"Stop!" Eben"s shout rang through the house. The listener heard it, rose, and then sank slowly to her knees.
"Stop!" shouted Captain Hammond. "Elkanah Daniels, for your own sake now, be careful. If you dast to say a word, another word like that, I"ll--"
"If I dast! The hussy! But there"s no use talkin" to you. You"re as crazy as a Bedlamite. Either that, or you"re in the game with her. If you are, I warn you--"
"Stop! What game? What do you mean? Gracie! My Grace! What is it? For mercy sakes, Elkanah--"
"Humph! I wondered if I couldn"t get some sense into you, finally. Lock that door!"
"I will! I will! But Elkanah--"
"Lock it! Give me the key!"
The click of the lock sounded sharply.
"Where"s the lamp?" demanded Daniels. "And the matches? Don"t stand there shaking."
A smell of sulphur floated out into the hall. Then the sickly glow of the "fluid" lamp shone through the doorway.
"What ails you?" asked Elkanah. "Are you struck dumb? Now go and see if there"s anybody else in the house."
"But--but there ain"t. I know there ain"t. Hannah"s gone and Gracie"s at meetin" by this time."
"She? Humph! Well, maybe she"s at meeting and maybe she isn"t. Maybe she"s over in Peters"s pines, hugging and kissing that man she"s met there every Sunday for I don"t know how long--Here! let go, you old fool! Let go, I tell you!"
A chair fell to the floor with a bang. There was the sound of hard breathing and rapid footsteps.
"Let go!" panted Daniels. "Are you crazy? Take your hands off me!"
"You liar!" snarled Captain Eben. "You low-lived liar! By the Almighty, Elkanah Daniels! I"ll--You take that back or I"ll choke the everlastin"
soul out of you. I will--"
"Let go, you lunatic! You"ll kill yourself. Listen! I"m not lying. It"s the truth. She"s met a man, I tell you. Been meeting him for months, I guess. There! now will you listen?"
The footsteps had ceased, but the heavy breathing continued.
"A man!" gasped Eben. "A man! Gracie! It"s a--Who is he? What"s his name?"
"His name"s John Ellery, and he"s minister of the Regular church in this town; that"s who he is! Here! hold up! Good Lord! are you dying? Hold up!"
The girl on the stairs sprang to her feet. Her head was reeling and she could scarcely stand, but she blindly began the descent. She must go to her uncle. She must. But Captain Daniels"s voice caused her to halt once more.
"There! there!" it said in a tone of relief. "That"s better. Set still now. Be quiet, that"s it. Shall I get some water?"
"No, no! let me be. Just let me be. I ain"t what I used to be and this--I"m all right, I tell you. Grace! And--and--What was it you just said? I--I don"t b"lieve I heard it right."
"I said that daughter of yours, or niece, or whatever she is, this Grace Van Horne, has been meeting young Ellery, our minister, in Peters"s grove. Been meeting him and walking with him, and kissing him, and--"
"It"s a lie! It ain"t so, Elkanah! Prove it or--It--it CAN"T be so, can it? Please--"
"It is so. She"s met him in those pines every Sunday afternoon for a long time. She was seen there with him this afternoon."
"Who--who saw her?"
"Never mind. The one that did"ll never tell--unless it"s necessary.
They"re fixing to be married, and--"
"MARRIED! She marry a Reg"lar minister! Oh--"
"Hush! Listen! They ain"t married yet. We can stop "em, you and I, if we get right to work. It isn"t too late. Will you help?"
"Will I--I--Go on! tell me more."
"We can stop "em. I know it would be a good catch for her, the sneaking, designing--Well, never mind. But it can"t be. It shan"t be. You"ve got to tell her so, Hammond. We folks of the Regular church have pride in our society; we won"t have it disgraced. And we have been proud of our minister, the young, rattle-headed fool! We"ll save him if we can. If we can"t"--the speaker"s teeth grated--"then we"ll send him to eternal smash or die trying."
"But I can"t believe it"s true. It"s a mistake; some other girl and not Gracie. Why, she don"t even know him. She wouldn"t--But she HAS been out every Sunday afternoon for weeks. If it SHOULD be!"
"It is. I tell you it is. Don"t waste time rolling your eyes and talking stuff. We"ve got to work and you"ve got to work first. I don"t know whether you"re only making believe or not. I realize that "twould be a good thing for your girl to marry a promising young chap like him, but--Hush! let me go on. I tell you, Hammond, it can"t be. We won"t let her. I won"t let her. I"m a man of influence in this town, and outside of it, too. I"m head of the parish committee and a member of the National Regular Society. I can"t reach your precious ward, maybe, but I can reach the fellow she"s after, and if he marries her, I"ll drive "em both to the poorhouse.
"Here"s where you come in, Hammond. It may be she does really care for him. Or maybe she"s after position and money. Well, you talk to her. You tell her that if she keeps on going with him, if she doesn"t break off this d.a.m.nable business now, tomorrow, I"ll ruin John Ellery as sure as I"m a living man. He"ll be ruined in Trumet, anyhow. He"ll be thrown out by the parish committee. I"m not sure that his church people won"t tar and feather him. Marrying a low-down Come-Outer hussy! As if there wa"n"t decent girls of good families he might have had! But losing this church won"t be the only thing that"ll happen to him. The committee"ll see that he doesn"t get another one. I"ll use my influence and have him thrown out of the Regular ministry. Think I can"t? What sort of yarns do you suppose will be told about him and her, meeting the way they did?
Won"t the county papers print some fine tales? Won"t the Boston ones enjoy such a scandal? I tell you, Eben Hammond, that young chap"s name will be dragged so deep in the mud it"ll never get clean again."
He stopped for breath. His companion was silent. After a moment, he continued:
"You tell her that, Hammond," he went on. "If she really cares for him, it"ll be enough. She won"t let him ruin his life. And I"ll keep quiet till I hear from you. If she"s sensible and really decent, then she can give him his clearance papers without his knowing why she did it and everything will be a secret and kept so. n.o.body else"ll ever know. If she won"t do that, then you tell me and I"ll have a session with HIM.
If THAT"S no good, then out he goes and she with him; and it"s ruination for both of "em, reputations and all. Why am I doing this? I"ll tell you. I like him. He isn"t orthodox enough to suit me, but I have liked him mighty well. And Annab--Humph! that"s neither here nor there. What I"m fighting for is the Trumet Regular church. That"s MY church and I"ll have no dirty scandal with Come-Outers dragging it down. Now you understand. Will you tell her what I"ve said?"
The chair creaked. Evidently, Captain Eben was rising slowly to his feet.
"Well?" repeated Elkanah.
"Elkanah Daniels," said Eben slowly, his voice shaking from nervous exhaustion and weakness, but with a fine ring of determination in every word, "Elkanah Daniels, you listen to me. I"ve heard you through. If your yarn is true, then my heart is broke, and I wish I might have died afore I heard it. But I didn"t die and I have heard it. Now listen to me. I love that girl of mine better"n the whole wide world and yet I"d ruther see her dead afore me than married to a Reg"lar minister.
Disgrace to HIM! Disgrace to your miser"ble church! What about the disgrace to MINE? And the disgrace to HER? Ruin to your minister! Ruin to my girl here and hereafter is what I"m thinkin" of; that and my people who worship G.o.d with me. I"ll talk to Grace. I"ll talk to her. But not of what"ll happen to him or you--or any of your cantin", lip-servin" crew. I"ll tell her to choose between him and me. And if she chooses him, I"ll send her out of that door. I"ll do my duty and read her out of my congregation. And I"ll know she"s gone to everlastin"
h.e.l.l, and that"s worse"n the poorhouse. That"s all to-night, Elkanah.
Now you better go."
"Humph! Well, I declare! you ARE a bigoted--"
"Stop it! I"ve kept my hands off you so fur, because I"m the Lord"s servant. But I"m fightin" hard to keep down my old salt-water temper.
You go! There"s the door."
"All right, all right! I don"t care what you say, so long as it"s said so as to stop her from getting him--and said soon."
"It"ll be said to-night. Now go! My people are waitin" at the chapel."
"You"re not going to that prayer meeting after THIS?"
"Where else should I go? "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden." And--and"--his voice broke--"He knows that I AM heavy laden.
Lord! Lord! do help me, for this is more"n I can bear alone."