All night long the physician worked, his face anxious and troubled, and in the early morning he gave up hope. For Amada lay in a stupor from which he thought there was no probability she would ever rouse. Suddenly she moaned, stretched out her hands and called, “My baby! Where is my baby?”
Marguerite knelt beside her and tried to tell her that the little one had never breathed, and Amada flung herself upon the girl’s neck and gave herself up to such transports of grief that the physician sat down in dumb, amazed helplessness, sure that immediate collapse would cut short her cries of woe.
“But you can’t tell a blessed thing about these Greasers,” he said afterward to Marguerite. “I was sure she was going to die, and I reckon she would if she had not done the very thing that I thought would be certain to finish her anyway. Maybe I’ll learn sometime that these Mexican women have got to let out their emotions or they would die of suppressed volcanoes.”
When Marguerite had sympathized with and soothed and comforted her accidental guest Amada asked if she would send for thepadre.
“I shall die very soon,” she said, “and he must come at once. I thought I should die long before this, but God has let me live through all that time that I do not remember, when I was so nearly dead, only that thepadremight come and make me ready for death.”
After the priest had gone Marguerite went to the sick girl’s room with a cup of gruel. Amada lay back on the pillow, her face gray with pallor against the background of her shining black hair. She kissed and fondled Marguerite’s hand.
“You have been very good to me, señorita, but I shall have to trouble you one little time more, and then I shall be ready to die, and some one can ride over to the Fernandez mountains, beyond Muletown, and tell my father, Juan Garcia, that his daughter, Amada, is dead, and that she was very, very sorry to bring so much grief to him and her mother. You will tell him that, will you not, señorita? But you must not tell him about theniño, because they do not know—ah, señorita, you must not think that I am a—a bad woman! See! Here is a letter that saysmi esposa! But they might not believe it—and they must not know—you will not tell them, señorita!”
“But you are not going to die!” said Marguerite encouragingly. “You will soon be strong again.”
Amada shook her head. “No! I shall be dead before another morning comes. But now thepadresays I must seeel Señor DonEmerson Mead.”
The girl’s eyes caught a sudden, brief flicker which crossed Marguerite’s face, and, weak though she was, she raised herself on one elbow, her black hair streaming past her face and her eyes shining. She caught Marguerite’s hand, calling softly:
“Señorita! You love Don Emerson! Is it not so? I saw it in your face! Ah, señorita, it is good to love, is it not? Now you must bring Señor Mead to me here and I must tell him something that thepadresays I must before I die. But you must not ask me what it is, for I can not tell you. I can not tell any one but Don Emerson.”
“He is in the court room now,” Marguerite replied, “and they would not let him leave. But his friend, Señor Ellhorn, is here, and I will see if I can find him.”
Marguerite met Nick Ellhorn coming out of John Daniel’s office with a broad smile curling his mustaches toward his eyes. He had been on a still hunt for his Chinese queue, and had run at once upon the certainty that something had happened which several people would like to keep quiet. And he had not only recovered the pig tail, but had found out what had been done and who had done it.
“Oh, Mr. Ellhorn!” exclaimed Marguerite, “I am so glad to find you! There is a Mexican girl at my house—she dropped down dreadfully ill at mygate last night and I took her in—who wants to see Mr. Mead. She says her father is Juan Garcia, and that he lives away beyond Muletown, in the Fernandez mountains. Thepadreconfessed her this morning and now she says he told her that she must tell Emerson Mead something before she dies. I do not know what it is, and she says she can not tell any one except Mr. Mead. Will you come to the house and find out what she wants?”
Ellhorn’s eyes opened wide, but he kept an impassive face. “Amada Garcia! What the—whatever is she here for, and how did she get here!”
“I think she must have walked, for her feet were blistered.”
“Walked! Walked from old Garcia’s ranch! Good God! Well, I sure reckon she must have something to say. I’ll go right along and see her.”
When Nick Ellhorn came out of the Delarue house he heard the whistle of the train from the north.
“I’ve just time to make it,” he thought. “I can’t stop to say a word to anybody about this business, or I’ll miss this train. Well, I reckon I might just as well not say anything about it, anyway, as long as Tommy isn’t here, until I get back—if I ever get back! They’ll be only too glad to snake me in down there, if they get the chance. I’ll just have to make a quick scoot across the line, and trust to the luck of the Irish army! If Tommy was only here we’d get this thing through, if we had to wadethrough hell and tote home the back doors. But I can’t stop to wait for company. I’ll try it alone, and I sure reckon I’ll be too smart for ’em!”
Emerson Mead’s trial had been in progress nearly two weeks, but most of the time had been exhausted in impaneling a jury. Almost the entire male population of Las Plumas had filed between the opposing lawyers and, for one reason or another, had been excused. At last a jury had been chosen, not because its members were satisfactory to either side, but because both sides had exhausted their peremptory challenges and neither could find further objection which the judge would allow.
