II.
Yes, empty-handed, Tom Dorgan. And I can't honestly say I didn't havethe chance, but--if my hands are empty my head is full.
Listen.
There's a girl I know with short brown hair, a turned-up nose and grayeyes, rather far apart. You know her, too? Well, she can't help that.
But this girl--oh, she makes such a pretty boy! And the ladies at thehotel over in Brooklyn, they just dote on her when she's not only a boybut a bell-boy. Her name may be Nancy when she's in petticoats, but introusers she's Nathaniel--in short, Nat.
Now, Nat, in blue and buttons, with his nails kept better than mostboys', with his curly hair parted in the middle, and with a gentle tangto his voice that makes him almost girlish--who would suspect Nat ofhaving a stolen pass-key in his pocket and a pretty fair knowledge ofthe contents of almost every top bureau-drawer in the hotel?
Not Mrs. Sarah Kingdon, a widow just arrived from Philadelphia, anddesperately gone on young Mr. George Moriway, also fresh fromPhiladelphia, and desperately gone on Mrs. Kingdon's money.
The tips that lady gave the bad boy Nat! I knew I couldn't make youbelieve it any other way; that's why I passed 'em on to you, Tommy-boy.
The hotel woman, you know, girls, is a hotel woman because she isn'tfit to be anything else. She's lazy and selfish and little, and she'sshifted all her legitimate cares on to the proprietor's shoulders. Sheactually--you can understand and share my indignation, can't you, Tom,as you've shared other things?--she even gives over her black tin boxfull of valuables to the hotel clerk to put in the safe; the coward!But her vanity--ah, there's where we get her, such speculators as youand myself. She's got to outshine the woman who sits at the nexttable, and so she borrows her diamonds from the clerk, wears 'em likethe peacock she is, and trembles till they're back in the safe again.
In the meantime she locks them up in the tin box which she puts in hertop bureau-drawer, hides the key, forgets where she hid it, and--OTom! after searching for it for hours and making herself sick withanxiety, she ties up her head in a wet handkerchief with vinegar on itand--rings the bell for the bell-boy!
He comes.
As I said, he's a prompt, gentle little bell-boy, slight, looks ratheryoung for his job, but that very youth and innocence of his make himsuch a fellow to trust!
"Nat," says Mrs. Kingdon, tearfully pressing half a dollar into thenice lad's hand, "I--I've lost something and I want you to--to help mefind it."
"Yes'm," says Nat. He's the soul of politeness.
"It must be here--it must be in this room," says the lady, getting wildwith the terror of losing. "I'm sure--positive--that I went straightto the shoe-bag and slipped it in there. And now I can't find it, andI must have it before I go out this afternoon for--for a very specialreason. My daughter Evelyn will be home to-morrow and--why don't youlook for it?"
"What is it, ma'am?"
"I told you once. My key--a little flat key that locks--a box I'vegot," she finishes distrustfully.
"Have you looked in the shoe-bag, ma'am?"
"Why, of course I have, you little stupid. I want you to hunt otherplaces where I can't easily get. There are other places I might haveput it, but I'm positive it was in the shoe-bag."
Well, I looked for that key. Where? Where not? I looked under therubbish in the waste-paper basket; Mrs. Kingdon often fooled thieves bydropping it there. I pulled up the corner of the carpet and lookedthere--it was loose; it had often been used for a hiding-place. Ilooked in Miss Evelyn's boot and in her ribbon box. I emptied Mrs.Kingdon's full powder box. I climbed ladders and felt along cornices.I looked through the pockets of Mrs. Kingdon's gowns--a clever bell-boyit takes to find a woman's pocket, but even the real masculine onesamong 'em are half feminine; they've had so much to do with women.
I rummaged through her writing-desk, and, in searching a gold-corneredpad, found a note from Moriway hidden under the corner. I hid it againcarefully--in my coat pocket. A love-letter from Moriway, to a womantwenty years older than himself--'tain't a bad lay, Tom Dorgan, but youneedn't try it.
At first she watched every move I made, but later, as her headache grewworse, she got desperate. So then I put my hand down into the shoe-bagand found the key, where it had slipped under a fold of cloth.
Do you suppose that woman was grateful? She snatched it from me.
"I knew it was there. I told you it was there. If you'd had any senseyou'd have looked there first. The boys in this hotel are so stupid."
