"I am not joking," said she. "I was not thinking of Mr. Trevor, but of you. I like you, Mr. Crocker. You may not believe it, but I do." For the life of me I could think of no fitting reply to this declaration. Why was that abominable word "like" ever put into the English language?
"Yes, I like you," she continued meditatively, "in the face of the fact that you persist in disliking me."
"Nothing of the kind."
"Oh, I know. You mustn"t think me so stupid as all that. It is a mortifying truth that I like you, and that you have no use for me."
I have never known how to take a jest from a woman. I suppose I should have laughed this off. Instead, I made a fool of myself.
"I shall be as frank with you," I said, "and declare that I like you, though I should be much happier if I didn"t."
She blushed at this, if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was unlooked for.
"At any rate," she went on, "I should deem it my duty to warn you of the consequences of this joke of yours. They may not be all that you have antic.i.p.ated. The consequences for you, I mean, which you do not seem to have taken into account."
"Consequences for me!" I exclaimed.
"I fear that you will think what I am going to say uncalled for, and that I am meddling with something that does not concern me. But it seems to me that you are undervaluing the thing you have worked so hard to attain. They say that you have ability, that you have acquired a practice and a position which at your age give the highest promise for the future. That you are to be counsel for the railroad. In short, that you are the coming man in this section of the state. I have found this out," said she, cutting short my objections, "in spite of the short time I have been here."
"Nonsense!" I said, reddening in my turn.
"Suppose that the Celebrity is captured," she continued, thrusting her hands into the pockets of her mackintosh. "It appears that he is shadowed, and it is not unreasonable to expect that we shall be chased before the day is over. Then we shall be caught red-handed in an attempt to get a criminal over the border. Please wait until I have finished,"
she said, holding up her hand at an interruption I was about to make.
"You and I know he is not a criminal; but he might as well be as far as you are concerned. As district attorney you are doubtless known to the local authorities. If the Celebrity is arrested after a long pursuit, it will avail you nothing to affirm that you knew all along he was the noted writer. You will pardon me if I say that they will not believe you then. He will be taken East for identification. And if I know anything about politics, and especially the state of affairs in local politics with which you are concerned, the incident and the interval following it will be fatal to your chances with the railroad,--to your chances in general. You perceive, Mr. Crocker, how impossible it is to play with fire without being burned."
I did perceive. At the time the amazing thoroughness with which she had gone into the subject of my own unimportant affairs, the astuteness and knowledge of the world she had shown, and the clearness with which she had put the situation, did not strike me. Nothing struck me but the alarming sense of my own stupidity, which was as keen as I have ever felt it. What man in a public position, however humble, has not political enemies? The image of O"Meara was wafted suddenly before me, disagreeably near, and his face wore the smile of victory. All of Mr.
Cooke"s money could not save me. My spirits sank as the immediate future unfolded itself, and I even read the article in O"Meara"s organ, the Northern Lights, which was to be instrumental in divesting me of my public trust and fair fame generally. Yes, if the Celebrity was caught on the other side of Far Harbor, all would be up with John Crocker! But it would never do to let Miss Thorn discover my discomfiture.
"There is something in what you say," I replied, with what bravado I could muster.
"A little, I think," she returned, smiling; "now, what I wish you to do is to make Uncle Fenelon put into Far Harbor. If he refuses, you can go in in spite of him, since you and Mr. Farrar are the only ones who can sail. You have the situation in your own hands."
There was certainly wisdom in this, also. But the die was cast now, and pride alone was sufficient to hold me to the course I had rashly begun upon. Pride! What an awkward thing it is, and more difficult for most of us to swallow than a sponge.
"I thank you for this interest in my welfare, Miss Thorn," I began.
"No fine speeches, please, sir," she cut in, "but do as I advise."
"I fear I cannot."
"Why do you say that? The thing is simplicity itself."
"I should lose my self-respect as a practical joker. And besides," I said maliciously, "I started out to have some fun with the Celebrity, and I want to have it."
"Well," she replied, rather coolly, "of course you can do as you choose."
We were pa.s.sing within a hundred yards of the lighthouse, set cheerlessly on the bald and sandy tip of the point. An icy silence sat between us, and such a silence is invariably insinuating. This one suggested a horrible thought. What if Miss Thorn had warned me in order to save the Celebrity from humiliation? I thrust it aside, but it returned again and grinned. Had she not practised insincerity before?
And any one with half an eye could see that she was in love with the Celebrity; even the Fraction had remarked it. What more natural than, with her cleverness, she had hit upon this means of terminating the author"s troubles by working upon my fears?
Human weakness often proves too much for those of us who have the very best intentions. Up to now the refrigerator and Mr. Trevor had kept the strictest and most jealous of vigils over Irene. But at length the senator succ.u.mbed to the drowsiness which never failed to attack him at this hour, and he forgot the disrepute of his surroundings in a respectable sleep. Whereupon his daughter joined us on the forecastle.
"I knew that would happen to papa if I only waited long enough," she said. "Oh, he thinks you"re dreadful, Mr. Crocker. He says that nowadays young men haven"t any principle. I mustn"t be seen talking to you."
"I have been trying to convince Mr. Crocker that his stand in the matter is not only immoral, but suicidal," said Miss Thorn. "Perhaps," she added meaningly, "he will listen to you."
"I don"t understand," answered Miss Trevor.
"Miss Thorn has been good enough to point out," I explained, "that the political machine in this section, which has the honor to detest me, will seize upon the pretext of the Celebrity"s capture to ruin me. They will take the will for the deed."
"Of course they will do just that," cried Miss Trevor. "How bright of you to think of it, Marian!"
Miss Thorn stood up.
"I leave you to persuade him," said she; "I have no doubt you will be able to do it."
With that she left us, quite suddenly. Abruptly, I thought. And her manner seemed to impress Miss Trevor.
"I wonder what is the matter with Marian," said she, and leaned over the skylight. "Why, she has gone down to talk with the Celebrity."
"Isn"t that rather natural?" I asked with asperity.
She turned to me with an amused expression.
"Her conduct seems to worry you vastly, Mr. Crocker. I noticed that you were quite upset this morning in the cave. Why was it?"
"You must have imagined it," I said stiffly.
"I should like to know," she said, with the air of one trying to solve a knotty problem, "I should like to know how many men are as blind as you."
"You are quite beyond me, Miss Trevor," I answered; "may I request you to put that remark in other words?"
"I protest that you are a most unsatisfactory person," she went on, not heeding my annoyance. "Most abnormally modest people are. If I were to stick you with this hat-pin, for instance, you would accept the matter as a positive insult."
"I certainly should," I said, laughing; "and, besides, it would be painful."
"There you are," said she, exultingly; "I knew it. But I flatter myself there are men who would go into an ecstasy of delight if I ran a hat-pin into them. I am merely taking this as an ill.u.s.tration of my point."
"It is a very fine point," said I. "But some people take pleasure in odd things. I can easily conceive of a man gallant enough to suffer the agony for the sake of pleasing a pretty girl."
"I told you so," she pouted; "you have missed it entirely. You are hopelessly blind on that side, and numb. Perhaps you didn"t know that you have had a hat-pin sticking in you for some time."
I began feeling myself, nervously.
"For more than a month," she cried, "and to think that you have never felt it." My action was too much for her gravity, and she fell back against the skylight in a fit of merriment, which threatened to wake her father. And I hoped it would.
"It pleases you to speak in parables this morning," I said.
"Mr. Crocker," she began again, when she had regained her speech, "shall I tell you of a great misfortune which might happen to a girl?"