She considered this dazzling idea, her eyes growing brighter every moment.
"Oh, Maud, Maud!" she cried, clasping her hands, "what an inspiration!
I"m going on my own again. Yes, I am. Don"t look so horrified. I know I"ve grouched and fussed a lot over my past efforts in that direction, but you see I tried to do things in a small way, cotillion favors and such, and it didn"t suit me. It wasn"t my _metier_, not my way. I loathe detail. I can do things on a big scale or not at all. You know that. And my present idea means the big scale. When I first came to New York I regarded it as the great adventure, but then I didn"t know how to go about anything. I was as ignorant as a baby of everything--everything.
The tremendous professional skill required, my own inept.i.tude, the utter inadequacy of my poor, amateur accomplishments, my entire ignorance of business methods, all frightened, dazed, stupefied me, but now, now, I just believe I"ll have another try."
"Oh, what _have_ you got in your head now?" cried Maud in frightened resignation.
"You see it"s like this," Dita ignored the question and continued to follow her own train of thought. "New York demands one of two things of the stranger who comes knocking at her gates, either training or a new idea. She can take care of any trained person, but if she has to conduct the educational process, she does it with a club. Now I"m going back to her with my new idea. Oh, I was crushed a bit ago, but now I am really enjoying myself as I have not done since the first dazzle of marrying Cresswell and seeing his money turn itself so easily into the beautiful things I had longed for all my life. But I"ve been getting tireder and tireder of being the twittering canary in the gilded cage. Cresswell opened the door last night and now I"m going to fly put, but in a totally different direction from the one he expects me to take." She laughed delightedly. "Oh, do you think New York will listen to my new idea?"
"She"ll listen to Mrs. Cresswell Hepworth," said Maud dryly. "It won"t make much difference about the idea, whether it"s new or old." She thought of a conversation Hepworth"s friends had held at the wedding breakfast and sighed reminiscently. "I"m afraid you"re making Cress rather a background."
"Why not?" said Dita cheerfully and defiantly. "Serves him right, going away in the fashion he did and putting me in such a position. "Moses an"
Aaron," as my old mammy used to say, you needn"t try to dissuade me.
You"ll be as crazy about the idea as I am when I unfold it to you. The twittering canary is going to hop out of the gilded cage, and build her own nest. It"s the great adventure. It is to live. Won"t Cresswell open those sleepy eyes of his when he sees this move of mine on the chessboard? I"m done with failure, this venture of ours is a success before it"s begun."
CHAPTER XI
A DOLL OR A BOX OF CANDY
Perdita, being one of those ardent, mercurial creatures who run with winged feet to meet every event in life, whether it be joyous or disastrous, had encountered her bad quarter of an hour the morning after the dinner party.
Hepworth"s, however, was postponed for a later and more lingering occasion. We euphemistically limit these seasons of judgment to quarters of an hour in speaking of them, but they are quite independent of time, and may continue through days.
Perdita had a temperamental advantage. Hers were those swift changes of mood so disconcerting to the devils of ennui and depression; but her husband"s period of reaction lasted, with but little mitigation, all the way across the continent.
A most l.u.s.ty and persistent demon of doubt and self-accusation boarded his car within a few hours after the train left the station, invaded his luxurious solitude and, indifferent to a chilling reception, there remained. To Hepworth, the demon"s most searing insinuation was that, instead of a masterly retreat in good order, this departure of his for the other side of the continent was a virtual renunciation of all that he cared most to win and to hold. Fool and coward, the demon whispered, to quit the game just at the moment when his presence was an imperative necessity. But, although the demon was eloquent--it is an attribute of demons--and his suggestions were like red-hot pincers, it never entered Hepworth"s head to turn back. On the contrary, it was characteristic that having decided on a certain course, he was not to be swayed by the demon"s most subtle and ingenious arguments. He was merely rendered supremely uncomfortable by them.
He had offered Perdita her freedom and he meant it without any reservations. She should decide on her own course, follow her own leadings according to the limits of her own folly or discretion, but free she should be, and free even from any shadowy influence that his mere presence might exert. Quixotic, scrupulously so: but then that was Hepworth"s way.
The demon laughed at this obstinately maintained, unalterable decision.
What chance, it sardonically suggested, had any mere average man against a rival like Eugene Gresham? Women love glamour. Perdita especially adored it blindly. Most women, certainly Perdita, would rather follow the alluring, brilliant gleam of the will-o"-the-wisp, any time, than the smoky but dependable light of the useful household lantern.
These gloomy reflections served to goad and stab like so many tormenting banderillos, but Hepworth"s resolution to absent himself for a time, and thus insure Perdita a free hand, remained unalterable, in fact it hardened, became like iron.
The journey over, his spirits improved; the demon was far less persistent and only occasionally showed himself. There were a number of business matters of varying importance requiring his attention, and these very fully occupied his mind. He had made his headquarters for a time at Santa Barbara.
