357
 
 MARRIED?
 
 BOOKS BY 
 MARJORIE BENTON COOKE 
 
 BAMBI 
 
 CINDERELLA JANE 
 
 DB. DAVID 
 
 MABRIED ? 
 
 THE CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCE 
 
 THE CRICKET 
 
 THE DUAL ALLIANCE 
 
 THE GIRL WHO LIVED IN THE WOODS 
 
 THE THRESHOLD
 
 " ' Marcia! ' he exclaimed, ' Marcia!
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 BY 
 MARJORIE BENTON COOKE 
 
 FRONTISPIECE 
 
 BY 
 REGINALD F. BOLLES 
 
 GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 1921
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 ALL EIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION 
 INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 
 
 COPYRIGHT, IQ20, IQ2I. BV THE CBOWELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 2134741
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 MISS LIVINGSTON stepped into the 
 foyer of the Toy Theatre. A low light 
 burned there, and Miss Paul was talk- 
 ing earnestly with a girl in the box office. She 
 looked up as the door closed and smiled. 
 "Good evening, Marcia," she said. 
 "Evening, Mary Jane. Is the rehearsal on?" 
 "Yes Sawyer has just called the first act." 
 Miss Livingston went on into the darkened 
 body of the house. A little nervous man paced 
 up and down the aisle, listening to the actors 
 who read their parts from script. He gave 
 Miss Livingston a curt good evening. She 
 scarcely responded, and seated herself well 
 away from him, toward the front, nodding to 
 the actors as she sat down. 
 
 The play was one of Dunsany's and in the 
 first stages of rehearsal. The director halted 
 them every few lines, suggesting different in- 
 
 i
 
 % MARRIED? 
 
 flection, another reading, or a different quality 
 of voice. Miss Livingston bore it patiently 
 for about half an hour, then she called Mr. 
 Sawyer to her. 
 
 " Why do you bother with the way they inflect 
 their lines, when it's obvious that they haven't 
 got the idea of the play?" she demanded. 
 
 He sighed impatiently. 
 
 "We'll put the colour in later. We have to 
 build the framework first," he answered. 
 
 "I consider that an old-fashioned and stupid 
 way to go about it," she objected. "This is a 
 study in terror. Unless every move and every 
 word contributes to the expression of terror, the 
 thing's a failure." 
 
 " Miss Livingston, I have been on the stage for 
 twenty years." 
 
 " Mr. Sawyer, that is the one and only thing I 
 have against you ! You belong to the old school 
 which passed around parts on a typewritten slip 
 and let the actors piece the story together at 
 rehearsal as you do a picture puzzle. It utterly 
 discounted any brain on the part of the actor." 
 
 "If you don't like the way I rehearse- " he 
 
 began. 
 
 "I don't! That's what I'm telling you. Get 
 the company to understand the spirit of this
 
 MARRIED? 3 
 
 play, and your inflections will take care of them- 
 selves." 
 
 "Of course, Miss Livingston, this is your 
 theatre ' 
 
 "It isn't because it's my theatre that I want 
 you to use some common sense," she answered 
 hotly. 
 
 Miss Paul slipped into the seat behind them. 
 
 "How is it going?" she asked diplomatically. 
 
 "Not at all, according to Miss Livingston," 
 he said brusquely. 
 
 "I merely suggest that he is rehearsing from 
 the wrong angle 
 
 "I will gladly hand the rehearsal over to you, 
 Miss Livingston 
 
 "All right," she said, rose, and walked down 
 the aisle to the stage. 
 
 The actors, sitting and standing about, turned 
 at the sound of her voice. 
 
 "Friends, Mr. Sawyer and I disagree about the 
 rehearsal of this play and he has most generously 
 allowed me to try the act my way. I'm coming 
 up " 
 
 She disappeared for a second and then came 
 down stage among them. 
 
 "Has anybody read you the play aloud?" 
 
 "No."
 
 4 MARRIED? 
 
 "Well, sit down. I shall read my interpreta- 
 tion of the first act, and then we'll discuss it." 
 
 The company seated itself with a covert smile 
 here and there. This eccentric lady entertained 
 them highly with her revolutionary idea about 
 the theatre. 
 
 Marcia Livingston began to read. The key 
 in which she pitched her voice, the hush with 
 which she impregnated the lines, the sense of 
 impending doom which she built with every 
 speech, rolled up and up, until her audience 
 scarcely breathed; they dared not look out 
 into the black theatre which held some mon- 
 strous thing. As she laid the last word upon 
 the climax, somebody said: "Good Lord" so 
 devoutly that the spell was broken and they all 
 laughed, shivering slightly at the sound. 
 
 "My contention is that until everybody in 
 the cast realizes that he must contribute to the 
 terror of the audience, he's just wasting time. 
 Now does everyone disagree with my inter- 
 pretation?" 
 
 "Don't you think Thibour might be played a 
 little more as comedy relief?" asked the gentle- 
 man cast for Thibour. 
 
 "I do not. There mustn't be any relief 
 you must pile it up to the bursting point, 7
 
 MARRIED? 5 
 
 think. But maybe I'm wrong. We'll try it 
 your way, and all decide it together. Now 
 let's begin. Never mind your lines just try 
 to give Mr. Sawyer and Miss Paul and the 
 others out there cold shivers down the spine!" 
 
 They began again and in a crude way the 
 play began to take shape and colour. One or 
 two actors were so carried away that good, 
 spontaneous business resulted, which Marcia 
 seized and made permanent. She interrupted 
 only once for lines that was when "Thibour" 
 repeatedly misquoted his lines. 
 
 "It's so awkward for me to say it that way, 
 Miss Livingston. Can't I change it so it seems 
 natural?" 
 
 "You may not! You change one word and 
 I'll invent a new and terrible punishment. 
 You've got no more right to change Dunsany's 
 words than you have to take my pocketbook!" 
 she said, decidedly. They all laughed at that, 
 and the rehearsal proceeded. 
 
 At eleven o'clock she called an adjourn- 
 ment, and went out in front where Miss Paul 
 and Mr. Sawyer were having a conversation. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Sawyer, did I get results, or 
 not?" 
 
 "You got an effect, certainly, for to-night.
 
 6 MARRIED? 
 
 By the time they've rehearsed it for two or three 
 weeks, their 'atmosphere of terror,' as you call 
 it, will be perfectly mechanical it will be as 
 stale as old bread." 
 
 "I'm willing to stake anything on it that my 
 way is right." 
 
 "I'll stake my job that it's wrong!" 
 
 "All right. Miss Paul will act as witness 
 and hold the stakes," smiled Marcia. 
 
 "It will be necessary, of course, for you to 
 conduct all the rehearsals in the experiment," 
 he reminded her. 
 
 "Oh I can't do that!" she objected. 
 
 "Then that settles it, so far as I'm concerned. 
 If I'm to be the stage manager of the company, 
 I must rehearse my own way " 
 
 ;< You mean you won't go ahead on this idea 
 I've blocked out?" 
 
 "It's not my way " he evaded. 
 
 "Oh, very well. I'll do it myself, then. I 
 shall expect you to be present at all rehearsals, 
 just as though you were conducting them." 
 
 "Very well," he said curtly. 
 
 "You see I make the punishment fit the 
 crime, Mr. Sawyer." 
 
 "I believe death is the usual penalty for lese- 
 majeste" was his reply.
 
 MARRIED? 7 
 
 She laughed, said good-night, and led Mary 
 Jane Paul up the aisle with her. 
 
 "How that man does hate me! It's quite 
 refreshing," she remarked. 
 
 "After all, you do hire him to stage manage 
 the company, don't you?" asked Miss Paul. 
 
 "I do and he does it stupidly. I show 
 him that he's wrong " 
 
 "You haven't shown him yet " inter- 
 rupted Miss Paul. 
 
 "But I intend to." 
 
 Miss Paul made no comment. 
 
 "I take it that you disapprove of my taking 
 over the rehearsal," continued Marcia. 
 
 " It's your own business, of course. My opin- 
 ion is that if you engage a man to do a certain 
 thing and you dislike the way he does it, the 
 proper sequel is to discharge him." 
 
 "I can't till I show him he's wrong." 
 
 "Why can't you?" 
 
 "He'll say it was just because it was my 
 theatre that I had to have my way." 
 
 "But you worse than discharged him, you 
 belittled his authority before the company he is 
 supposed to direct." 
 
 "I'll make him handsome amends." 
 
 Miss Paul shook her head.
 
 8 MARRIED? 
 
 "You're generous, Marcia, always, but you're 
 not just." 
 
 "Good heavens, Mary Jane, what is this 
 tempest in a teapot?" demanded Marcia. 
 
 Miss Paul drew her into her office and closed 
 the door. 
 
 " It isn't such a trifle as you think, Marcia. This 
 is the third stage manager we've had this season." 
 
 "I know it marvellous what fools they've all 
 been!" 
 
 "Granted. But if you want to do the things 
 you plan in this theatre, then you've got to face 
 one fact. Either you must delegate the au- 
 thority over productions to a director and stage 
 manager, or you must make this theatre your 
 business and do the directing yourself." 
 
 "I can't give all my time to it, Mary Jane, 
 you know that." 
 
 "Well I've mentioned what the alternative 
 seems to be, from my point of view." 
 
 " But you're practically telling me to keep out 
 of my own theatre!" 
 
 Mary Jane Paul looked her friend and her em- 
 ployer straight in the eye. 
 
 "What I am trying to tell you, Marcia, is 
 this: This little theatre is a plaything to you 
 a toy, you play with it for a while and then you
 
 MARRIED? 9 
 
 tire of it and go off to Europe. We get it to 
 humming along quite well, when you come back, 
 and like the greedy child in the fairy book, you 
 snatch your toy back 
 
 "Mary Jane Paul! I'm not like that!" 
 Marcia burst out. 
 
 "I'm sorry to be disagreeable, because I'm so 
 fond of you, Marcia. I'm not saying there are 
 not plenty of reasons why you are like this. 
 You're too rich and too pretty and too spoiled 
 but the fact is you cannot endure opposition, 
 and you have to be boss." 
 
 "I seem to be getting a considerable dose of 
 opposition to-night. You've cast yourself for 
 Dutch Uncle apparently!" interposed Marcia, 
 holding on to her temper with difficulty. 
 
 "I'm sorry to be nasty to an old friend, Mar- 
 cia, and if you think I've said too much, I'll 
 hand in my resignation." 
 
 "Rubbish, Mary Jane don't be a goose!" 
 
 " I think you've got a good idea, a wonderful 
 plant in the theatre, and a chance to do a valu- 
 able and constructive thing. I want to help 
 with it. But I know we cannot accomplish 
 anything the way we're doing now." 
 
 "You think I'm the whole trouble," said 
 Marcia.
 
 10 MARRIED? 
 
 "I think you're the main trouble. Sawyer 
 may not be the perfect director, but he gave an 
 excellent production of The Cliff Dwellers, and 
 if he's left alone, he may work out very well. 
 If you think not, let's find someone else, but let's 
 give full power to the man we appoint." 
 
 "I'd rather give up the theatre! What fun 
 is it for me to run it, if I'm to have no say about 
 how things are done in it?" said Marcia hotly. 
 
 "I didn't suggest that. Certainly the di- 
 rector ought to carry out your ideas. My 
 objection is to an autocratic authority which 
 can interfere at any moment." 
 
 "You think the thing's a failure?" 
 
 "Far from it. It's an experiment in the first 
 stages, of course. Why don't you get hold of 
 Sawyer and make him like you " 
 
 "I don't care whether he likes me or not." 
 
 "How about asking young Brooks to direct 
 the next production? He's the most intelligent 
 actor in the company." 
 
 "I'll think about it." 
 
 "Do. It's nearly midnight now, my dear," 
 Mary Jane said quietly. 
 
 Marcia rose. 
 
 "I ought to be raging mad at you and I 
 think I am!"
 
 MARRIED? 11 
 
 "Why should you be raging mad at the frank 
 opinion of a good friend who loves you?" said 
 the other woman bluntly. 
 
 "It takes a very good friend to be so dis- 
 agreeable!" 
 
 Mary Jane Paul laid her hand on Marcia's 
 shoulder. "You don't think that, really, Marcia ?' ' 
 
 "No I suppose not," admitted Marcia. "I 
 have had a perfectly horrid evening and I shall 
 now go home and hate myself." 
 
 "You'll make me sorry I spoke." 
 
 "You needn't be. I suppose I hear the truth 
 seldom enough, considering my needs!" 
 
 Mary Jane laughed. 
 
 "You're a good sort, Marcia," she said. "See 
 you to-morrow?" 
 
 "Certainly. I called rehearsal at ten. I've 
 got to work at the galley now to prove that I'm 
 right. Extraordinary how many people in this 
 world are all wrong " 
 
 "But how do you prove they are wrong, 
 Marcia?" Mary Jane Paul inquired. 
 
 " I don't need to prove it. I know it. If they 
 disagree with me, they're wrong," was Marcia's 
 parting remark. 
 
 Mary Jane's laugh at her childishness turned 
 into a sigh and a headshake.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ONE of the many contributors to the 
 Livingston estate was a property known 
 as the Santa Rosa Ranch. Thousands 
 of acres of it spread over the mountains and 
 through the fertile valleys, stretching almost 
 to the imaginary line which divides California 
 from its lower peninsula. 
 
 It was Marcia Livingston's grandfather, 
 Henry Livingston, the sturdy pioneer, who had 
 laid the foundations of the family wealth. He 
 had bought up these many acres from the shift- 
 less descendants of the old Spanish grandees, 
 who once rode this country in gay cavalcade, 
 spending their days in hunting, their nights in 
 gambling and the wassail bowl. They had 
 their lands by grants from the crown of Spain, 
 and in their day they lived royally on the fat of 
 the rich land. 
 
 The story ran that Henry Livingston was a 
 good hater, and that he possessed one enemy 
 worthy of his metal. This man was named 
 Parnell Shawn, and he, too, was concerned with 
 
 12
 
 MARRIED? 13 
 
 laying up for himself "treasures, upon earth." 
 He was a brilliant Irishman, as witty as Henry 
 Livingston was dour. The two men had come 
 to the grappling point when Shawn was made 
 president of the Great Western Railroad, in the 
 face of Livingston's bitter opposition. The latter 
 was a director in the road and a large stock- 
 holder. Upon Shawn's election Livingston re- 
 signed and sold his holdings. He immediately 
 began to negotiate for great tracts in the Car- 
 mencita valley, where he intended to grow 
 eucalyptus trees for railroad ties, and in time, 
 corner the market and hold up the plans of the 
 Great Western to triple its trackage. 
 
 By some turn of luck Shawn heard of Liv- 
 ingston's plan. He, too, began negotiations 
 with the impoverished farmers in the valley. 
 But Livingston had them tied up, so to speak. 
 He had bought all the country for miles, and for 
 little more than the proverbial song. His 
 holdings were about twelve thousand acres, but 
 he met one obstacle which he could not sweep 
 aside. In the very heart of the Santa Rosa 
 Ranch there was an estate belonging to a Span- 
 iard, Don Padrasso, whose father had the orig- 
 inal grant. It consisted of five thousand acres 
 of fertile land, much of it in thriving eucalyptus
 
 14 MARRIED? 
 
 forests. This old man and his granddaughter 
 lived alone with a servant on this place. He 
 refused absolutely to sell. He said that his 
 granddaughter loved the place and it must 
 descend to her. To all offers he was adamant. 
 
 Shawn discovered this situation and he entered 
 into negotiation with old Padrasso. He outbid 
 Livingston, and Livingston outbid Shawn, until 
 a veritable fortune was offered the Spaniard, but 
 he still refused. When the girl was twenty, old 
 Padrasso died, and the bidding began again, 
 but the girl was as obstinate as her grandfather, 
 and continued to live in lonely grandeur upon 
 her ancestral acres. 
 
 In due course of time Livingston and Shawn 
 were gathered to their fathers. But the fight 
 between the Great Western and the Livingstons 
 to possess the Padrasso Ranch, the fertile heart of 
 Santa Rosa, descended to the next generation. 
 Henry Livingston had established the beginning 
 of a great fortune. His son was conservative, a 
 careful investor, in whose care the money 
 doubled. He handed on to his daughter Marcia 
 a big inheritance. In his time it was that 
 Senorita Padrasso was persuaded to rent her land 
 to the Livingstons for cultivation, at a big rental, 
 which kept her in luxury.
 
 MARRIED? 15 
 
 Parnell Shawn left a comfortable estate to his 
 son, who inherited all of his father's wit and 
 charm, but not a trace of his ability. He spent 
 his last farthing before he died, donating to his 
 son, Dennis, a frail constitution as his only 
 inheritance. Dennis's mother, at the urgency of 
 her doctor, brought the boy into Arizona, where 
 she opened a boarding house, and by dint of 
 hard labour, managed a living for them. She 
 hated her life, but yet she was content because 
 she saw Dennis growing stronger with each year. 
 
 She died when the boy was fifteen, leaving him 
 her scant savings. Her death left him deso- 
 late. She had been his idol. His whole future 
 had been built upon the hope of what he was to 
 do for her, to make up for the hard years. 
 
 He left Arizona and drifted to California. 
 There followed the ten wander-years, in which 
 he travelled through the great Northwest, 
 acting now as ranchman, now as clerk. It was 
 life in the open that interested him. Cities he 
 found stifling. He liked men and animals, 
 but women he shunned. 
 
 It is not too surprising, since chance weaves 
 such strange patterns, that young Shawn was 
 foreman on a ranch in California when Judge 
 Horace Tracey, one of the executors of the
 
 16 MARRIED? 
 
 Livingston estate, came to visit an old friend, 
 the owner of this ranch. He was received by 
 Shawn, in the enforced absence of his host and 
 in two days of constant association with him, 
 was greatly attracted by the Irishman. He 
 discovered his relation to old Parnell Shawn, 
 who had figured so largely in the history of the 
 Livingston family. 
 
 So later, when the opportunity arrived, he 
 offered Dennis an assistant foremanship on 
 Santa Rosa, and in five years he became super- 
 intendent and manager there, as well as the 
 trusted friend of Judge Tracey. 
 
 To some people Dennis Shawn's life on Santa 
 Rosa would have seemed dull. But to him 
 it was satisfactory in every respect. The old 
 Spanish adobe house he occupied with his as- 
 sistants crowned a high hill. On every side the 
 mountains folded them in. Of a clear sunny 
 morning you could see to the ends of the world, 
 and at night the stars were so near that an out- 
 stretched hand could pluck one from the sky. 
 
 The house was hundreds of years old, with walls 
 seven feet thick. It was built around a patio, 
 where grapevines as thick as a man's arm trel- 
 lised the walls. The single story contained liv- 
 ing room and bedrooms in one wing, dining room
 
 MARRIED? 17 
 
 and kitchen in another, all opening on to the 
 patio. Shawn had planted gardens in front of 
 the house which flourished the year round. He 
 tended them himself and was very proud of 
 them. 
 
 His household consisted of "Chuck" English, a 
 young college boy, exiled by an irritated father 
 in the hope that the West would make a man of 
 him. English, senior, was a friend of Judge 
 Tracey, and it was through his intercession 
 that Dennis had taken the boy on as assistant. 
 There was Harvey Williams, accountant and 
 secretary, a silent, dignified young man, who 
 lived with the other two. Then there was 
 Wong, the Chinese cook. 
 
 Below and behind the house were the quar- 
 ters where the Slavs and Poles and Italians and 
 Frenchmen lived who worked on the ranch. 
 Their foreman lived in a cottage near the men. 
 
 The Santa Rosa now provided the great trans- 
 continental railroads with practically all their 
 railroad ties. There were huge sawmills and a 
 settlement of mill workers in a distant part of 
 the ranch, and a railroad carried the ties to the 
 main branch. 
 
 In the early morning Shawn and his associ- 
 ates ate their breakfast in the patio and a
 
 18 MARRIED? 
 
 hearty workingman's breakfast it was that 
 Wong served them. Then he dictated letters 
 to Williams for an hour, planned Chuck's job 
 for the day, and by eight or half after he was 
 on his horse, galloping off into the freshness of 
 the sweet-smelling morning. He rode from 
 morning until night, messing with the men at 
 noon, wherever he happened to be. He was 
 very popular with the men of the many races 
 he employed, and he had very little trouble with 
 them. They were too far from the nearest town 
 to get off for a Saturday night drunk, and Shawn 
 saw to it that the company store provided only 
 enough drink to keep them happy. So as an 
 international experiment it worked out pretty 
 well. 
 
 In the late sunset Shawn rode back to his 
 house. An hour in the garden, a swim in the 
 pool they had made with the aid of a captured 
 mountain brook, fresh white clothes, a cocktail 
 from the expert hands of Chuck, a sumptuous 
 dinner served by Wong, a pipe, the cool, silent, 
 mysterious night, with the men singing down 
 in "quarters" or Chuck twanging a guitar and 
 shouting sentimental ballads, then sleep, dream- 
 less and deep. Such were the days of Dennis 
 Shawn.
 
 MARRIED? 19 
 
 He found entire satisfaction in Chuck and 
 Williams. They were unlike as any two men 
 could be the boy noisy, happy, full of laughter, 
 the older man silent, a little grim, perhaps. He 
 laughed at Chuck's antics as Dennis did, but he 
 was a man who preferred books to people. He 
 never spoke of his past, he spent most of his 
 salary for books, which were sent him from Los 
 Angeles, and in his silent way he loved Dennis. 
 He occasionally persuaded him to read a book, 
 and then they discussed it for hours 
 
 Dennis found him bitter about women. He 
 suspected a tragedy in his past, but Williams 
 made no confession. They were talking about 
 Weininger's "Sex and Character" one night, 
 as they smoked in front of the house. 
 
 "He has it in for women, hasn't he?" said 
 Dennis. 
 
 "I thought it was a fair estimate," replied 
 Williams. 
 
 "Oh, come now all women aren't the brain- 
 less fools he makes of them." 
 
 "Have you had much experience with women, 
 Dennis?" 
 
 " No not much. I don't like them." 
 
 "Wise man keep away." 
 
 "I don't understand them much."
 
 20 MARRIED? 
 
 "Men don't usually." 
 
 "I never felt the need of women in my life. I 
 suppose it's no credit to me I've kept clear of 
 them." 
 
 "Be thankful and let it go at that." 
 
 "What are you two chinning about?" de- 
 manded Chuck, appearing from the house. 
 
 Dennis laughed. 
 
 "Your specialty women!" 
 
 "Gosh, I wish we had some of 'em here! It's 
 the only drawback to this life, Denny, old man!" 
 
 "Humph!" said Williams. 
 
 "S'truth, old sour ball, a good sprightly girl 
 would liven you up all right." 
 
 "Heaven forbid!" 
 
 "And as for Dennis, I don't get him. Good- 
 lookin' big buck like that could have any girl he 
 crooked his finger to, and he won't even go down 
 to Los Angeles and see a girl show." 
 
 "I should say not." 
 
 "Well, you're makin' a great mistake, my 
 boy. I tell you a man needs the ladies some- 
 times I jolly well feel I'm wasting my life up 
 here in this this " 
 
 "Eveless Eden!" 
 
 "Yes, that's it." 
 
 "Don't Shawn and I provide you with in-
 
 MARRIED? 21 
 
 tellectual companionship, Chuck?" inquired 
 Williams. 
 
 "Intellectual yes. I don't want clever 
 women. I want 'em pretty and silly !" 
 
 "Williams, we must see that Chuck gets 'a 
 raise' so he can marry and bring his wife out. It 
 would be so good for us to have something 
 * pretty and silly' around the place." 
 
 "Why not get a parrot?" asked Williams, 
 strolling down into the garden. 
 
 "Poor old Williams! Some girl must have 
 given him a nawsty wallop! Isn't he the crab 
 on women!" 
 
 "He's apparently not a * ladies' man,'" smiled 
 Dennis. 
 
 "All right for him but you 
 
 "Oh, let up on me, kid. You amuse me more 
 than any wife could." 
 
 "I'm going to form an alliance with Kate, 
 that beautiful Mexican demi-mondaine, old 
 Pinto's daughter " 
 
 "None of that, Chuck!" from Dennis sternly. 
 
 The boy laughed. 
 
 "I'm off to court her now, with my trusty gui- 
 tar and a knife in my Boston garter." 
 
 He sauntered off. 
 
 "I mean what I say! I'll bounce you if
 
 22 MARRIED? 
 
 you try any of that native wife stuff," Dennis 
 called after him. 
 
 He sat on alone, smoking and thinking. He 
 did not wish to be different from other men. 
 He had decided long ago, in his days of ranching, 
 that some men must be less highly sexed than 
 others, just as some men lacked a hunger for 
 drink. That some fastidious sense, of which he 
 was rather ashamed, had kept him from enjoy- 
 ing the Saturday night debauches of his com- 
 panions, was a fact. He wondered if there was 
 some woman in the world who could arouse 
 his need of her. Then he recalled Williams's 
 "Wise man keep away," and smiling, he went 
 out to join the misogynist in the garden. 
 
 Presently a motor car wound its way below 
 them. 
 
 "Car down there," commented Williams. 
 "Going to Senorita Padrasso's, isn't it?" 
 
 "Hm. She doesn't usually have evening 
 visitors. Probably those damned Great West- 
 ern agents again," said Dennis. "Let's get 
 on our horses and call on the old lady our- 
 selves." 
 
 "Take Chuck. I've got a book I want to 
 read." 
 
 Dennis went in pursuit of Chuck and ten
 
 MARRIED? 23 
 
 minutes later they galloped down toward the 
 Padrasso ranch. 
 
 They found the old woman entertaining a 
 strange man, who spoke Spanish. She was 
 thought to be more than a hundred years old, 
 and she was very deaf. She was friendly with 
 Dennis, who did her many a favour, but she 
 adored Chuck who sang to her, made love to her, 
 and made her shake with laughter. The strange 
 gentleman, who was called Roderiguez, did 
 not welcome the newcomers. He tried to engage 
 their hostess in Spanish conversation, but she 
 had no eyes for any one but Chuck. While the 
 latter played monkey-shines, Dennis inquired of 
 the stranger, in excellent Spanish, how long he 
 had been in the employ of the Great Western 
 Railroad, and when he denied it hotly, Dennis 
 laughed. By staying until the old lady went to 
 sleep, they sat him out. They saw him off the 
 place before they rode home. 
 
 "Reg'lar movie stuff, isn't it?'* said Chuck. 
 "Two great corporations held at bay by old 
 Spanish heiress with the keystone acres." 
 
 " Great mistake to have grown our best forest 
 on the old lady's land, I should say," commented 
 Dennis. 
 
 "Will be if the Great Western grabs her
 
 24 MARRIED? 
 
 ranch in the end. Some day one of their agents 
 will get her to make a cross to a document, he'll 
 choke her a bit, and we'll find her dead and the 
 land gone!" prophesied Chuck. 
 
 "I think I'll just establish a guard over her. 
 After all, we rent her land and cultivate it we 
 can say we're guarding our property," Dennis 
 mused aloud. 
 
 "You dote on this ranch, don't you, Dennis?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Miss Livingston couldn't hire many such 
 managers." 
 
 "Miss Livingston didn't hire me Judge 
 Tracey is my boss." 
 
 "He's only executor. She's the whole cheese. 
 Ever see her?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "I have. Beauty! Regular spoiled, papa's 
 darling of a beauty. Say her father never re- 
 fused her anything in her life. You ought to see 
 her, Dennis." 
 
 "Not I! I never think of her as a person. 
 She's just the human appendage to the Liv- 
 ingston estate. That's all I want to know about 
 her." 
 
 "Lord, you are some humorist! Fancy call- 
 ing Marcia Livingston the human appendage
 
 MARRIED? 25 
 
 to the Livingston estate!" laughed Chuck 
 mightily. 
 
 "I wish we'd threatened that fellow to-night." 
 
 "Can't keep the old girl from having callers, 
 I suppose. I'd better marry her, Denny, and sell 
 you the land the minute she dies. One of these 
 days she'll fall to pieces like the one-hoss shay, 
 and one of us has got to be on hand." 
 
 Dennis laughed, touched his horse, and gal- 
 loped the last half mile to the ranch house, 
 with Chuck at his heels hallooing wildly, with 
 echoes answering on all sides. 
 
 "Shut up!" begged Dennis, whereupon si- 
 lence closed down like a huge lid upon the 
 world.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 MARCIA LIVINGSTON devoted herself 
 entirely to the rehearsals of the Dun- 
 sany play. It was characteristic of 
 her that, given an object and sufficient incentive, 
 nothing could stop her attainment of it. She re- 
 fused all invitations during the day, and if she 
 did accept a dinner, she ran away as soon as the 
 coffee was served. Back to "my job" as she 
 phrased it. Her friends all laughed at her, but 
 the vagaries of Marcia were always amusing to 
 them. 
 
 For three weeks she thought, ate, slept, and 
 waked in the atmosphere of Dunsany. Her 
 enthusiasm and tirelessness urged the actors to 
 the same devotion. Finally the night of the 
 premier came and the little theatre scored its 
 greatest success. The critics were congratu- 
 latory. The Sunday supplement burst out with 
 special illustrated articles about Miss Livingston 
 and her Toy Theatre. Poor Mr. Sawyer ad- 
 mitted his defeat and tendered his resignation. 
 "You see, Marcia, you really have a talent for 
 
 26
 
 MARRIED? 27 
 
 this if you would only stick at it," said Mary 
 Jane Paul at the end of the week. 
 
 "I hate sticking at things it bores me." 
 "Doesn't the success of this play please you?" 
 "Oh, yes, I intended to succeed, but I'm tired 
 to death, and after all, is it worth getting so 
 tired for?" 
 
 "Dear old Marcia, that what's-the-use spoils 
 everything for you, doesn't it?' 
 
 " Yes ! I suppose so. Beastly tiresome world, 
 Mary Jane." 
 
 "It isn't to people who have to work." 
 "Rubbish! I don't believe it. That's just 
 a sham that work-and-you'11-be-happy busi- 
 ness. Everybody naturally hates work. The 
 dream of every living creature is to get money 
 enough so he will not have to work." 
 
 "There are lots of people whose work is the 
 thing they live for. They don't care about 
 money at all. Giving up work would be Hades 
 to them." 
 
 Marcia smiled. 
 
 "Mary Jane, I've been hearing about those 
 mythical busy bees all my life and I've never met 
 one that I believed in." 
 
 " I can take you to a whole bee-hive of them ! " 
 "For goodness sake, do! I'd like to be con-
 
 28 MARRIED? 
 
 vinced that I am wrong. The whole thing 
 seems to me a vicious circle. To get the work 
 of the world done leisure and money are dangled 
 as a bait. But the rich know that leisure 
 and money spell boredom." 
 
 "But the rich worked during the war, 
 Marcia." 
 
 "Yes, but that was hysterical. Things had 
 to be done quickly, the result was important. 
 Whether you were any good or not, at least you 
 knew you were a patriot. That's all gone now. 
 You can't keep up the pace unless you've got a 
 consuming desire to uplift the race, or make 
 over humanity, or start a social revolution. I 
 don't want to do any of those things." 
 
 "Well, it's a pity. It is the fanatics who are 
 really happy!" exclaimed Mary Jane. 
 
 "There isn't any school where they graduate 
 fanatics, I suppose," laughed Marcia. 
 
 "If I wanted to be bromidic I'd say the 
 School of Life," smiled Mary Jane. " Why don't 
 you marry, Marcia, and have some babies?" 
 
 "I never meet anybody I want to live with. 
 Do you?" 
 
 Mary Jane laughed. 
 
 "I'd be satisfied with plain man you'd want 
 one-hundred-per-cent hero. ' '
 
 MARRIED? 29 
 
 "I don't know what I want. I only know I 
 haven't got it." 
 
 Several days after this conversation Mary 
 Jane telephoned Marcia about some matter of 
 business at the theatre. Young Brooks was to 
 direct the next production, and Marcia refused 
 to take any responsibility about what he did or 
 how he did it. 
 
 "By the way," said Mary Jane, "were you in 
 earnest about meeting some workers who work 
 for the love of it?" 
 
 "Certainly I was." 
 
 "All right. If you will meet me at Grand 
 Central Station at three o'clock Friday, in your 
 oldest suit and nothing but a nightie in your 
 bag, I'll take you on an adventure over the week- 
 end." 
 
 "You'll find me standing under the clock! 
 Couldn't we motor to the place?" 
 
 "No motor no maid. You will wear an 
 assumed name, and be introduced as an actress 
 or some kind of employee of the theatre." 
 
 "Good! Sounds interesting. I'll be there." 
 
 Promptly at three Mary Jane Paul arrived 
 at a position under the clock. At quarter after 
 there was still no Marcia. The train left at 
 3:21. Miss Paul made up her mind that at
 
 30 MARRIED? 
 
 eighteen minutes after three she would board 
 her train. Just as she moved toward the gate 
 she saw Marcia saunter through the crowd. 
 She waved at Mary Jane and at her frantic sig- 
 nals she nodded and seemed about to hurry, when 
 Mr. Clarke Jessup stopped her for an elaborate 
 greeting. Meanwhile, the train departed. When 
 she finally joined Miss Paul, that tried friend 
 wore an enduring smile. 
 
 "The train has gone," she remarked. 
 
 "Oh, has it? Well can't we get another?" 
 
 "Yes, in an hour. It's a slow train and it 
 doesn't stop where we want it to, but that's 
 the price you pay for being late." 
 
 "Was I late?" 
 
 " You were as usual." 
 
 "Does it matter?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Mary Jane, my faults do wear on you, don't 
 they?" 
 
 "At times." 
 
 "Punctuality is the thief of time, you always 
 wait for other people. The thing to do is always 
 to be the latest." 
 
 Mary Jane laughed. 
 
 "You live up to your principles, such as they 
 are, Marcia," she conceded.
 
 MARRIED? 31 
 
 "Now, tell me where we're going and why I 
 am incognito." 
 
 They sat down in the waiting room. 
 
 "We're going up into the country near White 
 Plains, and we are going to stay in a commun- 
 ity of artists and craft workers, who have been 
 driven out of town by the high cost of every- 
 thing. They are trying to support their own 
 needs." 
 
 "I see farm and everything, you mean." 
 
 "Yes. They are very simple, and I thought 
 it might make them a bit self-conscious if they 
 knew you were coming. I want you to see them 
 just as they are." 
 
 "All right. I'll be Edith Walker, an under- 
 study at the theatre. Is there anything else I 
 have to remember? Don't I look rather poor 
 and working-girlish?" 
 
 "Not specially." 
 
 "This suit is four years old." 
 
 "Um. You might try a simple, humble 
 manner." 
 
 "Like this?" 
 
 Mary Jane laughed aloud at the transfor- 
 mation, posture, expression, the droop of the 
 head it was instantaneous and perfect. 
 
 "Marcia you monkey!" chuckled Miss Paul.
 
 32 MARRIED? 
 
 "Tell me about the people we're to meet, 
 Mary Jane." 
 
 "No. I'll let them introduce themselves." 
 
 The journey was certainly tiresome. The 
 old train jerked along, stopping at every sta- 
 tion except the one they wanted. Mary Jane 
 hoped to make a connection with a trolley when 
 they finally descended at a junction, but true 
 to form the "Interurban" had just left. There 
 would be no car for one hour and twenty min- 
 utes. 
 
 "Can't we walk? I will not sit in this place 
 all that time," said Marcia. 
 
 "Roads is bad, lady. We've had a lot o' rain 
 out here." 
 
 " Come on, Mary Jane," urged Marcia, leading 
 the way. 
 
 Mary Jane smiled and followed. The first 
 half mile of road was fair, but after that it was 
 heavy going. It was muddy and slippery. 
 
 "How far is it?" demanded Marcia. 
 
 "Station man said four miles." 
 
 "My Lord! Look at my feet and I haven't 
 got any other shoes." 
 
 "Neither have I. We'll have some work 
 cleaning them." 
 
 "Do we have to clean them ourselves?"
 
 MARRIED? 33 
 
 "Of course we do." 
 
 "I'll sit right here, then, and wait for some- 
 thing to happen. If all I've got to look forward 
 to at the end of four miles of this is the fun of 
 cleaning my shoes, I'm through. Something 
 has got to happen." 
 
 She sat down on a rock. 
 
 "The 3:21 train lets you out in the heart of 
 the place." 
 
 "If you'd told me that, Mary Jane, I would 
 have made the train." 
 
 "You may sit here all night " 
 
 " No, I won't. Here comes a wagon now 
 
 Marcia hurried out and stopped the driver, 
 explaining their dilemma. He motioned to the 
 back of the wagon. They got in, and jolted 
 off up the road, bouncing up and down as the 
 wagon struck the mud holes. It was dark when 
 the driver stopped and indicated lights half a 
 mile away. 
 
 They trudged along silently, too tired to talk. 
 Finally they came to the lighted houses and 
 Mary Jane lifted a door latch and entered. A 
 woman sat in the firelight and a man was 
 playing the piano magnificently. 
 
 "Why it's Jaronski!" exclaimed Marcia. 
 
 The woman rose and came to welcome them.
 
 34 MARRIED? 
 
 Marcia, upon introduction, became every 
 inch Edith Walker. She had only time to note 
 the spacious, almost empty, room, before they 
 were led away to the guest chambers. These 
 were simple rooms, bare of all except necessities. 
 Sleeping porches contained the beds. There 
 was a bathroom. 
 
 Madame Jaronski, a famous violinist herself, 
 promised that Jaronski would clean their boots. 
 Marcia laughed at the idea. 
 
 "But Mees Walker Jaronski pride him- 
 self upon boots. He cleans well." 
 
 "No, thanks we'll do our own," said Mary 
 Jane firmly. 
 
 "I weel geev you some sandals for to-night. 
 To-morrow, we clean boots." 
 
