?SS 1/7 1/7 PS 3525 .0114 A7 1917 Copy 1 The Acid Test What Happened at Red Gables, the Strafford Country Place, When Someone Drank a Poisoned Cocktail BY ROBERT EMMET MacALARNEY The Acid Test "Being the Story of a Panic at Vivian Strafford's House-Party in Which Cowardice and Bravery (Conjured up by Sudden Fear of Death) Blend to Produce an Allov. BY ROBERT EMMET MacALARNEY Author of "Ging Yuk, " etc. Privately Printed by the Author The Nation Press, Inc., 20 Vesey Street, N. Y. A v Copyright, 1917, by Robert Emmet MacAlarney JAN 22 1917 0>bfi THE AUTHOR RESERVES ALL DRAMATIC RIGHTS TO THIS STORY. ©CLA453745 I. Vivian Strafford is the daughter of William Strafford, an eminent research chemist. Strafford has inherited splendid social standing and a fortune. He has never had to employ his scientific attainments to earn money. Strafford has two enthusiasms, his only daughter — he is a widower — and his experiments. He is a member of learned American and foreign scientific bodies. And he maintains a per- fectly appointed research laboratory at his handsome country estate, near a large city. Vivian Strafford is a vigorous, outdoors type, a sort of Eleo- nora Sears (the dashing Newport beauty so often mentioned in Town Topics and the New York society columns). Her charm and her father's money have combined to make her a much de- sired matrimonial prize. Strafford is somewhat absentminded. He is not the spectacled, college-professor sort, with the comedy touch. He is a dignified, sophisticated gentleman — even a bit of the man-of-the-world — ■ with a "one track mind." When not absorbed in his experiments he is a gracious host, a brilliant conversationalist, and possessed of eager sympathy for the problems of young folks and women. Vivian, naturally, is being sought in marriage by many swains. Her father is deeply interested in her attitude toward them. He tells her that she is experimenting in the chemistry of love, a more volatile substance than his laboratory shelves contain. Vivian is really considering making a decision between two out of her pressing suitors. Among her friends this pair of lovers is regarded as leading all the others. The two are Donald Havens and Cyril Manton. Havens is a quiet, forceful youth. He is a bridge-building engineer, beginning to acquire a reputation. He is undemonstra- tive, utterly courageous, but has a contempt for "showing off." Havens has no inherited social status. Nor has he any money save what he earns. He is a self-made young man, of good, middle class stock. And in every sense he is a gentleman. Manton is the converse of Havens. He is a trifle loud in manner and clothes, a fine athlete, but the sort who is given to swagger. A bit too florid in type to be quite wholesome. On the surface he is a likeable chap, and genuine. Really he is crafty, a rounder who will hunt after any pretty woman he encounters, and hard-up through extravagance. Manton has been born into excellent social position, and trades on this. He conceals the fact that he is up against it financially, is using his family as an asset in making an advantageous alliance. Ts in love with Vivian as much as a man of his polygamous nature can be. Strafford, with an older man's keenness, has read the pair of suitors aright, he thinks. He favors Havens, but means to let Vivian have her own way. He knows the futility of interference. Vivian has as a sort of companion-secretary Ella Bailey. Ella is a sweet, shy type, the antithesis of the vigorous personality of her employer. There is a great fondness between Ella and Vivian. Vivian appreciates the fact that Ella is forced to earn her living, although by intelligence and innate refinement as much entitled to a life of luxury as Vivian. Ella loves Manton. Her clinging, trusting disposition has fastened upon his robust per- sonality. Her one obsession, next to her devotion for Manton, is a fear lest her employer may discover the truth. Manton lets her fancy that he cares for her, that he is not really in earnest in his pursuit of Vivian. But Ella, feeling the twinges of remorse, has moments of terrible doubt. Ella has com- promised herself with Manton. She is not treated as a menial in the Strafford home. But she is not made one of the family, either. She does not sit at table with Vivian and her father. She is in the background, with Manton snatching unobserved moments in her society. She is worried. She has reason to be. For she knows, and tells Manton, that their sin will be found out if they are not married soon. She is to have a child. Vivian is on the point of deciding between Manton and Havens. She likes both men. She has a respect for Havens' brilliancy and likes him too. But, being an outdoors woman herself, the athletic prowess and attractive swagger of Manton allure her. She decides to give a house-party over the week-end, from Friday until Monday. During this week-end she will make up her mind. Vivian intends to tell her father at breakfast. She directs Ella to write notes of invitation to a dozen guests. Ella slips a piteous little scrawl of her own into the "bid" which goes to Manton. This scrawl tells Manton that she must see him alone when he comes — she is desperate. Therefore when Manton ar- rives at Red Gables, the Strafford country house, he is in the almost angrily resentful frame of a mind which a man of his calibre would automatically assume. With the hint that he must marry Ella, his affection takes flight. He realizes that the pretty little secretary is now only an incubus. Vivian, in the breakfast room, finds her father absent. Hod- son, the English butler, says that Mr. Strafford has been working in his laboratory all night at one of his experiments. Vivian raps on the laboratory door and coaxes her father out. While she pours his coffee, she informs him of the coming house-party. Makes him promise to forget test tubes for the week-end, adds that she will decide between Manton and Havens before the next Monday. Strafford agrees to drop chemical re- search for that period. He is still full of his recent work, how- ever, and insists upon recounting to his daughter the results to date. Strafford has been searching for the line of demarcation be- tween disease-arresting and tissue-destroying elements. The dis- covery of such a median line would, of course, result in the revolutionizing of medical practice. Vivian, her mind occupied with the approaching house-party, pays but half-attention to her father's