Part 25 (1/2)

Again the room grew still and presently, with dragging steps, Etta turned toward the door. Quickly I followed her. She must not go. I had said nothing, gotten nowhere, and there was much that must be said that something might be done. To have her leave without some plan to work toward would be loss of time. She was but one of thousands of bits of human wreckage, in danger herself and of danger to others, and somebody must do something for her. I put my hand on her shoulder to draw her back and as I did so the door, half ajar, opened more widely.

Motionless, and as one transfixed, she stared at it wide-eyed, and into her face crept the pallor of death.

Selwyn and Harrie were standing in the doorway.

CHAPTER XXVIII

Stumbling back as if struck, Harrie leaned against the door-frame, and the hat in his hand dropped to the floor. Selwyn, too, for a half-minute drew back, then he came inside and spoke to Etta, and to me, and to Mrs. Mundy, and to Kitty. Pus.h.i.+ng a chair close to the fire, he took Harrie by the arm and led him to it.

”Sit down,” he said, quietly. ”You'll be better in a minute.”

Harrie had given Etta no sign of recognition, but the horror in his once-handsome face, now white and drawn, told of his shock at finding her with me, and fear and recoil weakened him to the point of faintness. In his effort to recover himself, to resist what might be coming, he struggled as one for breath, but from him came no word, no sound.

Infinite pity for Selwyn made it impossible for me to speak for a moment, and before words would come Mrs. Mundy and Kitty had gone out of the room and Selwyn had turned to Etta.

With shoulders again drawn back, and eyes dark with fear and defiance, she looked at him. ”Why have you come here?” she asked.

”What are you going to do? You've taken him home and left me to go back to where he drove me. Isn't that enough? Why have you brought him here?”

”To ask Miss Heath to say what he must do. That is why I have come.”

Pus.h.i.+ng the trembling girl in a chair behind Harrie's, Selwyn looked up at me. ”You must decide what is to be done, Dandridge. This is a matter beyond a man's judgment. I do not seem able to think clearly.

You must tell me what to do.”

”I? Oh no! It is not for me. Surely you cannot mean that I must tell you--” The blood in my body surged thickly, and I drew back, appalled that such decision should be laid upon me, such responsibility be mine. ”What is it you want--of me?”

”To tell me--what Harrie must do.” In Selwyn's face was the whiteness of death, but his voice was quiet. ”I did not know, until David Guard told me, that there was a child, and that Harrie was its father, and that because of the child Etta would not go away as I had tried to make her. I did not know she had no father or brother to see that, as far as possible, her wrong is righted. I want you to forget that Harrie is my brother and remember the girl, and tell me--what he must do.”

From the chair in which Harrie sat came a lurching movement, and I saw his body bend forward, saw his elbows on his knees, his face buried in his hands, and then I heard a sudden sob, a soft, little cry that stabbed, and Etta was on the floor beside him, crouching at his feet, holding his hands to her heart, and uttering broken, foolish words and begging him to speak to her, to tell her that he would marry her--that he would marry her and take her away.

”Harrie--oh, Harrie!” Faintly we could hear the words that came stumblingly. ”Could we be married, Harrie, and go away, oh, far away, where n.o.body knows? I will work for you--live for you--die for you, if need be, Harrie! We could be happy. I would try--oh, I would try so hard to make you happy, and the baby would have a name.

You would not hate her if we were married. She was never to know she had a mother, she was to think her real mother was dead and that I was just some one who loved her. But if we were married I would not have to die to her. Tell me--oh, tell me, Harrie, that we can be married--and go away--where n.o.body knows!”

But he would tell her nothing. With twitching shoulders and head turned from her he tried to draw his hands from those which held his in piteous appeal, and presently she seemed to understand, and into her face came a ghastly, shuddering smile, and slowly she got up and drew a deep breath.

As she stood aside Harrie, with a sudden movement, was on his feet and at the door. His hand was on the k.n.o.b and he tried to open the door, but instantly Selwyn was by him, and with hold none too gentle he was thrust back into the room.

”You d.a.m.ned coward!” Selwyn's voice was low. ”She is the mother of your child, and you want to quit her; to run, rather than pay your price! By G.o.d! I'll see you dead before you do!”

Again the room grew still. The ticking of the clock and the beat of raindrops on the windowpanes mingled with the soft purring of the fire's flames, and each waited, we knew not for what; and then Etta spoke.

”But you, too, would have to pay--if he were made to pay--the price.”

She looked at Selwyn. ”It is not fair that you should pay. I will go away--somewhere. It does not matter about the baby or me. Thank you, but-- Good-by. I'm going--away.”

Before I could reach her, hold her back, she was out of the room and running down the steps and the front door had closed. Mrs. Mundy looked up as I leaned over the banister. ”It is better to leave her alone to-day,” she said, and I saw that she was crying. ”We can see her to-morrow. She had better be by herself for a while.”

Back in the room Selwyn and I looked at each other with white and troubled faces. We had bungled badly and nothing had been done.