Houghton Townley

“ He has checked every good impulse, and made me regard his money as something to be got by trickery and misrepresentation and lies. And, now, I have lied on paper, and they suspect poor, dead Dick, who was the soul of honor. Oh, Dick, Dick! But they can’t do anything to you, Dick—you’re dead. Better to accuse you than ruin all of us. Your father couldn’t hold up his head again, or preach a sermon from the pulpit. We should be beggars. I couldn’t live that kind of a life. I should die. I have only one child now, and she must be my care. ”

“ You won’t denounce me, John. You can’t. You won’t have me sent to prison. You won’t disgrace me in the eyes of my friends. You won’t do anything—at least, until Netty is married—will you?”
“Harry Bent must know.”
“No, no, John. You know what his people are, stiff-necked, conventional, purse-proud, always boasting of their lineage. Until Netty is married! Wait till then.”
“I don’t know what to do,” moaned the broken man, bursting into tears, and sinking into his chair at the table.
“Be guided by me, John. The dead can’t feel, while the living can be condemned to lifelong torture.” ”

“ She tottered forward into her husband’s arms. He clasped her close, drawing her to him and pressing kisses on her cheeks.
“My darling, my darling, be strong. It is not ended yet.”
“Take me home, John—take me home!” she sobbed.
“No, I’ll see the old man myself.”
“John! John! It’ll do no good—I beseech you! I cannot trust you out of my sight. I never know what you may do or what you will say. I know it’s hard for you to go against your principles; but you mustn’t absolutely kill me. I should die, John, if you played traitor to me, your wife, and allowed me to be sent to jail.” ”

“ She was condemned as a selfish criminal, with no account taken of motives. Was it for herself she forged? Was it for herself she lied, when her sin came home to roost? Was it through any lack of love for Dick that she allowed the foul slander to besmirch his memory, when everybody had believed him dead? No, a thousand times no!
The position was a strange one, a hideous tangle of nice, sentimental distinctions. Small wonder that the woman should be blind, and set the balance in her own favor! ”

“ But the sound of his fall awakened all her wifely instincts, and she rushed into the sight of all.
“John! John!” she cried, as she bent over the huddled mass of humanity on the stairs. She was too weak to help him. He had fainted, but was reviving slowly.
The men who reached the pulpit thrust her to one side roughly, and carried the rector into the vestry. Fortunately, there were medical men in the congregation, and he was transferred to their charge, Mary standing by, wringing her hands and weeping. Her face was distorted with pain; for her grief was blended with rage and humiliation. ”

“ She could not, she declared, live another day in this atmosphere. He pointed out that, since the miser had acknowledged the checks, a prosecution was out of the question, and that she was as safe at home as a thousand miles away. It was, however, useless and painful to argue with her. Her double crime had been laid bare, and shame—all the more acute because it humbled a woman who had borne herself proudly all her life—as much as fright prompted her flight. Moreover, she believed that Ormsby might act upon the rector’s confession, despite Herresford’s dying acknowledgment. ”

“ It is an insult to Ormsby to throw him over for a thieving rascal—”
“Father, you have always prided yourself on being a just man. Yet, you condemn Dick without a hearing.”
“Without a hearing! Haven’t I given him a hearing? I saw him. He had the chance then to deny the charge. His crime is set out in black and white, and he can’t get away from it. No doubt, he thinks he can talk over a silly woman, and scrape his way back to respectable society by marrying my daughter; but no—not if I know it! Marry Dick Swinton, and you go out of my house, never to return. ”

“ She collapsed, sobbing hysterically and screaming. The pent-up agony of the last few weeks burst forth, and she babbled and raved like a mad woman. The physician carried her shrieking from the room, and the miser was left in peace. By his bedside, his only friend, Dora, knelt and prayed silently.
Trimmer stole from the room, with bowed head and tears falling—tears for the first time since childhood. The strange, hypnotic spell of his servitude was finished. He walked about aimlessly, like one wandering in a mist. As yet, he could not lay hold on the freedom that was his at last. ”

“ One sentence let fall by Ormsby remained vividly in her memory. “Unless Mr. Herresford made that avowal with his own lips, no one would take the slightest notice of it.”
He should make the avowal; she would force it from him. The irony of the situation was fantastic in its horror.
She found her husband at home, looking whiter and more bloodless than ever.
“What news, Mary?” he asked awkwardly, avoiding her glance.
“The strangest, John—the strangest of all! My father is the biggest thief in America.” ”

“ He displayed renewed eagerness in comparing the handwriting in the body of the check with others of a recent date. The result of his scrutiny was evidently interesting, as with his magnifying 51 glass he once more examined every stroke made by Mrs. Swinton’s spluttering pen.
The color of the ink used by the forger was not the same as that in the signature. It had darkened perceptibly and swiftly. An undoubted forgery!
It was beyond imagination that Mrs. Swinton, the wife of the rector, could stoop to a fraud. Surely, only a man would write heavily and thickly like that. ”

“ Ormsby,” said Dora, suspiciously.
“Not at all—not at all! Man of business—man of money—no good as a husband! To some men, money-bags are more beautiful than petticoats. When you’re his wife, he’ll leave you at home, and go down to the bank and woo his real mistress—money!—money! money! But you’re not going to marry Ormsby, are you?”
“No, I can’t—I can’t!” cried the girl, starting up and pacing the room. Herresford, with superlative cunning, had struck the right chord. ”

