthly minimum. One thing led to another, and 
 then I put in a good word for you as gang foreman 
 or in the office, and he wrote down your name very 
 pleased on his cuff. You re to drive out on Sunday 
 morning and talk it over, though he said he wouldn t 
 promise nothing positive till he saw you." 
 
 This was cheering indeed, and gave Matt renewed 
 hope at a moment when it was nigh gone. As it 
 happened, he remembered the deserted quarry very 
 well, having passed it in the Jonesmobile in the 
 course of his random travels. It was a desolate, out- 
 of-the-way place about sixteen miles from Manas- 
 wan, with long wooden shanties in the last stage of 
 dilapidation, and rusting tramway tracks leading to 
 rusting chutes. It had stuck in his memory as dis- 
 
 2IO 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 malness personified, and he recalled having given 
 shout after shout to hear his voice reecho from the 
 steep, gashed hillside. 
 
 But a job was a job, and four hundred Hungari 
 ans were likely to lighten the somber picture and 
 restore a teeming and busy life to a spot that had 
 lain undisturbed for twenty or more years. Its dis 
 tance from Manaswan was in itself a recommenda 
 tion, and might make it impossible for those unseen 
 enemies to hound him so far. It was a Boston en 
 terprise, representing Boston capital and Boston ini 
 tiative, and its only connection with Manaswan was 
 by way of an outlet for the dressed stone. The more 
 Matt considered it, the better he was pleased, and 
 he thanked Sullivan with all his heart. 
 
 Sunday, however, was a couple of days away, 
 and a man can do much reflecting in two days, 
 even if they be spent in the hold of a scow-schooner, 
 passing bricks. The Mountain View quarry, thus 
 reviewed, was not without some disturbing features. 
 Neither Price nor Goldstein, for instance, had heard 
 of its reopening, and this was the more curious as 
 both were in situations where such news would be 
 seized on with avidity. The local newspaper was 
 dumb, and Hunter Hoyt said that the "boys" did not 
 believe it was true. These facts, in addition to 
 Mart s growing doubts, counseled some thinking 
 before leaping. The old quarry had a bad name; 
 there was a legend of a murder having been com 
 mitted there; its isolation fretted Matt with vague 
 
 211 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 misgivings. He determined at last to beg Dag- 
 gancourt to accompany him, and this gradually in 
 cluded in his mind a car, the two mechanics, and 
 a shotgun for each. Victor, met at a stealthy ren 
 dezvous under the cemetery bridge, acceded to the 
 plan with his usual good-nature. He was pleased 
 at the prospect of a picnic and volunteered to pro 
 vide the auto, the mechanics and the guns, as well 
 as cold ham and bread and butter though he was 
 frankly skeptical as to the adventure being anything 
 but a pleasant jaunt. 
 
 "Those old quarries are opening up all over the 
 country/ 5 he said. "What galls me is that I didn t 
 light out and risk a few hundreds myself. But 
 there it was right under our noses, and to be had for 
 a song, while it was left to Boston folks to see it was 
 a good thing and grab it." 
 
 "All the same I don t care to go out there alone," 
 objected Matt. "If they are on the square it will 
 look natural enough for us to have brought our guns 
 with the idea of picking up some rabbits. If they 
 aren t well, they won t care to meddle with four 
 of us. But don t tell Mack or Louey that it s any 
 thing except a picnic in the woods." 
 
 Victor laughed. 
 
 "No, sir" he declared emphatically. "The best 
 way to make a dog fight is to crowd him into it, and 
 it s no different with a man. But Lord bless yon, 
 Marse Broughton, it ain t in sense or reason to 
 expect any trouble." 
 
 212 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 "I can t help it, Victor; I m nervous." 
 
 "What could anybody want to hurt you for?" 
 
 "Didn t Farelly get me out of the garage ? Didn t 
 he have a lot to do with Mrs. Crowther s disappear 
 ance?" 
 
 "Coincidences, maybe." 
 
 "Coincidences? And what of the Y. M. C. A. 
 and the White Cadets ? As soon as I get something 
 and am sure of it and comfortable it s out you go, 
 Mr. Man." 
 
 "It s mighty queer, Marse Broughton. I ll allow 
 it s mighty queer." 
 
 "And how do I know this isn t a trap ?" 
 
 "Marse Broughton?" 
 
 "Yes, Victor." 
 
 "We ll load up these guns with buckshot." 
 
 "But Mack and Louey will ask why?" 
 
 "That s easy say it s for bear." 
 
 "Bear? Who ever heard of a bear in this coun 
 try?" 
 
 "Mack and Louey will before I m much older. A 
 small, black one if I made it too big they mightn t 
 
 come." 
 
 "You d better reduce it to a cub for Mack." 
 
 "Then he might scare at a mother-bear being 
 around somewhere ! No, I ll give them just the kind 
 of bear that four of us could easily get away with, 
 and carry home on the tail-rack." 
 
 "And, Victor?" 
 
 "Sir?" 
 
 213 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "If it came to a scrimmage, you would stand up 
 to it, wouldn t you?" 
 
 "Shoulder to shoulder, Marse Broughton never 
 you doubt that." 
 
 "And I don t think you had better pick me up in 
 town. Farelly mustn t see that we are friendly." 
 
 "That s right." 
 
 "Suppose I wait for you at the cross-roads beyond 
 the dairy." 
 
 "Van Wyck s dairy?" 
 
 "Yes, Van Wyck s." 
 
 "What time?" 
 
 "Oh, suit yourself." 
 
 "Ten o clock?" 
 
 "Yes, ten o clock goes." 
 
 "Then that s settled? Ten o clock to-morrow 
 morning?" 
 
 "At the cross-roads." 
 
 "Yes, at the cross-roads." 
 
 "And the guns ? Will you have any bother to get 
 them?" 
 
 "Not a bit and all twelves, so that the same cart 
 ridges will fit. The gunsmith will rent them to any 
 body he trusts. And if it is too late for ham, may 
 we make it chops and hard-boiled eggs?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, anything." 
 
 "And we ll take the old tow-wagon. How s the 
 road over there, Marse Broughton?" 
 
 "Bad ! Stick in an ax, for there is corduroy here 
 and there, and some of it has rotted." 
 
 214 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 "Need chains?" 
 
 "It s always good to have them." 
 
 "You know what I think, Marse Broughton?" 
 
 "No, what?" 
 
 "That we ll get out there, armed to the teeth, and 
 find Hunkyville running full blast, and a superin 
 tendent in a nice white-painted cottage, smoking a 
 cigar." 
 
 "Very likely." 
 
 "Why, it ain t in reason that it will be anything 
 else. You ve had a run of bad luck, and it has flus 
 tered you. We ll skin home with a tidy job all ready 
 for you to go to on Monday, and the biggest kind 
 of a laugh at the fuss we worked ourselves into." 
 
 "I dare say you re right." 
 
 "I d better get back now, and breed that bear! 
 Can t I give you a lift?" 
 
 "Too dangerous, Victor we mustn t be seen to 
 gether but thanks all the same." 
 
 "Nothing makes me happier than doing some 
 thing for you, and that s God s truth. Good night, 
 Marse Broughton, and I only wish it was more." 
 
 They shook hands and separated, and Matt, slow 
 ly returning to Mrs. Sattane s on foot, called down 
 an unspoken blessing on the old darky s head. Such 
 unquestioning and humble devotion touched him to 
 the quick, and to have inspired it raised him in his 
 own esteem. 
 
 The battered old tow-wagon, true to time, came 
 215 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 whirling up in a cloud of dust, bonking joy 
 fully. Daggancourt was at the wheel; Mack and 
 Louey in the tonneau, and there was about all 
 three an appearance of festivity that accorded with 
 the bright spring morning. The two mechanics, one 
 Scotch and the other French, were in uproarious 
 spirits, greeting Matt noisily, and showing him, with 
 great gusto, the guns and packages at their feet. 
 Matt jumped up beside Victor, and with a nudge of 
 his leg which the other answered with a wink, asked 
 for the latest bulletin of the bear. Since overnight 
 it had become a very real bear, reported by wood- 
 choppers, and confirmed by an imaginary individual 
 named Sam Bacon. The mechanics were eager for 
 the fray, and Louey had equipped himself with a 
 hunting-knife for the express purpose of skinning 
 the bear. Victor, giggling at the wheel, contributed 
 further Sam Bacon particulars, and altogether they 
 were very jolly, indeed. 
 
 Spinning blithely along, waving their hats at 
 every one they passed, they at length swung off the 
 main road and into the hills. The country here 
 abouts was sparsely settled; instead of comfortable 
 farm-houses and barns, the rare dwellings shrank to 
 mere cabins, and wretched patches gave place to 
 fields. Soon they were beyond all cultivation, in a 
 region of woods and scrub, with sandy hollows in 
 which they sank to the rims. Matt reached over and 
 secured a gun, gladder than ever he had not come 
 alone. This prompted Mack and Louey to do the 
 
 216 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 same, and it was in this warlike manner that they 
 reached the quarry. 
 
 It was as deserted as Matt had remembered it ; 
 not a sound broke the silence ; and the tumble-down 
 buildings, with their broken windows, showed no 
 sign of occupancy. Matt looked at Victor, and Vic 
 tor stared back. Where were the Boston peo 
 ple? Where were the four hundred Hungarians? 
 It was a tomb of abandoned endeavor, crumbling 
 and decaying beneath the scarred mountain. The 
 spell of the bear was upon the two mechanics; the 
 spell of something yet more mysterious and intimi 
 dating was upon Matt and the mulatto. They turned 
 off the engine, descended, and advanced, guns in 
 hand, close together and alert, a finger on every 
 trigger. For a dozen minutes they prowled about, 
 searching the shanties in turn; climbing up rocky 
 buttresses; dislodging bats in cavernous workings, 
 and skirting pools of muddy yellow water. 
 
 All of a sudden Mack, more adventuresome than 
 the rest, came running toward them in unmistakable 
 agitation. 
 
 "Let s get out of here," he gasped, displaying a 
 piece of new black cloth in his hand. "Look at that, 
 boys, look at that !" 
 
 Except for its newness, which was singular in a 
 spot so wholly deserted, Matt saw nothing to stare 
 at in the black cloth, which was smaller than a nap 
 kin, and of some cheap, cotton material, slit in sev 
 eral places. 
 
 217 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Victor and Louey were equally surprised at the 
 Scotchman s terror, and eyed him and his discovery 
 with surprise. 
 
 "You gawks," cried Mack, beside himself, "don t 
 you see it s a mask?" 
 
 Laying his gun on the ground he tremblingly 
 set the thing to his face, and glowered at them 
 through the apertures. Instantly he was trans 
 formed into a bandit, and a shiver passed through 
 his companions. It was but a trifling bit of 
 cloth, yet it made their hearts beat like sledge-ham 
 mers. It was the symbol of murder, of dark and vio 
 lent deeds, of blood and outrage. To stumble across 
 it here was to people the quarry with lurking des 
 peradoes; they examined it whisperingly, and cast 
 apprehensive looks over their shoulders. It might 
 have been made an hour before; the edges were 
 sharp from the scissors; neither dew nor sun had 
 impaired the crispness of the fabric. 
 
 "Let s get out of here," repeated Mack. "I ve 
 had all the bear I want." 
 
 Matt and Victor stayed together, retiring in good 
 order, but the others fled for the car like rabbits. 
 
 "It s a pretty good thing you came with me," said 
 Matt. "Victor, that s what I d call a close shave." 
 
 "I can t make head or tail of it, Marse B rough- 
 ton." 
 
 "But it is a mask, isn t it ?" 
 
 "Sure it is a mask." 
 
 "And wasn t I told to apply here for a job?" 
 218 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 "Perhaps it was a joke." 
 
 "Who would go to all that trouble? I tell you, 
 Victor, that mask was dropped by one of a party 
 who moved back before us and are hiding some 
 where in the scrub this very minute. And it was a 
 party that was expecting me!" 
 
 "And were scared at seeing four of us with 
 guns?" 
 
 "Precisely." 
 
 "And the whole talk of starting up the quarry 
 again was just moonshine?" 
 
 "Yes, to inveigle me here." 
 
 Daggancourt whistled. 
 
 "I believe it was," he said solemnly. "It can t 
 have been anything else. It just can t have been 
 anything else." 
 
 They increased their pace, urged to hurry by 
 Mack and Louey, who had cranked up the car and 
 were calling frantically. The two mechanics were 
 panic-stricken, and in a frenzy to be off; and as 
 Matt and Daggancourt took their seats in front, 
 they, too, caught the contagion, and were as madly 
 eager as the others. The engine roared to the ad 
 vancing levers; the low-gear slipped swiftly into 
 mesh, and with a grind and a jump the sturdy old 
 car tore round, and re-took the road it had come. 
 Corduroy, sand, rocks or tree-roots nothing de 
 terred Victor, who, crouched over the wheel, and 
 bracing himself against it, flung the car forward at 
 a break-neck speed, never relaxing until the open 
 
 219 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 country was reached. Nor even here would lie con 
 sent to stop and camp. Six miles was still too close 
 to the quarry. The vote, on its being put, was three 
 to one to continue to the outskirts of Manaswan, 
 and picnic on the bank of the river. 
 
 Choosing a shady place in some willows beside 
 the highway, they ran in the car and unpacked their 
 lunch. But they were too upset to eat, so smoked 
 instead, and reclined on the grass, debating the ex 
 traordinary discovery of the mask, and wondering 
 whether or not they should inform the police. Matt 
 joined in but little, except to negative the suggestion, 
 and this was more to prevent his silence causing re 
 mark. He was very thoughtful and moody ; he felt 
 for the first time his own powerlessness ; he was sur 
 rounded by an implacable enmity that struck at him 
 in the dark, and against which he had no weapons. 
 What was he to do? What was to become of him? 
 Had he gone alone to the quarry that morning he 
 shuddered at the fate that might have been in store 
 for him. He saw the body of a man floating in one 
 of those turbid pools, and the man was himself. It 
 shook his nerve. He had to admit he was frightened. 
 
 He looked up as he heard the sound of horses 
 hoofs growing nearer at a trot; sprang up, as Mack, 
 whose position gave him a view of the road, said 
 something about a young lady on horseback. It was 
 a young lady indeed! It was Chris, riding beside 
 her father, and approaching briskly ! 
 
 She saw him as quickly as he saw her, and at that 
 220 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 recognition, so unexpected and sudden that it 
 seemed to pierce his heart, he took a step out, and 
 raised his hat. All that happened after was like a 
 dream; it had the bewildering quality of his first 
 fight the same incoherence and mistiness. He 
 found himself holding her bridle talking and lis 
 tening with breathless animation. She had not been 
 able to stay away longer; she loved him, and would 
 say it before the world, promise or no promise; it 
 had been unbearable, and she was twenty-three and 
 her own mistress, and, oh, had he succeeded in what 
 they had planned? No, he had not; it was a bitter 
 confession, but he had not; they had got him out of 
 one thing after another; had forced him to his 
 knees; he had been persecuted and hunted till he 
 was well nigh crazy. Over all, was another voice, 
 stridently crying: "Let go my daughter s horse, 
 sir! Do you hear, sir, let go my daughter s horse! 
 Let go my daughter s horse!" a voice vibrating 
 with passion and yet immeasurably distant and as 
 unconsidered as the drone of a wasp. 
 
 Suddenly there was a flash of a whip and a sting 
 ing blow cut across Matt s face; another flash; a 
 scream; and he had wrenched the whip from a 
 wrinkled old hand and was about to lash out with it 
 himself on that convulsed and raging figure. To 
 his dying day he was thankful he threw it from him 
 instead, dizzily refraining as he realized it was 
 Chris father and that he must not strike an old 
 man. 
 
 221 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 But he was furious, nevertheless ; two livid stripes 
 screamed for vengeance; his voice came in sobbing 
 bursts as he clung to the general s horse and told 
 him that his action was shameful; that no one call 
 ing himself a gentleman could insult one who ! 
 The horse reared and plunged as the general s spurs 
 dug into its flanks ; the old man was trying to ride 
 him down. It was then that Matt had a vision of 
 Daggancourt leveling a gun at Marshall. Every 
 shred of civilization seemed to have dropped from 
 the mulatto; all the savage in him was roused to 
 frenzy; his bloodshot eyes were taking sight; his 
 yellow-black ringer was drawing back the trigger; 
 with murderous deliberation he was awaiting his 
 chance to fire. 
 
 It was Louey who averted a tragedy ; he leaped at 
 Daggancourt and threw up the gun; it exploded 
 harmlessly in the air with an ear-shattering detona 
 tion. As it did so, the horses took fright and bolted, 
 hurling Matt to the ground, from which he looked 
 after them, on one elbow, oblivious of everything 
 but Chris safety. But she was as good a rider as 
 her father and as spirited as her own thoroughbred ; 
 she was keeping her seat in that headlong gallop, 
 and, leaning back like a little jockey, was jerking 
 manfully at the curb. But nothing could have 
 checked those horses; they were uncontrollable in 
 their terror; straining neck and neck they dimin 
 ished and disappeared, leaving Matt sick with fear. 
 
 He was assisted to his feet and supported to the 
 222 
 
CHRISTINE REAPPEARS 
 
 willows, where they laid him down and examined 
 him. But he was not seriously hurt ; no bones were 
 broken; he was only bruised and sore, and the de 
 scending steel had fortunately glanced instead of 
 crushing him. Horses will not step on a man if 
 they can avoid it. 
 
 Daggancourt wore the air of a whipped dog; was 
 mumbling and explanatory; had never meant to 
 shoot ; "honest to God" he had never meant to shoot. 
 He was so cringing and conscience-stricken that 
 Matt could not reproach him. He accepted his hand 
 instead, and told him to shut up. "Let s get to 
 town," he added, beset by a grinding anxiety. "I 
 I have to know if anything has happened to Miss 
 Marshall." 
 
 In a fever of impatience, and staggering like a 
 drunkard, he drove them into the automobile and 
 commanded Victor to make haste. 
 
 "Hurry, hurry, hurry," he cried, in an exaspera 
 tion of suspense. "The car s good for a mile a min 
 ute, and, by God, she has to do it!" 
 
 223; 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 HT^HERE was no news of the runaways till they 
 * reached Main Street ; it was in a turmoil, and 
 knots of people were gathered in front of the shops, 
 talking excitedly. A passer-by informed them that 
 there had nearly been a bad accident. "A man and 
 a girl on horseback, going like the wind, and my! 
 if there wasn t a scurry to clear the way. Been 
 going yet if a hay wagon hadn t pulled square 
 acrost and brought them up all standing." 
 
 "But nobody hurt?" asked Matt, full of dread. 
 
 "Naw ! But they were lathered to beat the band, 
 and it was a wonder nobody was killed. The old 
 gentleman, he give the driver a dollar; patted his 
 horse a bit, and then went on like nothing had hap 
 pened." 
 
 "And the young lady?" 
 
 "Oh, she went along, too, though her hair was 
 down her back and she looked ready to drop." 
 
 Matt breathed a sigh of relief; and after verify 
 ing the report from another eye-witness, begged the 
 mulatto to take him home. He was glad to creep 
 in and hide himself in his room. Ter.ribly tired, ter 
 ribly humiliated, the first thing he did was to gaze at 
 
 224 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 his face in. the glass. But no trace remained of the 
 whip, except a slight discoloration on the forehead. 
 Here was another cause for thankfulness, for he 
 dreaded lest he might be marked for days and be 
 condemned to an ignominious seclusion. 
 
 He spent the afternoon in bed, unspeakably 
 wretched, and at an utter loss to know what to do. 
 Chris was further from him now than she had been 
 in Washington; to meet her again would be almost 
 impossible ; to write was to incur the risk, almost the 
 certainty of his letter being intercepted ; and what 
 could he say if he did write? Only that he had 
 failed, and he had already told her that. There was 
 no way out; no solution; he could see nothing but 
 a deep-water ship and an eternal farewell. 
 
