_ PART I CHAPTER XII
The next day was Sunday. Mostyn did not see Dolly at breakfast. Drake sat at the head of the table as unconcerned as if nothing unusual had happened to him in the night. He spoke to John Webb and Mrs. Drake about the meeting to be held that day at the church and praised the preacher's powers and sincerity. It was the philosophical Webb who had something to say more in harmony with Mostyn's reflections.
"I understand the revenue men made another haul last night," he said, a watchful eye on his brother-in-law.
"You don't say?" Drake calmly extended his cup and saucer to Ann, to be handed to George, and from him to Mrs. Drake, for a filling. "Whose place was it?"
"Don't know whose still it was," Webb answered, "but they landed the whole shootin'-match--sour mash, kegs, barrels, jugs, demijohns, copper b'ilers, worms, a wagon or two, and some horses."
"Who did they ketch?" Drake asked. "I reckon it happened when I was t'other side the mountain."
"Nobody, it seems," Webb answered. "The gang was too slick for 'em. They must have had sentinels posted around the whole shebang."
Drake apparently found no further interest in the subject, for he began to talk of other matters. He had heard that Saunders was expected to spend the day at his farm, and added to Mostyn: "I reckon you will see 'im an' get news of business."
"I almost hope he won't mention it," the banker smiled. "I have scarcely thought once of the bank. I never allow my mind to rest on it when I am off for a change like this."
"Fine idea," Drake said, "but I don't see how you can help it, 'specially if you are concerned in the rise and fall of market-prices. But I reckon you've got that down to a fine point."
Mostyn made some inconsequential response, but Drake's remark had really turned his thoughts into other channels. After all, he reflected, with a sudden chill of fear, how could he know but that some of his investments were not so prosperous as when he had left Atlanta? He became oblivious of the conversation going on around him. He failed to hear the cautious dispute over some trifle between George and Ann.
A little later, Mostyn was walking to and fro on the lawn in front of the house when Dolly came down-stairs. She had on the pretty pink dress he had admired so much the day she had tried it on for the first time. He threw down his cigar and went to the steps to meet her, his troubled thoughts taking wing at the sight of her animated face.
"Why have you not worn it before?" he said, sweeping her slender figure from head to foot in open admiration.
"For the best reason in the world," she laughed. "I only got the cash to pay for it yesterday, and I would not wear it till it was mine. I collected some money a man owed me for giving private lessons to his children and sent it right away to the dressmaker."
"It is simply wonderful," he said, glad that no one else was present. "I'm proud of you, little girl. You are the most beautiful creature that ever lived."
"Oh, I don't know!" She shook her head wistfully. "I wish I could think so, but I can't. There are so many other things that count for more in the world than good looks. Do you know I didn't sleep more than an hour last night?"
"I'm sorry," he said. "What was the matter?"
She glanced through the open door into the house as if to see if any one was within hearing. Then she came nearer to him, looking down on him from the higher step on which she stood, her pretty brow under a frown. "I was bothered after I went to bed," she said, frankly. "I don't think I ought to--to have kissed you as I did there at the gate. I would have scolded Ann for the same thing, even if she were as old as I am. I trust you--I can't help it--and last night I was so happy over Tobe's message that--Tell me honestly. Do you think that a man loses respect for a girl who will act as--as boldly as I did? Tell me; tell me truly."
"Not if he loves her as I do you, Dolly," he said, under his breath, "and knows that she feels the same way. Don't let a little thing like that trouble you. It is really your wonderful purity that makes you even think of it."
She seemed partially satisfied, for she gave him her glance more confidingly. "It is queer that I should have let it worry me so much," she said. "It was as it some inner voice were reproving me. All sorts of fears and queer ideas flocked about me. I--I am just a simple mountain girl, and you now know what my--my people are like. Why, if my father were now in prison I could not refuse to--to stick to him as a daughter should, and for a man in your position to--to--" She broke off, her eyes now on the ground.
"You mustn't think any more about it," he managed to say, and rather tardily. "You can't help what he does." Mostyn's passionate gaze was fixed on her again. "How pretty, how very pretty that dress is!" he flared out. "Are you going to church this morning?"
