"Not for long," returned Brooks laughingly. "I came here to look up a mill site, and I"ve found it. Meantime I think I"ve opened their eyes."
"You have opened mine," said the widow with timid frankness.
They were soft pretty eyes when opened, in spite of their heavy red lids, and Mr. Brooks thought that Santa Ana would be no worse if they remained open. Possibly he looked it, for Mrs. Wade said hurriedly, "I mean--that is--I"ve been thinking that life needn"t ALWAYS be as gloomy as we make it here. And even HERE, you know, Mr. Brooks, we have six months" sunshine--though we always forget it in the rainy season."
"That"s so," said Brooks cheerfully. "I once lost a heap of money through my own foolishness, and I"ve managed to forget it, and I even reckon to get it back again out of Santa Ana if my mill speculation holds good. So good-by, Mrs. Wade--but not for long." He shook her hand frankly and departed, leaving the widow conscious of a certain sympathetic confidence and a little grateful for--she knew not what.
This feeling remained with her most of the afternoon, and even imparted a certain gayety to her spirits, to the extent of causing her to hum softly to herself; the air being oddly enough the Julien Waltz. And when, later in the day, the shadows were closing in with the rain, word was brought to her that a stranger wished to see her in the sitting-room, she carried a less mournful mind to this function of her existence. For Mrs. Wade was accustomed to give audience to traveling agents, tradesmen, working-hands and servants, as chatelaine of her ranch, and the occasion was not novel. Yet on entering the room, which she used partly as an office, she found some difficulty in cla.s.sifying the stranger, who at first glance reminded her of the tramping miner she had seen that night from her window. He was rather incongruously dressed, some articles of his apparel being finer than others; he wore a diamond pin in a scarf folded over a rough "hickory" shirt; his light trousers were tucked in common mining boots that bore stains of travel and a suggestion that he had slept in his clothes. What she could see of his unshaven face in that uncertain light expressed a kind of dogged concentration, overlaid by an a.s.sumption of ease. He got up as she came in, and with a slight "How do, ma"am," shut the door behind her and glanced furtively around the room.
"What I"ve got to say to ye, Mrs. Wade,--as I reckon you be,--is strictly private and confidential! Why, ye"ll see afore I get through.
But I thought I might just as well caution ye agin our being disturbed."
Overcoming a slight instinct of repulsion, Mrs. Wade returned, "You can speak to me here; no one will interrupt you--unless I call them," she added with a little feminine caution.
"And I reckon ye won"t do that," he said with a grim smile. "You are the widow o" Pulaski Wade, late o" Heavy Tree Hill, I reckon?"
"I am," said Mrs. Wade.
"And your husband"s buried up thar in the graveyard, with a monument over him setting forth his virtues ez a Christian and a square man and a high-minded citizen? And that he was foully murdered by highwaymen?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Wade, "that is the inscription."
"Well, ma"am, a bigger pack o" lies never was cut on stone!"
Mrs. Wade rose, half in indignation, half in terror.
"Keep your sittin"," said the stranger, with a warning wave of his hand. "Wait till I"m through, and then you call in the hull State o"
Californy, ef ye want."
The stranger"s manner was so doggedly confident that Mrs. Wade sank back tremblingly in her chair. The man put his slouch hat on his knee, twirled it round once or twice, and then said with the same stubborn deliberation:--
"The highwayman in that business was your husband--Pulaski Wade--and his gang, and he was killed by one o" the men he was robbin". Ye see, ma"am, it used to be your husband"s little game to rope in three or four strangers in a poker deal at Spanish Jim"s saloon--I see you"ve heard o"
the place," he interpolated as Mrs. Wade drew back suddenly--"and when he couldn"t clean "em out in that way, or they showed a little more money than they played, he"d lay for "em with his gang in a lone part of the trail, and go through them like any road agent. That"s what he did that night--and that"s how he got killed."
"How do you know this?" said Mrs. Wade, with quivering lips.
"I was one o" the men he went through before he was killed. And I"d hev got my money back, but the rest o" the gang came up, and I got away jest in time to save my life and nothin" else. Ye might remember thar was one man got away and giv" the alarm, but he was goin" on to the States by the overland coach that night and couldn"t stay to be a witness. I was that man. I had paid my pa.s.sage through, and I couldn"t lose THAT too with my other money, so I went."
Mrs. Wade sat stunned. She remembered the missing witness, and how she had longed to see the man who was last with her husband; she remembered Spanish Jim"s saloon--his well-known haunt; his frequent and unaccountable absences, the sudden influx of money which he always said he had won at cards; the diamond ring he had given her as the result of "a bet;" the forgotten recurrence of other robberies by a secret masked gang; a hundred other things that had worried her, instinctively, vaguely. She knew now, too, the meaning of the unrest that had driven her from Heavy Tree Hill--the strange unformulated fears that had haunted her even here. Yet with all this she felt, too, her present weakness--knew that this man had taken her at a disadvantage, that she ought to indignantly a.s.sert herself, deny everything, demand proof, and brand him a slanderer!
"How did--you--know it was my husband?" she stammered.
"His mask fell off in the fight; you know another mask was found--it was HIS. I saw him as plainly as I see him there!" he pointed to a daguerreotype of her husband which stood upon her desk.
Mrs. Wade could only stare vacantly, hopelessly. After a pause the man continued in a less aggressive manner and more confidential tone, which, however, only increased her terror. "I ain"t sayin" that YOU knowed anything about this, ma"am, and whatever other folks might say when THEY know of it, I"ll allers say that you didn"t."
"What, then, did you come here for?" said the widow desperately.
