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 S /"
 
 JACK GORDON, 
 
 KNIGHT ERRANT, 
 GOTHAM, 
 
 1883. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. C. HUDSON (BARCLAY NORTH), 
 AUTHOR OF "THE DIAMOND BUTTON: WHOSE WAS IT?" ETC. 
 
 CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
 
 COPYRIGHT, 
 
 1890, 
 By O. M. DUNHAM. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Press W. L. Mershon &: Co., 
 Rahway. N. J
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. 
 
 I. AN AMATEUR CABMAN, 
 
 II. MR. RENFREW AT HOME, - 
 
 III. A MODERN KNIGHT ERRANT, 
 
 IV. A GAME OF BLUFF, - 
 V. " MAMA JAMIESON," 
 
 VI. THE PACKAGE, 
 
 VII. GORDON'S SENSATION, - 
 
 VIII. DR. SHERMAN READS THE NEWS, 
 
 IX. CAPTAIN LAWTON AT WORK, 
 
 X. CAPTAIN LAWTON'S VISITOR, - 
 
 XI. THE ROSEBUD PARTY, - 
 
 XII. WEB SPINNING, 
 
 XIII. AN INTERVIEW OF CONSEQUENCES, 
 
 XIV. SETTING THE LINES, 
 XV. JACK is ENTANGLED, - 
 
 XVI. BEHIND THE BARS, - 
 
 XVII. ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY, 
 
 XVIII. REMINISCENCES WITH A PURPOSE, 
 
 XIX. LUCY'S CRIME. - 
 
 
 
 XX. JACK AS A COUNSELOR, 
 
 XXI. SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST, 
 
 XXII. TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY, - 
 
 XXIII. A WOLF AMONG THE LAMBS, 
 iii 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
 18 
 
 22 
 30 
 41 
 
 45 
 
 52 
 
 59 
 
 7i 
 
 80 
 
 go 
 
 96 
 
 no 
 
 1 20 
 
 131 
 144 
 154 
 161 
 i?i 
 178 
 190 
 198 
 
 2136138
 
 IV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 XXIV. STARTLING NEWS, - . . 205 
 XXV. EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY, . - - 214 
 XXVI. THE DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIZES ON WRONG- 
 DOING, ... 222 
 XXVII. A BAFFLED DETECTIVE, - - - - 228 
 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 
 OBLIGATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP, 
 MARRIAGE BELLS 
 
 239 
 - 245
 
 m.J.inu, 
 
 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT, 
 GOTHAM, i88j. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AN AMATEUR CABMAN. 
 
 THERE are nights in the latter part of Novem- 
 ber in New York, when existence is a joy and 
 exercise a delight ; when the weather is clear, 
 cold and crisp ; when people walk briskly and set 
 their feet down firmly ; when cheeks tingle from 
 contact with the air yet/suffer no discomfort ; when 
 the -gas shines through the plate-glass with increased 
 brightness and the electric lights extend the area 
 of their brilliancy nights- when the true son of 
 Gotham would contemplate with contempt an offer 
 to barter a walk from Twenty-third to Thirty- 
 third street, for a stroll over the most famous prom- 
 enade the world knows. 
 
 On such a night in 1883, a young man, about 
 twenty-five or six, flung open the swinging doors 
 of one of the hotels facing Madison Square, with 
 unnecessary vigor, and stepped out on the pave- 
 ment. 
 
 He was clad in irreproachable evening dress. 
 The chill air suggested the wisdom of buttoning 
 the heavy top-coat he wore. So he stopped to do 
 so, and thus gave the cabmen, attentive upon him, 
 a moment's suspense, while he considered which 
 way he should go.
 
 2 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 He disappointed them all by walking up Broad- 
 way. He was unmistakably a young man of fash- 
 ion, his air showed that ; he was an athlete, his free 
 carriage and elastic bearing determined that. 
 
 Spurning the attractions a famous restaurant 
 held out on one side, and a hotel, which is, and was 
 then, a popular rendezvous on the other, he con- 
 tinued on his way for several blocks, when he 
 crossed to another hotel, under the portico of 
 which stood a group of several young men, like him- 
 self irreproachably clad in evening dress. 
 
 As he approached, one of this group observed 
 him and cried out, " Here's Jack Gordon ! Ask 
 him. He knows all the women in town." 
 
 " What's up, < Dizzy,' that you herald my ap- 
 proach with such vociferous and gratuitous infor- 
 mation," asked the new-comer, inserting a single 
 glass in his eye to look upon his friend and drop- 
 ping it because it obscured his vision. 
 
 For answer he was led around the corner, and in 
 front of a large window of the restaurant of the 
 hotel from which the curtains were drawn. Here, 
 seated some distance from the window, but in full 
 view, sat a young and striking-looking woman, 
 richly clad. On the opposite side of the table 
 was a plainly dressed woman, the senior of the 
 other by a dozen years, and quite evidently a 
 servant. 
 
 "Well?" said Gordon, inquiringly. 
 
 " What actress is that ? " 
 
 " Why do you think she is an actress?" asked he 
 in reply, again inserting his single glass and again 
 dropping it immediately. 
 
 " Why ? Well, because she is so striking in ap- 
 pearance." 
 
 " A compliment to the fair damsels of the stage," 
 interrupted Gordon. 
 
 " And because she is here in a restaurant at this
 
 AN AMATEUR CABMAN. 3 
 
 time of the night alone, accompanied only by a 
 maid." 
 
 " Arguing thereby the possession of an acute 
 observation upon your part," he commented. 
 
 "Well, who is she?" 
 
 " The reliance you place upon my general infor- 
 mation is touching. However, it is misplaced. I 
 don't know who she is. But I am willing to bet 
 she is not an actress with any one." 
 
 " Why?" 
 
 " Because she is too conscious of the attention 
 she is attracting from those in the room, and more- 
 over embarrassed by it. Take my word for it, she 
 is a private lady not accustomed to be on public 
 exhibition." 
 
 " Well if she is not an actress, who is she ? " 
 
 " Again that inexhaustible reservoir my infor- 
 mation fails to respond to drafts upon it. I don't 
 know. I never saw her before. But why all this 
 interest ? What has she done ? " 
 
 " Nothing, except to drive here in a hired cab," 
 said one who had not yet spoken. " We were all 
 standing here when she drove up, and started a dis- 
 cussion as to who and what she was." 
 
 "The town is sadly dull when you are driven to 
 such desperate straits for amusement," said Gordon. 
 
 "' Dizzy' is trying to screw his courage up to 
 speak to the fair unknown," said another, " but it 
 slips down before he can force it up to the sticking- 
 place." 
 
 " Bet you a bottle, not one of you dare do it," 
 cried the one called ' Dizzy,' a blonde youth with 
 pink cheeks, much undersized. 
 
 " There's a chance, Jack," said another. " I'm 
 stumped. I don't dare do it." 
 
 " Oh, that's an easy bet and too easily won," 
 replied Gordon. " True, you may have to explain 
 the little affair afterward at the station-house, but
 
 4 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 you could win your bet just the same. But, 
 ' Dizzy,' I'll bet you a half-dozen I drive the lady 
 home." 
 
 " Oh, oh, oh ! " cried several voices. 
 
 " Drive her away from this restaurant ? " 
 
 " Drive her away from this restaurant. Do you 
 think I'm a policeman ? No, I'll drive away with 
 her." 
 
 " That's what I mean. You will drive away from 
 this restaurant with her, to her home ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Oh, come, that's a little too much. I know 
 your audacity, but " 
 
 " Do you refuse the bet ? " 
 
 " Refuse it ? No, if you insist upon it. It will 
 do you good to have to pay for your bluffing once 
 in a while." 
 
 " I'm not blurring." 
 
 " You say you don't know her." 
 
 " I said so, and it's the truth. I never saw her 
 before." 
 
 " All right, I'll take the bet. The wine to be 
 opened here to-night." 
 
 " Very well. I shall insist that every one shall 
 go out of sight except the one ' Dizzy ' chooses to 
 see that I carry out the bet." 
 
 " All right. ' I'll choose Will Robb." 
 
 " I'm satisfied," said Gordon. " Now please all 
 go except Robb ; I see that the fair lady is prepar- 
 ing to pay her bill." 
 
 The young men all hurried away, so as not to 
 spoil the sport. 
 
 Gordon, closely followed by Robb, walked down 
 the street a short distance to where a number of 
 cabmen were standing. 
 
 " Where's Herrick ? " he asked. 
 
 " Here I am, sor," said a liveried driver, coming 
 from behind his cab ; seeing who it was, he added
 
 AN AMATEUR CABMAN. 5 
 
 with a grin of recognition, " How are ye this ev'- 
 nin,' sor ? " 
 
 " I want your rig, Herrick." 
 
 *' To drive it, sor." 
 
 " Yes. On the old terms. Double fare, and I 
 pay all damage." 
 
 " All right, sor," replied the cabman, with a 
 pleased grin ; " but it's the rattlin' jintlemin that 
 ye are." 
 
 " Never mind what I am, Herrick, but hurry up 
 with the livery and get the horse stripped," said 
 Gordon, taking off his top-coat. 
 
 Herrick opened the door and took from the box 
 under the seat a livery coat, and gave it to Jack, who 
 quickly donned it. Jack's coat was put in the box 
 with his crush hat, and a silk hat with a broad band 
 given him in exchange. 
 
 Robb, who was watching with amazement the 
 transformation of the stylish young man of fashion 
 into a dashing cabman, finally comprehended Jack's 
 purpose. 
 
 " It's a .great lark, Jack," he said laughingly, 
 " but an awful roast on ' Dizzy '." 
 
 " Oh no, it's not," replied Gordon. " I bet him 
 I would drive the lady home. I did not say I would 
 ride with her as a companion. Besides, there is a 
 risk. I've got to secure her for a fare or I will 
 lose the bet." 
 
 " Oh, I don't object. I shall content myself with 
 reporting the fact." 
 
 " All right. You must follow in another cab." 
 
 " Certainly. But be lively, the woman is moving." 
 
 Gordon mounted the box, and taking the reins 
 drove up immediately in front of the restaurant 
 door. 
 
 Herrick, aided by the conversation, divined 
 Jack's purpose, and assisted him by soliciting the 
 lady as she issued from the hotel,
 
 6 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 A cab was what the lady wanted and she entered 
 it. The maid was about to follow her, when her 
 mistress said : 
 
 "You go home by the street-car, Ellen. I will 
 be there as soon as you. Wait for me at the door." 
 
 Then to Herrick she said : 
 
 " Fifty-fourth street." 
 
 " Fifty-fourth street and Broadway," called out 
 Herrick to his substitute as he slammed the door. 
 Gordon touched the horse smartly and drove off at a 
 rattling pace, Robb closely following in another 
 cab. 
 
 As they turned into Broadway the young men 
 were standing on the sidewalk awaiting develop- 
 ments. One caught a glimpse of the lady. 
 
 " There goes the woman now," he cried, " but I 
 do not see Jack." 
 
 A moment later Robb passed, and was seen mak- 
 ing excited gesticulations from the window and 
 pointing to the preceding cab. 
 
 " And there's Robb following," cried another. 
 
 " Then Jack must be in the first one," said the 
 one who had spoken. " ' Dizzy,' go in and order 
 a half-dozen on ice." 
 
 " He's got the gall of a telegraph company," 
 was ' Dizzy's ' only reply. 
 
 In the mean time Gordon drove rapidly up Broad- 
 way until nearly opposite a well-known theater, 
 when he felt the check-strap vigorously pulled, and 
 bending down to receive his order, he found his 
 fare was endeavoring to attract the attention of a 
 man on the sidewalk who was in the act of parting 
 from another. 
 
 He drove close to the curbstone and assisted his 
 fare in calling the man wanted, who responded by 
 lifting his hat in a polite, though pronounced, 
 manner, even with a flourish, and went to the cab 
 window. *
 
 AN AMATEUR CABMAN. 7 
 
 " I have been searching everywhere for you since 
 I received your note," said the lady. 
 
 " I did not expect that," he replied coldly. 
 
 " Won't you get in ?" she asked. " I want to 
 talk to you." 
 
 " No ; it's useless," he replied. " There is noth- 
 ing to talk about. You have my ultimatum." 
 
 This was said in so loud a tone that Gordon 
 could not avoid hearing, and he was astonished 
 both at the tone and manner. 
 
 After a moment's silence, the lady leaned for- 
 ward and said : 
 
 " You know it is impossible wholly impossible. 
 Where am I to get what you demand ? I have 
 told you how I am circumstanced." 
 
 " That is not my lookout." 
 
 " Have you no mercy ? " 
 
 " None whatever," said the man, without a 
 change from his cold though courteous manner. 
 
 " I implore you," continued the lady, " not to 
 push me to extremes to have mercy upon me 
 to give me longer time. I have told you what I 
 could and would do. The amount is greater in the 
 end, if it is longer in payment." 
 - " No, I must have the amount in one sum." 
 
 "I tell you it is simply impossible for me to ob- 
 tain it. You make demands beyond my ability to 
 comply. You know it well. What can you gain 
 by driving me to ruin ? If you expose me, not 
 only will you not obtain the sum you demand, but 
 you will have closed forever a very considerable 
 source of income to you. As for this amount you 
 might as well ask of me the wealth of the Van- 
 derbilts." 
 
 " You wear on your person to-night three times 
 the value of the sum I want." 
 
 " You ask me to commit a robbery. You know 
 the jewels are not mine. "
 
 8 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Bah ! you can pledge them and conveniently 
 lose them until you can conveniently find them 
 again." 
 
 " You are heartless. Don't go too far. You 
 may lose all." 
 
 " I told you it was useless to talk. It is the same 
 thing over again. Now then, Lucy, for the last time 
 I say to you, if you do not produce the amount I 
 demand, forthwith goes the package to Dr. Sher- 
 man. I'll give you until to-day is Tuesday I'll 
 give you until Thursday night to comply with my 
 demand ; if you fail, then on Friday morning the 
 package shall be in his hands." 
 
 " I beg I entreat I 
 
 " Now please stop that. I'll not have another 
 word with you on the subject." 
 
 He stepped back to show that on his part the 
 interview was ended. 
 
 The lady leaned so far forward that her head 
 was entirely out of the window, and she spoke in 
 tones of intense passion : 
 
 " You have gone too far, Cyril Renfrew. 1 will 
 not give you one penny more. Do your worst. It 
 means ruin to me, but death to you. So surely as 
 you expose me, so surely will I -kill you." 
 
 The man on the pavement laughed incredulously, 
 and lifting his hat said : 
 
 " Drive on, cabbie." 
 
 Cabbie did drive on, and in intense indignation 
 and amazement. He had recognized the man as 
 an actor of the second class playing at one of the 
 Broadway theaters, who had an unsavory reputa- 
 tion for gallantry. 
 
 " Cyril Renfrew'," he muttered. " Cyril Renfrew 
 indeed ! More likely John Stubbs. So this is 
 Cyril Renfrew's measure, is it ? A blackmailer. I've 
 often wondered where he got his money to support 
 his pretensions. But who is she ? Lucy. But
 
 AN AMATEUR CAB MAX. 9 
 
 Lucy what ? Hang it ! I'd like to help the poor 
 creature. But how ? I cannot speak to her in this 
 disguise, for I cannot explain. I don't care what 
 the merits of the case may be, I'd like the chance 
 of choking this rascal. I presume the package is 
 a package of letters she has written him in all 
 trustfulness, and now he is threatening to use them 
 to her ruin if she does not give up liberally. I will 
 help her, hang me if I don't. I will find out where 
 she lives to-night, and call upon her to-morrow." 
 
 Thus were his thoughts running, when he was 
 recalled to his amateur cab-driving by feeling the 
 check-strap again. This time the lady wanted to 
 alight, and so he drove to the curbstone ; before he 
 could descend from his box, she had opened the 
 door and stepped out.. She thrust a bill in his 
 hand, saying : 
 
 " Here is more than enough for your fare." 
 
 " But this is not Fifty-fourth street," he said in 
 surprise. 
 
 " It is as far as I am going," she replied, and with- 
 out waiting further, she darted down the cross- 
 street, in the direction of Fifth Avenue. 
 
 Gordon leaped on the box. He had crossed to 
 the upper corner, and so, before he could follow 
 her, he was compelled to turn his horse and thus lost 
 time. When he did get into the cross- street, his 
 late fare had vanished. He drove rapidly to Fifth 
 Avenue, but failing to obtain a glimpse of her, 
 returned to the place where he had taken the 
 cab. 
 
 Gordon had barely time to exchange the livery 
 for his own clothes, when Robb drove up. He 
 tumbled out, laughing heartily. 
 
 " By George, Jack, it is hard lines, but you've 
 lost the wine." 
 
 " Why ? " He had forgotten that Robb had fol- 
 lowed him.
 
 10 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Why ? " repeated Robb. " Because you did 
 not drive her home, that's why. She dodged you. 
 I saw her come out from under a high stoop after 
 you passed, and scud down the street like a scared 
 cat. She did not propose to be tracked by the 
 cabman who drove her." 
 
 " I wish you had followed her," said Gordon. 
 " Did you know the fellow she stopped to talk with 
 on Broadway ? " 
 
 "Yes, Cyril Renfrew. He's a fine whelp uni- 
 versally detested so much so that his brother 
 actors will not associate with him. She must be 
 connected with the profession after all." 
 
 " No," replied Jack, " I am now convinced she 
 is not." 
 
 " What did she have to. say to him ? " 
 
 " Nothing pleasant, I should judge, by their tone." 
 
 "Well," replied Robb, " it's a curious adventure. 
 But, my boy, you have lost the wine." 
 
 "Yes," Jack admitted. "We'll find the boys 
 and buy it. Here, Herrick, here's a bill the lady 
 gave me." He looked at it. " Hello ! you're in 
 luck ; it's a five-dollar bill two more than you 
 expected. Good-night." 
 
 He joined his friends, and over the wine made 
 merry ; but he said not a word to indicate he 
 had heard the conversation between his fare and 
 Renfrew.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MR. RENFREW AT HOME. 
 
 ON the morning following his interview with 
 Lucy on the street, Cyril Renfrew rose late. 
 After a leisurely bath, he contemplated the 
 idea of breakfast, but as he had dined late and lib- 
 erally in the small hours, he dismissed it with a 
 grimace of disgust. 
 
 On the table in the center of the room he found 
 a manuscript. He took it up and examined it. 
 
 " Ah ! My part in the new comedy," he said 
 aloud. " Rot, I expect. They never give me any- 
 thing good if they can help it. Well, it must be 
 studied." 
 
 He drew up an easy-chair to the window. 
 
 The apartments occupied by the actor were ele- 
 gantly, even luxuriously, furnished. There was 
 much curious and rare bric-a-brac about, of the 
 kind one only collects after many years, and argu- 
 ing for the possessor no little taste and knowledge. 
 There were pictures on the walls evidencing artis- 
 tic appreciation. . 
 
 The man himself was certainly over thirty, tall, 
 slim, and dark. His face was unquestionably a 
 handsome one, though a keen physiognomist would 
 not have found it attractive. Evidently giving 
 much attention to his apparel, there was still some- 
 thing outre about it. Striking as he was, he 
 was too pronounced to be refined, and too preten- 
 tious to be gentlemanlike. 
 
 The apartments were in a house designed for the
 
 12 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 occupancy of bachelors alone ; consequently there 
 were few visitors of the other sex, and such as 
 there were created remark and unpleasant com- 
 ment. 
 
 That is the reason why the janitor so particu- 
 larly noted the appearance of a lady, closely veiled, 
 who inquired for the location of Mr. Renfrew's 
 room. He remembered also, as he told upon a 
 subsequent interesting occasion, that it was near 
 the hour of twelve, for his wife had called him to 
 his mid-day meal just as he turned from the lady, 
 after having ascended the stairs with her and 
 pointed out the door. 
 
 Renfrew, too, might have told upon the same 
 occasion, if he could have done so, that it was not 
 far from the noon hour, for a little French clock 
 on the mantel chimed the half-hour after twelve, 
 just as a rap on the door caused him to call out, 
 " Enter ! '' 
 
 The door opened, and a closely veiled lady 
 walked in. 
 
 The actor, rising quickly from his semi-recum- 
 bent position, bowed politely, for it was his habit to 
 make on all occasions the pretense of great deference 
 to the weaker sex. The lady threw up her veil, and 
 he discovered the features of the lady with whom 
 he had talked the evening previous. That the 
 actor was not pleased by the visit, he showed by 
 the heavy frown wrinkling his b'row. 
 
 " You honor me with an early visit," he said. 
 
 " Yes," replied his visitor ; " I determined to 
 make one more appeal to you to make one more 
 effort to save myself from the ruin confronting me." 
 
 "You take a despondent view of things this 
 morning," he replied. " Since you are here, per- 
 mit me to offer you a seat." 
 
 He placed a chair before her, but as she was 
 about to seat herself in it, checked her, saying :
 
 MR. RENFRE W AT HOME. 1 3 
 
 " It is proper for me to say to you before you sit 
 down, and before I close the door, that, in accept- 
 ing my hospitality, you are seriously compromising 
 yourself." 
 
 The lady bent upon him an indignant look. 
 
 " I have suffered much injury at your hands, 
 Jacob, but I think that in my distress you might 
 spare me your insults." 
 
 " Upon my word no insult was intended. I 
 spoke but the truth 
 
 " The truth," she scornfully interrupted. 
 
 " Yes, the truth. I suppose it is not testimony 
 as to the correctness of my life, when I say that 
 any woman that visits my apartments is compro- 
 mised. But I should at least be given credit for 
 the sincerity of my motives in warning you, before 
 retreat in good order is made impossible." 
 
 " What is the danger of compromising myself in 
 this manner, compared with the ruin you are so 
 cruelly forcing upon me ? " 
 
 " I presume I interpret that remark correctly 
 when I assume that the interview is to continue 
 and the door is to be closed ?" 
 
 She answered by seating herself in the chair he 
 had placed for her. 
 
 He closed the door. 
 
 " Now then," he said lightly, "the consequences 
 be on your own fair head. If scandal smirches 
 your garments, the fault will not rest upon my con- 
 science. Having performed my duty, let us to 
 business. To what do I owe the honor of this 
 early visit ? " 
 
 " You must surely know," said the lady impa- 
 tiently. " There can be but one thing. Oh, Cyril ! 
 I beg you not to drive me to exposure. Be care- 
 ful ! Have some pity on me ! " 
 
 " ' Still harping on my daughter, eh ? ' " 
 
 " How can you be so heartless so cruel ? Surely
 
 14 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 I have not wronged you in the smallest way, in all 
 my life." 
 
 "' Necessity knows no law.' 'Where the devil 
 drives needs must.' But I'll not vex you with old 
 saws. It is because I must have that amount be- 
 fore the end of the week, or be ruined myself." 
 
 " But, Jacob ' 
 
 " Please do not repeat that plebeian name 
 again." 
 
 " Well, then, Cyril, I have told you, and most 
 truthfully, that it is utterly impossible for me to 
 obtain it." 
 
 " Borrow it." 
 
 "Borrow? Where am I to borrow so large a 
 sum as two thousand dollars ? From whom ?" 
 
 " A young lady so beautiful, and moving in such 
 wealthy circles, should have no difficulty." 
 
 " You mock me." 
 
 " Indeed, I do not. Beauty in distress is power- 
 ful." 
 
 " You know I can do nothing of the kind. I 
 have but one source of income, and that the gener- 
 ous allowance Dr. Sherman makes me. You have 
 drawn so heavily upon it this quarter that I have 
 been compelled to run in debt with my dressmaker. 
 And I tremble lest Dr. Sherman should hear of it. 
 I told you long ago that he had forbidden me to 
 exceed my allowance or to contract debts." 
 
 " There are certain young and charming ladies 
 of my acquaintance, with but one-half your beauty, 
 who contrive to add to their incomes very consid- 
 erable amounts." 
 
 Jhe lady looked upon him inquiringly, but saw 
 upon his face the sardonic reflection of his infa- 
 mous meaning. 
 
 Intense scorn and loathing were depicted upon 
 her countenance. She leaned forward, her face 
 fairly livid with anger.
 
 MR. RENFRE W AT HOME. 15 
 
 " You wretch ! " she cried, " I would not have 
 believed there could exist a man so despicable so 
 vile ! " 
 
 " See here," he exclaimed, stung into brutality 
 by her withering contempt, " none of that. You 
 have got to get that money, and I don't care how. 
 It will not do for an adventuress who lives by her 
 dishonesty to fling mud. You must not fling it at 
 me." 
 
 " Blackmailer," she hissed at him as she stood 
 erect. 
 
 " Yes, blackmailer if you please," he replied 
 angrily. " But who are you who assume so much 
 virtue ? " 
 
 " A very unhappy woman, who when a poor, 
 weak, unsophisticated girl was urged into a wrong 
 a crime, by you a crime which she has repented 
 every one of her miserable days, and who is too 
 cowardly to face the consequences of exposure." 
 
 " I want no maudlin sentiment," said Cyril. 
 "The facts are plain. We conspired together to 
 deceive that old fool. I jeopardized my own 
 safety and reputation, and I propose to have my 
 share of the plunder. Do you suppose I put my 
 head in the lion's mouth, that you might revel in 
 luxury and wealth and I not to share in it ?" 
 
 " You you jeopardized yourself ! Yes, perhaps 
 you did, but you took good care to recover all 
 your letters and all evidence against yourself, 
 while retaining all of mine. You have had your 
 share all of it. I conspired with a jackal a 
 hyena." 
 
 " Your tongue is sharp, my beauty," returned 
 the actor. " But this interview has lasted too long. 
 I will end it. To-morrow night by twelve I must 
 have two thousand dollars, and, by Heaven ! I will 
 have it. No pleadings, no tears, no bad names 
 will swerve me from my purpose."
 
 1 6 * JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " You must look elsewhere than to me for it. 1 
 will not, because I can not, give you one cent." 
 
 " Then the consequences be on your own head. 
 Friday morning your letters and a statement of the 
 fraud will go to Dr. Sherman." 
 
 " You will commit a murder," said the girl. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Twelve o'clock to-morrow night will find me 
 dead. I will not live to witness my disgrace. The 
 act will be mine, the responsibility yours." 
 
 " Bah ! You were going to kill me last night. 
 Now it is yourself." 
 
 " Then it was passion ; now it is purpose." 
 
 " Neither of your threats frightens me. You will 
 end up by sending the money." 
 
 " Never," cried the girl passionately. " The 
 end must come. As well now as ever. To live 
 like this, with the fear of exposure on the one side 
 and dread of extortion on the other, is worse than 
 death. Then there is the remorse. Oh, how bjt- 
 terly one pays for a single false step ! And you, the 
 only blood relative I have on earth that you 
 should treat me so ! " 
 
 " Oh, let us have no acting ! " 
 
 She faced him indignantly, as if about to say 
 something more, but restraining herself she crossed 
 the room and, placing her hand upon the knob of 
 the door, stood a moment, her head bent. Then 
 turning upon the actor a look of deep earnestness, 
 she said in tones low, intense and thrilling : 
 
 " Jacob Myers, for the wrongs you have done 
 me these five years, for the crime you urged me 
 and led me into committing, for the wicked end 
 you are forcing me to make, may Heaven curse you 
 to the end of your days may every pleasure pall on 
 your lips, may failure attend you in everything, 
 may your end be so sudden that you can not pray 
 for forgiveness ! "
 
 MR. RENFREW AT HOME. I? 
 
 She drew the veil over her face, opened the door, 
 and passed out. 
 
 Renfrew watched the door close, and then shrug- 
 ging his shoulders said : 
 
 " How she would capture the house, if she could 
 do that on the stage ! "
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 A MODERN KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 ABOUT the time that the young lady he had 
 driven the night previous was making futile 
 effort to soften the hard heart of Renfrew, 
 Jack Gordon was giving serious thought to her 
 situation. 
 
 His sympathies had been greatly stirred, and he 
 was quite young enough to have the Quixotic 
 desire to rescue this lorn and handsome damsel 
 from the perils by which she was surrounded. 
 
 He had nothing to do. Beyond determining 
 upon the cut of his trowsers and the color of his 
 coat he had no serious duties in life. A prudent 
 and sagacious father had made this condition*for 
 him. During thirty years this father had labored 
 industriously, amassed largely, invested safely, 
 disposed of his business wisely, and then most con- 
 siderately died, so that his son, at an age when life 
 still has illusions, might spend lavishly. 
 
 The son was not without ability, and was indeed 
 well educated. Had necessity pricked him, he 
 could have made a figure in any one of the worlds 
 an American may enter. With his money he had 
 inherited the strong virile sense and shrewdness of 
 his father ; humor, enthusiasm, and imagination 
 from his mother, who had died so early he could 
 not recollect her. 
 
 That he was a young man of fashion and an idler 
 of the town, was due more to the fact that his 
 father had failed to urge him to a profession or an 
 18
 
 A MODKRN KNIGHT ERRANT. 19 
 
 occupation, than to predisposition more to cir- 
 cumstances and associations than to deliberate 
 adoption. At the age of twenty-six the daily 
 routine of dressing and club lounging had become 
 irksome, the sports he and his intimates indulged 
 had begun to pall, and he was seriously contemplat- 
 ing taking to his books again. He had tried all 
 the means of extracting pleasure from life pursued 
 by his kind, and was doubting whether real pleasure 
 was found in the effort. He had aspirations, feeble 
 as yet, for something better. 
 
 His caprice for driving a cab at night was the 
 outcome of his idleness and weariness. It was 
 outside of the routine which was beginning to chafe. 
 He had kept it a secret from his friends, not be- 
 cause he was ashamed of it, but because it was 
 something he could enjoy apart from the rest 
 alone. 
 
 The idea of rescuing the young lady fitted into 
 his humor. Its novelty was fascinating ; the diffi- 
 culty of proceeding attractive and interesting. He 
 did not know who she was, where she lived, what 
 her name was, what her antecedents were, and 
 whether or not she was an adventuress quite as 
 much in the wrong as Renfrew. These made diffi- 
 culties he burned to overcome. 
 
 But under all was the fact, that the girl had 
 awakened in him a great interest, had excited his 
 sympathies. Had he not been idle he would not 
 have nursed the desire to assist her, but dismissed 
 it with a sigh and a wish ; but being idle he nursed 
 it into a resolve. 
 
 Then it occurred to him that in an effort to assist 
 her he might involve himself in a scandal, perhaps 
 a crime. Discretion whispered to him to drop the 
 whole matter, but the idea of danger promised ex- 
 citement. 
 
 As he lingered over his breakfast he balanced
 
 20 JACK GORDON, KX1GHT A'A'A'.-i N7\ 
 
 inclination against discretion, and finally, with a 
 laugh having the quality of apology in it, decided 
 in favor of inclination, and arose from the table 
 determined to enter upon the enterprise at once. 
 
 Indolent from habit, he was capable of great 
 energy when moved to it. A rapid review of the 
 conversation he had overheard the night before, 
 and a contemplation of the end he sought, showed 
 him how absurd, after all, was his enterprise. What 
 did he know ? Who was she ? Lucy. That was all. 
 And who was Dr. Sherman ? And what relation 
 did Lucy bear to him ? And the package ? What 
 was the package ? Letters presumably. It was all 
 very vague. 
 
 He walked around Madison Square while he 
 tried to aid himself by putting the facts in a nar- 
 rative form. 
 
 " Here," he said to himself, " is a man, an actor 
 named Cyril Renfrew, who has in his possession a 
 package of letters, presumably, written, presumably, 
 by a certain Lucy who is a devilish handsome 
 girl, by the way which he threatens to .send to Dr. 
 Sherman and who that duffer is I don't know if 
 she don't give him money, amount unknown ; to 
 send these letters to Dr. Sherman, I wonder who 
 that fellow is ? I presume I can find out is to 
 ruin her. He has blackmailed her in the past. I 
 mustn't forget that, for it is a strong point. This 
 Renfrew is already liable. Good ! There is one 
 pin in. Now, of all the characters in this little 
 drama I only know who Cyril Renfrew is. If Dr. 
 Sherman is anybody, I ought to be able to find him 
 out. Then, perhaps, I can discover Lucy. They 
 must have a close relation of some kind, if a pack- 
 age of her letters in his hands can ruin her. Then 
 if I find that out I can reach her and offer my 
 services. That shall be the programme." 
 
 He set out upon it immediately. But a visit to
 
 A MODERN KNIGHT ERRANT. 21 
 
 the clubs, to the hotels, to the bank parlors, to men 
 largely acquainted with the affairs of New York 
 and its people, failed to give him the slightest clue 
 to Dr. Sherman. No one knew of such a person, 
 and no one he inquired of knew a person named 
 Lucy Sherman. 
 
 " Well," he said in one of his walks, " if I can't 
 find Dr. Sherman, I can't find the Lucy. I'll have 
 to abandon the programme. I can find Renfrew, 
 but he won't tell me if I ask ; besides, I would 
 have to confess I didn't know the girl. 13 y 
 George ! That is an idea." 
 
 He stopped short to consider it. Finally he 
 turned, and walking briskly, said, " That's what I 
 will do. I'll go straight to Renfrew and demand 
 the package I will frighten him into yielding 
 it to me. I can do it if 1 am careful." 
 
 He turned into a fashionable hotel much fre- 
 quented by all kinds of people, including actors. 
 Stepping up to the desk, he asked the clerk if he 
 knew where Renfrew's apartments were, and re- 
 ceiving the desired information, set out at once, 
 and about the time the lady was descending the 
 stairs on leaving Renfrew, crushed by her failure. 
 
 Gordon was quite sensible of the difficulty of his 
 undertaking; of the tact, diplomacy, and adroit- 
 ness requisite for success. He was by no means 
 certain that he would succeed. But if he was to 
 accomplish anything, it must be done quickly, for 
 the lady in distress had but two days of grace, and 
 he was possessed of an undefined fear that if he 
 could not relieve her in time, something tragical 
 would occur. 
 
 So he hurried on, his only plan that of frighten- 
 ing Renfrew by showing him that he had already 
 made himself liable in the eyes of the law.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A GAME OF BLUFF. 
 
 RENFREW only knew Gordon as one of the 
 fashionable young men of the day. He had 
 hardly recovered from the effects of his stormy 
 interview with the unknown Lucy, when Gordon's 
 card was handed him. He observed it with some 
 apprehension a vague premonition of danger 
 though why he could not have told. 
 
 When Gordon entered he greeted him with a 
 cordiality akin to effusiveness. But Jack did not 
 respond in a like manner. He assumed that air of 
 reserve, impassiveness and imperturbability which 
 he had cultivated assiduously all his manhood days, 
 as attributes of a man of the world. These airs 
 served him well in his encounter with the actor. 
 
 " Ah, Mr. Renfrew," he replied in his coldest 
 manner, " you would better reserve your cordiality 
 until you have learned my mission." 
 
 Then inserting his single glass in his eye with 
 great deliberation, he gazed steadily at Renfrew 
 without making further remark. 
 
 The actor visibly paled under this inspection, 
 feeling exceedingly uncomfortable indeed, he 
 showed it in his manner. 
 
 " Easily frightened," was Gordon's mental com- 
 ment. " Cheeky, but not brave." 
 
 " Ah, Renfrew," he continued aloud, with just 
 the suspicion of a drawl in his voice, " you are up 
 to a very nasty game. I do not propose to have 
 many words with you. I am commissioned by the
 
 A GAME OF BLUFF. 23 
 
 lady whose name I shall not insult by mentioning 
 it in your presence, but whom I shall distinguish as 
 the one with whom you talked last night " 
 
 " I talked with a number last night," broke in 
 Renfrew, who had recovered possession of himself 
 in a great degree. " You will have to be more 
 specific." 
 
 " You will be pleased to wait until I have com- 
 pleted my sentence," replied Gordon. "Whom I 
 shall distinguish as the one you talked with on 
 Broadway last night, through a cab window. I am 
 commissioned by Lucy I beg the lady's pardon, 
 for I did not propose to mention the lady's name 
 in your contemptible presence I am commissioned, 
 I say, to demand that package." 
 
 Renfrew was astonished. Within the hour Lucy 
 had left him. Neither at the last interview, nor at 
 any previous interview, had she demanded the re- 
 turn of her letters. This was a new line of attack. 
 Evidently she had gone straight from him to this 
 man. 
 
 " Really," he said with an impudent laugh, " the 
 lady of whose name you are so careful has selected 
 a singular messenger." 
 
 " Yes," replied Jack calmly. " She selected one 
 she knew would succeed in performing the mission." 
 
 Renfrew looked upon the calm, stalwart figure, 
 and felt uneasy. He looked into the face before 
 him, and it was impassive to the last degree. 
 
 " Oh, indeed ! " he finally sneered. " She did not 
 inform me, when she was here an hour ago or less, 
 that she had chosen a representative to conduct 
 the business we have between us." 
 
 Jack needed now all his impassiveness and con- 
 trol. He appreciated fully the danger he stood in 
 of betraying that he was not in the confidence of 
 the unknown lady. What had occurred between 
 her and the actor ? Had they composed matters ?
 
 24 JACK GORDON, K.\IGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Had the actor granted her longer time or accepted 
 her proposition to pay in smaller sums ? If he had, 
 then he was not only likely to make a fool of him- 
 self, but to seriously complicate affairs for the one 
 he was trying to assist. Perhaps she had brought 
 the actor the money he demanded ? If she had, 
 then he could go on and demand the letters. He 
 must be wary, and carefully pick his words. 
 
 " May I ask," inquired Renfrew with mock po- 
 liteness, " what relations you bear to the lady that 
 she confides so delicate a mission to you ? " 
 
 " Yes, you may ask," rejoined Jack, seeking to 
 prolong the scene, in the hopes that Renfrew would 
 say something indicating what had passed between 
 them. " Yes, you may ask and I may reply, that it 
 is not the same relation borne by Dr. Sherman." 
 
 "That does not answer my question," said Ren- 
 frew with a bluster. 
 
 " Perhaps," replied Jack with calm insolence, 
 " but it is the only answer you will receive." 
 
 " Now see here," exclaimed Renfrew, growing 
 excited and throwing his part, which until this time 
 he had held in his hand, on the table. " You have 
 undertaken a contract you can't perform. You are 
 Lucy's representative, are you ? Well, let me tell 
 you that the agent can not succeed where the prin- 
 cipal has failed. She came with tears, entreaties 
 and heroics ; you come to bulldoze. Well, you will 
 fail as she did." 
 
 The way for Jack was clear now. Renfrew in 
 his excitement had given him knowledge of his 
 grounds. 
 
 " No, I don't think I will," replied Gordon. "I 
 would not be too sure. I didn't come here to fail." 
 
 He crossed the room to the door deliberately, and 
 locking it, took out the key and placed it in his 
 pocket. Then he placed himself in front of the 
 door communicating with the rear room, which was
 
 A GAME OF BLUFF. 25 
 
 Renfrew's sleeping apartment, and looked calmly 
 at the actor. 
 
 " What are you up to ? " asked Renfrew, angrily. 
 
 " I am going to make you give up that pack- 
 age," answered Gordon, carefully adjusting his 
 glass, with a manner Lester Wallack might have 
 envied. 
 
 " Now, my young elude," said Renfrew, both an- 
 gry and frightened, " you unlock that door and 
 go out." 
 
 " No," replied Gordon. " I don't intend to open 
 that door and go out until it pleases me. If I do, 
 it will be to take you with me and hand you over 
 as a blackmailer to the police, of whom there are 
 several on the stairs." 
 
 " Do you want to ruin her reputation ?" exclaimed 
 the actor, thoroughly convinced that Gordon had 
 come from Lucy because of the use of the word she 
 had flung at him in her anger. 
 
 " No," said Gordon. " It is you who want to do 
 that, and I don't intend you shall. Or if you do 
 that, it shall be after you are in prison." 
 
 Renfrew, under the impulse of intense anger, 
 suddenly sprang from his seat and rushed at Gor- 
 don with a blow, which the young man dexterously 
 avoided, and, catching his assailant with a grip and 
 a twist familiar to all expert wrestlers, landed the 
 older man on his back. 
 
 " Don't try any of that with me," said Gordon, 
 holding him down with ease. " It won't pay. You 
 will hurt yourself." Then releasing his grip, he 
 added, " Get up." 
 
 Renfrew, who had realized in the brief struggle 
 the superior strength of the young man and that he 
 was no match for him, got up sullenly and walked 
 to his chair, where he stood glaring at his visitor, 
 who was coolly adjusting his coat, disarranged by 
 his efforts.
 
 26 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Do you suppose I am going to give it up with- 
 out value received ? " the actor said, at length. 
 
 "Yes. It's the only way you can keep out of prison." 
 
 " But 1 must know more about your relations to 
 the girl before I treat with you." 
 
 " You do not need to know anything. All you 
 have to do is to hand over that package." 
 
 " Well, 1 won't do it." 
 
 "Ah ! " said Jack, taking out his watch. " I'll 
 give you exactly three minutes by this watch to 
 make up your mind what you will do. Then, if 
 you refuse. I'll determine whether I will hide you 
 so you can not stand, or pull you downstairs to the 
 police. Are you ready ? Wait till the second-hand 
 gets at the proper place. Now." 
 
 Renfrew glared at him. The absence of anger 
 or emotion on the part of his visitor, his quiet de- 
 termination as well as his great strength, confused 
 and alarmed the actor. 
 
 " One minute is gone," said Gordon with his eye 
 on the second-hand. 
 
 Renfrew thought he knew all the surroundings 
 of the girl, but the introduction of this man as her 
 confidant confounded him. He knew he was on 
 slippery ground. 
 
 " Two minutes are gone." 
 
 He feared that the girl in her desperation had 
 told this man everything, and if so he was in dan- 
 ger. He had counted on her keeping her own 
 secret, and now by confiding in another, and that 
 other a man such as the one before him, she had 
 escaped and beaten him. 
 
 " Three minutes are gone," said Gordon, closing 
 his watch and putting it in his pocket. " Now." 
 
 " I'll give it up," said Renfrew sullenly. 
 
 " You're sensible," replied Gordon. '' It is of 
 no further value to you, and if you didn't, you 
 would be landed in prison."
 
 A GAMR OF BLUFF. 27 
 
 Renfrew went to a cabinet hanging in the corner, 
 and unlocking it, took from it a package and opened 
 it. He stood with his back to his visitor so that 
 the latter could not well see what he was doing. 
 Gordon, watching him closely, became convinced 
 that he was extracting something from the package. 
 
 Not until after he had wrapped up the package 
 again and closed the cabinet door did he present his 
 face to the champion of the unknown fair one in dis- 
 tress. 
 
 " There," he said roughly, tossing the package 
 on the table. " You can restore them to the lady. 
 She may well reward you for this afternoon's work. 
 You are entitled to her favors for your service." 
 
 " I presume you mean that as an insult to both 
 the lady and myself," replied Gordon, as he picked 
 up the package from the table and untied it. " But 
 it is not in your power it is beyond your capacity 
 to insult any one." 
 
 Renfrew did not reply, but watched Gordon 
 stealthily. As he supposed, Jack found a number 
 of letters in a female hand. He carefully counted 
 them. When he had finished, he counted them 
 again. 
 
 " Give me the rest of the papers," he demanded. 
 
 Taken off his guard by the sudden demand, the 
 actor replied : 
 
 "She doesn't know how many there are." 
 
 " I do ; and I want them." 
 
 " How many were there ? " sneered Renfrew. 
 
 " Don't trifle with me," said Gordon. " I'm 
 growing angry. If you don't give them me at 
 once I'll break that cabinet open and take them, 
 not only what I want, but all. the letters of other 
 women, and end your whole blackmailing business." 
 
 " Would you commit a burglary ? " 
 
 " Yes, on such a consummate rascal as you are. 
 Come, at once ! "
 
 28 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 He took up his heavy cane, the handle of which 
 'was solid silver, and stepped up quickly to the 
 cabinet. 
 
 The actor quickly interposed, and throwing open 
 the door took from it three more letters and a 
 folded paper, flinging them at Gordon. 
 
 " There, d you, take them." 
 
 Gordon now felt that he had secured all, and 
 placing them with the others, slowly tied up the 
 whole and put them in his pocket. He then took 
 his hat, and going to the door unlocked it. As he 
 was about to open it, Renfrew said : 
 
 "You have triumphed now. But don't think 
 you have done with me or that the girl has." 
 
 Jack turned quickly and said : 
 
 " You are being treated very leniently. If you 
 speak to that young lady again, or write to her, or 
 hold any communication whatever with her, you 
 will suffer for it." 
 
 Then stepping into the hall, holding the door 
 open, he said : 
 
 " You are not dangerous, Renfrew. You are a 
 fool and a coward. A fool for supposing I would 
 bring an officer in to make a scandal for the lady 
 a coward for letting me bully you. When next 
 you see me don't presume to know me ; if you do 
 I shall be under the painful necessity of knocking 
 you down." 
 
 The actor responded with a suppressed roar of 
 rage, as Gordon passed out and calmly and slowly 
 descended the stairs. 
 
 " Now," thought he, " to find the lady and 
 restore to her the package. And I must be expedi- 
 tious." 
 
 As he reached the foot of the stairs, a lady 
 dressed in black and closely veiled stepped through 
 the outer door into the hall. She looked about
 
 A GAME OF BLUFF. 29 
 
 her in a hesitating manner, as if not certain which 
 way to go. 
 
 The janitor was not at his post. 
 
 Gordon quickly judged that she was young by 
 her figure and movements, for he could not see her 
 features through the thick folds of her crape veil. 
 
 She made a quick step or two forward, when she 
 perceived Gordon descending the stairs and then 
 stopped suddenly and abruptly presented her back 
 to him. 
 
 At this moment a lad came forth from a hidden 
 recess, and though she spoke in a low voice Jack 
 heard her inquire for the apartments of Mr. 
 Renfrew. 
 
 The boy immediately led the way. 
 
 Gordon passed on to the outer door and turned 
 to look at the lady again. 
 
 " I wonder if that is the fair Lucy returning for 
 a second attempt ? " he asked himself. " If it is, she 
 has a surprise in store for her. And Renfrew ! " 
 He almost laughed aloud. " But I don't think it 
 is. Lucy was taller and slighter, I think. Another 
 victim, perhaps." 
 
 By this time the lady had reached the head of 
 the stairs. She turned and looked back. 
 
 Gordon went out into the street.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " MAMA JAMIESON." 
 
 JACK GORDON walked up the street entirely 
 pleased with himself. His Quixotic enterprise 
 had terminated in the most successful manner. 
 Now that it had been accomplished, it did not 
 appear one-half as foolish and absurd as it did in 
 the morning at breakfast, when he took counsel of 
 his fears. The manner in which he had bullied 
 Renfrew into yielding up the letters increased his 
 own respect for himself, though he admitted that 
 after all Renfrew was very miserable stuff. Over 
 such a coward the triumph was not so great as it 
 would have been over one who had made strong- 
 er resistance. Yet he supposed the truth was 
 the actor was not without intelligence, and saw 
 clearly that he was upon untenable ground the 
 moment he had a man to cope with and not a 
 woman alone, on whose fear and silence he traded. 
 Then he made the sage reflection that nine-tenths 
 of the women who find themselves in a similar 
 predicament could escape their troubles by confid- 
 ing in a trusty male friend. But who was the 
 woman who entered as he was leaving ? Was it 
 the unknown Lucy ? He hoped not ; yet there was 
 something familiar in her form and voice. But 
 who ? Then his thoughts took another direction. 
 He must find the unknown Lucy. He would not 
 delay a moment in this. He would make a call at 
 once on a lady who knew nearly everybody. 
 
