***** 
 
 ** r
 
 CAPTAIN LANDON
 
 HEADS ARMY! TAILS, I STAY HERE ! "-Page 32.
 
 CAPTAIN LANDON 
 
 A Story of Modern Rome 
 
 RICHARD HENRY SAVAGE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "My OFFICIAL WIFE," " CHECKED 
 THROUGH," ETC. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: 
 
 RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS.
 
 Copyright, 1899, by Richard Henry Savage. 
 All rights reserved.
 
 BOOK I 
 A WAITING GAME
 
 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 A WAITING GAME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 
 
 The stuffy little Italian railway train slackened, 
 after skirting the Sabine and Alban mountains, 
 and, when it halted at the bridge over the diminu- 
 tive Arno, Frank Hatton wearily raised his head 
 as the guard, with a suggestive snap of his fingers, 
 cried "Ecco la !" 
 
 There, before him, to the right, the dome of St. 
 Peter's rose sharply cut against lean brown hill 
 and pale green sky. It was their world goal. And, 
 the realization seemed, after all, so prosaic. 
 
 "All roads lead to Rome," cheerfully mur- 
 mured Hatton, as he roused his tired companion. 
 "Boots and Saddles!" he cried, with a civilian's 
 vague misuse of military jargon.
 
 8 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "If there is any other road," muttered Captain 
 Sidney Landon, "I will patronize it, on my next 
 visit!" 
 
 "So, you were not asleep?" queried Hatton. 
 
 "I have just discovered, by slipping on my 
 thinking cap, Frank," remarked the Captain, "that 
 I have only a faint idea of my official responsibili- 
 ties as Vice Consul General to be, of the United 
 States of America." 
 
 "Leave all that for the future," replied his trav- 
 eling companion. "I fancy that you will have 
 little to do but draw your salary ! In words of the 
 present, we have lodgings to select, the inner 
 man to provide for, and we must cogitate, for 
 we will be there in half an hour ! Here is a sight 
 for you !" 
 
 "Pshaw !" muttered the soldier. "I've seen the 
 Grand Canyon of the Colorado and the Yosemite. 
 It is a bit strange, however, that we two soldiers 
 of fortune should not know a single soul in a city 
 of three hundred thousand. And we are so fitly 
 prepared for the greatness about to be thrust upon 
 us. My West Point French and border Spanish 
 is but slimly reinforced here with your vast stores 
 of guttural German. We are outside barbarians."
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 
 
 "First class passengers in a second class com- 
 partment," cheerily rejoined Hatton. "After all, 
 our 'bumblezug' from Florence is better than foot- 
 ing it like the old invaders. We have seen Thrasi- 
 mene's storied shores, frowning Orvieto, Soractes' 
 storied steep, and Mentana's bloody slopes with 
 the purple Apennines for a background. In the 
 old days, I would have carried a spear as a humble 
 soldier under Brennus, 'larding the lean earth/ 
 while you, appropriately ranked, would have 
 ridden a snow white charger and gone on glitter- 
 ing in cuirass and golden greaves !" 
 
 "There, away you soar, in your literary balloon, 
 Frank," cried the Captain, gathering up his little 
 belongings. "My laurels were all won in a buck- 
 skin jacket on the hurricane deck of a wild west 
 broncho. 
 
 "I've seen but little of the pomp and glory of 
 war," he sighed "but, I've felt the sharp snap 
 of the enemy's lead, 'to the Queen's taste !' 
 
 "Let us be prosaic ! We must make a first camp 
 somewhere! Besides, tho' used to tortillas and 
 broiled 'jerky,' I am in a revolt against the dark 
 little birds, the things that crawled, and all the 
 mystery of our railway cuisine!"
 
 10 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The two young Americans descended to be 
 pounced upon, at once, by a horde of drivers of 
 "botti" and "citadine." 
 
 "This chap seems the least vociferous and un- 
 civil! Let's take him! This is the Holy City. 
 'Ogniuno per se, e Dio per tutti !' ' 
 
 The soldier revolted at the touch of the scream- 
 ing drivers and drew back his stately head as the 
 coarse peasants snapped their fingers under his 
 nose with inviting clicks. 
 
 So, it fell out, that the gilt banded cap of the 
 head porter of the Hotel de Russie was doffed, a 
 little unwillingly, as the young pilgrims strode, 
 half an hour later, into the cool entrance of the 
 aristocratic resort. 
 
 The shades of night already invited rest, and 
 the white stars sparkled like diamonds over the 
 dusky ilex shades under the Pincian when the 
 friends counted up all the disjecta membra of their 
 luggage rescued from the Fra Diavolos of the cus- 
 toms and the Robert Macaires of the Universal 
 Brotherhood of Insolent Railway Porters. 
 
 The curious throng of English aristocrats, Rus- 
 sian nobles and visiting cognoscenti stared pas- 
 sively at the tired travelers when they were ush-
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 11 
 
 ered into their cosy apartment au premier. "We 
 have made our debut in style, and so, we can soon 
 disappear in the interests of a prudent economy, 
 Frank," laughed Landon, as they sat down to a 
 raffine little supper. 
 
 It was an hour later and the cigars were lit, 
 when the Captain called up the programme of 
 action. 
 
 "Of course there's a stroll on the Corso, be- 
 fore turning in, but, before us lies the morrow, 
 laden with the stern realities of life. I have only 
 my chief to interview, and to explain the leisurely 
 process of four months lost in arriving at my 
 station, via Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Eng- 
 land, the Low Countries, Paris, Switzerland and 
 Lombardy." 
 
 "You certainly have fulfilled the State Depart- 
 ment's kindly injunction 'not to hurry in report- 
 ing,' and their courteous permission 'to take the 
 most circuitous route/ " admiringly remarked 
 Hatton, gazing at the strangely moody face of 
 the young soldier. 
 
 "I always try to obey orders," placidly rejoined 
 Landon. 
 
 "And, now, I suppose that you will hurl your-
 
 12 CAPTAIN LANDQN. 
 
 self into your new duties, with a vengeance," 
 continued the journalist. 
 
 "I will let the work come to me, Frank," re- 
 marked Landon, strolling to the window and gaz- 
 ing out at the unanswering stars. "My dear old 
 chief, General George Thomas, told me never to 
 volunteer ! 'There's always work enough waiting 
 to be put up against you/ said the dear old 'Slow 
 Trot' " 
 
 The young official tossed his cigar away with a 
 sigh. 
 
 "If there was only some good stiff fighting now, 
 over here," the soldier impatiently murmured. 
 "Let us go down I have to find out where the 
 lordly Consolate Generale degli State Uniti di 
 America is housed ! Somewhere, I believe, around 
 the Piazzi di Spagna." 
 
 "There is where stout Caesar Borgia hewed the 
 head off a bull with a single blow," murmured 
 Hatton. 
 
 "Don't believe a word of it, any more than the 
 letters you will write from the Eternal City to 
 your somnolent Philadelphian newspaper," an- 
 swered Landon, with a touch of sarcasm. 
 
 "By the way, all I know is my chief's name and
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 13 
 
 the rumor that he has a thoroughly charming 
 wife, a subtle spirit of fire and flame. You, at 
 least, have a distant hold upon your unknown em- 
 ployer, Mr. Rawdon Clark, and I believe a far- 
 stretched cousinship with some artist here. Let us 
 go down and find these addresses out. 
 
 "A pretty Rome we will see yours the dim re- 
 flections of journalistic skimming, mine, the 
 'demnition grind' of an unimportant office. The 
 Rome of the modern newspaper the Rome of the 
 brand new American Consular circle. We will see 
 no lances glittering on these hoary hills, no flam- 
 ing signs in the skies. The days of miracles are 
 over! Vogue la galere!" 
 
 Hatton eyed his companion curiously. "I won- 
 der at your lack of interest in life, Landon. A 
 Captain at twenty-seven, you have already made 
 a distinguished record ; the official way has been 
 made smooth for you by all sorts of concessions, 
 in fact, on the steamer, it was hinted to me that 
 you would soon displace your chief s while I must 
 rack my brains to send two letters a week 'chron- 
 icling the doings of distinguished Americans' 
 or, else lose my local habitation and a name 
 that of a poor foreign correspondent."
 
 14 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Landon had halted in the doorway. "See here, 
 Hatton," he sharply said, "you'll do me a favor to 
 contradict any such nonsense. I come to bring 
 peace not a sword! My army career is closed 
 forever, and, I care nothing for the officious 
 friends behind me who would push me on un- 
 fairly." 
 
 He ceased abruptly, as he noted Hatton's look 
 of surprise. "Tell me, rather, something of this 
 meteoric capitalist, Clark!" 
 
 "I will have to wait," slowly answered Hatton, 
 "until the Brandons can enlighten me. Robert 
 Brandon and I are linked by some attenuated kin- 
 ship, tho' I've never met him; but I'm told that 
 Myra Brandon has well earned her title of 'The 
 Encyclopedia,' by her fifteen years' residence in 
 Rome. 
 
 "As Brandon vibrates from his studio here to 
 the Schuylkill, he is au fait with all Philadelphian 
 gossip. 
 
 "When I left Rutgers College and entered on 
 the dismal drudgery of a law office, it was Edgar 
 Styles of the Mail who first encouraged my feeble 
 attempts at the belles lettres. 
 
 "He, God bless him, had already arranged for
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 15 
 
 this three years' European tour of mine when 
 Clark bought in a controlling interest and fortu- 
 nately saved the venerable 'Philadelphia Mail' 
 from ruin. 
 
 "It was a case of outside speculative, general 
 bonhomie and too much enterprise, with Styles. 
 
 "All I know of Rawdon Clark is that he has ac- 
 cumulated a huge fortune by meteoric operations 
 in the far west, that he is a man of uncontroll- 
 able vigor and push, and, that, boomerang like, he 
 is attacking our staid Philadelphian society from 
 the uttermost curves of a long European tour. 
 He is both parvenu and masterful man !" 
 
 The chance-met companions were strolling 
 along the narrow sidewalks of the Corso, when 
 Landon, with piqued curiosity, returned to the 
 subject of Hatton's strange employer. "Is this 
 Clark a self-made man, a product of the wild 
 west ?" he demanded. 
 
 They had tired of the mixed multitude, the 
 tawdry shop windows, the deafening cries of 
 "Ecco il Fanfulla, ecco la Capitale," and had 
 sought for a quiet refuge in a wine cellar, the re- 
 sort of a motley crowd of students, officers and 
 tourists.
 
 16 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "No one seems to know of his antecedents," 
 gravely replied Hatton. "He appeared suddenly 
 in Philadelphia, staggering the town with the 
 magnitude of his many investments. It was 
 rumored that he intended to erect unto himself a 
 palace, like the fabled Kublai Khan who did 'a 
 stately pleasure dome decree.' 
 
 "It is further said that a preliminary club black- 
 balling caused him to cut over here, and to swear 
 that he would re-enter our home society as a vic- 
 tor, for the little bird whispers that the doors of 
 swelldom at home were closed upon him, until he 
 can prove title." 
 
 "We can't all be born Biddies," laughed Lan- 
 don. 
 
 "Well, I will soon size him up," murmured 
 Hatton. "I have a sheaf of letters to artists, resi- 
 dent Americans and our past journalistic connec- 
 tions. I am told that Mrs. Myra Brandon's salon 
 is his great coign of vantage, for he's a liberal 
 purchaser of Brandon's pictures." 
 
 "A sure way to reach the heart of an artist's 
 wife, be he ever so successful," retorted Landon. 
 
 "Moreover, he must be a sly dog," continued 
 Hatton, "for he is forming a collection of objets
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 17 
 
 d'art and allows Madame Myra to generously se- 
 lect for him." 
 
 "Then he is a sure winner," smiled Landon, 
 "for pleasure and percentages go hand in hand, 
 here in Rome, I am told." 
 
 The entrance of a half dozen young fellows who 
 had been companions of the deck-tramping on the 
 Aurania a few weeks before, soon made up a 
 moving circle, augmented by the flower girls, 
 ciceroni and all the mysteriously evolved touts 
 who follow up the callow American abroad. 
 
 While Hatton, note book in hand, was already 
 busied in gleaning local items for their joint Com- 
 mittee of Ways and Means, Sidney Landon, 
 with his head buried in his hands, listened to the 
 ringing notes of a body of passing student singers. 
 
 In vain did Giuletta, the veriest witch of the 
 flower girls, toss the red and white Roman roses 
 in his lap. He saw not her smiling eyes, though 
 he absently threw her a coin which made her mur- 
 mur "Ecco un cavaliere !" 
 
 The young soldier's thoughts were far away in 
 a stormy and a shadowed past. The long-necked 
 
 wine flasks went round all unheeded, as he ran 
 a
 
 18 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 down the strange life-current of the seven years 
 of his frontier fighting experience. 
 
 Tall and graceful, with dark earnest eyes, Sid- 
 ney Landon, at twenty-seven, was a proper squire 
 of dames. But there were deep lines of care on his 
 brow, showing white above the sun-burned tints 
 of the Apache land, and a strong curve of repres- 
 sion in the stern lips, under the darkly sweeping 
 cavalry mustache. 
 
 "Nice looking fellow, Landon," said Grimes of 
 the New York Herald, to Hatton, as they lingered 
 in a far corner, where the newcomer had dragged 
 his senior to gather points upon "bachelor house- 
 keeping" in Rome. 
 
 "Soldierly looking chap, too, but, there's 
 something gone out of his life! I wonder if he 
 had any trouble in the army," mused Grimes, al- 
 ways an agnostic by habit. 
 
 "Nonsense," retorted Hatton. "Old General 
 Rufus Hatcher, who came over with us, told me 
 that he was one of the most promising young cav- 
 alrymen in the army. He has been desperately 
 wounded and three times mentioned for conspic- 
 uous gallantry in action."
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 19 
 
 "And, yet, there are flaws even in diamonds," 
 mused Grimes. 
 
 "These West Pointers are about the last of the 
 sentimentalists." 
 
 "All I know is what Hatcher told me," stub- 
 bornly rejoined the loyal Hatton, "and, you may 
 be sure, when Colonel Miles Atwater of the 
 'Grays' made him Regimental Adjutant, after 
 only three years of service, that he is a simon 
 pure." 
 
 "All right," good humoredly nodded Grimes, 
 "I'll take your friend into our coterie, at your esti- 
 mate." 
 
 The free lance of the Herald had already turned 
 forty and he had seen "a deal of life, its varnish 
 and veneer, the stucco fronts of character, flake 
 off and disappear." 
 
 He was the doyen of the Roman American lit- 
 erary cult, and, so, presided over an informal club 
 at a miraculously discovered old dwelling on the 
 Corso, happily unknown to the Philistine of the 
 baser sort. 
 
 It was a very haven of rest to the flower of the 
 transplanted American colony, and Grimes ruled it 
 with a rod of iron and much circumspection.
 
 20 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The elder man nodded his assent as they moved 
 back to Sidney Landon's table. Grimes gazed 
 kindly on Frank Hatton's beaming face. There 
 was something inspiring in the genial face of old 
 Rutger's favorite son. 
 
 At thirty, Hatton's boyish faith still shone out 
 unbroken in his honest blue eyes. 
 
 The upright solidity of his plump, robust figure 
 was set off by his merry, honest face, still smooth 
 shaven, a deference to his jilted first love, the 
 law, and finished by the frank smile of his fresh 
 lips and the unruffled composure of his manly 
 countenance. 
 
 "Hatton is an acquisition, one in whom there 
 is no guile," murmured Grimes, recalling the 
 Three Star introductions of the new champion of 
 the Philadelphia Mail "but, if I mistake not, our 
 dark-eyed, handsome soldier is like the 'woman 
 with a past/ he is a man with a story !" 
 
 Grimes was vaguely wondering if he would ever 
 find it out, when Hatton had already plunged "in 
 media res." 
 
 "Such a lucky chance, Landon. To be settled 
 at once, and, in the heart of the best region" en- 
 thusiastically ran on Hatton, "and, there's a bit
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. " 21 
 
 of deserted garden, a ruined fountain, the dia- 
 mond water pouring from an old lion's head, a 
 glimpse of waving olive trees, and even a patch of 
 visible blue sky." 
 
 When the ardent journalist had finished his 
 catalogue, Grimes' grave voice broke in with a 
 word of solemn warning : 
 
 "You are not a society man, Captain? If you 
 are, I should deem it my duty to " 
 
 "I am alone in the world," rejoined Landon, 
 "and I have only come to Rome to get away from 
 that peopled loneliness called society." 
 
 "You will never be lonely again," grimly re- 
 plied Grimes. "We are a companionable sort, but 
 our fortress on the Corso is an Eveless Paradise. 
 You will find 'no light plume as a token.' ' 
 
 "So much the better," laughed Sidney Landon 
 as they sat down to hear a band of Roman 
 students musically intone "Santa Lucia," with the 
 unrepressed enthusiasm of the explosive Italian 
 nature. 
 
 "Then, it is all arranged," joyously cried the 
 sanguine Hatton. "I have no doubt the wine will 
 hold up to the bush." 
 
 "I leave it all to you, Hatton."
 
 22 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Suppose that you act as Quartermaster Gen- 
 eral to-morrow while I go and pay 'my official re- 
 spects.' There is always one saving clause," 
 gravely added Landon, with a serio-comic bow to 
 Grimes. "We can be ejected, at any time, if we 
 break the unwritten rules of your Eveless Para- 
 dise." 
 
 "I shall issue a writ of ne exeat," politely an- 
 swered Grimes, as they fell into an easy chat. 
 
 Before they all strolled over to take a midnight 
 peep at the Tiber from the Ponte San Angelo, 
 Grimes and Landon had traced out twenty com- 
 mon friendships. The newly arrived pilgrims 
 merrily laughed at Grimes' flashlight photographs 
 of their still unknown acquaintances to be. 
 
 "Ah ! Yes ! Your official chief, Landon, Arthur 
 Melville, has the soul of an impassioned artist in 
 a Puritan body ! I doff my beaver to his dainty 
 wife! Madame Gertrude Melville has convinced 
 even the difficile Italian noblesse that an Amer- 
 ican woman can be the 'grande dame,' even with 
 no heraldic quarterings. 
 
 "You'll get on famously with them both! As 
 you are fond of loneliness, Melville's official habits 
 will suit you. He has an Italian famulus there, a
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 23 
 
 party with the atrocious name of Jacopo Maspero 
 who seems to enjoy doing all the work ! 
 
 "Melville is conspicuous by his absence, but his 
 home in the rambling old palace is the cradle of a 
 graceful hospitality. 
 
 "Maspero knows his Rome, and all the slumber- 
 ing vendettas of the Colonna and Orsini lurk in 
 his veiled eyes and are hidden in his silken voice. 
 
 "All the notables and artist guild you will meet, 
 soon enough, at their studios, or the American 
 Club. 
 
 "There are a few really nice people here you 
 can soon sift out the lot at discretion. I have no 
 advice to give to those 'who are at Rome also.' You 
 will soon meet all the cads and traveling American 
 nuisances officially, so, gird on your armor ! The 
 round of so-called society has a strange undertow 
 of picture and statue peddling in it." 
 
 "My respectable poverty is an ironclad de- 
 fense," laughed Landon. 
 
 "Then, all I can bid you is to avoid two things 
 flirtation, and the Roman fever ! 
 
 "For the first, I will cure you by dragging you 
 away into the Abruzzi, where no petticoat flaunt-
 
 24 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 eth ; for the last, Doctor Caesar Corvini, the Lega- 
 tion and official physician, is a 'feste burg.' 
 
 "If you go in for riding, there's the Roman 
 Hunt, with lots of nice people, and if you are 
 fond of athletics, 'Charley' Hollingsworth, our 
 Harvard ex-champion, will coach you on the 
 crooked Tiber, if he can drag you away, once that 
 you are under her batteries, from his charming 
 wife, Mrs. Elaine Hollingsworth, our bright par- 
 ticular social star." 
 
 They had reached the Place San Angelo, when 
 Hatton bethought him of his own future connec- 
 tions. Grimes laughed with an unaccustomed glee 
 as he sketched Robert Brandon. 
 
 "The very best fellow in Rome, an admirable 
 host, an alleged artist, the prince of good fel- 
 lows, who manages by hook or crook to sell all 
 his smears, and to leave no sting behind !" 
 
 "They say," growled Grimes, lowering his 
 voice, "that he provides his artistic victims with 
 funds to leave Rome secretly, after he has done 
 them a la Monte Carlo. The Madame! Ay! 
 There's the rub! No one has ever been strong 
 enough to resist the many wiles of Mrs. Myra 
 Brandon. A modern prototype of the Admirable
 
 ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 25 
 
 Crichton from choosing a cameo to arranging a 
 difficult match, from matching a Roman scarf, 
 to turning out a Minister Resident, from church 
 to fair, and back through all the Midway Plais- 
 ance of fashionable folly. She is the wheel horse 
 of the American colony. 
 
 "To you, Hatton, she will be of immense value ! 
 Modern Rome revolves around her ample form as 
 a reliable human hub. 
 
 "To Captain Landon, she is the very acme of 
 danger and deceit. She is the match maker of our 
 time! If you run not upon the Scylla of one of 
 her baby-faced blonde protegees, you will be 
 wrecked upon the dark beauties of some inviting 
 dusky-eyed Charybdis of a brunette. 
 
 "She evolves the. most inviting girls from social 
 nothingness, and has actually married off a poor 
 American girl to a rich Roman prince a feat 
 hitherto deemed impossible of achievement!" 
 
 They were looking at the stars twinkling on the 
 Tiber and listening to Grimes' deep voice mouth- 
 ing "Stop! For thy tread is on an Empire's dust !" 
 when Hatton, in a business-like way, called up 
 the name of Rawdon Clark.
 
 26 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The declaimer dropped into an energetic stac- 
 cato. 
 
 "Oh! Yes! Your spick span new millionaire 
 employer ! Croesus Magnus ! He is a thin-lipped 
 human shark," mercilessly proceeded Grimes. "If 
 I met him in the Bad Lands I should surely jerk 
 out my Winchester and cover him while in sight. 
 
 "In Texas, I should endeavor, 'pro bono pub- 
 lico,' to get him lynched, on early acquaintance. 
 Otherwise, he would wind up with all the belong- 
 ings of the vicinity. Omnivorous, active and ener- 
 getic is this same Mr. Rawdon Clark, withal a 
 very smooth package and he gets around nimbly, 
 even in a salon." 
 
 They were on their way homeward, bent on 
 passing the location of the Eveless Paradise, when 
 Grimes, after firing a last shot at Rawdon Clark, 
 in calling him a "heartless human snake," broke 
 out, "You men will find life enough in old 
 Rome! It does not seethe around you as in the 
 modern Babylons, but the inundation of the Tiber, 
 silent and unheralded, has swept away countless 
 human lives. The social life of the old Mistress 
 of the World is vastly complex. 

 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 27 
 
 "I knew all about it fifteen years ago, now, I 
 confess myself a tyro. 
 
 "Old McPherson, the photographer and club 
 man, who has been here forty years, tells me he 
 has been only hidden in a groove, and so wander- 
 ing blindly! People go down here like in a tide 
 rip, without a single cry." 
 
 It was with a nod, and a hearty "al rivedersi" 
 that the newspaper cynic disappeared within the 
 portals of the Eveless Paradise and left the tyros 
 to wander back to the Hotel de Russie, watched 
 only by the stars and the becloaked and cocked- 
 hatted gens d'armes, lurking on the dark street 
 corners. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 
 
 Though Mr. Forrest Grimes of the New York 
 Herald was a grim and worn cynic, still he was a 
 man with a strong undercurrent of human sym- 
 pathy. He had rightly divined that clouds hov- 
 ered over Sidney Landon's abruptly broken off 
 military life.
 
 28 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 
 
 After the Captain had sought his lonely room, 
 his pillow was haunted by changing visions of the 
 past. The deep-toned clang of Rome's unnum- 
 bered church bells only accentuated the long vigils 
 in which dream faces returned to torture the 
 wound-weakened soldier into a vain unrest. 
 
 But, the keen-eyed man of the world was in 
 error, when he fancied that a cloud of shame or 
 some sudden fall from honor had driven Landon 
 out of the "Grays." 
 
 Sorrow's mantle, alone, hung over the tossing 
 soldier as he recalled the scene, on the far away 
 headwaters of the Rio Grande, when a chance- 
 found newspaper had brought the shock of his life 
 to the iron-hearted young leader, hidden there un- 
 der the mesquit bushes with his swarthy cavalry- 
 men, grimly awaiting the coming of the mad Co- 
 manche riders. And all his beloved army life 
 seemed hateful to him then ! 
 
 Landon vainly tried to close the doors of the 
 past upon these haunting visions, the memory 
 mist-wreaths which hid the secret which had 
 astonished the whole "mess," when Sidney Lan- 
 don sheathed his sword and abruptly left the
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 29 
 
 "Grays" with an insistence which smacked of 
 some imminent crisis not otherwise to be averted. 
 
 Resolutely pacing his room, Landon read over 
 his official instructions and sought for weariness 
 in the platitudes of that unromantic red book, 
 labeled "Consular Regulations," which was, as 
 yet, a terra incognita to him. 
 
 He gazed out of the window into the blue and 
 silent night, where the unfamiliar outlines of 
 steepled Rome now took on fantastic shapes. 
 
 "The pen may be mightier than the sword," he 
 sighed, "after all! There's Frank Hatton, dear 
 old resolute soul, deliberately plodding his way 
 upward in life, with not a single quickened beat of 
 the pulse. 
 
 "So many hours, so many note books rilled so 
 many days, so many letters dispatched ; and, 
 the beef and beer of life is thus insured, with the 
 unromantic modern garb which isn't half as pic- 
 turesque as the skin mantles of the Stone age after 
 all." 
 
 "Perhaps, in the society of this coterie of bright 
 fellows, I may find forgetfulness." So, rolling the 
 stone against the tomb, he ended his "night of 
 memories and of sighs" in following down the
 
 30 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 chance-made itinerary of his long voyage, since a 
 lucky introduction from a college friend as the 
 Aurania sailed gave him the bright-hearted Hat- 
 ton as a fellow traveler. 
 
 It had been pleasant enough after all, the 
 chance led rambles over dewy Ireland, the casual 
 wanderings by Scottish tarns, the restful 
 glimpses of merrie England, the wild hurly burly 
 of Paris, and the gliding panorama of the castled 
 banks of the Rhine, where the thrifty steamer 
 Ober-Kellner now replaces "the peasant girls with 
 deep blue eyes, and hands which offer early flow- 
 ers." 
 
 Switzerland's Alpen-locked lakes, the superb 
 defiles of the Tyrol, and fair Lombardy's fruit- 
 ful plains, where earth bares her richest bosom, 
 the "frozen music" of Milan's Duomo, the 
 treasures of the past, in the dusky chambers by the 
 unfamiliar Arno, all this varied panorama had 
 charmed him where "under many a yellow star," 
 they "dropped into the magic land." 
 
 But one temptation, a soul-racking one, had 
 followed him on from Nice, when the dear old 
 Consul Swasey had sent him a letter by special 
 messenger. It was a letter from sturdy old Miles
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 31 
 
 Atwater, the Colonel of the Grays, forwarded on 
 through the War and State Departments. 
 
 Sidney Landon drew the letter from his bosom 
 and read it once more by the flickering light of the 
 Hotel de Russie's two "superb" wax candles. His 
 heart leaped up as he read the words laden with a 
 tempting possibility 
 
 "The President has promised me to reinstate 
 you in the Army at any time within six months if 
 you will only make an application. General 
 Hatcher will soon be at Rome and, I have been 
 charged by him to talk to you. Remember, my 
 dear boy ! 'once a Captain, always a Captain' 
 Listen to Hatcher. Our regimental officers are all 
 of one mind ; you could be appointed in the Staff 
 and then transferred back to the old Regiment. I 
 may come over myself and urge this, if I can get 
 leave. And, lastly, Mrs. Atwater joins me in 
 begging you to reconsider your resignation. You 
 know that she owns you for she nursed you 
 back to life in the old days!" 
 
 "Gallant old heart!" cried Landon, as he racked 
 his soul in an agony of unrest ! Suddenly starting 
 up, he cried, "Let chance decide!"
 
 32 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Tossing up a coin, he muttered, "Heads, 
 Army! Tails, I stay here!" 
 
 His face was pale as he picked up the two- 
 franc piece. "I am to be a Roman," he mur- 
 mured, with a sigh, as an old verse returned to 
 haunt him now. 
 
 It was a soldier song of the days of the civil 
 war, 
 
 "Never again on the shoulder, to wear our knightly bars, 
 Never again on the shoulder, to bear our lordly leaves, 
 Never again to dream the dream 
 Which martial music weaves." 
 
 And, tired out at last, his cares fell away from 
 him then, as the needles are shaken from the gusty 
 pines, and the soldier who had faced the Apache 
 rifles a hundred times slept until the bugles of a 
 passing Bersaglieri corps woke him from dreams 
 of the old life, the beloved Regiment, and the 
 far horizoned western plains where every man 
 guards his life with his own hapd ! 
 
 "Do I look decorously professional, Old Reli- 
 able?" cheerfully queried Landon as he sallied 
 forth at ten a. m., having achieved as non-military 
 a toilet as the habit of eleven long years would 
 permit.
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 33 
 
 The friends had breakfasted merrily and al- 
 ready Hatton was delivering over their effects to 
 Battisto, the factotum of the Eveless Paradise. 
 
 "All but the red book, that smacks too much 
 of Baedeker, and that enforced martyrdom, a 
 ten days' rush through Rome, 'personally con- 
 ducted by Thomas Cook and Son.' ' 
 
 "J'y suis, j'y reste," gaily cried Landon. 
 "That, sir, is the code I am to live up to, now, 
 my signal book for battle with the unterrified 
 American tourist. I am off." 
 
 "You are to come to the Consulate General, 
 after you have hunted up the Brandons, and duly 
 made your social report!" 
 
 "I will begin my 'arduous labors' by asking for 
 a day off to arrange my urgent private affairs. 
 It might be well to inspect the cuisine of the Eve- 
 less Paradise, and see that we are fed not upon 
 tomtits and those wretched yellow snails!" 
 
 Hatton merrily rejoined, "Grimes awaits us at 
 two for a house-warming breakfast, and will guide 
 us to the Pincian in due form, and will show us all 
 Rome that is knowable. So away with you ! Make 
 your first plunge !" 
 
 As Frank Hatton watched Landon stride away, 
 
 3
 
 34 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 
 
 with his springy, soldierly step, he never imagined 
 that the crisis of a life had been passed, and that 
 the innocent looking letter just dropped in the box 
 bore homewards Landon's firm refusal of the 
 President's kindly offer to take up again the old 
 free wild life of the plains, under the fluttering 
 silken guidons of the Grays. 
 
 Many an approving eye followed the young 
 American as he strode down the Via Babuino, a 
 notable contrast to the faineants dawdling along 
 the Corso. 
 
 "Photography has ruined travel now," mused 
 Landon, as at every turn familiar objects met his 
 eye. "The freshness of first sensation is gone, 
 for, in all this, I only see the blurred recollections 
 of the Voyage autour de ma Chambre. Every- 
 thing turns up with the instant suggestion, 'I have 
 seen all this before but, where?' ' 
 
 Resting to gaze at the motley throng in the 
 Piazzi di Spagna, Landon culled one thought 
 from his morning glimpses of the Corso and the 
 Via Babuino. 
 
 He finished his cigar as he idly scanned the 
 grouped models, after he had escaped the onrush
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 35 
 
 of the cab drivers, and the clattering attacks of the 
 mutilated beggars. 
 
 "Nothing seems to have survived of the olden 
 beauty of the women," he mused. "All the gar- 
 nered loveliness of Italian womanhood in the gal- 
 leries has vanished forever. Perhaps womanly 
 beauty is only transmitted in splendid aristocracies 
 or floats -down the dead golden tide of our modern 
 money luxury. Here, only a few officers seem 
 to have preserved the stately old Italian beauty of 
 feature! These heroes of the boudoir and the 
 higher priesthood seem to be the only classes who 
 can now cultivate 'la hermosura' in a fitting idle- 
 ness ! And on woman here lies the heavy bur- 
 den of unending drudgery! The glories of the 
 Decameron have flitted forever." Landon was 
 ignorant of the fact that the whole Continent of 
 Europe is paved with the bones of the woman 
 drudge. 
 
 The man who had breasted the cliffs of the 
 Lava Beds laughed at the hundred and twenty- 
 five steps of the Scala de Spagna, and, then, his 
 face grew sober as he turned southeastwardly and 
 halted at the open archway of a dingy old palace. 
 
 "Sufficiently threadbare and uninviting," he
 
 36 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 murmured as he gazed at the faded glories of the 
 hideous oval tin consular shield, whereon the 
 eagle of our country ramped in ghastly grays, 
 blues and yellows. 
 
 With the composure of Daniel in the lions' den, 
 Captain Sidney Landon ascended two sufficiently 
 inconvenient stairs and strode into the main room 
 of the Consulate General of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 Nothing relieved the utterly repellant interior, 
 but a glimpse of blue sky at the open windows, 
 the gurgle of a hidden fountain below in the gar- 
 dens where waving tree tops brushed the windows 
 of the old overhung palace, now, in its decadence, 
 given over to a pretentious public, economically 
 aristocratic. 
 
 Landon had already sought out a dozen Amer- 
 ican Consulates in their skilfully chosen hiding 
 places. This was the same repellant interior. 
 
 Raw red tiled floor, wheezy looking tables, 
 fly-spotted "affiches," and, a thin array of chairs. 
 A few sparsely filled book shelves carried the 
 sporadic "archives," and, at the door, a dejected 
 Italian youth, the possessor of a mongrel English, 
 lay on watch in wait for the bold intruder.
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 37 
 
 By a lonely window a pale-faced American 
 clerk was toiling over huge blue sheets of the 
 sacred despatch paper while, at the end of the 
 room, well fortified behind two long tables, littered 
 with bundles of paper, Signore Jacopo Maspero 
 was systematically defending himself against a 
 motley crowd of Americans of all ages, sexes and 
 "previous conditions" of personal experience. 
 
 With an amused smile, Landon finally fought 
 his way to the front and presented his card. 
 
 With an obsequious leap, Signore Maspero rose 
 and led the Vice Consul General within his fortifi- 
 cation of Dictionaries and Patent Office Reports. 
 
 Tall, dusky, with eyes of glowing intensity, 
 Signore Maspero furtively warded off the impa- 
 tient crowd, while he suavely stated that he would 
 announce the new official to his Chief. 
 
 Landon laughed inwardly while waiting for the 
 return of the detached messenger, and idly 
 scanned his own pile of accumulated letters, as he 
 picked up from Maspero's rapid despatch of busi- 
 ness the secret of official duty. 
 
 Every one seemed to ask for impossibilities. 
 They had come on the wrong day or were else 
 doomed to hear the word "Impossible" uttered in
 
 38 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 tones of silky decision. An official machine grind- 
 ing out gruff negations. 
 
 Conscious that the factotum was slyly regard- 
 ing him, the Captain simply bowed formally, 
 thrust his letters in his pockets, and followed the 
 returned messenger, gracefully escaping the out- 
 stretched hands of several fellow citizens bent 
 upon plucking some official consolation from his 
 coat sleeves. 
 
 It was only the prospect of the castled Tiber, 
 gleaming golden in the bright October sunshine 
 far below, which stifled a sudden pang of regret 
 for the hasty dispatch of the letter of the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 "I may live if I keep out of this den," he mur- 
 mured as he walked down a grand old gallery to 
 another wing of the palazzo. "It is about as ro- 
 mantic as a fourth-class corner grocery in its 
 environment." The title of Vice Consul General 
 seemed to have a cheaper ring in its announce- 
 ment, after gazing upon his theatre of action. 
 
 A tap from an old carven knocker recalled Lan- 
 don, as he entered an octagonal room, from whose 
 windows the rarest vistas of Rome were visible. 
 
 There was an easel in a fair light, and a slight,
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 39 
 
 delicate man courteously advanced to meet his 
 visitor. 
 
 In a moment, Arthur Melville had made his fel- 
 low official cordially welcome. 
 
 Landon surveyed, in wonder, the superb tapes- 
 tries of the walls, the glowing Persian rugs upon 
 the floor. 
 
 Besides a huge divan, with a splendid outspread 
 tiger skin before its inviting bulk, the only piece of 
 furniture in the room was a rare cabinet of antique 
 ebony and ivory. 
 
 Upon this stood a vase of matchless old Vene- 
 tian and a Cellini silver misericorde dagger lay by 
 its side. 
 
 But one picture hung upon the walls that of a 
 thrill ingly beautiful woman, with one rounded 
 arm displayed as she drew back a broidered cur- 
 tain, and, a rosy ringer pressed upon her smiling 
 lip! 
 
 It needed not the word "Invitation," graven 
 upon the frame, to translate the witchery of the 
 canvas. 
 
 Sidney Landon leaned back and laughed softly 
 in the anti-climax of the surroundings of the mo- 
 ment.
 
 40 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Melville clapped his hands and in a moment old 
 Joconda, wrinkled like the Fates, had served 
 coffee and cigarettes. 
 
 The young Captain recognized the artist in his 
 Chief's delicate features, his blue-veined trans- 
 parent hands, the slight yet graceful mould of 
 form and the waving silken hair. 
 
 Clear brown eyes, with the glassy sheen of the 
 idealist, a soft, restrained voice and a manner of 
 modulated courtesy, proved that Arthur Melville 
 was not of this workaday world. 
 
 "I fear, Captain," he gently said, "that you 
 found the Consulate rather uninviting." Landon 
 bowed in a polite deprecation. 
 
 His host, however, was not deceived. 
 
 "I see but little of it. You will find Deputy 
 Vice Consul General Maspero, very capable, 
 and an admirable cicerone, by the way. Young 
 Mr. Morgan is untiring, and, I believe that he is 
 intelligent. He is an official Consular clerk ! The 
 other people will give you no trouble. In fact, 
 Maspero attends to all. I am there very seldom 
 myself!" 
 
 "I am quite ready to enter at once upon my
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 41 
 
 duties," resolutely remarked Landon, "after a day 
 or so to settle myself." 
 
 The quick-witted Captain could see that there 
 was a good painting light. Melville's tell-tale eyes 
 strayed toward the beloved canvas. 
 
 "Then, I have but one command to lay upon 
 you Mrs. Melville will be happy to receive you, 
 at dinner, en petite comite, to-night at eight! I 
 shall leave you free hand as to the office. 
 
 "I have received many kindly letters regarding 
 you, and we will surely find we have hosts of 
 friends in common. We shall try to make Rome 
 pleasant for you." 
 
 In answer to the artist official's query as to his 
 address, Landon was charmed to hear his host 
 say, "Grimes is a man of the rarest social talents ! 
 You cannot go wrong in Rome under his guid- 
 ance! 
 
 "He is the head of 'Young Rome,' and, withal, 
 a man of the rarest gifts !" 
 
 Landon was startled at the sounding echo of his 
 own footsteps as he walked away through the 
 lonely hall. 
 
 "There is happiness" he mused "a man who 
 builds his own dream castles and lives in them.
 
 42 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 If this aesthetic Puritan has found his fitting mate 
 in Mrs. Gertrude Melville, then the thorns are 
 few in his rosy pillow." 
 
 Melville's fortune, breeding and powerful polit- 
 ical influence had kept the gentle sinecure many 
 years in Rome, most judiciously shielded by his 
 office absences from daily carking cares and offi- 
 cial fret. 
 
 There was an unwonted activity in the Consul- 
 ate General as Landon entered. A desk and fit- 
 tings had been skirmished for, and before the rosy 
 Hatton arrived to drag him away, the Captain be- 
 gan to admire the tireless energy and easy inso- 
 lence of the indefatigable Maspero. He was re- 
 lieved when Hatton pounced down upon him. 
 
 "Well?" anxiously demanded Hatton, as the 
 two young men left, after a few pleasant words 
 with the pale faced Morgan, a consumptive and 
 intelligent young student in search of health, who 
 had drifted into the bare subsistence of a Con- 
 sular clerkship as a defense against the wolf. 
 
 Landon laughed gaily. "It's all right! Sig- 
 nore Jacopo Maspero seems to be the autocrat of 
 the institution, with an ostrich-like capacity for 
 official toil which I shall not disturb. He seems to
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 43 
 
 digest everything. Morgan is a decent little chap 
 enough. My chief is a delightful dreamer, a 
 thoroughbred, and I am to meet 'la dame 
 blanche/ his household queen, to-night at dinner. 
 I left my duty cards. To-morrow, I shall make all 
 my consular calls en grande tenue. 
 
 "Ca ira. I have changed my mind. I shall lock 
 up the red book and allow Maspero to gradually 
 instruct me! I expect to become wise by induc- 
 tion ! And you ? What is your harvest ? Noth- 
 ing but leaves ?" 
 
 They had safely steered across the Piazza de 
 Spagna, and were navigating up the Corso, with 
 its "trattorias," its show windows gleaming 
 with cheap gewgaws and false antiques, its 
 squalor and splendor, its tide of unexpectedly fa- 
 miliar tourists, its priests, soldiers, beggars and 
 loiterers, before Hatton could sketch the details of 
 his visit to that Promised Land Robert Bran- 
 don's studio. 
 
 "It looks all right enough!" rather doubtfully 
 concluded Hatton, loth to sit in harsh judgment. 
 "Of course, they are very kind and all that." 
 
 "Brandon is coming over to meet us at Grimes' 
 initial breakfast. By the way, he says that the
 
 44 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Eveless Paradise is a veritable haven for us, as 
 Grimes is a Defender of the Faithful. 
 
 "Just the man to post you, and to launch me, 
 journalistically. Brandon says that I can pick all 
 my weekly letters by feeding on these fellows' 
 freshness. 
 
 "As for Brandon's studio, it seems to be only an 
 artistic 'bucket-shop/ of course there's a union 
 of the practical and the ideal ! He has his living to 
 make. 
 
 "I'm not so sure about his pictures! I caught 
 sight of two or three young Italians working up 
 backgrounds and legs and arms." 
 
 Landon's laugh made the melancholy passers-by 
 start. 
 
 "Like the American sculptors with a squad of 
 twenty Italian stone masons hammering out mas- 
 terpieces !" 
 
 "Just so," dryly resumed the journalist. 
 
 "But the overpowering thing is Myra Brandon. 
 She has definitely traced out our relationship, 
 moved it up a couple of degrees and several gen- 
 erations nearer! She is a human battleship, a 
 multum in parvo! She has simply swooped down
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 45 
 
 upon me ! She has promptly undertaken to make 
 a man of me !" 
 
 Hatton stopped and mopped his honest brow. 
 
 "And, Rawdon Clark?" slowly said Landon, 
 as he saw Hatton's brow darken. 
 
 "I met him, there, poking over Brandon's pic- 
 tures and engaging Mrs. B to matronize a 
 
 grand dinner which he is to give at the Hotel Cos- 
 tanzi. It appears he has some lovely American 
 girl here in his eye 'with ulterior views,' of mak- 
 ing her Mrs. Croesus Clark." 
 
 "What sort is he?" anxiously demanded the 
 Captain. "I think that he is a thorough-paced 
 cad," very decidedly replied the writer, as they 
 saw Grimes waiting, a la porte du Paradis, to 
 pounce upon them "but, I'll know more after to- 
 morrow night. 
 
 "I have to dine there to meet him, and others. 
 I wish he were out of my way but, I hear that 
 he's a fixture here as long as Naera of the golden 
 hair lingers." 
 
 With gleeful rapacity, Grimes bore down upon 
 his two neophytes and then led them into the gen- 
 eral assembly room of the Eveless Paradise. 
 
 There was a hearty welcome awaiting the pil- 
 grims at the table where two draped American
 
 46 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 flags reminded the score of assembled good fel- 
 lows of the land for whose integrity a half million 
 brave men had died under the consecrated folds. 
 
 A dozen universities, as many different callings, 
 and a baker's dozen of different states, were repre- 
 sented in the bright-hearted circle of gay fellows 
 under thirty. 
 
 Landon had been led away to see his two 
 quaintly romantic chambers where, already, Bap- 
 tiste had laid out his things, when the merry 
 breakfast room was invaded by Mr. Robert Bran- 
 don. 
 
 The soldier vainly tried to resist the infection 
 of the artist's all-round manner. 
 
 Portly of frame, ruddy of hue, cheery and in- 
 sistent, with a dome-like rounded head and 
 banker-like side whiskers, the mercantile artist 
 deftly oiled the hinges of every unopened human 
 door around him. 
 
 It was only when the two hours' banquet was 
 waning to its close that Landon found time to 
 whisper to Hatton : "If his wife is a fit running 
 mate, I can easily see why the bucket-shop studio 
 is a go!" 
 
 Whereat Hatton only feebly smiled, for he was
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 47 
 
 now firmly entangled in the meshes of the Bran- 
 don net, and doomed to fight under their colors 
 in Rome and, in his heart of hearts, he felt fated 
 to be a tout for the social pushing off of those 
 remarkable canvases wherever Brandon only con- 
 descended to add ears, eyes, hands and noses, the 
 tails of horses, pretty woman under the tree, and 
 "such small deer," to the efforts of his artistic job 
 workmen. 
 
 Sidney Landon, too, was also in the toils, he 
 had fallen a victim to Brandon's perfunctory hos- 
 pitality for the dinner of the morrow. No friendly 
 spirit whispered to him Mrs. Myra Brandon's 
 parting injunction to her spouse on this fateful 
 morning, "Remember, Robert, he can be very 
 useful to us in the Consulate ! We must cultivate 
 him !" 
 
 Yet, it was a red-letter day when the last 
 chorus had ceased, the nervous Italian countess 
 upstairs had resumed her afternoon nap, and 
 Grimes escaped with his prizes in a charmingly 
 appointed carriage for a long drive in the gardens 
 of the Villa Borghese. 
 
 The quickening warmth of these new fellow- 
 ships lightened Sidney Landon's heart, as he
 
 48 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 watched Frank Hatton delightedly drinking in the 
 veteran Roman's keenly critical babble, while they 
 slowly threaded the charming groves where count- 
 less hearts have beat in rapture or mutely broken 
 in the fierce old days when Roman passion seethed 
 around the splendid Papal throne. 
 
 "I have kept the best for the last," sagely ob- 
 served Forrest Grimes as the sun declined to its 
 glorious setting. 
 
 They were enraptured as they slowly crowned 
 the beautiful Pincio, where Nature smiles still in 
 her unfading beauty. 
 
 Landon sat as in a day dream, enjoying the 
 superb view from the terrace, while Grimes, with 
 deft touches, brought up the old days when 
 Lucullus reigned, the supreme arbiter of the social 
 world, over the gardens where the mad Messa- 
 lina later lit the torches of Venus in men's throb- 
 bing hearts. 
 
 The green-bowered Villa Medici, with its gray 
 turrets, lay there under Hadrian's obelisk, and, 
 far away, the huge dome of St. Peter's hung 
 like an eternal benediction over the Queen City of 
 all Time! 
 
 Landon listened to the wind-borne laughter of
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 49 
 
 the women far below in the charming Passeggiata, 
 while the wooing music of the band set every pulse 
 beating and every arched-stepped foot tapping 
 with Strauss' dreamy waltzes! 
 
 There were double lines of stately carriages, 
 now slowly moving on, while groups of ardent 
 cavaliers leaned over the low sides, murmuring 
 loving words into the shell-like ears shaded by 
 the protecting fans. 
 
 Sidney Landon forgot to listen to the disser- 
 tations upon the Castella San Angelo, the eter- 
 nal Pantheon, the glories of the Querinal, and 
 the romance-haunted banks of the Tiber. 
 
 "All the Roman world and his sister are here," 
 merrily said Grimes, in a change of key. 
 
 "For sheer consolidated love-making, this is 
 the garden spot of God's footstool, and, now and 
 then, you will see an Italian woman who is not 
 
 half bad looking, " he stopped abruptly, as 
 
 Landon, with a convulsive gesture, grasped his 
 arm, "Do you know who that is?" the Captain 
 quickly said, while his voice took an unwonted 
 softness. 
 
 "That's Clark, Rawdon Clark, the American 
 Croesus," briskly replied Grimes.
 
 50 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 But, while Frank Hatton craned his neck to 
 glance at his new master once more, Captain 
 Landon made no sign. His eyes were very 
 dreamy, and he was gazing distraitly at a re- 
 ceding carriage. 
 
 There was the gleam of golden hair, the 
 graceful curve of a neck with the sweep of the 
 Venus of Milo, and, a sigh from Landon, as a 
 high break with a party of Italian military dandies 
 blocked the road from view. He was strangely 
 and moodily silent for the rest of the outing. 
 
 They drove silently back in the sunset's dying 
 splendors, but all Grimes' diamond wit failed to 
 awaken Landon's flagging interest. 
 
 He was still lingering under the spell of eyes 
 which had met his own in one of those flashlight 
 glances thrown across life's darkened seas which 
 shine out unforgotten through all the lingering 
 years. 
 
 The soldier was murmuring those words of 
 Buchanan Read, when the carriage drew up with 
 a crash at the narrow gateway of the Eveless 
 Paradise, 
 
 "She came as comes the summer wind, 
 A gust of beauty to my heart."
 
 ON THE PINCIAN HILL. 51 
 
 But his lively companions were now deep in a 
 plot to thrust Hatton into the "foremost and focal 
 fire" of Rome's intellectual circles, and, hence, 
 they did not see that something more than the 
 glow of the setting sun had stolen into the lonely 
 soldier's heart. 
 
 It was under the soft starlight that Sidney 
 Landon wandered down alone to the Piazza 
 Spagna, after leisurely making his dinner toilet. 
 His thoughts were not at his own command, for 
 as he crested the Scala de Spagna, his mind was 
 far away on the Pincian Hill, lingering still in 
 contemplation of that lovely, womanly apparition 
 which had flashed by him as the sunset in its glow- 
 ing blood-red embers. 
 
 "If there is any such woman in the world as 
 she seems to be," he mused, "then, beauty has 
 not fled from Egeria's bower. And she did not 
 seem to be an Italian." 
 
 He was still in a dream as he threaded the long 
 hall in the now deserted palazzo on the hill. 
 
 The young soldier hardly lifted his eyes as the 
 butler ushered him into Mrs. Gertrude Melville's 
 drawing room. There was that softened light 
 which ladies love in the splendid apartment,
 
 52 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 though silvery gleams lit up the dining hall be- 
 yond ! He bowed low over Mrs. Melville's hand 
 as that incomparably charming lady welcomed 
 him to the Eternal City. 
 
 And then all the blood rushed to his cheeks 
 as his hostess said, "We shall be a little party of 
 four! Miss Hawthorn, Captain Landon." 
 
 There was a tingle in every bounding pulse as 
 the young man woke from his day dream with a 
 start ! 
 
 "I think we met to-day " Miss Agnes softly 
 
 said, her eyes dropping before that unconsciously 
 ardent glance. 
 
 "On the Pincian," murmured Landon, as he 
 offered the goddess his arm. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 
 
 There was no social ice to break in the little 
 dinner party, for sundry little radial lines of sym- 
 pathy had already been traced out long before 
 the matchless Luigi and his perfectly trained as-
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 53 
 
 si slants had reached the service of the unapproach- 
 able Italian ices and confetti. 
 
 Arthur Melville descended from the cloudland 
 of art long enough to remind Sidney Landon that 
 General Rufus Hatcher was a cherished "ami de 
 maison." 
 
 "My poor brother Will was killed on his staff 
 at Spottsylvania," sighed the dilettante, "and, the 
 General has written, congratulating me on your 
 coming as my confrere here!" 
 
 "The fact is, Captain," said Melville, "when I 
 accepted this post, it was quasi diplomatic ! The 
 Vatican Legation had been abolished, and our 
 Italian Minister Resident was then located at 
 Florence. 
 
 "We have grown into Rome ; our little girl was 
 born here, and, in the past, the holding of this 
 sinecure post opened all the art treasures, even 
 those of the reserved chambers of the Vatican, to 
 me! 
 
 "Now that we are knitted by friendships to the 
 shy, proud Italian noblesse, thanks to Gertrude, 
 I am ready to yield up the position. 
 
 "The pressure of tourist and business relatives 
 becomes heavier daily, the monetary responsi-
 
 54 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 bilities are large, and General Hatcher writes 
 me wonders as to your executive ability. I would 
 feel much safer to see the office under your con- 
 trol. 
 
 "I sometimes doubt Maspero. He is just a little 
 too smooth! But, Hatcher declares that he will 
 have you back in the army." 
 
