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<p style="font-size:2.3em; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:1.5em; text-align:center;">THE CREVICE</p>
<p style="font-size:1.3em; margin-bottom:3em; text-align:center;">
<span style="font-size:0.7em;">BY</span><br/>WILLIAM J. BURNS<br/><span style="font-size:0.7em;">AND</span><br/>ISABEL OSTRANDER</p>
<p style="font-size:1.1em; margin-bottom:3.5em; text-align:center;">
<span style="font-size:0.8em; font-variant:small-caps;">illustrations by</span><br/>WILL GREF�</p>
<div class='figcenter'><ANTIMG src='images/crevice-emb.png' alt="" /></div>
<p style="font-size:1.1em; margin-top:3.5em; margin-bottom:1em; letter-spacing:0.2em; text-align:center;">
NEW YORK<br/>
<span style="font-size:1.3em; letter-spacing:0.25em;">GROSSET & DUNLAP</span><br/>
PUBLISHERS</p>
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<p style="text-align:center; font-variant:small-caps;">Copyright, 1915, by<br/></p>
<p style="text-align:center">W. J. WATT & COMPANY</p>
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<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<table border='0' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'><p style='font-size:small;text-align:left'>CHAPTER</p>
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<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'> </td>
<td valign='top' align='right'><p style='font-size:small;text-align:right'>PAGE</p>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>I</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Pennington Lawton and the Grim Reaper</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_I_PENNINGTON_LAWTON_AND_THE_GRIM_REAPER'>1</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>II</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Revelations</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_II_REVELATIONS'>16</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>III</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Henry Blaine Takes a Hand</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_III_HENRY_BLAINE_TAKES_A_HAND'>29</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IV</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Search</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_IV_THE_SEARCH'>38</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>V</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Will</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_V_THE_WILL'>53</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VI</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The First Counter-move</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_VI_THE_FIRST_COUNTERMOVE'>66</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Letter</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_VII_THE_LETTER'>78</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VIII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Guy Morrow Faces a Problem</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_VIII_GUY_MORROW_FACES_A_PROBLEM'>98</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IX</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Gone!</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_IX_GONE'>104</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>X</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Margaret Hefferman’s Failure</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_X_MARGARET_HEFFERMANS_FAILURE'>116</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XI</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Confidence of Emily</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XI_THE_CONFIDENCE_OF_EMILY'>134</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Cipher</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XII_THE_CIPHER'>154</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Empty House</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XIII_THE_EMPTY_HOUSE'>171</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIV</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>In the Open</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XIV_IN_THE_OPEN'>192</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XV</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Checkmate!</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XV_CHECKMATE'>207</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVI</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Library Chair</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XVI_THE_LIBRARY_CHAIR'>224</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Rescue</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XVII_THE_RESCUE'>240</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVIII</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Trap</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XVIII_THE_TRAP'>255</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIX</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Unseen Listener</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XIX_THE_UNSEEN_LISTENER'>272</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XX</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Crevice</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XX_THE_CREVICE'>290</SPAN></td>
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<td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXI</td>
<td valign='top' align='left' style='padding-right:4em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Cleared Skies</span> </td>
<td valign='bottom' align='right'><SPAN href='#CHAPTER_XXI_CLEARED_SKIES'>308</SPAN></td>
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<h1>THE CREVICE</h1>
<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_1' name='page_1'></SPAN>1</span>
<SPAN name='CHAPTER_I_PENNINGTON_LAWTON_AND_THE_GRIM_REAPER' id='CHAPTER_I_PENNINGTON_LAWTON_AND_THE_GRIM_REAPER'></SPAN>
<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
<h3>PENNINGTON LAWTON AND THE GRIM REAPER</h3></div>
<p class="dropcap" ><span class="dcap">Had</span> New Illington been part of an empire instead
of one of the most important cities in the
greatest republic in the world, the cry “The
King is dead! Long live the King!” might well have
resounded through its streets on that bleak November
morning when Pennington Lawton was found dead,
seated quietly in his arm-chair by the hearth in the
library, where so many vast deals of national import had
been first conceived, and the details arranged which had
carried them on and on to brilliant consummation.</p>
<p>Lawton, the magnate, the supreme power in the
financial world of the whole country, had been suddenly
cut down in his prime.</p>
<p>The news of his passing traveled more quickly than
the extras which rolled damp from the presses could
convey it through the avenues and alleys of the city,
whose wealthiest citizen he had been, and through the
highways and byways of the country, which his marvelous
mentality and finesse had so manifestly strengthened
in its position as a world power.</p>
<p>At the banks and trust companies there were hurriedly-called
directors’ meetings, where men sat about
long mahogany tables, and talked constrainedly about
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_2' name='page_2'></SPAN>2</span>
the immediate future and the vast changes which the
death of this great man would necessarily bring. In the
political clubs, his passing was discussed with bated
breath.</p>
<p>At the hospitals and charitable institutions which he
had so generously helped to maintain, in the art clubs
and museums, in the Cosmopolitan Opera House––in
the founding of which he had been leading spirit and
unfailingly thereafter, its most generous contributor––he
was mourned with a sincerity no less deep because of
its admixture of self-interest.</p>
<p>In aristocratic drawing-rooms, there were whispers
over the tea-cups; the luck of Ramon Hamilton, the
rising young lawyer, whose engagement to Anita Lawton,
daughter and sole heiress of the dead financier, had
just been announced, was remarked upon with the frankness
of envy, left momentarily unguarded by the sudden
shock.</p>
<p>For three days Pennington Lawton lay in simple, but
veritable state. Telegrams poured in from the highest
representatives of State, clergy and finance. Then,
while the banks and charitable institutions momentarily
closed their doors, and flags throughout the city were
lowered in respect to the man who had gone, the funeral
procession wound its solemn way from the aristocratic
church of St. James, to the graveyard. The last extras
were issued, detailing the service; the last obituaries
printed, the final pæans of praise were sung, and the
world went on its way.</p>
<p>During the two days thereafter, multitudinous affairs
of more imperative public import were brought to light;
a celebrated murder was committed; a notorious band of
criminals was rounded up; a political boss toppled and
fell from his self-made pedestal; a diplomatic scandal of
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_3' name='page_3'></SPAN>3</span>
far-reaching effect was unearthed, and in the press of
passing events, the fact that Lawton had been eliminated
from the scheme of things faded into comparative insignificance,
from the point of view of the general public.</p>
<p>In the great house on Belleair Avenue, which the man
who was gone had called home, a tall, slender young girl
sat listlessly conversing with a pompous little man, whose
clerical garb proclaimed the reason for his coming. The
girl’s sable garments pathetically betrayed her youth,
and in her soft eyes was the pained and wounded look of
a child face to face with its first comprehended sorrow.</p>
<p>The Rev. Dr. Franklin laid an obsequious hand upon
her arm.</p>
<p>“The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.”</p>
<p>Anita Lawton shivered slightly, and raised a trembling,
protesting hand.</p>
<p>“Please,” she said, softly, “I know––I heard you
say that at St. James’ two days ago. I try to believe, to
think, that in some inscrutable way, God meant it for the
best when he took my father so ruthlessly from me, with
no premonition, no sign of warning. It is hard, Dr.
Franklin. I cannot coordinate my thoughts just yet.
You must give me a little time.”</p>
<p>The minister bent his short body still lower before her.</p>
<p>“My dear child, do you remember, also, a later prayer
in the same service?”––unconsciously he assumed the
full rich, rounded, pulpit tones, which were habitual with
him. “‘Lord, Thou hast been our refuge from one generation
to another; before the mountains were brought
forth or ever the earth and world were made––’”</p>
<p>A low knocking upon the door interrupted him, and
the butler appeared.</p>
<p>“Mr. Rockamore and Mr. Mallowe,” Anita Lawton
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_4' name='page_4'></SPAN>4</span>
read aloud from the cards he presented. “Oh, I can’t
see them now. Tell them, Wilkes, that my minister is
with me, and they must forgive me for denying myself
to them.”</p>
<p>The butler retired, and the Rev. Dr. Franklin, at the
mention of two of the most prominent and influential men
in the city since the death of Lawton, turned bulging,
inquiring eyes upon the girl.</p>
<p>“My dear child, is it wise for you to refuse to see two
of your father’s best friends? You will need their help,
their kindness––a woman alone in the world, no matter
how exalted her position, needs friends. Mr. Mallowe is
not one of my parishioners, but I understand that as
president of the Street Railways, he was closely associated
with your dear father in many affairs of finance.
