by Rex Beach
XXI
AN AWAKENING
Time was when Phil Strange boasted that he and his wife had playedevery fair-ground and seaside amusement-park from Coney Island toGalveston. In his battered wardrobe-trunks were parts of old costumes,scrapbooks of clippings, and a goodly collection of lithographs, someadvertising the supernatural powers of "Professor Magi, Sovereign ofthe Unseen World," and others the accomplishments of "Mlle. Le Garde,Renowned Serpent Enchantress." In these gaudy portraits of "Magi theMystic" no one would have recognized Phil Strange. And even moredifficult would it have been to trace a resemblance between Mrs.Strange and the blond, bushy-headed "Mlle. Le Garde" of the posters.Nevertheless, the likenesses at one time had been considered not tooflattering, and Phil treasured them as evidences of imperishabledistinction.
But the Stranges had tired of public life. For a long time the wife hadconfessed to a lack of interest in her vocation which amounted almostto a repugnance. Snake-charming, she had discovered, was far from anideal profession for a woman of refinement. It possessed unpleasantfeatures, and even such euphemistic titles as "Serpent Enchantress" and"Reptilian Mesmerist" failed to rob the calling of a certain odium, asuggestion of vulgarity in the minds of the more discriminating. Thishad become so distressing to Mrs. Strange's finer sensibilities thatshe had voiced a yearning to forsake the platform and pit for somethingmore congenial, and finally she had prevailed upon Phil to make achange.
The step had not been taken without misgivings, but a benign Providencehad watched over the pair. Mrs. Strange was a natural seamstress, andluck had directed her and Phil to a community which was not only inneed of a good dressmaker, but peculiarly ripe for the talents of asoothsayer. Phil, too, had intended to embrace a new profession; but hehad soon discovered that Jonesville offered better financial returns toa man of his accepted gifts than did the choicest of seasideconcessions, and therefore he had resumed his old calling under aslightly different guise. Before long he acknowledged himself wellpleased with the new environment, for his wife was far happier indraping dress goods upon the figures of her customers than in hangingpython folds about her own, and he found his own fame growing withevery day. His mediumistic gifts came into general demand. The countrypeople journeyed miles to consult him, and Blaze Jones's statement thatthey confided in the fortune-teller as they would have confided in apriest was scarcely an exaggeration. Phil did indeed become therepository for confessions of many sorts.
Contrary to Blaze's belief, however, Strange was no Prince of Darkness,and took little joy in some of the secrets forced upon him. Phil was agood man in his way--so conscientious that certain information heacquired weighed him down with a sense of unpleasant responsibility.Chancing to meet Dave Law one day, he determined to relieve himself ofat least one troublesome burden.
But Dave was not easily approachable. He met the medium's allusions tothe occult with contemptuous amusement, nor would he consent to aprivate "reading," Strange grew almost desperate enough to speak theungarnisned truth.
"You'd better pay a little attention to me," he grieved; "I've got amessage to you from the 'Unseen World.'"
"Charges 'collect,' I reckon," the Ranger grinned.
Strange waved aside the suggestion. "It came unbidden and I pass it onfor what it's worth." As Dave turned away he added, hastily, "It'sabout a skeleton in the chaparral, and a red-haired woman."
Dave stopped; he eyed the speaker curiously. "Go on," said he.
But a public street, Strange explained, was no place for psychicdiscussions. If Dave cared to come to his room, where the surroundingswere favorable to thought transference, and where Phil's spirit controlcould have a chance to make itself felt, they would interrogate the"Unseen Forces" further. Dave agreed. When they were alone in thefortune-telling "parlor," he sat back while the medium closed his eyesand prepared to explore the Invisible. After a brief delay Phil began:
"I see a great many things--that woman I told you about, and three men.One of 'em is you, the other two is Mexicans. You're at a water-hole inthe mesquite. Now there's a shooting scrape; I see the body of a deadman." The speaker became silent; evidently his cataleptic vision wasfar from perfect. But he soon began to drone again. "Now I behold astranger at the same water-hole. He's alone--he's looking forsomething. He rides in circles. He's off his horse and bendingover--What? A skeleton! Yes, it's the skeleton of one of them otherMexicans." Strange's voice became positively sepulchral as his spiritcontrol took fuller possession of his earthly shell and as his visionsresolved themselves into clearer outline. "See! He swears an oath toavenge. And now--the scene changes. Everything dissolves. I'm in amansion; and the red-haired woman comes toward me. Over her head floatsthat skeleton--"
Dave broke in crisply. "All right! Let's get down to cases. What's onyour mind, Strange?"
The psychic simulated a shudder--a painful contortion, such as any onemight suffer if rudely jerked out of the spirit world.
"Eh? What was I--? There! You've broke the connection," he declared."Did I tell you anything?"
"No. But evidently you can."
"I'm sorry. They never come back."
"Rot!"
Phil was hurt, indignant. With some stiffness he explained the dangerof interrupting a seance of this sort, but Law remained obdurate.
"You can put over that second-sight stuff with the Greasers," hedeclared, sharply, "but not with me. So, Jose Sanchez has been to seeyou and you want to warn me. Is that it?"
"I don't know any such party," Strange protested. He eyed his callerfor a moment; then with an abrupt change of manner he complained: "Say,Bo! What's the matter with you? I've got a reputation to protect, and Ido things my own way. I'm getting set to slip you something, and youtry to make me look like a sucker. Is that any way to act?"
"I prefer to talk to you when your eyes are open. I know all about--"
"You don't know nothing about anything," snapped the other. "Jose's gotit in for Mrs. Austin."
"You said you didn't know him."
"Well, I don't. He's never been to see me in his life, but--hissweetheart has. Rosa Morales comes regular."
"Rosa! Jose's sweetheart!"
"Yes. Her and Jose have joined out together since you shot Panfilo, andthey're framing something."
"What, for instance?"
The fortune-teller hesitated. "I only wish I knew," he said, slowly."It looks to me like a killing."
Dave nodded. "Probably is. Jose would like to get me, and of course thegirl--"
"Oh, they don't aim to get you. You ain't the one they're after."
"No? Who then?"
"I don't know nothing definite. In this business, you understand, afellow has to put two and two together. Sometimes I have to make oneand two count four. I have to tell more'n I'm told; I have to shoot mygame on the wing, for nobody tells me any more'n they dast. All thesame, I'm sure Jose ain't carving no epitaph for you. From what I'vedug out of Rosa, he's acting for a third party--somebody with pull anda lot of coin--but who it is I don't know. Anyhow, he's cooking troublefor the Austins, and I want to stand from under."
Now that the speaker had dropped all pretense, he answered Dave'squestions without evasion and told what he knew. It was not much, toDave's way of thinking, but it was enough to give cause for thought,and when the men finally parted it was with the understanding thatStrange would promptly communicate any further intelligence on thissubject that came his way.
On the following day Dave's duties called him to Brownsville, wherecourt was in session. He had planned to leave by the morning train; butas he continued to meditate over Strange's words he decided that,before going, he ought to advise Alaire of the fellow's suspicions inorder that she might discharge Jose Sanchez and in other ways protectherself against his possible spite. Since the matter was one that couldnot well be talked over by telephone, Dave determined to go in personto Las Palmas that evening. Truth to say, he was hungry to see Alaire.By this time he had almost ceased to combat the feeling she aroused inhim, and it was
in obedience to an impulse far stronger than friendlyanxiety that he hired a machine and, shortly after dark, took the riverroad.
The Fates are malicious jades. They delight in playing ill-naturedpranks upon us. Not content with spinning and measuring and cutting thethreads of our lives to suit themselves, they must also tangle theskein, causing us to cut capers to satisfy their whims.