 Landon's eyes strayed around the superb apart- 
 ment. It was easy to divine that the gentle- 
 hearted artist only lived in the realms of form 
 and color, while the social sway of the family, the 
 executive reins of their daily life, and all sublu- 
 nary matters were guided by the firm little hands 
 of the uncrowned American queen who had 
 blessed Melville's life. 
 
 Madame Gertrude's slight, girlish form, her 
 small, well-poised head, her steadfast, brown 
 eyes shining out under an unruffled brow, proved 
 the woman "nobly planned." 
 
 At thirty-five and twenty-seven the pair were 
 still notable lovers, and Landon easily divined the 
 power behind the throne in learning that Madame 
 Gertrude was the favorite niece of one of Ameri- 
 ca's colossal money magnates, a man whose 
 thunderbolts easily shook financial thrones.
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 55 
 
 It was only when Melville had lured Miss Haw- 
 thorn away to his studio for a short art colloquy 
 that Sidney Landon felt relieved of the imperial 
 presence of the young goddess of the Pincian. 
 
 Little Elsie Melville, a lovely sprite of five, 
 flitted before the visitor a new charm to the man 
 who was beginning already to doubt the eternal 
 fitness of an Eveless Paradise. 
 
 "I must make friends with you, Captain Lan- 
 don," said the hostess, "for I am anxious to see 
 Arthur shielded and aided by some one of reso- 
 lution and courage! 
 
 "The frank, bustling American does not easily 
 penetrate all the deep subtlety of the Italian 
 character. 
 
 "Of all countries in Europe, we assimilate here 
 the least ! I believe in putting none but Ameri- 
 cans on guard." 
 
 She pointed smilingly to the two silken Ameri- 
 can banners glorifying the dusky richness of the 
 
 
 
 stately dining room. 
 
 "You will have a career yet in diplomacy, 
 though. I know that the army is loth to lose 
 you. / know all!" she smilingly said. 
 
 "Colonel Atwater married my mother's beloved
 
 56 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 schoolmate, and Mary Atwater has been already 
 singing your praises. I shall try to make Rome 
 so pleasant that you will not wish to leave us!" 
 
 Mrs. Melville saw the shade of grave concern 
 which darkened Landon's face, as he bent over 
 the lovely child, his hand straying through the 
 silken wreath framing the sweet face. 
 
 "Certainly, you will be at my disposal as 
 escort," lightly resumed Mrs. Melville. "Arthur 
 is wedded to his art. Time is fleeting, and I am 
 charged with unfolding the glories of Rome to 
 Agnes Hawthorn. We shall claim a share of 
 your leisure, and I hope that you will begin slowly 
 in the official remodeling of the office. 
 
 "Frankly, Signore Maspero looks upon you as 
 the one who will take away the reins of his power ! 
 His position has been both enviable and lucrative 
 for an Italian. But, he needs a curb!" 
 
 Captain Landon murmured an acquiescence, 
 but turned his head away to conceal a deepened 
 color. 
 
 "Tell me of Miss Hawthorn," he said, with 
 affected carelessness. 
 
 "You see her, as she is," fondly said Gertrude 
 Melville.
 
 OX THIS PIXCIAN" * * * AS HE OFFERED THE GODDESS 
 HIS AK-U.-Pag-e 52.
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 57 
 
 "Our families have been linked by the closest 
 friendship of a generation. 
 
 "When Agnes was left an orphan by the death 
 of both her parents in a fearful Atlantic ship- 
 wreck, my dear mother took the child to her 
 heart. With all her enormous fortune, her life has 
 been lonely enough. 
 
 "Lawyers, guardians and Philadelphia Trust 
 Companies are cheerless surroundings for a 
 woman in the flower of her beauty. 
 
 "It seems sad," sighed the lady, "that such 
 wealth should bring down the jackal tribe of for- 
 tune hunters upon Agnes, but it has! 
 
 "Last year was her first season. Released from 
 the gentle tyranny of Bryn Mawr, Agnes has fled 
 over here for an indefinite stay. Here we can, in 
 a measure, shield her for a time ! She is the sister 
 of my heart. 
 
 "But, alas, her splendid, stately, daily life at the 
 palatial Hotel Costanzi, her complete establish- 
 ment, the deference of bankers and shopkeepers 
 draws down the swarm of mournful-eyed Italian 
 Princes, and all the hungry visiting noblesse flut- 
 tering around the salons of the best circles 
 here."
 
 58 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Landon gloomily said, "It seems that women 
 must be either hunted down for the beauty of 
 their skins, or else trapped for the gold so needful 
 to the heiress hunter." 
 
 "It is too bad," murmured Mrs. Melville. 
 "Agnes is a gifted, bright-hearted and sincere 
 woman. She should not meet her fate under false 
 lights ! She is only happy and at home with us, 
 in our little circle. 
 
 "The Brandons are distant, very distant con- 
 nections. There is some Kentucky cousinship, 
 very remote, with Robert Brandon. You will 
 dine there to-morrow night, you tell me! You 
 will see a strange social menagerie," Gertrude 
 Melville laughed merrily. 
 
 "Robert Brandon is a bustling, fatuous soul, 
 profoundly happy in a colossal vanity, and his 
 art rooms are carried on 'for revenue only.' He 
 is harmless enough in his own bourgeois way ! 
 
 "His wife," said Gertrude, with a determined 
 flash of her eyes, "is a distinct social meddler, 
 an intrigante, a busybody, and determined to 
 force the attentions of this nouvean riche man- 
 eater Rawdon Clark upon my lovely friend. 
 
 "And so," she decisively said, "Agnes is forced
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA". 59 
 
 to take refuge in visits to me, which baffle the 
 'Encyclopedia.' 
 
 "Arthur always wages a determined war upon 
 Brandon's alleged art, and so our home is 'terra 
 incognito' to that faction." 
 
 It was easy to see the chevaux de frise fencing 
 out the Brandons. 
 
 When Elsie Melville had been duly kissed and 
 sent to the Land of Nod, Landon rapidly seized 
 upon the pith of his hostess' remarks, while the 
 return of his host and Miss Hawthorn gave him 
 a breathing spell, while the fair visitor and the 
 enthusiast fought over again their battle as to 
 respective art values of the Venus of the Capitol 
 and the Florentine marvel. 
 
 The chatter of Grimes returned to enlighten 
 him, Hutton's remarks as to Clark's career, 
 the presence of the capitalist dogging Miss Haw- 
 thorn's carriage in the Pincian, and the pro- 
 jected diner de societe, all these were pregnant 
 with social meaning. 
 
 "The campaign is already laid out," mused the 
 soldier, "Mr. Rawdon Clark probably knows of 
 this solid Philadelphia fortune, of the pyramidal 
 social position of the Hawthorns.
 
 60 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "The closed doors of mansions and clubs would 
 soon open to Agnes Hawthorn's husband, and 
 the financial magnates would unbend to the pow- 
 erful stranger once anchored down locally ! For, 
 people buy everything now, seats in the Senate, 
 the dignity of Governor, and, even all the trap- 
 pings of the First Citizen." 
 
 The soldier's eye rested gravely upon that 
 ardently enthusiastic, woman face, flower-like, in 
 its beauty. 
 
 Nineteen golden years were reflected in the 
 maiden's sunny hair, the violets of all the happy 
 springs in those deep-lashed, splendid eyes. The 
 splendor of youth modeled the superb lines of her 
 figure. 
 
 Landon's memory recalled Eugenie de Montijo 
 in that vernal loveliness which swept the cold- 
 hearted Bonaparte off his feet and changed the 
 destiny of France. 
 
 The flute-like voice had lulled him until he 
 woke with a start as Miss Hawthorn directly ad- 
 dressed him. 
 
 "If I mistake not, Captain Landon, I owe 
 your gallant regiment an unpaid debt of sorrow- 
 ing gratitude. You knew my cousin Willy Grear,
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 61 
 
 who died at the hands of those frightful Utes?" 
 
 "He was my beloved classmate, Miss Haw- 
 thorn," gravely answered the soldier. 
 
 "Then," cried Agnes Hawthorn, clasping her 
 jeweled hands in a sudden emotion. "You can 
 tell me the name of the young Cavalry officer 
 who, with three men, repelled the murderers and 
 saved him from the last horrible mutilation of 
 Indian warfare!" 
 
 "I have heard of the occurrence, "answered Lan- 
 don, rising suddenly. "I think it was in 1878, 
 but I do not now remember the officer's name." 
 
 "He was of your own regiment, the Grays," 
 the heiress persisted, "and, in my girlish school- 
 days, I vowed to find out the man who, alone, 
 exposed himself to the red men's fire, while his 
 little party, from a safe ambush, turned back the 
 murderous brutes with their rifles! For such a 
 man, I could go around the world, only to 
 tell him," she said with sparkling eyes, "what an 
 American woman thinks of a brave man !" 
 
 Mrs. Melville started at the sudden pallor of 
 Landon's face. 
 
 "Excuse me," he said. "The hour is already 
 late, and " he said lightly, "I must go into
 
 62 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 official harness in the morning. I shall have the 
 honor of meeting you, I believe, at dinner to- 
 morrow evening at the Brandons." 
 
 When the young soldier had made his graceful 
 adieux, the two women gazed blankly at each 
 other. 
 
 "There must have been something very pain- 
 ful," murmured Agnes, "in these old recollections. 
 I am told that classmates become deeply attached 
 to each other at West Point!" 
 
 Gertrude Melville was still lost in astonishment 
 at Landon's abrupt departure, when her husband 
 returned from escorting his guest to the cavernous 
 stairway of "il grande palazzo vecchio." 
 
 In one hand he held his office keys, in the 
 other, a gray pasteboard-bound Army Register. 
 Arthur Melville smiled knowingly as he said, 
 "Ladies! I will read to you from the Medal of 
 Honor record of 1878: 
 
 "First Lieutenant Sfdney Lafidon, th U. 
 
 S. Cavalry, medal of honor for heroic gallantry 
 in personally exposing himself to the fire of a 
 hostile band of Utes to draw their fire, while his 
 detachment, from safe position, inflicted the 
 heaviest loss upon the enemy, thus rescuing, un-
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 63 
 
 mutilated, the body of Captain William Grear, 
 U. S. Ordnance, who had been treacherously 
 slain." 
 
 Agnes Hawthorn sprang up, standing there, 
 beautiful, thrilling, living statue, with her hands 
 crossed upon her bosom, as Melville quietly closed 
 the book. 
 
 "When you next meet him, Agnes," he simply 
 said, "you can say, 'Thou art the man!' ' 
 
 There were diamond tears fringing the beau- 
 tiful lashes as the young goddess silently clasped 
 Gertrude Melville's hands! 
 
 "God bless him," murmured the young mother, 
 as she led her speechless guest away to the hap- 
 piest of slumbers. 
 
 Far below them, Sidney Landon was stalking 
 through the shadowed Piazza de Spagna. 
 
 "They must never know !" he muttered, as the 
 mist of years rolled away and he saw once more 
 the gray hills of Utah, and the crack of rifles, 
 long silent, came back to memory. "It was not 
 much, after all, any good man would have done 
 the same." 
 
 Landon was strangely silent in the bright Val- 
 halla of the Eveless Paradise, where Frank Hat-
 
 64 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 ton was the center of a lively bevy of the foreign 
 literate of the Eternal City. 
 
 The son of old Rutgers had already projected 
 "works'' of great magnitude under the inspiration 
 of the scenes storied in his youthful classic dig- 
 ging- 
 
 Hatton marveled when they reached their 
 apartment at Landon's brief comment upon the 
 Melville establishment over the last evening pipe. 
 
 "Nice enough people," remarked the soldier, 
 with a crafty guile newly born. 
 
 "They all seem to be very fond of Grimes. 
 Melville tells me that he holds the highest possible 
 social position compatible with, " 
 
 "Working for a living, you mean! Out with 
 it!" good-naturedly said Hatton. "But they tell 
 me, all here, that Melville's home is a fairy palace, 
 marble halls and all that ! They are gilt-edged 
 swells, rich as cream and can buy out a lot of the 
 Colonnas and Orsinis." 
 
 "They are all well enough," wearily said Lan- 
 don. "I am only an incident of their lives ! The 
 lady is a witching fairy, sweet and earnest, and 
 is a niece of the great Ogden Mowbray !"
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 65 
 
 Hatton's whistle of astonishment gave way 
 to a last query. "Anybody else there?" 
 
 "Nobody to speak of!" remarked the Captain, 
 as he knocked out his pipe. "From what I hear 
 we will have a song and dance entertainment at 
 the Brandons!" 
 
 "Yes!" gloomily answered Hatton, "and that 
 despotic cad, Rawdon Clark, has sent me a letter 
 to call on him at the American Club to-morrow 7 
 at eleven, 'to learn his wishes governing my letters 
 from Europe !' ' 
 
 Sidney Landon was glad to escape into his own 
 apartment, where he sat for an hour gazing out 
 into the night. 
 
 The face of "nobody to speak of" returned to 
 haunt him, and he saw her again, with that 
 sweetly impassioned face! 
 
 "I would go through the whole Ute tribe for 
 such a woman," mused the lonely man, as he laid 
 his head upon his pillow. "Strange that we should 
 both be alone in the world! That fellow Clark 
 must be a nice specimen of 'true American man- 
 hood !' " 
 
 There was one supremely happy man in Rome 
 upon the morrow of this initial entree of Captain
 
 66 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Sidney Landon into Roman life. That man was 
 the pale-faced Consular Clerk Edwin Morgan, 
 who, open-eyed in wonder, heard the Consul Gen- 
 eral inform Signore Jacopo Maspero that hence- 
 forth Vice Consul General Landon would assume 
 the entire active management of the office. 
 
 "Captain Landon will receive all your reports 
 and use my name without question," suavely said 
 the happy artist, as he fled away to save three 
 hours of splendid painting light. It was a consular 
 upheaval ! 
 
 There was a suppressed scowl on Maspero's 
 face as Landon took his seat, with a quiet dignity, 
 at the official opening hour. "I shall now turn all 
 over to you, Signore Capitano?" sulkily said the 
 Italian. 
 
 "By no means, remarked Landon, with a 
 searching glance of his steady eyes. "I shall pro- 
 ceed to make a thorough examination of the whole 
 office accounts for the past ten years. 
 
 "As Mr. Morgan is a perfect Italian scholar, 
 he will hereafter conduct all business jointly with 
 you, and he will represent me! I have a State 
 Department order to engage another copyist, and 
 he will relieve Mr. Morgan. I desire no business
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 67 
 
 of importance to be transacted which I do not 
 personally supervise. But you can get orders from 
 Mr. Morgan in all things without waiting for 
 me." 
 
 The Italian bowed in silence. 
 
 The wandering American public, gathering in 
 at the hour of ten, found a singular courtesy in 
 Signore Maspero's new manner, and the crafty 
 Italian smothered an oath when he observed his 
 new Chief and the young student depart for 
 luncheon together. 
 
 "This will be our general rule, Signore," re- 
 marked the Vice Consul General. 
 
 And thus the reign of King Stork in that Con- 
 sulate General came to an end, giving way to one 
 soon destined to revolutionize the methods which 
 had dealt out humble pie in large quantities to the 
 distracted tourist. 
 
 Captain Sidney Landon was in a fairly cheerful 
 mood when the loyal Hatton, with much flourish, 
 presented him to the hostess of the evening at 
 Mrs. Myra Brandon's resplendent establishment 
 on the Via Babuino. 
 
 An imposing woman of an impressive middle
 
 68 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 age was Madame Myra, firmly insistent in voice 
 and manner. 
 
 Fortified in network of chain and bangle, with 
 suspiciously raven hair, and piercing, round un- 
 smiling black eyes, the wave of her fan or the 
 side glance of her watchful orbs brought the bus- 
 tling Brandon to her side at once. 
 
 "I can only make my peace by buying a pic- 
 ture," mused Landon. "I wonder if there are any 
 very small ones!" 
 
 But the walls were only resplendent with the 
 hugest spoils of Brandon & Co.'s artistic bows 
 and spears, regular wall coverers. 
 
 Landon was awaiting the awful moment of 
 dinner assignment when Mr. Brandon descended 
 upon him. 
 
 "Captain, allow me," the host exclaimed, as he 
 dragged the young official into a corner and pre- 
 sented him to Mr. Rawdon Clark. 
 
 The eyes of the two men met in that quiet, in- 
 stantaneous assumption of hostility with which 
 nature has endowed certain antagonistic souls. 
 
 As Landon escaped, he could not but hear the 
 loudly whispered aside of the man of money :
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 69 
 
 "Army fellow isn't he? I hear he has some 
 place in the Consulate." 
 
 But Landon forgot to contemplate the outer 
 man of Croesus as Mrs. Brandon flusteringly fell 
 upon Miss Agnes Hawthorn, the latest arrival. 
 
 "Now, our golden circle is complete!" gushed 
 the hostess. "Mr. Clark, you will take in Miss 
 Hawthorn ?" 
 
 "Pardon me one moment," coldly remarked 
 Miss Hawthorn, as Captain Landon bent over her 
 hand. 
 
 "Mrs. Montgomery, let me present Captain Lan- 
 don," she said as the soldier was made acquainted 
 with the sweet-faced widowed woman' who was 
 the Grand Inside Guard of the heiress' daily life. 
 
 Miss Agnes was a dream of beauty in her cling- 
 ing robes of white with a corsage knot of Parma 
 violets. She found time to whisper to the cavalry- 
 man, "You are strangely forgetful of names, sir! 
 I have learned how you won your medal of 
 honor!" 
 
 Before Landon had raised his eyes, he was 
 whisked away by the voluble hostess. 
 
 "As our ranking United States officer, you 
 have the place of honor, at my side, sir."
 
 70 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 In all the clatter of the polyglot circle, Landon 
 did not forget the keen, vulpine craft of the 
 woman who had nailed Agnes Hawthorn to the 
 pillory of public attention as Rawdon Clark's pos- 
 sible matrimonial prey. 
 
 The Austrians, Russians, French and Italians 
 chattered around that noisy board, devouring the 
 gathered American beauties with their eyes, while 
 Landon strove to shut his ears to Brandon's boast- 
 ful announcement of the purchase of his two great 
 historical pictures by "my friend, Mr. Clark." 
 
 "Such a fascinating man, a wonderful man, 
 Captain," raved on the hostess. 
 
 "He has ordered his architect to build a gallery 
 in his new house especially for the 'Boadicea 
 Beaten with Rods,' and The Death of Alaric!' 
 Oh ! if only more Americans were like him !" 
 
 The soldier quietly "sized up" the hard-featured 
 capitalist at Agnes Hawthorn's side. 
 
 Rawdon Clark's outer man was perfectly en 
 regie "Has a good valet," murmured the Cap- 
 tain. 
 
 The man himself, on the sunny side of forty, 
 sturdily built, with a strongly cast face, carried in
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 71 
 
 his cool, gray eyes and heavy jaw the ear-marks 
 of personal power. 
 
 Closely waving wiry dark hair, a slightly 
 frosted mustache, firmly set, pitiless lips, and 
 a heavily cleft chin, with the sternly carven facial 
 lines of the financial operator, the whole ensemble 
 denoted the "Silver King" type, the man who 
 had arrived, through desperate struggle and soul- 
 eating persistence. 
 
 "Not a fellow to tackle lightly," thought the 
 soldier, "and, a man who will have a good deal 
 of his own way." 
 
 There was one memory of the Brandon dinner 
 which never faded from Landon's mind. It was 
 the furtive inventorial glance with which Clark 
 surveyed the proud young beauty at his side. 
 
 Miss Hawthorn seemed to have developed a 
 slightly glacial manner, when the long drawn out 
 feast ended ! 
 
 And, she seemed to have reserved her smiles 
 largely for the courtly old Count Esterholz, the 
 Austrian minister, seated at her other side, for the 
 old bon vivant was the soul of courtesy, de la 
 vieille roche. 
 
 But once during the dinner did Landon catch a
 
 72 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 fleeting glance from the lovely eyes which had 
 spoken so eloquently to him at their meeting. 
 And their friendly gleams seemed to say, "Wait ! 
 Wait!" 
 
 With a quiet decision, Sidney Landon ignored 
 Brandon's officious cordiality when the ladies re- 
 tired. "I do not take wine," he decisively re- 
 marked, as he rose to follow the ladies. 
 
 "You are a poor army man, then !" sharply in- 
 terjected Rawdon Clark, who had just made an 
 autocratic sign to Hatton. "Did you address 
 me?" sternly demanded the soldier. 
 
 And, strangely enough, the millionaire was 
 silent as Landon passed out into the drawing 
 room. "He dropped his eye, at any rate," mused 
 Landon, as he sought the side of Mrs. Montgom- 
 ery. 
 
 The little artifice succeeded, for in a few mo- 
 ments Miss Hawthorn joined her chaperone. 
 
 In the dining room, Clark had found a tardy 
 consolation in remarking, "Brandon, your friend 
 is pretty sharp set for a broken down army officer ! 
 Cut him out of my dinner list !" 
 
 There was a gloomy silence between the two
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 73 
 
 friends as Hatton and Landon walked home 
 through the deserted Via Babuino. 
 
 At last the journalist broke into angry speech. 
 "Do you know that cur Clark has actually ordered 
 me to attend his swell dinner for Miss Hawthorn 
 at the Hotel Costanzi and to 'feature it' for the 
 journal ! I think that I will resign !" 
 
 "Nonsense, my boy," coolly answered the Cap- 
 tain. "Don't fall out at the first skirmish !" 
 
 "He is a brute and a tyrant," indignantly cried 
 Hatton, now thoroughly out of temper. "He is 
 giving me a lot of slush about his art treasures and 
 his new home and he darkly intimates that this 
 pretty Miss Hawthorn is to be its future mis- 
 tress !" 
 
 "Oh! He does does he? Well! Damn his 
 impertinence!" cried Landon as they regained 
 their abode. 
 
 That night a new feeling of cold isolation in the 
 world possessed the lonely soldier. "It's the old 
 Juggernaut business," he growled. "I suppose, as 
 usual, money will have its way." 
 
 A month later, the glories of Mr. Rawdon 
 Clark's superb feast were forgotten save by the 
 distant readers of Hatton's unwilling tribute.
 
 74 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The Roman season was briskly coming on, and 
 the American colony had set up an idol in the 
 shape of the dignified and effective Vice Consul 
 General. 
 
 It was true that the gossips wondered to see the 
 handsome young soldier choose Arthur Melville's 
 fairy child Elsie as his companion. 
 
 The Quirinal Gardens, the Borghese, and the 
 Pincian knew the strangely assorted pair. All 
 Rome soon knew of the little coterie at Melville's 
 home which now embraced the honest-hearted 
 Hatton, that accomplished scribe, Forrest 
 Grimes, and the energetic Vice Consul. 
 
 The absence of the whole American official 
 circle from Mr. Rawdon Clark's superb feast at 
 the Hotel Costanzi had convulsed the three dis- 
 tinct circles of American Roman society, the man- 
 sion and villa people, the students and pension 
 boarders and the feverish tourist guests of the 
 Hotels. 
 
 And, yet, in the artistic circles, the shining face 
 of Mrs. Myra Brandon was in evidence. The 
 loudly heralded purchase of Mr. Rawdon Clark's 
 third acquisition, "Regulus Before the Roman 
 Senate," had been duly advertised in the "Phila-
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 75 
 
 delphia Mail,", which estimable journal also ex- 
 ploited the preliminary plans of the Honorable 
 Rawdon Clark's marble palace, "soon to rise upon 
 the banks of the Schuylkill." 
 
 There was a quiet content in the Eveless Para- 
 dise on the Corso, where Frank Hatton "snatched 
 a fearful joy" in digging away at his forthcoming 
 book, "Modern Relics of Ancient Rome." 
 
 The honest-hearted fellow marveled greatly at 
 the changed manner of Captain Sidney Landon. 
 This young official had suddenly developed a 
 strange taste for the red Consular Book and toiled, 
 late and early, in the Consulate General, working 
 till the wee sma' hours upon his comprehensive re- 
 view of the accounts and archives. 
 
 A dull smouldering anger burned in Signore 
 Jacopo Maspero's bosom since he had delivered 
 the keys of the safe and office over to Consular 
 Clerk Morgan, now revitalized by the kindness 
 of the young Chief. 
 
 While it was true that Captain Landon had left 
 a card on all the American residents who boasted 
 Lares and Penates, still the society circles saw 
 little of his handsome face. 
 
 It was true that he acted gravely as Vestryman
 
 76 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 at the one Episcopal Church and that he had re- 
 vived his boating with Charley Hollingsworth. 
 
 There were some whispered colloquies between 
 dashing Elaine Hollingsworth, the cautious Ger- 
 trude Melville and the enraptured Consul General, 
 now left free to soar in the artistic Empyrean. 
 
 "He's a famous fellow is Landon," remarked 
 Arthur Melville, "and, I hoped he would take 
 kindly to Agnes Hawthorn. 
 
 "But," the good man sighed, "beyond our Elsie, 
 and your two roguish cherubs, Hollingsworth 
 the man seems devoid of all social sympathy! 
 Have you noticed that he only comes here when 
 our little coterie, 'The Five Spot,' meets? He 
 has taken to roaming alone from Ostea to Tivoli, 
 from Palestrina to Frascati." 
 
 "Has he no Egeria this all too romantic 
 young Numa Pompilius?" demanded Charley 
 Hollingsworth, who was the leading spirit in the 
 Flirting Club known as "the Devil's own." 
 
 "Don't be % a goose, Charley," imperiously cried 
 his wife. "There's Agnes Hawthorn, the hand- 
 somest woman in Europe to-day, why he has 
 only left a formal duty card upon her at the Cos- 
 tanzi !"
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 77 
 
 "By the way," murmured the silenced Rollings- 
 worth, pulling his long yellow mustache nerv- 
 ously, "the American Club fellows are betting two 
 to one on this cold-hearted fellow Clark marrying 
 your peerless Agnes! He's an insufferable cad 
 and so already assumes open airs of proprietor- 
 ship." 
 
 Gertrude Melville's pretty lips curled in an un- 
 disguised sneer. "That oaf that promoted fore- 
 man, marry Agnes never ! Agnes in her own 
 quiet way is as proud and distant as Landon ," 
 the little queen checked herself with a resolute 
 prediction. 
 
 "She never will enter Rawdon Clark's marble 
 palace ! The whole siege is kept up by those stuffy 
 Brandons. I think," slowly said the dainty Ger- 
 trude, "that Captain Landon is only fighting with 
 his stubborn pride about going back into the army ! 
 
 "Next month, General Hatcher will be here, 
 and perhaps the Atwaters ! They will draw him 
 out!" 
 
 "You may be right!" mused Arthur Melville, 
 "but he has developed a strange frenzy for work 
 and a misanthropy unsuited to his years. 
 
 "To all that, he's the finest fellow, by all odds,
 
 78 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 who ever entered the Consular service. I'd resign 
 in his favor, in a moment, if his pride were not a 
 barrier." 
 
 Gertrude Melville's beautiful brown eyes were 
 very dreamy. She reflected that Sidney Landon's 
 pride did not prevent him from hearing the light 
 fall of Agnes Hawthorn's pretty feet every time 
 that particular young goddess illumined the dark 
 gallery of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 A smile softened the curves of her rosy lips. 
 "Wait and hope!" she murmured. With a quick 
 womanly divination she had guessed the secret of 
 the revolt of Landon's soul against the glittering 
 barrier of wealth which fenced in the blue-eyed 
 goddess ! 
 
 And, that night, Gertrude Melville prayed "Oh ! 
 Jupiter aid us !" before her pet statue of the God- 
 dess Fortune, and breathed a prayer that the scales 
 would fall from two pairs of impassioned eyes. 
 
 "There is a sort of fern seed glamour in this 
 thing," the pretty matron pouted. "They seem to 
 be invisible to each other !" 
 
 That very night, Rawdon Clark, Esq., in a con- 
 fidential talk with his visiting manager, Barker 
 Bolton of Denver, confided to his returning busi-
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 79 
 
 ness agent his high scorn of the ex-Captain, Sid- 
 ney Landon. 
 
 'That fellow has surely some hidden shady 
 spots in his career. I know he was kicked out of 
 the army in some way ! Now, he's making trouble 
 for friends of mine here ! 
 
 "All I know is that he left the army suddenly ! 
 Spend all the money that you want to, and get me 
 a report over here, at once. I want to down him. 
 There's old 'Black Bill' Prindle, the Lieutenant 
 Colonel of the Grays. 
 
 "He is in command while old man Atwater is on 
 leave. I'll send you a letter to Mrs. Dora Prindle. 
 She is the secret boss of the Regiment, and, mind 
 you, nose the whole thing out ! You can make 
 Mrs. Prindle a handsome present in my name. 
 They are at Fort Stanton now !" 
 
 All unconscious of the gossip provoked by his 
 reticent avoidance of rosebud society, Sidney Lan- 
 don went along unruffled on his lonely way. 
 
 In his own mind, he had resolutely thrust out 
 the image of the lovely woman who stood so far 
 above him on the heights of Fortune. 
 
 And yet, her softly shining eyes pursued Him, 
 as he wandered out, a week later, to think calmly
 
 80 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 over the accumulating proofs of Signore Jacopo 
 Maspero's hidden official delinquencies. "It will 
 take Morgan months to trace all out," he mused, 
 "and the Cavaliere shall have a square deal." 
 
 Landon had wandered out of the Porta San Se- 
 bastiano, leaving his carriage to await his return. 
 The cool November air braced his spirits as he 
 sped along the old Appian way, with that swing- 
 ing stride which he had learned on the boundless 
 prairie seas of the west. 
 
 His heart and mind were full of but one beloved 
 theme as he paused at the little church of "Quo 
 Vadis." "Who knows where fate, not faith, will 
 lead me !" he murmured, as he passed the Jewish 
 catacombs, the Circus of Maxentius, and, then 
 resolutely trudged along to where the "stern 
 round tower of other days" told of the sorrow of 
 Crassus for Metellus' beloved daughter ! 
 
 Throwing himself down in the shade he mur- 
 mured, "Let my heart entomb her as a memory ! 
 Death is not the only barrier ! The battlements of 
 wealth, to-day, are stronger fences than these 
 crumbling crenellated walls." 
 
 A slow mental torture now goaded him on in 
 his daily life.
 
 THE FOREMOST SCOUNDREL PITCHED OVER HEADLONG 
 ON HIS FACE.-/>a f eS2.
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA. 81 
 
 "I'll wait" he mused, after a half hour's intro- 
 spection, "until I see dear old Miles Atwater and 
 Hatcher then, when I have set Signore Jacopo 
 Maspero to rights, I will ask for a change of offi- 
 cial station, anywhere, anywhere !" 
 
 Around him dreamed the lonely wastes of the 
 Campagna! There was nothing living in sight 
 save a wretched stray buffalo ! The ruined arches 
 of the old aqueducts glared out on the lonely 
 plain, the silence-haunted tombs of old Romans 
 glowed in the stark sunlight ! 
 
 Suddenly the piercing scream of a woman's 
 voice was borne down on the breeze. 
 
 The soldier sprang up, alert and ready as when 
 the crawling scout had laid a hand on his mouth 
 while he whispered, " Vienen los Apaches !" 
 
 "It's over there, in the hollow," he mechan- 
 ically muttered, as he took a smart double time to 
 the brow of a little hill a hundred yards away. 
 
 And, then, the fighting blood within him boiled, 
 for, sixty yards below, a group of raffish looking 
 fellows were pulling two helpless women out of a 
 Victoria. 
 
 On the road beyond, the fleeing coward driver 
 
 was speeding away, yelling with Italian fervor. 
 e
 
 82 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I'm in luck!" thought Landon as he drew his 
 army revolvers, which, by chance, he had brought 
 out to fire away the useless charges in some se- 
 cluded place, where five hundred francs fine would 
 not follow such a daring indiscretion. 
 
 "I must get nearer to make sure," he muttered, 
 as he gazed at the group of robbers. "Some poor 
 English tourist women, of course." 
 
 At thirty yards, he raised the heavy weapon and 
 fired point blank at a clump of three of the brutes 
 who had darted toward him, brandishing heavy 
 clubs. 
 
 The foremost scoundrel pitched over headlong 
 on his face, and then, with a chorus of screams, 
 the other ruffians fled, diving into the deep radial 
 gulleys leading down toward the catacombs. 
 
 Landon never stopped to gaze at the villain 
 lying there before him, weltering in his blood, but 
 he dashed up to the helpless woman who had been 
 dragged from the carriage. 
 
 The revolver dropped from his hand as he fell 
 on his knees by the side of the senseless victim of 
 the daring raid ! 
 
 His manhood almost forsook him as he mur-
 
 AT THE TOMB OF CECILIA METELLA." 83 
 
 mured fondly " Agnes! Dead! My God! Look 
 up! Speak to me!" 
 
 For, pillowed on his breast lay the fair head of 
 the goddess of the Pincian, as he roused Mrs. 
 Montgomery with vigorous appeals for help ! 
 
 Five minutes later, the coachman, returning 
 with a rescue party of sheep herders, met the car- 
 riage slowly proceeding homeward, driven by the 
 chance rescuer. 
 
 At a slow walk, the vehicle regained the Porta 
 San Sebastiani. 
 
 "Here is my own carriage," whispered Landon 
 to the pale-faced goddess. " You are now safe ! I 
 will follow in yours ! Say nothing of this ! I will 
 report to the authorities. It must not be noised 
 abroad. Mrs. Montgomery is now herself again." 
 
 "How can I repay you ?" faltered Agnes. 
 
 "By never leaving Rome without due escort and 
 in a suitable party," answered Landon. 
 
 "Besides, I am paid already! Your head has 
 rested once upon my breast !" 
 
 And they parted in silence while all the way 
 homeward the young heiress fondly looked at her 
 limp and helpless hands ! She felt his passionate 
 kisses tingling there yet !
 
 84 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 
 
 With the quick decision of a soldier, Landon 
 had already framed his plan to stifle any needless 
 gossip as to the morning's adventure long before 
 his carriage reached the American Consulate Gen- 
 eral. 
 
 He was delighted at the womanly prudence 
 which led Agnes Hawthorn to refuge herself with 
 Gertrude Melville, that sagacious and undaunted 
 matron. 
 
 As he supported the trembling beauty in scaling 
 the two giant staircases of the old palace, the 
 young man whispered, "Leave all to me, and, 
 say nothing. Confide only in Mrs. Melville. 
 
 "I will have my coachman artfully detain 
 yours, until Melville can take your cowardly 
 driver and go directly to the Minister of Police. 
 
 "There, this fellow can be detained as a witness 
 against the wounded brigand. 
 
 "I advise you to spend the whole afternoon here
 
 IN- THE COLOSSEUM. 85 
 
 and dine later with the Consul General! In the 
 evening, we will all escort you back to the Hotel 
 Costanzi, and, remember, above all Mrs. 
 Montgomery must be silenced." 
 
 Five minutes later the two American officials 
 were on their way together to the Ministry of Jus- 
 tice. Landon had dismissed his own driver, a re- 
 liable fellow provided by Forrest Grimes. 
 
 The soldier was astonished at Arthur Melville's 
 sudden energy and decision. 
 
 "We have only the journals, the clubs and the 
 society gossip to fear, my dear Landon," remarked 
 the Artist. "Gertrude will send out and bring 
 down the Hollingsworths, and we will have a 
 musical evening. You can bring up Grimes and 
 Hatton on my informal bidding! 
 
 "I only fear one thing, have the two coach- 
 men been chattering with each other?" 
 
 "Certainly not," coolly answered Landon. "Re- 
 member! I had left my man behind at the San 
 Sebastian gate, and, when the shooting occurred, 
 the cowardly wretch who drove the ladies was 
 out of sight ! The two men have not had a chance 
 to exchange a single word !" 
 
 "Good !" mused the Consul General. "Then I
 
 86 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 will have this driver fellow detained as a witness 
 against the wounded thug. 
 
 "In this way we can control the tongue of local 
 gossip. 
 
 "It must be done!" gravely continued Melville, 
 "for the watchful geese whose squawking saved 
 ancient Rome are marvels of silence compared to 
 the glib-tongued slanderers of the modern burg. 
 To have your name bandied with Agnes' in this, 
 would be her social ruin. We must stifle the whole 
 thing!" 
 
 Captain Landon bowed his head in a silent as- 
 sent. Melville marveled at the look of sadness 
 which mantled the young soldier's features. 
 
 When they drew up before the Ministry of Jus- 
 tice, Landon woke from a reverie and seized both 
 his companion's hands convulsively. "You must 
 do all you can, Melville, to hide this occurrence." 
 
 "You are right! No woman can be protected 
 against the fangs of her merciless sisterhood ! I 
 could tell you of one whose heart broke under the 
 lash of unmerited scorn " and then Landon sud- 
 denly checked himself, noting Melville's surprised 
 glances. 
 
 Fortunately, the carriage halted, and the obse-
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 87 
 
 quious sentinels presented arms as the American 
 officials were received by the orderly officer. 
 
 The Consul General whispered a few words to 
 the young Lieutenant on guard, who then cour- 
 teously led the way into the Minister's reception 
 room. 
 
 In five minutes the grave Minister was pos- 
 sessed of the main facts of the case and an officer 
 followed by an orderly was clattering away to the 
 Porta San Sebastiano for an official report. 
 
 Landon admired Melville's aplomb as the Min- 
 ister, after exhausting the Consul General's brief 
 relation, turned to himself with detailed question- 
 ing. 
 
 Abandoning the graceful Italian in which he 
 was a Tuscan adept, Melville interjected a few 
 French words of expostulation. 
 
 "My Dear Signer Crispiani," he began. "You 
 must speak French to my friend, Captain Landon. 
 
 "Now, as he has not understood our colloquy, I 
 will tell him that you desire the names of the two 
 imperiled ladies, and, if possible, a description." 
 
 With a furtive wink to Landon, Melville slyly 
 continued : "Of course, busied as I was at the 
 Consulate I paid no attention to the two ladies,
 
 88 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 who took a passing carriage and drove hastily 
 away." 
 
 The astute Italian's glittering dark eyes rested 
 inquiringly upon Landon's handsome face. 
 
 Ringing for coffee and cigarettes, the Minister 
 proceeded to jot down a few queries. 
 
 In his own mind, he was really studying the 
 handsome soldier's demeanor. 
 
 "If he were one of our Roman cavaliers," mused 
 Crispiani, "it were easy to unravel the intrigue. A 
 hot-hearted beauty, a complacent duenna, a 
 little meeting outside the walls, a jealous rival's 
 rage. 
 
 "Bah! These English and Americans only 
 have ice water in their veins after all !" 
 
 In his silkiest tones, Crispiani began : "Signior 
 Landono, you, alone, can aid me. I have already 
 ordered the driver to be kept apart from all other 
 prisoners, in close detention, as an honorable wit- 
 ness for the state. 
 
 "But you know not the subtlety of our Italian 
 peasants. I presume if these ladies picked up a 
 'voiture d'occasion,' this fellow may be one of 
 those loafers who drive people out of the city, and, 
 by a passing sign or a messenger sent on ahead,
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 89 
 
 assemble a few ruffians who pillage unprotected 
 tourists. 
 
 ''Your imprudent English and American ladies 
 are traveling treasuries! Corpo de Bacco! Dia- 
 monds, money, jewels, all these riches adorn 
 them, even by day ! We Italians are very poor, 
 and hence" he sighed, "very prudent." 
 
 Sidney Landon had caught the drift of his offi- 
 cial friend's warning, and he tarried long over his 
 coffee and cigarette, before he answered. "Mon- 
 sieur le Ministre will observe," he calmly began, 
 "that I am a recent arrival, not a man of society 
 and, as a soldier of the far west, unacquainted 
 with even the faces of the leading American resi- 
 dents. 
 
 "I paid no special attention to the ladies. There 
 was no one in sight when the attack occurred, save 
 the cowardly coachman, who had cleared the knoll 
 before I fired at the brutes. 
 
 "I only waited an instant at the San Sebastian 
 gate, to put the ladies into my carriage, and, fol- 
 lowing, in the other, at a safe distance, I was only 
 busied with detaining this fellow, whom I thought 
 would be needed as a witness. 
 
 "The two ladies were both too badly frightened
 
 90 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 to talk, and, they gave me no names. I drove the 
 deserted carriage myself rapidly on till we met the 
 gend'armes and villagers going back with the 
 strange driver. 
 
 "The ladies looked to me to be English tourists 
 of the middle classes. 
 
 "You may hear of this later through the En- 
 glish Embassy. The English always make a great 
 racket if their travelers are interfered .with." 
 
 Arthur Melville sank back with a sigh of relief 
 as he noted the effect of Landon's judicious and 
 gentlemanly lying. 
 
 "Two to one on Landon," he mused, as he gazed 
 on the soldier's impassive face. 
 
 Signior Crispiani touched a bell and whispered 
 a few words to an aid, who vanished like a jack in 
 the box. 
 
 "Of course," suavely said the Minister, "the 
 Consul General's official guarantee of your rank 
 and station makes your evidence all that is neces- 
 sary. 
 
 "I will wait and hear what this fellow has to say 
 his first tissue of lies, and then merely ask you to 
 dictate a brief statement to my secretary. You 
 will be troubled no farther than to identify the fel-
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 91 
 
 low whom you wounded, and to swear that the 
 shooting was done in self defense." 
 
 Landon bowed politely and studied the pictures 
 of the royal family until Signior Crispiani's aid 
 returned. 
 
 There was much exchange of the Italian dialect 
 carried on by both hands and all the ringers, with 
 added manipulations of the eyes, until, finally, the 
 aid vanished. 
 
 Signior Crispiani resumed his fluent French, 
 with an air of profound wisdom. "We have the 
 fellow's name, description, cab number and so 
 forth one of the average handy rascals of the 
 town. He, of course, howls 'non capisco.' 
 
 "His story is that the ladies hired him near the 
 Teatro Apollo for a drive. Trying to make a 
 good fare, he took them out to the nearest of our 
 outside 'lions,' seeking only a round twenty lire for 
 his half day's work. 
 
 "All he will say is that one was oldj the other 
 not so old! He classes them as 'Inglesi.' 
 
 "Of course, he stoutly denies all complicity in 
 the attack, and, also, declares that he did not 
 see the shooting ! He only jumped off his box and
 
 92 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 cleared out when the band of loafers swarmed out 
 of the bushes." 
 
 "What will you do with him?" carelessly de- 
 manded Melville. 
 
 "He will be kept and well treated until the other 
 fellow dies or is tried," answered Crispiani. 
 
 "I believe him innocent. I think he tells the 
 truth," said Landon. "Allow me," he remarked 
 as he handed the Minister a fifty-lire note. "Let 
 the poor devil have this for tobacco money ! After 
 all, he brought aid back as soon as he could." 
 
 "You are very generous, Capitano," bowed the 
 Minister. 
 
 "Ah ! Here is our report from the Captain of 
 Gendarmerie at the station near San Sebastiano." 
 . The crafty Italian ran his eye over the precis 
 handed to him. Dismissing the aid with a nod, 
 Crispiani read with a professional triumph : 
 
 "Prisoner badly wounded in shoulder, now in 
 prison hospital. Recognized as Giuseppe Corti, 
 a professional criminal wanted on other charges. 
 Three of his party, lazzaroni, also in custody." 
 
 "Good," concluded the Minister. "Corti will 
 get five years in the government sulphur mines, 
 the others for say three years, and, on the whole
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 93 
 
 report, we shall simply charge them with an at- 
 tack as common footpads upon you. So we need 
 not look further for the vanished ladies, although, 
 their evidence would, of course, be valuable." 
 
 For half an hour the scratching of the Secre- 
 tary's pen was the only sound which punctuated 
 the Minister's questions and the carefully guarded 
 general replies of the cautious Captain. 
 
 Finally, Crispiani presented the transcript to 
 Captain Landon for his signature. 
 
 "You will observe, Your Excellency, that I can 
 not, especially after a few days, identify any of 
 the wounded man's companions," gravely said the 
 young American. 
 
 "All easy enough, my dear friend," smilingly 
 said the functionary. "I shall send you home in 
 my carriage. If you would honor me now with 
 your signature you can avoid all future appearance 
 in court, by permitting me to send my carriage and 
 a staff officer to the Consulate General to-morrow 
 at such hour as you choose. 
 
 "If you will be good enough to drive down to 
 the Hospital and identify the wounded man, then 
 your Consulate General seal on this paper will 
 serve as final evidence.
 
 94 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I shall send for the driver, who will be de- 
 tained here, later in the day, and he, for mere 
 policy, will swear to the identity of the whole 
 gang." 
 
 An hour later, the friends had regained the fam- 
 ily home in the Palazzo Vecchio. It was a royal 
 progress in the official carriage of the Minister 
 with its liveried outriders. 
 
 Melville and Landon, closeted in the studio, dis- 
 cussed a bottle of Lachrymse Christi, while they 
 concerted plans for the evening. 
 
 Melville's face was grave as he returned from a 
 brief colloquy with his energetic wife. "All looks 
 well, Landon," he cheerfully said. "Do you now 
 go and make sure of Grimes and Hatton for the 
 evening. 
 
 "I find that Mrs. Melville has sent Mrs. Mont- 
 gomery home in our carriage and I think there can 
 be no gossiping." 
 
 For all that, when the Captain had departed, 
 Melville called his wife aside. 
 
 "Be careful, Gertrude," he affectionately sug- 
 gested. "You know what Italian maids are. Do 
 not let our women overhear you talking with 
 Agnes over this romantic episode. All these Ital-
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 95 
 
 ian girls have lovers, and the lover is the keeper 
 of the heart secrets of the inamorata." 
 
 The Consul General fled away to his brush and 
 a peculiarly adaptable painting light, leaving 
 Madame Gertrude in silent blushes, for, alas, the 
 two snapping black-eyed maids were already mag- 
 nifying in their simple hearts the artless disclos- 
 ures of the hostess and her beautiful guest. The 
 warning came too late ! 
 
 There was a peculiarly joyful dinner in the Mel- 
 ville household on this eventful evening. 
 
 With bashful maiden wit, Miss Agnes Haw- 
 thorn had contrived to be taken in by the genial 
 Frank Hatton, and the two Philadelphians gaily 
 chatted of the sleepy metropolis by the beloved 
 Schuylkill. 
 
 This gentle artifice in no wise deceived that ex- 
 perienced matron, Gertrude Melville, for, the pale 
 beauty's eye would wander, in spite of her affected 
 coldness, to rest, with a cerulean flash, upon Lan- 
 don, happily sheltered under Mrs. Elaine Hol- 
 lingsworth's friendly wing. 
 
 But "it was merry in hall" as Melville grace- 
 fully wrangled about art with Forrest Grimes,
 
 96 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 finding, to his secret glee, so many points of con- 
 venient difference. 
 
 "The very charm of Art lies in its unvarying 
 vagueness," was the crowning dictum of the 
 saturnine Grimes. 
 
 And Charley Hollingsworth, outrageously flirt- 
 ing with his hostess, was only able to escape when 
 the ladies left the gentlemen to their wine. 
 
 Drawing Landon into a corner, he then handed 
 the Captain an evening journal. 
 
 There, in all the exuberant romance of the 
 "lingua Toscana," was a floridly fabulous account 
 of the desperate battle waged with robbers on the 
 Via Appia by the gallant Capitano Landon of the 
 Consulate General degli Stati Uniti. 
 
 "You are famous forever, now, my boy," gaily 
 cried the volatile Fred. But Landon, with a grave 
 face, drew Melville aside, and the two men at once 
 began to build additional battlements around the 
 truth. 
 
 Hastily excusing himself, Melville sought his 
 wife's boudoir and, after a few hasty words of 
 conference, they decided to escape further social 
 complication by sporting the oak. 
 
 It was with an affected gaiety that the hostess
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 97 
 
 summoned her guests to a moonlight excursion to 
 the weirdly haunted interior of the Flavian Am- 
 phitheatre. "We will have our music later when 
 we come home for supper," cried the dainty social 
 tyrant. 
 
 And so the whole party sallied forth, under the 
 experienced guidance of that Admirable Crichton, 
 Grimes, after the men had agnostically listened to 
 Landon's disclaimer of any heroism. 
 
 ''The whole thing is a sheer exaggeration," 
 calmly answered the Captain, as his eyes met Mel- 
 ville's in a renewed pledge of secrecy. 
 
 "But we demand to know who was the lady of 
 incomparable loveliness for whom you fought?" 
 cried Fred Hollingsworth, and then, the jester 
 marveled to see the ashen whiteness of Agnes 
 Hawthorn's face. 
 
 "Let us talk of something else than battle and 
 murder," she cried, as she seized upon Hollings- 
 worth for her cicerone of the evening. "You, sir 
 an old Roman, must now personally present 
 me to 'the glory that was Rome !' ' 
 
 The deep-toned bells were beating midnight as 
 the merry party in little duets wandered through
 
 98 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 the vast moonlit depths of Earth's greatest human- 
 made crater. 
 
 It had been by a prudent coup de main of Ger- 
 trude Melville that Agnes Hawthorn laid her 
 trembling hand at last on Sidney Landon's arm. 
 The vast walFs overhung the young couple as, with 
 a gentle craft, the grateful girl drew Landon away 
 from the happy roysterers. 
 
 There were scores of parties dispersed around 
 the interior, in moonlight and in shade, and the 
 guttural German, the nasal Yankee intonation, 
 mingled with the nervous snap of the Frenchman 
 and the honeyed babble of the Italian. 
 
 The brooding silence had wrapped them, at last, 
 as they threaded a gallery once devoted to passive 
 martyrs and infuriated beasts, to buckler clashing 
 gladiators or the merciless Roman soldiery. 
 
 "I wish you to believe in my gratitude, Cap- 
 tain," began the sweet-faced goddess, now melting 
 at heart. "I do not know why you seem to have 
 avoided us, but " 
 
 "I tell you he will marry the girl," rang out a 
 harsh voice near them, and, then a rougher one 
 answered, with a doubtful snort: 
 
 "Why so?"
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 99 
 
 "Because Rawdon Clark owns the millions of 
 the Elkhorn Mine!" 
 
 "Why, this Hawthorn girl is rich as a Jew !" 
 
 Landon felt the arm leaning upon his own 
 tighten sharply as the merciless voices of the night 
 proceeded. 
 
 "Rawdon Clark never missed a trick in his life. 
 
 "There is Philadelphia society, and, the 
 Senate to conquer. With this girl's family con- 
 nection, he can do both!" but Sidney Landon 
 only heard the agonized whisper, "Take me back 
 to them anywhere, out of here!" 
 
 It was in silence that Landon drew the cloak 
 closer around the girl's shivering form and hur- 
 ried her away to where Mrs. Melville was now 
 mustering the party for a return. 
 
 A chill icier than the breath of the night wind 
 froze the young man's heart as he bowed, and 
 sought a refuge in the second carriage. 
 
 He could only see the fair graceful head resting 
 upon Mrs. Melville's shoulder as the first carriage 
 moved away. 
 
 "It's a brutal outrage," the proud young soldier 
 mused in the bitterness of his heart. "The doom 
 of the heiress! To be hunted down by callous-
 
 100 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 handed millionaires or to be the sport of the ad- 
 venturer." 
 
 "My God, Landon," cried Forrest Grimes, at 
 his side, "you have not come out clad only in a 
 dress suit ? Where's your cloak ? This night air 
 is deadly to strangers! Here! I'm an older 
 Roman than you !" 
 
 But the bronzed Captain resolutely declined the 
 offer, as he pitilessly exclaimed, "Never mind me, 
 old boy! There is no one left to mourn for 
 Logan!" 
 
 And, yet a half hour later, when the car- 
 riages drew up before the Palazzo Vecchio, Cap- 
 tain Landon soldierly attentive was the first 
 to aid Miss Agnes Hawthorn from the carriage. 
 
 The detachment of Americans halted, in aston- 
 ishment, in the arched entrance of the old mansion, 
 where Landon, in a muffled voice, made his 
 adieux. 
 
 Melville turned in astonishment. "By no 
 means! You are to sup with us, and, we will 
 have the Star Spangled Banner and all that ! You 
 have not heard Miss Hawthorn sing !" 
 
 Standing with reluctant feet on the gleaming 
 marble stairway, the heiress turned slowly, as
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 101 
 
 Landon reiterated his apologies! The golden- 
 haired young goddess appreciated the delicacy 
 which would shield her from his knowledge of the 
 brutal meshes of the fowler's nets. 
 