"What do I come here for?" repeated the man grimly, looking around the room; "what did I come to this yer comfortable home--this yer big ranch and to a rich woman like yourself for? Well, Mrs. Wade, I come to get the six hundred dollars your husband robbed me of, that"s all! I ain"t askin" more! I ain"t askin" interest! I ain"t askin" compensation for havin" to run for my life--and," again looking grimly round the walls, "I ain"t askin" more than you will give--or is my rights."
"But this house never was his; it was my father"s," gasped Mrs. Wade; "you have no right"--
"Mebbe "yes" and mebbe "no," Mrs. Wade," interrupted the man, with a wave of his hat; "but how about them two checks to bearer for two hundred dollars each found among your husband"s effects, and collected by your lawyer for you--MY CHECKS, Mrs. Wade?"
A wave of dreadful recollection overwhelmed her. She remembered the checks found upon her husband"s body, known only to her and her lawyer, believed to be gambling gains, and collected at once under his legal advice. Yet she made one more desperate effort in spite of the instinct that told her he was speaking the truth.
"But you shall have to prove it--before witnesses."
"Do you WANT me to prove it before witnesses?" said the man, coming nearer her. "Do you want to take my word and keep it between ourselves, or do you want to call in your superintendent and his men, and all Santy Any, to hear me prove your husband was a highwayman, thief, and murderer? Do you want to knock over that monument on Heavy Tree Hill, and upset your standing here among the deacons and elders? Do you want to do all this and be forced, even by your neighbors, to pay me in the end, as you will? Ef you do, call in your witnesses now and let"s have it over. Mebbe it would look better ef I got the money out of YOUR FRIENDS than ye--a woman! P"raps you"re right!"
He made a step towards the door, but she stopped him.
"No! no! wait! It"s a large sum--I haven"t it with me," she stammered, thoroughly beaten.
"Ye kin get it."
"Give me time!" she implored. "Look! I"ll give you a hundred down now,--all I have here,--the rest another time!" She nervously opened a drawer of her desk and taking out a buckskin bag of gold thrust it in his hand. "There! go away now!" She lifted her thin hands despairingly to her head. "Go! do!"
The man seemed struck by her manner. "I don"t want to be hard on a woman," he said slowly. "I"ll go now and come back again at nine to-night. You can git the money, or what"s as good, a check to bearer, by then. And ef ye"ll take my advice, you won"t ask no advice from others, ef you want to keep your secret. Just now it"s safe with me; I"m a square man, ef I seem to be a hard one." He made a gesture as if to take her hand, but as she drew shrinkingly away, he changed it to an awkward bow, and the next moment was gone.
She started to her feet, but the unwonted strain upon her nerves and frail body had been greater than she knew. She made a step forward, felt the room whirl round her and then seem to collapse beneath her feet, and, clutching at her chair, sank back into it, fainting.
How long she lay there she never knew. She was at last conscious of some one bending over her, and a voice--the voice of Mr. Brooks--in her ear, saying, "I beg your pardon; you seem ill. Shall I call some one?"
"No!" she gasped, quickly recovering herself with an effort, and staring round her. "Where is--when did you come in?"
"Only this moment. I was leaving tonight, sooner than I expected, and thought I"d say good-by. They told me that you had been engaged with a stranger, but he had just gone. I beg your pardon--I see you are ill. I won"t detain you any longer."
"No! no! don"t go! I am better--better," she said feverishly. As she glanced at his strong and sympathetic face a wild idea seized her. He was a stranger here, an alien to these people, like herself. The advice that she dare not seek from others, from her half-estranged religious friends, from even her superintendent and his wife, dare she ask from him? Perhaps he saw this frightened doubt, this imploring appeal, in her eyes, for he said gently, "Is it anything I can do for you?"
"Yes," she said, with the sudden desperation of weakness; "I want you to keep a secret."
"Yours?--yes!" he said promptly.
Whereat poor Mrs. Wade instantly burst into tears. Then, amidst her sobs, she told him of the stranger"s visit, of his terrible accusations, of his demands, his expected return, and her own utter helplessness. To her terror, as she went on she saw a singular change in his kind face; he was following her with hard, eager intensity. She had half hoped, even through her fateful instincts, that he might have laughed, manlike, at her fears, or pooh-poohed the whole thing. But he did not. "You say he positively recognized your husband?" he repeated quickly.
"Yes, yes!" sobbed the widow, "and knew that daguerreotype!" she pointed to the desk.
Brooks turned quickly in that direction. Luckily his back was towards her, and she could not see his face, and the quick, startled look that came into his eyes. But when they again met hers, it was gone, and even their eager intensity had changed to a gentle commiseration. "You have only his word for it, Mrs. Wade," he said gently, "and in telling your secret to another, you have shorn the rascal of half his power over you.
And he knew it. Now, dismiss the matter from your mind and leave it all to me. I will be here a few minutes before nine--AND ALONE IN THIS ROOM.
Let your visitor be shown in here, and don"t let us be disturbed. Don"t be alarmed," he added with a faint twinkle in his eye, "there will be no fuss and no exposure!"
It lacked a few minutes of nine when Mr. Brooks was ushered into the sitting-room. As soon as he was alone he quietly examined the door and the windows, and having satisfied himself, took his seat in a chair casually placed behind the door. Presently he heard the sound of voices and a heavy footstep in the pa.s.sage. He lightly felt his waistcoat pocket--it contained a pretty little weapon of power and precision, with a barrel scarcely two inches long.
The door opened, and the person outside entered the room. In an instant Brooks had shut the door and locked it behind him. The man turned fiercely, but was faced by Brooks quietly, with one finger calmly hooked in his waistcoat pocket. The man slightly recoiled from him--not as much from fear as from some vague stupefaction. "What"s that for? What"s your little game?" he said half contemptuously.
"No game at all," returned Brooks coolly. "You came here to sell a secret. I don"t propose to have it given away first to any listener."