CHAPTER XX--HAND-READING
"Did you get rid of it?" he asked hurriedly.
"I did not," she gasped. "That mean old monocle-man wouldn't let me.He's just kept his eye on me every moment. When I went up-stairs, hefollowed. There he is now. See how he's watching us. Oh, what shall Ido, if they find me with it?"
"Give it to me," said Bob.
"No, I won't."
"But do you realize what it means if they find it on you?" he asked inalarm.
"We would go to jail together," said jolly little pal.
"But I won't have you go to jail. It's preposterous."
"Maybe I deserve it," she remarked, "for having 'peached.' I hope,"wistfully, "our cells will be close together. Did you have a nice dancewith Miss Gerald?"
"Give it to me," commanded Bob sternly. "If you don't, I'll--I'll takeit from you."
But she put her hand behind her. "Isn't Gwendoline the most beautifulthing in the world?" she said. "We'll talk about her in jail. It'll helppass the time."
"Give--"
"I'm not the least bit jealous, because now I'm only your really-trulylittle pal," she went on. "I wish I could be your best man. But I don'tsuppose that's feasible."
"Give--"
"I might swallow it," she observed tentatively.
"Great heavens!" he reached for her hand.
"Aw!--fortune-telling?" said a voice.
"Yes; he was just going to read my palm," answered jolly little palpromptly while Bob turned rather nervously to regard the monocle-man.
"Perhaps--aw!--I could read it," suggested the monocle-man, looking atthe closed fingers. "I have some--aw!--skill that way. Perhaps, MissDolly--aw!--you would permit me to look at your heart line?"
"I just won't," said Miss Dolly, with flashing eyes.
Bob watched her closely. If she tried to swallow it, he would stop her.
"How--aw!--very unkind!" said the monocle-man. "If youwould--aw!--permit me, I could tell you--? aw!--just what kind of a manyou're going to marry."
"I'm not going to marry any one," replied the jolly little pal.
"Please now, do--aw!" he urged.
"Well, if you want to be tiresome." She gave him the hand that didn'thold the ring.
"Impulsive! Charming!" he said, bending his monocle owlishly over thesoft pink palm. "Now the other?"
"Won't!" she returned succinctly.
Bob drew yet nearer. He believed she was quite capable of carrying outthat threat of swallowing it.
"But how can I complete telling your fortune--aw!--unless I see theother hand?" expostulated the monocle-man with a pleasant smile. "Idesire especially to examine the Mount of Venus."
"There isn't any mountain any more," said the jolly little pal. "It'sbeen moved away."
"Aw! How interesting! Then we might survey the vale of friendship."
She looked around like a bird in a snare; the hammer-man was not faraway and impulsively she flew over to him.
"Was this our dance? I'm so forgetful!"
"It wasn't, but it is," he returned with a smile. Obviously he wasflattered. Heretofore Miss Dolly had not acted particularly prepossessedby the hammer-thrower; he hadn't any temperament--so she thought; hedidn't swing one around with enough abandon. He was one of those seriousgoody-goody dancers. He swung Miss Dolly very seriously now; they wentso slowly for her that once she stumbled over his feet. It was evidenttheir temperaments didn't match. Or maybe what she held in one hand hadmade her terribly self-conscious. Bob watched them gloomily. He fearedshe might swallow it during the dance, but she didn't, for the littlehand was partly closed still when she left the hammer-thrower and Bobgazed around for that confounded monocle-man. The latter, however, hadapparently lost interest in palm-reading and the temperamental littlething, for he was nowhere to be seen. Miss Dolly's eyes were at oncefrightened and strange when she fluttered again to Bob's side.
"Oh, I've done the most awful thing," she confided quite breathlessly tohim.
"You--you haven't swallowed it?" he exclaimed in alarm. He thought hehad watched her closely, but still she might have found opportunity--shemight have made a swift movement to her lips which he had failed toobserve.
"No, I haven't swallowed it," she answered. "I've done worse."
"Worse? What could be worse?"
"I slipped it into his waistcoat pocket."
"Whose? The hammer-thrower? No? By jove!--"
"I did it when I tripped. And I tripped purposely, and when he was verygallant and kept me from falling, I--I slipped it in. And isn't itawful? Poor man! He's such a goody-good. You don't mind, do you?"Anxiously.
"Oh, I mind a heap," said Bob jovially. "Ho! ho!"
"I was afraid you might scold."
"Scold? No, indeed. I'm awfully obliged and I only wish I could dosomething for you to show how thankful I am."
"Do you? Then you might--" She gazed toward the conservatory where itwas dim and shadowy. "No; it wouldn't do. We're not engaged any more.Besides--" And she looked toward a straight proud figure with goldenhair. She didn't finish what she was going to say. Only--"I guess Iwon't make you," she added.
"Thanks," said Bob. "You're sure the best pal a chap ever had. Buthonest! I hate to be mean and disappoint you after all you've done. AndI might volunteer, if you'd make it just one--or, at the most, two."