remarks. But she listens with a show of real interest when he draws from his pocket a small vial. It is filled with an amber colored fluid. Strafford holds it up, informs her that as a by-product of his experimentation he has stumbled across one of the sort of poisons which must have been employed by the Borgias long ago, the sort of non-detectable poison whith made murder easy. Vivian hears her father declare that the poison in the bottle is tasteless and odorless, that there is no possible antidote to undo its effects, and that its effects are so subtle that they are not apparent until three days have elapsed. It is the safe recipe for murder. The criminals of the world would bid against each other for possession of the formula for making it — a formula which he alone knows and will never reveal. Strafford's interest in the deadly fluid is purely that of the scientist, who has stumbled across something interesting while on the trail of another and more important object. The Red Gables house-party arrive — most of them. Promi- nent among them are : Mrs. Clint Morton, a horsey and doggy widow of several years' standing. Mrs. Morton is one of the slangy, a trifle-too- stout sort. She affects mannishness, likes to exchange Broad- wayish expressions over a convivial high-ball, smokes ciga- rettes, is the high complexioned type you see in the Biltmore lobby at the crush hour. But underneath her assumed brusque- ness and deliberate unconventionally she has a good heart, a ready ear for the person who needs sympathy or money. She has a genuine maternal streak which has been lavished upon her animal pets in lieu of children. Mrs. Morton takes a liking to Ella, the shy secretary. The blunt widow divines that some- thing is worrying the girl, and tries to mother her. Ella, not understanding Mrs. Morton's sort, is uncomfortable as a result. Tagging at Mrs. Morton's boot-heels comes Ledyard Orrings- by. a brilliant corporation and estate lawyer. Orringsby has been born into the set wherein he moves. His life has been the untroubled professional one of the man whose path has been smoothed for him. He is dignified, sarcastic, handsome in a rather angular way, and devoted to the sporting widow, with whom he has really very little in common. Tt is opposite attracting opposite. Orringsby's devotion to the widow is taken 6 as a matter of course by everyone, including the widow herself. Mrs. Morton is fond of the bachelor attorney, is merely hold- ing off until her whim to tease him vanishes. Identified in the group of guests is Ned Fraser, one of the average well groomed youths, fresh from college, and enjoying his first go at flirtation and frivolity. Ned is an Apolloesque boy of twenty-one, moneyed and of fine family. He is keen on this particular house-party not because he is one of the pursuers of Vivian, but because he knows he will see there Dorothy Wortley. Dorothy Wortley is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Wortley, rector of All Sinners,' the richest church in the city nearest to Red Gables. She is a debutante, and her parents, ut- terly worldly minded, are angling for a rich husband in her behalf. Dorothy — Dot, as she is called — is a snappy little society chit. She has been bred with one aim, to ally herself with money and social station. Now she has emerged from finishing school, and is perfectly willing to marry Ned Fraser when he asks her. Fraser is a really good catch. Ned Fraser has one habit, in common with others of his ilk — he is too fond of high-balls. He is not a sodden drinker, but is given to being pleasantly jingled, in which condition he is amusing and rather clever. The Rev. Dr. Wortley and his wife — the latter a nervous but calculating clergyman's spouse — appear at Red Gables, minus their daughter, who will join them twenty-four hours later — she is attending another house-party. This disgruntles Ned Fraser. His gloom is a matter for jest on the part of the others. Fraser's disappointment because of the failure of Dot Wortley to appear promptly starts him to licking up a few too many high balls in the billiard room. The Rev. Dr. Wortlev is a rich man's preacher. Once, at the beginning of his pulpit career he was the earnest, fiery young castigator of sin and sinners. Rut years have dulled his zeal and tamed his now disillusioned soul. He has been broken to harness by the power of money. He gives the pew- holders of All Sinners' the comfortable Sundav pap tb^v wish — and no more. And his wife is a pale echo of him. They have but one desire, to remain in their comfortable parish, eat the crumbs from millionaires' tables, and allv their pretty daughter to a youth from the world of society and wealth. Dot Wortley has cut her own way to popularity — and Ned Fraser's henrt — bv a snappy personality, and her joyous revelling in the trivialities of existence. Vivian, her father watching with keen and somewhat ammed interest, now beein<; to rondnrt her final evneriment in weighing the worth of the devotion of Havens and Manton. Manton, annoyed and resentful because of Ella's letter, holds himself aloof from the secretary at first. She is unable to contrive a word alone with him. Mrs. Morton and Vivian both see the girl is seriously worried, but cannot prove the cause. Vivian, throughout, is sweet and friendly to her secretary, and Ella worships her employer. Havens and Manton eye each other, recognizing that they are rivals, that this may be the critical moment. Manton, real- izing that his athletic prowess is an asset, gets up a cross country drag-hunt, the morning after the party assembles. Prominent in the field are Vivian, Mrs. Morton, Havens and Manton, all good riders. Vivian, Havens and Manton are away in the lead, out- distancing the field. The chase swings them abruptly from a meadow to some rough country work, with a nasty stone-fence and water jump dead ahead. As they approach, Havens spurs close to Vivian ; with a twist of the wrist he pulls up short his own mount and that of Vivian. Manton, however, whips his horse and intends to take the jump, but at the last moment his animal refuses. Vivian, furious, asks Havens what he meant. HaA^ens tells her the jump was dangerous — she might have been killed. Man- ton is manhandling his horse, vowing to make it clear the ob- struction — the rest of the riders have swerved widely to one side. Vivian, a lover of courage above all other things, has a pre- monition that Havens is afraid. Hating