The Ragged Edge

  CHAPTER XVII

  After the Ten Commandments have been spoken, conscience becomesless something inherent than something acquired. It is now a pointof view, differing widely, as the ignorant man differs from theeducated. You and I will agree upon the Ten Commandments; butperhaps we will refuse to accept the other's interpretation of theramifications. I step on my neighbour's feet, return and apologizebecause my acquired conscience orders me to do so; whereas youmight pass on without caring if your neighbour hopped about on onefoot. The inherent conscience keeps most of us away from jail, fromcourt, from the gallows; the acquired conscience helps us topreserve the little amenities of daily life. So then, the acquiredis the livelier phase, being driven into action daily; whereas theinherent may lie dormant for months, even years.

  To Spurlock, in this hour, his conscience stood over against theTen Commandments, one of which he had broken. He became primitive,literal in his conception; the ramifications were, for the nonce,fairly relegated to limbo. He could not kiss Ruth because theacquired conscience--struggling on its way to limbo--made the idearepellant. Analysis would come later, when the primitiveconscience, satisfied, would cease to dominate his thought andaction.

  Since morning he had become fanatical; the atoms of common sense nolonger functioned in the accustomed groove. And yet he knew clearlyand definitely what he purposed to do, what the future would be.This species of madness cannot properly be attributed to hisillness, though its accent might be. For a time he would be thegrim Protestant Flagellant, pursuing the idea of self-castigation.That he was immolating Ruth on the altar of his conscience neverbroke in upon his thought for consideration. The fanatic has nosuch word in his vocabulary.

  Ruth had not expected to be kissed; so the omission passed unnoted.For her it was sufficient to know that somebody wanted her, thatnever again would she be alone, that always this boy with thedreams would be depending upon her.

  A strange betrothal!--the primal idea of which was escape! Thegirl, intent upon abrogating for ever all legal rights of thefather in the daughter, of rendering innocuous the thing she hadnow named the Terror: the boy, seeking self-crucifixion inexpiation of his transgression, changing a peccadillo intodamnation!

  It was easy for Ruth to surrender to the idea, for she believed shewas loved; and in gratitude it was already her determination togive this boy her heart's blood, drop by drop, if he wanted it. Toher, marriage would be a buckler against the two evils whichpursued her.

  There was nothing on the Tablets of Moses that forebade Spurlockmarrying Ruth; there were no previous contracts. And yet, Spurlockwas afraid of the doctor; so was Ruth. They agreed that they mustmarry at once, this morning, before the doctor could suspect whatwas toward. The doctor would naturally offer a hundred objections;he might seriously interfere; so he must be forestalled.

  What marriage really meant (aside from the idea of escape), Ruthhad not the least conception, no more than a child. If she had anyidea at all, it was something she dimly recalled from her books:something celestially beautiful, with a happy ending. But theclearly definite thing was the ultimate escape. Wherein shediffered but little from her young sisters.

  That is what marriage is to most young women: the ultimate escapefrom the family, from the unwritten laws that govern children.Whether they are loved or unloved has no bearing upon this desireto test their wings, to try this new adventure, to take this leapinto the dark.

  Spurlock possessed a vigorous intellect, critical, disquisitional,creative; and yet he saw nothing remarkable in the girl's readinessto marry him! An obsession is a blind spot.

  "We must marry at once! The doctor may put me on the boat and forceyou to remain behind, otherwise."

  "And you want me to find a minister?" she asked, with readycomprehension.

  "That's it!"--eagerly. "Bring him back with you. Some of the hotelguests can act as witnesses. Make haste!"

  Ruth hurried off to her own room. Before she put on her sun-helmet,she paused before the mirror. Her wedding gown! She wondered if thespirit of the unknown mother looked down upon her.

  "All I want is to be happy!" she said aloud, as if she were askingfor something of such ordinary value that God would readily accordit to her because there was so little demand for the commodity.

  Thrilling, she began to dance, swirled, glided, and dipped.Whenever ecstasy--any kind of ecstasy--filled her heart tobursting, these physical expressions eased the pressure.

