Part 40 (1/2)
”Yes. What little I've heard isn't very pretty nor very much to the family's credit. They were a bad lot, I believe.”
”Frank Law had two brothers and a sister, had he not?”
”Yes. One of my uncles was a tough hombre. I'm told he notched his gun pretty well.”
”He was about the worst man of his day. He was shot in Dodge City on one of his rampages.”
Dave raised shocked and curious eyes. ”You think he was crazy?”
”Most of those old-time gunmen would be so considered nowadays. Some unbelievable stories are told about that uncle of yours. The other one disappeared mysteriously.”
”I believe so. He just walked away from his wife and family and business one day and was never heard of again.”
Ellsworth seemed to consider this admission significant. ”Now the sister, your aunt?”
”I think she's somewhere in the East; I never saw her.”
”She is; she's an inmate of an inst.i.tution the name and address of which I have here.” Ellsworth thrust his finger into the loose pile of doc.u.ments before him. Avoiding his caller's eyes he continued: ”You can't very well ignore such a family history, Dave. I've never traced it back beyond the last generation, but you probably could if you tried.”
In a voice hardly his own, Dave articulated: ”G.o.d! This is--hideous.”
”It is. I'd like to believe that you don't belong to the Laws, but I can't put much faith in that childhood fancy of yours. Run it down; convince yourself. But first go to the girl, whoever she is, and tell her the facts. If she's the right sort--”
”No, no!” The words were wrung from Dave's lips. ”She knows too well how heredity acts; she's had one experience.”
”Eh? You say she knows--Who is she, Dave? Don't tell me you mean--Alaire?”
Dave nodded.
”d.a.m.nation!” Ellsworth leaped to his feet and, striding around the desk, seized his caller roughly by the shoulder. ”What are you telling me? Good G.o.d, Alaire! A married woman! So you--cut under Ed Austin, eh?” Momentarily Ellsworth lost control of himself; his eyes blazed and his fingers tightened painfully. ”What d.a.m.nable trick have you played on that girl? Tell me before I choke you.”
For once Dave Law's pa.s.sion failed to ignite at the heat of another's anger; he only sat limp and helpless in the judge's grasp. Finally he muttered: ”I played square enough. It's one of those things that just happen. We couldn't help ourselves. She'll come to you for her divorce.”
The lawyer uttered a shocking oath. ”Then it's no mere romantic infatuation on her part?”
”Oh no!”
Ellsworth loosed his grip. He turned away and began to pace the office floor, shaking his head. ”This is--unfortunate. Alaire, of all people--as if she didn't have enough to bear.” He turned fiercely upon the cowering figure in the chair, saying: ”I'll tell her the whole truth myself, before she goes any further.”
”No! Oh, please! Let me, in my own way.” Dave writhed and sank his face in his hands once more. After a while he said, ”I'm waiting for you to tell me it's all a nightmare.”
”Humph!” The judge continued his restless pacing. ”I was sorry for you when you came in here, and it took all my strength to tell you; but now you don't matter at all. I was prepared to have you go ahead against my advice, but--I'll see you d.a.m.ned first.”
”You have d.a.m.ned me.”
When Ellsworth saw the haggard face turned to his he ceased his walk abruptly. ”I'm all broken up, Dave,” he confessed in a gentler tone than he had used heretofore. ”But you'll thank me some day.”
Law was no longer the big, strong, confident fellow who had entered the office such a short time before. He had collapsed; he seemed to have shrunk; he was pitifully appealing. Although there were many things he would have said, many questions upon his tongue, he could not voice them now, and it was with extreme difficulty that he managed to follow the judge's words at all.
After a time he rose and shook Ellsworth's hand limply, mechanically; then he shambled out of the office. Like a sick man, he stumbled down the stairs and into the street. When he entered his hotel the clerk and some of the idlers in the lobby looked at him queerly, but he did not see them.