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 )CC<W. 
 
 COWARDICE 
 COURT 
 
 BY 
 
 W1TH-ILLVSTRATIONS-BY 
 
 HARRISON-FISHER 
 
 AND-DECORATIONS-BY 
 
 THEODORE-B-HAPGGOD 
 
 LIBRARV 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
 NEW YORK A19O6 
 
 DO 
 
 1, 
 
 M 
 
Copyright, 1906 
 BY DODD, MEAD, AND COMPANY 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. IN WHICH A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 
 
 II. IN WHICH A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 
 
 III. IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES . . . 
 
 IV. IN WHICH THE TRUTH TRESPASSES 
 
 V. IN WHICH DAN CUPID TRESPASSES . . 
 
 VI. IN WHICH A GHOST TRESPASSES . . 
 
 VII. IN WHICH THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS , 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Facing page 
 
 ' So you are putting me off your place ? Oh, 
 
 how lovely !' ' ' [Page 34] 30 
 
 She was her own mistress and privileged to ride 
 
 as often as she pleased " [Page 42] . 
 
 68 
 
 : Poor old Bonaparte ! ' was all he said in reply " 96 
 
 [Page 6 1] 
 
 : Good heaven, Randolph, go to him ! He is 
 
 hurt'" [Page 135] 122 
 
 H 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN WHICH A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 
 
 llE'S just an infernal dude, your lord 
 ship, and I '11 throw him in the river if he 
 says a word too much/' 
 
 " He has already said too much, Tomp- 
 kins, confound him, don't you know." 
 
 "Then I 'm to throw him in whether he 
 says anything or not, sir ? " 
 
 " Have you seen him ? " 
 
 " No, your lordship, but James has. 
 James says he wears a red coat and " 
 
 " Never mind, Tompkins. He has no 
 right to fish on this side of that log. The 
 insufferable ass may own the land on the 
 opposite side, but, confound his imperti 
 nence, I own it on this side." 
 
 H. 
 
2 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 This concluding assertion of the usually 
 placid but now irate Lord Bazelhurst was not 
 quite as momentous as it sounded. As a 
 matter of fact, the title to the land was vested 
 entirely in his young American wife ; his sole 
 possession, according to report, being a title 
 much less substantial but a great deal more 
 picturesque than the large, much-handled 
 piece of paper down in the safety deposit vault 
 lying close and crumpled among a million 
 sordid, homely little slips called coupons. 
 
 It requires no great stretch of imagination 
 to understand that Lord Bazelhurst had an 
 undesirable neighbour. That neighbour was 
 young Mr. Shaw Randolph Shaw, heir to 
 the Randolph fortune. It may be fair to 
 state that Mr. Shaw also considered himself 
 to be possessed of an odious neighbour. In 
 other words, although neither had seen the 
 other, there was a feud between the owners 
 of the two estates that had all the earmarks 
 of an ancient romance. 
 
 Lady Bazelhurst was the daughter of a 
 New York millionaire ; she was young, beau 
 tiful, and arrogant. Nature gave her youth 
 and beauty ; marriage gave her the remaining 
 quality. Was she not Lady Bazelhurst ? 
 What odds if Lord Bazelhurst happened to 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 3 
 
 be a middle-aged, addle-pated ass ? So much 
 the better. Bazelhurst castle and the Bazel- 
 hurst estates (heavily encumbered before her 
 father came to the rescue) were among the 
 oldest and most coveted in the English 
 market. Her mother noted, with unctu 
 ous joy, that the present Lady Bazelhurst 
 in babyhood had extreme difficulty in mas 
 tering the eighth letter of the alphabet, 
 certainly a most flattering sign of natal 
 superiority, notwithstanding the fact that 
 her father was plain old John Banks (de 
 ceased), formerly of Jersey City, more latterly 
 of Wall street and St. Thomas's. 
 
 Bazelhurst was a great catch, but Banks 
 was a good name to conjure with, so he 
 capitulated with a willingness that savoured 
 somewhat of suspended animation (so fearful 
 was he that he might do something to disturb 
 the dream before it came true). That was 
 two years ago. With exquisite irony, Lady 
 Bazelhurst decided to have a country-place 
 in America. Her agents discovered a glori 
 ous section of woodland in the Adirondacks, 
 teeming with trout streams, game haunts, 
 unparalleled scenery ; her ladyship instructed 
 them to buy without delay. It was just here 
 that young Mr. Shaw came into prominence. 
 
4 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 His grandfather had left him a fortune 
 and he was looking about for ways in which 
 to spend a portion of it. College, travel, 
 and society having palled on him, he hied 
 himself into the big hills west of Lake Cham- 
 plain, searching for beauty, solitude, and life 
 as he imagined it should be lived. He found 
 and bought five hundred acres of the most 
 beautiful bit of wilderness in the mountains. 
 
 The same streams coursed through his 
 hills and dales that ran through those of Lady 
 Bazelhurst, the only distinction being that 
 his portion was the more desirable. When 
 her ladyship's agents came leisurely up to 
 close their deal, they discovered that Mr. 
 Shaw had snatched up this choice five hun 
 dred acres of the original tract intended 
 for their client. At least one thousand 
 acres were left for the young lady, but she 
 was petulant enough to covet all of it. 
 
 Overtures were made to Mr. Shaw, but 
 he would not sell. He was preparing to 
 erect a handsome country-place, and he did 
 not want to alter his plans. Courteously at 
 first, then somewhat scathingly he declined 
 to discuss the proposition with her agents. 
 After two months of pressure of the most 
 tiresome persistency, he lost his temper and 
 
 Hi 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 5 
 
 sent a message to his inquisitors that sud 
 denly terminated all negotiations. After 
 wards, when he learned that their client was a 
 lady, he wrote a conditional note of apology, 
 but, if he expected a response, he was disap 
 pointed. A year went by, and now, with the 
 beginning of this narrative, two newly com 
 pleted country homes glowered at each other 
 from separate hillsides, one envious and 
 spiteful, the other defiant and a bit satirical. 
 Bazelhurst Villa looks across the valley 
 and sees Shaw's Cottage commanding the 
 most beautiful view in the hills ; the very 
 eaves of her ladyship's house seem to have 
 wrinkled into a constant scowl of annoyance. 
 Shaw's long, low cottage seems to smile back 
 with tantalizing security, serene in its more 
 lofty altitude, in its more gorgeous raiment 
 of nature. The brooks laugh with the glit 
 ter of trout, the trees chuckle with the flight 
 of birds, the hillsides frolic in their abun 
 dance of game, but the acres are growling like 
 dogs of war. <c Love thy neighbour as thy 
 self" is not printed on the boards that line 
 the borders of the two estates. In bold 
 black letters the sign-boards laconically say : 
 " No trespassing on these grounds. Keep 
 off!" 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Yes, I fancy you 'd better put him off 
 the place if he comes down here again to 
 fish, Tompkins," said his lordship, in con 
 clusion. Then he touched whip to his horse 
 and bobbed off through the shady lane in a 
 most painfully upright fashion, his thin legs 
 sticking straight out, his breath coming in 
 agonized little jerks with each succeeding 
 return of his person to the saddle. 
 
 " By Jove, Evelyn, it 's most annoying 
 about that confounded Shaw chap," he re 
 marked to his wife as he mounted the broad 
 steps leading to the gallery half an hour 
 later, walking with the primness which sug 
 gests pain. Lady Bazelhurst looked up 
 from her book, her fine aristocratic young 
 face clouding with ready belligerence. 
 
 " What has he done, Cecil dear ? " 
 
 " Been fishing on our property again, 
 that's all. Tompkins says he laughed at 
 him when he told him to get off. I say, do 
 you know, I think I '11 have to adopt rough 
 methods with that chap. Hang it all, what 
 right has he to catch our fish ? " 
 
 cc Oh, how I hate that man ! " exclaimed 
 her ladyship petulantly. 
 
 " But I Ve given Tompkins final instruc 
 tions." 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 7 
 
 " And what are they ? " 
 
 " To throw him in the river next time." 
 
 " Oh, if he only could ! " rapturously. 
 
 " Could? My dear, Tompkins is an 
 American. He can handle these chaps in 
 their own way. At any rate, I told Tomp 
 kins if his nerve failed him at the last minute 
 to come and notify me. /'// attend to this 
 confounded popinjay ! " 
 
 " Good for you, Cecil ! " called out another 
 young woman from the broad hammock in 
 which she had been dawdling with half-alert 
 ears through the foregoing conversation. 
 " Spoken like a true Briton. What is this 
 popinjay like ? " 
 
 "Hullo, sister. Hang it all, what's he 
 like? He's like an ass, that's all. I've 
 never seen him, but if I 'm ever called upon 
 to but you don't care to listen to details. 
 You remember the big log that lies out in 
 the river up at the bend? Well, it marks 
 the property line. One half of its stump 
 belongs to the Shaw man, the other half to 
 m to us, Evelyn. He shan't fish below 
 that log no, sir!" His lordship glared 
 fiercely through his monocle in the direction 
 of the far-away log, his watery blue eyes 
 blinking as malevolently as possible, his 
 
 C> 
 
 H 
 
8 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 long, aristocratic nose wrinkling at its base 
 in fine disdain. His five feet four of stature 
 quivered with illy-subdued emotion, but 
 whether it was rage or the sudden recollec 
 tion of the dog-trot through the woods, it is 
 beyond me to suggest. 
 
 " But suppose our fish venture into his 
 waters, Cecil ; what then ? Is n't that tres 
 pass ? " demanded the Honourable Penelope 
 Drake, youngest and most cherished sister 
 of his lordship. 
 
 " Now, don't be silly, Pen," cried her 
 sister-in-law. " Of course we can't regulate 
 the fish." 
 
 " But I daresay his fish will come below 
 the log, so what 's the odds ? " said his lord 
 ship quickly. "A trout's a lawless brute 
 at best." 
 
 "Is he big?" asked the Honourable 
 Penelope lazily. 
 
 " They vary, my dear girl." 
 
 " I mean Mr. Shaw." 
 
 "Oh, I thought you meant the but I 
 don't know. What difference does that 
 make ? Big or little, he has to stay off my 
 grounds." Was it a look of pride that his 
 tall young wife bestowed upon him as he 
 drew himself proudly erect or was it akin to 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 
 
 pity ? At any rate, her gay young Ameri 
 can head was inches above his own when 
 she arose and suggested that they go inside 
 and prepare for the housing of the guests who 
 were to come over from the evening train. 
 
 " The drag has gone over to the station, 
 Cecil, and it should be here by seven 
 o'clock." 
 
 " Confound his impudence, I '11 show him," 
 grumbled his lordship as he followed her, 
 stiff-legged, toward the door. 
 
 "What's up, Cecil, with your legs?" 
 called his sister. " Are you getting old ? " 
 This suggestion always irritated him. 
 
 " Old ? Silly question. You know how 
 old I am. No ; it 's that beastly American 
 horse. Evelyn, I told you they have no 
 decent horses in this beastly country. They 
 jiggle the life out of one " but he was 
 obliged to unbend himself perceptibly in 
 order to keep pace with her as she hurried 
 through the door. 
 
 The Honourable Penelope allowed her 
 indolent gaze to follow them. A perplexed 
 pucker finally developed on her fair brow and 
 her thought was almost expressed aloud: 
 " By Jove, I wonder if she really loves him." 
 Penelope was very pretty and very bright. 
 
IO 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 She was visiting America for the first time 
 and she was learning rapidly. " Cecil 's a 
 good sort, you know, even " but she was 
 loyal enough to send her thoughts into other 
 channels. 
 
 Nightfall brought half a dozen guests to 
 Bazelhurst Villa. They were fashionable 
 to the point where ennui is the chief char 
 acteristic, and they came only for bridge and 
 sleep. There was a duke among them and 
 also a French count, besides the bored New 
 Yorkers ; they wanted brandy and soda as 
 soon as they got into the house, and they 
 went to bed early because it was so much 
 easier to sleep lying down than sitting up. 
 
 All were up by noon the next day, more 
 bored than ever, fondly praying that nothing 
 might happen before bedtime. The duke 
 was making desultory love to Mrs. De Pey 
 ton and Mrs. De Peyton was leading him 
 aimlessly toward the shadier and more se 
 cluded nooks in the park surrounding the 
 Villa. Penelope, fresh and full of the pur 
 pose of life, was off alone for a long stroll. 
 By this means she avoided the attentions of 
 the duke, who wanted to marry her; those of 
 the count who also said he wanted to marry 
 her but could n't because his wife would not 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES n 
 
 consent; those of one New Yorker, who 
 liked her because she was English ; and 
 the pallid chatter of the women who bored 
 her with their conjugal cynicisms. 
 
 " What the deuce is this coming down the 
 road?" queried the duke, returning from 
 the secluded nook at luncheon time. 
 
 " Some one has been hurt," exclaimed his 
 companion. Others were looking down the 
 leafy road from the gallery. 
 
 " By Jove, it 's Penelope, don't you know," 
 ejaculated the duke, dropping his monocle 
 and blinking his eye as if to rest it for the 
 time being. 
 
 " But she 's not hurt. She 's helping to 
 support one of those men." 
 
 " Hey ! " shouted his lordship from the 
 gallery, as Penelope and two dilapidated male 
 companions abruptly started to cut across the 
 park in the direction of the stables. " What 's 
 up?" Penelope waved her hand aimlessly, i /v ^ 
 but did not change her course. Whereupon nl\/j 
 the entire house party sallied forth in more or 
 less trepidation to intercept the strange party. J| HI C^\ 
 
 " Who are these men ? " demanded Lady VU \\\\/ 
 Bazelhurst, as they came up to the fast- 
 breathing young Englishwoman. 
 
 " Don't bother me, please. We must get 
 
12 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 him to bed at once. He'll have pneu 
 monia," replied Penelope. 
 
 Both men were dripping wet and the one 
 in the middle limped painfully, probably 
 because both eyes were swollen tight and 
 his nose was bleeding. Penelope's face was 
 beaming with excitement and interest. 
 
 " Who are you ? " demanded his lordship, 
 planting himself in front of the shivering 
 twain. 
 
 " Tompkins," murmured the blind one 
 feebly, tears starting from the blue slits and 
 rolling down his cheeks. 
 
 "James, sir," answered the other, touch 
 ing his damp forelock. 
 
 " Are they drunk ? " asked Mrs. De Pey 
 ton, with fresh enthusiasm. 
 
 " No, they are not, poor fellows," cried 
 Penelope. " They have taken nothing but 
 water." 
 
 " By Jove, deuced clever that," drawled 
 the duke. " Eh ? " to the New Yorker. 
 
 " Deuced," from the Knickerbocker. 
 
 "Well, well, what's it all about?" de 
 manded Bazelhurst. 
 
 " Mr. Shaw, sir," said James. 
 
 " Good Lord, could n't you rescue him ? " 
 in horror. 
 
 Hi 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 13 
 
 " He rescued us, sir/* mumbled Tomp- 
 kins. 
 
 "You mean" 
 
 " He throwed us in and then had to jump 
 in and pull us out, sir. Beggin' your par 
 don, sir, but damn him ! " 
 
 " And you did n't throw him in, after all ? 
 By Jove, extraordinary ! " 
 
 " Do you mean to tell us that he threw 
 you great hulking creatures into the river ? 
 Single-handed ? " cried Lady Bazelhurst, 
 aghast. 
 
 " He did, Evelyn," inserted Penelope. 
 " I met them coming home, and poor Tomp- 
 kins was out of his senses. I don't know 
 how it happened, but " 
 
 " It was this way, your ladyship," put in 
 James, the groom. " Tompkins and me 
 could see him from the point there, sir, 
 afishin' below the log. So we says to each 
 other c Come on,' and up we went to where 
 he was afishin'. Tompkins, bein' the game 
 warden, says he to him c Hi there ! ' He was 
 plainly on our property, sir, afishin' from a 
 boat for bass, sir. c Hello, boys,' says he 
 back to us. c Get oflF our land,' says Tomp 
 kins. f I am, v says he ; c it 's water out 
 here where I am.' Then " 
 

 
 14 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 "You're wrong," broke in Tompkins. 
 "He said c it 's wet out here where I 
 
 am. 
 
 " You 're right. It was wet. Then Tomp 
 kins called him a vile name, your lordship 
 shall I repeat it, sir ? " 
 
 " No, no ! " cried four feminine voices. 
 
 " Yes, do," muttered the duke. 
 
 " He did n't wait after that, sir. He 
 rowed to shore in a flash and landed on our 
 land. 'What do you mean by that?' he 
 said, mad-like. c My orders is to put you 
 off this property/ says Tompkins, ' or to 
 throw you in the river.' c Who gave these 
 orders ? ' asked Mr. Shaw. ( Lord Bazel- 
 hurst, sir, damn you ' beg pardon, sir; it 
 slipped out. 'And who the devil is Lord 
 Bazelthurst ? ' said he. c Hurst/ said Tomp 
 kins. c He owns this ground. Can't you 
 see the mottoes on the trees No Tres- 
 passin'?' but Mr. Shaw said: c Well, why 
 don't you throw me in the river?' He 
 kinder smiled when he said it. C I will/ 
 says Tompkins, and made a rush for him. 
 I don't just remember why I started in to 
 help Tompkins, but I did. Somehow, sir, 
 Mr. Shaw got " 
 
 " Don't call him Mr. Shaw. Just Shaw j 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 15 
 
 he 's no gentleman/' exploded Lord Bazel- 
 hurst. 
 
 " But he told us both to call him c Mister/ 
 sir, as long as we lived. I kinder got in the 
 habit of it, your lordship, up there. That 
 is, that 's what he told us after he got through 
 with us. Well, anyhow, he got the start of 
 us an* there 's Tompkins' eyes, sir, and 
 look at my ear. Then he pitched us both 
 in the river." 
 
 " Good Lord ! " gasped the duke. 
 
 " Diable ! " sputtered the count. 
 
 " Splendid ! " cried Penelope, her eyes 
 sparkling. 
 
 " Hang it all, Pen, don't interrupt the 
 count/' t snorted Bazelhurst, for want of 
 something better to say and perhaps hoping 
 that Deveaux might say in French what 
 could not be uttered in English. 
 
 " Don't say it in French, count," said 
 little Miss Folsom. "It deserves English." 
 
 "Go on, James," sternly, from Lady 
 Bazelhurst. 
 
 " Well, neither of us can swim, your 
 ladyship, an* we'd 'a' drowned if Mr. if 
 Shaw had n't jumped in himself an' pulled 
 us out. As it was, sir, Tompkins was un 
 conscious. We rolled him on a log, sir, an* 
 
i6 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 <o 
 
 got a keg of water out of him. Then Mr. 
 er Shaw told us to go 'ome and get in 
 bed, sir." 
 
 " He sent a message to you, sir," added 
 Tompkins, shivering mightily. 
 
 "Well, I '11 have one for him, never fear," 
 said his lordship, glancing about bravely. 
 " I won't permit any man to assault my ser 
 vants and brutally maltreat them. No, sir ! 
 He shall hear from me or my attorney." 
 
 " He told us to tell you, sir, that if he 
 ever caught anybody from this place on his 
 land he 'd serve him worse than he did us," 
 said Tompkins. 
 
 "He says, c I don't want no Bazelhursts 
 on my place/ " added James in finality. 
 
 " Go to bed, both of you ! " roared his 
 lordship. 
 
 " Very good, sir," in unison. 
 
 " They can get to bed without your help, 
 I daresay, Pen," added his lordship causti 
 cally, as she started away with them. Penel 
 ope with a rare blush and well, one party 
 went to luncheon while the other went to 
 bed. 
 
 " I should like to see this terrible Mr. 
 Shaw," observed Penelope at table. " He 's 
 a sort of Jack-the-Giant-Killer, I fancy." 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 17 
 
 " He is the sort one has to meet in 
 America," lamented her ladyship. 
 
