Carrington

“ On several occasions Carrington had betrayed greediness in the division of the spoils of their ventures. But Carrington was the strong man, ruthless and determined, and Parsons was forced to nurse his resentment in silence. He meant some day, however, to repay Carrington, and he lost no opportunity to harass him. 108 And yet it had been Parsons who had brought Carrington to Westwood two years before. He knew Carrington; he knew something of the big man’s way with women, of his merciless treatment of them. ”

“ In the glare of the moon that was behind Carrington, he could see horse and rider distinctly, and he jerked his own horse to a halt, cursing horribly. For the horse that was leaping toward him like a black demon out of the night was Spotted Tail. And Spotted Tail’s rider was Taylor. Carrington could see the man’s face, with the terrible passion that distorted it, and Carrington wheeled his horse, making frenzied efforts to escape up the slope. ”

“ Lady Rainault answered simply, “that Billy realizes it. You've dazzled him, you see.”
“And I'm going to marry him. What's more, you can't stop me. He's over age,” Mrs. Carrington burst out triumphantly.
“True. He's over age. But he's not independent of his father financially.”
The significance of Lady Rainault's reply shattered Mrs. Carrington's last shred of self-control. That clever assumption of aloofness, which so often had passed muster successfully where she was unknown as the quiet detachment of a woman of unquestionable status, went with it. ”

“ We are to show humanity to ourselves; we are to stamp out this lit fuse. Or does Major Carrington wish it to burn on?"
"No," said Carrington coldly. "I spoke hastily. You are right, of course, and I will interfere no further."
An hour later Patricia stood before the hall window looking out upon the dazzling water and the green velvet of the marshes with wide, unseeing eyes. Her hands were clenched at her sides and upon each cheek burned a crimson spot. Beside her crouched Betty Carrington who, upon the first rumor of trouble at Verney Manor, had ridden over from Rosemead. ”

“ Carrington's equilibrium. He felt himself going, and yelled aloud. Over he toppled, face foremost, splash! into the pool.
The boy saw him vanish, and heard the splashing of his struggle in the water. The unfortunate man emerged again into the boy's field of vision, hatless and streaming with water, and screaming!
Never before had the boy heard screams from a man. ”

“ At about the time Miss Harlan and Taylor were sitting on the rock on the bank of the river near the Arrow, Carrington was in the courthouse at Dawes, leaning over Judge Littlefield’s desk. A tall, sleek-looking man of middle age, with a cold, steady eye and a smooth smile, stood near Carrington. ”

“ Gentlemen, will you ride with Verney and me, or shall we part now to meet at sunset in his orchard?"
"We had best ride with your Excellency," said Carrington gravely. "I like not the temper of the Chickahominies, who ever mean most when they say least. And these roving Ricahecrians, their guests, are of a strange and fierce aspect. It is as well to go in force."
"Those vagrants from the Blue Mountains have been here overlong," said the Governor. "I shall send them packing! Well, gentlemen, since we are to have the pleasure of your company, boot and saddle is the word!" ”

“ But had the judge looked sharply at his hands when he gripped the one that was held out to him when Carrington introduced the man; or had he been a physiognomist of average ability, he could not have failed to note the smooth softness of the man’s hands and the gleam of guile and cunning swimming deep in his eyes. ”

“ It was an easy matter to find the hiding place amidst that tangle of ferns and flowers, and the two had hardly done so before the smoking-room door opened and Carrington came in, closely followed by Anstruther and Padini. The latter seemed to be terribly put out about something, for he flung his hat and coat upon the floor and dropped into a chair with an attitude of defiance.
"It is all very well for you," he exclaimed heatedly. "We do all the work and take all the risks, and you walk off with the profit. ”

“ And tonight Carrington’s desires were for the girl who had accompanied him to Dawes; the girl who had stirred his passions as no woman had ever stirred them, and who—now that he had seized the town’s government—was to be as much his vassal as Parsons, Danforth—or any of them. He grinned as he rode toward the Huggins house—a grin that grew to a laugh as he rode up the drive toward the house; low, vibrant, hideous with its threat of unrestrained passion. ”