 Bathed and rested, and wearing the welcome 
 sandals, the two girls descended later. They 
 were taken then to the community centre where 
 everybody dined. They heard much talk and 
 laughter as they entered. One group sat at a 
 big table, and some family tables were scattered 
 about. Marcia noticed that they all wore a 
 uniform garment and that it was exceedingly 
 individual. The costume consisted of wide 
 trousers and a sort of Chinese coat for both 
 women and men. They all wore leather san-
 
 MARRIED? 35 
 
 dais. But the colours were varied. Some 
 women had added a wide sash to belt in the 
 coat some were plain, some decorated. 
 
 The food was simple but good. Certain mem- 
 bers served it. Introduction of the guests was 
 followed by a clatter of talk. The theory of the 
 community was explained, based upon equal 
 labour for every member. 
 
 After dinner almost everybody straggled along 
 to the Jaronskis' house, where those magnificent 
 artists played as Marcia had never heard them 
 play before at any concert. There was a sim- 
 ple friendliness about the group that was restful 
 and charming. Later Adolph Simmons, the 
 painter, asked them all to his studio to see a 
 picture which he had just finished. As they 
 strolled along, Jaronski fell in step with Marcia. 
 
 "Have you lived out here ever since you came 
 to America, Mr. Jaronski?" she asked. 
 
 "No oh, no. For five miserable years I 
 leeved in thees terrible countree before I found 
 thees place." 
 
 "Why terrible?" she interrupted. 
 
 "Oh crude self-satisfied reech! It is money 
 money eet can buy anytheeing! Art, happi- 
 ness, beauty yes, says America, I weel buy it 
 with money."
 
 36 MARRIED? 
 
 "And you think that cannot be done?" 
 
 "I know eet cannot. You can buy only ma- 
 terial things with money. So much to eat 
 so much to wear it ees all you can buy. Here 
 we know that. Here we have our work and our 
 play and that ees all we want." 
 
 "Is that why you gave only two concerts 
 in New York last winter?" 
 
 "I gave many concerts in New York last win- 
 der, Mademoiselle. Down on the East Side, to 
 music lovers, I give many concerts. Selma and 
 I, we care not for money." 
 
 They entered the studio of the painter. The 
 same workmanlike simplicity was here. He 
 set up the canvas, in the proper light, and waited. 
 It was a symbolic thing called "The Goal." It 
 pictured mankind the struggling, toiling mob, 
 the hand of each upon the shoulder of the one 
 before, faces upturned as to some holy grail. 
 
 "But what is the goal?" someone demanded. 
 
 The painter shrugged his shoulders and smiled. 
 The discussion was fast and spirited. A tech- 
 nical criticism of the presentation, the form, 
 brought an illuminating explanation from Sim- 
 mons. The symbolism of the title came in for 
 attack. 
 
 "There is a fine rhythm to your procession,
 
 MARRIED? 37 
 
 Simmons. There is music in it. I feel it," said 
 Jaronski. 
 
 Suddenly a gong struck. Marcia started. 
 
 "It is our curfew, Mademoiselle," explained 
 Madame Jaronski. "We go to bed early and 
 rise the same." 
 
 So with "good-night" they separated and 
 went to the various cottages. When Marcia 
 and Mary Jane were left alone, the latter said: 
 
 "What do you think about it?" 
 
 "It's upsetting, isn't it?" 
 
 "Upsetting?" 
 
 "Suppose we have got hold of only false 
 values?" 
 
 "Look what these people find when they dis- 
 card them!" 
 
 "But you can't tell me they like serving meals 
 and cooking and all that." 
 
 "But you change your work all the time. 
 That's why it isn't drudgery. You ought to be 
 here when they all go into the fields for the har- 
 vesting, or when they sow in the spring, or when 
 the men chop the winter's wood. They make 
 everything a festival they sing and dance and 
 make games of their work. It's really great fun." 
 
 "Fancy the great Jaronski chopping wood!" 
 laughed Marcia.
 
 38 MARRIED? 
 
 "He isn't the great Jaronski here. That's 
 why he loves it. It is a real democracy." 
 
 "Don't they get tired of each other, and fight 
 and run off with one another's wives, like the rest 
 of the world?" 
 
 "I suppose they disagree they may even 
 quarrel. But if you're just as busy as you can 
 be all day long, and if you love your neighbour, 
 you're apt to be a pretty normal fellow. It is 
 the artificial stimuli that gets the world we live 
 in so upset." 
 
 "Well," yawned Marcia, "no artificial stimuli 
 will keep me awake a minute longer!" 
 
 Marcia dreamed that she was lying on top of 
 the water and someone was splashing her. 
 Finally she sat up, trying to splash back. Mary 
 Jane stood peering out of her porch there were 
 peals of laughter from below. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Marcia. 
 
 "They are all in the pool. Hear them splash? 
 Jaronski gave it to them. The whole crowd 
 goes in every morning, winter and summer. I 
 found bathing dresses in our room. Want to 
 go in?" 
 
 "I'll probably take my death of cold, but I'll 
 go if you will." 
 
 They hurried inside to change.
 
 MARRIED? 39 
 
 "Lord, is this all you wear?" asked Marcia. 
 
 "That's all. It's perfectly decent." 
 
 "When in Rome! I look rather nice, don't 
 I?" 
 
 They ran down to the pool, where a shout of 
 welcome met them. They found their hosts 
 waiting for them. They plunged in, swam 
 about to warm up, and then raced home to 
 dress. 
 
 After breakfast everyone disappeared to his 
 job. Only half the day was spent in com- 
 munity work. The rest belonged to the individ- 
 ual for his own art or for recreation. 
 
 Marcia and Mary Jane went at their boot- 
 cleaning on the back porch of the Jaronskis'. 
 They talked and laughed and raced each other. 
 Marcia was sure her boots had the highest 
 shine. 
 
 "You see how the thing gets into your blood!" 
 said Mary Jane. 
 
 Saturday night was "Jinks Night," and a 
 different group each week arranged some sort of 
 play. This particular night there was a bur- 
 lesque on Mr. Simmons 's picture, "The Goal." 
 It was called "First Base" and was both witty 
 and well done. There was music. Jaronski 
 played the piano in mittens a convulsing per-
 
 40 MARRIED? 
 
 formance there was dancing and singing by 
 the children. 
 
 " There is more enjoyment in this room than 
 the whole of Broadway contains," Mary Jane 
 whispered to Marcia. 
 
 The latter nodded. She was deeply interested 
 in this group, there was no escaping the fact. 
 She never relaxed her attention. She was still 
 skeptical. She waited to see a mask drop, to 
 hear a bitter laugh for the curtain to go down 
 on the play. She had to admit that she was 
 thoroughly enjoying herself meanwhile. 
 
 Sunday was distinguished by a sort of choral 
 service of praise out of doors. There was a 
 minimum of work, and games, and a long walk 
 filled the afternoon. 
 
 "I've had a wonderful time, you nice people," 
 Marcia said to the Jaronskis at parting. 
 
 "You must come again, you will get used to 
 our queer ways," smiled Jaronski. 
 
 "I like your queer ways, if I don't quite 
 understand them." 
 
 "But it is so simple, when you know the 
 truth- 
 
 " What is the truth?" she asked him earnestly. 
 
 "That work and love are the things which 
 count."
 
 MARRIED? 41 
 
 : But art- 
 
 "Art is the expression of both of them," he 
 beamed "the child of their union." 
 
 The girls looked back to wave at them from 
 the station. Jaronski and his Selma stood 
 hand in hand, smiling, content, as if they did 
 indeed "know the truth and it had set them 
 free."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE visit to the artists' guild left a very 
 deep impression on Marcia's mind. She 
 thought of it first with affection, with 
 a sense of pleasure that there was such a sanc- 
 tuary. But finally a growing sense of irritation 
 pervaded her memory of it. Here were people 
 who scorned what she had, and knew a peace 
 that was denied to her. 
 
 Feverishly searching for something to do, 
 she began to plan a school of acting in connec- 
 tion with the Toy Theatre. She and Mary 
 Jane Paul worked out a comprehensive plan for 
 such a school, with a faculty recruited from the 
 best artists to be lured by the large salaries 
 which Marcia was prepared to pay. 
 
 She had a real interest in the theatre, felt a 
 real discouragement at the low estate to which 
 both drama and acting had fallen in this coun- 
 try. A school of acting, which attempted culti- 
 vation of the mind combined with technical 
 training, might be of service. She knew two 
 men and three women distinguished on the 
 
 42
 
 MARRIED? 43 
 
 stage, who had grown old in riches and fame and 
 who would no doubt gladly cooperate in such a 
 scheme to give the rising generation the benefit 
 of their experience and knowledge. 
 
 For a month she concerned herself with this 
 idea. She had dinners to which she invited 
 actors, the big scenic artists, and famous dancers 
 to talk over such a school. Her own enthusi- 
 asm fired other people and her faculty grew as- 
 sured before so much as one pupil was enlisted. 
 
 Architects drew plans for remodellingthe build- 
 ing in which the Toy Theatre was situated. It 
 was to be the most modern, up-to-date institu- 
 tion in the country. 
 
 The newspapers, always keen on Miss Liv- 
 ingston as copy described it in detail, repro- 
 duced the architects' sketches, had interviews 
 with Marcia and Mary Jane Paul, followed by a 
 symposium of opinions from great actors and 
 managers. Letters poured in from prospective 
 pupils. Work began on the building, and Marcia 
 was busy and content. By dint of speeding up 
 everybody the work progressed rapidly. Then 
 came hours of consultation and days of absorp- 
 tion in decorators and fittings for the various 
 class rooms, rehearsal rooms, dancing studios, 
 and the gymnasium.
 
 44 MARRIED? 
 
 Mary Jane Paul counselled union hours and 
 occasional rest days in the country, but all in 
 vain. She knew from past experience that a 
 reaction from this overwork was due, and she 
 devoutly hoped that the plans might be con- 
 summated and the school assured before Marcia 
 tired of it, because Mary Jane Paul believed 
 mightily in the idea. She also knew that when 
 Marcia stepped from under, the whole responsi- 
 bility would descend upon her, just as the thea- 
 tre itself had been tossed over to her when its 
 wilful owner tired of it. 
 
 She loved Marcia Livingston and understood 
 her perfectly for the generous, big-hearted, 
 spoiled child of her environment. She mourned 
 to herself over the restless, unsatisfied spirit of 
 the girl which drove her desperately from one ex- 
 periment to another. 
 
 Contrary to her usual form, Marcia's inter- 
 est held out in the new venture, until proof 
 had been read on the announcement of the 
 first year's courses, the date of the opening 
 settled upon, and all the details were well in 
 hand. 
 
 "Mary Jane, I'm tired. I think I'll go to 
 Europe." 
 
 "Couldn't you rest somewhere in this coun-
 
 MARRIED? 45 
 
 try, Marcia? There will be decisions to be made 
 all summer long " 
 
 "You can make them." 
 
 "I don't like the responsibility." 
 
 "You'll decide as well as I can. I'm sick of 
 the whole thing. I want to forget about it." 
 
 "But you'll be back for the opening, of 
 course." 
 
 "Oh, I suppose so." 
 
 "Marcia, don't be silly! Of course you'll 
 open this school. Go away to Europe or wher- 
 ever you like and amuse yourself." 
 
 "What about you? You must be nearly 
 dead. I know your work has been doubled." 
 
 This was the first mention of this fact. 
 
 "I'm all right. I love it." 
 
 "I'm going to double your salary and send 
 you off for six months next winter, Mary Jane." 
 
 "No you'll do neither of those things. My 
 salary is sufficient and I don't want to go away. 
 I'm so interested in the new school that I'd 
 work all night on it, if I dared." 
 
 Marcia looked at her earnestly. 
 
 " You're a rare person, Mary Jane Paul. I 
 wish I had your power to accomplish things." 
 
 "Your record of accomplishment is a fair 
 one, I should say, Marcia." Mary Jane smiled.
 
 46 MARRIED? 
 
 "No. I start things, I never finish them. 
 I'd fail without you. Don't imagine I don't 
 know that." 
 
 She walked away with that, leaving Mary Jane 
 Paul flushed with pleasure and sincerely touched 
 by the tribute of appreciation. 
 
 The height of Marcia's enthusiasm over her 
 school was only equalled by the depth of her 
 boredom with it when it was finally conceived 
 and near completion. She had spared her- 
 self not at all, for months, and overwrought 
 nerves declared themselves in no uncertain 
 ways. 
 
 It was a rainy Sunday that she reached the 
 lowest stage of ebb-tide. She tried in vain to 
 read. She called up several people to try 
 for a company at lunch, but they all had other 
 plans or engagements. To her great relief 
 Clarke Jessup arrived about one o'clock and 
 said he hoped to be asked to lunch. 
 
 "Clarke, you are an answer to prayer!" she 
 said enthusiastically. 
 
 "You must make up strange prayers," he 
 smiled. "What's the matter? Low in your 
 mind?" 
 
 "Yes rock bottom in my mind." 
 
 "No wonder you're stubborn, Marcia. I
 
 MARRIED? 47 
 
 never suspected a granite mind. I thought 
 you'd been elevating the race or the actor 
 or something. Didn't I read about it in the 
 
 ?,, 
 <"" 
 
 "Yes, that's the trouble. I suppose I'm too 
 tired and I hate rainy days." 
 
 "Poor child. Cheerio! Always get a reac- 
 tion when you pull off a big job." 
 
 "I haven't pulled it off. I never pull off any- 
 thing. I just dive into an idea head first and 
 then when it gets to be a fact and has to be 
 dressed up in details, I wade ashore and walk 
 away." 
 
 "Well, why not? It's something to have 
 made that initial dive. Lord knows, I haven't 
 got the energy." 
 
 "I've got all the energy in the world and 
 nothing real to do!" she protested. "Clarke, 
 do you ever wish you'd been born poor?" 
 
 "Lord, no!" 
 
 "I do. I wish I'd had to work to survive!" 
 she exclaimed fervently. 
 
 "What you need is a husband to keep you 
 down, Marcia. I've told you for three years 
 that you ought to marry me." 
 
 "I don't see what difference marriage would 
 make to either of us, Clarke. The fact remains
 
 48 MARRIED? 
 
 that we both have to keep running around from 
 place to place to make things happen in our 
 lives." 
 
 "Maybe but there's no reason why we 
 shouldn't run together, is there?" 
 
 "You don't love me and I don't love you " 
 
 "I can't say about you, of course. I like you 
 better than any woman I know. I don't think 
 modern people, like us, go in for the primitive 
 passion much, do you?" 
 
 "Maybe not" with a sigh. 
 
 "Better take me on, Marcia." 
 
 "We wouldn't bring one new thing to each 
 other. We wouldn't make one bit of difference 
 in each other's lives." 
 
 "No well, what of it? I don't want to be 
 torpedoed out of all my habits, do you? The 
 war came near doing that to us, and my God! 
 how I do love my habits." 
 
 She smiled at that perforce. Presently she 
 began to tell him about the artists' community 
 and of the realities they seemed to have laid 
 hold of. He listened, with his handsome, cyni- 
 cal face turned toward her. 
 
 "Nothing in that, old girl sounds like a 
 bunch of cranks to me. I'm not saying that 
 money buys everything, but to people brought
 
 MARRIED? 49 
 
 up as we've been, it's the biggest help there is to 
 getting through life." 
 
 "Clarke, isn't there anything to life but just 
 getting through?" she demanded. 
 
 "I don't know. Maybe. Doesn't seem to 
 be, does there?" 
 
 "Have you ever loved anybody terribly 
 much?" 
 
 "Hm can't say I have. You don't think 
 that would help out, do you? Beastly upset- 
 ting, that kind of business." 
 
 "But I want to be upset!" 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "You're awfully young, Marcia!" 
 
 Right out of her heart she answered him. 
 
 "I'm awfully lonely, Clarke." 
 
 "Poor Marcia. I know what you mean. 
 I've felt it, too. We might protect each other 
 from that, dear." 
 
 "Oh I wonder!" 
 
 He came over and put his arms about her. 
 She did not free herself. She stood quite still 
 in his embrace, and the waters of disillusion 
 seemed to rise about her in a flood. What was 
 the use of struggling longer to save herself? 
 Here was a human being, as lonely as herself, 
 who wanted her companionship. His need of
 
 50 MARRIED? 
 
 her was not great, perhaps, but none of his 
 needs was very deep. Perhaps this was a way 
 out of her perplexities. 
 
 "Shall we have a try at it, Marcia?" his cool 
 voice asked her. 
 
 "I don't love you, Clarke," she said, in one 
 last protest. 
 
 "Oh that's all right. I don't expect much. 
 We'll get used to each other, old girl. I think 
 we'll hit it off rather well, if you say the word." 
 
 "All right, Clarke it seems to be a fair bar- 
 gain. It isn't very romantic, is it?" she sighed. 
 
 "Romantic? No. I thought that was rather 
 confined to the stage, now, isn't it?" 
 
 "I suppose so." 
 
 "Shall we be married right away?" 
 
 "No not until fall, please." 
 
 "Oh, that's all right." 
 
 Marcia looked at him, so composed, so well 
 done, as it were, and suddenly she laughed. He 
 stared at her, eyebrows lifted. 
 
 "Life is so funny, isn't it?" she said hysteri- 
 cally. 
 
 "I don't know not so damn funny!" was his 
 cryptic reply.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A WEEK or so after the visit of the Span- 
 ish-speaking gentleman to Senorita Pa- 
 drasso there arrived at that lady's ranch 
 house, bag and baggage, a handsome black-eyed 
 woman calling herself Amelita Padrasso. She 
 brought with her family records and letters and 
 documents to substantiate the claim that she 
 was first cousin of the senorita, the child of old 
 Don Padrasso's second son, Pedro. 
 
 The senorita received her with true Spanish 
 hospitality, and Chuck found her thoroughly 
 installed in the household when he stopped by 
 one day to pay his respects to the old lady. 
 
 The newcomer was most affable, and made ex- 
 cellent use of a pair of splendid black eyes. 
 Chuck played up to her, until he saw that the 
 Senorita Padrasso was not pleased. He turned 
 his attentions upon her. 
 
 "Isn't it fine for you to discover a beautiful 
 cousin?" he shouted at her. 
 
 She feigned not to hear him, although he 
 knew by the gleam in her eyes that she did. 
 
 51
 
 52 MARRIED? 
 
 "How did you ever find each other out, in all 
 this great wide world?" he inquired innocently. 
 
 "I have been searching for my relatives a 
 long time. A friend in Los Angeles heard of 
 Cousin Rita," the newcomer replied. 
 
 "Oh, yes Senor Roderiguez," hazarded 
 Chuck. 
 
 "Do you know him?" the woman asked 
 quickly. 
 
 "I've met him here, at the senorita's. He's 
 a delightful fellow, isn't he?" he said enthusi- 
 astically. 
 
 She merely smiled at that. 
 
 "Senorita, if we have a party in honour of 
 your guest at our ranch, will you come?" asked 
 the boy. 
 
 "No," said the old woman promptly. 
 
 "Cousin Rita is so frank," apologized the 
 guest. 
 
 "She's old enough to be frank. When I'm 
 sixty I intend to begin to tell nothing but the 
 truth, and by the time I'm her age, nobody will 
 be able to live with me." 
 
 "It's all you can do to live with her," sighed 
 the cousin indiscreetly. 
 
 "Boy," said the old woman, "come here!" 
 
 Chuck crossed to her side.
 
 MARRIED? 53 
 
 "Never mind her talk to me," she ordered. 
 
 He grinned and told her some foolishness. 
 She did not bother to smile. It was obvious 
 she was troubled. 
 
 "Sefiorita, you do not love me to-day," he 
 challenged her loudly. 
 
 "Where is Dennis Shawn?" she answered. 
 
 "He's gone off to look at some trees over 
 toward San Mario." 
 
 "Heworks- 
 
 "He does. He loves this ranch as if he 
 owned it. I tell him he's a fool to care so much 
 about it, because some day he may have to 
 leave it, and then what?" 
 
 "He is no fool." 
 
 "You'd better marry him, Seiiorita, and leave 
 him your ranch," hazarded Chuck. 
 
 The old woman grinned. 
 
 "Who is this man you're talking of?" in- 
 quired Amelita. 
 
 Again the old woman grinned. 
 
 "My lover," she said. 
 
 "What is she talking about?" demanded the 
 cousin. 
 
 "The senorita has to have her little joke!" 
 
 "Boy, go away now. Tell Dennis Shawn to 
 come," said the old lady with a royal gesture.
 
 54 MARRIED? 
 
 "The audience is over," murmured Chuck. 
 " Adios, your Royal Highness," he said, kissing her 
 hand. "Adios, Madame," he added to the other. 
 
 "Come again," she urged him, her eyes shin- 
 ing. "It is terrible here so lonely." 
 
 "Oh, I'll be in and out," he assured her. 
 
 He awaited Dennis's return that evening with 
 avidity. He turned over in his mind all day 
 possibilities of the situation. 
 
 "Dennis, old man, I've turned up some- 
 thing," he announced to him. 
 
 "Have you, Chuck? Anything exciting?" 
 
 "May turn out to be damned exciting." 
 
 "Well, get ahead with it." 
 
 He told about the advent of Amelita, the fact 
 that she knew Roderiguez his suspicion that 
 the old lady didn't like her. 
 
 Dennis whistled a long, slow note. 
 
 "Enter the heiress!" said he. 
 
 "Bogus!" amended Chuck. 
 
 He repeated the senorita's request that 
 Dennis come to see her. 
 
 "Too tired to-night. I'll go over to-morrow," 
 he said. 
 
 "If worse comes to worst and Amelita turns 
 out to be the real thing, you've got to marry 
 her, Dennis, and save the old farm."
 
 MARRIED? 55 
 
 '' You've got marriage on the brain," laughed 
 Dennis. 
 
 He took himself over to call on his neigh- 
 bour the next day, however. He was pre- 
 sented to the handsome relative and shared 
 Chuck's suspicion that the old seiiorita did not 
 like her. 
 
 He made himself extremely agreeable. 
 
 "I suppose this is an entirely new kind of life 
 to you, Seiiorita Amelita," he said. "You do 
 not have ranches in Spain, I fancy it is castles 
 you specialize in, isn't it?" 
 
 "What do you say?" demanded his hostess. 
 
 He shouted his casual remark somewhat 
 embarrassedly. 
 
 "Amelita has not been in Spain," she re- 
 plied. 
 
 "No? Oh I thought you were only lately 
 come to this country," he exclaimed. 
 
 "No I was born here." 
 
 "Strange that you and the seiiorita have only 
 just found each other." 
 
 "Not so strange this is a big country," she 
 parried. 
 
 "Have you lived long in Los Angeles?" 
 
 "What makes you think I have lived there?" 
 
 "I don't know oh, yes Mr. English said
 
 56 MARRIED? 
 
 that you knew Senor Roderiguez. I knew he 
 lived there I suppose that misled me." 
 
 "Spaniards always find each other," she said 
 noncommittally. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn do you like Amelita?" de- 
 manded the wicked old woman. 
 
 "But, Senorita, yes she is charming she 
 is your cousin," he replied gallantly. 
 
 "Hm!" sniffled she. 
 
 Dennis went back to the ranch house and 
 wrote a letter to Judge Tracey in New York. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE: 
 
 A new complication has arisen in regard to the Padrasso 
 Ranch. A woman has appeared who claims to be the only 
 child of Senorita's brother Pedro. She brings papers 
 and documents to prove her assertion. If this is the truth, 
 then, of course, she is heiress to the estate, and we may 
 have to wait another hundred years to add that ranch to 
 Santa Rosa. 
 
 I find myself suspicious of the whole affair, however. 
 The woman admits acquaintance with a Spaniard named 
 Roderiguez, whom we feel certain is in the pay-roll of the 
 Great Western. If you authorize me to do a little Sher- 
 lock Holmesing, I'll go down to Los Angeles and spy 
 around a bit myself. If she is another of their agents, 
 I'd gladly run her off the place. 
 
 You would better wire me directions. 
 
 The old senorita is growing very feeble. Her mind 
 seems clear, which is a help to us, but she might drop dead
 
 MARRIED? 57 
 
 any day. We'd better dispose of the heiress promptly, 
 if she is counterfeit. 
 
 My cordial regards to you, Sir, 
 
 Most truly, 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 Judge Tracey's wire came promptly. 
 
 SANTA ROSA Aug. 10th 
 
 By all means investigate woman. I authorize any ex- 
 pense necessary. 
 
 HORACE TBACEY. 
 
 "Well, boys," said Dennis when he read it, 
 "you'll have to run the shop without me for a 
 while. I'm going to try my hand as 'detecta- 
 tif.' I'm going after the record of the beauti- 
 ful Amelita." 
 
 "How long do you think you'll be gone?" 
 Williams inquired. 
 
 "Depends on how long Amelita's record is. 
 I shan't stay more than a week. I'll put it in a 
 regular agency's hands if necessary. '' 
 
 He paid a farewell call upon the Spanish 
 ladies. 
 
 "Anything I can do for you in the city?" 
 
 The senorita gave him a few commissions. 
 
 "We shall miss you shall you be gone 
 long?" murmured Amelita softly.
 
 58 MARRIED? 
 
 "Not long, I hope," he replied as softly. 
 
 "Any message to your friend Roderiguez?" 
 he asked the old lady. 
 
 "No!" she said fiercely. 
 
 "Shall you see him?" asked the cousin 
 quickly. 
 
 "I'm not planning it, but if it served you 
 let dies 
 
 "He's no special friend of mine," she replied 
 coolly. 
 
 "Poor Roderiguez!" he sighed. 
 
 In Los Angeles he set himself to find out the 
 whereabouts of the Spanish-speaking gentle- 
 men. He went to the cafes where foreigners 
 mostly congregate, and the second night he saw 
 him. He was with a party of friends and they 
 sat near enough to Dennis so that he could hear 
 their conversation. By the judicious use of a 
 newspaper as screen, he managed not to be seen 
 by Roderiguez. 
 
 "Where is Amelita, Roderiguez?" asked one of 
 the party in Spanish. 
 
 "She is on a visit," the other observed casu- 
 ally. 
 
 Dennis listened attentively but nothing more 
 was said about the lady. When the others rose 
 to go, he followed. He trailed Roderiguez to a
 
 MARRIED? 59 
 
 small hotel frequented by foreigners. He saw 
 him ask for his key at the desk and go to his 
 room. 
 
 The next day Dennis presented himself at 
 the hotel and asked for Senor Roderiguez. He 
 was not at home, said the clerk. 
 
 "The Senora Roderiguez, will she receive me?" 
 
 "Sefiora Roderiguez is away from home." 
 
 "She is called Amelita?" he inquired. 
 
 "Yes, I believe so," the clerk answered. 
 
 "Were they married here in Los Angeles?" 
 
 "That I cannot say." 
 
 "Have they lived here long?" 
 
 "He has been here a year or more. She 
 came three months ago." 
 
 "You do not know where I can write to her? 
 I am an old friend. I have not seen her for 
 some years." 
 
 "No, I do not know but Senor Roderiguez 
 could tell you, no doubt, he is usually in at five 
 o'clock." 
 
 "Good! I will return," said Dennis. 
 
 He looked up the marriage registry for the 
 past four months but found no record of the 
 Roderiguez ceremony. He called Roderiguez 
 on the telephone at five o'clock. He spoke 
 in Spanish.
 
 60 MARRIED? 
 
 "Senor Roderiguez?" 
 
 "Si." 
 
 "Is your wife Amelita Roderiguez?" 
 
 "Si. Who is this?" 
 
 "She is ill at the Padrasso ranch " 
 
 "No? Ill you say?" 
 
 "Si she needs you." 
 
 Then he rang off. He was satisfied that the 
 connection between the two was established. 
 
 Dennis went back to Santa Rosa with a plan 
 developing in his head. Arrived, he rode at 
 once to the Padrasso place, and asked for the 
 senorita. She received him alone. He went 
 straight to the point. 
 
 "Senorita, do you believe your guest to be 
 your cousin?" 
 
 She fixed him with her far-seeing old eyes. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn, will you marry Amelita?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "Marry her?" he exclaimed, startled at the 
 idea. 
 
 "She is not my cousin. If you will marry 
 her she may inherit " 
 
 "My dear Senorita, I appreciate your kindness 
 enormously, but the lady is already married, 
 or if not, she ought to be!" 
 
 "What is this?"
 
 MARRIED? 61 
 
 'When did you first hear of her?" 
 
 "Roderiguez told me a young woman named 
 Padrasso had just come to Los Angeles, looking 
 for her relatives." 
 
 "When was this?" 
 
 "The night you met him here he told me." 
 
 He nodded. 
 
 "The woman is his wife or his mistress. He 
 is an employee of the Great Western Railroad, 
 I feel absolutely certain. He has sent the 
 woman to trap you into a will. Have you signed 
 anything?" 
 
 She grinned. 
 
 "I am old but no fool." 
 
 "Has she asked you to make a will in her 
 favour?" 
 
 "Yes that is why she is here" simply. 
 
 "But you refuse?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "What are you going to do with your ranch ?"" 
 he asked her point blank. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn, when the Great Western 
 Railroad and the Livingstons have ceased to 
 war over my ranch and keep me amused then 
 I shall die." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "What will you do about this woman ?'*
 
 62 MARRIED? 
 
 "I am old. You get rid of her." 
 
 Amelita came into the room at the moment. 
 
 "Ah, it is Mr. Shawn!" she exclaimed enthu- 
 siastically. 
 
 He made her a formal bow. 
 
 "Your business did not keep you long away 
 from us." 
 
 "No, madame, it brought me back to you." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 "Your husband wants you, Senora Roderi- 
 guez. You'd better go back to him." 
 
 "What do you mean? You are insolent!" 
 she cried. 
 
 "How long will it take you to pack your 
 things?" 
 
 " Cousin Rita, will you let this man order your 
 guest, your cousin, to go?" 
 
 The senorita could not hear her. 
 
 "There's no use. I know the whole story. 
 Also some facts that would undoubtedly em- 
 barrass you, if told at L'Hotel Continental." 
 
 "You dirty spy! You can't threaten me! 
 I'll stay right where I am and get my rights. 
 I know what you want. I know why you hang 
 around this old woman! You'll not get the 
 ranch it's mine and I'll fight for it," she 
 shouted, becoming more and more excited.
 
 MARRIED? 63 
 
 He turned to the old lady, who looked on, 
 with apparent amusement. 
 
 "Do you wish her to go?" he demanded. 
 
 She grinned and shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "You see, she is too afraid of you to refuse. 
 I shall stay and protect her. Oh, you have 
 made me ill with your suspicions and your 
 threats." 
 
 She ran out of the room into her bedroom. 
 The door slammed and was locked. Dennis 
 looked inquiringly at the old woman. She 
 grinned and nodded. He followed to Amelita's 
 door. 
 
 "If you are not gone by this time to-morrow, 
 you will go with a policeman," he said quietly, 
 at her keyhole. 
 
 "Go away! I am ill I shall go to bed." 
 
 "Bed will not protect you, madame. This 
 time to-morrow I will be here." 
 
 He went back to Senorita Padrasso and re- 
 ported. 
 
 "No," she said, "send her now." 
 
 "She's gone to bed." 
 
 "Get her up." 
 
 He returned to the door. 
 
 "The seiiorita desires you to go now." 
 
 "I cannot. I am in bed."
 
 64 MARRIED? 
 
 "Get up and put on your clothes at once. 
 Ten minutes then I come in." 
 
 He telephoned Santa Rosa for Chuck to come 
 with a motor car as fast as possible. Then he 
 went back to the door. 
 
 "The car will be here shortly to take you to 
 the station." 
 
 "I shall not get up." 
 
 Dennis looked at his watch. The old lady 
 was standing in the doorway of the living room 
 now, watching. When the ten minutes were up 
 he walked out into the patio and climbed in 
 Amelita's window. She gave an awful shriek, 
 but he merely opened her door. He called to 
 the maid who served Senorita and ordered her 
 to dress the woman, who lay in the bed. It 
 proved to be not so easy. 
 
 When Chuck arrived he found Dennis grimly 
 holding upright the handsome Amelita, with her 
 hands crossed behind her back, while the senor- 
 ita and the maid tried to complete her toilet. 
 
 " Get her belongings into that trunk, Chuck 
 we're taking the lady on a motor trip." 
 
 She screamed, she bit, she scratched, and 
 kicked, but somehow they got her more or 
 less dressed, her clothes packed and strapped to 
 the back of the motor. Then they carried her
 
 MARRIED? 65 
 
 out and put her in the back seat, where Dennis 
 was forced to hold her, by main strength. 
 Chuck sat in front to run the car. The seiior- 
 ita watched delightedly from the veranda. 
 
 "Senorita Padrasso, don't you want to kiss 
 your only living cousin good-bye?" Chuck 
 asked her. 
 
 She made a face at him. 
 
 "Where to, sir?" Chuck inquired, as they 
 started off. 
 
 "We'll catch the train for Los Angeles at 
 the village, or if the lady proves too trouble- 
 some, we'll drive to Los Angeles to Police Head- 
 quarters," said Dennis pleasantly. 
 
 Chuck let the car eat up the road toward the 
 village. They put the sullen Sefiora Roderiguez 
 on the train. Then Dennis sent a brief wire to 
 Judge Tracey: 
 
 Counterfeit heiress on her way. Everything all right. 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 A WEEK or so after the visit of the Spanish 
 Amelita with Senorita Padrasso there 
 began to appear certain signs of dissat- 
 isfaction among some of the men on Santa Rosa. 
 Old Pinto, a Mexican Indian, began the trouble. 
 He got very drunk one Saturday night and began 
 shooting promiscuously, whereupon the com- 
 pany policeman shut him up in the guard house. 
 A crowd of a dozen men demanded his release, 
 and being refused, they stormed the cabin 
 which served as jail. Shawn was appealed to, 
 and came upon the scene just as they were bat- 
 tering down the door to release the Indian. 
 
 "Here, you fellows, what are you doing?" 
 shouted Shawn. 
 
 "Company got no right to shut Pinto in 
 guard house," called out one of the leaders. 
 
 "The company has the right to shut up any- 
 body who gets drunk and threatens company 
 property or the lives of other employees. Come 
 away from that door!" 
 
 "Pinto got right to get drunk!" 
 
 66
 
 MARRIED? 67 
 
 "Shure he's got a right to if he can pay for 
 the liquor, and behave himself while he's 
 drunk. But he didn't. What's the matter 
 with you fellows? Do you want crazy men 
 running around shooting your women and 
 children? You go on back to the quarters and 
 act like men," urged Shawn. 
 
 There was no determined opposition. Obvi- 
 ously the leaders, whatever their motive, had 
 no reply ready, so the men drifted off, for the 
 most part rather sheepishly, and the incident 
 would have passed unnoticed, had it not been 
 the beginning of a series of such occurrences. 
 
 A few days later the trouble-makers rose from 
 dinner, carried big platters of beans into the 
 kitchen, dumped them on the table, and told the 
 Chink Cook that if he served them beans again 
 inside of two weeks they'd kill him. The cook 
 immediately departed, as is the well-known 
 way of Chinese cooks who brook no criticism. 
 Shawn investigated the charge of the mal- 
 contents that the company food was cheap 
 and poor. He urged the overseer, an Italian 
 named Caproni, to find out what was at the 
 bottom of the trouble and discharge the men 
 who were disaffected. He, himself, ate at the 
 men's mess, talked to some of the boys who
 
 68 MARRIED? 
 
 said the "grub was all right." He urged the 
 new cook to "go easy with beans," and the camp 
 settled down again but not for long. 
 
 The next grievance was in regard to their pay 
 envelopes. Williams usually went to the nearest 
 town Friday night and brought out the pay- 
 roll Saturday morning, so that the men were 
 paid Saturday afternoon. Once or twice it 
 happened that Williams had other ranch busi- 
 ness to attend to, and failed to get back until 
 Saturday evening, about the time of the men's 
 supper. They worked up an excitement over 
 this. They said it kept them from going to 
 the town for supper and the night the com- 
 pany had no right to hold back the money 
 they wanted it ready and waiting for them when 
 they came in from work. 
 
 Williams tried to explain the situation to 
 them, to assure them that it was just an acci- 
 dent and not a custom, but they grumbled about 
 it and were not to be appeased. 
 
 At dinner that night Williams described all 
 this to Dennis. 
 
 "Somebody is making trouble, Dennis," he 
 added. 
 
 "Yes, you're right. I can't put my eyes on it 
 yet but I'll find out who is at the bottom of this."
 
 MARRIED? 69 
 
 "Good work, old man! I hope we have the 
 devil of a good fight before we're through with 
 it. I'm just itching for a mix-up of some kind," 
 cried Chuck. 
 
 "You don't think it is up to the Great West- 
 ern again, do you?" Williams inquired. 
 
 "It may be. But I'm hanged if I can see 
 what they've got to gain by upsetting our men. 
 After all, what they want is the chance to get 
 hold of the Padrasso acres. I wouldn't put any- 
 thing beyond them to accomplish that, but 
 how can trouble with our men help with that?" 
 
 "There's a nigger in the woodpile somewhere," 
 said Chuck. "What about Caproni and old 
 Pinto? They're always chinning around to- 
 gether." 
 
 "I think Caproni is trustworthy. He's al- 
 ways got good results from the men. He gets 
 along with them. I don't suspect him. I don't 
 know about Pinto. He's a glum old fool." 
 
 "But he hath a daughter who is neither glum 
 nor yet a fool," said Chuck, kissing his fingers. 
 
 "All right. Pump her, if you think she 
 knows anything," laughed Dennis. 
 
 ' 'Tis yourself is the apple of her eye, Dennis 
 Shawn," retorted the boy. 
 
 Shawn stared at him.
 
 70 MARRIED? 
 
 "You're crazy!" he remarked briefly. 
 
 "Crazy I may be, but I know 'the light that 
 lies in woman's eyes,' which is more than you do, 
 you old monk!" 
 