 She stood there, with one graceful arm ex- 
 tended, in a gesture half a command, half a sup- 
 plication. 
 
 Suddenly there was a shriek from Gertrude 
 Melville as Agnes Hawthorn fell heavily upon the 
 slippery marble! 
 
 By the glimmering light of the crescent, Landon 
 stooped and, with the skill of a trained athlete, 
 raised the prostrate form ! 
 
 Up the stairway he strode, never halting, as 
 Melville dashed on ahead, until, passing through 
 the frightened domestics, he had placed the moan- 
 ing sufferer upon the bed in Gertrude Melville's 
 chamber. 
 
 "Doctor Corvini!" cried Melville as he gave 
 place to his wife, followed by the artist's wife. 
 
 "Fred is away, in the carriage, on the gallop to 
 bring him," said Elaine Hollingsworth, as she 
 knelt, white-faced, by the sufferer. 
 
 In the drawing room the men lingered in ex-
 
 102 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 pectant sadness, awaiting the arrival of the great 
 surgeon, Doctor Cesare Corvini. 
 
 It was Landon's presence, of mind that brought 
 the nearest practitioner in spectacles and dressing 
 gown, from the other side of the square. 
 
 Arthur Melville returned from the improvised 
 sick room to announce the "first aid" efforts of the 
 minor practitioner and the probable gravity of the 
 case. 
 
 "Broken, I fear," the Consul General murmured 
 in answer to the mute inquiries of the haggard 
 eyes fixed upon his anxious face. "She has been 
 given an opiate !" 
 
 Two hours later the coterie separated, after 
 knowing Doctor Corvini's work done. 
 
 "A bad compound fracture of the right ankle, 
 gentlemen," said the old Professor, as he dis- 
 missed the visitors. 
 
 "Miss Hawthorn will see little of our Roman 
 season, until carnival time. As for moving her, 
 it is simply impossible. Thank Heaven, she is in a 
 household offering every facility. The ankle will 
 go into a plaster cast to-morrow morning." 
 
 Sadly enough, Grimes, Hatton and the dejected
 
 IN THE COLOSSEUM. 103 
 
 Landon betook themselves through the gloomy 
 streets to the Eveless Paradise. 
 
 There, even at three o'clock, the reception room 
 blazed with light. All the members of the in- 
 formal club were awaiting the return of the hero 
 of the journalistic sensation of the evening. 
 
 "You are the most talked-of man in Rome to- 
 night, Landon," gaily cried Wilson Waddingham, 
 the jolly English attache. "The great thing is, 
 'dove la Donna?'" 
 
 But, sadly enough, the three friends repulsed 
 all the questioners, wearily hearing that the clubs 
 and salons were ringing with the wildest rumors. 
 
 "Damn the Italian newspapers!" growled Cap- 
 tain Landon, as he stalked away shivering to his 
 fireless room. 
 
 "I want you fellows all to understand that my 
 lips are silent on the whole occurrence !" 
 
 "You had better keep out of the salons and 
 clubs, then," kindly answered the Briton, "for, 
 Robert Brandon and the all-compelling Mrs. Myra 
 have already taken the affair in tow. It's the 
 sensation of the hour!" 
 
 The three friends had already agreed to a strict
 
 104 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 silence upon the embarrassing accident of the 
 beautiful heiress. 
 
 "Clouds everywhere," murmured Landon. 
 "My life lies darkly before me," he sighed, as he 
 threw himself half dressed upon his bed, and fell 
 asleep, with unaccustomed rigors of crawling 
 chills racking his frame. 
 
 Down below on the "causerie," Forrest Grimes 
 was grumbling over a hot grog at Landon's reck- 
 less exposure of his health. "You fellows know 
 what it is for a man to linger a couple of hours in 
 that old death trap, the Colosseum, a man only 
 clad in a light dress suit. 
 
 "I fear Landon may hear from our insidious 
 enemy the dismal Roman fever. I pray to God 
 not but I fear it !" 
 
 Up in the Palazzo Vecchio two devoted women 
 watched over the moaning sufferer, while their 
 husbands gloomily exchanged a good-night. 
 
 Charley Hollingsworth charged himself with an 
 early morning visit to Mrs. Montgomery, and 
 agreed to convey Miss Hawthorn's companion 
 down for general instructions. 
 
 "I'll have Elaine watch over the dear old lady 
 at the Hotel Costanzi," cheerily cried the good fel-
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 105 
 
 low, "and see that the simple old soul is neither 
 robbed nor carried off by some scandal monger." 
 
 It was a gloomy ending of the day which had 
 promised so fairly to the bright-hearted American 
 coterie. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MR. RAWDON CLARK TAXES A HAND IN THE GAME 
 OF HEARTS. 
 
 Vice Consul General Landon awoke to a day of 
 unusual responsibilities with an aching head, and 
 strange languorous shivers creeping over his still 
 tired-out body. 
 
 When he joined the jolly coterie in the breakfast 
 room it was already ten o'clock and yet the mem- 
 bers of the informal club were lingering over the 
 newspapers. 
 
 With a resolute denial, the soldier waved away 
 the sheaf of papers presented to him. 
 
 He silently drank his morning coffee, and then 
 drew Forrest Grimes and Frank Hatton out of the 
 quizzing circle. 
 
 "I shall go up to the Consulate," he said to his
 
 106 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 friends as they took their constitutional down the 
 Corso. "I will try and relieve Melville as much 
 as I can. This affair of last night will upset his 
 household for some time. 
 
 "Favor me with quieting all this row about the 
 bandit episode and all that. I must seal my lips, 
 and you know I hate notoriety of all kinds." 
 
 "Landon, my dear boy," affectionately said the 
 veteran Grimes. "I wish you to go and see Doctor 
 Corvini. See him to-day! Have him tone you 
 up a little. 
 
 "For, never again must you tempt life and death 
 as you did last evening in braving the poisonous 
 night air of 'Rome.' " 
 
 "All right," wearily answered the Captain, as 
 he hastened away abruptly, for Mr. Robert Bran- 
 don, bustling and officious, was booming down 
 upon them, evidently gossip mad. 
 
 The offices of the Consul General were filled 
 with an augmented crowd as Landon entered, find- 
 ing the young secretary, Morgan, the center of a 
 knot of eager questioners. 
 
 Gravely replying to Signore Maspero's over- 
 done bow of official obsequiousness, Landon si- 
 lently addressed himself to his letters.
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 107 
 
 He tossed them in his desk after a hasty glance. 
 "So dear old Rufus Hatcher will be here in three 
 days," he mused as he sought the private apart- 
 ments of the Consul General. 
 
 "I wish I could escape the dear old General," 
 uneasily ruminated Landon. "For he will put the 
 Army matter at me roughly, in his kind old 
 stormy way !" 
 
 The brutal comments of the unknown babblers 
 in the Colosseum recalled Rawdon Clark's per- 
 sistent chase of the fair young orphan. 
 
 "I will face Hatcher and, then, get out of 
 here," grimly decided the young man. "I can not 
 bear to see the end of this cold-hearted marking 
 clown of that sweet orphaned girl." 
 
 Captain Landon's utmost courtesy was soon 
 tested in resisting the flustering queries of Mrs. 
 Myra Brandon, bustling down the long corridor 
 and coming into the Consular office in a towering 
 rage. 
 
 "Perhaps you can tell me, Captain Landon, why 
 I am denied access to my young relative, Miss 
 Hawthorn. I hear rumors of a frightful accident 
 to her. I have just returned from the Costanzi.
 
 108 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Agnes' apartments are closed. I am denied a 
 meeting with her." 
 
 With grave politeness, Captain Landon re- 
 minded the social magnifico that he was a mere 
 stranger to the Consul General's household. 
 
 "I am merely an official, Madame, a casual 
 visitor to Rome. I shall probably depart soon, and 
 my acquaintance with the Melville household is 
 that of a mere recent hospitality. 
 
 "Surely Consul General and Mrs. Melville are 
 the leaders of our colony, and any one is safe in 
 their hands ! Pray, excuse me. I have my official 
 reports to make !" 
 
 With a deep bow, he passed on into the studio 
 to receive Melville's morning report of the suf- 
 ferer's condition and to concert means for wrap- 
 ping the whole occurrences in a graver reticence. 
 
 "It will be weeks, my dear Landon," sighed 
 Melville, "before dear Agnes can leave us. And, 
 so, I depend in all things upon you. 
 
 "I shall station two servants here to keep away 
 the noisy jackdaws. 
 
 "By the way, you are looking wretchedly. I 
 shall send Corvini in to see you." 
 
 With the knowledge that the sufferer was in the
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 109 
 
 torturing agonies of the plaster cast operation, 
 Landon sought the nearest florists and sent a 
 basket of the beautiful Roman blossoms to bear his 
 mute greetings. 
 
 And then the young man returned to his duties 
 at the crowded reception room of the Consulate 
 General. 
 
 The bells were clanging for noon when, from 
 his open window, Landon saw Rawdon Clark's 
 splendid equipage dashing up. The burly Bran- 
 don was seated in the Victoria with the hard-fea- 
 tured millionaire. 
 
 A premonition of trouble flashed over Landon's 
 mind as, with a face darkened by a quiet rage, 
 Clark strode into the room. 
 
 "I demand to see Consul General Melville," he 
 curtly said, without even removing his hat. 
 
 Captain Landon calmly replied, "I have sole 
 charge of all official matters, sir." 
 
 "I wish to send my card in to his personal resi- 
 dence," hotly followed up the visitor. 
 
 'T understand that there is illness in the fam- 
 ily," remarked Landon, "and the servants have or- 
 ders to receive all cards and to beg that Mr. Mel- 
 ville be excused."
 
 110 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I demand to know why the flowers I sent to 
 Miss Hawthorn have been returned," broke out 
 Clark. 
 
 "And I wish to know why my wife was refused 
 access to her relative," pompously threatened 
 Brandon. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said Captain Landon, "you must 
 seek such answers from Doctor Corvini, or ad- 
 dress a note to Mr. Melville. I am in no way con- 
 cerned with the social affairs of Mr. Melville or his 
 guest." 
 
 "I insist," thundered Clark. 
 
 "Then, sir," said Landon, with dignity, "I can 
 only say, in the absence of my superior, that your 
 conduct is unwarranted, and that, as his official 
 representative, I shall not discuss these matters. 
 You will find that he will resent this intrusion ; if 
 he does not, then, / will!" 
 
 Cowed and snarling the two men dashed out 
 of the door, with added fuel to the flames of their 
 ire. 
 
 It was three o'clock when Landon's strange 
 weariness forced him to turn the office over to Mr. 
 Morgan. "If I were not proof against small and
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. Ill 
 
 large ailments," he muttered, "I should fear that 
 Grimes' prophecy was a correct one." 
 
 He reached the Eveless Paradise only to find 
 Frank Hatton awaiting him there, with the light 
 of battle in his eyes. 
 
 "I have just left the American Club, Sidney," 
 began the honest scribe, "and the whole crowd of 
 dawdlers are simply gone mad over the affair at 
 the Cecilia Metella tomb, and this mysterious acci- 
 dent to Miss Hawthorn. 
 
 "Grimes sharply called two or three of them 
 down. I'm sorry to say that they are coupling 
 your name very freely with Miss Hawthorn's." 
 
 Captain Landon clenched his shapely fist. 
 
 "Cowards!" he muttered. "It's that cackling 
 pair, the Brandons." 
 
 "Worse than that!" gravely answered Hatton. 
 "That cold-hearted brute, Clark, has been driving 
 all over town from the Hotel Costanzi to club 
 and hotel, swearing that he will get at the bottom 
 of the affair. I see trouble ahead for both of us !" 
 
 "Why for you?" said Landon, now pale with 
 anger. 
 
 "Because the scoundrel took me into the card 
 room and demanded that I go out to the Porta San
 
 112 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Sebastiano, and, on carte blanche orders, write up 
 the whole affair of the banditti, in detail. 
 
 "He has ordered me to find out the two ladies, 
 and to interview them, as well as to feature the 
 whole affair for the 'Mail.' 
 
 "Further, and the crowning infamy of all, he in- 
 sists upon a two-column article upon the distress- 
 ing accident to Miss Hawthorn " 
 
 "And, you said ?" broke out Landon, his eyes 
 blazing with a suddenly kindled wrath. 
 
 "I flatly refused," blurted out the manly young 
 son of Rutgers, "when he threatened me with an 
 instant discharge. 
 
 "I braved him with my contract, which holds 
 the journal for a year, and then he stormed away, 
 swearing he would have it done by others. I can 
 not prevent the insertion of this stuff !" 
 
 "/ can, and, so help me God, / will!" cried 
 Landon, as he gratefully grasped the brave young 
 fellow's hand. 
 
 "I'll see Melville, my boy ! He is rich and pow- 
 erful ! You shall be protected." 
 
 Sick at heart, Captain Landon sought his room 
 and lay down in a deep exhaustion. 
 
 That night, while the fever crept through the
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 113 
 
 young soldier's weakened frame, in a private room 
 at the Hotel Quirinale, Rawdon Clark plied Sig- 
 nore Jacopo Maspero with the choicest wines. 
 
 "Find out the whole mystery for me," the mil- 
 lionaire whispered. "I'll give you a year's salary 
 if you let me know what goes on in that sick room 
 daily. A few hundred lire notes will make the 
 servants in the Melville household your slaves for 
 life." 
 
 As Clark drove home after binding his infa- 
 mous bargain, he chuckled over his own acuteness. 
 
 "This Italian fellow hates Landon, who lords it 
 over him, and he will be glad for his revenge! 
 I will have the whole circle under my secret search- 
 lights soon! 
 
 "And now for the great stroke! Old General 
 Hatcher comes soon. He is brave and frank, and 
 yet as vain as an old turkey cock! I'll just give 
 him a bang-up dinner and make that fool Hatton 
 write it up, in style ! A few bottles of wine will 
 worm out the story of how this fellow Landon 
 left the army, how and why! 
 
 "Then, by Heaven, I'll use the paper against 
 him ! I'll ventilate the whole story and chase him 
 out of the Consular service. 
 
 8
 
 114 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "When he is out of the way, the Brandons must 
 get hold of Agnes Hawthorn. 
 
 "After that, the running will be easy ! Yes ! I 
 will take a hand in this little game of 'Hearts,' 
 a winning one!" 
 
 Signore Maspero, waiting gloatingly for the 
 dawn, recalled how skillfully he had planted the 
 seeds of jealousy in the ardent bosoms of Emilia 
 and Lucia, the deft Italian maids of the Melville 
 household. 
 
 "Ah! Bella ragazza," mused the thrifty spy, 
 "a half of each hundred lire note shall go in my 
 own pocket ! I will play these pretty women devils 
 off against each other. 
 
 "And, II Signore Clark shall pay heavily for 
 what Emilia has already told me of the sly meet- 
 ing at the Cecilia Metella ! I shall pay off a score 
 to this young upstart Captain !" He strode home, 
 humming "Piano, piano, por mi Vendetta!" 
 
 Rawdon Clark bounded from his chair in de- 
 light the next day, when Maspero sent him a fur- 
 tive message : 
 
 "The young Vice Consul General lies in a rav- 
 ing delirium at his rooms on the Corso. The 
 Roman fever has him in its deadly grip. I will
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 115 
 
 have a full report of the Hawthorn bellissima for 
 you when we meet to-night." 
 
 "Here's luck!" shouted Clark, in joy. "The 
 fellow is weakened with his wounds! He will 
 either die or else be laid out for three months 
 and I will surely have Miss Icicle melted down 
 into Mrs. Clark long before then! Hurrah for 
 the fever!" 
 
 A wave of redoubled gossip swept over the 
 American colony, and the journals feel on with 
 alacrity into the garbled stories which, in spite of 
 Melville's calm denials, entangled the names of 
 the graceful heiress and the young Captain, by 
 whose tossing bed of pain the grave-eyed Doctor 
 Corvini muttered, "Two to one on death ! Only 
 a miracle can save him ! 
 
 "Alone, so young, a stranger in a far land 
 to die like a dog in the flower of his youth, it 
 is hard !" 
 
 And yet, around Landon's sick bed rallied all 
 the genuine friends of the Eveless Paradise, and 
 the Hollingsworths and Melvilles only waited his 
 return of reason to hale him away into their min- 
 istering hands. 
 
 Pale-faced and patient, Agnes Hawthorn, silent
 
 116 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 in her maidenly pride, ignorant of Landon's ill- 
 ness, turned her face to the wall and murmured, 
 "He does not even send a flower ! Ah ! that hor- 
 rible jargon of the men in the Colosseum! His 
 pride is greater than his love, or he would give 
 me a chance to thank him for my life." 
 
 For the Doctor had bidden them all not to ex- 
 cite the sufferer with the news of Landon's 
 seizure. "It might bring a fever on her! They 
 were exposed together to the night air." 
 
 Mr. Rawdon Clark, delightedly conferring wit'h 
 Maspero, was in the seventh heaven of joy when 
 General Rufus Hatcher arrived, falling headlong 
 into the trap of the "testimonial dinner." 
 
 "What he cannot tell me, Bolton will," gleefully 
 exclaimed Clark, as he reread a cablegram from 
 his agent, now in America: 
 
 "Mailed letter with full particulars. Perfect 
 success. Send you his whole story. He was 
 forced shamefully out of the army." 
 
 The fortnight which followed the receipt of this 
 telegram was the very busiest one of Rawdon 
 Clark's active life. 
 
 There was a vicious sparkle in the eyes of the 
 owner of the Elkhorn mine of Leadville.
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 117 
 
 His step was springy and his smile joyous, for 
 the tide was bearing him bravely on. 
 
 And yet he tossed uneasily upon his pillow at 
 night, murmuring, "I must have all the facts, 
 then, as this army fellow is making a strong fight 
 against death. I must find a way to chase him 
 out of here." 
 
 He burned with impatience for the arrival of 
 Barker Bolton's letter. 
 
 Every evening he was closeted at the Hotel 
 Quirinale with the adroit Maspero, whose lean 
 pockets were now beginning to be well lined. 
 
 In spite of a considerable use of backsheesh, the 
 Italian had as yet gained no substantial victory 
 over the crafty housemaids. 
 
 "Go ahead, use patience and plenty of money, 
 Maspero," urged Clark. "The women must be 
 made to talk !" 
 
 "Ah ! Signore," sighed Maspero. "These Mel- 
 villes are rich ; the women have good places ! And 
 they fear to lose them !" 
 
 Clark bounded to his feet in a sudden rage. 
 
 "Find out their price ! They say every woman 
 has her price! If you can unlock this mystery,
 
 118 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 I will not spare my cash and I will protect them 
 and you! 
 
 "Remember, Sidney Landon is your enemy. If 
 he ever recovers and is made Consul General, 
 out you go! You know that he hates you!" 
 
 "Yes ; and you shall know all ! 7 will have my 
 revenge ! Wait but another week !" 
 
 Fortune had singularly favored Rawdon Clark's 
 sinister designs. For, Mrs. Myra Brandon's emo- 
 tional letters praying "for access to her darling" 
 supplemented Miss Hawthorn's very natural de- 
 sire to return to the Hotel Costanzi. 
 
 And these letters of Clark's loquacious ally had 
 made plain to her the fact of Landon's serious 
 illness. 
 
 With womanly directness, Agnes Hawthorn 
 secretly questioned Doctor Cesare Corvini, who 
 sighed as he replied, "It is but too true! Captain 
 Landon must be removed soon from his damp 
 rooms on the Corso, either to the hill here, or else 
 to a Hospital. He is too weak to be moved away 
 to the Riviera ! His mind is still wandering, and 
 he seems friendless and alone." 
 
 That very evening, a council of war between 
 Mrs. Melville, Mrs. Hollingsworth and the heiress
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 119 
 
 led to the instant translation of Miss Agnes to the 
 Costanzi, at which palatial oasis Mrs. Myra Bran- 
 don, with outspread arms, swooped down upon the 
 helpless girl. 
 
 As the days ran on, the burly frame of Robert 
 Brandon haunted the Costanzi. 
 
 Mr. Rawdon Clark's floral offerings and daily 
 carte de visite, with Mrs. Myra's artful ap- 
 proaches paved the way for the later wooing which 
 was now the millionaire's only object in life. 
 
 "She will open every door for me at home," he 
 chuckled, while honest Frank Hatton's blood 
 boiled to read the syndicated social "relations" 
 artfully padded out, and published, broadcast, in 
 America, hinting with all too transparent vague- 
 ness at the "approaching nuptials" of the western 
 Crcesus with the "famed American beauty." 
 
 "Thank God, poor Landon can not read this 
 slush," muttered Hatton, who now divided the 
 post of honor at Landon's bedside, with all his 
 loyal comrades of the Eveless Paradise. 
 
 Knowing Arthur Melville's thoroughbred na- 
 ture, Hatton was not astonished when Doctor 
 Cesare Corvini, with the Consul General and a 
 watchful staff, cautiously removed the fever-
 
 120 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 stricken man to the special apartments in the 
 Palazzo Vecchio, where the Melvilles and Hol- 
 lingsworths a brave Samaritan quartette took 
 charge of Landon's fight for life. 
 
 Little Rose in Bloom, Miss Elsie, had been duly 
 sent away to Tivoli, and in the long December 
 days, Gertrude Melville and Elaine Rollings- 
 worth watched the sick man by whose bedside a 
 sweet-faced Sister of Charity sat, ever a guardian 
 angel. 
 
 Down at the Eveless Paradise, Forrest Grimes 
 and Frank Hatton gloomily conferred in impa- 
 tient indignation. 
 
 For persistent rumors, derogatory and disgrace- 
 ful to Landon, were now floating through club 
 and salon, and agitating the American colony. 
 
 "If I could only trace these things directly to 
 Clark, I would go and cowhide him," growled 
 Grimes, "but, by Heavens, we must wait and bide 
 our time!" 
 
 Hatton gloomily shook his head. There were 
 flying stories of Landon's impending removal,and 
 hints that the shooting on the Via Appia amount- 
 ed to a cruel intended murder. 
 
 The Roman authorities had artfully hushed up
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 121 
 
 all press comment, and slanderous tongues began 
 to connect the affair with some disgraceful social 
 intrigue. 
 
 "Now, Grimes," said Hatton, "it would be just 
 like this fellow Maspero to try and blacken Lan- 
 don's name ! We must wait for clearer skies and 
 happier days! For God's sake, hold your hand 
 off Clark as yet!" 
 
 Mr. Rawdon Clark's brilliant social welcome of 
 the game old fire-eater, General Rufus Hatcher, 
 had been delayed by the bold warrior falling into 
 the hospitable clutches of Consul Swasey at Nice. 
 
 But, the astute Clark had rallied the whole Bran- 
 don-led faction of Rome. The banquet-day was 
 arranged, with a reception and soiree dansante. 
 
 Upon the Committee of Arrangements the 
 princely host had judiciously omitted the names 
 of the Minister Resident and the Consul General. 
 
 "Tit for tat," growled Clark. "I will even up 
 matters with these local tin gods." 
 
 He was all dressed ready to take the train and 
 run up to Florence when Jacopo Maspero, with 
 well affected excitement, hurriedly sought him 
 out. 
 
 "Excellenza," whispered the sly Italian. "I
 
 122 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 have at last brought the women to the talking 
 point. They know the whole affair but, it is a 
 matter of ten thousand lire" 
 
 "Come to the bank with me," joyfully cried 
 Clark. "There is no time to lose. I hear this 
 fellow is beginning to convalesce, and I don't 
 want General Hatcher to meet him until I have 
 got the whole story of his leaving the army out 
 of the old soldier." 
 
 In half an hour, Maspero stole away with ten 
 one-thousand lire notes in his pocket, leaving 
 Clark, open-eyed in wonder, over a letter found 
 waiting at the bank, with Mr. Barker Bolton's 
 secret report. 
 
 "You shall know all on your return," cried 
 Maspero. "I stake my life upon ft." 
 
 All that afternoon, while Rawdon Clark lay 
 back in his luxurious first-class compartment, he 
 mused over the disclosures of Bolton's letter. He 
 had read it over and over again, with a sense of 
 delicious power. 
 
 "So, the gallant Captain left the army for the 
 army's good! He is a sly one! When I get to 
 Florence, I must cable to Bolton." 
 
 "Trust to a woman's desire for vengeance!"
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 123 
 
 Clark laughed, with a triumphant delight as he 
 thought of how Mrs. Dora Prindle, in far-off 
 Colorado, had fallen into Bolton's artfully set 
 trap. 
 
 "I suppose that this young Landon was the 
 regimental lady killer?" mused the millionaire, 
 "and yet, bitterly neglected old 'Black Bill' Prin- 
 dle's wife. 
 
 "Wrong policy! Wrong policy for an army 
 Lothario ! Captains should be duly devoted to the 
 wives of field officers, lest these same experienced 
 dames may turn again and rend them !" 
 
 But, with a cold, world-worn prudence, the 
 crafty wooer decided that the contents of the let- 
 ter must only be used later, and through a 
 woman's hand, as a stab in the dark ! 
 
 He laughed gaily, "Myra Brandon is the party 
 to handle this bomb. It must not be hurled by 
 my hand." 
 
 But he carefully extracted a series of names, 
 dates and facts from the letter, copying them in 
 his private betting book. He complacently lit a 
 cigar, as he murmured: 
 
 "Bolton certainly got it up in good form Dora 
 Prindle's letter, with our names judiciously elim-
 
 124 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 inated. It can be very neatly used in its present 
 form." 
 
 After Rawdon Clark had telegraphed to his 
 agent, from Florence, he gave himself up to the 
 enthusiasm of the moment. 
 
 For, he triumphantly captured the social lion 
 of the hour. 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher had been of real service 
 to the great mine owners of Colorado in the past. 
 
 Indian foray, miners' strikes, popular tumults 
 had all been met by the brave old General with 
 unerring sagacity and bravery. 
 
 It was after a sumptuous dinner that Clark and 
 his guest, lighting their Perfectos, dropped into 
 a cosy chat. 
 
 Hatcher was visibly flattered at the social prep- 
 arations in his honor. 
 
 With an affected carelessness, Clark brought up 
 the various leaders of the Roman colony. He 
 winced a bit when the old retired Cavalry General 
 gave vent to his enthusiasm for the Melvilles. 
 
 "I can't tell you much about our officials, Gen- 
 eral," reflectively said Clark. "I keep away from 
 them all, on principle, but I believe that they have
 
 RAWDON CLARK TAKES A HAND. 125 
 
 a young army fellow now at the Consulate Gen- 
 eral, a Captain Sidney Landon." 
 
 The old warrior brightened visibly. "One of 
 the finest fellows I ever met, in fact, I came 
 here largely to see him, as well as to do Italy ! I 
 want him to take back his old rank in the army. 
 Miles Atwater, his Colonel, has made me promise 
 to use my influence! He was one of the very 
 best young officers in the army !" 
 
 "I thought he was still on the active list," art- 
 fully interjected Clark, skillfully filling the Gen- 
 eral's glass. 
 
 The old soldier mournfully shook his old gray 
 head. 
 
 "There is a mystery in Landon's leaving the 
 service that I must try and fathom. He made a 
 splendid reputation in our ten years' Indian wars 
 with the Sioux and Cheyennes. I tried to get him 
 on my staff when I commanded the Department. 
 He would stick with his regiment. 
 
 "On the very eve of his promotion to a Ma- 
 jority, he suddenly jumps the Regiment, gets 
 transferred to another Cavalry corps, then, with- 
 out a word, in a few months pops in his resigna- 
 tion and leaves the service.
 
 126 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "It's ruin for such a man to quit his profes- 
 sion. Now, Atwater has prevailed on the Presi- 
 dent to appoint him on the staff, so as to get him 
 back in the army, and then assign him to his old 
 command! So far, he has stubbornly refused." 
 
 "Anything wrong with his record ; any hidden 
 disgrace?" questioned Clark. 
 
 "You don't know the man ! He is the very soul 
 of honor. It's a mystery. Even Atwater knows 
 nothing!" cried Hatcher, with an ominous flash 
 of his eyes. 
 
 "I am sorry for the young man," artfully in- 
 terjected Clark. "He is lying very low with 
 Roman fever at the Melvilles, now! No one is 
 allowed to see him !" 
 
 "My God ! I can't get to Rome too soon !" ex- 
 claimed the old General. "Tell me all you know 
 of it?" 
 
 And so, they talked on, long into the night.
 
 BOOK II 
 ADVERSE GALES
 
 BOOK II. 
 ADVERSE GALES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB "l WILL HAVE RE- 
 VENGE!" 
 
 Rawdon Clark, with judicious tact, left the 
 moody old General to his anxieties the next morn- 
 ing, for the anxious warrior had decided to push 
 on at once to Rome, abandoning the first glimpses 
 of Florence. 
 
 The capitalist did not fail to note that General 
 Hatcher had telegraphed to Melville for an imme- 
 diate report on Landon's condition, with orders 
 to reply to Orvieto. 
 
 Before they reached the Eternal City, Hatcher 
 confided his growing anxieties to his obsequious 
 host. 
 
 "I am terribly cut up about Landon," he broke 
 out. "You see, when a man suddenly jumps his 
 regiment and then leaves the service, with no 
 
 9 129
 
 130 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 apparent reason, it sets people's tongues all wag- 
 ging at once. I hold that a man's duty to his 
 command is to leave it with no cloud of mystery. 
 
 "I know that the Atwaters are coming over 
 soon, and if Landon will not re-enter his old 
 corps, he, at least, should thoroughly post men 
 like Atwater and myself, his old friends, so we 
 will be able to meet the mystery mongers. Now, 
 if he should die, the explanation would be lost 
 to us all !" 
 
 "Then there has been unfavorable talk, Gen- 
 eral?" quietly replied the alert Clark. 
 
 "Precisely!" grumbled the old veteran; "just 
 in proportion as we army people know each other's 
 lives intimately, so much more does the right 
 exist to know all useful and proper facts of each 
 other's lives. It's 'all for one, and one for all' in 
 a regiment of proper tone." 
 
 "From what you say, he needs no vindication !" 
 calmly answered Clark. 
 
 "Certainly not!" roared the old man, "but his 
 friends are anxious to stay the tide of this damag- 
 ing gossip." 
 
 It was with an adroit self effacement that Raw- 
 don Clark turned his distinguished guest over to
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 131 
 
 the Reception Committee on their arrival at 
 Rome. 
 
 But, Clark was inwardly disturbed when Arthur 
 Melville, with the First Secretary of the Legation, 
 drew the General aside for a few moments. 
 
 The guest of honor was visibly moved, as he 
 beckoned Clark apart. 
 
 "My dear old friend," he hastily said. "You 
 must put off the serenade and your formal wel- 
 come for a day or so! I am going down to see 
 Landon. 
 
 "Melville tells me that he is raving with an 
 unexpected return of the fever. When I have 
 satisfied myself that nothing more can be done 
 with him, I am at your service. 
 
 "As for the public dinner, that can go on as you 
 have planned, in three days, unless Captain Lan- 
 don should die, in which case you must postpone 
 it indefinitely." 
 
 With a cold bow to the two officials, Clark com- 
 municated with his colleagues, and then the impa- 
 tient soldier was driven rapidly away in the Lega- 
 tion carriage. 
 
 The Committee of Reception nervelessly dis- 
 persed in a general dissatisfaction.
 
 132 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 With muttered curses, Rawdon Clark drove 
 rapidly down the hill to his rooms, and sent a 
 trusty messenger to summon Maspero to the 
 Quirinal. There was no uncertain ring in the 
 rich man's voice as he demanded a full report of 
 the agent's dirty work. 
 
 "I think that I can satisfy you now, Eccelenza," 
 grinned Maspero, lighting his "Cavour," with a 
 gleam of satisfaction. "I have drawn out the 
 whole story of the adventure on the Appian road. 
 
 "It was the bellissima, Mees' Agnes Hawthorn, 
 who was the companion of that morning excur- 
 sion. 
 
 "Of course, the old dame de compagnie, 
 Madame Montgomery, was taken along as a sheep 
 dog." 
 
 The veins stood out on Clark's throbbing tem- 
 ples as the crafty scoundrel related the vile story 
 built up by the two maids from the overheard 
 confidences of Gertrude Melville and the fright- 
 ened girl. 
 
 The tale was the result of mean servile sur- 
 mises. 
 
 "Of course, the poor devil of a peasant surprised 
 this sly couple in their illicit lovemaking, and
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 133 
 
 then the unlucky contadini was shot to prevent 
 his babbling! It is only a game to win the enor- 
 mous wealth of this orphan girl for these crafty 
 Melvilles and this handsome adventurer. 
 
 "Melville, himself, went to Signior Crespiani 
 and had the whole affair hushed up. You observe 
 that the Roman journals suddenly dropped the 
 whole subject. Now, I happen to be your good 
 fairy in this. 
 
 "One of my college chums is Crespiani's pri- 
 vate secretary. I have visited him, and I learn that 
 financial oil has been deftly poured upon the 
 troubled waters. The wounded man has been 
 released, after a secret police examination, and 
 sent off to some village in the Abruzzi to recu- 
 perate. 
 
 "The three poor vagabonds who were found 
 near the spot by the frightened coachman have 
 scuttled away out of Rome with a few francs I" 
 
 "Damnation !" cried Clark, starting up. "And 
 so, then, all proof is lost ! It was worth anything 
 to me to fasten the truth upon these people." 
 
 "Not so," smoothly rejoined Maspero. "You 
 do not know the Italian subtlety," he proudly 
 cried. "I traced out through my friend the poor
 
 134 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 coachman who was held as a witness. He was 
 released with a beggarly fifty lire for his silence. 
 
 "Of course, he fears the American Minister and 
 the all-powerful Consul General. But he has his 
 own ideas ! 
 
 "He has looked diligently around Rome and 
 found the fellow who drove the two ladies out 
 on the memorable day ! It was slyly done ! The 
 Capitano is a skillful Don Juan ! He left his own 
 carriage behind at the Porta San Sebastiano." 
 
 Maspero paused and poured out a glass of wine 
 with a delightful sense of enjoyment. His enemy 
 was under his foot at last ! 
 
 The swindling official had learned from the 
 Italian office boys of Landon and Morgan's 
 nightly delving into the suspicious accounts. 
 
 "Diavolo!" he mused. "This man is as rich 
 as Prince Torlonia. He will drive the Captain 
 out of Rome for the love of this bella ragazza, 
 and then, my place is safe! I might even burn up 
 all the accounts as if by accident." 
 
 "Maspero!" harshly cried Rawdon Clark. "I 
 must see both these men. I must know the whole 
 story !" 
 
 "Softly," smilingly answered Jacopo Maspero.
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 135 
 
 "Remember that we are all three Italians! You 
 can not even talk to these men. You know not 
 the language. They only trust me, for I have 
 friends in the Italian courts, wheels within 
 wheels. I have my own revenge to work upon 
 this military busybody! 
 
 "As for your affair, you only want the girl! 
 It is as you see, Signior," he paused impres- 
 sively, "only a question of money!" 
 
 "How much ?" doggedly demanded Clark, glar- 
 ing at the spy, now his master. 
 
 "We have not as yet fixed our price," sullenly 
 answered Maspero, "but you will be our first cus- 
 tomer! You see, there is the lady herself, this 
 young heiress ! 
 
 "If this Capitano should die, she will be a good 
 customer for me. If he lives, perhaps then she 
 will be a better one! 
 
 "And you must outbid them all! The two 
 women and the coachmen are in my hands! If 
 you interfere, then every mouth will be shut for- 
 ever ! 
 
 "You must be the best paymaster of all! 
 
 "Now," continued Maspero, "I will throw in 
 something gratis.
 
 136 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "It was to cover up the possible discovery that 
 Signora Melville (who has all this girl's secrets) 
 arranged the dinner and the night visit to the 
 Coliseo. 
 
 "LandonandMees' Hawthorn wandered off to- 
 gether to arrange their stories, and there she fell 
 and broke her ankle. She was brought home at 
 midnight. 
 
 "But it is Melville who has smoothed the whole 
 thing over with Crespiani ! This cruel American 
 should go to prison for shooting that poor man ! 
 Melville and his wife are greedy, and want to 
 divide the girl's money with this starving Cap- 
 tain!" 
 
 "Nonsense !" cried Clark. "They are well off !" 
 
 "Bah ! No one has ^enough money," snarled 
 Maspero. "If he was so rich, why would he paint, 
 paint, paint ? And they live expensively. Why 
 does he hold the consular place, with its small 
 salary ? For need of money !" 
 
 "You may be right, Maspero," sharply cried 
 Clark. "Meanwhile keep all these people in line ! 
 I will think it all over! As you say, it makes 
 some difference if this fellow is alive or dead ! If 
 he dies, you and I are well rid of him !"
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 137 
 
 "I think that he will," significantly said the 
 spy. "I know our good old Roman fever! It 
 burns and burns!" 
 
 "Look here," answered Clark. "Take this 
 thousand lire and give the coachman a few hun- 
 dreds ! You and I will talk later !" 
 
 "So, my fair dove; my fond dove," mused 
 Clark, as he drove away through the cool Decem- 
 ber night. "You are now in my power! By 
 Heavens! You shall be my wife, and then I'll 
 train you, see if I don't! I must gain the whole 
 story of this fellow's shameful past, and chase 
 him away from here! 
 
 "Once he is ousted, Myra Brandon shall open 
 Agnes Hawthorn's eyes." 
 
 While he was revolving a new telegram to his 
 agent, Barker Bolton, he felt a coldness at heart, 
 which even his rich furred coat could not avert. 
 
 "Damn these romantic women! To run after 
 a penniless shoulder-strapped dandy! She may 
 not be so easy to handle after all. He has touched 
 her fancy ! I must crush him ! There is no half 
 way now! And Signior Maspero, he's a beau- 
 tiful blackmailer ! I will not need him long ! I'll
 
 138 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 make a short campaign of it. Sharp and de- 
 cisive!" 
 
 While Mr. Rawdon Clark was busied at the 
 telegraph office in weaving his web around the 
 victim-to-be, General Hatcher and Arthur Mel- 
 ville silently watched Sidney Landon, uneasily 
 tossing upon his bed of pain. The hollow-eyed 
 sufferer was now living in a dead past ! His fever- 
 ish lips moved incessantly, and Melville shook his 
 head gravely. 
 
 "Do you know anything of his family!" sadly 
 said the Consul General. "I have sealed up all 
 his effects, jointly with Hatton. I do not even 
 know whom to communicate with if he should 
 die." 
 
 "I believe that he is alone in the world, poor 
 fellow," answered the old soldier. "He is always 
 talking of Ethel, calling for Ethel," said Mel- 
 ville; "perhaps she is a sister." 
 
 The loyal old soldier started as if he had been 
 shot. 
 
 "There is no such person," he huskily said, "as 
 far as I know!" And then, they left the young 
 man to fight out his battle under the saddened 
 eyes of the watching nun.
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 139 
 
 Hatcher and Melville parted in uneasy forebod- 
 ings. 
 
 "See here," broke out the veteran. "I've got 
 this reception and dinner, and all that humbug on 
 hand. I suppose I will have to go through with 
 it! 
 
 "Clark is very kind and forward. When it's 
 all over, I'll come back to you. If there's any un- 
 favorable turn, send to me instantly and I'll break 
 everything off! What does Corvini say?" 
 
 "An even chance, with Death holding a shade 
 the stronger cards !" mournfully replied Melville. 
 "Poor Ethel! whoever she may be!" 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher was glad to escape 
 from the house of sickness. He dared not ques- 
 tion himself as he was driven up to the Costanzi. 
 
 "If the Atwaters were only here, I could talk 
 plainly to Mary! Ethel! Ethel! Can there be 
 anything in this?" 
 
 For a vague suspicion had, at last, entered the 
 old man's mind the echo of a half-forgotten 
 story. He roused himself as he reached his 
 hotel, where a crowd of journalists were ready 
 to fall upon him, notebook in hand!
 
 140 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I'll not believe it," he growled. "If it was 
 anyone but old Dora Prindle, that regimental 
 ghoul, I might believe;" and yet, long after he 
 was released from the interviewers, the clinging 
 suspicions took unwelcome shapes. 
 
 "// it was that," he growled, "I don't wonder 
 that he left the army ! My God ! It can not be ! 
 I must find out that it was impossible!" 
 
 The Hotel Costanzi soon blazed with the 
 splendors of General Hatcher's serenade, levee, 
 and the gatherings of loyal Americans. 
 
 The beaming face of Mr. Rawdon Clark 
 smiled out over the glories of that ostentatious 
 banquet which astonished all Rome a few days 
 later. There was but one shade upon the social 
 triumph of the millionaire. 
 
 It was the unwelcome telegram which was 
 handed to him while presiding over the feast, 
 and listening to General Hatcher's naive and sol- 
 dierly speech of the evening. 
 
 Clark gritted his teeth as he read that cable- 
 gram from far over the rolling green Atlantic. 
 The words were pregnant with a bitter disap- 
 pointment. They read:
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 141 
 
 "Impossible. Major Murray Raynor was 
 killed last week in General Wilton's fight with 
 the Nez Perce Indians. Wait your orders." 
 
 "The Devil himself fights against me," mur- 
 mured Clark; and yet, after a couple of glasses 
 of champagne, he recovered his usual calm. 
 
 "It may be just as well," mused the schemer, 
 "for, if his guilt can not be absolutely proven from 
 Dora Prindle's letter, his innocence never can be! 
 But now I will have to buy in Maspero and work 
 him for all he is worth." 
 
 As a curious experiment, before the merry 
 guests separated, Clark carelessly approached 
 General Hatcher. 
 
 "I see they are fighting again, out in Mon- 
 tana," the miner remarked. "General Wilton has 
 had a stiff fight with the Nez Perces, and Major 
 Murray Raynor was killed." 
 
 Hatcher started back, crying, "How do you 
 know this? Did you know Raynor?" 
 
 "Not personally," calmly answered Clark. "I 
 was looking for the control of a Montana copper 
 mine, and had authorized my agent to buy out 
 an interest of this man, and I have a cable to-
 
 142 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 night from my man out there that he was killed 
 a week ago ! News is just in." 
 
 Rufus Hatcher dropped into a chair. "Poor 
 Murray," he slowly said. "He was a fine soldier, 
 as Captain in the Grays, he was Landon's com- 
 manding officer. It's a great loss to the service." 
 
 Under the Roman stars that night, Rufus 
 Hatcher walked the gardens of the Costanzi. 
 
 "Ethel ! Ethel !" he groaned. "There is now 
 no way of finding out the truth ! I dare not speak 
 to Landon, and even the Atwaters can not roll 
 away the stone from the tomb. There is no one 
 left to tell the whole truth!" 
 
 There was a ripple of sympathy in the Ameri- 
 can colony a week later, when Doctor Corvini 
 announced the turn of the tide in the protracted 
 illness of Captain Sidney Landon. 
 
 "Weak, but rational now; a fortnight more 
 with absolute seclusion, and no undue excite- 
 ment, will put him far along toward the line of 
 safety." 
 
 And so, General Hatcher, borne along in 
 triumph by the exuberant Brandons, a led lion 
 in the hands of the watchful Clark, was hurried 
 on from gallery to Vatican, from feast to revel^
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 143 
 
 from the Catacombs to the Villa Borghese, 
 and only stole away for a quiet hour to the 
 Palazzo Vecchio, where the watch over Sidney 
 Landon was not a moment relaxed. 
 
 "Next week, next week, my good sir," pleaded 
 the suave Corvini to the impatient veteran. 
 
 There was a grand celebration at the Eveless 
 Paradise upon the announcement of Landon's 
 probable recovery, Forrest Grimes skillfully elim- 
 inating Clark and Brandon, presided over the 
 banner-draped feast, whereat General Hatcher 
 was forced to fight his battles over again, under 
 hospitable volleys of champagne. 
 
 In all these days, the watchful capitalist had 
 crept nearer and nearer to the avowed social in- 
 timacy of Miss Agnes Hawthorn, the veiled god- 
 dess of beauty, still chained to the chaise tongue. 
 
 Rawdon Clark well knew the effect of quiet 
 persistence, and with a skillful propitiation of 
 Mrs. Montgomery and the assiduous secret work 
 of Mrs. Myra Brandon, he was at last launched 
 as the recognized "ami de maison." 
 
 The tacit avoidance of the Brandon clique by 
 Madame Gertrude Melville enabled Miss Haw-
 
 144 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 thorn to treat with the two rival camps of Roman 
 society. 
 
 But her soul's confidence was given alone to 
 the bright-hearted Consular lady. The helpless 
 heiress could not but see the drift of her most 
 assiduous advisers. 
 
 Rawdon Clark's social headquarters were now 
 the Brandon household, where the recurrent hos- 
 pitalities spoke strongly of an assisting financial 
 element. 
 
 "Panem et circenses" draws the crowd, and 
 even General Rufus Hatcher was not proof 
 against the seductions of the ambitious Myra. 
 
 She it was who gathered from villa and hotel 
 from the recurrent tourists and passing nota- 
 bilities the crowd who enjoyed the splendid 
 feasts and receptions supported secretly by Raw- 
 don Clark's ever open purse. The poor old sol- 
 dier, harmlessly vain, accepted all this homage. 
 
 The baffled General waited wearily for Doctor 
 Corvini to open the doors of Landon's sick room, 
 but the gentle professional tyrant simply laid his 
 finger on his lip, smilingly saying "Aspetto !" 
 
 Arthur Melville had relapsed again into his 
 painting mood, now the danger was over, and he
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 145 
 
 was either buried in his studio, or else away in 
 the hills at Tivoli with his still banished Rose in 
 Bloom. 
 
 No one in Rome but Gertrude Melville knew of 
 the longing solicitude with which Agnes Haw- 
 thorn waited for the end of Landon's long 
 struggle against death. 
 
 Some mysterious feeling kept her from sharing 
 her heart with Mrs. Montgomery, who, simple 
 soul had yielded, blindfolded, to the continued 
 seduction of Clark's flatteries, his unvarying 
 "kindness" and the discreetly offered presents 
 heaped upon her by that princess of picture brok- 
 ers, Myra Brandon. 
 
 It was Clark's purse which was the hidden 
 magnet drawing the simple old widow over into 
 the camp of circumvallation which the determined 
 Clark was fast closing around his intended bride. 
 
 Miss Hawthorn now only awaited the coming 
 of the early spring to seek softer skies than win- 
 try Rome, and an uneasy feeling crept into her 
 heart ; for, she could not deceive herself as to the 
 purport of Rawdon Clark's unflagging wooing. 
 
 And yet, still chained within her winter apart- 
 ment, now made into a temporary tropical bower, 
 10
 
 146 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 she waited, heart hungry, to meet Sidney Landon 
 and listen to the still unasked question. 
 
 Gertrude Melville was the faithful keeper of a 
 note, written as the final successor of twenty de- 
 stroyed ones, in which she conveyed to Landon 
 her burning solicitude for his fate. "Let it be the 
 first thing he listens to, darling, if God gives him 
 back his reason," she said with fleeting blushes. 
 
 Fate ordained that when Sidney Landon opened 
 his eyes to a restored mental life the delicate and 
 lovely face of Gertrude Melville was the first one 
 to meet his eye. 
 
 The window was open, for a fugitive day of 
 ethereal softness was brooding upon the Eternal 
 City, the ilex tops were waving against the blue 
 sky, and the gurgle of the ruined fountain below 
 alone broke the dreamy silence. 
 
 Suddenly, from far below, was wafted up the 
 thrilling notes of a proud military march, as the 
 Bersaglieri Brigade swept out for a practice tour. 
 
 The soldierly instinct recalled Landon's wan- 
 dering mind, he strove to raise his head, passed 
 one thin and wasted hand over the unaccustomed 
 beard, and then his head fell back in weakness.
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 147 
 
 It was half an hour before his feeble whisper 
 reached Gertrude Melville's ear. 
 
 "How did I come here ; what is the matt erf" 
 
 The haggard eyes feasted long upon her beau- 
 tiful face, for it seemed to him that he was in 
 some earthly heaven, some fabled sublunary 
 Paradise. 
 
 Then the silent nun arose from the bedside 
 and, falling upon her knees before a little prie 
 Dieu, thanked God for a life restored. 
 
 The week after Landon's mental reawakening 
 showed the rapid upward sweep of Life's curve, 
 and Gertrude Melville had penned a few words 
 in answer to the shy, proud epistle of the anxious 
 heiress. 
 
 "Say that I must thank her myself, for words 
 fail me ! I shall make my pilgrimage to see her." 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher, away on his flying trip 
 to Sicily, was duly telegraphed for, and be- 
 stirred himself to a return to Rome. 
 
 There was but one shadow upon Landon's re- 
 covery. It was at the end of the second week of 
 convalescence, when Doctor Corvini cheerfully 
 clapped his hands in joy. 
 
 "Victoria," he cried. "In another week you
 
 148 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 may drive out and begin to take the air under 
 careful attendance. Miss Hawthorn, too, will re- 
 duce my list of patients, for, with the safeguard 
 of crutches, she can soon leave her palace prison 
 at the Costanzi." 
 
 Arthur Melville, jealously guarding Landon's 
 private letters, was acting as a volunteer amanu- 
 ensis, when he suddenly bethought him of Lan- 
 don's fever ravings. 
 
 "These look to be only official letters," he said. 
 "Can I perhaps write or cable to any of your fam- 
 ily. You were in your fever always speaking of 
 Ethel " and then, the gentle-hearted artist 
 started as a spasm of pain passed over Landon's 
 pale face. 
 
 "Drop that name for God's sake, Melville," he 
 groaned. "I have no family no ties there is 
 no Ethel of my blood in this world !" 
 
 Melville stole away and left the soldier to battle 
 with dark thoughts which seemed to encompass 
 him. And a fever spasm seized the unrestful 
 patient once more. 
 
 "Certainly, no sister" mused Melville as he 
 betook himself to his brushes. The only gleam of 
 brightness in Landon's life after a few days'
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 149 
 
 mending was the cautious advent of Forrest 
 Grimes and Frank Hatton as the advance guard 
 of the Club of the Eveless Paradise. 
 
 They had claimed from the overjoyed Doctor 
 Corvini the right to be the first to convey the con- 
 valescent out into the mellow sunlight. And to 
 this, Captain Sidney Landon gladly assented. 
 He recognized the generous self devotion with 
 which the Melvilles had turned their house into a 
 fever hospital for six weeks. 
 
 There, too, was little Elsie, "Rose in Bloom," 
 pining at Tivoli for the home quarantine to be 
 lifted. 
 
 Doctor Corvini was proud of snatching the 
 soldier back from the jaws of death, and so, four 
 days later, he awaited the advent of the two jour- 
 nalistic friends. 
 
 The first excursion was to be a brief drive in 
 the gardens of the Villa Borghese, with a halt at 
 the American Club, where the gathered friends of 
 the soldier could all shake his hand. 
 
 After the arrival on the morrow of General 
 Rufus Hatcher, the question of removing Landon 
 for a radical change of air was to be decided in a 
 general council.
 
 150 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 And afl went merry as a marriage bell. Lan- 
 don, upborne by the strong arms of his friends, 
 reached the carriage in safety. For two hours 
 he drank in the strong fresh air of the woods, and 
 there was a flush on his cheek as the carriage 
 stopped before the American Gub. 
 
 Then, while Frank Hatton betook himself to 
 notify the waiting friends at the Eveless Para- 
 dise, Forrest Grimes watched over Landon, 
 seated in a little refreshment room, slowly sip- 
 ping a priceless flask of Johannisberger. 
 
 Suddenly Grimes sprang up, as Sidney Lan- 
 don, pale as marble, strode to the door, carelessly 
 left ajar, of the next private guest room. 
 
 The clear pitiless tones of Rawdon Clark's 
 voice were unmistakable. 
 
 "Yes! Poor devil! Murray Raynor died 
 broken-hearted. He never held his head up after 
 a brother officer first stole his wife's heart, and 
 then, robbed him of his honor ! So he threw his 
 Kfe away under the Nez Perce rifles !" 
 
 Grimes held his breath, in horror at the agony 
 on Landon's face, when a rough voice care- 
 lessly queried, "And, what became of the
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. Ill 
 
 "Oh, the young brute cast her off to die dis- 
 graced and broken-hearted, while he sneaked out 
 into another regiment, and then quickly resigned 
 to escape Raynor's pistol! I'm told he's here in 
 Rome now!" 
 
 There was the crash of overturned chairs as 
 Sidney Landon dashed into the room! 
 
 Throwing his wine, glass and all, into the face 
 of the millionaire, he cried "Dirty, lying 
 hound!" 
 