“ Ormsby treated Dora with the greatest consideration. No lover could have been more sympathetic—not a word about Dick Swinton or the seven thousand dollars. He laid himself out to please, and self-confidence made him almost gay—if gaiety could ever be associated with a man so somber and proud. The colonel persisted in throwing his daughter and the banker together in a most marked fashion, and Ormsby was at much pains to ignore the father’s blundering diplomacy. ”

“ Vivian Ormsby smarted under the blow given him by Dick at the dinner, and burned to avenge the affront. He tingled with impatience to get another look at the dubious check which promised such unexceptional possibilities of retaliation if, as he suspected and hoped, it was a forgery. Dick Swinton, publicly denounced as a felon, could not possibly hold up his head again; and as a rival in love he would be remorselessly wiped out. The young upstart should learn the penalty of striking an Ormsby. ”

“ Mary heard the talking in the hall, and her husband’s step past the window, and was paralyzed with terror, fearing lest he might already have betrayed her to the police. The easiest way to settle the doubt was to go into the hall, and see what had happened. To her infinite relief, the officer allowed her to pass out of the front door without molestation.
The automobile for which she had telephoned was already waiting. She entered hurriedly, and bade the chauffeur drive at top speed to Asherton Hall. The cold air outside in the darkening twilight revived her, and brought fresh energy. ”

“ The old man dragged himself nearer to the edge of the bed, and, reaching over, tapped his bony fingers on Dora’s knee. “Come, now—come—tell me that you’ll think it over, and not marry Ormsby.”
“O don’t!—don’t!” cried the girl, covering her face again, and sobbing bitterly.
“You can’t—you sha’n’t marry Ormsby. Dick’ll haunt you—and sooner than you know.”
“I’ve thought of that,” sobbed the girl, “and I’ve tried to conquer it.”
“Besides, no man is dead in a war till his body is buried. Get one lover under ground before you lead the other over his grave.” ”

“ All a father’s protective instinct of his offspring burst forth. Revenge entered into his soul. He beat the air with clenched fists, and with distended eyes saw the muzzles of rifles presented at his helpless boy.
Of a sudden, he remembered Mr. Barnby’s accusation against his son’s honor. The horrible, abominable suggestion of forgery.
Everybody seemed to have been against the boy. How could Dick have forged his grandfather’s signature? Herresford, who was always down on Dick, had made an infamous charge—the result of a delusion in his dotage. ”

“ Swinton sat in her own particular chair by the fireside—a most comfortable tub of a chair—and reclined with her feet outstretched upon a stool, smoking a cigarette. Her graceful head was thrown back, and, as she toyed with the cigarette, displaying the arm of a girl and a figure slim and youthful, it was difficult to believe that this woman could be the mother of a grown son and daughter. ”

“ As she drove through the crowded thoroughfares, her feelings were divided between indignant rage against her father and joy at the thought of John Swinton’s troubles ended, the luxury and independence of the future, Netty no longer a dowerless bride, Dick a man of wealth without dependence upon his grandfather.
It is astonishing how soon one gets accustomed to a sudden change of fortune. ”

“ A soldier who had committed forgery could never hold up his head again in the eyes of his regiment, or of the woman he loved. He voluntarily made himself an outcast.
The colonel did not fail to drive home the inevitable moral, and congratulated himself upon his daughter’s escape. Dora was obliged to acknowledge that Dick, if not a villain, was at least a fool. The sorrow he had brought upon his father and mother was alone sufficient to warrant the heartiest condemnation. ”

“ The disgrace, the exposure, the scandal would be awful. I should be cut by everybody—my husband pointed at in the streets and denounced as a partner in my guilt—for he has shared the money. It was to pay his debts as well, to save 133 Dick and the whole household from ruin—for Netty’s sake, too—how could Harry Bent marry a bankrupt clergyman’s daughter? But it wasn’t really my doing, it was his, his! He’s no father at all. He’s a miser, a beast of prey, a murderer of souls! ”

“ Dick Swinton had tampered with his grandfather’s figures. Well, what then? Would the old man thank his banker for making an accusation of criminality against his grandson? Herresford might be a mean man, but the honor of his name was doubtless dear to him.
What would come of a public trial? Obviously, Dick Swinton would be disinherited and disgraced. The banker knew that it was his duty to proceed at once, if he detected a fraud. But it was not the way of Mr. Vivian Ormsby to act in haste—and it was near the hour for luncheon, to which he had been invited by Colonel Dundas. ”

“ You call yourself a soldier’s daughter, and you’re going to break your heart over a man who couldn’t play the straight game. Why, his own father and mother can’t say a good word for him. Yet, Ormsby’s willing to pay seven thousand dollars to stifle a public exposure, just for your sake. Why, girl, it’s magnificent! I wouldn’t pay seven cents. Ormsby is coming here, and you’ll have to be civil to him. Write and tell him so.”
“Very well, father,” sighed Dora, to whom the anger of her parent was a very rare thing. ”

“ I’ve seen Ormsby, and paid him the money; but he’s obdurate. The jealous wretch is bent upon ruining Dick. Nothing will move him.”
“It is our sin crying for atonement, Mary. Money cannot buy absolution.”
“No, but father can say the word that will save us all. He must swear he made a mistake—that he did sign those checks for the amounts drawn from the bank. That will paralyze Ormsby, and leave him powerless.”
“Lies! lies!—we are wallowing in lies!” groaned the rector.
“When a lie can hurt no one, and can avert a terrible calamity, perjury can be no sin. ”