 "You turn your talents upon Senorita, Chuck. 
 It's ridiculous we can't any of us find out what 
 that old girl intends to do with her property." 
 
 "The chances are she'll will it to me, and 
 you'll pay a pretty price for it then, my merry 
 men," retorted Chuck. 
 
 "It's very pretty of you, my son, to con- 
 found me with the Livingston estate!" laughed 
 Shawn. 
 
 There was a silence in which they smoked. 
 
 "Strange how nearly all the personal feuds 
 and all the great wars of the world have had lust 
 for land at the bottom of them. Wars of con- 
 quest, wars of empire, all because a monarch or a 
 nation covets land," mused Williams. 
 
 "It's a natural human longing to own some 
 acres of earth. Every man has it," Shawn an- 
 swered. 
 
 "Man is born on the farm, goes to the city, and 
 works all his life to be able to die on the farm," 
 quoted Chuck. "Not for me, I'd rather die on 
 Broadway!" 
 
 "I'd rather own the Santa Rosa than the
 
 MARRIED? 71 
 
 island of Manhattan with the State of New 
 York thrown in!" declared Shawn. 
 
 "How long since you've been there, Dennis?" 
 
 "Ten years or so." 
 
 "Oh, well! They've fixed the island up some 
 since you were there. You might like it better." 
 
 "No hope, Chuck. I can't stand humans all 
 crowded in together in layers. I don't under- 
 stand city folks, I guess anyhow, I know I 
 don't like 'em." 
 
 "I can't see that they're any different from 
 any other * folks'," protested Chuck. "I was 
 brought up in a city. Is there any noticeable 
 difference between Dennis and me, Williams?" 
 
 Williams smiled. 
 
 "Goon. Spit it out!" 
 
 "Well, if you insist, I should say that there 
 is considerable difference between you and 
 Dennis." 
 
 "Aw you don't get me, Williams. I know 
 Dennis is the king and I'm kind of a court 
 fool. I only meant we think alike about most 
 things." 
 
 "I can't agree to that. You're a modern so- 
 phisticated brat with that kind of a mind, and 
 Dennis 
 
 "Here, here, you two quit it! I won't be
 
 72 MARRIED? 
 
 analyzed, Williams. Every man is what his ex- 
 perience and his past have made him. Chuck's 
 no exception no more am I nor you, either, if 
 it comes to that " 
 
 "Yes, let's get to Williams. Whatever soured 
 him on the world and turned him into a book- 
 worm, do you suppose?" said the irrepressible. 
 
 "Wine, women, and song, my son, what else?'* 
 said the dignified Williams, woman-hater and 
 teetotaller. 
 
 "Let's get off this personal vein," said Dennis, 
 quick to scent trouble. 
 
 "If you had your choice out of the whole 
 world, where would you two fellows rather be 
 to-night?" inquired Chuck. 
 
 "I'd rather be sitting in the loggia at Santa 
 Rosa ranch," replied Dennis promptly. 
 
 "I'd rather be finishing a pipe preparatory to 
 going indoors to read a critical study of modern 
 poetry," said Williams. 
 
 "Gosh! You're about as romantic as a 
 couple of gouty old goats!" exploded Chuck. 
 
 "Fire away Chuck, where would you rather 
 be?" smiled Dennis. 
 
 "Oh, sitting on my thumb!" retorted Chuck 
 crossly, and wandered away to the house. 
 
 "The kid is lonesome," remarked Williams.
 
 MARRIED? 73 
 
 "Yes restless again. Doesn't know what he 
 wants." 
 
 Presently they heard him at the piano. Then 
 his young, ardent voice floated out to them: 
 
 "When I awake 
 // there be an awaking 
 I'll know what lulled me to sleep 
 The touch of your lips on my mouth." 
 
 The two men sat on in the patio smoking, 
 each stirred by the boy's restless spirit. Williams 
 turned his memory away from his past and 
 faced his barren future. Dennis let his thoughts 
 wander toward a sort of mythical woman 
 who might be for him. Would her lips ever 
 call him from death as they did the lover in 
 the song? Where was she to-night, this pre- 
 destined woman? Did she dream of him? He 
 looked about the courtyard with its vine- 
 covered walls the light streaming from the 
 kitchen on one side and from the room where 
 Chuck was singing. Overhead the sky was 
 pierced with millions of points of light. Would 
 she love Santa Rosa as he did? He sighed 
 deeply. 
 
 "You said it," remarked the other man, rising. 
 "After all, the modern poets are saner they 
 write about street cars and machine shops and
 
 74 MARRIED? 
 
 such things. Here are two volumes you'd 
 better try one." 
 
 Dennis laughed. 
 
 "Much obliged. Think I'll go for a ride and 
 stretch my legs." 
 
 The music indoors stopped. 
 
 "Hi, there, you Chuck come for a ride," 
 called Dennis. 
 
 "You're on," came the answer. 
 
 Dennis went on down toward the stables. 
 He almost collided with a figure which came 
 suddenly out of some underbrush. 
 
 "Who's there?" he challenged. 
 
 "Me Kate " came the answer. 
 
 "Oh good evening Kate." 
 
 "Evening. Don't go walk alone," she said. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Me I tell you don't go walk alone." 
 
 "I'm not afraid," he laughed. "Besides, I'm 
 going to ride, and my horse will protect me." 
 
 Chuck came whistling along toward them. 
 
 "Chuck hegoride?"said Kate. "Ah good." 
 
 "He'll take care of me, Kate," Dennis as- 
 sured her. 
 
 He saw her white teeth shine in the darkness. 
 She was gone, as she came, before Chuck 
 caught up.
 
 MARRIED? 75 
 
 They saddled their horses and rode off cross 
 country, the ponies picking their way carefully. 
 As they passed the quarters, Dennis commented 
 on the quiet. 
 
 "Must be a boxing match or something 
 doing." 
 
 They rode in silence for a while. The quiet 
 hills rolled away to the sky, as if they supported 
 the deep blue, gold-shot tapestry. The quiet 
 was as palpable as noise. They trotted along 
 side by side. Presently they came to the 
 Padrasso estate and rode up near enough 
 to the house to speak with the guards Dennis 
 had established there. There was only one 
 light in the ranch house, from an upstairs 
 room. 
 
 "The senorita has retired, alas!" said Chuck. 
 "Not a girl around here for me to woo." 
 
 "I wonder what's become of that old Spanish 
 Fandango Roderiguez we chased off the place 
 that night," laughed Dennis. 
 
 "We'll met him again, don't you worry." 
 
 "Worry is not in my line, my boy." 
 
 They ran their horses along a level stretch 
 and then headed up over the hills, cross country 
 toward their own ranch. As they descended 
 a hill they saw a fire.
 
 76 MARRIED? 
 
 "What's that?" demanded Dennis. 
 
 It was a remote spot, out of the way of any 
 chance passerby. There was a bonfire burning 
 and the flames threw into high light a man 
 standing and what looked like many men seated 
 about. 
 
 At a gesture from Dennis they stopped and 
 dismounted. At the sudden memory of Kate's 
 warning, he looked at his revolver, to see that 
 it was loaded, before he led the way toward the 
 men about the fire. When they came near 
 enough to hear what the speaker was saying, 
 they crouched low and listened. 
 
 The man who was speaking was none other 
 than the senorita's caller whom they had 
 escorted off the ranch. He told the men that 
 when the Senorita Padrasso died, her five 
 thousand acres in the heart of the Santa Rosa 
 would become the property of the Great Western 
 Railroad. That big wages would be paid by 
 that company, fine quarters put up for the 
 men, a movie theatre would be built there, a 
 motor bus would run to town Saturday nights. 
 The Santa Rosa men would be given the first 
 chance at the jobs through Caproni, who was 
 in the pay of the Great Western at this moment. 
 He would be notified the moment the Great
 
 MARRIED? 77 
 
 Western took possession, and he would be 
 authorized to begin to hire the men. 
 
 In the meantime, he told them, it would be 
 advisable to get rid of Dennis Shawn. He had 
 been superintendent at Santa Rosa so long 
 that he identified the Livingston estate interests 
 with his own. A less conscientious manager 
 would be easier to handle when the change 
 came. He had such a man in mind. It might 
 even be well to start a series of threats against 
 Shawn to try to scare him off. 
 
 Here Dennis made an impulsive move, and 
 only Chuck's quick clutch on his arm kept him 
 quiet. 
 
 Old Pinto rose. 
 
 "Me, I will tie Shawn on a horse with 
 hees face to the tail, an' run him off the ranch 
 you say so?" 
 
 "No," Caproni answered. "When I want 
 him run off I'll do it myself. You keep out 
 of this." 
 
 Various suggestions were made as to how 
 best to terrify Shawn. One man volunteered 
 the information that you might as well try to 
 frighten the devil Shawn was Irish and afraid 
 of nothing. 
 
 Dennis chuckled at that.
 
 78 MARRIED? 
 
 They finally decided to give Dennis a warning. 
 A watch was to be kept and when he was found 
 alone the next night, he was to be summoned 
 to quarters, as if in an emergency. On the 
 way there he was to be seized and carried to a 
 certain abandoned cabin, where masked men 
 would await him. They would give him his 
 choice of going to Los Angeles of his own free 
 will or going over the mountains on foot, with 
 a guard. 
 
 "You'll have to handle that pup that always 
 follows him," said the speaker who had depre- 
 cated Shawn's fears. 
 
 "Well, that won't take a dozen men," sneered 
 the Spanish-speaking gentleman. 
 
 This time it was Dennis who clapped a hand 
 on the other's mouth. He pulled Chuck back 
 and up the hills to where the horses were. 
 Silently they mounted and rode up the way 
 they had come. When it was safe to speak, 
 Dennis said in a soft voice: 
 
 "Chuck, me boy, there's fun ahead! Praise 
 be, we can fight that fool in the open now." 
 
 "What'll you do to-morrow night?" 
 
 "Do, me child God knows what I'll do! 
 But the important thing is I'll be there!" lilted 
 Shawn.
 
 MARRIED? 79 
 
 '* And Dennis was there. 
 With his pup at his heels," 
 
 sang Chuck softly. 
 
 With a laugh of sheer joy they galloped off 
 to the ranch.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE announcement was made of the 
 engagement of Marcia Livingston to 
 Clarke Jessup, and the papers had pages 
 of the history of the two famous families and 
 of the vast wealth the marriage would combine. 
 There were pictures and drawings and snapshots 
 of the happy couple, alone and together. The 
 Toy Theatre came in for much advertisement, 
 and finally Marcia refused to look at a paper, 
 daily or weekly, she was so bored with the pub- 
 licity they were exposed to. 
 
 "Why do you bother, old girl? I never read 
 the filthy sheets!" Clarke said when she com- 
 plained of it to him. 
 
 There began interminable dinners and teas 
 in honour of the engagement, and night after 
 night Clarke brought her home at midnight, 
 dutifully kissed her good-night, and went his 
 way. For about three weeks Marcia bore the 
 celebration like a lady, and then she re- 
 volted. She sent hurried excuses to her host- 
 esses, and a wire to Clarke, saying she had 
 
 80
 
 MARRIED? 81 
 
 been called away and would send an address 
 later. 
 
 Whereupon she retired in solitary state to 
 the upper floors of her house, gave strict orders 
 to the servants that no one was to be admitted 
 except Mary Jane Paul, that they were to 
 say to all inquiries that Miss Livingston was 
 out of town. 
 
 She summoned Miss Paul by telephone. 
 
 "I can't come to-day, Marcia, we've got a 
 dress rehearsal at the Toy Theatre and I've 
 got one million things to do at the school." 
 
 "You'd better come," her employer threat- 
 ened darkly. 
 
 "Is anything the matter?" 
 
 "There is!" 
 
 "Serious?" 
 
 "Very." 
 
 "All right, I'll come." 
 
 Some hours later Miss Paul was ushered in. 
 She supposed that the house, closed and shut- 
 tered, presaged Marcia's departure to Europe, 
 or her country place. It was a hot day and 
 the dark, cool halls were soothing after the 
 glare outside. On a chaise-longue in her charm- 
 ing sitting room lay Marcia, with a book face 
 down on her lap. An electric fan breezed be-
 
 82 MARRIED? 
 
 side her a carafe, frosted with chilled drink 
 of some kind, stood in reach of her hand. 
 
 She greeted Mary Jane. 
 
 "What is it?" asked her guest briskly. 
 "Are you ill?" 
 
 "Take off your hat and have some of that 
 cool stuff to drink. You may as well make 
 yourself comfortable and relax, because you 
 are a prisoner." 
 
 Miss Paul laughed, obeyed, and inquired: 
 
 ' ' What's all this foolishness ? Prisoner ? Have 
 you committed a crime, Marcia?" 
 
 "No such luck. I'm in hiding, that's all, 
 and I'm not going to do it alone." 
 
 "But you have to hide from somebody? 
 Who is it?" 
 
 Miss Paul took a large chair, put her feet up 
 on a footstool, and sipped her drink apprecia- 
 tively. Marcia looked at her, but made no 
 answer. 
 
 "Is it your lover?" she demanded. 
 
 "My what?" said Marcia. "Oh, do you 
 mean Clarke?" 
 
 She laughed spontaneously at the idea of his 
 being a lover. 
 
 "Naturally I mean Clarke. You're going to 
 marry him, aren't you? It's natural to suppose
 
 MARRIED? 83 
 
 he is your lover, isn't it?" demanded Miss 
 Paul, somewhat tartly. 
 
 "I suppose it is" with a sigh. 
 
 "Then you are hiding from him." 
 
 "Ye-es from him and those everlasting din- 
 ners where we meet the same people and all say 
 the same things : 
 
 "Look here, Marcia, let's get down to truth 
 about this business. Are you in love with this 
 man?" 
 
 "N no." 
 
 "You certainly aren't marrying him for 
 money or position!" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Then why in the name of sense did you get 
 engaged to him?" 
 
 "Well, it was a rainy Sunday and we both 
 were blue, and lonesome " 
 
 Mary Jane stared at her a moment and then she 
 threw back her head and shouted with laughter. 
 Marcia watched her, interested, but not amused. 
 
 "Of all the ridiculous things! It was just a 
 sort of joke, then, was it?" 
 
 "No. Clarke has been asking me to marry 
 him once or twice a year for years. I don't 
 see what difference it makes whether I marry 
 him or not do you?"
 
 84 MARRIED? 
 
 "If you don't love him, I should say it made 
 considerable difference. Have you ever loved 
 any man, Marcia?" 
 
 "No not exactly. I loved a man on a 
 steamer once, but I didn't meet him." 
 
 "I'm serious. If you don't love this man, 
 it is a sin for you to go on with this," Mary 
 Jane said firmly. 
 
 "Will you tell me what I'm to do, then? 
 I've done everything I can think of and it all 
 bores me. I've been everywhere in the world, 
 and there's nothing left but to marry " 
 
 "Yes but you don't need to marry this 
 man." 
 
 "Well, he isn't brilliant perhaps, but he's 
 average of our class " 
 
 "Average nothing! He makes me think of 
 Tolstoi's 'Living Corpse.' He never had a 
 thrill in his life he's simply dead. Why, 
 I'd rather marry a street sweeper!" 
 
 "Maybe I would but I don't know any." 
 
 "This cursed money!" cried Mary. "If you 
 would only have terrible reverses and lose it 
 then you'd have a chance!" 
 
 "Do you think it's the money, Mary Jane? 
 Isn't it our times ? Hasn't the war taken the zest 
 out of living? Hasn't dry rot set in, in my class ? "
 
 MARRIED? 85 
 
 "Perhaps and you don't use any brains 
 to save yourselves. You marry and intermarry, 
 you rich, just like royal families, with the same 
 results. You go out and marry the man with a 
 hoe and have some sturdy peasant babies 
 
 "You keep on mentioning these interesting 
 gentlemen, the street sweeper and the man with 
 the hoe, but what good does that do me? Can 
 I go and say 'Dear sir, I am a very rich young 
 woman who wants strong peasant babies. Will 
 you oblige me by marrying me and acting as 
 the other parent?" 
 
 Mary Jane sighed. 
 
 "Of course, in a way, that nonsense is true. 
 But you could meet men outside this country- 
 club, polo-playing set, if you made up your 
 mind to." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 "Go and live simply, in some place where you 
 aren't known." 
 
 "My dear Mary Jane, without undue boasting 
 I may remind you that my face has ornamented 
 the public prints of the country to the exclusion 
 of even moving-picture actresses for four weeks. 
 I'm at least as well known as Mary Pickford." 
 
 Again Mary Jane sighed. 
 
 "You won't work "
 
 86 MARRIED? 
 
 "No, I won't. I hate it. If I could bear 
 the thought of work I'd go to your artists' colony 
 and get them to take me in but I can't. I 
 want to be waited on I want my breakfast in 
 bed. I want all the tiresome details of living 
 looked after by somebody else " 
 
 "And there you are ! It's a vicious circle " 
 
 "Leading back to Clarke Jessup?" 
 
 Mary Jane made no answer. 
 
 "Doesn't it?" 
 
 "Why have you run away if you intend to 
 marry him?" 
 
 "Well I suppose when we're married I'll 
 face the fact that he bores me as part of my 
 life " 
 
 "But you won't! You've never put up 
 with being bored in your life. You have al- 
 ways bolted. You've had no discipline. You're 
 selfish and pampered and you'll bolt again, but 
 
 this time with the scandal of divorce as the 
 price " 
 
 ''You're a cheerful cell-mate. I didn't bring 
 you here to paint a roseate picture like that " 
 
 "What did you bring me for?" 
 
 "To to- " 
 
 Suddenly two large tears began a slow descent 
 on the girl's cheeks.
 
 MARRIED? 87 
 
 "Don't mind about them it's heat and 
 nerves and everything," she said, scorning to 
 wipe the offending eyes. 
 
 "Sorry I was so brutal but my main use to 
 you, Marcia, is that I'm the sole and only person 
 who tells you the truth about yourself." 
 
 "You do you certainly do!" 
 
 "You have to admit, also, that I know your 
 true worth better than anybody else." 
 
 "Have I a true worth, Mary Jane?" 
 
 "I couldn't bother with you if you hadn't. 
 I'm really very fond of you, you know." 
 
 "So far as I'm aware, you're the only true 
 friend I've got." 
 
 "How long do you propose to stay up here in 
 retreat?" 
 
 "A week or two. You'd better telephone the 
 office that you've gone on a vacation." 
 
 "Can't be done. I'll stay here nights, if you 
 like. I may even manage a half day now and 
 then, but I wouldn't give up being in on these 
 last touches at the school for anything," said 
 Mary Jane decisively. 
 
 Marcia begged and cajoled and threatened, 
 but in vain. So it was arranged that Mary 
 Jane was to take off all the time she could from 
 Miss Livingston's affairs, to spend it in Miss
 
 88 MARRIED? 
 
 Livingston's company. Every morning the 
 working woman set out cheerfully for her job, 
 while her employer killed time with a late 
 breakfast and improvised tasks. 
 
 At night they dined in Marcia's sitting room, 
 and about ten o'clock they would set out on 
 foot to walk uptown for some exercise, or they 
 would get in a little racing car and Marcia 
 would drive them out into the country. Once 
 when the girl was especially restless they drove 
 all night, watched the sun come up, and went to 
 bed in the broad daylight. 
 
 They talked the whole world round in their 
 many hours together, but by mutual instinct 
 they avoided the subject of Marcia's engage- 
 ment. 
 
 Mary Jane Paul thought about it a great deal. 
 It seemed to her a grievous mistake, and yet 
 given the situation, the girl's training or lack 
 of it, and her money, it seemed hideously 
 inevitable. This man or that, it made little 
 difference perhaps, if he must be chosen from 
 this particular group. So absorbed did she 
 become in Marcia's problem that she went 
 along the streets looking for the kind of man 
 she felt the girl should marry. She began to 
 understand, in these days they spent together,
 
 MARRIED? 89 
 
 that the new school could not fill her life any 
 more than the Toy Theatre had that some- 
 thing personal, vital, dynamic must come to her, 
 if she was to be saved. Otherwise, one more 
 beautiful, feverish, unsatisfied woman would be 
 be added to the list of rich young matrons. 
 
 "Mary Jane, when do you expect to put the 
 finishing touches to the school?" Marcia asked 
 her one night. 
 
 "The day we open," the other smiled. 
 
 "What is the date on which your outrageous 
 conscience will allow you to leave the building 
 to put it exactly?" 
 
 "I don't know. Why?" 
 
 "Is there any way to find out?" 
 
 "I suppose I might approximately. Why?" 
 
 "I'll tell you why when you find out," teased 
 Marcia. 
 
 The next night she gave an approximate date. 
 
 "Good! The Saturday after that you and I 
 are going to sail for Europe." 
 
 "Marcia, I can't afford any such extrava- 
 gance," interrupted the other. 
 
 "I was taught that it was rude to interrupt! 
 You will go, Miss Paul, as manager of the new 
 school to investigate similar institutions on the 
 continent. It will be purely a business trip
 
 90 MARRIED? 
 
 and, as such, expenses will be paid by your em- 
 ployer." 
 
 "Marcia, you old dear, you're just making 
 this an excuse " 
 
 "I'm making a business proposition, Miss 
 Paul." 
 
 "I accept it with hallelujahs, Miss Livings- 
 ton." 
 
 "My idea is to stay in my retreat until we 
 sail. Then I'll write from the other side as if 
 we'd been there all the time." 
 
 "Marcia, are you being quite fair to Mr. 
 Jessup?" 
 
 "It will be fairer to him, in the end, for me 
 not to see much of him until I'm married 
 to him, Mary Jane." 
 
 "It's your affair, of course." 
 
 So it was decided upon, and the plans made. 
 They sailed the first of August by the southern 
 route to France. The war had crippled artistic 
 endeavour, of course, for five years, but there 
 were still some interesting survivals, and one 
 or two modern efforts at a training that would 
 develop the artist of the stage in an all-round 
 way. For a month or so they devoted them- 
 selves to these investigations, and then Marcia 
 insisted on a play time. Mary Jane yearned
 
 MARRIED? 91 
 
 for mountains, so they went into Switzerland 
 for a while. Then back to France, where they 
 rented a motor and drifted about in the south, 
 keeping clear of the region of battlefields. 
 
 It was Mary Jane's first trip to Europe and 
 she was in a state of delight all the time. On 
 the steamer going over she warned Marcia 
 that she intended to search Europe for a proper 
 husband for her, and it was her deadly intention 
 to come between Marcia and her fiance, if 
 it could be done. This idea had provided them 
 with endless amusement on their travels. They 
 were always discussing the marital possibilities 
 of men wherever they met them. On the 
 motor trip, Marcia would stop the car, summon 
 a likely looking French peasant at work in the 
 fields, and after asking him some unnecessary 
 directions, she would turn to Mary Jane and 
 say: 
 
 "Would he do? Shall we capture him?" 
 
 Then with shrieks of laughter they would 
 leave the bewildered farmer by the roadside, 
 shaking his head with a muttered, "Les bettises 
 Americains! " 
 
 Marcia repeatedly stated that it was her most 
 successful trip, that she was like a prisoner 
 out on parole, and that she was having the
 
 92 MARRIED? 
 
 time of her life, before the doors finally clanged 
 to behind her. 
 
 "Cheerful view of marriage!" commented 
 Mary Jane. 
 
 "I believe you're quite sentimental about 
 marriage, Mary Jane," Marcia accused her. 
 
 "I am quite." 
 
 In late September they turned their faces 
 homeward, because the school was to open on 
 October 15th and there were many preliminaries 
 for Mary Jane to arrange. 
 
 "Well," said she as they came in sight of the 
 Statue of Liberty in New York harbour, "it 
 has been a perfect trip, all but the husband. 
 Who would have thought that it was so difficult 
 to find just a plain, common garden variety of 
 man?"
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DENNIS and Chuck burst in upon Wil- 
 liams, placidly reading the modern poets. 
 "Chuck the poet, old top, we've 
 got a mountain feud on our hands!" cried the 
 boy excitedly. 
 
 Williams looked up and asked in his serious 
 way: 
 
 "What are you raving about, Chuck?" 
 
 "While you've been reading your bally poets, 
 Denny and I have been to a meeting of the 
 Ku-Klux Klan, where we learned, happily, that 
 we were to be the favoured objects of their im- 
 mediate attention!" 
 
 Williams shook his head and Dennis laughed. 
 
 "English it for me, Dennis," he urged. 
 
 Dennis told him the story of their adventure. 
 He listened intently, asking a question now and 
 then or making some comment. 
 
 "Were you near enough to identify the 
 men?" 
 
 "I saw a good many faces," Dennis answered, 
 and named possibly a dozen men. 
 
 93
 
 94 MARRIED? 
 
 "You say this agent deliberately announced 
 Caproni to be a spy?" 
 
 "He did!" quoth Chuck. "I hope in the 
 final pickings I get Caproni!" 
 
 Williams turned an anxious face to Shawn. 
 
 "This is certainly serious, Dennis. What 
 do you propose to do?" 
 
 "I propose to be kidnapped," smiled the 
 Irishman, lighting his pipe. 
 
 "That is folly. They might kill you." 
 
 "Not on your life." 
 
 "I'm in this, too. I'm referred to as 'the 
 pup' and I'm scheduled for capture," boasted 
 Chuck. 
 
 "You cannot count on their carrying out the 
 plan exactly, Dennis. A lot of lawless dagoes 
 and hunkies, masked and out of hand they 
 might carry you two fellows up in the mountains 
 and knife you," Williams protested. 
 
 "Or hold us for ransom! By gracious! I 
 feel like somebody at last. Beautiful blond 
 boy carried to mountains by banditti and 
 held for ransom!" 
 
 "Shut up, Chuck, and let me think," mur- 
 mured Dennis. 
 
 Dennis wandered out to the veranda. 
 
 "Williams, my dear, you'd better join us
 
 MARRIED? 95 
 
 to-morrow night. Do noble deeds not dream 
 them all day long! It may be some party!" 
 Chuck teased the older man. 
 
 "It is sometimes dangerous to be as funny 
 as you can be, English," he replied with ominous 
 calm. 
 
 "Help!" howled Chuck, hurrying off to bed. 
 
 The next morning when Dennis strolled out 
 to breakfast he came upon Harry Williams 
 cleaning a revolver. Wong crossed the patio, 
 gazed at the unwonted sight, and smiled before 
 he slipped to the kitchen. Williams never 
 looked up he was absorbed in the work. 
 
 "Well, old man, going to war?" laughed 
 Dennis. 
 
 "I'm in on this fight, Dennis," he answered. 
 
 "Can you shoot?" Shawn asked him curi- 
 ously. 
 
 "You bet your life I can shoot! What do 
 you take me for a mollycoddle? " cried Williams, 
 with the first show of heat he had ever exhibited 
 to Shawn. 
 
 "I do not," said he. "We'll certainly need 
 you, Williams." 
 
 Chuck came out of the house. 
 
 "Holy Christian fathers!" he cried. "Be 
 careful with that gun, Williams!"
 
 96 MARRIED? 
 
 "Shut up!" ordered Williams. "I'm in on 
 this party, and I don't want any more talk 
 from you." 
 
 Chuck stared. 
 
 "Gosh, you're a regular feller," he said. 
 "Let's eat." 
 
 After breakfast Dennis said: 
 
 "I've got an idea. You fellows come along 
 with me this morning, will you? We'll talk 
 as we ride." 
 
 Later they set off. Chuck watched Williams 
 out of the corner of his eyes, and saw that he was 
 no stranger to a horse, although he had always 
 refused to ride. He kept his jocular comments 
 to himself, however, for there was a gleam in 
 Williams's eye that boded ill for the humorist. 
 
 Dennis led them off toward the sawmill. 
 
 "These fellows at the mill are loyal to us, I 
 think. I'm dead sure of McKim, the foreman. 
 I thought we'd organize a little masked ball 
 of our own, just to provide dancing partners 
 for the kidnappers," he explained. 
 
 "Whoopee!" yelled Chuck ecstatically. 
 
 "I'll get McKim to call out some men who 
 can fight and who can be relied on, and we'll 
 just tell them the situation." 
 
 "Good idea," commented Williams.
 
 MARRIED? 97 
 
 "While Chuck and I are getting oiirselves 
 kidnapped, you'll captain these other fellows, 
 Williams, and be ready for a rescue." 
 
 "I'll be there "quietly. 
 
 " 'Harry was there with his hair in a braid,' ' 
 sang Chuck. ' 'Pologize old man, but I'm 
 so full of joy I'm not responsible for what I 
 say. Nobody must take offence." 
 
 Williams laughed. 
 
 They rode up the hill and Chuck went in 
 search of McKim. He was a thickset little 
 Irishman, gentle as a kitten most of the time 
 and ready to fight all comers when he was mad. 
 He was a favourite with the men, just as Shawn 
 was. 
 
 "Good mornin', Mr. Shawn," he said, grinning 
 with pleasure. He nodded to Williams. "Are 
 ye coming in, sor?" 
 
 This because Dennis was dismounting, Wil- 
 liams following suit. 
 
 "Look here, McKim, have ye got any trouble 
 makers down here among your men?" 
 
 "Not so's ye'd notice," grinned McKim. 
 
 "The men are satisfied they're loyal to the 
 company?" 
 
 "They are or they quit!" 
 
 "We've got the devil of a mess up at the other
 
 98 MARRIED? 
 
 camp. The Great Western wants to grab 
 the Padrasso Ranch, when the sefiorita dies, 
 and they're laying their plans for it now. 
 They've got a spy working our men up, and last 
 night English and I listened in on a plan to get 
 rid of me as superintendent and manager of 
 Santa Rosa " 
 
 "The !" burst out McKim. 
 
 "They 're going to kidnap me to-night and scare 
 the life out of me so I'll leave the ranch " 
 
 "Of all the !" 
 
 "Exactly! Well, we thought we'd give them 
 a run for their money. You haven't got a 
 dozen fellows or so who can fight, have you?" 
 
 "Have I? Wait wan minute, Mr. Shawn." 
 
 McKim bolted into the mill so fast that his 
 bowlegs fairly twinkled. The three men smiled. 
 In ten minutes he was back with fifteen huskies, 
 who looked a little anxious at being summoned 
 by the manager. 
 
 : 'You go far to pick a better bunch than this, 
 Mr. Shawn," said McKim. 
 
 Dennis nodded. 
 
 "Boys, I want some help to-night to wind up 
 some dirty business. We've got some sneaks 
 up at the other camp who are going to try to 
 run me off the ranch."
 
 MARRIED? 99 
 
 "For the love o' Mike!" said one of the men 
 simply. 
 
 "I guess I'll stick to Santa Rosa for a while. 
 The idea is this : Chuck and I are to be grabbed 
 to-night and carried off to that cabin up in the 
 hills we use for a hunting camp " 
 
 Heads were nodded. 
 
 "There we are to be threatened, scared within 
 an inch of our lives and we promise to leave at 
 once" 
 
 A loud guffaw interrupted him. 
 
 "Exactly! You get the idea. Our thought 
 was that if Mr. Williams here and a bunch of 
 you fellows were in hiding round the cabin, we 
 might get them to promise to leave at once " 
 
 More laughter. 
 
 "We'll be there, Mr. Shawn," said McKim. 
 
 "Oh, you'd better not mix in, McKim. Send 
 your men. I don't want to lose a good fore- 
 man," began Dennis. 
 
 "Mr. Shawn, would he be takin' mother's 
 milk from a babe? 'Tis nary a fight I've had 
 for long an' long," murmured the Irishman. 
 
 "All right, McKim, suit yourself," laughed 
 Shawn. "Bring some masks, boys, so we can 
 fool 'em, and do as Williams tells you, because 
 we will work out the plan and the signals and
 
 100 MARRIED? 
 
 everything in advance. Beat 'em up a bit, 
 but no shooting. Each fellow will take a man 
 on his horse, we'll give them a rough ride way 
 over to the edge of nowhere, and start them for 
 town on foot. Do you get me?" 
 
 "We do, sir" with much laughter. 
 
 "Good! Be ready at dark. Mr. Williams 
 will ride down here for you. Much obliged to 
 you," grinned Dennis. 
 
 " 'Tis obliged we are to you, sor," cried McKim. 
 
 The three conspirators mounted and rode 
 off. 
 
 "So far so godd," said Williams. 
 
 "So far much better!" amended Chuck. 
 
 "Let's go back by way of the nursery and have 
 a few words with that lousy traitor, Caproni," 
 suggested Dennis. 
 
 They came to the nursery acres where the 
 small trees were set. Caproni came to speak 
 to them. Dennis asked him some questions 
 about the work, and he answered most affably. 
 The other men rested on their shovels and looked 
 at the trio sullenly. 
 
 "Gosh, I'm glad we're on to this plot! I 
 wouldn't enjoy it half so much if they were 
 springing this on us," remarked Chuck to 
 Williams, under his breath.
 
 MARRIED? 101 
 
 "Pretty tough-looking customers, all right," 
 William agreed. 
 
 They rode back to the ranch house at noon. 
 
 "We'll do some letters this afternoon, Williams, 
 and work out the rest of the plan. You can 
 take a half day off, Chuck!" 
 
 "Much obliged. I'd like to rest up for 
 evening. I've never been kidnapped before 
 and I want to be all fresh to enjoy it." 
 
 They laughed at him, he was so like an ex- 
 cited little boy going to the circus. 
 
 It was finally decided that Williams should 
 set off alone for the mill while the men in quar- 
 ters were at their supper. He was to have his 
 forces ambushed and ready when the kidnappers 
 and their prisoners arrived. The signal for the 
 rescue party was to be a call from Dennis of 
 "Help-Help-Help!" They were to rush in, 
 overpower the ruffians, and carry them off. 
 In the meantime Dennis and Chuck were to 
 deliberately expose themselves to capture, by 
 riding away from the house, past quarters. 
 
 When Wong called them to dinner they were 
 all sharp-set for the adventure. They talked 
 and laughed and joked each other with unwonted 
 ardour. They lit their pipes and smoked hard 
 for some minutes. Then Williams rose.
 
 102 MARRIED? 
 
 "Well, I'm off. 'Help' three times is the 
 signal for attack, and we ride northeast after 
 we get our man." 
 
 "Right. See you later," grinned Dennis. 
 
 "For heaven's sake, now, Chuck, don't be 
 funny with those fellows and get your throat 
 cut." 
 
 "Harvey, your concern for my safety is a 
 moving thing! Get along, and good fighting 
 to you, old buck!" 
 
 Williams grinned and left them. Chuck went 
 indoors, and Dennis smoked alone in the patio. 
 Presently he saw a figure creeping along close 
 to the wall, inside the court. He put his hand 
 on his revolver. 
 
 "Don't shoot me Kate," said a voice in a 
 whisper. 
 
 " What do you want? " harshly. 
 
 " Don't go way from ranch house to-night." 
 
 "Come here, Kate," he ordered. 
 
 She glanced around, then rose and walked 
 toward him. 
 
 It is difficult to say what mixture of blood ran 
 in Kate's veins. It seemed impossible that old 
 Pinto could be her father. She was straight and 
 slim and young. Her skin was not brown like a 
 Mexican's, but it was smooth like deep-toned
 
 MARRIED? 103 
 
 ivory. Great black eyes stared, unblinking, from 
 this background her hair was black, shining, 
 and straight. She came toward Dennis with the 
 free swing of the primitive. 
 
 "What are all these warnings, Kate?" Dennis 
 asked her. 
 
 "Trouble for you don't go way to-night." 
 
 "But who is making the trouble, Kate? Is 
 it Pinto?" 
 
 "Pinto old devil," she replied. 
 
 "Granted but what does he want?" 
 
 "Don't know." 
 
 "Does Caproni know who's at the bottom 
 of this?" 
 
 "Don't know," she shrugged. 
 
 "Won't they punish you if they find out 
 you warned me?" 
 
 She shrugged again, but made no answer. 
 
 "Won't they?" he insisted. 
 
 He took her by the shoulders and turned her 
 so he could see her face. She was trembling. 
 
 "Kate, old Pinto will beat you for this." 
 
 "Don't care." 
 
 "But why should you risk a beating for me?" 
 
 "Kate love Dennis Shawn," she said simply. 
 
 He dropped his hands from her shoulders 
 quickly, startled by her words. Suddenly her
 
 104 MARRIED? 
 
 arms were about his neck, her body was pressed 
 close to his, and her red lips were lifted to him. 
 
 "Kate love Dennis Shawn," she repeated. 
 'Dennis take Kate." 
 
 She drew his head down to her, and he kissed her. 
 
 "I say, Denny," called Chuck and came 
 upon them suddenly. "Holy mackerel I 
 apologize!" 
 
 Dennis loosened the girl's arms. 
 
 "Kate risked a beating, maybe worse, to 
 warn me," he said. 
 
 "Good old Kate! She deserves the reward 
 she got and more," remarked Chuck. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn thanks you, Kate." 
 
 "You not go away to-night?" 
 
 "I'll not go far, Kate. It will be all right. 
 You're not to worry. Understand, nothing 
 will happen to me. I'll be protected." 
 
 "No no don't go," she begged, clinging to 
 him. 
 
 "I must. Here you go in there and wait," 
 he said, pointing to the living room of the ranch 
 house. 
 
 She turned to appeal to Chuck. 
 
 "It's all right, Kate. We're on!" he grinned. 
 
 She went into the house then. The two 
 men strolled off to the stables.
 
 MARRIED? 105 
 
 "Plucky of the little devil. They'd skin 
 her alive if they knew," said Chuck. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "She's a beauty, Dennis. She's crazy about 
 you. Why don't you take her?" asked the boy. 
 
 "Can't be done. As soon as you mix up with 
 their women, you lose authority over the men." 
 
 "Gosh! Authority over the men could go 
 hang if that beauty made love to me like that. 
 Didn't you want her?" 
 