 By this time he had reached Broadway, and he 
 
 30
 
 "MAMA JAMIESON." 31 
 
 turned in the direction leading to his own apart- 
 ments. Here he met an acquaintance who put an 
 end to his soliloquizing. 
 
 Mrs. Jamieson, the lady upon whom Jack pro- 
 posed to call at once, was a leader in the circles of 
 fashion and one whose acquaintance was widely 
 extended. She was not only influential in the 
 more exclusive world of what is now called the 
 Four Hundred, of which she was a member by 
 right of birth, but she inclined herself to be agree- 
 able to that much larger class which, having achieved 
 riches, was struggling for recognition. Her hus- 
 band had political aspirations, and she was endeavor- 
 ing to assist him. 
 
 If any one among his friends would know the 
 past, present, and future of New York society it 
 would be Mrs. Jamieson, was Gordon's idea, and 
 besides it was time he called upon her. 
 
 This lady was popular, and cultivated popularity. 
 She was of that age when she had taken on the 
 graces of a matron without losing the charms of 
 youth. She manifested an intense interest in 
 young people's doings, and was the recipient of 
 their confidences. Her pretense of motherly, or 
 elder-sisterly advice, was dangerously near flirta- 
 tion barely escaping it by an assumption of an 
 air of care and protection. To a young man, there 
 is nothing more fascinating than a charming matron 
 of thirty or thirty-five, who manifests an especial 
 interest in his well-being, and who chides with a 
 lenient eye to the follies of youth and advises with 
 a broad recognition of the tendencies of young 
 mankind. 
 
 She sought power and influence, and used such 
 when gained efficiently in the furtherance of 
 the aims of her husband, whom she devotedly 
 loved. 
 
 Young men were, therefore, welcome within her
 
 32 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 doors, and as she was too sagacious to rely wholly 
 upon her own charms, she made her parlors at- 
 tractive to young girls. Her habit of motherly 
 advice, and assumption of care of their right-going, 
 had earned her in her own especial circle the name 
 of " Mama Jamieson." 
 
 Four o'clock in the afternoon of this for Jack 
 stirring day, found him in the parlors of Mrs. 
 Jamieson. She came from the conservatory where 
 his card had been carried to her, and gave him a 
 most gracious welcome. There were, indeed, few 
 women who did not when he presented himself. 
 
 " I ought to have punished you by sending word 
 that I was not at home," she said, holding out to 
 him a very pretty white and dimpled hand. " Do 
 you know how long it is since you called upon 
 me ? " 
 
 " If I am to measure the time by the desire I 
 have had to see you, I should say it was years." 
 
 " Poh. That is not a pretty speech, but a very 
 naughty one," said the little lady, as she settled 
 herself in a low easy-chair and spread out her 
 draperies so that they might fall in becoming folds. 
 
 " Don't sit there," she continued, pointing to one 
 nsar her. " Take this seat, so that I can see your 
 face. I am going to give you a good scolding." 
 
 " For what ? " he answered, as he obeyed her. 
 " I am not conscious of having Eehaved in such a 
 manner as to merit the displeasure of even so ex- 
 acting and puritanical a person as yourself." 
 
 " Is that sarcasm ? " 
 
 " Oh, by no means." 
 
 " No, I don't think it was only an attempt a 
 failure. But you shan't escape." 
 
 " Well, what is the slander ? " 
 
 " Slander, indeed. As if it were possible to 
 slander you. Jack, you are very wicked. What 
 do you mean by driving cabs at night ? "
 
 "MAMA JAMIESON:' 33 
 
 Gordon laughed heartily, but nevertheless he 
 was annoyed. 
 
 " From whom did you receive that bit of impor- 
 tant information ? " he asked. 
 
 " Do you deny it ? " she asked, bending her 
 brown eyes upon him, in which was expressed no 
 little admiration. The wild pranks of young men 
 excite the esteem of women. 
 
 " Oh, I never deny anything, true or false." 
 
 " You mean it is true. Don't you think you 
 ought to be ashamed of yourself ? " 
 
 " It is rather a respectable calling when followed 
 honestly," he replied argumentatively. 
 
 " Pho ! You driving a cab ! " 
 
 " You think perhaps I ought to have pulled it?" 
 said he, assuming great seriousness. " But, you see, 
 the horse couldn't drive." 
 
 " How can you be so absurd ! " said the little 
 lady, laughing, as she laid her head back against 
 the soft cushions of her chair, thus displaying to 
 good advantage the outlines of her charming figure, 
 just losing its daintiness in increasing plumpness. 
 
 " It is neither the driving nor the pulling of the 
 cab you ought to be ashamed of. You know 
 that.' 
 
 "Ah," he replied, in atone of conviction. "It 
 was wearing the livery. But cab-drivers don't 
 wear dress coats in November on their boxes." 
 
 " You willfully misunderstand me," said his 
 mentor. " It was that horrid bet about a defense- 
 less woman, that you monsters should have been 
 ashamed of. One could pass over the cab-driving 
 in you, for you are always doing some absurdly 
 erratic thing. But the bet." 
 
 The thought swept over Jack that perhaps her 
 informant had been the unknown, who had 
 recognized him. 
 
 " The bet led to no indignity to her," he said
 
 34 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 humbly. " What is your interest in it ? Do you 
 know her ? " 
 
 " No. I do not know her. Who is she ? " 
 
 " I do not know. I never saw her before or 
 since." 
 
 " What possessed you to do such a thing ? 
 Doubtless she is a lady ? " 
 
 " I presume she is. Oh, I admit it was not 
 just proper, Mrs. Jamieson, but I wanted to take 
 ' Dizzy ' Lowell down a bit." 
 
 " ' Dizzy ' Lowell ! My precious cousin ! Was 
 he in the disgraceful affair ? " 
 
 "Oh, I did not intend to 'peach' on any of 
 them. I supposed you knew. However, I didn't 
 take him down I lost the bet." 
 
 " Yes, I know, but you ought to have won it. 
 You deserved to for your ingenuity. Will Robb 
 told me all about it to-day at the dog-show. Let 
 me say to you, Jack Gordon, you will soon lose 
 your reputation as being a catch if you are not 
 more careful. Mothers will not care to entrust 
 their daughters for life to an amateur cabman, who 
 insults defenseless women." 
 
 " Isn't that a little hard ? I plead guilty to the 
 amateur .cabmanship, but not to the insult. I sup- 
 pose it wasn't nice to make a lady the subject of a 
 bet, but you must see there was no intention or 
 attempt to annoy the lady." 
 
 " Perhaps," said the lady, doubtfully. " If you 
 are properly penitent I'll look over the offense and 
 still hold open my doors to you. But you must 
 come more frequently to confession than you have 
 of late, or you will be stricken from my roll of 
 eligibles." 
 
 " To find your doors closed to me would be a 
 calamity," replied Jack with proper humility. 
 " But to be stricken from your roll of eligibles 
 would not be an unmixed evil."
 
 "MAMA JAMIESON." 35 
 
 " Indeed ! You are now at the head of the list. 
 Don't you ever intend to marry? " 
 
 " Not so long as you confer upon me the inesti- 
 mable boon of your friendship." 
 
 " Jack, you are growing audacious ; are you 
 going to become dangerous ? I must marry you 
 off. It is time some one undertook your guidance." 
 
 " Oh, don't do that. How have I offended you, 
 that you should threaten to do me such injury ? " 
 
 <4 Now there is another fault of yours cyni- 
 cism. It will do well enough for old men, but in 
 a boy like you it is silly and odious. You posi- 
 tively must come here more frequently, so that I 
 can correct your faults." 
 
 Gordon laughed with pleasure, by no means in- 
 sensible to this delicious kind of petting. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I presume I should go to 
 the dogs, if it were not for your corrective influ- 
 ence." 
 
 " I am sure of it," responded the vivacious little 
 woman, sitting upright and presenting to him a 
 very pretty full face, on which the wrinkles begin- 
 ning to come were skillfully hidden. " Now listen. 
 To-morrow I am going to have a rosebud party. I 
 did not send you cards because I wanted to punish 
 you, and because, principally because, I was doubt- 
 ful about letting you in to browse among so many 
 pretty innocents." 
 
 " Do you think I am an ox that you talk of my 
 browsing ? " 
 
 " Be silent. That was a mere figure of speech. 
 But, since you have been so penitent to-day, I will 
 permit you to come. Indeed, you must come. I 
 insist upon it. If you have made any engagements, 
 you must break them. I command you." 
 
 " Oh, well, if you command, I must obey." 
 
 " Then you will come ? " 
 
 " Certainly. Who will be here ? "
 
 36 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Oh, don't ask me to tell. There is my list on 
 the table ; look that over." 
 
 Gordon took up the book with a new thought. 
 Perhaps he would find the name of Dr. Sherman. 
 He turned to the letter S, but could not find it. 
 He laid the book on the table. 
 
 " Your list is a momentous affair. You do not 
 pretend to say that you visit all these people ? " 
 
 " It is far too large," she replied, " and were not 
 one permitted to make calls by cards, the list could 
 not possibly be kept up." 
 
 " Are you acquainted with a Dr. Sherman ? " 
 asked Jack indifferently, though he eagerly awaited 
 the answer. 
 
 " Dr. Sherman," she repeated, trying to think. 
 " The name is familiar. Oh, yes. No, I do not 
 know him, but Walter talked of him last night 
 as one whose acquaintance he would be glad to 
 cultivate. An elderly gentleman, is he not ? A 
 widower ? Has lived abroad the greater part of 
 his life ? " 
 
 " I do not know. His name was brought to my 
 attention a day or two since, somewhat singularly. 
 Idle curiosity prompted the question." 
 
 " Ask Walter Mr. Jamieson. He will tell you 
 all about him. He belongs to the old Shermans 
 up the river." 
 
 " Ah," thought Jack. " Light at last." 
 
 Before he could reply, four young ladies were 
 ushered in, making considerable noise. Jack recog- 
 nized them all one the young wife of a prominent 
 lawyer of the city, Caleb Van Huyn, famed for her 
 beauty and the circumspection of her life the three, 
 as young ladies of society, who approached as near 
 the standing of the" fast "young woman of English 
 fashionable life, as American girls could and yet 
 preserve their reputations, and known as " Mollie " 
 Lowell, " Lou " Appleby, and " Nell " Robb.
 
 "MAMA JAMIE SON." 37 
 
 " This is neither a descent nor an attack," said 
 Mrs.' Van Huyn to Mrs. Jamieson, who advanced 
 to greet her. " Nor am I responsible for the ap- 
 pearance of these young ladies. We met at the 
 door." 
 
 " No one ever is, the burden is too heavy," said 
 Jack, who had not as yet been observed by the 
 new-comers, for he was somewhat obscured from 
 their view by an easel upon one side and a huge 
 jar upon the other. 
 
 The voice of a man stilled the babel for a brief 
 instant. 
 
 " It is that monster, Jack Gordon," cried Nell 
 Robb. " No one but Jack would dare to be so 
 saucy." 
 
 The three young ladies, with cautious tread and 
 fingers to their lips, after the manner of " The 
 Three Conspirators," embarked upon a voyage of 
 discovery. 
 
 Peering around the easel, the young gentleman 
 was found in elegant ease, nonchalantly playing with 
 his watch-guard, staring at them blandly. 
 
 " ' Mama ' Jamieson's spoiled boy," whispered 
 Miss Lowell. 
 
 " B'ess its pitty 'itty face," murmured Miss 
 Appleby. 
 
 " Leave the child alone, Lou," said Mrs. Jamie- 
 son, who had followed only in time to hear the 
 soothing remark of Miss Appleby. " I've been 
 scolding him to my heart's content. He's 
 punished enough for one day." 
 
 " I hope you are truly penitent," said Mrs. Van 
 Huyn, but not without marked reserve in her speech. 
 
 " Penitent," cried Miss Robb. " Look at that 
 hardened face, and ask if penitence ever sat sorrow- 
 ing upon it." 
 
 " True penitence rests in the heart and not in 
 the face. Miss Robb," replied Jack meekly; and
 
 3 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 then, with a saintly air, " There's where mine 
 rests." 
 
 " And he pretends to have a heart," interjected 
 Miss Lowell. 
 
 " I did, Mollie, darling, until I caught sight of 
 that ravishing head-gear of yours, when it took 
 flight and lodged itself in your sweet keeping 
 penitence and all. And Heaven knows what need 
 you have for penitence for all your sins." 
 
 " Sins ? Oh, yes ; and the last is that same 'rav- 
 ishing head-gear ' which has caught thine eagle 
 eye, Jack. I stood up the milliner, and now Lowell 
 pere refuses to come down, because, forsooth, he 
 says I am extravagant." 
 
 Miss Mollie took the article from her shapely 
 head, shaking her blonde curls with a bewitching 
 toss, and regarded the " head-gear " with affection. 
 
 " Moll," screamed Miss Appleby, " I've an idea. 
 Go at once to papa Lowell and tell him that the 
 ' head-gear ' has captured the immaculate Mr. Gor- 
 don, who is at your feet a tearful swain. He'll pay 
 for seven bonnets like it." 
 
 " Do," said Jack, much interested. " He'll jump 
 at the chance of getting rid of you so easily, and 
 I'll" 
 
 " What will you do ? " said the young lady, dain- 
 tily smoothing the feathers of the bird ornamenting 
 the crest of the hat. " What will you do ? " 
 
 "Jump the town to get away from you." 
 
 " I'll not have any more of such slang in my 
 parlors. Upon my word, Mrs. Van Huyn, the way 
 these young people talk " 
 
 " Must remind you of the elegance of the talk in 
 a Parisian salon," interrupted Jack. 
 
 4< Jack Gordon, I do not " 
 
 " By being so immeasurably unlike it," continued 
 Jack imperturbably. 
 
 " Mrs. Van Huyn," said Mrs. Jamieson, " before
 
 "MAMA JAMIESON." 39 
 
 these wicked creatures came in I had reduced Mr. 
 Gordon to a proper sort of subjection, and now 
 
 " And now you perceive, Mrs. Van Huyn," re- 
 marked Jack, " how ' evil communications corrupt 
 good manners.' " 
 
 " My brother ' Dizzy,' " said Miss Lowell, in 
 anecdotic tone, " who is rather a good fellow 
 
 " Much like his sister," politely interjected Jack. 
 
 " But not over-bright " 
 
 "Wherein he is not like his sister," said Miss 
 Appleby, her strong friend. 
 
 " Said yesterday morning at breakfast," contin- 
 ued Miss Lowell, unmindful of the interruptions, 
 " that he never could understand that old proverb. 
 ' For,' said he, ' here is Jack Gordon, whose man- 
 ners are very good, but whose communications are 
 very evil,' and in support of it he showed me a let- 
 ter he had just received from you." 
 
 Jack looked somewhat foolish and a little red, 
 so that the rest thought his antagonist had scored 
 a point against him. 
 
 "What was it?" cried Miss Robb. "Do tell 
 us ; Jack doesn't want you to, I know, but do, 
 please." 
 
 " No, don't," said Mrs. Jamieson. " I should be 
 afraid to hear it, and I haven't forgotten how to 
 blush. I'd rather tell you of his caprice of last 
 night." 
 
 " I beg you'll not do that, my dear Mrs. Jamie- 
 son," said Jack, rising. " I could stand that letter 
 to ' Dizzy,' but you know I've confessed and re- 
 pented surely you will grant absolution." 
 
 " You shall have it, Jack. Depend upon my 
 discretion." 
 
 " Are you going up the avenue, Jack ? We'll go 
 with you," said Miss Lowell, teasingly. " I know, 
 girls, he don't want us." 
 
 " Oh, I'm sure," said Jack, backing away, " I
 
 40 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 should be delighted, but you see I've promised Mrs. 
 Jamieson to reform and to endeavor to regain my 
 character." 
 
 Then, making his adieus, he vanished before his 
 impertinence could be replied to. 
 
 Mrs. Van Huyn, who had not apparently been 
 greatly edified by this specimen of conversation, 
 which in our latter-day civilization and refinement 
 passes for wit, seized the opportunity to say to Mrs. 
 Jamieson that she had called to solicit cards for 
 that lady's " rosebud " party, for two old and valued 
 friends. 
 
 To this Mrs. Jamieson eagerly replied that she 
 would be greatly pleased, and asked her to give the 
 names and addresses, which she did by laying two 
 cards upon the table, and shortly after took her 
 leave. 
 
 It was quite evident from the manner in which 
 she was treated by all, that Mrs. Van Huyn was a 
 person of consequence. 
 
 After she had left, and the girls had gathered 
 about her, Mrs. Jamieson read the cards. 
 
 " Why," she said, " this is singular. ' Dr. Sher- 
 man.' ' Miss Lucy Sherman.' ' B Hotel.'" 
 
 " What is singular ? " asked Miss Lowell, laying 
 her head affectionately upon Mrs. Jamieson's 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Why, the moment you came in, Jack was ask- 
 ing me if I knew a Dr. Sherman." 
 
 " Miss Lucy Sherman," replied the young lady. 
 " Jack must have a new ' mash.' " 
 
 " Mollie," cried Mrs. Jamieson, in supreme dis- 
 gust, " why will you be so horribly slangy. Your 
 words are not nice." 
 
 " But myself is, and so one balances the other," 
 stopping further chiding with a caress.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PACKAGE. 
 
 /CORDON hurried from Mrs. Jamieson's door 
 \JT with the thought that he would barely have 
 time to dress for a dinner for which he was 
 under engagement, and quickened also by the 
 recollection that he had left the package he had so 
 successfully demanded from Renfrew in the pocket 
 of the coat he had changed before going to call. 
 
 So when he reached his own apartments his first 
 act was to demand the coat he had worn that 
 morning. Crimmins brought it to him, and he hur- 
 riedly searched it, under the apprehension that the 
 letters had disappeared. 
 
 But they were where he had placed them. Tell- 
 ing his man to lay out his clothes for dinner, he 
 took the package to the window and was about to 
 make an examination of its contents. 
 
 Jack was not without a keen sense of honor, and 
 the thought flashed over him that the letters were 
 not his to read ; that to read them was to possess 
 himself of a secret not intended for him. This 
 deterred him, and he sat weighing the. package in 
 his hand, thinking. 
 
 " No," he muttered, " it is not the proper thing 
 to do. Should she be a lady, and it is quite among 
 the possibilities, with a proper sense of propriety, 
 as is quite probable, I would stand in a very poor 
 light before her, should I be unable to say I was 
 absolutely unacquainted with the contents of her 
 letters. Per contra, I would stand very well before 
 her. My interference into her affairs was, after all 
 
 41
 
 42 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 is said, a piece of presumption which can be jus- 
 tified only by the spirit under which it was under- 
 taken a sincere desire to aid her to escape from 
 that rascal. To read them now would be to rob me 
 of all the credit of that performance, would reduce 
 me to the level of that scamp, and beside would 
 place me in possession of the same power to hold 
 over her, whether I used it or not, and that would 
 put an end to all the gratitude I might naturally 
 expect from her. No, I'll not read them." 
 
 " Crimmins." he said aloud to his man, "bring 
 the sealing-wax." 
 
 Lighting the gas, he sealed the package, saying : 
 
 "You see, I am sealing up this package after 
 having taken it from my pocket unopened." 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied his man, much interested in 
 the act, and quicklydisappointed when he heard 
 no more of it. 
 
 Gordon, completing the sealing, placed it in a 
 small safe he had in his rooms, and then proceeded 
 with his dressing. 
 
 At the same hour that Gordon was debating with 
 himself as to whether or not he should possess 
 himself of the secret of the fair unknown, in an up- 
 town hotel a young woman was seated upon a rug 
 in front of an open fire with a small trunk beside 
 her, the door of her room locked. She was weep- 
 ing, the tears fast flowing down her face. 
 
 The clock on the mantel chimed the hour. 
 
 She looked up and said sadly : 
 
 " The last day but one goes swiftly." 
 
 Then she again busied herself with her occu- 
 pation. 
 
 This consisted of taking from the trunk letters, 
 old papers, the accumulations of the past five years. 
 
 As she read each one she threw it upon the fire. 
 Sometimes she lingered over one as if loath to 
 destroy it, but in the end it fed the flames.
 
 THE PACKAGE. 43 
 
 Finally the trunk was emptied of everything save 
 a small box. She lifted it from the trunk and 
 opened it. 
 
 " This has been fatal to me," she said aloud. 
 " Oh, Lucy, Lucy, your inheritance was a fatal one. 
 But for the possession of this box 1 would never 
 have been led into that miserable act. You meant 
 it as a token of your affection ; it has become a 
 curse. It has persuaded me into crime ; it has 
 made my young life miserable ; it has brought me 
 face to face with death. Little did you, or did I, 
 think when I received it from your poor wasted 
 hands it would bring me such evil. It is far worse 
 than Pandora's box, for I have no hope. I'll leave 
 it behind me." 
 
 She put it back into the empty trunk. 
 
 She sat for a long time on the rug, her hands 
 tightly clasped upon her knees, staring into the fire. 
 At last she murmured : 
 
 " I presume it is a just punishment for so great 
 a crime. And yet I was so young, so inexperienced. 
 I had but one to consult, and he an enemy who 
 tempted me. I suppose what I ought to do is to 
 go at once and confess everything. But I can not, 
 I dare not. I could not endure his scorn and con- 
 tempt. He has come to love me as a daughter. 
 And he never forgives. He would turn me into 
 the street, and I could not endure my fall. No, I 
 prefer to die." 
 
 She rose from where she was crouching, and 
 going to her writing-table, drew some papers before 
 her, took her pen and dipped it into the ink. 
 
 She wrote hurriedly these words : 
 
 " Before I die " 
 
 Then she threw her arms upon the table, and 
 burying her head in them, she wept bitterly, her 
 whole frame convulsed with her sobs. 
 
 A rap at the door disturbed her.
 
 44 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 It was the maid announcing that dinner was 
 about to be served. 
 
 " Tell my father," she said, controlling herself to 
 answer, "that I am unwell too unwell to dine. 
 Ask him to excuse me." 
 
 Then she said to herself, " I must hasten before 
 I am again disturbed." 
 
 She returned to her writing, driving her pen with 
 feverish haste. 
 
 It was Lucy, preparing to end her life.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GORDON'S SENSATION. 
 
 WHEN a man of affairs has achieved something 
 of which he is proud, he is apt to indulge 
 himself the following morning, while lying 
 comfortably in bed, by reviewing with satisfaction 
 the events which have given him pleasure, before 
 turning out to encounter again the struggle of 
 life. 
 
 In so far as Gordon indulged himself with re- 
 viewing his triumph over Renfrew, the morning 
 after, he was a man of affairs. 
 
 Crimmins, his valet, having looked in upon him 
 and perceived that his " gent'man " was wide 
 awake, brought him the morning paper, which 
 Gordon proceeded to lazily look over. 
 
 As he ran his eye up one column and down an- 
 other, his attention was arrested by the heading, 
 " A MYSTERIOUS MURDER." 
 
 "They are always killing one another in this 
 town," he said with a yawn. " One would think 
 they would soon depopulate it." 
 
 The next line caught his eye, " An Actor 
 Killed in his Room." 
 
 " If it were that fellow, Renfrew," he continued, 
 " it wouldn't be so bad." 
 
 He read the next line. Now his interest was 
 fully aroused. He sat upright in his bed. 
 
 " By Jove, it is." He read hurriedly: 
 
 "Last evening," the article began, "when it was about 
 time for the curtain to be lifted upon the peiformance at the 
 
 45
 
 46 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Theater, the stage manager, Mr. L , discovered that one of 
 the actors, who bore an important part in the comedy now 
 playing, was not yet in his room. The missing actor was not 
 required to' be on the stage until near the close of the first act, 
 but it is a rule of the theater that every one shall be ready to 
 'go on,' when the orchestra is ' rung in.' 
 
 " Inasmuch as Mr. Cyril Renfrew, the name of the missing 
 actor, had narrowly escaped responding to his ' cue ' to ' enter,' 
 some weeks previously, alleging as a reason that he had in a 
 nap, which he took every afternoon, overslept himself , Mr. L 
 feared a similar mishap had occurred, and determined to send 
 to his room, as it was ' hard by,' as the old dramas have it. The 
 messenger on arriving at Mr. Renfrew's room knocked, but re- 
 ceived no response. Trying the door and finding it would open, 
 he entered. The light from the street enabled him to see the 
 form of a man in a chair, evidently asleep, for his head rested 
 on his breast. He spoke, but received no answer ; he went to 
 the chair and shook the man, but was not heeded. Becoming 
 frightened he lit the gas, and found the actor was dead, a 
 bui let-hole in his head just above the temple, from which the 
 brain was slowly oozing. 
 
 " On the floor lay a pistol, ivory-handled. 
 
 "Now thoroughly alarmed, he made a great outcry. A 
 neighbor rushed in, a Mr. Tyrell, member of the Produce Ex- 
 change, and the janitor came running upstairs- The janitor's 
 name is William Doolan. The messenger, whose name is 
 Charles Crowley, hurried back to the theater with the sad 
 tidings. 
 
 " The janitor informed the police authorities." 
 
 After giving a minute description of the room, 
 the article went on : 
 
 "It is known that Mr. Renfrew did not leave his room 
 at all yesterday, and when killed still wore his slippers. He 
 had during the day three visitors. First a lady : then a young 
 man ; and finally a lady dressed in black. Both women were 
 closely veiled. These persons did not visit together. The 
 first lady and the young man were seen by the janitoi ; the 
 young man and the second lady were seen by the janitor's son 
 Jimmie a bright lad of fifteen. All are unknown. One of 
 the three committed the murder. Perhaps one of the two, for 
 it is by no means certain that the first and second women were 
 not the same. 
 
 " Mr. Tyrell, who occupies the apartments opposite to those 
 of the dead man, says that when he left his rooms about one
 
 GORDON'S SENSATION. 47 
 
 o'clock in the afternoon, he heard Renfrew's voice, and the 
 tone indicated that he was angry. This must have been dur- 
 ing the first woman's call. Mr. Tyrell says that when he re- 
 turned about half-past three or a little before, he heard in the 
 actor's room two voices one Renfrew's, still angry, and the 
 other a woman's voice, and that was even still more angry. 
 
 " The boy Jimmie says that having been sent upstairs about 
 two, or a quarter after two, by his father on an errand, as he was 
 passing Mr. Renfrew's room he heard a scuffle and a heavy fall. 
 Then he heard these words : ' It won't pay. You'll hurt 
 yourself. Get up.' He thought someone was skylarking." 
 
 " By Jove ! " cried Jack, much interested, " that 
 was me." 
 
 " The boy says the tone was not angry " 
 " No," said Jack, " I wasn't angry." 
 
 "and that the voice was not that of Mr. Renfrew, conse- 
 quently it must have been that of his visitor, and the words 
 must have been addressed to the actor." 
 
 "By the combined genius of the boy and the re- 
 porter," commented Jack, " an indisputable fact 
 has been arrived at. Logic is a strong thing." 
 
 The reporter then devoted some space to the 
 murdered man : 
 
 " Mr. Renfrew has not enjoyed a good reputation. His 
 acquaintances say that he was perpetually in trouble with 
 women, carrying on mysterious intrigues, and some do not 
 hesitate to say that these were pressed for pecuniary purposes. 
 It is thought by some that his real name was Jacob Myers." 
 
 " I could give some testimony on that head my- 
 self," said Jack, interrupting himself. 
 
 " That he was unpopular with his professional brethren is 
 an open secret. A prominent actor, who has played with 
 Mr. Renfrew frequently, said last night, ' Renfrew was a bad 
 egg-' " 
 
 " I agree with the prominent actor," said Jack. 
 
 " ' He \vas universally detested by his brothers and sisters of 
 the stage.' "
 
 48 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " I have the greatest respect for the brothers and 
 sisters of the stage. He was a cur," again com- 
 mented Jack. 
 
 " ' I am only telling what everyone knows that he had not a 
 male friend.'" 
 
 " My respect for my species is increasing," said 
 Jack. " The world is not hopelessly lost." 
 
 " 'Renfrew possessed no little ability he was more than a 
 fair actor and had it in him to reach the higher walks, but we 
 were all .^o convinced of his despicable practices in getting 
 wealthy young girls into a compromising correspondence with 
 him, and then bleeding them as the price of his silence, that we 
 thought he was using a noble calling for the purpose of con- 
 ducting his nefarious business, and regarded him as a disgrace 
 to the profession.' " 
 
 " Prominent actor, I salute thee," said Jack, sit- 
 ting up straight in his bed and performing a mili- 
 tary salute, " Likewise the noble calling." 
 
 " 'If the truth is ever come at, I shall be surprised if it is not 
 found that at last he met one who would not tamely submit 
 and thus lost his life.' 
 
 " At all events," said the reporter in conclusion, " the affair 
 is at present shrouded in mystery. Captain Lawton of the 
 detective force is in charge of the affair." 
 
 " By George ! " said Gordon, " wasn't it lucky I 
 got to him before he was killed, or her letters would 
 be in the hands of Captain Lawton, and By Jove ! 
 could it have been my Lucy ? She did threaten to 
 kill him. Thunder! It was to-night at midnight 
 she was to make good or he w;is to send the pack- 
 age to Dr. Sherman. That package, and I've got 
 it. Phew!" He gave a long tthistte. " By George, 
 I'm afraid I'm in this muss. I'll have to take ac- 
 count of stock. Here Griinmius. Gome with my 
 clothes. Quick! I've got business on hand this 
 morning sure enough." 
 
 He hurried though his toilet with a reckless dis-
 
 GORDON'S SENSATION. 49 
 
 regard as to what he would wear, much to the 
 astonishment of his faithful Crimmins, and went 
 out to breakfast and to cogitation. 
 
 Gordon was too clear-headed not to appreciate 
 the predicament he was in. He was, in fact, a 
 great deal troubled over the outlook. Not that he 
 was in fear of any danger to himself, but he saw 
 an embarrassing situation in which he thought he 
 would not figure as a hero. The straightest way 
 out of the difficulty, so far as he was personally con- 
 cerned, was to seek the Captain Lawton spoken of 
 in the article he had read, and tell him all, truth- 
 fully, concealing nothing. But involved in that 
 course would be the production of the letters and 
 the presentation of the unknown Lucy as a factor 
 in the problem. From this course he recoiled. 
 She might be a lady to whom this exposure or en- 
 tanglement would be worse than death. He be- 
 lieved she was, or if he did not believe so, he hoped 
 she was, and the hope was as influential with him 
 as the conviction would have been. The more he 
 considered that phase of the situation the less he 
 was inclined to follow the course his thoughts and 
 instinct of self-preservation suggested to him. 
 True, he believed that she was responsible for the 
 actor's death, but still he was not certain. There 
 was a doubt. The truth was, he was much more 
 interested in the fair unknown than he was con- 
 scious of. 
 
 On the other hand, he did not fail to perceive 
 that if he were to avoid giving the information in his 
 possession and attempted to conceal his connection 
 with the affair, remote as it was, he would be prej- 
 udiced in the judgment of the authorities and of 
 the public. This was the risk he ran. If finally 
 tracked and compelled to tell his story he felt 
 that it would not receive the credence it would, were 
 he to volunteer it immediately. This considers-
 
 50 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERR A XT. 
 
 tion led him into an examination of the possibility 
 of his being identified with the young man who 
 had called upon Renfrew. The papers all said that 
 neither the janitor nor his boy had recognized the 
 young man. He had seen no one else in the house 
 save the lady he met as he was going out. 
 Neither in going to the house of Renfrew, nor in 
 his coming away, had he met any one who knew 
 him, until he turned into Broadway. The chances 
 of any one thinking that he and the young man 
 were the same were very small, was his conclusion 
 on this head. 
 
 As to the consequences of his attempt at con- 
 cealment, if he was discovered, the result was not 
 so satisfactory. He now saw how utterly incredi- 
 ble his story was from the standpoint of the ordi- 
 nary official and the average citizen. To satisfac- 
 torily account for his visit he would have to recite 
 his bet, his driving of the cab, the conversation be- 
 tween the fair unknown and Renfrew, his resolution 
 to assist her, and, finally, his visit to the actor and 
 his remarkable demand on behalf of the young 
 lady, whose relations to Renfrew he was unac- 
 quainted with, whose very name and surroundings 
 were unknown to him. 
 
 He thought he could already hear the incredulous 
 laugh of the city, the sarcasm of his friends. He 
 pictured himself telling the story upon the witness- 
 stand, and noted the skeptical laugh of the bar, 
 the doubtful gaze of the judge on the bench, and 
 the contempt of those practical young gentlemen 
 of the press, who would embalm their scorn in cold 
 type for the amusement of the public. 
 
 He cursed his knight-errantry from the bottom 
 of his heart. Notwithstanding the reasons he ad- 
 duced to himself to lodge all the information he 
 possessed, he could not bring himself to the point 
 'of directing suspicion to the young lady in whose
 
 GORDON'S SENSATION. 51 
 
 behalf he had involved himself. So he concluded 
 his breakfast and cogitations with the determina- 
 tion to maintain silence and take the consequences, 
 whatever they might be. He thought also he 
 would leave town for some weeks, go south to 
 Florida, perhaps to Europe.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DR. SHERMAN READS THE NEWS. 
 
 DR. SHERMAN breakfasted at the same hour 
 Jack Gordon did on the morning following 
 the murder, or he would have done so had he 
 not waited for his daughter Lucy, which he did 
 quite impatiently. He was one of those gentlemen 
 who, having nothing whatever to do, made a virtue of 
 promptitude. He waited so long that he had 
 worked himself into the belief he was ill used, and 
 was about to send the coffee to the fire again, while 
 he prepared a fitting rebuke for the tardiness of 
 his daughter. 
 
 When, however, she entered, heavy-eyed and sad- 
 faced, the rebuke died away in his concern for her 
 condition. 
 
 " You do not look at all well," he said. " I fear 
 you have had a bad night." 
 
 " I did not sleep at all," she replied wearily, as 
 she took her place behind the coffee-urn. 
 
 " You are evidently ill," he said, laying down his 
 paper and looking at her anxiously. " I must send 
 for a physician." 
 
 " It is nothing," she answered sadly. " It will 
 be all over to-night." 
 
 " Do you think so ?" 
 
 " I am quite certain. It is nothing serious a 
 headache. It is passing away rapidly." 
 
 The clock had struck the hour of nine as she 
 spoke. 
 
 " I sincerely hope so," said Dr. Sherman, as he
 
 DR. SHERMAN READS THE NEWS. 53 
 
 returned to his paper. " You know we are to go 
 to Mrs. Jamieson's this evening. I had quite 
 counted on it for reasons of my own, but if you do 
 not feel equal to it, we shall not go." 
 
 " My condition ought not to prevent you," she 
 replied indifferently. 
 
 " I should not go without you." 
 
 " But I shall be able indeed glad to go." The 
 thought had occurred to her that she could escape 
 from herself for a while. 
 
 The Doctor did not reply, but returned to his 
 reading. His daughter poured the coffee. 
 
 As he read he kept up a running comment. " Ex- 
 traordinary ! Most distressing ! Very mysterious! " 
 until finally the attention of his companion was 
 aroused. 
 
 " You seem to find something interesting." 
 
 " A very mysterious affair indeed. A murder. 
 An actor was found dead last night Cyril Ren- 
 frew." 
 
 The lady caught the table to save herself from 
 falling. It was well that her father was intent upon 
 the paper, as he would have been shocked at her 
 appearance. She regained control of herself. 
 
 " Murdered ! Last night ! Why, I saw him yes- 
 terday afternoon on Broadway, "she added quickly. 
 
 " Did you know this person ? " asked the Doc- 
 tor, severity in his tone and scrutiny in his 
 eye. 
 
 " As half the city did, from seeing him on the 
 stage." 
 
 " Ah, yes. I suppose so. I believe he was pop- 
 ular," returning to his paper again, relieved by this 
 reply of the lady, little knowing what it cost her to 
 answer so indifferently. 
 
 "You saw him the last time we were at the thea- 
 ter," she replied. "In ' Deceit.' Yon were pleased 
 with his performance, for you praised it."
 
 54 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Did I ? Was it the fellow who played the fop ? 
 A clever fellow. So that is the man, is it ? " 
 
 All this time the young lady was in an agony of 
 desire to know more, to escape to where she could 
 throw off the burden of restraint. She hardly knew 
 what she was saying in reply ; her head was whirl- 
 ing, but outwardly she was composed. 
 
 " Do you think you could bear hearing the ac- 
 count read ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied indifferently. " It will not 
 affect me. On the contrary, interest me. Read it, 
 please." 
 
 The old gentleman took off his glasses and wiped 
 them deliberately, to Lucy's torture. At length, 
 having secured a satisfactory polish, he began the 
 same article which had caused Jack so much con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The young lady listened with the most intense 
 interest, following each word eagerly, her lips parted, 
 drinking all in. As the reading progressed, two 
 red spots came upon her cheeks and burned bright- 
 ly ; then she grew so pale that had the Doctor 
 looked upon her he would have thought she needed 
 assistance. 
 
 Twenty times in the course of his reading she 
 was on the point of crying out, but by superhuman 
 effort she controlled herself. When her own call 
 upon the actor was noted, she held her breath 
 awaiting the terrible announcement of her name. 
 When the statement was made that the callers 
 were all unknown she experienced a wild thrill 
 of joy. 
 
 Her sensations were rapid and indescribable. 
 Sympathy, remorse, relief, pity, satisfaction, anger, 
 joy, sorrow, were vividly felt, yet almost indistin- 
 guishably. It seemed to her afterward as if she had 
 run the whole gamut of the passions and emotions. 
 
 Her father had been so much interested in his
 
 DR. SHERMAN READS THE NEWS. 55 
 
 reading that he had not observed her. When 
 finally he read the last words, " The affair is 
 shrouded in mystery," she cried out : 
 
 " It is horrible, too horrible ! " 
 
 The Doctor thought her words were inspired by 
 a proper feeling, and so expressed himself, and then, 
 seeing how pale and agitated she was, he said : 
 
 " I have been thoughtless. You were not in con- 
 dition to hear so dreadful a tale." 
 
 " I trusted too much to my strength," she said. 
 " I am quite unnerved." 
 
 " Try to compose yourself," he continued, kind- 
 ly. " Try to forget what you have heard." 
 
 With this he endeavored to assist her by plung- 
 ing into some gossip he had heard the night pre- 
 vious, and talked of the party they were both to 
 attend in the evening. 
 
 His effort, as may well be supposed, was not suc- 
 cessful in diverting his daughter's thoughts from 
 the tragedy in which she had so deep an interest 
 with which she had so close a connection but un- 
 der its cover she was enabled to finish her break- 
 fast, though every second seemed an hour and 
 every minute a day. 
 
 When finally the Doctor rose from the table, he 
 said: 
 
 " Business calls me down town, and I shall not 
 return until late in the afternoon. While I am 
 away try to secure some rest. If upon my return 
 you have not recovered sufficiently to attend Mrs. 
 Jamieson's party I will then send our regrets." 
 
 As soon as his back was turned, Lucy, carrying 
 the paper with her, hastened to her room and, lock- 
 ing the door after her, devoured the account which 
 had such interest for her. 
 
 Having finished, she gave herself up to thought. 
 Her first feeling was one of intense relief. A great 
 load was lifted from her shoulders. No longer
 
 56 JACK CORDOX, KX1GIIT ERR A XT. 
 
 would she be subjected to those demands which had 
 made her life a torture; nor could she again be 
 threatened with exposure ; she was saved from 
 ruin from death. She flew to her desk and took 
 from it the statement she had prepared, and with a 
 wild gesture of satisfaction threw it upon the flames 
 and saw it burn, with no attempt at concealment of 
 her joy. Yet through all the joy, relief, and satis- 
 faction she was conscious that this happy condi- 
 tion had been attained only through the violent 
 death of her tormentor, and she scorned and con- 
 demned herself because she was happy. 
 
 Yet withal she could not repress the sense of 
 exultation over the fact that now no one was alive 
 who shared with her her dangerous secret, and that, 
 with the one who had shared it now dead, discov- 
 ery had become impossible. This was the one 
 great, dominating, overshadowing thought. 
 
 As she passed out of the delirium of her joy she 
 grew more composed and considered the other 
 phases of the tragedy. She wondered who had 
 committed the deed. Was it the woman who the 
 paper said had visited him last ? If so, in what 
 relation did she stand to him ? Was she another 
 victim, who had been tortured as she had been, or 
 worse, tortured into a condition beyond endurance 
 and escaped from her troubles by these awful 
 means ? And the young man ? Was he connected 
 with the deed in any manner? 
 
 Then the sentiment of pity took possession of 
 her. Forgetting her wrongs, she thought of his 
 sudden end, in the flush of health and in the middle 
 of a career promising success and distinction. She 
 thought of the kindness of the murdered man to 
 her when they were young and unstained by the 
 crime they had committed when she regarded him 
 as the one helpful her only friend. 
 
 Then there flashed upon her the remembrance of
 
 DR. SHERMAN READS THE NEWS. 57 
 
 her last words to him : " May your end be so sudden 
 you can not pray for forgiveness.''' 
 
 She was stunned: What a swift, terrible realiza- 
 tion of her impious prayer. She she was respon- 
 sible for his death. Not the woman or the man 
 who had sped the fatal bullet. She she who had 
 prayed for his horrible death. She stood crouching 
 in the center of the room, horror dilating her eyes 
 and paralyzing her limbs. Oh, kind Heavens ! 
 Were there devils from hell who so promptly an- 
 swered such wicked, wicked prayers ! Oh, if she 
 could but recall those horrible words ! She was 
 guilty as guilty as those who killed him, for she 
 had wished for prayed for the end he had met. 
 
 She threw herself upon the floor, writhing in her. 
 agony abasing herself abjectly. Tears came to 
 her relief, and she wept copiously. 
 
 After a while the poignancy of her grief passed 
 away, and she fell into a condition of mental numb- 
 ness in which she seemed incapable of appreciating 
 what had occurred. She took up the paper and 
 her eyes roved over the description of the tragedy 
 without taking in its sense. A line caught her 
 attention : 
 
 " The police authorities were soon notified, and 
 Captain Lawton, the celebrated detective, to whom 
 the discovery of the murder is confided, is in pos- 
 session of the room and its contents." 
 
 Contents ? Her letters ? Where were they ? 
 Heavens ! Did he keep them in his room ? Would 
 they be found ? Were they already in the posses- 
 sion of the police ? 
 
 Now she was thoroughly alarmed. Her senses 
 were quickened to their full extent. The dark 
 clouds which had been lifted from her settled 
 down again thicker and darker than before. Now, 
 she knew that so long as Renfrew lived and did 
 not expose her, she had entertained a hope he
 
 58 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 never would. In the first flush of the new thought 
 she had no hopes at all. If the police authorities 
 held her letters, it was but a question of time when 
 they would communicate the information they con- 
 tained to Dr. Sherman. 
 
 She was distracted by the new misfortune. For 
 a-long time she could not reason upon it. She 
 paced the floor nearly frantic. She tried to think 
 whether the letters were signed so they could be 
 recognized whether Dr. Sherman was alluded to 
 by name. She hoped not, oh how fervently ! 
 indeed began to think so. 
 
 She flung herself on her bed in an agony of ap- 
 prehension. By and by, being exhausted by the 
 violence of the emotion she had undergone and the 
 want of sleep, she slumbered.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON AT WORK. 
 
 WHEN Captain Lawton was assigned to the 
 duty of discovering the murderer of Renfrew, 
 he lost no time in going to the actor's apart- 
 ments before they could be disturbed. The body 
 of the dead actor had been removed. In every 
 other respect the rooms were as when the murder 
 had been discovered. 
 
 Entering, he locked the door behind him, and 
 lighting the gas, began his work by taking a com- 
 prehensive survey of the room. 
 
 On the floor lay a pistol. This first attracted 
 his attention. It is safe to venture that any other 
 man, impelled by curiosity, would have picked it 
 up and examined the instrument by which the 
 deed had been committed. But so far from doing 
 so, the detective walked about it and seemed only 
 desirous of determining its exact location upon the 
 floor. Indeed a person of ordinary sense would 
 have said that for a man enjoying the reputation 
 the detective did, he was guilty of a number of 
 childish actions ; for, going over to the chair in 
 which the dead actor was found, he carefully ex- 
 amined that part against which the back and head 
 rest, and placing himself in the chair, took a 
 revolver from his pocket. Extracting the car- 
 tridges, he leaned his head against the back of the 
 chair, placed the muzzle of the revolver against his 
 temple, and then dropped his arm quickly, letting 
 the revolver fall from his hand. It fell at the foot 
 
 59
 
 60 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 of the chair and rested about eighteen inches from 
 it. Leaning over the arm of the chair, he looked 
 from the revolver to the pistol. Then he paced off 
 the distance between the two, and found that it was 
 about nine feet. 
 
 " It wasn't suicide," he muttered. " The Inspec- 
 tor is right." 
 
 Stooping down, he picked up the revolver, and 
 placing himself beside the chair, facing it with his 
 back to the pistol, he looked over his shoulder at 
 it, shifted his position several times, and then 
 bending over and curving his left arm at right 
 angles with his shoulder, he seemed to be embrac- 
 ing something while he pointed the revolver at his 
 left hand. Dropping his right arm quickly with a 
 swing, he let the revolver slip from his fingers. It 
 fell very close to the pistol on the floor. 
 
 "Yes," he remarked again, "that is the way it 
 was done." 
 
 He picked up the revolver, replaced the car- 
 tridges, and returned it to his pocket. Now he 
 picked up the pistol and gave it a close examina- 
 tion. 
 
 It was not a revolver, but a single-barreled pistol, 
 the like of which he had never seen. Its barrel 
 was steel, once highly polished, but now dimmed 
 and blackened by time and neglect. A short ram- 
 rod was held in place under the barrel in a groove 
 by loops of steel. It was exploded by means of 
 percussion caps, by an old-fashioned trigger and 
 hammer. The handle was ivory, elaborately carved 
 into diminutive nude figures of women, yellowed 
 by time. 
 
 "A woman's toy," he muttered, "but caused 
 death all the same." 
 
 A bit of thread in the head of one of the screws 
 which fastened the ivory caught his attention. He 
 looked at it more closely, and then taking a small
 
 CAPTAIN LAW TON AT WORK:. 1 
 
 magnifying-glass from his pocket looked at the 
 thread through it. 
 
 " A bit of silk thread," he muttered. 
 
 Then turning the pistol over he noticed a slight 
 purplish stain upon the edge of the handle. 
 
 ' One of a pair," he muttered again ; "lies in a 
 case with a purple velvet bed and purple satin 
 lining to the cover, when at home, I'll bet." 
 
 As he was about to put it into his pocket, he 
 lifted it quickly to his nose. 
 
 " Scented, by Jove ! " he said aloud ; then, drop- 
 ping his voice, " That settles it in my mind. It 
 belongs to a woman, patchouli." 
 
 As he put it in his pocket he said : 
 
 " Some one must go on a hunt for its mate. A 
 difficult job, for if not of foreign manufacture, I'm 
 a Dutchman. Looks more like a piece of bric-a- 
 brac than a shooter." 
 
 The floor now claimed his attention, and he 
 overlooked every square inch of it, but his search 
 was not rewarded. 
 
 He went to the center-table. A variety of 
 articles covered it. A pair of gloves, not new ; a 
 silver cigarette-case, half filled ; a few cigars ; a 
 rumpled handkerchief ; two or three cheap editions 
 of foreign novels ; one or two bound books ; a 
 pocket-knife ; a portfolio, never used ; two or 
 three play-books ; a watch and chain, the watch 
 stopped ; a small morocco-covered memorandum 
 book. 
 
