Martin Brown

“ Sophie was an adorable dancer, and Rodrigo was quite as expert as she. If her pliant body clung rather closer to his than was necessary, he was surely not the one to protest. He stopped talking and gave himself over to the rhythm of the dance. For the time being there was nothing in his head except the tom-tom beat of the jazz orchestra and the intoxicating presence of this white, satiny girl. It mattered not that she was shallow, selfish, mascaroed, rouged. She had the power of, for the moment, setting his senses aglow, of banishing the workaday world into oblivion. ”

“ Art, to Dorning, was about all there was in life. The Rosas were superficial annoyances that had never yet entered into his own career, though he was quite aware that they existed in the careers of most other men. He had been immediately attracted to his host by their mutual interest in art. The charm of the man, his good looks, his facile tongue, his wit and deftness in conversation had added to the attraction. Why should such a man love such a common creature as Rosa Minardi and consent to be blackmailed by her father? ”

“ Mary replied.
Gliding through the magic moonlight over a mirror-like sea, they sat very close to each other that evening in deck-chairs, and she said to him, at the end of a long conversation, "And that is why I love you most, Rodrigo—because you have conquered yourself."
"And so has good old John," he replied.
"Yes, so has John. And both you—and I—have found joy because of that. It's the only way to win real happiness." ”

“ To run away and stay away is cowardice. You will spend the rest of your life hating yourself." She lifted her face to his appealingly. "Oh, Rodrigo, can't you see that the only right way is to tell John the truth, even now? He can stand it now. And you will save yourself. You are not happy. You will never be happy as long as this terrible thing is in your heart."
"Is that question of telling John always to stand between us, Mary? Do I have to wreck John's life all over again in order to make you love me?" ”

“ Of course, John and Rodrigo have always been close friends, almost like brothers. Even in that dreadful Sophie Binner mess, John stood by him. Rodrigo is in many ways a fine man, but he has the continental ideas of love, you know. He scoffs at our American worship of faithfulness. He has been the hero of so many affairs, known so many worldly women, that I am sure the thought of marriage has never entered his head. He could never settle down and make a wife happy. ”

“ It is the habit with beauties to eliminate as much competition as possible of their own sex in their engagements with men.
But Rodrigo had little time to think about Betty. The highball, the disarmingly close presence of Sophie, and the general hilarious laxity of his surroundings were lulling his feelings. Sophie snuggled more closely to him. He breathed the faint, sweet perfume of her hair. The throbbing jungle music beat. The close atmosphere scented with cigarettes and cosmetics, the faces of dancing couples near him smothered thoughts of Dorning and Son. ”

“ John Dorning declared soberly.
"Proper—why!" Rodrigo asked. "Because Francesca had been too stupid to learn swordsmanship?"
"No—because of his interest in a lady who belonged to another."
"The lady should not have taken Francesca's love so seriously as to have become jealous. When will women understand that when they take our admiration seriously they kill it?"
"Not at all," Dorning returned stoutly. "That is exactly the wrong attitude. I do not understand it in you—you who are so intelligent and sensible about other things. ”

“ There are so many other things for you to interest yourself in than in these petty love affairs."
Rodrigo straightened. He did not relish criticism. In the next instant, realizing that Dorning was honest in his questioning and rather pleased that he had aroused his quiet guest to such a pitch, he relaxed and asked calmly, "What other interests do you recommend for a reckless and extravagant gentleman, like myself, who now finds himself penniless and equipped for nothing in the world but for amusing the ladies and for being amused by them?" ”

“ Rodrigo, who had the true aristocrat's respect and liking for the things of the spirit, caught something of this atmosphere immediately he stepped from John Dorning's roadster and walked beside his friend across the broad sidewalk toward the plain bronze entrance door of Dorning and Son.
The uniformed elderly doorman's face lit up as he recognized young Dorning. John shook hands with him with unaffected pleasure.
They entered an austere region that resembled the art gallery of a very well cared for and sumptuous private residence. Soft, deep carpets covered the floor. ”

“ Thoroughly business-like, aggressive, looking after John's interests, bucking him up at every turn. That was the trouble as far as love was concerned. John regarded her as a very efficient cog in the office machinery rather than as a woman. And yet she was very much of a woman. Underneath the veneer of almost brusqueness, there was a tender stratum, as Rodrigo thought he had discovered in her unguarded moments. Love could be awakened in Mary Drake by the right man, and it would be a very wonderful sort of love.
Rodrigo asked himself if he really wanted John Dorning to be the awakener. ”

“ You made a very clever attempt to show John what an error he was making in falling in love with me, but I forestalled you. And that was quite a feat, Rodrigo, for you are usually rather keen in matters of that sort.
"But I have made John happy. He tells me that fifty times a day—fifty times too many! One does not enjoy having it drummed into one that one is an angel. I have taken his money and his love, but I have been faithful to him and I have made him a good wife. Now I think I have earned the right to a little something for myself."
He stared at her tensely. "What do you mean, Elise?" ”

