 CHAPTER 34 David Lee had turned the corner. He had in fact made rapid strides along the road to recovery, so much so that he was now permitted to cross the hall into Mrs. Redmond's sitting-room every afternoon, where he held informal receptions and received attention enough he said to turn his head entirely. To which remark Mr. Grimes, who happened to be present, returned concisely that when a head had so lately been cracked, it was well to keep it steadily in one position lest the crack be revealed to the world in general. David settled himself in the armchair consecrated to his use and glanced about expectantly. "'She's not here,' volunteered Mr. Grimes kindly. "'You're an hour earlier than you were yesterday, getting feverish again?' Lee blushed with the consciousness of a girl and the member from South Dakota laughed in great good humor. "'Fact is,' he said, crossing his legs comfortably. I happened in when I knew everybody was out because I want to have a talk, if you think you're able. Don't mind, do you?' "'No,' said David. "'Certainly not. I want to talk, Mr. Grimes, or rather to ask questions, and do you know they have not let me speak of anything they thought exciting. I'm very grateful for the care, of course, but I think I'm getting tired of being nursed, and there are things I must know, questions which must be answered by somebody.' Mr. Grimes crossed his short legs as comfortably as his rotundity a figure would permit. "'Fire away, sonny,' he remarked geneal-y. When you've finished I've got a few inquiries to make in return. "'But,' suddenly hesitating, it's department matters I want to talk about with the secretary, or perhaps Senator Byrd. You're very kind, Mr. Grimes, but—' "'Mr. Grimes chuckled with great enjoyment.' "'I'm your man,' he said importantly. I reckon that just now I am as well up in the affairs of the nation, so far as the State Department is concerned, as the secretary himself, and perhaps a little better. Things got so muddled I found I'd have to put a finger in the pie after all. So trust your Uncle Joshua, Davy, and sail in.' When Mr. Grimes referred to himself as Uncle Joshua, it was an indication he was well pleased with the world, and he applied the title in much the same spirit with which he usually referred to his country as Uncle Sam. "'They make a great team,' he remarked modestly on one occasion, your Uncle Joshua and your Uncle Samuel. Lee rested his head against the back of his chair a little languidly. He found himself not quite so ready to accept Mr. Grimes's invitation to sail in as he had anticipated. "'The secretary told me,' he said slowly, not to worry about the roost-chook matter, that it was all right. Is this possible?' "'Yes,' returned Mr. Grimes cheerfully, quite possible. Papers turned up intact, villain-spotted by your humble servant. Great scene for the stage, David, virtue triumphant, vice-vanquished, red-fire, tableau, curtain. "'I don't understand,' said Lee, puzzled. Where were the papers found?' The member from South Dakota leaned forward that he might watch his companion's face. "'In your coat pocket,' he said, anticipating an astonished exclamation. But the young man merely nodded impatiently. "'Oh, if that's all,' he said, a bundle of blank papers. I thought you had really found them, and I wondered.' He checked himself abruptly. "'Blank Grandmother!' ejaculated Mr. Grimes. They were the real thing, but it's a long story. Now listen carefully, for I don't like to repeat myself being rather short-winded.' And David listened with breathless attention as his companion rapidly sketched the events of the period during which he lay unconscious as a result of contact with Colonel St. John's brick. "'Marx,' he interrupted once, and Miss Christine Gray, why I know them both. Impossible!' "'No, do you, though?' said Mr. Grimes with interest. "'Well, then, perhaps you'd like my opinion of your friend Marx. He is either the deepest double-eyed rascal in the country, or he should have a guardian appointed to look after him when he walks abroad. I've not been able to make up my mind, which.' "'He is not a villain,' said David, laughing. I would stake my own reputation on that fact, but he is, well, unusual.' "'Unusual!' there he sat David, and there we sat, the Secretary of State, a United States Senator, and a member of Congress, a dignified and awe-inspiring assembly to confront the average youth. Did we phase him? Not we. He said he picked up the papers, so he believed in Lafayette Park. He left them, if his memory did not fail him, at the door of Miss Gray's boarding-house, why he did not know. That was all. We simply hammered at him, but not an inch further did we get.' "'Probably,' interposed David, he told you all he knew.' "'Hm!' ejaculated Mr. Grimes. Well, that's all he did tell us, and the secret servicemen set to watch him and trace his very thoughts, report him of unblemished character, and can account for every minute of his valuable time for months, but to resume.' And once more he took up the thread of his narrative. "'Rivers,' interrupted