 This the detective picked up and opened. He 
 read a few minutes, and then drawing a chair to 
 the table seated himself and began at the beginning. 
 
 It was evidently a statement of the actor's receipts 
 of money for nearly two years prior. At inter- 
 vals of seven days there was this item "sal. $75." 
 These entries began on the ist of September and 
 ceased on the first of June.
 
 62 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT, 
 
 There' were other entries thus : "Oct. 17, G. F. 
 $250"; "Nov. 5, H. M. $100 "; "Nov. 25, T. W. 
 $500"; "Dec. 8, L. A. $500", "Dec. 15, G. F. 
 $1000"; "Dec. 19, L. A. $250"; " F"eb. 12, D. 
 Dux $500." 
 
 These entries were repeated again and again, 
 with amounts ranging from $50 to $1000 set 
 opposite the letters, those most frequently occurring 
 being " G. F." " D. Dux," and " L. A." 
 
 Twice the detective noticed that in the case of 
 " L. A." the " A " had been changed to " S," or 
 " S " changed to "A," he could not tell which. 
 Once " D. Dux " had clearly been written over 
 " G. F." and he observed that while " G. F." 
 ceased to appear thereafter, that was the first time 
 " D. Dux " made its appearance. 
 
 Having exhausted the book he laid it back on 
 the table, saying : 
 
 " If these sums represent his receipts, then he 
 must have had an income of nearly $10,000 a 
 year." 
 
 The cabinet in the corner next attracted his 
 attention. The keys were in the lock and he 
 opened it. The receptacle was small and seemed 
 nearly .filled with letters neatly tied in packages. 
 Nothing else. Without touching anything he 
 looked at it a long time. 
 
 "It is very strange I can not find a single photo- 
 graph of a woman in the place," he muttered. 
 
 He turned from the cabinet and went about the 
 room as if in quest of some particular thing. He 
 opened drawers of tables, peered into ornaments ; 
 went into the sleeping-room and opened all the 
 bureau drawers, and finally returned to the cabinet. 
 
 " Not a photo," he muttered. 
 
 Then he lookout all the letters and carried them 
 to the table in the center of the room, and settled 
 himself to read them.
 
 CAPTAIN LAW TON AT WORK. 63 
 
 A rapid examination of them all showed him 
 that the letters from one person were tied up in 
 one package, and that they were methodically 
 arranged in the order of their dates. All were 
 from ladies. 
 
 He began a systematic reading of them. He 
 took the first package at his hand. 
 
 " DEAR MR. RENFREW : 
 
 " I saw your performance of 0/a/last night. This morn- 
 ing I hasten to tell you what pleasure it gave me. You were 
 lovely and your costume just too charming. Did you see me ? 
 Once I thought you did. 
 
 " HATTIE." 
 
 " MONDAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 "Your apology is sufficient and you are forgiven. To- 
 morrow at three I shop at Macy's alone, and if any imperti- 
 nent man with lovely black eyes should be impudent enough 
 to speak to me on Fourteenth street, why, being alone, I would 
 not dare to resent it. 
 
 " HATTIE." 
 
 " FRIDAY EVENING. 
 
 " I said no, this afternoon, but have regretted it since. See 
 how candid I am. I am afraid it is all very improper, but 
 oh, well, I shall walk on Broadway at four to-morrow shall 
 be in the neighborhood of Tiffany's. 
 
 " HATTIE." 
 
 " WEDNESDAY EVENING. 
 
 " I have stolen away to think over again our delicious cosey 
 dinner all alone by our own two selves, with no one looking 
 , on. I got home, not in time to escape mater, who wanted to 
 know you know, which was easily overcome, but time enough 
 to escape questioning from pater. If you dare to call to- 
 morrow, I dare to have you, only your name must be say, 
 say Thompson Thompson with a P. 
 
 " HATTIE M. 
 
 "You were very, very naughty to kiss me this afternoon and 
 I will never, never forgive you." 
 
 "TUESDAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 " I have thought it all over. Your plan is audacious. But 
 if you can play the role of a young lad of twenty, the brother 
 of a friend in Brooklyn (who, by the way, is in Philadelphia)
 
 64 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 can bring me home by ten at night and escape from the door 
 without being seen, I think it can be accomplished. I will be 
 at Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn side, at three to-morrow. Be 
 prompt, my precious, and if you are, perhaps before we get home 
 I'llI'll I'll let you kiss me. There. 
 
 "HATTIE." 
 
 " TUESDAY MIDNIGHT. 
 
 " Most successful. Was questioned but little. Dada at 
 the club. Mama too busy with charity committee. Sister at 
 a theater party. Brother out after his own tootsey-wootsey. 
 Oh, the bliss the bliss of those hours. They were all too 
 short. I await with impatience our next meeting. 
 
 "H. M." 
 
 The detective turned to the book and looked at 
 the first entry of H. M. It was of a date subse- 
 quent to that of the last letter he had read. 
 
 He continued his reading of letters indicative of 
 stolen interviews, of assignations for the future, 
 growing more and more unguarded in expressions 
 of affection and passion. Then after a long period 
 of silence he found this one : 
 
 " MONDAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 " I can not tell you how it grieves me to refuse you any- 
 thing. I have not done it in the past, but this I can not pos- 
 sibly do. I have no money and I have gotten all I can get 
 from father or mother for a long time. 
 
 " H. M." 
 
 " TUESDAY EVENING. 
 
 " I came home from the play to find your letter. You are 
 exacting nay, impeninent. There is a tone of command that 
 I am not disposed to submit to. 
 
 "H. M." 
 
 " WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 
 " I will meet you." 
 
 " WEDNESDAY NIGHT. 
 
 " My dream is over. I am disilluzionized. I know you 
 now for what you are. I know my danger that you threaten 
 me with ruin. The end is come. Do not try to see me or 
 write to me. All is over between us. 
 
 " H. M."
 
 CAPTAIN LA WTO N AT WORK. 65 
 
 " FRIDAY NIGHT. 
 
 " Don't try to frighten me, for I won't be frightened. Go to 
 my father or to my brother if you dare with my letters. Do 
 you know what would happen ? You would be dead a second 
 after they met you, no matter what occurred to me. Suppose 
 you have my letters, if you should attempt to use them they 
 would only cause your death ! What a contemptible thing 
 you are ! 
 
 "H. M." 
 
 This was the last. On this envelope was in- 
 dorsed in pencil : 
 
 " Played out to the end. Can go no further. She is as 
 bold as a lion and as brave as a soldier." 
 
 The detective read letter after letter and pack- 
 age after package. They differed only in form of 
 expression. Beginning modestly they increased in 
 warmth and finally cooled off to the financial stage, 
 ending in pleadings, defiances, and criminations, as 
 the various correspondents received the unfolding 
 of his plots. In the memorandum book was found 
 an entry of initials to correspond with the signa- 
 tures to the letters. On some of the packages were 
 indorsed in lead pencil these comments : " Worked 
 i it." " Exhausted." ' Wouldn't have it." " Ab- 
 ject failure." 
 
 " A most methodical rascal," said the detective 
 to himself. 
 
 There were but three packages remaining when 
 the Captain picked up the next at his hand. On 
 removing the elastics from it, he noticed that the 
 first letter was of recent date, and was evidently 
 written some time after the intrigue was in full 
 course : 
 
 "Sept. 18, 1883. 
 " DEAR CYRIL-. 
 
 " You must not repeat your reckless attempt to see me at 
 my house. How could you be so imprudent ? You put me in 
 great peril. Nothing bnt my presence of mind in assuming 
 that you came about upholstery saved me. My husband is
 
 66 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 very suspicious and an experienced man of the world. For 
 Heaven's sake be more prudent. Use the channels of com- 
 munication we have agreed upon only, and let the written 
 communications be as few as possible. I tremble still, from 
 the fright you have given me. 
 
 "DOLLIE DUX." 
 
 A week elapses. 
 
 " Do you seek to compromise me ? My husband observed 
 your frequent glances from the stage, and commented on what 
 he was pleased to call your impertinence in eying every pretty 
 woman you saw. What possessed you ? Do you want to 
 advertise your capture ? I will meet you this afternoon at the 
 usual time and place. 
 
 " DOLLIE Dux." 
 
 Other letters followed in the same strain, and 
 then there was this one : 
 
 " Oct. 20. 
 
 " Are you mad or am I ? I can not do it. Think what you 
 have had. The tone of your letter frightens me. 
 
 " DOLLIE Dux." 
 Then, again, two days later : 
 
 " God help me ! I'll come with it, but I must pledge my 
 d r.monds to do it. Where will this lead to ? You will drive 
 uic crazy. 
 
 " DOLLIE Dux." 
 
 A month later she writes : 
 
 " Only a few weeks of peace. You are a monster. I can 
 not sleep, and I weep most of the day. I have gotten into 
 such a nervous condition that I start at the slightest noise. 
 You must stop or I shall become a maniac. 
 
 " DOLLIE D." 
 
 A day later : 
 
 " It is not because I do not want to, but because I can not. 
 I have not the sum nor do I know where to get it. 
 
 "D. D." 
 
 Two days later : 
 
 " Do not do anything till I see you. 
 
 "D. D." 
 
 The next day and the day of the murder : 
 
 " I am distracted. Yes, I am in your power. I am des- 
 perate. I have pledged everything I dare to. I do not know
 
 CAPTAIN LAW TON AT WORK. 67 
 
 where or how to turn. Every step I take to comply with 
 your insatiate demands brings me one step nearer exposure. I 
 wish I could die. Death would be a happy release. But I 
 will see you this afternoon. Be la to meet me. 
 
 " DOLLIE Dux." 
 
 The detective hurriedly satisfied himself as to 
 the nature of the remaining packages, and finding 
 nothing significant in the letters composing them, 
 returned again to those signed " Dollie Dux." He 
 spread them open before him and studied them 
 intently. 
 
 Finally he folded them up and rearranged them, 
 and as he did so he said : 
 
 " That is the woman. That is the woman who 
 killed Renfrew. She is an educated woman, of 
 wealth and station, a timid, nervous, excitable 
 woman driven to desperation almost frantic 
 through fear and nervousness. Those are the 
 kind of women who do desperate things when 
 goaded too far. Renfrew, my boy, you should have 
 known that. You should have seen that it was her 
 ruin or your death. You turned the screw of the 
 rack once too often." 
 
 " It is not easy," he said, after stopping to cum- 
 mune with himself. " It will be difficult to trace 
 that woman. The letters do not give a clue. How 
 guardedly she has written. The signature is evi- 
 dently an assumed one. I must endeavor to find 
 :out the names of the women he associated with, and 
 get a look at them." 
 
 He took the pistol from his pocket and placed 
 it on top the letters, and wrapped them all up in a 
 newspaper he took from his pocket. 
 
 Taking the bundle under his arm and placing his 
 hat upon his head, he said aloud : 
 
 " Renfrew was killed by a woman a married 
 woman of wealth, station, and education, with whom 
 he was conducting an intrigue, whom he was
 
 68 JACK CORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 blackmailing, and whom he had threatened to ruin 
 a woman who had a peculiar pistol and may yet 
 have its mate a woman who signed her letters 
 ' Dollie Dux.' That's what this night's work has 
 amounted to." 
 
 He looked around the room. After a moment 
 he said : 
 
 " That woman got out without any one seeing 
 her. How it was that the report of the pistol was 
 not heard I cannot understand. I know that the 
 muzzle was pressed against his head, and that 
 deadened the sound, but surely some one ought to 
 have heard it. I'll inquire into this." 
 
 He went into the hall and called the janitor. 
 
 " Who occupies the rooms adjoining those of 
 Renfrew ? " he asked. 
 
 " Mr. Steele." 
 
 " Who is he ? " 
 
 "A lawyer." 
 
 " Was he in his room this afternoon ? " 
 
 " No, he is in Washington went day before yes- 
 terday, and isn't back yet." 
 
 "Was anybody there ? " 
 
 " No. I have his keys." 
 
 " Who has the room above ? " 
 
 " Mr. Downing." 
 
 " Was he in ?" 
 
 " No, sir, nor any one else. You see it was at a 
 time of day when the gentlemen were about their 
 business." 
 
 " Yes, I presume so. What is below ? " 
 
 " A doctor's office. It isn't occupied." 
 
 " Who has that room ? " pointing to one on the 
 opposite side of the corridor. 
 
 " Mr. Tyrell. He was in about that time, and is 
 now." 
 
 " I'll call on him." 
 
 He rapped on the door and was admitted.
 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON AT WORK. 69 
 
 Mr. Tyrell. however, had not heard an explosion 
 when he returned about half-past three o'clock. 
 While stopping to unlock the door he had heard 
 the angry tones of Renfrew's voice, and the agi- 
 tated tones of a woman in reply. He had not paid 
 attention to it, for it was not uncommon to hear such 
 things in Renfrew's rooms. Knowing him to bean 
 actor he thought a rehearsal was going on. Indeed, 
 Renfrew, after an unusually noisy time a year pre- 
 vious, had told him so. After entering his room he 
 had gone to his bath, which was in the most remote 
 part of his suite. The shot might have been fired 
 while the water was running, or, indeed, after he had 
 gone out again, since having bathed he dressed, and 
 went out immediately. 
 
 All effort upon the part of the detective failed to 
 elicit from the janitor and his son anything like a 
 description of either of the two women who had called 
 on Renfrew, for they were both so closely veiled 
 that their faces were not to be recognized, and as 
 to the young man they so flatly contradicted 
 each other as to his dress and appearance, the Cap- 
 tain began to believe that not less than two had 
 called upon the dead actor before the visits of the 
 two women. 
 
 It was now not far from midnight, so he went to 
 his rest. 
 
 Early the next morning he began an industrious 
 inquiry among the associates and acquaintances of 
 the murdered man. Here apparently the way was 
 as dark as in any other direction. 
 
 These were the facts he elicited : 
 
 Renfrew had not a single intimate in his profes- 
 sion. 
 
 No one could suggest the name of any man with 
 whom he was on terms of intimacy he had been 
 dubbed in the profession " The Lone Star." 
 
 No one could suggest the name of a woman with
 
 7 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 whom he was acquainted or was intimate. He had 
 at long intervals been seen on the street with some, 
 but who, none could tell. 
 
 No one knew anything about his antecedents, 
 where he came from, where his family was, or to 
 what country he owed nativity. 
 
 A vague tradition existed that his right name was 
 Jacob Myers, but no one could confirm it, and it 
 was disbelieved, although doubtless " Cyril Ren- 
 frew " was a nom de the'dtre. 
 
 " Most mysterious," was the Captain's comment on 
 this result. " It grows thicker and thicker. I'll go 
 to the Inspector, make him understand the difficul- 
 ties, and hear what he has to say; then I'll write up 
 my report."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON'S VISITOR. 
 
 THE detective had not been long at the report, 
 the writing of which he had promised himself 
 that afternoon, when an attendant announced 
 that a lady wished to see him. 
 
 " Who is she ? " he asked, looking up from his 
 writing. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Didn't she give you a card ? " 
 
 " No ; she said you wouldn't know the name." 
 
 " Admit her." 
 
 A richly clad woman, closely veiled, speedily fol- 
 lowed on his words. 
 
 The Captain greeted her with a courtgous bow, 
 and placed a chair for his visitor, who probably did 
 not notice that it was so placed that the light fell 
 on her face, while the detective was in the 
 shadow. 
 
 " Do I address Captain Lawton ? " the lady 
 asked in a sweet, low voice, which trembled either 
 with agitation or timidity. 
 
 " Yes, madam. Please take this seat." 
 
 She took the chair indicated, and began to nerv- 
 ously remove one of her gloves. 
 
 The detective waited for her to make her busi- 
 ness known. While waiting he rapidly concluded 
 that she was young from the outlines of her form, 
 of the higher walks of life from her air, and rich 
 from the diamonds sparkling upon the white fin- 
 gers of her ungloved hand.
 
 72 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Evidently she was greatly embarrassed, and foi 
 a long time did not speak. 
 
 The Captain did not assist her. In this he was 
 governed by purpose. 
 
 Finally, she timidly ventured the remark : 
 
 " I find myself in an unpleasant predicament, 
 and I thought perhaps you might assist me." 
 
 " I am at your service," replied the Captain. 
 " To whom have I the honor of talking ? " 
 
 " Is it necessary that I should disclose my name ? " 
 
 The Captain smiled. 
 
 *' I imagine I shall not be able to assist you much 
 if I am compelled to walk in the dark." 
 
 (/ Perhaps so." 
 
 After some hesitation, during which she drew off 
 the other glove and nervously rolled and unrolled 
 the two, she continued : 
 
 " Some years ago I was guilty of a foolish indis- 
 cretion which has brought me into much trouble. 
 My father is a stern man, strict in his ideas of pro- 
 priety. The indiscretion was a silly flirtation with 
 a man, who, having received letters from me, 
 threatened to use them to my disadvantage if I 
 did not pay largely for his silence." 
 
 " I wonder if this touches the Renfrew case ? " 
 thought the detective. Aloud he said : 
 
 " And you want me to compel him to discontinue 
 his persecutions to make him yield up those 
 letters ? " 
 
 " The persecutions are discontinued, but I would 
 like to have the letters." 
 
 " Who is the person ? " 
 
 "Must I tell that?" 
 
 The Captain smiled at her innocent question. 
 
 " If I am not to know the name of the person 
 who wrote the letters, nor that of the person to 
 whom they were addressed, I can not see how I 
 can assist you."
 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON'S VISITOR. 73 
 
 " He is dead." 
 
 " Oh, then they are in the hands of some one, 
 you think ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " The name of that person, then ? " 
 
 " It is yourself." 
 
 The Captain became much interested. " What a 
 little idiot she is," he thought, " not to see that 
 I already know the name of the man ! " 
 
 Aloud he said : 
 
 " Oh. If I do not possess them," he said blandly, 
 " I know where they are." 
 
 " But you do not know who the man is, for I 
 have not told you." 
 
 " Pardon me, I do. The man was Renfrew, the 
 actor." 
 
 The woman started with surprise and alarm. 
 
 " Are you a wizard ? " 
 
 " Not at all. The only letters in my possession 
 addressed by a woman to a man who was black- 
 mailing her, are those addressed to Renfrew. And 
 Renfrew is dead." 
 
 " Then," said the lady, " while I was carefully 
 concealing the name, I was telling you ?" 
 
 " Yes," replied the detective, smiling, " and you 
 come to me because of his murder." 
 
 " Why, how do you know ? " 
 
 " It all follows from the first. You read the ac- 
 count of his murder, you saw that the case had 
 been placed in my charge, you feared that the let- 
 ters coming into my hands would be made public, 
 and you would be exposed. Is it not so ? " 
 
 "Yes," replied the lady, apparently overwhelmed 
 with surprise at the rapidity and accuracy of his 
 conclusions. " Since you know so much you make 
 my way easier. Won't you give them to me ? They 
 are signed Lucy. That is all, I am quite sure." 
 
 " How long is it since his persecutions ceased ?"
 
 74 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 asked the Captain, paying no heed to her re- 
 quest. 
 
 " Only with his death." 
 
 The Captain muttered to himself, " Can this be 
 the woman ? " 
 
 After a moment's thought he partially rejected 
 the idea, for he reasoned that a woman who had 
 done the deed would not go straight to the man 
 who was searching for the murderer. Then he 
 wished she would lift her veil so that he could look 
 at her face. 
 
 Aloud he said : 
 
 " So recent, was it, indeed ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied, and the ice being broken she 
 was more at ease. " You will have no difficulty in 
 determining them. I am not certain, of course, 
 that you have them. I do not know whether he 
 kept them at his rooms or on his person." 
 
 " You say they were signed" stopping to have 
 her pronounce the name. 
 
 " Lucy." 
 
 " That is your name ? " 
 
 " Yes. They were foolish, silly letters." 
 
 Then she thought, " If he has read them, he will 
 know that is not true. Perhaps he has not ; if he 
 is a gentleman, and he looks like one, he has 
 not." 
 
 The Captain would have laughed heartily could 
 he have read her thoughts, but he was thinking 
 less about the letters than of her relation to the 
 man and the deed. 
 
 However, he stretched forth his hand and took 
 from the desk the sheet upon which he was writing 
 when he was interrupted by her entrance, and ex- 
 amining it carefully, replied : 
 
 " There were no letters found signed ' Lucy.' 
 You are quite sure they were so signed ? " 
 
 " Quite," she replied, as she threw the veil from
 
 CA P 7 'A 2W LAW TON ' S VI 'SI TOR. 7 5 
 
 her face, disclosing a pair of very earnest eyes and 
 features of rare beauty. 
 
 " What do you suppose he could have done with 
 them?" she queried appealingly. 
 
 " That woman never committed the murder, I 
 am quite certain," he said to himself. 
 
 He laughed as he said to her : 
 
 " You credit me with knowing more than I do. 
 Had he any other place where he deposited his 
 valuables ? " 
 
 She looked at him wonderingly, and replied quite 
 innocently : 
 
 " I do not know. I knew nothing of his life or 
 habits. Do you suppose he could have sent them 
 to my father ?" 
 
 " Perhaps if I knew your father I might be able 
 to judge," replied the detective, trying his hand at 
 a little fishing. 
 
 He was disappointed. 
 
 " No," she said, thinking aloud, "he could not 
 have done that, for I would have heard of it before 
 this." 
 
 The Captain thought to take her by surprise and 
 obtain an admission from her which he could follow 
 up to his advantage. 
 
 " Did he have them when you saw him yesterday ?" 
 
 " Saw him yesterday," she repeated. " How do 
 you know I saw him yesterday ?" 
 
 " I did not know it until this moment. At what 
 hour did you call upon him ?" 
 
 Lucy hesitated for a time, nearly overcome by 
 what she considered the supernatural shrewdness 
 of the man, and not a little awed by his masterful- 
 ness. 
 
 " Between twelve and one about half-past 
 twelve," she replied. 
 
 " Who were the young man and lady who called 
 after you ? "
 
 76 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 There was the same wondering expression on her 
 face as when he asked if she knew whether Ren- 
 frew had another place where he left his valuables, 
 as if she were surprised at his question, and the ex- 
 pression caused the detective to believe that she 
 was innocent of any complicity in the deed. 
 
 " Did you ask him for the letters ? " 
 
 " No, I did not." 
 
 " What did you go to see him for, then ? " 
 
 " To beg he would not demand the sum he re- 
 quested and not send the letters to my father." 
 
 " What was the sum he wanted ? " 
 
 Lucy now began to appreciate the blunder she 
 had made in going to the detective, for she feared 
 his questions would lead to a revelation of her 
 secret. She was put on her guard by the thought, 
 and she summoned to her aid all her intelligence. 
 
 " It was two thousand dollars, and I did not have 
 it and could not get it." 
 
 " A large sum," said the detective. " What did 
 he say to you ? " 
 
 " He laughed at me and told me I must give it 
 to him by to-night, or he would send my letters to 
 my father ? " 
 
 " What did you reply ? " 
 
 " I told him that he would drive me to kill 
 myself," 
 
 " You must have felt relieved when you saw that 
 he was killed ?" 
 
 The detective had asked this question deliber- 
 ately, and he watched her keenly as she replied ; 
 he noticed that her face reddened. 
 
 " I was very wicked over that," she replied, " for 
 the first sensation was relief and gladness, but the 
 thought was soon lost in the fear that exposure 
 would come from another source." 
 
 The Captain thought as she looked at him,
 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON'S VISITOR. 77 
 
 shame, not remorse, expressed on her face, that 
 she certainly was not the woman. 
 
 " When did you write your last letter to him ? " 
 
 " About four years ago." 
 
 Now it was the Captain's turn to be surprised. 
 
 " How did you communicate with him ? " 
 
 " I never did unless he wrote to me, demanding 
 that I meet him and bring him- money." 
 
 " Where did you meet him ? " 
 
 " Usually on the street or in the park." 
 
 " Have you been giving him money all these four 
 years ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Such large amounts ? " 
 
 " Oh, no. The largest he demanded before was 
 five hundred dollars, and that only once. He 
 usually asked for half that amount. I never wrote 
 to him after I saw the use he put my letters to." 
 
 " You have his letters demanding money ? " 
 
 " No, I burned them as I received them. I was 
 ashamed and afraid to keep them." 
 
 " Now, isn't that just like a woman !" said the 
 detective. " Why, my child, the first one was your 
 protection, and a threat of exposing him for black- 
 mailing would have silenced him for ever. He 
 traded on your fears and innocence. Didn't you 
 ever visit him at his rooms ? " 
 
 " Never until yesterday." 
 
 " Where did you first meet him ? " 
 
 Lucy had been able to answer him truthfully 
 until then, but now she could not do it. Her quick 
 intelligence told her she must make an answer of 
 some kind, and she parried to gain time. 
 
 " Must I tell that ? " she asked appealingly. 
 
 " I think it would be far better," he replied 
 gently ; " I am not asking these questions from idle 
 curiosity." 
 
 " But it is humiliating," she replied.
 
 78 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Telling me is like talking to your father-con- 
 fessor, your physician, your lawyer," he said assur- 
 ingly, if not truthfully. 
 
 His untruth was met with another even more 
 adroit. 
 
 " If I must I suppose I must. I saw him on the 
 stage, and was silly enough to write him how much 
 I admired him. I did this two or three times, and 
 then I gave him an address and asked him to reply. 
 He did so, and after a while he asked me to meet 
 him on Broadway, wear a red rose on my coat, and 
 he would do the same. We did, and the flirtation 
 began." 
 
 " Oh, the silly moths of girls ! " commented the 
 detective, well satisfied. " That was how long ago?" 
 
 " Five years." 
 
 " And you were how old ?" 
 
 " Seventeen." 
 
 "You have paid dearly for your folly." 
 
 " I have, indeed." 
 
 " Do you know of any one who called herself 
 'Dolly Dux'?" 
 
 " No," again with that wondering expression. 
 
 "Did you know that Renfrew treated other 
 women as he did you ?" 
 
 " No, I supposed I was the only one." 
 
 The Captain said to himself that she was evidently 
 an innocent, and that he had extracted all he could 
 from her, and he would close the interview. 
 
 " You have not given me your name yet ?" 
 
 " Since you have not the letters I do not think it 
 necessary. You can not help me, you see." 
 
 The Captain smiled. 
 
 " Oh, that is as you please, of course." 
 
 His visitor prepared to depart. 
 
 " If these letters were to come into my posses- 
 sion, I would not be able to communicate with 
 you."
 
 CAPTAIN LAWTON'S VISITOR. 79 
 
 She drew her veil over her face, saying as she 
 did so : 
 
 " Oh, I shall call on you again in a week. If 
 you should find them retain them until I come." 
 
 The Captain smiled again, and, bowing politely, 
 accompanied her to the outer office. 
 
 Two or three un-uniformed men were lounging in 
 the room, to one of whom the captain made a rapid 
 signal. 
 
 He conducted his visitor to the outer door, 
 bowed her out, and then turning quickly to the 
 man, who had followed him close behind, said : 
 
 " Follow her, don't let her get out of your sight ; 
 tell me what her name is and where she lives." 
 
 Returning to his private office, communing with 
 himself he said : 
 
 " No, she has had nothing to do with this mur- 
 der. She is a girl standing in great fear of her 
 father, dreading exposure of what, doubtless, is 
 something worse than mere flirtation something 
 which she is repenting, moved thereto by Renfrew's 
 successful blackmailing. However, I must keep 
 her in sight. She may prove useful before I am 
 through with the case." 
 
 Lucy drove back rapidly to her hotel, little 
 dreaming she was followed, much disturbed and 
 perplexed by the disappearance of her letters. She 
 felt her condition was worse than before. She 
 knew from what quarter she might expect danger 
 before, and could, perhaps, guard against it ; now 
 she could not tell from whence the next blow would 
 come, and she could not arm herself at all points. 
 Life seemed dark and drear ; there was no joy 
 in it.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 
 
 THE vicinity of Mrs. Jamieson's house in Madi- 
 son Avenue bore an air of festivity on the 
 night of her rosebud party. Lights flashed 
 from every window of her mansion, and as the 
 doors opened, which was at frequent intervals, 
 there issued forth the sounds of music, of the happy 
 babble of voices, and the fragrance of many flowers. 
 Carriages lined the street on either side, and a tall 
 policeman was ordering their coming and going, as 
 well as keeping the carpeted pathway across the 
 sidewalk under the awning clear of the children and 
 servant-maids who thronged on either side. 
 
 As Gordon's carriage drew up at the curbstone, 
 he roused himself from his contemplation of the 
 embarrassments in which his foolish knight-errantry 
 seemed to bave involved him, and the possible con- 
 sequences of which weighed upon him more and 
 more as he dwelt upon them. 
 
 He opened the door of his carriage, and as he 
 stepped out, he said to himself : " I'll keep my 
 promise to Mrs. Jamieson, and then leave the town 
 for some months." 
 
 When once in the room assigned to gentlemen, 
 he found, among others of his acquaintances, sev- 
 eral of those who were present at the time he had 
 made his wager with Dizzy Lowell. 
 
 Will Robb, who was struggling with a refractory 
 cravat before the glass, saw him enter, and cried 
 out : 
 
 80
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 8 1 
 
 " Hev a keb, sir. Tek you up for a dollar 'n 
 hef." 
 
 The story of Jack's exploit had evidently gone 
 abroad, for his ears were saluted with the cry taken 
 up by every one in the room. 
 
 In view of the trouble he felt he would probably 
 be involved in through that exploit, the chorus was 
 not particularly agreeable, but he well knew that a 
 display of the slightest annoyance would be a signal 
 for persistence, and so he fell into the spirit of the 
 fun with all the grace he could summon. 
 
 The joke, therefore, was soon exhausted, but he 
 was compelled to undergo what was still more dis- 
 agreeable the admiring comments of the callow 
 youth who saw something dashing and heroic in his 
 adventure. 
 
 From these he escaped in time, and prepared to 
 descend to the parlors. While doing so, he said to 
 Will Robb, who was loitering behind the rest, ap- 
 parently waiting for his friend, with some sarcasm: 
 
 " You owe me considerable, Will." 
 
 " Owe you what ? Owe you nothing." 
 
 " An opportunity to be for once entertaining to 
 Mrs. Jamieson." 
 
 The young man reddened slightly as he replied : 
 
 " Come again. I don't catch on." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do." 
 
 " You mean my telling ' Mama J." of that cab- 
 driving bet ? The joke was too .good to keep. 
 What do you care ? " 
 
 " I don't say that I do care, but your tongue 
 swings too easily, my lad. One day it will swing 
 off, and then there'll be none." 
 
 By this time he was ready, and they descended 
 the stairs together. 
 
 The scene in the great parlors was attractive and 
 inspiring. Crowded rooms were indeed not unus- 
 ual at Mrs. Jamieson's social occasions, but in this
 
 82 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 case there were a large number of fresh faces- 
 debutantes of the new season, the " rosebuds." 
 
 They stopped a moment to look over the 
 scene. 
 
 " Extraordinary good ' browsing pasture,' " said 
 Gordon. Robb looked at him in surprise. He did 
 not understand the allusion. 
 
 Mrs. Jamieson was standing near the door, and 
 the two young men presented themselves. 
 
 " Here are two scapegraces," was the greeting of 
 that lively lady. Then to Gordon she said, " I be- 
 gan to think you would fail me. You are late." 
 
 " Not very, I think. You see I am preparing jto 
 leave town early to-morrow." 
 
 " To leave town at the beginning of the season ? 
 What folly is this ? " 
 
 " Having been awakened to the awful wickedness 
 of my life by your admonitions, I am going into 
 solitude for repentance." 
 
 " You repent ! " The lady's face was a picture 
 of fine scorn. 
 
 "What," inquired her husband, " has the little 
 woman been lecturing you ? " 
 
 " Lecturing me !" repeated Gordon with doleful 
 air. " The term fails to convey the slightest idea 
 of the drubbing (verbal, I mean) she gave me yes- 
 terday." 
 
 " What for? What have you been doing ? Oh, 
 I know, the cab-driving scrape." 
 
 The host laughed heartily. 
 
 " Oh, it was not that alone," cried the little part- 
 ner of his life. " It was the general uselessness of 
 his life. But don't stand idling with me. There 
 are hosts of pretty girls in the rooms, who need 
 some one to teach them the way they should go 
 this season." 
 
 " There, Will, there's a carte blanche for you," 
 said Gordon. " Mrs. Jamieson lets you loose alone
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 83 
 
 in this garden of roses. She positively trusts you 
 to behave yourself." 
 
 "It is not Will Robb I'm troubled about," re- 
 plied the lady, " it is you. Still, if you are going 
 away to-morrow you can not work much harm. 
 So run along like two good little boys." 
 
 " Come, Jack," said Robb,putting his arm through 
 that of his friend, " we'll look over the ' buds ' and 
 make our selections." 
 
 They moved off before the vivacious hostess 
 could reprove him for his impudent speech. 
 
 The young faces about them were to a great ex- 
 tent strange, for they were nearly all those belong- 
 ing to debutantes, sipping the sweets of their first 
 season. Such of the guests as they recognized and 
 saluted were what Robb irreverently called " old 
 rounders," by which he meant those who had been 
 out more than one season. 
 
 Jack was as much displeased as astonished to 
 find what a hero his amateur cabmanship had made 
 of him, and how widely the story had been spread. 
 He heard allusions to it from every side, and though 
 he bore up under it bravely he was heartily ashamed 
 of himself. 
 
 The two young flowers of the fashion and 
 chivalry of Gotham had made their way down the 
 long parlors, when Jack saw two young ladies 
 with whom, to use his own phrase, he was " very 
 chummy," and who are not strangers to the reader, 
 standing just inside the conservatory ; dropping 
 Robb's arm he hastened to them. 
 
 As he drew near them he saw a face whose beauty 
 at once attracted him. The lady sat in a corner 
 easy chair, a picture of elegant, indolent grace. On 
 one side, near the conservatory door, sat a distin- 
 guished-looking gray-haired gentleman in earnest 
 conversation with Mr. Van Huyn, a celebrated 
 lawyer of the city ; on the other side, engaging the
 
 84 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 attention of the lady, was a young gentleman who 
 Jack knew was an attache of the State Department 
 at Washington, and who was quite evidently much 
 fascinated by his fair companion. And well he 
 might be, for, surrounded as she was by Gotham's 
 fairest daughters, she outshone them all. . 
 
 Exquisitely attired, her costume was a triumph 
 of art and displayed her magnificently developed 
 figure to its best advantage. She was a brilliant 
 and striking figure, with her dark hair, soft,4arge 
 black eyes, quickly responsive to every thought 
 flashing across her mind, her brown, velvety skin, 
 through which the color showed as clearly as if it 
 had been fairer, and her high, regular, and finely 
 chiseled features. 
 
 Notwithstanding her indolent pose, Jack observed 
 that her face betrayed a feverish animation and 
 that her eyes were unnaturally bright that she 
 seemed to breathe through her slightly parted lips 
 as if she were oppressed. 
 
 All this he had rapidly taken in while he was 
 making his salutations to his friends, who were two 
 of the class Will Robb had so elegantly termed 
 " rounders." They justified the application of the 
 term by the vociferousnessof their greeting of him. 
 
 " Now not a word about it, please," said Jack. 
 " I know you are burning to say it, but do earn a 
 continuance of my unbounded affection for you 
 both, by refraining from a word of mention of it. 
 You know how ardently and devotedly attached I 
 am to both of you, and I assure you it is largely 
 due to your never saying what the rest of the world 
 does." 
 
 The two young ladies stared at him in amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 " Methinks," said the blonde in a diaphanous mass 
 of pink, who was Miss Lowell, with a pretty affec- 
 tation of solicitude, " methinks, Jack, thou hast
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 85 
 
 found thy way to ' Mama Jamieson's ' wine before 
 the rest of us." 
 
 " Yes," added the brunette, with saucy, tip-tilted 
 nose, her sworn friend, Lou Appleby, " Yes, and 
 hast addled that poor pate of thine." 
 
 "Spare me," answered the unabashed Jack. " I 
 can stand everything but the slings and arrows of 
 your wit. The increasing loveliness of both, dou- 
 ble-barreled as it is, I can, perhaps, because I am 
 getting accustomed to its glare. Mollie, that's a 
 very becoming gown you have," he continued, sur- 
 veying the blonde with an approving air through 
 his single glass. " A little too much up in the 
 back." 
 
 " Up ! " cried the other, stricken with envy over 
 the compliment to her friend. " Too much up in 
 the back ! Goodness, Jack, one must wear a waist!" 
 
 " Oh, must one ? " retorted Jack, turning his 
 monocle on the fair speaker. " Where's yours 
 then ?" 
 
 "You are impertinent, Jack, my dear boy," 
 was her reply. " You are not improving a particle, 
 notwithstanding all our pains. I think it must be 
 the night air." 
 
 " Yes," assisted Miss Lowell, " taken from the 
 box of a cab." 
 
 " There, I knew it," rejoined Jack, sorrowfully, 
 " I knew you would forfeit my affection before you 
 finished. I felt it when I came up. I warned you 
 in time too. It is too bad." 
 
 " What's too bad ?" cried both in one voice. 
 
 " The thoughtless way in which you manage 
 your unruly tongues. But for that fatal defect 
 both of you long ago might have been Mrs. Gor- 
 don." 
 
 " Both ? Oh, horror ! "ejaculated Miss Appleby. 
 " It would be horrible to be the whole Mrs. Gordon, 
 but to be a half"
 
 86 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Well, I should think it would be better," re- 
 plied Jack argumentatively. " You see it would 
 mitigate the evil just fifty per cent." 
 
 " You are not wholly lost, Jack," said Miss Mol- 
 lie. " You have a proper appreciation of your own 
 value. Yes, it would.be an unmixed evil in whole 
 or in part." 
 
 "An unmixed evil, eh?" inquired Jack with 
 suspicious compliance. " Yes, I think so myself 
 for me." 
 
 The only way in which the young ladies could 
 show their resentment was by immediately present- 
 ing their backs to him with their noses inclined 
 upward. 
 
 Jack attentively regarded their backs. 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes. The drapery is very fair. Do it 
 yourselves ? " 
 
 They came about with the precision of soldiers, 
 profound disgust on their faces. 
 
 Jack turned slightly, and again observed the lady 
 in the corner chair. 
 
 " Who is the lady flanked by Winter and Spring 
 and confronted by Autumn ? " he queried. 
 
 " Why do you ask ? " demanded Miss Appleby. 
 
 "That you may desert us?" inquired Miss 
 Lowell. 
 
 " That I may know who she is surely a simple 
 reason ? " 
 
 " Far too simple and guileless," rejoined Miss 
 Appleby. " But I shall exhibit no petty spirit of 
 envy. I'll tell you all I know. She is a lady with 
 whom I have no acquaintance." 
 
 " Your knowledge is extensive. Does yours have 
 the same breadth and depth, Mollie?" 
 
 " I can say without hesitation it has." 
 
 " The youthful cavalier fresh from the halls of 
 Washington," resumed Miss Appleby, " seems to 
 be captivated to be mashed, so to speak."
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 87 
 
 " Yes," said Jack. " He appears to be making 
 his running under whip and spur." 
 . " Fascination for the whip," said Miss Lowell. 
 
 " And desire to please for the spur," added Miss 
 Appleby. 
 
 Jack opened his eyes with mock surprise. 
 
 " Why, your wits are brightening." 
 
 Before either could punish him for his imperti- 
 nence, one of the young guests and* very young 
 and conscious came up with a blush and a stam- 
 mer, and claimed the hand of Miss Lowell for a 
 dance. 
 
 " I say, young Nettleton," said Jack, with a 
 drawl, " are you going to dance with Miss Lowell ? " 
 
 " If she will do me that honor." 
 
 " I suppose your life is insured, but run out and 
 get a policy on your heart. She's dangerous. I 
 know it, to my sorrow. You see in me the wasted 
 victim of an unrequited passion, of which she is 
 the object. She lives but to slay." 
 
 The lady rewarded him with a delicious moue, 
 and walked away with her blushing cavalier. 
 
 "Jack," said Miss Appleby, "give me your arm 
 and take me to mother. The dear old girl has 
 been quite reasonable so long as Mollie was here, 
 but I see the clouds gathering. Your reputation is 
 so bad, I can not endanger mine with talking to 
 you alone, and what is far worse, put myself in 
 peril of a scolding for having encouraged that very 
 disreputable person, Mr. Jack Gordon." 
 
 " Ah," replied Jack, as he offered her his arm. 
 " I begin to doubt whether a life of virtue and ex- 
 treme piety is its own reward. But the truly good 
 always were slandered from the beginning of time." 
 
 The young lady's mother did not seem to regard 
 him with great horror, however, when he brought 
 her daughter, for she greeted him with a smile. 
 
 Jack was glad to escape, for all the time he was
 
 88 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 indulging in persiflage with the two young ladies, 
 he was giving much attention to the one in the 
 corner. 
 
 He sought Mrs. Jamieson at once. 
 
 " Well, you naughty boy," said she, as he came 
 up. " I've been watching you. You have devoted 
 yourself wholly to that flirting cousin of mine and 
 her friend Lou, both of whom know well enough 
 how to obtain attention without monopolizing one 
 I intended for a lieutenant. See how nobly Will 
 Robb is doing his duty." 
 
 " Yes, I know. He'is a model. But it is reserved 
 only for a few to attain the altitude pf his goodness. 
 He resembles an angel." 
 
 The idea of Robb's resemblance to an angel was 
 too much for the jolly little dame, and laughing, 
 she tapped him on the shoulder with her fan, saying : 
 
 " I give you up. You are incorrigible." 
 
 " Don't do that, please. Because I want you to 
 do me a favor." 
 
 " And what may that be, please ? " 
 
 " Tell me who is the striking lady seated in the 
 corner ? " 
 
 The lady looked in the direction indicated. 
 
 " Why," she said, " that is the daughter of the 
 gentleman you inquired about yesterday Dr. Sher- 
 man. That is he sitting beside her, the old gentle- 
 man. It is Miss Lucy Sherman." 
 
 " Will you not present me? " 
 
 " No, I will not, for you don't deserve it. But 
 I'll compromise with you. Here's Mrs. Van Huyn, 
 she is Miss Sherman's chaperon. I will ask her to 
 present you." 
 
 Then turning to Mrs. Van Huyn, who was seated 
 near her, she said : 
 
 " Mrs. Van Huyn, here is a sighing swain who 
 desires to be presented to your charming charge. 
 Will you not do it for him ? "
 
 THE ROSEBUD PARTY. 89 
 
 The lady, who was moodily listening to the dron- 
 ing of an antiquated beau, who vainly imagined he 
 was making himself most agreeable to a pretty 
 woman, rose, her face brightening, and took the 
 proffered arm of Jack. 
 
 The young lady was still listening to the engag- 
 ing young diplomat. 
 
 " Lucy, my dear," she said, " Mr. Gordon de- 
 sires to be presented to you. Miss Sherman." 
 
 The gentleman from Washington, loth as he 
 was to relinquish his seat, disappeared with a bow, 
 and Jack dropped into the chair just vacated. 
 
 He had found the unknown Lucy.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WEB SPINNING. 
 
 LUCY received Jack graciously. 
 To be received graciously, however, was noth- 
 ing new to Jack. All women gave him a wel- 
 come. He had a winning personality, even if he 
 could not boast a handsome face. His manner was 
 deferential, yet self-assertive ; his demeanor mod- 
 est, yet bold. He accepted every woman as an 
 equal neither as a superior nor an inferior. While 
 thus flattering them without an air of condescension 
 he compelled respect for himself without becoming 
 a prig. 
 
 After the ordinary nothings with which strangers 
 begin conversations, Jack remarked that he imag- 
 ined Miss Sherman was not a resident of the city. 
 
 " No," she replied, " we do not count ourselves 
 residents, though, as a rule, we spend the winter 
 months in town. We live at Caldwell." 
 
 Jack expressed surprise at not having met her 
 before, since, as he said, he went about a good deal. 
 
 " It is not strange," she answered. " Last win- 
 ter I did not go out because of the death of an aunt 
 who lived with us. The winter before we were in 
 Europe." 
 
 It should not be forgotten, that while Jack was 
 making himself agreeable to Lucy, he firmly be- 
 lieved he was talking with one who had caused the 
 death of Renfrew, and he marveled over her com- 
 posure and self-command. The feverishness, the 
 suppressed restlessness, he had noticed when he 
 90
 
 WEB SPIN A? ING. 91 
 
 first observed her, were still present in her manner. 
 To be sure the indications were slight, and indeed, 
 if Jack had not been looking for manifestations 
 of the awful experience he felt quite certain she 
 must have passed through during the preceding 
 twenty-four hours, he probably would not have per- 
 ceived them. Of all this he was aware, and he won- 
 dered how a girl so young, and who did not bear 
 upon her countenance visible expression of the pos- 
 session of such qualities as would urge her to com- 
 mit such a deed, could carry herself with such per- 
 fect self-possession. 
 
 He covertly studied her. He saw a strong, re- 
 fined face, showing capacity for emotion, for pas- 
 sion even, instinct with intellect. That it was the 
 face of one who could, in a moment of intense an- 
 ger, made desperate by great wrong, strike a deadly 
 blow, he could well understand. But he could see 
 no cruelty in it ; on the contrary, there was much 
 sensibility apparent, and the mouth, well formed 
 and firm as it was, manifested large power for 
 affection. Her eyes, dark and glowing, were neither 
 hard nor cold, but soft, luminous, and responsive. 
 
 How she could have brought herself to attend a 
 place of festivity, to carry herself with so much 
 composure, and to engage even in the light, trivial 
 conversation they were making, puzzled him. He 
 took refuge in the trite consideration that women 
 were not to be comprehended by the male biped. 
 
 Notwithstanding all he knew of, or thought he 
 knew of her, he found himself greatly attracted. 
 This might have been accounted for by her beauty, 
 but Jack would not admit it to himself, for he 
 thought he had discovered a strength in her, the 
 suggestion of a latent power in all she said, how- 
 ever trivial, which fascinated him. Then, too, her 
 voice, which washer richest gift, was low and soft, 
 a quality in women to which he was partial.
 
 92 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 There Was another thing which puzzled him, for 
 it seemed a contradiction. She had won his re- 
 spect. He knew that he never could, however 
 long he might know her, or however intimate he 
 might become, get upon the same terms he was 
 with Mollie Lowell or Lou Appleby. He could 
 not picture her engaging in the sort of chaff he 
 had had with his two friends earlier in the evening. 
 
 In short the girl, the deed, and her after-conduct 
 were irreconcilable. He abandoned the effort to 
 understand her, without abandoning the belief that 
 she was the slayer of Renfrew. He gave himself 
 up to the thought of how he could communicate to 
 her the possession of her letters, and to her fasci- 
 nations. 
 
 No doubt Jack is presented in an exceedingly 
 reprehensible light. No doubt if Jack had been a 
 model young man his soul would have revolted at 
 the idea of talking with, much less endeavoring to 
 impress himself favorably upon, one he thought 
 guilty of life-taking. No doubt if Jack had been 
 the proper sort of young man he would have imme- 
 diately communicated the knowledge in his pos- 
 session to the police, and thereby made a fool of 
 himself. But not being a proper sort of young 
 man, he escaped being a fool, and as this pen is not 
 constructing a model, but is striving to present, too 
 feebly it is true, a typical young man of New York 
 of the nineteenth century, perhaps having a little 
 too much heart, intellect and enthusiasm, but not 
 too much shrewdness or premature sagacity to be 
 typical, it can do no more than set down the facts. 
 
