Farley

“ He reached Farley’s tavern some time before sundown, and his arrival giving advance notice of the earl, everything was ready for him, even to a fine wild turkey roasting on the kitchen spit for supper. Like most of the road-houses of the day, Farley’s was spacious and comfortable, though not luxurious. There was a private room there, too, with a roaring fire of hickory logs on the hearth, for the night had grown colder. At supper, when there was time to spare, old Lance produced a box, out of which he took some handsome table furniture and a pair of tall silver candlesticks. ”

“ Dick Farley noticed that the bronzed, lined face was very calm, the eyes somewhat wider opened than usual, the fingers upon the fagot as steady as should be the fingers of a man without nerves.
"Johnny—" Farley was speaking at last, with an effort, keeping his tones as steady as his partner's—"you are right when you say that there are some things which we can't explain. But it's up to us to explain what we can, isn't it? You haven't thought of those men for a long time, and now they flash up before you all of a sudden, and clear. ”

“ For a moment Farley hesitated between going forward toward the little mountain valley and turning back. Then the thought came to him that he could hope to learn what he sought to know by going forward, quicker than by swinging back toward the southwest. For if the two horses had gone eastward, it would be easier to pick up their trail than upon the path which they had cut up yesterday. If there should be any fresh tracks leading into the Devil's Pocket, that would settle it. ”

“ You understand that what we’re saying to each other is entirely sub rosa. We’ve never happened to speak of Miss Farley; but having been connected with the Copeland-Farley Company before Farley retired, you probably have heard of her. A very interesting girl—slightly spoiled by prosperity, but really refreshingly original. Do you mind telling me whether you have any reason for believing that the particular Corrigan arrested down there as a suspect, and with those wealthy connections so discreetly suggested in the newspaper, is related in any way to Nan Farley? ”

“ There was nothing left for Harry to do but pass them. Mr. Farley cast a sleepy glance at the boy, but did not speak. He invariably treated the lad as though he were a part of the department furnishings. The slender, dark man paid no attention to him whatever. ”

“ Farley replied, growing more embarrassed. “I thought perhaps you’d help [Pg 335] him to get back where he belongs, that’s all. It’s going to be a hard fight. Most men wouldn’t have the nerve to make it. But he has, if you’ll help him.”
Helen’s eyes filled with tears. “You make me ashamed, Mr. Farley. If you can forgive him, after all you’ve done for him——”
Farley laughed. “Oh, I haven’t done half so much as you think, Mrs. Briggs. I’ll feel repaid if you’ll only make him see that he ought to stay in the fight.” He heard steps in the hall and Briggs’s voice speaking to the reporter. ”

“ Briggs remarked, with a sigh, “but it’s pretty hard to see it sometimes.”
[Pg 315]
“I’ve thought of that myself,” Farley replied, dryly.
“But I’m beginning to find out one thing, Farley. The Almighty often likes to give us what we deserve by letting us have the things we want.”
“Sometimes He gives us more than we deserve,” said Farley, in a low voice.
“Well, if a man gets it in the neck, it’s something to be able to stand up against it. And no matter how much you’ve had to take, Farley, you can have the satisfaction of knowing what you are.” ”

“ There was something of appeal in the look she gave him as their hands touched—the vaguest hint of an appeal. Her eyes narrowed for an instant with the intentness of her gaze as she searched his face for—sympathy, [19] understanding, confidence. Then she withdrew her hand quickly, aware that his admiration was expressing itself with disconcerting frankness in his friendly gray eyes.
“It’s been nice to see you again,” she said softly. “Good luck!”
“Good luck to you, Miss Farley; I hope to meet you again sometime.” ”

“ Farley wanted to meet him so much, too," she broke off to add, always careful to include every one in the room in her talk. "They ought to have gone to see him, of course—he had a magnificent part; but Gerald would take Margaret to 'King John'. He thought it would educate her more and amuse her less, I suppose."
"Is Mr. Farley an actor?" Hannah asked.
"Dawson, that ought to take it out of you!" Mrs. Lakeman laughed. "There's one place in the world, at any rate, where they haven't heard of you." ”

