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“Sudden? What do you mean by that?”
“Just what I say. I was looking for theJennie P.to come into the harbor. Perhaps she came as she went, like the ships that pass in the night.”
“You see me go out, did you, Beth?”
She nodded. “But I did not see you return.”
“I did sort of sneak out. What did you think of me for doing a thing like that?”
“I didn’t think very highly of you, if you want the honest truth,” she declared, releasing her arms from about his neck.
“You ain’t mad, are you, Beth?”
“Don’t you think I have a perfect right to get angry? It was the first time you ever left home without telling me good-bye. Should I like that?”
“I never thought of that. But this here cruise was like the proposing to the old maid: unexpected-like. For that reason I wa’n’t prepared for saying good-byes.” His eyes clouded as he slowly continued, “It’s a fact, I never went off afore without telling you good-bye. I don’t–––”
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He stopped and looked down at the girl. She was no longer the child who had clung to him on the eve of departures for long cruises, asking, “Take me ’long, Unca Josi?” She had grown to womanhood! He wondered that the thought had not occurred to him before. And yet, as he continued to gaze, he saw the eager child staring up into his face from the big eyes.
“I cal’late I ain’t got no right to expect them partings no more,” he faltered.
“Why, Uncle Josiah Pott! I don’t like that one little bit.”
“You seem so growed up, Beth, and I cal’late you’re getting too big–––”
“For you to love me?”
“No!” he said vehemently.
“Then, just what do you mean?”
“I don’t know.” He drew awkwardly back as she approached him, and fumbled his hat till it fell from his fingers. “You’re getting to be quite a woman,” he observed.
“And you’re getting very foolish! Now, you kiss me before I get angry.”
He stooped, kissed her hastily, and wiped298his lips with the back of his coat-sleeve. He picked up his hat, and began to rub it vigorously with his finger-tips.
“If ever you talk like that again I’ll punish you by never giving you another kiss.”
“I ain’t got no right to expect it, anyway, Beth.”
“Uncle Josiah, don’t let me hear that again. I want to hear all about your voyage,” she demanded as she settled herself on the rocks, and motioned him near her.
“There wa’n’t none, that is, none to speak of.”
“Oh! But there was, and it must have been the most mysterious of all. You went in the night, and you came in the night. Did you do all your trading in the night, too, slipping about through the streets in some unknown country with moccasins on your feet, like you once told me about the Chinese?”
She laughed, but the Captain did not catch the restrained note and manner.
“There, now! That’s more like it!” he declared, joining in with a cracked laugh. “It seemed afore like I was talking to a young299lady I’d never seen. Feel more like I’d got back home with you laughing like that.”
“I haven’t been indulging much since you went away.”
“You ain’t?”
“But tell me about your trip.”
“You was right on most p’ints, excepting I didn’t cruise back in the night.”
“Then how did you slip into town so quietly and unseen? I’ve been sitting on these cold stones for two days looking for you.”
“I come back by railroad, and just now was walking over from the station.”
“But where did you leave theJennie P.? Why didn’t you come back with her?”
“I run her into dry-dock down to the city for repairs,” he said quietly.
The girl noticed a slight catch in his voice.
“I thought you did all your own repairing.”
“I do when there ain’t nothing bad wrong.”
“You sailed theJennie P.all the way into the city and left it there?”
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“Something went wrong with the engine, and I didn’t have no time to tinker with her afore I had to come back. Them there gas engines is worse than a team of mules when they get to bucking and balking. They–––”
“Captain Pott! Tell me the truth. Why did you leave your boat in the city docks?”
“For the reason I told you.” He was looking away from her.
“Look at me, Uncle Josiah.”
“Can’t just now, Beth. I’m watching–––”
“Oh, please tell me all about it!”
“There ain’t nothing more to tell.”
“You did not leave theJennie P.in dry-dock for repairs!” she cried with apprehension.
He did not reply, but tightly gripped the hand which had been slipped into his.
“Tell me, please!” she implored. “You said a little while ago that you were singing to keep up your spirits. Something dreadful has happened. Did you wreck your boat?”
“Hey? Me wreck theJennie P.? I tell you honest, Beth, there ain’t nothing–––”
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Elizabeth lifted her hand and turned his face toward her. He looked down and gave up.
“There ain’t no use pretending to you. I sold her.”
