Owen Davis

“ He was too wise, too experienced; his very look put her on her guard against him. What a fortunate thing it was that men were such obvious creatures, good or bad; how silly to be afraid of either sort; one only had to be a little prudent, a little clever, and perhaps a little pretty. She laughed softly to herself. She was all of these, she knew, and more. She had no fear of the world; she was not afraid; she was eager to match her strength against it. She felt perfectly safe when, a few moments later, they shot out of the side street, in Dick’s big car, and turned up Broadway. ”

“ We know her. She is a good girl. We love her. There is no more to say.”
“If it is money she wants,” exclaimed Dr. Barnhelm bitterly, “I will make it for her. It isn’t that I think anything money can buy too good for her, but for her to be selfish.”
“Hush,” said Paul very tenderly. “She has no mother; we must remember that. We are men, and we stand helpless before her womanhood, like children in the dark. Now! We will say no more. We will go to the bank to-day, while there is time. We will get that money, and to-morrow night, before the Medical Society, you shall make your name big, famous. ”

“ He, himself, was a handsome, good-natured, easily managed young fellow. To the physical side of her, which as yet had only been aroused for one moment when she had thrown herself into John’s arms, Dick made absolutely no appeal, and twenty years of purity of thought and action had provided her with a defence against the casual promptings of instinctive desires too strong to be easily broken down. Of late a restless, nervous condition of mind and body might have warned her of a growing longing to solve for herself some of the depths of the world’s knowledge. ”

“ Modern as he was in his practice of medicine, advanced as he was in his psychological studies, at heart he was an old-fashioned man, with all of the old-fashioned man’s ideas of love and marriage. For a moment he felt a feeling of repulsion, almost of horror, and he looked coldly at this young girl, who seemed to be so greatly changed by a few short weeks of luxury, but as he looked he thought of the day, only so lately passed, when she had been brought to them, white and lifeless, and as he saw her now, defiant, rebellious, in all the vigor of her splendid health, he smiled at her tenderly. ”

“ She often thought of him, more often than of her father or of John. The Doctor had loved her; she knew that; not as a father loves, through instinct, or as a lover, from desire, but because he had put her in the place of the one woman who had represented the idea of love in his life. He was a rich man, Dr. Crossett; what fun they could have together in Paris! If anything ever went wrong with her, she was going to him; she had quite made up her mind to that, but, after all, what could go wrong? Dick would always give her what she wanted, and if not Dick, there were plenty of others. ”

“ Dick was going to be very good to her, she was sure of that, quite sure of her power over him. He was a good fellow; he had never thrilled her as John had done, for a moment, that very afternoon, but John was a prude; she never would have been able to endure life with him.
How silly of her to have hesitated. She should have left home long ago. She had supposed that it would almost break her heart, but she did not seem to care at all. She must remember that. Nothing ever really mattered, after all, if one had the courage to do as one pleased. Something always happened to make things all right. ”

“ It is always so; a young man prays for fame, and when it comes he finds that it is an empty word. Another prays for money, and when his prayer is granted he finds that his happiness is gone. The woman prays for love; it comes, and she finds the bitterness of it. The mother prays for the life of her child, and the child grows up and breaks her heart.”
“This will not do, Martin.” Paul Crossett rose and put his hands kindly but firmly on the other’s shoulder. “You are worn out; you are not yourself; tell me, do you sleep?”
“Not when I can help it,” answered Dr. Barnhelm, with a shudder. ”

“ Long after John had gone to his business, and her father had left to meet his old friend, Doctor Crossett, she sat thinking it over, and the more she thought the more distressed she became.
Dick Fenway had been brought to the house by a friend of John’s, and from the first she had been attracted by his gayety and recklessness. He was a great contrast to the men she had known. Careless, rich and happy, and there was something about the young man that had made a strong appeal to the maternal feeling that is in every woman, however young or unworldly she may be. ”

“ Would you have spoken of her at all if you had not known that I saw you with her?”
“If she is such a terrible person, how is it that you know her so well?”
“Lola! I am a man. Men are different! Surely you must see that?”
“Why are they different? I am not a child. I am a woman! Why shouldn’t I have a little fun once in a while? Why should men have everything?”
“Do you call it fun to live the life that woman lives? You don’t know what she is; if you did you would rather stay shut up in this room as long as you were alive than call yourself a friend of hers.”
“John! You are absurd.” ”