 "Yes. I'd like to have flung her over my 
 saddle and made off with her," said Dennis 
 grimly, but he was breathing hard. Chuck sud- 
 denly realized what loyalty to his trust meant 
 to this man. The good of the Santa Rosa was 
 first in his life. 
 
 They strolled, walking their horses slowly 
 past the quarters. There was no singing to- 
 night, only a grim silence pervaded the place. 
 Even the slatternly wives were quiet. 
 
 Dennis and Chuck rode a mile and a half 
 before they heard the horses behind them. They 
 slowed down to a walk. 
 
 "I feel like a debutante at her first ball," 
 whispered Chuck, just before the masked riders 
 overtook and surrounded them. 
 
 They were swiftly dismounted, gagged, their
 
 106 MARRIED? 
 
 arms tied, their revolvers taken from them; 
 they were set back on their horses, which were 
 led by the two leaders. 
 
 In silence the procession moved on toward 
 the cabin. Not a word had been spoken so far. 
 Dennis looked over at Chuck and the boy winked 
 at him. 
 
 Arrived at the cabin they were led in and 
 the gags taken off. The men made a circle 
 about them and the leader began to speak. He 
 was undoubtedly the Spanish-speaking gentleman . 
 
 "I've brought you fellows up here to tell 
 you that we give you just twenty-four hours to 
 clear out of Santa Rosa. You can take your 
 choice between goin' on the Limited to Frisco, 
 or settin' off on a rail with a guard." 
 
 :< You frighten me!" said Dennis in Spanish. 
 
 Chuck laughed. 
 
 "Cut that out! I can't be responsible for 
 these fellows they may decide to string you 
 two up to-night and be done with it " 
 
 "Help! Help! Help!" cried Dennis wildly. 
 
 It seemed as if McKim must have been shot 
 out of a catapult, he came through the door so 
 hard and so fast. The others tumbled in be- 
 hind him. They shouted greetings to Caproni 
 and the men, which threw them off the scent
 
 MARRIED? 107 
 
 for a second. They had all drawn guns but 
 they did not shoot. In that second the new- 
 comers each picked a man and went for him. 
 The first move was to disarm them, and all at 
 once the cabin was a a writhing mass of arms 
 and legs and cursing humans. The one lantern 
 was broken and the fight was in the dark. As 
 fast as Dennis's men, who outnumbered the 
 others, could manage it, they roped the arms 
 of the captured behind them. One or two 
 shots went astray, but it was a regular hand-to- 
 hand affair. When a man was roped, he was 
 dragged out and slung on a horse in front of his 
 captor. The number grew slowly but surely. 
 Williams managed to get Caproni on his horse, 
 Chuck was struggling with Pinto, and Dennis 
 was sweating and fighting the Spanish gentle- 
 man when a shot was fired from behind him. 
 The man rolled over with a groan. From some- 
 where a hand felt for Dennis. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn where are you, Dennis 
 Shawn?" 
 
 " Kate ! You fool ! " he cried. 
 
 She touched him, feeling him swiftly for 
 wounds. 
 
 "I'm all right. Here, boys, take this fellow 
 out. Better look him over, he's hurt."
 
 108 MARRIED? 
 
 Two men carried Roderiguez out into the 
 light of a torch. 
 
 Dennis turned to the figure crouching beside 
 him. 
 
 "Kate, I'm safe. Ride back now to the 
 ranch." 
 
 " Can't go my horse gone home," she replied. 
 
 He picked her up and ran out with her. 
 
 "Go ahead, boys. Ride like hell to the north- 
 west and head them toward Los Angeles," 
 cried Dennis. "The others will follow!" 
 
 The cavalcade started on the gallop and 
 behind them all came Dennis Shawn with 
 Kate on the saddle before him. She sat sidewise, 
 her head upon his breast, and she held him with 
 one arm about his neck, but his thoughts were 
 not for her until Santa Rosa's cause was served. 
 Through the night the horses ran, with now 
 and then a wild decisive whoop from the con- 
 querors. The stars paled and dawn threw 
 out sprays of light, but still they galloped on.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MARCIA and Mary Jane Paul returned 
 to New York, the former with the 
 feeling that play time was over, and 
 that the subject of her marriage and of new 
 responsibilities must be faced, the latter with 
 the joyous anticipation of hard labour at the 
 work she loved. 
 
 Clarke met them on the pier, with a char- 
 acteristic greeting: 
 
 "Hello, old girl glad to see you back." 
 
 His man looked after their luggage, and he 
 carried them off to lunch; Mary Jane protested, 
 but he was insistent that she join them, and in 
 Marcia's nervous entreaties she heard a call for 
 help. So she made a third at the reunion of 
 these lovers who had been parted for four 
 months, and instead of feeling herself a vile 
 interloper, she felt rather like the raft the 
 drowning clung to. 
 
 She found herself rather sorry for the man. 
 In his strange, impassive way, she believed he 
 was fond of Marcia. She tried to look at 
 
 109
 
 110 MARRIED? 
 
 the girl with the eyes of a stranger. Marcia 
 was very lovely to look upon. That was 
 obvious enough. She was vivid and full of 
 life when she was interested. She was per- 
 fectly dressed and yet her clothes expressed 
 her she was not by any means a manikin. 
 There was everything, certainly, to attract 
 this type of man and yet what a pity that 
 he would never know what sweetness and sym- 
 pathy and understanding lay beneath the sur- 
 face! What courage and spirit lay dormant 
 behind the restless, seeking creature that was 
 Marcia Livingston to her world ! 
 
 Her world, however, was satisfied with what 
 it saw. It found Marcia amusing and it 
 swallowed her up promptly upon her return. 
 
 When she had been home for a fortnight 
 she had a telephone call one day from Judge 
 Horace Tracey, one of the executors of the 
 estate, and her friend from childhood, as he 
 had been her father's. 
 
 "Welcome home, Marcia," his cordial voice 
 said to her over the wire. "I've been trying 
 to run in and see you ever since I heard you 
 were back, but I don't seem to manage it." 
 
 "I'll come to see you, Judge," she offered. 1 
 
 "I hoped you would say that. I really
 
 MARRIED? Ill 
 
 want to talk to you about your affairs. I sup- 
 pose you will be getting married soon, now " 
 
 "Oh yes I suppose so." 
 
 "I want you to have your business well in 
 mind before your husband complicates things." 
 
 "Clarke won't complicate things. I won't 
 let him. He can look after his affairs and you 
 and I'll look after mine." 
 
 "Here speaks the modern woman!" laughed 
 the Judge. "When will you come?" 
 
 They decided upon four o'clock of the follow- 
 ing afternoon, and after some banter and teasing 
 about the new school which was much in the 
 public print, the Judge rang off. 
 
 When she was ushered into his private office 
 the next day, he came to meet her with both 
 hands out, and she gave him a daughterly 
 hug and kiss. 
 
 "Well, little Marcia!" he said, holding her off 
 to look into her eyes. 
 
 "Well, Judge Horace!" she answered, smiling. 
 
 "So you're going to marry Clarke, are you?" 
 
 "Yes, it seems to be on the books." 
 
 He avoided comment by offering her a chair. 
 
 "You don't approve?" 
 
 "Well, I don't know that there is anything 
 to disapprove of in Clarke Jessup. He's decent
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 enough of his kind but somehow his kind isn't 
 just what I'd pick out for you. " 
 
 "What kind would you pick for me, Judge?" 
 
 "I'd like to see you marry a regular man," 
 he responded. 
 
 "Poor Clarke," she smiled. 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 "If you love the fellow, I suppose that settles 
 it." 
 
 "It would. I don't know much about love, 
 Judge Horace." 
 
 "Tut-tut, you've had suitors since you were 
 fifteen." 
 
 "That doesn't count. I mean the real thing 
 the thou-and-I-and-the-world-well-Iost kind 
 of thing." 
 
 "Hm sadly enough, that kind seems rather 
 out of date, doesn't it? Our young people 
 seem to be a practical lot. They won't let 
 sentiment interfere with business," he sighed. 
 
 "I hate the age we live in, Judge Horace!" 
 she said hotly. "I wish we had gone down into 
 barbarism completely during the war! We're 
 over-civilized over-everything. I'm sick of it ! " 
 
 He looked at her so anxiously, with such 
 puzzled tenderness, that she laughed outright. 
 
 "It's all right, old dear! I'm letting off
 
 MARRIED? 113 
 
 steam. Bring on your debits and credits and 
 balance sheets and let us contemplate my 
 unearned riches." 
 
 "Marcia, you aren't leaning toward Social- 
 ism ? ' ' anxiously. 
 
 "I don't know what it means." 
 
 "Well, don't let the cranks get hold of you. 
 You're so fond of experiments," he protested. 
 
 "Don't worry. Do I have to hear about all 
 that?" she objected, pointing to piles of reports 
 and documents. 
 
 "Not in any detail. You say you don't 
 intend to have Clarke interfering, but, of course, 
 he has a legal right to do so." 
 
 "I won't have him in on my affairs," she 
 said stubbornly. 
 
 "The one thing I am most anxious to have 
 unchanged is the management of Santa Rosa 
 Ranch. You know, of course, that the greater 
 part of your income is derived from that source, 
 and it would be a real calamity to have Dennis 
 Shawn removed from there." 
 
 "Judge, you would think this man with the 
 impossible name was your favourite son!" she 
 laughed. 
 
 " Would to heaven he were ! There is a man ! " 
 
 "Yes, I know the true type of honest Ameri-
 
 114 MARRIED? 
 
 can you always get them in the movies," 
 she jeered. "Great, uncouth, God's noblemen, 
 with grand hearts and no manners " 
 
 The Judge flashed with impatience. 
 
 "You put Dennis Shawn up against Clarke 
 Jessup, and give yourself a good laugh," he 
 said hotly. 
 
 "Well, I'm not going to! I never have seen 
 this 99 per cent, hero of yours and I don't intend 
 to. I promise you, however, to keep him on till 
 he dies of old age, as manager of Santa Rosa, 
 just out of affection for you, if nothing else." 
 
 "Dennis Shawn is a gentleman, don't forget 
 that. He's the grandson of your grandfather's 
 most influential enemy." 
 
 "I promise never to lose this treasure!" 
 
 "You'll serve your own best interests if you 
 don't. We've had plenty of managers in your 
 father's day, but we never had a Dennis Shawn, 
 let me tell you." 
 
 "How long has he been there?" 
 
 "Let me see Dennis is thirty-five now. I 
 took him on when he was twenty-five that's 
 ten years." 
 
 He turned suddenly and looked at her. 
 
 "I may have to go out to Santa Rosa this 
 fall. Come with me, Marcia."
 
 MARRIED? 115 
 
 "Oh, no. I can't. I've got lots of things 
 to do here besides, I hate the place. I went 
 once when I was a little girl, with Father, and it 
 rained all the time, and I was afraid of the 
 Chinese cook. Oh, I hated it!" 
 
 "I may not go," mused the Judge, "I may 
 get Dennis on here." 
 
 "What about the old Spanish woman is 
 she dead yet?" 
 
 "No, Dennis has just disposed of an heiress 
 who presented herself." 
 
 He laughed, rummaged in a drawer, and drew 
 forth the letter and the telegram, which he 
 offered her. She read them. 
 
 "Poor heiress! Your Shawn sounds quite 
 the Cave Man." 
 
 "Dennis doesn't strike one as an effete per- 
 son," he smiled. 
 
 "Get on to the fact. I'm sick of your hero," 
 she teased him. 
 
 "We joke about this old Spanish woman, and 
 yet she really can be said to hold your fate in 
 her hands," the Judge mused. 
 
 "How?" startled. 
 
 "It was a pretty big gamble old Henry 
 Livingston started with the Santa Rosa." 
 
 "Do I know about it?"
 
 116 MARRIED? 
 
 "I told you when you were twenty-one." 
 
 "Mercy! I'd never remember all this time." 
 
 "You ought to it grows more important 
 as the stubborn old woman nears her end. 
 We. can't get any agreement out of her as to 
 what she intends to do with her property, and 
 unless we get it, at her death the whole of 
 Santa Rosa's title may be invalidated." 
 
 "Really how?" 
 
 "The Padrasso Ranch is the centre of the 
 original Spanish grant. When your grand- 
 father bought up the surrounding country, 
 he found he could not get clear title unless he 
 acquired that original five thousand acres. 
 He took a chance on it your father tried to 
 get a settlement with old Padrasso, and then 
 his granddaughter and we've been trying to 
 do so ever since his death. " 
 
 "But why won't she sell? She could stay 
 in her old house till she died, couldn't she?" 
 
 "Yes. We've offered big sums any conces- 
 sions. She's old and queer and she tells Dennis 
 that it amuses her to have the Great Western 
 and the Livingstons fighting over her property." 
 
 " I like her she sounds interesting. I remem- 
 ber I saw her when I was out there. She seemed 
 to me hundreds of years old then."
 
 MARRIED? 117 
 
 "Of course the Great Western watches her 
 all the time. If they can get her to sell to 
 them or deed it to them, they stand a chance of 
 invalidating our whole property, with all our 
 years of improvements put upon it or because of 
 the mass of laws in California governing land, 
 and the various constructions the court has 
 put upon them, Santa Rosa might revert to 
 the state and the Great Western would have a 
 chance to buy one of the most valuable prop- 
 erties in all California." 
 
 "Couldn't we buy back our own property?" 
 
 "Yes, but nearly all your money is tied up 
 in it. I doubt if we could raise the cash to 
 beat the Great Western's offer." 
 
 "Hm well, it is important. We've just got 
 to get the Padrasso place, haven't we?" she 
 said. 
 
 "That's what we think! The old woman 
 adores Dennis that's another reason for keep- 
 ing him on." 
 
 "Maybe she'll leave it to him." 
 
 "I wish she would. That would simplify it." 
 
 "You do believe in him!" she laughed. 
 
 "Absolutely." 
 
 "I suppose this is the time to tell you that I 
 want some more money for the theatre school."
 
 118 MARRIED? 
 
 He frowned slightly. 
 
 "Marcia, that theatre has cost about $50,000," 
 he protested. 
 
 "It may cost that much more!" she warned 
 him. 
 
 "I don't advise it, my dear! You spend 
 money like the Shah of Persia. " 
 
 "Only thing to do with it. I'll send Mary 
 Jane Paul to talk to you about it. She knows 
 what we need," Marcia replied airily. 
 
 It was quite dark when they finished, and 
 Marcia felt somehow tired and depressed by it. 
 
 "It's all crooked, Judge. No woman who 
 contributes as little as I do to the common 
 good ought to be allowed to have all this 
 money " 
 
 "There you go again that's out-and-out 
 Socialism." 
 
 "Is it? I'm going to look up Socialism. 
 I told you I didn't know what it was, but if 
 that's it I want to know about it." 
 
 "Let it alone. This country is sufficiently 
 upset as it is," he warned her. 
 
 "Judge, what are you going to do to-night?" 
 
 "Let me see I'm going to dine at the club, 
 and play bridge " 
 
 "Excuse me but you are going on a lark
 
 MARRIED? 119 
 
 with your young and beautiful ward. You're 
 going to take me to some jolly place for dinner, 
 and to a 'show,' to make up for the hard work 
 you've made my poor old brain stagger through 
 for these two hours." 
 
 " Splendid ! But what about Clarke? " 
 
 "Oh, bother Clarke! Let him dine at the 
 club and play bridge." 
 
 "Gladly, my dear. Bless my soul, it's nearly 
 seven. We'll reserve a table somewhere and 
 go at once." 
 
 "Don't reserve a table. We'll take our 
 chances. I want to go to some gay not too 
 respectable place," she begged him. 
 
 :< You'll have to choose it, Marcia. I don't 
 know these wicked cafes the younger set infests." 
 
 "Come along, Methuselah. We'll try a new 
 French place, in the Forties, which is said to be 
 bang-up with the accent on the bang." 
 
 Le Cafe Chanticleer proved to be all of that. 
 It was the last word in excellent food, rare 
 wines, and decadent vaudeville. Everybody 
 seemed wildly gay and Marcia caught some of 
 the spirit of the place and the people, and amused 
 the Judge mightily even as he marvelled at her 
 youth, which could find a stimulus in this shrill, 
 garish place.
 
 120 MARRIED? 
 
 Later they set forth, arm in arm, to look for 
 a "show." 
 
 "We'll walk and shop for tickets. Let's 
 find something funny and naughty to go with 
 that cafe." 
 
 "It's easy enough to find the naughty on Broad- 
 way, but it isn't usually funny," he remarked. 
 
 "That remark is of the Old World, Judge. 
 It's because you look for the School for Scandal 
 or The Henrietta that you think Broadway 
 dull. You must put up with bedroom farces 
 like this!" she ended, stopping before a three- 
 sheet. "The Proxy Husband The Farce scream 
 of the Season." The poster displayed a beau- 
 tiful blonde heroine, in pajamas, seated in her 
 bed, while two gentlemen exclaimed in chorus, 
 "I am your husband." 
 
 "This is it, Judge. I feel sure that this is 
 what we need," cried Marcia, leading her escort 
 toward the box office. 
 
 "We'll try an act of it we don't have to 
 stay," he said warily. 
 
 They took their seats just as the curtain rose. 
 
 It was a farce of the usual Broadway brand. 
 It was based on the idea of marriage by proxy 
 between an Australian girl and a soldier at the 
 front. When the time came for the groom to
 
 MARRIED? 121 
 
 return, he funked it and induced a pal to ac- 
 cept his responsibility. But an old lover of 
 the girl heard these two make this arrange- 
 ment and he decided to impersonate the long- 
 distance husband. The complications are obvious 
 enough, but the thing bounded along swiftly 
 and laughs were many. The Judge and Marcia 
 sat it through, and laughed with the rest. 
 
 "Is there such a thing as marriage by proxy?" 
 she asked him, in the intermission. 
 
 "Oh, yes it has been done. As a matter of 
 fact, I believe it was made legal in several 
 countries during the war." 
 
 "What a lovely idea!" laughed Marcia. 
 
 Later, when he stood upon her doorstep, 
 refusing to come in, she kissed him good-night. 
 
 "I've had a perfect time, dear Judge." 
 
 "You've given me one, dear child," he an- 
 swered gallantly. 
 
 But as he trudged off toward his own home 
 he sighed to think how old he was, how the 
 amusement of this generation appalled him. 
 How young and enthusiastic Marcia was, for 
 all her sophistication! What a pity that life 
 should offer her, with all her gifts and all her 
 money, merely the drab compromise of a mar- 
 riage with Clarke Jessup !
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A~TER the forced exit of the fifteen 
 troublesome men from Santa Rosa, 
 including the foreman, things settled 
 down for a while on the ranch. Chuck took 
 Caproni's place, and there was every indication 
 of peace for a time. 
 
 Dennis found himself with the problem of 
 Kate on his hands. She had refused to go 
 along with Pinto the night of the fight. He 
 had offered to send her to Los Angeles, or any- 
 where she wanted to go, but she refused to leave 
 the ranch. 
 
 "Kate love Dennis Shawn "Kate stay Santa 
 Rosa," was all she would say in answer to his 
 suggestions. 
 
 She performed the most thorough house- 
 cleaning, painted and whitewashed the shack 
 herself, in readiness for the time when Dennis 
 Shawn should come to seek her. He watched 
 these preparations with anxiety. Was he a 
 fool, as Chuck had said? The girl was hand- 
 some, she loved him enough to risk her safety, 
 
 122
 
 MARRIED? 123 
 
 if not her life, in his behalf. He was no anchor- 
 ite. Was it true that he owed it to Judge 
 Tracey and the ranch to refuse her? 
 
 "Chuck, we've got to go up to Los Angeles 
 to get some new men and a foreman," he said 
 one day. "Got anything to do up there? 
 Want to come?" 
 
 "You know it!" replied Chuck. "I need 
 a manicure and a marcel and some breeches," 
 he added. 
 
 Dennis grinned at him. 
 
 "We can go to-morrow. We'll delegate one 
 of the men to act in your place and Williams 
 can run the rest of it. We'll bring the men back 
 with us. I want to see them myself before we hire 
 them. I don't want any of Roderiguez's friends." 
 
 "It won't take me ten minutes to pack, Dennis, 
 so you set the hour." 
 
 They left the next day. Dennis was glad 
 of an excuse to run away from Kate; Chuck 
 was pleased with a change, so they were very 
 cheerful. They had arranged to call Williams 
 each night of the three days they were to be 
 absent, so that he might summon them back 
 in case of trouble. 
 
 Arrived in Los Angeles and registered at a 
 hotel, Dennis said:
 
 124 MARRIED? 
 
 "I'll go see Swanson about my men right 
 away, Chuck. It may take him forty-eight 
 hours to collect what I want. What are you 
 doing?" 
 
 "I'm having a Turkish bath, a shave, and a 
 hair cut. I'm goin' to treat myself like a 
 bloomin' Roman," he answered. 
 
 Dennis laughed. 
 
 "Terrible responsibility to be a professional 
 beauty, eh, Chuck?" 
 
 He dodged out the door to escape the pillow 
 the boy threw at him, and went chuckling down 
 the hall. 
 
 They did not meet again until night, when 
 they ordered for themselves an extremely good 
 dinner, and sat on smoking until the dining 
 room was almost empty. 
 
 "What do you say to a show, Dennis?" 
 
 * * All right. Is there anything on ? " 
 
 "Yes. I looked over the list. Vaudeville 
 and movies and 'due to the energy and enterprise 
 of Mr. Salasco,"The Proxy Husband," a farce 
 by Mike Rock, is being enjoyed in Los Angeles 
 at the same time it is being produced in New 
 York.' I quote exactly. I think as a mark 
 of our appreciation to Mr. Salasco, we ought to 
 take that in, Dennis."
 
 MARRIED? 125 
 
 "It's all one to me," smiled Dennis. 
 
 Later they strolled over to the theatre and 
 bought seats. 
 
 "Do you know," said Chuck, when they 
 were waiting for the curtain, "I marvel at 
 myself when I think how we live at the ranch. 
 Last winter I saw about six shows a week, not 
 to mention cabarets." 
 
 "Gosh, that must have been hard work!" 
 
 "I thought when the governor shipped me 
 out here that I'd be running into Los Angeles 
 every few nights." 
 
 "Stay in Santa Rosa long enough and it'll 
 cure you," promised Dennis. 
 
 "I'm nearly cured now. I don't think any- 
 thing about it. I'd like a girl to play with 
 now and then but I don't miss the shows." 
 
 "I don't know about New York, and I've 
 never been to a cabaret, but the shows they have 
 out here are such damned nonsense." 
 
 The curtain rose on "The Proxy Husband," 
 which was certainly no exception to Dennis's rule. 
 But the thing was well-played, the idea a fresh one, 
 and the audience laughed uproariously. Chuck's 
 spontaneous boy laugh kept everyone within 
 hearing distance amused, and Dennis enjoyed his 
 companion quite as much as he did the play.
 
 126 MARRIED? 
 
 "Where did they get hold of that crazy idea, 
 do you suppose?" Chuck asked as they went out. 
 
 "Can't imagine." 
 
 "You don't suppose there is such a thing, 
 do you?" 
 
 "Marriage like that? No, of course not." 
 
 "Well, you do have to hand it to these fellows 
 who turn out these shows. Must be some trick 
 to think up an idea like that." 
 
 "But what's the good of thinking it up?" 
 
 "You old roughneck ! You ought never to come 
 off the farm ! Didn't you get a laugh out of it ? " 
 
 "I got a laugh out of you," smiled Dennis. 
 
 The next morning at breakfast Chuck was 
 looking over the morning paper, while Dennis 
 ate, and considered his plans for the day. 
 
 "Jupiter here's news!" exclaimed Chuck. 
 
 "Yes?" Dennis read the item that Chuck 
 indicated. 
 
 The marriage of Miss Marcia Livingston, the heiress to 
 the great Livingston estate, to Mr. Clarke Jessup, of 
 New York, will be celebrated on December 27th of 
 this winter. It is estimated that the joint fortune of 
 these two young people will approximate fifty millions. 
 . Miss Livingston has long been noted for her interest in 
 the theatre, her little playhouse being one of New York's 
 choicest attractions. Her beauty and her wealth have
 
 MARRIED? 127 
 
 made her a conspicuous figure in New York society since 
 her debut some years ago. 
 
 Mr. Clarke Jessup is a club man and sportsman. He 
 is sole heir of his father, Hamilton Jessup, the oil magnate. 
 Mr. Jessup is a member of the Metropolitan Club, the 
 Union Club, the University Club, Piping Rock, etc. etc. 
 
 "Why should that interest me?" asked Dennis 
 lazily. 
 
 "It means you've got a new boss," said Chuck. 
 
 "You don't think he'd take the management 
 of the estate away from Judge Tracey?" said 
 Dennis, awake now. 
 
 "Why not? Have a look at him." 
 
 He passed the paper over to Dennis. There 
 were pictures of the happy pair. Marcia driving 
 a racing car Clarke mounted on a polo pony. 
 
 "How does he strike you?" inquired Chuck. 
 
 "He looks like a half wit." 
 
 "You've said it. Even allowing for the 
 newspaper portrait he looks to me like a 
 Moron!" 
 
 "The girl has never interfered maybe he'll 
 let us alone. He must have plenty of his own 
 to look after." 
 
 "She's some girl, isn't she?" Chuck com- 
 mented, turning the paper so he could look 
 at Marcia.
 
 128 MARRIED? 
 
 "She looks like all the rest of them." 
 
 "All the rest of what, Denny?" 
 
 "Those women in New York. I saw them 
 on Fifth Avenue and at the theatres and hotels. 
 Nothing but clothes. Tired, painted faces, 
 that looked as if they'd never felt anything or 
 thought anything. Not for me!" 
 
 "What is your style of woman, Denny? 
 Miss Livingston makes no hit and Kate doesn't 
 qualify " 
 
 "Kate can love and she can hate. I'd take 
 her of the two." 
 
 "Go ahead and take her, that's all you've 
 got to do," teased the boy. 
 
 "Lord I hope you're all wrong about this, 
 Chuck. I think I'll write a letter to Judge 
 Tracey about it. Queer he hasn't said anything 
 to me about it." 
 
 "Tell him you don't approve of it and maybe 
 she'll break it off," grinned Chuck. 
 
 Dennis composed and tore up several letters 
 before he accomplished one. What he finally 
 wrote to the Judge was as follows: 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE: 
 
 I came up to Los Angeles yesterday on some ranch 
 business, and I see by the morning papers here that Miss 
 Livingston is going to be married. I feel pretty anxious
 
 MARRIED? 129 
 
 about what effect that may have on Santa Rosa. As 
 you know, I've put in ten of the best years of my life 
 there, and I'd rather run that ranch than own New York 
 City, but if this Mr. Clarke Jessup is going to take over 
 the running of Santa Rosa, my resignation will be in your 
 hands at once. I don't know a thing about the man, and 
 he may be all right, but from what the newspapers say 
 about him, and the way he looks in the picture, I have a 
 feeling that we wouldn't get along very well. You've 
 given me so much freedom, and trusted me with so much 
 responsibility, that I know I couldn't accommodate 
 myself to anything less. 
 
 This may be a false alarm, Judge, on my part, but I 
 want you to know just how I stand on it. I'd appreciate 
 a letter from you about the matter. 
 
 With the most cordial regard to you, I am 
 
 Most truly, 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 Chuck did his best to persuade him that his 
 fears might be groundless, but the Irish have 
 ever their ups and their downs, and he went 
 back to Santa Rosa deeply depressed by his 
 vision of a future to be spent elsewhere. 
 
 The night of their return home was one of 
 those rapturous California nights of stars and 
 sweet odours and palpitating silences. Dennis 
 walked alone in the garden for hours, thinking, 
 planning a new life. He looked about him 
 at the familiar mountains, at the ranch house,
 
 130 MARRIED? 
 
 the light streaming from its open doors and 
 windows; he watched Wong's shadow slipping 
 across the light from the kitchen. He heard 
 the men singing down at the quarters. The 
 haunting minor of their song struck upon his 
 senses. He was like a man suddenly desolated 
 of his all. With a groan he turned and walked 
 down the hill to Kate's cabin, in search of 
 comfort in need of human tenderness. For 
 the first time in ten years Santa Rosa was 
 second in his thoughts.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IT WAS, of necessity, ten days before Judge 
 Tracey's letter lifted the gloom that im- 
 mersed Dennis Shawn. During that time 
 Chuck's pranks scarcely raised a smile, and 
 Williams's repeated philosophy of "what is, was 
 to be" brought no least comfort. 
 The Judge wrote: 
 
 MY DEAR DENNIS: 
 
 Your letter in regard to Miss Livingston's marriage 
 came to-day, and I hasten to assure you that I have al- 
 ready gone into the matter of the management of Santa 
 Rosa with her, and I have her positive assurance that 
 Mr. Jessup is not to interfere in any way, and that you 
 and I will be let alone to run the ranch as we have done 
 for these ten years. 
 
 I can quite understand your anxiety in the matter and 
 I appreciate your frankness in regard to your situation. 
 Miss Livingston is quite aware, I think, of your value to 
 the estate, and as she is a very self-willed young woman, 
 I think we can rely on her word that Mr. Jessup is not to 
 assume command over her affairs. So, my dear Dennis, 
 you may look forward to ten or even twenty years on 
 your cherished estate. 
 
 Is there any more excitement out there? Your letters 
 
 131
 
 132 MARRIED? 
 
 with their spies and false heiresses do much to relieve 
 the tedium of my days. 
 
 I am thinking a little of coming out to Santa Rosa this 
 winter. 
 
 With cordial regards, 
 
 HORACE TRACEY. 
 
 "Well, boys, it's all right! According to the 
 Judge, the Jessup fellow is not to butt in at 
 all," Dennis announced joyously, looking up 
 from the letter. 
 
 "Thank God the reprieve has come!" cried 
 Chuck. " Another week of gloom like the last, and 
 you would have found my body in the ravine!" 
 
 "Lord have I been as bad as that?" grinned 
 Dennis. 
 
 He went off whistling to ride his rounds of 
 inspection. 
 
 "Commend me to the Irish for equability!" 
 sighed Chuck, and Williams smiled and nodded. 
 
 It seemed to Dennis, as he rode, that he was 
 again a free man, after a fortnight in prison: 
 only now did he realize how his whole life was 
 bound up with Santa Rosa, how he loved every 
 inch of its vast acres. He smiled grimly at 
 the thought that his future and his happiness 
 lay in the whim of a woman whom he had never 
 seen. He thought of the power this woman
 
 MARRIED? 133 
 
 wielded over the lives of many people, with the 
 fortune which she possessed, through no effort 
 of her own. He conceived her selfish and in- 
 different to her responsibility. 
 
 His thoughts turned from this woman who 
 played such an important part in his life to the 
 other woman who had lately come into it. 
 Untutored, with the simplicity of the savage, 
 Kate was swayed by passions of love, of hate, 
 of revenge. She gave her love to Dennis 
 with abandon. Her one wish was to please 
 him. Never by a sign or by a look did she 
 suggest there was anything between them 
 when they met by day or when he passed her 
 house. But when the cabins of the quarters 
 were wrapped in sleep, and he went to her, he 
 found in her welcome the qualities of mother, 
 mistress, and slave. To serve him, to delight 
 him, that was the one desire of Kate's days. 
 
 It was against his better judgment that he 
 had assumed this relationship with her, he 
 was unsure where it would lead him, and now 
 that his tenure of office at Santa Rosa was 
 assured, he knew he must face some decision 
 on the subject; but for the present his mind 
 wandered off to other things, and the two women 
 were forgotten.
 
 134 MARRIED? 
 
 It was some weeks after the Judge's reassuring 
 letter that Chuck reported that the Senorita 
 Padrasso was ill and in her bed. He had not 
 been admitted, and when he asked the maid if 
 the doctor had been called, she replied that the 
 old lady refused to see him. 
 
 Dennis went over with offers of assistance, 
 with flowers from his garden. He sent her an 
 urgent message that she let him bring the doctor. 
 The maid appeared anxious about her, but when 
 Dennis suggested a trained nurse from Los 
 Angeles she said she knew the Senorita would 
 not have her about. 
 
 The old lady's voice summoned the woman, 
 and Dennis followed her to the door. The 
 old woman looked like a mummy, set up among 
 her pillows. She stared at him with recog- 
 nition. 
 
 "Dennis Shawn, I shall not die yet," she 
 said. 
 
 "Not you. You're good for many a year 
 yet, Senorita," he answered heartily. 
 
 But he left with an anxious face. He de- 
 cided to report to Judge Tracey. He had 
 always suspected that there was a pact between 
 him and the senorita as to the disposal of her 
 ranch. He wired:
 
 MARRIED? 135 
 
 Senorita Padrasso very ill. What arrangements have 
 you about her ranch? 
 
 D. S. 
 
 The Judge answered immediately: 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN, 
 Santa Rosa. 
 
 No arrangement. Offer her any amount. Keep her 
 condition secret, if possible. 
 
 H. T. 
 
 Dennis was reluctant to intrude upon the old 
 woman, but he felt it to be his duty to his 
 employers, so he induced the maid to take him 
 to the senorita's bedside. She looked about 
 the same, save that her eyes were filmed with 
 oncoming death. She was conscious. She rec- 
 ognized Dennis, and seemed to hear him speak. 
 
 "Senorita, won't you let me bring you a 
 doctor?" he begged. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "A trained nurse, then, to make you com- 
 fortable?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Will you forgive me if I ask you a business 
 question?" 
 
 The old eyes stared at him and he fancied 
 they held a glimmer of amusement.
 
 136 MARRIED? 
 
 "What do you intend to do with your ranch, 
 in case of your death?" 
 
 She made no answer. 
 
 "I'm authorized to offer you any amount 
 you name, if you will sell to the Livingston 
 estate. Do you understand me?" 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "Will you sell it to us, Senorita?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 :< You have some agreement with the Great 
 Western?" he persisted. 
 
 Again she shook her head. 
 
 "But you have no heir, Senorita. Will you 
 leave it to your maid?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "I dislike to trouble you with it now, but 
 you can see that my duty requires it. " 
 
 She seemed to gather all her strength to speak. 
 
 "I will sell for $5,000, that sum to be given 
 my maid, but I will sell only to a member of 
 the Livingston family." 
 
 "But, Senorita, the only member of the family 
 is in New York," he protested. 
 
 "Let her come here." 
 
 "But it will take five-six days," he began. 
 
 "I will live until she comes," the old woman 
 said.
 
 MARRIED? 137 
 
 "But, Senorita, your strength may give out 
 it may be impossible for Miss Livingston 
 to start at once 
 
 "I have spoken, Dennis Shawn. If she does 
 not come, the ranch goes to the Great Western 
 Railroad for the same sum." 
 
 She closed her eyes and refused to answer any 
 question. She sat, like a sightless old Sybil, 
 deaf to protest or entreaty. Dennis finally with- 
 drew, utterly discouraged with his errand. 
 
 He wired Judge Tracey: 
 
 Senorita will sell for $5,000, that sum to be paid the 
 maid, but she will sell only to Miss Livingston, in person. 
 Great Western gets it for same sum if Miss Livingston 
 does not come. Think she is dying. Is there any way 
 I could be made Miss Livingston's representative or what 
 can you suggest? 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 Chuck moved over to the Padrasso's to be on 
 guard against Great Western representatives 
 and also to help the distracted old woman 
 who was the maid. Dennis was in and out of 
 the house every hour or so. 
 
 "She isn't dead yet," Chuck said to him, 
 when they were waiting for the Judge's answer. 
 "I went in and sat with her for an hour. I 
 thought she was asleep, but all at once I saw her
 
 138 MARRIED? 
 
 eyes on me, so I began to hum that old favourite 
 of hers, 'The Spanish Cavalier/ and the old 
 dear tried to nod her head in time. You know, 
 Dennis, I'm awfully fond of the old thing," 
 he added huskily. 
 
 "So am I, and I think it is damnable not to 
 let her die in peace. I would almost let the 
 Great Western get the ranch." 
 
 The Judge's telegram brought consternation. 
 It said: 
 
 Would you be willing to go through marriage by proxy 
 with Miss Livingston and represent her as her husband 
 in deed of sale? Marriage can be performed by con- 
 tract and telephone. It would be merely a legal form 
 to be annulled at convenience of contracting parties 
 later. Send me at once properly accredited power of 
 attorney. Find out if Senorita will agree to this and 
 wire. We are sending contract, special delivery. We 
 will set hour of ceremony by telegram. 
 
 H. T. 
 
 Dennis and Chuck stared at each other. 
 
 "The Proxy Husband!" exclaimed the boy. 
 
 Dennis stared at the paper. 
 
 "The Judge must have looked into the legality 
 of this," he muttered. "But, good Lord! I 
 don't want to tie myself up " 
 
 "What's the difference since she guarantees
 
 MARRIED? 139 
 
 you a divorce? She's engaged to somebody 
 else, you know she isn't anxious to be tied 
 up, either." 
 
 Dennis nodded. 
 
 Williams came in then, and they showed him 
 the telegram with its extraordinary proposition. 
 For some reason it amused him. But the others 
 were too excited to see anything humorous 
 about it. 
 
 The old lady groaned and Chuck tiptoed 
 to the door to look in at her. 
 
 "Look here, Dennis, old man, if you mean to 
 go through with this, you'll have to hurry. 
 She hasn't got many more days," he said. 
 
 "Do you suppose she can understand what I 
 say to her?" he asked anxiously. 
 
 "I'll stir her up a bit she pays attention 
 to me," Chuck said. 
 
 They went into her room and Williams stood 
 in the doorway. She lay with closed eyes and 
 looked dead. 
 
 "This is cruelty to animals," protested Den- 
 nis. 
 
 Chuck went over to her and laid his hand 
 gently on hers. " Senorita mia, do you sleep?" 
 he asked her. 
 