Thomson Tuttle arrived soon after Nick Ellhorn’s departure, and was alternately puzzled and indignant over his absence. He felt sure that Nick had gone away on some expedition of importance and probably of danger. He was puzzled to think what it could possibly be, and indignant that Nick had thus risked himself without the aid and protection of his best friend.
“It was plumb ridiculous for him to go off alone like that,” he complained to Judge Harlin. “He knew I’d be along in a day or two, and here he goes flirtin’ the gravel off the road all alone as if I was some didn’t-know-it-was-loaded kind of a foolwho couldn’t handle a gun! He’ll sure get into some kind of trouble if I’m not with him!”
Interest in the trial was universal and intense, and during the sessions of the court, especially after the taking of testimony began, the streets of the town were well nigh deserted, while a large part of the population crowded the court room, swarmed in the corridors, and filled the windows. Those who could not get into the court-house gathered in groups on the outside and discussed the news and the rumors, which came in plentiful supply from its doors.
The prosecution had put on several witnesses, employees of the Fillmore Cattle Company, who had sworn to the ill-feeling between Mead and young Whittaker, and one who had been a witness of the quarrel between them, just previous to Whittaker’s disappearance, when Mead had threatened the young man’s life. Then Colonel Whittaker took the stand. It was rumored that after him would be given the testimony of an eye-witness of the murder, and an even larger crowd than usual sought the court-house that afternoon. Two score of women sat comfortably in a space fitted with chairs at one end of the judge’s desk. But the body of the room was jammed with a standing crowd of men, both Mexicans and Americans. Late comers crowded the corridor, and those who could get them mounted chairs outside the door. Inside the room a row of men swung their heels from each window seat, whileoutside another row stood on the ledges and looked over their heads.
Colonel Whittaker told the story of how his son had set out from the ranch to come to town and had never been seen alive again. He declared that the young man had no enemies except the prisoner and that there was no possible explanation of his disappearance except that he had been murdered. Then he told of the work of the searching party which he had taken to the White Sands, and of the body which they had found. He had identified this corpse as the body of his son, and on the sketched outline of a man’s back he located the position of the three bullet holes by which the young man had come to his death. The shirt, with the initials worked in the collar, the ring, scarfpin, memorandum book and envelopes that had been taken from the body were placed before him and he identified them all as having belonged to his son. The crowded court room was still, with the silence of tense expectancy. Every neck was craned and every eye was fixed on these articles as one by one they were held up before him and then passed on to the judge’s desk.
A slight disturbance at the door, as of people unwillingly moving back, fell upon the strained hush. Some one was forcing his way through the crowd. The witness leaned back in his chair, waiting for another question, and the lawyers consulted together for a moment. Then the prosecuting attorneyasked the witness if he had positively identified the body as that of his missing son, William Whittaker.
“I did, sir,” replied Colonel Whittaker. As the words left his lips his gaze fell past the attorney upon two men who had just struggled out of the crowd and into the free railed space in front of the judge’s desk. His jaw fell, his pale face turned an ashen gray, his eyes opened wide, and, with trembling hands upon the arms of his chair, he unconsciously lifted himself to his feet. The lawyers, the judge, and the jury followed his gaze. Some sprang to their feet and some fell back in their chairs, their mouths open, but dumb with amazement. All over the court room there was a shuffling of feet and a craning of necks, and a buzzing whisper went back from the foremost ranks.
Nick Ellhorn was there, tall and slender and smiling, with a happy, triumphant look overspreading his handsome face. By his side was a young man, dark-skinned, black-haired and black-mustached, who looked ashamed and self-conscious. Ellhorn tucked one hand into his arm and urged him to a quicker pace. Nick’s eye sought Emerson Mead and as Mead’s glance flashed from the stranger’s face to his, Nick’s lid dropped in a significant wink. Mead leaned back in his chair, a look of amused triumph on his face, as he watched the scene before him and waited for it to come to its conclusion.
Slowly Colonel Whittaker stepped forward, trembling,with a look upon his face that was almost fear. The crowd was pushing and pressing toward the center of interest, and everywhere wide eyes looked out from amazed, incredulous faces. Nick Ellhorn and his companion slowly edged their way between the tables and chairs, the young man advancing reluctantly, with downcast face, until they stood in front of Colonel Whittaker. Then he looked up, and exclaimed in a choking voice:
“Father! I am not dead!”
“
It was Amada Garcia put me on,” said Nick Ellhorn to Emerson Mead and Tom Tuttle, as the three sat in Mead’s room, whither they went at once to hear Nick’s story. “One morning the first of this week Miss Delarue came runnin’ up to me on the street and said Amada was sick at her house and had walked all the way in from Garcia’s ranch and had something to tell that she wouldn’t say to anybody but Emerson. I went over to see if she would tell me what she wanted, and Emerson can thank her, and thepadre, for gettin’ out of this scrape with the laugh on the other side. She thought she was goin’ to die and had unloaded her soul on to thepadre, and he had ordered her to tell Emerson Mead what she had told him. I reckon the little witch wouldn’t have peeped about it to anybody if thepadrehadn’t made her. She didn’t want to say a word to me, and at first she said she wouldn’t, but I finally made her understand she couldn’t see Emerson, and I swore by all the saints I could think of that I’d tell him and nobody else exactly what she said. So then she whispered in my ear that Señor Mead didn’t kill Señor Whittaker,and I inched her along until I got out of her that Will Whittaker wasn’t dead.
