I I 1 1 1 1 I I I 1 1 I I I 1 1 i 1 1 
 
 THE UPPER 
 CRUST 
 
 CHARLES 
 SHERMAN 
 
 n i i i .n-n-rT-n i r
 
 jg^^^L^
 
 'Molly, Molly," he whispered.
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 By 
 CHARLES SHERMAN 
 
 Author of 
 He Comes Up Smiling 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 
 
 ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT 1913 
 THE BOBBS- MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Pc 
 
 Chapter 1 
 
 I To THE MONEY BORN 
 
 II IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 III BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 IV A SLIGHT MISTAKE ... 
 V Two DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 VI THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 VII BILLS, BILLS, BILLS . . 
 
 VIII CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 IX ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS .... 
 
 X A WOMAN'* JOKE 207 
 
 775 
 
 XI THE STRANGER 
 
 044 
 XII SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 XIII WHEN You ARE POOR 267 
 
 XIV A WOMAN'S REASON 287 
 
 4 
 
 XV LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 uf> 
 XVI MOLLY DARLING 
 
 344 
 
 IXVII SUSPICION 
 
 XVIII THE WEAK LINK 
 
 XIX WITH ALL HER FAULTS 389
 
 THE UPPER CRUST
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 AGERNON adjusted his single eye-glass and 
 gazed pensively into the rose-garden where 
 his mother's maid, with Irish blue eyes and a bit of 
 a brogue, was gathering roses for her mistress to 
 take to the hospital on her daily charitable round. 
 Mrs. Todd sat at her desk and regarded her son's 
 back with stern disapproval. She was talking and 
 emphasizing each of her remarks with a little rap of 
 the paper-cutter. 
 
 "No wonder life is a burden to you, Algernon." 
 "It isn't, mama," returned Algernon cheerfully, 
 reassuringly. "Wealth," he added with gentle elo- 
 quence, turning a moment from his contemplation 
 of the girl in the sunshine among the roses to re- 
 gard his mother in mild benevolence, "wealth is the 
 express wagon for most of the burdens of life." 
 
 Mrs. Todd frowned. "That is precisely my objec- 
 tion, Algernon, to your way of living. You think 
 
 I
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 because you have wealth that nothing is required 
 of you." 
 
 "Nothing is, mama, but my wealth," and Alger- 
 non heaved a gentle sigh. 
 
 "You know that that is not so, Algernon. Even 
 if you are rich, you are a man and the world re- 
 quires you to play the part of one. You should have 
 something to live for and work for, something worth 
 while. You dawdle time away like so much rubbish. 
 Why should your life, you, yourself, be absolutely 
 worthless just because your parents are rich? 
 You are thoroughly lazy, Algernon, just as lazy as 
 one of these tramps you can see any day, sleeping 
 by the roadside. There is no difference between you. 
 They refuse to work and so do you. You are as 
 worthless as they are. Can't you see it? Can't you 
 feel it? I am very firm about this, Algernon, for it 
 touches me so deeply." 
 
 "That's a deuced pretty girl," said Algernon. 
 "Jove, mama, I admire a pretty face." 
 
 "Algernon, have you been listening to me?" 
 
 "Yes, indeed. Heard every word you said. If 
 you are through, I think I shall do as the song says, 
 go gather the rosebuds while I may." And hum- 
 ming softly, he fumbled with the latch of the French 
 window. 
 
 2
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 Mrs. Todd prided herself on her self-control. 
 "Algernon," said she coldly, politely suppressed, "if 
 it will not interfere with your pleasure too much, I 
 simply request that you kindly wait until I am 
 through talking with you." 
 
 Algernon turned sweetly. "That's all ' right, 
 mama. Don't apologize. I would just as lief wait 
 as not." He removed his glass, wiped it carefully 
 and replaced it with a contented sigh. 
 
 "Algernon, I would like your entire attention. 
 Kindly take that chair and stop ogling my maid." 
 
