The Chief Legatee
CHAPTER XV
ANITRA
A few minutes later they were discussing this amazing possibility.
"I have no reason for this conclusion,--this hope," admitted Mr. Ransom."It is instinct with me, an intuition, and not the result of my judgment.It came to me when she first addressed me down by the mill-stream. If youconsider me either wrong or misled, I confess that I shall not be able tocombat your decision with any argument plausible enough to hold yourattention for a moment."
"But I don't consider you either wrong or misled," protested the other."That is," he warily added, "I am ready to accept the correctness of thepossibility you mention and afterwards to note where the supposition willlead us. Of course, your first sensation is that of relief."
"It will be when I am no longer the prey of doubts."
"Notwithstanding the mystery?"
"Notwithstanding the mystery. The one thing I have found it impossible tocontemplate is her death;--the extinction of all hope which death alonecan bring. She has become so blended with my every thought since the hourshe vanished from my eyes and consequently from my protection, that Ishould lose the better part of my self in losing her. Anything but that,Mr. Harper."
"Even possible shame?"
"How, shame?"
"Some reason very strong and very vital must underlie her conduct if whatwe suspect is true, and she has not only been willing to subject you andherself to a seeming separation by death, but to burden herself with theadditional misery of being obliged to assume a personality cumbered bysuch a drawback to happiness and even common social intercourse as thisof the supposed Anitra."
"You mean her deafness?"
"I mean that, yes. What could Mrs. Ransom's motive be (if the womansleeping yonder is Mrs. Ransom) for so tremendous a sacrifice as this youascribe to her? The rescue of her sister from some impending calamity?That would argue a love of long standing and of superhuman force; one fartranscending even her natural affection for the husband to whom she hasjust given her hand. Such a love under such circumstances is notpossible. She has known this long lost sister for a few days only. Hersense of duty towards her, even her compassion for one so unfortunate,might lead her to risk much, but not so much as that. You must look forsome other explanation; one more reasonable and much more personal."
"Where? where? I'm all at sea; blinded, dazed, almost at my wits' end. Ican see no reason for anything she has done. I neither understand her norunderstand myself. I ought to shrink from the poor creature there,sleeping off--I don't know what. But I don't. I feel drawn to her,instead, irresistibly drawn, as if my place were at her bedside tocomfort and protect."
At this impulsive assertion springing from a depth of feeling for whichthe staid lawyer had no measure, a perplexed frown chased all theurbanity from his face. Some thought, not altogether welcome, had come todisturb him. He eyed Mr. Ransom closely from under his clouded brows. Hecould do this now with impunity, for Mr. Ransom's glances were turnedwhither his thoughts and inclinations had wandered.
"I would advise you," came in slow comment from the watchful lawyer, "notto be too certain of your conclusions till doubt becomes an absoluteimpossibility. Instinct is a good thing but it must never be regarded asinfallible. It may be proved that it is your wife who has fled, afterall. In which case it would be a great mistake to put any faith in thisgipsy girl, Anitra."
Mr. Ransom's face hardened; his eyes did not leave the direction in whichthey were set.
"I will remember," said he.
His companion did not appear satisfied, and continued emphatically:
"Whether the woman now here is Mrs. Ransom or her wild and irresponsiblesister, she is a person of dangerous will and one not to be lightlyregarded nor carelessly dealt with. Pray consider this, Mr. Ransom, anddo not allow impulse to supersede judgment. If you will take my advice--"
"Speak."
"I should treat her as if she were the woman she calls herself, or, atleast, as if you thought her so. Nothing--" this word he repeated as henoted the incredulity with which the other listened--"would be so likelyto make her betray herself as that."
"Let us go back and listen again at her door," was Mr. Ransom's emphaticbut inconsequent reply.