"That's all, ma'am?"
She nodded. She was fitting the key into the black box she'd takenfrom the top drawer. Nat had got to the outside door when he heard hercome shrieking after him.
"Nat--Nat--come back! My diamonds--they're not here. I know I putthem back last night--I'm positive. I could swear to it. I can seemyself putting them in the chamois bag, and--O my God, where can theybe! This time they're gone!"
Nat could have told her--but what's the use? He felt she'd only lose'em again if she had 'em. So he let them lie snug in his trouserspocket--where he had put the chamois bag, when his eyes lit on it,under the corner of the carpet. He might have passed it over to herthen, but you see, Tom, she hadn't told him to look for a bag; it was akey she wanted. Bell-boys are so stupid.
This time she followed his every step. He could not put his hand onthe smallest thing without rousing her suspicion. If he hesitated, shescolded. If he hurried, she fumed. Most unjust, I call it, because hehad no thought of stealing--just then.
"Come," she said at last, "we'll go down and report it at the desk."
"Hadn't I better wait here, ma'am, and look again?"
She looked sharply at him.
"No; you'd better do just as I tell you."
So down we went. And we met Mr. Moriway there. She'd telephoned him.The chambermaid was called, the housekeeper, the electrical engineerwho'd been fixing bells that morning, and, as I said, a bell-boy namedNat, who told how he'd just come on duty when Mrs. Kingdon's bell rang,found her key and returned it to her, and was out of the room when sheunlocked the box. That was all he knew.
"Is he telling the truth?" Moriway asked Mrs Kingdon.
"Ye--es, I guess he is; but where are the diamonds? We must havethem--you know--to-day, George," she whispered. And then she turnedand went upstairs, leaving Moriway to do the rest.
"There's only one thing to do, Major," he said to the proprietor."Search 'em all and then--"
"Search me? It's an outrage!" cried the housekeeper.
"Search me if ye loike," growled McCarthy, resentfully. "Oi wasn'tthere but a minute; the lady herself can tell ye that."
Katie, the chambermaid, flushed painfully, and there were indignanttears in her eyes, which, I'll tell you in confidence, made a girlnamed Nancy uncomfortable.
But the boy Nat; knowing that bell-boys have no rights, said nothing.But he thought. He thought, Tom Dorgan, a lot of things and a long wayahead.
The peppery old Major marched us all off to his private office.
Not much, girls, it hadn't come. For suddenly the annunciator rang out.
Out of the corner of his eye, Nat looked at the bell-boy's bench. Itwas empty. There was to be a ball that night, and the bells were goingit over all the place.
"Number Twenty-one!" shouted the clerk at the desk.
But Number Twenty-one didn't budge. His heart was beating like ahammer, and the ting--ng--ng of that bell calling him rang in his headlike a song.
"Number Twenty-one!" yelled the clerk.
Oh, he's got a devil of a temper, has that clerk. Some day, Tom, whenyou love me very much, go up to the hotel and break his face for me.
"You.--boy--confound you, can't you hear?" he shouted.
That time he caught the Major's ear--the one that wasn't deaf. Helooked from Powers' black face to the bench and then to me. And allthe time the bell kept ringing like mad.
"Git!" he said to the boy. "And come back in a hurry."
N
umber Twenty-one got--but leisurely. It wouldn't do for a bell-boy tohurry, particularly when he had such good cause.
Oh, girls, those stone stairs, the servants' stairs at the St. James!They're fierce. I tell you, Mag, scrubbing the floors at the Crueltyain't so bad. But this time I was jolly glad bell-boys weren't allowedin the elevator. For there were those diamonds in my pants pocket, andI must get rid of 'em before I got down to the office again. So Iclimbed those stairs, and every step I took my eye was searching for ahiding-place. I could have pitched the little bag out of a window, butNancy Olden wasn't throwing diamonds to the birds, any more than Maghere is likely to cut off the braids of red hair we used to play horsewith when we drove her about the Cruelty yard.
One flight.
No chance.
Another.
Everything bare as stone and soap could keep it.