A moment the temperamental little thing seemed to waver. Then therosebud lips set more firmly. "No," she said. "It's awfully dear of youto offer, but I don't want any. You've made me see the error of my ways.I've reformed. I only want to be your jolly little pal. But you haven'tany conscientious scruples about the way I disposed of it, have you?"she asked, swiftly changing the subject.
"Conscientious scruples? Not one. Ho! ho!"
But the laughter faded suddenly from Bob's lips. At that moment thehammer-thrower chanced to put his fingers in his waistcoat pocket. Thenhe gave a slight start and glanced toward the temperamental littlething; his brow was lowering, and he appeared to meditate. Bob knewthere must be murder in his heart. Just then from across the room, Bobsaw the monocle-man approaching the hammer-thrower.
The latter cast a swift look toward him of the monocle. It was the lookof a man who for the first time, perhaps, fully realizes, or begins torealize certain unexpected forces arrayed against him. He now had thering and he dared not keep it. If he had never entertained anysuspicions regarding the monocle-man's identity before, there wassomething about the other now that awoke sudden and secret misgivings.The monocle-man didn't make much of a point of disguising hiswatchfulness at the present time. That was odd--unless he didn't greatlycare just now whether any one guessed his identity or not. Possibly thepsychological moment was approaching.
The hammer-thrower thought, no doubt, that Bob had told thetemperamental little thing that he (the hammer-man) had taken the ringfrom Miss Gerald's room and Miss Dolly had offered to return it to thehammer-thrower. And she had found a way to do so. It was clever. But thehammer-thrower was not in a mood to appreciate the grim jest. Now thatthe tables were turned, Bob and Miss Dolly would make it their businessto see that the glittering trifle was found in _his_ possession. Thehammer-thrower couldn't dispose of it under the circumstances; he was inexactly the same predicament Bob had been in. Suddenly he seemed to makeup his mind what to do; he adopted the most daring expedient. In thosefew moments he had done some very rapid thinking. He stepped toward MissGerald now, his face wearing its most reliable expression. Honestyfairly radiated from his square solid countenance.
"Miss Gerald," he said, "may I speak with you privately?"
"Is it important?" she asked.
"Very!" in his most serious manner.
She complied with his request, and they withdrew from the hearing ofothers.
"Miss Gerald," he began abruptly, "have you lost a ring?"
She gazed at him in surprise.
"I have."
"Is this it? I believe I recognize it as one you have worn."
"It i
s." Gwendoline's look swerved toward Bob. "But--" she began.
"You do not understand how it came in my possession?" he asked, in aneven monotonous tone.
"I certainly did not think that you--"
"You didn't think I had it?" Seriously.
"I did not." And again she looked toward Bob.
"I did not know I had it myself," he observed gravely, "until just thisminute. You believe me, I trust?"
"Yes," she said slowly, "I believe you. But how--?" Again she paused.
"Did I come by it? A certain young lady I danced with just now placed itin my waistcoat pocket."
The hammer-thrower held himself squarely, with a poise that expressedrectitude. He was rather well satisfied with what he had done. He arguedthat his action, from Miss Gerald's point of view, must be that of aninnocent man. If he (the hammer-thrower) had taken the ring it wasn'tlikely he would step up to Miss Gerald and offer it back to her. Hisbold move complicated the issue; but he did not doubt, however, that hewould emerge from the affair with credit.
"Of course I am aware that it is a serious charge to make," went on thehammer-thrower, "but what was I to do? I never was put in a more painfulposition."
"Painful, indeed," replied Miss Gerald sympathetically. "Of course itwas a joke."
"I am glad you take that view of it," he replied. "You can see thatnaturally I found it deucedly awkward. Things have been disappearing inso many country-houses, don't you know. It wouldn't have been a joke forme if I hadn't fortunately discovered it as I did. Under thecircumstances, I don't really appreciate Miss Dolly's jokes."
"But mightn't it have been some one else?" suggested Gwendoline.
"I danced only with you and Miss Dolly."
"Well, naturally, it wouldn't be I," said Gwendoline with a smile."There's Dolly now talking with Mr. Bennett and Lord Stanfield, Supposewe speak to her. But I wouldn't have any one else know for the world.I'm really very sorry Dolly's heedlessness should have caused one of myaunt's guests any embarrassment." Miss Gerald was graciousness itself.
In spite of the thrill of the moment, the hammer-thrower couldn'tprevent an expression of honest approval gleaming from his eyes. "Youare very kind," he said in a low tone. "You will never know all thisvisit has meant to me. I, too, regret exceedingly that what you regardas one of Miss Dolly's mad pranks--and we all know how prone she is todo the unconventional--should have involved me in a little episode that,perhaps, isn't so agreeable as it should be. I trust, though, you don'tblame me for coming to you at once about the matter?"
"Why should I blame you?" The violet eyes full on the deep serious ones.
