Danvers, Massachusetts

“ The judge and I have been plotting against you for some time, Phil," he explained. "We want you to go into politics."
Danvers shook his head.
"Wait a minute," urged the doctor. "It's like this, Danvers. You're an American, as much as we are. You have taken out your naturalization papers. You never think of leaving Montana. You have a splendid cattle business, and you love Fort Benton almost as much as I do." ”

“ A roaring log-fire in the immense fireplace threw a ruddy glow over the long array of armor and gleaming weapons which lined the walls, and made the pale winter twilight outside look bleak indeed. Charles, emerging slim and graceful out of an exquisite ulster, sauntered up to the fire, and asked where Sir George Danvers was. As he stood inside the wide fireplace, leaning against one of the pillars which supported the towering white stone chimney-piece, covered with heraldic designs and coats of arms, he looked a worthier representative of an ancient race than I fear he really was. ”

“ Danvers was a herald. He respected his office and delighted in his work at the College of Arms. In an age when traditions were dying of violence and neglect, he found himself happy in maintaining the fairest of them all. For this his profession he had his father to thank. From his mother he had inherited a little house in Westminster and a fortune which was sufficient, because he was content to live quietly and to be outrun by the times. He went out little, except to dine at his Club. ”

“ His brother Henry, lord Danby, an enthusiastic royalist, died early in 1644, and left his property to his sister Lady Gargrave. Still in pecuniary difficulties, Danvers resisted this disposition of his brother's property, and his influence with the parliamentary majority led the House of Commons to pass a resolution declaring that he was deprived of his brother's estate 'for his affection and adhering to the parliament' (14 June 1644) , and that Danvers's eldest son Henry was entitled to the property. ”

“ Despite his preferments, his income was small, and he was unable to satisfy his taste for book-buying. When appealing for money to his stepfather, Sir John Danvers (17 March 1617-18) , he announced that he was ‘setting foot into divinity to lay the foundation of my future life,’ and that he required many new books for the purpose. ”

“ Through this marriage he came into possession of the estate of Lavington, Wiltshire, where he laid out gardens even more elaborately than at Chelsea. Freely indulging his extravagant tastes, Danvers soon fell into debt, and from 1630 to 1640 was apparently struggling with creditors. He lost his second wife, by whom he had several children, on 9 July 1636, and about 1640, when he was not less than fifty-two years old, began a political career. He refused to contribute to the expenses of the king's expedition to Scotland in 1639, and was returned to the Short parliament by Oxford University. ”

“ It was a beautiful thing, and there was a mint of money in it if it had gone straight—a mint of money;" and he shook his head regretfully. "But the luck is bound to change in the end," he went on, after a moment of mournful retrospection. "You'll see, I shall make my pile yet, Danvers. One can't go on turning up tails all the time."
"You will turn them up once too often," said Charles, "and get your affairs wound up for you some day in a way you won't like. ”

“ The spring warmed into summer, the summer melted into autumn. Autumn, in turn, chilled into the white world of winter. All thoughts of the little girl on the Far West had slipped from the mind of Danvers, and even the memory of Miss Thornhill became faint—obliterated by the strenuous life of the service. Promotion came in his third year of service as a reward for intelligence and efficiency. Danvers was offered and accepted a commission. He felt that life was good. ”

“ I was afraid at first I couldn't come to dinner, but I hated to disappoint Eva. Little Arthur must have left his hoop on the lawn, and I tripped on it. We live in the next house, and always come across lots. Doesn't that sound New England-y?" She laughed softly. "My brother says I'll never drop our Yankee phrases. I say pail for bucket, and path for trail, and the other day I said farm for ranch."
"Your voice has more of Old England than of New England," said Danvers, appreciatively. He had not spoken before except to acknowledge Mrs. Latimer's hurried introduction. ”

