Out of the Primitive Part 66

"Tell him to come here at once!"

"Y-yes, sir, very good, sir. But I fear he'll be afraid to come out, sir. Mr. Blake--he ordered 'im to stay in, sir."

"Blake ordered him! Why? Speak out, man! Why?"

"He--he said the bridge--that it was about to fall, sir."

"Bridge--about to fall?"

"Yes, sir. So he pulled Mr. Ashton across the desk by 'is neck--manhandled 'im awful, and 'e told 'im--"

"What! What! Tell Ashton I'm here--Mr. Leslie! Tell him to come at once--at once! D' you hear?"

As the valet vanished, Genevieve darted to her father, her eyes wide with swift-mounting alarm. "Papa! Didn't you hear him? He said the bridge--it's about to fall!"

"He did! He did!" cried Dolores, catching the alarm. "Oh, and Jimmy's gone out, too!"

"'Jimmy'!" echoed Mrs. Gantry, staring.

The girl ran to the windows in the end of the room, which afforded a full view of the gigantic bridge.

"Hurry! Hurry, papa! Do something!" cried Genevieve. "If the bridge falls--!"

"Nonsense!" argued her father. "There can't be any danger. It's still standing--and all those men remaining out on it. If there was any danger--Must be some mistake of that fool valet."

"Then why are there no men ash.o.r.e? Why are they all out there?"

questioned Genevieve with intuitive logic. "Oh! it's true--I know it's true! He's in danger! And James--both! They're out there--it will fall!

He'll be killed! Send some one--tell them to come ash.o.r.e! I'll go myself!"

She started toward the door.

"No, no, let me!" cried Dolores, darting ahead of her.

"Stop!--both of you!" exclaimed Mrs. Gantry. "Are you mad?"

"Stop!" commanded Mr. Leslie.

Genevieve paused and stood hesitating before the vestibule door.

Dolores darted back to the windows.

A voice across the room called out: "That's--that's right! There's no need to go. It's all a fake--a pretence!"

Staring about, Mr. Leslie and the ladies saw Ashton beside the inner door. He was striving to a.s.sume an air of easy a.s.surance, but the doork.n.o.b, which he still grasped, rattled audibly.

"You!" rasped Mr. Leslie. "What you doing in here--skulking in here?"

Ashton cringed back, all the a.s.surance stricken from his face.

"You--you believe him!" he stammered. "But it's not fair! You've heard only his side--his lies about me!"

"Whose lies? Speak out!"

"His--Blake's! The big brute took me by surprise--half murdered me. He came here, drunk or crazy, I don't know which. Pretended the bridge was in danger."

"Pretended? Isn't it?"

"All rot! Not a bit of it!"

"What!"

"I tell you, it's all a put-up job--a frame-up. The brute thought he'd get in with you again--you and Genevieve. He schemed to discredit me, to get my place."

"Blake?--he did that?" eagerly queried Mrs. Gantry.

"Yes!" cried Ashton, and he turned again to Mr. Leslie. "Don't you see?

He guessed that you were coming up. So he sneaked here ahead of you--took away my pistol and threatened to murder me if I left my rooms."

Genevieve looked the glib relator up and down, white with scorn.

"You lie!" she said.

"But--but--I--" he stammered, disconcerted. He stepped toward her, half desperate. "It's the truth, I tell you, the solemn truth! I'll swear to it! It was there, right at my desk. You see the maps, torn when he dragged me across--by the throat! Look here at my neck--at the marks of his fingers!"

"You're in luck. He had good cause to break your neck," commented Mr.

Leslie.

"Herbert!" reproved Mrs. Gantry, greatly shocked.

"Papa! Papa!" urged Genevieve, running to grasp her father's arm. "You can't believe him! If Tom said the bridge was in danger--We stand here doing nothing! Send some one! If the bridge should fall--"

"Fall?" sneered Ashton. "I tell you it's safe, safe as a rock. Look for yourselves. It's still standing."

"Then he has saved it," snapped Mr. Leslie. "He's saved my bridge--his bridge! While you, you skulking thief--"

Ashton cringed back as if struck. But Genevieve dragged her father about from him. "Don't mind him, papa! What does that matter now? Send some one at once!"

"They're all out on the bridge already," he replied. "There's no one to send. Wait! I'll go myself!"

"Oh! Oh! The train has started on sh.o.r.e again--it's coming clear off the bridge!" cried Dolores. "It stopped part way, near this end.

They'll be on it, they'll surely be on it. Yes, yes! There he is!

There's Jimmy!"

She flung up a window-sash and leaned far out, waving her handkerchief.

Her mother turned to Genevieve, who stood as if dazed.

"My dear," she said, "do you not understand? Lord James is safe--quite safe!"

"Yes?" replied Genevieve vaguely.