Fighting Byng Part 27

"Howard," I said, grabbing him by the arms and raising him to his feet in a supreme determination to break his will, "from the first time I saw you until this moment you have had plenty of evidence of my friends.h.i.+p. I have never advised you wrong. I am not doing so now. As you stand there, resisting all reason, I spurn your offer and fling it from me as I would plunge tempered steel into the enemy. Our friends.h.i.+p is now being weighed for real values." My voice shook, for I was terribly in earnest as I continued:

"I tell you that you are wrong! As she has no one else to defend her, I shall. Hear me when I say that Norma Byng never had an impure or unchaste thought in her life. The Hun's proposal stunned her; shocked her beyond the power to move or speak. You ought to understand such a possibility. I have heard her story. Dissimulation in her is unthinkable. And what I say I know is not guesswork, but the result of a careful, painstaking search for your happiness, hers, and little Jim's. Howard, it is Christmas eve. Do you hear those bells ringing out to the world--peace and good will to men? Look at these papers,"

said I, taking out the original warrants for one Canby. "Take a look at them and judge for yourself whether or not I was won to your cause by little Jim first--her little Jim as much as yours--because she looked like, and reminded me of Norma Byng. Suppose I had given these papers to the marshall to serve. Can't you see why--it was little Jim, whom she brought into the world. Drop your distrust. Let your love light the way and come with me," I said impulsively, taking him by the hand and leading him across the hall.

Little Jim came to the door again, as soon as she heard my voice.

"Oh, Daddy, how late you are. We have been waiting for you so long. I know everything now. Come in here, Daddy, we have been waiting for you--my mother and I," she cried, leading her father by the hand just as I had done. I followed them into the front room. Little Jim led him straight to Norma, took her mother's hand and placed it in his. My emotions were hard to control. I knew that the child had done more in a moment than I could ever have done. What had been torn asunder was now reunited in holy bond.

Little Jim told me afterward she had seen a wonderful transformation and was thrilled by heavenly voices, just as she had been when she visited Nereid, at the bottom of the sea. It was then that Norma and Howard Byng became truly great, and sacred to little Jim and me. We tiptoed out and went over to Howard's room across the hall. Anyone who in sheer ghoulishness would have desecrated this holy reunion by listening to their tender words and witness their caresses must indeed stand in need of better manners, to say the least.

It seemed but a short time until they came to where we were and together they placed their hands in mine, with joyous little Jim standing between us. They were about to speak of their obligation to me when there floated up from the great music room below a glorious chorus, clear as a bell, and of infinite sweetness----"Peace on Earth Good Will to Men."

Next morning I found Howard and little Jim in the office looking over timetables. They both came toward me smiling, Howard a changed man--a wonderful transformation had taken place. He took my hand, offered in congratulation, and squeezed it hard. Said he, "Wood, I am going away; no more business for a long time. I am going to celebrate a real wedding."

Then, in a voice coming from his heart, soft with emotion, he added, "The remainder of my life shall be spent righting a tremendous wrong.

I have just commenced to live."