cowardice, and herself red corpuscled and over-rating — as outdoors folk always do — the bravery of physical prowess, she decides to put Havens and Manton to the test together. She agrees not to try to make the jump herself, but dares both men to clear it. Manton gladly consents. He has absolutely no fear of a test like this. Havens declines, quietly. He announces to Vivian that risking one's neck to please the whim of a pretty woman is rank idiocy ; that gambling with one's life should be reserved for a time when the loss of that life would serve some good purpose. Vivian is shocked — this smacks of genuine cowardice to her. Manton, jubilant, seeing that this is his moment, belabors his fractious mount, and finally makes him take the jump. The horse blunders, but clears. Brings up, throwing his rider heavily, and breaking his own foreleg. Manton is shaken and bruised. But he gets up gamely, and receives the approval of Vivian. Havens knows that Manton has scored, tells Manton that he (Manton) can take his (Havens') mount and ride back to Red Gables. Havens will go to a farm-house near-by. get a gun and put the crippled hunter out of his suffering. Vivian, loving animals, weakens for a 8 second; pats the head of the fallen hunter. Then, swept away by the thrill of the moment — which has, she thinks, revealed to her that she loves Manton, the courageous, and not Havens, the calculating — she rides to the house with Manton. Vivian on the way back to Red Gables listens to Manton's impetuous declaration of love, and accepts him as they walk up the stable lane, leading their horses. Vivian is very happy, thinking that she and Manton are kindred souls. For a moment Manton, freed from thoughts of Ella, fancies himself whole- heartedly in love with his hostess. Havens gets a rifle from the farm-house, shoots the suffering horse. Mrs. Clint Morton, muddy and a bit shaken by a fall of her own, canters up, far behind the chase. She finds Havens, gun in hand, regarding the dead hunter. Learns what has hap- pened, and walks to the farm-house with him, giving him a bit of good advice. Mrs. Morton's sympathies are with Havens. Vivian, very uplifted and happy, plans that her engagement to Manton shall be announced at dinner that evening. She tells her father, and receives his blessing — but she knows he thinks she has made a mistake. Strafford promises to make the an- nouncement to the house-party guests during dinner. In the big living-room of Red Gables before dinner Xed Fraser eagerly waits for Dot Wortley to appear. She has 'phoned that she is motoring out from the city. But she is late, and meanwhile Fraser has sipped up one too many drinks to be ab- solutely normal. He is just a bit off, enough to be foggy re- garding details. The guests gather in the living-room, which is a huge one, with an old-fashioned fireplace. On the fireplace shelf is a clutter of bric-a-brac, and a cumbersome gilt and glass clock. The guests, in dinner attire, gather around the fireplace. Strafford, while Vivian laughingly protests — alleging that her father had pledged himself not to talk shop — tells about his experimenting. He displays the vial containing the poison he had shown to Vivian the day before, descanting upon its deadli- ness. Xear the fireplace is a table with a large salver containing many empty cocktail glasses. They are awaiting filling by Hod- son, the butler, and the second man, who are now engaged — in the butler's pantry — preparing the pre-dinner drinks in several silver shakers, big ones. The tray contains glasses sufficient for all of the guests, and five or six over. Strafford, finding that his guests are interested, steps to the tray of cocktail glasses and pours into one of the glasses some water from a silver thermos bottle. The cocktail glass is half full of water. Then Strafford adds a few drops of the amber colored liquid in the vial. The water takes on the color of the amber liquid. It might be a half portion of Bronx cocktail. Strafford passes the glass around, remarking that the solution is absolutely deadly, yet the poison in it is tasteless and odorless. The women shudder as they timidly touch and sniff at the glass. Ned Fraser, moping over the non-arrival of Dot Wortley, has the glass containing the poison in his hand, when the honk of a motor horn is heard. Dot Wortley and another belated house- party woman guest are arriving under the porte cochere. There is a general movement toward the wide hallway to welcome the newcomers. The group is in very high spirits. Everyone is laughing and talking. The impression made by the fact that they have been handling a glass of deadly poison has been fleeting. They are in too high pitched a key of society chatter to be depressed by that fact long. Xed Fraser, perceptibly affected by alcohol, is slower than the others. They, in the mood to gaily lay hold of the slightest moment of diversion, rush out to the hall to greet the latecomers. Fraser is left behind, eyeing the glass in his hand a bit uncertainly. Then he too pushes forward to greet the girl he has been impatiently awaiting. He holds no cocktail glass now. Fraser has put the cocktail glass with the poison on the fireplace mantel, unconsciously shoving it into concealment be- hind one of the gingerbread cornices of the ornate clock, which is an eight-day affair. While Dot Wortley and her friend are being welcomed Hod- son, the butler, and the second man enter the living room, with the several full cocktail shakers on a small tray. Hodson and the second man begin to pour Bronx into the waiting glasses. Two shakers are emptied. Hodson with the third and last shaker, finds a partly filled cocktail glass on the tray. The second man has gone back to the butler's pantry, carrying the smaller tray with the two emptied shakers. Hod- son pauses, inspects the half filled glass, looks up as to ask the second man about it, but too late to catch the latter's eye as he disappears through the swinging door. Then, thinking that this is merely the heeltaps of the last emptied shaker which have been tilted into the glass, Hodson fills the glass from his shaker, and completes the trav charging. All of the glasses are full. Hodson solemnly circulates with the cocktails. By this time most of the guests have streamed into the living room. Or- ringsby and Mrs. Morton are together. Mrs. Morton takes her cocktail thirstily, but Orringsby refuses, with a wry face, show- ing that he resents