 " Oh, I say now," expostulated the New 
 York young man, wryly. 
 
 " I don't mean in good society," she cor 
 rected, with unconscious irony. 
 
 " Oh," said he, very much relieved. 
 
 " He's a demmed cad," said his lordship 
 conclusively. 
 
 " Because he chucked your men into the 
 river ? " asked Penelope sweetly. 
 
 " She 's dooced pretty, eh ? " whispered the 
 duke to Mrs. De Peyton without taking 
 his eyes from his young countrywoman's 
 face. 
 
 " Who ? " asked Mrs. De Peyton. Then 
 he relinquished his gaze and turned his mon 
 ocle blankly upon the American beside him. 
 
 " I shall send him a warning that he '11 
 have to respect, cad or no cad," said Bazel- 
 hurst, absently spreading butter upon his 
 fingers instead of the roll. 
 
 "Send him a warning ? " asked his queenly 
 wife. "Aren't you going to see him per 
 sonally ? You can't trust the servants, it 
 seems." 
 
 "My dear, I can't afford to lose my tem 
 per and engage in a row with that bounder, 
 
i8 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 and there 's no end of trouble I might get 
 into " 
 
 " I shall see him myself, if you won't," 
 said her ladyship firmly. There was frigid 
 silence at the table for a full minute, relieved 
 only when his lordship's monocle dropped 
 into the glass of water he was trying to con 
 vey to his lips. He thought best to treat 
 the subject lightly, so he laughed in his most 
 jovial way. 
 
 "You'd better take a mackintosh with 
 you, my dear," he said. " Remember what 
 he told Tompkins and James." 
 
 " He will not throw me into the river. It 
 might be different if you went. Therefore 
 I think " 
 
 "Throw me in, would he?" and Bazel- 
 hurst laughed loudly. " I 'm no groom, 
 my dear. You forget that it is possible for 
 Mr. Shaw to be soused." 
 
 " He was good enough to souse himself 
 this morning," volunteered Penelope. / I 
 rather like him." 
 
 " By Jove, Cecil, you 're not afraid to meet 
 him, are you?" asked the duke with tanta 
 lizing coolness. " You know, if you are, 
 I '11 go over and talk to the fellow." 
 
 " Afraid ? Now, hang it all, Barminster, 
 
A YOUNG MAN TRESPASSES 19 
 
 that 's rather a shabby thing to suggest. 
 You forget India." 
 
 " I 'm trying to. Demmed miserable time 
 I had out there. But this fellow fights. 
 That's more than the beastly natives did 
 when we were out there. Marching is n't 
 fighting, you know." 
 
 " Confound it, you forget the time 
 
 " Mon Dieu, are we to compare ze Hindoo 
 harem wiz ze American feest slugger ? " 
 cried the count, with a wry face. 
 
 " What 's that ? " demanded two noble 
 men in one voice. The count apologized 
 for his English. 
 
 " No one but a coward would permit this 
 disagreeable Shaw creature to run affairs in 
 such a high-handed way," said her ladyship. 
 " Of course Cecil is not a coward." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear. Never fear, ladies 
 and gentlemen ; I shall attend to this per 
 son. He won't soon forget what I have 
 to say to him," promised Lord Bazelhurst, 
 mentally estimating the number of brandies 
 and soda it would require in preparation. 
 
 " This afternoon ? " asked his wife, with 
 cruel insistence. 
 
 "Yes, Evelyn if I can find him." 
 
 And so it was that shortly after four 
 
 d 
 
 I* 
 
 Q 
 
 .0? 
 
9 
 
 2o COWARDICE COURT 
 
 o'clock, Lord Bazelhurst, unattended at his 
 own request, rode forth like a Lochinvar, 
 his steed headed bravely toward Shaw's 
 domain, his back facing his own home with 
 a military indifference that won applause 
 from the assembled house party. 
 
 "I '11 face him alone," he had said, a trifle 
 thickly, for some unknown reason, when 
 the duke offered to accompany him. It 
 also might have been noticed as he cantered 
 down the drive that his legs did not stick 
 out so stiffly, nor did his person bob so 
 exactingly as on previous but peaceful 
 expeditions. 
 
 In fact, he seemed a bit limp. But his 
 face was set determinedly for the border line 
 and Shaw. 
 
 Hi 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IN WHICH A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 
 
 1VJ.R. SHAW was a tall young man of 
 thirty or thereabouts, smooth-faced, good- 
 looking and athletic. It was quite true that 
 he wore a red coat when tramping through 
 his woods and vales, not because it was fash 
 ionable, but because he had a vague horror 
 of being shot at by some near-sighted nimrod 
 from Manhattan. A crowd of old college 
 friends had just left him alone in the hills 
 after spending several weeks at his place, 
 and his sole occupation these days, aside 
 from directing the affairs about the house 
 and grounds, lay in the efforts to commune 
 with nature by means of a shotgun and a 
 fishing-rod. His most constant companion 
 was a pipe, his most loyal follower a dog. 
 
 As he sauntered slowly down the river 
 road that afternoon, smiling retrospectively 
 
22 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 from time to time as he looked into the 
 swift, narrow stream that had welcomed his 
 adversaries of the morning, he little thought 
 of the encounter in store for him. The 
 little mountain stream was called a river by 
 courtesy because it was yards wider than the 
 brooks that struggled im potently to surpass 
 it during the rainy season. But it was deep 
 and turbulent in places and it had a roar at 
 times that commanded the respect of the 
 foolhardy. 
 
 "The poor devils might have drowned, 
 eh, Bonaparte ? " he mused, addressing the 
 dog at his side. " Confounded nuisance, 
 getting wet after all, though. Lord Bazel- 
 hurst wants war, does he ? That log down 
 there is the dividing line in our river, eh? 
 And I have to stay on this side of it. By 
 George, he 's a mean-spirited person. And 
 it's his wife's land, too. I wonder what 
 she 's like. It 's a pity a fellow can't have 
 a quiet, decent summer up here in the hills. 
 Still " lighting his pipe " I daresay I can 
 give as well as I take. If I stay off his land, 
 they '11 have to keep off of mine. Hullo, 
 who 's that ? A man, by George, but he 
 looks like a partridge. As I live, Bonaparte 
 is pointing. Ha, ha, that's one on you, 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 23 
 
 Bony." Mr. Shaw stepped into the brush 
 at the side of the path and watched the 
 movements of the man at the " log," now 
 less than one hundred yards away. 
 
 Lord Bazelhurst, attired in his brown 
 corduroys and his tan waistcoat, certainly 
 suggested the partridge as he hopped nimbly 
 about in the distant foreground, cocking his 
 ears from time to time with all the aloofness 
 of that wily bird. He was, strange to relate, 
 some little distance from Bazelhurst terri 
 tory, an actual if not a confident trespasser 
 upon Shaw's domain. His horse, however, 
 was tethered to a sapling on the safe side of 
 the log, comfortably browsing on Bazelhurst 
 grass. Randolph Shaw, an unseen observer, 
 was considerably mystified by the actions of 
 his unusual visitor. 
 
 His lordship paced back and forth with 
 a stride that grew firmer as time brought 
 forth no hostile impediments. His monocle 
 ever and anon was directed both high and 
 low in search of Shaw or his henchmen, 
 while his face was rapidly resolving itself 
 into a bloom of rage. 
 
 " Confound him," his lordship was mut 
 tering, looking at his timepiece with stern 
 disapproval ; cc he can't expect me to wait 
 
24 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 here all day. I 'm on his land and I *11 stay 
 here as long as I like." (At this juncture 
 he involuntarily measured the distance be- , 
 tween himself and the log.) " I knew it 
 was all a bluff, his threat to put me off. 
 Hang it all, where is the fellow ? I won't 
 go up to his beastly house. I won't gratify 
 him by going up there even to give him 
 his orders. Demmed cad, blowhard ! Five 
 o'clock, confound him ! I daresay he 's 
 seen me and has crawled off into the under 
 brush. He's afraid of me; he's a coward. 
 It is as I feared. I can't see the rascal. 
 There 's only one thing left for me to do. 
 I '11 pin a note to this tree. Confound him, he 
 shall hear from me ; he '11 have to read it." 
 
 Whereupon his lordship drew forth a 
 large envelope from his pocket and pro 
 ceeded to fasten it to the trunk of a big 
 tree which grew in the middle of the road, 
 an act of premeditation which showed strange 
 powers of prophecy. How could he, ex 
 cept by means of clairvoyance, have known 
 before leaving home that he was not to 
 meet his enemy face to face ? 
 
 As Mr. Shaw afterwards read the note 
 and tossed it into the river, it is only fair 
 that the world should know its contents 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 25 
 
 while it hung unfolded to the bark of the 
 tall tree. It said, in a very scrawling hand : 
 cc Mr. Shaw, I have looked all over this end 
 of your land for you this afternoon. You 
 doubtless choose to avoid me. So be it. 
 Let me state, once and for all, that your 
 conduct is despicable. I came here person 
 ally to tell you to keep off my land, hence 
 forth and for ever. I will not repeat this 
 warning, but will instead, if you persist, take 
 such summary measures as would befit a 
 person of your instincts. I trust you will 
 feel the importance of keeping off." To 
 this his lordship bravely signed himself. 
 
 " There," he muttered, again holding his 
 watch and fob up for close inspection. 
 "He '11 not soon overlook what I've said 
 in that letter, confound him." 
 
 He had not observed the approach of 
 Randolph Shaw, who now stood, pipe in 
 hand, some twenty paces behind him in the 
 road. 
 
 " What the devil are you doing ? " de 
 manded a strong bass voice. It had the 
 effect of a cannon shot. 
 
 His lordship leaped half out of his cordu 
 roys, turned with agonizing abruptness to 
 ward the tall young man, and gasped " Oh ! " 
 
OP. 
 
 26 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 so shrilly that his horse looked up with a 
 start. The next instant his watch dropped 
 forgotten from his fingers and his nimble 
 little legs scurried for territory beyond the 
 log. Nor did he pause upon reaching that 
 supposedly safe ground. The swift glance 
 he gave the nearby river was significant as 
 well as apprehensive. It moved him to 
 increased but unpolished haste. 
 
 He leaped frantically for the saddle, scorn 
 ing the stirrups, landing broadside but with 
 sufficient nervous energy in reserve to 
 scramble on and upward into the seat. 
 Once there, he kicked the animal in the 
 flanks with both heels, clutching with his 
 knees and reaching for the bridle rein in the 
 same motion. The horse plunged obedi 
 ently, but came to a stop with a jerk that al 
 most unseated the rider ; the sapling swayed ; 
 the good but forgotten rein held firm. 
 
 " Ha ! " gasped his lordship as the horrid 
 truth became clear to him. 
 
 "Charge, Bonaparte !" shouted the man 
 in the road. 
 
 " Soldiers ? " cried the rider with a wild 
 look among the trees. 
 
 " My dog," called back the other. " He 
 charges at the word." 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 27 
 
 " Well, you know, I saw service in the 
 army," apologized his lordship, with a pale 
 smile. " Get ep ! " to the horse. 
 
 "What's your hurry?" asked Shaw, 
 grinning broadly as he came up to the log. 
 
 " Don't don't you dare to step over 
 that log," shouted Bazelhurst. 
 
 " All right. I see. But, after all, what 's 
 the rush ? " The other was puzzled for the 
 moment. 
 
 "I 'm practising, sir," he said unsteadily. 
 " How to mount on a run, demmit. Can't 
 you see ? " 
 
 " In case of fire, I imagine. Well, you 
 made excellent time. By the way, what has 
 this envelope to do with it ? " 
 
 " Who are you, sir ? " 
 
 " Shaw. And you ? " 
 
 " You '11 learn when you read that docu 
 ment. Take it home with you." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I see it's for me. Why don't 
 you untie that hitch rein? And what the 
 dickens do you mean by having a hitch rein, 
 
 anyway 
 
 ? No rider " 
 
 " Confound your impudence, sir, I did 
 not come here to receive instructions from 
 you, dem you," cried his lordship defiantly. 
 He had succeeded at that moment in sur- 
 
 Z^ 
 
 \/] 
 
28 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 reptitiously slashing the hitch rein in two 
 with his pocketknife. There was nothing 
 now to prevent him from giving the ob 
 trusive young man a defiant farewell. " I 
 am Lord Bazelhurst. Good day, sir ! " 
 
 " Just a minute, your lordship," called 
 Shaw. " No doubt you were timing yourself 
 a bit ago, but that 's no reason why you 
 should leave your watch on my land. Of 
 course, I 've nothing against the watch, and, 
 while I promise you faithfully that any hu 
 man being from your side of the log who 
 ventures over on my side shall be ejected in 
 one way or another, it would seem senseless 
 for me to kick this timepiece into the middle 
 of next week." 
 
 " Don't you dare kick that watch. It 's a 
 hundred years old." 
 
 " Far be it from me to take advantage of 
 anything so old. Don't you want it any 
 longer?" 
 
 " Certainly, sir. I would n't part from it." 
 
 " Then why don't you come over and get 
 it? Do you expect me to break the rule by 
 coming over on to your land to hand it to 
 you ? " 
 
 " I should n't call that trespassing, don't 
 you know," began his lordship. 
 
 Hi 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 29 
 
 "Ah? Nevertheless, if you want this 
 watch you '11 have to come over and get it." 
 
 "By Jove, now, that's a demmed mean 
 trick. I 'm mounted. Beastly annoying. I 
 say, would you mind tossing it up to me ? " 
 
 " I would n't touch it for ten dollars. 
 By the way, I '11 just read this note of yours." 
 Lord Bazelhurst nervously watched him as 
 he read ; his heart lightened perceptibly as 
 he saw a good-humoured smile struggle to 
 the tall young man's face. It was, however, 
 with some misgiving that he studied the 
 broad shoulders and powerful frame of the 
 erstwhile poacher. " Very good of you, I 'm 
 sure, to warn me." 
 
 " Good of me ? It was imperative, let 
 me tell you, sir. No man can abuse my 
 servants and trample all over my land and 
 disturb my fish " 
 
 " Excuse me, but I have n't time to listen 
 to all that. The note 's sufficient. You Ve 
 been practising the running mount until it 
 looks well nigh perfect to me, so I '11 tell 
 you what I '11 do. I '11 step back thirty 
 paces and then you come over and get the 
 watch if you're not afraid of me and 
 I '11 promise " 
 
 " Afraid ? Demmit, sir, did n't I say I 
 
 iH 
 
30 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 was Lord Bazelhurst ? Of the Guards, sir, 
 and the Seventy-first? Conf " 
 
 " You come over and get the watch and 
 then see if you can get back to the horse 
 and mount before I get to the log. If I beat 
 you there, you lose. How 's that ? " 
 
 4C I decline to make a fool of myself. 
 Either you will restore my watch to me, or 
 I shall instantly go before the authorities and 
 take out a warrant. I came to see you on 
 business, sir, not folly. Lady Bazelhurst 
 herself would have come had I been otherwise 
 occupied, and I want to assure you of her con 
 tempt. You are a disgrace to her country 
 men. If you ever put foot on our land I shall 
 have you thrown into the river. Demmit, 
 sir, it 's no laughing matter. My watch, sir." 
 
 " Come and get it." 
 
 " Scalawag ! " 
 
 " By George, do you know if you get too 
 personal I will come over there." Randolph 
 Shaw advanced with a threatening scowl. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! " laughed his lordship shrilly ; 
 " I dare you ! " He turned his horse's 
 head for home and moved off a yard or 
 more. " Whoa ! Curse you ! This is the 
 demdest horse to manage I Ve ever owned. 
 Stand still, confound you ! Whoa ! " 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 31 
 
 "He'll stand if you stop licking him." 
 
 "Halloa! Hey, Bazelhurst ! " came a 
 far distant voice. The adversaries glanced 
 down the road and beheld two horsemen 
 approaching from Bazelhurst Villa the 
 duke and the count. 
 
 " By Jove ! " muttered his lordship, sud 
 denly deciding that it would not be conven 
 ient for them to appear on the scene at its 
 present stage. "My friends are calling me. 
 Her ladyship doubtless is near at hand. 
 She rides, you know I mean dem you ! 
 Would n't have her see you for a fortune. 
 Not another word, sir ! You have my 
 orders. Stay off or I '11 throw you off! " 
 This last threat was almost shrieked and 
 was plainly heard by the two horsemen. 
 
 "By Jove, he's facing the fellow/' said 
 the duke to the count. 
 
 " Ees eet Shaw ? Parbleu ! " 
 
 " I '11 send some one for that watch. 
 Don't you dare to touch it," said his lord 
 ship in tones barely audible. Then he 
 loped off to meet his friends and turn them 
 back before they came too close for comfort. 
 Randolph Shaw laughed heartily as he 
 watched the retreat. Seeing the newcomers 
 halt and then turn abruptly back into their 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 tracks he picked up the watch and strolled 
 off into the woods, taking a short cut for 
 the dirt road which led up to his house. 
 
 " I had him begging for mercy/' ex 
 plained his lordship as he rode along. " I 
 was on his land for half an hour before 
 he would come within speaking distance. 
 Come along. I need a drink." 
 
 Young Mr. Shaw came to the road in 
 due time and paused, after his climb, to rest 
 on a stone at the wayside. He was still a 
 mile from home and in the loneliest part 
 of his domain. The Bazelhurst line was 
 scarcely a quarter of a mile behind him. 
 Trees and underbrush grew thick and im 
 penetrable alongside the narrow, winding 
 road ; the light of heaven found it difficult 
 to struggle through to the highway below. 
 Picturesque but lonely and sombre indeed 
 were his surroundings. 
 
 " Some one coming ? " he said aloud, as 
 Bonaparte pricked up his ears and looked 
 up the road. A moment later a horse and 
 rider turned the bend a hundred yards away 
 and came slowly toward him. He started 
 to his feet with an exclamation. The rider 
 was a woman and she was making her 
 way leisurely toward the Bazelhurst lands. 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 
 
 " Lady Bazelhurst, I '11 bet my hat," 
 thought he with a quiet whistle. "By 
 George, this is awkward. My first tres 
 passer is in petticoats. I say, she 's a 
 beauty a ripping beauty. Lord, Lord, 
 what do such women mean by giving them 
 selves to little rats like Bazelhurst ? Oh, 
 the shame of it ! Well, it 's up to me ! If 
 I expect to c make good,' I Ve just got to 
 fire her off these grounds." 
 
 Naturally he expected to be very polite 
 about it instinctively so; he could not 
 have been otherwise. The horsewoman 
 saw him step into the middle of the road, 
 smiling oddly but deferentially ; her slim 
 figure straightened, her colour rose, and there 
 was a yes, there was a relieved gleam in 
 her eyes. As she drew near he advanced, 
 hat in hand, his face uplifted in his most 
 winning smile savouring more of welcome 
 than of repellence. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," he said ; " doubt 
 less you are not aware that this is proscribed 
 land." 
 
 "Then you are Mr. Shaw?" she asked, 
 checking her horse with premeditated sur 
 prise and an emphasis that puzzled him. 
 
 " Yes, madam," he responded gravely, 
 
 o 
 
34 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 > \ 
 
 d 
 
 " the hated Shaw. Permit me," and he 
 politely grasped the bridle rein. To her 
 amazement he deliberately turned and began 
 to lead her horse, willy nilly, down the road, 
 very much as if she were a child taking her 
 first riding lesson. 
 
 " What are you doing, sir ? " she ex 
 claimed sharply. There was a queer flutter 
 of helplessness in her voice. 
 
 " Putting you off," he answered laconi 
 cally. She laughed in delight and he looked 
 up with a relieved smile. " I 'm glad you 
 don't mind. I have to do it. These feuds 
 are such beastly things, you know. One has 
 to live up to them whether he likes it or not." 
 