The third flight--my knees began to tremble, and not with climbing.The call came from this floor. But I ran up a fourth just on thechance, and there in a corner was a fire hatchet strapped to the wall.Behind that hatchet Mrs. Kingdon's diamonds might lie snug tillevening. I put the ends of my fingers first in the little crack tomake sure the little bag wouldn't drop to the floor, and then divedinto my pocket and--
And there behind me, stealthily coming up the last turn of the stairswas Mr. George Moriway!
Don't you hate a soft-walking man, Mag? That cute fellow was cuterthan the old Major himself, and had followed me every inch of the way.
"There's something loose with this hatchet, sir," I said, innocentlylooking down at him.
"Oh, there is? What an observing little fellow you are! Never mindthe hatchet; just tell me what number you were sent to answer."
"Number?" I repeated, as though I couldn't see why he wanted to know."Why--431."
"Not much, my boy--331."
"'Scuse me, sir, ain't you mistaken?"
He looked at me for full a minute. I stared him straight in the eye.A nasty eye he's got--black and bloodshot and cold and full ofsuspicion. But it wavered a bit at the end.
"I may be," he said slowly, "but not about the number. Just you turnaround and get down to 331."
"All right, sir. Thank you very much. It might have got me introuble. The ladies are so particular about having the bells answeredquick--"
"I guess you'll get in trouble all right," he said and stoodwatching--from where he stood he could watch me every inch of theway--till I got to 331, at the end of the hall, Mrs. Kingdon's door.
And the goods still on me, Tom, mind that.
My, but Mrs. Kingdon was wrathy when she saw me!
"Why did they send you?" she cried. "Why did you keep me waiting solong? I want a chambermaid. I've rung a dozen times. The whole placeis crazy about that old ball to-night, and no one can get decentattention."
"Can't I do what you want, ma'am?" I just yearned to get inside thatdoor.
"No," she snapped. "I don't want a boy to fasten my dress in theback--"
"We often do, ma'am," I said softly.
"You do? Well--"
"Yes'm." I breathed again.
"Well--it's indecent. Go down and send me a maid."
She was just closing the door in my face--and Moriway waiting for me towatch me down again.
"Mrs. Kingdon--"
"Well, what do you want?"
"I want to tell you that when I get down to the office they'll searchme."
She looked at me amazed.
"And--and there's something in my pocket I--you wouldn't like them tofind."
"What in the world--my diamonds! You did take them, you little wretch?"
She caught hold of my coat. But Lordy! I didn't want to get away alittle bit. I let her pull me in, and then I backed up against thedoor and shut it.
"Diamonds! Oh, no, ma'am. I hope I'm not a thief. But--but it wassomething you dropped--this."
I fished Moriway's letter out of my pocket and handed it to her.
The poor old lady! Being a bell-boy you know just how old ladiesreally are. This one at evening, after her face had been massaged foran hour, and the manicure girl and the hair-dresser had gone, wasn't sobad. But to-day, with the marks of the morning's tears on her agitatedface, with the blood pounding up to her temples where the hair was thinand gray--Tom Dorgan, if I'm a vain old fool like that when I'm threetimes as old as I am, just tie a stone around my neck and take me downand drop me into the nearest water, won't you?
"You abominable little wretch!" she sobbed. "I suppose you've toldeverybody in the office."
"How could I, ma'am?"
"How could you?" She looked up, the tears on her flabby, flushed cheek.
"I didn't know myself. I can't read writing--"
It was thin, but she wanted to believe it.
She could have taken me in her arms, she was so happy.
"There! there!" she patted my shoulder and gave me a dollar bill. "Iwas a bit hasty, Nat. It's only a--a little business matter that Mr.Moriway's attending to for me. We--we'll finish it up this afternoon.I shouldn't like Miss Kingdon to know of it, because--because I--neverlike to worry her about business, you know. So don't mention it whenshe comes to-morrow."
"No'm. Shall I fasten your dress?" I simply had to stay in that roomtill I could get rid of those diamonds.
With a faded old blush--the nicest thing about her I'd ever seen--sheturned her back.
"It's dark to-day, ma'am," I coaxed. "Would you mind coming nearer thewindow?"
No, she wouldn't mind. She backed up to the corner like a gentlelittle lamb. While I hooked with one hand, I dropped the little bagwhere the carpet was still turned up, and with the toe of my shoespread it flat again.
"You're real handy for a boy," she said, pleased.
"Thank you, ma'am," I answered, pleased myself.