David again, the member from Virginia, the man who—' "'Well,' said Mr. Grimes, why hesitate? "'I don't know why I should hesitate, I'm sure. I was merely going to ask if it is the man Miss Burtis to marry.' "'No,' ejaculated Mr. Grimes explosively, not by a long shot, she's going to marry somebody else if I know anything about it.' David turned his face into the shadow. "'Whom?' he inquired, studiously indifferent. Mr. Grimes did not reply. Instead he screwed up one eye in a long deliberate wink, and resumed his story. And so, he concluded seriously, I went to the president myself and lay the whole matter before him. He was hard to convince, but I had my proof, only I didn't want to drag that little grey girl into any more unpleasantness than necessary. He's a very straight fellow at the bottom, the president is, and don't tolerate anything slippery if he knows it, so he sent for rivers.' "'Well?' "'Well, that's all. Rivers is going abroad. His term expires this fall, and I understand his district will have another representative next session, as the gentleman from Virginia does not mean to run again.' "'Mr. Grimes,' said David thoughtfully. "'That's me,' returned the member promptly. "'You've told me about the first paper which disappeared, but how about the last, the synopsis, you know?' The secretary found it in his desk. "'What?' exclaimed Lee in astonishment. Mr. Grimes nodded. "'In his desk, here at the house,' he repeated. He thinks it got caught in the drawer and was overlooked. It's queer, very queer.' Lee was sitting upright, a bewildered expression on his face. "'How did it get there?' he inquired. "'Ah!' returned his companion. "'I don't know. What's more, I didn't ask. There are more things in heaven and earth, you know, David, and I'd no wish to upset another hornet's nest. The main point is that they were intact. The secretary thinks he put them there and forgot it and deplores his absent-mindedness. I think.' "'Yes?' said Lee breathlessly. "'What do you think?' "'Well,' returned the stout gentleman. "'Since I've been quoting Shakespeare, I'll do it again. It's my opinion. There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, as well as the honourable Charles Rivers of Virginia. But I intend not to make or suggest any further investigations, and I strongly advise you to follow my example. Now, young man, a few questions on my part. What the devil were you doing in the octagon house, and who hit you? Out with it, for I don't take much stock in your not knowing.' Lee leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes wearily. The conversation had been somewhat exhausting. "'Mr. Grimes,' he said reluctantly, "'I'm afraid I've been an awful fool.' I shouldn't wonder, my boy, young men often are. But it's something if you recognize the fact. Let's hear about it.' I believed I knew who took those papers. The night of the ball here I discovered, as I thought, a clue. It wasn't much, just a bit of State Department paper with a few words on it, but I saw who dropped it. I unfortunately lost it myself and came back here after everybody was gone and made a thorough search. I went over every inch of the floor, but it wasn't there. I had papers on the brain and wanted to find them the worst way. And suddenly remembered the secretary's desk in the library. I thought it possible he might have put them there, as you say he did the synopsis, so I even looked through it. He paused an instant, then continued. Well, they weren't there, so I went home without meeting any one, although I had a curious sensation of being watched and followed. The next day the secretary went to the White House and brought back the synopsis. He was much troubled and talked the matter over with Senator Byrd and Mr. Rivers, who returned with him. He put the paper in his desk, but went to receive the diplomats without removing the key. Miss Byrd came in to meet her father, and I took her to the State Department library. We stayed a long time, and when I got back the secretary was just going out to lunch with Mrs. Redmond. I found something on the floor by the desk which made me anxious, another clue I thought. Well of course the next thing was the discovery of the loss of the synopsis. I worried a good deal over it, and determined to go through the secretary's private desk myself, thinking it might have caught somewhere, for it wasn't a bulky document like the other. The night after Christmas I felt out of sorts with the world and didn't want to go anywhere or do anything, so I started for the department to get up some back work. While I was there I happened to think of looking up the paper. I had a key which Mr. Redmond had once given me and I made a thorough search, but the paper was not to be found. It was late when I left. Lee paused and endeavored to collect his thoughts. Just why I turned up New York Avenue I don't know. I suppose I was absorbed in thought, for I had been making notes on some important matters to bring to the attention of the secretary in the morning, and had put some loose bits of paper in my pocket