Mr. Rockamore I know to be a man of almost unlimited
power in the world in which Mr. Lawton moved. Should
you not see them? Remember that you are under my
protection in every way, of course, but since our Heavenly
Father has seen fit to take unto Himself your dear
one, I feel that it would be advisable for you to place
yourself under the temporal guidance of those whom he
trusted, at any rate for the time being.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I feel that they were my father’s friends, but not
mine. Since mother and my little sister and brother
were lost at sea, so many years ago, I have learned to
depend wholly upon my father, who was more comrade
than parent. Then, as you know, I met Ramon––Mr.
Hamilton, and of course I trust him as implicitly as I
must trust you. But although, on many occasions, I
assisted my father to receive his financial confrères on a
social basis, I cannot feel at a time like this that I care
to talk with any except those who are nearest and dearest
to me.”</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_5' name='page_5'></SPAN>5</span></div>
<p>“But suppose they have come, not wholly to offer you
consolation, but to confer with you upon some business
matters upon which it would be advantageous for you to
inform yourself? Your grief and desire for seclusion
are most natural, under the circumstances, but one must
sometimes consider earthly things also.” The minister’s
evidently eager desire to be present at an interview with
the great men and to place himself on a more familiar
footing with them was so obvious that Anita’s gesture
of dissent held also something of repugnance.</p>
<p>“I could not, Dr. Franklin. Perhaps later, when the
first shock has passed, but not yet. You understand
that I like them both most cordially. Those whom
father trusted must be men of sterling worth, but just
now I feel as must an animal which has been beaten. I
want to creep off into a dark and silent place until my
misery dulls a little.”</p>
<p>“You have borne up wonderfully well, dear child,
under the severe shock of this tragedy. Mrs. Franklin
and I have remarked upon it. You have exhibited the
same self-mastery and strength of character which made
your father the man he was.” Dr. Franklin arose from
his chair with a sigh which was not altogether perfunctory.
“Think well over what I have said. Try to realize
that your only consolation and strength in this hour
of your deepest sorrow come from on High, and believe
that if you take your poor, crushed heart to the Throne
of Grace it shall be healed. That has been promised us.
Think, also, of what I have just said to you concerning
your father’s associates, and when next they call, as they
will, of course, do very shortly, try to receive them with
your usual gracious charms, and should they offer you
any advice upon worldly matters, which we must not
permit ourselves to neglect, send for me. I will leave
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_6' name='page_6'></SPAN>6</span>
you now. Mrs. Franklin will call upon you to-morrow.
Try to be brave and calm, and pray for the guidance
which will be vouchsafed you, should you ask it, frankly
and freely.”</p>
<p>Anita Lawton gave him her hand and accompanied
him in silence to the door. There, with a few gentle
words, she dismissed him, and when the sound of his
measured footsteps had diminished, she closed the door
with a little gasp of half relief, and turned to the window.
It had been an effort to her to see and talk with her
spiritual adviser, whose hypocrisy she had vaguely felt.</p>
<p>If only Ramon had come––Ramon, whose wife she
would be in so short a time, and who must now be father
as well as husband to her. She glanced at the little
French clock on the mantel. He was late––he had
promised to be there at four. As she parted the heavy
curtains, the telephone upon her father’s desk, in the
corner, shrilled sharply. When she took the receiver off
the hook, the voice of her lover came to the girl as
clearly, tenderly, as if he, himself, stood beside her.</p>
<p>“Anita, dear, may I come to you now?”</p>
<p>“Oh, please do, Ramon; I have been waiting for you.
Dr. Franklin called this afternoon, and while he was here
with me Mr. Rockamore and Mr. Mallowe came, but I
could not see them. There is something I feel I must
talk over with you.”</p>
<p>She hung up the receiver with a little sigh, and for the
first time in days a faint suspicion of a smile lightened
her face. As she turned away, however, her eyes fell
upon the great leather chair by the hearth, and her
expression changed as she gave an uncontrollable shudder.