 " So you are putting me off your place ? 
 Oh, how lovely ! " 
 
 " It isn't far, you know just down by 
 those big rocks. Your line is there. Of 
 course," he went on politely, " you know 
 that there is a feud." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I Ve heard you discussed. 
 Besides, I met Tompkins and James this 
 morning. Pardon me, Mr. Shaw, but I 
 fancy 'I can get on without being led. 
 Would you mind " 
 
 " My dear madam, there is no alternative. 
 I have taken a solemn vow personally to 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 35 
 
 eject all Bazelhurst trespassers from my 
 place. You forget that I am, by your 
 orders, to be thrown into the river and all 
 that. Don't be alarmed ! I don't mean to 
 throw you into the river." 
 
 "By my orders? It seems to me that you 
 have confused me with Lord Bazelhurst." 
 
 " Heaven has given me keener perception, 
 your ladyship. I have seen his lordship." 
 
 " Ah, may I inquire whether he was par 
 ticularly rough with you this afternoon ? " 
 
 " I trust I am too chivalrous to answer 
 that question." 
 
 " You are quite dry." 
 
 " Thank you. I deserve the rebuke, all 
 right." 
 
 " Oh, I mean you have n't been in the 
 river." 
 
 " Not since morning. Am I walking too 
 fast for you ? " 
 
 " Not at all. One could n't ask to be put 
 off more considerately." 
 
 " By Jove," he said involuntarily, his ad 
 miration getting the better of him. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," with slightly ele 
 vated eyebrows. 
 
 "Do you know, you're not at all what 
 I imagined you 'd be." 
 
36 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Oh ? And I fancy I 'm not at all whom 
 you imagined me to be." 
 
 " Heavens ! Am I ejecting an innocent 
 bystander? You are Lady Bazelhurst?" 
 
 " I am Penelope Drake. But " she 
 added quickly "I am an enemy. I am 
 Lord Bazelhurst's sister." 
 
 " You you don't mean it ? " 
 
 " Are you disappointed ? I 'm sorry." 
 
 " I am staggered and a bit skeptical. 
 There is no resemblance." 
 
 " I am a bit taller," she admitted carefully. 
 " It is n't dreadfully immodest, is it, for one 
 to hold converse with her captor ? I am 
 in your power, you see." 
 
 " On the contrary, it is quite the thing. 
 The heroine always converses with the villain 
 in books. She tells him what she thinks of 
 him." 
 
 " But this isn't a book and I'm not a 
 heroine. I am the adventuress. Will you 
 permit me to explain my presence on your 
 land ? " 
 
 "No excuse is necessary. You were 
 caught red-handed and you don't have to 
 say anything to incriminate yourself further." 
 
 "But it is scarcely a hundred feet to our 
 line. In a very few minutes I shall be 
 
 Hi 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 
 
 hurled relentlessly from your land and may 
 never have another chance to tell why I 
 dared to venture over here. You see, you 
 have a haunted house on your land and 
 I_" She hesitated. 
 
 " I see. The old Kenwood cottage on 
 the hill. Been deserted for years. Ren- 
 wood brought his wife up here in the moun 
 tains long ago and murdered her. She 
 comes back occasionally, they say ; mysteri 
 ous noises and lights and all that. Well ? " 
 
 "Well, I 'm very much interested in 
 spooks. In spite of the feud I rode over 
 here for a peep at the house. Dear me, 
 it's a desolate looking place. I didn't go 
 inside, of course. Why don't you tear it 
 down ? " 
 
 "And deprive the ghost of house and 
 home ? That would be heartless. Besides, 
 it serves as an attraction to bring visitors to 
 my otherwise unalluring place. I 'm terribly 
 sorry the fortunes of war prevent me from 
 offering to take you through the house. 
 But as long as you remain a Bazelhurst I 
 can't neglect my vow. Of course, I don't 
 mean to say that you cant come and do what 
 you please over here, but you shall be recog 
 nized and treated as a trespasser." 
 
38 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Oh, that 's just splendid ! Perhaps I '11 
 come to-morrow." 
 
 " I shall be obliged to escort you from the 
 grounds, you know." 
 
 " Yes, I know," she said agreeably. He 
 looked dazed and delighted. " Of course, 
 I shall come with stealth and darkly. Not 
 even my brother shall know of my plans." 
 
 " Certainly not," he said with alacrity. 
 (They were nearing the line.) " Depend on 
 me." 
 
 " Depend on you ? . Your only duty is to 
 scare me off the place." 
 
 " That 's what I mean. I '11 keep sharp 
 watch for you up at the haunted house." 
 
 " It 's more than a mile from the line," 
 she advised him. 
 
 "Yes, I know," said he, with his friend 
 liest smile. cc Oh, by the way, would you 
 mind doing your brother a favour, Miss 
 Drake? Give him this watch. He er he 
 must have dropped it while pursuing me." 
 
 " You ran? " she accepted the watch with 
 surprise and unbelief. 
 
 " Here is the line, Miss Drake," he 
 evaded. " Consider yourself ignominiously 
 ejected. Have I been unnecessarily rough 
 and expeditious ? " 
 
 H 
 
A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 39 
 
 " You have had a long and tiresome walk," 
 she said, settling herself for a merry clip. 
 " Please don't step on our side." He re 
 leased the bridle rein and doffed his hat. 
 
 " I shall bring my horse to-morrow," he 
 remarked significantly. 
 
 " I may bring the duke," she said sweetly. 
 
 "In that case I shall have to bring an 
 extra man to lead his horse. It won't 
 matter." 
 
 " So this rock is the dividing line ? " 
 
 " Yes ; you are on the safe side now 
 and so am I, for that matter. The line is 
 here," and he drew a broad line in the dust 
 from one side of the road to the other. 
 " My orders are that you are not to ride 
 across that line, at your peril." 
 
 " And you are not to cross it either, at 
 your peril." 
 
 " Do you dare me ? " with an eager step 
 forward. 
 
 " Good-bye." 
 
 " Good-bye ! I say, are you sure you can 
 find the Kenwood cottage ? " he called after 
 her. The answer came back through the 
 clatter of hoofs, accompanied by a smile that 
 seduced his self-possession. 
 
 " I shall find it in time." 
 
 H 
 
<o 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 For a long time he stood watching her as 
 she raced down the road. 
 
 " At my peril/' he mused, shaking his 
 head with a queer smile. " By George, that 's 
 fair warning enough. She 's beautiful." 
 
 At dinner that night the Honourable Pen 
 elope restored the watch to her brother, much 
 to his embarrassment, for he had told the 
 duke it was being repaired in town. 
 
 " It was n't this watch that I meant, old 
 chap," he announced, irrelevantly, to the 
 duke, quite red in the face. " Where did 
 you find it, Pen ? " She caught the plea in 
 his eye and responded loyally. 
 
 "You dropped it, I daresay, in pursuing 
 Mr. Shaw." 
 
 The positive radiance which followed dis 
 may in his watery eyes convinced her beyond 
 all doubt that her brother's encounter with 
 the tall Mr. Shaw was not quite creditable to 
 Bazclhurst arms. She listened with pensive 
 indifference to the oft-repeated story of how 
 he had routed the " insufferable cad," en 
 couraged by the support of champagne and 
 the solicited approval of two eye-witnesses. 
 She could not repress the mixed feelings of 
 scorn, shame, and pity, as she surveyed the 
 array of men who so mercilessly flayed the 
 
 

 A YOUNG WOMAN TRESPASSES 41 
 
 healthy, fair-faced young man with the gentle 
 strength. 
 
 The house party had been augmented 
 during the day by the arrival of half a dozen 
 men and women from the city, brain-fagged, 
 listless, and smart. The big cottage now 
 was full, the company complete for three 
 weeks at least. She looked ahead, this 
 fresh, vigorous young Englishwoman, and 
 wondered how she was to endure the stale- 
 ness of life. 
 
 There was some relief in the thought that 
 the men would make love to the good- 
 looking young married women at least 
 part of the time and but it depressed 
 her in turn to think of the left-over hus 
 bands who would make love to her. 
 
 " Why is it that Evelyn does n't have 
 real men here like this Mr. Shaw ? " she 
 found herself wondering vaguely as the night 
 
9, 
 
 M 1 
 
 9 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 
 
 JL ENELOPE was a perverse and calculat 
 ing young person. She was her own mis 
 tress and privileged to ride as often as she 
 pleased, but it seemed rather odd although 
 splendidly decorous that she did not ven 
 ture upon Mr. Shaw's estate for more than 
 a week after her first encounter with the 
 feudal baron. If she found a peculiarly femi 
 nine satisfaction in speculating on his dis 
 appointment, it is not to be wondered at. 
 Womanly insight told her that Randolph 
 Shaw rode forth each day and watched with 
 hawk-like vigilance for the promised tres 
 passer. In her imagination, she could almost 
 hear him curse the luck that was helping her 
 to evade the patrol. 
 
 One morning, after a rain, she rode with 
 the duke to the spot where Shaw had drawn 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 43 
 
 his line in the road. She felt a thrill of 
 something she could not define on discover 
 ing that the wet soil on the opposite side of 
 the line was disfigured by a mass of fresh 
 hoof-prints. She rejoiced to find that his 
 vigil was incessant and worthy of the respect 
 it imposed. The desire to visit the haunted 
 house was growing more and more irresisti 
 ble, but she turned it aside with all the 
 relentless perverseness of a woman who feels 
 it worth while to procrastinate. 
 
 Truth to tell, Randolph Shaw was going 
 hollow-eyed and faint in his ceaseless, rack 
 ing watch for trespassers. 
 
 Penelope laughed aloud as she gazed 
 upon the tangle of hoof-prints. The duke 
 looked as surprised as it was possible for 
 him to look after the wear of the past 
 night. 
 
 " Hang it all, Penelope,'' he said. " I 
 did n't say anything, don't you know." MI/V^ 
 
 " I was just thinking," she said hastily, (ll\\/ 
 cc what fun it would be for us to explore the 
 haunted house." 
 
 "Oh, I say, Pen, that's going out of the 
 way for a little fun, is n't it ? My word, it 's 
 a filthy old house with rats and mice and all 
 that no place for a ghost, much less a nice 
 
44 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 all 
 
 little human being like you. They 're 
 like that." 
 
 " I think you are afraid to go," said 
 she. 
 
 " Afraid of ghosts ? Pshaw ! " sniffed the 
 duke, sticking out his chest. 
 
 " Yes, Shaw ! That J s whom you 're afraid 
 of." 
 
 "Now, see here, Pen, you should n't say 
 that. Shaw 's a d , a cad. See what Cecil 
 did to him. Remember that ? Well, pooh! 
 What would / do to him ? " Penelope 
 looked him over critically. 
 
 " I '11 admit that you 're larger and younger 
 than Cecil," she confessed grudgingly. " But 
 they say Mr. Shaw is a giant-killer." The 
 duke dropped his monocle and guffawed 
 loudly. 
 
 " Good!" he cried in the ecstasy of pride. 
 His worn, dissipated face lighted up with 
 unwonted interest. " I say, Pen, that 's the 
 nicest thing you 've said to me in a week. 
 You Ve been so deuced cold of late. I 
 don't understand. I 'm not such a bad lot, 
 you know." 
 
 " Tell that to Mrs. De Peyton and Mrs. 
 Corwith. They 're looking for the good in 
 everything." 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 45 
 
 " By Jove, I believe you 're jealous ! This 
 is the proudest moment of my life." 
 
 " Don't be silly ! And don't try to make 
 love to me any more. Wait until I 'm mar 
 ried," she added with a laugh, the irony of 
 which escaped him. 
 
 " But, hang it all, suppose you should 
 marry some one else and not me." 
 
 " That 's what I mean." 
 
 " Oh ! " he said, perplexed. Then, as if 
 his stupidity called for an explanation : " I 
 had a beastly night. Did n't go to bed till 
 four. But, I say, why can't I have the same 
 privilege as these other chaps ? Corwith 
 makes love to you and so does Odwell, and, 
 hang it, they 're both married. It 's rotten 
 mean of " 
 
 "Their wives are accountable for their 
 manners, not I. But, come ; will you go to 
 Kenwood's with me ? " 
 
 " I 'd rather talk to you in that nice little 
 corner of the billiard-room at home, if 
 you " 
 
 "But I don't need a brandy and soda. 
 Oh ! " This exclamation came with the dis 
 covery of an approaching horseman. " It's 
 Mr. Shaw I 'm sure." 
 
 Randolph Shaw, loyal to his feudal prom- 
 
 iH 
 
4 6 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 
 
 ise, appeared in the road a couple of hundred 
 yards away. He drew rein and from that 
 distance surveyed the two who were so near 
 to encroaching upon his preserves. He sat 
 straight and forbidding in the saddle. For 
 a full minute the two factions stared at each 
 other. Then, without a sign of recognition, 
 Shaw turned and rode rapidly away. 
 
 " He rides like a gentleman," commented 
 Miss Drake, after reflection. 
 
 "Indian blood in him," remarked her 
 companion. 
 
 " Let us go home," said she, whirling her 
 horse like a flash. The duke had some 
 difficulty in keeping abreast of her during 
 the ride and he lost sight of her alto 
 gether after they dismounted at Bazelhurst 
 Villa. 
 
 The momentary glimpse of a real man set 
 Penelope's opinions on edge for the remain 
 der of the day and night. Shaw, whatever 
 else he might be, was a man. Even while 
 others addressed her in conversation she was 
 absent-mindedly recalling to memory certain 
 English gentlemen at home who could stand 
 comparison with this handsome fellow across 
 the danger line. But to compare any one 
 of the men in Lady Bazelhurst's house 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 47 
 
 p ar ty oh, it was absurd ! She looked 
 them over. Dull-eyed, blase, frayed by 
 the social whirl, worn out, pulseless, all of 
 them. They talked automobile, bridge, 
 women, and self in particular ; in the seclu 
 sion of a tete-a-tete they talked love with 
 an ardour that lost most of its danger because 
 it was from force of habit. One of the men 
 was even now admitting in her ear that he 
 had not spent an evening alone with his wife 
 in four years. 
 
 " There 's always something doing," he 
 said. "A week or two ago, by Jove, you 
 would n't believe it, but we had an evening 
 turn up without a thing on hand. Strangest 
 thing I ever knew. Neither of us had a 
 thing on. We said we 'd stay at home and 
 go to bed early, just to see how it felt. 
 Well, what do you think ? We sat up and 
 read till half past ten o'clock and then both 
 of us thought of it at the same time. We 
 dressed and went down to Rector's and 
 waited for the theatres to let out. Three 
 o'clock when we got home. You can't im 
 agine what a queer experience it is, being all 
 alone with one's wife." 
 
 " Don't you love your wife, Mr. Odwell ? " 
 C Certainly; but there 's always a crowd." 
 
4 8 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 Both of them glanced over at pretty Mrs. 
 Odwell. She was looking down at her 
 plate demurely while Reggie Van Voort 
 talked straight into her pink ear, his eyes 
 gleaming with the zest of invasion. " I 
 say, Miss Drake, you won't mind talking 
 to me awhile after dinner, will you ? " 
 went on Odwell, something like relief in 
 his voice. 
 
 After dinner she was obliged to set him 
 straight in a little matter. They were sitting 
 on the terrace and he had thrown away his 
 half-smoked cigarette, an act in itself signifi 
 cant. She had been listening patiently, from 
 sheer habit and indifference, to what he was 
 saying, but at last she revolted. 
 
 " Don't ! You shall not say such things 
 to me. I am not your kind, I fancy, Mr. 
 Odwell," she said. " I don't know why you 
 should tell me of your chorus-girl friends 
 of your suppers and all that. I don't care 
 to hear of them and I don't intend that you 
 shall use me as a subject of illustration. I 
 am going upstairs." 
 
 " Oh, come now, that 's rather rough, just 
 as we were getting on so well. All the 
 fellows do the same " 
 
 " I know. You need not tell me. And 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 49 
 
 you all have wives at home, too," with in 
 tense scorn. 
 
 <c Now, that 's where you wrong us. 
 They 're not at home, you know. That 's 
 just it." 
 
 " Never mind, Mr. Odwell ; I 'm going 
 in." She left him and entered the house. 
 For a minute or two he looked after her in 
 wonder, and then, softly whistling, made his 
 way over to where De Peyton, through some 
 oversight, was talking to his own wife. De 
 Peyton unceremoniously announced that he 
 was going upstairs to write a letter. 
 
 Penelope, flushed with disgust and humili 
 ation, drew near a crowd of men and women 
 in the long living-room. Her brother was 
 haranguing the assemblage, standing forth 
 among them like an unconquered bantam. 
 In spite of herself, she felt a wave of shame 
 and pity creep over her as she looked 'at 
 him. 
 
 <c Barminster says trie fellow ran when he 
 saw him to-day," his lordship was saying. 
 "But that doesn't help matters. He has 
 been on my land again and again, Tomp- 
 kins says, and Tompkins ought to know." 
 
 " And James, too," said the duke with a 
 brandied roar. 
 
5 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 M i 
 
 9 
 
 " Can't Tompkins and his men keep that 
 man off my land ? " demanded Lady Bazel- 
 hurst. Every one took note of the pro 
 noun. Her ladyship's temples seemed to 
 narrow with hatred. Bazelhurst had told 
 the men privately that she was passing sleep 
 less nights in order to " hate that fellow 
 Shaw " to her full capacity. 
 
 " My dear, I have given positive orders 
 to Tompkins and he swears he'll carry them 
 out," said he hastily. 
 
 "I suppose Tompkins is to throw him 
 into the river again." 
 
 " He is to shoot that fellow Shaw if he 
 does n't keep off our land. I 've had enough 
 of it. They say he rode his confounded 
 plough horse all over the west end the 
 other day." Penelope smiled reflectively. 
 " Trampled the new fern beds out of exist 
 ence and all that. Hang him, Tompkins 
 will get him if he persists. He has told the 
 men to take a shot at the rascal on sight. 
 Tompkins does n't love him, you know." 
 
 Penelope went her way laughing and 
 forgot the danger that threatened Randolph 
 Shaw. 
 
 The next morning, quite early, she was 
 off for a canter. Some magnetic force drew 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 51 
 
 her toward that obliterated line in the road 
 way. Almost as she came up to it and 
 stopped, Randolph Shaw rode down the 
 hillside through the trees and drew rein 
 directly opposite, the noses of their horses 
 almost touching. With a smile he gave the 
 military salute even as she gasped in self- 
 conscious dismay. 
 
 "On duty, Miss Drake. No trepass- 
 ing," he said. There was a glad ring in 
 his voice. " Please don't run away. You 're 
 on the safe side." 
 
 " I 'm not going to run," she said, her 
 cheek flushing. "How do you know where 
 the line is ? It has been destroyed by the 
 ravages of time." 
 
 <c Yes. It has seemed a year. This thing 
 of acting sentinel so religiously is a bit wear 
 ing." His great, friendly dog came across 
 the line, however, and looked bravely up 
 into the enemy's face, wagging his tail. 
 " Traitor ! Come back, Bonaparte," cried 
 his master. 
 
 " What a beautiful dog," she cried, sin 
 cere admiration in her eyes. " I love a 
 big dog. He is your best friend, I '11 
 wager." 
 
 " ( Love me, love my dog,' is my motto." 
 
 t-v 
 
 K? 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 The conversation was not prolonged. 
 Penelope began to find herself on rather 
 friendly terms with the enemy. Confusion 
 came over her when she remembered that 
 she was behaving in a most unmaidenly 
 manner. Doubtless that was why she 
 brought the meeting to a close by gallop 
 ing away. 
 
