Part 31 (1/2)
”So you are going to condole with him? I do not believe he is in the least disturbed. He has far too much sense.”
”I fancy the most sensible man in the world would be a trifle annoyed at being defeated in an election, Miss Thorn,” said Vancouver blandly. ”I am afraid you are not very sorry for him. He is an old friend of mine, and though I differ from him in politics, very pa.s.sively, I cannot do less than go and see him, and tell him how much I regret, personally, that he should be defeated.”
Joe's lip curled in scorn, and she flushed angrily. She could have struck Vancouver's pale face with infinite pleasure and satisfaction, but she said nothing in immediate answer.
”Do you not think I am right?” asked Vancouver. ”I am sure you do; you have such a good heart.” They pa.s.sed Charles Street as he was speaking, and yet he gave no sign of leaving her.
”I am not sure that I have a good heart, and I am quite sure that you are utterly wrong, Mr. Vancouver,” said Joe, in calm tones.
”Really? Why, you quite surprise me, Miss Thorn. Any man in my place ought”--
”Most men in your place would avoid Mr. Harrington,” interrupted Joe, turning her clear brown eyes full upon him. Had she been less angry she would have been more cautious. But her blood was up, and she took no thought, but said what she meant, boldly.
”Indeed, Miss Thorn,” said Vancouver, stiffly, ”I do not understand you in the least. I think what you say is very extraordinary. John Harrington has always been a friend of mine.”
”That may be, Mr. Vancouver, but you are certainly no friend of his,” said Joe, with a scornful laugh.
”You astonish me beyond measure,” rejoined Poc.o.c.k, maintaining his air of injured virtue, although he inwardly felt that he was in some imminent danger. ”How can you possibly say such a thing?”
Joe could bear it no longer. She was very imprudent, but her honest anger boiled over. She stopped in her walk, her back against the iron railings, and she faced Vancouver with a look that frightened him. He was forced to stop also, and he could not do less than return her glance.
”Do you dare to stand there and tell me that you are Mr. Harrington's friend?” she asked in low distinct tones. ”You, the writer of articles in the 'Daily Standard,' calling him a fool and a charlatan? You, who have done your very best to defeat him in this election? Indeed, it is too absurd!” She laughed aloud in utter scorn, and then turned to continue her way.
Vancouver turned a shade paler than was natural with him, and looked down.
He was very much frightened, for he was a coward.
”Miss Thorn,” he said, ”I am sorry you should believe such calumnies. I give you my word of honor that I have never either written or spoken against Mr. Harrington. He is one of my best friends.”
Joe did not answer; she did not even look at him, but walked on in silence. He did not dare to speak again, and as they reached the corner of the Public Garden he lifted his hat.
”I am quite sure that you will find you have misjudged me, Miss Thorn,” he said, with a grieved look. ”In the mean while I wish you a very good morning.”
”Good-morning,” said Joe, without looking at him; and she pa.s.sed on, full of indignation and wrath.
To tell the truth, she was so much delighted at having spoken her mind for once, that she had not a thought of any possible consequences. The delight of having dealt Vancouver such a buffet was very great, and she felt her heart beat fast with a triumphant pleasure.
But Vancouver turned and went away with a very unpleasant sensation in, him. He wished with all his might that he had not left the comfortable bay window of the Somerset Club that morning, and more than all he wished he could ascertain how Joe had come to know of his journalistic doings. As a matter of fact, what she had said concerning Poc.o.c.k's efforts against John in the election had been meant in a most general way. But Vancouver thought she was referring to his interview with Ballymolloy, and that she understood the whole matter. Of course, there was nothing to be done but to deny the accusations from beginning to end; but they nevertheless had struck deep, and he was thoroughly alarmed. When he left the club he had had no intention of going to see Harrington; the idea had formed itself while talking with her. But now, again, he felt that he could not go. He had not the courage to face the man he had injured, princ.i.p.ally because he strongly suspected that if Joe knew what he had done, John Harrington most likely knew it too.
He was doubly hit. He would have been less completely confused and frightened if the attack had come from Sybil Brandon; but he had had vague ideas of trying to marry Joe, and he guessed that any such plan was now hopelessly out of the question. He turned his steps homeward, uncertain what to do, and hoping to find counsel in solitude.
He took up the letters and papers that lay on his study table, brought by the mid-day post. One letter in particular attracted his attention, and he singled it out and opened it. It was dated from London, and had been twelve days on its way.
”MY DEAR VANCOUVER,
”Enclosed please find Bank of England Post Note for your usual quarterly honorarium, 1250. My firm will address you upon the use to be made of the Proxies lately sent you for the ensuing election of officers of the Pocahontas and Dead Man's Valley R. R., touching your possession of which I beg to reiterate the importance of a more than Masonic discretion. I apprehend that unless the scattered shares should have been quickly absorbed for the purpose of obtaining a majority, these Proxies will enable you to control the election of the proper ticket. If not, and if the Leviathan should decline the overtures that will be made to him during his summer visit to London, I should like your estimate of five thousand shares more, to be picked up in the next three months, which will a.s.sure our friends the control. Should the prospective figure be too high, we may elect to sell out, after rigging the market for a boom.
”In either event there will be lots of pickings in the rise and fall of the shares for the old joint account, which has been so profitable because you have so skillfully covered up your tracks.