John Kenyon

“ John Kenyon (1784-1856) was born in Jamaica, the son of a wealthy West Indian landowner, but came to England while quite a boy, and was a conspicuous figure in literary society during the second quarter of the century. He published some volumes of minor verse, but is best known for his friendships with many literary men and women, and for his boundless generosity and kindliness to all with whom he was brought into contact. ”

“ John Kenyon had been thoroughly advised of Phil’s work and knew that there was nothing in the way of suggestion or advice that he could offer. He had noticed for some days the gaunt look in his young partner’s face. There were indications of his growing maturity and shadows of the struggle through which he had passed, but there were marks which John Kenyon knew belonged to a different kind of trouble. Gallatin had told him what had happened in the woods and Kenyon had learned something of Phil’s romance in New York. ”

“ If any man more miserable and dejected than John Kenyon existed in the broad dominion of Canada, he was indeed a person to be pitied. After having sent his cablegram to Wentworth, he returned to his very cheerless hotel. Next morning when he awoke he knew that Wentworth would have received the message, but that the chances were ten thousand to one that he could not get the money in time, even if he could get it at all. Still, he resolved to stay in Ottawa, much as he detested the place, until the hour the option expired. ”

“ Kenyon another.'
'But, my dear Miss Longworth, that is absurd. We could never accept any such terms.'
'Oh yes, you can. I spoke to John Kenyon himself about being a partner in this mine. I am afraid he thought very little of the offer at the time. I don't intend him to know anything at all about my ownership now. He has discovered the mine—you and he together. If it is valueless, then you and he will be two of the sufferers; if it is all you think it is, then you will be the gainers. The labourer is worthy of his hire, and I am sure both you and Mr. ”

“ Kenyon was indeed a delicate boy. He was small and delicate and weak in everything but spirit. "He has the spirit," said John, his friend, "of the deuce and all!"
Ethel forgave easily, perhaps too easily, but then she was Kenyon's devoted slave, who cried about him half the night, and lived for him, and longed [Pg 3] to die for him. Kenyon had toned himself down by tea-time, and when he sought her then as though nothing had happened, she was only too thankful to catch his spirit. ”

“ KENYON SHOWS HIS METAL “He is a young man of quick observation and sure judgment.
And once he has made up his mind, he acts like lightning.”
—Extract from a letter of Nunez.
For a moment Dallas Gilbert and Steele Kenyon stood looking into each other’s face in silence; each was reading a suspicion akin to their own.
“I’m inclined to think that Anna has the packet,” stated Kenyon, slowly.
“I am sure of it,” cried the girl. “Oh, I have always hated myself for not believing in her! She seemed so child-like in some things, and she is so clinging and pretty.” ”

“ Kenyon did not reply, but sat staring moodily before him. He had maintained this attitude for some time before Webster noticed it; and then the latter grew suddenly silent.
“It’s the girl,” he told himself. “Poor chap! She’s got him, whoever she is. He’ll never see a woman in the distance again without thinking it’s she; nor he’ll never see another sun arise without thinking that it’s going to witness his meeting with her. ”

“ Kenyon beckoned the boy, and in a moment he had a paper. Somehow, as he turned and walked toward Thirty-sixth Street, the realization suddenly came to him of how badly off he was; and he scowled at the shadowy future, a sudden, sobering fear at his heart. But this was only for a moment. The man who had stood at the side of Nunez on that last dreadful night in Montevideo was not one to allow a little ill-luck to cast him down; so with chin up and shoulders squared, Kenyon threw the thing from him with a laugh. ”

“ And Hong Yo laughed, his teeth showing hideously, as he did so.
Farbush echoed the laugh.
“That’s so,” said he. “She would be most anxious, indeed. For somehow, Kenyon, she doesn’t seem to have taken a fancy to you—that is, not the sort of fancy a girl should take to the man whom her friends have selected as her husband.”
“It is not news to me,” replied Kenyon, without a trace of feeling in his voice or manner. “She dislikes me, in fact, and is at no pains to conceal it.”
Hong Yo bent forward across the table, his narrow eyes fixed upon the young adventurer. ”