“That was all she meant to tell me, but I was bound to get all she knew. And I got it, but I want to tell you right now, boys, that I had a hell of a time gettin’ it. Every time I got a new thing out of her she’d make me get down on my knees and kiss the crucifix and swear by a dozen fresh saints that I wouldn’t tell anybody but Don Emerson, and that he wouldn’t tell anybody else, and that nothin’ should happen to Don Will because she had told it.
“She finally admitted that she and Will Whittaker had been secretly married away last spring and had never said a word about it to anybody. By that time I felt pretty sure that it was Mr. Will himself who had made a killin’, and I sprung my suspicion on her and threatened her with thepadreand swore a lot of things by a whole heap of fresh saints, and she finally told me just what had happened.
“It seems that a cousin of hers—one of their everlastin’primosin the sixty-third degree, I reckon—came up from down along the line somewheres, and she was so glad to see him and he was so glad to see her that he hugged her and stooped over to kiss her—I reckon likely she’d been flirtin’ her eyes and her shoulders at him—when bang! bang! bang! and he dropped dead at her feet and there wasesposoWill in the door, mad with jealousy and ready to kill her too. Say, boys!” Nick stopped short, thestream of his narrative interrupted by a certain memory. “Say, that was what it was!” And he slapped his thigh with delight at having solved a mystery. “That’s the reason she had such fantods when I wanted to kiss her that day last summer! It was just because she happened to remember this other time!”
The others smiled and chuckled and Mead said: “You know I told you then, Nick, it wasn’t because she didn’t like your looks!”
“Well, he was ready to kill her, too, but she threw herself on him and begged for her life and swore the man was her cousin and there was no harm, and presently Will’s companion came runnin’ in and they got the young man cooled off. He and the other man talked together a little while and then they put Will’s clothes on the corpse and Will dressed himself in the dead man’s and they took the dead body away in the wagon, and Amada washed up all the blood stains and never let a soul know what had happened, because Will told her if she did her father would sure have him arrested and hung. And he made her swear to be a faithful wife to him and promised to send for her as soon as he could.
“So she waited for word from him all summer, and the other day there came a letter, and the same day she found out that her mother meant for her to marry some young Mexican blood at Muletown. Then she made up her mind to go to Will, although he had told her he couldn’t send for her for anothermonth or two. That night she started off alone in the dark and walked to Muletown. Somebody gave her a ride across the plain and then she walked to Plumas from the Hermosa pass.
“I made up my mind right then and there that I’d yank that young scrub back to Plumas quicker’n hell could singe a cat, but she wouldn’t tell me where he was. And maybe I didn’t have a skin-your-teeth sort of a time gettin’ it out of her! I just tell you that little girl is cute enough to take care of herself most anywhere, and don’t you forget it! I coaxed her and she’d coax back, and I threatened her and she’d come back at me with all the things I’d sworn not to tell, and I wheedled her as Irish as the pigs in Drogheda, and she’d lie back on the pillow and smile at me—and all the time just lookin’ too sweet and pretty and sick—well, it was the hardest job I ever tackled. Boys, I sure reckon that little handful of a girl would have been too many for me and we’d have been palaverin’ yet if she hadn’t gone too weak to talk any more. I saw she was mighty near played out, and I just sicked myself on for all I was worth. I felt ornery enough to go off and get horned by a steer, but I reckoned I sure had to. She gave up at last, when she couldn’t hold out any longer, and agreed to let me see the envelope her letter had come in if I’d kiss the crucifix and swear by a few more saints that I wouldn’t let anybody touch Will, and swear over again on my knees everything I’d promised her before. I finally got through with all thereligious doin’s she could think of, and then I lit out for the train. I heard it comin’ when I left French’s house, and I made a run for it, which was why I didn’t tell Judge Harlin where I was goin’. I couldn’t stop to say a word to anybody without missin’ the train and losin’ a day.
“The only clue I had was that he was at Chihuahua, and at work at something, I didn’t know what, and I thought likely he waspasearingaround under an assumed name, which he was. I nosed around for two days, layin’ low and keepin’ mighty quiet, and you better guess I made a quick scoot through Juarez, too.”
The others grinned broadly and as Nick stopped to light a fresh cigar Tom said:
“I sure thought, Nick, that you’d never get back alive, for I knew you-all must have gone off some place you’d no business to go alone, and I’d have started off on a blind hunt for you in another day.”