“ He came to you first and at the earliest possible moment in the hope of frightening you as he did before, hoping that you’d persuade Thurston to settle with him. As for Farley’s incompetence to make a will, that’s all rubbish! His mother suffered from senile dementia—no symptoms until she was nearly ninety. Every business man in town would laugh at the idea that Tim Farley wasn’t sane. He was just a little bit saner than most men. His occasional fits of anger were only the expression of his vigorous [271] personality; wholly characteristic; nothing in that for Harlowe to hang a case on. ”

“ And the baby’s favorite game when awake is to play horsey astride of his back.”
“How cunning!” Jacqueline murmured. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a pet woofus to take care of Stuart?” Stuart being my own youngest.
But Mrs. Farley was a bit incredulous.
“Mr. Cabot,” she asked, “how could Baby Kew know anything about playing horse, seeing as there are no horses on Poros?”
Myles laughed good-naturedly.
“I said ‘horse’,” he explained, “merely to give an earthly allusion. What the little king thinks he is riding on is a whistling bee.” ”

“ Farley unnecessarily. He would undoubtedly have wanted a proceeding brought to correct the adoption, but that could only have advertised the error, and Mr. Farley might have died before we finished it. Still, if I had known I should have taken care that he didn’t die intestate. But from what Mr. Eaton tells me, this man is all primed to attack any will that might have been left, on the ground of Mr. Farley’s mental incapacity—which is ludicrous, of course. There was never a saner man ”

“ Bright Wing uttered a guttural exclamation, which was smothered by Farley’s lusty shout:
“Ross Douglas—’r my name ain’t Joe Farley! Alive an’ a-livin’—but wetter’n a drownded mus’rat an’ lookin’ paler ’n a piller-case! Youngster, you’ve been in the dangedest scrimmage that ever was—anybody can see that. How in the name o’ all the purty women in the universe, did you ever git out o’ that yaller-jackets’ nest, an’ make y’r way here? ”

“ At Groton he made no effort to obtain business, and acted for the most part as an associate or aid to his brother, who was in the enjoyment of a large practice and income, for those days and parts.
With George F. Farley, whose age ran with the century, I was well acquainted from 1835 until his death in 1855. He was one of the small number of men that I have known who underestimated their powers. In one respect, perhaps, this was not true of Farley. He never appeared wanting in courage for any legal struggle with the leaders of the bar in New England. ”

“ Farley because she said not a word about the peck of apples or the other chicken, was met by Jerry coming in search of her. The molasses was boiling over, he told her, and so was her mother, with anxiety lest the wind had taken her, Susie, up in a tree, and had forgotten to bring her down again. He hurried her home between the squalls, and Susie quietly resolved to say not a word about all the things she had told at the Farley home. What if Nettie should think she hadn’t been womanly to talk so much about what they were doing! ”

“ And he took it—not being a fool!"
"A chance!" scoffed Farley, the rising anger within him making him for the second forget that this was her father, his gun raised. "To drive your —— knife through a man's throat—to come at him in the dark——"
"I used no knife, and I came upon him in broad daylight. And I shot the throat out of him, after I got this!"
He threw back his shirt collar and showed a raw wound at the base of his neck. And Dick Farley, suddenly seeing the light of a great hope, dropped his revolver into the sand as he clutched Dalton's arm. ”

“ The car whirled round to the Farleys’ and Nan let herself in with her key.
Farley was awake, reading a magazine article on “The Ohio in the Civil War.”
“Back already! Getting married doesn’t take long, does it?—not as long as getting out of it!”
[222] “Oh, the wedding was stunning!” she cried breathlessly. “I never saw so much gold braid in my life. I’m going with the Pembrokes and Mr. Eaton down to dedicate a swimming-pool at the Wright Settlement House. ”