 Now that he was in the situation he had so earn- 
 estly desired, face to face with his fare of three 
 nights previous, he could not find a way to convey 
 his information. He had already determined to 
 make himself an accessory to her crime, although 
 he did not use that ugly'word, nor regard his act in
 
 WEB SPINNING. 93 
 
 such a light, by concealing all knowledge he pos- 
 sessed. He meant to deliver to her the letters, 
 convince her he did not know their contents, and 
 make her fully comprehend that she had nothing 
 to fear from him. 
 
 There was, after all, something chivalric about all 
 this. He had no ulterior purpose. Indeed, he 
 would have revolted at the idea of gaining advan- 
 tage by the possession of such power. He might 
 have desired to win the girl, but his triumph would 
 have been valueless in his eyes, had it been achieved 
 by such means. 
 
 All this time they had been chatting, and Jack 
 had made no progress in discovering his possessions. 
 
 Dr. Sherman, who had been absorbed in conver- 
 sation with the distinguished lawyer, now rose and 
 said to Lucy : 
 
 " Come, my dear. You have not been well for a 
 day or two, and you must not overtax yourself." 
 
 Lucy rose with prompt obedience, and Jack and 
 the lawyer did the same. 
 
 At this moment Mr. Van Huyn engaged the 
 attention of Dr. Sherman by a further remark, and 
 Jack was enabled to say : 
 
 " I have been greatly pleased to make your 
 acquaintance, Miss Sherman, and dare to express 
 the hope that it will not cease with this meeting." 
 
 If he had hoped by this cast to catch a fish he 
 was disappointed. Lucy contented herself with a 
 courteous inclination of the head in acknowl- 
 edgment. 
 
 However, Jack was not to be defeated without 
 due effort. 
 
 " Shall I be transcending the proprieties," he per- 
 sisted insinuatingly, " in asking to be permitted to 
 call upon you ? " 
 
 Lucy did not seem to be outraged by the propo- 
 sition, yet she hesitated before replying :
 
 94 JACK CORDO.V, KX1GHT ERRANT. 
 
 " We live at an hotel, and I have not been ac- 
 customed to receiving calls from gentlemen." 
 
 Jack was politely urgent. 
 
 " Perhaps you would make an exception in my 
 case ? " 
 
 " My father does not approve of it." 
 
 Jack was desperate. 
 
 " I had hoped to be able to obtain your consent 
 and to say at the time of my call what I must say 
 now." 
 
 He dropped his voice so that it could be heard 
 by none but Lucy. 
 
 " I have something which should be in your 
 hands, which I think you will regard as of the 
 greatest value." 
 
 Lucy bent her dark eyes upon him most earnestly, 
 and Jack thought he saw in them a fleeting ex- 
 pression of alarm. 
 
 " Indeed ! " 
 
 " Yes. A package of letters." 
 
 The color quickly rose to her cheeks and over- 
 spread them. 
 
 " A package of letters ? Of mine ? " 
 
 " I presume so." Then dropping his voice still 
 lower: " They were in the possession of Cyril 
 Renfrew." 
 
 The color left her face so quickly that Jack 
 thought she was about to faint, and he cursed his 
 brutality. 
 
 But with a revulsion the color swept up deeper 
 . than before. 
 
 " How came they Call on meat two to-morrow 
 afternoon at the B ." 
 
 At this moment Dr. Sherman turned and offered 
 his arm to his daughter. Noticing the heightened 
 color of Lucy's face, he looked at Jack scrutiniz- 
 ingly and not without kindly amusement. That 
 unabashed young man bore the scrutiny well.
 
 WEB SPINNING. 95 
 
 The lawyer and Jack bowed, and Dr. Sherman 
 with his daughter on his arm walked away. 
 
 " That young gentleman evidently has a danger- 
 ous tongue," said Dr. Sherman to Lucy. " Beware 
 of him, and do not show your excitement over 
 compliments, however pleasing. Still you deserve 
 them to-night, for you are looking very handsome." 
 
 Jack remained standing a moment where they 
 left him. Then he said 
 
 " That trip is indefinitely postponed." 
 
 The principal attraction having withdrawn, Jack 
 thought he would follow, escaping unobserved if 
 possible. 
 
 This he did successfully. He had no fancy to 
 go elsewhere. Within himself he possessed the 
 food for interest and thought. So he went straight- 
 way to his own apartments. 
 
 Here he found his man Crimmins busily pack- 
 ing his trunks, in preparation for an early departure 
 the next morning. 
 
 " You may stop that," said Jack. 
 
 "Sir." 
 
 " Yes, I am not going to-morrow. Something 
 has occurred to-night to prevent me." 
 
 The obedient Crimmins began to unpaqk, and 
 Jack, having donned his " blazer," lit a cigar, took 
 an easy-chair, and soon sank into a profound 
 reverie.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AN INTERVIEW OF CONSEQUENCE. 
 
 IT may well be imagined that Lucy returned 
 home in no enviable frame of mind. Her father, 
 who had been greatly pleased with the entertain- 
 ment, chatted quite gayly and compared it with the 
 social festivities of his youth, both in New York 
 and abroad. Indeed, he seemed to be seized with 
 an unusual fit of garrulity, and after their arrival 
 at home detained her with a long account of some 
 ball of twenty -^ears previous, to which Lucy gave 
 only outward heed, so anxious was she to get to her 
 room, where she might seriously consider the effect 
 the information she had that night received so 
 singularly, might have upon her fortunes. When 
 she was at length released she dismissed her maid 
 from attendance upon her. 
 
 What alarmed her most was that the secret was 
 in danger of becoming widespread. The thought 
 that her secret was confined to herself, now that 
 Renfrew was dead, had comforted her. She had 
 feared that the detective had become possessed of 
 it, and that thought had for a time frightened her, 
 but upon that point she had been assured, and she 
 was beginning to believe that the actor had after 
 all destroyed the letters; but now she learned that 
 they were in the hands of a fashionable young 
 man. By what means ? What use would he make of 
 that information? And the secret they contained, 
 with how many had he shared it ? Indeed, her
 
 AN INI 'ER VIE W OF CONSEQ UENCE. 9 7 
 
 situation seemed to be worse than before. So 
 long as Renfrew was alive and possessed it alone 
 she had been enabled to keep it down by payments 
 of money. Now it was quite likely to become the 
 gossip of the clubs and the street. Surely it would 
 reach the ears of Dr. Sherman ! She wished she 
 had killed herself that night, as she had intended. 
 To live in this fear and constant dread of exposure 
 was worse than death. Yet she could not do it 
 now. The hope she had entertained that she was 
 wholly relieved, had brought with it a revulsion 
 which made the act impossible. This she fully 
 realized. She even wondered now how she could 
 have contemplated it, and whether she really ever 
 intended to do it, so far off did it seem. 
 
 Thus she thought and thought without seeing 
 light, until the breaking of the gray dawn admon- 
 ished her that she must at least make a pretense of 
 resting. She did not believe she could sleep. But 
 she was far more exhausted by the excitement she 
 had undergone than she was conscious of, and soon 
 fell into profound slumber. 
 
 It was only when aroused by her maid that she 
 awoke and had barely time to prepare for break- 
 fast, which she hurriedly did. Her first thought 
 was of Jack and his call. She was exceedingly 
 anxious to meet him and know the worst in store 
 for her. Her second was how she could secure an 
 uninterrupted interview with him, since her father 
 never left their apartments until after lunch, and, 
 often remained in all the afternoon. Of course she 
 could receive Mr. Gordon in one of the public par- 
 lors, but her continued absence from their own 
 would attract the attention of Dr. Sherman, who 
 was something of a martinet in his family. Be- 
 sides there was danger that when Jack's card was 
 presented it would be before the Doctor, when, 
 of course, he would have to be received in their
 
 98 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 own apartments, and with the presence of the Doc- 
 tor the call would come to naught. 
 
 However, when breakfast was finished the Doc- 
 tor smoothed away all difficulties by announcing 
 that he was going out of town a short distance: 
 and would not be back before the dinner-hour. 
 This was a decided luxury, for she was thus free to 
 manifest her impatience and show her anxiety 
 unrestrained by fear of a pair of watchful eyes. 
 
 She spent a large portion of the morning in 
 speculating upon the sort of person this Mr. Gor- 
 don might be. She had been rather impressed by 
 his appearance and manner before he had presented 
 himself in the formidable shape he had, as the pos- 
 sessor of her letters the night previous, and she 
 was more than once on the point of donning her 
 garments for the street and seeking some informa- 
 tion of him, but was restrained by the unfounded 
 fear that he might call in her absence. 
 
 Shortly after twelve, a caller, in the person of her 
 chaperon, the pretty Mrs. Van Huyn, was ushered 
 in. Here was the opportunity she so much desired, 
 and she greeted tier friend effusively. 
 
 " My dear," said that lady, " I ran around to see 
 how you sustained the fatigues of last evening. 
 Your father said you were not well." 
 
 " Nor have I been, for a day or two," replied 
 Lucy. " But it was a mere nothing I feel no ill 
 effects from last night's dissipation." 
 
 " Then you came off better than I did," said the 
 visitor, " for I find myself feverish, restless, nervous, 
 and am tired of my own company. You do look 
 well this morning, and were charming last night. I 
 was proud of my charge and was fairly besieged for 
 introductions." 
 
 Lucy laughed, but said nothing. 
 
 " My charge ! " continued the lady. " The idea ! 
 You are as old as I am. To think only five years
 
 AN INTERVIEW OF CONSEQUENCE. 99 
 
 ago we were schoolmates, and now I am a married 
 woman acting as your chaperon. It is quite ridic- 
 ulous." 
 
 " Who was that Mr. Gordon you brought to 
 me ? " 
 
 "I expected that question. Indeed, I think the 
 reason of my coming here this morning was to an- 
 swer it." 
 
 " I am not so anxious to know that you needed 
 to have come for that alone," replied Lucy with 
 indifference, though it was a little white fib, for 
 she was bursting with impatience. 
 
 " No, I presume not. Yet in your heart you 
 ought to be grateful to me. You know you are 
 just dying to have the answer." 
 
 " If I am, I am likely to die before I get it." 
 
 " Oh, the impatience of the dear thing ! Ah, I 
 saw he succeeded in making himself very agree- 
 able. Do you think I was not observant of the 
 parting ?" 
 
 Lucy's color rose as she laughed. 
 
 " Why," said her visitor, noting it, " it is farther 
 gone than I supposed. But I'll not torture, you. 
 Mr. Gordon is regarded in many respects as the 
 most, eligible parti in the city. Rich, well edu- 
 cated, more brains than usually falls to the lot of 
 \htjeunesse dort, not too far gone in dissipation, 
 witty, good tempered, of good family, unburdened 
 by father or mother, brother or sister. Lacks 
 something in good looks, but makes it up in dis- 
 tinction. And, finally, is one of ' Mama Jamieson's ' 
 young tnen chief among the rest facile princtps 
 you see I haven't forgotten Miss Waltham and my 
 Latin." 
 
 " But is he a gentleman ? " 
 
 " Is he not rich and well educated well- 
 born ? " 
 
 " But he may not be a gentleman for all that."
 
 loo JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Oh, well, Jack Gordon is a gentleman. A 
 kindly, big-hearted fellow, who would any time do 
 one a kindness rather than an injury." 
 
 " I am glad to know that." 
 
 " Of course," said the lady, with a nervous little 
 laugh which struck oddly on Lucy. " He ought 
 to be much obliged to me, for I have done all in my 
 power to assist him. I owe him several good turns, 
 and when I see him I will sound your praises to 
 him. I shall be the directing angel of this romance." 
 
 " Better wait until you see whether there is to 
 be one." 
 
 " Oh, I am satisfied it is already begun. Well, 
 Lucy dear, he is a dear, good boy. If I were in 
 trouble I do not know any one I would rather put 
 my trust in than Jack Gordon. He is true as 
 steel." 
 
 "Who were the two young ladies with whom he 
 seemed to be on such good terms ?" 
 
 " Jealous indeed ! Have no fear. They were 
 Mollie Lowell and Lou Appleby two dashing 
 young ladies inclined to assume airs too loud and 
 too fast to suit Jack's refined taste in women well 
 enough to flirt and chaff with, which he does to his 
 heart's content, and as half no, nine-tenths of 
 the young men do. It ends there." 
 
 Lucy had now learned all she could expect to, 
 and she began to wish her visitor would depart. 
 But to depart was far from Mrs. Van Huyn's pur- 
 pose. She wanted company, and she frankly an- 
 nounced that she meant to lunch with her friend. 
 
 As the hour of two approached Lucy became so 
 nervous as to betray her- anxiety. So when Gor- 
 don's card was presented Mrs. Van Huyn laughed 
 heartily. 
 
 "So this accounts for your anxiety. An ap- 
 pointment already. He loses no time in following 
 up his advantage of last night. Come, shall I
 
 AN IN TER VIE W OF CONSEQ UENCE. to I 
 
 dance at your wedding before the winter is over ? 
 But why should I desire your marriage ? The 
 estate is not such a happy one. Yet warnings are 
 of no use. Run down to him, my dear. Don't 
 mind me, I shall go at once." 
 
 They descended the stairs together, and parted 
 at the parlor door. 
 
 In the mean time Jack had been occupying the 
 time while waiting for Lucy's appearance in won- 
 dering how she would receive him. He feared she 
 would resent his interference in her affairs, for 
 after all it was impertinent officiousness on his 
 part. 
 
 When she entered he was, in fact, surprised at 
 her greeting. She was neither cold, haughty, nor 
 disdainful. On the contrary, there seemed to be 
 something appealing in the glance she cast upon 
 him, as if she were throwing herself upon his 
 mercy. Jack thought, " If she is charming at 
 night, she is irresistible in the morning." 
 
 As soon as they were seated he took from his 
 pocket the package of letters he had obtained from 
 Renfrew, and was about to speak, when a man who 
 had strolled into the parlor passed so close that 
 Jack waited for him to go by, which he did slowly, 
 posting himself in front of the mirror at the other 
 end of the room. 
 
 " This," he said, when the man was out of hearing, 
 " I am convinced belongs to you. I do not sup- 
 pose so because I know its contents. I have never 
 read the letters, have never opened the package. 
 I know absolutely nothing of the nature of their 
 contents. I wish you to believe this upon the 
 honor of a gentleman." 
 
 He handed them to her, conscious at the time of 
 the singularity of his endeavor to obtain the esteem 
 of one he believed to be the murderer of the 
 actor.
 
 102 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Lucy showed her surprise, and a glad look spread 
 over her face. She observed the expression of 
 earnestness on his, and believed him. She said so. 
 
 " I can not imagine how they came into your 
 hands, Mr. Gordon," she added. 
 
 The man at the glass strolled back again, and so 
 close that Jack, believing it to be intentional, glared 
 at the man in so unmistakably a belligerent manner 
 that he left the room, though during the whole con- 
 versation Jack could see he paced up and down the 
 corridor. 
 
 Replying to Lucy he said : 
 
 " The story is a singular one, and perhaps would 
 not be believed in its entirety. While I am glad I 
 have been the means of restoring them to you, I 
 can not say I am proud of the exploit." 
 
 Lucy looked at him, puzzled. After a moment's 
 hesitation she said : 
 
 "You know, of course, that Mr. Renfrew is 
 dead ? " 
 
 " Yes. Killed in his room night before last." 
 
 "Yes. 1 read the account in the papers." 
 
 Now it was Gordon's turn to be puzzled. He 
 looked at the face of the girl. There was no 
 blanching, not a quiver of trepidation, not an indi- 
 cation of agitation or remorse. 
 
 "She is an extraordinary woman," said Gordon 
 to himself, partly in admiration and partly in 
 amazement. 
 
 " 1 confess, Mr. Gordon," she continued, '' you 
 have performed a service for me, the value of which 
 you can not realize. You can not know the grati- 
 tude I bear you for the favor and the generous 
 way in which you have performed it." 
 
 Jack bowed, murmuring that he was only too 
 glad to have been of real service to her. 
 
 " I would like to say something," continued Lucy, 
 " and I hardly know how to say it."
 
 AN INTER VIE W OF CONSEQUENCE. 1 03 
 
 She was evidently greatly embarrassed. The 
 color was coming and going rapidly. 
 
 " If it embarrasses you," said Jack kindly, " leave 
 it unsaid." 
 
 " No. I must say it in defense of myself," she 
 persisted. " I hope you will try to understand me, 
 and will believe me as earnestly as I do you." 
 
 Jack was sure he would. 
 
 " I read yesterday that Mr. Renfrew's reputation 
 was not good ; that he was in the habit of inveig- 
 ling young girls into letter-writing and then using 
 that correspondence to his own a very base 
 advantage." 
 
 Jack had heard that he had been given to 
 chantage. 
 
 " I earnestly hope you will not believe this to be 
 one of those cases ?" 
 
 This was a little more than Jack could believe 
 when he remembered the conversation he had over- 
 heard. Fortunately for his politeness Lucy did 
 not look up at him. 
 
 " There never was," she went on, " anything re- 
 sembling a love episode between Mr. Renfrew and 
 myself not even the slightest form of flirtation." 
 
 The blushes were added to her cheek as she said 
 this, and Jack was astonished to find how glad he 
 was to hear her words. 
 
 " No," she continued, " I was not one of those 
 silly girls who saw a hero in Mr. Renfrew. It is 
 this I want you to believe." 
 
 Jack did believe then, because, having said what 
 she had found it so hard to say, she bent her dark 
 eyes upon him, and he had to believe in spite of 
 himself. 
 
 " I shall not attempt to conceal from you," she 
 went on after a moment's hesitation, " that this 
 package contains letters written by me to Mr. Ren- 
 frew, but they are not love-letters. They were
 
 104 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 written during a period of three years, and relate 
 to a matter which does not even remotely involve 
 the affections. They relate to a fault committed 
 by me when I was a mere unsophisticated, irrespon- 
 sible school-girl a fault which would be, if com- 
 mitted now at my age, a crime a fault, the con- 
 sequences of which have attended me since, and 
 from which I can not escape. The knowledge of 
 this came into the possession of Mr. Renfrew five 
 years ago, and he has made me suffer bitterly for 
 the past three years." 
 
 " And he has paid the penalty at your hands," 
 thought Jack, not without some sympathy. Aloud 
 he said, " He is dead now, and you are free from 
 him." 
 
 " Yes, poor fellow. His end was a terrible one." 
 
 Jack stared at her. " By Jove ! " he thought, 
 " you are a cool one, indeed." Then aloud : 
 
 ," You are not likely to be troubled again, if the 
 possession of those letters can secure you against 
 such trouble." 
 
 " I do not know through how many hands they 
 have passed," she replied. " All may not have 
 treated them with the same delicacy and honor. 
 I do not know how they came into your hands." 
 
 " I received them direct from Mr. Cyril Renfrew." 
 
 " You received them from Ja from Cyril ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I can hardly comprehend that. Were you an 
 intimate friend of Mr. Renfrew ? " 
 
 " I had never spoken to him half an hour before 
 he gave me that package." 
 
 Lucy looked at him in amazement. 
 
 " I can not understand it. Did he give them to 
 you by mistake ? Ah," she said, a light breaking 
 in upon her, " he intended you should give them 
 to Dr. Sherman ?" 
 
 " No, Dr. Sherman was not mentioned between
 
 AN IN TER VIE W OF CONSEQ UENCE. I o 5 
 
 us. I demanded them from him compelled him 
 to yield them up to me." 
 
 Lucy's face expressed utter bewilderment. 
 
 " I do not wonder you are puzzled, Miss Sher- 
 man," said Jack, smiling. " The case is almost 
 incredible in its details. You will pardon me, I 
 hope, if I do not recite it at length. That I should 
 have demanded the yielding up of the letters of a 
 lady of whose very name I was ignorant, is almost 
 impossible of belief, I understand, yet such is the 
 case. I had seen you without knowing who you 
 were. It had come to my knowledge that Ren- 
 frew possessed a package of what I knew not 
 but I did know its possession enabled him to hold 
 a power over you. I know it is inconceivable that 
 I should go to that man and demand- its delivery to 
 me, trusting to my energy and sagacity to discover 
 you and deliver it to you. But such is the case." 
 
 Jack thought that this statement would be re- 
 ceived with incredulity, and he looked into her face 
 with a deprecatory grimace, expecting to see such 
 an expression. He did not see it, but he saw a 
 variety of fleeting ones, none of which he could fix, 
 and he thought he saw a slight shudder quickly 
 suppressed. He rather expected to be laughed at, 
 but he would have been astounded if he could have 
 read her thoughts, for a suspicion had found lodg- 
 ment in her brain, that this man had killed her 
 persecutor. His unsatisfactory statement of an 
 act which certainly was incredible, and his evident 
 intention to suppress a part of the story, gave birth 
 to this suspicion. 
 
 Jack had intended to tell the cab story, but the 
 longer he talked with her the longer he was 
 within the circle of her personal influence the 
 more difficult he found the confession that he had 
 made her the subject of a bet and such a bet 
 that he had driven her in disguise, and listened to
 
 106 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 a conversation which he had no business to hear. 
 Feeling that he had not made the best impression 
 in his last speech, for she seemed to freeze into 
 stiffness, he tried to correct it. 
 
 " Perhaps some time when we know each other 
 better, I can tell you how that knowledge came to 
 me. When you know me better, then, what now 
 you might call my impertinence would be con- 
 doned when I could tell you how I came to offi- 
 ciously intermeddle in your affairs, and why, when 
 it would not then take on the appearance of offense, 
 it might now." 
 
 He had not improved affairs. Lucy was only 
 the more confirmed in her suspicions that he had 
 quarreled with Renfrew and killed him. 
 
 Jack was smiling, rather enjoying her air of be- 
 wilderment. 
 
 " But of this you can rest assured," continued 
 Jack, since she did not speak. " If you are satis- 
 fied that no one, other than Renfrew, possessed 
 your secret, you are perfectly safe. The package 
 went from his keeping into mine, and I restore it 
 to you just as I received it." 
 
 " He is a gentleman, anyhow," thought Lucy. 
 
 " Yes," he repeated, " just as I received it, and 
 I am as ignorant of its contents as when I went to 
 see him." 
 
 " When you went to see him ? " she repeated. 
 " When was that ? " 
 
 " The day of his murder in the afternoon." 
 
 " Oh, I went to see him that day too." 
 
 " Miss Sherman," said Jack earnestly, " three 
 people called to see Renfrew that afternoon. One 
 of them killed the actor. Two of them are here 
 now talking with each other. The knowledge that 
 we called is confined to ourselves. Let me advise 
 you let me urge you to keep that knowledge to 
 yourself. I~ shall do the same. If we do not we
 
 AN INTERVIEW OF CONSEQUENCE. 107 
 
 shall be involved, at least as witnesses, at the ex- 
 amination. In your case you might be compelled 
 to disclose your secret, and, possibly, whether or 
 not you returned for a second visit. But," and 
 he spoke most impressively, " burn that package. 
 Put it out of your power to produce it again." 
 
 Lucy was about to say something as to her visit, 
 when Jack cautioned her to burn the letters, and 
 diverted her attention to its necessity. 
 
 Jack had risen with his remark, and had seen the 
 warm blood sweep up over Lucy's cheek as he had 
 so impressively warned her. 
 
 "Yes," he said, with a pang at his heart, "she 
 caused the death of Renfrew." 
 
 " Yes," she said, as she considered the earnest- 
 ness of Jack's warning and misapprehended it, 
 " he surely killed Jacob." 
 
 They shook hands, and as they parted, the man 
 who had hovered about the door came down the 
 corridor. 
 
 Jack walked along the street in a singular frame 
 of mind. 
 
 " Now, by Jove ! here is a fine condition of things 
 for an amiable and respectable, not to say a talented 
 and highly virtuous young man. Here am I in col- 
 lusion with a young lady who has a mysterious 
 epoch in her life, from the consequences of which 
 she escapes by calmly suspending the breath of the 
 wretch who knows all about the epoch and can in- 
 jure her. And what is worse, the more I see her 
 the more fascinated I am with her." 
 
 He strode along in profound thought for awhile. 
 Then he said aloud : 
 
 " Hang it all ! I'll keep her secret, no matter 
 what the consequences. To the devil with pru- 
 dence !" 
 
 Lucy hastened to her own room, and locking the 
 door opened the package. From it fell a long
 
 lo8 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 paper neatly folded. She found it to be a succinct 
 statement of the fault the crime she had referred 
 to in her conversation with Gordon. This made 
 her angry, for she saw in it proof of the intention 
 of Renfrew to expose her. 
 
 She hastily examined the letters and found that 
 all she had written were there not one missing ; 
 but she found another also which was not written 
 by her. Yet the hand seemed familiar to her, 
 though she could not determine it, however hard 
 she tried. It was signed " Dollie Dux." She 
 folded it up and laid it away in her desk. Her 
 own she threw into the fire one by one and saw 
 them burn with satisfaction. 
 
 "There ! " she said, as the last one turned black 
 and shriveled up. " There is the last bit of evi- 
 dence against me. Get it who can. Jacob is dead, 
 and if he has told no one, and it is not likely he 
 has, the secret is mine alone. Mr. Gordon says he 
 does not know, and I believe him." 
 
 She drew up a small easy-chair before the grate, 
 and nestling in its soft cushions gave herself up to 
 thoughts of Gordon. 
 
 How came he to interfere ? And why ? Beyond 
 this she could not get. Strive she ever so hard she 
 could not get a bit of ground to stand upon from 
 which to reason. 
 
 Was he responsible for Renfrew's death ? She 
 tried hard to believe the contrary; but if his 
 guarded words did not justify that suspicion, what 
 did they mean ? She was afraid he had that he 
 had quarreled with the actor she was certain, per- 
 haps over her own letters, and. then in a moment of 
 anger had done the fearful deed. Men did such 
 things when they were exasperated ; even gentle- 
 men. She had read of such cases. 
 
 At all events he had clone her great service a 
 very great service for he had removed her entirely
 
 AN INTER VIE W OF COttSEQ UENCE. i o^ 
 
 from danger. She ought- to be grateful to him, 
 and she was. Had he not saved her from exposure 
 and ruin ? He had been true to her and she 
 should be to him true as steel. Not a word 
 should fall from her that would injure him, not- 
 withstanding he had done this deed. She owed 
 him far too much. He could depend on her, no 
 matter what he had done. 
 
 Then she thought of her attempt to recover her 
 letters from Captain Lawton. She thought now it 
 was a mistake, and she had promised to go again in 
 a week. But there was no need. She would write 
 him that her letters had been recovered, and there- 
 fore would not call again. 
 
 Acting upon the impulse, she wrote to the Cap- 
 tain, taking care not to sign any name, but indi- 
 cating who the writer was by this sentence : " You 
 will recollect I called upon you yesterday with 
 reference to letters signed by ' Lucy,' presuming 
 then they were in the possession of the late Cyril 
 Renfrew." 
 
 When the Captain received it he laughed long 
 and heartily, and called for a report of one of his 
 aids. " You need not shadow her any longer," he 
 said. " Devote yourself to Mr. John Gordon."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SETTING THE LINES. 
 
 days moved on and Captain Lawton found 
 himself but little nearer the end of his search 
 than he was on the night of the murder. He 
 still adhered to the theory that a woman had com- 
 mitted the deed, and one who had been goaded by 
 Renfrew into desperation. But there he stopped, 
 and neither could his superior officer, who agreed 
 with him as to the theory, suggest a line of policy 
 which, if followed, promised results of the kind 
 desired. The chief obstacle to progress was found 
 in the secretive life and methods of the dead actor. 
 He was apparently a man without family or rela- 
 tions. Certainly he was without intimates or confi- 
 dants. He had succeeded in tracing Renfrew back 
 to the day he first appeared at a theater as an 
 applicant for employment. An old prompter said 
 to the Captain : 
 
 " I recollect well the day he appeared. Side- 
 wing, the stage-manager, and' I were looking over the 
 supernumeraries one day after a rehearsal, and think- 
 ing we wanted a leader who could speak a line or 
 two, when a good-looking young fellow came in 
 and, leaning over the rail of the orchestra, said : ' I 
 have called to see if you would give me a chance.' 
 I said to Sidewing, ' He looks it well enough.' Said 
 Sidewing, 'What experience have you had?' 
 'None whatever,' he replied. Sidewing shook his 
 head, but I said, ' Give him a trial ; bring him up 
 and give him a rehearsal.' So Sidewing did. He
 
 SETTING THE LINES. Ill 
 
 was so intelligent and quick that he got the speeches 
 in twenty minutes just as Sidewing wanted them, 
 and he rehearsed next day satisfactorily with the 
 'supes.' He was engaged. We kept on giving him 
 little speaking parts, and so he grew. That was his 
 beginning. Nobody ever knew where he came 
 from." 
 
 From all the Captain could hear, Renfrew never 
 had made a confidant of any one and nevef associ- 
 ated with his fellows of the stage. No one, there- 
 fore, could help trace any of the correspondents 
 whose letters indicated close intimacy with him. A 
 few were, but it was soon apparent that they had 
 gone but a little way with him and could tell 
 nothing. The rank of life of his correspondents 
 helped to prevent discovery. The coroner's inquest 
 had elicited nothing whatever, and the Inspector 
 said to the Captain one day : " It is going to be 
 an addition to the list of mysterious murders." 
 
 The Captain remarked in the same conversation, 
 " Of course, we know that Miss Sherman called 
 upon him on the clay of the murder. But she was 
 the first one. I have settled that conclusively. So 
 far we have been unable to discover the other two. 
 Of course the third one is the real one. The second 
 might assist us. I am quite certain, and I believe 
 you agree with me, that Miss Sherman had no con- 
 nection with those who followed." 
 
 " Yes," replied his superior officer. " I agree 
 with you entirely in that. That girl is too frank 
 and confiding to have the burden of that murder 
 on her soul." 
 
 " I have gone over Oliver's work again," con- 
 tinued the Captain, "and there is not a pistol in 
 town to compare with the one found." 
 
 " I can not criticise your work, Captain, "said his 
 suoerior. " except in one particular. It doesn't 
 seem ro me mat you nave done an you couia co
 
 112 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 discover what Miss Sherman knows about Renfrew 
 and his surroundings. Why don't you see her 
 again ; perhaps by gaining her confidence you 
 might obtain something from her." 
 
 " I think I sounded her pretty exhaustively when 
 she came to see me," replied the Captain. " I 
 don't think she knows anything. But I'll try. 
 There is one thing, however, that I ought to dis- 
 cover and I will. You remember that Fagan, who 
 was shadowing her, reported that young Gordon 
 called upon her and delivered to her a package. 
 You recollect that she wrote me the same day that 
 she had recovered her letters. I received her note 
 a week ago to-day. Now the package Gordon 
 gave her was evidently the letters she wanted to 
 recover. How did Gordon get them ? And from 
 whom ? From Renfrew ? If so, when ? These 
 inquiries ought to be made." 
 
 " You are right," rejoined the Inspector. " What 
 relation does Gordon bear to her ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I have supposed him to be a 
 beau of hers. They move in the same circle." 
 
 " Well, follow it up. Perhaps you ought to have 
 done so before." 
 
 ;i Nothing is lost. I have had them both shadowed, 
 and there were other things to be done while the 
 trail was fresh." 
 
 " Well, lose no time now," said the Inspector, 
 putting an end to the interview. 
 
 During the week following the delivery of the 
 package to her, Lucy had experienced a greater 
 ease of mind than she had enjoyed for three years 
 previously. The dreadful contingency which was 
 always present had disappeared in the death 
 of Renfrew and the recovery and burning of 
 her letters. She felt like one who had escaped 
 from .a prison, or rather like one who had been 
 released. She was free there was no dreadful
 
 SETTING THE LINES. 113 
 
 reckoning time drawing day by day closer. There 
 was no fear at night that she would awaken to a 
 new demand in the morning ; there was no longer 
 a sickening recollection on awaking that a sum of 
 money must be collected before night or she would 
 be ruined. Gladness filled her heart and left no 
 room for the remorse which had previously made 
 her regard her fault her crime as something 
 wretched and horrible. Indeed, she began to think 
 that the trespass was, after all, a small thing, not 
 worth the sorrow and regVet she had wasted upon 
 it. She did not stop to think that the remorse was 
 quite as much a strong regret that by reason of the 
 fault the crime she had put herself in the power 
 of Renfrew, and was not sorrow for the crime 
 itself. She was in these days so bright and glad- 
 some that Dr. Sherman congratulated her upon her 
 return to health, and said that in recovering it she 
 had renewed the lightheartedness of girlhood. 
 
 During this week, too, she saw a great deal of 
 Jack Gordon. If it was not at Mrs. Van Huyn's, 
 it was at Mrs. Jamieson's, and if not there, Jack 
 found his way to the hotel. It was singular, she 
 had remarked to herself, how he seemed to run 
 across her path at all sorts of odd hours. Two 
 weeks previously she had not known him or even 
 seen him. Now, she could not make a call that he 
 did not drop in at the same place. Indeed she could 
 hardly go to shop/ anywhere that she did not 
 meet him. This gave her a good deal to think 
 about, or, perhaps- it were better said, it gave her 
 reason to think a great deal about Jack. She did, 
 and the more she saw him the better she liked him. 
 She admitted this to herself with a blush. 
 
 On Jack's part he frankly confessed to himself 
 that the girl fascinated him. He was far from 
 admitting he was in love with her or anything 
 approaching it. Her beauty, the brightness of her
 
 114 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 mind, the virility of her individuality, he acknowl- 
 edged strongly attracted him ; and moreover she 
 was a study of interest, knowing as he did that she 
 was what she was. Of all the contradictory per- 
 sons he had ever met, she puzzled him most, and 
 he thought that it must be the peculiarity of her 
 moral nature, so perverted and distorted, that 
 caused the fascination. Having delivered her 
 letters, there was no reason why he should not 
 have carried into effect his prudent determination 
 to leave the city. But'he could not. He could 
 not bring himself to consent to an interruption of 
 the acquaintance which had been formed. Indeed, 
 he had gotten into that condition when he con- 
 sidered that day ill spent a portion of which was 
 not passed in her society. " Now," said he to him- 
 self one day, rather proudly and self-approvingly, 
 * most men in my shoes would have fallen des- 
 perately in love with her. But I only find in her 
 an interest of an intense and fascinating kind, like 
 that I had in that curious and beautiful snake I 
 used to go to see in the Park daily a couple of 
 years ago. The idea of loving one who is given 
 to the pleasant pursuit of assassination ! She is 
 beautiful, and it is true that one side of her nature 
 is very sweet and winsome." 
 
 Ah, Jack ! 
 
 The Captain lost no time in acting on his su- 
 perior's command. Dressing himself with more 
 than usual care, he shortly presented himself at 
 
 the desk of the B hotel and desired his card to 
 
 be sent to Miss Sherman. 
 
 Fortunately for that young la"dy, she was in the 
 corridor near the parlor when the Captain's card 
 was brought to her by an attendant. 
 
 Not seriously alarmed, but much perplexed, she 
 hastened to the public parlor where the detective 
 was awaiting her.
 
 SETTING THE LINES. 115 
 
 As she entered he arose and greeted her by 
 name. 
 
 " You know my name ? " she inquired. 
 
 "Yes," he replied smilingly, "or I should not 
 have been able to send my card to you." 
 
 " But I thought I had taken all precautions to 
 prevent your knowing it." 
 
 " To learn the name of any one in the city is a 
 very simple matter for the police department," he 
 replied blandly. "I have known your name since 
 the day you called upon me." 
 
 Lucy was dumbfounded ; she had no reply she 
 could make. The Captain continued : 
 
 " I received your note. I am glad you recovered 
 your letters. You must feel easier. I suppose you 
 have burned them ? " 
 
 " Yes," she replied wonderingly. 
 
 " That was wise. They are now out of the way 
 forever." 
 
 He was striving to gain her confidence, but Lucy 
 felt that his call upon her was not made simply to 
 felicitate her upon her recovery of her letters, and 
 this thought alarmed her. 
 
 " Through what means did you regain them ? " 
 he asked, as if he was inspired by an interest in 
 her fortunes. 
 
 She had apprehended that question and dreaded it. 
 
 " I can not tell you that," she replied hurriedly. 
 
 The Captain smiled. It was his habit to smile 
 when he was rebuffed, and it was a smile which 
 meant that he was put off for the present, but he 
 would get round to it again soon. 
 
 " I think I can convince you in a moment that it 
 would be wise to do so ? " 
 
 " No, I can't do it and I won't." 
 
 " Of course I have no desire to force you to do 
 anything against your will." 
 
 Lucy drew herself up with resentment and said :
 
 n6 JACK CORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Your desires can not influence me in any way." 
 
 The Captain smiled and continued : 
 
 " I would respectfully call your attention to the 
 fact that justice must be done. You see I've got 
 to make a report some time or another on this case, 
 and I've got to tell everything that might seem to 
 bear on it even of your call on me. Now, it 
 wouldn't be pleasant, would it, to have your name 
 dragged in ? Suppose then you were to make a 
 clean breast of it to me, I could judge whether it 
 was necessary to say anything about it. If I do 
 have to put your name in the report as one who 
 knows something that might be important, why, 
 you see, you might have to go on the witness 
 stand and have to answer questions as to your 
 relations to Renfrew, you know." 
 
 Lucy was frightened ; all the horrible possibili- 
 ties rolled in upon her, and the Captain, seeing the 
 impression he had made, followed up his advantage : 
 
 " I haven't got anything I want to conceal from 
 you. I don't think for a moment that there is any- 
 thing you want to hide for yourself except about 
 the letters and your connection with Renfrew. 
 You don't want to get dragged into this affair, 
 nor do you want any friend of yours dragged in. 
 I know how it is, and you think the way to keep 
 out is to keep your mouth shut. Now that's where 
 you make a mistake. I've got to find something 
 out about Renfrew, about his friends, his life, and 
 ways " 
 
 " But I don't know anything about him or how he 
 lived. I had just this foolish flirtation with him," 
 interrupted Luc) T , in her alarm and agitation cling- 
 ing to her first story. 
 
 This so entirely coincided with the Captain's 
 views that he remarked as he continued : 
 
 " If you say so, why of course I'll believe you. 
 That's what you said before, and what you say now,
 
 SE T TING THE LINES. 1 1 7 
 
 So that ends that part, unless you will let me ask, 
 if you knew any one who did know Renfrew?" 
 
 " No, I never did," replied Lucy promptly. 
 
 " That's what I expected," continued the Cap- 
 tain. " But then there's your recovery of your let- 
 ters. How did that come about ? If Renfrew gave 
 those letters to any one, why, it must have been 
 some one he was friendly to, intimate with, you 
 know. Now, all I want to know is that man, so I 
 could talk with him. See ! That would let you 
 out. Your name wouldn't come out because there 
 wouldn't be any necessity." 
 
 "He could tell you nothing." 
 
 " Are you sure of that ? " 
 
 " Quite. He told me so himself." 
 
 " Still, he might know something it would be of 
 value for me to know ? " 
 
 " I am quite sure it would be useless. He never 
 saw Mr. Renfrew until the day of " 
 
 She stopped short, for she was heedlessly rush- 
 ing into a blunder. The Captain, who was gazing 
 upon her with a bland, even a vacuous stare, never 
 by so much as a quiver intimated that he saw any- 
 thing unusual in her hesitation. But, he com- 
 pleted the sentence for her " the murder ah, the 
 young man of whom we have no trace." 
 
 " No, the day before the delivery of the package 
 to me." 
 
 Lucy thought she had cleverly recovered herself. 
 Moreover, as she looked at the Captain, she 
 thought, " These detectives have the reputation of 
 being very clever, but if they are all like this one 
 they are very stupid." 
 
 The " very stupid " detective confirmed her in 
 her opinion by replying : 
 
 " If that is so, may be you are right. Let me 
 see, you received that package Thursday of last 
 week/'
 
 n8 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " 
 
 " That's the day you wrote me you had got them. 
 The day before you were at my office looking for 
 them." 
 
 Lucy for the first time saw how ill-advised the 
 writing of that note was. She made no reply. 
 
 The Captain, taking a small memorandum-book 
 from his vest-pocket, turned over the leaves delib- 
 erately, Lucy eyeing him suspiciously. 
 
 Finally he said : 
 
 " The gentleman you received it from was Mr. 
 John Gordon." 
 
 Lucy was overwhelmed ; the Captain saw that 
 he had made a hit. 
 
 " It was the package he gave you in this very 
 room." 
 
 She was speechless, angry, frightened. 
 
 " If he talked with Renfrew the day before that, 
 then it must have been on the day of the murder." 
 
 The reasoning was conclusive. He was not so 
 stupid after all. 
 
 " If he saw Renfrew and talked to him on the 
 day of the murder, then he must have seen the 
 actor in his rooms, for Renfrew didn't leave 'em 
 that day. So Mr. -Gordon must have been the 
 young man who called on him that we've been 
 looking for and couldn't find." 
 
 She could not answer. The accuracy of his 
 reasoning overpowered her. 
 
 " This makes it necessary to see Mr. Gordon," 
 said the Captain, rising. " I thank you, lady, for 
 your information. There's no necessity for your 
 name to come into the report." 
 
 He bowed, walked away, leaving Lucy crushed 
 and thoroughly alarmed. 
 
 Oh, what had she done ! By her heedlessness 
 she had brought trouble on one who had only 
 known her to befriend her. She had been watched.
 
 SETTING THE LINES. 119 
 
 They had both been spied upon. She must see 
 Mr. Gordon arid at once. She ran to her room 
 and wrote a note briefly : 
 
 " DEAR MR. GORDON : 
 
 " I must see you as soon as possible. Do come at once, 
 please. Something terrible has occurred. It affects you. 
 ' ' Very gratefully yours, 
 
 " LUCY SHERMAN." 
 
 But his address ? She did not know it. She 
 thought a moment, then hastily donning her outer 
 garments, hurried to the house of her friend and 
 chaperon, Mrs. Van Huyn, to obtain Jack's ad- 
 dress, from whence she sent it. Then hurrying 
 back, she awaited with anxiety his coming. 
 
 In the mean time Captain Lawton went back to 
 the headquarters quite satisfied with his afternoon's 
 work. " One more step forward," he said, " and 
 we'll get to the third caller and the one."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 JACK IS ENTANGLED. 
 
 IT so happened that on the day when Lucy sent 
 so urgently for him, Jack had been induced to 
 
 go up-town and look at some purchases of horses 
 " Dizzy " Lowell had been making, and instead of 
 returning to his apartments as was his invariable 
 custom in the late afternoon, had dined with his 
 friend, stayed the evening with him and " Dizzy's " 
 fair sister, Mollie, until a late hour. Indeed, it 
 was so late when he did return and found the 
 note and two subsequent ones Lucy had sent in 
 her extreme urgency, that it was out of the ques- 
 tion to think of calling upon her that night. He 
 determined he would go to her as early the next 
 morning as the proprieties would permit. 
 
 " I wonder what it is that disturbs the fair dis- 
 patcher of men ? " he said to himself, as he prepared 
 to disrobe for the night. " It affects me, does it ? 
 Well, it's all very flattering to have so beautiful a 
 woman so anxious about your welfare, Jack, my 
 boy, but " his sentence ended in a yawn, and was 
 never completed. 
 
 Earlier than usual the next morning Jack dressed 
 and went to breakfast at th'e restaurant which he 
 usually patronized. 
 
 Leisurely reading his paper and sipping his 
 
 coffee, so as to consume as much time as possible, 
 
 he was not aware that the person sitting at the 
 
 table near by was patiently waiting for him to rise. 
 
 120
 
 JA CK IS EN 7' A NGLED. I 2 1 
 
 When he did, the person stepped across the 
 room, and politely said : 
 
 " I presume I address Mr. Gordon Mr. John 
 Gordon ? " 
 
 " That is my name," replied Jack courteously, 
 picking up his papers from the table. 
 
 " Captain Lawton wishes to see you." 
 
 The tone in which this was said rather nettled 
 Jack, for it conveyed the idea that there was noth- 
 ing left for him to do but to run at once to the 
 Captain. 
 
 " Captain who ? " said Jack stiffly. 
 
 " Captain Lawton, the detective." 
 
 " Well, if Captain Lawton, the detective, wants 
 to see me, let him come at any hour I am at home," 
 said Jack, taking his hat from an adjoining chair. 
 
 " The business is important," was the reply. 
 
 " It must be to him then, for it is not to me. So 
 much more reason why he should seek me. I do 
 not desire to see Captain Lawton." 
 
 The messenger was embarrassed, and hesitated 
 as if he did not know how to proceed. 
 
 Jack moved off as if to leave the room. 
 
 " It would be wiser if you were to call upon 
 him." 
 
 " I never do wise things," retorted Jack. " So I 
 won't go. Your friend the Captain is impertinent." 
 
 " I am afraid you don't understand," said the 
 man, after a moment's hesitation. "You have no 
 choice. My instructions were to treat you with 
 every consideration. But you make it hard for 
 me." 
 
 A light broke in on Jack. 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 " Officer Oliver, of the detective force." 
 
 " Oh ! What does the Captain want of me ? " 
 
 " He will inform you when you see him." 
 
 " Very well, I will call upon him later in the day.
 
 122 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 I have a matter to attend to which will occupy an 
 hour." 
 
 " That I can not permit, sir. The Captain is 
 waiting for you now." 
 
 By this time Jack recognized that he was prac- 
 tically under arrest. He was angry, but retained 
 sufficient self-command to exercise his common- 
 sense, and he realized it were better to yield than 
 to make a scene. 
 
 " Very well, I will go," he said. " Follow, me 
 at some distance." 
 
 Jack went out, followed by the detective, and took 
 the street-car which passed the door. Having 
 smothered his irritation as best he could, and 
 having given himself up to cool thought, he found 
 reasons to connect his summons to the Central 
 Office with Lucy's urgent notes of the night pre- 
 vious. He believed that by some means he had 
 been identified with the young man who had called 
 on Renfrew on that fateful day, and he heartily 
 condemned himself for not having left the town, 
 as he promised himself to do, on the morning fol- 
 lowing the murder. 
 
 He was deep in thought when his attention was 
 arrested by the detective, who, rising from his seat, 
 cast a significant look on Jack. He saw that they 
 were at the end of the journey by the street-car. 
 
 Alighting, he walked briskly to the Headquarters, 
 followed by his attendant. As he entered he was 
 directed to the office of the Captain. 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Gordon," said that official, 
 rising and extending his hand, which Jack quietly 
 ignored, and, instead, took a chair in a part of 
 the room that suited him. The captain looked with 
 some interest upon Jack's coolness, and, indeed, 
 ostentatious insolence. 
 
 " I'm afraid," he began, " that my summons ' 
 
 " Your summons was a piece of impertinence,"
 
 JACK IS ENTANGLED. 12$ 
 
 interrupted Jack, " to which I would not have sub- 
 mitted but that I did not want a scene. If you 
 think I am going to submit tamely to this, you do 
 not know me. 1 propose to punish you for this." 
 
 " You'll punish no one but yourself, Mr. Gordon," 
 said the Captain, with his inscrutable smile. 
 
 Jack looked at the Captain straight in the eyes 
 with the utmost contempt expressed on his coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 " You are made of too poor stuff to think of 
 frightening me. I don't frighten. I am a very 
 different kind of a person from the poor criminals 
 you are in the habit of dealing with. I am your 
 superior in the one thing in which you might ex- 
 pect to approach my level shrewdness." 
 
 Jack was quite evidently endeavoring to irritate 
 the Captain, hoping to get up a quarrel under the 
 cover of which he could refuse to answer such 
 questions as would involve the name of Lucy. 
 
