The Woman Who Vowed Part 12

"What carriage?" asked she with an air of innocence, but the color mounting to her cheek betrayed her.

"Chairo says some one treacherously tampered with his carriage."

"Nonsense," answered Neaera. "The accident to Chairo's carriage is not the first carriage accident in the world. Chairo is thinking only of himself."

"How so?"

"He wants Lydia; we want liberty."

My suspicions were confirmed.

"I suppose Chairo has made love to you--as have all the rest."

The dimple deepened in Neaera's cheek, but she busied herself unfastening the cords that bound my wrist.

"I am going to give you liberty at any rate," she said. "For I want you to do something for me."

"Stick my staff in the ground and put----"

"No; I have forgiven you; it is something very different from that."

My hands were free now, and I stretched them out in exquisite relief.

"Are you a little grateful?"

"Of course, I am grateful--but I am still more curious to know what you want me to do for you."

"It is very simple." She showed me a sheet of paper upon which was some typewriting. "I want you to sign this."

I put out my hand to take the paper and read the writing.

"Oh, no!" she cried, putting the paper behind her back. "I want you to sign without reading." She looked at me with a smile which she meant to be irresistible; and, a.s.suredly, to most men the temptation would have been great--for the smile said plainly that acquiescence would have its full reward.

I had unloosed the cords about my feet and was standing in front of her irresolute; not wishing to make an enemy of her by a downright refusal, for I did not know what confederates might be within call and yet half inclined to s.n.a.t.c.h at the paper and read it in spite of her. But I suspected that she meant me to do this; that she shrewdly guessed a playful struggle between us would increase the temptation to yield to her beyond powers of resistance.

As I stood smiling at her, for the grace of her posture--leaning a little forward and holding the paper behind her back--disarmed me, she suddenly waved the paper before me as though inviting me to s.n.a.t.c.h at it.

I cannot imagine what would have been the result of this little comedy had not a distant hum from the street suddenly attracted our attention.

She ran to the window, threw up the sash and, taking up a field gla.s.s that was lying on the table, looked down the street. One glance was sufficient; when she turned back into the room her face was blanched; every trace of coquetry had disappeared; she barely looked at me and hurried from the room. She locked the door upon me as she left. I went to the window, but on my way there picked up the paper she had offered for my signature and which she had dropped as she picked up the field gla.s.s. I was too much interested in what was happening in the street to read it then. I thrust it in my wallet and saw without the help of the field gla.s.s that the street was full of armed men hurrying to the _Liberty_ building, and upon their shoulders the badge of Demeter--a golden sheaf on a blue ground--was clearly visible. Obviously, Balbus's attempt at rescue had failed, and instead of bringing back Chairo in triumph to the _Liberty_ office, it was the special constables who were crowding to its doors. Soon I heard a rush of steps up the stairs; there was a fumbling at the door; the door was forced and there rushed in a number of men, one of whom recognized me. I explained the message from Chairo which I had brought to the office of _Liberty_ and, without mentioning names, added that I had been bound and imprisoned there. The cords in the room and the abrasions on my wrists confirmed my story. I promised to hold myself at the disposal of the investigating magistrate and was given my liberty.

The offices in which I had been confined were searched and every paper in them carefully collected. I betook myself at once to the chambers I shared with Ariston, but on the way I took the paper I had been asked to sign out of my pocket and read it.

"DEAR CHAIRO:

"Balbus has confined, bound, and gagged me. I owe my freedom now to Neaera, who will see that this reaches you.

"VERB. SAP."

Not a word in this interesting doc.u.ment was literally false; and yet it was obvious how falsely Neaera meant to use it.

CHAPTER XIII

NEAERA MAKES NEW ARRANGEMENTS

Neaera left the building in which were the _Liberty_ offices by an entrance on a street other than that which she had seen threatened by the constables, and hurriedly considered where she could find a certain Masters to whom she had always determined to fly in case of defeat.

Masters was a man whose career had greatly contributed to the particular phase of Collectivism which I found prevailing in the New England States. Originally the state had undertaken to monopolize manufacture, and for a long period--over a hundred years--had succeeded in giving general satisfaction. During the first century of Collectivist existence so much time was spent in transforming cities that there was no leisure for individual enterprise; indeed, during this period the majority worked as hard as they had ever worked under the compet.i.tive regime; for although a half-day's labor only was exacted to earn a full share in the national income, another half-day's labor was asked and freely given to make those changes in the cities and towns which were obviously necessary under the new regime. And a certain exchange of occupation had taken place, masons and carpenters working all day at their respective trades, while others worked all day at theirs, extra wages being paid for extra work; these extra wages were applicable to the purchase of luxuries, the most laborious and the most thrifty thus reaping the reward of their labor and thrift. When, however, the cities, towns, and villages had been so converted as to furnish practically equivalent lodging to all, under conditions that were wholesome and with due regard to the demand for the beautiful that, though expressed in my time only by a few, is in fact latent in us all, there was no longer the same imperious call for extra labor on the part of the state, and the leisure enjoyed in consequence was soon employed in a manner not antic.i.p.ated by socialists of my day. And Masters had been the first to inaugurate the new system. It happened in this way:

The state had exposed itself to much criticism as to many of the things furnished by its factories, and when Masters was still a youth of twenty-five years, the complaint on this subject became so wide-spread that he set himself to correcting the evil. He was employed in a wall-paper factory, and wall paper was just one of the articles that had given rise to the greatest dissatisfaction; so one day when an artistic friend was mocking at the work the state factory turned out, Masters suggested that they should get a few others to join them in setting up a factory of their own. The experiment was looked upon at first as a piece of innocent child's play, but when some hundred young men and women actually succeeded in producing a wall paper so preferable to that manufactured by the state that theirs alone was purchased and the state had to shut down some of the government mills, the question of the right of individuals to compete with the state was brought up in the legislature, and the issue became sufficiently serious to drive Masters into politics for the purpose of defending what came to be known as "Liberty of Industry."