“Well, I run across him by accident on the street one evening, and you ought to have seen him turn white and shaky when I stepped up and spoke to him. The boy’s nerve’s all gone, and you know he used to have the devil’s own grit. You-all saw how he acted when I got him into the court room this afternoon. I reckon it takes all the sand out of a fellow to live in the dark and be all the time afraid something’s goin’ to drop, the way he’s done all summer.
“‘Hullo, Will,’ says I, and then I took pity onhim and showed my hand right from the start. But I’d sized him up all in a minute, and I reckoned that would work best anyway. ‘I haven’t got any warrant for you,’ says I, ‘and I don’t mean to arrest you, and I’ve sworn to Amada Garcia not to let any harm happen to you, but I’ve got a proposition I want to talk over with you, if you’ll take me somewheres where we can be private.’ For I didn’t mean to let him out of my sight again until I got him into the court room at Plumas, and I didn’t, neither. He took me to his room and we chinned the thing over for two or three hours. He knew that everybody thought he was dead and that his body had been found, and that Emerson was being tried for his murder. But he’d started out on that lay and he was afraid to go back on it.
“He told me the whole story, on my promise to keep it secret. I told him I’d have to tell it to you-all, because Emerson had the right to know it, and Tommy would be sure to go makin’ some bad break if he didn’t know it, but that I’d give him my word of honor it shouldn’t go outside of us three. He was just gone plum’ crazy on Amada, and one day he was at her house when a justice of the peace from Muletown came along. The old folks were out in the fields and for a good, plump fee the justice married them right then and there. They had no witnesses, and it happened that the justice died in a week—it was old Crowby, from Muletown, you remember him. Will was deathly afraid his fatherwould find it out and be bull roaring mad about it and hist him out of the country, and so he didn’t dare say a word about it, and he made Amada keep it secret, too. Well, the boy’s young, and I reckon that’s some excuse for him, but I’ll be everlastingly horn-spooned if I think his father’s got much reason to be proud of him.
“Then came the day when he stepped to the door and saw that Mexicanprimohugging her, and he swore to me that all in a flash he was so wild with anger and jealousy he didn’t know what he was doin’ until he heard the report and the man dropped dead—that he didn’t remember drawin’ or takin’ aim, or anything but just wantin’ to kill. When he cooled down and realized what he had done he was in a regular panic. If he gave himself up the facts about the wedding would have to come out, in order to protect Amada, and then his father would roar, and probably cast him off if he wouldn’t give her up, and if he escaped conviction for the murder theprimo’srelatives would be dead sure to get even with him. The only way he could see out of it was to hide the body and skip. The man who was with him—a cow-boy they had just hired who had come out of the mountains to make a stake so he could go prospectin’ again—Bill Frank was his name, and I told him yes, I knew him—well, this man offered to see him out for the stake he’d expected to have to work some time for, and as Will had some money in his clothes they made the bargain and skipped.They changed the clothing and carried the body in their wagon up to the White Sands and buried it. It was them that held you up, Tom, that night last spring, and it was Will Whittaker, in the Mexican’s duds, that you thought was a Mexican, who slunk around in the bushes and held the gun on you part of the time. They had the Mexican’s body in the wagon and they didn’t mean to allow any curiosity about it or about their business, and you’d have dropped dead in your tracks if you’d shown any.”
“I knew that very well all the time I was with ’em,” Tom answered quietly.
“When they got nearly to the railroad they burned the wagon and killed the horses, and Will scooted for Mexico, and he’s been in Chihuahua ever since.
“‘My boy,’ I says to him, ‘you’ve got to come back with me.’ ‘I can’t,’ says he, ‘it will be my everlasting ruin if I do.’ ‘Face the music like a man,’ I said, ‘and get out of it what you can.’ I could see by his eyes that he was honin’ to come back, but he was almighty afraid, I reckon mostly on Amada’s account. He’s plum’ daft about her—and I don’t know as I blame him very much—and he told me he had planned to get her down there soon.
“‘How can I go back?’ says he. ‘I’ll be arrested and tried and probably convicted.’ ‘No, you won’t,’ says I. ‘You go back with me and get Emerson Mead out of this scrape and I’ll give you myword of honor you won’t be arrested.’ ‘But what can I say?’ he says. ‘How can I explain?’ ‘Hell!’ says I. ‘Explain nothin’! Tell your father as much or as little as you like, and if Colonel Whittaker walks down Main street with his head up and his mouth shut I reckon nobody’s goin’ to ask him any impudent questions. If you want any help yourself you’ve got Nick Ellhorn and Emerson Mead and Tommy Tuttle behind you, and if you think them three couldn’t send the devil himself sashayin’ down the Rio Grande you’d better not say so to yours truly. If you don’t want to stay there, take Amada and get out, and if your father won’t set you up somewheres we three will see that you have what you need. And whatever he does we’ll give you a thousand apiece anyway.’