“You sold theJennie P.?”
“I sold theJennie P.,” he repeated slowly, as though it were hard for him to comprehend that fact. “You see, I didn’t have no more real need for her, and ’twas kind of expensive to keep her afloat.”
“Nonsense!” exclaimed the girl.
“It was a mite expensive, honest, Beth.”
“Uncle Josiah! Why didn’t you come to me if you were in need of money?”
“I owe your father more now than I’d otter.”
“But I love you so!”
The big shoulders gave a decided heave. “That’s wuth more to me than all the money in the world.”
“Then, why didn’t you come to me?”
“I didn’t think of doing that.”
“Oh, Uncle Josiah!”
“Yes, I sold my boat. There wa’n’t no302wonder I was singing, was there?” he asked, passing his hand across his face as if to clear his vision. “I cal’late that song wa’n’t much like music to you, but I just naturally had to do something to keep my feelings afloat, didn’t I, Beth?”
“Yes.”
“I sold her,” he said, speaking as though his thoughts were coming by way of his tongue. “It wa’n’t easy. Just like parting with an old friend. It sort of pulled on me. Odd, ain’t it, how an old boat like that can get a hold on a feller?”
“No, it is not odd. Some of the happiest moments of my life were spent on board theJennie P.”
“Do you honest feel that way about her?”
“Yes.”
“I’m mighty glad, Beth,” he said, his eyes gleaming with pride. “She sartin was a worthy craft.”
“Who bought your boat?”
“Feller by the name of Peters, who runs a fish business down on East River near Brooklyn bridge. I knew him years ago. His303wife’s name is Jennie, and I named my boat after her ’cause he was the first man to help me sail her.”
“Why did you go to him without first telling me?”
“There wa’n’t no time to tell no one. You’d not likely–––”
“Oh, you men! You treat us women as if we were numskulls. If you had given me the slightest idea that you intended to sell I should have put in my bid along with others.”
“Do you mean you would have bought myJennie P.?”
“Why not, pray tell? Haven’t I as much right to own a boat as any man you know?”
“I do believe you’d have bought her, sartin as death!”
“Of course I should. If–––” Her eyes suddenly widened. “Why did you sell?”
“Same as I said afore, I didn’t have no need of her, and she was getting expensive to keep up.” His face darkened, and an expression of pain shot through the shadows.
“You said you were not going to pretend to me. Tell me the real reason.”
304
“I can’t.”
“In other words, that is the secret of your mysterious trip to the city.”
“Yes, that’s my secret.”
“My dear old Uncle!” she cried. “I know your secret! You sold your boat to get money with which to pay Father. You’ve sold your one little luxury to pay a debt you can never pay.”
“You’re mistook. I can pay your father every cent I got from him to overhaul my place.”
“But that isn’t all!”
“It ain’t all?”
“I thought I could tell you all about it, but I can’t!”
“Do you mean you’ve something you want to say to me, Beth?”
“I can’t! I can’t! It is so–––”
She broke down and cried without restraint. The old seaman put his arm about her.
“There! There! Don’t cry like that. She ain’t wuth it.”
“But you are!” she sobbed.
305
“All that there flood sartinly ain’t for an old feller like me! Tut! Tut! I sartinly ain’t wuth it. I’m nothing but a leaky old ark what had otter been towed in long ago, safe and high to some dry-dock.”
“Uncle Josiah, you are the only uncle I’ve ever had. I love you next to my father. You are the only man who has ever understood me. I have many times come to you before going to my own father. And, now, that you are in trouble, and I might have helped you–––”
“Tush. Tush. Don’t cry over an old salt like me. I tell you I ain’t wuth it, not one precious drop.”
“If you only knew!”
“Maybe I ain’t so deep in the fog as you think. I took another trip while I was in the city to see a lawyer, and I found out some mighty interesting things.”
“But he couldn’t tell you everything.”
“Beth, is there something you’d otter tell me?”
“There is––there was––but I guess–––Did you see a good lawyer?”
306
“The best I could find.”
“Then, why did you sacrifice your boat? It was so needless.”
“I had to have that much money right off, and there wa’n’t no time to look about. I didn’t think you’d take it like this or I’d sartin never done it.”
“If you had only come to me I could have let you have that much without you having to sell your boat.”