Then, suddenly, his busy, if rather monotonous and routine existence became diversified by a series of peculiar events which, in his most wildly imaginative moments, he would never have conjectured.
One afternoon, as he sat before an open window in the villa he had taken, looking out over a wonderful garden, all fragrance and color, at the blue channel, the mountains, the distant islands gleaming fairy-like through their golden haze, the name of Mr. James Fleming was brought to him and served very effectually to rouse him from his spiritless daydreaming, on whose confines hovered the demon.
Hepworth sat up, care vanished from his brow, the depressed droop of his mouth changed to a smile. "Fleming! Jim Fleming!" he exclaimed. "Show him in at once," to the waiting servant.
Mr. Fleming wasted no time in appearing and Hepworth pushed back his chair and rose, meeting him with a hearty hand-clasp and one of his most brilliant smiles.
This was the effect the arrival of Fleming invariably produced. One might have thought from the way men greeted him that he was some great public benefactor. Quite the opposite. Hepworth, and no doubt many others, had, through him, lost thousands of dollars, but this did not in the least affect their pleasure in his society nor tarnish their confidence in his good intentions.
Fleming was about Hepworth"s age, rather tall and rather stout. He had a broad, clean-shaven face, and the mouth of an orator, large, mobile, stretching across his face in a straight line and turning up sharply at the corners. His eyes, which were blue-gray, had a most ingratiating and irresistible expression of camaraderie.
During the course of his life many unkind names had been applied to Fleming, but by women, mark you, never by men. There were quant.i.ties of good wives and mothers who regarded him very much as the devil is supposed to regard holy water. Had they not reason? At the very mention of his name they had seen a certain wild, primitive gleam light the eyes of even their most staid and house-broken men, and at the sound of his voice the most tractable and responsible husbands would seem to hear again the pipes of Pan, and forgetful of duty, daily bread and family obligations would follow eagerly whither those wild notes led.
Beyond question Fleming possessed that magnetic quality which opens all doors. He was at home in any society and where he was laughter flowed as wine. He had neither profession nor settled business, but always referred to himself as a "prospector--a prospector of the old school."
The first gay greetings over, Mr. Fleming established himself in a comfortable chair, and said without preamble, but with his usual devil-may-care nonchalance, "I"ve come to ask a favor of you, Cress, a mighty big favor."
Hepworth mechanically stretched his hand out toward his check book.
"Oh, it"s not money I want this time," said Fleming easily. "It"s no favor to me to lend me money. That"s always spent on others. Anyway, I"ve got more than I can handle for once. You see, it"s this way. I"ve got to go over to Idaho. I"ve just got wind of a big thing there, a big thing. Two boys I know want me to go over and look at it and I"m off to-day. Biggest thing that"s been struck in years, they tell me. Both of them stone broke. Didn"t have enough money to pay railway fare. Stole rides, practically no food for a week. If there"s anything in it, I may be good enough to allow you to finance it."
"Let me see," said Hepworth reflectively, "according to the invariable law of ratio, I"m about due to win on some of these ventures of yours I"ve so obligingly financed."
Mr. Fleming solemnly and sadly shook his head. "Set a beggar on horseback and sooner or later he"ll show his rags. The born millionaire!
You show all the degenerate earmarks." He pointed the finger of scorn at Hepworth. "Even if I hadn"t come along you would still have been a millionaire, climbed to it on some one else"s shoulders. Entirely forgotten the old days, haven"t you? Why who," explosively, "laid the foundation of your soul-deadening fortune? Me. Myself. Well, that"s what a man has to expect in this world. But seriously, Cress, I do want you to do something for me."
"Don"t frighten me in this way then," said Hepworth. "If it isn"t money, I"m getting apprehensive. You"re in some sc.r.a.pe and I"ve got to take off my coat and work like a n.i.g.g.e.r to get you out."
"Honest to G.o.d, no," said Mr. Fleming fervently. "It"s just this. You see my little girl is here to spend her vacation with me--jumped across three states and got here day before yesterday, and under the circ.u.mstances it"s kind of rough on her for me to go skating off this way leaving her all alone in a barracks of a hotel and in this place where she don"t know a soul. Sure"s I"m sitting here, Cress, I did my best not to listen to the boys," Fleming spoke earnestly. He always had the virtue of believing profoundly in himself. "It didn"t seem fair to her, you know. But, oh Lord! What"s the use? You know how it is when a new property swims into my ken. I get the fever so"s I can"t eat and I can"t sleep, and it"s "my heart in the Highlands" so"s I"m like to die unless I"m up and away to that little old new mine that"s just been found, seeing what"s to her, anyway. And you may believe it or not," in solemn a.s.severation, "but all the time I"m holding back and trying not to go. I"ve got the cramp in my feet so that I can"t hobble, but the moment I yield, and take to the path again, it"s gone. That"s a fact.