“ Every decent instinct in her forbade her taking what he offered. Impulsively she drew away, her body stiffening a little in his eager clasp.
Though she had not spoken, he sensed the significance of her recoil.
“Don't say no!” he exclaimed sharply, his young voice roughening.
“Billy boy, I ought to say—just that!” Mrs. Carrington spoke very quietly. Her eyes looked sad.
“Why ought you?” he demanded hotly.
“Why? Oh, Billy, it's so obvious, isn't it? A man may not marry his grandmother!” ”

“ Yes, and I will be paid too, richly paid, Sir Reginald, not only in money, but in power. In power—the best and most enjoyable thing that money has to buy."
Victor Carrington sent his letter to the post, and joined his mother in her sitting-room, where her life passed placidly away, among her birds and her flowers. Mrs. Carrington had none of the vivacity about her which is so general an attribute of French women. She liked her quiet life, and had little sympathy with her son's restless ambition and devouring discontent. ”

“ Of the subsequent events—those which did not come under the head of politics—I learned but little; but, bring a newspaper man, I do not lack a fertile imagination.
Carrington had ridden twelve miles into the country. At eight o'clock the temperature changed and it began to snow. He turned and rode back toward the city, toward victory or defeat. Sometimes he went at a canter, sometimes at a trot. ”

“ The two friends, or rather companions, plunged into all the phases of the southern ocean with a broad, inhaling, expanding delight which only a physique naturally fine, or carefully trained, can feel. George Carrington was a vigorous young Saxon, tall and broad, feeling his life and strength in every vein and muscle. Each night he slept his eight hours dreamlessly, like a child, and each day he lived four hours in one, counting by the pallid hours of other men. Andrew Keith, on the other hand, represented the physique cultured and trained up to a high point by years of attention and care. ”

“ If there was a sudden cardiac disturbance in Carrington's breast, the girl's tender beauty certainly justified it. The fresh color on her cheeks and lips, the shining black hair that arched a white forehead, the darkly fringed blue eyes, the slender, rounded figure, the small feet and shapely hands, all combined to produce a picture of feminine loveliness warranted to charm any masculine eye. Let the curious question Cavenaugh's antecedents, if they were so inclined, thought Carrington ”

“ Carrington laughed. “A too-popular mayor is not a good thing for a town,” he said significantly.
59CHAPTER VII—THE SHADOW OF THE PAST
Marion Harlan and her uncle, Elam Parsons, did not accompany Carrington to the Castle Hotel. By telegraph, through Danforth, Carrington had bought a house near Dawes, and shortly after Quinton Taylor left the station platform accompanied by his friends and admirers, Marion and her uncle were in a buckboard riding toward the place that, henceforth, was to be their home. ”

“ For Carrington’s vision, though selfish, was broad. A multitude of men of the Carrington type have taken bold positions in the eternal battle for progress, and all have contributed something toward the ultimate ideal. And not all have been scoundrels.
Carrington’s vision, however, was blurred by the mote of greed. Dawes was flourishing; he intended to modernize 53 it, but in the process of modernization he intended to be the chief recipient of the material profits. ”

“ The Honorable Rupert Carrington is no beauty, by all acounts. He’d pretty well run through his own money on the turf, and I should imagine old man Halliday’s dollars came along in the nick of time. I should say that for a good-looking, well-mannered, utterly unscrupulous young scoundrel, it would be hard to find his match! ”

“ She knew who he was quite well, the Honorable Billy Bethune, Lord Rainault's only son, and he was stopping at Sandbeach at the same hotel as herself, alone with his valet. Mrs. Carrington generally made it her business to know about the men at any hotel where she might be staying, more particularly if they were unattended by their womenkind. ”

“ Velantour, whose caustic criticisms usually confined themselves to technique, and took small account of souls!
Carrington tingled to his finger tips in the desire to be off. Life was good—was “bully,” as Carrington phrased it. And he whistled softly, rapturous as a thrush, as he crossed the studio to lift a corner of the rug which covered a trunk masquerading as a seat, a trunk locked and strapped; packed with an infinite forethought for any possible contingency that might arise during the trip; with enough paint tubes and brushes to set up a small dealer ”