At no time since meeting Alaire had Dave Law been more certain of hismoral strength than on this evening; at no time had his grip uponhimself seemed firmer. Nor had Alaire the least reason to doubt herself-control. Dave, to be sure, had appealed to her fancy and herinterest; in fact, he so dominated her thoughts that the imaginarycreature whom she called her dream-husband had gradually taken on hisphysical likeness. But the idea that she was in any way enamoured ofhim had never entered her mind; that she could ever be tempted to yieldto him, to be false to her ideals of wifehood, was inconceivable. Insuch wise do the Fates amuse themselves.
Alaire had gone to her favorite after-dinner refuge, a nook on one ofthe side-galleries, where there was a wide, swinging wicker couch; andthere in a restful obscurity fragrant with unseen flowers she hadprepared to spend the evening with her dreams.
She did not hear Dave's automobile arrive. Her first intimation of hispresence came with the sound of his heel upon the porch. When heappeared it was almost like the materialization of her uppermostthought--quite as if a figure from her fancy had stepped forth fullclad.
She rose and met him, smiling. "How did you know I wanted to see you?"she inquired.
Dave took her hand and looked down at her, framing a commonplace reply.But for some reason the words lay unspoken upon his tongue. Alaire'sinformal greeting, her parted lips, the welcoming light in her eyes,had sent them flying. It seemed to him that the dim half-light whichillumined this nook emanated from her face and her person, that thefragrance which came to his nostrils was the perfume of her breath, andat the prompting of these thoughts all his smothered longings rose asif at a signal. As mutinous prisoners in a jail delivery overpowertheir guards, so did Dave's long-repressed emotions gain the upper handof him now, and so swift was their uprising that he could not summonmore than a feeble, panicky resistance.
The awkwardness of the pause which followed Alaire's inquirystrengthened the rebellious impulses within him, and quiteunconsciously his friendly grasp upon her fingers tightened. For herpart, as she saw this sudden change sweep over him, her own facealtered and she felt something within her breast leap into life. Nowoman could have failed to read the meaning of his sudden agitation,and, strange to say, it worked a similar state of feeling in Alaire.She strove to control herself and to draw away, but instead found thather hand had answered his, and that her eyes were flashing recognitionof his look. All in an instant she realized how deathly tired of herown struggle she had become, and experienced a reckless impulse to castaway all restraint and blindly meet his first advance. She had no timeto question her yearnings; she seemed to understand only that this manoffered her rest and security; that in his arms lay sanctuary.
To both it seemed that they stood there silently, hand in hand, for avery long time, though in reality there was scarcely a moment ofhesitation on the part of either. A drunken, breathless instant ofuncertainty, then Alaire was on Dave's breast, and his strength, hisardor, his desire, was throbbing through her. Her bare arms were abouthis neck; a sigh, the token of utter surrender, fluttered from herthroat. She raised her face to his and their lips melted together.
For a time they were all alone in the universe, the center of allecstasy. Dave was whispering wild incoherencies as Alaire lay in hisembrace, her limbs relaxed, her flesh touching his, her body clingingto his.
"Dream-man!" she murmured.
As consciousness returns after a swoon, so did realization return toAlaire Austin. Faintly, uncertainly at first, then with a swift, strongeffort she pushed herself out of Dave's reluctant arms. They stoodapart, frightened. Dave's gaze was questioning. Alaire began to trembleand to struggle with her breath.
"Are we--mad?" she gasped. "What have we done?"
"There's no use fighting. It was here--it was bound to come out. Oh,Alaire--!"
"Don't!" She shook her head, and, avoiding his outstretched hands, wentto the edge of the veranda and leaned weakly against a pillar, with herhead in the crook of her arm. Dave followed her, but the words he spokewere scarcely intelligible.
Finally she raised her face to his: "No! It is useless to deny it--nowthat we know. But I didn't know, until a moment ago."
"I've known, all the time--ever since the first moment I saw you," hetold her, hoarsely. "To me you're all there is; nothing else matters.And you love me! God! I wonder if I'm awake."
