Part 18 (1/2)

”This isn't a matter for the police. You look like a white man.

What's your job worth to you a week?”

”Anywhere from fifty to seventy-five; depends on the fares I get,” the chauffeur returned promptly.

”I think I can use you. What is your name?”

”Daniel Morrissey, Miss.”

”I'm Willa Murdaugh.” She gave no heed to the man's respectful stare.

”I'll give you a hundred a week flat. You throw up your job, meet me to-morrow at the Circle at ten in the morning and we'll go and buy a good car, light and strong and fast. Can you drive a racer?”

”Anything on wheels but a locomotive!”

”All right. I'll pay you for six months, whether I use you that long or not, and make you a present of the car when I'm through with you.

Is it a go, Dan?”

Then ensued the spectacle of Miss Willa Murdaugh, most important debutante of the season, and Daniel Morrissey, chauffeur, binding the bargain with a solemn handshake.

While her new ally waited, she mounted the steps of the porch and rang the bell. Hurried footsteps thumped along the hall within, and a weazened, hunch backed lad smiled eagerly in the doorway.

”Greeting to thee, Jose.” Willa spoke in soft, liquid Spanish. ”I have come to tell thee that we are safe here no longer. We must seek another casa this very day.”

Dinner-time came and pa.s.sed, and the Halstead family sat in strained silence, their engagements forgotten in the new anxiety which enshrouded them. Mason North, hastily summoned to the conference, paced the floor restlessly.

”It was a mistake, Irene!” he said at last. ”If you had told me I would never have sanctioned it. You can't treat a girl of Willa's type that way.”

”But something had to be done!” Mrs. Halstead cried. ”You and Ripley were both powerless to combat her, and we must know what scandal these mysterious errands of hers are likely to portend. This is what comes of putting a beggar on horseback!”

”And there is nothing to prevent her riding straight back to Mexico, renouncing the inheritance and daring us to go after her!” the lawyer retorted. ”Where would your share of your uncle's estate go then, my dear Irene? The girl's never been too keen on this proposition, anyhow, as I've tried to make you realize; drive her too hard, and she'll throw the whole thing to the four winds.”

”I'll master her yet.” Mrs. Halstead spoke through set teeth. ”No insolent chit of a girl can defy me! The conditions of the will give me a certain amount of authority and I shall exercise it to the limit.

Willa must be controlled.”

”Then play fair!” A voice sounded from the doorway, and Willa herself looked in on them. ”Don't set your servants to spy on me and try to interfere with affairs which are my concern alone.”

”My dear child! What a frightful hour you have given us!” Mason North wrung her hand in hearty relief. ”Come in and sit down, and we will talk it all over. We are willing to admit that an injustice has been done you, but we must clear the air once and for all.”

Willa complied.

”I think it is about time for an understanding,” she said. ”I don't want any admissions or recriminations, and I don't intend to submit to a lot of questions. Let's get right down to business. Do you want to start?”

The lawyer hesitated, taken aback by her cool, matter-of-fact manner.

It bore no trace of insolence, yet conveyed a serene poise and grasp of the situation which was disconcerting.

”No, Willa.” It was Ripley Halstead who replied mildly. The two younger Halsteads merely stared. ”Tell us just what is on your mind.

I want you to be happy here; that is the first consideration.”

”I'm not thinking about that just now.” Willa's calm, direct gaze moved from one to the other of them. ”I'm going to speak plainly; it's the best thing for all of us. This thing is a business proposition, pure and simple. If it were not for the terms of Grandfather Murdaugh's will no one would ever have tried to find me; no one made the least attempt to help my father and mother, on even see that they were given a fair chance to help themselves. I'm not unmindful of the kindness you've all shown me here, however. Cousin Irene has been very conscientious in trying to make a lady of me, but that was a part of her bargain, wasn't it?”