Persons Unknown

  CHAPTER IV

  TURN, FORTUNE, TURN THY WHEEL--

  Ten Euyck's face blazed white with anger. Sick with rage, driven withbewilderment and some touch of vague suspicion, all his cold strengthgathered itself. He was no longer merely a harp for Christina's fingers.She stood at the far end of the room with her back against the wall,barricaded, indeed, by a little gilded table, but not at all alarmed oreven concerned, and the master of the situation forced himself to sayquietly, "I am tired of play, my dear. I shall not run after you. Bringthat letter here!"

  Christina laughed.

  "You will come to me, quite obediently, and give that letter here tome."

  "Oh, I think not!" Christina said. "Not to a thief! Not to ablackmailer! Nor even to a gentleman who tried, and failed, atmurder.--How much did you give the man in the Tombs?"

  A profound silence fell upon that house. It was as if, in that greatgolden room, among the mirrored gulfs of shadow, something held itsbreath. Night seemed to look in at the windows with a startled face.Then somewhere, a hawk cried. And still there was no movement in theroom. The homely sound of crickets rose from without like the stir of aworld immeasurably far away. And Christina, in the changing lusters ofher gold and silver gown, stood half in shadow; flushed and radiant, alittle shaken with triumph, as a spent runner who has touched his goal,and with her hand above the letter on her heaving breast. Ten Euyck didnot make one sound. But his face had a paralyzed, chalky stiffness, andthe jaw dropped, like the jaw of a corpse.

  "You fatuous hypocrite!" cried the girl. "You pillar of society! Andcould you ever imagine it was for _you_ I came! For your name, for yourposition! I thank you, I prefer my own! For your protection? Can youprotect yourself? Am I the girl to throw myself away on you for the sakeof a bad sister, who has treated me with so much hate? It took all yourgreed, all your vanity, all your stupid, cruel pomp and dullness to befooled like that! Did you ever really think I could stoop to such ascene as this to-night for you--or me? Oh, blind, blind, blind! Howcould you imagine I would leave him in your hands and never make a fightfor it? Did you think I didn't remember?--that I couldn't still hear, asI heard when I was a frightened girl, the stroke of his hand across yourface, and that I didn't know you had always had death for him in yourheart?"

  She covered her face with her hands and then she stood up tall again.

  "My dear Will, my poor boy!--who treated me as if I were his littlebrother! Oh, the cold night trips on railway trains when I couldn't payfor a sleeper and used to sit wrapped in his coat; the morning racesdown the track for coffee; the scenes we used to work and work on andget so cross we almost struck each other; the time I was discharged andhe lent me his few dollars till I should get work again; his first bighit and then mine; and then--Nancy, and all the sweetness of a hundredtimes with both my dears! Did you think I was going to sit quiet and letyou turn your heel on all of that? Allow your conceit and insolence andspite to feed on his disgrace and danger! Let _you_ sneer at _him_!Leave _him_ to be triumphed over by _you_!--Will Denny by a Ten Euyck!An artist by a bourgeois Inspector of Police! An actor," criedChristina, beginning to soar, "and _such_ an actor, by a mere outsider!Your side over mine!--Why did you try? Will to be shamed and hidden inthe dark! And you to be bowed down to, to swell and strut and smirk andlook dull and glossy and respectable, and be brushed by valets, and haveprize cattle raised for you to eat, and carry gold umbrellas! He to die!And you to pillow yourself upon a hundred crimes he never dreamedof!--Tybalt in triumph and Mercutio slain!--You poor, pretentious,silly, vulnerable soul!--not while he was paying for one moment'smadness, and I began to guess and hope and pray that about you there wassomething prisons had been gaping for, year after year, if only I couldfind it out! Did you really think I didn't guess what was in thisletter? Do you think I didn't know you sent Nicola into that post-officeto steal it? Why, it was I, with my last strength, who mailed it there.He must have found some trace of me and guessed. Nothing in heaven orearth would have brought me here, except to steal it back!"

  "How did you--" he tried to say. But the machinery of his throat wasstiff and could not work. He swallowed once or twice, and then, droppinghis dulled eyes, he got out--"When--did you--at first--?"

  "When you came so grandly to the station, a master of the trap that mypoor boy was caught in, and said, 'If she would tell the jury what shetold him--' Don't you remember that I answered, 'How do you know whatshe told him?' A strange confidant for Allegra! It wasn't accident,coincidence--for you knew the music that she made for Will's and myFrench song! Not five minutes later I learned what Allegra was! Aqueerer confidant, still, for an Inspector of Police! I said to myself,'There is a very black spot frozen inside that block of bilious ice. Ifone could know, now, what it was!' Then came your necklace and yournote. And I saw you were a violent, greedy creature, after all, whowould go a long way to get your will; I saw you could be managed--andhow. I remembered Will's saying that people like us had nothing butourselves to fight with. Oh, it has been with myself that I have fought!I'm sorry, I'm ashamed. But I've won!--What was my second hint? Do youremember the torn card of the Italian Bryce Herrick had to kill? How itsaid, 1411--nothing more? When I 'phoned you to call for your necklaceyour number wasn't in the book. The girl, at first, gave me a wrongdirection. Then she remembered that was your old number which you hadjust had changed. The district was the same, of course. But the oldnumber ran, 1--4--1--1.--Ah, wait for my third--the best of all! My goodTen Euyck, you never made quite such a mistake as when you lost onesymbol of respectability--as when you forgot your umbrella!"