 The ways of fortune are strange, look at 
 them from any point of view. Surprising 
 as it may seem, a like encounter happened 
 on the following day and aye, on the day 
 after and every day for a week or more. 
 Occasions there were when Penelope was 
 compelled to equivocate shamefully in order 
 to escape the companionship of the duke, 
 the count, or others of their ilk. Once, 
 when the guardian of the road was late at 
 his post, she rode far into the enemy's coun 
 try, actually thrilled by the joy of adventure. 
 When he appeared far down the road, she 
 turned and fled with all the sensations of a 
 culprit. And he thundered after her with 
 vindictiveness that deserved better results. 
 Across the line she drew rein and faced 
 him defiantly, her hair blown awry, her 
 cheeks red, her eyes sparkling. 
 
 " No trespass ! " she cried, holding up her 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 53 
 
 gloved hand. He stopped short, for that 
 was one of the terms of truce. 
 
 The next day he again was missing, but 
 she was not to be caught by his stratagem. 
 Instead of venturing into the trap he had 
 prepared for her, she remained on her side 
 of the line, smiling at the thought of him 
 in hiding far up the road. If any one had 
 suggested to her that she was developing too 
 great an interest in this stalwart gentleman, 
 she would have laughed him to scorn. It 
 had not entered her mind to question her 
 self as to the pleasure she found in being 
 near him. She was founding her actions on 
 the basis that he was a real man and that the 
 little comedy of adventure was quite worth 
 while. 
 
 At length an impatient line appeared on 
 her fair brow, a resentful gleam in her eyes. 
 His remissness was an impertinence ! It was 
 the last time she would come but a sudden 
 thought struck her like a blow. She turned 
 white and red by turns. Had he tired of 
 the sport? Had the novelty worn off? 
 Was he laughing at her for a silly co 
 quette ? The riding crop came down 
 sharply upon her horse's flank and a very 
 deeply agitated young woman galloped off 
 
54 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 toward Bazelhurst Villa, hurrying as though 
 afraid he might catch sight of her in flight. 
 
 A quarter of a mile brought a change in 
 her emotions. British stubbornness arose 
 to combat an utter rout. After all, why 
 should she run away from him ? With 
 whimsical bravado, she turned off suddenly 
 into the trail that led to the river, her colour 
 deepening with the consciousness that, after 
 all, she was vaguely hoping she might see 
 him somewhere before the morning passed. 
 Through the leafy pathway she rode at a 
 snail's pace, brushing the low-hanging leaves 
 and twigs from about her head with some 
 thing akin to petulance. As she neared the 
 river the neighing of a horse hard by caused 
 her to sit erect with burning ears. Then she 
 relapsed into a smile, remembering that it 
 might have come from the game warden's 
 horse. A moment later her searching eyes 
 caught sight of Shaw's horse tied to a 
 sapling and on Bazelhurst ground, many 
 hundred feet from his own domain. She 
 drew rein sharply and looked about in con 
 siderable trepidation. Off to the right lay 
 the log that divided the lands, but nowhere 
 along the bank of the river could she see 
 the trespasser. Carefully she resumed her 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 55 
 
 way, ever on the lookout, puzzled not a little 
 by the unusual state of affairs. 
 
 Near the river trail she came upon the 
 man, but he paid no heed to her approach. 
 He sat with his face in his hands and she 
 could not believe her eyes and ears he 
 was sobbing bitterly. For an instant her 
 lips curled in the smile of scornful triumph 
 and then something like disgust came over 
 her. There was mockery in her voice as 
 she called out to him. 
 
 "Have you stubbed your toe, little boy?" 
 
 He looked up, dazed. Then he arose, 
 turning his back while he dashed his hand 
 across his eyes. When he glanced back at 
 her he saw that she was smiling. But she 
 also saw something in his face that drove 
 the smile away. Absolute rage gleamed in 
 his eyes. 
 
 " So it is real war," he said hoarsely, his 
 face quivering. " Your pitiful cowards want 
 it to be real, do they ? Well, that 's what 
 it shall be, hang them ! They shall have 
 all they want of it ! Look ! This is their 
 way of righting, is it ? Look ! " 
 
 He pointed to his feet. Her bewildered 
 eyes saw that his hand was bloody and a 
 deathly sickness came over her. He was 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 pointing to the outstretched, inanimate form 
 of the dog that had been his friend and 
 comrade. She knew that the beast was 
 dead and she knew that her brother's threat 
 had not been an idle one. A great wave of 
 pity and horror swept over her. Moisture 
 sprang to her eyes on the moment. 
 
 " He he is dead ? " she exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes and killed by some cowardly 
 brute whose neck I 'd like to wring. That 
 dog my Bonaparte who knew no feud, 
 who did no wrong ! Your brother wants 
 war, does he ? Well, I '11 give him all " 
 
 " But my brother could not have done a 
 thing like this," she cried, slipping from her 
 saddle and advancing toward him quickly. 
 "Oh, no, no ! Not this ! He is not that 
 sort, I know. It must have been an acci 
 dent and " 
 
 " Accident ! Don't come near me ! I 
 mean it. God, my heart is too full of ven 
 geance. Accident? Is this blood on my 
 arm accidental ? Bah ! It was a deliberate 
 attempt to murder me ! " 
 
 " You ? You, too ? " she gasped, reeling. 
 
 "Yes they've winged me, too. Oh, 
 God, if I only had been armed. There 
 would have been a killing ! " 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 
 
 " Let me see let me help you ! " she 
 cried, coming up to his side, white-faced 
 and terrified. " I won't stay away ! You 
 are hurt. Please ! Please ! I am not your 
 enemy." 
 
 For a long minute he held back, savagely 
 resentful, glowering upon her, then his face 
 softened and his hand went out to clasp 
 hers. 
 
 " I knew you had nothing to do with it. 
 Forgive me forgive my rudeness. Don't 
 be alarmed about me. Two or three scat 
 tered shot struck me in the arm. The 
 fellow's aim was bad when it came to me. 
 But he he got the dog ! Poor old Bona 
 parte ! It's as if he were a a brother, 
 Miss Drake. I loved him and he loved 
 me." 
 
 " You must let me see your arm. I will 
 not take no for an answer. It must need 
 attention " 
 
 " Believe me, it is nothing. I have tied 
 my handkerchief about it two little shot, 
 that's all. The first charge riddled the dog. 
 But I forget. I am still on your sister's 
 land. At any minute I may be shot from 
 behind some tree. I I could n't help 
 crying, Miss Drake. It was cruel fiend- 
 
fc> 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 ish ! Now, if you '11 permit me, I '11 take 
 my dead off of your land." 
 
 " Stop ! I must know about it. Tell 
 me; how did it happen?" 
 
 "I can't talk about it to you." 
 
 "Why not? Do you think I condone 
 this outrage ? Do you think I can support 
 such means of warfare ? You do not know 
 me, Mr. Shaw ; you do not know an Eng 
 lishwoman's love of fairness." 
 
 " By Jove, do you mean it ? " his eyes 
 lighted up. " But, after all, you belong to 
 the other camp," he added dejectedly. " I 
 I wish to heaven, Miss Drake, you were 
 not one of them ! " 
 
 " My brother Cecil would not have 
 permitted this," she tried to apologize, re 
 membering with a cold heart that Lord 
 Bazelhurst had given the very instructions 
 of which this was the result. 
 
 " We can't discuss it, Miss Drake. Some 
 one from your side of the line killed my 
 dog and then fired at me. I'll admit I was 
 trespassing, but not until the dog was shot. 
 He was on Lady Bazelhurst's land when he 
 was shot. It was not until after that that 
 I trespassed, if you are pleased to call it 
 such. But I was unarmed; hang the luck! " 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 59 
 
 The way he said it conveyed much to her 
 understanding. 
 
 "Tell me, please." 
 
 " I Ve had murder in my heart for half an 
 hour, Miss Drake. Somehow you soothe 
 me." He sat down on the log again and 
 leaned his head upon his hand. With his 
 eyes upon the dead dog he went on, con 
 trolling his anger with an effort : " I rode 
 down the river road this morning for a 
 change, intending to go up later on to our 
 trysting place through the wood." She 
 heard him call it a trysting place without a 
 thought of resentment or shame. " When 
 I came to the log there I stopped, but 
 Bonaparte, lawless old chap, kept on. I 
 paid no attention to him, for I was thinking 
 of of something else. He had raced 
 around in the forbidden underbrush for 
 some time before I heard the report of 
 a gun near at hand. The dog actually 
 screamed like a human being. I saw him 
 leap up from the ground and then roll over. 
 Of course, I well, I trespassed. Without 
 thinking of my own safety I flew to where 
 the dog was lying. He looked up into my 
 face and whined just as he died. I don't 
 remember how I got off the horse. The 
 
 .0? 
 
6o 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 next I knew I was rushing blindly into the 
 brush toward a place where I saw smoke, 
 cursing like a fiend. Then came the second 
 shot and the stinging in my arm. It brought 
 me to my senses. I stopped and a moment 
 later I saw a man running down along the 
 bank of the stream. I oh, well, there 
 is n't any more to tell. I don't know 
 who fired the shots. I could n't see his 
 face." 
 
 " It was Tompkins," she cried. " I know 
 it was. He had his orders " but she 
 checked herself in confusion. 
 
 " His orders ? Do you mean to say 
 Miss Drake, did your brother instruct him 
 to kill me ? " She quailed beneath his 
 look. 
 
 "I I can't say anything more about it, 
 Mr. Shaw," she murmured, so piteously that 
 he was touched. For a seemingly intermin 
 able length of time his hard eyes looked into 
 hers and then they softened. 
 
 "I understand," he said simply. "You 
 cannot talk about it. I '11 not ask any 
 questions." 
 
 " My brother is weak in her hands," she 
 managed to say in extenuation. 
 
 " After all, it is n't a pleasant subject. If 
 
 H 
 
\ 
 
 IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 61 
 
 you don't mind, we'll let it drop that is, 
 between you and me, Miss Drake. I hope 
 the war won't break off our " 
 
 " Don't suggest it, please ! I 'd rather 
 you would n't. We are friends, after all. 
 I thought it was playing at war and I 
 can't tell you how shocked I am." 
 
 " Poor old Bonaparte ! " was all he said in 
 reply. She stooped and laid her hand on 
 the fast-chilling coat of the dog. There were 
 tears in her eyes as she arose and turned 
 away, moving toward her horse. Shaw 
 deliberately lifted the dead animal into his 
 arms and strode off toward his own land. 
 She followed after a moment of indecision, 
 leading the horse. Across the line he went 
 and up the side of the knoll to his right. 
 At the foot of a great tree he tenderly 
 deposited his burden. Then he turned to 
 find her almost beside him. 
 
 " You won't mind my coming over here, 
 will you ? " she asked softly. He reached 
 out and clasped her hand, thoughtlessly, with 
 his blood-covered fingers. It was not until 
 long afterward that she discovered his blood 
 upon the hand from which she had drawn 
 her riding glove. 
 
 " Tou are always welcome," he said. " I 
 
62 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 am going to bury him here this afternoon. 
 No, please don't come. I '11 bring the men 
 down to help me. I suppose they think 
 I 'm a coward and a bounder over at your 
 place. Do you remember the challenge you 
 gave me yesterday ? You dared me to come 
 over the line as far into Bazelhurst land as 
 you had come into mine. Well, I dared 
 last night." 
 
 " You dared ? You came ? " 
 
 "Yes, and I went farther than you have 
 gone, because I thought it was play, comedy, 
 fun. I even sat upon your gallery, just 
 outside the billiard-room and smoked 
 two cigarettes. You '11 find the stubs on the 
 porch railing if her ladyship's servants are 
 not too exemplary." She was looking at 
 him in wide-eyed unbelief. " I was there 
 when you came out on the lawn with the 
 Frenchman." 
 
 "Did you hear what he was what we 
 were saying ? " she asked, nervously and 
 going pale. 
 
 " No. I was not eavesdropping. Be 
 sides, you returned to the house very 
 abruptly, if you remember." 
 
 " Yes, I remember," she said, a sigh of 
 relief accompanying the warm glow that came 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH A DOG TRESPASSES 63 
 
 to her cheek. " But were you not afraid of 
 being discovered ? How imprudent of 
 you ! " 
 
 "It was a bit risky, but I rather enjoyed 
 it. The count spoke to me as I left the 
 place. It was dark and he mistook me for 
 one of your party. I could n't wait to see 
 if you returned to renew the tete-a-tete " 
 
 " I did not return," she said. It was his 
 turn to be relieved. 
 
IN WHICH THE TRUTH TRESPASSES 
 
 .L/ORD and Lady Bazelhurst, with the 
 more energetic members of their party, 
 spent the day in a so-called hunting ex 
 cursion to the hills south of the Villa. 
 Toward nightfall they returned success 
 fully empty-handed and rapacious for bridge. 
 Penelope, full of smouldering anger, had 
 spent the afternoon in her room, disdaining 
 every call of sociability. She had awakened 
 to the truth of the situation in so far as she 
 was concerned. She was at least seeing 
 things from Shaw's point of view. Her 
 resentment was not against the policy of 
 her brother but the overbearing, petulant 
 tyranny of her American sister-in-law. From 
 the beginning she had disliked Evelyn ; now 
 she despised her. With the loyal simplicity 
 of a sister she absolved Cecil of all real 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 65 
 
 blame in the outrage of the morning, attrib 
 uting everything to the cruelty and envy 
 of the despot who held the purse-strings 
 from which dangled the pliable fortunes of 
 Bazelhurst. The Bazelhursts, one and all 
 ancestors thrown in swung back and 
 forth on the pendulum of her capriciousness. 
 Penelope, poor as a church mouse, was 
 almost wholly dependent upon her brother, 
 who in turn owed his present affluence to 
 the more or less luckless movement of the 
 matrimonial market. The girl had a small, 
 inadequate income so small it was almost 
 worth jesting about. 
 
 Here was Penelope, twenty-two, beautiful, 
 proud, fair-minded, and healthy, surveying 
 herself for the first time from a new and an 
 entirely different point of view. She was 
 not pleased with the picture. She began 
 to loathe herself more than she pitied her 
 brother. Something like a smile came into 
 her clouded face as she speculated on Ran 
 dolph Shaw's method of handling Evelyn 
 Banks had she fallen to him as a wife. The 
 quiet power in that man's face signified the 
 presence of a manhood that ah, and just 
 here it occurred to her that Lady Bazelhurst 
 felt the force of that power even though she 
 
66 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 never had seen the man. She hated him 
 because he was strong enough to oppose her, 
 to ignore her, to laugh at her impotence. 
 
 The smouldering anger and a growing 
 sense of fairness combined at length in the 
 determination to take her brother and his 
 wife to task for the morning's outrage, let 
 the consequences be what they might. When 
 she joined the people downstairs before din 
 ner, there was a red spot in each cheek and 
 a steady look in her eyes that caused the 
 duke to neglect woefully the conversation 
 he was carrying on with Mrs. Odwell. 
 
 Dinner was delayed for nearly half an 
 hour while four of the guests finished their 
 " rubber." Penelope observed that the 
 party displayed varying emotions. It after 
 wards transpired that the hunters had spent 
 most of the afternoon in her ladyship's dis 
 tant lodge playing bridge for rather high 
 stakes. Little Miss Folsom was pitifully 
 unresponsive to the mirth of Mr. Odwell. 
 She could ill afford to lose six hundred 
 dollars. Lady Bazelhurst was in a frightful 
 mood. Her guests had so far forgotten 
 themselves as to win more than a thousand 
 dollars of the Banks legacy and she was not 
 a cheerful loser, especially as his lordship 
 
In WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 67 
 
 had dropped an additional five hundred. 
 The winners were riotously happy. They 
 had found the sport glorious. An observer, 
 given to deductions, might have noticed that 
 half of the diners were immoderately hila 
 rious, the other half studiously polite. 
 
 Lord Bazelhurst wore a hunted look and 
 drank more than one or two highballs. 
 From time to time he cast furtive glances at 
 his wife. He laughed frequently at the 
 wrong time and mirthlessly. 
 
 "He's got something on his mind," 
 whispered Odwell in comment. 
 
 " Yes ; he always laughs when there is 
 anything on his mind," replied Mrs. De 
 Peyton. " That 's the way he gets it 
 off." 
 
 After dinner no one proposed cards. The 
 party edged off into twos and threes and 
 explained how luck had been with or against 
 them. Penelope, who could not afford to 
 play for stakes, and had the courage to say fllCy] 
 so, sat back and listened to the conversation 
 of her brother and the group around him. 
 The duke was holding forth on the superi 
 ority of the Chinese over the Japanese as 
 servants and Bazelhurst was loudly defend 
 ing the Japanese navy. 
 
68 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Hang it all, Barminster, the Japs could 
 eat 'em up," he proclaimed. " Could n't 
 they ? " to the crowd. 
 
 " I 'm talking about servants, Cecil," ob 
 served the duke. 
 
 " And shoot ? Why, they 're the greatest 
 gunners in the world. By Jove, I read 
 somewhere the other day that they had hit 
 what they shot at three million times out of 
 or, let me see, was it the Prussians who 
 fired three million rounds and " 
 
 " Oh, let 's change the subject," said the 
 duke in disgust. " What 's become of 
 that Shaw fellow ? " Penelope started and 
 flushed, much to her chagrin. At the sound 
 of Shaw's name Lady Bazelhurst, who was 
 passing with the count, stopped so abruptly 
 that her companion took half a dozen paces 
 without her. 
 
 " Shaw ? By Jove, do you know, I 'd 
 completely forgotten that fellow," exclaimed 
 Cecil. 
 
 " I thought you were going to shoot him, 
 or shoot at him, or something like that. 
 Can't you get him in range ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was n't really in earnest about that, 
 Barminster. You know we could n't shoot 
 at a fellow for such a thing " 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 69 
 
 " Nonsense, Cecil/' said his wife. " You 
 shoot poachers in England." 
 
 " But this fellow is n't a poacher. He 's 
 a a gentleman, I daresay in some re 
 spects not all, of course, my dear, but " 
 
 " Gentleman ? Ridiculous ! " scoffed his 
 wife. 
 
 cc I yes, quite right a ridiculous gen 
 tleman, of course. Ha, ha! Isn't he, 
 Barminster ? But with all that, you know, 
 I couldn't have Tompkins shoot him. 
 He asked me the other day if he should 
 take a shot at Shaw's legs, and I told 
 him not to do anything so absurd." Penel 
 ope's heart swelled with relief, and for 
 the first time that evening she looked upon 
 her brother with something like sisterly 
 regard. 
 
 " It did n't matter, however," said Lady 
 Evelyn sharply. " I gave him instructions 
 yesterday to shoot any trespasser from that 
 side of the line. I can't see that we owe 
 Mr. Shaw any especial consideration. He 
 has insulted and ignored me at every oppor 
 tunity. Why should he be permitted to 
 trespass more than any other common law 
 breaker? If he courts a charge of birdshot 
 he should not expect to escape scot free. 
 
yo COWARDICE COURT 
 
 Birdshot would n't kill a man, you know, 
 but it would " 
 
 But Penelope could restrain herself no 
 longer. The heartlessness of her sister-in- 
 law overcame her prudence, and she inter 
 rupted the scornful mistress of the house, 
 her eyes blazing, but her voice under perfect 
 control. Her tall young figure was tense, 
 and her ringers clasped the back of Miss 
 Folsom's chair rather rigidly. 
 
 " I suppose you know what happened 
 this morning," she said, with such apparent 
 restraint that every one looked at her 
 expectantly. 
 
 " Do you mean in connection with Mr. 
 with Jack-the-Giant-Killer ? " asked her lady 
 ship, her eyes brightening. 
 
 "Some one of your servants shot him this 
 morning," said Penelope with great distinct 
 ness. There was breathless silence in the 
 room. 
 