“‘I wish I dared!’ says he. ‘Will Whittaker,’ says I, ‘Amada Garcia started out to come to you with only four dollars in her pocket, and she walked in the night nearly all the way to Plumas, and then she nearly died givin’ premature birth to your child, because she had tried to find you.’ With that he jumped up and grabbed my arm and could hardly speak, for I hadn’t told him about any of that business before.
“‘She isn’t dead,’ says I, ‘but you may thank Miss Delarue that she isn’t. The child was born dead. But do you think, after all that, you-all can do any less than go back and marry her again, with a priest and a ring and a white dress and all therest of it? Do you think, after that, you-all can do any less than pretend you’re a man, and ever face yourself in the glass again without smashin’ it?’
“He dropped back in his chair with his face in his hands and cried, actually cried. But I sure reckon he was shook up pretty sudden by what I told him about Amada. I didn’t say any more, but I just made up my mind that if he hung back after that I’d tie my Chiny pig tail around his neck and yank him back to Plumas like a yellow dog at the end of a string.
“After a little while he said he’d go. I knew he meant it, but I was so almighty afraid he’d go back on it if he got thinkin’ about his father and skip on me that I didn’t let him out of my sight while he was awake, and at night I tied his arm fast to mine with my pig tail.
“Well, when we finally got to Plumas I just concluded Emerson’s neck wasn’t in danger for another hour, and that I’d better set that little girl straight the first thing I did, before the young chap got under his father’s thumb. I knew he meant all right and loved her like hell’s blazes, but he’s more afraid of his father than a self-respectin’ young man of his age ought to be. So we went straight to Miss Delarue’s. I tell you what, boys, that Miss Delarue is a regular royal flush. There ain’t another girl can stack up with her in the whole territory. I took Will Whittaker in and told her how matters stood, and you ought to have seen how pleased shewas! If it had been her own weddin’ she couldn’t have been more interested, or looked happier. She was as glad to see Will as if he’d been her own brother, and all because she likes poor little Amada, and was glad to see her made happy, for of course it didn’t concern her any other way.”
A little smile moved Mead’s lips as he heard this, and he turned his eyes away to hide the happy look he felt was in them, for he knew how deep were Marguerite’s reasons to be glad the runaway had returned.
“While I went down-town to hunt up thepadre,” Nick went on, “she fixed Amada up with a white veil—you know these Mexican girls hardly think they’ve been married if they haven’t had a white veil on—and a bunch of white flowers and a white sack that was all lace and ribbons over her night gown—for Amada’s in bed yet, and had to be propped up on the pillows—and then she and I stood up with ’em and put our names down as witnesses. Then I marched the young man up to the court-house, and you-all know what happened there.”
“I saw you talking with Colonel Whittaker,” said Mead. “Did you tell him about the wedding?”
“You bet I did! I was plum’ determined he should hear some straight talk about that, and if that little girl don’t have a fair show with the Whittaker family it won’t be my fault.”
“What did you-all say to him?” Tom asked.
“Oh, I gave it to him straight from the shoulder!‘Colonel Whittaker,’ I said, ‘I’ve brought your son back to you alive, and I’m goin’ to see to it that no harm comes to him because he’s been away. He can tell you as much or as little as he likes, but I know the whole story, and I want to tell you right now that if anybody tries to get him into trouble about it they’ve got Nick Ellhorn and Tom Tuttle and Emerson Mead to buck against, and there’s my hand on it. But you needn’t thank me. You can thank a little Mexican girl whose name was Amada Garcia, but it’s Amada Whittaker now. They have been married without any proof of it ever since last spring, but they are married tight and fast now,padreand witnesses and the whole thing, and I helped ’em to do it not an hour ago. Now, keep your temper, Colonel,’ says I, ‘and wait till I get through. I know you’ll be disappointed and mad, but you’d better keep cool and make the best of it, for the girl’s just as good as you are, if she is a Mexican, and she’s a whole heap too good for your son. And she’s just the cutest and prettiest little piece of calico you ever laid your eyes on, in the bargain. Now, don’t try to step in and make a mess of this, Colonel,’ I said, ‘for you won’t succeed if you do try, because the boy has got Emerson and Tom and me to back him, and if you-all don’t play a father’s part toward him we will. If you should get him away from her you’d just simply send your son to the devil, and he’d be the devil’s own brat if he let you do it.
“‘Now, Colonel,’ says I, ‘you-all better go and make a call on your new daughter-in-law, and find out from Will what she’s done to protect him and get to him, and if you don’t take her right into camp you’re not the gentleman and the judge of beauty I take you for. Besides, Colonel’ says I, ‘if Amada gets the right kind of treatment from you and your folks, my bargain with Will holds. If she don’t—well, I’ll keep my word, of course, but there’s likely to be consequences.’”
Nick’s narrative came to its end and for a few minutes the three men smoked in silence. Then Ellhorn turned half reluctantly to Mead:
“Say, Emerson, that was mighty queer about those three bullet holes. We sure thought nobody but you-all could do that.”