  This time he looked up with a stare.

  "You left it at Allegra's, and, like all excellent housekeepers, Mrs.Pascoe put it in the closet under the stairs. I found it there. I waslooking for something to break the window with. A little light came inthen, and I saw the gold handle, like a staff of office, with your name.I broke the rod and have the handle still." Christina paused and smiledat him. "My sister's partner in the business of blackmail; you, whosemoney robbed and burned a post-office of the United States; you, whoseinfluence attempted murder in jail, on the highroads, in the Park,rather than be found out, I make you my bow! If I cannot save Will withyou, if I cannot trade you for him with the law--and oh, I think Ican!--at least our side shan't fall alone! If he is to be punished, atleast he will never be punished by you! But you, Mr. Ten Euyck, whoexulted in his trouble, who are afraid, as he is not, who will perish atthe scorn of every fool, as he has not, you, who of shame are about todie, I salute you! Your career as a criminal, your career as a shininglight, they are both at an end!--And why? Because you declared waragainst people without money, without position, without influence, whomyou despised! Because you weren't strong enough to fight Christina Hope!Remember that!"

  The heart knoweth its own bitterness. For one little moment Ten Euyckstood with his eyes upon the reckless girl who was driving him to thelast terrible extreme of self-defense. He had come there a happy andindulgent conqueror, and even the sweetness of a necessary revenge wasblack and poisoned in him. Then, in that moment, he heard whatChristina, flushed with victory, did not hear at all--a little soundbehind him and above his head.

  His driving-coat still lay across a chair and he went slowly to it anddrew the case of his revolver from its pocket; the revolver was fullyloaded; he looked at the barrel a long time, as if he were thinkingsomething out, and then he heard Christina laugh. "Take care!" she said."I did not come without a guard."

  He did not turn upon her. He still stood with his back to her, and, fromunder his bent brows, his glance shot up and found the parting of thevalance. Now, since the lessening of the lights, Herrick, half-mad andgoaded by the continual slight weakening of the cords, had growncareless of concealment. There, in the opening, his face showed. Notmuch, indeed; not enough to be easily recognized; all masked, too, withblood and sweat and with the gag across the mouth. But still whiter thanthe Italian face Ten Euyck had most expected. Then he caught a glimpseof the brown, ruddy hair, and
knew. This was Nicola's and Allegra's ideaof a jest.

  "A guard?" he said. And he turned then upon Christina.

  "Don't come near me!" the girl cried. "And if you want to live, don'tshoot! My friends are all about this house! They are in waiting down theroad! They have waited the whole evening long, watching for my signal.They started to close in on us when I waved my lamp. Let me cry out myname and you will hear, in answer, the horn of an automobile. It willblow three times--two short notes and one long. That means--Stand out ofthe way, Christina Hope; the men are ready!--Don't come near me!"

  "Cry out your name!" Ten Euyck replied.

  The girl lifted up her voice, and gave forth the words "Christina Hope"so that they leaped out in the still darkness and went shrilling andsearching through the night, the vibrations dying in the distance, andthe air giving back an echo of their call. Till, after an age-longmoment, their last note died away. And nothing happened. No note fromthe horn of an automobile broke forth in answer; there was only aprofounder stillness. Christina was left face to face with nothingnessand Cuyler Ten Euyck.

  "You spoke too soon!" he said. "You were always foolhardy. This time youhave outdone yourself. The clever Christina was not the only person, oncoming here, to take precautions. If I gave so much to the guard in theTombs, what did I give to buy off these friends of yours? The agreeablegang your sister commands--did you think it was in your pay forto-night? It is in mine! I suspected nothing, but I took no chances. Iprepared for accident. No automobile can pass that lodge. No spy cancreep about these grounds. One tried, my dear. They caught him. He islying in that little gallery gagged and bound. When his body isdiscovered, he will have been shot by blackmailers, whom Cuyler TenEuyck never so much as saw. I thought you wouldn't leave me!"

  Christina had gathered up her train for flight and had beenmanoeuvering nearer and nearer to the window that gave deepest intothe shelter of the dark. Only at the first word of a spy she had stoodstill.

  "Yes," Ten Euyck went on, "I see that you guess his name. I am not a badshot, and he can't move, poor fellow. Give me that letter!"

  Christina looked along his arm, along the lifted revolver, to what wasnow only a dark opening in the valance. Her mouth opened, but no soundcame. The life went out of her like the flame from a dying candle, andshe seemed to shrink and crumple and to sway upon her feet. There was along stillness.

  "That letter, if you please!" Ten Euyck said.