his abstinence. It is doctor's orders — Or- ringsby is fending off an attack of rheumatic gout. Vivian and Strafford pledge their guests. Manton, cocktail in band, is jesting with the woman who lias motored up with Dot Wortley — near the hall door. He catches 10 a glimpse of Ella going toward the staircase from the rear of the house. Just then the woman he is conversing with steps fur- ther into the drawing room, exchanging remarks with someone else. Hodson and the tray are close. With sudden inspiration Manton snatches a second cocktail from the tray, and, unnoticed by the others, goes toward the staircase. Manton stops Ella, who would talk tragically to him in the minute she has for it. But he rallies her, waves off her gloom, kisses her, and thrusts the drink into her hands. Ella, the sort of woman who can easily be influenced for the moment, yields. Clinks glasses with him as he whispers that he'll straighten every- thing out — he means to "straighten things Out" with money, which he can raise when his engagement to the heiress daughter of the society chemist is made public. Then she darts upstairs, still unseen, and Manton, relieved by her smile, returns to the living room. Amid the cocktails and gay chatter the second man announces dinner. Hodson strides to preside in the dining room, and an- other servant collects the emptied glasses, gathering them to- gether for removal on the large tray. When this is done there are still five or six undrained glasses on the tray. These are carried to the butler's pantry by the second man. A bit later, by permission of the dignified Hodson, they are taken to the kitchen. There, during one of his proper absences from the dining room, the butler (after the manner of butlers) permits the left-over cocktails to be drunk by himself and his fellows. The French chef drains one, the head chauffeur another. Hodson pledges their healths in the drinks he helped mix, and then re- turns to the dining-room. The servants not lucky enough to get in on the round of cocktails envy Hodson and his favorites. Everyone of the house-party guests — excepting Orringsby — has drunk a cocktail. Ella, Hodson, and five other servants have also drunk from the tray. Mrs. Morton and Orringsby sit beside each other at table. Their love affair is progressing; the lawyer's persistence is about to succeed. Vivian sits between Manton and Havens, the latter not making a show of his gloom, but plainly sober and thoughtful. Vivian sparkles, and Manton half gloats. This is his night of triumph. Dot Wortley flirts accentedly with Ned Fraser. Her parents regard her with placid satisfaction. Upstairs Ella, the hopelessly compromised secretary, weeps under the reaction from cocktail and the cheering words of the man she loves. Dinner is jolly, and Strafford forgets that he has an announce- ment to make. Vivian has to remind him, having signalled to him in vain. Strafford gets up, lifts his wine glass — and then puts it down again abruptly. He has remembered the poison in the cocktail glass. 11 Strafford recalls that young Fraser was the last one to hold the glass, fie asks -braser what he did with it. The table ceases laugnter. Strafford's manner and words are serious. Fraser, un- der the spell 01 his flirtation, and still a bit thick mentally because of his drinking, cannot recall wnat he did with it. He thinks he put the glass on the tray. Stratford and he leave the table. They search lor the glass in vain. The others wait. V lvian senses better than anyone else { having known in ad- vance about the terrible character of the poison J that the house- party is about to merge into trageuy. Envious eyes are already turned toward Orringsby, the one man at the table who has not drunk a cocktail. Apprehension stirs, grows — grows more rapid- ly. There are the beginnings of cowardice and bravery. Hodson, the butler, is also beginning to comprehend. lie re- members the six left-over drinks, consumed in the kitchen by his permission. Strafford and Fraser return, not having found the poisoned glass. Strafford questions Hodson. The butler, pre- serving his trained servitor calm by a mighty effort, recalls the partly filled cocktail glass on the tray. He had fancied it con- tained the last drops trom the second man's emptied shaker. He had hesitated a moment, then filled it completely from his own shaker. This glass had then been served with the others. Strafford happens to think that there were extra cocktails left on the tray. There is hope in that thought. For one of them may contain the vanished poison. He orders Hodson to hasten outside and bring back the cocktails left on the tray. Hodson does not at once reveal the horrid truth. After all, he is a butler of breeding. He acts with decorum, even in an awful crisis like this. He solemnly vanishes. Once in the pantry, and alone, he crumples a bit. But only for a moment. He returns, announces apologetically that the left-over cocktails have been drunk below- stairs, "by the servants, sir." While Hodson makes the announce- ment the news is carried to the kitchen by another servant. Panic reigns in there. The French chef, in his Gallic fashion, throws fit after fit. The guests understand what Hodson's statement means. There is a doomed person, doomed surely, at the table or below-stairs. That person has not more than three days to live ! Someone has drunk a poisoned cocktail ! The guests and servants exhibit the craven or brave sides of their natures, according to their kind. It is a tense and terrible moment. For the first few minutes every vestige of artificiality is stripped from the tableful. Their dispositions are shamelessly naked. One person in the house is yet ignorant of the crisis — Ella, upstairs. Vivian, whose deepest fibre has always responded to the note of courage, turns to Manton, positively uplifted. Here is the acid test for that great love of theirs. She slips her hand into 12 his, contentedly. She, woman of red corpuscles and clean living, asks nothing better than to face this impending terror with the man she loves at her side. Strafford, the head of the house, is stricken. He blames him- self for the calamity. Announces that he desires the foregiveness of everyone, hopes that fate will let him draw the lot which his carelessness in an idle moment has made inevitable for some- one to receive. There is no hope of averting death. No human power can prevent the ravages of the poison. He knows, for he has evolved