 " Shot him ? " gasped Lord Bazelhurst, 
 his thin red face going very white. 
 
 " Not not fatally ? " exclaimed Evelyn, 
 aghast in spite of herself. 
 
 " No. The instructions were carried out. 
 His wound in the arm is trifling. But the 
 coward was not so generous when it came to 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 71 
 
 the life of his innocent, harmless dog. He 
 killed the poor thing. Evelyn, it's it's 
 like murder." 
 
 " Oh," cried her ladyship, relieved. " He 
 killed the dog. I daresay Mr. Shaw has 
 come to realize at last that we are earnest 
 in this. Of course I am glad that the man 
 is not badly hurt. Still, a few shot in the 
 arm will hardly keep him in bounds. His 
 legs were intended," she laughed lightly. 
 " What miserable aim Tompkins must 
 take." 
 
 " He 's a bit off in his physiology, my 
 dear," said Cecil, with a nervous attempt at 
 humour. He did not like the expression in 
 his sister's face. Somehow, he was ashamed. 
 
 " Oh, it's bad enough," said Penelope. 
 cf It was his left arm the upper arm, too. 
 I think the aim was rather good." 
 
 " Pray, how do you know all of this, Pe 
 nelope ? " asked her ladyship, lifting her eye 
 brows. " I 've heard that you see Mr. Shaw 
 occasionally, but you can't be his physician, 
 I 'm sure."' 
 
 Penelope flushed to the roots of her hair, 
 but suppressed the retort which would have 
 been in keeping with the provocation. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! " she replied. " I'm too 
 

 72 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 soft-hearted to be a physician. I saw Mr. 
 Shaw just after the ah the incident." 
 
 "You shaw Saw I mean you saw Shaw ? " 
 gasped Bazelhurst. 
 
 " She sees him frequently, Cecil. It was 
 not at all unusual that she should have 
 seen him to-day. I daresay he waited to 
 show you his wound before going to a 
 surgeon." 
 
 Penelope could not resist the temptation 
 to invent a story befitting the moment. 
 Assuming a look of concern, she turned to 
 her brother and said : " He is coming to see 
 you about it to-morrow, and he is coming 
 armed to the teeth, attended by a large party 
 of friends. Mr. Shaw says he will have 
 satisfaction for the death of that dog if he 
 has to shoot everybody on the place." 
 
 "Good Lord!" cried the duke. There 
 was instant excitement. " I believe the 
 wretch will do it, too." 
 
 "Oh, I say, Bazelhurst, settle with him 
 for the dog," said De Peyton nervously. 
 He looked at his watch and then at his wife. 
 The entire party now was listening to the 
 principal speakers. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " exclaimed Lady Evelyn. 
 " He won't come. It's all bluster. Don't 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 
 
 let it frighten you, Cecil. I know 
 manner of man." 
 
 " I wish you could have seen him this 
 morning," murmured Penelope, thoroughly 
 enjoying the unexpected situation. Her 
 conscience was not troubled by the prevari 
 cation. 
 
 " By Jove, I think it would be wise to 
 send over and find out what he valued the 
 brute at," said Cecil, mopping his brow. 
 
 "Good. We'll send Penelope to act as 
 ambassador," said her ladyship. " She seems 
 to be on friendly terms with the enemy." 
 
 " To act as ambassador from Cowardice 
 Court ? " questioned Penelope, loftily, yet 
 with cutting significance. " No, I thank 
 you. I decline the honour. Besides," with 
 a reflective frown, " I don't believe it is 
 diplomacy he 's after." 
 
 " I say what the deuce do you suppose 
 the confounded savage has in mind ? " ex 
 claimed the duke. " I 've heard of the way 
 these cowboys settle their affairs. You don't 
 imagine " and he paused significantly. 
 
 " It looks like it 's going to be a da 
 rather disagreeable affair," said De Peyton 
 sourly. 
 
 "Good heavens, what are we to do if he 
 
74 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 comes here with a lot of desperadoes and 
 begins to shoot?" cried Mrs. Odwell, genu 
 inely alarmed. " I Ve read so much of these 
 awful mountain feuds." 
 
 " Don't be alarmed. Lord Bazelhurst 
 will attend to the gentleman," said Lady 
 Evelyn blandly. His lordship's monocle 
 clattered down and the ice rattled sharply in 
 his glass. 
 
 "To to be sure," he agreed. "Don't 
 be in the least worried. I '11 attend to the 
 upstart. What time 's he coming, Pen ? " 
 
 A door banged noisily near by, and every 
 one jumped as though a gun had been fired. 
 While the " ohs " were still struggling from 
 their lips, H odder, the butler, came into 
 the room, doing his best to retain his com 
 posure under what seemed to be trying 
 circumstances. 
 
 " What is it, Hodder ? " demanded her 
 ladyship. 
 
 " The cook, your ladyship. She's fallen 
 downstairs and broken her leg," announced 
 Hodder. He did not betray it, but he must 
 have been tremendously surprised by the 
 .sigh of relief that went up on all sides. 
 Lord Bazelhurst went so far as to laugh. 
 
 " Ha, ha ! is that all ? " 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 75 
 
 "Oh, dear, I'm so glad!" cried Miss 
 Folsom, impulsively. " I was frightened 
 half to death. It might have been Mr. " 
 
 " Don't be silly, Rose," said Lady Bazel- 
 hurst. " Where is she, Hodder ? " 
 
 " In the laundry, your ladyship. There 
 are two fractures." 
 
 " By Jove, two legs instead of one, then 
 worse than I thought," cried Bazelhurst, 
 draining his glass. 
 
 " Send at once for a doctor, Hodder, and 
 take her to her room. Is n't it annoying," 
 said her ladyship. " It 's so difficult to keep 
 a cook in the mountains." 
 
 " Don't see how she can get away without 
 legs," observed De Peyton. 
 
 " I '11 come with you, Hodder. Perhaps 
 I can do something for her," said Penelope, 
 following the butler from the room. 
 
 " Don't take too many patients on your 
 hands, my dear," called the mistress, with a 
 shrill laugh. 
 
 " Yes ; remember to-morrow," added the 
 duke. Then, suddenly : " I believe I '11 
 lend a hand." He hurried after Penelope, 
 rather actively for him. 
 
 Lord Bazelhurst visited his wife's room 
 later in the night, called there by a more or 
 
COURT 
 
 less peremptory summons. Cecil had been 
 taking time by the forelock in anticipation 
 of Shaw's descent in the morning and was 
 inclined to jocundity. 
 
 " Cecil, what do you think of Penelope's 
 attitude toward Mr. Shaw ? " she asked, 
 turning away from the window which looked 
 out over the night in the direction of Shaw's 
 place. 
 
 " I did n't know she had an attitude," re 
 plied he, trying to focus his wavering gaze 
 upon her. 
 
 "She meets him clandestinely and she 
 supports him openly. Is n't that an atti 
 tude, or are you too drunk to see it? " 
 
 "My dear, remember you are speaking 
 of my sister," he said with fine dignity but 
 little discrimination. " Besides, I am not 
 too drunk. I do see it. It 's a demmed 
 annoying attitude. She's a traitor, un'stand 
 me ? A traito-tor. I intend to speak to 
 her about it." 
 
 " It is better that you should do it," said 
 his wife. " I am afraid I could not control 
 my temper." 
 
 " Penelope 's a disgrace a nabsolute dis 
 grace. How many legs did Hodder say 
 she'd she'd broken?" 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 77 
 
 " Oh, you 're disgusting ! " cried Lady 
 Evelyn. " Go to bed ! I thought I could 
 talk to you to-night, but I can't. You 
 scarcely can stand up." 
 
 " Now, Evelyn, you do me injustice. I 'm 
 only holding to this chair to keep it from 
 moving 'round the room. See that ? Course 
 I c'n stan' up," he cried, triumphantly. 
 
 " I am utterly disgusted with you. Oh, 
 for a man ! A man with real blood in his 
 veins, a man who could do something besides 
 eat and drink at my cost. I pay your debts, 
 clothe you, feed you house your ungrate 
 ful sister and what do I get in return ? 
 
 Lord Bazelhurst's eyes steadied beneath 
 this unexpected assault, his legs stiffened, his 
 shoulders squared themselves in a pitiful at 
 tempt at dignity. 
 
 "Lady Bazelhurst, you you " and 
 then he collapsed into the chair, bursting 
 into maudlin tears. She stood over by the 
 dressing-table and looked pitilessly upon the 
 weak creature whose hiccoughing sobs filled 
 the room. Her colour was high, her breath 
 ing heavy. In some way it seemed as though 
 there was so much more she could have said 
 had the circumstances been different. 
 
78 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 There came a knock at the door, but she 
 did not respond. Then the door opened 
 quietly and Penelope entered the room, reso 
 lutely, fearlessly. Evelyn turned her eyes 
 upon the intruder and stared for a moment. 
 
 " Did you knock ? " she asked at last. 
 
 " Yes. You did not answer." 
 
 " Was n't that sufficient ? " 
 
 " Not to-night, Evelyn. I came to have 
 it out with you and Cecil. Where is 
 he?" 
 
 " There ! " 
 
 " Asleep ? " with a look of amazement. 
 
 " I hope not. I should dislike having 
 to call the servants to carry him to his 
 room." 
 
 " I see. Poor old chap ! " She went 
 over and shook him by the shoulder. He 
 sat up and stared at her blankly through his 
 drenched eyes. Then, as if the occasion 
 called for a supreme effort, he tried to rise, 
 ashamed that his sister should have found 
 him in his present condition. cc Don't get 
 up, Cecil. Wait a bit and I '11 go to your 
 room with you." 
 
 " What have you to say to me, Penel 
 ope ? " demanded Evelyn, a green light in 
 her eyes. 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 79 
 
 " I can wait. I prefer to have Cecil un 
 derstand/* she said, bitterly. 
 
 "If it's about our affair with Shaw, it 
 won't make any difference whether Cecil 
 understands or not. Has your friend asked 
 you to plead for him? Does he expect me 
 to take him up on your account and have 
 him here ?" 
 
 " I was jesting when I said he would come 
 to-morrow," said Penelope, ignoring the 
 thrust and hurrying to her subject. " I 
 could n't go to sleep to-night if I neglected 
 to tell you what I think of the outrage this 
 morning. You and Cecil had no right to 
 order Tompkins to shoot at Mr. Shaw. He 
 is not a trespasser. Some one killed his 
 dog to-day. When he pursued the coward, 
 a second shot was fired at him. He was 
 wounded. Do you call that fair fighting ? 
 Ambushed, shot from behind a tree. I 
 don't care what you and Cecil think about it, 
 I consider it despicable. Thank God, Cecil 
 was not really to blame. It is about the only 
 thing I can say to my brother's credit." 
 
 Lady Bazelhurst was staring at her young 
 sister-in-law with wide eyes. It was the 
 first time in all her petted, vain life that 
 any one had called her to account. She was, 
 
80 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 at first, too deeply amazed to resent the sharp 
 attack. 
 
 " Penelope Drake ! " was all she could 
 say. Then the fury in her soul began to 
 search for an outlet. " How dare you ? 
 How dare you ? " 
 
 " I don't mean to hurt you. I am only 
 telling you that your way of treating this 
 affair is a mistake. It can be rectified. You 
 don't want to be lawless ; you don't under 
 stand what a narrow escape from murder you 
 have had. Evelyn, you owe reparation to 
 Mr. Shaw. He is " 
 
 " I understand why you take his side. 
 You cheapen and degrade yourself and you 
 bring shame upon your brother and me by 
 your disgraceful affair with this ruffian. 
 Don't look shocked ! You meet him se 
 cretly, I know how much farther you have 
 gone with him I don't know. It is enough 
 that you " 
 
 " Stop ! You shall not say such things 
 to me!" 
 
 " You came in here to have it out with 
 me. Well, we '11 have it out. You think be 
 cause you 're English, and all that, that you 
 are better than I. You show it in your 
 every action ; you turn up your nose at 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 81 
 
 me because I am an American. Well, what 
 if I am ? Where would you be if it were 
 not for me ? And where would he be ? 
 You 'd starve if it were not for me. You 
 hang to me like a leech you sponge on 
 me, you gorge yourself " 
 
 " That is enough, Evelyn. You have 
 said all that is necessary. I deserve it, too, 
 for meddling in your affairs. It may satisfy 
 you to know that I have always despised 
 you. Having confessed, I can only add 
 that we cannot live another hour under the 
 same roof. You need not order me to go. 
 I shall do so of my own accord gladly." 
 Penelope turned to the door. She was as 
 cold as ice. 
 
 "It is the first time you have ever done 
 anything to please me. You may go in the 
 morning." 
 
 " I shall go to-night !" 
 
 " As you like. It is near morning. Where 
 do you expect to go at this hour of night?" 
 
 " I am not afraid of the night. To 
 morrow I shall send over from the village 
 for my trunks." She paused near the door 
 and then came back to Cecil's side. " Good 
 bye, Cecil. I '11 write. Good-bye." He 
 looked up with a hazy smile. 
 
82 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 "G'night," he muttered thickly. 
 
 Without another word or so much as a 
 glance at Lady Bazelhurst, Penelope Drake 
 went swiftly from the room. The big hall 
 clock struck the half-hour after eleven. 
 Some one a woman was laughing in 
 the billiard-room below ; the click of the 
 balls came to her ears like the snapping of 
 angry teeth. She did not hesitate ; it was 
 not in her nature. The room in which she 
 had found so much delight was now loath 
 some to her. With nervous fingers she 
 threw the small things she most cherished 
 into a bag, her purse, her jewels, her little 
 treasures. Somehow it seemed to her as if 
 she were hurrying to catch a night train, 
 that was all. With her own strong young 
 arms she dragged the two huge trunks from 
 the closet. Half an hour later they were 
 full and locked. Then she looked about 
 with a dry, mirthless smile. 
 
 " I wonder where I am to go ? " she mur 
 mured, half aloud. A momentary feeling 
 of indecision attacked her. The click of 
 the balls had ceased, the clock had struck 
 twelve. It was dark and still, and the wind 
 was crying in the trees. 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 83 
 
 " She won't go," Lady Bazelhurst was 
 saying to herself, as she sat, narrow-eyed 
 and hateful, in her window looking out into 
 the night. " Life is too easy here." The 
 light from the porch lanterns cast a feeble 
 glow out beyond the porte-cochere and 
 down the drive. As she stared across the 
 circle, the figure of a woman suddenly cut 
 a diametric line through it, and lost itself 
 in the wall of blackness that formed the cir 
 cumference. Lady Evelyn started and stared 
 unbelievingly into the darkness, striving to 
 penetrate it with her gaze. " It was she 
 Penelope," she cried, coming to her feet. 
 "She's really gone she meant it." For 
 many minutes she peered out into the night, 
 expecting to see the shadow returning. A 
 touch of anxious hope possessing her, she 
 left the window and hurried down the cor 
 ridor to Penelope's room. What she found 
 there was most convincing. It was not a 
 trick of the lanterns. The shadow had been 
 real. It must be confessed that the peevish 
 heart of Lady Bazelhurst beat rather rapidly 
 as she hastened back to the window to peer 
 anxiously out into the sombre park with 
 its hooting owls and chattering night-bugs. 
 The mournful yelp of a distant dog floated 
 
 f T 
 
 Q 
 
84 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 across the black valley. The watcher shud 
 dered as she recalled stories of panthers that 
 had infested the great hills. A small feel 
 ing of shame and regret began to develop 
 with annoying insistence. 
 
 An hour dragged itself by before she 
 arose petulantly, half terrified, half annoyed 
 in spite of herself. Her husband still was 
 sitting in the big chair, his face in his hands. 
 His small, dejected figure appealed to her 
 pity for the first time in the two years of 
 their association. She realized what her 
 temper had compelled her to say to him 
 and to his sister ; she saw the insults that 
 at least one of them had come to resent. 
 
 " I hope that foolish girl will come back," 
 she found herself saying, with a troubled 
 look from the window. " Where can the 
 poor thing go ? What will become of her ? 
 What will everyone say when this becomes 
 known ? " she cried, with fresh selfishness. 
 "I I should not have let her go like 
 this." 
 
 Even as she reproached herself, a light 
 broke in upon her understanding; a thought 
 whirled into her brain and a moment later a 
 shrill, angry, hysterical laugh came from her 
 lips. 
 
IN WHICH TRUTH TRESPASSES 85 
 
 " She knew where she could go ! How 
 simple I am. Shaw will welcome her gladly. 
 She's with him by this time his doors 
 have opened to her. The little wretch ! 
 And I 've been trying so hard to pity her ! " 
 She laughed again so shrilly that his lord 
 ship stirred and then looked up at her stupe 
 fied, uncertain. 
 
 " Hullo/' he grunted. " What time is it ? " 
 
 " Oh, you 're awake, are you ? " scornfully. 
 
 " Certainly. Have I been dozing ? 
 What 's there to laugh at, my dear ? " he 
 mumbled, arising very unsteadily. "Where's 
 Pen ? " 
 
 " She 's gone. She 's left the house," she 
 said, recurring dread and anxiety in her 
 voice. A glance at the darkness outside 
 brought back the growing shudders. 
 
 " What what d' ye mean ?" demanded 
 he, bracing up with a splendid effort. 
 
 "She's left the house, that's all. We 
 quarrelled. I don't know where she 's gone. 
 Yes, I do know. She 's gone to Shaw's for 
 the night. She 's with him. I saw her go 
 ing," she cried, striving between fear and 
 anger. 
 
 "You've you Ve turned her out?" 
 gasped Lord Bazelhurst, numbly. "In the 
 
86 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 o 
 
 night ? Good Lord, why why did you let 
 her go?" He turned and rushed toward 
 the door, tears springing to his eyes. He was 
 sobering now and the tears were wrenched 
 from his hurt pride. " How long ago ? " 
 
 "An hour or more. She went of her own 
 accord. You '11 find her at Shaw's," said her 
 ladyship harshly. She hated to admit that 
 she was to blame. But as her husband left 
 the room, banging the door after him, she 
 caught her breath several times in a futile 
 effort to stay the sobs, and then broke down 
 and cried, a very much abused young woman. 
 She hated everybody and everything. 
 
 H 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN WHICH DAN CUPID TRESPASSES 
 
 LADY BAZELHURST was right. 
 
 Penelope was making her way through the 
 blackest of nights toward the home of Ran 
 dolph Shaw. In deciding upon this step, 
 after long deliberation, she had said to her 
 self : " Randolph Shaw is the only real man 
 I Ve seen since coming to the mountains. I 
 can trust him to help me to-night." 
 
 It was fully three miles to Shaw's place, 
 most of the way over the narrow valley road. 
 She knew she would encounter but few tor 
 tuous places. The last half-mile, however, 
 was steep, rugged, and unfamiliar to her. 
 She had ventured no nearer to his home than 
 Renwood's deserted cottage, lying above and 
 to the south of the road, almost at the base 
 of the long hill on whose side Shaw had 
 built his big home. To climb that hill was 
 
 H 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 no easy task in daylight ; at midnight, with 
 the stars obscured by clouds and tree-tops, 
 there was something perilously uncertain in 
 the prospect. 
 
 Only the knowledge that patience and 
 courage eventually would bring her to the 
 end made the journey possible. Time would 
 lead her to the haven ; care would make the 
 road a friend ; a stout heart was her best 
 ally. Strength of limb and strength of pur 
 pose she had, in use and in reserve. No 
 power could have made her turn back will 
 ingly. Her anxious eyes were set ahead in 
 the blackness ; her runaway feet were eager 
 in obedience to her will. 
 