“ Spanish girls mature early, and Elise Van Zile had from the first appeared to be compounded more of Spanish blood than of American. At fifteen she was a woman. At twenty she was a fully developed lady of the world, in whom the wisdom of two races seemed to have blended. She was a favorite in San Francisco society, a wonderfully attractive creature, as many a smitten gallant of the Bay City had eagerly told her, after at last venturing to brave the dignified Castilian reserve that formed a cool protective barrier around Elise's colorful personality. ”

“ Rodrigo cut in cheerfully. "New faces, new scenes. You'll come back a new man, ready to pitch in like a whirlwind."
But John had hardly listened to him. Alice had left the room, as the patient discovered when he looked cautiously around. At once he caught Rodrigo's sleeve with his thin fingers and looked at him so pathetically that the latter wanted to turn his head away. John asked, "Have you learned anything at all about Elise, Rodrigo?" And when Rodrigo shook his head slowly, John's hand and head fell and he whispered, "Nothing—in all these months? It's unbelievable—it's maddening." ”

“ He was afraid, afraid for his love and his happiness, because he was his own worst enemy. His nervous, groping fingers closed upon a marble figurine, an exquisite carving of a hooded cobra, head raised and ready to strike at a tiger. The tiger, about to spring, had paused and stood, eyes upon the snake, as if fascinated. It was among his art treasures that he had brought from Italy.
"You'll be sure of yourself," John was saying, "when the right girl comes along." He smiled, and Rodrigo realized with a pang that John was thinking of his right girl, Elise Van Zile. ”

“ American wives want money to spend. That is why they urge their husbands to make it. They drive the poor fellows like muleteers. And if the business man has no wife to drive him, it is some other woman not so respectable but none the less desirous of jewels and a limousine. American women dominate their men absolutely. The husbands haven't a chance. You see, I can speak freely because I am half Spanish, and in most ways a great deal more than half. I am a Latin, like you. That is why it seems strange to me that you should wish to attach yourself to the grindstone of American business. ”

“ That's when men frequently fall in love, you know—when they have suffered tragedy and are desperately in need of the sort of sympathy only a woman can give."
Rodrigo suddenly abandoned the subject, for in this "woman of a sympathetic turn of mind" he had seen, in a flash, Mary. Would she and John, thrown together now, with John aching for someone to minister to his bruised mind, fall in love? Having, as he tortured himself into believing, lost Elise to John, would he now be called upon to give up Mary to his friend, as if in retribution? ”

“ He had never seen the usually calm and capable Mary agitated so. It agitated him in turn. Sophie was not above making trouble, he knew, especially after the unfriendly manner of their last parting.
"I don't want you to question me any further, Rodrigo," said Mary nervously. "I have told you quite all I know. You will have to get the rest from John. Probably he won't mention it to you. He hates trouble of all kinds—particularly sordid troubles—and he will be anxious to shield you. And I think you shouldn't allow yourself to be shielded, in this case." ”

“ With a stealthy, quick movement he pushed John Dorning behind him. Rosner made a half-hearted effort to resist as Rodrigo seized his wrist in a clutch of steel and knocked the gun out of the man's weak fingers. Rodrigo put the revolver in his own pocket and, the tension over, stood regarding Rosner with a look of infinite pity. Then the reaction hit the broken man with full force and, suddenly crumpling into a chair, he covered his face with his hands and his thin body was shaken with hacking, convulsive sobs. ”

“ Rodrigo's success there was rapid and complete. He was as elated as a schoolboy upon his return, and John no less so. Even Mary Drake, who was present when Rodrigo invaded Dorning's office and related the news, smiled with genuine pleasure and congratulated him.
Mary was gradually changing her mind about the newcomer. If the truth be known, her coldness at first meeting him had had an element of the defensive about it. He was far different from the men she usually encountered in the bustling world she had created for herself. ”

“ That same worthless father had saddled this equally worthless husband upon her, with the promise that the man was rich, and had then borrowed what little money his son-in-law possessed and disappeared once more to Rome.
This, Rosa did not, of course, tell Rodrigo. Instead she said soberly, "You are looking pale, my friend, and older. Has life not been so gay in America, eh?
"Oh, it has been gay enough," he replied, and he began to admit to himself that he too must have changed, what with John and Dr. Woodward and now Rosa telling him of it. ”

“ I felt that the shock of going there, seeing her room, her clothes, everything that my happiness, my life, had depended upon, would be too much for me. Even after I came back from California feeling so much improved, I kept putting it off. I dreaded the ordeal. But three or four weeks after you left, I pulled myself together, told myself that those foolish fears were nonsense, a sign even that I had gone a little mad. So I went over there, and I spent two whole days in the house, alone. I put my house of memories in order. And, Rodrigo, I found out many terrible things. ”