“ He stopped as Dick Fenway entered, so pale and wild, that Dr. Crossett, to whom he was a stranger, stepped forward, as though to offer to support him, but stopped suddenly as Fenway cried out: “I did it! It was my fault! As she crossed the Avenue I turned my car, thinking she would stop, but she hated me, and she wouldn’t stop, and—and—I killed her.”
There was silence for a moment in the room, broken only by Fenway’s sobs and by a low moan of anguish from the father. Then came a sound of stumbling footsteps, slowly, very slowly advancing up the stairs. The sound of men carrying a heavy burden. ”

“ Crossett. “That you can restore the heart action to those who die, of what?”
The Doctor smiled slightly as he replied:
“Death is what? When the heart ceases to beat! Life is what? When it beats on, untroubled. I can take the body of a man whose pulse has not fluttered in hours, and I can bring the beating of his heart back! I can bring him back to life!”
He looked almost in triumph into the earnest, sympathetic face of his friend, then turned to John, but his smile left him at what he saw in the young man’s eyes.
“Don’t say that, Doctor,” begged John, earnestly. ”

“ A girl like you, Lola, doesn’t even know what such women as that Mrs. Harlan are. It is your very innocence, dear, that makes you so bold.”
“I’m tired of being a fool.” She spoke with a fierce impatience that frightened him. “She is a woman, isn’t she, made of the same flesh and blood, living in the same world. Why should I avoid her? She is the only person I know who cares for anything but work, and worry, and duty! Life isn’t all drudgery to her; she loves laughter, and happiness, and gayety, and good clothes, and beautiful surroundings! ”

“ Here at one table an old man, with jewels on his fat fingers, with him a young girl, almost a child, a girl in a shabby dress, with eyes bright with wonder and with fear.
Here and there, in this brilliant throng, could be picked out bold-eyed men, who laughed across the tables at nervous, frightened women, women who laughed back with terror in their hearts. ”

“ Lola should not do this thing! This man should not be allowed to blast her life! It would be better to get him by the throat, and drag him out of the car, and, no matter what, kill him if necessary. What came after did not count. This girl, the girl he loved, should not give her fresh beauty to this beast, soul and body to his vicious pleasures. He was in time, thank God for that! They saw him now, he could read the look of terror in Dick’s face, the queer expression of fascinated interest, almost of delight in Lola’s eyes, and he put all his strength into one last effort. ”

“ As she had walked down Broadway, from the subway station, a dozen men had turned and looked after her, rich, well-dressed men, some of them. After all there was no reason why a girl should worry, with the world so full of men, all of them eager to lavish their money on her. One had to be careful, of course, and she meant to be careful. She had no fear of Dick, she could manage him. John was different; if John had been a bad man she would have been afraid of him, afraid of herself, but, thank goodness, Dick was harmless. ”

“ I am tired of being just a girl. Isn’t there anything else in life but to sit here with you and father, and his friends? Are our hearts always going to beat on, one-two, one-two, like the ticking of a clock? ”

“ For a moment the Doctor seemed about to reply, but with only a slight hesitation he smiled rather sadly to himself, and spoke gently but with a trace of irony.
“We will grant, John, that I do not understand; that I know nothing of loving a woman whom fate sees fit to separate me from; but I do know this: Always there must be one love stronger than another; as it was with you and Lola, so it always is. One who loves, and gives, one who is loved, and takes; not always selfishly, but always it is so. ”

“ Lola would drink nothing but tea; in fact she needed nothing stronger; the intoxication of the scenes is as complete sometimes as the intoxication of strong drink, and to this girl, seeing for the first time a glimpse of the thing that to her seemed life, came the birth of a desire that never again left her, the desire to know everything, to experience everything, to live as those persons about her seemed to be living, without thought of anything but the pleasure of the moment, and had she known the price that all who live that life must surely pay, she would still have gone on. ”

“ I won’t speak like this again.”
“My dear,” said John in much distress, “I want to help you. Surely you know that. I am going to be your husband, and all our lives I am going to stand between you and everything that is evil. I am going to do all that a man can do to protect you from all the sorrow, and suffering, and sin of the world.”
Lola looked at him, as he stood before her, gravely, his fine young face flushed with embarrassment and earnest with his strong intention to do his best to make her life all innocent happiness. ”

