"It will be hot in town to-morrow, Mary. It"s growing confoundedly hot in Wall Street."
"Nothing serious, Henry?"
"It"s always serious there."
"Oh, well, you"ll come out all right. It"s a way you have."
Mr. Muir looked grim and troubled, but the piazza was dusky. "She can"t help me," he thought, "and if she was worrying she might hinder me. Things are no worse, and they may soon be better. If I had fifty thousand for a month, though, the strain would be over. She"d be nagging me to take a lot of her money, and I"d see Wall Street sunk first. Well, well, Wildmere and I may land together in the same ditch."
For a few moments Graydon and Mr. Arnault sat on either side of the broker"s daughter, each seeking the advantage. The young lady enjoyed the situation immensely, and for a time had the art to entertain both. Arnault at last boldly and frankly took the initiative, saying, "Please take a walk with me, Miss Wildmere. I have come all the way from New York for the pleasure of an evening in your society. You will excuse us, Mr. Muir. You have had to-day and will have to-morrow, for I must take an early train."
Miss Wildmere laughed, and said: "I must go with you surely, or you will think you have made a bad "put" in railroad tickets, as well as shares, for you are like the rest, I suppose;" and with a smiling glance backward at Graydon she disappeared.
"You are mistaken," he said; "we foresaw this "squeeze" in the market, and have money to lend if the security is ample. We were never doing better."
"Poor papa!" she sighed, "his securities are lacking, I suppose. He does not write very cheerfully."
"His security is the best in the city, in my estimation. I"d take this little hand in preference to government bonds."
"Oh, don"t lend papa anything on that basis, for you would surely manage to claim the collateral, or whatever you call it in your Wall Street jargon."
"You are infinitely better off than the majority in these hard times."
"How so?"
"By one word you can make three rich, yourself included. Your father only needs to be tided over a few months."
"Come, come, Mr. Arnault, this is Sunday, and you must not talk business."
"My fault leans to virtue"s side for once."
"I"m not just sure to which side it leans," was her laughing reply.
"Are you going to accept Muir?"
"I"m not going to accept any one at present--certainly not Mr. Muir before he asks me."
"He will ask you."
"Has he taken you into his confidence?"
"Oh, he"s as patent as a country borrower."
"Mr. Arnault, we must change the subject; such questions and remarks are not in good taste, to say the least. I appreciate your friendship, but it does not give you the right to forget that I am a free girl, or to ignore my a.s.surance that I propose to remain free for the present."
"That is all the a.s.surance that I require just now," he answered.
"I have been a frank, devoted suitor, Stella. If you do not act precipitately you will act wisely in the end. I shall not be guilty of the folly of depreciating Muir--he"s a good fellow in his way--but you will soon be convinced that you cannot afford to marry him."
"I think I can afford not to marry any one until my heart prompts me to the act," she replied, with well-a.s.sumed dignity. Her swift thought was, "He also knows that the Muirs are embarra.s.sed. How is it that Graydon speaks and acts in the a.s.sured confidence of continued wealth?
Is he deceiving me?"
Mr. Arnault changed the subject, and none could do this with more adroitness than he, or be a more entertaining gallant if he so chose.
At the same time he maintained a subtle observance, in spite of his vaunted frankness, and he soon believed he had reason to hope that Miss Wildmere had been influenced by his words. Almost imperceptibly she permitted additional favor to come into her manner, and when she said good-night and good-by also, in view of his early start for the city, it was at the foot of the stairway, she casually remarking that she would not come down again.
"My brief visit has not been in vain," he thought. "I have delayed matters, and that now means a great deal. She will marry the survivor of this financial gale, and in every man"s philosophy the survival of the fittest is always the survival of the _ego_."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THERE NOW, BE RATIONAL," CRIED THE YOUNG GIRL]
CHAPTER XIII
"YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED"
Graydon felt that it was scarcely possible to resent Mr. Arnault"s tactics or to blame Miss Wildmere. The former certainly had as good a right to be a suitor as himself, and even to his prejudiced mind it would have been ungracious in the lady had she not given some reward for his rival"s long journey. It was natural that Mr. Arnault, an old friend of the Wildmeres, should sit at their table and receive the consideration that he enjoyed. Graydon had little cause for complaint or vexation, since his rival would depart in the morning, and, judging from to-day, his own suit was approaching a successful termination.