intending to elaborate them when I got home, for I wasn't sleepy. While I suddenly discovered I was going the wrong way and turned down an alley as a shortcut home, it ran back of the octagon house and was dark and lonely enough with the high brick wall and vacant old house, and I had some idea of going back although I had often used it before as a shortcut. However I kept on till I got opposite a break in the wall when something, curiosity I suppose, made me stop and look through. Well, inquired Mr. Grimes with interest. Well, said Lee simply, that's all, the next thing I knew I was here awfully light-headed and queer-feeling, with Miss Mary Gray nursing me and everybody wonderfully kind, Mrs. Redmond sitting with me, Miss Bird sending me flowers, the secretary acting as though I were his own son, and you, Mr. Grimes, coming to see me every day and even keeping my room and belongings at the boarding-house undisturbed. I don't know how to thank you. But Mr. Grimes was looking in his card case and did not reply. Is the scrap of paper you found and lost again at the ball anything like this? He demanded, producing a dingy bit with a few words upon it. That is it! said David eagerly. Where did you get it? Picked it up myself, returned Mr. Grimes, tossing it into the fire, and I think that's the best place for it. Of course the scrap rivers found in the octagon house was part of your notes and dropped from your pocket. The round red face of the member from South Dakota was very serious as he watched the bit of tricolored cord blaze and blacken in the hearth. David, he said slowly, whom do you suspect? Lee crimsoned and turned his face into the shadow. You won't say, well, it's all right, only understand clearly that the incident is closed irrevocably, and remember that circumstantial evidence is often misleading. You came perilously near being charged with a serious crime, and I realize you were in a mighty tight box, but you're well out of it after all. The old chap found dead in the octagon house I take to be responsible for your cracked skull, but he isn't going to make any explanations, and so, David, I propose the subject of the roost shook papers be tabooed in future. Everything will do no good, so we'll drop the subject. I've been a fool, that's all, said Lee quietly, and I'm glad of it. A rustle of skirts became apparent in the hall, and Mr. Grimes rose with alacrity. I guess you don't need me any more, he remarked cheerfully, for there are Mrs. Richmond and Miss Bird, and if that is not enough for one fellow I don't know what is. But it was only Isabelle who entered as the congressman went out, her cheeks glowing with the cold air, and her eyes shining with a soft brightness Lee thought pleasant to look upon. She told him various little items of news she thought would interest him and finally lapsed into silence as the daylight waned, and shadows filled the room. Lee looked at the bright hair with the firelight playing over it and at the curve of the cheek against which dark lashes rested. Isabelle, he whispered. Her color faded, then suddenly returned, dyeing her face with the tint of a wild rose. David forgot he was merely an impacunious private secretary, and she, the daughter of Senator Bird, as he leaned forward and caught her hands. The memory of their relative positions, however, leaped obnoxiously to the fore and checked the words trembling upon his lips, so he released the little hands and sank back in his chair, suddenly weak and exhausted. Isabelle looked anxiously at the pale face and closed eyes, then her lips curved with the ghost of a smile and the dimple in her cheek showed a decided inclination to appear. She left her low divan and seated herself upon the arm of his large chair, her lips close to his ear. She whispered softly, I'm waiting, go on. CHAPTER 35 The secretary stood in his library, holding in his hand a sheet of paper as he had previously held the draft of his resignation. Today, however, there was an erectness in his attitude very different from the era of general depression which had marked the former occasion. Two chairs sociably drawn together before the fire indicated that he had recently entertained a visitor, and an indescribable something about them suggested that the guest had been welcome. Now, however, judging from his expectant glances at the clock and out of the window, he expected someone else. How long she stays, he exclaimed impatiently. Ah, at last! For the front door had opened and shut, and he heard Mrs. Redman's voice in the hall. Suppose you look in on Mr. Lee in my sitting-room, Isabelle, she was saying, I will join you shortly. The secretary drew aside the heavy portier and held out his hand. I've been watching for you, he said. You promised to be home early, you know. Yes, she assented, and now I want to tell you about my afternoon. There is something I want to do very, very much. And I too have something to tell you, he said. Come to the fire, you must be cold. Mrs. Redman paused in the act of removing her heavy furs and looked curiously at him. Something