"He"s going to come," a.s.serted Ruth.
"Never in a thousand years. The fool will talk to his dummy G.o.d in yonder and come out with one of his iced looks and talk about "judgment"! Bah!"
"He"ll come."
"What makes you think so?"
"Because--I know."
"You should have waited--to-morrow you could have done it, maybe, but to-day is too soon."
"Listen to me, Ben. I know him. I know his childish, greedy mind. He wants me just as much as he wants his own way. It"s partly because I"m new to him, being a woman. It"s chiefly because I"m the first thing he"s ever met that won"t do what he wants. He"s going to try to stay with me until he bends me." She flushed with angry excitement.
"It"s playing with fire, Ruth. I know you"re clever, but--"
"You don"t know how clever, but I"m beginning to guess what I can do.
I"ve lost all feeling about that cruel barbarian, Ben. That poor little harmless, pretty colt--oh, I want to make David Eden burn for that! And I can do it. I"m going to wind him around my finger. I"ve thought of ways while I stood looking at him just now. I know how I can smile at him, and use my eyes, and woo him on, and pretend to be just about to yield and come back with him--then grow cold the next minute and give him his work to do over again. I"m going to make him crawl on his knees in the dust. I"m going to make a fool of him before people. I"m going to make him sign over his horses to us to keep them out of his vicious power. And I can do it--I hate him so that I know I can make him really love me. Oh, I know he doesn"t really love me now. I know you"re right about him. He simply wants me as he"d want another horse. I"ll change him. I"ll break him. When he"s broken I"m going to laugh in his face--and tell him--to remember Timeh!"
"Ruth!" gasped Connor.
He looked guiltily around, and when he was sure no one was within reach of her voice, he glanced back with admiration.
"By the Lord, Ruth, who"d ever have guessed at all this fire in you?
Why, you"re a wonder. And I think you can do it. If you can only get him out of the infernal Garden. That"s the sticking point! We make or break in the next ten minutes!"
But he had hardly finished speaking before David of Eden came out of the Room of Silence, and with the first glance at his face they knew that the victory was theirs. David of Eden would come with them into the world!
"I have heard the Voice," he said, "and it is just and proper for me to go. In the morning, Ruth, we shall start!"
_CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO_
Night came as a blessing to Ruth, for the scenes of the early day had exhausted her. At the very moment when David succ.u.mbed to her domination, her own strength began to fail. As for Connor, it was another story. The great dream which had come to him in far away Lukin, when he watched the little gray gelding win the horse race, was now verging toward a reality. The concrete accomplishment was at hand. Once in the world it was easy to see that David would become clay, molded by the touch of clever Ruth Manning, and then--it would be simply a matter of collecting the millions as they rolled in.
But Ruth was tired. Only one thing sustained her, and that was the burning eagerness to humble this proud and selfish David of Eden. When she thought how many times she had been on the verge of open admiration and sympathy with the man, she trembled and grew cold. But through the fate of poor little Timeh, she thanked Heaven that her eyes had been opened.
She went to her room shortly after dinner, and she slept heavily until the first grayness of the morning. Once awake, in spite of the early hour, she could not sleep again, so she dressed and went into the patio.
Connor was already there, pacing restlessly. He had been up all night, he told her, turning over possibilities.
"It seems as though everything has worked out too much according to schedule," he said. "There"ll be a break. Something will happen and smash everything!"
"Nothing will happen," she a.s.sured him calmly.
He took her hand in his hot fingers.
"Partner"--he began, and then stopped as though he feared to let himself go on.
"Where is he?" she asked.
"On his mountain, waiting for the sun, I guess. He told the servants a while ago that he was leaving to-day. Great excitement. They"re all chattering about it down in the servants" house."
"Is no one here?"
"Not a soul, I guess."
"Then--we"re going into that Room of Silence!"
"Take that chance now? Never in the world! Why, Ruth, if he saw us in there, or guessed we"d been there, he"d probably murder us both. You know how gentle he is when he gets well started?"
"But how will he know? No one is here, and David won"t be back from the mountain for a long time if he waits for the sun."
"Just stop thinking about it, Ruth."
"I"ll never stop as long as I live, unless I see it. I"ve dreamed steadily about that room all night."
"Go alone, then, and I"ll stay here."
She went resolutely across the patio, and Connor, following with an exclamation, caught her arm roughly at the door.
"You aren"t serious?"
"Deadly serious!"
The glitter of her dark eyes convinced him more than words.
"Then we"ll go together. But make it short!"
They swept the patio with conscience-stricken glances, and then opened the door. As they did so, the ugly face of Joseph appeared at the entrance to the patio, looked and hastily was withdrawn.
"This is like a woman," muttered Connor, as they closed the door with guilty softness behind them. "Risk her life for a secret that isn"t worth a tinker"s d.a.m.n!"
For the room was almost empty, and what was in it was the simplest of the simple. There was a roughly made table in the center. Five chairs stood about it. On the table was a book, and the seven articles made up the entire furnishings. Connor was surprised to see tears in the eyes of Ruth.
"Don"t you see?" she murmured in reply to his exclamation. "The four chairs for the four dead men when David sits down in his own place?"
"Well, what of that?"
"What"s in the book?"
"Are you going to wait to see that?"
"Open the door a little, Ben, and then we can hear if any one comes near."
He obeyed and came back, grumbling. "We can hear every one except David.
That step of his wouldn"t break eggs."