It was in that chair her father had been found on
that fateful morning, about a week ago, clad still in the
dinner-clothes of the previous evening, a faint, introspective
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_7' name='page_7'></SPAN>7</span>
smile upon his keen, inscrutable face; his eyes
wide, with a politely inquiring stare, as if he had looked
upon things which until then had been withheld from his
vision. She walked over to the chair, and laid her hand
where his head had rested. Then, all at once, the tension
within her seemed to snap and she flung herself within its
capacious, wide-reaching arms, in a torrent of tears––the
first she had shed.</p>
<p>It was thus that Ramon Hamilton found her, on his
arrival twenty minutes later, and without ado, he gathered
her up, carried her to the window-seat, and made her
cry out her heart upon his shoulder.</p>
<p>When she was somewhat quieted he said to her gently,
“Dearest, why will you insist upon coming to this room,
of all others, at least just for a little time? The memories
here will only add to your suffering.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know; I can’t explain it. That chair there
in which poor father was found has a peculiar, dreadful
fascination for me. I have heard that murderers
invariably return sooner or later to the scene of their
crime. May we not also have the same desire to stay
close to the place whence some one we love has departed?”</p>
<p>“You are morbid, dear. Bring your maid and come
to my mother’s house for a little, as she has repeatedly
asked you to do. It will make it so much easier for
you.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps it would. Your mother has been so very
kind, and yet I feel that I must remain here, that there is
something for me to do.”</p>
<p>“I don’t understand. What do you mean, dearest?”</p>
<p>She turned swiftly and placed her hands upon his
broad shoulders. Her childish eyes were steely with an
intensity of purpose hitherto foreign to them.</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_8' name='page_8'></SPAN>8</span></div>
<p>“Ramon, there is something I have not told you or
any one; but I feel that the time has come for me to
speak. It is not nervousness, or imagination; it is a fact
which occurred on the night of my father’s death.”</p>
<p>“Why speak of it, Anita?” He took her hands from
his shoulders, and pressed them gently, but with quiet
strength. “It is all over now, you know. We must not
dwell too much upon what is past; I shall have to help
you to put it all from your mind––not to forget, but to
make your memories tender and beautiful.”</p>
<p>“But I must speak of it. It will be on my mind day
and night until I have told you. Ramon, you dined with
us that night––the night before. Did my father seem
ill to you?”</p>
<p>“Of course not. I had never known him to be in
better health and spirits.” Ramon glanced at her in
involuntary surprise.</p>
<p>“Are you sure?”</p>
<p>“Why do you ask me that? You know that heart-disease
may attack one at any time without warning.”</p>
<p>Anita sank upon the window-seat again, and leaned
forward pensively, her hands clasped over her knees.</p>
<p>“You will remember that after you and father had
your coffee and cigars together in the dining-room, you
both joined me?”</p>
<p>“Of course. You were playing the piano, ramblingly,
as if your thoughts were far away, and you
seemed nervous, ill at ease. I wondered about it at the
time.”</p>
<p>“It was because of father. To you he appeared in the
best of spirits, as you say, but I, who knew him better
than any one else on earth, realized that he was forcing
himself to be genial, to take an interest in what we were
saying. For days he had been overwrought and depressed.
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_9' name='page_9'></SPAN>9</span>
As you know, he has confided in me, absolutely,
since I have been old enough to be a real companion
to him. I thought that I knew all his business
affairs––those of the last two or three years at least––but
latterly his manner has puzzled and distressed me.
Then, while you were in the dining-room, the telephone
rang twice.”</p>
<p>“Yes; the calls were for your father. When he was
summoned to the wire he immediately had the connection
given to him on his private line, here in the library.
After he returned to the dining-room he did seem slightly
absent-minded, now that I think of it; but it did not
occur to me that there could have been any serious
trouble. You know, dearest, ever since the evening when
he promised to give you to me, he has consulted me, also,
to a great extent about his financial interests, and I
think if any difficulty had arisen he would have mentioned
it.”</p>
<p>“Still, I am convinced that something was on his
mind. I tried to approach him concerning it, but he
was evasive, and put me off, laughingly. You know
that father was not the sort of man whose confidence
could be forced even by those dearest to him. I had
been so worried about him, though, that I had a nervous
headache, and after you left, Ramon, I retired at once.
