THE THIEF
"And now, if you have all seen the coin and sufficiently admired it, youmay pass it back. I make a point of never leaving it off the shelf formore than fifteen minutes."
The half dozen or more guests seated about the board of the genialspeaker, glanced casually at each other as though expecting to see theobject mentioned immediately produced.
But no coin appeared.
"I have other amusements waiting," suggested their host, with a smile inwhich even his wife could detect no signs of impatience. "Now let Robertput it back into the cabinet."
Robert was the butler.
Blank looks, negative gestures, but still no coin.
"Perhaps it is in somebody's lap," timidly ventured one of the youngerwomen. "It doesn't seem to be on the table."
Immediately all the ladies began lifting their napkins and shaking outthe gloves which lay under them, in an effort to relieve their ownembarrassment and that of the gentlemen who had not even so simple aresource as this at their command.
"It can't be lost," protested Mr. Sedgwick, with an air of perfectconfidence. "I saw it but a minute ago in somebody's hand. Darrow, youhad it; what did you do with it?"
"Passed it along."
"Well, well, it must be under somebody's plate or doily." And he beganto move about his own and such dishes as were within reach of his hand.
Each guest imitated him, lifting glasses and turning over spoons tillMr. Sedgwick himself bade them desist. "It's slipped to the floor," henonchalantly concluded. "A toast to the ladies, and we will give Robertthe chance of looking for it."
As they drank this toast, his apparently careless, but quietly astute,glance took in each countenance about him. The coin was very valuableand its loss would be keenly felt by him. Had it slipped from the tablesome one's eye would have perceived it, some hand would have followedit. Only a minute or two before, the attention of the whole party hadbeen concentrated upon it. Darrow had held it up for all to see, whilehe discoursed upon its history. He would take Darrow aside at the firstopportunity and ask him----But--it! how could he do that? These were hisintimate friends. He knew them well, more than well, with one exception,and he----Well, he was the handsomest of the lot and the most debonairand agreeable. A little more gay than usual to-night, possibly a trifletoo gay, considering that a man of Mr. Blake's social weight andbusiness standing sat at the board; but not to be suspected, no, not tobe suspected, even if he was the next man after Darrow and had betrayedsomething like confusion when the eyes of the whole table turned his wayat the former's simple statement of "I passed it on." Robert would findthe coin; he was a fool to doubt it; and if Robert did not, why, hewould simply have to pocket his chagrin, and not let a triviality likethis throw a shadow over his hospitality.
All this, while he genially lifted his glass and proposed the health ofthe ladies. The constraint of the preceding moment was removed by hismanner, and a dozen jests caused as many merry laughs. Then he pushedback his chair.
"And now, some music!" he cheerfully cried, as with lingering glancesand some further pokings about of the table furniture, the variousguests left their places and followed him into the adjoining room.
But the ladies were too nervous and the gentlemen not sufficiently sureof their voices to undertake the entertainment of the rest at a momentof such acknowledged suspense; and notwithstanding the exertions oftheir host and his quiet but much discomfited wife, it soon becameapparent that but one thought engrossed them all, and that any attemptat conversation must prove futile so long as the curtains between thetwo rooms remained open and they could see Robert on his hands and kneessearching the floor and shoving aside the rugs.
Darrow, who was Mr. Sedgwick's brother-in-law and almost as much at homein the house as Sedgwick himself, made a move to draw these curtains,but something in his relative's face stopped him and he desisted withsome laughing remark which did not attract enough attention, even, toelicit any response.
"I hope his eyesight is good," murmured one of the young girls, edging atrifle forward. "Mayn't I help him look? They say at home that I am theonly one in the house who can find anything."
Mr. Sedgwick smiled indulgently at the speaker, (a round-faced,round-eyed, merry-hearted girl whom in days gone by he had dandled onhis knees), but answered quite quickly for him:
"Robert will find it if it is there." Then, distressed at thisinvoluntary disclosure of his thought, added in his whole-hearted way:"It's such a little thing, and the room is so big and a round objectrolls unexpectedly far, you know. Well, have you got it?" he eagerlydemanded, as the butler finally showed himself in the door.
