Presently he spoke thickly. "I suppose you have heard that he was a squawman."
His friend joined battle promptly with him. "That"s ridiculous. Don"t be absurd, Gordon."
"It"s the truth. I"ve seen the woman. She was pointed out to me."
"By old Gideon Holt, likely," she flashed.
"One could get evidence and show it to Miss O"Neill," he said aloud, to himself rather than to her.
Diane put her point of view before him with heated candor. "_You_ couldn"t. n.o.body but a cad would rake up old scandals about the man who has beaten him fairly for a woman"s love."
"You beg the question. _Has_ he won fairly?"
"Of course he has. Be a good sport, Gordon. Don"t kick on the umpire"s decision. Play the game."
"That"s all very well. But what about her? Am I to sit quiet while she is sacrificed to a code of honor that seems to me rooted in dishonor?"
"She is not being sacrificed. I"m her cousin. I"m very fond of her. And I"d trust her with Colby Macdonald."
"Play fair, Diane. Tell her the truth about this Indian woman and let your cousin decide for herself. You can"t do less, can you?"
Mrs. Paget was distinctly annoyed. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gordon Elliot. You take all the gossip of a crack-brained old idiot for gospel truth just because you want to believe the worst about Mr.
Macdonald. Don"t you know that people will say anything about a man who succeeds? Colby Macdonald is too big and too aggressive not to have made hundreds of enemies. His life has been threatened dozens of times. But he pays no attention to it--goes right on building-up this country.
Yet you"d think he had a cloven hoof to hear some people talk. I"ve no patience with them."
"The woman"s name is Met.e.e.t.se," Gordon said in an even voice, just as if he were answering a question. "She is young and good-looking for an Indian. Her boy is four or five years old. Colmac, they call him, and he looks just like Macdonald."
"People are always tracing resemblances. There"s nothing to that. But suppose his life _was_ irregular--years ago. This isn"t Boston. It used to be the fringe of civilization. Men did as they pleased in the early days. We don"t ask a man up here what he has been, but what he is.
You ought to know that by this time."
"This wasn"t in the early days. It was five years ago, when Macdonald was examining the Kamatlah coal-field. I"m told he sends a check down the river once a month for the woman."
"All the more credit to him if he does." Diane rose and looked stormily down at her friend. "You"re about as broad as a clam, Gordon. Can"t you see that even if it"s true, all that is done with? It is a part of his past--and it"s finished--trodden under foot. It hasn"t a thing to do with Sheba."
"I don"t agree with you. A man can"t cut loose entirely from his past.
It is a part of him--and Macdonald"s past isn"t good enough for Sheba O"Neill."
Diane tapped her little foot impatiently on the floor. "Do you know many men whose pasts are good enough for their wives? Are you a plaster-cast saint yourself? You know perfectly well that men trample down their pasts and begin again when they are married. Colby Macdonald is good enough for any woman alive if he loves her enough."
"You don"t know him."
"I know him far better than you do. He is the biggest man I know, and now that he is in love with a good woman he"ll rise to his chance."
"She ought to be told the truth about Met.e.e.t.se and her boy," he insisted doggedly.
"I"m not going to disturb her with a lot of old maids" gossip. That"s flat."
"But if I prove to you that it isn"t gossip."
Mrs. Paget lost her temper completely. "Does the Government pay you to mind other people"s business, Gordon?" she snapped.
"I wouldn"t be working for the Government then, but for Sheba O"Neill."
"And for Gordon Elliot. You"d be doing underhand work for him too. Don"t forget that. You can"t do it. You"re not that kind of a man. It isn"t in you to go muckraking in the past of the man Sheba is going to marry."
Elliot rose and looked across at the blue-ribbed mountains. His square jaw was set when he turned it back toward Diane.
"She isn"t going to marry him if I can help it," he said quietly.
He walked out of the gate and down the walk toward his hotel.
A message was waiting for him there from his chief in Seattle. It called him down the river on business.
CHAPTER XIV
GENEVIEVE MALLORY TAKES A HAND
Inside of an hour the news of the engagement of Macdonald was all over Kusiak. It was through a telephone receiver that the gossip was buzzed to Mrs. Mallory by a friend who owed her a little stab. The voice of Genevieve Mallory registered faint amus.e.m.e.nt, but as soon as she had hung up, her face fell into haggard lines. She had staked a year of her waning youth on winning the big mining man of Kusiak, together with all the money that she had been able to sc.r.a.pe up for a campaign outfit.
Moreover, she liked him.
It was not in the picture that she should fall desperately in love with any man. A woman of the world, she was sheathed in the plate armor of selfishness. But she was as near to loving Macdonald as was possible for her. She had a great deal of admiration for his iron strength, for the grit of the man. No woman could twist him around her finger, yet it was possible to lead him a long way in the direction one wanted.
Mrs. Mallory sat down in the hall beside the telephone, her fingers laced about one crossed knee. She knew that if Sheba O"Neill had not come on the scene, Macdonald would have asked her to marry him. He had been moving slowly toward her for months. They understood each other and were at ease together. Between them was a strong physical affinity. Both were good-tempered and were wise enough to expect human imperfection.
Then Diane Paget had brought in this slim, young cousin of hers and Colby Macdonald had been fascinated by the mystery of her innocent youth. Mrs. Mallory was like steel beneath the soft and indolent surface. Swiftly she mapped her plan of attack. The Alaskan could not be moved, but it might be possible to startle the girl into breaking the engagement. Genevieve Mallory would have used the weapon at hand without scruple in any case, but she justified herself on the ground that such a marriage could result only in unhappiness.
But before she made any move Mrs. Mallory intended to be sure of her facts. It was like her to go to headquarters for information. She got Macdonald on the wire.
"I"ve just heard something nice about you. Do tell me it"s true," she said, her voice warm with sympathy.
Macdonald laughed with an almost boyish embarra.s.sment. "It"s true, I reckon."
"I"m so glad. She"s a lovely girl. The sweetest thing that ever lived.
I"m sure you"ll be happy. I always did think you would make a perfect husband. Of course, I"m simply green with envy of her."
Her little ripple of laughter was gay and care-free. The man at the other end of the line never had liked her better. Since he was not a fool he had guessed pretty closely how things stood with her. She was a game little sport, he told himself approvingly. It appealed to him immensely that she could take such a facer and come up smiling.
There were no signs of worry wrinkles on her face when the maid admitted a caller half an hour later. Oliver Dustin was the name on the card. He was a remittance man, a tame little parlor pet whose vocation was to fetch and carry for pretty women, and by some odd trick of fate he had been sifted into the Northland. Mrs. Mallory had tolerated him rather scornfully, but to-day she smiled upon him.
Propped up by pillows, she reclined luxuriously on a lounge. A thin spiral of smoke rose like incense to the ceiling from her lips. The slow, regular rise and fall of her breathing beneath the filmy lace of her gown accented the perfect fullness of bust and throat.
Dustin helped himself to a cigarette and made himself comfortable.
She set herself to win him. He was immensely flattered at her awakened interest. When she called him by his first name, he wagged all over like a pleased puppy.