"Dream-man," she repeated, more slowly. "Oh, why did you come so late?"
"So late?"
"Yes. We must think it out, the best way we can, I--wonder what youthink of me?"
"You must know. There's no need for excuses; there's nothing toexplain, except the miracle that such great happiness could come to afellow like me."
"Happiness? It means anything but that. I was miserable enough before,what shall I do now?"
"Why, readjust your life," he cried, roughly. "Surely you won'thesitate after this?"
But Alaire did not seem to hear him. She was staring out into the nightagain. "What a failure I must be!" she murmured, finally. "I suppose Ishould have seen this coming, but--I didn't. And in his house, too!This dress is his, and these jewels--everything!" She held up her handsand stared curiously at the few rings she wore, as if seeing them forthe first time. "How does that make you feel?"
Dave stirred; there was resentment in his voice when he answered: "Yourhusband has sacrificed his claim to you, as everybody knows. To my mindhe has lost his rights. You're mine, mine! By God!" He waved a vigorousgesture of defiance. "I'll take you away from him at any cost. I'll seethat he gives you up, somehow. You're all I have."
"Of course the law provides a way, but you wouldn't, couldn't,understand how I feel about divorce." The mere mention of the word wasdifficult and caused Alaire to clench her hands. "We're both too shakento talk sanely now, so let's wait--"
"There's something you must understand before we go any further," Daveinsisted. "I'm poor; I haven't a thing I can call my own, so I'm notsure I have any right to take you away from all this." He turned ahostile eye upon their surroundings. "Most people would say that I'vesimply wasted my life. Perhaps I have--that depends upon the way youlook at it and upon what you consider worth while--anyhow, all I canoffer you is love--" He broke off momentarily as if his breath hadsuddenly failed him. "Greater love, it seems to me, than any woman everhad."
"Money means so little, and it's so easy to be happy without it,"Alaire told him. "But I'm not altogether poor. Of course, everythinghere is Ed's, but I have enough. All my life I've had everything exceptthe very thing you offer--and how I've longed for that! How I've enviedother people! Do you think I'll be allowed, somehow, to have it?"
"Yes! I've something to say about that. You gave me the right when yougave me that kiss."
Alaire shook her head. "I'm not sure. It seems easy now, while you arehere, but how will it seem later? I'm in no condition at this minute toreason. Perhaps, as you say, it is all a dream; perhaps this feeling Ihave is just a passing frenzy."
Dave laughed softly, confidently. "It's too new yet for you tounderstand, but wait. It is frenzy, witchery--yes, and more. To-morrow,and every day after, it will grow and grow and grow! Trust me, I'vewatched it in myself."
"So you cared for me from the very first?" Alaire questioned. It wasthe woman's curiosity, the woman's hunger to hear over and over againthat truth which never fails to thrill and yet never fully satisfies.
"Oh, even before that, I think! When you came to my fire that eveningin the chaparral I knew every line of your face, every movement of yourbody, every tone of your voice, as a man knows and recognizes hisideal. But it took time for me to realize all you meant to me."
"No, no! Oh, I have so much to say! I've been dumb all my life, andyou've just opened my lips."
"Please! After I've decided what to do--once I feel that I can controlmyself better--I'll send for you. But you must promise not to comeuntil then, for you would only make it harder."
It required all Dave's determination to force himself to obey her wish,and the struggle nearly kept him from recalling the original object ofhis visit. Remembering, he tried to tell Alaire what he had learnedfrom Phil Strange; but so broken and so unconvincing was his recitalthat he doubted if she understood in the least what he was talkingabout.
At last he took her hand and kissed her wrist, just over her pulse, asif to speed a message to her heart, then into her rosy palm hewhispered a tender something that thrilled her.
She stood white, motionless, against the dim illumination of the porchuntil he had gone, and not until the last sound of his motor had diedaway did she stir. Then she pressed her own lips to the palm he hadcaressed and walked slowly to her room.