“ Danvers took the thin, nervous hand extended to him, and held it with a grasp that sent courage into the heart of Judge Latimer. It was a hand that had guided bucking bronchos and held lassoed steers, and the man weary with life's battles knew that a friend had come to his aid who would blench at no enemy.
[123] "Do you need any more men?" inquired Danvers, with a tone of assurance and natural leadership that amazed them both.
"Do we need them? Can you produce any more? That is the question," said Latimer.
"There's always O'Dwyer, of course!" laughed Danvers. ”

“ As he spoke, Ralph Danvers, a square, ruddy man in gray knickerbockers, came triumphantly round from the shrubbery, holding by its tail a minute corpse with out-stretched arms and legs. [Pg 114]
"Got him!" he said, smiling, and wiping his brow with honest pride. "See, Charles? See, Molly? Got him!"
"Don't bring it here, Ralph, please. We are going to have tea," came Evelyn's gentle voice from the lawn; and Ralph and the terrier Vic retired to hang the body of the slain upon a fir-tree on the back premises, the recognized long home of stoats and weasels at Atherstone. ”

“ Friends, relations, guardians interpose, obstacles of every kind arise, which can only be overcome by gaining that wealth and station, the want of which is the impediment."
"Not so, not so!" replied Lady Danvers, eagerly. "Let her he loves be nobly firm, and bold in affection. Let her do as your mother did; and, if there be competence, there will be happiness; but really, let us look about us. ”

“ Men, drowning, see their whole lives as in a flashlight's glare. So did Danvers see his past. He was again a boy, embarking on the Far West, and he breathed the wet spring air, blowing over prairie and river. He was with the men on the upper deck, and noted their glances of curiosity. Their youth seemed never to have faded, as he remembered the delicate face of the joyous Latimer, the kind glance of the doctor, the western breeziness of Toe String Joe and the quieter manner of Scar Faced Charlie; while the debonair arrogance of Sweet Oil Bob stirred his fighting blood afresh. ”

“ I have to go down with two or three men to Richmond. We are to dine at the Star and Garter, and afterward Philip [198] Danvers has asked me to go home with him. The Danvers are charming people—have a beautiful house on the river, and everything in the best possible style. I should rather like to cultivate them. It is never a good plan to throw over friends who may be influential; still, if you really wish it, Hilda, I'll come home to-night and make some sort of excuse to Danvers—wire to him that I am ill, or something of the kind. ”

“ Before I cast my vote in this ballot, I wish to say that I have listened to my honored colleague from Chouteau County with mingled feelings of shame at my own unworthiness and admiration for the courage which had dared to say what every man of us should have said six [293] weeks ago. Senator Danvers beseeches us to send to Washington a man who will guard the fair name of Montana, who will work for our best interests, and reflect honor on every inhabitant of the State. He asks us to vote for one above reproach, one who would accept no position at the expense of his fellows. ”

“ Evelyn and Aurelia had appeared together, and it was evident from Evelyn's expression that Aurelia had told her. What conversation there was turned upon Sir George's illness.
"We must go by the afternoon train, my dear," said Marston down the table to his wife. "In Sir George's present state all visitors are an incubus."
Carr looked up. "I think I ought to go, too," he said. "I wished to arrange to do so this morning, but Mr. Danvers," glancing at Charles, "would not hear of it. I am sure, when there is illness in a house, strangers are always in the way." ”

“ D’ye mean to say that this lad whom I held in me two arms as a babe, would sell his country to your mad old king?”
“If the price of his treachery were sufficient, of course he would,” jeered Danvers. “It was the end of country and all else when he knew that ten thousand pounds would be gained by the delivery of the dispatch. I have met many men; and I am a fair judge of these little things, believe me.”
“If I were as sharp as you,” growled the Irish trooper, “I’d be afraid to associate wid meself, so I would.”
“I was here when the Lascar came,” said Danvers to Ethan, and ignoring Longsword. ”

“ I've heard that the Brabant family have always had a strain of insanity running through it.”
Bruce started. He knew that what Danvers had said was perfectly true, but had thought that he himself was the one man in Fiji who did know. Brabant had himself told him that several of his family on the father's side had “gone a bit wrong,” as he put it.
The contemptuous tone of Danvers stung him to the quick.
“That's a beastly thing to say of a man whose house you visit almost daily—and visit when you have never even met him. You must have been brought up in a blackguardly school.” ”

