CHAPTER II.
TRANSIENT GUESTS AT THE GRAND CONROY.
The Grand Conroy Hotel was new, and had the rare virtue of comparativecleanliness. As yet the odours of bygone dinners, and forgotten suppers,and long dismissed breakfasts had not possessed and permeated its hallsand passages. There was no distinctive flavour of preceding guests inits freshly clothed and papered rooms. There was a certain virgincoyness about it, and even the active ministration of Mrs. Markle andSal was delicately veiled from the public by the interposition of abar-keeper and Irish waiter. Only to a few of the former _habitu['e]s_ didthese ladies appear with their former frankness and informality. Therewas a public parlour, glittering with gilt framed mirrors and gorgeouswith red plush furniture, which usually froze the geniality of One HorseGulch, and repressed its larger expression, but there was a littlesitting-room beyond sacred to the widow and her lieutenant Sal, wherevisitors were occasionally admitted. Among the favoured few whopenetrated this arcana was Lawyer Maxwell. He was a widower, and wassupposed to have a cynical distrust of the sex that was at once achallenge to them and a source of danger to himself.
Mrs. Markle was of course fully aware that Mrs. Conroy had beenMaxwell's client, and that it was while on a visit to him she had metwith the accident that resulted in her meeting with Gabriel.Unfortunately Mrs. Markle was unable to entirely satisfy herself ifthere had been any previous acquaintance. Maxwell had declared to herthat to the best of his knowledge there had been none, and that themeeting was purely accidental. He could do this without violating theconfidence of his client, and it is fair to presume that upon all othermatters he was loyally uncommunicative. That Madame Devarges hadconsulted him regarding a claim to some property was the onlyinformation he imparted. In doing this, however, he once accidentallystumbled, and spoke of Mrs. Devarges as "Grace Conroy." Mrs. Markleinstantly looked up. "I mean Mrs. Conroy," he said hastily.
"Grace--that was his sister who was lost--wasn't it?"
"Yes," replied Maxwell, demurely, "did he ever talk much to you abouther?"
"No-o," said Mrs. Markle, with great frankness, "he and me only talkedon gin'ral topics; but from what Olly used to let on, I reckon thatsister was the only woman he ever loved."
Lawyer Maxwell, who, with an amused recollection of his extraordinaryinterview with Gabriel in regard to the woman before him, was watchingher mischievously, suddenly became grave. "I guess you'll find, Mrs.Markle, that his present wife amply fills the place of his lost sister,"he said, more seriously than had intended.
"Never," said Mrs. Markle, quickly. "Not she--the designin', craftyhussy!"
"I am afraid you are not doing her justice," said Maxwell, wiping away asmile from his lips, after his characteristic habit; "but then it's notstrange that two bright, pretty women are unable to admire each other.What reason have you to charge _her_ with being designing?" he askedagain, with a sudden return of his former seriousness.
"Why, her marryin' him," responded Mrs. Markle, frankly; "look at thatsimple, shy, bashful critter, do you suppose he'd marry her--marry anywoman--that didn't throw herself at his head, eh?"
Mrs. Markle's pique was so evident that even a philosopher like Maxwellcould not content himself with referring it to the usual weakness of thesex. No man cares to have a woman exhibit habitually her weakness foranother man, even when he possesses the power of restraining it. Heanswered somewhat quickly as he raised his hand to his mouth to wipeaway the smile that, however, did not come. "But suppose that you--andothers--are mistaken in Gabriel's character. Suppose all this simplicityand shyness is a mask. Suppose he is one of the most perfect andsuccessful actors on or off the stage. Suppose he should turn out tohave deceived everybody--even his present wife!"--and Lawyer Maxwellstopped in time.
Mrs. Markle instantly fired. "Suppose fiddlesticks and flapjacks! I'd assoon think o' suspectin' thet child," she said, pointing to theunconscious Manty. "You lawyers are allus suspectin' what you can'tunderstand!" She paused as Maxwell wiped his face again. "What do youmean anyway--why don't yer speak out? What do you know of him?"
"Oh, nothing! only it's as fair to say all this of him as of her--onabout the same evidence. For instance, here's a simple, ignorantfellow"----
"He ain't ignorant," interrupted Mrs. Markle, sacrificing argument toloyalty.
"Well, this grown-up child! He discovers the biggest lead in One HorseGulch, manages to get the shrewdest financier in California to manage itfor him, and that too after he has snatched up an heiress and a prettywoman before the rest of 'em got a sight of her. That may be simplicity;but my experience of guilelessness is that, ordinarily, it isn't solucky."
