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 CnarlesE^hett Cradaock 
 
By Charles Egbert Craddock 
 
 THE BUSHWACKERS 
 $1.25 
 
THE WINDFALL 
 
THE WINDFALL 
 
 A Novel 
 
 By CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK 
 
 Author of 
 
 "The Bushwhackers," "The Prophet of the Great Smoky 
 
 Mountains," " The Amulet," "A Spectre of Power," 
 
 " In the Stranger-People's Country," etc. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 DUFFIELD & COMPANY 
 
 1907 
 
Copyright, 1907, 
 by duffield & company 
 
 Published, Marxh, igo? 
 
THE WINDFALL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DESPITE his buoyant optimism Hilary 
 Lloyd could but quail as he looked about 
 him. The vast uninhabited heights of 
 the encompassing Great Smoky Mountains, green, 
 purple and bronze, seeming to his theatrical sense 
 magnificently posed against the turquoise back- 
 ground of further ranges, glimpsed through clifty 
 defiles and almost touching the differing translu- 
 cent blue of the sapphire sky; the river, crag- 
 bound, crystal-clear, with an arrowy swiftness; the 
 forest, dense beyond any computation, gigantic of 
 growths, redundantly rich of foliage, and gorgeous 
 with autumnal tints — all were as revelations to his 
 half-stunned mind. He had never dreamed of 
 the natural wealth, the splendid extent, the pic- 
 turesque values of this region. His imagination 
 flagged, failed. He was sensible of the strain 
 upon his receptivity to compass the transcendent 
 reality. But whence, amidst these primeval splen- 
 dours, should materialise the patrons of his little 
 street fair? Its flimsy booths were already rising 
 about the stony expanse of the public square of the 
 town of Colbury, not, in stereotyped phrase, like 
 magic, but with all the laborious accompaniments 
 of hammers and saws, the straining of muscles and 
 
 Mi±999 
 
The Windfall 
 
 patience, the expenditure of profanity and per- 
 spiration, and the sound of loud, raucous voices. 
 The tents reluctantly spread their mushroom-like 
 contour, now and again suddenly collapsing from 
 awkward handling or inadequate aid. The man- 
 ager looked at the few humble toilers with a pre- 
 scient pang. To be stranded here, on the utter- 
 most confines of civilisation, seemed a disaster 
 indeed of direful menace. He realised his friend's 
 impressions and could have voiced in unison the 
 exact phrase as a heavy fellow of medium height, 
 arrayed in a ready-made suit of a loud plaid, 
 slouched up with his hands in his pockets, and 
 chewing a straw. 
 
 " Well, partner, weVe done it again ! " he said, 
 not without the accents of reproach. 
 
 Lloyd obviously flinched at the tone, and his 
 face flushed. It was of a singularly perfect con- 
 tour and chiselling, according to the canons of art, 
 and in its large nobility of expression it might have 
 served, and possibly had, as a model for an artist's 
 realisation of some high ideal. But there was a 
 most mundane anxiety in his luminous eyes, darkly 
 blue and long-lashed, and the alertness with which 
 they eagerly surveyed the meagre festival prepara- 
 tions gave an accent of the ludicrous to his fine 
 facial suggestions. He was like a man playing 
 the role of a prince, unstaged, on the bare side- 
 walk, and his utter unconsciousness and indifference 
 to the effect of his remarkable appearance added to 
 its impressiveness. His hair was fine and light 
 
 2 
 
The Windfall 
 
 brown in tint, and it shone like silk as he lifted his 
 straw hat and wearily mopped his brow with his 
 handkerchief. He was young, twenty-five per- 
 haps, and very fair of complexion, and the delicate 
 texture of his skin allowed the fluctuating flush of 
 annoyance visibly to come and go in his cheek. 
 He was something more than of medium height, 
 although not notably tall; he was very sym- 
 metrically put together, and, while slight and ele- 
 gant, his movements showed intimations of mus- 
 cular strength and a swift deftness that implied 
 some special athletic training. 
 
 He presently gathered his faculties together and 
 with a desperate courage affected to see naught 
 amiss. " Why, we knew that it was only a coun- 
 try town, Haxon," he remonstrated. 
 
 Haxon pushed his wide-brimmed imitation 
 Panama hat on the back of his head, showing in full 
 relief his round red face, beaded with perspiration. 
 He lifted one plump hand with an accusatory ges- 
 ture toward the infinite stretch of the lonely moun- 
 tains, and then turned melancholy eyes toward 
 Lloyd. 
 
 " Why," Lloyd responded, " what is the matter 
 with the mountains, Hax? I haven't got anything 
 against 'em." 
 
 Haxon shook his head dolorously. " A good 
 old country to walk in," he observed, tragically. 
 
 Lloyd affected surprise. " Cheese it!" he 
 cried, contemptuously. " With a week to show 
 — we're not stranded yet ! " 
 
 3 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Haxon's round head wagged to and fro un- 
 convinced. " That railroad agent got us good, 
 Hil'ry," he opined didactically. " We have got 
 time enough to show all right — but nothing to 
 show to." 
 
 In truth the prospect was not alluring from a 
 utilitarian point of view. The little brick court- 
 house, the most considerable edifice in the town, 
 stood in a plot of blue grass, surrounded by a fence 
 of palings, and beyond the paved square without 
 were enough small two-story shops to suggest the 
 intent of the future when the intervals should be 
 built in and the quadrangle complete. To the 
 west the scattered dwellings straggled away along 
 the hilly main street, with here and there a few 
 cottages built on intersecting roadways, which 
 should hereafter develop into cross-streets. But 
 the temple of justice, the stores and the residences 
 were none of them new, and barring a gleam of 
 fresh paint now and again from some cottage out 
 on the hilly reaches of the thoroughfare the town 
 was much as it had been for years, and would be 
 for years to come. There was a wonderful lack 
 of foliage. A few ancient oaks stood in the court- 
 house yard, and the trellises of vines and low 
 boughs in gardens betokened fruit culture, but along 
 the streets the idea of improvement seemed to 
 find its earliest municipal exposition in laying the 
 axe to the root of every forest tree that had spread 
 its boughs for centuries above the lush spaces now 
 shorn close to give the town room to expand. The 
 
 4 
 
The Windfall 
 
 landscape, steeped in splendid colour, of infinite 
 vastness, of loftiest heroic suggestion and most 
 poetic appeal, had wrought a surfeit of beauty in 
 the sordid little town, and here, held in the heart 
 of a most majestic expression of nature, there 
 was naught to intimate the contiguity of the 
 heights and the forests save the rare pure air and 
 the fragrance of the balsam fir. 
 
 The tranquillity of the sunshine, the bland, 
 suave atmosphere, the benignant breath of woods 
 and waters seemed to impart their languorous 
 lethargy to the inhabitants as well. There was 
 not the frenzied interest in a new project of what- 
 ever sort that is the concomitant of enterprise in 
 a live town. The merchants, the clerks, the few 
 lawyers, and the officials of the courthouse noticed 
 with only an episodical attention the preparations 
 to get under way the first street fair which had ever 
 shown its attractions to the denizens of Colbury. 
 
 This attitude piqued the curiosity of Lloyd. It 
 nettled and unnerved him. As it fell under his 
 observation in different ways it partook of the na- 
 ture of those who manifested it. Now it inti- 
 mated a sort of quizzical contempt, for there is 
 a class of rural wights, who preserve the bucolic 
 species still, always permeated with a disdain of 
 progress, and a distrust of whatever is new to their 
 limited experience. Now it was the outspoken 
 prophecy of disaster. 
 
 " Some fools may leave thar harvests ter waggon 
 down from the coves ter see yer show," a citizen 
 
 5 
 
The Windfall 
 
 suggested. " But a quarter of an eye will do the 
 business, accordin' ter my way o' thinkin'. Ye 
 air goin' ter bide hyar a week, they tell me. Why, 
 man, the bigges' circus I ever see jes' showed 
 fur one evenin', then tucked up its tent an' 
 marched." 
 
 "Well, that ain't the style for street fairs," 
 Lloyd explained. " This is a different sort of 
 thing." 
 
 " It is, — it is, for sure, stranger." 
 
 Though enigmatically expressed, the acquies- 
 cence was distinctly uncomplimentary, and Lloyd 
 dropped the topic. He had not come here to ex- 
 hibit skill in debate, he said to himself, but to 
 conduct a street fair. This, it was evident, would 
 tax his powers. The manager was beginning to 
 realise that he had been victimised in a certain 
 sort by the wily representations of a railroad agent 
 and the summer " cut-rates " in coming to this re- 
 mote section. The merchants' evident lack of 
 expectation of reaping the golden reward of a 
 " big crowd in town " had a damping effect on the 
 already drooping spirits of the showman. By 
 way of steadying his nerve Lloyd sought reassur- 
 ance in verifying some of the lures which had led 
 him hither. In the office of the county court clerk, 
 a brick-paved, white-washed apartment in the court- 
 house, he paid the State and county privilege tax 
 on the show, and after he had taken out his license 
 to exhibit, he courteously presented the officials with 
 free passes to all the attractions. 
 
 6 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " I hope you will do well," said the clerk in a 
 tone of condolence. 
 
 " I hope so, indeed," returned Lloyd, thinking 
 of the sum named in the tax-receipt. " We expect 
 a good crowd. We have been well advertised 
 throughout the country." 
 
 The clerk felt that he had no call to seem 
 optimistic in other men's affairs to the jeopardy of 
 his own soul. He left lying to more amiable 
 wights, and preserved a dispiriting but veracious 
 silence. 
 
 " The crops are all laid by," said a pleasant- 
 spoken bystander. " Some folks may come down 
 out'n the coves." 
 
 " I hear there is a mining camp some miles down 
 the river," said Lloyd hopefully. '" We lay con- 
 siderable on that." 
 
 " Convict camp," said the clerk sepulchrally, 
 and the amiable bystander burst out laughing. 
 
 " Them fellers have season tickets whar they 
 be, stranger," he said. And then he winked 
 hilariously at the clerk, whose funereal aspect 
 brightened dimly at the dreary jest. 
 
 The small boy, ubiquitous expression of hu- 
 manity, was out in force, and underfoot as usual. 
 Every screw that went into the adjustment of the 
 merry-go-round, the wooden head of every dummy 
 horse, the great frame of the Ferris wheel, slowly 
 rounding its circumference high into the air above 
 the house tops and showing the solemn, austere, 
 purpling mountain landscape, suffused with bur- 
 
 7 
 
The Windfall 
 
 nished, golden light, grotesquely framed by its 
 towering circle — every detail passed under the 
 personal supervision of the juvenile element of the 
 town, and if the elders lacked interest it was more 
 than atoned for by the frenzy of enthusiasm which 
 possessed the juniors. The rearing of the tall 
 mast, from the summit of which the noted " Cap- 
 tain Ollory of the Royal Navy," according to the 
 florid announcement of the posters — videlicet 
 Haxon, himself, and of what royal navy remains 
 forever unexplained — was to spring into the air and 
 plunge into a reservoir of water below, marked the 
 accession of adult curiosity. This increased to open 
 comment when Haxon himself appeared, cautiously 
 superintending its solid adjustment in the ground, 
 the stretching of the guy wires, the placing in 
 position, at the correct distance, of the great 
 trough of water which was to break the force 
 of his leap from the giddy height of the sum- 
 mit. 
 
 The gratuitous advice, freely proffered, and the 
 expressions of wonderment on all sides changed to 
 injurious doubt, as the magnitude and risk of the 
 proposed feat percolated through the densities of 
 the uninformed rural mind. " Jump off 'n that 
 thar pole? — never in this worP ! " said one of the 
 bystanders. " Onpossible ! " commented another. 
 Others opined, " Takes more'n the Street Fair ter 
 fool we-uns." 
 
 " Time come, an' the Cap'n will be tooken with 
 the chicken pip, or the bilious colic, or some dis- 
 
 8 
 
The Windfall 
 
 abling complaint an' the defrauded public will be 
 jes' settin' with its finger in its mouth." 
 
 If Haxon heard aught of these disaffected re- 
 marks he manifested no heed. Silent, surly, he 
 doggedly gave his whole attention to the details 
 on which his life depended. He was well aware 
 that however sparse the attendance at the Street 
 Fair, however disastrous the enterprise financially, 
 the exhibition of his " high dive " must be given, 
 for it was of necessity performed in the open air, 
 and therefore was a free show in the nature of an 
 advertisement. 
 
 Lloyd had often heard the cynical remark that 
 the spectators of a hazardous acrobatic feat crowd 
 to see the performer killed, not to witness his tri- 
 umph, and he was reminded of this as he watched 
 the unsympathetic citizens of the little town and 
 heard their comments and speculations concerning 
 his partner's feat, for Haxon was a half owner 
 of the enterprise. Lloyd deprecated infinitely 
 Haxon's mood of surly disaffection. He knew 
 that it tended to impair the acrobat's nerve and to 
 render his terrible feat doubly dangerous. Haxon, 
 of all men, should cultivate composure, a cheerful 
 and equable state of mind. Lloyd was subtly 
 aware that his partner secretly upbraided him for 
 this unfortunate move, the culminating disaster of 
 an unsuccessful season. For the company to go 
 to pieces at last in the remote wildernesses of the 
 Great Smoky Mountains was indeed the extremest 
 spite of fate, and even speculation shrunk back 
 
 9 
 
The Windfall 
 
 appalled from the utter blank of the possibilities 
 beyond. The exchequer was almost empty ; it was 
 " up to them," as they had said dolorously to each 
 other, to make their transportation back to New 
 York, and they would have been glad of this, even 
 with empty hands as the guerdon of their summer's 
 hard work. And in fact this meant no inconsider- 
 able sum, for in addition to the concessionaries who 
 sold and mended umbrellas, parasols and fans, dis- 
 mayed inexpressibly by their sudden projection into 
 this primitive community, the owners of the candy 
 stands and peanut roasters, the company carried 
 perforce a goodly number of individuals. While 
 there were performers who did double duty in 
 various wise, the " stunts " of the specialists could 
 not be delegated, and this swelled the bulk of the 
 expense accounts. True, Haxon, when his great 
 diurnal feat had been exploited, was wont to array 
 himself in correct evening dress and perform with 
 great spirit on the cornet as the noted soloist, 
 Signor Allegro. The " Flying Lady," when not 
 ethereally a-wing, developed into a ticket-seller of 
 no mean abilities. Even the noted juggler of the 
 company found time to sing tenor in the quar- 
 tette of the " high-class concert." But for the most 
 part the duties of the others were continuous, and 
 they were restricted to their several stations. Nat- 
 urally, the freaks— a "Fat Lady," a "Wild 
 Man," and a " Living Skeleton " — dared not court 
 gratuitously the gaze of the public who ought to 
 pay for the privilege of a shock to the nerves, and 
 
 10 
 
The Windfall 
 
 sedulously secluded themselves in their tents; the 
 kinetoscope must needs shift its scenes unceasingly, 
 and the wild west play which it exhibited reached 
 a conclusion only to begin its active agonies anew; 
 the merry-go-round and the Ferris Wheel were 
 ready to solve the problem of perpetual motion, 
 and throughout all the brass band brayed, in tune 
 by happy accident, or, deliriously indifferent to 
 the laws of harmony, vociferously off the key. 
 But for this microcosm, this bizarre little world 
 to revolve at all, must be attainable the essential 
 motive power, the admittance fee in goodly 
 quantity. 
 
 The prospect here had seemed so promising, so 
 reasonable. The company had struggled against 
 the unvarying luck of superior counter-attractions 
 wherever they had gone; to give their show in a 
 locality unused to all diversion, with not a rival 
 in prospect nor even in reminiscence, was a lure not 
 to be disregarded. The lack of an audience in 
 so sparsely settled a community did not readily 
 occur to them; a town, even a little town, implies 
 normally a tributary region of suburbs and farms. 
 The vast uninhabited mountain wildernesses faced 
 them like the land of doom. 
 
 Lloyd had had no Scriptural tuition that could 
 remind him of the Scapegoat of the Hebraic ritual, 
 loaded with the sins and the curses of the people 
 and driven into the desert to lose itself in those 
 aridities and die; but could the creature have pos- 
 sessed any sense of its doom and its direful burden, 
 
 ii 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lloyd might have realised its sentiments, as he 
 gazed appalled upon the infinite stretching of those 
 austere and lofty mountains, which even in the days 
 of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country were 
 called " The Endless." It was not his fault, he 
 said bitterly to himself, his eyes hot as he gazed. 
 The subject had been fully discussed, and all had 
 agreed on the experiment. Haxon, though a part 
 owner of the precarious and ephemeral property, 
 had not made a protest — nay, he had been an 
 earnest advocate of " fresh fields and pastures 
 new." Now Lloyd abruptly reminded him of this, 
 as with a sudden lurch and an exclamation of im- 
 patience Haxon snatched the hammer of a work- 
 man and with two or three well-directed blows 
 drove home the steel spike that held down one of 
 the guy wires. He looked up, still in his bent 
 posture, from under his frowning dark eyebrows; 
 his round, florid face, that was wont to be so jovial, 
 was all lowering and sullen. His small dark eyes 
 flashed with antagonism and vexation. " Who's 
 savin' as I didn't agree — eh? Well," as Lloyd 
 made an intimation of negation, " what's gnawin' 
 on ye, then? " 
 
 This was evidently no time nor mood for the 
 discussion of the matter, and indeed discussion was 
 futile, a mere waste of words. The die was cast. 
 The Street Fair had met its fate. If the company 
 had been wrecked on a desert island its case could 
 not be more desperate. 
 
 Lloyd turned away, looking dully about him. 
 12 
 
The Windfall 
 
 There was scant supervision now necessary — the 
 old routine, practised week after week since the 
 early spring, had grown so familiar to the work- 
 men that the most ingenious blunderer could hardly 
 find a pretext for his activities, and little by little 
 Lloyd's meditative steps took him slowly along the 
 smooth red clay road till presently he found him- 
 self on the outskirts of the town and nearing the 
 river. He shook his head gloomily when he stood 
 on the high rocks of the bank and gazing down 
 perceived the course that the road followed 
 through a clifty defile to reach the verge and the 
 ford — there was not even a bridge in this be- 
 nighted spot, and yet this was a county town! 
 The water was swift, evidently deep — he marked 
 the distance down the stream where the road once 
 more resumed its course on the opposite bank. It 
 obviously took a devious route along the bed of 
 the river, picked its steps so to speak; there must 
 be deep holes, quicksands, pitfalls on either side 
 of the comparatively safe footing of the ford, he 
 reflected. Suddenly he noticed the footbridge; 
 this followed a direct line across the torrent — a 
 trifling, primitive structure, consisting of a couple 
 of logs with a shaking hand-rail, and with the deep, 
 turbulent swift flow of a rocky mountain stream 
 beneath. Once more he dolorously shook his 
 head. Hither must come the patrons of the Street 
 Fair, even now spreading its attractions on the 
 public square to welcome them — not yet a canvas- 
 covered wagon in sight, no horseman, no foot- 
 
 13 
 
The Windfall 
 
 passenger to tempt the instabilities of the little 
 bridge. 
 
 He laid his hand on the rail and as he crossed 
 felt the elastic structure sway beneath every step, 
 while the waters swirled far below. But as he 
 reached the opposite bank and paused for a mo- 
 ment his anxieties were calmed in spite of himself 
 by the sweet peace of the dark, cool solitude; he 
 listened to the ripples eddying about the jagged 
 base of the crags — a sound distinct from the swift 
 rush of the tumultuous currents. It had a second- 
 ary tone, seeming keyed higher, a clear metallic 
 tintinnabulation like elfin minstrelsy, barely heard, 
 yet not discriminated by the senses. And oh, the 
 sylvan balm of the air! — it touched so caressingly 
 the forlorn wight's cheek, his hair as he took off 
 his hat, his hot, tired eyes, that he had half a mind 
 to fall a-sobbing on the vague breast of this insen- 
 sate sympathy. He was comforted in some sort. 
 His lungs, filled and weighted with the soot and 
 smoke and dust of a dozen sordid towns, expanded, 
 drinking in with deep draughts this fragrant elixir 
 that was but the diffusive air. He looked up into 
 the dark green boughs of the giant oaks and 
 beeches, and down again into depths as green, 
 where the crystal-clear water reflected the verdure, 
 leaf by leaf and branch by branch — only on the 
 opposite side of the stream a brilliant section of 
 vividly blue sky was duplicated, flaring out with a 
 flake of cloud dazzlingly white. 
 
 So revivifying were these influences that he had 
 14 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a mind for solitude for the nonce. A long quiet 
 walk he thought would restore his composure and 
 steady his nerves. He would compass thus a sur- 
 cease of the anxiety that harassed him, and by 
 inaction recruit his energies better to cope with 
 his problems. He had a deft, steady, sure step 
 as he took his way along the country road, cover- 
 ing the ground with surprising rapidity, for he was 
 a strong, athletic pedestrian; not that he had ever 
 walked either as a pastime or a profession, but he 
 had done various acrobatic " turns " in his time, 
 and his muscles had served him well. Now and 
 again as he went he lifted his head and looked off 
 through gaps in the foliage at the encompassing 
 mountains, critically surveying them, it might 
 seem, his head discriminatingly askew, his bright 
 eyes narrowing, and it was characteristic of his ex- 
 perience and his limitations that he appraised the 
 value of the landscape, not as scenery nor geo- 
 graphically, nor agriculturally, nor botanically, but 
 simply as it struck the eye for stage-settings. Oc- 
 casionally as the road swerved he caught a new 
 aspect, and turned himself to face the prospect, 
 holding up both arms to cut off irrelevant details, 
 and bound the picture to the limits of the most 
 effective. 
 
 " Gee, — what a flat! " he said once, and some- 
 times he waved his hands in the air, detaching bits 
 here and there of cliff, or cataract, or bosky dells 
 which he considered appropriate for " wings " or 
 " flies." .. These erratic attitudinisings might have 
 
 *5I 
 
The Windfall 
 
 suggested a doubt of his sanity had there been aught 
 to observe him as he climbed with wondrous ac- 
 tivity the steep ascent of a mountain road, hardly 
 more indeed than a bridle path, now about seven 
 miles from Colbury. He saw no living object, 
 save once, high, high in the air above the ranges, a 
 majestically circling bird, whose strength and grace 
 he paused to admire, unaware that it was the dis- 
 tance which so commended the foul mountain vul- 
 ture; and once, when the laurel pressed close into 
 the road and he heard a step within the dense 
 covert; the next instant a deer bounded out into 
 the path, caught sight of him, fixed his brilliant 
 eyes upon him, and stood petrified with terror for 
 an inappreciable second, holding one forefoot up- 
 lifted. Then stamping with all four feet together 
 and poising his antlered head backward in a splen- 
 did pose the buck sprang down the declivity, and 
 with an incredible lightness and swiftness disap- 
 peared in the densities of the deep woods. 
 
 The showman stood in stunned amaze. He had 
 before seen deer — in a disemboweled state and 
 dead as Ariovistus, hanging at the door of a cer- 
 tain restaurant of Gotham that thus advertised its 
 venison, and in the close confines of the zoological 
 display in city parks, but in its natural state, in its 
 native woods it was another creature. He had no 
 dream that a deer was like this. 
 
 " Gee," he exclaimed, " I'm paralysed if he ain't 
 the whole show ! " 
 
 He could have cried out with delight when sud- 
 16 
 
The Windfall 
 
 denly the river sought anew his companionship. 
 Down deep in a ravine now it flowed, for he had 
 been steadily climbing, although the zigzags of 
 the mountain road had minimised the slant of the 
 ascent. How darkly cool in its abysmal cliff- 
 bound channel it looked, how melodiously chant- 
 ing it was as it went. He wondered if he were 
 to cross it again — not at this height, he hoped. 
 But as he progressed ever higher and higher the 
 stream seemed to sink, ever deeper and deeper, 
 and presently the woods intervened to screen it 
 from sight, and soon its voice grew faint as it wan- 
 dered away till he could barely hear it, still sing- 
 ing, singing as it went, and then he was not sure 
 if the sound w T ere of murmurous waters or the 
 sibilance of the wind. 
 
 For the wind was rising, and all the leaves were 
 astir. A thousand voices seemed suddenly to in- 
 vade the stillness. He wondered to hear a mock- 
 ing-bird break out in jubilantly brilliant melody — 
 he had thought the species silent at this time of the 
 year; he was acquainted with them as they flour- 
 ished in cages in barber shops. The trees of the 
 dense woods were as if endowed with language, 
 for he discriminated the difference in the rustling 
 of the varieties of foliage as he passed — a keen 
 sense he had. A tree toad was shrilling hard by 
 for rain. He could not see the creature; he had 
 no idea to what the voice belonged, so limited 
 was his woodland experience. He only noted 
 the clamorous appeal. He was beginning to be 
 
 17 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tired. He wondered how far he had come at 
 this brisk pace. Suddenly he fixed the terminus 
 of his jaunt. The road forked at a little dis- 
 tance in advance, and he determined that he would 
 not trust himself to unknown divergences of the 
 main thoroughfare. He slackened his gait as he 
 approached the parting of the ways. On one side 
 the woods grew sparse, showing a deep declivity, 
 a section of valley far, far below, and beyond a 
 panorama of mountain ranges that took his breath 
 away, one above another, one beyond another, tier 
 after tier to the limits of vision. Infinity, that the 
 mind cannot grasp, was here expressed to the eye. 
 The amethystine tints imparted by the western 
 light were upon them, and he knew, therefore, 
 that they lay to the east, but despite the smile of 
 the parting sun a great mass of darkly purple clouds 
 lowered above them, raising a fictitious horizon 
 line almost to the zenith. The wind was a-surge 
 in these clouds and they visibly careened, and col- 
 lapsed, and filled out anew as if they were sails 
 spread to the fury of a gale, but no token of mo- 
 tion was in the densely wooded mountains beneath 
 them, and only a gentle breeze ruffled the tree tops 
 of the valleys, a silver wake following its invisible 
 passage. On the other side of the road he noted 
 how the timber had been cut away; a cornfield was 
 yellowing in the sun, and at the summit of the 
 slant he perceived, lazily adrift in the air, a whorl 
 of smoke that issued from the crooked and dilapi- 
 dated stick-and-clay chimney of a little log-cabin, 
 
 18 
 
The Windfall 
 
 almost invisible, embowered amongst the boughs 
 of an ample orchard of thrifty apple trees. Nearer 
 at hand these gave way to peach trees planted in 
 regular avenues and great numbers. In the dearth 
 of manufacturing energies in the region and evi- 
 dences of any agricultural industry, except of the 
 simplest limits, he was surprised by these sugges- 
 tions of enterprise and labour. The grassy glades 
 between the rows of peach trees were alluring to 
 the eye ; some cereal had been sown and harvested, 
 and in the aisles a lush growth of crab-grass had 
 sprung up, new and thick and green as moss. The 
 peaches had all been gathered, but the graceful 
 lanceolate leaves were still dense upon the boughs, 
 and the somnolent afternoon sunshine here and 
 there flickered through, and lay in long, burnished 
 golden shafts adown the green glooms. 
 
 And suddenly he was conscious of motion in their 
 midst. He could not be sure how he had failed 
 to see the figure earlier — or, indeed, had it just 
 come within his range of vision. A girl was stand- 
 ing half in the golden glow, and half in the em- 
 erald gloom of the shadow, gazing up wistfully 
 at a bough gently swaying just beyond her 
 reach. As the breeze tossed it, he saw the prize 
 that lured her — a great Indian peach, the last of 
 the season, with all the sweetness of the summer 
 suns, with all the freshness of the summer rains 
 stored within the luscious darkly-red globe. She 
 raised her hand, and made a sudden leap toward 
 it with the lightness, the grace, the agile strength 
 
 19 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of a deer. The wind brushed the bough beyond 
 her reach, and once more she bounded toward it 
 elastically. 
 
 The indescribable grace of her attitudes ap- 
 pealed to the man whose education, and interest, 
 and business in life were pose. Nothing more 
 ethereally dainty was ever exploited before the 
 footlights. He caught his breath, as, realising that 
 she had not perceived him standing in the road, he 
 gave himself up to staring at her, with a vague 
 sense of a discovery growing upon him. Her dress, 
 rustic though it was, impressed him as crudely 
 picturesque. It was of the coarsest yellow calico, 
 and she held up the skirt in front full of clusters 
 of purple grapes, so overladen that the rich bunches 
 and tendrils of vine trailed down upon her petti- 
 coat thus revealed, which was of a dark red cotton. 
 A short petticoat it was, and showed her feet and 
 ankles; her chaussure was of the flimsiest, — a pair 
 of old rubber sandals, that, laced with thongs 
 across her red hose, with only a utilitarian intent 
 of retaining them in place, had contrived to achieve 
 a classic effect; these members were so active, 
 so swift and certain, so deftly used, so elastic 
 of muscle as she skipped and leaped, that the 
 idea of the boards was suggested anew — no pre- 
 miere danseuse that he had ever seen could do 
 a " turn " more daintily. She had all the sportive 
 innocence of a fawn. 
 
 A certain difficulty encumbered her. She carried 
 on her head a basket or a piggin, hardly visible 
 
 20 
 
The Windfall 
 
 so filled it was with grapes, the tendrils and clus- 
 ters falling partly outside till they touched her 
 thick auburn hair, coiled in a great curling mass 
 at the back of her head. She now steadied this 
 pail with one upheld hand, the arm bare to the 
 elbow, and again she caught at the peach, her fair 
 up-turned face smiling, her brown eyes alight with 
 fun and yet all a-gloat, her full red lips parted 
 over her perfect teeth, and as she danced she sang, 
 or rather panted out, a stanza of a song that 
 seemed inapposite save for the first line, which, 
 perhaps, suggested it to her mind: 
 
 " Oh, shell I git my heart's desire, 
 Kind shepherd, tell me true, 
 That I may quit before I tire, 
 My Kate has many come to sue.'* 
 " Once you fail — 'tis talking, 
 Twice you fail — 'tis mocking k 
 Thrice you fail — 'tis shocking, 
 But a fool will ever play with fire." 
 
 Her voice was crudely loud, but so clear. Every 
 tone was so justly true. The enunciation was 
 faulty beyond any power of description, and at 
 first it made him wince, albeit his own capacities 
 for declamation were of no high order. Then her 
 singing struck him as characteristic — good of its 
 kind, but of a kind never classified. He had an 
 instinct for novelty. The second time she sang 
 the stanza, giving herself up with a sort of joyous 
 abandon to the dance, for now she seemed hardly 
 to hope to reach the peach, he was entranced with 
 the picture she presented, the exquisite grace of 
 her attitudes, the incomparable lightness and 
 
 21 
 
The Windfall 
 
 strength of her dancing, her beautiful, symmetrical 
 form, and the strong sweet melody of her voice 
 as it floated out so richly. He noted the con- 
 trast of her slender waist and limbs with the full 
 throat — revealed by the bodice of the orange- 
 tinted calico, the edges of which were turned in at 
 the top for added coolness — the deep chest. With 
 the vocal endowments the build assured the singer. 
 
 His interest was as impersonal as if she were 
 indeed a feature of some Thespian exhibition. 
 He had not thought how the scene must end — 
 that if he moved she must descry him standing 
 so near at hand in the road. And in fact he did 
 not move — he was still motionless, spellbound, 
 when a wider circuit of the tree brought him sud- 
 denly within her range of vision. She paused so 
 abruptly as to jeopardise the equilibrium of the 
 pail on her head and she lifted her hand to steady 
 its profuse wealth of grape clusters, and thus she 
 stood at gaze, her lips parted, her eyes dilated 
 with astonishment. 
 
 He divined her sentiments at the moment of 
 discovery, but he could not understand the facial 
 expression that ensued. Her eyes narrowed with 
 an inimical suggestion, watchful, expectant. Her 
 red lips closed firmly. He had not before noticed 
 how strong of contour was her chin, intimating 
 resolution. He lifted his hat courteously, and 
 waited for her to speak. She remained silent, 
 and there was a moment of vacuum. 
 
 Then a sudden sound smote the stillness. A 
 
 22 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tremendous peal of thunder came from the mass 
 of darkly purple clouds suspended above the 
 mountains across the valley. As he instinctively 
 turned his head, they were rent by a swift zigzag 
 gleam of a sinister whiteness, and again the 
 thunder pealed. The turmoils that had earlier 
 convulsed the clouds had now taken definite direc- 
 tion. The wind was driving them hitherward 
 across the valley, and for the first time in his life 
 he heard the raindrops pattering down upon tree 
 tops two thousand feet below him, while he stood 
 high in the sunshine. One of the sudden mountain 
 storms impended. In another moment, as he per- 
 ceived, the torrents would be loosed upon them. 
 He was arrayed to simulate prosperity; " out-at- 
 elbows," even in a showman, is a confession of 
 disaster. Had business been good he would have 
 gone far less smart. He had a prudential con- 
 sideration of shelter. 
 
 u Gee! There comes a corker! " he exclaimed. 
 11 Could I go to the house, lydy? " 
 
 He realised the incongruity of the address with 
 this untutored peasant, but a sense of policy blended 
 with his extravagant courtesy in its application. 
 The " lady " gazed at him with that countenance 
 of severe monition which he hardly understood. 
 
 " I was thinkin' ez ye mought ez well," she 
 replied. Her answer was not so ungracious as 
 irrelevant. He was a man of keen intuitions, and 
 he was realising that their thoughts did not meet. 
 She spoke of somewhat else than the storm. He 
 
 23 
 
The Windfall 
 
 was not a well-bred man in any sense. The im- 
 personations of the stage comprised his tuition of 
 conduct and courtesy, but he had the veneer which 
 even the observation of the customs of gentility 
 afford, the manners of the street, the trains, the 
 theatre, and, as she threw down the bars of the 
 fence and came into the road, he lifted his hat 
 again, and prepared to walk by her side, and pro- 
 posed to carry her pail. She said nothing. She 
 only gave him a wide, uncomprehending stare, then 
 fell into the road several paces behind him. For 
 his life he could not avoid turning, and slacken- 
 ing his gait, that she might come up alongside. 
 
 " Keep right ahead," she said severely, and thus 
 admonished he took up his line of march for the 
 cabin on the hill. 
 
 She herded him along as a canine guardian of 
 a flock might regulate the progress of a stray sheep. 
 Once he again stepped instinctively to one side of 
 the path in the expectation that she would join 
 him, but she instantly crossed to the same side, 
 and kept the distance the same between them, some 
 two paces, even when the drops began to fall, and 
 he quickened his gait to a speedy run. Only a 
 short interval elapsed before they were at the bars 
 of the pasture fence, which were already on the 
 ground, and traversing the absolutely bare and 
 hard-trodden dooryard to a log cabin of a most 
 uninviting aspect. 
 
 He had scant opportunity to mark its details 
 till he was on the rickety little porch where, look- 
 
 24 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing over his shoulder, he had a cursory glimpse of 
 its stereotyped features — strange enough to him; 
 the wood-pile, situated on a sea of chips; the bee- 
 gums, ranged along the fence; the grindstone; the 
 ash-hopper; the rooting pigs in a corner; the 
 cow, standing in a shed at one side waiting to be 
 milked; a good strong waggon also under that 
 shelter; a bevy of poultry, big and little, pecking 
 about the door; a dozen curs of low degree noisily 
 yelping around him, with so spurious an affecta- 
 tion of fierceness that it could not impose even 
 on a stranger's fears; and a big bulldog, of a most 
 ferocious silence, slowly dragging a block and 
 chain from under the house. Infinitely incon- 
 gruous the whole seemed with the imperial, august 
 aspect of the purple, storm-dominated mountains 
 beyond and the smiling serenity of the far sunlit 
 valleys, their variant tones of green enriched by 
 the burnished golden afternoon glamours, and 
 by the silver glintings of the river coursing through 
 the coves in the distance. The next moment the 
 clouds fell like a curtain before them all. The 
 thunder pealed; the torrents descended; the door- 
 yard was a network of puddles, and the clamor- 
 ous beat of the rain on the roof made the room 
 into which he was ushered resound like a drum. 
 
 25 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 HILARY LLOYD had never seen aught 
 like this apartment. The beams of the 
 low, unplastered ceiling, brown with 
 smoke and age, were hung with strings of red 
 peppers and bunches of herbs; the two beds, high 
 and plump, were covered with gay patchwork 
 quilts of marvellous design; the vast fireplace — 
 he could hardly believe his eyes when he marked 
 the clay-and-stick materials of its construction — 
 looked as if it had been built by some big bird; 
 the quaint pots, and ovens, and skillets, and trivets 
 ranged in one corner he appraised as cooking uten- 
 sils, but their like he had never before beheld; for 
 a moment he did not recognise the use of a queer 
 box-like cradle, which a faded young woman, with 
 a snuff brush in her mouth, was rocking with one 
 foot, delegated to maternal duty, while she sat 
 staring with lack-lustre eyes at the advent of the 
 stranger with the daughter of the house. 
 
 "Hi!" he exclaimed delightedly. "Hello, 
 Baby! " He did not wait to make sure of his 
 welcome or for any formalities of introduction. 
 He pounced down on the cradle, yanked out the 
 infant from the coverlets, tossed it up to the ceil- 
 ing, and then set it on the tall mantelpiece, hold- 
 
 26 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing it there with both hands to take a good look 
 at it, while the members of the family stood around 
 in wonder. Whether the child fancied that it had 
 already met the showman and mistook his identity, 
 whether this boisterous method of address ac- 
 corded with its undeveloped sense of manners, 
 whether the nap to which it had been consigned 
 were compulsory and it rejoiced in its release, it 
 responded genially to the demonstration in the 
 spirit in which this was tendered. It was an attrac- 
 tive object as it sat on the high mantelpiece and 
 flopped its very fat legs to and fro, frankly ex- 
 hibited by its short pink calico skirt, and laughed 
 widely with two pearly white teeth all agleam in 
 a very red mouth. It had red hair, curling in 
 very seductive ringlets about a fair brow, and its 
 big blue eyes were as merry as a clown's. At 
 every jocose movement of Lloyd's thumbs on its 
 fat stomach, tickling it surreptitiously as he held 
 the child on its perch, it burst into repeated peals 
 of infantile laughter, and no one cared how hard 
 the rain came down, or listened to the thunder 
 roll. 
 
 " By George, you're a peach! you're a daisy! " 
 cried Lloyd hilariously. 
 
 " Be you uns a family man, stranger? " a high 
 vibratory voice queried, and Lloyd glancing down 
 beheld at one side of the fire an ancient wrinkled 
 face, surrounded by the crinkled ruffle of a great 
 white cap, a venous hand, holding a pipe of strong 
 tobacco at arm's length, and a thin bent figure 
 
 27 
 
The Windfall 
 
 attired in a blue and white checked homespun 
 gown, with a little red plaid shoulder shawl. 
 
 " Good-evenin', madam, " he said, snatching off 
 his hat — one hand could hold the baby. " Fam- 
 ily man? — nope!" he replied emphatically, and he 
 shook his head sagely. " The kind of biz I'm in 
 don't give a feller much chance at the domestic 
 altar — winter and summer, night and day, on 
 the go. As to the lydies — they ain't disposed to 
 marry a man on the road." 
 
 He could not understand the appalled pallor 
 that settled on her pinched high-featured face. 
 
 " Why n't ye git a better bizness? " she asked, 
 with the plangent cadence of reproach. 
 
 He stared, again confronted with that sense of 
 being at once uncomprehending and uncompre- 
 hended. " Do I speak the English langwitch, or 
 not? " he said petulantly in his inner consciousness. 
 For the situation fostered doubts. 
 
 The stress of the obvious misunderstanding 
 placed a period to the carousal with the baby, and 
 he handed the infant back to its mother as he took 
 a tendered chair. The child had no mind to re- 
 linquish the gay company it had encountered, and 
 clung to the showman, working both bare feet 
 in the direction of its lackadaisical mother, with 
 a very distinct intention of making her keep her 
 distance, if kicks might suffice. Its strength did 
 not match its resolution, however, and it was 
 shortly consigned to its cradle, where it crawled 
 up out of its coverings, whenever it was laid on 
 
 28 
 
The Windfall 
 
 its back, yelling vociferously and continuously, 
 save when it paused once or twice to break into a 
 laugh as Lloyd leaned over the back of his chair 
 to snap his fingers at it. 
 
 " You have got a dandy place up here," he said 
 by way of making his stay agreeable. " Fine 
 orchard. Must have oodles of apples and 
 peaches." 
 
 Again that doubt of the " English langwitch " 
 assailed him. Surely he had said naught affright- 
 ing, but there was a look like terror in the old 
 woman's eyes. 
 
 " Some o' the trees ain't good bearers," said 
 the girl, speaking for the first time since their en- 
 trance. She had bestowed elsewhere her burden of 
 grapes, and she was standing now on the broad 
 hearthstone divested of those picturesque acces- 
 sories to her costume. Lloyd was conscious of a 
 curiosity concerning her beauty, thus devoid of 
 embellishment, but as he turned to critically scan 
 her appearance his attention was struck by a pecu- 
 liarity that diverted his survey. She had just been 
 out in the rain — yet how they had both run to 
 reach the shelter before the bursting of the storm! 
 She was evidently wet to the skin, and as she stood 
 on the hot flagstones the water ran off her hair, 
 her hands, her skirts in rills, and the heat of the 
 fire sent the steam ascending from every drenched 
 fold of her garments. Her errand had obviously 
 been a matter of some importance toward which 
 she had had little inclination, for she did not relish 
 
 29 
 
The Windfall 
 
 her dripping condition, as was manifested in the 
 fact that she was immediately taking down a fresh 
 gown from where it had hung on a nail on the 
 back of a door, and rummaging in a chest for 
 other dry gear. She did not leave the room, how- 
 ever, till a heavy step smote the puncheons of the 
 porch, when she gathered up the fresh garments 
 and climbing a ladder-like stairway to a room 
 in the roof, disappeared in the attic. 
 
 She had gone to summon the master of the 
 house on his account, Lloyd realised at length, and 
 with a sentiment of expectant anxiety he turned 
 toward the newcomer, although for his life he 
 could not understand what should require the girl 
 to face a tempest like this to bring the owner to 
 reckon with a chance wayfarer, seeking shelter 
 from a storm. The owner, nay, two, five, a half 
 dozen stalwart men, heavily built, tall, bearded, clad 
 in brown jeans, trooped in, their united tramp shak- 
 ing the puncheons of the floor like the march of a 
 detachment of infantry. They, too, dripped with 
 the rain, but with more unconcern than the girl had 
 manifested, for they ensconced themselves in chairs, 
 two or three joining the group around the hearth- 
 stone, where winter and summer the mountaineer's 
 fire is always aglow, its intensity governed by the 
 temperature; the others leaned back against the 
 wall, their splint-bottomed chairs tilted on the hind 
 legs, all solemnly silent, all monotonously chewing 
 their quids of tobacco, all stolidly eyeing the 
 guest. 
 
 JO 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Only the eldest seemed to anticipate conversa- 
 tion. Not that he spoke himself, but he fixed his 
 eyes so interrogatively, so coercively on Lloyd's 
 face that the expression betokened a hundred eager 
 questions. An account of himself was evidently 
 in order — but why? Lloyd glanced out of the 
 open door at the glittering, steely, serried ranks of 
 the rainfall, thinking that as soon as they had 
 marched past and down the valley he too would 
 speedily evacuate the premises and see his queer 
 entertainers never again — unless indeed they were 
 minded to patronise the attractions of the great 
 Lloyd & Haxon Street Fair now ready to exhibit 
 in Colbury. The association of ideas allayed a 
 sudden rush of anger which was rising in his 
 consciousness, responsive to the uncertainty of his 
 position, the peculiarity of their manner, the im- 
 possibility to compass an accord of comprehension 
 in these simplicities of circumstance. It was 
 stemmed in an instant by the instinct of the show- 
 man. Since he was expected by his uncouth host 
 to inaugurate the conversation he would in the 
 interest of the show waive ceremony and essay 
 whatever topic came first to his tongue. 
 
 " Sudden storm, sir," he said. " I was out 
 there admiring your fine orchards and it overtook 
 me." 
 
 The host's jaw dropped. It was odd that his 
 face could be so expressive, masked as it was by 
 a bushy growth of red beard, evidently once of 
 fiery tint, but now so veined with grey that the 
 
 31 
 
The Windfall 
 
 effect was quenched to a degree. Perhaps because 
 all its indicia were of the conventional type their 
 significance was easily discerned. His mouth, 
 cavernous amidst the beard, stood open in readily 
 interpreted dismay. His small brown eyes hung 
 with a persistent appeal on the eyes of the stranger. 
 His head bent forward stiffly, with an intent, ex- 
 pectant waiting. He uttered not a syllable. 
 
 "Great Scott! They all look as if they had 
 seen a ghost ! " thought the amazed Lloyd. 
 
 The next moment he felt a sudden touch on his 
 knee, and turning sharply in his chair, perceived 
 the old woman's tremulous claw bespeaking atten- 
 tion as she leaned forward toward him from her 
 chimney corner. Her cap frills quivered in her 
 agitation; her face was deathly pale. " Stranger," 
 she said solemnly, " we make vinegar, an' sell it 
 — an' not a thing else. Vinegar — vinegar — sell it 
 to the stores in town." 
 
 Lloyd stared. He felt as if he were in a night- 
 mare. Yet he could recall no nightmare that had 
 ever exerted so great a strain on his mental 
 endowments. 
 
 "Vinegar?" he said with a forced laugh. 
 " Well, I don't take much stock in vinegar. I 
 ain't one of the sour kind. Vinegar ain't good to 
 drink. I couldn't pledge your health in that, lydy. 
 With all of them fine fruits I should think you 
 might make something better than vinegar." 
 
 The host spoke up acridly. 
 
 " Mam," he addressed the old dame, " you jes' 
 
 3* 
 
The Windfall 
 
 hesh up." His voice was husky, as if he spoke 
 with an effort — hasty, as if he scarcely knew what 
 to say. 
 
 Lloyd turned upon him with a sudden flare of 
 anger. " I don't want to call a man a cad in his 
 own house," he flamed. " But the lydy will talk 
 as she pleases while I'm aboard. I'd oodles rather 
 talk to her than to you, sir." 
 
 The old woman had evidently lost her poise — 
 she cast an amazed, affrighted glance upon her son. 
 Then she clumsily sought to repair the damage 
 that she fancied she had done. " Dried apples, 
 stranger, an' dried peaches. We uns cut an' sell 
 'em ter the store — in town. Dried apples an' 
 peach-leather." 
 
 " Very praiseworthy. But dried apples ain't 
 the best thing that can come out of an orchard," 
 Lloyd began, but the host cut him short. 
 
 " Mam," said the great, bearded giant, antici- 
 pating her reply — his face a very mask of terror 
 — " ef you uns don't hesh up " 
 
 "What will you do, eh? Nothing while I'm 
 here," Lloyd blustered. " Why, man, you're a 
 monstrosity. I've a mind to take you off with 
 me! " There was a sudden stir behind Lloyd; he 
 had a vague perception that the five other men 
 were afoot with some intent, which he did not 
 know, and for which he did not care. " I'll put 
 you on exhibition in my show as the ' wild man 
 of Persimmon Cove.' You ain't any more civil- 
 ised than my big boa constrictor. You ought to 
 
 33 
 
The Windfall 
 
 draw a crowd all by your lonesome. What sort 
 of behaviour is this for a son? " 
 
 " Oh," squealed the old woman savagely, " he 
 is the best son that ever stepped — an' I'll mark 
 the face o' the man who says the contrairy ! " She 
 held up her talons tremulously. " The best son 
 that ever stepped." 
 
 " Mam," quavered the mountaineer, in despair, 
 " you uns will ruin me bodaciously. Jes' hesh yer 
 mouth an' hold yer tongue, ef so be ye know how." 
 
 Lloyd, still seated, looked up wonderingly at the 
 group, now all afoot and gathered about him. 
 He noted that the two younger men presently 
 placed themselves by the door, as if he might make 
 a break for liberty. He was aware, too, for the 
 first time of the number of weapons on the walls. 
 The rifle on deer antlers above the mantelpiece 
 had caught his attention when he first entered, but 
 now he took heed of others here and there sus- 
 tained in place by pegs driven between the logs. 
 This was not remarkable, perhaps, since there were 
 several men in the family, but he was not used 
 to seeing a living room unite its functions with 
 that of an armoury. He could understand naught 
 of the strange episode, and it had elements and 
 suggestions infinitely distasteful to his predilec- 
 tions. " All I have got to say then is that bad is 
 the best — if that is the best son," Lloyd persisted. 
 11 He has got no more feeling than the big snake 
 in my show." 
 
 The word, mentioned for the second time, made 
 
 34 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a definite impression. There was a sudden abso- 
 lute pause within. The wind outside rose and fell 
 in sonorous gusts above the vast valley. The 
 iterative beat of the rain on the roof was differen- 
 tiated, in the myriad tentative touches of the drops, 
 from the swirling splash of its aggregations from 
 the eaves. The log on the andirons, long 
 a-smoulder, broke in twain with a dull crash, its 
 two ends falling apart on the piles of ashes in 
 either corner, and sending up a shower of sparks 
 and a cloud of pungent smoke. Even the padded 
 footfalls of one of the dogs were discriminated in 
 the silence as he trotted across the floor and stood 
 at the door, gazing out at the rain for a moment, 
 then with a blended yawn and whine stretched 
 himself to unprecedented proportions and once 
 more came back to lie on the warm hearth, where 
 the group still stood motionless, towering expect- 
 antly over the visitor as Lloyd sat in his chair and 
 stared blankly at them all. 
 
 U A show, stranger?" the husky voice of the 
 master of the house ventured dubiously. " Be 
 you uns got a show? " 
 
 " I have that," Lloyd declared promptly, " and 
 don't you forget it. The Lloyd & Haxon Com- 
 pany. Greatest show on earth! Unrivalled at- 
 tractions ! Flying Lydy, Fat Lydy, Isaac, the 
 snake-eater — eats 'em alive, — Captain Ollory, of 
 the Royal Navy, greatest high dive artist in the 
 world — daily exhibition free, — finest Ferris Wheel 
 ever seen, Merry-go-round with both saddles and 
 
 3$ 
 
The Windfall 
 
 chariots — great musical attractions — quartet of 
 high-class singers, and daily recitals by Signor 
 Allegro on the cornet — brass band concert before 
 each performance — pyrotechnic exhibition at night, 
 free . . ." he reeled off this farrago with the 
 utmost respect and seriousness while his host stared 
 in astonishment. 
 
 " Stop — stop " cried the showman sud- 
 denly. " I have got some pictorial paper here and 
 other literachure of the company." He drew from 
 his breast pockets some compactly folded posters 
 which when opened out proved to be highly tinted 
 illustrations of these unrivalled attractions. He 
 sprang nimbly out of his chair and began good- 
 naturedly to spread them out on the floor of the 
 cabin at the feet of the old " lydy " who had 
 threatened him with a passage at arms. The 
 others stood around dumbly, doubtfully staring at 
 the red and yellow daubs; even the dogs joined the 
 circle, vaguely wagging their tails and now and 
 then gazing up hopefully into their masters' faces, 
 as if to demand when something in the nature of 
 a banquet would ensue on so much show of interest. 
 One of them, a pointer, suddenly impatient, walked 
 across the paper, leaving on it the imprint of his 
 toes damp from a recent excursion into the puddles 
 of the porch. Lloyd caught him by the nose and 
 lifted him off with one hand. " What d'ye mean 
 by spoiling the portrait of the fat lydy," he said, 
 and dropping on one knee he rectified the damage 
 with his handkerchief. 
 
 36 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "Where? — where, stranger?" demanded the 
 old woman in a twitter of the keenest curiosity. 
 " Waal, sir!" eyeing the picture, "she is boda- 
 ciously broad. Air that thar a speakin' likeness, 
 sir?" 
 
 " Honest, she is fat," said Lloyd. " She has 
 to ride in a cart by her lone. But she is a 
 very nice lydy — high-toned. I feel sorry for 
 her." 
 
 "Why? " asked the girl, unexpectedly. 
 
 Lloyd glanced up doubtfully at her from his 
 lowly posture, then slowly rose to his feet. 
 
 " Well," he said, turning his head thoughtfully 
 to one side, as if to scrutinise his impressions, " I 
 always was sorry for freaks. They are always in 
 demand, and they generally earn a handsome sal- 
 ary, but money ain't everything — money can't 
 make people happy." 
 
 He stopped short, reflecting that a compara- 
 tively small amount would add very materially to 
 his prospect of felicity. 
 
 Once more he had a shuddering sense of a 
 venerable claw laid on his arm. The old woman 
 was at his side. " Stranger," she said mysteri- 
 ously, " ef anybody in town axes you ef we uns 
 make money up hyar on the mounting you kin jes' 
 sw'ar ez ye knows 'tain't true. We uns ain't got 
 nuthin' ter make money with." 
 
 Lloyd gazed in amazement at her — then 
 around at the humble place with every evidence 
 of poverty, and to his mind, discomfort. But he 
 
 37 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Could not with civility acquiesce in her statement 
 and he hesitated. 
 
 " Mam," her son plained, " ye air wuss than 
 pore, ye air plumb deranged. This hyar man air 
 a showman." 
 
 " And I want you, sir, for a freak! " Lloyd de- 
 clared rudely. " Allow me, lydy, to present you 
 with some free tickets for the show, for yourself 
 and these other two lydies. These will be good 
 for any day and the whole biz, if you can come 
 down to Colbury one day this week." He was 
 shuffling the little blue and red cards in his hands, 
 his instinct being to include the entire family, but 
 a recollection of the acrid remonstrances of " Cap- 
 tain Ollory of the Royal Navy " on the occasion 
 of similar generosities, stayed his hand. 
 
 " Naw, sir, naw sir! nare one," the head of the 
 family had found his ordinary sonorous voice. 
 " We may be pore, ez Mam says, but we pay ez 
 we go. We kin tote our end of the log. We'll 
 attend the show — but we ain't wantin' nobody ter 
 gin us a treat." 
 
 " Shadrach, — Shadrach," quavered out the old 
 woman in a twitter of anxiety, " whut ye talkin' 
 'bout. Ye know ye ain't got no money — an' you 
 ain't got no way — no way — ter git no money." 
 
 " Hesh that up, Mam," the son admonished 
 her, " else you'll go J^^stracted, and eend yer days 
 with a gag in yer mouth an' tied ter the bedpost." 
 
 " Cheese it, I tell you ! " Lloyd confronted him 
 angrily. " You will stow your tongue while I'm 
 
 38 
 
The Windfall 
 
 here or I'll give you what for. I'd floor you 
 anyhow for a nickel, but you are too old for me to 
 touch." 
 
 " S'pose you uns try me! " one of the young 
 mountaineers beside the door stepped forth. 
 
 He was like unto the sons of Anak, gigantic of 
 build, every movement informed with elasticity and 
 vigour, and the others broke into a great guffaw, 
 so slight by contrast, so girlishly dapper did Lloyd 
 appear, with so rose pink a flush in his cheek as he 
 stood on the hearth. But his eyes flashed at the 
 challenge, and as the muscular young mountaineer 
 approached, carefully eyeing him, he threw off his 
 coat and " bunched his fives " without a moment's 
 hesitation. 
 
 The rural giant's lunge was something fright- 
 ful in its weighty impetuosity. The stranger side- 
 stepped with lightning-like swiftness; his arm 
 flew out in a sudden counter-stroke that landed 
 with an impact like the click of a solid shot; the 
 little cabin shook on its foundations and rang with 
 a clatter that discounted the tumults of the storm 
 as the young mountaineer " went to grass " with a 
 precipitancy that left hardly an available muscle 
 in his whole big body. 
 
 There were some capacities for the enjoyment 
 of sport and a sense of fair play in the applause of 
 the others, for Tom Pinnott showed that he was 
 not seriously hurt by ruefully gathering himself 
 together and sitting where he had fallen on the 
 floor, sheepishly laughing and rubbing his shoulder. 
 
 39 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " How on yearth, stranger," demanded old 
 Shadrach Pinnott, who seemed to bear no grudge 
 for the several smart admonitions as to his filial 
 conduct which the young showman had adminis- 
 tered, " How on yearth did ye ever contrive ter 
 throw Tawm." 
 
 " Oh, I have had experience in the ring," said 
 Lloyd, pulling on his coat. " I trained with a 
 good prospect for the light-weight championship, 
 but I gave it up. I don't like to fight. I have 
 got the sand all right, but I have got to get my 
 mad up to fight with any spirit. Now, what I like 
 in a public performance is to show some kind of 
 merit, you know, of fine flavour. I mean some- 
 thing pleasing — that don't hurt nobody, nor leave 
 nobody in the lurch, nor make much of one man 
 to destroy another's prospects. Competitions 
 ain't my lay at all. Now, if I could choose I'd 
 like to exhibit a song and dance such as this lydy 
 here was enjoying in the orchard. That would hit 
 the taste of the public, too — to a charm — to a 
 charm." 
 
 He wagged his head with the emphasis of con- 
 viction. An exquisite bit of rusticity, he felt it 
 to be, as refined, as delicate, as free from the rough 
 edges of common country life, idealised because 
 of the girl's grace and beauty, yet as genuinely 
 bucolic as a pastoral poem or painting. He had 
 begun to ply her with insistence. If the " lydies " 
 would come down he would arrange so that it 
 shouldn't cost them a cent. By fair rights she 
 
 40 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ought to be paid for dancing and singing, and as she 
 cried out in amazed ridicule of the idea he assured 
 her that in the outside world this happened every 
 day. Ladies received money, legal tender, actual 
 currency, for nothing but singing and dancing. 
 " And few of them can do a turn like you," he 
 declared. But because of his partner — and he 
 paused to disclose to them in a voice of mystery 
 the exceedingly pertinent fact that Captain Ollory 
 of the Royal Navy, whose real name was Haxon, 
 was a partner in the enterprise, and without his 
 consent he dared not offer her money till she had 
 been tried and the public captured. 
 
 " Do you think you would be scared? " he 
 asked, ready to reassure the delicate feminine 
 sensibility. 
 
 " Skeered o' whut?" she demanded wonder- 
 ingly. 
 
 If she could not instinctively prefigure shrink- 
 ing from the crowds, from the strange situation, 
 he determined that he would not suggest the poign- 
 ant anguish of stage fright, and the thought oc- 
 curred to him for the first time that this was a 
 product of civilisation, the evil of self-conscious- 
 ness, the prescience of carping criticism or ridicule. 
 He made haste to say that the tent of Isaac, the 
 snake-tamer, where he was wont to " eat 'em 
 alive " was at the other end of the Square from the 
 tent wherein she would sing and dance. True, the 
 " Wild Man " was a close neighbour, but since she 
 was to be in effect for a time a member of the com- 
 
 4i 
 
The Windfall 
 
 pany he would disclose in confidence the circum- 
 stance that Wick-Zoo, the Wild Man, was getting 
 to be quite civilised, in fact — in fact — he burst out 
 laughing, — Wick-Zoo was a pretty good fellow. 
 She need have no fear of Wick-Zoo, the Wild 
 Man. 
 
 Then he piped up with a very pretty tenor and 
 sang the air which he had caught from hearing it 
 in the orchard, and gave her some points as to the 
 management of her voice to make more of it for 
 the public behoof. 
 
 And while the old grandmother listened sharp- 
 eyed and spellbound, the girl, proving docile and 
 tractable, sought to apply his admonitions and 
 criticism, and now and again his dulcet tenor tones 
 rang out to illustrate some axiom. The group of 
 mountain men lingered for a time, but presently 
 drifted out to the rain-drenched porch, where drops 
 still trickled from the eaves. The storm was 
 over; as they gazed out down the valley they saw 
 that it had become all of a luminous emerald green 
 with vast clouds of pearl white vapours shimmer- 
 ing and glistening as the sun smote upon them, 
 floating between the purple mountains near at 
 hand and half veiling the distant azure ranges. 
 A sudden rainbow sprung into the light, spanning 
 the abysses from Chilhowee to the Great Smoky 
 heights, and further down the valley, like a faint 
 reflection of its glories, a duplicate arch was set in 
 the mists beyond. With stolid unperceptive eyes 
 they mechanically dwelt upon the scene — it was 
 
 42 
 
The Windfall 
 
 to them but the ordinary aspect of life. They 
 appreciated naught of its splendours, its vastness, 
 its pictorial values, its uplifting subtlety of sug- 
 gestion. It meant to them that the rain was over 
 and that sunset would soon emblazon the west. 
 Cows were to be milked, the stock to be fed, the 
 wood to be cut, and perhaps other duties pressed 
 upon their recollection, for Tom presently said in 
 a low voice to his father, " Granny mighty nigh 
 let the cat out'n the bag." 
 
 Shadrach Pinnott warily nodded his head in 
 assent. 
 
 Another of his sons spoke up after cautiously 
 listening to be sure that the newcomer could hear 
 naught but his own carolling, " ' My Kate has 
 many come to sue ! ' " 
 
 " Ef he hed been what Clotildy took him fur 
 the whole secret would hev been out fur true." 
 
 The bare suggestion that this danger might have 
 so nearly menaced them put the whole group out 
 of countenance. 
 
 " Ye 'low ez ye be sure, dad, ez he air nuthin' 
 but a showman like he say? " asked Daniel, the 
 eldest of Shadrach's sons, a slow, sedate-looking 
 man of thirty years. " Ye 'low he didn't sense 
 nuthin' o' the facts from them words that Granny 
 let fall?" 
 
 Shadrach Pinnott's shock head bent in his deep 
 cogitation. " He hed the papers an' the tickets of 
 a showman," he argued. " An' thar hev been 
 word of a Street Fair comin', down in Colb'ry." 
 
 43 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " An' he hev got the muscle an' the showin' of 
 a reg'lar prize-fighter," said Tom, the athlete, 
 bethinking himself to rub his shoulder. 
 
 "An' lis'n," said the crafty old moonshiner; 
 " he sings like a plumb mocking-bird. In my 
 opinion the whole Revenue Department ain't ekal 
 ter sech quirin' ez that." 
 
 And once more the dulcet plaint " My Kate 
 has many come to sue," challenged the echoes. 
 
 44 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FOR a long time after Lloyd had quitted the 
 place Clotilda Pinnott stood on the porch 
 and listened to his retreating footsteps. 
 An impressive silence had succeeded the turmoils 
 of the storm. No more the echo repeated the 
 sonorous proclamation of the imperious thunder. 
 One could hardly realise how the trumpeting wind 
 had blared through those narrow, deep, mute val- 
 leys with their yet more secluded, cup-like coves. 
 The glancing lyrical notes of the rain, falling on 
 the ear like myriads of uncomprehended words 
 keyed to harmony in rhythmic measure, had left 
 but now and again the patter of glittering silver 
 drops from the low-hanging boughs of some mois- 
 ture-weighted tree. In this quiescence of nature 
 she could mark his progress, as silent, too, she 
 leaned against the post of the rickety porch, her 
 fresh gown of faint blue cotton still distinct in the 
 fading light, so clarified was the air, so pervasive 
 the reflection of the great expanse of the deeply 
 yellow western sky, glowing like burnished copper 
 above the dusky purple mountains that deployed 
 against the horizon line, high above the emerald 
 valleys below. Now she heard the impact of his 
 foot on stone, and again it was the shifting of sand 
 
 45 
 
The Windfall 
 
 and gravel dislodged by his step that told her he 
 had turned the curve of the road; now she knew 
 he was almost immediately in a line with the house, 
 but nearly a thousand feet below on the mountain 
 side. She was apprised when he passed the chalyb- 
 eate spring, not indeed by the sound of his tread, 
 for the distance here was too great; some vague 
 reverberations began to issue from the gigantic 
 gneiss cliff hard by that rose austere, grey, col- 
 umnar, nearly one thousand feet sheer, standing 
 out in half relief from the main mountain mass 
 like a flying buttress of some buried castle in the 
 mythical days of the giants. Its niched and 
 creviced summit was on a level with the cabin 
 perched so high on the mountain side, and now 
 and then a broken vibration betokened the sound 
 of a step below; then came the echo of a voice 
 faintly singing the orchard song. Then silence — 
 a long lapse of time — and still silence. 
 " He's gone," she said. " He's gone ! " 
 She sighed with a vague languor, an unappre- 
 ciated pain, and shifted her posture. The tension 
 of her vigilance was relaxed. She stretched up 
 both her arms against the post and dully yawned. 
 Then she looked out at the scene with the effect of 
 observing it for the first time. For a long inter- 
 val she gazed at the burnished translucent yellow 
 glow of the west that despite its brilliance seemed 
 to diffuse no light upon the world below. Shadows 
 were mustering; the valley beneath could hardly be 
 discerned now, but for the rising of the mists. 
 
 4 6 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Their white glimmer among the darker tree tops 
 prolonged the visibility of the forests. Only the 
 horizon line, sharply drawn against the saffron 
 glamours of the heavens, preserved the contour of 
 the mountains, otherwise lost in the dull purplish 
 dusk. 
 
 No longer silence reigned. First she heard the 
 tremulous trilling of a tree-toad; a pause ensued in 
 the moist vacuity of the atmosphere, and then came 
 a raucous tentative note of a frog, and presently 
 there sounded a dozen like voices, and now the 
 air rocked to and fro with the strophe and anti- 
 strophe of the batrachian tribe, all a-croak by the 
 water courses, and the continuous shrilling of the 
 cicada. All were loud in the calm twilight, so loud 
 that an appreciated sense of silence seemed attend- 
 ant on the evening star, pellucid, white, quivering 
 in the yellow glow of the west, and the slow drop- 
 ping of the crescent moon adown and adown the 
 sky. 
 
 Clotilda appeared as if she were going to meet 
 it, as she suddenly stepped into the bridle path and 
 began to take her way up the steep ascent of the 
 mountain. A pine tree showed high against the 
 heavens, and as she looked the moon seemed for 
 a time as if entangled amidst its fibrous boughs. 
 Then, as the direction of the path veered, the mystic 
 cresset once more swung against the rich daffodil 
 sky, with opaline glimmers trailing after on all the 
 sea of mist which now submerged valley and forest, 
 still vibrant with the voices of the night; the mist 
 
 47 
 
The Windfall 
 
 rose above the precipices to the left and tossed its 
 waves, spectre-like, detached, flickering amongst 
 the dense jungle of the laurel growths through 
 which the path had begun to stray. Its trend 
 grew difficult to discern; now it was obliterated, 
 then it reappeared, and again was altogether and 
 finally lost to view. A darksome, dubious way to 
 be sure, and lonelier than aught might express. 
 Even Clotilda lingered, reluctant, perhaps, turn- 
 ing her white face toward the moon, its glamour 
 full upon her pensive pallor. The darkness an- 
 nulled all else save only this elfin face among the 
 glossy leaves gazing on the magic bow of pearl 
 and loath to quit the light. Suddenly she was 
 gone. 
 
 The rhododendron jungle closed about her. If 
 there were ever a path in its densities only memory 
 might discern it, so thick and interlacing were 
 the evergreen branches. Down and down she 
 went, retracing her way, it might seem, and ever 
 and anon parting the redundant dripping boughs 
 to gaze upward at the moon. She evidently 
 steered her course through this sea of leaves by its 
 station in the sky. More than once she deviated 
 from a direct line, but it was an oft-travelled route 
 and she showed no signs of hesitation or doubt. 
 When she reached a moss-covered rock, lying with 
 a score of its unbroken kind in the density of the 
 jungle she seated herself for an interval of rest 
 after her long tramp, betraying not an instant's 
 uncertainty of the landmark. She rose presently, 
 
 48 
 
The Windfall 
 
 passed between the great boulder and another, im- 
 possible to be distinguished from it even in the 
 light of mid-day, stepped down into a crevice be- 
 neath them, and vanished from the world. 
 
 She had entered an underground passage so 
 often traversed that the gruesome lonely way did 
 not seem long to her, nor more beset with danger 
 than a dark hall of one's familiar home. Her foot 
 struck upon rock here and there where obviously 
 there had been drilling and blasting to remove 
 obstructions to free passage ; now and again a wing 
 passed her, and as with a woman's horror of a bat 
 she shrank aside, the uncanny, mouse-like cry of the 
 creature smote the silence with a nerve-thrilling 
 shrillness and she set her teeth in endurance, 
 though all on edge from the repetitious echo. 
 Louder sounds soon caught her attention and these 
 too the echo multiplied. She seemed to hear many 
 voices in the infinitely lonely subterranean reaches 
 of the mountain. At last a vague light began to 
 glimmer dully at the end of a long descent. As 
 she drew nearer and turned suddenly the cavern 
 opened broadly before her and the flash in her 
 eyes w r as almost overpowering for a moment. She 
 stood still as she always did here, and put her face 
 in her hands to gradually accustom her sight to the 
 transition from intensest gloom to glare. 
 
 Yet it was not that the light in itself was so 
 powerful. The glimmer of a tallow dip, how- 
 ever, was adequate to summon glittering corusca- 
 tions from the great crystals of iridescent calc- 
 
 49 
 
The Windfall 
 
 spar that studded the ceiling, and the limestone 
 walls reflected the light with myriad sparkles. 
 Their gleaming whiteness was shared by the stalac- 
 tites which hung down from the roof to meet the 
 stalagmites uprising from the floor, and in the midst 
 of this colonnade of the fantastic sculpture of the 
 waters and the ages — even now she could hear 
 the ceaseless trickle as drop by drop the mountain 
 rill, charged with its solution of lime, wrought out 
 the purpose of creation — the moonshiner had 
 mounted his still. The great rotund copper, stand- 
 ing over the rude furnace of stone masonry, the 
 slouching uncouth figures of the distillers, with 
 their grotesque shadows following them amidst 
 these columns of mystic whiteness, the coiling 
 worm, the big ungainly mash-tubs, the reeking 
 mass of refuse pomace at one side, were all as 
 incongruous with the weird subterranean beauty 
 of the place as some unseemly work of kitchening 
 wrought in the halls of a palace. 
 
 And indeed even these uncultured louts could 
 not be insensible of the unique splendours of these 
 surroundings. Unlike the majesty of the moun- 
 tain landscape, rendered stale by custom, since 
 from birth they had known naught else, this ex- 
 pression of nature was rare and strange, and now 
 and again their minds opened to its aspect. 
 
 " I jes' tell you uns, boys," Shadrach Pinnott 
 sometimes remarked over his meditative pipe, " the 
 looks o' this hyar spot air plumb splendugious. 
 Even the parlour in the hotel at Colb'ry ain't ez 
 
 59 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fine a sight ez this place, fur I hev walked along 
 the front porch thar, an' looked in the door an' 
 viewed it." 
 
 The rare qualities of the place aided their ap- 
 preciation, for though caves, vast and varied, 
 were common in the mountains, and also " rock- 
 houses,' , as limited grottoes of special geological 
 deposits were called, they were generally of a 
 different formation. This was not a limestone 
 region, and only through some gigantic " fault " 
 of the ranges, bringing diverse and alien strata 
 into juxtaposition this calcareous cavern, these 
 halls of white stone, with their stately colonnades 
 and semblance of statuary and fantastic carvings, 
 became possible. It was not, however, sufficiently 
 rare to render it a curiosity or to lure hither the 
 unwelcome explorer. Along the line of the range, 
 perhaps within the purlieus of the same vast up- 
 heaval, a few limestone caves were known to the 
 experience or the tradition of the mountaineers. 
 But it was the only one of which the Pinnotts had 
 knowledge, and they piqued themselves upon the 
 fact that their discovery was not shared. Its exist- 
 ence, so far as Shadrach Pinnott was aware, was 
 absolutely unsuspected save to a few woodsmen 
 like himself whose prowlings amidst the prime- 
 val wildernesses of the Great Smoky had led them 
 to these deep seclusions, and these were associated 
 in the profit and the dangers of the illicit distillery. 
 Thrice since the still had been in operation under 
 the white splendours of the stalactitic roof had the 
 
 5i 
 
The Windfall 
 
 marshal's men scoured this region in search of the 
 manufacturers of moonshine whisky — thrice had 
 they ridden away no wiser than they came. Old 
 Shadrach began to fancy his stronghold impregna- 
 ble, to look forward to a long lease of vinous pros- 
 perity. While it might be rumoured that he was 
 concerned in the " wild-cat," he could not be 
 tracked to his lair, and much immunity had made 
 him daring and enterprising. 
 
 Even now the girl's entrance remained un- 
 noticed in the vehemence of the remonstrance 
 urged upon him, as he sat on one of the stalag- 
 mites that had risen only a few feet from the floor, 
 the stalactite depending from above scarcely reach- 
 ing the top of his old wool hat. He looked as 
 immovable, as impervious to argument, as if his 
 uncouth figure piecing out the column were of the 
 same material. 
 
 " It's a resk — it's a tumble resk," one of the 
 younger men was saying. He had an eager, 
 ardent aspect, unlike the usual mountain type, the 
 dull lack-lustre Pinnott men. He had large, ex- 
 cited brown eyes, and his chestnut hair hung in 
 straight locks to the collar of his blue hickory shirt. 
 His cheeks were red, and now that his blood was 
 up it looked as if it might burst through them. 
 He was tall and agile. He wore his boots drawn 
 to the knees over his brown jeans trousers — there 
 were spurs on the heels and his belt held a pistol. 
 He stood in the flare of the tallow dip glimmering 
 from a low stalagmite which was consigned to 
 
 52 
 
The Windfall 
 
 other table-like usage and held also a pone of 
 bread, a box of tobacco, a pipe, and an old hat. 
 The others had paused at their labours, the dis- 
 cussion evidently being a matter of special impor- 
 tance, and looked around without other change of 
 posture. Tom Pinnott, stooping to lift a keg of 
 " singlings " to the doubling still, his head lower 
 than the vessel, seemed as if he might have been 
 petrified in that attitude, so little did it seem possi- 
 ble to sustain it by mere muscle. 
 
 " It's a resk, to be sure," said Shadrach Pin- 
 nott, his face under his shock of red hair as 
 devoid of animation as if it had been carved 
 from a turnip. " But ever'thing is a resk. Livin' 
 is a resk — no man knows what he air goin' ter run 
 up agin pernicious afore night, — but we uns all 
 resk it." 
 
 " We uns don't all resk the revenuers though — 
 fur nuthin'," Eugene Binley declared significantly. 
 
 It was a word seldom mentioned here — the old 
 moonshiner elected to affect free agency and fear 
 of naught. If he had been asked he would have 
 averred that this place was selected because of its 
 peculiar convenience in getting the gear easily 
 down from the mountains. It had a great shaft- 
 like opening only fifty feet above the valley, and 
 by means of a " rope-and-tickle," as he called it, 
 the kegs and barrels were lowered to a level space 
 in a most secluded nook, whence they could be 
 taken in the midst of the jungle of the laurel and 
 rolled down the incline of a sandy slope, loaded 
 
 53 
 
The Windfall 
 
 into a waggon on the bank of the river and thence 
 conveyed along the highway under cover of the 
 night to the store of the merchants hardy enough 
 to handle this extra-hazardous ware. Shadrach 
 Pinnott would never have admitted in words the 
 necessity to elude the raiders of the revenue force. 
 He had so long enjoyed safety, ease, the pursuit 
 unmolested of his chosen vocation, that he actually 
 felt well within his rights, and that no interference 
 with him was either justifiable or possible. This 
 immunity had given his courage a tinge of fool- 
 hardiness inconsistent with his age, his earlier 
 devices of precaution, and the terrible and certain 
 penalties of discovery. His character had taken on 
 an arrogance unsuited to a man so obnoxious to 
 the law. He knew, of course, that suspicions of 
 moonshining had clung about his name, but never 
 with aught of proof. The marshal's force came 
 and went, and perhaps he was in their minds merely 
 rated with others maligned by malice without a 
 cause, for except that he was an unusually good 
 farmer, and raised great crops of corn and orchards 
 of fruit, no evidence of illicit distilling could be 
 urged against him. For his crops and fruit, value- 
 less on account of the distance from the rail and 
 the impossibility of such cumbrous transportation 
 with a profit, he could show great droves of 
 well-fed hogs, and they, easily driven through the 
 country, always found a market and brought fair 
 prices. Therefore suspicion on this score was 
 readily evaded, although his detractors signifi- 
 
 54 
 
The Windfall 
 
 cantly averred that hogs are always fattest when 
 fed on distillery mash. 
 
 Dangers had grazed him close, however. Once 
 his waggon had been stopped in the road with a 
 barrel of " wild-cat " whisky under a load of 
 goose-feathers. The driver at the approach of 
 a body of mounted men had taken the alarm, cut 
 the traces and fled with the team, and till it rotted 
 the waggon had stood there unclaimed, its owner- 
 ship unproved, and suspicion could not warrant 
 even the arrest of a man with two good waggons 
 in his shed and feather-beds on every couch in 
 his house. These incidents and their discussion 
 might well sharpen the eyes of the law, and to 
 Eugene Binley it seemed actually opening the 
 lion's jaws by main force to go to the Street Fair 
 in the dry town of Colbury with a waggonload of 
 the liquid product of the fiery still, under the flimsy 
 disguise of baskets to sell. He had urged this to 
 no avail. 
 
 "Them baskets? — why, me an' my industrious 
 fambly hev been weavin' them splints all las' 
 winter," and Shadrach gave a humorous snuffle 
 intended to express the humble, frugal hopes of 
 the worthy poor. Then he broke out into a satiri- 
 cal guffaw. 
 
 But the blunt mention of the " revenuers " was 
 more distasteful. He could but feel his jeopardy 
 when it was thus brought before him. Perhaps, 
 — who knows? — now that he was old he regretted 
 his course for the sake of his sons, to whom he 
 
 55. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 must leave so desperate a vocation, so rash an 
 example, so uncertain a fate. The delight of 
 defying the law when the conscience can appre- 
 hend no wrong, — for Shadrach Pinnott could 
 never be brought to perceive that he had not an 
 inalienable prerogative to do as he chose with 
 his own, his corn, his fruit, to feed them, to 
 distil them, to export them, for were they not his, 
 had he not wrested them from his own land by 
 the sweat of his brow, the work of his hands, — 
 better men have shared and resisted encroach- 
 ments, and defied taxation, and risen in defence 
 of claims that the law disallowed and made them 
 law. Of late years he had more earnestly argued 
 this position within himself, and now and again in 
 full conclave as they all sat in the chill white 
 cavern over the coiling toils of the worm, the 
 younger men drinking in his prelections that had 
 the native strength of apple brandy. He was an 
 autocrat amongst them; it was an indignity, an 
 affront, a disrespect to his grey hair and his pre- 
 eminence in his station to confront him, even in 
 warning, with so appalling and degrading a dis- 
 aster. He retorted instantly. 
 