the formula. But he will not cease trying. The best toxic specialist in the country shall be telephoned for. Manton shows no trace of weakness under the first shock. He is of a nature unmoved — mainly through a certain sluggish- ness of mind — when the initial hint of danger manifests itself. But he resents the uplifted mood of Vivian. He sees no reason for his fiancee's restrained note of almost jubilation. It is the first symptom of a chasm which later divides them. Havens, quiet as ever, is also courageous. He thinks of but one person — Vivian. Vivian sees that this man is also brave, in spite of his funking — as she thinks — that stone-fence and water jump on horseback. Was she wrong in rating him a coward? She doesn't know, and there is no time to find out now. It is she and Manton together, under the shadow of the death angel's wing. Mrs. Morton puts on an assumed front of semi-jocularity. She is really terribly afraid. But her nature is to conceal any but the emotions which she thinks it desirable to show. So she plays her slangy, careless role at this juncture. Orringsby, shocked and stricken because of her peril, wishes he had drunk the cocktail and not she — and says so. Mrs. Morton tells him to cut out the Romeo and Juliet stuff, that he'd only look ridicu- lous doing an apothecary stunt on Juliet's grave. Orringsby is keen enough to sense the truth behind Mrs. Morton's slangv bluff. But fear, perhaps, at this moment sits sorest on the breast of the Rev. Dr. Wortley, rector of All Sinners'. This wordly minded clergyman, preacher of perfumed sermons to the rich, is staggered. For years he has been muttering conventional re- ligious comfort to parishioners slipping over the Great Divide. The words have come pat and aptly to his mouth. Xow he is facing his own crisis, and that of his wife and daughter — whom, in his tenacious, worcllv way, he loves dearly. He flies the flag of terror promptly, and his wife follows suit. Dot Wortley, in her shallow way fond of Ned Fraser, is too busily engaged in persuading- this youth that he is not totally to blame, to feel fear for herself as keenly as she will later. Vivian begs her guests to stand by each other in this crisis. Whatever occurs there must be no scattering to their homes. Her 13 father's entire fortune is at the service of any man or woman who has need of adjusting private matters in a hurry, as a pre- caution. And, besides, everyone will wish to have the advice of the famous toxic specialist from another city — whom at that very moment Strafford is urging by telephone to hasten to Red Gables. There might be hope. This is sound advice. Even in its terror the tableful gives heed to it. Strafford returns to the dining-room, bringing word that the toxic expert will start at once, will reach Red Gables before noon next day. Meanwhile, he, Strafford, will spend the night in his laboratory, seeking desperately to prove himself wrong about their being no antidote for the poison. Vivian, still uplifted, whispers to her father that news of her engagement is still untold. She insists that he inform the guests. Strafford does so. The table receives the news in stony apathy — it is too absorbed in selfish fear. Vivian radiates happi- ness in the midst of horror. Manton, awkward and ill at ease because of the incongruity of things, again fails to understand his fiancee. Havens alone, of all the guests, meets the occasion with tranquility. He arises, his beaker raised. He proposes the health of Vivian and Manton. Vivian looks at him gratefully — in that instant she knows Havens is not a coward, that she wronged him on the meadow^ that drag-hunt morning. There is a hesitating response to Havens' toast. Strafford, noting this, with a touch of irony assures his guests that there is not the slightest trace of poison in the very excellent vintage champagne provided. There is a sorry toast drunk — and the dinner guests leave the table. They scatter to face things in their own ways. In his room the Rev. Dr. Wortley holds his Bible, gropes for a comfort that he cannot find to dispense to his hysterical wife. Vivian gets an opportunity to talk with Havens. They go out upon the porch — it is moonlight. Vivian tells Havens that she wants him to forgdve her, that she was wrong when she mis- interpreted his refusal to take the stone-fence and water jump. Manton. Vivian being out of range for the moment, remem- bers Ella. He is the one who had urged her to drink the cock- tail. He is going to the secretary. But Mrs. Morton, rushing upstairs to give way to her own tremors in secret, finds Ella before he does. The horsey widow tells the secretarv what has happened, congratulates her on the fact that she at least is safe. Ella shows that she isn't, and Mrs. Morton learns about the cock- tail that Manton gave the girl. The horsey widow sees that something other than the possibility of being poisoned is worrying Ella, and half suspects the truth. Manton, when Mrs. Morton has vanished, contrives an un- observed interview with Ella. He is beginning to reflect upon 14 the situation, and as he thinks he begins to be afraid. Ella is doubly desperate — first on account of her situation, second be- cause of worry lest Manton will be the one to pay the penalty for drinking a poisoned cocktail. She reveals herself courageous as far as her own physical danger is concerned. But the inter- view just about completes the crumbling of Manton. The shock of announcement is over. He has met that with instinctive firmness. But now — panic is just around the corner for the dare- devil rider to hounds. Ella sees he is weakening, but does not despise him for it. She is the sort of girl who loves, and keeps on loving. Strafford spends the night working unavailingly, trying to prove himself wrong. The toxic expert arrives the next day and closets himself with the chemist. They emerge only to con- firm Strafford's worst fear. But the toxic expert consents to remain, to try strenuous life-prolonging measures when the victim of the deadly drug has actually been revealed. The hours pass like those in the death house at Sing Sing. Vivian, the uplifted, is the nucleus of what shaken self pos- session the houseful displays. This girl, full flung into the acid test of courage and love, keeps the cowards bucked up. stimu- lates the brave. Havens is her able ally. She finds that it is he who understands her mood, who interprets her slightest nod. And she finds, also, that