"Oh yes," she replied, half smiling down into his eyes. "I must set a good example to Ann and George."
Burning under the memory of her kiss of the night before, Mostyn told himself that he must by all means see her alone that day. He must hold the delicious creature in his arms again, feel the warmth of her lips, and capture the assurance of a love the like of which was a novelty even to him.
"What are you thinking about?" she suddenly demanded.
"I am thinking, Dolly, that you have the most maddening mouth that ever woman had, and your eyes--"
"Don't, don't!" she said, with a shudder. "I can't explain it, but, somehow, when you look and speak that way--"
"I can't help it," he blurted out, warmly. "You make my very brain whirl. I can hardly look at you. It is all I can do to keep from snatching you to my arms again, even here where any one could see us. Say, darling, do me a favor. Don't go to church to-day. Make some excuse. Stay at home with me and let the others go. I have a thousand things to tell you."
The slight, shifting frown on her face steadied itself. She gave him a swift glance, then avoided his amorous eyes.
"Oh, I couldn't do that,
even for you," she faltered. "They have asked me to sing in a quartette. That is why I put on this dress. The other girls are going to fix up a little."
"Then you won't oblige me?"
"I can't. I simply can't. It would be deceitful, and I am not a bit like that. I'm just what I am, open and aboveboard in everything. And that is why I know--
feel that I did not act right last night."
"There you go again," he cried, lightly, forcing a laugh. "When will you ever drop that? You say you love me, and I
know I love you, so why should you
not let me kiss you? I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll order a horse and buggy sent out from Ridgeville this afternoon, and we will take a nice drive over the mountain."
"To-day?--not to-day," Dolly said, firmly. "There is to be an afternoon service at the church. I'd be a pretty thing driving about the country with a handsome city man while all the other girls were-- oh, it never would do! I'm sorry, but I couldn't think of it. People talk about a school-teacher more than any one else, and this valley is full of malicious gossips."
He was wondering if a little pretense of offense on his part--which, to his shame, he remembered using in former affairs of the heart-- might make her relent, when he noticed that she was watching something on the road leading to the village. It was a horse and buggy. Her sight was keener than his, for she said, in a sudden tone of gratification:
"It is Mr. Saunders. He is on his way out home."
"So it is," Mostyn said, impatiently. "I'll go down to the gate and speak to him. Will you come?"
With her eyes on the vehicle, and saying nothing, Dolly tripped down the steps. How gracefully she moved, he thought. They reached the gate just as Saunders drew rein.
"Hello!" he cried, cheerily. "How are you, Dolly?" And, doffing his hat, he sprang down and shook hands with them both. "I'm lucky to catch you," he added to the girl. "I have something for you."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" Dolly cried. "You are always so kind and thoughtful."
"It is only a couple of books." Saunders had flushed slightly, and he turned back to the buggy, taking from beneath the seat a parcel wrapped in brown paper. "Mostyn, they have a most wonderful reading- circle here in the mountains. I have quit trying to keep pace with them." He held the parcel toward Dolly. "I heard you say all of you wanted to know something of Balzac's philosophy. I find that he has expressed it in his novels
Louis Lambert and
Seraphita. The introductions in both these volumes are very complete and well written."
"Oh, they are
exactly what we want." Dolly was very happy over the gift, and she thanked the blushing Saunders warmly. Mostyn stood by, vaguely antagonistic. He had not read the books in question, and he had a feeling that his partner was receiving a sort of gratitude which he himself could never have won. Then another thought possessed him. How well the two seemed mated! Why, Saunders--plain, steady, ever- loyal Saunders, with his love of books and Nature, and his growing aversion to gay social life--was exactly the type of man to make a girl like Dolly a good husband.
Dolly was trying to break the twine on the parcel. "Let me!" Saunders, still blushing, was first to offer assistance. He took out his pocket- knife, cut the twine, unwrapped the books, and handed them back to her.
"Oh, they are so pretty--you always get such costly bindings!" Dolly added, almost reproachfully, as she fairly caressed the rich red leather with her hands. "You--you intend to lend them to the club, of course, and we must be very careful not to soil them. I shall have some covers made to--"
"Oh no!" Mostyn had never noticed before that his partner was such a weakling in the presence of women, and he wondered over the man's stumbling awkwardness. "Oh no," Saunders stammered. "I have inscribed them to--to you, as a little personal gift, if--if you don't mind."