“ To Rodrigo, when the clerk had departed with the dignified unobtrusiveness characteristic of Dorning and Son clerks, John exclaimed, "Oh, bother Mrs. Porter Palmer! She's a fussy society dowager with more money and time than she knows what to do with. She is a good customer of ours, but a frightful nuisance. She knows my father socially, and she thinks that puts us all under obligations to her. Come along out with me, Rodrigo—perhaps you can impress her with your knowledge of Italian art. ”

“ Rodrigo was never a conservative driver and soon had the borrowed car moving at a pace that started the bobbies at the street intersections frowning and waving admonitory hands at him. Having attained the open country and the little tea house, to which their instructions had led them, in advance of the others, the young men did not stop to partake of the refreshments arranged for them by their host, but set off rapidly for the next rendezvous. ”

“ It was not that Dorning had stepped into an embarrassing situation with ten thousand liras. It was the spirit that had prompted the American's action. Rodrigo sensed a quiet strength in the man that he himself somehow lacked, a strength that in the troublous future confronting him he would like to have near him.
"The trouble with women," Rodrigo remarked, "is that they cannot keep love in its proper place. It soon ceases to be a game with them and becomes a mad scramble to possess a man. ”

“ Rodrigo said promptly.
"He is a young man of honor and of considerable artistic and business ability besides," said John's father. "Sometimes though, I wonder if he is not missing something in life. For a man of his age, he is singularly ignorant of some things. Of the world outside of his own business and family, for instance. I feel that I can speak freely to you, Rodrigo—if you will permit me to call you that upon such short acquaintance. ”

“ Mary rose and faced Elise coldly. "Mrs. Dorning, I do not care——"
"I assure you I have the best intentions in the world," Elise cut in quickly. "I understand you have not encouraged Count Torriani. In that, you show your excellent sense. Nevertheless, I know Count Torriani so well that I feel I must warn you further. He is not what people call—a marrying man. And I don't believe that you are the sort of girl who would care to——"
"Mrs. Dorning, please!" Mary cried sharply. Then she relaxed a little her tense attitude. John had so often sung the praises of his sweet, unselfish wife. ”

“ She looked at him quizzically, alarmed at his peculiar manner. "Everybody is his friend," she said soberly. "Everybody loves John. He is the salt of the earth."
"He is that," Rodrigo agreed, and he watched her go away from him, back to John.
He sank into his chair, debating his problem. There was in Rodrigo a strange intuition about women. His success with them had, apart from his physical attractiveness, consisted in an ability, far greater than that of the usual predatory male, to understand them. He thought now that he understood Mary. ”

“ Elise Van Zile was clever. Though John Dorning was not the type of man who appealed to her, she might decide to marry him for his money. Married or single, she would always be selfish, unscrupulous. She wanted a rich, safe husband.
If the husband were John Dorning, this would bring tragedy.
Having arrived at this conclusion, Rodrigo tried to denounce the whole thing as nonsense and, catching up his hat, departed from the apartment in search of something to eat, though he wasn't in the least hungry. He wanted to get out, get away from himself, get where there were people, noise, laughter. ”

“ Dorning darted back, a moment later, to Rodrigo. Still flushed with excitement, he held out his hand, his eyes expressing his full heart. "Rodrigo!"
Rodrigo took his hand. "We think we've got our problems, but they don't amount to a thing, do they?—not a thing," he said thoughtfully.
"It's my life—that I owe—" John began.
But Rodrigo stopped him. "Forget it," he advised. "Nobody knows what happened, and nobody needs to. There's just one thing I want you to promise—I want you to agree that we give Rosner a job here when he's fit to work again." ”

“ The frankness, sharp tongue and cream-and-gold beauty of Sophie intrigued him. Rodrigo was rather adroit with all types of women, even at twenty. He flattered Sophie half seriously, half banteringly, exchanged bon mots, made an engagement in a low voice to see her again. Bill Terhune told her on the quiet that Rodrigo was the son of a real Count, thus increasing many fold the force of the impression the good-looking Latin had made upon her.
The Oxonians had dinner with Sophie and Adele, saw the show at the Gayety, and took the girls later to a supper club. ”

“ Her whole voice and manner had changed suddenly from those of a virile sophisticated woman to a demure clinging vine, humbly asking John not to misunderstand her. And she was boldly counting upon Rodrigo for an ally. She was a superb actress. For the first time since their acquaintance, Rodrigo saw John Dorning's face light up with interest toward a woman other than his sister or Mary Drake.
"I've just been admiring your perfectly wonderful place," she said naïvely to John, flattering admiration in her eyes. "You have furnished it so exquisitely. I am such a novice in the arts. ”