Everet

“ Everet and Braine are walking down the road from the station. Everet is talking earnestly. Braine is listening eagerly. Disappointment is written on his face.
"You have found no clew?"
"None." Everet speaks hopelessly.
"Don't speak in that tone. A woman like Helen cannot drop out of existence without leaving some trace. What was the last you discovered?" ”

“ Braine stops in the road and looks helplessly into Everet's face. He moans:
"Don't say that, Everet! Don't say that! Not Helen! It was not she. It was some other."
"And after all, dear Braine, what is the difference? A Sixth Ward politician, or a member of the cabinet."
He has thrown his arm across Braine's shoulders. His tone is one of tenderest sympathy, but there is a certain sternness in it.
Braine's strong body trembles like a weak child's. ”

“ She crosses the room with a swift movement, and catches from the desk the paper Everet has written on. She holds it out:
"He has taken me from you. In return—we give you this."
She holds out the paper. Braine is staring at her stupidly, and does not take it. She drops it at his feet. She is very quiet in her manner and tone, but she is intense.
Everet is suffocating. Both men watch her in a kind of dream. She goes on swiftly:
"I have done what I could for you. A reasonable man would be quite satisfied; I presume you will be ”

“ Braine looks a little dazed.
"Yes, I understand."
He speaks so hopelessly that Everet's face contracts with sympathy and pain. He proposes:
"You might write to her, Braine. I could not take it, you know. But I will be there when she receives it. I will prevail upon her to read it, should she refuse."
Every word that is spoken only in kindness and from the heart, cuts Braine like a knife. He feels no jealousy, that this grave friend has an influence over his wife which he no longer possesses, but the thought hurts terribly. ”

“ The door opens and Braine hurries into the room.
He stands, bewildered at finding darkness. He can only see objects dimly through the gloom. Everet throws his arm around him, and leads him to the bed. He leaves him standing there, and hurries from the apartment.
Braine sinks on his knees beside Helen. He throws his strong arms about the frail figure, and lifts her to his heart.
There is not a sound, there in the darkness, save the heavy, tremulous breaths drawn by Braine.
He holds her so. He gives her no caress, says no word of endearment. His emotions have carried him beyond such forms. ”

“ Everet suddenly stretches out his hand. There is an eagerness in his tone. He says:
"Thank you for that, Braine. I—I—" He pauses.
Braine continues:
"No, you were not to blame—nor she—Oh, Everet!" rising and speaking excitedly, "she was not to blame. You do not know. She is as good as the angels. The crime is mine. Though she sank to the gutter, mine would be the responsibility, not her's. Six months ago she was as true in thought and deed as a child. I forced her to this. I—I—I—"
He lays his head on the mantel, and sobs shake him from head to foot. No one cares to see a strong man weep. ”

“ Everet looks back at the fire. She has not flinched once. She speaks with the ring of truth in her voice. He has been in this woman's society almost constantly for weeks, and she has never mentioned anything pertaining to politics or "business." He believes that those subjects are beyond her comprehension.
He looks back at her. He wonders if it is possible that Braine has not told her that he is the needful man. As he looks at her sweet, troubled face, he decides that it is possible; that she is innocent. ”

“ You talk like a child. This man has done me the greatest wrong that a woman ever suffered. These last two months with him have been one great insult, one monstrous indignity and affront. Listen? It is too late. Once I begged him to listen to me. I humiliated myself before him, begging for one little expression of love—the next morning he mocked me. It is too late."
And Everet knows that she speaks the truth. ”

“ Everet coming to-morrow. Every one seems to enjoy the anticipation of his visit. Gladys talks a great deal of him. He is evidently a very superior man. We leave here to-morrow night, and return to Thebes. I have a little curiosity to meet the man, and hope that he will come before we leave.
August. We are still at Dorp House, and do not leave for some days yet. Mr. Everet came yesterday morning. He is a charming man, and reminds me of Edgar in many ways. He is a dignified man, too. I do not like men who do not impress me as earnest and grave. He is a courtly sort of man. ”

