Rollins

“ But Rollins—though as far as anybody knows, a bachelor and eminently chaste—is by no means my idea of a Celibate. Oh, not Rollins! Not anybody with a mind like Rollins! For Rollins, poor dear, would marry every day in the week if anybody would have him. It's the "other people" who have kept Rollins virgin. But George Keets on the other hand is a good deal of a "fascinator" in spite of his austerity, perhaps indeed because of his austerity, tall, lean, good-looking, extravagantly severe, thirty-eight years old, and a classmate of my Husband at college. ”

“ Why if you were as tall as a tree," she argued, "little deserted birds in nests would simply be glad that you could reach them that much sooner! But men? Why, even your nice Mr. Keets," she cried; "even your nice Mr. Keets, with his fussy old Archaeology, couldn't even play at being engaged without talking down—down—down at me! Tall as he is, too! And funny little old Mr. Rollins," she flushed. "Little—little—old Mr. Rollins—Mr. Rollins really liked me, I think, but he—he'd torture me if he thought it would make him feel any burlier!
"And Claude Kennilworth," I questioned. ”

“ Rollins never spoke of it; and we had been talking of her. I inferred from what he said that she was not there at all. And I saw her drive homeward with her mother right after parade: so it didn't occur to me that she could have come out again, all that distance, in time for the dance. Singular! Why shouldn't Rollins have told me?"
Sloat grinned: a dreary sort of smile it was, too. "You go into society so seldom you don't see these things. I've more than half suspected Rollins of being quite ready to admire Miss Beaubien himself; and since Jerrold dropped her he has had plenty of opportunity." ”

“ My Husband saw it I think even before I did.
"Really, Rollins," he suggested, "you mustn't overdo this arm-in-arm business. Not all day long! It isn't done! Not this ball-and-chain idea any more! Not this shackling of the betrothed!"
"No, really, Rollins, old man," urged young Kennilworth, "you've got quite the wrong idea. You say yourself you've never been engaged before, so you'd better let some of us wiser guys coach you up a bit in some of the essentials."
"Coach me up a bit?" growled Rollins. ”

“ That inference was entirely expressed by the absurdly triumphant little glint in his eye.
I don't think the May Girl intended to laugh. But she did laugh. And all the laugh in the world seemed suddenly "on" Rollins.
"No—really, People," rallied the May Girl, "I'd heaps rather stay here with Mr. Rollins and work on these perfectly darling shells. One—on one side of the table—and one on the other."
"We are going to have lunch up here—in fact," counterchecked that rascally Rollins with a blandness that was actually malicious. ”

“ Rollins, there's Indian blood enough in Nina Beaubien's little finger to make me afraid of her. She is strong as death in love or hate, and you must have seen how she hung on Jerrold's every word all last winter. You must know she is not the girl to be lightly dropped now."
"She told me only a day or two ago they were the best of friends and had never been anything else," said Rollins, hotly.
"Has it gone that far, my boy? I had not thought it so bad, by any means. It's no use talking with a man who has lost his heart: his reason goes with it." And Chester turned away. ”

“ We never have been used you know to starting off the day with Rollins! And two breakfasts in succession? Well, really, it's almost more than the human heart can stand. Far be it from me," I argued, "to condone poor Allan John's lapse from sobriety or advocate any plan whatsoever for the ensnaring of the very young or the unwary; but all other means failing," I argued, "I should consider it a very great mercy to the survivors if Rollins should wake to-morrow with a slight headache. No real cerebral symptoms you understand—nothing really acute. Just——!"
"Oh, stop your fooling!" said my Husband. ”

“ And when it came to faintly soggy Morocco-bound note-books, words were inadequate it seemed to express his appreciation. Nothing would do but the May Girl must inscribe it for him. "Aberner Rollins," she wrote very carefully in her round, childish hand, with a giggly flourish at the tail-tip of each word. "For Aberner Rollins from his friend May Davies. Awful Shipwreck Time, May 10th, 1919." Rollins used an inestimable number of note-books it appeared in the collection of his statistics. "The collection of statistics was the consuming passion of his life," he confided to everybody. ”