  "Bryce!" Christina called, quite low. "Bryce, are you there! Let mesee!" she screamed out, and ran forward.

  Ten Euyck held up a finger, and she stopped dead. "Do you understandthat I, too, have a signal and these fellows will come at it? Do youunderstand what cause they have to love Herrick?--Fetch that chair!"

  She brought it forward.

  "No, under the balcony. Pardon my not helping you. I dare not lower myhand. Stand on the chair! Can you reach those little curtains? No? Takethis candlestick--push them back! What do you see?"

  Christina shuddered like a stricken birch, and gave forth a lamentablecry. The candlestick fell to the ground. She had met Herrick's eyes.

  "Have I won?" said Ten Euyck.

  "You are a brave girl, but you lack discretion.--Get down! Take thatletter from your breast. That's right. What a pretty change in manners,my dear! Come here! Come!"

  Her face looked thin and her eyes were set with fear. She came slowlyon, like a person in a trance, half hanging back, half drawn withropes. She stopped at one end of the little table, a few feet from him.

  "Put out your hand and offer me that letter."

  She put it out and he seized the letter and the hand in his.

  "And now, my dear, understand me. In my connection with the Arm ofJustice, I hold myself neither stained nor shamed. It has been an arm of_justice_; when I have struck it was--as poor Kane will tellyou!--always at those who had sinned against the law, though I could notthen reach them through the law. In that punishment I used an imperfectinstrument, as a man who stands for decency must do, in an imperfectworld. When I recognized your sister as our mysterious shadow I forcedher to write this account of her disgraceful life not, as she supposed,for fear she might some day blackmail me--for there was nothing in mylife to be used for blackmail--but for a net to snare you with! In thatnet you are caught. Never till its loss determined me to have it back atany cost did I really sin. And never legally! For when I give money to aneedy woman I do not question what she does with it. If there isviolence--why not? In self-defense! But if I sinned, at least I havesucceeded in my sin. For here you are! While you--you have forfeitedeven your price. But when Denny is dead, talk over with Allegra, in herprison, the story of his death--it may divert you both! For now she,too, is lost, as well as he. And through your fault as Herrick is!"

  She lifted her white face and questioned him, with the darkness of hereyes.

  "Let him go! After all that he has heard? How could I? You gave yoursignal and now I must give mine!--It's been a hard fight, Christina! Andto the victor belong the spoils!"

  He dragged her slowly toward him by the clenched hand he held, hishungry smile flushed and yet cold with hate, feeding on her desperatecompliance. And as he drew her past the table, Christina caught up thelamp and struck it with her whole force into his face.

  There was a tremendous noise of crashing glass, and then darkness,filled with the smell of oil. Christina's slender strength had foundforce for such a blow that the lamp had been put out before it couldexplode,--and what it had been put out upon was Ten Euyck's head. Hefloundered back; dazed, cut, with the sense battered out of him. And atthe same moment the last knot yielded to stiff fingers and Herrickstaggered to his feet. He dropped over the balcony to the ground, andChristina ran toward the sound of him, in the darkness. "Oh! Oh!" shesaid, and clung like a child upon his breast.

  But for a little crack under the door into the hall, the blackness hadswallowed every shape. This was all in their favor. They stoodlistening, holding their breath, knowing that Ten Euyck was there beforethem but not able to see where; and then he fired. Herrick followed thelead of the flash and leaped upon him. Ten Euyck sank to one knee, buthe had gripped Herrick as he fell; the two men struggled to their feet,and across the room and up and down they fought and clung and swayed andtrampled, upsetting chairs, their feet slipping and grinding on thesmooth floor; and though the shots continued to sound, they were fireddownward and Christina guessed that Herrick forced Ten Euyck's handtoward the ground and was struggling for possession of the pistol. Shecould hear their breath pulsing and sobbing in the darkness. Suddenlytheir black, struggling bulk crashed down on the piano and the shotsceased. The pistol fell to the ground. Ten Euyck's voice gasped out,like rending cloth: "All six are fired! That's my signal!" Then therewas an oath, a lurch, a sound of blows, the table tipped over with asmash, followed by the thud of both men falling to the floor; there wasa groan, a pause, a last decisive blow, and then some one rose and cameslowly toward Christina through the dark room.

  In a childish terror of broken nerves, "Bryce!" Christina shrieked. Thenher shrieking, outstretched fingers touched a rough, damp sleeve, and"Bryce!" she sobbed contentedly. They met with a bump, and clutched eachother, laughing with joy, in this little moment before the last. Alreadythey could hear the hurrying men; dark figures blackened on thedarkness, the terraces came alive with sound, lights showed and weregone; and Herrick, holding the empty gun, sought vainly to put Christinaback from him. She held to him, leaning on him, hardly breathing. "It'sdeath, dear!" she said. "Forgive me!"

  "Oh!"

  She felt him bend his head, and lifting up her face, she set her mouthto his.

  From the carriage sweep without there came--two short and onelong--three notes from the horn of an automobile.