Mead smiled, thinking of Marguerite. “Even if he was shot in the back?” he said quietly.
Nick and Tom looked at each other with chagrin on their faces. “We-all never thought of that!” Tom exclaimed.
“And he did need killin’ so damn bad,” said Nick, “and you-all never said a word to deny it.”
“I don’t usually deny things I’m charged with,” said Mead.
“That’s so, Emerson, you don’t,” assented Tom.
“People are welcome to believe anything they like about me,” Mead went on, “and I don’t intend to belittle myself askin’ ’em not to. It’s all right, boys. I didn’t blame you for believin’ I’d done itBut I did think you’d notice he’d been shot in the back. I’m goin’ out now. I’ll see you later.” And he hurried off down Main street to find Pierre Delarue.
The February sunshine lay warm and bright and still over Las Plumas and the sky bent low and blue and cloudless above the town. Bright feathered birds were darting through the orchards and trilling their nesting songs, the peach tree buds were showing their pink noses, and the promise of spring was everywhere. In the big, wide hall of Pierre Delarue’s house Marguerite stood beside the door of her room, talking with Emerson Mead, while he clumsily buttoned her gloves. She was dressed in a traveling gown, and as his glance wandered over her figure his eyes shone with admiration. Tall though he was and superb of physique, her head reached his shoulder and her figure matched his in its own strength and beauty.
“Tom and Nick look as forlorn as two infant orphans,” he was saying to her. “You would think I had died instead of getting married. Nick has hinted that he means to go on a spree, and Tom says he’ll lock him up in their room and sit on his chest for a week if he tries to make that kind of a break.”
“Do you think he will?” Marguerite asked.
“Sit on him? Yes, I think likely. He’s done itbefore, and it’s about the only thing that will keep Nick sober when he has made up his mind that he wants to get drunk. It’s a good plan to keep Nick sober, too, for when he gets drunk most anything’s likely to happen.”
“No, I meant, do you think he will get drunk?”
Emerson shrugged his shoulders. “I reckon that will depend on whether Tom goes to sleep or not.”
“Where are they?”
“Out on the porch with Bye-Bye.”
They went out on the veranda where Tom and Nick were standing, and Marguerite put a hand on the arm of each, looking up in their faces with smiling earnestness. “I wonder,” she said, “if I could ask you boys to do something for me while we are gone?”
They turned toward her eagerly. “You bet we’ll do anything you-all want us to, Mrs.—Mrs.—” Nick tried to say “Mrs. Mead,” choked a little, and ended with “Mrs. Emerson.” And “Mrs. Emerson” she was to him and Tom from that time forth.
“What can we-all do?” asked Tom.
“Why, I’ve been hoping you wouldn’t mind looking after Paul a little bit for me. I am so afraid he will miss me, because I’ve always been with him. The housekeeper will take good care of him, of course, but I know he will be lonely if there is nothing to distract his mind. And I couldn’t be happy, even on my wedding journey, if I thought my little Bye-Bye was crying for me.”
“Don’t you worry, Mrs. Emerson,” Nick exclaimed. “We’ll give him so much fun he won’t know you’re gone. I’ll bring my horse and take him to ride every day.”
“We’ll buy all the playthings in town for him.”
“We’ll tote him around all the time. It’ll give us something to do and keep us out of mischief. He shan’t shed a tear while you’re gone.”
“Here, Bye-Bye,” called Tom, “come and ride on my shoulder.” And mounted on that big, high pedestal the child was marched up and down the porch, laughing and clapping his hands. “We’ll stay and amuse him while you-all go to the depot, so he won’t cry after you.”
“I’ll make him some reins out of my Chiny pigtail,” said Nick. “You-all go right along, Mrs. Emerson, and don’t you worry once. He shan’t whimper while you’re gone, and he’ll have such a good time he’ll be sorry to see you come home.”
Marguerite looked back from the carriage window as they drove away and saw little Paul holding fast to the middle of Nick’s precious queue, laughing and shouting, while two tall figures attached to its ends pranced and kicked and cavorted up and down the veranda.
“The Books You Like to Readat the Price You Like to Pay”There Are Two Sidesto Everything——including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When you feel in the mood for a good romance, refer to the carefully selected list of modern fiction comprising most of the successes by prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every Grosset & Dunlap book wrapper.You will find more than five hundred titles to choose from—books for every mood and every taste and every pocketbook.Don’t forget the other side, but in case the wrapper is lost, write to the publishers for a complete catalog.There is a Grosset & Dunlap Bookfor every mood and for every taste
“The Books You Like to Readat the Price You Like to Pay”
—including the wrapper which covers every Grosset & Dunlap book. When you feel in the mood for a good romance, refer to the carefully selected list of modern fiction comprising most of the successes by prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every Grosset & Dunlap book wrapper.
You will find more than five hundred titles to choose from—books for every mood and every taste and every pocketbook.
Don’t forget the other side, but in case the wrapper is lost, write to the publishers for a complete catalog.