Moriway was still watching me, of course, when I came out, but I randownstairs, he following close, and when the Major got hold of me, Ipulled my pockets inside out like a little man.
Moriway was there at the time. I knew he wasn't convinced. But hecouldn't watch a bell-boy all day long, and the moment I was sure hiseyes were off me I was ready to get those diamonds back again.
But not a call came all that afternoon from the west side of the house,except the call of those pretty, precious things snug under the carpetcalling, calling to me to come and get them and drop bell-boying forgood.
At last I couldn't stand it any longer. There's only one thing to dowhen your chance won't come to you; that is, to go to it. At aboutfour o'clock I lit out, climbed to the second story and there--Mag, Ialways was the luckiest girl at the Cruelty, wasn't I? Well, there wassuite 231 all torn up, plumbers and painters in there, and nothing inthe world to prevent a boy's skinning through when no one was watching,out of the window and up the fire-escape.
Just outside of Mrs. Kingdon's window I lay still a minute. I had seenher and Moriway go out together--she all gay with finery, he carryingher bag. The lace curtains in 331 were blowing in the breeze.Cautiously I parted them and looked in. Everything was lovely. Fromwhere I lay I reached down and turned back the flap of the carpet. Itwas too easy. Those darling diamonds seemed just to leap up into myhand. In a moment I had them tucked away in my pants pocket. Thendown the fire-escape and out through 231, where I told the painter I'dbeen to get a toy the boy in 441 had dropped out of the window.
But he paid no attention to me. No one did, though I felt thosediamonds shining like an X-ray through my very body. I got downstairsand was actually outside the door, almost in the street and off to you,when a girl called me.
"Here, boy, carry this case," she said.
Do you know who it was? Oh, yes, you do, a dear old friend of minefrom Philadelphia, a young lady whose taste--well, all right, I'll tellyou: it was the girl with the red coat, and the hat with the chinchillafur.
How did they look? Oh, fairly well on a blonde! But to my taste thelast girl I'd seen in the coat and hat was han
dsomer.
Well, I carried her suit-case and followed her back into the hotel. Ididn't want to a bit, though that coat still--wonder how she got itback!
She sailed up the hall and into the elevator, and I had to follow. Wegot of at the third story, and she brought me right to the door of 331.And then I knew this must be Evelyn.
"Mrs. Kingdon's out, Miss. She didn't expect you till to-morrow."
"Did she tell you that? Too bad she isn't at home! She said she'd bekept busy all day to-day with a business matter, and that I'd betternot get here till to-morrow. But I--"
"Wanted to get here in time for the wedding?" I suggested softly.
You should have seen her jump.
"Wedding! Not--"
"Mrs. Kingdon and Mr. Moriway."
She turned white.
"Has that man followed her here? Quick, tell me. Has she actuallymarried him?"
"No--not yet. It's for five o'clock at the church on the corner."
"How do you know?" She turned on me, suddenly suspicious.
"Well--I do know. And I'm the only person in the house that does."
"I don't believe you."
She took out her key and opened the door, and I followed her in withthe suit-case. But before I could get it set down on the floor, shehad swooped on a letter that was lying in the middle of the table, hadtorn it open, and then with a cry had come whirling toward me.
"Where is this church? Come, help me to get to it before five andI'll--oh, you shall have anything in the world you want!"
She flew out into the hall, I after her. And first thing you know wewere down in the street, around the corner, and there in front of thechurch was a carriage with Moriway just helping Mrs. Kingdon out.
"Mother!"
At that cry the old lady's knees seemed to crumble under her. Her poorold painted face looked out ghastly and ashamed from her weddingfinery. But Evelyn in her red coat flew to her and took her in herarms as though she was a child. And like a child, Mrs. Kingdon sobbedand made excuses and begged to be forgiven.
I looked at Moriway. It was all the pay I wanted--particularly as Ihad those little diamonds.
"You're just in time, Miss Kingdon," he said uneasily, "to make yourmother happy by your presence at her wedding."
"I'm just in time, Mr. Moriway, to see that my mother's not madeunhappy by your presence."
"Evelyn!" Mrs. Kingdon remonstrated.
"Come, Sarah." Moriway offered his arm.
The bride shook her head.
"To-morrow," she said feebly.
Moriway breathed a swear.