 11 Waal, the resk ain't much ter be med^r'ui'," 
 he said. " Folks that ain't so damned quick on 
 the trigger ain't got no call ter be so powerful 
 'feared." 
 
 Eugene Binley winced palpably for a moment. 
 Then his dark eyebrows met above his blazing 
 eyes and the blood surged up from his cheeks to 
 
 56 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the roots of his hair. His breath came hard and 
 fast. He turned from one to the other as two 
 of the Pinnott sons, taking the word from their 
 father, began alternately to bait him. 
 
 " Which air you uns mos' afeard of, Eujeemes 
 — ter stay hyar by yer lone an' let the revenuers 
 ketch ye? " 
 
 " Or ter go ter Colb'ry along o' we uns an' 
 hev the sher'ff nab ye? " the other agreeably sug- 
 gested. 
 
 Eugene Binley stood snorting like an angry 
 horse, glancing first at the one with a bag of 
 grain on his shoulder and then at the other with 
 the keg of singlings, as both, half bent, leered up 
 at him from under their shocks of frowsy light 
 hair, their long tobacco-stained teeth all bared in 
 their flouting laugh. His right hand was con- 
 tinually touching the butt of his pistol in his belt, 
 and drawing back as if he found it scorching hot. 
 The old man felt called upon to interfere. 
 
 " Leave Eujeemes be, boys," he said pacifically. 
 " 'Twon't do ter bait him like a b'ar. Mos' men 
 in the mountings hev killed a man, fust or las', 
 funnin' or fightin'. Eujeemes ain't the fust an' 
 'tain't likely ez he will be the las'." 
 
 " But 't war self-defence," the harassed creature 
 cried out in a harsh, strained voice. He had made 
 this plea often enough at the bar of conscience — 
 his flight had precluded his arraignment at the 
 bar of justice. " 'T war self-defence — the world 
 knows it, and the law allows it." 
 
 57 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Then why n't ye leave it ter men, Eujeemes? " 
 Tom's strong back was still bent under the keg 
 of singlings, and his face was still maliciously 
 a-grin. Shadrach could not so easily call off his 
 pack. 
 
 This problem of " leaving it to men," the rural 
 synonym of a court of justice, had tortured the 
 hunted fugitive day and night. With the limited 
 mental development of a backwoodsman and the 
 lack of urban or worldly experience he could not 
 measure the unseen forces to which he might con- 
 sign his fate and thus he resolved and then shrank 
 back, and ventured forth to again run precipitately 
 to cover. What the lawyers could prove and what 
 they could not; how much their own codes con- 
 strained them and what they stretched here and 
 let fall slack there; what powers the judge pos- 
 sessed; how grim was the jail; how fell and ran- 
 corous were the officers of the constabulary — 
 he could not decide. And thus he lurked here 
 innocent of the crime of which he dreaded to be 
 accused, and by his lurking he became inculpated 
 with the illicit distillery. Now he was doubly 
 amenable to arrest — to escape on one score would 
 convict him on another, and the suggestion that 
 he should leave aught to men had become a 
 nettling taunt. As he remained silent Ben flung 
 at him in antistrophe — " Ef he be so willin' ter 
 leave it ter men why do he shelter hyar with we 
 uns?" 
 
 Once more Shadrach sought to interfere, be- 
 
 58 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ginning in an unctuous soothing voice — " Stop, 
 boys, stop, boys," when suddenly Clotilda stepped 
 forward into the white lustre of the sparkling walls 
 and the glimmer of the tallow dip. Her presence 
 ended logic. "Why, thar's daddy's leetle gal! 
 How do, Baby. Been singin' an' chirpin' with 
 the stranger man like a grasshopper in August 
 weather." 
 
 Clotilda received this simile with a shrug of 
 disdain. She had begun to think exceedingly well 
 of her gifts of singing and dancing and scarcely 
 cared that they should be so lightly and jo- 
 cosely mentioned. Vanity of all the human 
 traits is the most easily cultivated, and when Eu- 
 gene Binley, gathering his composure, asked if 
 she were going to Colbury, too, with the others, 
 she replied with a duplicate of the shrug — " Why, 
 'course / be. They air all goin' jes' on account 
 o' Me." 
 
 59 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 AN extreme surprise at the good fortune of 
 /-\ another is an ungrateful sentiment and 
 <L -m» mus t needs be warily expressed. It tends 
 to the suggestion that the reward exceeds the merits 
 in the case, and Eugene Binley by no means com- 
 mended himself by the astonishment with which 
 he now heard for the first time the extraordinary 
 fact, which Clotilda detailed to him, that her sing- 
 ing and dancing had so entranced the town-man 
 that he had besought the Pinnott family to come 
 to the Street Fair without money and without 
 price, and that there she was to sing and dance 
 for all the crowd to wonder at her gifts and grace. 
 
 " That ain't whut the Pinnott men-folks air 
 goin' fur," he said bluntly; " they air goin' ter sell 
 whisky in that thar dry town." And he pointed 
 over his shoulder at a load of splint baskets which 
 several were bringing out of a remote recess, and 
 which were always unused and fresh, kept as a 
 light disguise for a waggon otherwise laden. " It's 
 mighty dangerous," he added. But she made no 
 comment. Presumably she thought the men were 
 able to take care of themselves. 
 
 He hesitated for a moment, then recurred to the 
 subject important to none but himself and her. 
 
 60 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Singin' with the stranger-man! I wondered 
 why you uns war so long a-comin' down." 
 
 He lifted one hand to that miracle of nature, 
 the snowy stalagmite that expressed the marvels 
 wrought by time, that aggregated drops of water, 
 each with its charge of lime, falling and falling 
 on the floor beneath till the great pillar stood com- 
 plete. As he leaned thus he looked down re- 
 proachfully upon her. 
 
 It was hard for her to regain her wonted state 
 of mind. So fluttered, so elated she had been. 
 
 " It ain't much later than common," she said 
 absently, fingering a red bead necklace around her 
 throat. He, who knew her simple gauds, was 
 aware that she rarely wore it and accounted it a 
 treasure. He divined that it had been donned to 
 rejoice the eyes of an admiring stranger. 
 
 "I s'pose he war all streck of a heap?" he 
 said craftily, his eyes narrowing as he looked 
 intently at her. 
 
 " I dunno 'bout that," she laughed coquettishly. 
 
 "What sort o' appearin' man war he?" Eu- 
 gene demanded, arrogating the prerogative of 
 inquisition. 
 
 He was not altogether at ease amongst the men, 
 and was sometimes conscious of a disadvantage 
 with them, owing to the anomaly of his position, 
 forced into a crime against the Federal law, of 
 which he became guilty to evade trial for a crime 
 against the State law of which he knew himself 
 innocent. He had not demonstrated any great 
 
 61 
 
The Windfall 
 
 judgment or capacity in this course, and he knew 
 it affected their estimate. Other men had done 
 more heinous deeds who swaggered openly in the 
 coves. It was in the first rush of terror, the first 
 ill-considered impulse that he had come here, and 
 once entrusted with the moonshiners' secret he 
 could not, he would not draw back. Ill luck might 
 befall them, and here indeed was a danger. The 
 fate of the informer, real or suspected, was a more 
 inevitable terror than all else that menaced him. 
 But he felt all a man's ascendency over the femi- 
 nine mind, and indeed she divined naught as she 
 replied to his questions. 
 
 " Waal, he is just a pretty boy — plumb beau- 
 tiful ! Mighty nigh ez sweet-faced ez any gal." 
 
 " I say ' boy ' ! " he replied incredulously. 
 " They tell me ez he laid Tawm out flat with 
 one lick. Tawm hev been lame in the shoulder 
 
 ever sence." 
 
 " Waal — he is surely strong, though only 
 middle-sized, but mild-eyed — sorter babyfied." 
 
 " Shucks ! I say babyfied. Waal — all you uns 
 goin' ter the show, an' hyar I be 'feared ter stir, 
 — hid up hyar in a hole in the rocks like a wolf 
 or a painter an' cz ef thar war a bounty on my 
 skelp." 
 
 " 'Tain't but fur a week — less 'n a week," she 
 urged. 
 
 " You uns don't keer — else ye wouldn't go," 
 he said, dropping his voice, and all his heart was 
 in his eyes as he looked down at her. 
 
 62 
 
The Windfall 
 
 She had her moments of perspicacity. " Then 
 I won't go," she said, with the facile self-abnega- 
 tion of one who knows that the tendered sacrifice 
 will not be accepted. 
 
 He suddenly came from his negligent posture to 
 the perpendicular, tense and nervous. " Naw, 
 naw — I don't want that nuther," he protested as 
 she had expected. 
 
 " I 'lows ye don't rightly know whut 'tis ye do 
 want!" she declared with an air of flouting 
 impatience. 
 
 " Yes, I do too — but I couldn't abide ez ye 
 should miss seein' the show — an' mebbe later in 
 the week I'll slip down, too." 
 
 A genuinely serious look usurped the feignings 
 of her face. " Better mind, Eujeemes," she ad- 
 monished him, " ye mought meet the sher'ff face 
 ter face in the street. He be well acquainted with 
 you uns — ye hev tole me that! " She nodded her 
 head with an expression of dreary foreboding. 
 
 " Waal," he said desperately, but evidently 
 faint-hearted, " I could leave it ter men." 
 
 She looked at him in rising irritation, half 
 minded to withhold the remonstrance that she 
 knew he pined to hear. His own sense of pru- 
 dence made him yearn for an urgency of caution. 
 But she was yet vibrating with the unwonted ex- 
 citements of the afternoon, yet aglow with the 
 realisation of an admiration all unaccustomed in its 
 expression and its subject. She was well aware 
 that she had been considered a " powerful pretty 
 
 63 
 
The Windfall 
 
 gal " throughout the countryside, and though the 
 small distorted surface of a cheap mirror afforded 
 no adequate reflection of her beauty, it was well- 
 pleasing to her untutored eye, and was called into 
 frequent consultation. But this popular repute 
 was an homage shared by a dozen other mountain 
 nymphs, and in more than one instance she was 
 surpassed in public esteem chiefly on account of 
 the tint of her red hair and the tiny freckles here 
 and there marring the exquisite fairness of her 
 face, despite all that baths of buttermilk and May 
 dew could compass. 
 
 The incense that the manager offered at her 
 shrine had a new and intoxicating flavour. It 
 was unique, for her alone. It was such as an 
 artist might feel at the first view of some fine 
 example of a great painter's work, or a virtuoso's 
 joy in the discovery amongst refuse lumber of a 
 genuine Cremona. She could not, of course, 
 discriminate the quality of his feeling, but she had 
 never seen a man's face kindle with that imper- 
 sonal fervour of delight which illumined his when 
 he looked at her dancing pose and listened to the 
 tones of her voice. She had begun to feel very 
 kindly toward one who made her feel so kindly 
 toward herself. Since she had discovered that her 
 father considered it impossible that he could be an 
 emissary of the revenue force seeking the moon- 
 shiner's lair, for which she had mistaken him when 
 she had so jealously guarded him to the house that 
 he might render an account of himself to the head 
 
 6 4 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of the enterprise, she had given rein to her in- 
 terest in his personality; she had realised with a 
 sort of wondering pleasure the delicacy, the refine- 
 ment of the beauty of his face; her heart warmed 
 to the look in his eyes. She had now no doubts 
 of him; that universal attraction which his candid 
 nature seemed to exert on all the world had too 
 its influence on her. She had begun to entertain 
 a sort of veneration for him, his wide experience, 
 his evident singular knowledge of many things be- 
 yond her ken — with how few words he had 
 seemed to make her voice, even to her limited 
 comprehension, a different endowment, infinitely 
 sweeter, stronger, with added liberties of compass. 
 She longed even now to try the phrases which he 
 had inculcated, telling her to sing them at short 
 intervals and with due care, to assume her natural 
 beautiful dancing poses, which he had taught her 
 to accent for the greater effect. 
 
 The unknown vast world from which he had 
 come had evolved a sudden interest for her; here- 
 tofore she had not even bethought herself to be 
 aware of its existence, save as it now and again 
 spewed out the revenue force, with their sombre 
 menace, to be presently lost again in its unimagined 
 turmoils. 
 
 Her mind was full of speculations concerning 
 him. He was her first illustration of the grada- 
 tions of society; he seemed to her a person of vast 
 importance; she had a sort of reverence for the 
 splendours of his calling; he was a showman — 
 
 65 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a part owner of the great enterprise whose " pic- 
 torial paper " he had spread upon the cabin floor, 
 and he had opened to her a world of wonders to 
 contemplate. Her beautiful eyes grew soft and 
 bright with the thought of him. 
 
 Her mind longed to follow the trend of these 
 new reflections. She was tired all at once of 
 Eugene Binley's woes. The injustice in his in- 
 carceration here in the moonshiner's den was itself 
 like the penance of imprisonment for a crime 
 of which he believed himself innocent. Yet in 
 putting the question to the test he risked more 
 than his liberty — his life itself was jeopardised. 
 His hard case had appealed to her woman's sym- 
 pathy — the future was dim, veiled, he might not 
 divine the issue of a day. He had had a certain 
 interest for her; he was of a more dashing per- 
 sonality than the duller men she had known. The 
 impulsive temperament that had lured him to his 
 doom had a quality that struck her fancy in dearth 
 of other attractions. He was quick, keen, fiery, 
 and he had a spark of imagination that imparted 
 warmth to others, bare and cold of mental attri- 
 butes. He had added to his more definite and 
 obvious troubles the aesthetic grief of falling des- 
 perately in love, and in a cautious and dubious way 
 she had responded. This was a sentimental result 
 of the privilege of shelter which Shadrach Pinnott 
 had not anticipated, and which he by no means 
 favoured. He had secured for the bare boon of 
 subsistence an additional stalwart worker at the 
 
 66 
 
The Windfall 
 
 still, and one whose secrecy was pledged for the 
 best of reasons. That Eugene Binley could not 
 venture freely forth like the others, that he was 
 not subject, therefore, to disclose by inadvertence 
 in casual conversation the secrets of the trade, 
 since he saw no one not concerned in the illicit 
 manufacture, gave him an added value to his em- 
 ployer which Shadrach was not slow to appreciate. 
 More countenance than shelter and subsistence he 
 had no mind to afford him. Shadrach had taken 
 no steps, however, to balk the romance thus far. 
 He had some knowledge, perhaps, of the incon- 
 stancy of the feminine heart, and relied on this to 
 furnish in due time the solution of the problem, 
 or perhaps like many other people he merely post- 
 poned to a more convenient season the guessing of 
 the 'difficult riddle which circumstance had pro- 
 pounded. Hence, though he now and then glanced 
 askance at the lovers as they stood half in the 
 shadow of the stalagmite, and half in the thin 
 white light of the tallow dip, he said naught to 
 discourage the " fool chin-choppin' " as he de- 
 nominated their talk, thinking it the course least 
 calculated to do harm. " Lovyers let alone will 
 quar'l enough tharselves ter fling 'em apart. A 
 peaceable disposed person needn't 'sturb hisself ter 
 start a contention jes' ter separate 'em," he argued 
 within himself. 
 
 " Leave it ter men? " she was echoing Binley's 
 words dully. " I'd hate powerful ter leave any- 
 think ez I war took up with ter sech ez men." 
 
The Windfall 
 
 She gazed speculatively about the place, sud- 
 denly illumined with a preternatural brilliancy as 
 Daniel Pinnott flung open the furnace door. All 
 the white colonnades were a-glister with myriads 
 of sparkling points of light. Far, far down the 
 shadowy reaches of the cave they were visible now, 
 with stately arches marking the confines of other 
 and further chambers, unexplored perhaps and of 
 an undemonstrated vastness. The light brought 
 into evidence that peculiar incrustation of the walls 
 of limestone caverns which takes the semblance of 
 flowers, the rough projections seeming roses, lilies 
 wrought in the rock, the similitude being so exact 
 that here and there a flower can be found as per- 
 fect of symmetry as if carved by the chisel of a 
 cunning workman. Glimpsed through one of the 
 lofty arches the depending stalactites in a heavy 
 group might have suggested to a cultivated 
 imagination a great chandelier of imposing pro- 
 portions and thus have heightened the semblance 
 to some stately hall, the audience chamber of a 
 sovereign, the throne-room of the buried splen- 
 dours of some forgotten magic monarchy. The 
 limitations of Clotilda's experience and mental 
 scope forbade the fancy, but the uncouth forms of 
 the distillers with their slouching shadows, their 
 big hats, their bent postures, their dull lack-lustre 
 faces, their grotesque gestures, gnome-like at their 
 work, seemed indeed at variance with this scene of 
 weird beauty, and little suggestive of those higher 
 
 68 
 
The Windfall 
 
 attributes of justice, of acumen, of perspicacity. 
 " I'd sure hate ter leave it ter men." 
 
 It was the subject in all the world of paramount 
 importance to him, and he was eagerly ready for 
 the discussion of its phases anew. Every point 
 they had often canvassed together with the keen- 
 ness of a vital mutual interest, and there was 
 naught new to urge. But as he shifted his weight, 
 though still leaning against the pillar, and brought 
 his brows together in a dubitating frown and be- 
 gan, " Waal, now," — she suddenly revolted from 
 the theme. Her mind, her heart were elsewhere. 
 She hastily interrupted — " Of course, though, it's 
 jes' ez ye think. Mebbe it would be best, arter 
 all, ter leave it ter men." 
 
 Adversity is said to be of vast moral value in 
 the discipline of the heart; it is a whetstone to the 
 wits as well. Eugene Binley caught all the sense 
 of dismissal that was in her mind as it uncon- 
 sciously, insistently reached out for the new 
 thoughts that surged upon it. He was cut to the 
 soul. All that he had was at stake, his liberty, 
 his life, or — if this unavailing seclusion were gratu- 
 itous — his restoration to the free, independent, 
 open walks of existence. A terrible doubt be- 
 set him. Did she indeed care no longer? Had 
 she ever cared — or was it but an idle whim in 
 default of more serious interest that had lured his 
 heart from him? He could not judge. His head 
 was in a whirl. But remonstrance might avail 
 
 6 9 
 
[The Windfall 
 
 naught. It was the fact that impressed his mind. 
 He had surprised the revolt of her sentiment — it 
 had been a momentary illumination like that of 
 the open furnace door, now clashed close again, 
 leaving the cave to its dull shadow, the far reaches 
 of dense blackness through distant arches, the dim 
 pure white radiance of the tallow dip, the subdued 
 scintillations of the stalagmitic colonnades, the dull 
 rotund glister of the copper still, the vermicular 
 suggestions of the worm coiled up in the condenser, 
 the intense line of vivid white light that defined 
 the lower edge of the furnace door, the metal 
 fitting ill to the masonry, and thus giving a glimpse 
 of the roaring fire within. Clotilda had turned 
 her face upward toward Eugene Binley, as if wait- 
 ing for him to speak, but there was within it no 
 light of interest, only dull attention. 
 
 He tried the experiment deliberately. " Oh, we 
 uns can't make no decision now, short off; we uns 
 hev been along that road many a time ; but we don't 
 often hev news in the mountings. Tell me su'thin' 
 more 'bout the show an' that thar showman." 
 
 Her face was suddenly irradiated. 
 
 " You uns never hearn the beat in all yer life," 
 she said, her eyes dilated and her head nodding 
 to one side, with pride and delight. " He sung 
 sweeter than any mawkin' bird, but he said ter 
 me, ' Lydy, ef ye'll permit me ter say it,' " — she 
 imitated Lloyd's grave, circumspect manner, " ' it's 
 a monstious pity fur yer rare voice an' yer 'strodi- 
 nary grace in dancin' ter be wasted hyar in this 
 
 70 
 
The Windfall 
 
 wilderness — would ye consider a proposition ter 
 puffawm in public? ' " 
 
 She bent forward in such a pretty reverential 
 bow that Tom Pinnott, lying on a pile of sacks of 
 grain, — his shoulder was still lame, and he rested 
 it at close intervals, — called out to the others: 
 
 " Look-a-yander at Clotildy. She air mawkin' 
 the stranger-man. It's the very moral o' the 
 
 critter." 
 
 Binley had a vague realisation of the grinning 
 of half a dozen sets of great tobacco-browned 
 teeth among the group that sat around the furnace, 
 perched on kegs or inverted baskets, or sacks of 
 grain. His head was unsteady. His heart beat 
 tumultuously. He hardly knew what was this 
 obsession that had enthralled him. Jealousy he 
 had felt ere this in minor matters, but he had so 
 little conception of the strength of the passion that 
 now, when it grappled with him, he did not 
 recognise it. 
 
 " I went straight an' axed dad ef I mought," 
 Clotilda resumed, a little thread of continuous 
 laughter trickling through her words, like a rivulet 
 that cannot stay its joyous course. " I tuk dad 
 out on the porch 'cause he blates so loud whenst 
 he talks — an' fust he said naw, and then when 
 he 'membered 'bout sellin' whisky ter the crowd 
 on the quiet in that dry town, and that folks would 
 'low ez the family war thar jes' ter view me sing 
 an' dance an' not ter sell moonshine, it 'peared ter 
 him a powerful good excuse ter go." 
 
 71 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Hop light, ladies," sang out Tom, who had 
 a powerful organ in his own deep chest. 
 
 But Clotilda put her hands to her ears with a 
 grimace of pain. " I never wants ter hear no 
 other man sing — that stranger's voice was like — 
 like honey. 'Twar so — sweet — soundin'." 
 
 Her pensive lids drooped above her great bright 
 eyes and she gave a shuddering little sigh, as if 
 the ecstatic remembrance were fraught with an 
 appreciated pain. 
 
 Old Shadrach Pinnott had a sudden monition 
 of business. " That's a fac', boys," he said, taking 
 his pipe from his mouth, " every durned imp of 
 ye mus' be at the tent ter hear Clotildy puffawm 
 — 'tis the reason folks mus' understand why we 
 uns all waggon down ter Colb'ry. Mam'll go, 
 an' A'minty an' the baby, all o' we uns will go, 
 an' nobody on yearth would suspicion ez we uns 
 kem fur ennything else than ter hear an' see Clo- 
 tildy sing an' dance in a public puffawmance." 
 
 He puffed his pipe for a few minutes while the 
 others gave varying growls of more or less reluc- 
 tant acquiescence as they accorded or disagreed 
 with his view of the importance of their appear- 
 ance as spectators on the occasion. He possibly 
 discriminated this note of dissent, for he remarked 
 presently — " It air sure a powerful oncommon 
 happening — I reckon Clotildy will be the fust 
 mounting gal that ever sung an' danced in a show 
 
 tent." 
 
 "An' she ought ter be the las'," said Daniel 
 
 72 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Pinnott sourly. He was the conservative one of 
 the sons, a settled married man, and he had the 
 married man's insistent convictions as to the pro- 
 priety of demeanour and decorous home-abiding 
 fitting for the female sex. He remembered, too, 
 the reach of the long arm of the Revenue Depart- 
 ment. Though a volcano may be silent, sleeping, 
 the hot heart of the crater burns with an inextin- 
 guishable fire. He did not venture to openly 
 oppose the determination of the paternal auto- 
 crat, but he had done his utmost to dissuade the 
 enterprise. 
 
 The elder man made no direct rejoinder, but he 
 nevertheless combated this spirit of negation. 
 " Colb'ry hev been mighty dry — sence it's been a 
 dry town," he said significantly, speaking with his 
 pipe in the corner of his mouth. " I reckon 
 folkses' throats thar air about ez dry ez a lime- 
 burner's kiln." 
 
 The younger moonshiners eyed the dissentient 
 Daniel with a degree of rancour. " I'll be bound 
 they'll nose out our waggon powerful quick," said 
 Tom. " We'll sell a deal o' liquor, else I'm 
 mightily s'prised." 
 
 Old Shadrach nodded assentingly. 
 
 " It'll take a heap o' liquor ter git a prohibition 
 town soaked through an' through. We uns hev 
 got a week though ter finish the business. The 
 Street Fair will show fur a week." 
 
 " An' I'm ter sing an' dance twict every day," 
 cried Clotilda delightedly. She had listened to 
 
 73 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the colloquy of the group around the still with a 
 very definite anxiety lest from Daniel's doubts and 
 remonstrances a final abandonment of the project 
 ensue. She now leaned her fluffy auburn head 
 back against the great stalagmite and laughed with 
 a renewal of zest and cheer as she cast up her eyes 
 at Eugene Binley, who still stood beside her look- 
 ing loweringly down at her. 
 
 There was something so aloof, so smitten, yet 
 so menacing in his eyes that her elated spirits sud- 
 denly collapsed. It suggested the frightful pathos 
 of a savage animal, sorely wounded and suffering, 
 yet with an unabated ferocity. The very look 
 numbed her joy. 
 
 " I be powerful sorry ez you uns can't be thar 
 ter see me," she declared falteringly, suddenly 
 drawn back from her soft conceits of anticipation 
 to this sullen reality. 
 
 " Oh, I'll be thar," he protested with a forlorn 
 lame joviality. 
 
 " Eujeemes will be afeared ez Clotildy will be 
 gittin' merried ter some o' them town men whilst 
 he be hid out in the mountings. I reckon other 
 folks will be streck all of a heap with her puf- 
 fawmin' jes the same ez that thar stranger-man," 
 Tom observed as he lay at length. 
 
 Tom had but the primitive processes of mind 
 and feeling. He possessed no cultivated sensi- 
 bilities either for himself or for others, and even 
 his perceptions of policy were rudimentary. The 
 old man, the exemplar of all the distillers, by virtue 
 
 74 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of his age, his experience, his patriarchal position, 
 struck in abruptly with a sharp reproof. 
 
 " Ain't you uns got no better sense an' showin\ 
 Tawmmy, than ter be settin' out so brash ter talk 
 'bout things that ye dunno nuthin' 'bout? Clo- 
 tildy ain't goin' ter be allowed ter marry nobody 
 till she's twenty, an' she hev now jes' turned 
 eighteen." 
 
 "Twenty!" exclaimed Clotilda with a sudden 
 revival of interest. " Why, I'll feel so old whenst 
 I'm twenty that I reckon I'll hev ter walk with a 
 stick by then." 
 
 " Like the stranger-man do now," cried Tom, 
 the irrepressible. He sprang up and took a few 
 erratic steps along the aisle of the arcade, twirling 
 an imaginary cane, now flinging it jauntily up into 
 the air, now striking it with emphasis on the 
 ground, but a sudden twinge in his lame shoulder 
 gave him pause. He stopped short, with a 
 grimace of pain, seeking to put his hand to it, and 
 then he came heavily enough back to the furnace 
 and sank down on his improvised couch of sacks 
 of grain. " He air a better man than you uns — 
 he downed you uns, Tawmmy," Clotilda ex- 
 claimed with such obvious pleasure and pride in 
 the stranger's prowess that Shadrach Pinnott was 
 minded to take reluctant account of the cloud that 
 lowered on the brow of Eugene Binley. 
 
 " Shucks," he said contemptuously, " that war 
 jes' sleight o' hand. Them show folks hev l'arned 
 tricks that take the eye. He ain't no spunky 
 
 75 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fighter sech ez — sech ez — waal, sech ez Eujeemes 
 thar fur instance." 
 
 There was a momentary pause, broken only by 
 the muffled roar of the flames of the furnace fire 
 and the trickle of the doublings dropping down 
 from the worm into the keg below. 
 
 " You boys mus' be powerful cautious," Sha- 
 drach Pinnott presently remarked with a serious 
 thought. "You uns mus' n't talk foolish an' wild. 
 Course Eujeemes ain't got no notion, sure enough, 
 o' goin' ter Colb'ry ter see the show." He hesi- 
 tated, then spoke plainly and to the point. " I 
 don't want no man along o' me that the sher'ff air 
 lookin' fur." He paused expectant of reassurance. 
 
 " I knows that," Eugene Binley answered with 
 a lowering brow. 
 
 Shadrach Pinnott expected him to say more. His 
 face, with the pallor that is the concomitant of 
 red hair, bleached yet more by his indoor occupa- 
 tion, was turned with ghastly effect toward the 
 young man who still stood with the girl beside the 
 column. The moonshiner's eyebrows were insist- 
 ently raised; his eyes had a pointed interrogation; 
 his lips had fallen apart in the stress of immediate 
 anticipation, his mouth showing like a dark hollow 
 in the midst of his great red beard. The pause 
 continued unbroken. 
 
 The sound of gentle purling was distinct in the 
 silence. The dripping of the ardent spirits from 
 the worm was hardly to be distinguished from the 
 ripple of the rill of water in the troughs led down 
 
 7 6 
 
The Windfall 
 
 from one of the subterranean springs to its mission 
 of utility in the condenser and the big burly mash 
 tubs, or the occasional irregular trickling from the 
 roof of the drops with their solution of lime 
 charged with the building of the fantastic archi- 
 tecture of the cavern. 
 
 " The sher'ff hain't got no call ter meddle with 
 moonshine," Shadrach Pinnott was forced to re- 
 sume at length. " But ef he war ter hev reason ter 
 s'arch my outfit fur law-breakers agin the State 
 he'd find the liquor an' word would be tuk ter the 
 marshal." 
 
 Eugene had his own sullen grievances. He was 
 still a free agent, but at that moment no vague 
 intention of sharing the moonshiners' venture into 
 Colbury had entered his mind. To him it seemed 
 like putting his head into the lion's jaws. He had 
 nevertheless winced from the perception of their 
 carelessness as to his safety, when he had remon- 
 strated against the risks of the expedition which 
 might rebound upon him, and almost equally from 
 their wanton taunts. Now he was indisposed to 
 reassure them in their turn, to set their minds at 
 rest as to the dangers which his presence in Col- 
 bury might bring down on them. He said naught, 
 and for the nonce Shadrach Pinnott was at a 
 loss. 
 
 By some filial intuition Clotilda divined the 
 emergency, for she was hardly so versed in the 
 exigencies of the hazardous law-breaking vocation 
 as to appreciate it of her own initiative. 
 
 77 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " I dunno whut you uns mean by savin' ye would 
 see me at the show," she said in a low voice. 
 " Jes* now ye war tryin' ter torment me by talkin' 
 'bout being hid out like a wolf or su'thin' wild." 
 
 A casual conversation was in progress amongst 
 the group beside the furnace. Binley lowered his 
 voice to the key of her own. " Do that torment 
 you uns, Honey-sweet? " he asked, lured anew. 
 
 She silently cast a glance of reproach at him. 
 Her face was so beautiful with this expression of 
 upbraiding protest — it needed but this touch of 
 sentiment to lift it into the grade of the truly ex- 
 quisite. He should have been touched by the 
 embellishment which a thought of grief for him 
 had wrought upon it. But he remembered in that 
 moment the stranger's admiration. Doubtless as 
 she looked at him she was conscious of its charm; 
 she gauged its power upon his poor unstable melt- 
 ing heart. All the fascination of her youthful 
 loveliness was no longer a sealed book to her. She 
 had been apprised of its worth even for a public 
 performance. She was now exerting it con- 
 sciously to make and keep him subject, not to her 
 whim alone, but to bend him to the iron rule of 
 the crafty Shadrach. Eugene Binley loved her 
 after his fashion, but it was not that high, sacri- 
 ficial passion that annuls self, and fosters faith, and 
 blinds sober reason. If, as he suspected, she 
 loved him no longer; if so soon, so lightly he was 
 supplanted in her heart; if no more his great and 
 troublous trials absorbed her pity and her sym- 
 
 7 8 
 
The Windfall 
 
 pathy, the consciousness would work a metamor- 
 phosis in his sentiment. His tenderness would be 
 replaced by revenge; his admiration would resolve 
 itself into contumely; his mistaken faith would 
 evolve deceit. Already on the mere suspicion he 
 was meeting craft with craft. Her upbraiding 
 eyes encountered a look as languishingly adoring 
 as if no divination of her motive informed it, as 
 if this restive, alert, exacting creature were wholly 
 and hopelessly her own. " I 'lowed I'd see you 
 uns — I never said nuthin' ez I knows on 'bout 
 you uns seein' me." 
 
 He pushed his hat back on his long, chestnut 
 hair and looked down at her with his large brown 
 eyes luminously watchful as if to minutely descry 
 the effect of his words. 
 
 The fascination of the new vista opening in 
 her restricted life, so wide, so long, so variously 
 flowered to one who knew naught heretofore but 
 the woodpile and the cow pen and the treadle of 
 the loom, filled her every faculty. She longed to 
 be still, to think; she could scarcely affect interest 
 in the distinction he made in his speech — that he 
 should see her but she should not see him — she 
 was eager to have the preparations for the sortie 
 to the cove fairly under way. Nevertheless with 
 the realisation of furthering the moonshiner's 
 plans she kept the wily fish in play. 
 
 " What be you uns talkin' 'bout? I reckon I 
 could see you uns ef ye could see me? " she asked, 
 pulling at the strings of dark red beads falling 
 
 79 
 
The Windfall 
 
 down over the bosom of her light blue cotton 
 gown. 
 
 As he shook his head to and fro smiling enig- 
 matically she was so weary of him and his mys- 
 teries that the listlessness of her effort at interest 
 could not be kept from her face, and might in 
 itself have intimated her state of mind had he not 
 already suspected it. She bent her face downward 
 as if to escape too close a scrutiny while still, 
 fixedly smiling, he studied its contour. 
 
 " I 'lowed ef ye went off an' lef me 'twould 
 plumb kill me, Puddin'-pie," he averred. 
 
 " Oh, shucks," she exclaimed, bending her head 
 to pleat a fold of her gown with affected em- 
 barrassment. 
 
 "An' I 'lowed I'd follow ye, ef I war dead, 
 ez I would of choice while alive; I'd follow ye — 
 an' though ye wouldn't see me my ghost would see 
 you uns." 
 
 Her fingers were suddenly still; she looked up 
 at him with a sort of surprised repulsion. His 
 smile was as if petrified on his face. 
 
 "Oh, don't," she cried with a chilly disgust. 
 14 Ef you uns war dead 'twould be the eend of all 
 on yearth fur you uns." 
 
 " How so? — thar is more than we kin see right 
 hyar in this cave." 
 
 He took a sort of perverse pleasure in her start 
 of trepidation, in her shuddering doubtful glance 
 over her shoulder down the dim unexplored re- 
 cesses of the cavern. The furnace door was open 
 
 80 
 
The Windfall 
 
 now ; the fire was to be let to die out, preliminary to 
 the stoppage of the work incident on the trip to 
 Colbury. The beds of live coals cast a wide suf- 
 fusive light through the spacious, lofty hall wherein 
 they stood; the troglodytic group of distillers still 
 sat by the dwindling fire. Through several of the 
 great arches she could see other vast apartments, 
 all dimly white and with a subdued glister in 
 the far-reaching light. Further still were vague 
 spaces, shadowy and grey, and at the vanishing 
 point of the perspective dusky corridors led to 
 densely black recesses, harbouring who might 
 know what, besides bats by millions and night birds 
 that crept in through some crevice for shelter from 
 the glare of the day. Even now a screech-owl was 
 beginning to send forth its shrill cry ere it sought 
 the outer air and the dim night, and the keen, quav- 
 ering notes of ill-omen roused all the weird sug- 
 gestions of the echoes. 
 
 " You needn't be afeared, Honey-sweet," he 
 said absently, " Ye won't see me, but I'll see you 
 
 uns." 
 
 There was a pause in which she hardly can- 
 vassed what to say — so doubtful, so ill at ease 
 was she. 
 
 And in that interval a strange possibility had 
 revealed itself to him which he canvassed swiftly 
 with flying thoughts. His cheeks glowed; his wild, 
 restless eyes were ablaze; his breath was quick; he 
 still gazed steadfastly at her as she gazed half 
 affrighted at the familiar subterranean environ- 
 
 81 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fnent dulling gradually as the coals faded and the 
 ash gathered, dulling like the vanishing scene of 
 a dream. He hardly saw her; his every faculty 
 was enlisted in a new theme. It was only me- 
 chanically that he repeated thickly, slowly, like the 
 ill-fashioned words of a somnambulist, " You uns 
 needn't be feared. Ye won't see me, but I'll see 
 you uns." 
 
 82 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 WHEN Hilary Lloyd in a flutter of 
 enthusiasm detailed to his partner the 
 fact that he had found a charming 
 new attraction Haxon lowered indifferent. He 
 felt that the show was already good enough for 
 all reasonable purposes. 
 
 " I had rather hear that you have found trans- 
 portation," Haxon said sourly. 
 
 " It may help to the same thing," Lloyd argued, 
 bent on keeping up his own and his confrere's 
 spirits. " It may draw more of the country folks. 
 There's a kind of interest in seein' one's own sort 
 perform — if the thing is well done." 
 
 As Lloyd went about the square the next day, 
 alert, ready, seeming so capable, so entirely at 
 ease mentally, the flagging spirits of the members 
 of the company were recruited by his cheerful 
 presence, and their secret troublous fears of a des- 
 perate stranding in this out-of-the-way corner of 
 the world were exorcised. 
 
 It was indeed an humble cause in which to wage 
 so hard-fought a battle. The hopeless courage, 
 the gallant temper, the ingenious expedients, the 
 hearty strivings might have graced a higher plane 
 of achievement. He kept his smiling face, his 
 quiet, serene manner, his courteous suavity to 
 
 83 
 
The Windfall 
 
 strangers, his unruffled placidity with his em- 
 ployees as uninfluenced as if he did not behold in 
 the immediate future the ghastly vision of the com- 
 plete collapse and rout of his little force, over- 
 whelmed by a pitiless and grotesque fate. It was 
 ever with him, predominant in his mind. He 
 could not even look at the boa constrictor, which 
 he loathed, without the sardonic reflection how the 
 possession of the reptile would embarrass the 
 holders of the mortgage which their earlier dis- 
 asters had placed on all the portable property of 
 the show. He had a sensitively organised nature, 
 and it was a positive grief to him that Haxon could 
 not meet their mutual misfortunes in the spirit of 
 good comradeship. Haxon had protested that he 
 did not hold his partner accountable for their 
 beclouded prospects in this last move; nevertheless 
 his sullen disaffection, his lowering silence, his deep 
 aversion to the place and people, his despair that 
 he could formulate no plan of getting away, added 
 a thousand fold to the normal difficulties of the 
 situation, bereft Lloyd of advice and the sense of 
 support, and magnified his fears by the reflection 
 of another's. Lloyd was but a strolling showman, 
 yet he braced his nerves like a soldier in the last 
 charge of a forlorn hope. All smartly groomed 
 as he was, he lent a hand to every need that 
 became pressing as the morning wore on and the 
 preparations for opening the Fair neared com- 
 pletion. He whisked a brisk brush in the letter- 
 ing of an unfinished sign, while the painter who 
 
 8 4 
 
The Windfall 
 
 was one of the clowns in a pantomime " turn " 
 must needs run to paint his face. He wielded a 
 hammer in driving down a tent-peg which the 
 straining of the wind in yesterday's storm had 
 loosened in the ground. He personally super- 
 vised the unfurling of the flag and eyed it with 
 a pose of glad satisfaction as it rose to the tip of 
 the tall staff and floated out buoyantly to the soft 
 breeze. He called the bandmaster to account 
 while the instruments were in process of tuning, 
 and himself made sure of a perfect accord, for he 
 had a fine ear. When the first tones of the blaring 
 melody issued upon the air as the military figures 
 with their brazen instruments and tawdry uniforms 
 marched out to make the circuit of the square no 
 one could have divined — as he stood on the side- 
 walk and watched the pigmy effort at pageant, — 
 the turmoil of emotion in his heart, his racking 
 pity for them, for all the employees, for himself 
 and his partner; his keen sense of responsibility 
 that cut him like a knife; his bruised and desperate 
 hope; his trampled and abased and writhing 
 pride; his awful doubts of the future — oh, that 
 the veil might be lifted one moment, whatever the 
 Gorgon face revealed! Now and again he heard 
 his name spoken as a magnate and celebrity, and 
 was aware that he was pointed out by the denizens 
 of the town to the country folk who had waggoned 
 in to see the show. Certain of the citizens, who had 
 affected to think slightingly of him and his enter- 
 prise, were not above sharing the prestige of his 
 
 85 
 
The Windfall 
 
 notoriety, and the distinction conferred by his 
 acquaintance in the estimation of these rural 
 wights. 
 
 These spectators were few, however, chiefly 
 heavy, jeans-clad worthies with their sunbonneted 
 helpmeets, and leading by the hand a goodly dele- 
 gation of tow-headed olive branches. They all 
 seemed disposed to circle, inquisitively staring, 
 about the tents; not one had yet passed a ticket- 
 seller's wicket. The very signs were alluring to 
 their unaccustomed eyes — the picture of the boa 
 constrictor had a horrifying fascination to a fam- 
 ily group who had brought up motionless in front 
 of it, the paterfamilias, chin-whiskered, loose- 
 jointed, his jaws slowly working on his quid of 
 tobacco, his shoulders bent, shortening the set of 
 his brown coat in the back, his knees crooked, 
 drawing the trousers to a generous display of 
 wrinkled, blue yarn socks, a child of two years 
 poised on his elbow, an elder one holding to his 
 hand, two more clinging to his coat tails and the 
 last acquisition, an infant, in its mother's arms. 
 
 " M'ria, M'ria," the man exclaimed wildly, " do 
 you uns reckon fur sure that thar sarpient, whut's 
 pictured thar, air actially inside that tent? " 
 
 His wife shifted her snuff-brush in her mouth 
 to permit enunciation. " I hope ter the powers 
 they hev got him tied," she rejoined. 
 
 Had the worthy couple monopolised the inter- 
 est of speculation they might have remained 
 indefinitely spellbound, exchanging sapient conjec- 
 
 86 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tures concerning the snake, but one of the children 
 piped up suddenly with that juvenile proclivity for 
 the unanswerable. " What be his name, dad?" 
 and the rest instantly chorused — " What be his 
 name? " 
 
 " Dunno — the pictur' don't say," the man re- 
 plied slowly. 
 
 This omission might seem a fatal oversight on 
 the part of the managers, but the show had jour- 
 neyed half over the continent with no sense of 
 aught lacking until a juvenile patron from Persim- 
 mon Cove pounced upon the void and would not 
 be denied. 
 
 " What be his name?" he cried in the pangs 
 of desperate curiosity, and the others demanded 
 in shrill unison — "What be his name? What be 
 his name? " 
 
 " Dunno — let's go in, M'ria, an' ax his name," 
 the head of the family suggested with a frenzied 
 gleam of temerity in his eyes, and, as the spieler 
 at the door saw them approach, he lifted his horn 
 and began to shrill, " Here's Isaac. Come in, come 
 in. He eats 'em — he eats 'em alive," so close 
 on the heels of the plump infant delegation, that 
 it might have suggested cannibalistic tendencies to 
 those uninitiated in the ways of street fairs. 
 
 The band, having finished its tour of the square, 
 changed the march to a potpourri of popular airs, 
 and then ensued an interval weighted with silence 
 after the surcharge of sound, when the people 
 began to gather expectantly along the sidewalks; 
 
 87 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the merchants and clerks left their wares, and 
 stood in doorways or clustered at gaze in second- 
 story windows; the porches and casements of the 
 courthouse were crowded with feminine faces and 
 pretty attire, the society element of Colbury having 
 gathered to this point of vantage from the remoter 
 residence portion of the town. All the air was 
 a-tingle with a nervous sense of expectation. 
 
 Lloyd, the victim of suspense, stood on the side- 
 walk in front of the principal store. Now and 
 then he took off his brown straw hat and fanned 
 with it, his light-brown hair shining in the sun. 
 The pink flush in his cheek had deepened ; his long 
 dark eyelashes occasionally rose and fell with a 
 nervous quiver, but otherwise naught betokened 
 the stress of excitement with which he laboured. 
 He did not notice that he had become a mark for 
 the gaze of the village belles on the courthouse 
 balcony — so handsome a man necessarily attracted 
 attention, and the special smartness of the cut of 
 his fawn-tinted suit, his russet brown shoes, the 
 brown four-in-hand tie, and a pink wild aster in 
 his buttonhole differentiated him from the jeans- 
 clad rural visitors, from the clerks of Colbury, 
 and the sedate, black-coated, elderly merchants. 
 The sunlight had that singularly burnished rich- 
 ness characteristic of the last days of summer; a 
 yearning languor of dreams ; a longing for repose. 
 A sense of impending rest was in the atmosphere. 
 The shadows were sharp and clearly defined. 
 Far away he could see the blue mountains quiver 
 
 88 
 
The Windfall 
 
 through the heated air. Nearer at hand they 
 were purple and bronze and deeply green, with 
 here and there on their slopes the sombre shadow 
 of a dazzlingly white cloud, floating high in the 
 sky. He marked how radiant was the fact, how 
 dark and gruesome the similitude to the eye 
 looking only to the earth, and he was vaguely 
 aware of dispensations in life that this resembled. 
 The landscape was cleft in twain by the glittering 
 line of the river, held in deep-channelled, clifty 
 banks, and the circumference of the Ferris Wheel 
 framed the whole, seen through its great circle. 
 
 Hardly a movement disturbed the eager expect- 
 ancy of the crowd gathered in the square; the 
 cries of the spielers were hushed; the peanut 
 roasters, the candy-stands had ceased to vend their 
 wares; the groups attracted by the pictures of the 
 freaks no longer stood to stare; the merry-go- 
 round was still — all waited in blank patience the 
 great sensation of the day. When the band, 
 grouped about the tall mast near the centre of the 
 place, burst forth suddenly with the first sonorous 
 measures of an inspiring melody there was a gal- 
 vanic thrill as of panic or turmoil throughout the 
 press. A young mule that was new to town and 
 town ways, hitched to the courthouse fence, had 
 borne much exacerbation of nerves that morning 
 in sights hitherto undreamed of, in sounds terrify- 
 ing and unexplained; he found in this blare of 
 trumpets under his confiding nose the extremest 
 limits of his endurance. He gave one tremendous 
 
 8 9 
 
The Windfall 
 
 bound, burst his halter, scattered the meeker pal- 
 freys about him, that snorted in scandalised dis- 
 may at his conduct, and struggled only to get out 
 of his way, as he galloped through the crowds and 
 across the square, knocking down several men as 
 he passed, and set out at a breakneck speed on the 
 road to the mountains. His owner gazed discon- 
 solately after him, while the half-affrighted crowd 
 recovered its composure in a guffaw at his expense; 
 then, as he muttered philosophically, " Waal, at 
 that gait he'll soon be home," he addressed him- 
 self anew to the waiting expectancy, regardless of 
 the problem of transportation which his own dis- 
 mounted condition presented. 
 
 The band, disregarding the commotion, still 
 flung forth its brazen blare of melody, and sud- 
 denly a presence threaded the crowd, which every 
 neck was craned to view. A man, bare-headed in 
 the sun, clad showily in pink satin, slashed with 
 dark red, and pink silk tights, with the deft tread 
 of one shod elastically, was passing through the 
 press. Only once Lloyd had a glimpse of the fig- 
 ure long familiar to him, though to have seen 
 Haxon only in street clothes one could never have 
 recognised Captain Ollory of the Royal Navy. As 
 he began to climb the mast, stepping lightly, 
 swiftly, surely, from one steel spike to another, he 
 became visible to the whole assemblage, and, un- 
 used to the accepted methods of applause, a cry 
 of gratulation that was half a guffaw of delight 
 broke forth. The acrobat, without the immediate 
 
 90 
 
The Windfall 
 
 contrast with taller men, seemed of fair height, 
 and the muscle that was suggestive of undue 
 stoutness in his ordinary garb, showed now in full 
 play and athletic symmetry in the thin, elastic 
 silk covering of limbs and arms. He went speedily 
 to the top, and stepped with a deft lightness upon 
 the board that surmounted it, a pitiful square, not 
 more than eighteen inches in compass. He stood 
 for a moment at full height above the quivering 
 and astonished crowd — higher than the tip of the 
 Ferris wheel, higher than the courthouse tower. 
 The band, playing resolutely on, smote keenly 
 vibrant nerves with a sense of discordance. One 
 of the amazed rural spectators, agonised with the 
 strain of the sensation, called out sharply, " Hi, 
 somebody, can't ye make them dad-burned hawns 
 an' accordions quit blating? " 
 
 Lloyd glanced keenly about, but the voice could 
 not be located in the crowd. He deprecated aught 
 that might tend to shake Haxon's nerve, aught 
 unexpected, disagreeable, jarring in the stress of 
 the crisis. He knew how far removed from the 
 actualities was the gallant aspect of that richly- 
 bedight figure, the bonhomie of the smile and 
 flourish of salutation from the frightful perch to 
 the humming crowd below. He knew that the 
 realisation of risking life and limb for a meagre 
 stipend that meant bare subsistence was daunting 
 enough to the bravest, but to court this jeopardy 
 for naught, for the amusement of a scanty cluster 
 of country bumpkins, was revolting to any sane 
 
 91 
 
The Windfall 
 
 man. He remembered anew the cynical saying 
 that the spectators gather to see the acrobat killed, 
 not to witness his triumph, and then came back to 
 him Haxon's sullen complaint this morning that 
 his " turn " was absolutely without compensation 
 — he was convinced that not one-third of the rural 
 crowd would pay their way into a tent. The ex- 
 ternal aspects and the " high dive," necessarily 
 an outdoor performance and a free show, would 
 satisfy their curiosity, without enriching the ex- 
 chequer of the street fair company. This state of 
 mind was a poor preparation for Haxon's difficult 
 feat, for it was indeed extra-hazardous, and in 
 several towns in which they had exhibited its repe- 
 tition had been forbidden by the authorities. 
 
 Lloyd was made aware by the shudder, the sibi- 
 lance of the shivering crowd that the acrobat had 
 moved, and he glanced up wincingly from under 
 his hat-brim. Haxon had stooped; he was now 
 in a sitting posture, his feet dangling over the 
 depths below, and the little flat square of wood 
 supporting his weight. He slowly drew from a 
 pocket a large handkerchief, deliberately folded it, 
 and bound it around his eyes, tying it hard and 
 fast at the back of his head. Then, thus blind- 
 folded, he sat on his precarious perch for a mo- 
 ment, dangling his shapely, muscular legs in their 
 pink silk tights. As he started to rise from his 
 posture, a feminine voice from the balcony of the 
 courthouse cried out hysterically: " Oh, make him 
 come down — don't let him be blindfolded ! " 
 
 92 
 
The Windfall 
 
 and there ensued a twitter of derision and admo- 
 nition among her companions, with gay raillery 
 that she should show herself so " very green." 
 
 As Lloyd glanced back at the acrobat, he saw 
 that what Haxon called the business of the " turn " 
 was in progress, and, familiar with it though he 
 was, affected, as he knew it to be, the sight of it 
 made him wince now and sent cold thrills of ter- 
 ror down his spine. The acrobat, clumsily, uncer- 
 tainly, with all the hesitant motions of the blind, 
 slowly sought to rise, to get his feet once more on 
 the square board on which he now sat. He lifted 
 the ball of one heel to the verge, and sat there 
 thus crouched in dubitation; then slowly, quak- 
 ingly he achieved a stooping attitude and at last 
 rose unsteadily to his feet, gropingly holding out 
 his hands, now this way, now that, as if he were 
 doubtful on which side of the mast was the reser- 
 voir of water below. There was no need of these 
 feints to heighten the temerity of the feat, and 
 Lloyd had always deprecated them. The realism 
 of this affectation of fright, of uncertainty, of 
 hesitation, was so great that its quiver seemed 
 possible to be communicated to the nerves in 
 serious earnest. 
 
 Suddenly the acrobat drew himself to his 
 wonted erectness. He stood, for a moment, mo- 
 tionless. Then he leaped, or rather stepped out 
 into the air, still conserving a standing posture; 
 he turned on his back in the instant of descending, 
 and, with an incredible precision of aim, fell into 
 
 93 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the centre of the tank of water, the impact send- 
 ing up jets in every direction and spattering the 
 cheering crowd. 
 
 All was laughter and good-humour. As the 
 round sleek head and the pink doublet, slashed 
 with red, reappeared clambering over the sides of 
 the reservoir half a dozen brawny arms were 
 stretched forth to help the acrobat out. But he 
 sprang lightly past, dripping like a seal, caught a 
 water-proof overcoat from an attendant's hands, 
 slipped it on, and walking with that peculiar deft- 
 ness appertaining to light, elastic chaussure, his 
 calves and ankles in their pink tights presenting 
 a comical contrast to the overcoat as his feet pro- 
 truded below, he took his way through the crowd, 
 along the pavement, and in the direction of the 
 village hotel. 
 
 Lloyd drew a long sigh of relief. This was 
 well enough so far — but he had an awful premoni- 
 tion that for some reason some day Haxon's nerve 
 would fail him. That accurate judgment of dis- 
 tances would prove at fault. He would miss his 
 calculation by some inconsiderable fraction, and 
 instead of dropping on the elastic surface of the 
 buoyant water he would fall on the edge of the 
 tank, on his back and break it, or on his skull and 
 crush it. This was a life to lead, Lloyd said to 
 himself, a life to lead, but God be thanked its 
 chief trial was over for the day at all events. His 
 consciousness was sore and bruised. He tried to 
 pluck up heart of grace. The sound of the 
 
 94 
 
The Windfall 
 
 spielers' cries affected him like the commonplace 
 consolations of awakening at the end of a dreadful 
 dream. When he went down to the reservoir he 
 found the groups near it discussing the narrow 
 margin between success and a heart-rending 
 disaster. 
 
 " Ef he hed jes' curved a mite to the right or 
 the lef his spine would hev been splinters," one 
 voiced the opinion of all. 
 
 Lloyd was ordering some heavy planks to be 
 laid across the huge trough, the water being some 
 eight feet deep. 
 
 " Whut's that fur?" a surly wight demanded, 
 being compelled to give place for the proceeding. 
 
 " Some of these underfoot children might come 
 here when nobody is looking and drown them- 
 selves." 
 
 The man looked at him with a clearing brow. 
 " Fur sech resky folks ez ye 'pear ter be ye air 
 toler'ble fore-thoughted," he said approvingly. 
 
 Taking his way back to the sidewalk Lloyd was 
 accosted by an elderly merchant. " The best of 
 your show seems to be free," he said sourly. He 
 had earlier taken occasion to gird at the fair; it 
 was a hindrance rather than a help to trade; it 
 was a novelty, a noisy intrusion, a foolish enter- 
 prise, a predestined failure, and he could make no 
 compact of toleration with it. " You ought to 
 remember that thanks are not profits." 
 
 " They have no market value, but they are 
 mighty pleasant," returned Lloyd. 
 
 95, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " This ain't a paying crowd," the merchant cast 
 his eye disparagingly about. " If business don't 
 improve you and your company won't more than 
 make your keep here." He seemed bent on 
 " rubbing it in." 
 
 " We would be glad to do that," said Lloyd 
 in excellent temper. " We thought it was a big- 
 ger town — what there is of it seems to be dandy, 
 — and we thought there would be a more populous 
 vicinity. But because we have made a mistake 
 there is no use in sitting down with our finger in 
 our mouth. We are going to give every attrac- 
 tion straight along just as if we were playing to 
 big money." 
 
 The sour old man looked hard at the man- 
 ager; he would fain maintain his caustic admoni- 
 tions, his disparaging criticism. He hated folly 
 in all its forms; but commercially he felt it to be 
 wicked. A man who wasted money, or fooled it 
 away, he deemed a criminal, albeit not liable to 
 the law. Nevertheless he was mollified in spite 
 of himself. 
 
 " Gray," he said to his head clerk, " put up the 
 shutters. All the clerks may go to the fair — 
 and the porter, too — pay his way. We can't do 
 business with this tom-fool street fair gyrating 
 before the door, and we don't want all these hill- 
 billies standing around the counters squirting to- 
 bacco juice all over the stock, between the times 
 that they go out to stare-gaze the pictures on the 
 signs. / won't house 'em. If they want to see 
 
 9 6 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the fair let 'em drop their nickel in the slot, and 
 get the worth of their money." 
 
 The closing of this, the principal store in the 
 town, was followed by the placing of other shut- 
 ters in show windows and the fastening of doors. 
 The chaffering at the counters thus ceasing, the 
 idlers were turned into the street, and here the 
 wiles of the spielers caught them, and soon the 
 ticket takers were busy making change. The tent 
 of "Isaac" was thronged; it is amazing the fas- 
 cination that the repulsive exerts on- the unculti- 
 vated mind. Old and young, men, women, and 
 children, yearned with curiosity to see him " eat 
 'em alive," and a steady procession went in and 
 came out in various stages of gratified disgust. 
 When it was announced that the boa constrictor 
 would be fed on chickens there was a rush for 
 the horrid spectacle, and for a time the peanut 
 roaster and candy stand were dreary and deserted. 
 Wick-Zoo, the wild man, who was caged, half clad 
 in skins, a repellent object of matted hair, and 
 long teeth, and wild eyes, who ran a few steps 
 hither and thither in the restricted limits of his 
 bars, uttering low moans varied now again by a 
 keen, shrill howl, was overwhelmed with visitors 
 until an unlucky episode created a panic amongst 
 them. A mountain woman, young, plump, black- 
 eyed, and with bright rosy cheeks hardly dis- 
 counted by her pink-checked cotton gown, put a 
 white dimpled hand inadvertently within the bars 
 as she held on to the cage to avoid the jostling of 
 
 97 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the crowd. It seemed unto Wick-Zoo good and 
 meet to make a demonstration toward the tempt- 
 ing member, and he rubbed his muzzle against 
 it with a jocosity hardly to be expected of a " wild 
 man from Borneo." He was of limited mental 
 endowment, as was natural, and had no prescience 
 of the awful uproar that ensued when the woman 
 screamed that he was snapping his terrible teeth 
 at her, and as she fell back upon the crowd the 
 tent of Wick-Zoo was nearly torn down upon his 
 devoted head before his admirers could fairly ex- 
 tricate themselves. Lloyd, hearing the clamour, 
 came hastily to the rescue, and as he entered the 
 deserted precincts the poor " wild man " hailed 
 him: 
 
 " Oh, Beaut, for the love of pity can't you 
 gimme a beer? I'm nigh smothered with thirst." 
 
 The happy turn of the tide, the eager desire to 
 make the best of every advantage, the prudent 
 monition that one day is not a week and that the 
 show must live up to its best possibilities, kept 
 Hilary Lloyd a very busy man that morning. 
 
 The first check to his hopes came when he en- 
 countered Clotilda Pinnott, arrived with all her 
 kith and kin in a big white-covered ox-waggon, 
 to redeem her promise to do a song-and-dance 
 " turn " at the Fair. 
 
 9.8 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE manager did not at first recognise 
 the new star that had arisen in the firma- 
 ment of the Street Fair, and this was no 
 great wonder. Clotilda Pinnott was standing quite 
 isolated near the intersection of one of the streets 
 with the public square. Near her was the great 
 waggon which had been thriftily utilised to take 
 advantage of the excursion, laden with an immense 
 number of fresh splint baskets presumably for 
 sale; some were hanging all along the sides; others 
 protruded from the white hood at the back; still 
 larger ones were glimpsed through the aperture of 
 the front. One of the team of red-and-white oxen 
 was yet afoot, steadily chewing his cud; the other, 
 unmindful of the diagonal tilt of the yoke which 
 he had thus pulled awry, had lain down on the 
 ground and sleepily eyed the square, with no ap- 
 parent perception in his dull bovine mind that its 
 aspect was more populous and animated than he 
 had beheld it of yore. 
 
 Some half dozen of the dogs had seen fit to 
 accompany this jaunting abroad of the family, 
 and naturally had furnished their own transporta- 
 tion. The pace at which the ox-team had travelled 
 had by no means taxed their brisk energies, but 
 the day was nearing the noon-tide, the September 
 
 99 
 
The Windfall 
 
 sun was hot, and they too had seated themselves, 
 several under the shade of the waggon, and thence 
 with lolling tongues and small hot eyes they gazed 
 at the commotion, their intentness of observation 
 broken now and then by sudden snaps at flies, and 
 once one, with an air of indignant interruption, 
 dislocated every rule of canine symmetry in the 
 twist he gave his anatomy to get his teeth to bear 
 on the fleas that tormented him. Two evidently 
 had some joke between them, for without warning 
 they occasionally rushed jocosely at each other, the 
 bigger rolling the smaller over and over and tick- 
 ling and biting him, humorously growling the 
 while, till he whimpered hysterically aloud. 
 
 But the girl — Lloyd saw recognition in her eyes 
 which fixed his attention; then he paused to stare 
 wonderingly. " Why, what on earth have you 
 done to yourself?" he broke out in blunt amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 Ah, never, never could he have recognised the 
 classic grape-laden canephora of the orchard in 
 the figure that stood before him. Here, here was 
 true rusticity — the other a dream, a poem, some 
 materialised strain from the oaten reed of Theoc- 
 ritus. He had spoken to her then with the defer- 
 ence that befitted the personified poetry of her 
 presence. He now was not intentionally rude, but 
 he was stern, plain, determined. The artistic in- 
 terests of the promised " turn " were slaughtered. 
 
 " How 'd ever you make yourself such a jay? " 
 he cried in dismay. 
 
 ioo 
 
The Windfall, 
 
 Then he began to perceive in added surprise 
 that she fancied herself arrayed to strike the be- 
 holder with admiration and destroy the peace of 
 every man who looked upon her. She stared at 
 him with an amazement that matched his own, so 
 comprehensive that at first it gave no room for 
 anger. As the gradual realisation of objection be- 
 gan to redden her cheeks he made haste to call 
 some good-natured euphemism to his aid, for he 
 would not willingly hurt her feelings. 
 
 " Don't you know, child, that ' beauty un- 
 adorned is adorned the most '? " he said. " Why 
 didn't you wear those togs you had on when I saw 
 you up in the mountains? " 
 
 " Them r-a-ags? " she drawled contemptuously, 
 and with a complacent hand she adjusted the folds 
 of her coarse brown and green mottled muslin, 
 that had at intervals a small egg-shaped pattern 
 in glaring white. It stood out from her heels like 
 a board, so stiffly was it starched. A row of big 
 black beads was around her throat. A yellow sun- 
 bonnet, lined with blue, hid all the grace of her 
 head and hair and showed only a moon-like con- 
 tour of face, and he wondered that he had not 
 before noticed her freckles. And then, worst of 
 all, her shoes. For now her feet were encased in 
 thick red yarn stockings and the stiffest of brogans, 
 several sizes too large. 
 
 Lloyd could scarcely stem the flood of despair 
 that surged about him, and the struggle was the 
 more desperate as he perceived how far afield was 
 
 IOI 
 
The Windfall 
 
 her complacent mental attitude from any con- 
 straint of comprehension. Could he ever make 
 her understand? 
 
 " You can't dance in them soap-boxes," he said 
 didactically. " Them shoes won't bend. You 
 can't do nothing but hop — and no bloke is going 
 to pay a red to see a lydy hop. Why didn't you 
 wear the old slippers you had on the other 
 day?" 
 
 " Was you uns thinkin' ez I'd 'pear so pore ez 
 ter dance in them old shoes? " she demanded with 
 a flash of the eyes and drawing up her figure with 
 dignity, but alack, a flash, however fiery, from out 
 the blue and yellow frills of the sunbonnet, and the 
 prideful pose of a form disguised by the angular 
 folds of the unyielding fabric that held the starch 
 so stiffly, lost all impressiveness in their disastrous 
 environment. 
 
 " I was thinking that same," he retorted un- 
 equivocally. He turned to her eldest brother, who 
 had just come up, followed at a little distance by 
 her staring father, and sought to reach here more 
 pliancy of receptivity. " Well, sport," he said 
 genially to Daniel Pinnott, " you see I wanted to 
 show a nymph of the orchard — such as dance 
 among the trees." 
 
 The jaws of both mountaineers fell. " When 
 did they dance, stranger?" they uneasily de- 
 manded in a breath, as if the mere idea of terpsi- 
 chorean intrusion among their trees had an in- 
 herent disquietude for them. 
 
 102 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Oh, there's no such folks sure enough/' Lloyd 
 made haste to explain. " People have pretended 
 that there were spirits of the trees and the like." 
 He hesitated; Shadrach Pinnott's eyes fixed in 
 stultified wonderment on his face were disconcert- 
 ing. " Of course nobody ever saw them, unless 
 the feller was dreamin' or drunk; " — at the last 
 word Shadrach Pinnott's countenance took on the 
 insignia of comprehension — " anyhow, the book- 
 guys have w r ritten a lot of poetry about 'em, and 
 the artist-guys have painted pictures of what they 
 thought these lydies looked like; so when I saw 
 Miss here, dancing and singing in the orchard, 
 she took my eye for a dryad, or oread or a bac- 
 chante or some of them nationalities, and I'd like 
 to try the turn on the public — but — " he con- 
 cluded sternly, " not in them clothes — that's just 
 an everyday Persimmon Cove girl, and no dryad 
 about it." 
 
 Clotilda made no sign of relenting, and Lloyd 
 stared disconsolately at her while the slow brains 
 of the two other men turned over his discourse 
 reflectively. " The right kind of glad rags for 
 dancing are never stiff," he urged. " I can't figure 
 out how the lydy managed to stay so stiff and 
 starched these seven miles and more, waggoning 
 down from the mountain. She looks to be just off 
 the ironing-board." 
 
 " An' stranger, she be" the old grandam's voice 
 broke in suddenly as she hobbled up on her stick. 
 " Clotildy changed into them clothes, under the 
 
 103 
 
The Windfall 
 
 kiver of the waggin, whenst we uns war about half 
 a mile from town." 
 
 Lloyd made a bolt toward the canvas-covered 
 vehicle. " And she has got the same togs along? " 
 he exclaimed. " Three cheers ! Three cheers ! 
 Get 'em out, — get 'em out. And child, take off 
 your cap or bonnet or whatever that disguise is 
 called — blazes, girl! what have you got on your 
 hair?" 
 
 Clotilda, overborne by the trend of events and 
 perceiving very definitely that the opportunity for 
 display was lost unless she surrendered her per- 
 suasions as to toilette, obediently bared her head 
 to the light, the locks all sleek and smooth and 
 closely banded to her forehead. They were 
 streaked dark and light and glistened when the 
 sun fell upon them. She lifted her hands deprecat- 
 ingly to her head as he vociferated, "What is it 
 that you have got on your hair? " 
 
 " Nuthin' but lard," she faltered. 
 
 " Oh, — oh — " Lloyd gave a sigh of despair. 
 Then didactically he rejoined: " A lydy who per- 
 forms in public must be more natural than — than 
 — nature — or seem to be, — which is all the same 
 thing. She can paint her cheeks, which yours 
 don't need — and beautify along natural lines — 
 but no oread that I ever saw billed had a greased 
 head. I take it that this ain't the style among the 
 ones in the mountains, or the boards would have 
 followed the fashion. We will all pray that a cake 
 of tar soap and a pail of river water will wash that 
 
 104 
 
The Windfall 
 
 grease off. I understand that you are going to 
 camp here a little distance from town/' he added, 
 turning to Shadrach Pinnott, and as the moun- 
 taineer assented, he continued, " Well, she can 
 go now to the camping ground and get that larded 
 hair washed, and sit in the sun till it dries off, 
 for," declared this disciple of realism severely, 
 " no oread, nor dryad, nor bacchante can do a 
 song and dance turn in my show with a greased 
 head!" 
 
 Time is a potent remedial agent, and with the 
 aid of tar soap and river water and the benign 
 influence of the sun and the wind it so restored the 
 integrity of Clotilda's locks that when it was al- 
 most five o'clock that afternoon and the excite- 
 ment and interest of the fair had reached the 
 culmination it was announced from the stage of the 
 high-class concert that the next attraction, which 
 was already widely advertised, would consist of a 
 song and dance turn by a talented young lady of 
 their own county, Miss Clotilda Josephine Belinda 
 Pinnott. 
 
 Lloyd's divination of the value of local interest 
 was justified, for the tent was crowded, and the 
 attractions elsewhere suffered in consequence. Sev- 
 eral members of the company left their posts, ac- 
 tuated by curiosity concerning this new feature. 
 The Flying Lady ceased her winged gyrations, 
 since her tent was deserted for the nonce, and came 
 and occupied a back seat, where she looked odd 
 enough, in her short white satin gown, with her 
 
 10 5 
 
The Windfall 
 
 illusion scarf and her mechanical wings embarrass- 
 ing her posture and hanging over the bench, but 
 most of the audience consisted of the rural element 
 with a smaller proportion of the town-folks all 
 expectantly staring, anticipating who knows what 
 wonders. The orchestra was in place and the 
 music had been for some moments in full swing 
 when suddenly the curtain drew slowly up showing 
 a stage, dappled with the shadows of peach boughs 
 and calcium light Beyond could be dimly de- 
 scried the mountains with sunset on the amthys- 
 tine slopes and a crimson cloud aloft — this effect 
 had been compassed by the simple expedient of 
 dropping a section of the canvas. The rear of the 
 tent gave on a vacant space above the bluffs of the 
 river; the slight elevation of the stage nullified this 
 interval and thus it was against a background of 
 forests and mountains that the oread came softly 
 bounding on the stage, grace personified, as light 
 of foot, as innocently sportive as a fawn. Her 
 left arm upheld the skirt of her yellow dress, into 
 which she had gathered apron-wise a mass of pur- 
 ple grapes; here and there a cluster with leaves 
 and tendrils fell over against her dark red pet- 
 ticoat. 
 
 With her right hand she now caught at a peach 
 on the boughs, deftly interlaced beneath the roof of 
 the tent, and now with a touch she steadied the 
 pail or basket on her head, so overladen with 
 the clusters of grapes that only the contour of the 
 vessel could be descried in their midst. And as 
 
 106 
 
The Windfall 
 
 she danced she sang, the crude loudness of her 
 voice annulled by the crowd, the space, and per- 
 chance a trifle of shyness. But indeed this was not 
 predicable of the gay abandon with which she 
 threw herself into the spirit of the " turn." The 
 limelight, that simulated the clear and burnished 
 sunshine, showed every perfection of her beautiful 
 face, the soft aureola of her auburn hair, all a 
 fluffy mass, once more, of picturesque disorder; 
 the slender charm of her lissome figure and feet 
 and ankles; the exquisite shape of her arms, 
 seeming in the artificial radiance of an alabastine 
 whiteness. To her voice, like a murmurous rune 
 rather than an accompaniment, for Lloyd was 
 afraid that the unaccustomed adjunct to her sing- 
 ing might throw her off the key, the violins played 
 a gentle pizzicato variant of the theme, of which 
 she had been warned to take no heed, and it was 
 in accord with the effect of the whole performance 
 that, in lieu of the last furious whirl of the dan- 
 seuse, the usual panting bow, the appealing gesture 
 for the plaudits, the sunlit scene should vaguely 
 vanish, the curtain slowly, softly descending, leav- 
 ing the oread still sporting in the sylvan shadows 
 amongst the immemorial fantasies of the realms of 
 poesy. 
 
 The curtain was, however, ready to rise anew; 
 the manager's touch was on the bell, while the 
 pizzicato theme " Kind shepherd, tell me true," 
 sounded from the violins, and now, to simulate an 
 echo, only one repeated the strain, and again the 
 
 107 
 
The Windfall 
 
 first and second together, with a note from the 
 viol no louder than a booming bee, and again 
 the faint tones of the single instrument, and then — i 
 silence. 
 
 It remained unbroken for several minutes, but 
 presently the audience stirred and exchanged com- 
 ments. There was not the clap of a hand, not a 
 voice raised in applause. Nothing could have fal- 
 len more absolutely flat than the whole perform- 
 ance. The musicians, their violins still adjusted 
 under their chins ready to begin anew on the first 
 tinkle of the bell, cast surprised glances at one 
 another, then leered open ridicule, and seeing 
 Lloyd turn away from the hand-bell they lowered 
 their instruments and began to scrape them noisily, 
 changing the pitch and tuning them for a per- 
 formance in the pantomine tent of a comically 
 illustrated version of " A hot time in the old town 
 to-night." 
 
 Lloyd's face was flushed, his jaunty confident 
 expectation wilted utterly. He could not con- 
 ceive how he could be so far out of touch with 
 the sentiment of others that their appraisement 
 should differ so radically. The value of the 
 " turn " in his mind was not abated one jot by 
 their lack of appreciation ; he still thought it beau- 
 tiful, unique, an exquisite rustic idyl, but he lis- 
 tened with a pained curiosity to the comments on 
 every hand, vaguely seeking to comprehend the 
 reason of this divergence of opinion. 
 
 " Warn't them shoes jes' old injer-rubbers? " a 
 108 
 
The Windfall 
 
 country woman was saying to another, with a 
 lowered voice and a scandalised mien. 
 
 " I reckon mebbe she don't own no better shoes," 
 her interlocutor of charitable interpretations 
 replied. 
 
 " Mought hev been afeard she would wear 'em 
 out with all that prancin' an' hoppin' up an' 
 down," a speculative third suggested. 
 
 " Wisht I hed my dime back," a grizzly old 
 malcontent sighed. " Special puffawmance — 
 shucks ! I don't see nuthin' special in a mountain 
 gal hoppin' up an' down arter a peach — ye kin 
 see that any day ye look out o' the winder or 
 alongside o' the road." 
 
 " Waal, that's what riles me," another of his 
 own sort asseverated. " I can't see the p'int o' 
 that show." 
 
 The " stunt " encountered even more than a dull 
 lack of appreciation and disapproval: in one in- 
 stance Lloyd, looking about with a manager's keen 
 eyes to discriminate effect, detected ridicule, ab- 
 solute and hearty — a covert ridicule which was to 
 his mind more disparaging to the value of the 
 turn than bluff open laughter. A rural wight, 
 whose intent interest he had earlier noted, was 
 still in his seat, holding his head down till his chin 
 was sunk in the frayed and dirty lapels of his old 
 grey coat. He wore his hat in the tent, the habit 
 of most of the country contingent, and the broad 
 flapping white wool brim almost hid his face, but 
 his bent shoulders shook with convulsive merrl- 
 
 109 
 
\THe Windfall 
 
 ment, and again and again he muttered to him- 
 self, " What a fool he hev made of her — what a 
 fool — what a fool ! " More than once he drew 
 out a great bandana handkerchief to wipe the 
 moisture from his eyes. It was a genuine demon- 
 stration of enjoyment of the fiasco as Lloyd, net- 
 tled and troubled, could but perceive, for on each 
 of these occasions of the requisition of the red 
 handkerchief the spectator seemed to glance 
 about anxiously over its folds at the surrounding 
 crowd, as if solicitous that his sentiment should not 
 be observed. 
 
 The more experienced townspeople had not 
 more receptivity for the subtler elements of the 
 presentation. As the crowd pressed out of the 
 tent, for the special performance had been given 
 a place to itself, Lloyd overheard the comments 
 of one of the village youths, tinged with the con- 
 tempt always felt by the urban denizens for the 
 dwellers in the mountains and coves. 
 
 " I must apologise, Miss Minnie," he was say- 
 ing to the young lady whose parasol he carried, 
 " for bringing you in here, for imposing on your 
 patience — I thought from the advertisements that 
 this was really going to be something extra." 
 
 " She was right pretty," said the young lady 
 politely, trying to seem not to have been so ill- 
 entertained by the performance. 
 
 u Pretty? — perhaps — if she were properly 
 dressed — and had had her hair combed — and had 
 sung something new, with snap and ginger in it, 
 
 no 
 
The Windfall 
 
 instead of the fag end of a drawling old song, as 
 old as Noah." 
 
 More than one of the town ladies of mature 
 years murmured in pettish reprobation over her 
 fan to another, " She was real shabby and untidy, 
 wasn't she?" " Perhaps she is poor?" Lloyd 
 heard this excuse suggested, yet once again. 
 
 The reply to it stayed in his mind : " She isn't 
 poor — old Shadrach Pinnott has the best of all 
 good reasons for not being poor, they say." 
 
 The echo of the general rural criticism from 
 persons of local station and presumable pro- 
 priety and refinement, albeit Lloyd felt their 
 animadversions ill-taken and out of keeping with 
 any artistic perceptions, made him unwilling to re- 
 tain the position of arbiter in the matter. 
 
 It seemed to Lloyd that with his trials, many 
 and various as they were, he hardly needed the 
 added discipline of self-reproach and the fear of 
 having inflicted a disparagement upon an innocent 
 and unoffending soul. He had begun to be so 
 doubtful of himself and the value of his own per- 
 suasions that he fairly feared to lay the matter 
 before the old mountaineer and his eldest son. 
 But he had discerned a conservative quality in the 
 serious, steady Daniel Pinnott, and he esteemed 
 himself fortunate in finding the two men together. 
 They were at the camping place they had selected 
 near the town, and although the oxen of the team 
 had been turned out to graze, the waggon stood still 
 laden as he had seen it when in the streets. A fire 
 
 in 
 
The Windfall 
 
 burned briskly on a rocky space sloping to the 
 river bank, though amongst the ledges the grass 
 was rank and green. Several great trees, oak, elm, 
 beech, and ash, cast broad shadows from their full- 
 foliaged boughs. The sky, all red and gold in the 
 west, was mottled here and there with purple 
 flecks, and across the blue zenith were two long 
 cirrus clouds dazzlingly white with a suggestion of 
 wings, drooping, folded, not in ill accord with the 
 thoughts attendant on the down-dropping of the 
 vermilion sphere of the sun behind the dark, mas- 
 sive western mountains, and the illuminated, al- 
 most translucent aspect of the amethystine ranges 
 to the east. The reflection of the white clouds 
 gave the surface of the river a vivid glint here and 
 there among the rocks that fretted its current. 
 Close to the shore it was smooth, and here the 
 bank was low and shelving. Cows, homeward 
 bound from the range of the woodlands, loitered 
 knee deep in the ripples, now bending a horned 
 head to drink of the crystal-clear water, now in 
 the serene bovine content gazing meditatively, 
 motionlessly, at the illusive apotheosis of the 
 eastern mountains, as ethereal, as unearthly of as- 
 pect as a dream of the hills of heaven. There was 
 no glimpse of the town from this point; a slight 
 elevation cut off the view as completely as if this 
 exponent of civilisation were miles distant. Ex- 
 cept for the serpentine curves of the road the spot 
 was as isolated as any such sylvan nook on their 
 own mountain. Three sticks and a crane sup- 
 
 112 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ported a pot over the fire and old Mrs. Pinnott, 
 with a crutch stick, a discerning, excited eye, and 
 a long spoon, bent over to stir the steaming con- 
 tents. As she caught up her skirts to avoid the 
 flames and circled hirpling about to compass this 
 devoir Lloyd was ashamed to entertain a reminder 
 of Macbeth's witches, whom he knew only in their 
 stage aspect. She did not hail him as " thane of 
 Cawdor " as he passed, but her greeting was hardly 
 less flattering. Mrs. Pinnott had been deeply im- 
 pressed by the splendours of the Street Fair. There 
 was a pulse within her which beat responsive to 
 worldly glories, and high social preferments, and 
 Lloyd's station in her estimation had appreciated 
 in due proportion. She waved the long spoon at 
 him in the fervour of her congratulation. 
 