The lawyer desisted from further advice, but sighed as he followed hisnew client into the hall. At the turn of the staircase they were stoppedby the sound of wrangling voices in the office below. Mr. Harper heardhis name mentioned and hastened to interfere. Assuring Mr. Ransom of hisspeedy return, he stepped down-stairs, and in a few minutes reappearedwith a middle-aged man of characteristic appearance, whom he introducedto Mr. Ransom as Mr. Goodenough. The sight of the uncouth head of theiryouthful acquaintance of the morning peering up after him from the footof the stairs was warranty sufficient that this was the man who had metthe strange young lady on the highway early that morning.
At sight of him Mr. Ransom felt that inner recoil which we all experienceat the prospect of an immediate and definite termination of a longbrooding doubt. In another instant and with one word this uncultured andhitherto unknown man would settle for him the greatest question of hislife. And he did not feel prepared for it. He had an impulse almost offlight, as if in this way he could escape a certainty he feared. Whatcertainty? Perhaps he could not have answered had he been asked. His mindwas in a turmoil. He had feelings--instincts; that was all.
The lawyer, noting his condition, undertook the leadership of affairs.Beckoning Mr. Goodenough into Mr. Ransom's room, he softly closed thedoor upon the many inquiring ears about, and, assuming the manner mostlikely to encourage the unsophisticated but straightforward looking manwith whom he had to deal, quietly observed:
"We hear that you met this morning a young girl going towards the Ferry.There is great reason why we should know just how this young girl looks.A lady disappeared from here last night, and though, from a letter sheleft behind her, we have every reason to believe that her body issomewhere in the river, yet we don't want to overlook the possibilityof her having escaped alive in another direction. Can you describe theperson you saw?"
"Wa'al, I'm not much good at talk," was the embarrassed, almost haltingreply. "I saw the gal and I remember just how she looked, but I couldn'tput it into words to save my soul. She was pretty and chipper and walkedalong as if she was part of the mornin'; but that don't tell you much,does it? Yet I don't know what else to say. P'raps you could help meby asking questions."
"We'll see. Was she light-complexioned? Yellow hair, you know, and blueeyes?"
"No; I don't think she was. Not what I call light. My Sal's light; thisgal wasn't like my Sal."
"Dark, then, very dark, with a gipsy color and snapping black eyes?"
"No, not that either. What I should call betweens. But more dark thanlight."
Harper flashed a glance at Ransom before putting his next question.
"What did she have on her head?"
"Bless me if I can tell! It wasn't a sun-bonnet, nor was it slapped allover with ribbons and flowers like my darter's."
"But she had some sort of hat on?"
"Sartain. Did you think she was just running to the neighbors?"
"But she wore no coat?"
"I don't remember any coat."
"Do you remember her frock?"
"No, not exactly."
"Don't you remember its color?"
"No."
"Wasn't it black? the skirt of it, at least?"
"Black? Wa'al, I guess not. A gal of her age in black! No, she was asbright as the flowers in my wife's garden. Not a black thing on her. Ishould sooner think her clothes were red than black."
Harper showed his surprise.
"Not a black skirt?" he persisted.
"No, sir'ee. I haven't much eye for fixin's but I've eye enough to knowwhen a gal's dressed like a gal and not like some old woman."
Harper's eye stole again towards Ransom.
"Checkmate in four moves," he muttered. "The person we are interested incould have worn no such clothin
g as Mr. Goodenough describes. Yetclothing can be changed. How, I cannot see in this instance; but I willrisk no mistake. The trail we followed led too surely in the direction ofthe highway for us to drop all inquiries because of a colored skirt and ahat we cannot quite account for. If the face is one we know (and Ireally believe it was), we can leave the other discrepancies to futureexplanation." And turning back to the patient countryman, he composedlyremarked: "You are positive in your recollections of the young lady'sfeatures. You would have no difficulty in recognizing her if you saw heragain?"
"Not a bit. Once I get a picter in my mind of a man or a woman I see italways. And I can see her as plain as plain the moment I stop to think.She was pretty, you see, and just a little scared to speak to a stranger.But that went as she saw my face, and she asked me very perlite if shewas on the right road to the Ferry."