“ Everet seldom leaves Helen's side. When he is not with her, he is watching her. The house is too crowded for comfort, and Helen has not had enough experience yet to enjoy it. She always feels a little bewildered after one o'clock, and remarks to Everet as he stands by her while she leans back in a chair, wearily, that she always feels as though she ought to be in bed after eleven. She laughs, a sweet, excited little laugh as she looks up at him. He wonders how long so charming a child will retain her naïveté in such an atmosphere. ”

“ Helen looks up, elated:
"I can help? I'm glad of that, Ed, but it seems funny to think of my helping in business, doesn't it?" with a little laugh.
Braine is so intent on the matter that he only replies by a pat of the hand. He continues:
"Yes, you can help. I will tell you what I want you to do. Everet is fascinated with you. He hardly left your side to-night, and when he did, his eyes followed you. Everet is the only one whose support I must have now. ”

“ Braine does not notice it. He only sees that other trace of Helen.
She seems to be in no pain, but utterly exhausted as he lays her back on the pillow, while they wait for Everet. Her eyes never wander from his face. He interprets their expression by his own emotions, and smiles back at her in response. ”

“ As Braine is leaving the room, he asks:
"Can you bring matters to a focus in a week?"
"No—in two weeks," continuing her writing without looking up.
Braine goes out. As the curtain falls behind him she drops her pen, and rising, begins to pace the floor restlessly. She is suddenly wretched. She hates Everet. She has a mad desire to rush after Braine, and throw herself into his arms. ”

“ Once, during the evening, Braine is near her, and says with suppressed elation:
"You are charming to-night, Helen. I have never seen you more beautiful. Everet is strongly attracted."
Helen looks up quickly. She says with a little deprecation in her tone, and a little entreaty in her eyes;
"He only admires me as he does other nice looking women, Ed. Indeed, you need not mind. ”

“ I should pray to be delivered from a life with such a person, let alone trying to learn to love him. No, there can be no relationship between Geoffrey and Everet Mapleson, as I have sometimes imagined there might be. ”

“ She had seen Everet Mapleson, and made a very natural mistake; she had believed him to be the child she had loved and cared for, and it was no wonder she was pained by his refusal to recognize her.
“I never bought any roses of you in New York, Margery,” he said, kindly. “I have never seen you until now since I was a small boy of five years.”
The woman looked up at him amazed.
Geoffrey smiled frankly into her upturned face.
“The young man whom you met was a Mr. Everet Mapleson; we were in college together, and we look so much alike that we are often mistaken for each other,” he explained. ”

“ On the journey, Everet is seldom near them: when he is, he is bright, helpful, tender. Helen has never once spoken. She helps herself in no way. Braine cares for her like a child. She is perfectly passive. ”

“ Edgar almost wearied me with affection to-night. One can't be always troubled with sentiment, when one has matters of so much importance on hand.
Of course, I did nothing to wound his feelings but he understood by my manner that I was preoccupied.
He tried to coach me. Coach me! How stupid men are sometimes! He was determined that I should grasp Everet by the collar and hold him while he consented to do as I wished. ”

“ Rose Mary adjusted a smothering fold of her dress and continued in her rejoicing over Everett's surrender to circumstance inevitable.
"And do you think you can dig some more in the fields? Don't happiness and hoe mean the same thing to most men?" she questioned with a laugh.
"Yes, hoe to the death and the devil take the last man at the end of the row, fortune to the first!" answered Everett with a return of his cynical look and tone. ”

“ For a moment Edgar looks annoyed. This is becoming a little awkward—for a husband. He starts to speak, then hesitates for a moment, then begins:
"Your woman's cleverness should prompt you, Helen. You understand little politic devices to a considerable extent; it is only necessary that you enlarge upon it in a smaller field. Everet will call, of course. There is—no reason why he should—" she is looking at him—"not call as often as he chooses, nor why he should not choose to call often—nor why you—should not use your influence to our advantage—to the end of gaining his support for me. ”

“ Will you walk over to Tilting Rock, beyond the barn-lot, with me after supper and let me show you?"
"Will I cross the fields of Elysium to gaze over the pearly ramparts?" demanded Everett with boyish enthusiasm, if not a wholly accurate use of mythological metaphor. "Let's cut supper and go on now! What do you say? Why wait?"
"I'm afraid," laughed Rose Mary as she prepared to close up the wide window and leave everything in shipshape for the night. "A woman oughtn't to risk feeding a hungry man cold moonbeams instead of hot hoecake. ”