Manton does not understand, is not of assistance. Manton cannot comprehend this exultation in his fiancee's facing of possible death. He turns for comfort, the obvious forms of comfort for which obvious minded men yearn when in trouble, to Ella. He spends much time in the stable and at the kennels — he can understand horses and dogs. Vivian, unrealizing, is commencing to see the difference be- tween Havens and Manton, is beginning to plant the seed of sudden love for a man she once dubbed a coward. It is the second day after the drinking of the poisoned cock- tail. Bit by bit the three days of grace, before someone pays the penaltA^, are slipping oast. The Rev. Dr. Wortley, helplessly ransacking his Bible, is still self-confessedly unable to find comfort for himself or others. Little by little, however, he is fighting his way toward clutching a fragment of the old faith. Orringsby, the lawyer, the one absolutely safe guest, is en- deavoring to induce Mrs. Manton to marrv him at once — wants to motor into town and get a license. The horsey a^d do°-gv widow is half persuaded, but there is a secret in her life which she has never disclosed, and now — with the possibility of death so close, and not wishing to face it without utter frankness — slip cannot marrv Orringsby, or even consent to marrv him, without rcvealment. 15. There is a preparation for dreaded emergency on the part of many guests — much telephoning and letter writing, much putting of one's house in order. And to Orringsby, the lawyer, trusted friend and attorney, comes surprising confidential knowledge un- sought. Orringsby finds himself occupied busily drawing up new wills, or codicils to old ones. He is actually working as hard as if he were in his downtown office. ■ Among those who come to the lawyer are Strafford and Mrs. Morton. Strafford, after making ample provision for his daugh- ter, leaves his fortune to repair the injury done by his careless- ness — if the results of secrets revealed during the time of sus- pense have been damaging to anyone. If there is no damage to repair, the remainder of his wealth goes to push forward the cause of medical chemistry experimenting. Timidly, and one of the last to consult the lawyer, comes Mrs. Morton. It is hard for her to do this thing — for it concerns her secret. She also wishes to make a will. Orringsby tells her that it is lawyer and client now ; she may speak as she would to an attorney. Mrs. Morton then wills everything to a daughter, ten years old, being brought up in a convent. No one knows that she has this daughter, offspring of an irregular union be- tween the widow, when she was a very young woman, and a handsome scoundrel employed on her father's Arizona ranch. The handsome scoundrel, a sort of wastrel son of good parents, died in a drunken brawl before the girl's secret was discovered by her parents, and before, consequently, they could force a quiet marriage, to temporarily solve the situation. Mrs. Morton's husband, the jolly clubman she married when she was 23, never dreamed of the existence of the child. Mrs. Morton shows Or- ringsby a photograph of the girl. Says she has been forced to conceal her true mother's heart, lavish her affection on horses and dogs while, all the time, there was tugging in her bosom the call to her daughter. She wants to leave her child not only money, but in care of someone who will be able to safeguard her, to prevent her from making the sort of emotional love-mis- take her mother made. Orringsby, mightily moved, listens. He drafts the will, prom- ising that he will do what she wishes if anything happens to her — he, Orringsby, is the man to whom she wishes to confide her child as guardian. Relieved and grateful, and ashamedlv penitent, the sporty widow, for once simple and unaffected in manner and speech, turns away. She thinks her own love story — her one real one, for she does love Orringsbv — is done with. But the lawver, admiring her courage, not a whit less in love with her because he knows her secret, grabs her. holds her, renews his vows of faith in her, swears that if the gods are good to them and she comes out of the experience unscathed by poison. 16 they shall be married, and her child shall be with them, legally adopted. Airs. Morton, radiant, forgets everything but her great love and gratitude. She promises to marry him. And then, thinking of the wonderful happiness she will lose, if the poison takes her, she confesses that she is a horrible coward at heart, not at all brave, that her front is pure bluff. Orringsby has a simple, scared woman on his hands, who he must comfort. And he likes the job. Mrs. Clint Morton, stripped of her assumed pose, is a real woman. Despite the danger she is in, he thanks God for the acid test that has unmasked her true self. Meanwhile Strafford, the cold scientist, an avowed atheist, but not a blatant or offensive one, finding that he and the toxic expert are unable to do anything, bethinks him of this thing called religion. He takes counsel with the Rev. Dr. Wortley, who cannot conceal from his host his own shaken frame of mind. The clergyman knows that once in his career he had a firm grip upon a real and sustaining comfort and inspiration in times of tribulation. He tells Strafford that he is hunting to regain it. Invokes the help of the scientist, with his trained power of reason and ability to pursue a theme to its logical end. Tells Strafford that the chemistry of a Divine Providence is the only science that will avail now, either to ward off the impending doom of one of the houseful, or to comfort and sustain that one and his friends and family if the doom must really fall. The Rev. Dr. Wortley, half unconsciously, is grasping anew the old time faith. There is an attempt to brazen out the approach of fate, on the part of some of the younger set, who knock the balls about in the billiard room, and even half-heartedly make a "book" on their chances. This is the high-ball drinking set, the avowed cronies of Ned Fraser. But young Fraser himself, still remorse- ful, and blaming himself for all of the trouble, is not in mood to brazen things out at all. He is really in love with Dot Wortley, and he and that shallow but fairly plucky girl, are making plans what to do — if they are lucky enough to be among the spared. A ripple of terror, but a half concealed, satisfied terror, runs over the house whenever any guest develops a pain of any sort. The faintest sign of