  Fate has two methods of procedure--the sudden and thelong-drawn-out. In some instances she tantalizes the victim foryears and mocks him in the end. In others, she acts with the speedand surety of the loosed arrow. In the present instance she did notwant any interference; she did not want the doctor's wisdom to edgein between these two young fools and spoil the drama. So she broughtupon the stage the Reverend Henry Dolby, a preacher of means,worldly-wise and kindly, cheery and rotund, who, with his wife anddaughter, had arrived at the Victoria that morning. Ruth met him inthe hall as he was following his family into the dining room. Sherecognized the cloth at once, waylaid him, and with that directnessof speech particularly hers she explained what she wanted.

  "To be sure I will, my child. I will be up with my wife anddaughter after lunch."

  "We'll be waiting for you. You are very kind." Ruth turned backtoward the stairs.

  Later, when the Reverend Henry Dolby entered the Spurlock room, hiswife and daughter trailing amusedly behind him, and beheld thestrained eagerness on the two young faces, he smiled inwardly andindulgently. Here were the passionate lovers! What their past hadbeen he neither cared nor craved to know. Their future would beglorious; he saw it in their eyes; he saw it in the beauty of theiryoung heads. Of course, at home there would have been questions.Were the parents agreeable? Were they of age? Had the license beenprocured? But here, in a far country, only the velvet manacles ofwedlock were necessary.

  So, forthwith, without any preliminaries beyond introductions, hebegan the ceremony; and shortly Ruth Enschede became Ruth Spurlock,for better or for worse. Spurlock gave his full name andtremblingly inscribed it upon the certificate of marriage.

  The customary gold band was missing; but a soft gold Chinese ringSpurlock had picked up in Singapore--the characters representinggood luck and prosperity--was slipped over Ruth's third finger.

  "There is no fee," said Dolby. "I am very happy to be of service toyou. And I wish you all the happiness in the world."

  Mrs. Dolby was portly and handsome. There were lines in her facethat age had not put there. Guiding this man of hers over thetroubled sea of life had engraved these lines. He was the trueoptimist; and that he should proceed, serenely unconscious of reefsand storms, she accepted the double buffets.

  This double buffetting had sharpened her shrewdness and insight.Where her husband saw only two youngsters in the mating mood, shefelt that tragedy in some phase lurked in this room--if only in theloneliness of these two, without kith or kin apparently, thousandsof miles from home. Not once during the ceremony did the two lookat each other, but riveted their gaze upon the lips of the man whowas forging the bands: gazed intensively, as if they feared theworld might vanish before the last word of the ceremony was spoken.

  Spurlock relaxed, suddenly, and sank deeply into his pillows. Ruthfelt his hand grow cold as it slipped from hers. She bent down.

  "You are all right?"--anxiously.

  "Yes ... but dreadfully tired."

  Mrs. Dolby smiled. It was the moment for smiles. She approachedRuth with open arms; and something in the way the child came intothat kindly embrace hurt the older woman to the point of tears.

  These passers-by who touch us but lightly and are gone, leaving theeternal imprint! So long as she lived, Ruth would always rememberthat embrace. It was warm, shielding, comforting, and what wasmore, full of understanding. It was in fact the first embrace ofmotherhood she had ever known. Even after this woman had gone, itseemed to Ruth that the room was kindlier than it had ever been.

  Inexplicably there flashed i
nto vision the Chinese weddingprocession in the narrow, twisted streets of the city, that firstday: the gorgeous palanquin, the tom-toms, the weird music, theribald, jeering mob that trailed along behind. It was surely oddthat her thought should pick up that picture and recast it sovividly.

  At half after five that afternoon the doctor and his friendMcClintock entered the office of the Victoria.

  "It's a great world," was the manager's greeting.

  "So it is," the doctor agreed. "But what, may I ask, arouses thethought?"

  The doctor was in high good humour. Within forty-eight hours thegirl would be on her way east and the boy see-sawing the SouthChina Sea, for ever moving at absolute angles.