has happened, she exclaimed suddenly. Something nice! You have had a visitor! Oh, John, tell me! Yes, dear, a visitor, the president. Don't look so startled, he used to come sometimes, you know. But not lately, she replied, not since. Listen, he continued, this morning I sent in my resignation. I owed it to myself to do so even though the missing papers have all been found. I don't care a bit now, she interrupted, for there could be no stigma attached to your name. Well? Wellestel, as I said, I sent it in this morning, and this afternoon the president brought it here and asked me to withdraw it as a personal favour to himself. And you, she said, what did you say to him? I said, returned the secretary, that I only wished to serve my country honestly and that sometimes such service was best rendered by withdrawal from public office when age or ill health had in any way impaired the faculties. And he? He said all sorts of kind things, dear, and was very complimentary. He apologised for his attitude during this trouble and said that he had been much worried and facts falsely represented to him. He was genuinely anxious that I should remain, and so I agreed to do so. There will be no official record of my resignation. He left it here with me, and I shall destroy the copy in the files of the State Department. I thought, the secretary paused and smiled. Well, John? I thought, Estel, that perhaps you would enjoy burning it. You seemed to take the matter very much to heart the other day. Oh, I should! she exclaimed quickly. Give it to me at once. The secretary seated himself upon the couch and drew his wife down beside him. The sheet of paper burned brightly, then charred and crumbled, and Mrs. Redmond, watching it, remembered with a tightening of the throat, the cellar of the octagon house and the blazing of the burning maps. Fire was merciful at times as well as terrible, she thought. Even now, said Mr. Redmond cheerfully, I have told you my news, what is yours? It isn't news exactly. I went to see Miss Gray this afternoon. Her pretty little sister is going to be married. Indeed, exclaimed the secretary, I am heartily glad to hear it. And I thought, continued Mrs. Redmond, her eyes upon the plain gold band on her left hand, I thought, John, I should like to help her. They are two girls alone in the world without money, and it's such a dreary boarding-house. You don't mind? Do you think I would object? Oh, I knew you wouldn't, but I wanted to talk to you about it, of course. I should like her to have a nice little wedding and some pretty clothes such as every girl longs for and should have when she marries. She brought us back those papers, you know, and I feel we owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude, at least I do. His marks the happy man, inquired Mr. Redmond, laughing. His name is Harry, and his regiment is in Alaska. That is all I know about him, John, but it's immaterial. He gets a leave next month and can come on, and I mean he shall find Christine daintily fitted out with pretty things, dear, as well as useful. I'm extravagant, you know, and I do love clothes, so does she, poor child. So when Harry comes, we will have a nice little wedding here in the house, and you'll give the bride away. Do you agree?" The secretary held his wife closer and kissed her forehead. It's like you to think of it, Estelle, he said fondly. Of course I agree, and speaking of brides, he added, I wonder how the young people upstairs are coming on. The young people were getting on extremely well upstairs, although their conversation was of a disjointed and fragmentary character incapable of being properly recorded, and the disorder of Isabel's red-gold hair was more apparent than usual. It glitters, said David, carefully transferring a strand from his coat to his card case, like spun gold. I should think, said Isabel, with an attempt at a frown. You might have asked for a lock of it by this time, but perhaps you don't want it. The last words were muffled, owing to a temporary eclipse of the two heads by the back of one chair. By the way, she said suddenly, drawing away from him, by the way, David, there's something I want to know. Why did you take those papers? What papers? The blank bundle labeled Roostchuk from our library table. I saw you put them in your pocket. Some valuable papers were missing from the department on that subject, he said slowly, and I thought perhaps I had found them, so put them in my pocket on the impulse of the moment, meaning to return them to the secretary or your father. When I found they were blanks, I said no more about it, but I never understood. He paused abruptly. I do, returned Isabel, sagely. Oh, I'm wiser than you think! Mr. Rivers. Hateful name! Interposed Lee quickly. We will call him the unmentionable if you like it any better. Well anyhow, he knew you were coming and put that package there to see if you would take it. He was trying to prove you guilty of something, David. I don't just understand what, but you fell into the trap like a blind bat and put it in your pocket. I