Tell me, dear Mr. Weil, is there anything you can do?"
He had the greatest struggle of his life to keep from bending over that trembling mouth and pressing upon it the kiss he knew she would not refuse; that mouth he had coveted so long and which must never be touched by his lips!
"Can I do anything?" he repeated. "Certainly. I can stop that fellow so quickly he won"t know what ails him. Have no fear Miss Daisy. Go home and rest in peace. Before the sun sets I will remove the last particle of danger from your father"s path."
The girl sprang to her feet and would have thrown her arms around his neck had he not prevented her.
"You are certain you can do this?" she cried, beaming with happy eyes upon him.
"There is not the least question of it. But--I must demand payment for my trouble. I shall not do this work for nothing."
With a hot blush Daisy lowered her eyes to the carpet.
"I have already told you what I will do," she said, trembling. "If you accomplish what you say, have no fear but I shall keep my word."
There was an element of pride and truth in the way she spoke that struck the hearer strongly. The reverent smile on his face grew yet deeper.
"I am placed in a peculiar situation," he said, after a slight pause.
"Your sister has, unintentionally, no doubt, misrepresented matters in a way that may be embarra.s.sing for us both. When I have removed the troubles that stand in your way, I will talk this over with you."
Daisy looked up quickly. What could he mean?
"I beg you to explain," she stammered. "If there has been any mistake no time can be better to set it right than now."
The man toyed with the lace of the window curtain. He had no intention of evading his duty, and yet he did not find it agreeable as he proceeded.
"Your sister told me," he said, finally, "that--you loved me. She was wrong. I knew all the time she was wrong. You have just offered to give yourself to me in marriage in exchange for the efforts that I am to make on your father"s behalf. But I would not marry a woman who did not love me--who only became mine from grat.i.tude. No, I could not accept you under such circ.u.mstances."
The young girl glanced at him timidly.
"I wish you knew how much I liked you," she said. "I never knew a man I respected more."
"That is most gratifying," he answered, "for I hold your good opinion very highly. You must think I speak in riddles, for I have said that I demand payment for my services, and yet that I would not accept the greatest gift it is in your power to bestow upon me. Let me wait no longer in my explanation. When I have put your father out of all danger from this blackmailer--and I can easily do it, never fear--you must do justice to Shirley Roseleaf."
She shivered at the name, as if the east wind blew upon her.
"He is not a true man," she replied, in a whisper. "He has forfeited all claim to my consideration."
"Why do you say that? I am afraid there is another misunderstanding here, my child."
Then he drew out of her, slowly at first, the revelations that Millicent had made. And he disposed of the charges, one by one, until there was nothing left of them.
"Could you--would you--only go with me to his rooms," he added, "and see him lying there, wan and pale, disheartened at the present, hopeless for the future, you would change your mind. He has never in his life loved but one woman, and that one is yourself. I will not undertake to say why you have been told differently, though I could guess. Shirley Roseleaf loves you, Miss Daisy, and you love him. When I have made good my promise, I shall ask you to come to my friend"s side and bring him back to health with the sunshine of your presence."
Daisy was more than half convinced, for the strong affection she had had for the young man plead for him in every drop of her blood.
"Is he so very ill?" she asked, dreamily.
"He has not left his room for a week," was the answer. "Nothing his friends can say will move him. He is in such a state of mind that he even refuses to have me with him; me, until very lately, his closest friend. But if I tell him you have relented, there is no medicine on earth will have such an instant effect."
The girl thought for some moments without speaking.
"It is my father first, of course," she said at last. "But while you are arranging matters concerning him, I do not see any reason to keep me from helping a sick boy. I--yes, I will go with you now."
He looked the grat.i.tude he could not speak, and fearful that in her mercurial mood she might change her mind, he accompanied her without delay to the street, and procured a cab, in which they were driven rapidly to Roseleaf"s lodgings. On the way, with that loved form so near him, Archie Weil had a constant struggle. She might be his, if he would forget duty.
And he loved her! G.o.d, how he loved her! He could marry her, and perhaps after a fashion make her happy. The perspiration stood on his forehead as he dwelt on the bliss that he had resolutely cast aside.
