Penfield

“ Penfield.
Mr. Penfield frowned, and continued a little more quickly:
"And when you did return, you engaged in the China trade. You were a successful man, Mr. Shelton. We looked upon you as one of the more brilliant younger men of our seaport. We trusted you, Captain Shelton." ”

“ When I left the room the window was locked fast, and so was every door and window in the place,” he declared aggressively. “I'll take my dying oath to it, sir.” Penfield looked at Grimes; that he was telling the truth was unmistakable.
“Who sits up to let in the young ladies when they go to balls?” he asked.
“Generally no one, sir, because Colonel McIntyre accompanies them or calls for them, and he has his latch-key. Lately,” added Grimes as an after-thought, “Miss Helen has been using a duplicate latch-key.”
“Has Miss Barbara McIntyre a latch-key, also?” asked Penfield. ”

“ Hale’s bedroom and, on finding him asleep, withdrew as quietly as possible.”
“Didn’t you summon the servants?” asked Penfield.
“I did not.” Observing the look of surprise on their faces, he added, “The servants are women. I did not wish to terrify them with this sight,” and he waved his hand in the direction of the dead man.
Penfield reflected a moment, and in the brief interval Ferguson took mental note of Major Richards’ fine physique and strongly molded features. He did not look the man to lose his head in an emergency ”

“ Reproof or no reproof, he had spoken his mind. He had risen from his chair, and stood before his grandfather with determination written in every line of his flushed face. Colonel Butler looked at him and chuckled.
"Very good!" he said. He chuckled again and repeated: "Very good!"
Pen stared at him in astonishment. He could not quite understand his attitude.
[Pg 62] "Now, Penfield," continued the old gentleman, "mind you, I do not approve of petty jealousies and quarrelings, nor of causeless assaults. But, when any person is assailed, it is his peculiar privilege, sir, to hit back. ”

“ Fancy a man who invents such an excuse!"
"But——" began Mrs. Penfield once more, when Mrs. Fessenden interposed.
"I shall hope never to hear his wretched name again," she said. "Maude, dear, you won't forget to-morrow night?"
"Not unless Butler forgets me," said Mrs. Penfield, whereat both ladies laughed the laugh that rounds a pleasant visit.
"Jack," whispered Clara, "please count and see if everyone is here; there should be twenty." ”

“ Penfield's voice was a little disappointed but not suspicious. He rose. There was no use in wasting any more time on a man who took news, real news, so indifferently as Hayden. He thought with a smile of various [Pg 323] drawing‐rooms where his bits of information would create a sensation. Then why should he who could take the stage as a man of the hour, the most eagerly listened‐to person in town, longer deny himself that pleasure? ”

“ Penfield indicated a doorway at the back of the hall, a little to one side.
“That leads to Mrs. Burnham’s boudoir, sir, in the octagon wing of the house; leastways, that is what they call it,” explained Jones. His voice gained in impressiveness; he would have made his mark as a lecturer and the house was his hobby. “There’s a lot of surprises about this house, sir; it’s bigger than most folks think.”
“I have been over the house.” Coroner Penfield paused by the staircase. “I thought Mr. Maynard had a room on the third floor.” ”

“ In fine, then, the New York Daily Chronicle's morning edition was going to press; and Penfield, who happened to be editor-in-chief, yawned wearily, and wondered whether it would ever get there.
Illustration: “The morning edition was going to press.”
Penfield had spent the latter part of the previous night at a very late supper; and for a man on whose shoulders a morning newspaper rests, it is a practice to be condemned. His jaws seemed unable to remain closed; his eyes watered at intervals, and even the strong cigar could not prevent it. Penfield's temper, too, was tired ”

“ Mr. Penfield went on, "you remember that year, do you not? In that year the six of us here engaged in a venture. From the north we had carried here five hundred bales of fur, valued at fifty dollars to the bale. You contracted with us, Captain Shelton, to convey those bales to England. It would have been a nice piece of business, if your supercargo had not been an honest man. He knew you, Shelton, if we did not. He knew the game you had planned to play, and though he was your brother-in-law, he was man enough to stop it." ”