"No, sir; and it's not in the dining-room. I have cleared the table andthoroughly searched the floor."
Mr. Sedgwick knew that he had. He had no doubts about Robert. Robert hadbeen in his employ for years and had often handled his coins and, at hisorder, sometimes shown them.
"Very well," said he, "we'll not bother about it any more to-night; youmay draw the curtains."
But here the clear, almost strident voice of the youngest man of theparty interposed.
"Wait a minute," said he. "This especial coin is the great treasure ofMr. Sedgwick's valuable collection. It is unique in this country, andnot only worth a great deal of money, but cannot be duplicated at anycost. There are only three of its stamp in the world. Shall we let thematter pass, then, as though it were of small importance? I feel that wecannot; that we are, in a measure, responsible for its disappearance.Mr. Sedgwick handed it to us to look at, and while it was going throughour hands it vanished. What must he think? What has he every right tothink? I need not put it into words; you know what you would think, whatyou could not help but think, if the object were yours and it was lostin this way. Gentlemen--I leave the ladies entirely out of this--I donot propose that he shall have further opportunity to associate me withthis very natural doubt. I demand the privilege of emptying my pocketshere and now, before any of us have left his presence. I am aconnoisseur in coins myself and consequently find it imperative to takethe initiative in this matter. As I propose to spare the ladies, let usstep back into the dining-room. Mr. Sedgwick, pray don't deny me; I'mthoroughly in earnest, I assure you."
The astonishment created by this audacious proposition was so great, andthe feeling it occasioned so intense, that for an instant all stoodspeechless. Young Hammersley was a millionaire himself, and generous toa fault, as all knew. Under no circumstances would any one even suspecthim of appropriating anything, great or small, to which he had not aperfect right. Nor was he likely to imagine for a moment that any onewould. That he could make such a proposition then, based upon any suchplea, argued a definite suspicion in some other quarter, which could notpass unrecognised. In vain Mr. Sedgwick raised his voice in frank anddecided protest, two of the gentlemen had already made a quick movetoward Robert, who still stood, stupefied by the situation, with hishand on the cord which controlled the curtains.
"He is quite right," remarked one of these, as he passed into thedining-room. "I shouldn't sleep a wink to-night if this questionremained unsettled." The other, the oldest man present, the financier ofwhose standing and highly esteemed character I have already spoken, saidnothing, but followed in a way to show that his mind was equally madeup.
The position in which Mr. Sedgwick found himself placed was far fromenviable. With a glance at the two remaining gentlemen, he turnedtowards the ladies now standing in a close group at the other end of theroom. One of them was his wife, and he quivered internally as he notedthe deep red of her distressed countenance. But it was the others headdressed, singling out, with the rare courtesy which was his by nature,the one comparative stranger, Darrow's niece, a Rochester girl, whocould not be finding this, her first party in Boston, very amusing.
"I hope you will appreciate the dilemma in which I have been placed bythese gentlemen," he began, "and will pardon----"
But here he noticed that she was not in the least attending; her eyeswere on the handsome fig
ure of Hugh Clifford, her uncle's neighbour attable, who in company with Mr. Hammersley was still hesitating in thedoorway. As Mr. Sedgwick stopped his useless talk, the two passed in andthe sound of her fluttering breath as she finally turned a listening earhis way, caused him to falter as he repeated his assurances and beggedher indulgence.
She answered with some conventional phrase which he forgot whilecrossing the room. But the remembrance of her slight satin-robed figure,drawn up in an attitude whose carelessness was totally belied by theanxiety of her half-averted glance, followed him into the presence ofthe four men awaiting him. Four? I should say five, for Robert was stillthere, though in a corner by himself, ready, no doubt, to share anyattempt which the others might make to prove their innocence.