Miss Kingdon laughed.
"I've come to take care of you, you silly little mother, dear.... Itwon't be to-morrow, Mr. Moriway."
"No--not to-morrow--next week," sighed Mrs. Kingdon.
"In fact, mother's changed her mind, Mr. Moriway. She thinks itungenerous to accept such a sacrifice from a man who might be herson--don't you, mother?"
"Well, perhaps, George--" She looked up from her daughter'sshoulder--she was crying all over that precious red coat of mine--andher eyes lit on me. "Oh--you wicked boy, you told a lie!" she gasped."You did read my letter."
I laughed; laughed out loud, it was such a bully thing to watchMoriway's face.
But that was an unlucky laugh of mine; it turned his wrath on me. Hemade a dive toward me. I ducked and ran. Oh, how I ran! But if hehadn't slipped on the curb he'd have had me. As he fell, though, helet out a yell.
"Stop thief! stop thief! Thief! Thief! Thief!"
May you never hear it, Mag, behind you when you've somebody else'sdiamonds in your pocket. It sounds--it sounds the way the bay of thehounds must sound to the hare. It seems to fly along with the air; atthe same time to be behind you, at your side, even in front of you.
I heard it bellowed in a dozen different voices, and every now and thenI could hear Moriway as I pelted on--that brassy, cruel bellow of histhat made my heart sick.
And then all at once I heard a policeman's whistle.
That whistle was like a signal--I saw the gates of the Correction openbefore me. I saw your Nance, Tom, in a neat striped dress, and she wasbehind bars--bars--bars! There were bars everywhere before me. Infact, I felt them against my very hands, for in my mad race I had shotup a blind alley--a street that ended in a garden behind an iron fence.
I grabbed the diamonds to throw them from me, but I couldn't--I justcouldn't! I jumped the fence where the gate was low, and with thatwhistle flying shrill and shriller after me I ran to the house.
I might have jumped from the frying-pan? Of course, I might. But itwas all fire to me. To be caught at the end is at least no worse thanto be caught at the beginning. Anyhow, it was my one chance, and Itook it as unhesitatingly as a rat takes a leap into a trap to escape aterrier. Only--only, it was my luck that the trap wasn't set! Theroom was empty. I pushed open a glass door, and fell over an opentrunk that stood beside it.
It bruised my knee and tore my hand, but oh!--it was nuts to me. For itwas a woman's trunk filled with women's things.
A skirt! A blessed skirt! And not a striped one. I threw off thebell-boy's jacket and I got into that dear dress so quick it made myhead swim.
The jacket was a bit tight but I didn't button it, and I'd just got astiff little hat perched on my head when I heard the tramp of men onthe sidewalk, and in the dusk saw the cop's buttons at the gate.
Caught? Not much. Not yet. I threw open the glass doors and walkedout into the garden.
"Miss--Omar--I wonder if it would be Miss Omar?"
You bet I didn't take time to see who it was talking before I answered.Of course I was Miss Omar. I was Miss Anybody that had a right to wearskirts and be inside those blessed gates.
"Ah--h! I fancied you might be. I've been expecting you."
It was a lazy, low voice with a laugh in it, and it came from a wheeledchair, where a young man lay. Sallow he was and slim and long, andhelpless--you could see that by his white hanging hands. But hisvoice--it was what a woman's voice would be if she were a man. It madeyou perk up and pretend to be somewhere near its level. It fitted hissoft, black clothes and his fine, clean face. It meant silks andvelvets and--
Oh, all right, Tommy Dorgan, if you're going to get jealous of a voice!
"Excuse me, Mr. Latimer." The cop came in as he spoke, Moriwayfollowing; the rest of the hounds hung about. "There's a thievingbell-boy from the hotel that's somewhere in your grounds. Can I comein and get him?"
"In here, Sergeant? Aren't you mistaken?"
"No; Mr. Moriway here saw him jump the gate not five minutes since."
"Strange, and I here all the time! I may have dozed of, though.Certainly--certainly. Look for the little rascal. What's he stolen?Diamonds! Tut! tut! Enterprising, isn't he? ... Miss Omar, won'tyou kindly reach the bell yonder--no, on the table; that's it--and ringfor some one to take the officer about?"
I rang.