 " It's plumb beautiful," she opined enthusiasti- 
 cally. "I ain't never seen the beat! I wisht I 
 hed eyes all around my head so ez I mought stare 
 my fill. You — you air a plumb special showman 
 an' no mistake," and once more she bent to the 
 stirring of the pot. 
 
 " Now I'll take no denial," said Lloyd, ad- 
 vancing. " You have got to come up to town with 
 me after tea and we will go up in the Ferris Wheel 
 together. That'll be full safe — I'll see to it that 
 you don't fall out. I'll sit by you — the settees are 
 made for two." 
 
 " Fine for courting" Mrs. Pinnott was airily 
 coquettish. " Some o' them high-steppin' town 
 gals that I see lookin' arter you uns so \oy\vx this 
 
 "3. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 evenin' mought put a spider in my cup, seein' me 
 'tended by sech a handsome proud-sperited young 
 
 man." 
 
 " Proud-spirited," cried poor Lloyd, with a 
 dreary laugh. " I feel as meek as Moses." 
 
 Mrs. Daniel Pinnott was peeling potatoes at 
 a little distance, and the baby in a blue calico 
 slip, lying in the grass, kicking up its dimpled pink 
 heels, was consigned to the care of a great cur, that 
 now licked its face and now affected to bite the 
 soft hand which the infant thrust up into his open 
 jaws, and now squealed in shrill pain as the baby 
 fingers pinched and tugged at his defenceless ears 
 with a strength hardly to be expected of such cal- 
 low muscles. 
 
 " Both you lydies must come in time to see the 
 pyrotechnic exhibition, and go through the whole 
 show, and if you bring any money with you I'll 
 hold you up and throw every cent you have got into 
 the river." 
 
 Old Mrs. Pinnott inclined graciously to this 
 proposition. She had already paid to see a part of 
 the show and thus satisfied her sense of independ- 
 ence. If the manager were polite enough to favour 
 her with a second view of the scenes which her 
 memory gloated upon with so much delight, she 
 saw no reason why she should deny herself this 
 pleasure. " I be goin' ter stay all night with my 
 niece, Malviny Bostel, her who merried a Fenton 
 before she merried Bostel — Fenton bein' gone ter 
 glory, pore man ! All we wimmen folks, 'bout bed- 
 
 114 
 
The Windfall. 
 
 time, air goin' ter her house fur the night, bein' ez 
 we uns don't favour sleep in' round a camp fire like 
 Towse thar, or the men-folks — thar ain't room in 
 the waggin. An', stranger, I ain't settin' out ter 
 saftsawder you uns whenst I say ez I had ruther go 
 ridin' in that big swing with you uns than ter set 
 in Malviny's ' parlour/ ez she calls it, an' hear her 
 talk so mealy-mouthed, an' finified, an' explain all 
 the town doin's ter her kentry kin — she 'lowed ter 
 me ez she talked through a telly-fun whenst she 
 war in Glaston, an' Rufe Bostel hearn her at 
 Shaftesville, full twenty odd mile off — though 
 mebbe he did — his ears air long enough fur any- 
 thing. He minds me of a mule in more ways than 
 one ! Waal, I know fust off ez much about the 
 Street Fair ez Malviny kin tell me, an' more — fur 
 I know her well enough ter take my affle-david to 
 it that she didn't spen' many dimes with you uns. 
 An' I'd be glad ter pass my evenin' somewhar else, 
 so's I kin purtend ter be so tired I can't do nuthin' 
 but sink on my pillow fur my solemn night's rest 
 whenst I git back ter Malviny's ' parlour,' ez she 
 calls it." 
 
 " I'll engage that nobody can teach you any- 
 thing about the Street Fair after I'm through 
 showing you around," Lloyd declared, and me- 
 chanically lifting his hat he passed on, leaving her 
 staring after him admiring his grace. " The man's 
 got the manners of a red-bird," she exclaimed en- 
 thusiastically. 
 
 But Lloyd was ill at ease as he approached 
 ii5 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Shadrach Pinnott and his son Daniel. The old 
 man stood with the ox-yoke in his hand, half lean- 
 ing on it as he disentangled a rope that had become 
 wound about it, while his son bent under a bundle 
 of fodder, taken from the rear of the waggon, and 
 was flinging it down on the flat surface of an out- 
 cropping ledge of rock near the river, preparing 
 the supper of the oxen. Both mountaineers looked 
 at him with such eager expectant apprehensiveness 
 that the awkwardness of his mission seemed aug- 
 mented by their attitude. He felt that it was 
 necessary to break the ice at once — in fact he could 
 not be silent before the coercive inquiry of their 
 gaze. 
 
 " Did you hear your daughter sing, Mr. Pin- 
 nott? " he asked. The surprise, the tension of 
 doubt in the expression of their faces gave way 
 suddenly, with an effect of flouting contempt, as 
 if they had expected or feared to hear something 
 different. Shadrach did not reply. Both seemed 
 absorbed in a silent communion with their own 
 thoughts. Lloyd perceived that what he had 
 said was of such slight importance in their opinion 
 in comparison with what they had in mind that he 
 would have some difficulty in securing and hold- 
 ing their attention. 
 
 " It was a good turn — a better song-and-dance 
 I never saw, — but I am sorry I asked her to show. 
 I want to explain to you that I'd rather she 
 wouldn't appear — favour us — again at all." 
 
 " Why — why? " There was only curiosity in 
 lid 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the old man's tones. The confidence which Lloyd 
 had won was very complete. He suspected no 
 rudeness — he appreciated no lack of tact. 
 
 " I feel very responsible for a misunderstand- 
 ing that has got about," said Lloyd. " I insisted, 
 against her preference, that she should appear in 
 a rustic costume and her soft old shoes. I heard 
 some comments afterwards in the audience. 
 People thought it shabby and inappropriate and 
 disrespectful to the public." 
 
 " Them town toads? " said Daniel. " We uns 
 ain't carin' what they think 'bout shoes an' seen." 
 
 " Call Clotildy— ax the child herself," said 
 Shadrach Pinnott hastily. 
 
 She was not far away, filling a bucket with water 
 at the spring which bubbled out from a mass of 
 rocks close by the river side — a clear pool of 
 crystal brown, its depths catching the light like 
 some gigantic topaz. The three men all ap- 
 proached her when her clear answering voice in the 
 evening stillness revealed her presence there. She 
 bent down, sunk the bucket into the depths, then 
 placing it on her head, stood, one hand on her hip, 
 the other lifted to the pail, and waited, motionless, 
 their coming within speaking distance. She was 
 again garbed in her holiday gown of brown mot- 
 tled muslin, that had so offended the manager's 
 artistic predilections, and once more her feet were 
 encased in the brogans that disguised beyond all 
 suggestion their grace of form and elasticity of 
 fibre. But her hair still showed its soft flaunting 
 
 117 
 
\THe Windfall 
 
 auburn hue, and rose in pliant, redundant waves 
 from her brow and was coiled in a great knot at 
 the back of her head. She listened without a word 
 to the explanation which the three men made in 
 disconnected instalments, her eyes turning from 
 one to the other as each successively took up the 
 story. She showed no confusion; her face was 
 absolutely inexpressive. Lloyd began to doubt how 
 he might best reach her understanding. But when 
 she suddenly spoke it was obvious that she had 
 grasped the whole situation. 
 
 " The mounting folks purtend ez I ain't got no 
 better shoes — waal, ef they look right sharp ter- 
 night they'll see these, bran new an' middlin' 
 stout." She glanced down at them with the pride 
 of possession. " An' the town folks purtend ter 
 be powerful shocked kase my old calico dress ain't 
 fine enough. Why, they air obleeged ter know 
 ez it air a part of the ' turn ' like the peach-tree 
 branches. Nobody gathers fruit and dances in an 
 orchard in thar Sunday-go-ter-meetin' clothes." 
 
 Her logic reassured Lloyd as to the merely cap- 
 tious nature of the criticism — he had not insisted 
 on a point that could fairly discredit her in her 
 neighbours' eyes. " But since the question has been 
 raised," he said, " I think we won't have the song- 
 and-dance again." 
 
 She withered him with a glance. " These folks 
 can't ondertake ter teach me whut's respectable," 
 she said not without dignity. " I'll dance in my 
 old shoes and my yellow calico dress every day 
 
 118 
 
The Windfall 
 
 whilst I'm in town, an' then I'll go creakin' all 
 around in my new shoes an' my new muslin ter 
 show the folks I hev got 'em. I won't allow ez 
 they kin gin me the word what air 'spectable." 
 
 Then with the utmost composure, her bucket 
 poised upon her head, she took her way past them 
 and shouldered the responsibility herself. 
 
 Lloyd was infinitely relieved, but as he walked 
 back toward the town he overtook a man whom he 
 remembered instantly to have earlier noticed — he 
 had been laughing like a satyr at the spectacle of 
 the dancing oread in the show that afternoon. 
 There was something so malicious, so triumphant 
 in the character of his mirth that Lloyd's keen ob- 
 servation might have discriminated its peculiar 
 relish of the girl's failure to win the public favour, 
 even if he had not had the success of the " turn " 
 so much at heart. With his retentive mind he 
 would have remembered the demonstration in any 
 event, but as he passed the man whose face was 
 also turned toward the village he received an un- 
 pleasant impression that he had been followed. If 
 this man had gone by the Pinnott encampment 
 along the road, as several others had done, Lloyd 
 argued within himself that he would likewise have 
 noticed the fact; the man had obviously left the 
 town last, and it was certainly somewhat odd that 
 within so short an interval of time he should be 
 overtaken wending his way thither. He was not 
 of the type or station to indulge in a stroll for 
 pleasure or a constitutional tramp. He seemed, 
 
 119 
 
The Windfall 
 
 moreover, infirm, walking very slowly and he 
 leaned heavily on a stout cane. Lloyd noticed as 
 he passed that the high cowhide boots which he 
 wore had been split by a knife with longitudinal 
 strokes above the toes of each foot, suggesting the 
 torture of bunions. The gray coat loose and long 
 was not of the usual homespun jeans, but of some 
 store-bought fabric, and from the web the nap had 
 so worn that the original texture was indetermin- 
 able. The garment boasted few buttons; the sub- 
 stitute of a ten-penny nail was dexterously inserted 
 in the upper button-hole and an opportune rent 
 in the opposite side. It was frayed and even jagged 
 around the edges, and the trousers of the same 
 goods, loose and bagging about the knees, were 
 in scarcely better repair. His shoulders were bent 
 and slouched, and the coat was either too large at 
 first or had stretched with wear into many rucks 
 and wrinkles. It had suggestions of a miller's 
 habit, for here and there were traces of flour, and 
 the old white wool hat had neither binding on its 
 wide brim nor a hatband. 
 
 Lloyd sought to cast off the disagreeable im- 
 pression. He had naught to hide. He could be 
 followed, if indeed his steps had been dogged at 
 all, only from the idlest curiosity. The rural peo- 
 ple seemed in fact so elementary, so primitive, that 
 the showman, himself, might be accounted an ob- 
 ject of interest. And even as he thus reasoned he 
 perceived the fallacy, but he had scant leisure to 
 canvass the incident. 
 
 1120 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 LLOYD could not remember an evening in 
 his humble career as impresario that had 
 -• so strained and racked his endurance. The 
 pyrotechnic exhibition bade fair to be a failure, 
 some of the combustibles having gotten damp in 
 the downpour of rain on the previous evening, and 
 each piece refusing to fizzle or shoot or whirl, 
 whatever its particular method of explosion might 
 be, while all the town gathered and stared, and 
 laughed, and grew indignant, and made sarcastic 
 comments somewhat incompatible with the fact 
 that the fireworks were a free show, and that no 
 spectator was defrauded of his money. Suddenly, 
 after so much futile effort, and without any of the 
 usual incentives, a small waggon which had brought 
 the explosives from the station to the square, was 
 lifted toward the stars in jets of red, blue, yellow, 
 green and white light ; rockets were darting, comet- 
 like, hither and thither through the crowd; Cather- 
 ine wheels whirled; Roman candles blazed; cannon 
 crackers exploded; all in simultaneous clamour and 
 flare. The terrified horse, breaking loose from his 
 harness, set off at a frantic speed, and the driver 
 was thrown to the earth, not dead nor wounded 
 as the men, rushing to his assistance, expected to 
 find him, but powder-smirched, slightly jarred, con- 
 
 121 
 
The Windfall 
 
 vulsed with laughter, declaring that his ascension 
 discounted the Flying Lady's jaunts into the air, 
 and showing himself to be very considerably drunk 
 — a state which had not been at all obvious before 
 the explosion. 
 
 The crowd's interest in combustibles had very 
 sensibly diminished and when the final balloons had 
 gone wafting away over the dark stretches of the 
 infinite loneliness of the Great Smoky Mountains 
 — to astonish the eyes of some remote dweller 
 therein, knowing naught even of the existence of 
 so sophisticated a fact as a street fair, or perchance 
 to be seen only by a marauding wolf or a crafty 
 fox and seeming to follow with the red eye of 
 menace the beast's pursuit of his prey, — the craning 
 necks of the villagers were tired and the sight- 
 seers turned with ready zest to the merry-go-round, 
 the kinetoscope, the venders of indigestible edibles, 
 the various show-tents, the revolutions of the Fer- 
 ris Wheel. The continual ascent and descent of 
 the passengers, swinging in the great periphery, 
 maintained a perennial interest for the public of 
 Colbury. As the wheel lifted its patrons higher 
 and higher into the air it paused entirely now and 
 then, that they might swing gently at a giddy ele- 
 vation and look away from the town, studded 
 with the lights of the street fair, flaring in the 
 clear, dark atmosphere, and enjoy the far prospect 
 of valley and river and the clifty defiles of the 
 mountains, all an illumined purple and silver in 
 the sheen of the serene autumnal moon. 
 
 122 
 
The Windfall 
 
 But even in this simple routine, quiet shunned the 
 harassed manager. The wheel was laden, as Lloyd 
 in his general supervisory duties, strolled up and 
 with his hands in his pockets stood watching its 
 revolution. Every seat but one was filled, and the 
 exclamations of delight and wonder in the voices 
 of children and women sounded pleasantly enough 
 on the air. Suddenly raucous tones from high in 
 the darkness broke forth; a man was thickly pro- 
 testing fear and anger and contention, and soon his 
 voice rose into sobs and wild cries, infinitely weird 
 and nerve thrilling, sounding from the height and 
 the indefinite gloom, and fraught with unimagined 
 disaster. Amongst the venturesome wights, swing- 
 ing so high above the earth, the utmost consterna- 
 tion prevailed, and pleas of eager insistence to be 
 lowered and released came from every swing. A 
 halloo of inquiry from the manager below ad- 
 dressed to the disturber of the peace elicited only 
 agonised prayers for succour and cries of pain that 
 rose piercingly into the night. The mystery being 
 insoluble Lloyd's first care was to caution the other 
 occupants of the swings to remain firmly seated in 
 their places and to release them seriatim as soon as 
 the great wheel could complete its revolution. 
 While this was in progress he stood close by, scan- 
 ning the passengers as one by one they emerged, 
 keenly watching lest the spoil-sport, madman, or 
 victim, who had so signally destroyed the pleasure 
 of the crowd and injured the prestige of the Ferris 
 Wheel, escape undetected in the press. He proved 
 
 I23i 
 
The Windfall 
 
 easily enough identified, however, as, still whimper- 
 ing in the intervals of uttering wild cries, he came 
 to the ground and was seized upon by the stalwart 
 showman. 
 
 He had been stabbed, he declared, and he would 
 sue the company. When reminded that he had 
 been in a seat alone, and inquired of as to the per- 
 petrator of the deed he asseverated that when as 
 high as the top of the wheel a stranger had climbed 
 into the seat with him, a stranger of a most ter- 
 rible aspect. In fact, this terrible stranger looked 
 just like the devil, he solemnly averred, with evi- 
 dent familiarity with the diabolic features. And 
 there, while suspended so high above the world that 
 none could succour him, this demon-man had 
 stabbed him — and he would have damages of the 
 show company — stabbed him in the right side. 
 
 With the most dismal forebodings, for the man 
 was evidently half fainting and had the pallor of 
 death, Lloyd called the engineer from the little 
 gasoline motor of the wheel to his assistance, and 
 supporting the victim between them they took their 
 way to the drug store on the corner. Lloyd no- 
 ticed the feeble step of their burden, as his feet 
 half dragged on the ground, and the nerveless 
 languor of his form, and began to fear that he 
 was indeed in bad case. The truth did not even 
 vaguely dawn upon Lloyd until the physician, who 
 had been hastily summoned, looked the victim over 
 and declared that his skin was unbroken through- 
 out and he had never been stabbed. 
 
 124 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Why, what could have been his motive in all 
 this commotion? " asked Lloyd in wonderment. 
 
 " Can't you see?" the doctor queried in turn. 
 " He is on the verge of delirium tremens." 
 
 As Lloyd stood in the door of the drug store in 
 the light which streamed through the great red and 
 green glass bottles in the windows, that bespoke 
 its functions, he listened to the snickering com- 
 ments of the men on the sidewalk while they recited 
 to newcomers the details of the incident, and his 
 mind laid hold of certain unexplained points which 
 were most pertinent to its proper comprehension. 
 
 " Why, I thought that Colbury was a dry town," 
 he addressed one of the bystanders. " Where do 
 all these drunken men get their liquor? " 
 
 " I dunno — do you?" His interlocutor favoured 
 him with a facetious wink which was in the nature 
 of things an equivocal demonstration, for as he 
 faced the light of the drug store windows the wink 
 was both red and green. 
 
 " Well, the liquor must be pretty cheap to be 
 drunk in such glorious plenty," Lloyd remarked 
 impersonally. 
 
 For the crowd was of a grade that has little 
 money to spend, and it would seem that the Fair 
 must needs absorb a good part of it. 
 
 " Liquor is cheap ! — you bet your life," his 
 interlocutor treated him to another rainbow-tinted 
 wink, " liquor is cheap, — for Shadrach Pinnott is 
 in town ! " 
 
 The simple words explained many things to 
 125 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lloyd's quick perceptions — the waggon laden with 
 baskets to sell, the secluded camping-ground on the 
 river-bank, yet near the town, which was a vir- 
 tuous dry town with not a saloon open in the place. 
 This surreptitious sale of liquor was doubtless 
 illegal in more than one sense, evading the tax of 
 the revenue law of the government as well as de- 
 fying the restrictions of the municipal prohibition. 
 He was remembering the occasion of his arrival 
 on the mountain — how the girl had followed him 
 to the house as if she feared his escape; how, de- 
 spite the torrents of rain, she had sought her father 
 and brothers to submit to their judgment the mys- 
 tery of his sudden appearance ; how eagerly anxious 
 was the old beldame in volunteering to account for 
 their vocation and the use to which they put the 
 product of their great orchards ; how obviously re- 
 lieved they had seemed when they had learned his 
 own vocation. It was all plain, now; they were 
 distillers of illicit whisky and brandy, and they had 
 suspected him as an emissary of the revenue depart- 
 ment, a detective, or one of the marshal's men. It 
 was not an unnatural conclusion, perhaps; strangers 
 in those secluded fastnesses, unheralded and with- 
 out vouchers, were rare and obnoxious to suspicion. 
 The matter was peculiarly distasteful to Lloyd 
 individually, who was a sober, law-abiding citizen, 
 and in the interests of the Street Fair, specially 
 repugnant. He resented the fact that the enterpris- 
 ing moonshiners should contrive to utilise the 
 presence of his show in the streets of Colbury to 
 
 126 
 
The Windfall 
 
 share the profits of the occasion with their nefarious 
 and illicit trade. Absurdly enough in view of its 
 humble insignificance Lloyd was proud of his Fair 
 — it was a clean show, he averred; it had no dis- 
 reputable hangers-on nor traffic; its members 
 worked faithfully for their scanty wages; it lived 
 up to its representations, barring of course the few 
 illusions and devices necessary to heighten amuse- 
 ment. It tolerated no false dealing on the part of 
 its concessionaries toward the unsophisticated and 
 simple population; it was a strictly temperance 
 organisation — the acrobats required sobriety to 
 conserve the control of the nerves, and the other 
 members of the company, hard at work from early 
 morn till late at night, had neither time nor in- 
 clination to indulge in the flowing bowl. Lloyd 
 was nettled, even more, troubled, that it should be 
 associated in any way with the risky trade plying 
 on the outskirts of the town. The sudden presence 
 of numbers of intoxicated men could be accounted 
 for by the authorities in no way but by the sus- 
 picion of the sly sale of liquor in the Fair itself, or 
 by some surreptitious vendor disconnected with its 
 management. This elusive law-breaker would be 
 difficult to discover, even though he bore the repu- 
 tation of previous exploits of the kind; the sale of 
 the home-made baskets was a very efficient blind; 
 the spot which the moonshiner had selected was 
 Invaluable for his purposes, so secluded, so close 
 to the bank — a sudden alarm and the chaste sylvan 
 waters of the crystal river would be adulterated 
 
 127 
 
{The Windfall 
 
 in a wise never known before, the land flowing 
 with toddy, in lieu of the conventional milk and 
 honey. Lloyd winced as he reflected that he, the 
 manager of the Carnival, had been seen to repair 
 to this spot this afternoon, that he had earlier 
 visited the moonshiners' house, and apparently 
 given them their first intimation that they should 
 attend the Street Fair. 
 
 As he still stood on the street corner, looking 
 about mechanically, his hat drawn down over his 
 brow, his hands in his pockets, he was lost in 
 thought and saw naught of the scene before him — 
 the torches in front of the stands of confectionery 
 and the peanut roaster; the electric stars that stud- 
 ded the circumference of the Ferris Wheel ; the big 
 mooney lustre of the rows of tents, the flare within 
 illumining the outer aspect of the canvas; the 
 courthouse rising up in the midst, taking on a sort 
 of castellated dignity as its tower loomed in the 
 dim light of uncertainty above; the motley crowd 
 surging hither and thither wherever a sudden com- 
 motion gave promise of special attraction or the 
 added sensation of an accident; the straggling 
 glimmer from the lighted windows of the resi- 
 dences of the town along the hillside; and further 
 away the contour of august mountain ranges under 
 the melancholy light of a young moon, little more 
 than a gilded sickle cutting the mists, like the test 
 of the temper of the scimiter of the Orient dividing 
 the gauze veil at a single stroke. He heard 
 naught of the varied clamours of the town — the 
 
 12$ 
 
The Windfall 
 
 callow vociferations of the ever-present small boy, 
 the clatter of tongues in conversation and com- 
 ment, the sudden brazen outpour of tumult when 
 the brass band sent a popular melody pulsing along 
 the currents of the air, the frantic cries of the 
 spielers contending against each other and vaunt- 
 ing their rival attractions. Great favourites these 
 were with the country crowd, and it was a facile 
 laugh that rewarded their pleasantries. Sometimes 
 these verged on hardihood. "Isaac! Isaac! he 
 eats 'em — he eats 'em alive ! Come in ! Come in, 
 an' see the snake-eater, lady — he eats 'em alive! " 
 Then resounded his rival, " Oh, lady, don't go 
 down there. Come in here and see the Fat Lady — 
 weighs six hundred pounds." 
 
 And anon the retort, " Oh, lady, that feller 
 ain't got no fat woman — none but skin-and-bone 
 would look at him. Here's Isaac — worth the 
 money; he eats 'em — he eats 'em, alive." 
 
 And once more " Weighs six hunderd pounds — 
 come in and see her tip the beam — oh, lady, don't 
 believe that snake-man. The serpent was ever the 
 snare of the fair sex ! That feller is the same one 
 that crawled in the garden of Eden, lady. Come 
 in, lady, and see the handsomest woman of her 
 size in the world — tips the beam at six hunderd 
 pounds ! " 
 
 Lloyd was deaf to it all. He was still revolving 
 the situation, which was by no means devoid of 
 danger to him. Should the foolhardy enterprise 
 of the moonshiners reveal their infringement of the 
 
 129 
 
The Windfall 
 
 law and bring down disaster, which could only end 
 in a Federal prison, he might well be involved on 
 the suspicion of connivance and profit-sharing. 
 The truth was that the financial prospect of the 
 Fair must have been greatly ameliorated by the 
 depot of liquid refreshment established on its out- 
 skirts. He had not earlier been able to understand 
 the crowd's reinforcement in point of numbers as 
 the day had worn on. He remembered, with a 
 sort of helpless astonishment at the toils of the 
 circumstances as they began to enmesh him, how 
 public he had permitted to be the fact of his ac- 
 quaintance with these people; the glowing adver- 
 tisements of the " song-and-dance turn " of Sha- 
 drach Pinnott's daughter, which in themselves must 
 have been ample intimation to the initiated that 
 there was something else to be found at the Street 
 Fair as alluring as youth and beauty; the courtesies 
 that he had shown the family as recognition in 
 some sort of the very questionable value of her 
 performance. 
 
 He had realised that it was in itself a sort of 
 exhibition, at which he had himself been able to 
 laugh in the lightness of his heart — he had thought 
 it a very heavy heart then, so unprescient had he 
 been of worse troubles to come, — when he had 
 made the tour of the show with the venerable Mrs. 
 Pinnott on his arm, and they had gone up in the 
 Ferris Wheel together. All the crowd below had 
 laughed and guyed the twain, as the mingled fright 
 and ecstasy of the ancient dame sounded on the 
 
 130 
 
The Windfall 
 
 air while she swayed aloft and clutched her youth- 
 ful cavalier with a grip of steel. Now and again 
 the listening wights were convulsed with merriment 
 at her pertinent remarks, charged with a pungent 
 old-fashioned native wit, and, when once more on 
 solid ground, the rough but good-natured crowd 
 had given a rousing cheer for " May and Decem- 
 ber." It was hardly possible that any ascent could 
 be more public. 
 
 He was taking himself to task now for his plas- 
 tic folly. He said to himself that he did not know 
 any other man who would have been guilty of it. 
 The indifference of other men, their surly self- 
 centred natures, their aversion to ridicule, their 
 sense of the value of their own time in rest, if 
 duty did not absorb it, in the luxury of waste, if 
 no dissipation entrenched upon it — all would have 
 protected other men from a situation which had 
 as a sequence menace so serious. Other men might 
 have found a lure in the girl's beauty and thus 
 involved themselves in a troublous association. It 
 was only he, however, who would interest himself 
 in the enjoyment of a funny old crone, by giving 
 her a ride on the Ferris Wheel and a sight of all 
 the wonders of the show, sinking his individuality 
 out of sight, and laughing himself at the crowd's 
 ridicule of the incongruity of the companions. It 
 was no unselfishness, he told himself grimly. He 
 found his own happiness in such ill-advised bene- 
 factions. And this fad, that had seemed so simple, 
 so natural, had developed a curiously resilient blow. 
 
 131 
 
The Windfall 
 
 He could well understand now why the men of the 
 family had no interest concerning the details of 
 the show, and manifested no filial disposition that 
 her narrow, restricted life should be enriched with 
 the sights and sounds that were so much to her 
 wondering simplicity. Overpowered by all they 
 had at stake in their venturesome pursuit of their 
 vocation, in defiance of imminent discovery and the 
 penalties of a long term of imprisonment, they had 
 neither time nor thought for such trivialities as 
 making for her behoof the tour of the Fair. 
 
 If a disastrous suspicion of complicity in their 
 enterprise on the part of the management of the 
 Carnival should be entertained by the revenue 
 authorities it would wreck the individuals of the 
 combination beyond all help or redemption, Lloyd 
 reflected. They were strangers, poor personally, 
 and as a company on the verge of financial collapse. 
 Suspicion would mean for them arrest, the jail, 
 utter ruin, for there was no possibility of bail-bonds 
 for stranded mountebanks in a remote and un- 
 familiar region. 
 
 Lloyd staggered under a sense of responsibility. 
 His first impulse was to find Haxon, and in the 
 confidential relations of mutual interest seek some 
 surcease for the terrors that had fallen upon him 
 with fangs that were rending and gnawing at his 
 consciousness. Then he checked himself. No 
 change of plan could be speedily compassed. An 
 itinerant show is an unwieldy device. It was ob- 
 vious policy that the Carnival should continue the 
 
 132 
 
The Windfall 
 
 next day without any deviation of plan, until the 
 matter could be canvassed and some decision 
 reached. Haxon's nerve must not be shaken. 
 His diurnal feat, his " high dive," was billed for 
 the morning, and a suggestion freighted with such 
 momentous possibilities would doubtless affect his 
 self-control, his physical poise, and cost him his 
 life. A frightful fate waited on a false step, 
 a trifling miscalculation of distance. Lloyd shud- 
 dered at the thought. He had seen Haxon earlier 
 in the evening, and had marked with a sense of 
 gratulation the restoration of the spirits of the 
 acrobat. The improved business of the show, as 
 the day wore on, had revived Haxon's hopes. 
 The company might yet pull through, he thought, 
 making current expenses and transportation. This 
 was the first day, and though he could not discern 
 whence the patrons for the rest of the week were 
 to come, he found a degree of solace in the pro- 
 pitious present, the jollity of the aspect of the 
 square, the flaring lights, the enthusiastic crowds, 
 and all the " turns " were at their best. 
 
 With a sigh Lloyd felt that he must broaden 
 his back to the burden. He could carry this 
 weighty secret without a sign till high noon to- 
 morrow, surely. He drew out his silver watch 
 and consulted its dial — he wondered would the 
 course of events change before twelve hours should 
 pass. Still Haxon must not know — the routine 
 could not be altered without suspicion. Lloyd 
 had a keen, intelligent power to appraise cause and 
 
 133! 
 
The Windfall 
 
 event, and he had already noted the sudden fierce 
 temper of rural crowds. He intuitively knew that 
 the public here could not be balked of its sensation 
 with the proffered return of the money at the door, 
 like a metropolitan audience, even if it were prac- 
 ticable. But Haxon's turn was a free show. It 
 was already the inalienable property of the public. 
 A riot might ensue, and in any disturbance disas- 
 trous facts might be elicited and precipitate the 
 dangers he feared. Haxon must not know. The 
 crowd must be kept satisfied, and as quiet and 
 orderly as possible until the leap for life was made. 
 
 Suddenly Lloyd's heart sank as he wondered 
 why the municipal authorities had not interfered 
 to seek the source of the inebriation of the drunken 
 men on the streets of this dry town. Surely they 
 could not be suspected of standing in with the liquor 
 dealers, or were they even now laying their plans, 
 spreading their snares, waiting for the coming of 
 the revenue force, already summoned, for there 
 were rewards of not despicable sums for the 
 informer. 
 
 He was about to start toward the hotel, still 
 lingering in front of the drug store at the corner 
 of the intersection of one of the streets with the 
 square, and he became all at once aware of a covert 
 watchful gaze, that had been fixed on him so long, 
 with such complete immunity by reason of his 
 mental absorption hitherto, that his abrupt turn 
 surprised and caught it. The look came from a 
 pair of dark, bright eyes, under the flapping brim 
 
 134 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of an old white hat, shown in the flare from the 
 windows of the drug store — young eyes, to his 
 astonishment, for he had fancied that it was 
 an old lame man in the miller's garb, who had 
 " shadowed " him to the Pinnott encampment to- 
 day. He could not be sure of the incongruity, for 
 the man turned his head instantly, and the mo- 
 mentary impression was lost in the turmoil of 
 anxiety, of eager thought, of perplexed fears that 
 filled the brain of the manager of the joyous 
 " carnival." 
 
 When one by one the lights of the Street Fair 
 went out, when the town was dark save for the 
 corner lamps at long intervals, when the crowds 
 had vanished and the itinerants had repaired to 
 the little hotel which harboured the better paid, 
 or the boarding-houses where the underlings found 
 refuge, except indeed the " freaks," who from mo- 
 tives of privacy, so essential to their trade, never 
 left their several tents, Lloyd tossed to and fro on 
 his sleepless pillow and canvassed anew within him- 
 self the situation, and calculated again the prob- 
 lems of the expense accounts and the gate receipts 
 and the transportation, and wondered if he had de- 
 cided wisely, and then listened warily to the breath- 
 ing of Haxon, in his bed on the opposite side of 
 the room, lest the tumult of his wild thoughts 
 might have boisterously wakened the acrobat and 
 defrauded him of his night's rest. 
 
 *2>S 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE morning brought no change in the 
 situation. The sun came grandly up 
 from over the blue and misty mountains, 
 with a train of iridescent and shimmering vapours, 
 and a splendid pageant of clouds, bedecked in red 
 and gold and purple, with scintillating fleckings 
 of jewel-like brilliancy. These were gone, eva- 
 nescent, before the dew was off the grass that grew 
 all along the sides of the streets, and the sky was 
 densely blue, poised high, high above the lofty 
 mountain ranges, tiers on tiers, that climbed against 
 it as if seeking to reach these spheres of empyreal 
 height. The sunshine was infinitely clear and 
 crystalline. The soft wind had an exquisite fresh- 
 ness and a balsamic tang that the lungs expanded 
 to meet involuntarily as if an instinct recognised 
 its balm of healing. 
 
 The breakfast of the little rural hotel, of that 
 peculiar excellence and generous abundance that 
 so often characterise the hostelries in these out- 
 of-the-way places of the South, put new heart into 
 Lloyd, and his hopes were recruited as he went out 
 into the verandah of the hotel lighting his cigar 
 and beholding with benign complacence the array 
 of the Street Fair — the tents, the great circumfer- 
 ence of the Ferris wheel, with the mountains 
 
 136 
 
The Windfall 
 
 framed within its periphery, the merry-go-round, 
 still motionless and vacant as if the dummy horses 
 had just waked up, the humbler employees going 
 hither and thither, on their various duties, getting 
 ready for the day. He did not say a word, for 
 Haxon's mood was so uncertain that it was impossi- 
 ble to know how any casual phrase might affect 
 him. Haxon himself spoke first. 
 
 " I suppose I look at that mast every morning 
 with the same feeling that a condemned criminal 
 has for his first glimpse of the gallows," he said 
 bitterly. 
 
 Lloyd paused to throw away the match with 
 which he had lighted his cigar. " Gammon! " he 
 exclaimed, contemptuously. " You couldn't be 
 persuaded to cut out that stunt of yours if I begged 
 you for a month." The acrobat's brow cleared, 
 and Lloyd breathed more freely. He had by lucky 
 chance said exactly what Haxon desired to hear. 
 He wished to feel that he acted by his own free 
 choice — that he was not coerced because the hour 
 was set, the feat advertised, and the public waited. 
 
 The morning was never characterised by special 
 activity in the Street Fair. The world had all its 
 insistent duties, contending with the delights of 
 sight-seeing. Breakfast was to be discussed, stores 
 opened, the municipal court sessions to be held, 
 the mail to be distributed, and only gradually did 
 spectators begin to gather in the streets, and the 
 spielers to take their stand. 
 
 " Only an hour, now, — an hour of life," said 
 137 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Haxon, as the clock in the courthouse tower 
 clanged out its tale of strokes; " when another hour 
 strikes I may be in hell." 
 
 Lloyd burst out laughing. " Seem to under- 
 stand your own deserts ! " he cried with a joyous 
 inflection. 
 
 And once more Haxon smiled responsive. 
 
 Lloyd could not forbear a sigh of relief, and 
 catching his breath it was metamorphosed into a 
 spurious yawn, so fearful was he of shaking his 
 confrere's poise. 
 
 The next moment Haxon had forgotten his cold 
 fit of disinclination in sudden overwhelming curi- 
 osity. From one of the intersecting streets there 
 rolled into the square one of those vehicles of the 
 region denominated " hacks," strong, light, .fur- 
 nished with a canopy and with curtains for falling 
 weather, and with a brake, regulated by the driver's 
 foot, which the steep slants of the mountain roads 
 rendered imperatively necessary. It was drawn 
 by two strong, well-fed, speedy horses, caparisoned 
 with good stout harness, and gay with red tassels 
 dangling at their heads. It had three seats, and 
 a boot for trunks, and it could hold comfortably 
 nine persons. There were only five passengers, 
 however, and the driver headed straight for the 
 hotel. 
 
 The two showmen watched without a word the 
 commotion of the arrival; the porter ran forth 
 with a grin of delighted recognition; the clerk at 
 the desk threw down his pen and issued precipi- 
 
 138 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tately on the verandah ; nay, the Boniface, himself, 
 outstripped the underling's speed and opened the 
 door of the hack, smiling benignly with the dignity 
 of a portly, affable man, and with so obvious a 
 pleasure that it might seem that he ran an hotel 
 for the fun of the thing. 
 
 " Here we are again, Mr. Benson," a lady of 
 perhaps forty-five years of age said agreeably, 
 while Mr. Benson's bald head shone in the sun, 
 and his slippered feet shuffled to and fro as he 
 sought to offer her the most efficient assistance in 
 alighting from the high-swung vehicle. 
 
 " Mighty glad to see you all again — fine 
 weather for an outing," he asseverated, still all 
 bland, blond smiles. 
 
 The lady was of a slender type, ostentatiously 
 simple, with a black taffeta skirt and a " white 
 handkerchief linen " blouse, speckless, perfect, ab- 
 solutely plain, with large plaits or tucks, and a 
 broad black belt with a big steel buckle in the back. 
 Her large black hat partly shaded a fair, faded 
 oval face with a crown of blond hair, the sheen 
 of which was fairly quenched by time; she wore 
 a mere thread of a filigree gold necklace about her 
 high collar and on the wrist of one of her delicate, 
 transparent, thin hands, which was without her 
 black silk glove, a narrow gold bracelet with a 
 bangle dangled. 
 
 Two young men had leaped out of the vehicle 
 on the other side, while still seated, looking about 
 them for gloves, bags, and small sundries, were 
 
 139 
 
The Windfall 
 
 two young ladies whose appearance made no pre- 
 tensions whatever to simplicity. Both were arrayed 
 in the height of the mode, in white embroidered 
 linen suits, one made with a natty short jacket, the 
 other with a stylish long coat; their white lingerie 
 hats were tilted forward, and the embroidered frills 
 gave scant view of aught but fair and delicately 
 flushed cheeks, while at the back of their heads 
 their redundant tresses of brown and gold showed 
 in soft heavy puffs. 
 
 " We are simply perishing at New Helvetia," 
 the eldest lady confided to Mr. Benson, " for the 
 lack of something to do or say, or see, and we 
 heard that down here in the ' flat woods ' you 
 have evolved a Circus, or Street Fair, or Carnival 
 or something, and it has saved our lives, Mr. Ben- 
 son. Don't tell us that you are overcrowded and 
 can't take us in, for we don't want to stay over 
 night. You can feed the hungry, surely, Mr. 
 Benson." 
 
 " Indeed, madam, we can always do that." 
 
 " To perfection," the lady protested, and Mr. 
 Benson bowed and blushed with pleasure, flattered 
 as well he might be. 
 
 They were all speedily housed; the flutter of 
 skirts, the swift tread of soft, pliant, well-made 
 boots, and they had disappeared. As the team of 
 the hack trotted off to the stables Haxon beckoned 
 to the negro porter. 
 
 There is something very pervasive, coercive, 
 permeating in the influence of cultivation, of 
 
 140 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fashion, of station in the world of wealth. It had 
 never occurred to Lloyd, so little was he brought 
 in contact with this element, to gauge the lack of 
 refinement in Haxon's endowments or manners 
 till he placed himself in contrast with the new- 
 comers. 
 
 "Who are them guys?" Haxon asked of the 
 porter. 
 
 The method of address obviously embarrassed 
 the servant. It seemed derogatory to the high 
 estate of these great ones of the earth whom he 
 had rejoiced to serve in their sudden comings and 
 goings. To answer a question which described 
 them as " guys " was in itself an indignity. But 
 he swallowed the affront and replied succinctly — 
 " They are some of the guests what's been stayin' 
 at the New Helveshy Springs in the mountings, 
 sah." 
 
 " Thought the springs were closed by this time," 
 Lloyd remarked, and the servant apprehending the 
 observation as applicable to business interests rather 
 than actuated by mere curiosity, replied with a 
 placated mien, " Jes' a few stayin' on, sah — feared 
 ter go home till frost, 'count of de yaller fever 
 whar dey live in Mobile or New Orleans or some 
 o' dem Southern cities. Dey got nuthin' ter 'muse 
 dem at New Helveshy — even de band's gone, — 
 an' dey drive down 'ere wunst in a while." He 
 lingered for a moment, for the satisfaction of pos- 
 sible further queries, but none came and he betook 
 himself within. 
 
 141 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lloyd looked with anxious doubt at the brow 
 of Haxon, seeking to discern and gauge his senti- 
 ment, so slight an irritant might now disturb the 
 precarious poise of his equilibrium. But Haxon 
 merely remarked with a sigh, " I wish they were 
 five hundred instead of five." 
 
 " Well, there's one comfort," said Lloyd, " the 
 show couldn't be any better if they were five hun- 
 dred instead of five." 
 
 He had struck the wrong note and the discord 
 jangled instantly. 
 
 " Well, the railroads don't haul folks on their 
 merits," the acrobat rejoined acridly. " It makes 
 mighty little difference in this cursed hole whether 
 the show is good or bad, if there ain't nobody to 
 see it. I believe you are ambitious of playin' to 
 a cent and a half a day." 
 
 The roseate flush on Lloyd's girlish cheek deep- 
 ened, but it was one of the slow tortures privileged 
 to rack his soul in these days of stress that he was 
 debarred the natural vent of anger. He could 
 not retort, in sheer humanity he could not flame out 
 in petulance at the man whose life was to be placed 
 in most hideous jeopardy in half an hour, balanced 
 on the flicker of an eyelash, lost in a momentary 
 quiver of the nerves. But Lloyd truly felt that his 
 trials increased in a regular ratio with the demon- 
 stration of his capacity to sustain them. Sometimes 
 he thought that a sudden sarcasm, an outbreak 
 of the vexation that stirred him might overawe 
 Haxon, elicit his self-control, and serve really to 
 
 142 
 
The Windfall 
 
 steady his nerves. It was not an experiment which 
 he was willing to try at another's cost. He braced 
 his own nerves for endurance therefore, and taxed 
 his capacity for expedients. 
 
 " Oh, hush," he said, with affected roughness. 
 M You are out of your contract now. You don't 
 know anything about the receipts yesterday — it's 
 all up to me. You are agreed to take no share in 
 business till you've done your leap for the day. 
 Then we'll strike the balance." 
 
 A slow smile was dawning in the acrobat's eyes. 
 Business must have been better than he had feared. 
 It is difficult to estimate the number of an ever- 
 shifting crowd. He had placed himself under this 
 restriction that he might have the less strain 
 to preserve his calmness of mind before his leap 
 for life. 
 
 Suddenly there issued from the door of the 
 hotel the two young men who had accompanied 
 the ladies from the New Helvetia Springs. They 
 had lighted their cigars, having been debarred that 
 luxury, possibly, on the drive. They drew up two 
 of the many vacant chairs that stood on the ver- 
 andah and seated themselves near the railing. 
 
 " I like nothing better than an old-fashioned 
 el Principe" the elder was saying. " It gives a 
 good clean mild smoke. You ought to smoke 
 nothing, though, at your age ; your training will go 
 hard with you this fall if you saturate your system 
 with strong tobacco, — then have to leave off 
 suddenly." 
 
 143 
 
The Windfall 
 
 It was less the obvious truism than the profes- 
 sional word " training " that caught the showmen's 
 attention. They looked with keen interest at the 
 newcomers. One was much the younger — a tall, 
 blond youth, well-built and muscular, twenty years 
 of age perhaps, fresh, alert, perfectly groomed, 
 glowing with health and bright-eyed vigour. The 
 other had an air of much distinction. He was 
 fully thirty-five, with clear-cut, delicate features, 
 an intellectual face, but with a languid eye; he was 
 tall, exceedingly thin, and very elaborately and pre- 
 cisely dressed in the height of the fashion of the 
 day. Both wore suits of light wool, so nearly 
 white that the faint flecking of brown in one and 
 the broken " shadow check " in the other scarcely 
 impinged on the cream effect. Even their shoes 
 were white. The younger had a straw hat of a 
 natty sailor shape, while the elder wore a Panama 
 hat, and as he lifted it, laying it on the broad rail 
 of the banisters, baring his brow to the refresh- 
 ing breeze, it became evident that his short brown 
 hair was growing sparse at the temples and a tiny 
 thin space on the top of his well-shaped head 
 threatened a baldness within the next few years. 
 Both were of fair complexion and clean-shaven, 
 and that feature the most expressive of character 
 in a man's face, the mouth, showed without reserve; 
 it was of firm lines in the elder, with a suggestion 
 of uttering not too many nor too lightly considered 
 words, the mouth of a man who was capable of 
 self-control, and had had more occasion for this 
 
 144 
 
The Windfall 
 
 quality than seemed consonant with the sybaritic 
 conditions of his apparent estate in life. The lips 
 of the youth had joyous intimations — red, elastic, 
 smiling, now widening in a grin of most exuberant 
 mockery as — to be rid perchance of the nicotian 
 lecture — he caught up one of the handbills of the 
 Carnival, which were flying about the town, and 
 his eye fell on an item which titillated his sense of 
 humour. 
 
 "Oh, say, Jardine, ain't this rich?" and he 
 read chucklingly, " l Captain Ollory of the Royal 
 Navy, the greatest high dive artist in the world, 
 will give a free exhibition of his wonderful 
 performance daily." 
 
 The other smiled with languid amusement. 
 " ' The Royal Navy? ' — let's see," and sticking his 
 cigar between his teeth he held out his hand for 
 the flimsy sheet. Lloyd felt the blood flare into 
 his face as he watched the eyes of this pam- 
 pered worldling travel, illumined with lazy laugh- 
 ter, along the lines of the bill which he had written 
 with such eager hope and thoughtful care, and of 
 which he had been so proud until this moment of 
 subtle disillusionment. 
 
 " Doesn't say what Royal Navy," Jardine sug- 
 gested languidly. 
 
 " Nor how Captain Ollory — isn't that a de- 
 licious name? — happens to cease to sail the seas to 
 dive on dry land for the admiration of the denizens 
 of Colbury and the purlieus of Kildeer County. 
 Isn't it great? " and once more the mobile lips 
 
 145, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of the youth distended with a grimace of delighted 
 mockery. 
 
 A sudden rustle within the hall and the three 
 ladies, fortified by a delicate lunch of a sandwich 
 and a cup of tea after their early morning drive 
 in the mountains, enough to refresh them, but 
 nicely calculated not to take off the edge of their 
 appetite for the one o'clock dinner, issued forth 
 to witness the wonders of the Street Fair, laugh- 
 ing at themselves and at each other that idleness 
 and vacuity in the dreary interval of waiting in 
 the mountains for frost could reduce them to such 
 a kill-time expedient as this. 
 
 The younger gentleman could not forbear his 
 gibes. " I have got to recoup myself for not 
 having been in Paris with you and Sister in June," 
 he said to one of the young ladies. " But I should 
 really think you would have had enough of sight- 
 seeing for one season." 
 
 " I'm sure I'll see things here that never could 
 be found in Paris," she replied carelessly. 
 
 The words were trifling, but the voice, so beau- 
 tifully modulated, thrilled Lloyd; it was so sym- 
 pathetic of quality, to use a phrase that can but 
 slightly suggest the subtle charm it seeks to ex- 
 press; the very inflection was replete with indi- 
 viduality — it was a voice, an accent altogether new 
 to his experience. He lifted his eyes wistfully 
 toward the group. 
 
 The sunlight struck with refulgent radiance on 
 the dense white linen attire of the two younger 
 
 146 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ladies; they were expanding their white parasols, of 
 embroidered linen like their dresses, this being the 
 fad of the hour, and in the intense light thus 
 focussed the contour and tints of their faces were 
 asserted with a distinctness which the momentary 
 glimpse could scarcely have given otherwise. Both 
 were evidently very young, eighteen or twenty 
 years of age; one was all fair blonde prettiness, 
 with roseate cheeks, and soft pink lips, with blue 
 eyes and golden hair. The face of the other was 
 exquisitely fair, but had no trace of roses, though 
 her delicate lips were of a carmine red; her soft 
 redundant hair was of a pale, lustreless brown ; her 
 eyes, of a luminous dark grey hue, were long 
 rather than large, with long dense black eyelashes 
 and black arched eyebrows, and as they caught his 
 glance a deep gravity fell upon them. They held 
 a look of recognition in that momentous gaze. 
 The laugh died out of her face — it was a look 
 as if from another world, another sphere of exist- 
 ence; she might have been a being of another order 
 of creation, so different she was from aught 
 else that he had ever seen; her eyes seemed im- 
 mortal, like the eyes of a spirit; they searched the 
 depths of his soul — in that moment he knew that 
 she saw him as he was. 
 
 It was only for a moment, however; an inap- 
 preciable interval of time — the next, she was all 
 smiling ridicule of the Street Fair, of herself and 
 her friends for stooping to glean amusement and 
 excitement in such humble and inadequate wise. 
 
 J 47. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 The tread of their white shoes carried them 
 swiftly down the steps of the verandah, and with 
 the younger of the two men they took the lead, 
 while their chaperon followed with Jardine, one of 
 her gloved hands holding the back breadths of her 
 black taffeta skirt to one side, and impressing the 
 calico dames of Persimmon Cove, gazing after 
 her, with their first idea of the possibility of the 
 survival into middle life of the comely, the grace- 
 ful, and the elegant. 
 
 As the group disappeared, or rather as their 
 presence among the ever-shifting crowd was only 
 to be discerned by the glister of the sun upon the 
 white parasols, Lloyd's attention returned so reluc- 
 tantly to the interests of the present that he had 
 a sense as if he had suffered a lapse of conscious- 
 ness or was but awakened from the bewilderments 
 of a dream. A vague forlornness waited on the 
 moment. But as his eyes suddenly encountered 
 Haxon's a full realisation of the exigencies of the 
 situation took hold upon him. Haxon's round 
 face was dully red; all the blood had rushed to his 
 head and was pounding at his temples; he was in 
 sudden wrath, and the drops of perspiration stood 
 on his forehead and bedewed his upper lip; his 
 neck looked thick and swollen and bulged in folds 
 above his decent white collar that gave imminent 
 signs of wilting. His small brown eyes flashed 
 and he looked at Lloyd with a rancour that im- 
 puted a share of blame. 
 
 " Well, — here's a go ! " he said, indignantly. 
 148 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Once more Lloyd spurred up his jaded resources. 
 
 "What? — when? — how?" he asked, as if sur- 
 prised. 
 
 " You know you heard them jays " Haxon 
 
 paused, fairly sputtering in his indignation, " guy- 
 ing me an' the Royal Navy an' the whole biz. 
 Why n't you speak up? " 
 
 " I — what could I say? " 
 
 " Why, you could ha' stopped their mouths — > 
 you could ha' told them they need n't stick their 
 faces in it — that I was a better man, navy or no 
 navy, than either o' them — you could ha' told 
 them that they were both bug-house, an' they are, 
 — you could ha' knocked them both down with one 
 hand, and rolled them up together, and dropped 
 them over the side of the porch. If it had n't 
 been so close on to the time for the dive and the 
 tussle might ha' shook my nerve I'd ha' done it 
 myself." 
 
 Lloyd looked at him with an infinite compas- 
 sion, as he thus worked himself into a red-hot rage. 
 The subjection in which Haxon must needs hold 
 himself to the Moloch-like feat that so jeopardised 
 his life, yet by which he lived indeed, had hardly 
 less constraint for his confrere who so felt for his 
 plight. Doubtless it was this which so sharpened 
 Lloyd's acute expedients. 
 
 " Why, I wouldn't have touched them for the 
 world," he declared, and as Haxon gazed at him 
 speechlessly, and curiously, " they had no idea who 
 you are." 
 
 149 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Haxon could only lift the handbill and point 
 at the significant words " Captain Ollory — Royal 
 Navy — High Dive; " he did not utter a syllable. 
 
 " Well, you ain't labelled — are you? You ain't 
 got a tag marked ' Captain Ollory ' tacked on 
 to you anywheres that I can see. They never 
 dreamed it was you — else they wouldn't have said 
 a word. They ain't a rude sort." 
 
 Haxon took this in doubtfully, his breath still 
 fast, his face still scarlet and dripping. " I don't 
 know about that," he averred, the insults to the 
 name and the feat he represented still rankling 
 deep. 
 
 " I know they never dreamed it — nobody would 
 ever take you for a showman in this world. You 
 look like something in the heavy commercial line." 
 
 Haxon drew a long breath ; he had a sense that 
 this was true, and as the hour for his ordeal was 
 drawing so near he would fain calm himself with 
 the realisation that there had been no insult to 
 be resented. 
 
 " You are the image of a drummer of the heavy 
 wholesale lay, white goods salesman, I should say. 
 I don't know what / look like," Lloyd declared, 
 " but I am sure they never took you for a show- 
 man." 
 
 Haxon was reassured. He began to reflect that 
 not even the practised eye of the worldlings could 
 have discerned Lloyd's vocation. Haxon thought 
 indeed that Lloyd looked as much like a man of 
 a high social grade as either of them, though not 
 
 150 
 
The Windfall 
 
 so smart. He would not have said this, however; 
 he grudged his friend the satisfaction of this flat- 
 tering theory. Yet not all at once could he quit 
 the theme. 
 
 " But what's the matter with the Royal Navy? " 
 he plained. 
 
 " It's all right," Lloyd declared. 
 
 " If ' Captain Ollory ' is such a dead give away 
 as all that, why did you let it go on the bills? I 
 know / wanted it — but I did not want to be a 
 laughing-stock when I break my neck." 
 
 " Why, Haxon, I'm sure surprised at you — 
 you've bloomed out into such a confounded fool. 
 Of course such people as those know that ' Captain 
 Ollory ' is a stage name, and the ' Royal Navy ' is 
 to make the country folks stare. They understand 
 that as a little piece of business, and a mighty good 
 little piece it is, too, as you might know by the 
 way they laughed at it. They know that ' Cap- 
 tain Ollory ' is a high-class acrobat whose real 
 name doesn't go on the bills, and if they don't know 
 that already they are going to find it out pretty 
 damn quick. I'm blamed if they and their ladies 
 ain't pretty considerable astonished when they see 
 that turn — it's worth forty such fairs, and they 
 jolly well know it." 
 
 Haxon had lifted his head; his feathers were 
 gradually smoothing down. 
 
 " There's the band now, taking up their posi- 
 tions," Lloyd admonished the acrobat. 
 
 Both men gazed down into the square where 
 
 I5 1 
 
The Windfall 
 
 presently the glitter of polished brazen tubes 
 caught the midday sunshine amongst the shifting 
 groups of the country folk. Suddenly the leader 
 lifted his baton — there was a double ruffle of the 
 drums, then the wide blare of the horns surged out, 
 and the illuminated rare air pulsed with the regular 
 throb of the tempo. Haxon precipitately quitted 
 the verandah to assume the pink satin garments 
 slashed with dark red and the pink silk tights 
 in which " Captain Ollory of the Royal Navy " 
 plunged down from the giddy heights in that 
 " high dive " which had so astonished the popula- 
 tion of Kildeer County. 
 
 The summer tourists, seeking amusement in the 
 unaccustomed paths of the Street Fair, had not 
 prospered. The aspect of the untutored people 
 from the mountains and coves hard by — the 
 jostling, unkempt, jeans-clad men, the slatternly 
 women with snuff-brush in mouth and a wailing 
 infant in arms — so preponderated over the gen- 
 teeler element of the town that the latter was 
 almost unnoted and ignored. 
 
 " Poor humanity," Ruth Laniston exclaimed 
 wearily; "how uncouth, how grotesque it seems 
 when so near to nature's heart." 
 
 " How much man has done for man," rejoined 
 her cousin, Lucia Laniston, " in setting and fol- 
 lowing the fashions." 
 
 " Poor humanity indeed," said Mrs. Laniston, 
 didactically, bent on improving the opportunity. 
 "How can you take so superficial a view? As 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a mere example of the sensate in creation think 
 what a marvellous motive power is expressed in 
 that woman — only a bundle of muscular fibre, but 
 without a conscious effort she moves along this 
 pavement; with an involuntary impulse she sees 
 every item of that garden at the corner — and 
 really those coleus on the terrace are very fine! — 
 think of the curious cerebral processes of her 
 mental organisation " 
 
 " And then think of the curious way her skirt is 
 cut," the irreverent daughter laughed. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston grew squeamish presently and 
 balked at the idea, of seeing the " freaks." Her 
 interest in " poor humanity " did not extend be- 
 yond the normal — she could not abide to view 
 the fat lady, nor the living skeleton, nor the wild 
 man. 
 
 " You ought really to see ' Wick-Zoo,' " her son 
 urged her with a twinkling eye. " He is about as 
 wild as I am." 
 
 The " snake-eater " was not to be tolerated, and 
 the utmost wiles of the spieler could not lure her 
 party to his tent. The sun was beginning to be 
 grievously hot, and before Haxon had climbed 
 quite to the top of the mast the party had returned 
 to the verandah of the hotel, whence they shud- 
 deringly beheld the acrobat's graceful downward 
 plunge. 
 
 The ladies had retired within to rest from their 
 somewhat limited exertions and Frank Laniston 
 and Jardine were sitting on the verandah, languidly 
 
 *53 
 
The Windfall 
 
 chatting and observing the crowd in the square, 
 when suddenly they perceived walking briskly 
 toward the hostelry a dripping serio-comic figure, 
 the pink satin garments party invisible beneath 
 an overcoat, below which, however, a pair of stal- 
 wart calves encased in pink silk protruded. Lloyd 
 was following and his distinctive face and manner 
 were too individual not to be instantly placed. 
 The tourists had not recognised in the acrobat the 
 respectable commercial-looking figure they had 
 earlier noted with Lloyd on the verandah, but as 
 Haxon marched stoutly up the steps he fixed them 
 with a serious eye and instantly both remembered 
 the man and their comment on the handbill in his 
 presence. 
 
 It was young Laniston's instinct to shrink within 
 himself on this discovery; he realised how deeply 
 this ridicule must have cut, with a keener edge that 
 the rudeness was obviously unintentional. His 
 face flushed, his eye faltered, and he hung his head. 
 But Jardine was very much a man of the world. 
 He considered that the matter could not well 
 be mended and hence had best be ignored. He 
 and his friend could not have been expected to 
 recognise the presence of the acrobat and rein their 
 speech accordingly. Perhaps this conclusion was 
 the more easily reached since he himself with his 
 habitual reserve had said little or nothing calcu- 
 lated to offend the sensibilities of the acrobat. He 
 therefore made no sign of a comprehension of the 
 contretemps; he bent his eyes calmly on the sort- 
 
 154 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing of a sheaf of letters which he had just found 
 on inquiry at the post office here. But Laniston, 
 though quick at contention with a fair cause of 
 quarrel, was possessed of the generosities of good- 
 fellowship; he could not disregard the wound 
 which he had unwittingly inflicted and was eager 
 to assuage it. His chair was near the entrance, 
 and thus he accosted the acrobat, as Haxon was 
 about to pass, without seeming to seek an occasion 
 to make the amende. 
 
 " I must congratulate you, sir — a more daring 
 feat I never saw," his hearty young voice rang out 
 buoyantly, " and I've seen some good things on 
 both sides of the water. I believe I have the pleas- 
 ure of speaking to Captain Ollory? " 
 
 " No," said Haxon, apparently contradicted by 
 the rills which trickled from his garments as he 
 paused, and the view which the open coat gave of 
 the saturated pink finery and tights, " that is 
 — a stage name." 
 
 "Oh, I understand- " Frank Laniston 
 
 eagerly interpolated. 
 
 " Royal Navy — all rot, of course," Haxon 
 stipulated, including Jardine in his explanatory 
 glance. 
 
 " But there is no fake about the high dive," 
 cried out young Laniston delightedly. 
 
 " Haxon is my name," said the acrobat, flat- 
 tered and at ease again. " And this is my friend 
 and manager, Mr. Lloyd." 
 
 " Happy to meet you, Mr.- Lloyd," said Lanis- 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ton politely as they shook hands. " My name is 
 Laniston." Then with the easy assurance of the 
 very young and unthinking he continued exuber- 
 antly, " Let me introduce my friend, Mr. Jar- 
 dine," with a roguish side-glance at his stiff and 
 reluctant companion. Jardine shook hands, how- 
 ever, with the requisite courtesy, and thus the un- 
 lucky episode passed, resulting in naught but the 
 achievement of an informal introduction to the 
 two showmen, which fact, distasteful as it was, 
 did not recur to Jardine's mind until later in the 
 day. 
 
 The party from New Helvetia were dining at 
 one of the smaller round tables in the long low 
 room which looked out of several windows on the 
 formal walks and trellised arbours of an old-fash- 
 ioned flower garden. Here the sunshine was but 
 a drowsy glamour, the shadow of the house and 
 the foliage fell far athwart it, and the zinnias, the 
 gladioli, white and red, the roses and the pinks, 
 made a brilliant display of bloom. The meal was 
 justifying the fame of the cuisine; the breeze flut- 
 tered the white jasmine that clambered about the 
 window hard by; there seemed scant need of 
 the punkahs, stoutly pulled back and forth over the 
 three long tables at which the public in general 
 was served. This little round table stood a trifle 
 apart in a recess, which in fact had once been a 
 small room, now thrown into the larger by the 
 removal of a partition. It was sometimes con- 
 signed to the use of ladies travelling alone, coming 
 
The Windfall 
 
 down from New Helvetia to take the train, the 
 new branch railroad having recently reached Col- 
 bury; or of some local politician of note, a candi- 
 date for Congress alighting here in stumping the 
 district; or of the circuit judge, or perhaps the 
 chancellor holding court in this division; or of 
 some noted revivalist bent on awakening the con- 
 science of a wide itinerary and here refreshing the 
 inner man — always the guests assigned to this 
 table were persons of distinction in their sort, and 
 the board was suspected of furnishing special dain- 
 ties not served to the general public. 
 
 The long tables were very orderly and decorous. 
 Here dined usually most of the young clerks of 
 the stores, a confirmed old bachelor or so, the visit- 
 ing lawyers and clients from a distance with cases 
 in court, two or three families of the place, the 
 inevitable exponents of " declining housekeeping," 
 a few young unsettled couples, mated but not yet 
 nested, and to-day these were reinforced by the 
 more well-to-do of the country folk attending the 
 Fair. The Laniston party, well content in their 
 sequestered nook and by reason of previous ex- 
 perience accustomed to the situation, now and 
 again cast a casual glance at the long tables, but 
 mostly found the outlook into the fair pleached 
 alleys of the old garden a pleasing interlude be- 
 tween the mountain trout and the saddle of moun- 
 tain mutton, both the finest flavoured of their kind 
 in the world. The pungent odour of the mint 
 sauce was fragrant on the air; the bees were astir 
 
 157 
 
The Windfall 
 
 among the sweet peas and pinks in the garden 
 borders; a humming-bird's dainty wings fluttered 
 gauzily among the white jasmine blooms at the 
 window; suddenly the group's attention was re- 
 called by the commotion of a late entrance; the 
 head waiter strode down the room with an air of 
 extreme importance and drew out two chairs at the 
 nearest of the long narrow tables, but on its 
 opposite side. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston was electrified when one of two 
 gentlemen, ushered to these seats thus close by, 
 gave a polite bow of recognition toward the table 
 isolated in the alcove. Frank Laniston, punc- 
 tiliously returning it, felt with the eyes of his 
 mother upon him as if the sins of many sinful 
 years had suddenly found him out. Jardine, with 
 a sense of desperate ambush, formulated in his 
 inner consciousness some hitherto suppressed con- 
 victions concerning the " freshness " of the hobble- 
 de-hoy estate, and expressed his feeling of annoy- 
 ance in a very stiff and formal bow — only 
 vouchsafed indeed lest worse things ensue. Not 
 until after both had spoken did Lloyd bow, and 
 then as stiffly and haughtily as Jardine himself. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Jardine, I didn't know that you 
 had acquaintances here," said Mrs. Laniston won- 
 deringly, in a low, reproachful voice and with her 
 eyes discreetly averted. " Who is that tremen- 
 dously handsome man whom you seem to be keep- 
 ing to yourself? " 
 
 "The stout gentleman?" suggested her son, 
 158 
 
The Windfall 
 
 blushing and considerably out of countenance, but 
 bursting with the inopportune and irrespressible 
 mirth of youth. 
 
 " Be still, Francis — of course not. But who 
 was that distinguished-looking young gentleman 
 who bowed directly to you, Mr. Jardine?" she 
 asked. 
 
 Mr. Jardine had some affection, real or fancied, 
 that menaced the well-being of his liver, and he 
 had sacrificed to it considerable time in drinking 
 the water of the New Helvetia Springs. While 
 in that region he had contracted an affection, real 
 or fancied, of the heart, the exactions of which 
 Would in no wise permit him to depart thence until 
 the Laniston covey should have flown southward. 
 The intimacy which the gradual desertion of the 
 spa had fostered between the few remaining guests, 
 waiting till the fall of frost in their Southern homes 
 should dispel the danger of contracting the yellow 
 fever, that had earlier raged in those cities, had 
 been a favouring element to his attachment, and he 
 had greatly rejoiced in its soft thralls. But now 
 this friendship for the family had placed upon him 
 a certain indirect responsibility in their whimsical, 
 futile outing to the rural amusement of the Street 
 Fair in Colbury. He had, of course, no control 
 of the Laniston cub, nor of Mrs. Laniston, her- 
 self. Yet should aught supervene unbecoming or 
 unworthy of the position of the party in any sort, 
 however elicited by their own idiosyncrasies, it 
 would seem that he, experienced, worldly-wise, as 
 
 159 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he was, should have guarded them from it. He 
 knew that the two Laniston brothers, who had fled 
 from the yellow fever in their city homes only as 
 far as their respective plantations, were infinitely 
 absorbed since the early opening of the cotton bolls 
 and the prospect of speedy shipments of the crop, 
 and glad enough to delegate their family cares, on 
 the theory that Jardine would of course look after 
 anything that Frank could not handle. Jardine 
 lifted his eyes for a moment and observed Haxon's 
 small bright orbs, staring across the long table with 
 the frankest hardihood at the two young ladies, 
 whose fair faces were only slightly shaded by the 
 dainty embroidered frills of their wide white lin- 
 gerie hats which, for some mysterious reason that 
 Jardine could never fathom, they still saw fit to 
 wear at table. He had a fear that Haxon could 
 interpret perhaps the motion of his lips — then he 
 reflected that the acrobat was not troubling himself 
 to gaze at him. 
 
 " That," Jardine replied to Mrs. Laniston with 
 deliberate cruelty, " that ' distinguished-looking 
 young gentleman ' is the manager of the Street 
 Fair." 
 
 There was a momentary silence. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Jardine," cried Lucia Laniston, " I 
 — do — not — believe — you." 
 
 This was the voice that Lloyd had heard on the 
 verandah earlier in the day, low, soft, yet so keyed 
 that distinctness hung on its every intonation — or 
 was it that the distance was slight ? — or was it that 
 
 1 60 
 
The Windfall 
 
 all space could not have annulled its vibrations to 
 his receptive ear? He could not know what had 
 elicited the words, and his instincts forbade the cool 
 stare of absorbed interest with which Haxon per- 
 mitted himself to participate in the entertainment 
 of the party at the round table. Lloyd only saw 
 that Jardine's thin cheek reddened as if in sur- 
 prised annoyance, that he was laughing in mirthless 
 embarrassment, and that Mrs. Laniston was re- 
 buking her niece. " My dear — how can you? — 
 But Mr. Jardine, this does seem impossible." 
 
 " I met him on the hotel verandah this morning, 
 — he was introduced to me, — only casually of 
 course." 
 
 Frank Laniston had no particular affinity with 
 deceit, but his mother, adoring as she was, had 
 yet her captious and severe traits, and he did not 
 care to take upon himself the onus of having 
 compassed the introduction to the two show- 
 men. He sagely opined that Jardine was better 
 panoplied against her weapons than he — in fact 
 Jardine would not be called upon to sustain her 
 attack. It would be presumed that all his actions 
 were within the limit of the appropriate and judi- 
 cious, and they would not be questioned. He 
 could not quench the sparkle in his eyes as they 
 met the grave regards of the elder man, on whose 
 shoulders he had shifted the burden of his own 
 cubbish faux pas, and he did not realise how little 
 the adolescent type which he exemplified appealed 
 at this moment to Jardine's predilections. Indeed 
 
 161 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he esteemed Jardine a friend of his own, attached 
 by a perception of his good qualities already 
 budded, and his promise of better still to come, and 
 had no idea that if it had not been for the attrac- 
 tions of one of his feminine relatives he would have 
 long ago been thrown overboard, as it were, and 
 would never have had the opportunity to tie up the 
 straggling, unpruned, untrained vines of his rank, 
 crude convictions to the stanch supports of Jar- 
 dine's standards. Frank Laniston was one of the 
 conditions of the opportunity to enjoy the society 
 of Miss Lucia Laniston, as was the epidemic of 
 yellow fever raging in the South, and Jardine was 
 fain to submit like a philosopher to the admixture 
 of evils in various degrees with the happiness he 
 experienced in the present, and sought in the future. 
 
 " Dear me — you don't say." Mrs. Laniston 
 cast but one casual glance at the subject of the 
 conversation, and then turned to the discussion of 
 her ice-cream. She was never the woman to hold 
 on to hot iron when she had once burned her 
 fingers. She had forgotten the man's fine carriage 
 and handsome face before she had finished explain- 
 ing that this kind of country ice cream, which was 
 frozen custard in fact, figured always at metro- 
 politan hotels as Neapolitan ice cream. 
 
 " The Great Smoky ice — how would that read 
 on an up-to-date menu? " suggested Frank, plying 
 his fork. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston was not altogether unaware of 
 Haxon's bead-like gaze, and she was disposed to 
 
 162 
 
The Windfall 
 
 hurry the young ladies through the discussion of 
 their Indian peaches and grapes. 
 
 " You will have plenty of those peaches at New 
 Helvetia," she urged. 
 
 " But not till to-morrow," said Lucia. 
 
 " Let me order the coffee, now." 
 
 " For mercy's sake, mamma," the loitering Ruth 
 remonstrated. 
 
 " I'm as hungry as a hunter — yet," the brown- 
 haired, poetic-eyed Lucia averred. But she af- 
 fected no ethereal delicacy or daintiness. She had 
 enjoyed her dinner and meant to finish it with due 
 relish. 
 
 Mr. Jardine laughed with unexpected leniency 
 and directed her choice to a great deeply red Indian 
 peach, the biggest, the most luscious in the old- 
 fashioned white-and-gilt china basket. 
 
 " I believe the juice in this would fill a cup," 
 she said solemnly. 
 
 " No doubt," he assented. 
 
 " Blood-red," she looked at it on the spoon. 
 
 " A beautiful tint," he agreed. 
 
 " And s-s-s-sweet," she fairly kissed it with her 
 delicate, carmine lips. 
 
 " Why, Lucia, what a gourmande you seem," 
 said her aunt. 
 
 " Bah, all the rest of you are as old as the hills 
 and have got the dyspepsia, except Ruth and me — 
 so you grudge us our good appetites and our nice 
 dinner." 
 
 " I'm not oldj" said Frank with his adolescent 
 
 163 
 
The Windfall 
 
 laugh, half growl, half chuckle. " I haven't got 
 the dyspepsia." 
 
 " No, but you have got the cigarette habit — 
 which amounts to the same thing." 
 
 " Coffee, waiter," said Mrs. Laniston succinctly. 
 Not a very wise or witty conversation certainly, 
 but it was not for Haxon. 
 
 With the peculiar carrying quality of Lucia's 
 voice every word she uttered was distinct to Lloyd. 
 He could not hear what was said by the others, 
 albeit she spoke no louder. Now and then Frank's 
 facetious growl seemed to slip the leash and a 
 phrase or a laugh became distinguishable. Lloyd 
 had some instinct that stood him in stead for breed- 
 ing, for tuition, for experience. He would not 
 unduly urge Haxon, but men of their hurried mode 
 of life make swift work of meals and might be 
 called " very valiant trenchermen." They had 
 both finished a repast unusually loitering before the 
 Laniston party had fairly entered upon the fruit 
 course. He threw his napkin on the table and 
 started to his feet ere Haxon's glance of pro- 
 test could reach him. Then ruefully followed by 
 the acrobat they left the room before the Laniston 
 party could gather themselves together for their 
 avoidance. 
 
 A silence ensued at the round table while Jardine 
 leisurely cracked almonds in search of a philopena 
 which he was pledged to eat with Ruth, and Mrs. 
 Laniston trifled with her black coffee. 
 
 " Where's your hurry, now, Aunt Dora? " asked 
 164 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lucia, her eyes narrowing mischievously, and 
 Ruth laughed in delight, growing very alluringly 
 pink as she gazed teasingly at her mother. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston was distinctly out of countenance. 
 "Oh, you two girls! — you will be the death of 
 me. I wish you would try to be more circumspect 
 in the presence of company." 
 
 " Meaning Mr. Jardine," Lucia turned in an 
 explanatory manner to Ruth, her face grave but 
 her eyes alight with fun. 
 
 " Meaning Mr. Jardine," Ruth turned in an 
 explanatory manner to Lucia, likewise grave but 
 with her face pink and her blue eyes dancing. 
 
 Then they both collapsed in a gush of silent 
 laughter, which they half buried in their clusters 
 of grapes. 
 
 " Oh, I'm sure I don't know what I shall do 
 with them! I feel like apologising to you for 
 them, Mr. Jardine," Mrs. Laniston protested. 
 
 " Oh, don't mind me, I beg," said Jardine, 
 laughing. 
 
 " Oh, don't mind him, he begs," said Lucia with 
 an explanatory nod to Ruth. 
 
 " Oh, don't mind him, he begs," said Ruth, 
 gravely explaining to Lucia. 
 
 Then ensued the usual burst of silvery laughter. 
 
 " They simply distract me — the two of them; " 
 Mrs. Laniston, after an involuntary laugh, ad- 
 dressed Jardine. " You will hardly believe me, 
 Mr. Jardine, but my Ruth was so good, oh, an 
 angel [the look they cast on one another, while 
 
 is* 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Jardine struggled in vain to listen gravely amidst 
 this foolery], before Lucia came to live with me. 
 And Lucia's father, George Laniston — my hus- 
 band's brother, you know, — says that when Lucia 
 was at her own home she was a very mouse of 
 a little girl [again that disqualifying look at each 
 other]. And now, together they aid and abet 
 each other in all manner of absurdity and — and — 
 wildness — that's just what it gets to, sometimes — 
 just wildness." 
 
 " Sad," said Jardine, eyeing the twain indul- 
 gently. 
 
 They were both munching grapes just now and 
 took no notice. 
 
 " They ought to be separated," said Frank, with 
 his capable air. " Offer a premium to the one who 
 gets married first." 
 
 " The blessed man would be premium enough," 
 Lucia declared, " if we just could catch him." 
 
 " Oh, my dear, think how your voice carries," 
 her aunt hastily admonished her. 
 
 " Why, he, whoever he may be, might hear it 
 and come to the rescue." 
 
 There was a moment's silence, filled with grapes. 
 
 " Mamma thinks that we never see anything," 
 said Ruth, with a very knowing air. 
 
 " Didn't he stare? " commented Lucia. 
 
 "Who? — the very handsome man that mamma 
 thought Mr. Jardine was monopolising and deny- 
 ing her his acquaintance?" said Frank, with his 
 callow chuckle. 
 
 " Oh, no," Ruth's voice affected a dreary ca- 
 166. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dence. " He didn't so much as lift his eyelashes, 
 — his very — long — eyelashes. " 
 
 " It was the other one then," said Frank, " the 
 bullet-eyed acrobat." 
 
 " It doesn't matter in the least, Francis," said 
 Mrs. Laniston, with dignity. 
 
 " That manager is really the handsomest man I 
 ever saw," said the discreet Frank. " The clerk 
 of the hotel tells me that he is so considered by 
 everybody. In Duroc's celebrated painting of 
 * The Last Day,' he is posed as the angel Gabriel. 
 Why, his nickname is ' Beauty ' — he goes among 
 his pals by the euphonious appellation of ' Beaut ' 
 Lloyd." 
 
 Frank had finished his dinner and he was 
 showing some inclination to rock his chair to and 
 fro; he imagined that this was why his mother 
 frowned at him. 
 
 " What is his real name? " Lucia asked, unex- 
 pectedly. 
 
 "Why, child, how should he know?" Mrs. 
 Laniston had risen, and tapped sharply on her 
 niece's shoulder with rather admonitory knuckly 
 fingers. 
 
 "Why, Francis passed his exams all right; I 
 should think that he was far enough advanced to 
 be able to construe the hotel register at all events." 
 
 " And there he is enrolled as Hilary Chester 
 Lloyd," said Frank genially. 
 
 " Not a bad name," said Ruth casually. 
 
 " Rather humble for the manager of the great- 
 est show on earth," laughed Frank. " Finest high 
 
 167 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dive artist in the world, Captain Ollory of the 
 Royal Navy, Flying Lady, Fat Lady, Snake-eater 
 — eats 'em alive, — biggest boa constrictor, living 
 skeleton, largest Ferris Wheel " 
 
 Lucia's face turned deeply crimson as she lis- 
 tened to this farrago. She did not know why she 
 should blush for the manager — he certainly did 
 not think it necessary to blush for himself. To 
 divert attention from the mounting flush in her 
 face she remarked as she rose from the table, " I'm 
 going up in the Ferris Wheel at any rate." 
 
 " And so am I," said Ruth. " I'll snatch that 
 joy while it is within my reach." 
 
 The turmoil they anticipated ensued instantly. 
 
 " For heaven's sake," Mrs. Laniston solemnly 
 adjured them. " Mr. Jardine, in pity on me let's 
 get them back to the mountains. They will rack 
 my nerves to pieces. The idea — to go up in a Fer- 
 ris Wheel!" 
 
 " It is not an intellectual amusement, nor ele- 
 gant in any sense, but it is perfectly safe," said 
 Jardine. 
 
 " I have been east and west and north and south, 
 yet was I never in a Ferris Wheel," said Lucia, 
 locking her arm in Ruth's as they stood by the table 
 preparatory to issuing from the room. 
 
 " I have crossed the ocean, I have visited the 
 Colosseum by moonlight, I have explored — a little 
 way — the Catacombs, yet was I never in a Ferris 
 Wheel," echoed Ruth. 
 