“ Richards was about to speak again when Penfield held up his hand.
“Just a moment,” he cautioned. “Let me get this straight. You reached this house about twenty minutes after one this morning; Mrs. Hale [Pg 14] and her brother-in-law are still at the French Embassy reception, leaving at home Mr. Hale, ill in bed, your wife, and the female servants. An unidentified man enters the house in your absence and upon your return you find him dead in the library. ”

“ At the words the detective vanished.
Richards rose from his perch on the chair arm and paced slowly up and down the library. Penfield, paying no attention to his movements, knelt down by the dead man and with infinite care went through his pockets. His search produced some loose change, a bill-folder containing nearly a hundred dollars, and a bunch of keys.
“Not much help for identification purposes,” he remarked dryly, as Richards halted by his side. “He was a handsome fellow; women rave over that type of beauty in a man. He looks a gentleman—high-bred, and all that.” ”

“ He looked at Durkin steadily, for a moment, and then, seemingly satisfied, went on in a different tone.
“Did you ever hear of Penfield, the big pool-room man, the gay art connoisseur, who hob-nobs with a bunch of our Wall Street magnates and saunters over to Europe a couple o’ times a season? Well, I’ve been a plunger at Penfield’s now for two months—just long enough to make sure that he’s as crooked as they make ’em. I’m going to give him a dose of his own medicine, and hit that gilt-edged gambler for a slice of his genteel bank-roll—and an uncommon good, generous slice, too!” ”

“ Penfield mused and sipped.
"Some women are so inconsiderate when they are old," she said remindingly.
"And so are most men when they are [Pg 267] young," rejoined the lady of the cushions, "and Jack, though nice in many ways, is no exception. When I ask him to help by having unexpected men who must be fed to luncheon at the club, he says champagne at midday gives him apoplexy. And so we have to invite an unknown person to our very nicest dinner."
"What unknown person?" inquired Mrs. Penfield, and Clara sighed.
"A Mr. Hopworthy," she replied. "Fancy, if you can, a man named Hopworthy." ”

“ Penfield concealed a smile behind his hand.
“It does not take long to steal with the coast clear. The fire was on the second floor, remember,” argued Barclay. “He evidently locked the drawing room door to force Ogden and his guests to seek egress from the room by the hall, and thus minimize the risk he ran of being discovered by a chance encounter, which might have occurred had some of the guests fled through the drawing room.” ”

“ It was mid-afternoon when Pen reached Lowbridge, and he went at once to the Starbird mill on the outskirts of the town. He caught sight of Robert Starbird in the mill-yard, and went over to him. The man did not at first recognize him.
"I'm Penfield Butler," said the boy, "with whom you were talking last week."
"Oh, yes. Now I know you. You look a little different, some way. I've been watching out for you. How did you make out with your Grandpa Walker?" ”

“ He went on with his writing, but the second mate’s words seemed to echo in his ears.
“I wish Penfield wouldn’t be such a bear,” he said again as he put aside his book to turn in at last for a nap before his watch was called; “it don’t do to show a soft side with a man, to be sure, and I know he’s got some rough fellows in his watch; but he’s got two or three that started as fair as most men, and he’ll make beasts of them all if he goes on this way. ”

“ If you delay a minute later, we will come with friends who will know how to handle you. We will come in an hour with a tar pot and a feather mattress."
"You are not only unwelcome to us on account of your past," said Mr. Penfield, "but more recent developments make it impossible, quite impossible for you to stay. We have heard your story already from Mr. Jason Hill. You are right that it is no concern of ours, except that we remember the good of this town. We have a business with France, and we cannot afford to lose it. Major Proctor was blunt just now, and yet he is right. ”

“ Pen's heart was now in his shoes. The man with white side-whiskers raked him from head to foot with a look that boded no good. He turned to his nephew.
"I've heard of that incident," he said. "I do not think we want this young man in our employ."
Robert Starbird looked first at his uncle and then at Pen. It was plain that he was puzzled. It was equally plain that he was disappointed.
"I didn't know about this," he said. "I'm sorry if it's anything that necessitates our depriving him of the job. Penfield, suppose you retire to the waiting-room for a few minutes. ”