 ." Why could n't I have put it off until 
 morning? " she was saying to herself as she 
 passed down the gravelled drive and advanced 
 to meet the wall of trees that frowned blackly 
 in her face. " What will he think ? What 
 will he say ? Oh, he '11 think I 'm such a 
 silly, romantic fool. No, he won't. He '11 
 understand. He '11 help me on to Platts- 
 burg to-morrow. But will he think I 've 
 done this for effect? Won't he think I'm 
 actually throwing myself at his head ? No, 
 I can't turn back. I 'd rather die than go 
 back to that house. It won't matter what 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 89 
 
 he thinks ; I '11 be away from all of it to 
 morrow. I '11 be out of his life and I won't 
 care what he thinks. England ! Goodness, 
 what's that?" She had turned a bend in 
 the drive and just ahead there was a light. A 
 sigh of relief followed the question. It came 
 from the lantern which hung to a stake in the 
 road where the new stone gate-posts were 
 being built by workmen from town. Bazel- 
 hurst Villa was a quarter of a mile, through 
 the park, behind her; the forest was ahead. 
 
 At the gate she stopped between the half- 
 finished stone posts and looked ahead with 
 the first shiver of dismay. Her limbs seemed 
 ready to collapse. The flush of anger and ex 
 citement left her face; a- white, desolate look 
 came in its stead. Her eyes grew wide and 
 she blinked her lashes with an awed uncer 
 tainty that boded ill for the stability of her 
 adventure. An owl hooted in mournful 
 cadence close by and she felt that her hair 
 was going straight on end. The tense fin 
 gers of one hand gripped the handle of the 
 travelling-bag while the other went spasmodi 
 cally to her heart. 
 
 " Oh ! " she gasped, moving over quickly 
 to the stake on which the lantern hung. The 
 wind was rushing through the tree-tops with 
 
9 o 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 increased fervour ; the air was cool and wet 
 with the signs of rain ; a swirl of dust flew 
 up into her face ; the swish of leaves sounded 
 like the splashing of water in the air. Hold 
 ing her heart for minutes, she at last regained 
 some of the lost composure. A hysterical 
 laugh fell from her lips. " What a goose ! 
 It was an owl and I 've heard hundreds of 
 them up here. Still, they do sound different 
 outside of one's own room. It's going to 
 rain. What wretched luck ! Dear me, I 
 can't stand here all night. How black it is 
 ahead there. Oooh ! Really, now, it does 
 seem a bit terrifying. If I only had a lan 
 tern it would n't be so " her gaze fell upon 
 the labourers' lantern that clattered aimlessly, 
 uselessly against the stake. An instant later 
 she had jerked it from its fastenings with a 
 cry of joy. " I '11 send it back when they go 
 for my trunks. What luck ! " 
 
 Without a second's hesitation she started 
 off briskly into the woodland road, striding 
 along with the splendid swing of the healthy 
 Englishwoman who has not been trained to 
 dawdle. Her walking-skirt gave free play 
 to her limbs ; she was far past the well- 
 known " line in the road " before she paused 
 to take a full breath and to recapitulate. 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 91 
 
 Her heart beat faster and the sudden glow 
 in her cheek was not from the exercise. 
 Somehow, out there alone in the world, the 
 most amazing feeling of tenderness sped on 
 ahead to Randolph Shaw. She tried to put 
 it from her, but it grew and grew. Then 
 she blushed deep within herself and her eyes 
 grew sweet with the memory of those stolen, 
 reprehensible hours along the frontier. Some 
 thing within her breast cried out for those 
 shining, gone-by moments, something seemed 
 to close down on her throat, something 
 flooded her eyes with a softness that rolled 
 up from her entire being. Their line ! 
 Their insurmountable barrier ! An absurd 
 yet ineffable longing to fall down and kiss that 
 line came over her with compelling force. 
 
 Her head grew light with the thought of 
 those moments when their horses stood with 
 muzzles together as if kissing by proxy 
 the flush grew deeper, though her blood 
 went cold and she trembled. 
 
 A pitiful confusion seized her, an inexpli 
 cable timidity crept into her heart, replacing 
 the bold assurance that had been recklessly 
 carrying her on to him. It was as though 
 some one had whispered the truth into her 
 ear and she was beginning to believe. 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 From that moment her courage began to 
 fail. The glow from her lantern was a men 
 ace instead of a help. A sweet timorousness 
 enveloped her and something tingled she 
 knew not what. 
 
 Spattering raindrops whizzed in her face, 
 ominous forerunners from the inky sky. 
 The wind was whistling with shrill glee in 
 the tree-tops and the tree-tops tried to flee 
 before it. A mile and a half lay between 
 her and the big cottage on the hillside the 
 most arduous part of the journey by far. 
 She walked and ran as though pursued, 
 scudding over the road with a swiftness 
 that would have amazed another, but which 
 seemed the essence of slowness to her. 
 Thoughts of robbers, tramps, wild beasts, 
 assailed her with intermittent terrors, but all 
 served to diminish the feeling of shyness that 
 had been interfering with her determination. 
 
 Past Kenwood's cottage she sped, shudder 
 ing as she recognized the stone steps and 
 path that ran up the hillside to the haunted 
 house. Ghosts, witches, hobgoblins fell into 
 the procession of pursuers, cheered on by the 
 shrieking wind that grew more noisome as 
 her feet carried her higher up the mountain. 
 Now she was on new ground. She had never 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 93 
 
 before explored so far as this. The hill was 
 steep and the road had black abysses out 
 beyond its edges. . . . 
 
 She was breathless, half dead from fatigue 
 and terror when at last her feet stumbled up 
 the broad steps leading to his porch. Trem 
 bling, she sank into the rustic bench that 
 stood against the wall. The lantern clattered 
 to her feet, and the bag with her jewels, her 
 letter of credit, and her curling irons slid to 
 the floor behind the bench. Here was his 
 home ! What cared she for the storm ? 
 
 Even as she lay there gasping for breath, 
 her eyes on the shadowy moon that was 
 breaking its way through the clouds, three 
 men raced from the stables at Bazelhurst 
 Villa bent on finding the mad young person 
 who had fled the place. Scarcely knowing 
 what direction he took, Lord Bazelhurst led 
 the way, followed by the duke and the count, 
 all of them supplied with carnage lamps, 
 which, at any other time, would have been 
 sickening in their obtrusiveness. Except 
 for Lady Evelyn, the rest of the house slept 
 the sleep of ease. 
 
 Gradually Penelope recovered from the 
 effects of the mad race up the hill. The 
 sputtering flame in the lantern called her 
 
 H, 
 
94 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 into action. Clutching it from the floor 
 of the porch, she softly began a tour of 
 inspection, first looking at her watch to 
 find that it was the unholy hour of two ! 
 Had some one yelled boo ! she would have 
 swooned, so tense was every nerve. Now 
 that she was here, what was she to do ? Her 
 heart came to her mouth, her hand shook, 
 but not with fear; a nervous smile tried to 
 wreak disaster to the concern in her eyes. 
 
 The house was dark and still. No one 
 was stirring. The porch was littered with 
 rugs and cushions, while on a small table 
 near the end stood a decanter, a siphon, and 
 two glasses. Two ? He had said he was 
 alone except for the housekeeper and the 
 servants. A visitor, then. This was not 
 what she had expected. Her heart sank. 
 It would be hard to face the master of the 
 house, but a stranger ? Cigarette stubs 
 met her bewildered, troubled gaze many 
 of them. Deduction was easy out there in the 
 lonely night. It was easy to see that Shaw 
 and his companion sat up so late that the 
 servants had gone to bed. 
 
 Distractedly she looked about for means 
 of shelter on the porch until daylight could 
 abet her in the flight to the village beyond. 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 95 
 
 The storm was sure to come at no far distant 
 time. She knew and feared the violence of 
 the mountain rains. 
 
 " By all that 's holy," came in a man's 
 voice, low-toned and uncertain ; " it is nt a 
 dream, after all !" 
 
 She turned like a flash, with a startled 
 exclamation and an instinctive movement as 
 if to shield herself from unbidden gaze. 
 Her lips parted and her heart pounded like 
 a hammer. Standing in the doorway was 
 Randolph Shaw, his figure looming up like 
 a monstrous, wavering genie in the uncertain 
 light from the shaking lantern. His right 
 hand was to his brow and his eyes were wide 
 with incredulous joy. She noticed that the 
 left sleeve of his dinner jacket hung limp, and 
 that the arm was in a white sling beneath. 
 
 " Is it really you ? " he cried, his hand 
 going instinctively to his watch-pocket as 
 if doubting that it was night instead of 
 morning. 
 
 " I 've I Ve run away from them," she 
 stammered. " It 's two o'clock don't 
 look ! Oh, I 'm so sorry now why did 
 I " 
 
 "You ran away ? " he exclaimed, coming 
 toward her. " Oh, it can't be a dream. 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 You are there, are n't you ? " She was a 
 pitiable object as she stood there, powerless 
 to retreat, shaking like a leaf. He took her 
 by the shoulder. " Yes it is you. Good 
 Lord, what does it mean ? What has hap 
 pened ? How did you come here ? Are 
 you alone ? " 
 
 " Utterly, miserably alone. Oh, Mr. 
 Shaw ! " she cried despairingly. " You will 
 understand, won't you ? " 
 
 "Never! Never as long as I live. It 
 is beyond comprehension. The wonderful 
 part of it all is that I was sitting in there 
 dreaming of you yes, I was. I heard 
 some one out here, investigated and found 
 you you, of all people in the world. And 
 I was dreaming that I held you in my arms. 
 Yes, I was ! I was dreaming it " 
 
 " Mr. Shaw ! You should n't " 
 
 " And I awoke to find you not in my 
 arms, not in Bazelhurst Villa, but here 
 here on my porch." 
 
 " Like a thief in the night," she mur 
 mured. " What do you think of me ? " 
 
 "Shall I tell you really?" he cried. 
 The light in his eyes drove her back a step 
 or two, panic in her heart. 
 
 " N no, no not now ! " she gasped, 
 
' Poor old Bonaparte ! ' was all he said in reply " 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 
 
 but a great wave of exaltation swept through 
 her being. He turned and walked away, 
 too dazed to speak. Without knowing it, 
 she followed with hesitating steps. At the 
 edge of- the porch he paused and looked into 
 the darkness. 
 
 " By Jove, I must be dreaming," she heard 
 him mutter. 
 
 " No, you are not," she declared desper 
 ately. " I am here. I ask your protection 
 for the night. I am going away to Eng 
 land to-morrow. I could n't stay there 
 
 I just could n't. I 'm sorry I came 
 here I'm " 
 
 "Thank heaven, you did come," he ex 
 claimed, turning to her joyously. " You 
 are like a fairy the fairy princess come 
 true. It's unbelievable! But but what 
 was it you said about England ? " he con 
 cluded, suddenly sober. 
 
 " I am go going home. There 's no 
 place else. I can't live with her," she said, 
 a bit tremulously. 
 
 " To England ? At once ? Your father 
 
 will he" 
 
 " My father? I have no father. Oh ! " 
 with a sudden start. Her eyes met his in 
 a helpless stare. " I never thought. My 
 
 7 
 
9 8 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 **1 
 
 9 
 
 home was at Bazelhurst Castle their 
 home. I can't go there. Good heavens, 
 what am I to do ? " 
 
 A long time afterward she recalled his 
 exultant exclamation, checked at its outset, 
 recalled it with a perfect sense of understand 
 ing. With rare good taste he subdued 
 whatever it was that might have struggled 
 for expression and simply extended his 
 right hand to relieve her of the lantern. 
 
 "We never have been enemies, Miss 
 Drake," he said, controlling his voice admir 
 ably. " But had we been so up to this very 
 instant, I am sure I 'd surrender now. I 
 don't know what has happened at the Villa. 
 It does n't matter. You are here to ask my 
 protection and my help. I am at your ser 
 vice, my home is yours, my right hand also. 
 You are tired and wet and nervous. 
 Won't you come inside ? I '11 get a light 
 in a jiffy and Mrs. Ulrich, my housekeeper, 
 shall be with you as soon as I can rout her 
 out. Come in, please." She held back 
 doubtfully, a troubled, uncertain look in her 
 eyes. 
 
 " You will understand, won't you ? " she 
 asked simply. 
 
 <c And no questions asked," he said from 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 99 
 
 the doorway. Still she held back, her gaze 
 going involuntarily to the glasses on the 
 table. He interpreted the look of inquiry. 
 " There were two of us. The doctor was 
 here picking out the shot, that's all. He's 
 gone. It's all right. Wait here and I'll 
 get a light." The flame in her lantern sud 
 denly ended its feeble life. 
 
 She stood inside his doorway and heard 
 him shuffle across the floor in search of the 
 lamps. 
 
 " Dark as Egypt, eh ? " he called out 
 from the opposite side of the room. 
 
 " Not as dark as the forest, Mr. Shaw." 
 
 " Good heavens, what a time you must 
 have had. All alone, were you ? " 
 
 "Of course. I was not eloping." 
 
 " I beg your pardon." 
 
 " Where were you sitting when I came 
 up?" 
 
 " Here in the dark. I was waiting for 
 the storm to come and dozed away, I dare 
 say. I love a storm, don't you ? " 
 
 '" Yes, if I 'm indoors. Ah ! " He had 
 struck a match and was lighting the wick of 
 a lamp beside the huge fireplace. " I sup 
 pose you think I 'm perfectly crazy. I 'm 
 horrid." 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Not at all. Sit down here on the 
 couch, please. More cheerful, eh ? Good 
 Lord, listen to the wind. You got here 
 just in time. Now, if you '11 excuse me, 
 I '11 have Mrs. Ulrich down in a minute. 
 She '11 take good care of you. And I '11 
 make you a nice hot drink, too. You need 
 it." In the door of the big living-room he 
 turned to her, a look of extreme doubt in 
 his eyes. " By Jove, I bet I do wake up. 
 It can't be true." She laughed plain 
 tively and shook her head in humble self- 
 abasement. " Don't be lonesome. I '11 be 
 back in a minute." 
 
 " Don't hurry," she murmured apologeti 
 cally. Then she settled back limply in the 
 wide couch and inspected the room, his foot 
 steps noisily clattering down the long hallway 
 to the left. She saw, with some misgiving, 
 that it was purely a man's habitation. Shaw 
 doubtless had built and furnished the big 
 cottage without woman as a consideration. 
 The room was large, comfortable, solid ; 
 there was not a suggestion of femininity in 
 it high or low except the general air of 
 cleanliness. The furniture was rough-hewn 
 and built for use, not ornamentation ; the 
 walls were hung with English prints, antlers, 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 101 
 
 mementoes of the hunt and the field of sport ; 
 the floor was covered with skins and great 
 " carpet rag " rugs. The whole aspect was 
 so distinctly mannish that her heart fluttered 
 ridiculously in its loneliness. Her cogita 
 tions were running seriously toward riot 
 when he came hurriedly down the hall and 
 into her presence. 
 
 "She'll be down presently. In fact, so 
 will the cook and the housemaid. Gad, Miss 
 Drake, they were so afraid of the storm that 
 all of them piled into Mrs. Ulrich's room. 
 I wonder at your courage in facing the 
 symptoms outdoors. Now, I '11 fix you a 
 drink. Take off your hat be comfortable. 
 Cigarette ? Good ! Here's my sideboard. 
 See? It's a nuisance, this having only one 
 arm in commission ; affects my style as a 
 barkeep. Don't stir; I'll be able " 
 
 " Let me help you. I mean, please don't 
 go to so much trouble. Really I want noth 
 ing but a place to sleep to-night. This 
 couch will do honestly. And some one 
 to call me at daybreak, so that I may be on 
 my way." He looked at her and laughed 
 quizzically. " Oh, I 'm in earnest, Mr. 
 Shaw. I would n't have stopped here if 
 it had n't been for the storm." 
 
IO2 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Come, now, Miss Drake, you spoil the 
 fairy tale. You did intend to come here. 
 It was the only place for you to go and 
 I 'm glad of it. My only regret is that the 
 house is n't filled with chaperons." 
 
 " Why ? " she demanded with a guilty 
 start. 
 
 " Because I could then say to you all the 
 things that are in my heart aye, that are 
 almost bursting from my lips. I I can't 
 say them now, you know," he said, and she 
 understood his delicacy. For some minutes 
 she sat in silence watching him as he clumsily 
 mixed the drinks and put the water over the 
 alcohol blaze. Suddenly he turned to her 
 with something like alarm in his voice. " By 
 George, you don't suppose they '11 pursue 
 you ? " 
 
 "Oh, would n't that be jolly? It would 
 be like the real story-book the fairy and 
 the ogres and all that. But," dubiously, 
 " I 'm sorely afraid they consider me rubbish. 
 Still "looking up encouragingly "my 
 brother would try to find me if he if he 
 knew that I was gone." 
 
 To her surprise, he whistled softly and 
 permitted a frown of anxiety to creep over 
 his face. " I had n't thought of that," he 
 
 H 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 103 
 
 observed reflectively. Then he seemed to 
 throw off the momentary symptoms of un 
 easiness, adding, with a laugh : " I daresay 
 nothing will happen. The storm would put 
 a stop to all idea of pursuit." 
 
 " Let them pursue," she said, a stubborn 
 light in her eyes. " I am my own mistress, 
 Mr. Shaw. They can't take me, willy nilly, 
 as if I were a child, you know." 
 
 " That 's quite true. You don't un 
 derstand," he said slowly, his back to 
 her. 
 
 " You mean the law ? Is it different from 
 ours ? " 
 
 " Not that. The er situation. You 
 see, they might think it a trifle odd if they 
 found you here with me. Don't you 
 understand ? " He turned to her with a 
 very serious expression. She started and 
 sat bolt upright to stare at him compre 
 hensively. 
 
 "You mean it it isn't quite er " 
 
 " Regular, perhaps," he supplied. " Please 
 keep your seat ! I 'm not the censor ; I 'm 
 not even an opinion. Believe me, Miss 111^. 
 Drake, my only thought was and is for Ufl\y 
 your good." 
 
 " I see. They would believe evil of me 
 
IO4 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 if they knew I had come to you," she 
 mused, turning quite cold. 
 
 cc I know the kind of people your sister- 
 in-law has at her place, Miss Drake. Their 
 sort can see but one motive in anything. 
 You know them, too, I daresay." 
 
 "Yes, I know them," she said uneasily. 
 " Good heavens, what a fool I 've been," 
 she added, starting to her feet. "I might 
 have known they '11 say all sorts of terrible 
 things. They must not find me here. Mr. 
 Shaw, I'm I am so ashamed I wonder 
 what you are thinking of me." Her lip 
 trembled and there was such a pleading look 
 in her dark eyes that he controlled himself 
 with difficulty. It was only by imposing 
 the severest restraint upon his susceptibili 
 ties that he was able to approach her calmly. 
 
 " I can't tell you now not here what 
 I am thinking. It is n't the place. Maybe 
 maybe you can read my thought, Penel 
 Miss Drake. Look up, please. Can't you 
 read oh, there now I beg your pardon ! 
 You come to me for protection and I 
 well, don't be too hard on me just yet. I '11 
 find the time and place to tell you." He 
 drew away almost as his hand was ready to 
 clasp hers all because her sweet eyes met 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 
 
 his trustingly he could have sworn 
 lovingly. 
 
 " Just now I am a poor little reprobate," 
 she sighed ever so miserably. " You are 
 very good. I '11 not forget." 
 
 " I '11 not permit you to forget," he said 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Is n't the housekeeper a long time in 
 coming ? " she asked quickly. He laughed 
 contentedly. 
 
 " We Ve no reason to worry about her. 
 It's the pursuers from Bazelhurst that 
 should trouble us. Won't you tell me the 
 whole story ? " And she told him every 
 thing, sitting there beside him with a hot 
 drink in her hand and a growing shame in 
 her heart. It was dawning upon her with 
 alarming force that she was exposing a 
 hitherto unknown incentive. It was not a 
 comfortable awakening. <c And you cham 
 pion me to that extent ? " he cried joyously. 
 She nodded bravely and went on. 
 