 " I have ' swum in a gondola,' I have viewed 
 168 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the pyramids at Qhizeh, I have ridden cross-saddle 
 in the Yosemite, yet was I never in a Ferris 
 Wheel," declared Lucia. 
 
 " I have seen the Rock of Gibraltar, I have stood 
 beneath the Eiffel tower, I have visited the Street 
 Fair at Colbury, yet was I never in a Ferris 
 Wheel," Ruth took up the antistrophe. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston had less their safety in mind than 
 the staring of the bullet-eyed acrobat, and the 
 fascinations of the long, unlifted eyelashes of the 
 Beauty-man. 
 
 " If you can endure to stay with them every 
 minute of the time, Mr. Jardine," she consented, 
 conditionally. " Don't trust them to Francis--* 
 he is so irresponsible and flighty and young." 
 
 She felt very certain that Jardine's gravity and 
 dignity would over-awe any possibility of an ap- 
 proach to familiarity which a lack of knowledge 
 of the world on the part of the rustics, or the irre- 
 pressible gaiety of his youthful charges might 
 superinduce. 
 
 " I'll take them first to a concert of * high class 
 singing,' " Jardine said, and for his life he could 
 not forbear a laughing grimace. " I think the sun 
 is a little too high and too hot as yet for the fasci- 
 nations of the Ferris Wheel." 
 
 Then joined by Frank he accompanied the two 
 out on the verandah and down the flight of steps 
 as once more with their white parasols aglare in 
 the sunlight they took their way through the crowd 
 in the square. 
 
 169 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 HILARY LLOYD had had his doubts as 
 to how serious a view Haxon might take 
 of his discovery of the moonshining en- 
 terprise that had contrived to utilise to its own 
 profit the presence here of the Street Fair. With 
 the return of the morning light and its renewal of 
 courage and hope the possible suspicion of a coali- 
 tion of these interests seemed to him more remote 
 than heretofore. His own association with the 
 moonshiner's family might perhaps be most nat- 
 urally interpreted as an accident, a fortuitous cir- 
 cumstance, and the extreme publicity of the 
 appearance of the manager of the show both in 
 the company of the girl and the old grandam 
 would be presumed to imply an unconsciousness, an 
 entire freedom from complicity on his part. All 
 the morning, in a sub-acute process of the mind, 
 he had argued these premises, pro and con. While 
 he laboured to reassure the acrobat, to freshen his 
 nerve, to flatter his composure, to reinstate his 
 pride, so grievously cut down in the episode of the 
 handbill, these mental exercises were hardly pre- 
 termitted for a moment. When, however, the 
 perilous feat was once more safely performed and 
 Haxon had been fed, and his nerves recuperated, 
 Lloyd, feeling that the moment for the absolutely 
 
 170 
 
The Windfall 
 
 essential revelation had arrived and could no longer 
 be postponed, drew him aside and intimated that 
 he had disclosures to make of an importance that 
 necessitated closed doors. Together they ascended 
 the stairs to the room they shared, and even there 
 Lloyd looked out on the balcony and down the 
 cross-hall before he began his story. 
 
 " Gosh! " exclaimed Haxon irritably. " What's 
 up? You scare me to death! You're gone bug- 
 house, that's what ! " 
 
 Lloyd was altogether unprepared for the ap- 
 palled horror that overmastered the acrobat's every 
 power of reasoning when the disclosure was once 
 made. It was as if the dungeons of the Federal 
 prisons were all agape for him, and he could not 
 escape. For some time Lloyd could only induce 
 him to make an effort for composure by warning 
 him that his gasps, his half articulate exclamations 
 like cries, so shrill and sudden they were, his dis- 
 ordered, hasty strides about the room — he actually 
 fell in one of these, jarring the whole floor of the 
 house — would bring inquiry upon them and a sur- 
 prise that, unexplained, as it needs must be, would 
 develop into suspicion, and this the briefest investi- 
 gation would lead to complete discovery of the 
 facts with their trail of false accusation. 
 
 Lloyd had expected co-operation and a division 
 of the responsibility of devising a plan of action. 
 He had a fund of excellent common sense. He 
 realised that he was a man of most limited edu- 
 cation, of an experience curiously restricted, and 
 
 J71 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he did not flatter himself that he had any special 
 native gifts of perspicacity and logic. He felt the 
 need of help and he had longed for this moment of 
 liberation from the solitary torment of his fears — 
 for the sense of a comrade's support and the men- 
 tal attrition of a mind fresh to these weary prob- 
 lems. The force with which he was flung back on 
 his own resources stunned his capacities for the 
 time being. The revelation had only increased the 
 danger of immediate discovery in the absolute col- 
 lapse of Haxon's self-control. Lloyd used argu- 
 ment and persuasion, and finally resorted to 
 menacing warnings. 
 
 " You'll give the whole thing away to the au- 
 thorities before we can have a moment's counsel 
 together and see what we can do." 
 
 " What can we do?" cried Haxon, his palms 
 outspread dolorously. "We are caught here like 
 a rat in a trap — we can't get away. God! If I 
 had thirty-five dollars in the world I'd cut and run, 
 and leave you to shift for yourself." 
 
 Lloyd eyed him critically. 
 
 " Haxon, how can you show so much courage 
 and nerve in that cursed high dive of yours and be 
 such a coward in a crisis like this? " he demanded 
 sternly. 
 
 " 'Cause why? 'Cause the high dive is biz, but 
 'tain't my trade to defy the Federal courts for of- 
 fences I have never c'mitted." 
 
 He felt the aspersion on his courage — the lash 
 cut his somewhat thick sensibilities. 
 
 172 
 
The Windfall 
 
 11 Look here, Hil'ry " He sat down astride 
 
 on a chair, facing its back and beating out on its 
 wooden rim the several points as he made them. 
 " If I was in the illicit distilling lay I'd be fixed for 
 the biz, and I'd take my risks along with the profits 
 as cool as I do in the high dive. I'd be where I 
 was known, too, — at home, — an' there'd be some 
 chanst of friends to back you, an' lawyers for hire, 
 an' money at hand — 't wouldn't be at the end of 
 a blue fizzle on the road. But here wheer I don't 
 actually know so much as the name of the clerk of 
 the hotel! I haven't got a fiver to save my 
 life!" 
 
 He turned the pockets of his trousers inside out 
 to demonstrate his impecuniosity, and his aspect 
 as he sat thus, his round face pallid, and his hair 
 roached and standing straight in front, might have 
 suggested the ludicrous to another man, but to 
 Hilary Lloyd it only accented and illustrated the 
 stress of the untoward situation. 
 
 " I couldn't get a nickel by telegraphing — even 
 if I left the wire to be paid at the other end, for 
 I raised every cent I could scrape to start the show 
 out on the road ; and you are in the same fix. An' 
 here are you an' I an' all the men in the company 
 in this strange place, liable to arrest and jail for 
 aiding and abetting in the illicit sale of wild-cat 
 whisky — oh Lord!" His great full voice rose 
 plangent on the air. 
 
 " I'll cut your tongue out if you lay it again to 
 them words! " declared Lloyd, in a frenzy of ap- 
 
 173 
 
The Windfall 
 
 prehension. He darted to the door and opening 
 it gazed down the cross-halls to detect a possible 
 eavesdropper. He then hastened to the window 
 and looked out on the balcony. There was no one 
 near — no suggestion that suspicion had been 
 aroused. He returned to his chair, reassured, but 
 tingling with the excitement of the disastrous possi- 
 bility and both angry and dismayed. 
 
 " What do you sit there, spouting all that 
 preachment at me for? I know it as well or better 
 than you; didn't I find the thing out and tell you 
 how it stood? What do you suppose I did that 
 for? To hear you spit it all out again? " 
 
 "What did you do it for?" Haxon eyed him 
 sullenly. 
 
 " To get your help — you are a partner in the 
 biz; you had a right to know." 
 
 Haxon looked as if he esteemed it a right with 
 which he would willingly have dispensed. 
 
 " You've got my nerve all tore up," he com- 
 plained. 
 
 " That ain't the question — what are we goin' 
 to do about it?" 
 
 Haxon, as he still sat facing the back of the 
 chair, took the ends of his pockets in the tips of 
 his fingers and held them out to their extreme 
 limits. 
 
 " What can we do — nothing! " 
 
 Lloyd looked balked and despairing. He had 
 hoped so much, waited so long, with such torturing 
 silence and self-repression for this appeal for the 
 
 174 
 
The Windfall 
 
 help of his friend and partner. He gazed du- 
 biously at the attitude and face, all illustrative of 
 the idea of absolute collapse, and then he slowly 
 and laboriously gathered himself together. He 
 felt like a pugilist, who, lunging with great force, 
 has caught a heavy fall in the ring. He was game, 
 however, game to the last. 
 
 " Well, / don't throw up the sponge," he said 
 at length. " That's a trick I've never learned. 
 We can do something ! You watch me right close 
 and keep a shut mouth, and sit tight, and you'll 
 see something doing." 
 
 He nodded his head determinedly. Haxon, 
 watching him doubtfully, could experience no re- 
 newal of activity, no revival of hope. His facul- 
 ties were completely prostrated. He could only 
 fear. 
 
 " Now, go slow," he said, irritably anxious. 
 
 " You be bound I will," Lloyd reassured him. 
 
 A dull curiosity began to grow in Haxon's eyes 
 that yet winced from the question. 
 
 " I have got a right to know. I'm a partner, 
 and what you do will implicate me." 
 
 " I've a good mind to roll you on the floor till 
 you're as thin as a sheet of paper," the athlete 
 threatened, " only it's too good a stunt without 
 a crowd. You may bet your immortal soul that 
 nothing / do will implicate you or any other man." 
 
 " I just wanted to warn you," said Haxon 
 mildly. 
 
 " I was warned beforehand," Lloyd protested. 
 175; 
 
The Windfall 
 
 The mental activity, the canvass for expedients 
 that Lloyd had sought to rouse in Haxon's mind 
 seemed now stimulated by the cessation of urgency 
 on the manager's part. A vague sense of being 
 shut out of his counsels was stirring uneasily in 
 Haxon's consciousness — it put out a clutch after 
 the plans in which he would not share. 
 
 " Now you take care you don't make no mis- 
 take." 
 
 " Try not, — for my own sake, — but I'm not in- 
 fallible," said Lloyd. His interest in Haxon's im- 
 pressions had evaporated. Since Haxon had 
 neither adequate aid nor well-considered advice to 
 offer, and no fund of courage to recruit and re- 
 animate the flagging energies of his partner, it did 
 not matter how his vague conjecture skirmished 
 about the point of attack and plan of action. 
 
 " You be sure you don't get into a hole " 
 
 Haxon paused. " You ain't thinking about giv- 
 ing the information to the authorities? " his small 
 keen eyes kindled with the contemplation of this 
 course. 
 
 " Certainly not," said Lloyd listlessly. He had 
 drawn off his cuffs that had begun to wilt at the 
 edges and was slipping the sleeve-links of oxydised 
 silver into a fresh pair that, leaning back in his 
 chair, he had reached from the tray of an open 
 trunk. 
 
 " But you know the informer gets good pay. 
 The government always pays like smoke." Haxon, 
 now that his speculations, his proffers of plans, 
 
 176 
 
The Windfall 
 
 his advice were not solicited seemed bent on evolv- 
 ing and laying them before his companion. " We 
 might get enough that way to defray the cost of 
 the company's transportation to New York." 
 
 " We'd be much likelier to be laid by the heels 
 for false arrest, for we couldn't prove any illicit 
 distilling or sale, either. Besides, we'd get our 
 heads shot off for playing the spy and informer; 
 that's etiquette in this region." 
 
 " You'd better think about that reward, now 
 Hil'ry," the acrobat eagerly urged. " You ain't 
 afraid of getting shot, nor nothing else. You're 
 holding back for another reason. There's a 
 woman in the case ! " 
 
 Lloyd looked up with a certain expectation and 
 a deepening of the roseate flush on his fair, girlish 
 cheek. 
 
 " You don't want to inform on them folks on 
 account of that gal. You've gone and got mashed 
 on a mountain singing-gal — the pals all say the 
 public don't fall to her racket not the least little 
 bit." 
 
 " Oh," said Lloyd, as if with sudden compre- 
 hension — had he thought Haxon was alluding to 
 another woman here? He came visibly back, as 
 from some far digression of thought. 
 
 " There's no use talking about that, Hax. I've 
 been all along there — in fact, there ain't a by-path 
 through this tangled torment that my mind ain't 
 travelled since the show opened up. The reward 
 would be paid for conviction, not for suspicion. 
 
 177 
 
The Windfall 
 
 No man gets paid for suspecting. We couldn't 
 wait till the moonshiners were arrested and con- 
 victed in court — eat our heads off in that time, if 
 anybody would credit us for the grub-stakes." 
 
 Haxon's face fell, so strong a hold had his now 
 unsought plans taken upon him. 
 
 " Besides," Lloyd argued, rising from his chair, 
 "our grounds of suspicion ain't firm underfoot; 
 even the authorities ain't sure enough to venture 
 to arrest the Pinnotts. They don't even molest the 
 drunken men that were fairly sprawling all over 
 the town this morning. They'll point the way they 
 have travelled before long. The authorities are 
 waiting for bigger game — laying for the moon- 
 shiners." 
 
 The terrors of the situation seized Haxon again : 
 The suspicion that the street fair had at least some 
 knowledge of this popular adjunct to its attrac- 
 tions; the obvious fact that it must profit immeas- 
 urably by the lures offered a dry town to draw a 
 crowd; the unlucky publicity of the intimacy that 
 the manager of the show had struck up with the 
 old moonshiner and the several members of his 
 family; the incongruity that his daughter had be- 
 come a temporary member of the company, and 
 had a place on the daily programme, doing a 
 " stunt " that had no value whatever in the public 
 eye, and might thus seem a tribute of flattery to a 
 powerful coadjutor; the certainty that without this 
 recruiting of the moonshine whisky-drinking ele- 
 ment in the scantily populated region the fair could 
 
 178 
 
 
The Windfall 
 
 hardly have lived through the first day's perform- 
 ance — all were close meshes in such a net that the 
 acrobat could hardly hope to escape thence. 
 
 " Oh, Hil'ry — we have worked so hard. I don't 
 see no sense nor justice in our gettin' tangled up 
 this fashion." He bowed his head on the chair 
 back and groaned aloud. 
 
 " Now you look here," said Lloyd — he sum- 
 moned a mental attention and was not disconcerted 
 when Haxon did not lift his head. " You listen to 
 me. I'm going to see this thing through. You 
 just keep your tongue between your teeth and don't 
 bat your eye, and watch me, and vou'll see some- 
 thing doing ! " 
 
 ; His confidence revived Haxon's hopes, though 
 he retained his despondent attitude after he heard 
 the tread of Lloyd's feet slowly descending the 
 stairs. Perhaps it was well for the preservation 
 of his composure that he did not see the deep de- 
 pression the manager's face expressed while in the 
 solitary transit down the flight, nor hear the half- 
 smothered groan that dropped from his lips. He 
 had wasted much time for naught in hanging his 
 hopes on this futile interview. He was now ex- 
 actly at the point whence he had started. Time 
 meant money — the increase of the expenses of the 
 show in a ratio with which the gate receipts by 
 no means kept pace. Time meant danger, the 
 continual challenge of disastrous possibilities, and 
 that these were formulating somewhere, somehow, 
 he did not doubt for a moment. He paused when 
 
 179 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he reached the bottom of the flight and glanced 
 through a window of a side hall that had an out- 
 look in the direction of the sylvan nook where 
 Shadrach Pinnott had planted his staff. He had 
 a vague, indeterminate disposition to make a tour 
 of discovery thither, to satisfy himself — to see, per- 
 chance — wild hope — if his suspicions were not 
 merely the result of his over-anxious facile fears. 
 All the world knows that dry towns are only dry 
 in spots, and perhaps the fact that the populace 
 had been so called into the streets by the presence 
 of the show made the pervasive evidences of liquor 
 more obvious. Alack, his first glance from the 
 window proved the tenuity of this reasoning. The 
 farthest man he could see along the street com- 
 ing from that direction was wiping his mouth 
 with the back of his hand; then amidst a file of 
 ordinary pedestrians two came affectionately clasp- 
 ing each other around the waist, under the firm 
 conviction that four legs can better compass loco- 
 motion than two, when all are so unsteady, on the 
 theory of strength in numbers, perhaps. No one 
 took notice, apparently, of the aberrations of this 
 method of progression, but he reflected it would be 
 only the gratification of a morbid anxiety to visit 
 the spot, and his presence there might add an ele- 
 ment of curiosity and speculation to a circumstance 
 already unduly suspicious. As he came out into the 
 square he noticed with a sort of melancholy satis- 
 faction how well the show was running in all its 
 various departments, how orderly it was, how 
 
 180 
 
The Windfall 
 
 mindful of its best possibilities, how cheerful and 
 brisk the performers and spielers, all unprescient, 
 poor souls ! It was like a well-oiled piece of ma- 
 chinery, automatic, scarcely needing the eye of the 
 manager. He cast a glance upward at the town 
 clock — it was already time for the afternoon con- 
 cert; at that moment he heard the tuning of the 
 violins and a booming note from the bassoon. 
 As he entered the tent he remarked that the light 
 within was tempered, mellow, and his artistic taste 
 was refreshed by this — it would aid the effect of 
 the lime-light on the stage which should simulate 
 sunshine amongst the dappling shadows of the 
 peach tree leaves. 
 
 The audience crowded the tent, to his surprise, 
 for this " stunt " had proved no favourite perform- 
 ance with the public, and, since already seen, it had 
 no claims to novelty. Then he realised the cause 
 of this accumulation of spectators ; in the best seats 
 in the centre of the place was Mr. Jardine, his 
 jaded, slightly disdainful, thin, grave, thoughtful 
 face easily discriminated among the many that 
 seemed turned out of a mould, custom made, so 
 commonplace they were. The fresh, bright, candid 
 countenance of the young collegian was near at 
 hand, and between the two, radiant in their white 
 dresses and hats, and with their flower-like faces, 
 exquisitely fair and dainty, looking expectantly to- 
 ward the stage, half amused at their own readiness 
 to be entertained with these slight trifles, were the 
 two belated summer birds of New Helvetia: The 
 
 181 
 
The Windfall 
 
 entrance of so distinguished a party had already 
 made the " high class concert " the fashion; the 
 best element of the town was present, and this had 
 been reinforced by the profanum vulgus of the 
 street, for whatever the town folks found accep- 
 table the rural wight cautiously sampled, often 
 decrying and ridiculing while secretly approving 
 and imitating. There were many sunbonnets, and 
 snuff-brushes, and big wool hats, and bushy beards, 
 but the dapper townsmen were in greater numbers 
 than heretofore and the Misses Laniston did not 
 wear the only be-frilled millinery that the tent dis- 
 played. It was an audience of no mean intelligence, 
 and poor Lloyd realised that were he free from 
 the gnawing wild beasts of secret anxiety and har- 
 rowing doubt and actual fear, his showman's heart 
 would have beat high with the determination to 
 stretch every nerve and do his best devoir. Even 
 as it was there was no use in permitting the second 
 violin to enter upon the fugues of the little over- 
 ture very distinctly sharp to his acute and accurate 
 ear. He had taken a seat near the orchestra, and 
 he suddenly stood up and signed with a wave of 
 the hand to catch the performer's attention. The 
 man turned the screw slightly, and twanged the 
 string. While Hilary Lloyd stood, his head slightly 
 bent, with a face of motionless, intent interest, his 
 hat in his hand, he heard distinctly, besides the 
 violin's keen vibration, the sudden snap of the 
 shutter of a camera. He nodded approval to 
 the violinist, but his eyes followed the camera's 
 
 182 
 
The Windfall 
 
 sound. Ruth's flower-like face was pink with 
 smiles and Lucia's long, romantic eyes were fright 
 with triumphant daring. The two cavaliers were 
 distinctly disconcerted as their eyes met Lloyd's. 
 It was only for a moment; the manager affected to 
 look over the house, then turning, resumed hi? scat, 
 and the overture broke briskly forth. 
 
 " Lucia," her cousin Frank growled under cover 
 of the music, " you had better mind. You will be 
 led out by the ear, if you don't look out." 
 
 " I should be delighted to have my ear distin- 
 guished in any way, here, where a fine ear is made 
 so conspicuous," she twittered in response. 
 
 " But the violins are all in accord now, and 
 that second one was out of tune before," said 
 Ruth. 
 
 " In printing the film I shall take special pains 
 with so fine an ear," said Lucia. 
 
 " You can't fool me," gurgled Frank. " You 
 snapped him because the fellow looked so con- 
 foundedly handsome at the moment. You never 
 dreamed that the place was still enough for the 
 click of the button to betray you. There's nothing 
 green in my eye ! " 
 
 " You two must be a little more careful, if I 
 may venture to say so," suggested Mr. Jardine, 
 who really was somewhat aghast at the camera epi- 
 sode — exceedingly discommoded by the grave eye 
 of the manager and nervous lest some neighbour 
 might have noticed the incident. " Even in a rustic 
 community," he continued, " it won't do to take it 
 
 183 
 
The Windfall 
 
 for granted that there are no people who know 
 what — er — er ' ' 
 
 " Good manners are," suggested Lucia. 
 
 " I beg a thousand pardons — but I did not say 
 that." 
 
 " Worse still, you implied it. You rejoice in 
 being enigmatical." Then she turned to Ruth. 
 " Think of poor Mrs. Jardine (when he finds her) 
 * — having to pick out his meaning from implica- 
 tions." 
 
 "The dear lady (when he finds her) — he will 
 train her to deduce the state of his affections from 
 statistics." 
 
 Then they both collapsed behind their white 
 fans, over which they looked at each other with 
 bright eyes, brimful of laughter. The mythical 
 Mrs. Jardine (when he should find her) was one 
 of their favourite subjects of retort when no rea- 
 sonable justification was at hand, and they spent 
 much time in adjusting and readjusting her traits. 
 Oddly enough, for so sane and grave a man, this 
 folly teased him, which fact afforded them ex- 
 treme delight. 
 
 They were incomprehensible to him in more ways 
 than one, but generally he gave this hardly a lan- 
 guid thought, ascribing it to the idiosyncrasies of 
 the feminine mind, which according to the popular 
 persuasion was adjusted to a peculiar poise. Now, 
 however, he puzzled over the theory of their con- 
 duct, which both nettled and embarrassed him. 
 In any metropolitan crowded centre, in any station 
 
 184 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of fashionable society, he knew from experience 
 that their graceful propriety of demeanour, their 
 air of delicate reserve, their instinct for the right 
 word at the right moment, the soft youthful dig- 
 nity which they could conserve, were matters for 
 all admiration; he had relished greatly being ad- 
 mitted behind this conventional formal pose into 
 the intimacies of familiar friendship where he saw 
 them as they really were, in their natural girlish 
 relaxation from the conventions of general society. 
 But here was a new phase. They were recklessly 
 conspicuous; they cared naught for the opinions of 
 the rustic crowd — indeed what they did and said 
 was likely to be presumed the fashion of the time 
 and the fad of the day. " I like to be where I 
 know nobody, and where nobody knows me," 
 Lucia had declared, in reply to a covert admonition 
 which he had ventured; " I feel so easy. What is 
 that story of a knight of old who had a magic 
 armour that protected him from sight, and he went 
 through the camps of his enemies all unsuspected. 
 That is how I feel; I feel invisible.'* 
 
 Mr. Jardine had not expected that they would 
 adopt the Colbury standards and sit demurely still, 
 as if conscious, in this little sphere, of the regards 
 of all the world; that they would sparingly con- 
 verse in the lowest of tones and with solicitude for 
 the effect of their words. They could but be indif- 
 ferent to criticism and maintain a certain independ- 
 ence in so limited an environment. But it did 
 seem to him that they had reached the extreme of 
 
 185 
 
The Windfall 
 
 toleration in the episode of the camera. Of course 
 he realised that Lucia had never expected the click 
 of the instrument to acquaint the subject that she 
 had sought and caught his photograph, but in this 
 contretemps she perceived only an amazing jest 
 at her own expense, of a delightful and unprece- 
 dented savour. She almost perished with laughter 
 and ridicule of herself and seemed to have no care 
 nor fear of the opinion of the man and this man a 
 stranger, of low station, of most questionable posi- 
 tion, who might take bitter offence, or venture some 
 impertinence, or seek reprisal in some wise intoler- 
 able to her and her friends. For his own part 
 Jardine was the same in every circumstance of life ; 
 formal, civil, conventional, reserved. However 
 the kaleidoscope of environment shifted he did not 
 change, and his standards were unalterable. He 
 sought to reflect that they were both very young; 
 they were like birds, thus freed for the nonce from 
 the frumpish restrictions of the stereotyped dulness 
 of their cage. They were like irresponsible school- 
 girls, liberated from the cast-iron class-room rules; 
 indeed it was not long since both were hard and 
 fast in these restraints; they were like children, 
 thinking no ill, confident or careless of approval, 
 enjoying the passing moment, freighted with scanty 
 opportunity for pleasure though it was, with a zest, 
 a delight, a buoyancy of spirit, a capacity to evolve 
 fun from serious conditions which Jardine could 
 not have compassed at any period of his career. 
 But he realised that there was more responsibility 
 
 186 
 
The Windfall 
 
 in the office of their chaperon than he had deemed 
 possible when he had assumed Mrs. Laniston's 
 charge and left her to her well-earned rest at the 
 hotel. 
 
 Suddenly the tempo of the music changed; the 
 subtle charm of a simple old melody was pulsing 
 on the air and now it dwindled into a vague di- 
 minuendo, and then to a pizzicato echo, in the 
 midst of which a clear, brilliant voice sounded sing- 
 ing in the distance. The curtain went up with a 
 rush; the stage was revealed flooded with yellow 
 sunlight and all a-dapple with the shadows of 
 swaying peach-leaves from boughs waving in the 
 wind above. And what was that effect? How 
 could they have such strangely perfect scenery — 
 the purple mountains, the azure ranges of the dis- 
 tance, the blue sky bedight with a cloud all opal 
 and gold, and a river with a crystalline reflex 
 of its splendour. Before the simple expedient of 
 dropping a section of the canvas occurred to their 
 minds a figure, lightsome, airy, featly dancing, 
 bounded into the illuminated centre of the scene. 
 There was one moment of 'amazed scrutiny — it was 
 like some classic canephora of painting or sculp- 
 ture ; then the eye recognised in the basket-like ves- 
 sel poised on the head, filled with trailing vines and 
 purple grape clusters, the familiar cedar piggin of 
 the mountains; the antique-draped garb was but 
 the up-caught skirt of the conventional make, but 
 with the yellow folds so craftily held in plaits that 
 they sustained a wealth of the grapes, picturesquely 
 
 187 
 
The Windfall 
 
 trailing down over a dark wine-tinted petticoat, 
 short enough to disclose ankles and feet of a 
 wonderful agility. The auburn hair, soft, fluffy, 
 rayonnant, was coiled in a knot of negligent charm, 
 and the head was thrown back as the dancer 
 leaped with incredible lightness and grace, catch- 
 ing with one hand toward the lure of a peach 
 on a bough out of her reach, now and then 
 lifting it to poise the basket, singing in a clear, 
 true, sweet voice the lilting measures of the old 
 song. It was a short " turn "; she knew but the 
 single stanza. The effect was like some radiant, 
 transient vision, the fleeting allurement of the senses 
 in a dream, as the curtain suddenly descended, the 
 light went out, and the vibrating echo of the violins 
 ceased. 
 
 A moment of silent surprise; then the sound of 
 the clapping of one enthusiastic pair of hands, and 
 presently the tent rocked with a tumult of applause. 
 
 " By George — that's great! " cried Frank Lanis- 
 ton, red in the face from his exertions, his hands 
 banging together like machinery. He gazed in 
 sympathy at Jardine, who was fairly startled out 
 of his composure and applauding with a will. 
 
 " It is absolutely beautiful, and perfectly 
 unique," he exclaimed. 
 
 The two young ladies were trying what re- 
 sources of clatter the sticks of their white fans 
 might compass as they struck them against the 
 palms of their small white gloved hands. 
 
 The man in the old whitish grey coat, whom 
 1 88 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lloyd had noticed earlier in the audience, experien- 
 cing renewed anxiety lest some inimical espionage 
 might account for his purchase of a ticket to a per- 
 formance so ludicrous to his taste, sat in the midst 
 of the clamour as still as if he had been carved in 
 stone. The enthusiasm had illumined all faces save 
 his — some subtle shadow of despondency had fallen 
 upon it. He no longer held it half muffled in the 
 high collar and lapels of the big old coat. It was 
 shielded only by the drooping brim of the limp 
 white hat and he presently turned it hither and 
 thither, looking in stunned amazement and a dep- 
 recatory, remonstrant, unconscious inquiry at the 
 neighbouring spectators among the crowded 
 benches. The flavour of his secret jest had 
 evaporated — he seemed to find naught to ridicule 
 now. 
 
 " Why don't they raise that curtain, I wonder," 
 growled Frank Laniston. " It's as hot as Hades 
 in here, working this way. Bless my soul, won't 
 she accept an encore? " 
 
 For the curtain remained immovable. Lloyd, 
 startled by the unexpected endorsement of the at- 
 traction he had devised, that had hitherto fallen so 
 flat, gratified by the applause as if it were a per- 
 sonal commendation, flushed deeply red as he sat 
 near the orchestra and with smiling eyes waited too 
 with all the rest for the conventional rising of the 
 curtain and the complaisant repetition of the num- 
 ber. He had left nothing unforeseen in his instruc- 
 tions to the tyro. Clotilda had been fully informed 
 
 189 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of the nature and exigencies of an encore, and the 
 course proper for her to pursue as the recipient of 
 that great compliment. But, alack, the turn had 
 never received before a hand of applause. In dead 
 silence the rural crowd had heretofore watched the 
 scene and wondered futilely what was the point 
 when a simple country girl, in her old calico 
 " coat," jumped around under a peach tree, and 
 sang a verse of an old song, a thing to be seen on 
 any roadside. Then they had silently filed out and 
 there was an end for the time. Now, however, 
 since there was applause from so experienced and 
 discerning a source, a revised estimate seemed in 
 order. Perhaps a new interpretation waited upon 
 a more aesthetic point of view. The applause was 
 hearty and general, and rose presently to an in- 
 sistent clamour. 
 
 Clotilda, having had no occasion to respond to 
 the plaudits of the public, had forgotten every 
 syllable of her instructions. Lloyd remained yet 
 some moments waiting, like the rest, eyeing the cur- 
 tain, in the immediate expectation of seeing it rise. 
 The musicians had their instruments in hand — at 
 the tinkle of the bell they would begin da capo. 
 But the curtain continued absolutely blank; no sign 
 of the golden glow of the artificial light could be 
 discerned, naught but the ripples of the air, swiftly 
 running over it as the draught from the lowered 
 canvas at the rear struck upon the fabric. Lloyd 
 began to look discomposed, then anxious, then as 
 the applause redoubled its demand he waited one 
 
 190 
 
The Windfall 
 
 uncertain moment longer, rose, advanced amongst 
 the orchestra, sprang upon the stage, pushed the 
 curtain aside and vanished behind its sphinx-like 
 blankness. 
 
 " I never did really believe that he was the man- 
 ager till this moment," said Lucia, a regretful ca- 
 dence in her voice. 
 
 " What did you think he was, a duke in dis- 
 guise? " chuckled Frank. 
 
 " Oh, yes, he is the manager," said Ruth glibly, 
 " and this is only the by-play of the real romance 
 staged here. He is in love with that pretty girl, 
 and was fascinated in training her." 
 
 Mr. Jardine had fended off the motley crowd 
 from contact with his fair charges as best he might 
 by seating the two young ladies together, with 
 Frank on one side and himself on the other. But 
 there was no protection from the occupants of the 
 seats just in front, and suddenly one of these, a 
 slovenly old wretch, in a dirty, whitey-grey coat and 
 flapping hat, turned and fixed an eager, intent, al- 
 most indignant gaze on Ruth's face as she spoke. 
 It was as if she had spoken a thought, a fear in his 
 own mind, and to Jardine's surprise he saw that the 
 face was young — young, but overgrown with the 
 stubble of a three-days' beard, a stiff, dark beard. 
 Wisps of short, dark hair overhung the forehead, 
 as if a forelock were pulled of set purpose half over 
 the eyes ; for the rest, the face was dirty, unwashed, 
 one might have thought stained in blotches — a re- 
 pellent face, with fine, bright brown eyes. They 
 
The Windfall 
 
 turned eagerly to Lucia as, all unnotlng his demon- 
 stration, she replied to Ruth's observation. 
 
 " I don't think she is so pretty," said Lucia 
 critically. "It is the artistic environment that 
 makes it all so fetching, don't you think, Mr. 
 Jardine?" 
 
 He caught but the one word in the uproar of 
 applause. 
 
 "Artistic — it is indeed! I wouldn't have be- 
 lieved it if I hadn't seen it. That scene has the 
 true poetic glamour; it is as classic as an eclogue of 
 Virgil." 
 
 He could hardly speak for the clamour which 
 overpowered the tinkle of the bell, the earliest 
 measures of the violins. As the curtain rose on the 
 golden glow came a sudden hush; the pizzicato of 
 the violins fell as trippingly as fairy feet on the 
 silence; then the sound of singing broke forth in 
 the distance and the beautiful dancing figure 
 appeared. With familiarity one could note new 
 effects, that, however, brought no disparagement. 
 The opal cloud in the scenery had turned to purple, 
 while the saffron cloud had held its glow. Once 
 there was a sudden mutter of thunder and a swift 
 veining of white glister was revealed amidst the 
 hyacinthine tones. 
 
 As before, the scene was all too short, the beauti- 
 ful dancing figure but a glimpse. The curtain 
 came down in a clamour of applause; as this con- 
 tinued it rose after a short space. Clotilda had 
 been schooled anew, and she was a quick study. 
 
 192 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Nothing could have seemed more perfect, more 
 practised than her manner of smiling, grateful rec- 
 ognition as she came forward to the footlights. 
 She had removed the basket of grapes from her 
 head, but supported it in the round of her arm, half 
 poised against her hip; the other hand lightly 
 touched the masses of grapes held in the folds of 
 her yellow dress, but it was obvious that their ar- 
 tistic draping had been made hard and fast against 
 accident. She bowed with drooping eyelashes, and 
 once more, lower still, she bowed, all rustic grace 
 and diffidence, and then the curtain came down with 
 a rush and the turn was triumphantly at an end. 
 
 " Couldn't Lucia photograph her, Mr. Jar- 
 dine?" cried Ruth. " Oh, how I'd love to have 
 her in my collection." 
 
 He hesitated coldly for one moment; then as 
 if suddenly bethinking himself, eagerly assented. 
 
 " Doubtless — doubtless; you will want her in 
 costume. I must speak to the manager at 
 once." 
 
 As he eagerly breasted the crowd, seeking to 
 get in as the spectators streamed out, the two young 
 ladies, amazed by his willing co-operation, which 
 they had by no means expected, stood and gazed 
 quizzically at each other. 
 
 "A change of heart? " Lucia asked. 
 
 " Or a softening of the brain, perhaps," RutK 
 responded. Then they both turned to note his 
 progress and saw him already in courteous con- 
 ference with the manager. In fact Jardine had 
 
 193! 
 
The Windfall 
 
 gladly embraced the opportunity to give the im- 
 pression to this very handsome man of low degree 
 that the highly placed and aristocratic Miss Lucia 
 Laniston was out for snap-shots in general, and 
 was adding to her collection from features of the 
 town, the mountains, the fair, whatever presented 
 itself as of passing interest. This was an infer- 
 ence more creditable and becoming than the possi- 
 bility that she was greatly struck by the manly 
 beauty of Lloyd's countenance and desired to 
 remember it, to have the likeness to refresh her 
 recollection, and thus caught the exceptional value 
 of his pose at the moment. Jardine did not tell, 
 and he did not think it necessary to tell, that 
 Lloyd's face was the only one she had cared to 
 portray, and that the camera had not been placed 
 in position before and the slide drawn since she 
 had been in town. He thought this an oblitera- 
 tion of the dangerous flattery if the man had been 
 complacent and pleased by the discovery the click 
 of the shutter had afforded him, and a placation 
 of the offence, had he taken umbrage, by the 
 apology suggested in the fact that he was only one 
 of the many victims of the raging camera. He was 
 surprised by the grave and gentlemanly address of 
 the showman. Lloyd might have seemed indeed 
 some man of high grade, were it not for his ac- 
 cent. He would be very happy to oblige, as far 
 as he had any voice in the matter, but he must 
 first ask the " lydy." Most of the attractions of 
 the show were photographed and their portraits 
 
 194 
 
The Windfall 
 
 were on sale, but this lydy had very recently joined 
 the company, playing only a temporary engage- 
 ment, in fact, and she had not been photographed 
 at all. Having also his reservations, he did not 
 add that it had not been thought worth while, the 
 reality itself being so incapable of sustaining 
 interest. 
 
 Jardine, having carried his point, became afraid 
 that he was playing it a little too fine, as the two 
 young ladies approached and he found himself 
 compelled to say, " This is the manager, Mr. 
 Lloyd, ladies, and he is in hopes he may be able 
 to secure the photograph you desire." 
 
 Mr. Lloyd raised his hat in a manner to which 
 no exceptions could have been taken by the most 
 exacting critic, and replying, " I shall be with you 
 again in a moment," stepped upon the stage and 
 disappeared. 
 
 Mr. Jardine looked harassed; he took out his 
 handkerchief and passed it over his brow. It had 
 been only one afternoon of chaperonage, but he 
 had all the indicia of brain fag. The two young 
 ladies, silent, glanced about at the queer, unaccus- 
 tomed place; to his jaundiced mind they were 
 measuring its opportunities to furnish them oc- 
 casion for more mischief. Suddenly beside him 
 the curtain drew up and the beautiful mountain 
 girl stood posed exactly as she had appeared before 
 the audience. 
 
 She was flattered that her picture was to be 
 taken — now and again her lips parted over her 
 
 195 
 
The Windfall 
 
 beautiful teeth in a foolish little grin that annulled 
 every scintilla of poesy in her presence. 
 
 " I have tried this sort of thing a bit, myself, 
 and I don't think the perspective will answer unless 
 the lydies are on a level. There is such a — a — 
 mixed crowd outside — will the lydy step on the 
 stage? " suggested Lloyd. 
 
 If for no other reason than the dismay on Jar- 
 dine's high-featured, disdainful face, Lucia signi- 
 fied her acquiescence, and accepting the assistance 
 of the manager's proffered outstretched hand she 
 sprang lightly on the boards. Lloyd's quick in- 
 tuition interpreted the expression on their several 
 faces, for Jardine had instantly joined her and 
 she felt that she must mask her thoughts if she 
 would not have them read when Lloyd said, evi- 
 dently in response to the protest in Mr. Jardine's 
 countenance — " This is quite retired, not at all 
 public now." Then glancing at the three or four 
 people who were yet loitering and staring at the 
 figures on the stage, he called out loudly — " This 
 is no performance. Keep out of here ! " 
 
 The wondering rustics slowly vanished ; only one 
 lingered and as Lloyd's gaze fell upon him he 
 recognised the figure clad in a whitey-gray garb 
 which had so persistently dogged his steps. His 
 voice took on an authoritative cadence. 
 
 " Clear out. This is no performance. Clear 
 out, I say ! " 
 
 The figure turned like a dog that would fain 
 fly at the throat, yet slinks in fear. 
 
 196 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " I ain't carin' what you say," the intruder blus- 
 tered. Then he slowly slouched out, muttering 
 to himself, with the flapping brim of his hat well 
 pulled down over his bright young eyes. 
 
 " You will make a lovely picture in that charm- 
 ing dress," Lucia said blandly, as Lloyd stepped 
 here and there, pulling at the curtain to get a better 
 light. 
 
 " It's all wore an' tore," Clotilda said depre- 
 catingly. She did not doubt the admiration of the 
 men, but she was all abashed and awkward in this 
 presence of dainty feminine elegance. She scanned 
 the two openly, as if comparing their traits. Then 
 she fixed her eyes sedulously on Lucia. Her face 
 was so out of drawing with this heavy, dully pon- 
 dering, loutish expression, so incongruous with the 
 poetic charm she had wrought, that Miss Laniston 
 suggested : 
 
 " Sing — sing a line or two of that pretty song — 
 sing, and dance a few steps." 
 
 The girl lifted her docile head, sprang lightly 
 into the air, her fresh young voice floated out and 
 suddenly the camera clicked. 
 
 " That is all, and when I get the pictures out I 
 will come and see you and bring some of them to 
 you. This gentleman tells me you live near by 
 in the mountains. Where is your home?" 
 
 " He knows. He'll kem an' guide you," 
 Clotilda easily promised for him. 
 
 Lucia turned to Lloyd, with her most en- 
 trancing smile. " Thanks, for past and future 
 
 197 
 
The Windfall 
 
 favours," she said, realising the disastrous storm 
 the unexpected turn of events had roused in Mr. 
 Jardine's conventional soul. 
 
 Lloyd bowed in gravest acknowledgment, and 
 as she stepped down from the stage she remaked: 
 
 " My first and last appearance on the boards." 
 
 " You graced them," said Ruth airily. 
 
 But the two men, heavily silent, said nothing. 
 
 Lloyd ceremoniously saw them to the door, as 
 if he had been entertaining them in the character 
 of host, and as they departed he lifted his hat with 
 a dignity all at variance with the sudden humorous 
 cry of the spieler close at hand — " He eats 'em — 
 he eats 'em alive ! " 
 
 Lucia shrugged her disdainful shoulders. 
 
 "What an experience! What a place! The 
 incongruities are amazing. I feel as if I were in 
 a fevered dream, or a grotesque fairy-tale." 
 
 " You'll ruin those films if you don't look out 
 for that camera," Ruth warned her, but she made 
 no reply and swung the camera as carelessly as 
 before. 
 
 198 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 MR JARDINE, seating himself on the 
 piazza of the hotel, which overlooked 
 the motley throngs of the square with 
 the salient concomitants of the mushroom spread 
 of the tents, the tawdry ornaments of the vendors' 
 stands, the tall mast of the high diver, the periph- 
 ery of the gigantic Ferris Wheel with its seats 
 filled with rustics swaying in the slow revolution 
 through the afternoon glow, the business houses of 
 the little town that bounded the space on each 
 side, their decorous, sober, orderly appearance, so 
 alien to the flurry and carnival folly of the streets, 
 had sufficient need of the mild stimulant of his 
 cigar to restore the tone of his nerves and allay 
 the irritation that harassed his mental processes. 
 He was glad of the silence, for so he accounted 
 the freedom from talk whether of accost or reply, 
 despite the varied clamours of raucous voices, the 
 wailing of infants, the whinnying of impatient 
 horses, eager for the homeward journey, and mind- 
 ful of supper, as the waggon teams stood hitched 
 in rows to the courthouse fence, the braying of the 
 band, the stentorian cries of the spielers, all the un- 
 wearied activities of the lungs of the mountebanks. 
 He was glad to be no longer in the seat of the 
 scornful, to be continually objecting, deriding, 
 
 199 
 
The Windfall 
 
 frowning down the features of the little show; if 
 it was the fad of the young ladies to entertain their 
 idleness with such rubbish, surely for the nonce 
 he might ignore its vapidities, its pitiful poverty- 
 stricken shifts, its sedulous catering to the low 
 capacities of the common rustic crowd. There 
 was much distasteful, even disgusting to a fas- 
 tidious sense in its exhibitions, but there was noth- 
 ing absolutely coarse, and not the most remote 
 suggestion of anything vile. It was a clean show, 
 as its handbills insistently proclaimed. It need 
 not have so lacerated his sensibilities, he felt, as 
 the fragrant nicotian solace began its soothing 
 effect. To be sure it was a sacrifice, a poignant 
 trial to his hyper-elegant standards to be with 
 Lucia Laniston amid scenes so unworthy. He 
 would fain meet her, as heretofore, on a plane more 
 in accord with the character of both, among cir- 
 cumstances that elicited those charms of intellect 
 and culture that had won his admiration and re- 
 spect as her more obvious grace and beauty had 
 captured his heart. In his eyes she united many 
 fascinations, the more remarkable because of her 
 youth. Her solid, unimpassioned judgment, her 
 cultivated taste, her very respectable scholastic ac- 
 quirements, gauged from even a high educa- 
 tional point of view, of which he had seen many 
 evidences, rendered it manifestly impossible that 
 she should enjoy the exhibition in any serious 
 sense. It merely furnished a surface for that 
 exuberant buoyancy and those fantastic traits 
 
 200 
 
The Windfall 
 
 which her aunt called " wildness," and which he 
 supposed were the inseparable concomitants of 
 such abounding youth and vitality and joyous 
 spirits. She was alert and energetic, and full of 
 life and mirth, and it was not the fashion of the 
 day, as of yore, to set such a damsel down to 
 sew her sampler by the fire till such time, soon 
 or late, as her cavalier came to claim his domestic 
 paragon. Things were different now. Wider 
 courses of study, much travel, athletic recreations, 
 great liberty of thought and action had resulted 
 in a wider outlook for girls — and, suddenly, he 
 doubted if it made them happier from any point 
 of view. He was remembering the dull depres- 
 sion, the listless disillusionment in Lucia Lanis- 
 ton's face as but now they had walked to the 
 hotel together, and the ladies had sought their 
 rooms for some freshening of attire before start- 
 ing on the afternoon drive back to New Helvetia. 
 The horses were swift and fresh, and the distance 
 was thus minimised; there was a new moon to en- 
 liven the dusk, the roads were very good; the 
 driver, a stalwart young fellow, himself, and Frank 
 Laniston, three men, quietly carrying arms in con- 
 formity with the privilege accorded travellers, 
 were ample escort for the ladies, even in these re- 
 mote wildernesses ; but Jardine was a prudent man 
 of a prompt habit. He drew out his watch, and 
 looked critically at the wane of the day evidenced 
 in the skies, bright though they still were, begin- 
 ning to hope that the usual feminine procrastina- 
 
 201 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tions might not so postpone the hour of departure 
 as to render the party unduly benighted. 
 
 Chances of casualties, a broken wheel, a horse 
 going lame, a mistaken direction in fording a river, 
 a cloud on the moon, the shattering of the carriage 
 lamps in a blow from a projecting bough, even the 
 unlikely possibility of highway robbers, should 
 not be invested with unnecessary jeopardy and 
 added danger. He was at such a disadvantage in 
 this respect as does not usually harass the guardian 
 of ladies. He was neither husband, father, nor 
 brother, to stand, timepiece in hand, and proclaim 
 the wasting hour, like an irate clock. He could 
 not order the luggage downstairs — packed or un- 
 packed. He could not threaten that he would 
 start on schedule time, regardless if all portable 
 property were left behind. Jardine was only a 
 friend, as yet, benign, complaisant, and in no posi- 
 tion to dictate. Yet he wondered, with a vexation 
 which tobacco was powerless to reach, what could 
 be detaining the ladies in their preparations for an 
 afternoon drive through an unpeopled wilderness. 
 If it was a question of toilette its effect was already 
 a foregone conclusion — Ruth had slain her thou- 
 sands, and Lucia her tens of thousands — uncon- 
 sciously he was adopting their own exaggerated 
 vein. He could not imagine that anything of con- 
 sequence hindered their readiness, — only the usual 
 feminine, dilatory aversion to be on time for any 
 vicissitude of life. He began to feel that he must 
 act, yet he shrank from encountering the laggards 
 
 202 
 
The Windfall 
 
 with admonitions and reproaches. He realised 
 that he had not commended himself by his stiff 
 imperviousness to the simple enjoyments of the 
 " lark " to-day, such as it was, and his disdainful 
 incapacity to enter into its spirit had not bettered 
 it. He was anxious to appear no more as unre- 
 sponsive monitor, full of warnings, and wise saws, 
 and stiff reproofs. Where was Francis Laniston? 
 Naught was to be disparaged by thrusting him into 
 the jaws of domestic displeasure. Let him make 
 the remonstrance, and bear its resilient blow as 
 behoved his position and relationship. Let the 
 dilatory ladies wreak their displeasure on the ur- 
 gent Frank! Animated by this inhuman resolu- 
 tion, Jardine sprang from his chair to go in search 
 of Frank. He was interrupted by the sudden issu- 
 ance of the clerk of the hotel, a young, plump, 
 blond man, wearing an immaculate white duck 
 suit, with short hair in a stiff straight roach above 
 his brow, no eyebrows — thus he dispensed with 
 frowns — a long, blunt nose, a twinkling blue-grey 
 eye, very small and very affable. His whole aspect 
 was not unducklike, and, as he remained all day 
 behind his desk, having no outside vocation to call 
 him from his post, he was very speckless, without 
 even the creases incident to a sitting posture, since 
 he stood at his desk, or perched on a high stool. 
 He might have been expected to creak with starch 
 as his brisk short steps brought him to the 
 encounter. 
 
 "Speak to you a moment, Mr. Jardine ?" he 
 203 
 
The Windfall 
 
 said, pausing by a chair, and leaning with both 
 hands on its back in his stiff white garments. 
 Many men, however wasteful in general, have 
 some saving grace of frugality. Jennings, the 
 clerk, a most voluble man, was nevertheless spar- 
 ing in parts of speech, and economised pronouns 
 and conjunctions. This necessitated a reckless ex- 
 penditure in punctuation — commas, colons, periods, 
 and dashes, but, as his prelections were not des- 
 tined for type, he did not realise, perhaps, that 
 what he saved at the spile he lost at the bung. 
 " Considerable storm in the mountains. Thought 
 I ought to let you know. Heard you give orders 
 for the horses to be put to at once. See from 
 east window of office. Mountains have been 
 caught up in clouds — so to speak. I tried to tele- 
 phone to New Helvetia, in interest of your party. 
 — Hate to be alarmist — wanted to find out what 
 weather is doing there. No answer. Central says 
 wire is blown down. Intact as far as Crossroads. 
 Tried Mr. Tackett, the storekeeper there. He 
 says raining there heavily. Big blow in the woods 
 — falling timber — and lightning — thought I'd let 
 you know." 
 
 " Thank you, very much," said Jardine, still 
 standing with his watch in his hand contemplating, 
 not its dial, but these untoward complications. 
 " Can you afford us accommodations? I under- 
 stood this morning that the house was full." 
 
 " Thought of that — the ladies have had a room 
 all day — only one — very large, with alcove — two 
 
 204 
 
The Windfall 
 
 beds — double room. And you gentlemen — we 
 have thought of you — we will offer you little blue 
 parlour — best we can do " 
 
 " And sleep tunefully on the piano, I suppose," 
 Frank interpolated. He had just strolled up, evi- 
 dently already informed of the quandary, and stood 
 listening, his hands in his pockets. 
 
 The duck laughed with a short grating note. 
 
 " Folding bed — that handsome cabinet with the 
 Indian curiosities on the brackets — latest patent. 
 The divan is really a sofa-bed, too — you'll be 
 qualified to help us out and be hospitable, if any 
 more single men drop in on us," the clerk said 
 tauntingly. 
 
 " Now don't you bank on that. The little blue 
 parlour is my bower, and don't you forget it," said 
 Frank. 
 
 The ladies had not come prepared to stay the 
 night, but Mrs. Laniston remembered that in going 
 to New Helvetia in June she had left a steamer 
 trunk here, after her European voyage, filled with 
 heavier wear than would be needed before autumn. 
 According to the accommodating methods of the 
 hotel, it had been received and stored in the attic, 
 and now it was brought down in the nick of time, 
 to the delight of the young ladies, who hoped that it 
 might contain something that they might borrow, 
 in addition to the absolutely necessary parapher- 
 nalia for the night. As soon as Mrs. Laniston 
 showed some natural disposition to defend her 
 belongings from these unwarranted depredations, 
 
 205 
 
The Windfall 
 
 they became " possessed," as she expressed it, to 
 see what she had in her trunk, and, having all the 
 desire in the world to maintain her ascendency 
 and her rights, she declared she would not turn 
 the key until they promised that they would ask 
 for nothing but the loan of a nightgown apiece. 
 
 When matters had reached this deadlock, she 
 seated herself in a cane rocking-chair, her bunch 
 of keys in her hand, and her eyes on the pansies 
 that papered the bedroom wall. Both the girls, 
 in the trim pleated skirts of their white linen suits, 
 and their sheer shirt waists, — the two jackets had 
 been folded and laid on one of the beds in the big, 
 cool, clean room, — seemed exceedingly capable of 
 rummaging exploits, and she compressed her lips 
 with resolution as from the corner of her eyes she 
 noted their movements, and their expectant gaze. 
 
 " Such fun, Aunt Dora, to try on something 
 
 new." 
 
 " And something blue," murmured Ruth. 
 
 " Say, Aunt Dora," said Lucia, sparkling with 
 incredible brilliancy and lustre of delighted antici- 
 pation, " do you suppose that little blue messa- 
 line waist of yours is in that trunk? I just live 
 to try that shade ! I don't want to risk buying any- 
 thing in it till I can try it on. I believe it would 
 be becoming to me." 
 
 " More so to me," said Ruth. " Anything blue 
 suits my blond hair." 
 
 " Not that green cast — it throws green reflec- 
 tions on blond hair." 
 
 206 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Girls, this is cruel," said Mrs. Laniston, " to 
 keep me cooped up in this close room, while there 
 is such a fresh breeze on the verandah, and " 
 
 11 Mr. Jardine waiting to make love to you; I 
 mean to tell papa." Ruth saucily laughed. 
 
 " You needn't stay here a minute, Aunt Dora. 
 Just leave the keys, and go at once," said Lucia, 
 with the eye of a bandit. 
 
 " I am fairly afraid to leave the trunk," Mrs. 
 Laniston declared. " You are capable of opening 
 it with a poker." 
 
 Lucia glanced around at the utensil as if this 
 expedient had not occurred to her. 
 
 " Mr. Jardine must be waiting for you, girls," 
 Mrs. Laniston admonished them. 
 
 " I know the reason you won't open the trunk 
 before us, Aunt Dora. Because you are going to 
 lend him and Frank some — some — petticoats ! for 
 the night — you know ! " 
 
 Mrs. Laniston tried to look shocked. 
 
 u Lucia, I am surprised," she said. 
 
 11 Why, I am only talking to you, Aunt Dora. 
 I would not bring a blush to the antique cheek 
 of Mr. Jardine for the world," she gravely pro- 
 tested. 
 
 " Much cheek as he has got," Ruth gurgled. 
 
 " As for Frank, his brazen athletics have made 
 his cheek a permanent cardinal red, and he could 
 not blush if he would." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston broke into an unwilling laugh. 
 
 " You two will be the death of me ! " 
 207 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " But what will Frank and the other gentle- 
 man do? " queried Frank's sister. 
 
 " My dear, you mustn't inquire into such mat- 
 ters. Frank told me they would furnish them- 
 selves at a clothier's here, where they have ready- 
 made garments for sale." 
 
 " It may be indelicate," said Lucia, " but I 
 would rather picture them arrayed in ready-made 
 nightgowns, bought in the metropolis of Colbury, 
 than standing stiffly up on end, dressed in their 
 usual attire all night. It is more humane." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston burst out laughing. 
 
 " There ! " she suddenly exclaimed, rising and 
 starting to the door, throwing the bunch of keys 
 on the floor. " I beg and pray you to let my 
 things alone, and, if you rummage through them, 
 you do so without my consent, that's all." 
 
 Her last glance into the room was not reas- 
 suring. The lid of the precious trunk was al- 
 ready lifted, and the two girls on their knees before 
 it were diving into its contents, shouldering each 
 other in their eagerness, their countenances alight 
 with keen curiosity and greedy expectancy of 
 novelty. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston gave a sketch of their employ- 
 ment when she joined Jardine and Frank on the 
 verandah outside the door of the large parlour. 
 They had drawn forth a wicker rocking-chair for 
 her from that apartment, and here, quietly and 
 safely ensconced, she watched the evidences of 
 
 208 
 
The Windfall 
 
 storm to the east, as she swayed to and fro, with 
 devout thankfulness that they had escaped its fury. 
 
 " How lucky that we did not start half an hour 
 ago," she sard. " We should have been in the 
 thick of it." 
 
 " I hope you didn't say so to those girls," cried 
 Frank. " They will make it a reason to be behind 
 time for ever more — the dangers they escaped by 
 never being ready ! " 
 
 A grey curtain of cloud had fallen over the 
 familiar scene to the east. It was null, inexpres- 
 sive, motionless. It cut off the field of vision. 
 There was no trace of mountain forms, of inter- 
 venient valleys and coves. There might seem 
 naught beyond — some prairie country, this, whose 
 low horizon brought down the sky to a level with 
 the plain. Only now and then on the impalpable 
 nullity was a flicker of red fire; in irregular zig- 
 zag lines it pulsed, and once and again the thunders 
 of the remote tempest shook the sun-beams 
 here. The gay carnival crowds in the square 
 heeded the storm that burst elsewhere as little as 
 sunshine ever cares for shadow. The con- 
 trast reminded her, Mrs. Laniston said, of the 
 indifference of the happy in the world to the sad- 
 ness of others. Their storms are brewing in the 
 clouded future, to burst sometime, but all un- 
 prescient and unsympathising they sport like small 
 insects of the stinging varieties — gnats, and gad- 
 flies, and wasps — in the glamour of to-day. " I 
 
 209 
 
The Windfall 
 
 think happiness, prosperity, give a sense of su- 
 periority. No doubt sorrow and adversity dis- 
 cipline the heart and soul and temperament, and 
 form and strengthen the character; but any of us 
 would rather be inferior than perfected at such 
 a cost to comfort. I think the world is less and 
 less ambitious of realising in one's self high stand- 
 ards and spiritual elevation. People only care to 
 be thought fortunate and envied, now — not to be 
 noble, in spite of all that fate can do." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston loved to moralise after a fashion. 
 Much feminine club life had liberated a certain 
 facility of expression, and she was an ornament to 
 the rostrum, for she had a good voice, a low- 
 pitched contralto, and a very agreeable and distinct 
 enunciation and intonation, which were natural 
 endowments, but which sounded like the product 
 of training. She had taken no pains to become an 
 impressive speaker, but she rather liked the sense 
 of superiority the reputation fostered, and she 
 had fallen into the habit of analysing her impres- 
 sions, and setting them in order. 
 
 " Gee ! wouldn't I hate to have such a rum 
 lot of reflections as all that, just because New 
 Helvetia is getting it in the neck. My! did you 
 see that flash ! " said Frank. 
 
 " And wouldn't I hate to have such a ' rum lot ' 
 of expressions if I was entering my junior year 
 at college, and expected to compete for the medal 
 for oratory," his mother retorted. 
 
 Jardine laughed. " Slang is more and more in- 
 210 
 
The Windfall 
 
 corporated into the language every year," he 
 said. 
 
 " Yes," she assented, " and it is used by a class 
 of persons who were formerly far more exacting. 
 It seems to be considered to impart a sort of rude 
 strength to phraseology, and a shade of meaning 
 otherwise impracticable. It affects to be hearty, 
 and downright, and candid. Whereas it is noth- 
 ing but slip-shod, and out-at-elbows, and a slovenly 
 expression of down-at-heel ideas — sometimes lack 
 of ideas. I think there ought to be some reform, 
 some united action on the part of people who ap- 
 preciate the art of conversation, the fit phrasing 
 of thoughts of value." 
 
 " The Federation of Women's Clubs might get 
 on to it," Frank suggested. 
 
 His mother went on without noticing him. 
 
 " In fact, Mr. Jardine, all the standards are 
 down. Now, when I was young — it has not been 
 so very many years — it was the extreme of uncouth- 
 ness for a lady to swing her arms in walking. At 
 present they swing both arms, if you please, as if 
 these adjuncts were propellers, and to and fro they 
 work their progress thus along the street, instead 
 of walking naturally and gracefully. I thought 
 for a time that this was a peculiarity of college 
 towns, and of the athletic craze; but you see 
 everywhere the poor wretch, swinging all loose 
 from the shoulder. I have told my girls that I will 
 not tolerate this gaucherie — they try to do it from 
 perversity — but happily they can't remember it 
 
 211 
 
The Windfall 
 
 always. Then the young men are not more elegant. 
 Things, in the similitude of gentlemen, whistle 
 upon the streets ! " 
 
 " Conscience stricken ! " said Frank, with a 
 grimace. 
 
 " I don't mean that for you, dear," said his 
 mother. " I should have to feel much more fit 
 than I do to-day to tackle your long list of 
 enormities." 
 
 This was as an aside, an interlude. She had a 
 sudden perception of another phase of the subject, 
 and forthwith entered upon it. 
 
 " Then, this lack of standard is obvious in 
 matters of far more importance — it enters the 
 domestic circle. I suppose no one ever found 
 housekeeping very great fun, but in my young 
 days nobody ever protested. There may have been 
 shirks, but they hid their misdeeds. Now, there 
 is a clamour of open detestation of all domestic 
 concerns. It began with the caterer; in old times 
 one's own establishment was competent to furnish 
 the refreshments of every entertainment — to have 
 cakes baked or ices frozen out of one's own 
 house would be a confession of being beyond 
 one's depth, and of seeking to entertain more 
 elaborately and making more pretensions than one 
 was entitled to sustain. A household valued its 
 reputation for fine dinners, and elaborate refresh- 
 ments at dancing parties; people even had spe- 
 cialties that you saw nowhere else, and were some- 
 times grudging of receipts, and kept some choice 
 
 212 
 
The Windfall 
 
 concoctions a dead secret. To have additional 
 waiters hired for the occasion — unless indeed it 
 were a ball — was unheard of in houses of good 
 style. Then, when the caterer was fairly estab- 
 lished, the expense accounts came in and cut down 
 the menu " 
 
 " Till it got down to the delectable cup of tea 
 and the midget sandwich, with an appetising baby 
 ribbon round its tum-tum," interpolated Frank. 
 
 " Be still, Francis. In old times every article 
 must be perfection — the heads of families would 
 be bowed in shame if aught were amiss with cook- 
 ing or service — but now it is all the caterer's affair, 
 even the decorations — sometimes actually the 
 china." 
 
 Mr. Jardine was fully ten years Mrs. Laniston's 
 junior, but he was sufficiently retrospective, and his 
 experience sufficiently extensive in days gone by, to 
 make him interested in her animadversions on the 
 present, and her theory of the superiority of the 
 past. He was of a temperament older than his 
 age, and he sympathised rather with the stately 
 methods of yore than the less exacting fashions of 
 the present day. Thus he found it no hardship to 
 moralise on the signs of the times, with his cigar 
 graciously permitted, and his eyes on the far-away 
 storm, with an interlocutor intelligent enough to 
 evolve and present subjects of sufficient interest to 
 titillate his understanding, requiring no exertion on 
 his part, and loquacious enough to discuss them 
 with an ability which did not call for interference, 
 
 213! 
 
The Windfall 
 
 or contradiction, or instruction from him. His 
 was a facile acquiescence, and Mrs. Laniston, ac- 
 customed to talk for time, while some factional 
 whips of one of her clubs awaited the appearance 
 of dilatory voters, before a momentous question 
 should be put to the arbitration of the majority, 
 had by no means exhausted the suggestions the out- 
 look presented to her discerning contemplation. 
 
 " Now here is another phase that appeals more 
 directly to you than to me, Mr. Jardine. I will 
 venture to say that in the last ten years, since 
 your college days in fact, there has supervened 
 a total change in the popular estimate of youth. 
 Formerly in society it was the young man with 
 the reputation for talent who was in the ascendant. 
 Merely rich men had to stand back. You must 
 have known intellectual young fellows who enjoyed 
 all the prestige of achievement, a positive value, 
 merely on the strength of their glowing promise 
 of development. A man was said to be talented 
 — this reputation lifted him into a prominence that 
 naught else could compass. People spoke of him 
 with respect. If a girl desired to marry a man 
 of that sort, yet in college, or new to the bar, it 
 was considered a safe thing even if he were poor 
 — so sure he was to make his mark. Now-a-days 
 they live a life apart as students; a career is not 
 the focus of their regards. Their identity is com- 
 passed in their position as back-stop, or stop- 
 
 gap " 
 
 "Oh, hi!" interpolated Frank. 
 214 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " — Or whatever it may be called in their in- 
 sufferable jargon. A young man who goes to col- 
 lege to study, and who does it, is contemned as 
 a grind. Such a thing as taking exercise for health 
 merely in order to be able to study, to clear the 
 brain — like a horseback ride, or a long walk — is 
 antiquated. They exercise for the play — as if 
 their playing days were not over; for the com- 
 petition — the great children! My Frank there 
 would rather lead the sprinters in the track team 
 than win the medal for oratory " 
 
 Frank did not deny this. 
 
 " — And he would be more envied and thought 
 a better man than the medalist." 
 
 " If I don't get some sprinting training this fall, 
 they'll shunt me off the track team," said Frank, 
 his face falling with a sudden anxious monition. 
 
 " I perceive the same trait in the professions, 
 Mr. Jardine. No longer do you see a politician 
 pointed out as a close and powerful debater, or a 
 lawyer as a cogent reasoner. Why, they used to 
 make all manner of discriminations in a man's 
 mental endowments. One was no lawyer, but a 
 popular speaker — could carry a jury with him 
 against both law and fact; another had no elo- 
 quence, nor appreciation of principles, but was 
 grounded in case learning and precedent; another 
 had a splendid choice of words, and a magnetic 
 presence, and a gift of oratory — and the house 
 would be crowded whenever he spoke. Now, they 
 tell me a judge would virtually order such an 
 
 "Si 
 
The Windfall 
 
 orator to sit down — ask him to come to the point, 
 or to be brief. They consider all this too flam- 
 boyant — spread-eagleism." 
 
 " There does seem a great change in recent 
 years," said Jardine, ceasing his thoughtful puffing 
 of his cigar, taking it out of his mouth and looking 
 critically at its ash; "there are now no world- 
 famous orators, very few politicians of real parts, 
 rarely indeed a statesman; the notable lawyers 
 are mostly old men of other days, of other tra- 
 ditions." 
 
 " And yet," said Mrs. Laniston, admirably ca- 
 pable of presenting the antithesis, " though im- 
 agination, aestheticism, hero-worship, ambition, all 
 the aspirations are dead, this is pre-eminently the 
 age of the fake and the blatherskite. People are 
 capable of credulity, but not of credence. They 
 are superstitious, but they have no faith. The 
 ' isms ' of any fantastic sort will flourish, and the 
 churches are empty. The adoption of queer creeds, 
 of fake cures, of quack medicines, of dangerous 
 beautifiers, of impossible methods of learning, of 
 absurd processes of art and illustration, of fan- 
 tastic devices in edibles would abash the pretended 
 miracle workers of the Middle Ages. You can 
 scarcely buy a yard of genuine goods or a pound 
 of unadulterated food. People don't care for read- 
 ing as they once did; the art of conversation 
 is dead; nobody writes letters any more — your 
 friends send you souvenir postcards." 
 
 She fanned silently a few moments, her deli- 
 216 
 
The Windfall 
 
 cate, diamonded hand all the more dainty for the 
 simulation of a man's shirtsleeve and cuff, which 
 her plaited linen blouse affected, her eyes fixed on 
 the panorama of storm on the horizon while the 
 air here was so suave that the grey-streaked curls 
 on her brow did not stir with the motion of her 
 rocking. She suddenly resumed, interested in 
 another branch of the subject. 
 
 " Instead of the solid business of education, that 
 ought to be as solemn as prayer, the acquisition 
 of knowledge and the mental training for the 
 battle of life being held up as a great opportunity 
 and privilege for the young, it is made attractive, 
 alluring, easy; the fakers have found that royal 
 road to learning. I was dismayed when I had got 
 Lucia and Ruth beyond the geography, and spell- 
 ing, and arithmetic phase. I said to them, * Now, 
 if you don't want to learn anything further, you 
 can stay at home, but every day that you do stay 
 at home you shall sew — plain sewing — from morn- 
 ing till night' Mr. Laniston said I ought to be 
 prosecuted for cruelty to animals. But they de- 
 veloped into quite hard students. They balked 
 just enough to get a bowing acquaintance with 
 needle and thimble. I had my way — I hate half 
 measures. They know what they do know, thor- 
 oughly. I can't tolerate incompetence. Unless a 
 thing is excellent in its way I can make no terms 
 with it, no allowance because of partiality or af- 
 fection. Now, Mr. Laniston loves music, and he 
 knows something about it. But he would sit and 
 
 217 
 
The Windfall 
 
 listen, with all the delight in life, to Ruth as she 
 bleated out of time and tune — the poor child has 
 no voice and no taste — her talent is for painting. 
 But I stopped that. I said, ' Because her lispings 
 please you, she shan't make a show of herself/ 
 And I stopped the lessons. Lucia is altogether dif- 
 ferent, a fine voice and a fine ear, but she can't 
 draw a straight line. So she had every musical 
 advantage, and I saw to it that she availed herself 
 of them. We had many a battle royal. * The sons 
 of harmony came to cuffs,' " she quoted, with a 
 laugh. 
 
 The accession of Mr. Jardine's interest was so 
 apparent when Mrs. Laniston spoke of Lucia that 
 she might have been tempted to continue the sub- 
 ject, for she made a point of deserving her rep- 
 utation as an agreeable woman, had not the 
 young lady in question suddenly issued from the 
 door of the hotel. Her cousin Ruth was following, 
 and, after a glance of inquiry, they smilingly took 
 their way along the verandah toward the door of 
 the ladies' parlour, where the party sat. The 
 eyes of both were intently fixed on Mrs. Laniston, 
 as if in anticipation of some effect, she scarcely 
 knew what. Suddenly she remembered the plun- 
 dered trunk, left defenceless at their mercy. Mr. 
 Jardine was devoutly grateful that they had seen 
 fit to remove their hats. He was priggish, even 
 old-fashioned in certain persuasions, and the sight 
 of a young lady at table, on the verandah, at 
 the piano, all day, in a hat, was at variance with 
 
 2l8 
 
The Windfall 
 
 his taste. He had no idea that the hats had dis- 
 appeared because of an incongruity with adjuncts, 
 very lately assumed, of the white dresses. The 
 jacket of Lucia's gown had been laid aside, and 
 she now wore, in lieu of the plain white linen 
 blouse, one of fine white Irish lace. It had dainty 
 elbow sleeves (Mrs. Laniston still conserved a 
 plump arm). It had a belt, a stock collar, and at 
 each elbow a knot of delicately tinted ribbons of a 
 sea-shell pink, with rainbow stripes of faint blue, 
 brown, fawn, and a thread of red. Nothing could 
 have better accorded with the fair, fresh complex- 
 ion, the brown hair, in a luxuriant pompadour roll, 
 half crushed down on one side of the forehead, the 
 long, romantic, dark grey eyes, with their droop- 
 ing black lashes. He could not imagine why they 
 should be received in such cold silence by this 
 woman, with her evident motherly doting on 
 them both. Ruth was a bit the more showy; she 
 had confiscated a bolero of alternate lace inser- 
 tion and lilac ribbon, and she had found a lilac 
 ribbon for her blond hair. Mrs. Laniston had a 
 moment of wonder as to where that blue messaline 
 waist could be — certainly it had not been in that 
 trunk! Since she remained silent, Mr. Jardine's 
 manner was marked with an accession of humor- 
 ous cordiality as he rose and placed chairs for 
 the two. 
 
 " And what are the commands of your lady- 
 ship for this evening ? " he said, looking admir- 
 ingly at Lucia. 
 
 219 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " The Ferris Wheel, of course ! " she exclaimed, 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 He could have fallen on the spot. He had 
 ignored the Ferris Wheel, and he had rested 
 supine in the fatuous conviction that she had 
 forgotten it. He was indescribably tired of the 
 street fair. Its inanities would have been insup- 
 portable to a man of his type in its best estate, 
 but hampered with the thousand sensitive points 
 that beset the escort of a lady in an amuse- 
 ment utterly beneath her pretensions and custom, 
 so remote from her comprehension that she was as 
 if on another planet, made heavy draughts on his 
 amiability, his endurance, even his savoir faire. 
 He hardly knew how to meet the unprecedented 
 problem it presented in the interest of his fair 
 charges. If he had had his way neither should 
 have shown her face in so motley a throng. But 
 he was exacting, a bit old-fashioned, and had not 
 even Mrs. Laniston's philosophy that would give 
 them a little line in matters of scant importance 
 that she might more easily curb them when circum- 
 stances required this. They would soon tire of 
 a harmless folly, but a monotony of dulness could 
 not be maintained. The prospect of further ex- 
 periences of the street fair strained the tension of 
 his equanimity almost to the breaking point. He 
 could scarcely endure the thought how nearly they 
 had escaped it all ; a little more — but for the cause- 
 less delay of their preparations — and the " hack," 
 with its strong, fleet horses would have been at 
 
 220 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the door. To be sure it would have whirled them 
 into the midst of the mountain storm, but the 
 thought of wind and lightning, thunder and tor- 
 rents of rain was less abhorrent to him at that 
 moment than the recurrence of the trials of the 
 " show." 
 
 "Oh, yes, indeed!" Ruth chimed in. "How 
 glad I am we couldn't get off — we would have 
 missed the ride on the Ferris Wheel, the cream 
 of the whole correspondence." 
 
 It was a relief when he discovered that they 
 had no intention of sallying forth for that enjoy- 
 ment until after the early supper of the little hos- 
 telry. There was a possibility that something 
 might occur in the interval — rain, wind, earth- 
 quake, he hardly cared, so keen, so nettling was 
 his irritation, and his desire to obstruct their fell 
 purpose, to keep them within doors, decorously 
 spending the evening in conversation with their 
 own exclusive party, or, so long as the little 
 blue parlour remained open for the general use 
 of the guests of the hotel, a quiet game of bridge, 
 in its quasi retirement. Mrs. Laniston and he 
 were often partners at this delectable pastime, and 
 the two girls delighted to combine their science, 
 luck, even chicanery, against them. The delay 
 restored his equanimity for the nonce, but his look 
 of annoyance had been so palpable that Mrs. 
 Laniston thought a remonstrance in order, when 
 she could speak aside to one of the young ladies. 
 
 "I wouldn't insist on the Ferris Wheel," she 
 22 ii 
 
The Windfall 
 
 said to Lucia, as they walked through the ladies' 
 parlour; the verandah had become unpleasantly 
 crowded; the evening intermission had super- 
 vened at the fair; the wickets were closed; the 
 lamps were not yet lighted, and the sunset glow 
 was dulling into twilight. However removed from 
 the normal estate of mankind, the living skeleton 
 and the fat lady must eat, rest a bit, quench their 
 thirst, and sigh against the ridicule of Fate. It 
 was one of the unadvertised features of the show, 
 considered amusing or pathetic according to the in- 
 dividual temperament of the spectator, that the fat 
 lady, who, poor soul, had not her nerves under the 
 best control, burst into tears, ever and anon, and 
 her mountain of flesh shook and trembled with 
 sobs. She had an aesthetic mind, and was sensi- 
 tive to ridicule and the wonderment of the crowd, 
 and would fain have been beautiful and admired 
 rather than have filled her purse with gold. She 
 needed a respite to bathe her eyes and readjust 
 her tawdry finery, and hearken to the consolations 
 of her attendant. The boa constrictor, gorged, had 
 coiled up, and was lost in the torpor of digestion 
 and the recuperation of sleep. The spielers had 
 cast aside their horns; one or two were in the drug 
 store, busy in swallowing the unpalatable vaseline 
 for their throats; the Ferris Wheel was empty and 
 still for the nonce; the rural visitors of the more 
 prosperous class who could sustain the added ex- 
 pense of the hotel, detained also by the storm in 
 the mountains, were trooping up the steps and 
 
 222 
 
The Windfall 
 
 sauntering along the verandah. Their ladies were 
 ensconced in numbers in the rocking chairs of the 
 large parlour. It had occurred to Jardine that 
 the garden walks were probably solitary and at- 
 tractive at this hour, and he suggested repairing 
 thither. As the party emerged into the fragrant 
 flowery paths, Mrs. Laniston continued her aside 
 to her niece. 
 
 " I fancy Mr. Jardine considers the Ferris 
 Wheel undignified." 
 
 " There is no question of dignity about it," said 
 Lucia coldly. " It is the simple amusement of a 
 simple little fair. If we see fit to break the monot- 
 ony of our detention at New Helvetia by visiting 
 a countryside fete, new to our experience, and so 
 far interesting, and by participating in such a de- 
 gree as pleases us, it is not an appropriate subject 
 for his criticism." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston was struck with the justice of this 
 observation. " But don't be too independent," 
 she admonished the young lady, for Mr. Jardine 
 was a very good match from a worldly point of 
 view. 
 
 " I do not need his assistance to preserve my 
 dignity," she retorted. Thus she walked on with 
 her head held very high, and an added stateliness 
 of carriage that comported well with her fine height 
 and her slender, willowy figure. 
 
 The sunset glow was still reddening among the 
 dark, luxuriant shrubs. In the few locust trees 
 the wreaths of honeysuckle vines, that clambered up 
 
 223 
 
The Windfall 
 
 to the lowest boughs and festooned the space from 
 one to another, were in the fall blooming — all 
 the world was pervaded with that sweet reminis- 
 cent fragrance of spring. There were late roses, 
 too, of an old-fashioned kind, pink and white, and 
 one, " the giant of battles," had dark-red velvet 
 petals, and an odour as of an exquisite distillation 
 of all the hoarded sweetness and sunshine of sum- 
 mer; it furnished a rich note of colour to Lucia's 
 brown hair, where it clung with its thorns and 
 leaves with as artless an effect as if it had been 
 blown thither by the breeze, coming more freshly 
 now from the dusky reaches of the east. The sky 
 was still perceptibly a faint blue, but here and 
 there the crystalline scintillation of a white star 
 trembled, and the red was fast dying out of the 
 west. As the party, two by two, paced slowly 
 along the pleached alleys, Jardine became aware of 
 a change in Lucia's manner toward him. In one 
 instant every other consideration was annulled. 
 With absent, reflective eyes he meditated for a 
 moment, fumbling mentally for the cause. Then, 
 with the quickened divination of a lover, he sur- 
 mised the betrayal of his disaffection, and Mrs. 
 Laniston's politic admonition. He did not realise 
 that she prudently considered his eligibility, but 
 only that she feared that it might not prove agree- 
 able to go about pleasuring in a humble way 
 with an escort who openly scorned the simple di- 
 version. Despite Mrs. Laniston's bland gracious- 
 ness, he was indignant that she should have inter- 
 
 224 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fered. His fastidiousness had fallen from him 
 as if he had never entertained so finicky a disdain, 
 as it seemed to him now. Rather than displease 
 Lucia, than incur her resentment, he would have 
 taken a turn on Ixion's wheel — the safe and health- 
 ful revolution of the monster circumference 
 glimpsed over the hotel roof was, indeed, a minute 
 sacrifice to afford her the girlish fun, the simple 
 pleasure she found, like a child, in simple things. 
 It was her unspoiled taste, he now said to himself, 
 her fund of good humour, her indulgent, uncritical 
 attitude toward the humble folk, that could for- 
 bear ridicule, and share their pleasure in little 
 things — all added a grace to her metropolitan ex- 
 perience, her travel, her culture; she saw good 
 in everything, because she saw the reflection of her 
 own warm heart, and her own pure mind. 
 
