The Ragged Edge Part 25

"The d.a.m.ned scoundrel!"

"I told you that child was opal."

"She? My G.o.d, the pity of it! She knows nothing of life. She no more realizes what she has done than a child of eight. Marriage!

... without the least conception of the physical and moral responsibilities! It's a crime, Mac!"

"But what can you do?" McClintock turned to the manager. "'It was all perfectly legal?

"My word for it. The Reverend Henry Dolby performed the cermony, and his wife and daughter were witnesses."

"When you heard what was going on, why didn't you send for me?"

"I didn't know it was going on. I heard only after it was all over."

"If he could stand on two feet, I'd break every bone in his worthless body!"

McClintock said soothingly: "But that wouldn't nullify the marriage, old boy. I know. Thing's upset you a bit. Go easy."

"But, Mac . . . !"

"I understand," interrupted McClintock. Then, in a whisper: "But there's no reason why the whole hotel should."

The doctor relaxed. "I've got to see him; but I'll be reasonable.

I've got to know why. And what will they do, and where will they go?"

"With me--the both of them. So far as I'm concerned, nothing could please me more. A married man!--the kind I've never been able to lure down there! But keep your temper in check. Don't lay it all to the boy. The girl is in it as deeply as he is. I'll wait for you down here."

When the doctor entered the bedroom and looked into the faces of the culprits, he laughed brokenly. Two children, who had been caught in the jam-closet: ingratiating smiles, back of which lay doubt and fear.

Ruth came to him directly. "You are angry?"

"Very. You don't realize what you have done."

"My courage gave out. The thought of going back!--the thought of the unknown out there!--" with a tragic gesture toward the east. "I couldn't go on!"

"You'll need something more than courage now. But no more of that.

What is done cannot be undone. I want to talk to Mr. Spurlock. Will you leave us for a few minutes?"

"You are not going to be harsh?"

"I wish to talk about the future."

"Very well."

She departed reluctantly. The doctor walked over to the bed, folded his arms across his chest and stared down into the unabashed eyes of his patient.

"Do you realize that you are several kinds of a d.a.m.ned scoundrel?"

he began. This did not affect Spurlock. "Your name is Spurlock?"

"It is."

"Why did you use the name of Taber?"

"To keep my real name out of the mess I expected to make of myself over here."

"That's frank enough," the doctor admitted astonishedly. So far the boy's mind was clear. "But to drag this innocent child into the muck! With her head full of book nonsense--love stories and fairy stories! Have you any idea of the tragedy she is bound to stumble upon some day? I don't care about you. The world is known to you. I can see that you were somebody, in another day. But this child! ...

It's a d.a.m.nable business!"

"I shall defend her and protect her with every drop of blood in my body!" replied the Flagellant.

The intensity of the eyes and the defiant tone bewildered the doctor, who found his well-constructed jeremiad without a platform.

So he was forced to s.h.i.+ft and proceed at another angle, forgetting his promise to McClintock to be temperate.

"When I went through your trunk that first night, I discovered an envelope filled with ma.n.u.scripts. Later, at the bottom of that envelope I found a letter."

"To be opened in case of my death," added Spurlock. From under his pillow he dragged forth the key to the trunk. "Here, take this and get the letter and open and read it. Would you tell her ... now?"

his eyes flaming with mockery.

CHAPTER XVIII

The doctor reached for the key and studied it sombrely. The act was mechanical, a bit of sparring for time: his anger was searching about for a new vent. He was a just man, and he did not care to start any thunder which was not based upon fairness. He had no wish to go foraging in Spurlock's trunk. He had already shown the covering envelope and its instructions to Ruth, and she had ignored or misunderstood the warning. The boy was right. Ruth could not be told now. There would be ultimate misery, but it would be needless cruelty to give her a push toward it. But all these hours, trying to teach the child wariness toward life, and the moment his back was turned, this!

He was, perhaps, still dazed by the inner revelation--his own interest in Ruth. The haste to send her upon her way now had but one interpretation--the recognition of his own immediate danger, the fear that if this tender a.s.sociation continued, he would end in offering her a calamity quite as impossible as that which had happened--the love of a man who was in all probability older than her father! The hurt was no less intensive because it was so ridiculous.

He would talk to Spurlock, but from the bench; as a judge, not as a chagrined lover. He dropped the key on the counterpane.

"If I could only make you realize what you have done," he said, lamely.

"I know exactly what I have done," replied Spurlock. "She is my lawful wife."

"I should have opened that letter in the beginning," said the doctor. "But I happen to be an honest man myself. Had you died, I should have fully obeyed the instructions on that envelope. You will make her suffer."

"For every hurt she has, I shall have two. I did not lay any traps for her. I asked her to marry me, and she consented."

"Ah, yes; that's all very well. But when she learns that you are a fugitive from justice...."

"What proof have you that I am?"--was the return bolt.

"A knowledge of the ways of men. I don't know what you have done; I don't want to know now. But G.o.d will punish you for what you have done this day."

"As for that, I don't say. But I shall take care of Ruth, work for her and fight for her." A prophecy which was to be fulfilled in a singular way. "Given a chance, I can make bread and b.u.t.ter. I'm no mollycoddle. I have only one question to ask you."

"And what might that be?"

"Will McClintock take us both?"