“It would have been a mite queer to borrow from you to pay your dad, wouldn’t it?”
“What does that matter?”
“Nothing, much.... But you was going to tell me something.”
She lifted her tear-stained face, and slowly shook her head. “Not now. I might cry again, and I’ve been silly enough for one day.”
“You ain’t been silly, not one mite. I had no right to make you cry by telling you things that don’t consarn you.”
“Indeed, you should have told me, and it does concern, far more than you think,” she307replied, drying her eyes and cheeks. “I know I must look frightful.”
“You don’t look nothing of the sort. You couldn’t if you tried to.”
“Will you be home to-night, Uncle Josiah?” she asked, looking at her wrist-watch. It was half-past ten o’clock.
“Cal’late to be.”
“May I come to see you?”
“That’s a funny question. I should say you can come. Clemmie will be real glad to see you, and so will the minister.”
“I’m coming to see you,” she said, coloring. “I’m going home now. Good-bye.”
She hurriedly kissed him, and before he had time to speak she was half-way up the hill. At the rear gate she waved, then disappeared behind the mass of shrubbery that lined her father’s place.
Ten minutes later the Captain heard the roar of the open exhaust from the girl’s motor. Like a red streak the car shot down the hill of the Fox estate and into County Road. The Captain gasped as he watched a cloud of dust engulf the flying car.
308CHAPTER XVI
All those who saw the flying car stood and stared after it. Hank Simpson, who was on his way over from the Little River railroad station with a load of merchandise, heard the roar, and sprang from his wagon-seat. He ran to his horses’ heads. But no sooner had he seized the bits of the frightened animals than he let go. He recognized the girl who sped past him. He clambered back into his wagon and whipped his team into a dead run. He drew rein on the racing horses before a group of gaping men in front of the general store.
“Did you see anything down yon way, Hank?” asked Jud Johnson.
“See!” exclaimed Hank, rubbing the dust from his eyes. “See! Good God! Boys, that damn thing was running away! Hear me? It was running like hell! What are you309gaping fools standing here for, looking like a passel of brainless idiots! ’Phone!” he screamed.
“’Phone what? Who to?” asked Jud with exasperating calm.
“Everything! Everybody!” was the doubly illuminating reply. “She’ll be killed! Do you hear me?”
“We’d have to be deaf as nails not to hear you,” said Jud as he spat a mouthful of tobacco juice against the front wheel of the wagon. “All the ’phoning in creation won’t stop her. If she ain’t of a mind to pull that thing up to a halt from the inside, it ain’t likely that a fellow could do it by getting in its path and yelling whoa, even if he’d holler as loud as you’ve been doing at us. Why didn’t you try it when you see her coming?”
“But they’ve got to stop it! The constables–––”
“How?”
“How’d you suppose I know? Get out of my way and let me get at the ’phone!”
“You ain’t going to do nothing of the kind,” replied Jud as he stepped in front of310the belligerent Hank. “There’s some reason for driving like that. I don’t know what’s up, but the first feller to interfere with her joy ride is going to get hurt. I was in the cellar of her dad’s place doing an odd job of plumbing for him when she come to me, and said: ‘Jud, I’m going for a drive.’ I ’lowed that was real nice, wondering why she’d be telling me that. ‘I may have to drive pretty fast, and I want you to telephone ahead as far as you can to have the road clear. Tell the policemen my name, and ask that they don’t stop me.’”
“But her dad–––”
“Her dad ain’t home. He went over Riverhead way more than an hour ago.”
“But, Jud–––”
“Dry up that butting, Hank, or we’ll lead you out in the alley behind your store and feed you tin cans.”
Hank climbed back to his wagon-seat, and Jud, noticing the determined expression in the storekeeper’s eyes, deputized two men to keep watch of him while he went inside and did some telephoning.
311
Elizabeth Fox reached the city limits without being molested. She then looked at her watch, and slowed down her car. She kept the speedometer needle wavering within the speed law till she set her brakes before the building where the law firm of Starr and Jordan maintained their offices. Harold was so surprised to see his sister that he gave her the name of the Trust Company for which she asked before he realized what he was doing. She glanced at the clock, hastily scribbled the address on a card, and ran from the room. Harold stood still in dumb amazement. He walked to the window and looked down into the street below. He recognized her red motor-car as it glided through the traffic at an alarming rate. A mild oath escaped him as it dawned upon him that the name of the bank was that of the firm through which the interest payments had been made on the Phillips loan. What on earth could she be up to?