There is a Grosset & Dunlap Bookfor every mood and for every taste
RUBY M. AYRE’S NOVELSMay be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.RICHARD CHATTERTONA fascinating story in which love and jealousy play strange tricks with women’s souls.A BACHELOR HUSBANDCan a woman love two men at the same time?In its solving of this particular variety of triangle “A Bachelor Husband” will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one shock to the most conventional minded.THE SCARWith fine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose love was of the spirit.THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOWHere is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a greater love for each other in the end.THE UPHILL ROADThe heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine, clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.WINDS OF THE WORLDJill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last—but we must leave that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.THE SECOND HONEYMOONIn this story the author has produced a book which no one who has loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from climax to climax.THE PHANTOM LOVERHave you not often heard of someone being in love with love rather than the person they believed the object of their affections? That was Esther! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound love.Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New YorkPETER B. KYNE’S NOVELSMay be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.THE PRIDE OF PALOMARWhen two strong men clash and the under-dog has Irish blood in his veins—there’s a tale that Kyne can tell! And “the girl” is also very much in evidence.KINDRED OF THE DUSTDonald McKay, son of Hector McKay, millionaire lumber king, falls in love with “Nan of the Sawdust Pile,” a charming girl who has been ostracized by her townsfolk.THE VALLEY OF THE GIANTSThe fight of the Cardigans, father and son, to hold the Valley of the Giants against treachery. The reader finishes with a sense of having lived with big men and women in a big country.CAPPY RICKSThe story of old Cappy Ricks and of Matt Peasley, the boy he tried to break because he knew the acid test was good for his soul.WEBSTER: MAN’S MANIn a little Jim Crow Republic in Central America, a man and a woman, hailing from the “States,” met up with a revolution and for a while adventures and excitement came so thick and fast that their love affair had to wait for a lull in the game.CAPTAIN SCRAGGSThis sea yarn recounts the adventures of three rapscallion sea-faring men—a Captain Scraggs, owner of the green vegetable freighter Maggie, Gibney the mate and McGuffney the engineer.THE LONG CHANCEA story fresh from the heart of the West, of San Pasqual, a sun-baked desert town, of Harley P. Hennage, the best gambler, the best and worst man of San Pasqual and of lovely Donna.Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New YorkJACKSON GREGORY’S NOVELSMay be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.THE EVERLASTING WHISPERThe story of a strong man’s struggle against savage nature and humanity, and of a beautiful girl’s regeneration from a spoiled child of wealth into a courageous strong-willed woman.DESERT VALLEYA college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An intensely exciting story.MAN TO MANEncircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless situations.THE BELLS OF SAN JUANDr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep the reader along to the end.JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCHJudith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being robbed by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates Trevor’s scheme makes fascinating reading.THE SHORT CUTWayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel. Financial complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda, all go to make up a thrilling romance.THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKERA reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice’s Ranch much to her chagrin. There is “another man” who complicates matters, but all turns out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.SIX FEET FOURBeatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting, here is a real story of the Great Far West.WOLF BREEDNo Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne, whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the “Lone Wolf.”Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New YorkELEANOR H. PORTER’S NOVELSMay be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.JUST DAVIDThe tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left.THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDINGA compelling romance of love and marriage.OH, MONEY! MONEY!Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain John Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment.SIX STAR RANCHA wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six Star Ranch.DAWNThe story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the service of blind soldiers.ACROSS THE YEARSShort stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done.THE TANGLED THREADSIn these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of all her other books.THE TIE THAT BINDSIntensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter’s wonderful talent for warm and vivid character drawing.Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New York“STORM COUNTRY” BOOKS BY GRACE MILLER WHITEMay be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.JUDY OF ROGUES’ HARBORJudy’s untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and sincerity catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the mystery and tense action of the other Storm Country books.TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRYIt was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a temperament such as hers—a temperament that makes a woman an angel or an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves—is the theme of the story.THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRYThe sequel to “Tess of the Storm Country,” with the same wild background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters—tempestuous, passionate, brooding. Tess learns the “secret” of her birth and finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in life.FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSINGA haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to readers of “Tess of the Storm Country.”ROSE O’ PARADISE“Jinny” Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power and glory and tenderness.Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted FictionGrosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.
RICHARD CHATTERTON
A fascinating story in which love and jealousy play strange tricks with women’s souls.
A BACHELOR HUSBAND
Can a woman love two men at the same time?
In its solving of this particular variety of triangle “A Bachelor Husband” will particularly interest, and strangely enough, without one shock to the most conventional minded.
THE SCAR
With fine comprehension and insight the author shows a terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of the flesh and one whose love was of the spirit.
THE MARRIAGE OF BARRY WICKLOW
Here is a man and woman who, marrying for love, yet try to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for each other and yet win back to a greater love for each other in the end.
THE UPHILL ROAD
The heroine of this story was a consort of thieves. The man was fine, clean, fresh from the West. It is a story of strength and passion.
