When she finally turned off the avenue into a side street, where the residences were some distance apart, and which was not particularly well lighted, she suddenly become conscious some one was following her.
With a heart-throb of fear, she quickened her steps. The figure behind her did the same. Then she walked more slowly in order to allow the man to pa.s.s her. In another moment he was beside her, when, with all her pulses throbbing like trip-hammers, she realized that he was intoxicated.
"Fine evening, miss," he remarked in a voice which, although rather thick and unsteady, seemed strangely familiar.
Her a.s.sailant was quite tall, but it was too dark to see his figure distinctly, while a slouch-hat was drawn so far down over his face that his features were almost entirely concealed. But Mollie was too frightened to observe him closely, and vouchsafing no reply to his remark, quickened her steps again.
The man reached out his hand and laid hold upon her arm, exclaiming:
"Hold on, now--hic--my pretty one. I"sn"t--ah--dignified to run. Just le" me--hic--see you home; then I"ll take a--hic--kiss and we"ll call it--hic--square."
Mollie stopped short, her ears actually ringing from the rapid beating of her heart, while her blood was boiling with mingled disgust and indignation. She swept his hand from her arm with a force that made him stagger. But he was too quick for her, and clutched it again instantly.
"Don"t dare to touch me! Do not presume to detain me!" she cried authoritatively.
But his fingers only closed more roughly over her wrist.
"Come, come, pretty one, don"t be--hic--offish; or If you"re in such--hic--a deuced hurry I"ll take the--hic--kiss now and let you--hic--go."
He drew her toward him as if to put his threat into execution, but before Mollie"s frightened cry for help had barely escaped her lips, the hand was stricken from her arm and her a.s.sailant lay sprawling upon the ground at her feet, while she turned with a long breath of relief to find another stalwart figure close beside her.
CHAPTER VIII.
CLIFFORD MEETS HIS IDOL.
The night was so dark, the mist so heavy and the street so illy lighted that Mollie could not clearly see either of her companions; but as she turned to the stranger who had appeared upon the scene so opportunely, a feeling of perfect confidence took possession of her, for his dignified and self-a.s.sured bearing inspired her with a sense of absolute security.
"Oh, thank you! thank you!" she breathed gratefully though tremulously, as she involuntarily drew nearer to him.
"I am very glad that I happened to be near," the gentleman replied in a rich, deep but pleasantly modulated voice. "I was just pa.s.sing out of a gate opposite when I heard you call. The wretch was very bold to a.s.sail you on the street at this hour of the evening! Is he intoxicated?"
"I think so," said Mollie, and speaking more calmly now, for she was fast recovering her self-possession, "and I am very thankful to you for your timely a.s.sistance, I----"
A groan from the prostrate man interrupted her at this point, and both she and her companion turned at the sound.
"Well, sir, what is it?" curtly demanded the stranger, as he bent over him and tried to get a view of his face.
"You"ve given me a nasty blow, whoever you are; curse you!" he growled, as he made an effort to regain his feet.
But he seemed to find it a difficult achievement, and the stranger grasped him by the arm and a.s.sisted him to rise.
"There you are," he said, "now can you walk?"
Again his victim groaned as he attempted to take a step or two, and almost fell a second time.
"Well you are a trifle the worse for your fall, that is a fact," his companion observed. "I will help you to the corner, where you can get either a carriage or a car to take you home; and, now, if you will accept a bit of friendly advice, I will suggest that you keep your brain clearer in the future, when perhaps you will not be tempted to a.s.sault unprotected women in the street and get yourself into trouble again."
Mollie"s recent a.s.sailant wrenched his arm from the other"s grasp with another oath, and, bending forward, tried to peer into the face before him. His fall evidently had not disabled him so seriously as he had at first feared, while the shock had served to sober him somewhat.
"Look here!" he exclaimed in a supercilious tone; "I"ve a notion that I know who you are, and this isn"t the first time, either, that you have interfered with me in what was none of your business. I know you, Faxon, and I swear I"ll make you sweat for this!"