“ Carroll rose and extended his hand. Rollins crushed it in a viselike grip.
“You’re all right, Rollins. I admit it cheerfully.”
“Thanks, Mr. Carroll. And there ain’t no hard feelin’s over my bein’ sore at you?”
“Not a one. I understand it perfectly. And now suppose you look after Hartigan. I want to get things straightened up with Mr. Hall. He’s a personal friend of Miss Duval, and he’ll have to tell her himself.” ”

“ Rollins occupied a pleasant room under Chester's roof-tree, and was the sole accredited sharer of the captain's mess. To a youngster just entering service, whose ambition it was to stick to business and make a record for zeal and efficiency, these were manifest advantages. There were men in the regiment to whom such close communion with a watchful senior would have been most embarrassing, and Mr. Rollins's predecessor as second lieutenant of Chester's company was one of these. ”

“ Him an’ Red Hartigan an’ Pal Conover was to divide what they got. I was to get th’ things Rollins wanted an’ meet him out yonder by that bush, y’ see about fifty or sixty feet beyond th’ porch door. Of course, havin’ th’ butler fixed, it looked easy. An’ there wasn’t no chancst for me to do Rollins dirt, ’cause he had th’ goods on me for another little job of mine, an’ he said he’d send me up if I didn’t come across fair an’ square. Oh, I ain’t even squealin’ on him now because I want to—th’ chief has always treated me right; but murder I won’t face for no man. ”

“ Some of us is gunmen an’ some ain’t. An’ Rollins knows all of us—that’s his business. An’ he knows that when a man has a rep for not packin’ a rod he don’t do it, that’s all. Ain’t that so, Rollins?”
“Not in your case,” answered Rollins fiercely. “You’ve been caught with a gun before.”
Hartigan’s face flamed.
“Cop or no cop,” he raved, “I’m here tellin’ ye that y’r a dirty, rotten liar! An’ that goes as she lays if I swing for it!”
Rollins leaped forward—but Hall stopped him with a whispered word of warning. He turned to Carroll. ”

“ Rollins realized that Luke meant what he said. He believed, moreover, that his inquisitor was merely cautious.
"All right," he agreed, though with some reluctance. "This is a letter from my employer to a man that always had to return such letters after he's read them. The other letter is the letter from the rail manufacturers that's referred to in the first one. ”

“ Carroll. I wasn’t slappin’ at you personal, y’understand; it’s just that you fellers ain’t used to the game, an’ y’ travel all around th’ block to git next door.”
“Well, as Rollins has said,” went on Carroll gravely, albeit he was not unconscious and not unamused at the glances of wonder on the faces of Hall and Denson at his reception of Rollins’ brusqueness, “that eliminates a need to interview the butler. Now for the living room.” ”

“ G’wan look for it; see if y’ find it.”
“Which means,” interjected Carroll quietly, “that he is quite sure you will not find it there.”
“Ain’t it pretty rough jackin’ this man up for murder,” butted in Rollins, “just because he had a gat in his pocket?”
“No-o,” negatived Carroll, “I can’t see that it is. He had the motive for shooting and he had the weapon. What more is needed?”
“Proof!” snarled Rollins. “Just proof, that’s all. An’ that’s th’ one thing you don’t seem to pay no attention to.” ”

“ Rollins flushed with pardonable pride.
“Us regular bulls ain’t the fools we’re given credit for bein’, Mr. Carroll,” he said, respectfully, glowing under the other’s praise. “All you gotta do now is tell ‘em about Hartigan and you’ll see ‘em withdraw their confessions so quick it’ll make your head swim. Y’see, Mr. Hall, there wasn’t no need for having any one else in on the case—not that I’m sore at Mr. Carroll here. He’s man enough to admit I got the goods right.” ”

“ Isn’t that so?”
“Ye-e-s; but as soon as they know about Hartigan——”
“Exactly,” beamed Carroll naively, and then nodded to his two men. Rollins scowled momentarily.
“That’s another thing I don’t like,” he asserted none too pleasantly. “Why’ve you got your men on the job here instead of the reg’lars?”
“A little idiosyncrasy of mine, Rollins. However, I’ll trot ’em away soon enough. Now let’s keep silent, all of us. From this room here we can see something and hear everything. Not a soul is to say a word.” ”