"The ladies will await us in the music-room," announced the host onentering; and then paused, disconcerted by the picture suddenlydisclosed to his eye. On one side stood the two who had entered first,with their eyes fixed in open sternness on young Clifford, who, quitealone on the rug, faced them with a countenance of such pronouncedpallor that there seemed to be nothing else in the room. As his featureswere singularly regular and his almost perfect mouth accentuated by asmile as set as his figure was immobile, the effect was so startlingthat not only Mr. Sedgwick, but every other person present, no doubt,wished that the plough had never turned the furrow which had broughtthis wretched coin to light.
However, the affair had gone too far now for retreat, as was shown byMr. Blake, the elderly financier whom all were ready to recognise as thechief guest there. With an apologetic glance at Mr. Hammersley, theimpetuous young millionaire who had first proposed this embarrassingprocedure, he advanced to an empty side-table and began, in a quiet,business-like way, to lay on it the contents of his various pockets. Asthe pile rose, the silence grew, the act in itself was so simple, themotive actuating it so serious and out of accord with the standing ofthe company and the nature of the occasion. When all was done, hestepped up to Mr. Sedgwick, with his arms raised and held out from hisbody.
"Now accommodate me," said he, "by running your hands up and down mychest. I have a secret pocket there which should be empty at this time."
Mr. Sedgwick, fascinated by his look, did as he was bid, reportingshortly:
"You are quite correct. I find nothing there."
Mr. Blake stepped back. As he did so, every eye, suddenly released fromhis imposing figure, flashed towards the immovable Clifford, to find himstill absorbed by the action and attitude of the man who had justundergone what to him doubtless appeared a degrading ordeal. Palebefore, he was absolutely livid now, though otherwise unchanged. Tobreak the force of what appeared to be an open, if involuntary,self-betrayal, another guest stepped forward; but no sooner had heraised his hand to his vest-pocket than Clifford moved, and in a high,strident voice totally unlike his usual tones remarked:
"This is all--all--very interesting and commendable, no doubt. But forsuch a procedure to be of any real value it should be entered into byall. Gentlemen"--his rigidity was all gone now and so was his pallor--"Iam unwilling to submit myself to what, in my eyes, is an act ofunnecessary humiliation. Our word should be enough. I have not thecoin----" Stopped by the absolute silence, he cast a distressed lookinto the faces about him, till it reached that of Mr. Sedgwick, where itlingered, in an appeal to which that gentleman, out of his great heart,instantly responded.
"One _should_ take the word of the gentleman he invites to his house. Wewill excuse you, and excuse all the others from the unnecessary ceremonywhich Mr. Blake has been good enough to initiate."
But this show of favour was not to the mind of the last-mentionedgentleman, and met with instant reproof.
"Not so fast, Sedgwick. I am the oldest man here and I did not feel itwas enough simply to state that this coin was not on my person. As tothe question of humiliation, it strikes me that humiliation would lie,in this instance, in a refusal for which no better excuse can be giventhan the purely egotistical one of personal pride."
At this attack, the fine head of Clifford rose, and Darrow, rememberingthe girl within, felt instinctively grateful that she was not here tonote the effect it gave to his person.
"I regret to differ," said he. "To me no humiliation could equal that ofdemonstrating in this open manner the fact of one's not being a thief."
Mr. Blake gravely surveyed him. For some reason the issue seemed nolonger to lie between Clifford and the actual loser of the coin, butbetween him and his fellow guest, this uncompromising banker.
"A thief!" repeated the young man, in an indescribable tone full ofbitterness and scorn.
Mr. Blake remained unmoved; he was a just man but strict, hard tohimself, hard to others. But he was not entirely without heart. Suddenlyhis expression lightened. A certain possible explanation of the other'sattitude had entered his mind.
"Young men sometimes have reasons for their susceptibilities which theold forget. If you have such--if you carry a photograph, believe that wehave no interest in pictures of any sort to-night and certainly wouldfail to recognise them."