"And you told her she was?"
"Sartain; and how much time she had to get there to catch the boat."
"I see. So you would know her again if you saw her."
"I jest would."
The lawyer made a move towards the door which Mr. Ransom hastened toopen. As the long vista of the hall disclosed itself, Mr. Harper turnedupon the countryman with the quiet remark:
"There were two ladies here, you know. Twins. Their likeness wasremarkable. If we show you the remaining one who now lies asleep, yousurely will be able to tell if she is like the lady you saw."
"If she looks just like her you can bet beans against potatoes on that."
"Come, then. You needn't feel any embarrassment, for she's not only soundasleep but so deaf she couldn't hear you if she were awake. You need onlytake one glance and nod your head if she looks like the other. It is verydesirable that none of us should speak. The case is a mysterious one andthere's enough talk about it already without the women hiding andlistening behind every shut door you see, adding their gossip to therest."
A knowing look, a twitch at the corners of a good-natured mouth, and theman followed them down the hall, past one or two of the doors alluded to,till they reached the one against the panel of which Mr. Ransom hadalready laid his ear.
"Still asleep," his gesture seemed to signify; and with a word of cautionhe led the way in.
The room was very dark. Mrs. Deo had been careful to draw down the shadewhen she put her strange charge to bed, and at this first moment ofentrance it was impossible for them to see more than the outline of adark head upon a snowy pillow. But gradually, feature by feature of thesleeping woman's countenance became visible, and the lawyer, turning hisacute gaze on the man from whose recognition he expected so much,impatiently awaited the nod which was to settle their doubt.
But that nod did not come, not even after Mr. Ransom, astonished at thelong pause, turned on the stranger his own haggard and inquiring eyes.Instead, Mr. Goodenough lifted a blank stare to either face beside him,and, shaking his head, stumbled awkwardly back in an endeavor to leavethe room. Mr. Ransom, taken wholly by surprise, uttered some peremptoryejaculation, but a glance from the lawyer quieted him, and not till theywere all shut up again in that convenient room at the head of the stairsdid any of the three speak.
And not even then without an embarrassed pause. Both the lawyer and hisunhappy client had a deep and, in the case of the latter, a heartrendingdisappointment to overcome, and the clock on the stairs ticked outseveral seconds before the lawyer ventured to remark:
"Miss Hazen's face is quite new to you, I perceive. Evidently it was nother twin sister you met on the high road this morning."
"Nor anything like her," protested the man. "A different face entirely;prettier and more saucy. Such a gal as a man like me would be glad tocall darter."
"Oh, I see!" assented the lawyer. Then with the instinctive caution ofhis class, "You have made no mistake?"
"Not a bit of a one," emphasized the other. "Sorry I can't give thegentleman any hope, but if the sisters look alike, it was not thiswoman's twin I met. I'm ready to take my oath on that."
"Very well. One catches at straws in a stress like this. Here's a fiverto pay for your trouble, and another for the lad who brought you here.Good day. We had no sound reason for expecting any different result fromour experiment."
The man bowed awkwardly and went out. Mr. Harper brought down his fistheavily on the table, and after a short interval of silence, during whichhe studiously avoided meeting his companion's eye, he remarked:
"I am as much taken aback as yourself. For all he had to say about hergay clothing, I expected a different result. The girl on the highway wasneither Mrs. Ransom nor her sister. We have made a confounded mistake andMrs. Ransom--"
"Don't say it. I'm going back to the room where that woman lies sleeping.I cannot yet believe that my heart is not shut up within its walls. I'mgoing to watch for her eyes to open. Their expression will tell me what Iwant to know;--the look one gives before full realization comes and thesoul is bare without any thought of subterfuge."
"Very well. I should probably do the same if I were you. Only yourinsight may be affected by prejudice. You will excuse me if I join youin this watch. The experiment is of too important a character for itsresults to depend upon the correct seeing of one pair of eyes."