Roseleaf"s landlady came to the door in person and informed the callers that her guest was in about the same condition as he had been for some days. He was not ill in bed, but he did not leave his room. When she sent up his meals he received them mechanically, and they were often untouched when the domestic went for the dishes. He wrote several hours a day, though he was undoubtedly feeble. Did he have any visitors? Only one, Mr. Gouger, who was with him at the present moment. Should she go up and announce them? Very well, if it was not necessary. Mr. Weil could show the lady into the adjoining room, which was empty, until he had announced her presence in the house to his friend.
Archie whispered to Daisy when he left her at Roseleaf"s door, that he would come for her as soon as possible. He did not enter the sick boy"s chamber at once, for something in the conversation that came to his ears arrested his steps at the threshold. Mr. Gouger"s voice was heard, and Archie"s ears caught the sound of his own name.
"You should let me send to Mr. Weil," said Gouger. "I am sure he can explain everything. You have written all you ought for the present. He would take you to ride and bring the color to those white cheeks of yours."
"But he cannot bring me the girl I love," responded Roseleaf, with a profound sigh. "Even if I have done him injustice, she is lost to me now. You know appearances were against him. Why, you agreed with me about it. I don"t want to see any one. I want to go away from here, and forget my sorrows as best I can in some far distant place."
There was a sadness in the tone that went to the listener"s heart. The door was slightly ajar and Archie took the liberty of looking into the room. Roseleaf lay stretched out in a great chair, and Gouger leaned over him, appearing for all the world like some sinister bird of prey.
Mr. Weil felt for the first time in his life that there was something uncanny in the aspect of the book reviewer. He did not think he could ever be close friends with him again. And what did Shirley mean by saying that Lawrence had "agreed" with him when he heard such base opinions?
The critic was fingering with apparent satisfaction a pile of MSS. that lay on the table. It had grown vastly since Archie saw it the last time, and must be fifteen or twenty chapters in extent now.
"You must not go away until you have finished this wonderful work,"
replied Gouger, with concern. "A few more months--a little further experience in life--and your reputation will be made! Ah, it is wonderful! It is magnificent! The world will ring with your praises before the year is ended. Such fidelity to nature! Such perfection of detail! In all my career I have never seen anything to approach it!"
Shirley moved uneasily in his chair.
"Do you ever think at what cost I have done this?" he asked. "I know the pain of a burn because I have held my hands in the fire. I know the agony of asphyxiation, because I have dangled at the end of a rope. I can write of the miner buried beneath a hundred feet of clay, because I have had the load fall on my own head. To love and find myself beloved; then to see happiness s.n.a.t.c.hed without explanation from my grasp; to feel that my best friend has been the one to betray me! That is what I have pa.s.sed through, and from the drops of misery thus distilled, I have penned those lines you so much admire. I have written all I can of these horrors. I will not begin again till I have caught somewhere in the great sky a glimpse of sunlight!"
Mr. Weil could wait no longer. He pushed open the door and went to the speaker"s side.
"The sunlight is awaiting you," he said, gazing down upon the figure in the armchair. "You have only to raise your curtain."
Mr. Gouger sprang up in astonishment at the sudden arrival, and perhaps a little in alarm also; for he could not tell how long the visitor had been eavesdropping at the portal. But Roseleaf turned his languid eyes toward his old friend, and was silent.
"Shirley, my boy," pursued Weil, with the utmost earnestness, "I can prove to you now that Daisy Fern loves you and you alone."
Roseleaf did not move. His lips opened and the words came stiffly.
"You can promise many things," he said, "but can you fulfill any of them?"
So cold, so unlike himself!
"What will convince you?" demanded Weil. "Shall I bring a letter from her? Or would you rather she came in person, to tell you I speak the truth?"
The shadow of a smile, a smile that was not agreeable, hovered around the corners of the pale mouth.
"I shall write no more," said the lips, when they opened, "until I have seen her and heard the reason for my rejection. I will discover who my enemy is. I will unmask the man or the woman that has done me this injury. Till then, I shall write no more. No, not one line."
Mr. Gouger was nonplussed by the new turn in affairs. He knew that Weil had some basis for what he said, that he was not the man to come with pretence on his tongue. Neither of the other persons in the room paid the least attention to him, any more than if he had not been present. It was like a play, at which Gouger was the only spectator.