A smile of disdain flickered across the young man's lip. Evidently itwas no discovery of this kind that he feared.
"I carry no photographs," said he; and, bowing low to his host, he addedin a measured tone which but poorly hid his profound agitation, "Iregret to have interfered in the slightest way with the pleasure of theevening. If you will be so good as to make my excuses to the ladies, Iwill withdraw from a presence upon which I have made so poor animpression."
Mr. Sedgwick prized his coin and despised deceit, but he could not let aguest leave him in this manner. Instinctively he held out his hand.Proudly young Clifford dropped his own into it; but the lack of mutualconfidence was felt and the contact was a cold one. Half regretting hisimpulsive attempt at courtesy, Mr. Sedgwick drew back, and Clifford wasalready at the door leading into the hall, when Hammersley, who by hisindiscreet proposition had made all this trouble for him, sprang forwardand caught him by the arm.
"Don't go," he whispered. "You're done for if you leave like this. I--Iwas a brute to propose such an asinine thing, but having done so I ambound to see you out of the difficulty. Come into the adjoiningroom--there is nobody there at present--and we will empty our pocketstogether and find this lost article if we can. I may have pocketed itmyself, in a fit of abstraction."
Did the other hesitate? Some thought so; but, if he did, it was butmomentarily.
"I cannot," he muttered; "think what you will of me, but let me go." Anddashing open the door he disappeared from their sight just as lightsteps and the rustle of skirts were heard again in the adjoining room.
"There are the ladies. What shall we say to them?" queried Sedgwick,stepping slowly towards the intervening curtains.
"Tell them the truth," enjoined Mr. Blake, as he hastily repocketed hisown belongings. "Why should a handsome devil like that be treated withany more consideration than another? He has a secret if he hasn't acoin. Let them know this. It may save some one a future heartache."
The last sentence was muttered, but Mr. Sedgwick heard it. Perhaps thatwas why his first movement on entering the adjoining room was to crossover to the cabinet and shut and lock the heavily panelled door whichhad been left standing open. At all events, the action drew generalattention and caused an instant silence, broken the next minute by anardent cry:
"So your search was futile?"
It came from the lady least known, the interesting young stranger whosepersonality had made so vivid an impression upon him.
"Quite so," he answered, hastily facing her with an attempted smile."The gentlemen decided not to carry matters to the length firstproposed. The object was not worth it. I approved their decision. Thiswas meant for a joyous occasion. Why mar it by unnecessaryunpleasantness?"
She had given him her full attention while he was speaking, but her eyewandered away the moment he had finished and rested searchingly on theother gentlemen. Evidently she missed a face she had expected to findthere, for her
colour changed and she drew back behind the other ladieswith the light, unmusical laugh women sometimes use to hide a secretemotion.
It brought Mr. Darrow forward.
"Some were not willing to subject themselves to what they considered anunnecessary humiliation," he curtly remarked. "Mr. Clifford----"
"There! let us drop it," put in his brother-in-law. "I've lost my coinand that's the end of it. I don't intend to have the evening spoiled fora thing like that. Music! ladies, music and a jolly air! No more dumps."And with as hearty a laugh as he could command in face of the sombrelooks he encountered on every side, he led the way back into themusic-room.
Once there the women seemed to recover their spirits; that is, such asremained. One had disappeared. A door opened from this room into themain hall and through this a certain young lady had vanished before theothers had had time to group themselves about the piano. We know whothis lady was; possibly, we know, too, why her hostess did not followher.
Meanwhile, Mr. Clifford had gone upstairs for his coat, and waslingering there, the prey of some very bitter reflections. Though he hadencountered nobody on the stairs, and neither heard nor saw any one inthe halls, he felt confident that he was not unwatched. He rememberedthe look on the butler's face as he tore himself away from Hammersley'srestraining hand, and he knew what that fellow thought and also wasquite able to guess what that fellow would do, if his suspicions werefarther awakened. This conviction brought an odd and not very open smileto his face, as he finally turned to descend the one flight whichseparated him from the front door he was so ardently desirous of closingbehind him for ever.