 " So here I am," she said in conclusion. 
 " I really could not have walked to Ridgely 
 to-night, could I ? " 
 
 " I should say not." 
 
 " And there was really nowhere else to 
 come but here ? " dubiously. 
 
io6 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " See that light over there up the 
 mountain ? " he asked, leading her to a 
 window. " Old man Grimes and his wife 
 live up there. They keep a light burning all 
 night to scare Kenwood's ghost away. By 
 Jove, the storm will be upon us in a minute. 
 I thought it had blown around us." The roll 
 of thunder came up the valley. " Thank 
 heaven, you 're safe indoors. Let them pur 
 sue if they like. I '11 hide you if they come, 
 and the servants are close-mouthed." 
 
 " I don't like the way you put it, Mr. 
 Shaw." 
 
 " Hullo, hullo the house," came a shout 
 from the wind-ridden night outside. Two 
 hearts inside stopped beating for a second 
 or two. She caught her breath sharply as 
 she clasped his arm. 
 
 " They are after me ! " she gasped. 
 
 " They must not find you here. Really, 
 Miss Drake, I mean it. They would n't 
 understand. Come with me. Go down 
 this hall quickly. It leads to the garden 
 back of the house. There 's a gun-room at 
 the end of the hall. Go in there, to your 
 right. Here, take this! It's an electric 
 saddle-lantern. I '11 head these fellows off. 
 They shan't find you. Don't be alarmed." 
 
IN WHICH CUPID TRESPASSES 107 
 
 She sped down the narrow hall and he, 
 taking time to slip into a long dressing-coat, 
 stepped out upon the porch in response to 
 the now prolonged and impatient shouts. 
 
 " Who 's there ? " he shouted. The light 
 from the windows revealed several horsemen 
 in the roadway. 
 
 " Friends," came back through the wind. 
 " Let us in out of the storm. It 's a 
 terror." 
 
 " I don't know you." There was a shout 
 of laughter and some profanity. 
 
 " Oh, yes you do, Mr. Shaw. Open up 
 and let us in. It's Dave Rank and Ed 
 Hunter. We can't make the cabin before 
 the rain." Shaw could see their faces now 
 and then by the flashes of lightning and he 
 recognized the two woodsmen, who doubt 
 less had been visiting sweethearts up toward 
 Ridgely. 
 
 " Take your horses to the stable, boys, /.i ~^ 
 and come in," he called, laughing heartily. |ll\V 
 Then he hurried off to the gun-room. He 
 passed Mrs. Ulrich coming downstairs yawn 
 ing prodigiously ; he called to her to wait 
 for him in the library. 
 
 There was no one in the gun-room ; the 
 door leading to the back porch was open. 
 
COWARDICE COURT 
 
 With an exclamation he leaped outside and 
 looked about him. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " he cried, staggering 
 back. 
 
 Far off in the night, a hundred yards or 
 more up the road, leading to Grimes' cabin 
 he saw the wobbling, uncertain flicker of a 
 light wending its way like a will-o'-the-wisp 
 through the night. Without a moment's 
 hesitation and with something strangely like 
 an oath, he rushed into the house, almost 
 upsetting the housekeeper in his haste. 
 
 "Visitors outside. Make 'em comfortable. 
 Back soon," he jerked out as he changed 
 his coat with small respect for his injured 
 arm. Then he clutched a couple of rain 
 coats from the rack and flew out of the back 
 door like a man suddenly gone mad. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN WHICH A GHOST TRESPASSES 
 
 JL HE impulse which drove Penelope out 
 for the second time that night may be readily 
 appreciated. Its foundation was fear; its sub 
 ordinate emotions were shame, self-pity and 
 consciousness of her real feeling toward the 
 man of the house. The true spirit of woman 
 hood revolted with its usual waywardness. 
 
 She was flying down the stony road, some 
 distance from the cottage, in the very face 
 of the coming tornado, her heart beating like 
 a trip-hammer, her eyes bent on the little 
 light up the mountain-side, before it occurred 
 to her that this last flight was not only 
 senseless but perilous. She even laughed at 
 herself for a fool as she recalled the tell-tale 
 handbag on the porch and the damning pres 
 ence of a Bazelhurst lantern in the hallway. 
 
 The storm which had been raging farther 
 
I IO 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 
 
 down the valley was at last whirling up to 
 the hill-tops, long delayed as if in gleeful 
 anticipation of catching her alone and un 
 protected. The little electric saddle-lamp 
 that she carried gave out a feeble glow, 
 scarce opening the way in the darkness more 
 than ten feet ahead. Rough and irksome 
 was the road, most stubborn the wall of 
 wind. The second threat of the storm was 
 more terrifying than the first ; at any instant 
 it was likely to break forth in all its slashing 
 fury and she knew not whither she went. 
 Even as she lost heart and was ready to 
 turn wildly back in an effort to reach Shaw's 
 home before the deluge, the lightning flashes 
 revealed to her the presence of a dwelling 
 just off the road not two hundred feet ahead. 
 She stumbled forward, crying like a fright 
 ened child. There were no lights. The 
 house looked dark, bleak, unfriendly. 
 Farther up the hillside still gleamed the 
 little light that was meant to keep Ren- 
 wood's ghost from disturbing the slumbers 
 of old man Grimes and his wife. She could 
 not reach that light, that much she knew. 
 Her feet were like hundredweights, her 
 limbs almost devoid of power ; Grimes' hut 
 appeared to be a couple of miles away. 
 
 H 
 
A GHOST TRESPASSES in 
 
 With a last, breathless effort, she turned off 
 the road and floundered through weeds and 
 brush until she came to what proved to be 
 the rear of the darkened house. Long, low, 
 rangy it reached off into the shadows, chilling 
 in its loneliness. There was no time left for 
 her to climb the flight of steps and pound 
 on the back door. The rain was swishing 
 in the trees with a hiss that forbade delay. 
 
 She threw herself, panting and terror- 
 stricken, into the cave-like opening under 
 the porch, her knees giving way after the su 
 preme effort. The great storm broke as she 
 crouched far back against the wall ; her hands 
 over her ears, her eyes tightly closed. She 
 was safe from wind and rain, but not from the 
 sounds of that awful conflict. The lantern lay 
 at her feet, sending its ray out into the storm 
 with the senseless fidelity of a beacon light. 
 
 "Penelope!" came a voice through the 
 storm, and a second later a man plunged 
 into the recess, crashing against the wall 
 beside her. Something told her who it was, 
 even before he dropped beside her and threw 
 his strong arm about her shoulders. The m^. 
 sound of the storm died away as she buried yj\"/ 
 her face on his shoulder and shivered so 
 mightily that he was alarmed. With her 
 
112 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 face burning, her blood tingling, she lay 
 there and wondered if the throbbing of her 
 heart were not about to kill her. 
 
 He was crying something into her ear 
 wild, incoherent words that seemed to have 
 the power to quiet the storm. And she 
 was responding she knew that eager words 
 were falling from her lips, but she never 
 knew what they were responding with a 
 fervour that was overwhelming her with joy. 
 Lips met again and again and there was no 
 thought of the night, of the feud, the es 
 capade, the Kenwood ghost or of aught 
 save the two warm living human bodies that 
 had found each other. 
 
 The storm, swerving with the capricious 
 mountain winds, suddenly swept their refuge 
 with sheets of water. Randolph Shaw threw 
 the raincoats over his companion and both 
 laughed hysterically at their plight, suddenly 
 remembered. 
 
 " We can't stay here," he shouted. 
 
 "We can't go out into it," she cried. 
 " Where are we ? " 
 
 "Kenwood's," he called back. Their 
 position was untenable. He was drenched ; 
 the raincoats protected her as she crouched 
 back into the most remote corner. Look- 
 
A GHOST TRESPASSES 
 
 ing about, he discovered a small door lead 
 ing to the cellar. It opened the instant 
 he touched the latch. " Come, quick/' he 
 cried, lifting her to her feet. "In here 
 stoop ! I have the light. This is the cellar. 
 I '11 have to break down a door leading to 
 the upper part of the house, but that will 
 not be difficult. Here's an axe or two. 
 Good Lord, I 'm soaked ! " 
 
 " Whe where are we going ? " she 
 gasped, as he drew her across the earthern 
 floor. 
 
 " Upstairs. It 's comfortable up there." 
 They were at the foot of the narrow stair 
 way. She held back. 
 
 " Never ! It 's the the haunted house ! 
 I can't Randolph." 
 
 "Pooh! Don't be afraid. I'm with 
 you, dearest." 
 
 " I know," she gulped. " But you have 
 only one arm. Oh, I can't ! " 
 
 "It's all nonsense about ghosts. I've 
 slept here twenty times, Penelope. People 
 have seen my light and my shadow, that 's 
 all. I 'm a pretty substantial ghost." 
 
 Oh, dear ! What a disappointment. 
 And there are no spooks ? Not even Mrs. 
 Kenwood ? " 
 
1 1 4 
 
 6X5 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Of course she may come back, dear, 
 but you 'd hardly expect a respectable lady 
 spook to visit the place with me stopping 
 here. Even ghosts have regard for conven 
 tionalities. She could nt " 
 
 " How much more respectable than I," 
 Penelope murmured plaintively. 
 
 " Forgive me/' he implored. 
 
 " I would only you are so wet." 
 
 The door above was locked, but Shaw 
 swung the axe so vigorously that any but a 
 very strong-nerved ghost must have been 
 frightened to death once more. 
 
 " It 's my house, you know," he explained 
 from the top step. " There we are ! Come 
 up, Penelope. The fort is yours." 
 
 She followed him into the hall above. In 
 silence they walked along the bare floors 
 through empty rooms until at last he opened 
 a door in what proved to be the left wing. 
 To her surprise, this room was comfortably 
 furnished. There were ashes in the big fire 
 place and there were lamps which had been 
 used recently for they were filled with oil. 
 
 "Here's where I read sometimes," he 
 explained. "I have slept on that couch. 
 Last winter I came up here to hunt. My 
 cottage was n't finished, so I stayed here. 
 
A GHOST TRESPASSES 115 
 
 I '11 confess I Ve heard strange sounds 
 now, don't shiver ! Once or twice I Ve 
 been a bit nervous, but I 'm still alive, you 
 see/' He lighted the wicks in the two big 
 lamps while she looked on with the chills 
 creeping up and down her back. " I '11 have 
 a bully fire in the fireplace in just a minute." 
 
 " Let me help you," she suggested, com 
 ing quite close to him with uneasy glances 
 over her shoulders. 
 
 Ten minutes later they were sitting before 
 a roaring fire, quite content even though 
 there was a suggestion of amazed ghosts 
 lurking in the hallway behind them. No 
 doubt old man Grimes and his wife, if they 
 awoke in the course of the night, groaned 
 deep prayers in response to the bright light 
 from the windows of the haunted house. 
 Shaw and Penelope smiled securely as they 
 listened to the howling storm outside. 
 
 " Well, this is trespassing," she said, 
 beaming a happy smile upon him. 
 
 " I shall be obliged to drive you out, 
 alas," he said reflectively. " Do you recall 
 my vow ? As long as you are a Bazelhurst, 
 I must perforce eject you." 
 
 " Not to-night ! " she cried in mock 
 dismay. 
 
116 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " But, as an alternative, you '11 not be a 
 Bazelhurst long," he went on eagerly, sud 
 denly taking her hands into his, forgetful of 
 the wounded left. " I 'm going to try tres 
 passing myself. To-morrow I 'm going to 
 see your brother. It 's regular, you know. 
 I 'm going to tell the head of your clan that 
 you are coming over to Shaw, heart and 
 hand." 
 
 " Oh ! " she exclaimed. " You you 
 no, no ! You must not do that ! " 
 
 " But, my dear, you are going to marry 
 me." 
 
 "Yes I suppose so," she murmured 
 helplessly. " That is n't what I meant. I 
 mean, it is n't necessary to ask Cecil. Ask 
 me ; I '11 consent for him." 
 
 Half an hour passed. Then he went to 
 the window and looked out into the storm. 
 
 " You must lie down and get some sleep," 
 he insisted, coming back to her. "The 
 storm 's letting up, but we can't leave here 
 for quite a while. I '11 sit up and watch. 
 I 'm too happy to sleep." She protested, 
 but her heavy eyes were his allies. Soon he 
 sat alone before the fire ; she slept sound on 
 the broad couch in the corner, a steamer rug 
 across her knees. A contented smile curved 
 
 Hi 
 
A GHOST TRESPASSES 117 
 
 his lips as he gazed reflectively into the 
 flames. He was not thinking of Mrs. 
 Kenwood's amiable ghost. 
 
 How long she had been asleep, Penelope 
 did not know. She awoke with a start, her 
 flesh creeping. A nameless dread came over 
 her ; she felt that she was utterly alone and 
 surrounded by horrors. It was a full minute 
 
 a sickening hour, it seemed before she 
 realized that she was in the room with the 
 man she loved. Her frightened eyes caught 
 sight of him lying back in the chair before 
 the dying fire in the chimney place. The 
 lights were low, the shadows gaunt and chill. 
 
 A terrified exclamation started to her lips. 
 Her ears again caught the sound of some 
 one moving in the house some alien 
 visitor. There was no mistaking the sound 
 
 the distant, sepulchral laugh and the 
 shuffling of feet, almost at the edge of the 
 couch it seemed. 
 
 " Randolph ! " she whispered hoarsely. 
 The man in the chair did not move. She 
 threw off the blanket and came to a sitting 
 posture on the side of the couch, her fingers 
 clutching the covering with tense horror. 
 Again the soft, rumbling laugh and the 
 sound of footsteps on the stairway. Like 
 
n8 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 
 
 a flash she sped across the room and 
 clutched frantically at Randolph's shoul 
 ders. He awoke with an exclamation, star 
 ing bewildered into the horrified face above. 
 
 "The the ghost!" she gasped, her 
 eyes glued upon the hall door. He leaped 
 to his feet and threw his arms about her. 
 
 " You 've had a bad dream/' he said. 
 " What a beast I was to fall asleep. Lord, 
 you 're frightened half out of your wits. 
 Don't tremble so, dearest. There's no 
 ghost. Every one knows " 
 
 " Listen listen ! " she whispered. To 
 gether they stood motionless, almost breath 
 less before the fire, the glow from which 
 threw their shadows across the room to 
 meet the mysterious invader. 
 
 " Good Lord," he muttered, unwilling to 
 believe his ears. " There is some one in 
 the house. I 've I 've heard sounds here 
 before, but not like these." Distinctly to 
 their startled ears came the low, subdued 
 murmur of a human voice and then unmis 
 takable moans from the very depth of the 
 earth from the grave, it seemed. 
 
 " Do you hear ? " she whispered. " Oh, 
 this dreadful place ! Take me away, Ran 
 dolph, dear, " 
 
A GHOST TRESPASSES 119 
 
 " Don't be afraid," he said, drawing 
 her close. " There 's nothing supernatural 
 about those sounds. They come from lips 
 as much alive as ours. I '11 investigate." 
 He grabbed the heavy poker from the 
 chimney corner, and started toward the 
 door. She followed close behind, his assur 
 ance restoring in a measure the courage 
 that had temporarily deserted her. 
 
 In the hallway they paused to look out 
 over the broad porch. The storm had died 
 away, sighing its own requiem in the misty 
 tree-tops. Dawn was not far away. A thick 
 fog was rising to meet the first glance of day. 
 In surprise Shaw looked at his watch, her face 
 at his shoulder. It was after five o'clock. 
 
 " Ghosts turn in at midnight, dear," he 
 said with a cheerful smile. " They don't 
 keep such hours as these." 
 
 " But who can it be ? There are no 
 tramps in the mountains," she protested, 
 glancing over her shoulder apprehensively. 
 
 " Listen ! By Jove, that voice came from 
 the cellar." 
 
 " And the lock is broken," she exclaimed. 
 fc But how silly of me ! Ghosts don't stop 
 for locks." 
 
 " I '11 drop the bolts just the same," he 
 
120 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 said, as they hurried down the hallway. 
 At the back stairs they stopped and lis 
 tened for many minutes. Not a sound 
 came up to them from below. Softly he 
 closed the door and lowered two heavy bars 
 into place. " If there 's any one down there 
 they probably think they've heard spooks 
 trotting around up here." 
 
 "Really, it's quite thrilling, isn't it?" 
 she whispered, in her excitement. 
 
 "In any event, we 're obliged to remain 
 under cover until they depart," he said 
 thoughtfully. "We can't be seen here, 
 dearest." 
 
 " No," she murmured, " not even though 
 it is our house." 
 
 They returned to the big room as softly 
 as mice and he left her a moment later to 
 close the heavy window shutters on the 
 porch. When he returned there was a grim 
 smile on his face and his voice shook a little 
 as he spoke. 
 
 " I Ve heard the voices again. They 
 came from the laundry, I think. The Ren- 
 woods were downright Yankees, Penelope ; 
 I will swear that these voices are amazingly 
 English." 
 
JL HIS narrative has quite as much to do 
 with the Bazelhurst side of the controversy 
 as it has with Shaw's. It is therefore but 
 fair that the heroic invasion by Lord Cecil 
 should receive equal consideration from 
 the historian. Shaw's conquest of one mem 
 ber of the force opposing him was scarcely 
 the result of bravery ; on the other hand 
 Lord Cecil's dash into the enemy's country 
 was the very acme of intrepidity. Shaw had 
 victory fairly thrust upon him ; Lord Bazel 
 hurst had a thousand obstacles to overcome 
 before he could even so much as stand face 
 to face with the enemy. Hence the expedi 
 tion that started off in the wake of the de 
 serter deserves more than passing mention. 
 
 Down the drive and out into the moun 
 tain road clattered the three horsemen. Lady 
 
 9 
 
122 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 Bazelhurst, watching at the window casement, 
 almost swooned with amazement at the sight 
 of them. The capes of their mackintoshes 
 seemed to flaunt a satirical farewell in her 
 face ; their owners, following the light of the 
 carriage lamps, swept from view around a 
 bend in the road. 
 
 His lordship had met the duke in the 
 hall, some distance from that nobleman's 
 room, and, without observing Barminster's 
 apparent confusion, commanded him to join 
 in the pursuit. Barminster explained that he 
 was going to see how the cook was resting ; 
 however, he would go much farther to be of 
 service to the runaway sister of his host. 
 
 "She's broken-hearted," half sobbed the 
 brother. 
 
 "Yes," agreed the duke; "and what's a 
 broken leg to a broken heart ? Penelope's 
 heart, at that. Demme, I can't find the 
 cook's room, anyway." 
 
 " It 's in the servants' wing," said Cecil, 
 anxious to be off. 
 
 To be sure. Stupid ass I am. I say, 
 
 >or. Let 's rout 
 
 old chap, here 's Deveaux's door, 
 d some one 
 if we have to force our 
 
 him out. We'll 
 
 horses 
 house. 
 
 way 
 
 to hold the 
 into Shaw's 
 
Good heaven, Randolph, go to him ! He is hurt 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 123 
 
 The count was not thoroughly awake un 
 til he found himself in the saddle some time 
 later ; it is certain that he did not know until 
 long afterward why they were riding off into 
 the storm. He fell so far behind his com 
 panions in the run down the road that he 
 could ask no questions. Right bravely the 
 trio plunged into the dark territory over 
 which the enemy ruled. It was the duke 
 who finally brought the cavalcade to a halt 
 by propounding a most sensible question. 
 
 " Are you sure she came this way, Cecil ?" 
 
 " Certainly. This is Shaw's way, is n't 
 it ? " 
 
 " Did she say she was going to Shaw's ? " 
 
 " Don't know. Evelyn told me. Hang 
 it all, Barminster, come along. We '11 never 
 catch up to her." 
 