Do you know what happened? An electric light strung on the tree abovethe table shone out, and there I stood under it with Moriway's eyesfull upon me.
"Great--!" he began.
"Just ring again--" Mr. Latimer's voice came soft as silk.
My fingers trembled so, the bell clattered out of them and felljangling to the ground. But it rang. And the light above me went outlike magic. I fell back into a garden chair.
"I beg your pardon, Mr.--was Moriway the name?--I must have interruptedyou, but my eyes are troubling me this evening, and I can't bear thelight. Miss Omar, I thought the housekeeper had instructed you: onering means lights, two mean I want Burnett. Here he comes... Burnett,take Sergeant Mulhill through the place. He's looking for a thief.You will accompany the Sergeant, Mr.--Moriway?"
"Thank you--no. If you don't mind, I'll wait out here."
That meant me. I moved toward the gate.
"Not at all. Have a seat. Miss Omar, sit down, won't you?" I sat down.
"Miss Omar read
s to me, Mr. Moriway. I'm an invalid, as you see,dependent on the good offices of my man. I find a woman's voice asoothing change."
"It must be. Particularly if the voice is pleasing. Miss Omar--Ididn't quite catch the name--"
He waited. But Miss Omar had nothing to say that minute.
"Yes, that's the name. You've got it all right," said Latimer. "Anuncommon name, isn't it?"
"I don't think I ever heard it before. Do you know, Miss Omar, as Iheard your voice just before we got to the gate, it sounded singularlyboyish to me."
"Mr. Latimer does not find it so--do you?" I said as sweet--as sweet asI could coax. How sweet's that, Tom Dorgan?
"Not at all." A little laugh came from Latimer as though he wasenjoying a joke all by himself. But Moriway jumped with satisfaction.He knew the voice all right.
"Have you a brother, may I ask?" He leaned over and looked keenly atme.
"I am an orphan," I said sadly, "with no relatives."
"A pitiful position," sneered Moriway. "You look so much like a boy Iknow that--"
"Do you really think so?" So awfully polite was Latimer to such a ratas Moriway. Why? Well, wait. "I can't agree with you. Do you know,I find Miss Omar very feminine. Of course, short hair--"
"Her hair is short, then!"
"Typhoid," I murmured.
"Too bad!" Moriway sneered.
"Yes," I snapped. "I thought it was at the time. My hair was veryheavy and long, and I had a chance to sit in a window at Troyon's wherethey were advertising a hair tonic and--"
Rotten? Of course it was. I'd no business to gabble, and just becauseyou and your new job, Mag, came to my mind at that minute, there I wentputting my foot in it.
Moriway laughed. I didn't like the sound of his laugh.
"Your reader is versatile, Mr. Latimer," he said.
"Yes." Latimer smoothed the soft silk rug that lay over him. "Povertyand that sort of versatility are often bedfellows, eh?... Tell me, Mr.Moriway, these lost diamonds are yours?"
"No. They belong to a--a friend of mine, Mrs. Kingdon."
"Oh! the old lady who was married this afternoon to a youngfortune-hunter!" I couldn't resist it.
Moriway jumped out of his seat.
"She was not married," he stuttered. "She--"
"Changed her mind? How sensible of her! Did she find out what a crookthe fellow was? What was his name--Morrison? No--Middleway--I haveheard it."
"May I ask, Miss Omar"--I didn't have to see his face; his voice toldhow mad with rage he was--"how you come to be acquainted with a matterthat only the contracting parties could possibly know of?"
"Why, they can't have kept it very secret, the old lady and the youngrascal who was after her money, for you see we both knew of it; and Iwasn't the bride and you certainly weren't the groom, were you?"
An exclamation burst from him.
"Mr. Latimer," he stormed, "may I see you a moment alone?"
Phew! That meant me. But I got up just the same.
"Just keep your seat, Miss Omar." Oh, that silken voice of Latimer's!"Mr. Moriway, I have absolutely no acquaintance with you. I never sawyou till to-night. I can't imagine what you may have to say to me,that my secretary--Miss Omar acts in that capacity--may not hear."
"I want to say," burst from Moriway, "that she looks the image of theboy Nat, who stole Mrs. Kingdon's diamonds, that the voice is exactlythe same, that--"
"But you have said it, Mr. Moriway--quite successfully intimated it, Iassure you."
