Richard Harding Davis

“ You will never hear a word of love from me again. Why should you? You know it is always waiting for you. But if you should ever want it, you must come to me, and take off your hat and put it on my table and say, ‘Philip, I have come to stay.’ Whether you can ever do that or not can make no difference in my love for you. I shall love you always, as no man has ever loved a woman in this world, but it is you who must speak first; for me, the rest is silence.”
The following morning as Helen was leaving the house she found this letter lying on the hall-table, and ran back with it to her rooms. ”

“ In his most optimistic dreams he had never imagined success so satisfying as the reality had proved to be; but in his dreams Helen had always held the chief part, and without her, success seemed only to mock him.
He wanted to lay it all before her, to say, “If you are pleased, I am happy. If you are satisfied, then I am content. It was done for you, and I am wholly yours, and all that I do is yours.”
And, as though in answer to his thoughts, there was an instant knock at the door, and Helen entered the room and stood smiling at him across the table. ”

“ Do you think you can form combines and deals that will cheat you into heaven? Can your ‘trusts’ save your souls—is ‘Wall Street’ the strait and narrow road to salvation?”
The men about the table leaned back and stared at Arkwright in as great amazement as though he had violently attempted an assault upon their pockets, or had suddenly gone mad in their presence. Some of them frowned, and others appeared not to have heard, and others smiled grimly and waited for him to continue as though they were spectators at a play. ”

“ She crossed the box to where her cloak was hanging, but instead of taking it down buried her face in its folds.
“My dear child!” cried Lady Gower, in dismay. “What is it? The excitement has been too much for you.”
“No, I am just happy,” sobbed Helen. “I am just happy for him.”
“We will go and tell him so then,” said Lady Gower. “I am sure he would like to hear it from you to-night.”
Philip was standing in the centre of the stage, surrounded by many pretty ladies and elderly men. Wimpole was hovering over him as though he had claims upon him by the right of discovery. ”

“ When she did that the American used to laugh, at nothing apparently, and say, “Oh, I guess Reggie loves you well enough.”
“But do I love Reggie?” she would ask sadly, with her tea-cup held poised in air.
“I am sure I hope not,” the lodger would reply, and she would put down the veil quickly, as one would drop a curtain over a beautiful picture, and rise with great dignity and say, “if you talk like that I shall not come again.”
She was sure that if she could only get some work to do her head would be filled with more important matters than whether Reggie loved her or not. ”

“ The vagrant had vanished.
There was a sharp tinkle of bells, and the launch slipped up to the wharf and halted as softly as a bicycle. A man in a yachting-suit jumped from her, and making some laughing speech to the two women in the stern, walked briskly across the lawn, taking a letter from his pocket as he came. Sir Charles awaited him gravely; the occupants of the launch had seen him, and it was too late to retreat.
“Sir Charles Greville, I believe,” said the yachtsman. He bowed, and ran lightly up the steps. “I am Mr. Robert Collier, from New York,” he said. ”

“ Where were you—in Havana?”
“No, in the other provinces, sir,” Arkwright answered. “I have been all over the island, I am a civil engineer. The truth has not been half told about Cuba, I assure you, sir. It is massacre there, not war. It is partly so through ignorance, but nevertheless it is massacre. And what makes it worse is, that it is the massacre of the innocents. That is what I liked best of what you said in that great speech, the part about the women and children.” ”

“ As she was very beautiful and at an age when she enjoyed everything in life keenly and eagerly, to give her pleasure was in itself a distinct pleasure; and the worldly tired people she met were considering their own entertainment quite as much as hers when they asked her to their dinners and dances, or to spend a week with them in the country. In her way, she was as independent as was Carroll in his, and as she was not in love, as he was, her life was not narrowed down to but one ideal. ”

“ As the last of the lights went out in the Garden, the speaker of the evening and three of his friends came laughing and talking down the long corridor. Senator Stanton was a conspicuous figure at any time, and even in those places where his portraits had not penetrated he was at once recognized as a personage. Something in his erect carriage and an unusual grace of movement, and the power and success in his face, made men turn to look at him. ”

“ It occurred to Helen, who was still bent on making restitution for her neglect, that a cigarette-case would be more appropriate for a man than flowers, and more lasting. And she scanned the contents of the window with the eye of one who now saw in everything only something which might give Philip pleasure. The two objects of value in the tray upon which her eyes first fell were the gold seal-ring with which Philip had sealed his letters to her, and, lying next to it, his gold watch! ”