“ Lee turned to Carrington, and said, with some bitterness:
“Was he then the only honest public man we ever had?”
“Oh no!” replied Carrington cheerfully; “there have been one or two others.”
“If the rest of our Presidents had been like him,” said Gore, “we should have had fewer ugly blots on our short history.”
Ratcliffe was exasperated at Carrington's habit of drawing discussion to this point. He felt the remark as a personal insult, and he knew it to be intended. “Public men,” he broke out, “cannot be dressing themselves to-day in Washington's old clothes. ”

“ I've just come from an interview with an old friend of yours."
"Gordon?" queried Vanulm.
Carrington smiled. "How'd you guess it?" he answered. "Yes, they told me to get a column and a half out of him on his chances of election. He says he's going to win."
The brewer paused a moment before lighting his cigar. "And is he?" he asked.
Carrington's brow wrinkled doubtfully. "Well," he replied at last, "I wouldn't want to be quoted, but between ourselves I really think he's got a good show. It would seem queer enough, too, to have a Democratic governor again after so many years. ”

“ And all the time she knew—down in her heart she knew perfectly well that he was right and that her father was—"
"He was more sinned against than sinning," hoarsely interrupted Carrington. "He was old—and not very keen; he was a tool in the hands of a stronger man. I tried to bring that out."
Again she checked him with a gesture, refusing to meet his gaze, and by her own steady regard keeping him reminded of the listener across the table, to whom she apparently spoke. The man was now looking from one to the other, puzzled by evidences of a strong, uncharted undercurrent. ”

“ During the days that Parsons had passed nursing his resentment, Carrington had been busy. Despite the bruises that marked his face (which, by the way, a clever barber had disguised until they were hardly visible) Carrington appeared in public as though nothing had happened.
The fight at the courthouse had aroused the big man to the point of volcanic action. The lust for power that had seized him; the implacable resolution to rule, to win, to have his own way in all things; his passionate hatred of Taylor ”

“ A newcomer always found persons who knew people of consequence in his former city, persons from his college who would easily place him. Yet, for all that, where bluffing was not involved to the point of being obnoxious, Carrington was tolerant and allowed the newcomer every chance to make good; was not too cruel in its comments, too exacting as to previous records. It had the laxities of the great world and many of the fine distinctions of the smaller worlds which revolve around the life of old cities. ”

“ Almost as though her legs would no longer support her, she sank down into a chair and stared dumbly at Billy's mother. When Lady Rainault spoke again it was rather sorrowfully.
“If you love him, you'll give him up. Just because you do love him. And, if you're brave enough, you'll send him away from you—without any regret that he has to go.”
The door closed quietly behind her. Madeline Carrington sat huddled in her chair, Lady Rainault's last words beating in her brain like a pulse: “Send him away from you—without any regret that he has to go.” ”

“ Jack enjoyed his dismay with a feeling of grim satisfaction. But Carrington was not quite done with yet; evidently he had not sat at the feet of Anstruther for nothing. He looked up presently, and smiled with the air of a man who is only too willing to do anything for his client.
"Will you take a seat for a moment, Lady Barmouth?" he said politely. "I see that you know Miss Helmsley and Mr. Masefield. I must go and speak to our cashier for a moment."
"You cannot get the jewels yourself?" Lady Barmouth asked.
"No," Carrington explained. "Of course, we are bound to take precautions. ”

“ Carrington's flat was perched on the top floor, and the services of a lift were not included among the advantages offered by the landlord.
Lady Rainault climbed the steep, stone stairway with lagging feet. She was in no hurry to reach the top. She frankly dreaded the forthcoming interview with the woman who, as the matter involuntarily phrased itself in her own mind, had trapped her son into an offer of marriage. Had her husband been home, she would, of course, have left it to him to arrange the affair. Men were more used to buying their way out of difficulties, she reflected ruefully. ”