"Oh, how sweet, how lovely of you!" Dolly cried. "Now, I sha'n't even want the others to handle them. I'm awfully selfish with what is
really my own. Oh, you are
too good!" Her richly mellow voice was full of genuine feeling, and a grateful moisture glistened in her shadowy eyes. Saunders heard, saw, and averted his throbbing glance to the mountain.
"Well, well," he said, awkwardly, "I must be going. It is Sunday, but I must talk to my overseer about his work. He was down in Atlanta the other day, and I did not like his showing as well as I could have done. I shall throw up banking, Mostyn, one of these days and settle down here. I see that now."
He was returning to the buggy, Dolly having gone to the house eager to exhibit her gift, when Mostyn stopped him. "Shall I see you again before you go back?" he inquired.
Saunders reflected. "I hardly think so, unless--Say, why couldn't you get in and go over home with me? My cook, Aunt Maria, will give us a good dinner, and we can lounge about all day."
"I don't think I could stay to dinner"--Mostyn was thinking that it might prevent a possible chat with Dolly in the parlor or a stroll to the spring--"but I'll ride over with you and walk back. I need the exercise."
"All right, hop in!" There was a ring of elation in Saunders's voice which was not often heard from him during business hours.
"These outings seem to do you a lot of good," Mostyn remarked. "You are as lively as a cricket this morning."
"I love the mountains," was the answer. "I love these good, old- fashioned people. Back at the station as I left the train I saw some revenue officers with the wreck of a mountain still piled up in the street. I know the moonshiners are breaking the law, but they don't realize it. Many a poor mountain family will suffer from that raid. Do you know, I was glad to hear that no arrests were made. Imprisonment is the hardest part of ft."
Mostyn was discreetly non-communicative, and as they drove along the conversation drifted to other topics. Suddenly Saunders broke into a laugh. "You know, Mostyn, you are doing your very best to force me to talk about business. You have edged up to it several times."
Mostyn frowned. "I have succeeded in keeping my mind off of it fairly well so far," he declared; "but still, if anything of importance has taken place down there I'd like to know it."
"Of course, you would," Saunders answered; "and from now on you'd fairly itch to get back to your desk. Oh, I know you!"
"Not if everything was all right." There was a touch of rising doubt in Mostyn's voice.
Saunders hesitated for a moment, then he said: "I have something for you from--from Marie Winship." He rested the reins in his lap, took a letter from his pocket, and gave it to his companion. It was a small, pale blue envelope addressed in a woman's handwriting. In the lower left-hand corner was written "Personal and important."
Mostyn started and his face hardened as he took it. He thrust it clumsily into his pocket. "How did you happen to--to get it?" he asked, almost angrily. "I see it was not mailed."
Saunders kept his eyes on the back of the plodding horse.
"The truth is, she came to the bank twice to see you--once last week and again yesterday. I managed to see her both times alone in your office. The clerks, I think, failed to notice her. She was greatly upset, and I did what I could to calm her. I'm not good at such things, as you may know. She demanded your address, and, of course, I had to refuse it, and that seemed to make her angry. She is--inclined, Mostyn, to try to make trouble again."
Mostyn had paled; his lower lip twitched nervously. "She had better let me alone!" he said, coldly. "I've stood it as long as I intend to."
"I don't know anything about it," Saunders returned. "I could not pacify her any other way, and so I promised to deliver her letter. She would have made a scene if I had not. She has heard some way that you are to marry Miss Mitchell, and it was on that line that her threats were made."
"Marry? I have never said that I intended to marry--
any one," Mostyn snarled, a dull, hunted look in his eyes.
"I know," Saunders said, still unperturbed, "but you know that the people at large are generally familiar with all that society talks about, and they have had a lot to say about you and that particular young lady. If you wish to read your letter, don't mind me--I--"
"I don't want to read it!" Mostyn answered. "I can imagine what's in it. I'll attend to it later. But you have seen her, Saunders, since I have, and you would know whether the situation really is such that--"
"To be frank"--Saunders had never spoken more pointedly--"I don't feel, Mostyn, that I ought to become your confidant in exactly such a thing. But through no intention of mine I have been drawn into it-- drawn into it, Mostyn, to protect the dignity and credit of the bank. She was about to make a disturbance, and I
had to speak to her."