headache, or indigestion, is suspected of being the first symptom of poisoning. A certain part of the houseful plans to walk, run. swill nostrums of sorts, do something desperately radical, when the first twinge comes. There are sev- eral agreements on the part of the men not to let each other eo to sleep after the third day — the poison numbs, according to the dope of Strafford and the toxic expert, and may attack one while asleep. And now it is the third day. 17 Manton is breaking fast. Havens and Vivian, on the contrary, are both uplifted, facing the crisis with unswerving grit and nobility of character. And the Rev. Dr. Wortley has anew laid hold upon his belief in God. He never can be the preacher of perfumed sermons again. He and Strafford have another mo- ment together. The clergyman tells Strafford that he has fought his fight and won. He so impresses the scientist, who has watched the failure of all that science can do to repair a hideous blunder, that Strafford drops on his knees beside the transfigured minister. For the first time in his life he utters a prayer — a simple and sincere one — to the God in whom he had never be- lieved. Vivian in vain tries to buck Manton up. She holds hard to her belief in him. And Havens, unselfishly, helps her. He does not wish Vivian to be stabbed by finding out that her love and faith in a man is not all sufficient to keep that man firm in the path of courage. He also fails. Manton behaves queerly ; even the billiard room gang, trying to brazen things out, knows that his nerve is gone. He turns to Ella, the simply clinging woman, for the comfort he so sorely needs. As long as Manton needs to be helped through a crisis, Ella forgets her own fear. Man- ton is nearer to her, in his cowardice, than he has ever been be- fore. Hodson, the impassive butler, weaves in and out, relentlessly keeping the service in the Strafford home up to the mark. Red Gables is not going to deteriorate just because a funeral is on the cards. It is Hodson who whips the panicky servants into line. Hodson in his way is a man of faith, too. He hands out the hard-baked consolation of a Church of England member. He is no sentimentalist, Hodson. He believes in efficiency. Evening of the third day draws near. The summons may come that night. Vivian, distressed because of an ominous in- stinct that Manton is not really dwelling with her in her uplifted plane, seeks him to have a talk which will clear the atmosphere. She finds him alone with Ella, seeing unmistakably that they have been lovers, understanding that it is to Ella that her fiancee has turned for real comfort. She half suspects how it is, actually, between them. Vivian is sweet to Ella, who is torn between love for Manton and a sense of disloyalty to the employer she has idolized. Man- ton is hang-doggy, utterly revealed as he is. Vivian does not storm, or even rebuke. Disillusioned, she turns away, heart- broken. For the moment her mood of uplift wavers and com- pletely vanishes. So this is what has come out of the acid test. which she and the man she loved were to undergo together ! Vivian is stricken to her foundations. Manton, stungr by a double realization of cowardice and what he has lost in the way of an heiress bride, now has a revulsion 18 of feeling, violent and perfectly natural to a man of his type. He visits his resentment on Ella, the loyal and clinging girl he has compromised. Savagely blaming her for his awkward situa- tion, he storms away from her clutching hands, leaves her petri- fied with anguish. Havens meets Manton, rushing toward the stable. It is late afternoon, dusk. Sees his rival's agitation. Tries to stop him, fancying that the long expected break-down of nerve has come. With a curse and a blow Manton pushes past. Havens, hurry- ing to the house, meets Vivian. Sees that she, too, is stricken. Vivian's distress looses Havens' grip upon himself. Before he knows it, he is telling the girl that he loves her, that he craves only the right to stand by her and help her face the terrible thing which will come in the night. He makes it plain that he realizes he has no right to speak to her, an engaged woman, but that the presence of death — perhaps for him — has shelved for the moment convention. Vivian, stabbed by disillusionment, and for the moment simply a broken woman, much like Ella, does not rebuff him. Havens learns something of what has happened — that Vivian does not consider herself engaged any longer to Manton. He has a premonition that Manton, in flight from his own cowardice, may do something desperate. Havens hastens to the stables after the frantic Manton. The latter, spurring a horse viciously, and followed by one of Vivian's Great Danes, passes him in the stable lane. Havens throws a saddle on another horse, and spurs after the panicky clubman. Manton rides like hell cross-country, while the house-party eyes one another tremulously on the last evening. The Rev. Dr. Wortley quietly asks Strafford's permission to speak a few words to the guests before they disperse to their rooms. The clergyman, who has found himself, tells his friends that there is just one source to which they may turn for help — and that is God. Science has failed, their own puny human selves are in- efficacious. He confesses that he has been derelict in earnestness in the past. But these three days have held his soul up to the mirror of truth. Hodson, the punctilious butler, with a deprecatory cough, in- terrupts the clergyman, whispers a desire to be allowed to have the servants summoned too — they need the consolation that the minister can give. The Rev. Dr. Wortley looks at Strafford, who nods. Hodson marshals the sheeplike and aghast menials into the background. Mrs. Morton has made it her job to go upstairs and bring down the pathetic secretary. Vivian has not known about the cocktail that Ella has been given by Manton. Onlv Mrs. Morton knows that, and she has kept her counsel. Manton in his mad riding swerves into cross-countrv where he and Havens rode with Vivian the dav of the drap'-hunt. The 19 stone-fence and water jump is dead ahead. Havens is pursuing. The panicky clubman urges his runaway horse straight at the obstacle. He is riding without any control of the animal. Havens is striving to get hold of his bridle before the leap is reached. But Havens is too late. Manton, yelling like a mad- man, and flogging his mount, clears the jump. Havens, hold- ing his mount in perfect