“ Kenyon put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Don’t think me an ass, old fellow; I see all these things you speak of—and perhaps more, for I’m deeper in the maze than you think. But in spite of it all, I can’t drive the image of that unknown girl from my mind; and I cannot help believing that no matter what manner of things the others may be guilty of, she is innocent.”
“All right,” returned Webster, with a sigh. “Look at it as you see fit. I only hope you prove to be right. There is a great deal in a person’s characteristics, I know; and of course I haven’t seen the girl. ”

“ He was born on the island of Jamaica, West Indies; was left an orphan while a schoolboy in Bristol, England; and was educated at the Charterhouse, London, and at Peterhouse College, Cambridge. He became the associate and friend of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Charles Lamb, the Brownings, and numerous other celebrities, including Bayard Taylor and James T. Fields, and, possessed of great wealth, was the helpful and unostentatious benefactor of many of the more needy of his literary friends. ”

“ Kenyon as he looked at her gathered some of this, and his heart beat swiftly. It was the sort of thing that tells heavily with a woman; and he had progressed.
“If I can succeed,” was his thrilling thought, “there will be no one stand higher than I! And I will succeed!”
He heard the gruff grunting of the car’s signal outside; and he turned to Dallas, catching up his hat.
“I must go; the men whom I have engaged will be waiting for me; and then Forrester must not be given too much time.”
She pinned on her hat and took her long coat from a chair where it had been thrown. ”

“ In my experience I have found that the man who consistently denies having special knowledge never betrays himself.”
Kenyon was suddenly called upon to struggle against an almost irresistible desire to laugh; it was a difficult task, but he succeeded in retaining his gravity. The thing was really absurd!
“Has he said anything about what his plans are, now that the old man is dead?” inquired Farbush, eagerly.
Kenyon never quite understood what prompted him to do it, but under a sudden impulse, he answered:
“He does not know that the old man is dead.” ”

“ In the faces of Forrester and Anna, Kenyon read amazement at these words. But the face of the other girl did not change.
“Here is a man,” and the old man indicated Forrester, “who knows every step I would have taken to safeguard him of whom you all know. And here,” indicating Kenyon, “is one of unquestioned courage, of ready resource, of coolness in the face of danger. Combined they will form a defence which even the most secret and deadly machinations would find difficult in breaking down. You, Griscom, have asked Anna of me in marriage; and you,” to Kenyon, “have asked for her.” ”

“ For the third time within a week, Kenyon related his experiences to his attentive friend. He began with their talk at dinner some nights before and the idea that he had conceived from Webster’s laughing remark. Then he went on to his hunt for Gypsy Brady, his meeting with the cracksman, Big Slim, then until he reached the scene in the lower hall of Farbush’s mansion. Webster brought his fist down upon the table.
“That settles it!” exclaimed he. “This is the end of it. Never again will I permit you out of my sight. You are without mental poise or a shadow of forethought. ”

“ When he found that they were looking for information upon the subject of the attack made upon him, he at once manifested great interest.
“Police business?” inquired he.
“No; we have private reasons for seeking information in this matter,” answered Kenyon. “Anything you can tell us will be appreciated in the proper way.”
The little pugilist’s eyes snapped.
“Now, that’s good talk!” exclaimed he. “You see, pal, I’m a stranger in a strange land, and my roll ain’t any too thick. New York is no place, just now, for a man in my line ”

“ And when he got me into that damned hole, Selden’s Square, he done me up.”
“By heaven, it’s the man from Butte!” was Kenyon’s mental exclamation.
“If you want this person, Forrester, why do you come here?” came the voice of Hong Yo. There was no mistaking the hollow tone, and the slow, precise English. “We have told you that there is no such man here, and that we know nothing of him.”
“Don’t take me for a fool,” spoke the voice of the man from the mines, “I know what he wrote me. I know the game and the players. You say you don’t know Forrester, eh? Well, let the girl speak ”