It was far past the noon hour when Elizabeth returned. The office was empty, the force having gone home for the Saturday312half-holiday. She turned from the locked door, but it flew open, and Harold called to her.
“I thought you’d come back, Sis. In fact, I meant to tell you that I wanted you to take dinner with me, but you blew in and out so suddenly that I didn’t have time to collect my thoughts. What are you up to, anyway?”
“Oh, nothing much.”
“How did you learn of this Phillips affair? I take it that that was what all your hurry was about.”
She only laughed in reply, her eyes dancing.
“I didn’t know that you were on the inside of this, and I don’t know yet how much you really know.”
“I know a lot.”
“How did you find out?”
“Everybody has told me a little, and I have been piecing it together for several days. But can’t we sit down, or go out to lunch? I’m really very tired, now that it’s over, and awfully hungry.”
“How did you know that I had the name313and address of the firm which has been paying Father the interest on the Phillips loan?”
“Why, you told me.”
“In my sleep?”
“Indeed, no. You were quite awake.”
“Sis, have you been eavesdropping?”
“Harold Fox! The very idea!” she said indignantly. “I don’t like you one bit for saying that. No, sir, I have not.”
“I honestly didn’t think it of you, but I couldn’t imagine any other way you could get the notion in your head.”
“You never told me a word till to-day.”
“You didn’t know that I had that name in my possession till you blew in here and asked for it?”
“Not really and truly, I didn’t. But I took a chance. And you are such a poor actor that I was certain you’d tell me. Of course, I knew that you went over to Australia to find out about the man.”
“The treats are certainly on me.”
“Make it a good big lunch, please,” she said smiling and starting for the door.
314
“Wait, Bets. What did you do over there at the George Henry Trust Company?”
“Must I tell, just now?”
“Of course not, but I’d like to know if you care to tell. It may save me from something very unpleasant.”
“You mean you will force me to tell?”
“Mercy me! No. I am better acquainted with you than to try a thing like that.”
“Will you keep a secret, without giving away one little word of it?”
“A client’s counsel seldom repeats a confidential business transaction.”
“I paid the two years of interest just a few minutes before that horrid old mortgage was due, so Uncle Josiah would not have to lose his place.”
“Gosh!” was the inelegant reply. “You’re a brick!”
His brow puckered.
“Won’t that save him?” she asked with concern.
“Sure. But how did you know that Uncle Josiah was a party to this mix-up?”
“Father told me that.”
315
“You should have been the lawyer of this family. I never saw any one like you for finding things out.” Still apparently worried, he added: “But your check will give you away. What if that happens to fall into Dad’s hands?”
“I didn’t use my check. I went to our bank first, and drew out all my money. I didn’t have enough left to put back, so I––well, I didn’t put it back.”
“What under heaven did you do with it?”
“I went down to an East River fish wharf, and–––”
“Took a corner on fish?”
“Harold, don’t think me foolish. Uncle Josiah had sold his boat, thinking to pay Father off and save his place. I–––”
“You bought back the old fellow’s boat!”
She nodded.
Harold did not laugh. Instead, he turned toward his desk and busily fumbled papers. When he spoke there was a note of tenderness in his voice. “You’re the best little sport in seventeen States.”
316
“Well, that doesn’t keep me from starving.”
“You didn’t come for anything else?”
“No, except that I did want to talk with you. We can do that while we eat.”
“I’d rather you would ask me any questions before we go out. State secrets have been known to leak out from restaurant tables.”
“Tell me where this Adoniah Phillips lives.”
“Whew! You don’t pick the easy ones, do you? You certainly go right after what you want, Bets. But why do you ask?”
“Because I want to know.”
“You’ll have to think up a better reason than that.”
“If he is one of your clients, why don’t you make him pay that interest?”
“Lawyers may advise, but they can’t drive unless they hold the reins of litigation.”
“You are just as exasperating as all lawyers,” she said with a show of impatience. “Do you know that your client has fallen heir to a very large fortune? And do you know317that he could pay the principal as well as the interest?”
“Good Lord, Sis! You’re a wonder! How on earth did you ferret all this mess out?”
