Читать книгу The Bronze Hand - Carolyn Wells - Страница 4

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Once upon a time there were four men—all bad. That is, they were each bad, but none was entirely bad. Nobody is.

The four were closely associated in their interests and were of varying types and varying degrees of badness.

One was the Cat’s-paw; one was the Brutal Ruffian; one was the Arch Villain behind it all; and one was the Judas Iscariot, who carried the bag, and who betrayed the whole bunch.

The good in each was more or less discernible. One was awfully kind to his mother, who never had heard of his badness, and wouldn’t believe it if she had. One was generous minded and lavish of gifts. No one ever appealed to him for material help in vain. One was champion of the downtrodden, and always sided with and assisted the under dog in any fight. And one—well, he made it a point of honor always to return a borrowed book. Perhaps his good trait was the most unusual of all.

One was an engaging-looking chap, with deep-set eyes and an irradiating smile. One was plain, but of a strong-featured, though immobile countenance that betokened an indomitable will. One was of fine, ascetic features, which belied his real nature and served as a mask. And one was of nondescript appearance, as most men are.

One had been a fairly well known football player. One had been a Civil Engineer, and was still civil. One was secretly superstitious. And one was addicted to Cross Word Puzzles, Bridge, Chess and Detective Stories, which addictions usually flock together.

The four men figure in this story, also some other men and a few women, who will appear in due course.

Many years ago Kipling wrote:

“The Liner she’s a Lady, an’ she never looks nor ’eeds.”

and perhaps the most patrician Lady that ever rode the waves was the liner Pinnacle as she left her New York wharf, one summer afternoon, bound for Liverpool.

Without looking nor ’eeding, she steamed majestically down the lane of the Hudson, and out to sea.

Many of her passengers, after screeching themselves hoarse with their goodby to friends on the pier, stayed on deck to watch the fading away of the skyscrapers along the Manhattan skyline.

The Pinnacle, as befitted her name, was the last word in steamships. She was, in truth, the very lap of luxury, and the First Cabin passengers, as they crossed her gangplank, represented, perhaps, enough gold to sink the ship.

As was also fitting, Nature had provided a perfect day for the sailing.

Although it was the first day of July, June seemed still to linger, and the blue of sea and sky was gilded by a summer sun, which obligingly tempered its rays by disappearing now and then, behind puffy white clouds.

A delicious breeze added itself to the weather record, and, as an old poet has it,

“All things were teeming with life and with light.”

After the Liberty Statue was passed, the Deck Steward was made suddenly busy explaining why he had assigned to insistent passengers chairs that had been long ago engaged by others.

But the Deck Steward was a pleasant sort, who had a beaming smile and a placating way with him that let him get by with most of his concessions to bribery and corruption.

By tea time, everybody’s chair was labelled and most of the recipient sex had gone to their cabins to examine their flowers and gifts, while the men looked up acquaintances and proffered cigars.

But the call of the tea brought many out to their deck chairs and travelling companions gossiped and compared notes.

“Cox is on board,” said Amy Camper to her husband, as she balanced a tray on her knees and poured tea into two cups.

“Yes, I saw him. Oily Oscar is in fine fettle.”

“Always is. He seems to be alone.”

“I believe he has a secretary or satellite of some sort. I shan’t trouble him, anyway. I say, Amy, Lily Gibbs is with us.”

“Oh, Lord! Can I never escape that woman? Well, she’ll attach herself to Oscar Cox’s train as soon as may be.”

“She’ll do that. Has, in fact—or, at least, her deck chair is directly in front of his. Look.”

Amy Camper dutifully looked, and saw Oscar Cox, the Oil magnate, in a chair in the back row of all, while the sprightly Miss Gibbs was in the next row ahead.

It was Saturday afternoon, and after their tea, all felt relaxed and affable, and the seated ones watched the walkers as they strode by, and in return the walkers discussed their indolent neighbors.

Two young men paced round and round the deck.

They were Pollard Nash and Harold Mallory, and they had known one another just twenty minutes.

Somebody had told one of them to look up the other, and the result was an immediate and mutual liking.

“I wonder who that girl is,” said Nash, as they passed a quiet figure in quiet, smart garb, who was looking dreamily out to sea.

“That’s the fourth girl you’ve wondered about,” remarked Mallory. “You’re a bit of a wonderer, Nash.”

“Yes, I’m always at it. Born wondering, I think. But that girl puts it over all the rest. Princess in disguise, I take it.”

“Not very well disguised, then, for she has all the aloofness and disdain commonly ascribed to royalty.”

“Well, we can’t find out until we can manage to get a proper introduction. That’s the worst of these smashing big boats. Everybody is noli me tangere. I like the old-fashioned little tubs, where you can scrape acquaintance if you want to.”

“They’re more sociable. But I like better the reserve and exclusiveness of these. Who wants all sorts of people bumping into one, with rowdy greetings and all that?”

“Hello, there’s Cox, the oil man. Know him?”

“No, do you?”

“I don’t. But I shall before long. He’s a chap I’d like to talk to.”

“Why don’t you just tell him so? He’s looking bored and probably lonely.”

“He’d pitch me overboard.”

“Maybe not. I dare you to try it. I’ll stand by, to catch you as you go over the rail.”

Egged on by Mallory’s chaff, Nash paused near the chair of the millionaire.

“Mr. Cox, isn’t it?” he said, in careless, affable tone.

“Yes,” said Oscar Cox. “Are we acquainted?”

“Will be, in a minute,” said the imperturbable Nash. “I’m Pollard Nash, and this is my new-found friend, Mallory. You see, Mr. Cox, I could get dozens of people on board to introduce us—but what’s the use?”

Nash was the sort of blue-eyed person whom it is almost impossible to treat coolly. His manner radiated cordiality of a pleasant, disinterested kind and nine out of ten would have been amiably disposed toward him.

Moreover, Oscar Cox was in the best of humors. He had recently achieved something he inordinately desired, he was off for a long holiday, and he had left behind all his business cares and anxieties. His last few weeks had been strenuous, even dangerous, but they were past, and now, at sea, with every dispute settled, every quandary straightened out, and every danger passed, the great man was at peace with himself mentally, morally and physically.

This explained why he chuckled amusedly at Nash’s boldness, instead of swearing at him to get out.

“That’s so,” he returned, smiling at the two men in front of him. “Let’s go to the smoking room, and see what we can do in the way of cementing an acquaintance—perhaps, a friendship.”

As he rose from his chair, he proved to be younger than they had thought him, for his white hair was misleading. As a matter of fact, Oscar Cox was just fifty, and his whole physique denoted that age, but his white hair, though abundant and crisply curly, made him seem older.

He was enormously wealthy, and though there were those who whispered “Profiteer,” yet his friends, and he had many, rated him as merely a shrewd and clever business promoter.

His manners were charming, except when it suited his purpose to turn ugly, and in that rôle, too, he was well versed.

His clothes were irreproachable and his whole air that of a man who was at home in any situation.

The short conversation among the three had been avidly listened to by the lady who sat in front of Cox, the quick-witted and busy-minded Miss Gibbs.

“Come back soon, Mr. Cox,” she called out, and he returned to her merely a smiling nod.

“Damned nuisance,” he remarked, as they stepped into the companion way. “Some women ought to be thrown overboard.”

“She seems objectionable,” said Mallory, who had noted the eager face of the spinster. “But there are delightful looking people on board, quite a few I’d like to know.”

“Easily managed,” Cox assured him. “What I can’t arrange for you, the Captain will. But I’ll put you in with a few. The Campers are good sports—young married people, and they’ll know everybody inside of twenty-four hours. Be at the dance in the lounge tonight, and they’ll do the rest.”

“We’ll surely be there,” Nash declared. “Travelling alone, Mr. Cox?”

“Yes; except for my Guardian Angel, a misbegotten freak who looks after my belongings. Name of Hudder, and stupider than his name. You chaps alone?”

“Yep,” responded Mallory. “I’m on a short but well-earned vacation, and my new-found friend here, is on a longer one, but not so well earned.”

“A lot you know about it,” Nash smiled. “But as half an hour ago you didn’t know me at all, I’ll admit that you read me fairly well.”

“I do. I’ll bet your intimates call you Polly.”

“That, of course,” Cox put in. “How could they help it? A man named Pollard invites that nickname. What’s yours, Mr. Mallory?”

“Hal Mall, as naturally as Polly’s. And I know yours, sir. You’re Oily Oscar.”

“Yes, but thank goodness the adjective refers to material oil, and not to any traits of my character.”

“I can well believe that,” and Mallory smiled quickly. For whatever were Cox’s faults or virtues, he was far removed from the type of man known as oily.

Straightforward, almost blunt in his speech, abrupt in his statements, and positive in his decisions, Oscar Cox was never guilty of soft soap or palaver.

And he was a good story teller. Not a raconteur, that word connotes a long-winded, self-conceited bore, but a quick, graphic talker whose tales had point, pith and brevity.

As the talk drifted to far-off countries, he told of the brave exploits of his nephew and namesake.

“Young Oscar Cox,” he said, “is fearless and often foolishly daring. He’s hunting big game now, in South America somewhere. That is, if the Big Game hasn’t hunted him. He’s on a pretty stiff expedition, and I hope to goodness he’ll get home alive.”

Further details of the youth’s intrepidity were related, and all were amazed when the first bugle call warned of the approaching dinner hour.

Polly Nash and Hal Mall secured a table to themselves in the elaborate Restaurant, and were not surprised to see Cox alone at a table across the room.

And as they gazed with interest at the incoming stream of passengers, they observed some few they already knew, and many others they would like to know.

“Good dancer, are you, Hal?” Nash inquired.

“Best in the world.”

“Except myself. Bridge shark?”

“Not in the first rank, but a sound, reliable game.”

“Good. I see us the life and soul of the party after a day or two. Lots of pretty girls about, but not so very many captivating young men.”

“I’m keen for the outdoors. Deck sports mean more to me than saloon Jazz. I say, there’s the google-eyed spinster. Rather more odious in evening togs, isn’t she?”

“Well, yes,” and Nash looked critically at the complacent Miss Gibbs, resplendent in a black chiffon wisp, precariously held up by a string of jet beads over one shoulder. “But, I think, Mall, I don’t disdain the lady. She looks to me brainy, perceptive and responsive.”

“Some diagnosis at a first glance! All right, you can have her. Me for the mysterious princess. She’s a dream tonight.”

Nash turned quickly to see the girl he had noticed on deck coming into the room alone.

Though very young, not more than twenty-one, he judged, she had poise and savoir faire that a real princess might have envied. But it was the self-respect and self-reliance of an American girl, a girl brought up in the best of American ways and means.

She wore a frock of pale, flowered chiffon, daintily short, and with pleasantly rounded neck, a string of beautiful pearls her only ornament.

It was a contrast to the jingling beads and multiple bracelets of most of the women present, but the gown bespoke Paris and the pearls announced themselves as real, while the face of the girl herself was so naively pleased and so frankly entertained by the scene before her, that she easily held all eyes.

With no trace of self-consciousness she walked part way across the room, and pausing at a small table, spoke a few words to the hovering head waiter.

Obsequiously he placed her chair, and flourished about his necessary duties.

Polly Nash gazed in silent admiration.

Then, for he was a devotee of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, he quoted:

“The maid was Beauty’s fairest Queen, With golden tresses, Like a real Princess’s,”

“They’re not golden,” Mallory corrected him.

“Well, they’re a goldy-brown, a sort of burnished gold—tarnished gold, old gold, if you like. Any way they look gold to me.”

“You’re infatuated, adoration at first sight.”

“Yes, as the moth for the star. You’re infatuated, too. Only you think it’s wiser not to show it.”

“What I like best about her, is her air of enjoyment. She seems not to feel her loneliness, she’s all wrapped up in interest in her surroundings. Why do you suppose she’s alone?”

“Duenna seasick, probably. I wonder who she is.”

“We’ll find out this evening. I shall dance with her first. The Captain will smooth the way for me.”

“All right,” Nash’s gaze had wandered and his attention, too. “By Jove, Mallory, there’s Trent—Max Trent!”

“Who’s he? A celebrity?”

“Not ostensibly. But he’s one of the finest writers in the world. He writes detective stories, but he writes literature, too.”

“You mean his stories are literature? That’s gilding refined gold and painting the lily. A good detective yarn doesn’t need to be literature. In fact, fine writing detracts from its strength.”

“Who’s talking about fine writing? His books are top of the heap—.”

“The detective story heap? Not much of an eminence.”

“Oh, all right. That’s the way everybody talks who doesn’t care for sleuth stories. I’d rather meet that man than all your dancing princesses or oily eminence.”

“Well, you’ll probably be able to manage it. The Captain can surely compass that.”

“Maybe and maybe not. Authors are an exclusive bunch.”

Dinner over, nearly everybody sauntered across to the spacious and spectacular Saloon, where a fine orchestra was already gladdening the ears of music lovers.

The middle of the great room was a dancing floor, while round the borders were tables and chairs for those who wanted them.

Soon it was like an informal At Home Dance. Introductions, if deserved were readily obtained. Acquaintances were made and the correctly-garbed men and beautifully-gowned women filled the dance floor with a brilliant, swaying, smiling crowd that made a fascinating picture for the onlookers.

Pollard Nash achieved his heart’s desire with no trouble at all. For when the Captain presented him to the author, Max Trent, that genius received the stranger most affably and seemed all for a chat.

Mallory, though, was not so successful. With all the good will in the world, Captain Van Winkle was not able to bring about an introduction to the Princess-like girl.

“She is a Miss Forman,” the Captain said. “She is travelling alone, and desires to make no acquaintances, except such as she may choose for herself.”

“Who is she?” asked the disappointed Mallory. “Why is she alone?”

“Mercy on us, I don’t know! She confided to me nothing, except her passport information. But she is, I should say, quite able to take care of herself. If not, she’ll have me to look after her. Though, I’ve seen no necessity as yet.”

“Oh, all right. Well, introduce me to the siren in black over there will you? Perhaps she’ll dance with me.”

The Captain stared at him.

“You go in for extremes, don’t you?” he said, smiling. “Miss Forman is easily the ship’s beauty, while Miss Gibbs—.”

“Yes, she looks like a cook,” said Mallory, pleasantly, “but she’s my choice.”

He didn’t elucidate further that he had a notion Miss Gibbs was the sort to know everybody on board in the shortest possible time. And that with her as a friend at court, he might reach the princess later on.

Lily Gibbs smiled with pleasure at the advent of this most presentable young man, and in a flutter of flattered delight she danced with him.

They circled the dance floor, and en route, he gained much gossipy information concerning the passengers.

Miss Gibbs had industriously made hay during the few hours of sunshine already elapsed, and she was more than willing to retail her knowledge.

And later, as they discussed some light refreshment, they indulged in a veritable orgy of tattle and speculation about everybody on board.

“The Campers are a good sort,” the oracle revealed. “Owen is athletic and all that, but he has brains, too. Amy is a dear, but she bosses him terribly. She’s five years older than he is—but they’re happy enough, as things go. The man who just passed is Sherman Mason, a New York clubman.”

“That his wife with him?”

“Oh, my, no! He’s a bachelor, and scorns women, except to flirt with now and then. He loves dancing.”

Impatient of these descriptions of people who didn’t interest him, Mallory took a plunge.

“Who’s the quiet little girl sitting over by the blue-curtained alcove?”

Miss Gibbs gave him a quick glance.

“Got around to it, have you? I knew you were dying to ask that.”

“Why not? She’s one of the prettiest girls on board.”

“Oh, do you think so? Why, these two coming toward us now can beat her all to pieces for looks!”

The girls mentioned were of a dashing type, and wore stunning dance frocks of ultra fashion and bizarre design.

“Of course,” he returned smiling, “if you admire that style, you wouldn’t care for the demure little piece.”

“She isn’t so terribly demure. That’s Maisie Forman, and she’s as independent as they come. She won’t meet anybody except those she picks out herself.” Miss Gibbs looked a little chagrined. “She hasn’t picked me out.”

“Nor me,” and Mallory smiled in sympathy. “Let’s make a bargain. If either of us should get to know her, agree to present the other. How’s that?”

“A little one-sided—” but Miss Gibbs didn’t say which side she meant. “However, I’ll agree to that,” and she gave her hand on it.

“Good hunting?” Hal Mallory asked of Pollard Nash, as they ran across each other in the smoking room just before turning in.

“Fine,” Nash replied. “Had a long hobnob with Trent. He’s great! Then Oily Cox joined us, and he told stories and Trent did, too, and soon there was a whole peanut gallery listening in. What’s your report?”

“Failure. That is, so far. I may meet her later on, but it’s a bit doubtful.”

“Who? Meet whom?”

“Why, the Princess we saw in the dining room. By the way, her name is Forman—Maisie Forman.”

“Well, why didn’t you get to know her?”

“She’s too exclusive. But I learned about her from the Gibbs charmer.”

“Oh, yes, the woman with her eye on Cox. By the way, Mallory, Cox told some yarns about his nephew, the one named after him, you know. And, he made him out a financier in Chicago!”

“Well?”

“Well, don’t you remember, this afternoon, he said the chap was a big game hunter and was now in South America.”

“But a business man can hunt game in his off hours.”

“I know, but Oily Cox made it out tonight that his namesake nephew is even now on his job in Chicago. Devotes his whole life and energy to it, and is rapidly becoming a power in the stock market out West.”

“Cox is nutty, I expect—.”

“No, anything but that. What did Miss Gibbs say about him?”

“Nothing. We scarcely mentioned him. But I tell you, that little dame has the low-down on everybody on this tub. She dances as if she had her rubbers on, but she’s nobody’s fool!”

“No?”

“No.”