 "Now go on," he continued, "and be quick 
 about it. Yes, I called on Renfrew the day he 
 was murdered. That is what you want to know ?" 
 
 The Captain was somewhat disconcerted by this 
 sudden admission, and felt that he had before him 
 a more difficult case than he had bargained for. 
 He had only known Gordon as one of the fashion- 
 able young men of the day, and had supposed he 
 was one who could be easily frightened, if not 
 because of the want of inherent manhood, at least 
 through fear of being produced on the witness 
 stand. He soon found that in this he was mis- 
 taken. He did conclude, however, Jack had adopt- 
 ed the tone he had for the purpose of irritating 
 him. 
 
 " I regret," he said, "you take my summons " 
 
 " Never mind your regrets," interrupted Jack, 
 " I recognize that you detectives are necessary 
 evils, and so long as there are men to be found low
 
 124 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 enough to follow spying as a business for money, 
 we must be annoyed by them. Get on with your 
 business." 
 
 Stung as he was, the Captain bravely curbed his 
 temper. 
 
 " I sent for you," replied the Captain, firmly and 
 decidedly, " I sent for you to know from whom 
 you received that package of letters you gave 
 Miss Sherman on Friday last ? " 
 
 " You're too inquisitive," replied Jack ; but not- 
 withstanding his self-possession he was disturbed. 
 How did the Captain know the package had been 
 delivered ? Had Lucy admitted it ? She must 
 have done so. Evidently the detective knew Lucy 
 had called on Renfrew the day of the murder. 
 Yes, that was it. They had frightened her into an 
 admission, as they were trying to frighten him. 
 He must be wary and carefully guard every answer. 
 The Captain discovered that he was not an easy 
 subject. 
 
 " I can understand your annoyance, Mr. Gor- 
 don," replied the detective with great firmness. 
 "But you must understand that there is nothing- 
 inquisitive in trying to trace crime. You are not 
 wise in your treatment of me. Your insults do 
 not prevent me from knowing that you got those 
 letters from Cyril Renfrew." 
 
 " If you knew, why did you ask ? " hotly returned 
 Jack. " That is another impertinence." 
 
 " You got those letters," continued the detective, 
 ignoring Jack's remark, " on the day on the after- 
 noon of the day he was murdered." 
 
 " Well, and what then ? " 
 
 " You must see that brings you pretty close- to 
 the murder." 
 
 " No, I do not." 
 
 " It makes you a witness at the trial." 
 
 " Bah, you talk like a child ! "
 
 JACK IS ENTANGLED. 12$ 
 
 "Why did he give them to you ? " 
 
 Jack did not answer. 
 
 " He refused to give them to the one who wrote 
 them an hour previous when she visited him," con- 
 tinued the Captain. 
 
 " He has evidently frightened Lucy into tell- 
 ing," thought Jack. " That was the reason of 
 her urgent notes. Well, as she didn't know how I 
 got them she couldn't tell him; that's why he sends 
 for me." 
 
 " I am waiting for your answer, Mr. Gordon," 
 said the detective, in the tone of one who was de- 
 termined to have his question answered. " Why 
 did he give them to you ? " 
 
 " Because I asked for them." 
 
 " Did you go at the request of the lady ? " 
 
 " No, I did not." 
 
 The Captain was not prepared for this answer, 
 and it changed the course of his proposed exami- 
 nation. 
 
 " Then why did you go to him for those particu- 
 lar letters ? " " 
 
 " Now," said Jack, leaning forward and looking 
 steadily at the detective, " let us understand each 
 other. I know, and you know, that you have no 
 more right to ask me questions than the first boy 
 in the street. You detectives assume a right from 
 your position, which is simply that of thief-taker. 
 No compulsion rests upon me to answer you. I 
 know that, and you know it. Guilty men who 
 desire to placate you recognize your right, I don't. 
 You had no business to summon me here. The 
 fact that I call on a man one day, and that subse- 
 quently, after others have called upon him, he is mur- 
 dered, gives you no right over me. There is a 
 power you do possess, it is the same a mosquito 
 has, the power to annoy a power you use in the same 
 way that scoundrel Renfrew did it is a kind of
 
 126 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 blackmail. Having made you understand that I 
 know just how we stand, and having nothing to 
 conceal, I'll answer your question. It was because 
 I knew that Renfrew had a package of letters from 
 the lady which he was using to her disadvantage. 
 I was interested in the lady, and I served her 
 because I knew she was in trouble." 
 
 " She gave you her confidence then ? " 
 
 " How else do you suppose I knew it? " 
 
 Jack had hesitated over this reply, and the 
 detective promptly noted the hesitation without 
 understanding it. 
 
 " I ask you the question," he said. 
 
 " And I reply with another," retorted Jack. 
 
 The Captain thought he was not making much 
 progress. 
 
 " Did Renfrew yield them up willingly ? " 
 
 " Yes, when he knew he had to, or stand the 
 cot. sequence of a prosecution for blackmail." 
 
 " But that would have ruined the lady," the Cap- 
 tain ventured. 
 
 " Possibly," said Jack, and then laughed. " He 
 was the kind of fellow you took me for easily 
 frightened. But what is the use of all this ? Either 
 you are purposely stupid, or you are unfit for your 
 place, if you can not see that the moment a man of 
 de'ernnination stepped in between this fellow and the 
 girt, his game was up. When she refused to be plun- 
 de*"ed longer, backed by a male friend, he couldn't ex- 
 pose her without subjecting himself to prosecution for 
 blackmail. Just as soon as there was a third per- 
 son in the case, he was done. He could succeed only 
 through her fear and silence. After that it was 
 easy to receive and demand the letters. He was 
 already liable." 
 
 " This is a keen, able fellow," said the detective 
 to himself. Then aloud: " What was the nature of 
 those letters ? "
 
 JACK IS ENTANGLED. 127 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " The lady never told you ? " 
 
 -" No." 
 
 " Yet you assisted her without knowing what they 
 were about ? " 
 
 " Precisely. It was enough to know that she was 
 in trouble." 
 
 " Ah, a gallant gentleman a generous friend," 
 sneered the detective. He was trying to irritate 
 Jack. 
 
 " As you say," replied Jack, smiling to think what 
 the Captain would say if he knew all. 
 
 " How long was this package in your possession? " 
 
 " A couple of days." 
 
 " And you never read the letters ? " 
 
 "No. They were secrets of the lady." 
 
 " Very remarkable. Now, I would have read 
 those letters." 
 
 " Undoubtedly. But you see I am a gentleman, 
 and a gentleman is hampered by considerations of 
 honor and delicacy." 
 
 This was said with the most studied insolence. 
 The Captain bit his lip to restrain the angry words 
 that leaped to his tongue, all the more annoyed 
 that he himself had made the opening for the 
 shot. 
 
 " So Renfrew yielded willingly ? " he pursued. 
 
 " Yes. After argument." 
 
 " Enforced by a bullet, and when he could not pre- 
 vent it?" said the Captain maliciously. 
 
 Jack looked at him with contempt. 
 
 ; ' You are silly. If you know I went to see Ren- 
 frew, you must know that a lady called to see him 
 after I did." 
 
 " Still, she may have found him dead and gone 
 away quietly." 
 
 " Pshaw," said Jack contemptuously, u this sort 
 of sparring is useless ! You know that the occupant
 
 128 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 of a neighboring room heard the two quarreling 
 after I went away." 
 
 " Who was the lady who came after you ? " 
 
 "I don't know." 
 
 " What were your relations to her? " 
 " Don't try any traps with me. I've told you the 
 truth. I don't know who she was." 
 
 ".Was it Miss Sherman ? " 
 
 " When I tell you I don't know who she was, I 
 tell you she was not Miss Sherman. That was plain 
 to be seen. Whoever it was, was shorter and more 
 mature than Miss Sherman." 
 
 " What do you know about Renfrew ? " 
 
 " Nothing. Never saw him before that day to 
 talk to him." 
 
 " I believe the fellow," the Captain said to him- 
 self. " He is telling the truth, but there is some- 
 thing he is holding back." 
 
 He rose, and, going to his desk, opened a drawer 
 from which he took some papers. As he did so, 
 he made sure that Gordon was watching him. 
 
 He took out the pistol with which Renfrew had 
 been killed, and laid it in plain sight. 
 
 Gordon started on seeing it, and leaned forward 
 to look at it. The detective followed the lead thus 
 given him. 
 
 Lifting a paper from the drawer, he looked over 
 it, literally, for his eyes were upon Gordon, and he 
 saw a singular variety of expressions flit over Jack's 
 face, the most marked of which were surprise and 
 perplexity. Putting the paper back again in the 
 drawer, he picked up the pistol, saying: 
 
 " This is the joker that did for Renfrew." 
 
 " This ? " said Jack in blank amazement. Then 
 he stretched out his hand for it. The Captain 
 passed it to him. 
 
 Jack looked at it most carefully ; examined it in 
 every part ; and then, to the Captain's intense sur-
 
 JACK IS ENTANGLED. 129 
 
 prise, touched a concealed spring, revealing in the 
 end of the butt a receptacle for caps a feature of 
 the pistol which no one had discovered before, and 
 which argued an intimate acquaintance with it upon 
 the part of Jack. The truth was Jack had be- 
 trayed himself. He had been attacked from a 
 point where he expected none. He passed it back 
 to the Captain without a word. 
 
 "Whose pistol is that ?" demanded the detec- 
 tive. 
 
 " I don't know," replied Jack. This time the 
 hesitation was unmistakable. 
 
 " Now you are not telling me the truth," said the 
 Captain. " You recognized it the moment you saw 
 it, and I am going to find out whose it is." 
 
 " I suppose there are more than one of this kind 
 made," said Jack uneasily. 
 
 This was almost a confession. The fact was, 
 Jack was overwhelmed with astonishment. 
 
 "True," said the detective, " but its mate can't 
 be found in this city. Now, whose is it ? " 
 
 Jack was conscious of his error, and he did not 
 reply. 
 
 " Does this pistol belong to Miss Lucy Sher- 
 man ? " 
 
 " I never saw it or one like it in her possession 
 or of any one belonging to her." He had recovered 
 possession of himself. 
 
 " Then if it does not belong to her, who does it 
 belong to ? " 
 
 Jack saw that he could not make it plain that it 
 was not Lucy's -without going further than he in- 
 tended to. He did not reply. 
 
 " Whose pistol do you think that is ? " demanded 
 the Captain again. 
 
 " I won't tell you," replied Jack; and then deter- 
 mining to save Lucy, he added : " I think I have 
 seen a similar pistol in the possession of a person who
 
 13 JACK CORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 has not yet been mentioned, even remotely, in this 
 matter ; but I am going to make no mistake, and 
 will throw suspicion on nobody until I am certain." 
 
 " Ah ! Then we've got to the point when I shall 
 not handle you with gloves any longer." 
 
 " Pouf ! " 
 
 " Do you know the conclusions you force me to?" 
 
 " No, nor do I care." 
 
 " Either you recognize that pistol as your own, 
 or you have seen that particular pistol in the posses- 
 sion of some else." 
 
 " Well, what then ? " 
 
 " You are connected with that murder." 
 
 " And then what ?" 
 
 " You are either the murderer or the one witness 
 who can point directly to the person who did the 
 deed." 
 
 " And then what ?" 
 
 " Well, for the present, you have lost your lib- 
 erty." 
 
 Jack was hardly prepared for this statement, but 
 he was unmoved. 
 
 " As for being the murderer, you know that is 
 absurd. As for telling you who I think may have 
 owned that pistol, or guessing at it, that is still 
 more absurd," he replied. 
 
 " All right, you will stay here until I return." 
 
 He touched an electric button on his desk twice. 
 
 Two men entered. 
 
 " Search this man for arms," he continued. 
 
 Jack laughed contemptuously. 
 
 " I have none," he said, " but look for them." 
 
 None having been found, the Captain took his hat 
 and coat, saying to the two officers who had come 
 at his bidding : 
 
 "Watch this man until I come back. I am going 
 to consult the Inspector." 
 
 Jack laughed again, and asked for a newspaper.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 
 
 LUCY awaited with impatience almost unbear- 
 able the coming of Jack in response to her 
 urgent letters. When it grew too late to ex- 
 pect him that night, she retired worried, and in no 
 enviable frame of mind. 
 
 The next morning, having waited a reasonable 
 time and unable to bear the suspense longer, she 
 ordered her carriage and accompanied by her faith- 
 ful maid drove to Gordon's apartments. Fortu- 
 nately for her, Dr. Sherman had left the city for a 
 few days, and she was comparatively a free agent. 
 
 Arriving at the house where Gordon lived, she 
 sent her maid for the janitor, who said Mr. Gor- 
 don had gone out early in the morning, and he was 
 quite certain had not returned. However, he would 
 goto his rooms and find out. After a few minutes he 
 returned accompanied by Crimmins, who evidently 
 was quite agitated. He said that Mr. Gordon had 
 been absent all the day previous, not returning 
 until after midnight ; that it was not until then that 
 he had read the three letters awaiting him : that 
 he seemed much annoyed, and was disposed to 
 blame Crimmins for not hunting him up to deliver 
 them ; that that morning he had gone out to break- 
 fast, saying he would be away two hours ; he had 
 seen nothing of him since, but he had just then re- 
 ceived a note from Mr. Gordon telling him to bring 
 a lot of clothing and reading-material to the Lud' 
 low Street Jail.
 
 132 JACK GORDOX, KX1GH T ERRAXT. 
 
 Lucy, now thoroughly alarmed, was quite certain 
 he was imprisoned as a result of her want of cau- 
 tion in her interview with Captain Lawton. It was 
 to prevent just this that she had so urgently 
 written him the night previous, and all her efforts 
 had been unavailing. She must see him, and she 
 must tell him that it was not because she had not 
 intended to be true to him that he was now in this 
 trouble. 
 
 She gave orders to be driven to the Central 
 Office. Being ushered into the presence of the 
 Captain, she found that official somewhat ruffled, 
 and not feeling kindly toward Jack, for that young 
 gentleman had not only not treated him with defer- 
 ence, but had shown him positive contempt. He 
 received the lady politely, however. 
 
 " I have called to know where Mr. Gordon is," 
 said Lucy, scorning all subterfuge. " Do you 
 know where he is ? " 
 
 The Captain smiled. 
 
 " Yes, I think I know something of his where- 
 abouts." 
 
 " Oh, then, please tell me." 
 
 " May I ask what your relations to Mr. Gordon 
 are ? " 
 
 " He is a very dear friend." 
 
 The Captain smiled again, and not unkindly, for 
 he thought they were lovers, and is it not said that 
 ' all the world loves a lover ' ? But if the detective 
 could have known that these two young people 
 were not acquainted two weeks previous to that day, 
 he would have had other food for thought. But 
 how was he to know ? There was every indication 
 of a long, intimate, and confidential acquaintance. 
 
 " But where is he ?" she asked imploringly. 
 
 " He is detained as an important witness in the 
 Renfrew case." 
 
 Lucy gave a gasp which was indicative both of
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 133 
 
 the confirmation of her fears and of her relief in 
 finding he was not arrested for murder, but she 
 was greatly distressed. 
 
 " I want to see him," she said, " I must see him." 
 
 The Captain thought a moment. His impulse 
 was to send for Jack and let him meet Lucy in his 
 presence. Then he doubted whether their conver- 
 sation would be unrestrained enough to be of value 
 to him. Perhaps it would be better to let them 
 meet at the jail, where he might overhear their 
 conversation. So he said : 
 
 " I will see whether it is possible. Wait here a 
 moment." 
 
 Going into the outer room he called an officer in 
 waiting, and instructed him to go to the place 
 where Gordon was confined and say to the warden 
 that in a short time a lady would call asking to 
 see him ; that he, the Captain, wanted her to see 
 Gordon, but not until after he had had time to get 
 to the jail after her. 
 
 Then he went back to Lucy. 
 
 " I have arranged so that you can see Mr. Gor- 
 don presently," he said. " But I should like to 
 ask you a question before you go." 
 
 Lucy was impatient to be off, and made no effort 
 to conceal her feelings. To this the Captain gave 
 no heed ; he was seeking to gain time for his mes- 
 senger to get to the jail. 
 
 " I should like to know," he asked, " exactly what 
 the relations were between you and Renfrew ? " 
 
 Lucy, however, had had quite enough of Captain 
 Lawton's questions. Was not Jack now im- 
 prisoned through her answers ? She had grown 
 wise and prudent. The Captain might question 
 and question, but he would have nothing more 
 from her. 
 
 " I have nothing more to tell you than I have 
 already told you."
 
 134 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Does that mean," he asked, with that inscrut- 
 able smile of his, " that you have nothing more to 
 tell me, or that you will not tell me any more ?" 
 
 " Both." 
 
 The Captain smiled again. 
 
 " Can you not even tell me how long ago it was 
 that you confided the story of your trouble to Mr. 
 Gordon ? " 
 
 An expression of obstinacy had settled on 
 Lucy's face, and this inquiry, which was a shot 
 even nearer home than the detective himself im- 
 agined, she would not respond to, but only because 
 she had made up her mind not to answer at all. 
 
 The Captain noted her obstinacy, but he amused 
 himself. 
 
 " Are you not afraid of becoming mixed up in a 
 scandal by refusing to tell ? " 
 
 " I don't care about a scandal I don't care 
 anything about a scandal. I want to see Mr. Gor- 
 don. That's all." 
 
 " Oh, very well," laughed the detective. " You 
 will find Mr. Gordon at the Ludlow Street Jail. 
 You have but to inquire for him." 
 
 He bowed her out, and prepared to follow 
 her. 
 
 The doors flew open at her approach and she 
 was received with politeness. But she waited 
 some time before Jack was brought to her. He 
 was greatly surprised to find his visitor was Lucy, 
 but nevertheless very glad to see^her. 
 
 Lucy, running impulsively to him, said : 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Gordon, this is all my fault. You are 
 in trouble in this disgraceful place all through 
 me." 
 
 " Hush ! " said Gordon. " Compose yourself and 
 be careful what you say. We may be overheard." 
 
 They were, though Jack did not know it. 
 
 " Do not think it is your fault. There is no
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 135 
 
 danger in my situation there is only some tempo- 
 rary inconvenience." 
 
 " No danger," she repeated, looking at him 
 anxiously, while the tears came into her eyes at 
 the thought. 
 
 Jack saw the tears and was touched. He led 
 her to a corner where there were two chairs, near 
 a window looking out on a dead wail, -and, seating 
 her in one^took the other. 
 
 " Your sympathy, Miss Sherman, is very grate- 
 ful," he said, " but I do hope you will not attribute 
 my present position to anything you have done." 
 
 " Oh, but I can not believe it," she replied 
 earnestly, casting upon him a look of great grati- 
 tude. " But for your effort to serve me, I am sure 
 you would not now be in this predicament. You 
 did not get my notes last night. I feared this, and 
 therefore wrote you." 
 
 " I did not receive them until too late to respond, 
 and this morning, before I could go to you, I was 
 compelled to call upon Captain Lawton." 
 
 " Captain Lawton, I knew it. I knew it was 
 my fault." 
 
 She told him with strict accuracy her interview 
 with the Captain the day previous. Jack listened 
 attentively, and when she had finished said : 
 
 " I presume that interview preceded my sum- 
 mons. But I should not have escaped. You were 
 under surveillance. The man who annoyed me 
 when I called upon you to deliver the package, and 
 who twice sauntered so close to us, was undoubt- 
 edly a police spy. He saw the delivery of the 
 package, and your call the day before on the Cap- 
 tain gave the reason for supposing the package I 
 gave you was the one you were seeking for, espe- 
 cially after you wrote to say that you had recovered 
 your letters." 
 
 " Yes, but you see all that directed attention to
 
 r 3 6 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 you. So I am the cause of your trouble. Oh, how 
 could I have been so foolish as to have gone to 
 Captain Lawton, or to have written to him ! " 
 
 " I don't think it was the best-advised thing to 
 have done. But I can not blame you, for you were 
 naturally anxious about your letters." 
 
 " Oh, the letters ! I care nothing about them. 
 What are they compared with the danger you are 
 in ? I mean to tell all about them so that you may 
 be taken from here. All the trouble they can 
 bring me into, the worst they can do, is to lose me 
 my home and make me labor for my food, and 
 what is that compared with your imprisonment ? " 
 
 Jack was much moved by her solicitude for him 
 by the generous spirit of self-sacrifice she was 
 manifesting. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake do nothing rash," he cried. 
 " Are you sure they will not lead to something 
 worse than loss of home to compulsion to labor ? " 
 
 " What can they?" she answered. "The fault 
 I committed was against my father against Dr. 
 Sherman. The worst he can do will be to drive 
 me from him. But what of that, if you are to lose 
 your liberty, your life perhaps ! " 
 
 Jack wondered at her words. It began to dawn 
 upon him that Lucy was possessed of a large, gen- 
 erous, self-sacrificing nature. How was he to 
 reconcile this with the killing of Renfrew ? The 
 girl puzzled him she always had. 
 
 She puzzled some one else, too, who was striving 
 all he could to listen. 
 
 " But the death of Renfrew," said Jack, giving 
 verbal expression to his thoughts unconsciously. 
 
 " I know I was very wicked there," she replied. 
 " I know I actually felt joy when I heard he \\vis 
 dead, for I felt that I should escape from his ex- 
 tortions. That was my wickedness. But the joy 
 was short-lived. 1 began to feel a great pity for
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 137 
 
 him, that he should have been taken off in his sins, 
 and anger against the person " 
 
 She stopped short and looked at Jack appeal- 
 ingly, even as if she were frightened. Jack was 
 amazed. Was it possible that this girl could have 
 been guilty of the deed ? She went on : 
 
 " No, no, I don't mean that. I mean I was 
 sorry for him. But do not let us talk of what I 
 felt. What can be done for you ? What can I do 
 to help you ? Won't the telling of my secret help 
 you ? " 
 
 She looked imploringly at him, her great soft 
 eyes filled with compassion and her face suffused 
 with the glow of her ardor of her desire to help 
 him even at the expense of herself. 
 
 The great tenderness of the woman, her complete 
 want of selfishness, was almost too much for Jack. 
 His heart swelled, and it was with difficulty he could 
 repress the tears striving to reach his eyes. A spirit 
 of emulation rose, and he thought that this charm- 
 ing girl should not outdo him in unselfishness. 
 
 " Please, Miss Sherman, do understand this I 
 am in no danger. You entirely exaggerate my 
 situation. Doubtless it is true, that my summons 
 to see Captain Lawton that the knowledge I had 
 a remote relation to the death of Renfrew by call- 
 ing on him the day of the murder, may be traced 
 
 to our conversation in the B Hotel, when I 
 
 delivered the package to you ; if you desire to go 
 further, perhaps to the fact of your call upon the 
 Captain. But, admitting all this, still it has nothing 
 whatever to do with my confinement here." 
 
 Lucy was astonished, and her face bore an ex- 
 pression of incredulity, perhaps also of disappoint- 
 ment, for, as contradictory as it may appear, she 
 had felt a joy in the anticipation of making a sacri- 
 fice for the one who had served her so well. 
 
 " It is true, Miss Sherman, I assure you,"
 
 I3 8 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 continued Jack ; " let me tell you how it came 
 about." 
 
 Briefly reciting his visit to the detective, he told 
 the episode of the recognition of the pistol with 
 great particularity. 
 
 Lucy listened eagerly. The color in her cheeks, 
 her glistening eyes and her parted lips telling vividly 
 her excitement. She breathed rapidly, even turning 
 pale, as Gordon repeated the remark of the detec- 
 tive, " You are either the murderer, or the one 
 witness who can point directly to the person who 
 did the deed." 
 
 " Well," said Gordon, continuing, " I am not the 
 murderer, and I take it if any one is foolish enough 
 to make that charge against me I can easily dis- 
 prove it. As to the pistol I recognized, by which 
 it is said Renfrew was killed, it points to. by 
 Heaven ! If that is so, how can " 
 
 He had broken off in his speech, because of a 
 thought which had overcome and filled him with 
 gladness. Why had he not thought of that be- 
 fore ? If his fears or suspicions were correct,' Lucy 
 could not have killed Renfrew a wild joy possessed 
 him. It seemed as if his whole being was flooded 
 with light. He stopped and looked at Lucy beam- 
 ing at him through her tears. Of course she was 
 not guilty of the deed. How could he have brought 
 himself to suppose she was ? 
 
 Lucy was waiting for him to complete her joy. 
 He had not killed Jacob Cyril. How could she 
 ever have supposed so good and kind a man could 
 have done so ? 
 
 " Oh, please, go on ! " she Cried, her eyes swim- 
 ming in moisture, and the love-light glimmering 
 through her tears. " You did not kill him, and ' 
 
 Jack bent a strange look upon her. What did 
 she mean ? Could she have thought he had done 
 it ? This was, indeed, a strange complication. He
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 139 
 
 Tvas even greatly pleased ; no, he was overjoyed at 
 the mought she had entertained a suspicion he was 
 the murderer, for it was confirmation she had not 
 done it. He was conscious there was a want of 
 proper moral spirit in all this, but in the rush of 
 joy and excitement, he could not stop to analyze 
 the strange situation. 
 
 Lucy was waiting for him hanging on his 
 lips. 
 
 " I recognized the pistol," he continued, " as 
 similar to one possessed by a woman of my acquain- 
 tance. If it had been any other pistol than the one 
 it was, I should not have given a second thought 
 to it. But it is a rare one, picked up abroad. Yet 
 I can not bring my mind to believe that this woman 
 could have had any connection with Renfrew, 
 much less with his murder. It is because I refused 
 to say toward whom "my suspicion traveled, that I 
 am confined. You see you are not responsible for 
 my being here." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad," she exclaimed feebly. The 
 truth was, she was not satisfied that he was making 
 a-sacrifice for some other woman. Then she added, 
 as if unconscious she was speaking aloud, "Any 
 one but you ! Any one but you ! " 
 
 Jack cast upon her a' strange look. She was 
 in a profound study. 
 
 He said in a low tone in which there was not a 
 particle of reproach : 
 
 " Lucy." 
 
 The girl started at the word and tone, and looked 
 him full in the face. 
 
 " Lucy," he went on, with a world of tenderness 
 in his voice. " I think you must have believed I 
 committed the deed." 
 
 The blocd rushed into her face, suffusing her 
 temples, and there was a shy. soft, appealing look 
 in her eyes. She rose and would have walked away
 
 1 40 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 from him. He stood up, and taking her hands, 
 gently detained her. 
 
 " Is it so ?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh ! " trying to hide her confusion, " I only 
 feared so. I feared there had been a quarrel a 
 quarrel over my letters. And if it were so, I owed 
 you so much." 
 
 " I am afraid our moral senses have been blunted 
 of late," said Jack, smiling. "Well, I can not 
 confess to the murder, but I will make a con- 
 fession to you now, that I have always intended 
 to make when the proper time came. There can 
 not be, there never will be, a better time than 
 now." 
 
 Without further ado he told her all, from the 
 beginning from the first time he saw her in a 
 restaurant, when he made her the subject of a bet," 
 until he had delivered the package to her. 
 
 Lucy listened with astonishment, annoyed, 
 ashamed at times. 
 
 When he had finished his tale, he stood holding 
 her hands; she trying to avoid a gaze she could 
 not but feel was ardent and penetrating. 
 
 " Well ! " he said after a time. " You say noth- 
 ing ? Am I not to be forgiven ? " 
 
 " Forgive you," she said, her rich voice trem- 
 bling with tenderness and agitation. " Forgive 
 you ? Oh, Mr. Gordon, what have I to forgive ? I 
 can give you thanks thanks from the bottom of a 
 very grateful heart a heart so full of gratitude 
 you can not know. To think you were so good, so 
 noble as to interfere for a friendless, tortured crea- 
 ture, whom you did not even know. It was noble ; 
 it was disinterested." 
 
 " Disinterested ! " said Jack with a sort of a ca- 
 ressing laugh. " I am afraid not. No, Fm afraid I 
 was very much interested from the moment I saw 
 you in the restaurant."
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 141 
 
 " Oh, no, no," cried Lucy, struggling to release 
 her hands. 
 
 " But yes, yes," said Jack, retaining them. " It 
 must out, Lucy. I have tried to deny it to my- 
 self. But there never has been a time when your 
 voice had not the power to thrill me to the center. 
 I have struggled against it, I have tried to smother 
 my passion, I know it now, but here it is blazing 
 furiously, consuming me. Oh, Lucy, why should I 
 deny I love you ? " 
 
 " Oh, don't, please, please don't. You do not 
 know." 
 
 "I know enough. I know I love you. I know 
 it is a singular place to woo in. And I know when 
 a young woman comes with love and tenderness in 
 her eyes, her voice vibrating with sympathy and 
 anxiety for a young man in trouble, that young 
 man were worse than a coward, if he did not then 
 try to seize the happiness within his reach." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Gordon ' 
 
 " Which his name is Jack." 
 
 " You do not know. How can you think of giv- 
 ing your love to one who has acknowledged to you 
 she has committed a crime and carries it as a tor- 
 turing secret ?" 
 
 " Fault was what I believe you called it." 
 
 " Fault when committed a crime now in its 
 continuance." 
 
 " Whatever it was, dear Lucy, it has, I am sure, 
 long since been repented. Whatever it is I now 
 condone." 
 
 Lucy looked up at him, her face glorified, her 
 eyes swimming in tears. She had committed a 
 crime, she had repented, now she was to make 
 expiation. 
 
 " No, Mr. Gordon, I shall not give you the burden 
 of that crime. The consequences of it I must bear 
 alone. I will not mar your life as I have marred
 
 142 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 my own. I will not permit you to take a wite 
 whom you must despise if you know the truth, 
 whom you must always distrust if she share not that 
 secret with you. Later on you will recognize this, 
 and then you will know that in part at least I have 
 repaid you for the great service you have done 
 me for what you have suffered for me. I shall 
 not be silly and fail to tell you that I do not appre- 
 ciate the tender of your noble love. Do not think 
 I do not know I am making a sacrifice. How 
 much I desire your esteem you may learn when I 
 humiliate myself by telling you, and begging you 
 to believe, that this fault, this crime does not affect 
 my maiden purity." 
 
 Jack was much affected by her earnestness. 
 
 " I care not what it is," he cried. " I love you 
 and I know that you love me. Fate has drawn us 
 together, and we are not to be separated. A power 
 stronger than ourselves has done this. Why strug- 
 gle against it ? As I stand here pleading as for my 
 life, I know from the time I first saw you I !oved you." 
 
 He took her in his arms before she was aware 
 what he was about to do. She struggled for a 
 moment, but the powerful arms infolding her were 
 too strong, arid she yielded, not so much after all to 
 his strength as to her passion. 
 
 It was but for a moment, however. With an 
 effort she released herself. 
 
 " No, no," she cried, " it will not do. I am 
 right. You are wrong." 
 
 " Let me be the judge," urged Jack. " That one 
 embrace, yielding as you did only for a moment, 
 tells me louder than words that my love is returned. 
 Tell me the secret, and let me be the judge of 
 my own fate." 
 
 She looked up at him shyly, and saw a strong, 
 glowing, deeply earnest face bending over her a 
 face to be trusted with her life.
 
 BEHIND THE BARS. 143 
 
 " It shall be so," she said. " When you are free 
 come to me and I will tell you all. I will tell you, 
 and you will then leave me to my misery, the world 
 darker than before." 
 
 " I am content," replied Jack, and he bent over 
 her and impressed a warm kiss upon her forehead. 
 
 She went away trembling with excitement and 
 happiness. - Jack walked to his room as if treading 
 on air. 
 
 Shortly after she drove away, the Captain issued 
 from the jail. 
 
 " Well, well, well ! " he said as he walked away. 
 " That was an experience. These two people have 
 had nothing to do with it. But who is the woman 
 Gordon suspects ? It will be hard to make him tell, 
 for he is not common stuff."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 
 
 /"CORDON was not left long to dwell upon the 
 \j" scene through which he had just passed, 
 nor to give much thought to the fault Lucy 
 regarded as an insuperable bar to their union. As 
 a matter of fact he gave the latter little weight, 
 believing it to be some venial offense which she, in 
 her innocence, had exaggerated into a great fault. 
 The important thing was that he loved this beauti- 
 ful creature and she had acknowledged her love in 
 return. 
 
 The announcement of other visitors caused him 
 to put aside his pleasing thoughts and prepare to 
 welcome them. To his great surprise he found 
 them to be his friends "Dizzy" Lowell and his 
 sister, Miss Appleby, and Will Robb. 
 
 These young people made a great outcry as they 
 entered, and Jack, who was inclined to believe 
 curiosity had led them to the jail, was not over 
 well pleased. 
 
 "What puzzles me," said Jack, repressing his 
 displeasure, " is how you came to know I was here 
 so quickly." 
 
 " Easily explained," replied Will Robb. " We 
 were on our way to a matinee, and meeting your 
 man Crimmins nearly distracted, we got it out of 
 him and so came to you instead, to see if we could 
 do anything." 
 
 " Ah, that explains it," said Jack, " I wish Crim- 
 mins had been as industrious in getting my clothes 
 144
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 145 
 
 here as he has been in spreading the news of my 
 being locked up." 
 
 " \Vhy," exclaimed Miss Appleby, " are you 
 going to stay here long ? " 
 
 " The period of my stay is somewhat indefinite. 
 I don't know. I am here, however." 
 
 " But what is the meaning of it all ? " said Mollie 
 Lowell, solicitude plainly apparent on her pretty 
 face. 
 
 " Did you ever know, Mollie," said Jack, " how 
 dangerous it was to be suspected of being too well 
 informed ? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 " It is ; and you see before you an evidence of 
 the truth of the remark." 
 
 " But I don't understand." 
 
 " Then I'll enlighten you. I made a call on the 
 detective who has charge of ferreting out the 
 murderer of Renfrew the actor, this morning, and 
 while talking about it he showed me an article 
 which is closely connected with the murder and by 
 the means of which he expects to trace the doer of 
 the deed. This article I recognized at once, and 
 the detective, perceiving the recognition, demanded 
 to know to whom it belonged. Not knowing all 
 the circumstances I refused to tell. Consequently 
 I am here as an important witness in re Renfrew 
 case I believe that is the way the lawyers put it." 
 
 " Pshaw ! " said Miss Appleby in profound dis- 
 gust. " Why didn't you tell and end it ? " 
 
 " What ? and involve a lady of high degree in a 
 scandal? That wouldn't have been nice, Lou." ' 
 
 " I would," said Mollie. " I wouldn't be locked 
 up in jail for any trumpery woman." 
 
 " My dear Mollie," said Jack, laughing, " I 
 haven't known }'ou all your life without learning 
 that that is just what you would do for a friend, 
 Yes, go to jail and stay there too,"
 
 146 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Pooh ! No, I wouldn't," replied that'young lady, 
 glancing about the room. " Not that this looks to 
 me as I supposed a jail did. I thought it was all 
 stone walls and chains and bars. This appears like 
 a third-rate hotel at a watering-place. You don't 
 seem to be much frightened, Jack'? " 
 
 " No, there is nothing to be frightened about. 
 But I am angry all the way through." 
 
 " You can't stay here, Jack," said Miss Appleby. 
 u What are you going to do about it ? " 
 
 " Well, I am here," said Jack. " But," and a 
 hard, stern look came upon his face as he con- 
 tinued, "this dance isn't over yet. My turn will 
 come some time, and then I'll find out whether a 
 man can be locked up at the pleasure of anybody 
 who wears brass buttons." 
 
 " You ought to get a lawyer," said Will Robb. 
 
 " I don't want one," replied Jack shortly. " Let 
 them go on. There'll be fight enough before all 
 is over, Will. Let me alone for that." 
 
 " Are you sure about that article ? " asked 
 Mollie Lowell. 
 
 " Quite. There can be no mistake about it." 
 
 "I'd tell then, for it must be an awful bore to 
 stay here." 
 
 " Which advice I decline with thanks. After 
 the way they have tried to force me, I'd remain 
 here for the rest of my life before I'd tell." 
 
 " I say, Jack," said Dizzy, who had been pro- 
 foundly thinking while the others were chattering. 
 " You are here because you won't speak ? " 
 ' " Yes." 
 
 " And you are going to stay here rather than 
 tell?" 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 " And it's because you don't want a lady's name 
 made public ? " 
 
 "Yes."
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 147 
 
 " And that is because you doubt whether she 
 did for Renfrew ? " 
 
 " You have the idea exactly." 
 
 " Well, I think you are going about it the right 
 way to drag her name into public talk." 
 
 " How, my sapient youth ? " 
 
 " Why, it can't be long before those paper fel- 
 lows will get on to your confinement here. Then 
 they'll go poking around until they find out what 
 the article is, describe it, and some fellow will drop 
 to it and give it away, and then the whole thing'll 
 be out. Better get out of this, and you will be able 
 to do something outside." 
 
 " Dizzy " had presented a view of the matter 
 Jack had not taken. 
 
 Mollie, who had been listening, got up and going 
 to him kissed him, saying : 
 
 " Why, ' Dizzy,' you're very wise. Never again 
 shall I call you dull." 
 
 " Tell you what," said " Dizzy," struggling to free 
 himself from his sister's caress, " Will, you take 
 the girls home and I'll go after Mr. Van Huyn. 
 He's a friend of ours, and has got a big head." 
 
 To this Jack, by making no reply, gave acquies- 
 cence. And the rest, after many expressions of 
 good will, went off. 
 
 " Dizzy " soon returned with Mr. Van Huyn, 
 and that lawyer listened attentively to Jack's 
 recital of the events of the day. 
 
 " There are some points you have not made 
 clear," said Mr. Van Huyn, after Jack had finished, 
 " and I must ask you some questions." 
 
 " Very well," said Jack, " but I warn you there 
 are some you may ask which I will not answer." 
 
 The lawyer bent a suspicious glance upon Jack, 
 as he remarked : 
 
 " A client should conceal nothing from his law- 
 yer, if he expects to have intelligent assistance."
 
 I4 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Perhaps. But go on with your questions, Mr. 
 Van Huvn. Let us see how we come out." 
 
 The lawyer evidently was not well pleased with 
 the manner in which Jack answered him. After a 
 moment's thought he said : 
 
 " What acquaintance had you with Renfrew prior 
 to your call upon him ? " 
 
 ' None whatever." 
 
 ' Your call upon him was then one of business ? " 
 
 ' Entirely so. The business of another person." 
 
 ' And that business was in behalf of 
 
 'That is a question I can not answer," replied 
 Jack firmly. 
 ' Nor one as to the nature of the business ? " 
 
 ' No, except this far. It was to demand the 
 return of letters written by the one on whose behalf 
 I went to see Renfrew, who was making bad use of 
 them." 
 
 " Um. What time in the day did you call upon 
 Renfrew ? " 
 
 " About three o'clock. But, pardon me, Mr. Van 
 Huyn, this line of questioning is useless, if you will 
 permit me to say so. The police authorities do 
 not connect me, or the person in whose behalf I 
 went, with the murder. That my calling upon that 
 particular day was merely coincidental they are 
 abundantly satisfied." 
 
 " Why then did they send for you ? " asked the 
 lawyer sharply, considerably annoyed by the way 
 in which Jack checked him. 
 
 " Because, having difficulty in learning anything 
 about Renfrew's habits of life and friends sur- 
 roundings they erroneously concluded, taking my 
 call upon him as evidence of familiarity with him, 
 I might tell them. That I could tell them nothing 
 Captain Lawton soon became convinced. The 
 event which led to my confinement here occurred 
 subsequently."
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 149 
 
 " The recognition of the pistol ? " 
 
 " Yes. That is the beginning. All that goes 
 before only leads up to my being in the Captain's 
 office where I could see and recognize the pistol, 
 and has no bearing upon my being here except in 
 that way." 
 
 " I see. You refused to tell who it belonged to." 
 
 " Yes. I refused to say anything." 
 
 " The detective was right in demanding infor- 
 mation. Why did not you tell him ? " 
 
 " Because I would not blindly involve a person 
 for whom I had a high respect in an unpleasant 
 publicity. Let me submit a case," said Jack, rising 
 and pacing up and down the room. " Suppose you 
 knew a lady whose standing in society was high, 
 whose life was so correct as to be a model for all 
 wives, who enjoyed the esteem of every one who 
 was acquainted with her, whose daily walk and life 
 was as irreproachable as that of the lady who 
 honors you by bearing your name," the lawyer 
 bowed in response to these words, as if thanking 
 Jack. " Suppose, I say, you knew such a lady, and 
 knew that several years previous she had possessed 
 a pistol that had been used subsequently to kill a 
 man. Would you immediately cry out that she had 
 committed the murder?" 
 
 " No. But would such a charge follow in this 
 case ? " 
 
 " I do not know that it would. But I think it 
 quite likely. But what unquestionably would occur 
 would be that her name would be brought into 
 connection with a scandalous case, for such I 
 assure you it will turn out to be, Mr. Van Huyn, 
 when all sorts of vulgar peo'ple would indulge in 
 coarse speculations as to her probable connection 
 with this fellow Renfrew." 
 
 " I presume that is so." 
 
 " What do I know about it that I should give
 
 15 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 tongue to it ?" continued Jack warmly. " I only 
 know that seven years ago say six she owned 
 this pistol and another just like it. She may have 
 lost them, sold them, given them away. They may 
 have been stolen from her. Now without having 
 an opportunity to learn anything about her posses- 
 sion of them, I am expected, simply because a beast 
 of a detective demands to know, to blurt out the 
 name of a high-bred, refined woman, whose life is 
 of the highest, and surround her name with a cloud 
 of suspicion a woman who has shown me no end 
 of kindness, who has welcomed me to her home and 
 at her board, who has been my consistent friend from 
 boyhood. It may be law and justice, as lawyers and 
 courts see it, but I'll be d d if I will. I don't care 
 what the consequences may be. I may be a party 
 to the crime then, but I'll be a man of honor and a 
 gentleman. I won't talk, and all the detectives, and 
 all the judges, and all the courts, and all the jails 
 can't make me." 
 
 " Good ! " shouted " Dizzy," springing across 
 the room at a bound and grasping Jack's hand. 
 " You're a trump you're a daisy. I'll back you 
 sixty to one." With his pink cheeks pinker than 
 ever, he retired to his chair, and thrusting the 
 handle of his cane in his mouth, he turned to listen 
 to what the lawyer would say in response. 
 
 " Then I understand that, until you have a better 
 basis of suspicion than is involved in the mere 
 recognition of the pistol, you refuse to speak?" 
 
 "Certainly, until I know more than I do at pres- 
 ent." 
 
 " Such sacrifice of self is not usual, Mr. Gordon," 
 said the lawyer, in w*hose altered tones there was 
 evidence of the admiration he felt for the young 
 man's spirit. " I think the detective has traveled 
 a little beyond his power, considered from a strictly 
 legal point. It is, however, customary to arrest an
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 151 
 
 important witness and hold him, especially if he is 
 thought to be an unwilling one, or inclined to the 
 other side. The ease with which an arrest can be 
 accomplished under due process of law, and that in 
 ninety-nine cases out of a hundred public opinion 
 will justify the act, has caused the authorities to 
 ignore the steps necessary to a strictly legal con- 
 finement. However, it seems to me the course to 
 follow, at first, is for me to see the detective and 
 protest against your confinement. This may be 
 sufficient to secure your release. After that we 
 will determine whether it is necessary to get out a 
 writ of habeas corpus. I'll go at once." 
 
 He went off, leaving " Dizzy " behind with 
 Jack. 
 
 " Say, old man," cried " Dizzy," as soon as the 
 door was closed behind the lawyer. " You're a 
 high-stepping, rangy colt, now I tell you. Never 
 you mind, we'll pull you through. I'll make a 
 book against all odds on that. Say, you know that 
 colt Leamington stock I bought from Cap. 
 Connor, made 1.48^ this morning in practice, 
 Jimmie up, Little Billet leading, and the General 
 urging. I'll give him to you when you get out of 
 this." 
 
 " Dizzy " had gone to the extreme in testifying 
 his admiration for Jack's conduct, all of which 
 Jack appreciated, and so, there being nothing fur- 
 ther to say upon the subject, they fell to talking of 
 horses. Thus they were engaged when Mr. Van 
 Huyn returned, not alone, however, for he was 
 accompanied by both Captain Lawton and the In- 
 spector. 
 
 " Mr. Gordon," said the lawyer, " I have talked 
 with these gentlemen, and have convinced them 
 that no necessity exists for locking you up ; that 
 you have no intention of leaving the city, and will 
 give your word to that effect."
 
 15 2 JACK CORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " I'll give il to you, Mr. Van Huyn," said Jack 
 stiffly. 
 
 The Ca'ptain attempted to speak, but the Inspector 
 checked him, saying : 
 
 " That will be entirely sufficient on that head, 
 Mr. Van Huyn." 
 
 " It is, however, required of you," continued the 
 lawyer, " that you will satisfy yourself as to the 
 possession of the pistol, and if it has within three 
 months passed out of the hands of the lady who 
 owned it when you last knew anything of it, you 
 will immediately inform the Captain, and tell him, if 
 you can, into whose possession it went. If not, 
 then the name of the lady who owned it, whose 
 name you now refuse to give." 
 
 " I'll make no such pledge to you, nor to any 
 one else," answered Jack firmly. 
 
 " Right you are, my daisy ! " cried " Dizzy," 
 very pink. 
 
 The Inspector turned upon that young man with 
 a scowl, but its effect was not startling, since 
 "Dizzy" winked at him, as if he thought the In- 
 spector approved Jack's obstinacy. 
 
 " No, Mr. Van Huyn," said Jack, ignoring the 
 presence of the two officials. " If I go from here 
 I go free and unbound by promise or pledge. I 
 will not leave the city, but that is all I will pledge." 
 
 " Dizzy " performed a tattoo with the end of his 
 cane upon the floor by way of applause. 
 
 Mr. Van Huyn and the two detectives retired 
 into a corner for consultation, which was for a 
 time very earnest. It had continued for some 
 minutes, when Mr. Van Huyn turned to Jack with 
 an air of satisfaction. 
 
 " These gentlemen," he said, "do not press the 
 requirement. Therefore, you are free to go ; but I 
 desire you to fully understand that I have given 
 my personal word that you will pot leave the
 
 ADMIRABLE OBSTINACY. 153 
 
 city, and you will not cause these gentlemen any 
 trouble because of your confinement here." 
 
 Jack bit his lips and hesitated. " Dizzy " took 
 his cane from his mouth and looked anxiously at 
 Jack. 
 
 " Since you have given your word, Mr. Van 
 Huyn," replied Jack, " I'll stand by it. But such 
 was not my intention." 
 
 " Dizzy " applauded again with the end of his 
 cane. 
 
 " Then," said the Inspector, " you are free to 
 
 go-" 
 
 The detectives departed ; in a short time the 
 others followed, Jack having been delayed by the 
 ceremonies of release. 
 
 " Dizzy " was overjoyed at the result, and again 
 and again cried out : 
 
 "See, we did pull you through." 
 
 He was so elated over Jack's admirable resolute- 
 ness in refusing to give expression to his suspicions, 
 that he insisted en giving a dinner at the Hoffman 
 House to all who had assisted in "pulling Jack 
 through." 
 
 While Mr. Van Huyn,who was the principal "pull- 
 er," could not be persuaded to participate in the 
 feast, which "Dizzy" promised should be "bang 
 up," with the best of wines, Jack could not well es- 
 cape, though he would have been better pleased to 
 have spent a part of the evening with Lucy. 
 
 All that was permitted him was a brief note to 
 her, informing her of his release and his intention 
 to call upon her the following day. He closed his 
 eventful day merrily at the table, around which 
 were gathered his four staunch friends, Miss Ap- 
 pleby, Will Robb, Mollie Lowell and her brother.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES WITH A PURPOSE. 
 