"I know--of course, I understand that"--Mostyn's fury robed him from head to foot like a visible garment--"but that is not answering my question."
"Well, if you want my opinion," Saunders said, firmly, "I think if the woman is not appeased in some way that you and I, the directors, and all concerned--friendly depositors and everybody-will regret it. Scandal of this sort has a bad effect on business confidence. Mitchell came in just as she was leaving. Of course, he is not a great stickler on such matters, but--"
"I didn't know he was in town," Mostyn said, in surprise.
"Yes, they returned rather suddenly the day before yesterday. By the way, he is impatient to see you. He wouldn't mind my telling you, for that is what he wants to do. He has had a great streak of luck. You remember the big investments you advised him to make in wild timberlands in Alabama and North Georgia a few years ago? Well, your judgment was good--capital. His agent has closed out his entire holdings for a big cash sum. I don't know the exact figure, but he banked a round one hundred thousand with us yesterday, and said more was coming."
Mostyn stared excitedly. "I thought it would be a good thing, but I didn't expect him to find a buyer so soon."
Saunders smiled. "I know you thought so," he chuckled. "He is as happy as a school-boy. He is crazy to tell you about it. He thinks a lot of you. He swears by your judgment. In fact, he said plainly that he expected you to handle this money for him. He says he has some ideas he wants you to join him in. He sticks to it that you are the greatest financier in the South."
Mostyn drew his lips tight. "He is getting childish," he said, irritably. "I have no better judgment than any one else--Delbridge, for instance, is ahead of me."
"Delbridge
is lucky," Saunders smiled. "They say he has made another good deal in cotton."
"How was that?" Mostyn shrugged his shoulders and stared, his brows lifted.
"Futures. I don't know how much he is in, but I judge that it is considerable. You can always tell by his looks when things are going his way, and I have never seen him in higher feather."
Mostyn suppressed a sullen groan. "That is what
they are doing while I am lying around here like this," he reflected. "Mitchell thinks I am a financial wonder, does he? Well, he doesn't know me; Irene doesn't know me. Dolly doesn't dream--my God, I don't know
myself! A few minutes ago I was sure that I would give up the world for her, and yet already I am a different man--changed--full of hell itself. I am a slave to my imagination. I don't know what I want."
Then he thought of the unopened letter in his pocket. Light as it was, he could all but feel its weight against his side. They were now at the gate of Saunders's house. No one was in sight. The tall white pillars of the Colonial porch gleamed like shafts of snow in the sunlight. It was a spacious building in fine condition; even the grass of the lawn and beds of flowers were well cared for.
"You'd better decide to stop," Saunders said, cordially. "I will soon get over my talk with the overseer, and then I'll take you around and show you some of the richest land in the South--black as your hat in some places. I wouldn't give this piece of property for all you and Delbridge and Mitchell ever can pile up. Both my grandfather and father died in the room up-stairs on the left of the hall. It seems sacred to me."
Mostyn nodded absently. "No, thanks, I'll walk home," he said, getting out of the buggy. He was turning away, but paused and looked back.
"Would you advise--" he began, hesitatingly, "would you advise me to return to Atlanta to-morrow--on--on account of this silly thing?"
Saunders hesitated. "I hardly know what to say," he answered, frankly. "Perhaps you can tell better when you have read her letter. The situation is decidedly awkward. In her present nervous condition the woman is likely to give trouble. Somehow I feel that it is nothing but your duty to all of us to do everything possible to prevent publicity. She seems to me to have a dangerous disposition. She even spoke of--of using force. In fact, she said she was armed--spoke of killing you in cold blood. You might restrain her by law, but you wouldn't want to do that."
A desperate shadow hovered over Mostyn's face. "I'll go back in the morning," he said, doggedly. "Mitchell, you say, wants to see me. I'm not afraid of the woman. If I had been there she wouldn't have made such a fool of herself." _