CHAPTER VIII
Scorned
Anthony's brain, accustomed to the most precise and unexciting ofroutines, was tired--not nearly so tired as it was destined to become,yet too tired to grasp at once the significance of that flamingcountenance. He could no more than stand limply and look at JohnsonBoller, as that gentleman, ignoring Mary altogether, strode down uponhim with clenched fists.
"You did it, but you'll never get away with it!" he cried.
"Johnson----"
"Never in the world! I've got Wilkins as a witness and----"
"Witness for what?"
Johnson Boller, albeit he trembled with fury, controlled himself.
"Don't try that baby-stare stuff on me, Fry," he said. "I understandnow. Last night I thought you were off on one of your eccentric spells,but you were crazy like a fox, you were! But don't think for one minutethat Beatrice is fool enough to drop into such a trap!"
Anthony himself did a little controlling.
"What are you talking about?" he cried.
"The thing you've tried to put over, to get me away from Beatrice!"Johnson Boller thundered. "That's enough! Don't deny it! I know youdon't approve of matrimony; I know you never wanted me to get married; Iknow that we haven't traveled around as much this last six months as wedid in the twenty years before it--and I suppose you've been lonely,because nobody else in the world would stand for you. But by Heaven,Anthony, I never thought you'd try to break up my family by----"
"Try to do what?"
Johnson Boller dashed the sweat of fury from his eyes.
"I come to stay with you, when Beatrice goes," he said tremblingly. "Andalthough there's no woman in this flat ordinarily, a woman's here lastnight----"
"Stop there!" Anthony Fry cried savagely. "Do you mean that I broughtthis woman here deliberately? Do you mean that I _knew_?"
"Knew!" Johnson Boller jeered.
"Then I tell you that you're an infernal ass, sir, and I decline todefend myself!" Anthony snarled fiercely. "You! You lovesick fool andyour crazy imagination! You're too much in love to reason, but--whatabout _me_?"
"Well, what about you?" Johnson Boller sneered.
"I," said Anthony, "have borne the reputation of a decent man! No womenhave ever been in this apartment before, save one or two relatives! Nowoman of any description has ever passed the night here before. And yetnow, when this infernal thing has happened, your poor addled wits--oh,bah! Bah, sir!"
"Don't bah at me!" Mr. Boller said dangerously, although not quite sodangerously, because Anthony's emotion had carried its own conviction.
Then, for a little, these two old friends stood and trembled and glaredat each other, Johnson Boller contemplating a swift and terribleuppercut to Anthony's lean jaw, which should stretch him unconsciousperhaps for hours--Anthony meanwhile wondering superheatedly whether,once his long fingers had wound about Johnson Boller's plump throat, hecould hold on until wretched life was extinct.
They were angry, terribly angry and almost for the first time in theirlives, and had they stood and glared for another fifteen seconds it ispossible that one or the other might have ended his days in Sing Sing'selectric chair--but as it happened Mary's voice came upon the vibrating,pregnant air, clear and cool and full of warranted acerbity.
"While all this talk of reputations is going on," said Mary, "what aboutmine?"
Anthony Fry's tension snapped. Johnson Boller, it seemed, was of no mindto relinquish his rare fury so easily, for he stood with his fistsclenched and trembled a little even now and his color was no lighterthan scarlet; but Anthony turned and bowed almost humbly.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Mary," he said bitterly.
"Miss Mary!" echoed Boller. "You know her, hey?"
"She told me to call her Mary," Anthony said stiffly.
"When? When you hired her for this job?" Johnson Boller persisted,although quite weakly.
"When I discovered--not half an hour back--that she was--er--what sheis," Anthony said coldly. "And let that be an end to your comments,please. You saw me meet this young woman for the first time, as you willknow when you recover your senses. You know for what purpose and underwhat misapprehension I brought her to this apartment. Don't make a badmatter worse by injecting your personal brand of asininity."
He turned his back on Johnson Boller and walked away.
Johnson Boller, however, turned his whole attention to Mary, perched onthe arm of a chair, distressed enough but self-contained, pretty as apicture. And slowly reason climbed upon her throne again in JohnsonBoller's brain, possessed though it was by Beatrice, loveliest of wives.
He smiled suddenly, because Beatrice in far-off Montreal would neverknow; he even grinned after a few seconds; and then, the enormity of thejoke on Anthony Fry overcoming him suddenly, Johnson Boller opened hismouth and laughed--not a mere, decent expression of mirth, but a roarwhich suggested a wild bull in acute agony.
A Niagara of sound left Johnson Boller and ended in a deep, happywheeze--and the torrent broke loose again and he hugged his fat sidesand rocked and roared again, until Wilkins, genuinely startled, enteredthe living-room, and stopped, more genuinely startled, and regarded thealtered David with mouth wide open.