“ There could never be any other woman save Helen, but as it was not to be Helen, he could no longer, with self-respect, continue to proffer his love only to see it slighted and neglected. He was humble enough concerning himself, but of his love he was very proud. Other men could give her more in wealth or position, but no one could ever love her as he did. ”

“ Carroll stared at her and laughed. After a pause he said: “It’s like a plot in a comedy. But I’m afraid I’m too serious for play-acting.”
“Yes, it is serious,” said Miss Cavendish. She seated herself again and regarded the American thoughtfully. “You are too good a man to be treated the way that girl is treating you, and no one knows it better than she does. She’ll change in time, but just now she thinks she wants to be independent. She’s in love with this picture-painting idea, and with the people she meets. ”

“ This was Lady Gower, the only person to whom Helen had spoken of Carroll and of his great feeling for her. Lady Gower, immediately after her marriage, had been a conspicuous and brilliant figure in that set in London which works eighteen hours a day to keep itself amused, but after the death of her husband she had disappeared into the country as completely as though she had entered a convent, and after several years had then re-entered the world as a professional philanthropist. ”

“ Arkwright answered, his eyes glowing with the hope the senator’s words had inspired, “and then speak to a mass-meeting here and in Boston and in Chicago. Three speeches will be enough. Before you have finished your last one the American warships will be in the harbor of Havana.”
“Ah, youth, youth!” said the senator, smiling gravely, “it is no light responsibility to urge a country into war.”
“It is no light responsibility,” Arkwright answered, “to know you have the chance to save the lives of thousands of little children and helpless women and to let the chance pass.” ”

“ No one ever loved any one as he loves you. And it’s time you found it out. And if I have helped to make you find it out I’m glad, and I don’t care how much I hurt you.”
“Marion!” exclaimed Helen, “what does it mean? Do you mean that you are not engaged; that—”
“Certainly not,” Marion answered. “I am going to marry Reggie. It is you that Philip loves, and I am very sorry for you that you don’t love him.”
Helen clasped Marion’s hands in both of hers.
“But, Marion!” she cried, “I do, oh, I do!” ”

“ At these moments the familiar and hated palms, the peaks and the block-house were more hideous in their reality than the most terrifying of his nightmares.
These excursions afield were always predatory; he went forth always to seek food. With all the beautiful world from which to elect and choose, he sought out only those places where eating was studied and elevated to an art. These visits were much more vivid in their detail than any he had ever before made to these same resorts. They invariably began in a carriage, which carried him swiftly over smooth asphalt. ”

“ The lodger, they gathered, did not wish her to be independent of him and the two Americans had many arguments and disputes about it, but she always said, “It does no good, Philip; it only hurts us both when you talk so. I care for nothing, and for no one but my art, and, poor as it is, it means everything to me, and you do not, and, of course, the man I am to marry, must.” Then Carroll would talk, walking up and down, and looking very fierce and determined, and telling her how he loved her in such a way that it made her look even more proud and beautiful. ”

“ My sympathies are just as keen for these poor women and children as ever, but as these men say, ‘charity begins at home,’ and we mustn’t do anything to bring on war prices again, or to send stocks tumbling about our heads, must we?” He leaned back in his chair again and sighed. “Sympathy is an expensive luxury, I find,” he added.
Arkwright rose stiffly and pushed Stanton away from him with his hand. He moved like a man coming out of a dream.
“Don’t talk to me like that,” he said in a low voice. The noise about the table ended on the instant, but Arkwright did not notice that it had ceased. ”

“ Helen Cabot had departed on a round of visits to country houses in Scotland, where, as she wrote him, she was painting miniatures of her hosts and studying the game of golf. Miss Cavendish divided her days between the river and one of the West End theatres. She was playing a small part in a farce-comedy.
One day she came up from Cookham earlier than usual, looking very beautiful in a white boating frock and a straw hat with a Leander ribbon. Her hands and arms were hard with dragging a punting pole and she was sunburnt and happy, and hungry for tea. ”

“ Miss Cavendish held herself erect and pressed her lips together with a severe smile. “If Helen Cabot doesn’t see the difference between you and the other men she knows now,” she said, “I doubt if she ever will. Besides—” she continued, and then hesitated. “Well, go on,” urged Carroll.
“Well, I was only going to say,” she explained, “that leaving the girl alone never did the man any good unless he left her alone willingly. If she’s sure he still cares, it’s just the same to her where he is. He might as well stay on in London as go to South Africa. It won’t help him any. ”