Now," the musical note of persuasion was strong in Mr. Fleming"s voice, "now all I"m asking of you, Cress, is to look in on my little girl now and then and see that she has everything she wants. She"s got a sort of vinegar-faced Sue with her that she calls her maid, so she"s not entirely alone; but I want to be easy in my mind about her, to know that she"s got some one to fall back on if anything unpleasant comes up.
"She"s pretty cute, you know. About on to everything that"s going. Can take the best kind of care of herself. Has had to, poor kid. Her mother died, and you know, Cress, she might just as well have had a gra.s.shopper for a father as me. Although I"ve tried, she"d tell you herself, I"ve tried, that is, as far as the limitations of my artistic temperament would permit. But when I feel the _wanderl.u.s.t_ and the _weltschmerz_ and all that in my blood and hear the siren voices of new properties calling, why, the fireside fetters have got to fall, the white, clinging arms have got to unloosen their grip. That"s all there is to it. You know in books how the father of a motherless daughter is always father and mother and brothers and sisters and grandmother, uncles and aunts to her? Well, I haven"t been all those to Fuschia. I wouldn"t have known how and she wouldn"t have stood for it. She"s got no particular use for fireside fetters, herself. Oh," optimistically, "I guess she"ll be all right here. I"m leaving her all the money she can spend. But I just want you to keep an eye on her. Kind of see that the wheels are running all right and that she"s amused and don"t mope. You"ll like her, you know.
It"s a funny thing, but everybody"s just crazy and always has been about that kid."
Hepworth was not proof against the appeal in his old friend"s eyes, neither was he capable of shattering Fleming"s simple faith that he, Hepworth, a jaded and middle-aged person, would find Fleming"s daughter a delightful and interesting charge.
Fleming"s mind still ran on his child. "She"s about the only thing in petticoats that has any real confidence in me," he said, with pride.
"It"s only been once or twice in my career that I"ve seen a look of real friendship in a woman"s eyes. The first sight of me brings that wary, on-guard gleam way back in their blue or brown windows of the soul. You can"t fool a woman. They"ve got those intuitions, you know, and they know instinctively that I"m a born missionary to the henpecked, that it"s my mission in life to bring a little cheer into the lives of those poor shut-ins, the married men; scatter a little sunshine on their path.
"By the way," as if struck by a sudden thought, "you"ve married since I last saw you. Some slip of a girl, I"ll be bound. That"s what the middle-aged millionaire"s sure to do. Well, hold on to your money, Cress. Don"t trust to your own fascinations. And you keep an eye on my little Fuschia, won"t you?"
Manfully concealing his apprehensions, Hepworth promised to do all that lay in his power to be a father to Fleming"s daughter and had the consolation of seeing his old friend depart most jauntily and evidently with a weight off his mind.
But when the door had finally closed on him Hepworth let his perfunctorily smiling face relax. But it did not remain merely grave and preoccupied, for as he continued to gaze fixedly, but unseeingly, at a large paper weight before him, his eyes narrowed and his brow contracted in a frown.
He had neither the heart, time nor inclination to spend his leisure moments amusing such an utterly spoiled, untrained, undisciplined child as he was sure Fleming"s daughter must be. Allowed to choose her own path from babyhood, wilful, headstrong--oh, well, what was the use of antic.i.p.ating? He"d promised to look after her, and disagreeable duty as it was sure to be, he had to see it through, and that was all there was about it.
He decided to look her up the next afternoon. Take her a doll or a box of candy. Perhaps, though, she was too old for a doll. How old was she, anyway? He had forgotten to ask Jim. Probably about twelve or fifteen years. Yes, certainly, the box of candy was safer. That was always acceptable and agreeable to any of the seven ages of women.
He sighed again, and then, as if seeking distraction, he picked up the New York newspaper he was about to open when Fleming"s card had been brought to him. He surveyed it languidly, his eye roving with indifference up and down the columns. Suddenly his attention was vividly arrested.
His whole gaze, even further, his whole heart hung on a paragraph stating that Eugene Gresham had just sailed on the _Mauritania_. It was known among Mr. Gresham"s friends that he had recently received a commission to paint the portrait of a princess of the royal house of Austria and that upon completing this he would go to England to finish a portrait, already begun, on a previous occasion, of the beautiful Lady Heppelwynd. Mr. Gresham, when seen on board ship a moment before sailing, would neither confirm nor deny these rumors.
The frown disappeared from Hepworth"s face. What commendable discretion!
Whether the credit were due Dita or Gresham mattered little. It was the admirable restraint, this delicate and unexpected regard for appearances, which Hepworth applauded. To do him justice, that was his first thought, the sober second one was profound relief that the fascinating will-o"-the-wisp was as far away from the impulsive and curious Dita as was the smoky lantern. He put the paper down and rose to his feet. Fleming"s little girl should have a box of candy that was a box of candy.