The coast would be clear on the morrow, and he determined to make the most of opportunities. He now even regretted that Madge and his relatives were at the house, for in some degree they trammelled his movements by a watchful attention, which he believed was not very friendly. It would not be well to ignore them beyond a certain point, for it was his wish to carry out his purposes with the least possible friction. Madge"s course had compelled a revision of his plans and expectations, but his intimate relations with his brother in business made harmony and peace very essential. He felt keenly, however, the spur of Mr. Arnault"s open and aggressive rivalry, and determined to enter upon an equally vigorous campaign.
Having reached this definite conclusion, he joined Mr. and Mrs. Muir on the piazza, and after some desultory talk asked, "Where is Madge?"
Mrs. Muir explained, adding, "I think you might go over to the chapel and accompany her home."
"I"ll be there by the time service is over," he replied.
There was sacred music in the hotel parlor, but it seemed to him neither very sacred nor very attractive. Then he strolled toward the chapel. As the service was not over, he stood and watched the great moonlit mountains, with their light and shade. The scene and hour fostered the feelings to which he had given himself up. In revery he went over the hours he had spent with Miss Wildmere since his return, and hope grew strong. In view of it all--and vividly his memory retained everything, even to the droop of her eyelids or the tone in which some ordinary words had been spoken--there could scarcely be a doubtful conclusion. Thoughts of him had kept her free, and now that they had met again she was seeking to discover if her old impressions had been true, and in their confirmation was surely yielding to his suit.
He started. Through the open windows of the adjacent chapel came the opening notes of a hymn, sung with a sweetness and power that in the still summer night seemed almost divine. Then other voices joined, and partially obscured the melody; but above all floated a voice that to his trained ear had some of the rarest qualities of music.
"That"s Madge," he muttered, and strode rapidly to the door. Again, in the second stanza, the rich, pure voice thrilled his every nerve, gaining rather than losing in its effect by his approach.
Unconsciously the poor girl had yielded to the old habit of self-expression in music. Her heart had been heavy, and now was sad indeed. Earthly hope had been growing dim, but the words of faith she had heard had not been without sustaining influence. With the deep longing of her woman"s nature for love--divine love, if earthly love must be denied--her voice in its pathos was unconsciously an appeal, full of entreaty. She half forgot her surroundings; they were nothing in her present mood. The little audience of strangers gave a sense of solitude.
The quaint old tune was rich in plaintive harmony. It had survived the winnowing process of time, and had endeared itself to the popular heart because expressive of the heart"s unrest and desire for something unpossessed. Along this old, well-worn musical channel Madge poured the full tide of her feeling, which had both the solemnity and the pathos inseparable from all deep and sacred emotion. Graydon was now sure that he must dismiss one of his impressions of Madge, and finally. No one could sing like that and be trivial at heart. "I don"t understand her," he muttered, gloomily, "but I appreciate one thing.
She has withheld from me her confidence, she does not wish to keep her old place in my affection, and has deposed herself from it.
She appears to be under the influence of a brood of sentimental aspirations. I shall remain my old self, nor shall I gratify her by admiring wonder. The one thing that would make life a burden to me is an intense, aesthetical, rapturously devotional woman, with her mental eye fixed on a vague ideal. In such society I should feel much like a man compelled to walk on stilts all the time. The idea of going back to the hotel, smoking a cigar, and talking of the ordinary affairs of life, after such music as that!"
"It was very kind of you to come over for me," said Madge, as she came out. "Thank you, doctor; no, there is no need of your going back with me. Good-night."
"Thanks to you, Miss Alden, thanks, thanks. The sermon was good, but that last hymn rounded up Sunday for me. I was going up to the house, but I"ll go home and keep that music in my ears. If they had known, they wouldn"t have spared you from the hotel music to-night."
"Please say nothing about it--that is all I ask," she said, as she took Graydon"s arm.
"Yes, Madge," he began, quietly, "you sung well. You had the rudiments of a fine voice years ago. In gaining strength you have also won the power to sing."
"Yes," she said, simply.
"Do you sing much?"