Part 39 (1/2)

”See here! You haven't forgotten what I told you that night on the train?”

”What? Yes, I had forgotten.”

”You promised to tell me if you thought seriously about marriage.”

”Very well, then; I'm telling you now.”

”Do you mean that, Dave?”

”Of course I do. But don't look at me as if I'd confessed to arson or burglary. Listen, Judge! If you have good taste in jewelry, I'll let you help me select the ring.”

But Judge Ellsworth continued to stare, and then muttered uncertainly: ”You're such a joker--”

Dave a.s.sumed a show of irony. ”Your congratulations overwhelm me. You look as if you were about to begin the reading of the will.”

”I want to hear about this right away.” Ellsworth smiled faintly. ”Can you come to my office tonight, where we can be alone?”

Dave agreed to the appointment and went his way with a feeling of amus.e.m.e.nt. Old folks are usually curious, he reflected; and they are p.r.o.ne to presume upon the privileges that go with age. In this instance, however, it might be well to make a clean breast of the affair, since Ellsworth was Alaire's attorney, and would doubtless be selected to secure her divorce.

The judge was waiting when Dave called after supper, but for some time he maintained a flow of conversation relating to other things than the one they had met to discuss. At last, however, he appeared to summon his determination; he cleared his throat and settled himself in his chair--premonitory signs unusual in a man of Ellsworth's poise and self-a.s.surance.

”I reckon you think I'm trying to mix up in something that doesn't concern me,” he began; ”and perhaps I am. Maybe you'll make me wish I'd minded my own business--that's what usually happens. I remember once, out of pure chivalry, trying to stop a fellow from beating his wife. Of course they both turned on me--as they always do. I went to the hospital for a week, and lost a profitable divorce case. However, we try to do our duty as we see it.”

This was anything but a promising preamble; Dave wondered, too, at his friend's obvious nervousness.

”So you've found the girl, eh?” the judge went on.

”Yes.”

”Are you accepted? I mean, have you asked her to marry you?”

”Of course I have. That's about the first thing a fellow does.”

Ellsworth shuffled the papers on his desk with an abstracted gaze, then said, slowly, ”Dave--I don't think you ought to marry.”

”So you told me once before. I suppose you mean I'm poor and a failure.”

”Oh no! All men are failures until they marry. I'm thinking of what marriage means; of the new duties it brings, of the man's duty to himself, to the woman, and to society; I'm thinking of what lies inside of the man himself.”

”Um-m! That's pretty vague.”

”I've studied you a long time, Dave, and with a reason. I've studied heredity, too, and--you mustn't marry.”

Law stirred in his chair and smiled whimsically. ”I've done some studying along those lines, too, and I reckon I know myself pretty well. I've the usual faults, but--”

Ellsworth interrupted. ”You don't know yourself at all, my boy. There's just the trouble. I'm the only man--living man, that is--who knows you.” For the first time he looked directly at his caller, and now his lids were lifted until the eyes peered out bright, hard, and piercing; something in his face startled Dave. ”I was your father's attorney and his friend. I know how he lived and how he died. I know--what killed him?”

”You mean, don't you, that you know who killed him?”

”I mean just what I say.”

Dave leaned forward, studying the speaker curiously. ”Well, come through. What's on your mind?” he demanded, finally.