An hour or two later, father had a visitor––that fact
as you know, the coroner elicited from the servants, but
it had, of course, no bearing on his death, since the
caller was Mr. Rockamore. I heard his voice when I
opened the door of my room, after ringing for my maid
to get some lavender salts. I could not sleep, my headache
grew worse; and while I was struggling against it,
I heard Mr. Rockamore depart, and my father’s voice in
the hall, after the slamming of the front door, telling
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_10' name='page_10'></SPAN>10</span>
Wilkes to retire, that he would need him no more that
night. I heard the butler’s footsteps pass down the
hall, and then I rose and opened my door again. I
don’t know why, but I felt that I wanted to speak to
father when he came up on his way to bed.”</p>
<p>Anita paused, and Ramon, in spite of himself, felt a
thrill of puzzled wonder at her expression, upon which
a dawning look, almost of horror, spread and grew.</p>
<p>“But he did not come, and after a while I stole to
the head of the stairs and looked down. There was a
low light in the hall and a brighter one from the library,
the door of which was ajar. I supposed that father
was working late over some papers, and I knew that I
must not disturb him. I crept back to bed at last, with
a sigh, but left my own door slightly open, so that if I
should happen to be awake when he passed, I might call
to him.</p>
<p>“Presently, however, I dozed off. I don’t know how
long I slept, but I awakened to hear voices––angry
voices, my father’s and another, which I did not recognize.
I got up and by the night-light I saw that the
hands of the little clock on my dresser pointed to nearly
three o’clock. I could not imagine who would call on
father so very late at night, and I feared at first it
might be a burglar, but my common sense assured me
that father would not stop to parley with a burglar.
While I stood wondering, father raised his voice
slightly, and I caught one word which he uttered.
Ramon, that word sounded to me like ‘blackmail!’
Why, what is it? Why do you look at me so
strangely?” she added hastily, at his uncontrollable
start.</p>
<p>“I? I am not looking at you strangely, dear; it is
not possible that you could have heard aright. It must
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_11' name='page_11'></SPAN>11</span>
have been simply a fancy of yours, born of the state of
your nerves. You could not really have understood.”
But Ramon Hamilton looked away from her as he
spoke, with a peculiarly significant gleam in his candid
eyes. After a slight pause he went on: “No one in
the world could have attempted to blackmail your father.
He was the soul of honor and integrity, as no one knows
better than you. Why, his opinion was sought on every
public question. You remember hearing of some of the
political honors which he repeatedly refused, but he
could, had he wished, have held the highest office at the
disposal of the people. You must have been mistaken,
Anita. There has never been a reason for the word
‘blackmail’ to cross your father’s lips.”</p>
<p>“I know that I was not mistaken, for I heard more––enough
to convince me that I had been right in my surmise!
Father was keeping something from me!”</p>
<p>“Dear little girl, suppose he had been? Nothing, of
course, that could possibly reflect upon his integrity,––don’t
misunderstand me––but you are only twenty, you
know. It is not to be expected that you could quite
comprehend the details of all the varied business interests
of a man who had virtually led the finances of his
country for more than twenty years. Perhaps it was
a purely business matter.”</p>
<p>“I tell you, Ramon, that that man, whoever he was,
actually dared to threaten father. When I heard that
word ‘blackmail’ in the angriest tones which I had ever
heard my father use, I did something mean, despicable,
which only my culminating anxiety could have induced
me to do. I slipped on my robe and slippers, stole half-way
downstairs and listened deliberately.”</p>
<p>“Anita, you should not have done that! It was not
like you to do so. If your father had wished you to
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_12' name='page_12'></SPAN>12</span>
know of this interview, don’t you think he would have
told you?”</p>
<p>“Perhaps he would have, but what opportunity was
he given? A few hours later, he was found dead in that
chair over there; the chair in which he sat while he was
talking with his unknown visitor.”</p>
<p>The young man sprang to his feet. “You can’t
realize what you are saying; what you are hinting! It
is unthinkable! If you let these morbid fancies prey
upon your mind, you will be really ill.” His tones were
full of horror. “Your father died of heart-disease.
The doctors and the coroner established that beyond the
shadow of a doubt, you know. Any other supposition
is beyond the bounds of possibility.”</p>
<p>“Of heart-disease, yes. But might not the sudden
attack have been brought on by his altercation with this
man? His sudden rage, controlled as it was, at the
insults hurled at him?”</p>
<p>“What insults, Anita? Tell me what you heard
when you crept down the stairs. You know you can
trust me, dear––you must trust me.”</p>
<p>“The man was saying: ‘Come, Lawton, be sensible;
half a loaf is better than no bread. There is no blackmail
about this, even if you choose to call it so. It is
an ordinary business proposition, as you have been told
a hundred times!’”</p>
<p>“‘It’s a damnable crooked scheme, as I have told you
a hundred times, and I shall have nothing to do with it!
This is final!’ Father’s tones rang out clearly and distinctly,
quivering with suppressed fury. ‘My hands
are clean, my financial operations have been open and
above-board; there is no stain upon my life or character,
and I can look every man in the face and tell him to
go where you may go now!’</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_13' name='page_13'></SPAN>13</span></div>
<p>“‘Oh, is that so!’ sneered the other man loudly.