"I suppose I might just have placed it somewhere, on the mantle, forexample, and not said anything about Miss Dolly's part in the affair,"he observed musingly. "It might have been more chivalrous. One doesn'tlike to complain of a woman, you know, and a fellow guest at that." Withregret that sounded genuine.
"I think you took the only course a conscientious man could," saidGwendoline Gerald. "Indeed, I can appreciate your position. You did whatany honest man would feel impelled to do."
Again that gracious smile! Again a slight gleaming in the hammer-man'seyes! At the moment she seemed to realize in every way the poet'spicture of regal young womanhood--"divinely tall" and most divinelyfashioned, she appeared, as she stood with the light from a greatchandelier full upon her.
"Your approval is very dear to me," the hammer-thrower murmured. "Ithink I have your friendship. That is much--much, indeed. But--" For amoment he seemed about to say more. His strong, honest-looking facesurely wore an expression of some feeling deeper than friendship.
Would Gwendoline Gerald have shrunk from a verbal expression of what hislook seemed to imply? The violet eyes never appeared deeper, moreenigmatic--receptive. The hammer-thrower did not go on, however. Hereverted to that other topic.
"Perhaps it would be as well to drop the matter altogether," heremarked. "I am quite satisfied to do so, if you are."
"That is nice of you," she said in a tone that implied she stillapproved of him. "But I think I shall speak to Dolly. Or, at least, lether see the ring is on my finger."
"I can't understand why she should have done it," he observed in puzzledaccents as they crossed the room. "I can't quite see how it can beclassed as a joke."
"Dolly has the wildest idea of humor," returned Gwendoline. "As a littlegirl she was always doing the maddest things. Perhaps, too, she has beenreading about those sensational robberies and wished to perpetrate ahoax."
"I say, that would have been rather rough on a fellow, wouldn't it?"
"And then, after creating a little excitement, she would have comeforward and said she did it. Maybe she read about that escapade of youngmen and girls at an English house-party. They carried off valuables inan automobile, and returned the same, piece-meal, by parcel post. Idon't say my explanation of Dolly's prank is a correct one," said MissGerald, tentatively lifting long sweeping lashes to regard hercompanion, "but it may in some measure throw light upon it."
"Unless--?" He paused.
"Unless what?" she asked.
"Nothing. Only I was thinking--"
The violet eyes became suddenly darker. "You mean about what you told methis morning--about Mr. Bennett and how you found him--?"
"I really didn't wish to speak of that, only it was strange--" Hestopped.
"Strange, indeed," she observed, studying him.
"Anyhow, I can't see how to connect that with this," he confessed.
"There does seem a missing-link somewhere," observed the girl. "Doyou"--and her eyes were again full upon the deep serious ones--"like Mr.Bennett?"
"I neither like nor dislike him." They had stopped for a moment in adoorway. "His manners have been rather extraordinary. I honestly can'tmake him out. He looks rational enough and yet he acts mostirrationally."
"I am going to tell you a great secret," said the girl. "Please do notspeak of it to any one else. Some one in the house has been takingthings--in earnest, I mean."
"No? Is it possible?" he observed. "Then it wouldn't have been nice forme if that ring--?" Honest indignation shone from his eyes. "I must sayMiss Dolly did take a confounded liberty."
"Under the circumstances, yes," said the girl gravely.
"You say things are missing? Great Scott!"
"I did not say missing." Quickly. "It is a case of substitution."
"Pardon me if I fail to understand."
She explained. "By jove! that is clever. I am honored by yourconfidence. I won't betray it. Your aunt is naturally distressed?"
"Naturally--though she appears the same as usual. However, she isdetermined to put an end to these affairs. Society has been frightfullyannoyed. It is not nice to ask some one down and then to have herlose--"
"I understand," said the hammer-thrower gravely. "If your aunt can stopthese unfortunate occurrences society will owe her a great debt. Buttell me further, if I am not intruding too greatly on your confidences,does the finger of suspicion point anywhere?"
"Yes," returned the girl.
"Of course," he said, and looked toward Bob.
That young man's face did not now express any trace of satisfaction orjovial feeling. He looked both puzzled and worried, and glancedapprehensively from time to time at the sentimental young thing. Themonocle-man _was_ telling her fortune now. With British persistence hehad reverted to the subject upon again approaching the couple, which hedid almost immediately after the hammer-thrower returned to Miss Geraldher ring.
"You missed your ring?" said the hammer-thrower after a pause.
"Yes. But I never imagined--"
"It would be returned in such an extraordinary manner? I don't see wherehe--?" And the hammer-man paused again with downbent brows.
It was not hard for her to read the thought. He did not see just whereBob Bennett "came in." That's what he once more implied. He didn't wishto be unjust to any one. His expression said that.
"I guess it must just have been a whim," he co
nceded after a moment,handsomely. "After all, it's proofs that count." The sentence had afamiliar sound to Miss Gerald who entertained a vague impression she hadsaid something like it to Bob. They approached Dolly.