"Crocker," said he, at length, "there"s a man here from Boston, Charles Wrexell Allen; came this morning. You know Boston. Have you ever heard of him?"
"Allen," I repeated, reflecting; "no Charles Wrexell."
"It is Charles Wrexell, I think," said Farrar, as though the matter were trivial. "However, we can go into the register and make sure."
"What about him?" I asked, not feeling inclined to stir.
The Celebrity
"Oh, nothing. An arrival is rather an occurrence, though. You can hear him down there now," he added, tossing his head towards the other end of the porch, "with the women around him."
In fact, I did catch the deeper sound of a man"s voice among the lighter tones, and the voice had a ring to it which was not wholly unfamiliar, although I could not place it.
I threw Farrar a bait.
"He must make friends easily," I said.
"With the women?--yes," he replied, so scathingly that I was forced to laugh in spite of myself.
"Let us go in and look at the register," I suggested. "You may have his name wrong."
We went in accordingly. Sure enough, in bold, heavy characters, was the name Charles Wrexell Allen written out in full. That handwriting was one in a thousand. I made sure I had seen it before, and yet I did not know it; and the more I puzzled over it the more confused I became. I turned to Farrar.
"I have had a poor cigar pa.s.sed off on me and deceive me for a while.
That is precisely the case here. I think I should recognize your man if I were to see him."
"Well," said Farrar, "here"s your chance."
The company outside were moving in. Two or three of the older ladies came first, carrying their wraps; then a troop of girls, among whom was Miss Trevor; and lastly, a man. Farrar and I had walked to the door while the women turned into the drawing-room, so that we were brought face to face with him, suddenly. At sight of me he halted abruptly, as though he had struck the edge of a door, changed color, and held out his hand, tentatively. Then he withdrew it again, for I made no sign of recognition.
It was the Celebrity!
I felt a shock of disgust as I pa.s.sed out. Masquerading, it must be admitted, is not pleasant to the taste; and the whole farce, as it flashed through my mind,--his advertised trip, his turning up here under an a.s.sumed name, had an ill savor. Perhaps some of the things they said of him might be true, after all.
"Who the devil is he?" said Farrar, dropping for once his indifference; "he looked as if he knew you."
I evaded.
"He may have taken me for some one else," I answered with all the coolness I could muster. "I have never met any one of his name. His voice and handwriting, however, are very much like those of a man I used to know."
Farrar was very poor company that evening, and left me early. I went to my rooms and had taken down a volume of Carlyle, who can generally command my attention, when there came a knock at the door.
"Come in," I replied, with an instinctive sense of prophecy.
This was fulfilled at once by the appearance of the Celebrity. He was attired--for the details of his dress forced themselves upon me vividly--in a rough-spun suit of knickerbockers, a colored-shirt having a large and prominent gold stud, red and brown stockings of a diamond pattern, and heavy walking-boots. And he entered with an air of a.s.surance that was maddening.
"My dear Crocker," he exclaimed, "you have no idea how delighted I am to see you here!"
I rose, first placing a book-mark in Carlyle, and a.s.sured him that I was surprised to see him here.
"Surprised to see me!" he returned, far from being damped by my manner.
"In fact, I am a little surprised to see myself here."
He sank back on the window-seat and clasped his hands behind his head.
"But first let me thank you for respecting my incognito," he said.
I tried hard to keep my temper, marvelling at the ready way he had chosen to turn my action.
"And now," he continued, "I suppose you want to know why I came out here." He easily supplied the lack of cordial solicitation on my part.
"Yes, I should like to know," I said.
Thus having aroused my curiosity, he took his time about appeasing it, after the custom of his kind. He produced a gold cigarette case, offered me a cigarette, which I refused, took one himself and blew the smoke in rings toward the ceiling. Then, raising himself on his elbow, he drew his features together in such a way as to lead me to believe he was about to impart some valuable information.
"Crocker," said he, "it"s the very deuce to be famous, isn"t it?"
"I suppose it is," I replied curtly, wondering what he was driving at; "I have never tried it."
"An ordinary man, such as you, can"t conceive of the torture a fellow in my position is obliged to go through the year round, but especially in the summer, when one wishes to go off on a rest. You know what I mean, of course."
"I am afraid I do not," I answered, in a vain endeavor to embarra.s.s him.
"You"re thicker than when I used to know you, then," he returned with candor. "To tell the truth, Crocker, I often wish I were back at the law, and had never written a line. I am paying the penalty of fame.
Wherever I go I am hounded to death by the people who have read my books, and they want to dine and wine me for the sake of showing me off at their houses. I am heartily sick and tired of it all; you would be if you had to go through it. I could stand a winter, but the worst comes in the summer, when one meets the women who fire all sorts of socio-psychological questions at one for solution, and who have suggestions for stories." He shuddered.
"And what has all this to do with your coming here?" I cut in, strangling a smile.
He twisted his cigarette at an acute angle with his face, and looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
"I"ll try to be a little plainer," he went on, sighing as one unused to deal with people who require crosses on their t"s. "I"ve been worried almost out of my mind with attention--nothing but attention the whole time. I can"t go on the street but what I"m stared at and pointed out, so I thought of a scheme to relieve it for a time. It was becoming unbearable. I determined to a.s.sume a name and go to some quiet little place for the summer, West, if possible, where I was not likely to be recognized, and have three months of rest."
He paused, but I offered no comment.
"Well, the more I thought of it, the better I liked the idea. I met a western man at the club and asked him about western resorts, quiet ones.
"Have you heard of Asquith?" says he. "No," said I; "describe it." He did, and it was just the place; quaint, restful, and retired. Of course I put him off the track, but I did not count on striking you. My man boxed up, and we were off in twenty-four hours, and here I am."
Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity"s character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
"You won"t tell anyone who I am, will you?" he asked anxiously.
He even misinterpreted my silences.
"Certainly not," I replied. "It is no concern of mine. You might come here as Emil Zola or Ralph Waldo Emerson and it would make no difference to me."
He looked at me dubiously, even suspiciously.
"That"s a good chap," said he, and was gone, leaving me to reflect on the ways of genius.