 IT was an hour at which most men lunched that 
 Jack breakfasted on the morning following the 
 
 evening on which " Dizzy " gave what he was 
 pleased to term his " feed " in honor of his friend's 
 release. 
 
 Although it was early for a call, still, relying 
 upon his intimate footing in the house, he deter- 
 mined as soon as he finished his meal to visit Mrs. 
 Jamieson. Half an hour later found him in her 
 parlors. The lady soon came to him, and in a 
 ravishing demi-toilette and with an air of anxious 
 solicitude. 
 
 " Gracious, Jack ! " she said on- seeing him, " I 
 hope nothing serious has occurred again. Come 
 into the library, where we will not be interrupted 
 by callers, if there should be any." 
 
 Leading the way, she took him into the apart- 
 ment named and said : 
 
 " Make yourself as comfortable as you can. How 
 do you feel ? Are you all broken up with your ex- 
 perience ? Were you much frightened ? " 
 
 " What are you referring to ? " asked Jack in 
 return, not a little astonished by her words. 
 
 " Why, about that horrible mistake of arresting 
 you as the murderer of Renfrew." 
 
 Jack laughed aloud. 
 
 " It is pleasant to hear that. Where did you 
 learn that interesting news ?" 
 
 "Why, Mrs. Van Huyn was here this morning 
 
 i54
 
 REMINISCENCES WITH A PURPOSE. 155 
 
 telling me about it, and very loud in her praises of 
 your manliness. Her husband told her about it." 
 
 " I should like to have her version," said Jack, 
 partly amused and partly vexed. 
 
 " Isn't it true ? She said that those horrid de- 
 tectives got it into their stupid heads that you com- 
 mitted the murder and arrested you ; that after 
 they talked with you they found out you didn't, but 
 that you knew who did but wouldn't tell, and 
 then they put you in jail." 
 
 " I am afraid Mrs. Van Huyn has not properly 
 quoted her husband, and I don't think there would 
 have been anything particularly manly in my refus- 
 ing to tell the name of the murderer if I had known 
 it. No, I was, not suspected of the murder ; and I 
 was confined because, having knowledge of a mat- 
 ter connected with it, I refused to speak, since it 
 would have involved the name of a friend in a 
 scandal. That's all." 
 
 " That is very different," said the little lady. 
 " How does it feel to be in jail ? " with a shudder. 
 
 Jack laughed a low, happy laugh. 
 
 " I never was so happy anywhere. I give you 
 my word, Mrs. Jamieson, I would not have missed 
 going to that jail, had I known what was to hap- 
 pen, for all things the future might promise me." 
 
 Mrs. Jamieson looked at him curiously and 
 waited for him to go on, while a happy smile played 
 about Jack's lips. An intuition warned the lady 
 that she ought not to push inquiries. 
 
 " You always were a queer creature, Jack," she 
 said. " The idea of being happy in jail. I am 
 glad it was no worse. I was much frightened for 
 you." 
 
 The conversation now drifted into other chan- 
 nels, until Jack, seizing a favorable opportunity, 
 turned it in the direction of the object of his call. 
 
 " Do you recollect the winter," he inquired,
 
 156 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " I spent with you and Mr. Jamieson in. the south 
 of Europe ? " 
 
 " Shall I ever forget it, Jack ? I go back to it 
 again and again. What perfectly happy days they 
 were ! Ah, me ! how the time flies. It is seven 
 years ago. What a nice boy you were in those, 
 days ! Just a fresh, enthusiastic boy, without any 
 affectations." 
 
 " Oh, I was fresh enough, I'll warrant," laughed 
 Jack. "A mere lad only twenty." 
 
 " With your pockets full of money your poor 
 old father had lavished on you. Money you wanted 
 to spend on every conceivable thing you saw. 
 Dear, dear ! The worry you were to Walter and 
 myself ! I had to take'your money from you every 
 time you went out alone." 
 
 " Yes, I recollect you kept me on short com- 
 mons." 
 
 " Then your faculty for falling in love. How 
 many times did I have to rush in and rescue you ? 
 I was talking to Walter only a day or two ago 
 about it." 
 
 " You have not forgotten that trip to the moun- 
 tains when there were rumors of brigands, nor how 
 frightened you were about them ? " 
 
 " Don't recall my silliness. Walter teases me 
 about it to this day." 
 
 " Nor the armament 1 purchased with which to 
 defend ourselves." 
 
 The little lady burst into a peal of merriment. 
 
 " Shall I ever forget the comical sight you pre- 
 sented that evening in Florence, when you came in 
 loaded down " 
 
 "With loaded things, eh?" interrupted Jack. 
 " Do you remember that brace of pistols with cu- 
 riously carved ivory handles I bought for you ? " 
 
 " No, nor how you wanted to take me into the 
 palace garden to teach me how to shoot them off."
 
 REMINISCENCES WITH A PURPOSE. 15 7 
 
 " Have you got them yet ? " inquired Jack, care- 
 lessly. 
 
 At this moment Mr. Jamieson entered the room 
 and greeted Jack warmly. 
 
 " There is the culprit," exclaimed Mrs. Jamie- 
 son. " Call him to account." 
 
 " What is it ? " asked her husband. 
 
 " Jack was asking if I still had those quaint pis- 
 tols with curiously carved ivory handles he bought 
 for me in Florence. I refer him to you for ex- 
 planation." 
 
 " Jack," said that gentleman, with mock serious- 
 ness, " you have touched upon a sore spot. My 
 life for two years has been made miserable, my 
 
 home a " pointing downward " you know, all 
 
 on account of those useless toys you gave to the 
 partner of my woes. If I had taken the two chil- 
 dren who call her mother and lost them somewhere 
 in the wilds of New Jersey, I would not have heard 
 so much about it as I have about the loss of those 
 miserable pistols." 
 
 " That is not giving Jack the information he 
 asks," said the lady, with a contemptuous toss of 
 her head. " Now listen, Jack. About two years 
 ago I loaned them, with some other rare and 
 curious things, to a lady who was giving a loan 
 exhibition in aid of some charity." 
 
 " You see," interrupted Mr. Jamieson, " the 
 old story. The original sin was committed by the 
 woman. Now if she " 
 
 "Be quiet, and don't interrupt," demanded the 
 imperative little dame, stamping a diminutive foot 
 upon the floor. " She took them, promising the 
 best of care of them. So proud of them was I, so 
 highly did I value them, not alone for their asso- 
 ciation, but also for their beauty and rarity, that on 
 the night the exhibition closed, I sent Walter after 
 them and the other things."
 
 IS 8 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " Yes, it cost me a dollar to get in ten minutes 
 before the door closed," said Mr. Jamieson mourn- 
 fully. " I have lamented that dollar ever since." 
 
 " When he came back I told him to lay the things 
 down in this room on the table in the corner. Sev- 
 eral days after, when I came to look them over to 
 restore them to their proper places, the pistols 
 were not to be found. Asking him where they 
 were, and other things also missing, what, suppose 
 you, was his answer ? " 
 
 " I don't know, I am sure," replied Jack, mani- 
 festing an interest in the recital hardly justified. 
 
 " He did not know. He had loaned them, the 
 night he brought the other things home, to some 
 one, but who, he couldn't recollect. Somebody 
 who was going to have tableaux, or private theat- 
 ricals." 
 
 "Now, Jack," said her husband, "you have the 
 story of an event which has caused many heart- 
 aches in this house. If you should hear, one morn- 
 ing, that in a rash moment I had ended my life, 
 you will know the reason." 
 
 " Mr. Jamieson," said Jack, so gravely as to ex- 
 cite the attention of the others, " will you answer 
 a question seriously? Much depends upon it, I 
 assure you." 
 
 They looked at him in surprise. 
 
 " Do you indeed not recollect to whom you gave 
 those pistols ? " 
 
 " I do not indeed. Mrs. Jamieson does not tell 
 you all. I loaned a number of articles that even- 
 ing. To whom the pistols were given I could never 
 recollect. The other articles were all returned in 
 good time. The pistols never. It was several 
 weeks after before my wife spoke of missing them, 
 and though I remembered loaning them, I could not 
 tell to whom. Why do you ask ? " 
 
 " I think you ought to know," said Jack, after
 
 REMINISCENCES WITH A PURPOSE. 159 
 
 a moment's reflection. " Renfrew, the actor, was 
 killed with one of those pistols." 
 
 Both were greatly shocked. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " asked Mr. Jamie- 
 son, after he had recovered from his astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 " I recognized it when I saw it in the hands of the 
 detective." 
 
 " Was this the reason was it because you re- 
 fused to tell who you thought it belonged to, that 
 you were locked up?" asked Mrs. Jamieson. 
 
 " Oh, that is an old story now," said Jack un- 
 easily. 
 
 The lady rose from her chair, and, taking Jack's 
 hand, said : 
 
 " It was very noble of you, Jack. I appreciate 
 it. You have done me a service 1 shall never for- 
 get. You have saved me from a great deal of ugly 
 talk." 
 
 The tears stood in her eyes. Mr. Jamieson did 
 not understand, and so Mrs. Jamieson told him the 
 story of Jack's refusal to tell. When it was finished 
 he said to Jack : 
 
 " Gordon, that was the act of a true and unselfish 
 friend. As the little woman says, you have saved 
 her from a great deal of ugly talk, and though I 
 could have explained all, still explanations do not 
 follow close on suspicions. I thank you most 
 gratefully. Few men would have been unselfish 
 or courageous enough to have faced the possible 
 consequences." 
 
 " Pooh ! pooh ! " cried Jack, feeling very red and 
 uncomfortable. " The obligations are all on the 
 other side. It was very little to do in return for all 
 the kindness and friendship I have had at the handa 
 of Mrs. Jamieson and yourself." 
 
 Seizing the first opportunity, he hurried away to 
 escape their protestations of gratitude. He felici-
 
 160 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 tated himself again and again that he had not been 
 betrayed into revealing Mrs. Jamieson's name un- 
 der the circumstances, and he thought that a deeper 
 mystery had settled on the case. Dismissing fur- 
 ther thought of the matter, he hastened to Lucy, 
 filled with pleasurable anticipations.
 
 ^CHAPTER 
 
 LUCY'S CRIME. 
 
 I^HE letter announcing Jack's release was re- 
 ceived by Lucy with surprise and delight. 
 She had been in a flutter of excitement ever 
 since she left Jack in the morning. His declaration 
 of love had filled her with happiness, though she 
 by no means felt it was to continue. Hanging 
 over her was the dread of the result of her avowal 
 to him of that fault that crime she had committed. 
 Through her love and gratitude, and because of 
 her admiration for him, she so magnified, in her own 
 eyes,the noble qualities and keen sense of honor of her 
 lover, she made sure her revelation would shock and 
 disgust him, and that he would fly from her. Not- 
 withstanding the happiness she felt over his love 
 for her, she was miserable whenever she thought of 
 the necessity of that tale. Sometimes she wished 
 she had not told him at all, but had let events take 
 their course. Let him love and be loved in return, 
 with her mysterious connection with Renfrew un- 
 explained. Yet when her commonsense came up- 
 permost she knew that such a course was impossi- 
 ble. When she thought of the misery she had en- 
 xlured the past three years she was glad she had 
 not permitted herself to drift into another decep- 
 tion. To leave the misery unexplained and to 
 marry him would be to give cause for suspicion and 
 distrust from the beginning. No, she would not 
 deceive him. She preferred to lose him to doing 
 
 161
 
 1 62 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 that.- He deserved all the good she could give him, 
 and she would not repay his kindness and his love 
 with deceit. This was the burden of her thought 
 when she fell asleep and when she awoke in the 
 morning. 
 
 Lucy regarded Dr. Sherman's absence from town 
 as fortunate, since she could entertain Jack in their 
 own parlors, free from the intrusion of strangers. 
 To secure herself from any interruptioo whatever, 
 she instructed her maid to go to the office immedi- 
 ately after Gordon's arrival, and announce that 
 Miss Sherman was out for the day. 
 
 Accordingly when Jack presented his card at the 
 
 desk of the B hotel he found the way open for 
 
 him. In after years he thought Lucy never looked 
 more beautiful than she did that afternoon, when 
 she rose to greet him, evidently attired for the 
 event. It was not, however, her attire which in 
 his opinion heightened her beauty. It was the 
 modesty of her demeanor, the happy light in her 
 eyes, and the warm, bashful blushes covering her 
 cheeks. 
 
 "You can not tell," she said, "what pleasure 
 your note gave me last night. I should not have 
 rested comfortably if I had supposed you were still 
 confined in that horrid jail ! " 
 
 " Don't call it horrid," replied Jack. " It was in 
 that blessed jail I found my senses and my happi- 
 ness." 
 
 Lucy blushed again and toyed with a rose she 
 had taken from the table. 
 
 " You did not tell me how you were released so 
 soon. I am anxious to know." 
 
 So Jack was again compelled to tell the story. 
 
 " Are you satisfied as to the truth of your suspi- 
 cions?" she asked. 
 
 " Upon the contrary, I am satisfied all suspicion 
 in that direction was misplaced. I have felicitated
 
 LUCY'S CRIME. 163 
 
 myself over and over again that I did not mention 
 the lady's name. Her husband satisfied me the 
 pistols passed by his own act out of her keeping 
 two years ago." 
 
 Lucy felt greatly relieved to find that the lady 
 for whom Jack had made his sacrifice owned a 
 husband of her own, for she had entertained a 
 feeling of no little jealousy toward the unknown. 
 She became more gay, and the conversation now 
 drifted into a channel the import of which, enter- 
 taining to the participants, has no bearing on our 
 story. 
 
 The afternoon passed rapidly, a fact of which 
 Jack was made conscious by the sudden flaring of 
 the electric lights in the street. So he approached 
 abruptly the object he had at heart. 
 
 " Lucy," he said, moving his chair closer to her 
 and taking her hand. " I want your consent to 
 speak to your father. Why should we delay our 
 happiness ? " 
 
 The girl withdrew her hand from his. quickly, 
 and looking down remained silent. The crucial 
 time for her had come. 
 
 " You know I love you, you have confessed your 
 love for me. Why put obstacles in our way ? " asked 
 Jack. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Gordon," replied Lucy, her voice 
 trembling and the color flying from her face, 
 " there is an obstacle a serious obstacle. So 
 great a one that all the hope there is left me is, 
 that I can still count you as a friend." 
 
 " Lucy, my love, that is impossible," pleaded 
 Jack. " I must be something more than a friend 
 to you. A friend always, but something nearer 
 and dearer. We love each other, and surely you 
 must see that it must be all or nothing." 
 
 "Yes, I know," she replied, the tears coming 
 into her eyes. " It was a thoughtless speech. It
 
 164 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 were better to part now, while I still have your 
 respect and esteem." 
 
 " That is quite as impossible," said Jack, firmly. 
 " I won you fairly as ever man won his love. Why 
 should I give you up ? Indeed, I would be un- 
 worthy the love of any woman, and certainly of 
 yours, if I were to leave, content with this dismis- 
 sal, while you do not deny your own love." 
 
 He had possessed himself of her hai>d again and 
 was pressing it to his lips, an act of which she 
 seemed to be unconscious, so profound in thought 
 was she. Suddenly, however, she drew it from him, 
 and springing to her feet said : 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Gordon, how can you treat me so ? 
 You are cruel. You have won the secret of my 
 love from me a secret I meant to have kept to 
 myself. Why do you tempt me ? Can you not see 
 that it is through my love that I am endeavoring 
 to act honorably toward you ? That I would save 
 you from the burden of a wife who is unfit for 
 you for whom you can have nothing but horror 
 when you know her past. Did I love you less I 
 could accept your love and deceive you. But I 
 can't. I love you too well, and I am trying oh, so 
 hard ! to do my duty to you. If you have no pity 
 for me, have pity for yourself, and fly from- 
 me." 
 
 She walked to the window, completely unnerved, 
 and looked out upon the street. 
 
 Jack followed her and stood respectfully beside 
 her, while he waited for her to become more calm. 
 When she seemed more composed, he took her 
 hand and leading her to the sofa, seated her and 
 placed himself beside her. 
 
 " Lucy," he said quietly, " I think your con- 
 science is very tender, and that you have become 
 morbid over a fault many people would have long 
 ago forgotten."
 
 LUCY'S CRIME. 165 
 
 " No, no, no ! " she said. " You do not know how 
 bad it is." 
 
 " The girl who tells the man she loves she can not 
 become his wife, because of some fault she has 
 committed, can not have a vicious heart." 
 
 "Oh, you do not know ! You do not know ! " 
 
 " You recollect," he said tenderly, " I was to 
 be the judge." 
 
 " Oh, yes," replied Lucy, nervously, " but I've 
 thought it all over. I can not tell you I do not 
 dare. And I do so want your respect." 
 
 " I owe you a great deal," said Jack, " for giving 
 me the priceless pearl of your love, but, Lucy, I owe 
 myself something. I have a duty to myself to per- 
 form. Do you suppose 1 can let all the glorious 
 vision of the happiness which burst upon me when 
 I knew you loved me fade away and make no 
 effort to turn it into reality ? Do you suppose I 
 could retain my own self-respect and make no 
 effort to secure for myself that warm, loving heart 
 of yours ? Do you suppose I can be content, or 
 that I ought to be content, to go away now with- 
 out better reason ? " 
 
 " But you don't know how " 
 
 " No, I don't know, that is true. But I can look 
 into your eyes and read that it is nothing. I can 
 look into your pure face and see that wickedness 
 does not reside there. Come. If it pains you, 
 don't tell it. I'll put my trust in you, and we will 
 never speak of it more." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Lucy, starting up again, " was 
 ever a poor girl so tortured ? And I am trying so 
 hard to be good ! If I do not tell him I will lose 
 faith in myself ; if I do, I will lose him." 
 
 " No," cried Jack, restraining her, and gently 
 forcing her to sit down. " I do not love lightly. 
 I have found that out. But," he added, almost 
 sternly, " you shall choose now. Either you shall
 
 1 66 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 or you shall not tell me. But in either event I go 
 to Dr. Sherman and ask for this hand. I will not 
 be denied." 
 
 " Oh, no, no, no!" cried Lucy, terror-stricken. 
 "Why can't you let me go? Why drive me to a 
 humiliating confession ? Why force me to lose 
 both your esteem and your love ? Go. Have some 
 mercy upon a poor girl who would lay down her 
 life to save you from harm. Accept the devotion 
 of my heart and go. Oh, why don't you go ? " 
 
 " Why don't I go ? " said Jack, his voice vibrating 
 with passion and emotion. "Why don't 1 go? 
 For the profoundest of reasons : I love you. Go ? 
 Never. While strength is left me to sue for my 
 happiness, here I'll stay." 
 
 The masterfulness of her lover, his determination, 
 and the love glowing in his face gave her a sense 
 of keen pleasure, notwithstanding her wretched- 
 ness. She laid her hands upon his, looking long 
 into his radiant face, and said sadly : 
 
 " Oh, my love, my love, you master me ! Here 
 then is my expiation. For love of you I sacrifice my- 
 self and go down into the dark waters of despair." 
 
 She slowly drew her hands from him, and lifting 
 them to her face covered her eyes. Jack looked 
 at her compassionately. He thought he read her 
 accurately when he determined that she would 
 never yield to her love until she had unburdened 
 herself. So profound was his trust in her that he 
 believed she exaggerated her offense ; that when 
 it was told it would prove to be something he 
 could laugh away. He was sure she had become 
 morbid from dwelling long upon it. So he waited 
 patiently for her to begin. The early darkness 
 was beginning to close in upon them. The only 
 light was that given' from the outside, and the fire 
 burning brightly in the grate. 
 
 Lucy withdrew her hands from her eyes, and
 
 LUCY'S CRIME. 167 
 
 clasping them on her knee looked over them to 
 the floor, but still did not speak. Jack was about 
 to break the silence when she began. 
 
 " Dr. Sherman," she said, in a low, constrained 
 voice, trembling with agitation, " is not my father. 
 He adopted me when I was seventeen five years 
 ago. My name is Lucy Annesley. My father was 
 a gentleman, my mother a lady, but they were 
 poor very poor when I was born. My mother 
 died long before I could recollect her. My father 
 died when I was eight. I fell to the care of an 
 uncle who lived in the Far West, who regarded me 
 as a burden and placed me in a school, Miss 
 Waltham's, at Rocky Point, and then left for his 
 home without looking upon me." 
 
 " The inhuman wretch ! " cried Jack. 
 
 " He paid my expenses, and paid them regularly 
 until I was seventeen, when he said I was old 
 enough to care for myself, and refused to maintain 
 me longer. He wrote this to Miss Waltham. He 
 never wrote to me, saw me, or sent me a message." 
 
 " He was heartless ! " cried Jack. 
 
 " No, he considered me an unjust burden, that 
 was all. When I had been at school four years, 
 there came into it another scholar, like me alone 
 and friendless in the world ; an orphan, and, like 
 me, supported through the charity of a relative, 
 quite 'as unwillingly. Singularly her name was 
 Lucy Lucy Annesley. We became warm friends. 
 But after two years she was happily released. She 
 died, leaving all her poor earthly treasures and 
 possessions to me. Ah, Lucy, Lucy, dear, why 
 was it you ? Why was it not I ? 
 
 Jack moved closely to her and laid his hand 
 upon hers, but she gently removed it. It was an 
 action which seemed to tell him to wait until he 
 had heard her story. 
 
 " Two years later, when I was nearly sixteen, a
 
 i68 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 letter came to Miss Waltham from a gentleman 
 abroad, asking about Lucy Annesley. It was from 
 Dr. Sherman. Miss Waltham wrote him, giving 
 him an account of me. This led to a correspond- 
 ence with me which was continued for nearly a 
 year, in which he hinted that the object of his in- 
 quiry and correspondence was to provide for my 
 future. From the time my uncle cast me off, my 
 future gave me anxiety, and I built largely on this 
 prospect Dr. Sherman held out to me. I had but 
 one relative except my uncle, and he was a cousin, 
 a young man of twenty-four or five. He came to 
 see me from time to time, not often. And this 
 cousin took great interest in the proposed action 
 of Dr. Sherman. His name was Myers Jacob 
 Myers." 
 
 Jack started violently. 
 
 "Yes," continued Lucy sadly, " it was the one 
 you knew as Cyril Renfrew. He had gone on the 
 stage and adopted that name. As I grew near my 
 seventeenth birthday there came a letter from Dr. 
 Sherman, saying that he had arrived in New York 
 and would within a week or two visit the school. 
 It occurred that day that I looked into the box 
 Lucy had left me, and for the first time I read the 
 old love-letters of her mother, Lucy had treasured 
 during her life. To my consternation I found it 
 was the dead Lucy Dr. Sherman wanted ; that he 
 had been a lover of her mother ; had written the 
 letters ; and that Lucy's grandfather had refused 
 to permit his daughter, Lucy's mother, to marry 
 Dr. Sherman, but had forced her to wed a man 
 named Annesley, who I have since learned was a 
 distant cousin of my father. I was greatly dis- 
 appointed." 
 
 " I should imagine so,"said Jack sympathetically. 
 
 " That afternoon my cousin visited me, and I 
 told him of my crushed hopes. He made me bring
 
 LUCY'S CRIME. 169 
 
 him the box, and he read the letters. He asked 
 many question about Lucy and whether any of her 
 relatives were living. When he learned all were 
 dead, he put the wicked idea into my head of not 
 informing Dr. Sherman or Miss Waltham of my 
 discovery." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Jack ; the fault was made clear to 
 him. 
 
 " He urged me strongly. He painted my future 
 in strong colors ; pointed out the struggles and 
 privations of poverty in the most unattractive way. 
 Said that it would be flying in the face of Providence 
 to fail to take advantage of the good fortune held 
 out to me. He laughed at my opposition and qualms 
 of conscience. He said there was a conspiracy of 
 events in my favor ; that it was no wrong ; that 
 Dr. Sherman wanted to do a benevolent act and I 
 must not thwart him. He made me promise I 
 would not inform Miss Waltham, and that I would 
 not tell Dr. Sherman, until he saw me again. Then 
 he wrote daily urging me not to undeceive the 
 doctor, and visited me every two or three days, al- 
 ways urging me forward and arguing against my 
 conscience. And, oh," said Lucy, turning a 
 troubled and ashamed face on Jack, her eyes swim- 
 ming in tears, " what could I, a poor, weak, inex- 
 perienced girl, who had never been twenty-four 
 hours away from the seminary door, do against 
 such advice and against a man of the world ? Oh, 
 Mr. Gordon, is it a wonder if I, frightened at the 
 prospect of life as painted to me, presented and 
 urged by this insidious counsel, proved to be 
 weak ? " 
 
 " No, no ! " cried Jack, moved by her appeal to 
 him. " A thousand times no ! " 
 
 " But I did not yield at once. I debated and de- 
 bated with myself, hesitating, delaying a conclusion, 
 fearing to go forward, and, as the days grew, fearing
 
 17 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERR A N T. 
 
 to go back, because I had not done it in the begin- 
 ning when I first knew, when, without warning, I 
 was called into the presence of Dr. Sherman. I 
 was so embarrassed and frightened I did not say 
 anything, for I could not, and Miss Waltham and 
 the doctor went on assuming that I was really the 
 one he sought. When I tried to speak it was too 
 late, and I was committed to the deception before I 
 had made up my mind what I should do. Then I 
 grew afraid, and so I have lived on. All the letters 
 to Jacob, which he used so wickedly, told the 
 whole story of my wicked deception. You know 
 the rest. And thus I have lived the He, deceiving 
 Dr. Sherman, the adventuress Jacob called me a 
 wicked, designing woman, too cowardly to tell the 
 truth, but bad enough to go on." 
 
 Lucy had borne up bravely as she told the story, 
 but now that it was finished, she threw her arms 
 on the back of the sofa and buried her head in 
 them 
 
 Jack permitted her to exhaust her emotion before 
 he spoke.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 JACK AS A COUNSELOR. 
 
 T UCY had misinterpreted Jack's silence ; she 
 J v had persuaded herself the inevitable result of 
 the story would be to drive him away from 
 her, yet when she found he was silent, and, as she 
 believed, because of her wickedness, the conviction 
 came to her with all the sharpness of a new grief. 
 She could not look upon him ; she could not bear 
 to encounter the disgust and horror she felt was 
 pictured on his face. She wished he would go 
 without a word and leave her to herself. All was 
 over between them, and the sooner the end came 
 the better. 
 
 When she had thrown her head upon her arms, 
 she had turned her back to Jack, and he could not 
 see her face. Presently he arose and, going to the 
 other end of the sofa, he gently took her hands in 
 his own, and said : 
 
 " Lucy ! Lucy, my dear ! Lucy, my love ! " 
 
 She looked at him in wild amazement. In her 
 misery was she losing her senses ? Had he indeed 
 called her " Love " ? She looked into his eyes and 
 saw there divine pity and love, so blended that it 
 seemed to her in her despair the soul of an angel 
 was looking through them. He said not a word, 
 but he held out his arms to her. Overcome by 
 surprise and emotion, she flung herself upon his 
 breast and sobbed as if her heart would break. 
 
 " Come, Lucy, my love," said Jack at last. 
 " Look up. There is no obstacle, after all." 
 
 171
 
 I? 2 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 "Oh, don't be kind to me," she said between her 
 sobs, " if you don't mean to be ! " 
 
 " Mean to be ? " repeated Jack, with a low, happy 
 laugh. " I mean to love you with my heart of 
 hearts. Let me talk to you. It is true your fault 
 is not what I supposed it to be. It is true, it is 
 even graver than I supposed it to be. But, my love, 
 I shall not blame you for its commission. Young, 
 inexperienced, and placed in an almost unheard-of 
 position, and urged thereto by one who should 
 have advised you differently, I do not know that 
 your act is to be wondered at. I shall not blame 
 you, but if I were so disposed, it would be for not 
 telling Dr. Sherman in after-years when you knew 
 better." 
 
 She nestled in closer to him, her head still upon 
 his breast. 
 
 " I often thought of doing it, but Dr. Sherman 
 is so stern about such things, and Jacob said he 
 would put me into prison, and that frightened 
 me." 
 
 " Ah, I suppose," said Jack, " he did not want 
 you to cease being a source of income to him. 
 But, Lucy, I am surprised Dr. Sherman did not 
 discover the imposition himself." 
 
 "I suppose," said Lucy, "I have told my story 
 badly. Dr. Sherman is very sensitive about his love 
 episode. He has grieved a great deal over it, and it 
 has affected his whole life. He never talks about 
 it. When I showed him the little box, with his 
 letters to Lucy's mother and some little trinkets he 
 had given her, he accepted it as proof of my birth, 
 and said he was glad I had them, as he would not 
 have to make further inquiries as to my identity, 
 and thus would escape prying into his secrets. 
 Nobody, therefore, knew that he adopted me for 
 any other reason than that he fancied me, or that 
 some relation existed between us. No one knew
 
 JACK AS A COUNSELOR. 1 73 
 
 of his love for Lucy's mother, for it had been a 
 secret, and he had lived abroad for twenty years." 
 
 "It is plain now," said Jack. " Truly it was, as 
 your cousin said, a conspiracy of events to favor 
 your step." 
 
 By this time Lucy had been restored to a condi- 
 tion approaching her usual composure, and began 
 to realize it was far from the proper thing to be sit- 
 ting with Jack's arms around her in a room lit 
 only by a grate fire. So she disengaged herself 
 from his embrace and lighted the gas. Having 
 done so, she stole a shy, half-apologetic, half- 
 appealing and wholly wondering glance at Jack. 
 He interpreted it with the intuitive quickness of a 
 woman. 
 
 Rising hastily he took her in his arms, and, before 
 she divined his purpose, kissed her upon the lips, 
 saying : 
 
 " Lucy, this is the seal of our engagement." 
 
 The warm blood rushed over her face, covering 
 her neck. 
 
 " You still love me," she said with a soft glance, 
 " after my confession ? " 
 
 " With all the warmth of this poor heart," he 
 replied. " I never meant to let you go, Lucy. If 
 your fault had been greater, it would have been the 
 same, but it is far from irreparable. Dr. Sherman 
 must be told of it." 
 
 Lucy shuddered. 
 
 " It will be a great shock to him," she said, " for 
 he has grown fond of me in his way." 
 
 " Do you fear his anger ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he will not forgive me. He is relentless 
 in his vengeance, and he will discard me. He will 
 regard it all the more as a personal wrong since I 
 have become necessary to his comfort." 
 
 " Then we must go about it diplomatically." 
 
 " i do not know what you mean."
 
 174 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " We shall not tell him until after we have ob- 
 tained his sanction of our engagement until after 
 it has been announced and he is committed to it. 
 Then he will have the interest of a third person to 
 consider." 
 
 " Ah, but Jack, dear " this was the first time 
 she had called him so, and she was immediately re- 
 warded " all this will involve you in much annoy- 
 ance, perhaps shame and humiliation. You will 
 grow ashamed of your promised bride, I am 
 afraid." 
 
 " My dear Lucy," replied Jack, laughing, " it is 
 too late in the day for you to talk about involving 
 me. You did that by existing. Why, you did it 
 by going into that restaurant the first night I saw 
 you." 
 
 She looked into his eyes anxiously, but saw 
 nothing but love beaming in them. 
 
 " No, Lucy darling. I am certain now I loved 
 you from the moment I first saw you. I regard you 
 wholly as a victim of circumstances, alone in the 
 worfd without proper guardians or counselors, and 
 we'll fight our way together, hand in hand, please 
 God. What causes me the most wonder is, how 
 you came through all the stress and strain so un- 
 spoiled, so innocent, and so true-hearted. Your 
 struggles are mine now, and while I do not pretend 
 to any piety, I say, and say it fervently, I thank 
 God for it." 
 
 Lucy, with eyes shining with love and admira- 
 tion, said in reply : 
 
 " Oh, Jack, you are noble you are a god/' 
 
 " No, no," said Jack, laughing, " not a Greek 
 god, certainly, with this nose very common chap, 
 I assure you, when you come to know me as 
 I am." 
 
 " You are the god of my idolatry, Jack," she 
 said shyly, her cheeks aflame. " You are my good
 
 JACK AS A COUNSELOR. 175 
 
 angel. You have saved me from a great deal. 
 You don't know how wicked I have been. Could 
 you believe that I meant to kill myself on the 
 Thursday night Jacob said I must bring the 
 money ? " 
 
 Jack looked at her incredulously, but Lucy so 
 earnestly affirmed it he was forced to be4ieve her. 
 She told him of her scene with her cousin, and her 
 determination and preparation to dispose of herself 
 before exposure a result frustrated by Renfrew's 
 death. 
 
 " You were worked up into a highly nervous con- 
 dition which did not permit you to see clearly," 
 said Jack, quite horrified by the recital. 
 
 " I presume so. Poor Jacob, he paid the penalty 
 of his evil-doing with his life." 
 
 *' What do you know of his evil-doing ? " asked 
 Jack. 
 
 " Very little ; but Captain Lawton told me a 
 number of letters had been found in his room 
 showing he was extorting money from women in 
 the basest way, for he had won their affections and 
 compromised them. He asked me whether I knew 
 a ' Dollie Dux? ' I said no, of course, for it was 
 such an absurd name. But, Jack, when you 
 brought me my letters I found among them one 
 signed by that name." 
 
 " Oh! " said Jack, " I hope you have burned your 
 letters." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I burned all of mine. I saved the one 
 written by ' Dollie Dux,' and why I hardly know. 
 Let me show it to you ; it is a sad, pathetic 
 letter." 
 
 She ran off into an adjoining department, and, 
 quickly returning with it, handed it lo Jack. 
 
 He looked over it hastily. 
 
 " Why," he exclaimed, " it is of date of the day 
 before the murder ! "
 
 176 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 He read it aloud : 
 
 " DEAR CYRIL : I write you in an agony of tears. Why do 
 you torture me so ? I have given you the best love of my 
 heart, the love I have not given to any other man, not even 
 my husband. I have given you the pledge of it, for I have 
 given you my honor. More no woman can give, for when she 
 has given that she has given all. Yet you return this affection 
 by cruelty and threats. I can not give you any more money. 
 You must, you shall believe this. If you must expose me, 
 recollect that I have done all I could. Heaven knows how 
 truly I am speaking. I have no means left. All my jewels 
 are in pawn and I am wearing imitations in their places, and 
 tremble lest the deceit be discovered. I am distracted. 
 Really I am bordering on insanity. I am sure if you could 
 see the nights I pass, how I walk the floor in an agony of fear 
 and grief, longing for morning to come, to make another effort 
 to secure money for you, only to find it impossible, you would 
 have some pity for me. I am growing desperate. I can not 
 face the disgrace of the terrible fall you threaten me with. Oh, 
 God, help my poor mother ! Do have some pity on me. 
 
 " I sign myself, not gayly, but as I am accustomed to, 
 
 " DOLLIE Dux." 
 
 " The infernal scamp ! " said Jack, quivering with 
 indignation. 
 
 Oh, the poor, poor creature ! " said Lucy. 
 
 " You say," asked Jack, " that Captain Lawton 
 told you a number of such letters were found in his 
 room ? " 
 
 " Yes, but that mine were not among them." 
 
 " No," replied Jack, " but they would have been 
 had I not compelled him to give them up. Evi- 
 dently the police think that this is the woman who 
 killed him." 
 
 " Oh, do you think so ? " asked Lucy, going over 
 to Jack and looking over hi? shoulder. 
 
 " Yes, you see it is his latest intrigue." 
 
 "Why, Jack, that writing seems familiar to me. 
 Let me think." 
 
 " Don't think, Lucy," said Jack hastily, and fold- 
 ing the letter up. " Put this letter away ; don't try
 
 JACK AS A COUNSELOR. 177 
 
 to think, but forget it as soon as you can. It is 
 dangerous to know too much, and a secret is a bur- 
 densome thing. Just think what a narrow escape I 
 had from putting a perfectly innocent woman under 
 suspicion." 
 
 He handed the letter back, and bending over 
 her, kissed her, saying : 
 
 " I have been here an unconscionably long time 
 and must go. When Dr. Sherman returns I will 
 call upon him immediately, and then I hope I can 
 see you daily without remark. Good-by, darling." 
 
 He left her, happier than she had been in all her 
 life before.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 
 
 THE dread of Dr. Sherman's anger, when he 
 should come to know of her deceit, could not 
 mitigate Lucy's joy. She felt strong now, and 
 a new existence was given her. Not only had love 
 entered her heart and found^ that welcome a true 
 woman always gives the little god, but she found 
 what she never before had a staff to lean u pon. She 
 now had some one to cling to to rely upon ; some 
 one to whom she could unburden herself, reserving 
 nothing. It was luxury she had never enjoyed, for 
 there was her secret which she had to guard jeal- 
 ously. Now there was some one she was dear to, 
 who would be interested in her slightest thought, 
 to whom she could freely go with all her troubles. 
 No one had hitherto, except in a brief and a disas- 
 trous period, stood in such relation to her, and 
 while Dr. Sherman was kind and generous, still the 
 offense she had committed against him, if not the 
 habitual austerity of his nature, prevented commu- 
 nity of sentiment. In short, she had been isolated 
 from that tender human sympathy which is the lot, 
 to the great good fortune of the world, of a vast 
 majority of the young. Her experience had been 
 singular and unnatural. That she had passed 
 through the fire of her ordeal without a totally ruin- 
 ous warping of her moral nature, was strong testi- 
 mony to the natural goodness of her mind and 
 morals. 
 
 Upon Jack's part, it is only due to him to say, 
 178
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 179 
 
 that he had not been blinded by his love for Lucy. 
 He saw without prejudice her fault was grave, 
 amounting in fact to a crime. He was much trou- 
 bled by it. While his affection for her was by no 
 means diminished, while he was firmly determined 
 he should make her his wife, still he confessed to 
 himself she did not measure up his standard of the 
 ideal woman. But if there was a lessening of the 
 high respect he would have found profound pleas- 
 ure in according to Mrs. John Gordon, there was a 
 great accession of pity and sympivthy for the girl 
 who had been so unfortunate as not to have, at a 
 trying moment of her life, the proper guardians 
 and counselors. He keenly discriminated between 
 the offense itself and Ihe circumstances surround- 
 ing the impulse which gave it effect, and he found 
 much to excuse. It was not the commission, as he 
 had said, so much as the continuance of it, over so 
 many years, which was to him so grave. He made 
 up his mind the fault, so far as it could be, should 
 be repaired as quickly as possible, and that he 
 would conduct the reparation so as to shield Lucy 
 as much as she could be shielded from the conse- 
 quences of her wrong-doing. 
 
 Of course from the standpoint of a rigid moralist 
 this was all wrong. He ought to have spurned with 
 contempt further connection with Lucy, plucked out 
 the love he had conceived for her by the roots, and 
 pluming himself upon the righteousness of his cause, 
 gone straightway to Dr. Sherman and discovered to 
 him the abnormal wickedness of the girl he had cher- 
 ished and protected, and, with virtuous hugs of 
 himself, looked with melancholy pleasure upon her 
 punishment. But Jack was far too human, had too 
 much of the milk of human kindness in his breast, 
 too much charity in his soul, too great a love for 
 his species and too little for himself ; in short, Jack 
 was too much of a Christian to be a rigid moralist.
 
 l8o JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 The days passed by slowly as they waited for the 
 return of Dr. Sherman, who had extended his trip 
 to Washington further south, and thus prolonged his 
 stay from New York. It was, however, a happy 
 time for Lucy, who, basking in the sunshine of her 
 joy, gave no thought of the morrow. She talked, 
 walked, and rode with Jack, content that the glori- 
 ous days should stretch into eternity. And Jack 
 every day discovered in her some new charm of mind 
 and nature. So it came about that he saw less of 
 his male companions and less of their haunts. 
 
 One day he awoke to the fact that he met where- 
 ever he went, at whatever hour of the day or night, 
 a person respectably clad, who seemed to ' have 
 business in whatever part of the city. Jack was, and 
 none when he got there. If Jack walked the streets, he 
 was walking in the same direction behind him; if Jack 
 stopped to talk with an acquaintance, the stranger's 
 attention was attracted to the nearest show-window; 
 if Jack went into a hotel, he was there in a moment 
 looking over the news-stand, reading advertisements 
 on the walls, or idly watching passers-by while lean- 
 ing against a neighboring pillar ; if Jack left his 
 club, by a remarkable coincidence the man was just 
 passing ; if he made a call, while standing at the 
 door waiting for a response to his ring, the man 
 passed by taking note of the number of the house. 
 The only time when he missed him on the street 
 was when he was walking with Lucy. 
 
 This had been going on for several days, when 
 the thought occurred to him that the man was a 
 detective dogging hjs footsteps. This idea had 
 broken upon him a's he was walking up Fifth 
 Avenue, opposite the Worth monument, and acting 
 upon the impulse of the moment, he called one of 
 the cabs drawn up at the curbstone, and gave 
 orders to be driven at once to Police Head- 
 quarters.
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 1 8 1 
 
 Seeking Captain Lawton, he was at once ushered 
 into that official's room. 
 
 11 Don't you think," said Jack, " that this perse- 
 cution of me ought to cease ? " 
 
 "What's the matter now? "calmly queried the 
 Captain. 
 
 " I am dogged by one of your hounds every step 
 I take." 
 
 The detective smiled, but looked annoyed. 
 
 " The fellow has been doing his work badly," he 
 replied. " You should not have known it." 
 
 " You confess it then ? " 
 
 " Yes. What else could I do ? Be a little rea- 
 sonable, Mr. Gordon. I have a duty to perform. 
 My profession may not be what comes up to your 
 high notions, but it's work that has got to be done. 
 Now, you've got hold of a clue you won't give up. 
 I've got to get it some way. That's all there is 
 about it. You'd make it easier for me, if you'd tell 
 what you know." 
 
 " Well, must an inoffensive private citizen be an- 
 noyed in this way ? " 
 
 '' You don't look at it right, Mr. Gordon," said 
 the detective calmly. " Here's a murder done ; the 
 law says the murderer must be punished. Before 
 that can be done the murderer has got to be caught. 
 That's where we come in. We are in the business 
 because we are necessary to good government. The 
 law don't want to punish a man for revenge ; the 
 law is above revenge ; it punishes severely as a 
 warning that men's lives can't be taken carelessly; 
 it punishes to prevent other murders. Why," said 
 the detective, warming to his subject, and pacing 
 up and down his narrow office, " why what kind of 
 a city would ye have here if anybody could go out 
 and commit a murder for the liking of it why, with 
 the criminal classes pourin' in here from all parts 
 of the world, if that was allowed, Dead wood, Lead
 
 1 8 2 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERR A N T. 
 
 City, and the mining camps woudn't be a patch on 
 New York. No, sir, you walk to your home after 
 midnight and sleep safe, you go. up and down this 
 city at all hours, safe and unharmed, with more mur- 
 derers, thieves, sluggers, cutthroats, assassins, and 
 jail-birds in it, than there are people in any of the 
 towns or cities west of Chicago or St. Louis, because 
 we are always tracking crime, and because the pros- 
 ecuting authorities are always punishing it. Per- 
 haps we don't track crime accordin' to the rules of 
 good society. You are a good deal more intelli- 
 gent than the ordinary man, Mr. Gordon, and 
 you ought to know that I've got to do my duty with- 
 out fear or favor. And I want you to know I'm goin' 
 to do it, and I ain't goin' to ask by your leave neither." 
 
 Jack could not but recognize the truth of the 
 detective's remarks, and he felt something like ad- 
 miration for the dogged determination of the man. 
 It quite fell in with his own spirit. 
 
 " I believe you are right, Captain,'.' he said, " and 
 I don't think I have looked at the matter or you 
 properly. When a man is doing his duty as he sees 
 it, he is doing the best he can. If I have given 
 you offense in the past, I beg your pardon. Here's 
 my hand." 
 
 The detective put out his hand : 
 
 " I'd rather any time have you for a friend than 
 an enemy, Mr. Gordon, for you are both a man and 
 a gentleman." 
 
 " But," said Jack, " what do you hope to accom- 
 plish by shadowing me ?" 
 
 " I know that a woman committed that murder. 
 You have a suspicion who that woman is a woman 
 you know. I must, therefore, know all the women 
 you do, and sift them down." 
 
 " Well, Captain," said Jack, laughing, " that is 
 too much of a contract for any one man, and I will 
 let you out. The suspicion was all wrong."
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 183 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " The lady whose good name I was trying to save 
 is not connected with the matter at all." 
 
 Jack then told the detective all that had occurred 
 between Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson and himself, sup- 
 pressing only their names. 
 
 " Have you any objections to giving the names 
 of your friends ? " said the detective, after a mo- 
 ment's reflection. 
 
 "What use would you make of the information ? 
 Would you make their names public ? " 
 
 " Not at all. I have got to search for the last 
 owner or possessor of that pistol. Your friends 
 would serve as a starting-point." 
 
 " The people are Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jamieson." 
 
 " The swell lawyer of Wall Street ? I understand 
 now why you were so careful. It is a thread broken 
 and we're apparently all at sea again. But so much 
 rubbish is cleared away. The point gained is, that 
 it must be some one in the Jamieson set." 
 
 " I presume so." 
 
 "And you know her." 
 
 " Perhaps I do, since I know nearly everybody in 
 that set." 
 
 " Exactly. I must go to Jamieson and see if I 
 can not start his memory." 
 
 " I do not think you will."- 
 
 " Why, because he won't try to remember ? " 
 
 " No, because he can't. He has tried often 
 enough, and is much annoyed over the loss of the 
 pistols. They were rare and valuable." 
 
 " I can try," said the detective thoughtfully. 
 " You do not think they went into the hands of 
 Miss Sherman ? " 
 
 " No, I know that." 
 
 " How?" 
 
 " Two years ago, when these pistols passed from 
 the hands of Mr. Jamieson, she was in Europe with
 
 1 84 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 her father. Besides, the Jamiesons and she were 
 not acquainted until this winter." 
 
 " But they might have gone into her hands indi- 
 rectly from other people's, recently. You know 
 she called on Renfrew that day ? " 
 
 " I know. So did I. She visited him before I 
 did. Renfrew told me so then. No. Dismiss that 
 idea. Now, see here, Captain, I want you to tell 
 me if there is any necessity of bringing Miss Sher- 
 man's name in this affair ? " 
 
 " No, unless she touches the murder or the cause 
 of it." 
 
 " She doesn't. Not even remotely. I don't mind 
 telling you, Captain, I an. deeply interested in Miss 
 Sherman that we are engaged, though our en- 
 gagement is not yet announced." 
 
 " And you don't want your bride that is to be 
 mixed up with that fellow's affairs. That's natural." 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 " I suppose she has burnt those letters you got 
 from him ? " 
 
 " Yes. But they had no bearing on the murder." 
 
 " You told me you didn't know what was in 
 them?" 
 
 " I didn't then. I do now. I have learned every- 
 thing from her lips. The letters were written when 
 she was sixteen or seventeen." 
 
 "A foolish flirtation, she said." 
 
 " That was a pardonable fib, Captain, to cover 
 the real nature of their contents. I know the 
 story." 
 
 " She may be ' stringing ' ypu." 
 
 Jack was annoyed. 
 
 " Now, Captain, I may be a fit subject for 'string- 
 ing,' as you call it, but there was none in the case." 
 
 " Those letters might have thrown some light on 
 this affair." 
 
 " No, they could not have helped you. But I
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 185 
 
 will tell you something of value to you, believing 
 that you will not unnecessarily bring her name into 
 the matter." 
 