“That doesn’t matter. The thing that matters is what Father and that Phillips person are trying to do to Uncle Josiah. We must stop them. If you know the truth about the transaction between Father and Mr. Phillips you have no right to allow this thing to go on.”
Harold’s eyes narrowed. “Trying to trap me again, Bets?”
“Of course I’m not. I’m just trying to get you to look at things from Uncle Josiah’s position.”
“How many of the facts do you know about this case?” asked Harold in deep seriousness.
“I know enough to form pretty good conclusions of the injustice of the whole thing.”
“Do you think you know everything?”
“No-o, not when you look at me like that,”318she said, surprised by the earnestness of his voice and manner.
“Has any one beside Father talked with you?”
She hesitated, then slowly shook her head. “You must not ask me that.”
“Have you talked with Mr. McGowan?”
“I can’t tell you,” she answered, quickly checking the look of surprise that leaped into her eyes at the unexpected question.
“I don’t know just how far Mr. McGowan’s information may have led him into this matter, but I have feared all along that he is not half so ignorant as he appears. Come in here, Bets,” he requested, pushing open a door to an inner office. “I have some things I want to show you.”
“Mercy, Bud! How mysterious you can be!”
“An ounce of precaution is worth a pound of lawsuits, and I don’t want the slightest possibility of a leak,” he said as he locked the door.
“My sakes! I had no idea you could be so serious. Is this the way you act with all319your clients? I’d think you’d frighten them all away. You almost do me. It reminds me of the way you would lock me up in the hall closet to scare me when we were children.”
“For once in my life I am serious, Sis. We are no longer children, and this is far from play. I wish to God it were nothing more than that!”
“Why, Harold!”
“Bets, you’ve got a close tongue and loads of good sense. I’ve carried this thing just about as long as I can without breaking under it. I’ve got to let off steam. You know I’ve tried to be on the square since my little fling, and even then I was straight, but Dad has never believed it. I’m tempted now to go wrong, and–––”
“Why on earth are you talking like this? Has some one been accusing you of doing wrong? Oh, Harold! You didn’t fall into trouble after all over in Australia, did you?”
“No, nor in love either,” he replied, trying to smile.
Elizabeth blushed.
“I see that doesn’t apply to all our family.”
320
“I don’t think you’re nice to say that. And I don’t care–––”
“Why, Bets, are you really in love with him?”
“You have no right to jest about such things.”
“I’m not jesting, honestly. I’ve never been so far from it in my whole life. I don’t blame you for liking that minister.”
“Then, you were not making fun?”
“No! I’ve had all the fun-making knocked out of me.”
“Harold,” she said, coming nearer, “I’ve made him hate me.”
“Hate you? There isn’t a man living who could do that. No one was ever blessed with a more wonderful sister than I’ve been.”
Elizabeth stared at her brother. Never had she heard him make such a sentimental statement. He had turned from her, and was looking into the street below. With a sharp swing he faced about.
“Come, tell me all you know about Phillips and the estate.”
“I guess I really don’t know very much321more than I’ve told you. I know the man is a half-brother of Uncle Josiah, and that he mortgaged the old homestead to Father, and that he married some trader’s daughter in Australia, and that the trader died, leaving a large fortune. That’s all.”
“Read those,” said Harold, handing her some papers which he had brought with him from his own desk. “And keep your nerve. There are more.”
Elizabeth read the papers through. One was the original document of the trader’s will; the other was an Australian Government paper, exonerating Mr. Adoniah Phillips. A postscript to the will stated that Mr. Phillips had left Australia for America.
“I knew all that,” said the girl as she returned the papers. “But they do help to make matters clearer. I wasn’t really certain he had come over here. Have you found him?”
“No. I’ve never seen the man. What is more, not one penny of that vast estate has yet come into the possession of Adoniah Phillips.”
322
“Why, Harold! Do you mean to tell me that you know where this man is, and that you have not looked him up? You say he has not received his inheritance? What are you trying to tell me?”
“I know what I’m saying. Neither he nor his heir has received one cent.”
“And yet you know where they are?”
“I didn’t say I knew of their whereabouts. But I will say that I know where to find the heir, a son.”
“You should go to him at once, then, and give him the opportunity to pay off that mortgage on Uncle Josiah’s home.”
