madam, for havinginterrupted him before you; but it was a little rough to have him lieon MY account when he wasn't the kind of man to lie on his OWN. You'llforgive him--won't you, please?--and, as I'm taking myself off now,perhaps you'll overlook MY intrusion too."
It was impossible to convey the lazy frankness of this speech, thecharming smile with which it was accompanied, or the easy yetdeferential manner with which, taking up his hat, he bowed to Mrs.Brooks as he advanced toward the door.
"But," said Mrs. Brooks, hurriedly glancing from Herbert to thestranger, "it must be the Vigilantes who are now hanging about thestreet. Ellen saw them from her window, and thought they were YOURfriends, Mr. Bly. This gentleman--your friend"--she had become alittle confused in her novel excitement--"really ought not to go outnow. It would be madness."
"If you wouldn't mind his remaining a little longer, it certainly wouldbe safer," said Herbert, with wondering gratitude.
"I certainly shouldn't consent to his leaving my house now," said Mrs.Brooks with dignity; "and if you wouldn't mind calling Cherry here, Mr.Bly--she's in the dining-room--and then showing yourself for a momentin the street and finding out what they wanted, it would be the bestthing to do."
Herbert flew downstairs; in a few hurried words he gave the sameexplanation to the astounded Cherry that he had given to her mother,with the mischievous addition that Mrs. Brooks's unjust suspicions hadprecipitated her into becoming an amicable accomplice, and then ran outinto the street. Here he ascertained from one of the Vigilantes, whomhe knew, that they were really seeking Dornton; but that, concludingthat the fugitive had already escaped to the wharves, they expected towithdraw their surveillance at noon. Somewhat relieved, he hastenedback, to find the stranger calmly seated on the sofa in the parlor withthe same air of frank indifference, lazily relating the incidents ofhis flight to the two women, who were listening with every expressionof sympathy and interest. "Poor fellow!" said Cherry, taking theastonished Bly aside into the hall, "I don't believe he's half as badas THEY said he is--or as even HE makes himself out to be. But DID younotice mother?"
Herbert, a little dazed, and, it must be confessed, a trifle uneasy atthis ready acceptance of the stranger, abstractedly said he had not.
"Why, it's the most ridiculous thing. She's actually going roundWITHOUT HER SHAWL, and doesn't seem to know it."
V.
When Herbert finally reached the bank that morning he was still in astate of doubt and perplexity. He had parted with his gratefulvisitor, whose safety in a few hours seemed assured, but without theleast further revelation or actual allusion to anything antecedent tohis selecting Tappington's room as refuge. More than that, Herbert wasconvinced from his manner that he had no intention of making aconfidant of Mrs. Brooks, and this convinced him that Dornton'sprevious relations with Tappington were not only utterly inconsistentwith that young man's decorous reputation, but were unsuspected by thefamily. The stranger's familiar knowledge of the room, his mysteriousallusions to the "risks" Tappington had taken, and his sudden silenceon the discovery of Bly's ignorance of the whole affair all pointed tosome secret that, innocent or not, was more or less perilous, not onlyto the son but to the mother and sister. Of the latter's ignorance hehad no doubt--but had he any right to enlighten them? Admitting thatTappington had deceived them with the others, would they thank him foropening their eyes to it? If they had already a suspicion, would theycare to know that it was shared by him? Halting between his franknessand his delicacy, the final thought that in his budding relations withthe daughter it might seem a cruel bid for her confidence, or a revengefor their distrust of him, inclined him to silence. But an unforeseenoccurrence took the matter from his hands. At noon he was told thatMr. Carstone wished to see him in his private room!
Satisfied that his complicity with Dornton's escape was discovered, theunfortunate Herbert presented himself, pale but self-possessed, beforehis employer. That brief man of business bade him be seated, andstanding himself before the fireplace, looked down curiously, but notunkindly, upon his employee.
