"It"s more of a wonder than you know," replied Kelley. "I was headed right plumb that way till I was seventeen. My mother had it all picked out fer me. Then I broke away."
Harford, with the instinctive caution of the plainsman, pursued the subject no further. He was content to know that for a very moderate wage he had secured the best man with horses that the stable had ever known. His only anxiety related to the question of keeping his find.
"Kelley"s too good to be permanent," he said to his wife that night.
"He"ll skip out with one of the best saddle-horses some night, or else he"ll go on a tearing drunk and send the whole outfit up in smoke. I don"t understand the cuss. He looks like the usual hobo out of a job, but he"s as abstemious as a New England deacon. "Pears like he has no faults at all."
Anita had been attracted to Kelley, lowly as he looked, and, upon hearing his singular virtues recounted by her husband, opened her eyes in augmented interest. All the men in her world were rough. Her father drank, her brothers fought and swore and cheated, and her husband was as free of speech in her presence as if she were another kind of man, softening his words a little, but not much. Therefore, the next time she met Kelley she lingered to make conversation with him, rejoicing in his candid eyes and handsome face. She observed also that his shirt was clean and his tie new. "He looks almost like a soldier," she thought, and this was her highest compliment.
Surrounded as she was by gamblers, horse-jockeys, cattle-buyers, and miners, all (generally speaking) of the same slouchy, unkempt type, she recognized in the officers of the fort gentlemen of highest breeding and radiant charm. Erect, neat, brisk of step, the lieutenants on parade gave off something so alien, yet so sweet, that her heart went out to them collectively, and when they lifted their caps to her individually, she smiled upon them all with childish unconsciousness of their dangerous qualities.
Most of the younger unmarried men took these smiles to be as they were, entirely without guile. Others spoke jestingly (in private) of her att.i.tude, but were inclined to respect Harford"s reputation as a gunman.
Only the major himself was reckless enough to take advantage of the young wife"s admiration for a uniform.
Kelley soon understood the situation. His keen eyes and sensitive ears informed him of the light estimation in which his employer"s wife was held by the major; but at first he merely said, "This is none of your funeral, Kelley. Stick to your currycomb. Harford is able to take care of his own."
This good resolution weakened the very next time Anita met him and prettily praised him. "Mr. Harford says you are the best man he ever had, and I think that must be so, for my pony never looked so clean and shiny."
Kelley almost blushed, for (as a matter of faithful history) he had spent a great deal of time brushing bay Nellie. She did indeed shine like a bottle, and her harness, newly oiled and carefully burnished, glittered as if composed of jet and gold.
"Oh, that"s all right; it"s a part of my job," he replied, as carelessly as he could contrive. "I like a good horse"--"and a pretty woman," he might have added, but he didn"t.
Although Anita lingered as if desiring a word or two more, the tall hostler turned resolutely away and disappeared into the stable.
Bay Nellie, as the one dependable carriage-horse in the outfit of broncos, had been set aside for the use of Anita and her friends, but Kelley had orders from Harford to let the mare out whenever the women did not need her, provided a kindly driver was a.s.sured, and so it happened that the wives of the officers occasionally used her, although none of them could be called friends or even acquaintances of little Mrs. Harford.
Kelley observed their distant, if not contemptuous, nods to his employer"s wife as they chanced to meet her on the street, but he said no word, even when some of the town loafers frankly commented on it. He owed nothing to Harford. "It"s not my job to defend his wife"s reputation." Nevertheless, it made him hot when he heard one of these loafers remark: "I met the old major the other evening driving along the river road with Harf"s wife. Somebody better warn the major, or there"ll be merry h.e.l.l and a military funeral one of these days."
"I reckon you"re mistaken," said Kelley.
"Not by a whole mile! It was dark, but not so dark but that I could see who they were. They were in a top buggy, drivin" that slick nag the old man is so choice about."
"When was it?" asked Kelley.
"Night before last. I met "em up there just at the bend of the river."
Kelley said no more, for he remembered that Anita had called for the horse on that date just about sundown, and had driven away alone. She returned alone about ten--at least, she drove up to the stable door alone, but he recalled hearing the low tones of a man"s voice just before she called.
It made him sad and angry. He muttered an imprecation against the whole world of men, himself included. "If I hadn"t seen her--if I didn"t know how sweet and kind and pretty she was--I wouldn"t mind," he said to himself. "But to think of a little babe like her--" He checked himself.
"That old c.o.c.kalorum needs killing. I wonder if I"ve got to do it?" he asked in conclusion.
II
Harford came home the next day, and for several weeks there was no further occasion for gossip, although Kelley had his eyes on the major so closely that he could neither come nor go without having his action a.n.a.lyzed. He kept close record of Anita"s coming and going also, although it made him feel like a scoundrel whenever she glanced at him.
He was sure she was only the thoughtless child in all her indiscretions, with a child"s romantic admiration of a handsome uniform.
"I"ll speak to her," he resolved. "I"ll hand her out a word of warning just to clear my conscience. She needs a big brother or an uncle--some one to give her a jolt, and I"ll do it!"
The opportunity came one day soon after Harford"s return, but his courage almost failed at the moment of meeting, so dainty, so small, so charming, and so bird-like did the young wife seem.
