Mr. James Armstrong sat at his desk before the west window of his private room in one of the tallest buildings in Denver. His suite of offices was situated on one of the top floors and from it over the intervening house tops and other buildings, he had a clear and un.o.bstructed view of the mighty range. The earth was covered with snow.
It had fallen steadily through the night but with the dawn the air had cleared and the sun had come out brightly although it was very cold.
Letters, papers, doc.u.ments, the demands of a business extensive and varied, were left unnoticed. He sat with his elbow on the desk and his head on his hand, looking moodily at the range. In the month that had elapsed since he had received news of Enid Maitland"s disappearance he had sat often in that way, in that place, staring at the range, a prey to most despondent reflections, heavy hearted and disconsolate indeed.
After that memorable interview with Mr. Stephen Maitland in Philadelphia he had deemed it proper to await there the arrival of Mr. Robert Maitland. A brief conversation with that distracted gentleman had put him in possession of all the facts in the case. As Robert Maitland had said, after his presentation of the tragic story, the situation was quite hopeless. Even Armstrong reluctantly admitted that her uncle and old Kirkby had done everything that was possible for the rescue or discovery of the girl.
Therefore the two despondent gentlemen had shortly after returned to their western homes, Robert Maitland in this instance being accompanied by his brother Stephen. The latter never knew how much his daughter had been to him until this evil fate had befallen her. Robert Maitland had promised to inaugurate a thorough and extensive search to solve the mystery of her death, which he felt was certain, in the spring when the weather permitted humanity to have free course through the mountains.
Mr. Stephen Maitland found a certain melancholy satisfaction in being at least near the place where neither he nor anyone had any doubt his daughter"s remains lay hid beneath the snow or ice on the mountains in the freezing cold. Robert Maitland had no other idea than that Enid"s body was in the lake. He intended to drain it--an engineering task of no great difficulty--and yet he intended also to search the hills for miles on either side of the main stream down which she had gone; for she might possibly have strayed away and died of starvation and exposure rather than drowning. At any rate he would leave nothing undone to discover her.
He had strenuously opposed Armstrong"s recklessly expressed intention of going into the mountains immediately to search for her. Armstrong was not easily moved from any purpose he once entertained or lightly to be hindered from attempting any enterprise that he projected, but by the time the party reached Denver the winter had set in and even he realized the futility of any immediate search for a dead body lost in the mountains. Admitting that Enid was dead the conclusions were sound of course.
The others pointed out to Armstrong that if the woman they all loved had by any fortunate chance escaped the cloud burst she must inevitably have perished from cold, starvation and exposure in the mountain long since.
There was scarcely a possibility that she could have escaped the flood, but if she had it would only to be devoted to death a little later. If she was not in the lake what remained of her would be in some lateral canon. It would be impossible to discover her body in the deep snows until the spring and the warm weather came. When the snows melted what was concealed would be revealed. Alone, she could do nothing. And admitting again that Enid was alone this conclusion was as sound as the other.
Now no one had the faintest hope that Enid Maitland was yet alive except perhaps her father, Mr. Stephen Maitland. They could not convince him, he was so old and set in his opinions and so utterly unfamiliar with the conditions that they tried to describe to him, that he clung to his belief in spite of all, and finally they let him take such comfort as he could from his vain hope without any further attempt at contradiction.
In spite of all the arguments, however, Mr. James Armstrong was not satisfied. He was as hopeless as the rest, but his temperament would not permit him to accept the inevitable calmly. It was barely possible that she might not be dead and that she might not be alone. There was scarcely enough possibility of this to justify a suspicion, but that is not saying there was none at all.
Day after day he had sat in his office denying himself to everyone and refusing to consider anything, brooding over the situation. He loved Enid Maitland, he loved her before and now that he had lost her he loved her still more.
Not altogether admirable had been James Armstrong"s outwardly successful career. In much that is high and n.o.ble and manly his actions--and his character--had often been lacking, but even the base can love and sometimes love transforms if it be given a chance. The pa.s.sion of Cymon for Iphigenia, made a man and prince out of the rustic boor. His real love for Enid Maitland might have done more for Armstrong than he himself or anyone who knew him as he was--and few there were who had such knowledge of him--dreamed was possible. There was one thing that love could not do, however; it could not make him a patient philosopher, a good waiter. His rule of life was not very high, but in one way it was admirable in that prompt bold decisive action was its chiefest characteristic.
On this certain morning a month after the heart breaking disaster his power of pa.s.sive endurance had been strained to the vanishing point. The great white range was flung in his face like a challenge. Within its secret recesses lay the solution of the mystery. Somewhere, dead or alive, beyond the soaring rampart was the woman he loved. It was impossible for him to remain quiet any longer. Common sense, reason, every argument that had been adduced, suddenly became of no weight. He lifted his head and stared straight westward. His eyes swept the long semi-circle of the horizon across which the mighty range was drawn like the chord of a gigantic arc or the string of a mighty bow. Each white peak mocked him, the insolent aggression of the range called him irresistibly to action.
