CHAPTER I
GLEAMS IN THE RAIN: WHEELER'S STORY
Herrick made no outcry at Wheeler's words. He simply stood looking outinto the wet and windy spaces of Times Square, where the great splashesof colored lights wavered and shone in manifold reflections on thegleaming pavement. And a tremendous and ultimate change arose like newlife in his heart.
There is a common human fallacy, touching and perhaps profounder than weknow, by which we instinctively assume any person in danger to be aninnocent person. To both men the missing girl was now in danger. Itoccurred no more to Herrick than to Wheeler that Christina, by anypossibility whatever, could have voluntarily deserted a performance.Something had happened. Inevitably, Herrick remembered the once laughedat Arm of Justice. Had it known, all along, what the shadow on thescreen had told him to-day? A hundred references of hers, a hundredinconsistencies, were solved at a stroke. Alone with that insensatemalignity which he had himself encountered, had she now tried to breaksome blackmailing game and--lost?--He remembered with a horrid shockthat once let her be identified with the shadow on the blind and in theeyes of the law she became the perjured witness of a murder, accessorybefore and after!--Threatened, thus, on every side, Christina's faceseemed to flower for him there, on the night sky; as once, upon a foggyafternoon just as the wind began to rise, it had shone on him in therainy street--when Christina had first held out her hand to him andsaid, "Try to believe that perhaps she was in distress, after all!"
In what hectic hot-house had he been stifling?--It was as though, inthis wild hour of sweeping rain and blowing air, of lights that flashedand changed in the surrounding darkness, of isolation amid the myriadnoises of the theater traffic and the clanging trolleys, he heard, of asudden, Christina's cry for help; as though, running out into thefreedom of the storm, he gained her side of the road and took her hand.It might be the hand of an outlaw, it was empty, forever, of any love orhope for him; but he could feel it, now, in his and he did not careagainst what world, whether his own or hers, he held it. For theirpersonal relation was no longer the great thing. The great thing couldbe only that somewhere beyond him in the darkness, desperately needinghelp, _she was_. And the next thing was to find her.
"Well," he heard himself say to Wheeler in a commonplace voice, "let'shear about it."
"I want to eat something beside trouble!" Wheeler groaned. "Come inacross the way. Stan's to 'phone there at nine."
Instinctively they chose a table by a window, as though in the greatstreet she had loved so much and won so lately, they might see herhurrying by. The restaurant was almost empty, but the news was alreadythere. It peered out of the cigar-smoke of the men to whom Wheelercurtly nodded; it questioned them from the waiter's face. "Where'll Ibegin?" asked Wheeler. "Well, this afternoon they wouldn't let me seeDenny. But I met Stan, and he told me Chris had jumped her appointmentwith Kane, never brought her witness! Partly, I could have choked thegirl--and, partly, I couldn't believe it of her. I called up her houseand I've been jumping ever since." And he poured out a story of hasteand confusion, of friends interrogated, detectives summoned, of a mothermore ignorant than any one and more prostrated.--"God, Herrick, I'msick! The girl's such a monkey, up to the last minute I hoped she'd showup! About seven Kane got me over the coals. Wonder what he's hit thetrail so hard for? He'd had his suspicions of the Park,--the littleCornish girl was last seen, you remember, going that way--but the policehave searched every bush for hours. The Inghams are all stewed up withhim and Stanley's wished on to him like a burr. The first thing he saidto me was, 'At what time did Mrs. Hope inform you of her daughter'sabsence? Don't hesitate--I can remind you. She never informed you atall!' Was he trying to see if I'd lie to him? What does he think I'vedone with her? But funny thing--Mrs. Hope and the Deutches had beenworrying round looking for that girl all day and yet she'd neverconsulted me! Look here, it's not possible--No, what cause would shehave to harm herself?--Mrs. Hope blames herself because last night whenChristina didn't come home--You didn't know that? Well, she didn't. Hermother thought she was at the Deutches, out of temper. You knew shequarreled with her mother about Ten Euyck? They nearly knifed eachother!"
"For God's sake," said Herrick, "tell me whatever you know!" Across hisshoulder the zest of Broadway seemed to peer and listen. But it was toolate to consider that.
"You see, last night's supper has been delicate ground from thebeginning. Before I knew what the Inghams had planned I asked Christinato come to supper with me--to bring her mother and any one she liked.She seemed to be down on Denny since he and that Cornish girl disagreedand, as a particular bait, I mentioned you. I knew she was interested inyou. And when she isn't interested, the Lord help her host! Well, shepreferred my scheme to the Inghams'--she seems to have shown all alongthe most ungodly resistance to their help or countenance in any way! ButI could see, as well as her mother, which was best for myleading-woman, and she finally gave in. It's remarkable how entirelyone thinks of Christina as the head of the house, and yet how often shedoes give in--what an influence her mother has over her when she has anyat all!" He drained his long glass with a sigh. "But last night, rightafter the performance, Mrs. Hope comes running into my dressing-room,well--as I may say, at death's door. Christina was going off to supperwith Ten Euyck. You can understand that I didn't listen to her then as Ishould now. She wanted me, as the only person Christina would be likelyto take a word from, to reason with her. I said, 'Yes, yes. By-and-by.'I only wanted to shut her up, you understand. For just then, in thefirst flush of Christina's triumph, I didn't any more think ofinterfering with her than with the sun in heaven! I won't say I'd beenrehearsing an angel unawares, but the girl had grown, in that one night,way out of my sphere. I thought probably Ten Euyck had just prostratedhimself and she'd gone a little off her head, and no wonder! It didn'tseem necessarily so terrible to me. But the old lady is a great sticklerfor the proprieties--yes, and for all her talk, Christina has her owneye on social splendor! It's one thing not to receive people and it'squite another not to have them call!--When I'd got rid of my friends andhad given Christina time to get rid of hers, I went round to thank herand congratulate her and at the same time to ask her if she didn't thinkshe was doing the Inghams a pretty dirty trick. There stood my younglady dressed out--I was going to say 'to kill'--why, to make Solomon inall his glory turn pale and fade away! Great Scott!--She looked like thekingdoms of the earth and the wonders thereof! Christina is alwaysbewailing the money she owes but you may have noticed that, for a poorworking-girl, she does herself rather well in frocks. Mrs. Hope wassitting quiet in a corner, quashed, and Christina was humming--'Auldacquaintance,' if you please!--to herself in front of the glass. 'Auldacquaintance,' indeed! I thought of Denny, and how he'd stood by thisradiant image through thick and thin--in a way, you might say, made her!And though you'll forgive a good deal to a first night like that, Ibegan to agree with the people who say she hasn't any heart. And then Isaw--"
"Yes--"
"I saw she had a long string of diamonds twisted round her neck. 'GreatGod, girl!' I said, 'where did those come from?'"
"And she answered?"
Wheeler had been speaking slower and slower and now, for a long time, itseemed as if he were not going to speak at all. Then "She answered,'They have come from Cuyler Ten Euyck. But don't breathe it. It has justkilled dear mamma.'"
"Well, go on."
"Her mother got up at that and started to go. But Christina stopped herat the door and took hold of her arm. 'Mother,' she said, 'what does itmatter? Oh, my poor mother, can't you see that whatever happens we havedone with respectability? It's inevitable, it must be done. And to-nightor to-morrow, what does it matter? Twenty-four hours, one way or theother, and then--mud to the right of us, mud to the left of us, and untodust we shall return!' I thought they were the strangest words that evercame out of a girl's mouth on the night of what you might call hercoronation!"
"And Mrs. Hope?"
"Mrs. Hope just took her daughter's hand off her arm and walk
ed out ofthe door and out of the theater.--Well," said Wheeler, with a deep sigh,"it wasn't for me to do that. I'm a pretty long way from a Puritan! Allthe same, this thing made me sick. 'Chris,' said I, 'don't go with him!Take off those damned diamonds and tell him to go to hell! You can soonmake diamonds for yourself, old girl!' She looked up, singing, in myface. And that's the last I saw of her."
"Go on!"
"My boy, you need a drink!"
"And Ten Euyck says--?"
"Oh, poor Ten Euyck--his dignity can't bend, so it's all cracked. Hetook her to supper at the Palisades and she left early." The Palisadeswas a new roadhouse up the river and the rage of that summer. "Thezealous creature has even run to Kane and disgorged the names of hisguests. So it leaks out that, once the poor soul had unbent so far as tobe seen with an actress, he couldn't be devilish by halves. It seemsmiss was annoyed at the character of said guests, as well as at findingsupper served in a private room. So with the offended majesty of aninjured queen, she withdrew to no less public a spot than the entranceporch. There she sat, swathed in her cloak and with her skirts drawnabout her, till the arrival of the cab she had insisted upon." Wheelerbroke into a laugh. "That girl," he said, "is the devil himself!"
"And that--was that the very--last--?"
"Exactly. There she is, togged out in a white, silky crepe-y, trail-ydress, embroidered in silver, and a white lace opera cloak. In theseuseful and inconspicuous garments, she vanishes." His grim grin soured."You know what they'll all say! Kane tells the Inghams she couldn'tcatch Ten Euyck so surely as with an irritant. She took, of all ways,the way to hold him. Why, she left him in public--him, the invulnerablecorrector of women! He'll never rest until she is seen, in public,hanging on his arm! And then the man values his diamonds at fortythousand dollars!"
"She drove off alone, at midnight, in a taxicab, with forty thousanddollars' worth of diamonds round her neck--"
"Yes, and the cabman was discharged this morning for drunkenness! Stan'sto 'phone if they've found him. Oh, but look here--take it slow! She'phoned Ten Euyck's house at eight this morning and left a message,openly, with her name! The servant who took the message describesexactly that trailing voice of hers--'tell him he may come for hisnecklace to-night!'"
"Come! Come where?"
"Search me! Or Ten Euyck, either, from the foam on his mouth!--Well,doesn't that put it up that wherever she 'phoned from they got on to thediamond necklace. So, where was she? You and I, we know old Chris--weknow, after all, that she just went somewhere for the night on accountof her quarrel with her mother. But, oh, lord, Herrick, who else isgoing to believe it? The whole braying pack of this intelligentworld--all it can think of's dirt--the devilish gay sensation of thewhole business! Christina Hope! D'you think there's a bank clerk or asubmissive wife that won't recognize her proper atmosphere at a glance?You and I and little Stan--a poor author, a profane actor and a brat! Ina few hours that's what her kingdom's crumbled to--'that was so wondroussweet and fair!' Police and all, there's the spirit in which they'regoing to look for her, and that's going to be one of the worst things inour way. Well, I'm not a rich man and our precious kid's just aboutruined me this night! But I've done for her what may bust me sky-highand worth it--I've offered ten thousand for her--safe, you understand!It ought to be in to-night's late editions, so by now, in one spirit orthe other, this town's out after her like a hound!--Eh? All right! It'sStan, now!"
Herrick sat there staring into the street. A newsboy ran past with thelast extra of the evening. Two of the interested smokers had just leftthe restaurant and now stopped in the rain to buy a paper, opening andscanning the flapping sheets against the wind. Ah, yes, of course! He,too, sent for a paper. Yes, there, on the first page--scare headings,but in itself the meagerest fact. Scarcely even insinuationsyet--"friends fear some serious accident," "friends deny suicide,""suspicious circumstance--Ten Euyck necklace"--Wheeler's reward, andnews three hours old. When he looked up the square seemed full ofnewsboys; several people as they came into the restaurant had papers intheir hands. She was just news, now; disreputable news! "The town's outafter her like a hound!"--Wheeler's hand was on his shoulder. "No cabmanyet. But they want you, Herrick, on the 'phone."
Stanley's voice told him only to hold the wire. Then a crisper toneasked pleasantly, "Mr. Herrick? This is Henry Kane. I just wanted to askyou--you had an appointment with Miss Hope for noon to-day. If youdidn't know she was not at home, why didn't you keep it?"
How sharply the trap bit!
"You've had no communication with her since last evening? Nothinghappened to arouse your anxiety? Nor distrust? No, nothing? And yet,just as it began to rain, you started for a walk in a light suit--or"(the telephone itself seemed to give forth a dry smile) "what I am toldwas once a light suit, and walked about all day in an equinoctial storm!Taking yourself to the theater at night without changing, withoutshaving, without dining, but still carrying on your person a good dealof the surface of the earth and of the waters under the earth! Well,sorry to have disturbed you. Only my dear sir, don't trouble yourself toconceal too much. Don't fancy yourself the only man in New York who hasbeen to a moving-picture show." Kane hung up the receiver.
That stunned, sick, silent curse of the man on the wrong side of thelaw! This attorney fellow was like a hound after her, too! He, then,since he was so clever, in God's name let him find her and findher--soon! It was all he asked!--As Herrick stepped out of the boothinto the corridor of mirrors that ran through the building to the nextstreet a page boy came briskly up the gilded lane, pattering out aphrase that washed across Herrick's mind in a wave of sound dimlyfamiliar; he saw the boy turn into the orangerie and through theglass-screen he vaguely watched him wend his way between the littlegreen tables with their golden lamps, lifting his flatted tones into theorange-scented air so that its mechanical legend was caught by trailingvines and mingled with the plashing of a little fountain. His mindaimlessly followled the boy's cry till it was lost in the music of amezzanine orchestra hidden in the foliage of a tame tropical jungle!This was what they called civilization--this trash which had achieved nomechanism to find her, to protect her! But which could know that she hadbeen struck out of its midst and yet sit there in its futile nonsense,stuffing--A voice rose from the velvet lounge beside him in the tonelessdelivery of one who reads aloud. It was reading the extra's account of agesture in a moving picture show. "The police say that boys beganreporting it before noon, and, the attention of the theater having beencalled to the film, its patrons are now offered a thrill of realism bythe piano in the orchestra accompanying the gesture with the march fromFaust. This time, it will be remembered..."
Oh, no doubt it would be remembered! Its exultant shout sounded like thehunter's cry after her now, winged by Wheeler's offer of ten thousanddollars! Doubtless the film would be repeated on the morrow, that allthe world might steel its heart as it watched with its own eyesChristina Hope moving with that motion to that time!
Oh, for something to do! Some untried search, some shrewder question!Something to do, to suffer, to dare--some clue--some suggestion--Denny!Had they tried Denny? He who knew so much at the least would set themright, would know and would tell them that she had never deserted hiscause of her own free will, that he who knew her believed inher--Wheeler came out into the lobby and took him by the arm. He, too,had bought a paper and now he held it under Herrick's eyes. "This is whyI couldn't see him, then!" In the Tombs that afternoon, Denny had againattempted suicide.
So that was how he proclaimed his confidence! He had somehow got hold ofa knife, but the blow aimed at his heart had been averted by a watchfulguard and he had received only fleshwounds--one in the left shoulder,one in the left forearm. A little ludicrous, a little sickening that aman so expert in killing another should always bungle about killinghimself! But he had been prompt enough and successful enough in settingupon the girl who had failed him the brand of his despair! Who wouldcredit, now, that he did not believe in her flight? Herrick felt athickness in his throat; with
a longing for fresh, dark spaces he pushedopen a door of the lobby and was confronted by the city, glittering inwet gold. There, up Long Acre, lay the heart of her world.
And from down where the bronze workmen struck the hours in Herald Squareup past where the gathering streets parted again under a new electricgirl, high in the sky, who winked a knowing colossal eye over a rainbowcocktail, what faith did it keep with her? Her flight, her shadow on thescreen, they burned in a newer sky-sign, they flashed a fearful but amore stirring legend! This swept up the thoroughfare that never colorsitself more like Harlequin than in its mirrors of wet asphalt and speddown every side street starred with theaters where, between the acts,men gathered and returned with news, and it became clear to thrillingaudiences that so long as there had been nothing against this ChristinaHope she had meant to tell some tale to Kane in Denny's behalf--it wouldhave been a pretty piece of acting--but the mute witness of the shadowhad broken her down. She had fled from that writing on the screen--evenin the dressing-rooms they would say that! And later, in all these hot,bright jardins de danse that yesterday were cabarets, these cabaretsthat were restaurants yesterday, among the pellucid proprieties of slitskirts, tango turns, and trotting music it would be said that all alongDenny had kept at least the half of his silence for Christina's sake.Oh, street of a thousand feverish tongues, how she loved you! And whydid she leave you? Where is she, and where is she? How near, how far?"Where is she? And how doth she?" There lay her theater; what strokecould be so heavy as to drive her from that? "The Victors!" Leave "TheVictors!" There were great blurs of light before the billboards. But thewind tore through them at the boards, struggling to wrench the signsaway. Fierce as it was it was still rising and it ran like a crazynewsboy whooping through the world, senseless as the cry of the pagethat came nearer and nearer. So that Wheeler said, "Good lord, man,don't you know your own name?"
Yes, that was what the boy had been saying all along--"Herr--ick!Herr--ick! Mr. Bry--us Herrick!"
"No card, sir. Forty-fifth Street entrance. In a taxi, sir. A lady wantsto speak to you."