 Jardine was not unskilled in casuistry. It would 
 have been his instinct to cast himself on his knees 
 at her feet, and beg her forgiveness, if so much 
 as the glance of his eye had offended her, but he 
 knew that confession fixes the fault in mind, and 
 a fault that is condoned is not so obliterated as 
 one that is, in effect, denied. There are some 
 affronts that will not be expunged by pardon. To 
 be tired of her amusement, to question her dignity, 
 to repine at escorting her wherever she might list 
 to go, to scorn the subject that interested her — he 
 would not throw himself on her generosity with 
 this score against him. He would annul, disavow, 
 disprove the impression. He suddenly turned, as 
 
 223 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he walked slowly along with Mrs. Laniston, and, 
 standing in the path, impeding the progress of the 
 two young ladies, he looked straight at Lucia with 
 warning eyes. 
 
 " Now, I don't want to say anything disagree- 
 able," he cast down his glance at the dial of his 
 watch which he held in his hand, " but that wind 
 from the east is freshening very considerably. It 
 may bring rain, and you two may risk your ride 
 in the Ferris Wheel if you postpone any prepara- 
 tions you may have to make till after supper." 
 
 He was quick enough where his interests were 
 concerned. He caught a swift upbraiding glance 
 that flashed from Lucia's eyes to those of Mrs. 
 Laniston, who looked embarrassed. 
 
 " Why, you are not complimentary," cried Ruth. 
 11 Don't you see we are already bedizened to the 
 best of our ability." 
 
 " Won't you need your hats? " 
 
 Having worn them when they were so little ap- 
 propriate, surely, he thought, they would not sally 
 forth without them to ride in that queer, uplifted 
 procession of passengers in the Ferris Wheel, as 
 if they had dressed for the occasion. 
 
 " No, indeed, we can't wear them," cried Ruth. 
 "They are not suited for lace; we are wearing 
 lace, and they are embroidered." 
 
 She looked at her mother with such arch au- 
 dacity that Mrs. Laniston could scarcely refrain 
 from giving her a box on the ear. 
 
 " I was in hopes they had forgotten that miser- 
 226 
 
Whe Windfall 
 
 able Ferris Wheel,' 1 said Mrs. Laniston, turning 
 toward Jardine. 
 
 "Oh, why?" he exclaimed disingenuously. 
 " Let them exhaust the attractions of the fair." 
 
 " Well, since you will kindly look after them," 
 Mrs. Laniston's craft matched his own, " I have 
 no inclination, myself, for the l wild wheel, that 
 lowers the proud.' " 
 
 " Oh, that is Fortune's wheel; this is Ferris's 
 wheel — altogether a different make; warranted no 
 vicissitudes," cried Lucia, all her gay self again, 
 and Jardine drew a breath of relief, for he felt 
 that he had made a very narrow escape of encoun- 
 tering her resentment. 
 
 Perhaps he doubted that the Ferris Wheel was 
 exempt from the vicissitudes of the wheel of for- 
 tune, for, shortly after the conclusion of supper, 
 he hurried them out upon the verandah, saying that 
 the wind was rising and he would not risk them on 
 the machine if its force should increase. 
 
 227 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 CLOTILDA PINNOTT had not been very 
 definitely sensitive to the dull disfavour 
 with which the public had received hith- 
 erto her song-and-dance. In her own mind she 
 accorded it scarcely more appreciation. She per- 
 ceived, of course, that the other artists enjoyed a 
 boisterous enthusiasm of applause, the snake eater, 
 the winged lady, the high diver, and their con- 
 freres, but their meed of praise seemed but just, 
 since the merits of their respective turns were so 
 great in her primitive estimation. Singing and 
 dancing in her rustic garb were but everyday mat- 
 ters, and she sustained no great mortification that 
 her turn should be regarded with scant interest. 
 She had not lost her relish for the performance, 
 however; the praise that Lloyd accorded it was 
 sweet in her ears, though she secretly thought him 
 a fool to care for such folly. It brought him near 
 to her the only moments in the day when he had 
 been accessible. And this had been both a surprise 
 and a grief; she could only see him at a distance, 
 coming and going, absorbed with a thousand anx- 
 ious details, she knew not what, nor wherefore; 
 she had fancied that at the street fair he would 
 be continually at her side, for the love of the 
 
 228 
 
The Windfall 
 
 beauty of that face and form he extolled so 
 enthusiastically, that joy in the endowment of 
 voice and motion he had found so poetic. Only 
 a few moments before the turn did he appear, 
 stepping lightly on the stage behind the drawn 
 curtain, his hat on the back of his head, his face, 
 of which she dimly appreciated the beauty of con- 
 tour and chiselling, hot and moist, flushed and a 
 bit anxious; giving a word of direction here and 
 there to the " supes," charged with the manage- 
 ment of the simple scene; critically surveying her as 
 she stood ready for the rising of the curtain. He al- 
 ways spoke gently to her; she vaguely realised that 
 he was sharply disappointed by the public recep- 
 tion of the attraction, and that he sympathised 
 with her in the downfall of her presumable hopes. 
 She cared for naught else, when his eyes kindled 
 as he surveyed her in the rising glow of the 
 lime light. 
 
 "You're a peach!" he would exclaim, " and 
 don't you forget it! The fools out there don't 
 know their heads from a hole in the ground! " 
 
 The joy of his approbation surged through her 
 whole being as she looked shyly at him while he 
 stood at gaze, his hands in his pockets, and his 
 hat on the back of his head. Her cheeks blazed 
 under the rouge, laid on for the broad effects of 
 the lime light; her eyes shone with a radiance 
 that embellished and vitalised her youthful beauty;, 
 she trembled from head to foot in a quiver of 
 humble adoration, of gratified vanity, of the ec- 
 
 229 
 
The Windfall 
 
 stasy of loving and believing herself beloved. Once 
 he noticed her agitation. 
 
 " I thought you were going to pull through with- 
 out a touch of stage fright," he said casually. 
 " Don't think of the house — soon over." 
 
 " Reg'lar buck ager," Tom Pinnott remarked. 
 One or another, sometimes several of the Pinnott 
 men made a point of being present at the perform- 
 ance, and there were persons at the street fair 
 unsophisticated enough to believe that it was the 
 discovery of the Thespian genius in their house- 
 hold, and their pride and solicitude in her achieve- 
 ments, that had brought the Pinnott family as a 
 unit down from their mountain fastnesses to attend 
 the fair. But these credulous wights hailed from 
 the furthest coves, and had never indeed heard 
 that whisky could be procured by any means save 
 by placing in a designated hollow tree a jug, with 
 a half dollar mortised into a corn-cob stopper, and 
 after an interval returning to find the money ab- 
 sorbed and the jug gurgling with tipsy delight. 
 That the ardent could be found in a store or a sa- 
 loon, or dispensed at a lunch stand was an idea 
 that, unassisted, could never have entered their 
 minds. 
 
 " Fust time," continued Tom Pinnott viva- 
 ciously, " I ever tuk sight at a buck running on a 
 deer path, by a stand, my finger shuk so on the 
 trigger, an' my aim war so contrarious that the 
 bullet glanced out to the middle of the ruver, an' 
 the beastis war humpin' hisself along so fast that 
 
 230 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he beat it thar, an' it tuk him right ahint the ear, 
 and killed him. Left ear, 'twar." 
 
 " Skiddoo ! " said Lloyd, laughing slightly at 
 this veracious chronicle. " Clear the stage! The 
 public is too well used to liars to want to hear you. 
 Now, Heart's Delight! listen for the orchestra, 
 and mind you go on at the third beat of the fourth 
 measure, or you'll get thrown out. Count! 
 Count!" 
 
 On this immemorial day, when in the storm of 
 applause that thundered upon her disappearance 
 and clamoured for her return, she stood in the lit- 
 tle nook that served as wings, stunned, stolidly 
 surprised, overwhelmed, forgetful of all she had 
 been taught to observe for this contingency, she 
 did not shiver, nor tremble, nor sob half hysteric- 
 ally, till he found her there. 
 
 " What did I tell you?" he exclaimed, elated, 
 full of pride in the success of the unique attraction 
 he had devised. But she apprehended a reproach. 
 
 "I furgot — I furgot! An', oh, I'd ruther die 
 
 than spite you so! Lis'n — lis'n " as the gusts 
 
 of applause came with a roar. " They sound like 
 painters an' wolves of a stormy night in the woods." 
 
 " I told you they'd catch on ! I told you how 
 'twould be. Now look out. The third beat of 
 the fourth bar — count — count — now go'n ! " 
 
 When, still recalled, and she was to go on for 
 her simple bow of thanks, she cared naught for the 
 audience; she saw only him, the man who had 
 found her fair and gifted, had opened vistas of un- 
 
 231 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dreamed-of splendours, and had brought an undis- 
 covered world to her feet; she saw not the world, 
 only him, and the pleasure in his eyes, and the 
 pride and success to which she had ministered. 
 
 It was indeed a strange transition for the moun- 
 tain girl, whose vicissitudes had been hitherto the 
 incidents of the wood pile and the cow pen. Per- 
 haps only the physical freshness and vigour ap- 
 purtenant to a life so stagnantly calm enabled her 
 to sustain now the strenuous rush of sudden excite- 
 ment. She felt more sensibly the dull reaction 
 when all was at an end for the day. Lloyd had 
 quickly left the tent when the experiment in pho- 
 tography was concluded, and the party from New 
 Helvetia had returned to the hotel. Clotilda, 
 looking after him with a keen jealous pang, was 
 surprised and somehow consoled to perceive that 
 he had not followed them thither. A check on the 
 inrush of pride and gratification in her heart had 
 ensued on the appearance of the two young ladies 
 with the camera ; but he had indifferently gone his 
 way, and they had retraced their footsteps. Grad- 
 ually as she slowly strolled along the road lead- 
 ing out of town and toward the encampment of 
 the family, these two fluttering, flouncing white 
 butterflies were less insistently in her mind than the 
 details of her own great triumph, so tardily, so 
 hardly won. " Heart's Delight! " — he had never 
 before called her this and it seemed so apt, so dear 
 a phrase; that it was slang, and absolutely with- 
 out meaning, never occurred to her for a minute. 
 
 232 
 
The Windfall 
 
 She felt a great glow of satisfaction. How she 
 had justified his faith in her — his admiration of 
 her talents, her beauty and grace. The echo of the 
 applause — no longer suggestive of the howling of 
 wolves — sounded anew in sweetest flattery through 
 the spaces of memory. Those elegant strangers, 
 the sojourners of New Helvetia Springs, were as 
 naught before the crowd in comparison with her, 
 the central figure, dancing to dulcet music on the 
 stage, all illumined with a burnished golden glow. 
 Her lips curled as she remembered the sudden 
 pang of jealous prescience she had experienced — 
 so fair they were, so daintily bedight, holding 
 themselves with such delicate hauteur and distance, 
 embodying a superiority which she could not 
 imagine and only vaguely felt. But how should 
 she fear a contrast with aught? She remembered 
 his descriptive phrases, not one of which she un- 
 derstood, but they were words of poesy and music 
 on his lips, applied in enthusiastic admiration of 
 her. An oread she was now, fresh from unim- 
 agined heights; and now a dryad, escaped from a 
 tree; and once more the most ethereal bacchante 
 that ever wreathed a vine. She conned them again 
 and again as she strolled on. Sometimes she lifted 
 shining, happy eyes to the river, red with the sun- 
 set, and here and there white with foam where a 
 half-submerged boulder or a ledge of rock broke 
 the currents into silver. Sunset lingered along the 
 mountain tops and she hardly needed to mend her 
 pace to be sure to reach the encampment before 
 
 233 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dark. Nevertheless, she looked sharply about her 
 now and then, with vague apprehension. She met 
 few wayfarers, now making their way into town; 
 most of the inebriates, prominent last evening at 
 the street fair, were sobered by this time, and the 
 effects of strong liquor would not again be appar- 
 ent until later. There was an interregnum in the 
 sway of the Bacchus of the " moonshine." She 
 could not formulate the uneasiness that possessed 
 her, and once again she resolutely turned her mind 
 to the recollection of her triumph, the manager's de- 
 light, the poetic justice that had so amply overtaken 
 the cavillers who had derided and belittled the 
 stunt. And still — suddenly she turned and looked 
 behind her. It was an instinct, nothing more; the 
 vigilance of an unnamed, causeless fear. The long 
 red clay road stretched out here straight by the 
 riverside for nearly a quarter of a mile. Silent, 
 still it was, overhung on either hand by the heavily 
 foliaged boughs of great forest trees. A waggon 
 that had passed her a moment since was yet creak- 
 ing its lumbering course toward the town, and the 
 odour of tar on the hubs was discernible on the 
 soft air. Nearer was the solitary figure of a pedes- 
 trian, an old man, to judge by the thick stick with 
 which he supported his steps. At the distance she 
 only noted the long grey coat and a limp broad- 
 brimmed white hat. Turning, reassured, she 
 walked on, conscious of the suave air, redolent of 
 the scent of the forest, the freshness of the river 
 and the pungency of the mint and water-side weeds ; 
 
 234 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a bird — it was a thrush — was singing in the droop- 
 ing boughs of a great beech; a star was whitely 
 scintillating in the blue sky, seen in the space lim- 
 ited by the tops of the rows of tall trees on either 
 side of the avenue. Suddenly a step sounded just 
 behind her and a hand fell on her arm. 
 
 The scream on her lips was framed only in dumb 
 show; her voice was paralysed by sudden terror. 
 It was hardly annulled when her wondering gaze 
 recognised the face — the young eyes under the 
 flapping brim of the old white wool hat; the alert, 
 trig, young mountaineer in the semblance of a 
 slovenly, unkempt, hirpling. old vagrant. There 
 was something very sinister in the metamorphosis, 
 and it may be doubted if ever heretofore she had 
 heard of a man in disguise, still less found occa- 
 sion to discern the traits of the fraud. She gazed 
 with a fascinated horror at him, her cheeks 
 blanched, her white lips still trembling, her eyes 
 dilated and wildly shifting. 
 
 " I tole ye ez how I'd see you uns at the Fair, 
 Puddin' Pie," Eugene Binley said, essaying a 
 smile, but it was rather a grimace, for his mood 
 was rancorous. He was ill at ease, too, agitated, 
 suspicious, ever and anon looking over his shoul- 
 der, as if he feared an unheralded approach. 
 
 11 But ye said / wouldn't see you uns," she 
 gasped, finding it still difficult to breathe. " And," 
 she spoke slowly and significantly, " I wisht I 
 hadn't — I wisht I hadn't." 
 
 The. solemnity of her voice evidently increased 
 235 
 
The Windfall 
 
 his discomposure. But he laughed in a husky, 
 raucous undertone — a sarcastic, unpleasant laugh. 
 
 " Ye'd feel freer to go flyin' round with a 
 strange man, ye never heard tell on, ef ye 'lowed 
 thar warn't an eye spyin' on ye." 
 
 She flushed indignantly. " I ain't been flyin' 
 roun' with no men. An' I'll take Tom ter witness 
 ter it," she said defiantly. Five brothers are a 
 small standing army, if occasion should require. 
 She was ashamed of the threat, and even more 
 ashamed of him, as she noted its salutary effect. 
 There was a distinct change of policy in his tone; 
 he would avoid recourse to disparaging insinua- 
 tion. 
 
 "Wa-al, what hev ye been doin'?" he de- 
 manded, and quickly again glanced around. 
 
 " Dancin' an' singin' — what I kem fur," she re- 
 plied sullenly. 
 
 " And, oh, Lord, what a fool ye let them show- 
 men make o' you uns," he groaned. " I wuz ter 
 the tent an' seen ye — an' my sakes! I blushed ter 
 the soles o' my boots fur ye ! " 
 
 Her face flushed. " Let go my arm," she said 
 in parenthesis. 
 
 He released his hold and stood in his old man 
 attitude, leaning on his stick and looking at her 
 with those dismaying young eyes that had a 
 strangely daunting effect in their incongruity, like 
 some frightful thing in a dream, trivial and all 
 devoid of terror to the waking sense. 
 
 " If you uns hed been ter the tent terday," she 
 236 
 
The Windfall 
 
 continued, " ye mought hev saved some o' them 
 blushes fur yer own misdoin's — ye need 'em." And 
 she tossed her head with a bitter smile. 
 
 "Gosh, gal — warn't I thar! I sot right in 
 front o' them town gals an' men from New Helve- 
 shy an' hearn 'em plottin' an' plannin' ter make a 
 puffeck laughin' stock o' you uns, by clappin' an' 
 stampin' an' makin' a c'mmotion, ez ef ye war doin' 
 wonders. My cracky, Clotildy, what ails ye not 
 ter sense that thar couldn't be sech a power o' dif- 
 f'unce 'twixt terday an' yistiddy. Ain't the turn, 
 as ye calls it, the same? " 
 
 Her satisfaction suddenly wilted. The logic 
 of his proposition appealed to her solid sense. It 
 was indeed a sudden, causeless, and most radical 
 change. Her heart sank; her nerves, strong, nor- 
 mal, unstrained as they were, vibrated under this 
 heavy stress ; the tears welled up suddenly into her 
 beautiful eyes, a moment ago so happy and lucently 
 clear. Was the ovation indeed a burlesque, a 
 scheme to try her foolish capacity for vainglory 
 to the utmost ; she remembered with a keen pain at 
 the heart a certain light tinge of satire in the tone 
 and manner of the young lady they called Ruth. 
 
 Then she remembered Lloyd, and his satisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 " Wa-al — ef they all wuz ter make game o' hit, 
 an' me, till they draps dead, every one, I'd think 
 'twar smart an' fine an' a good turn, kase that thar 
 showman tole me so, an' I b'lieve him, every 
 word." 
 
 237 
 
The Windfall 
 
 He looked at her intently for a moment, as if 
 he was minded to wring her neck, and canvassed 
 within himself how to most effectively lay hold. 
 Then he flung back his head with his mouth open 
 in the dumb show of laughing extravagantly, the 
 youthful demonstration seeming a great lapse from 
 the personality of the old man, causing her to step 
 back with a gesture of repellent distrust. She rec- 
 ognised him perfectly, yet she was constrained to 
 look at him as at something uncouth, uncanny, 
 strange. 
 
 u Wa-al, that's one o' the dernedest enjyments 
 the town air gittin' out'n the street fair — the way 
 that man makes you uns puffawm, 'lowin' ye air 
 doin' so fine, an' till terday they didn't hev the 
 heart ter jine in makin' game o' you uns." 
 
 Again that stricken look on her face — the facts 
 so bore out the semblance of the interpretation his 
 malignity had devised. And of herself she had 
 no art to judge. It seemed indeed to her a slight 
 thing to so arouse enthusiasm, ardour — the humble 
 sporting beneath the orchard tree. But even 
 against her own conviction she could not doubt 
 Lloyd. 
 
 " He hev gin his word on it, an 1 it air a true 
 word. An' I b'lieve him." 
 
 Binley was raging inwardly, but he controlled 
 the surging tempest for a time. He could hardly 
 have mastered his emotions in a good cause, but 
 enmity prevailed mightily within him. And he 
 
 238 
 
The Windfall 
 
 loved the girl in his way, and jealousy consumed 
 him like a fire. 
 
 " When a gal wants ter be fooled, it's powerful 
 easy ter make a lie seem like the truth," he moral- 
 ised. "Look hyar, Clotildy; every woman that 
 man hires, but you uns, air dressed up finer than a 
 fiddle, the flying lady, an' the fat lady, an' all. 
 But ye dances in yer shabby old every-day clothes ! 
 Lord, child, they talked all. over town an' the cove 
 bout'n it." 
 
 Again the cogent reasoning, the recurrent shock 
 to her faith ! And this she knew was the fact, for 
 Lloyd himself had come to the camp and detailed 
 the gossip; had expressed the doubt he had, lest 
 his ardour for the fitness of the rustic turn had 
 rendered her liable to criticism. 
 
 Still she believed in Lloyd against the confirma- 
 tion of her own knowledge. " I know that man 
 ain't a liar," she averred. " He's good an' he's 
 true. He wouldn't fool a — a — frawg! He hev 
 gin his word, an' I b'lieves him. Ef 'tain't a good 
 stunt it's kase he dunno what a good stunt air." 
 
 There was a momentary silence of tremendous 
 import to him. Both felt that the forces of the 
 crisis were accumulated to an outburst 
 
 " Look-a-hyar, Clotildy," he said in a low, tense 
 voice, " you uns hev done fell in love with that 
 thar showman." He brought out the asseveration 
 with the force of an accusation. 
 
 It was not maidenly, and she blushed for the 
 239. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 scandalous candour which she felt an admission 
 involved, but she had contended and refuted and 
 denied till the unwonted mental exertion had taxed 
 her endurance — she was glad to be rid of sophisms 
 — to stand on plain fact. 
 
 " Yes, I be in love with him, ef that's what you 
 want to know," she said. 
 
 " But ye air promised ter me ! " 
 
 " That war afore I seen him," she declared. 
 
 " An' ye'll keep that promise, by Gawd," he 
 vociferated, " else that thar showman'll find out 
 what sorter stunt the trigger o' my pistol can do." 
 
 The significance of the threat steadied her nerves 
 and roused her flagging faculties. This was a des- 
 perate man. By blood already his hand was 
 stained. In the rude experiences of the primitive 
 mountain folk she knew that often one such crime 
 was followed by another, a sort of desperate pre- 
 cedent rendering facile the consecutive deeds, till 
 here and there a man could be found proud of his 
 record of slain foes, the deeds, more or less foul 
 and unprovoked. The law was slow; the place 
 was remote; time wrought continual changes; and 
 at length public sentiment accepted the crim- 
 inal and in a measure condoned the crime — as if, 
 when matters went awry, another murder might 
 be expected as one of his little peculiarities. 
 
 She cared for naught now but to divert Binley's 
 mind, to regain her sway, such as it was, to obliter- 
 ate her confession of love for the showman. She 
 broke out laughing suddenly with so natural a tone 
 
 240 
 
The Windfall 
 
 that it might have passed for genuine mirth with 
 any but a jealous lover. 
 
 "Wa-al, sir, Eujeemes Binley! " she exclaimed 
 — at the mention of his name in her clear, vibrant 
 young voice he glanced apprehensively over his 
 shoulder, reminding her of the cause he had to seek 
 and to maintain disguise — " ye air too easy fooled 
 yerself ter be laffin' at me fur bein' made game of. 
 Do you reckon ef I was in love with the showman 
 I'd bleat it out like that ! " 
 
 In his turn logic played a deceptive part. But 
 for his ever-vigilant jealousy he might have been 
 convinced. 
 
 " That thar showman ain't never said a word o' 
 love ter me," — she noted the incredulity in his 
 face, — " barrin' complimints on the stunt, an' sech. 
 I ain't goin' ter dance fur nothin' — got ter hev 
 sa-aft sawder from the public, or somebody." 
 
 Still he was silent, standing in the middle of the 
 red clay road, leaning on his stick like an old man, 
 with his fiery young eyes looking up at her from 
 under the flapping brim of his old white hat. 
 
 " But that don't mean I be in love with you uns, 
 Eujeemes," she said severely. " I ain't thinkin' 
 much o' you uns, like I uster do. I be in no wise 
 pleased with you uns." 
 
 He was doubtful; influenced, but not over- 
 come. 
 
 " I dunno why," he said sullenly. 
 
 " Kase ye 'lowed ter me whenst we uns fust took 
 ter courtin' ez when ye killed that man ye shot 
 
 241 
 
The Windfall 
 
 'twar plumb desperation — else he'd hev killed you 
 uns in another minit." 
 
 The crisis, the emergency had sharpened her 
 wits. Heretofore he could never bear unmoved a 
 reference to this incident, that had changed all the 
 currents of his life. She noted that he did not 
 wince now. Her heart sank as she drew the obvi- 
 ous conclusion — he was no longer sensitive to the 
 imputation of crime, the terror of conscience. He 
 only lowered at her and stolidly listened. 
 
 " You used ter say you even wisht it had been 
 you uns, 'stead o' him; it was jest an accident you 
 got the drap on him fust." 
 
 His silence was inexpressive; he waited the ap- 
 plication of these reminiscences. 
 
 " Ye useter say ye war no hardened crim'nal; 
 ye acted in self-defence, as the law allows." 
 
 He did not even nod his head in acquiescence. 
 He silently stared at her, as she stood very defi- 
 nitely outlined against a thicket of young willows 
 on the bank, in the soft evening glow which was 
 so golden on the river, so deep a daffodil tint in 
 the sky, that she might have suggested to a cul- 
 tivated imagination some bit of emblazonment or 
 brilliant enamel painting, in her saffron gown and 
 red petticoat, and with her rich auburn hair piled 
 high on her delicate head. She had not the great 
 clusters of fruits, for these were daily renewed, but 
 now she plucked at the artistic draped folds of 
 the yellow skirt in nervous embarrassment, keep- 
 ing silence as a great hooded waggon rolled by^ 
 
 242 
 
The Windfall 
 
 coming into town, laden with a farmer's Household, 
 frantic to see the fair, and reaching their journey's 
 end with the dusk. The passengers looked curi- 
 ously at the ill-assorted pair as they jolted past, but 
 the team consisted of two strong mules who 
 mended their pace as they approached town and 
 fodder, and they were soon dwindling in the dis- 
 tance. 
 
 " You uns useter say ye was so sure ye war clear 
 o' the sin o' murder in the sight o' God an' the 
 eye o' the law that ye war willin' ter leave it ter 
 men — ef only ye could be sure they'd act fair by 
 ye!" 
 
 Still he awaited the gist of her recollections. 
 
 " An' I believed ye — else I'd never hev allowed 
 ye ter talk love ter me. I know some folks see a 
 differ in brawlin' an' slayin', an' ain't keerin' fur 
 sech. But ter my mind blood is hard ter wash 
 out." 
 
 " I dunno what you uns is drivin' at? " he said 
 at last, goaded to seek to stimulate the climax. 
 
 " Ye'd know mighty well, ef yer mind warn't 
 so perverted. They war lies ye tole me. Ye shot 
 a man in a quar'l, for puer spite; an' hyar ye air 
 ready ter shoot another fur puer spite with no 
 quar'l. Ye hev got a crim'nal heart an' a blood- 
 stained hand, an' they will never be jined with 
 mine on no weddin' day, that we uns useter look 
 to see in the good time comin'." 
 
 She tossed her head resolutely more than once 
 as she sounded this knell to his hopes, but her di- 
 
 243 
 
The Windfall 
 
 lated eyes were fixed eagerly upon him, as if she 
 doubted the policy of so stringent a measure. She 
 knew the man even better than she had thought. 
 He stood unsteadily, shifting his weight from one 
 to the other of the great slit boots he wore on his 
 shapely feet; he hesitated, fumbling dully for a 
 protest, while his thoughts evidently reviewed the 
 successive reminders which had culminated in this 
 untoward declaration. 
 
 " Ye knowed all the facts whenst ye promised 
 ter marry me, Clotildy," he reproached her. " I 
 never hid nuthin'." 
 
 " Ye couldn't hide it; the talk o' the mountings, 
 like the buzzards o' the air, war a-peckin' an' 
 a-circling 'bout yer crime. A body jes' needs ter 
 look out'n the winder to know suthin's foul an' 
 rotten, an' thar's death an' a bad deed." 
 
 His eyes shrank from meeting her stern gaze. 
 
 " I dunno what ails you uns ter go ter railin' 
 at me that-a-way, Clotildy. I ain't no wuss'n I 
 was whenst ye promised ter marry me, ef we could 
 git yer dad ter agree ter it ennywise." 
 
 " I 'lowed the killin' war a plumb misfortin', an' 
 no willin' fault. But hyar ye air, willin' ter dip 
 yer hands in human blood the minit ye air crost — 
 oh, the devil's grinnin' at ye from out his home 
 in hell!" 
 
 She held up her hands at arms' length and 
 drooped her head toward her shoulder, as if to 
 evade the view of the frightful image she had 
 suggested. He was insensibly, perhaps, more 
 
 244 
 
The Windfall 
 
 moved by her dramatic pose and the subtle influ- 
 ence of her agitation than repentance or fear or 
 even credence in her crude personification of evil 
 potency. 
 
 " 'Twar jes' fur love o' you uns, Clotildy. I 
 jes' said the word," he averred, quite conquered. 
 His voice dropped to a dulcet cadence; his eyes 
 plead with her. 
 
 " But ye meant the word; ye meant murder! " 
 she shrilled out. " The deed was done in yer 
 heart, already — a'ready! Cain! Cain!" 
 
 " I swar it warn't, Clotildy," he urged vehe- 
 mently, coming close to her. But she fended him 
 off with both hands outstretched, with face averted, 
 as she had evaded the grisly sight of the leering 
 Satan she had limned in a word. His eagerness 
 to recover her favour, his ardour, were redoubled 
 by the obstacles she interposed. It was all that 
 was left, to him, — so had his world narrowed, — 
 hunted, proscribed, endangered, doomed as he was. 
 He felt its value more in being thus dramatically 
 snatched away from his grasp than if absence had 
 dulled it, or it had grown chill in the lapse of 
 time. He was moved to protest, to clutch at it 
 anew, to stay the ethereal winged joy before it 
 might rise beyond his reach. 
 
 " I swear ter you I was jes' talkin' ter be a-tallc- 
 in\" he declared. " I never meant him harm. I 
 
 1 — I " he could scarcely find words to frame the 
 
 lie, so ready were his lips for threats and cursing 
 at the very thought of his rival. 
 
 24; 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "The truth is far from yer heart," she de- 
 clared. " Now, now, this minit, yer shootin' iron 
 is in yer boot leg, an' it's loaded with every 
 ca'tridge it can kerry." 
 
 She pointed down at his left foot, and its un- 
 easy movement was like a confession of discovery. 
 
 " Why, Clotildy," he lowered his voice mys- 
 teriously, " that's kase I mought meet up with — " 
 he glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting to 
 view an apparition of far greater terror to his 
 quaking senses than the materialised horror of the 
 principle of evil — " the sher'ff, ye know " 
 
 " No sech fool ez ter use it, ef ye did," she 
 sneered. " Ye know ye'd only make matters 
 worse." 
 
 " Then I mought meet some o' that man's kin," 
 he suggested. 
 
 " Air you uns layin' fur 'em? " she asked, " an' 
 they don't even live in the county." 
 
 " Naw — naw," he muttered, at a loss for a 
 subterfuge. 
 
 " What did ye kem hyar fur, in them scare- 
 crow clothes? " she gazed contemptuously at him, 
 her disgust for their unkempt condition, their rags, 
 their dirt, which was suggested rather than seen, 
 delineated in high disdain in every feature of her 
 face. 
 
 He was pitiably conscious of his unpicturesque 
 plight, and yet he had been proud of the complete- 
 ness and efficiency of his disguise. 
 
 "You uns know I couldn't come lookin' like 
 246 
 
The Windfall 
 
 myself, Clotildy, though I'd mighty nigh ruther 
 be drowned 'n let you see me 'pear so — so — 
 
 common." 
 
 His humility might have been expected to 
 disarm her. 
 
 " You kem hyar never expectin' me ter view 
 you uns," she said sternly. " I 'member yer 
 words an' how secret ye looked whenst ye said 
 'em. Ye kem hyar ter spy on me an' him — an' 
 ef ye 'lowed I liked him most, ye'd draw that 
 shootin' iron out yer boot that ye loaded a-purpose. 
 That's what ye kem hyar fur, lookin' like the scum 
 o' the yearth — ez ye air." 
 
 He flushed to the roots of his hair, shame for 
 his poor habiliments so mastered him. He felt 
 all in fault that he had revealed himself. He had 
 not that control of his faculties, the possession of 
 the situation, the normal ascendency of the man's 
 mind over the woman's that he would have grasped 
 under any other circumstances. He had only ac- 
 quainted her with the dangerous secret of his 
 presence here; with his jealousy, and his fell de- 
 termination of revenge for the heart reft from 
 him; with the fact that he went armed in search 
 of the sweet opportunities of vengeance; with the 
 identity of the malefactor in the event of a deed 
 of violence, of some mystery of disaster. And for 
 what? To receive her faint-hearted denials of 
 her fickle faith ; to be rated and upbraided as never 
 before had he heard her — heard any of the sub- 
 missive mountain women — lift her voice in ar- 
 
 247 
 
The Windfall 
 
 raignment of a man's deeds; to have her deliber- 
 ately take back her promise, or as an alternative 
 dictate terms; he felt that some hard compact was 
 in contemplation. Yet this was his only resource 
 to retrieve his mistake in revealing his identity, 
 and if her terms did not suit him he too could 
 keep or break a bargain. Nevertheless he did not 
 dream of the condition when he said: 
 
 " Clotildy, believe me fur wunst. I jes' kem 
 ter see you uns, honey-sweet. I pined so fur the 
 sight o' ye — the sound o' yer voice. I resked all — 
 the sheriff, the jail, the man's kin — all, ter kem 
 ter view ye, as all mought — but me — hid out in 
 the wilderness. Believe me fur wunst, sweet- 
 heart. I only said it bekase I love ye so." 
 
 She hesitated, he thought, in a relenting mood. 
 She came close to him and laid her hand on his 
 ragged coat sleeve. She gazed up into his eyes 
 under the drooping hat brim. 
 
 " I will — I will believe you uns," she said, " ef 
 ye will do one thing." 
 
 He looked a keen, eager inquiry. 
 
 " Take that loaded shootin' iron outn' yer boot 
 leg, an' leave it hyar with me," she hissed between 
 her set teeth. 
 
 It was little the demonstration of a languishing, 
 love-sick girl, seeking to protect her lover's safety 
 against his own impulsive imprudence. But her 
 histrionic intuitions, great as they were, had yet 
 their hampering limitations. She was a presenta- 
 tion, rather, of some warlike feminine spirit, a 
 
 248 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Bellona, who, having conquered in a hard fight, 
 inexorably dictates the sacrifices of the capitula- 
 tion. 
 
 For a moment, so taken by surprise he was, 
 he could find no words for answer. Then he 
 broke out with oaths so crowding on his tongue 
 that his utterance was for a time but an inarticu- 
 late mouthing of profanity. 
 
 Still close beside him she eyed him threateningly. 
 " I hed hoped never ter lay my tongue ter sech a 
 word," she declared, her eyelids narrowing. " But 
 ef ye won't abide by my proof I'll believe the wust 
 o' ye. I'll b'lieve ye threatened him in dead ear- 
 nest. An' I'll gin the word who ye air to the 
 sher'ff afore that star draps a-hint the rim o' the 
 mountings." She lifted her eyes to the lucent 
 splendours of the evening star, just slipping from 
 a roseate haze to the tips of the firs darkly cut 
 and finial-like against the clear horizon. Then 
 once more she gazed sternly at him. 
 
 He cast one furtive glance up and down the 
 vacant road. Then he stooped and drew a long 
 glittering weapon from the leg of his shapeless 
 boot, pulled high over his baggy trousers. But he 
 did not place it in the hand she held out eagerly. 
 His eyes blazed with a light far more dangerous 
 than the stern, steady, menacing gleam of hers, for 
 it was the intemperate rage of a jealous lover, of 
 a desperate gamester, losing all on the turn of the 
 dice, of a duped and overreached schemer. He 
 had hardly space for a step before him, to be taken 
 
 249 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of his own free will; he was driven, hounded, 
 pursued, brought to bay. 
 
 " I'd be justified ter shoot ye dead, hyar in the 
 road, Clotildy, an' before Gawd, I'll do it," she 
 heard him gasp. 
 
 The dusk was deepening about them. She 
 could scarcely discern the expression of his face, 
 but she could see that it shone with thick drops of 
 moisture that had sprung from every pore; he 
 was in a cold sweat of excitement; his hand trem- 
 bled as he held the weapon. There was a moment of 
 intense suspense; the low rune of the river sounded 
 its rhythmic measures through the solitude; the 
 mighty forests did not stir, save once there came 
 that strange, long-drawn breath, the sylvan sigh 
 of the dreaming woods. A bat on noiseless wing 
 went by with its sudden, shrill, mouse-like cry, as it 
 almost brushed against the two still, silent figures; 
 the star dropped down out of sight. Then she 
 heard the metallic click once and again as the ham- 
 mer of the pistol was drawn to full cock. 
 
 " Say yer pray'rs, gal," he hissed. " Before 
 Gawd, ye hev goaded me ter this! Say yer 
 pray'rs! " 
 
 She saw the weapon flash in his hand; there 
 hardly seemed so much reserve of light in all the 
 landscape, with the blurred sheen of the river, and 
 the cloister pallor of the pure, aloof sky, and the 
 deep glooms of the encompassing woods. " Say 
 yer pray'rs," he growled again. 
 
 She could hardly imagine such terror as pos- 
 250 
 
The Windfall 
 
 sessed her; her heart had dissolved; her hands, 
 her feet were numb; her brain seemed as if para- 
 lysed; the roof of her mouth was dry and her stiff 
 tongue clove to it; to her it was as if other lips 
 framed the words, but she noted the thick falter 
 of the voice when she said in tones near to tears : 
 
 " God will purtect me, 'thout waitin' ter be 
 asked. The spar's don't pray, an' he heeds thar 
 fall. But 'tain't the time fur prar'r now, nor 
 murder, nuther. Ye dassent shoot me, Eujeemes 
 Binley — it's too nigh the camp on one side, an 
 the town on t'other. The crack of your pistol 
 would help my blood to cry from the yearth till the 
 neighbours, ez would roam the woods this night, 
 would git ye fast an' sure by the scruff of yer neck. 
 Hurt me, ef you dare! Ever'body would know 
 who done the deed — an' why ! " 
 
 The words seemed inspired, so definitely they 
 broke the power of the threat. She was not help- 
 less ; she was not alone. That infinitely potent and 
 turbulent force, the rage of a roused community, 
 that she had prefigured as her avenger, terrified 
 him as no other possibility might. He had skulked 
 from the deliberate law, and from the busy offi- 
 cers, charged with its many behests, but he could 
 never evade the neighbours, when every man was 
 ready to usurp the functions of justice and the ap- 
 pointed minister of vengeance in the feuds of the 
 community. He began to realise his precipitancy; 
 the noose was drawing about his own neck. He 
 regretted infinitely his outbreak; his ill-considered, 
 
 25,1 
 
The Windfall 
 
 intemperate threats against Lloyd; could he not 
 have worked his will without even revealing his 
 presence here? The man could have been shot in 
 a crowd as if by accident, presumably by some silly, 
 drunken lout among the spectators, or even by the 
 accidental discharge of a weapon, he argued within 
 himself. His alibi could have been easy to prove 
 by the Pinnotts, themselves, if indeed his agency 
 could have been suspected, for they had left him 
 in the cave in the mountain, afraid, because of his 
 previous troubles, to come to the Fair. Some less 
 obvious fate might have been devised for the inter- 
 loper — something that would better perplex and 
 disconcert investigation. He had relied too im- 
 plicity on his hold on this girl's heart; he had loved 
 her with too confiding a devotion. But since 
 he had lost her — yet perchance with this inter- 
 meddler out of the way she might turn anew to 
 him, as of yore — he would not sacrifice himself 
 gratuitously. 
 
 He suddenly broke into a hollow, raucous peal 
 of laughter, so at variance with his look, his at- 
 titude, his threats, that the girl nervously set both 
 hands against her ears to shut out the sinister 
 dissonance. 
 
 " Lawk-a-day, Clotildy," he mocked at her, 
 " yer head is in an' about turned with yer play- 
 actin', an' song an' dance, an' stunts, an' sech. I'm 
 jes' a-funnin', seein' ez how I kin play-act, an' do 
 stunts, an' sech, too. Toler'ble well, I reckon, 
 seein' ez ye thunk the demonstration war genuyine. 
 
 252 
 
The Windfall 
 
 I wouldn't git myself tangled up in a snarl with 
 shootin' that thar showman fur ten dozen sech 
 flimsy leetle cattle ez you uns. An' I wouldn't 
 harm a hair o' yer head fur a whole county o' 
 sech ez him. Ye hev got a right ter a ch'ice 
 'mongst men. Make it ter suit yerse'f. Gawd 
 knows I don't want no gal ez ain't powerful glad 
 ter git me. I kem ter the Fair kase I war so dad- 
 burned lonesome in the mountings, an' I war sure 
 ez nobody would know me in this hyar rig — all 
 the old clothes I could find in yer dad's roof-room. 
 But you uns 'pear ter be a toler'ble long-headed 
 leetle trick, an' I do b'lieve I be safer 'thout the 
 pistol, like ye say, than with it. Hyar, take it — 
 take it — ef ye want it! Wait — it's full cocked." 
 His face changed visibly, even in the dusk, at this 
 evidence of the deadliness of his pretended jocosity. 
 " Thar now, it's half cocked. But handle it keer- 
 ful, an' keep it out o' sight. Ef enny war ter 
 ask ye whar ye got it 'pears like 'twould be a toler'- 
 ble awkward lie ye would hev ter tell! " 
 
 The revulsion of feeling, her astonishment at 
 this sudden change, the amazing transition from 
 mortal terror to the assurance of safety, so over- 
 whelmed her faculties that for a moment in the 
 reaction she was not far from fainting. She 
 seemed more overwrought than in the instant of 
 the immediate expectation of death. She leaned 
 back against the bole of the great beech tree above 
 her head; she was glad to brace her feet against 
 the projecting roots; her face was white in the 
 
 253 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dusk; she could even feel the cold as the chill 
 quivers ran over it. Yet never did she lose the 
 grasp upon the pistol. She felt as if she had the 
 whole earth in her hands, so dominant was her 
 sense of power. Not for a moment did she credit 
 her scheming lover's protest of innocent intention — 
 he had meant to slyly, treacherously kill the man, 
 and now it was impossible. He could not with his 
 bare hands slay the stalwart athlete; he could not 
 buy a weapon, he had neither the money, nor the 
 courage to dare the suspicion this might provoke; 
 he could not borrow it, for who would trust aught 
 of value to so irresponsible an old vagrant as he 
 seemed. Lloyd was safe, and she felt a sudden 
 revivifying joy in the fact that it was she who had 
 saved him. 
 
 There is no more invincible persuasion in the 
 mind of a man than the overestimate of his hold 
 on a woman's affection. With Lloyd out of the 
 way, Binley argued, she would soon forget the 
 showman, and her old lover would easily find his 
 place anew. 
 
 " 'Member, Dumplin'," he said with a tender 
 intonation, odious now to her sensitive nerves, " ye 
 promised ye'd b'lieve me ef I'd leave the shootin' 
 iron. I kem hyar fur nuthin on yearth, precious 
 dear, but ter see yer sweet eyes, an' kiss the hem o' 
 yer frock." 
 
 He reached out his hand as if to lay hold on a 
 plait of the draped skirt, but she shrank back in 
 disgust and repulsion. 
 
 254 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Don't — don't," she said sharply. Then, to 
 mask her aversion, " Somebody's kemin' now. 
 Thar will be travellers soon, to an' fro to the town, 
 an' it'll be remarked how long I stood hyar talkin' 
 ter a ole rag'muffin. Somebody might suspect 
 'twould be more natchural ef he war a peart lookin' 
 young man. 'Twould be better ef we war ter 
 part." 
 
 She began to walk slowly along — she was lan- 
 guid, feeble — holding the pistol hidden in a fold 
 of her dress. 
 
 " Time's slow, till I see you agin, Honey- 
 sweet," he called after her, as he stood and 
 watched her progress in the chasm-like rift the 
 red clay road made in the midst of the dense 
 forest. 
 
 " Time's forever, till I see you agin," she de- 
 clared. Her gait suddenly gathered speed, and 
 she fled like a deer, like the wind through the 
 shadows, and was lost in their midst. 
 
 He stood, his face still looking toward the spot 
 where she had disappeared, even after the itera- 
 tion of the impact of her swift feet upon the ground 
 had ceased to sound. He was silent as he listened, 
 but at length he turned with a contemptuous laugh 
 that yet partook of the characteristics of a malig- 
 nant snarl. He shook his head to and fro with the 
 prophetic triumph of an unspoken thought. Then 
 he began to retrace his way toward the town, and 
 though there were none to observe him, he leaned 
 heavily on his thick stick, after the manner of an 
 
 *5S, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 old man, walking with one step longer than the 
 other, apparently feebler in one limb. He kept 
 his head bowed as he approached Colbury, only 
 now and then lifting it to gaze out from beneath 
 the flapping brim of the old white hat, as the town 
 gradually came into view, nestled — as it were — in 
 the heart of the great hills. They loomed darkly, 
 indistinguishably, above it at this hour, and the 
 grey and purple mists were vaguely visible, outlin- 
 ing ravines. The courthouse tower arose with an 
 impressive architectural effect in the dim night. 
 Stars in the vague sky struck indefinite glimmers 
 from the long shining steeples of the churches. 
 Below trees interposed, but he could discern a sort 
 of halo of illumination among the roofs that was 
 the exponent of the kindling lights heralding the 
 evening attractions of the Street Fair. 
 
 256 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE lights of the Street Carnival were all 
 broadly aflare in the purple dusk when 
 the Laniston party once more issued 
 forth into the square. The stars, now in scin- 
 tillating myriads, shone white from a remote and 
 richly dark sky ; across it in tattered fragments thin 
 tawny clouds were flying before the wind, strag- 
 glers from the routed armies of the storm. The 
 young moon, golden as it tended toward the west, 
 but with a vague, veiling, pearly tissue, illumined 
 the upper atmosphere and showed even the bend- 
 ing of the tree-tops of the nearest forests as they 
 crouched before the blast. There was a sugges- 
 tion of solemnity, of silence, of the great latent 
 forces of nature, of the unresponsive, insoluble 
 problems of creation when one glanced off to that 
 benighted landscape under the voiceless moon. 
 But the sordid purlieus of the little square rang 
 with the spielers' solicitations, the hucksters' cries, 
 the wild clatter of the merry-go-round, whizzing 
 gaily to the music of the band, — every saddle was 
 bestridden; every chariot was occupied with the 
 philandering rural youth, who saw no incon- 
 gruity in being obliged to shout soft nothings to 
 each other amidst the grinding of the machinery, 
 the blare of the band and the clamour of voices 
 
 257 
 
The Windfall 
 
 as loud as their own. The Flying Lady was 
 a-wing in her tent, its outer aspect suggesting a 
 great illuminated mushroom; and from a similar 
 semblance close at hand issued the heart-rending 
 howls of Wick-Zoo, that made many a rustic shiver 
 now with fascinated fear, and with reminiscent 
 horror at every .asual recollection far away in 
 his mountain home for six months to come. At 
 every turn was this glow of canvas, the lamps 
 within shining through the translucent fabric, and 
 threading their way amongst these tents Mr. Jar- 
 dine and his two fair young charges came presently 
 to the base of the frame of the great wheel, its 
 periphery reaching high up above all the glare and 
 sound, the glow of its infrequent electric bulbs 
 seeming to enstar the dim purple dusk. 
 
 The wind had freshened considerably, but it 
 was no deterrent to those who would fain try the 
 revolution, for only three of the settees were 
 now vacant, and while the earlier comers were 
 poised, gently swinging high in mid-air, the oblig- 
 ing custodian of the monster was affably ready to 
 receive the price of admission and accommodate 
 as many passengers as could find places. The con- 
 trivance had long been a trite feature at all shows 
 and street fairs and pleasure grounds catering to 
 the amusement of the humbler populace, but to 
 Mr. Jardine, who did not frequent entertainments 
 of this description, it was as astounding a novelty 
 as to any backwoods denizen of Persimmon Cove. 
 Its method of operation was of course obvious at 
 
 258 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the first glance, but he asked several questions of 
 its custodian as he stood with the young ladies at 
 the wicket below and passed in the price for its 
 giddy pleasure, and if he had not been thus occu- 
 pied he might have been pleased to observe that 
 while they were submitted to the critical gaze of 
 the jostling crowd, arrayed with so special a 
 daintiness, their jaunty bravado wilted a trifle and 
 their ready laughter had frozen into an icy dignity 
 of demeanour. It might seem difficult for a lady 
 in an Irish lace blouse and a crisp white linen skirt, 
 determined on an ascent in a Ferris Wheel in a 
 rough country crowd, to maintain the aloof, pale 
 hauteur of a princess, but Lucia's aspect in the 
 light of the sparse electric bulbs and the flickering 
 torches was calculated to thus impress all privileged 
 to gaze upon her. There was a respectful silence 
 pervading the crowd for a few moments after they 
 had reached the spot, but the interests of self are 
 predominant, and after a modicum of patience Mr. 
 Jardine was unceremoniously urged. 
 
 " Does the wind affect the safety of the ma- 
 chine? " he asked solicitously, gazing aloft as well 
 as he could through the slender steel spokes to 
 where the topmost laden settees were swinging 
 back and forth, seemingly with added impetus in 
 the stiff breeze. 
 
 " Not at all, sir," said the functionary, as in a 
 parenthesis, while he counted the change, " twenty- 
 five, thirty, thirty-five." 
 
 " There is no danger? " 
 
 259 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Ef ye air afeard, old man, jes' stand back an' 
 lemme git a chanct," a country youth admonished 
 Mr. Jardine. 
 
 " Lord sakes, stranger, take yer place, an give 
 we uns the next turn," an elderly mountaineer 
 suggested. 
 
 " Them folks up thar air gittin' twict the wuth 
 o' thar money in all this wasted time," a grudging 
 soul opined. And the rest of the crowd pressed 
 sensibly forward. 
 
 Jardine had never been so unceremoniously ad- 
 dressed since he was born. But the two young 
 ladies, who laughed on such slight provocation, 
 were enabled to preserve an impassive gravity now, 
 which fact he observed with a feeling of grateful 
 relief, for he was conscious of the ridiculous plight 
 of his elegant personality. He went on with as 
 deliberate a dignity as if he were aware of no 
 interruption, albeit acutely conscious of a score of 
 eyes eagerly fixed on his face. 
 
 " No danger of the wind obstructing the revo- 
 lution, and preventing the descent of passengers? " 
 he concluded his query. 
 
 "Not at all, sir— forty, forty-five, fifty ; fifty- 
 five — that's O. K. — I think you'll find your change 
 correct, sir. Take this seat." 
 
 Jardine moved forward with a young lady on 
 each arm — suddenly, as he was about to induct 
 Lucia into the waiting settee, he stopped immova- 
 ble — " Why," he exclaimed, addressing his charges, 
 "where is Frank? " 
 
 260 
 
The Windfall 
 
 The patience of the wheel-man was overstrained. 
 He had collected the price of admission, and if 
 Jardine did not care to make the ascent no money 
 would be refunded. He was now keen to sell the 
 passage in the last remaining settee. 
 
 " Take your places, sir, and let these gentlemen 
 come forward," he said peremptorily. 
 
 But Jardine still looked over his shoulder and 
 said again to the young ladies, " Where is Frank? " 
 
 " ' Where, oh, where is good old Francis ?'" 
 sang a wag in the group. " * Safe in the Promised 
 Land.' " 
 
 There was a guffaw of appreciation from the 
 bystanders and it ameliorated for the moment the 
 temper of the crowd, which had shown a nettle- 
 some rancour. It was still pressing forward, and 
 a dirty, horny hand offered over Jardine's shoulder 
 the money for the same seats. " There air fower 
 o' we uns — ef he won't ride let we uns go up? " 
 
 " Why," exclaimed Jardine wonderingly, still 
 looking over his shoulder expectantly, " Frank 
 promised to get some cigarettes at the hotel and 
 then overtake us." 
 
 " Take your places, sir," the ticket-seller insisted. 
 " I can't keep the wheel standing still all night 
 while you collect your party." 
 
 At that moment a call came from above, and all 
 gazing up through the barely seen spokes and fellies 
 of the great wheel to where the loftiest chariots 
 seemed to swing vaguely among the stars and the 
 swift scud of brown and white clouds, perceived 
 
 261 
 
The Windfall 
 
 how the oscillation was increased by the atmos- 
 pheric disturbance. The pause, too, had grown 
 monotonous, the air was becoming cold, and one 
 of the passengers summoned the official below to 
 continue the revolution and bring the descent into 
 progress. 
 
 " Take your places, sir, or I will give them to 
 the next comer," declared the custodian of the 
 wheel. 
 
 There was a scuffle in the crowd for the first 
 opportunity. Jardine, but for very shame, would 
 have yielded the places and relinquished the money, 
 yet he could not allow his escort of the ladies to 
 this coveted pleasure terminate so disastrously. 
 How inefficient, he reflected, how superannuated 
 he must seem to them, how preposterously he had 
 contrived to mismanage this humble little outing 
 on which they had set their whimsical hearts. 
 How cordially he would have welcomed an oppor- 
 tunity to slaughter with his own hands the marplot 
 Frank! How willingly he would have deprived 
 him of the pleasure of making the ascent in this 
 choice company by leaving the recreant and pro- 
 ceeding at once. 
 
 " But I can't," he said in perplexity. " We 
 have taken two of the settees — four seats. One 
 of the settees would be inadequately weighted with 
 only one person — its balance would not be kept — 
 it might not be safe. I must wait for the gentle- 
 man whom I expect every moment." 
 
 In vain the ticket-seller protested that the equi- 
 262 
 
\The Windfall 
 
 librium of the settees did not depend upon the 
 weight or number of the occupants. But the wind 
 had now grown so chill that he looked up with 
 anxiety and deprecation at the stationary wights 
 high in the wheel, who were threatening to make 
 complaints to the municipal authorities for their 
 detention thus out of reason and against their will, 
 and demanding an immediate descent and release. 
 Then he said, for he had a gift for expedients and 
 was an excellent man of business: 
 
 " We can't wait no longer, sir. If you think 
 the wheel ain't safe with only one passenger on 
 the settee jes' let this gent take a seat alongside o' 
 one of the ladies, and that will sure make the 
 balance all right," and he summoned forward with 
 a nod the wag who had chanted the inquiry con- 
 cerning " the good old Francis." 
 
 He was a slightly built, common young fellow, 
 arrayed in a cheap plaid suit, a steel watch chain, 
 a straw hat, and he was chewing a straw as if it 
 were his daily provender. He had a flat face, 
 sandy hair, a good-natured small grey eye and no 
 eyelashes to speak of. He stepped forward with 
 nonchalant alacrity. He had evidently been se- 
 lected as the most responsible looking person avail- 
 able, and the only reason that Jardine did not faint 
 upon the spot was that his attention was stimulated 
 by the sudden offer of a substitute even more 
 distasteful to his prejudices. 
 
 " Do you think that with this wind more avoir- 
 dupois is necessary? " Lloyd's voice broke upon the 
 
 263 
 
The Windfall 
 
 air. He had come up during the discussion and 
 was a witness of the speechless horror of Jardine, 
 who might have involved himself in some unpleas- 
 ant dilemma with the crowd had he declined, and 
 who could not of course accept the expedient. 
 " Well — it is up to the show folks to make these 
 things satisfactory to the public as well as safe, 
 and if the gentleman will consider me a sufficient 
 makeweight I'll undertake to balance this settee. " 
 
 He forthwith cut the Gordian knot and broke 
 the deadlock by handing Lucia to the waiting 
 settee with a grace as definite and a manner as 
 gravely deferential as if the role of squire of dames 
 were in continual rehearsal in his repertoire. He 
 seated himself beside her before Jardine could pro- 
 test, and as they swung off together into the air 
 the next settee came within reach and there was 
 no course left to Jardine but to assist Ruth to her 
 place, and follow in the regular rotation of the 
 wheel. 
 
 Jardine had never esteemed himself an elderly 
 lover; in the conventional walks of life in the city 
 of their respective homes there had seemed no dis- 
 parity whatever in their ages. Now the variance 
 in taste, in temperament, in the outlook at life, 
 in the pursuit of excitement, in sheer endurance, 
 was definitely asserted. The sensation, as the 
 settees rose elastically with the revolution of 
 the wheel, was nauseating to his well-conducted 
 stomach. Then, as they paused and swung, pendu- 
 lum-like, to and fro, while the lower seat was 
 
 264 
 
The Windfall 
 
 filled and other passengers were liberated, the pos- 
 ture, the situation was revolting to his priggish 
 sense of dignity. He fairly dreaded the upper 
 dizzy reaches of the circumference, and naught but 
 the coercion of the circumstances could have con- 
 strained him to the ordeal. He maintained silence, 
 however, remembering the rural fling " old man " 
 and desiring to betray no sentiment of discomfort 
 to the delighted Ruth, who sat beside him gurgling 
 with gleeful laughter, and uttering little discon- 
 nected exclamations of half-feigned fear and a real 
 sense of jeopardy. 
 
 When, rather than incur Lucia's anger, Jardine 
 had lent himself to the absurd pleasuring, on which 
 the two girls seemed bent, he had no conception of 
 such a turn of circumstances as should relegate her 
 to the care of another, a stranger, and of all people 
 in the world, the manager of an itinerant show. 
 He scarcely knew how he should face Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton after this signal demonstration of his incapac- 
 ity to discharge so simple a duty as devolved upon 
 him in the escort of the two young ladies — she 
 could never be made to comprehend the pressure 
 of the situation. He sought to comfort himself 
 by the realisation that after all the wheel was but 
 a public conveyance, and for a lady to sit beside 
 a strange man in this vehicle was not a matter of 
 more pronounced familiarity than in a street car 
 or a railway train, an episode of daily occurrence. 
 In this point of view the rural wag would 
 have been more acceptable to his predilections 
 
 265 
 
The Windfall 
 
 than this extraordinarily handsome man, with 
 the manners of a gentleman and the calling of a 
 strolling faker. Lucia would never seem aware 
 of the existence of the one, whereas the other had 
 after a fashion been brought to her notice; they 
 had asked of him the favour of photographing 
 the dancing-girl, though as an excuse indeed for 
 having been detected in surreptitiously photograph- 
 ing the manager. The two had on that occasion 
 exchanged sundry formal observations, and it 
 would be but natural that some conversation would 
 ensue upon being brought thus accidentally into 
 this renewal of association. 
 
 The wind blowing so freshly into their faces 
 almost took away their breath, and now and again, 
 hearing naught from the other couple, Jardine 
 hastily glanced up at them, thinking that it 
 was the gusts that annulled the sound of the ex- 
 clamations, silvery and joyous, with which Lucia in 
 this novel and coveted amusement must be regaling 
 her incongruous companion as they rose together 
 in their swing ever higher and higher toward the 
 stars. But the electric bulbs showed her face very 
 quiet and grave; her dress gleamed like " white 
 samite, mystic, wonderful, " against the purple 
 dusk; she was silent and to his great gratification 
 the manager sat beside her as uncommunicative as 
 if he had been a part of the machine, essential to 
 its utility, like one of the dummy horses of the 
 merry-go-round. A very well conducted young 
 man, Jardine thought, with a fervent thanksgiving 
 
 266 
 
The Windfall 
 
 that matters were no worse. He had feared that 
 the incongruity of a simulated flirtation with so 
 inappropriate a subject, might attract her eager 
 quest of amusement and her mirthful disposition 
 to horrify and tease her aunt. He formulated an 
 apology in his inner consciousness. He said to 
 himself that he ought to have known her well 
 enough to realise that her innate sense of pro- 
 priety would conserve all the essential decorums, 
 even in these circumstances so conducive to un- 
 conventionally. 
 
 But it was not a conventional observation that 
 Lucia saw fit to address to the manager, as he still 
 sat silent, and it surprised him beyond measure. 
 
 " Do you think this is a suitable business for 
 you?" she asked, her manner stately and almost 
 reproachful, her voice low but icy, her beautiful 
 head turning slowly toward him, and the light of 
 those magnetic eyes seeming to shine through his 
 very soul. 
 
 Lloyd had not been silent from any realisation of 
 the difference in their station, any humble acknowl- 
 edgment of the superiority of her world. He 
 could not speak, his heart beat so fast; his prox- 
 imity to the goddess that she seemed abashed his 
 every thought. Her beautiful dress, her dainty 
 hands, the exquisite pose of her head, the soft 
 flutter of her lovely hair in the wind, each made 
 its own bewildering demand for homage. He was 
 in the thrall of an appreciated bliss, so perfect, so 
 unexpected that it almost overwhelmed him. He 
 
 267 
 
The Windfall 
 
 had never dreamed that he might be so near heaven 
 as thus alone with her. And yet until to-day he 
 had not known that she existed. He could scarcely 
 realise that she could turn her head and look into 
 his eyes and speak directly to him — it scarcely 
 mattered what were the words. The day had 
 been hard; the dangers that menaced him were 
 great; the difficulties that pressed him down were 
 heavy; and suddenly, in a moment, he was trans- 
 lated into elysium. Swinging so elastically in the 
 wind — the medium of the air a purple dusk, the 
 river molten silver in the moon where the reflection 
 of the splendid cresset glanced upon it and the rest 
 mystery, the mountains vast imposing barriers 
 against all the sordid world beyond, the town but 
 a bevy of flickering lights below, and above the 
 pure white fires of the constant stars — they two 
 were side by side, while she, the ideal loveliness, 
 she spoke to him ! 
 
 " Beg pardon, " Lloyd said, catching at the neces- 
 sity of reply. 
 
 " Do you think this is a suitable business for 
 you? " she repeated. 
 
 He stared at her for a moment amazed, hardly 
 comprehending. Then recovering himself he 
 made an effort at appropriate rejoinder. " The 
 business ought to be better of course," he said. 
 Then he hesitated doubtfully. His heart could 
 but expand toward her, though his sensitive nature 
 must needs feel the topic intrusive. " You see — 
 we were misinformed. A town of this size gen- 
 
 268 
 
The Windfall 
 
 erally has an outlying population that makes up a 
 toler'ble payin' crowd. We are playin' to very 
 little money. Business is poor — and that's the 
 
 truth " he paused abruptly, for she had 
 
 blushed so deeply in embarrassment that he felt 
 that he was altogether beyond his depth. 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean the financial returns, " she 
 said, beginning to falter. She hardly knew, she 
 said to herself, what she would be at. Why 
 should she have fancied that this man would un- 
 derstand her — why should she upbraid him with a 
 calling below his merits? Certainly she did not 
 understand herself. 
 
 " Oh — beg pardon," he said, obviously con- 
 fused, gazing searchingly at her in the electric 
 light. Her face was pale, a trifle agitated, grave; 
 her eyes — they looked immortal, they were from 
 the beginning of the world, for all time to come — 
 the beautiful eyes, with a thought — was it pity, 
 was it sorrow, was it faith — what was it in their 
 depths? 
 
 " I meant — I meant," she hesitated, realising 
 that she must follow her suggestion through — that 
 there was no opportunity for withdrawal, for re- 
 cantation, " I meant that it seems that you ought 
 to have a better kind of business." 
 
 " It is a mighty good business for the money 
 that is in it — it is the best show for the investment 
 that ever was under canvas," he protested with 
 sudden fervour — he was loyal to the merits of his 
 funny little show. 
 
 269 
 
The Windfall 
 
 It was all out of the question, she felt now — one 
 of her sudden mad impulses — but an explanation 
 must needs come. She would not for the world 
 decry the little exhibition, on which he had lavished 
 such whole-souled labour and thought and eager 
 solicitude. Besides she had her object which she 
 could hardly interpret even to herself. Her lips 
 curved suddenly in the sweet smile that was wont 
 to embellish them; her eyes flashed with her ready 
 laughter. He was looking eagerly, intently at her. 
 But her ridicule was genial — she was laughing with 
 him rather than at him. " I'm not saying a word 
 against the greatest show on earth nor the high 
 dive artist, nor the snake eater, nor the beautiful 
 dancing oread; but I shall never see you again, and 
 I thought I would tell you something that occurred 
 to me to-day." 
 
 The swing moved gently to and fro; the wind 
 came fresh and free and fluttered her white dra- 
 peries; she gazed far off, far off amongst the purple 
 mountains; in the valley beyond a foothill she 
 could see a red spark of light, so high they were 
 now, at the very summit of the circumference, the 
 light from the hearthstone of some humble home. 
 The golden moon still showed in a deep indenta- 
 tion of the horizon line. Mists hovered about the 
 lofty domes of the range. The stars sparkled 
 aloof in the dark blue sky. 
 
 Still he looked intently at her and her words 
 came with difficulty: " Our party could not believe 
 that you were the manager of this little show — not 
 
 270 
 
The Windfall 
 
 because it is a poor show, but — because — you — you 
 seem different." 
 
 Oh, would the wheel never turn! What was 
 she saying, and why — why — should she say it? 
 What madness to be thus isolated between heaven 
 and earth so that she must face out to the end 
 the inexorable statement that she had so foolishly 
 begun. 
 
 His coolness somewhat reassured her. " Oh, 
 you mean that I look above my business," he said 
 quietly; "that is, this was the opinion of your 
 party." 
 
 " Yes," she replied in grateful renewal of con- 
 fidence, " Mr. Jardine said that you looked like 
 a gentleman — according to his interpretation, of 
 course, I mean." 
 
 " I hope, for his sake, that it is a just interpre- 
 tation," he said with a constrained, inscrutable 
 smile. " It works overtime, that word ' gentle- 
 man ! 
 
 " So often I have heard of a hint shaping a 
 life," she went on to explain her meaning more 
 clearly; " I thought that if it should occur to you 
 that others esteemed you capable of better things 
 it might be an inspiration to you to achieve them." 
 
 " Much obliged to Mr. Jardine," he said equiv- 
 ocally. 
 
 " Your associates in the show are so accustomed 
 to you and to themselves that probably they do 
 not perceive the difference." 
 
 " Real or imaginary," he interpolated. 
 271 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " So I thought I would tell you," she faltered, 
 at a loss, now that the disclosure was at an end. 
 
 " Now, Lydy, I want to say one thing to you — 
 and mind, this is straight goods — I thank you on 
 the knees of my heart for what you have said and 
 how you have said it. I make no mistake about 
 that. But you are young, and maybe you don't 
 know that it is a deal more important how a man 
 does a thing than what it is that he does. I can 
 think of worse things, in my interpretation of 
 1 gentleman ' than being a showman — a good show- 
 man, giving full value in exhibitions and entertain- 
 ment for the money. Now, I wonder if Mr. 
 Jardine ever thought of a lawyer, who neglects his 
 clients' business 'cause he's lazy, or busy about his 
 own affairs; — or a preacher, who does the Lord's 
 job for the money he finds in it; — or a fortune- 
 hunter who gets a rich wife to take him off his own 
 hands; — or a politician who buys his popularity 
 — all these are ' gentlemen ' only in a superficial 
 appraisement. Now, I'll tell you where Mr. Jar- 
 dine's view ain't in it — he thinks because I'm put 
 up in a sort o' ornamental case that I look like a 
 gentleman — but the Living Skeleton, who is an 
 educated man and right rich for a freak, but who 
 ain't put up in any case at all scarcely, Mr. Jar- 
 dine would never think of for a gentleman. It 
 won't do to trust to externals — Mr. Jardine sur- 
 prises me for a man of his large experience." 
 
 She gazed searchingly into his face for a moment. 
 She could descry no lingering suspicion there that 
 
 272 
 
The Windfall 
 
 she had used Mr. Jardine's name as a stalking- 
 horse over which to fire her own opinions. It was 
 a delectable deceit, but she knew that he would 
 have forgiven the liberty — poor Mr. Jardine! 
 
 " If ever I was to find a better trade, Lydy, I'd 
 take it with psalms of thanksgiving. But until I 
 do I ain't goin' to shirk the show because I look 
 like a gentleman. The main stunt is to act like a 
 gentleman, and I think we are all up against that." 
 
 A silvery voice called out in the night to Lucia, 
 and looking backward toward Ruth and Jardine 
 she saw that their swing was moving upward one 
 degree, and that they had reached the very summit 
 of the circumference. With the consequent de- 
 scent of one degree in their turn Lucia and Lloyd 
 were now on a lower level. There seemed no ap- 
 preciable difference in the height, however, as they 
 gazed over the landscape; the wind still rushed 
 down from the mountain with a pungent odour of 
 dank leaves and a fragrant moisture from where 
 the rainfall had been heavy; the clouds still in 
 broken ranks fled tumultuously across the enstarred 
 sky ; the misty moon was slipping down behind the 
 purple ranges — the burnished rim was visible for 
 another moment and then was gone; the square was 
 yet filled with people, and now and then a wild, 
 raucous yell or loud voices in drunken altercation 
 gave token that the mysterious inebriates were 
 again astonishing the streets of the dry town ; sev- 
 eral of the tents were no longer illumined, the 
 day's work being over for the " freaks " and the 
 
 273 
 
The Windfall 
 
 flying lady; the merry-go-round had ceased to whirl 
 and whiz and the band was playing sentimental airs 
 on the grass in front of the courthouse. 
 
 As the swings of the great wheel swayed, gently 
 pendulous, in the breeze-filled purple night above 
 the flaring orange-tinted lights of the Carnival be- 
 low everything seemed jovial, contented — a suc- 
 cessful day drawing serenely to a close. Suddenly 
 from the swing on a level with the manager's lofty 
 perch a missile shot through the air; it passed in a 
 straight line below the swing where Jardine and 
 Ruth sat at the summit of the circumference of the 
 wheel, and whizzing, as if flung from a sling, it 
 struck Lloyd's head just behind the ear and fell, 
 a compact boulder, as large as a man's fist, on the 
 ground below. 
 
 Lloyd, bent half double by the force of the un- 
 expected blow, swayed forward, struggled violently 
 to regain his place, lost his balance, and like a 
 thunderbolt fell from the swing, while the fren- 
 zied pleasure-seekers, all safe enough, screamed in 
 sheer dismay at the sight. 
 
 It might have been far worse. To another man 
 the fall from such a height would have meant cer- 
 tain death, but with the presence of mind and the 
 trained strength and elasticity of the professional 
 acrobat, the showman mechanically gathered re- 
 newed control of his muscles, caught at one of the 
 steel spokes that upheld the structure of the wheel, 
 and thus arresting the precipitancy of the descent 
 turned a somersault in mid-air, another and with 
 
 274 
 
The Windfall 
 
 still another came to the ground amidst a tumult 
 of shouting and applause from the crowd assem- 
 bling from every side of the square. 
 
 They seized upon him instantly, noting his half- 
 fainting condition, and carried him bodily to the 
 corner drug store, where the prescriptionist hastily 
 administered restoratives and medicated the wound 
 in an inner room with the door locked, while await- 
 ing the arrival of the physician. The manager was 
 in no condition to be questioned, he stated to a 
 policeman who was early on the scene. 
 
 With an augmented sense of the importance of 
 the disaster the officer, the only one on duty in the 
 small municipality, returned to the wheel with the 
 intention of taking the names and addresses of all 
 in the swings at the time of the attack. 
 
 There had been a panic amongst the occupants 
 of the swings; loud and frantic shouts for libera- 
 tion, for the turn of the wheel, had predominated 
 even over the clamours below in the square. The 
 wheel was as aversely regarded as if it had been 
 the instrument of torture of old by the dizzy wights 
 who clung to their places uttering frenzied ap- 
 peals for release, for they feared indeed that there 
 was a madman among them. In obedience to the 
 reiterated cries for extrication from their plight 
 the wheel had been revolved as rapidly as prac- 
 ticable, and although the order of precedence 
 among the settees was retained, the position in the 
 periphery at the time of the disaster could not be 
 established, and it was now impossible to say 
 
 *7S 
 
The Windfall 
 
 whence had come the stone so quickly flung in tKe 
 darkness during the rotation of the machine. A 
 number of the swings had already been vacated 
 as soon as the ground was reached, and the occu- 
 pants of others, to evade testifying or suspicion, 
 leaped out when at a safe distance from the earth 
 and disappeared, mingling indiscriminately with 
 the crowd. Jardine noticed how many of the set- 
 tees passed by the wicket already empty as the re- 
 volving structure brought them within safe descent 
 and he imperatively motioned to Lucia in advance 
 to vacate the swing as soon as the pause at the 
 ground made it possible. The occupant of the swing 
 behind Jardine did not await the stoppage; he was 
 a countryman in a long greyish coat and a wide 
 white flapping hat, and he leaped to the ground in 
 the shadow with a nimble temerity which Jardine 
 thought altogether inconsistent with his slit boots 
 as if bunions troubled his feet, his thick stick, his 
 bent figure and hobbling gait as he made off through 
 the shadows which the intense electric lights served 
 to deepen about the stand. Once he turned and 
 looked back and catching a far glimmer of the 
 light on his half-obscured face he showed two rows 
 of strong white teeth bared in a grin of extreme 
 relish. 
 
 Haxon was on the scene in a few minutes, wild 
 with anxiety and asking hither and thither how the 
 disaster had happened. " Where's my partner — 
 if my partner is killed we are all ruined,' ' he de- 
 clared. 
 
 276 
 
The Windfall 
 
 For Lloyd had not divulged his plan of action 
 to annul false suspicion and to evade the aspect 
 of collusion with the moonshiners who had so 
 craftily utilised the presence of the street fair to 
 profitably pursue their illegal traffic. 
 
 Haxon showed so definite a determination of 
 detection and reprisal that Jardine, gripping his 
 charges each by the elbow, propelled them through 
 the darkness toward the hotel, demanding through 
 his set teeth by way of explaining his vehemence, 
 " Do you two want to be witnesses in a police 
 court?" But indeed, they were tractable enough 
 as they sped as swiftly as he dared set the pace, 
 that they might not seem in flight, through the 
 half-deserted square, past the vacant hucksters' 
 stands, the shadowy, lifeless tents, the vague equine 
 figures of the merry-go-round, stiff and silent in 
 the claro-obscuro, cutting across the courthouse 
 yard and coming at last to the hotel verandah, al- 
 most vacant at this hour. 
 
 Lucia was so trembling, pale and shocked that 
 he could not forbear saying, " I hope — I do hope, 
 that this will be a lesson to you," when she burst 
 out laughing; and when Ruth, scarcely less agitated, 
 declared, " For my part I hope, I do hope that 
 that handsome Mr. Lloyd is not killed," Lucia 
 burst into tears. 
 
 277! 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FRANK came in presently and joined the 
 group, for until the hour for retiring they 
 were monopolising the little blue reception 
 room as a private parlour. He had encouraging 
 news of Lloyd. " He's all right," Frank cheerily 
 averred. " His head has got a lump on it as big as 
 a hen's egg, and it aches to beat the band. The 
 doctor says, though, it is not serious. The stone 
 glanced aside, didn't hit him squarely. If it had 
 he would have been a deader by now. Ought to 
 have seen ' Captain Ollory of the Royal Navy ' 
 fairly blubber — he is a good-hearted old kid." 
 
 11 But what was the motive of the attack? " Mrs. 
 Laniston asked, enjoying every item of the sensa- 
 tion, without the jeopardy and the shock. 
 
 " Nobody can imagine," said Frank. 
 
 " Some intoxicated wretch," said Jardine dis- 
 gustedly — he felt as if he would like to be disin- 
 fected, fumigated, because of the moral effluvia of 
 such low company — he had never been in such a 
 crowd before in his life. 
 
 " A drunken man can't sling a stone with a 
 steady hand like that," said Frank. " I did hear " 
 he added with a sudden after-thought, — " that 
 old Shadrach Pinnott's son, Tom — who my in- 
 
 278 
 
The Windfall 
 
 formant said was as drunk as a * fraish b'iled 
 owel/ — ain't that a lovely expression for a lovely 
 state? — declared that the man who threw the stone 
 was a lover of Tom's sister, Clotildy Pinnott— 
 sweet name ! — and was jealous of the manager fel- 
 low who had taught her to sing and dance in that 
 dinky, dainty way. The manager is dead in love 
 with her, too — so the discarded lover chews the 
 rag, and holds the bag, and hurls the bolt." 
 
 Lucia, who had ceased her tears as she listened, 
 pressing her handkerchief once and again to her 
 eyes, as she was thrown, half reclining on one of 
 the sofas, now began anew to sob nervously, and 
 Jardine looked anxiously at Mrs. Laniston, as if 
 commending the demonstration to her attention and 
 ministrations. But Mrs. Laniston was eager for 
 the news — she had had a dull evening at the hotel. 
 
 " Nefarious business," she commented. 
 
 " Of course," declared Frank. " Intent to com- 
 mit murder. The man tried to kill Lloyd. If the 
 manager hadn't been a ground-and-lofty-tumbler 
 once in his career — he seems to have been some of 
 everything — all 'round athlete — he couldn't have 
 broken his fall by throwing somersaults — he would 
 have been killed by the fall from such a height." 
 
 " But consider the frightful danger that Lucia 
 was in, mamma," cried Ruth. " A little swerv- 
 ing to one side and the stone would have struck 
 her head instead of his." 
 
 Frank's boyish red face grew grave and dis- 
 mayed. 
 
 279 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Was the man in the settee beside Lucia ? " he 
 asked aghast, hearing this detail for the first time. 
 
 " But, for God's sake, don't mention it," said 
 Mr. Jardine testily, rising from his chair and tak- 
 ing a nervous turn through the room. " If this 
 miscreant should be captured and a trial ensue, it 
 would be a most disageeable, almost derogatory 
 thing for her to have to give her testimony in open 
 court under these circumstances. Don't — don't 
 mention it." 
 
 11 Certainly not," said Frank formally. " I 
 shall bear your injunction in mind." 
 
 No one can so bitterly object to schooling as he 
 who stands in need of it. In reality this phase of 
 the possibilities had not occurred to the youth, and 
 he fully appreciated the value of the warning. But 
 he deprecated the tone, the possessory manner in 
 which Mr. Jardine was playing the role of tute- 
 lary deity to the family. The interest of the sub- 
 ject, however, overpowered his rancour, and after 
 a momentary pause he went on with an indignant 
 sense of offended dignity. " But how in the name 
 of all that is stylish did the manager of the Street 
 Fair happen to be escorting Lucia? " 
 
 " Because," said Ruth, with a deep satirical bow 
 and a manner of punctilious ceremony, "you were 
 so polite as to decline to escort her." 
 
 "My child!" remonstrated Mrs. Laniston, 
 aghast. Then turning to the delinquent, " Why, 
 Francis — how is this?" 
 