 After supper that night he was told there was a 
 lady outside in a buggy asking for him. He ran out 
 bareheaded, not daring to think it was Chris, yet 
 unable to conceive how it could be any one else. He 
 was in a fever of expectation. If not Chris, could 
 it possibly be Mrs. Crowther? What other women 
 could be seeking him? But it was neither. There 
 was a glimmer of spectacles, and he looked up at 
 a thin, sallow countenance that reminded him of 
 Miss Gibbs, a middle-aged woman, plainly and 
 poorly dressed, similarly faded, and with the same 
 aspect of quiet decision. 
 
 She eyed him searchingly, and begged to know if 
 he were Mr. Broughton. On his replying that he 
 was she handed him a note. He read it by the light 
 
 225 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 of the lantern on the dash, deciphering the penciled 
 writing with difficulty. 
 
 "MY DARLING : 
 
 "I am sending you this by my Swiss maid, Flex- 
 ner, whom don t trust too much. She will tell you 
 what I have planned, for I am so used up, so dis 
 tracted that I can not write it, though I have tried 
 twice. I am at the end of my courage and every 
 thing, and if we don t snatch at our happiness now 
 we shall lose it for ever. It was wicked of him to 
 strike you. Wicked, wicked, wicked! Let Flexner 
 do all the talking till you understand. Don t think 
 she is devoted, it s because I promised her 2,000 dols, 
 and that is a fortune in her country, where I sup 
 pose she will settle down and yodel for the rest of 
 her days. She is very sharp, so be cautious. Oh, 
 if I could only talk to you myself, but I love you, 
 and she will show you how much. Adieu. 
 
 "CHRIS." 
 
 "P. S. When I shall have paid her the $100 she 
 insists on in advance I shall have eighty-two dollars 
 left." 
 
 Matt pondered a moment, and then inquired: 
 "You are Flexner?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Will you please give me your message ?" 
 
 The woman hesitated ; moved in her seat ; and 
 then replied in a low voice: "Had we not better 
 move away from the gate people may see us 
 here?" 
 
 226 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 Matt assented, and walked beside the buggy as it 
 was slowly driven beyond Mrs. Sattane s, stopping 
 opposite a vacant lot. He kept reminding himself 
 that this Flexner was "very sharp" ; also that "she 
 was not to be trusted too much." He was stirred and 
 uneasy and in a state of suppressed excitement. 
 Something was on foot; something vital and per 
 emptory ; he was devoured to learn what it was. 
 
 "My young lady wishes to do a very foolish 
 thing," said Flexner with a disapproving purs 
 ing of her mouth. "Insists on it like the spoiled 
 child she is. In my country we would lock her in 
 a room and send for the pastor to lecture her, or 
 whip oh, yes, whip. She wants you to run away 
 with her to-morrow morning." 
 
 "Run away with her!" 
 
 "She says you are to get a carriage, or better, an 
 automobile, and pick her up to-morrow morning at 
 four o clock at the Fair Oaks entrance. Previously, 
 I shall have packed a small portmanteau and placed 
 it outside the house, and all next day I will inform 
 her father that she is ill and can not be disturbed. By 
 this means you reach Middleborough without 
 trouble, and get married, and then take the train to 
 New York. From New York you will travel to 
 that city that city where you were cheated of your 
 ring-" 
 
 ("San Francisco," said Matt to himself.) 
 
 "And there you stay, no matter how poor, how 
 starving, till the opportunity arrives to go to that 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 place where you have a friend a very rich, queer 
 man whom once you served and who will take 
 you back in employment." 
 
 ("John Mort," said Matt to himself.) 
 
 "She says it must be now, or not at all, for she 
 can not be so brave twice ; she says desperate people 
 have to take desperate chances; she asks you to an 
 swer yes or no." 
 
 Matt made a hasty calculation; he had almost a 
 hundred dollars ; this, with Chris eighty-two, would 
 easily get them to California, with something to 
 spare. Answer? It was yes, of course, a thousand 
 times yes, though his temper rose at Swiss rapacity. 
 
 "You are to be paid two thousand dollars for 
 helping us?" he protested. "Isn t that a very great 
 deal?" 
 
 Flexner could not admit that it was, betray 
 ing animation for the first time. Was she not los 
 ing an excellent position? Was she not going 
 against her conscience? What would be the value 
 of that promissory note were Mees to die before she 
 came into her property? Flexner considered two 
 thousand dollars at six per cent, compound inter 
 est a most moderate remuneration. Matt, whose 
 real purpose was to save that hundred dollars in 
 money a hundred dollars that might be of price 
 less importance to him and Chris in the extremity 
 of their fortunes, objected and haggled with a per 
 sistence very unbecoming in a young Lochinvar. 
 
 But the inflexible Swiss would not abate a penny 
 228 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 of her demands. A hundred dollars in cash, and 
 nineteen hundred in a promissory note, at six per 
 cent., due in three years, was the price of an inflex 
 ible Swiss. She was losing an excellent position; 
 Mees might die ; her conscience, etc., etc. a bargain 
 was a bargain. Attacked on the side of sentiment, 
 Flexner confronted him with her own little ro 
 mance. She meant to return to Zurich and marry 
 a faithful cuckoo-clock maker. That was what 
 made her so blind to duty and conscience. The sal 
 low, middle-aged creature had her Carl; Mr. 
 Broughton must not think he was the only one that 
 loved. The Swiss, too, had hearts, and every week 
 Carl wrote and asked her how much money she had 
 saved up. She would earn her reward, never fear, 
 and then misdirect the pursuit to Bridgeport; she 
 would manage everything with secrecy; she would 
 assure them of a whole day s start. The real ques 
 tion was yes or no? 
 
 Matt longed to write a note to Chris, but he was 
 afraid of the attention it might attract in the board 
 ing-house. The boarders were always so curious, 
 so nosing, especially where he was concerned. Be 
 sides, he had to see Daggancourt and arrange for 
 that flitting at dawn. He told Flexner that his an 
 swer was "Yes," and put into the word a warmth 
 that he hoped she would carry to her mistress. 
 She was to say that he had ninety-seven dollars, 
 and would carry out his instructions implicitly; 
 was also to say that she was the pluckiest girl in the 
 
 229 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 world, and that if it were a desperate chance he 
 would promise that they would be desperately 
 happy. It was like talking to cold veal, but all the 
 same he talked and talked and cold veal listened, 
 mentally computing nineteen hundred dollars for 
 three years at six per cent. 
 
 She drove off, leaving Matt in a whirl. Chris 
 and he were to run away! Chris and he were to 
 be married at Middleborough ! His pulses throbbed ; 
 he could scarcely grasp it; he could scarcely believe 
 it ! How superbly reckless of her ! How incredible ! 
 How unworthy he was of such an amazing sacri 
 fice! Yet it was the only way out, mad as it was. 
 She had appreciated that boldly when he had been 
 despairing. Could they but hold their own in San 
 Francisco the opportunity would surely present it 
 self of reaching the South Pacific. Once into Tahiti, 
 Samoa, Raratonga anywhere in the Islands the 
 rest would be comparatively easy. 
 
 One was readily trusted in the South Pacific; he 
 could charter a vessel and pledge John Mort s credit 
 without the least danger to the latter. And with 
 what a welcome he would be received he and 
 Chris! Here was the one spot on earth where he 
 was assured of welcome. Moreover, he would re 
 turn with the glory of having baffled Mort s mys 
 terious enemies, of having successfully resisted and 
 defied them. Mort would appreciate that. Yes, 
 everything pointed to Lotoalofa. 
 
 He had some trouble in finding Daggancourt, 
 230 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 whom he finally ran down in a wood-shed behind 
 Mrs. O Brien s boarding-house. Mrs. O Brien drew 
 the color-line more strictly than Mrs. Sattane ; hence 
 the wood-shed, and the general effect of shipwreck- 
 and-desert-island in which poor Victor appeared as 
 the only survivor. He was sitting on a soap-box, 
 reading beside a table he had constructed of some 
 old lumber, and presented a forlorn picture of what 
 human prejudice could accomplish. A musty mat 
 tress lay in one corner; his toilet articles were 
 ranged along a ledge of the wall; a broken plate of 
 meat, and a chipped, yellow bowl showed his un- 
 tasted supper. He started violently as Matt pushed 
 open the door and entered. 
 
 "Oh, Lord, I took you for the constable," he said, 
 greeting Matt in surprise and laughing constrain 
 edly. "I thought the old gentleman had sworn out 
 a warrant for my raising a gun to him." 
 
 "Don t you worry about that," returned Matt. 
 "He will have something more important to bother 
 about pretty soon. Victor, I m in an awfully tight 
 place, and you will have to help me out again." 
 
 "I m always ready to do that, Marse Broughton ; 
 all I need is to be told how, you know." 
 
 "Victor, I m going away." . 
 
 "Going away, Marse Broughton? Not going 
 away for good ?" 
 
 The darky extended his hands appealingly. 
 
 "I wouldn t do it," he added, as though to a child. 
 "What s the sense of doing that?" 
 
 231 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "I want you to have the tow-wagon in front of 
 the garage at half -past three o clock this morning 
 full up gas, oil and water. Wait till I come, and 
 then we ll go on to Fair Oaks just you and me, 
 mind no one else. At the big gate we shall pick 
 up a young lady and go on to Middleborough, where 
 the young lady and I will be married, and then take 
 the first train for New York." 
 
 Victor caught his breath. 
 
 "It ain t Miss Marshall you mean ?" 
 
 "Yes, it s Miss Marshall." 
 
 There was an inherent strain of good breeding in 
 Daggancourt. He put no inquisitive questions; he 
 did not try to force Matt s confidence; he waited, 
 hoping to receive it, and then, detecting Matt s re 
 luctance, hastened to place him at his ease. 
 
 "So that s how it is," he exclaimed genially. 
 "Well, well, I m sure I do congratulate you, and 
 I m just tickled to death, Marse Broughton, just 
 tickled to death ! Half-past three o clock, you say?" 
 
 "Oh, Victor, what a good chap you are; I can 
 never thank you enough ; yes, half -past three and, 
 of course, not a whisper to anybody." 
 
 "You leave it to me, sir." 
 
 "And for God s sake, don t oversleep." 
 
 "It wouldn t be me if I did; if there s any slip up 
 it won t be my fault; I ll be there all right." 
 
 "Good night, then ; I ll be getting along back." 
 
 "Have you told any one there at Mrs. Sat- 
 tane s?" 
 
 232 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 "Not a soul." 
 
 Daggancourt s pleasure at this answer was undis 
 guised. 
 
 "They ain t fit to be trusted," he said, his face 
 wrinkling with satisfaction. "My, won t they stare 
 to-morrow!" 
 
 "Excuse my hurrying, Victor; I m dead beat." 
 
 "Good night, Marse Broughton, I know you 
 must be." 
 
 "Good night." 
 
 At half-past three they met like conspirators in 
 the darkness. Matt was carrying his suit-case, into 
 which he had crammed the better part of his belong 
 ings, though he had been forced to leave his frock- 
 coat and evening clothes, together with a great deal 
 more that he was less able to spare. But it was not 
 a moment for considerations of wardrobe; what 
 were a few shirts and a swallow-tail to a young 
 Lochinvar ? 
 
 He was a very nervous, fidgety Lochinvar, as 
 he encircled his steed, otherwise the most disrepu 
 table-looking of automobiles, and planted a kick on 
 each of the tires. But they were standing up like 
 Trojans, and Victor, moreover, had lashed a couple 
 of spare casings to the rear, as well as providing 
 himself with some brand-new tubes. Yes, Victor 
 had a jack ; yes, Victor had borrowed a better pump 
 from the big Pierce; yes, tire-irons, plugs, extra 
 lugs and wet cells Victor vouched for them all. 
 
 233 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Nothing remained except to put a match to the 
 headlights and turn her over. 
 
 She caught the spark at the first turn, and away 
 they went, traversing the silent streets, and rumbling 
 over the bridges at a lively pace. Once beyond the 
 town Victor let her have her head, and made the 
 wind whistle past their ears as he laid her to it like 
 a racer. Fences, woods and the winding road 
 danced before the concentrated glare of the re 
 flectors ; on either side rose the night, walling them 
 in as though they were plunging through a deep de 
 file; the engine hummed with its rhythm of steel. 
 Then the gates of Fair Oaks suddenly darted up; 
 were caught and lost again as the brakes ground 
 sullenly and the car shivered to a stop. 
 
 There was a sound of voices; of feet running; of 
 muffled exclamations in the dark. A slight figure 
 murmured pantingly: "Oh, Matt, is it you!" and 
 clung to him. Another, with Swiss incisiveness and 
 lugging a heavy portmanteau with both hands, 
 wanted to know where it was to go, and failing an 
 answer tumbled it into the tonneau. Matt followed, 
 assisting Chris, and lifted her in with his strong 
 arms. Not a word was said ; the door snapped shut ; 
 Victor, peering behind, turned and threw in his 
 clutch. In an instant they were speeding through 
 the deep defile again, engulfed in the night. 
 
 Matt s recollection of his elopement was both 
 strangely blurred and strangely vivid. He was tired 
 to exhaustion, and so was Chris ; nothing could keep 
 
 234 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 them long awake, not even the ecstasy of being to 
 gether. Yet that dawn was the most imperishable 
 memory of his life as he looked down at her, nestled 
 beside him, with the heavy lashes fringing her 
 cheeks. She opened her sleepy eyes and nestled 
 closer and closer still when he whispered it was 
 their wedding-day. 
 
 They say responsibility gravitates to the shoulders 
 fit to bear it. In this case the shoulders were Dag- 
 gancourt s, and his was the directing spirit. He 
 had charged himself with the whole business, and 
 had thought out a plan of campaign in which the 
 others were merely to do what they were bid. They 
 did so meekly, bewildered and happy at this fresh 
 instance of the first being last and the last first. 
 There was an element of humor, besides, in resign 
 ing themselves to an elderly darky, who knew so 
 much more about getting married than they did. 
 
 Victor s resourcefulness, indeed, was only com 
 parable to that of a genie of the Arabian Nights. 
 The favored prince and the lovely Circassian nodded 
 on the magic carpet, or stole scared and whimsical 
 glances at each other as Genie Daggancourt drew 
 them through the air. In some unknown manner 
 he acquired breakfast, and spread it for them in a 
 secluded grassy garden, where afterward a care 
 taker lady appeared, in a flutter of concern and blue- 
 flannel dressing-gown, and insisted on removing 
 Chris to the shuttered house. 
 
 From this Chris emerged later, adorably fresh- 
 235 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ened, and as she said almost awake. She was very 
 gay and tremulous, and talked a great deal, as 
 though afraid to stop as though if she stopped she 
 would cry. Then Genie Daggancourt discreetly 
 withdrew, and she did cry sobbing, and holding to 
 Matt. But it seemed she was not crying for herself, 
 but for him, and because she loved him so much, and 
 because they had only a hundred and seventy-nine 
 dollars, and because she loved her father, too, and 
 because The list came to an abrupt end when 
 Matt said that there was still time to take her back ; 
 on which she besought his forgiveness, declaring that 
 she had not meant a word of it except loving him, 
 of course and that girls always cried when they 
 were very, very h-h-happy. 
 
 Victor reappeared, looking at his watch, and cut 
 ting short further repentance. 
 
 "Better get aboard again," he said. "The min 
 ister s waiting, and all we need is our ring and our 
 license and I m calculating to run you over to 
 Claremont and put you on the express there." 
 
 "Claremont?" asked Matt. "Why Claremont?" 
 
 "It s a small town about eight miles down the 
 line," Victor returned. "It will bother them more 
 to trace you from there than if you left from here." 
 
 "Good idea! Oh, Victor, what a treasure you 
 are." 
 
 "Well, Marse Broughton, don t the Scriptures 
 say : What you do, do it with all your might, and, 
 Well done, thou good and faithful servant?" 
 
 236 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 His eyes twinkled as he led the way to the car and 
 shut the pair in the tonneau. After all, it was some 
 thing to be a genie and serve a prince. Personal 
 devotion was the keynote of Daggancourt s char 
 acter. He belonged to the type that worked for 
 their masters without pay after the war and guarded 
 their women while it lasted. There is many a 
 southern home that enshrines the memory of such 
 as he that "good nigger" and often a humble 
 hero, of whom we hear too little in the acerbities of 
 race hatred. 
 
 The ring was bought, the license obtained, and a 
 benignant fossil recited the marriage ceremony in 
 a stuffy parlor and made out a certificate that was 
 not unlike a giant Christmas card with angels 
 blowing on heavenly horns and the Most High Him 
 self not spared by the naive artist. The fossil was 
 called Snyder, the Reverend Ephraim Snyder, and 
 though shaky and quavering, was not without a sim 
 ple dignity. At the conclusion he warned Matt 
 against drink and Chris against "frivolity and the 
 love of fine raiment," and thus briefly condensing 
 human frailty, blessed them both with unaffected 
 sincerity. Victor slipped a ten-dollar note in his 
 not unwilling hand, and they left the stuffy parlor 
 married. 
 
 It was quite impossible to believe it, in spite of 
 the ring, and the warning, and the certificate, which 
 was too stiff to fold, and had to be carried rolled up, 
 like a sheet of music or sandpaper. It was hard to 
 
 237 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 shake off the conviction that somehow they had 
 failed to get married; that anything so stupendous 
 could be so easy. On the whole, they were very silent 
 in their new state, attempting to realize it, and only 
 dimly succeeding. Matt was much the more fearful, 
 as well he might be, and learned again the unsus 
 pected courage of women. Chris had no misgivings ; 
 no dread of the future comforted the big baby 
 when he said : "I hope I haven t been horribly sel 
 fish ; I hope I haven t acted abominably." Already he 
 was turning to her leaning on her finding forti 
 tude and consolation in a dependence as sweet to 
 him as it was to her. 
 
 At Claremont they caught the New York express, 
 and Daggancourt, who had taken the tickets, hur 
 ried them through a Pullman to the compartment he 
 had reserved. This was an extravagance for which 
 they were unprepared, and Matt s face lengthened 
 in spite of himself ; but he could not be so ungracious 
 as to scold the old darky, though such a dip into 
 their slender purse was a serious matter. He owed 
 Daggancourt as well for the license, and for the 
 minister, and would have paid him before had he 
 not been put off with one excuse or another. He now 
 pulled out a handful of bills, a little vexed at Victor s 
 dilatoriness. 
 
 "How do we stand, Victor?" he asked. "Two 
 for the license ; ten for Mr. What-dye-call-him, and, 
 oh, yes the ring that s five more, seventeen and 
 the auto, I insist upon paying for that and the 
 
 238 
 
THE ELOPEMENT 
 
 tickets. For heaven s sake, be quick about it, or 
 they ll start the train." 
 
 "Marse Broughton, you aren t as well fixed as 
 you ought to be," said Daggancourt, "and and so 
 I think we ll just let it stand over, if you don t 
 mind." 
 
 "Stand over? I should say not ! Here, take thirty- 
 five and call it square!" 
 
 "It can never be that between you and me, sir," 
 returned Victor, with a droop of the lower lip that 
 made him look the embodiment of guilt. "I m pow 
 erful fond of you, Marse Broughton, and and it 
 would be a great favor if you would just accept it 
 temporary. Like you might from a white man," 
 he added stammeringly, "only temporary, till you 
 sort of get settled, and " 
 
 "I ll take it," Matt said brokenly, "and I won t 
 pretend it isn t a gift, either. God knows, I need it, 
 Victor, and I I thank you." 
 
 It was as well for all three that the train began to 
 move. Victor turned and ran, and the last they 
 saw of him he was shuffling beside the track outside, 
 waving his handkerchief. They waved back, saying 
 farewell, as it were, to all their past life as well as 
 to that shabby figure receding behind them. The 
 new one seemed to date from the moment they 
 found themselves alone together for the first time 
 since dawn ; as they looked at each other that hag 
 gard, unshaven man, that pale girl, thus unflinch 
 ingly taking their fate into their own hands. 
 