 " Is she riding ? " 
 
 "No horses all in." 
 
 " Do you know, we may have passed her. 
 Deuce take it, Bazelhurst, if she 's running 
 from us, you don't imagine she 'd be 
 
 away 
 
 imagi 
 
 such a silly fool as to stand in the road and 
 
 wait for us. If she heard us she 'd hide 
 among 
 
 the trees. 
 
 " But she 's had an hour's start of us." 
 " Where ees she coming to ? " asked the 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
I2 4 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 count, with an anxious glance upward just 
 in time to catch a skirmishing raindrop with 
 his eye. 
 
 " That 's just it. We don't know," said 
 the duke. 
 
 " But I must find her/' cried Lord Cecil. 
 " Think of that poor girl alone in this terri 
 ble place, storm coming up and all that. 
 Hi, Penelope ! " he shouted in his most 
 vociferous treble. The shrieking wind re 
 plied. Then the three of them shouted her 
 name. " Gad, she may be lost or dead or 
 Come on, Barminster. We must scour 
 the whole demmed valley." 
 
 They were off again, moving more cau 
 tiously while the duke threw the light from 
 his lamp into the leafy shadows beside the 
 roadway. The wind was blowing savagely 
 down the slope and the raindrops were be 
 ginning to beat in their faces with ominous 
 persistency. Some delay was caused by an 
 accident to the rear-guard. A mighty gust 
 of wind blew the count's hat far back over 
 the travelled road. He was so much nearer 
 Bazelhurst Villa when they found it that he 
 would have kept on in that direction for the 
 sake of his warm bed had not his compan 
 ions talked so scornfully about cowardice. 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 125 
 
 " He 's like a wildcat to-night," said the 
 duke in an aside to the little Frenchman, 
 referring to his lordship. " Demme, I 'd 
 rather not cross him. You seem to forget 
 that his sister is out in all this fury/' 
 
 "Mon Dieu, but I do not forget. I 
 would gif half my life to hold her in my 
 arms thees eenstan'." 
 
 " Dem you, sir, I 'd give her the other 
 half if you dared try such a thing. We 
 did n't fetch you along to hold her. You 've 
 got to hold the horses, that 's all." 
 
 " Diable ! How dare you to speak 
 to" 
 
 " What are you two rowing about ? " de 
 manded his lordship. "Come along ! We Ve 
 losing time. Sit on your hat, Deveaux." 
 
 Away they swept, Penelope's two admirers 
 wrathful ly barking at one another about 
 satisfaction at some future hour. 
 
 The storm burst upon them in all its fury 
 the maddest, wildest storm they had 
 known in all their lives. Terrified, half 
 drowned, blown almost from the saddles, 
 the trio finally found shelter in the lee of a 
 shelving cliff just off the road. While they 
 stood there shivering, clutching the bits of 
 their well-nigh frantic horses, the glimmer 
 
 d 
 
126 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 of lights came down to them from windows 
 farther up the steep. There was no mistak 
 ing the three upright oblongs of light; they 
 were tall windows in a house, the occupants 
 of which doubtless had been aroused at this 
 unearthly hour by the fierceness of the 
 storm. 
 
 " By Jove," lamented the duke, water 
 running down his neck in floods. " What 
 a luxury a home is, be it ever so humble, 
 on a night like this/' 
 
 " Mon Dieu ! Mon Dieu ! " groaned the I 
 count. " How comfortab' zey look. And * 
 here ? Eh bien ! Qui fait trembler la terre ! 
 I am seeck ! I die ! " 
 
 " Penelope is out in all this," moaned his 
 lordship. 
 
 "I am not so sure of that. Trust a 
 woman to find a place where she can't ruin 
 her hat. My word for it, Cecil, she 's found 
 a safe roost. I say, by Jove ! " The duke 
 was staring more intently than ever at the 
 windows far above. " I have it ! Is n't it 
 rather odd that a house should be lighted 
 so brilliantly at this hour of night ? " 
 
 " Demmed servants forgot to put out the 
 lamps," groaned Bazelhurst without interest. 
 
 " Nonsense ! I tell you what : some one 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 127 
 
 has roused the house and asked shelter from 
 the storm. Now, who could that be but 
 Penelope? " 
 
 " By Jove, you 're a ripping clever ass, 
 after all, Barminster a regular Sherlock 
 Holmes. That's just it! She's up there 
 where the windows are. Come on ! It 's 
 easy sailing now," cried his lordship, but the 
 duke restrained him. 
 
 " Don't rush off like a fool. Whose 
 house is it ? " 
 
 " How the devil do I know ? This is 
 Shaw's land, and he has n't been especially 
 cordial about " 
 
 " Aha ! See what I mean ? Shaw's land, 
 to be sure. Well, hang your stupidity, 
 don't you know we 're looking at Shaw's 
 house this very instant? He lives there 
 and she 's arrived, dem it all. She 's up 
 there with him dry clothes, hot drinks 
 and all that, and we 're out here catching 
 pneumonia. Fine, isn't it?" 
 
 " Gad ! You 're right ! She 's with that 
 confounded villain. My God, what 's to 
 become of her ? " groaned Lord Cecil, sit 
 ting down suddenly and covering his face 
 with his hands. 
 
 "We must rescue her!" shouted the duke. 
 
128 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 " Brace up, Cecil ! Don't be a baby. We '11 
 storm the place/* 
 
 " Not in zis rain ! " cried the count. 
 
 cc You stay here in the shade and hold the 
 horses, that 's what you do," said the duke 
 scornfully. 
 
 A council of war was held. From their 
 partiall-y sheltered position the invaders could 
 see, by the flashes of lightning, that a path 
 and some steps ascended the hill. The duke 
 was for storming the house at once, but Lord 
 Cecil argued that it would be foolish to start 
 before the storm abated. Moreover, he ex 
 plained, it would be the height of folly to 
 attack the house until they were sure that 
 Penelope was on the inside. 
 
 After many minutes there came a break 
 in the violence of the storm and prepara 
 tions were at once made for the climb up 
 the hill. Deveaux was to remain behind in 
 charge of the horses. With their bridle 
 reins in his hands he cheerfully maintained 
 this position of trust, securely sheltered from 
 the full force of the elements. Right bravely 
 did the duke and his lordship venture forth 
 into the spattering rain. They had gone no 
 more than three rods up the path when *hey 
 were brought to a halt by the sounds of a 
 
 Hi 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 129 
 
 prodigious struggle behind them. There 
 was a great trampling of horses' hoofs, ac 
 companied by the frantic shouts of the 
 count. 
 
 " I cannot hold zem ! Mon Dieu ! Zey 
 are mad! Ho! Ho! Help!" 
 
 He was in truth having a monstrous un 
 pleasant time. His two friends stumbled to 
 his assistance, but not in time to prevent the 
 catastrophe. The three horses had taken it 
 into their heads to bolt for home ; they were 
 plunging and pulling in three directions at 
 the same time, the count manfully clinging 
 to the bridle reins, in great danger of being 
 suddenly and shockingly dismembered. 
 
 " Hold to 'em ! " shouted Lord Cecil. 
 
 " Help ! " shouted the count, at the same 
 moment releasing his grip on the reins. 
 Away tore the horses, kicking great chunks 
 of mud over him as he tumbled aimlessly 
 into the underbrush. Down the road clat 
 tered the animals, leaving the trio marooned 
 in the wilderness. Groaning and half dead, 
 the unfortunate count was dragged from the 
 brush by his furious companions. What 
 the duke said to him was sufficient without 
 being repeated, here or elsewhere. The 
 count challenged him as they all resumed 
 
130 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 the march up the hill to visit the house with 
 the lighted windows. 
 
 " Here is my card, m'sieur," he grated 
 furiously. 
 
 " Demme, I know you ! " roared the 
 duke. " Keep your card and we '11 send it 
 in to announce our arrival to Shaw." 
 
 In due course of time, after many slips 
 and falls, they reached the front yard of the 
 house on the hillside. It was still raining 
 lightly ; the thunder and lightning were 
 crashing away noisily farther up the valley. 
 Cautiously they approached through the 
 weeds and brush. 
 
 " By Jove ! " exclaimed his lordship, com 
 ing to a standstill. He turned the light of 
 his lantern toward the front elevation of the 
 house. " Every door and window, except 
 these three, are boarded up. It can't be 
 Shaw's home." 
 
 " That 's right, old chap. Deuced queer, 
 eh ? I say, Deveaux, step up and pound on 
 the door. You Ve got a card, you know." 
 
 " Que diable ! " exclaimed the count, sink 
 ing into the background. 
 
 " We might reconnoitre a bit," said Bazel- 
 hurst. " Have a look at the rear, you 
 know." 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 131 
 
 Around the corner of the house they 
 trailed, finally bringing up at the back steps. 
 The windows were not only dark but 
 boarded up. While they stood there amazed 
 and uncertain, the rain came down again in 
 torrents, worse than before if possible. They 
 scampered for cover, plunging three abreast 
 beneath the same steps that had sheltered 
 Penelope and Shaw such a short time before. 
 
 " Ouch ! Get off my foot ! " roared the 
 duke. 
 
 " Zounds ! Who are you punching, 
 demme ! Hullo ! What 's this ? A door 
 and open, as I live." The trio entered the 
 cellar door without ceremony. " Thank 
 God, we 're out of the rain, at least." 
 
 It was not until they had explored the 
 basement and found it utterly without signs 
 of human occupancy that the truth of the 
 situation began to dawn upon them. Bar- 
 minster's face was white and his voice shook 
 as he ventured the horrid speculation : 
 
 " The good Lord save us it 's that 
 demmed haunted house Pen was talking 
 about ! " 
 
 " But ze lights ? " queried the count. 
 
 " Ghosts ! " 
 
 " Let 's get out of this place," said Lord 
 
o 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 Bazelhurst, moving toward the door. "It 's 
 that beastly Kenwood house. They say he 
 comes back arid murders her every night 
 or so." 
 
 " Mon Dieu ! " 
 
 " Penelope is n't here. Let 's move on," 
 agreed the duke readily. But even fear of 
 the supernatural was not strong enough to 
 drive them out into the blinding storm. 
 " I say ! Look ahead there. By Harry, 
 there's Shaw's place." 
 
 Peering through the door they saw for 
 the first time the many lights in Shaw's 
 windows, scarce a quarter of a mile away. 
 For a long time they stood and gazed at 
 the distant windows. Dejectedly they sat 
 down, backs to the wall, and waited for the 
 storm to spend its fury. Wet, cold, and 
 tired, they finally dozed. It was Lord 
 Cecil who first saw the signs of dawn. The 
 rain storm had come to a mysterious end, 
 but a heavy fog in its stead loomed up. 
 He aroused his companions and with many 
 groans of anguish they prepared to venture 
 forth into the white wall beyond. 
 
 Just as they were taking a last look about 
 the wretched cellar something happened that 
 would have brought terror to the stoutest 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 133 
 
 heart. A wild, appalling shriek came from 
 somewhere above, the cry of a mortal soul 
 in agony. 
 
 The next instant three human forms shot 
 through the narrow door and out into the 
 fog, hair on end, eyes bulging but sightless, 
 legs travelling like the wind and as purpose 
 less. It mattered not that the way was 
 hidden ; it mattered less that weeds, brush, 
 and stumps lurked in ambush for unwary 
 feet. They fled into the foggy dangers 
 without a thought of what lay before them 
 only of what stalked behind them. 
 
 Upstairs Randolph Shaw lay back against 
 the wall and shook with laughter. Penel 
 ope's convulsed face was glued to the 
 kitchen window, her eyes peering into the fog 
 beyond. Shadowy figures leaped into the 
 white mantle ; the crash of brush came back 
 to her ears, and then, like the barking of a 
 dog, there arose from the mystic gray the 
 fast diminishing cry : 
 
 " Help ! Help ! Help ! " Growing fainter 
 and sharper the cry at last was lost in the 
 phantom desert. 
 
 They stood at the window and watched 
 the fog lift, gray and forbidding, until the 
 trees and road were discernible. Then, arm 
 
134 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 in arm, they set forth across the wet way 
 toward Shaw's cottage. The mists cleared 
 as they walked along, the sun peeped through 
 the hills as if afraid to look upon the devas 
 tation of the night ; all the world seemed at 
 peace once more. 
 
 " Poor Cecil ! " she sighed. " It was cruel 
 of you." In the roadway they found a hat 
 which she at once identified as the count's. 
 Farther on there was a carriage lamp, and 
 later a mackintosh which had been cast aside 
 as an impediment. " Oh, it was cruel ! " 
 She smiled, however, in retrospection. 
 
 An hour later they stood together on the 
 broad porch, looking out over the green, 
 glistening hills. The warm fresh air rilled 
 their lungs and happiness was overcrowding 
 their hearts. In every direction were signs 
 of the storm's fury. Great trees lay blasted, 
 limbs and branches were scattered over the 
 ground, wide fissures split the roadway 
 across which the deluge had rushed on its 
 way down the slope. 
 
 But Penelope was warm and dry and safe 
 after her thrilling night. A hot breakfast was 
 being prepared for them ; trouble seemed to 
 have gone its way with the elements. 
 
 " If I were only sure that nothing serious 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 135 
 
 had happened to Cecil," she murmured 
 anxiously. 
 
 " I 'm sorry, dear, for that screech of 
 mine," he apologized. 
 
 Suddenly he started and gazed intently in 
 the direction of the haunted house. A man 
 a sorry figure was slowly, painfully 
 approaching from the edge of the wood 
 scarce a hundred yards away. In his hand 
 he carried a stick to which was attached a 
 white cloth doubtless a handkerchief. 
 He was hatless and limped perceptibly. 
 The two on the porch watched his approach 
 in amazed silence. 
 
 " It 's Cecil ! " whispered Penelope in 
 horror-struck tones. " Good heaven, Ran 
 dolph, go to him ! He is hurt." 
 
 It was Lord Bazelhurst. As Shaw hurried 
 down the drive to meet him, no thought of 
 the feud in mind, two beings even more 
 hopelessly dilapidated ventured from the 
 wood and hobbled up behind the truce- 
 bearer, who had now paused to lift his 
 shoulders into a position of dignity and 
 defiance. Shaw's heart was touched. The 
 spectacle was enough to melt the prejudice 
 of any adversary. Lord Cecil's knees trem 
 bled ; his hand shook as if in a chill. Mud- 
 
 I** 
 
 M 
 
 
 
136 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 covered, water-soaked, and bruised, their 
 clothes rent in many places, their hats gone 
 and their hair matted, their legs wobbly, the 
 trio certainly inspired pity, not mirth nor 
 scorn. 
 
 " One moment, sir," called his lordship, 
 with a feeble attempt at severity. His voice 
 was hoarse and shaky. " We do not come 
 as friends, dem you. Is my sister here ? " 
 
 "She is, Lord Bazelhurst. We'll talk 
 this over later on," said Shaw in his friend 
 liest way. " You are worn out and done 
 up, I 'm sure you and your friends. 
 Come ! I 'm not as bad as you think. I 've 
 changed my mind since I saw you last. 
 Let 's see if we can't come to an amicable 
 understanding. Miss Drake is waiting up 
 there. Breakfast soon will be ready hot 
 coffee and all that. Permit me, gentlemen, 
 to invite you to partake of what we have. 
 What say you ? " 
 
 " Confound you, sir, I I " but his 
 brave effort failed him. He staggered and 
 would have fallen had not the duke caught 
 him from behind. 
 
 " Thanks, old chap," said Barminster to 
 Shaw. " We will come in for a moment. 
 I say, perhaps you could give us a dry dud 
 
 Hi 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 137 
 
 or two. Bazelhurst is in a bad way and so 
 is the count. It was a devil of a storm." 
 
 " Mon Dieu! cetait fyouv ant able! " groaned 
 the count. 
 
 Penelope came down from the porch to 
 meet them. Without a word she took her 
 brother's arm. He stared at her with grow 
 ing resentment. 
 
 " Dem it all, Pen," he chattered, " you 're 
 not at all wet, are you ? Look at me ! All 
 on your account, too." 
 
 " Dear old Cecil ! All on Evelyn's ac 
 count, you mean," she said softly, wistfully. 
 
 " I shall have an understanding with her 
 when we get home," he said earnestly. 
 " She shan't treat my sister like this again." 
 
 " No," said Shaw from the other side ; 
 cc she shan't." 
 
 " By Jove, Shaw, are you with me ? " de 
 manded his lordship in surprise. 
 
 " Depends on whether you are with me," 
 said the other. Penelope flushed warmly. 
 
 Later on, three chastened but ludicrous 
 objects shuffled into the breakfast-room, 
 where Shaw and Penelope awaited them. 
 In passing, it is only necessary to say that 
 Randolph Shaw's clothes did not fit the 
 gentlemen to whom they were loaned. 
 
138 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 o 1 
 
 Bazelhurst was utterly lost in the folds of 
 a gray tweed, while the count was obliged 
 to roll up the sleeves and legs of a frock 
 suit which fitted Shaw rather too snugly. 
 The duke, larger than the others, was pas 
 sably fair in an old swallow-tail coat and 
 brown trousers. They were clean, but there 
 was a strong odour of arnica about them. 
 Each wore, besides, an uncertain, sheepish 
 smile. 
 
 Hot coffee, chops, griddle cakes, and maple 
 syrup soon put the contending forces at their 
 ease. Bazelhurst so far forgot himself as to 
 laugh amiably at his host's jokes. The 
 count responded in his most piquant dia 
 lect, and the duke swore by an ever-useful 
 Lord Harry that he had never tasted such a 
 breakfast. 
 
 " By Jove, Pen," exclaimed her brother, in 
 rare good humour, " it 's almost a sin to take 
 you away from such good cooking as this." 
 
 " You 're not going to take her away, how 
 ever," said Shaw. " She has come to stay." 
 
 There was a stony silence. Coffee-cups 
 hung suspended in the journey to mouths, 
 and three pairs of eyes stared blankly at the 
 smiling speaker. 
 
 " What what the devil do you mean, 
 
THE AUTHOR TRESPASSES 139 
 
 sir ? " demanded Lord Cecil, his coffee-cup 
 shaking so violently that the contents over 
 flowed. 
 
 " She 's going over to Plattsburg with me 
 to-day, and when she comes back she will be 
 Mrs. Randolph Shaw. That 's what I mean, 
 your lordship." 
 
 Three of his listeners choked with amaze 
 ment and then coughed painfully. Feebly 
 they set their cups down and gulped as if 
 they had something to swallow. The duke 
 was the first to find his tongue, and he was 
 quite at a loss for words. 
 
 B by Jove," he said blankly, "that 's 
 demmed hot coffee ! " 
 
 " Is this true, Penelope ? " gasped his 
 lordship. 
 
 " Yes, Cecil. I Ve promised to marry 
 him." 
 
 " Good God ! It is n't because you feel 
 that you have no home with me ? " 
 
 "I love him. It's a much older story 
 than you think," she said simply. 
 
 " I say, that hits me hard," said the duke, 
 with a wry face. " Still, I join in saying 
 God bless you." 
 
 " We 're trying to end the feud, you see," 
 said Penelope. 
 
*1 
 
 19 
 
 140 
 
 COWARDICE COURT 
 
 Tears came into his lordship's pale eyes. 
 He looked first at one and then at the other, 
 and then silently extended his hand to Ran 
 dolph Shaw. He wrung it vigorously for 
 a long time before speaking. Then, as if 
 throwing a weight off his mind, he remarked : 
 
 " I say, Shaw, I 'm sorry about that dog. 
 I Ve got an English bull-terrier down there 
 that 's taken a ribbon or so. If you don't 
 mind, I '11 send him up to you. He he 
 knows Penelope." 
 
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