 Forrest Grimes sprang between the; two men 
 as Rawdon Clark yelled, "I will have his heart's 
 biood for this !" 
 
 The veteran journalist's face was sternly set 
 as he smote Clark's cheek with his open palm. 
 "Take that, you slanderer! My friend is a sick 
 man. But, I happen to be a dead shot, and very 
 much at your service." 
 
 Tossing his card on the table, Grimes dragged 
 Landon from the room. With a sign to Frank 
 Hatton, Grimes, calling the dub servants, bore 
 the now reeling Landon to his carriage. 
 
 "Take him to my rooms, Frank !" he cried. "He 
 must not go back to Melvilles. Here, Danvers," 
 he entreated of a friend, "go for Doctor Corvini
 
 152 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 and bring him to my apartment! Tell him that 
 Landon has had another relapse." For the sick 
 man was now wildly raving. 
 
 "What's the matter here?" sternly demanded 
 Royston, the pet of the Eveless Paradise, as Raw- 
 don Clark and his companion strode out of their 
 room. "Only a sick man's petulant quarrel!" 
 gruffly said the stranger, as he dragged the furi- 
 ous Clark away. 
 
 But the owner of the Elkhorn was now a lion 
 raging in his loosened wrath. "I'll have my re- 
 venge!" he yelled. 
 
 "You know how to get it," sternly said Forrest 
 Grimes. "If you want it now, just step around 
 to the shooting gallery with me!" 
 
 When the resolute stranger had hauled Clark 
 away, Forrest Grimes drew his startled friends 
 aside. "Not a word of this, upon your lives ! It 
 might ruin helpless ones here ! I will look out for 
 Mr. Rawdon Clark. He shall not be balked of a 
 fight! Just say that I had a chance row with 
 Clark, that's all!" 
 
 Late that evening, Doctor Corvini returned to 
 the Palazzo Vecchio, where he held a council of 
 war with General Hatcher and the Melvilles.
 
 DIRTY, LYING HOUND ! " Page 150.
 
 AT THE AMERICAN CLUB. 153 
 
 The tongue of wild rumor had been busy and 
 even Agnes Hawthorn at the Costanzi knew of 
 the desperate fracas between Grimes and Clark 
 over an American society beauty. And all could 
 easily guess the hidden name. The whole colony 
 was agog! 
 
 But General Hatcher only shook his head in 
 hopeless sorrow when Corvini demanded of him 
 the history of Ethel, the unknown. 
 
 "In his whole illness he has only raved of this 
 Ethel, and if the shadows of the past are not 
 lifted this poor man may only come out of this 
 relapse into the death in life of insanity. 
 
 "I shall put only professional attendants over 
 him now, and then, when he can bear it, send him 
 away as soon as possible. He can not be moved 
 again." 
 
 Old General Hatcher's eyes were dim as he 
 said to Melville, "I shall not leave Rome till this 
 poor boy's fate is decided! What a sudden re- 
 turn of delirium! I will take up my quarters 
 with Grimes to be near him !" 
 
 But the husband and wife, not altogether de- 
 ceived by the old General's repeated denials, only 
 gazed into each other's eyes when alone, saying,
 
 154 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Who is this Ethel who has wrecked his life? Is 
 the burden of the story one of sin or shame this 
 recurrent history of the past ?" 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE INTELLIGENCE BUREAU AT WORK. 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher, taking a vigorous 
 command of the situation at the Eveless Paradise, 
 at once established his personal headquarters in a 
 suite of rooms next to the indefatigable Forrest 
 Grimes. He was in entire ignorance of the fracas 
 which had led to the relapse of the man now most 
 talked about in Rome. 
 
 While the startled Arthur Melville dropped his 
 artistic life and spasmodically took up the reins 
 of his office at a hint from Morgan, the evenings 
 at the Palazzo Vecchio were often enlivened by 
 Hatton and Grimes' visits. 
 
 There was a look of grim determination on 
 Grimes' face, which showed a settled purpose. 
 Beautiful Gertrude Melville's eyes blazed with 
 indignation as Grimes recounted to her his most
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 155 
 
 recent social discoveries. For the two were 
 sworn secret allies in Sidney Landon's behalf. 
 
 "There is a persistent flooding of Rome going 
 on, with a tide of foul stories to the discredit of 
 this poor young soldier," said the journalist. "I 
 hear them everywhere. 
 
 "The foreign circles here are agitated over 
 stories that Landon's banditti experience was a 
 myth that he wantonly shot the unaimed peas- 
 ant to cover up an ugly intrigue, and that he was 
 disgracefully forced to resign from the United 
 States Army." 
 
 "Are any names coupled with his?" said Mrs. 
 Melville her cheek paling as she bent over her 
 embroidery. 
 
 "Not that I know of," wrathfully exclaimed 
 the writer, "but, neither Hatton nor I can get at 
 the whole stories. They will not talk before us. 
 Of course, Hatton is handicapped with his imper- 
 fect Italian, but I have dropped in on several 
 coteries where the running story seemed suddenly 
 cut off by my appearance. 
 
 "I dare not confer with General Hatcher upon 
 these matters, for I do not wish the rash old vet-
 
 156 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 eran to babble to Sidney Landon, as he surely 
 would. 
 
 "Doctor Corvini says that our friend must be 
 spared all excitement." 
 
 "Whom do you suspect of spreading these 
 rumors?" asked the troubled Melville. 
 
 "I know of no one with whom Captain Landon 
 has had a quarrel. Perhaps they are circulated 
 by the friends of some aspirant for his place." 
 
 He smiled faintly as he said, "Many ambitious 
 American residents at once begin to intrigue for 
 diplomatic or consular rank here as soon as they 
 strike social roots into this fertile ground. 
 
 "Every mail carries away to America some 
 furtive and scandalous complaint of the Legation 
 or Consulate General Officers. I only answer 
 the Department of State that my resignation 
 awaits the slightest intimation of the President's 
 wish for my retirement !" 
 
 "That's the safest official life insurance," 
 laughed Hatton. "I did at first suspect Robert 
 Brandon, for I think that he feels that your family 
 holds aloof from his picture jobbing salons, but 
 even the closest watch has not caught him nap- 
 ping as yet.
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 157 
 
 "And, then, there's this flamboyant mining mil- 
 lionaire, Rawdon Clark! I wonder if the two 
 men ever met out west ; but Clark is far too pru- 
 dent to betray himself !" 
 
 Mrs. Melville dropped her eyes and walked 
 away to hide conscious blushes. 
 
 Her own womanly intuitions told her of the 
 veiled antipathy of the Crcesus. She alone knew 
 of the daily creeping nigher of Clark's proprie- 
 tary lines about the orphaned heiress. 
 
 "It must be some mysterious hostile influence," 
 she said. "Charley Hollingsworth has been liv- 
 ing here nearly twenty years. His cherubs are 
 real Romans, 'to the manner born/ and he sent 
 his wife down yesterday to tell me the Italian and 
 French clubs are filled with the vilest scandals 
 against the poor Captain. 
 
 "Now, Hollingsworth has grown into the very 
 core of the Italian life here, and he thinks that the 
 active agents are local foreigners whoever the 
 veiled principals may be. 
 
 "He fears that Captain Landon may be en- 
 trapped in a quarrel, or forced into a duel with 
 some of these matchless swordsmen and then 
 killed while yet weak!"
 
 158 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I will take care of that!" grimly replied For- 
 rest Grimes. "He shall fight no one in Rome if 
 I can prevent it." 
 
 The brave fellow had locked up in his own gal- 
 lant heart the details of the fracas between Lan- 
 don and Clark. "Thank God, no one overheard 
 that row," he mused. "Landon seemed to catch 
 Clark's meaning instantly ! He certainly will not 
 talk ! And they dare not!" 
 
 Grimes smiled as he remembered Mr. Burton 
 Wilmot's baffled rage as Clark's confidant and 
 friend had approached him on the next day after 
 the trouble with a pompous challenge for Landon, 
 addressed to him as the second of the sick man. 
 
 "See here, Mr. Wilmot," Grimes had sharply 
 answered. "I shall not, at any time, deliver your 
 cartel to Captain Landon. 
 
 "You, as the bearer of it, know the man is rav- 
 ing helplessly in the delirium of a relapse of 
 fever. 
 
 "Now, Landon only threw wine at your friend 
 Clark, while / struck him! I accept the whole re- 
 sponsibility for both insults! You, as a respon- 
 sible second, are a coward to push a challenge at 
 a bed-ridden man! I will, however, accommo-
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 159 
 
 date you! I will send for my friend, Mr. Charles 
 Hollingsworth. We will follow you and Clark 
 out of Rome. / insist on fighting him, first! 
 
 "If he does not challenge me now within 
 twenty-four hours, I will have the right to re- 
 fuse any future cartel, and also to post him as a 
 coward. 
 
 "As to you, I take the place of my principal. I 
 will cheerfully go out with you and show you 
 that I can hit a five-cent piece nine times out of 
 ten at ten paces! After that exhibition, if you 
 wish to take Clark's place, try me on, as Lan- 
 don's representative. 
 
 "In any case, if either of you breathes any slan- 
 ders against that dead woman, or tries to vilify 
 Landon, while sick, I will publicly horsewhip 
 both of you !" 
 
 And, then a week had gone by in silence, 
 Grimes easily learning that Burton Wilmot had 
 left Rome for America, "recalled by sudden busi- 
 ness." 
 
 "No," he mused. "It can not be Clark! He 
 would not dare. For he has too much to lose 
 to face a pistol." 
 
 The journalist was firm in this belief, for in all
 
 160 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 the rumors the occurrence at the American Club 
 had been strictly ignored. 
 
 Not even the honest-hearted Hatton had an 
 idea of the scene which took place in the little pri- 
 vate room. 
 
 So, when Forrest Grimes said, with a sigh, 
 "We must leave it all for General Hatcher to 
 fathom," the little coterie agreed. 
 
 "Certainly, the General is the only one to 
 whom Captain Landon could properly unveil 
 himself," thoughtfully remarked Mrs. Melville, 
 "but all these slanderers will be careful to shun 
 General Hatcher. He will not hear the damag- 
 ing slanders, and then if he goes away unin- 
 formed as Captain Landon is himself ignorant 
 of all, we leave our friend entirely helpless." 
 
 Her clear eyes met Grimes' steady gaze. 
 
 "You are the only man, Mr. Grimes, who can 
 frankly tell the General all, for my husband's offi- 
 cial position would prevent him so doing. 
 
 "Then, before the General's final departure, 
 you and he can decide how much Captain Landon 
 shall know; afterwards Arthur can follow up 
 all these matters and meet them at the Depart-
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 161 
 
 ment, for there, I apprehend, is the place where 
 the poison is intended to injure him." 
 
 While the anxious friends reviewed the situa- 
 tion, at the Hotel Quirinale, Rawdon Clark con- 
 ferred with his now crafty master, the secretly 
 jubilant Maspero. 
 
 "Mark you, my man," he curtly said, "this 
 thing may come to an open issue in two or three 
 months, at longest. 
 
 "You now understand all my wishes. This old 
 fool, Mrs. Montgomery, is going home in a few 
 weeks. She has been frightened away by the 
 stories about the Via Appia affair. 
 
 "Your friends in the Clubs have done their 
 work well ! We will have her soon off our hands ! 
 
 "Then, all that I ask of these women, Emilia 
 and Lucia, is to meet my friend, Mrs. Bran- 
 don, and to tell her the whole truth that Miss 
 Hawthorn was with Landon when the shooting 
 occurred. That is all I wish Mrs. Brandon to 
 know. 
 
 "As for the two vetturini, they can, later, tell 
 their story to Mr. Brandon in my presence. 
 
 "I shall have my revenge on this young fool; 
 
 you will have him out of the way ; and he will fail 
 11
 
 162 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 in his chase of the heiress. That will soon drive 
 him out of Rome !" 
 
 Maspero's glittering black eyes rested hungi ily 
 on Clark's face. "The people are to be kept 
 apart?" he demanded. 
 
 "Of course, of course," hastily answered Clark. 
 
 "And to be paid separately paid well for their 
 work?" 
 
 "You know how I pay, you dog!" angrily cried 
 Clark, rising in wrath. 
 
 "Basta! Count on me!" growled Maspero. 
 "The thing is done." 
 
 He folded up a roll of notes as Clark rapidly 
 strode away. "How he hates that Captain ! What 
 a gold mine to me! What a fool! 
 
 "And all for a woman who has to be trapped to 
 get her! Corpo di Bacco! He will have a fine 
 time to keep such a sly bird! Fool! when our 
 ruby-hearted Italian women are here white 
 bosomed and open armed waiting for the 
 shower of gold ! Such a Jupiter could choose his 
 Danae here among the proudest !" 
 
 But late that night Rawdon Clark labored in 
 his splendid apartment over the "Intelligence 
 Bureau."
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 163 
 
 "I must work quickly," he resolved. "Already 
 Agnes Hawthorn shows a restlessness! She 
 wishes to leave! Thank Heavens, she will wait 
 until disembarrassed of this old Mrs. Montgom- 
 ery! That leaves me a clear field! Then, with 
 Myra Brandon ready to work upon her pride, 
 with the old army scandal, with both Myra and 
 her husband to arouse her fears in this Via Appia 
 embroglio, it only leaves her the choice to give up 
 Landon, or else, lose her reputation! I am 
 safe! Agnes Hawthorn will never dare to dis- 
 close her relatives' confidential warnings !" 
 
 After several attempts, the revengeful capital- 
 ist succeeded in producing the draft of a letter to 
 be addressed simply "My Dear Friend." 
 
 This carefully drawn document was to bear the 
 signature of Mrs. Dora Prindle, and to be for- 
 warded to the hostile wife of "Black Bill" for her 
 personal signature. 
 
 Clark leaned back and lit a cigar, dreaming of 
 his future Philadelphian glories. 
 
 "Yes!" he mused. "This will work. The 
 story is well and yet vaguely told. The envelope 
 is to be addressed directly to Mrs. Myra Bran-
 
 164 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 don, who is not named in the body of the letter." 
 He read a clause or two with delight. 
 
 "I have learned through Mr. Burton Wilmot 
 of the possibility of an engagement between your 
 beautiful niece, Miss Hawthorn, and an un- 
 worthy man, formerly of our Regiment, a trick- 
 ster, and one whose social misdeeds drove him 
 out of the army." 
 
 The capitalist read over and over Barker Bol- 
 ton's explanation of Mrs. Prindle's hatred of 
 Landon. 
 
 In the inevitable opposing cliques of regimental 
 life, poor Landon had loyally held to the side of 
 Colonel and Mrs. Atwater. 
 
 It seemed but natural that Lieutenant Colonel 
 Prindle should hate the man who on the one step 
 above debarred him from active regimental com- 
 mand, and his wife from queening it over the 
 forty-seven regimental officers. 
 
 A little social frontier maneuver which had 
 failed, the importation of Mrs. Prindle's dashing 
 unmarried sister, with a set purpose of marrying 
 her off to Sidney Landon, the eligible social star, 
 was another cause of deadly personal hatred.
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 165 
 
 The fish did not bite, and both sisters hated Lan- 
 don with a due acerbity. 
 
 Barker Bolton had written that Mrs. Prindle 
 had been loud in accusation of the man who had 
 "skipped his regiment," and now grimly pointed 
 to Major Murray Raynor's reckless death in the 
 fierce Nez Perce fight. 
 
 "I am ready to begin my campaign," mused 
 Clark, "as soon as Mrs. Montgomery leaves. Old 
 General Hatcher will be very soon out of the way. 
 Brandon can use Bolton's letter to arouse his 
 wife's aversion of Landon and kindle it to a bitter 
 hatred ! 
 
 "Landon, the young fool, has ignored the 
 Brandons here, worshiping at the shrine of that 
 finicky social lay figure, Mrs. Melville. 
 
 "Maspero's information can be divided up, 
 the women going to Mrs. Brandon, and the coach- 
 men confessing to her husband. All this will 
 frighten Agnes Hawthorn away from Rome. 
 Landon is poor and tied down here. He can not 
 afford to follow her! I can, and Mrs. Brandon 
 can later chase on after the girl, as my secret 
 guest and agent. And, so I will be in at the 
 finale, 'a sure winner, the last in the race !' '
 
 166 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Two weeks later, General Rufus Hatcher 
 judged Sidney Landon to be well enough to be- 
 gin the main business of his Roman visit. 
 
 He had now fortified himself with a letter from 
 Colonel and Mrs. Atwater, whose leave was put 
 over to the next season, by virtue of certain spo- 
 radic Indian raids calling for the immediate 
 handling of the veteran Chief. 
 
 Loyal Forrest Grimes, loth to enter into un- 
 pleasantness, was watching his chance to confer 
 with the General upon the continually rising tide 
 of scandal involving both Landon's past and pres- 
 ent. 
 
 With all the watchful loyalty of Hatton and 
 Grimes no straw as yet pointed to either Clark 
 or the Brandon faction as in any way responsible 
 for the wriggling scandals. 
 
 "By Jove!" growled Grimes. "I believe that 
 the best thing for Landon to do would be to apply 
 for a transfer to Vienna or Paris, or to some 
 other continental station. There is a fatal under- 
 tow pulling against him here. 
 
 "Why, even Charley Hollingsworth tells me 
 that the Melvilles and Miss Hawthorn have heard
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 167 
 
 many of these disgraceful stories, and they are 
 becoming, to say the least, uneasy. 
 
 "I'll wait for another week. Landon is now 
 gaining rapidly, and I will then bring things to a 
 head before General Hatcher leaves for home. 
 He can, at least, send on from the War Depart- 
 ment such authoritative letters as will scotch the 
 snake." 
 
 It was a pleasant spring afternoon, and Gen- 
 eral Hatcher had left Sidney Landon pleasantly 
 sleeping, when he stole away to bring up all the 
 arrears of his correspondence. 
 
 He sighed as he contemplated convoying home 
 the faded Mrs. Montgomery, but who could re- 
 sist that most fascinating of invalids, Miss Haw- 
 thorn, the only woman who had ever invested 
 crutches with piquancy and grace? 
 
 General Hatcher pushed back his spectacles 
 and dropped his big cane penholder with an impa- 
 tient snort, when the butler brought him the card 
 of "Mr. Charles Hollingsworth." Upon the 
 turned-down corner was penciled "Very import- 
 ant." 
 
 "What the devil" began Hatcher, but his so- 
 liloquy was cut off by the entrance of the head-
 
 168 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 long Hollingsworth, with the light of battle in his 
 eyes. "You must excuse me breaking in on you, 
 General," he began, "but in an affair involving 
 Landon's honor I could not wait !" 
 
 "Speak out," hastily cried Hatcher. "What's 
 up now?" 
 
 He pointed to a seat and pushed over his cigar 
 box. "They are the most lightly damned of all the 
 cigars I could find in Rome ! Now, sir!" 
 
 The undaunted Hollingsworth came to the 
 point at once. 
 
 "You are the oldest friend, I apprehend, of 
 Sidney Landon, and the only army officer of 
 rank now in Italy! I come to you to aid me in 
 solving a mystery which is taken advantage of by 
 Landon's enemies to work his social ruin." 
 
 "What's your mystery?" roared the old vet- 
 eran. 
 
 "Why did Captain Landon suddenly throw up 
 his command leave his regiment, transfer, and, 
 then suddenly quit ' the army ?" gravely asked 
 the visitor. 
 
 "What's that to you?" fiercely demanded 
 Hatcher. Charley Hollingsworth kept his tem- 
 per admirably.
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 169 
 
 "A great deal, General," he quietly answered, 
 "to Landon, himself, to you and, to all his real 
 friends here! 
 
 "Just before his illness came on, I put his name 
 up at the Cercle de Rome. 
 
 "The Marquis de Pallavinci, a good fellow, 
 signed as sponsor with me, at my especial re- 
 quest. I was astonished that the election after 
 the four weeks' wait, was put off through January 
 and February. 
 
 "Here we are at March first, and the season 
 already beginning to wane. 
 
 "To my horror and surprise, I received this 
 morning the official notification that Captain Sid- 
 ney Landon had been heavily blackballed and re- 
 jected." 
 
 General Hatcher sprang up, his face reddened 
 with wrath. "The damned Italian curs!" he 
 cried. "When a man is in the jaws of death to 
 so openly insult him !" 
 
 Hollingsworth's voice was sorrowful in tone 
 as he mechanically continued : 
 
 "Now I started this morning to look up Pal- 
 lavinci, for I was not at the election. 
 
 "I met him on his way to my house, and he was
 
 170 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 fierce in a white heat. There was simply a storm 
 of black balls. 
 
 "Now, Pallavinci happens to be a high-spirited 
 fellow, a man of sterling honor, and he wants to 
 go in, at once, and fight the whole damned club! 
 It appears he has forced out of some of these fel- 
 lows the stories which have worked this wrong. 
 
 "He will not tell me, for he is afraid that I will 
 go and get a rapier through me in championing 
 Landon. 
 
 "He reminded me of my duty to Elaine and my 
 frolicsome 'cherubs.' 
 
 "But the insult to the United States is a flat 
 one ! This poor boy Landon is our Vice Consul 
 General, as well as a representative of the army. 
 Our Secretaries of Legation are all members of 
 the Club ! There'll be blood shed sure ! 
 
 "For Pallavinci said, 'I am a bachelor! You 
 and I have been insulted as sponsors, I have no 
 ties, I am a Roman, and they insult Roman hos- 
 pitality through me. Find out the truth, and I 
 will try my hand on one or two of them.' 
 
 "So there is the whole story! I shall not go 
 into the club again, save with Pallavinci, and 
 if he fights, why/ do, that's all."
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 171 
 
 The two men gazed blankly in each other's 
 eyes, while Rufus Hatcher swore an old-time 
 Army of the Cumberland oath, as long as an 
 army mule train. 
 
 "Does anyone else know anything of this?" 
 the General growled. 
 
 "I fancy that Forrest Grimes can enlighten 
 you," sadly said Hollingsworth. "He is a man 
 of the world, of our own world. Melville is an 
 artistic dreamer in his little home Paradise, while 
 Frank Hatton is an unsuspecting simple-hearted 
 manly Christian! I thought that Grimes had 
 told you of this trouble, before!" 
 
 "See here, Hollingsworth," the old veteran 
 said, with a husky voice. "You are a game and 
 loyal gentleman. I will go deeply into this for 
 the honor of the army! 
 
 "I will see Grimes myself before dark, and, 
 leaving the club matter out, will soon gain all he 
 knows. 
 
 "To-night, I'll go into the subject with Sidney 
 Landon. In the meantime, promise me to keep 
 Pallavinci away from the Club! 
 
 "I will meet him at your house at breakfast 
 to-morrow! And, let there be no fire-eating
 
 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 on your part, sir ! You have a charming family ! 
 I am a lonely old oak! It makes no difference 
 where I fall! I will look out for the honor of 
 the Army!" 
 
 The two men separated with that convulsive 
 grip of the hands which speaks more than the 
 vain jingle of words with true-hearted men. 
 
 Hollingsworth's graceful form had no sooner 
 disappeared than General Hatcher sought out 
 Forrest Grimes, who was seated in the midst 
 of a pyramid of sheets, his weekly syndicated 
 review of "Roba di Roma." 
 
 For three long hours the two friends conferred, 
 and then the story of the mysterious flood tide 
 of gossip was given in all its details to the now 
 maddened veteran. 
 
 Forrest Grimes, pacing his floor, with his old 
 mahogany-colored cutty pipe in his teeth, grimly 
 said, "And, as an additional humiliation, Mr. 
 Rawdon Clark was duly elected a member of the 
 Corde de Rome at this same balloting. I know 
 that he's a cad, but I will stake my soul that 
 there was no hand of his in this!" 
 
 Something in Grimes' voice betrayed his hid- 
 den knowledge of the fracas!
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 173 
 
 "Are you holding anything back, Grimes?" 
 eagerly demanded the General. And then the 
 game fellow quietly said: 
 
 "Nothing that anyone has a right to know! 
 You must let Sidney Landon enlighten you!" 
 
 That evening, before General Hatcher opened 
 his batteries upon Landon, he re-read the letter 
 of Colonel Miles Atwater and the gallant hearted 
 Mrs. Mary. He sighed as he read the lines, 
 "Even if you can not persuade Landon to re- 
 main in the army he should re-enter it, serve a 
 couple of years, and then go out in due form. 
 
 "I cannot reach all the low gossip here, but, 
 his sudden transfer, his hasty resignation after- 
 wards and his leaving the country, have been 
 made the basis of dark rumors. Of course, these, 
 in their worst form, are kept away from us! 
 Make Landon, at least, unbosom himself! His 
 new regiment went into a hot campaign just as 
 he left, and yet, I'll swear there is no white 
 feather in Landon!" 
 
 With a confidence born of his own high bred 
 sense of honor, General Hatcher, that night, 
 seated by Landon's bed, cautiously approached 
 the tender subject. He sheltered his real purpose
 
 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 behind the generous offer of the President to 
 reappoint Captain Landon upon the staff, and 
 later retransfer him to the line, and the old be- 
 loved "Grays." 
 
 The old General's face was hidden behind the 
 green lampshade under which the yellow gleams 
 lit up Sidney Landon's wasted face, with its 
 straggling beard of the sick room. The young 
 soldier's face was keenly scanned by the speaker, 
 who noted the nervous twitching of the sick 
 man's thinned hands. 
 
 Driven on by his own earnestness, the General 
 became slowly irritated by the negative attitude 
 of the listener. 
 
 There was an evasiveness in Landon's manner 
 which was foreign to the man of old, the man of 
 whom a Commanding General had once said, 
 "There's a soldier! See young Landon take his 
 troop into action! He will go up to the stars 
 yet!" 
 
 General Hatcher paused when he had fired off 
 his official ammunition, and tossed his head in 
 surprise as he saw Sidney Landon slowly shake 
 his head. 
 
 There were tears stealing out under the young
 
 THE BUREAU AT WORK. 175 
 
 soldier's closed eyelids, but his lips merely moved 
 in whispers. 
 
 General Hatcher's heart melted as he drew out 
 the letters of the Colonel and his beloved wife! 
 
 He read recklessly on until he was checked by 
 the tell-tale finishing clauses. Sidney Landon 
 feebly turned his eyes to the old General's face. 
 
 "It is impossible," he said. "I can not re-enter 
 the army. You can thank the President for his 
 kindly consideration ! By and by, I will write to 
 the Atwaters." 
 
 And then all General Hatcher's solicitude for 
 Landon's honor thrilled in his voice, as he 
 pleaded : "Sidney ! I am an old and broken man ! 
 I have neither wife nor child! You would have 
 been the son of my heart ! Tell me, at least, that 
 you will consider this for three months! You 
 are weak and broken now!" 
 
 The sufferer turned his head away. 
 
 "Not for a single moment!" he whispered. 
 "When I rode past the Regimental flag of the 
 Grays, it was for the last time !" 
 
 "Then, by Heaven, you shall tell me why you 
 left the army?" the General eagerly prayed.
 
 176 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "For the sake of the Regiment, for my sake, 
 for your oivn sake, Sidney, tell me! 
 
 "You are a young man, you have much to 
 learn! Let me beg you, before I leave, that I 
 shall know!" 
 
 The General started up, as Captain Landon 
 answered, his voice almost sinking into a hollow 
 groan : 
 
 "My past life is a sealed book, there are two 
 graves now hiding what you would know, and, 
 for good or ill, I shall go on silently to the end, 
 for the past is voiceless!" 
 
 The old General grasped the sufferer's hand. 
 
 "My God! Boy! You do not know what you 
 say! Tell me! In your sickness you have raved 
 incessantly of Ethel! Who is this Ethel!" 
 
 Landon's voice rose almost to a shriek. 
 
 "Her very memory is too sacred for my lips to 
 profane! Let them say what they will! I will 
 be silent! I am forced to be silent!" 
 
 "And, so let disgrace fall upon you?" sharply 
 cried the General. Landon turned his face to the 
 wall with a sigh. 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher summoned the attend- 
 ants and left the room without another word.
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 177 
 
 "Can it be true?" he muttered; but he choked 
 off the unbidden suspicion. 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher's face was very grave 
 as he reported at Hollingsworth's home, the next 
 day, a half hour before Pallavinci's arrival. 
 
 Drawing his host aside, he sadly said : "You 
 must not let Pallavinci fight! As for yourself, 
 as my countryman, I bid you to guard your own 
 home. 
 
 "There is some ugly mystery here! I shall 
 leave Rome as soon as I can and, advise Lan- 
 don to do the same! 
 
 "For he has locked his lips in a stubborn 
 folly!" 
 
 "And his reputation?" said Hollingsworth. 
 
 "He must guard that for himself, as best he 
 can!" sadly said the old man. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 
 
 The week which followed Captain Landon's 
 club blackballing was one of many fiercely 
 foughten social battles in Rome, and many 
 
 12
 
 178 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 society vehme-gerichts were held behind closed 
 doors. 
 
 The subject of all this bitter wrangling was 
 now hobbling around the Eveless Paradise, and 
 faithfully attended by the golden-hearted Hatton. 
 
 Captain Landon's gloomy face brought no 
 brightness to the joyous circle of the gathered 
 good men and true. 
 
 He even met the unwearying General Hatcher, 
 with a slight constraint, tacitly acknowledged by 
 both, for, either Hatton or Grimes always seemed 
 now to singularly happen in upon their meeting 
 hours. 
 
 And Forrest Grimes' face was soberly over- 
 cast, for in vain he had essayed to plead with 
 the young fever patient to reconsider his refusal 
 to re-enter the army. 
 
 In a conference with General Hatcher, Grimes 
 had agreed to push the matter on, but only on the 
 basis of the favorable career reopened to the 
 soldier. 
 
 Forrest Grimes resolutely refused to touch 
 upon the scandals, or upon the matter of the 
 emphatic blackballing of a high United States 
 official.
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 179 
 
 "Either you or Melville must deal with that," 
 resolutely said Grimes. "You two men represent 
 the War and State Departments! I will stand 
 by Sidney Landon, but he must 'dree his own 
 weird.' " 
 
 Landon himself was astonished at the number 
 of cartes de visite showered in upon him, pro 
 forma ! 
 
 In his ignorance of the social battle, he fool- 
 ishly ascribed these visits to a general solicitude. 
 As the Doctor still forbade his receiving guests, 
 he was guarded by the happy chance from any 
 unlucky disclosure. 
 
 Forrest Grimes, though revolving through all 
 the polyglot circles of Roman society, could not, 
 even with his keenest sagacity, touch upon the 
 hidden machinery of this sudden social crusade. 
 
 In fact, he had even acquitted, in his mind, 
 Rawdon Clark, who was now giving breakfasts 
 and dinners, ad libitum, to the Roman aristocracy 
 at the forbidden ground of the Cercle de Rome. 
 
 With all the finesse of a cautious enemy, 
 Grimes caused Landon's name to be brought up 
 again and again before Clark, by his own Italian 
 loyal-hearted brothers.
 
 180 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The cautious plotter merely spoke gravely of 
 the Captain's serious illness, or referred to the 
 attacks on his past army record or official be- 
 havior in his present place with no prejudice. 
 
 Rawdon Clark was, however, laughing in his 
 sleeve. "It's the quiet poison that does the deadly 
 work," he smilingly resolved, and yet, his masked 
 batteries were all now regularly in action. 
 
 Jacopo Maspero, a past master of cowardly 
 duplicity, had taken the "unfortunate occurrence" 
 in commission. There was no gossipy circle in 
 Rome which did not have its busy chronique 
 scandaleuse in which the previous slanders were 
 nailed down with this public disgrace. For the 
 Italian was earning his vile money the gage of 
 dishonor. 
 
 While a saddened coterie secretly met at 
 Arthur Melville's drawing room to sigh over the 
 growth of the rising storm, Landon was all un- 
 conscious that his chief, and Grimes, General 
 Hatcher and Hatton, even the optimistic Hol- 
 lingsworth were forced to agree that Landon 
 stubbornly would not explain his abrupt exit from 
 the army, and, that there was no one else who 
 dared to leap into the daily widening breach.
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 181 
 
 It was far otherwise with Gertrude Melville 
 and Elaine Hollingsworth. 
 
 With all the fond ardor of womanhood, they 
 adhered to the fixed idea of some coming sun- 
 burst of explanation which would clear away all 
 the black clouds lowering over the romantic 
 young official. 
 
 These were halcyon days for Mrs. Myra Bran- 
 don! With an exquisite skill, she slyly rallied 
 at the Art Bungalow all the acrid-tongued ene- 
 mies of the Melville regime. The burly form of 
 Brandon bobbed around from the American Club 
 to the English Library, from artists' guilds to 
 villa coteries and all the details of Sidney Lan- 
 don's social disgrace were thus artfully sowed 
 broadcast. 
 
 It was with a fine application of the cowardly 
 art of backbiting that Myra Brandon made the 
 timid Mrs. Montgomery the vehicle of carrying 
 all these oft-repeated slanders to Agnes Haw- 
 thorn, now eagerly craving to leave Rome, and 
 so to avoid the possibility of her name being 
 coupled with the unfortunate Landon. The 
 lonely girl dared not confide her secret fears to 
 any one.
 
 182 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Mrs. Montgomery, deep in the mystery of 
 marking her boxes, timidly crooned over the dan- 
 ger of the Via Appian adventure becoming 
 public. 
 
 "It would be your social ruin, my own precious 
 darling. To think that this young man should 
 turn out to be such a character." 
 
 And floods of tears accentuated her forebod- 
 ings. 
 
 A personal timidity, now amounting to fear, 
 forbade the lonely heiress from confiding this 
 news to Mrs. Melville and the loyal Elaine Hoi- 
 lings worth. 
 
 For, Mrs. Brandon, a daily visitor, artfully 
 brought those who, by their own tongues, con- 
 firmed the very worst of the floating rumors. 
 
 And, at last, pushed on by an overweening 
 anxiety, the orphan girl questioned Rawdon 
 Clark, whose unflagging attentions had given 
 him the right to an almost daily admittance at 
 the Costanzi. He seemed to be now Rome's fore- 
 most American citizen, and decidedly the vogue 
 everywhere. 
 
 The capitalist was armed and ready for this 
 welcome sign of a growing confidence.
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 183 
 
 "My dear Miss Hawthorn," he sadly said. "I 
 never repeat boudoir gossip nor club scandals! 
 The young man is certainly most unfortunate, 
 to say the least, and, more I can not tell you ! 
 
 "In your place, I should confide alone in your 
 worthy relative, Mrs. Brandon. She has a vast 
 social experience. It would seem that the intimate 
 acquaintance of Captain Landon is not desirable, 
 but, after all, he is a mere minor official, and, 
 I hear, one shortly to be removed !" 
 
 The conservative quiet of his manner lulled 
 the girl's lingering suspicions. 
 
 And yet, there was her still unpaid debt of 
 gratitude, but, it was a social secret (their 
 joint property), and most undesirable as to pub- 
 licity ! 
 
 And, so with all a timid woman's halting 
 indecision, Agnes Hawthorn quietly avoided all 
 mention of Landon's name! The tide was run- 
 ning strongly against his bark of Life, now 
 weathering adverse gales! 
 
 Even General Hatcher now anxious to quit 
 Rome, evaded the young beauty's questions, lest 
 his tell-tale face should betray his own heart-
 
 184 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 wearing sorrow over Landon's seemingly pusil- 
 lanimous behavior. 
 
 "A bitter disappointment, he's not the man 
 I took him for," sighed the old hero. 
 
 "By Jove! When I get home, I will just run 
 over to Fort Stanton and see the Atwaters. I 
 dare not write to them this ugly situation, for 
 half the letters posted in Italy are stolen for the 
 stamps, and the other half are opened and read 
 to sate the gnawing curiosity of police spies, 
 officials, and to further the perpetual warfare of 
 the adherents of Pope or King. 
 
 "If any one can wake up Sidney Landon, it 
 certainly will be Miles Atwater." 
 
 The General consumed boxes of cigars in a 
 vague unrest. He feared each day some fatal 
 confirmation of the lies. 
 
 General Rufus Hatcher was, however, loth to 
 abandon any of his few cherished ideals. Cap- 
 tain Landon had been to him as the ideal rising 
 cavalryman of the army. Hatcher spent a whole 
 day in writing to the War Department and the 
 President a euphemistic statement of Landon's 
 condition. 
 
 He finished with strongly recommending that
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 185 
 
 the President kindly extend his gracious favor to 
 Landon, and allow the matter of the reinstate- 
 ment of the young soldier to be held open for 
 another year. 
 
 The honest old soldier blushed as he wrote the 
 closing paragraphs: 
 
 "I shall have the honor upon my return to call 
 personally upon Your Excellency and to explain 
 the peculiar mental and physical condition of my 
 young friend. He has been the victim of a very 
 severe attack of Roman fever, and is just now 
 able to resume his official duties. Doctor Cesare 
 Corvini, the leading specialist of Rome, who at- 
 tended him, has fully explained to me the mental 
 and moral dejection which follows on, as an 
 aftermath, of this dreadful and weakening 
 malady. 
 
 "I have been unable to arouse Captain Landon 
 to a just conception of the gravity of the situ- 
 ation, as affecting his future career. 
 
 "He is in a state of weakness and physical 
 inertia, following upon the inroads of disease. 
 His honorable wounds, received while leading 
 his troops, have greatly added to his debility." 
 
 "That is all I can do, to hold the situation
 
 186 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 open," growled Hatcher, as he sealed the docu- 
 ment. "The boy shall have a fair chance to 
 reconsider, and to learn by his own experience, 
 that the social world has some claims to a man's 
 confidence." 
 
 Captain Sidney Landon's altered manner was 
 not lost upon any of the keen observers now 
 watching him, when he silently took up again his 
 work at the Consulate General. 
 
 There seemed to be an uneasy unrest in the 
 way that his chosen friends hovered around him 
 at the Eveless Paradise, and, even the Melvilles 
 forebore to break in upon the young official's 
 proud reserve. 
 
 Before the departure of General Hatcher, the 
 Melvilles assembled the Hollingsworths, Grimes 
 and Hatton and the old soldier at a farewell 
 dinner. 
 
 To the astonishment of his chief, Sidney Lan- 
 don declined his invitation, though sent in a 
 strictly formal manner. 
 
 In vain, Gertrude Melville informed her guests 
 that Doctor Corvini had strictly forbidden all 
 social excitement and unnecessary fatigue. 
 
 There was the shadow of a coming storm
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 187 
 
 brooding over the pleasant household in the 
 Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 Two of the anxious circle were not deceived 
 by Captain Landon's perfunctory letter of regret. 
 
 Forrest Grimes had noted that Landon now 
 avoided the American Club, and all the usual 
 haunts of the jeunesse doree of Rome. 
 
 "That sinister disclosure of Clark's has turned 
 him in upon himself," mused the journalist, "and 
 he has some reason, a powerfully impelling 
 one, that he does not face the music." 
 
 The absence of Miss Agnes Hawthorn from 
 the Melville dinner did not escape the quick-eyed 
 guests. 
 
 And Grimes, with great astonishment, also 
 noted the anomaly of a superb dinner at the Hotel 
 Costanzi, in honor of General Hatcher, at which 
 the Melvilles met their secret social enemies, the 
 Brandons, and Mr. Rawdon Clark was the second 
 star of the evening. 
 
 A final reception and dejeuner at the Brandons 
 was also graced by General Hatcher, but, the 
 Consul General and his graceful wife were con- 
 spicuously absent, the western capitalist, how-
 
 188 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 ever, acting as "Pere d'honneur" to the superb 
 festivity. 
 
 It was idle to deny that the absence of the 
 Vice Consul General from all three of these func- 
 tions set the ball of gossip again rolling, and with 
 unexampled velocity. 
 
 "Tabooed, sent to Coventry, and, ignored," 
 soliloquized Forrest Grimes. "These public in- 
 sults are his final ruin, unless he acts! Shall I 
 tell him all? The whole story of the blackball- 
 ing? Useless, for there seems now to be no 
 one to fight!" 
 
 Forrest Grimes wondered at the calmness with 
 which Rawdon Clark had explained the fracas at 
 the American Club to its managing President. 
 
 "Who could notice the ravings of a poor fever 
 patient?" the suave capitalist had pityingly said. 
 "I was breakfasting with an American partner, 
 Mr. Burton Wilmot, when this unfortunate 
 young man wandered in, behaving in a most in- 
 coherent manner! 
 
 "He created some little confusion, but my 
 friend, a cool frontiersman, and a fearless man 
 of honor, simply advised me to ignore the whole 
 affair !
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 189 
 
 "I pity the young man, for he could not dis- 
 tinguish even his friends from myself and com- 
 panion. 
 
 "He was only fighting shadows, poor man, 
 let it go at that! 
 
 "You see that he now feels so much ashamed 
 of himself, that he very wisely avoids the club! 
 His proper place is in a sanitarium! Of course, 
 he merits all our compassion !" 
 
 "Clark is either a very smooth article, or else 
 he was really innocent in that matter," mused 
 Grimes. "I am not called on to fight for the 
 whole Army, but, I will watch over poor Lan- 
 don! If there is to be any more of this 'dead, 
 cold, open cut,' I shall certainly ask Hatton to 
 join me in begging Landon to leave Rome at 
 once ! No one can fight the whole world 'en Don 
 Quixote!' That day has passed forever!" 
 
 It was on the eve of General Rufus Hatcher's 
 departure that the Minister Resident gave his 
 formal dinner of farewell to the national hero, 
 who was now gladly turning his face homeward. 
 
 While every American of note in Rome was 
 honored with an invitation, Forrest Grimes, 
 with Hatton, both guests, could not control their
 
 190 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 astonishment at the absence of Captain Landon. 
 Melville, silent and distrait, merely filled a lay 
 figure's place at the Minister's splendid entertain- 
 ment. Landon determinedly kept his rooms and 
 avoided all social appearances without exception. 
 
 There were those who marveled much to see 
 the third place of honor filled by Rawdon Clark, 
 Esq., of the Elkhorn Mine. 
 
 But the more worldly-wise of the guests re- 
 flected that after all the Minister Resident 
 was dependent upon the home politicians for his 
 transitory glory. His tenure of office was the 
 slender single hair of political favor, and the 
 Presidential guillotine axe was always suspended 
 over his head. 
 
 What could be denied to the mighty Croesus 
 Clark, the reputed owner of two western sena- 
 tors as well as the richest carbonate mine in 
 Leadville ? 
 
 What might not be done by Rawdon Clark, 
 Esq., directing owner of the "Philadelphia Mail," 
 which staid old journal was now popularly known 
 as the "Philadelphia Flail." He was a man of 
 power "in esse" and "in posse." 
 
 The tactful wife of the Minister had duly as-
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 191 
 
 signed the now convalescent beauty, Agnes Haw- 
 thorn, to the prandial care of Clark, at her astute 
 husband's direction. 
 
 "We must cultivate that man, Maria," he con- 
 fided. "He is a pyramid of political weight; he 
 is booked for the U. S. Senate, and my promo- 
 tion lies in his power ! 
 
 "From Colorado, he could at once enter the 
 Senate, double banked. He carries both the 
 other men in his pocket ! But his social position 
 is higher ! He even dreams of conquering a share 
 of the Keystone State's representation ! He will 
 soon be a political Warwick! So, give him all 
 your spare moments, and distinguish him as far 
 as possible." 
 
 It was the evening of Clark's social culmina- 
 tion in Rome as a bright particular star, for his 
 lavish hospitalities at the Cercle de Rome had 
 hypnotized the foreigners. 
 
 Mrs. Myra Brandon's "open door" policy had 
 drawn the floating Americans, and, now, the 
 Minister Resident openly crowned him as the 
 "first citizen" of the social constituency. 
 
 Champagne and Roman punch made General 
 Rufus Hatcher very communicative as he drove
 
 192 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 home that night in the splendidly appointed car- 
 riage of the wily Clark, who was to convoy the 
 departing guest as far as Florence. 
 
 With a subtle flattery, Clark had retained a 
 private car as far as Florence for the General 
 and Mrs. Montgomery. 
 
 On this evening drive home, the General con- 
 fessed to a few thousands of dollars of hard won 
 savings, and asked the capitalist's advice as to a 
 "turn in stocks." 
 
 The dancing light of joy glittered in Clark's 
 wary eyes, as he confidentially said : "I will give 
 you a letter to my New York broker. I will see 
 that you are put into a deal that will double it! 
 No! No thanks! General! Leave all to me! I 
 will give you my own guarantee of honor against 
 loss!" 
 
 Disarmed by all this "brotherly love," the old 
 General opened his heart when Clark asked him 
 if he could be of any service to him in Rome. 
 
 "I shall remain on the Continent for another 
 year," complacently said Clark. 
 
 The story of Sidney Landon easily oozed out 
 of the old veteran's addled mind. Leaning back
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 193 
 
 in a delicious reverie, Rawdon Clark listened with 
 a deferential interest. 
 
 "Trust to me to keep an eye on this young 
 man," he purred, "for your sake! You can write 
 to me, after you reach Washington, just how the 
 President views his case!" 
 
 Rufus Hatcher went to his rest somewhat 
 shamefaced that his adieu to Sidney Landon 
 could be only for an hour in the morning before 
 the departure of the noon train. He felt they 
 had grown sadly apart. He burned to demand 
 flatly of the Minister or Melville the reason of 
 Landon's absence from the fete par excellence. 
 
 But he was forced to grumble himself to sleep, 
 while Rawdon Clark, still in his dress suit, 
 drank to his own future glories in a little private 
 seance in his own rooms. 
 
 "Capital," he laughed. "I can now have both 
 Allerton and Bostwick flatly oppose Landon's re- 
 entry to the army. These powerful Senators can 
 overweigh the simple old soldier! What a fool 
 a man is to tell all he knows!" 
 
 Clark glanced at his table loaded down with 
 invitations ! 
 
 "I have snowed this young jackanapes under," 
 
 13
 
 194 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 he mused ; "and, the fool stands off in his stupid 
 pride, now, and is playing right into my hand !" 
 
 He well knew from Mrs. Montgomery that a 
 simple carte de ceremonie had been Sidney Lan- 
 don's only social approach upon Miss Agnes 
 Hawthorn, now thoroughly afraid of some gos- 
 sipy disclosure. 
 
 "The Minister's dinner was a ticklish corner," 
 laughed Clark. 
 
 He chuckled over his own acuteness at sending 
 Mrs. Brandon to frighten the Minister's timid 
 wife with stories of Landon's frightful "Epilep- 
 tic" attack at the club. 
 
 "Such a man is positively dangerous, my dear," 
 said Myra Brandon, as she sailed away in proud 
 swings like a Spanish galleon. 
 
 But the poison deftly insinuated into Minister 
 Van Buren Hartford's mind had done its work! 
 Rawdon Clark builded well when he lost five 
 thousand francs at baccarat to the Marquis di 
 Santa Lucia, at the Cercle de Rome. A friendly 
 staking of this same noble later made the impe- 
 cunious Italian as soft as wax in the schemer's 
 hands. And so, Santa Lucia had, under the 
 guise of an official confidence, filled the Minister's
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 195 
 
 ears with the story of Landon's blackballing and 
 a resume of all the rolled up Roman scandals. 
 
 "There is my friend Rawdon Clark," he said; 
 "he knows that this man was kicked out of the 
 American army, only his generous, noble soul will 
 not let him blacken a countryman." 
 
 As Santa Lucia really held a minor place in the 
 Foreign office, the startled Minister at once men- 
 tally crossed Landon off his social books forever ! 
 
 "Remember, mon cher Ministre," silkily said 
 the Marquis, "this is all in strict confidence, 
 behind closed doors! It is only to shield you that 
 I violate a club rule, never to talk of our inner 
 life." 
 
 The parting between General Hatcher and Sid- 
 ney Landon was one of mutual constraint and 
 relief. The Captain awaited his estranged friend 
 in his own rooms at the Eveless Paradise. Lan- 
 don was but slowly groping toward the light as 
 regarded his altered social position. There were 
 few cards and no invitations seeking him now, 
 and he awoke at last with a start to realize that 
 Doctor Corvini, the faithful Morgan, and Grimes 
 and Hatton now comprised his entire active social 
 list.
 
 196 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The singular avoidance of the Melvilles by 
 Miss Hawthorn had also forced itself upon his 
 inner consciousness, for he knew of her social 
 reappearance, a thing of beauty and of added joy 
 everywhere in Rome. He was aware also of her 
 invitation to Myra Brandon's dearest friend, 
 Mrs. Agatha Waring, a prononcee young widow, 
 to share her splendid solitude. 
 
 General Hatcher's manly heart smote him as 
 he saw the pale face of the young soldier, now 
 shaven, but only to display his sunken cheeks ! 
 
 "Sidney!" he cried. "Will you not give me 
 your confidence?" 
 
 "There is nothing to give, General!" proudly 
 answered Landon, turning his head away to hide 
 a sudden emotion. 
 
 "I am thinking of soon leaving Rome." 
 
 "See here," pleaded the kindly old Hatcher, 
 with a quiver in his voice. "You are bent now 
 upon ruining your second career! Recall your 
 foolish words! Let me cable to you your army 
 appointment! Come back to us, my boy!" 
 
 "General!" sadly said the agitated Captain, 
 "My honor, my peace of mind, and the honor 
 of others forbids!"
 
 BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 197 
 
 "Then, all I say is," cried the excited veteran, 
 dashing his card down upon the table, "when 
 you are at the end of your rope, you'll find me 
 at the Army and Navy Club, Washington." 
 
 The young man rose and stood in a respectful 
 salute, as the old warrior hurried away to hide 
 the gathering tears. 
 
 "/ believe that the boy is mad," he testily cried, 
 as he drove away to join Mrs. Montgomery at 
 the Hotel Costanzi. 
 
 Captain Landon slowly dressed, and then made 
 his way to the Consulate General. He merely 
 nodded to Grimes and Hatton, who were watch- 
 ing him, hidden in a corner of the smoking room. 
 
 When Landon's tall form disappeared, Grimes 
 resolutely said : "Now that Hatcher is gone, we 
 must dip in our oars! Landon must face the 
 music at once, or else leave Rome! And, if he 
 stays, we must tell him all from the first to the 
 last!" 
 
 Frank Hatton bowed his head in a sorrowful 
 silence. He had been made aware of Rawdon 
 Clark's changed manner in the last month, a 
 patient urbanity, a deferential courtesy now 
 marked his employer's newer moods.
 
 198 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The magnate had even spoken of Sidney Lan- 
 don with a cordial sympathy. 
 
 "I suppose the blonde goddess has decided in 
 Clark's favor!" mused Hatton. "The Croesus 
 is to be the happy man. 
 
 "Yes!" gloomily said Grimes. "Landon's 
 career in Rome is ruined ! The women, too, have 
 all turned their thumbs down! Vae Victis! He 
 has been tried and condemned unheard behind 
 closed doors! And, money has won its usual 
 victory a golden walkover!" 
 
 While they were speaking, Vice Consul Gen- 
 eral Landon, entering his office, was startled by 
 a sudden recontre with the United States Minis- 
 ter Resident. 
 
 The pompous diplomat was wending his way 
 down the long hall of the Palazzo Vecchio to the 
 private rooms of the Chief. 
 
 Utterly ignorant of the Minister's secret decree 
 of social banishment, Landon courteously spoke 
 and offered his hand "en Americain." 
 
 He remained rooted to the spot as the Min- 
 ister, calmly ignoring both outstretched hand and 
 polite greeting, passed on in silence, with a 
 frozen stare.
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 199 
 
 A ferocious gleam of joy lit up Jacopo Mas- 
 pero's eyes as he touched Landon's arm, and, 
 with mock humility, handed him his letters. 
 
 Landon mechanically tore open the first, and 
 read it, with an increasing wonder! 
 
 It was postmarked Cairo, Egypt, and bore the 
 chiffre of the Egyptian War Department! The 
 young man's eyes flashed out with the old soldier 
 light again! 
 
 "Thank God! I shall have a chance to die by 
 the spears of El Mahdi's fanatics!" 
 
 He realized that the Minister's person was 
 sacred, and, an instant leave of absence was his 
 only possible safeguard! 
 
 "I'll cable my acceptance at once!" he mused, 
 while within Melville's room he was being judged 
 behind closed doors. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 
 
 While Captain Sidney Landon awaited the 
 departure of the highest American representative 
 in Italy, he mechanically busied himself with the
 
 200 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 arrangement of the few private paper? which 
 were locked in his personal desk. 
 
 Suddenly he caught Maspero's glances resting 
 upon him, in an ill-disguised triumph. 
 