 At first she showed no signs of life, but when
 
 140 MARRIED? 
 
 he had repeated it several times, she turned her 
 eyes on him. 
 
 "Now Dennis, fire away!" 
 
 "You're better, aren't you!" Dennis ex- 
 claimed enthusiastically. 
 
 "Has Marcia come?" She framed the words 
 slowly, her eyes on Dennis. 
 
 "No, she cannot get here there is not time. 
 If Marcia marries me, Dennis Shawn, will you 
 sell to me as her husband?" 
 
 She stared at him. 
 
 "Marry how?" she asked, showing that her 
 mind was clear. 
 
 "Judge Tracey says she will marry me by 
 long-distance telephone, here at your bedside, 
 if you consent." 
 
 "Legal marriage?" 
 
 "He evidently thinks so. He is a lawyer, you 
 know. He must have looked up the legality." 
 
 They waited a long time. They scarcely 
 breathed. Surely she was dead now. There 
 seemed to be no rise and fall of her breast at all. 
 Then she opened her eyes again, as if coming 
 back from a great distance. 
 
 "I agree," she whispered. 
 
 Dennis tiptoed out and sent a boy in haste 
 with a telegram:
 
 MARRIED? 141 
 
 Sefiorita agrees. So do I. Set earliest hour possible 
 for ceremony. Will keep you posted on her condition. 
 
 D.S. 
 
 Because of their desire for secrecy, the tele- 
 grams were sent out by messenger from the 
 town instead of being telephoned. 
 
 Harrowing days began for the three men who 
 watched Sefiorita Padrasso and waited for the 
 contract. It came, was signed, witnessed, and 
 sent back. Again and again they thought she 
 was gone. Dennis made out the deed of sale 
 and wrote the check for $5,000, made out 
 to the maid, Gita Cavallero. Everything was 
 in readiness; as soon as the ceremony was com- 
 pleted it would not take five seconds, if only 
 the woman had strength enough left to sign 
 her name. The day that the contract should 
 reach New York showed a change in the sick 
 woman. When, occasionally, Dennis felt her 
 pulse, it was very feeble. Once he wandered 
 out to the kitchen where the old maid sat 
 weeping. 
 
 "Did the sefiorita ever see Miss Livingston?" 
 he asked her. 
 
 She thought for a little and answered in 
 Spanish. 
 
 "Yes when she is a little girl she come to
 
 142 MARRIED? 
 
 Santa Rosa. Senorita call her Little Fairy. 
 She is beautiful, and she come every day to 
 to see Senorita. She make love to Senorita." 
 
 Dennis nodded. It was some remote affec- 
 tion for the girl which moved the old woman 
 then. But how strange that she had not made 
 a will and deeded the ranch to her in the usual 
 way. Why had she chosen this way, with its 
 attendant melodrama, to pass on her property? 
 
 The telephone rang and he rushed back into 
 her room. Chuck held the receiver, and the 
 bell had apparently not aroused her. Dennis 
 took the telegram: 
 
 Contract signed here. Have connection with Padrasso 
 house for 5 P. M. Be ready for ceremony then. Thanks. 
 
 H. T. 
 
 "Another hour," groaned Chuck. 
 
 "Go call the county clerk and tell him to be 
 here at 4:45," said Dennis to Williams. 
 
 It seemed aeons as they waited for those sixty 
 minutes to pass. As the minute hand ap- 
 proached five on the big clock the strain became 
 almost unbearable. 
 
 "As soon as the phone rings I'll begin trying 
 to arouse her. I've got sherry here, if I can 
 get her to drink it "
 
 MARRIED? 143 
 
 Cling-g-g! went the bell and they all jumped 
 with nervousness. 
 
 Dennis took the receiver. 
 
 " Padrasso Ranch ? Mr. Dennis Shawn wanted . 
 Speaking? Well go ahead, New York is calling. " 
 
 "Wake up Senorita just for a little while," 
 Chuck was urging her gently. "I want you 
 to drink this, to the health of Dennis Shawn 
 and his bride." 
 
 The old eyes fastened upon him. She heard 
 his voice apparently. He repeated it she nod- 
 ded. Williams and the maid helped lift her up 
 to drink the sherry. 
 
 "Quiet now Dennis is about to be married." 
 
 "Dennis?" said Judge Tracey. 
 
 "Yes Judge." 
 
 "Are you ready?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Have you witnesses there?" 
 
 "Yes, English, Williams, and the maid. 
 Wait here comes the County Clerk also to 
 witness the deed of sale." 
 
 "Good. Marcia is here with me. Justice 
 Allerton will perform the ceremony. We took 
 out the license here. Here is the Justice " 
 
 "Are you ready, Mr. Shawn?" a strange 
 voice asked.
 
 144 MARRIED? 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Do you, Dennis Shawn, take Marcia Livings- 
 ton to be your wedded wife?" 
 
 "I do," said Dennis. 
 
 "Do you, Marcia Livingston take Dennis 
 Shawn to be your wedded husband?" he heard 
 him ask her, and her reply: 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "Then I pronounce you man and wife," he 
 said. "Just a moment," he added. 
 
 Then a clear voice came over the phone: 
 
 "This is awfully obliging of you, Mr. Dennis 
 Shawn. 
 
 " Thank you. Good-bye." 
 
 He hung up the receiver and crossed to the 
 senorita quickly. "Here is the deed of sale, 
 Senorita, and here is the check. Are you 
 strong enough to put your name to it here?" 
 
 He had to repeat it several times before she 
 understood. Then she nodded. They lifted her 
 up and by a prodigious force of will the ancient 
 woman took the pen and wrote a large slanting 
 signature to the deed. Then she sank back, the 
 pen falling away from her withered hand. 
 
 She looked at Dennis with a smile in her eyes. 
 
 "Happiness " she whispered. 
 
 Then she died.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 MARY JANE PAUL came into Judge 
 Tracey's office, by appointment, to 
 go over the needed funds for the school. 
 She and the Judge were joint guardians of 
 Marcia, as it were, and as such had often met 
 before. 
 
 "I think I ought to begin by saying that I 
 have done my best to persuade Marcia not to 
 put any more money into this venture until 
 it proves itself," she said. 
 
 "I may frankly say to you, Miss Paul, that 
 I disapprove of it and told her so. Marcia's 
 recklessness with money would wreck the Bank 
 of England" the Judge protested. 
 
 "I know it," sighed Mary Jane. 
 
 "I find myself in a difficult position. Mr. 
 Vernon, the other executor, is in Europe, and 
 the responsibility of Marcia's affairs falls on 
 me. In the last two years she has over-spent 
 her income. To as great an extent as I dared 
 I have put her money into Santa Rosa Ranch, 
 which is a very lucrative investment but 
 
 145
 
 146 MARRIED? 
 
 until we make sure of the Padrasso Ranch and our 
 titles out there, I am holding up any further 
 investment there." 
 
 She asked him about those titles, saying that 
 Marcia had some garbled idea of it. He ex- 
 plained it carefully and fully. 
 
 "Judge Tracey, do you know what I wish 
 sometimes? I wish Marcia would lose every 
 cent she has, and have to make good herself," 
 she said earnestly. 
 
 "I know I know," he said. "You love her 
 as I do, Miss Paul, and we both know that money 
 lias not brought her happiness." 
 
 "She is so restless and unsatisfied. And this 
 ridiculous engagement" she protested. 
 
 'You feel that, too. It seems such a pity 
 for her to throw herself away on that fellow." 
 
 "Judge Tracey, I'd go to any length to break 
 that off!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "I'm tempted to tell you the dream I've 
 always had for Marcia," he began. 
 
 "Do," she urged him. 
 
 "She's like a daughter to me, you know. 
 Her happiness is very dear to me. I've studied 
 her for years I know all her faults and her 
 charms." 
 
 She nodded.
 
 MARRIED? 147 
 
 "There is only one man I've met I'd want her 
 to marry. That is Dennis Shawn." 
 
 "The manager of Santa Rosa." 
 
 "Yes. He's a fine, big-hearted, clear-headed 
 man. He is Marcia's mate, to my mind. 
 But try as I will I cannot bring them together. 
 She will not go West, he will not come East, 
 and I can't interest either of them in the other." 
 
 Mary Jane laughed. 
 
 "Can't we manage it somehow? Two intel- 
 ligent plotters like us?" 
 
 "I'd go to any length as you say. Marcia 
 needs direction and discipline with tenderness 
 that is what Dennis could give her. He needs 
 what she could give him. I wish you could 
 see him," he added. 
 
 "I wish I could! He sounds right to me. 
 If I can help in your plans, do let me," she said. 
 
 They went over her reports and Marcia's 
 demands and agreed on a counter proposal 
 which Mary Jane was to insist upon. When 
 she left, Judge Tracey said: 
 
 "I may need you in my matrimonial plot, 
 so be ready with support." 
 
 "Count on me, Judge," she smiled. 
 
 It was on the very heels of this conversation, 
 just three days later, that things began to
 
 148 MARRIED? 
 
 happen at Santa Rosa. When Dennis's tele- 
 gram came, telling the senorita's conditions 
 of sale, and asking how he, Dennis, could be 
 made Miss Livingston's representative, the 
 Judge sat down to think the way out. One 
 plan after another he discarded, and then, for 
 some unknown reason, there came into his 
 mind the ridiculous play he had seen with 
 Marcia called "The Proxy Husband." His 
 first impulse was to scoff at it his second was to 
 consider it. He knew that during the war 
 proxy marriage had been legalized in several 
 countries. In the back of his thoughts was 
 the idea that if he could get these two married 
 by proxy, he might manage to make it a perma- 
 nent affair. 
 
 He made a study of marriage by proxy. 
 He found it was possible and legal in states 
 where common-law marriage existed; that such 
 a marriage was legal and valid if it conformed 
 to the law of the place of its celebration. That 
 made it possible in California. Common-law 
 marriage was not permissible in New York, 
 but fortunately the laws recognized a marriage 
 by contract. If a written contract of marriage 
 were signed by each of the parties and by two 
 witnesses, with the date and place of marriage,
 
 MARRIED? 149 
 
 and this contract filed within six months after 
 its execution, in the office of the clerk in which 
 the marriage was solemnized, such a marriage 
 would be legal. It would be necessary for 
 Dennis to give him power of attorney, in order 
 for him to go with Marcia and obtain the 
 license. 
 
 He found cases cited of American soldiers in 
 Europe married by proxy to sweethearts in the 
 United States. He found a ruling of the Judge 
 Advocate General in March, 1919, that soldiers 
 held abroad could marry by exchange of marri- 
 age contracts by mail, if such marriage did not 
 controvert the state statutes. 
 
 He made out his case and summoned Mr. 
 Stewart, the lawyer of the other executor, and 
 laid it before him. He considered it carefully. 
 
 "Judge, I think the marriage would stand, but 
 is it your intention to nullify it at the end of the 
 six months, when the contract should be filed?" 
 
 Judge Tracey hesitated. 
 
 "Stewart, I don't intend it shall ever be nul- 
 lified. I'm taking an awful chance in this I 
 may get myself into trouble, but those two 
 people are very dear to me; they are made for 
 each other; I think that if they can be brought 
 together they will stay married."
 
 150 MARRIED? 
 
 "Upon my word, Judge, you are mixing up 
 law and romance!" 
 
 "I know it. I'm trying to play God and I 
 may be destroyed." 
 
 They went over it in detail they faced the 
 possibility of suit by the Great Western when 
 the marriage was discovered, and against Stew- 
 art's better judgment Judge Tracey wired 
 Dennis to send him, special delivery, power of 
 attorney, properly witnessed and signed by a 
 notary. He and Stewart drew up a marriage 
 contract. It was dispatched to Dennis for 
 signature and on its return the Judge was to 
 induce Marcia to sign it. 
 
 "I don't envy you that job, Judge," laughed 
 Stewart. 
 
 "If the old woman just holds out a few days 
 more," sighed Judge Tracey. "If we make it, 
 Stewart, I think I'll have them married by 
 telephone, too." 
 
 "Not necessary." 
 
 "No, but it dramatizes it to them makes 
 it seem more personal." 
 
 "Judge, if you get away with this, it beats any 
 big case you've ever won!" pronounced Stewart. 
 
 It looked as if the Judge would get away with 
 it. First came the power of attorney from
 
 MARRIED? 151 
 
 Dennis to the Judge, with news that the old 
 woman was sinking. Anxious days of waiting 
 and then the contract canie then a telegram 
 that the end was near. 
 
 The Judge had said as yet no word to Marcia. 
 His plan was to rush her into this rash deed on 
 the plea of immediate necessity. He telephoned 
 Mary Jane Paul to meet him at Marcia's house 
 at a certain hour. 
 
 "The time has come. I need you," was his 
 cryptic message. 
 
 They arrived together at the Livingston house. 
 
 "I'm to be scolded for extravagance!" 
 prophesied Marcia at sight of them. 
 
 "No important and very urgent business 
 this time, Marcia. You remember what I 
 told you about the necessity of our acquiring 
 the Padrasso Ranch?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "The old woman is dying. She will sell for 
 $5,000, paid to her servant, if she can put the 
 deed of sale into your hand." 
 
 "But I can't get to California in a minute." 
 
 "Exactly. She has, therefore, agreed to sell 
 to Dennis Shawn, if you will marry him by 
 proxy, and authorize your husband to represent 
 you."
 
 152 MARRIED? 
 
 Marcia stared. 
 
 "It's preposterous!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "It is merely a formality. The marriage 
 can be annulled in six months, at the time when 
 it should be registered." 
 
 "Then we are to swindle the old woman?" 
 
 "That's a harsh word! She has no possible 
 heir she can do as she likes with her estate, 
 and she agrees to this. We are trying to save 
 a huge investment in Santa Rosa by agreeing 
 to an old woman's whim!" 
 
 He explained the process of such a marriage, 
 read the law, pointed at the necessity of quick 
 action, and waited Marcia's decision. 
 
 "Clarke would never agree to it," she said. 
 
 "Tell him afterward," said Mary Jane. 
 
 "Do you think it's square?" Marcia demanded 
 of her. 
 
 "No. But as a sporting proposition I think 
 it's immense." 
 
 "No more theatres, no more endowed schools 
 to play with, Marcia, if Santa Rosa goes," 
 remarked the Judge. 
 
 "Oh, but I have to finish the school! Oh, 
 damn Santa Rosa it makes so much trouble! 
 You're sure this is just a 'sign-here' thing without 
 any consequences?"
 
 MARRIED? 153 
 
 "Nobody on earth could guarantee that," 
 said the Judge. 
 
 "What do I have to do?" 
 
 "Come with me to get a license, sign this 
 contract, and be married by telephone in the 
 office of a justice." 
 
 Marcia laughed. 
 
 "Judge Horace, it's too ridiculous! It's worse 
 than that farce we saw!" 
 
 He looked at his watch and rose. 
 
 "I have a taxi here. I wired Dennis to be 
 ready and I put in a call for Santa Rosa at 
 five P. M." 
 
 "You did count on me, didn't you?" re- 
 marked Marcia. 
 
 "I thought you would be mad not to agree," 
 he answered. 
 
 They went on their way quickly. Mary 
 Jane could scarcely meet Judge Tracey's eyes 
 without exchange of triumphant glances. They 
 got the license, the contract was signed and 
 witnessed at exactly five o'clock the telephone 
 call went through. 
 
 "You act as bridesmaid, Mary Jane," laughed 
 Marcia. 
 
 The Justice stood by, while the Judge spoke 
 to Dennis.
 
 154 MARRIED? 
 
 "Are you ready, Dennis? . . . Have you 
 witnesses there?" 
 
 Then the Justice took the receiver. Marcia 
 was shaking with laughter, but the other two 
 were serious. 
 
 "Do you, Dennis Shawn, take Marcia Livings- 
 ton to be your wedded wife?" asked the pompous 
 justice. 
 
 Marcia stopped laughing and looked at the 
 Judge. 
 
 "Look here," she said. 
 
 "Sh!" 
 
 "Do, you, Marcia Livingston, take Dennis 
 Shawn to be your wedded husband ? " he asked her. 
 
 She hesitated a second. The Judge and 
 Mary Jane anxiously signalled her to speak. 
 
 "Y yes," she said doubtfully. 
 
 "Then I pronounce you man and wife," 
 said the impressive one. 
 
 She reached for the receiver. 
 
 "This is awfully obliging of you, Mr. Dennis 
 Shawn!" 
 
 "The rude thing," she added, "he hung up." 
 
 She turned to speak to the Justice, and Mary 
 Jane Paul spoke for the first time to the Judge : 
 
 "You delightful wicked old Machiavelli ! " 
 
 "If it only works out!" he said, as if in prayer.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 TEN days after the death of Senorita 
 Padrasso Dennis received a long-dis- 
 tance telephone from Los Angeles from 
 the Western manager of the Great Western 
 saying that he would like to make an appoint- 
 ment the following day to see Shawn in regard 
 to some important business. Shawn set an 
 hour and offered to meet him at the train with 
 a motor. Then he wired Judge Tracey for 
 instructions. 
 
 "Well, boys, the fat is in the fire," he said 
 that night, to his two assistants. "Mr. John 
 Maxwell, of the Great Western, is to visit me 
 to-morrow and try to find out what we have 
 put over on them. I've asked the Judge to tell 
 me what to say, but I wish we were out of this 
 mess." 
 
 "/ don't. I never knew life could be so ex- 
 citing," exclaimed Chuck. 
 
 "Yes well, you aren't married to an unknown 
 lady with erratic tendencies," remarked Williams 
 drily. 
 
 155
 
 156 MARRIED? 
 
 "No worse luck." 
 
 "Of course, Judge Tracey knows what he's 
 about, but the whole thing sounds awfully 
 fishy to me. I don't see how I can make it 
 sound anything else to this Maxwell. He's 
 nobody's fool, you know." 
 
 "The worst they can do would be to prove 
 the marriage illegal," said Williams. 
 
 "That would invalidate the deed and then 
 where are you? They say the titles to Santa 
 Rosa can't be proved up till this other ranch 
 is settled." 
 
 "The property would revert to the state and 
 the bidding would begin again," Williams an- 
 swered. "After all, suppose the Great Western 
 does get it?" 
 
 "It would mean thousands and thousands 
 of dollars to the Livingstons." 
 
 "Suppose it does. The woman is outrage- 
 ously rich let her lose it." 
 
 "The woman? Oh I wasn't thinking about 
 her," Dennis said. "I was only thinking of 
 Santa Rosa and how the loss of that land would 
 cripple it." 
 
 "Dennis always thinks of Santa Rosa first, 
 last, and altogether! You'd think he owned it," 
 said Chuck.
 
 MARRIED? 157 
 
 "Well, I've developed it for ten years. I've 
 put every ounce of myself into it. It isn't 
 surprising that I think of it like that, is it?" 
 
 "No, considering that you are what you are. 
 I only hope you haven't let yourself in for any- 
 thing painful by this fake marriage," commented 
 Williams. 
 
 "That's just a legal form. The ceremony 
 can be annulled in six months or so and that's 
 all there is to that end of it." 
 
 "Maybe," Williams said doubtfully. 
 
 "Don't you ever expect to see your wedded 
 wife while she wears your name, Dennis?" 
 demanded Chuck. 
 
 "Lord no!" ejaculated the Irishman. 
 
 Judge Tracey's directions were: 
 
 Tell Maxwell deed of sale was signed by Senorita 
 Padrasso witnessed by Williams, English, and County 
 Clerk. Properly registered in County Clerk's office and 
 deed in our possession here. No necessity to explain 
 marriage. Say that you acted as representative of the 
 Livingston estate. Marriage absolutely legal but need 
 not be announced for six months which time may be 
 valuable to us. Wire me result of interview. 
 
 Dennis sent Chuck to meet Maxwell's train. 
 Affable efforts on the part of the gentleman 
 to glean information from his voluble chauffeur
 
 158 MARRIED? 
 
 arrived nowhere. Chuck winked at Dennis 
 as he handed their guest over to him. 
 
 After brief amenities the four men sat down 
 and lit their cigars. 
 
 "Mr. Shawn, my time is brief, and I may as 
 well come to the point of this visit. Are these 
 gentlemen in your confidence?" inquired Mr. 
 Maxwell. 
 
 "Absolutely." 
 
 "Very good. As you have probably guessed, 
 my visit has to do with the late acquisition of 
 the Padrasso Ranch by the owners of Santa 
 Rosa." 
 
 :< Yes," said Dennis. 
 
 "The Great Western Railroad and the Living- 
 stons have been honourable contestants for the 
 purchase of this property for over a hundred 
 years " 
 
 "More or less honourable," Dennis inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 "You mean by that?" 
 
 "I mean that few people would call the 
 method of the Great Western in the last dozen 
 years to get possession of the Padrasso property 
 honourable" 
 
 "I don't know what you mean!" 
 
 "Oh, yes, you do. You've had spies here,
 
 MARRIED? 159 
 
 ostensibly in our employ; you've backed up 
 an effort to get rid of me; you've had secret 
 agents, such as Roderiguez and bogus heiresses, 
 such as his mistress all to the end of acquiring 
 that property." 
 
 Mr. Maxwell's urbane face never changed 
 expression. 
 
 "I assure you, Mr. Shawn, that I never heard 
 of any of these things. It is impossible that 
 they should go on without my knowledge." 
 
 "Be that as it may they have happened. 
 These two men here will corroborate my state- 
 ment any time it becomes necessary." 
 
 "Well, I hope that time may not come. If 
 any unfortunate and unwarranted liberties have 
 been taken by my underlings, it shall be in- 
 vestigated and punished. In the meantime^ 
 the past is past is it not?" 
 
 "Sure. I'm not worrying about it. I just 
 couldn't swallow that 'honourable' that's all." 
 
 Mr. Maxwell smiled a most disturbing smile. 
 
 "They say, you know, that there is honour 
 among thieves," he remarked. "Do you be- 
 lieve that, Mr. Shawn?" 
 
 "I don't know, I'm sure. I haven't had much 
 experience with thieves." 
 
 "No?"
 
 160 MARRIED? 
 
 Dennis felt himself getting hot all over, but he 
 merely glared at Maxwell. 
 
 "May I ask just how and by what means the 
 Padrasso property came into the possession 
 of the Livingstons?" 
 
 "By a deed of sale, signed by Senorita Pa- 
 drasso, witnessed by Mr. Williams, Mr. English, 
 the senorita's servant, and the clerk of this 
 county." 
 
 "Oh. To whom was the property sold?" 
 
 "To Miss Livingston. I acted as her rep- 
 resentative." 
 
 "In what capacity?" 
 
 "The capacity of superintendent and manager 
 of the Santa Rosa Ranch." 
 
 "Exactly. Would it be too indiscreet to ask 
 the price paid?" 
 
 "Yes, I cannot see what affair that is of the 
 Great Western Railroad." 
 
 "This deed of sale was signed by the Senorita 
 Padrasso, you say. Just when was it signed?" 
 
 "Shortly before she died." 
 
 "How shortly? Was she on her death bed 
 when she signed it?" 
 
 "Yes. If you have any doubts about this 
 being a legitimate sale, you can se'e the record 
 of it in the County Clerk's office. The deed
 
 MARRIED? 161 
 
 itself is in the possession of Judge Horace Tracey 
 in New York." 
 
 "Ah yes Judge Tracey most able man. 
 Was it at his suggestion that this death-bed 
 sale was consummated?" smiled Mr. Max- 
 well. 
 
 "That I also consider no business of the Great 
 Western." 
 
 "Indeed? There were no witnesses to this 
 sale except Livingston employees?" 
 
 "The County Clerk and the senorita's ser- 
 vant." 
 
 "She tells me of the senorita's offer that if 
 Miss Livingston did not come, the ranch was 
 to go to the Great Western Company at $5,000, 
 to be paid to her." 
 
 "She tells you?" 
 
 "Ah, yes, I have seen the servant. She seems 
 unsure of her mistress's sanity at the time of her 
 death." 
 
 "She was as sane as you are!" exclaimed 
 Dennis. 
 
 "That you will have to prove, Mr. Shawn. 
 We have here the signed statement of the 
 servant and of the County Clerk. The one re- 
 hearses your constant effort to get the old lady 
 to agree to sell her property to your employer
 
 162 MARRIED? 
 
 it tells of your continual presence in her house 
 and at her bedside. It describes the pressure 
 brought to bear upon her " 
 
 "That's a lie!" quietly, from Dennis. 
 
 "Just a moment, Mr. Shawn. The clerk 
 describes your marriage, by telephone, to Miss 
 Marcia Livingston, in order that you might 
 induce the old woman to sell to you as Miss 
 Livingston's husband." 
 
 He paused. 
 
 "Have you any comment to make, Mr. 
 Shawn?" 
 
 "None except that those two statements 
 must have cost you a pretty price." 
 
 "You do not deny the contents of the state- 
 ments?" 
 
 "I deny that Senorita Padrasso was anything 
 but in her right mind. I deny that I brought 
 any pressure to bear upon her." 
 
 "These denials you will no doubt repeat in 
 the proper time and place, Mr. Shawn." 
 
 He put the two papers carefully away in his 
 breast pocket. 
 
 "The Great Western will start suit at once 
 against Miss Livingston, Judge Tracey, and 
 yourself for having entered into a conspiracy 
 to get possession of the Padrasso property
 
 MARRIED? 163 
 
 by illegal means, including a fake marriage, 
 intended to mislead your elderly victim." 
 
 Dennis rose, making no comment at all, 
 looked at his watch, and turned to Chuck. 
 
 "Mr. Maxwell can just catch the 4:10 train, 
 if you hurry a little, Chuck. You'll be a 
 trifle late to file your suit to-night, but there's 
 all day to-morrow," he said genially to his guest. 
 
 Mr. Maxwell bowed silently, stepped into 
 the car, and was whirled away by Chuck at a 
 perilous speed. 
 
 "Whew ! " said Williams. "Looks as if Chuck 
 was planning to kill him on the way back." 
 
 "That won't save us. We're in for it this 
 time. Why didn't I buy up that servant my- 
 self! I thought her five thousand would shut 
 her up!" said Dennis seriously. 
 
 He put in a call for New York and at midnight 
 he got Judge Tracey. He repeated the conver- 
 sation with Maxwell and his threat of suit. 
 Judge Tracey was evidently annoyed at this 
 news. 
 
 "Dennis, can English and Williams manage 
 the ranch for a bit?" 
 
 "I suppose so, why?" 
 
 "I think you had better start East to-morrow. 
 We must get this thing straightened out and I
 
 164 MARRIED? 
 
 want expert advice on it. We won't keep you 
 long but I want you here. Can you manage it? " 
 
 "Yes if you think it is necessary." 
 
 "I do. You start to-morrow and let me know 
 the minute you arrive. Shall I put you up at a 
 club?" 
 
 "That would be kind, Judge." 
 
 "Call me when you get in then. Good-bye.'* 
 
 Dennis hung up the receiver with a sigh. 
 His troubled face made Williams exclaim: 
 
 "More trouble, Dennis?" 
 
 "Yes. I've got to start for New York to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "Trouble ! He calls that trouble ! " cried Chuck. 
 
 "I wish the Great Western had the damned old 
 ranch!" said Dennis. 
 
 "You'll see Mrs. Shawn," Chuck remarked. 
 
 "Not if I can help it and don't call her that!" 
 said Dennis crossly. 
 
 He went off to his room, and later when Chuck 
 knocked with an offer to lend him anything he 
 needed, he found Dennis viciously throwing 
 socks and collars and shirts into a bag. 
 
 "Look here, Dennis. This is a card with the 
 address of my tailor. The minute you strike 
 town you order some clothes street clothes 
 and evening clothes "
 
 MARRIED? 165 
 
 "I'm not goin' down there to parade my 
 clothes!" 
 
 "If you go to see Miss Livingston in those 
 hand-me-downs you brought in Los Angeles, 
 in ten minutes, while you waited for a train ' 
 
 "I tell you, I'm not going to see Miss Livings- 
 ton!" 
 
 "You're going to handle a pretty ticklish 
 situation, and with that kind of a woman you've 
 got to have the right kind of clothes. Now 
 don't be an ass. This card is in your collar box. 
 You use it." 
 
 Dennis glared at him, but the card remained 
 in the box. 
 
 The next morning the two men saw him off 
 at the village station. He was furious at the 
 complication he found himself in, and his irrita- 
 tion was all in his face, as the train pulled out. 
 
 "He doesn't look much like the conquering 
 bridegroom!" said Chuck, as he and Williams 
 turned back toward the ranch.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN had five tedious days 
 in which to mull over the crisis in which 
 he found himself. He did not minimize 
 its seriousness at all. As he went back over the 
 steps that led up to it he could not see where he 
 could have acted otherwise than he had done, 
 considering his devotion to Santa Rosa Ranch 
 and his ambition to have it saved and enriched 
 by the added acres. At any rate, he could not 
 reproach himself with any personal motives, 
 for he had absolutely nothing to gain, except 
 the thanks of Judge Tracey and possibly of 
 Miss Livingston. 
 
 If only he and Judge Tracey could settle 
 this thing without her complicating participa- 
 tion. He realized, now that he was calmer, 
 that the chances were he would have to meet 
 her that she would have to be included in 
 the councils. 
 
 He reconsidered also Chuck's suggestion about 
 his clothes and to his own amusement he de- 
 cided to accept it. If he was to share a difficult 
 
 166
 
 MARRIED? 167 
 
 situation with this lady, he determined that 
 she should not have him at a disadvantage. 
 Consequently, when he arrived in New York, 
 before he so much as telephoned Judge Tracey, 
 he took a cab to the address Chuck had put 
 in his collar box, and demanded of the tailor 
 proper clothes for all occasions for a fortnight in 
 New York to be rushed through at special rates 
 of both speed and cash. 
 
 Then he announced himself to the Judge 
 and went to the Metropolitan Club, where the 
 latter had promised to meet him. The Judge 
 brought with him two lawyers : Stewart, the rep- 
 resentative of the other executor of the estate 
 who was in Europe, and a man named Troop. 
 Dennis was most warmly greeted by his employer 
 and they all adjourned to the Judge's room for a 
 conference. 
 
 Judge Tracey asked Dennis to sketch for the 
 two lawyers the state of affairs at Santa Rosa 
 and the methods which the Great Western 
 had employed. Shawn outlined the story 
 described his friendly relations with Senorita 
 Padrasso, and when it came to the description 
 of what had happened the day of her death, 
 he read a report which he and his two assistants 
 had written out the evening of the old woman's
 
 168 MARRIED? 
 
 death, repeating everything that had been 
 said, describing everything that had been 
 done. It was signed by English and Williams. 
 
 They catechized Dennis as to the details 
 and he went over it until everything was clear. 
 Then he took up the matter of Maxwell's 
 visit and again read from a statement signed 
 by the other two men as to what took place 
 and the exact words of Maxwell's threat. 
 
 "Well, he's made good on it. I had notice 
 this morning that suit was instigated against 
 me, and Miss Livingston had the same, sent 
 to my office. Yours will follow in good time, 
 Dennis," said the Judge. 
 
 "Is the senorita's servant still at the ranch?" 
 asked Mr. Troop, one of the lawyers. 
 
 "She was when I left." 
 
 "We'd better telegraph Williams to keep an eye 
 on her and not let her disappear," said the Judge. 
 
 They agreed to that and Dennis wrote the 
 telegram, which was sent at once. 
 
 "You made no effort to induce the County 
 Clerk to keep the marriage a secret?" asked 
 Stewart, the third man. 
 
 "No. I relied on the Judge's assurance 
 that it was a legal form. I thought it better 
 not to try to suppress anything."
 
 MARRIED? 169 
 
 "That was right, don't you think so, Judge?" 
 
 "Yes, we can establish a proper and bona- 
 fide sale of the ranch, I think, if the legality 
 of the marriage stands. You think we're pretty 
 safe on that, Stewart?" 
 
 "Unfortunately, as I told you, Judge, there 
 isn't much precedent to rely on," Stewart 
 answered dubiously. 
 
 "I think one thing is obvious," said Troop, 
 "and that is, that this marriage must be lived 
 up to, to all intent and purposes, until after 
 the case comes to trial." 
 
 "What did you mean by that?" demanded 
 Dennis quickly. 
 
 "I mean that you and Miss Livingston must 
 at least simulate a marriage. You should, I 
 think, live under the same roof." 
 
 "But I could not agree to that at all!" 
 said Dennis firmly. 
 
 "Then, I think we should face the fact that 
 we are in a most unfortunate situation in which 
 the honour of Judge Tracey and Miss Livingston 
 is endangered." 
 
 "What about my honour?" inquired Dennis. 
 
 "And yours, too, Mr. Shawn. I do not under- 
 value your predicament at all. I only mention 
 Judge Tracey and Miss Livingston first, because
 
 170 MARRIED? 
 
 they are so much in the public eye, and have so 
 much more to lose. This suit may be most dis- 
 astrous to Judge Tracey, Any accusation of 
 fraud or attempted fraud to a man in his posi- 
 tion " 
 
 "But," said Dennis, deeply troubled, "even 
 if I agreed to this arrangement, certainly Miss 
 Livingston would not." 
 
 "What about that, Judge?" 
 
 "I'm afraid Dennis is right." 
 
 "But if she thought it would save you from 
 embarrassment possibly disgrace " 
 
 "I should not wish her to act against her 
 desires to protect me in this matter," protested 
 the Judge. 
 
 "I wouldn't worry, Judge. That young woman 
 has never done anything yet against her de- 
 sires," said Mr. Stewart. 
 
 "It is a little awkward for her. She is 
 engaged to some fellow, isn't she?" inquired 
 Troop. 
 
 "Yes Jessup. Clarke Jessup," replied the 
 Judge. "We could not find him at the time 
 of the ceremony, but Miss Livingston prophesied 
 that he would not approve her action." 
 
 "Could we induce Miss Livingston to meet 
 us and discuss the matter?" Stewart asked.
 
 MARRIED? 171 
 
 "I doubt it. I think you had better let me 
 see her " 
 
 "I disagree there. You won't use the only 
 argument that might have weight with her 
 your position in this affair " 
 
 "But if Dennis, here, refuses, why do we waste 
 time on Miss Livingston? We'd better just 
 make our plans to " 
 
 Dennis turned a serious, troubled face to the 
 Judge. 
 
 "Judge Tracey, I had not thought of what 
 this might mean to you. I withdraw my re- 
 fusal. If Miss Livingston will agree to any 
 arrangement you may make, I will agree also." 
 
 Judge Tracey held out his hand, real feeling 
 in his face. 
 
 "Thank you, my boy. I appreciate that 
 but I want to get it out of all your minds that 
 I am the person to be considered here. I'll 
 take my chances with the rest. I have not 
 connived at a fraud. I consider that I have 
 acted throughout in good faith. Now, as to 
 Miss Livingston, I'll promise nothing but I'll do 
 my best. She will be at home late to-morrow 
 afternoon, I learned from her butler, and I will 
 see her then. Shall we arrange to meet at my 
 office at eleven the following morning?"
 
 172 MARRIED? 
 
 It was so settled, and Troop and Stewart left. 
 
 With an intuitive sense of failure Judge 
 Tracey waited the next afternoon for Marcia 
 to appear. He noted that the tea things were 
 in readiness and hoped against hope that there 
 were to be no guests. \ 
 
 "Judge how nice of you!" she cried as she 
 crossed the room to him, very lovely in her soft 
 tea gown. 
 
 He took her hands and looked at her seriously. 
 
 " I've come on a most difficult errand, Marcia." 
 
 She frowned. 
 
 "Not that ranch?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, I won't hear about it not a word. 
 I'm sick of it." 
 
 "I'm afraid you must hear about it, Marcia. 
 It is exceedingly serious." 
 
 He went on to explain the suit of the Great 
 Western and reminded her of its possible 
 consequences to them all. 
 
 "Now, look here, Judge, you told me that 
 marriage business was a legal formality, like 
 signing a deed. That's the only reason I agreed 
 to it. Clarke is perfectly furious about it. You 
 got me into that, Judge, and you've got to get 
 me out."
 
 MARRIED? 173 
 
 "That's what I want to do, but I must have 
 your help." 
 
 "Well" with a sigh "go ahead." 
 
 "Dennis Shawn arrived in New York yester- 
 day, and Mr. Stewart, Mr. Vernon's lawyer, 
 and Mr. Troop, whom you know, and myself 
 listened to Shawn's description of the whole 
 affair. I have no idea that we can be convicted 
 of fraud, because we acted with no such intention, 
 but it was the opinion of these two very astute 
 lawyers that, since the whole situation rests 
 on the legality of the proxy marriage, care must 
 be used to establish the fact of marriage 
 
 "Don't be legal I never understand it," 
 she interrupted. 
 
 "They think it would be wiser, if not ab- 
 solutely necessary, for you and Dennis Shawn 
 at least to simulate marriage until after the 
 case comes to trial." 
 
 Her look of utter astonishment halted him. 
 
 "What nonsense are you saying, Judge 
 Tracey?" 
 
 "No nonsense very serious sense." 
 
 "You mean I'm to to " 
 
 "The suggestion was merely that you take 
 up residence under the same roof. " 
 
 "But I've never seen the creature!"
 
 174 MARRIED? 
 
 "Under the law a proxy marriage need not 
 be announced for six months subsequent to 
 the ceremony but on account of this suit, 
 it seems necessary to act at once. " 
 
 "Do you mean to say that this Sham, or 
 whatever his name is, can come on here and 
 claim to be married to me?' 9 
 
 "On the contrary, he is as reluctant to carry 
 out this idea as you are!" 
 
 "Is he? Indeed! Well, do assure him that he 
 will not have me forced upon him, as even a 
 'simulated' bride! I've never heard anything 
 so ridiculous in my life! Why, I wouldn't 
 agree to this, if it meant that I'd lose every 
 cent I've got in the world!" 
 
 "It looks very much as if that might be the 
 price you'd pay, Marcia!" 
 