"She knows of my--of Mrs. Kingdon's marriage, that that boy Nat foundout about."
"And you yourself also, as Miss Omar mentioned."
"Myself? Damn it, I'm Moriway, the man she was going to marry. Whyshouldn't I--"
"Ah--h!" Latimer's shoulders shook with a gentle laugh. "Well, Mr.Moriway, gentlemen don't swear in my garden. Particularly when ladiesare present. Shall we say good evening? Here comes Mulhill now....Nothing, Sergeant? Too bad the rogue escaped, but you'll catch him.They may get away from you, but they never stay long, do they? Goodevening--good evening, Mr. Moriway."
They tramped on and out, Moriway's very back showing his rage. Hewhispered something to the Sergeant, who turned to look at me but shookhis head, and the gate clanged after them.
A long sigh escaped me.
"Warm, isn't it?" Latimer leaned forward. "Now, would you mindringing again, Miss Omar?"
I bent and groped for the bell and rang it twice.
"How quick you are to learn!" he said. "But I really wanted the lightthis time.... Just light up, Burnett," he called to the man, who hadcome out on the porch.
The electric bulb flashed out again just over my head. Latimer turnedand looked at me. When I couldn't bear it any longer, I lookeddefiantly up at him.
"Pardon," he said, smiling; nice teeth he has and clear eyes. "I wasjust looking for that boyish resemblance Mr. Moriway spoke of. I holdto my first opinion--you're very feminine, Miss Omar. Will you read tome now, if you please?" He pointed to a big open book on the tablebeside his couch.
"I think--if you don't mind, Mr. Latimer, I'll begin the readingto-morrow." I got up to go. I was through with that garden now.
"But I do mind!"
Silken voice? Not a bit of it! I turned on him so furious I thought Ididn't care what came of it--when over by the great gate-post I saw aman crouching--Moriway.
I sat down again and pulled the book farther toward the light.
We didn't learn much poetry at the Cruelty, did we, Mag? But I knowsome now, just the same. When I began to read I heard only oneword--Moriway--Moriway--Moriway. But I must have--forgotten him aftera time, and the dark garden with the light on only one spot, and theroses smelling, and Latimer lying perfectly still, his face turnedtoward me, for I was reading--listen, I bet I can remember that part ofit if I say it slow--
Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make, And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake: For all the sin wherewith the Face of Man Is blacken'd--Man's forgiveness give--and take!
--when all at once Mr. Latimer put his hand on the book. I looked upwith a start. The shadow by the gate was gone.
Yon rising Moon that looks for us again-- How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; How oft hereafter rising look for us Through this same Garden--and for ONE in vain!
Latimer was saying it without the book and with a queer smile that mademe feel I hadn't quite caught on.
"Thank you, that will do," he went on. "That is enough, Miss--" Hestopped.
I waited.
He did not say "Omar."
I looked him square in the eye--and then I had enough.
"But what in the devil did you make believe for?" I asked.
He smiled.
"If ever you come to lie on your back day and night, year in and yearout, and know that never in your life will it be any different, you maytake pleasure in a bit of excitement and--and learn to pity the underdog, who, in this case, happened to be a boy that leaped over the gateas though his heart was in his mouth. Just as you would admire thenerve of the young lady that came out of the house a few minutes afterin your housekeeper's Sunday gown."
Yes, grin, Torn Dorgan. You won't grin long.
I put down the book and got up to go.
"Good night, then, and thank you, Mr. Latimer."
"Good night.... Oh, Miss--" He didn't say "Omar"--"there is a favoryou might do me."
"Sure!" I wondered what it could be.
"Those diamonds. I've got to have them, you know, to send them back totheir owner. I don't mind helping a--a person who helps himself toother people's things, but I can't let him get away with his plunderwithout being that kind of person myself. So--"
Why didn't I lie? Because there are some people you don't lie to, TomDorgan. Don't talk to me, you bully, I'm savage enough. To have ringsand pins and ear-rings, a whole bagful of diamonds, and to haul 'em outof your pocket and lay 'em on the table there before h
im!
"I wonder," he said slowly, as he put them away in his own pocket,"what a man like me could do for a girl like you?"
"Reform her!" I snarled. "Show her how to get diamonds honestly."
Say, Tom, let's go in for bigger game.