CHAPTER XXIII
THE FILIAL MARTYR
Miss Wildmere appeared in one of her most brilliant moods thatevening. There was a dash of excitement, almost recklessness, in hergray eyes. She and Mr. Arnault had been deputed to lead the German,but she took Graydon out so often as to produce in Mr. Arnault's eyesan expression which the observant Mr. Wildmere did not like at all. Hehad just returned from dreary, half-deserted Wall Street, which wasas dead and hopeless as only that region of galvanic life can be attimes. He had neither sold nor bought stock, but had moused around,with the skill of an old _habitue_, for information concerning theeligibility of the two men who were seeking his daughter's hand. Inthe midsummer dullness and holiday stagnation the impending operationin the Catskills was the only one that promised anything whatever. Hebecame more fully satisfied that Arnault's firm was prospering. Theyhad been persistent "bears" on a market that had long been declining,and had reaped a golden harvest from the miseries of others. On theother hand, he learned that Henry Muir was barely holding his own, andthat he had strained his credit dangerously to do this. He knew aboutthe enterprise which had absorbed the banker's capital, and whilehe believed it would respond promptly to the returning flow of thefinancial tide, it now seemed stranded among more hopeless ventures.There was no escaping the conviction that Muir was in a perilousposition, and that a little thing might push him over the brink.Therefore, he had returned fully beat upon using all his influence inbehalf of Arnault, and was spurred to this effort by the fact that hisfinances, but not his expenses, were running low. His wife could givebut a dubious account of Stella's conduct.
"In short," said Mr. Wildmere, irritably, "she is dallying with both,and may lose both by her hesitating folly."
His daughter's greeting was brief and formal. A sort ofmatter-of-course kiss had been given, and then he had been left to eathis supper alone, since his wife could not just then be absent fromher child. At last he lounged out on the piazza, sat down before oneof the parlor windows, glanced at the gay scene within, and smoked insilence. Before the German began, Graydon passed him several times,regarding him curiously and with a growing sense of repulsion. Hedisliked to think that the relation between this man and the girl hewould marry was so close.
Before the evening was over, Mr. Wildmere saw that his daughter was intruth pursuing a difficult policy. The angry light in Arnault's eyesand the grave expression on Graydon's face proved how fraught withperil it was to his hopes. Neither of her suitors liked Stella'smanner that evening, for it suggested traits which promised ill forthe future. Graydon, who understood her the less, was the more lenientjudge.
"Not only Arnault," he thought, "but her father also, has beenpressing her toward a course from which she revolts, and she is halfreckless in consequence."
He endeavored by his quiet and observant attention, by the grave andgentle expression of his eyes, to assure her once more that she couldfind a refuge in him the moment that she would decide absolutely inhis favor. She understood him well, and was enraged that she could notthat night go out with him into the moonlight, put her hand in his,and end her suspense.
Her father had whispered, significantly, when they met, "Stella, Imust see you before you give Mr. Muir further encouragement;" and she,feeling that it might be among her last chances, for the present, ofshowing Graydon favor, was lavish of it. But it was not the preferenceof strong, true, womanly choice; it was rather the half-defiant aspectwith which forbidden fruit might be regarded.
As the great clock was about to chime the hour of midnight the dancingceased. Arnault seemed determined to have the last word, and Graydoninterposed no obstacle. The former walked on the piazza by Stella'sside for a few turns in moody silence. Her father still sat at hispost of observation. Mrs. Wildmere had been with him part of the time,but he had not had much to say to her.
"Mr. Arnault," said Stella, satirically, at last, "I will not tax yourremarkable power for entertainment any longer. I will now join papa,and retire."
"Very well, Stella," was the quiet reply; "but before we part I shallspeak more to the point than if I had talked hours. By this timeanother week the question must be decided."
She bowed, and made no other answer.
"Stella," said her father when they were alone and he had regarded forsome moments her averted and half-sullen face, "what do you propose todo?" There was no answer.
After another pause he continued: "In settling the question, representyour mother and myself by a cipher. That is all we are, if the logicof your past action counts for anything. Again I ask, What do youpropose to do? No matter how pretty and flattered a girl may be, shecannot alter gravitation. There are other facts just as inexorable.Shutting your eyes to them, or any other phase of folly, will not makethe slightest difference."
"I think it's a horrid fact that I must marry a man that I don'tlove."