 But she was very angry now, and Judge 
 Tracey knew his case was lost. He rose. 
 
 "All right, Marcia, we will defend the suit 
 as best we can. You and I may be pretty 
 badly discredited, and your loss of Santa Rosa 
 is very serious, but I guess we can bear that." 
 
 "I don't care what happens you advised me 
 to do this fool thing and you can find some way 
 out!" 
 
 "I suppose you wouldn't see Mr. Shawn?"
 
 MARRIED? 175 
 
 "I wouldn't see that man for anything on 
 earth. I loathe him!" hotly. 
 
 "Well, my dear, I'm sorry to have upset 
 you so," said poor Judge Tracey, taking his 
 leave. 
 
 He went to the club in search of Dennis, but 
 he was not there. He had left word, however, 
 that he would return about five-thirty so 
 the Judge paced up and down the corridors 
 impatiently. Presently Dennis came in. Even 
 the Judge, perturbed as he was, noted that he 
 was wearing new clothes and hat and that he 
 even carried gloves. 
 
 "Hello, Judge. Don't I look like a tailor's 
 model? I've got me some New York clothes." 
 
 Then he saw the Judge's worried face. 
 
 "What's the matter? Did you see Miss Liv- 
 ingston?" 
 
 "Yes. She was very angry. She won't hear 
 of any such arrangement." 
 
 "You told her the consequences?" 
 
 "I told her, but I doubt that she listened." 
 
 "I'd better see her." 
 
 "No, Dennis, she absolutely refuses to see 
 you. She seems to blame you in the matter 
 unreasonable as that is " 
 
 "Rubbish what's her address?"
 
 176 MARRIED? 
 
 "I don't advise this, Dennis," he added 
 weakly. 
 
 "Better wait for me here. I'll be back in 
 half an hour or so." 
 
 "Well," sighed Judge Tracey, "God be with 
 you ! " But the twinkle in his eye, and the smile 
 of satisfaction aimed at Dennis's back, belied 
 those earnest words.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 MARCIA LIVINGSTON had rarely been 
 so angry in her life as she was when 
 Judge Tracey left her. It was her 
 basic principle to dominate every situation, 
 and suddenly to find herself involved in a 
 crisis in which she had acted under orders was 
 disconcerting and infuriating. But she had 
 no intention of submitting to any such in- 
 dignity. Life had never disciplined Marcia 
 she had always bought immunity with her 
 money. 
 
 Mary Jane Paul came in, during the brain- 
 storm, and received a perfect avalanche of 
 angry explanations from Marcia about the 
 outrageous proposal the Judge had dared to 
 make to her. 
 
 "You say they think you ought to live under 
 the same roof with this man until the case is 
 tried?" Mary Jane repeated. 
 
 "They do! They actually do! Did you 
 ever hear of such a thing?" 
 
 Mary Jane lifted up her head and laughed. 
 
 177
 
 178 MARRIED? 
 
 "I'm glad somebody can see something funny 
 in it! Its humour escapes me!" 
 
 "I should think it was an adventure after 
 your own heart, Marcia." 
 
 "Well, you're mistaken." 
 
 "Have you met Mr. Shawn?" 
 
 "No and I don't intend to." 
 
 "I don't see how you can avoid that. After 
 all, it's his problem, too." 
 
 "I'm not interested in his problem and I will 
 not be bothered with him. I told the Judge 
 that. I'm sick of the whole silly business. 
 Clarke is making the most awful row about 
 it " 
 
 "Oh, bother Clarke!" 
 
 "You're always reminding me that I'm en- 
 gaged to him and that he has his rights." 
 
 "If you're married to Shawn, Marcia, I 
 really think you ought to disengage Clarke," 
 said Mary Jane, smiling. 
 
 "But I'm not. I'm not, I tell you!" 
 angrily. "You heard them say it was a mere 
 formality." 
 
 "Yes, but nobody foresaw this law-suit." 
 
 "They can all go to the devil! I don't intend 
 to bother myself any more about it. And I 
 will not see this Shawn man!"
 
 MARRIED? 179 
 
 Clarke Jessup followed the butler into the 
 room. 
 
 "How-do, Marcia? How-do, Miss Paul?" he 
 drawled in his lackadaisical way. 
 
 "Hello, Clarke," was Marcia's greeting. 
 
 "Tea for a tired business man?" he inquired, 
 sinking into a chair with a sigh. 
 
 Mary Jane's hostile eyes inventoried him 
 from his sleek hair to his dapper boots. How 
 she hated his propriety his meticulous per- 
 fection ! 
 
 "What's the good news?" he inquired. 
 
 "None that I know. I'm cross as a bear! 
 You'd better be amusing, Clarke." 
 
 "To be amusing, I fear, is not in my line. 
 Miss Paul, as one of my harshest critics, would 
 you call me amusing?" he inquired, his heavy- 
 lidded eyes turned upon her. 
 
 "Depends on what you call amusing, I suppose. 
 I get a good deal of amusement out of you," 
 she retorted. 
 
 "Ah, now, you see, Marcia, Miss Paul and 
 I are getting on! We're beginning to amuse 
 each other." 
 
 Marcia was obviously not listening. She 
 absently poured the tea, a frown on her brow, 
 and her mouth mutinous.
 
 180 MARRIED? 
 
 The butler appeared at the door, ushering 
 in a guest. 
 
 "Mr. Dennis Shawn," he announced. 
 
 "I'm not at home," replied Miss Livingston 
 sharply. 
 
 Dennis advanced into the room rapidly. 
 His swift glance took in the three people; he 
 walked to the tea table and faced Marcia, who 
 stared at him for a second in total astonishment. 
 
 "Miss Livingston, I'm Dennis Shawn," he 
 began. 
 
 "I do not know any one of that name," she 
 replied insolently. 
 
 He paid no attention to that. 
 
 "It is important that I should have five 
 minutes of conversation with you in private." 
 
 "I know of no reason why you should intrude 
 in my house when I'm entertaining guests," 
 hotly. 
 
 Clarke walked to Marcia's side. 
 
 "Would you like to have me handle this?" 
 he asked her. 
 
 The two men looked at each other. 
 
 "No I'll handle it myself," said Marcia. 
 
 "I dislike being here as much as you dislike 
 having me but I have something to tell you 
 that you do not know," said Dennis.
 
 MARRIED! 181 
 
 "I doubt it. The only thing I want of you 
 is to leave my house." 
 
 Mary Jane rose. 
 
 "Marcia, I beg of you, let Mr. Shawn have 
 his five minutes. Mr. Jessup and I will wait 
 in the library." 
 
 "On the contrary, if this fellow has anything 
 to say to Marcia, I intend to hear it," remarked 
 Mr. Jessup. 
 
 A faint smile appeared on Dennis Shawn's 
 face it was so fleeting that Marcia suspected 
 it was derisive. 
 
 "Wait in some other room until I call you, 
 please," she ordered her two guests. 
 
 "Marcia I protest that " began Jessup. 
 
 "You go or I will," she interrupted briefly. 
 
 With a shrug of his shoulders Mr. Jessup 
 turned to Mary Jane Paul. 
 
 Marcia rose and face Dennis, who still stood 
 near her. He towered above her, which made her 
 feel at a disadvantage, so she moved away. 
 
 "What do you want?" she said brutally. 
 
 "Judge Tracey told you what he and those 
 two lawyers advised?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You refused to consider it?" 
 
 "Certainly."
 
 182 MARRIED? 
 
 "Have you considered the consequences?" 
 
 "I don't care anything about the conse- 
 quences ! " 
 
 "But you must," he said firmly. 
 
 A sound issued from Marcia's lips which 
 might have been laughter or rage. 
 
 "Why didn't you think about the conse- 
 quences before you agreed to the crazy idea?" 
 she taunted him. 
 
 "I did." 
 
 "Then why did you incriminate yourself? 
 
 "For reasons which you would not under- 
 stand." 
 
 "I'm normally intelligent.*'* 
 
 "It was your heart, not your head, I dis- 
 trusted." 
 
 "What has my heart to do with it?" 
 
 "My reasons for acting in your interests were 
 entirely due to my admiration and affection 
 for Judge Tracey." 
 
 : 'You consider that you were acting in my 
 interests?" 
 
 "I was trying to save for you a valuable 
 property which will in no way benefit me." 
 
 "I can't see why you were so altrustic, Mr. 
 Shawn." 
 
 "I told you that you would not see."
 
 MARRIED? 183 
 
 "I'd rather lose the old Padrasso Ranch and 
 Santa Rosa, too, than be bothered about it like 
 this." 
 
 "I did not come here to listen to childishness 
 of that sort. I'm not in the least concerned 
 about you or the consequences of this ceremony 
 we went through " 
 
 "No?" 
 
 "The situation is abhorrent to me, but I'm 
 not considering myself, either. " 
 
 "Generous!" 
 
 "My concern is for Judge Tracey. He evi- 
 dently acted with only your interests in view, 
 and apparently he has, thereby, put himself 
 in a very compromising position. This suit 
 will be aired in every dirty sheet in the country, 
 and whether they win or not, Judge Tracey 
 will be open to very serious criticism." 
 
 "But why didn't he think of all this?" she 
 interrupted him. 
 
 "I do not know.' My opinion is that he let 
 his devotion to you and your interests outweigh 
 everything else." 
 
 She moved about impatiently. 
 
 "Well?" she flung at him. 
 
 "I think it is up to you and me to protect 
 him from these consequences as much as we can.
 
 184 MARRIED? 
 
 "But it's outrageous! I can't do it. I'm 
 engaged to Mr. Jessup, in the other room there. 
 He wouldn't permit it for a minute. " 
 
 Dennis allowed himself one broad grin at this, 
 which undid all he had done so far. 
 
 "I think the thing has gone too far now for 
 Mr. Jessup's interference," he remarked. "You 
 can't hide behind Mr. Jessup." 
 
 "I won't agree to it that's settled!" 
 
 "My suspicion about your heart seems to be 
 correct." 
 
 "Good afternoon," she said. 
 
 "How many years is it that Judge Tracey 
 has devoted himself to you and your business?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 " He speaks of you as if you were his daughter 
 the very apple of his eye. But I suppose 
 to the kind of woman you are that is of no 
 consequence. It is preposterous to expect that 
 you should inconvenience yourself for two or 
 possibly three months in return for a lifetime 
 of devotion " 
 
 "But you don't know that it will be two or 
 three months. Cases have dragged on for 
 years!" she objected. 
 
 "It is to the interest of the Great Western 
 to hurry this to trial. "
 
 MARRIED? 185 
 
 "Is it your idea that you should come here 
 to stay?" insolently. 
 
 "God forbid! You might come to Santa 
 Rosa you would be comfortable there and 
 and independent." 
 
 "I won't go there I hate it!" 
 
 "We might go to a hotel " 
 
 "Here in New York?" 
 
 "Anywhere you say, of course, I ought to be 
 at Santa Rosa 
 
 "Isn't there any other way?" desperately. 
 
 "If you can find one, for heaven's sake, do!" 
 
 She walked up and down up and down 
 her face one ardent protest. 
 
 "If we gave the Padrasso place to the Great 
 Western, would they withdraw the suit?" 
 
 "It is worth nearly a million dollars and its 
 possession might invalidate the whole of Santa 
 Rosa." 
 
 "I don't care if it's worth everything I've 
 got!" 
 
 He shot a look of admiration at her. 
 
 "I'll propose that to the lawyers, but I doubt 
 that they would agree to it." 
 
 "I tell you, I don't care about the money." 
 
 "Very good. If I can induce them to sell 
 the Padrasso Ranch to the Great Western,
 
 186 MARRIED? 
 
 on agreement that they withdraw their suit, 
 you agree to the loss entailed?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "If not the Judge must take the conse- 
 quences with the rest of us?" 
 
 She took a few seconds again. 
 
 "If I had a house party of people at my place 
 on Long Island and you came to stay, would 
 you do all you could to get me out of this mess?" 
 
 "I think you could rely on me for that!" 
 
 His tone made her look at him. 
 
 "I suppose you want it over as much as I do." 
 
 "More, if anything." 
 
 She flushed hotly. 
 
 "When could you get your house party 
 together?" he added. 
 
 "In a day or two, I suppose." 
 
 "This is Wednesday I'll plan to come on 
 Saturday." 
 
 "Do we do I must the others know about 
 us?" 
 
 "That's your affair. I should say it was not 
 necessary to explain." 
 
 "When will you see the lawyers about getting 
 the suit withdrawn?" 
 
 "To-morrow at eleven. Why don't you come 
 to Judge Tracey's office yourself and propose it?"
 
 MARRIED? 187 
 
 "Oh I don't want to!" she exclaimed. 
 
 He looked his impatience, nodded, and turned 
 toward the door. 
 
 "At eleven, you said?" she repeated. 
 
 "Eleven. Good afternoon." 
 
 She inclined her head, her irritation with him 
 expressed in every line of her face and figure. 
 He smiled at her, and went out.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 AA.S for poor Marcia! She presented 
 herself at the meeting of the lawyers, 
 as Dennis had suggested, and urged 
 them to buy off the Great Western with the Pa- 
 drasso Ranch, but they refused absolutely. She 
 raged and threatened and ordered them to obey 
 her but they were four very resolute men. Mr. 
 Stewart took her aside and called attention to 
 her opportunity to stand by Judge Tracey in this 
 crisis, and so it was that an angry Marcia went 
 home and summoned Clarke, Mary Jane Paul, and 
 some people named the Lathrop Jenningses to 
 come and stay with her at her Long Island house. 
 
 They accepted, although Mary Jane had to 
 come to town every day. 
 
 "I wouldn't miss it if I had to walk in," 
 she said, in accepting. 
 
 "Why?" casually from Marcia over the 
 telephone. 
 
 "Because I want that wonderful man to 
 marry me, after he is through being married 
 to you," was the unexpected reply. 
 
 188
 
 MARRIED? 189 
 
 "Mary Jane! Are you going to be a bore 
 about him, too?" 
 
 "I are." 
 
 Marcia sent a curt note to Dennis announcing 
 that she expected him at such-and-such a train, 
 giving the station and full directions, on Satur- 
 day, "according to agreement" she added. 
 
 She found Clarke not as amenable as usual. 
 It became necessary to tell him the truth. 
 She finally convinced him that it was his duty 
 to be a member of the party in order to help 
 her out. 
 
 It was a strangely assorted house party which 
 assembled in Marcia's drawing room for cock- 
 tails before dinner on this Saturday night. 
 She had asked the Jenningses because she 
 thought they would disturb Dennis Shawn. 
 Mrs. Jennings was an exotic person of utmost 
 sophistication, who was now living with her 
 third husband. It seemed probable that she 
 would soon move on to number four since 
 Lathrop Jennings was both stupid and stingy. 
 
 Mrs. Jennings was clothed in the fewest 
 possible layers of tulle the skirt of her gown 
 hung French fashion, just below the knee. 
 The thinnest of silk stockings called attention 
 to her very good legs. Mary Jane was in her
 
 190 MARRIED? 
 
 black dinner gown which never varied. Marcia 
 herself was very lovely very normal in con- 
 trast to Mrs. Jennings, very feminine in con- 
 trast to Mary Jane Paul. 
 
 The men were equally differentiated. Clarke 
 was sleek and perfect. Jennings was big, red, 
 and "beefy," with a neck which bloused over 
 his collar in the back. Dennis hated dress 
 clothes and was rather awkward in them. But 
 while the rest of them all sensed a strain and 
 tried rather shrilly to overcome it, it irritated 
 Marcia to see how at ease this stranger was, 
 how little evidence he gave of the preposterous 
 position he occupied in this house. 
 
 She sat him next to Mary Jane at dinner, 
 and was furious at herself for doing so when 
 she saw how well they hit it off, and realized 
 how bored she was with Lathrop Jennings. 
 
 From that first night she found herself al- 
 ways irritated with Dennis Shawn. He was 
 too big, too good-looking, too much at ease, too 
 take-it-for-granted that he was there. He 
 neither sought her out nor avoided her. He 
 was merely a courteous acquaintance. 
 
 Sunday developed a situation which she had 
 not planned. It became evident that Mrs. 
 Jennings had eyes for no one but Dennis. She
 
 MARRIED? 191 
 
 set her trap for him most cleverly. He was 
 evidently unaware of it. He looked at her 
 and listened to her with the puzzled air of a 
 large Newfoundland dog watching a trick fox 
 terrier. Mary Jane was consumed with amuse- 
 ment, and Marcia was annoyed. 
 
 "Mrs. Jennings is priceless, Marcia," said 
 Mary Jane. "Where did she come from?" 
 
 "A harem, I think! Isn't she disgusting. I 
 don't think I can stand her." 
 
 "I suppose you asked her to shock Mr. 
 Shawn." 
 
 Marcia shot a glance at her best friend. 
 
 "She seems to be quite his style," she answered. 
 
 Mary Jane laughed. 
 
 "Well, I'm going to rescue him for a while. 
 We're going for a tramp." 
 
 She went off whistling happily as Clarke 
 came in. 
 
 "For heaven's sake, Marcia, why the Jennings 
 woman? Isn't the mighty hunter from the 
 hills enough, without Salome thrown in?" 
 
 "Doesn't she amuse you? I thought she 
 would. I had her for you." 
 
 "Much obliged. I'm a little old for that 
 sort of thing." 
 
 "Hence your passion for an ingenue, like me."
 
 192 MARRIED? 
 
 "How long are you going to keep this mad- 
 house open?" he inquired. 
 
 "Until the Great Western case is called. I 
 told you that." 
 
 "I hope I can stick it out, old girl, but for 
 heaven's sake get some new people." 
 
 "Don't stay if it bores you!" 
 
 "I expected to be bored but this has been a 
 terrible day," he complained. 
 
 "It's been wonderful for me!" she exclaimed 
 sarcastically. 
 
 : 'Yes, but after all, you brought it on your- 
 self." 
 
 "We'll not go into that again, please." 
 
 By planning something to do every minute 
 Marcia kept things going during that endless 
 week. Mary Jane was gone all day, so a duel 
 began between Marcia and Mrs. Jennings over 
 Dennis Shawn. Mrs. Jennings appropriated 
 him completely for three days, until Marcia, 
 goaded to desperation by her boredom with 
 Clarke and Jennings, gave her battle. She 
 carried him off, under the nose of the enemy, 
 one afternoon, in her little car, on an ostensible 
 errand to the village. He accepted without any 
 show of interest.
 
 MARRIED? 193 
 
 "I suppose you're awfully bored, Mr. Shawn, 
 aren't you?" she taunted him. 
 
 "I don't consider my feelings one way or the 
 other. I am doing something for Judge Tracey, 
 and that's all there is to it." 
 
 ''You're doing something for me, too," she 
 reminded him boldly. 
 
 "Incidentally." 
 
 "You wouldn't bother about me if it weren't 
 for the Judge?" 
 
 "Why should I?" 
 
 "I'm your employer. I'm your boss!" she 
 said hotly. 
 
 He laughed at that. She drove about sixty 
 miles an hour for a few minutes. 
 
 "Mrs. Jennings seems to amuse you, Mr. 
 Shawn." 
 
 "Yes, she does." 
 
 "She wouldn't expect a simple ranchman to 
 have such sophisticated taste." 
 
 "She isn't to my taste" simply. 
 
 "No? You seem to spend most of your time 
 with her." 
 
 "I can't escape her," he said. 
 
 She laughed at that. He baffled her, this 
 big cool person, and finally in a fit of pique she 
 took him home.
 
 194 MARRIED? 
 
 . As the days went on, her temper grew uncer- 
 tain, Mrs. Jennings was behaving very badly. 
 Like the little girl in the poem, 
 
 "She mocked 'em, an' she shocked 'em. 
 And she said she didn't care!" 
 
 The men all laughed at her, which only 
 encouraged her. 
 
 Then Dennis annoyed his hostess by talking 
 to the servants as if they were equals. He 
 took more trouble with Bates, the butler, and 
 Simcox, the chauffeur, than he did with her. 
 
 "I wish you wouldn't call the butler 'Mr. 
 Bates,' " she said to him bluntly. 
 
 "Why not? He calls me Mr. Shawn." 
 
 "Naturally. He's not your equal. " 
 
 "Isn't he? He's a better butler than I'd be. 
 He's a pretty well-posted man, I find in talking 
 to him." 
 
 "But you ought not to talk to him!" 
 
 "Why not? He and Mr. Simcox interest 
 me more than Jennings or Jessup do." 
 
 "Haven't you any conception of how to 
 treat servants?" 
 
 "Yes. My conception is that it's ridiculous 
 for two husky fellows like Bates and Simcox
 
 MARRIED? 195 
 
 to spend their time waiting on such folks as there 
 are in this house now." 
 
 "Oh!" she said, and it expressed all she felt. 
 
 The climax came at dinner on Saturday, 
 the end of the week. Judge Tracey had come 
 out for the week-end. Mrs. Jennings took the 
 floor and kept it against all comers. 
 
 "Oh, Dennis Shawn, why won't you open 
 your handsome mouth and tell us about the 
 Far West!" she cried to him. 
 
 "What do you want to know about it?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Are you very savage out there?" 
 
 "Very." 
 
 "Do you barter for wives or just club them 
 on the head?" 
 
 "Both." 
 
 "How did you get yours, Dennis Shawn?" 
 
 "By proxy," he replied simply. 
 
 An electric shock went round the table. 
 Marcia slowly turned a blazing gaze on Dennis. 
 
 "The Proxy Husband!" cried Mrs. Jennings. 
 "Are you serious?" 
 
 "Oh, very." 
 
 " Do tell us about it ! Why did you do it ? " 
 
 "For fun!" satirically. 
 
 "Where did the woman live? Was she rich?
 
 196 MARRIED? 
 
 Was she pretty? Had you ever seen her? 
 Oh do go on!" 
 
 "She lived all over the world. She was rich. 
 I suppose you'd call her pretty." 
 
 Marcia's glass of water went on to the floor 
 with a crash. 
 
 "How stupid of me! Pray go on don't 
 let me interrupt your romance, Mr. Shawn." 
 
 "Where is she now?" from Mrs. Jennings. 
 
 "I don't know." 
 
 "Haven't you ever lived with her?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Nor seen her?" 
 
 "I think it's fair to say I've never really seen 
 her." 
 
 "Then you can't possibly marry me?" 
 languishingly. 
 
 "No sorry." 
 
 " Most interesting ! " commented Judge Tracey. 
 
 Marcia rose. 
 
 : ' You should go in for melodrama, Mr. Shawn." 
 
 "I do." 
 
 As they all trailed out Clarke fell in step with 
 Dennis. 
 
 "Damned bad taste, I should say!" 
 
 "I'm glad to know you've got some ideas on 
 something," replied Dennis coolly, turning away.
 
 MARRIED? 197 
 
 "Dennis, what ailed you?" inquired the 
 Judge anxiously. 
 
 "She needs the bit, Judge. I've stood for a 
 good deal this week, and to-night I punished 
 her. She'd be all right if she had somebody 
 to give her the lash now and then." 
 
 "Do you think so? Well, nobody ever has." 
 
 "It isn't too late." 
 
 "May I speak to you, Mr. Shawn?" carne an 
 icy voice at his elbow. 
 
 He smiled, bowed, followed Marcia into a dis- 
 tant room. 
 
 "How dared you tell that story?" she burst 
 out at him. 
 
 "Why shouldn't I? It amused her." 
 
 "Did you think it would amuse me?" 
 
 "I wasn't trying to amuse you." 
 
 "It was insulting that's what it was! I 
 don't intend to be insulted in my own house, 
 not even for Judge Tracey." 
 
 "When shall I go?" 
 
 "I suppose you would enjoy putting me in a 
 position where I'd be forced to marry you!" 
 
 "On the contrary, nothing would be so dis- 
 tressing to me as to have to marry you. You 
 are the last woman in the world I'd wish to 
 marry, spoiled, idle, useless, untrained, heartless
 
 198 MARRIED? 
 
 oh, no what use would you be to a man as a 
 wife?" 
 
 For one moment he thought she was going to 
 strike him; then, with a muffled sound of fury, 
 she turned and ran out of the room. He stayed 
 on, thinking over the days ahead. What a fool 
 he was to have got himself into this scrape! 
 Bates came in, looking very miserable. 
 
 "Mr. Shawn," he began "excuse me, sir 
 but Simcox and I have got ugly orders, sir." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 "We're to take you to town, sir, in the car, 
 and put you on the Limited for Los Angeles. 
 If you refuse, we're to use force, sir. Oh, Mr. 
 Shawn, what are we to do?" 
 
 "Miss Livingston has ordered you to carry 
 me off?" 
 
 "Yes, sir!" 
 
 "In these clothes?" 
 
 "Simcox is packing you a bag now, sir." 
 
 Dennis roared with laughter. 
 
 "Ask Judge Tracey to come in here, will you? " 
 
 "Yes, sir. Oh, if you knew how we hate to 
 have you go, sir!" 
 
 "Much obliged, Mr. Bates. Don't you 
 worry." 
 
 The butler hurried away and Dennis sat down
 
 MARRIED? 199 
 
 and grinned and waited. Judge Tracey came 
 at once. 
 
 "Mr. Bates, will you get Miss Livingston's 
 maid to pack her bag for five days' travel?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 When he had left them Dennis turned a 
 beaming face on Judge Tracey. 
 
 "Judge, I'm being kidnapped." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Miss Livingston is mad, Judge, through 
 and through. She has ordered the butler and 
 the chauffeur to take me to town and put me 
 on the Limited, by force, if necessary." 
 
 "But it is perfectly ridiculous" began the 
 Judge. 
 
 "Don't waste breath. I'm going to take 
 her with me." 
 
 The Judge stared at him, speechless. 
 
 "She's agreed to see this through and she's 
 going to see it through. She ought to be at 
 Santa Rosa, anyhow 
 
 "But, Dennis, my boy, it can't be done. 
 She'd make it so unbearable for you." 
 
 "I don't mind, I like it. I'm not sure I'm 
 not in love with the creature." 
 
 "Dennis!" cried Judge Tracey. "Do you 
 think she cares for you?"
 
 200 MARRIED? 
 
 "She's mainly busy hating me, but to-night 
 when I found how angry I made her I decided 
 she cared." 
 
 "But how can you get her to go?" 
 "You'll have to do that. I'll start with the 
 big car. Then you will get a telegram from 
 me calling you to Chicago on the 10:50 train. 
 You make a row about no car get her to 
 drive you in, in her racer. If we can get her on 
 the train, I can manage her," he said thought- 
 fully. 
 
 "But I may not be able to persuade her. " 
 "I won't leave unless you arrive. I'll go 
 to the club for the night and call you in the 
 morning. You'll have to work out the details 
 of your part. You'd better pretend that you 
 have transportation, etc., all ready and had 
 expected to go Monday. I will get a stateroom 
 on the Limited and I'll sit in it until two minutes 
 before the train leaves. Simcox will keep out of 
 sight, but will watch for you at the train gate. 
 You persuade her to see you aboard. You 
 can think of some reason for her doing so. 
 Simcox, when he sees you, will send a porter to 
 you with a telegram containing the car number 
 and stateroom. When you get on the train, 
 get rid of the car porter, open the door, as if
 
 MARRIED? 201 
 
 to usher her in, then shut the door quickly and 
 disappear." 
 
 "But, Dennis, this is more incriminating than 
 the marriage!" 
 
 "Dear Judge, she will live to thank you! 
 This is the beginning of her regeneration. 
 There's real stuff in that girl! Trust me with 
 her, Judge," he added gently. "Here are my 
 captors. Boys, I'm in your hands. I'll tell 
 you my plans on the way to town. See you 
 later, Judge." 
 
 It was exactly two minutes before the Cali- 
 fornia Limited was to leave that the door to 
 "stateroom A" opened to admit a lady in motor 
 clothes. The door closed instantly behind her 
 and was locked. Then the lady looked into the 
 cool gaze of her husband by proxy, and the train 
 moved out of the station.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 MARCIA did not scream nor try the 
 door, nor attack Dennis. She just 
 stood quietly and looked at him. 
 
 "Won't you sit down?" he said. 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "You can't possibly stand all the way to 
 Los Angeles." 
 
 "But I'm not going to Los Angeles." 
 
 "I beg your pardon, but you are. By your 
 orders I am going to California, and as we 
 agreed that you were to be with me for a few 
 months, it naturally follows that you also are 
 going to California." 
 
 She smiled. 
 
 "I can ring for the conductor, stop the train, 
 and get off." 
 
 "You could no doubt, but I shall not let you 
 ring." 
 
 "I can scream and have him here in three 
 minutes." 
 
 "Yes. It would make spicy reading for 
 Jessup, we'll say, and the rest of your world, 
 
 202
 
 MARRIED? 203 
 
 that you were taken screaming from a Pullman 
 stateroom, occupied by a man to whom you were 
 secretly married." 
 
 She sat down. 
 
 "What is it that you propose to do?" 
 
 "Take you to the ranch for the time we are 
 forced to spend together." 
 
 "Did Judge Tracey lend himself to this un- 
 speakable insolence?" 
 
 "He did. I explained to him that some whim 
 had made you break your word of agreement 
 to us, that you had with unspeakable in- 
 solence ordered your servants to put me on a 
 train for the West. I pointed out to him that 
 there was nothing to do but take you with 
 me." 
 
 "I should expect you to be a brute I scarcely 
 thought Judge Tracey would be!" 
 
 "Possibly he is tired of your lack of considera- 
 tion for him, and of your unreliability. I should 
 think he would be." 
 
 "I'm not interested in your thoughts." 
 
 They were sitting uncomfortably, she on the 
 edge of the lower berth, he on the long seat 
 opposite. Presently she said: 
 
 "Was it all a lie about Judge Tracey 's trip 
 to Chicago?"
 
 204 MARRIED? 
 
 "Yes. That was my idea of the best way to 
 get you aboard this train." 
 
 "Why didn't you kidnap me outright?" 
 
 "Too crude. Difficult, too, in New York, 
 at that time of night." 
 
 "Have this berth put up. I'm not comfort- 
 able," she ordered. 
 
 "You had better go to bed it is a long, 
 tiresome journey. I have the section just out- 
 side your door, and I shall sit up, myself, and 
 act as guard," he added reassuringly. 
 
 "Stay or go; it is all one to me," replied 
 the girl. 
 
 "Most gracious! I prefer to go. Here is 
 your bag," he said, producing it. 
 
 "Wonderful! you thought of everything" 
 sarcastically. 
 
 He bowed, as if acknowledging a compliment. 
 
 "Pleasant dreams! I wish you good-night," 
 he remarked. "By the way, the porter's bell 
 is disconnected. If you want anything, just 
 speak to me." 
 
 He unlocked the door and left her. 
 
 Marcia sat perfectly still for several minutes, 
 absorbed in her thoughts. Then she shrugged 
 her shoulders, opened her bag, and began to 
 get ready for the night. Just before she went
 
 MARRIED? 205 
 
 to bed, she put out her lights, opened her door 
 cautiously a crack, and looked out into the 
 car. Dennis sat in the seat facing her. 
 
 "Want something?" he inquired. 
 
 With an exclamation that sounded like "Damn" 
 she closed and locked her door. 
 
 At ten next morning he knocked. 
 
 "What is it?" she demanded crossly. 
 
 "Good morning" genially "what will you 
 have for breakfast?" 
 
 "I don't want any." 
 
 "I am forced to ask your hospitality while 
 I eat mine." 
 
 "You'll not come in here," she replied. 
 
 He lifted his eyebrows and smiled. He had 
 eaten his breakfast at seven-thirty. The morn- 
 ing passed. At noon he repeated his question 
 about her lunch. He received the same answer. 
 He had his lunch served him, in his section, 
 and he smoked on the platform hastily with his 
 ear on the alert for any sound from the prisoner. 
 She fasted for dinner, and he began to be anxious. 
 However, he recalled tales of ranchmen lost for 
 days without food. She stuck it out until noon of 
 the next day. Then she admitted the porter, and 
 Dennis followed on his heels as if nothing had 
 happened. She looked white and big-eyed.
 
 206 MARRIED? 
 
 "I hope you feel able to join me in a little 
 lunch. I've ordered soup, broiled chicken, 
 baked apple, and coffee." 
 
 She merely inclined her head. 
 
 The porter finished his ministrations and left 
 them. Dennis sat down opposite her. She 
 looked at him coolly, as one would at a strange 
 interloper. He was so clear-eyed and big and 
 calm. She longed to hurl herself on him and 
 bite and scratch. That he should force her into 
 this position and act as if nothing had happened 
 was almost more than her nerves could stand. 
 
 "I hope you have had a good rest," he re- 
 turned. 
 
 She made no answer. 
 
 "You neither eat nor talk. I've under- 
 estimated your value as a wife." 
 
 "If you force your company upon me, I have 
 to endure it, but I do not have to respond to your 
 tiresome conversation," she retorted. 
 
 "True perfectly true," he admitted. 
 
 The waiter arrived with the lunch. When 
 it was spread before them, Dennis served her, 
 in complete silence. He pantomimed invita- 
 tion, he gestured inquiry in a most annoying 
 way. He tried not to notice her ravenous 
 appetite, as he ate his speechless way through
 
 MARRIED? 207 
 
 the meal. Later he offered her a cigarette, 
 which she refused, and he smoked in silence. 
 He called a train boy, who presented a pile 
 of books for her choice. She chose two, nodded 
 her thanks, and continued to stare out the 
 window. Dennis took one of her books and 
 read. The afternoon passed a silent dinner 
 was consumed, and at ten he rose. 
 
 "I've had a fine time. You are a most restful 
 companion," he observed. "Good-night." 
 
 When she shut the porter out she slammed the 
 door. Dennis laughed out loud at her childish- 
 ness, and it was with that hateful sound in her 
 ears that she went to sleep. 
 
 The fourth day she broke the silence. 
 
 "Has it occurred to you that I may need some 
 other clothes than these?" 
 
 "Yes. I ordered a trunk sent to Los Angeles 
 on the train that follows us. We'll pick it 
 up before we go to the ranch." 
 
 "A trunk? One trunk?" 
 
 "I ordered one trunk of riding and sport 
 clothes, with some heavy shoes and thick 
 sweaters. That is all you will need." 
 
 "I will buy what I want in Los Angeles," 
 she remarked. 
 
 " We may stay there only a few hours," he said.
 
 208 MARRIED? 
 
 "I will not leave Los Angeles until I buy 
 what I need," she said hotly. 
 
 "I've ordered what you need" calmly. 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 She took up a book and ignored him for an 
 hour. Then she glanced up and caught his 
 eye. 
 
 "Don't you think it would be more comfort- 
 able, since we have two or three months, maybe 
 longer, of uninterrupted companionship ahead 
 of us, to cut out the hostilities?" 
 
 She made no answer, just looked up the page 
 of her book. 
 
 "It doesn't make any difference to me," 
 he said cheerfully, "but it seems to be very 
 hard on your nerves and temper." 
 
 If she could have seen the wire he sent Judge 
 Tracey that night, she might have attempted 
 his life. It read: 
 
 Will not stop in Los Angeles. Go direct to Santa Rosa, 
 Marcia well and happy. So am I. 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 As they neared their destination Dennis 
 increased his assiduity as a guard. He thought 
 Marcia was probably planning to escape, if 
 she could, when they reached the city, where 
 any signs of coercion would attract attention.
 
 MARRIED? 209 
 
 He decided not to stop at all just to take a 
 train out to the village and thus avoid danger. 
 There was an hour between connections, how- 
 ever, so he wired Chuck, and then he bundled 
 his captive into a taxi and motored her about 
 the city. She showed only the slightest interest. 
 
 As they were getting on to the local train 
 the gods favoured Dennis. Mr. Maxwell of 
 the Great Western was getting off it. 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Maxwell how are you?" cried 
 Dennis. "Just back from New York with my 
 bride. Mr. Maxwell, Mrs. Shawn." 
 
 Before Marcia could speak or Mr. Maxwell 
 could recover, Dennis had her in the car and 
 out of his sight. She turned her eyes upon 
 him. 
 
 "If you dare to do that again I shall deny it!" 
 
 "Very good if you prefer to travel as my 
 mistress." 
 
 According to orders, Chuck had the Ford 
 runabout sitting in front of the station. Dennis, 
 greeted by the station agent and a few stragglers, 
 helped Marcia in, piled in the bags, gave orders 
 about trunks, and took the driver's seat. 
 
 "Luxurious car you drive," said Marcia. 
 
 "We don't go in much for luxury out here," 
 he answered.
 
 210 MARRIED? 
 
 It was a very beautiful drive down the valley, 
 but Marcia had no eyes for it. After a bit they 
 began to climb, the road was rough, and the old 
 Ford jolted and bumped and rattled. After a 
 long time, with the country growing wilder 
 every minute, they came to a place where 
 Dennis stopped. 
 
 "This is as far as my car will go. We have to 
 walk the rest of the way." 
 
 They got out and he led the way toward a 
 steep trail. 
 
 "Bring the bags," she ordered. 
 
 "The Chinaman will bring them," he replied. 
 
 Up and up they went an endless way, it 
 seemed to Marcia. Finally they came out on a 
 hilltop, where a rude cabin was perched. 
 
 "Here we are!" said Dennis. 
 
 "But this isn't Santa Rosa ranch house!" 
 she protested. 
 
 "No this is a lonely retreat for you and me," 
 he replied. 
 
 "I will not enter that hut!" she cried. 
 
 He went on toward it. 
 
 "Just as you like. The nights are rather 
 cold and we are exactly twelve miles from the 
 nearest neighbour." 
 