 The detective was interested. 
 
 " You have been trying," continued Jack, " to 
 get at Renfrew's antecedents. I will tell you all 
 you can learn after a year's search. His name was 
 Jacob Myers. He changed his name when he 
 adopted the stage as a profession. He had not a 
 single relative on eartu except Miss Sherman, who 
 was his cousin." 
 
 The detective \:az deeply interested now. 
 
 " Yes," continued Jack. " His family are all 
 dead, and hers aho." 
 
 " Except Dr. Sherman ? " 
 
 " No. He is not related to either. Miss Sher- 
 man is his adopted daughter. Her name is An- 
 nesley." 
 
 " Where did he come from ? " 
 
 " The neighborhood of Cornwall." 
 
 " She ought to know something about his life, 
 though ?" 
 
 " She does not. There never was much inti- 
 macy. From the time she was eight until she was 
 seventeen she was continuously at school at Rocky 
 Point. During that time she only saw him at 
 intervals, at the school, when he visited her there. 
 Afterward when she left school and went to Dr. 
 Sherman she saw less of him. He never called on 
 her, and she saw him only on the street. You see, 
 Captain," said Jack, becoming a little more earnest 
 than was necessary, and thereby slightly exciting the 
 suspicion of the detective, " there was a family 
 matter which Miss Sherman had foolishly, even 
 wrongfully, concealed from Dr. Sherman, a con- 
 cealment that led to trouble for her and to con- 
 sequences that were wrong and an outrage upon 
 Dr. Sherman. Of this Myers, or Renfrew, what-
 
 1 86 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 ever you may call him, was aware, and he led her 
 into a correspondence in which she told under her 
 own hand the whole story. With perhaps the most 
 of men this wouldn't have amounted to much, but 
 with Dr. Sherman it meant a great deal. Hav- 
 ing got the story in her own handwriting, this 
 Renfrew began a systematic course of frightening 
 her ; and she being but a child, and inexperienced, 
 became alarmed, and instead of going straightway 
 to the Doctor with it, as she ought to have done, 
 submitted to blackmail until I stepped in and put 
 an end to it." 
 
 Jack had very adroitly told the story, without 
 revealing the truth, and he succeeded in lulling the 
 suspicions of the detective. 
 
 "That story," said the Captain, "accounts for 
 everything I couldn't make connections on. I see 
 now why she was so anxious to recover her letters. 
 No, she hadn't any motive to kill her cousin, for if 
 the worst had come there would have been a row, 
 big or little, with the Doctor. She wouldn't have 
 been disgraced. Well, Mr. Gordon, I don't see 
 any call for the name being roped in." 
 
 " I am very glad of that." 
 
 " I want to ask you a question, Mr. Gordon. 
 You saw the woman who called on Renfrew last ? " 
 
 "Yes, she came in as I was going out." 
 
 " Could you describe her ? " 
 
 " No. She was too closely veiled and dressed 
 plainly, even poorly, in black. There was some- 
 thing familiar about her walk and voice, but I 
 could not fix anything then, and I can't now of 
 course. I had an odd idea at the time that she 
 knew me, for when she saw me descending the 
 stairs, she walked a step toward me as if she were 
 about to speak, and then abruptly turned off and 
 walked away to the boy, who came up at that 
 moment."
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 187 
 
 "More proof that she is in your set. That's 
 where I will have to work, Mr. Gordon, I am 
 greatly obliged for this call. You have cleared a 
 deal of brushwood away for me." 
 
 The detective turned to his desk, and taking from 
 it a letter handed it to Jack. 
 
 " That letter, Mr. Gordon, was written by the 
 woman who killed Renfrew." 
 
 Jack took it with some curiosity. It was signed 
 " Doliie Dux," and he recognized the writing to be 
 the same as that in Lucy's possession. The while, 
 the detective watched him keenly as he read it 
 through. Having finished it, he looked at the 
 writing again and at the paper. 
 
 " Evidently the letter of an educated woman 
 who is very nice about her stationery," he said, as 
 he handed it back. 
 
 " You do not recognize the handwriting ? " 
 
 " No, I do not." 
 
 " What do you mean about the stationery ? Any- 
 thing peculiar ? " 
 
 " Oh no ! It is the stationery of a refined woman, 
 particular about such things. It is hard to explain 
 just what I mean. Show me the letters of a dozen 
 women of various classes and \ can pick out the 
 letters of the refined woman of society and breed- 
 ing from those written by the women who are not.". 
 
 " Ah," said the detective, feeling that Jack was 
 getting beyond him. " Here are the rest. They 
 may interest you." 
 
 Jack took them and looked them over. 
 
 " The infamous scamp ! " he cried. " How could 
 he treat such a woman so ! " 
 
 " He was more than infamous," said the detec- 
 tive, in a tone of great disgust. " He was a blind 
 fool. He ought to have known that women who 
 plead that way and don't threaten are far more 
 dangerous in their desperation. Women who have
 
 1 88 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 got a high place in society, who are proud, and 
 whose fall is a great fall, nerve themselves up to do 
 the most desperate thing. In my judgment they 
 are driven over the line of insanity. You read 
 those letters and you see that woman hadn't slept 
 for weeks. She was in constant fear of exposure 
 every day. I don't think, when you come right 
 down to it, that she was quite responsible when she 
 did it." 
 
 " What makes you fix upon these letters as show- 
 ing the writer of them murdered Renfrew ? " asked 
 Jack. 
 
 " The way she talked in them first gave* me the 
 idea. Then I concluded, as you did, that she 
 was well up in society and had a great deal to lose 
 in exposure. But when I compared the dates, I 
 found she was the only one he was ( having an affair 
 with at the time. All the others were finished. 
 See," he continued, showing Jack another package. 
 " He indorses on the back, ' Played out to end.' 
 ' No further good.' He had some such indorse- 
 ment on all the rest." 
 
 " Do y^oti suppose she went there with deliberate 
 intent to kill ? " 
 
 " That is hard io tell. You don't know what 
 her intent was. Doubtless her motives were mixed. 
 If the truth could only be known I believe she 
 hadn't any fixed plan. No doubt she had an idea 
 of killing somebody, since she had a loaded pistol 
 with her, but it might have been herself she 
 thought of doing. Then something occurred 
 between them, and on the impulse she killed him." 
 
 " Do you think that stationery that kind was 
 used by her only ? " he continued. 
 
 " No," replied Jack, " probably two hundred 
 women in New York are using the same kind 
 to-day." 
 
 " You see there is a scent of patchouli on them,"
 
 SOME MATTERS OF INTEREST. 189 
 
 said the detective. " The pistol had it too when I 
 first found it." 
 
 " That might prove to be a clue," said Jack. " I 
 don't think women of society use that kind of per- 
 fume much. If they do they don't confine them- 
 selves to one kind." 
 
 " That is a point to know," replied the detective. 
 " Well, Mr. Gordon, the man who has been annoy- 
 ing you by following you, shall be withdrawn 
 immediately." 
 
 " Thank*." 
 
 They shook hands on parting, having a hearty 
 respect for each other.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY. 
 
 A DAY or two after the second interview be- 
 tween Captain Lawton and Jack, the latter re- 
 ceived information that Dr. Sherman was at 
 home. Accordingly he addressed a polite note to 
 that gentleman, requesting permission to call upon 
 a matter of importance, at any hour that day which 
 might be named by the Doctor. 
 
 In due course of time his messenger returned 
 with the word that the Doctor had appointed the 
 hour of four. As his business with Dr. Sherman 
 was momentous and demanded proper preparation, 
 Jack determined that he would not go out until the 
 approach of the hour he was to call upon Lucy's 
 father. So he spent the day in framing speeches 
 until the time for dressing, when making an elab- 
 orate toilet he sallied forth. 
 
 On his way he met " Dizzy " Lowell and Will 
 Robb, come in search of him with a desire to carry 
 him off to some sport they had in hand. 
 
 "Where have you kept yourself ?" cried Robb. 
 " The town languishes for you, and your friends 
 know you not." 
 
 " Yes," chimed in " Dizzy," "you've bolted the 
 course." 
 
 " Having become implicated in a murder affair," 
 said Jack in reply, " it behooves me to keep quiet." 
 
 " Oh, pshaw ! " said " Dizzy." " We pulled you 
 through that all right. You don't want to get "out 
 of training because of that little thing, do you ? " 
 190
 
 TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY. 191 
 
 " The truth is," replied Jack, anxious to be rid of 
 them, " I have had a great many things pressing 
 on me because of that complication, all of which 
 you shall know in good time." 
 
 "Well, all right," said Robb, "but we have got 
 up a private scrapping match. We want you to go 
 with us this afternoon." 
 
 " Impossible. I have an engagement." 
 
 " With a woman ? Throw it over." 
 
 " No, it's not a woman and I can't throw it 
 over." 
 
 " Hope it's not more of that Renfrew case," said 
 " Dizzy " anxiously. " 'Tain't 'nother arrest, is it ? " 
 
 " Worse, far worse," said Jack solemnly ; " may 
 involve my liberty for my whole life. But I must 
 be off. Good-by, old chappies." 
 
 And before they could detain him he had turned 
 the corner. 
 
 The two looked at each other in alarm. 
 
 " Jack's going to the bad," said " Dizzy " mourn- 
 fully. 
 
 " Tell you what it is," said Robb earnestly, as a 
 new thought broke on him. " He's going to pro- 
 pose to some woman. He's going to get married." 
 
 " Oh, the devil ! Not so bad as that. Hang it, 
 that's worse than the other. Can't we do some- 
 thing to pull him through ?" 
 
 " Who is the woman, I wonder ? " 
 
 " Damfino ! Wish it was my sister. She wants 
 just such a cool head and light hand on the mouth. 
 She's a good girl, too, with all her no.nsense, and 
 I'll bet she'll trot better double than single." 
 
 Will, having inclinations in the direction sug- 
 gested by his friend, could not echo the wish, 
 though he indorsed the sentiment. 
 
 In the mean time Jack was making his way to the 
 
 B hotel. He had informed Lucy by note that 
 
 he should call on the Doctor to make a formal
 
 192 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 demand for her hand that day at four, and so, when 
 he was ushered into the presence of her father, she 
 was not present. 
 
 The Doctor gave him a courteous greeting 
 indeed a cordial one. Jack argued therefrom a 
 satisfactory result for his call. He was wrong, 
 however, in his supposition, for it is to be doubted 
 whether the Doctor had given a moment's thought 
 to the object of Jack's visit. But it happened he 
 had traveled from Washington the day previous 
 with Mr. Van Huyn, who had entertained him with 
 an account of Jack's confinement, and his refusal 
 to involve a lady's name in a scandal on mere sus- 
 picion, even if the result were to him confinement 
 in jail, and the old gentleman, thinking it an evi- 
 dence of fine and chivalric feeling, was highly pre- 
 possessed in Jack's favor. 
 
 Jack opened his business without delay. 
 
 " Doctor," he said, "the object of my call is to 
 propose in this formal manner for the hand of your 
 daughter." 
 
 The old gentleman was startled. The marriage 
 of Lucy was something he had not contemplated as 
 likely to occur in the immediate future at least. 
 Jack's blunt proposition disconcerted him. 
 
 He fidgeted about in his chair for a moment or 
 two, looking somewhat irritably upon the calm, ele- 
 gant figure before him. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Gordon," he at length said, "your 
 proposal startles me ! I have had no reason to 
 anticipate the honor, and and indeed I have not 
 thought of Miss Sherman's marriage." 
 
 " I beg, sir," said Jack, in' his most deferential 
 manner, "you will give it consideration, and," he 
 added insinuatingly, " favorable consideration." 
 
 " I presume," said the old gentleman, "you have 
 the young lady's permission to address me ? " 
 
 Jack answered him that he had, adding that else
 
 TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY. 193 
 
 he would not have taken it upon himself to seek 
 such an interview. 
 
 "In my young days it was thought necessary to 
 ask the parent for permission to address the daugh- 
 ter. But the world, moves along and we old 
 people find ourselves left behind, unable to keep 
 up with the rapid motion of the present. Whether 
 it is an improvement I doubt. However, I shall 
 not endeavor to stop the way with my feeble pro- 
 test. I confess to you that my idea was that Miss 
 Sherman should not marry before twenty-five. She 
 is twenty-two now." 
 
 " If you will permit me," said Jack, " before we 
 go further into this conversation, I will make a 
 statement concerning myself which you ought to 
 have, and which you would naturally expect me to 
 make, if you were to look favorably upon my suit." 
 
 " The young dog expresses himself well," 
 thought the old man. 
 
 " I desire to say," continued Jack, " that I am 
 well born, and have an ample fortune to maintain 
 my wife in all the comfort and luxury she has been 
 accustomed to ; that I am well educated ; refined 
 I hope, and that my morals are certainly not worse 
 than the .average young man of the day." 
 
 "Indeed, Mr. Gordon," said the Doctor, "I 
 have heard nothing of you that is not admirable. 
 And I distinctly wish you to understand that I do 
 not resent your proposition. It is a high compli- 
 ment to a lady when a man so distinguishes her 
 from among her sex. I so regard your proposition. 
 There are several things, however, I desire to say. 
 Are you aware that Miss Sherman is not my daugh- 
 ter, that she bears my name by adoption only ? " 
 
 " The lady has so informed me." 
 
 " Very properly under the circumstances," said 
 the old gentleman. " Did she tell you why I 
 adopted her ?"
 
 194 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " She was not explicit. I think, if I understood 
 her rightly, because of the great regard you bore 
 the memory of her father." 
 
 This was adroit of Jack, and he saw the old man 
 was greatly pleased. 
 
 " You misunderstood her, sir," he replied ; " it 
 was the mother. Are you aware that Miss Sher- 
 man has no fortune of her own ? " 
 
 " I have not given the matter a second's thought. 
 I care not whether she has one or two pennies. I 
 have, thanks to my father, far more than enough 
 for both." 
 
 The old gentleman was pleased again. Jack was 
 doing famously. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Gordon, I confess I do not look upon 
 the loss of Miss Sherman with favor. She has grown 
 dear to me, and what is perhaps more to a selfish 
 old man, rather necessary to my old age." 
 
 " It will not, I am sure, be a total loss, though 
 her affections may be divided." 
 
 " If what you have told me is true, I fear the 
 division has already taken place. However, I can 
 not -expect to dam the current of young people's 
 affections, and I have no right to deprive Lucy of 
 her proper and natural life. But have you not 
 been somewhat precipitate in your action?" 
 
 " I think not, sir. I will tell you frankly I have 
 not known the moment since I first saw her that I 
 have not loved her deeply." 
 
 " Ah, yes, at Mrs. Jamieson's. I thought then 
 you were greatly attracted to each other." The 
 old man laughed. " I warned her against your 
 specious tongue, but the warning seems to have 
 had no effect." 
 
 To this Jack made no reply. 
 
 " Well," continued the Doctor, " I have no ob- 
 jections to present, Mr. Gordon. If I refrain from 
 giving my sanction at this moment, it is only be-
 
 TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY. 195 
 
 cause I desire to satisfy myself that Miss Sherman's 
 affections are truly engaged, and because in my 
 duty to her I wish to make the proper inquiries as 
 to yourself. I have no doubt everything is as you 
 say, and being so I will not withhold my sanction. 
 Sir, I congratulate you on having won the af- 
 fections of a very fine woman." 
 
 The blood rushed into the face of Jack on this 
 remark, for he thought of the interview he must 
 subsequently have with this fine, honorable old 
 gentleman, and the revelation he would have to 
 make. He felt a profound pity for him. How- 
 ever, he rose, and taking the old man's hand he 
 shook it warmly, and said : 
 
 " I thank you, sir ; I am not unappreciative of 
 my good fortune. I hope if your inquiries result 
 to my favor you will find in my love, care, and 
 protection of your daughter, reason to conclude 
 that you have acted wisely in confiding her to 
 me." 
 
 He hesitated a moment, still holding the old 
 man's hand, and then went on, his voice trembling 
 a bit: " And I venture to hope you will find, so 
 far from having lost a daughter, you have gained a 
 son, and that I shall have replaced the father I lost 
 so early." 
 
 The old man was not a little moved by this un- 
 expected outburst of Jack, and he returned the 
 shake of his hand heartily. 
 
 There was so much in common in the natures of 
 both that, having had a glimpse of the heart of the 
 other, they had come to fancy each other greatly, 
 and both were sincere. But what had touched 
 Jack most keenly was the pity he felt for Dr. 
 Sherman, when he should know how he had been 
 deceived. 
 
 Jack soon after took his leave. 
 
 " A fine fellow. A fine, manly, wholesome young
 
 >9 6 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 fellow," said the Doctor, as he paced up and down 
 the room with his hands behind his back. 
 
 " He is an old trump. A fine, courtly old gen- 
 tleman. He's a brick," said Jack, as he descended 
 the stairs. 
 
 The Doctor was still pacing up and down the 
 room in the darkening shadows when Lucy came in. 
 
 " So," said the Doctor, facing about upon her 
 with pretended severity. " So, I can not leave town 
 for a short time but you must begin to make love 
 to one of the rapid young men of the town ! " 
 
 " Mr. Gordon is not rapid, he is a very noble 
 man," said Lucy, blushing, and quick to resent any 
 aspersion upon Jack. 
 
 " Now, did I say anything about Mr. Gordon ?" 
 asked the Doctor, struggling hard to repress the 
 smile on his lips, and very much pleased with her 
 quick defense. " There are young men in New 
 York other than Mr. Gordon, I presume." 
 
 Lucy, realizing her blunder, colored deeply and 
 made no reply. 
 
 " So, so ! It is Mr. Gordon who has been trifling 
 with your affections, is it ? I warned you against 
 that young man when you first met him." 
 
 Lucy walked up to him that she might see his 
 expression, looking anxiously into his face. 
 
 He took her hand in his own and patting it kind- 
 ly said : 
 
 " So there is somebody in this world who wishes 
 to own and possess for himself this pretty little 
 hand. Tell me, my dear, do you love him, this 
 Mr. Gordon ? " 
 
 Lucy hung her head with becoming modesty, and 
 acknowledged she did. 
 
 " Are you certain it is not a mere passing fancy 
 for aruelegant young man who knows how to make 
 himself agreeable ? " 
 
 " No, father," she said, " I love him with all my
 
 TRUE LOVE RUNS SMOOTHLY. 197 
 
 heart. He is not merely an elegant young man. 
 He is a noble, high-minded, generous gentleman, 
 worthy to be mated to the best lady in the land 
 much my superior. I not only love him ; I adore 
 him. I am humbled by his love for me." 
 
 The old man drew her to him and kissed her on 
 the forehead. 
 
 " I am satisfied on that point," he said ; " I 
 agree with you, he is a fine fellow, a. fine, manly, 
 wholesome young fellow. I am sorry to lose you, 
 Lucy. You have been a good daughter to me. 
 But if I am to do so, as I suppose I must some time, 
 it is to such a man I wish to give you. If all I 
 hear of this young robber is borne out, I shall 
 sanction your engagement. But hurry away, my 
 dear, and prepare for the evening. Young folks 
 may live on love, but old ones must dine." 
 
 *And Lucy did hasten away, for she was con- 
 science-stricken because of his kindness, and 
 remorse-stricken over her deceit.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A WOLF AMONG THE LAMBS. 
 
 '"PHE two young people were not left long in 
 
 doubt as to the sanction of Dr. Sherman. His 
 
 inquiries were speedily made and apparently 
 
 satisfactory. Lucy early informed Mrs. Van Huyn 
 
 of her engagement, and Jack did not delay in 
 
 carrying to Mrs. Jamieson, his steadfast friend, 
 
 the all-important fact. 
 
 " It is all very provoking, Jack," said that ladj\ 
 "I intended selecting your wife myself, and here 
 you have chosen and not even consulted me. I 
 don't know that I should have done any better, 
 certainly not in appearances, for you will have a 
 lovely bride. But after I have been carefully train- 
 ing you in the way you should go for so many 
 years, to find that you go off in this independent 
 manner is very discouraging. Not that I have a 
 word to say against your love. Oh, no ! But I must 
 be propitiated. You must let me give a party next 
 week at which your engagement is to be an- 
 nounced. I insist upon it." 
 
 " I will consent," replied Jack laughing, " if 
 Lucy will. And I imagine she will not object. 1 
 may have to ask favors of you before the honey- 
 moon is reached, so I shall be' very obedient." 
 
 Lucy's consent was easily secured, and the 
 " world went very well in those days." The only 
 thing occurring to occasionally dim Lucy's happi- 
 ness and to cause Jack grave apprehension, was 
 the thought of the necessity of informing Dr. Sher- 
 
 198
 
 A WOLF AMONG THE LAMBS. 199 
 
 man of Lucy's deceit. Jack insisted that the doc- 
 tor must be told, and Lucy yielded always, though 
 she found excuses for the postponement of the rev- 
 elation. The only question was, when it should 
 be done. Jack determined that the best results 
 would be obtained after the announcement of their 
 engagement, and after Dr. Sherman had given pub- 
 lic sanction thereto. 
 
 Mr. Jamieson's party occurred the following 
 week; the surprise she had promised her friends 
 was complete. Jack was the recipient of the warm- 
 est congratulations from the men and Lucy was 
 prouder than ever of her lover, for she felt she 
 was greatly envied by more than one young lady 
 present. 
 
 Mollie Lowell and Lou Appleby came to her to- 
 gether, saying : 
 
 " We do not propose to forgive you as long as 
 you live, Miss Sherman. Your offense is beyond 
 forgiveness. Jack belongs to us by right of long 
 expectancy." 
 
 " Not to both of you, I hope," replied Lucy, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Yes, to both of us," said Mollie. " He has 
 made love to us both ever since he was ten years 
 old, and indeed in this very room, on the very first 
 night he met you, he held out inducements to us, 
 if we would behave ourselves he would marry us 
 both. Didn't he, Lou ?" 
 
 " You impeach his morals ! " cried Lucy. 
 
 " He did indeed, Miss Sherman," said Lou 
 Appleby, " But we didn't behave ourselves be- 
 cause we can't. It's all very unfair. You don't 
 know what you have done what misery you have 
 caused. My ! my ! how we will all be scolded to- 
 night. The great eligible is gone." 
 
 " Hook, bob, and sinker, as ' Dizzy ' says," inter- 
 rupted Mollie.
 
 200 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 " All of us have been trained from our youth 
 upward," continued Miss Appleby, " to ensnare this 
 same Jack Gordon ; all our education has been to 
 that end, and just think of the rage of all managing 
 mammas over the failure of the dear daughters. 
 You have no consideration, Miss Sherman. You 
 have no right to be so beautiful and charming." 
 
 " Yes, and that is not the worst of it," added 
 Mollie. " How are we to get our extra gowns and 
 the rest of the things now ? The hint that Mr. Gor- 
 don was very tender the last time we met, and the 
 suggestion that a new toilette would fetch him at 
 the next, was sufficient in the past. But, and again 
 I quote my brother, ' that little racket won't work 
 any more.' " 
 
 " You perceive the widespread ruin you have 
 caused," said Lou Appleby. " I have grave doubts 
 now if anybody will marry me. Jack's promise 
 was the nearest approach I ever had to an 
 offer." 
 
 " Take ' Dizzy,' " said Mollie ; " I'll give him to 
 you." 
 
 " I should have to wrap myself in ahorse-blanket 
 and put a bridle on my head before he would even 
 think to look at me." 
 
 Lucy laughed heartily over the whimsical speech, 
 recognizing its point, through Jack's description of 
 " Dizzy's " devotion to the stable. 
 
 " Miss Sherman," said Mollie, dropping into a 
 seat beside Lucy, " while we joke we congratulate 
 you. Jack and I were neighbors when we were 
 children and have always been friends chums. 
 He is a sterling good fellow, a trusty, true gentle- 
 man." 
 
 Lucy thanked her so heartily with her eyes, 
 bending toward her, that Mollie thought she was 
 about to kiss her in the crowded rooms. 
 
 "Oh, don't kiss me! " she cried, "you'll get paint
 
 A WOLF AMONG THE LAMBS. 20! 
 
 on your lips. I'm only kissable in the morning. 
 It's a way I have of keeping- the men off." 
 
 Lucy looked so horrified, that Lou Appleby, no- 
 ticing it, said : 
 
 " Nonsense ! There never was any paint on that 
 blooming cheek. There ! " and bending over her 
 friend she kissed her. 
 
 Will Robb at this moment joined the group. 
 
 " The ease and indifference with which you per- 
 form that solemn and much to-be-desired rite," said 
 he to Miss Appleby, " is particularly harrowing to 
 my soul." 
 
 " Never mind about the much-desired rite, 
 Will," said Mollie, " congratulate Miss Sher- 
 man." 
 
 " I can't do it, Miss Sherman. Upon my word I 
 can't. I have performed the ceremony with Jack. 
 He is to be congratulated. But you are stealing 
 him from us you see." 
 
 " Why, Will, that is quite a pretty speech," said 
 Miss Appleby. 
 
 "Yes, Will is improving," chimed in Mollie, 
 " about the time I am ready to accept him, he will 
 do to propose." 
 
 " About what time will that time be ? " said Will 
 taking out his watch. 
 
 " Oh dear, this is too bad," cried Miss Appleby. 
 " Bring me a horse-blanket and a bridle and send 
 for ' Dizzy.' " 
 
 " Dizzy," however, was not taking the news as 
 cheerfully as the rest. He had gone to Jack as 
 soon as he had seen him, and with anxious solici- 
 tude had said : 
 
 " I say, Jack, can't anything be done to get you 
 out of this scrape ? " 
 
 Jack, who was very fond of " Dizzy," and knew 
 what a loyal heart beat under all his peculiarities, 
 laughed heartily and said :
 
 202 JACK CORD ON, If NIGH T ERR A N T. 
 
 " Oh, no, you don't, ' Dizzy.' I have tried too 
 hard to get into it, to try now to get out of it." 
 
 " Dizzy " looked at him sorrowfully. 
 
 "Another good 'un gone." 
 
 "Come," said Jack, "don't draw so mournful a 
 face. Let m.e present you to the fair mistress of 
 my heart." 
 
 Slipping his arm through that of " Dizzy," he 
 led him to where Lucy was sitting, surrounded by 
 his friends. 
 
 " Lucy," he said, " let me present one of my 
 dearest friends, who is trying to persuade me that 
 I have made an irretrievable mistake." 
 
 " Ah, come now, Jack ! " said " Dizzy," becoming 
 pink to the tip ends of his ears. " That is not at all 
 fair, you know. If he must marry, Miss Sherman, 
 he couldn't do better, you know." 
 
 A burst of laughter greeted his speech, in which 
 Jack joined, and which Lucv did not take in good 
 part. 
 
 " You see, Miss Sherman," said " Dizzy," much 
 disconcerted, " they're all laughing at me. They 
 always do. It is because I'm such a duffer with 
 my tongue. But what I mean is, that I am Jack's 
 friend, and if he is glad, then I'm glad. And I 
 know when I look at you that he's a devilish lucky 
 fellow, and if you're going to be Jack's wife, then 
 you've got me for a friend." 
 
 " Bravo, ' Dizzy,' " cried Will. 
 
 " So say we all," said Lou. 
 
 Lucy fully comprehended " Dizzy " now, and, smil- 
 ing, with eyes in which there was suspicious mois- 
 ture, she put out her hand and grasped " Dizzy's " 
 warmly. 
 
 " I accept the friendship, Mr. Lowell." 
 
 " I am not Mr. Lowell," said that gentleman, 
 feeling he had recovered himself right well. " That's 
 Mr. Lowell," pointing to his sister. " She's got the
 
 A WOLF AMONG THE LAMBS. 203 
 
 head, if it is full of nonsense. I'm ' Dizzy ' to 
 you." 
 
 " And to every one else," said that young lady. 
 " You've done well, ' Dizzy,' as you usually do in 
 the end. Now, don't say any more, or you will 
 spoil it all." 
 
 " Miss Sherman," said Miss Appleby, " you have 
 around you all of Jack's most intimate friends who 
 are still unmarried. We hope you'll take us all in, 
 too." 
 
 " Still unmarried," said Will Robb, mischievously. 
 " That reminds me, ' Dizzy,' just before you came 
 up, Lou was saying she was going to make a dead 
 set at you." 
 
 " Well, Lou ain't so bad," said " Dizzy," looking 
 at her. " A fellow might do worse." 
 
 " Thank you, ' Dizzy,' " said Lou, mischievously, 
 after the laugh had subsided. " Am I to take that 
 as a proposal in form ? " 
 
 " Oh, hang it, no ! " cried " Dizzy" quickly. " You 
 can't stable me that way." 
 
 " Another chance gone, Lou," cried Mollie, amid 
 the laughter. " ' Two old maids we be.' " 
 
 By this time " Dizzy " was pulling Jack aside by 
 the arms. 
 
 "I say, Jack, I've just tumbled. That's the 
 woman we bet about, the one you drove in a cab." 
 
 " You're right, ' Dizzy,' " said Jack, " but, for 
 Heaven's sake, don't say anything about it now." 
 
 " Oh, I'm mum, if you want it so," said " Dizzy." 
 " Talking about ' mum,' let's go and get some ' fizz.' 
 It's awful dry work doing the polite." 
 
 Thus it was that the engagement was announced, 
 and there followed this party a round of receptions 
 and dinners that nearly wore out poor Dr. Sherman, 
 who seemed to think it incumbent to attend all 
 and manifest his pride in Lucy's prospective hus- 
 band.
 
 204 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 It was at one of these receptions following the 
 party given by Mrs. Jamieson, that Jack, while 
 wandering about, saw before him the figure of a 
 man, strangely out of place and yet familiar to him. 
 To his intense surprise, and also to- his displeasure, 
 he discovered in the person Captain Lawton. 
 
 " I suppose you are much astonished to find me 
 here ? " said the Captain. 
 , " I confess it " 
 
 " Well, it is somewhat astonishing, T suppose. 
 But you ought to know it is a very common thing 
 in New York society to have a police officer at 
 parties and receptions now in full dress." 
 
 " So much the worse for New York society I 
 did not know it." 
 
 " I am surprised at that. However, it is not my 
 line of duty, though I am following it up pretty 
 sharp now." 
 
 " Oh, I understand," said Jack, a light breaking 
 in upon him. 
 
 " Yes," replied the Captain, "and I am getting 
 closer and closer to the end." 
 
 " Have you fixed upon the person ?" said Jack, 
 much interested. 
 
 " No. But it's one of seven. It was one of eight 
 yesterday. I'll work it down to the one. I'm on 
 the right track now, thanks to you." 
 
 This remark did not please Jack, for he felt as if 
 the Captain was taking him into partnership in a 
 business for which he had a peculiar loathing. And 
 bidding him a short good-by, he left him and 
 sought another room.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 STARTLING NEWS. 
 
 TTOWEVER easy the task of revealing the story 
 11 of Lucy's deceit to Dr. Sherman may have 
 appeared, Jack found, as the time he had fixed 
 upon approached, it grew more difficult and dis- 
 agreeable. How was he to palliate Lucy's offense 
 to this gentleman of high honor and rigid propriety, 
 with his strict notions as to the relations of man to 
 man and to society? This was the problem always 
 present, and it is not surprising if at times he be- 
 came faint-hearted, and was inclined to let every- 
 thing go to let matters take their own course. 
 Lucy, perceiving Jack to be more grave and pre- 
 occupied than was his wont, and fearing, now that 
 the first novelty of his love was worn off, he was 
 regretting his alliance with one who had such a 
 stain upon her, was very unhappy. However, she 
 was greatly mistaken. If anything Jack was fonder 
 of her than the day he declared his love. Though 
 perplexed and often grave with apprehension, he 
 was really feeling that now he had her to think for, 
 to care for, his life was fuller, sweeter, and more 
 interesting. 
 
 While thus disturbed by doubts and perplexities, 
 Jack further troubled her by insisting upon an 
 early marriage ; that it should take place before 
 Lent. Lucy rebelled. She pointed out to him 
 that six weeks had not elapsed since they had be- 
 come acquainted that such precipitation would 
 give the world a great deal to talk about. What 
 205
 
 206 'JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 the world would or would not think Jack cared 
 little, and as to the brief period of their acquaint- 
 ance and courtship, he replied, that their case was 
 singular and not to be measured by the experience 
 of others. Peculiar circumstances surrounded their 
 acquaintance ; they had been drawn closer to- 
 gether, had been enabled to peer more deeply into 
 each other's heart and nature, than would, under 
 other conditions, have fallen to their lot in a year's 
 intimacy. Lucy, who had early fallen into the 
 habit of being guided by Jack, yielded, though 
 without being convinced of the wisdom of the 
 course proposed by her lover. 
 
 However, Jack had looked more deeply into 
 their affairs than she. With her he apprehended 
 such severe displeasure upon the part of Dr. Sher- 
 man, that he feared she would be without a home, 
 and he felt he must be prepared to give her one as 
 soon as possible. So an early marriage was settled 
 upon. 
 
 Ever since Jack had assumed the relations of a 
 prospective son-in-law to the Sherman household, it 
 had been his custom to almost daily entice the 
 Doctor out for a walk. The two had become fond 
 of each other. Jack had the greatest respect for 
 the Doctor, who had seen much of the world. The 
 old man with his great stores of information, which, 
 embellished by a lively fancy, shrewd observation, 
 and dry wit, he poured forth under Jack's genial 
 influence and intelligent appreciation, made him a 
 delightful and entertaining companion for the 
 younger man. 
 
 On the occasion of one of these walks, Jack had 
 deftly led the way in the direction of his own 
 apartments, and on reaching the house said : 
 
 " Doctor, here is the house in which I live. I 
 take it these houses were not unknown to you 
 abroad, but they are comparatively an innovation
 
 STARTLING NEWS. 207 
 
 in New York. They are houses, you know, de- 
 signed for the occupation of bachelors. I think, 
 though I may be mistaken, they are more elegant 
 and commodious than anything known abroad. 
 Won't you step in and see how I am housed ? " 
 
 The Doctor complied. In this Jack had a pur- 
 pose. He felt he would be at an advantage in the 
 revelation he was to make, if he were the host 
 rather than the guest. They had been talking of 
 the discovery of a defalcation by a man who moved 
 in good society, who had been greatly trusted, and 
 who was known to both who had died before the 
 discovery was made. 
 
 After the apartments had been duly admired and 
 their convenience praised, and while seated in the 
 parlor, the Doctor renewed the conversation by 
 saying : 
 
 " After all, in the case of poor Dillingworth, 
 whether there was crime depends largely upon the 
 intent. So far as I can learn there does not seem 
 to be any property left to his family, and the in- 
 dications are that he used funds of one trust to 
 make up deficiencies in others. Was he using 
 these funds for speculation for his own benefit ? 
 Or was he hoping thus to repair damages he had 
 made in others by poor investments to cover up 
 errors of judgment. It is largely a question of in- 
 tent. I think that all fault should be measured by 
 intent, and to a great degree by the amount of and 
 the kind of intelligence which surrounds or influ- 
 ences its commission. What would be a crime in 
 one of intelligence, intellectuality, and experience 
 in affairs might in another, not possessing such at- 
 tributes, be a venial fault." 
 
 " The Doctor has opened the way," thought 
 Jack, " in an almost providential manner." 
 
 "Of course," continued the Doctor, "I don't 
 suppose the law can with propriety make so close
 
 208 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 a distinction, but men in their judgments can. We 
 do as between children and adults." 
 
 " Yes, sir," replied Jack. " 1 know of a case 
 which illustrates your point. A young girl, a mere 
 child in fact, standing alone without friends or 
 proper counselors, u'rged by a false friend much 
 older than herself, not appreciating fully the con- 
 sequences of her act, actually perpetrated a fraud 
 upon one who came to her as a generous bene- 
 factor." 
 
 " The child's crime should be measured in such 
 a case by her intelligence and moral responsibility." 
 
 "The peculiarity of this case," continued Jack, 
 " was that the benefactor was offering her kind- 
 ness and protection, when he thought he was offer- 
 ing it to another person." 
 
 " It was then a case of false pretense ? " 
 
 " Entirely so." 
 
 " One may get into a maze of metaphysics in an 
 attempt to analyze, subdivide, and classify crime 
 and intent, and the discussion become intermin- 
 able. But there are degrees of crime that may be 
 easily stated. False pretense is a lie with a serious 
 intent. And a lie is a crime or a fault for which 
 there is the least excuse. The lowest intelligence 
 can differentiate truth and falsehood, and the most 
 blunted moral nature can appreciate the wrong of 
 falsehood. Now, in the case you speak of, the 
 degree of the grievousness of this false pretense 
 depends upon the motive. Let me illustrate. 
 These apartments might not be yours ; they might 
 belong to a friend ; but possessing yourself of their 
 keys, you might, as you have 'done this morning, 
 invite me to them, pretending they were yours, 
 having for your motive only the idea I would con- 
 sider you of more importance if I thought you 
 possessed such elegant rooms. Your false pretense 
 would have done me no harm, and you would have
 
 STARTLING NEWS. 209 
 
 only gratified a silly vanity. But if it had been 
 done for the purpose of impressing me with an 
 idea of your wealth and station, when you had none, 
 to induce me for instance to grant you the hand of 
 my daughter, you would have committed a crime. 
 So in the case you speak of. What was to be ac- 
 complished by her false pretense ?" 
 
 " A home, care, protection, freedom from the 
 curse of poverty." 
 
 "Ah, that is bad. You say the benefactor sup- 
 posed her to be some one else ?" 
 
 " Yes. He came to the school searching for an- 
 other of the same name, and was misled by others 
 into supposing this girl to be the one he sought. 
 She was but a little over sixteen nearly seventeen, 
 in fact." 
 
 As he said this, Jack bent a piercing glance upon 
 the old gentleman. The words and the glance 
 aroused .the Doctor. He looked steadily into Jack's 
 eyes for a long time, and Jack as steadily returned 
 the look. Ideas were communicated in these 
 glances. 
 
 " You have a purpose in telling me this case, Mr. 
 Gordon," said the Doctor sternly. 
 
 " I have," replied Jack, " and no one can grieve 
 more than I that I have a story to tell you." 
 
 " And it relates to " inquired the old man, his 
 face becoming white with apprehension. 
 
 " To Lucy." 
 
 " My God ! " cried the old Doctor, sinking back 
 in his chair arid dropping his head on his breast. 
 
 No words were spoken by either for some time. 
 Jack watched the expressions chasing each other 
 over the face of the fine old gentleman sitting over- 
 whelmed before him. Perceiving the Doctor had 
 recovered from the first shock, he proceeded with 
 the story. He told it with all the art he was capa- 
 ble of. He dwelt upon Lucy's homeless and
 
 210 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 friendless condition ; her lack of home training and 
 moral guidance ; of her deprivation of a mother's 
 care and influence ; on the wicked cousin, with his 
 specious counsel and malign influence ; how Lucy 
 had begun the correspondence with the Doctor in 
 good faith, and only continued it under the urgency 
 of this Mephistopheles. He showed Lucy's strug- 
 gles with herself and her gradual slipping into the 
 crime ; the aid the Doctor gave her unconsciously; 
 the conspiracy of events, all tending to force her 
 into her false position. He pictured her fear of 
 the Doctor, her fear to reveal her wickedness after- 
 ward, her penitence, her unhappiness, and the tor- 
 tures she had been subjected to by Renfrew. Then 
 he artfully presented her charming qualities, her 
 affection for the Doctor, the obedience she had 
 given him, her devotion, and the brightness and 
 interest she had brought into his life. 
 
 Then he waited to see the effect he had pro- 
 duced. The old man did not look up for a long 
 time, and the lines grew deeper in his face. After 
 a long period of thought he said : 
 
 " You plead her cause well and eloquently, but it 
 is useless, John," for such he had come' to call 
 him. 
 
 Jack made no reply ; he had none to make. 
 
 " She has trifled with the most sacred sentiment 
 of my heart." 
 
 " That, sir," said Jack, " is a refinement she 
 could not have been expected at her age to have 
 appreciated." 
 
 " She has practiced fraud, deceit, and misrepre- 
 sentation for five years her life has been a living 
 lie." 
 
 " The act was committed five years ago, and the 
 rest was a consequence." 
 
 " Do not seek longer to defend her. I am 
 crushed by this revelation. To think I should
 
 STARTLING NEWS. 211 
 
 have been a dupe of such a wicked, designing 
 chit a wicked fraud a s " 
 
 " Stop, please, sir, before you apply an epithet 
 you will afterward regret," said Jack, gently, laying 
 his own upon the hand of the old man. 
 
 The touch seemed to check the rising passion of 
 the Doctor. 
 
 " Well," he said,. " I'll pluck her from my heart. 
 She had won her way and wound herself tightly 
 about it. I cast her off. John, we'll both forget 
 her, and perhaps because of our sorrows be closer 
 together." 
 
 " Pardon me," said Jack firmly, " I'll not forget 
 her. She is my promised bride my chosen wife. 
 I shall marry her." 
 
 " Are you mad, 'boy ? " said the old man angrily. 
 " You propose to marry this advent " 
 
 " Stop, sir," thundered Jack. " I'll not listen to 
 abuse of her. She is my wife now in the sight of 
 God, and no man, no matter what his wrongs may 
 be, shall say one word against the wife of John 
 Gordon." 
 
 Headstrong and unaccustomed to opposition as 
 was the Doctor, he nevertheless looked with admira- 
 tion upon the figure Jack presented. 
 
 " My lad," he said, " you propose to marry her 
 still ? Don't you know that I have a duty to per- 
 form, in punishing her ? She must be imprisoned 
 for her crime." 
 
 " Yes, I shall marry her," replied Jack firmly, 
 " even if I have to go behind prison bars to do it, 
 Doctor. I love her, and love with me is not an 
 idle thing. Sir, since we have become acquainted 
 I have grown very fond of you. I believe you 
 have of me. You have so treated me." 
 
 The old man nodded his head in acquiescence. 
 
 " I have been grateful to you for your favor, and 
 have been proud of it, and I do not believe that
 
 212 JACK GORDON, KXIGHT KRRANT. 
 
 you will do that which will cause me sorrow, shame, 
 and humiliation. I am to be considered in this 
 matter. It is my affair, as well as Lucy's and 
 yours." 
 
 " But how can you marry one for whom you 
 must have lost your respect ? Why, my lad, if she 
 has deceived me in this manner, she would deceive 
 her husband." 
 
 " No, sir, I can not believe it," returned Jack 
 earnestly. " I have seen into her heart. I know 
 how penitent she is. I know how she has been 
 purified by the fire she has gone through. She has 
 suffered, and through suffering she is regenerated. 
 Lucy Sherman is not the Lucy Annesley you 
 found. Do not take offense if I say I have read 
 that girl more deeply than you. When she came 
 to me that day in the jail, trembling with the fear 
 I was suffering confinement through my efforts to 
 save her ; offering to reveal to you the deception 
 she had practiced, in the belief that it would release 
 me ; earnestly proposing to sacrifice herself that I 
 might be free ; confessing her love for me, yet re- 
 fusing to accept mine because of the bar she had 
 erected by her misdeed, the stain she had put upon 
 herself, she made expiation. And in that act of 
 generous abnegation she showed herself to be what 
 she is, a penitent woman purified by sacrifice a 
 tender, loving, fine woman. It is nothing that I 
 loved her the more for it. It is nothing that I re- 
 fused to accept her dictum. It is nothing that 
 when she told me her story to end my love for her, 
 I took her in my arms and vowed before the God 
 who is the Judge of us all that I would love and 
 cherish her forever in my heart of hearts, come 
 what there might to her. I shall marry her, sir, 
 proud and happy to do it, and I ask you if it is 
 your purpose to strike at John Gordon through his, 
 wife ? "
 
 STARTLING NEWS. 213 
 
 " God forgive me, I can't," cried the old man, his 
 eyes glistening with the tears in them, his face quiver- 
 ing with admiration for theloyaland devoted young 
 man, strong in his love and enthusiasm. " 1 won't do 
 it. But between her and me all is at an end. Take her 
 away, John, take her away. I do not want to see 
 her again. And she was so dear tome! She seemed 
 to make green and pleasant my barren old age. 
 But take her away, John. I will wait here until 
 she has removed herself. I can not go back and 
 look at her again. Take her away, John." 
 
 He rose and walked to the window to signify all 
 further discussion was at an end. 
 
 Jack stood where the Doctor had left him, think- 
 ing profoundly for a long time, and then he said : 
 
 " I will do as you wish, Doctor. I will take her 
 away. Please remain here until I return." 
 
 He hastened out and made his way quickly to 
 Mrs. Van Huyn. He told this lacly that a differ- 
 ence, and he feared an irreparable one, had arisen 
 between Dr. Sherman and Lucy, and he wanted 
 her to take care of her for a few days, until arrange- 
 ments could be made for her. He assured her 
 that neither she nor Mr. Van Huyn would incur 
 the enmity of 'the Doctor in so doing, and that he 
 pledged himself to reconcile Mr. Van Huyn to 
 Lucy's coming into the house. 
 
 To this Mrs. Van Huyn gave cheerful, indeed, 
 eager compliance, saying she was ready to receive 
 Lucy at any moment. Jack, therefore, hurried off 
 to accomplish Lucy's removal, which was soon clone, 
 and before the night the Doctor returned to the 
 empty rooms feeling himself to be a very lonely, 
 forlorn old man as he dined alone.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY. 
 
 IT was to be supposed that the fact of an irrepar- 
 able quarrel between Lucy and her father, oc- 
 curring so closely after her engagement to Jack, 
 would have caused a great deal of gossip. There 
 was much speculation as to its cause. The Doctor 
 maintained a discreet silence, and of course Jack 
 and Lucy did not make explanations. Mrs. Van 
 Huyn maintained silence for the best of reasons, 
 she didn't know. For though she had given shel- 
 ter to Lucy gladly, she did not receive confidence 
 in return. To Mr. Van Huyn Jack had said that 
 the unfortunate difference was wholly a family 
 matter, in which he, Jack, occupied a singularly 
 contradictory position. While he could not blame 
 Dr. Sherman, who certainly had a right to form what 
 judgment he chose, and to govern himself and 
 household as he saw fit, still he, Jack, sustained 
 Lucy to the utmost. 
 
 Mr. Van Huyn, who knew the Doctor well, and 
 knew how firm he was in having his own way, 
 even inclined to use force to accomplish his ends, 
 thought, though Jack had not intended that im- 
 pression to be made, that the Doctor had laid a 
 command upon Lucy relative 'to her engagement 
 with Jack with which she refused to comply ; that 
 the alternative of complying or leaving the Doctor 
 having been presented she accepted the latter. 
 
 That the difference had arisen over the engage- 
 ment was the unanimously accepted version. In- 
 214
 
 EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY. 215 
 
 deed, it went to the point of the alleged discovery 
 of some peccadillos of Jack, one of which lived in 
 a cross-street where her bills were paid by Jack, 
 and who was far too pretty to be countenanced by 
 virtuous women. But as Jack was extremely pop- 
 ular, and as all this gossip contributed to turning 
 what otherwise would have been only an ordinary 
 engagement into a romance, the world sided with 
 Jack and Lucy, and heartily condemned the old 
 Doctor, who, as" Dizzy " Lowell, true to his friend, 
 had said in the club one night, " dropped the flag 
 on the youngsters before they had a fair start." 
 
 It was fortunate for both that a woman of the 
 standing of Mrs. Van Huyn had thrown the mantle 
 of her partisanship over Lucy by receiving her in 
 her house. Mrs. Jamieson, profoundly grateful to 
 Jack, and inspired by her husband, settled every- 
 thing for them in the world of fashion, by giving a 
 most distinguished dinner-party at which Jack and 
 Lucy were honored guests. All things, therefore, 
 were moving smoothly. 
 