thought I should have died when I saw you do it. He stared at her incredulously. And does your father think I stole that package of papers believing them genuine and kept quiet about it? He said. No! returned Isabel with a shake of the head. He doesn't think anything of the kind, for I fixed up another package and father and the unmentionable found it. But I thought you took it, David, and I was very miserable, so miserable that I got engaged. But how you must have despised me. No, I didn't, she interrupted. I tried to, but I couldn't, so I despised myself for not being able to despise you. He, the unmentionable, said all sorts of nasty things about you, and what he meant should happen to you, so I stole out that evening to tell you about it and to ask you not to do it again whatever it was you did do. And it was nothing after all, was it? No, Isabel, returned Lee anxiously. I've done nothing I am ashamed of. But you said you went to see me. When was it, and where did you go? It was one Thursday, she said, and I went to your lodging, but just as I got nearly there you came out the door and went down the street. I tried to overtake you, but you walked too fast for me. You went to the old part of the city, and I kept on following, went down a horrid muddy alley, and it was raining and very dark. In the alley I lost you, but I thought I saw you go through a hole in the wall so I kept on. I really think then I was afraid to go back. The place turned out to be the octagon house, and I was so relieved when I knew where I was that I thought I'd just run through it and out on 18th Street on the other side, you know, so I need not go back by way of the alley. But, interruptedly, I never went to the octagon house until the night my friend hit me with the brick and carried me in. Oh, I know, that was the awful part. It wasn't you at all, David. It was—put your ear very close. Count Vladimir. He went into a room with a light in it, and an old man met him. I was very frightened and hid in a little place off the dining room with a secret door, you know. They talked a long time, and the old man seemed afraid of him, but I couldn't distinguish what they said. I tried to get out of the window on 18th Street, but it wouldn't budge, and I caught my hair on the rough wood and tore my dress. My heart beat so I thought they must hear it. By and by Count Vladimir left, and I took the opportunity to rush through the hall out into the garden again. Even the alley was better than that awful house. I got wet coming home and was late for dinner, and Mr. Lindhurst kept asking me inconvenient questions. It was dreadful. But where did you go, David? I sometimes use that alley as a shortcut from street to street, he replied, and have a recollection of doing so one Thursday evening when I went into that part of the city on an errand to one of the clerks in the State Department. I had an engagement later and must have taken the shortest way of getting there, and in the darkness you lost me. But oh, Isabelle, when I think that you did it for me and what might have happened— The remainder of the sentence was unintelligible but seemed satisfactory. I wonder, he said after a long silence, what your aunt and father will think. Oh! responded Miss Bird with an air of easy assurance, Aunt Mary doesn't matter, and father thinks as I do on such subjects. CHAPTER XXXVI OF THE WIFE OF THE SECRETERY OF STATE CHAPTER XXXVI The last door slammed, and the last carriage rolled away. Sleepy servants thankfully began to set the house to rights, for the secretary and Mrs. Redmond had entertained the president and members of the cabinet at dinner, and the guests had at last departed. Mrs. Redmond looked at her husband and smiled. Well, it's over, she remarked. I never enjoyed the cabinet dinner so much before, and the season is over, too. I am not sorry. Tired, questioned the secretary. Come with me into the library. I must smoke my cigar, and I'd like your society to improve the flavour. A speech worth him ensured the prey himself. She returned as they entered the library. What a famous fire! How the diplomatic world changes, remarked the secretary, striking a match. Wildmeer gone, and Lindhurst going. I fancy the latter was rather hard-hit by Isabel. He tells me he intends to give up diplomacy and settle down into an English squire. I hope he may find some nice girl at home waiting for him. I hope so, too, John. Mr. Lindhurst is every into gentleman as well as a nobleman. He could not soil his hands with anything unworthy of him. Why should he, inquired the secretary, surprised? She did not reply, but her face grew very thoughtful as she gazed into the fire, and the secretary filed a hand in his, grossed suddenly cold. Now Wildmeer, he continued, gently chafing the cold hand, was very different, despite of his polish and brilliancy, I never liked him. Wonderfully clever fellow, though, Estelle. But there was a hardness about him, quiet repellent to me, and I believe him to be unscrupulous and without mercy. Heaven helped a woman, for instance, who was in his