“ You know what it means for a fellow to be thrown out of his seat just before a race upon which he has been counting heart and soul."
"I don't know. I can imagine."
"You see, it's Doane. You know about his father——"
"I know all about his father," was the reply.
"Eh?" Rollins stared at him, then smiled. "I suppose every rowing man at Baliol does. But you don't know as much as I do. On the quiet, he's the man who gave us the new boathouse last year. He's our best spender. He was an old varsity oar himself." ”

“ Hartigan lied to us when he told his first story; he admitted it when he came in to see us at headquarters with his carefully thought-out revision. Rollins found Hartigan unconscious behind that screen; he found in his pocket a revolver from which one shot had been fired. His deductions were absolutely logical. Why should we believe every detail of the crook’s story?”
“We shouldn’t,” said Carroll simply. “We shouldn’t believe any one’s story—even that of Miss Duval.” ”

“ A 'nsurance agint kim 'long and got Rollins,—the young feller his name was Abe Rollins, an' he was a bach,—to promise to 'sure his life for a thousand dollars, which was to go t' his sister, what takes in washin', an' her man ran away from her las' year an' nobody knows where he is,—which I says is good riddance, but she takes on as though she had los' somebody worth cryin' over: there's no accountin' for tastes. ”

“ Don’t you understand? Can’t you see I mean it?” she ended almost with a sob.
The boy hesitated; stared into her gleaming eyes an instant, and then drew himself up against the wall, silent. Holding the revolver leveled, Beth took her hand from the mouthpiece and lifted the receiver again to her ear. The sheriff was still speaking in the phone.
“This is Beth—Beth Rollins,” she interrupted. Her voice sounded almost casual. ”

“ Quite distinguished-looking ladies and gentlemen took notice of the boy's intelligence, and some gave him fourpenny pieces, patting him on the cap, and telling him he was a fine little fellow; a well-known politician prophesied of him, on one occasion, that he would grow up to be an Englishman in the best sense of the word. You can imagine Mr. Rollinson's delight at these compliments, and the satisfaction in finding his own views confirmed from responsible quarters. ”

“ He left the sentence hanging in the air, as if afraid to finish it, and neither this modesty nor the yearning tenderness of his accent was lost upon the girl.
“As you say, there is no one else.”
“But—but there might be,” suggested Rollinson, who was strongly possessed by the insane delusion of the lover that all men must needs worship his lady. “Bertha! If you are going to learn to love me, make haste to be kind. I am horribly unreasonable. I see a rival in every man you speak to, dance with, smile at. ”

“ Rollinson’s wishes and then to give instructions that the exact opposite p. 65should be adopted, but, returning home after one of these gratifying afternoons in Hyde Park, he took the unusual course of inviting her to his study, where, in smoking-cap and dressing-gown (a change from the restraint of out-door clothes) he bade her take the easy-chair, whilst he himself stood near the empty fireplace and leaned an elbow on the mantelpiece, in an attitude imposed by more than one artist upon the Prince Consort. ”

“ Privately, Wilner told Mr. Rollinson that all our best politicians had sown their wild oats in early days, and gave an amusing and little-known anecdote concerning a member of the Cabinet.
“What he wants,” said old Rollinson, glancing at his son, “is concentration, if you know what it means, sir.”
“That will grow on him,” remarked the other lightly. “All he has to do just now is to make plenty of friends. ”

“ To write, as George Rollinson had done, that there were two kinds of money, one dry and the other slippery, one easy to retain and the other impossible to keep, was to make an assertion that, in the light of facts, could not possibly be supported.
“So get that nonsensical idea out of your head, my lad,” advised his teacher earnestly, “as soon as you possibly can. You have a good deal to learn yet, remember.”
On most subjects George accepted the instructions of the representatives of the State, bringing home to Southampton Row items of geographical information and snips of historical news ”

“ Perhaps I do him less than justice, and we are all apt to think our sensations more striking and real than those of other people.
At the appointed time we went out into the corridor and walked to the room which bore the number the waiter had already given us. I tapped at the door, and Lady Rollinson admitted us. The count sat in a plush-covered arm-chair and his daughter leaned above him with a hand on either shoulder. The scene looked purely domestic, and if a stranger had seen it he would have discovered nothing unusual in it. ”