 239 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 THHE fare to Chicago by a two-day train was 
 -* eighteen dollars apiece, which included a "free 
 reclining-chair car." From Chicago to San Fran 
 cisco it was thirty-three dollars more, with eight dol 
 lars extra for the tourist sleeper. In all, a hundred 
 and ten dollars, which left them precisely sixty-nine 
 dollars and twenty cents to pay for their meals and 
 provide for them in San Francisco. But for Dag- 
 gancourt s generosity they would have been forced 
 to go hungry in order to hoard an even more meager 
 sum. 
 
 They slept their bridal night, fully dressed, in the 
 free reclining-chairs, which, however favorably re 
 garded by the railway company, were wretched sub 
 stitutes for beds. The car was crowded and hot ; a 
 stout gentleman gurgled and snored ; an ailing child 
 whimpered at intervals throughout the night. Matt 
 awoke in the morning discouraged and not without 
 a haunting compunction at seeing Chris in such a 
 place and among such people. 
 
 He was unprepared for her good spirits when 
 she, too, awoke; her gaiety and laughter were as 
 warming to him as sunshine. She made a jest of 
 
 240 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 everything and was not discouraged at all ; she was 
 eager for breakfast, and debated with much crin 
 kling of her pretty brows, whether or not they could 
 afford a quarter each. 
 
 Indeed, throughout those long days, she never 
 wavered nor repined. Accustomed to ease, luxury, 
 servants, everything that wealth could buy, she 
 seemed not to give their loss a thought. She would 
 sit in wayside eating-houses, swinging saucily on 
 her stool, and nod at Matt over her upraised cup, or 
 give him a bite of her pie when, after deliberation, 
 he had chosen an apple instead. She made friends 
 with the newsboy, and persuaded him to leave his 
 stack of books and magazines on their seat ; she made 
 friends with the fat man, who had left Chicago with 
 them, and borrowed his playing cards; she romped 
 with the children in the aisle, and helped their 
 weary mothers to undress them at night and put 
 them to bed; she was always the first out at a stop 
 and the last in, sparklingly alive and full of zest. 
 She had the delightful faculty of investing petty 
 things with interest, and of enriching them with im 
 agination and humor; so that the dog in the bag 
 gage-car, or the sick old gentleman with the white 
 hat, or the college boy s flirtation with the painted 
 lady took on a to-be-continued-in-our-next value 
 when embellished by her vivacious fancy. 
 
 To Matt and her the frowsy old car was a heaven 
 on wheels ; love had touched it with a magic wand ; 
 what did it matter if their meals were pinched and 
 
 241 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 they had to take count of every nickel. They were 
 always counting their money and scheming econo 
 mies, but it was hard, for they were young and 
 well and hungry, and could eat a whole quar 
 ter each and still want more. Matt was a terrible 
 cheat, and was capable of munching air and doing 
 grand-stand play with a paper napkin in order to 
 produce an unexpected present of candy afterward 
 tender artifices, often detected and hotly pun 
 ished; but never without a welling of that girlish 
 heart, and a smile was sometimes very close to tears. 
 And all the while they were rolling westward, over 
 plain and desert, past cities and snow-capped moun 
 tains ; and with them rolled the dog in the baggage- 
 car, the sick old gentleman in the white hat, the ad 
 miring newsboy and the fat man all that little 
 world of which for a time they were a part. 
 
 It was dark when they reached the Oakland mole 
 and took the ferry across the bay to San Francisco. 
 Dark and foggy and biting cold, with a smell 
 of the sea, and of tar, and ships, and mud-flats. 
 They were disgorged like cattle on the other side, 
 streaming down into a crowd of hotel touts, cabmen 
 and transfer men, with street-cars whirling on turn 
 tables and mobbed as they turned. But there were 
 no cabs for them, no street-cars. 
 
 Matt, weighed down with a suit-case in one hand 
 and the heavy portmanteau in the other, led the way 
 through the mean, evil streets. Drunken sailors 
 jostled them; squalid basements emitted discordant 
 
 242 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 music and the sound of women s voices; the air 
 smelled rankly of stale vegetables and decaying 
 oranges. Matt was glad to get through this low 
 quarter and into the safer and more familiar region 
 of Montgomery Avenue. To Chris it hardly seemed 
 a change for the better, for it was still a poor neigh 
 borhood, and though the buildings increased in size, 
 they were old, with dingy entrances, and wore an 
 aspect of neglect and dilapidation. 
 
 They crossed the avenue, passed a brilliantly lighted 
 saloon on the corner, and entered a cheap rooming- 
 house, whose exterior was scarcely less forbidding 
 than the others. Matt had dilated on the old-fash 
 ioned coziness of No. 7, Washington Block, but as 
 seen by the two tired travelers on that foggy night 
 it was hard to fit it in with his enthusiastic descrip 
 tion. But a nice, motherly woman on the second 
 floor did something to dull the edge of their disap 
 pointment. This was Miss Diehl, the agent, who, 
 after a parley in her own spotless room, offered 
 them one on the next floor for two dollars a week. 
 If this were less spotless it had the distinction of 
 having been an author s, who had been ejected the 
 day before, though nothing would ever eject the 
 holes his cigarettes had burned in the carpet or a 
 peculiar smell that seemed to be of sausages cooked 
 over the gas-jet. But two dollars a week was not 
 much, and Jim, the Chinaman, would lay fresh 
 sheets and so the arrangement was concluded. 
 As the door closed on Miss Diehl, Chris, who 
 
 243 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 was sitting on the bed, looked up and said with a 
 strange earnestness : "Matt, I want to tell you some 
 thing." 
 
 "Why, what is it?" he asked carelessly. 
 
 "We were followed all the way up from the 
 ferry." 
 
 "Followed?" 
 
 "Yes, a man followed us; I m positive of it." 
 
 "Boo! I don t believe it" 
 
 "But he did, dear, truly he did, and when we 
 crossed the street down there he came up so close I 
 could have touched him." 
 
 "My poor darling, don t talk rot. He may have 
 been simply coming the same way we did." 
 
 "Then why did he keep staring and pretending he 
 wasn t?" 
 
 "Because you are so pretty." 
 
 "But he stared at you, too." 
 
 "Because I was so lucky to be your husband." 
 
 This flattering explanation did not satisfy Chris ; 
 she rose, and going to the window, looked out. 
 
 "Oh, Matt, there he is now !" she cried. "Come 
 quick." 
 
 But Matt was too late ; the man had disappeared 
 in the direction of the saloon. 
 
 They stood there, Chris in a tremble, Matt uncon 
 vinced, yet somehow anxious. 
 
 "Nobody could harm us here," he exclaimed, try 
 ing to make a joke of it. "Forty men, all following 
 us in single file, couldn t hurt us, could they?" 
 
 244 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 But Chris was shaking, and the hand that sought 
 his own was as cold as ice. "Matt, I m frightened," 
 she said. 
 
 Matt had intended to go to Snood and Hargreaves 
 and, demanding an explanation of their outrageous 
 conduct, force them to a settlement. His position 
 was unassailable. If they could show him no ring 
 and he knew they did not have it he could 
 threaten them with the police and press them to the 
 wall. But the unwisdom of such a course grew 
 more and more apparent. It would be tantamount 
 to announcing his arrival to Mr. Kay, with unfore 
 seeable dangers and consequences. But if Kay were 
 already on his track, and if the man of overnight 
 were indeed a spy, nothing could be gained, but 
 much lost, by sparing the jewelers. This was the 
 question that animated Chris and Matt as they 
 breakfasted the next morning in a little Italian res 
 taurant, leaning their elbows on the table with their 
 heads close together in eager consultation. 
 
 Somehow the daylight had a dissipating effect on 
 the personage that had followed them from the 
 ferry. Matt was more incredulous and Chris not 
 half so sure as she had been. She admitted being 
 overstrained; admitted the unlikeliness of her con 
 jecture and was willing enough to ascribe it to a base 
 less apprehension. Then in that case why rouse 
 sleeping lions? It was decided to allow the sleep 
 ing lions to sleep on undisturbed in the meanwhile 
 
 245 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 at all events. Roused lions, even if compelled to 
 disgorge, would certainly keep the wires hot, and 
 bring Kay and his myrmidons by the first express. 
 
 No, Snood and Hargreaves were put by as a last 
 resort, only to be braved in the extremity of misfor 
 tune. Instead, Matt would make the round of the 
 business houses with which he had formerly dealt 
 on John Mort s behalf and borrow sufficient money, 
 if he could, for a steerage passage in the mail- 
 steamer to Samoa. 
 
 Chris accompanied him. It was a blustering, 
 windy day, bleak and cheerless, and it seemed to 
 become bleaker and more cheerless still as Matt was 
 denied at one office after another. He was the vic 
 tim of bygone zeal, of bygone loyalty and honesty. 
 However lightly he had spent his own money, he 
 had always been a hard bargainer where John 
 Mort s was concerned. How remorselessly that 
 "five per cent, for cash" now rose in judgment 
 against him that "I can do better at Turner s," or 
 whatever it was to bring down the price. 
 
 He was shabby; he was hesitating; he had none 
 of the enticing arts nor breezy joviality that com 
 promised the lender before he could temper his wel 
 come to changed conditions. What business man 
 does not know the type? The trusted employee of 
 a rich customer, once so keen in buying, and so 
 ready with his check-book, now transformed into 
 a low-voiced mendicant, who must raise a certain 
 sum to get from somewhere to somewhere else. 
 
 246 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 Matt listened to those transparent subterfuges which 
 have done duty for a thousand years decreased 
 trade, "don t know which way to turn myself," 
 and all the rest of it, retiring crestfallen, usually 
 with nothing, though once with three dollars and 
 another time with five. 
 
 One merchant took him curtly to task. 
 
 "Favors breed favors," he said. "You always 
 stood out for your pound of flesh. It s very praise 
 worthy to guard your boss s interests, but if you 
 had bought of us at catalogue prices you would have 
 fallen on a feather-bed instead of the cobbles." 
 
 So it went on with varying rebuffs, sometimes not 
 altogether unkind, sometimes insufferable in their 
 rudeness and rancor with a rare five, and once a 
 ten-dollar gold piece. Chris turned whiter and 
 whiter from the misery of repeated failure and the 
 fatigue of standing and loitering; and after a pre 
 tense at lunch in a cheap eating-place she was sent 
 home alone while Matt continued his depressing 
 tour. By four o clock he had to confess himself 
 beaten. Except for a ship-chandler at the foot of 
 Market Street, the list of possible lenders was ex 
 hausted. But he had never put much business in this 
 man s way, whose last name he had some trouble in 
 remembering. Yes, Coleman, that was it Joe Cole- 
 man, a jolly old Englishman as round as a tub. 
 
 Coleman greeted him heartily so heartily that 
 Matt was ashamed of the surprise he was about to 
 spring. 
 
 247 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "You d better be careful, Joe," he said, with a 
 wretched effort at a smile. "I m on my uppers, and 
 every shake of my hand may cost you five dollars." 
 
 "The hell it will!" exclaimed Coleman, in sham 
 trepidation. "Here, sit down on that barrel and 
 have a cigar. Bless you, lad, it s like old times to 
 see you again. Not been making out very well, 
 eh? More bumps than milk punch? Well, cheer 
 up, and pass the tambourine." 
 
 Joe was a common old fellow, but his robust 
 good-will and sympathy were very warming. Puff 
 ing at his cigar and leaning against an anchor, he 
 told Matt "to get on with his tale of woe." 
 
 Matt obeyed but with reservations, saying 
 briefly that he had tried shore life and failed and 
 wanted to return to the Islands. 
 
 "That s easy," said Coleman. "No need to be 
 so blue about it." 
 
 "Easy? Do you think I can swim there or what?" 
 
 "I mean I m good for a hundred dollars. I al 
 ways liked you, Broughton, and when I like a man 
 it don t stop at the trousers pocket. Bless your 
 handsome face, it don t. All you ve to do is to catch 
 the mail-boat and make a bee-line for the cocoanuts 
 and the wahines." 
 
 "I have mine with me, Joe. I m married." 
 
 "Oh, I say!" Coleman exclaimed, rubbing his 
 chin and looking worried. "You ve been going it, 
 haven t you ? A hundred dollars is about my limit ; 
 I couldn t go more than a hundred, and that s what 
 
 248 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 they charge for a single passage to Samoa hold on, 
 though, I have it ship steward, or work your way, 
 and let wifey be the passenger." 
 
 "But they would make me sign to Australia sign 
 for the run." 
 
 "Jump the ship." 
 
 "I don t know about that, Joe. Suppose they 
 kept me and landed her. It s too great a risk." 
 
 "Oh, you could manage it." 
 
 "I ve put chaps in irons myself for the same sort 
 of game, and I tell you, Joe " 
 
 The sentence remained unsaid, and Matt s mouth 
 stayed open as Coleman suddenly dashed to the 
 door and grabbed the arm of a man who had stopped 
 for a moment to peer in. He was a short, thick-set 
 person of a seafaring cut, with the appearance of a 
 North German or a Scandinavian, and popping blue 
 eyes that danced with good humor. He was ef 
 fusively introduced to Matt as Captain Schwartz, 
 of the schooner Esmeralda. 
 
 "You damned old ," cried Coleman, affection 
 ately flopping him in the stomach. "Where have 
 you been keeping yourself? I fancied you had up 
 with the mudhook and cleared a month ago." 
 
 "No such luck," growled Captain Schwartz in a 
 strong German accent. "Everybody behind ; every 
 body humbugging; drouble, drouble, drouble all the 
 time." 
 
 "Here s some more," said Coleman cheerfully, in 
 dicating Matt. "He s going with you, and when 
 
 249 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 may he come aboard? He s a South Sea captain 
 like yourself, and has lost his ship." 
 
 "Ship? Vat ship?" inquired Schwartz, awaken 
 ing to interest. 
 
 "The topsail schooner, North Star," said Matt in 
 a shiver of expectation and hope. 
 
 "He s stuck here without a cent," put in Coleman, 
 "and it don t matter to him much where you land 
 him as long as it is something dry, with a palm tree 
 on it and cold missionary on the sideboard." 
 
 They all laughed at this, and then Schwartz said : 
 "I wasn t meaning to stop anywhere this side of the 
 Solomons but he can gome, he can gome!" Lay 
 ing his hand on Matt s shoulder, he added: "Old 
 South Sea captains should stand together. You d 
 have done the same for me, and dat is all there is 
 to it." 
 
 "Then you ll give me a passage?" cried Matt, 
 hardly able to credit his good fortune. 
 
 "Sure I will," returned Schwartz, "and I ll put 
 you ashore anywhere on the line of march." 
 
 "His wife s along," interjected Coleman, winking 
 at Matt ; "and a corking young woman she is, too. 
 Sings splendid and plays the mandoleen, and it will 
 be dandy of a moonlight night to sit on the poop 
 and hear her." 
 
 "You got a wife?" asked the captain, apparently 
 much pleased. "Say, but dat will be fine ! Young, 
 she is?" 
 
 "Twenty-three/ replied Matt. 
 250 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 Schwartz looked happier than ever. 
 
 "You come on to Malaita," he said. "Me, I am 
 married, too, and got two leetle babies, so high 
 everything fine, fine, but my wife she is very lone 
 some for white society I think she jump for joy 
 to see another young white lady. And I ll get you 
 a good poseetion on the plantation or in the com 
 pany s store." 
 
 The good-hearted little captain had settled it all, 
 and volubly repudiated any other course than that 
 Matt should accompany him to the Solomons. The 
 more he talked, the more enthusiastic he became, 
 opening his watch and showing a photograph of his 
 wife and children. His wife was named Hilda, 
 and this was Wilhelm, and this was Hildebrand, 
 and 
 
 Joe, who believed in hitting while the iron was 
 hot, carried them down the street to a bar, where 
 they drank a cocktail at his expense, and another 
 round at the captain s expense, and another round 
 at Matt s expense, and grew increasingly friendly 
 and confidential. Then nothing would satisfy 
 Schwartz but that he should return with Matt to 
 Washington Block and be present when the great 
 news was broken to Chris. Saying good-by to Cole- 
 man they started, walking arm in arm, like a 
 pair of cronies, with tongues loosened by the 
 liquor they had drunk, and Matt inexpressibly 
 grateful and elated for the Esmeralda was to 
 sail the next day, and Schwartz had promised him 
 
 251 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 the owner s cabin, as well as inviting him and Chris 
 to dine on board that very night. By way of cele 
 bration Matt bought a bunch of roses and a box of 
 candy, and it was in this gala fashion and with 
 overflowing spirits that he mounted the stairs of 
 No. 7 and knocked at Chris door. 
 
 "Shake hands with the best and kindest fellow in 
 the world," he exclaimed, as she shrank at the sight 
 of a stranger. "Chris, this is Captain Schwartz, of 
 the schooner Esmeralda, who has dropped from 
 heaven to rescue us." 
 
 "Dis is the first time I was ever reported from 
 heaven," said Schwartz, laughing explosively. "De 
 lighted to meet you, Mrs. Broughton. No, thank 
 you, I vill not sit down. I weeshed merely to give 
 my invitation in person, and extend the courtesies of 
 my ship to so charming a lady." 
 
 "Invitation?" 
 
 Chris raised her tear-stained face to her husband 
 in inquiry. She was timid and confused, and at a 
 loss to understand what had happened. 
 
 "The captain wants us to dine on board to-night," 
 Matt explained, "and to-morrow we sail with him to 
 the Islands! Just think of it, Chris we re sailing 
 to-morrow, actually sailing to-morrow!" 
 
 "Anywhere you like, old chap," put in Schwartz 
 royally, "though if you will listen to me, Mrs. 
 Broughton, you will go on to Malaita, where my 
 wife is, and the captain can get a good poseetion." 
 
 "And we re to have the owner s cabin, Chris," 
 252 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 cried Matt. "Did you ever hear the like of that! 
 Isn t that kind, though ? Isn t that wonderful ? Isn t 
 that dropping from heaven?" 
 
 Chris, now excited too, admitted that it was, and 
 with shining eyes regarded the man to whom they 
 owed so much. If he were not very prepossessing in 
 appearance, and was more boisterous and familiar 
 than so short an acquaintance warranted, he cer 
 tainly must have a heart of gold ; and she ascribed 
 his shortcomings to a not unworthy desire to place 
 them at their ease. She thanked him warmly, and 
 exerted herself with all her woman s art to cement 
 a friendship that seemed destined to extricate them 
 from their difficulties. 
 
 After some further conversation the two men left 
 her to complete her toilet, and a little later she joined 
 them at the entrance of No. 7. From here they 
 took a street-car to the water-front, where they 
 walked along on foot until they reached the wharf 
 where the Esmeralda was lying. In contrast with 
 the towering clipper ships all about her the Esmer- 
 alda appeared to be a toy, and so diminutive that 
 they had to descend to her deck by a ladder. She 
 was a typical South Sea schooner, built on sharp 
 and yacht-like lines and heavily sparred for her size, 
 which Schwartz informed them was ninety-four 
 tons. She had a broad, low house aft, a mainboom 
 that extended twenty feet or more beyond the taff- 
 rail, and in her waist, on chocks, the usual dispro 
 portionately large surf-boat. 
 
 253 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 In the little main cabin they were made acquainted 
 with Mr. Brandeis, the mate, who was making up 
 his accounts at the table, with small piles of gold 
 and silver coin stacked on the various bills. Mr. 
 Brandeis was a very fair, irritable-looking man 
 of fifty or so, with a lank mustache, who spoke 
 no English, and shook hands solemnly at his 
 superior s bidding. Then he sat down again and 
 resumed his occupation of counting out money from 
 a cigar-box, as though with the completion of that 
 formality his share of the social function was over. 
 
 "A goot chap," said Captain Schwartz, smiling, 
 laying his hand on the mate s shoulder. "Reads 
 books all the time he reads books and never talks 
 except to contradict you, and say you are a liar on 
 page seventy-nine, or a dom fool on page two hun 
 dred and three. Some day I ll throw him overboard 
 and shoot his books after him and say: Go and 
 prove it to the feesh ! 
 