 " Frank gave us the slip — he promised to meet 
 280 
 
The Windfall 
 
 us," Ruth with true sisterly candour was bent on 
 fixing his remissness upon him. 
 
 " I would have given up the project," Mr. Jar- 
 dine felt it incumbent on him to say. " But we had 
 waited a good while and the crowd was very im- 
 patient; and when the manager proposed to take 
 the place it was on the score of balancing the swing, 
 and really it seemed a little too pointed and con- 
 scious to decline — the wheel being a public con- 
 veyance, so to speak." 
 
 " And besides, he didn't give you time — he didn't 
 anticipate a refusal," said Ruth. " He selected 
 Lucia in preference to me, thank goodness ! I won- 
 der that, when he was attacked, Lucia did not fall 
 out of the swing — it shook like a leaf in the wind." 
 
 " Francis should have been with you — I thought 
 that was what you went out for — to escort your 
 relatives," Mrs. Laniston fixed rebuking eyes on 
 him. 
 
 " Oh, I did — I did," Frank's repentance was al- 
 ways most complete and disarming. He had no 
 nettling reservation of justification. His square, 
 rosy face was crestfallen and concerned. " I simply 
 forgot ! I stopped for some cigarettes at the cigar 
 stand in the bar-room — or rather where the bar 
 ought to be — and there were a lot of country fel- 
 lows there, spinning yarns of bear-hunting and 
 trapping wolves in the mountains — I stopped to 
 listen — quaint characteristic stories — and I had no 
 idea of how the time was passing. I am awfully 
 sorry, Lucia. But my apologies do no good now." 
 
 281 
 
'The Windfall 
 
 " You needn't apologise," said Lucia good- 
 naturedly, though she could not cease to sob as she 
 spoke. " I was not in the least hurt — only con- 
 siderably scared — and if you had joined us in time 
 I should have missed the most sensational incident 
 of my experience." 
 
 " It is not a little mortifying to me that I should 
 have been the cause of it — and of your appearing 
 in public on so conspicuous an occasion escorted so 
 inappropriately, to say the least of it." 
 
 Frank was of the opinion that Jardine was in 
 fault — he should have called the excursion off 
 rather than consign Lucia to such escort. He 
 should have brought the young ladies back to the 
 hotel, if anything more were involved than their 
 foolish, childish desire to swing in the big wheel. 
 As Frank sat solemnly gazing at the toes of his 
 white shoes, one hand on each knee, he was re- 
 solving that he would submit this view of the case 
 to his mother as soon as he could have an audience 
 with her free of Jardine's presence. It did not in 
 the slightest degree, he felt, mitigate his own re- 
 missness in failing to appear, but surely Jardine 
 need not have carried out the plan at all and any 
 hazards. And having satisfied his conscience to 
 this extent he began to seek to minimise the most 
 nettling and derogatory phases of the incident, as 
 it personally concerned his relatives. 
 
 " I don't believe the point that he was acting as 
 escort to Lucia will be brought out at all," he said. 
 " I noticed in the drug store that when ' Captain 
 
 282 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Ollory ' asked Lloyd how in h-h-heaven he hap- 
 pened to be in the Ferris Wheel he merely an- 
 swered that he went to balance one of the swings 
 which apparently was not sufficiently weighted to 
 be satisfactory. And the matter seemed to pass." 
 
 Lucia drew herself into a sitting posture. The 
 nervous shock she had undergone showed in her 
 pallor and the dark circles under her eyes. Her 
 dainty lace blouse, with its elbow sleeves revealing 
 her fair, beautifully proportioned arms, the knots 
 of faint-hued ribbon, her delicately arranged hair, 
 all seemed incongruous with the piteous aspect of 
 her tearful eyes and the pathetic downward droop 
 of her lips. 
 
 " I think that was very considerate of him, espe- 
 cially in view of the state of his wound — don't you, 
 Aunt Dora? He might easily have overlooked 
 that point." 
 
 " Or he might not have appreciated it," Mrs. 
 Laniston assented. 
 
 " Yes, he would appreciate it," said Frank, wag- 
 ging his wise head. " I tell you now, that fellow 
 is as delicate-minded as any girl. He has got very 
 popular here too — the town folks were fairly 
 gushing over him in the drug store. If that rascal 
 were caught they'd make him squeak, you bet your 
 life. He would see sights." 
 
 Mr. Jardine was not an imaginative man, but 
 before his mental vision was a dull night scene of 
 dusky purple atmosphere, veined about with white 
 lights, and hirpling away in the shadow was the 
 
 283 
 
The Windfall 
 
 figure of a grey-coated old man, suddenly turning 
 over his shoulder a malignant young face with a 
 grin of glistening white teeth. 
 
 Jardine gave an abrupt start, for it was as if this 
 recollection had become visible to others, when 
 Frank, still sitting in his pondering attitude, a hand 
 on either knee, and his florid face bent down, said 
 without preamble — " I wonder if any of you no- 
 ticed this afternoon at the ' high-class concert ' a 
 fellow with an old whitey-grey coat who looked in 
 the back like an old man and had a young face, 
 if you could catch a glimpse of it under the flapping 
 brim of an old white hat." 
 
 " Yes, indeed," cried Ruth excitedly. " When I 
 said the scene was merely a by-play and the real 
 romance was when the manager had fallen in love 
 with the girl he had trained so beautifully, this 
 man, who was sitting in front of us, turned and 
 looked straight into my eyes as if he would deny 
 it — as if he could destroy me for the suggestion." 
 
 " I noticed that too," said Lucia. " That is 
 what made me remember him when I saw him 
 again to-night — in the same old whitey-grey coat 
 and flapping white hat. He was in the wheel with 
 us — in a swing alone — just behind you and Mr. 
 Jardine." 
 
 "Ladies — ladies — let me beg of you — I must 
 insist that you do not pursue this line of thought ! " 
 Jardine admonished them. " You do not want to 
 convince yourselves, that your consciousness may 
 
 convince others " he paused dumbfounded. 
 
 284 
 
The Windfall 
 
 He was himself advancing the matter. He was 
 formulating their conclusion, inchoate as yet — he 
 was putting it into systematic words. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Jardine," cried Ruth with the ca- 
 dence of discovery, and rising to her feet, "you 
 think that this man was the criminal — that it was 
 a case of jealousy." 
 
 " No — no — that is precisely the impression I do 
 not wish to give," Jardine protested. " I am sure 
 I do not know, and I have no right to accuse or 
 suspect anyone." 
 
 " Well, / know," declared Ruth recklessly; " the 
 whole matter is as plain as a pike-staff. I saw a 
 perfect inferno of wrath in his eyes when I said 
 that the manager was in love with that beautiful 
 mountain girl. And when we were photographing 
 her I noticed that she looked at Mr. Lloyd with 
 adoring eyes. He has taken her away from her 
 mountain lover, and these primitive people have 
 primitive reprisals. Mr. Lloyd has paid the pen- 
 alty for his easy fascinations." 
 
 " Ruth, you must not run on so," Mrs. Laniston 
 admonished her, after having listened with interest 
 to the end of the cogent speculations. " For 
 heaven's sake, how ill Lucia is looking," she broke 
 off suddenly. " You are tired, Lucia ; you need 
 rest, my dear, after all these excitements. Come — 
 we must say good-night." She rose rather wearily 
 herself, and stood for a moment while the others 
 reluctantly came to a standing posture and gath- 
 ered themselves together in a group. 
 
 285 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " It is really quite necessary that we should not 
 put mere suspicions into words — very unpleasant 
 consequences might ensue," Jardine ventured. He 
 noted in the mirror over the mantelpiece how anx- 
 ious, and patient, and sharpened was his face. He 
 had already felt that his dignity had never been so 
 seriously compromised as in the events of the day, 
 but this possibility was of far more importance. 
 
 " You are very right, Mr. Jardine," Mrs. Lan- 
 iston assented. Then turning to Ruth with an ad- 
 monitory air, " Really, I think that we have had 
 quite enough of undesirable publicity and sensa- 
 tion. You might presently find yourself swearing 
 to your fancies in court. You must heed Mr. Jar- 
 dine's very sensible warnings, for which / at least 
 am much obliged. [Ruth wheeled about and made 
 him a pretty little mirthful bow of smiling ac- 
 knowledgments.] You might actually swear a 
 man's liberty away with your foolish impressions. 
 This is a serious matter and you must rein your 
 tongue." 
 
 " I am mute; I am mute," Ruth declared gaily, 
 " and here is Lucia with not even a word to throw 
 to — to Wick-Zoo." 
 
 " I can say good-night at least — and thank you 
 very much, Mr. Jardine," Lucia remarked lan- 
 guidly. She was as pale, she seemed as fragile as 
 the lace she wore. He accompanied them along the 
 verandah to the foot of the staircase, and as their 
 white draperies rustled up the flight into the 
 shadowy dimness of the upper story he turned 
 
 286 
 
The Windfall 
 
 away with a practical anxious solicitude, character- 
 istic of a husband or father rather than a lover, 
 wondering if Mrs. Laniston realised the serious- 
 ness of a nervous shock, and if it would have been 
 too intrusive to suggest calling in a physician to 
 prescribe. This trend of thought led to the alterna- 
 tive of a stimulant rather than a drug. A glass 
 of wine could do no harm, and he hurried to the 
 office with the intention of sending up a bottle of 
 the best that the town afforded with a plate of 
 wafers or crackers of some delicate sort. 
 
 The duck-like clerk dashed his hopes with a 
 single quack. " Dry town, Mr. Jardine," he re- 
 minded the guest jocosely. 
 
 Jardine remembered his brandy flask. He had 
 left it, well filled, at New Helvetia. 
 
 " This is really a case of necessity," he said, and 
 then checked himself abruptly. The circumstances 
 of the nervous shock it would not be well to un- 
 necessarily detail. 
 
 " Mrs. Laniston ill? " asked the clerk, drawing 
 his visage into such an expression of respectful 
 sympathy as might do homage to one of the valued 
 patrons of the house. " Sorry, indeed. Would 
 be glad to provide the stimulants. Interests of 
 house prevent. Law strictly enforced. Sorry, 
 indeed." 
 
 Then a sudden new thought seemed to strike 
 him. " No law against tipping you a wink." He 
 began to laugh very much. " I wouldn't tell such 
 a thing to the young man, Frank — of course. 
 
 287 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Promising boy. Confide in your discretion. Dis- 
 tinguished stranger in town. Retiring disposition. 
 Dispenses for a consideration. Holds forth in 
 seclusion. Best of reasons. Follow the first tipsy 
 hill-billy you see. Meet up with something. Sur- 
 prise you. Purest liquor in the world. Absolutely 
 unadulterated." The duck smacked his bill to- 
 gether and quacked forth a laugh of the most 
 wicked relish. 
 
 As a matter of curiosity Jardine had been given 
 the opportunity more than once at New Helvetia 
 to sample certain spirits said to issue from no 
 bonded still. There hung about this beverage a 
 wholesome home-made flavour, or perhaps its ex- 
 traordinary strength and its colourless limpidity 
 imparted a persuasion of its purity. He was easily 
 convinced of the value of the commodity, but he 
 only doubtfully thanked the clerk and walked forth 
 on the verandah, his ardour very definitely 
 quenched. 
 
 He had made for Lucia Laniston this day sacri- 
 fices of inclination and conviction altogether dis- 
 proportioned to the trivial matters that had con- 
 strained them. He would not have believed him- 
 self capable of so much self-abnegation as they had 
 involved. He could have done greater things that 
 were in accord with his tastes, his habits, his sense 
 of the appropriate, with far less strain upon his 
 generosity. It seemed to him now that he had in- 
 deed reached the limit. To be recommended to 
 sally forth to seek a moonshiner's lair! — he was 
 
 288' 
 
The Windfall 
 
 amazed and affronted that the clerk should have 
 ventured such a suggestion. Then he reflected that 
 he had said that it was a case of necessity, and not 
 even the drug stores were privileged to keep the 
 ardent stuff for medical purposes. 
 
 It was indeed a case of necessity, he said to him- 
 self, remembering the transparent pallor of Lucia's 
 face, the nerveless flaccidity of her cold little hand 
 as he had held it in his grasp for one moment in 
 the good-night leave-takings. He loved her in a 
 plain, home-like, hearty fashion. He would have 
 been constant himself, and unreceptive to little 
 variations of sentiment in her; he would not have 
 entertained captious and suspicious theories as to 
 minutiae of tone and word and manner; he would 
 not have sought unhappiness in analysing his own 
 affection and the degree of responsive warmth it 
 awakened had she once accepted his devotion and 
 promised her love in return. He would have be- 
 lieved placidly in her and continued altogether con- 
 fident in himself. He was solicitous for her w r ell- 
 being, her health, her happiness in a reasonable 
 sense. Had he been sure of her heart, her ap- 
 proval of himself, he would not have hesitated to 
 deny her all the fantastic follies that had no real 
 value as amusement and that had served to make 
 the day a nettling penance to him, as it should have 
 been to any other sane being. But any valid pleas- 
 ure, any opportunity of worldly advantage, any cul- 
 tivated and appropriate enjoyment — he would have 
 strained every nerve to afford her these. The idea 
 
 289 
 
The Windfall 
 
 that she was neglected, that her aunt did not realise 
 the shock she had endured, that she was suffering 
 for aught that he could procure and he alone — he 
 clapped his correct hat on his priggish head and 
 started out into the night. 
 
 It was dank and cool ; the winds were still astir 
 in the upper atmosphere, for the clouds raced con- 
 tinually athwart the densely enstarred sky. The 
 town, stretching away in straggling streets along 
 the hillside, was dark save for the lamps at reg- 
 ular intervals; here and there an upper window 
 shone above shrubbery and vines, the chamber of 
 some late patron of the Street Fair or perchance a 
 sick-room. The square was almost deserted; the 
 business houses were dark, presenting the blank 
 front of their shutters to the passer-by; only the 
 drug store was yet alight and groups of loiterers 
 congregated here, more than one exhibiting the 
 unsteady footsteps in which the hotel clerk had 
 recommended his patron to walk for the nonce. 
 
 These wavering steps set a languid pace along 
 the quiet country road for a considerable distance. 
 Trees grew close on either hand but there were few 
 dwellings; they were dark and silent, with one ex- 
 ception where a frantically barking dog dragged 
 a block and chain around a dooryard, unaccus- 
 tomed to be thus accoutred by night, and possibly 
 restrained to avoid harassing the unusual number 
 of harmless wayfarers along the highroad. The 
 stars gave sufficient light to show the direction of 
 the thoroughfare and the eccentric gait of the guide 
 
 290 
 
The Windfall 
 
 whom Jardine had elected to follow. There was 
 a footbridge visible spanning the river; many a 
 broken stellular reflection flashed from the dark, 
 lustrous surface, and the foam of the rapids was 
 assertively white in the claro-obscuro. Jardine had 
 a sense of anxiety lest the feet of the " hill-billy " 
 in advance were too unsteady to carry him safely 
 across the narrow structure. But he presently de- 
 scried him meandering cheerfully along on the 
 sit, he had paused and clung fearfully to the hand- 
 further side, although at one point, when in tran- 
 rail, and cried aloud in thick, drunken accents that 
 he was falling — he was a goner — he was a goner! 
 — " Tell Polly Ann how I died — how I died — how 
 
 I died! " All the solemn rocks and all the 
 
 impressive dark solitudes echoed and re-echoed the 
 serio-comic mandate, till even after Jardine had 
 crossed he noted a crag that was still rehearsing 
 the words as if in conscious mimicry. 
 
 There seemed no goal to this night jaunt, and 
 Mr. Jardine was beginning to feel a fool in his 
 own estimation — a catastrophe he dreaded, for he 
 was fain to think well of himself — when he met 
 two or three hilarious, roaring wights coming town- 
 ward singing with more uproarious mirth than 
 melody — " A leetle mo' cider, too, an' a leetle mo' 
 cider, too." 
 
 He was glad of the darkness that precluded their 
 notice, as they passed, that he was of a different 
 type from that proclaimed by their accent. But 
 as he turned a sudden curve of the road obscurity 
 
 291 
 
The Windfall 
 
 no longer protected him. He must have been in- 
 stantly visible even at the distance in the flaring 
 fires of an encampment which sent far-reaching red 
 pulsations through the woods and across the dark 
 waters of the river. A dozen torch standards, after 
 the manner of the lights of the street fair, showed 
 rude tables whereon barbecued meats, salt-rising 
 breads, and home-made cakes and pies were dis- 
 pensed at prices which no doubt undercut the 
 charges for such refreshments in the town. There 
 were two barrels, brazenly displayed, placed close 
 together with a small plank, shelf-like, from one 
 to the other, holding glasses and a big blue pitcher. 
 In the background was a stanch waggon, of which 
 the white canvas hood was no mean shelter 
 from the weather had one needed it; two or three 
 of the dogs were now asleep on the straw be- 
 neath it. An old woman, a younger one, with 
 an infant in arms, and a girl of eighteen, perhaps, 
 grouped about the fire gave a touch of domesticity 
 to the scene. Naught could seem further removed 
 from the suggestion of law-breaking and defiance 
 of vested authority. An eating-stand at a distance 
 from the town, to escape the municipal tax on a 
 lunch counter, and yet catch the country custom, 
 to make some small profits on the occasion and see 
 the Carnival — what more candid? Jardine felt 
 pierced through and through with the vigilance of 
 the eyes focussed upon him as he advanced in the 
 light. And never was there more virtuous indig- 
 nation expressed in voice and manner than was 
 
 2 9% 
 
The Windfall 
 
 shown by an elderly man with a bushy red beard 
 and a pale stolid face and a brown jeans suit, stand- 
 ing at the refreshment counter, as Jardine came up 
 and proffered his request. 
 
 " Brandy — or whisky? why, stranger, we ain't 
 sellin' whisky and brandy. It's agin the Fed'ral 
 law 'thout ye air able to pay a tax and hire a spy 
 to watch you. And it's agin the town law, bein' a 
 dry town. We uns hev got a good supper cooked 
 an* some powerful ch'ice apple cider hyar though. 
 We uns got a fine orcherd in good bearin' this 
 year, but we wouldn't even sell a bottle o' cider — 
 we sell by the drink— thar ain't no money in it 
 cept' by the drink." 
 
 And when Jardine had declined this refreshment 
 the old woman beside the fire rose and came for- 
 ward and earnestly essayed to sell him one of the 
 home-made baskets. She was most voluble as she 
 recommended her wares. " They ain't no cur'ous 
 baskets like them Injuns make over ter Qualla- 
 town, stranger," she said. " They ain't no quare 
 shape with some kind o' spell in the weavin' — they 
 tell me that them baskets kin be read like a book 
 by them ez hev got the key o' the braid. But I 
 ain't one as would want some onholy witch-like 
 savage saying ter be in use round my fireside, a- 
 repeatin' a spell or a curse on me an' mine ever' 
 time it was handled in the light. Now, hyar is a 
 reg'lar, homefolks, sanctified, Christian basket, ez 
 don't mean nuthin' but a quarter of a dollar. 
 That's all the magic there is about it. It's good 
 
 293 
 
The Windfall 
 
 and solid and roomy, stranger, an' yer lady would 
 find it so convenient to hold chips around the 
 hearthstone. Try it, stranger — jes' twenty-five 
 
 cents." 
 
 Jardine was ashamed to refuse altogether any 
 expenditure of money and presently he was trudg- 
 ing along the road to Colbury with the basket in 
 his hand and a fund of information as to the in- 
 genious methods in which the moonshiners were 
 successfully defying the Federal law. Had he been 
 known to the distillers, or perhaps had he merely 
 demanded a drink he would have been served with 
 the brush whisky in one of the primitive gourds, 
 since the evidence must needs have gone down his 
 throat at the stand, and few men would have 
 sought the informer's reward at the risk of the in- 
 former's fate on the testimony of a recollected 
 flavour, which is hardly proof in any court. That 
 the two barrels indeed contained cider was obvious 
 by the fragrance — the more fiery liquor was in some 
 secret receptacle not so easily seen and seized, se- 
 cured perhaps when the moonshiner turned back 
 to the spring, which he did more than once to rinse 
 the gourds in the waters of its branch. 
 
 Despite the appearance of an invincible security, 
 however, Jardine was forcibly reminded of the 
 pitcher that goes to the well ; he saw clearly in the 
 future the inevitable consequences of the extreme 
 daring of the old moonshiner, rendered unduly ven- 
 turesome by long immunity and prideful faith in his 
 own ingenious craft. The idea struck Jardine's 
 
 294 
 
The Windfall 
 
 mind, with a most unpleasant collocation of cir- 
 cumstances, that the Street Fair must profit largely 
 by this extraordinary opportunity to the inebriates 
 of the whole surrounding region. Since the clos- 
 ing of the saloons in Colbury the poorer class, by 
 far the larger, must needs be constrained to pur- 
 chase in the quantity by shipment from some city, 
 or in default of the price for this luxury, or the 
 hindrance of distance and ignorance, be reduced to 
 the absolute despair of temperance. Doubtless for 
 the facilities of boozing by the drink they had 
 flocked into Colbury by scores, where in the close 
 vicinity the flowing bowl might be drained for a 
 nickel, and the moonshiners might justly have con- 
 sidered themselves entitled to a share of the profits 
 of the show since their powerful attraction must 
 have added so largely to the gate receipts. He 
 shrugged his shoulders mechanically in the effort 
 to shake off the suspicion which he had begun to 
 entertain. The Street Fair was so obviously play- 
 ing in hard luck; was so pitifully inadequate as an 
 exhibition, in his opinion; its financial resources 
 were evidently so limited that this phenomenal op- 
 portunity of recruiting its exchequer rendered it pe- 
 culiarly liable to a charge of collusion with the 
 moonshiners, in the estimation of almost any man 
 seeking the solution of the problem of so many 
 inebriated spectators of the show on the streets of 
 a dry town. Only the appearance and manner of 
 Lloyd caused him to doubt his conclusion, and then 
 he wondered at himself that the endowments of 
 
 2951 
 
The Windfall 
 
 unusual personal beauty, a thing valueless in a man, 
 absolutely apart from character or station, a gift, 
 an accident, together with a grave and gentlemanly 
 address, which was also a fortuitous circumstance, 
 should weigh with him for an instant where an itin- 
 erant faker was concerned. In this development 
 of the situation he was infinitely nettled that this 
 man, the manager of the show, and doubtless the 
 prime mover and responsible agent of this unlaw- 
 ful whisky traffic, should have been brought into 
 any association with Miss Laniston, however cas- 
 ual and temporary. He ground his teeth with in- 
 dignant contempt that it was possible that she 
 should ever exchange a syllable with such a man, 
 should be seated beside him in the Ferris Wheel 
 in the midst of an attack upon him, stimulated by 
 jealousy or whisky or both. Jardine was not a 
 profane man, for oaths are ever bad form, but 
 between his gritting teeth he cursed Frank Laniston 
 again and again that his callow folly should have 
 left his position vacant by her side, and open to 
 the possibility of such a contretemps. 
 
 Jardine canvassed almost in a state of nervous 
 panic the probability that these facts might be 
 remembered by the police should the camp of the 
 moonshiners be raided by the revenue force and 
 the manager of the Street Fair be implicated. 
 Even if no more should result than a casual men- 
 tion in such an investigation it would be an indig- 
 nity insupportable in his estimation. And should 
 the miscreant who attacked the manager be dis- 
 
 296 
 
The Windfall 
 
 covered would not her testimony be required to 
 establish the facts? The tormentingly acute div- 
 ination of the two young girls had fixed on the 
 culprit, he was convinced, and should some unwary 
 word from them lead to his discovery a prosecu- 
 tion would involve to them as witnesses the most 
 annoying and derogatory conspicuousness. He 
 hardly knew how he could answer to his friends, 
 their respective fathers, that while in his care, 
 assumed of sheer good-will though it was, such 
 social inappropriateness could be permitted to 
 supervene. They were not at the end of this 
 miserable tangle — and he felt greatly to blame. 
 Yet with no authority, a disregarded advice, a 
 thousand hampering constraints on speaking his 
 mind candidly, how could he do more than he had 
 in protection, and counsel, and care? He wished 
 to high heaven that the Laniston Brothers were not 
 so intent on turning the trick in the late advance 
 in the price of cotton, and would give their per- 
 sonal attention to the precious interests of their 
 families. He was conscious that by this collective 
 term he meant only Lucia, and he was fair enough 
 to admit to himself that under the chaperonage of 
 her aunt, and with the companionship of her 
 cousins, male and female, and the volunteer tute- 
 lage of a friend of the family, an experienced man 
 of the world, George Laniston was amply justified 
 in thinking his only daughter safe enough, and 
 well out of harm's way. 
 
 So perverse were the circumstances that Jardinc 
 297 
 
The Windfall 
 
 thought that even his own excursion to-night might 
 be subject to misconstruction — and he hedged im- 
 mediately on the chance. As he had not succeeded 
 in his quest there was certainly scant utility in 
 seeming to have patronised the moonshiners. 
 There was no great change in the aspect of the 
 town as he entered it — a torch a-flare here and 
 there among the tents; the street lamps shining at 
 regular intervals; the drug store alone alight 
 among the silent business houses of the quadrangle; 
 the gas ablaze in the hotel office, and although, so 
 short was his absence, the duck was off duty he 
 still lingered in the room lighting a thick cigar 
 at the little lamp for the purpose on the counter. 
 
 " No go," said Jardine* — he had earlier thrown 
 away his basket. 
 
 The duck raised astonished eyebrows. " I'd 
 resent that. Personal. Listen, will you?" 
 
 A voice mellow, clear, floated in from the street 
 * — singing in beatitude — marred only by hiccoughs, 
 and now and then a wild involuntary wail off the 
 key. " We won't go home — we won't go home — 
 we won't go home till mornin', — till daylight doth 
 appear." 
 
 When silence ensued the duck said significantly: 
 " All the rope they want — hang themselves — don't 
 even run them in. Visitors soon. Official." 
 
 298 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE next morning when Jardinc issued 
 early forth from the little blue reception- 
 room, where he had tossed sleepless al- 
 most throughout the night on the folding cabinet 
 bed, he paused on the verandah, staring in stulti- 
 fied amaze. Not a tent was visible on the square, 
 not a huckster's stand. The great circumference 
 of the Ferris Wheel no longer vexed with its in- 
 congruous periphery the august mountain scene 
 which it had framed. Not a spieler's horn could 
 be heard, nor an echo of the brazen melodies 
 of the band; the wooden horses of the merry-go- 
 round seemed to have galloped away in the night. 
 There was not even the mast for the high dive, 
 nor the reservoir that broke the fall of the leap- 
 ing acrobat. The street fair had vanished, like an 
 exhalation of the night in the beams of the morn- 
 ing sun. Jardine might have doubted his senses, 
 save for the crowds of wondering rustics that 
 wandered dolefully up and down the pavements, 
 disconsolate, disappointed. Now and again groups 
 paused before written notices pasted on the door 
 of the courthouse and of the post office, and at 
 the distance seemed to discuss it, and then moved 
 aimlessly away, making space for other groups on 
 like errands. Another placard was at the main 
 entrance of the hotel, also under frequent consul- 
 
 299 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tation by drearily strolling groups of the more 
 prosperous class of country folks. It was of course 
 impossible to decipher it at the distance, but as 
 Jardine moved toward it he was accosted by the 
 duck-like clerk, seated in the office window opening 
 on the verandah. 
 
 ''Complete surprise, ain't it?" said the clerk 
 jovially. " Jig's up." 
 
 " The fair is gone? " asked Jardine futilely. 
 
 " Do you see any fair? " quacked the duck. " I 
 don't." ' 
 
 " Isn't it very sudden? " Jardine demanded. 
 
 " Liked to broke my neck," declared the clerk 
 hyperbolically. " Left on the morning train." 
 
 "What's the reason for it?" Jardine asked, 
 looking again toward the posted notice. 
 
 He was experiencing the most intense relief. 
 All the troubles that had infested his consciousness 
 were annihilated. The vanishing of the street 
 fair was like awakening from a nightmare — a 
 deep sense of gratitude contended with a feeling 
 that his troubles had been unreal, overstrained, 
 gratuitous. 
 
 " Oh, they give the plain facts — straight goods 
 — honest fellow, that Lloyd. Couldn't pay ex- 
 penses any longer — only made their transportation 
 in three days. Disbanded show, and lit right out." 
 
 He had jumped down on the inner side of the 
 office, then turned anew to the window, as if with 
 a sudden thought. 
 
 " That fellow, Captain Ollory — keen to get 
 300 
 
The Windfall 
 
 away — never saw a man so rattled! Here in the 
 office last night they had it out — one of them had 
 to stay. He wouldn't — he'd have walked to New 
 York first — said so — perfectly wild ! " 
 
 Jardine looked for a moment as if he had beheld 
 a Gorgon's face — his own seemed petrified. 
 
 " Then that manager — that rascal Lloyd is here 
 yet? " he asked. 
 
 The clerk seemed disconcerted. 
 
 " Hard phrase, Mr. Jardine." Then he hesi- 
 tated as if he thought he had said too much. It 
 was no part of his duty as clerk of the Avoca 
 House of Colbury to censor the guests' criticism 
 of each other. " Poor business, but no man could 
 behave more fairly. Lloyd wanted to go, but gave 
 up the preference. Ollory seemed possessed to get 
 away — Haxon, I should say. And there was not 
 money enough for both." 
 
 Jardine could hardly control his irritation, the 
 revulsion was so great. He had just been liber- 
 ated from all his fears and anxieties to find himself 
 suddenly enmeshed anew. It mattered little in- 
 deed that the foolish, sordid, futile parapher- 
 nalia of the fair had been removed, if the point 
 of danger in divers interpretations, the man him- 
 self, remained. As he stood by the window, 
 frowning down in deep absorption at the floor, 
 silent, forbidding of aspect, cold and formal as 
 always, the clerk resumed, somewhat at a loss. 
 
 " Lloyd, too, seemed frantic to be off," he said. 
 " He could hardly resign himself." 
 
 3, 01 
 
The Windfall 
 
 He laughed a little at the forlorn plight; it 
 had to him its ludicrous suggestions. " * Sent for, 
 but couldn't go,' " he quoted gaily. 
 
 Jardine made no answer; he was reflecting that 
 both men had doubtless the best of reasons for quit- 
 ting the country; he hardly questioned that they 
 were amenable to the Federal law in some measure 
 for conspiring with the distillers for the sale of 
 illicit liquor, and reciprocally profiting thereby 
 through the enterprise of the street fair. The man- 
 ager was obviously the responsible individual, the 
 principal, and his apprehension would rebound with 
 all its conspicuous derogations upon the personnel 
 of Jardine's own select party. Since one must needs 
 remain, it was a thousand pities that that one could 
 not have been the innocuous Captain Ollory. 
 
 He did not speak, and the clerk had an unpleas- 
 ant fear that he had offended him, for the sake of 
 a phrase, forsooth, in the disparagement of the 
 most absolute stranger, for whom the duck in 
 reality did not care a single quack. He waxed 
 suddenly very genial and confidential, and Jar- 
 dine, who under other circumstances would have 
 resented the gossip as familiar and intrusive, was 
 an eager listener — absurdly enough he had so much 
 at stake in the personality of this man Lloyd. 
 
 " 'Twas as good as a play," the clerk laughed, 
 " in the office late last night, — a much better play 
 than any they bill — when they counted out the 
 money — had it in my desk. All couldn't get off. 
 Ollory wanted to leave Wick-Zoo, too, but it 
 
 302 
 
The Windfall 
 
 seemed the wild man had money of his own. They 
 paid him with a due bill, ha, ha ! Ollory wanted to 
 leave the Fat Lady; he said she was too fat to be 
 disturbed — I don't know whether he meant men- 
 tally or physically — and Lloyd — he's a funny fel- 
 low! — he swore he wouldn't mention such a thing; 
 she was a high-toned lady, if she was a bit stout ! 
 He declared he never would run off and leave a part 
 of his company stranded, least of all a woman, 
 and one, by her infirmity, helpless to shift for 
 herself — he's not a bad egg, Mr. Jardine ! When 
 Lloyd saw it must fall between himself and Ollory 
 — Ollory had the money in his paw; he grabbed 
 it as soon as it was laid on the counter, and to do 
 him justice he counted out only the transportation 
 — and Lloyd had the bag to hold, he tried to raise 
 the money for his railroad fare on a personal valu- 
 able that he's got. Told him nobody here did 
 pawn-broking. Tried me." 
 
 " Why didn't you lend it to him?" exclaimed 
 Jardine suddenly, seeing a way out of the diffi- 
 culty. It had never occurred to him to pay the 
 man to go, lest he implicate himself in he knew 
 not what — though money was no object in this 
 connection. But it was indeed grievous to per- 
 ceive a means of extrication so simple, so near, and 
 cast aside. 
 
 " Didn't know how valuable valuable might 
 be," the clerk laughed. " Step in here, Mr. Jar- 
 dine. Show it to you. Left in safe." 
 
 It was a thing of which Mr. Jardine would 
 3^3 
 
The Windfall 
 
 never have believed himself capable as he stepped 
 through the window and addressed himself to ap- 
 praise a valuable which an unknown man had left 
 in the custody of an hotel safe. But he made up 
 his mind, however worthless the trinket might be, 
 to advance to the clerk the necessary sum, to be 
 loaned through him, without mention of the source 
 whence it came. Anything to be rid of the incubus 
 of the showman! 
 
 His face changed as the clerk touched the 
 spring of a small leather case. There, reposing 
 on a bed of faint blue Genoa velvet, so faded as 
 to be near green, was a ring set with a large pig- 
 eon's blood ruby; a row of very white diamonds 
 was encrusted into the dull gold of the setting, but 
 the red stone was held up in claws, and was visible 
 throughout. 
 
 Jardine had a sudden monition of caution. 
 These were gems of price, doubtless stolen! He 
 could not — he would not involve himself further 
 in such a matter, whatever aesthetic discomforts, 
 whatever mortifying publicity incidents of far less 
 moment might occasion Miss Lucia Laniston. 
 Every throb of his impulse was still. He was 
 once more the cautious man of the world. 
 
 " Worth the money?" the clerk queried curi- 
 ously. 
 
 " Worth forty times the money," Jardine calmly 
 responded. If the Avoca House should oblige 
 a guest by lending money on good security it would 
 rid him of his dilemma, and affect him no further. 
 
 3°4 
 
The Windfall 
 
 But beyond this he promised himself he would not 
 be urged by his adoring, worshipful reverence for 
 the pellucid aloofness and unapproachableness be- 
 fitting a young girl, that lent her the dignity and 
 remote charm of a star. There were sordid mat- 
 ters to consider in this world, and the responsibility 
 of trafficking with stolen goods was one of them. 
 
 " But look here; these rubies are sometimes 
 what you call doublets, ain't they? Just a sort of 
 veneer of the real thing over glass." 
 
 " This is no doublet," said Jardine, taking the 
 gem into his hand. " This is a genuine and very 
 perfect stone of a very rare type — the pigeon's 
 blood ruby." 
 
 As he looked at it he was impressed with the 
 antique aspect of the ring; the setting was in 
 gold of several different tints — green, red, yellow 
 in two shades. He had not given much attention 
 to ornaments of this order, but he knew that this 
 method of setting was antiquated, not to say an- 
 tique. He thought of the incongruity with the 
 sordid little show — the high dive, Wick-Zoo, the 
 Ferris Wheel. More than ever the conviction that 
 the gem was stolen took possession of him. He 
 suffered suddenly a qualm of conscience. He felt 
 that the clerk was of limited experience and needed 
 a warning. He ought not to be suffered unneces- 
 sarily to lose his money and involve himself. 
 
 " It is so fine, so rare, and so valuable that 
 I am very sure it must be stolen. I don't say by 
 whom, or when." 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Jardine," said the clerk, quite self- 
 sufficient. His cheek reddened. He was blushing 
 for the imputation. " Don't you think you are 
 quite a little too suspicious? " 
 
 " Perhaps — perhaps ! At all events you are 
 warned," said Mr. Jardine, as he walked past the 
 safe, around the desk, and out of the office by the 
 door, rather than informally through the window 
 as he had entered. 
 
 | The clerk looked after him with no very friendly 
 eyes, then he snapped the old ring in its dingy 
 leather case, and locked it in the safe with Mr. 
 Jardine's careful warnings. The value of the 
 jewels ascertained he was prepared to lend the 
 amount of transportation upon it; should he not 
 be repaid he would profit enormously, and he was 
 altogether willing to take the risk that however in 
 the vicissitudes of his life the showman had come 
 by the ring it was honestly owned. 
 
 Before the hack started for New Helvetia — it 
 was indeed standing in front of the door — Frank 
 came fuming up into his mother's room, where 
 she, his sister, and his cousin were putting on their 
 hats, preparatory to the journey. The young girls 
 were fresh and bright again in their white dresses, 
 which had, indeed, been sent to the laundry to 
 be pressed and now showed as unwrinkled and 
 perfect as if the stiff linen skirts and dainty little 
 embroidered jackets were donned for the first time. 
 The embroidered frills of their lingerie hats 
 shaded, yet did not shadow, their fair faces, which 
 
 306 
 
\The Windfall 
 
 showed no trace of the fatigue and excitements of 
 yesterday, save that Lucia seemed a bit pale, and 
 her eyes were larger and more appealing than 
 usual. They were putting on their long silk gloves, 
 now and then turning to eye each other from head 
 to foot, for they entertained an enthusiastic mutual 
 admiration, and were wont to point out a hair 
 awry, or a line out of plumb with a serious re- 
 buke, as of sacrilege. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston was not ill-pleased to be getting 
 back to New Helvetia, but she regarded the out- 
 ing as a highly successful break to the monotony. 
 She could not enter into Mr. Jardine's sentiments 
 in reference to the little fair; she had noticed his 
 impatience with its grotesqueness and shortcom- 
 ings, and in the privacy of the domestic circle had 
 commented adversely. Did he think it was the 
 Paris Exposition? she had demanded sarcastically 
 of her daughter and niece. There is a sort of 
 leniency of judgment peculiarly becoming to the 
 highly bred and highly placed. Mrs. Laniston 
 realised, for example, that the little village hotel 
 was not the finest type of house of entertainment 
 in all the world, but one was fairly comfortable 
 there, and she seemed courteously unaware that 
 there was aught better or more pretentious in New 
 York or London, so long as she was under its 
 hospitable roof. To be easily entertained with 
 the best attainable was an instinct with her, and 
 when Frank, his boyish face red and his scanty 
 frown drawn above vexed and troubled eyes, 
 
 397, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 paused with his hands in his pockets, complaining, 
 " I do declare, that fellow Jardine bullyrags the 
 life out of me," she was predisposed to be her 
 son's partisan, and to discriminate against some 
 ultra-fastidious prejudice of Mr. Jardine's of the 
 sort which, if regarded, would already have de- 
 stroyed every vestige of pleasure which the hum- 
 ble little outing could afford. She whirled half 
 around from the bureau, where she was standing 
 before the mirror putting on her wide black hat, 
 holding it with one hand, while with the other 
 she thrust a hat pin tentatively back and forth 
 through the structure, seeking to find a steady grip 
 in her masses of grey-blond hair. 
 
 " In the name of pity! " she ejaculated, gazing 
 inquiringly at him. 
 
 " Ye-es," he whined, " anybody would think I 
 was born yesterday, and couldn't find my way to 
 the hall door there." 
 
 11 Well, what is it now? " she asked impatiently, 
 with another thrust of the hat pin forceful enough 
 to seem to the uninitiated very dangerous. 
 
 " Well," he pushed both hands far down in 
 his pockets and took an aimless step to and fro, 
 his red face overcast and crestfallen with the 
 sense of being thought a fool, and such a realisa- 
 tion of his own immaturity as prevented the re- 
 couping satisfaction of a full faith in himself. " I 
 found that that fellow Lloyd would be here a little 
 while waiting for remittances — it seems the whole 
 show came very near being stranded, and, like the 
 
 308, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 captain of a sinking ship, he is the last to leave. 
 Well, it seemed no great absurdity to me, as he is 
 a first-class, all-round professional athlete, such as 
 
 I am not likely to meet again in a hurry, to ask 
 him to give me a few lessons in boxing. I'm bound 
 to have exercise, and a punchbag is such a lone- 
 some fool ! " 
 
 Mrs. Laniston evidently did not see the point 
 as yet. The hat adjusted at last, she began to 
 pull on her black silk gloves over her rather 
 bony jewelled fingers, gazing the while into the 
 mirror, to which reflection he addressed his appeal. 
 
 " Do you see anything extraordinary in that 
 project? " 
 
 " Except the expense of coming from and going 
 to New Helvetia," she replied a little wonderingly. 
 
 II I always did think the monopoly of that hack 
 line ought to be put down. The charges are ex- 
 tortionate — it is practically impossible to go back 
 and forth as one might like to do in excursions 
 about the country if rates were reasonable." 
 
 " Why, that is what I told the fellow — that I 
 could better afford the price of the lessons if he 
 were waiting at New Helvetia, instead of here in 
 Colbury." 
 
 "And then?" Mrs. Laniston was very dense; 
 she did not yet perceive the point. 
 
 " Then Lloyd inquired as to the hotel rates at 
 New Helvetia, and when he found they were lower 
 at this season than the charges for transient guests 
 at this place he said that he had no objection to 
 
 309 
 
\The Windfall 
 
 going to New Helvetia — that it would be a change 
 for him, and that he was fed up with Colbury." 
 
 " See here, Frank, you are developing a gift for 
 oratory. Why don't you come to the point, if 
 there is any point?" Mrs. Laniston, who herself 
 could hold forth so volubly and with such a flow 
 of well-considered words, admonished him. 
 
 11 Why, it seemed such an advantageous ar- 
 rangement; he said, first off, that he could give 
 much better value for the money. He could coach 
 me, too, for the track team — it seems he was once 
 a short-distance sprinter — free of charge. He 
 said we could just run up and down the roads 
 for fun, if they were as good as I said. And then 
 we could have a few bouts with the foils, once in 
 a while — he took a prize for fencing once in an 
 athletic contest — showed me the medal. And I'm 
 getting so fat!" Frank's voice rose to a dreary 
 plaint. " I was perfectly scandalised this morning 
 when I stepped on the public scales on the other 
 side of the square " 
 
 " We understand," murmured Ruth. " Where 
 they weigh the other prize calves." 
 
 He looked at her with a little grin of apprecia- 
 tion, but, absorbed in the subject, went on without 
 retort. " I shall be ruled out of every athletic event 
 at college this year. Whereas, if I train down, and 
 have this splendid coach to get me fit I may be 
 able to take my place on the gridiron just as if 
 I hadn't been away; it's only a substitute playing 
 with the Eleven now." 
 
 310 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Mrs. Laniston's mind quickly reviewed the sit- 
 uation. So long as athletics did not interfere with 
 scholastic grading, her husband and she had agreed 
 that they were to be encouraged. Frank had 
 neither the tastes nor the application of a student, 
 but he possessed a good mind, and a very sound 
 conscience. Since his parents desired he should 
 have a collegiate education, and take a degree, he 
 read with great diligence, and they sugar-coated 
 the pill by endorsing the college athletics, and giv- 
 ing him all the outdoor sport that was craved by 
 his physique, abounding in vitality and vigour. It 
 was a compact in some sort, unacknowledged, but 
 very definitely appreciated, that he should grind 
 and toil, and assimilate a thousand ideas for which, 
 so far, he had neither use nor liking, and pass 
 his examinations creditably, and that he should be 
 unmolested to play as he would. 
 
 "Yes; it seems an excellent arrangement for 
 the purpose. Mr. Jardine is a man of very judi- 
 cious conclusions, but I can't imagine his objections 
 in this instance." 
 
 "Simply threw a fit! I told him that Lloyd 
 and I had signed up a little contract, for I want 
 only to promise to pay for the boxing lessons. I 
 couldn't, out of my allowance, undertake to pay 
 for all that fellow could teach me — he could teach 
 me something of value for every wink of my eye- 
 lids. And Lloyd chimed in, too, and said it was 
 best to have it understood, for we would probably 
 be lonesome, and spend the time playing — with 
 
 3 1 * 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Indian clubs, and dumb-bells, and wrestling — and 
 we had better set down what was to be work, and 
 what was to be pastime." 
 
 "Come to the point, Frank! You are long- 
 winded ! " his mother admonished him. She had 
 sunk into a chair, and, as the two girls were ranged 
 side by side on the sofa, he stood before the 
 family in the guise of a domestic orator, and made 
 a desperate bolt at the main statement of his 
 disclosure. 
 
 " Threw a fit! Adjured me not to compromise 
 the dignity of the family! " 
 
 There was a feminine chorus of exclama- 
 tions. 
 
 " Crazy, ain't he? " said Frank. " I told him 
 a few lessons in boxing couldn't compromise the 
 dignity of any family that had any dignity. He 
 said I perversely misunderstood him. For a fact 
 he did. Said it was the person he objected to. 
 Emphasised person as if he would like Lloyd 
 better if he went on four feet, like Wick-Zoo, once 
 in a while. I asked him what was the matter with 
 Lloyd. Said that on account of my folly he had 
 had an opportunity to ride with Miss Laniston in 
 the Wheel." 
 
 " Well, upon my word! " exclaimed Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton. 
 
 And the two young ladies grew breathless and 
 round-eyed. 
 
 " It was his own fault — he should have called off 
 the event; he could have said that he was waiting 
 
 312 
 
The Windfall 
 
 for me; his party was not complete. I did not 
 dare suggest this, though. I declare I have had 
 to eat enough humble-pie this morning to destroy 
 my appetite forever." And Frank drew out his 
 handkerchief, and, with a long-suffering air, 
 mopped his shining, roseate, fresh face. 
 
 " I think it was very ill-judged in Mr. Jardine 
 to bring the mention of Miss Laniston into the 
 matter," said Mrs. Laniston, her delicate features 
 flushing with irritation. 
 
 " In my humble mind that was the only impro- 
 priety committed," said Frank. " But of course 
 on account of my youth, and being a sort of stand- 
 ard fool, I did not dare to say so. But I did pluck 
 up enough to state that we could not consider 
 Lloyd's riding in the Wheel with Miss Laniston 
 in any sense except as a convenience to her, to 
 weight the machine, and we could not base any 
 action on any other hypothesis." 
 
 " You were very right," said his mother heart- 
 ily, and Frank, encouraged by this infrequent and 
 unexpected approval, took heart of grace to con- 
 tinue, fetched a long sigh of relief, and once more 
 mopped his face with his handkerchief. 
 
 " I said to Jardine that there had been no pre- 
 sumption whatever in the man's conduct, and that 
 the suggestion was offensive to us." 
 
 " Very well, indeed," said Mrs. Laniston. She 
 was thinking that Frank, after all, was not so 
 incompetent as a squire of dames, and was realising 
 how the contortion of the circumstances in Jar- 
 
 3 l 3 
 
The Windfall 
 
 dine's mind would affect George Laniston, should 
 he hear that version. 
 
 " But you won't believe that he wouldn't accept 
 the situation. He called me a boy, and of course 
 I had to submit to that. He said the showman 
 had noticed our family at table — he had been of- 
 fended to observe it. As if, in this free and en- 
 lightened country, people should fall on their faces, 
 with their faces in the dust at our august approach. 
 I reminded him that the bullet-eyed man stared 
 at us, and that it was me who stared at the man- 
 ager, who is liable* to that sort of thing, for he 
 has got the face of a god or an archangel — told 
 me, when I asked him where was his photograph 
 in the show collection, that he had promised Duroc, 
 the painter, not to be taken till his great picture, 
 1 The Last Day,' is finished. Lloyd is the model 
 for the angel Gabriel in that, and he says it's 
 great, though he thinks the horn makes him look 
 like a translated spieler." 
 
 " But about Mr. Jardine " 
 
 " Mamma, I think I am the most put-upon 
 fellow that ever lived. That great Jay stopped 
 Lloyd as he passed and told him that I was a 
 minor, and incapable of making a contract — in my 
 presence, mind you; in my presence!" 
 
 " Why, Frank ! " exclaimed Mrs. Laniston, 
 amazed and offended. 
 
 " Oh, he did it in a sort of innocuous way — 
 he's very crafty; said I'd been telling him about 
 the arrangement, and then, as if jocularly remind- 
 
 314 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing me of a disability, said that I was a minor, 
 and the contract invalid. He slicked it over and 
 smoothed it down. I think he could smooth down 
 the Great Smoky Mountains, if he should try his 
 hand on them." 
 
 "And what did Mr. Lloyd say?" asked Mrs. 
 Laniston, very seriously annoyed and indignant. 
 
 " Really, he seemed the best-bred man of the 
 two. He said he would consider my word as good 
 as my bond — the contract was merely a memoran- 
 dum, as between us two, determining what exer- 
 cises should be considered business and be paid for, 
 the rest being merely amusement and voluntary. 
 He passed it off easily, but I felt extremely out of 
 
 countenance." 
 
 " I must say Mr. Jardine takes a good deal on 
 himself," Mrs. Laniston said, holding her head 
 very high, the colour mantling her cheek, " and 
 his standpoint is very unreasonable. That you 
 should not hire the services of an athletic coach, 
 because he took a vacant place beside Miss Lanis- 
 ton, in order to weight the machine and make it 
 safe, there being no one else for the purpose in the 
 party, he being the manager and owner of the 
 apparatus, is more than preposterous. We must 
 take no notice of Mr. Jardine's assumptions that 
 there was anything derogatory in the matter. We 
 will treat the man like any other stranger. And 
 now let us get back to New Helvetia where, thank 
 a merciful providence, there is somebody besides 
 the wearisome Mr. Jardine! " 
 
 3,15 
 
The Windfall 
 
 The approach to New Helvetia ushered Lloyd 
 into a new experience, despite his wide wanderings 
 in many ways. The trails he had followed had not 
 sought seclusion; a full population, showward bent, 
 was the desideratum of his journey's goal hith- 
 erto. He had scarcely realised that there was so 
 lonely a region on the face of the earth as the 
 dense and gigantic forests through which the 
 smooth, hard, red clay road led. The scarlet oak, 
 the sumach, and the sourwood on exposed slopes 
 to the north had turned red, and flaunted gor- 
 geously against the blue sky. The foliage of hick- 
 ory now and again appeared at sudden turns, a clear 
 translucent yellow from trunk to topmost twig. 
 Here and there great grey crags showed through 
 boughs still green and lush, that yet held the sum- 
 mer captive, loath to let it go. There was a 
 stream that kept the road company, as if apart 
 they might be affrighted in the vast unbroken wil- 
 dernesses, and now it showed a miniature cataract, 
 clear as crystal, fringed with foam, leaping down 
 great broken ledges; and now it brawled, widening 
 into marshy tangles by the wayside; and now 
 it ran over rocks, and flashed and frothed like 
 rapids; and now it showed stretches of smooth 
 golden flow above a bed of gravel, with here and 
 there the sudden silver glinting of a water-break. 
 He watched it with a sort of fascinated revery, 
 unconsciously marking its moods and garnering its 
 spirit. Occasionally a gap in the woods showed 
 the mountains, vast, endless, austere, dominating 
 
 316 
 
The Windfall 
 
 all the world, and he appreciated that the road 
 was continuously rising by gentle degrees to higher 
 and higher levels. The horses were fleet and 
 strong; the roads only fairly good, for in some 
 localities the rain had converted the red clay into 
 mud of a most tenacious character; elsewhere the 
 downpour had come with such force as to beat 
 the ground hard. Here they bowled swiftly; the 
 driver, evidently, had a monition toward atoning 
 for the interval when they toiled and bogged 
 through the sloughs. There had been a delay at 
 the last moment; a new passenger presented him- 
 self who could not be ready to start till one o'clock, 
 and, though Mr. Jardine had protested that he 
 had chartered the hack, — in the phrase of the 
 region, — the driver declared that the orders of the 
 line required him to take up all the custom he 
 could gather before it was necessary to leave town 
 in order to make the run before dark. The episode 
 had greatly irritated Jardine, but he found a cer- 
 tain consolation in the fact that the presence of 
 this representative of the general public, so to 
 speak, exerted a repressive influence on the ex- 
 uberance of the two young ladies. The incidents 
 that had marked the trip down were not repeated 
 — the pauses to alight and gather wild flowers; 
 the shrieks of delight over some lovely vista of 
 the stream and protestations how dear it would be 
 to wade in the shallow crystal flood, floored with 
 golden gravel and great solid ledges of moss- 
 grown rock; the determination which could not be 
 
 317 
 
The Windfall 
 
 gainsaid to visit the shaft of a mine, worked for 
 silver, in a primitive way, hard by, where a wind- 
 lass was in operation. Lucia unexpectedly stepped 
 into the swaying bucket above the abyss of ninety 
 feet, holding her skirts tight about her, and or- 
 dered the men to lower her, that she might look 
 into the intersecting tunnel. " I'll bring you luck," 
 she declared. " I'm a mascot! " 
 
 " Shure I niver knew till to-day, leddy, that 
 anny o' the fairies had emigrated from Oirland, 
 their native land," said an old Irishman, as she 
 alighted from the bucket, relinquishing, with pre- 
 tended reluctance, the descent which her aunt with 
 some precipitancy forbade; the compliment in a 
 rich brogue, and the flattering twinkle of the eye 
 had set Jardine wild, but Mrs. Laniston had 
 laughed pleasantly, and had descanted elaborately, 
 after they were in the stage once more, on the 
 national gift of blended blarney and poesy that 
 tips the tongue of an Irishman, of whatever de- 
 gree, wherever found. 
 
 Now all was changed. Strangers were fellow- 
 travellers. Placed with Mrs. Laniston on the 
 back seat of the " hack," the young ladies had re- 
 lapsed into the inexpressive, sedate demeanour 
 which they assumed so easily when subjected to the 
 gaze of the outside world. It might have been 
 different, thought Jardine, if only Lloyd — who had 
 unluckily acquired a quasi acquaintance — had been 
 added to the family party. 
 
 The person who thus reconciled Mr. Jardine to 
 
 318 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the fact of his creation and appearance on this 
 occasion was himself disposed to take little note 
 of the personnel and conditions of his environment. 
 He was a tall, portly man, with a strong, hand- 
 some, rather round, face, a florid complexion, and 
 round, somewhat staring, eyes; middle-aged, 
 soberly dressed, and extremely reticent. Beyond 
 an undeveloped feint of a bow to the assemblage in 
 the hack when he entered the vehicle, he accorded 
 none of them a moment's notice. He had the 
 front seat beside the driver; each of the other two 
 seats held three passengers, Jardine being be- 
 tween Lloyd and Laniston, and controlling the 
 very scanty conversation, taking the word when- 
 ever an observation was ventured by either. This 
 line of tactics greatly nettled Frank, who, being un- 
 able to appropriately return it in kind, relapsed into 
 a marked silence. Lloyd was apparently not aware 
 of its significance, for he responded pleasantly, 
 though monosyllabically, but indeed Jardine per- 
 mitted nothing more. 
 
 When they reached the foot of the mountain, 
 however, and the driver paused to breathe the 
 horses, the men alighting to lessen the burden for 
 the steep ascent, the stranger, who had presum- 
 ably been profiting by the platitudes with which 
 Mr. Jardine had beguiled the journey, did not 
 select his company as solace in the long, stiff tramp. 
 On the contrary he attached himself to Lloyd, and 
 together they were soon well in advance of the 
 straining team, while Frank and Jardine walked 
 
 319 
 
The Windfall 
 
 on either side of the vehicle and talked to the 
 ladies over the high wheels. Here, out of sight 
 and beyond the participation of the mere outsiders, 
 Mr. Jardine was pleased to unbend, and be most 
 affable and entertaining, for he did not include in 
 the scheme of creation such objects as the driver 
 — the mere furniture of life — a stalwart young 
 mountaineer, walking nimbly beside his team, hold- 
 ing the reins in his hand, and calling out admoni- 
 tions and encouragements. As he could not, a-foot, 
 use the brake Frank found occupation and utility 
 in " scotching " the wheels with a big stone, or 
 locking them with the chain, generally used to im- 
 pede a too rapid descent, whenever the team was 
 halted on the steep acclivity for a few minutes of 
 breathing space. 
 
 Lucia, with her quick faculties, was well-fitted 
 for a duplicate mental process. She smiled ap- 
 propriately when Jardine made his neat little 
 points of mirth, or nodded serious acquiescence, 
 when his remarks seemed of weight. In reality 
 she gave him only the most superficial attention, 
 barely enough to discern the trend of his talk. 
 Her interest was concentrated on the two pedes- 
 trians ahead, and once more she wondered how 
 the showman should look such a gentleman. The 
 road curved and doubled in innumerable turns to 
 evade slants impossible to the straining horses. 
 Looking upward one could see it here and there 
 in the breaks of the thinning foliage, suggesting 
 unwound coils of brown ribbon. The wind came 
 
 320 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fresh and free, laden with the sweet dank odours 
 of the fallen leaves, the exquisite freshness of the 
 mountain heights, and all the bouquet and tang 
 of the wayside herbage. It brought the words of 
 the two pedestrians, now passing them on a higher 
 level, and visible above a mass of broken rock. 
 
 " Late in the season to visit the mountain re- 
 sorts, " the elder man observed. 
 
 " They are usually closed by this time," Lloyd 
 politely responded. 
 
 " I suppose the yellow fever in the South de- 
 tains their patrons." 
 
 Then they both trudged silently on. 
 
 The horses were once more urged forward; 
 in their improved speed Jardine and Frank both 
 fell behind. The driver, who had no possibility of 
 comprehending the many finical delicacies which 
 racked Mr. Jardine's prepossessions, kept up the 
 pace till he had passed the two passengers on 
 ahead, and when next he paused in the shade to 
 rest, the stanch team, sweating at every pore, they 
 presently overtook in turn the stationary vehicle, 
 and stoutly marched past, without a word or glance 
 for the occupants. 
 
 " Fine water at these springs? " suggested the 
 stranger. 
 
 " So I hear, but I am new to the place — never 
 was here before," Lloyd replied. 
 
 His fine figure was especially marked, the per- 
 fection of strength and symmetry, as he went 
 swinging past, his hands in the pockets of 
 
 321 
 
The Windfall 
 
 his light fawn-tinted suit, his hat tipped slightly 
 over his eyes, a spray of the jewel-weed, which he 
 had caught up by the wayside, in his buttonhole, 
 keeping step with his portly companion, who was 
 content to pound over the ground anyhow, re- 
 gardless of grace, as a man of his weight must 
 needs be. 
 
 Jardine, all blown, and panting, and eager from 
 his hasty pull after the hack — he and Frank had 
 sought to shorten the distance by a cross-cut 
 through from one curve to another, and hindered 
 by brambles and obstructed by boulders, had found 
 it hard travelling — had noticed, too, the figures 
 on ahead, and had heard the words as the wind 
 wafted to him the casual talk. He had taken off 
 his hat, and was wiping the traces of his exertion 
 from his brow with his fine white cambric hand- 
 kerchief. 
 
 From time to time the elder stranger fixed the 
 eyes of a very close and keen observation on his 
 companion. He was evidently interested, even 
 inquisitive. 
 
 " You hardly look as if you need the waters for 
 your health, sir," he said. 
 
 " I am particularly fit, just now," said Lloyd. 
 But he made no advances to gratify the curiosity 
 of his new acquaintance. His reserve struck Jar- 
 dine with a peculiarly sinister suggestion. Did 
 the showman fear this stranger, and why? He 
 remembered his own conclusion, that the street 
 carnival had been involved in the sale of the moon- 
 
 322 
 
The Windfall 
 
 shine whisky and that the manager as representa- 
 tive was personally liable. A new fear fell upon 
 him like a thunderbolt. This stranger was doubt- 
 less a detective, an emissary of the revenue depart- 
 ment, who was tracking and shadowing this man 
 till he had grounds sufficient for the arrest. And 
 Frank Laniston — the callow fool! — had brought 
 upon him, upon his own family so ill-flavoured 
 and derogatory an association. Nothing had su- 
 pervened like this — the detective might arrest the 
 creature at any moment, and had the authority to 
 call on him, and Laniston, and the driver as a 
 posse comitatns to assist him in apprehending and 
 securing his prisoner. What else could bring a 
 man of this type here, at this season, an evident 
 stranger to the locality, when the sojourners of the 
 Spa had flitted home, and business was booming 
 in the cities, and only a few old habitues of the 
 place, a mere handful, lingered, extending the 
 summer, to avoid the yellow fever in the South. 
 
 As these thoughts surged through Jardine's 
 mind he followed the vehicle with so disordered 
 and exhausted a step, although he was of a stanch, 
 wiry, and tough physique, that Mrs. Laniston called 
 out to him, inviting him to ride for a while, saying 
 there was quite a level stretch of road ahead, and 
 the additional weight would not harass the horses 
 here. He so far collected his faculties as to ex- 
 press his thanks, and protest his comfortable state, 
 and then fell back to contemplate the horrible pos- 
 sibility. Good God! what would people say! In 
 
 3 2 3 
 
The Windfall 
 
 what fantastic guise would they imagine he dis- 
 posed of himself, to come into such a plight. He, 
 too, kept an eye on the two figures in advance, and 
 he gave strict heed to their words, as in detached 
 fragments they floated back. 
 
 Evidently Lloyd thought a counter-query was in 
 order. 
 
 " They say the waters have wonderful medicinal 
 qualities. Do you expect to take them? " 
 
 " Me — no, no, sir. No, indeed. I am here on 
 a piece of business, important business. Out of 
 the way place." 
 
 He seemed not only to Jardine, but to Lloyd, 
 to cast a singularly sharp and wary eye upon the 
 figure at his side. In fact he was obviously scan- 
 ning the contour of the showman's face for some 
 moments, when he suddenly said: 
 
 " If it is not an impertinence, sir, may I ask 
 your motive in visiting New Helvetia ? " 
 
 " Business, too, in a way," said Lloyd. " I am 
 a coach for that young gentleman beside the 
 hack." 
 
 " The classics?" the stranger asked respect- 
 fully. 
 
 " Oh, Lord, no ! " poor Lloyd burst out explo- 
 sively. " Excuse me, but I'm an athletic coach. 
 He wants to train down for the gridiron — and he 
 needs it, too — going all to fat." 
 
 Once more the long keen scrutiny, from which 
 Lloyd visibly winced; his cheeks reddened; his 
 hot, hunted eyes gazed straight ahead; his step 
 
 3, 2 4 
 
The Windfall 
 
 flagged. Nevertheless he held his ground and kept 
 his self-control. 
 
 " And is this coaching your regular profes- 
 sion? " the inquisitive stranger persisted. 
 
 " I have no regular profession," Lloyd hesi- 
 tated. Then, gathering his nerve with a mighty 
 effort, he boldly risked absolute candour. " I have 
 done many stunts in the athletic line. Performed 
 
 in circuses and shows; sung a little, too " with 
 
 a wry contortion of his perfectly chiselled lips, for 
 he knew what good music is, and he loved it. " But 
 lately I have been trying to make some money on 
 my own account. I have been the manager of a 
 street fair " 
 
 " Oh, fool, fool, fool ! " Jardine apostrophised 
 him, between set teeth. 
 
 " A good, clean show it was," continued Lloyd, 
 "some unparalleled attractions; finest high dive 
 I ever saw. But we went to pieces here — got 
 stranded — and " 
 
 The wind carried away the words, and as Jar- 
 dine, still muttering, " Fool — fool," looked up, he 
 saw the tall, portly figure stop short, lean forward, 
 and clutch the manager excitedly by the arm. The 
 next moment the foliage intervened. Suddenly 
 there rose on the air Lloyd's voice, pitched high, 
 in wild agitated exclamations, and the deep, steady, 
 bass tones of the stranger. Then was silence, and 
 the forests received them, and the tourists below 
 saw and heard no more. 
 
 325 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TO Jardine's infinite relief these two of his 
 fellow-travellers did not reappear. Lloyd 
 evidently had had the grace not to resist 
 to the extreme of coercion, and thus had spared 
 the ladies, and indeed Mr. Jardine's own delicate 
 sensibilities, the indignity of being even remotely 
 concerned in so sordid a scene. He hardly won- 
 dered whither they had gone, when the hack, with 
 Frank and himself once more seated within with 
 the ladies, rattled up to the door of the hotel at 
 the New Helvetia Springs, for the officer would 
 naturally be expected to hurry his prisoner to some 
 wayside log cabin, and there await transportation 
 to Colbury. It would have been a needless ex- 
 pense, as well as a gratuitous affront to the ladies 
 and gentlemen at New Helvetia, to introduce 
 amongst them so offensive a personality as a Fed- 
 eral prisoner. 
 
 The wide piazzas surrounding the hotel and 
 overlooking a craggy precipice and a vast expanse 
 of mountain landscape seemed spacious, rather 
 than deserted. A group of ladies, mostly elderly, 
 handsomely gowned, though accoutred with little 
 knitted shawls, and here and there a " fascinator," 
 against the chill, rare air of the evening, sat in 
 rocking-chairs, surveyed the majestic prospect, and 
 
 326 
 
The Windfall 
 
 talked of many things, contentedly awaiting the 
 white frost which should set them free and fleeing 
 from the mountains. Many doors, already illu- 
 mined with lamplight, stood open, casting great 
 parallelograms of golden radiance on the shadowy 
 floor without. No sign of the habitation of man, 
 not a spark betokening a lamp-lit window or a 
 glowing hearth, showed in all the stretches of 
 wooded ranges, with dark and sombre valleys be- 
 tween, barely distinguishable now, with a river 
 here, and a silent presence of mist there, and a 
 sense of awful solemnity and infinite loneliness 
 brooding over all. Perhaps the impressive and 
 austere aspect of nature without rendered the fire 
 of hickory logs, burning on the broad hearth of 
 the large office, of so genial and friendly a sugges- 
 tion. Before it a number of great rocking-chairs 
 stood ranged in a semicircle, and here, too, sat 
 guests, much at their ease. It was a coign of 
 vantage from which one could observe all that 
 went on in the great deserted hotel — the clerk at 
 the desk was on the remote side of the spacious 
 apartment and the fireside group need not be ham- 
 pered by the very inconsiderable business that he 
 was called upon to transact in these dull days, out 
 of season. But the main staircase, a large pre- 
 tentious structure of double flights, was in full 
 view, and everyone coming and going paused for 
 a word. The two intersecting hallways met in 
 the office; the great bay window, formed by the 
 ground floor of the tower, was contrived at one 
 
 327 
 
The Windfall 
 
 corner of this apartment, and, overlooking the 
 finest prospect to be seen for many a mile, was al- 
 ways occupied — by loiterers at gaze in the morn- 
 ings with some trifling work of crochet or batten- 
 berg, and by a table of bridge at night. A pleasant 
 place, a peaceful haven — and Jardine looked un- 
 wontedly benign and condescending as he received 
 his key at the counter from the clerk, and re- 
 sponded affably to that functionary's " Glad to see 
 you back, Mr. Jardine.'' 
 
 The hotel at New Helvetia had an effect of 
 palatial dimensions in its wide, unpeopled, vacant 
 expanses in the shrunken state of its patronage. 
 The immense logs, flying long, broad pennants of 
 red and yellow flames, and supported by glittering 
 old-fashioned brass andirons, sent a rich illumina- 
 tion far down the spaces of the big dining-room. 
 The glossy hard-wood floor glistening in the sheen 
 gave a suggestion of expense quite spurious, for 
 there was little other timber available in the build- 
 ing of New Helvetia. A few round tables were 
 set near the genial glow and the high white-painted 
 mantelpiece. The other tables had been removed, 
 and there was a most comfortable sense of absolute 
 monarchical possession in having such vast apart- 
 ments at one's own disposal. There was a perva- 
 sive atmosphere of privacy, of seclusion. The 
 place was difficult of access, and the usual touring 
 population had never found it out. Year after 
 year the same high-grade patrons came and went; 
 their fathers, and in some instances their grand- 
 
 328 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fathers, in days agone, had likewise flitted to and 
 fro, and drank the waters, and danced in the 
 ballroom, and flirted on the piazzas, and played at 
 the lawn sports and the games of cards fashionable 
 in their time. There were white-haired couples 
 in the dining-room this evening who had turned 
 each other's heads, blonde or auburn then, on the 
 moon-lit verandah there, or beside the spring of 
 magic beneficence, or strolling beneath the trees 
 of the grove that could have shown many rings of 
 added girth and many feet of lengthened growth 
 since those enchanted hours. 
 
 It was a decorous, pleasant scene, almost home- 
 like, yet with an agreeable community geniality 
 and informality, as now and again groups at table 
 exchanged comments with other groups half across 
 the room. It might well have been a shock to Mr. 
 Jardine strolling in to tea, freshly attired, thankful 
 to be once more in his accustomed niche, sur- 
 rounded by " nobility, and tranquillity, burgomas- 
 ters, and great one-yers," even if the sight had in- 
 volved no other associations, to perceive at one of 
 the tables, sitting in this bland glamour of firelight 
 and mellow lamplight, and the radiance of the 
 moon which poured in through one of the long 
 uncurtained windows, the two strangers, erst his 
 fellow-travellers, whom he fancied he had quitted 
 forever in the ascent of the mountain. Both were 
 freshly groomed, quiet, and gentlemanly of de- 
 meanour, sustaining without show of consciousness 
 the covert observation of the other occupants of 
 
 329 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the room, who were all mutually acquainted, even 
 to the earliest sprout and the latest twig of their 
 respective family trees. It was naturally a point 
 of speculation what could have brought these two 
 strangers, thus out of season, to the remote resort 
 of the New Helvetia Springs. 
 
 One glance at Lloyd's face and Jardine's keen 
 perceptions were satisfied that he had experienced 
 some great excitement, some nervous shock, an 
 agitation from which he had hardly yet recov- 
 ered. His companion's aspect was unchanged, 
 placid, powerful, but otherwise null of facial 
 expression. 
 
 Jardine hesitated, his hand still on the knob of 
 the door. The head waiter had briskly crossed 
 the shining floor, with a flourish drew out Jar- 
 dine's accustomed chair at a table near the fire, and 
 stood blandly awaiting his patron. Jardine hardly 
 heeded. He was formulating in his mind such 
 an explanation of his suspicions as it might be con- 
 sistent with prudence to detail to young Laniston — 
 a warning, lest he continue even for an evening, 
 an hour, this derogatory association — or would it 
 not be better to remonstrate plainly with the officer 
 on the indecorum of his course in bringing such 
 an association upon respectable, unsuspicious 
 people? 
 
 The choice did not long remain possible to him. 
 A side door opened suddenly and Frank Laniston, 
 fresh, roseate, all handsomely bedight, for he was 
 of the type that loves and beseems fine clothes, 
 
 33° 
 
The Windfall 
 
 entered with an elastic step, and a gay greeting as 
 he passed the table of the strangers. 
 
 " Got here, eh — all in one piece, I see — lost 
 you on the road," and then he took his seat at his 
 own table, bowing and smiling rosily to the greet- 
 ings he encountered, and, with a half audible 
 sigh of pleasant anticipation, he unfolded his 
 napkin. 
 
 " Fi-i-ne." He exclaimed presently, in the in- 
 terval, while his order was filled, replying to an 
 inquiry from across the fireplace as to the outing 
 to Colbury. 
 
 Jardine, once again coerced by circumstances, 
 could only traverse the room to his waiting chair, 
 and respond with his usual sedate and appropriate 
 urbanity to the questions as to his enjoyment of 
 the excursion. He kept a furtive, but stern, eye 
 on the strangers, with little result, save that he 
 observed that the portly man ate a somewhat elabo- 
 rate and well-selected meal almost in absolute 
 silence, giving his whole attention to the matter in 
 hand. Lloyd, on the contrary, ate little, and was 
 as silent. He seemed distrait, perturbed, preoc- 
 cupied; now gazing drearily into the flashing 
 flames, and once, for a long interval, with lifted 
 face watching the beams from the unseen moon, 
 falling through the window, the rays all differen- 
 tiated like the fibres of a glittering skein, the more 
 distinct because of the background of the dark 
 foliage of a great oak without. 
 
 When a sudden alert attentiveness usurped this 
 33* 
 
The Windfall 
 
 apathy of reverie, Jardine, too, looked up sharply. 
 Lucia Laniston was entering the room. The 
 unique character of her beautiful face, the poetic, 
 indescribable charm of her eyes, the high intelli- 
 gence and nobility of sentiment that her presence 
 expressed, despite her extreme youth, all seemed 
 curiously independent of fashion and superior to 
 its behests. She might have been appropriately 
 garbed in some severely simple and classic design, 
 apart from the modiste's creation, exclusively her 
 own. But naught was further from her desire — 
 naught could more definitely accord with the pre- 
 vailing mode than the costumes she affected. As 
 she came forward the long, straight folds of her 
 chiffon gown, worn over a shining silk of the same 
 tint, accented her height and her slenderness; the 
 gauzy material was of a sage green, embroidered 
 here and there with a pattern of a Persian design 
 in terra-cotta, and darker green and a thread of 
 gold; it had sleeves to the elbow, but was cut low 
 and square over a beautifully modelled, but some- 
 what thin, neck, and, in what she called " the 
 region of the bones," was a delicate little necklace 
 of five emeralds placed at intervals on an almost 
 invisible chain whereon glimmered here and there 
 a very small and very white diamond. Her soft 
 light-brown hair was dressed high in fluffy puffs, 
 and as she paused, waiting a moment and glancing 
 over her shoulder, her cousin Ruth came in, her 
 dress duplicating this costume in lilac. 
 
 To Jardine's consternation, as they took their 
 332 
 
The Windfall 
 
 seats, Lloyd gravely and circumspectly bowed to 
 both. After they had ceremoniously returned the 
 salutation, Jardine observed that each cast a swift, 
 searching glance at Lloyd. They, too, saw that 
 which had not been in his face before. Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton now joined the party, deceptively arrayed in 
 what she called her " old black Chantilly," which 
 seemed a very fine lace dress as long as its wear 
 and tear were obliterated by the black satin be- 
 neath, but a sorry sight it might have been over 
 white silk, which it had been designed to cover 
 in its palmy days. It was quite good enough for 
 New Helvetia, out of season, and, with the twinkle 
 of a diamond lace-pin, and the flutter of a fan 
 of inlaid pearl, not even her nearest neighbours 
 knew how they had been cozened of a toilette of 
 distinction. For it was rather a point at New 
 Helvetia to maintain all the flattering delusions 
 of a sojourn of pleasure and free will, rather than 
 an enforced detention, and all the formalities of 
 dressing, and dancing, and playing tenpins, and 
 cards, and tennis were continued as long as the 
 covey of summer birds could muster the numbers 
 to sustain the diversion. Jardine suddenly be- 
 thought himself of this, and not to be forestalled 
 anew he leaned backward and touched Frank 
 Laniston, as he sat at the next table. Frank 
 turned instantly, and leaned slightly to one side 
 to hear the communication, made in a very low 
 tone under Mrs. Laniston's voluble description of 
 her experiences addressed to the occupants of the 
 
 333 
 
The Windfall 
 
 neighbouring table on the left — charming ride — 
 somewhat fatigued — quaint little town — enjoyed 
 the fair — how the storm must have frightened you, 
 lightning terrific at such an altitude — must have 
 been terrible — glad to escape it 
 
 " Frank," said Jardine seriously, " for God's 
 sake let's have no dancing this evening, no 
 german " 
 
 Frank's patience had worn well, but it had now 
 waxed thin. He was no longer tucked up under 
 Jardine's arm, so to speak, and off on their travels. 
 New Helvetia, familiar to him since infancy, was 
 like home, and he felt independent. He was not 
 " looking for a row " with anybody, but, if one 
 were forced upon him, there was no longer an 
 obligatory association — there was elbow-room 
 here — Jardine and he could move apart, each go- 
 ing his own way without embarrassment, or an 
 open esclandre. 
 
 " You needn't adjure me," he said with spirit. 
 " I am too tired to put one foot before the other. 
 / don't want to dance." 
 
 " But don't let the others " Jardine began. 
 
 Frank Laniston had his own theories of the 
 becoming. He had thought it well enough that 
 Jardine, in escorting the young ladies under cir- 
 cumstances so unusual, should have special solici- 
 tude touching the decorous and the appropriate. 
 But he felt, if he might venture to criticise anyone 
 so assertively au fait, that Jardine was not infallible 
 in his management, as the swing episode intimated, 
 
 334 
 
The Windfall 
 
 that he was prone to magnify any awkward little 
 contretemps, and by much pother make something 
 out of nothing. A man with feminine relatives 
 is susceptible to a certain sensitiveness in their be- 
 half, impossible for a man not so connected to 
 appreciate. In Mr. Jardine's persuasions concern- 
 ing these matters of propriety he overlooked one 
 point — that he, himself, committed a solecism in 
 mentioning them to Frank in this connection. The 
 mere discussion was an offence in young Laniston's 
 estimation. He would not longer suffer it. 
 
 " You are afraid that Lloyd, my coach, might 
 get into the german — say as a rover? " he asked, 
 with the infinitely exasperating, callow sarcasm, 
 his big white strong teeth gleaming in his rosy 
 square-jawed face. " Why, I don't know whether 
 he can dance the german at all. I should say that 
 a tight-rope fandango was more in his line." 
 
 Jardine turned without another word, and at 
 all the white-draped tables the amicable plying of 
 knife and fork continued, unaware of this provo- 
 cation to a breach of the peace. 
 
 After tea Jardine lighted his cigar at the counter 
 in the office and strolled out on the side piazza, 
 puffing at it in a very ill frame of mind. He 
 needed its solace, and the sedative influence to his 
 nerves, after the vexatious incidents of the even- 
 ing, and the perplexity that beset him as to how 
 he should proceed — or indeed, with no seconding 
 from this young cub, whose position as a near 
 relative of the ladies authorised interference, what 
 
 33S 
 
The Windfall 
 
 could he do? Of course Jardine realised that his 
 solicitude in these troublous complications was en- 
 tirely on Lucia's account, but he said to himself 
 that any ladies of his acquaintance placed in a posi- 
 tion so menacing to their dignity, with such inade- 
 quate protection as the shallow-pated Frank Lanis- 
 ton could afford, had a claim on his good offices to 
 spare them a discreditable episode. 
 
