"Oh, I am tired of it, Aunt Maria," cried Miss Thorn; "if he takes my advice, he will refuse to discuss it farther."
She did not seem to be aware that she had put forth no argument whatever, save a woman"s argument. And I was intensely surprised that her indignation should have got the better of her in this way, having always supposed her clear-headed in the extreme. A few words from her, such as I supposed she would have spoken, had set the Celebrity right with all except Mr. Cooke. To me it was a clear proof that the Celebrity had turned her head, and her mind with it.
The silence was broken by an uncontrollable burst of laughter from Miss Trevor. She was quickly frowned down by her father, who reminded her that this was not a comedy.
"And, Mr. Allen," he said, "if you have anything to say, or any evidence to bring forward, now is the time to do it."
He appeared to forget that I was the district attorney.
The Celebrity had seated himself on the trunk of a tree, and was blowing out the smoke in clouds. He was inclined to take Miss Thorn"s advice, for he made a gesture of weariness with his cigarette, in the use of which he was singularly eloquent.
"Tell me, Mr. Trevor," said he, "why I should sit before you as a tribunal? Why I should take the trouble to clear myself of a senseless charge? My respect for you inclines me to the belief that you are laboring under a momentary excitement; for when you reflect that I am a prominent, not to say famous, author, you will realize how absurd it is that I should be an embezzler, and why I decline to lower myself by an explanation."
Mr. Trevor picked up the paper and struck it.
"Do you refuse to say anything in the face of such evidence as that?" he cried.
"It is not a matter for refusal, Mr. Trevor. It is simply that I cannot admit the possibility of having committed the crime."
"Well, sir," said the senator, his black necktie working out of place as his anger got the better of him, "I am to believe, then, because you claim to be the author of a few society novels, that you are infallible?
Let me tell you that the President of the United States himself is liable to impeachment, and bound to disprove any charge he may be accused of. What in Halifax do I care for your divine-right-of-authors theory? I"ll continue to think you guilty until you are shown to be innocent."
Suddenly the full significance of the Celebrity"s tactics struck Mr.
Cooke, and he reached out and caught hold of Mr. Trevor"s coattails.
"Hold on, old man," said he; "Allen isn"t going to be a.s.s enough to own up to it. Don"t you see we"d all be jugged and fined for a.s.sisting a criminal over the border? It"s out of consideration for us."
Mr. Trevor looked sternly over his shoulder at Mr. Cooke.
"Do you mean to say, sir, seriously," he asked, "that, for the sake of a misplaced friendship for this man, and a misplaced sense of honor, you are bound to shield a guest, though a criminal? That you intend to a.s.sist him to escape from justice? I insist, for my own protection and that of my daughter, as well as for that of the others present that, since he refuses to speak, we must presume him guilty and turn him over."
Mr. Trevor turned to Mrs. Cooke, as if relying on her support.
"Fenelon," said she, "I have never sought to influence your actions when your friends were concerned, and I shall not begin now. All I ask of you is to consider the consequences of your intention."
These words from Mrs. Cooke had much more weight with my client than Mr.
Trevor"s bl.u.s.tering demands.
"Maria, my dear," he said, with a deferential urbanity, "Mr. Allen is my guest, and a gentleman. When a gentleman gives his word that he is not a criminal, it is sufficient."
The force of this, for some reason, did not overwhelm his wife; and her lip curled a little, half in contempt, half in risibility.
"Pshaw, Fenelon," said she, "what a fraud you are. Why is it you wish to get Mr. Allen over the border, then?" A question which might well have staggered a worthier intellect.
"Why, my dear," answered my client, "I wish to save Mr. Allen the inconvenience, not to say the humiliation, of being brought East in custody and strapped with a pair of handcuffs. Let him take a shooting trip to the great Northwest until the real criminal is caught."
"Well, Fenelon," replied Mrs. Cooke, unable to repress a smile, "one might as well try to argue with a turn-stile or a weather-vane. I wash my hands of it."
But Mr. Trevor, who was both a self-made man and a Western politician, was far from being satisfied. He turned to me with a sweep of the arm he had doubtless learned in the Ohio State Senate.
"Mr. Crocker," he cried, "are you, as attorney of this district, going to aid and abet in the escape of a fugitive from justice?"
"Mr. Trevor," said I, "I will take the course in this matter which seems fit to me, and without advice from any one."
He wheeled on Farrar, repeated the question, and got a like answer.
Brought to bay for a time, he glared savagely around him while groping for further arguments.
But at this point the Four appeared on the scene, much the worse for thickets, and clamoring for luncheon. They had five small fish between them which they wanted Miss Thorn to cook.
CHAPTER XII
The Four received Mr. Cooke"s plan for the Celebrity"s escape to Canada with enthusiastic acclamation, and as the one thing lacking to make the Bear Island trip a complete success. The Celebrity was hailed with the reverence due to the man who puts up the ring-money in a prize-fight. He was accorded, too, a certain amount of respect as a defaulter, which the Four would have denied him as an author, for I am inclined to the belief that the discovery of his literary profession would have lowered him rather than otherwise in their eyes. My client was naturally anxious to get under way at once for the Canadian border, but was overruled in this by his henchmen, who demanded something to eat. We sat down to an impromptu meal, which was an odd affair indeed. Mrs. Cooke maintained her usual serenity, but said little, while Miss Trevor and I had many a mirthful encounter at the thought of the turn matters had taken.
At the other end of the cloth were Mr. Cooke and the Four, in wonderful spirits and unimpaired appet.i.te, and in their midst sat the Celebrity, likewise in wonderful spirits. His behavior now and again elicited a loud grunt of disapproval from Mr. Trevor, who was plying his knife and fork in a manner emblematic of his state of mind. Mr. Allen was laughing and joking airily with Mr. Cooke and the guests, denying, but not resenting, their accusations with all the sang froid of a hardened criminal. He did not care particularly to go to Canada, he said. Why should he, when he was innocent? But, if Mr. Cooke insisted, he would enjoy seeing that part of the lake and the Canadian side.
Afterwards I perceived Miss Thorn down by the brookside, washing dishes.
Her sleeves were drawn back to the elbow, and a dainty white ap.r.o.n covered her blue skirt, while the wind from the lake had disentangled errant wisps of her hair. I stood on the brink above, secure, as I thought, from observation, when she chanced to look up and spied me.
"Mr. Crocker," she called, "would you like to make yourself useful?"
I was decidedly embarra.s.sed. Her manner was as frank and unconstrained as though I had not been shunning her for weeks past.
"If such a thing is possible," I replied.
"Do you know a dish-cloth when you see one?"
I was doubtful. But I procured the cloth from Miss Trevor and returned.
There was an air about Miss Thorn that was new to me.
"What an uncompromising man you are, Mr. Crocker," she said to me. "Once a person is unfortunate enough to come under the ban of your disapproval you have nothing whatever to do with them. Now it seems that I have given you offence in some way. Is it not so?"
"You magnify my importance," I said.
"No temporizing, Mr. Crocker," she went on, as though she meant to be obeyed; "sit down there, and let"s have it out. I like you too well to quarrel with you."
There was no resisting such a command, and I threw myself on the pebbles at her feet.
"I thought we were going to be great friends," she said. "You and Mr.
Farrar were so kind to me on the night of my arrival, and we had such fun watching the dance together."
"I confess I thought so, too. But you expressed opinions then that I shared. You have since changed your mind, for some unaccountable reason."
She paused in her polishing, a shining dish in her hand, and looked down at me with something between a laugh and a frown.
"I suppose you have never regretted speaking hastily," she said.