“ PENROD SCHOFIELD sat morosely upon the back fence and gazed with envy at Duke, his wistful dog.
A bitter soul dominated the various curved and angular surfaces known by a careless world as the face of Penrod Schofield. Except in solitude, that face was almost always cryptic and emotionless; for Penrod approached his teens wearing an expression carefully trained to be inscrutable. Since the world was sure to misunderstand everything, pure defensive instinct prompted him to give it as little as possible to lay hold upon. ”

“ RUPE COLLINS
FOR several days after this, Penrod thought of growing up to be a monk, and engaged in good works so far as to carry some kittens (that otherwise would have been drowned) and a pair of Margaret's outworn dancing-slippers to a poor, ungrateful old man sojourning in a shed up the alley. And although Mr. Robert Williams, after a very short interval, began to leave his guitar on the front porch again, exactly as if he thought nothing had happened, Penrod, with his younger vision of a father's mood, remained coldly distant from the Jones neighbourhood. ”

“ Penrod's father was an old-fashioned man: the twentieth century had failed to shake his faith in red flannel for cold weather; and it was while Mrs. Schofield was putting away her husband's winter underwear that she perceived how hopelessly one of the elder specimens had dwindled; and simultaneously she received the inspiration which resulted in a pair of trunks {or the Child Sir Lancelot, and added an earnest bit of color, as well as a genuine touch of the Middle Ages, to his costume. ”

“ After dinner, Penrod was slightly scalded in the back as the result of telling Della, the cook, that there was a wart on the middle finger of her right hand. Della thus proving poor material for his new manner to work upon, he approached Duke, in the backyard, and, bending double, seized the lowly animal by the forepaws.
“I let you know my name's Penrod Schofield,” hissed the boy. He protruded his underlip ferociously, scowled, and thrust forward his head until his nose touched the dog's. “And you better look out when Penrod Schofield's around, or you'll get in big trouble! ”

“ Penrod's had not “changed,” but he had found it. Inevitably that thing had come upon his family and the neighbours; and his father, a somewhat dyspeptic man, quoted frequently the expressive words of the “Lady of Shalott,” but there were others whose sufferings were as poignant.
Vacation-time warmed the young of the world to pleasant languor; and a morning came that was like a brightly coloured picture in a child's fairy story. Miss Margaret Schofield, reclining in a hammock upon the front porch, was beautiful in the eyes of a newly made senior, well favoured and in fair raiment, beside her. ”

“ The Child Sir Lancelot and the Child Sir Galahad clasped hands before their Child King. Penrod was conscious of a great uplift; in a moment he would have to throw aside his mantle, but even so he was protected and sheltered in the human garment of a man. His stage-fright had passed, for the audience was but an indistinguishable blur of darkness beyond the dazzling lights. ”

“ Parker. Several times Penny called the police station and also talked with Mrs. Weems. The housekeeper, fearful that the girl would become ill, insisted upon bringing a hot evening meal to the office.
[80]
“Penny, you’ve been here all day,” she chided anxiously. “You must come home with me.”
“I can’t just yet,” Penny replied. “There’s too much to do. By tomorrow, if Schirr doesn’t make trouble, things will smooth out.”
“You’re working so hard you’ll be sick abed!”
“I want to work,” Penny said grimly. “It keeps me from thinking. Anyway, Dad would want me to do it.” ”

“ In the doorway stood Pennell, regarding him with amusement. "Here am I trying to read, and you pacing up and down like a wild beast. What the devil's up?"
"The devil himself, that's what's up," said Peter savagely. "Look here,
Pen, come on down town and let's have a spree. I hate this place and this
infernal camp. It gets on my nerves. I must have a change. Will you come?
It's my do."
"I'm with you, old thing. I know what you feel like; I get like that myself sometimes. It's a pleasure to see that you're so human. We'll go down town and razzle-dazzle for once. I'm off duty till to-night. ”