 This amused the captain so much that he had to 
 repeat it in German to Brandeis, who answered 
 somewhat curtly, and tugged at his mustache as 
 though none too pleased. Matt thought it spoke 
 rather poorly of the ship s discipline that the mate 
 took the joke in such bad part. It would not have 
 happened on his vessel, he said to himself, and be 
 fore guests. But Schwartz did not seem to mind, 
 and turned away without the least annoyance to 
 show them the cabins. 
 
 There was one on either side of the main-cabin, 
 254 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 the captain s to starboard, the mate s on the port 
 side. Beyond the captain s, and reached by a nar 
 row passageway, was the "owner s cabin" another 
 cubical with barely room for a couple of bunks, 
 superimposed. Like the others, it was very fresh 
 and clean, with a couple of portholes giving am 
 ple light, and enough locker-space to put away a 
 considerable amount of clothes. There was a tiny 
 washstand in one corner, a bracket with a brass 
 lamp, and a strip of new matting on the floor. 
 
 "This is where you will live," said the captain to 
 Chris, who was regarding everything with much 
 curiosity. "And if you wish to do any shopping, I 
 hope you will not forget our old established peezi- 
 ness!" As he spoke he opened the door opposite 
 and ushered her into the trade-room. This was the 
 largest cabin on the ship, and was a veritable float 
 ing shop, with a counter and shelves, scales and 
 primitive showcases. It contained everything un 
 der the sun, from brass wedding-rings, Waterbury 
 watches, tools of all kinds, jews -harps and flints for 
 flintlock muskets, to boat-anchors, kegs of dynamite, 
 barrels of beef and pork, and innumerable bolts of 
 gaily printed cottons. Behind the counter and still 
 open was a small hatchway that gave access to the 
 hold beneath, from which the voices of sailors could 
 be heard. 
 
 "We are going down pretty light," expiated the 
 captain, "and the mate thinks he can make a faster 
 passage by shifting some ballast aft." 
 
 255 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "But what do you want with all those things?" 
 asked Chris, to whom a sea-shop was a novelty. 
 
 "Sell them to the noble savage at three hundred 
 per cent, profit," returned Schwartz, laughing. 
 
 "But what are those guns over there for in the 
 rack?" 
 
 "To shoot him if he ain t satisfied! They are a 
 tricky lot, Mrs. Broughton, and, like all customers, 
 are ready to beat you down only they do it with a 
 cloob!" 
 
 Chris shrank a little closer to Matt, who reassured 
 her by remarking that their islands would not be like 
 that. 
 
 "The captain means the Solomons," he said. 
 "Down there they are coal-black and eat you for 
 dinner, but our people are a nice brown and wouldn t 
 hurt a fly." 
 
 "YouVe never told me where you want to go," 
 put in Schwartz. "Vare is that delightful place so 
 different from the Solomons ?" 
 
 "Really, Captain, I don t want to take you out 
 of your course," returned Matt seriously. "The 
 Gilbert Islands are in your way drop us there 
 anywhere." 
 
 Schwartz shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "What s a few days, more or less," he exclaimed. 
 "No, you tell me vare you vant to go, and there I 
 shall sail though why not Malaita ?" 
 
 "The Tokelaus would suit me best." 
 
 "The Tokelaus, vare is dem?" 
 256 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 "Well, the Union Islands to call them the name 
 they have on most charts." 
 
 "The Union Islands! Yass, I know the Union 
 Islands. A little south, but what s that ? Old South 
 Sea captains should stand together, that s what I 
 say!" 
 
 "Oh, Captain, I ll never be able to thank yon 
 enough." 
 
 "Dat s all foolishness, Broughton. You would 
 do the same for me." 
 
 Schwartz s tone was cordiality itself; indeed, his 
 spirits seemed to rise with his companions , and his 
 good-nature increased to an hilarious pitch. He 
 kept laughing from sheer exuberance, and as he led 
 the way back on deck he gave Mr. Brandeis a 
 hearty poke in the ribs and told him they were 
 bound for the Tokelau Islands. The mate paid 
 scarcely any attention, except to nod, and continued 
 to dip into the cigar-box of cash with a sardonic 
 expression that appeared to be habitual with him. 
 But as they were mounting the companion-ladder, 
 Matt looked back and perceived him galvanized into 
 a belated interest, with a chart in front of him, and 
 an eager thumb evidently seeking the Union Archi 
 pelago. 
 
 They stayed on the poop, talking, and watching 
 the sun go down, until a Japanese steward appeared 
 to announce that supper was ready. They fol 
 lowed him below, where, to Matt s surprise, he 
 found the mate included in the party. They drew 
 
 257 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 up their stools to the table, which looked very invit 
 ing with its spotless table-cloth, a vase of sweet-peas, 
 and a bottle of sparkling Moselle set at the captain s 
 right hand. The china, glass and cutlery were of the 
 commonest, but they suited the pleasant sea atmos 
 phere of the cabin, and spoke of homely comfort 
 and of a simplicity not without a charm of its own. 
 
 The meal was to match, substantial and plain, in 
 cluding plum-duff and Limburger cheese. The cap 
 tain kept the bottle busy, ordered another and kept 
 that busy too, drinking every one s health in turn 
 with German punctiliousness. This involved drink 
 ing the captain s health in turn, the silent mate s 
 health everybody s health with formality and 
 bowing and much clinking of glasses. To Chris it 
 was a peep into another life, and struck her as ex 
 traordinarily picturesque and interesting. She en 
 joyed the deference of these rough men, appreciated 
 their unaffected kindness tinged with romance and 
 sparkling Moselle. The jolly little captain had 
 placed the whole ship at her disposal and had ap 
 pointed her queen of the ocean. He was rewarded 
 by being made a baron, at which Mr. Brandeis un 
 bent sufficiently to take mock offense, and had to be 
 consoled by a decoration of blue ribbon from Chris* 
 neck the Exalted Order of Jonah, with the privi 
 lege of wearing a jeweled whale on state occasions. 
 
 Afterward black coffee was served on deck in 
 white mugs with handles, and a phonograph was 
 set going by the mate and continued by the Japanese 
 
 258 
 
A FRIEND DROPS FROM HEAVEN 
 
 steward. As Chris was chilly and had brought no 
 wrap, the captain doubled up the German flag and 
 folded her in it ; and it was thus draped that she sat 
 on the poop and held Matt s hand in the dark. 
 Above them rose the bow of a huge four-master, 
 whose sailors were clustered together, also listening 
 to the music, and occasionally joining in one of the 
 choruses. The water slopped against the piles and 
 gurgled along the schooner s sides; red and green 
 lights skimmed the shadowy surface of the bay, 
 borne by unseen tugs or launches ; giant ferry boats 
 glimmered in the distance and blew melodious warn 
 ings from their deep-toned throats. To the young 
 lady in the German flag it was an evening never to 
 be forgotten; she felt herself on the edge of an un 
 known world ; she was glad of the phonograph that 
 allowed her to lie back and dream undisturbed. 
 
 "Ten o clock to-morrow," said the captain as they 
 stood on the wharf. "We tow out with the tide, you 
 know mustn t keep us waiting." 
 
 "You will see us at dawn," returned Matt with a 
 laugh. "Won t he, Chris?" 
 
 "At breakfast, anyhow," she answered gaily. 
 "May we come to breakfast, Baron?" 
 
 "May you come?" exclaimed Schwartz. "Vat a 
 foolish vay for a queen to talk about her royal 
 yacht. Behold, I vill order ze gold plates, and in 
 struct ze major-domo to warn ze Japanese gentle- 
 men-in-waiting !" 
 
 259 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 With this they parted, the captain descending the 
 ladder while Matt and Chris walked through the 
 vast shed and past the watchman at the gate. 
 
 "Oh, Matt, isn t he splendid!" 
 
 "Schwartz? Why, he s just the best little fellow 
 that ever lived." 
 
 "And I liked the mate, too liked him im 
 mensely." 
 
 "So did I. He s one of those quiet men that grow 
 on you." 
 
 "And wasn t the Moselle good, though!" 
 
 "And the dinner! By George, what a change 
 after those ring-a-ling eating-houses, and that slabby 
 marble place to-day, where you seemed to be eating 
 off tombstones." 
 
 "And we re going, Matt we re going!" 
 
 "Sail to-morrow at ten o clock !" 
 
 "It s like a fairy tale, isn t it? Think of our hav 
 ing a little fairy ship all ready and waiting for us !" 
 
 "It makes me shiver to think at how narrowly we 
 might have missed it." 
 
 "But Matt, we ve caught it! Just by one day, 
 we ve caught it !" 
 
 It is supposed to be extremely indecorous to show 
 affection on the street ; but it was such a dark street, 
 and there was nobody in sight anywhere, and why 
 shouldn t an ecstatically happy man kiss his ecstat 
 ically happy little wife, and even press her for a mo 
 ment to his heart ? 
 
 If the stars blinked, well 
 260 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 r I ^EN days had passed since the tug cast them 
 - off beyond the Golden Gate, and with three 
 toots of farewell left them to shift for themselves. 
 Ten days of heavenly peace, with the sails scarcely 
 touched, and rustling softly before an unfailing 
 breeze. The air was balmy; the recurring bells, as 
 the helmsman struck the time, alone measured a 
 pleasant monotony that seemed otherwise to have 
 no break. There were glorious sunsets, velvety 
 nights, mornings of magic freshness, and always in 
 the center of that silent world was the Esmerctlda, 
 dipping her nose in the long blue swell. 
 
 She was a very quiet ship. In all his sea-experi 
 ence Matt had never known a quieter. There was 
 none of the usual singing, no horseplay, no loud 
 good-humor no fo castle accordion, no fo castle 
 jollity. In all, there were seven men forward, 
 who might have been seven authors, from the assid 
 uous way they read grave, oldish men for the most 
 part, always glued to books under that tarpaulin in 
 the waist. Herman was the only youth among 
 them tall, whitey-blond Herman, who tried to 
 make friends with the passengers till he was 
 
 261 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 squelched by the mate. After that he became a 
 reader too, though rather an unwilling reader, much 
 given to lying on his back and staring up at the sky. 
 In fact, that appeared to be his principal occupation, 
 for he never took a trick at the wheel nor lifted his 
 hand to a rope, even during a squall or in any other 
 emergency. 
 
 Schwartz, though less of a reader than Brandeis 
 or the others, very soon ran dry as a conversational 
 ist. He became bottled up and uncommunicative, 
 spending hours at a time in his cabin, or walking up 
 and down the poop in a brown study none dared to 
 disturb. This was the only prerogative of a captain 
 that he treated himself to, beyond taking his place at 
 the head of the table. Mr. Brandeis took all the 
 observations, gave all the orders; shortened sail or 
 ran up kites without even going through the form of 
 consulting his superior. He was the virtual com 
 mander of the ship, and made very little pretense 
 that he was not. Matt noted that Schwartz stood no 
 watch, but allowed his to be taken by the second 
 mate, a ponderous individual of sixty, with white 
 side-whiskers, who was called Krantz and berthed 
 forward with the men. 
 
 This familiarity between officers and men was 
 new to Matt. Mr. Brandeis was not above mixing 
 with them under the tarpaulin, and adding his cigar 
 and book to that sprawling circle. Here he might be 
 seen, prone with the rest, often on one elbow, talk 
 ing in an emphatic, scolding manner as though chal- 
 
 262 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 lenging contradiction and overriding it roughshod. 
 Matt had to admit that the mate did not appear to 
 lose caste in consequence. On the contrary, he was 
 treated with great respect, and Herman in particular 
 never failed to spring up at his approach, no matter 
 how engrossed he might be at the moment in the 
 sky. 
 
 The two Japanese, Yonida, the steward, and Fusi, 
 the cook, were not behindhand, either, as readers. 
 Yonida was a man of evident intelligence; his 
 library included a work on conic sections, Gibbon s 
 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and a num 
 ber of others of the same massive caliber. Poor, 
 fat-faced, stupid Fusi held tight to the only book he 
 possessed, Samuel Smiles Self-Help, which he ab 
 sorbed with the painstaking industry of a boa-con 
 strictor. Sitting at the door of his spotless galley, 
 often with the bread-pans stretched out in front of 
 him, each loaded with dough and awaiting some 
 mysterious completion, Fusi would engage in the 
 struggle of adding one more paragraph of Self- 
 Help to his slowly acquired store. Matt could not 
 pass him without being asked what "intention" 
 meant, or "precluded," or some other equally insur 
 mountable rock that was blocking Fusi s path to 
 knowledge. He wrote down the answers in a little 
 washing-book, and boa-constrictored them with an 
 abstracted air, till you almost seemed to see the 
 hind-legs of the word sticking out of his mouth. 
 
 An indefinable suspicion was beginning to creep 
 
 263 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 into Matt s mind that there was something wrong 
 with the ship. The transformation of Schwartz 
 from an amiable, talkative, friendly little man into 
 the taciturn creature who paced the poop, or wrote 
 for hours in his cabin, struck oddly on Matt s atten 
 tion. The gruff mate was gruffer than ever, and 
 showed an increasing disinclination to let Matt see 
 the chart as the vessel s course was plotted from day 
 to day. There was none of the usual thawing that 
 takes place on a long voyage, none of the usual inti 
 macy and good-fellowship. Of all the crew, Her 
 man had been the only one to make any advances, 
 and his had been the only smile to greet Matt and 
 Chris, until Brandeis had roughly sent him about his 
 business if lying under the lee of the surf-boat and 
 gazing for ever at the sky could be called a business. 
 Herman seemed privileged to do this as much as he 
 pleased, undisturbed. And these white and whisk 
 ered patriarchs ? Was it a floating old men s home, 
 or what ? 
 
 The humorous view with which these things were 
 at first regarded changed imperceptibly as time wore 
 on. Who was this strange Schwartz, and this strange 
 Brandeis, and what had been the secret of the for 
 mer s impulsive good-will in San Francisco ? Noth 
 ing now was heard of old South Sea captains stand 
 ing together. The amazing fact dawned on Matt 
 that Schwartz was no seaman at all, but a landsman 
 masquerading as the master of the vessel. A few 
 questions, put as a test, had shown his abysmal 
 
 264 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 ignorance of the sea and of everything appertain 
 ing to it. Yet for whose benefit could such an im 
 posture be practised ? Surely not for his and Chris , 
 though Was it possible that they were prisoners 
 on this singular ship? Comfortable, well-fed, po 
 litely-treated prisoners ? 
 
 To increase Matt s misgivings, Chris, who was a 
 lighter sleeper than himself, had been hearing 
 "noises" in the middle of the night. She described 
 them as "funny, snapping sounds" that commenced 
 after Schwartz had passed their door, and looked in 
 as though to assure himself that they were asleep. 
 She was so positive of this that Matt could not shake 
 her, which, with incredulity, he tried to do. No, it 
 was not a dream. No, she had seen him just as 
 plainly as she now saw Matt. In pajamas, bare 
 footed, and peering in she could not be mistaken. 
 One only dreamed a dream once, but this happened 
 regularly, and besides, there were the "noises." 
 
 Matt determined to stay awake and see and hear 
 for himself. If it were fancy on Chris part, the 
 sooner she was undeceived the better, for she was 
 nervous and frightened, and had moments of pas 
 sionately wishing they had never set foot on the 
 Esmeralda. Accordingly, one night, instead of 
 climbing to the berth above, Matt tucked in with 
 Chris below, with the idea that it would be less easy 
 to fall asleep in such extremely confined quarters. 
 
 Midnight struck eight bells. Half after mid 
 night one bell. One o clock two bells. Half 
 
 265 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 after one three bells. He grew drowsier and 
 drowsier. Why would not Chris leave him alone? 
 Awake? Of course he was awake, only that he 
 was in his old bedroom at Mrs. Sattane s, and 
 He was roused again, and was made to understand, 
 not without difficulty, that four bells had just gone ; 
 was shaken and pummeled till he sat up and bumped 
 his head. It bumped him back to consciousness, and 
 to a realization of the watch he was supposed to be 
 keeping. He crouched there, now wide awake and 
 alert, listening intently. 
 
 Suddenly Chris clutched him. 
 
 "He s coming," she whispered. "Matt, he s com 
 ing I heard the door =" 
 
 Matt held his breath. The door must have indeed 
 opened, for the passageway became lighted, although 
 dimly, by the lamp in the main-cabin. Matt hur 
 riedly lay down and closed his eyes almost shut, 
 peeping through the lashes. As he did so he had a 
 sight of Schwartz, tiptoeing past their door. No, 
 not past it, for the man stopped on his way and cast 
 a quick glance within. He was in his pajamas ; his 
 face was a study of furtiveness and caution; he, too, 
 was holding his breath and seemed to be on edge 
 with suspense. Then he tiptoed on and was seen no 
 more. 
 
 "Didn t I tell you?" murmured Chris. "In a mo 
 ment the noises will begin." 
 
 "Sh-h-h," returned Matt. "Sh-h-h!" 
 
 It was more than a moment, however, before the 
 266 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 quiet was disturbed. Both waited with straining 
 ears, but nothing came to them beyond the rippling 
 of the water along the schooner s keel, and the creak 
 of cordage and timbers as the vessel sank into the 
 swell or rose on its turgid crest. A ship under way 
 is never altogether silent ; she moves with a myriad 
 plaintive noises, some of them lullingly liquid, others 
 hoarse and humming. 
 
 "There! There!" exclaimed Chris. 
 
 A peculiar jarring sound became faintly audible, 
 as though some machinery had been set in motion. 
 But it was too irregular for machinery, and had an 
 indescribable thrilling quality that Matt was at a loss 
 to account for. The cabin shivered with it; it was 
 as fine as the lash of a whip and as vicious, as it 
 seemed to sting the air. Matt leaped from the bunk, 
 despite Chris entreaties. By George, he was go 
 ing to see what it was; follow Schwartz and 
 find out. Harm? Well, wasn t it better to risk a 
 little than to cower under the coverlet like ninnies ? 
 There had always been something wrong with the 
 ship, something queer but this was the climax. She 
 must let him go he had to go. 
 
 He stole into the passage toward the door 
 that opened on the waist companion-ladder. The 
 door was shut, and for an instant he hesitated, with 
 his hand on the knob. Then he drew it back, slipped 
 swiftly down the ladder and gained the lee of the 
 galley. Here, bent double, he stopped to reconnoiter, 
 attempting to pierce the deep shadows about him, 
 
 267 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and wondering whether they did not conceal eyes as 
 watchful as his own. 
 
 Little by little he regained his courage. The night 
 was intensely dark; if he had gone thus far without 
 detection the rest ought not to be hard. All the 
 while there was that snap-snap-snapping, ominous 
 and startling, that appeared to have its source at the 
 foot of the foremast. He crept along the surf -boat, 
 pausing at the forward chock in which its stem was 
 imbedded, and huddled against it. But what was 
 that opaque and unexpected mass outlined just for 
 ward of the foremast ? An erection seven or eight 
 feet high, and about half that width, which loomed 
 before him, silhouetted against the stars? 
 
 He nerved himself to advance again, with the 
 stealth of a hunter stalking a deer slowly, crouch- 
 ingly, taking advantage of every cover; dubious 
 even of the starlight ; inch by inch, obliquely, so as to 
 reach the starboard scuppers, pass the foremast and 
 be able to look back. A voice was now intermingled 
 with that snap-snap-snapping, keeping pace with it 
 a man s voice, guttural, thick and droning, the words 
 half -drowned in the rasp and sizzle. 
 
 Matt worked his way along the scuppers, head 
 down, scraping the side of the ship, feeling in front 
 with his hands, propelling himself from behind with 
 his naked feet. He was on fire with curiosity, yet 
 was patient ; snailing on and on, not daring to turn 
 till he had reached the gear of the jibs, which 
 marked the limit he had set, before he would risk 
 
 268 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 rising to discover the secret of this extraordinary 
 affair. 
 