  "Then you haven't heard?"

  "Of what?"

  "Well, well!" cried the manager, delighted at the idea ofsurprising the doctor. "Miss Enschede and Mr. Spurlock--for that'shis real name--were married at high noon."

  Emptiness; that was the doctor's initial sensation: his vitals hadbeen whisked out of him and the earth from under his feet. All hisinterest in Ruth, all his care and solicitude, could now betranslated into a single word--love. Wanted her out of the waybecause he had been afraid of her, afraid of himself! He, atfifty-four! Then into this void poured a flaming anger, a blind andunreasoning anger. He took the first step toward the stairs, andmet the restraining hand of McClintock.

  "Steady, old top! What are you going to do?"

  "The damned scoundrel!"

  "I told you that child was opal."

  "She? My God, the pity of it! She knows nothing of life. She nomore realizes what she has done than a child of eight. Marriage!... without the least conception of the physical and moralresponsibilities! It's a crime, Mac!"

  "But what can you do?" McClintock turned to the manager. "'It wasall perfectly legal?

  "My word for it. The Reverend Henry Dolby performed the cermony,and his wife and daughter were witnesses."

  "When you heard what was going on, why didn't you send for me?"

  "I didn't know it was going on. I heard only after it was allover."

  "If he could stand on two feet, I'd break every bone in hisworthless body!"

  McClintock said soothingly: "But that wouldn't nullify themarriage, old boy. I know. Thing's upset you a bit. Go easy."

  "But, Mac . . . !"

  "I understand," interrupted McClintock. Then, in a whisper: "Butthere's no reason why the whole hotel should."

  The doctor relaxed. "I've got to see him; but I'll be reasonable.I've got to know why. And what will they do, and where will theygo?"

  "With me--the both of them. So far as I'm concerned, nothing couldplease me more. A married man!--the kind I've never been able tolure down there! But keep your temper in check. Don't lay it all tothe boy. The girl is in it as deeply as he is. I'll wait for youdown here."

  When the doctor entered the bedroom and looked into the faces ofthe culprits, he laughed brokenly. Two children, who had beencaught in the jam-closet: ingratiating smiles, back of which laydoubt and fear.

  Ruth came to him directly. "You are angry?"

  "Very. You don't realize what you have done."

  "My courage gave out. The thought of going back!--the thought ofthe unknown out there!--" with a tragic gesture toward the east. "Icouldn't go on!"

  "You'll need something more than courage now. But no more of that.What is done cannot be undone. I want to talk to Mr. Spurlock. Willyou leave us for a few minutes?"

  "You are not going to be harsh?"

  "I wish to talk about the future."

  "Very well."

  She departed reluctantly. The doctor walked over to the bed, foldedhis arms across his chest and stared down into the unabashed eyesof his patient.

  "Do you realize that you are several kinds of a damned scoundrel?"he began. This did not affect Spurlock. "Your name is Spurlock?"

  "It is."

  "Why did you use the name of Taber?"

  "To keep my real name out of the mess I expected to make of myselfover here."

  "That's frank enough," the doctor admitted astonishedly. So far theboy's mind was clear. "But to drag this innocent child into themuck! With her head full of book nonsense--love stories and fairystories! Have you any idea of the tragedy she is bound to stumbleupon some day? I don't care about you. The world is known to you. Ican see that you were somebody, in another day. But this child! ...It's a damnable business!"

  "I shall defend her and protect her with every drop of blood in mybody!" replied the Flagellant.

  The intensity of the eyes and the defiant tone bewildered thedoctor, who found his well-constructed jeremiad without a platform.So he was forced to shift and proceed at another angle, forgettinghis promise to McClintock to be temperate.

  "When I went through your trunk that first night, I discovered anenvelope filled with manuscripts. Later, at the bottom of thatenvelope I found a letter."

  "To be opened in case of my death," added Spurlock. From under hispillow he dragged forth the key to the trunk. "Here, take this andget the letter and open and read it. Would you tell her ... now?"his eyes flaming with mockery.