“Yes, I can do that. But it isn’t so simple. Right there is where I’ve struck the snag that has nearly driven me insane. How to do it–––”
“How? A lawyer saying a thing like that? Just go to him and explain how it all came about. If he is half a man he will do what is right without any litigation. That is so very simple that I wonder at you.”
“Read that,” he said, drawing from an inside323pocket another paper, and handing it to her.
In the upper right-hand corner was an Australian stamp.
At the end of the first line the letters began to dance before her eyes, and to crowd into one another. Elizabeth turned to her brother, wild-eyed.
“Harold, this is false! Tell me it is false!”
“I wish to God it were, Bets. But you must keep your feelings under better control if you are to help me out of this miserable state of affairs.”
“You know it is false!” she implored. “I shall tell everybody it’s a lie! No one can know him and believe that.”
“You must remember that this all happened years ago, before you and I were born.”
“But, his life now! Oh, Harold, you don’t believe this! Tell me it isn’t true!”
“I’ve been almost sweating blood over it since I discovered the truth. I’ve tried to find some other explanation or solution, but there is none other. Father is guilty of the crime for which Adoniah Phillips was made to suffer.324I don’t know how they got hold of his true name, for he was going under an assumed one over there. But they did, and the worst of it is, the old trader’s wife is here in the city right now. She is on Father’s track. I’ve been staving her off, but she smells a rat in the fact that I bear his name, and I can’t hold her much longer from locating him.”
“No! No! You shall not tell me that Father is a criminal! You must take back that awful word about him!”
Harold groaned, and settled back into his chair. The girl fell back into hers, and covered her face with trembling hands. She sprang suddenly to her feet and to her brother’s side.
“Father was never in Australia! He made his money trading in Africa. We’ve heard him say that many times, and I believe him. I shall not believe those papers. They are blackmail.”
“Then, I must go on alone. My temptation was to cover this up, but, Bets, I can’t. I had hoped that you’d go through it with me, for it’s going to be a mighty dirty mess to325clean up. But if you persist in believing Father’s story instead of mine–––”
“I do believe you, too! But can’t there be some mistake?”
“If there had been the slightest chance I should have discovered it before now, but there isn’t. It is God’s truth. All these years Father has been safe only because Adoniah Phillips refused years ago to disclose his identity. It’s awful, Sis, but true.”
“It’s too awful to be true! It seems like a horrible dream.”
“You have no idea what agony it has cost me. Do you think you can go through it with me?”
“I’ll try, Harold. But, oh, it’s hard!”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you think that Father might clear the whole matter up if we should tell him all we know? Maybe he could explain things–––”
“That was the first thought that occurred to me. But the longer I worked on the case, and the more I discovered of the truth, the more impossible I saw that to be. I’m not so326sure that we’d want him to save his skin, anyway. He ought to face the music for his wrong just the same as any other man.”
Elizabeth did not once take her gaze from her brother’s face, while she spoke slowly and distinctly: “Father will not be afraid to face the truth, even though it may mean financial ruin. He is brave, and he is honest now. I shall tell him all.”
“Don’t be too hasty, Bets. I admire your spunk. But answer me this: did it strike you as strange the way Father acted that night when I announced my contemplated trip to Australia to look up Phillips?”
She nodded ever so slightly.
“And did it strike you as strange the way he treated Mr. McGowan when he offered to help him to his room?”
“But why do you bring Mr. McGowan into this?”
“Bets, if I had known one grain of the truth that night I’d have flatly refused the appointment to this case at the risk of losing my position in the firm. Father was afraid that night. Here is one more paper I wish327you to read. I had it copied in Washington last week.”
Elizabeth unfolded the paper, and read: “Be it known that one Adoniah Phillips, after due application, and upon his own request, for reasons herein stated, is authorized to change his name to–––”
The paper fell to the floor. The room began to swim. The furniture violently rocked. Elizabeth reached out and clutched her brother’s arm.
“Mack McGowan!” she whispered faintly. “Oh, what am I saying? Why am I saying that name? What has happened to me?”
“Poor little girl! I thought my little sister was stronger than that. I’ve been a fool for letting you read all those papers after the strain you’ve been through.”
“Mack McGowan!” she repeated. She seized the paper which her brother had lifted from the floor. “Oh, it’s in that paper, and it’shisname! Harold, what does it mean?”