"God bless my soul!" Wilkins said frankly. "What----"
"Wilkins!" Anthony snapped.
"I--I beg pardon, sir!" the faithful one choked. "The young lady----"
"The young lady," said his master, and his voice had the edge of a razorblade, "is--here by accident, Wilkins. She came here last night, under amisapprehension, while masquerading as a boy. You will forgetimmediately that I have told you this."
"Very good, sir," Wilkins said; and being one of those rare, modelcreatures we read about but rarely meet, he straightened up and forcedhis tone back to the matter-of-fact mumble. "As to breakfast, sir?"
Anthony glanced at Mary.
"Yes, I'm quite human," she said crisply. "I eat breakfast."
"For three, Wilkins," said Anthony.
And now, with Wilkins moving incessantly in and out, a peculiar, almostsilent constraint came upon them. Anthony, at the window gazed at thedistant street and tried his best to think; there was just one awfulthought that obtruded itself upon his mind and, although he thrust itaway again and again, the thought came back and mocked at him. Mentally,he lashed at it--yet ever and anon it returned and mocked a little moreand made impish faces at him.
Johnson Boller, recovering in a long, delighted series of wheezes,merely ambled to a corner and gazed at Mary, who affected to readunconcernedly. She was certainly pretty and watching a pretty girl hadnever wearied Mr. Boller; but far beyond her prettiness was the terrificjoke on old Anthony.
This was Anthony who, year in and year out, avoided even socialgatherings where women predominated. This was Anthony, who abominatedthe whole sex and could be goaded into actual rage by repeatedsuggestions that one of his wealth and standing should marry! This wasAnthony, who had threatened to leave the Lasande that day, long ago,when the pretty little woman canvasser had flitted past the office andmade her way to this very living-room.
Well, it was one on Anthony! Nay, it was a million on Anthony! From thisday forth, Johnson Boller reflected in the depths of his perverted,amusement-loving mind, he had such a grip on Anthony Fry that, should heorder that distinguished citizen to walk down Fifth Avenue with a lumpof sugar on his nose, he would have no choice but obedience.
And how Anthony would writhe and how that austere countenance could becolored with the blush of helpless anger! A quantity of the savage,merciless little boy had survived in Johnson Boller and this wait forbreakfast was really one of the happiest periods of his life.
Wilkins, quite himself again, worked deftly. The service elevator fromthe pantry, one of the Lasande's features, whined softly to the Fryapartment and stopped, and presently, silently, Anthony motioned them tothe table.
Johnson Boller came shaking pleasantly, albeit with countenance graveenough. Mary came daintily and thoughtfully. But Ant
hony Fry came as onegoing to his doom--because the inescapable thought had fastened in hisbrain and every new, terrible second held less hope than had the onebefore.
Coffee was poured then and food served and Wilkins moved out.
"Is he gone now?" Mary asked quietly.
"Yes," sighed Anthony.
"Then, without wasting any more time, wouldn't it be as well to decidejust what we are going to do?"
Anthony sighed bitterly.
"Now that you have elected to change into a very charming young woman, Ihave no idea of what we're going to do, if you mean by way of gettingyou out unnoticed."
Mary's head went a little higher.
"That's exactly what I mean, of course," said she. "As for my gettinginto my own clothes, what else was there to do? I couldn't wear thoseridiculous things you gave me; nothing in the world could have temptedme to go on the street in them, even if I could have worn them. Itelephoned for Felice and had her bring my things because I--I wanted tofeel sane again, I think, and if she hadn't made such a wretcheddisturbance, poor child, I'd have been into them and out of here longago."
"And I," escaped Anthony, "should have had to explain."
"You're very precious of that good name of yours, aren't you?" Maryasked tartly.
"I have always been," said Anthony.
And then, all unaware that Mary's pretty lips had compressed and thather eyes were flashing opinions which caused Johnson Boller fairly toquake with glee, Anthony's head dropped lower and he stared at hisuntouched plate. The thought was there still--the awful, menacing thing,coming nearer each instant, growing stronger and stronger.
"It must be lovely to be such a thoroughly good and proper man," Marysaid sweetly. "Couldn't you possibly forget yourself for a moment andtell me how you plan to get me out of here? Couldn't you spend just fiveminutes trying to think just what I'm going to tell my people?"
"Eh?" gasped Anthony.
"Oh, yes, I have people--a mother and a father and then some more," Maryinformed him. "Nice people, almost as proper in their notions as youare."
Anthony merely stared at her numbly. Unconsciously, perhaps, she haddriven the last, long nail into his coffin. Her people! Momentarily, hehad forgotten that she might have people and might have to explain tothem just where last night had been passed. But now that she mentioned afather, it seemed to Anthony that he could see a mighty man, a man ofwrath and muscle and perhaps a man who could slay with one blow and--oh,there was no other way!