"They won't do him the least good, depend upon it," said Mrs. Markle,with the air of triumphantly closing the argument.
It is very possible that Mrs. Markle's dislike was sustained and keptalive by Sal's more active animosity, and the strict espionage thatyoung woman kept over the general movements and condition of theConroys. Gabriel's loneliness, his favourite haunt on the hillside, thenumber and quality of Mrs. Conroy's visitors, even fragments ofconversation held in the family circle, were all known to Sal, andredelivered to Mrs. Markle with Sal's own colouring. It is possible thatmost of the gossip concerning Mrs. Conroy already hinted at, had itsorigin in the views and observations of this admirable young woman, whodid not confine her confidences entirely to her mistress. And when oneday a stranger and guest, staying at the Grand Conroy House, sought toenliven the solemnity of breakfast by social converse with Sal regardingthe Conroys, she told him nearly everything that she had already toldMrs. Markle.
I am aware that it is alleged that some fascinating quality in thisstranger's manner and appearance worked upon the susceptible nature andloosened the tongue of this severe virgin, but beyond a certaindisposition to minister personally to his wants, to hover around himarchly with a greater quantity of dishes than that usually offered thetransient guest, and to occasionally expatiate on the excellence of someextra viand, there was really no ground for the report. Certainly, theguest was no ordinary man; was quite unlike the regular _habitu['e]s_ ofthe house, and perhaps to some extent justified this favouritism. He wasyoung, sallow-faced, with very white teeth and skin, yellow hands, and atropical, impulsive manner, which Miss Sarah Clark generally referred toas "Eyetalian." I venture to transcribe something of his outward oralexpression.
"I care not greatly for the flapjack, nor yet for the dried apples,"said Victor, whom the intelligent reader has at once recognised, "but asingle cup of coffee sweetened by those glances and offered by thosefair hands--which I kiss!--are to me enough. And you think that theMeestrees Conroy does not live happily with her husband. Ah! you arewise, you are wise, Mees Clark, I would not for much money find myselfunder these criticism, eh?"
"Well, eyes bein' given to us to see with by the Lord's holy will, andit ain't for weak creeturs like us to misplace our gifts or magnify'em," said Sal, in shrill, bashful confusion, allowing an underdonefried egg to trickle from the plate on the coat-collar of theunconscious Judge Beeswinger, "I do say when a woman sez to her husband,ez she's sworn to honour and obey, 'This yer's _my_ house, and thisyer's _my_ land, and yer kin git,' thar ain't much show o' happinessthar. Ef it warn't for hearin' this with my own ears, bein' tharaccidental like, and in a sogial way, I wouldn't hev believed it. Andshe allowin' to be a lady, and afeared to be civil to certain folks ezis ez good ez she and far better, and don't find it necessary to gitmarried to git a position--and could hev done it a thousand times overef so inclined. But folks is various and self praise is open disgrace.Let me recommend them beans. The pork, ez we allus kills ourselves furthe benefit o' transient gests, bein' a speciality."
"It is of your kindness, Mees Clark, I am already full. And of the porkI touch not, it is an impossibility," said Victor, showing every toothin his head. "It is much painful to hear of this sad, sad affair. It isbad--and yet you say he has riches--this man. Ah! the what is the world.See, the great manner it has treated those! No, I will not more
. I amsufficient now. Ah! eh! what have we here?"
He lowered his voice and eyes as a stranger--the antique dandy Gabrielhad met on Conroy's hill the evening before--rose from some unnoticedseat at a side table, and unconcernedly moved away. Victor instantlyrecognised the card player of San Antonio, his former chanceacquaintance of Pacific Street, and was filled with a momentary feelingof suspicion and annoyance. But Sal's _sotto voce_ reply that thestranger was a witness attending court seemed to be a reasonableexplanation, and the fact that the translator did not seem to recognisehim promptly relieved his mind. When he had gone Sal returned to herconfidences: "Ez to his riches, them ez knows best hez their own say o'that. Thar was a party yer last week--gents ez was free with theirmoney, and not above exchanging the time o' day with working folk, andthough it ain't often ez me or Sue Markle dips into conversation withentire strangers, yet," continued Sal with parenthetical tact andcourtesy, "Eyetalians,--furriners in a strange land bein' anexception--and and them gents let on thet thet vein o' silver onConroy's hill hed been surveyed and it wazent over a foot wide, andwould be played out afore a month longer, and thet old Peter Dumphyknowed it, and hed sold out, and thet thet's the reason Gabriel Conroywas goin' off--jest to be out o' the way when the killapse comes."