 And at the sight of his enemy's glee his old 
 fighting spirit returned. 
 
 He drew the faithful Morgan aside into the 
 little consultation room. 
 
 "Edwin," he said, with a voice trembling with 
 rage. "Pray go into Mr. Melville's studio and 
 tell him that I ask for a few words with him, 
 here, instantly, on an important matter which 
 must be laid before His Excellency before he 
 leaves the building!" 
 
 The faithful secretary hastened away mutter- 
 ing "What's in the wind? Landon looks as if 
 he had received his own death sentence!" 
 
 While awaiting the arrival of his Chief, Cap- 
 tain Landon began to feel the full force of the 
 open and avowed insult offered him before the 
 man whose now totally experted accounts proved 
 him to be a tricky scoundrel. 
 
 "I must not abandon Morgan to Signior Mas- 
 pero's rancor," he muttered. "The mills of the
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 201 
 
 gods shall grind him slowly, perhaps, but, all 
 in due time!" 
 
 When Morgan returned, Sidney Landon whis- 
 pered: "Reserve to-night for me! Come and 
 dine with me, and spend the whole evening. I 
 leave the office to stay forever, but, your work 
 must go on ! This Italian hound must finally be 
 brought to bay!" 
 
 As the young man left the consultation room, 
 Arthur Melville hastily entered with his face a 
 curious study of sorrow and indecision. 
 
 He had vainly sought for the particular plati- 
 tude to cover the "mauvais quart d'heure." The 
 first glance at Landon told him that some random 
 shaft had gone home. 
 
 Captain Landon bowed with all the formality 
 of a duellist upon the field of honor. He ex- 
 tended a sheet of dispatch paper upon which a 
 few lines had been hastily traced. 
 
 "Will you favor me with asking His Excellency 
 to approve this leave of absence for one month?" 
 coldly remarked Lando<n. 
 
 "The State Department usually acts upon these 
 matters!" murmured the astonished Melville. 
 
 "Inhere is no time to wait," calmly rejoined
 
 202 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Landon, his face now as tensely drawn as a young 
 Pawnee's upon his first war path. 
 
 "I shall cable my formal resignation through 
 you, the very moment that you have approved this 
 and Minister Hartford has signed it." 
 
 With a perfunctory sigh, the irresolute Mel- 
 ville turned, and quickly vanished in the direction 
 of the studio. The soldier walked into the main 
 office room. 
 
 In five minutes his few belongings were all 
 locked up in his dispatch box. 
 
 Calling the office messenger, he sent the lad 
 away to the Eveless Paradise with his simple 
 archives. 
 
 With a whispered direction to Morgan to take 
 charge of the office until the Consul General 
 should give his own personal directions, the 
 young man, picking up his hat, stick and top 
 coat, "stood at attention" when the fluttered 
 Consul General joined him in the private room. 
 
 He extended his hand for the paper without 
 a word, read the signatures, and then bowed 
 gravely. 
 
 "I will now cable my resignation to the State 
 Department, sir, and ask that my successor be
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 203 
 
 instantly appointed. I only take this month's 
 leave of absence so as to be enabled to sign any 
 papers covering my official career. Mr. Morgan 
 alone will have my address." 
 
 Then, without turning his head, he strode out 
 into the gloomy hallway of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 There he encountered Miss Rose in Bloom, 
 departing for her morning walk. 
 
 ."My little playmate," he cried, touched with 
 some gentle emotion. 
 
 He lifted the rosebud child, kissed her fair and 
 innocent face, and then slowly descended the 
 stairs. 
 
 As he stood in the shadow of the great gate- 
 way, a hand was laid upon his arm. Landon 
 almost fiercely eyed Arthur Melville. 
 
 "Pray, not one word," he said. "I can never 
 forget your kindness to the stranger within your 
 gates ! I only hope, for your own sake, that you 
 will awake to the grave responsibilities of your 
 office. I go back to my rooms! I shall leave 
 Rome, probably forever, to-morrow at midnight. 
 You can meet me as a private citizen down there 
 on the Corso !" 
 
 Arthur Melville was left speechless, for vain
 
 204 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 words had failed him. He saw the agony on the 
 young soldier's face. 
 
 There was the sudden frou frou of silken skirts 
 and Gertrude Melville stood beside them, on the 
 very spot where Agnes Hawthorn had fallen on 
 the luckless night of the visit to the Colosseum. 
 
 All the mute entreaty of a woman's awakened 
 soul in her shining eyes ! She gently drew Cap- 
 tain Landon aside! 
 
 "Morgan has told me," she softly said, "that 
 you are to leave us forever ! Have you a right to 
 go without one word to me? You need a cham- 
 pion, now! Remember, too, that you have broken 
 our bread ! 
 
 "Promise me that you will not leave Rome 
 without seeing me!" 
 
 Her gentle bosom was heaving with some un- 
 explained thrill of suddenly evoked sympathy for 
 the friendless man. 
 
 Captain Landon stood there silent and irreso- 
 lute, while Arthur Melville had hastily sought the 
 other end of the loggia. 
 
 "I will never re-enter the Palazzo Vecchio," 
 sadly said Landon. "The shadow of some great 
 wrong broods over me! You can not come to
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 205 
 
 me ! And, I would not have you write ! When 
 I go I go, as the crow flies, to far-away lands !" 
 
 "What I must say to you can not be written, 
 and no friend could intervene," murmured Ger- 
 trude, a crimson blush stealing over her pale 
 cheeks. 
 
 "When do you go?" she faltered. 
 
 "I take the midnight train to-morrow for Ge- 
 noa," the soldier said. "Best that we do not meet! 
 You can do nothing for me! 'Centre la force, il 
 ny a pas de resistance!' It is the work of the 
 Fates ! I am doomed to suffer in silence !" 
 
 The beautiful woman was reading his shad- 
 owed soul in his darkened eyes. 
 
 "Be at the Fountain of Trevi at nine to-mor- 
 row evening," she whispered. "/ must see you, 
 if only for Agnes' sake! You shall not leave 
 Rome without one heart vowed to right you from 
 these frightful scandals." 
 
 He raised his head in a proud disdain, but the 
 gentle lady fled away, with a dainty finger on her 
 rosy lip in a last mute command ! 
 
 Sidney Landon watched her light form vanish 
 in the gloom of the winding stair. 
 
 "May God go with you, Madonna!" he softly
 
 206 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 said, and then strode out into the garish sunlight. 
 
 An hour later he entered his room at the Eve- 
 less Paradise, and, locking the door, threw him- 
 self down to cool his throbbing temples. 
 
 He had changed his whole life by a dozen 
 cabled words to the War Ministry of the Khedive 
 at Cairo, and his unconditional and immediate 
 resignation had been duly telegraphed to the De- 
 partment of State at Washington. He had 
 burned his ships! A new field new dangers 
 new adventures lay before him in the misty veiled 
 future. 
 
 His stern pride now flamed up in his bitter, 
 desolate heart. 
 
 "Morgan alone shall follow on my work of en- 
 trapping this Italian scoundrel ! Grimes and Hat- 
 ton are good fellows enough, but why should they 
 suffer for me ? 
 
 "As for this timid snob of a Minister, I sup- 
 pose that my place is wanted !" 
 
 He wondered from what quarter the stab in the 
 dark had come, for all his later social isolation 
 now flashed over him. 
 
 "I am a free man, at any rate," he bitterly 
 cried, as he unlocked a case and slipped a revolver
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 20? 
 
 in his pocket. "God help the man who* crosses my 
 path now. I will play a lone hand against a lying 
 world!" 
 
 His eyes rested on General Hatcher's last card 
 of adieu flung upon the table. 
 
 "Poor dear old hero! Gallant old friend! You 
 shall have a letter, at least, a few lines to show 
 that I am grateful !" 
 
 After he had written and personally mailed his 
 acceptance of the Egyptian army commission and 
 his formal Consular resignation at the end of the 
 leave of absence, his mind reverted to the harm- 
 less assignation at the Fountain of Trevi. 
 
 Still in ignorance of the web of scandal deftly 
 woven around him, he remembered Gertrude 
 Melville's words, "for Agnes' sake!" 
 
 "And, she, too, has fallen off, her gratitude was 
 short lived enough! It matters little, for I will 
 have ample time to forget her over there in Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 "The Soudan's sands may cover my bones and, 
 / find a welcome rest forever by the palm- 
 fringed Nile." 
 
 Captain Landon's evil genius ruled the hour! 
 He was still stemming adverse seas, for, while he
 
 208 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 looked out into a dreary future, there was a 
 woman pacing her splendid boudoir at the Cos- 
 tanzi in a wild unrest of heart ! 
 
 With tears and sobs, Mrs. Montgomery had 
 thrown herself at Agnes Hawthorn's feet and left 
 behind her the legacy of all the artfully contrived 
 slanders of Mrs. Dora Prindle, filtered through 
 Barker Bolton's letters. "The proof s^ the proofs 
 they are all now on their way ! You must shun 
 this disgraced man or else pay the penalty of a 
 blackened name ! Myra Brandon will watch over 
 you! Trust only to her !" 
 
 And then, breaking in upon this stormy mood, 
 resolute Gertrude Melville, now a secret cham- 
 pion, came to warn the heiress of an unpaid 
 debt of gratitude. 
 
 "Landon is leaving Rome forever, poor, 
 friendless, disheartened, and with not a single 
 champion left behind! Even Morgan does not 
 know where he will recklessly cast himself away, 
 he has parted in coldness and estrangement 
 with General Hatcher, the old veteran himself 
 charged me to watch over him ! 
 
 "And, the Minister has socially crushed him ! 
 
 "I know not why for Arthur, my hus-
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 209 
 
 band, for the first time in our marriage, has 
 plead a sworn secrecy ! 
 
 "I owe to Captain Landon nothing but a 
 woman's loyal faith but, Agnes, you owe him 
 the unpaid debt of a life preserved!" 
 
 The two fair women clasped heart to heart, 
 mingled their tears, as the heiress sadly recalled 
 her own pledged secrecy. 
 
 But, when Gertrude Melville left her orphaned 
 friend, there had also been given to her the pledge 
 of a sisterly aid in the masquerade of the Foun- 
 s tain of Trevi. 
 
 "I come to you for help," pleaded Gertrude. 
 "To whom else could I come? No one must ever 
 know! You must be alone the guardian of my 
 secret ! 
 
 "For Landon shall know all his danger, and, 
 you can help me in this and pay your debt in this 
 wise! I dare trust to no one else! You can be 
 draped beyond all recognition !" 
 
 With a trembling heart, Agnes Hawthorn, 
 smiling through her tears, consented to brave the 
 night shadows of Rome. 
 
 It needed all the stony apathy of Landon's sol- 
 dier nature to control himself when Forrest 
 
 14
 
 210 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Grimes and Frank Hatton burst in upon his rapid 
 packing. 
 
 A sudden wave of excitement seemed to have 
 permeated the whole of the Eveless Paradise. 
 But the military aplomb of the Captain was equal 
 to the occasion. On Doctor Corvini's noon-day 
 visit he had gently forced upon that quaint old 
 savant a very handsome honorarium. 
 
 "I am going over to the Riviera for a month, 
 my dear Doctor," he gently said. 
 
 "I have a leave of absence for thirty days. It 
 can be extended, ad libitum, and, so, I will slip 
 away and say good-bye to no one !" 
 
 The gentle-minded old physician looked 
 troubled at heart. He had learned to love his 
 patient. 
 
 "Have you any one to look out for you there, in 
 case of a further relapse? Ah! The tiger that 
 Roman fever is! I shall be glad to give you a 
 letter to my dear colleague, Doctor Montaverde!" 
 
 Captain Landon's eyes glistened, for the old 
 man had been untiring. 
 
 "There is Consul Swasey, a lifelong friend of 
 my father's the American Consul at Nice. 
 
 "All my letters will go to him! And, so, I
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 211 
 
 can consult you by letter, and I shall still feel near 
 to you! It is best that I should go at once. I 
 need a change from here. 
 
 "I have threaded every gallery, dreamed in 
 every church, climbed every historic mountain 
 and," he faintly laughed, "I could gain a living 
 as a Roman guide, for from the depths of the 
 Catacombs, to the ball on St. Peter's, from 
 the dungeons of San Angelo, to the summit of 
 Soracte, I have filled myself with the mournful 
 atmosphere of the Eternal City. 
 
 "Perhaps, Monte Carlo and the rattling fun of 
 Nice may brighten me. There are always some 
 American war ships at Villefranche, stationed as 
 'near the ladies' as possible!" 
 
 "Ah, my boy," sighed the old Cavaliere, who 
 wore a dozen orders over his wasted breast, 
 "promise me that you will drink of the Fountain 
 of Trevi. Throw in a silver coin, shut your 
 eyes and pray to Fortuna, then you will surely 
 wander back to Rome and, remember you will 
 meet those who stand there beside you! The 
 fountain is faithful, it is the shrine for parted 
 lovers! Its very waters whisper of peace and 
 happiness 1"
 
 212 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 And, so, with a fatherly benediction, the aged 
 Doctor left his strangely reticent patient. 
 
 It was fortunate that the two journalists fell 
 upon the medical man and extracted his story, 
 for, with a hollow pretense of gayety, Landon 
 only told his two chums that he was taking a run 
 over to the Riviera. "You are packing every- 
 thing, however!" agnostically said Forrest 
 Grimes. 
 
 "A good soldier is never separated from his 
 baggage," laughed Landon. "My possessions are 
 so few that I can not spare them! Now, seri- 
 ously " he said, with averted eyes, "I shall say 
 good-bye to no one, for, my return is only a 
 matter of time !" 
 
 Frank Hatton broke out into an unaccustomed 
 enthusiasm. "I will rally all the fellows for a 
 good-bye send off!" 
 
 "Pray do not, Frank!" harshly cried Landon. 
 "I have asked Ned Morgan to come down and 
 spend the whole evening in closing up my papers 
 and returns ! It will take us till midnight. 
 
 "To-morrow morning I close up all my busi- 
 ness. I'd like to see both you men in the after- 
 noon, and then I send my luggage to the station,
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 213 
 
 taking the midnight through train! Morgan 
 claims the right to close up the little odds and 
 ends I leave behind." 
 
 There was a long secret conference on this last 
 evening of Landon's Roman life between Grimes 
 and Hatton. For the sake of friendship, they de- 
 cided to say nothing to the Melvilles of Landon's 
 sudden flitting. 
 
 "I suppose there has really been an official row 
 following Minister Hartford's ignoring the Vice 
 Consul General about that dinner matter. It's a 
 pretty mess as it now stands ! 
 
 "But, as to the Captain's reputation! This 
 sudden flight will leave his name at the mercy of 
 every coward in Rome!" 
 
 A long discussion of the whole miserable busi- 
 ness decided the friends to jointly write to the 
 American Consul at Nice a full statement of the 
 whole veiled intrigues, holding nothing back ! 
 
 Even the club blackballing was to be detailed 
 in full ! "We will wait to see what happens for 
 the first fortnight," said the cautious Grimes, 
 "and then Landon can either come back and face 
 the whole situation, or, if he so chooses, resign 
 and go home from Nice !
 
 214 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "It would only make him a victim of butchery 
 to tell him all now ! Some of these Italian sword 
 twisters would surely kill him! He can advise, 
 there, with dear old Swasey, a pattern gentleman 
 of the old school." 
 
 It was two o'clock in the morning before Ed- 
 win Morgan left Sidney Landon's apartments, 
 and Signior Jacopo Maspero, busied in an ex- 
 cited conference with Rawdon Clark, on the 
 Quirinal, would have shuddered for his future 
 had he known that Sidney Landon bore away in 
 his luggage a full set of the tabulated proofs and 
 calculations vouching for Maspero's ingenious 
 rascality of years. 
 
 "I shall hold these certified copies, for a time, 
 Morgan," said the ex-Vice Consul General. "Do 
 you follow on and accumulate further and quiet 
 proofs of your own ! 
 
 "You will be the only man in Rome to whom 
 Consul Swasey will give my address, and, that 
 only, as the last extremity. He will send on 
 all letters, but we will, with patience, be able to 
 trace out who is behind Maspero in his villainy. 
 
 "Either some one of the rapacious Roman 
 bankers, or a committee of the thieving shop keep-
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 215 
 
 ers and pseudo art dealers ! Perhaps even Bran- 
 don uses him as a stool pigeon to draw trade to 
 his 'art' mill ! 
 
 "If forced to act, by accident, go in yourself 
 and crush Maspero! I will not open Melville's 
 eyes. He is a vague dreamer, the unsuspecting 
 tool of this political Minister Resident, and, pop! 
 some day he will be cast out, and then, some 
 one of Rawdon Clark's political proteges will re- 
 lieve Melville! So, only guard your own head, 
 for Maspero will surely attack you and, who- 
 ever has been secretly 'gunning for me,' will also 
 try to punish you, dear boy, for being my friend !" 
 The two men's eyes meet in a silent pledge of last- 
 ing friendship. 
 
 "There are rumors," said Morgan, as he 
 wrapped his cloak around him to leave, "that this 
 millionaire, Clark, is soon to marry Miss Haw- 
 thorn and then begin his political life with sup- 
 planting Van Buren Hartford as Minister Resi- 
 dent! I'm told that he has even been pricing 
 palaces, and proposes to entertain in a way to 
 dazzle even the impoverished King Humbert !" 
 
 Edwin Morgan left without noticing the spasm 
 of disgust which swept across Sidney Landon's
 
 216 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 face, but the restless soldier paced his lonely 
 rooms till the star dials hinted of morn ! 
 
 Too late he felt that he had been outwitted and 
 maligned. 
 
 "I suppose it's the old thing!" he gloomily said. 
 "These cursed anonymous letters! If I could 
 surely trace them to that stony-hearted woman 
 fiend, not even her bluff old husband's bravery 
 would save her !" 
 
 In the smoking room of the Eveless Paradise 
 Hatton and Grimes were still uneasily discussing 
 the sudden hegira. Frank Hatton, whose robust 
 manliness was evoked by the defenseless loneli- 
 ness of Captain Landon's position, sighed as he 
 summed up his final opinion. 
 
 "It seems half-hearted and unfriendly in us to 
 let Landon go away in total ignorance of the un- 
 derhanded fight against him ! 
 
 "It has been all carried on behind closed doors, 
 but it has done its work even to the estrange- 
 ment of the Melvilles, his dearest friends !" 
 
 Forrest Grimes sadly shook his head as he took 
 his bed candle. "If we overwhelmed him, now, 
 with a full disclosure, there would surely be 
 blood shed before to-morrow night ! Remember,
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 217 
 
 we may save him yet by watching his enemies 
 in this month. It's time enough to stand by him, 
 if he comes back to face them !" 
 
 The friends were ignorant of Sidney Landon's 
 proud resentment of the Minister's official insult, 
 a grossness offered in his own office. 
 
 They knew not of the self-deception of the un- 
 happy Landon, who had recognized in the 
 averted faces of friends the effective work of the 
 anonymous letters which had pursued him for 
 years in the army and, he, looked far away to 
 the veiled hand which had dealt the dastardly 
 blow. 
 
 But the saddened man, pacing his room, in vain 
 tried to hide the sharpest wound of all, Agnes 
 Hawthorn's seeming cold indifference. 
 
 Her beautiful face had illumined his shaded 
 life, his soul had leaped into a newer life, the 
 resurrection of Love, when her helpless head 
 lay upon his shoulder ! 
 
 Pausing in his midnight "sentry go," he bit- 
 terly murmured, "If we stood on even terms, 
 I would face her, right here, with the truth! 
 She should have the key of the past, she alone! 
 But, her riches, and my poverty, have made a
 
 218 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 gulf between'us wider than the green rolling At- 
 lantic, the unbridged chasm of unequal sta- 
 tion!" 
 
 Consul General Melville was keenly watched as 
 he emerged from Captain Landon's rooms, after 
 making his good-bye call upon the silent and 
 stately young man on the morning of his last day 
 in Rome. 
 
 Ignorant of the details of the Minister's open 
 affront, Melville felt rebuffed when Landon 
 coldly thanked him for his offers of closing up 
 any social or business matters left unfinished by 
 the hasty departure. 
 
 "I leave all my affairs to Mr. Morgan," Lan- 
 don stiffly said. "I am under a lifelong debt of 
 gratitude for the kindness of yourself and Mrs. 
 Melville in my illness. 
 
 "As to my social name and fame, I care noth- 
 ing, for the roads which all lead to Rome, also 
 lead out again to that wide, wide world, in which 
 I can find peace or strife, rest or torment, just 
 as God wills!" 
 
 In answer to the Consul General's flat demand, 
 Landon curtly remarked: "My movements are 
 uncertain! I go whither / know not / care
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 219 
 
 not! I am now a free American citizen, and, 
 the wide world is my home!" 
 
 Melville's weak indecision alone prevented him 
 from pouring out his troubled heart, but the "fac- 
 chini" bustling off the luggage broke off the last 
 tete a tete, and so, Melville left his friend, 
 weakly guarding the Minister's pusillanimous 
 confidences, and the last door was closed upon 
 Sidney Landon's Roman life ! 
 
 True it was that Rawdon Clark and Robert 
 Brandon, junketing at the American Club, 
 laughed with good reason, over Sidney Landon's 
 abrupt retreat ! 
 
 "Dropped at the first flash of the gun," gaily 
 said the capitalist. 
 
 "Now for a clear field! This jackanapes is out 
 of the way ! When Agnes gives me her plighted 
 word, my way to the Senate is open, my passport 
 to the home circles I must enter, and, your 
 Consul Generalcy here is assured the moment I 
 am elected to the higher house ! So, now, follow 
 up Miss Hawthorn's movements to-day ! / want 
 no last emotional interview! Maspero is watch- 
 ing all at the Consulate and will dog this fellow's 
 movements; I shall be waiting here at the Club
 
 220 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 till midnight! Then, when he is gone, we will 
 give Miss Agnes the whole story! I have the let- 
 ters now from America which will rouse the last 
 spark of womanhood in her heart ! She will de- 
 spise a man both seducer, fugitive and coward !" 
 
 Captain Landon left the Eveless Paradise be- 
 fore sundown with the unconcerned air of a tour- 
 ist seeking a brief run in new pastures. 
 
 His perfunctory and careless adieux had de- 
 ceived all in Rome save the Melvilles and the 
 secretly hostile Minister. No one but the faithful 
 Morgan was to be at the station at the time of his 
 midnight departure and both Grimes and Hatton, 
 respecting his wishes, had gone out on their far- 
 winging search for new note book padding. 
 
 Alone in a little trattoria outside the walls, Sid- 
 ney Landon anxiously awaited the hour of his 
 meeting with Mrs. Melville. It was the last 
 chord in his heart to snap the only tie binding 
 him to the graceful and spirited woman whom he 
 had loved in spite of fate. The matron's offered 
 championship touched his heart, and, yet, when 
 the pale moonlight struggled with the somber 
 shadows of the old Roman streets, and the bells 
 of San Vincenzio tolled nine, he had found no
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 221 
 
 words of farewell for the one woman who had 
 vowed herself his defender. Gertrude Melville's 
 loyal bravery had stirred his heart to its utmost 
 depths. 
 
 There were broken gleams lighting the somber 
 walls of the Palazzo Poli, as Captain Landon, 
 wrapped in a cloak, his features shadowed with 
 an Italian hat, approached the magnificent basin 
 of the Fontana di Trevi. 
 
 His restless heart was soothed by the dashing 
 floods pouring down over the massive rockwork, 
 where bearded Father Neptune lorded it over the 
 shimmering pool reflecting the silvery stars 
 of night. Health and Fertility, half hidden in 
 their riches, gazed out upon the tranquil night 
 blessing the crystal flood still gurgling through 
 Agrippa's subterranean channel. The romance 
 of the old lingered around the hallowed parting 
 place of generations of lovers. 
 
 The spring night was soft and balmy. Whis- 
 pering lovers were gathered now around the 
 great basin, in all the tender thrills of a last 
 farewell, invoking the friendly spirit of the 
 Aqua Virgo, and, watching with tear-stained eyes 
 their silver offerings disappear in the darkened
 
 ::: CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 waters wherein the broken reflection of the moon 
 danced fitfully. 
 
 Mustachiod gens d'armes. cloaked and with 
 folded arms, silently peered out from tinder 
 their laced chapeaux at the world wanderers, 
 the crowding beggars, the self projecting blat- 
 ant British tourists, and the nervous Americans 
 "doing Rome on a gallop!*' 
 
 With a beating heart, Captain Landon thread- 
 ed the crowd, until a soft hand was lightly laid 
 upon his arm. He recognized in a moment the 
 svelte figure of the gallant-hearted Gertrude Mel- 
 ville. 
 
 But he knew not the tall and stately form 
 shrouded in deep black, which hovered at the 
 lady's side. 
 
 "Hasten" whispered Gertrude. "/ have much 
 to say to you!" 
 
 Sidney Landon paused, and drew a silver coin 
 from his pocket. "I must invoke the spirit of the 
 fountain. Do you the same!" 
 
 And then two gleaming coins disappeared un- 
 der the cool waves now rushing onward to their 
 triple outlets. 
 
 The laughing waters danced away to the Piazza
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 223 
 
 di Spagna, the far off Piazzi Navona, and the 
 Piazza Farnese, but, as the two turned away, 
 the stately Niobe following them, suddenly ex- 
 tended a graceful arm and a third coin flashed in 
 the pale moonlight. 
 
 Landon stopped not to admire the somber mag- 
 nificence of the great cascade whose splendors re- 
 call Hadrian, Pope Nicholas V. and a noble line 
 of historic art lovers. 
 
 In a shadowed angle, covered by the frowning 
 walls of the Palazzo Poli, with bated breath, 
 Gertrude Melville told the excited soldier of the 
 cowardly slanders torturing all semblance of 
 truth from the adventures on the Appian way. 
 
 The stately figure lingered a few paces apart 
 until a persistent beggar finally drove the woman- 
 ly watcher for shelter to the side of Landon and 
 Gertrude. 
 
 It took all the soldier's menacing promptness to 
 frighten off the bent figure of the bearded mendi- 
 cant wrapped in a tattered coat! 
 
 "We must hasten! / have more to tell you!" 
 anxiously whispered Gertrude Melville, as they 
 watched the sullen beggar scuttle away. 
 
 Once around the corner of the piazza., the beg-
 
 224 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 gar spy leaped into a waiting carriage ! "Here's 
 news to wring more gold out of Rawdon Clark," 
 muttered Maspero, "or, to sate my revenge 
 against this petit-maitre Melville. 
 
 "Per Bacco, the handsome wifely nurse steals 
 out like a 'femme galante' to say addio to her sol- 
 dier lover ! This is rich news! I will keep it till 
 fit to sell, then Clark shall pay, and Melville 
 know that he has been both betrayed and dis- 
 graced ! But, who the devil is the confidante! 
 
 "Too large for that Rollings worth gadabout, 
 it can't be Emilia or Lucia, she would not 
 dare to bring her own servants. Perhaps some 
 sewing woman or some American friend who 
 has her own veiled amourettes! Basta! We are 
 safe ! The boy will track him down to the station. 
 
 "The handsome heiress, Miss Million, is at the 
 Costanzi fast enough! For she has been ill, 
 locked behind closed doors, all the afternoon !" 
 
 And so, secure in the presence of his office mes- 
 senger, left behind to follow the unsuspecting 
 Captain to the train, Maspero returned to his own 
 lair, so as to report to Rawdon Clark at mid- 
 night ! 
 
 "Cospctto! I would have liked to have lin-
 
 TWO GLEAMING COINS DISAPPEARED UNDER THE COOL 
 WAVES. Page 222.
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 225 
 
 gered but, the fretful fool advanced harshly 
 upon me ! False beard and wig would not stand 
 a tussle and, a discovery now would ruin all. 
 
 The clock on San Vincenzio tolled eleven be- 
 fore Gertrude Melville had ceased her disclosures. 
 She started suddenly, an innocent Cinderella. "I 
 must leave you," she fearfully said. "I have my 
 ball dress hidden under these dark robes! My 
 husband thinks that I am at the Princess Contar- 
 ini's soiree. Do not attempt to follow us. Our 
 carriage waits down there before the church. 
 
 "Remember, if you would repay my care of 
 you when you lay helpless, swear to me that you 
 will never divulge the name of Agnes Hawthorn, 
 as the woman whose life you saved on the Via 
 Appia ! I will watch for your sake for her sake 
 over these slanderers here. My husband must 
 protect your honor. He knows how nobly you 
 have acted to save Agnes' name from the rending 
 fangs of these human ghouls. But those who are 
 fighting you from ambush here, have some sin- 
 ister purpose!" 
 
 Captain Landon grasped both the fair woman's 
 hands. "I take but one heart sorrow away with 
 me! The one woman on earth whom I could 
 
 15
 
 226 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 have loved, is as far from me now as the stars 
 above the sordid earth below! Tell her that 
 though I shall never see her again, I loved her, 
 but Fate was against me! But, Thank God I 
 can prove to her, in life and death, I will be 
 mute and silent ! 
 
 "Her fair fame shall be preserved! Let them 
 go on and slander me! I go out on my lonely 
 way! But I carry her dear face graven in my 
 heart, and, / will never forget her!" 
 
 A choking sob made Landon start ! The stately 
 woman in black was standing with averted eyes 
 her face covered with her hands ! 
 
 Gertrude Melville's voice thrilled his every 
 fiber as she said : 
 
 "Confide in me! There is yet time! Recall 
 your resignation !" 
 
 Sidney Landon was swayed as the storm 
 shakes the pine. "No," he sadly cried. "Her 
 wealth fences her from me with golden bars! 
 And, Agnes Hawthorn shall not stoop to con- 
 quer! There is a pride of wealth! There is also 
 a pride of poverty! It is too late ! Listen Count 
 upon me, in life and death ! If there is any positive 
 slander, if this low cabal penetrates our inno-
 
 AT THE FOUNTAIN OF TREVI. 227 
 
 cent secret, if there is the name we both love at- 
 tached to this alleged 'intrigue, only give Morgan 
 a letter for me, he will know where I am and 
 I will come back from the ends of the earth! 
 And now God be with you, my sweet sis- 
 ter!" 
 
 He stooped and kissed the trembling woman on 
 her forehead, "Go now, there is no time to 
 lose! I shall watch you safely to your carriage." 
 
 In a sad silence, the three sought the darkened 
 angle where the carriage waited. 
 
 The half disclosures of a half knowledge had 
 driven Sidney Landon into a tossing sea of un- 
 rest! 
 
 He stood, hat in hand, as the carriage turned ! 
 It halted, a slender arm was extended ! He cov- 
 ered the trembling hand with passionate kisses, 
 and instinctively took the handkerchief and the 
 knot of flowers which were clasped within the 
 timidly extended fingers ! 
 
 And then the carriage moved swiftly off, 
 bearing away the innocent truant from the Pa- 
 lazzo Vecchio. 
 
 Captain Landon turned with a smothered 
 groan, and hailed the first passing carriage.
 
 228 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 His brain was still throbbing with the madden- 
 ing disclosures, and his pulses bounding with the 
 timidly hinted possibilities of a return ! 
 
 "Never!" he sternly said, as he wrung Mor- 
 gan's hands and leaped into the waiting train. "If 
 I had only known this before but, it is too late 
 now. My resignation is on the sea! The Egyp- 
 tian War Ministry has my acceptance! I will 
 bury my regrets in the Soudan! And, dear old 
 Swasey has already taken my passage from Mar- 
 seilles!" 
 
 Three hours later, at Orvieto, he awoke with a 
 start, and, suddenly drew forth the little offering 
 which he had thrust in his bosom. 
 
 There was a delicate bunch of rich Parma vio- 
 lets, a filmy lace handkerchief, and knotted in 
 the corner a slender golden ring. He sprang up, 
 and by the light of a fusee read, within the little 
 circlet the word "Agnes." 
 
 His heart gave one mighty throb, as he remem- 
 bered the veiled Niobe, the stately goddess of the 
 night. 
 
 "My God ! Was this her mute farewell !" He 
 slept with the delicate token resting on his wear- 
 ied heart.
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 229 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE HARVEST OF ONE WEARY YEAR. 
 
 As the train rolled into the station at Nice 
 Captain Sidney Landon started to find General 
 Rufus Hatcher and Consul Swasey, both there 
 awaiting him. 
 
 He had recovered his composure since the dis- 
 covery of the golden token now more precious to 
 him than the ring with which the proud Venetian 
 Doge made the Adriatic his bride. 
 
 When he had seen the lights of Rome sink 
 down in the Campagna behind him, he had wrath- 
 fully murmured, "Banished from Rome ! What's 
 banished, but set free, from daily contact with 
 the things I loathe !" 
 
 And, now, he recognized the soft strategy of 
 Gertrude Melville. 
 
 "Dear Heart!" he thought. "She fain would 
 have the General persuade me to return ! Never! 
 Jacta alea est !" 
 
 And, yet, as he recalled the stately Niobe, he
 
 230 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 heard again that choking sob, the fond self-be- 
 trayal of a woman whom he now knew he loved 
 beyond all of Eve's graceful daughters ! 
 
 With a modulated courtesy, Landon held his 
 inner soul, until after his establishment at the 
 Hotel Chauvain. General Hatcher was dragged 
 away to a dinner of the flagship. 
 
 "Remember, Landon, you are to give me one 
 night, to-night, my last! I must take home some 
 explanation of your sky-rocket path in life ! Now, 
 my boy, no heroics! I've just had telegrams 
 both from Melville and his fairy wife. Also a 
 last joint appeal from Grimes and Hatton !" 
 
 Sidney Landon bowed his head before this evi- 
 dence of friendships that followed on! With a 
 quiet smile -of triumph the silver-haired Consul 
 haled Landon away to his office. 
 
 "Here we are, my meteoric young American 
 friend! You are just such a fly-away as your 
 gallant father !" 
 
 In the seclusion of the private office, the old 
 Consul handed Landon his letters and telegrams. 
 "There you are, sir! When you are done I will 
 have a few words with you ! I'll take a stroll on 
 the Beau Rivage till you digest these important
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 231 
 
 things ! You must listen to the General's last ap- 
 peal!" 
 
 The first telegrams he read were from the 
 Egyptian War Ministry and they confirmed his 
 appointment, and suggested his coming On, via 
 Brindisi, to avoid the espionage of the English 
 authorities at Malta. 
 
 The words, "Expedition ready and awaiting 
 your command," set his soldier's heart proudly 
 beating. 
 
 The Messagerie Maritimes' dispatches reserv- 
 ing steamer accommodations at will was hastily 
 thrown aside, and he tore open the last. His eyes 
 lit up with a strange fire as he read Gertrude Mel- 
 ville's dispatch: 
 
 "Do not leave Nice until you receive my letter. 
 You will understand why! The ring will ex- 
 plain." 
 
 He started up to seek the Bureau de Tele- 
 graphes, and then remembered that he held the 
 reputations of two women now dependent upon 
 his prudence. 
 
 When General Hatcher, escaping from the 
 fleet, opened his batteries upon the young soldier,
 
 232 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 he was astonished at the buoyant brightness of 
 the young man's demeanor. 
 
 And, nodding his approval, the courtly Swasey 
 listened with joy to Landon's promise to remain a 
 few days in Nice and think over all the General's 
 newly fledged arguments. 
 
 The soldier's singular cheerfulness gave new 
 hopes to the two amicable old conspirators, who 
 brought right and left flank batteries to bear upon 
 him. 
 
 The one plead with him to re-enter the Army, 
 and the other to recall his resignation from 
 the Consular service or to ask a transfer to the 
 purely diplomatic career. 
 
 But loyally had Arnold Swasey guarded the 
 secret of the Egyptian appointment, first tendered 
 to Landon through him, as a lifelong friend of 
 the gallant and accomplished Ferik Pasha Lieu- 
 tenant General Charles P. Stone. 
 
 Long after the elders had sought their rest, 
 Sidney Landon poured his heart out in a letter to 
 Gertrude Melville. He could devise no safe way 
 of sending it so as to guard Agnes Hawthorn's 
 secret, but to send it as a sealed Consular Dis- 
 patch to Edwin Morgan.
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 233 
 
 He dared not write to the heiress whose golden 
 token still rested upon his heart, but when he had 
 finished a letter whose veiled suggestion was 
 meant in every line for the Lady of the Violets, 
 he enclosed a ring which had been a companion in 
 many a dangerous fray. 
 
 "This ring was one of my beloved and unfor- 
 gotten mother's. Give it to my little playmate, 
 and let her not forget the companion of so many 
 happy hours. I will keep the other, and its return 
 to you for the giver will only be the silent proof 
 that my life is done! But, remember, that we 
 parted at the Fountain of Trevi, under its mys- 
 tic spell! God be with you both till we meet 
 again." 
 
 Under the protection of the Consular seal, with 
 a note to the watchful Morgan, Landon well 
 knew that it would reach its destination ! "And, 
 so Agnes will know," he mused, "that I have 
 recognized her token, and respect the silence 
 which I am now bounden to !" 
 
 While the three men sat in council at Nice, 
 Rawdon Clark and Signior Jacopo Maspero craft- 
 ily conferred at the Quirinale. "Who the devil 
 could this woman be, the one whom he met?" 
 fruitlessly demanded the baffled capitalist
 
 234 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 matters it to you?" sulkily rejoined 
 Maspero. "Your inamorata was in camera, 
 surely locked up, that we know, and, your 
 only enemy in Rome, Madame Melville, was 
 away at the Contarini's ball ! So the maids told 
 me ! Of course, if you wish it, I can trace out the 
 intrigue, and find who was his only friend! 
 Don't be surprised at any disclosure. Woman's 
 eternal deviltries, infidelities, and vagaries, are 
 the only book of Life!" 
 
 "Stop your damned nonsense," roughly cried 
 Clark. "Go ahead and find out ! I will pay you !" 
 
 He was in a towering rage, for Madame Myra 
 Brandon had reported to him that Miss Agnes 
 Hawthorn had received the full disclosure of 
 Dora Prindle's venom-filled letter unmoved and 
 in a stony silence. 
 
 All that the heiress would vouchsafe was the 
 cold remark, "What matters it about this man? 
 He has passed out of our lives ! He has departed 
 from Rome! And, / will leave next week for 
 Vienna, my accident has only delayed the long 
 settled trip." 
 
 Both suitor and spy were sorely smitten by this 
 sudden blow.
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 235 
 
 To Myra Brandon it meant the cessation of 
 Agnes Hawthorn's golden generosity and, 
 moreover, the end of Rawdon Clark's concealed 
 subsidies. 
 
 To the angered capitalist it meant a long chase 
 after the beautiful woman, whose dearest girl- 
 hood friend was now the wife of the American 
 Minister at Vienna. 
 
 "She will be swept away from me," he growled 
 "the winter's work is lost, or it will have to 
 be all done over again !" 
 
 He trembled at the idea of a definite rejection 
 and, yet, the golden bird of Paradise was 
 spreading its wings. 
 
 As he went home, Clark decided to have Rob- 
 ert Brandon make the full disclosure of the now 
 open secrets of the rencontre of Agnes Hawthorn 
 and Captain Landon on the Via Appia. 
 
 "I'll pop in pat, then, with my proposal and, 
 she may see the prudence of marrying me! 
 The only thing is to watch the mail and see that 
 this puppy is not writing to her! I've fixed the 
 thing with the Head Porter of the Hotel Cos- 
 tanzi. 
 
 "Myra Brandon will see every letter before she
 
 236 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 gets them. And, Jacopo Maspero will watch 
 the private mail of the Consul General. 
 
 "Confound this Landon ! He was far too inti- 
 mate with Madame Gertrude. If Missy goes 
 down there for a visit, it will show that the sly 
 Melville is the go between! Great Heavens! 
 What a fool I've been to forget. I must watch 
 Landon at Nice and see that he does not sneak 
 off to join Agnes Hawthorn in Vienna ! And, 
 dare I follow her over there? Wait, my lady, 
 wait till I have you, under my thumb!" 
 
 It boded ill for the success of Rawdon Clark's 
 Intelligence Bureau that Agnes Hawthorn was 
 hidden the whole afternoon and evening of the 
 day, when the rporning's disclosures had shocked 
 her, with Gertrude Melville. "That's the one 
 place where I can not control her actions," 
 growled Clark, hidden at the American Club and 
 receiving Maspero's furtive messages. 
 
 Captain Sidney Landon's behavior was an 
 enigma to the two seniors, when upon the third 
 day of his arrival he fell again into the dull dejec- 
 tion which had marked his last days in Rome. 
 
 'And, yet, a wolfish, haggard anxiety burned in 
 his gleaming eyes ! All the newly founded hopes
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 237 
 
 of General Hatcher were quickly buried when 
 the soldier sternly announced his irrevocable de- 
 cision to abandon the army forever. 
 
 And, so, in sadness and sorrow, the old veteran 
 made his way Parisward, cursing all regimental 
 mysteries and foolish boys! "It's some bit of 
 devilish woman work, I'll swear ! I wish to God 
 there was not a woman in the whole army." 
 
 But Consul Swasey alone knew that some new 
 bitter grief had choked the dawning sunlight out 
 of the young man's heart. 
 
 Hour by hour, while waiting for the answer to 
 a letter just dispatched, heavily corded and sealed 
 with the inviolate seal of the Consulate, Sidney 
 Landon pored over the last womanly appeal of 
 Gertrude Melville. He read again these words of 
 doom: 
 
 "Agnes has come to me to hide her sorrows in 
 our home! She is surrounded with sycophants 
 and flatterers, with false friends, and harassed 
 by an importunate wooer. You now have your 
 honor, your peace of mind, perhaps your fu- 
 ture happiness in your own hands! I have not 
 seen the letter, but Agnes has told me the whole 
 story of Ethel Raynor, of her death, of her 
 husband's self sacrifice, of your hasty departure 
 from the regiment, of your sudden resignation !
 
 238 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 And, now, if you would prove to the woman 
 who might have loved you and blessed your life, 
 that a blasted home, a woman's wrecked life, a 
 gallant husband's betrayed honor, have not un- 
 fitted you for an honest woman's love, then, 
 come back! Come at once! You can tell me 
 the facts! You stand now at the parting of the 
 ways! If you are innocent, you will come!" 
 
 Sidney Landon's face was seamed with thought 
 as he waited for the response which was to de- 
 cide his whole career in life. 
 
 He had, with his own hands, deposited in the 
 mails the officially sealed envelope which con- 
 tained the one appeal possible to the heart of the 
 woman whom he now madly longed to crush to 
 his bosom. He rejoiced that she had taken refuge 
 with the Melvilles. 
 
 "Safe in that home, I can write her, and let 
 her judge between the sorrows of a dead past, 
 and the infamous lies of the woman fiend who 
 has followed on my path for years!" 
 
 Too well he knew whose hand had dealt the 
 blow, but how, and why, in what form, he knew 
 not, he only yearned to be called back to give 
 the key of the past to the one whose withered vio- 
 lets still lay upon his heart !
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 239 
 
 After a heart struggle, he had decided to write 
 to Agnes Hawthorn, and then leave the final de- 
 cision with her! 
 
 In plain words, he briefly told her of his ap- 
 pointment in the Egyptian Army, for the desper- 
 ate service in the Soudan and the Abyssinian 
 campaign. 
 
 "I sought it to forget you, your face, your 
 smile, your haunting presence. 
 
 "Only if entitled to know that my whole, hon- 
 est heart lies at your feet, can you ask me to tell 
 the story of the past! There is but one woman 
 I would tell it to, to the woman who is to be 
 my wife! I waive the question of your riches, 
 to save my honor, to leave at least my memory 
 white in your stainless heart! And so, if you 
 write me 'Comef I will come to you! I can re- 
 turn to Rome, and then go on to Egypt via Brin- 
 disi. I should wait until you have heard all 
 from the only one who watches over the graves 
 of two who suffered with me! It will take time! 
 I ask you not to plight your word ! Only to say, 
 'Sidney! I will trust you until the truth shall 
 deepen that trust into the certainty of my inno- 
 cence! I will make the Abyssinian campaign, 
 as bound in honor now, do a soldier's duty, and 
 then come back to read my fate in your dear eyes ! 
 I will now wait here one week for your answer. 
 Even Mrs. Melville has no right to the unsealing 
 of my heart!"
 
 240 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 While Sidney Landon, in burning impatience, 
 walked the shores of the Riviera, at Rome, Jacopo 
 Maspero laughed in a silent glee! 
 
 "This is surely my harvest year," he gaily 
 cried. 
 
 The postman laughed as he pocketed Maspero's 
 hundred-lire note for bringing all the mails for 
 the Melvilles surreptitiously to a little wine shop 
 fronting the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 Maspero chuckled at the possession of a set of 
 the Consular seals of all the subconsulates in 
 Italy, to reseal the correspondence sent on 
 through the Consulate General. 
 
 It had paid him well to have one made, also 
 so as to open and reseal Consul Swasey's letters 
 to the dilettante Melville. 
 
 A past master of the art, the private seal of 
 Sidney Landon was easily taken off with a bread 
 paste impression, and this, in plaster, gave a 
 matrix to close again the document upon which 
 the soldier's life happiness hung! 
 
 In half an hour, Rawdon Clark was possessed 
 of the copy ! The millionaire's brow drew down 
 in the scowl of murder as he said, "You are sure 
 Morgan can not detect this letter opening?"
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 241 
 
 "7 pride myself," smiled Maspero, "upon an 
 accomplishment which is hereditary in the 
 family!" 
 
 "Then," deliberately said Clark, "there is five 
 thousand francs cash for you to trap her answer, 
 this golden-haired fool ! / see it all! Gertrude 
 Melville has been Landon's mistress, and hus- 
 band and wife work together for profit. They 
 covet Agnes Hawthorn's fortune! 
 
 "Now, Emilia and Lucia must watch both the 
 Melville woman and my shy bird ! Her answer 
 must fall into my hands!" 
 
 "Safe enough" laughed the scoundrelly 
 Italian. "My postman will catch it at the office. 
 If I do not get it there ! The two women servants 
 will do their work! They handle the letters." 
 
 "The cash is yours!" gruffly cried Clark. 
 "Damn that Landon! I hope that he will feel 
 what I feel now!" 
 
 Jacopo Maspero laughed over the love-lorn 
 schemer's agony of jealousy as he bade Emilia 
 and Lucia do their devil's work, when Morgan 
 glided in to the family apartment with the en- 
 closures. 
 
 Arthur Melville, now wrapped up in his liquid 
 
 16
 
 242 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 greens and yellows, had forgotten all his official 
 cares and again Maspero, as of yore, lorded 
 it in the Consulate. 
 
 By midnight, the Italian scoundrel was at 
 Rawdon Clark's bedside. 
 
 "I have the letter," he said. "Here is a copy 
 of it!" 
 
 "You must give me the original," sharply cried 
 the excited Clark. 
 
 "Softly, softly," brutally answered Maspero. 
 "It is a State's prison offense to steal a letter! 
 / will not go to the galleys even for you! I will 
 open it, read it to you, show it to you and 
 give you the copy ! Then I will seal it up again, 
 and keep it for my protection. This fool will be 
 far over the seas soon! If the loss is ever dis- 
 covered, I can have the letter some months after- 
 wards, discovered in some out-of-the-way place! 
 I will hide it back even for years, but, I will 
 not go to the galleys for you!" 
 "Give me the letter" yelled Clark. 
 "Money first!" sternly said Maspero, holding 
 the letter and copy in one hand, and a glittering 
 knife in the other. 
 
 With a curse Clark handed over the money.
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 243 
 
 "You see how she loves him," gloatingly said 
 the Italian roue. "I told you all women were 
 alike! 
 
 "Better go in and amuse yourself with the 
 Consul's dainty wife; she is really the gamer 
 intrigant of the two! Don't you see, if you get 
 her in your power, she will help you to gain this 
 golden-haired American Borgia's favor!" 
 
 He. slowly backed out, warned by Clark's eyes. 
 
 The half-crazed Croesus read the words: 
 
 "Come to me Sidney! Come and you will 
 find my heart open to you! If you clear away 
 this mystery, you will know that my heart has 
 been yours from the first." 
 
 There was the clear, womanly signature, 
 "Agnes Hawthorn." 
 
 But three sentences were added below ! 
 
 "I will wait for one week for your appearance ! 
 // you do not come, I shall leave Rome and all 
 its shams and lying deceits behind me but, with 
 a heavy heart ! / will have lost my whole faith in 
 manhood!" 
 
 Ten days later, Sidney Landon gazed moodily 
 over the quarter of the steamer "Sphinx," at 
 the green billows of the Gulf of Lyons, and
 
 244 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Miss Agnes Hawthorn, pale-faced and haughty 
 was watching the gay Viennese crowds upon 
 the Kaiser platz. 
 
 The stolen letter had sundered two loving 
 hearts! With cautious scoundrelism, the Hon- 
 orable Rawdon Clark nursed his secret rage 
 smoothly in Rome! He had followed up Sidney 
 Landon's every movement, day by day, until 
 he sailed for the land of the Pyramids. 
 
 With a sudden spasm of indignation, Clark 
 now shut his purse strings to the exuberant Mrs. 
 Myra Brandon. 
 
 "By Heavens! I believe you bungled it, you 
 clumsy fool," he said. "You and your goggle- 
 eyed husband can now shift for yourselves!" 
 
 No one but himself knew of the stony com- 
 posure with which Agnes Hawthorn had received 
 his earnestly worded offer of marriage. 
 
 "Let it be just as if I had not heard it!" she 
 calmly said. "Come back to me in a year, and 
 tell me the same story! If you are the same, 
 if 7 am different, I may spare you the pain of 
 a refusal, but I am world-weary now, and, I 
 must and will be alone !" 
 
 "There goes my Senatorial campaign," growled
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 245 
 
 Clark, who dared not press his fate further, and 
 lose the golden-haired beauty forever! 
 
 And, only Maspero was happy as he stole 
 out, at night, to laugh over his dupe with the 
 velvet-eyed Emelia, and the full-bosomed Lucia. 
 
 "Pray God to send us another fool like this!" 
 he laughed, ignorant that the steadfast Morgan 
 was silently weaving the net around the unfaith- 
 ful official! 
 
 And now life dragged on wearily enough in 
 the Palazzo Vecchio! 
 
 "He was base metal!" sighed Gertrude Mel- 
 ville, "and so he dared not face the ruin he had 
 wrought! God forgive him, and God help 
 Agnes, who has lost all her faith in man!" 
 
 And, so only the little playmate was left to 
 mourn for the vanished man whose name in the 
 clubs was now bandied as that of the common 
 adventurer to whom the world is but an oyster! 
 
 And far away, on the burning sands of Egypt, 
 a haggard-eyed man pressed on to where the fierce 
 swordsmen of Abyssinia crouched like lions in 
 their mountain gorges ! It was a lean year, with 
 only a harvest of sorrows. 
 
 The whole Roman community was set agog by
 
 246 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 the leakage from the United States Legation of 
 the cabled news of the appointment of Mr. Still- 
 well Meacham, late of Princeton University, as 
 the new Vice Consul General of the United 
 States. 
 
 The fact that the new appointee was the favor- 
 ite nephew of the Minister Resident was artfully 
 concealed by that wily official, now secretly afraid 
 of being supplanted by Mr. Rawdon Clark. 
 
 This energetic capitalist, at once, verified the 
 rumor through the delighted Jacopo Maspero. 
 
 This crafty Italian duly presented his dupe and 
 employer with a copy of the official cablegram 
 of the State Department. 
 
 Clark was lifted at once from the dejection 
 caused by the indifference of the Philadelphian 
 heiress to his suit! 
 
 The magnificence of his hospitalities at the 
 Cercle de Rome had endeared him to the local 
 petite noblesse, and, now, he decided to vigor- 
 ously follow up all the attacks upon the vanished 
 Sidney Landon. 
 
 Even the Marquis Pallavinci was forced to 
 confess to Charley Hollingsworth that the whole 
 story of Landon's blackballing was now common
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 247 
 
 property, backed with a general denunciation of 
 his cowardice in stealing away from Rome under 
 the guise of a sick leave. 
 
 Forrest Grimes and Frank Hatton were even 
 forced to fight nightly battles at the Eveless 
 Paradise over the hopeless cause of a man who 
 had not even dared to leave an address. 
 
 The story of the attempt to cover a Roman 
 intrigue with the murder of a poor unarmed 
 peasant, and the imprisonment of two innocent 
 carriage drivers was bruited abroad! 
 
 A hundred tongues were clacking away, "Dove 
 la Donna?" 
 
 Rawdon Clark artfully hid behind the bustling 
 Brandon and his now triumphantly revengeful 
 wife. 
 
 There was none so poor as to do reverence to 
 the memory of the man who had leaped on to the 
 position of social favorite, only to fall in utter 
 disgrace. 
 
 The American scandals of Landon's expulsion 
 from the army were also now common property, 
 and Gertrude Melville remained, a forlorn hope, 
 the last friend of the absent one, save Doctor
 
 248 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Cesare Corvini and the imperturbable Edwin 
 Morgan. 
 
 Rawdon Clark was following his enemy, ham- 
 mer and tongs, and the arrival of several anony- 
 mous letters from different parts of America 
 addressed to the United States Minister, the 
 Consul General and the Secretary of the Ameri- 
 can club, completed the pyramid of obloquy 
 heaped upon the memory of the ruined man! 
 
 Plentifully accompanied with newspaper slips, 
 these letters fanned the flames of scandal into a 
 furious conflagration. 
 
 Mr. Rawdon Clark laughed as he carefully 
 went over duplicates of these documents, in the 
 safe retirement of his room. 
 
 "Barker Bolton is a cool one," he gaily cried. 
 "No one will ever find out here that these same 
 newspaper articles are fictitious." 
 
 The neat expedient of pasting headers cut from 
 Western journals on matter printed by the "In- 
 telligence Bureau" was a stroke of genius worthy 
 of a Robert Macaire. 
 
 Resting content, now, with his labors, Clark 
 closed his campaign with having Mrs. Myra 
 Brandon send on these apparent verifications of
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 249 
 
 Landon's disgraceful record to the unhappy 
 heiress in Vienna. 
 
 "I will let these things do their quiet work," 
 mused the capitalist. "I will send Mrs. Brandon 
 over on a visit of motherly solicitude in a few 
 weeks, and, before the Legislatures meet, I will 
 find Miss Agnes in the Tyrol and offer her what 
 few women dare decline the proud place of a 
 Senator's wife. 
 
 "When I tell her that my public career will 
 depend upon her, this will shorten her year of 
 probation. At any rate, Mr. Sidney Landon, I 
 have paid you off, and, with compound in- 
 terest!" 
 
 There was one fatal stroke of ill fortune which 
 marvelously aided Rawdon Clark's plans. Ger- 
 trude Melville felt all a woman's resentment at 
 Sidney Landon for leaving Nice without a single 
 word of adieu to her. 
 
 "I risked my reputation as a woman, my 
 honor as a wife, to meet and warn him, to 
 give him a chance to meet his enemies with a 
 frank defense! I even lured Agnes Hawthorn 
 to the Fountain of Trevi, and, he covers his 
 retreat like a criminal fleeing the thief taker !"
 
 250 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 It had been in vain that Gertrude Melville had 
 used all her arts upon Edwin Morgan, whom her 
 husband vaguely deemed a Consular spy in his 
 office. 
 
 The pale-faced student was only willing to state 
 that he was ordered to send all matters for Cap- 
 tain Sidney Landon to Consul Arnold Swasey 
 at Nice. 
 
 And, a personal appeal to that courteous old of- 
 ficial only gave Mrs. Melville the news that Captain 
 Landon had left Nice after a sojourn of ten days, 
 simply directing all his mail to be sent to "Frey- 
 cinet Freres," Bankers, Marseilles. 
 
 "More I can not tell you," he wrote, "for I 
 have been obliged to answer a cablegram of Gen- 
 eral Rufus Hatcher. 'Whereabouts absolutely 
 unknown' I can only say that Landon left Nice 
 in a desperate and unhappy mood! 
 
 "He seemed to wait for news from Rome of 
 some character, and haunted the Post and Tele- 
 graph up to the moment of his leaving." 
 
 But neither Gertrude Melville nor the unhappy 
 Agnes dreamed of any treachery. 
 
 And, all this, with the forged newspaper arti-
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 251 
 
 cles, Gertrude Melville sent on to Miss Agnes 
 Hawthorn at Ischl in Tyrol. 
 
 The Melvilles were leaving Rome for their 
 summer villa at Frascati, and only awaited the 
 arrival of Vice Consul General Stilwell Meacham 
 to go away for the long, unhealthy Roman sea- 
 son. Every turr of the tide had aided Clark's 
 adroit scoundrelism. 
 
 When Miss Hawthorn read all these excerpts 
 by the rushing rivers of the Austrian Alps, she 
 sighed and then tore the letters and papers to 
 tatters ! 
 
 Throwing them in the black, sparkling moun- 
 tain torrent, she sighed, "It is true! He dared 
 not return and face his record !" 
 
 She resolutely closed the gates of her heart to 
 the past; she tried to forget the shattered idol, 
 and her cheek burned in blushes at the shame of 
 her impulsive offering on that fateful night by 
 the waters of Trevi, of the gentle self surrender 
 of the unanswered letter. 
 
 While the two fond women buried Sidney 
 Landon's memory away out of their sight, 
 stung by the treason of the recreant soldier's de- 
 sertion of his social colors, Gertrude Melville did
 
 252 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 not know the last sting which had rent Agnes 
 Hawthorn's heart! 
 
 For, the fair girl could not bring herself to 
 own to her dearest friend that she had called 
 back to her side, a man who had scorned her! 
 
 "Never!" the orphaned girl swore in her heart ! 
 ''Death first, this crowning disgrace is my secret 
 alone!" 
 
 And, the happiest man in Rome now was Sig- 
 nior Jacopo Maspero, fondling his hoard of yel- 
 low French gold, the dirty wages of his triple 
 betrayal. 
 
 "One more triumph is 10 be mine!" he gloated. 
 "To sell the news of Madame Melville's midnight 
 assignation at the Trevi fountain to Clark! He 
 will strike her mercilessly for she always has 
 flouted him! 
 
 "I will be safe, and my cup of revenge will be 
 a delicious draught !" 
 
 Maspero now exulted in the possession of the 
 number of the carriage and the coachman's name, 
 used on the fatal rencontre by Trevi's glittering 
 cascade. He was on the verge of the discovery 
 which would have made his fortune for life and
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 253 
 
 given Agnes Hawthorn's reputation over to Raw- 
 don Clark's cruel keeping. 
 
 But, the brave American girl had returned 
 alone and on foot to the Hotel Costanzi, slipping 
 in at a side door, in garments picked up by her 
 for the Carnival, a simple black dress of the mid- 
 dle class Roman women, with a shrouding veil. 
 Brave at heart she had been, in her unconfessed 
 love for the wanderer in Egypt the man who 
 had scorned to answer her appeal! 
 
 The long summer had burned itself away, and 
 the winds of November were shrieking about the 
 Pincian hill, when Consul General Arthur Mel- 
 ville summoned Edwin Morgan to a crucial ex- 
 amination of Sidney Landon's affairs in the 
 studio of the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 Poor Morgan was now only the office drudge 
 of the supercilious young collegian who "ruled 
 the roost," and threw "my uncle" even at the head 
 of the Consul General upon all occasions. 
 
 It was the same old Rome, with a new budget 
 of social scandals! 
 
 But, all the gilded circle "within the pale" knew 
 that Mr. Rawdon Clark was lingering at Vienna, 
 hovering in the bewitching presence of Miss
 
 254 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Agnes Hawthorn, who was soon going on to 
 Paris, to prepare for her presentation to that most 
 august of majesties, Queen Victoria. 
 
 The brilliant reign of Miss Hawthorn at the 
 Austrian Court had led the ambitious beauty to 
 spread her wings for further flight. 
 
 The owner of the Elkhorn mine had left hosts 
 of friends behind him in Rome, for his genial 
 way had been paved with golden hospitalities. 
 
 Steady old Forrest Grimes, loyal at heart, con- 
 fided his last lingering doubt to Frank Hatton, 
 now an avowed protege of Clark, who lavished 
 every possible consideration upon the man who 
 was a cover to his masked guns! 
 
 Unsuspicious in prosperity, Frank Hatton was 
 blinded by Clark's officious generosity. He was 
 now a noted knight of the pen ! 
 "II avait fait son chemin." 
 "Frank," wrathfully ejaculated Grimes, sud- 
 denly, one lonely night, "I shall always believe 
 that Sidney London was trapped in some mean 
 -way! I can not tell you all! Clark 'had it in' 
 for him, with abundant good reason ! This west- 
 ern Crcesus is a tireless lover! Such a man is 
 a desperate enemy! I believe in some hidden
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 255 
 
 way Landon fell into a pit dug by his enemy." 
 
 But honest Hatton only sighed : 
 
 "He nailed down his own coffin by clearing 
 out! Why did he not trust to us?" 
 
 It was after an hour's close mental scrutiny 
 that Consul General Arthur Melville gave up the 
 task of entrapping Consular Clerk Edwin Mor- 
 gan into admissions of confidential relations with 
 the departed Landon. 
 
 "I have not heard from Captain Landon since 
 his departure, save one brief note, written at 
 Nice, with final orders to send all mail to Consul 
 Arnold Swasey," said Morgan. 
 
 "And, for good or ill, you must rest content 
 with this! It is the whole truth, so help me 
 God!" 
 
 Morgan dashed away and returned with the 
 letter ! 
 
 "You can certify a copy of that under seal, 
 arid keep it !" said the now defiant young man. 
 
 "See here, Morgan," cried the mollified official. 
 "Look at this ! We must find this man ! We are, 
 in honor, bound to find him!" 
 
 He handed the young man a letter and narrow- 
 ly watched him as he read:
 
 256 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Urgent and Important. 
 
 "Law Offices of. Hayward, Homans and Ross, 
 "No. 58 La Salle Street, 
 
 "St. Louis, Missouri, 
 "November loth, 18 . 
 
 "Consul General Arthur Melville, 
 "U. S. Consulate General, 
 "Rome, Italy. 
 
 "Dear Sir : We appeal to you to officially aid 
 us in discovering the whereabouts of Captain 
 Sidney Landon (late U. S. Army), and, later, 
 Vice Consul General, accredited to your office. 
 
 "We are now in correspondence with all the 
 Legations and Consulates of Europe upon the 
 same subject, as well as those in the Orient. 
 
 "Messrs. Freycinet Freres, of Marseilles, ab- 
 solutely decline to give his whereabouts, as be- 
 ing a confidential instruction of their depositor 
 and client, though they claim to have forwarded 
 a letter sent to them by us, on the advice of Con- 
 sul Arnold Swasey, of Nice. 
 
 "The urgency of our business is explained by 
 the fact that our esteemed client, the late Mr. 
 John Vaughan Landon, of St. Louis, died three 
 months ago, leaving an estate, consisting of 
 realty, steamboat property, cash in bank, and 
 various lead manufactory stocks, amounting to 
 over one million dollars. 
 
 "This vast property is absolutely and uncon- 
 ditionally left to Captain Sidney Landon. 
 
 "Our late client had no communication for 
 many years with Captain Landon's father, as he 
 was an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of the 
 Captain's mother.
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 257 
 
 "The young gentleman thus suddenly enriched 
 may be even ignorant of the existence of this past 
 family tie. 
 
 "Both the dead Landons were peculiar men. 
 
 "If you can give us no information, cable to 
 us at once. 
 
 "Any expenses that you may incur will be at 
 once remitted. You may advertise in such papers 
 as you choose. 
 
 "Failing to find him, we shall send our special 
 agent to Europe to look him up, directed by Frey- 
 cinet Freres. We refer to Messrs. Drexel, Mor- 
 gan & Co., London. 
 
 "We have also invoked the aid of the Ameri- 
 can Ambassador at Paris. 
 
 "Cordially yours, 
 "Hayward, Romans and Ross." 
 
 The young official laid the letter down with 
 a sigh. 
 
 "If it were Golconda's mines, I can tell you 
 no more. 
 
 "I fancy, in time, these cautious Frenchmen 
 will divulge their secret, when they know it is to 
 his advantage. I have already forwarded a half 
 dozen letters from these lawyers to Nice. 
 
 "I keep a record of all Captain Landon's mail 
 with the ear marks." 
 
 When the clerk was dismissed, Arthur Mel- 
 
 17
 
 258 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 ville drove to the Telegraph Bureau and sent a 
 reply to the St. Louis lawyers. 
 
 Some undefined fear of thf hostile Minister 
 Resident tied his tongue, and, when he returned 
 from a week's visit to Nice, he had still concealed 
 from even his wife all reference to Landon's 
 windfall. He brought Morgan into the studio 
 to give him a confidential disclosure. 
 
 "Swasey tells me that Freycinet Freres have tel- 
 egraphed Captain Landon's address to the law- 
 yers in America upon the peremptory demand of 
 an Assistant Secretary of Legation sent down 
 from Paris. 
 
 "Also, that they guarantee Landon's receiving 
 the entire mail forwarded ! He is now somewhere 
 in the Orient, and, all this, you are to keep as 
 a strict secret! No one but Swasey, you and I 
 know of these facts." 
 
 While the fickle goddess of Fortune was chas- 
 ing the mortal whom she had so bitterly chas- 
 tened, upon the deck of an Italian transport, 
 in the harbor of Massowah, a gaunt and wasted 
 form lay stretched out in a hammock under the 
 deck awnings. 
 
 No one who had ever seen Captain Sidney
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 259 
 
 Landon lead his squadron of the Grays across 
 the cavalry plain at Fort Stanton, would have 
 recognized the bearded skeleton, who now 
 watched, with hollow eyes, the sand dunes of 
 Massowah fade away, as the steamer "Colombo" 
 swept out into the burning waters of the Red 
 Sea! 
 
 An English orderly, an adventurer, a hard- 
 ened East Indian deserter, watched over the man 
 who had brought away a terrific sword slash in 
 the left shoulder, as a memento of the desperate 
 fighting on the fatal plain of Gura. 
 
 But, when the Abyssinian hordes had swarmed 
 down over the one six-gun battery which held 
 them back for an hour, Deserter Jack Haddon, 
 a game Yorkshire tyke, shot the leading Ras, 
 at half pistol distance, and then aided by the 
 last of a gun crew, dragged Lieutenant Colonel 
 Sidney Landon into a place of safety, where a 
 few desperate men, at bay, working the deadly 
 Remingtons, turned the tide of assault down upon 
 the shrieking mass of Egyptian fugitives in the 
 ravine below. They were richer food for the 
 thirsty two-handed swords of the mountain 
 devils.
 
 260 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 With incredible hardship, Sidney Landon had 
 been gotten down to Massowah, and, touched by 
 his lion-like daring, the recreant Prince Hassan 
 pinned a grand star of the Medjidjie on the 
 wounded man's breast, and then ordered him to 
 have every honor shown him in that disgraceful 
 home-coming to Cairo. The Giaour had been 
 the bravest of the brave, and saved the right wing 
 of the army. 
 
 Leaving the wreck of the proud army of Abys- 
 sinia to be brought home later from Massowah, 
 Prince Hassan urged on the "Colombo," so as 
 to be the first to report the disaster at Court, 
 wrapped in euphemistic lies. 
 
 While the Abyssinian lions and jackals feasted 
 upon the bodies of nine thousand slain, while 
 the desert vultures followed the train of captives 
 and gorged themselves in feasting upon the de- 
 capitated bodies of those who fell by the way, the 
 harem-bred Egyptian prince hastened back to the 
 delights of the Shoubrah, to the mystic pleas- 
 ures of the lordly seraglio. 
 
 Deserter Haddon, loyal when others fell off, 
 brought his man into Suez in good shape. 
 
 Colonel Landon's staring eyes had regained
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 261 
 
 their brightness, his wound was healing, fairly 
 well, for the sweep of the two-edged sword had 
 been stayed by his thick shoulder knots and tough 
 canteen strap. 
 
 "We'll have you on your feet in a jiffy, 
 Colonel," cheerily cried the Yorkshireman, as he 
 skirmished for the best place in the special train 
 waiting them at Suez! 
 
 Two days later, Doctor Warren Bey took 
 charge of the hero of Gura, and installed him in 
 a fair upper chamber at Shepheards'. 
 
 It was only after General Stone had heard the 
 story of the disgraceful rout at Gura from Colonel 
 Landon's own lips that he handed over the sol- 
 dier's accumulated mail! 
 
 "You are to have a year's leave of absence, with 
 the rank of Pasha, upon full pay! 
 
 "I do this by Prince Hassan's direct order. He 
 informed His Higness the Khedive that you were 
 the man who saved the wreck of the army by the 
 magnificent fighting of the steel battery upon the 
 hill!" 
 
 The silver-haired old veteran whispered, "Get 
 out of Egypt! Leave as soon as you can! I'll 
 send your orders and your advance pay down !
 
 262 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Be sure to give the paymaster twenty-five 
 guineas backsheesh! They are uneasy till you 
 leave! The palace circle do not want you to 
 talk!" 
 
 Colonel Landon silently bowed his promise to 
 get out! He well knew now where poison and 
 assassination lurked. 
 
 'Where to?" he murmured. "Greece, or 
 Sicily, or the south of Italy, there is the place 
 to recover! Make it Sicily! It is the garden of 
 the Mediterranean." 
 
 So said the anxious Lieutenant General, as he 
 took his hasty leave. 
 
 Handy man Jack Haddon ran into the Colonel's 
 room, when he heard the wounded soldier's shout 
 of surprise. 
 
 A couple of hastily opened letters lay upon the 
 floor. 
 
 "Jack," laughingly said the new-made Pasha. 
 "It rains good luck! I've just been promoted 
 to the rank of Pasha, I have a year's leave of 
 absence, and, / have had a fortune left to me in 
 America! 
 
 "Now, let us get out of here, as soon as possible! 
 General Stone wants me to take the next steamer
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 263 
 
 to Brindisi. He will send me down to Alexan- 
 dria on a special train." 
 
 "Do I go, sir," hastily cried the excited En- 
 glishman. "You shot the fellow who made that 
 unfair left-handed slash at me," good humoredly 
 said the soldier. 
 
 "You have a soft billet for life! I'll never for- 
 get you lugging me up into that little dead angle 
 on your back! If you can stand being a valet, 
 consider yourself enlisted, for life!" 
 
 "I waited on Captain Maitland, of the Eighth 
 Hussars, two years in India," joyously exclaimed 
 the deserter. 
 
 "Remember" sternly said Landon. "Not a 
 word of my private affairs! I wish no one to 
 know of my American windfall ! The paymaster 
 comes down to-night ! I want you to get me up 
 a complete traveling outfit!" 
 
 "Right you are, sir" laughed Haddon; "the 
 blackeys got all our luggage! God! How the 
 beggars came boundin' on with them 'ere long 
 cross-handled swords! and that there bloomin' 
 Ras I shot ! 
 
 "He loomed up through the smoke like a giant, 
 and then, when I potted him, his blasted horse
 
 264 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 came rockin' down almost on my head with the 
 dead man! 
 
 "An' they're a decoratin' themselves now with 
 our belongin's, the boundin' big black beg- 
 gars! 
 
 "We are left almost naked." 
 
 "Be sure to get your own outfit, a regular swell 
 gentleman's gentleman," laughed Landon. 
 
 "Is it safe where we be a goin', Sir?" hazarded 
 the deserter. 
 
 "Oh ! We are off for Palermo la felice," gaily 
 cried Landon. 
 
 "I shall winter in Sicily. I want to run over 
 and see Naples and the south of Italy ! Don't be 
 afraid! A pair of mutton chop whiskers and 
 dark clothes will take all the soldier out of 
 your appearance! Besides, I can get any Amer- 
 ican consul to give you a provisional 'laissez 
 passer' passport ! When we go over next year to 
 shoot some big game in the Rockies, you shall be- 
 come an American citizen. 
 
 "I will go over in the early spring to settle my 
 affairs! I would not dare to cross the Atlantic 
 just yet !" 
 
 The newly made Pasha fell into a dreamy ret-
 
 ONE WEARY YEAR. 265 
 
 rospect as the soft night fell and the great white 
 stars glittered on the blue flowing Nile. 
 
 One mad, wild thought came to his awakened 
 heart! "We are equals now! I am within the 
 golden pale! Shall I seek Agnes out?" 
 
 The stinging remembrance of her cold ignoring 
 of his last heart-wrung appeal to her mercy 
 chilled him! "Never!" he cried. "She would 
 not even notice my cry in a last agony of soul! 
 And, my fortune comes to me too late! I will 
 see the south of Italy, but never return to Rome, 
 my via dolorosa!" 
 
 And then some strange spell fell upon him! 
 "We drank together of the waters of Trevi! I 
 saw her throw her own silver offerings into the 
 water. 'Date obolus Neptune!' Ah! No," he 
 sighed, waking. 
 
 "Ah! No! Ah! No! The waves may fling their white- 
 ness o'er the sea, 
 
 But Time nor Tide will never bring my false love back 
 to me!" 
 
 While Landon mourned his vanished hopes, 
 Agnes Hawthorn at Vienna was startled at an 
 appealing letter from Gertrude Melville begging 
 her to visit her at Rome, while en route to Paris.
 
 266 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "You know you asked me to watch over your 
 name, to be your defender here ! There is dan- 
 ger of a complete disclosure of the adventure out- 
 side the gates of San Sebastiani. I dare not write 
 all I can not come to you, I am tied down here ! 
 
 "I can not confide even in my husband, and the 
 Fountain of Trevi calls you back to me! I can 
 arrange all! Telegraph at once!" 
 
 That evening Gertrude Melville cried, "Thank 
 God !" as she opened a telegram saying, "I will 
 come and we will go down to Naples together, 
 as we planned so long ago."
 
 BOOK III 
 
 THE FAITHFUL FOUNTAIN 
 DEAR TO LOVERS
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 THE FAITHFUL FOUNTAIN DEAR TO 
 LOVERS 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 
 
 It was two months after the quiet flitting of the 
 newly made Pasha from Cairo when Sidney Lan- 
 don, now rejuvenated by the soft Sicilian air, be- 
 took himself to a pretty little villa at Sorrento. 
 
 In vain he tried to face the idea of a visit to 
 Rome! There was a pang in every memory 
 which called up that fair imperial face, golden 
 wreathed, which had first met his ardent gaze 
 upon the Pincian. 
 
 "I should not care to meet her," he mused. "She 
 has answered the eternal No ! by her cold silence. 
 Not even a single word did she waste on the man 
 who at least saved her from the brutal pillage of 
 the robbers of the Campagna." 
 
 269
 
 270 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 His face hardened when he thought of the un- 
 revenged insult of the pompous Minister Resi- 
 dent, and the frightened subserviency of Arthur 
 Melville ! 
 
 "No! I will not go to Rome! I will never 
 drink of the waters of Trevi again," he indig- 
 nantly vowed. "I can easily get Grimes and Hat- 
 ton out of Italy for a tramp in Switzerland, or a 
 month in the Scottish hills by and by !" 
 
 The pseudo Pasha was as yet ignorant of all 
 the clouds resting upon his name, the simple fall- 
 ing off of Agues Hawthorn's social friendship 
 being enough to banish him from Rome ! 
 
 "I suppose that she belongs to Clark noiv" he 
 sighed. 
 
 With a careful agnosticism as to the St. Louis 
 fortune, he wrote to Messrs. Freycinet Freres to 
 have their American correspondents investigate, 
 and to report back by cable the results at once. 
 
 With a sudden freak of Timon-like misan- 
 thropy, he carefully concealed his identity at Sor- 
 rento. It was an easy matter. 
 
 His Marseilles mail was all sent under cover to 
 Mr. John Haddon at Naples. 
 
 And a confidential letter to Consul Arnold 

 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 271 
 
 Swasey gave that same lively English person's 
 name as a forwarding mail agent. Locally, dis- 
 guise was easy. 
 
 Landon now sported a red fez and a flowing 
 beard, his face was burned almost black by the 
 Abyssinian sun and the glare of the Red sea. 
 
 Haddon, the newly fledged soldier valet, had 
 picked up a very fair French knocking around the 
 Mediterranean after that desertion which forced 
 him to avoid even the shadow of the British flag. 
 
 For the "Widow's" arms are long, her "steel 
 bracelets" have an enduring grip, and Jack Had- 
 don was not desirous to become an expert in 
 "oakum picking." 
 
 There seemed to be little doubt of the solidity 
 of the strangely devised fortune. For Consul 
 Arnold Swasey wrote under cover to "Mr. John 
 Haddon" that he was authorized to advance 
 through Drexel, Morgan & Co. any sum of ready 
 money to the beneficiary up to the sum of fifty 
 thousand dollars, upon the heir's draft on Hay- 
 ward, Homans & Ross, accompanied by a legal 
 certificate of Sidney Landon's identity under the 
 Consular seal. 
 
 "It seems that it is not fairy gold after all!"
 
 273 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 mused Landon. The one bitter drop in his cup of 
 joy was Swasey's careful statement that neither 
 letter, telegram nor message had reached the 
 Consulate at Nice coming from Rome. 
 
 And, Edwin Morgan, secretly notified by Con- 
 sul Swasey, had duly sent on a list of all Landon's 
 outgoing mail. There was the tell-tale date, with 
 the note of the delivery of two sealed letters to 
 Mrs. Gertrude Melville. "There could have been 
 no miscarriage of my letters," sighed the newly 
 made Pasha, whose brow darkened as he learned 
 that Miss Agnes Hawthorn was once more back 
 in Rome, the guest of the Melvilles, on her way to 
 Paris and London. 
 
 The fact of Rawdon Clark being her principal 
 escort and magnificent entertainer told an omin- 
 ous story. 
 
 Beyond the fact of Vice Consul General Stil- 
 well Meacham's alliance with Maspero, and Mor- 
 gan's renewed official slavery, there was no news, 
 save that Forrest Grimes had been made Chief of 
 a great Literary Syndicate in London, and that 
 honest Frank Hatton was now given carte 
 blanche and a roving commission to cover all the 
 Continent and the Orient for the Philadelphia
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 273 
 
 Mail, now rapidly becoming an aggressive sensa- 
 tional journal under the hard pressure of Rawdon 
 Clark's unflagging ambition. 
 
 "Poor Morgan!" sighed Landon. "If this 
 estate turns out what it might be I will make him 
 my personal representative and business mana- 
 ger, for I'll settle things up, take Jack Haddon 
 as 'man Friday' and, then do the world in 
 good shape." 
 
 His youth stood him in good stead, and the 
 beauty of the witching coast led him far seaward 
 in his splendid lateen sailed cutter, "Santa Lucia." 
 
 Jack Haddon proved to be a human treasure 
 and on his excursions to Naples transacted all his 
 master's business, while Landon, in mufti, 
 dreamed around Herculaneum and Pompeii, only 
 visiting Naples at night to escape American 
 tourists. 
 
 To the villa dwellers, the young Pasha was only 
 known as a Turk of vast wealth, and so, many 
 bright-eyed women vainly peeped over the garden 
 walls to see Fatima with the Silver Veil hovering 
 in the gardens of "El Turco." 
 
 These pretty tourists and local visitors were, 
 however, all doomed to disappointment, even that 
 
 18
 
 274 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 audacious Russian Princess with the dancing 
 black eyes, who so frankly invited herself to 
 breakfast with the recluse. 
 
 Over the cigarettes and cognac, with a plead- 
 ing glance, she cried seductively : "Mon Pasha ! 
 Montrez moi votre harem ! Ca ne vous fera pas 
 mal! Je vous assure que je suis bon garcon!" 
 
 The mutine Princess sighed in a pretty distress 
 at the embarrassed denials of the mysterious 
 Pasha, but the little dejeuner was really charming 
 and, she gaily bore away a bracelet of priceless 
 scarabei as a trophy, leaving only a rose from her 
 passionate bosom to remind Landon that he could 
 not escape "1'eternal feminine." 
 
 Judicious letters from Ferik Pasha Stone soon 
 convinced Landon of the unanimity of the 
 Cairene princes in their desire that Lieutenant 
 Colonel Landon should continue to amuse himself 
 abroad and never return to tell the story of Prince 
 Hassan's cowardice and the incapacity of the 
 Egyptian generals who allowed their men to be 
 butchered like sheep. 
 
 "You must not come back to Egypt," wrote 
 the courtly old West Pointer. "There have been 
 some brutal courts martial, a number of officers
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 275 
 
 summarily shot, and murderous duels arranged 
 to put men out of the way, in which paid Italian 
 renegades have butchered honest officers who 
 knew too much ! Consider that your leave with 
 pay is extended a discretion. A word to the wise 
 is sufficient!" 
 
 It was only when the young Pasha had re- 
 ceived the final cabled confirmation of his good 
 fortune from Freycinet Freres that he felt free 
 to answer General Stone. "I guess that it's all 
 right," he laughingly said, when he read their 
 telegram : 
 
 "Lawyers and executors perfectly reliable. 
 Estate has no involvements. No contests or ad- 
 verse claimants. The property is solid and most 
 advantageously invested. Draw on us up to a 
 hundred thousand francs a votre Volonte." 
 
 "That settles it!" mused Landon. "When 
 these sly Frenchmen will offer a stranger a hun- 
 dred thousand francs of their own money, this 
 fortune is not a ghost story." 
 
 He wrote at once to the loyal old General Stone 
 that he would use his full leave and keep his 
 Pasha's rank merely as an incognito. 
 
 Briefly telling of his good fortune, he said:
 
 276 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I shall buy a stiff big schooner yacht, a sailing 
 vessel of five hundred tons, and run around the 
 world, for my knowledge has been too much con- 
 fined to the waving grassy sea of our boundless 
 prairies. 
 
 "You can drop me off the Egyptian Army List, 
 but not out of your heart, at the expiration of the 
 year for, when I next see the royal advance of 
 the wild Abyssinian horse, or meet the rush of 
 their leaping two-handed swordsmen, their 
 frantic spearmen, I want something stiffer than 
 Egyptian fellahs behind me! 
 
 "But one thing would ever call me back to 
 Gura's bloody plain. It would be to put up a 
 monument to my dead friend, the plucky little 
 Captain Mohammed Ali, who died fighting that 
 steel battery as bravely as Pickett's men struggled 
 up to Hancock's bloody Gettysburg lines, where 
 Lee found the Yankees, at last, a living 'Stone- 
 wall!' Poor Mohammed! He stood the pyra- 
 midal rush off for an hour and a half! I saw 
 him carrying shell in his own hands, and the very 
 last time he passed me, the gallant Arab cried, in 
 his broken English, 'Battery good; you see!' 
 
 "To which I replied with my only Arabic
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 277 
 
 words, 'Taib Ketir!' in other words, 'way up, 
 you bet!' 
 
 "A single brave man, in a clan of cowardly 
 officers! As Sergeant Jack Haddon lugged me 
 away, I saw Mohammed's white, ghastly face 
 lying under his favorite gun! 
 
 "When he crossed Al Sirat, let us hope that 
 hordes of the beauties of that Mussulman Para- 
 dise escorted him to cooling bowers by the heav- 
 enly Bendemeer!" 
 
 Perfectly secure now in his incognito, safe in 
 the loyalty of Swasey, Morgan and Freycinet 
 Freres, Sidney Landon soon became the boldest 
 yachtsman of the Tyrrhene sea. 
 
 The wild sweep of the winds from old Car- 
 thage curling the white-crested billows delighted 
 his troubled soul ! The stars mirrored in the blue 
 deep soothed him, and he felt a fierce delight as 
 his craft bounded along as "shrill sang the tackle, 
 sang the sail." 
 
 Drifting under Sorrento's storied steeps, glid- 
 ing out from under the purple shadows of Monte 
 Tiberio, into the sapphire bosom of Amalfi's bay, 
 or, floating off Castellmare, his winged boat 
 hanging between heaven and earth, he listened
 
 278 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 to the laughter of the Italian women, borne by the 
 willing winds out across the soft foam of the sil- 
 ver breakers ! 
 
 Ischia, sculptured and stately, blue Capri 
 haunted by the memories of the voluptuous Ti- 
 berius, Tarentum, Gaeta and Isola, he 
 watched them all glide by, in an unrivaled pano- 
 rama, while his wild boatmen sang "Santa Lucia," 
 and eyed their strange master in a stupid wonder ! 
 These were days in which the beauty of sea and 
 shore stole over his darkened soul, and he put off 
 from day to day, in this enchanting dolce far 
 niente, the answer to the lawyers' appeals to set- 
 tle a time for his home coming. 
 
 He had put all the sorrows of his past life be- 
 hind him, even the malignity of the envious 
 woman far away whose anonymous letters had 
 darkened the last year of his army life! 
 
 He would have swept on to Rome as an aven- 
 ger of his honor had he known of the web of in- 
 famy woven around his dishonored name! 
 
 But the half confidences of his friends had left 
 him unarmed against the poisoned breath of 
 secret slander. 
 
 It was with a delicious sense of indecision that
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 279 
 
 Landon bade the sailing master run out to sea, 
 when he left his anchorage under the walls of 
 Paradise, on an entrancing morning, and vaguely 
 pointed toward Capri and Ischia. 
 
 He had made the ocean his friend, and, blown 
 far off to sea, he felt the truth of Buchanan 
 Read's exquisite lines: 
 
 "No more, no more the worldly shore 
 Upbraids me with its lewd uproar." 
 
 Five hours later the falcon fleet boat skimmed 
 into La Marina, where the Pasha gave his crew a 
 run among the laughing-eyed women of that 
 merry shore where care never abides. 
 
 A fancy to visit the Blue Grotto once more was 
 upon him, and as the "Santa Lucia" swept on 
 toward the Grotto Azzura, Landon merrily 
 cracked on all sail and chased a pretty little yacht 
 flying the American colors. 
 
 He lay at ease as the swift lateen boat skimmed 
 by its overtaken adversary, and idly watched 
 that silken fluttering ensign ! 
 
 He noted not the graceful forms of the two 
 ladies, nor the face of the one cavalier ! His mind 
 was far away in the past !
 
 280 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 He dreamed over again the wild days of his 
 life in the Sioux country ! He felt again the thrill 
 with which bearing down upon the yelling Indian 
 foe he had raced with his guidon bearer in the 
 maddening charge. 
 
 But he suddenly sheered off his yacht as he saw 
 field glasses brought into requisition, the 
 "Santa Lucia" was well to the front, he was in 
 no mood for a rencontre, and so he bore away 
 with the rippling laughter of the two women 
 still ringing in his ears. 
 
 It was for mere social self protection that his 
 dainty cutter bore the white flag with the blood- 
 red crescent and star of Egypt. 
 
 "They are probably guying me for a 'terrible 
 Turk,' " he murmured to Haddon, who was act- 
 ing "Boatswain" and contemptuously bossed the 
 swarthy Italian crew, whose red knitted night 
 caps and golden ear rings were the secret scorn of 
 the sturdy Englishman. 
 
 "Looks like a lot of bloomin' old women, 
 they does," sneered Haddon, '"an' yet spry 
 enough, for beggars as lives on yard long bread, 
 drinks green sweet oil and has a pocket of dried 
 olives in them frenchified trousers.
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 281 
 
 "Say, now, a steamin' joint or a rattlin' beef- 
 steak would drive 'em all mad. An' them yaller 
 crawlin' snails Damme!" 
 
 Pasha Landon curiously watched the strange 
 yacht brail up her sail and come up in the wind 
 before the low entrance of the world-renowned 
 Bower of Undine, the fairy Grotto Azzura. 
 
 'They've a lubberly way of handlin' that there 
 pinnace," growled Haddon, as the two ladies and 
 their escort were got over the side, in the lee of 
 the little pleasure craft, into its small boat towed 
 astern. 
 
 "Better a' trusted to these skiff fellers what 
 haunts these holes in the rocks here like the 
 comes ! This 'ere grotto is their only livin' ! 
 
 "Aye ! There, you lubbers !" he cried as one of 
 the ladies half rose in fright, and was restrained 
 by the man who sat in the stern. 
 
 Sidney Landon kept his boat on under way and 
 feasted his eyes upon the incomparable panorama 
 of Monte Solaro dreaming there above them, the 
 white-walled Hermitage, and the shattered walls 
 of the Castello di Barbarossa. 
 
 "A fairy island, floating on an enchanted sea," 
 he murmured. "No wonder the world-sated Ti-
 
 282 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 berius dreamed away ten years in this delightful 
 maze. 
 
 "With his twelve villas dedicated to the Gods 
 his great palace 'Villa Jovis,' the proud 
 Roman thought little as he governed the world 
 from this island speck, that the pale face of the 
 martyr of Calvary would drive his gods away 
 into an eternal oblivion. 
 
 "But Rome's eagles have perished, the cross 
 of the Nazarene still glitters over the .Capitoline 
 hill, and, Pan murmurs no longer in the reeds by 
 the river!" 
 
 At an inquiring sign from Haddon, Landon 
 briefly cried, "Go about, we'll go back to the 
 Grotto!" 
 
 "Will you go in, sir?" asked Haddon. "Them 
 there Americans is gone, their yacht is out of 
 sight!" 
 
 Sidney Landon nodded an assent, and the 
 "Santa Lucia" swooped down to the shoals west 
 of the grotto's half-hidden entrance. 
 
 In a few moments, the anchor was dropped, and 
 Landon, with Haddon, stepped into the skiff of 
 the eagle-eyed islander who well knew how lib- 
 eral El Turco was.
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 283 
 
 "The light will be superb to-day," carelessly 
 said Landon as he lay down in the skiff, while 
 Haddon lay down on the other side. Only in this 
 way could they glide under the low wall of the 
 opening. 
 
 They darted in under the low three-foot arch 
 of the huge overhanging rocks, and the boatman, 
 with one last vigorous stroke of his oars, laid 
 himself flat down as the light skiff dashed in, 
 swept on by the gleaming blue and silver flood ! 
 
 There was a sudden crash, then a woman's 
 voice rang out in a shrill wail of agony, and, in a 
 moment, Sidney Landon was swimming for his 
 life in the phosphorescent gleaming flood. 
 
 As he rose to the surface, the soldier saw a 
 woman's form swept by him, gleaming strangely 
 in the lambent blue light. 
 
 "All right,, sir, I've got this 'ere one," puffed 
 Haddon, as he vigorously swam toward the little 
 landing place at the right of the grotto where the 
 broken steps still marked the old land entrance 
 used by Tiberius. 
 
 Landon never glanced at the three boatmen 
 now clinging to their overturned skiffs, but he
 
 284 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 firmly caught the drapery of the woman near him 
 as the undertow was drawing her out to sea. 
 
 With a dozen vigorous strokes, the Pasha 
 gained the rocky landing, where, in the blue 
 radiance, the hardy Englishman was now leaning 
 down to aid him with his helpless burden. 
 
 There was puffing and sputtered prayers as the 
 boatmen, swimming alongside their skiffs, piloted 
 toward the safe landing place a man who was 
 frantically clinging to the gunwales of the water- 
 logged craft. 
 
 Landon paid no attention to the cowardly man 
 as he scrambled out, but was leaning over the 
 young woman whose face rested upon his knees. 
 
 Scream after scream rang through the cavern 
 while Landon labored to revive the half-suffo- 
 cated woman. 
 
 The three boatmen had skillfully righted the 
 Capri built skiff and were now quickly bailing it 
 out with the scoops lashed to the gunwales. 
 
 "Get out to my boat and bring some matches 
 and candles, and a bottle of brandy," cried Lan- 
 don, while Haddon grumbled, " } 0w the devil 
 did this 'ere thing 'appen? The blasted fools had 
 a right to sing out ! Who knew you were in here
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 285 
 
 anyway ?" he wrathfully cried to the rescued man 
 who was shaking himself like a water dog ! 
 
 But Sidney Landon paid no heed to all their 
 clamor ! He cried in his anguish, "Dead, my God, 
 dead. Agnes, speak to me, speak but once." 
 
 For it was the lovely face of the woman who 
 had scorned him, the face of the beauty of the 
 Pincian, the fair American, heiress, which lay 
 there, gleaming pale and cold in the exquisite 
 blue light! 
 
 It seemed an age till the skiff returned, and 
 
 
 
 then, Paolo, Landon's man, lit a port fire and 
 handed a lighted candle to each of the little party 
 clinging to the narrow rocky ledge. 
 
 Landon was on his knees forcing a draught of 
 cognac into the mouth of the woman whose faint 
 moans now told of returning consciousness. 
 
 "Who are you?" blubbered Robert Brandon, 
 as he gazed at Landon's flowing beard and the 
 Turkish fez still clinging to his sunburned tem- 
 ples. 
 
 "Norie of your business, you fool!" shouted 
 Landon. "Keep off, or I'll throw you into the 
 water! Paolo!" he cried. "Get out around the
 
 286 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 point and have these people's boat come up to the 
 cave !" 
 
 The quick-witted Italian tossed a dry boat 
 cloak up to the narrow ledge. 
 
 "Now, madame," decisively said Landon. "I 
 will get you and this young lady out to my yacht, 
 here at anchor, and send the pinnace back for the 
 others. Let me direct the boatmen!" 
 
 "Great God! It is Sidney Landon!" almost 
 shrieked Gertrude Melville, but the soldier an- 
 swered nothing, as he directed Haddon and one 
 boatman to steady the now bailed-out pinnace of 
 the Naples yacht, while he wrapped Agnes Haw- 
 thorn in the boat cloak and lowered her into the 
 shallop. 
 
 "Step in now, Gertrude," cried Landon. "Drink 
 a draught of this brandy ! It may save your life!" 
 
 Handing the bottle to the frightened artist, 
 Brandon, the soldier, with cool, sharp com- 
 mands, guided the pinnace out under the danger- 
 ous arch. 
 
 "How did it happen?" faintly asked Gertrude 
 Melville, still half dazed as she gazed in wonder 
 at Landon's altered appearance. 
 
 "Your people should have kept the boat lying
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 287 
 
 off the cave, or had your men shout a warning in 
 coming out ! But I see that they are only Nea- 
 politan boatmen and know nothing of the rules of 
 safety of this dangerous entrance !" 
 
 By this time the pinnace had glided alongside 
 the Santa Lucia, and a dozen brawny arms 
 lifted the helpless Agnes Hawthorn out of the 
 boat. 
 
 "Go back and get that man!" sharply ordered 
 Landon, as he said, "Mrs. Melville, you shall 
 have the cabin. The little Italian boy will give 
 you anything you wish. I recommend you to get 
 back to La Marina as soon as your boat comes !" 
 
 "Promise me that you will come to us at 
 Naples, Hotel Bristol ! We will be there a week," 
 cried Gertrude Melville shaking herself like a 
 water rat. 
 
 "Where have you been?" she eagerly de- 
 manded. 
 
 " In Abyssinia" Landon gravely said. "I am 
 now a Pasha in the Egyptian Army, serving with 
 Lieutenant General Stone. I was wounded at the 
 Battle of Gura, and I have been given a year's 
 leave of absence to go around the world ! 
 
 "Go to her, Gertrude," he cried, as the hulk-
 
 288 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 ing form of Robert Brandon came over the side. 
 
 The artist's face blackened in a scowl as he, at 
 last, recognized his maritime host. "Don't go 
 down in that cabin," sharply said Landon. "Here, 
 Tito, wait upon this man !" 
 
 They could see the Naples boat now being 
 warped along with sweeps a half a mile away. 
 "Whose boat is this?" gruffly demanded Bran- 
 don. 
 
 "Mine!" emphatically said the soldier. "Hark 
 ye! Mr. Robert Brandon, if it were not for 
 these two half-drowned women, I would pitch 
 you overboard, and let you swim ashore ! I know 
 you for a dirty lickspittle and a coward tale- 
 bearer, an eater of crumbs from other men's 
 tables!" 
 
 And then Landon, turning his back, philo- 
 sophically cast off his drenched sea jacket, and al- 
 lowed the alert Italians to unloose his shoes, 
 wring out his garments, and, quickly wrapping 
 himself in a long boat cloak, he took a generous 
 draught of cognac and lit a Trabuco! "See that 
 the Signior wants for nothing," the Pasha or- 
 dered to his over-anxious cabin boy. 
 
 A grim silence reigned until the hired Naples
 
 'MR. BRANDON, MY MEN WILL PUT YOU ON YOUR OWN 
 BOAT! I WILL BRING THE LADIES OFF ! "-Page aSS.
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 289 
 
 pleasure boat tossed idly upon the oily waves a 
 half cable's length away. 
 
 When the pinnace of the stranger boat touched 
 the side of the "Santa Lucia," Landon's own boat 
 was manned alongside. 
 
 Striding across the deck, the young Pasha said, 
 "Mr. Brandon, my men will put you on your own 
 boat ! I will bring the ladies off !" 
 
 "I'll not submit! I'll not submit!" he roared. 
 
 "Then, sir," coldly said Landon, "I will pub- 
 lish to the world the fact that you sought only 
 your own safety, and let the two helpless women 
 shift for themselves! You are a pattern cow- 
 ard!" 
 
 Without another word, Brandon jumped into 
 the skiff, and was swiftly rowed to the other cut- 
 ter ! "I wish to sail at once," he howled when a 
 hundred yards separated them. 
 
 Stepping lightly aft, Sidney Landon called to 
 Mrs. Melville: "It is time to go! I will put you 
 on your own boat ! You will find a decent little 
 hotel at 'La Marina Grande.' 
 
 "I recommend a good night's sleep on shore 
 and that you both take the steamer for Naples, 
 
 19
 
 290 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 and let that picked-up pleasure boat follow home 
 without you ! The crew are incompetent fools." 
 
 Silently, and with downcast eyes, Agnes 
 Hawthorn clung to Landon's arm, as supported 
 by Gertrude Melville, she tottered to the pinnace. 
 
 The fair face looked pinched and ghastly, peep- 
 ing out of its rough sailor capote, and the golden 
 hair clung in graceful wreaths around her stately 
 head. 
 
 Not a word was spoken as they reached the 
 side of "La Aguila de Oro." 
 
 Gertrude Melville's face flushed crimson as 
 Landon handed them over the side. 
 
 With a truculent scowl, Robert Brandon 
 clasped his drooping charge in his arms. 
 
 The quick-witted Consular lady saw that Sid- 
 ney Landon would not willingly step upon the 
 deck of the hulking coward's boat. The boatmen 
 were already loosening the yacht's sails. 
 
 Gertrude Melville's face was flushed in very 
 shame as Agnes Hawthorn stood there as if 
 transfixed, gazing mutely at the man who had 
 saved her from the fanged rocks of the Capri 
 shore. "You will come to us at the Hotel Bris-
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 291 
 
 tol," Gertrude cried. "You will let us thank you ! 
 I must also reward your brave servant." 
 
 '7 am leaving Italy at once" coldly said Lan- 
 don, his form stiffening into the soldier's atten- 
 tion. 
 
 "But, your address, we can write," pleaded 
 Gertrude, with hopeless tears welling into her 
 eyes. 
 
 "You owe me nothing" gravely said Lan- 
 don. "I have waited a year for a letter which 
 never came!" 
 
 Agnes Hawthorn started forward as if she 
 would speak, but Brandon's rancorous voice broke 
 in : "I can allow no communication of my niece 
 with a man who was disgracefully dismissed 
 from the Army and blackballed as a blackguard 
 from the Cercle de Rome. 
 
 "A man who was driven to resign by the 
 United States Minister and who fled from Rome." 
 
 Landon leaped from the frail skiff and grasped 
 the dotard's arm, wrenching it till he writhed in 
 pain. 
 
 "You think yourself safe here!" he cried. "I 
 shall come to Rome and make you eat those
 
 292 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 words before the Minister himself, if I have to 
 drag you by the heels !" 
 
 "For God's sake ! Listen ! There has been a 
 terrible mistake!" murmured Agnes Hawthorn, 
 as she laid her chilled hand upon the young man's 
 arm. 
 
 "You know why I left Italy!" he sadly said, as 
 he turned, leaped into his boat, and was swiftly 
 rowed away. 
 
 Then the heiress tottered and fell back into 
 Gertrude Melville's arms. 
 
 "What did he mean?" she murmured. "He 
 surely received my letter!" 
 
 The boat gathered headway, and soon Lan- 
 don's yacht was seen afar, a white-winged rover 
 of the deep, heading toward Sorrento ! 
 
 The two women cowered in the cabin of "La 
 Aguila" with their eyes fastened upon the reced- 
 ing silver sail, as they were speeding on to 
 Marina Grande. 
 
 "It is a world of lies," moaned Agnes Haw- 
 thorn. 
 
 "He must have received my letter, and, yet, 
 I owe him now an added debt which never can 
 be paid ! Shame shame!"
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 293 
 
 That night in the Hotel Gran Brettagna, the 
 unhappy women lived over the wretched year 
 whose harvest had only been unhappiness. 
 
 Their door was resolutely locked, and the hu- 
 miliated Brandon panted for the morning when 
 the steamer would bear him back to his "alter 
 ego" at the Hotel Bristol, in Naples. 
 
 He knew that his conduct had been that of a 
 cur, and, he feared the deadly light on Sidney 
 Landon's face. 
 
 "My God ! If he follows it up, what may not 
 happen ? I must get back and warn Clark." He 
 had seen the pitiless wrath upon Landon's stern 
 face ! The ass had brayed once too often. 
 
 "/ shall leave Italy instantly, Gertrude," said 
 Agnes Hawthorn, as she buried her glowing face 
 on her friend's bosom and burst into bitter tears. 
 
 A sudden happy thought thrilled her friend's 
 agitated bosom. 
 
 "If there has been wrong, I will set it right! 
 The Consul at Naples will surely aid me! The 
 Naples boatmen will all know where the 'Santa 
 Lucia' is harbored !" 
 
 Gertrude Melville called back the grave flash of 
 Landon's eye as he leaped upon Brandon. "There
 
 294 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 has been some hideous wrong done here," she 
 mused. "And I shall right it, God helping me! 
 That man is no craven, no scoundrel ! There is 
 truth and honor in his eyes !" 
 
 Pacing his walk under the silvery olive groves 
 of Sorrento that night, Sidney Landon suddenly 
 called his valet to his side. "Get all ready to lock 
 the place up for a month. Pay off and furlough 
 the yacht's crew ! We are going out into the gay 
 world ! 
 
 "I go to Naples, Rome, perhaps Nice and Mar- 
 seilles ! We leave in the morning ! Pack all my 
 traps! And get me now clipped and shaved 'en 
 militaire !' I am a Pasha no longer !" 
 
 All that long night the soldier dreamed of the 
 blue waves of the Grotto, where under the som- 
 ber-arched roof he struggled for the life of the 
 golden-haired darling who lay a helpless Undine, 
 a silver Naiad Queen, on his shoulder !
 
 IN THE BLUE GROTTO. 295 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 
 
 As the touch of the Fairy Prince woke the 
 sleeping Beauty from her trance of years, so the 
 words of sweet Agnes Hawthorn roused Sidney 
 Landon from the morbid death in life of the last 
 year. He forgot all its bitter harvest of sorrows. 
 
 He only remembered the young goddess with 
 her half outstretched arms crying, "Listen! For 
 God's sake! There has been some terrible mis- 
 take!" 
 
 Landon was awake at dawn, and, walking in 
 his garden, gazed out upon the heaving bosom of 
 the blue gulf. 
 
 The fisher's children were singing in the rocks 
 at play, the silver sails of the fishing boats flecked 
 the sapphire zone, and his heart bounded as he 
 gazed at the happy islands hovering far out at sea. 
 
 "Here, Ischia smiles, o'er liquid miles, 
 And yonder, bluest of the skies, 
 Calon Capri waits, her sapphire gates, 
 Beguiling to her bright estates." 
 
 A bird broke out near him, singing in a blos- 
 somed tree, the song went into his soul and a
 
 296 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 fierce new delight in life, a fever of delicious un- 
 rest took possession of him. 
 
 For the first time he realized the concrete power 
 of money. 
 
 "I am rich now. I can fight a good fight. I 
 have 'the sinews of war!' She shall know all, 
 and then, I will leave My Lady Disdain, but not in 
 shame! 
 
 "As for Robert Brandon ," he turned and 
 sped into the house. 
 
 Jack Haddon was already bustling around, 
 and, at nine, when Sidney Landon stepped into 
 his carriage, he directed the van to follow with 
 the luggage to Parker's Hotel, at Naples. 
 
 The sturdy valet, Haddon, was gaily humming 
 an old regimental war song as he watched the 
 new light upon his master's brow. "Aye," he 
 chirruped. "There's nothing like a lass to wake 
 a man up! There'll be rich fun soon ! The mars- 
 ter's a proper young swell enough now !" 
 
 It was true that Landon was reproduced as the 
 glass of fashion and the mould of form in that 
 ultra English "style" which is considered strictly 
 "High Life" by the continental nobility. 
 
 Landon gazed back at "Sorrento le gentile."
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 297 
 
 He had found peace and nepenthe, "sweet sur- 
 cease of sorrow," among those fragrant groves 
 of lemon and orange lining the cliffs of Torquato 
 Tasso's natal town. 
 
 He gaily waved his handkerchief as the captain 
 of the "Santa Lucia" dipped the Khedive's flag 
 to the metamorphosed Pasha. 
 
 As the carriage rolled along he mentally can- 
 vassed the situation. "There's Morgan, there's 
 also game Charley Hollingsworth ! I'll confide 
 only in them! Hollingsworth will soon dig up 
 the secret of the Club infamy. 
 
 "I think that I will drop the trap over Signore 
 Jacopo Maspero, now! It will take me about a 
 month to communicate with Colonel Atwater, 
 and, then, I will face his High Mightiness, Min- 
 ister Van Buren Hartford." 
 
 One side of the case presented delicate features. 
 "Melville has been but a faint-hearted friend! 
 But, for Gertrude's sake, for very gratitude, I 
 must leave him out of the row ! He only lives in 
 his dabbled blues and yellows, his faded grays 
 and his splotched crimson lake! 
 
 "At any rate, I can save him from future loss,
 
 298 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 perhaps even shame, by unmasking this Roman 
 wolf Maspero." 
 
 The ferret-eyed Haddon keenly watched his 
 young master, as the train sped on from Castella- 
 mare to Naples. 
 
 "He 'ave the look of a hunting cheetah in his 
 eyes, now! Blow me! There's somethink up!" 
 mused Haddon, as he gathered the traps together 
 when the train reached the station. 
 
 Landon had forgotten all the superb panorama 
 of the pictured shore. 
 
 He saw not Vesuvius, hovering there a mighty 
 menace of Nature, "with outstretched hands, 
 o'erlooking the volcanic lands," buried Pompeii, 
 revisiting the glimpses of the moon, sad Hercu- 
 laneum, still entombing the luxurious community 
 who mutely died, and the unequaled sweep of 
 that bay, whose proud motto is "Vedere Napoli e 
 poi, morire." 
 
 He was now on the trail of his secret enemies 
 at last, and no lean Sioux ever crouched more 
 tiger-like in the path of the headlong Pawnee 
 braves than Landon, now for the first time scent- 
 ing the traitor's path encircling his way in life.
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 299 
 
 "77/ scatter the wolf pack!" he swore in his an- 
 gered heart. 
 
 "Faster, faster," urged Landon, as the carriage 
 sped down the Rue Vittorio Emanuele toward 
 "Parker's." 
 
 He feared now that Robert Brandon might 
 have sneaked over from Capri and taken the 
 morning train for Rome. 
 
 "By Heavens! he shall face the music now" 
 cried Landon, as his spirit burned within him. 
 
 No sooner had he registered at Parker's than 
 he dispatched the acute Haddon on a reconnois- 
 sance to the Hotel Bristol. 
 
 He was seated in the courtyard, under the lime 
 trees, enjoying a cigar, when a handsome fellow 
 in the undress uniform of the United States Navy 
 tripped over the tall soldier's loosely extended 
 legs. 
 
 "Harry Wainwright, by all that's holy !" cried 
 Landon, leaping to his feet. 
 
 In ten minutes, the two chums were deep in the 
 reminiscences of the fifteen years, since the one 
 left Annapolis, and the other, gaily said 
 good-bye to "Benny Havens, oh." 
 
 They had sampled the choicest brands of the
 
 300 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 cellar before spry Jack Haddon glided into the 
 courtyard. 
 
 "Party just in on steamer from Capri, sir. 
 Ladies resting. Tickets bespoke for the evening 
 train. The gentleman have just gone up to Castel 
 St. Elmo, with a hotel shouter, to see the old 
 fort." 
 
 "Get me a good dog whip, a good stout one," 
 cried Landon. "Have a carriage at the door at 
 once, the best you can get ! 
 
 "See here, Wainwright," said Landon, his eyes 
 gleaming with a newly aroused passion. "I want 
 you as a witness to a little matter here." 
 
 "Fire away, my boy. I'm with you," cheerily 
 said Wainwright. "If it's anything serious I can 
 send off to the 'Kearsarge' and get another of our 
 officers!" 
 
 "Oh, you'll do, you restless old fire eater," 
 laughed Landon. "I only wish you to look on !" 
 
 In five minutes Haddon had returned. " 'Ere's 
 the best I could do, sir!" he whispered, handing 
 his master a snaky looking contrivance of water 
 buffalo hide. 
 
 "Haddon, you're a jewel," calmly remarked
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 301 
 
 Landon. "Get us a bundle of good cigars and a 
 flask of cognac ! Look alive now !" 
 
 Wainwright eyed Landon curiously as the car- 
 riage slowly climbed the Monte Santo. 
 
 He turned when they reached the gates of old 
 St. Elmo. 
 
 Far below them lay the unrivaled amphithea- 
 ter of old Rome's sin-haunted dens of summer 
 luxury. 
 
 The forts of Castello dell' Oro, Nuovo, del 
 Carmine, and Capuano, flew the Italian flag, 
 while Britain's blood-red banner burned over a 
 huge ironclad, and the star flag fluttered over the 
 saucy Kearsarge, waiting yet to lay her bones on 
 the white-fanged reef of Roncador. 
 
 Haddon had slipped into the old keep; and 
 soon came gliding back. "He's coming out, now, 
 sir this 'ere's his carriage!" 
 
 "Take that fellow over and give him a bottle 
 of wine," carelessly said Landon, tossing his fac- 
 totum ten lire. 
 
 Lieutenant Commander Wainwright laughed 
 merrily as he lit a fresh cigar. "Cutting off the 
 enemy's retreat. Say, old man, be quick about
 
 302 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 it! I'm going over at three to Pompeii with Col 
 onel and Mrs. Atwater." 
 
 Sidney Landon leaned back in the carriage as 
 Robert Brandon came hulking over the lowered 
 drawbridge. He gazed around for his missing 
 carriage, and, while the cicerone went one way, 
 Brandon hastened down the winding roadway. 
 
 "Quick, quick," cried Landon. "Do you mean 
 Miles Atwater of the Grays ?" 
 
 "Certainly" calmly said the astonished naval 
 officer. "Didn't you know that Mary Atwater 
 was my cousin?" 
 
 "Thank God!" cried Sidney Landon. "Just 
 the man! They are unexpected allies! Where 
 are they?" 
 
 "At the Bristol, of course," proudly replied 
 Wainwright. "They are visiting me, and are 
 going to take a cruise over to Tripoli on the old 
 sea dog!" 
 
 "See here, Wainwright. That's the chap! 
 Drive right down to him! I'll head him off! 
 Don't get out of the carriage. Just be a witness 
 though to what he says ! That's all!" 
 
 While Wainwright urged the carriage on, Sid- 
 ney Landon, leaping nimbly down the tables of
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 303 
 
 the slope, cut off the further progress of Mr. 
 Robert Brandon. 
 
 The slanderer turned pale when he saw the 
 metamorphosed Landon. In his craven heart, he 
 felt that his victim had turned upon him at last. 
 He essayed to pass, but Sidney Landon's hand 
 was on his collar now, with a vise-like grip. 
 
 Wainwright gazed down in passive wonder 
 from the victoria, halted so as to cut off the art- 
 ist's flight. 
 
 "Gad! The fellow's twice his size," mused 
 Wainwright, gazing at Landon's idle right hand 
 holding the doubled up buffalo hide blacksnake. 
 
 Landon's face was white with wrath as he 
 slowly brought out his sentences. "You said, sir, 
 before ladies, yesterday, that I had been dis- 
 missed the United States Army, blackballed as 
 a blackguard from the Cercle de Rome, and 
 forced out of the Consular service by your pro- 
 tector, the Minister Resident ! 
 
 "Now, sir, I want your authority for each one 
 of those damned, craven lies! Quick, too!" 
 
 It was ill done in Brandon to try to swing his 
 huge bulk back! 
 
 With a merciless swish, the whip caught him
 
 304 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 full in the face, the red blood leaping into the 
 triple welt! 
 
 "That for the army lie!" almost shrieked Lan- 
 don. 
 
 Again the whip descended, while Brandon 
 yelled with pain. The lash cut a strip from his 
 coat sleeve! 
 
 "That for the club lie, you brute, and, that, 
 for the story about the Minister!" 
 
 Cowering and bleeding, Brandon begged for 
 mercy. 
 
 "I ought to shoot you like a dog here, you 
 cur ! You have stabbed me behind my back, when 
 lying at the point of death! Only your wife 
 saves your life! And, hark ye! Bridle her 
 tongue! Now, you coward, out with it! Your 
 authority for the first." 
 
 The lash came down again before Brandon, in 
 sheer terror, murmured: 
 
 "Clark had letters; he showed them to my 
 zvife!" 
 
 "And she showed them all over Rome, you 
 sneaking character thief!" yelled Landon, as he 
 flogged the brute's shoulders.
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 305 
 
 "That for her social assiduity! Your back is 
 broad enough!" 
 
 "Now, sir! The Club story!" 
 
 Brandon clutched Wainwright's knees, and 
 begged, "Save me! By God! I'll tell all!" 
 
 "Tell it, to me," cried Landon, his wrath pos- 
 sessing him like a demon. 
 
 "It was Montaverde the Italian nobleman!" 
 
 "And, you never went to Hollingsworth or 
 Pallavinci to find out the truth? You claim to 
 be an American ! You knew that my name was 
 shoved in there as a mere idle compliment! 
 Damn you! I'll drag you to Montaverde and, 
 he will prove you a liar! You were paid, to 
 take this damned scandal in commission. 
 
 "And, now, sir, my dismissal by the Minister 
 Resident ! Did he or Melville tell you that ? 
 
 "Did you ever ask Morgan to show you my 
 dispatches resigning, or the return dispatches of 
 the Department?" 
 
 Nothing was heard but Brandon's jibbering 
 cries for mercy! Landon, in disgust, threw his 
 whip over the edge of the cliff! He held up 
 Brandon's craven head to gaze into his eyes! 
 
 "I am coming back to Rome! If by the time 
 20
 
 306 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 I get there you have not publicly withdrawn all 
 these stories, both at the American Club, to 
 Melville and to Hollingsworth, I will post you 
 as a liar, a coward, and a slanderer, and tell the 
 story of your leaving two helpless women to 
 drown in the Blue Grotto! Off with you!" 
 
 With a last powerful shove, Landon sent the 
 coward tumbling head over heels, and signed to 
 Jack Haddon to mount the box. 
 
 They drove rapidly down the hill, while Had- 
 don murmured, under his breath : 
 
 "Aunt Maria! But, 'e got it on his nob! 'E 
 h'ain't much of a fighter, that 'un." 
 
 When the carriage stopped at Parker's, Landon 
 held out his hand to Wainwright and laughed : 
 
 "You're a good silent witness! 
 
 "Now, Atwater is my old Colonel! I'll send 
 you up in the carriage to the Bristol ! I will fol- 
 low in ten minutes. Don't let them leave till I 
 come! Tell Miles and his wife that I must see 
 them for a few moments, before they leave for 
 Pompeii." 
 
 "You're a little bit of a fire-eater, yourself, my 
 boy!" laughed Wainwright. "I'll bet ten dollars
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 307 
 
 there's a pretty woman behind all this ferocity of 
 yours!" 
 
 But Landon only shook his head in a gloomy 
 silence. 
 
 "He deserved all he got !" was his only remark. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later, Sidney Landon was 
 clasped in the bear hug of Colonel Miles Atwater ! 
 
 The sturdy, solid old soldier danced around his 
 newly found "lost lamb," while matronly Mary 
 Atwater sat there, with tears of happiness in her 
 clear, brown eyes! 
 
 "We thought you were in the Orient, or God 
 knows where," puffed Colonel Miles, as he pro- 
 ceeded to mix a cavalry toddy. 
 
 "And you must come and stay here. Gertrude 
 Melville is here, with some friends, the Bran- 
 dons, and a young lady." 
 
 While the Colonel of the "Grays" impartially 
 divided the results of his cavalry toddy making, 
 the ex-Pasha led Mrs. Mary Atwater aside. 
 
 "You must go in and tell Mrs. Melville that I 
 must see her alone, here, this afternoon, in your 
 rooms, while you go away to Pompeii!" 
 
 Landon's grave face alone kept the good army 
 wife from thinking that he had lost his wits !
 
 308 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I need you and Miles, to-night," he said. 
 
 "This is the turning point of my life ! You see, 
 I can not go into the Brandon's apartments. 
 
 "I have just thrashed him, for a slanderer, with- 
 in an inch of his life! 
 
 "Now, he will try to sneak his party out, back 
 to Rome, this evening, but I must see her! 
 
 "Bring her in here, and I will speak to her 
 before you!" 
 
 When the two gentlemen drained their glasses 
 to the old frontier toast, "How?" Landon said 
 simply : 
 
 "Miles, I have just fallen into a million dollars! 
 My uncle in St. Louis, of whose existence I was 
 unaware, has done this neat little trick of financial 
 legerdemain for me! 
 
 "Poor fellow! I'm sorry to say that he does 
 not need it any more ! I'd divide his own money 
 with him if he were alive!" 
 
 "See here, Sidney," jovially cried the Colonel. 
 "We never had a dollar in the Grays that we did 
 not have to fight the paymaster for ! 
 
 "You've got to come back to us, that's clear, 
 you imitation Jay Gould! We will let you pre-
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 309 
 
 sent us a decent set of band instruments. Some- 
 thing that we never had!" 
 
 And Miles Atwater drained his glass, pulled 
 out his sheer sweeping mustache, and gazed 
 fondly at his crack Captain! 
 
 "The offer of the President still holds good. 
 Poor old Rufe Hatcher is wearing half mourning 
 for you, still!" 
 
 "It all depends upon Mrs. Mary and yourself, 
 now, but keep my good fortune a profound secret, 
 as yet," cheerfully replied Landon. "I'll tell you 
 all to-night! 
 
 ''Yes! There is another, one other person!" 
 
 "Great Scott ! The thing is done, then," roared 
 Atwater, as he grasped Landon in his brawny 
 arms. 
 
 "We are all right, and I think YOU can answer 
 for 'the other person L' " 
 
 "Not yet, not so surely" laughed Landon, 
 as Mrs. Atwater glided back silently into the 
 room. 
 
 "Miles," said she. "Go down and wait for 
 Lieutenant Wainwright! I will join you in a 
 few moments. You must not miss this excur- 
 sion!"
 
 310 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "I will move up here from Parker's to-morrow, 
 Commandante," gaily cried Landon, as the 
 Colonel filled his two cigar cases, grasped his 
 tourist umbrella, and departed with a sly wink to 
 his rediscovered Senior Captain. 
 
 "You were right, Sidney," murmured Mrs. 
 Miles. "The whole party is going home to-night ! 
 Poor Mr. Brandon had 'a frightful fall out of 
 the carriage, up at Saint Elmo/ and his wife 
 has gone to him down at the station! He is al- 
 ready in the coupe lit of the train, with a Doctor." 
 
 "That's his story, is it," coldly remarked Lan- 
 don. "He is a glib liar ! 
 
 "Well, Miss Hawthorn shall know nothing of 
 it, but, Gertrude Melville must know all, and, to- 
 night, you and Colonel Miles will agree with 
 me that I did right. 
 
 "Trust me, dear Madonna ; your heart will be 
 with me in the work I have to do! It is for the 
 honor of the dear old Grays." 
 
 "I did not tell you that Lieutenant Colonel 
 Prindle retires next month !" said Mrs. Atwater. 
 
 Sidney Landon grasped both the dear kindly 
 hands and kissed them. 
 
 "Then, when he leaves the Regiment, I may
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 311 
 
 come back to it, but, I make no promises until 
 you know all!" 
 
 Sweet-faced Mary Atwater noiselessly left the 
 room, while Landon murmured: 
 
 "Poor old Black Bill! He has had a hard 
 row to hoe, with the implacable Dora as his 
 spouse! If God would only take her to His 
 bosom !" 
 
 But, Landon sprang to his feet, forgetting all 
 as the pale-faced Gertrude Melville followed Mrs. 
 Atwater into the room. 
 
 "Before you go, dear Aunt Mary," said the 
 ex-Pasha, with an affectionate smile, "I wish 
 to say that my whole future depends upon you 
 two true hearts so, that after each has helped 
 me in her own way, you can tell each other all 
 you know, but, not now ! Leave Gertrude Mel- 
 ville to me to-day, as a beloved sister !" 
 
 "We may hold your future in our keeping, 
 Captain Landon," said the fair Gertrude, "but 
 your happiness you will yet owe to the woman 
 who has just told me, through her tears, 'I 
 dare not meet him ! I owe my very life to him, 
 and I have wrecked his happiness !' ' 
 
 "I only wish," gravely answered Landon, "to
 
 312 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 set my honor right before the world ! Then, / 
 drop out of her life forever! I shall go back into 
 the army, and try and die under the colors of the 
 old Regiment!" 
 
 The overjoyed Mary Atwater threw her arms 
 around his neck and kissed him. 
 
 "And you'll be Major of your old Battalion! 
 The President has promised!" 
 
 The stentorian voice of Miles Atwater was 
 heard below, loudly calling for his "winsome 
 marrow," and Mrs. Melville was left alone with 
 the still excited soldier. 
 
 "Why do you avoid Agnes Hawthorn, Sid- 
 ney?" the graceful woman said, seating herself 
 at his side, as he dropped his head into his hands. 
 
 "I shall right my honor, I shall trace out this 
 cabal of damning wickedness, and then, put the 
 seas between us !" sadly cried Landon. "She has 
 a marble heart!" 
 
 "A marble heart," echoed the spirited woman, 
 springing up, her silken hair loosening and fall- 
 ing over her shoulders in a glorious cascade! 
 
 "How far would you have a woman stoop to 
 show her heart, waiting with its opened doors?" 
 
 "Listen" cried Landon, in an agony of pain
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 313 
 
 and doubt. "I waited a whole week at Nice, 
 when I wrote her that her slightest word would 
 call me back to Rome! / would have told her 
 all! I could have gone on to Egypt by Brindisi ! 
 Oh! the hell of that week of doubt! I haunted 
 the Post and Telegraph ! Not a word ! Silence, 
 the silence of contempt! 
 
 "But, that Stone had organized my expedition 
 up the Nile, I would have killed myself there, 
 but, I would then have been ranked a coward 
 who feared the Abyssinian spearmen!" 
 
 A strange light shone in Gertrude Melville's 
 eyes ! 
 
 "Tell me what you propose to do?" she said, 
 her bosom heaving with a new and strange emo- 
 tion. "I have thrashed the truth out of this dog 
 Brandon here to-day! I know now who is be- 
 hind one of the lies ! I will settle with that per- 
 son, myself!" 
 
 His face was as hard as flint. 
 
 "But you, Gertrude Melville, are the man of 
 your family ! You have a gallant heart ! I shall 
 confer with the Atwaters and follow you up to 
 Rome. 
 
 "I shall go to Frascati or Tivoli, and call Mor-
 
 314 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 gan and Hollingsworth to me. Arthur Melville 
 must, himself, as well as Minister Hartford, fully 
 and openly make it clear to all Rome that I re- 
 signed, voluntarily, that the State Department 
 telegraphed back and begged me to reconsider. 
 
 "This grave wrong must be publicly set right ! 
 If it is not done, I shall publish in the Roman 
 papers my telegram and letter of resignation, and 
 the telegrams and dispatches of the Department ! 
 
 "If either of these officials refuse, I shall certify 
 the whole matter up to the Secretary of State 
 himself, and request that the Department write 
 to the Italian Bureau of Foreign Affairs and vin- 
 dicate me, and I shall insist upon being presented 
 to King Humbert !" 
 
 "It is the least that you could ask," cried the 
 indignant Gertrude. "Clark's veiled influence is 
 behind Hartford's ungentlemanly treatment of 
 you! I heard all from Morgan, and, even 
 that spider Maspero has helped to ruin you. 
 
 "Oh! If Arthur were only more practical! 
 But I will engage that this is done, and that the 
 Hartfords give an official dinner for you, with 
 all the Legation and Consular Staff." 
 
 Landon's brow lightened.
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 315 
 
 "God bless you," he softly said. "The club 
 matter Hollingsworth and I will handle, and all 
 Rome shall ring with that! I can handle that 
 easily ! 
 
 "The other matter must be met by the Presi- 
 dent reappointing me in the Army, but not until 
 the whole slander has been probed. 
 
 "Only the Atwaters can aid me in that." 
 
 "If you only knew Agnes Hawthorn's heart, 
 if you would only clear up the mystery of Ethel 
 Raynor!" cried Gertrude. 
 
 "It is that which has torn the darling girl's 
 bosom ! The letters shown her were so convinc- 
 ing, coming from the wife of a high officer in 
 your own Regiment! The story was so heart- 
 less, so " 
 
 "Stop, stop," whispered Landon, his face as 
 white as marble. "No one shall speak of the 
 dead ! Let them defame the living ! I begin to 
 see the trail of the serpent! It will take two 
 months to unseal the. past, and, then, I shall face 
 Agnes Hawthorn with the truth. She has suf- 
 fered? God! I have been mad for a year! 
 
 "And she alone shall have the truth! How 
 I left the army in perfect honor, the whole social
 
 316 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 world here shall know, why I left the army, 
 no one but Agnes Hawthorn ever shall know ! 
 
 "But I will lay the lash of punishment upon 
 those who have come between us ! The name of 
 the informant was Mrs. Dora Prindle?" 
 
 Landon read the truth in Gertrude Melville's 
 eyes. 
 
 Two hours later, he escorted the bright-hearted 
 woman back to her own apartment! He paused 
 at the door. 
 
 "Give her this" he said, handing Gertrude a 
 little parcel. "Morgan will privately tell you of 
 my movements. I shall know all. I will be at 
 Frascati or Tivoli until your husband and the 
 Minister have acted ! 
 
 "Then, I will come to Rome for justice and 
 vengeance !" 
 
 Two loving women wept on each other's 
 bosoms when Agnes Hawthorn opened the little 
 packet! Her golden ring and filmy lace hand- 
 kerchief were there! 
 
 But they never knew that the withered violets 
 lay on the soldier's breast when he faced the mad 
 Abyssinians at Gura, and that they were still
 
 UNEXPECTED ALLIES. 317 
 
 resting there, while the orphaned neiress sobbed, 
 "It is all over! I can never see him again!" 
 
 Both ladies wondered, as two magnificent 
 bouquets were handed irito their carriage as they 
 drove to the station! Gertrude's was a mass of 
 blush roses, but Miss Hawthorn's was a superb 
 cluster of Parma violets, an offering fit for a 
 prince ! 
 
 The orphaned beauty avoided her friend's eyes 
 as she read the mute message of the flowers ! 
 
 It was after midnight when the Atwaters fin- 
 ished their long council of war with Landon. 
 
 "I am zvith you to the death," cried the hearty 
 old Colonel. "I'll write poor Black Bill a letter 
 to-night! By Gad! He shall certify the truth 
 to me!" 
 
 And then, Landon broke the silence of years 
 and wrote one letter to America to the only human 
 being who knew the story of Ethel Raynor ! 
 
 "For your dead daughter's sake, speak now!" 
 he implored.
 
 318 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 
 
 Five days later, all Naples was familiar with 
 the very merriest quartette of its forastieri. 
 
 The stalwart blue-eyed Wainwright was a nau- 
 tical Apollo, whose curling brown hair, laughing 
 glances and springy step betokened the ideal 
 sailor. 
 
 Miles Atwater's fifty-five years sat lightly on 
 him. His piercing dark eye, stocky build, sternly 
 good-humored face and close-cropped locks "en 
 militaire," with the wiry cavalry mustache, the 
 pride of the Grays, all spoke of the old soldier. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Atwater, "discretement vetue," 
 gazed out with her beautiful brown eyes under 
 an unruffled brow. 
 
 A notable beauty in her girlhood, the Colonel's 
 wife had the sober matronly air of the veteran 
 army wife. 
 
 Still handsome at forty-five, her voice was sweet 
 and low as the summer wind. 
 
 Many a poor soldier in the hospital had listened 
 to its soft accents while tossing in the hospital
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 319 
 
 under the delirium of the wounds of Indian lance 
 and Sioux bullet. 
 
 Friend and associate of the pretty girl wives 
 who came to reinforce the "Grays," all ignorant 
 of the sad realities of the frontier, she was 
 "Aunt Mary" to the whole Regiment, "with 
 malice towards none, with charity to all!" 
 
 It was only when Landon had led them a merry 
 dance from the Museo Borbonico to Paestum, 
 and after a Grand Ball in her honor on the glory- 
 hallowed "Kearsarge," that the ex-Pasha de- 
 termined to move up to his chosen entrenchment 
 at Frascati. 
 
 The whole story of the year, with its harvest 
 of sorrow, was known now to the three friends! 
 
 It was a merry party of adieu at the Railway 
 Station. Jack Haddon had been sent forth, "a 
 dove out of the ark," to a secret conference with 
 Mr. Charles Hollingsworth at Rome, and also 
 to post Edwin Morgan upon the location of his 
 friend's social headquarters. 
 
 This conscience-stricken Tommy Atkins was 
 greatly cheered by Pasha Landon's promise to 
 have Colonel Stanton, H. B. M., courtly military 
 attache at Rome, get him a full pardon for the
 
 320 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 desertion which had sullied his name after eleven 
 and a half years of a twelve-year enlistment! 
 
 " 'Twas this how," honestly confessed the 
 sturdy Briton. "Rum got me left on my troop 
 ship, an' a pretty Italian lass, at Port Said, made 
 me forget 'the Old Lady of Windsor' until it 
 was too late to compromise with Her Majesty, 
 so I cut stick, han' become a bloomin' Hegyp- 
 tion sodger ! That's how." 
 
 When the first bell rang, Harry Wainwright 
 drew Landon aside. 
 
 "Go back to the service, my boy. A dismounted 
 cavalryman is like an eagle waddling on the earth, 
 a being shorn of all his glory. 
 
 "I've watched the men who left the Navy, 
 just flopping around helplessly, like fishes out of 
 water ! 
 
 "With your money, you can illustrate and adorn 
 the Grays ! So, go up and make Rome howl ! I 
 think," he grinned, "you'll find it pretty clear of 
 your enemies when you 'shy your castor into the 
 ring.' " 
 
 Mrs. Mary Atwater led the young soldier aside. 
 
 "Sidney!" she whispered, laying her kindly 
 white hand upon his arm. "Come back to us!
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 321 
 
 You know the only disturbing element soon leaves 
 us! God help poor Colonel Prindle! He is a 
 good, blunt old soldier! He has borne the cross 
 of a bitter-tongued wife for years! You will be 
 righted! Poor 'Black Bill,' the men are going 
 to give him a testimonial to show that they hold 
 him guiltless. Dora was worn into a social mad- 
 ness by envy and their long-delayed promotion." 
 
 "Poor old Prindle;' sighed Landon. "But 
 nothing can restore me these blackened years 
 or undo the work of that cruel woman's hand." 
 
 But, cheery Miles Atwater crushed Landon's 
 sword hand in his mighty grasp. 
 
 "You are under orders to report within six 
 months at the headquarters of the Grays, we 
 regard you as the 'Knight of the Golden Armor,' 
 now! 
 
 "We cavalrymen do not know much, but we 
 know a good thing when we see it, and we pro- 
 pose to keep it! 
 
 "Drop the Pasha, and come home and have a 
 race with the Cheyenne dog soldiers, and the 
 Sioux braves! They all know you, 'Young 
 Chief who rides ahead of his Troop.' ' 
 
 It was only a half promise which Sidney Lan- 
 21
 
 322 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 don gave as the half crazy Italian conductor blew 
 his little bird pipe, and waved him in to the car 
 with much wild gesticulation. 
 
 Landon passed a telegram over to Jack Had- 
 don at Terracoria. 
 
 "You seem to have made a good choice/' he 
 remarked. It was from Charley Hollingsworth, 
 and read: 
 
 "Have secured apartments, selected by your 
 valet, in Villa Piccolomini, best in Frascati. 
 Morgan and I will meet you there, noon to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 Sidney Landon's heart was gay, as he left the 
 Naples railway carriage next morning, at Ciani- 
 pino, and caught the local to Frascati. 
 
 As the little train climbed the hill, towards old 
 Tusculum, Sidney Landon gazed back at Rome, 
 where his banded enemies were now agitated over 
 the rumored coming of "the worm that had 
 turned." 
 
 The soldier's face hardened as he thought of 
 Rawdon Clark's precipitate departure for Paris, 
 for this news of moment was brought back by the 
 ferret-eyed Haddon! 
 
 He was also furnished with Forrest Grimes'
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 323 
 
 Paris address, and the local habitat of the pros- 
 perous Frank Hatton, who was stationed for the 
 summer at the Grand Hotel Hungaria, Buda 
 Pesth, doing the Danube. 
 
 "I'll write to Forrest Grimes to keep a keen 
 eye on Mr. Rawdon Clark. If I mistake not, he 
 is the party who has the longest account to settle. 
 
 "And, by Jove, I'll send Haddon up to Florence 
 to mail all my letters there, so that the Roman 
 light-fingered gentry can not touch them. I'll 
 send them all through the French Consul, 'recom- 
 mande' to Freycinet Freres. That will do the 
 business." 
 
 He had pondered for hours upon Agnes Haw- 
 thorn's strange remarks on the Aguila d' Oro! 
 
 In sweeping through the long tunnel he could 
 again see the vaulted rocky dome of the Blue 
 Grotto, with its ghastly infiltrated bluish light, 
 its silvery breaking gleams under the plashing 
 oar. 
 
 "Strange, strange," he mused, "that of the 
 whole wide world this fairy basin, with its 
 forty-foot ceiling, its oval of two hundred by one 
 hundred feet should have locked me in a life and
 
 324 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 death grapple with fate for the one fair woman 
 of all the world!" 
 
 He could see that dear pale face resting on his 
 shoulder the silver crystal flood breaking 
 around her beloved form, and the mirrored bot- 
 tom, eight fathoms deep, where the fairy coral 
 hides glittering starfish and the delicate sea 
 anemone. 
 
 "It was as if Lurline and the naiads had given 
 her back to me, in their fantastic sport with the 
 mortals who intrude upon the water maiden's one 
 Imperial bower." 
 
 He was dreaming of stern Tiberius, crowned 
 with blood-red gold, watching his star-eyed fa- 
 vorites sporting in those silvery blue depths when 
 the train halted under Monte Porzio. 
 
 In half an hour, he was gazing out of the 
 windows of his new abode upon the huge dome 
 of St. Peter's, lifted high in air over the Leonine 
 city. 
 
 Jack Haddon bestirred himself to arrange a 
 breakfast of due delicacy for the "envoys from 
 Rome," while Landon, after a shaking down of 
 his effects, drove back to the station for his 
 guests !
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 325 
 
 The dilettante tourists stood aghast as Hol- 
 lingsworth and Morgan fell upon the returned 
 Abyssinian warrior, with shouts of joy. 
 
 Merrily the wheels rattled along, as the three 
 friends were driven around the foliage-shaded 
 winding road to the Villa Piccolomini. 
 
 Charley Hollingsworth's brow was big with 
 mystery, but he rattled out a piece of information 
 which brought peals of laughter from the ex- 
 Pasha. 
 
 "I don't know what you've done to Robert 
 Brandon, but that braying jackass seems be- 
 witched. He is rushing around Rome, carrying 
 in commission the very latest rumors in your 
 case! 
 
 "I found him at the American Club telling a 
 circle of a score of the 'old stand-bys' that your 
 leaving the Consular service was purely volun- 
 tary, after all, that you had been offered a high 
 appointment in the Regular Army by the Presi- 
 dent, and, that you only declined it to accept 
 a secret Military Mission to Egypt of the gravest 
 character. 
 
 "And," continued Hollingsworth, "the strang- 
 est thing of all is, that he has actually got from
 
 326 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Stilwell Meacham official copies of your appli- 
 cation for leave of absence, your resignation, 
 and the State Department's most complimentary 
 dispatch to you, begging you to recall your tele- 
 graphed resignation, and offering you six months' 
 leave of absence." 
 
 Landon laughed heartily as he escorted his 
 guests to the quaint old reception hall of his 
 mediaeval apartment. He recalled the Egyptian 
 boy's prescription for his donkey: "Plenty of 
 stick!" 
 
 "Any further 'stir in Rome?' " gaily demanded 
 Landon, as they sat down to Haddon's splendidly 
 thrown together breakfast! 
 
 "Oh! yes!" gravely replied Charley Hollings- 
 worth, who had been chattering of Landon's 
 faithful ally, Elaine, and the two "cherubs," now 
 the terror of young Rome, with their ingrained 
 American devilment. 
 
 "All this hubbub of Brandon's was a day after 
 the fair, for Minister Van Buren Hartford gave 
 a formal dinner at the Legation, at which the 
 Melvilles and all the leading Americans were 
 present, as well as the English, French and Ger- 
 man Ambassadors.
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 327 
 
 "I saw both Montaverde and Pallavinci on 
 hand, too, spangled with decorations. 
 
 "Hartford publicly drank your health and 
 spoke of your remarkable bravery at Gura, and 
 of your Pashaship, as well as the Grand Cross of 
 the Medjidjie! 
 
 "He took occasion to nail both lies, the one that 
 you had gone out of the service under any pres- 
 sure, and, the other base rumor that he had asked, 
 you to resign." 
 
 Landon's face hardened to stone! He might 
 have been an Indian on the war path waiting to 
 bound out, tomahawk in hand! 
 
 Hollingsworth quietly added, "Hartford is a 
 great political trimmer! He drew me aside and 
 told me that he had been most damnably misin- 
 formed about you. 
 
 "I'll give him a chance to say that, in person, 
 soon," grimly rejoined the cavalryman. 
 
 The trio passed a jolly couple of hours, until 
 Edwin Morgan drew Landon aside and slipped 
 a letter into his hand. 
 
 "I was told to give you this, in private" he 
 murmured, "and I've loads to tell you of Mas- 
 pero. I think that he is getting ready for flight !"
 
 328 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "We must stop that. I need that scoundrel in 
 the 'round-up,' " quickly said Landon. 
 
 Charley Hollingsworth, sauntering up, an- 
 nounced his intention of driving over alone to 
 dine with the Princess Branciforte. 
 
 "She's one of my earliest Roman flames," the 
 gay fellow said, "and she always claims me, when 
 she can, for a dinner of memory, a sort of 
 'funeral baked meats,' of our Platonic fascin- 
 ation. You men have loads to say to each other." 
 
 Morgan wandered out into the garden to locate 
 the "points de mire" of the superb panorama, 
 with Landon's signal glasses, while the agitated 
 soldier eagerly broke the seal of Gertrude Mel- 
 ville's letter. His hands trembled as he read the 
 fateful lines: 
 
 "Agnes is here with me, and insists that I shall 
 convoy her on to London, where she has taken 
 a house for the season with Mrs. De Peyster 
 Van Cortlandt. 
 
 "All has been one series of strange surprises 
 since we returned. Mrs. Brandon has locked her- 
 self from the world since her husband's disgrace. 
 Stories of the fracas have been wafted up from
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 329 
 
 Naples by the hotel porters and returning tour- 
 ists. 
 
 'The facts are generally known now, though 
 the causes are as yet faintly hidden. 
 
 "But I have learned from Agnes that it was 
 Mrs. Brandon who showed her the letters from 
 America, blackening your name. They are now 
 in Mrs. Brandon's possession. Agnes has dis- 
 charged her companion, Mrs. Agatha Waring, 
 and I have prevailed upon Arthur to escort us 
 to London together. Elaine Hollingsworth will 
 take Elsie, and I shall put Mr. Morgan in charge 
 of our home! 
 
 "There are two terrible things to tell, and I 
 hesitate for very shame. 
 
 "Rawdon Clark forced himself upon Agnes at 
 the Hotel Costanzi, and, after receiving a definite 
 dismissal, then broke out into a foul tirade of 
 abuse. 
 
 "He assailed her, with all the bitterness of a 
 madman: 'You met this sleek adventurer, Lan- 
 don, at the tomb of Cecilia Metella, your half- 
 blind old duenna Montgomery was bribed to play 
 propriety and, when surprised in your love-
 
 330 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 making, he shot the poor, unarmed peasant who 
 stumbled upon you! 
 
 " 'Only by threats of the police did the un- 
 masked rascal clear out, at last!' 
 
 "And, shame upon shame, that very night, 
 the night he left for Paris, a messenger placed in 
 my husband's own hands an anonymous letter : 
 
 " 'Your wife could not let her secret lover, 
 Landon, go away without meeting him once 
 more at the Fontana di Trevi ! You have been a 
 hoodwinked fool! Ask her if she went to the 
 Princess* ball! And, ask her who was with 
 her, who covered her daring intrigue ! Perhaps 
 your own waiting women can tell you! If you 
 want the name of the coachman, the number of 
 the carriage, you shall have it! Fool! Drop 
 the scales from your eyes ! Leave your painting 
 garret and watch over your home! And, this 
 fellow, Landon, laughs over these intrigues! He 
 left a wide swath in Rome! A military Don 
 Juan!' 
 
 "Now, Arthur Melville is the soul of honor, 
 the mirror of manliness, though often led into 
 an easy, self-forgetfulness by his artistic nature, 
 
 "I have seen the nobility of my husband's na-
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 331 
 
 ture in his one remark: "Gertrude, a grievous 
 wrong has been done to Landon!' 
 
 "As to the letter, he placed it in my hand with- 
 out a word ! I think it better you should not see 
 Agnes until you have wrenched the truth from 
 all these hidden enemies. 
 
 "The letter in Mrs. Brandon's hands she will 
 riot dare to destroy. 
 
 "She will keep it to hold it over the one who 
 hired her to betray her own relative! I think 
 that you can guess the name ! 
 
 "But, wait at Frascati till we return! You 
 and I, and Morgan and the Hollingsworths, will 
 trap these villains! Send any answer you wish, 
 by Morgan !" 
 
 "I'll have that letter, if I give up my last drop 
 of heart's blood," sternly said Landon, as he hid 
 Gertrude Melville's communication in his bosom. 
 
 And, then, dismissing all his own cares, he 
 joined Morgan and learned the whole story of 
 Jacopo Maspero's movements. 
 
 "I've had him most carefully watched," con- 
 cluded Edwin Morgan, when he had unveiled all 
 the doings of the year! 
 
 "He has been a secret lover of Emilia, Mrs.
 
 332 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Melville's confidential attendant ! You know what 
 a beautiful and resolute looking devil she is ! 
 
 "Of course, he spied upon his master through 
 her! But, of late, he has been lavishing money 
 upon 'la Graziana,' a handsome actress of the 
 Teatro Apollo! and, now, Emilia is glooming 
 alone around the Palazzo Vecchio. 
 
 "The other girl, Lucia, often joins the Grazi- 
 ana and Maspero in their little suppers. 
 
 "If you wish to bring this scoundrel Maspero 
 up with a round turn, now is the time, for, the 
 Graziana goes to Paris, and, the office boy, Paolo, 
 whom I have won over by using money as you 
 directed, tells me that Maspero's luggage is all 
 packed ! 
 
 "He may be mad enough to follow her to Paris 
 and, Clark is there! Paolo tells me that 
 Clark and Maspero met often at the Hotel 
 Quirinale." 
 
 Sidney Landon bounded to his feet! He 
 clenched his fists in a sudden rage ! 
 
 "When do the Melvilles leave for London?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 "To-morrow night!" said the astonished Mor- 
 gan!
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 333 
 
 "Then, Edwin," slowly said the soldier, "I will 
 come down to Rome to-morrow evening. I will 
 go to the Hotel Cavour, near the railway sta- 
 tion on the Via del Viminale. 
 
 "Meet me there at midnight. The Melvilles will 
 be gone then, and you can bring any letter that 
 Mrs. Melville may give you. 
 
 "Say nothing of my movements to any one. 
 
 "I will telegraph now to Colonel and Mrs. 
 Atwater to come up to Rome, instantly. 
 
 "Now, I will go and write my letter to Mrs. 
 Melville. When do you go down with Hollings- 
 worth?" 
 
 "That depends upon the Princess Branciforte" 
 laughed Morgan. "Eleven o'clock was the time 
 agreed upon." 
 
 "Good," said Sidney Landon. "One last re- 
 quest: If Maspero shows any signs of flitting 
 to-morrow, beg Arthur Melville to have him ar- 
 rested as an embezzler at once! Watch his 
 rooms! If the baggage goes out, tell Melville 
 that I have the proofs of the rascal's deeds! 
 And, then, telegraph to me, I will take the next 
 train !" 
 
 And the two friends beguiled the hours until
 
 334 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 dinner in wandering over the mundane paradise 
 of Prince Torlonia. 
 
 They sat in the cool evening hours, under the 
 watchful stars, awaiting the return of the gay 
 troubadour, Hollingsworth, when a messenger 
 dashed up on horseback, with a telegram for "II 
 Signore Sidney Landon, Villa Piccolomini." 
 
 The alert soldier tore open the blue folded strip 
 and then yelled for Haddon, as he grasped his 
 top coat and hat! 
 
 "Read that, Morgan," he huskily cried! 
 
 "Haddon! Catch the nearest carriage! We 
 take the next train! You will wait here! See 
 Mr. Hollingsworth off! Tell him he'll find me 
 at the American Consulate, and to get there at 
 once! Tell him that something grave has hap- 
 pened!" 
 
 Edwin Morgan was at Landon's side as the 
 soldier sharply cried to his valet : 
 
 "Lock up all here! Bring my luggage and 
 come down on the first morning train to the 
 Consulate!" 
 
 In five minutes, the two men were dashing 
 along to the station, repeating to each other the 
 fateful words of Arthur Melville :
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 335 
 
 "Maspero fatally stabbed, by a woman, in the 
 office, this evening. Come at once. He is lying 
 here. He asks for you. Hasten. He will only 
 last a few hours!" 
 
 "It is the beginning of the end," hoarsely cried 
 Landon, as they leaped aboard the train. 
 
 Neither of the friends spoke while the little 
 train rattled off its twelve miles. 
 
 But, once at the station in Rome, they leaped 
 into a carriage, and that Roman Jehu well earned 
 the golden twenty lire which dazzled his eyes. 
 
 As the two friends sprang out at the Palazzo 
 Vecchio, they brushed aside a half dozen gens- 
 d'armes who were guarding the lower entrance. 
 
 Up the stairway they hastened, to see the gleam 
 of lights in the main Consular office, and, two 
 armed men on guard at the door! 
 
 At a sign from Consul General Melville, the 
 gensd'armes dropped their crossed swords. 
 
 There were no words of welcome spoken as 
 Sidney Landon hastened to the corner, where, ex- 
 tended upon a mattress, the wounded Italian lay 
 upon the floor. 
 
 Doctor Cesare Corvini was on his knees beside 
 the sufferer, watching there, with a glass of cor- 
 dial in his hand.
 
 336 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 And, at the other side of the dying man, a 
 priest knelt in prayer, while the crucifix and 
 candles upon Maspero's desk told of the last 
 solemn rites of the church. 
 
 As Landon bent over his secret enemy, the 
 Italian turned his dark, glittering eyes upon him 
 with a hopelessly imploring gaze. 
 
 "It is too late," he murmured. "You will not 
 believe me! I intended to have told you all! 
 Once at Paris with la Graziana, I would have 
 been safe. 
 
 "For this pitiful brute, Clark, denied me 
 money, after I have slaved for him a year ! 
 
 "I offered to tell him who was with la Sig- 
 norina Melville, on that night at the Fontana di 
 Trevi!" 
 
 Sidney Landon started back as the wounded 
 man gasped: 
 
 "/ was the beggar whom you drove azvay." 
 
 "And why did you hate me?" quietly asked 
 Landon, holding up a warning finger to Melville, 
 as Doctor Corvini felt the weakening pulse. 
 
 "I knew that you had detected my robberies of 
 the government funds. The boy Paolo told me
 
 AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DYING MAN, A PRIEST 
 KNELT IN PRAYER.
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 337 
 
 of you and Morgan secretly working over the 
 books ! 
 
 "And then, I thought if I could help Clark to 
 blacken your name, the one with the golden 
 hair, up there at the Costanzio, would throw 
 you over, and, you would leave Rome! 
 
 "Clark has worked day and night to crush you ! 
 He paid for your blackballing at the club. Mont- 
 aver de knows all! 
 
 "Revenge me upon him, the miserly scoundrel, 
 and upon Brandon and his wife, they were all 
 in it! Clark promised to make them rich! 
 Basta! Tutto e finito! 
 
 "In my desk," he gasped, "you will find a copy 
 of your letter to the Signora Hawthorn, I gave 
 Clark one! 
 
 "I stole all your letters that I could! I paid 
 for this at the Postoffice with Clark's money." 
 
 Landon's face betrayed his horror and disgust. 
 
 "Don't curse me! I am dying!" faltered Mas- 
 pero. "/ was afraid of you! I was led on at 
 first by gambling to take a little, and, the 
 Padrone was so easy, he never even looked at 
 a paper! The one theft pushed the other on! 
 
 And, too late, when I fell in Clark's hands, I saw 
 22
 
 338 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 that he could always ruin me, even from a dis- 
 tance and,/ could not strike back! But one 
 good deed I will leave behind! She loves yon! 
 The golden hair! There is her letter to you, 
 when you wrote from Nice for her answer ! She 
 says: 
 
 " 'Come, come to me, at once! I am waiting 
 for you, with a loving heart!' 
 
 "I would not give the letter to Clark, but, he 
 had a copy, and he paid well for it!" 
 
 "How did you get that letter?" solemnly de- 
 manded Landon. 
 
 "Emilia stole it, the damned witch, when she 
 was sent to post it by the Signorina Melville, for 
 the golden hair was in the house! 
 
 "I had to make love to Emilia to get her secrets 
 for that scoundrel Clark and, it is her knife 
 that has finished me!" 
 
 Melville had already opened Maspero's desk 
 and he silently handed a pocketbook to Landon. 
 
 "All the other papers are gone!" the dying man 
 whispered. "I was going to run away as soon as 
 the Consul left, for I could not live without the 
 Graziana, and I intended to catch Clark in Paris 
 and frighten him!
 
 JACOPO MASPERO'S CONFESSION. 339 
 
 "Dio mio! For ten minutes, alone in a room 
 with him, with a knife! And, now " 
 
 His head fell back in a fit of violent coughing ! 
 They raised him up! 
 
 "There is fifteen hundred lire, sewed in my 
 waistcoat," he muttered. "Give them to Lucia! 
 She was my poor dupe. Poor girl! She loved 
 me, and / deceived her! She was true to her 
 mistress, until love made her like me a fool! 
 Emilia, may she burn in hell " 
 
 His head fell back helplessly, and, with one 
 long shuddering groan, the spirit passed! 
 
 When all the windows were opened, the crowd 
 below knew that the Angel of Death had entered 
 the great hall above them ! 
 
 In half an hour, only the priest, on his knees, 
 was guarding the body, lying there, with its 
 arms folded over the breast, now stiffening in 
 death. 
 
 Two gendarmes nodded, in their chairs, at the 
 door, and a sentinel faced the long hall below ! 
 
 A dozen squares away, Emilia Cataldo was 
 wringing her hands and tearing her long, dis- 
 hevelled hair in agony, for the jailer had put a 
 death-watch in her cell.
 
 340 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Your lover is dead," roughly said the brute, 
 "and, you go to the piombi for life." 
 
 It was long after midnight when Sidney Lan- 
 don grasped the hands of Doctor Corvini and 
 Arthur Melville! 
 
 "Pledge me" he said, "upon your honor that 
 you will never repeat this poor wretch's dis- 
 closures. Morgan has heard nothing! Melville, 
 let nothing keep you from hastening your wife 
 and Miss Hawthorn over to London ! Let Mor- 
 gan guard your home ! / will stay in Rome until 
 your return! 
 
 "Vice Consul General Meacham will attend 
 to the authorities. I will see this poor devil 
 buried. Colonel Atwater will be here to-morrow, 
 and we will see the Minister ! The silence of the 
 grave is all I ask! My honor, alone, is con- 
 cerned!" 
 
 And when Charley Hollingsworth came dash- 
 ing in, Morgan and the new comer could only 
 escort Sidney Landon to the Hotel de Russie. 
 
 "Back to Rome, by a strange path," murmured 
 Landon, when, with a bounding heart, he read the 
 sweet avowal of Agnes Hawthorn, now a year 
 old, "Shall we ever meet at the fountain?"
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 
 
 Before noon, the next day, all Rome was ring- 
 ing with the echoes of the sinister tragedy at the 
 American Consulate General. 
 
 Gertrude Melville and her Rose in Bloom Elsie, 
 with Miss Agnes Hawthorn, under the escort 
 of Mr. Stillwell Meacham, took the noon train 
 for Florence in order to escape the horror of the 
 proximity of the dead Deputy Vice Consul 
 General. 
 
 There were the wildest rumors in the banking 
 and trading fraternity, and a dozen familiar faces 
 were suddenly missing from money mart and the 
 "business parlors." 
 
 A hurried note of "good-bye" from Gertrude 
 Melville found Sidney Landon at the Hotel de 
 Russie, in close conference with Colonel Atwater, 
 Edwin Morgan and Charley Hollingsworth. 
 
 The ex-Pasha trembled and turned pale when 
 he opened the note sent by the Consul General's 
 wife. 
 
 It read:
 
 342 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Dear Sidney, When this horror is over, come 
 over to Paris and London and see me! You 
 must! 
 
 "There is a duty laid upon me which I will 
 not shirk! All must be made clear! Send me 
 a note by Arthur, who follows us to-night !" 
 
 Out of that dainty pacquet fell a tiny golden 
 ring, with the tell-tale inscription, "Agnes," and 
 there was a folden silken paper, in which was 
 enwrapped the lace handkerchief of the Queen 
 of the Night at the Fontana de Trevi. And the 
 gallant soldier's eyes were dim as he kissed the 
 little golden ring. 
 
 It had been a stern and brief Council of War 
 up there at the Hotel de Russie. 
 
 Morgan had brought along the frightened 
 young wretch, Paolo, the office boy, who now 
 confessed all of Maspero's ill deeds. Consular 
 Clerk Morgan had the whole official proofs of 
 Maspero's moneyed rascalities, and, too late, 
 Arthur Melville cursed himself for taking over 
 "a confidential man" from his easy-going prede- 
 cessor. 
 
 Maspero's crimes varied from extorting double 
 fees, levying tribute on sales to tourists, to 
 false vouchers for increased office expenses, and
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 343 
 
 thefts of hundreds of dollars monthly from the 
 postal accounts of the huge office mail. 
 
 The postage stamps, regularly purchased, were 
 duly returned and cashed through Paolo, less a 
 ten per cent "rake off" to the cash clerk at the 
 General Italian post office. 
 
 A number of special deposits of funds in the 
 Consulate General had been vainly demanded of 
 the bankers by the alert Morgan, who learned 
 that these had been artfully withdrawn by the 
 dead swindler. Maspero's perfect knowledge of 
 all local formalities had enabled his frauds to be 
 adroitly covered up. 
 
 "We must see the United States Minister, at 
 once," exclaimed Sidney Landon. "Melville, you 
 and I, and Colonel Atwater (as my witness), will 
 go to him at once. 
 
 "Morgan must bring the lad, who seems to 
 have been terrorized by Maspero, and, under 
 threats of losing his daily bread, been used as 
 the cat's paw in all the dirty villainy!" 
 
 "And I," exclaimed Charley Hollingsworth, 
 "will go to the jail and see the poor devil Emilia 
 Cataldo. I have known her for years! She will 
 tell me the whole story of Maspero's villainies.
 
 344 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Then, I have to attend an extraordinary meeting 
 of the Cercle de Rome ! There is a whirlpool of 
 excitement in the Italian jeunesse doree, for 
 Pallavinci desperately wounded Montaverde in 
 a duel last night! 
 
 "It seems that Montaverde made a personal 
 canvass of the members of the Cercle de Rome, 
 and then upon Clark and Brandon's authority, 
 spread the vile reports which led to the insult 
 to Captain Landon!" 
 
 It was a decidedly mauvais quart d'heure for 
 the Honorable Van Buren Hartford, when the 
 Consul General ushered in the visiting party. 
 
 The awkwardness of the situation was accent- 
 uated by Lieutenant Colonel Landon, ex-Pasha, 
 declining to take the Minister's offered hand, or 
 to seat himself in the Legation. 
 
 "/ am only following Your Excellency's lead" 
 he grimly remarked. "I have brought Colonel 
 Miles Atwater here, as my witness, to have you 
 publicly state that you know nothing derogatory 
 to my official character. As to your personal 
 opinion, sir, it is valueless!" 
 
 Colonel Atwater engaged the embarrassed
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 345 
 
 Minister in conversation, until Landon again 
 took up the pas de charge. 
 
 "I am leaving Rome, sir. I leave to you Mr. 
 Edwin Morgan, with this wretched boy in charge. 
 
 "Paolo's evidence, and Mr. Morgan's papers, 
 will prove to you that this Consulate General has 
 been robbed for years ! I began to ferret out the 
 villain's scoundrelism, but was called away before 
 I had the final proofs! 
 
 "Mr. Morgan was ready to denounce and arrest 
 him, in case of attempted flight, but, the Italian 
 woman's knife has cut the Gordian knot. 
 
 "The local helplessness of this man's superiors 
 in face of his craft, local affiliations and the help 
 of all the meaner subordinates, as well as pecu- 
 lating petty bankers and thieving tradesmen 
 only proves our need of a trained and intelligent 
 Consular system. 
 
 "I did not wish to officially report this or in- 
 volve Mr. Melville's administration until I had 
 absolute proofs ! Mr. Morgan has just completed 
 them!" 
 
 Consul General Melville, with a grave face, 
 then demanded to be officially relieved until such 
 time as an Inspector of Consulates had been sent
 
 346 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 by the Department to go over the whole matter. 
 
 The Minister was glad to be rid of his disturb- 
 ing visitors. For very shame he dared not face 
 Sidney Landon, whose cold scorn cut him to the 
 quick! He dreaded the naming of his secret 
 adviser and political backer, the Honorable Raw- 
 don Clark, of the Elkhorn mine. 
 
 But Sidney Landon, standing like a duelist at 
 the mark, only bowed formally, as the Minister 
 announced the promotion of Edwin Morgan to 
 Deputy Vice Consul General, and added to Mel- 
 ville: "I shall put my third attache, Larue Liv- 
 ingston, in the Consulate General, to watch over 
 your personal interests, until you return from 
 London. I authorize you to take a fortnight's 
 leave! I will personally see that justice is done." 
 
 The frightened Paolo was left in the charge 
 of the Legation Interpreter, subject to the call of 
 the Police, and the three gentlemen returned to 
 the Hotel de Russie for their dejeuner. 
 
 With a broken voice, Melville faltered his 
 apologies to Sidney Landon for the outrages of 
 the past. 
 
 "Say no more, dear Melville," cried Landon, 
 with a glance at Atwater ! "There are only two
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 347 
 
 to reckon with, the active villains. You were 
 hoodwinked and wrought upon ! But, my candid 
 advice to you is either to personally superintend 
 your office in future or else to throw it up! You 
 will be made the victim of some great black- 
 guardism, unless you watch the Consulate!" 
 
 Both Atwater and Landon were relieved when 
 Arthur Melville departed, having made a rendez- 
 vous at the Hotel Metirice in Paris and the Grand 
 Hotel, London, with the two army friends! 
 
 "We have a little bit of business over there," 
 grimly said Landon, "and so, we will bring you 
 the news from Rome." 
 
 The comrades were enjoying the after-break- 
 fast cigar when Morgan broke in upon them ! 
 
 "Here are letters marked 'Important,' " said 
 the game fellow, "and I brought them up my- 
 self!" 
 
 "The Police officials have seized and sealed 
 all Maspero's effects, and, to-morrow, I begin 
 a careful examination, with the officers of justice, 
 of all the dead rascal's papers and belongings ! 
 His peculations show up a hundred thousand lire ! 
 Where did it all go to? 
 
 "La Graziana," suggested Sidney Landon. 
 "Right," mused the new Deputy Vice Consul
 
 348 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 General. "She cleared out at daylight, leaving 
 her maid to bring on her luggage. And, the 
 Police tell me that Emilia Cataldo is hopelessly 
 insane! Poor wretch! She only raves of the 
 Graziana, and screams her threats to murder her 
 rival!" 
 
 When the faithful Morgan had departed, Lan- 
 don said: 
 
 "Colonel Miles, now get ready for one serious 
 stroke of business ! All depends upon your stay- 
 ing power and ability to frighten the one who has 
 been behind all this mischief." 
 
 While the good Colonel made himself ready 
 Landon glanced at his letters. He started up in 
 surprise, as he read Forrest Grimes' brief note, 
 and ran his eye over a heavily displayed news- 
 paper slip sent on by the unwearying Hatton from 
 Buda Pesth ! Both letter and slip told of an im- 
 pending controversy over the ownership of that 
 inexhaustible treasure mine known as the "Elk- 
 horn." 
 
 The allegation of a criminally changed survey, 
 in the interest of Rawdon Clark and associates, 
 was lucidly set forth, with the final dictum, 
 that a verdict against them in the U. S. Circuit
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 319 
 
 Court at Denver, would leave the alleged con- 
 spirators liable for the return of all the millions 
 heretofore taken from the "Elkhorn." 
 
 "It is easy to see," wrote the sardonic Grimes, 
 "why Clark wished to make sure of the orphaned 
 millionairess! Agnes Hawthorn's future and 
 social position would be a safe anchor to help 
 him ride out this storm ! 
 
 "I'm told by a Colorado newspaper man here 
 that the Surveyor and land office officials have 
 been heavily subsidized by Clark and his gang in 
 the past! 
 
 "If they break on the trial, and let the cat out 
 of the bag, then, Clark is not only a bankrupt 
 but may have to take to his heels, as he has done 
 all the heavy swearing himself. He is now in 
 Paris at the Hotel Athenee, waiting for the ver- 
 dict, and, I'm told, that he has taken to drink- 
 ing heavily, and now abuses Miss Hawthorn, 
 openly. 
 
 "He claims to have trapped her in some assig- 
 nation! Q. E. D. that she has given the dirty 
 brute the conge ! If I were near enough, I would 
 wring his neck, on general principles!" 
 
 The last spark of mercy faded out of Sidney
 
 350 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Landon's chivalric heart, as he leaped into the 
 carriage with Colonel Atwater! 
 
 The old veteran was got up in a heavy Prince 
 Albert outfit of sombre magnificence, and his 
 good gray head sported a glossy "tile." 
 
 "If she will not see us?" said the doubting 
 Atwater. 
 
 "She must!" sternly said Landon, as they 
 rolled along to the Great Emporium of Assisted 
 Art 
 
 It did not escape Landon's quick eye that all 
 the curtains were dropped and the "persiennes" 
 closed, as their equipage rolled into the court- 
 yard of Brandon's pretentious abode. 
 
 Robert Brandon had his weather eye out for 
 squalls. 
 
 A half an hour was spent in "pourparlers" 
 with the skillfully instructed servants at the door ! 
 The innate grace of Italian lying is an unattain- 
 able perfection to your raw Anglo-Saxon! 
 
 "II Signore Brandon ah, yes! He- was away 
 at Venice, making his sketch of the Grand 
 Canal for il Signore Clark's great picture, and 
 would not return for a month !
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 351 
 
 "La Signora ill, very ill, absolutely unable 
 to see anyone!" 
 
 "Very good!" finally rasped out Landon. "We 
 will then stay here, in the carriage, all night! 
 It is a matter of life and death." 
 
 Another half an hour was spent in vainly 
 fencing with the artful woman spy whom Myra 
 Brandon had set on to delude the unsuspicious 
 heiress. Mrs. Agatha Waring tried in vain to 
 shield her artful "confederate." 
 
 At last, Colonel Atwater's temper gave way! 
 
 "Madame!" said he. "I dislike to use harsh 
 measures with a woman! Mrs. Brandon knows 
 very well what we have come here for, and, now, 
 I tell you candidly, that we will not leave the 
 house without it. A frank giving up of what we 
 seek will prevent Lieutenant Colonel Landon and 
 myself laying the whole matter, with our proofs, 
 before the United States Minister here! 
 
 "Both Mrs. Melville and Mrs. Hollingsworth 
 have seen the documents, which we know to be 
 in Mrs. Brandon's possession ! 
 
 "Now, Madame, the Melvilles and Miss Haw- 
 thorn are en route to Paris! 
 
 "A telegram will reach them at Meurice's to-
 
 352 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 morrow, and, if that telegram is sent, the further 
 residence of Mr. and Mrs. Brandon in Rome will 
 be an impossibility. 
 
 "I am an old man, I will see Mrs. Brandon 
 alone. She need not be humiliated with Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Landon's presence. 
 
 "But," his eyes flashed, "by the gods of War, 
 I'll give her just five minutes to see me, and, to 
 hand over those papers! She has the last chance 
 to save herself, and her husband!" 
 
 He drew out his watch! 
 
 "// she does not yield, I will go up to the 
 American Club and post Brandon publicly! It's 
 a case of touch and go!" 
 
 While the adroit spy was absent, the two men 
 studied the artistic misfits upon the walls! 
 
 Their agony was mitigated by the return of the 
 frightened woman, who had been Agnes Haw- 
 thorn's treacherous guide. 
 
 One last imploring demand that the Brandons 
 should be held scathless was granted, and, then, 
 Sidney Landon, sternly sad, at this humiliation 
 of womanhood, went apart with Mrs. Brandon's 
 woman adjutant when the defeated schemer 
 loitered into the room.
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 353 
 
 For five minutes, there was the sound of sobs 
 and imploring demands. At last, Colonel At- 
 water entered the waiting room. 
 
 "/ have all the Dora Prindle letters," he gravely 
 said ; "both of them, the unsigned one, and the 
 one addressed directly to Miss Hawthorn! I 
 recognize Mrs. Prindle's handwriting." 
 
 Colonel Landon stood at attention. 
 
 "I also want the letters signed by Barker 
 Bolton, and Burton Wilmot! Mrs. Melville has 
 told me of them! They were used to disgrace 
 me with the Minister, and also with Miss Haw- 
 thorn. 
 
 "I also want a signed letter stating that Raw- 
 don Clark gave Mrs. Brandon these letters, as 
 a relative of Miss Hawthorn's, to read to her, 
 so as to terminate our social acquaintance!" 
 
 After an hour of hysterics and stormy sorrow, 
 the foolishly wicked woman, cornered at last, 
 signed the paper, and tottered out of the room! 
 
 In a grave silence, the victors filed down stairs ! 
 
 "God help poor old 'Black Bill!' This last 
 disgrace will half kill him!" muttered the loyal 
 old Colonel. "Prindle has been a good soldier! 
 And, my God! what a cross he has carried!" 
 
 23
 
 354 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "He shall be held harmless!" cried Landon, 
 into whose eyes a cruel gleam had stolen. "Give 
 me the letters!" 
 
 And, then, Landon's wrath broke loose as he 
 gazed upon the artful slanders which had driven 
 Agnes Hawthorn to scorn him ! 
 
 "See here! Atwater," he grimly said. "I 
 want you to leave your wife with the Hollings- 
 worths! We will slip away from there, and 
 catch the midnight train for Paris! Rawdon 
 Clark shall not escape me, this time! He must 
 not be warned by these lickspittles!" 
 
 Colonel Atwater nodded, and they only listened 
 to the patter of the horses' feet as they raced back 
 to the Hotel de Russie. 
 
 In the garden, Charley Hollingsworth awaited 
 them! 
 
 "I've just returned from the Club meeting! 
 You have been unanimously elected, Landon, 
 and Montaverde has been expelled for dishonor- 
 able practices against you ! 
 
 "You and Atwater must now drive around and 
 leave a card upon the officers and members. The 
 whole town is ringing with the Maspero tragedy ! 
 
 "His body has been removed by the Police
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 355 
 
 authorities! It's all in vain! The Cataldo is 
 demented! Poor devil! Italian jealousy is a 
 raging flood!" 
 
 In ten minutes, Hollingsworth understood the 
 wishes of the avengers. 
 
 "Let me handle all," he said. "Mrs. Hollings- 
 worth will come down here and take Mrs. At- 
 water up to dinner! I'll post Morgan! He will 
 be of our party! Keep your rooms here! I'll 
 send my man, Giuseppe, down here after dark 
 for your sacs de voyage ! 
 
 "While I go and post Morgan, arrange your 
 little affairs. Mrs. Hollingsworth will come 
 down daily to Mrs. Atwater in your absence! 
 
 "You must keep your rooms, Landon, and I'll 
 put you on the midnight train, in my carriage! 
 I'll go and get you through tickets and coupe lits 
 for Paris !" 
 
 In an hour, all was ready, and the three friends 
 drove around to the Cercle de Rome. 
 
 Colonel Atwater's name was duly put up as a 
 visitor, and Lieutenant Colonel Landon gravely 
 paid his initiation fees and a year's dues. 
 
 A half an hour was spent with the triumphant 
 Marquis di Pallavinci.
 
 356 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Poor devil!" he sighed. "Montaverde will 
 recover, but he is out of the pale, now ! I've no 
 doubt that Clark paid hard for his dirty work, 
 for, I learned to-day from the proprietor, that 
 Clark the dead Maspero, and this poor fool 
 Montaverde, used to have frequent nightly con- 
 claves at the Quirinale!" 
 
 The most startled woman in Rome was Mrs. 
 Mary Atwater when, after an evening of tri- 
 umphal celebration, her husband called her aside. 
 
 "Landon and I are going to run over to Paris 
 for four days! 
 
 "You are impounded in the care of Mrs. Hol- 
 lingsworth, and, no one is to know of our 
 absence! Charley Hollingsworth will be your 
 cicerone, and, so leave all to him!" 
 
 Mary Atwater's eyes filled with tears as she 
 threw her arms around her husband. 
 
 "Dear little woman!" he fondly said, as he 
 gave her a bear's hug. "Don't fret! This trip 
 gives Landon back to his regiment ! I shall tele- 
 graph to Hatcher to have the President appoint 
 him, at once!" 
 
 And, so, Mary Atwater smiled through her 
 tears as Colonel Atwater and Landon stole awav
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 357 
 
 at half past eleven with Hollingsworth and 
 Morgan. 
 
 "I'll send you all the news to Meurice's," said 
 Morgan. 
 
 "The sensation is growing hourly, and Min- 
 ister Hartford has been all afternoon at the Con- 
 sulate General, directing the inquisition into 
 Maspero's misdeeds! 
 
 "He has transferred all the Legation and Con- 
 sular deposits, 'and will have every governmental 
 account experted. I find that all the special de- 
 posits were made in Consul General Melville's 
 name, and these sly Italians must make good 
 everything withdrawn by Maspero. 
 
 "And, so, we are getting on famously. I am 
 getting from Lucia and Paolo the whole details 
 of Clark's villainy in using Maspero as a tool 
 to ruin Captain Landon as Vice Consul General." 
 
 Colonel Atwater gazed anxiously at Landon's 
 stern set face as the train rushed along to Mont 
 Cenis. The young soldier seemed to urge the 
 carriage forward with every movement of his 
 lithe, impatient body. 
 
 It was on the evening of the second day that 
 the two men stepped out of the fiacre at Meurice's
 
 358 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Hotel, and then, for the first time, Sidney Lan- 
 don spoke of their quest! 
 
 He personally dropped a letter into the official 
 box at the Hotel, addressed to Mrs. Gertrude 
 Melville, Grand Hotel, London, and, then sent 
 a carefully registered pacquet to the same address. 
 
 The two men gazed expectantly at each other 
 in the silence of Landon's room ! 
 
 "Let us lose no time," hoarsely said the young 
 lover. "He may get away! I would follow him 
 to Khamschatka rather than lose him now ! Here 
 is my will, and a few directions ! 
 
 "Just go down and put these in the Hotel safe, 
 and have Haddon call a covered carriage." 
 
 The old Colonel's face was as grim as when 
 he led his men into the hell of Spottsylvania, in 
 the bitter years when all the leaves of the Wilder- 
 ness were red with hearts' blood. 
 
 Landon started up at his return! 
 
 "What's your plan, Sidney?" asked the reso- 
 lute old veteran. 
 
 "Haddon will find, if he is in the Hotel 
 Athenee ! If he is, we will see him at once. 
 
 "If not, we can await his return in the court- 
 yard ; no one knows us there !
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 359 
 
 "I've given Jack Haddon, Clark's picture. I 
 got it at the photographer's in Rome! He will 
 mark our man down." 
 
 "And then?" queried Atwater. 
 
 "I want you to let him know who you are! / 
 will do the rest! I only wish you as a witness !" 
 
 "For God's sake! Sidney! Do nothing 
 rashly!" murmured the old Colonel. "Is this 
 fellow worth it?" 
 
 "Let us go!" wearily replied Landon. "I can- 
 not wait another moment!" 
 
 There was a silence in the carriage as the two 
 friends drove down into the Rue Scribe, and, at 
 the Grand Hotel corner, the carriage awaited the 
 return of Jack Haddon, who was an ordinary 
 tourist in appearance, in plain clothes. 
 
 It seemed an age, that fifteen minutes, till the 
 agile Briton returned. 
 
 " 'E's in the private card room, a-talkin' with 
 a couple of fellows ! 'E can't get away. It opens 
 out of the billiard room!" 
 
 "Very good" sternly said the master. "You 
 take the carriage up to the entrance of the court ! 
 You are to show us the billiard room quietly, and, 
 then wait in the carriage, in the court !"
 
 360 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 Five minutes later, the flaneurs in the billiard 
 hall of the Grand Hotel de 1'Athenee languidly 
 raised their heads as Colonel Atwater marched 
 stolidly along to the card room, followed by 
 Landon, stepping with a panther's springy tread. 
 His eyes were fixed and staring as he walked 
 along to meet his mortal enemy. 
 
 There were three men sitting in the little room 
 at a card table, whereon the glasses told of a con- 
 vivial function. 
 
 Rawdon Clark, haggard and fierce-eyed, 
 sprang up as Landon quietly closed the door. 
 
 Atwater started at the icy coldness of Sidney 
 Landon's voice. 
 
 '7 have come a thousand miles to see you," 
 he said, fixing his blazing eyes upon his enemy. 
 
 "This is Colonel Atwater, Commander of the 
 Grays ! You knoiv the Regiment well! We have 
 some business with you ! 
 
 "If you wish one of your friends to remain 
 as a witness, all right." 
 
 "We don't propose to move," cried the two 
 raffish looking fellows, in a truculent chorus. 
 
 "All the same, then" coolly replied Landon. 
 "First, let me tell you," he sharply said to Clark,
 
 STIR XOT, OX YOUR LIVES !" Page 362.
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 361 
 
 "your tool, spy and mail thief Signore Jacopo 
 Maspero, lies in the police dead house, at Rome, 
 killed by the woman you paid to betray Mel- 
 ville!" 
 
 Clark sprang back and made a motion! 
 
 "Don't drop that hand, sir!" harshly cried 
 Colonel Atwater, whose left hand was in his coat 
 pocket ! 
 
 There was an ominous silence as the watchful 
 Atwater moved closer up to Clark. 
 
 "You shall listen, sir!" he thundered. "I want 
 you to know," said Landon, with increasing 
 scorn, "that Maspero has confessed all, and 
 turned over to me the proofs of your unutterable 
 villainy!" 
 
 Clark glared around the circle! 
 
 "Northam and Witherspoon," he cried, "I want 
 you to bear witness to this pack of damned lies !" 
 
 Ignoring the millionaire's retort, Landon piti- 
 lessly resumed: 
 
 "I recovered from him the letters which you 
 paid him to steal, the originals, which you 
 could not buy!" 
 
 Clark grew white with rage, as Atwater's deep 
 voice broke in:
 
 362 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "And I forced from Mrs. Myra Brandon your 
 dirty farrago of lies, obtained through Wilmot 
 and Bolton! There's one letter that will make 
 'Black Bill' hunt you over the world ! / have all 
 these originals!" 
 
 Clark was cornered like a rat! His livid eyes 
 roved from Atwater to Landon. 
 
 He caught a gleam of encouragement from 
 his raffish guests, who were deceived by At- 
 water's grave sobriety of dress, and Landon's 
 still restrained patience. 
 
 "And so, you've come all the way here to bully 
 me about the girl you disgraced, and, Melville's 
 light-heeled wife." 
 
 There was the sound of a crash as Clark went 
 down before Sidney Landon's impetuous on- 
 slaught! But, accustomed to bar-room brawls, 
 the defeated scoundrel had leaped back! 
 
 He rose with a bound, his murderous eyes 
 showing the glee of taking the last trick ! There 
 was the lightning flash of the one idea possessing 
 him! 
 
 To cheat Fate by robbing Agnes Hawthorn 
 of the man whom she loved ! 
 
 His hand shot out, there was the gleam of
 
 THE DAY OF RECKONING. 363 
 
 silver steel and the triple click of a pistol lock, 
 but only a howl of pain succeeded that ominous 
 warning. 
 
 Miles Atwater had grasped the right hand of 
 the detected villain! 
 
 With one mighty effort, he bent the wrist back, 
 till the bones snapped, and Rawdon Clark, un- 
 masked and defeated, dropped into a chair! 
 
 "Stir not, on your lives!" cried Landon, as he 
 covered Witherspoon and Northam with his 
 pistol. 
 
 "Hear me, you lying dog!" mercilessly added 
 the young soldier. "You abused the woman 
 whom you pretended to love, with the foulest 
 suggestions! You wrote that anonymous letter 
 to Melville, for which he will cut your back to 
 tatters! You are helpless now, but, for the 
 wrong you have done, I will shoot you like a 
 rat if you ever cross my path again. Remember 
 this, you murderous brute! The letter you 
 tricked out of a foolish woman, goes to her hus- 
 band ! He will dog you do^vn like a wolf!" 
 
 "Take notice from me," broke in Atwater's 
 growling bass voice. "Prindle is out of the regi-
 
 364 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 ment! I shall certify to every one in Rome the 
 impossibility of your dirty lies about Landon! 
 
 "And, by God, your life will pay the penalty 
 if you abuse my regiment or an officer in it! 
 Find some corner of the world to hide yourself! 
 I have prevented Landon from killing you like 
 a coyote!" 
 
 The two men strode out without a glance at 
 the crestfallen schemer! But, the philosophic 
 Atwater had coolly picked up Clark's pistol and 
 quietly pocketed it! 
 
 The next day the Honorable Rawdon Clark 
 had vanished from Paris, and Colonel Atwater 
 was homeward bound to Rome. 
 
 Over in dingy London, a loving woman was 
 hiding in her snowy bosom a letter which said : 
 
 "I send her letter. Give it to her. Tell her 
 that I never received it! It was given over by 
 the dying thief who stole it! I only wait now 
 for the voice of the past ! 
 
 "Then, when Agnes Hawthorn has listened to 
 it, she will know why I could only speak to 
 her alone ! For, of all women on earth, she done 
 has the right to know!"
 
 CALLED BACK. 365 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CALLED BACK. 
 
 While Sidney Landon recovered his shaken 
 composure at the Hotel Meurice, Colonel Miles 
 Atwater stole away and sent an imperative cable- 
 gram to Major General Rufus Hatcher, Army 
 and Navy Club, Washington, D. C. 
 
 He, then, having dispatched the agile Haddon 
 to take his through place to Rome, via Mont 
 Cenis, spent the most of his leisure before train 
 time in the inditing of a carefully written dis- 
 patch to General Hatcher: 
 
 "We've got the boy sure, now, Rufus," he 
 gladly wrote, "and, / think, also, a valuable 
 recruit for the Grays. Go ahead and get the ap- 
 pointment. Cable me, care Consulate General, 
 Rome ! I am going to stay here and see the thing 
 through !" 
 
 The two army friends passed a solemn half 
 hour before Haddon reported the carriage ready. 
 The brisk valet had found time to dart over to 
 the Athenee. 
 
 "This 'ere millionaire chap has cut his stick!
 
 366 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 That's flat," was the report which quieted At- 
 water's apprehensions ! 
 
 "He is done for," quietly said Landon. "Your 
 character and presence as Commander of the 
 Grays kills his dirty gossip, and, he believes me. 
 I think, in my liberal proposition, to shoot 
 him at sight! 
 
 "But, Miles, he will have no chance! I beg 
 you to say nothing of my whereabouts. I shall 
 just have time to catch the steamer at Ches- 
 bourg! I'll run direct over to St. Louis. I'll 
 execute the necessary legal papers, see to the dis- 
 position of the estate, and, then, notify my law- 
 yers that I shall send Edwin Morgan over there 
 to take charge as my agent !" 
 
 "And, then?" anxiously demanded Miles At- 
 water. 
 
 "I shall come back to Rome, give Morgan 
 his instructions, definitely resign the Egyptian 
 service, and, probably buy a yacht, and, sail 
 around the world!" 
 
 "That's some of Wainwright's binnacle non- 
 sense, my boy," cried the old Colonel, affection- 
 ately putting his hand on Landon's shoulder. 
 
 "Don't you know you're the only son I have!
 
 CALLED BACK. 367 
 
 Promise me that you'll do nothing till you see 
 me!" 
 
 "How could I, you dear old grizzly bear?" 
 fondly replied the younger soldier. "There's 
 my hand on it! I promise! Don't you see that 
 I've got to come back for Morgan?" 
 
 "Morgan be blowed!" roared Miles, with an 
 effort at restraint. 
 
 "You'll come back to thank Mary Atwater for 
 patching you up when the Sioux left their little 
 marks upon your anatomy, for riding too far 
 ahead of your squadron!" 
 
 "Anyway" laughed Landon. "Love to them 
 that are at Rome, also !" 
 
 But, there was no dissembling when the train 
 pulled out! 
 
 " 'E's a regular out-an'-outer, is Colonel At- 
 water!" ventured Haddon. "Salt of the earth, 
 sir ! D'ye know, 'e went himself an' got Colonel 
 Stanton to telegraph to London to the Horse 
 Guards for my full pardon, an', it's on the way, 
 so I needn't hide now from Her Brittanic 
 Majesty's stray Sergeant Majors!" 
 
 Landon spent his last three hours in Paris in 
 "literary exercises." They were vain attempts to
 
 368 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 produce a satisfactory letter to be read by Miss 
 Agnes Hawthorn, Grand Hotel, London. 
 
 After tearing up some twenty, the young 
 cavalryman at last dispatched the briefest one. 
 
 Its announcement that he was going upon a 
 secret business visit of a month to America was 
 followed by the simple statement that he would 
 return to Rome to close up his affairs. 
 
 "I shall come back to Europe, if only to see 
 you. Think all the past over, and remember that 
 I have only asked for your faith in my honor! 
 You will receive from me, on my return, the story 
 of which even the Atwaters have been ignorant! 
 1 can say to you that there will be no one in Rome 
 to annoy you, for the one who insulted you and 
 maligned me, has disappeared, never to return. 
 
 "Colonel Atwater can explain to you why! 
 Suffice it to say, that he has been detected and 
 betrayed by his spy Maspero on his wretched 
 deathbed." ' 
 
 Sidney Landon had reached New York on the 
 fleet "Ville de Paris," before Colonel Miles At- 
 water's letter from Rome fully enlightened 
 Arthur Melville as to the occurrences in Paris. 
 
 It was only after perusing Mrs. Mary At- 
 water's private epistle, that the heiress and her 
 "other soul" felt free to return to the banks of
 
 CALLED BACK. 369 
 
 the Seine, for the completion of that magnifi- 
 cent wardrobe, in which dazzling war paint, Miss 
 Hawthorn was to be presented at Her Majesty's 
 First Drawing Room. 
 
 A fortnight in Paris exhausted Arthur Mel- 
 ville's leave, and Miss Hawthorn, under escort of 
 the wife of the First Secretary of our English 
 Legation, departed again for London, with that 
 serene self consciousness which Worth and Pin- 
 gat, alone, can give! 
 
 "Far above rubies" is woman's confidence in 
 correct gowns, and, Agnes Hawthorn, now 
 subject to certain varying palpitations of tfoe 
 heart, was, all in all, a fond and loving woman. 
 
 In all her letters from the Atwaters, in all 
 her daily life with the Melvilles, the name of Sid- 
 ney Landon was artfully tabooed, it was avoid- 
 ed as gracefully as the ocean greyhound swerves 
 away from the ominous iceberg. 
 
 And, yet, withal, a cheerful patience seemed 
 to possess even Forrest Grimes, who had chival- 
 rously acted as "Big Brother" and Emeritus valet 
 de place, both in London and Paris. 
 
 He had taken a run over to Paris to say "Good- 
 bye" to honest Frank Hatton, who had been sum- 
 
 24
 
 370 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 moned home to Philadelphia to take the responsi- 
 ble promotion of Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the 
 Philadelphia Mail. 
 
 It was only after telegraphing Colonel Atwater, 
 in urgent terms, that Hatton received Sidney 
 Landon's American address. 
 
 And, Grimes, as well as Atwater, now knew 
 that Rawdon Clark had suddenly sold, to an un- 
 known buyer, his overshadowing interest in the 
 Philadelphia Mail. 
 
 "Flail no longer, thank God," said Frank 
 Hatton, as the two men conferred over Colonel 
 Atwater's letter, telling them of Rawdon Clark's 
 miserable villainy, and the open disgrace of the 
 Paris fracas! 
 
 "He's off for Timbuctoo or Kalamazoo!" 
 cheerfully remarked Grimes. 
 
 "I fancy the dog has had his day !" 
 
 And, when Grimes put Hatton on the "Pom- 
 erania," at Havre, he knew that Sidney Landon, 
 on his way back, had agreed to meet Hatton for 
 one day in Philadelphia. 
 
 "It looks as if the clouds had rolled around at 
 last, Frank," mused the overjoyed Grimes. 
 "And, the silver lining begins to flash out! I
 
 CALLED BACK. 371 
 
 wonder if we shall ever meet again in the Eve- 
 less Paradise! Who knows!" 
 
 "Not as we were," sighed Hatton. "We will 
 find Sidney Landon a deserter, for I believe in 
 his next Paradise, Mademoiselle Eve will be 
 very much 'en evidence.' ' 
 
 "And, as for me," he demurely confessed, "I 
 have a little woman in Philadelphia who has 
 already written to me that five thousand a year 
 is enough 'for two!'' 
 
 "Go to! Go to!" gaily cried Grimes. "They 
 go, the festive cusses go! Remember! I'm not 
 chary of my silverware! 
 
 "And so, I will be left to dance in the silk 
 stockings and play Pontifex Maximus to the 
 light-headed and light-hearted boys of the Eve- 
 less Paradise." 
 
 As the great steamer swung around, Frank 
 Hatton, going home to a richer life and a waiting 
 love, never thought, as he waved his farewells, 
 that the stern self reliant man, left alone on the 
 cheerless granite quay, was breathing a prayer 
 for the loved and lost in fond memories "of one 
 remembered sunny head," which had so long been
 
 372 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 lying low, pillowed in death under the whispering 
 grasses of the Golden State! 
 
 It was seven weeks from the day of Colonel 
 Atwater's farewell to Sidney Landon, when the 
 Melvilles, the Hollingsworths and Mrs. Miles At- 
 water were gathered at the railway station in 
 Rome, in answer to an adroitly prearranged tele- 
 gram of the alert Jack Haddon. 
 
 Sidney Landon's face flushed as he stepped 
 from the train, and was enfolded in the vigorous 
 bear hug of the delighted old veteran! 
 
 "You rascal" cried Landon, as his man darted 
 out, to rescue the luggage from the uniformed 
 Italian banditti of the railway! 
 
 "This is your work!" 
 
 "Never mind whose work it is !" cried Colonel 
 Atwater! "You will see all my guests at the 
 Hotel de Russie!" 
 
 And, much stir was there in Rome over the 
 triumphal procession of three carriages, while 
 valet Haddon hid his diminished head, and yet 
 was overjoyed at the envelope which Colonel At- 
 water thrust into his hand ! 
 
 Her Majesty's formal pardon was accentuated 
 by a crisp 10 note!
 
 CALLED BACK. 373 
 
 A bit of moisture dimmed the merry scape- 
 grace's eyes as he murmured: 
 
 "God bless the dear old buffer ! An' he hasn't 
 got such a lot of them there engravings to throw 
 away!" 
 
 Mrs. Mary Atwater, for once in her life, proved 
 herself a true daughter of Eve as she triumphantly 
 sat alone with the returning wanderer! 
 
 With artful carelessness, Landon listened, in 
 the long drive, to news of every one, including 
 the wretched aftermath of Maspero's crimes and 
 the crucial official examination of the Consulate 
 General's affairs ! 
 
 One person only was forgotten, and, that 
 charming person, strangely, was Miss Agnes 
 Hawthorn ! 
 
 Landon was nervously restless, while his gen- 
 tle tormentor mused : 
 
 "My dear wayward boy, you would ride un- 
 answered to the Alps with me! No information 
 shall be volunteered as to the golden-haired god- 
 dess ! Love must find out its own way !" 
 
 And, Landon gazed out upon dingy Rome and 
 held his peace, k>r he could hear the tell-tale beat- 
 ing of his heart.
 
 374 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 The sudden ushering of Landon into a banquet 
 hall, decorated with the beloved colors of his 
 country, and graced with the gallant guidons of 
 the "Grays," in which, "K" troop's battle-stained 
 silken banner held the proudest place, unmanned 
 the young soldier. 
 
 He sat at the right of the steadfast Mary At- 
 water, when the old Colonel called the guests to 
 order ! 
 
 "This is a strictly military assemblage," the vet- 
 eran said, "and, so, I claim obedience from all! 
 I am both the oldest and the ugliest!" 
 
 With a ringing voice, he read an official order 
 of the War Department, reciting the appointment 
 of Sidney Landon, late Captain U. S. Cavalry, 
 to be Major in a certain distinguished staff corps. 
 
 The surprised young visitor sprang to his feet, 
 in astonishment, only to drop, overcome, in his 
 chair, when Mrs. Atwater handed him a sealed 
 official envelope. 
 
 It contained his transfer as Major from the 
 staff to his old Regiment. 
 
 "March up, now, sir," whispered the army 
 wife, through her happy tears, "and, salute your 
 Colonel!"
 
 CALLED BACK. 375 
 
 Landon mused as in a dream, until he faced the 
 grizzled old warrior, who muttered : 
 
 "It was the only way we could find to rake you 
 in, my boy, and, so prevent you becoming a 
 nautical globe trotter, if that's not an Irish 
 bull! 
 
 "See that you swear in to-morrow, and cable 
 your acceptance to the War Department ! You've 
 got two months' leave, and, we will take you 
 along with us !" 
 
 Somebody's eyes were very dim as a hidden 
 orchestra broke out in the old Regimental march, 
 which had been Landon's lullaby as he laid long 
 years before, maimed with the Sioux bullets! 
 
 The dinner was positively a riotous one, and, 
 yet, neither Gertrude Melville nor Elaine Hol- 
 lingsworth could catch the newly made Major's 
 wandering eye! 
 
 The man who feared nothing, had become 
 strangely timid. 
 
 It was only when Edwin Morgan entered, as 
 if by chance, with a huge packet of mail, that 
 Landon became alert and uneasy! 
 
 Rapidly scanning the accumulated pile, he grew
 
 376 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 pale as he noted one, which, covered with stamps, 
 bore the postmarks of California's metropolis. 
 
 The ladies had retired under the artful 
 guidance of Mrs. Atwater, when the Colonel led 
 Landon aside into a little alcove! 
 
 ''Sidney, my boy," he said, as his voice trem- 
 bled. ''Read this cable from General Hatcher, 
 and, bless God for such a friend ! Now, in all 
 your triumphs of the hour, I ask but one favor. 
 I wish you to give me those two letters of poor 
 Dora Prindle's. 
 
 "Here's a letter from 'Black Bill.' He writes 
 me from his modest country home, for, he is now 
 retired for life on two-thirds pay. I'll read it, 
 all that you should know." The words touched 
 Landon's heart: 
 
 "Atwater, I have tried for four years to find 
 out who was hounding down Captain Landon, 
 with the anonymous letters and accusations which 
 have been the regimental mystery ! I always ad- 
 mired Landon as a soldier ! He will tell you so, 
 and you know it! I was always kind to him, 
 since the days when he joined us, a rosy gradu- 
 ated cadet ! And, by God, poor as I am, if I can 
 serve him, or clear his honor, I'll come over the 
 ocean to tell any one living, that Landon's 
 whole life with the Regiment was vuithout a stain! 
 
 "The Grays had twenty years of the best of my
 
 CALLED BACK. 377 
 
 life, they're sadly changed now, our dead lie 
 scattered in five new states. Landon has been 
 worried out of the army, poor Murray Raynor 
 is the last to fall under the Indian rifle, and, 
 my day is done! 
 
 "I'll never jump at the sound of 'Boots and 
 Saddles' again! But, tell Landon that I'll cross 
 the sea to unearth the liars who vilified him, and 
 that's all old 'Black Bill' can do !" 
 
 Landon's head was bowed upon his hands. 
 
 "It has been the sacrifice of a life! Poor old 
 man! Colonel! I have all the proofs here !" He 
 tapped his breast! "And, when one person has 
 seen them, I'll then give you Dora Prindle's let- 
 ters to destroy! Poor, brave old 'Black Bill/ 
 must never know of his wife's disgrace." 
 
 The Colonel, with "one person" in his mind, 
 raised a joyous shout! 
 
 When all the rest came trooping in, the veteran 
 filled Landon's glass to overflowing. 
 
 "Let us drink to the absent," he cried, and 
 Major Sidney Landon's glass trembled as the 
 hidden orchestra played softly, "Some day, you'll 
 call me back again!" 
 
 There was no danger of a sentimental revul- 
 sion, for, for the first time since his graduation. 
 Colonel Miles Atwater deliberately began to sing,
 
 378 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "Benny Havens, oh !" a performance of such un- 
 usual musical merit that the sweet-voiced women 
 all joined in and drowned the old soldier's leonine 
 roar in a flood of soaring melody. 
 
 It was Morgan who handed Colonel Atwater 
 a cablegram just brought up by the host, in pro- 
 pria personal 
 
 This voluble Boniface had mentally decided 
 that all the Americans were crazy, but, good 
 paymasters, and, so unsuspecting sheep to be 
 closely sheared. 
 
 "There you are, vale Rawdon Clark!" mut- 
 tered Atwater, as he handed Major Landon the 
 telegram. 
 
 It brought the blood leaping, flame-like, into 
 Landon's cheeks. It was from Frank Hatton at 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 "United States Court has decided against 
 Clark. Elkhorn Mine found to be on opposing 
 company's ground. Order out for Clark's arrest. 
 The surveyors have all turned State's evidence 
 and confessed. Clark is a bankrupt and fugitive. 
 He sailed for South America a week ago, with 
 the woman who was his go-between in the crime. 
 Full particulars in Associated Press." 
 
 Major Landon drew Morgan aside.
 
 CALLED BACK. 379 
 
 "I shall need you all day to-morrow," he said. 
 "I will borrow you from Melville." 
 
 And then he timidly drew near to Gertrude 
 Melville. 
 
 He led that radiant young matron aside, and 
 explained to her his desire to convey "a certain 
 letter of great importance" to a certain person in 
 London! 
 
 "I wish your advice," he said. "I could not 
 risk losing it ! My honor depends upon it! And 
 you know, you can guess why that I can not 
 go and deliver it, myself!" 
 
 The gentle dissembler at his side dropped her 
 eyes in a sudden confusion. 
 
 "Don't go, Sidney don't send!" she shame- 
 facedly said. 
 
 "That person will arrive here, as my guest in 
 three days! You know that all roads lead to 
 Rome!" 
 
 Major Landon raised her two little white 
 hands and kissed them fondly. 
 
 "You are not an angel," he said, "only the next 
 thing to one, the dearest woman in the world!" 
 
 "Except one" remarked Gertrude Melville, as 
 she evaded further colloquy. "Come to me to-
 
 380 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 morrow at eleven! Give it to me then. And 
 she shall receive it at my hands." 
 
 When the happy party broke up, Major Lan- 
 don had learned of the sudden departure of the 
 Brandons for Venice ! 
 
 The social atmosphere had been murky around 
 the Art Exchange, and the greens, reds and yel- 
 lows now glared upon the walls of an old palazzo 
 on the Canal Grande ! 
 
 Some invisible spirit led the excited Landon 
 out of the hotel in the silence of the night to com- 
 mune with himself! He wandered on and on, 
 until, with a start, he paused, as the plashing 
 waters of the Fountain of Trevi recalled him ! 
 
 The great, white, silent stars were gleaming 
 down on the shimmering pool as the lonely man 
 tossed a coin into the darkening waters! 
 It flashed yellow in the moonlight ! 
 "/ wonder if gold will break the charm," he 
 murmured ; "for, I have gold now ! 
 
 "The unearned increment, the concrete force 
 of the world, the lever of power, the minister 
 of pleasure !" 
 
 And many old dreams he dreamed over as he 
 slowly retraced his steps.
 
 CALLED BACK. 381 
 
 There was a sensation at the Consulate Gen- 
 eral the next day, when it was vaguely noised 
 about that Mr. Edwin Morgan, Deputy Vice Con- 
 sul General, had abruptly resigned his post and 
 would leave at once for America. 
 
 "A result of the office scandals," cried all the 
 loungers at the American Club, but, only Atwater, 
 Melville and the suddenly enriched Major, 
 knew that, to use the vernacular Edwin Morgan 
 had "dropped into a good thing." 
 
 Major Landon deliberately "sported the oak" 
 for three long days, though his table was deeply 
 covered with cards and invitations! 
 
 The pendulum of social favor had swung once 
 more, and the most romantic tales of his adven- 
 tures en Pasha floated from club to drawing-room 
 and all over Rome! 
 
 He did not even approach the Palazzo Vecchio, 
 where he certainly had a free field, for Arthur 
 Melville, was now an extremist in the official 
 supervision of his office! 
 
 The "painting light" allured him in vain ! 
 
 But, Major Landon was seen on the Corso, 
 in the Borghese Gardens, on the Pincian, at 
 the opera and theater under the gracefully in-
 
 382 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 nocuous escort of Mrs. Atwater and that dashing 
 matron, Mrs. Elaine Hollingsworth. 
 
 When besieged by the gossips, Charley Hol- 
 lingsworth only "winked the other eye," and said 
 nothing. 
 
 The Princess Branci forte was in town and, 
 moreover, he was the escort of Mrs. Melville, 
 and that returned Queen of Beauty, Miss Agnes 
 Hawthorn, who was, however, a mere "bird of 
 passage," en route for her beloved Vienna. 
 
 But, behind the flimsy drapery of this social 
 masking, there was an undercurrent like the 
 solemn Greek chorus of old. 
 
 Agnes Hawthorn, alone, in Gertrude Melville's 
 shaded boudior, feared to look at her own blush- 
 ing face in the great pier glass, as she read the 
 letter addressed to her by the widowed mother 
 of Ethel Raynor. 
 
 The very address, "My dear child," had 
 touched her heart ! General Hartwell's relict had 
 neither kith nor kin, since her only daughter, 
 Ethel Raynor, had laid down her tired head to 
 rest under the violets of San Rafael. 
 
 "I can tell you, my dear child," she wrote, 
 "of the cruel work a wicked woman's bitter-
 
 CALLED BACK. 383 
 
 hearted gossip. It was this heartless meddling 
 which darkened two lives. 
 
 "General Hartwell took me to visit West Paint, 
 after the war, when my only child, Ethel, was 
 seventeen. 
 
 "Young Landon was a gallant boy, the Cadet 
 Adjutant, the pride of his class, and soon, in 
 the chivalric way of the dear old Alma Mater, 
 he became romantically attached to Ethel! 
 
 "Graduating hop, parades, and flirtation walks 
 found them together! I little dreamed of the 
 growing devotion of the young soldier, and the 
 awakening of a girlish love in my dear child's 
 heart, then, unfolding like a flower ! 
 
 "But, General Hartwell was both keen-eyed 
 and sternly ambitious! 
 
 "He whisked us away over to Europe! In 
 three years, Ethel grew into womanhood. She 
 had forgotten the impulsive young cadet sweet- 
 heart, save only to remember him as a graceful 
 friend of those girlish days. 
 
 "Landon was graduated and, away, winning his 
 spurs on the frontier! 
 
 "My husband was a masterful man! It was 
 in accordance with his ambition and love of pros-
 
 384 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 pective rank that Ethel married Major Murray 
 Raynor, who was rich, gallant and respected. 
 
 "He was congenial, of a fine family, and, with 
 an especially fortunate future as to promotion. 
 
 "Alas ! After the marriage, that promotion to 
 the Major carried him into the Grays ! 
 
 "And, then, some fiend in human form, who 
 knew of Landon's cadet life, found a means of 
 mean revenge. 
 
 "Gossip, bitter stories, anonymous letters, 
 tales, and every veiled method of at- 
 tack drove Murray Raynor nearly crazy. 
 
 "My child withered under the brutal persecu- 
 tion. 
 
 "I feared even a collision between the men, for 
 Captain Landon's grave, distant courtesy was 
 held to be a covert means of hiding an intrigue 
 disgraceful to the regiment. 
 
 "Major Raynor sent his wife home to me to 
 escape these slanders. The old cadet-time was 
 painted in lurid colors. No one could prove who 
 the author was, though many suspected some 
 regimental rivalry to be the cause. 
 
 "Alas! Captain Landon was ordered out here 
 on recruiting duty, and in the Major's absence.
 
 CALLED BACK. 385 
 
 "The anonymous letters and army gossip be- 
 came even more bitter! It was only after my 
 husband's death! I brought the two men to- 
 gether in my presence. 
 
 "They, God bless them, understood all the hon- 
 orable memories of the past ! 
 
 "With a manly gallantry, Captain Landon 
 transferred to another regiment ! It was too late! 
 My darling Ethel sickened under the vulgar abuse 
 which continued. Her name was soiled her 
 gentle heart broken. 
 
 "Landon's transfer was now held up as a flight, 
 forced by fear of discovery and of Murray 
 Raynor's revenge ! 
 
 "When my poor darling died, Major Raynor 
 was away on the Terry campaign in the Yellow- 
 stone. 
 
 "And, sad at heart, I learned from a friend 
 on the Rio Grande that Captain Landon abruptly 
 left the army, shocked by the needless tragedy 
 of my dear child's death! 
 
 "Had Major Raynor been with us, when we 
 laid the light of my life away, he would have led 
 Landon to his wife's grave as a brother, mourn- 
 ing with him! 
 
 25
 
 386 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 "And, then, after Landon's abrupt resignation, 
 the stories still pursued him! 
 
 "They made Major Raynor a heart-broken 
 misanthrope! He madly threw his lonely life 
 away in desperate foolhardy valor, in the Nez 
 Perce fight! 
 
 "And, now, when you read this, know what 
 woman's inhumanity to woman can be! God 
 alone knows whose wicked heart pursued these 
 three unhappy people. I never visited the regi- 
 ment, and so am ignorant of any cause. 
 
 "I go soon to my darling. I shall pray God 
 to bless Landon for the delicate manliness which 
 led him to give up his own cherished Regiment 
 to remove even the suspicion of nearness to the 
 dear woman for whom he had cherished only the 
 ardent school-boy fancy of a West Point cadet! 
 The blow was directed at him, I know, for 
 the lies and scandal have followed him out of the 
 army, and long after Ethel Raynor had been 
 wrapped in God's own rest and peace ! And, when 
 I know that Captain Landon has been hounded 
 into other lands by this undying malignity, that 
 these merciless lies have shaded your fair young 
 life, this knowledge, alone, makes me write you,
 
 CALLED BACK. 387 
 
 that your young heart be troubled not! May 
 God grant that I meet you, together, before I 
 leave this weary world, and to know that, over 
 my daughter's grave, I can proudly tell you Sid- 
 ney Landon has been a mirror of chivalry, a 
 pilgrim of honor and a silent sufferer, rather than 
 shade a woman's name by openly revenging 
 wrongs that could be traced to no man's hand. 
 
 "I fear that I do know whose hand dealt the 
 blow, in sheer envy of Ethel, and, may God 
 forgive her!" 
 
 Gertrude Melville wondered not, when the or- 
 phaned heiress threw her arms around her, and 
 cried : 
 
 "/ must see him! And, I owe my life to him ! 
 I have made him so wretched! Listen, Gert- 
 rude!" 
 
 She read one sentence. 
 
 "Here is what Ethel Raynor s mother writes to 
 me: 
 
 "The dead Ethel Raynor's widowed mother 
 shall make clear Sidney Landon's honor to you, 
 for the sake of the beloved child, now taken 
 away from me, who only knew him in the gen- 
 tle glamour of a girlish fancy, the woman whom
 
 388 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 he chivalrously protected, with a useless devo- 
 tion, which has cast him out of the army !" 
 
 "I have ruined Sidney Landon's happiness," 
 cried the golden-haired orphan. 
 
 "Do the best you can to repair the wrong!" 
 demurely answered the lovely matron. 
 
 "Will you trust to me ! I know now, from Mrs. 
 Atwater, that he fears your wealth no more !" 
 
 And, then, Agnes Hawthorn, in crimson 
 blushes, bowed her head, and fled away to read, 
 once more, Sidney Landon's letter: 
 
 "You, alone, of all women in the world have 
 the right to know the whole truth." 
 
 It was on the following evening that Gertrude 
 Melville enticed her pensive guest into her car- 
 riage for a drive under the silvery light of the 
 pale moon, looking down upon the stern old hills 
 where countless human tragedies have hallowed 
 the still enchanted ground. 
 
 Agnes Hawthorn was silent! She cared not 
 whither her hostess was leading her, and, neither 
 spoke until the carriage halted before the gate- 
 way of the church of San Sebastian. 
 
 There was a tall form waiting there, and, 
 silently, the trembling girl took the stranger's
 
 CALLED BACK. 389 
 
 arm, for a voice which had been echoing in her 
 heart for months softly said: 
 
 "Let us listen, once more, to the song of the 
 tvaters!" 
 
 They stood alone, there together, by the brim- 
 ming basin, filled with its floating stars, for Mrs. 
 Gertrude Melville had strangely vanished! 
 
 Sidney Landon, turning his head, fancied that 
 he saw the martial figure of his beloved Colonel, 
 hidden there in the somber shade of the wall's 
 deepest angle. 
 
 Major Landon took the hand of the silent 
 woman, and kissed it with a fervor which belied 
 his calmness. 
 
 " 'Agnes," he softly said. "I carried your vio- 
 lets on my heart, in all the mad rush of that wild 
 massacre of Gura! 
 
 "I sent back to you the letter which never 
 reached me, the letter which the dying thief re- 
 turned to me, through Melville, only when the 
 terrors of the Church assailed him, upon his 
 death bed! 
 
 "I have not yet read the letter which you des- 
 tined as an answer to my heart's one prayer! 
 And,, here, now, beside the faithful fountain
 
 390 CAPTAIN LANDON. 
 
 dear to lovers, I ask you to tell me of that letter !" 
 
 The beautiful woman smiled up at him, through 
 her happy tears ! 
 
 "You alone, of all the world, Sidney," she said, 
 in a voice soft as the falling dews of night, 
 "you alone had the right to that knowledge ! I 
 told you, Sidney, to come,' to come to me, 
 here, at Rome, that I would believe your sim- 
 ple word against the whole world" her voice 
 faltered, as she placed both her slender hands in 
 his ardent grasp, "and, now, I bid you, stay!" 
 
 "There was but one barrier built by pride, my 
 own darling," the soldier whispered ; "but a jug- 
 gling Fate has sent me riches unasked! And, 
 now, as I go back under the silken banners to 
 bear the honorable burden of a soldier's life, I 
 ask you, will you be my wife?" 
 
 The noble beauty of the orphan's face thrilled 
 him, as she proudly said: 
 
 "Wherever the road leads, we will walk, please 
 God, side by side and bear the burden of life 
 together. / demand the right to atone!" 
 
 In some strange way, they found themselves, 
 with Colonel Atwater and Mrs. Gertrude Mel-
 
 CALLED BACK. 391 
 
 ville gazing upon the two, who seemed glorified 
 in that mystic fairy moonlight ! 
 
 "// / mistake not" tenderly said the veteran, 
 as he laid his fatherly hand upon the fair woman's 
 stately head, "the Grays have gained a new re- 
 cruit, and one who needs a world of Regi- 
 mental training!" 
 
 And, the old Colonel opened his arms, for 
 Agnes laid her head upon his bosom. 
 
 "It is time to go down and report at Head 
 Quarters" the Colonel dryly remarked. 
 
 "And, I give you my first and only order ! See 
 that it be not long until you are sworn into 
 'Ours!'" 
 
 And, the spirit of the singing waters blessed 
 them as they went away. 
 
 THE END.
 
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