 Jack knew, however, that affairs could not go on 
 indefinitely in this manner, and so after many con- 
 sultations, in which the wise heads of their friends 
 Madames Van Huyn and Jamieson were employed, 
 the date, and an early one, not three weeks away, 
 was fixed for the wedding. 
 
 This became all the more necessary, in Jack's 
 opinion, for the reason that Mr. Van Huyn was 
 compelled to go to Europe in a short time, and 
 though his wife was disinclined to accompany him, 
 was strongly urging her to do so. True, Mrs. 
 Jamieson offered a way out of this difficulty by pro- 
 posing shelter for Lucy under her roof, but Jack 
 was not satisfied to have Lucy shunted from one 
 house to another. There was only one course to 
 pursue in his judgment, and that, an early mar- 
 riage. In the end all came to his way of thinking.
 
 216 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Jack now spent a great deal of his time at Mrs. 
 Van Huyn's house. That lady was as gracious as 
 could be desired. She laughingly said she had 
 told Lucy, the day after she first met Jack, that 
 there would be a romance, and that she (Mrs. Van 
 Huyn) would be called upon to preside over it. As 
 her prediction had been verified, she would do it in 
 the most approved manner. 
 
 Mr. Van Huyn's mansion was a large, roomy 
 house of the extreme modern style on Madison 
 Avenue, on a corner. At the rear of the hall in 
 the center of the house, and between the dining- 
 room on one side and a conservatory on the other, 
 both of which were extensions from the main build- 
 ing, was a small, cosey room, which Mrs. Van Huyn 
 had taken as her own private and special apart- 
 ment. She called it her office, for there she attended 
 to her household accounts and consulted her ser- 
 vants. After Lucy had come into the house, she 
 had said to Lucy and Jack that she would give up 
 that room to them in the afternoons, for there they 
 would be free from callers or interruption of any 
 kind. 
 
 And in this room one afternoon, ten days or 
 more after the separation of Lucy and Dr. Sher- 
 man, we find Jack and Lucy. He had already 
 obtained possession of a house, and was hastening 
 the preparations for their occupancy immediately 
 after their return from their retirement following 
 the ceremonies. He had been telling her, with a 
 great deal of enthusiasm, of Mrs. Jamieson's prep- 
 arations for the reception, which that warm-hearted 
 lady had determined should take place at her house, 
 and was now describing to her the arrangement of 
 the rooms of their new home. 
 
 They were thus pleasantly engaged, when a card 
 was brought to Jack by one of the servants. To 
 his great surprise he read the name of Captain
 
 EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY. 217 
 
 Lawton. Somewhat startled by this disagreeable 
 reminder of past events, he asked the servant where 
 his visitor was. 
 
 " In the reception-room," was the answer. 
 
 On going there, he found the Captain standing 
 in the middle of the room, from which point he 
 could command a view of the adjoining apartments. 
 
 " I suppose you are surprised and not very well 
 pleased to have me follow you here," said the Cap- 
 tain, " but I have been trying to see you for several 
 days, and as I couldn't see you without coming 
 here, why I had to come, that's all." 
 
 " Take a seat, Captain," said Jack in reply. 
 "What's up now ? " 
 
 Drawing a chair into the middle of the room the 
 Captain sat down. 
 
 " You know when I last saw you," he replied, " I 
 told you I had figured it down to seven. Now, as 
 you are a master hand at cleaning off brushwood, I 
 thought, perhaps, you would give me some further 
 assistance." 
 
 " You know," said Jack, " I don't like to be en- 
 gaged in this sort of thing. I hoped I should be 
 free from it all by this time." 
 
 " I know, Mr. Gordon, that you don't like it," 
 replied the Captain, '' but this isn't asking you to 
 detect anybody. I've got seven on my hands now 
 and the whole of them bother me. Don't you see ? 
 There are some suspicious circumstances that point 
 to two persons. I don't exactly believe they are into 
 it, or that they even knew Renfrew. But the cir- 
 cumstances exist, and so long as they do, and I 
 don't know something to the contrary, why I have 
 got to take them into consideration, and they bother 
 me." 
 
 " I see. How can I help you ? " 
 
 " They are two friends of yours." 
 
 " Oh ! Well, what then ? "
 
 2 1 8 JA CA' GORDON, Ki\ 7 IGLl 7 ' ERR A NT. 
 
 " Well, if I could get a sight of their handwriting 
 I might know whether there was any use of count- 
 ing them in." 
 
 " Who are these ladies ? " 
 
 " Miss Mary Lowell and Miss Louise Appleby." 
 
 Jack was startled, and his heart beat a little 
 quicker. 
 
 " Captain, I would wager my head, yes, my hap- 
 piness, that you are mistaken about those girls. I 
 have known them both all my life. While they are 
 rather dashing girls and somewhat reckless in their 
 speech and manner, there are not two better girls 
 going." 
 
 " I would expect you to say that, Mr. Gordon, 
 for you are very true to your friends." 
 
 " Let me see those letters those Dollie Dux 
 letters. Have you got them with you ? Or have 
 you abandoned the idea that the writer of them is 
 the person you want ? " 
 
 " No, to both questions. I haven't the letters 
 with me. And I haven't abandoned that idea." 
 
 " But you recollect that Dollie Dux is a married 1 
 woman ? " 
 
 " Well, you can't always tell," replied the Cap- 
 tain. " The person who wrote those ' Dux' letters 
 is a very cunnin' person. She has played a big 
 hand in this here affair, and hasn't left a trace a 
 footstep behind her excepting those letters, and 
 they are of the most guarded kind. The husband 
 may be a stall for father or brother, or what 
 not." 
 
 " I can't imagine either of those girls writing 
 such letters," said Jack thoughtfully. " However, 
 I am so certain you are on the wrong track, that I 
 will engage to have specimens of their handwriting 
 at my rooms, if you will come with the ' Dollie 
 Dux' letters, before two o'clock to-morrow." 
 
 "All right, Mr. Gordon, I'll be there. And per-
 
 EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY. 219 
 
 haps then I'll have something important to tell 
 you." 
 
 " What is that ? " 
 
 " I believe it's your rule, Mr. Gordon," said the 
 detective slyly, " not to speak on suspicion ; you 
 wait until you are sure." 
 
 " A very fair hit ! " laughed Jack, and the Cap- 
 tain went away. 
 
 Jack went back to Lucy, who asked what Captain 
 Lawton wanted. 
 
 " He's on the wrong track, and is inclined to im- 
 plicate one or two of our friends," he replied. 
 " However, he is greatly mistaken, I am certain. 
 Have you got that letter signed ' Dollie Dux,' with 
 you, Lucy ? " 
 
 " Yes, it is in my room with my private papers." 
 
 " Would you mind letting me see it again ? " 
 
 " I'll get it, of course," as she sprang up to go 
 for it. 
 
 " And, Lucy," said Jack, "have you any letters 
 from Mollie Lowell or Lou Appleby ? " 
 
 " Yes. I have several." 
 
 " Bring one or two of those you may properly 
 show me." 
 
 " I can show you all of them. There is nothing 
 in them any one may not see." 
 
 She ran away to her room. Jack stood up be- 
 fore the grate with his hands behind him. 
 
 "I am afraid the Captain is grinding it down. 
 He is evidently working in our field. I am 
 afraid 1 am afraid there is a frightful scandal 
 brewing." 
 
 Lucy returned and her face was grave; indeed, 
 she seemed terrified. Jack was alarmed by her 
 appearance. He took the letters she handed 
 him hurriedly. Opening the first he found it to 
 be a letter from Miss Appleby, and laid it on 
 the table. He searched for one written by Miss
 
 20 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 Lowell and placed it beside the other. Then he 
 opened the " Dollie Dux " letter. 
 
 He laughed outright. 
 
 " Why, Lucy, you frightened me with your long 
 face. There is nothing in common between the 
 fine, long, and elegant penmanship of this ' Dollie 
 Dux ' letter, and the rapid scrawl, all ways for Sun- 
 day, of Moliie's, and the huge, masculine strokes of 
 Lou." 
 
 He looked up at her greatly relieved. 
 
 But the terrified expression had not left her 
 face. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake ! " he cried in alarm, " what 
 is the matter ? " 
 
 " I've recognized the writing of that letter," she 
 said, faintly, laying her hand upon the one signed 
 " Dollie Dux." 
 
 " Hush! Don't mention a name," said Jack, her 
 horror communicated to him. " Are you certain ? 
 Are you not mistaken ? " 
 
 " I can't be. See." She drew from her pocket 
 another letter and placed it beside 'the one signed 
 " Dollie Dux." There could be no failure to rec- 
 ognize the similarity. It required no expert to 
 determine it. The same long, slim, peculiar pen- 
 manship, the same characteristics and tricks of the 
 flourishes. There was absolutely no doubt. 
 
 Jack turned over to the signature. He gave a 
 great start. He looked at Lucy, and she was look- 
 ing appealingly to him. 
 
 " Oh, Jack, this is terrible!" 
 
 " It is horrible horrible. Who would have 
 dreamt it ? " 
 
 " Oh, Jack, dear, can't something be done to 
 save her ? " 
 
 " By Heaven ! something must be done. She 
 must be saved." 
 
 Just then they heard Mrs. Van Huyn calling
 
 EVENTS PROGRESS RAPIDLY. 221 
 
 Lucy, and had barely time to put the letters out 
 of sight before she entered. 
 
 (i I think you have billed and cooed enough for 
 one day, and I've come to put an end to it. Why, 
 what is the matter, you both look terrified ? " 
 
 " We have just sustained a severe shock over 
 some news of a dear friend of ours," replied Jack-. 
 
 " Indeed, I hope nothing serious ? " 
 
 " Yes, she is in great danger." 
 
 " A lady ? Can you help her ? If you can, do so, 
 for dear friends are scarce in this world." 
 
 Lucy, her eyes wet with tears, went over and 
 kissed her tenderly, saying : 
 
 " We have had a dear, dear friend in you." 
 
 " We will do what we can for her," said Jack. 
 " Lucy, I think I will call on the Doctor. I hear he 
 is not right well." 
 
 Notwithstanding the reports that Jack's pecca- 
 dillos were at the bottom of the difference between 
 Lucy and her adopted father, he let few days 
 goby without calling upon the Doctor almost daily, 
 in fact. 
 
 " Ah, do, Jack, and if he is seriously ill let me 
 know." 
 
 " But you are not going before dinner, Mr. Gor- 
 don ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " he laughed. " If I take more meals 
 in this house, I would better bring my clothes and 
 domicile myself here entirely." 
 
 Lucy followed him out of the apartment, and he 
 found opportunity to whisper to her : 
 
 " Not a word to Mrs. Van Huyn ! " 
 
 " No, indeed, not a word." 
 
 She went back again to chat with her hostess.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIZES ON WRONG-DOING. 
 
 WHEN Jack was shown into Dr. Sherman's 
 room, he found the doctor lying upon the 
 lounge quite unwell and unusually glad to see 
 him. Apart from the real liking he had for the old 
 gentleman, he hoped and argued from the fact that 
 he was always received with warm cordiality, that 
 the Doctor could be brought to a point where he 
 would forgive Lucy her deception. 
 
 " I am very glad you have come to see me," said 
 the Doctor. " I am very lonely. I have been prac- 
 tically alone all day." 
 
 "That ought not to be," replied Jack. "Had I 
 known earlier you were ill, I should have been here 
 before." 
 
 " Thank you, John," said the old gentleman 
 simply. 
 
 Jack chatted away with him for along time, but 
 was conscious that the old gentleman did not give 
 him close attention. He seemed to be busy with 
 his own thoughts. Jack at length stopped talking ; 
 the Doctor did not notice it. After a long interval 
 of silence, the Doctor spoke : 
 
 " John, I think you are a better man than I am." 
 
 "Well, sir," said Jack laughing, " I rather think 
 I'd have the best of you in a boxing or wrestling 
 match. There is some difference in our ages and 
 weights in my favor." 
 
 The old gentleman laughed heartily at Jack's 
 willful misapprehension.
 
 THE DOCTOR ON WRONG-DOING. 22$ 
 
 " I don't mean that, John," he replied. " I think 
 there is more charity in your soul than there is in 
 mine. I think you look with a more kindly and 
 generous eye upon the faults of others." 
 
 " If I do," answered Jack, " it must be because 
 I have so many of my own, I want charity for my- 
 self." 
 
 " I don't know about that either. I think you 
 have a good heart are naturally inclined to defend 
 rather than attack people. And I think also you 
 have that mental qualification which enables you to 
 weigh exactly the wrong its extent and degree." 
 
 Jack did not follow the old Doctor clearly, but 
 he knew he was getting to a point of some impor- 
 tance. 
 
 " I have been examining myself since I have 
 been lying here, John, and I am quite satisfied that 
 one-half, if not fully three-quarters, of the indigna- 
 tion I felt against Lucy was not because she had 
 committed a wrongful act, but because it had been 
 committed against me. Now, as a matter of fact, 
 what was wrong in her act was wrong because of 
 it, not because it was committed against me. Yet 
 that is not the way most people measure wrong. 
 I am inclined to believe I do not. I think you do. 
 It is astonishing how a wrong which you have re- 
 garded as a great one shrivels up when you view it 
 from that standpoint." 
 
 It was undoubtedly very stupid of Jack not to 
 realize the drift of the old man's philosophizing, 
 but he didn't. He contented himself with saying : 
 
 " I presume that is so, sir." 
 
 The Doctor was silent again, apparently lost in 
 thought, and Jack let him meditate. After a while 
 the Doctor spoke : 
 
 " I've been thinking of another thing too. I 
 have been thinking that, contrary to the usual 
 teaching, it is much harder to repair by confession
 
 224 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 the consequences of wrong than it is to refrain from 
 its original commission. There is the shame, the 
 humiliation, the fear of the unknown consequences 
 attending the confession, and the influence of one's 
 environments, the fact that the next day is as good 
 a day as the present one ; and so delay succeeds 
 postponement, and postponement delay, each day 
 the confession being made more and more difficult. 
 Interests, affections, and what not, perhaps am- 
 bitions, all spring up to delay and restrain it." 
 
 The old man relapsed into silence again, and 
 Jack sat watching him closely, speaking never a 
 word to interrupt the current of his thoughts. 
 
 " Then how easy it is to commit a fault ! ' con- 
 tinued the Doctor. " People who have not been 
 subjected to great temptation can not realize how 
 circumstances will force a person into wrong-doing. 
 Sometimes one is just trembling on the brink, the 
 wrong word at the right moment urges them over, 
 or the right word at the right moment restrains them. 
 Do you ever read Hugo's 'Les Miserables,' John ? 
 It's a great book. It preaches a great sermon. 
 You remember how the circumstance of the star- 
 vation of his sister's children forced Jean Valjean 
 into the crime of theft of bread for them ? In the 
 goodness of his heart and full of divine pity he 
 committed that theft. You remember, too, how 
 after having gone down in the depths, crushed into 
 darkness of soul by the tyranny of law, he is lifted 
 up and light given him by that lie of the Bishop? 
 Ah, John, there are some lies that are not wrong. 
 They are blessed acts. One should be charitable, 
 should be broad with the faults of the young. 
 Instead of crushing them down with punishment, 
 they should take them by the hand, lead them 
 toward the light forgiving. The spirit of forgive- 
 ness and of broad charity, that is the beautiful 
 thing about our Christ."
 
 THE DOCTOR ON WRONG-DOING. 225 
 
 He was silent again, and Jack did not interrupt 
 his silence. 
 
 "For instance, Lucy was undoubtedly sorely 
 tempted. The situation in which she stood was a 
 trying, nay a terrible, one for a young, unformed 
 girl, whose mind had not had that training it would 
 have had had she been possessed of a mother. 
 Yet I doubt if she would have committed that 
 wrong had it not been for the tempter who stood 
 beside her to say the wrong word at the right 
 moment. I was very fond of her, John." 
 
 He ceased talking again. And Jack did not 
 reply. Presently the old gentleman struggled to a 
 sitting posture and cried most irritably : 
 
 " Why don't you speak, John ? I am sick. I 
 am lonely. D it, can't you see ? I want Lucy." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I see. I've been waiting to hear you 
 say so." 
 
 " Then why don't you bring her to me ? What 
 are you delaying for ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir, she shall be here to-morrow morning," 
 replied Jack, " early, if you will give me your 
 word that you will make it easy for her to come to 
 you ; that you will not upbraid her with bitter 
 words ; but will receive her repentance with ten- 
 derness." 
 
 " Oh, John, I want her ! I don't want to find any 
 fault. I don't want to blame her. I want her ten- 
 der, sweet face about me again. Go and bring her, 
 John. Bring her early. Tell her that you bear 
 my full forgiveness." 
 
 " Doctor, I never bore a message with greater 
 gladness. The cup of my happiness is full to run- 
 ning over. We are to be married on the twenty- 
 third, and I dearly hoped that this might occur 
 before that event. After that we go to live in our 
 own house, and in that house there is a corner for 
 you."
 
 226 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 He wrung the old man's hand and hastened 
 away with the glad news to Lucy. 
 
 There were friends of the family at the house, 
 whom Lucy was assisting Mrs. Van Huyn to 
 entertain, and when Jack made his appearance with 
 his beaming face, she knew something glad had 
 occurred. 
 
 So entirely unlike himself was he in his want of 
 repose and composure, that she finally said to him : 
 
 " Jack, you have some great news." 
 
 " Yes. Great indeed for you. And I know Mrs. 
 Van Huyn will excuse you while I communicate it." 
 
 They went off together to the room Mrs. Van 
 Huyn had assigned them, and there, to Lucy's 
 great joy and satisfaction, she learned that she had 
 become necessary to the Doctor and that he desired 
 her return, that he had asked it without being 
 solicited. 
 
 "Now," said Jack, " I want you to write your 
 sweetest note to the Doctor. Write it in a peni- 
 tent spirit, and I promise you you will never hear 
 from any one again a word about Lucy's fault." 
 
 " Lucy's crime, Jack, for such it was," she said. 
 "Yes, I'll doit." 
 
 " Where's the paper?" said Jack, getting up and 
 searching over the table in the center of the room. 
 
 " There, in that old-fashioned secretary in the 
 corner. Lift up the cover and you will find it in a 
 drawer." 
 
 " But which one ? " said Jack ; " there are a lot of 
 them." 
 
 " The one which is not locked. All the rest are 
 locked but the paper drawer." 
 
 Jack pulled at one and the other, and in fum- 
 bling about touched the spring of a secret drawer, 
 and it flew out. 
 
 " Heavens ! " said Jack, as he caught a glimpse 
 of its contents.
 
 THE DOCTOR ON WRONG-DOING. 227 
 
 " What is it ? " asked Lucy. 
 
 " Nothing," he said with altered voice, as he 
 closed it up quickly. " I have stumbled upon a 
 private drawer, and got into things I ought not to 
 have done. Ah, here's the paper." 
 
 He brought it to her, and they busied themselves 
 with the composition of the letter which was to be 
 the beginning of the reconciliation between Dr. 
 Sherman and Lucy.
 
 CHAPTER .XXVII. 
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. 
 
 QUITE early in the morning following the 
 events described in the last chapter, Jack 
 accompanied Lucy from the residence of Mrs. 
 
 Van Huyn to the B hotel, where Dr. Sherman 
 
 anxiously awaited her. He walked with her as far 
 as the door of their rooms and left her, discreetly 
 refusing to be a witness of the reconciliation. 
 
 Hastening back -to his own apartments, he barely 
 had time to don his lounging jacket and draw a 
 writing-table close to the grate fire, for the morn- 
 ing was cold, before Captain Lawton's card was 
 presented. 
 
 " You are prompt, Captain," said Jack, after he 
 had exchanged greetings with his visitor. " I 
 have kept my word and have the letters." 
 
 " I have brought the ' Dollie Dux ' letters," 
 replied the detective, taking from an inner pocket 
 the dainty little missives of the unknown "Dollie," 
 folded the long way of the paper and confined by 
 a small rubber band. He removed the elastic ring, 
 laying the letters in front of Jack, and drew up a 
 chair to. the table. 
 
 " This is a matter quickly disposed of," said 
 Jack. " It is, as I said, folly' to endeavor to con- 
 nect those girls with this affair." 
 
 He took from the table the two letters Lucy had 
 given him the night previous, and spread them 
 before the detective. 
 
 ?28
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. 229 
 
 Captain Lavvton opened one of the " Dollie Dux " 
 letters and placed it beside the two. 
 
 He smiled as he looked. 
 
 " No," he said, " it is plain. The writings are 
 not the same. That lets them out." 
 
 " If you knew the young ladies you would know 
 that neither of them could have written the letters 
 if they had tried. But may I ask why you sus- 
 pected them ? " 
 
 " I suppose," said the Captain slowly, " you 
 would say upon insufficient basis. About two 
 weeks before the murder, at a Saturday afternoon 
 matinee, these two young ladies occupied a box at 
 the theater where Renfrew was playing, and amused 
 themselves and the company on the stage, so an 
 actor told me, with wildly flirting with that fellow." 
 Then, suddenly breaking off, he said : " You are 
 mistaken about ladies of society not using pat. 
 chouli it seems to me they all do more or less. 
 These two young ladies do occasionally." 
 
 He pushed the letters of Miss Lowell and Miss 
 Appleby across the table to Jack, and laid the letter 
 of " Dollie Dux " he held in his hand with its 
 fellows. Jack was for the moment lost in thought 
 and did not notice the act, nor that the detective 
 took from his pocket a small wallet, from which he 
 drew a narrow slip of paper. 
 
 " The murderer is now figured down to five," 
 continued the detective, ''and I'm betting that the 
 name of the one I'm looking for is one of the three 
 on that paper." 
 
 He laid it immediately in front of Jack, who 
 picked it up mechanically and read the names. 
 
 He burst into laughter. 
 
 " Captain," he cried, " you select strangely for 
 your suspicions. I think if you had every woman's 
 name in New York to select from, you could not have 
 chosen three less likely to be placed under sus-
 
 230 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 picion. Within three weeks I have dined at the 
 house of each of these ladies. I must have their 
 letters somewhere." 
 
 He crossed the room to a desk standing between 
 the windows, and tumbled the papers which littered 
 it about in his search. The detective watched him 
 slyly. 
 
 Presently he returned, bearing three letters with 
 him. 
 
 " To be sure," he said, " the penmanship of 
 these is more like that of * Dollie Dux' tnan Miss 
 Appleby's or Miss Lowell's ; yet so different you 
 need not be an expert to determine, at a glance, 
 how absurd it is to attempt to find ' Dollie Dux ' 
 among the writers of them." 
 
 The Captain examined them with great care. 
 He laid them on the table, saying simply : 
 
 <4 And yet they all use patchouli." 
 
 "I fear, Captain," said Jack, laughing, "you are 
 off the scent while following scent." 
 
 The detective grinned over the joke, but did not 
 reply. He compared them again. With a sigh he 
 pushed them aside. 
 
 " That disposes of three more," he said. 
 
 Jack started at this remark, and turned an 
 inquiring look upon the detective. 
 
 Captain Lawton wrote deliberately two names on 
 a blank piece of paper, and pushed the slip in front 
 of Jack. 
 
 " Then it must be one of those two names," he 
 said, eyeing Jack keenly. 
 
 Jack laid his hand upon the slip without looking 
 at the names. 
 
 " Captain," he said, sternly but calmly, " you 
 are a shrewd man a very shrewd man you have 
 laid a cunning trap for me, and I nearly put my 
 foot in it. By this process of exhaustion you are 
 making me your aid to detection. By reason of
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. 231 
 
 my anxiety to protect those from suspicion I knew 
 could not be implicated, you have succeeded in 
 getting me to eliminate one after another, until you 
 have gotten down to two. Now, if it should 
 appear on reading these names that again I saw 
 one I was quite certain ought to be free from sus- 
 picion, you leave me in the position of having 
 charged the other with being the person you want. 
 It is a cunning game, but it must end right here. 
 I won't go with you another step. You charged 
 me some time ago with having treated you unfairly. 
 I acknowledged the charge, and by my considerate 
 treatment of you have tried to show regret for my 
 bad manners. I think now you are open to the 
 charge." 
 
 " I don't think so, Mr. Gordon," replied the 
 detective ; " it is for you to choose whether or not 
 you will express an opinion. It is in your own 
 hands." 
 
 " Yes, but, Captain," persisted Jack, " your trap 
 was laid all the same. You expected me to read 
 the names and cry out that one, at least, did not 
 do it. I can not help what the consequences may 
 be, or who may get hurt, I shall have nothing more 
 to say on the subject. Your trick is a sharp one, 
 and nearly succeeded." 
 
 The Captain smiled his inscrutable smile again. 
 Jack picked up the paper and read the names. He 
 gave a start, which he quickly repressed, but not 
 so quickly that the Captain did not observe it. He 
 smiled again. Jack laid the slip of paper down ; 
 his face bore a troubled expression. 
 
 "Well," said the detective. 
 
 " I have nothing to say," said Jack doggedly. 
 
 "You were surprised to see one name on that 
 list?" 
 
 "To see both of them." 
 
 " See here, Mr. Gordon, this has been a particu-
 
 232 JACK GOKDOX, KXIGHT ERRAXT. 
 
 larly hard case for me, and I have worked in the 
 dark from the beginning. I need assistance, and 
 I think I can give you good reasons why you 
 ought to assist me." 
 
 Jack looked at him coldly. 
 
 "You see," said the detective, settling himself 
 back in his chair and looking over Jack into the 
 bright fire in the grate. " You see, you told me 
 Renfrew's right name was Jacob Myers ; that he 
 was a cousin of Miss Sherman's ; that she went to 
 school at Rocky Point ; and that these people came 
 from about Cornwall." 
 
 He cast a glance at Jack, who was regarding him 
 with a moody face. 
 
 " I made some inquiries," continued the detective, 
 " up in that country, and found some people who 
 knew Miss Sherman's parents and Myers as well. 
 I learned something about Dr. Sherman's young 
 days." 
 
 " Well," replied Jack irritably, " and what has 
 all that to do with me ? " 
 
 " I know what was in those letters Miss Sher- 
 man wrote to Renfrew, and why she didn't want Dr. 
 Sherman to know." 
 
 He looked hard at Jack, who had thrust his 
 hands deep in his pockets and was staring the table 
 out of countenance. Receiving no reply the Cap- 
 tain went on, and, as Jack acknowledged, he had 
 gathered the truth. 
 
 "Well? "he said aloud. 
 
 " I've no call to tell that story to Dr. Sherman, 
 but if I don't you ought to consider I don't do so 
 because of a friendly feeling to } r ou. And that is a 
 friendly act that ought to be repaid by you in as- 
 sisting me." 
 
 " You're climbing the wrong tree, Captain," said 
 Jack, rousing up. " You couldn't tell Dr. Sherman 
 anything he doesn't know now,"
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. ^33 
 
 It was the Captain's turn to be surprised. 
 
 " How is that ? " he asked. 
 
 " After I found out what the secret was, which 
 being possessed by Renfrew gave him power over 
 Miss Sherman, I insisted that the Doctor should be 
 told. It has been told him without reservation, and 
 he has forgiven everything." 
 
 The Captain had played the last card in his Hand, 
 the one he had reserved for a great stroke, and to 
 his manifest disappointment he found it was not a 
 trump. His chance of success lay in obtaining 
 Gordon's willing or unwilling assistance. He had 
 tried to secure it by force, by persuasion, by trickery, 
 and finally through an appeal to Gordon's selfish 
 interests. He had failed in all. What course 
 should he now pursue ? On the table lay a dis- 
 orderly little pile of papers, notes and letters. 
 Thinking deeply, lost to his surroundings for a 
 moment, almost unconscious of his act, he stretched 
 forth his hand and pulled out the sheet lying under 
 all and placed it on the top of the pile ; he con- 
 tinued to take the under sheet and place it on the 
 top mechanically, and thus bid fair in time to 
 make every sheet the under one and top one 
 in turn. 
 
 Jack watched him with a dissatisfied expression. 
 He was by no means pleased to learn that the de- 
 tective was in possession of Lucy's secret. He had 
 believed it confined to Lucy, Dr. Sherman, and 
 himself. Now a fourth knew it. Who would be 
 the fifth ? And the sixth ? The prospect was not 
 agreeable. He thought the detective was a med- 
 dlesome rascal who ought to be suppressed. He 
 had trusted Lawton and had been betrayed. In 
 short Jack was very angry with the detective and 
 was meditating revenge. 
 
 While he was thus thinking and chafing, he 
 watched the detective playing with the papers.
 
 234 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 The Captain, still absorbed in thought, drew out a 
 sheet on which something was written. 
 
 They both started at the same moment. 
 
 Each had recognized the penmanship. 
 
 The Captain leaped to his feet and carried the 
 paper to the window, where there was better light. 
 
 Jack followed, thoroughly frightened, and looked 
 over his shoulder. 
 
 It read : 
 
 " Monday, Oct. 16. 
 
 " DEAR MR. GORDON : My husband desires me to write 
 you to say he would be glad to have you to dinner on Thurs- 
 dry, the iSth, to meet Mr. " 
 
 Here it ended, the sheet having been torn across 
 the page. 
 
 The detective hastily turned the leaf, but the 
 rest of the paper was blank. The signature evi- 
 dently had been on the first page. 
 
 Jack breathed more freely. 
 
 " That is the same hand as the ' Dollie Dux ' 
 letters," asserted the Captain. " Who -wrote that 
 letter?" 
 
 " I don't know," said Jack steadily. " I've for- 
 gotten." 
 
 " That isn't likely," replied the detective sternly. 
 
 " You see I have so many invitations I can't be 
 expected to remember all who write to me," replied 
 Jack. 
 
 " Humph ! I must have the other part of that 
 letter." 
 
 " I don't know how you will get it," replied 
 Jack warmly. 
 
 " I do. I shall take it," said the Captain, turning 
 quickly to go to the table. 
 
 Jack, divining his purpose, sprang to the table, 
 reached it first, and faced the Captain. 
 
 " You will recollect," said Jack fiercely, " that 
 these are my private papers."
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. 235 
 
 " Stand aside and let me do my duty," demanded 
 the detective. 
 
 " I'll have no interference with my affairs," an- 
 swered Jack, very pale and very angry. 
 
 " I'll have no interference with me," was the 
 Captain's reply. " Get out of my way." 
 
 Jack did not move. The Captain took him by 
 the shoulders in an attempt to thrust him aside. 
 
 The unexpected happened. As is often the case 
 with athletic men, the Captain underrated his 
 antagonist. 
 
 He felt himself lifted and shot through the air. 
 He fell in a corner, astonished. 
 
 He recovered himself quickly, however, but only 
 in time to see Jack sweep the contents of the table 
 into the grate, and the papers blaze up fiercely. 
 
 With an oath he made a rush toward the grate, 
 intending to rescue what he could, but Jack met 
 him and pinioned him by the arms so that he could 
 not move. 
 
 As powerful a man as was the Captain, he was as 
 putty in the hands of Jack, nerved to superhuman 
 effort by intense anger. The detective was as- 
 tounded at the strength of the younger man. 
 
 " I am a patient man," said Jack between his 
 teeth, " but you must behave yourself here. These 
 are my rooms and everything in them mine. And, 
 by Heaven ! if you touch anything here, you'll never 
 touch anything again." 
 
 By this time the blaze caused by the burning 
 papers had subsided. Nothing was left but a heap 
 of black ashes. 
 
 Jack released the Captain. 
 
 Both men were angry. Jack was the more angry 
 of the two. They stood glaring at each other. 
 
 " Who murdered Renfrew ? You know," sternly, 
 nay fiercely, demanded Captain Lawton. 
 
 " I don't. If I did I wouldn't tell you."
 
 23<> JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 "I ought to put you under arrest." 
 
 " Don't try it. 1 am in no mood to be trifled 
 with." 
 
 " Do you call it trifling to do one's duty ? " asked 
 the Captain, the first to regain possession of him- 
 self. " This is a serious thing you have done to- 
 day you have willfully obstructed 'the course of 
 justice and the law." 
 
 " Don't preach to me. I won't have it," cried 
 Jack, still trembling with anger and thoroughly 
 enraged. " Leave the room. Leave it before I 
 do you harm." 
 
 " Yes I'll leave it, but you will hear from me 
 shortly, and in a way you won't like," said the de- 
 tective. " Give me those letters I brought here." 
 
 He went to the table. There was nothing what- 
 ever upon it. The letters were gone. 
 
 " Where are those letters ? " he cried, turning 
 upon Jack in alarm, his anger blazing up again. 
 
 '"Burned I expect," replied Jack, surprise at 
 their loss doing more to calm him than anything 
 else. 
 
 Captain Lawton looked hastily under the table 
 and on the hearth. Jack assisted him. They were 
 nowhere to be found. Jack felt an unholy joy 
 over their loss, and this joy presently put him in 
 entire possession of himself. 
 
 Becoming satisfied that they were indeed burned 
 when Jack had hastily swept everything from the 
 table into the fire, he turned to Jack so angry that 
 the words fairly hissed as he uttered them. 
 
 " My fine young fellow, you will have to account 
 for this in a place where your impudence won't do 
 you any good." 
 
 " Poof ! " 
 
 " I've seen higher heads than yours knocked 
 under, and, by high Heaven ! you'll have to answer 
 for this."
 
 A BAFFLED DETECTIVE. 237 
 
 " Put a bridle on that tongue of yours," answered 
 Jack, angry again. " If you had not attempted to 
 rob me of my papers your letters would be safe 
 now. You've attempted to bulldoze me before 
 and failed. Don't try a second time. You may 
 fare worse. There's the door. Get out." 
 
 The detective saw the rising anger of the other, 
 and though he was by no means a coward, his 
 commonsense assured him nothing was to be 
 gained by prolonging an angry discussion. 
 
 He went to the door, and paused to say : 
 
 " You've baffled me now. But I'll beat you in 
 the end, Mr. John Gordon. Take care you are not 
 made a party to this crime." 
 
 " Leave the room." 
 
 The detective passed out, deep disappointment 
 in his heart. 
 
 It took Jack a long time to cool down, but when 
 he was composed enough to realize just what he 
 had done, he acknowledged that he had gone too 
 far and that in all probability he had made trouble 
 for himself. 
 
 As be paced up and down the room, trying to 
 imagine what effect it would have upon him and 
 whether it was likely to interfere with his marriage, 
 which had been that day announced, he saw a piece 
 of paper protruding from under the cover of his 
 desk between the windows. He pulled it out. 
 
 It was the other half of the letter, the endeavor 
 to obtain possession of which had caused the 
 quarrel with Captain Lawton. The half Captain 
 Lawton had found lay on the floor, where he had 
 dropped it in the struggle. 
 
 Jack picked it up and threw them both deliber- 
 ately in the fire. 
 
 " I won't be tempted now to placate the Captain. 
 What a lucky thing it was I swept those ' Dollie 
 Dux' letters into the fire! With the other thing
 
 238 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 out of the way, detection is now well-nigh impos- 
 sible." 
 
 He threw himself in a chair, lost in thought for 
 a long time. He was interrupted by the entrance 
 of his man Crimmins. This aroused him, and he 
 jumped up, saying : 
 
 " Now to dress and go to Lucy before anything 
 interferes."
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 OBLIGATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 WHEN Jack was shown into the Sherman 
 parlor, an hour after his warm interview with 
 Captain Lawton, all traces of his own heat 
 had disappeared. The Doctor and Lucy were con- 
 versing pleasantly, nothing apparent to indicate 
 that a rupture between them had necessitated a 
 reconciliation. Having talked agreeably with them 
 for some time, Jack said : 
 
 " Lucy, I came to ask you to call with me upon 
 Mrs. Van Huyn. I do not think we have made 
 proper recognition of her kindness." 
 
 " If you think so," said the Doctor, who was one 
 of the most punctilious of men, " you should do so 
 without delay." 
 
 So Lucy, glad to have some moments alone with 
 Jack, ran off to prepare herself for a walk. 
 
 On their way Jack told Lucy the story of his 
 stormy passage with Captain Lawton, and expressed 
 the fear that the consequences might be serious.- 
 It was true, he said, that he did not believe Cap- 
 tain Lawton to be a vindictive man, but his pride 
 was evidently enlisted in the search for the mur- 
 derer of Renfrew, and he feared the detective 
 would not take kindly the accident which had 
 deprived him of about the only clue he had. When 
 they had parted the Captain was quite evidently 
 very much angered, and what he might do under 
 the influence of anger Jack could not even guess. 
 
 The story of her lover greatly alarmed Lucy, 
 
 239
 
 240 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 and before Jack succeeded in allaying her fears 
 they had reached the residence of Mrs. Van Huyn. 
 The lady was engaged in the room she had allotted 
 to the use of Lucy and Jack, when the former was 
 under her roof, and she received them there. 
 
 Glad to see them again, she told Lucy she had 
 felt quite lonely over her departure. When she was 
 informed of the happy reconciliation with Lucy's 
 adopted father, she congratulated both in warm 
 terms on the prosperous turn affairs had taken. 
 
 Seizing the opportunity to make his recognition 
 of her kindness, Jack said quite pointedly, indeed 
 Lucy thought with unnecessary elaboration, that 
 Mrs. Van Huyn had put him under such obliga- 
 tions, that the lady could at all times, under all 
 circumstances, and at all hazards, command his 
 loyal friendship. 
 
 Perceiving the embarrassment of Mrs. Van Huyn 
 under Jack's fervent protestations, Lucy success- 
 fully turned the conversation into other channels. 
 Jack, who was plainly laboring under much excite- 
 ment, became abstracted, lost part of the conver- 
 sation, which, when he was appealed to, had to be 
 repeated to him, before he could understand what 
 had been said to him. So singular was his manner 
 that Lucy was quite ashamed of him, and Mrs. 
 Van Huyn began to think he had been indulging 
 freely during the day. 
 
 This had been going on for some time, when 
 Jack arose and said : 
 
 " I hope, Mrs. Van Huyn, you will pardon the 
 liberty I am about to take. Yesterday, when Lucy 
 and I were searching for paper to write a note, I 
 accidentally made a discovery which interested me 
 greatly." 
 
 He went to the secretary, mention of which was 
 made in a previous chapter, and lifting the cover 
 which formed the desk, pressed the secret spring
 
 OBLIGATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. 241 
 
 he had discovered and from the drawer, which flew 
 open at his touch, took a case. 
 
 Mrs. Van Huyn's face flushed red, and she cried 
 in tones of pained surprise : 
 
 " Mr. Gordon ! " 
 
 Lucy was aghast at his freedom. 
 
 But he continued, regardless of their displeasure : 
 
 " When I was a lad of twenty I traveled in 
 Europe with Mr. and Mrs. Jamieson, and while 
 there made a present to Mrs. Jamieson of a brace 
 of pistols with singularly carved handles. They 
 were in a case similar to this." 
 
 He opened it. 
 
 " The pair was exactly like this one. There is 
 one missing here." 
 
 Was it only anger over Jack's rudeness and 
 freedom, that made the color leave the face of Mrs. 
 Van Huyn, and a wild fright come into her eyes ? 
 
 "I always supposed," continued Jack, "that 
 these ivory sides to the handles were not the ones 
 originally made for the pistols they were placed 
 on afterwards to increase the value and beauty. 
 Mrs. Jamieson kept them several years, but about 
 two years ago her husband loaned them to some- 
 body, he had forgotten who. Perhaps it was you 
 and you have neglected to return them. I wonder 
 if my theory is correct ? " 
 
 Mrs. Van Huyn sat upright and rigid, her face 
 the color of marble, and as hard, her eyes fixed on 
 Jack, her hands tightly clasping the arms of her 
 chair. She did not seem to breathe. 
 
 Jack took from his pocket a knife and loosened 
 the screws which held the ivory sides in place. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I am quite certain they were 
 put on to increase their value." 
 
 The two pieces dropped into his hand. 
 
 " They are of little use and would be far better 
 out of the way."
 
 242 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 He threw them into the fire. 
 
 Mrs. Van Huyn made no effort to restrain him. 
 Still rigid and motionless, she sat staring at Jack 
 with wild, frightened eyes and white face. 
 
 Lucy was utterly bewildered. She had not as 
 yet penetrated Jack's purpose. 
 
 "These pistols usually come apart into several 
 pieces," he continued, as he unscrewed them, 
 throwing part after part into the fire. 
 
 " The contents have gone into the fire, the case 
 should follow." 
 
 He broke it into several pieces and threw them 
 in as well. Lucy was entertaining doubts as to 
 Jack's sanity. But there was neither motion nor 
 word from Mrs. Van Huyn, only that wild, fright- 
 ened stare. 
 
 " There is something else I want to speak of, 
 Mrs. Van Huyn," resumed Jack. " Some time ago, 
 in behalf of Lucy here, I obtained some letters she 
 had written from a person now dead. When I 
 placed them in her hands, she found among them 
 a letter which did not properly belong to the 
 package." 
 
 He took a letter from his pocket, and opening it 
 showed it to Mrs. Van Huyn.- 
 
 " It is signed ' Dollie Dux,' you perceive." 
 
 She made no effort to take it ; she did not even 
 look at it ; she did not take her eyes from Jack's 
 face, those wild, frightened eyes, but still stared 
 at him, her lips colorless as her cheeks, parched 
 and slightly parted ; her breast heaving. 
 
 Lucy understood now, and going to her old 
 schoolmate and friend, sat beside her, taking her 
 hand in her own. 
 
 " This letter should go into the fire as well," said 
 Jack, throwing it on the coals and watching it 
 blaze up. 
 
 He turned again to-Mrs. Van Huyn.
 
 OBLIGATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. 243 
 
 " The detective found other letters signed ' Dol- 
 iie Dux,' and has been trying by their means to 
 trace the writer. But those letters were all burned 
 to-day ; not one signed ' Dollie Dux ' remains. 
 I burned them all to-day, all of them, every 
 one." 
 
 Was it a gleam of hope that altered for a fleeting 
 instant the expression of those stony blue eyes ? 
 
 " Nothing now remains," continued Jack. " No 
 proof exists. Everything is destroyed. Nothing 
 can be traced. ' Dollie Dux ' will now never be 
 found, unless she reveals herself, and I don't be- 
 lieve she will be foolish enough to do that. It 
 would be well for her, however, if she were to leave 
 the country for a while. But three persons in all 
 this world have any certainty as to her identity : 
 Herself, and two others, and these two will suffer 
 imprisonment rather than reveal it. She may go 
 in security and contentment, for she will leave 
 those two behind her to watch her interests." 
 
 The hand of Mrs. Van Huyn was cold and 'life- 
 less, and she did not seem to know that Lucy was 
 holding and chafing it. 
 
 " You are not well, Mrs. Van Huyn," said Jack. 
 " Your husband goes to Europe shortly, and 
 though I know you are disinclined to go, yet I 
 think you should. It would improve your health. 
 You should stay as long as you could." 
 
 " Come, Lucy," he said, after a moment, " Mrs. 
 Van Huyn is not well. Her social duties have been 
 too much for her, doubtless. If we stay longer we 
 will weary her. Come." 
 
 Lucy rose, and bending over her old schoolmate, 
 for whose misery and misfortune she had profound 
 pity, kissed her tenderly, the tears streaming down 
 her face. 
 
 Mrs. Van Huyn made no response, nor motion, 
 that indicated she was aware of the caress. She
 
 244 ACK GOKnOX, KXIGHT ERKAXT. 
 
 still sat upright and rigid, her face white as marble, 
 her wild, frightened eyes still on Jack, as if she 
 were fascinated by him. 
 
 Jack and Lucy went out together, passing along 
 the hall. They turned to look at her through the 
 open door. She was kneeling on the floor, her 
 arms on the table, her head buried in them. Her 
 frame was convulsed with a storm of sobs ; tears 
 had come to her relief. 
 
 "She is saved," whispered Jack, and they silently 
 went into the street.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 MARRIAGE BELLS. 
 
 ON the twenty-third of February, 1884, two 
 events occurred. The Servia steamed out of 
 the harbor at a late hour in the afternoon, 
 bearing, among its passengers, Mr. and Mrs. Van 
 Huyn for a lengthened stay abroad. 
 
 And a matter of great importance to two of our 
 friends Miss Lucy Sherman was given away at 
 the altar of Grace Church by Dr. Sherman, to Mr. 
 John Gordon. The Bishop of the diocese solem- 
 nized the gift at twelve o'clock noon. 
 
 The reception after the ceremony took place in 
 the ample parlors of Mrs. Jamieson, and the dainty 
 little hostess fluttered like a humming-bird among 
 the guests, so happy was she over the good for- 
 tune of her favorite. In this she vied with Dr. 
 Sherman, who beamed on all with smiles and good 
 nature. 
 
 The newly married pair stood under a floral bell 
 of huge proportions, which " Dizzy " had insisted 
 on providing and would not be denied. 
 
 To them came their friends to say pleasant 
 words. Among them a lady and gentleman in 
 traveling costume, apologizing that their trunks 
 were already on the steamer, and saying they could 
 not deny themselves the pleasure of wishing them 
 well and happy for all their lives. The lady did a 
 strange thing when she was unobserved. She took 
 the hand of the groom, pressing a warm kiss upon
 
 246 JACK GORDON, KNIGHT ERRANT. 
 
 it, and after bending upon him a look of love 
 and gratitude hastened away. 
 
 Mollie Lowell and Will Robb came and passed 
 by with light and gracious words, but not until 
 Mollie had whispered to the groom : 
 
 " It's catching, Jack. I've been and gone and 
 done it too. Yes, to Will. He's advertising it by 
 his conscious looks." 
 
 " Dizzy " came with an eye on the bell to see 
 that it was plumb, and said : 
 
 " Jack, old man, you look so happy and your 
 bride so sweet, I almost feel like taking a stable 
 mate myself." 
 
 All whose acquaintance we have made in these 
 pages came, but the surprise of the day was to see 
 Captain Lawton struggling forward in the throng. 
 He had seized the opportunity to go on duty at 
 the house, that he might say pleasant words. 
 
 " I congratulate you," he said to Jack, slowly as 
 was his wont. " I congratulate you, Mr. Gordon. 
 You ought to be a happy man, and I suppose you 
 are. I've dropped that case ; it goes on the list of 
 undiscovered mysterious ones." 
 
 " Indeed ? " replied Jack. " How is that ? " 
 
 " I could not track it. The clues and proof 
 were all destroyed destroyed accidentally. What 
 you can't prove it's no use to look after. Besides, 
 I guess the bird is flown flown to Europe. It 
 ain't so bad. I'd like to have had the triumph. 
 But it don't harm me to have a miss once in a long 
 time. I can stand it." 
 
 Turning to the bride he said : 
 
 " I wish you joy, madam joy all your life and 
 plenty of it. You have got a man to cherish and be 
 proud of. He is a man who takes more chances 
 has taken more chances for a friend than any man 
 I ever knew, or ever expected to know. And if he 
 will take them for a friend, what won't he do for the
 
 MARRIAGE BELLS. 247 
 
 wife he loves ? He's a big, strong-hearted man, 
 madam. But you're worthy of him, madam. And 
 the worst wish I've got for myself is, that if ever I 
 get into trouble", I shall have two such friends as 
 you at my back. I wish you both joy." 
 
 He moved off to give room to others to offer 
 kind wishes, but none were more sincere, though 
 they may have been offered in more graceful 
 phrase. 
 
 With the sound of the wedding bells still falling 
 pleasantly on our ears, the pen is cast aside the 
 story is done. 
 
 THE END.
 
 000 "37" 068