"Gabriel! going away, Mees Sal? this is not possible!" ejaculated thefascinating guest, breathing very hard, and turning all his teeth in asingle broadside upon the susceptible handmaid. At any other moment, itis possible that Sal might have been suspicious of the stranger'sexcitement, but the fascination of his teeth held and possessed thisfluttering virgin.
"Ef thar ever waz a man ez had an angelic smile," she intimatedafterwards in confidence to Mrs. Markle, "it waz thet young Eyetalian."She handed him several dishes, some of them empty, in her embarrassmentand rejoined with an affectation of arch indignation, "Thank ye fursayin' 'I lie,'--and it's my pay fur bein' a gossip and ez good ez Isend--but thar's Olympy Conroy packed away to school fur six months, andthar's the new superintendent ez is come up to take Gabriel's situation,and he a sittin' in a grey coat next to ye a minit ago! Eh? And ye won'ttake nothin' more? Appil or cranbear' pie?--our own make? I'm afeerd yeain't made out a dinner!" But Victor had already risen hurriedly anddeparted, leaving Sal in tormenting doubt whether she had not in hercoquettish indignation irritated the tropical nature of this sensitiveItalian. "I orter allowed fur his bein' a furriner and not bin so free.Pore young man! I thought he did luk tuk back when I jest allowed thathe said I lied." And with a fixed intention of indicating herforgiveness and goodwill the next morning by an extra dish, Sal retiredsomewhat dejectedly to the pantry. She made a point, somewhat later, ofdusting the hall in the vicinity of Victor's room, but was possiblydisappointed to find the door open, and the tenant absent. Still later,she imparted some of this interview to Mrs. Markle with a certain air offatigued politeness and a suggestion that, in the interest of the housesolely, she had not repressed perhaps as far as maidenly pride andstrict propriety demanded, the somewhat extravagant advances of thestranger. "I'm sure," she added, briskly, "why he kept a lookin' and atalkin' at me in that way, mind can't consave, and transients didnotiss. And if he did go off mad, why, he kin git over it." Having thusdelicately conveyed the impression of an ardent Southern nature checkedin its exuberance, she became mysteriously reticent and gloomy.
It is probable that Miss Clark's theory of Gabriel's departure was notoriginal with her, or entirely limited to her own experience. A verydecided disapprobation of Gabriel's intended trip was prevalent in thegulches and bar-room. He quickly lost his late and hard-earnedpopularity; not a few questioned his moral right to leave One HorseGulch until its property was put beyond a financial doubt in the future.The men who had hitherto ignored the proposition that he was in any wayresponsible for the late improvement in business, now openly condemnedhim for abandoning the position they declared he never had. The_Silveropolis Messenger_ talked vaguely of the danger of "changingsuperintendents" at such a moment, and hinted that the stock of thecompany would suffer. The rival paper--for it was found that theinterests of the town required a separate and distinct expression--hadan editorial on "absenteeism," and spoke, crushingly, of those men who,having enriched themselves out of the resources of One Horse Gulch, werenow seeking to dissipate that wealth in the excesses of foreign travel.
Meanwhile, the humble object of this criticism, oblivious in hishumility of any public interest in his movements or intentions, busiedhimself in preparations for his departure. He had refused the offer of alarge rent for his house from the new superintendent, but had retained atrusty servant to keep it with a view to the possible return of Grace."Ef thar mout ever come a young gal yet lookin' fur me," he saidprivately to his servant, "yer not to ax any questions, partiklaly efshe looks sorter shy and bashful, but ye'll gin her the best room in thehouse, and send to me by igspress, and ye needn't say anythin' to Mrs.Conroy about it." Observing the expression of virtuous alarm on the faceof the domestic--she was a married woman of some comeliness who was notliving with her husband on account of his absurdly jealousdisposition--he added hastily, "She's a young woman o' proputty ez heztroubil about it, and wishes to be kep' secret," and, having in this waythoroughly convinced his handmaid of the vileness of his motives and theexistence of a dark secret in the Conroy household, he said no more, butpaid a flying visit to Olly, secretly, packed away all the remnants ofhis deceased mother's wardrobe, cut (God knows for what purpose) smallpatches from the few old dresses that Grace had worn that were stillsacredly kept in his wardrobe, and put them in his pocket-book; wanderedin his usual lonely way on the hillside, and spent solitary hours in hisdeserted cabin; avoided the sharp advances of Mrs. Markle, who onceaggressively met him in his long post-prandial walks, as well as the shypropinquity of his wife, who would fain have delayed him in her bower,and so having after the fashion of his sex made the two women who lovedhim exceedingly uncomfortable, he looked hopefully forward to the timewhen he should be happy without either.