In the new-made study of his Remsen road cottage, Ferris Stanhope, Hunston"s returned celebrity, sat under a green-shaded lamp and frowned down at a sheaf of his own neat ma.n.u.script. Behind him, in a corner, books and various knick-knacks lay spilled over the floor around an open trunk. The room was, in fact, in the litter incident to getting to rights. But this did not act as a stay on the great man"s habit of industry, which happened to be of the most persistent variety.
The study blinds were drawn, and the rest of the house was in darkness.
The author noted three emendations upon his ma.n.u.script, made three more.
Then, with a muttered exclamation, he stripped off the interlined sheet altogether, tore it into shreds, threw the shreds on the floor and reached for a pad of white paper. At that moment he became aware of footsteps and heavy breathing in the hall, and looked up inquiringly.
His man-servant, Henry, was standing in the doorway, the long limp body of a man in his arms.
Mr. Stanhope sprang hurriedly to his feet. In his face the servant saw that same odd look of fleeting anxiety which he had noted there when they descended from the train that morning.
"In the name of heaven--what have you there?"
"Harskin" your pardon, sir," gasped Henry, staggering into the room, "I"m honcertain whether "e "s kilt or not. Struck down from behind by an old codger with long "air and gray whiskers. Hi was at the gate--"
"But what do you mean by hauling the carca.s.s in here? Do you think I"m running a private morgue?"
Henry, who had been in his present employment a bare month, came to a wobbly pause, surprised. The body grew very heavy in his stout arms. Now the man"s head slid off Henry"s shoulder and tumbled backwards, hanging down in the full glow of the lamp.
"Hi thought, sir--" began the servant with panting dignity.
"O my G.o.d!" said the author suddenly.
Henry, who had not had a look at his burden, misunderstood.
"Ghastly sight, hain"t it, sir--that b.l.o.o.d.y gash on "is "ead?"
"Quick! Put him on the sofa.--Now some water."
The servant, whose limbs were numb from the long carry, obeyed with alacrity. But returning hurriedly with the water, he was met at the door by his perverse master, who took the gla.s.s from his hands with the curt announcement that that would do.
Henry looked as displeased as his subservient position made advisable.
"Hif you please, sir, I have quite a "and with the hinjured and--"
"He"s only stunned," said his master impatiently. "I "ll attend to him myself."
And he banged the door in the servant"s face.
The man lay on the lounge precisely as Henry had happened to place him, his averted face half buried in the pillows. Investigation showed that he had no b.l.o.o.d.y gash on his head: that was Henry"s imagination. There did not, in fact, seem to be a mark on him beyond three small scratches on his forehead.
Stanhope put his hand under the chin and turned it toward him, none too gently. For a full moment he stood motionless, staring down at that white face so like his own. Then he dipped his hand in the gla.s.s, and splashed a handful of water upon the closed eyes.
At the first touch of it, the still figure of the injured man stirred with faint signs of returning consciousness. Far down in a black and utter void, he sensed the first glimmer of distant light. Slowly, slowly, the glimmer grew. The silence within gave place to a vast roaring in his ears and indescribable pain in his head; and the dull glow which had seemed to him the shining frontier of some far new world whither he was gratefully journeying, resolved itself into a circle of greenish light.
"Drink this," said a soft but peremptory voice.
He drank, incuriously; and the fiery liquid ran to his head and heart and shot new life into his dead limbs. But the more his lost strength came back to his body, the more he was aware of the terrible pain in his head. It occurred to him vaguely that when once he opened his eyes, which he would have to do some time, there would be a horrible explosion and his head would go off like a sky-rocket.
"You feel better now," a.s.serted rather than inquired the voice.
"Much. Thanks to you. It"s only--my head. Something seems to be wrong with it, a little."
"Somebody hit you there with a club, from behind. You remember now, don"t you? Who was it?"
"I don"t know," said Varney wearily.
"Oh, come! Your head isn"t as bad as all that--there"s not even a b.u.mp on it. Think a moment. An old man, with long hair and gray whiskers. You must know who it was."
Varney pressed his hand upon his racking forehead. "Oh! So it was he--then. Poor old Orrick."
The author"s face lost something of its color. "Orrick!... What--what has this fellow got against you?"
Varney did not answer. The name had started remote memories to working, and, very slowly, returning comprehension advanced to meet them. He and old Orrick had been standing together on a woodland road. They were hunting for something. An 1812 penny and valuable. That was it. Before that, he had stood a long time near a green gate somewhere, looking at a pair of dark-blue eyes. He remembered distinctly what merciless eyes they were, though something in a far corner of his mind recalled that he had once, oddly enough, a.s.sociated them with pleasant things. Then, like one rounding a sharp corner in a driveway, his memory came face to face with everything; and he turned his head to the wall.
But there was no escape from that insistent voice, so eager for an explanation. A hand fell upon his shoulder, shook it almost roughly.
"Don"t let yourself drop off again. Here! You want another drink?"
"No, I"m quite all right now--thank you."
To prove it, and to make ready to get away where he could be quiet, he performed the herculean task of opening his eyes. A tall man was bending over him, an anxious expression on his handsome face. More than the liquor, more even than the jostling hand upon his shoulder, the look of that face, so strange yet so familiar, braced Varney to action.
The two pairs of gray-blue eyes, so oddly matched in tint and shape, stared into each other steadily. Presently Varney dragged his feet around to the floor, with difficulty, as was natural to their thousand tons of weight, and taking hold of a chair pulled himself up on them. He raised his hands, slowly and cautiously, to his head. Good! It was still there. The impression that it had left his shoulders and was floating around in the air a foot or two above them thus turned out to be an illusion.
"There!" he heard the author saying briskly. "A little effort was all you needed, as I thought."
"That was all. Thank you. You must have pulled me in from the road, didn"t you? It was very kind. You have just arrived in Hunston--I believe?"
"I came only this morning," his good Samaritan replied. "In the nick of time, it seems, to be of a.s.sistance. And you?" he added, with a slight bow. "You are a native here, perhaps?"
"Do you remember me," asked Varney quietly, "when you were here twelve years ago?"
Mr. Stanhope selected a cigarette from a large open box on the table, lit it carefully, took several long inhalations. "No," he said easily.
"But for that matter, I fear that I remember few of my boyhood acquaintances in Hunston. But--this man--Orrick, you said?--has there been bad blood between you two for some time then?"
"No," said Varney, simply. "He struck me, I believe, because he thought I was you?"
"_What_!" cried the author with overdone surprise.
"I am glad--to meet you so soon after your arrival," continued Varney.
"Some one should tell you that your boyhood acquaintances have longer memories. You came here for your health, I believe? I think you might do well to leave for the same reason."
Stanhope"s eyes became little slits behind his trim gla.s.ses. "What do you mean by these extraordinary remarks?"
Varney, whose brain seemed to have changed into a ball of shooting pains and brilliant fireworks, endeavored to think out clearly just what he had meant by his extraordinary remarks.
"Possibly you think that I resemble you somewhat?" he said, slowly. "A number of people here seem to hold that view. In fact, they have mistaken me for you--everybody has. Doubtless you know why they should feel unkindly towards you. I make myself perfectly clear, do I not? Only this afternoon I heard that a little party was being gotten together for my benefit."
The author dropped his nervous-looking eyes; he tugged uncertainly at his wisp of a mustache.