"By G.o.d," he said under his breath, rising to his feet, "winter or no winter, I go."
Robert Maitland had offices in the same building. Having once come to a final determination there was no more uncertainty or hesitation about Armstrong"s course. In another moment he was standing in the private room of his friend. The two men were not alone there. Stephen Maitland sat in a low chair before another window removed from the desk somewhat, staring out at the range. The old man was huddled down in his seat, every line of his figure spoke of grief and despair. Of all the places in Denver he liked best his brother"s office fronting the rampart of the mountains, and hour after hour he sat there quietly looking at the summits, sometimes softly shrouded in white, sometimes swept bare by the fierce winter gales that blew across them, sometimes shining and sparkling so that the eye could scarce sustain their reflection of the dazzling sun of Colorado; and at other times seen dimly through mists of whirling snow.
Oh, yes, the mountains challenged him also to the other side of the range. His heart yearned for his child, but he was too old to make the attempt. He could only sit and pray and wait with such faint and fading hope as he could still cherish until the break up of the spring came.
For the rest he troubled n.o.body; n.o.body noticed him, n.o.body marked him, n.o.body minded him. Robert Maitland transacted his business a little more softly, a little more gently, that was all. Yet the presence of his brother was a living grief and a living reproach to him. Although he was quite blameless he blamed himself. He did not know how much he had grown to love his niece until he had lost her. His conscience accused him hourly, and yet he knew not where he was at fault or how he could have done differently. It was a helpless and hopeless situation. To him, therefore, entered Armstrong.
"Maitland," he began, "I can"t stand it any longer, I"m going into the mountains."
"You are mad!"
"I can"t help it. I can"t sit here and face them, d.a.m.n them, and remain quiet."
"You will never come out alive."
"Oh, yes I will, but if I don"t I swear to G.o.d I don"t care."
Old Stephen Maitland rose unsteadily to his feet and gripped the back of his chair.
"Did I hear aright, sir?" he asked with all the polished and graceful courtesy of birth and breeding which never deserted him in any emergency whatsoever. "Do you say--"
"I said I was going into the mountains to search for her."
"It is madness," urged Robert Maitland.
But the old man did not hear him.
"Thank G.o.d!" he exclaimed with deep feeling. "I have sat here day after day and watched those mighty hills, and I have said to myself that if I had youth and strength as I have love, I would not wait."
"You are right," returned Armstrong, equally moved, and indeed it would have been hard to have heard and seen that father unresponsively, "and I am not going to wait either."
"I understand your feeling, Jim, and yours too, Steve," began Robert Maitland, arguing against his own emotions, "but even if she escaped the flood, she must be dead by this time."
"You needn"t go over the old arguments, Bob. I"m going into the mountains and I"m going now. No," he continued swiftly, as the other opened his mouth to interpose further objections, "you needn"t say another word. I"m a free agent and I"m old enough to decide what I can do. There is no argument, there is no force, there is no appeal, there is nothing that will restrain me. I can"t sit here and eat my heart out when she may be there."
"But it"s impossible!"
"It isn"t impossible. How do I know that there may not have been somebody in the mountains, she may have wandered to some settlement, some hunter"s cabin, some prospector"s hut."
"But we were there for weeks and saw nothing, no evidence of humanity."
"I don"t care. The mountains are filled with secret nooks you could pa.s.s by within a stone"s throw and never see into, she may be in one of them.
I suppose she is dead and it"s all foolish, this hope, but I"ll never believe it until I have examined every square rod within a radius of fifty miles from your camp. I"ll take the long chance, the longest even."
"Well, that"s all right," said Robert Maitland. "Of course I intend to do that as soon as the spring opens, but what"s the use of trying to do it now?"
"It"s use to me. I"ll either go mad here in Denver, or I must go to seek for her there."
"But you will never come back if you once get in those mountains alone."
"I don"t care whether I do or not. It"s no use, old man, I am going and that"s all there is about it."
Robert Maitland knew men, he recognized finality when he heard it or when he saw it and it was quite evident that he was in the presence of it then. It was of no use for him or anyone to say more.
"Very well," he said, "I honor you for your feeling even if I don"t think much of your common sense."
"d.a.m.n common sense," cried Armstrong triumphantly, "it"s love that moves me now."
At that moment there was a tap on the door. A clerk from an outer office bidden to enter announced that old Kirkby was in the ante-room.
"Bring him in," directed Maitland, eager to welcome him.
He fancied that the new comer would undoubtedly a.s.sist him in dissuading Armstrong from his foolhardy, useless enterprise.
"Mornin", old man," drawled Kirkby.
"Howdy, Armstrong. My respects to you, sir," he said, sinking his voice a little as he bowed respectfully toward Mr. Stephen Maitland, a very sympathetic look in the old frontiersman"s eyes at the sight of the bereaved father.
"Kirkby, you"ve come in the very nick of time," at once began Robert Maitland.
"Allus glad to be Johnny-on-the-spot," smiled the older man.