The Rose in the Ring Part 56

"You won't tell Christine that I did it, will you? Just say that I went away--to South America, I guess."

"I will not tell her, Tom."

"Is she going to marry David Jenison?"

"I hope so."

"Well, she'll feel easier in her mind if she knows I'm gone for good, then. Maybe you'd better tell her I'm dead."

He said it as calmly as if he were announcing the time of day, but he was none the less earnest.

"There is one alternative, Tom," she said, at last coming to the plan she had had in mind from the beginning.

"You're not thinking of--of taking me back," he said, aghast at the very thought of it.

"No. I'm going to make an offer that will give you greater satisfaction than that. Will you go away from New York forever, if I pay over to you every cent that I received for my share in Van Slye's--"

"No!" he almost shouted. "You can't _buy_ me off. I was willing to do the right thing a minute ago. Now, you've gone and spoiled it all." He clapped his hands to his eyes; his big frame shook with rage.

She went quickly to him.

"Now, I _know_ you are a man--a big man, Tom. I am prouder of you now than I ever was in all my life."

He looked bewildered. "You mean, you did that to _try_ me?"

"To try myself," was her enigmatic response,

"Well?"

She stood back and looked at him intently.

"I still have your promise. You _will_ do it to-night?"

He stared at her as if he could not believe his ears, but he said resolutely:

"Of course, I will."

CHAPTER VIII

COLONEL GRAND AND THE CRONKS

She walked away from him and sat down in one of the big chairs, as if her limbs suddenly had lost the power to support her. He pulled his crumpled hat from his pocket and fumbled it for a few moments. She sat there, looking at him, her lips parted.

"Well," he began, "I guess I'd better be going."

"Going? Where are you going?" she demanded, suddenly alert.

"Oh, out somewhere. I've got ten or twelve hours to kill."

She struggled to her feet.

"Tom, you are not going to leave this house until to-night."

He drew back, amazed.

"What?"

"I am going down to the river with you."

Comprehension was slow in filtering into his brain. A ghastly pallor spread over his face.

"What did you say?"

"I am going to the river with you. But you must stay here until to-night. You are not to go out into the streets. Do you understand?"

"You can't mean that--Why, you must be crazy. You? Why--why, I'm doing it so that you can _live_. You can't mean what you're thinking of--" He could not complete the sentence. A heavy sweat broke out on his forehead.

She forced a miserable smile to her lips. "You do not understand me, Tom. I am going down to the river with you, but I am coming back alone."

He slowly grasped the meaning of it.

"You--you're going down to see that I do make an end of it?" he cried.

"I want to be sure, for Christine's sake," she said, quite steadily.

He was glaring at her now. "Oh, I see. You don't trust me," he exclaimed bitterly. He put out his hand to steady himself against the library table. "I can't say that I blame you, either. But I won't stay here. I would, if it would do any good, but how can it? The police are likely to pile in here any minute with a warrant for me. That would be fine, wouldn't it?" He strode to the window and tried to look through the pa.s.sage into the street. "I don't want to be pinched now. Go and look out of the front windows--go on! See if there's any one out there."

She did not move.

"Ain't you going to look?" he demanded.

"The police?" dropped from her lips dully. She had overlooked the danger from that direction, although her mind had been so full of it a little while before. "He won't send them here, Tom--"

"Of course, he will," he broke in irascibly. "He's crazy mad, and he'll act quickly to head off Jenison's warrant. I can't stay here--not another minute. Can't I get out the back way? They may be laying for me in front. Don't look like that, Mary! I can give 'em the slip. It won't do to have them nab me here. Just think of the newspapers! Wake up!

Don't you see? And listen: I'll do what I said I would--to-night. I swear it. You can trust me, Mary. Now, quick, show me the way out--and don't let me b.u.mp into Christine. I--I couldn't stand that. I don't want to lose my nerve."

She left him and ran into the next room to look out into the avenue. He followed rapidly.

"There are two men standing at the corner," she whispered in alarm. He would have looked out if she had not dragged him away.

"It would be terrible if they were to come in here," she was saying distractedly. "Yes, you must go." She grasped his arm. "Tom, you may go if you'll promise to come back tonight."

"What's that for?"

"Because I insist. At ten o'clock--or any time you may choose. Only you _must_ come back."

He studied her face curiously. Something stirred in his heart, but it had been so long since anything had touched that organ that he failed to credit himself with an emotion. Whatever it was, it impelled him to submit to her demand.