 He went into the cabin and began to build a fire.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 SHAWN'S words had their effect, and 
 Marcia followed him into the shack. 
 It was a one-room affair originally, 
 but heavy burlap was hung across one end of it 
 to make another room. The kitchen was a shed 
 at the rear. There were four bunks about the 
 walls, and a fireplace at one end of the big room. 
 There had evidently been a recent effort to 
 add to its charms. A fur rug on the floor and a 
 few chairs and a table were in evidence. In the 
 improvised bedchamber, surrounded by the 
 burlap, were a washstand, a mirror, and a chair. 
 A mattress and bedclothes were provided for the 
 bunk. A few nails had been driven into the 
 walls for clothes hooks. 
 
 But these details entirely escaped Marcia's 
 eyes. She only saw a bare shack which she was 
 apparently expected to occupy with this man 
 whom she hated. 
 
 "Those are your quarters over there," he 
 said, indicating the burlapped section. 
 
 "Where do you sleep?" 
 211
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 "In one of those bunks." 
 
 "If I had known I was coming to this un- 
 speakable place I would have jumped out of the 
 train," she said. 
 
 "Oh, this isn't so bad when you get used to 
 it," he comforted her. 
 
 "Does it seem to you worth your while to 
 go through all this to save Judge Tracey some 
 possible embarrassment?" 
 
 He looked her in the eyes directly. 
 
 "Eminently," he said. 
 
 "Do you propose to hold me a prisoner until 
 that case is tried?" 
 
 "I intend to see that for once in your life you 
 stick to an agreement. You brought the pris- 
 oner part on yourself." 
 
 "Do you expect to sit here and watch me for a 
 few months?" 
 
 "Bless you, no I've got too much to do. 
 I've got a Chinaman to watch you. You'll have 
 all the liberty you can be trusted with. Toy is 
 a faithful Chink, who will follow at your heels. 
 He's not very fluent in English, but he can listen 
 to your troubles and improve his vocabulary." 
 
 "I can kill my self!" 
 
 He glanced at her. 
 
 "Yes I suppose you could, if you cared
 
 MARRIED? 213 
 
 enough about it. It never occurred to me that 
 a Livingston could be a quitter." 
 
 "Do you enjoy coercing a helpless woman?" 
 she inquired. 
 
 He was kneeling on the hearth coaxing the 
 fire. He looked up at her and smiled. 
 
 "It is hard to think of you as a helpless woman. 
 But as for coercing you, I don't mind. You 
 had a chance to do this thing on your own 
 terms. I agreed to do it your way, although I 
 hated your way. You broke faith now you're 
 going to do it my way." 
 
 "You are amusing," she said insolently. 
 
 "You must be glad of that," he replied. 
 "Now I will have the kitchen fire going in 
 ten minutes, so you'd better get ready to cook 
 us some supper." 
 
 She stared at him. 
 
 "Cook supper? I don't intend to cook 
 supper." 
 
 "All right. Get the rules down now! Every- 
 body works out here. We don't have any 
 drones. Your job is to keep the cabin clean 
 and cook the meals. I'll tend the fires and get 
 the provisions, and do any heavy work that you 
 can't manage " 
 
 "I won't so much as lift my hand," she cried.
 
 214 MARRIED? 
 
 "That's up to you. If you don't work you 
 don't eat. You tried fasting on the train, and 
 my impression was you didn't care for it." 
 
 "I'd rather die than be your servant." 
 
 "Good Lord, don't be a fool! You do your 
 job and I'll do mine, that's all there is to it. 
 That's the way it is in the real world. That 
 false, artificial world you've lived in is just a 
 show. Wake up and see what fun life is when 
 you've got a job." 
 
 He went into the lean-to and she heard him 
 chopping kindling and whistling cheerfully. 
 She sat on and contemplated the situation. 
 She was not going to submit, but she had no 
 clear idea of how to resist. 
 
 She went into the burlap room and looked 
 about. She took off her hat and coat and hung 
 them up and washed her face and hands in the 
 tin wash bowl and sat down on the kitchen 
 chair. All was absolutely still, save for Dennis's 
 preparations in the kitchen. The odour of 
 bacon frying began to permeate the air and 
 of coffee boiling. She was hungry and tired 
 and mad. She wanted to cry. 
 
 Dennis watched for her anxiously, but she did 
 not appear, so he ate his supper, washed the 
 dishes, and went to smoke before the fire.
 
 MARRIED? 215 
 
 "Would you like a candle?" he called to her. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Better come out here by the fire it's 
 pleasanter. I won't talk to you," he added. 
 
 But she was committed to war now and she 
 wouldn't give in. She managed to make up 
 her bunk and get into it. It was hard and hate- 
 ful and finally the tears came, from sheer ex- 
 haustion. 
 
 Dennis heard her stifled sobs, and shook his 
 head. 
 
 "Poor little devil!" he muttered to himself. 
 But he, too, was committed to war. 
 
 She did not stir in the morning when he 
 got his breakfast. But before he left the shack 
 he called to her cheerfully. 
 
 "Good morning! Toy will be just outside 
 the door if you want him. If you should want 
 to cook the dinner, he knows where the supplies 
 are cached. They are all hid, but he knows 
 where. I'll be back about twelve o'clock." 
 
 She heard him speak to Toy and go away. 
 She lay still and tried to think of ways of escape; 
 She got up, determined to see whether she could 
 bribe the Chinaman. 
 
 When she stepped to the door, he rose and 
 bowed ceremoniously. She said a few words
 
 216 MARRIED? 
 
 to him, but he only smiled and shook his head. 
 Obviously he did not understand. 
 
 She lifted her eyes to the superb panorama 
 spread before her where mountains and valleys 
 lay in the sun at her feet. The crisp air was 
 full of tang and autumn smells. She wandered 
 off a little way and sat down. 
 
 Dennis came up the trail on horseback at 
 twelve. She watched him come. He waved a 
 friendly hand at sight of her, which she ignored. 
 
 "Some day, isn't it?" he remarked, when he 
 dismounted near her. She made no reply. "I 
 suppose you'd rather look at traffic cops on Fifth 
 Avenue. Are you still on a diet ? " he added. 
 
 As she made no answer, he went inside, 
 prepared his meal, ate it, and departed. This 
 programme was repeated for three days. Then 
 he grew really anxious. 
 
 "Look here," he said, "I agree that you're 
 making a good fight against doing what you 
 don't want to do. Also, it takes a mighty 
 good sport to admit defeat. But you've got too 
 much sense to make yourself sick, in order to 
 prove that you aren't beaten. If you go on 
 starving, I'll get a doctor up here to feed you 
 forcibly, like they did the suffragettes. Be- 
 lieve me, you won't like that."
 
 MARRIED? 217 
 
 "But you would!" 
 
 "No, I would not. I don't like any of this 
 business. I'm just as disappointed as you are 
 mad, because I thought you were a real woman, 
 in spite of all your silliness. But I know now 
 you're just a doll with sawdust insides." 
 
 "I'm sure it would never occur to you that 
 your opinion of me was of no interest." 
 
 "If you want the doctor and the stomach 
 pump, it's up to you. I'll telephone Los 
 Angeles to-morrow." 
 
 "I don't know how to cook," she said. 
 
 "I'll be glad to show you. It's pretty simple 
 grub up here, so it's easy to cook." 
 
 The fourth day, so weak she could hardly 
 walk, Marcia presented herself at the kitchen 
 door when Dennis was about to prepare break- 
 fast. She staggered and fell into his arms and 
 came to later, lying on the fur rug before the 
 fire, while he held her head and administered 
 hot milk. 
 
 "All right," he said comfortingly. "Have 
 to go a little slow after a fast like that." 
 
 She lay still, under her blanket, and he went 
 on with the breakfast. But he sent the China- 
 man off with a message and he stayed at the 
 shack. Every two hours he brought her warm
 
 218 MARRIED? 
 
 milk with brandy in it. He talked along cheer- 
 fully, apparently not noticing that now and 
 then the tears rolled down her cheeks. At 
 noon she had milk toast. 
 
 As the sun warmed up he dragged her mat- 
 tress out on to the porch of the shack and 
 without asking leave he carried her, fur rug, 
 blanket, and all, and laid her out in the sun. 
 He sat not far off and cleaned a rifle with meticu- 
 lous care. She watched him idly, too weak 
 to hate him. The wonder and beauty of the 
 autumn world about them made it seem madness 
 to wish to leave it. When he came with her 
 milk she glanced at him. 
 
 "Why do you bother?" she asked. 
 
 "Wouldn't you hate to leave that?" indicating 
 the whole landscape. 
 
 He watched over her that day and the next. 
 She was able to walk about the shack by that 
 time. Then he introduced her, without com- 
 ment, to the kitchen department. He taught 
 her to cook bacon, eggs, and coffee first. The 
 first time she accomplished it alone, and set 
 it on the table before him, he said cordially: 
 
 "Good work!" 
 
 She sat down opposite him and ate, with- 
 out reply. Her appetite came with returning
 
 MARRIED? 219 
 
 strength, and the keen morning air made her 
 ravenous. 
 
 Dennis helped her with the dinners until she 
 "got the hang of it" as he said. A chicken or 
 wild fowl, potatoes, and a pie or flapjacks 
 constituted the more elaborate meals but she 
 soon mastered their preparation. She asked 
 him to get her a cook book. Their joint efforts 
 in the kitchen had done away with her vow of 
 silence, and they talked impersonally about the 
 events of the day. If he showed any special 
 effort to be friendly, she gave him a sharp re- 
 minder of their drawn swords. 
 
 Once he came back for something he had 
 forgotten and found her sweeping out the cabin, 
 he stood a minute packing his pipe. 
 
 " You're a good sport!" he said to her ad- 
 miringly, and to her intense annoyance she 
 flushed. 
 
 But the truth was that, once having capitu- 
 lated so far as doing her share in the shack, 
 she flung herself into her new duties with relief. 
 She swept and cleaned with ardour. When 
 the cook book came she devoted herself to culi- 
 nary experiments, to Dennis's great amusement. 
 
 "By Jove, you're getting to be a regular chef!" 
 he exclaimed one night, over a new dish.
 
 220 MARRIED? 
 
 True to his word, she had as much liberty 
 as she could use. To be sure, Toy was always 
 a few paces behind her. But she wandered 
 through the woods and brought in great branches 
 to decorate the cabin. She grew strong and 
 rested and relaxed. She grew used to Dennis's 
 comings and goings his cheerful talk, his 
 whistling and singing. She was so tired at 
 night that the hard bunk was as eiderdown. 
 One day merged into the next, and every day 
 she said to herself: 
 
 "To-morrow I'll try to escape!" 
 
 But to-morrow was always to-morrow.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WHILE Dennis Shawn was beginning 
 the belated discipline of Marcia, up 
 in the shack, Judge Tracey was endur- 
 ing a most anxious time in New York. The 
 part of Providence is never a comfortable role, 
 as he confided to Mary Jane Paul. She was 
 the one serene person among the three intimates 
 of Marcia. She assured the Judge that he 
 need not worry at all that Dennis Shawn was 
 the man for Marcia, and that he knew how to 
 manage her. Jessup haunted Judge Tracey's 
 office. He felt sure there was some mystery. 
 He could not understand why Marcia did not 
 write. If, as the Judge said, she had merely 
 decided to spend these necessary months of 
 waiting at Santa Rosa, that was no reason why 
 she should go without saying good-bye and 
 disappear without any explanation. He was 
 determined to go to California and investigate. 
 It was all the Judge could do to hold him 
 back. 
 
 When the first real letter arrived from Dennis 
 
 221
 
 222 MARRIED? 
 
 the Judge summoned Mary Jane Paul to enjoy 
 it with him : 
 
 DEAR JUDGE: 
 
 I have been so busy with things on the ranch and with 
 Miss Livingston that I have only been able to send you 
 telegrams, and one short note. But I want you to know 
 just how things are out here. The trip across country, 
 as I told you, was pretty stormy. I convinced her at 
 the outset that if she made a scene, every paper in the 
 country would feature our story on the front page and 
 she'd have to stay married to me to live it down! That 
 settled her she decided to make the trip and fix me 
 later. I was afraid of Los Angeles, so we came straight 
 through and I took her up to that shack in the mountains 
 where you have spent the night, no doubt when you were 
 hunting out here. It's pretty crude, but I figured that 
 she would manage to get away if I took her to the ranch 
 house. She didn't like it at the shack, but I pointed out 
 to her that I had been willing to go through this thing her 
 way and that she had broken faith with us, so now she'd 
 have to do it my way. 
 
 "That wonderful man!" interrupted Mary 
 Jane. 
 
 Then I explained to her that out here everybody had 
 to work. Her job was to keep the cabin clean and cook. 
 You see, Judge, I figured that if that girl was ever made 
 to do something, she might turn out all right. Well, 
 we had considerable ructions. She said she wouldn't 
 do a thing and I said she'd have to work if she intended
 
 MARRIED? 223 
 
 to eat. So we had a three-day hunger strike that nearly 
 finished us both, but she came round finally and now she's 
 getting to be a real good cook. She cleans up the shack 
 and works around just like anybody. She still keeps up 
 a show of fight, but it's not so fierce. 
 
 Judge, I don't mind telling you that this marriage you 
 "sheenanigined" me into is permanent, if I can manage it! 
 
 Williams is going to Los Angeles this week to see our 
 lawyers about our case. 
 
 Give my regards to Miss Paul. She's the real thing. 
 A little later you might bring her out here. 
 
 Best wishes to yourself, 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 The two conspirators looked at each other a 
 second, and then they laughed. 
 
 "Marcia cooking and tending a shack!" cried 
 Mary Jane. 
 
 "She'll never forgive me," sighed the Judge. 
 
 "Judge, you're such a timorous Providence! 
 I think the whole thing is perfect. I prophesy 
 your Dennis Shawn will discover the Marcia 
 you and I have believed in." 
 
 "I hope so I certainly hope so," he said 
 earnestly. 
 
 Dennis had vouchsafed not one word of 
 explanation to Chuck and Williams as to his 
 reason for living in the shack, or as to his com-
 
 224 MARRIED? 
 
 panion. They had carried out his orders in 
 preparing the place for occupancy with much 
 curiosity. They heard in the village that 
 Dennis had brought a lady with him, and they 
 had to stand much interrogation on the point. 
 They saw him every day, but he never referred 
 to the subject at all. 
 
 It was the end of the second week of Marcia's 
 confinement in the shack that he broke the 
 silence. 
 
 "I suppose you fellows think it's a little queer 
 that I haven't said anything about moving 
 up to the shack, but I didn't know how long 
 I'd be there or just what kind of a pickle I was in. 
 You see, I've got Miss Livingston up there " 
 
 "No!" from Chuck excitedly. 
 
 So Dennis began at the beginning and told the 
 whole story from the time of his arrival in New 
 York. The two men sat spellbound during the tale. 
 
 "You grabbed her and carried her off to that 
 shack?" exclaimed Chuck. 
 
 "Roughly speaking, yes," smiled Dennis. 
 
 "What are you going to do with her now?" 
 inquired Williams. 
 
 "I'm going to keep her up there a little longer 
 and then I'm going to bring her down to the 
 ranch house."
 
 MARRIED? 225 
 
 "Want us to move out?" 
 
 "Not a bit of it. I'll give her my room and 
 bunk in with you, Chuck, if you don't mind/' 
 
 "Of course. Can't we come to see her?" 
 
 "No. She'd wheedle you into helping her 
 get away and I don't intend she shall get away." 
 
 "Has she tried to escape?" 
 
 "Not yet. But I'm prepared for anything." 
 
 "Gosh! This is exciting!" said Chuck. 
 "Do you keep her chained up?" 
 
 "She wanders around, with Toy to watch 
 her," Dennis answered, smiling. 
 
 "Say, if this ever got into the papers 
 
 said Williams. 
 
 "Yes well, it must not," remarked Dennis. 
 "That's one reason the shack is safer." 
 
 "Nobody knows she's there but Toy?" 
 
 "No, and Toy is short on English." 
 
 Williams was called away and Dennis said 
 to Chuck: 
 
 "What's become of Kate?" 
 
 "Luckily for you she's cleared out. She 
 asked me about you all the time at first, after 
 you left, and then she disappeared. Nobody 
 seems to know where she went." 
 
 "It's just as well," sighed Dennis, and it was a 
 sigh of relief.
 
 226 MARRIED? 
 
 "Say, Dennis, move your family down as 
 soon as you can, won't you? Gee, it will be 
 good to talk to a regular girl again. Is she a 
 beauty, Denny?" 
 
 "Yes, I think she is." 
 
 "You lucky old Irishman!" 
 
 "She's got no use for me, Chuck. She hates 
 the sight of me." 
 
 "Honest?" 
 
 "Honest." 
 
 "Well, of all the damned things!" 
 
 "Much obliged, Chuck," laughed Dennis. 
 "I won't be down to-morrow," he added. 
 "Got some work to do up at the shack." 
 
 "Here, wait a minute." Chuck darted across 
 the patio and came back with a tiny fluff-ball 
 of a kitten. "Take this to your prisoner for 
 a playmate, old man." 
 
 Dennis laughed, tucked the kitten in his 
 pocket, and rode away. Marcia was standing 
 in the door as he came up the trail, and she 
 gave his horse a lump of sugar before Dennis 
 led him away. 
 
 "I shall steal a horse and ride all over that 
 valley down there before I run away," she said. 
 
 "You're going to run away, are you?" 
 
 "Certainly."
 
 MARRIED? 227 
 
 He smiled at her. 
 
 "I brought you a present," he said, presenting 
 the white fluff-ball. 
 
 "Oh how cunning!" she exclaimed, and cud- 
 dled it under her chin. "Much obliged," she 
 said, as he moved away. 
 
 The sight of her there, in the sunset at the 
 cabin door, with the kitten under her chin, was a 
 pleasant thing, thought Dennis, as he unsaddled 
 his horse. 
 
 The "present" was a great success. After 
 supper she pursued a string, chased her tail, 
 and did all the tricks peculiar to the cat family. 
 She made Marcia laugh aloud once and Dennis 
 was grateful for that. He sat and smoked 
 and watched them as they played together on 
 the fur rug before the fire. 
 
 He thought of the Marcia of the Long Island 
 house party and smiled. She glanced up at the 
 moment and intercepted it. She frowned. 
 
 "It's nothing to make you angry," he de- 
 fended himself. "I was just thinking how 
 sweet you looked, there on the floor, with the 
 kitten." 
 
 She swept up the present and rose. 
 
 "I consider it impertinent for you to think 
 about me at all!" haughtily.
 
 228 MARRIED? 
 
 "Yes? Well, I think about you a great 
 deal," he said calmly. 
 
 "I'd like you to remember that I am here 
 under duress. That I hate the place, and you. 
 I am your enemy, and I'll get away the first 
 chance I have!" hotly. 
 
 She went into the burlap room and nothing 
 more was seen of her that night. Dennis sat 
 on for an hour or more thinking, smiling some- 
 times. 
 
 The morning proved wonderful as wine. 
 Dennis looked down into the valley and made a 
 resolve. 
 
 "Aren't you late to-day?" Marcia asked, 
 as he made no move to go. 
 
 "If I take you down to explore that valley, 
 will you give me your word not to try to run 
 away?" he asked, smiling. 
 
 "No. I'd run if I got a chance." 
 
 He laughed at her earnestness. 
 
 "I see I shall have to take a risk. I'm 
 game. Toy has gone to get you a horse." 
 
 "Really?" She flushed with pleasure and 
 hurried into her room to hide it. 
 
 Presently he called to her : 
 
 "Miss Enemy, we are ready when you are!" 
 
 She came out in riding breeches and boots
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 and a soft hat. She fed the horses sugar, and 
 climbed to her saddle without his help. 
 
 "You go ahead," she called. 
 
 "No, thanks," he smiled. "I prefer to keep 
 an eye on you. You go ahead." 
 
 She laughed and led the way. Slowly they 
 picked their way down the mountainside. An 
 autumn haze softened the distant range. The 
 air was fresh, even though the sun felt hot on 
 the back. 
 
 "Strike off cross-country never mind the 
 trails," Dennis called to her. She obeyed and 
 he came along beside her. He was at his best 
 in the saddle, and she looked up at him with 
 reluctant admiration. He belonged here among 
 these mountains he had in him something of 
 their calm, their power. A remark the Judge had 
 made to her once came to her mind: "Put Clarke 
 Jessup up against Dennis Shawn and give your- 
 self a good laugh ! " She frowned at the memory. 
 
 "I hoped we had left the frown at the cabin," 
 he said. 
 
 "I suppose you'll make me go back unless I'm 
 cheerful?" she inquired. 
 
 "Yes make you go back, or choke you, or 
 abandon you in the wilderness. How well you 
 know my methods!"
 
 230 MARRIED? 
 
 "Why not? I've had to endure them for 
 nearly four weeks." 
 
 "Is that all? It seems always since that 
 wedding." 
 
 "You flatter me! Do you know anything 
 more about when the case comes to trial?" 
 
 "No. Williams, one of my assistants, is 
 going to Los Angeles to-morrow to find out 
 what he can from our lawyer there." 
 
 "I'd like to see him when he comes back," 
 she said imperiously. 
 
 He made no answer to that. For hours they 
 rode through the quiet beauty. They forded 
 streams, climbed up and down hills, with never 
 a sign of human creature or of man's destructive 
 hand. Dennis produced sandwiches and choco- 
 late from a knapsack for their lunch and they 
 ate beside a brook. Then they headed for 
 home and galloped on level stretches and 
 slowly climbed the hills. It was about sunset 
 when they struck the trail to the cabin. Toy 
 sat on guard as usual, with the kitten in his 
 lap. 
 
 "Well," said Marcia, as she dismounted, 
 "it has been a good day." 
 
 "You enjoyed it?" he demanded. 
 
 "Yes" reluctantly.
 
 MARRIED? 231 
 
 "Am I to understand by that *y es ' 'Thank 
 you so much, Dennis, for a lovely day'?" 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. She went in- 
 doors and dropped down on the rug with her 
 plaything. But its antics did not altogether 
 hold her attention. A fear had suddenly lifted 
 its head in her mind the fear that she was not 
 hating Dennis Shawn as much as she intended 
 to. She must not let him break down her resis- 
 tance. She must be on her guard. She dropped 
 her head on her arm to think about that 
 but the long day in the open air was not con- 
 ducive to clear thought. The kitten curled 
 up against her face, and its purr was soothing. 
 
 It was so that Dennis found them when he 
 came in. He stood looking down at them for 
 several moments before he laid his blanket over 
 her. 
 
 His lips moved, and he muttered something 
 that sounded suspiciously like: 
 
 "God bless ye, dear little Enemy!" 
 
 But of course he was sure she was sleeping 
 very soundly!
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THAT day spent together in the open 
 marked a crisis in the relations of Dennis 
 and Marcia. To the man it opened up 
 vistas of a future which contained many such 
 days spent with this fascinating companion, 
 who was so much the centre of his thoughts 
 and hopes. To Marcia the day held a warning. 
 She swept away all the little unconscious intima- 
 cies that had grown up between them. She 
 became the silent, frowning Marcia of the early 
 days. Dennis could not understand it he 
 catechized himself to discover how he had 
 offended her. 
 
 Marcia fled from the cabin, in the hope of 
 fleeing her troubled thoughts. She led Toy 
 a wild chase, far and wide. In her riding 
 breeches and sweater, with the kitten perched 
 on her shoulder, she tramped for miles. It 
 was on such an expedition that she stood on a 
 rock that jutted out from the hillside and looked 
 off into the vastness, talking to the kitten as 
 was her wont. 
 
 232
 
 MARRIED? 233 
 
 All at once she saw a rider galloping below 
 her. At first she thought it was Dennis, as 
 he was the only man she had ever seen about, 
 but a second glance showed her that this was 
 no such horseman as Dennis. He evidently 
 saw her, outlined against the hill, for he slowed 
 his horse. Impulsively she waved to him 
 he waved back and to her surprise put his horse 
 straight up the hill where she stood. Toy 
 watched it, too. He proved to be a nice, fresh- 
 looking boy, who dismounted beside her with a 
 bow. 
 
 "Good morning," he said. "I'm Chuck 
 English. Fine day, isn't it?" 
 
 "Yes. Where do you come from, Mr. Eng- 
 lish?" 
 
 "Santa Rosa. I'm 'Man Friday' to Dennis 
 Shawn. D'ye mean to say that old clam 
 hasn't told you about me?" 
 
 "Not a word," she smiled. "Do you know 
 who I am?" 
 
 "Yes Mrs. Shawn." 
 
 She started. 
 
 "I'm still called Miss Livingston," she cor- 
 rected him. "Are you Western?" she inquired. 
 
 "No fresh off Broadway last spring but 
 I'm living it down."
 
 234 MARRIED? 
 
 "Do you like it out here?" 
 
 "I should say I do. This is the life! I'm 
 almost as nutty about Santa Rosa as Dennis. 
 It's real out here, Miss Livingston, and the 
 men are real. The only thing we need is some 
 real women. That's why I was so anxious to 
 come see you," he added. 
 
 "Why didn't you?" 
 
 "Well I that is " 
 
 "Mr. Shawn forbade it." 
 
 "He said: 'A little later'," defended Chuck. 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 "Doesn't anybody ever defy King Shawn?" 
 she inquired. 
 
 "I don't know. Everybody loves him out 
 here; I suppose we all want to do things his 
 way. He's a prince, Miss Livingston," added 
 the boy enthusiastically. 
 
 "He seems to be the whole royal family. 
 Who else lives at Santa Rosa?" 
 
 "Harvey Williams, a good old grouch of a 
 fellow. He's secretary and treasurer and first 
 assistant." 
 
 "What do you do?" 
 
 "Oh, I just herd around with Dennis and 
 run errands." 
 
 "He told you about me?"
 
 MARRIED? 235 
 
 "Not until a few days ago. We were bu 'sting 
 with curiosity, but not a word until he was 
 ready. Swore us to secrecy then. He'll skin 
 me for talking to you, probably, but I thought 
 maybe you beckoned a little when you waved." 
 
 "I think I did. Come up and see me at the 
 cabin. In spite of your king's orders, I still 
 run my own affairs," she said. 
 
 "Much obliged maybe I can manage it. 
 I'm glad you're here, Miss Livingston. See 
 you again." 
 
 He mounted and went off, turning to wave 
 her a farewell. 
 
 She startled Dennis at noon by remarking: 
 
 "I asked Chuck English to come and see me." 
 
 "Where did you see Chuck?" he demanded. 
 
 "Oh, off down there. I don't remember the 
 street corner." 
 
 "Hm!" 
 
 "You needn't row him about it. I waved 
 to him and he thought I wanted him. Selfish 
 of you to keep such a nice boy to yourself." 
 
 "Did you ask him to help you get away?" 
 idly. 
 
 "Oh, no I didn't need his help. I'll go 
 when I get ready." 
 
 "I hope we can induce you to stay on awhile."
 
 236 MARRIED? 
 
 "You must make it more amusing for me, 
 then. Mr. English and Mr. Williams to dinner 
 now and then might help you out." 
 
 "I wouldn't trust either of them with you." 
 
 "You do think highly of my charms!" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "I assure you your assistants are quite safe." 
 
 "I prefer to make up my own mind on that 
 subject." 
 
 "Are you labouring under the delusion that 
 these Petruchio manners of yours make you 
 attractive? Women have changed a bit since 
 Shakespeare's time. I am no Katherine " 
 
 Dennis smoked a bit before he hazarded: 
 
 "I think women are about the same." 
 
 "That, Mr. Shawn, is the mistake that will 
 prove your undoing." 
 
 "We'll see," he said coolly. 
 
 She hated him most when he was like this, 
 and in her moods of wavering about him, she 
 chivvied him into this manner, so she could hate 
 him more. 
 
 Into this situation which Dennis believed 
 he had in hand stalked the unexpected in the 
 person of Kate. She arrived at the cabin one 
 afternoon, gave Toy to understand that she 
 brought a message from Shawn, and was ad-
 
 MARRIED? 237 
 
 mitted to the shack where Marcia was at work. 
 She turned at Kate's entrance, and they faced 
 each other a second before she spoke. She 
 felt this handsome, foreign-looking creature was 
 hostile to her, but she was glad of a human 
 being to speak to. 
 
 "Do you want to see me?" Marcia asked. 
 
 "You marry Dennis Shawn?" Kate demanded. 
 
 "Y-yes." 
 
 "No good. Dennis Shawn my man." 
 
 "Who are you?" 
 
 "Kate my name." 
 
 "You say Dennis Shawn is married to you?" 
 
 "Huh no priest but marry all right." 
 
 "You mean you live with him as his wife?" 
 
 "Yes, live with me till he go 'way get you. 
 No good. He come back to me. Kate love 
 Dennis Shawn get him back." 
 
 Marcia thought quickly. 
 
 "Where do you live?" 
 
 "Down by quarters at Santa Rosa. You 
 love Dennis Shawn?" inquired Kate. 
 
 "You say you want him back?" 
 
 "Yes." ' 
 
 "Help me get away from here and you can 
 have him!" 
 
 "You go 'way?"
 
 238 MARRIED? 
 
 "Yes. Can you get me a horse and show me 
 the way to the village?" 
 
 "Me? Yes." 
 
 "Could you do it to-night?" 
 
 Kate stared at her. 
 
 ' ' You go to-night ? ' ' unbelieving. 
 
 "Yes. You ride to the foot of the hill, down 
 there" she drew her to the back door to in- 
 dicate the place "and have a horse for me. 
 Be there at dark by that tallest tree. Wait till 
 I come. I'll give you money " 
 
 "Don't want money want Dennis Shawn." 
 
 "You can have him and welcome! Now 
 you'd better go. He must not know you've 
 been here." 
 
 "You fool give up Dennis Shawn," remarked 
 Kate as she left. 
 
 Toy ignored orders and met Dennis at the 
 foot of the trail when he came up. He pointed 
 to the shack and said something which Dennis 
 finally understood. 
 
 "Kate!" he exclaimed, and hurried on up 
 to the shack. 
 
 Marcia in riding breeches and a soft shirt 
 was bending over the stove when he burst in. 
 
 "Marcia!" he exclaimed. 
 
 She stood up and stared at him.
 
 MARRIED? 239 
 
 "Are you all right?" 
 
 "Certainly. Why not?" coolly. 
 
 "Did any one was any one here?" 
 
 "Oh, yes your mistress came to call," she re- 
 plied, giving her attention to potatoes in the oven. 
 
 "Damn her insolence! What did she want?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 " She was curious about me. I don't wonder." 
 
 A sort of despair came over Dennis's face. 
 
 "Oh, you won't understand " he began. 
 
 She stood up and faced him. 
 
 "I don't wish to understand! I'm not in- 
 terested in your mistresses." 
 
 She passed him with food which she put on 
 the table. He followed her. 
 
 "Please listen to me. Give me a chance 
 
 She went into her room and left him. He 
 gave an exclamation of rage, then she heard 
 him call Toy and give him orders. From 
 her window she saw him saddle his horse and 
 put him down the trail. She smiled. Then 
 she hurried to the table and forced herself to 
 eat a good meal. She called Toy in to serve 
 her. When she finished she ordered him to 
 wash up. She hummed, and talked at the 
 dumb Chinaman, waiting for dark to come with 
 her moment to escape.
 
 240 MARRIED? 
 
 She went in to her room, put on her thickest 
 sweater under her coat, tucked the little re- 
 volver Dennis had given her into her belt. 
 She whistled loudly to throw Toy off the scent. 
 The kitten came mewing at her door and she 
 kissed it good-bye. 
 
 "Make big fire, Toy," she called to him. 
 
 He grunted acquiescence. 
 
 She crawled out the window of her room and 
 ran for the woods. Every crackling leaf and 
 twig terrified her lest it meant Toy in pursuit. 
 She stumbled and scrambled over fallen trees 
 and through underbrush, and down toward the 
 spot where Kate was to be waiting. If she 
 should not be there! If it was all a lie she had 
 told her that afternoon! No it was true. 
 Dennis had admitted it his anger had con- 
 firmed it. He had gone down to settle with 
 Kate, but Kate was settling with him. It 
 choked her to think that she had almost come 
 to like this man this man whose taste in 
 women was a handsome half-breed! Oh she 
 hated him now! If she had needed a flick 
 to her antagonism Kate had supplied it. She 
 would die now, rather than go back to that 
 cabin! Down and down she went; apparently 
 Toy was not following her. At the foot of the
 
 MARRIED? 241 
 
 hill sat Kate on a horse, holding the bridle of 
 another. 
 
 "Kate!" called Marcia. 
 
 "Yes here," came the answer. 
 
 "Good for you!" Marcia exclaimed, almost 
 sobbing with excitement. 
 
 She mounted the horse as fast as she could. 
 
 "Let's go to the village," she said. 
 
 "No, Dennis Shawn go there catch you. 
 I know place where train stops no station. 
 Go there." 
 
 Marcia peered at her in the darkness. 
 
 "Kate, don't you play tricks on me. You 
 put me on train and you'll never see me again, 
 but if you don't " 
 
 Kate laughed. 
 
 "Come on," she said, and led off at a gallop. 
 Marcia followed into the blackness of the 
 falling night into the unknown.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THERE was black fury in Dennis's heart 
 as he rode back to Santa Rosa in search 
 of Kate. Fury at himself that he had 
 succumbed to Kate in the first place, fury that 
 he appeared in such a poor light to Marcia, 
 fury at Kate for telling her the whole thing 
 was unendurable. The memory of the anger 
 and hate in Marcia's eyes burnt into his mind. 
 The men were coming out of the mess hall 
 down at the quarters. He had never gone 
 deliberately to Kate's cabin before, but he was 
 too anxious to give her marching orders to wait 
 for a more discreet visit. But the cabin was 
 empty. He took occasion to talk to some of 
 the men, in order to stay in the neighbourhood 
 and watch for her return. But there were no 
 signs of her. 
 
 He was just about to mount and go back 
 up the hill when along the road to the ranch 
 came a man on the gallop. Dennis waited 
 to see who he was. At sight of the manager 
 the man drew up. 
 
 242
 
 MARRIED? 243 
 
 "Fire," he said, "in big forest No. 6 on 
 
 Padrasso Ranch." 
 
 "Where were you when you saw it?" Dennis 
 
 asked. 
 
 "Going to village for McKim, at mills." 
 
 "Did you warn any one?" 
 
 "No, came here quick to tell you." 
 
 "All right. Boys," called Dennis to men 
 
 who had crowded around, "get out all the horses 
 
 there are and follow. Bring axes! Tell Mr. 
 
 English and Williams to come as fast as they 
 
 can. Telephone McKim for men and axes. 
 
 Sound the fire alarm. I'll go ahead," he cried, 
 
 giving his horse the spur. 
 
 Meanwhile, across the country, in the darkness, 
 the horses of the two women ran. It seemed 
 a miracle to Marcia that they kept their feet 
 at all. Kate's plan was to flag a train, at a 
 spot where the engine slowed down, and to get 
 Marcia aboard. A train went through, she 
 calculated, at 9:20. That meant fast riding to 
 make it. There was a rough road cut through 
 the big forest on the Padrasso Ranch, along 
 which the logs were hauled. She decided to 
 cross-cut by taking that road. 
 
 They had exchanged only a few sentences.
 
 244 MARRIED? 
 
 "Where is Dennis Shawn?" Kate had de- 
 manded. 
 
 "He went to find you, I think." 
 
 "You told him?" 
 
 "No. Toy must have told." 
 
 "He was mad?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 They plunged into the forest, where the dark- 
 ness was thick as fog. 
 
 :t You know the way, Kate?" anxiously. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Marcia dared not look into the dense black- 
 ness on either side. The great trees stood solid 
 as cliffs with the road cut between them. Things 
 scuttled and moved there, queer sounds came 
 from there, it was terrifying but Kate seemed 
 oblivious and kept her horse at a trot. 
 
 Presently the horses sniffed and whinnied 
 softly. Kate's horse swerved but she kicked 
 him smartly and put him ahead. 
 
 "What is it?" Marcia called to her. 
 
 Her horse began to show great nervousness. 
 All at once Kate stopped and Marcia almost 
 plunged into her. 
 
 "Kate, are we lost?" 
 
 "Smoke," was the reply. 
 
 The trees were so tall that you could not see
 
 MARRIED? 245 
 
 above them, but the smell grew closer, more 
 acrid. 
 
 "Turn go back!" ordered Kate. 
 
 But before they could do so, by one of those 
 freaks of fire, flame leaped from some unseen 
 source, and as if by magic, a tall tree just before 
 them suddenly flamed like a torch. With a 
 scream of terror the ponies bolted and ran. 
 Kate's dashed off to the left Marcia's wheeled, 
 ran for a little on the road, then as the smoke 
 followed, he left the road, rushed in among the 
 trees and that was all Marcia knew. 
 
 Dennis came to the edge of the forest, forget- 
 ful of everything but this danger to his trees. 
 For several moments he had seen big puffs 
 of smoke and an occasional tongue of flame. 
 The wind was blowing in the direction to en- 
 danger the whole forest unless the men could 
 stop it before it was under way. He had heard 
 the fire siren scream as he rode, so he knew the 
 men were all on the way now. 
 
 He rode into the wood, alternately speaking 
 comfort to his trembling horse and spurring him. 
 He was determined to see just where the danger 
 line lay. Suddenly he heard a horse whinny. 
 He drew up.
 
 246 MARRIED? 
 
 "Any one there?" he called. 
 
 Again the horse cried it was in among the 
 trees to the right. 
 
 Dennis dismounted, tied his horse, took out 
 his bung-hole lamp, and went slowly toward 
 the sound. 
 
 "Where are you?" he called. 
 
 There was a groan but no answer. He went 
 on, feeling his way, and then his light fell on a 
 horse lying where he had fallen, and thrown to 
 one side, unconscious, lay the rider. He hurried 
 to bend over him, and then 
 
 "Marcia!" he exclaimed, "Marcia!" 
 