“ Kenyon turned. A pale-eyed young man with a budding mustache had drawn a chair up close to him, and was in the act of lighting a cigarette. There was a friendly, inconsequential look upon his chubby face, and the adventurer’s eyes snapped.
“Yes, they are rather a good sort,” replied Kenyon, inspecting his cigarette critically. “But I haven’t tried the champagne.”
The other made a wry face.
“Then you may consider yourself lucky,” said he. “These old fellows like Farbush [154] should really leave their cellars for someone else to select. They do make a most dreadful mess of it sometimes. ”

“ Kenyon glanced at Webster.
“This one seems to have been told less than the fellow from Butte,” remarked the latter. “I wonder why?”
“Perhaps the other one insisted upon knowing more before he made a move.”
The little pugilist looked interested.
[190] “Say,” spoke he, “if youse can put me hep on the game, I’d be obliged. There is something coming to a couple of stick-up guys for trimming me that night, and I’d like to settle the bill when I’m fit.”
“I’m sorry to say that we can tell you little or nothing; we are vastly interested ourselves for certain reasons, but can learn nothing definite. ”

“ Kenyon sat upon the edge of a table and listened to the mutterings of the hag, for she had continued in her reviling, still keeping her eyes bent downward.
“Fatherless worm!” she proclaimed. “Your pale eyes are like the fish, and your soul is as narrow as my thumb-nail.”
From somewhere in the distance came a fit of coughing, weak, ominous, rattling.
“Yo has the mind of an infant to trust to [105] the white devils. The more he coughs the more he trusts.” She held her fat, lumpy hands over the coals and spat contemptuously upon the floor. “He should keep his eyes and his knife sharp. ”

“ Most of the houses were gloom-fronted; a few scattering windows in the section just below the park showed night lights; but one house was brilliantly illuminated, and a long line of carriages was drawn up at the curb.
It was past midnight when Kenyon came along, enveloped in a rain-coat and with an umbrella held over his head.
[152] “By George!” muttered he, “it is really at Farbush’s! What luck! To get inside now should be comparatively easy. What a fortunate thing it is that he should be giving this thing, whatever it is.” ”

“ He coughed hollowly and the handkerchief went to his lips; that he had difficulty in breathing was evident, but for all that, a look of marked satisfaction was upon his face. “We have made no mistake, my son,” addressing his companion, “in selecting Mr. Kenyon, it seems. He pleases me. It is not often that one meets with a person quite so much to one’s liking.”
The other man smiled cheerfully. “I never saw the time, Hong, that you were not right,” said he. “It takes you to pick the winners.” There was unquestioned admiration in his eyes as he turned to Kenyon. “You are the man for the job. ”

“ Webster so laughed and choked and shook over this ideal if exaggerated prospect, that Kenyon, also laughing, was forced to pound him upon the back.
“You haven’t changed much, Garry,” remarked Kenyon. “You still like to slap your own choice of color on the future.”
“Well, there is no use in letting them put up some other shade for me, you know. They’d only turn out a job that wouldn’t suit. Paint the future in a good, cheerful hue, Ken, and she’ll never come to you in mourning. ”

“ Kenyon then called the office, after which he hung up and turned to Austin.
“We will possibly have some news of consequence in a little while,” said he.
“I hope so,” returned the other, “as the [248] thing stands it’s rather unsatisfactory. This little matter of Forrester is really aggravating.”
Promptly at the expiration of ten minutes, the pugilist from Saginaw was shown in. He seemed all eagerness, and at Kenyon’s invitation immediately began his story.
“As soon as I falls to it that I’m due for some information, why, I begins to play the fox myself, see? ”

“ Then [264] footsteps were heard in the hall—slow, painful footsteps—and the door closed with a bang. Kenyon peered through the portières to get a view of the newcomers. He saw Forrester and Anna standing beside a table in the centre of the room. In a doorway stood Farbush, his face white and ominous with rage; and leaning upon him was Hong Yo, looking like the spectre of death itself, but gazing at the young man and girl with laughing mockery in his slit-like eyes.
[265] XXIII
WHAT KENYON HEARD AND SAW “The end, when it comes, comes quickly.” ”