 Algernon sank into a more comfortable chair than 
 the one his mother indicated, tucked some pillows 
 behind his back and smiled sweetly, cheerfully. "I 
 shall take this one if you do not mind," said he. 
 "And if it is all the same to you, mama, I shall smoke 
 and then we shall both be comfortable and can enjoy 
 a long chat." He drew out a little gold cigarette 
 case, selected a cigarette with great care, lighted it 
 and leaned back. "Ah," he sighed contentedly, 
 "cigarettes and being in love, which is the more fas- 
 cinating? But go on, mama. You were saying?" 
 
 "I was saying that you are thoroughly lazy and 
 shiftless," snapped the good lady. "Algernon, why 
 don't you make something of yourself and your op- 
 portunities?" 
 
 3
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon waved his hand. "That is just the trou- 
 ble, mama, I have no opportunities. An opportunity 
 is simply the chance to make money or obtain fame. 
 I have all the money I want, and what is fame?" 
 He half closed his eyes, wafted a little cloud of 
 smoke upward and smiled thoughtfully as it hung 
 in mid-air, a perfect ring, before slowly disappear- 
 ing. 
 
 "Tell me, Algernon, in what way are you any bet- 
 ter than one of the toughs you see on the benches 
 in the park warm afternoons, while his poor wife is 
 taking in washing so the lout can have money for his 
 tobacco ?" 
 
 "Give it up," said Algernon. "I was never strong 
 on conundrums." 
 
 "I am serious, Algernon. Please do me the honor 
 of being so, too. Your flippancy is uncalled for. 
 This is the most important time of your life, the 
 time when you can choose your future, can take 
 what road you want. Later, it will be impossible. 
 You will have to follow for good or evil the path 
 you choose now, in your youth. If you have no am- 
 bition for yourself, I ask you to have some for me. 
 I want to see you something more than a lazy good- 
 for-nothing nonenity like the rest of the crowd you 
 persist in going with. Have you no ambition?" 
 
 4
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 "It is so warm. In winter I am ambitious, mama, 
 and you know it. Last winter I made the polo team 
 in southern California and the winter before I won 
 the pennant in the Florida-Bermuda races. Some 
 fellows go in for summer sports, I know, but just 
 as soon as it gets warm, I lose all desire to shine." 
 
 "You know quite well that I do not mean any of 
 those things, Algernon. Sport is only the rich man's 
 excuse to kill time. By ambition, I mean the desire 
 to do something fine that will bring honor to our 
 name and will give me reason to be proud of you." 
 
 "What do you want me to do?" asked Algernon, 
 politely concealing a yawn behind his long white 
 hand. 
 
 "Get a place in the office, write, take an interest 
 in the political affairs of the day. Do something, 
 anything, that men are doing, and stop imitating 
 bums and hoboes." 
 
 "If I entered the office, I would cut some poor 
 devil out of a job who needed it more than I do." 
 
 "Write, then." 
 
 "What shall I write? A sonnet to a tumbled mass 
 of soft black hair and eyes of limpid blue?" and Al- 
 gernon, knocking the ashes from the end of his 
 cigarette, glanced toward the garden. But the place 
 was now deserted save for the roses and the bees. 
 
 5
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Mrs. Todd rose, displeasure and disapproval on 
 her sweet, little, flushed face. She glanced at her 
 watch, gathered up her papers and moved toward 
 the door. "I am seriously displeased with you, Al- 
 gernon," said she. "I thought that after you re- 
 turned from California we should talk things over 
 and come to some agreement. You have had a year 
 of fun, and though you only came home last night, 
 there is no reason why we should put the talk off. 
 But when I am serious, you are flippant; when I am 
 anxious about your future with a mother's anxiety, 
 you make a jest of it. Look at me. I am a busy con- 
 tented woman. Why ? Because I have a serious pur- 
 pose in life. I do not fool away all my time at the 
 card-table. I am a member of several very worthy 
 clubs to help the working girls and poor children." 
 "I know," interrupted Algernon gently, "but why 
 the clubs?" 
 
 "Why the clubs ?" repeated his mother. 
 "Yes. What need are they ?" 
 "Why, Algernon, to help, to assist " 
 "I know, mama. But why can't you personally 
 just give? Then you wouldn't be tempted to think 
 so much about what both your hands are doing at 
 once, according to the secretary's minutes." 
 
 6
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 "Why, Algernon, that's ridiculous. There have to 
 be clubs. Every one belongs to a club. You have to 
 if you want to do good." 
 
 "What club did Christ belong to ?" asked Alger- 
 non, leaning forward. 
 
 Mrs. Todd flushed. "Algernon," said she sternly, 
 "you are sacrilegious and I can not stand it." 
 
 Algernon sighed wearily and leaned back among 
 the cushions of his chair. "Excuse me, mama. You 
 were saying " 
 
 "I was saying how I spend my time. I read and 
 keep up with all the big questions of the day. I 
 study Spanish and horticulture, and still have time 
 to go to concerts and lectures and the opera. I eat 
 well, sleep well and feel like a young girl. Look 
 at yourself, older and more blase than your mother, 
 tired with life before it has more than begun. I tell 
 you, Algernon, if you do a man's work in the world, 
 you will feel like a boy. I am going now to visit a 
 hospital I am interested in. My maid," she added 
 sternly, "goes with me. When I return, we shall dis- 
 cuss this more thoroughly. I have made up my 
 mind, very firmly, Algernon, that something must 
 be done. If you do not care to exert yourself in any 
 way, I shall simply have to cut down your allow- 
 
 7
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ance, until you show yourself worthy of a bigger 
 one. I hope when I return, you will have determined 
 on something." 
 
 "Don't hurry back on my account, mama." 
 
 "Your flippancy, Algernon, does not affect me one 
 way or the other. I mean it when I say that I ex- 
 pect to find that you have decided upon something 
 by the time I come home." 
 
 "I shall have," Algernon reassured her cheerfully. 
 "Mama, have you one of those pictures of me on my 
 polo pony ? Gracie Tucker " 
 
 "I have no picture of you, Algernon." Mrs. Todd 
 paused half-way across the room and waved her 
 hand around. "Look. Not a picture of you in the 
 whole house, but your childhood pictures. All the 
 others you have taken away at one time or another 
 to give to some girl. None of them cares for you. 
 All they want is your money. Why don't you send 
 them a picture of a gold certificate or a double eagle? 
 It would not be half so affected or hypocritical." 
 
 "You flatter me," murmured Algernon. 
 
 "Some day," snapped his mother, for there is 
 nothing so irritating as continual good nature in an 
 opponent, "some day you will be married to a 
 chorus girl who will endure you for a year for the 
 sake of the alimony she will get." 
 
 8
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 "Truth crushes to earth and we writhe in pain." 
 
 "I do not mean to be unkind, dear, but the class 
 of girls you go with only cares for your money. 
 Give it to them, and they won't miss you at all." 
 
 "Do you want to bet, mama?" 
 
 "I do not care to take your money, Algernon. 
 You would simply borrow it back again." 
 
 "Not for some time. Poor old Jimmy paid up 
 some of his honest debts this morning." 
 
 "Algernon, will nothing make you work?" 
 
 "I am going to work, now. Where is your paper? 
 May I have a little of it ? I am going to write a er 
 a sonnet " 
 
 Mrs. Todd swept from the room. 
 
 After an hour of hard mental labor, Algernon 
 laid down his pen and read and reread in pleased 
 surprise the result of his work. 
 
 "With hair as black as the devil's heart, 
 
 And eyes of blue, true blue, 
 In whose darkling depths I lose my soul, 
 Whenever I come to woo; 
 
 "With skin as white as a virgin's thoughts, 
 
 And lips like a scarlet bow, 
 For whose storehouse of honeyed sweetness 
 Mine own are longing so;
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "With teeth as bright as a woman's wit, 
 And a voice like the lark's clear call, 
 You keep me a humble captive 
 And lo, at your feet, I fall. 
 
 "With hands as small as my hopes, dear, 
 
 And feet like a sculptor's dream, 
 No wonder you frighten me silent, 
 And I like a coward seem." 
 
 He folded the verses carefully and slipped them 
 into his pocket. "Not half bad," he decided, com- 
 placently lighted a cigarette and strolled out to the 
 rose-garden. 
 
 The air was heavy with the fragrance of lilacs 
 and honeysuckle, mingled with the faint warm 
 odor of roses. The bees buzzed drowsily, and a cat, 
 curled up on the sun-dial, purred in a deep con- 
 tented undertone. 
 
