Part 9 (1/2)
Raymond did not at first appear to notice the sarcasm. ”I only stated,” he said, gravely, ”that which these gentlemen will find out for themselves before they are many hours older. Dr. West was the brain of the county, as Aladdin is its life-blood. It only remains to be seen how far the loss of that brain affects the county. The Stock Exchange market in San Francisco will indicate that today in the shares of the San Antonio and Soquel Railroad and the West Mills and Manufacturing Co. It is a matter that may affect even our friends here. Whatever West's social standing was in this house, lately he was in confidential business relations with Mrs. Saltonstall.” He raised his eyes for the first time to Garnier as he added, slowly, ”It is to be hoped that if our hostess has no social reasons to deplore the loss of Dr. West, she at least will have no other.”
With a lover's instinct, conscious only of some annoyance to Maruja, in all this, Carroll anxiously looked for her appearance among the others.
He was doomed to disappointment, however. His half-timid inquiries only resulted in the information that Maruja was closeted with her mother. The penetralia of the casa was only accessible to the family; yet, as he wandered uneasily about, he could not help pa.s.sing once or twice before the quaint low archway, with its grated door, that opened from the central hall. His surprise may be imagined when he suddenly heard his name uttered in a low voice; and, looking up, he beheld the soft eyes of Maruja at the grating.
She held the door partly open with one little hand, and made a sign for him to enter with the other. When he had done so, she said, ”Come with me,” and preceded him down the dim corridor. His heart beat thickly; the incense of this sacred inner life, with its faint suggestion of dead rose-leaves, filled him with a voluptuous languor; his breath was lost, as if a soft kiss had taken it away; his senses swam in the light mist that seemed to suffuse everything. His step trembled as she suddenly turned aside, and, opening a door, ushered him into a small vaulted chamber.
In the first glance it seemed to be an oratory or chapel. A large gold and ebony crucifix hung on the wall. There was a prie-dieu of heavy dark mahogany in the centre of the tiled floor; there was a low ottoman or couch, covered with a mantle of dark violet velvet, like a pall; there were two quaintly carved stiff chairs; a religious, almost ascetic, air pervaded the apartment; but no dreamy eastern seraglio could have affected him with an intoxication so profoundly and mysteriously sensuous.
Maruja pointed to a chair, and then, with a peculiarly feminine movement, placed herself sideways upon the ottoman, half reclining on her elbow on a high cus.h.i.+on, her deep billowy flounces partly veiling the funereal velvet below. Her oval face was pale and melancholy, her eyes moist as if with recent tears; an expression as of troubled pa.s.sion lurked in their depths and in the corners of her mouth.
Scarcely knowing why, Carroll fancied that thus she might appear if she were in love; and the daring thought made him tremble.
”I wanted to speak with you alone,” she said, gently, as if in explanation; ”but don't look at me so. I have had a bad night, and now this calamity”--she stopped and then added, softly, ”I want you to do a favor for--my mother?”
Captain Carroll, with an effort, at last found his voice. ”But YOU are in trouble; YOU are suffering. I had no idea this unfortunate affair came so near to you.”
”Nor did I,” said Maruja, closing her fan with a slight snap. ”I knew nothing of it until my mother told me this morning. To be frank with you, it now appears that Dr. West was her most intimate business adviser. All her affairs were in his hands. I cannot explain how, or why, or when; but it is so.”
”And is that all?” said Carroll, with boyish openness of relief. ”And you have no other sorrow?”
In spite of herself, a tender smile, such as she might have bestowed on an impulsive boy, broke on her lips. ”And is that not enough? What would you? No--sit where you are! We are here to talk seriously. And you do not ask what is this favor my mother wishes?”
”No matter what it is, it shall be done,” said Carroll, quickly. ”I am your mother's slave if she will but let me serve at your side. Only,”
he paused, ”I wish it was not business--I know nothing of business.”
”If it were only business, Captain Carroll,” said Maruja, slowly, ”I would have spoken to Raymond or the Senor Buchanan; if it were only confidence, Pereo, our mayordomo, would have dragged himself from his sick-bed this morning to do my mother's bidding. But it is more than that--it is the functions of a gentleman--and my mother, Captain Carroll, would like to say of--a friend.”
He seized her hand and covered it with kisses. She withdrew it gently.
”What have I to do?” he asked, eagerly.
She drew a note from her belt. ”It is very simple. You must ride over to Aladdin with that note. You must give it to him ALONE--more than that, you must not let any one who may be there think you are making any but a social call. If he keeps you to dine--you must stay--you will bring back anything he may give you and deliver it to me secretly for her.”
”Is that all?” asked Carroll, with a slight touch of disappointment in his tone.
”No,” said Maruja, rising impulsively. ”No, Captain Carroll--it is NOT all! And you shall know all, if only to prove to you how we confide in you--and to leave you free, after you have heard it, to do as you please.” She stood before him, quite white, opening and shutting her fan quickly, and tapping the tiled floor with her little foot. ”I have told you Dr. West was my mother's business adviser. She looked upon him as more--as a friend. Do you know what a dangerous thing it is for a woman who has lost one protector to begin to rely upon another?
Well, my mother is not yet old. Dr. West appreciated her--Dr. West did not depreciate himself--two things that go far with a woman, Captain Carroll, and my mother is a woman.” She paused, and then, with a light toss of her fan, said: ”Well, to make an end, but for this excellent horse and this too ambitious rider, one knows not how far the old story of my mother's first choice would have been repeated, and the curse of Koorotora again fallen on the land.”
”And you tell me this--you, Maruja--you who warned me against my hopeless pa.s.sion for you?”
”Could I foresee this?” she said, pa.s.sionately; ”and are you mad enough not to see that this very act would have made YOUR suit intolerable to my relations?”
”Then you did think of my suit, Maruja,” he said, grasping her hand.
”Or any one's suit,” she continued, hurriedly, turning away with a slight increase of color in her cheeks. After a moment's pause, she added, in a gentler and half-reproachful voice, ”Do you think I have confided my mother's story to you for this purpose only? Is this the help you proffer?”
”Forgive me, Maruja,” said the young officer, earnestly. ”I am selfish, I know--for I love you. But you have not told me yet how I could help your mother by delivering this letter, which any one could do.”
”Let me finish then,” said Maruja. ”It is for you to judge what may be done. Letters have pa.s.sed between my mother and Dr. West. My mother is imprudent; I know not what she may have written, or what she might not write, in confidence. But you understand, they are not letters to be made public nor to pa.s.s into any hands but hers. They are not to be left to be bandied about by his American friends; to be commented upon by strangers; to reach the ears of the Guitierrez. They belong to that grave which lies between the Past and my mother; they must not rise from it to haunt her.”
”I understand,” said the young officer, quietly. ”This letter, then, is my authority to recover them?”
”Partly, though it refers to other matters. This Mr. Prince, whom you Americans call Aladdin, was a friend of Dr. West; they were a.s.sociated in business, and he will probably have access to his papers. The rest we must leave to you.”