"Egbert, a spell ago you and I had a little chat together and I told you I had just begun to fight.... Well, I haven"t really begun yet, but I"m gettin" up steam.... Think it over."
Phillips stopped and, standing by the window, stared fixedly at the captain. The latter met the stare with a look of the blandest serenity.
Behind the look, however, were feelings vastly different. If ever a forlorn hope skated upon thin ice, his and George Kent"s was doing so at that moment. If Egbert _should_ agree to return to Bayport, and if his statement concerning the ownership of the Boston bonds _was_ true, then--well, then it would not be Mr. Phillips who might receive the attentions of the constable.
Egbert stopped staring and once more looked at the clock. Quarter past two! He turned again quickly.
"Kendrick," he snapped, "what _is_ your proposition?"
"My proposition? I want you to pay me the sixteen hundred dollars Kent put into that C. M. stock deal. If you do that I"ll give you his signed paper turnin" over to you all interest in the deal. You can make all the profit on it yourself--when it comes. Then in matter of Cordelia"s bonds----"
Phillips lifted a hand.
"The bonds are not to be considered," he said, decisively. "If they are mine, as I say they are, you have no claim on them. If they are Mrs.
Berry"s, as you absurdly pretend to think they are, again you have no claim. If she says I have stolen them--which she won"t--she may prosecute; but, again, my dear sir, she--ah--won"t."
The slight smile accompanying the last sentence troubled the captain. It was not the smile of a frightened man. Before he could reply Egbert continued.
"But the bond matter may be settled later," he went on. "So far as I am concerned it is settled now. For our--ah--foolish young friend, Kent, however, I feel a certain sense of--shall we say pity?--and am inclined to make certain confessions. Silly sentimentalism on my part, doubtless--but pity, nevertheless. If you will give me the paper signed by him, which you claim to have, relinquishing all share in the stock at the New York brokers, I will--well, yes, I will pay you the sixteen hundred dollars."
It was Sears Kendrick who was staggered now. It was his turn to stare.
"You will pay me sixteen hundred dollars--_now_?" he gasped.
"Yes."
"But--but.... Humph! Well, thanks, Egbert--but your check, you know----"
"I have no time to waste in drawing checks. I will pay you in cash."
And, as Sears"s already wide-open eyes opened wider and wider, he calmly took from his coat a pocketbook hugely obese and extracted from that pocketbook a mammoth roll of bank notes.
Ten minutes later the captain was again moving along the road between Denboro and Bayport, bound home this time. He was driving mechanically; the horse was acting as his own pilot, for the man who held the reins was too much engrossed in thought to pay attention to such inconsequential matters as ruts or even roads. Sears was doing his best to find the answer to a riddle and, so far, the answer was as deeply shrouded in mist as ever a ship of his had been on any sea.
He was satisfied in one way, more than satisfied. His demand for the full sixteen hundred had been made with no real hope. Had Phillips consented to return eight hundred dollars of the amount, the offer would in the end have been accepted with outward reluctance but inward joy.
Had he refused to return a penny Kendrick would not have been surprised.
But Egbert, after making up his mind, had paid the entire sum without a whimper, had paid it almost casually and with the air of one obliging a well-meaning, if somewhat annoying, inferior. Inspecting and pocketing Kent"s power of attorney and the captain"s receipt he had dismissed his visitor at the parsonage door as King Solomon in all his glory might have graciously dismissed a beggar whose pet.i.tion had been granted. And the look in his eye and the half smile beneath the long mustache were not those of one beaten at a game--no, they were not.
The recollection of that look and that smile bothered Sears Kendrick. He could not guess what was behind them. One thing seemed to be certain, his threats of prosecution and his bluffs concerning the Boston bonds had not alarmed Phillips greatly. He had not given in because he was afraid of imprisonment. No; no, the only symptoms of nervousness he had shown were his repeated glances at the clock, at his watch, and when he looked out of the parsonage window. More and more the captain was forced to the conclusion that Egbert had paid him to get rid of him, that he did not wish to be detained or to have Kendrick remain there, and his reasons must have been so important that he was willing to part with sixteen hundred dollars to get his visitor out of the way.
But what possible reason could be as important as that? Why had he run away from Bayport? Why was he taking the three-fifteen train--at Denboro? Why was he spending the time before the departure of that train in the parlor of the Methodist parsonage? And he had made an appointment with the minister himself. Was he expecting some one else at that parsonage?
Eh? The captain straightened on the buggy seat. He spoke aloud one word, a name.
"Cordelia!" he cried.
For another five minutes Captain Sears Kendrick, his frown growing deeper and deeper as the conviction was forced upon him, sat motionless in the buggy. Then he spoke sharply to his horse, turned the latter about, and drove rapidly back to Denboro. He could do nothing worth while, he could prevent nothing, but he could answer that riddle. He believed he had answered it already.
It was half-past three when he again knocked at the parsonage door. The Reverend Backus himself answered the knock.
"Why, no," he said, "Mr. Phillips has gone. Yes, I think--I am sure he took the train. You are his friend, aren"t you? I am sorry you missed the--er--happy event. Mrs. Phillips--the new Mrs. Phillips--is a charmingly refined lady, isn"t she? And Mr. Phillips himself is _such_ a gentleman. I don"t know when I have had the pleasure of--er--officiating at a pleasanter ceremony. I shall always remember it."
Mrs. Backus looked over her husband"s shoulder.
"The bride came just after you left," she explained. "She was just a little late, she said; but it was all right, there was plenty of time.
And she did look _so_ happy!"
Captain Kendrick did not look happy. He had answered the riddle correctly. An elopement, of course. It was plain enough now. Oh, if he might have been there when that poor, silly, misguided woman arrived! He might not have been able to stop the marriage, but at least he could--and would--have told the bride a few pointed truths concerning the groom.
Mrs. Backus, all smiles, asked her husband a question. "What did you say her name was, dear?" she asked.
The minister hesitated. "Why--why--" he stammered, "it was---- Dear me, how forgetful I am!"
Sears supplied the information.
"Berry," he said, gloomily. "Cordelia Berry."
Mr. Backus seemed surprised. "Why, no," he declared. "That doesn"t sound like the name.... It wasn"t. No, it wasn"t. It was--I have it--Snowden.
Miss Elvira Snowden--of Ostable, I believe."
CHAPTER XIX
Not until Captain Kendrick entered the Minot kitchen late that afternoon did he get the full and complete answer to his puzzle. Judah supplied the missing details, supplied them with a rush, had evidently been bursting with them for hours.
"My hoppin", creepin", jumpin" prophets, Cap"n Sears," he roared, before his lodger could speak a word, "if I ain"t got the dumdest news to tell you now, then n.o.body ever had none!... You ain"t heard it, Cap"n, have you? _Don"t_ tell me you"ve heard it already! Have you?"
Sears shrugged his shoulders. "I don"t know, Judah," he replied. "Have I?"
"Hoppin" Henry! I _hope_ you ain"t, "cause I wanted to tell you myself.
It"s about Elviry Snowden. Have you heard anything about her?"
"Why--well, what have _you_ heard?"
"Heard! They heard it fust over to the Harbor about a couple of hours ago. Bradley, the Orham lawyer feller, he"d heard it and he come over to see Elizabeth about somethin" or "nother and he told it to all hands.
You know that aunt of Elviry"s over to Ostable, the one that died last week? Well all hands had cal"lated she was kind of on her beam ends--poor, I mean. When her husband died, don"t you recollect some property they owned over to Harniss was goin" to be sold to auction? All them iron images Elviry wanted to buy was part of "em; don"t you remember?"
"Yes, I remember.
"Sartin sure you do. Well, so fur as that goes them images wan"t sold because the widow changed her mind about "em and had "em all carted over to another little place she owned in Ostable, and set up in the yard there. She"s been livin" on this place in Ostable and everybody figgered she didn"t have much money else she"d stayed in the big house in Harniss. But, by Henry, since she"s died it"s come out that she was rich. Yes, sir, rich! She"d saved every cent, you see; never spent nothin". A reg"lar mouser, she was--miser, I mean. And who do you suppose she"s left it all to? Elviry, by the creepin"! Yes, sir, every last cent to Elviry Snowden."
"_No!!_"
"Yes. Elviry"s rich. "Cordin" to Bradley"s tell there"s a lot of land and a house and barn, and all them iron images, and--wait; let me tell you--stocks, and things like that, and over ten thousand dollars cash in the bank, by Henry! In _cash_, where Elviry can get right aholt of it if she wants to. Much as thirty thousand, altogether, land and all. And....
What in tunket are you laughin" at?"
For Captain Kendrick had thrown himself into the rocking chair and was shaking the pans on the stove with peal after peal of laughter.