 It was an astonishing sight that met his gaze. 
 Forward of the foremast was a sort of hut, con 
 structed of mattresses, forming a wind-break or 
 shield, open only to the fo castle. Within it, seated 
 on a box, was Herman, bent over an apparatus, and 
 causing it, by means of a small brass handle, to emit 
 that astounding buzzing, as well as an incessant sput 
 ter of sparks and flashes. There was no listlessness 
 now in that gawky youth. His expression was keen ; 
 his hand moved the key with lightning precision ; 
 he had an unmistakable air of mastery and skill, as 
 of a man engaged in something he excelled in. Be 
 side him stood Schwartz, holding a lantern, and ap 
 parently dictating from a sheaf of papers. The little 
 captain, also, was transformed ; had the same look of 
 capacity and absorption; had something even more, 
 something formidable and military in his bearing, as 
 though dealing with vital issues on the battlefield 
 itself. 
 
 Wireless ! Of course it was the wireless. Matt had 
 read of it, but had never seen it before in action. 
 Zi, zi zizizizi zi zi-zi-zi-zi-zi ! The brass lever 
 darted up and down, lingered and snapped amid a 
 splutter of sparks and flashes; the captain, holding 
 his place with his thumb, reeled off sentence after 
 sentence in a low, vibrant voice; the lantern light 
 flickered over the yellow sheets, over Herman s bent 
 head, encased in a curious harness, over the gleam- 
 
 269 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 ing apparatus. Occasionally Schwartz was warned 
 to stop. The machine no longer transmitting, would 
 receive. Zi, zizi, zi-zi-zi-zi with this time Herman 
 repeating, word by word, the message thus mysteri 
 ously caught from space, while Schwartz listened 
 darkly, with preoccupation, seeing the unseen, weigh 
 ing and understanding what was being told him. 
 
 Matt returned as he had come, more concerned 
 than ever not to betray himself. The discovery 
 had daunted him; he was in the grip of terror; 
 he had the sensation of a man with the roar 
 of Niagara in his ears, and his boat nearing the 
 brink. Who were these people? What was their 
 purpose? With whom were they communicating 
 across the night ? Whose was the hand that held the 
 answering key ? Whose the mind that directed the 
 little vessel from afar? He had been lured aboard 
 her ; had been tricked like a child ; was being borne, 
 virtually a prisoner, to what ? 
 
 He was so agitated that he could scarcely speak, 
 as Chris, on guard at the door, shut it behind him, 
 and breathlessly asked what he had seen. 
 
 "They re working a wireless apparatus," he an 
 swered. 
 
 "Wireless, Matt ! You don t mean a wireless tele 
 graph?" 
 
 "Yes. Herman s operating it and Schwartz is 
 sending messages." 
 
 "You actually saw them?" 
 
 "Yes, inside a lot of mattresses by the foremast 
 270 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 to deaden the sound, of course, and keep us from 
 hearing." 
 
 It was Chris turn to tremble to feel that sud 
 den catch at the heart. 
 
 "Why why should they do that, Matt?" 
 
 "God knows." 
 
 "Do you suppose it had a-a-any thing to do with 
 u-us?" 
 
 "They wouldn t hide it if it hadn t." 
 
 "But what are we to do?" 
 
 "I don t know." 
 
 "Couldn t you speak to Schwartz make a stand 
 about it threaten him ?" 
 
 "What with?" 
 
 "Well" 
 
 Matt laughed. 
 
 "We re prisoners on this damned ship," he said. 
 "Chris, they ve kidnapped us." 
 
 "But isn t that a terrible thing to do?" 
 
 "For us yes." 
 
 "But couldn t they all be punished and sent to 
 prison?" 
 
 "Possibly if the Oregon ranged alongside but 
 where is your Oregon?" 
 
 "Then we are utterly helpless?" 
 
 "That s about it." 
 
 "You don t think they ever meant to land us in 
 theTokelaus?" 
 
 "Chris, this whole ship, and the whole crew, must 
 have been waiting for us in San Francisco, like a lot 
 
 271 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 of spiders for two little flies. Tokelaus! We ll 
 never see any Tokelaus. That was all part of the 
 scheme to hoodwink us to get us away." 
 
 "But what could they want with us ?" 
 
 "Want with us ? Why, they want John Mort !" 
 
 "Oh, Matt!" 
 
 "Yes, the same people who are running this ship 
 are the same that drove me out of Manas wan ! Brib 
 ing me failed; force failed, but they were cunning 
 enough to know that rather than starve I d double 
 back to the islands. So there was Schwartz all 
 ready, with his ship and his blarney, and his spider s 
 web across the road I was bound to take." 
 
 "But if that were so, why should they be back 
 ward now?" 
 
 "Backward?" 
 
 "Why hasn t the captain tried to make you tell? 
 Tried to force you to tell ?" 
 
 "That s coming. As sure as I am alive, that s 
 coming." 
 
 "Coming?" 
 
 "When we reach the people who are answering 
 our wireless. There s hell ahead, Chris." 
 
 "Well, in that case, you ll simply have to take the 
 only way out." 
 
 "I ll never do that never." 
 
 "But Matt, they might" 
 
 "Sure to. I ll have to stand all I can. A pretty 
 black lookout, isn t it ?" 
 
 272 
 
A STARTLING DISCOVERY 
 
 "Rather than have you hurt I ll tell everything 
 myself." 
 
 "You shan t." 
 
 "I will, Matt, I will!" 
 
 "You don t know where this island is. You don t 
 know the bearings. What could you tell them that 
 they don t know ?" 
 
 She whispered something back that blanched his 
 face. 
 
 For a moment he was silent. It had never come to 
 him that their deviltry might be turned against Chris. 
 
 "By God, I ll sink the ship first !" he cried. 
 
 273 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 IT was difficult, once the Esmeralda had been re 
 vealed in her true character, to maintain the fic 
 tion of unconcern. But it was evident policy to do 
 so, lest something worse might befall, and Matt and 
 Chris were perseveringly friendly to the careworn 
 captain, and to the sulky, sardonic mate. They 
 judged it wise to talk a great deal of the Tokelaus, 
 and of their plan afterward to reach Samoa and 
 start a little cacao plantation. Schwartz had alto 
 gether abandoned the pretense of inviting them to 
 continue the trip to Malaita. But they discussed it 
 openly as a possibility they had considered and 
 finally negatived, preferring Samoa and cacao. Sit 
 ting at the cabin table, and under the unrelaxing 
 scrutiny of their two jailers, they estimated the 
 number of trees they meant to plant to an acre, the 
 proper shade to be used, the various methods of fer 
 menting the product figuring profits, and fre 
 quently, for the sake of appearance, disagreeing 
 quite hotly. 
 
 Privately, a much more important matter was 
 engrossing their attention. Matt s cry, wrung from 
 his desperation, that he would sink the schooner had 
 
 274 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 given him the germ of an idea. Yes, why not sink 
 her not from any notion of wild revenge but as 
 a well-calculated solution of the perils surrounding 
 them ? To wait, in fact, until they knew there were 
 islands near them and then, sinking the vessel, com 
 pel Schwartz to take to the surf-boat. This was a 
 fine, big, carvel-built boat, twenty-six feet long, and 
 Matt tested it with his penknife to make sure it 
 was sound. It would easily hold all hands, with 
 ample provisions and water, and a trip of sixty or 
 eighty miles in it would be no terrible hardship. 
 Compared to the unknown dangers that grew daily 
 nearer, the hazard of such an escape seemed small 
 indeed. And once ashore anywhere ashore they 
 would be safe, for however primitive and loose the 
 little native governments are, they are strong enough 
 to protect the lives and persons of those within their 
 rule. The native populations are essentially law- 
 abiding; elementary human rights are enforced with 
 guns and shark-toothed clubs; on the smallest atoll 
 Schwartz would find himself powerless for evil, 
 with an excellent chance of being tied hand and foot 
 in cocoanut sinnett and cast into a coral prison if he 
 attempted to coerce or interfere with a man so fa 
 miliar with South Sea ways as Matt. 
 
 But to sink the Esmeralda! That was so easy to 
 say! Of course a stick of dynamite would send her 
 to the bottom in short order, and there was plenty of 
 the deadly stuff in the trade-room, together with 
 caps and fuses. But that was suicide. That was to 
 
 275 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 open a barn-door to the Pacific Ocean. The alterna 
 tive was to chisel a good-sized hole in her garboard 
 streak and give it about twice the bore of the bilge- 
 pump. 
 
 The Esmerdda had an unusually good pump, 
 worked by a couple of hand-spikes, and throwing a 
 five-inch stream. Matt squared the circle indus 
 triously and then doubled the result, going over these 
 calculations again and again to make sure of no mis 
 take. What he aimed to accomplish was a leak that 
 would force Schwartz to lay the vessel toward the 
 nearest land, and perhaps bring it into view before 
 there would be any need to take refuge in the whaler. 
 On a two to one ratio of leak against pump, he hoped 
 the Esmeralda might stay afloat for ten or twelve 
 hours after he had achieved his purpose. 
 
 How little did Schwartz appreciate what was 
 going on under his nose, during those long swelter 
 ing days in the Doldrums, or later when they picked 
 up the South East Trades. Matt and Chris, snug 
 gled closely in any strip of shade they could find, and 
 to all appearance as busy as ever with their mythical 
 plantation ! They were for ever scribbling on sheets 
 of paper and considering the results. There were 
 dummies with such headings as: "Estimated yield 
 for the fourth year. Food allowance for 18 labor 
 ers at 37 cents Chile a day. Probable profits on 3 
 acres of pineapples (a) First season (b) second sea 
 son (c) third season" dummies that were always 
 very much in evidence when Schwartz or Brandeis 
 
 276 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 were about. But the dummies were a blind for 
 other and more secret sheets conveying information 
 of such supreme importance that it could not even be 
 whispered. 
 
 There is not a spot on a small sailing vessel, un 
 less it be the tip of the jib-boom, where one is secure 
 from eavesdropping. Matt accordingly took no 
 chances on this score, well aware that a single wordi 
 might betray them. That they were under surveil-1 
 lance was increasingly borne in on them. Suspicion 
 was breeding suspicion. Hence the scribbling that 
 went on so continuously in the alleyway, or below 
 in their cabin. 
 
 "Did you manage to slip into the trade-room?" 
 Matt asked in writing. 
 
 "Yes and found lots of tools." 
 "Chisels?" 
 "Yes lots." 
 "How big?" 
 
 "All sizes the largest about two inches wide." 
 "A mallet?" 
 "No." 
 
 "Hammers?" 
 
 "No. But there was a case marked axes! 
 "Would it be hard to open?" 
 "I think it would." 
 "No hatchets?" 
 "Not one." 
 
 "Did you try to shift the hatch-cover?" 
 277 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Could not budge it, but you could." 
 
 "Were the chisels heavy ?" 
 
 "Medium." 
 
 "Any augers ?" 
 
 "What s an auger?" 
 
 "A giant gimlet." 
 
 "No, only little ones with a turn-wiggle." 
 
 "How big a hole could the biggest make ?" 
 
 "Hardly an inch no, less." 
 
 "Too small but a two-inch chisel can be driven 
 through anything." 
 
 "But what about the copper sheathing you were 
 afraid of?" 
 
 "Drive through that, too the trouble will be to 
 get those axes out without a noise." 
 
 "Will you wait till the time comes, or choose one 
 of those slam-bang calms? I used to think a calm 
 was a calm till the last one jounced us to pieces." 
 
 "Better wait make one job of it. Don t want 
 S. nosing in there and turning things over." 
 
 "Have you any idea where we are ?" 
 
 "Across the Line that s all I know. B. has the 
 chart locked in his room." 
 
 "How can you tell, then?" 
 
 "Only guess, but if we are where I think we are, 
 we soon can t avoid picking up an island or two. 
 Two reasons (i) birds to-day; (2) B. went aloft 
 and spent an hour in the cross-trees with his glass." 
 
 "But you will make absolutely certain before at 
 tempting anything?" 
 
 278 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 "It will take a row of palm-trees to nerve me up 
 to it! But we ll soon be seeing them, and then- !" 
 
 Courage and daylight go together. It is at night 
 that the spirit shrinks; that the spine feels icy 
 shivers ; that the coward in all of us draws the bed 
 clothes over his craven head. At night Matt and 
 Chris were hardly able to keep their resolution alive. 
 To send their bed, their home, their whole little 
 world to the bottom of the sea horrified their imag 
 ination. The lisp and gurgle of the water outside 
 gave a dread reality to the mental picture. It was 
 the voice of death that rippled along the schooner s 
 keel, that swirled in her wake, that foamed and 
 splashed on the billowing crests, death, not the width 
 of a hand away, cradling them in that fragile 
 shell which they were mad enough to dream of 
 destroying. 
 
 Had it not been for that other sound, never still 
 in the deadest of the early hours, they might have 
 abandoned their plan of sinking the Esmeralda. But 
 the wireless had its own note of menace and was a 
 perpetual reminder of dangers as real, as mysterious 
 and terrible as any to be feared from the dark depths 
 beneath them. When the wireless began to snap and 
 hum they were heartened to a fresh determination 
 to strike first, cost what it might. There was be 
 sides, in both those stubborn natures, a hatred of 
 confessing themselves beaten. To turn the tables 
 on Schwartz and Brandeis thrilled them with a 
 
 279 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 grim delight. Chris hot little heart burned no less 
 eagerly for revenge than Matt s. They had been 
 fooled, lied to, successfully victimized and carried 
 away, but 
 They were twenty- four days out of San Francisco 
 when the first land rose over the horizon. The ab 
 sence of clouds above it proved it to be one of those 
 coral atolls that abound in the Southern Ocean. To 
 the eye it was a long, low blur, scarcely more than 
 discernible on the rim of the sky ; to the glass palms 
 were visible, and the lake-like water of a lagoon 
 whose farther confines were lost in the dip of the 
 earth. The fact that they were at last in the zone of 
 reefs and islands filled Matt and Chris with an over 
 mastering excitement which the captain probably 
 ascribed to the interest that always attends a land 
 fall after a prolonged spell at sea. He was very 
 much interested himself, as indeed was everybody 
 lending his binoculars willingly, exclaiming at the 
 beauty of the shimmering, sapphire tints, and an 
 noying Mr. Brandeis with his incessant questions. 
 
 To Matt the sight of the island was like a signal ; 
 it made him acutely restless and uncomfortable; 
 he was possessed with the suffocating sense of 
 almost terror that precedes all desperate deeds. 
 Taking advantage of the commotion on deck, 
 he ran below, watched his opportunity, and entered 
 the trade-room. No cracksman, on his knees be 
 fore a safe, and thrillingly conscious that at any 
 moment he might be interrupted, could have 
 
 280 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 experienced more trepidation than did Matt as he 
 sought out the case of axes and pried open the lid. 
 He seized one and laid it aside, shoved back the 
 case, and hastily covered it with the first things 
 handy some bolts of canvas and a couple of drums 
 of niggerhead tobacco. Then, with a panicky glance 
 at the door, which had no key in the lock nor any 
 bolt, he went down on his knees before the hatch 
 and fumbled with the ring countersunk in the plank 
 ing. 
 
 He raised the cover with no great difficulty, and 
 lifting it clear, stared into the depths. What he 
 had feared most of all was that the after-hold 
 might be filled with cargo. But as his eyes grew 
 accustomed to the semi-darkness he saw nothing 
 save a void, with a glimmer of pigs of iron-ballast, 
 some metallically bright and others red with rust, 
 showing dimly beneath. He breathed a sigh of re 
 lief; there was no cargo, no packed array of cases, 
 crates and bales to thwart him. 
 
 He had had no intention of doing more than this 
 to make sure of his ax and to get some under 
 standing of the problem that might confront him. 
 He had not even told Chris, but darted below on an 
 impulse, seizing an opportunity that might not oc 
 cur again. Suddenly it came over him that the 
 projected delay till night was a mistake. Here it 
 was about two o clock, with four hours yet to sup 
 per. The tramp of feet overhead, the voices, the 
 exclamations all showed that the island was the 
 
 281 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 only thought of those on deck. There never could 
 be a better time, never, never. But where were the 
 chisels Chris had spoken of ? He rummaged about 
 feverishly, searching for them always with one 
 eye on the door. What if she had hidden them? 
 Could he dare go out and ask her warn her? She 
 must have missed him by now and was doubtless in 
 an agony of suspense. But he did not dare ; it was 
 not in flesh and blood to incur the risk ; he knew how 
 certainly his face would betray him. 
 
 Oh, those chisels ! What a fool he had been not 
 to learn from Chris where they were. The whole 
 thing might fail for that fail through his stupidity. 
 This was the time now, now, now! He sought 
 them like a maniac, spilling bolts of cotton, over 
 turning boxes and packages. Perhaps under the 
 counter? Good God, what was that lumpy object 
 his fingers were closing on ? A wrench ! Then an 
 other wrench, the prickle of a file, a draw-knife, 
 yes, a chisel dozens of chisels, flung in pell-mell 
 with the rest of the tools, and sparsely wrapped like 
 them in coarse paper. He pulled the chisels out on 
 the floor, gloating over them, always with his eyes 
 on the door, always hearing the feet above, the 
 voices, the confused movement that kept the ceiling 
 creaking. 
 
 But how to descend, or rather, once down, how 
 was he ever to scramble out? The hold was about 
 nine or ten feet deep; he peered in again, gauging 
 it. Rope? There was rope everywhere, compactly 
 
 282 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 coiled and burlapped. It would be quite a bother, 
 though, to cut the fastenings; new rope also was 
 sure to kink to tangle and twist itself into snarls. 
 Why not a bolt of that stout red cotton? It would 
 be just as efficacious more efficacious limper. 
 Yes, the stout red cotton by all means. It was 
 twenty-two or twenty-four inches wide, and could 
 easily bear the weight of a man. Matt made the 
 loose end fast to a keg of nails and tossed the bolt 
 itself down the hatchway; lowered the ax after it 
 on a piece of twine; also a key-saw and a pair of 
 chisels on another piece of twine. 
 
 What a pity Chris did not know! What a pity 
 she was not on guard in the doorway of their cabin 
 opposite! But perhaps she was there she was so 
 quick, so resourceful. Oh, if that wretched Fusi 
 were to blunder in for a case of canned stuff or one 
 of those hams; see the open hatch, and ! But the 
 lazarette was his usual storehouse; the trade-room 
 was seldom entered. Yet if Chris had been on 
 guard his heart would have thumped less violently; 
 she would have allowed nobody to get past her; it 
 made him savage to think he was engaging in this 
 alone. 
 
 Well, there was no help for it; it was now or 
 never. Crushing the cotton in his hands he swung 
 over the opening and let himself go. His feet 
 touched the iron bars ; all about him it was as black 
 as pitch except under the twilight of the hatch. The 
 air was stale and stifling, and reeked of bilge water. 
 
 283 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 It was a dim, foul cavern, littered with the mil 
 dewed remnants of former cargoes decaying sacks, 
 odds and ends of dunnage, greasy filth that had once 
 been coprah. His first step dislodged a rat, which 
 fled squeaking, rousing a horde of others that 
 squeaked, too, and scurried in every direction. 
 
 Gathering his tools together he deliberated as to 
 the place he should choose. It mattered very little 
 where, so long as he had enough light to see by 
 so long as it was not too high. Brandeis was a 
 quick-witted fellow and a thorough seaman, the 
 kind of man to be rushing down with sheet-lead 
 and ideas. The lower the better then, in order that 
 every drop might count. Here was as good a place 
 as any, here at the turn of the knees. The inner 
 skin had to come off first, of course, but that would 
 be easy. One-inch boards, probably; at the most, 
 one and a half, sheathing the hold and protecting 
 the thicker sides of the ship. 
 
 Matt got vigorously to work, ripping off a big 
 patch of the inner skin and laying open beyond the 
 real object of attack. The next step required more 
 delicate methods more care and skill. One fissure, 
 however small, in the outer planking might admit 
 so fierce a gush of water that the task would have to 
 be re-begun elsewhere with all its attendant delay. 
 But there was no time for delay not an instant. 
 Above him was the unlocked door the open hatch 
 urging him to feverish haste. 
 