Clifford Faxon--for it was he--now bent forward and peered into the face of the speaker, even though he had already recognized the speaker.
"Great heavens!" he exclaimed in a voice resonant with mingled disgust and indignation, "have you descended so low as this, Wentworth?"
A startled cry broke from Mollie at this point, and she swept close to the young man"s side.
"Philip Wentworth!" she gasped, and now she knew why his voice had sounded familiar to her, although, having been under the influence of liquor, his utterance had been very indistinct, while fear had so changed hers that, in his drunken condition, he had failed to recognize it. But as she now spoke his name a terrible shock went through him, sobering him completely.
"Mollie! Good G.o.d!" he cried in a tone of mingled mortification and dismay, while Clifford"s heart leaped with joy as he caught the name.
The fair girl haughtily drew herself erect and away from him.
"Let this be the last time, Mr. Wentworth, that you ever address me so familiarly; indeed, from this moment we are strangers."
"By all that is sacred, Mollie, I never dreamed that it was you."
Philip faltered with abject humility. "I swear----"
"Silence!" she commanded imperatively. "Never presume to call me "Mollie" again. Of course I understand that you did not know me--neither did I recognize you under existing conditions. But you did know that you were insulting a woman, and the fact that you had no more respect for my s.e.x, whoever the individual might be, I regard as direct an outrage as if you had known me."
"Come, now," said Philip appealingly, and his voice was husky with shame and grief, "you are downright hard on a fellow. I was not quite myself, I am bound to confess, and so not responsible----"
"Not responsible!" repeated Mollie with grave reproof. "Yes, you are responsible; for you have no moral right to put yourself in a condition that renders it unsafe for people to come in contact with you upon the street, or elsewhere.
"Let me say one word more," she added more gently, yet not less impressively, "for your mother"s and sister"s sake and for your own good, I beg that you will forsake your cups and the aimless life you are leading and try to live to some purpose in the future."
She stepped aside to allow him to pa.s.s, whereupon Clifford Faxon considerately inquired:
"Shall I lend you an arm to the corner, Wentworth?"
"No!--you!" was the pa.s.sionate response, as Philip angrily struck aside the proffered support, almost beside himself with mingled shame and rage, "and, let me repeat, that I will yet make you sorry for this night"s work." He turned his back upon them both and strode away limping, but not nearly so badly crippled as his companions had feared he might be.
Then Mollie stepped forward to Clifford.
"Mr. Faxon," she said, and extending her hand to him, "this is the third time that we have met under peculiar circ.u.mstances, all of which have made me greatly your debtor. I am Miss Heatherford, and I have never forgotten the hero of that exciting New Haven incident."
"Thank you, Miss Heatherford," Faxon returned, and tingling to his finger-tips with rapture as he clasped the hand so cordially offered him, "and let me a.s.sure you that I am very much pleased to meet you again, and, at last, learn the name of one to whom I am also indebted. I refer to the beautiful souvenir of the event of which you have spoken, and which I have always treasured most sacredly. I am very glad I was at hand to rescue you from your recent unpleasant experience. Now, may I have the additional pleasure of attending you to your home? I should feel very uncomfortable to allow you to go alone after the shock you have received."
"Thank you; it is very kind of you to offer to attend me," Mollie replied, and feeling much relieved in view of having a protector, for she had been badly frightened. "But, Mr. Faxon, I am afraid it will seem almost an imposition, for I have quite a walk yet," she added doubtfully.
"That will not disturb me in the least," Clifford returned eagerly, "though it is very damp, and perhaps you would prefer to take a car; in either event, however, I shall not leave you until I see you safely housed."
"Taking a car would not save me very much, as I must go back to Pennsylvania Avenue to get one, and I would have just about the same distance at the other end," said Mollie reflectively. "On the whole, I believe I will take you at your word and we will walk."
"Thank you," Clifford responded so earnestly that Mollie smiled involuntarily, while she experienced a peculiar exhilaration in his companionship.