I was relieved. On the lake there was much less chance of her being observed by Henry Holbrook than in the highways about Annandale. It was, to be sure, a question whether the man I had encountered at the canoe-maker"s was really her brother; that question was still to be settled. The presence of Gillespie I had forgotten utterly; but he was, at any rate, the least important figure in the little drama unfolding before me.
"I shall come to your pier with the launch at five o"clock," I said, and with their thanks murmuring in my ears I turned away, went home and called for my horse.
I repeated my journey of the night before, making daylight acquaintance with the highway. I brought my horse to a walk as I neared the canoe-maker"s cottage, and I read his sign and the lettering on his mail-box and satisfied myself that the name Hartridge was indisputably set forth on both. The cedar hedge and the pines before the house shut the cottage off from the curious completely; but I saw the flutter of white curtains in the open gable windows, and the red roof agleam in the bright sunlight. There was no one in sight; perhaps the adventure and warning of the night had caused Holbrook to leave; but at any rate I was bent upon asking about him in Tippecanoe village.
This place, lying about two miles beyond the canoe-maker"s, I found to be a sleepy hamlet of perhaps fifty cottages, a country store, a post-office, and a blacksmith shop. There was a water-trough in front of the store, and I dismounted to give my horse a drink while I went to the cottage behind the closed store to seek the shopkeeper.
I found him in a garden under an apple-tree reading a newspaper. He was an old fellow in spectacles, and, a.s.suming that I was an idler from the summer colony, he greeted me courteously.
He confirmed my impression that the crops were all in first-rate condition, and that the day was fine. I questioned him as to the character of the winters in this region, spoke of the employments of the village folk, then mentioned the canoe-maker.
"Yes; he works the year round down there on the Tippecanoe. He sells his canoes all over the country--the Hartridge, that"s his name. You must have seen his sign there by the cedar hedge. They say he gets big prices for his canoes."
"I suppose he"s a native in these parts?" I ventured.
"No; but he"s been here a good while. I guess n.o.body knows where he comes from--or cares. He works pretty hard, but I guess he likes it."
"He"s an industrious man, is he?"
"Oh, he"s a steady worker; but he"s a queer kind, too. Now he never votes and he never goes to church; and for the sake of the argument, neither do I,"--and the old fellow winked prodigiously. "He"s a mighty odd man; but I can"t say that that"s against him. But he"s quiet and peaceable, and now his daughter--"
"Oh, he has a daughter?"
"Yes; and that"s all he has, too; and they never have any visitors.
The daughter just come home the other day, and we ain"t hardly seen her yet. She"s been away at school."
"I suppose Mr. Hartridge is absent sometimes; he doesn"t live down there all the time, does he?"
"I can"t say that I could prove it; sometimes I don"t see him for a month or more; but his business is his own, stranger," he concluded pointedly.
"You think that if Mr. Hartridge had a visitor you"d know it?" I persisted, though the shopkeeper grew less amiable.
"Well, now I might; and again I mightn"t. Mr. Hartridge is a queer man. I don"t see him every day, and particularly in the winter I don"t keep track of him."
With a little leading the storekeeper described Hartridge for me, and his description tallied exactly with the man who had caught me on the canoe-maker"s premises the night before. And yet, when I had thanked the storekeeper and ridden on through the village, I was as much befuddled as ever. There was something decidedly incongruous in the idea that a man who was, by all superficial signs, at least, a gentleman, should be established in the business of making canoes by the side of a lonely creek in this odd corner of the world. From the storekeeper"s account, Hartridge might be absent from his retreat for long periods; if he were Henry Holbrook and wished to annoy his sister, it was not so far from this lonely creek to the Connecticut town where Miss Pat lived. Again, as to the daughter, just home from school and not yet familiar to the eyes of the village, she might easily enough be an invention to hide the visits of Helen Holbrook. I found myself trying to account for the fact that, by some means short of the miraculous, Helen Holbrook had played chess with Miss Pat at St.
Agatha"s at the very hour I had seen her with her father on the Tippecanoe. And then I was baffled again as I remembered that Paul Stoddard had sent the two women to St. Agatha"s, and that their destination could not have been chosen by Helen Holbrook.
My thoughts wandered into many blind alleys as I rode on. I was thoroughly disgusted with myself at finding the loose ends of the Holbrooks" affairs multiplying so rapidly. The sun of noon shone hot overhead, and I turned my horse into a road that led homeward by the eastern sh.o.r.e of the lake. As I approached a little country church at the crown of a long hill I saw a crowd gathered in the highway and reined my horse to see what had happened. The congregation of farmers and their families had just been dismissed; and they were pressing about a young man who stood in the center of an excited throng.
Drawing closer, I was amazed to find my friend Gillespie the center of attention.
"But, my dear sir," cried a tall, bearded man whom I took to be the minister of this wayside flock, "you must at least give us the privilege of thanking you! You can not know what this means to us, a gift so munificent--so far beyond our dreams."
Whereat Gillespie, looking bored, shook his head, and tried to force his way through the encircling rustics. He was clad in a Norfolk jacket and knickerbockers of fantastic plaid, with a cap to match.
A young farmer, noting my curiosity and heavy with great news, whispered to me:
"That boy in short pants put a thousand-dollar bill in the collection basket. All in one bill! They thought it was a mistake, but he told our preacher it was a free gift."
Just then I heard the voice of my fool raised so that all might hear:
"Friends, on the dusty highway of life I can take none of the honor or credit you so kindly offer me. The money I have given you to-day I came by honestly. I stepped into your cool and restful house of worship this morning in search of bodily ease. The small voice of conscience stirred within me. I had not been inside a church for two years, and I was greatly shaken. But as I listened to your eloquent pastor I was aware that the green wall-paper interrupted my soul currents. That vegetable-green tint is notorious as a psychical interceptor. Spend the money as you like, gentlemen; but if I, a stranger, may suggest it, try some less violent color scheme in your mural decorations."
He seemed choking with emotion as with bowed head he pushed his way through the circle and strode past me. The people stared after him, mystified and marveling. I heard an old man calling out:
"How wonderful are the ways of the Lord!"
I let Gillespie pa.s.s, and followed him slowly until a turn in the road hid us from the staring church folk. He turned and saw me.
"You have discovered me, Donovan. Be sure your sins will find you out!
A simple people, singularly moved at the sight of a greenback. I have rarely caused so much excitement."
"I suppose you are trying to ease your conscience by giving away some of your b.u.t.ton money."
"That is just it, Donovan. You have struck the bra.s.s tack on the head.
But now that we have met again, albeit through no fault of my own, let me mention matters of real human interest."
"You might tell me what you"re doing here first."
"Walking; there were no cabs, Donovan."
"You choose a queer hour of the day for your exercise."
"One might say the same for your ride. But let us be sensible. I dare say there"s some common platform on which we both may stand."
"We"ll a.s.sume it," I replied, dismounting by the roadside that I might talk more easily. Bandages were still visible at his wrists, and a strip of court-plaster across the knuckles of his right hand otherwise testified to the edges of the gla.s.s in St. Agatha"s garden. He held up his hands ruefully.
"Those were nasty slashes; and I ripped them up badly in climbing out of your window. But I couldn"t linger: I am not without my little occupations."
"You stand as excellent chance of being shot if you don"t clear out of this. If there"s any shame in you you will go without making further trouble."
"It has occurred to me," he began slowly, "that I know something that you ought to know. I saw Henry Holbrook yesterday."
"Where?" I demanded.
"On the lake. He"s rented a sloop yacht called the _Stiletto_. I pa.s.sed it yesterday on the Annandale steamer and I saw him quite distinctly."
"It"s all your fault that he"s here!" I blurted, thoroughly aroused.
"If you had not followed those women they might have spent the remainder of their lives here and never have been molested. But he undoubtedly caught the trail from you."
Gillespie nodded gravely and frowned before he answered.
"I am sorry to spoil your theory, my dear Irish brother, but put this in your pipe: _Henry was here first_! He rented the sail-boat ten days ago--and I made my triumphal entry a week later. Explain that, if you please, Mr. Donovan."
I was immensely relieved by this disclosure, for it satisfied me that I had not been mistaken in the ident.i.ty of the canoe-maker. I had, however, no intention of taking the b.u.t.ton king into my confidence.
"Where is Holbrook staying?" I asked casually.
"I don"t know--he keeps afloat. The _Stiletto_ belongs to a Cincinnati man who isn"t coming here this summer and Holbrook has got the use of the yacht. So much I learned from the boat storage man at Annandale; then I pa.s.sed the _Stiletto_ and saw Henry on board."