 He paced to and fro in the chill air, pulling 
 hard at his cigar and glancing now at its light 
 wreaths of smoke, and now at the illuminated disk 
 of the moon, riding high above the infinite soli- 
 tudes of the mountains. He heard the wind stir 
 in the leaves far below on the slope; he marked 
 how the great ranges against the horizon fended 
 off the world; he listened to the impetuous dash 
 of the mountain torrent in the ravine leaping down 
 the rocky abysses on its way to the valley. But 
 as yet there was no flicker of light from the win- 
 dows of the ballroom, a long, low building in the 
 extremity of the west wing, remote from the more 
 inhabited portion of the hotel that the sound of 
 revelry should not reach the old, the invalids, the 
 slumberers in the bedrooms. There was no vibra- 
 tion of the tuning of the fiddles or banjos, for the 
 regular band had gone, and the music of an humble 
 sort was furnished by several of the negro waiters, 
 musically endowed and hired for the occasion. It 
 seemed really as if the guests might not intend to 
 dance to-night, their limited number being so re- 
 duced by the defection of the exhausted excursion- 
 
 336 
 
1 The Windfall 
 
 ists. From the front piazza, which extended along 
 the whole facade of the building, came the sound 
 of joyous young voices, and it occurred to Jardine 
 that perhaps the youthful element might content 
 themselves with promenading to and fro in the 
 moonlight till the increasing chill of the air should 
 drive them within to the fire blazing so ruddily on 
 the broad hearth of the office. 
 
 He walked to the corner and stood for a mo- 
 ment, his cigar in his hand, casting his eye along 
 the length of the piazza. It was much as he had 
 expected. In the white sheen of the moon a young 
 couple here and there slowly strolled, idly chatting. 
 The columns supporting the roof were duplicated 
 in shadowy pilasters that extended the effect of 
 the colonnade. The bare boughs of a locust tree, 
 always the earliest denuded by the autumnal blasts, 
 were drawn on a clear space on the floor with the 
 distinctness of a line engraving, and the dense foli- 
 age of a great oak close by cast a deeper gloom 
 within the railing because of the clear lustre that 
 elsewhere suffused mountain and valley, and 
 sward and pillared portico. The parallelograms 
 of light earlier cast on the floor from the lamp-lit 
 windows and doors were now annulled by the lunar 
 brilliancy, obliterated. Indeed he might scarcely 
 have discerned from where he stood the position 
 of the office door had not the light, elegant form 
 of Lucia Laniston with its lily-like suggestions, 
 suddenly issued from it, one hand holding up 
 the sheer draperies of her dress, the other furling 
 
 337 
 
The Windfall 
 
 her fan of dark green ostrich tips. His heart 
 throbbed at the sight of her; then he stood as one 
 petrified. 
 
 For a man, who was leaning smoking against 
 one of the pillars, suddenly threw his cigar over 
 the balustrade into the lawn, and with perfect as- 
 surance approached and accosted her as she stood 
 glancing about in loitering doubt. 
 
 " Miss Laniston," Jardine heard the words, for 
 Lloyd's enunciation was very distinct and his voice 
 carried well, " you spoke to me very kindly last 
 evening — and I should like to tell you about some- 
 thing, sad and wrong and irrevocable in the past, 
 and a very strange thing that has befallen me to- 
 day and changed all my prospects." 
 
 Jardine woke to sudden life. He strode along 
 the piazza and joined the two before the young 
 lady had framed her reply. 
 
 " Good-evening, Miss Laniston," he said im- 
 periously, taking no notice of the presence of 
 Lloyd; " I hope that you are not too fatigued for 
 a stroll on the piazza to enjoy this balmy air. Let 
 me show you a charming view of the moonlight 
 on the cascade. The stream has risen so since the 
 storm that you can see the falls from the end of 
 the piazza at the west wing." 
 
 He could not believe his ears. " Later, per- 
 haps — thank you very much — but just now I am 
 engaged." 
 
 She summoned Lloyd with a glance, and catch- 
 ing up the fleecy overdress with one jewelled hand, 
 
 338 
 
The Windfall 
 
 while the silken skirt below shimmered blue and 
 shoaled green in the moonlight as it trailed, she 
 paced slowly along with him in the opposite direc- 
 tion, and Jardine noted the sympathetic cadence in 
 her voice as she invited the colloquy with a question. 
 
 Jardine was furious, on fire, not from jealousy, 
 for he could not stoop to recognise rivalry from 
 this quarter, but with the sense of the subjection of 
 the highly placed and finely endowed woman whom 
 he loved to ignoble association, which because of 
 her youth and inexperience she knew not how to 
 discern and repel, and from which by reason of 
 the incompetence of her guardians and his own lack 
 of authority she was altogether unprotected. He 
 would not be still — he would no longer supinely 
 submit. He turned into the office of the hotel 
 animated with an intention that would brook 
 neither denial nor delay. 
 
 In the summer this large apartment was almost 
 entirely relinquished to business and to the mascu- 
 line guests who were wont to wait here for the dis- 
 tribution of the mail, to read the in-coming news- 
 papers, to discuss the phases of politics and public 
 events they suggested, and pending all to smoke 
 interminably. Though the number of habitues 
 was so wofully decreased the autumn wrought an 
 added cheer in the presence of great, alluring, 
 genial fires and the change of feminine intrusion. 
 Now it was almost given over to the ladies, but 
 neither politics nor tobacco had been tabooed. 
 Games of hazard for stakes had always sought 
 
 339 
 
The Windfall 
 
 more secluded quarters, and naught could better 
 comport with the sentiment of the refining influ- 
 ences of woman's presence than the game of chess 
 at which two elderly worthies sat, their eyes fixed 
 on the board, as motionless as if they had been 
 stricken into stone. A group of four ladies and 
 gentlemen were deep in the allurements of bridge 
 at the table in the bay window. Several guests 
 languidly swayed in rocking-chairs before the fire, 
 aimlessly chatting. Among these was Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton cutting the leaves of a new magazine and 
 theorising ably on the perishable impression of 
 periodical literature. Frank Laniston was hooked 
 on by the elbows to the counter, while he gazed up 
 the staircase ever and anon, expecting the descent 
 of a very young lady whose mamma had required 
 her to procure her long red cloth coat before she 
 ventured out with a party bound for the spring. 
 The elderly stranger, fraternising with no one, had 
 deliberately lighted a cigar after observing that 
 the practice of smoking here was permitted, 
 and sat in the chimney corner, very much at home, 
 composed, observant, evidently enjoying the luxury 
 of the fire and satisfied with his surroundings. He 
 took his cigar from his lips and fixed his great, 
 shiny, hazel eyes on Jardine with very much the 
 air of being interrupted, before the stare of sur- 
 prise effaced every other expression of his large, 
 handsome florid face. 
 
 11 1 want to know what you mean by this? " Jar- 
 dine said without preamble or disguise. His voice 
 
 340 
 
The Windfall 
 
 was tense and low, but so obviously freighted 
 with passion that the bridge players paused in 
 amaze. 
 
 " What — what? " sputtered the portly guest, 
 seeming to collect himself with difficulty, and not 
 till Jardine had repeated the question was he able 
 to speak coherently. " Mean by what, my good 
 sir?" 
 
 "Mean by letting that fellow go at large?" 
 Jardine hissed out. He stood erect at a little dis- 
 tance leaning on the high back of one of the vacant 
 rocking-chairs, and as his hands now and again 
 quivered, responsive to the surge of excitement 
 in his mind, the chair swayed slightly, and then 
 was still again. 
 
 The portly guest stared with unavailing mtent- 
 ness, as if he sought with the physical eye to dis- 
 cern the mystery. Then he looked around at the 
 group as if they, knowing Jardine, might be able 
 to explain him. But they remained silent in blank 
 astonishment; even the automata of the chess table 
 turned dismayed and startled faces, and the knights 
 and castles and pawns had surcease of their 
 schemings for the nonce. 
 
 "What fellow?" gasped the stranger, seeming 
 to doubt his senses. He burnt his fingers with 
 the lighted end of his cigar in inadvertent hand- 
 ling, and he let it fall to the hearth unheeded. 
 
 " That fellow Lloyd — what do you mean by 
 letting him go at large?" Jardine reiterated his 
 question. 
 
 341 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " My God, sir — he is perfectly sane — do you 
 suppose that / am his keeper? " 
 
 " No, I do not — I most certainly do not sup- 
 pose that you are any such thing," Jardine replied 
 with a significance not to be mistaken. 
 
 The portly stranger was recovering his com- 
 posure. Under other circumstances he might 
 have thought that Jardine was himself mentally 
 unbalanced, but he had already noted him on the 
 journey that day with the keen observation that 
 little escaped, and he was aware that there must 
 needs be other methods of accounting for his 
 demonstration. 
 
 " I will tell you what I suppose that you and he 
 are," Jardine declared. He had utterly lost his 
 own self-control — he was tingling with the long- 
 repressed irritation, vented at last and utterly be- 
 yond his power to check. 
 
 " Let me warn you, sir," said the newcomer, 
 with a certain menacing dignity in his look, " how 
 you dare asperse either that gentleman or myself." 
 Then with a sudden, sinister, chuckling laugh, " He 
 is more than capable physically of resenting any 
 injury, and I tell you now that if you slander me I 
 will have the law of you." 
 
 This utterance stirred the group. 
 
 " Permit me to remind you, Mr. Jardine, that 
 ladies are present, and that this violence, now and 
 here, is unbecoming," one of the chess players 
 observed. He was an ancient bachelor and so- 
 licitous on the subject of the claims to delicacy of 
 
 342 
 
The Windfall 
 
 the fair sex. He thought this suggestion would 
 induce the feminine members of the group to retire, 
 when the men could have their difference out as 
 best pleased them. But every woman sat immova- 
 ble, absorbed, interested in the outcome. They 
 had not achieved their enlarged liberties for 
 naught. Not a soul thought of retiring from the 
 scene — if ever they had known how to faint they 
 had forgotten the accomplishment. 
 
 There was not an appreciable pause and the 
 crisis was acute. One of the bridge players rose 
 to the occasion, while the others stared petrified 
 and round-eyed. He was a tall, lank, blond gentle- 
 man, bald and clean-shaven. " I think, Mr. Jar- 
 dine, you must be under some mistake." His 
 hand in the game was a dummy, and already lay 
 exposed upon the board while the other players 
 still clutched their cards tight. He approached 
 Jardine thinking that by some miracle he might be 
 intoxicated, and keenly eyed him as he spoke. 
 " This gentleman — both, I am sure, are strangers 
 to us all. I beg — in fact, I insist that you say no 
 more." 
 
 " Then, let him tell us who he is," Jardine per- 
 sisted with a vehemence that amazed the coterie, 
 " and why he has this Lloyd in his custody." 
 
 " My good sir, let me recommend you to dis- 
 cipline your tongue," said the stranger hotly, " or 
 I warn you again that it will get you into trouble." 
 
 Jardine's expression of disdainful contempt was 
 so definite that it constrained a reply. 
 
 343 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " I never anticipated such a * hold up ' as this, 
 I am sure," the portly guest remarked satirically. 
 " We are strangers to all present, and I can't 
 imagine why anyone here should take such a 
 vital interest in us — flattering, very, but most 
 uncommon." 
 
 " I desire you to observe," said one of the gentle- 
 men who had been idly swaying in a rocking-chair, 
 aimlessly chatting, till stricken motionless and 
 dumb with amazement, " I desire you to observe 
 that this intrusive interest in your personal affairs 
 is manifested by only one individual. We do not 
 ask nor desire to know anything concerning them." 
 
 There was a general civil murmur of unanimity. 
 
 " I assure you we have nothing to conceal," the 
 stranger said with a sort of large, jocular scorn. 
 " I am a lawyer — a member of the Glaston Bar. 
 My name is George Conway Dalton — here is my 
 professional card," he handed it to the blond bald 
 bridge player, who received it reluctantly and 
 civilly avoided looking at it. " I came here to 
 ask Mr. Lloyd to execute a power of attorney to 
 enable me to act in some property interests in 
 which I have already been of counsel, and to ac- 
 quaint him with the fact that he is a beneficiary 
 under the will of a relative from whom he ex- 
 pected to receive nothing." 
 
 344 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 JARDINE, after one moment of stultified 
 amaze, felt as if the floor were sinking 
 beneath his feet. In the sudden revulsion 
 of his rage his head whirled, and he saw the room 
 and the people go round and round in concentric 
 circles. But for the chair he grasped he might 
 have fallen. He was grateful that the interest 
 produced by the announcement so superseded the 
 surprise which his demonstration had occasioned 
 that for a time he escaped notice, and was afforded 
 an interval for the recovery of his composure. 
 
 " I am well acquainted in Glaston," one of the 
 coterie observed. " I have never had the pleasure 
 of meeting you there, Mr. Dalton, but I have often 
 heard of you from my relatives, the Rickson family. 
 Happy to make your acquaintance," and he offered 
 his hand. 
 
 Some further informal introductions and aton- 
 ing handshaking ensued with the discovery of 
 mutual friends, all a trifle conscious and awkward, 
 however, and there was a very general feeling of 
 relief when Mrs. Laniston, perceiving the " lapse 
 into barbarism, " as she called it, at an end, broke 
 into vivacious comments with her tactful percep- 
 tion of the least nettling phase of the disclosure. 
 
 " How perfectly delightful — such a romantic 
 345, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 incident — an unexpected legacy — a windfall. But 
 — since from the nature of the case it must be to 
 a degree public — may I ask were not you two 
 strangers when you met to-day in the stage? " 
 
 Mr. Dalton, in younger and slimmer years 
 might have been an acceptable " ladies' man." He 
 beamed with most responsive urbanity upon Mrs. 
 Laniston, and was quite willing to permit a little 
 harmless gossip to annul the impression of the 
 violent methods by which the announcement had 
 been elicited. 
 
 " I had not the most remote idea that he was 
 the legatee. I had been looking for him — adver- 
 tising in fact in every medium that I thought might 
 meet his eye for the last four months. I heard 
 by an accident that he was in Colbury as the man- 
 ager of a little street fair." 
 
 There was a distinct sensation among the heavy- 
 weights, financial and social, upon this mention. 
 A sort of dismayed surprise usurped the genial 
 satisfaction in more than one face in the coterie. 
 Mr. Dalton seemed rather to rejoice in the effect 
 he produced, to shatter thus their well-bred nerves. 
 He looked around the circle, expansively smiling, 
 before he went on : " When the train came in this 
 morning I found that the Fair had collapsed, 
 closed, and departed. Not disposed to a wild- 
 goose chase I sent telegrams in every direction 
 which I thought he might take. I concluded to 
 await results, and preferred a sojourn at the 
 Springs to the little town." 
 
 34$ 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " The subtleties of the professional legal mind 
 are past fathoming, I know," said Mrs. Laniston. 
 " But I cannot understand by what keen insight, 
 by what unclassified faculty of discrimination you 
 could say to yourself as you toiled up the moun- 
 tain beside an absolute stranger ' This is the lega- 
 tee I am hunting for. 1 Why, among your fellow- 
 travellers, did you select this Mr. Lloyd, instead of 
 Mr. Jardine or my son Francis Laniston? " 
 
 Mr. Dalton twinkled appreciatively as he lis- 
 tened to this. " I have a mind to appropriate 
 those compliments, madam — you have doubtless 
 heard that the profession is not overscrupulous in 
 taking advantage of a concession. But the fact is 
 that the young gentleman's extraordinary personal 
 appearance first gave me a clue to his identity. 
 His mother took a fifteen thousand dollar prize in 
 an international beauty show." 
 
 " Oh," ejaculated Mrs. Laniston, fairly taken 
 aback. She had had it vaguely in her mind that 
 the manager was not really what he seemed, and 
 was about to protest that she had had the dis- 
 crimination to discern this from the first, inquir- 
 ing who was " that distinguished-looking young 
 gentleman." 
 
 Mr. Jardine had thrown himself into the rock- 
 ing-chair on which he had been leaning, feeling 
 that he had done all that he could, more than his 
 unfounded suspicions justified, and seeking to re- 
 cover himself of his excitement and nervous strain. 
 At this disclosure of the showman's antecedents he 
 
 347 
 
The Windfall 
 
 raised his eyebrows in sarcastic disdain. After all 
 the Lanistons were free agents, and if they de- 
 liberately chose association of this type — why, they 
 were not for him nor he for them. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston vaguely lifted her eyes to the 
 window opening on the verandah; to see Jardine 
 not in attendance on Lucia gave her an unwonted 
 sense of something awry, but the next moment the 
 interest of the gossip annulled this impression, and 
 she was listening to Mr. Dalton, who, having ex- 
 hausted his relish of the survey of the flinching 
 group, went on with animation. 
 
 11 And she was as good as she was pretty — which 
 is saying a very great deal ! She provided for her 
 aged parents permanently out of her prize money, 
 sent a consumptive brother to a hospital where he 
 was cured, to be drowned afterward on an ocean 
 voyage. I fancy she bought much fine dry goods 
 and frippery; in effect she distributed the sum in a 
 year or so, contentedly relying on her slender sal- 
 ary as a dancer — they tell me that despite her 
 beauty and grace she was an indifferent dancer — 
 till she met this young fellow's father, who 
 straightway married her." 
 
 Mr. Dalton had reached the limit of his capacity 
 it would seem to sustain the public interest. So 
 genteel a circle was not entertained by a biography 
 of this sordid character. The bridge party, albeit 
 with a civil effect of listening, had begun to play 
 out the interrupted hand, though the owner of the 
 dummy sat sideways in his chair and still turned 
 
 348 
 
The Windfall 
 
 an attentive face. Mrs. Laniston, fluttering the 
 leaves of her magazine, was vaguely disconcerted. 
 She could hardly be said to have her two charges 
 in mind in this connection — she had no reason to 
 think that the young showman would presume to 
 speak to either of them. Jardine, a contemptuous 
 satiric smile on his jaded face, sat languidly 
 listening. 
 
 Mr. Dalton, perhaps, had already found a field 
 at the Bar for his gift of marshalling facts, ap- 
 proaching with an ever-increasing velocity of sig- 
 nificance the climax, but a chancellor, or a puisne 
 judge, or even a jury was better fitted to resist the 
 shock of sudden surprise than the idle summer 
 birds in their relaxed mental attitude. 
 
 " Now," he continued, " the father was of a 
 different sort; he was a young man of the very 
 highest social connections. Moreover, he was tal- 
 ented, well-behaved, studious, very young — only 
 in his junior year at college — heart-rending infatu- 
 ation. His family investigated the facts and when 
 they found that the marriage was really valid they 
 cast him off without a moment's hesitation, abso- 
 lutely, irretrievably. I never shall forget Judge 
 Lloyd's dismay " 
 
 " Judge Lloyd?" exclaimed several voices in 
 different keys of sharp surprise. 
 
 " You surely don't mean Judge Clarence Jen- 
 nico Lloyd of Glaston? " said the gentleman who 
 had connections in that city, and was familiar with 
 the status of its principal people. 
 
 349 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " The noted jurist? — I do ! He was considered 
 a hard man, but he was a very just one. This hap- 
 pened in his palmy days, when he was very rich 
 as well as esteemed far and wide an ornament to 
 the judiciary. The family could trace a long and 
 proud descent and they carried their heads very 
 high. The judge could not tolerate such a mesal- 
 liance. He persisted in considering the woman a 
 designing baggage and tried to buy her off. He 
 bid very high — that was before his financial 
 reverses." 
 
 Mr. Dalton swayed his big head to and fro, his 
 eyes alight with the fires of reminiscence as the 
 scenes of nearly thirty years earlier were re-en- 
 acted in his memory. " And yet from his stand- 
 point he was quite right. They were very strict 
 religionists, those Lloyds — Methodists, or Camp- 
 bellites, or what not — they thought it a mortal sin 
 to attend even a Shakespearean performance at a 
 theatre. Judge Lloyd did not know One card from 
 another — and was proud of the fact. I remem- 
 ber that once I tried a case in his court that in- 
 volved a gambling transaction — his cousin Charles 
 Jennico was of the opposing counsel — but that's 
 neither here nor there. Judge Lloyd had other 
 children then — boys and girls — he could not bring 
 them into such association — he could not justify 
 such an example." 
 
 " Jennico — isn't that a name down your way, 
 in Louisiana, Mrs. Laniston?" one of the chess 
 players suggested. 
 
 350 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " I was just thinking," said Mrs. Laniston, her 
 surprised eyes on the fire, her thin, jewelled fingers 
 still keeping her place in the magazine. " There 
 is an inconsiderable plantation called the Jennico 
 place just beyond the bight of the bayou. The pro- 
 prietor never lived there. I always understood 
 that the owner was wealthy — but it is much 
 neglected and in need of repair." 
 
 " It belongs to this fellow now," said the lawyer 
 comfortably. " What sort of a house is on it, do 
 you know, madam? " 
 
 " Not much of a house — a six-room frame, I 
 think — there is not much land, but it is of good 
 quality." 
 
 The lawyer, identified with his client's in- 
 terests, nodded his head, smiling as if in personal 
 gratification. 
 
 " I have some curiosity, Mr. Dalton," said one 
 of the chess players, a soul dedicated to problems, 
 " to know how such an unexpected windfall would 
 affect a man. How did the young fellow receive 
 the news of his good fortune?" 
 
 " Almost stunned at first — dreadfully taken 
 aback; " the lawyer laughed and then grew grave. 
 
 " He had some points besides the money inter- 
 ests to claim his attention, you see. The danseuse 
 and her highly bred and refined husband had very 
 hard luck. Her earnings were poor, and he could 
 not get employment in any appropriate way on ac- 
 count of the impression which his marriage gave to 
 people of position. He was naturally supposed 
 
 35* 
 
The Windfall 
 
 to be such a man who would make such a marriage. 
 He tried all sorts of things, unsuited to his training 
 and traditions. He was a ticket-taker, an advance 
 agent, doorkeeper — had a classical education and 
 wrote theatrical advertisements and puffs for news- 
 papers — had no conception of the dramatic afflatus, 
 wrote a play or two, heavy as lead, warranted to 
 fall flat. He succumbed to ill-health, and then his 
 father, having lost several children — all but this one 
 and the eldest, Robert — and being much softened, 
 offered to take this son back, excluding the wife 
 of course, but paying her a handsome pension; this 
 was refused. Time went on; the situation waxed 
 worse continually; the judge then offered financial 
 assistance unconditionally. But it came too late; 
 the son died — presently his wife died also, and the 
 grandson, then almost grown, doing a ' ground- 
 and-lofty-tumbling turn ' in great glory in a circus 
 company went his way, chiefly on his head. He 
 was lost sight of for a time, for Robert Lloyd, 
 an admirable man and considered to have excel- 
 lent business judgment, 'having made several most 
 fortunate speculations, went beyond his depth, was 
 caught in the undertow and dragged to ruin, over- 
 whelming with him Judge Lloyd himself — I never 
 could understand the tangle of Robert Lloyd's 
 affairs. In the confusion of the financial wreck no 
 one remembered this boy — the friends of the fam- 
 ily thought the outcome well enough. The boy 
 in his risky vocation must soon break his neck; and 
 thus the unlucky episode of the beauty-prize winner 
 
 352 
 
The Windfall 
 
 in the Lloyd family would be definitely terminated. 
 But, luckily enough it proved, the old gentleman 
 once saw this grandson. Have you met him — this 
 young fellow? " he broke off suddenly, addressing 
 one of the chess players. 
 
 " No, I have not," the gentleman responded a 
 trifle stiffly — street fairs were not in his line. 
 
 Mr. Dalton smiled benignly. " The most win- 
 ning personality — yet with a quiet inherent dignity 
 all his own, the most disarming amiability — and a 
 face that you might wander through a hundred 
 exhibitions of painting and never see equalled for 
 a certain sort of charm. I don't wonder at 
 the award for the fifteen thousand dollar prize — 
 ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 " What is it that the court says when counsel 
 becomes prolix — Be brief, sir — be brief," sug- 
 gested Mrs. Laniston, laughing nervously. She 
 was surprised to find herself eager, expectant. 
 " Your story is too interesting to bear digressions, 
 Mr. Dalton." 
 
 " Thanks — thanks greatly," Mr. Dalton 
 beamed. 
 
 " Well, the circus roaming around the country 
 gave an exhibition in the neighbourhood of Charles 
 Jennico's summer residence near Glaston, where 
 Judge Lloyd was visiting. He and Jennico were 
 first cousins, and after his financial reverses the 
 judge, who was as proud as Lucifer, scarcely went 
 anywhere else. And this youngster, a man grown 
 he was then, had the hardihood, or the good feel- 
 
 353 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing, or the curiosity — or nobody knows what 
 actuated him — to deliberately call on the old man. 
 '* I don't want a thing in the world of you/ he 
 said. ' But I know that my father owed you 
 much, and I owe you much for what my father 
 was to me. I came to pay my respects — to get 
 the glad hand, that's all.' Judge Lloyd never 
 opened his lips to me on the subject of this visit, 
 but he was taken by surprise, the young man being 
 ushered into the library, and Charles Jennico was 
 sitting in the bay window — he used to laugh and 
 cry together when he rehearsed the scene. The 
 judge, he said, was like a man in a dream at first. 
 Then he began to beseech this stranger to come and 
 live with him like a son without conditions and 
 without restraint. * But I could not become a de- 
 pendent on you,' the boy said. ' It would be 
 like a robbery of your old age. I have heard of 
 your financial reverses or I would not have come. 
 I know that you are broke.' And though he put 
 it thus bluntly the judge did not wither him with 
 a look. He said that he had influence — without 
 depriving himself he could provide the youngster 
 with respectable employment. ' You have no idea 
 of my ignorance, grandfather. What you call re- 
 spectable employment for me would have either to 
 be a farce or a gratuity. I can do real work, such 
 as it is, where I am and eat my own bread.' Judge 
 Lloyd argued that he could secure money for his 
 education. He had friends who would be glad to 
 oblige him. * It would go hard with you to ask 
 
 354 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a favour for yourself, sir — you shall not sue for 
 me.' The old gentleman then urged him to con- 
 sider what he would lose — he should have every 
 advantage, he should travel. ' Grandfather,' he 
 said, ' I have stood on my head in every capital 
 of Europe — what I should be tempted to do would 
 be to stay with you, quiet, resting, for I am fed 
 up with stir and racket.' The whole thing cap- 
 tured Charles Jennico's fancy. He said that he 
 had never expected to hear Judge Lloyd come so 
 near a confession of arbitrary injustice, as when 
 he said how cruel had been the past, and how he 
 feared that he had allowed a subservience to arti- 
 ficial standards to embitter and impoverish and 
 shorten the lives of the youth's parents. i You were 
 just and true from your standpoint,' the boy 
 sought to comfort him. ' A father has a right 
 to his son's obedience ' — the old judge used to 
 repeat this phrase; it justified his course to him- 
 self. * And yet my father was right, too, from 
 his standpoint — I can't judge between you. I 
 don't blame either for what is gone. I would 
 willingly live with you in my father's place, but I 
 must make and eat my own bread and play the 
 man. You made a great mistake about my mother, 
 though — you never knew my mother. She was 
 It ! She was the whole team ! She was the Pearl 
 you threw away, worth all your tribe ! ' And 
 Judge Lloyd said that he believed it now that he 
 had seen her son — he wished he had seen her 
 first. And then the two, as competent fools as 
 
 355 v 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ever lived, fell on each other's necks and wept and 
 parted." 
 
 " Tut, tut, tut — what a pity," said the bald- 
 headed bridge player, oblivious of the words of his 
 partner until she twice repeated, " Shall I lead, 
 partner," when he caught himself with a galvanic 
 start and responded, " Pray do." 
 
 There was a pause while Mr. Dalton eyed the 
 fire reflectively, puffing at his cigar, which had 
 gone out while he talked, requiring to be re- 
 kindled. 
 
 " What so won upon me this afternoon was the 
 manner in which young Lloyd received the intelli- 
 gence. He did not seem to remember or care at 
 first that his financial miseries were now at an 
 end — although he has been at his wit's end for 
 money as he told me afterward; in fact, that he had 
 not enough to pay for his transportation with the 
 rest of the troupe or show or carnival or whatever 
 the organisation is called, and had even tried to 
 pawn his mother's engagement ring which had been 
 indeed his grandmother's engagement ring — an 
 heirloom in Judge Lloyd's family, a thing with a 
 legend, more or less mythical, I suppose." 
 
 Jardine thought of the gems he had seen in the 
 safe of the hotel in Colbury, but he kept his own 
 counsel. 
 
 " Of course the detail of the circumstances 
 brought back to him that day of parting, and he 
 told me that when he had first heard of his grand- 
 father's death without another word between them 
 
 35<> 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he had deeply regretted his refusal to live witH 
 him in his father's place. He thought he had 
 been too sensitive as to his independence — too 
 afraid of grafting. It would not have been for 
 long. He could have been the solace of the old 
 gentleman's reverses and his age. He was wild 
 that he had denied him aught — the only time that 
 they had ever seen each other! His grandfather 
 had been good to him that day, he said. And 
 there," said Mr. Dalton with a whimsical wave 
 of his cigar, " I had to wait and postpone the de- 
 tails of business communications while he leaned 
 up against a tree in the woods and sobbed like a 
 child because his grandfather had been good to 
 him that day when he had offered him — so late — 
 the boon of a life of precarious dependence in lieu 
 of his free agency and a certain means of liveli- 
 hood. I was touched, I must confess, I was very 
 much touched. He has a rare nature, this-ground- 
 and-lofty tumbler." 
 
 Mr. Dalton had not observed the usual legal 
 reticence concerning a client's affairs. The nature 
 of the case, the will and other matters of record, 
 would give publicity to the mere facts, but he was 
 solicitous, since the details had of necessity been 
 elicited here, that the personal character of the 
 harlequin legatee should be put into evidence, and 
 receive from all the respect which he felt to be 
 its due. No better method could he have found to 
 disseminate the impression he wished to create 
 than these reminiscences addressed to a symposium 
 
 357 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "of idle gossips. Their craftily titillated interest 
 kept them still loitering around the fire after the 
 card and chess tables had been abandoned as the 
 hour wore late, and when Mrs. Laniston began 
 to ascend the stairs to her apartment she noted, 
 glancing back from the landing, that a group of 
 gentlemen with freshly lighted cigars were draw- 
 ing closer round the hearth continuing the subject 
 with its cognate themes. 
 
 She had so unusually prolonged her loitering 
 about the office fire to-night that she found that her 
 son and daughter had returned from their mild 
 diversions with the other youth of the place and 
 were awaiting her coming in her room. 
 
 Frank was busy with some boxing gloves and was 
 directing with a very exacting air precisely how 
 some stitches should be set in the puffy awkward 
 bags which had somehow become ripped. His 
 sister Ruth, with her thimble and waxed thread, 
 had placed the kerosene lamp and her workbox 
 on the little table and was patiently repairing the 
 damages according to his directions to the best of 
 her ability. 
 
 11 Ruthie, how close you do put your head to 
 the lamp-chimney," her mother exclaimed in irrita- 
 ble warning. " Do be more careful, child. In 
 another moment you would have singed your 
 pompadour. Where is Lucia? " 
 
 Ruth lifted the endangered rouleau, stared 
 around a moment, as if she expected to see her 
 cousin here. " Why, she came upstairs with 
 
 358 
 
The Windfall 
 
 me — " then suggesting, " She must be in our room, 
 I reckon," went on with her work as before. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston, proceeding into the adjoining 
 apartment, found that it was not lighted, save by 
 the moon, pouring the white rays through the 
 windows, the shades being still up, and the shutters 
 open. Outside was the limitless wilderness of the 
 mountains, purple and dusky against the light 
 indeterminate blue of the sky. A few stars, large 
 and whitely lustrous, scintillated at vast intervals, 
 but the moon was supreme, and the white mists 
 in the valleys shimmered with opalescent sugges- 
 tions of delicate tints. Far away the sudden shrill 
 snarling cry of a catamount smote the air, then all 
 was silent save the rush of the torrent in the valley. 
 For a moment it seemed that no one was in the 
 room; then Mrs. Laniston perceived that Lucia 
 was seated, half kneeling, close by the window, 
 very still, very silent, and she was sure that the girl 
 had been weeping. 
 
 " Want anything? " asked Lucia, in a voice that 
 yet betrayed tears; then she put her elbows on the 
 window sill and more deliberately addressed her- 
 self to the contemplation apparently of the night. 
 
 " Lucia — chilly as it is ! What are you doing 
 at that window? You'll catch your death of 
 cold." 
 
 Lucia in a muffled voice muttered something 
 about the air being quite balmy, and remarked 
 that she had been already most of the evening 
 promenading on the verandah. 
 
 359 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Why," said Mrs. Laniston, stolidly amazed, 
 " Mr. Jardine was in the office the whole time." 
 
 " We are not the Siamese twins," said Lucia 
 dully. 
 
 " Of course not. Who were you with, most of 
 the time?" 
 
 For there still remained at New Helvetia a num- 
 ber of squires of dames, eminently available for 
 germans, and verandah promenades, and senti- 
 mentalisings in the moonlight. 
 
 " I was with Mr. Lloyd, all the time." Her 
 voice quavered as she anticipated the note of sur- 
 prise, and reprehension, and dismay in Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton's rejoinder. It sounded instantly. 
 
 " Why, Lucia! That showman, Lloyd?" 
 
 " I could not very well avoid it — and I didn't 
 want to avoid it," she said rather doggedly. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston had a monition of George Lanis- 
 ton's ultra particularity in social matters; then she 
 had a saving recollection of the standing of Judge 
 Lloyd. 
 
 " Oh, poor fellow ! I suppose he wanted to 
 boast a bit of his legacy. It seems he comes of 
 good people on his father's side, and has been 
 remembered in a codicil, or something." 
 
 11 He did not mention the legacy, except that 
 he did say as it would make his connections a matter 
 of newspaper notoriety he did not mind speaking 
 of them. He said he would not do this ordinarily, 
 for in a man in his humble business it would seem 
 boastful, and he declared that he was more proud 
 
 360 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of his mother, and her generosity, and her strug- 
 gles, and her courage, and her life of sacrifice in 
 the care of those dear to her, than of every Lloyd 
 that ever stepped." 
 
 And the proud Miss Laniston burst into tears 
 . — not the first she had shed that night over the 
 pathos of the ci-devant dancer's woes. 
 
 " Why, Lucia," Mrs. Laniston exclaimed, ir- 
 ritably, " I am surprised that you should be so 
 weak." 
 
 Lucia had no desire to be strong; she continued 
 to weep without reserve. 
 
 " She was lovely — lovely; I can see it through 
 all he says of her, and how bitterly she blamed 
 herself to be the cause of her husband's and son's 
 abandonment by their fine relations. She would 
 have been willing to give them up, to go off any- 
 where, in any poverty, so they might have the 
 position, and luxuries, and advantages of the sta- 
 tion to which they were born. But they clung to 
 each other and to her, as anybody might know they 
 would!" 
 
 And once more the hot tears came. 
 
 There was a moment's silence in which Mrs. 
 Laniston canvassed this unprecedented diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 " And now he reproaches himself that afterward 
 he did not go to his grandfather. He is wild 
 about it. He says his grandfather was right from 
 his standpoint, and he was old and forlorn, and 
 yearned for the arm of his son's son to lean upon. 
 
 361 
 
The Windfall 
 
 He is stricken with remorse, and he has no peace. 
 No — he didn't talk at all about the legacy." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston gathered her forces for a 
 desperate coup. 
 
 " Lucia Laniston, listen to me. You are not 
 falling in love with that man, for of course you 
 couldn't consider so ignorant a person, with so 
 frightful an accent and choice of phrases. But 
 you are allowing your imagination to become 
 involved." 
 
 " Oh, no, Aunt Dora," Lucia murmured. But 
 Mrs. Laniston kept on. 
 
 " It is not becoming for you to sit here on the 
 floor in that nice dress — and there is no earthly 
 process by which those delicate fabrics can be 
 cleaned — and weep your eyes out about a stranger's 
 mother. No matter how lovely — and she took an 
 international prize for beauty — she was a circus 
 girl, or a ballet dancer, a position that in itself 
 it is impossible to ignore or forget, no matter what 
 he or anyone else may say. I am glad, since his 
 father was one of Judge Lloyd's sons, that he is 
 to be redeemed from that awful calling; it seems 
 that he will own that small Jennico plantation 
 near us in Louisiana, and the little six-room frame 
 house on it. I suppose he will farm there, 
 and maybe some people will receive him on 
 sufferance — such an uneducated man, my dear! 
 Of course I know if he were really rich he 
 could go where he pleases, and the best society 
 would pull caps for him, and he could marry whom 
 
 362 
 
The Windfall 
 
 he chooses. Don't think I am sordid, dear. I 
 don't make these conventions. They are the in- 
 exorable law of the world. But consider, my 
 dear, what — once in New Orleans, or St. Simon's 
 Island, or Jacksonville — you would think of such 
 a cavalier. You know I have never been hateful 
 and stiff with you and Ruth. I have let you have 
 all the good time you could with propriety. I 
 think this young fellow's prize-beauty makes him 
 very fetching, and his ' lydy,' isn't the awful ad- 
 dress it would be on any other tongue; and his 
 suddenly inheriting a bit of money is like a 
 romance. But life is made up of commonplaces 
 and realities, dear, and a girl who lets herself 
 dream in the moonlight must wake at least to a 
 very sordid day. Your papa wouldn't forgive me 
 if I didn't warn you, dear. Love must be founded 
 on respect; a man must be in a position for a 
 woman to look up to him, to defer to his experi- 
 ence and judgment, and superior information and 
 education. A woman cannot lead a husband by 
 the hand." 
 
 " You take too much for granted, Aunt Dora," 
 Lucia interrupted, a trifle angrily. 
 
 " A man with a past like his would reveal a 
 thousand amazing tastes and prejudices and views, 
 the like of which you never heard. You would 
 spend your life in teaching, and combating, and 
 obliterating. And the little six-room frame — 
 seems to me it has a little garden in front, with 
 turfed flower beds, raised in stars, and hearts, and 
 
 363 
 
The Windfall 
 
 triangles. If cotton doesn't pick up somehow you 
 can't expect much from your father till his death — i 
 I hope for your sake, as well as his, that's a long 
 way off. He is a young man, comparatively; he 
 may marry again. I want you to make a com- 
 fortable match, and be easy and happy. Ruth's 
 prospects are so good in her engagement to Philip 
 Trumbull — I wish I could make her write more 
 regularly to that man — she is so idle ! — and I 
 couldn't bear for you to be less appropriately 
 placed." 
 
 " I haven't asked him to marry me, Aunt Dora," 
 Lucia said suddenly in her natural manner, " and 
 I can assure you that he has not made the slightest 
 intimation tending that way." 
 
 "Well, so far, so good! Get up off the floor 
 — that stuff pulls so, and just see how your knee 
 is straining it. What a moonlight night! " she 
 exclaimed, rising and standing before the window. 
 " What a mystery on the mountains ! " 
 
 364 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE morning broke with abounding good 
 cheer. It was impossible not to respond 
 to the revivifying matutinal influences. 
 The vast solemnity of the austere mountain ranges 
 filling the universe seemed more impersonal. Some 
 stupendous, resplendent work of art might thus 
 affect the senses. Only a keenly receptive tem- 
 perament, the impressionable, plastic mood, might 
 embrace its insistent meaning, its eloquent mes- 
 sage, its redundant appeal to every vibrant, sensi- 
 tive pulse. One saw the reality, yet put it aside, 
 postponed it, like the great facts of life and death, 
 and the momentousness of eternity, turning instead 
 to the cheerful trifle of the hour. And perhaps it 
 was enough to breathe such fresh balsamic air, to 
 hear the sonorous periods of the lordly wind sound- 
 ing over cliff and torrent, while all the poly-tinted 
 leafy forests bent in obeisance; to see with the 
 shallow outward eye the variant tints of blue, from 
 the dark blurred efflorescence on the nearest slopes 
 to the translucent sapphire of further ranges and 
 thence to a hard, clear, turquoise blue, and so to 
 a faint, vague azure that one could hardly dis- 
 criminate from the sky line; and above still, the 
 silent great, white domes, where, although so 
 early, the snow had fallen. Even the shadows 
 
 3^5 
 
The Windfall 
 
 were but simulacra of winged joys, as the white 
 dazzling clouds sped through the sky, while their 
 similitudes followed swiftly below over the moun- 
 tain side and the valley, racing for some unim- 
 agined aerial goal. The air was full of woodsy 
 fragrance — the odour of sere leaves, the pungent 
 aroma of mint and of waterside weeds, the balsamic 
 breath of fir and pine. Keen, too, withal; the 
 group gathering around the hearth in the office 
 comprised all the adult guests in the house, save 
 a few loiterers, still lingering at the breakfast 
 tables nearest the fire in the great dining-room. 
 Now and then juvenile parties came thundering 
 down the stairs with golf clubs or tennis rackets, 
 rushed through the office, and were gone, banging 
 the glass doors to imminent fracture, or the hearth- 
 side was recruited by the laggards from the break- 
 fast table bringing a whiff of cold air from the 
 transit through the hall. Ruth and Lucia were 
 rubbing their pink hands, and shivering in their 
 boleros of dark red and light blue cloth respec- 
 tively, worn over their sheer lawn morning dresses, 
 to the wonderment of Jardine, who could not com- 
 prehend why, if they were cold, they should not 
 wear warm cheviot gowns, unmindful of the un- 
 written law of truly orthodox Southern women, 
 who would fain cling to their white lawn attire 
 till the snow falls. Lloyd's theatric discrimination 
 had already appraised the effect of their Dresden 
 belt ribbons, and high stocks, the one in red and 
 brown, the other blue and pink. He bowed to 
 
 366 
 
The Windfall 
 
 them with distant gravity, but his face had a sug- 
 gestion of happiness which had not heretofore 
 characterised its quiet composure. His peculiar 
 appeal to popular favour had been all the more 
 effective because of the romantic history of good 
 fortune detailed in his absence last night, and there 
 had been some very hearty hand-shaking in the 
 casual introductions around the fireside this morn- 
 ing. All the house looked with a joyous prepos- 
 session upon the newly found legatee and a sort 
 of vicarious pleasure. They were even prepared to 
 find a certain quaint zest in his " outrageous 
 profession," as one irreconcilable old prig 
 called it. 
 
 "Did you have a fine bout with the gloves?" 
 asked a clean-shaven gentleman, taking his cigar 
 from his smiling lips. His expression just now 
 was as benignant as a bishop's, but he was broker 
 at home. 
 
 Lloyd was a trifle embarrassed; he did not know 
 how much of the lawn had been in view from his 
 interlocutor's point of observation. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Laniston will get so he can stand 
 up, after a little." 
 
 There was a laugh around the circle, and 
 Frank's pink cheeks grew very red. 
 
 " Why, Francis," exclaimed his mother in gen- 
 uine amazement, " I thought you were a champion 
 boxer!" 
 
 " Oh, I've got it in for him, good and hot," 
 Frank sputtered, over his cigarette. 
 
 367 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "Did he down you?" asked the broker. 
 "Really?" 
 
 " I fell over somehow, every time he crooked 
 his little finger." 
 
 " I'll get him so that he can stand up," said 
 Lloyd patronisingly. 
 
 " There's all the difference in the world between 
 a pastime and a profession," said the broker. " We 
 see that in the market — a little flier once in a while 
 — and a plunger." 
 
 " But will you continue this profession, Mr. 
 Lloyd? " the prig fixed him with such a scandalised 
 expression in his prominent, lashless eyes, that it 
 amounted to an intentional reproach and affront. 
 
 Mr. Dalton seemed to resent it. 
 
 " He has something better to do." He laughed 
 prosperously, and stroked his moustache. 
 
 " He was signing cheques for half an hour this 
 morning," continued the lawyer. This boast was 
 not in the best taste, but Lloyd had so far won 
 upon him that he was both sensitive and belligerent 
 in his client's behalf. 
 
 The showman was pained, and winced visibly. 
 
 " Just some little things I wanted before the 
 fairy gold melts away," he said, laughing but 
 disconcerted. He had begun to entertain great 
 confidence in Mr. Dalton, but bruiser though he 
 was, he could not appreciate the lawyer's faculty 
 for putting people down. 
 
 Mr. Dalton took from his pocket a great sheaf 
 of letters, ready stamped for the mail. 
 
 363 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " And I had better post these while I think of 
 it; " he began to sift them apart, and one by one 
 slipped them into a slit in the counter where a box 
 lurked for their reception. 
 
 " The first expresses filial piety, and endows a 
 bed in a hospital in his mother's name. The sec- 
 ond orders a monument to the memory of his 
 parents." 
 
 Mr. Dalton looked around with a triumphant 
 eye, evidently bent on " rubbing it in." 
 
 " Then comes the discharge of just debts. 
 James Tunstan." 
 
 " That's Wick-Zoo," said Lloyd, suddenly for- 
 getful of the public display of his affairs. He 
 looked with a laugh of extreme relish at Frank, 
 who cried hilariously, " Oh, hi ! the wild man ! " 
 
 " And John Haxon." 
 
 " Captain Ollory," Lloyd interpreted, still smil- 
 ing, half regretfully; the street fair seemed now 
 some tender reminiscence of many a year agone. 
 
 " I can't persuade my young friend to sever his 
 connection with the greatest show on earth," Mr. 
 Dalton laid the letters on one knee and glanced 
 around the circle with an expression of disapproval 
 and exasperation. " That is, he doesn't propose 
 to manage it personally or to perform, but he still 
 remains a partner, and intends to finance it. With 
 all its faults, he loves it still! — and Haxon suc- 
 ceeds to the managerial — er — er — er — ermine." 
 
 " Why, they'd go to pieces without me — to ever- 
 lasting smithereens!" exclaimed Lloyd excitedly. 
 
 369 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " And it's hard to get a place in a company to 
 break your neck in ! " 
 
 " But I understand they went off and left you" 
 6aid Dalton. 
 
 " Somebody had to stay, and I was the captain 
 of the ship." 
 
 " But, Mr. Lloyd, think of the unpleasant per- 
 sonal publicity," said the priggish gentleman. 
 " They will advertise your name in this connection 
 and make money out of it. That's what they'll do 
 — make money out of it. They will use your acces- 
 sion to fortune as a sensation, a card to draw peo- 
 ple to the show." 
 
 " Exactly what I wrote to Haxon — work it for 
 all it's worth, and quit sousin' in that old tank of 
 yours that will break your back and drown you 
 some day! I'll keep that show going — straight 
 goods; it kept me going many a day." 
 
 Mr. Dalton mournfully shook his head, and the 
 priggish gentleman, too inquisitive for good form 
 — but he was justified in some degree by the un- 
 common circumstances — demanded: 
 
 " Then you contemplate a different occupation 
 for your own life, I suppose?" 
 
 "Yes; I'm fed up with knocking about the 
 world. I want to be quiet for a change. I'll go 
 to my own house," he paused, and shook his head 
 a trifle sadly. " Sounds funny to me! I don't un- 
 derstand farming, but I'll see if I can catch on. I 
 like animals, but they're wild generally; the lions 
 and panthers and such fellows always get to know 
 
 37,0 
 
The Windfall 
 
 me almost before I notice them. Maybe cows and 
 mules would seem tame." He laughed a little. 
 
 " Professor Gordon B. Lancaster," read Mr. 
 Dalton from another stamped and addressed en- 
 velope, " — thought I'd mislaid his letter; desiring 
 if possible to secure his company and services." 
 
 " Ah, to read with Mr. Lloyd," said the prig- 
 gish gentleman, a look like a benediction in the 
 lashless orbs, such satisfaction beamed from them. 
 " Yes — yes; you are still young enough to prepare 
 for a collegiate course." 
 
 " But I don't contemplate that," said Lloyd, 
 very calmly; " I'd fizzle out at that. This gentle- 
 man, if he accepts, will seem to the world to be my 
 secretary, but in private life he will be my tutor, 
 and live with me in my house." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston looked bewildered. 
 
 " But I should think that would be more ex- 
 pensive than a regular university course." 
 
 Mr. Dalton smiled and beamed, and tapped the 
 letter against the sheaf he was sorting. 
 
 " A good bit of money goes with the real es- 
 tate. Mr. Lloyd thinks he can afford to put himself 
 on a level in culture with his station." 
 
 " Very praiseworthy," said the prig. 
 
 " I haven't the proper foundation for the clas- 
 sics," explained Lloyd. " I propose that this gent 
 shall read with me. Hist'ry is the racket I care 
 most for. When I performed with a circus com- 
 pany I travelled with through Europe, I saw 
 enough to excite my wonder, and I jus' wondered, 
 
 37i 
 
The Windfall 
 
 an' wondered. Now I want to know. And the 
 poets and general literachure ! My father used to 
 read a great deal of such stuff when his health had 
 disabled him, and I am going to travel right along 
 the road he took, and read the words he read, and 
 dream the dreams he dreamed. I never had the 
 time before. I'm strong on the common rudiments 
 — readin' and writin' and arithmetic." 
 
 " A very fair accountant," Mr. Dalton com- 
 mended the meritorious attainment. 
 
 " Oh, yes; kept the books of the company." 
 
 " ' Greatest show ' " suggested Mr. Dalton, 
 
 dimpling. 
 
 And the impresario had the grace to laugh 
 good-humouredly, though he flushed, too. 
 
 " Now here are two letters to the department 
 stores," said Mr. Dalton, who for some reason 
 seemed bent on exploiting his client, who in his 
 inexperience and his absorption in the strange de- 
 velopments of his affairs, apparently saw nothing 
 unusual in the trend of the conversation. 
 
 " They've not got stamps," he exclaimed ex- 
 citedly, " That'll never do. They must get off ! 
 Can you accommodate me?" to the affable clerk. 
 " Thanks, much." 
 
 "They are both orders for dry goods?" said 
 Mr. Dalton. 
 
 " Oh, no; this is for the hydrostatic bed for the 
 Living Skeleton. That poor man's bones, that he 
 lives by, torture him. The feather beds, and the 
 flock beds, and the mattresses are simply fierce. 
 
 372 
 
The Windfall 
 
 And he is stingy, yet he is tolerably warm in this 
 world's goods. And he is an educated man. But 
 he always stuck at the expense. Now he has 
 got it." 
 
 Lloyd chucked the letter into the slit with ex- 
 treme satisfaction. 
 
 " Stop — hadn't you better ask some lady about 
 the number of yards for that gown, Mrs. Lanis- 
 ton, for instance, before you mail that letter? " 
 
 " If you wjll be so very kind." The ci-devant 
 showman turned toward Mrs. Laniston with that 
 distinguished manner which she had first observed 
 in him. " It depends, of course, on the size of the 
 person. It is a gown for the fat lydy. She is 
 sensitive, and suffers dreadfully from the public. 
 But she is a very nice lydy ! I think she would like 
 to be beautiful, and as she has so few pleasures I 
 thought a surprise might tickle her. So I ordered 
 sixty yards of silk — the heaviest and best quality." 
 
 " Oh, oh, I should think that would be ample," 
 said Mrs. Laniston, decorously able to preserve her 
 gravity. 
 
 But Ruth's dimples could not be hid; she was 
 all pink now, and smiled alluringly. 
 
 " What tint — Mr. Lloyd? " she asked. 
 
 " Alice blue," he replied, quite solemnly, and 
 Ruth's suppressed laughter burst out uncontrollably 
 at the idea. 
 
 His eyes had a suggestion of reproach, as he 
 looked at her, but Lucia's face was grave, deeply 
 flushed, pondering, pained. 
 
 373 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "Hard life, to be a freak," Lloyd said; then 
 as if for tabulation of correspondence by Mr. Dal- 
 ton — " One dozen pink sandals for flying lydy. 
 She has so much trouble presenting fresh soles to 
 the public, and dingy ones show so." 
 
 " And now, your grand relative, Thomas Lloyd, 
 Esquire." 
 
 " Do you visit him in Glaston?" the habitue 
 of Glaston asked with an added infusion of respect. 
 
 " No, sir! " said the ex-showman, with his first 
 touch of stiffness. " He visits me at my house." 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Lloyd wrote to request the 
 honour of a visit, and I brought the letter," said 
 Mr. Dalton; he still had the air of exploiting a case 
 and marshalling his points, one by one, before a 
 judge or a jury. " It seemed an agreeable arrange- 
 ment to me, but Mr. Lloyd saw the matter in a dif- 
 ferent light. He is a man equipped for tours de 
 force, and he seemed to think it best to make the 
 mountain come to Mahomet. So we telegraphed his 
 refusal and his counter invitation last night, and 
 received a long distance telephone of acceptance 
 this morning. Now Mr. Lloyd writes to name the 
 day. It seems he is not leaving New Helvetia 
 immediately." 
 
 " I hope you don't inconvenience yourself on my 
 account — our little contract," said Frank, with 
 solicitude. 
 
 Lloyd showed sudden embarrassment. 
 
 " No — no ," he said, his fine face flushing, 
 
 his candid eyes faltering. " Not on your account. 
 
 374 
 
The Windfall 
 
 I know you'd release me. I'm tired of hustling 
 round; and — I like the place, and I've a little leis- 
 ure now." 
 
 Mr. Jardine hearkened to this in prophetic dis- 
 pleasure. His pride, his self-respect, had been 
 cut down by the part he had played in the 
 esclandre of the previous evening, and yet he 
 could not reproach himself with precipitancy. He 
 had vainly sought to evade, to shake off this 
 dangerous, this derogatory association, since the 
 incident of the Ferris Wheel. The crisis was 
 forced when he had seen the woman he loved 
 and admired and respected unsuspiciously prom- 
 enading the moonlit verandah in this show- 
 man's company. The fact that he proved to be 
 the scion of a family of standing, and that he had 
 been lifted from vagabondage to competence by 
 the provisions of a will did not in any small de- 
 gree annul the objections to his career and the 
 suspicion, which Jardine felt was justified, of re- 
 cent complicity with the moonshiners in their un- 
 lawful traffic. Jardine's inherent caution, how- 
 ever, was rendered more conservative by the circum- 
 stance that the fellow-traveller had proved to be a 
 lawyer, rather than a Federal emissary, and was 
 charged with a mission of honour and service to 
 the object of his suspicion instead of espionage and 
 arrest, as he had fancied, and he was devoutly 
 thankful that this ludicrous mistake of identity was 
 not definitely elicited in his impetuous and unchar- 
 acteristic outburst last night, when he had de- 
 
 3751 
 
The Windfall 
 
 manded an explanation. The sensational outcome 
 with its elements of romance, so alluring to the 
 average mind, had served to obliterate at the time 
 Jardine's own extraordinary conduct, and although 
 it had recurred to the memory of more than one 
 of the group, since the excitements had subsided, 
 they had hesitated to mention it. Jardine was 
 not a drinking man, but intoxication only might 
 serve to account with simplicity for the demon- 
 stration. His was a nature of almost austere 
 reserve and his presence had always a certain 
 distinction and dignity difficult to disregard. Most 
 of those present after the breaking up of the party 
 last night, lingering to finish out their cigars, had 
 reconciled themselves to the ravages of their curi- 
 osity, and there was a sentiment of gratitude as to 
 a public benefactor when the broker suddenly ac- 
 costed Jardine. 
 
 " By the way, Mr. Jardine, you treated us to 
 a fine sensation to-night. Were you acquainted 
 with this lawyer and his lucky client, or whom did 
 you suppose them to be? " 
 
 " A case of mistaken identity," said Jardine 
 easily, but with the certain aloof composure that 
 became him so well. " I beg you won't refer to it. 
 I could not discuss it — very embarrassing. Good- 
 night." And he turned away. 
 
 In the days that ensued Mr. Jardine's gloomy 
 expectations seemed hardly likely to be justified. 
 Mrs. Laniston had taken the helm with a strong 
 hand, and the sway that she could maintain when 
 
 37^ 
 
The Windfall 
 
 she would was amply manifest. The two girls 
 were continually under her wing, and the old 
 routine of their occupations was re-established as 
 before the outing to Colbury. Jardine once more 
 found himself her partner at bridge against Lucia 
 and Ruth, whiling away long hours of rainy 
 weather, while Lloyd was smoking and chatting 
 or playing billiards with some of the other gentle- 
 men, with whom he had swiftly become cordial 
 friends, or deep with his lawyer in business cor- 
 respondence, or out exercising with the stalwart 
 Frank. Mrs. Laniston was not so radical in her 
 management of the situation as to attract atten- 
 tion, not even indeed from the persons most con- 
 cerned. Now and again Lloyd, all unsuspicious 
 of her effort at avoidance, entered into conversa- 
 tion with the two young ladies in the group by the 
 office fire, and their chaperon had not a word or 
 glance to check them. She even smilingly sur- 
 veyed the scene when more than once he joined 
 them in the procession of young people who, in 
 wraps and rubbers, essayed a constitutional tramp, 
 trudging up and down the wet and windy piaz- 
 zas while the persistent rain steadily fell without 
 and the rest of the world had vanished utterly 
 in the clouds. But these occasional incidents oc- 
 cupied inconsiderable fractions of time, and counted 
 but scantily against the long hours that Jardine 
 spent in their society, at cards, or driving in the 
 woods, or reading aloud to them, while they sat 
 at their crochet-work in the bay-window, an im- 
 
 377 
 
The Windfall 
 
 proving book, of which Mrs. Laniston had ex- 
 pressed her desire that he should give them his 
 views, in marginalia, so to speak, which were some- 
 what in contravention of the conclusions of the 
 author. Mr. Jardine entertained a, conviction not 
 only that he read well, but that his thoughts did 
 not suffer disparagement in contrast with the ex- 
 positions of the text. 
 
 It was not altogether with" a good grace, how- 
 ever, that Jardine fell into line under these tactics. 
 Mentally he revolted at every concession, even 
 slight and apparently obligatory, to evade an awk- 
 ward discrimination against Lloyd. Jardine could 
 tolerate no half measures, and the errors of this 
 policy he deemed amply demonstrated one morn- 
 ing of brilliant sunshine when all the guests were 
 assembled in the hotel office awaiting the arrival 
 of the stage from Colbury. 
 
 When the stage came in with the mail, but with 
 not a single passenger, there was a general diversion 
 of the attention of the group around the fire. Let- 
 ters were opened and read, the recipients now 
 frowning over unwelcome information, now with 
 hard-set teeth and firm jaw, as the eyes scanned the 
 lines, in prophetic refusal of a proposition as yet 
 hardly presented. Only once or twice was there a 
 gleam of pleasure, so awry does the world go with 
 most of us, so do anxiety and disillusionment, and 
 actual disaster predominate. The composite ex- 
 pression of countenance of the group after opening 
 the mail was a reluctant and grudging thanksgiving 
 
 378 
 
The Windfall 
 
 that matters were no worse. The columns of 
 market prices and stock quotations in the news- 
 papers came in for serious and silent study, and the 
 politician, who had congressional aspirations, pon- 
 dered long and deeply over the reports of the re- 
 turns from certain local elections, of moment to a 
 possible canvass. 
 
 Mr. Dalton and his young friend had retired to 
 the bridge table in the bay window, where the man 
 of law explained and expatiated upon certain busi- 
 ness interests of which his correspondence treated. 
 Now and again Lloyd's eyes wandered to the ve- 
 randah outside where Lucia and Ruth were rapidly 
 walking to and fro in the sunshine, their sheer, 
 crisp, white skirts waving in the speed of their mo- 
 tion and their chilly hands tucked under their 
 elbows in the sleeves of their blue and red boleros. 
 Jardine noticed that they smiled graciously upon 
 the two gentlemen in the bay-window as they 
 passed. They came in presently, all aglow, an- 
 nouncing their intention to make up a party for 
 the bowling alley. 
 
 " Mamma says the ground is too damp for ten- 
 nis," pouted Ruth, glancing at Jardine, expectant 
 of partisanship and counsel. 
 
 He had been saying to himself bitterly that 
 it was not his capacity for self-sacrifice in Lucia 
 Laniston's interests that was limited, but the pos- 
 sibilities. Her aunt had been present throughout 
 the scene of the disclosure of identity and other- 
 wise knew as much of the man as he did, for his 
 
 379 
 
The Windfall 
 
 suspicions could not have been safely suggested, 
 and he had no means of proving their truth. He 
 was amazed to find that his anger against Lucia 
 Laniston, his disapproval of her headstrong folly, 
 had not diminished the strength of his attachment, 
 for the qualities she had displayed throughout the 
 Street Fair episode were precisely the traits with 
 which he had least sympathy — unconventionality, 
 girlish impetuosity*, a lack of solid judgment, a 
 flighty fun that no sane man could enjoy, a wild 
 relish of fantastic novelty, and the evening of their 
 return a flout at a friendly monition and a defiant 
 persistence in her own course. He loved her, it 
 was clear, and he had an infinite patience where she 
 was concerned. 
 
 He merely bowed with silent acquiescence in the 
 proposition to wile away the time with tenpins, 
 but Mrs. Laniston broke out with inexorable 
 negation. 
 
 " No — no bowling alley to-day. The roof leaks 
 like a riddle and the building is sopping with damp- 
 ness and as chilly as a vault. What are you two 
 thinking of?" 
 
 Lucia's countenance clouded with disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 11 We can't sit moping by the fire all this mag- 
 nificent day, Aunt Dora," she plained. 
 
 For his life Jardine could not refrain from com- 
 ing to the rescue. 
 
 11 What do you say to a brisk gallop in the sun- 
 shine? The horses are in fine fettle." 
 
 380 
 
The Windfall 
 
 11 The very thing! " cried Ruth. 
 
 "I just live for the saddle!" declared Lucia, 
 beaming with pleased anticipation. 
 
 11 What a help he'll be to Mrs. Jardine (when 
 he finds her) in making up her mind! " said Ruth, 
 in explanatory wise to Lucia. 
 
 " How astonished Mrs. Jardine will be (when 
 he finds her) at the way he can hit it off when he 
 does let himself go!" said Lucia, in an affected 
 aside to Ruth. 
 
 Jardine laughed with genuine good humour. It 
 had been so long since he had encountered this fic- 
 tion of " Mrs. Jardine " that he was heartily glad 
 to hear of her again, and was disposed to think 
 them and their ingenuity 7 in manufacturing her 
 views very fetching. 
 
 11 Shall I have your saddle put on Admiration? " 
 he asked of Lucia, for two of the horses were his; 
 the affection of the liver which he had, or fancied 
 he had, was presumed to be benefited by horse- 
 back exercise, and as Mr. Jardine had no affinity 
 for martyrdom he had brought his own excellent 
 mounts with him. On occasions like this he sacri- 
 ficed his own pleasure and rode an animal from the 
 livery stable which, however, kept very passable 
 stock, especially since the hard driving and riding 
 of the season were over and the horses had had 
 time to recuperate. 
 
 11 Oh, do, Lucia," cried Ruth. " I'm afraid of 
 Admiration. He's dear, but he dances so on his 
 hind legs." 
 
 38i 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " He's perfectly safe," said Jardine, " only a 
 little spirited." 
 
 " And so fast ! I lo-o-ve him ! " declared Lucia. 
 
 "And will you have the mare, Rosabel?" he 
 asked Ruth, respectfully. 
 
 " Oh — won't I, though ! " she said, dimpling. 
 
 " And the rest of us will have to put up with the 
 livery stable nags," said Frank, oblivious of the 
 fact that Mr. Jardine had not invited him to join 
 the party; indeed Jardine had contemplated taking 
 the two girls on a decorous morning canter, riding 
 a livery stable nag between the two, and had by 
 no means proposed an equestrian party. Still, the 
 suggestion had grown out of the taboo of tenpins 
 and tennis, and it was natural, with his cubbish 
 facility for blundering, that Frank should not think 
 the project at all exclusive. Indeed, the idea that 
 it was to be a general outing of the youth of the 
 place was shared by others as well, and one of the 
 elderly gentlemen, the broker from New Orleans, 
 turned with a sudden inspiration to Lloyd, who had 
 completed his business with Dalton and now 
 waited to pass through the group. 
 
 " Let me warn you against the livery nag. I 
 have an extra good saddle horse here, and shall be 
 much complimented to put you up." 
 
 He had been greatly attracted by the young fel- 
 low's face and manner; besides Lloyd might be 
 soon seeking investment for his money, and there 
 was no telling when he would want to buy or sell 
 
 382 
 
The Windfall 
 
 stocks. Fair words go as far in the brokerage 
 business as any other. 
 
 Jardine was amazed and incensed at Lloyd's 
 ready acceptance, and the broker, turning to the 
 telephone, was the first to cry " Hello " to the 
 livery stable. 
 
 It seemed a fate, the most mischievous of com- 
 plications, that Jardine's effort to save his lady- 
 love the ennui of a dull day should presently place 
 her beside the man of all others whom he wished 
 her to avoid — handsomer than ever in correct 
 equestrian costume — " possibly his gear as a ring- 
 master," Jardine thought, with a sneer — and rid- 
 ing like a centaur. The broker's horse was a 
 stylish, well-bred brute, and his very proximity 
 seemed to stimulate Admiration to sudden bursts 
 of competitive speed. Both mounts were hard to 
 hold, and Lucia had never seemed half so beautiful, 
 so spirited. Her dark-green riding-habit enhanced 
 her fairness. She wore the regulation high stiff 
 silk hat on her fluffy brown hair, with a shimmer- 
 ing white silken veil twisted half about it, and half 
 about her throat. Her high white collar and shirt 
 front in their mannish effect and a dark-red four-in- 
 hand tie were her special pride. Her airy poise 
 on the side-saddle seemed to Lloyd infinite temerity 
 and a great sacrifice to feminine bondage in con- 
 vention, for he was accustomed to see " lydies " 
 ride cross-saddle, but she appeared to have much 
 confidence, and maintained a secure seat. Erect 
 
 383 
 
The Windfall 
 
 and fearless she now and again looked over her 
 shoulder to invite Ruth's bright-eyed sympathy 
 from the distance. For Rosabel could not canter 
 in the same class; sleek and gentle and fleet enough, 
 she was ideal for a lady's use, and Jardine jogged 
 on his hired nag beside her. Jardine had jock- 
 eyed, as one may say, to throw Lloyd with Ruth 
 Laniston, and himself join the two ahead. But 
 Lloyd had taken his place beside Lucia's rein, 
 and persistently kept it. Frank was soon losing 
 ground. He could not maintain the pace, and Jar- 
 dine presently to his immeasurable chagrin found 
 the brother and sister beside him while the fleeter 
 steeds carried the couple ahead on and on — out of 
 sight. 
 
 For a time neither drew rein; the sandy road, 
 beaten hard by the late storm, was ideal. The 
 foliage of the forest trees all along the vast slopes 
 was freshly washed and resplendent. The illumi- 
 nated yellow of the maples and hickories might have 
 dispensed with the sun in its wonderful clarity of 
 tone; it seemed to glow with inherent light. The 
 red of the sourwood and the sumach and the 
 scarlet oak contrasted richly. Down in the valleys, 
 glimpsed whenever the road skirted the mountain's 
 verge, one could see that the deciduous trees were 
 still green, but on these lofty levels no foliage 
 showed verdant save the fir and the pine. The 
 wind itself seemed hardly; more swift than the 
 racing steeds; the clouds, dazzlingly white above 
 the endless blue ranges, challenged their speed, 
 
 384 
 
The Windfall 
 
 scudding before the high aerial currents above 
 even the bare domes, the " balds " of the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Now and then as the riders skirted a precipice 
 they caught sight of a swift torrent, leaping down 
 the mountain side, in cataract after cataract. Once 
 Lloyd checked his horse to mark how the great 
 vine that climbed from among the roots of a giant 
 poplar on the slope below to its topmost branch, 
 was laden with grapes; on a level with the road sat 
 the cub of a bear in their midst, feeding on the 
 fruit, pausing to gaze at them with a quaint ursine 
 stare. 
 
 The horses snorted and sprang aside, and he laid 
 his hand on her bridle as they passed along the 
 narrow precipitous way. It was somewhat too 
 narrow, too precipitous for this breakneck speed, 
 and perhaps but for his peculiar insensibility to 
 danger in equine matters he might earlier have 
 checked it. 
 
 " We had best go slow along here," he said. 
 " The earth is soft with the rain, and it might 
 cave. Step lightly, my friend," he addressed the 
 animal. But when they came on good rock-ribbed 
 footing he did not mend their pace. 
 
 " Yes, we will go slow," she said, " and wait 
 for the others."* 
 
 " I don't care for them to overtake us," he said. 
 " I have something in mind I want to say to 
 you." 
 
 She looked confused, agitated. Her flush rose 
 
 385 
 
The Windfall 
 
 to the roots of her hair. She turned upon him her 
 beautiful eyes — was it appeal or was it a gentle com- 
 passion that looked out at him inscrutably. Then 
 she turned them hastily away. 
 
 " Don't say it," she exclaimed. " Don't say 
 it!" 
 
 " You know already what it is — and why should 
 I not speak? You want to spare me?" 
 
 She made a gesture of assent. 
 
 " I am not very easy hurt; that's one value of 
 the hard knocks I've had; I'm equal to taking my 
 punishment. I hardly hoped — how could I? But 
 from the moment I saw you there on the piazza of 
 the hotel in Colbury I knew the difference 'twixt 
 prose and poetry. The world's been set to music 
 since; sometimes it's sad, and sometimes it's sweet, 
 but it's all singing rhymes. I loved you from the 
 minute I heard your voice — but I did not begin to 
 say my prayers to you till that night in the wheel; 
 oh, you seemed so kind, so good, made in a special 
 creation, unlike all in heaven or earth — not an 
 angel — 'cause you are a woman; not a woman — 
 'cause you are a blessed saint! Oh, I lived to see 
 you, and in all my troubles I'd only have to think 
 of you, and though I never expected you to speak 
 to me again my heart would be light — light ! " 
 
 He broke off suddenly. 
 
 " Oh, I distress you ; " for her head was bent 
 low and he saw the tears falling from her eyes on 
 her little trembling riding gloves. " And you are 
 so kind; you wanted to spare me." 
 
 386 
 
 
The Windfall 
 
 "No," she said, suddenly, brokenly; " I wanted 
 to spare myself, for, oh — oh, I care as much as 
 you — and more ; more! " 
 
 She could not look at him, but she knew that his 
 face was irradiated. 
 
 " Then — why — why can't we be happy to- 
 gether? Say it again! I can't believe it! " 
 
 " No — no " She was calming herself, 
 
 sorry and dismayed that she had said aught. She 
 had lost her self-control, and was struggling hard 
 for composure. 
 
 " You mean that your friends would object? I 
 would not have spoken a word, but for this change. 
 I told you that if I had a chance for life on a bet- 
 ter scale I'd take it. I have the means to make 
 your life comfortable; I could not, I would not 
 have asked you to make any sacrifice. Ought you 
 to let your friends prevent our marriage if you care 
 - — if you really care? " 
 
 " It is impossible — the sorrow of my life, but 
 impossible! " He gave a sigh of perplexity. 
 
 " You think I am — or rather my life has made 
 me — so unacceptable? " 
 
 " I am so artificial," she sobbed. " I should not 
 be easily contented." 
 
 She thought of the little six-room house just 
 across the swamp and beyond the bayou, near her 
 aunt's handsome country place in Louisiana, and 
 tried to see herself there — in a rocking-chair on the 
 porch, or planting seeds in the turfed, star-shaped 
 flower beds. 
 
 387 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " You are no more artificial than a lydy of cul- 
 chure should be," he asseverated. Then ensued 
 a long pause during which she glanced at him as, 
 with a frown of doubt and perplexity, he looked 
 far away at the horizon line, and she winced to 
 note his grace and perfect pose in riding, realising 
 the tawdry life which this apotheosis of equestrian- 
 ism comprehended and represented. 
 
 " If you care," he said, " and God bless you for 
 the word, will we be happy apart? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! no ! " she said, with a gush of tears. 
 " A great joy has knocked at my door, and I can't 
 open to it, but must bar up, and draw the bolts, 
 and — how can I be happy? " 
 
 He turned in the saddle and looked sternly at 
 her. 
 
 " Are you promised — to — another? That Mr. 
 Jardine, perhaps? " 
 
 She rejoiced to see the fires of jealousy fiercely 
 kindling in his eyes. She burst into a peal of 
 laughter. 
 
 " Oh, poor Mr. Jardine," she cried. " To be 
 jealous of poor Mr. Jardine! " 
 
 " Then, why — why — ?" he asked impatiently. 
 
 " Can't you see that there would be no happi- 
 ness for us together? We are of different worlds. 
 I couldn't endure to see you give up your standards 
 — and yet I could not abide them. The distance 
 between us would widen, not close. I have no in- 
 stincts for the simple life, and you would have no 
 interest in the artificial." 
 
 38S 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Once more the dark and dreary little farm- 
 house came within her mental range of vision. 
 
 " You would not know what I relinquished, nor 
 I what you sigh for. You keep up your connection 
 with your roving company for their benefit, and 
 I honour you for your generosity — but I would 
 prefer a more selfish man, with more regard for the 
 sneer of the world." 
 
 " And you care for that — the sneer of the 
 world?" * 
 
 " The world would think I had quite thrown 
 myself away." 
 
 " H-a-rdly — ha-a-rdly. The world noses out a 
 little money mighty quick! " 
 
 " All your training, won with such pain and toil, 
 is something I can't appreciate; tawdry and odious 
 with a personal application, a stumbling-block and 
 an offence to me; and all I have been taught and 
 have striven for is beyond your ken." 
 
 " All I know is I love you; and all I care for 
 is that you have said you love me! " he declared 
 resolutely. 
 
 " And I should never have said it, but I have a 
 confidence in you beyond my faith in any other 
 mortal. I wanted you to know it, and keep it hid- 
 den in your heart, though we part forever." 
 
 " For my life I can't see why." 
 
 " It will be bitter, but that knowledge will help 
 us to live through it." 
 
 " Oh, we will live through it — like the sur- 
 vivors live through death. The sun shines on 
 
 389 
 
The Windfall 
 
 graves all over the world, but the mourners go 
 about the streets." 
 
 She burst into sobbing again, holding up her 
 handkerchief to her eyes. Suddenly she lifted her 
 head. 
 
 "They are coming — they are coming! Do I 
 look as if I had been crying? Oh, I don't want 
 them to know — it's like a sacrilege for them to 
 know! There! there is a man coming along 
 that path. What is that in his hand? Let us ride 
 forward and stop him, as if we had been question- 
 ing him." 
 
 She drew the white gauze veil over her tearful 
 eyes, and her cheeks all pallid from weeping, and 
 together they rode forward to hail the mountain- 
 eer who had stopped stock still on beholding them. 
 And from the long reaches of the road, like the 
 footsteps of approaching doom, they heard the 
 iterative tramp of hoofbeats, every moment grow- 
 ing louder. 
 
 390 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A S the distanced equestrian party came within 
 /-\ view of the two in advance they perceived 
 -*- -*• that Lloyd was riding forward toward a 
 young mountaineer who stood at gaze in the path 
 which intersected the somewhat more definitely 
 marked main road. They could hear Lloyd's 
 cheery, vibrant voice as he called out to him: 
 
 " Where does this road lead? " 
 
 The man responded in somewhat surly wise, 
 eyeing, gloweringly, the dashing apparition of the 
 young horseman, springing up so suddenly in the 
 midst of the woods, for Lloyd's appearance, thus 
 well mounted, was doubly effective. 
 
 " Why — it jes' leads round an' round about 'n 
 the mountings." He spoke as if constrained to 
 elucidate a self-evident proposition. His large 
 brown eyes, which had a special lustre of surface, 
 not depth, seemed vaguely familiar, and somehow 
 inimical, to Lloyd, who started as he heard Lucia 
 speak, although her voice was too restrained to 
 reach the mountaineer's ears. 
 
 " Look, look ! it is an old acquaintance of ours," 
 said Lucia, wheeling her horse to accost the lag- 
 gards in the rear. " It's Diogenes. Don't you 
 see the lantern in his hand? It's Diogenes ! What 
 
 391 
 
The Windfall 
 
 distinguished people one does meet in the Great 
 Smoky Mountains! " 
 
 The young mountaineer shifted his gaze to the 
 approaching group for an instant only; then he 
 fixed his intent eyes once more on Lloyd's face. 
 
 He was a fine type of his class, well built, tall, 
 with a peculiarly trig, trim effect. He wore no 
 coat, and his shirt of blue homespun showed how 
 slim, yet muscular, was his body, and his long 
 boots, drawn to the knee over his trousers of blue- 
 jeans, encased legs of which every movement sug- 
 gested activity. He had a large brown hat, the 
 brim in front turned up, and showing a jagged, 
 ill-cut fringe of hair that resembled an old fashion 
 of ladies' coiffure, called a " bang." He was as 
 surly, as ill-conditioned, as unattractive of aspect 
 as a panther; his handsome traits appealed as 
 little to one's liking. 
 
 Lucia's airy, debonair manner bespoke the blith- 
 est spirits. " Oh, joy! Diogenes is looking for 
 you, Mr. Jardine. His quest is successful at last. 
 You are the honest man ! You know it must be 
 you, for we are all aware how politic poor Frank 
 is." 
 
 For the first time Mr. Jardine deigned to men- 
 tion Lloyd. Heretofore he would not so much 
 as glance at him. But he could not resist convert- 
 ing her pleasantry into a slur, and barbing the point. 
 " And is not Mr. Lloyd a competitor for distinc- 
 tion as an honest man? Am I alone?" 
 
 Lloyd discerned the acrid taunt in the smooth 
 392 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tones and flashed a fierce glance into Mr. Jardine's 
 bland and smiling countenance. 
 
 " Oh, my, no," exclaimed Lucia unexpectedly. 
 " How can you ask? Didn't Mr. Lloyd fake up 
 Wick-Zoo as a wild man — shall I ever cease to 
 shiver when I think of his blood-curdling howls — 
 when he is really as tame as — as — as you? And 
 didn't Mr. Lloyd make out that he was nobody 
 much, and nothing, when he is the grandson of 
 Judge Clarence Jennico Lloyd, one of the most 
 distinguished jurists of the day, and is a representa- 
 tive of one of the oldest and best families in the 
 South. Oh, Diogenes wouldn't light his lantern 
 to examine such a patent fraud as we have discov- 
 ered Mr. Lloyd to be." 
 
 Jardine's thin cheek was flushed, but his tact 
 enabled him to carry off the " slugging," as Lucia's 
 retort featured itself in Lloyd's triumphant con- 
 sciousness, as jauntily as a man well could. 
 
 " But really why is he going about here in the 
 sunshine with that lantern in his hand? " Jardine 
 pressed his horse forward, and spoke to the moun- 
 taineer. " What are you doing with that lantern, 
 my man? " 
 
 The mountaineer turned his head slowly and 
 looked up at Jardine with so sinister an expression 
 of countenance that Ruth was moved to a subtle 
 affright. 
 
 " Why does Mr. Jardine speak so — so dis- 
 courteously to an inferior?" she said discon- 
 tentedly. 
 
 393 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Because he is that kind of hairpin," said Frank 
 lucidly. 
 
 "Well, it isn't nice; mamma always insists on 
 special politeness to humble folk." 
 
 " You will have a harder hunt than Diogenes, if 
 you look for mamma's precepts and practice in 
 general action," said the loyal Frank. 
 
