The Mask Part 23

Helen was quick to note the alteration in his appearance, and her first instinct, naturally, was to a.s.sociate it with her husband. Something was amiss.

"There's nothing wrong, is there?" she asked in alarm.

"No, no, my dear woman!"

But his tone was not convincing. He always called her "my dear woman"

when nervous or excited, and "my dear lady" in his calmer moods. She at once remarked it, and it did not tend to rea.s.sure her. Now greatly alarmed she laid a trembling hand on his arm.

"Tell me, please! Don't hide anything from me. Has anything happened to Kenneth?"

"No--no; of course not." Quickly changing the subject he asked: "You got a message."

"Yes--a cablegram. It came just now."

"Have you got it? Let me see it."

"Yes, certainly," said Helen, looking around for the dispatch. Unable to find it, she called to her sister.

"Ray, dear, what did you do with Kenneth's cablegram?"

Her sister came up to a.s.sist in the search, in which even Mr. Steell joined. But the search was fruitless. The cablegram had disappeared.

"Oh, I know!" suddenly exclaimed Ray. "It must have been carried away with the tea things."

"That's right! I never thought of that!" said Helen.

The next instant the two women hurried out of the room in the direction of the kitchen.

The instant they had disappeared Mr. Parker turned to the lawyer. In a whisper he said:

"There is terrible news! I don't know how to break it to the poor woman----"

Steell sprang forward. Anxiously he exclaimed:

"Terrible news? Surely not----"

The president nodded.

"Yes--all lost, and the diamonds, too. A dispatch just received in London says that, according to a wireless relayed from Cape Town, the _Abyssinia_ caught fire twelve hours after sailing from that port and all on board perished. It is shocking, and the pecuniary loss to us disastrous. The stones were not insured. Hush! Here they come. Not a word!"

"My G.o.d!" muttered the lawyer, as he fell back and turned away, so they might not see the effect which the shocking news had made on him. With an effort he managed to control himself.

The two women entered the room joyfully.

"Here it is!" cried Helen exultantly, as she brandished the missing telegram. "You see, he's just sailed, and all's well."

The president said nothing, but, taking the dispatch from her hands, slowly read it. Nodding his head, he said slowly:

"Yes--he's just sailed, and--all's well."

"When do you think he'll be here?" questioned the young hostess, looking anxiously up into his face.

The president shook his head.

"That is hard to tell," he answered evasively.

Mr. Steell had gone to the window, where he stood looking out, idly drumming his fingers on the pane. How was it possible to break such fearful tidings as that? What a horrible calamity! He wished himself a hundred miles away, yet some one must tell her. At that moment shrill cries arose in the street outside--the familiar, distressing, almost exultant cries of news-venders, glad of any calamity that puts a few nickels into their pockets.

"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special ex-tra!_"

"What's that?" exclaimed Helen apprehensively. The sound of special editions always filled her with anxiety, especially since Kenneth's departure.

"_Ex-tra! Ex-tra! Special edition! Ex-tra! Big steamer gone down.

Great loss of life. Extra!_"

Her face was pale, as she turned and looked at the others, who also stood in silence, listening to the hoa.r.s.e accents of distress.

"A steamer gone down!" she faltered. "Isn't that terrible? I wonder what steamer it was."

Ray ran to the door.

"I'll get a paper," she said.

Before Mr. Parker or Mr. Steell could prevent her the young girl had opened the front door. Now there was no way of preventing Helen knowing. The best thing was to prepare her gently.

"My dear Mrs. Traynor--I didn't tell you the trouble just now. There has been a little trouble. The _Abyssinia_----"

Helen gave a cry of anguish.

"I knew it! I knew it! Kenneth is dead!"

"No, no, my dear lady. These newspaper reports are always grossly exaggerated. The _Abyssinia_ has met with a little trouble--nothing very serious, I a.s.sure you. Everything is all right, no doubt. Your husband is well able to take care of himself. We may hear from him any moment, rea.s.suring us as to his safety."

His words of comfort went unheeded. Her face white as death Helen tottered rather than walked to the door, reaching it just as Ray, almost as pale, entered, reading the paper she had just purchased. On seeing her sister she instinctively made an effort to hide the sheet, but Helen quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of her hand. Her hand trembling so violently that she could scarcely make out the letters she glanced at the big scare-head, printed in red ink, to imitate blood, a merciful custom sensational newspapers have of making the most of the agony of others.

S. S. ABYSSINIA GONE DOWN!

ALL PERISH!

For a moment she stood still, looking at the big type with open, staring eyes. Then, with a low cry, like a wounded animal, she let the paper slip from her nerveless fingers. There was a furious throbbing at her temples: her heart seemed to stop. The room spun round, and she fainted just as Steell rushed forward to catch her in his arms.

"Brandy! Brandy!" he shouted. "She's fainted!"

While Ray ran for the smelling salts and Mr. Parker was bringing the brandy there came another vigorous pull at the bell. An instant later the maid entered with a cablegram, which Mr. Parker seized and tore open. As he read the contents, a look of the greatest surprise and joy lit up his face.

"Look at this!" he cried.

"What is it?" demanded Steell, still on his knees trying to revive the unconscious woman.