"Oh, de elder"s on de road, mos" done trabbelin", De elder"s on de road, mos" done trabbelin", De elder"s on de road, mos" done er trabbelin"; I"se gwine to carry my soul to de Lawd,"
when the door opened, and in came Blake.
"What ho! Mercutio. _Your_ bosom"s lord sits lightly on his throne, anyhow! What you been drinking, Billy? Getting shot seems to agree with you. Faith! lad, I"ve had a joyous morn, chaffing Gleason and supervising his packing. What a d.a.m.ned sneak that fellow is, anyhow!" he broke off, in sudden disgust.
"What"s he been doing now?"
"Oh!--I can"t tell you; just hinting and insinuating as usual. He"s no end grumpy at being sent off; seemed to think he had the inside track with the Jersey bluebell. (Look out, William, or you"ll be moth to that candle next. She"s the winningest thing I ever saw,--winning as four aces, i" faith!) Gad! Did you hear the K. O. W."s[A] speech about her?
Hullo! There they go now. She and Mrs. Stannard driving to town.
Wouldn"t wonder if they were going just to get rid of having to say good-by to Gleason. Come, Billy; let"s limp over to the store and have a cup of sack."
[Footnote A: Army _argot_ for commanding officer"s wife.]
"B"lieve not, Blakie, I"ve--well, let up on it, so to speak."
"_What?_ Billy? Oh, come now, that"s too--why, angels and ministers of grace! Ray, is it love? delirious, delicious, delusive love, again?
Sweet William! Billy Doux! bless my throbbing heart! Odds boddikins!
man,--nay, think,--
""Tis best to freeze on to the old love Till you"re solid as wheat with the new."
Don"t throw off on Hebe when Shebe, maybe, only fooling thee. Peace, say you? Nay, then, I mean no harm, sweet Will. Here"s me hand on"t. But for me, no dalliance with Venus,--
"Her and her blind boy"s scandalled company I have forsworn."
You have my blessing, Billy, but--
"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous There shall be no more cakes and ale?"
Avaunt! I"ll hie me to metheglin and Muldoon"s." And off he went, leaving Ray half vexed, half shaken with laughter.
It must have been one o"clock when, looking up the row as he sat basking in the sunshine, he saw Gleason come out of Captain Truscott"s quarters and rapidly nearing him along the walk. He had been idly looking over a newspaper and thinking intently over matters which he was beginning to find vastly interesting; but something in Gleason"s appearance changed Mr. Ray"s expression from that of the mingled contempt and indifference with which he generally met him into one of more active interest. The big and bulky lieutenant lurched unmistakably as he walked; his face was flushed, his eyes red. He was muttering angrily to himself, and shot a quick but far from intelligent glance at Ray as he pa.s.sed.
"Now, what on earth could have prompted him to go to Truscott"s looking like that?" thought Ray. "I wonder if Mrs. Truscott saw him. She did not go driving."
Presently there came a little knot of ladies down the row. They stopped to speak to Ray, and he rose, answering with smiling welcome, and they on the sidewalk and he, leaning against one of the pillars of the low wooden portico, were in the midst of a lively chat when his own door opened and there came from within his quarters Mrs. Truscott"s soldier servant, an old cavalryman whose infirmities had made him glad, long since, to exchange the functions of a trooper for those of general messenger, bootblack, and scullion on better pay and rations. He had come in from the rear. He held out a note.
"Mrs. Truscott said I was to find you at once, sir."
"Pardon me, ladies, I will see what this is," he said, opening it leisurely with pleasant antic.i.p.ations of an invitation for tea. He read two lines: the color left his face. Amaze, consternation, distress, were all pictured there in an instant.
"Excuse me! I must go to Mrs. Truscott at once," he said, and went limping eagerly, rapidly up the walk.
"Why, what can she want?" asked one of the astonished ladies.
"I cannot imagine. Don"t you think we--some of us ought to go and see if anything is the matter?"
"Nonsense! It is nothing where we would be of any service. What makes me wonder is what she can want of Mr. Ray; what made _him_ look so startled?" (A pause.)
"Didn"t Mrs. Turner say he was very attentive to her in Arizona, and that she threw him over for Captain Truscott?" (Tentatively.)
"It wasn"t that at _all!_" promptly interrupted another, with the positive conviction of womankind. "Mrs. Wilkins told me all about it, and I _know_. It was another girl Mr. Ray was in love with, and--no, it was Mrs.--somebody--Tanner, whose husband was killed, and Mrs. Truscott _did_ break an engagement with somebody----"
"I didn"t know about _that_. What I say is that Mr. Ray was desperately in love with Mrs. Truscott, because----"
And by this time all four were talking at once, and the thread of conversation became involved.
But Ray had hurried on. What he read had indeed startled him.
"Come to me the moment you get this. I am in fearful trouble.
"G. P. T."
He knocked at the door, and she herself opened it and led him into the parlor. She was pale as death, her eyes distended with misery, every feature quivering, every nerve trembling with fright and violent emotion. She began madly walking up and down the little room wringing her hands, shivering, gasping for breath.
"In heaven"s name, what has happened?"
"Oh! I cannot tell you! I cannot tell you! It is too fearful! Oh, Mr.
Ray! Mr. Ray!"
"But you must tell me, Mrs. Truscott. Try and control yourself. Is anything wrong with Jack?"
"Oh, no--no!"
"Good G.o.d! Has there been an accident? Has anything happened to Miss Sanford?"
"No--no--no! It"s only me!" she answered, hysterically inaccurate in her wild wretchedness. "I"ll tell you.--It is that awful man, Mr. Gleason.
He has been here and----"
Ray"s face set like stone. The words came through clinched teeth now. He seized her hand--released it as suddenly.
"Tell me instantly. There"s no time to lose. He goes at three."
And then at last, half sobbing, half raging with indignation, she managed to tell her story.
Gleason had come in half an hour before, and walking at once into the parlor, had sent up word that he wished to see her. She asked to be excused, but he called up that it was a matter of the utmost importance, and she came down. He closed the parlor door, stood between her and escape, and then proceeded to accuse her of slights and wrongs to him, and of interfering with his rights as a gentleman to pay his addresses to Miss Sanford,--of prejudicing her against him. He accused her husband of treating him with disdain, and then--she saw he had been drinking heavily--he with wild triumph told her she was in his power; he had long suspected her. She strove to check him and to call her servants (for a wonder they weren"t at the keyhole), but she was powerless against him.
Then he went on to denounce her as a faithless wife, and to accuse her of a vile correspondence with a soldier,--an enlisted man, a sergeant formerly of her husband"s troop. He drew a letter from his pocket, and with sneering emphasis read it aloud. It was an ardent love-letter from Wolf, in which he raved of his love for her, spoke of other letters he had written, and reminded her of his happiness in past meetings, and begged to be told when he could see her alone. She was horror-stricken; indignantly denied any knowledge of him whatever. He simply sneered, and told her he meant to take that letter "to crush her husband with" the first time he a.s.serted any authority over him, and to hold as a menace over her. Then she implored him as an officer, as a gentleman, to give it to her, but he only added sneering insult.
Ray could hardly wait till she had finished. At first he blazed with wrath, then that odd preternatural coolness and _sang-froid_ seemed to steal over him. He looked at his watch--One thirty: time enough--then asked a quiet question or two. Had any one heard? Did any one else know?
Not a soul. Whom could she tell? Whom could she call but him,--Mrs.
Stannard and Marion being away?
"Don"t worry a particle. I"ll have him here on his knees if need be. You say Wolf was the signature. Do you know any----Why! does he mean that good-looking German?"
And to his amaze she was blushing painfully.
"Yes, Mr. Ray, and he was with us at the Point, and always coming to borrow books of Jack, but indeed he never wrote me, nor I----"
"Hush! Who but a blackguard would think it? Just sit here quietly ten minutes or so. You shall have that letter. If any one comes, I think it would be best to keep quiet about this until later."