 He marked a good-sized square on the planking, 
 284 
 
DANGER ABOVE AND BELOW 
 
 mindful that the copper outside would help to check 
 the inflow, and set to paring the wood away as 
 evenly as he could with the chisel. It was Oregon 
 pine, and came off in bright, clean shavings, sticky 
 with gum. He dug deeper and deeper; the square 
 sank into the yellow timber; he was as assiduous 
 as ever, though the effort became harder to keep the 
 surface flat and uniform. He was dripping with 
 sweat ; the ax was heavy and extremely awkward to 
 hold, cramping his right hand and annoying him 
 with its cumbersome handle. But he persevered, 
 regardless of difficulties, regardless of his aching 
 back and tortured muscles of the stinging, blind 
 ing sweat ; paring, paring, paring at the yellow wood 
 till it grew damp to the touch, till it oozed and 
 trickled, till it hissed with tiny streams that squirted 
 into his face. 
 
 Dropping the chisel, he ran his hand down the 
 ax-handle, gripped, and aiming the blunt end of the 
 ax at the aperture let fly with all his strength. 
 
 There was a flash of greenish water, a stupefying 
 roar, a blow in his chest that hurled him sprawling 
 backwards, drenched, confused, almost senseless. 
 Even at that depth the water was under a colossal 
 pressure; it was as though a geyser had opened in 
 the ship s side ; the stream ran solid for six or seven 
 feet, curved, and burst. Matt staggered up and 
 regarded it with awe, dizzily, trying to collect his 
 bewildered senses. Good God, how would the pumps 
 ever cope with it! The whole ocean was pouring 
 
 285 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 in ; it did not seem she could last an hour. He ought 
 to have been pleased, but the sight was too daunt 
 ing, too terrible. He had to choke back the instinct 
 to cry for help, to scramble on deck, shouting the 
 alarm as he went. It was in a sort of horror that 
 he stood there and did nothing that he watched the 
 green, transparent serpent striking at their lives. 
 
 By degrees he recovered some composure; col 
 lected the tools and flung them into the blackest re 
 cesses of the hold so that they might not rise in judg 
 ment against him for he knew the short shrift he 
 would get were the act brought home to him. He 
 drew himself up the hatch, caught the coaming, and 
 with a sailor s alertness sprang out on the trade- 
 room floor, where, trailing water like a spaniel, he 
 hurriedly closed the cover, stamping it into place 
 with his feet. Then with unspeakable relief, he 
 went to the door, listened, opened it a few inches, 
 and peeped cautiously into the passageway. 
 
 He looked straight into Chris eyes. She was in 
 their cabin, leaning against the bunks, and cloaking 
 with the book in her hand the duty she must have as 
 sumed of protecting him from interference. She 
 started and turned pale as she beheld him, stifling 
 an exclamation, and signaling him to hurry across. 
 He did so at a bound, closing the cabin door behind 
 him, putting his back to it like a hunted man. 
 
 "Get me some dry clothes quick," he panted. 
 "The schooner s done for I ve put a hole in her you 
 could shove your two fists through !" 
 
 286 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 BRANDEIS VS. THE PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 THE leak was not reported till supper-time, when 
 Krantz broke in on the party like a whirlwind. 
 To Matt it was a reprieve at the gallows foot, for 
 he could feel how sluggishly the little vessel rose to 
 the swell, and how she labored with the increasing 
 weight of water in her hold. The uproar that en 
 sued was as welcome to him as it was dismaying to 
 the galvanized mate and to the pallid, stuttering 
 Schwartz. Brandeis was on deck in a moment, 
 bawling orders in a voice like a bull ; Schwartz be 
 hind him, as white as a corpse; Krantz next, his 
 whiskers flying, and his heavy tread resounding as 
 he stumbled forward to call all hands. 
 
 Chris and Matt remained out of harm s way with 
 their half -finished supper before them, whispering 
 in undertones and following as best they could all 
 that was taking place on deck. No criminals ever 
 gazed at each other more guiltily. The fat was now 
 in the fire with a vengeance. Everything hung on 
 Brandeis decision, and they waited for it with their 
 hearts in their mouths. His first order was to put 
 the ship on the wind, and heel her over on the port 
 tack. 
 
 287 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "That s to see if he can t raise the leak out of 
 water," said Matt "Good for Brandeis, though he 
 will find it won t help much !" With the aid of a 
 dish of sliced beets he explained the manceuver to 
 Chris, so that she was not at all astonished when the 
 mate reversed his tactics, went about, and put the 
 Esmerdda over on the starboard tack. "A good 
 seaman, that fellow," Matt commented approvingly. 
 "Only the trouble isn t where he hopes it is." Then 
 the pump began to clank and the sheets were eased 
 as the vessel seemed to be laid again on her original 
 course. "Back where we started," said Matt. 
 
 On deck, in the glow of a fiery sunset, they found 
 everything in confusion a wild scene, tinged like 
 a picture with the crimsoning west. Naked to the 
 waist, a couple of men were working the handspikes 
 of the pump, which was hoarsely flooding the scup 
 pers. The canvas covers had been cut from the 
 whale-boat, and beside it, in a little heap, Yonida 
 and Fusi were stacking provisions, and with a tin 
 saucepan were filling a pair of breakers from the 
 water-butt. The main-hatch was open, gaping to 
 the sky, and within its depths could be heard a 
 wicked, gurgling sound, swishing to and fro with 
 the roll of the ship. At the break of the poop, and 
 showing that Brandeis had at last discovered the 
 source of danger, was the mate himself, vocifer 
 ously directing the efforts to draw a trysail over the 
 leak and up on the opposite side. 
 
 A bellowing command brought Matt to the task, 
 288 
 
BRANDEIS VS. THE PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 and a second later he was striving with the rest, and 
 as energetically busy to accomplish the impossible; 
 for he knew the hole was too near the keelson to be 
 likely to suck he had cut it there for that very rea 
 son but he worked with a will, nevertheless, glad to 
 elude suspicion by an appearance of zeal, and glad 
 der still at the murmurs about him, which, although 
 in German, plainly implied hopelessness and failure. 
 
 Brandeis repeated examinations of the hold, 
 from which he emerged like a drowned rat, ap 
 peared to show that the water was gaining on them ; 
 though Matt was not half as sure that the confound 
 ed trysail was not checking the leak to some degree. 
 After an hour of fiddle-faddling with it, the ends 
 were lashed fast and attention was diverted to rig 
 ging a block and tackle over the hatch and attach 
 ing a barrel that could be lowered, tilted, hoisted 
 out full, and spilled over the lee-bulwarks like a 
 giant baler a laborious operation, and, to Matt s 
 idea, clumsy and ineffectual. Relays were appointed 
 both for this and the pump, and a back-breaking 
 routine was inaugurated that continued without in 
 termission as the night advanced. 
 
 Matt snatched an opportunity to tell Chris to keep 
 a sharp watch on the binnacle compass. The Es- 
 meralda s course was W. S. W., and he asked her to 
 warn him in case it were altered by even a point. 
 To have it altered was his one consuming desire, for 
 it meant the culmination of his plan, and the short 
 ening of those dreaded hours in the whaler. Were 
 
 289 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 the schooner laid for the nearest land she might be 
 kept afloat to reach it, sparing them an ordeal Matt 
 had experienced before. 
 
 All that night as he bent at the hand-spikes, or 
 pulled on that hellish tackle, or dropped utterly 
 spent as the other shift replaced the one to which he 
 belonged, he was unrewarded by the news that 
 would have consoled him for all his suffering. 
 Though the ship seemed heavier than before, and 
 the darkening faces of the crew showed how the 
 unequal battle was going against them, she was not 
 allowed to swerve an inch from her prescribed 
 course. Half sinking as she was, Brandeis kept her 
 at it, with no weakening of his resolve to drown 
 her under rather than turn aside. Schwartz was of 
 less heroic stuff; he pleaded, he argued, he wept 
 beat the air and stamped in a frenzy of expostula 
 tion. If anything were needed to show who was 
 the real master aboard, it was this conflict of the 
 ostensible captain with a mate who roughly ordered 
 him back to work. 
 
 At midnight, after another stormy altercation be 
 tween the two, Schwartz seemed to win a grudging 
 consent to get the wireless into operation. A slender, 
 pointed steel pole was run aloft; Herman installed 
 his apparatus at the foot of the foremast, and with 
 no pretensions of secrecy, and as oblivious of Matt 
 as he was of the rest of the crew, calmly harnessed 
 himself to the wires. The increasing enmity between 
 Brandeis and Schwartz grew to a white heat as both 
 
 290 
 
BRANDEIS VS. THE PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 struggled to dictate the first message. There was 
 another fierce dispute of which Matt never knew 
 the outcome, for he was called aft to take his 
 twenty-minute spell at the pump; but it must have 
 gone in the mate s favor, for the main-boom re 
 mained guyed out and there was no change in the 
 Esmeralda s course. 
 
 Thus the night passed, and by morning it was 
 plain the ship was doomed. She was submerged 
 to the channels, and had a sickening, undecided 
 movement as she sank in the trough of the 
 sea. The men looked at one another, wondering 
 each time if she would ever rise again, or simply 
 founder then and there and go down like a stone. 
 Brandeis had the whaler cleared, provisioned and 
 lowered, and ordering Chris into it, as well as one 
 of the hands, caused the boat to be towed in the 
 schooner s wake. It was a tragic parting for hus 
 band and wife, and took place with a suddenness 
 for which they were utterly unprepared. Matt, sod 
 den with fatigue and so worn out that he could 
 scarcely stand, was thankful to see Chris safe, 
 though he wondered whether they might ever meet 
 again on this side of eternity. On his spell off he 
 would wave his hand to her, and after she had 
 waved back he would collapse like a dead man until 
 roused by the relentless mate. 
 
 The acquiescence of the crew filled him with 
 amazement and a bitter, mounting anger. He tried to 
 instil into them something of his own fury; pointed 
 
 291 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and made signs at the boat ; urged them to mutiny, 
 to get away before the ship sank under them. But 
 they listened unmoved, though not without a 
 strained, hungry expression. Life is sweet, and 
 there it was towing a hundred feet behind them, 
 while Brandeis with no weapon but his strident 
 voice held them to a coffin. Their obedience was in 
 deed surprising; no seaman Matt had ever known 
 could have been so patient ; he shook his fist in their 
 faces. 
 
 Neither of the Japanese could be spared to make 
 breakfast, but some cans of meat were opened and 
 biscuits served out, as well as a niggardly allowance 
 of schnapps. It put fresh heart in the jaded spec 
 ters as they lay half-naked about the deck, wolfing 
 the food and almost fighting for the liquor. It pro 
 voked, too, the first outbreak against Brandeis; 
 muttered growling and complaining suddenly flamed 
 up, and was not extinguished until a second round 
 of schnapps was reluctantly doled out. But with 
 that they seemed appeased, and went back to work 
 with the same doggedness they had shown through 
 out. Matt, who had thought the men were at last 
 asserting themselves, was cruelly disappointed. 
 Even Schwartz, the most vehement of them, slunk 
 along with the rest and submitted like a lamb to the 
 hectoring, driving mate. 
 
 By nine o clock land was sighted on the port bow, 
 but it caused no relaxation of the killing routine, 
 nor any change in the ship s course. Matt watched 
 
 292 
 
BRANDEIS VS. THE PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 it with an exasperation not to be described. Over 
 there was safety; over there, not fifteen miles away, 
 was the end of all their troubles-^-white beaches, 
 palms, people, law, security. Yet they must stick 
 like flies on a sieve at the behest of that infernal 
 Brandeis. Matt was beside himself; he raved and 
 swore; had he been alone had he not been with 
 held by the thought of Chris he would have got his 
 revolver and brought the thing to a head. 
 
 But no one paid any attention to him, though if 
 he had fallen behind or shirked he knew he would 
 have fared badly. So he kept at it till his arms 
 seemed wrenched from their sockets, till his heart 
 was ready to burst in a blind, dizzy agony to hold 
 his own with his companions. At intervals the wire 
 less clicked and buzzed; at once, at some message 
 it caught from space, there was much congratulation 
 and handshaking, and even a thin cheer. 
 
 The ship was settling fast; at every lurch Matt 
 expected her to founder; she sickened in the depths 
 of the swell, quivered, and threatened to rise no 
 more. Never was there a gladder sound than Bran 
 deis order to leave her before she left them. 
 
 The whaler was drawn up to her quarter, and a 
 hurried descent made into her, the first comers seiz 
 ing the oars and preparing to back away, in case 
 the Esrncralda suddenly went down. It was very 
 coolly done, without panic or disorder; and they 
 pulled clear of the sinking ship with deliberate 
 strokes, Brandeis at the helm nonchalantly smoking 
 
 293 , 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 a cigar. Matt had been allotted a place beside Chris 
 in the stern, and though they greeted each other 
 quietly and tried to smile, it was to conceal an emo 
 tion so overwhelming, so holy in its tenderness, 
 relief and joy, that it was as if they had emerged 
 from death together and had met again beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 Instead of making sail and setting a course, Bran- 
 deis unshipped his tiller and allowed the boat to bob 
 as she pleased, while a box of Havanas was passed 
 along from man to man, and Yonida, amidst hila 
 rious acclamations, opened bottle after bottle of 
 champagne. Such a jollification in mid-ocean 
 seemed the act of lunatics. Some refreshment might 
 have been advisable, but here was every one getting 
 cheerfully tipsy, with champagne of all things, and 
 grabbing at the bottles like people at a ball-supper! 
 The Trades had been freshening for the last few 
 days, and the most elementary prudence dictated 
 that not a minute should be lost in determining the 
 bearings of the nearest land, and striving to reach 
 it while the weather was good. Yet the popping of 
 corks continued unabated; the glasses fizzled and 
 foamed; and they might all have been in Sydney 
 Harbor for any thought that was given to their real 
 situation. 
 
 Matt drank his share, however, and puffed at his 
 cigar with a heavenly enjoyment that did not pre 
 vent him from being also very perplexed and anx 
 ious. Why did they drift there and do nothing? 
 
 294 
 
BRANDEIS VS. THE PACIFIC OCEAN 
 
 How could they be so inconceivably reckless? His 
 fingers itched for the chart that bulged in Brandeis 
 jumper. He longed for the command to step the 
 mast. The mate half stood up in the stern-sheets 
 as though at last to give it, but instead of an order 
 it was a shout, with his hand pointing joyfully to 
 leeward. There was an instant commotion, uproar 
 and cheers embracings and outcries. Some would 
 have risen, too, but they were roundly ordered 
 down. All faces were turned with the mate s to 
 leeward, the boat rocking until it slopped the gun 
 wales under with the twisting and turning of so 
 many men. Smoke on the lee horizon ! A steamer s 
 smoke, dimming the azure with a tiny stain ! 
 
 295 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 JOHN MORT 
 
 SHE was apparently coming up at great speed; 
 the smoke swelled in volume; soon no longer a 
 stain but a cloud, billowing low and black against 
 the sky. The excitement on the whaler grew in 
 tense as a spidery mast could be detected through 
 the murk; then a glint of stack, and a gleam 
 of white that might be awnings or hull. At in 
 tervals the whaler dipped in the hollow of the 
 swell, and a green mountain hid their view, but as 
 she was borne up again on the crest the swiftly ap 
 proaching steamer was ever seen more clearly. She 
 loomed up bigger and bigger; two smoke-stacks be 
 came discernible ; no, there were three ! By George, 
 there were four, in a towering, stupendous, black- 
 vomiting, line a giant of a vessel, with fight 
 ing tops to her squat masts, and turrets, spon- 
 sons and guns showing above the glistening white 
 of her bow. A man-of-war? What else could she 
 be except one of that superb type, designed to out 
 distance nine-tenths of the armed ships afloat, or 
 turn, if she wished, a volcano of destruction; a co 
 lossus of twelve or fourteen thousand tons, able at 
 reduced speed to encircle the globe, and return 
 
 296 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 whence she had started with coal still to spare in her 
 Brobdingnagian bunkers. 
 
 Matt watched her with parted lips, and straining, 
 fascinated eyes. Was it she, then, who had called 
 up the Esmeralda night after night? Was this an 
 ocean rendezvous, and the explanation of Brandeis 
 singular backwardness to lay the whaler on a 
 course ? Was this the reason of the cheers, the ela 
 tion displayed on every side, the absence of any at 
 tempt to signal or to make their distress known? 
 It was no chance meeting assuredly, but a prear 
 ranged tryst in the waste of the limitless sea. The 
 thought, the growing conviction were not without 
 alarm; but how could any private individual own 
 such a leviathan? Why, many a government of im 
 portance had not the peer of this magnificent vessel 
 that was racing toward them under forced draught, 
 and with all the power of her mighty engines. 
 
 As she drew nearer, sparkling with white and 
 steel, she offered a spectacle that stirred the heart. 
 The water flashed at her stem as she cut it asunder 
 and tossed it aside in a rainbow spray; her decks 
 rose, tier upon tier, alive with men; her long, 
 slender guns, protruding from the ports, were 
 backed with human faces; on the lofty bridge were 
 two officers in uniform, the one standing motionless 
 beside the steersman, the other pacing to and fro, 
 occasionally stopping to use his glass. 
 
 Suddenly the throb of her engines ceased, and she 
 was gliding toward the whale-boat under no other 
 
 297 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 impetus but her vast bulk. Shrill whistles sounded ; 
 white-clothed sailors were seen running; and, as 
 though by magic, the starboard gangway was low 
 ered, its base churning the water, or rising high 
 above it as the ship rolled in the seaway. At this 
 Brandeis ordered his men to their oars, and, hugging 
 his tiller and swaying with every stroke, headed the 
 whaler for the man-of-war s quarter. It might have 
 been one of her own boats from the swing and pre 
 cision with which it was brought alongside, the men 
 elevating their oars in unison at the word of com 
 mand, and old Krantz in the bow, smartly ready 
 with his boat-hook. A couple of seamen jumped 
 out and, oblivious of the water that sometimes 
 drenched them to the waist, assisted Brandeis, 
 Schwartz, Chris and Matt to escape a similar wet 
 ting and reach the security of the upper steps. 
 
 At the head of the gangway, as the boat was cast 
 off and all the survivors of the schooner crowded 
 up, they were met by a burly officer, who grinned 
 affably, and shook each one of them by the hand. 
 As Matt and Chris passed to the quarter-deck be 
 yond, the former raised his cap to a group of offi 
 cers, who returned the salute with naval stiffness. 
 It was a moment of some embarrassment to stand 
 there with no home under the sun save that strange 
 deck, and to know they were dependent on the char 
 ity of those disdainful observers who gave no sign 
 of welcoming them. 
 
 But an instant later they were accosted by a 
 298 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 young man, also in uniform, who, advancing hur 
 riedly, bowed and, in broken English, said: "Beg 
 pardon, instructed by captain, follow me, please be 
 so kind." On trying to make friends with the young 
 man as he led them toward the companion, he re 
 marked with faultless politeness: "Instructed by 
 captain, no communication is possible, please be so 
 kind." 
 
 Guiding them down the stairway to the deck be 
 neath he led them along a passageway to a cabin, 
 into which he ushered them with this concluding 
 statement : "Instructed by captain, you are here to 
 remain, please be so kind." With that he saluted, 
 clicked his heels with Teutonic formality, and de 
 parted presumably "instructed by captain" to 
 report their incarceration. 
 
 It was without doubt an officer s cabin, and was 
 prettily decorated with photographs, fans, shells, 
 cotillion favors and other trifling mementos with 
 which a man surrounds himself when he makes the 
 sea his profession and lives the life of a wanderer. 
 The inevitable mother, and the inevitable wife or 
 sweetheart, were in specially embellished frames, 
 holding the place of honor among the silver-backed 
 toilet articles and what not on the mahogany chest 
 of drawers. It was a very reassuring little cabin, 
 breathing of affection, and simple, honest, manly 
 tastes ; and the pair, thus oddly imprisoned in it, felt 
 a lessening of their tremors, and laughed at the sight 
 of themselves in the glass. 
 