Then his voice became insinuatingly low. ‘How about
poor Herbert––’ His tones were so indistinct that I
could not catch the name. Then he went on more defiantly,
‘His wife––’ He didn’t finish the sentence,
Ramon, for father groaned suddenly, terribly, as if he
were in swift pain; the man gave a little sneering laugh,
and I could hear him moving about in the library,
whistling half under his breath in sheer bravado. I
could not bear to hear any more. I put my hands over
my ears and fled back to my room. What could it mean,
Ramon? What is this about father and some other
man and his wife which the stranger dared to insinuate!
reflected upon father’s integrity? Why should he have
groaned as if the very mention of these people hurt him
inexpressibly?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, dear.” Ramon Hamilton sat with his
honest eyes still turned from her. “You must have
been mistaken; perhaps you even dreamed it all.”
Anita Lawton gave an impatient gesture.</p>
<p>“I am not quite the child you think me, Ramon.
Could that man have meant to insinuate that father in
his own advancement had trod upon and ruined some
one else, as financiers have always done? Could he
have meant that father had driven this man and his wife
to despair? I cannot bear to think of it. I try to
thrust it from my thoughts a dozen times a day, but
that groan from father’s lips sounded so much like one
of remorse that hideous ideas come beating in on my
brain. Was my father like other rich men, Ramon?
He did not live for money, although the successful
manipulation of it was almost a passion with him. He
lived for me, always for me, and the good that he would
be able to do in this world.”</p>
<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_14' name='page_14'></SPAN>14</span></div>
<p>“Of course he did, darling. No one who knew him
could imagine otherwise for a moment.” He hesitated,
and then added, “No one else discovered this man’s
presence in the house that night? You have told no
one? Not the doctor, or the coroner, or Dr. Franklin?”</p>
<p>“Oh, no; if I had it would have been necessary for me
to have told what I overheard. Besides, it could have
had no direct bearing on daddy’s death; that was caused
by heart-disease, as you say. But I believe, and I always
will believe, that that man killed father, as surely,
as inevitably, as if he had stabbed or shot or poisoned
him! Why did he come like a thief in the night?
Father’s integrity, his honor, were known to all the
world. Why did that reference to this Herbert and his
wife cause him such pain?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, dear; I have no more idea than you.
If you really, really overheard that conversation, as you
seem convinced you did, you did well in keeping it to
yourself. Let that hour remain buried in your thoughts,
as in your father’s grave. Only rest assured that whatever
it is, it casts no stain upon your father’s good name
or his memory.” He rose and gathered her into his
arms. “I must go now, Anita; I’ll come again to-morrow.
You are quite sure that you will not accept
my mother’s invitation? I really think it would be better
for you.”</p>
<p>She looked deeply into his eyes, then drew herself
gently from his clasp. “Not yet. Thank her for me,
Ramon, with all my heart, but I will not leave my
father’s house just yet, even for a few days. I am sure
that I shall be happier here.” He kissed her, and left
the room. She stood where he had left her until she
heard the heavy thud of the front door. Then, turning
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_15' name='page_15'></SPAN>15</span>
to the window, she thrust her slim little hand between
the sedately drawn curtains, and waved him a tender
good-by; then with a little sigh, she dropped among the
pillows of the couch, lost in thought.</p>
<p>“Whatever was meant by that conversation which
I overheard,” she murmured to herself, “Ramon knows.
I read it in his eyes.”</p>
<p>The young man, as he made his way down the crowded
avenue, was turning over in his mind the extraordinary
story which the girl he loved had told him.</p>
<p>“What could it mean? Who could the man have
been? Surely not Herbert himself, and yet––oh! why
will they not let sleeping dogs lie; why must that old
scandal, that one stain on Pennington Lawton’s past
have been brought again to light, and at such a time?
I pray God that Anita never mentions it to anyone else,
never learns the truth. By Jove, if any complications
arise from this, there will be only one thing for me to do.
I must call upon the Master Mind.”</p>
<hr class='major' />
<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'>
<span class='pagenum pncolor'><SPAN name='page_16' name='page_16'></SPAN>16</span>
<SPAN name='CHAPTER_II_REVELATIONS' id='CHAPTER_II_REVELATIONS'></SPAN>
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