“ As one in a dream, he heard Farley saying:
“The poor boy’s done fer, Bright Wing! He’s bleedin’ from the mouth, an’ senseless. ’Taint no use to stand by him no longer; he’s past all help. Le’s try to cut our way out o’ this muss. We can’t more’n die! An’ maybe it’ll draw the cusses away from the spot, an’ save his scalp!”
The Wyandot’s war-whoop and Farley’s stentorian bellow again sounded above the yells of their enemies. Fainter and fainter grew the indescribable [198] sounds of conflict in the darkness; and Ross was alone. No, not alone ”

“ Where a good many men have been—and not many come back."
They climbed from the trail along a spine of rock to a black spire, rising clear of the scanty brush. To the very top of the sloping rock they worked their cautious way until their two gaunt bodies stood outlined against the sky. Here they found footing, and here Watson stood with arm flung out, pointing. Dick Farley was not unused to the thousand moods of the mountain places, and yet as his eyes ran along the pointing arm, and beyond it eagerly, he muttered his startled admiration. ”

“ Her mother had been at least an honest woman, who had addressed herself uncomplainingly to the business of maintaining a home for her children.
All that the Farleys had done in changing her environment to one of comfort and decency and educating her in a fashionable school with the daughters of gentlefolk had not affected the blood in her. She had not been worthy of their pity, their generosity, their confidence. Yet it had meant much to these people in their childlessness to take her into their hearts and give her their name. Farley’s ideas of honor had been the strictest ”

“ Everybody laughed, and Lady Farley continued: "I have studied men carefully for many years, and I feel that I am now qualified to carry on a satisfactory Platonic friendship. But of course, being married, I have not time or inclination for the thing; soldiers don't run out of a battle to try their skill at a shooting-range—they have heavier work on hand." ”

“ And since there were five pebbles, he means to be gone about five days. No, he didn't add a postscript saying what he was going for. We need sugar, and we need ammunition. Also—" with a little glance, purely feminine, at her skirt—"I shall want a new dress!"
"But," suggested Farley, "there is no town, no camp near enough for him to get those things and be back in five days?"
"He is generally gone longer," she admitted as she got back into the canoe and pushed off. "But it doesn't matter what he went for, does it? You'll have to put up with my sole company for the five days." ”

“ V.V., in his repressed voice.
"Oh!" replied Kern, trying not to look surprised. "Well, then, all right, sir, Mr. V.V. Just whatever--"
"I'll give him one chance to take you back himself. I'll assume, for his sake, that there's a misunderstanding.... If he refuses, so much the worse for him. I shall know where to go next."
"Oh!--You mean John Farley?"
It was a shrewd guess. John Farley, sometime of the sick, and ever a good friend of the Dabney House, was known to hold past-due "paper," of the hard-driving Heth superintendent. ”

“ But how had Yuri succeeded in climbing into power again in Cupia, nine-tenths of the inhabitants of which were loyal to Princess Lilla and the baby king?
Then Myles remembered her closing words: “The whistling bees—” It was as little Jacqueline Farley had prophesied on her father’s New England farm, during Cabot’s brief revisit to the earth. Cabot had stated: “There can be no peace on any continent which is inhabited by more than one race of intelligent beings”; whereat little Jacqueline had pointed out that the whistling bees were intelligent beings. ”

“ Cabot waved again to Lilla.
“Be of good cheer, my princess,” he called up to her. “My enemies have had me nearer to death than this before. But ‘they cannot kill a Minorian.’”
His supreme confidence reassured Lilla somewhat, and for a moment even Yuri’s brow darkened with uncertainty. But then the king smiled quizzically, as one who knows a very amusing secret. ”

“ As Myles held close the warm girlish form of his beloved, his tense troubles dropped from him, and a perfect peace descended upon his soul. Lilla pressed limply against him, home at last in the haven of his embrace.
Thus they replighted their love. Thus they stood in the subterranean cellars of the Kuana Palace, oblivious of time and space; Cabot, the earth man, dirty, long-haired, bearded, and disheveled; and Lilla, Princess of Poros, lovely, dainty, and immaculate. Beauty and the beast, indeed! But they adored each other, with a love unequaled on two planets. ”