“ By the time Everett reached the mouth of the Congo, he had learned that in everything he must depend upon himself; that he would be accepted only as the kind of man that, at the moment, he showed himself to be. ”

“ Everet Mapleson saw her the moment that she entered the room; indeed, he had been watching her for a half-hour or more, and his eyes glowed with admiration.
“She is a hundred fold more lovely than I thought her this afternoon,” he said, under his breath. “I shall love that girl, if I allow myself to see much of her. And why not? I believe I will set myself regularly at work to win her; thus I shall not only secure a charming little wife, but accomplish my revenge, also, for the indignity that I have received from his hands.” ”

“ What good will it do you? Everet,” she added, as a sudden thought came to her, “you are in love with that girl, Gladys Huntress, and you are jealous of him.”
“Well?”
“You have conceived the idea that Annie Dale disappeared because of some wrong that she had done, and that this Geoffrey Huntress may be her child, and not of honorable birth. You believe, if you can prove this, that Miss Huntress will never marry him, and you will then be able to win her.”
Mrs. Mapleson had said this looking straight into her son’s eyes, and seeming to read his soul like an open book. ”

“ Rose Mary gave a cry of delight and hugged the whole talented family to her breast, while Stonie and Tobe yelled and danced as Uncle Tucker turned with evident emotion to Everett to claim his congratulations.
"Never saw anything like it in my life," Everett assured him with the greatest enthusiasm, and, as he spoke, he laughed down into Rose Mary's lifted blue eyes that were positively tender with pride over the puppies in her arms. "It's a sight worth losing the tale of a dream for—taken all together." ”

“ Everett was saying to his daughter.
"Yes, Mr. Nelson came down to the office to see me to-day. It seems he's been talking up the matter of a boy choir, and he wants Ned and Grant, here, to sing in it. He's going to have Howard, and he's heard that Charlie sings; then there are about a dozen little German fellows, and some men. I told him I'd no objection, and I'd ask the boys what they thought." ”

“ Geoffrey shivered. It was dreadful to have to listen to these revelations, and to realize what a narrow escape Gladys had had, for he knew that if Everet Mapleson had succeeded in deceiving her until the steamer sailed, the shock of her discovery, when alone, and in the power of the audacious scoundrel, might have resulted in her death. Even now they might not be able to secure her release, and she would still have to remain his wife in the sight of the world, but no moral obligation bound her to him, and no power could ever compel her to live with him. ”

“ Everet Mapleson—for it was really he—went on rapidly, for the sound of wheels from without came to him, and he knew that the room would be full in a few moments. “Do not make a scene. You are mine, and no earthly power can sever the bonds that unite us! I love you madly! I worship you! There is nothing I will not do to prove my devotion to you! I have given you a proud name; I have wealth, position, influence, and I am your slave if you will give me but a crumb of love upon which to feast my hungry heart. Gladys, again I implore you not to make a 248scene! ”

“ Everet and Dalzel are talking together. Helen looks a little bewildered, and Mrs. Grayson looks a little amused, and a good deal contemptuous—or shocked, perhaps. She nods towards the conservatory, and at the moment a man and woman come from the shadow of a palm, towards the quartette, engrossed in conversation—at least, Bogart is. Mrs. Stevens is engrossed in looking charming. Gladys continues in little spasmodic asides:
"Every one in the room—" they are nearer, and she lowers her voice, "is talking about it. It is disgraceful." ”

“ Braine comes slowly to the middle of the room. His face is livid. He stops. He articulates hoarsely:
"Take away your hand!"
Everet does not move, but looks Braine in the face. Helen leans heavily against him. She is fainting, perhaps.
Braine stands motionless a moment, with his hands clenched. He makes a sudden move toward the pair. He is trembling with fury. He raises his clenched fist. Helen rises and steps toward him. She seems suddenly to have recovered herself. She says in a strange, tense voice:
"Stop!"
Braine takes a step backward—it is something in her face that prompts the action. ”