"That is not one of the facts at all. Stock-gambler as I am, and inalmost desperate straits, I require nothing of the kind. Knowing youas I do, I advise you to accept Arnault at once; but I do not demandit; I do not even urge it. If you loved me, if you would say, 'Giveup this feverish life of risk; I will help you and suffer with youin your poverty; I will marry Graydon Muir and share his poverty,' Iwould leave Wall Street at once and forever. It's a maelstrom inwhich men of my calibre and means are sucked down sooner or later. Theprospects now are that it will be sooner, unless I am helped throughthis crisis."
"I believe you are mistaken about the Muirs being in financialdanger."
"I am not mistaken. They may have to suspend daring the coming week."
"I know that Graydon Muir has no suspicion of trouble."
"He is but a clerk in his brother's employ, and has just returned froma long absence. Mr. Muir is one of the most reticent of men. I haveinvested in the same dead stock that is swamping him, and so knowwhereof I speak. Should this stock decline further--should it evenremain where it is much longer--he can't maintain himself. I know, forI have taken pains to obtain information since I last went to town."
"But if the stock rises," she said, with the natural hope of aspeculator's daughter, "he is safe."
"Yes, _if_."
"How much time will you give me?" she asked, the lines of her facegrowing hard and resolute.
"This is to be your choice, not mine," said her father, coldly. "Youshall not be able to say that I sold you or tried to sell you. Ofcourse it would be terribly hard for me to lose my footing and fall,and I feel that I should not rise again. Arnault worships successand worldly prestige. You are a part of his ambitious scheme. If youhelped him parry it out he would do almost anything you wished, and hecould throw business enough in my way to put me speedily on my feet.You must make your choice in view of the following facts: You can goon living here, just as you are, two or three weeks longer, dallyingwith opportunity. By that time, unless I get relief and help, I shallreach the end of my resources, and creditors will take everything. TheMuirs cannot help me, and I don't believe they would in any event. Iam not on good terms with Henry Muir. If they go down now they will bethoroughly cleaned out. Arnault has long been devoted to you, and youcould have unbounded influence over him if you acted in the line ofhis ruling passion. It would gratify his pride and add to the world'sgood opinion of him if I prospered also. In plain English, we may allbe in a tenement house in a month, or I on safe ground and you theaffianced wife of a rich man."
"Well," said Stella, coldly, "you have given me facts enough. It's apity you couldn't have brought me something better from Wall Streetafter all these years."
"What have you brought to me during these past years," he demanded,sternly, "but constant requests for money, and the necessity forincessant effort to meet new phases of extravagance? You have notasked what was kind, merciful, and true, but what was the lateststyle. Few days pass but that I am reminded of you by a bill forsome frippery or other; but how often am I reminded of you by acts offilial thoughtfulness, by words of sympathy in my hard battle of lifewhen I am pre
sent, or by genial letters when absent? I have spentthree hot days in the city seeking chiefly your interest, and a moremechanical, perfunctory thing never existed than your kiss of greetingto-night. There was as much feeling in it as in the quarter that Ihanded to the stage-driver. I have spent thousands on your education,but you don't sing for me, you don't read to me, you never think ofsoothing my overtaxed nerves by cheerful, hopeful talk. Were I a steelautomaton, supplying your wants, I should answer just as well, and inthat case you might remember the laws of matter and apply a little oiloccasionally. What are the motives of your life but dress, admiration,excitement, a rapid succession of men to pass under your balefulfascination, and then to pass on crippled in soul for having knownyou? Unless you can give Graydon Muir a loving woman's heart, and meanto cling to him for worse as well as better, you will commit a crimebefore God and man if you accept him. With Arnault it is different. Inmind you are near enough of kin to marry. As long as you complied withfashionable and worldly proprieties, he would be content; but a manwith a heart and soul in his body would perish in the desert of a homethat your selfishness would create."
"It's awful for you to talk to me in this way!" she whined, wincingand crying under his arraignment.
"It's awful that I have to speak to you in this way, either to makeyou realize what deformities your beauty hides, so that you may applythe remedy, or else, if you will not, to promote your union with a mancontent to take for a wife a belle, and not a woman.
"I suppose I am chiefly to blame, though, or you would be different,"he added, with a dark, introspective look. "I was proud of you asa beautiful child, and tried to win your love by indulgence. Heavenknows, I would like to be a different man, but it's all a breathlesshurry after bubbles that vanish when grasped! Well, what do youpropose to do? You see that you can't hesitate much longer."
"I will decide soon," she answered, sullenly. Although her conscienceechoed his words, and she felt their justice, her pride prevailed, andshe permitted him to depart without another word.