Part 29 (1/2)

”I think that will be about all, Bannister?” he said. He spoke quietly, but his voice trembled.

But Bailey's long-dammed hatred, having at last found an outlet, was not to be checked in a moment.

”Will it? Will it? The h.e.l.l it will. Let me tell you that I came here to talk straight to you, and I'm going to do it. It's about time you had your darned dime-novel romance shown up to you the way it strikes somebody else. You think you're a tremendous das.h.i.+ng twentieth-century _Young Lochinvar_, don't you? You thought you had done a pretty smooth bit of work when you sneaked Ruth away! You! You haven't enough backbone in you even to make a bluff at working to support her. You're just what my father said you were--a loafer who pretends to be an artist. You've got away with it up to now, but you've shown yourself up at last. You d.a.m.ned waster!”

Kirk walked to the door and flung it open.

”You're perfectly right, Bannister,” he said quietly. ”Everything you have said is quite true. And now would you mind going?”

”I've not finished yet.”

”Yes, you have.”

Bailey hesitated. The first time frenzy had left him, and he was beginning to be a little ashamed of himself for having expressed his views in a manner which, though satisfying, was, he felt, less dignified than he could have wished.

He looked at Kirk, who was standing stiffly by the door. Something in his att.i.tude decided Bailey to leave well alone. Such had been his indignation that it was only now that for the first time it struck him that his statement of opinion had not been made without considerable bodily danger to himself. Jarred nerves had stood him in the stead of courage; but now his nerves were soothed and he saw things clearly.

He choked down what he had intended to say and walked out. Kirk closed the door softly behind him and began to pace the studio floor as he had done on that night when Ruth had fought for her life in the room upstairs.

His mind worked slowly at first. Then, as it cleared, he began to think more and more rapidly, till the thoughts leaped and ran like tongues of fire scorching him.

It was all true. That was what hurt. Every word that Bailey had flung at him had been strictly just.

He had thought himself a fine, romantic fellow. He was a waster and a loafer who pretended to be an artist. He had thrown away the little talent he had once possessed. He had behaved shamefully to Ruth, s.h.i.+rking his responsibilities and idling through life. He realized it now, when it was too late.

Suddenly through the chaos of his reflections there shone out clearly one coherent thought, the recollection of what Hank Jardine had offered to him. ”If ever you are in a real tight corner----”

His brain cleared. He sat down calmly to wait for Ruth. His mind was made up. Hank's offer was the way out, the only way out, and he must take it.

BOOK TWO

Chapter I

Empty-handed

The steams.h.i.+p _Santa Barbara_, of the United Fruit Line, moved slowly through the glittering water of the bay on her way to dock. Out at quarantine earlier in the morning there had been a mist, through which pa.s.sing s.h.i.+ps loomed up vague and shapeless; but now the sun had dispersed it and a perfect May morning welcomed the _Santa Barbara_ home.

Kirk leaned on the rail, looking with dull eyes on the city he had left a year before. Only a year! It seemed ten. As he stood there he felt an old man.

A drummer, a cheery soul who had come aboard at Porto Rico, sauntered up, beaming with well-being and good-fellows.h.i.+p.

”Looks pretty good, sir,” said he.

Kirk did not answer. He had not heard.

”Some burg,” ventured the drummer.