CHAPTER XVII
TRENT TAKES A HOLIDAY
AT a sporting goods store that afternoon he ran into Jerome Dangerfieldagain. He had just bought a dozen balls when he saw the millionaire andhis two attendants. He was not minded to be observed of them, so slippedinto the little room where putters may be tried and drives be made intonets. From where he was he could hear Dangerfield's disagreeable,rasping voice. His grievance, it seemed, was that other golfers wereable to get better balls than he. He badgered the clerk until the manfound spirit to observe: "If there was a ball that would make a dub playgood golf it would be worth a fortune to any one."
Trent was able to see the look of anger the capitalist threw at him. Andthis anger he saw reflected on the faces of the two attendants.Decidedly any lone man pitting his courage and wit against theDangerfield entourage would need sympathy.
"Send me a half-gross up to Sunset Park Hotel," he heard Dangerfield sayas he walked away, still frowning.
"I hope you don't have many of that kind to wait on," Trent saidsympathetically. He was always courteous to those with whom he haddealings.
"He's the limit," said the clerk; "and from the way he looked at me Iguess the boss will hear of it. Seemed to think there was a ball thatwould make him drive two hundred and fifty and hole a twenty-foot puttand I was trying to hide it from him. You wouldn't think it, but he'sone of the richest men living. Gee, it makes me feel like a Socialistwhen I think of it!"
The clerk wondered why it was a superb golfer, as he knew Trent to be,was modest and courteous, while a man like Dangerfield was sooverbearing.
Before he went home Trent looked up Sunset Park in a golfer's guide. Itwas a little-known course among the Berkshires, with only nine holes toits credit. The rates of the hotel were sufficiently high to make itclear only the rich could play. It was probably one of these drearycourses where a scratch player would be a rara avis, a course to whichelderly men, playing for their health, gravitated and made the lives ofcaddies miserable.
It was a curious thing, Trent thought, that while this morning he knewnothing of Dangerfield, by night he knew a great deal. An evening papertold him why the millionaire was going to the Berkshires. There was tobe a wedding in high society and the bride was a niece of Mrs. JeromeDangerfield. The ceremony would take place at the Episcopal Church ofthe Good Shepherd, and a bishop would unite the contracting parties. Thefancy dress ball to be held would be the most elaborate ever heldoutside New York. A great pavilion was to be erected for the occasion inthe grounds of the bride's magnificent home, and Newport would be forthe moment deserted. It was rumored that the jewels to be worn wouldexceed in value anything that had ever been gathered together this sidethe Atlantic, and so on, two columns long.
It explained very clearly why the Jerome Dangerfields were going toSunset Park. The collective value of the jewels appealed particularly toTrent. He wondered if the Mount Aubyn ruby would shine out on thatfestal night. And if so how would it be guarded? It would be lessdifficult to disguise the detectives in fancy costume than in eveningdress. Of course the owner of such a world-famous gem might wear animitation as the Baroness von Eckstein had done. But if Clarke hadpainted her aright this was an occasion when an ambitious woman would bewilling to take risks.
* * * * *
The proprietors of the Sunset Park Hotel were glad to accommodate Mr.Anthony Trent with a bed and bathroom for a little over a hundreddollars a week. It was a very select resort, they explained, attractingsuch people as the Jerome Dangerfields and their friends.
The golf course was owned by the hotel and the first tee was on the lawna few yards from the front piazza. On the morning following his arrival,Trent, golf clubs already allotted to a caddy, waited to see what kindof golf was played. They were indifferently good but he betrayed littleattention until he saw Dangerfield coming. Immediately he went to thetee but did not make his first shot until the millionaire was nearenough to see. Playing alone as was the capitalist--for few were yet onthe links--he had not to wait as he must have done had the other beenplaying with a partner. The first green was distant one hundred andsixty yards from the tee. A brook with sedgy reeds was a fine naturalhazard, and as the green was on an elevated plateau with deep grassbeyond, it was not an easy one to reach. Dangerfield dreaded it.
Dangerfield saw a tall, slim young man correctly clad in breeches andstockings, using a mashie, drop his ball neatly on the green withinputting distance of the hole. Later he saw the hole done in two whichwas one under par.
"Who is that man?" Dangerfield demanded of his caddie.
"Never seen him before," the lad answered.
Dangerfield took his brassey and went straightway into the brook. Hesaw, however, as he was ball hunting, this stranger make a wonderfuldrive to the second--two hundred and fifty yards, the enthusiasticcaddie swore. Meanwhile the millionaire continued to press and slice andpull and top his ball to such effect as to do the double round in onehundred and forty-two. Nothing exasperated him so much as to find thegame mock his strength and desire. A power wherever money marts were, hewas here openly laughed at by caddies. He was discovering that rank onthe links is determined by skill at the game alone. What mattered itthat he was the great Jerome Dangerfield. What had he done the round in?What was his handicap?