 "Dear mama seemed really in earnest this time," 
 thought Algernon, pushing his hat on the back of 
 his head. "I think I shall take a little walk and try 
 to forget it. To forget," he sighed, "man's one de- 
 fense against the opposite sex." 
 
 He strolled across the lawn to a small gate in the 
 high brick wall and through the gate into the dusty 
 country road. The road was empty. Opposite was 
 a low stone fence, beyond a pasture, and farther on 
 
 10
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 a grove of willows, bordering a stream that wound 
 through the pasture and beside the road between 
 mossy ferny banks. A cow stood looking over the 
 wall, and Algernon raised his hat to her. 
 
 "Howdy-do," said he gaily. 
 
 The cow waved her tail languidly and chewed 
 placidly on. 
 
 The road, winding between fields of June's vivid 
 green, beneath the interlocked boughs of great ma- 
 ples, looked invitingly cool on the warm day. The 
 little brook laughed and babbled beside it, and the 
 birds called joyously from the leafy profusion over 
 head. Algernon strolled on, pondering his mother's 
 painful remarks. He had heard them all before, 
 quite often, but the insistence, the determination, 
 had never been so pronounced as to-day. It grieved 
 Algernon. He realized so clearly his own limita- 
 tions, his dead level with the rest of humanity in 
 everything but money. His mother wanted him to 
 make a name for himself, when, like the large major- 
 ity of his fellow citizens, he had no ability to do so. 
 She wanted him to work when he had no incentive 
 to work. His father had taken it from him by the 
 fortune he had left. 
 
 "That cow," mused Algernon, with a deeper in- 
 sight into life than his mother's, "that cow wouldn't 
 
 ii
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 walk around and around the pasture if she did not 
 have an incentive to do so, even if it is only hunger, 
 which, after all, is the fundamental incentive of 
 everything living. When her hunger is appeased, 
 the incentive removed, she does nothing. If I were 
 a cow, mama would probably insist even then that I 
 keep on walking around the pasture for nothing, 
 while she would be bemoaning the fact that I wasn't 
 a trick cow. Every cow can't be a trick cow. Mama 
 is illogical, like all women." 
 
 The road turned sharply and entered a deep grove 
 of trees, cool and dark, where the birds' chatter rose 
 and fell in busy excitement. A pedler's wagon, neat 
 and red, with an iron railing around the top, with- 
 in which enclosure reposed several square leather 
 cases, and with two sleek fat horses in front, was 
 drawn up by the wayside. A third horse, saddled 
 and bridled and hitched to the hind off wheel, dozed 
 with drooping head and half-shut eyes. 
 
 On a log near by sat the pedler, a long lank 
 youth, and beside him sat Algernon's friend, James 
 or Jimmy Mortimer Worth. James was short 
 and fat. The stranger was long and thin. James' 
 hair was light, brushed, smooth and damp, on each 
 side of his broad fair forehead, parted down the 
 middle with mathematical precision and the skill of 
 
 12
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 a competent man servant. The stranger's hair was 
 thick and black, falling over his high forehead in 
 poetical disarray. James' face was round and pink, 
 with a fat little mouth and mild blue eyes that re- 
 garded one with the frank and charming gravity 
 of a child. The stranger's was long, hollow- 
 cheeked, sallow. His mouth was thin-lipped, with 
 an odd unintentionally humorous twist at one cor- 
 ner. His eyes, deep-set, dark and keen, had a devil- 
 may-care twinkle in their somber depths that light- 
 ened the moroseness of the heavy brows and the firm 
 square jaw. James was dressed with immaculate 
 care in the latest thing in riding clothes. The 
 stranger's shirt was a negligee, with a soft Byron- 
 esque tie. A duster enveloped him, and a cheap 
 straw hat of the Panama variety was pushed on 
 the back of his head. 
 
 James looked up as Algernon approached and 
 waved to him to stop. 
 
 "Hullo," said he. 
 
 "Hullo," said Algernon. "Pleasant day." 
 
 "Yes," agreed James, his thoughts clearly on 
 other and weightier matters. "Let me introduce you 
 two. Mr. Todd, Mr. Joseph Holmes." 
 