The princ.i.p.al argument made against this so-called liberty of industry was that Masters and his fellow-workers were becoming rich. The money that formerly was paid to the state factory was now paid to them, and thus the acc.u.mulation of wealth became possible which it was the princ.i.p.al object of Collectivism to prevent. In vain Masters argued that they applied their leisure to the manufacture of wall paper not in order to become rich, but in order to have paper that suited their taste; that the real value of Collectivism was to provide all men with the necessaries of life so as not to subject poor men to a few rich; that so long as the state provided necessaries against a stipulated amount of labor it was quite immaterial whether a few chose by voluntary labor to provide an article that was needed and incidentally increase their own wealth; and that such voluntary labor benefited all. The cry against acc.u.mulation was too powerful to be silenced, and Masters felt some concession must be made to it; so he consented to a proposition that all state money should have purchasing power only during a period of two years; under this system h.o.a.rding or acc.u.mulation would be prevented, because every two years the money so h.o.a.rded would become valueless--all money being paper and bearing a date, gold being used only by the state in foreign trade.

This compromise was adopted, and the effect of it was to give an immense impulse to private industry. While the question was being discussed few were willing to embark on an enterprise that might be declared illegal and be appropriated by the state. As soon, however, as private enterprise was indirectly sanctioned by the pa.s.sage of this law it became clear that any individual might devote his leisure to the production of anything not satisfactorily produced by the state, and the result of this new departure was considerable, for it not only greatly increased the total wealth of the community but it stimulated the state to maintain and improve standards of manufacture, contributing all that is good in compet.i.tion without tolerating those features of oppression and pauperism which had made compet.i.tion so evil in our day.

And Masters became a great man in the community; for not only was he regarded as the author of private enterprise, but possessing the powers of organization and the judgment in selecting his fellow-workers essential to success, he soon became the head of numerous enterprises; and although he was unable at first to acc.u.mulate wealth in the shape of money, he did acc.u.mulate it in the shape of products of manufacture.

Moreover, the fact that he could not acc.u.mulate it in the shape of money and that there was a limit to his power to acc.u.mulate it in the shape of products of manufacture, drove him to distribute his earnings among his neighbors with a prodigality so lavish that, possessing a naturally generous heart and an attractive manner, he became a man of enormous--some men said undue--influence in the state. Recently, too, owing to the establishment of a banking system, acc.u.mulation in private money became possible.

Masters had never married. His interests were so various and engrossing that he had not felt the need of a wife. Nor was he ever at a loss for a companion; the bath was his club; and a short evening--for he was an early riser--was comfortably spent in the society of those with whom he dined at the common table. But he was by no means insensible to feminine charm, and Neaera had not ineffectually aired her graces for his benefit.

Neaera had often decided that Masters was the best match in the country and had schemed to secure him; but she was aware of his sagacity and had so far refrained from any overture that might alienate him. She had, however, never failed to improve an opportunity for displaying her attractions in his presence, taking care to keep religiously away from him at such times lest he should guess the plot that lay at the bottom of all her performances. On more serious occasions she had had long and confidential conversations with him, chiefly on political subjects; she had indeed been one of his political lieutenants, but when engaged in politics she had studiously avoided the slightest symptoms of coquetry.

Masters, on the contrary, had often allowed her to feel that he would gladly have made their relations more intimate. She had seen the big fish rise--a little lazily, it is true--at her cast; she had felt that upon a sufficiently dramatic occasion she could land him; and now it satisfied her sense of ant.i.thesis that so signal a defeat as that of her party that day might be converted by her skill into an individual victory.

It was about four in the afternoon--the hour when Masters should be leaving his office for his apartment. If she walked in the direction of the latter he would possibly overtake her; she did not wish to go to him; she preferred to meet him accidentally; it would not do for him to imagine she had counted on him. She walked, therefore, slowly and with a pretty air of concern along the street he usually took, wondering whether she would be favored by fortune before the arrest which she knew was being prepared for her. She felt that the events of the day would be likely to change the daily routine, even of so methodical a man as Masters, and was beginning to fear she would have to take refuge in his apartment, when she heard a step overtaking her, and to her great relief his big voice said:

"Why, Neaera, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the thick of it?"

Neaera looked up shyly and then down again.

"I am afraid all is over," she said very low.

"And where are you going?"

"I don't know."

"Is there any fear of arrest?"

Neaera brewed up a tear and cast an appealing glance at him. She was one of those fortunate and dangerous women who could summon a tear to her eye without at the same time bringing blood to her nose and eyelids.

"You must step into my apartment until we can take precautions," he said.

"I'm afraid I'll compromise you."

"Compromise _me_!" exclaimed Masters, "never in the world! And as for _you_, I'll send for your mother."

"Will you, indeed?" said Neaera, edging a little closer to him; but she did not mean that he should do this.