A moment and he would be down; but the steps were many and seemed tomultiply indefinitely as he sped below. Should his departure be noted,and some one advance to detain him! He fancied he heard a rustle in theopen space under the stairs. Were any one to step forth, Robertor----With a start, he paused and clutched the banister. Some one hadstepped forth; a woman! The swish of her skirts was unmistakable. Hefelt the chill of a new dread. Never in his short but triumphant careerhad he met coldness or disapproval in the eye of a woman. Was he toencounter it now? If so, it would go hard with him. He trembled as heturned his head to see which of the four it was. If it should prove tobe his hostess----But it was not she; it was Darrow's young friend, thepretty inconsequent girl he had chatted with at the dinner-table, andafterwards completely forgotten in the events which had centred all histhoughts upon himself. And she was standing there, waiting for him! Hewould have to pass her,--notice her,--speak.
But when the encounter occurred and their eyes met, he failed to find inhers any sign of the disapproval he feared, but instead a gentlewomanly interest which he might interpret deeply, or otherwise,according to the measure of his need.
That need seemed to be a deep one at this instant, for his countenancesoftened perceptibly as he took her quietly extended hand.
"Good-night," she said; "I am just going myself," and with an entrancingsmile of perfect friendliness, she fluttered past him up the stairs.
It was the one and only greeting which his sick heart could havesustained without flinching. Just this friendly farewell of oneacquaintance to another, as though no change had taken place in hisrelations to society and the world. And she was a woman and not athoughtless girl! Staring after her slight, elegant figure, slowlyascending the stair, he forgot to return her cordial greeting. Whatdelicacy, and yet what character there was in the poise of her spiritedhead! He felt his breath fail him, in his anxiety for another glancefrom her eye, for some sign, however small, that she had carried thethought of him up those few, quickly-mounted steps. Would he get it? Sheis at the bend of the stair; she pauses--turns, a nod,--and she is gone.
With an impetuous gesture, he dashed from the house.
In the drawing-room the noise of the closing door was heard, and achange at once took place in the attitude and expression of all present.The young millionaire approached Mr. Sedgwick and confidentiallyremarked:
"There goes your precious coin. I'm sure of it. I even think I can tellthe exact place in which it is hidden. His hand went to his leftcoat-pocket once too often."
"That's right. I noticed the action also," chimed in Mr. Darrow, who hadstepped up, unobserved. "And I noticed something else. His wholeappearance altered from the moment this coin came on the scene. Anindefinable half-eager, half-furtive look crept into his eye as he sawit passed from hand to hand. I remember it now, though it didn't makemuch impression upon me at the time."
"And I remember another thing," supplemented Hammersley in his anxietyto set himself straight with these men of whose entire approval he wasnot quite sure. "He raised his napkin to his mouth very frequentlyduring the meal and held it there longer than is usual, too. Once hecaught me looking at him, and for a moment he flushed scarlet, then hebroke out with one of his witty remarks and I had to laugh likeeverybody else. If I am not mistaken, his napkin was up and his righthand working behind it, about the time Mr. Sedgwick requested the returnof his coin."
"The idiot! Hadn't he sense enough to know that such a loss wouldn'tpass unquestioned? The gem of the collection; known all over thecountry, and he's not even a connoisseur."
"No; I've never even heard him mention numismatics."
"Mr. Darrow spoke of its value. Perhaps that was what tempted him. Iknow that Clifford's been rather down on his luck lately."
"He? Well, he don't look it. There isn't one of us so well set up.Pardon me, Mr. Hammersley, you understand what I mean. He perhaps reliesa little bit too much on his fine clothes."