All his life, Anthony had shied from woman. All these last twenty-fiveyears he had thanked his lucky stars that one of them had never snaredhim! He had been alone, to live as he pleased and act as he pleased andthink as he pleased; married men do not do that, as witness JohnsonBoller, ensnared by Beatrice, a decent enough young woman but his ruler.
Yes, up to the age of forty-five he had been alone and contented, yearin and year out, indulging every little foible without a soul toquestion, going as he liked and coming as he liked.
But that was over now! That was over and done with, forever! AnthonyFry, with a tiny groan, looked up from his plate and faced Mary.
"Young woman," said he deeply, solemnly enough to cause Johnson Bollerto stop quaking and take to staring, "I have avoided women all my life."
"Yes?" Mary said.
"I have done so," Anthony went on steadily, marching to the gallows as abrave man should, with never a falter once he was started, "because tomy--possibly eccentric--mind, matrimony has no attractions. The bachelorstate, I fondly imagined, was to be my chosen state until death."
Mary looked him over rather too critically, examining the wrinkles atthe corners of his eyes and considering the extreme width of his part.
"That was a good enough idea," she said heartily. "What has it to dowith getting me out of here?"
"It has a great deal to do with it, as you will see," Anthony said, witha great, quivering sigh. "For the fact of your presence I alone willtake the blame."
"Thanks," said Mary.
"And since the blame is mine, I will make what amends I can," AnthonyFry concluded, and nerved though he was, his voice broke. "I willconsent to marry you!"
"Huh?" cried John Boller.
Mary, for the moment, said nothing at all. The intake of her breath wasaudible, though, and her color rose--not in embarrassment, plainly inanger. Mary's eyes snapped, too, and she leaned a little toward himquestioningly, as if incredulous of her own hearing.
"You'll do _what_?" said Mary.
"I will consent to marry you!" Anthony repeated, and it seemed to himthat his voice was coming hollowly and from a great distance, presumablyfrom the caverns of a matrimony-infested Hades. "It will besimple--painfully simple. The ceremony can be performed this morning andin New Jersey. We will leave at once and without notifying either yourfriends or mine, on an extended wedding tour--I should say of sixmonths' duration at the least," Anthony went on brokenly, while JohnsonBoller gazed at him in pure fascination. "In a week or so we can writeeverywhere, giving the impression that it has been an elopement, theceremony having been performed yesterday. Then----"
"Stop!" Mary cried. "Stop that--that planning!"
"Eh?"
The girl was sitting bolt upright, eyes snapping, and Anthony regardedher in astonishment. Also, she thumped the table with her small clenchedfist as she looked straight at him and gasped:
"Why, I--I wouldn't marry you if you were ten times the last man in theworld!"
"But----"
"No!" Mary said quite wildly.
"There is not another thing to do," Anthony informed her, with aforlorn, heart-broken smile. "Your good name----"
"You'll find some other way of preserving my good name!" Mary saidwarmly. "I'm engaged now to the very finest man in the whole world!"
"You're engaged!" Anthony cried intelligently.
"Yes, and he's a sane man, too, and he doesn't cry over the prospect ofmarrying me!" the young woman hurtled on. "He's a _real_ man, and if heever finds out that you made me stay here all last night, he'll ignorethe circumstances and shoot you just as sure as you're sitting there!"
She stopped, breathing hard, and shook her head at Anthony Fry, so thatthe red-gold curls tumbled about quite riotously. Anthony, blinking,said nothing at all, but his friend Johnson Boller took to muttering,rather like a perturbed hen.
As a matter of fact, Boller was downright fond of Anthony, and theprospect of having him slain in cold blood was very distressing. Turninghelpful for the first time, Johnson Boller was on the point of trying tothink up ways and means of getting Mary out--but Mary herself wasspeaking again.
"And don't think that that ridiculous proposal lifts any responsibilityfrom your shoulders, either!" she said, energetically. "It doesn't!"
"I had not meant to imply that it did," Anthony said dully.
"You got me here and you've kept me here," said Mary, and it was plainthat her even temper had not yet returned. "You'll have to devise theway to get me out of here and what to say when I do get home."
"Yes," murmured Anthony.
"And if it will help any in rousing you out of that apathetic state,"the girl concluded, "you may as well know that there isn't the slightestdoubt in the world that the police have a general alarm for me longbefore this!"
"Wow!" said Johnson Boller.
"I am--trying to think!" Anthony said with difficulty.
So far as posture went, he looked it. His lean hands were gripping theedges of the table nervously, and his head was bent again; he scowledand then shook his head as if to dispel the scowl. He cleared his throatrepeatedly; he glanced at Johnson Boller, whose expression was dividedbetween irrepressible amusement and some concern--and he cleared histhroat once more and stared his fried egg fixedly in its lone eye.
