Dr. Annister, in a shabby leather arm-chair, in whose roomy depths his undersized figure seemed smaller than ever, leaned forward with his elbows on its arms and thoughtfully struck together the ends of his fingers.
They were in his private office, where this chair had been for twenty years his favorite seat. It was his att.i.tude and gesture of deepest abstraction. Many a time, sitting thus, and gazing with intent eyes on nothing at all, had he found light on difficult cases. And many a nervous wreck among his patients had marched back to health and vigor to the rhythmic tapping of those finger-ends.
Just now he was considering the possibility that Felix Brand, the famous young architect, his son-in-law to be, might have sunk out of sight intentionally in order to indulge in deeply hidden debauch.
Although it had but recently become manifest, that suggestion of sensuality in the young man"s refined and handsome countenance, the physician"s only ground of objection to the early marriage for which his daughter and her lover had pleaded, had grown stronger of late.
But if Brand should be found in some low dive it might get out and the carrion-loving sensational newspapers would make an ill-smelling scandal into which Mildred"s name would be dragged. No, if that were the explanation, it would be better to let him return in his own good time and then have a serious talk with him and try to get at the truth.
"No," he said at last, taking down his arms and leaning back into the chair"s capacious embrace, "I don"t think we"d better take that extreme measure; at least, not yet. In my judgment you"ve acted prudently, my dear, in not letting anybody know his absence is other than an ordinary business matter. It is now about two weeks since he--went away?"
"Two weeks and a half."
"Well, I think we"d better wait at least another week before we do anything. And, meantime, all that you"ve told me will be a secret between you and me."
"Thank you, Dr. Annister. You"ve relieved my anxiety very much, indeed. And I"m so glad you think as you do, for I dreaded doing anything about it for fear it might get into the papers and there"d be all that horrid publicity and the reporters coming and catechizing me every day."
"Wait a bit," he said as she rose to go. "I want to ask you more about this Gordon. He seems to you an honest, straightforward sort of man?"
"Oh, entirely, Dr. Annister! He is so frank and sincere and direct that you can"t help believing in him. He seems to know Mr. Brand very, very intimately, too. And yet such an angry look crosses his face sometimes when we speak about Mr. Brand that I am very much puzzled. It doesn"t seem as if they could be such good friends as they would have to be for Mr. Gordon to know all he does."
"I wish I could see him and talk with him myself. Do you know his address?"
"No, sir. And he"s not in either the telephone or the city directory."
"Well, if he comes to your office again ask him to come up here with you. Explain how anxious we are--doubtless he knows that Felix and Mildred are engaged--and say that it would be a great relief to us if we could hear from his own lips that he is still sure of Mr. Brand"s safety. I"ll see him first and if he inspires my confidence as he does yours I"ll have Mildred come in and talk with him, too. Won"t you go up and see Mildred and Mrs. Annister?"
"I"d love to, Dr. Annister, but--Mildred will be so anxious for news, and I can"t tell her anything more than I have a dozen times already, and----"
"I understand," he interrupted. "I know, it"s hard not to be able to tell her what she longs to hear. Ah, Henrietta," and he shook his head sadly, "there isn"t a man on the face of this earth that is worthy of such a wealth of love! But how are the mother and sister? And how is the mortgage getting on?"
He was standing in front of her, and, although she was not a tall woman, their eyes were on a level. His deeply lined, thin face was so pale, that, with its white mustache, heavy, gray-white eyebrows and crown of silver-white hair, it was like an artist"s study of white against white.
As Henrietta looked into it a sudden vision came to her of the long procession of men and women who had pa.s.sed through that office, stricken and fearful, their desperate eyes pleading with that one pale face for help, and a lump came in her throat. She coughed before she could speak.
"We begin to think mother is getting better," she said, "now that she is feeling so much at ease about money matters. And the mortgage is slowly dwindling. If I have no bad luck I expect to clear it all off by the end of the summer."
"Good! You are a splendid, plucky girl, my dear, and I"m as proud of you as your father would have been!"
CHAPTER XIII
MILDRED IS MILITANT
The next afternoon Henrietta left her office early, in order to discharge some commissions for her sister in the shopping district.
