"Yes, I did. I was engaged to him, you know."
"Engaged to him! I had no idea he ever got that far," I exclaimed.
Miss Trevor laughed merrily.
"It was my fault," she said; "I pinned him down, and he had to propose.
There was no way out of it. I don"t mind telling you."
I did not know whether to be flattered or aggrieved by this avowal.
"You know," she went on, her tone half apologetic, "the day after he came he told me who he was, and I wanted to stop the people we pa.s.sed and inform them of the lion I was walking with. And I was quite carried away by the honor of his attentions: any girl would have been, you know."
"I suppose so," I a.s.sented.
"And I had heard and read so much of him, and I doted on his stories, and all that. His heroes are divine, you must admit. And, Mr. Crocker,"
she concluded with a charming naivety, "I just made up my mind I would have him."
"Woman proposes, and man disposes," I laughed. "He escaped in spite of you."
She looked at me queerly.
"Only a jest," I said hurriedly; "your escape is the one to be thankful for. You might have married him, like the young woman in The Sybarites.
You remember, do you not, that the hero of that book sacrifices himself for the lady who adores him, but whom he has ceased to adore?"
"Yes, I remember," she laughed; "I believe I know that book by heart."
"Think of the countless girls he must have relieved of their affections before their eyes were opened," I continued with mock gravity. "Think of the charred trail he has left behind him. A man of that sort ought to be put under heavy bonds not to break any more hearts. But a kleptomaniac isn"t responsible, you understand. And it isn"t worth while to bear any malice."
"Oh, I don"t bear any malice now," she said. "I did at first, naturally.
But it all seems very ridiculous now I have had time to think it over. I believe, Mr. Crocker, that I never really cared for him."
"Simply an idol shattered this time," I suggested, "and not a heart broken."
"Yes, that"s it," said she.
"I am glad to hear it," said I, much pleased that she had taken such a sensible view. "But you are engaged to him."
"I was."
"You have broken the engagement, then?"
"No, I--haven"t," she said.
"Then he has broken it?"
She did not appear to resent this catechism.
"That"s the strange part of it," said Miss Trevor, "he hasn"t even thought it necessary."
"It is clear, then, that you are still engaged to him," said I, smiling at her blank face.
"I suppose I am," she cried. "Isn"t it awful? What shall I do, Mr.
Crocker? You are so sensible, and have had so much experience."
"I beg your pardon," I remarked grimly.
"Oh, you know what I mean: not that kind of experience, of course. But breach of promise cases and that sort of thing. I have a photograph of him with something written over it."
"Something compromising?" I inquired.
"Yes, you would probably call it so," she answered, reddening. "But there is no need of my repeating it. And then I have a lot of other things. If I write to break off the engagement I shall lose dignity, and it will appear as though I had regrets. I don"t wish him to think that, of all things. What shall I do?"
"Do nothing," I said.
"What do you mean?"
"Just that. Do not break the engagement, and keep the photograph and other articles for evidence. If he makes any overtures, don"t consider them for an instant. And I think, Miss Trevor, you will succeed sooner or later in making him very uncomfortable. Were he any one else I shouldn"t advise such a course, but you won"t lose any dignity and self-respect by it, as no one will be likely to hear of it. He can"t be taken seriously, and plainly he has never taken any one else so. He hasn"t even gone to the trouble to notify you that he does not intend marrying you."
I saw from her expression that my suggestion was favorably entertained.
"What a joke it would be!" she cried delightedly.
"And a decided act of charity," I added, "to the next young woman on his list."
CHAPTER VIII
The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her antic.i.p.ation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold. Our table in the dining-room became again the abode of scintillating wit and caustic repartee, Farrar bracing up to his old standard, and the demand for seats in the vicinity rose to an animated compet.i.tion. Mr. Charles Wrexell Allen"s chair was finally awarded to a nephew of Judge Short, who could turn a story to perfection.
So life at the inn settled down again to what it had been before the Celebrity came to disturb it.
I had my own reasons for staying away from Mohair. More than once as I drove over to the county-seat in my buggy I had met the Celebrity on a tall tandem cart, with one of Mr. Cooke"s high-steppers in the lead, and Miss Thorn in the low seat. I had forgotten to mention that my friend was something of a whip. At such times I would bow very civilly and pa.s.s on; not without a twinge, I confess. And as the result of one of these meetings I had to retrace several miles of my road for a brief I had forgotten. After that I took another road, several miles longer, for the sight of Miss Thorn with him seriously disturbed my peace of mind. But at length the day came, as I had feared, when circ.u.mstances forced me to go to my client"s place. One morning Miss Trevor and I were about stepping into the canoe for our customary excursion when one of Mr.
Cooke"s footmen arrived with a note for each of us. They were from Mrs.
Cooke, and requested the pleasure of our company that day for luncheon.
"If you were I, would you go?" Miss Trevor asked doubtfully.
"Of course," I replied.
"But the consequences may be unpleasant."
"Don"t let them," I said. "Of what use is tact to a woman if not for just such occasions?"
My invitation had this characteristic note tacked on the end of it
"DEAR CROCKER: Where are you? Where is the judge? F. F. C."
I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman"s wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing. My client welcomed the judge with that warmth of manner which grappled so many of his friends to his heart, and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the a.s.segais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the Sawmill at Beaverton.