 He dropped down beside her and began to 
 feel for her heart-beat. She groaned again. 
 He lifted her and put brandy to her lips she 
 stirred and moaned. He looked at the horse. 
 His foreleg was broken and the poor thing was in 
 agony. He shot him and turned to pick up 
 the girl. At the sound of the shot she had 
 stirred and cried out. He took her up gently 
 and carried her to the road. He sat down there 
 to wait for help. He could never get her to the 
 ranch on his horse but the men would bring a 
 motor. 
 
 How had she come there? Was she alone? 
 What had happened to her? These questions
 
 MARRIED? 247 
 
 knocked at the door of his mind, but he did 
 not try to answer them. The thing now was 
 to get her somewhere and find out how seriously 
 she was hurt. 
 
 When the men came presently, it was Chuck 
 who found him there. 
 
 "Dennis!" he cried. 
 
 "Help me get her into a motor. We'll go 
 to the Padrasso Ranch it's nearer." 
 
 "Is she dead?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "But how ?" 
 
 "I don't know. Bring my horse I can carry 
 her better myself." 
 
 They came out into the group of men getting 
 into slickers and helmets and choosing their axes. 
 
 " Clear that car quick, boys. There's been an 
 accident here," ordered Chuck. 
 
 They obeyed, and the two men got Marcia 
 into the back seat. 
 
 "I'll go with her, Chuck. Let one of the 
 men run the car. You and Williams take 
 charge here. I'll come back as soon as I can," 
 said Dennis. 
 
 At the Padrasso's they had to arouse the old 
 servant who had gone to bed. Dennis despaired 
 of making her understand he just carried
 
 248 MARRIED? 
 
 Marcia into the senorita's room and ordered the 
 maid to help him get her into bed. He tele- 
 phoned the village doctor to come at once and 
 to order a nurse to follow. He had the old 
 woman undress her, but she did not regain 
 consciousness. Dennis sat beside her, his hand 
 on her inert hand, and it seemed to him that 
 aeons of time passed before the doctor came. 
 Time to go over all the past with its folly. 
 Why had he blundered into this girl's life, to 
 bring her in the end to such disaster? If she 
 died what was to become of him? 
 
 "Marcia don't die," he whispered to her. 
 "Don't die until I've proved how much I love 
 you!" 
 
 But the white face held no sign of life, only 
 the faint breathing showed she lived. 
 
 How could she have ridden out there in those 
 woods alone? Where was she going? How 
 had she escaped Toy? His brain ground it 
 out over and over again. 
 
 At last the doctor came. He made an endless 
 examination it seemed to Dennis, who waited 
 in the next room. When he could bear the 
 silence no longer he went to the door. 
 
 "Seems to be a concussion. Must have 
 struck on her head. There's a fractured arm,
 
 MARRIED? 249 
 
 and some bad bruises. I'd like to have some- 
 body else look at her, Mr. Shawn." 
 
 "I'll telephone Los Angeles for any one you 
 say. Will she live?" Dennis asked him. 
 
 "I should say she had a strong constitution, 
 hasn't she?" 
 
 "Yes, I think so." 
 
 "Is she some relation to you, Mr. Shawn?" 
 
 "She is my wife," Dennis answered. 
 
 "Oh ! So? I didn't know you were married." 
 
 "It was a secret marriage suppose you call 
 the doctor you want, now. I'll stay with her." 
 
 The other man left the room and Dennis knelt 
 beside her. There was no change in her face. 
 
 "Marcia dearest," he pled, his face against 
 her hand. 
 
 When the doctor came back, Dennis said to 
 him: 
 
 "Is there anything on earth I can do for her?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Will you stay here until I get back?" 
 
 "You have to go ?" 
 
 "My forests are on fire, I must go and see 
 what headway the men make, unless I can be 
 of use to her." 
 
 "No so long as she lies like this, we can 
 only watch and wait, Mr. Shawn."
 
 250 MARRIED? 
 
 "Then I must go. I'll be back as soon as 
 possible. What time can your consulting doctor 
 get here?" 
 
 "There's a 7:30 out of Los Angeles in the 
 morning. I asked him to take that." 
 
 "I'll be here when he comes." 
 
 Dennis got into the waiting car outside, where 
 the impatient driver sat. 
 
 "Is it all right, Mr. Shawn?" he inquired. 
 
 "She's still unconscious. Now, boy, let's 
 make a record. I must see what they're doing 
 over there." 
 
 The smoke filled all the sky now, and flames 
 shot high and pierced the black like swords. 
 The lilliputians who hacked and dug pits and 
 swarmed on the edge of the hungry monster 
 seemed as useless, as harmless as flies. Dennis 
 ran in among them, counselling, ordering this 
 or that. He seized an axe himself and fell upon 
 a great tree with frenzy.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 DENNIS lived through the days that 
 followed like a man in purgatory. The 
 fire ate its way slowly, surreptitiously, 
 or leapt like a demon. The men worked night 
 and day help was sent from the village and 
 all the surrounding district. This was a danger 
 to the whole country round and men rallied 
 from everywhere to fight it. 
 
 In the big silent bedroom of the old Senorita 
 Padrasso Marcia lay, raving and chattering, 
 knowing no one. The specialist from Los 
 Angeles pronounced it a concussion. Two nurses 
 were installed, and he was to come down from 
 Los Angeles every other day, or at any time 
 he was summoned. 
 
 Dennis wired Judge Tracey as follows: 
 
 Marcia thrown from horse, suffered concussion of the 
 brain. Specialist and trained nurses in charge. Can 
 you and Miss Paul come? Advise Jessup not to come out. 
 Marcia raves against him in her delirium. Doctor 
 wants nothing to disturb her. 
 
 DENNIS SHAWN. 
 
 251
 
 252 MARRIED? 
 
 The Judge answered: 
 
 Miss Paul and I leaving to-day 20th Century Limited, 
 keep us posted Santa Fe Limited leaving Chicago 7:30 
 p. M. Jessup not with us. 
 
 HORACE TRACEY. 
 
 About every two hours Dennis came to 
 Marcia's beside hoping for some change. But 
 she lay in a sort of stupor, or talked incessantly. 
 She looked at him, but without recognition. 
 She argued about her marriage to Jessup, insist- 
 ing it was a good thing. Then she urged Clarke 
 to free her. 
 
 "I can't marry you, Clarke. I can't do it," 
 she said passionately, over and over. 
 
 Then she raved against Dennis. She would 
 escape she must get away. 
 
 "I hate him! I hate him. He lives with 
 Kate Kate is his wife " 
 
 "Oh, Marcia, listen to me. This is Dennis 
 don't you know me?" 
 
 "Kate is his wife! I hate him!" was her 
 answer. 
 
 It was no use she neither heard nor under- 
 stood. The nurses assured him it meant noth- 
 ing that such a patient often turned against 
 those dearest to them, but he sensed their 
 curiosity and disliked it.
 
 MARRIED? 253 
 
 Out in the fire-swept district he worked like a 
 fiend. Chuck and Williams could not induce 
 him to eat or sleep properly. He seemed de- 
 termined to drive himself beyond the limit of 
 endurance. 
 
 It was a hollow-eyed, gaunt man who hurried 
 to greet the Judge and Miss Paul on their arrival 
 at the ranch. 
 
 "Dennis, my boy!" exclaimed the Judge. 
 "You look half dead!" 
 
 "We've had a terrible time, Judge. Marcia's 
 accident and this fire the worst one we've 
 ever had " 
 
 "How is Marcia?" Mary Jane asked as she 
 took his hand. 
 
 "No change. She just lies there." 
 
 "How did it happen, Dennis? Why did you 
 bring her here?" the Judge inquired. 
 
 "She ran away, Judge. I don't know how 
 she managed it, or who helped her. I had a 
 faithful Chinaman guarding her. He says she 
 got out the window of her room and she must 
 have had a horse waiting." 
 
 "Where were you?" 
 
 "I had gone down to Santa Rosa on an errand, 
 about six-thirty or seven o'clock. I warned 
 Toy to be watchful because she was angry
 
 254 MARRIED? 
 
 at me. Down at the ranch came the alarm 
 of fire. I dashed to the threatened forest and 
 in there, on the very edge of the burning timber, 
 I found a horse with a broken leg and Marcia, 
 unconscious as she is now. I brought her here 
 because it was nearer than our ranch house." 
 
 "But how on earth did she get there?" 
 the Judge queried. 
 
 "Judge, I have no more idea than you have. 
 It may be that she was lost and got into the 
 forest by mistake. I don't know. I only 
 know that I hold myself responsible for it all. 
 I had no right to bring her here against her 
 will. I love her, Judge, and if she dies it will 
 be my fault." 
 
 "No, Dennis, it will be mine," the Judge 
 interrupted him. "If anything happens to my 
 little Marcia, it will be a terrible punishment 
 to me." 
 
 "You both talk as if she were sure to die," 
 exclaimed .Mary Jane. "Marcia is strong 
 she won't die. I'm glad you love her, Dennis 
 Shawn," she added. 
 
 The nurse came to say that they could go in 
 for a few moments, if they liked, but they must 
 not expect her to know them. At sight of 
 the white, vacant face Judge Tracey broke down
 
 MARRIED? 255 
 
 and turned away. Mary Jane knelt beside 
 the bed, her hand on the girl's hand. 
 
 "Marcia, dear it's Mary Jane. Look at 
 me. Don't you know me?" 
 
 There was no change of expression. Her 
 eyes were on her friend, but they telegraphed 
 no impression to the brain. Dennis fought 
 for composure. He was very tired and he had 
 hoped much from the coming of these, her 
 oldest friends. The nurse motioned them to 
 go, and they left the room. 
 
 "It is very terrible," sobbed Judge Tracey. 
 
 "We'll pull her out of this don't despair, 
 either of you. Dennis Shawn, you give us the 
 responsibility here now, and you devote your- 
 self to the fire," said Mary Jane. "I shall un- 
 pack and get settled down and arrange with 
 the nurse for part time with Marcia. I think 
 I may be able to help her come back." 
 
 " God bless you," said Dennis warmly. "Judge, 
 I've got to go back now. Do you want to come 
 or shall I send for you later?" 
 
 "I'll go with you. I won't be gone very 
 long, Mary Jane," he added. 
 
 She saw them off in Dennis's motor, then she 
 set her belongings in order and had a long talk 
 with the nurse. The Los Angeles doctor was
 
 256 MARRIED? 
 
 expected later in the day, the nurse reported, 
 and she could talk to him about the case. In the 
 meantime, she advised her not to stay in the 
 patient's room, because people made her restless. 
 
 So Mary Jane went out to wander about and 
 await the doctor. Off to the west the smoke 
 smudged the skies and the smell and taste 
 of it were in the air. But to the east lay the 
 most beautiful country she had ever seen. She 
 was glad of the fate that had transferred Marcia 
 into the midst of such peace and beauty. Even 
 if her brief stay seemed to have been full of 
 dissatisfaction, even if it had come to the pres- 
 ent crisis of danger, still Mary Jane believed 
 that with Dennis Shawn to love her, with such 
 a world to live in, the future still held happiness 
 for her friend. 
 
 The doctor came, made his examination, 
 and told Mary Jane his diagnosis and his plan 
 of treatment. He agreed to a brief, tentative 
 effort on her part to catch and hold Marcia' s 
 attention by talking of something entirely 
 remote from her present. She must use her 
 intelligence as to how far to go the patient 
 must not be irritated or excited. He would 
 see her again in a couple of days and decide 
 as to whether it was a wise move.
 
 MARRIED? 257 
 
 Dennis, meantime, had handed Judge Tracey 
 over to Williams, while he, himself, pushed 
 ahead to the front line of fighters. As he came 
 to them, one of the men hurried to him. 
 
 "Mr. Shawn, we found a body and a horse," 
 he said. 
 
 "Any identification? Was he burned beyond 
 recognition?" 
 
 "It was a woman, sir." 
 
 "A woman!" exclaimed Dennis. 
 
 "Yes, sir. We think it was Mexican Kate. 
 We found this, and I think she wore it," he 
 answered, displaying a bracelet. Dennis recog- 
 nized it at once it was a trinket he had bought 
 for her in the village. 
 
 "Let me see what you found," he said. 
 
 The men led him to where the charred thing 
 lay. The conviction leapt into his mind that 
 Kate had been Marcia's companion on the 
 fatal ride. She was helping her to get away. 
 They had planned it that afternoon when Kate 
 came to the cabin. It might have been Marcia 
 lying at his feet so disfigured and hideous! 
 He shuddered at the thought. 
 
 "Let me take your shovel," Dennis said. 
 "I'd like to give the poor thing decent burial." 
 
 Together they dug a grave and laid the body
 
 258 MARRIED? 
 
 in it. Dennis's thoughts were busy considering 
 the fate which had so entangled these three lives. 
 
 The fire was almost under control now. Acres 
 of charred ashes lay where the great forests 
 had stood. A day shift and a night shift of 
 men still worked widening the stretch of felled 
 trees deepening the ditches that were dug 
 to stop the creeping monster. The first time 
 that Dennis felt the danger was over he went 
 to the Padrasso Ranch and sought out Mary 
 Jane. 
 
 "Come for a walk, will you? I want to tell 
 you something." 
 
 "Can't it wait? Have a bath and go to bed, 
 Dennis." 
 
 "Later. The fire's in hand now. I'll have 
 a chance to sleep. But I must tell you some- 
 thing, Mary Jane," he said earnestly, omitting 
 her more formal title as simply as if it had never 
 existed. 
 
 "All right. Let me get a sweater," she agreed. 
 
 He led her off across country, scarcely looking 
 where they went. 
 
 "It's about Marcia," he began. "I know 
 who helped her and how she ran away." 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 "There was a woman down at the quarters
 
 MARRIED? 259 
 
 * 
 
 near Santa Rosa named Kate. She was a 
 
 Mexican half-breed I think. I lived with her 
 for a while before Marcia came." 
 
 She made no comment, and after a second he 
 went on. 
 
 "She disappeared while I was in New York. 
 Nobody knew where she went. I thought 
 she was gone for good." 
 
 "Did you love this woman, Dennis Shawn?" 
 
 "No. She seemed to to care for me. I 
 went to her once when I thought Marcia's 
 marriage to Jessup would drive me away from 
 Santa Rosa. I suppose you wouldn't believe 
 how I felt about leaving here?" 
 
 "I think I can understand what it would mean 
 to you" simply. 
 
 "I needed a woman and Kate was there. I 
 don't make any excuses for myself there are 
 none. I just tell you facts. The day the fire 
 broke out, Kate turned up at the cabin and 
 saw Marcia. She told her of our relations. 
 She may have threatened her. Evidently Marcia 
 induced her to help her get away." 
 
 : 'You knew she was there?" 
 
 :< Yes. Toy told me Marcia admitted it. 
 She was very angry with me. There were 
 times those last few days, Mary Jane, when I
 
 260 MARRIED? 
 
 thought she did not hate me quite so much 
 
 when I had a little hope He broke off and 
 
 did not finish it. 
 
 "You think they went off together that very 
 night?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "But where was Kate taking her?" 
 
 "That I do not know. When Marcia would 
 not listen to me when she shut herself up in 
 her room I started off to find Kate. I was 
 half crazy with rage. I went to her cabin, but 
 she was not there." 
 
 "But how did you learn all this, Dennis?" 
 
 "We found Kate's body and her horse, charred 
 almost beyond recognition, in the burned forest." 
 
 "Poor soul!" 
 
 He turned his face away from her. "It 
 might have been Marcia," he groaned. 
 
 She laid her arm across his shoulders, and 
 walked on beside him in silence. 
 
 "I suppose Kate thought that with Marcia 
 out of the way, you would come back to her," 
 Mary Jane suggested. "It was like Marcia 
 to find that out, and make use of it." 
 
 Dennis had himself in hand now. 
 
 "I wanted you to know the truth, because 
 you are her friend. When she comes to herself,
 
 MARRIED? 261 
 
 maybe you might soften her anger when she 
 remembers ' ' 
 
 "I'll try, Dennis, because I am fond of you 
 both. Marcia is proud I've no doubt she 
 felt outraged by Kate's revelation." 
 
 "I know. I'm not blaming her I only 
 blame myself." 
 
 "I understand and I'll do my best, if I get 
 the chance but I think you owe Marcia just 
 what you've told me, Dennis." 
 
 "She wouldn't listen." 
 
 "Suppose I make it my business to try and 
 get her to listen?" 
 
 "I can never thank you, Mary Jane," he said 
 hoarsely. 
 
 "You go to bed now, Dennis, and stay there 
 for forty-eight hours. I'll call you if there is 
 any change in Marcia." 
 
 "Thanks. I will. I'm all in." 
 
 He went to his room and Mary Jane tiptoed 
 in to where Marcia lay. The nurse whispered 
 to her and went out. Mary Jane sat down 
 beside the bed. 
 
 "No, Clarke, I can't marry you. I don't 
 love you," the toneless voice vent on. "Where 
 are we going, Kate? I hate you, Dennis." 
 
 "Let's go to the Opera, Marcia," said Mary
 
 MARRIED? 
 
 Jane decisively. "They say the Opera is one 
 of the sights in Paris. To-morrow we start 
 on that motor trip, so this is our last chance." 
 
 Marcia muttered a word or so but the flood 
 of talk was stilled. Mary Jane monologued 
 on about the motor trip. She recalled incidents 
 she named people they had met, she laughed 
 over some jokes they had had between them. 
 The wavering glance came to rest on her face 
 and Marcia was quiet. She seemed to listen 
 passively. 
 
 Finally she fell asleep, and Mary Jane was 
 satisfied.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 IT WAS two weeks later when one day Mar- 
 cia opened her eyes on Mary Jane, who sat 
 beside her, and said in a normal voice: 
 
 "Mary Jane, where are we?" 
 
 "Marcia, you know me?" exclaimed her 
 friend. 
 
 "Of course I know you. Am I sick?" she 
 added. 
 
 "You've been terribly ill for a long time." 
 
 "But are we in Europe?" 
 
 "No. We're at the Padrasso place on Santa 
 Rosa Ranch." 
 
 Memory came back in flood tide now. 
 
 " Dennis is- 
 
 "He is here. Judge Tracey and I came as 
 soon as he wired us of your accident. " 
 
 "Accident?" 
 
 "You were thrown from your horse in the 
 forest, where the fire began.' 1 
 
 Marcia tried to sit up. 
 
 "Where is Kate?" she demanded. 
 
 "Poor soul she lost her life." 
 
 263
 
 264 MARRIED? 
 
 "She did? Who found us?" 
 
 "Dennis Shawn. He carried you here. He 
 has been nearly distracted with anxiety over 
 you. He has had to fight the fire and all 
 but you've had talk enough for this morning, 
 dear. Be quiet now and later the Judge will 
 come in for a little visit." 
 
 Marcia fixed big eyes on Mary Jane's face. 
 
 "Did you know that the Judge helped Dennis 
 Shawn carry me on ?" 
 
 "Yes." She smiled tenderly. 
 
 Marcia turned away her face and Mary Jane 
 went out to send the nurse and tell the others 
 the good news. 
 
 Later, when Judge Tracey came to her bed- 
 side, she had no smile for him. He bent over 
 and kissed her, and there were tears in his eyes 
 when he sat beside her, her hand in his. 
 
 "I'm too weak to tell you what I think of you 
 now," she said. 
 
 " Marcia, dear, you can't say anything that I 
 haven't said to myself. This is the only time 
 in my life that I ever deliberately tried to ar- 
 range other people's affairs for them, and the 
 punishment I have suffered since your accident 
 ought to satisfy even you," sciid the old man 
 humbly.
 
 MARRIED? 265 
 
 "There's a good deal to explain, Judge, but I 
 suppose I can't afford to lose you after all these 
 years." 
 
 "Marcia, you're the dearest thing in my life, 
 so you must believe that anything I have done, 
 however misguided, was intended for your 
 happiness and good." 
 
 "Just now I'm glad of your love but when 
 I'm well I expect to be very abusive to you for 
 your part in all this." 
 
 Mary Jane came in. 
 
 "Time's up. Not too much excitement the 
 first day. Have you forgiven him?" she added, 
 smiling. 
 
 "No. Just saved up the moment of reckon- 
 ing," Marcia answered. 
 
 Her two friends went away, arm in arm, 
 and the nurse ordered sleep. She asked the 
 nurse if Mr. Shawn was staying in the house 
 and she said he was; that he often sat hours by 
 her bedside. She offered to call him, but 
 Marcia protested, and turned her face to the 
 wall, as if to sleep. 
 
 The day passed into evening. The nurse 
 went off for something. Marcia looked up, 
 thinking she stood over her, but it was into 
 Dennis Shawn's eyes she looked.
 
 266 MARRIED? 
 
 "Marcia!" he said. "Marcia!" The word 
 was so full of tenderness and appeal that she 
 looked away. She heard him draw a chair 
 close to the bed. When he spoke his voice 
 was near her ear. 
 
 :< You need not answer me, or look at me, dear. 
 I only ask you to listen," he said. "I've gone 
 through hell since the night I found you in the 
 woods a hell of regret. We found poor Kate's 
 body I know that you started off with her 
 because you could no longer endure me. I 
 don't blame you. I only want you to know 
 that I had not seen her after I came back 
 from the East. I thought she had gone for 
 good." 
 
 She made no gesture to indicate that she 
 listened her face was turned away from him. 
 He told her the story of Kate, just as he had 
 told it to Mary Jane. 
 
 "There it is ugly and sordid. I hate it 
 just as I hate every other mean thing I ever did 
 in my life because of you. I ought to have 
 known that some day you would come and I 
 would love you as I do that I would want 
 all my life to have been fit and decent just for 
 your sake. Oh, Marcia!" he broke off. He 
 bent and put his cheek against her hand, but
 
 MARRIED? 267 
 
 she drew it away. The look on Dennis's face 
 at that gesture of repulsion would have moved 
 her had she seen it. 
 
 The Judge came in. 
 
 "Ah, Dennis I'm looking for you. Marcia, 
 I've good news for you. I have a wire from 
 our attorney that the case is called for three 
 weeks from to-day. We must get you well 
 by that time, and then you and Dennis can 
 wind up your affairs and you can go back to 
 Clarke and the Toy Theatre and the things you 
 like " 
 
 She made no answer. 
 
 "I thought you would receive my news with 
 joy, you two," complained the wicked old 
 man, going out of the room again. 
 
 "I suppose he's right. You'll go back and 
 forget. And I'll go somewhere, as far from 
 Santa Rosa as I can travel, and try to do the 
 same. Oh, didn't those days in the cabin mean 
 anything to you?" 
 
 "Go away!" she said to him irritably, at 
 the end of her endurance. 
 
 He went, and only when he reached the door 
 did she turn her eyes toward him. 
 
 The next day, after a restless night, Marcia 
 was allowed paper and a pencil because she
 
 268 MARRIED? 
 
 insisted upon it so strongly and promised to go 
 to sleep if they let her have it. 
 
 She wrote painfully, just a line or two. 
 
 DEAR CLARKE: 
 
 A great many things have happened to me. I find 
 I cannot marry you, after all. I think you'll understand. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 MARCIA. 
 
 She addressed it and gave it to Mary Jane 
 to mail. Nothing was said about its contents, 
 but Mary Jane looked mightily pleased as she 
 carried it off. 
 
 They forced Marcia to endure a quiet day 
 with no callers. The Judge appeared at her 
 bedside early the next day to say that he and 
 Dennis were going to Los Angeles. He offered 
 to bring her anything the town contained that 
 she wanted. There was no sign of Dennis 
 Shawn to say good-bye. 
 
 Her strength came back quickly now, and 
 the doctor permitted her to be up a while each 
 day. When she grew tired of the gloomy 
 old house Mary Jane packed her up and trans- 
 ferred her, belongings and all, to Santa Rosa 
 where they were rapturously received by Chuck, 
 if not by Williams. The boy amused Marcia
 
 MARRIED? 269 
 
 and helped greatly in her convalescence. At 
 the end of a week the Judge came back, leaving 
 Dennis in Los Angeles. He was delighted 
 at the improvement of their patient. He told 
 Mary Jane that they could soon carry her back 
 to New York with them. 
 
 Marcia said nothing, but Mary Jane sighed. 
 
 "I don't see how I can ever stand New York 
 again after Santa Rosa," she said. 
 
 " Tut-tut what about the great work of the 
 school?" he teased her. 
 
 "Yes I suppose my duty calls," she smiled. 
 
 It was high noon hot in the sun. Marcia 
 was tucked up in a big chair in the patio. The 
 white kitten which Toy had brought to her 
 played with a rose on the warm stone flags. 
 Chuck came in from his morning rounds. 
 
 "Hello, everybody," he called. "Some day! 
 How's the Princess?" 
 
 "Better, thanks." 
 
 "Any news from Dennis, Judge? When 
 is the old scout coming back?" asked Chuck. 
 
 "He doesn't say." 
 
 "We need him all the time. You couldn't run 
 this place without him! Why doesn't he come 
 home and attend to his job ! " complained the boy. 
 
 "Dennis isn't himself. He's far from well,"
 
 270 MARRIED? 
 
 said the Judge seriously. "I'm urging him 
 to take a long sea voyage " 
 
 "Look here, Miss Livingston, you're Dennis 
 Shawn's employer you order him back from 
 Los Angeles. We need him right here." 
 
 The Judge and Mary Jane smiled and tried 
 to pass it off. Marcia never mentioned Dennis's 
 name, never spoke to either of them about him 
 or her plans and intentions. They were utterly 
 at sea as to the relations of these two people 
 so dear to them both. 
 
 "Here comes old Williams," remarked Chuck. 
 "Never used to be so prompt to lunch before 
 Miss Paul came." 
 
 At this both Marcia and the Judge looked 
 at Mary Jane, who blushed furiously, 
 
 "You ridiculous boy!" she said to Chuck, 
 but the germ of a thought was planted in 
 Marcia's mind. 
 
 The days passed. Marcia went for a walk, 
 then for a ride with Chuck, but still no sign of 
 Dennis. 
 
 "I don't get Dennis," Chuck said on their 
 excursion. "You can't keep him in Los Angeles 
 over night usually he's always so keen to get 
 back here. He loves this place as if it were his 
 mother."
 
 MARRIED? 271 
 
 Marcia was gazing off over the hills, and he 
 went on: 
 
 "There never was anybody like Dennis, 
 Miss Livingston. I don't know how girls feel 
 about men, but I tell you men know what 
 Dennis is. Why, the way he worked the 
 way he handled the men up at that fire was 
 simply great. We couldn't get him to eat or 
 sleep or do anything but go to see you he 
 seemed to feel that every tree that went was a 
 member of his family." 
 
 "Did he find Kate?" 
 
 "No some of the men but he identified 
 the body and he buried it." Chuck answered. 
 "Gee! The night I came on him in the woods 
 with you in his arms, and the fire behind him! 
 I'll never forget how he looked as if he'd killed 
 you. He's never seemed the same old Dennis 
 since then. He's kind of old and solemn " 
 
 "Did he ever tell you how I happened to be 
 in the woods?" 
 
 "Not he. He's a terrible clam. He never 
 said anything to me about you, except that 
 day he told us you were at the cabin. I said 
 he was a lucky old Irishman and he looked at 
 me, kind of queer, and said 'She's got no use 
 for me, Chuck. She can't bear the sight of me'
 
 272 MARRIED? 
 
 and I knew by the way he said it, Miss Livings- 
 ton, that you were the whole thing to Dennis 
 Shawn." 
 
 She was silent, and Chuck was abashed. 
 
 "Look here you aren't cross with me for 
 telling you this?" 
 
 She smiled at him. 
 
 "No, Chuck, I'm not cross." 
 
 "I don't want to butt in on your affairs, but 
 it must mean something to a woman to know 
 that a man like Dennis Shawn loves her," he 
 said earnestly. 
 
 That night the Judge had a consultation 
 with Williams about some matters touching 
 the burned acres. They decided to call Dennis 
 and urge him to come out for a day. The 
 Judge talked to him on the telephone. 
 
 "He didn't want to come said we could 
 settle it he was busy up there," he reported. 
 
 "Of all the nerve! Did you give him the 
 devil?" exclaimed Chuck. 
 
 "He said for you to meet him at the 4:10 
 train to-morrow," the Judge answered. 
 
 "It will be good to see him!" said Mary 
 Jane. 
 
 Marcia said nothing, but the following after- 
 noon she gave Chuck a note to deliver. She
 
 MARRIED? 273 
 
 herself disappeared after lunch. She got on a 
 horse, took the white kitten on her saddle horn 
 and went off in the direction farthest removed 
 from the one by which Dennis Shawn would 
 arrive at Santa Rosa.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 DENNIS had gone down into the valley 
 of defeat in Los Angeles. Marcia's 
 irritated "Go away" the night when 
 he told her of his love had settled in his mind 
 forever any hope of happiness with her. He 
 had welcomed the necessity of going away with 
 Judge Tracey, and so long as his old friend 
 was with him, and they were busy, he kept 
 Marcia out of his mind The two men never 
 spoke of the thing that was uppermost in their 
 thoughts until the day the Judge was going 
 back to the ranch. 
 
 "Judge, I think I ought to tell you that I 
 
 can't stay on at Santa Rosa," Dennis began. 
 
 "That is the worst news I could hear, Dennis." 
 
 "I'm sorry. You are the best friend I have 
 
 in the world, Judge, but I've made a mess of 
 
 things, and Santa Rosa would be a haunted 
 
 place for me now." 
 
 "You mean that you love Marcia?" 
 "Yes and that she hates me." 
 "Are you sure, Dennis?" anxiously. 
 
 274
 
 MARRIED? 275 
 
 " Perfectly. I told her I loved Jier, that first day 
 she was conscious, and all she said was * go away ! ' ' 
 
 "She was a sick girl then, Dennis." 
 
 "Not too sick to know her mind. No, Judge, 
 she hates me " 
 
 "Dennis, I've made a mess of things, too," 
 exclaimed the Judge with feeling. 
 
 "Did you want her to care for me, Judge?" 
 Dennis asked in surprise. 
 
 "I wanted it so much that I risked your friend- 
 ship and hers, my own peace of mind " He 
 
 stopped, covering his face with his hands. 
 
 "Judge, what do you mean?" asked Dennis 
 gently. 
 
 The older man rose and laid his hands on 
 Dennis's shoulders. 
 
 "I wanted you two to marry so much that I 
 manipulated this mad experiment." 
 
 He explained from beginning to end, and 
 Dennis listened in astonishment. 
 
 "Dennis, if you tell me that I have interfered 
 with your life in the most damnably unwar- 
 ranted way, you will be right!" he concluded. 
 
 Dennis paced up and down, frowning. 
 
 "Judge," he said finally, "you took a big 
 chance on this thing, and it's turned out pretty 
 bad for me, but I can see how you were tempted
 
 276 MARRIED? 
 
 to do it, and I know how much you love that 
 girl and me, too, sir. I wish for your sake 
 it had had a happy ending." 
 
 "You wouldn't come down with me, Dennis, 
 and try once more, now that she's well?" 
 
 "It's no use, Judge. I have some pride, you 
 know. " 
 
 The Judge's arguments and entreaties failed 
 to move Dennis, and in the end, he left him in 
 Los Angeles. Dennis was to decide about his 
 future and write the Judge his decision. He 
 would make no move until after the case was 
 tried and the marriage annulled. 
 
 "If we needed your advice very much, at 
 Santa Rosa, would you come down for a day?" 
 was the Judge 's parting question. 
 
 Dennis nodded as the train pulled out. 
 
 It was to make good this promise that he 
 reluctantly stepped on to the 4:10 to Santa 
 Rosa on an afternoon two weeks later. All 
 the way he steeled himself to meet Marcia. At 
 the station Chuck's greeting brought a lump 
 to his throat. They started off on the well- 
 known road and Dennis eyes were wet with the 
 thought of leaving this country he loved. 
 
 Suddenly Chuck took something from his 
 pocket and thrust it at him.
 
 MARRIED? 277 
 
 "By the way she told me to give you this." 
 Dennis opened it the first line he had ever 
 had from Marcia. 
 
 Will you come up to the cabin? 
 
 MARCIA. 
 
 "Is she is she well?" he asked Chuck. 
 
 "Perfectly. Lovelier than ever, too." 
 
 "Let me off at the stables, Chuck. Tell 
 the Judge I had something to attend to I'll 
 be at the ranch a little later." 
 
 "Very good, sir," said Chuck, smiling. 
 
 Meantime Marcia had climbed the trail to 
 the cabin. The door was open and Toy was 
 sweeping vigorously. He stopped at sight of 
 her, made his low bow, and went on with his 
 work. The fire was laid, the room in order. 
 The kitchen department was spotless, the sup- 
 plies just as she had ordered them. 
 
 She went out to the woods beyond and carried 
 back great branches of green to make the living 
 room festive. Toy finished his cleaning and 
 disappeared into the shack at the back. Marcia 
 sat down with the kitten in her lap to wait and 
 think. She sent her thoughts back over every 
 step of her association with Dennis Shawn from 
 that first day, which seemed so remote now, 
 when he strode into her drawing room and de-
 
 278 MARRIED? 
 
 manded audience with her. She remembered 
 how he seemed to fill the room with his presence, 
 how he dwarfed Clarke Jessup how he had 
 swept Mary Jane and Clarke out of the room 
 and taken possession of her attention. He 
 had never lost it since. He had dominated 
 her as no other human being had ever done, 
 he had made her work with her hands, he had 
 forced her to consider the rights of another 
 person. She looked back at her days in New 
 York, those restless, seeking days. How empty 
 they had been beside these days in the cabin 
 
 filled with simple duties and with But here 
 
 stopped. The fear that teased her was that 
 she might grow tired of life out here that 
 she might disappoint Dennis, and turn out to 
 be a "doll with sawdust insides" as he had once 
 said so bitterly. 
 
 "Present," she said, addressing the cat, "we 
 can take only one step at a time, and just now 
 I know that if I had to leave Santa Rosa and 
 and all, I should die!" 
 
 She heard something that made her spring 
 up, colour flooding her cheeks, heart pounding. 
 She tucked the kitten under her chin and went 
 to stand in the door. It was so that Dennis 
 saw her as his horse climbed the trail.
 
 MARRIED? 279 
 
 "Dennis," she said faintly, as he dismounted 
 beside her, "Dennis!" 
 
 "Marcia?" he said, questioning. 
 
 He dropped the bridle over his pony's head, 
 and he wandered away seeking green grass. 
 
 Dennis took two steps to Marcia's side and 
 looked into her eyes. She looked back at him 
 and smiled. 
 
 "Dennis welcome home!" she said softly. 
 
 He swept her into his arms with such passion 
 that the white kitten was brushed aside and ran 
 for its life. 
 
 "Marcia my love!" breathed Dennis. 
 
 He kissed her lips, her eyes, her hair, saying 
 her name over and over, like a prayer. She 
 clung to him, and tasted happiness that was 
 almost pain. 
 
 "Marcia," he said at last, "is it a miracle? 
 Am I dreaming this?" 
 
 "No, dearest, it's true it's the truest thing 
 that has ever come to either of us. Oh, Dennis, 
 Dennis, how near we came to missing this." 
 
 "Don't!" he shuddered. "Say you love me, 
 Marcia?" 
 
 "Dennis, I love you with all my heart, my 
 lover." 
 
 After a while they went into the cabin and
 
 280 MARRIED? 
 
 he knelt to light the fire. She blew him a kiss 
 and started for the kitchen. 
 
 "Where are you going?" he cried. 
 
 "To cook the supper, my liege lord." 
 
 "Oh, no let Toy do it. Don't go away!" 
 
 "My dear," she quoted solemnly, "come out 
 of the sham world in which you have been living ! 
 In this real world one must work to eat " 
 
 But the rest of it was quite lost, because her 
 face was buried in the front of his coat, and 
 she felt his laughter beneath her cheek. 
 
 "O, little spalpeen!" he said to her. "And 
 are ye glad, darlin', that I brought ye out of 
 your sham world into the real one?" 
 
 "Glad? Oh, Dennis!" 
 
 She drew his head down to her and kissed 
 him long on the mouth. He picked her up in 
 his arms and subsided into a chair before the 
 fire, holding her like a baby. 
 
 "But, the supper dearest " 
 
 "You'll get no supper this night!" he cried, 
 and started for Toy. 
 
 "Get supper, Toy," he ordered. 
 
 The Chinaman grinned, bowed, disappeared. 
 
 "Now," said Marcia with a sigh, her head on 
 his breast, "now let's begin at the very beginning 
 and talk it all over up to now."
 
 MARRIED? 281 
 
 "Now satisfies me!" Dennis said, his cheek 
 against her hair. 
 
 "Did you love me that very first day you 
 spoiled my tea party, Dennis?" 
 
 "Shure, darlin'. I loved ye before ye were 
 bora!" 
 
 "That's when I began to love you!" 
 
 He held her away from him and gazed at her 
 with astonishment. 
 
 "What's that?" said he. 
 
 "I did." 
 
 "And all this in-between?" 
 
 "I didn't know I was loving you then, but 
 of course I was/* 
 
 He drew her back close. 
 
 "Well, I won't quarrel with that, wow," he said. 
 
 "The Judge and Mary Jane will be so glad," 
 Marcia remarked. 
 
 Dennis started. 
 
 "The Judge! Great Scott, I told Chuck 
 I'd be along in a little while," he exclaimed. 
 
 "Never mind, dear. I left the Judge a note." 
 
 "What did ye tell him?" 
 
 "I said I had gone away with my husband and 
 we would not be back to-night." 
 
 "Oh, Marcia my Marcia Marcia Shawn!" 
 murmured Dennis, with his lips upon hers.
 
 282 MARRIED? 
 
 "Dennis," she whispered, "it sounds like a 
 song." 
 
 "It is a song, beloved, a man's song to his 
 Tvoman, a song of Me " 
 
 "A woman's song to her man a song of 
 love!" she added. 
 
 So life began for these two upon their hilltop 
 of joy! 
 
 THE END
 
 THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS 
 GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
 
 000 125 352 5