 The stranger held out a long thin hand, and Al- 
 gernon grasped it. 
 
 13
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Howdy-do," said Algernon. "How do you like 
 this part of the country?" 
 
 "Can't say," drawled Mr. Holmes. "I have just 
 come." 
 
 "Going to be here long?" 
 
 "As long as I want." 
 
 "That's the way I usually stay anywhere. It 
 doesn't pay to grow to hate a place by staying there 
 too long. It isn't the place's fault. It may hate you 
 as much as you do it." 
 
 "Just so." 
 
 "Life's too short to hate anything," said Jimmy 
 happily. 
 
 "Except work," agreed Mr. Holmes. 
 
 Algernon nodded. "You are right. Work is like 
 gossip, a little of it goes a great ways. Besides, work 
 is a sign of mediocrity. The very high and the very 
 low do not work. Why be mediocre?" 
 
 "Why, indeed?" drawled Mr. Holmes. 
 
 "I am thinking up arguments for my mother," ex- 
 plained Algernon. "She has a peculiar partiality 
 for work for me. Why should I work? If I do, I 
 will be taking the bread out of the mouth of some 
 poor devil who never did me any harm. I could get 
 a job anywhere because I do not look as if I needed 
 one, while some one, whose very life depended 
 
 14
 
 TO THE MONEY BORN 
 
 on getting a place, would have to go hungry or 
 take a short cut, by the suicide route, to a happier 
 land than this." 
 
 "Heaven or hell or the ground," agreed Mr. 
 Holmes, "any would be a change for the better." 
 
 "I am contented and happy," went on Algernon, 
 lighting a cigarette absent-mindedly. "If I worked, 
 I would be neither. To keep happy and contented 
 is a duty we all owe to humanity." 
 
 "Just so," agreed Mr. Holmes. 
 
 "One should do one's duty bravely and uncom- 
 plainingly," declared Algernon, with a slight ges- 
 ture of his cigarette, leaving a tiny trail of smoke on 
 the warm sweet air. "Therefore, I must refuse to 
 enter the office." 
 
 "Choose prison, rather," advised Mr. Holmes in 
 the tones of one experienced in that upon which he 
 spoke, "then you won't have to worry about losing 
 your job." 
 
 "If I write," mused Algernon modestly, "I would 
 simply be exposing myself as a candidate for the 
 nearest insane asylum." 
 
 "Yes," said Jimmy earnestly, "don't write." 
 
 "A bug-house isn't so bad," said Mr. Holmes. 
 "You don't have to work." 
 
 "I know," agreed Algernon, "and your associates 
 
 15
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 would be interesting and original, but you couldn't 
 travel." 
 
 "Not without a keeper," admitted Mr. Holmes. 
 
 "I have too much respect for oratory to counte- 
 nance its abuse by entering politics," concluded Al- 
 gernon with a sigh. He dismissed the subject with 
 a wave of the hand and turned to the stranger. 
 "Come very far?" he asked. 
 
 "Since when? I've come from a good many 
 places." 
 
 "Go wherever you damn please, don't you?" 
 
 "Mostly." 
 
 "Jove! And haven't a worry in the world, I 
 suppose !" 
 
 "Shouldn't imagine you would have many," re- 
 turned Mr. Holmes, glancing from the light gray 
 pumps with the rim of pale blue silk stockings to the 
 soft Panama with its corresponding band of light 
 blue silk that adorned Algernon's person. 
 
 "I have, mother," said Algernon with a sigh. 
 
 "You're of age, aren't you?" 
 
 "Not to mother." 
 
 "Master of a million or two?" questioned Mr. 
 Holmes enviously. 
 
 "Unfortunately, no," replied Algernon. "Not un- 
 til I am twenty-five, a year yet. Twelve months 
 
 16
 
 more of arguing. Mother wants me to sit at a desk 
 all day, putting down foolish marks on a paper, for 
 ten dollars a week. I get five hundred dollars a 
 week now. What do I want ten more for?" 
 . "For the good of your soul," said Jimmy. 
 
 "My soul's worth more," sneered Algernon. 
 
 "For the good of your mind," suggested Mr. 
 Holmes. 
 
 "I have none," said Algernon. "Don't you see, 
 that's the trouble? If I don't endure physical con- 
 finement nine hours a day at the price of ten useless 
 dollars a week, I must be famous, or else my allow- 
 ance will be cut in two, maybe quartered. I can't be 
 famous. I don't say this in any mock humility. I 
 really feel it, am quite convinced I have nothing fa- 
 mous in me. And yet, think of having your allow- 
 ance cut in half !" 
 
 "You might possibly be able to struggle along," 
 suggested Mr. Holmes encouragingly. 
 
 "I suppose so, but it'd be deuced hard," sighed 
 Algernon. 
 
 "Come with me," said Jimmy kindly. "I have 
 bought Mr. Holmes' outfit and am going to try ped- 
 ling for a change." 
 
 "Jove!" exclaimed Algernon, and gazed at his 
 friend in surprised admiration. 
 
 17
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Jimmy flushed modestly. "You see, I get so tired 
 of Bar Harbor and automobile tours. I had to do 
 something different this summer, or or, by George, 
 Algy, I would go dippy with the insipidness of our 
 bunch ! The only change about them is their clothes." 
 
 "And that's generally for the worst," agreed Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "Always," said Jimmy. "Well, I met Mr. Holmes 
 and we got to talking and all of a sudden the idea 
 came to me. I'm going to travel this summer, but 
 I'm not going to hit a hillock now and then in an 
 auto. No, by George, I'm going to see the country 
 and the people and I'm going to get acquainted with 
 them! I'm an American and I'm going to know 
 Americans, not foreigners, me Lud So and So, His 
 Grace, the Duke of This and That." 
 
 "Jove!" repeated Algernon, as Jimmy's round 
 fat face glowed with fervor and his kindly little blue 
 eyes flashed boyishly. 
 
 "I'm going to start to-morrow morning early," 
 said he. "Will you come with me?" 
 
 "To the ends of the world, Jimmy, old chap," said 
 Algernon, and he grasped Jimmy's soft plump 
 hand.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 A' five, Mrs. Todd had returned and ordered tea 
 served in the garden. She was worried and 
 unhappy. Her charitable visits had only served to 
 divert her thoughts for the time being from the fu- 
 ture of her son. She leaned back in her low chair 
 under the willows and sought to concentrate her 
 mind on a copy of Don Quixote in the original, but 
 the foolish knight and his Dulcinea seemed to em- 
 body the likeness of her son and she laid the book 
 down with a sigh and gave herself up to vain long- 
 ings and gloomy forebodings. If Algernon would 
 only do something! She did not care what, so long 
 as it was useful and could not be contaminated by 
 the name of sport. 
 
 She drank three cups of tea in her anxiety, though 
 firmly convinced in her more normal moments that 
 two cups were criminal disregard for one's health, 
 and still Algernon did not come. He ought to fall 
 in love with some girl of the right kind, she decided, 
 a girl who would stir him up and make him do 
 
 19
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 something, not the girl he always selected for his 
 short, soul-rending, and for the time being, heart- 
 breaking, courtships girls whose conception of the 
 seriousness of life was as charmingly vague and as 
 hopelessly inconsequential as Algernon's own. 
 
 "She must not be poor and she must not be rich," 
 thought Mrs. Todd, sipping her fourth cup of tea. 
 "She must be a New England girl, no shiftless 
 Southern girl, no flighty callow Westerner. She must 
 have a good strict bringing-up and enough common 
 sense to do for two. She must be a girl with a 
 serious purpose in life, a college girl, capable, cul- 
 tured and interested actively in the great move- 
 ments of the times suffrage, child labor, charities. 
 Where can I find her, where can I find her? Miss 
 Sprague? Yes, indeed." 
 
 Then she glanced up and saw Algernon coming 
 across the lawn. He raised his hat with the air of 
 gentle ennui that always irritated his mother, and 
 sank languidly into the nearest chair. 
 
 "I hope you had a nice time, mama," said he, as 
 she handed him his tea and offered him the cakes. 
 "You might as well leave the cakes right here on my 
 knee. It will save us both trouble." 
 
 "Algernon, pray be so good as not -to call me 
 mama any longer. It is positively foolish and I do 
 
 20
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 not see why you do it. It is entirely lacking in dig- 
 nity and beauty." 
 
 "Shall it be ma?" asked Algernon gently. 
 
 "Mother. That name is too beautiful to be spoilt. 
 Beside, you are too old to call me by that childish 
 name, and I am too old to be so called." 
 
 Algernon leaned forward and laid his hand on 
 her knee with an affectionate little caress of love, 
 his eyes full of tenderness. "You would be mama 
 for years to come on that ground," said he. 
 
 Mrs. Todd's eyes softened and her resolution to 
 speak more sternly than ever upon the subject of 
 his future nearly vanished in the rosy glow of love. 
 She shook her head laughingly, and helped herself 
 hastily to the cakes to regain her fast disappearing 
 firmness. "Have you been thinking about that of 
 which I spoke to you before I went out this after- 
 noon, Algernon?" she asked, mildly determined. 
 
 "I have, indeed." 
 
 "And have you come to any conclusion? Of 
 course, I do not mean any definite decision as to just 
 what you intend to do. One can not settle one's fu- 
 ture in a day. But have you made up your mind to 
 do something meritorious, serious, and stop play- 
 ing?" 
 
 "I have," said Algernon. 
 
 21
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Mrs. Todd beamed. "That is good. We shall think 
 carefully for a day or two and then decide what you 
 are best fitted to undertake. Personally, I would like 
 to see you a statesman. But if you prefer to enter 
 the office " 
 
 Algernon waved the suggestions gravely aside. "I 
 have decided to undertake some scientific researches, 
 to explore " 
 
 Mrs. Todd frowned. This savored of the detested 
 sports, and she feared for the moment that Alger- 
 non had not yet received a clear conception of what 
 she had in mind. "Do you mean to climb the Alps ?" 
 she questioned anxiously. 
 
 Algernon shook his head. "I mean," said he, 
 pausing a moment to select a cake, "I mean to go 
 out and learn how the other half lives." 
 
 "I thought you said explore " 
 
 "I 'did, mama. Explore the unknown world of 
 poverty. How can I better dispense my fortune 
 when I get it than by finding out now who needs it 
 most?" 
 
 Mrs. Todd nodded doubtfully. "It is always well 
 to know who are worthy." 
 
 "Just so. The unworthy can go to hell for all we 
 care, can't they, mama ?" 
 
 22
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 "Algernon!" 
 
 "Mama?" 
 
 "Mother!" 
 
 "Mother?" 
 
 "I am serious " 
 
 "And so am I. What do you and I really know 
 about the world? Who make the world, anyway? 
 A few wealthy families who have more than the 
 Lord ever intended one man to have, or the great 
 mass of the people who are too busy to set up the 
 claim of being the universe, as the wealthy do? I 
 am going out to study the world." 
 
 Mrs. Todd was perplexed and uncertain. She 
 poured herself another cup of tea and Algernon 
 handed her the cakes. "If I could only believe that 
 you are serious, my son." 
 
 "I am. I leave to-morrow morning early, and you 
 will not see me again for a number of months. Pov- 
 erty is a study worthy of any one, mama, you must 
 admit that. Instead of going to books for theories, 
 I am going to learn about it first-hand " 
 
 "You said scientific researches " 
 
 Algernon nodded. "So it is, the science of soci- 
 ology. I took a little of it in college and was thor- 
 oughly depressed " 
 
 23
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Depressed, Algernon?" 
 
 "Impressed," corrected Algernon. "It is a noble 
 study. Why don't you take it up, mama?" 
 
 "I may in the fall. Where are you going?" 
 
 "Anywhere, everywhere," replied Algernon with 
 an air of busy importance. "I am going to leave to- 
 morrow morning before you are up. I shall drop you 
 a line now and then so as to keep you posted as to 
 where I am. I shall be back in the fall." 
 