“ Maria turned to them, greatly excited. “It’s him. It’s Dr. Crossett.”
“Dr. Crossett!” Mrs. Mooney’s face beamed with surprise and pleasure. “We can thank him, too, Nellie.”
“You can run along out in the kitchen, both of you; that’s what you can do,” replied Maria firmly. “You can see him afterwards for a minute, but we don’t want you here now.”
“You must not go, Mrs. Mooney,” said Dr. Barnhelm kindly; “the doctor will be glad to see Nellie.”
“Yes, sir. She’ll be showing him how strong she is. Why, it will be hard for him to believe it, sir. She can lift most as much as I can. ”

“ That is why I wanted to postpone our marriage, John.” She turned to him appealingly: “I could not marry you, dear, before I had earned back the money I had spent so foolishly.”
“My dear.” Her father stepped forward, but John was before him. “Can you forgive me, Lola?” Shame and regret made his voice low and husky.
“My friends!” Dr. Crossett’s cheerful tone broke in upon them. “The man who has a jewel, and does not know its value is an ass. Now that you two can make no more trouble for yourselves, in mercy’s name give me my dinner.” ”

“ His time is his wealth, and you rob him of it. Do you know what they call a person who robs another of his wealth? A thief!”
Mrs. Mooney drew back, almost cowering before the flashing brilliancy in Lola’s eyes, heart-sick at the bitter insult of her words. But she was proud, with the decent pride of a woman who has lived a hard life blamelessly, and there was a trace of Lola’s own bitterness in her voice as she answered. ”

“ Barnhelm gravely. “There is something, a soul, an intelligence, call it what you will, but it is not tangible, and it is divine! I mean no sacrilege. Why, this theory of mine, the truth of which I am prepared to prove, has been my prayer, and now it has been granted. It is for the good of humanity.”
“I don’t like it,” replied John nervously. “You know best, I suppose, and I am going to try to take your word for it, but I don’t like it. If you don’t mind, I’ll go and meet Lola. ”

“ He was treating her now in the little alcove he used as his office, and outside, with the curtains drawn, Lola was doing her best to soothe the almost frantic mother.
The treatment, in spite of all the Doctor’s gentleness, was painful in the extreme, and Lola was anxious to spare the poor woman the sight of her daughter’s suffering, but at the sound of a stifled cry from behind the curtains, Mrs. Mooney was unable to restrain herself, and rushed toward the next room with a cry of agony.
“Please,” said Lola, as she gently stopped her. “They are better without you.” ”

“ In these surroundings, in an atmosphere of false luxury, of noise, heat, and confusion, against a background of painted women and flushed and loud-voiced men, the real reverence he had always had for her began rapidly to disappear, and he found himself looking upon her simply as a charming and beautiful young girl, who, as a matter of course, was to be pursued as diligently and as relentlessly as circumstances would allow. ”

“ I am out of it now, and there isn’t power enough in the world to drag me back.”
“My dear,” remonstrated the Doctor gravely, “you and John are to be married; he is young; surely while he is making his way in the world you will be willing to share whatever his fortune may be. Love is as sweet in poverty, Lola, as it is in a home like this.”
“That is a platitude, Doctor, a platitude invented by cowards who weren’t strong enough to win the good things of life, and who, because they couldn’t have them, were fools enough to try to blind themselves with stupid words. I am a woman! ”

“ Nothing, my dear young lady, only that you have, in common with the rest of the world, two natures, warring against one another, in your heart. I will confess that in your case I thought I saw a flash of something deeper, more tragic, than one usually finds in the face of a young girl, just a bad dream perhaps, or perhaps a real trouble. ”

“ She stepped to a small table and returned with a box of cigars. “Why don’t you men smoke? Really, you must.” She held the box to each of them in turn, smiling so compellingly that even John was forced to take one, but in spite of her smile he thought he saw in her face a trace of anxious impatience, and to him at least her beautiful new dress was not wholly a pleasure. Little as he knew of the real cost of such a costume, he knew that it was far more expensive than Dr. Barnhelm’s purse could afford, and in some vague manner it associated itself in his mind with Mrs. Harlan and her friends. ”