She complimented him again on the condition of the mare and asked, timidly, "How much does my husband pay you?"
"More than I"m worth," he replied, with gloomy self-depreciation.
She caught the note of bitterness in his voice and looked at him a moment in surprised silence, her big eyes full of question. "What made you say that?"
Kelley, repenting of his lack of restraint, smiled and said: "Oh, I felt that way--for a minute. You see, I used to lead a high life of ease. I was a n.o.bleman--an Irish lord."
She smiled and uttered an incredulous word, but he went on:
"Yes, although my name is Kelley, I belong to a long line of kings. I"m working as hostler just to square myself fer having killed a man. You see, my queen was kind o" foolish and reckless and let a certain English duke hang round her till I got locoed, and, being naturally quick on the trigger, I slew him."
She was not stupid. She understood, and with quick, resentful glance she took the reins from his hands and stepped into the carriage.
Kelley, silenced, and with a feeling that he had bungled his job, fell back a pace, while she drove away without so much as a backward glance.
"I reckon she got it," he said, grimly, as he went back to his work. "I didn"t put it out just the way I had it in my head, but she "peared to sense enough of it to call me a Piute for b.u.t.ting in. If that don"t work on her I"ll tack a warning on the major which n.o.body will misread fer a joke."
As the hours of the afternoon went by he became more and more uneasy. "I hope she"ll turn up before dark, fer Harf is liable to get back any minute," he said a dozen times, and when at last he saw her coming up the street with a woman in the seat beside her he breathed deeply and swore heartily in his relief. "I guess my parable kind o" worked," he said, exultantly. "She"s kept clear of the old goat this trip."
The little lady stopped her horse at the door of the stable and with a cool and distant nod alighted and walked away.
"I"m the hostler now--sure thing," grinned Kelley. "No raise of pay fer Tall Ed this week."
He was in reality quite depressed by the change in her att.i.tude toward him. "Reckon I didn"t get just the right slaunch on that warning of mine--and yet at the same time she ought to have seen I meant it kindly.--Oh well, h.e.l.l! it"s none o" my funeral, anyway. Harford is no green squash, he"s a seasoned old warrior who ought to know when men are stealing his wife." And he went back to his dusty duties in full determination to see nothing and do nothing outside the barn.
Nevertheless, when, thereafter, anybody from the fort asked for bay Nellie, he gave out that she was engaged, and the very first time the major asked for the mare Kelley not only brusquely said, "She"s in use,"
but hung up the receiver in the midst of the major"s explanation.
The town gossips were all busy with the delightful report that Mrs.
Harford had again been seen driving with the major, whose reputation for gallantry, monstrously exaggerated by the reek of the saloons, made even a single hour of his company a dash of pitch to the best of women.
Kelley speculated on just how long it would take Harford to learn of these hints against his wife. Some of his blunt followers were quite capable of telling him in so many words that the major was doing him wrong, and when they did an explosion would certainly take place.
One day a couple of Harford"s horses, standing before the stable, became frightened and ran away up the street. Kelley, leaping upon one of the fleetest broncos in the stalls, went careering in pursuit just as Anita came down the walk. He was a fine figure of a man even when slouching about the barn, but mounted he was magnificent. It was the first time he had ridden since the loss of his own outfit, and the feel of a vigorous steed beneath his thighs, the noise of pounding feet, the rush of air, filled his heart with mingled exultation and regret. He was the centaur again.
Anita watched him pa.s.s and disappear with a feeling of surprise as well as of admiration. She was skilled in reading the character of men on horseback, and peculiarly sensitive to such an exhibition of grace and power. Her hostler was transformed into something new and wholly admirable, and she gladly took the trouble to watch for his return, as she could not witness the roping and the skilful subduing of the outlaws.
The picture he made as he tore along, swinging his rope, had displaced that of the dirty, indifferent hostler, and Anita thereafter looked upon him with respect, notwithstanding his presumptuous warning, which still lay heavy in her ears.
She still resented his interference, but she resented it less now that she knew him better. She began to wonder about him. Who was he? Why was he the hostler? Naturally, being wise in certain ways of men, she inferred that strong drink had "set him afoot"; but when she hesitantly approached her husband on this point, his reply was brusque: "I don"t know anything about Kelley, and don"t want to know. So long as he does his work his family vault is safe."
Still desiring to be informed, she turned to her servants, with no better results; they knew very little about Tall Ed, "but we like him,"
they were free to say.
This newly discovered mystery in the life of her hostler accomplished what his warning had failed to do; it caused her to neglect her correspondence with the major. His letter lay in a hollow willow-tree on the river road unread for nearly a week. And when, one afternoon, she finally rode by to claim it, her interest was strangely dulled. The spice of the adventure was gone.
As she was about to deliver her pony to Kelley that night he handed her an envelope, and, with penetrating glance, said: "I found this on the river road to-day. I wouldn"t write any more such--if I was you; it ain"t nice and it ain"t safe."
It was her own letter, the one she had but just written and deposited in the tree. She chilled and stiffened under the keen edge of Kelley"s contemptuous pity, then burned hot with illogical rage.