Thus he was sitting after five silent minutes, which both Mary andBoller had improved gastronomically, when Wilkins entered.
"Beg pardon, Mr. Fry," said he. "A gentleman to see you."
"I can't see him
," Anthony said quickly.
Wilkins smiled.
"But this gentleman's on his way up now, sir," he said. "He's one ofyour friends, and the office allowed him to come up and merely 'phonedthat he was coming. It is Mr. Robert Vining, sir!"
Anthony shook his head.
"Well, I cannot see even Mr. Vining this morning," he said. "Say, whenhe comes to the door, that--good gracious!"
This last being quite justified, because Mary, with one small shriek,had bounded from her chair like a frightened fawn! The chair, topplingover, bumped about the floor for a bit until Wilkins caught it, andMary, both hands clutched upon her bosom, stood poised for a fullsecond, eyes round and horrified, lips parted.
Then, as the lightning flashes, Mary had turned, and it seemed that shefloated through the air to the corridor and into the corridor and downthe corridor. In rather less than another second the door of the recentDavid's chamber closed with a slam.
At the door the buzzer was buzzing.
"Will you see him, sir?" asked Wilkins.
"What? Yes," said Anthony. "Take away that chair and that extra platebefore you open the door."
Johnson Boller stood with lips pursed gravely until Wilkins was gone.
"Are you going to let him--er--know?"
"Hardly," said Anthony. "Although--I don't know. Bob's level-headed andresourceful and reliable. Do you suppose it would be possible to--askhis aid?"
"Think of the girl!" said Johnson Boller. "Think what----"
He stopped, for Mr. Robert Vining was with them--a tall,broad-shouldered, person of a year or so past thirty, bright and steadyof eye, and with the flush of health upon his carefully shaven cheek. Heentered like the muscular paragon he was, lithely and easily as a tiger;and it seemed to Anthony that, if he did nothing else, fifteen minutesof his conversation might serve to restore normal thought.
Robert Vining was all of the pleasant every day that had been beforetheir visit to the fight, and the very sight of him was stimulating.
So he clasped Vining's hand and said heartily:
"Good morning, Bob! You've breakfasted?"
"Long since," grinned young Mr. Vining. "I--who uses perfume aroundhere?"
"No one," Anthony said, paling slightly. "Possibly----"
Vining's eyes twinkled.
"Guess I imagined it," he said. "There's a reason! Well, it's early, butI thought I'd drop in for a moment in passing and see what you thoughtof the alleged battle last night. Hello, Johnson! Heard you were here.Did you go, too?"
"Yep," said Johnson Boller, gazing at his old friend and wonderingwhether Anthony thought he was looking and acting like himself.
"It was one grand lemon, Anthony, was it not?" asked Mr. Vining,sprawling comfortably for a stay and pinching the end of his cigarette.
Anthony himself settled down in his pet chair for a normal quarter-hour.
"It was all of that," he agreed almost cheerfully. "I've seen theso-called Kid in pretty bad form before; he was a howling outrage whenhe fought Morr two years ago, but last night----"
His voiced trailed away oddly and for cause. Wilkins, coming fromnowhere in particular, was standing in the corridor. He looked straightat his master and with great meaning, and having caught his attention herolled his eyes toward David's room and nodded slightly. Again he lookedat Anthony, again he nodded; and Anthony rose abruptly.
"You--excuse me for a moment, Bob?" he asked, in the same low, huskyvoice that had afflicted him before this morning. "Wilkins--ah--Wilkinswishes----"
He hurried across the room and followed Wilkins as he backed into theshadows of the corridor.
"She wishes to see you, sir," the invaluable one whispered. "She rangfor me and she says it's urgent."
"But----"
"I'd go at once, sir!" Wilkins breathed fervently. "I really would, Mr.Fry. She seems in a bit of a temper, if I may say so."
Anthony passed him without further comment or protest, and hastened toDavid's door. Apprehension filled him suddenly, not so much becausethere was any reason for apprehension as because he was nervous. Angerwent up, too, that the wretched girl should have upset the first calmand peaceful moment of the morning, so that it is quite possible thatAnthony failed to smile as he entered the chamber.
For that matter, Mary was not smiling either. She stood at the foot ofthe bed, clinging to it, and her bosom heaved and her eyes bored intoAnthony Fry.
"That--that man!" she whispered quite dramatically.
"He is merely an old friend of mine, Miss Mary," Anthony saidimpatiently. "I have no idea of mentioning your existence, far lessof----"
"Did your man say _Robert_ Vining?"
"Of course."
"Is that the Robert Vining of Vining & Dale, lawyers, in Wall Street?"Mary cried softly.
"Of course," said Anthony. "It isn't possible that you know him?"
"_Know_ him?" Mary echoed wildly. "That's the man I'm going to marry!"
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