“ A man is always very sorry for the thing he is quite innocent of having done; it is only when he has really been at fault that he remains calmly indifferent.
Lola was very comfortable; it was a warm day, but there was a breeze from the water, and she lay there, every muscle relaxed, shading her face with her parasol, which she had dropped on the sand, looking dreamily out to where a long line of black smoke on the horizon marked the passing of some great steamer.
Somehow the thought of a ship at sea brought Dr. Crossett to her mind. ”

“ Something of the bitterness of this thought must have become visible in his face, for Lola stepped to him anxiously, and he, generous and afraid of hurting any living creature as he always was, smiled at her tenderly and put his arm about her as he spoke gravely: “God bless you Lola, and if he is the right man, God bless you both.”
She nestled against him, reassured by his tone, and he continued, “John Dorris, a fine fellow, but I thought for a moment that it must be Dick Fenway.”
“Father,” she protested, “it isn’t at all like you to be so silly! Dick Fenway is nothing but—but a millionaire!” ”

“ Dick Fenway, very soon after his arrival in New York, became one of the inner circle of Mrs. Harlan’s intimates, both by virtue of his natural gayety and the fact that he was what is known as a good spender, meaning a person who, no matter how great his expenditure may be, is never by any possible chance known to do the slightest good with his money. ”

“ Lola laughed cheerfully as she looked with approval over the neatly arranged breakfast table.
“I think he is perfectly well, Maria, and quite delighted with himself this morning. He feels sure that he has made a wonderful discovery, something he has been working on for years. I know that he thinks it is going to be a fine thing for all the world and for us, Maria; he says it is going to make us rich.”
“I hope so, I’m sure. There’s lots of little things we’re needing in the kitchen,” said Maria practically. “Anyway, he’s the best doctor in the world, and he ought to have the most money!” ”

“ As Lola held out her hand pleadingly, and with an air of sweet repentance, Mrs. Harlan, who was kind-hearted enough in her way, completely surrendered, and kissed her warmly, although she had vowed to herself that she would make no more efforts to live at peace with her.
“And you, Bob?” As she stood with her arm about Mrs. Harlan, she held out her left hand to him. “Will you forgive me also? You see that everyone else has; you don’t want to be the hard-hearted one of the crowd, do you?” ”

“ She looks happy and well. You, Martin, are the greatest inventor in the world’s history.”
“Hardly that,” said the Doctor with a laugh.
“Ah, yes,” insisted the Frenchman. “Men have made fortunes, fame, history by the children of their brain, but what man before, by the power of his mind, has brought back from the dead his own daughter?”
“A curious study,” said Dr. Barnhelm thoughtfully as he seated himself in a deep chair by the table and motioned to his friend to sit opposite to him; “remarkably curious, these things we call life, and death, and body, and soul. ”

“ I shall tell him so if he calls again.”
“I am sorry, very sorry,” said Lola. “There was something about him I always liked, and it hurts me to think that he tried to deceive me as he did.”
“Bah!” protested the Doctor. “The world is full of men like that, but once you know them, they are harmless. Don’t look sad, my dear; it is so easy to forget all about him.”
It was not so easy, however, for Lola to forget Dick Fenway’s deceit as her father fancied. ”

“ His relief from his feeling of horror and remorse was naturally great, but he made up his mind that it was quite hopeless to expect Lola’s forgiveness, and when he met her one day on Broadway, shortly after her recovery, he was about to pass her without any other greeting than a bow, when to his great surprise she stopped him and, without any reference either to the accident or to his deceit about his marriage, chatted with him so gayly and so pleasantly that he took heart and invited her to drop into a restaurant with him for a cup of tea. ”

“ It is not civilization. It is like the cave man, to live in a hole in a cliff. Bah! To sit on an ugly chair, and to look at nothing, out of dirty windows!”
“New York,” laughed Dr. Barnhelm, “is the great market place of the world. You can buy anything here, even beautiful surroundings.”
“Then you, Martin, shall buy them. This,” he touched the electrical apparatus almost tenderly, “will bring fame and wealth. Happiness you had before.”
“It has been selfish of me in a way, Paul,” began the Doctor, as though trying to find excuses to satisfy his own conscience, “but Lola has not minded. ”