 There was something so incongruous with the 
 inimical, tigerish glow in the mountaineer's eyes, 
 and the youth and comeliness of his face, that his 
 sharp retort seemed whetted to an edge. 
 
 " Doin' with it? Totin' it — can't ye see?" 
 
 Frank laughed out gaily, with an applausive 
 cadence. " But why, partner? You understand 
 that we are from the New Helvetia Springs — 
 strangers — going around to see what we can see, 
 and we are asking a million questions of anybody 
 that will have patience to answer them. And we 
 can't make out any good reason for you to carry 
 that lantern out here on this sunlit mountain." 
 
 One might think it impossible to look at Frank's 
 gay, pink, dimpled face and not be mollified. But 
 the lowering, glum disaffection of the yokel's ex- 
 pression remained unmitigated. He continued 
 silent, vouchsafing no response, while his eyes trav- 
 elled from one to another of the faces of the group, 
 successively studying their lineaments with no 
 friendly result. There was a pause of embarrass- 
 ment disproportioned to the trifling cause that pro- 
 voked it. To break the awkwardness a few words 
 were interchanged amongst the riders. 
 
 394 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Had we not better move on? " suggested Jar- 
 dine. 
 
 " Give Lucia a little time to rest/' said Ruth. 
 Then to Lucia, " How fast you must have been 
 riding! You look pale with fatigue." 
 
 " Oh, I'm not tired at all," said Lucia, flushing 
 suddenly. " You can preach hygiene nearly equal 
 to Aunt Dora. I'd be a poor stick if that little 
 canter could make me pale." 
 
 " Mebbe thar's no use fur a lantern on top the 
 mounting," the mountaineer spoke so suddenly 
 that more than one of the group started in sur- 
 prise. " But how about the inside o' the mounting 
 — ain't much sunlight thar." 
 
 11 What! a cave? " Frank asked interested. 
 
 The mountaineer nodded. His face now had a 
 slow, pondering expression. He was evidently 
 following out a line of intricate introspection. 
 When he looked up again, he seemed a different 
 creature. 
 
 " Finest cave you uns ever seen," he said. The 
 gleam of his white teeth gave his face an unex- 
 pected geniality. " It's all plumb white inside, 
 an' shines powerful in the light of the lantern. 
 Thar ain't a room at the New Helveshy Springs 
 ez fine, nor in the hotel at Colbury, nuther." 
 
 These instances expressed the limits of his com- 
 prehension of magnificence, but the incongruity 
 passed unremarked in the interest of his disclosure. 
 Ruth and Lucia instantly began to clamour. 
 
 " Oh, couldn't we go to see it? " one cried. 
 395, 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Oh, what a novelty! " exclaimed the other. 
 
 "Is it far?" asked Lloyd, a little doubtfully. 
 
 The man's eyes had been so charged with ran- 
 cour, with a sense of burning wrath as he had en- 
 countered their gaze, that Lloyd had been reluctant 
 in the presence of ladies to elicit words from him. 
 Lloyd could not, of course, imagine any reason 
 for this, save the unassuaged hatred that the poor 
 of a certain type entertain for the presumably 
 rich and favoured, without regard to individuals 
 or circumstances. But the reply was as suave 
 and courteous as the man's limitations rendered 
 possible. " Thar air two openings ter it. One's a 
 mile away, but thar's another clost by. I never 
 know'd about it till one day las' spring. I war 
 huntin' hyarabouts, an' viewed a dark hole 
 'mongst some rocks, an' crope in. I fund the place 
 was a part of a cave I knowed afore. The door 
 ter it is ever yander nigh the valley. I hed 
 some matches in my pocket, but I was feared ter 
 trest 'em fur. So I fetched a lantern, an' went 
 plumb through ter the other eend. It's a s'prisin' 
 sight." 
 
 " Could you guide us in a little way — so that 
 the ladies might see something of it — what is best 
 worth seeing?" said Lloyd. "We will pay you 
 for your trouble, and your loss of time." 
 
 The mountaineer was standing near the show- 
 man's horse; he cast up his eyes reflectively, and 
 presumably named a sum of money, for Lloyd 
 replied : 
 
 39^ 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " That seems pretty stiff, but we will pay you 
 that, if you have enough candle, or oil; let me 
 see? " and he took the grimy lantern gingerly be- 
 tween his gloves. 
 
 Jardine, tingling with irritation, was constrained 
 once more to address Lloyd directly. Frank 
 Laniston, he said to himself, was such a boy, so 
 plastic to every impulse, that he could do more, 
 perhaps, by allying himself with this man. 
 
 " Don't you think this rather risky? " he asked 
 distantly. 
 
 " I can't judge without investigating," Lloyd 
 replied, with that quiet dignity which accorded so 
 ill with his bizarre profession. " I thought I 
 might go in the cave a reasonable distance with 
 the guide, and, if it seems safe and worth while, 
 the ladies might venture a short excursion." 
 
 " Why surely, Mr. Jardine." Even the ultra- 
 amiable Ruth had reached the point of irritation 
 expressed by emphasis. 
 
 "What could be more reasonable?" said 
 Lucia, also with the countenance of reproach. 
 
 Mr. Jardine often felt at these crises that such 
 a degree of popularity as he enjoyed with them 
 was hardly worth conserving, but he made many 
 sacrifices to prevent its impairment, and he was 
 glad now of an opportunity to recede grace- 
 fully. 
 
 " That's a very good idea. I had not thought 
 of a reconnoitering expedition." 
 
 They set out at a moderate pace, to enable their 
 397 
 
The Windfall 
 
 guide to keep abreast of the horses. The direc- 
 tion necessitated a divergence from the main road, 
 a circumstance which aroused in Mr. Jardine a 
 degree of anxiety and suspicion. He looked about 
 him sharply, fixing landmarks as well as he might 
 in his recollection — the situation of a great dome, 
 the horizontal summit of a range, a high precipi- 
 tous cliff, looking far away over a hundred minor 
 ridges and valleys, a green abyss intervenient 
 among steep slopes, as dank, as lush, as luxuriantly 
 leafy as if summer had fled for hiding in this 
 lonesome dell. But the incidents of the way were 
 repetitious; he could not have discriminated the 
 difference in the outlook now before his eyes, and 
 the one which a sudden turn had served to oblit- 
 erate. The path grew more narrow, less distinctly 
 marked; it was necessary to proceed in single file, 
 so closely did the dense rhododendron boughs press 
 upon the dim outline of a trail. Presently all 
 outlook was shut off by the redundant evergreen 
 growth, almost meeting above their heads, the jun- 
 gle of indefinite extent, and, but for this slender 
 line betokening a foot-passage, impenetrable. Jar- 
 dine was as courageous as a reasonable man need 
 be, but he felt as if he had been foolhardy when 
 he considered the down-looking, ill-conditioned 
 aspect of their guide — like that of an implacable 
 and surly cur — the fact of his gold watch, and 
 those of his companions, the diamonds on the 
 daintily gloved hands of the ladies, the well-filled 
 purses of the men. They were indeed easy vie- 
 
 398 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tims to highwaymen in this remote and inaccessi- 
 ble wilderness, and he wondered futilely how he 
 could have so submitted his judgment to a lady's 
 unthinking whim. As to Lloyd's indifference, he 
 was a man experienced only in towns and town 
 ways; he either did not realise what he might 
 be encountering, or he was so used to jeopardy in 
 his fantastic profession that needless risks seemed 
 the normal incidents of life. 
 
 Of all his anticipations Jardine least expected to 
 be led to a veritable cave, instead of an ambus- 
 cade, and his spirits rose incalculably when the 
 voices of Lloyd and Frank sounded in the van, 
 proclaiming their arrival at the spot. 
 
 It was a wild and lonely place; the sunshine 
 filtered through the red and gold foliage of the 
 trees with a lucent glister, as through stained glass. 
 The rhododendron jungle clustered about, and 
 fenced off the world impenetrably. A high slope 
 on one side was bestrewn with gigantic boulders; 
 great fragments of a fractured cliff towered above, 
 and amongst them was a vertical crevice of irregu- 
 lar shape, some eight feet in height. It looked 
 black, uninviting, sinister; but there were moss- 
 grown ledges hard at hand, and a dimpling, swirl- 
 ing rill ran down the declivity and was lost in the 
 great lush ferns. A breath of exquisite freshness 
 and blended perfumes pervaded the air, and a 
 steady current, outward set, was perceptible from 
 the mouth of the cave. 
 
 " The horses can be picketed here, and doubtless 
 399 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Mr. Jardine will be kind enough to look after you 
 two while we are gone," said Frank officiously. 
 
 " But why don't you wait also," asked Mr. 
 Jardine, by no means relishing the exclusive charge 
 of five fine horses, to swell the booty of the high- 
 waymen, should he be molested. 
 
 " Surely Mr. Lloyd does not have to ascertain 
 if the excursion is safe for me," said Frank bluffly. 
 " Either you or I have to stay with the girls, and 
 I thought you could entertain them best. They 
 know all my patter from 'way back." 
 
 "Oh, certainly," said Mr. Jardine frigidly; 
 " with pleasure." 
 
 Despite his irritation, his preoccupation, he no- 
 ticed the sudden, acute disappointment on the 
 mountaineer's face. His jaw dropped, his fierce 
 eyes stared, disconsolate, doubtful; he was all at 
 once crestfallen, stumbling, slow. Had he ex- 
 pected only Lloyd to venture with him into those 
 bleak abysses ? Why should he deprecate the com- 
 pany of the stalwart young Laniston? The in- 
 ference was too plain — they made two to one. 
 Any false dealing, any foul treachery was now 
 impracticable. Still Jardine could not refrain from 
 remonstrating with Lloyd, so imperative was his 
 persuasion of some strangely inimical element. 
 
 " Mr. Lloyd," he said, with more geniality than 
 one would have thought it possible for him to show, 
 " let's call this thing off. We have made a mistake 
 — a serious mistake in contemplating it. I have 
 my reasons which I will tell you without reserve 
 
 400 
 
The Windfall 
 
 at our first opportunity. We will pay this man 
 all the same, and consider the money a forfeit. 
 But I beg of you — I am a serious man, no trifler — 
 let's call this cave excursion off, right here and 
 now." 
 
 His appeal seemed to impress Lloyd, but Frank 
 Laniston broke out into his gruffly callow remon- 
 stances, and the two young ladies set up a plaintive 
 duet of reproach. 
 
 " Lloyd may back out, if he likes," said Frank, 
 " but I will let no such show as this escape me." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Jardine, how you shilly-shally," cried 
 Lucia. " You agreed there was no objection if 
 Mr. Lloyd would reconnoitre the place." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Jardine, how you willy-nilly," cried 
 Ruth. " You will have it that there's death and 
 destruction in every earthly thing we propose. A 
 serious man ! Yes, as serious as the grave." 
 
 The two girls flung about in mock despair, and 
 finally subsided, their arms interlocked, on one of 
 the mossy ledges. 
 
 " I submit to Fate," said Lucia, " if nobody will 
 take me in to see this cave I reckon I shall never 
 have another chance." 
 
 " I submit to Fate," echoed Ruth. " If no- 
 body will take me in to see this cave I shall try 
 to lead him a life, the rest of my natural exist- 
 ence ! " 
 
 And she fixed her eyes on her brother. 
 
 " Oh, come on, Lloyd," laughed Frank, in his 
 gruff, callow fashion, " It's up to us." 
 
 401 
 
The Windfall 
 
 And he plunged toward the entrance of the 
 cavern. 
 
 The mountaineer turned and looked at Jardine 
 with so insolent a triumph, so scornful a relish, as 
 he stood disregarded and disconcerted, that the 
 force of his inchoate anxieties and suspicions was re- 
 doubled. The trio disappeared, the lantern glim- 
 mering feebly in the light of the day, but casting 
 a stronger glow in the black mouth of the cave, and 
 suddenly shining like a star, seen through a crevice 
 higher in the wall of rock. 
 
 Jardine seated himself upon a boulder near the 
 two young ladies. He lifted his hat to bare his 
 head to the breeze, for the sun had waxed hot, 
 and he took out his white handkerchief and 
 mopped his brow wearily. He did not lift his 
 lashes, but absently regarded his riding-boots, now 
 and again flicking them lightly with the whip in 
 his hand. He knew that the eyes of both were 
 fixed, beguilingly, upon him. He was angry with 
 them, and he did not wish to be easily placated. 
 But he did not evade their blandishments. 
 
 " Don't you know," said Ruth to Lucia, " that 
 he is just hoping and praying that Mrs. Jar- 
 dine (when he finds her) will be like neither 
 of us." 
 
 " And don't you know," said Lucia, in. an aside 
 to Ruth, " that he will just dedicate himself to 
 teaching Mrs. Jardine (when he finds her) not to 
 be headstrong and hard-headed, as we are." 
 
 It were churlish to resist their fantastic amende, 
 402 
 
The Windfall 
 
 and he raised his eyes with a positive plea of anx- 
 iety in them. 
 
 " If you would only consider my views ! " he 
 urged. " If you would but trust to my larger 
 experience ! It sends me frantic for you to endan- 
 ger your precious lives. I have done — I am willing 
 to do everything for your pleasure that is safe 
 for you. I don't consider my own taste. I love 
 to be at your service. I care for nothing so much 
 as your happiness. I think I have shown this, 
 and I ask in return but one boon — that you do not 
 run your precious selves into danger — that " 
 
 But they desired to hear no more from him on 
 this theme. 
 
 " I shall tell Mrs. Jardine (when he finds her) 
 that she is not the first!" cried Ruth, dimpling; 
 " that he made love to both of us ! " 
 
 " The jealousy of Mrs. Jardine (when he finds 
 her) will never know surcease, when she hears he 
 calls both of us ' precious,' " echoed Lucia, with 
 mock solemnity. 
 
 Then they collapsed into their silvery laughter 
 as they sat on the mossy ledge, and guyed him. 
 
 His remonstrances were obviously futile, but be- 
 fore he had time to attempt another Ruth spoke, 
 suddenly serious. 
 
 " You know I have practised drawing faces so 
 much — the individual features from the flat, and 
 the whole countenance in the life class — that I 
 have become just dead letter perfect in the dis- 
 crimination of human physiognomy. I don't pre- 
 
 403 1 
 
The Windfall 
 
 tend to discern character, and all that sort of 
 thing — to set up as a second Lavater — but a face 
 with any distinctiveness that I have once seen I 
 recognise on a second view." 
 
 Jardine felt a sudden premonition, as of dis- 
 covery — a sudden inexplicable sinking of the heart. 
 He looked at her intently as she paused, leaned 
 aside, plucked a tiny flowering weed from a niche 
 in the rock, and turned it in her gauntleted hands. 
 Lucia, one elbow on the ledge behind her, gazed 
 indifferently into the great encompassing stretch 
 of the woods, where in the illuminated air there 
 was a continual wafting down of the rich, glinting, 
 yellow leaves. 
 
 " I thought I knew that young mountaineer the 
 moment I saw him," continued Ruth. " And now 
 I have placed the recollection. He is the young 
 man who sat in front of us at the song and dance 
 turn, disguised as an old man. I knew his eyes, 
 and that slight rise in the bridge of his nose, break- 
 ing the insipidity of contour — very good shape." 
 
 Lucia was erect, looking at her with startled 
 eyes. " Sure enough? " she said. 
 
 Ruth glanced at her with a laughing rebuke 
 of the slang phrase. " Sure enough ! " she as- 
 sented. 
 
 " Why, that man was in the Ferris Wheel that 
 night!" exclaimed Lucia. " And I am morally 
 certain he slung a stone, or iron missile of some 
 sort, and knocked this Mr. Lloyd out of the 
 swing. Why didn't you tell him? " 
 
 404 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " It only came to me a moment ago," said 
 Ruth. " Besides, you know Mr. Jardine and Frank 
 thought that idea was just our notion — the vapour- 
 ings of semi-idiots." 
 
 She glanced with pink and beguiling smiles at 
 Mr. Jardine, expecting his complimentary protest. 
 But he was too seriously ill at ease to respond. 
 He, too, had realised the belated recognition, real- 
 ising as well that it was unconsciously at the root 
 of his objection to the cave expedition, and his 
 strong, though undefinable, uneasiness. He was 
 thinking that if the mountaineer had had the 
 motive and the venom to attack the manager, his 
 vindictive rancour would not have been allayed by 
 the ineffectiveness of his assault. He doubtless 
 would make another attempt, and this with his 
 unsuspecting victim at his mercy in the recesses and 
 dangers of an unexplored cave. He remembered 
 the guide's patent dismay when Frank Laniston 
 joined the party, and he began to take comfort 
 from the fact that the incident was evidently un- 
 premeditated, and that the man was unable to cope 
 with odds. If Lloyd and Laniston had but the 
 discretion to keep together, as indeed they needs 
 must, for the paucity of the means of light, no dis- 
 aster might befall them. True they might be led 
 into difficult and remote labyrinths and left — the 
 lantern extinguished — to wander till they fell into 
 abysses, or perished with hunger. 
 
 He caught himself sharply. What fantastic 
 folly was this? The whole theory was based upon 
 
 405 
 
The Windfall 
 
 a girl's romantic version of a fall from a foolish, 
 mechanical contrivance — heaven knows how in- 
 efficiently constructed — and a fancied resemblance 
 to a face seen only twice before, each time in a 
 dim light, and apparently half eclipsed by a dis- 
 guise. 
 
 He breathed more freely. He had never before 
 had to reproach himself with morbidness. The 
 whole idea was doubtless nonsensical. Even if 
 it had any foundation in fact, the party outside — 
 himself and the two girls — would be a check on 
 treachery of any magnitude. The guide had not 
 means at hand for such wholesale murder as the 
 destruction of the two young men would necessi- 
 tate; evidently he was not armed, or he would 
 not have flinched, crestfallen and dismayed, when 
 the muscular Frank Laniston had joined the man- 
 ager. The report of their disappearance, and a 
 search party from the hotel and the neighbourhood 
 might rescue them, if abandoned to the tortuous 
 depths of darkness, or ascertain their fate, if 
 treacherously misled into abysses and over preci- 
 pices. Despite his careful reasoning of a moment 
 before, he had come back to this horrible possi- 
 bility. 
 
 Suddenly he sprang to his feet. Frank Laniston, 
 the lantern in his hand, his blond hair damp and 
 limp over his forehead, his teeth chattering with 
 cold, his shoulders shrugging with shivers, plunged 
 out of the entrance with the wild cry: 
 
 " Come on! Hurry up! Finest thing yet! 
 406 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Great! Perfect palace of wonders! Don't waste 
 a minute! " 
 
 He caught Lucia by the wrist, and she shivered 
 at the touch of his cold hand, as he turned, and 
 together they dashed toward the entrance he had 
 just quitted. 
 
 " Stop, Laniston, I want to tell you something," 
 exclaimed Jardine insistently. 
 
 " Some other day," called back Frank, between 
 his chill teeth. 
 
 "But I must — I will speak to you!" began 
 Jardine. 
 
 " I have left that man and Lloyd in the dark, 
 waiting. The mountaineer didn't want me to take 
 the light — said it burns faster in motion. He 
 wouldn't stay alone — said he's afraid of harnts 
 — ha ! ha ! ha ! And we couldn't make him come 
 back, said it's bad luck to turn back. So really 
 I can't stop to listen to you. I can't leave them 
 there in that awful blackness longer than I am 
 obliged to. If you are coming — come on! Follow 
 the lantern ! " 
 
 " I insist — I insist," cried Jardine, advancing 
 with long strides in their wake over the rocky 
 ground, finding it impossible to overtake them. 
 " I insist that you do not take Miss Laniston ! " 
 
 Frank was infinitely affronted. He stopped 
 short and ceremoniously referred the matter to 
 the lady. 
 
 "Are you coming, Lucia?" he asked. 
 
 "Yes, yes!" exclaimed the girl, grasping his 
 407 
 
The Windfall 
 
 arm, and pulling him forward. " Oh, don't stop! 
 Let us hurry. Oh, get the light back ! " 
 
 "Always the pluckiest ever!" said Frank. 
 
 They both were running. Jardine made another 
 frantic effort to remonstrate and stop them, as he 
 dashed after them. 
 
 " You don't know about that guide! " he called 
 out. "We think he is " 
 
 " I will tell him! " cried Lucia over her shoul- 
 der. " Don't stop him. He must get the light 
 back!" 
 
 Seeing the utter hopelessness of his effort Jar- 
 dine desisted, and retraced his steps to the mouth 
 of the cave, where Ruth stood waiting. Lucia 
 did not so much as cast a glance backward, but 
 Frank paused once to look over his shoulder at 
 the two in the shadow of the rocks. 
 
 " If you two are coming, follow the lantern — 
 if not, you'll look after Ruth, Mr. Jardine? 
 Thanks, much." 
 
 Jardine was very doubtful of his best course. 
 If he and Ruth joined the party none of them 
 might ever be heard of or seen again. Yet he 
 realised the value of the strength in numbers. Still 
 the fact that two were without the cave to report 
 the disappearance of the others, should they not 
 return after a reasonable interval, was a check on 
 the possible malevolence and treachery of the 
 guide. 
 
 " The lantern will be out of sight," Ruth 
 pouted. "Shall we follow them?" 
 
 408 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " To tell you the truth I distrust that guide, " 
 said Jardine. With women he seldom resorted to 
 candid speech, and an appeal to their intelligence 
 and judgment. But he resolved to be frank now, 
 though he marked how her cheek paled, how her 
 eyes dilated. " I think that if he has any sinister 
 intentions our remaining on guard here, so to 
 speak, will be a check upon them. They will be 
 rendered impracticable for fear of our report of 
 the entrance of the party into the cave, and their 
 failure or delay to return. Now I propose that we 
 wait here, say, half an hour, and, if we hear noth- 
 ing of our friends in that time, we will mount our 
 horses and gallop for help to New Helvetia. 
 What do you say? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, by all means ! But, oh, why, why 
 did we let them go ! " 
 
 " We couldn't help it," said Jardine rather bit- 
 terly. He was not wont to be so frustrated and 
 set at naught. He was a man of consideration 
 in the ordinary associations of life. Never had he 
 suffered such disparagement as at the hands of 
 these youthful feather-pates. 
 
 " But they will probably come out all right," 
 he added, " in a little while, and you and I will 
 have the pleasure of figuring as alarmists and 
 cowards — afraid of the cave." 
 
 " What a wild country — what wild people," 
 Ruth shuddered. 
 
 " We will give them half an hour," suggested 
 Jardine, drawing out his watch to consult it. " And 
 
 409 
 
The Windfall 
 
 if they do not rejoin us in that time we will raise 
 the countryside." 
 
 She assented rather dolorously, and sat down on 
 the ledge as before, while Jardine resumed his 
 place on the boulder, near at hand. 
 
 The wind blew freshly through the odorous 
 woods; the gold leaves shifted down in showers; 
 the crystal rill went purling over the moss, and, as 
 her watch which she held in her hand ticked away 
 the minutes, she looked eagerly ever and anon at 
 the dark crevice-like entrance to the cave, listening 
 vainly, hoping to hear her brother's boisterous, 
 boyish voice. 
 
 410 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IUCIA, hurrying along beside Frank as he 
 sturdily strode through the gloom, swing- 
 — ' ing the lantern to and fro to apprise the 
 explorers, waiting in the darkness, of his approach, 
 felt that wings could hardly be swift enough to 
 convey to Lloyd the warning of his peculiar and 
 imminent danger. And, yet, it might be even now 
 too late! She was appalled at the thought of his 
 risks alone in the depths of an unexplored cavern, 
 without a light, without a landmark, without a clue 
 to his station in the subterranean labyrinth, his 
 only companion a strange, half-civilised man, who 
 had once already, at great jeopardy to himself, 
 slyly and treacherously attempted his life. She 
 marvelled at Lloyd's foolhardy temerity, and then 
 — and the thought redoubled her speed — she 
 realised that he had no vague intuition of the secret 
 of his peril, she was sure that he had not for a 
 moment recognised or distrusted his guide. 
 
 She hardly felt the chill of the rare air; she cared 
 naught for the rough footing; now and again she 
 stumbled and clutched at Frank for support, but 
 instantly pressed on, unwearied, fevered, alert. 
 
 Naught so sinister as the unutterable blackness 
 was ever presented to her imagination. She stared 
 wide-eyed at the palpable-seeming glooms of the 
 vast halls, made visible by the dim glister of the 
 
 411 
 
The Windfall 
 
 little lantern. Things of evil omen, winged, un- 
 seen, whisked by her head; once a bat struck her 
 full in the face. The place seemed alive with these 
 creatures, and, now and again, as she heard their 
 strange, uncanny squeak, she started violently, all 
 her nerves jarring. 
 
 " We shall soon be beyond the bat zone, Lucia," 
 said Frank kindly, remembering the universal 
 feminine horror of the genus. 
 
 His voice, so hearty and cheery in the outdoor 
 world, seemed strangely hollow, unnatural in this 
 environment, echoing far away, and coming anew 
 in a different key, and startling her with the con- 
 viction of terrible, unseen beings, conferring apart 
 in the unimagined distance, speaking her name. 
 
 " Oh, not a word — " she whispered, " on your 
 life, not another word," and she clung to him ter- 
 rified. 
 
 He burst out with his boyish, rollicking laughter, 
 and all the cavern was filled with mocking merri- 
 ment, raucous, horrible, as if the cachinnation of 
 invisible fiends repeated his tones, resounding 
 anew, now here, now there, now far in advance, 
 now close behind them, and, even at last, when all 
 seemed still, again an elfin mimicry. 
 
 Frank checked himself; he saw that her terrors 
 were genuine. The feminine ideal had always 
 figured in his unsentimental appraisement as la 
 marplot; he was beginning to be afraid, from Lu- 
 cia's heavier drag on his arm, the dilation of her 
 eyes, the tremor in her voice, that such courage 
 
 412 
 
The Windfall 
 
 as she had summoned for the enterprise was already 
 failing her, and that he would shortly be adjured 
 to turn about and retrace their way, and restore 
 her to the glad outer air and the pleasant surface 
 of the earth. He said naught further, and when 
 she had begun to fear that they had missed the 
 trace, although he had told her that for a certain 
 distance there was no break in the right-hand wall, 
 and they could not go amiss as long as they kept in 
 touch with it, she heard a faint halloo in the night, 
 as one might hear in a dream. When Frank re- 
 sponded vociferously, it came anew, and stronger 
 still. 
 
 Suddenly she saw, across a vast expanse of utter 
 darkness, like the face of the deep when the 
 earth was without form and void, the outline, as 
 it were, of a promontory growing slowly into being; 
 a faint flicker of light — it seemed star-like in con- 
 trast with the deep gloom — revealed two moving 
 creatures poised there, which she presently recog- 
 nised as human beings. One, she was sure that it 
 was Lloyd, had struck a match, and from it had 
 kindled a bit of wood — it was his forlorn little 
 cigar-case of imitation lacquer, which he extrava- 
 gantly sacrificed ; he expected to have better things 
 after this! While the stolid mountaineer looked 
 on, Lloyd once more called out blithely to his ap- 
 proaching acquaintances, and distinguishing the 
 voice which she had feared would never sound 
 again, she burst into tears. 
 
 Frank, all tingling with the ardour of adventure, 
 
 413 
 
The Windfall 
 
 with the excitements of extreme jeopardy, with the 
 interest of novelty, felt a surge of resentment 
 toward her as an inopportune spoil-sport. The 
 spirit of discipline was strong within him. 
 
 " Well, upon my word, Lucia Laniston,' , he said 
 severely — and a hundred distant voices were re- 
 peating, " Lucia Laniston! Lucia Laniston!" 
 while she hung upon his arm, vaguely flinching 
 from the echoes and seeking to stop her ears. " I'll 
 never take you with me anywhere again, as long as 
 I live! There is no danger. What are you cry- 
 ing for — answer me that? " 
 
 And the darkness conjured her — " Answer me 
 that?" 
 
 "Oh, Frank," she whispered: she could not 
 speak aloud for the echoes — even the sibilance that 
 followed her words made her now and then shrink 
 away and look back. Then she put both hands on 
 one of his shoulders, and stood on tip-toe to bring 
 her lips close to his ear, " We must look out for 
 that mountaineer. We have recognised him at last 
 — both Ruth and I. He is the man whom we 
 noticed in disguise at the concert where that girl 
 sang and danced, and who afterward tried to kill 
 Mr. Lloyd in the Ferris Wheel ! " 
 
 " The devil he is ! " exclaimed Frank, stopping 
 short, disconcerted and dismayed. 
 
 " The devil he is — he is — he is — he is the 
 devil! " The echoes reiterated the words with a 
 distracting distinctness, and she put her hand over 
 Frank's lips. 
 
 414 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " The next time you speak — whisper," she ad- 
 monished him. " I expected, — Mr. Jardine ex- 
 pected that he would kill Mr. Lloyd while you 
 were gone." 
 
 " It must be that he has got no pistol," Frank 
 surmised decisively. " And that's strange, for 
 these fellows all carry their ' shootin' iron ' in the 
 leg of their left boot. That's the only reason, 
 I dare swear By sheer strength, he couldn't. 
 Lloyd could throw him from here to New Helvetia. 
 He doubtless expected to take Lloyd by surprise, 
 and suddenly push him over into an abyss, and 
 didn't get the opportunity. He saw enough of 
 athletes at the carnival to know he would be out- 
 matched in a fair fight. Treachery or a pistol was 
 his only chance. But why on earth did not Jardine 
 tell me?" 
 
 " He tried — he tried — but you wouldn't wait a 
 minute — you wouldn't hear a word." 
 
 Even in the dim light Frank's face showed crest- 
 fallen, dispirited, mortified. 
 
 " I'm sorry you came — but we must make the 
 best of it. See here, Lucia, when we join them, do 
 you get close to Lloyd and very quietly tell him — 
 don't choke him, like you did me; you've pretty 
 near strangled me, clutching me by the collar that 
 way — but whisper the facts to him. Very quietly, 
 mind you. We mustn't excite the suspicions of that 
 miscreant. Our safety may depend on his think- 
 ing that we do not recognise him. Let Lloyd know, 
 and walk with him, and I'll keep right along with 
 
 415 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Mister Mountain-Man. We will only make a 
 feint of seeing the cave — just to avoid precipitat- 
 ing some rascality — and take the first chance to get 
 out of this as soon as possible. " 
 
 When they reached the waiting explorers, who 
 being without adequate light could not come to 
 meet them, Lucia was no longer walking with her 
 cousin's arm, but following, as he preceded her, 
 swinging the lantern. The way had grown rough 
 and unequal; sudden unexpected descents made the 
 walking difficult amidst the jagged edges of the 
 crag and fragments long ago fallen from the roof; 
 climbing the acclivity, on which they still stood, 
 she was now and again fain to clutch at a projec- 
 tion of rock to assist her steps, and, although she 
 was rarely light and active, and kept up well with 
 Frank's long stride, he carefully handled the lan- 
 tern to afford her all the light possible. It seemed 
 to Lloyd, however, that she needed more effective 
 assistance, and, as soon as their proximity made it 
 possible, he advanced to meet them, as the crafty 
 Frank had anticipated, and offered her his arm. 
 Frank turned for a moment, surveying this arrange- 
 ment, as if he had not expected it; then, address- 
 ing the mountaineer, but still keeping the lantern 
 in his own hands, he said bluffly, " Come on, old 
 Sport — we'll take the lead. Guide us to that 
 marble palace we were thinking of buying when 
 we turned back." 
 
 " It has got marble palaces beat to a frazzle," 
 Lloyd chimed in enthusiastically. 
 
 416 
 
The Windfall 
 
 She noted with a pang, half gratulation, half 
 grief, that he asked no questions as to the others. 
 He had no curiosity as to their reasons for de- 
 clining the excursion. He seemed not even aware 
 of their absence — to him all had come since she 
 was here. She felt the strength of his support, his 
 sure-footed agility, and moved en swiftly and eas- 
 ily on his arm. But she could not, by lagging, find 
 an opportunity for her confidential whisper. When 
 sharp, jagged rocks intervened in the path, and 
 she slackened her pace, the mountaineer seemed to 
 observe it immediately, and accommodated his gait 
 to theirs, although, once or twice, Frank, forging 
 on with the lantern, the way being obvious, a canon- 
 like interval, between great, beetling cliffs, left 
 them so far behind that Lloyd called a halt. 
 
 " Remember Miss Laniston," he admonished 
 the youth. " You are not walking for a purse." 
 Then, jocularly, " That lantern is not your per- 
 sonal property — it doesn't look well for you to 
 make off with it like that." 
 
 Somehow, on Lloyd's arm, Lucia forgot to be 
 afraid. The terrible glooms had a certain grue- 
 some picturesqueness that no longer appalled her. 
 She could look up into the infinite vaults of the 
 darkness, and her hope, her soul, no longer fainted 
 within her. The lantern, like a tiny star, lucently 
 white, with a rayonnant halo about its focus, 
 showed vast, rugged, crag-shaped forms looming 
 indistinctly in these undreamed-of subterranean 
 realms, and now the path skirted an abyss of unim- 
 
 417 
 
The Windfall 
 
 agined depth, and now toiled up an ascent, moun- 
 tain-like in its vague immensity, but she had no 
 tremors, no thought of regret for the bland outer 
 air, and the bliss of the candid sunshine. She 
 trusted implicitly to him. She knew that he was 
 ignorant, all untrained mentally, sadly neglected, 
 hardly used by Fate, but she relied on the inherent 
 strength of his judgment, his fine, bright, native 
 intellect, his optimism, his simple valiance in the 
 fight of life. She did not doubt that she would 
 have presently an opportunity to disclose the facts 
 to him, to communicate her warning, and she was 
 sure* that he would instantly know the best course 
 to pursue, and that he would have the courage 
 and the dexterity to make it effective. She real- 
 ised his high moral qualities, so rare in these days 
 that they seemed like a special gift. His unself- 
 ishness would take due account of her, of Frank — 
 his magnanimity would even spare the murderous 
 mountaineer, unless, indeed, their safety, their 
 lives were the price of his. 
 
 So restored, indeed, were her faculties, that she 
 was the first to note the sudden responsive light, as 
 the far-reaching gleam of the lantern struck out 
 the glitter of calc-spar. " See there ! " she cried. 
 "What is that? " 
 
 " We are coming again to the palace, I do be- 
 lieve," said Frank, as if surprised. 
 
 " Wa-al," observed the surly guide, stopping 
 short, " warn't ye lowin' ez ye wanted ter go the 
 same way? I kin show ye other ways — ef so 
 
 418 
 
The Windfall 
 
 be ye'd like ter travel 'em ; a short cut ter no- 
 whar." 
 
 Frank was conscious of having expressed unin- 
 tentionally, in his surprise, his lurking suspicions, 
 and his answer was not readily forthcoming. But 
 Lloyd discriminated the note of offence in the 
 guide's voice, and sought to re-establish harmonious 
 relations. 
 
 " That is all right — just what we want to show 
 the lydy," he said cheerily. " But I don't call it 
 the marble palace," he continued, addressing him- 
 self directly to Lucia; " it is the ' Hall of Heroes ' 
 — you will see why directly, — and, oh, what a 
 stage-setting it would make." 
 
 Even now the darkness began to shimmer with 
 vague transient white gleams suggestive of appari- 
 tions, of gigantic human forms. At a word from 
 the guide, Frank strode ahead down a steep de- 
 clivity, and, pausing at last, stood in the centre of 
 an oval-shaped apartment, glimmering white, with 
 here and there a sudden crystalline sparkle. The 
 lofty ceiling rose above like the interior of a dome. 
 
 The mountaineer waited with the other two, as 
 if he felt that since Frank had usurped the lantern 
 he might also assume the functions of a cicerone 
 and exhibit the wonders of the cave. Lucia began 
 to realise with a sinking heart that the mountain- 
 eer having decoyed Lloyd here for the purpose of 
 wreaking now his frustrated vengeance, would not 
 for one moment permit himself to be separated 
 from his prospective victim. She once more grew 
 
 419 
 
The Windfall 
 
 anxious lest it would be impossible to speak to 
 Lloyd apart, and began to scheme, to devise, rather 
 than await, an opportunity to warn him. 
 
 Young Laniston, placed at a disadvantage which 
 he had not anticipated, although he did not regret 
 his manoeuvre to keep possession of the precious 
 light on which all their lives depended, hesitated 
 for a moment — then he addressed himself to the 
 methods by which the mountaineer had earlier dis- 
 played to the explorers the beauties of the seques- 
 tered place. 
 
 He took up from the ground a long pole with a 
 short prong or fork at its end. He lifted the lan- 
 tern high on this, and like a miracle the splendours 
 of the underground scene burst forth. The walls 
 were white and sparkled with calc-spar. The 
 wondrous forces of nature, tirelessly building 
 through the ages these unseen, unimagined, weird 
 splendours, were still at work, and though great 
 stalactites hung down from the lofty roof like a 
 hundred chandeliers, the continual drip from these 
 ponderous pendants, of the waters charged with 
 lime, had not yet built up from the floor the stalag- 
 mites to form the columns in which they would 
 one # day meet. These stalagmites, now in process 
 of development, had taken on strange, fantastic 
 shapes. At the distance it was like a hall of glit- 
 tering statuary. Lloyd pointed out, with all the 
 zest of discovery, the similitudes which his keen 
 imagination had discerned in the rugged rock. 
 Now he discriminated a statesman-like figure, 
 
 420 
 
The Windfall 
 
 erect upon a column, gigantic, majestic, a scroll in 
 his hand; here a great, rugged pedestal, where the 
 waters had been received in a wide depression, 
 supported an equestrian soldier mounted upon a 
 rearing charger; his fancy descried an aboriginal 
 group, a warrior — he was insistent on the distinct- 
 ness of his plumed crest — with his tomahawk up- 
 lifted, his victim a-crouch at his feet; he pointed 
 out Neptune, on the rocks, his trident in his hand, 
 a dolphin sporting at his feet. 
 
 Somehow, all the vanished wonders of the world 
 were lurking here, awaiting the magic touch of 
 imagination to give them form and grace and bid 
 them live anew. The mountaineer, impervious to 
 these impressions, walled up in his limitations, 
 seemed to listen stolidly, uncomprehendingly, as 
 Lloyd, discoursing all unsuspicious, all undismayed, 
 gaily discerned poems in the stones, and music in 
 the dropping of the water, for they could dis- 
 criminate the sound of the ripple of a rill, some- 
 where in the darkness, from the staccato fall of 
 the drops from the stalactites, building ceaselessly 
 the majestic architecture of the cavern. 
 
 " Listen, listen," said Lloyd smilingly, one 
 hand uplifted, " was there ever anything more 
 harmonious than that tinkling interlude with its 
 appoggiatura of drops that comes always a 'placer e 
 after the solemn, hesitating tones of the tema? " 
 
 The foreign phrases suggested a chance to her 
 despair. 
 
 " Do you speak Italian or French? " she asked. 
 421 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " No — nor English, either, I'm afraid. Wish I 
 did," Lloyd replied, looking down at her, his face 
 illumined in some stray shifting gleam of the 
 lantern. " The only consolation is that I have not 
 much to say anyhow. A few words will express 
 my thoughts." 
 
 11 Say," exclaimed Frank, from the centre of the 
 floor of the Hall of Heroes — " it is as cold as 
 Greenland down here, and as damp as a marsh." 
 
 " And It goes through you, this damp cold," re- 
 sponded Lloyd. " It isn't like the dry cold at the 
 entrance of the cave." Then to Lucia, " Did you 
 notice how dusty it was there? " 
 
 " Well, say," exclaimed Frank, " have you seen 
 enough of this? " 
 
 Lloyd submitted the question to Lucia, who as- 
 sented with feverish eagerness. Then he shouted 
 to Frank, " Suppose we get a move on us. I'm 
 about fed up with this place." 
 
 As Frank retraced his way to rejoin the others, 
 the precious lantern once more dangling from his 
 arm, he pondered anxiously as to his next step. 
 He knew, partly from the position of the group, 
 and he thought that he could divine from the in- 
 tonation of Lloyd's voice, that Lucia had not been 
 able to exchange a word with him out of the hear- 
 ing of the mountaineer. Hence, he was sure that 
 Lloyd was still all unconscious of his danger, and 
 thus cut off from his advice and co-operation, young 
 Laniston felt peculiarly helpless, yet laden with 
 responsibility. While in certain traits of his ado- 
 
 422 
 
The Windfall 
 
 lescence he represented a type of the callow under- 
 graduate, he had an appreciation of his own 
 inexperience and limitations that indeed did much 
 to annul them, and rendered him almost as cau- 
 tious as a man versed in the mutations of human 
 affairs. He hardly knew what to do, and hence he 
 was slow to act. He thought at one moment that 
 he would call Lloyd aside and disclose the facts, 
 thus bringing the matter to a crisis. But this, he 
 reflected, might precipitate the lurking treachery, 
 whatever deed it was that the man had in contem- 
 plation. At length he determined that, with the 
 shifting of the personnel of the conference, he 
 would call the mountaineer aside, thus giving Lucia 
 one moment for her whispered confidence to Lloyd. 
 
 " Come here, my friend," Frank said, stopping 
 short and looking straight at the guide and then 
 down at the light, " Come and see what is the mat- 
 ter with this lantern." 
 
 His face, all thrown into high relief by the light 
 shining upward upon it, placid, and smooth, and 
 roseate, gave no intimation of the unrest in his 
 mind, and even a suspicious man might easily 
 have been caught by the lure. 
 
 But the saturnine mountaineer resisted stanchly. 
 " Nuthin' the matter with it," he retorted. " But 
 I tell you now, ef ye fool with that thar lantern 
 an' git it out'n fix, you will be in hell fire a good 
 spell 'fore yer time comes — that's whut! " 
 
 " Look out, man — bridle your words in the 
 presence of this lydy — or I'll cut your tongue out," 
 
 423 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lloyd spoke abruptly, with such sudden fierceness 
 that the mountaineer started aside. 
 
 The stalwart Frank, knowing what he knew, 
 could have fainted at this provocation to the lurk- 
 ing menace. With desperate eagerness he sought 
 to re-establish such poor pretence of an entente 
 cordiale as had heretofore existed. " Have patience 
 with the speech of the country, Mr. Lloyd. The 
 thoughts of a plain man are plainly expressed, hey, 
 my friend?" he said jovially, clapping the guide 
 on the shoulder. 
 
 It was but a momentary diversion, but in that 
 restricted interval Lucia whispered to Lloyd, " He 
 is the man who attacked you in the Ferris 
 Wheel." 
 
 Lloyd looked surprised for a moment — startled. 
 Then he responded, laughing a trifle, " You must 
 be mistaken. The doctor thought the hurt was 
 from the fall — not a blow. He had no motive. 
 I never saw him till to-day. I haven't an enemy in 
 the world." 
 
 " He was in disguise," Lucia whispered. 
 
 " Oh, that, indeed." Lloyd looked down at her 
 with a doubting but lenient smile. " If ever I have 
 to go on the road again, I'll get you to write me a 
 play! — you are a prodigy at plots — I can see 
 that!" 
 
 Lucia was on the verge of collapse — fit to fall. 
 For the sake of this moment she had controlled her 
 fears, and tried to the limit her powers of en- 
 durance, and followed into this abyss the guidance 
 
 424 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of a known traitor. She had risked her life in this 
 cavern of darkness and despair whence she might 
 never issue, that she might tell Lloyd that his own 
 life was in danger — and for naught! She could 
 not appeal to his fears — for to fear he seemed 
 impervious. 
 
 And so he thought she had come, simply because 
 she wanted to see the cave — the folly of it! And 
 he would never know that she loved him and his 
 safety better than her life — and indeed why should 
 he know this, when she would have none of him, 
 and his bizarre past, and his humdrum future with 
 his " bit of money " and his little dingy home of a 
 six-room frame house on a small plantation! He 
 had already offered her these values — which she 
 had rejected, though she loved him, as she had 
 already told him — why should he know how 
 much — how much! 
 
 She hung heavily on his arm, so had the elasticity 
 of her gait failed her, and almost at once he no- 
 ticed the change. 
 
 " This is too much for you," he said consider- 
 ately. " You are tired. Look here, guide," he 
 called out peremptorily. " Get us out of here now 
 — the shortest way." 
 
 The mountaineer, after his sullen manner, made 
 no comment, but set out at once at a fair pace, pre- 
 ceding Frank, whom he still permitted without 
 protest to carry the lantern. Young Laniston, crest- 
 fallen and very considerably dismayed, sought to 
 lessen the distance between them, some twenty feet, 
 
 425 
 
The Windfall 
 
 by spurting in a fast walk, whereupon the guide 
 broke into a jog trot, keeping the interval exactly 
 the same. 
 
 " Hold on for the light," exclaimed Frank, 
 realising that Lucia must needs be distressed to 
 keep this pace or fall hopelessly to the rear. He 
 relapsed into his former gait and at once the guide 
 relaxed his speed in exact proportion. " You had 
 better wait a bit," said Frank, ignoring that aught 
 of unpleasantness had happened; "you will fall 
 into a crevice if you don't mind." 
 
 He sent a shaft of light flickering on ahead, but 
 sullen and sinister the man made no response, still 
 steadily preceding them into the dense glooms, his 
 figure barely glimpsed by the lantern's fluctuating 
 light as they followed. 
 
 Frank's alarms were now very definitely excited. 
 He could not understand the change in the man's 
 policy in leaving the post which he had so stead- 
 fastly maintained in Lloyd's immediate proximity. 
 He had either relinquished his scheme or he was 
 now proceeding to put it into execution. Frank 
 was mindful too of the malignity with which the 
 mountaineer pointed the fact how his caution had 
 overshot the mark by retaining the custody of the 
 lantern. Much good would it do them if the guide, 
 evidently curiously familiar with the place, should 
 contrive to distance them altogether, or dodge be- 
 hind one of the buttresses of the cliffs of this under- 
 ground world, and so hiding leave them to find 
 their way out of this labyrinth without a clue, or 
 
 426 
 
The Windfall 
 
 perchance, wandering in eccentric circles, perish 
 finally of cold or starvation. It was impossible for 
 them to recognise any landmark of the dread Plu- 
 tonian scene — black night on every side, save 
 dusky outlines of crags and chasms, the tiny white 
 focus of the lantern with its fibrous halo failing in 
 deep glooms, and beyond, the dim shadow of a 
 man, trotting steadily — how well he knew his foot- 
 ing! — to lose sight of whom were certain death in 
 this world of Erebus. 
 
 " If I only had a pistol, even without a cartridge 
 in it, I'd stop that light-heeled fellow," Frank said 
 indignantly, but in a low voice, over his shoulder 
 to the two who followed close upon his steps. 
 
 u Don't be frightened, Miss Laniston," Lloyd 
 reassured Lucia. " We shan't lose sight of our 
 precious guide. I could run him down in two 
 seconds. And if necessary I will just snatch you up 
 in my arms and overhaul him forthwith. I'd do it 
 now, but it is best to give him line, and see what 
 his intentions really can be." 
 
 The next moment a chilly sound rang through 
 the silent cave and all the unfortunate explorers 
 started with a nervous shock. In another instant 
 they recognised its character. It was the hooting 
 of a screech owl. 
 
 " That settles it," exclaimed Lloyd with a joy- 
 ous sense of relief. " That shows we can't be very 
 far from the outside. The owls hide about near 
 the entrance of a cave in the daytime — then they 
 fly out at night like the bats." 
 
 427 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lucia tried to share his hopefulness; she looked 
 about with eager expectancy. " But I don't see or 
 hear any bats," she said. 
 
 " They will no doubt put in an appearance be- 
 fore long," Lloyd answered. " There is the owl 
 again." 
 
 She shivered at the blood-curdling, ill-omened 
 cry, despite its fortunate augury to them. 
 
 The shrill, uncanny notes of the screech owl again 
 trembled repetitiously on the thin, rare air, then 
 the low, sinister chuckling of the bird ensued, so 
 true to life, so perfectly imitated that the cry had 
 been several times repeated, after considerable in- 
 tervals, before they perceived that they had heard 
 no owl — that the mountaineer now and again 
 paused as he hurried on in advance and standing 
 still mimicked the creature's ill-omened cry with a 
 perfection of similitude that might have deceived 
 the senses of more practical woodsmen than they 
 professed to be. The stoppage gave the explorers 
 time to gain on their strange guide and as the 
 shrilling rang out once more the source whence it 
 emanated became obvious. 
 
 Frank, looking over his shoulder at the others, 
 showed a startled, dismayed face and Lloyd with a 
 strange, unaccustomed thrill about his heart, felt 
 that a crisis impended. Their thought was the 
 same — they were following a madman, or he was 
 signalling to confederates ambushed in the hope of 
 booty, or he was masking the noise of their ap- 
 proach by this, a familiar sound. 
 
 428 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Lucia suddenly spoke, a joyous break in her 
 voice that was nevertheless like a sob. " I see a 
 faint light in the distance — we are truly nearing 
 the exit." She looked up at Lloyd through tears 
 in her eyes. He felt her hand grow light on his 
 arm, her step quicken at his side — so does hope 
 control the nerves, the muscles. 
 
 But it was his turn to doubt. He had what is 
 called " a head for localities." The entrance which 
 he remembered had for a distance longer than the 
 light of day could be glimpsed a straight blank 
 wall on one side, without an aperture or a break, 
 which fact had made it possible for Frank Lanis- 
 ton to go and return without a guide. Whereas 
 here there were vast spaces of void darkness on 
 either side, the path was damp and slippery in 
 places, and he could smell the breath of running 
 water, and hear the vague susurrus that echoed the 
 murmur of its flow. There it had been as still as 
 death, but for the whisking of the almost noiseless 
 wings of the disturbed bats and now and then their 
 weird mouse-like cry, and dust, dust, dust, was 
 over all the dry precincts of the way. He suddenly 
 spoke his conviction. " That is undoubtedly light," 
 he said, " but this is not the way by which we came 
 into the cave." 
 
 The guide caught the words and paused ab- 
 ruptly. He showed a change anew. He seemed 
 suddenly metamorphosed from the malignant, 
 tricky gnome, fleeing from them as they ap- 
 proached, or the madman aping the bird's cry 
 
 429 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of evil presage as he threaded the endless laby- 
 rinth of this subterranean realm. He was now the 
 simple prosaic yokel whom, of their own free will 
 outside, they had hired as a guide to explore a cave 
 as a bit of pastime in a pastoral day. 
 
 " Waal," he remonstrated, doggedly sullen as 
 at first, " didn't you uns say ez ye wanted the short- 
 es' way out; this is the shortes' way." 
 
 " But I expected of course to go out at the same 
 place — I wanted the shortest way to that exit," said 
 Lloyd sternly. " You know that our horses are not 
 here." 
 
 " But only a leetle piece off," the fellow remon- 
 strated. A real owl began to rive the dark still 
 air with his keen shrilling, and anon his low tremu- 
 lous chatter. The guide paused to listen to the 
 sound and then went on. " I thought she mought 
 rest outside whilst I went to lead down her horse- 
 critter." Once more he paused to listen to the 
 scream of the owl. The whole place echoed and 
 re-echoed its sinister chuckle. " But now I kem ter 
 study 'bout 'n it I misdoubts it be too steep fur 
 she. Jes' step for'd, stranger, an' see. It be jes' 
 round the turn." 
 
 Before Frank could warn Lloyd, before Lucia 
 could utter a word of remonstrance, before Lloyd 
 himself took an instant's thought, he dropped 
 Lucia's hand from his arm and stepped around the 
 great buttress of the cliff, the mountaineer at his 
 side. 
 
 Lloyd's figure was suddenly defined in a great 
 430 
 
The Windfall 
 
 glare of artificial light and what he saw the others 
 only knew afterward. Descent was obviously im- 
 practicable. Sheer down, but only some twenty- 
 five feet, lay a vast replica of the white cavernous 
 hall they had quitted, with stalactites and stalag- 
 mites all a-glitter; but here was habitation, move- 
 ment; strange, troglodytic figures, with skulking 
 black shadows, shifted about amongst the columns; 
 prosaic suggestions environed the great vats and 
 tubs, barrels and sacks of grain, the metallic glim- 
 mer of a large copper still, and the open door of a 
 furnace, the fire flaring to a white heat. So silent 
 had been the approach under the normal cavern- 
 ous sound of the owl's shrilling that not one of 
 the moonshiners looked up as Lloyd looked down. 
 Only when the guide, impatient for the catastrophe, 
 uttered a sharp, short call did they raise their eyes. 
 Lloyd, dumbfounded, instinctively stepped back- 
 ward, and at this moment Frank, eager with curi- 
 osity, flung the lantern forward as he moved, and 
 thus the shadow of the guide was projected from 
 the darkness on the floor below. 
 
 It was the boast of Shadrach Pinnott that he had 
 not missed his aim for thirty years. It did not fail 
 him now. He saw the form of a man standing at 
 gaze in a niche in the wall which vanished suddenly 
 from view; then a shadow fell from the niche 
 across the floor below. With a nice calculation of 
 the station of the figure that threw the shadow he 
 fired and the rocks reverberated with the sharp 
 crack of the rifle like the musketry of a battle, and 
 
 43 1 
 
The Windfall 
 
 intermingled with it all were the repetitious echoes 
 of the death-cry of the victim. 
 
 The body of the guide, as, mortally wounded, he 
 fell forward, slid downward into the moonshiners' 
 lair. The next moment the door of the furnace 
 clashed and all was darkness and silence. Lloyd 
 and Frank, realising that the height on which they 
 stood and the doubt of their numbers and per- 
 sonality precluded pursuit for a time from the dis- 
 tillers on a lower level, made the best of their way 
 with the lantern, carrying the half-fainting Lucia 
 with them, toward the direction in which they had 
 entered, so far as their recollection might serve. 
 How they would have fared in their dazed and 
 exhausted condition, what disastrous fate might 
 have befallen them they often speculated afterward. 
 But it was not long before they heard the resonant 
 halloos of the searching party summoned by Jar- 
 dine to their rescue, and only the detail of the ex- 
 traordinary treachery and fate of their guide saved 
 them from very trenchant ridicule, in that land of 
 sylvan prowess, for involving themselves in a trap 
 whence they must needs be extricated by raising the 
 countryside. 
 
 43* 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 MR. DALTON, hearkening profession- 
 ally to the adventure, took charge of 
 the legal aspects of the matter in the 
 interests of his client. He notified by telephone the 
 local officials of the death of the guide, and also by 
 the long distance wire the marshal of the district 
 of the probable location of the still, and in each 
 communication offered on the part of Lloyd and 
 young Laniston to be prepared to give their testi- 
 mony whenever it should be required. 
 
 Then, since caution is always concomitant with 
 conscience in a certain organisation, he proposed 
 that the summer sojourners should depart New 
 Helvetia forthwith. 
 
 " There is no use in mincing matters," he said. 
 11 These moonshiners are very desperate men. 
 They may make an effort to prevent this direct and 
 irrefutable testimony against them from ever 
 reaching the ear of the authorities, Federal or local. 
 For a while they may not know who Mr. Lloyd 
 was, as he appeared judgment-wise in the niche, 
 like the miracle of the writing on the wall of the 
 palace of Belshazzar. But the rescue party will of 
 course spread the details far and wide through the 
 countryside, and the lives of both Mr. Lloyd and 
 Mr. Laniston might be much endangered in linger- 
 
 433 
 
The Windfall 
 
 ing in this sequestered place. In fact this wild 
 region is not now safe. I am not an alarmist, but 
 I should recommend indeed the immediate closing 
 of the hotel and the departure of all the guests 
 from New Helvetia at this very critical juncture." 
 
 There were grave faces contemplating the glow- 
 ing log fire in the great chimney-place of the hotel 
 office as he talked. Few people relish the role of 
 scapegoat. The idea of becoming a sacrifice to a 
 possible mistake of identity for either of these for- 
 midable witnesses, the billet for the bullet of a 
 distiller's rifle fired from the ambush of the shrub- 
 bery of the lawn one of these dark moonless nights, 
 seemed far from a fitting sequel to the placid 
 summer pleasuring at New Helvetia. There was 
 also the possibility, unpleasing indeed to anticipate, 
 of the incendiary destruction of the hotel, with all 
 its guests, to make sure of the witnesses in the holo- 
 caust, to shield the crime of the murderous distil- 
 lers. The personality of the adviser went far to 
 commend his counsel, and the fact that the host 
 ardently seconded the proposition made it manifest 
 that the owner of the hostelry was not without fears 
 for his property and person. A short consultation 
 resulted in the resolution of the guests to quit the 
 place early the next morning, no one caring after 
 dark to encounter in addition to possible attack by 
 the wayside the dangers of the precipitous moun- 
 tainous road in the descent from the heights. 
 
 The night was already coming on, clouded and 
 drear; the white cumuli so gaily racing with the 
 
 434 
 
The Windfall 
 
 wind through the blue matutinal skies had grown 
 grim in heavy grey tumultuous threats of storm. 
 The wind was still astir amongst the tossing cumu- 
 lose tumult and falling weather seemed hardly yet 
 imminent, but when Lucia, refreshed by rest and 
 sleep under the influence of bromide administered 
 by her aunt, joined the group in the office, the 
 gusts were beginning to dash torrents of rain 
 against the great black windows, all adrip, and the 
 shouts of the riotous powers of the air filled the 
 outer voids of mountain and valley and the utter 
 darkness of the moonless night. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston had deemed it better when the 
 girl returned that afternoon from the ill-starred 
 jaunt, exhausted and half hysterical from fright 
 and horror, that as scant regard as possible should 
 be accorded her nervous agitation. She urged 
 Lucia to exert her will-power to throw off the in- 
 fluences of the disastrous day, even its recollection. 
 The evil results upon her mind and physique would 
 be best nullified by slipping with as slight jar as 
 might be into the normal routine of life. 
 
 " Think of it no more, dearest Lucia," she said 
 pettingly. " Wear your prettiest gown and come 
 down to tea. If you lie here and brood over this 
 to-night, you may not to-morrow be able to quit 
 the subject." 
 
 But Lucia found naturally enough the theme 
 still rife about the fireside in the office. The ques- 
 tion of transportation, the problems of conveyances 
 and horses had aJready been settled, partly with the 
 
 435 
 
The Windfall 
 
 aid of the hotel stables which were usually avail- 
 able only for pleasure trips, a Colbury livery es- 
 tablishment having the monopoly of the general 
 travel ; but on this occasion every vehicle and horse 
 at New Helvetia were brought into requisition, so 
 eager was the proprietor to be rid of such a source 
 of danger as his pleasant guests seemed now likely 
 to prove. An arrangement was made by telephone 
 by which the Colbury livery stable was to send up 
 additional vehicles for baggage and servants, and 
 the business interests thus satisfactorily concluded, 
 the minds and conversation of the group reverted 
 forthwith to the sensation of the day and the solu- 
 tion of details of mystery, not altogether compre- 
 hended in the jejune accounts that had at first 
 reached the hotel. 
 
 The views of Mr. Dalton, by reason of his pro- 
 fession and his close association with the chief actor 
 in the sensation, commanded much respect and 
 were very generally adopted. 
 
 " I take it," he was saying as Lucia entered and 
 Lloyd rose and offered her a chair — the lawyer 
 glanced up from where he was comfortably en- 
 sconced with his cigar in a rocking-chair before the 
 blazing fire, " Good-evening, Miss Laniston — I 
 trust you are fully recovered from the ill effects of 
 these unlucky excitements — I take it that the man 
 met the horseback party merely by accident, and 
 having some deep and murderous grudge against 
 Mr. Lloyd " 
 
 " Someone in the rescue party," interrupted 
 43 6 
 
The Windfall 
 
 Frank, " when the body was found and identified, 
 was saying that his sweetheart had thrown him 
 over, and that he suspected that it was the influence 
 of her foolish admiration of Mr. Lloyd, whom 
 she had seen at the Street Fair, where she 
 danced." 
 
 " And that's arrant nonsense," Lloyd instantly 
 asseverated. " She did a song-and-dance turn, like 
 any other coryphee, and had no more consideration 
 for me than the Flying-lydy or the Fat lydy who 
 perform in their own interests." 
 
 "At all events," Mr. Dalton said, "this Eu- 
 gene Binley thirsted for your blood. He was un- 
 armed — which surprises me very much " Mr. 
 
 Dalton fitted the tips of his fingers accurately 
 together as he pieced out his bits of evidence 
 - — " really surprises me. These mountaineers, 
 if to all appearances without weapons, usually 
 carry what they call a shooting iron in the leg 
 of their long boots. He could not kill a profes- 
 sional athlete like Mr. Lloyd in a fist-fight ; he could 
 not probably get an opportunity to push him when 
 off his guard into an abyss — though this is what I 
 think he contemplated when he refused to accom- 
 pany Mr. Laniston back for the ladies or to wait 
 alone." 
 
 " That idea occurred to Mr. Jardine — after we 
 had remembered seeing the man in disguise at the 
 Fair and in the Ferris Wheel," said Ruth, who, 
 being far more phlegmatic than Lucia, and having 
 been tortured by fears for her relatives rather than 
 
 437 
 
The Windfall 
 
 physical hardships and the sight of a hideous deed, 
 had readily recovered her equanimity when their 
 safety was assured. " That's why we gave them 
 so little time to return before we rode off and raised 
 the community as we went." 
 
 " This man's plan was well laid and evidently 
 was evolved almost on the spur of the moment." 
 Mr. Dalton continued his research into the motives 
 of the deed. " He bethought himself that the 
 moonshiners would not stay their hand should a 
 presumable spy be detected looking in upon their 
 illicit still. Thus he led Mr. Lloyd to their lair 
 within their view. He must have had a grudge 
 at the moonshiners too, for he had provided him- 
 self in Mr. Laniston and Miss Lucia with witnesses 
 to the nefarious deed. What a precious shifty ras- 
 cal this was — committing a murder by proxy ! " 
 
 " A wonderful escape for Mr. Lloyd," said Mrs. 
 Laniston. " And where do you go, Mr. Lloyd, 
 from New Helvetia? " She was seeking to change 
 the subject on Lucia's account. The young girl 
 was looking very pallid, though delicately lovely in 
 a gown of white voile over white silk. She wore 
 a belt of old gold brocade which had as a clasp a 
 fine old topaz, a bit of the antiquated jewelry that 
 recent fashions have caused to be delved out of 
 old cases and brought to light in new settings. This 
 had been a great brooch, and three other stones, 
 similar but smaller — once the ear-rings and brace- 
 let-clasp of the same set, — were now mounted in a 
 " dog-collar " of filigree gold about her delicate 
 
 43 S 
 
The Windfall 
 
 neck. In her hair Lloyd noted a cluster of golden- 
 rod, a relic of the ride to-day. 
 
 "Where am I going?" — Lloyd repeated the 
 question — " as soon as I can get away from the 
 coroner's jury I shall go to my own house — I am 
 due there on the tenth at any rate." 
 
 " To receive your cousin Mr. Thomas Jennico 
 Lloyd, I suppose?" said the gentleman who was 
 well acquainted in Glaston and who had manifested 
 much interest in the transformed showman. 
 
 " And his wife and his daughter, Miss Geraldine 
 Lloyd." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston looked bewildered. " But isn't 
 this rather early to go so far south? The danger 
 from yellow fever is by no means counteracted by 
 these light frosts in the upper country." 
 
 The gentleman who had connections in Glaston 
 surveyed her in surprise. " Why, there has never 
 been a case of yellow fever to originate near Glas- 
 ton — they feel no apprehension whatever." 
 
 " Mr. Lloyd's home place is within a few miles 
 of Glaston," Mr. Dalton explained. 
 
 In common with most talkative women Mrs. 
 Laniston could not silently await developments. 
 " Oh — I thought his home was near us — in Louis- 
 iana — beyond the bight of the bayou." 
 
 "That " said Mr. Dalton, with undis- 
 guised disregard, " why I understand that that plan- 
 tation has only a little house on it — a neglected 
 place, too. I think that Mr. Jennico only took it 
 for a debt." 
 
 439 
 
The Windfall 
 
 " Mr. Lloyd's home-place, the old Jennico place, 
 near Glaston, is one of the finest country seats in 
 the whole South," the gentleman who knew Glas- 
 ton said, with almost local pride. " It is positively 
 baronial. I should think, Mr. Lloyd, that you 
 would be very happy to own it." 
 
 Lloyd smiled, his eyes on the fire. " I saw it 
 only once," he said. 
 
 " Yes — yes " exclaimed Mr. Dalton de- 
 lightedly, " the time you called on your grand- 
 father, Judge Lloyd, when he was visiting there. 
 Ah ha ! you took no notice whatever of the plump 
 little gentleman reading the paper in his easy chair 
 in the bay window — and listening to every word. 
 Charles Jennico always had more curiosity than 
 any woman! He had intended to leave all his 
 property to the eldest grandson of his friend and 
 cousin, Judge Lloyd — this Thomas Jennico Lloyd. 
 1 But by George, I made up my mind then that I'd 
 divide my estate evenly between the two grandsons,' 
 he told me when he gave me his instructions to 
 draw up his will. He said, ' I wouldn't do any- 
 thing then; I wouldn't interfere with the young 
 cock's independence — I honoured him for it. But 
 I never saw anybody who would grace wealth better 
 and I made up my mind that he shouldn't eat the 
 bread of carefulness all his days.' And that's 
 how our young friend came to be the residuary 
 legatee and devisee." 
 
 The priggish gentleman, who was of the type 
 who grudges a fellow-creature nothing so much as 
 
 440 
 
The Windfall 
 
 self-satisfaction, remarked with sour emphasis: 
 " Your Street Fair colleagues, Mr. Lloyd, will 
 have marvellously little trouble in advertising them- 
 selves with your accession to fortune. The news- 
 papers are beforehand with them already. You 
 are spread all over the New York papers," — and 
 he turned a sheet trembling and crackling in his 
 hand as he unfolded it, and read the following 
 flaring headline: 
 
 "A Windfall. From Mountebank to Mil- 
 lionaire." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston could not forbear so sharp an 
 exclamation of surprise that Mr. Dalton turned and 
 looked interrogatively at her. 
 
 " Why — we have made no secret of it," said he. 
 " I mentioned that a good bit of money went with 
 the real estate." 
 
 " Oh," Mrs. Laniston explained, faltering and 
 flushing, " I had no idea that it was as much as 
 that." Then recovering herself as best she might 
 she continued, " I suppose I received that impres- 
 sion because I had heard you say that his grand- 
 father, Judge Lloyd, was so reduced in fortune." 
 
 " Judge Lloyd left nothing," said Mr. Dalton. 
 " This fortune comes from Charles Jennico, a very 
 distant relative who was a childless widower and 
 much attached to Judge Lloyd's family." 
 
 Lloyd's eyes were fixed discerningly upon Mrs. 
 Laniston for one moment, with that infrequent 
 sternness that was yet so definite in his face. He 
 wondered if the girl's course toward him to-day 
 
 441 
 
The Windfall 
 
 had been prompted by her influence. He reflected 
 that Lucia had shown, — she had said indeed, — 
 that she loved him. And yet she would not 
 tolerate his suit. This he felt sure was the work 
 of the cautious chaperon, under the mistake that 
 his affluence was but a most limited competence. 
 Doubtless she had subtly argued, urgently con- 
 strained, really overwhelmed the young girl's mind 
 and preference, for independent and self sufficient 
 as Lucia affected to be she was in reality docile to 
 authority and in any matters of importance easily 
 controlled, as he could see, by the judgment of 
 her aunt, whom she loved and respected and 
 trusted. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston could not disguise her dismay 
 when once more Lucia and she were together in 
 the upper story of the hotel. The apartment 
 seemed bare and wintry as the storm beat upon the 
 resounding roof and gables of the building, and the 
 infinite stretches of the tempestuous clouds, above 
 the vast purple mountains and the untenanted val- 
 leys, showed in the occasional broad flashes of the 
 lightning through the uncurtained windows, as the 
 summer birds rifled their temporary nests and made 
 ready for their flitting on the morrow. 
 
 " Oh, Lucia, Lucia, my dear," wailed Mrs. 
 Laniston. " I have made such a terrible mistake! 
 I have destroyed your splendid chances — for you 
 loved that man, and but for me you would have 
 married him." 
 
 And Mrs. Laniston sat on the side of the bed 
 442 
 
The Windfall 
 
 in the sparsely furnished fireless summer room and 
 wrung her hands in wretchedness. 
 
 Lucia's face was wan and wistful as she stood 
 tall and slim and beautiful, in her sheer white dress 
 with the shimmer of the silk beneath it, against the 
 background of the dark window with the fluctua- 
 ting view of the tempestuous landscape without. 
 She held in her hand the golden-rod that she had 
 drawn from her hair and she looked like the per- 
 sonification of the departing joys of summer. 
 
 But she had taken strong control of her nerves 
 and she held it. 
 
 " You meant for the best, Aunt Dora," she 
 murmured. " All that you said is true — as true 
 now as then." 
 
 " But, oh, child, money makes such a difference 
 — opportunity, travel, splendid environment. The 
 incompatibility I feared, the bizarre influences of 
 his past life, his language, his opinions, his man- 
 ners, his lack of education would all be condoned 
 by the world in a man of great wealth. And, even 
 without it, you loved him." After a pause, 
 " Lucia," Mrs. Laniston pleaded tremulously, 
 " can't you try to lure him back. It would do no 
 harm to try." 
 
 " I will not," cried Lucia with sudden passion. 
 " I would not — for all his fortune — have him to 
 think that it made the difference to me." 
 
 Mrs. Laniston could not herself have at- 
 tained such dignity of poise, but she had a dreary 
 satisfaction that Lloyd could perceive no suggestion 
 
 443 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of change in Lucia's manner wrought by the reve- 
 lations of the magnitude of his windfall, no token 
 of relenting in the scanty association that remained 
 to them during the journey and the final parting. 
 
 His detention in Colbury was slight. In that 
 short dazzled bewildered moment when he had 
 looked down upon the still in the cave he had not 
 recognised any face or figure among the distillers. 
 No facts could be adduced against the Pinnott 
 family in connection with the moonshining evi- 
 dently practised in the cavern, and he was not sorry 
 that they should go scot free despite his suspicions. 
 Clotilda had obviously lost little in losing her lover, 
 but it was because of this he thought that she 
 seemed dazed and dull and dense to him when he 
 told her of his windfall and bestowed upon her and 
 the old crone and Daniel Pinnott's wife and child 
 such gratuities " to remember him by " as he fan- 
 cied might please their taste. Then he was gone 
 and she heard of him never again. 
 
 Mrs. Laniston did not lose sight of him. She 
 was wont to scan with pangs of self-reproach the 
 reports of the social world in the newspapers, and 
 bitterly noted the fulfilment of her prophecy how 
 easily it might reconcile itself to peculiar antece- 
 dents and endowments when the wealth was com- 
 mensurate — and in justification of this mundane 
 appraisement it might be urged that the prestige 
 of family distinction was great also. In the short- 
 est imaginable interval Lloyd became noted in the 
 social whirl; he was a patron of the theatre and the 
 
 444 
 
The Windfall 
 
 fine arts ; a great devotee to outdoor sports, master 
 of the fox-hounds, prominent in the country club 
 and at the horse show, and he soon grew interested 
 in the turf as an owner of fine racers. His attrac- 
 tive personality, and his inherited claims to fine 
 social position speedily made him a favourite in 
 certain high and exclusive circles. He became, so 
 to speak, the fashion; his traits were admired and 
 imitated; his sayings were repeated; his every 
 movement was chronicled; and when it became 
 bruited abroad before many months that he was 
 about to marry his cousin's only child, Miss 
 Geraldine Lloyd, his popularity rendered it a 
 matter of very general satisfaction that the great 
 Jennico fortune, which had been divided in his be- 
 half, was once more to become a single interest to 
 his further advantage. 
 
 When this news came to Louisiana Lucia Lanis- 
 ton was moved to take her way in a solitary walk 
 down toward his little neglected plantation which 
 she knew lay beyond the bight of the bayou near the 
 swamp. The narrow path kept the summit of the 
 levee along the Mississippi River, the great em- 
 bankment covered with the thick mat of the Ber- 
 muda grass, — the still, deserted plantation fields on 
 one side, the crisp sere stalks flaunting here and 
 there a flocculent lock, " dog-tail " as the un- 
 gathered remnant of the cotton is called, and on 
 the other side shining pools, where the encroaching 
 river was creeping up into the area of the " no 
 man's land " between the protective levee and the 
 
 445. 
 
The Windfall 
 
 treacherous current. A lonely region this; she met 
 no living creature, and as she, herself, swiftly 
 walked along the embankment, her tall slim figure 
 in her gray cloth dress with her gray chinchilla 
 furs — the only note of vivid colour being the red 
 wing with the grey ostrich plume in her hat — might 
 have been visible a long way off, had there been 
 any observer in view. When she quitted this 
 path she followed the quiet country road, along 
 its many windings to Lloyd's little plantation, a pil- 
 grimage of final farewell to a cherished thought, 
 and stood at the padlocked gate, and looked long 
 at the little humble unpainted house, which was 
 without a tenant now. The soft bland air of the 
 Southern winter was about her; the sheen of the 
 sunlight had a glister like spring; the eternal green 
 of the hedges of the Cherokee rose and the never- 
 dying foliage of the live oak above the roof aided 
 the illusion. She had never regretted his millions, 
 but looking over the gate locked against her, she 
 saw herself as once heretofore rocking in her chair 
 on the porch of his house, and again, with blowsy 
 hair and red cheeks, planting lily bulbs in the high 
 turfed flower-beds of fantastic shape, and she knew 
 that she had had then as now a vision of happiness. 
 So definitely was Lloyd present to her thoughts 
 that as she turned and saw him standing on the 
 border of Bermuda grass that fringed the road, she 
 did not start with an appreciation of the reality of 
 the apparition, — it affected her only as the con- 
 tinuity of her dream. It was indeed the surprise 
 
 446 
 
The Windfall 
 
 in his face, the embarrassment of his manner, the 
 searching questioning look beginning to grow intent 
 in his eyes as he lifted his hat that brought her 
 suddenly to the recognition of the facts of the 
 moment. 
 
 " You are not surprised to see me here," he 
 said, ill at ease, flushing, consciously malapropos, 
 — it was as if presumptuously recognising the fact 
 that he must have been predominant in her mind 
 at the moment. 
 
 " I was thinking of you." She regained her self- 
 possession by a mighty effort, as she offered her 
 hand. " We have heard the news. I am glad to 
 have an early opportunity to congratulate you." 
 
 His mobile eyebrows went up at an acute angle 
 of amazement. " Oh," he said at length, as if sud- 
 denly bethinking himself, " that happy man's name 
 is ' Boyd ' — not Lloyd. The similarity is giving 
 us no end of confusion, — the gossips are all off the 
 track. No, no," he added, " for myself I have 
 nothing more serious on hand than a cruise in the 
 Gulf, — my yacht is lying-to for supplies across the 
 bend." He turned and glanced out at the great 
 Mississippi, at high water resembling some vast 
 lake, it stretched out so far, and the vermilion 
 sphere of the sun, slowly sinking, made a great 
 sheen of red glister on its murky rippling expanse. 
 They could both see the smoke rising from the 
 funnel of a yacht lying below the point where a 
 fringe of pecan trees cut off the view, and a noisy 
 bevy of green parroquets flitted in and out in search 
 
 447 
 
The Windfall 
 
 of nuts. " It struck my fancy, while waiting, to 
 come ashore and view my possessions here." 
 
 He had thrust his hat back on his head and she 
 winced as his look of critical, supercilious dispar- 
 agement wandered cynically about the dreary, 
 shabby, neglected little farm-house. 
 
 " So this is the palatial home which you thought 
 I had done you the honour to offer to you," he said, 
 smiling ironically. 
 
 " Oh, don't — don't guy it," — she cried with a 
 sharp accent of pain, remembering her visions. 
 
 She had not kept the control of her nerves; she 
 was consciously embarrassed and flushing painfully. 
 She felt his intent eyes on her face, and she averted 
 her own and looked up at the sunset aglow on the 
 tiny panes of the blurred cheap glass of the 
 windows. 
 
 " You thought little enough of it once," he said 
 hardily, — he had acquired an assurance, doubtless 
 through much adulation, which kept him from the 
 fear of misapprehension, — " even after you had 
 learned that it was not to be a home of poverty, — 
 yes, indeed," he continued with an accession of bit- 
 terness, " you took pains to convince me that even 
 wealth was powerless to commend me. I am not 
 sensitive — but there was no need to turn and turn 
 the knife in the wound." 
 
 He gave a short, angry sigh. " Well, — it is all 
 over. I never meant to persecute you with my 
 protestations again. I knew then that Mrs. Lan- 
 iston urged you to reconsider, — that she would 
 
 448 
 
The Windfall 
 
 leave no stone unturned. I never expected to see 
 you again, — and yet it is a melancholy pleasure," — 
 he looked at her with a sad smile in his eyes, — 
 " and I take it mighty kindly of you that you don't 
 deride the little place that you thought was the 
 home I offered you." 
 
 " I love it," she cried with a gush of tears. " I 
 have never regretted it but once, — and that was 
 every moment and all the time, since I let a word 
 of counsel, — a well meant word though it was," — 
 she hastily stipulated, " close its doors upon me." 
 
 He was at her side in a moment. " Then tell 
 me why — why were you afterward so cold, so 
 silent, avoiding even a casual glance?" 
 
 " Lest you might think that the discovery, — 
 the wealth," — she faltered. 
 
 " Don't put that into words," he interpolated 
 sternly. " I will not forgive you even an imagi- 
 nary aspersion of your motives." 
 
 They had turned away from the padlocked gate, 
 but they were together and there was no shadow of 
 misunderstanding between them. As they took 
 their way up the embankment of the levee in 
 the direction of her aunt's house, revolving their 
 plans for the future, Lucia glanced over her 
 shoulder, then turned and with her wonted airy 
 grace she kissed her hand to the dingy little cottage, 
 so sombre and meagre beneath the gorgeous sunset 
 sky. 
 
 " Au revolt, little home," she cried, her voice 
 ringing out joyously in the silence. " I shall set 
 
 449 
 
The Windfall 
 
 up my staff here for a time at least. It is the 
 trysting-place of Happiness, and all its dreams 
 
 come true." 
 
 For she had romantically stipulated that their 
 honeymoon should be passed here, where she had 
 seen herself in visions so simply happy. 
 
 Lloyd looked at her, his eyes shining with a new 
 glow. Then he, too, fervently kissed his hand to- 
 ward the cottage and echoed her words. 
 
 " Au revoir," he said, "a low lintel, but that 
 door will be the portal of Paradise." 
 
 THE END 
 
 450 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY