He groaned, grinned vacuously at Mary, and again produced the handkerchief, wiping away drops of perspiration that were twice as big as those he had previously mopped off.
Mary continued to stare at him, repeating the question: "How did you get it?"
Sanderson"s composure began to return; his grin grew wider and more intelligent, and at the sixth repet.i.tion of Mary"s question he answered, boldly:
"I wasn"t goin" to tell you about that. You see, ma"am----"
"Mary!"
"You see, Mary, I was goin" to fool Brans--dad. I wrote, askin" him for the job, an" I was intendin" to come on, to surprise him. But before I told him who I was, I was goin" to feel him out, an" find out what he thought of me. Then I got your letter, tellin" me he was dead, an" so there wasn"t any more use of tryin" to fool him."
"But that name, "Sanderson?" That isn"t your name, Will!"
"It was," he grinned. "When I left home I didn"t want anybody to be runnin" into me an" recognizin" me, so I changed it to Sanderson. Deal Sanderson."
The girl"s expression changed to delight; she sat erect and clapped her hands.
"Oh," she said, "I wish father was here to listen to this! He thought all along that you were going to turn out bad. If he only knew! Will, you don"t mean to tell me that you are the Sanderson that we all know of here--that nearly everybody in the country has heard about; the man who is called "Square Deal" Sanderson by all his friends--and even by his enemies--because of his determination to do right--and to make everyone else do right too!"
Again Sanderson resorted to the handkerchief.
"I don"t reckon they"ve talked about me that strong," he said.
"But they have! Oh, I"m so happy, Will. Why, when Dale hears about it he"ll be positively venomous--and scared. I don"t think he will bother the Double A again--after he hears of it!"
But Sanderson merely smirked mirthlessly; he saw no reason for being joyful over the lie he had told. He was getting deeper and deeper into the mire of deceit and prevarication, and there seemed to be no escape.
And now, when he had committed himself, he realized that he might have evaded it all, this last lie at least, by telling Mary that he had picked the note up on the desert, or anywhere, for that matter, and she would have been forced to believe him.
He kept her away from him, fending off her caresses with a pretense of slight indisposition until suddenly panic-stricken over insistence, he told her he was going to bed, bolted into the room, locked the door behind him, and sat long in the darkness and the heat, filling the room with a profane appreciation of himself as a double-dyed fool who could not even lie intelligently.
CHAPTER VII
KISSES--A MAN REFUSES THEM
There was a kerosene lamp in Sanderson"s room, and when, after an hour of gloomy silence in the dark, he got up and lit the lamp, he felt decidedly better. He was undressing, preparing to get into bed, when he was a.s.sailed with a thought that brought the perspiration out on him again.
This time it was a cold sweat, and it came with the realization that discovery was again imminent, for if, as Mary had said, she had kept Sanderson"s letter to her father, there were in existence two letters--his own and Will Bransford"s--inevitably in different handwriting, both of which he had claimed to have written.
Sanderson groaned. The more he lied the deeper he became entangled.
He pulled on his trousers, and stood shoeless, gazing desperately around the room.
He simply must destroy that letter, or Mary, comparing it with the letter her brother had written would discover the deception.
It was the first time in Sanderson"s life that had ever attempted to deceive anybody, and he was in the grip of a cringing dread.
For the first time since he occupied the room he inspected it, noting its furnishings. His heart thumped wildly with hope while he looked.
It was a woman"s room--Mary"s, of course. For there were decorations here and there--a delicate piece of crochet work on a dresser; a sewing basket on a stand; a pincushion, a pair of shears; some gaily ornamented pictures on the walls, and--peering behind the dresser--he saw a pair of lady"s riding-boots.
He strode to a closet door and threw it open, revealing, hanging innocently on their hooks, a miscellaneous array of skirts, blouses, and dresses.
Mary had surrendered her room to him. Feeling guilty again, and rather conscience-stricken, as though he were committing some sacrilegious action, he went to the dresser and began to search among the effects in the drawers.
They were filled with articles of wearing apparel, delicately fringed things that delight the feminine heart, and keepsakes of all descriptions. Sanderson handled them carefully, but his search was not the less thorough on that account.
And at last, in one of the upper drawers of the dresser, he came upon a packet of letters.
Again his conscience p.r.i.c.ked him, but the stern urge of necessity drove him on until he discovered an envelope addressed to the elder Bransford, in his own handwriting, and close to it a letter from Will Bransford to Mary Bransford.
Sanderson looked long at the Bransford letter, considering the situation. He was tempted to destroy that, too, but he reflected, permitting a sentimental thought to deter him.
For Mary undoubtedly treasured that letter, and when the day came that he should tell her the truth, the letter would be the only link that would connect her with the memory of her brother.
Sanderson could not destroy it. He had already offended Mary Bransford more than he had a right to, and to destroy her brother"s letter would be positively heinous.
Besides, unknown to him, there might be more letters about with Will Bransford"s signature on them, and it might be well to preserve this particular letter in case he should be called upon to forge Will Bransford"s signature.
So he retied the letters in the packet and restored the packet to its place, retaining his own letter to Bransford. Smiling grimly now, he again sought the chair near the window, lit a match, applied the blaze to the letter, and watched the paper burn until nothing remained of it but a crinkly ash. Then he smoked a cigarette and got into bed, feeling more secure.
Determined not to submit to any more of Mary"s caresses, and feeling infinitely small and mean over the realization that he had already permitted her to carry her affection too far, he frowned at her when he went into the kitchen after washing the next morning, gruffly replying when she wished him a cheery, "Good morning," and grasping her arms when she attempted to kiss him.
He blushed, though, when her eyes reproached him.
"I ain"t used to bein" mushed over," he told her. "We"ll get along a heap better if you cut out the kissin"."
"Why, Will!" she said, her lips trembling.
She set them though, instantly, and went about her duties, leaving Sanderson to stand in the center of the room feeling like a brute.
They breakfasted in silence--almost. Sanderson saw her watching him--covert glances that held not a little wonder and disappointment.
And then, when the meal was nearly finished, she looked at him with a taunting half-smile.
"Didn"t you sleep good, Will?"
Sanderson looked fairly at her. That "Will" was already an irritation to him, for it continually reminded him of the despicable part he was playing. He knew what he was going to say would hurt her, but he was determined to erect between them a barrier that would prevent a repet.i.tion of any demonstrations of affection of the brother and sister variety.
He didn"t want to let her continue to show affection for him when he knew that, if she knew who he really was, she would feel more tike murdering him.
"Look here, Mary," he said, coldly, "I"ve never cared a heap for the name Bransford. That"s why I changed my name to Sanderson. I never liked to be called "Will." Hereafter I want you to call me Sanderson--Deal Sanderson. Then mebbe I"ll feel more like myself."
She did not answer, but her lips straightened and she sat very rigid.
It was plain to him that she was very much disappointed in him, and that in her mind was the contrast between her brother of today and her brother of yesterday.
She got up after a time, holding her head high, and left the room, saying as she went out: