He walked down town and as he entered the lobby of the Columbia at the

close of the first act he saw 'Gene Bisbee and D.V. Bimmer, who was now

managing a hotel in San Francisco, standing together. He also saw Bisbee

nudge Bimmer, and they both stared at him openly, the famous hotel man

with some sympathy in his wise secretive eyes, the reformed peer of the

underworld with a certain speculative contempt.

Ruyler, to his intense irritation, felt himself flushing, and wondered if

the man's regard might be translated: "Just how much shall I be able to

touch him for?" He wished he would show his hand and dissipate the

damnable web of mystery which Fate seemed weaving hourly out of her

bloated pouch, but he doubted if Bisbee, or whoever it was that tormented

his wife, would approach him save as a last resource. They were clever

enough to know that her keenest desire would be to keep the disgraceful

past from the knowledge of her husband, rather than from a society

seasoned these many years to erubescent pasts.

Moreover it is always easier to blackmail a woman than a man, and Price

Ruyler could not have looked an easy mark to the most optimistic of

social brigands.

He found it impossible to fix his mind on the play; the cues of the first

act eluded him, and the characters and dialogue were too commonplace to

make the story negligible.

At the end of the second act Ruyler made up his mind to go home and try

to coax his wife back into her customary good temper, pet her and make

her forget her little tragedy. He still hesitated to broach the subject

to her directly, but it was possible that by some diplomatically

analogous tale he could surprise her into telling him the truth.

During the long drive he turned over in his mind the data Spaulding had

placed before him during the afternoon. He rejected the theory that

Madame Delano was Mrs. Lawton as utterly fantastic, but admitted a

connection. Helene had spoken more than once of Mrs. Lawton's kindness to

"maman" when her baby was born during her "enforced stay in San

Francisco," and it was quite possible that the two had been friends, and

that the young mother had adopted the name of Dubois when calling upon

the nuns of the convent at St. Peter, either because it would naturally

occur to her, or from some deeper design which, he could not fathom....

Yes, the connection with Mrs. Lawton was indisputable and it remained for

him to "figger out" as Spaulding would say, which of these women, the

gambler's wife, the notorious "Madam," Gabrielle, the briefly coruscating

Pauline Marie, or the Englishman's mistress, a woman of Mrs. Lawton's

position would be most likely to befriend.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024