form, skims after him, a pretty, skilful jump. Manton has turned and seen. Then he beats his horse again, and rides off, Havens following. At the end of the breakneck gallop Manton comes to himself a bit, sullenly con- sents to return to the house, and, equally ungraciously, admits to Havens that he was wrong about the latter's being afraid to take the stone-fence and water jump that other day when they were riding cross-country (the day Manton became engaged to Vivian). Manton naturally makes this sort of admission first. There is a "bunk" sporting flavor about the man. He is true to his type. He comes back to Red Gables, ashamed not so much of his lack of courage, as for having it made public. He is sullen, and resentful. He has used his horse cruelly. The clergyman finishes his remarks in the living room. He turns to Strafford, who admits that science has failed. If there be a Higher Power, it alone can protect them, and he is eager to proclaim his belief in such a Higher Power if it does protect. The Rev. Dr. Wortley then offers a simple, brief prayer. All kneel. It is a solemn, hushed moment. Then the house-party guests disperse to wait. Vivian, in her room, writes a letter to Havens, telling him she loves him — that knowledge of it came to her in the flash- ing moment when he told her of his devotion. Orringsby and Mrs. Morton are together. Suddenly the widow thinks of Ella. She goes to find the shrinking girl, who is alone, sobbing in some recess. It is around eleven when Havens and Manton ride up to the stable door. In the billiard-room the high-ball crowd, pondering what the Rev. Dr. Wortley has said, is knocking the balls around. There is no book-making jesting now. It is too near the hour for some- one's death knell. Xed Fraser and Dot Wortley are the only ones in the drawing room. They are talking earnestlv. Both of these voung folks have emerged rather triumphantly from their artificial selves in three days. The girl has been the stronger of the two. Strafford and the toxic expert sit waiting, with every known medical appliance readv for the hopeless fight against death when the poison manifests itself. Strafford tears the poison formula into bits and tosses them into an ash-trav. burning them. The cursed solution is never to be touched by anyone again. That is all he can do. 20 Manton and Havens are on the veranda, Havens bucking up the shamefaced clubman. Hodson, the punctilious butler, not foregoing his usual duties because someone is to die on the morrow, tiptoes into the living room. He finds Dot Wortley and Ned Fraser. He begs their pardon, but will it disturb them if he cleans up a bit and winds the eight day clock on the fireplace mantel? The clock has never been allowed to run down ; it is a very handsome clock, and a little neglect would injure its mechanism. Getting permission, Hodson steps to the mantel and fumbles for the key. Reaching behind one of the gilt cornices, he finds the cock- tail glass containing the poison — the cocktail glass that is half full of amber fluid. Hodson, stunned, holds out the glass. Then he gives vent to an exclamation, which is bad form for a servant, he knows, and for which he apologizes. Ned Fraser and Dot Wortley jump to their feet. Hodson, speechless, indicates where he found the glass. Fraser remem- bers that this is where he shoved it when Dot Wortley's car tooted up under the porte cochere. Dot Wortley, finally com- prehending what it means — that there is no danger for any- one — gives a hysterical cry. This cry is heard by the nervous household. Everyone thinks the death throes of someone have begun. The house guests and servants rush downstairs and into the living room. Among them, also attracted by the cry of the clergyman's daughter, come Havens and Manton. Vivian, Strafford, the toxic expert, his remedies in his hand ; Mrs. Morton, holding the shrinking Ella ; and Orringsby, all appear. So do the Rev. Dr. Wortley and his wife. The latter, realizing that her child is giving vent to the outcry, thinks Dot Wortley is the one to reap the harvest of death. Mrs. Wortley becomes hysterical too. Hodson stills the tumult by respectfully explaining. Strafford takes the glass. Just as the ripple of horror and fear had swept over the house-party in the beginnings, now a ripple of awkward relief touches the roomful. Vivian is near Havens and Manton. She faces them. Havens and Manton both read her mind. Havens does not need to see the letter, which she tucked into her bosom when she hurried downstairs at Dot Wortley's cry. It is Ella, the pretty secretary, who makes the next move. Manton has had no glance for her. She realizes he doesn't care for her. Now that the fear of death is removed, he forgets to turn to the girl who worships him. Ella breaks from the af- fectionate grasp of Mrs. Morton. Before anyone knows what she is about, she has snatched the cocktail glass with the poison from Strafford. 21 She is putting it to her lips when Vivian calls to her. Affection for her employer, instinct — both make her halt her arm. She glances despairingly, hunted, at Vivian, then at Man- ton. The latter stands nervously, watching her. But he gives no sign for her to drop the glass, no hint that he will see her through. The house-party, unacquainted with the affair between Manton and the secretary, is aghast. Vivian, superb in her pose of authority, bids the girl hold her hand. Striding toward the distracted secretary, she takes the poison from her. She stands, the poison glass in her right hand, her left arm about Ella. She orders Manton to come to them. He does, hypnotized. Ella watches him approach, in- credulous ; but hope is emerging from her despair. Manton, swayed by Vivian's scorn and indignant command, takes Ella. Vivian releases the girl gently. She watches Manton lead the pretty secretary out of the group, and out of the room. Vivian, at the fireplace, then pours the poison slowly from the glass. As the deadly liquid touched the flames, there is flare of green and red. Then the poison is gone. The house-party disperses, to show joy and thankfulness,' each as he had shown despair and fear, or courage, as the case had been. Havens and Vivian face each other alone in front of the fire. Their eyes, rather than their words, tell their story. THE END. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 909 140 5 lonservmnm Lig-Free® Type I Pb 8.5, Buffered \ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 909 140