“You must brace up, Beth. The man you are in love with is the son of Adoniah Phillips. He bears his father’s new name.”
328
She was suddenly weary. She felt just one desire: to get back home. She took Harold’s arm and led him toward the door.
“I want to go home, and I need you to drive the car.”
329CHAPTER XVII
During the homeward trip Elizabeth was as one in a stupor. When they reached the brow of the hill above the village, Harold stopped the car. Elizabeth half turned about in her seat, resting her elbow on the back above and lifting her hand to her eyes to shade them from the light. She gazed upon the glory of the western sky where the sun was dropping into a bed of gold, lavishly splashing the low-hanging clouds with a radiance that seemed to drip from their edges. A shock suddenly brought her back to reality with a pain at her heart. Silhouetted against the gold of the sky-line, his head bared, his shoulders thrown back, was a tall figure: the son of Adoniah Phillips!
“That’s a good view for sore hearts, Bets,” commented her brother.
She caught her breath in quick gasps. “Yes. But, oh, Harold, it’s so hard!”
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“I know,” he agreed, taking her hand. “Have you thought out a line of action? Where shall we begin?”
The girl did not answer. Harold followed with his eyes the direction of her gaze. His hand tightened in hers. The minister had just recognized them, and was waving his cap high over his head in welcome. Elizabeth lifted her handkerchief and permitted the light breeze to flutter it. Harold answered with a swing of his arm. Mr. McGowan started toward them.
“Drive me home, Harold. I can’t see him now.”
“But, Sis, this may be our only time together. Tell me what to do. I’m lost. I don’t know which way to turn.”
“I must see Uncle Josiah first. He has had time to think a lot, and he may know how to help us. I’m going to his place to-night.”
“By George! You’re right. I hadn’t thought of going to him. He does know something about this. He was in my office the other day, and asked a host of questions.331He’ll help us if he can. Why not stop there now?”
“Not now. I’m not decent to see any one, or be seen. Please, take me home.”
He threw in the clutch and the car shot down the hill, past a curious crowd in front of the general store, and on up the knoll into the Fox estate.
Mr. Fox had not yet returned from Riverhead. He had telephoned that he might get home for dinner. But the dinner hour came and went, and still he did not return. After the silent, and all but untasted, meal, Elizabeth left the house by the rear entrance. She hurried along the walk, out through the wicket gate at the back, and down to the beach. From here she turned into the path that zigzagged across town-lots, over sand-dunes, through brush heaps, to the rear of the Captain’s place.
She walked round the house to the side door. She lifted the heavy knocker, and held it tightly as though fearing to let it drop against the rusty iron plate. What if Uncle Josiah had forgotten his engagement, and was332not home? But Uncle Josiah had never yet forgotten a promise he had made her. She let the piece of iron fall. The sound echoed through the house. It frightened her, and she poised as though of a mind to run. Instead of the usual hearty boom for her to “Come in,” the door swung wide, and she stood face to face with the minister.
“Oh!” she cried, stepping back into the shadows.
“I’ve been expecting you, Miss Fox. Will you come in?” he cordially invited.
“You were expecting me? But I–––”
Hardly knowing what she did, and certainly not realizing why she did it, she accepted the invitation and entered. Her eyes slowly widened as he closed the door. She stood poised like a wild thing ready for flight at the slightest warning.
“I trust that your father isn’t ill again?” said the minister solicitously.
“No-o. That is, not yet. He’s quite well, thank you. He isn’t home, or wasn’t when I left.”
“I’m glad.”
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“I beg your pardon?”
“I’m glad your father isn’t ill,” he explained, growing quite as embarrassed as she.
“Oh! Yes. Thank you.”
“Miss Fox, something must be wrong. May I help you?”
“No. Really, no. That is, not bad wrong, yet,” she stammered. “Only he promised to be home, and––well, he isn’t.”
“The Captain will be back soon. He asked me to entertain you till his return. I fear I’m not doing it very well.”
“Indeed, you are. That is, I guess you are. Is the Captain far away?”
“He took Miss Pipkin over to Miss Splinter’s. Miss Splinter is very ill. Won’t you be seated?”
“Yes, thank you. No, I think I’ll stand. Dear me! What can be the matter with me? I’m acting quite stupid and silly, am I not?”