"Mr. Bly, the bank does not usually interfere with the private affairsof its employees, but for certain reasons which I prefer to explain toyou later, I must ask you to give me a straightforward answer to one ortwo questions. I may say that they have nothing to do with yourrelations to the bank, which are to us perfectly satisfactory."
More than ever convinced that Mr. Carstone was about to speak of hisvisitor, Herbert signified his willingness to reply.
"You have been seen a great deal with Miss Brooks lately--on the streetand elsewhere--acting as her escort, and evidently on terms ofintimacy. To do you both justice, neither of you seemed to have madeit a secret or avoided observation; but I must ask you directly if itis with her mother's permission?"
Considerably relieved, but wondering what was coming, Herbert answered,with boyish frankness, that it was.
"Are you--engaged to the young lady?"
"No, sir."
"Are you--well, Mr. Bly--briefly, are you what is called 'in love' withher?" asked the banker, with a certain brusque hurrying over of asentiment evidently incompatible with their present businesssurroundings.
Herbert blushed. It was the first time he had heard the questionvoiced, even by himself.
"I am," he said resolutely.
"And you wish to marry her?"
"If I dared ask her to accept a young man with no position as yet,"stammered Herbert.
"People don't usually consider a young man in Carstone's Bank of noposition," said the banker dryly; "and I wish for your sake THAT werethe only impediment. For I am compelled to reveal to you a secret."He paused, and folding his arms, looked fixedly down upon his clerk."Mr. Bly, Tappington Brooks, the brother of your sweetheart, was adefaulter and embezzler from this bank!"
Herbert sat dumfounded and motionless.
"Understand two things," continued Mr. Carstone quickly. "First, thatno purer or better women exist than Miss Brooks and her mother.Secondly, that they know nothing of this, and that only myself and oneother man are in possession of the secret."
He slightly changed his position, and went on more deliberately. "Sixweeks ago Tappington sat in that chair where you are sitting now, aconvicted hypocrite and thief. Luckily for him, although his guilt wasplain, and the whole secret of his double life revealed to me, a sum ofmoney advanced in pity by one of his gambling confederates had made hisaccounts good and saved him from suspicion in the eyes of hisfellow-clerks and my partners. At first he tried to fight me on thatpoint; then he blustered and said his mother could have refunded themoney; and asked me what was a paltry five thousand dollars! I toldhim, Mr. Bly, that it might be five years of his youth in state prison;that it might be five years of sorrow and shame for his mother andsister; that it might be an everlasting stain on the name of his deadfather--my friend. He talked of killing himself: I told him he was acowardly fool. He asked me to give him up to the authorities: I toldhim I intended to take the law in my own hands and give him anotherchance; and then he broke down. I transferred him that very day,without giving him time to communicate with anybody, to our branchoffice at Portland, with a letter explaining his position to our agent,and the injunction that for six months he should be under strictsurveillance. I myself undertook to explain his sudden departure toMrs. Brooks, and obliged him to write to her from time to time." Hepaused, and then continued: "So far I believe my plan has beensuccessful: the secret has been kept; he has broken with the evilassociates that ruined him here--to the best of my knowledge he has hadno communication with them since; even a certain woman here who sharedhis vicious hidden life has abandoned him."
"Are you sure?" asked Herbert involuntarily, as he recalled hismysterious visitor.
"I believe the Vigilance Committee has considered it a public duty todeport her and her confederates beyond the State," returned Carstonedryly.
Another idea flashed upon Herbert. "And the gambler who advanced themoney to save Tappington?" he sai
d breathlessly.
"Wasn't such a hound as the rest of his kind, if report says true,"answered Carstone. "He was well known here as GeorgeDornton--Gentleman George--a man capable of better things. But he wasbefore your time, Mr. Bly--YOU don't know him."
Herbert didn't deem it a felicitous moment to correct his employer, andMr. Carstone continued: "I have now told you what I thought it was myduty to tell you. I must leave YOU to judge how far it affects yourrelations with Miss Brooks."
Herbert did not hesitate. "I should be very sorry, sir, to seem toundervalue your consideration or disregard your warning; but I amafraid that even if you had been