“ Oh, Burroughs has that county well organized!"
"H-m-m!" mused Danvers, nodding affirmation. "Silver Bow is not the only county, and Moore is not the only chairman. I am chairman of the Chouteau County delegation, and we are solid for you. I have more or less influence in other counties," modestly. As they walked they canvassed the situation. Without Silver Bow it did look dubious.
Turning a corner they met O'Dwyer, ruddy and smiling as ever.
"Here's O'Dwyer!" cried Danvers. "He is always good in an emergency. ”

“ When a week had gone by and no word had come from Stephanie, Danvers wrote her three letters and tore the lot of them up. This demonstrates pretty well his condition of mind. He had also become sharply suspicious of the telephone-clerk employed at the College of Arms. Finally, he cancelled a visit which he was to have paid to an aunt. This upset the aunt and his housekeeper: Danvers would not have cared if it had occasioned a war. Until he knew where he was, the man was not going to leave Town. ”

“ Among the passengers at the rail Philip Danvers saw—could it be? a woman—a white woman, young and beautiful. What could be her mission in that far country which seemed so vast to the young Englishman that each day's journey put years of civilization behind him?
The girl on the Fontenelle was evidently enjoying the situation, and Danvers discovered at once that she was holding court on her own boat as well as commanding tribute from the Far West. The men about him stared eagerly at the slender, imperious figure, while Burroughs procured a glass from the mate and feasted his eyes. ”

“ Your request for what you call an 'advance' is absurd. So far from 'advancing' you anything I shall have to cut short the allowance I have been making you. I have met here a Mrs. and Miss Danvers. I have asked Miss Danvers to do me the honour to marry me. She has consented. When that event comes to pass—which will be very shortly—your allowance will recede to a vanishing point That you will get something to do is, therefore, the advice of your affectionate brother, Cecil Buxton."
"It would be an odd coincidence," reflected Hubert, "if that Miss Danvers is this Miss Danvers." ”

“ Humanity and honesty, and everything that is good, have gone out of it. The world was not so when I knew it first.'
"'Well! well!' cried old Danvers; 'if the world be as bad as you say it is, it is one comfort that I shall not be long in it; for I cannot live to know that my wife and child are beggars, and that I am a prisoner, starving in a jail.'
"At this moment, Wates entered the room, and addressing Mr. Danvers, said—'I have but this morning heard of your misfortunes, Mr. Danvers, and have not lost a moment in hastening to offer my assistance. ”

“ But Danvers had more to say.
"As time goes on we watch events, comparing the government of this country with that of our own. Little by little we are brought to feel that these States are being fairly well governed, after all. In my own case, when Judge Latimer asked me to take an active part in politics, I hesitated. But I had cast my lot in Fort Benton, and it seemed wrong to accept all that America had to give with no return from myself." ”

“ The bed on which the unconscious man had been placed was narrow and hard. Its coverlet was a patchwork affair of depressing hue.
Mr. Danvers bent to his work with a full appreciation of the tragedy which had happened. His face was solemn, and expressive of the most tender solicitude for the injured man. In a whisper he dispatched his assistant for warm water and bandages, whilst he unfastened and removed the fur coat. Inside the clothing was saturated with still warm blood. ”

“ Danvers swallowed.
"To an old-fashioned Club," he said.
"I thought—women weren't allowed—in men's Clubs."
"There's an annex," said Danvers. "I've never used it before."
"You mean, I'm the first? How funny." She wiped her eyes and presented a tearful face. "Do I look as if I'd been crying?"
"You—you do a little," said Danvers. "Your eyes——"
"Is my nose swollen?"—tremulously.
"Oh, no. It's only your eyes. If you don't cry any more..."
The girl averted her face and straightened her hat.
"I think I shall like you," she said. "You're rather like me."
"I hope you will," said Danvers. ”