She tried to laugh, but her dry throat gave a cracked sound. Mr. McGowan noticed, and did not complete the smile that was beginning to form about his own lips.
“Really, I think I’ll be going, and come334back again. I feel so very queerly, and––uncomfortable with––with–––”
“With me in the room?” he finished with a sad smile. “I’m sorry. I’ll step into my study. If you need anything, please call.”
He had reached the door and the knob had turned under his hand when she gave a cry, between a sob and a plea. He swung quickly about.
“Don’t leave me, please!” she pleaded. “I mean, don’t go on my account.”
“But I seem to be disturbing you, and I don’t wish to do that,” he said kindly.
She broke down completely. “Oh, I do need you so much! Please stay! I’m afraid, afraid of everything, afraid of myself! You said one should keep a cool head, but I can’t! I can’t! I’ve tried so hard. Oh, Mack––Mr. McGowan, please help me!”
She finished her broken plea in muffled sobs in the folds of his coat. He drew her against him till his arms ached. She knew now that she could make of her love for this man no voluntary offering in order to save her father humiliation. All afternoon and evening she335had been forming that resolution. But this love that had come to her, pure and undefiled from the hand of God, could not be denied for the sins of one man, even though that man be her own father. She felt herself being swept out into an engulfing current, nor did she wish to stay its overwhelming power. For the first time that afternoon she was conscious of real strength.
Mr. McGowan tried to lift her face from his shoulder, but she clung the closer.
“I want to look at you,” he said jubilantly.
“Not just yet!” she sobbed. “I want to get used to this.”
“Then, let me hear you say you love me!” entreated the man.
“Mack McGowan, I love you!” She drew back a pace. “Now, you may look at me just once, though I don’t look like much with my eyes all swelled up and red.”
He drank in the beauty of the face before him. “Thank God! You do love me! It isn’t just pity.”
She nodded her head so vigorously that the wisps of fair hair fell about her large blue336eyes. “Yes, I love you, Mack. There, now, you’ve looked long enough. Kiss me, please.” She lifted her face.
Mr. McGowan was unstintingly obeying the command when a loud knock jarred the side door. They started and sprang apart.
“Who can that be knocking like that?” asked the girl, hastily tucking away the stray locks of hair.
“It must be the Captain. But I wonder–––”
Elizabeth laughed, and pointed toward a window where the curtain was above the lower sash. The Captain had seen them!
“I don’t care if he did see. Let me go to the door.”
She had taken one step in that direction when the door flew back and in came Mr. James Fox.
“Father! You!”
Without replying, Mr. Fox glared ferociously at the minister. His hand trembled on the head of his walking-stick. The blood surged into his face. Elizabeth, growing alarmed, started toward her father. But the337Elder waved her back. Mr. McGowan broke the awful silence.
“We can’t help it, Mr. Fox. I’m very sorry that this has come against your will.”
“So it is true. God help me!” The Elder’s words came with surprising calm, but his tone was harsh and hard. “So it is as I was warned. It is hard to believe that my little Beth has proven untrue to me.” He was breathing hard. Pointing his stick in the direction of the minister, he finished with savage calm, “My little girl here alone, and with a man like you! God help me!”
“Be careful!” ordered Mr. McGowan. His words were sharp, as with blazing eyes he met the glare of the Elder.
“Father, you must not talk and look like that.”
“Alone with him!” repeated Mr. Fox. “I saw the whole shameless proceeding through that window, and it is needless for you to deny what has happened.”
“We are not trying to deny it, Father. I’m proud of it. We tried so hard not to love each other, too, when we found out how set338you were against it. But we couldn’t help it. We did try, didn’t we, Mack?”
“You tried!” sneered her father. “I suppose this man forced you to steal from your home under cover of night, and come to him, over paths that were dark and out of the way, against your will. Do you expect me to believe that?”
Elizabeth came between the men as the minister took a step toward the Elder.
“I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I came here of my own accord, and you have no right to spy on me through those who are willing to do such vulgar things because you pay them. I came here to see Uncle Josiah. He wasn’t in, and Mr. McGowan was––well, he was entertaining me.”
“That will do! You shall not add perjury to your sin. You knew perfectly well that Pott was not home. You knew he was in the city. Your stories don’t hang together.”
“Father, you must not talk to me like that. Uncle Josiah came home this morning, and I made arrangements to meet him here to-night.”