The Scarlet Feather Part 27

d.i.c.k put out his hand almost blindly to take his cap, and adjusted it on his head like a man drunk. He arose and staggered from the table. This was the last straw.

"Look here, boy--you want some money," exclaimed the colonel, brusquely.

"I've come prepared. You'll find some bills in this envelope. Put it in your pocket."

d.i.c.k's hands hung limply at his sides. The colonel seized him by the loose front of his ulster, and kept him from swaying, at the same time thrusting the envelope into one of his pockets. Then, he took the young man's arm, and led him out into the vestibule.

"Bear up, my boy--bear up," he whispered. "You've got to face it. You're dead--remember that. n.o.body but myself knows the truth. Be a man, for G.o.d's sake--for your mother's sake--for your father's. You've got the whole world before you. If things go very wrong--well, you can rely upon me for another instalment--just one more, like the one in your pocket.

Write to me under some other name. Call yourself John Smith--do you hear?"

"Yes--John Smith," echoed d.i.c.k, huskily.

"Well, good-bye, my boy--good-bye," the colonel exclaimed. "I must catch my train." He tried to say something else. Words failed him. He turned and ignominiously escaped, leaving d.i.c.k standing alone, helpless and dazed.

"I'm going home--I'm going home," muttered d.i.c.k, as he thrust his hands into his ulster pockets, and tottered along toward the elevator, for he felt that he must get to his room at once.

"My own mother!--I can't believe it."

CHAPTER XX

THE WEDDING DAY ARRANGED

When the colonel suppressed d.i.c.k's telegram, and as he fondly imagined, silenced the young man in Boston, he left out of the reckoning a prying servant, who secretly examined the message which the colonel had thrown into a wastebasket torn across only twice. In consequence of this, hundreds of persons, presently, were discussing a rumor to the effect that d.i.c.k Swinton was still alive. Dora, as it chanced, heard nothing; but Vivian Ormsby--who thought that he alone shared the colonel's secret--heard the gossip circulating through the city.

"d.i.c.k Swinton is not dead," said the report, "he is hiding in New York."

Mr. Barnby spoke of this as laughable. But Ormsby knew that the truth must out sooner or later, and it was necessary that he should be ready.

The police were on the alert--reluctantly alert, for they respected the rector. The banker, however, was a more important person than the clergyman, and his evident anxiety to lay hands on the forger was a thing not to be overlooked. There was also a little private reward mentioned.

The colonel, when Ormsby arrived to continue his courtship, heard of these rumors with alarm, and took every precaution to keep them from Dora by maintaining a constant watch over her. He was as impatient at the protracted engagement as was Ormsby himself, and one morning he attacked Dora upon the question of the marriage.

"Dora, your engagement is a preposterous thing, child. It's a shame to keep Ormsby waiting and dangling at your heels as you do. To look at you, no one would suspect you two were lovers."

"We are not, father. You know that very well."

"Fiddlesticks! You're willing enough to let him fetch and carry for you, and motor you all over the country, and smother you with flowers, and load you with presents. Yet, you are always as glum as a church-warden while he's here. And, when he's away, you seem to buck up and show that you can be cheerful, if you like."

"I have submitted to an engagement with Mr. Ormsby more to please you, father, than to please myself."

"Then, my child, why can't you please me by settling things right away.

Marriage is a serious responsibility. It is a woman's profession, and the sooner she gets the hang of it, the quicker her promotion. I'm getting an old man, and I want to see you married before I die."

"Don't talk like that, father."

"Well, I'm not a young man, am I? The doctor told me this morning--but what the doctor told me has nothing to do with your feelings for Ormsby."

"Father, father, you're not keeping anything from me. What did the doctor say?"

The colonel saw his advantage, and, although he was inclined to smile, pulled a long face, and sighed.

"My child, I want to see you comfortably settled before I die. You wouldn't like me to leave you here alone with no one to look after you--"

"Father, father! What are you saying? I'm sure the doctor has told you something. I saw you looking very strange yesterday, and holding your hand over your heart."

The colonel wanted to exclaim, "Indigestion!" but he shook his head, and sighed mournfully once more.

"It's anxiety, my child, about your welfare. It's telling on me."

"I don't want to be an anxiety to you, father. I know I've not been a cheerful companion lately, but--it will be worse for you when I get married."

"Nothing of the sort, my girl. Ormsby and I have settled that we are not to be separated. He's looking out for a big place, where there'll be a corner for an old man. Come, come, have done with this shilly-shallying.

What on earth is the use of a two years' engagement? At the end of the two years, do you suppose you will be able to break your word and Ormsby's heart? No, my girl, it's not right. Either you are going to marry Ormsby, or you are not. If you are, then it might as well be to-morrow as next month, and next month as next year. And as for two years--bah! Come, now, I'll fix it for you: four weeks from to-day."

"Impossible, father--impossible! I couldn't get my clothes ready--"

"Clothes be hanged! He's going to marry you, not your kit. You've got clothes enough to supply a boarding-school. Six weeks--I give you six weeks.--Ah! here's Ormsby. Ormsby, it's settled. Dora is to marry you in six weeks, or--she's no child of mine."

"I--I didn't say so, father," cried Dora, blushing hotly.

"I'm the happiest man in America!" cried Ormsby, coming over with outstretched hands, and a greater show of feeling than he had ever before displayed. He looked exceedingly handsome, and almost boyish.

"Say it is true!--say it is true!" he cried.

"Oh, as you please, as you please." And, turning to her father to hide her embarra.s.sment, Dora murmured, "You're not really ill, father?"

"I tell you, my child, I shall be," roared the colonel, with a wink at Ormsby, "if this anxiety goes on any longer. Publish the date, Ormsby.

Put it in the papers."

"At once!" cried the delighted lover. "I saw Farebrother to-day, and he a.s.sures me he has just the place we want, not twenty miles out. Shall we go over in the motor, and look at it? Will you come and choose your home--our home, Dora?"

"Of course she will," cried the colonel, starting up with wonderful alacrity for a sick man. "I'll go and order the motor, this minute."

CHAPTER XXI

d.i.c.k'S RETURN

The deepest stillness of night had settled down on Riverside Drive, when d.i.c.k Swinton came cautiously along the cross-town street, and paused near the corner, looking suspiciously to left and to right. Convinced, at last, that no one was about, he advanced toward his home in the shadow of the houses, going warily. At the beginning of the rectory grounds, he stopped and leaned against the wall, peering into the shadows for signs of a watching figure. All was silent as the grave. He slipped to the side gate without meeting anyone. Still going cautiously, he entered without a sound. The place was in shadow, but from a window on the ground floor a narrow beam of light shot out on the drive and across the lawn. It came from between the half-closed curtains of his father's study.

The rector was at work. It was Friday. d.i.c.k had chosen the day and the hour because he knew that it was his father's custom to sit up far into the night, preparing his Sunday sermon. Sunday morning's discourse was prepared on Friday evening; the evening homily on Sat.u.r.day.

He crept to the window, and looked in. The light from the lamp was shining on his father's hair. How white it was! The iron-gray streaks were quite gone. And yet how little time had elapsed! The rector's Bible was at his elbow, lying open, and the desk was covered with sheets of ma.n.u.scripts, spread about in unmethodical fashion. At the moment when d.i.c.k looked in, the rector picked up his Bible, and laid it open before him on the desk.