Stopping to look at a window display of spring costumes, her eye was caught by a dress that suited her taste exactly. She inspected it from both sides and went into the doorway that she might get the back view.
"What a lovely suit and how becoming it would be for me!" she thought.
"I wonder if I could afford to buy it. Oh dear, no! I mustn"t even think of such a thing! It would be just that much off the mortgage payments."
She turned away with a sigh and found herself face to face with Hugh Gordon, who glanced with a quizzical smile from her to the window.
"Did you hear one of the commandments cracking?" she laughed. "I"ve just been coveting one of those suits as hard as I could."
"Are you going in to buy it now?" he asked with a suggestion of disappointment in his air, as if, having come upon her so unexpectedly, he disliked to lose her again at once.
"Oh, dear, no! I"m not going to buy it at all. I can"t afford it."
"Well, then, you are wise not to buy it, and the best way is not even to think about it any more," he said in that abrupt manner to which, although it had sometimes startled her at their first meetings, she had already grown accustomed. She had told herself more than once, indeed, that she liked it in him, it seemed so expressive of his masculine forcefulness and decision of character.
"How different you are from Mr. Brand," she answered smiling. "He would say in such case, "If you want it why don"t you buy it at once?
There"s no time like the present for doing the things you want to do.""
His brows came together in a quick frown and his eyes flashed as he said: "Yes, I know that is his philosophy of life. But it"s not mine by a long ways. I think it despicable."
His voice sounded harsh and angry and Henrietta looked up in surprise at the intensity of feeling it betrayed.
Then she remembered Dr. Annister"s suggestion and exclaimed, "Oh, by the way, I"ve a message for you!"
He listened with interest as she told him of Dr. Annister"s desire to see him and asked if he could either go there with her now or make an appointment for another day.
"It would be kind of you to go," she added. "You have relieved my mind so much about Mr. Brand that I am hoping you can make them feel a little less anxious, too--especially Miss Annister. I suppose you know she and Mr. Brand are engaged!"
"Yes, I know it," he answered curtly as he looked at his watch. "I have some leisure time now, a couple of hours, and I can go at once as well as not. I don"t know," he went on doubtfully, "whether or not Miss Annister will want to see me. She is much prejudiced against me."
Henrietta"s mind flew back to the decided opinions Mildred had advanced to the reporters, which, however, she was glad to remember, they had modified in their accounts.
"She was, some weeks ago," Henrietta began rea.s.suringly.
"And is yet," he declared. "I happen to know that her feeling toward me is very hostile. And Felix has encouraged her in it."
"She is so very much in love with Mr. Brand and so wildly anxious it would be a great kindness to give her even a little comfort,"
Henrietta gently urged.
"I"ll do what I can," he replied after a moment"s hesitation. He spoke slowly and his companion, looking up, wondered at the extremely serious expression that had come into his face.
As they entered the Annister home, Mildred and her mother were descending the stairs, dressed for the street. Henrietta looked up from the doorway and saw Mildred"s countenance transfigured with sudden joy.
The girl sprang down the steps with a cry of "Oh, Felix, Felix!"
Gordon stepped in from the vestibule where his features had been blurred by the brilliant sunlight behind him, and Mildred, stricken with disappointment, threw up her hands to cover the tears she could not control, and sobbing, rushed back up the stairs. Gordon looked grimly on, his face set and scowling, as if he were gripping deep into his very soul with an iron determination.
"Come up to the drawing-room," said Mrs. Annister, when Henrietta had presented her companion and explained their errand, "and I"ll send for Dr. Annister."
Thither also she presently brought Mildred. But the stately air with which the girl entered the room and the haughty inclination of her head with which she acknowledged Gordon"s greeting told how little trust she expected to feel in anything he might say.
In answer to Dr. Annister"s inquiries Gordon told them, in substance, what he had already said to Henrietta and gave them, in brief, curt sentences, that seemed to spring spontaneously out of the force and simplicity of his character, the same a.s.surances that Brand was in no danger and that he would return, safe and well, in his own good time.