power. For a moment she did not reply. The handsome library, lined with richly bound volumes, some of them almost priceless, had vanished, and she was again in the octagon house with Count Wildmeer, they too alone in the great dark cellar with only the dead men above to keep watch. I am cold, she had said. Then, madame, he had responded, we will light the fire. She remembered the lifting of the candle and the flickering of the flame in a draught from the chimney. Also the mess of ashes upon the hearth after the maps were burned. You are not just to Count Wildmeer, dear, she said gently. I know of one woman, to whom he was both merciful and generous. Well, he insisted, laughing, I am glad to hear it, but I am willing to wager she was the exception and not the rule. Turn off the lights, she said. I want just the fire. That's light enough for confidences, isn't it, John? How dull your opals are to-night, remarked Mr. Redmond as he complied. They scarcely glow at all. He lifted the jewel at her throat and looked curiously at it as she drew a footstool to his chair and leaned her head against his knee. John, she said after a long silence, of what are you thinking? Of you, dear, and of the completeness of our life together. It is so wonderfully satisfying. A scarlet flame played about the opal for an instant, then faded, and a stone hung cold and colorless. I read somewhere, she said slowly, that between a man and wife should be perfect confidence, that there should be no reservations one from another, that without such confidence real happiness was impossible and love could not endure. Do you believe this, John? The secretary watched the smoke of his cigar fade into space. It is a generally accepted theory, Estelle, he said quietly. But as you know, I do not believe in it. Between a man and woman, in fact between any two human beings, real happiness is impossible without some reservation. Two clothes and intimacy brings with it carelessness and contempt. In my opinion, a man has no more right to raise the curtain from his wife's silence than he has to enter her dressing-room uninvited. Do you really think so? I know it, Estelle. Endless miseries brought about, and useless suffering inflicted upon the innocent by mistaken ideas of duty, hysterical so-called confessions which open wounds about to heal, leaving ugly, ever-present scars to mark the place. It's my hobby, you know. Why did you get me started on it? Sometimes, she said, quite often, John, I think it would be better if I told you more about my early life. You take me too much on trust. Love brings with it faith, dearest. The book of the past is closed forever. I do not wish you to open it for me. But, she persisted, once I did you a great injury, I would die for you gladly, but I nearly wrecked your life and mine. He laid his hand gently upon her lips. Hush, dear, he said. You don't know what you're saying. Whatever it was, whatever you imagine you have done, don't tell me. I do not want to know. Only one thing matters. Do you love me still, Estelle? It isn't that. Let me look into your eyes. The fire flamed brilliantly as he bent over her. The dark lashes, heavy with tears, were slowly erased, and the secretary gazed through the clear blue eyes into the heart of the woman he had married. The lock charred and fell apart. Estelle, he exclaimed, I believe you are asleep. No, she returned gently. Only very, very happy, John, that is why I was quiet. We have been sitting here an unconscionable time, he said, rising. I don't know what I was thinking about, to let you do it. I suppose I must have been happy too, eh, Mrs. Redmond? He turned on the light as he spoke, and paused in astonishment. Estelle, he ejaculated, look at your opals. What can have happened to them? The jewels were cold and lifeless, without color or fire, and crossed by a network of innumerable tiny cracks. She slowly removed the necklace and girdle, and took the crescent from her hair. The diamonds flashed as brilliantly as ever, but the opals were worthless bits of broken stone. As she gazed incredulously at them, she remembered the history of the cadet's opals, as related by Count Waldmer, and her lips parted in a tremulous smile. Extraordinary, said the secretary, examining the pendant close to the light. I think, said Mrs. Redmond softly, I am too happy to wear opals, John. I'll take them to the jeweler, he responded, and see what can be done, but I think you will never wear them again. Such wonderful stones, too. Well, Estelle, let us have a glass of wine. We need it after this last shock. Come, I insist, for you must be very tired. She followed him to the dining-room, and held a sparkling glass thoughtfully. The last of the season, she said, even the opals are ended. It's over, all over. Now, John, she raised her glass. Here's to the best man in the whole world, the Secretary of State. The Secretary smiled, and touched her glass with his. First, he said fondly, to the wife of the Secretary of State. End of CHAPTER XXXVI. End of the Wife of the Secretary of State, by Ella Middleton-Tibaut.