Part 45 (1/2)
The haste displayed by Mayor Morrison in getting away from the study door suggested that he was glad to escape and was not fis.h.i.+ng for any invitation to return for further parley.
But when he approached the head of the stairway he moved more slowly. His demeanor hinted that he would welcome some excuse, outside of politics, to keep him longer in the Corson mansion. He paused on the stairs and made an elaborate arrangement of a neck m.u.f.fler as if he expected to confront polar temperature outside. He pulled on his gloves, inspected them critically as if to a.s.sure himself that there were no crevices where the cold could enter. He looked over the banisters. There was n.o.body in the reception-hall. He arranged the m.u.f.fler some more. Step by step, very slowly, he descended as far as the landing where he had met Lana Corson joyously the night before. Not expectantly, with visage downcast, he looked behind him.
Lana was framed in the library door at the head of the stairs.
”I was trying to make up my mind to call to you. But you seemed to be in so much of a hurry! I suppose you have a great deal to attend to this morning.”
”The princ.i.p.al rush seems to be over. Was it anything--Did you want to speak to me?”
”Perhaps it isn't of much importance. It did seem to be, for a moment. But it's something of a family matter. I think, after all, it will be imprudent to mention it.”
He waited for her to go on.
”Probably under the circ.u.mstances you'll not be especially interested,”
she ventured.
”The trouble is, I'm afraid I'll show too much interest and seem to be prying.”
”Will you please step up here where I'll not be obliged to shout at you?”
He obeyed so promptly that he fairly scrambled up the stairs.
”You said down there in the hall last evening that my father was angry and that an angry man says a great deal that he doesn't mean. My father was very, very angry when he and. I arrived home last night.”
”I reckoned he would be.”
”In his anger he talked to me very freely about you. The question is, should I believe anything he said?”
”I--I don't know,” he stammered, ”You're not going back on your own statement about an angry man, are you?”
”I don't think it's fair to accept all his statements.”
”I'm sorry you still hold that opinion. You see I drew some conclusions of my own from what my father said to me, and those conclusions urge me to apologize to you for the Corson family. I'm afraid you didn't find my father in an apologetic mood this morning.”
”Not exactly.”
”Doris tells me that I have a New England conscience. I'm not sure. At any rate, I'm feeling very uncomfortable about something! It may be because you're misunderstood by our family. Do I seem forward?”
”No! Of course you don't. But you're putting me in a terrible position. I don't know what to say. I don't want any apologies. They'd make me feel like a fool--more of a fool than I have been.”
”Are you admitting now that you were wrong in the stand you took about the water-power and--and--well, about everything?”
He had been listening in distress and perplexity, striving to understand her, groping for the meaning she was hiding behind her quiet manner. But her question struck fire from the flint of his resolution. ”That power matter is a principle, and I am not wrong in it. As to the means I used last night, it was bra.s.s and blunder and I'm ashamed of acting that way.”
”There's no need of going into the matter. I received a great deal of information from my father--when he was angry. And I woke up early this morning and began to consider the evidence. I was hard at it when you drove up in your car. I have been waiting for you to come from your talk with my father and the Governor. I want to say, Stewart, that when I stood up last night, like a fool, and lectured you about neglecting your opportunities in life I was considering you only as the boss of St.
Ronan's mill. But my father told me what you really are. I have always respected him as a very truthful man, even when he is well worked up by any subject. I must take his word in this matter, though he didn't realize just how complimentary he was in your case. And if you can spare me a few moments, I want you to come into the library.”
She walked ahead of him toward the door.