 299 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "They ought to be afraid of us," exclaimed Chris, 
 with saucy confidence, twining her arms about 
 Matt s neck and studying the effect. "I look like 
 the widow of an organ-grinder on the bread-line; 
 and by the time I ve combed your hair a bit, you 
 might pass as a Siberian exile who had escaped in a 
 garbage can !" 
 
 It may seem incredible that they could be so gay, 
 and find amusement in a situation fraught with un 
 known perils; but when you have faced death and 
 held it for hours at bay, the reaction is intoxicating ; 
 and to realize you are actually alive is a joy unspeak 
 able. Before they could come back to- earth, or 
 rather to some consideration of this enigmatical ves 
 sel and its enigmatical connection with Brandeis, 
 Schwartz and the mysterious Esmercdda, the young 
 officer had returned, and stood blinking at them 
 ceremoniously in the doorway. 
 
 "Instructed by captain your presence is requested, 
 please be so kind," he said, addressing Matt. As 
 Chris rose also she was told to stay behind. 
 
 "Instructed by captain, no, no, please be so kind," 
 exclaimed the young officer, barring her away. "In 
 structed by captain, the gentleman only will follow 
 me, please be so kind !" 
 
 It was not without hesitation that Matt obeyed. 
 He felt a certain chilling of the confidence that had 
 animated him before. The young officer s tone was 
 masterful in spite of the punctiliousness of his 
 words, and carried with it a disquieting authority. 
 
 300 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 It was hardly what castaways might expect on the 
 man-of-war that had rescued them. One looked for 
 more warmth, more good-will some sympathy and 
 friendliness. Matt was very much disturbed, and 
 the farewell glance he exchanged with Chris was 
 troubled indeed. 
 
 The young man led him through various passages, 
 and finally brought him to what was evidently the 
 ship s wardroom. Here, seated about the head of 
 the table, were five oldish, grave-looking officers in 
 undress uniform. One, white-haired, dignified and 
 somewhat bald, wore the insignia of a rear admiral, 
 and alone of the little party spoke as Matt entered 
 and bowed. 
 
 "Good day," he said curtly in fair English, mo 
 tioning Matt to come nearer and dismissing his 
 companion with a wave of the hand. "We would 
 like to talk with you, sir." 
 
 "I m at your service," returned Matt, advancing 
 and drawing himself up very straight, as no offer 
 was made to give him a seat. "May I take the lib 
 erty of asking the name of this ship, and her na 
 tionality?" 
 
 The old admiral stared at him frozenly. 
 
 "It is I who will ask the questions," he rasped out, 
 "and you will be good enough to answer them. Let 
 me say directly that evasions will be useless, and 
 vat we want is the truth." He uttered the last 
 words with a sort of snarl, which was taken up by 
 the others in an angry murmur. The undisguised 
 
 301 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 hostility of the whole five affected Matt disagree 
 ably. He might have been a recaptured convict 
 confronting a board of prison directors. There was 
 the same pitilessness, the same air of severity and 
 autocratic power. 
 
 "I am an American citizen," said Matt, with 
 spirit. "I ve committed no crime, and I warn you 
 that the consequences will be serious if you interfere 
 with me." 
 
 The five bristled at this defiance. One of them, 
 with eye-glasses and the bearing of a schoolmaster, 
 folded his arms, and regarded Matt superciliously. 
 
 "We are not discussing international law," 
 sneered the admiral. "Might is right, as you say 
 in English. Our patience with you is exhausted. 
 You will tell us vare is a certain individual, or else 
 we make you." 
 
 "Ja, or else ve make you," added the man with 
 eye-glasses, staring formidably. 
 
 John Mort! So it was he they were after? This 
 ship, these officers, the rendezvous in mid-ocean 
 all were part and parcel of the same extraordinary 
 business. In spite of his bold front Matt quailed 
 inwardly; beads of sweat started on his forehead; 
 he felt like a man on the eve of execution. 
 
 "I don t know what you mean," he said at last. 
 "An individual? What individual?" 
 
 "We re not here to waste time with such brepari- 
 cation," returned the admiral, accentuating every 
 word with a rap of his knuckles on the table large, 
 
 302 
 
o 
 
 " We would like to talk with you, sir " 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 misshapen knuckles, swollen with gout. "You know 
 very well who it is we want, though what you do 
 not apprehend is our determination to extort the 
 truth. We are not milksops like those others, who 
 failed so wretchedly in America. We will have the 
 truth if we have to take your skin with it. Vat is 
 your answer to that, Mistaire Broughton ?" 
 
 "That I am an American citizen," retorted Matt 
 in an unflinching voice. "You are proclaiming your 
 self a pirate, and outside the law of nations. You 
 can not frighten me, sir. You are a naval officer, 
 and know as well as I do the enormity of such 
 threats, and that it will break you, admiral or not, 
 if you should dare to lay a finger on me." 
 
 "That is beside the point," exploded the admiral, 
 reddening furiously. "Who I am, or what I am, is 
 no goncern of yours. Yes or no, young man, and 
 trifle with me no longer." Then, unrolling a chart, 
 he went on: "Gome here, and show us that island 
 vare it is." 
 
 Matt stood immovable. 
 
 "I can t," he declared. "I don t know what you 
 mean. Island ? What island ?" 
 
 His affectation of ignorance exasperated the five 
 officers, who, not deigning to reply, began to take 
 counsel with one another in low, fierce undertones. 
 Occasionally a glance would be shot at him of such 
 malevolence and anger that he trembled for the out 
 come. They seemed to be still debating, when, in 
 answer to a signal he had not perceived, a file of sea- 
 
 303 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 men marched in and saluted with the excessive hu 
 mility peculiar to German ships-of-war. Of the 
 nine or ten composing the little party the majority 
 were petty officers grizzled, bearded, weather- 
 beaten men. At a guttural command they closed 
 about Matt; and one, a strapping fellow with a scar 
 across his cheek, suddenly caught him round the 
 waist. 
 
 To resist was the act of a madman, but Matt s 
 brain was whirling, and his pent-up rage burst all 
 bounds. With a wrestler s trick he bent down, car 
 rying his antagonist over his head, and crashing him 
 to the deck like a sack of oats. In an instant he was 
 hitting out with his fists, indiscriminately, crazily, 
 a jaw here, a surly eye there, smash, smash, smash, 
 with blood streaming, blows and yells in return, and 
 a rush that sent him under, burying him in a human 
 avalanche. Had it not been for the officers his life 
 would have been crushed out of him, but they darted 
 into the thick of the melee, restoring order like so 
 many policemen at a street fight. 
 
 Suddenly in the midst of the hubbub a hush fell ; 
 officers and men might have been struck by light 
 ning, so instantaneous was the change, the silence, 
 the awe expressed on every face. Matt, getting up 
 and following their gaze, perceived an old man, 
 gaunt .and very pale, standing in the doorway, re 
 garding the scene with a peculiar fixity. He was in. 
 a blue dressing-gown and looked ill and broken, as 
 though just risen from a sick-bed ; but his eyes be- 
 
 304 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 lied his bodily weakness, gleaming like coals be 
 neath his straggling white brows. Matt had a 
 curious shock of recognition; where had he seen 
 that benign old face, so hazily familiar, like that of 
 some half-forgotten friend of his childhood. 
 
 The old man s voice was sharp and tremulously 
 impassioned as he advanced slowly into the ward 
 room and addressed the officers. Reproof, indigna 
 tion, and anger were written on every feature. He 
 cut short their explanations, indicating Matt with 
 a quivering gesture, and blazing forth anew as they 
 seemed to be palliating their harsh usage. He moved 
 over to Matt and put one arm protectingly about 
 him. 
 
 "Disgraceful," he said in singularly pure English, 
 though with the accent of a foreigner, turning from 
 the cringing officers. "They would have it that I 
 was too ill to be disturbed and have shamed me by 
 their treatment of you. Will you spare me a few 
 minutes conversation in my cabin ?" he then added. 
 "Time is precious, and I feel sure we can come to 
 an agreement more quickly than the gentlemen here 
 anticipate." 
 
 Matt acceded willingly, though wondering and 
 mystified. He was as shaky as the old man, and 
 was glad to hold to the arm the latter proffered him. 
 Together, side by side, they made their way to the 
 door, which was deferentially opened for them, 
 every one standing to attention with his hand at the 
 salute. Beyond, at the far end of the passageway 
 
 305 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 and apparently in the extreme stern of the ship, a 
 small group of servants in livery were gathered, 
 who were similarly stricken to statues at the sight 
 of the pair. Walking unsteadily, more from weak 
 ness than the movement of the ship, Matt and his 
 venerable companion supported each other, and at 
 length reached what appeared to be the state cabin. 
 
 It was the largest Matt had ever seen afloat, tak 
 ing in the whole beam of the ship, and was furnished 
 with a luxury undreamed of at sea. Beautiful an 
 tique furniture, glowing Oriental rugs, rich dark 
 hangings of faded crimson, slashed with gold it 
 was like stepping into a mediaeval palace or the 
 famed splendors of the Yildiz Kiosk. But mingled 
 with exquisite heirlooms of the past were other 
 objects of aggressive modernity. Beside the carved 
 bedstead, with its piled-up pillows and its dis 
 ordered sheets, was a night-table, on which were 
 several medicine bottles, a clinical thermometer, an 
 inhaler with an india-rubber bulb, and a thick mass 
 of type-written manuscript. 
 
 "You must excuse me if I return to bed," said the 
 old man, whose increasing weariness was becoming 
 painfully apparent. Settling himself in a sitting 
 posture, and drawing the embroidered coverlet over 
 his long, thin legs, he relaxed as though thankful to 
 be at rest. "Sit there," he continued, motioning 
 Matt to take a place on the bed facing him. "Sit 
 there, and tell me why you are so stubborn in re 
 fusing what we ask." 
 
 306 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 Matt wavered, inclined at first to deny everything, 
 but it was difficult impossible to lie to this old 
 man, whose courtesy was so disarming. 
 
 Tut yourself in my place," Matt replied. "Would 
 you betray the best friend you ever had ?" 
 
 "Betray !" exclaimed the old man. "Ah, that has 
 been at the root of all our troubles, of all our intol 
 erable delays and vexations. You think, then, our 
 intentions are not for the good of this person to 
 whom you are so loyal?" 
 
 "I know what his own wishes are," said Matt 
 boldly. 
 
 The old man paused, regarding his companion 
 with an air too kindly to be called critical, yet scruti 
 nizing and keen. 
 
 "I will surprise you," he said at last. "My sub 
 ordinates blundered with the stupidity of most 
 subordinates when entrusted with an affair of 
 immense importance. They could not see that 
 the man who kept one secret was fit to be en 
 trusted with another. It was a decision doubtless 
 too great for them to take, though had it been pre 
 sented to me as it ought I might have consented. 
 You would not put your friend in our power; we 
 would not put ourselves in yours. So, both in error, 
 this melancholy persecution ensued, amid circum 
 stances more suitable to the Arabian Nights than to 
 a matter of high state. You do not know who I 
 am?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 307 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "Have you no conjecture?" 
 
 "No." " 
 
 "Well, I suppose the poor fools must be com 
 mended for that. Mr. Broughton, my house has 
 trusted you once, and now the head of it will trust 
 you again, knowing that my confidence will be 
 sacred." 
 
 Matt nodded. 
 
 At this the old man bent forward, and breathed 
 the name of that Emperor-King whose dominions 
 embrace a dozen countries and comprise the fifth of 
 Europe. Here, for obvious reasons, it must be omit 
 ted, though in that great cabin it was uttered aloud, 
 and quavered on the lips of the Emperor-King him 
 self. 
 
 Matt repeated it with amazement, as a hundred 
 pictures of the man before him recurred to his mind 
 pictures in magazines and newspapers, in geogra 
 phy-books and school histories. He rose respect 
 fully, and bowed. "Your Majesty," he exclaimed. 
 
 "Be seated," commanded the benignant voice. 
 "Yes, I am that personage, who, whatever his faults, 
 deserves the consideration the compassion of man 
 kind. Now, is it clearer to you who it is I seek?" 
 
 "No," returned Matt, with an ill-suppressed agi 
 tation. "No, your Majesty." 
 
 "I will tell you," said the Emperor-King, hardly 
 less moved, his trembling hands plucking and clutch 
 ing at the coverlet. "The friend you served with 
 such devotion is my son!" 
 
 308 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 That terrible tragedy in which the Crown Prince 
 was supposed to have taken his life came back to 
 Matt in waves of recollection. He remembered the 
 stir it had made, the shock of horror, the profound 
 mystery in which the affair was shrouded. He 
 remembered the speculations as to what had 
 actually happened in that lonely hunting-lodge; 
 some maintaining that the beautiful young baroness 
 had killed herself rather than be forsaken, causing 
 the prince to blow out his own brains from remorse 
 others, that it had been a double suicide, a death- 
 pact, deliberately conceived and as deliberately exe 
 cuted by the heir to one of the greatest kingdoms of 
 the world. 
 
 Matt was dumfounded; he could not utter a 
 word ; was it possible, was it conceivable that John 
 Mort was the ? 
 
 "You know the story that the world knows," con 
 tinued the old man. "You know the story I myself 
 believed for thirty-six hours, till " He hesitated, 
 lowered his voice, and looked about him. "Listen," 
 he went on. "I mean to hide nothing from you. It 
 is true that the young baroness threw caution to the 
 winds and followed the prince there; it is true she 
 shot herself; it is true that my son in his frenzy 
 tried to turn the same pistol against his own breast. 
 
 "To face such a scandal seemed impossible; to 
 escape seemed worse. In either event the throne 
 would be shaken to its foundations, and my son s 
 name blackened beyond redemption. He had a valet 
 
 309 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 named Zeitz Ludwig Zeitz one of those faithful 
 simpletons who are sublime in the devotion which 
 our house has always inspired. This fellow, who af 
 fected to copy the prince, and was proud beyond 
 measure of a resemblance no one saw but himself, 
 threw himself at my son s feet. He would shoot 
 himself, he said; his body would be mistaken for 
 that of the prince; death atones for everything, and 
 my son, unpursued, might pass the frontiers with 
 out detection, and lose his identity in the countless 
 millions beyond. 
 
 "His proposal was disregarded; was treated as a 
 gross impertinence; he was roughly silenced and 
 ordered to hold his tongue, while my son, in 
 the midst of his comrades, persisted like a mad 
 man in his desire to die. Suddenly there was 
 a report, and they rushed in to find this Zeitz 
 lying beside the woman, with the top of his 
 head blown off. He had dressed himself in my 
 son s clothes; had taken my son s rifle, and had 
 resolved the matter in his own hare-brained way. 
 But at that moment, in their dismayed state, it 
 seemed to my son and his friends the solution of 
 everything. They did not wait to ask how the 
 corpse of the valet could pass the examination that 
 would necessarily follow. My son mounted a horse 
 and fled. 
 
 "As I said, the imposture for thirty-six hours was 
 not questioned. But the doctors could not be de 
 ceived ; the body was unmistakably that of Ludwig 
 
 310 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 Zeitz. I myself stood before it, as it lay naked on 
 their table, and confirmed their opinion. My feel 
 ings toward my son were very bitter; he had dis 
 honored the Imperial house; I exaggerated in my 
 heart, though God knows it was great enough, the 
 harm he had done it and me. t With the connivance 
 of the doctors I accepted the imposture. The world 
 had accepted it, and I decided to leave them in ig 
 norance. 
 
 "It was not until years afterward in 1898 when 
 the Empress was taken from me under the most hor 
 rible circumstances, that I found in her papers some 
 facts of startling import. Her extravagance, which 
 had been the talk of Europe, and to me a perpetual 
 source of discord had its origin in a vast debt, 
 incurred in 1890, on which afterward she had been 
 paying excessive interest, as well as steadily dimin 
 ishing the principal. And the one who had obtained 
 that vast sum was no other than my unhappy son, 
 who had gone to her in his extremity, and had thus 
 acquired the means to hide himself in the uttermost 
 parts of the earth. 
 
 "There is nothing the world will not condone nor 
 forget, and in twenty years a new generation arises 
 to whom the scandals of the old are of slight signifi 
 cance. Men, too, are less uncharitable than we be 
 lieve them. I began to ask myself whether my son 
 might not return; whether, indeed, his act were so 
 irreparable as it had seemed. Was not the reunion 
 of father and son, so long separated, calculated to 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 soften the hardest? My people love me; I have no 
 need to surround myself with guards and secret 
 agents; as I move among them, often with my little 
 grandchildren on either side, clinging to my hands, 
 my reception is one to touch the heart. I can see 
 eyes moisten; honest faces brighten; everywhere 
 that look of good-will, of affection, not I am proud 
 to believe for the old Emperor alone, but for the 
 man he is and has tried to be. 
 
 "Surely, I said to myself, they will be with me if 
 I recall my son. The sight of an old father, white- 
 haired and broken, holding out his arms in forgive 
 ness, is one too human, too affecting to be met with 
 scorn. They also will forgive, every father among 
 them, every mother, every son. Then it was I began 
 my search, sending forth agents to every corner of 
 the globe. For years it went on, without the 
 least success, until my special bureau, whose service 
 it was to read every paper printed, learned of you 
 in Manaswan, and seized a clue we were not slow 
 to follow. We were impelled to extraordinary ex 
 ertions. I sent my Chief of the Secret Police to 
 New York with unlimited powers and unlimited 
 money. He surrounded you with an army of spies, 
 who reported to him, and then to me by cable ; every 
 thing was done, permissible or sometimes not per 
 missible, to gain from you that information for 
 which I would have given all the life I have left. 
 
 There is the story, Mr. Broughton. I make no 
 offers of reward; I make no threats; both, I ap- 
 
 312 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 predate now, were mistaken. I simply ask you 
 beg you to tell me where my son is." 
 
 For a while Matt remained silent, too dazed to 
 answer. 
 
 "I must make a single stipulation," he said at 
 length. "That we land together, alone, you and I 
 and if your Majesty will permit, my wife and if 
 your son decides to stay you will promise to re 
 spect his wishes." 
 
 "He will come," said the Emperor. "My son will 
 not refuse." 
 
 Matt thought of Mirovna, and was less positive. 
 He wondered whether he should inform the old 
 man of her existence, but refrained. 
 
 "I can do nothing without your Majesty s prom 
 ise," he said. "The decision must be left to the 
 prince; he must be free to choose free to stay if he 
 prefers." 
 
 "Certainly I promise that," returned the Em 
 peror, with a touch of querulousness. "Compulsion 
 would be worse than wrong ; it would be ridiculous. 
 Why do you still hesitate? It is not kind to keep 
 me in suspense." 
 
 "I am not hesitating, your Majesty; I am only 
 asking myself whether you may not be mistaken in 
 thinking my friend to be your son." 
 
 "Mistaken! How is it possible to be mistaken! 
 That ring he gave you it was one he always wore. 
 The tenacity you have shown in guarding his name 
 and his story, does it not speak of the most peremp- 
 
 313 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 lory instructions ? The money you spent on his be 
 half in Sydney, Brisbane, Thursday Island, Tahiti, 
 Guayaquil, San Francisco, was it not invariably in 
 Bank of England notes, whose number accorded 
 with those provided for us by the English officials? 
 Why, for six years, these notes, which we knew 
 came from him, formed the clue which we cease 
 lessly attempted to follow. Moreover, Mr. Satter- 
 lee is positive you recognized the miniature he 
 showed you. Isn t that so?" 
 
 "Yes, the resemblance was remarkable." 
 
 "My son is now forty-seven years of age. Does 
 that not accord ?" 
 
 "It does though he appears somewhat older." 
 
 "Is he not a violinist of exceptional talent? It 
 was that reference in the newspaper accounts printed 
 of you, which first attracted our attention." 
 