He particularly wanted to humble Stephen Goswell, president of the FirstAgricultural Bank of New York City. Goswell was a year ahead of him atthe game and had the edge on him so far. Goswell could manage shortapproaches occasionally, strokes that were beyond his own inflexiblewrists. Now this tall, dark stranger had such strokes to perfection. Theball driven up into the air skimmed tree, wall or bunker and rolled upto the pin sweetly. Dangerfield quickly made up his mind. He wouldinvite the stranger to play with him and then get hints which wouldimprove his game fifty per cent.
"Morning," he said later at the "Nineteenth Hole" where the stranger wastaking a drink.
"Good morning," said the stranger rather stiffly. "It is evident,"thought Dangerfield, "he does not know who I am."
"Going 'round again after lunch?" Dangerfield demanded.
"I think so," the stranger responded.
"We might play together," said Dangerfield. "I haven't a partner."
"I'm afraid that won't make a good match," Trent told him. "Surely thereis some one more your strength who would make a better match of it?"
"Huh!" grunted the other, "think I don't play well enough, eh?"
"I know it," said Trent composedly.
Dangerfield regarded him sourly.
"You're not overburdened with modesty, young man."
"I hope not," the other retorted, "nothing handicaps a man more in life.I happen to know golf, though, and my experience is that if I play witha much inferior player I get careless and that's bad for my game. I'mperfectly frank about it. You know next to nothing about the game. Inyour own line of work you could no doubt give me a big beating becauseyou know it and I don't."
"And what do you suppose my line of work is?" snapped the annoyedmill-owner.
"I don't know," Trent commented. "Either a dentist or a theatricalproducer." As he spoke up sauntered one of the two men with whom he hadseen Dangerfield in the subway.
"I'd like to hire some one to take the starch out of you," Dangerfieldsaid as he rose to his feet.
"Quite easy," Trent returned, "almost any professional could."
He watched the two walk away and chuckled. He had attracted themillionaire's attention and he had rebuffed him. So far his programmewas being carried out on scheduled time. The attendant had not looked athim with any special interest. It was unlikely in different clothes,under other conditions and in a strange place he would recognize him.
He did not play again that day. Instead he paid attention to someelderly ladies who knitted feverishly and were inclined to talk. Helearned a great deal of useful news. For example, that the Dangerfieldsalways had meals in their big private suite and rarely without guestsfrom nearby ho
mes. That they quarreled constantly. That Mr. Dangerfieldnever went to bed wholly sober. That he was given to sudden gusts oftemper and only last year had beaten a caddie and had been compelled tosettle the assault with a large money payment. That he was not abovepocketing a golf ball if he could do so without being observed. That hehad several times been seen to lift his ball out of an unfavorable lieinto one from which he could play with greater chance of making a goodstroke.
These petty meannesses Trent had already surmised. Dangerfield seemed tohim that sort of a man. He was more interested in the dinner parties.But a man in such a position as he was had to be careful as to whatquestions he asked. People had a knack of remembering them atinopportune moments. Fortunately one of the ladies, who was a MissNorthend of Lynn, came back to it. She was a furious knitter and knittedbest when her tongue wagged.
"Of course this hotel belongs to Mr. Dangerfield," she babbled, "andthat explains why they have a palatial suite here and can entertain evenmore readily than if they had a summer home, as their friends have. Thisis a very fashionable section. The women dress here as if they were inNewport. Every night Mr. Dangerfield goes down to the hotel safe andbrings something gorgeous in the jewelry way for his wife to wear.There's a private stairway he uses. I wandered into it once by mistake."
"And sister was so flustered," the other Miss Northend of Lynn told him,"that when he accused her of spying on him she couldn't say a word. Itreally did look suspicious until he knew we were Northends and ourfather was his counsel once when he controlled the Boston and Rangelyroad."
When these estimable maidens had finished, Anthony Trent knew all thoseparticulars he desired. It was not the first time amiable gossips hadaided him. But he played his part so well that Miss Fannie chided hersister.
"He wasn't a bit interested in the Dangerfield wealth," she said. "Alla young man like that thinks of is golf."
"Well," said her sister, "I am interested and I'm frightened, too. WhenI think of all that amount of precious stones in the hotel safe, I'mpositively alarmed. Every night she wears something new, her maid toldthe girl who looks after our rooms."