"He needn't. His face is his fortune--all the one he's got, I hear itsaid. He had a pretty income from Consolidated Silver, but that's goneup and left him in what you call difficulties. If he has debtsbesides----"
But here Mr. Darrow was called off. His niece wanted to see him for oneminute in the hall. When he came back it was to make his adieu and hers.She had been taken suddenly indisposed and his duty was to see herimmediately home. This broke up the party, and amid generalprotestations the various guests were taking their leave when the wholeaction was stopped by a smothered cry from the dining-room, and theprecipitate entrance of Robert, asking for Mr. Sedgwick.
"What's up? What's happened?" demanded that gentleman, hurriedlyadvancing towards the agitated butler.
"Found!" he exclaimed, holding up the coin between his thumb andforefinger. "It was standing straight up between two leaves of thetable. It tumbled and fell to the floor as Luke and I were taking themout."
Silence which could be felt for a moment. Then each man turned andsurveyed his neighbour, while the women's voices rose in little criesthat were almost hysterical.
"I knew that it would be found, and found here," came from the hallwayin rich, resonant tones. "Uncle, do not hurry; I am feeling better,"followed in unconscious naivete, as the young girl stepped in, showing acountenance in which were small signs of indisposition or even ofdepressed spirits.
Mr. Darrow, with a smile of sympathetic understanding, joined the othersnow crowding about the butler.
"I noticed the crack between these two leaves when I pushed about theplates and dishes," he was saying. "But I never thought of looking in itfor the missing coin. I'm sure I'm very sorry that I didn't."
Mr. Darrow, to whom these words had recalled a circumstance he hadotherwise completely forgotten, anxiously remarked: "That must havehappened shortly after it left my hand. I recall now that the ladysitting between me and Clifford gave it a twirl which sent it spinningover the bare table-top. I don't think she realised the action. She waslistening--we all were--to a flow of bright repartee going on below us,and failed to follow the movements of the coin. Otherwise, she wouldhave spoken. But what a marvel that it should have reached that crack injust the position to fall in!"
"It wouldn't happen again, not if we spun it there for a month ofSundays."
"But Mr. Clifford!" put in an agitated voice.
"Yes, it has been rather hard on him. But he shouldn't have such ke
ensensibilities. If he had emptied out his pockets cheerfully and at thefirst intimation, none of this unpleasantness would have happened. Mr.Sedgwick, I congratulate you upon the recovery of this valuable coin,and am quite ready to offer my services if you wish to make Mr. Cliffordimmediately acquainted with Robert's discovery."
"Thank you, but I will perform that duty myself," was Mr. Sedgwick'squiet rejoinder, as he unlocked the door of his cabinet and carefullyrestored the coin to its proper place.
When he faced back, he found his guests on the point of leaving. Onlyone gave signs of any intention of lingering. This was the elderlyfinancier who had shown such stern resolve in his treatment of Mr.Clifford's so-called sensibilities. He had confided his wife to the careof Mr. Darrow, and now met Mr. Sedgwick with this remark:
"I'm going to ask a favour of you. If, as you have intimated, it is yourintention to visit Mr. Clifford to-night, I should like to go with you.I don't understand this young man and his unaccountable attitude in thismatter, and it is very important that I should. Have you any objectionto my company? My motor is at the door, and we can settle the affair intwenty minutes."
"None," returned his host, a little surprised, however, at the request."His pride does seem a little out of place, but he was among comparativestrangers, and seemed to feel his honour greatly impugned byHammersley's unfortunate proposition. I'm sorry way down to the groundfor what has occurred, and cannot carry him our apologies too soon."
"No, you cannot," retorted the other shortly. And so seriously did heutter this that no time was lost by Mr. Sedgwick, and as soon as theycould get into their coats, they were in the motor and on their way tothe young man's apartment.
Their experience began at the door. A man was lolling there who toldthem that Mr. Clifford had changed his quarters; where he did not know.But upon the production of a five-dollar bill, he remembered enoughabout it to give them a number and street where possibly they might findhim. In a rush, they hastened there; only to hear the same story fromthe sleepy elevator boy anticipating his last trip up for the night.
"Mr. Clifford left a week ago; he didn't tell me where he was going."
Nevertheless the boy knew; that they saw, and another but smaller billcame into requisition and awoke his sleepy memory.
The street and number which he gave made the two well-to-do men stare.But they said nothing, though the looks they cast back at thesecond-rate quarters they were leaving, so far below the elegantapartment house they had visited first, were sufficiently expressive.The scale of descent from luxury to positive discomfort was proving arapid one and prepared them for the dismal, ill-cared-for, altogetherrepulsive doorway before which they halted next. No attendant waitedhere; not even an elevator boy; the latter for the good reason thatthere was no elevator. An uninviting flight of stairs was before them;and on the few doors within sight a simple card showed the name of theoccupant.
Mr. Sedgwick glanced at his companion.
"Shall we go up?" he asked.
Mr. Blake nodded. "We'll find him," said he, "if it takes all night."
"Surely he cannot have sunk lower than this."
"Remembering his get-up I do not think so. Yet who knows? Some mysterylies back of his whole conduct. Dining in your home, with this to comeback to! I don't wonder----"
But here a thought struck him. Pausing with his foot on the stair, heturned a flushed countenance towards Mr. Sedgwick. "I've an idea," saidhe. "Perhaps----" He whispered the rest.
Mr. Sedgwick stared and shook his shoulders. "Possibly," said he,flushing slightly in his turn. Then, as they proceeded up, "I feel likea brute, anyway. A sorry night's business all through, unless the endproves better than the beginning."
"We'll start from the top. Something tells me that we shall find himclose under the roof. Can you read the names by such a light?"
"Barely; but I have matches."
And now there might have been witnessed by any chance home-comer thecurious sight of two extremely well-dressed men pottering through theattic hall of this decaying old domicile, reading the cards on the doorsby means of a lighted match.
And vainly. On none of the cards could be seen the name they sought.
"We're on the wrong track," protested Mr. Blake. "No use keeping thisup," but found himself stopped, when about to turn away, by a gesture ofSedgwick's.
"There's a light under the door you see there untagged," said he. "I'mgoing to knock."
He did so. There was a sound within and then utter silence.
He knocked again. A man's step was heard approaching the door, thenagain the silence.
Mr. Sedgwick made a third essay, and then the door was suddenly pulledinward and in the gap they saw the handsome face and graceful figure ofthe young man they had so lately encountered amid palatial surroundings.But how changed! how openly miserable! and when he saw who his guestswere, how proudly defiant of their opinion and presence.
"You have found the coin," he quietly remarked. "I appreciate yourcourtesy in coming here to inform me of it. Will not that answer,without further conversation? I am on the point of retiringand--and----"
Even the hardihood of a very visible despair gave way for an instant ashe met Mr. Sedgwick's eye. In the break which followed, the older manspoke.
"Pardon us, but we have come thus far with a double purpose. First, totender our apologies, which you have been good enough to accept;secondly, to ask, in no spirit of curiosity, I assure you, a questionthat I seem to see answered, but which I should be glad to hearconfirmed by your lips. May we not come in?"
The question was put with a rare smile such as sometimes was seen onthis hard-grained handler of millions, and the young man, seeing it,faltered back, leaving the way open for them to enter. The next minutehe seemed to regret the impulse, for backing against a miserable tablethey saw there, he drew himself up with an air as nearly hostile as oneof his nature could assume.
"I know of no question," said he, "which I feel at this very late hourinclined to answer. A man who has been tracked as I must have been foryou to find me here, is hardly in a mood to explain his poverty or themad desire for former luxuries which took him to the house of onefriendly enough, he thought, to accept his presence without inquiry asto the place he lived in or the nature or number of the reverses whichhad brought him to such a place as this."
"I do not--believe me----" faltered Mr. Sedgwick, greatly embarrassedand distressed. In spite of the young man's attempt to hide the contentsof the table, he had seen the two objects lying there--a piece of breador roll, and a half-cocked revolver.
Mr. Blake had seen them, too, and at once took the word out of hiscompanion's mouth.
"You mistake us," he said coldly, "as well as the nature of our errand.We are here from no motive of curiosity, as I have before said, nor fromany other which might offend or distress you. We--or rather I am here onbusiness. I have a position to offer to an intelligent, upright,enterprising young man. Your name has been given me. It was given mebefore this dinner, to which I went--if Mr. Sedgwick will pardon myplain speaking--chiefly for the purpose of making your acquaintance. Theresult was what you know, and possibly now you can understand my anxietyto see you exonerate yourself from the doubts you yourself raised byyour attitude of resistance to the proposition made by that head-long,but well-meaning, young man of many millions, Mr. Hammersley. I wantedto find in you the honourable characteristics necessary to the man whois to draw an eight thousand dollars a year salary under my eye. I stillwant to do this. If then you are willing to make this whole thing plainto me--for it is not plain--not wholly plain, Mr. Clifford--then youwill find in me a friend such as few young fellows can boast of, for Ilike you--I will say that--and where I like----"
The gesture with which he ended the sentence was almost superfluous, inface of the change which had taken place in the aspect of the man headdressed. Wonder, doubt, hope, and again incredulity were lost at lastin a recognition of the other's kindly intentions toward himself, andthe prospects which they opened
out before him. With a shame-faced look,and yet with a manly acceptance of his own humiliation that was notdispleasing to his visitors, he turned about and pointing to the morselof bread lying on the table before them, he said to Mr. Sedgwick:
"Do you recognise that? It is from your table, and--and--it is not theonly piece I had hidden in my pockets. I had not eaten in twenty-fourhours when I sat down to dinner this evening. I had no prospect ofanother morsel for to-morrow and--and--I was afraid of eating myfill----there were ladies--and so--and so----"
They did not let him finish. In a flash they had both taken in the room.Not an article which could be spared was anywhere visible. Hisdress-suit was all that remained to him of former ease and luxury. Thathe had retained, possibly for just such opportunities as had given him adinner to-night. Mr. Blake understood at last, and his iron liptrembled.
"Have you no friends?" he asked. "Was it necessary to go hungry?"
"Could I ask alms or borrow what I could not pay? It was a position Iwas after, and positions do not come at call. Sometimes they comewithout it," he smiled with the dawning of his old-time grace on hishandsome face, "but I find that one can see his resources go, dollar bydollar, and finally, cent by cent, in the search for employment no oneconsiders necessary to a man like me. Perhaps if I had had less pride,had been willing to take you or any one else into my confidence, I mightnot have sunk to these depths of humiliation; but I had not theconfidence in men which this last half hour has given me, and I wentblundering on, hiding my needs and hoping against hope for some sort ofresult to my efforts. This pistol is not mine. I did borrow this, but Idid not mean to use it, unless nature reached the point where it couldstand no more. I thought the time had come to-night when I left yourhouse, Mr. Sedgwick, suspected of theft. It seemed the last straw;but--but--a woman's look has held me back. I hesitated and--now you knowthe whole," said he; "that is, if you can understand why it was morepossible for me to brave the contumely of such a suspicion than to openmy pockets and disclose the crusts I had hidden there."
"I can understand," said Mr. Sedgwick; "but the opportunity you havegiven us for doing so must not be shared by others. We will undertakeyour justification, but it must be made in our own way and after themost careful consideration; eh, Mr. Blake?"
"Most assuredly; and if Mr. Clifford will present himself at my officeearly in the morning, we will first breakfast and then talk business."
Young Clifford could only hold out his hand, but when, his two friendsgone, he sat in contemplation of his changed prospects, one word and oneonly left his lips, uttered in every inflection of tenderness, hope,and joy. "Edith! Edith! Edith!"
It was the name of the sweet young girl who had shown her faith in himat the moment when his heart was lowest and despair at its culmination.