 "Again you are right though I would not call it 
 talent, but genius." 
 
 "Look at this photograph almost the last taken 
 of him. Have you still any doubts ?" 
 
 "No, it is John Mort." 
 
 "John Mort?" 
 
 "That is the name by which I have known him." 
 
 "Mort, you say ? Mort ! Ah, how like him to 
 choose such a name ! Tell me of him ; describe him 
 to me; I want to know everything everything." 
 
 "But who was the gentleman who offered me a 
 hundred thousand dollars in Manaswan?" 
 
 3H 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 "A celebrated criminal lawyer of New York, 
 whom Frankasch, my Chief of the Secret Police, 
 retained among others to assist him. A very clever, 
 able man, who proved himself invaluable." 
 
 "And the schooner, the Esmeralda how was it 
 contrived to have her timed to meet me ?" 
 
 "She had been bought from the first, and was 
 manned by a special detail of picked naval officers. 
 Frankasch suspected you would return to San Fran 
 cisco, for that is the gateway to the Pacific, and it 
 became a part of his plan to get you there as soon 
 as he discovered he could not bribe you. The ves 
 sel lay there for over four months, while no efforts 
 were spared to make it impossible for you to re 
 main in eastern America. Admiral von Tripwitz 
 to you, Brandeis spoke too little English, and 
 therefore, for that as well as other reasons, it 
 seemed wiser to have as nominal commander Agent 
 Schwartz, of the Secret Service." 
 
 "And how were those jewelers Snood and Har- 
 , greaves induced to treat me as they did?" 
 
 "Oh, that was simple. They were shown long 
 official cablegrams from Europe, vouched for by 
 our consul, warning them that the ring had been 
 stolen. All they required was to be indemnified 
 against a possible suit-at-law, as well as to have re 
 turned to them the money originally advanced you; 
 on the ring. When these matters were settled to 
 their satisfaction, and a substantial bond given, they 
 made no difficulty in surrendering the ring to the 
 
 315 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 consulate. Your letter, and then your telegram, 
 were handed to the consul, who, on the telegraphed 
 orders of Frankasch, replied to you as he was di 
 rected. Of course, he knew nothing; he merely 
 obeyed orders. But you must not think our sur 
 veillance was limited to San Francisco. The whole 
 western coast from Vancouver to San Diego and 
 Mazatlan, was under a constant watch." 
 
 "Your Majesty will, of course, give directions 
 that Snood and Hargreaves are undeceived? It 
 would not be fair that I should remain in their esti 
 mation a thief." 
 
 "No, no, no, you do not understand, Mr. Brough- 
 ton. Frankasch never accused you of theft. It 
 suited his purpose to make you out innocent a 
 sailor who had picked up the ring for a trifle, for 
 he would have been glad had you brought suit 
 against the jewelers in order to force from you the 
 particulars of how you came into possession of the 
 ring. It was even arranged to guide you to a lawyer 
 who should betray your confidence ! Shameful, yes 
 detestable but were we not justified ?" 
 
 Matt paused, trying to grasp the immensity of the 
 conspiracy of which he had been the victim. What 
 tens of thousands had been lavished, what care and 
 skill had been employed to close the net about 
 him! Every western seaport watched; New York 
 the headquarters of a veritable general of detectives; 
 the Estneralda in ambush with her picked crew on 
 what a gigantic scale it all had been prepared, with 
 
 316 
 
JOHN MORT 
 
 what secrecy and thoroughness ! And more stirring 
 even than this was the thought of John Mort, now 
 revealed as a prince of Imperial blood, and soon 
 perhaps to be a king, an emperor, with armies, fleets, 
 palaces salvos of artillery as he moved in state. 
 John Mort! With his wild past, his self-imposed 
 exile, his tragically divided life what a poignant 
 figure, pacing the sands of his lonely island, and see 
 ing, not the combers thundering against the coral 
 nor the palms bending in the wind, but that far-off 
 lodge in the mountains of his native land and the 
 blood trickling from a woman s breast! 
 
 But the old man did not suffer this reverie to con 
 tinue. He had unrolled a chart, and had flattened 
 it out, not without difficulty, on the bed. Painfully 
 excited, with his emaciated hands shaking and his 
 voice senile and broken, he besought Matt to show 
 him the spot where his son was. 
 
 "There," said Matt, running his finger over the 
 sheet to a speck marked "Reef e. d." "There, your 
 Majesty!" 
 
 The chart bore a number of little crosses roughly 
 penciled and strung together, each with its date 
 the ship s course, plotted from day to day. Matt 
 regarded the last cross carefully, and in reply to a 
 question estimated that Lotoalofa was some five de 
 grees to the eastward and about a degree and a 
 half south of their present position. 
 
 The old Emperor bowed his head over the chart 
 and seemed to be struggling with a terrible emotion. 
 
 317 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 Then he looked up, his face white and drawn, as 
 though he were on the point of fainting. But he 
 silenced Matt s exclamation with a gesture. "Call 
 Admiral von Todloben," he gasped, falling back on 
 his pillows. "I must instruct him to alter the ship s 
 course at once." 
 
 318 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 LOTOALOFA 
 
 BY dusk the next day wind and sea had fallen to 
 a profound calm; the masthead vanes drooped; 
 the ship might have been steaming over a summer 
 lake. In her sweltering depths her engines, pressed 
 as they had never been pressed before, throbbed 
 hoarsely, with the needle of every gage shivering 
 at the zenith. Her decks seemed to arch and fall 
 back at each mighty revolution; the great stacks 
 darkened the evening sky with the deeper black of 
 smoke, belching forth a four-fold torrent, sometimes 
 lit by a fury of sparks, or high-leaping tongues of 
 flame. The enormous hull, urged to the limit of 
 her speed, rolled up before her a wide line of broken 
 water, gleaming with phosphorescence as though 
 turned to liquid gold, and crisply splashing in an un 
 ending cadence. 
 
 Lotoalofa was in sight, a straggling row of dots 
 to those on the bridge; surf, beaches, palms and 
 shining shadowy lagoon to the watchers in the fore- 
 top. Gathered on the bridge, and surrounding the 
 venerable monarch who reclined in a deck-chair, was 
 the little party privileged to be with him Matt, 
 with binoculars to his eyes, standing beside stout 
 
 319 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 old Von Todloben, and overtopping him by a head ; 
 Chris, in an officer s cloak, seated on the elon 
 gated end of the Emperor s chair, a position 
 of honor to which she had been specially called; 
 Brandeis, now Von Tripwitz, in a borrowed, 
 ill-fitting uniform, punctiliously remaining aloof 
 from the frequent consultations; Captain Count 
 Hoyos, the nominal commander of the ship, a dark, 
 fine-looking man of artistocratic appearance; the 
 navigating officer, an eager, guttural, energetic per 
 son; and last of all Schwartz, who sat by himself 
 on a camp-stool, very humbly and respectfully, as 
 though much overcome at being in such exalted 
 company. 
 
 As night closed in, an animated discussion took 
 place, with Matt in the center of the group, and for 
 the moment the most important individual there 
 for it turned on him whether or not the vessel was 
 to hold her position till morning, or venture the en 
 trance of the lagoon by moonlight. Matt s own 
 counsel was for caution, for the man-of-war drew 
 twenty-six feet of water; and while he felt reason 
 ably sure of piloting her safely through the northern 
 channel (there was another, the western channel, 
 deeper but more tortuous), he shrank from assum 
 ing so great a responsibility in the dark. Twenty- 
 six feet made an immense draught; a cloud across 
 the moon might easily imperil the ship; the lagoon 
 was thick with coral patches, any one of which 
 might pierce her plates. Admiral Von Todloben 
 
 320 
 
LOTOALOFA 
 
 sided with Matt, as did the captain and the navigat 
 ing lieutenant. But the old Emperor, lying in the 
 deck-chair, could not be made to appreciate the risk ; 
 he reiterated his request to have the ship taken in at 
 once; from suave he became impatient, and the 
 strain of suspense he was under showed itself in an 
 outburst that cowed all but Matt into a sullen sub 
 mission. 
 
 "Your Majesty is unwise," he said bluntly, wait 
 ing till the old man had recovered his sorely shaken 
 composure. "If you will permit me to suggest it, 
 why not take one of the steam pinnaces and let the 
 ship hold off till dawn?" 
 
 This simple expedient was hotly resisted by the 
 officers, to whom the personal security of the Em 
 peror was of almost sacred importance; but the 
 latter was more than pleased with the idea, and 
 welcomed it enthusiastically. He scouted all objec 
 tions and seemed to put aside his bodily weakness > 
 rising in their midst, and astonishing every one by 
 his unexpected vigor as he ordered the pinnace 
 to be made ready. After that there were no 
 more protests; one may argue with a sick man 
 on his couch, but on his feet the Emperor was 
 enhaloed by an authority none dared question. 
 The bo sun s whistle piped; men and officers 
 came running to their stations; the winches rent 
 the air with their irritating clack. While the 
 pinnace was being hoisted out and steam raised 
 in her boiler, the warship s searchlight began 
 
 321 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 to flash its dazzling and spreading beam; and as 
 though in answer a spot of light glimmered on the 
 horizon like a red-hot coal. It was a primitive 
 beacon, reared and brightly burning on the beach of 
 the island, to help the ship keep her position and 
 ride out the night without danger. 
 
 Such concern for strangers surprised Matt and 
 made him wonder. In his whole previous experience 
 but three vessels had ever entered the lagoon, and 
 John Mort had resented their intrusion and short 
 ened their stay with the utmost bitterness refusing 
 them water and firewood, banning any intercourse, 
 and disputing, rifle in hand, their right to land. In 
 contrast, this friendly beacon struck Matt as odd 
 indeed, and at variance with everything he remem 
 bered. But he had little time to give to such reflec 
 tions, for the pinnace was soon ready, and they 
 descended the gangway and took their places in her 
 cock-pit the Emperor, Chris and Von Todloben, 
 with himself at the tiller. 
 
 Although the island seemed near, it was an hour 
 before they reached the edge of the breakers, and 
 skirted them, groping for the entrance. The night 
 was pitch-black; the hiss and rumble of the surf 
 was Matt s only guide; in his fear of overshooting 
 the pass he kept the pinnace in so close that she was 
 caught in the backwash, occasionally rolling her gun 
 wales under. The launch was a heavy little tub, 
 and, for all her noise, made very poor speed. When 
 the moon finally rose, and showed them the low, 
 
 322 
 
Chris was seated on the end of the Emperor s chair 
 
LOTOALOFA 
 
 whitened shores of the island, densely fringed with 
 palms, Matt, as he picked up his landmarks, was 
 annoyed to find his pains had gone for nothing, for 
 he was still a good six miles from the break in the 
 reef. 
 
 It was another hour before they turned into it, 
 and opened the lagoon beyond. The beauty of that 
 vast lake in the moonlight hushed every mouth. Not 
 a breath stirred on it; its silvery expanse stretched 
 away unbroken, unruffled to the rim that held it 
 virgin from the sea. There it lay within its cup of 
 coral, ineffably peaceful, mirroring the moon. Far 
 over the water were the lights of a settlement, spark 
 ling like fireflies among the trees. The old Emperor 
 drew his cloak more closely about him, though none 
 but he was conscious of any chill, and stirred rest 
 lessly, as if in the throes of an uncontrollable impa 
 tience. His silence had the weight of a command; 
 no one spoke; the bustling launch, throwing up on 
 either side a ripple of phosphorescence, alone dis 
 turbed the stillness. 
 
 The settlement, embowered in palms, grew more 
 distinct; roofs showed, coral walls, drawn-up 
 canoes, the long stone pier all touched with the 
 magic of the tropic night. How familiar it was 
 how beautiful ! To Matt it was a homecoming ; he 
 inhaled with delight the scent of frangipani and 
 pandanus blossom wafted over the lagoon ; his hand 
 clasped his wife s in boyish delight. 
 
 The end of the pier was clustered with natives, 
 323 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 who stood waiting without a sound for the boat to 
 approach. It made a bumpy landing at the stone 
 steps, the boat-hooks scraping the slimy sides of the 
 pier and bringing it slowly to rest. Matt leaped 
 out first, crying "Talofa" right and left, and was 
 mobbed in the throng of half-naked humanity that 
 surged about him, calling and repeating his name 
 with unrestrained joy. What nose-rubbing! What 
 excitement! What a rush and jostle of kanaka af 
 fection ! But what was Peau saying ? Peau, grave 
 and dignified in even that press, with his chiefly car 
 riage and earnest eyes? To be prepared for evil 
 tidings! What did he mean ? Where was the chief ? 
 What was all this about the hand of God? 
 
 "Oifea le alii?" he asked again, in an agony of 
 apprehension. "Sei faamatala mai le uinga o lau 
 puapuanga. Po ua ngasengase le ona, po f" 
 
 "Uamaliu, Matthew!" 
 
 "Maliur 
 
 The words went through his heart like a knife; 
 for a moment he could not speak; it was the Em 
 peror, clutching at his sleeve, who roused his 
 stricken faculties. 
 
 "Where is he?" quavered the old man. "Why is 
 he not here?" 
 
 Matt did not know how to answer. 
 
 "Ma le tatnaitdi soo?" he inquired of Peau, be 
 set with a fresh dread. 
 
 "Aue, ua maliu foi, Matthew. Na ia fasiotia e 
 lona lava lima ma le fana faataamilo." 
 
 324 
 
LOTOALOFA 
 
 "Where is he ?" reiterated that quavering voice. 
 
 "His Majesty addresses you," added Von Todlo- 
 ben, scandalized at the American s backwardness. 
 
 Matt could hardly say it. He looked helplessly 
 from the one to the other. 
 
 "He is dead," he said at last. 
 
 The old man tottered and would have fallen, had 
 not Matt sustained him. He was assisted to an up 
 turned canoe, where he sat, half fainting, supported 
 by Von Todloben. Here, in a space left by the na 
 tives, who had withdrawn respectfully to a little 
 distance, he gradually rallied. He beckoned Matt 
 to him, and in a tone strangely colorless and so low 
 it was almost a whisper, asked : "When did it hap 
 pen?" 
 
 "He tells me it was about four months ago," re 
 turned Matt. "It was a fever; he was hardly ill 
 two days, though for some time before he had suf 
 fered attacks of pain ; he passed away suddenly, and 
 was conscious and without any thought he was in 
 danger till an hour before the end." 
 
 "And did he leave no word, no letter?" 
 
 Matt translated the question to Peau. 
 
 "No, Excellency," replied the latter in Samoan. 
 "Though I asked him for one in our protection, lest 
 we be accused of his death. But he answered mock 
 ingly he did not intend to die, and was not Mirovna 
 there, besides, to speak for us?" 
 
 Matt repeated this with some omissions. Then 
 determining to conceal nothing, he went on : "He 
 
 325 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 was not alone, your Majesty ; he had with him here 
 a young and beautiful woman, who loved him de 
 votedly, and who killed herself on his grave. He 
 called her Mirovna ... a very beautiful woman. 
 They are buried side by side ..." 
 
 The old man listened unmoved. "It is not for 
 me to judge her," he said, and with this comment, 
 never referred to Mirovna again, remaining silent 
 for a long while, and sunk in a sort of stupor. At 
 last he rose unsteadily to his feet and asked to be 
 taken to the grave. "It is the end of my long jour 
 ney," he said. "The end of many, many things." 
 
 The little party, guided by Peau, took their way 
 ashore and followed him along the path that led 
 across the narrow width of the island. The moon 
 light streamed through the palms, outlining on the 
 sandy floor beneath the giant branches that met 
 overhead ; here and there a spreading jack-fruit cast 
 a blacker shadow, through which they struggled like 
 men in a cavern; occasionally they passed boggy 
 pits, steaming miasmically, orange trees of pene 
 trating fragrance, groves of bananas, rustling their 
 tattered leaves and grown together in an impene 
 trable jungle. Soon, however, they emerged from 
 this zone of cultivation, and with the drone of the 
 seaward breakers in their ears found themselves in 
 a barren region, broken in little hillocks, and open 
 to the unshaded brilliancy of the moon. 
 
 Here, in a sandy hollow, and unutterably melan 
 choly in their aspect, stood two small wooden 
 
 326 
 
LOTOALOFA 
 
 crosses, painted white, surmounting a pair of nar 
 row mounds, side by side. 
 
 They stopped and the white men uncovered ; Peau, 
 who wore nothing on his glistening, black hair, rev 
 erently inclined his head. 
 
 "Which is my son s?" asked the Emperor, gazing 
 at the ground. 
 
 Peau pointed at the nearest grave. 
 
 "The chief sleeps there," he said in native to 
 Matt; and then, with a shudder of recollection: 
 "The stones were wet with Mirovna s blood, and the 
 fana faataamilo so clenched in her hand that I could 
 not take it from her no, Excellency, I could not, 
 and thus it was buried with her, all marveling at the 
 fierceness of her grasp." 
 
 The old Emperor had fallen on his knees in prayer 
 with one arm about the cross. It seemed a sacri 
 lege to watch him, though not an eye was dry, and 
 rugged Von Todloben was shaking with sobs. The 
 unceasing moan of the surf, the weirdness and lone 
 liness of the spot, that frail, tragic figure crouching 
 in the moonlight all affected the little company 
 profoundly. It was a relief to every one when he 
 staggered to his feet, and with pitiable resolution 
 turned away. 
 
 Nothing was said ; the unspoken wish was obeyed ; 
 they slowly retraced their steps, the old man walk 
 ing apart, unassisted. In this funereal manner they 
 reached the pier, where the Emperor at last broke 
 the oppressive silence. 
 
 327 
 
A PERSON OF SOME IMPORTANCE 
 
 "And you?" he asked, turning to Matt. "Tell me 
 what I may do for you ; tell me how I can reward 
 you?" 
 
 Matt did not know what to say ; in fact, as he be 
 gan to realize his own situation, he felt greatly cast 
 down. .What, indeed, was to become of him and 
 Chris? To go or to stay appeared equally impos 
 sible; here they were with nothing but the clothes 
 they stood in, waifs where they had expected a 
 home and welcome. He did not answer, though 
 perplexity and dismay were evident on his face. 
 
 "You are right," continued the Emperor. "It is 
 for me to give not for you to ask. Would it please 
 you would it content you to remain on this island 
 and receive it from me as a gift?" 
 
 "Oh, your Majesty, nothing in the world could 
 make me happier." 
 
 "Then assemble these savages, and let us inform 
 them that you are now the master." 
 
 "It is not necessary, your Majesty; they will be 
 lieve me when I tell them." 
 
 "And I must do more," went on the old man with 
 pathetic earnestness. "That sum once offered you as 
 a bribe and so honorably refused it must also be 
 yours. I shall send it to you by a vessel, and if then 
 you find this isolation greater than you can bear, 
 my officers will be instructed to take you wherever 
 you wish." 
 
 Matt was overwhelmed. 
 
 "I should be most glad of the vessel," he said, 
 
 328 
 
LOTOALOFA 
 
 after stammering his thanks. "But as for money, 
 what there is here must already be a fortune." 
 
 "Accept the one from me and the other from my 
 son," returned the Emperor. "Good-by, my friend, 
 and keep us both in your remembrance, as I, on my 
 part, will ever cherish you in mine." 
 
 With another word to Chris, whose hand he bent 
 over and saluted with stately courtesy, he descended 
 into the pinnace and took his place with Von Todlo- 
 ben. The latter looked up and raised his cap; even 
 as he did so the boat was pushed off and the water 
 began to boil under her stern. A moment later she 
 was skimming over the lagoon toward the lights of 
 the man-of-war, now twinkling at the entrance of 
 the pass. Matt and Chris, hand in hand, gazed after 
 her spellbound. 
 
 A deprecatory cough brought them back to earth. 
 
 "The great house has been prepared for the re 
 ception of your Excellencies," said Peau. "And if 
 it be in your high-chief desire, a trifling repast of 
 turtle and palusami awaits your condescension." 
 
 THE END 
 
YC 46683 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY