CHAPTER XVIII
IN A FOG
Men are very much alike in this respect: if one finds fortune or a paththat seems to lead that way, all who suspect it will try to crowd in.The same instinct may be seen among a flock of fowl, only we do notpursue so openly. And so, when news of the unexpected and early dividendon Rockhaven stock circulated--as it was quick in doing--everybody onthe island who had a few dollars laid away made haste to seek Winn,anxious to invest. The leaven worked as that shrewd swindler, Weston,knew full well it would, and had Winn's suspicions not been aroused, andhe too honest to take advantage of these people, he might have sold fivethousand shares, and as the sequel proved, bankrupted the island. Forthese hard-working people, though living in hovels and wearing clothinga tramp would almost disdain, were frugal, and each and all hadsomething saved for a rainy day. The wisest had, from time to time, senttheir savings ashore by Captain Roby to deposit in a savings bank;others kept a few dollars hid in bedticks or similarly secreted; butnow, solely because Jess Hutton, the oracle of the island, was known tohave invested in this stock and received such fabulous returns, all wereanxious to follow his lead. A little spice of envy crept in also at hisgood luck, and Mrs. Moore, in chatting with a neighbor, voiced it.
"It's allus the way," she said plaintively, "when Jess bought that ledgeo' stun from Gad Baker an' gin him a hundred dollars for't, 'mosteverybody thought he was a fool, and now 'long comes this city man andgives him two thousand for't, an' on top o' that Jess buys some o' thisstock an' gets a hundred dollars profit fust go-off. Here I've beencookin' an' washin', year in an' year out, an' jist keepin' soul 'n'body together, an' the boys spendin' every cent they airned--not thetI'm complainin' on them, only if I had five hundred laid away I mightput in as much as Jess did. It don't seem right, that it don't!Howsoever, it's the way o' the world, an' them as has, gits."
Little did hard-working Widow Moore realize when Dame Fortune was goodto her!
But Winn was the most worried person on the island, and his burden theheavier to bear since he dared not hint his suspicions to any one. Toall who came and almost begged him to take their savings in exchange forstock he made only one reply, "We have no more to sell," and had therebeen a stock exchange on the island, Rockhaven would have soared totwenty dollars a share, so eager were those credulous people to invest.
Then another incident of life began to interest them, and, though Winnknew it not, his attentions to Mona began to create gossip, moreespecially as he was the actual and present representative of a richcorporation. His walking to and from church with her, the hours he hadspent in her home, and more than these, the summer evening strolls up tothe old tide mill, to linger and watch the moonlight on the water, hadall been noticed and commented upon. For these people, albeit theyworked hard and lived poorly, intuitively knew where Cupid hid himselfand how and when he shot his arrows. It was all right, of course, andthough other less fortunate maids envied Mona, and many of the goodmothers voiced their congratulations to Mrs. Hutton, there was noopposition to this summer idyl.
One thing Winn noticed, however, and that was the pertinent fact thatwhen he "dropped in" at Mona's home, as he so often did, her motherusually found some excuse to absent herself and leave the young couplealone. Had he been desirous of wooing this winsome maid nothing wouldhave pleased him better, but he hardly felt that way. It was true sheinterested him, for what young man could resist her sweet and tenderways, her patience with her mother's implacable dislike of her violinplaying and the beautiful soul her truthful eyes bespoke? Then the hourswith her in the romantic spot in which she had chosen to seek thegoddess of music were more than charming. In a way this trysting placebegan to seem sacred to him, and the secret hours he had passed with herthere a tender bond between them. All these sweet motive forces thatmove man's nature, like so many little hands, began to entwinethemselves in his. He had no thought of marrying. He realized that hehad yet to carve his way upward to independence before thinking of ahome and wife, and beyond that the lesson of distrust Ethel Sherman hadtaught him still held sway. He was not a model of discretion; he was anunthinking young man with the germs of fine honor and sturdy honestylatent within him, and in spite of the cynicism he had imbibed from JackNickerson he was sure in the end to commit no folly, nor wrong man,woman, or child.
And yet, insensibly, he was doing Mona Hutton the greatest wrong in hispower--almost.
Some realizing sense of this came to him after that evening beside theold tide mill, when his words had caused a single tear to fall upon thehand that helped her to arise, and yet he could not tell what he hadsaid that hurt her so.
There is, perhaps, nothing so fascinating in this wide world to a youngman as the first signs of a sweet maid's budding love for him, and itmust be stated, nothing is harder to turn away from, and Winn was noexception to young men in general. And now that he was conscious of it,that fact, coupled with the business dilemma confronting him, created adouble burden. He saw whither he was drifting with her and seeing, hadnot the heart to turn away. On the other hand, the Rockhaven GraniteCompany began to seem a quagmire of fraud in which he and all who hadtrusted in him might any day become entangled, their investments sweptaway, the men he had hired left without pay, and he stranded on thisisland. It may seem that Winn was borrowing needless worriment, and yetonce the canker spot of suspicion fastens itself upon a man's mind, itgrows until it turns all things green.
One thing he tried to do--avoid Mona. And yet he could not to anyextent, for since she dwelt next door he must needs meet her and speakalmost daily. And strange to say, now that it was in his heart to actindifferent, her appealing eyes and winsome face began to seem areproach, and his conscience troubled him. For a week he passed eachevening alone in his room trying to read one of the books he had broughtwith him, or else in Jess Hutton's store, listening to the gossip of themen who gathered there, interspersed with an occasional bit of quaintphilosophy from the lips of Jess himself, and then a bombshell in theway of a letter to him reached the island. It was as follows:--
"DEAR WINN,
"Have been back to the city now for two weeks and watching the trend of the market. I was satisfied, as I wrote you, that Weston & Hill were preparing to launch a skyrocket--now I know it. What with printer's ink and that walking tombstone, Simmons, they have managed to get Rockhaven among the unlisted but active stocks, and by some chicanery, worked the price up to six dollars. Page, my broker, says it's a wildcat of the most pronounced stripe. A good many are short of it at below its present price and yet it holds firm. I've unloaded half I bought, so I am on Easy Street, and am watching out. It may go up with a whoop or down with a thud. One guess is as good as another, but what you best do is send me your stock and let Page sell it. Also if you have sold any to your friends, give them the tip. I know you believe in Weston and think, as you have said, that I am a perpetual scoffer. They may be all right, but I don't believe it, and now as you have a chance to unload and make a good thing, better do it.
"Yours ever,
"JACK.
"P.S.--I forgot to mention that Ethel Sherman is still up in the mountains and the belle of all occasions. She asked a lot of questions about you and in such a way I was almost tempted to believe they were sincere. She has failed to land the golf dude, for his mother scented danger and, like a hen, led him away to safety."
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