WINDS OF THE WORLD
Jill, a poor little typist, marries the great Henry Sturgess and inherits millions, but not happiness. Then at last—but we must leave that to Ruby M. Ayres to tell you as only she can.
THE SECOND HONEYMOON
In this story the author has produced a book which no one who has loved or hopes to love can afford to miss. The story fairly leaps from climax to climax.
THE PHANTOM LOVER
Have you not often heard of someone being in love with love rather than the person they believed the object of their affections? That was Esther! But she passes through the crisis into a deep and profound love.
Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New York
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.
THE PRIDE OF PALOMAR
When two strong men clash and the under-dog has Irish blood in his veins—there’s a tale that Kyne can tell! And “the girl” is also very much in evidence.
KINDRED OF THE DUST
Donald McKay, son of Hector McKay, millionaire lumber king, falls in love with “Nan of the Sawdust Pile,” a charming girl who has been ostracized by her townsfolk.
THE VALLEY OF THE GIANTS
The fight of the Cardigans, father and son, to hold the Valley of the Giants against treachery. The reader finishes with a sense of having lived with big men and women in a big country.
CAPPY RICKS
The story of old Cappy Ricks and of Matt Peasley, the boy he tried to break because he knew the acid test was good for his soul.
WEBSTER: MAN’S MAN
In a little Jim Crow Republic in Central America, a man and a woman, hailing from the “States,” met up with a revolution and for a while adventures and excitement came so thick and fast that their love affair had to wait for a lull in the game.
CAPTAIN SCRAGGS
This sea yarn recounts the adventures of three rapscallion sea-faring men—a Captain Scraggs, owner of the green vegetable freighter Maggie, Gibney the mate and McGuffney the engineer.
THE LONG CHANCE
A story fresh from the heart of the West, of San Pasqual, a sun-baked desert town, of Harley P. Hennage, the best gambler, the best and worst man of San Pasqual and of lovely Donna.
Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New York
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.
THE EVERLASTING WHISPER
The story of a strong man’s struggle against savage nature and humanity, and of a beautiful girl’s regeneration from a spoiled child of wealth into a courageous strong-willed woman.
DESERT VALLEY
A college professor sets out with his daughter to find gold. They meet a rancher who loses his heart, and become involved in a feud. An intensely exciting story.
MAN TO MAN
Encircled with enemies, distrusted, Steve defends his rights. How he won his game and the girl he loved is the story filled with breathless situations.
THE BELLS OF SAN JUAN
Dr. Virginia Page is forced to go with the sheriff on a night journey into the strongholds of a lawless band. Thrills and excitement sweep the reader along to the end.
JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH
Judith Sanford part owner of a cattle ranch realizes she is being robbed by her foreman. How, with the help of Bud Lee, she checkmates Trevor’s scheme makes fascinating reading.
THE SHORT CUT
Wayne is suspected of killing his brother after a violent quarrel. Financial complications, villains, a horse-race and beautiful Wanda, all go to make up a thrilling romance.
THE JOYOUS TROUBLE MAKER
A reporter sets up housekeeping close to Beatrice’s Ranch much to her chagrin. There is “another man” who complicates matters, but all turns out as it should in this tale of romance and adventure.
SIX FEET FOUR
Beatrice Waverly is robbed of $5,000 and suspicion fastens upon Buck Thornton, but she soon realizes he is not guilty. Intensely exciting, here is a real story of the Great Far West.
WOLF BREED
No Luck Drennan had grown hard through loss of faith in men he had trusted. A woman hater and sharp of tongue, he finds a match in Ygerne, whose clever fencing wins the admiration and love of the “Lone Wolf.”
Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New York
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.
JUST DAVID
The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left.
THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING
A compelling romance of love and marriage.
OH, MONEY! MONEY!
Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain John Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment.
SIX STAR RANCH
A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six Star Ranch.
DAWN
The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the service of blind soldiers.
ACROSS THE YEARS
Short stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done.
THE TANGLED THREADS
In these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of all her other books.
THE TIE THAT BINDS
Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter’s wonderful talent for warm and vivid character drawing.
Grosset& Dunlap, Publishers, New York
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap’s list.
JUDY OF ROGUES’ HARBOR
Judy’s untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and sincerity catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the mystery and tense action of the other Storm Country books.
TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY
It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a temperament such as hers—a temperament that makes a woman an angel or an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves—is the theme of the story.
THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY
The sequel to “Tess of the Storm Country,” with the same wild background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters—tempestuous, passionate, brooding. Tess learns the “secret” of her birth and finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in life.
FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING
A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to readers of “Tess of the Storm Country.”
ROSE O’ PARADISE
“Jinny” Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power and glory and tenderness.
Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
1. Minor changes have been made to correct obvious typesetters’s errors; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s words and intent.
2. The original of this book did not have a Table of Contents; this has been added for the reader’s convenience.