 Mrs. Todd smiled with relief. Algernon's tone of 
 responsibility and importance filled her with pleas- 
 ure, and she congratulated herself that she had at 
 last aroused in him a sense of manhood. "To be 
 occupied is to be happy," said she. "I thought of 
 spending the summer here and having Miss Sprague 
 visit me, the Reverend Mr. Sprague's daughter, you 
 remember, Algernon. We met her one winter in 
 New York. She was studying for her M. A. at Co- 
 lumbia. A really sweet girl !" 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon, "I remember her. She is 
 the only girl I have ever met who said no when I 
 asked her if she would be angry if I kissed her." 
 
 Mrs. Todd flushed. "The Reverend Mr. Sprague's 
 daughter, Algernon?" she questioned in very great 
 surprise. 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon. "She said that the intel- 
 24
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 lectual development of women was the most serious 
 error of the nineteenth century." 
 
 "I think," said Mrs. Todd, hastily changing the 
 subject, "that, now you are going to be away, I shall 
 go to Europe for a few months. Summer is my time 
 to play and amuse myself. I work all winter and 
 every one must take a rest for a few months in the 
 summer. I intend, however, to spend the fall in 
 Maine at that place your father bought just before 
 he died and which we have neither of us seen. 
 Wouldn't you like that? It will be such a change 
 for both of us. You will feel in need of a rest then, 
 yourself. I have engaged a Miss O'Toole to go 
 up there and get the place in order. It will all have 
 to be renovated carefully, but she can get some vil- 
 lage girls to help her and ought to be able to have 
 the place in the best of order by the time I return." 
 
 "Who is Miss O'Toole?" 
 
 "Molly O'Toole, a girl you would do well, Alger- 
 non, to imitate. She is clever, bright and hard- 
 working. She has been poor all her life, dear child, 
 and I was so glad I could help her when I heard, 
 through the Y. W. C. A., that she needed help. Miss 
 Brown is an excellent secretary, and my maid is 
 priceless, so at first I did not see how I could engage 
 this girl, but I finally decided to open the Maine 
 
 25
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 house and send her up there to get it ready. I met 
 her in New York and we talked it over a little. She 
 is coming this evening, so we can go more into de- 
 tail. I want to show her the plans of the place and 
 just what I want done. She will spend the night here 
 and start north to-morrow on that ten o'clock train. 
 Will you be gone before then, Algernon? I would 
 like you to meet her." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Algernon firmly. "I am go- 
 ing very early, mama, long before you will be up." 
 
 "I shall be glad to spend a few months in a place 
 where I am unknown," smiled Mrs. Todd happily, 
 as the first long shadows of approaching evening 
 crept across the lawn to their feet and the drowsy 
 hush of the dying day seemed embodied in the 
 sleepy twitter of the birds among the branches over 
 head. "I am glad your father bought the place and 
 that I have never been there before." 
 
 Algernon agreed. "It is sometimes best to be 
 among strangers, with absolutely no reputation." 
 
 "I did not mean it so at all, Algernon," protested 
 Mrs. Todd, always incapable of following her son's 
 flights of fancy. 
 
 "Nobody wants a bad reputation, do they ?" ques- 
 tioned Algernon. 
 
 "No," said Mrs. Todd slowly, fearing that she 
 26
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 was being drawn into admitting something she did 
 not believe and would be shocked to say. 
 
 "If one has a good reputation, one is under a 
 constant nervous strain to live up to it, isn't one?" 
 
 "Certainly not," declared Mrs. Todd, feeling on 
 firm ground again. 
 
 "Certainly," contradicted Algernon sternly. "My 
 dear mama, be truthful. Admit that your reputation 
 as a competent chairwoman always makes you a bit 
 nervous when asked to lead a meeting, for fear you 
 will lose it " 
 
 "Why yes Algernon, but " 
 
 "Certainly it does. Therefore my point is proved. 
 It is best to have no reputation." 
 
 "No, indeed. Certainly not " 
 
 Algernon rose, waving his mother's protests aside 
 airily. "I think," said he, "that I shall go and dress 
 for dinner." He paused and glanced down at his 
 mother reclining in her low garden chair. "Why do 
 you always engage the pretty girls, mama, when I 
 am away?" he asked. "To make me wish to stay at 
 home more? Think of the pity of it. I return last 
 night, find that dream I saw to-day among the roses 
 and leave to-morrow!" 
 
 "Such words are hardly in keeping with your seri- 
 ous new purpose in life," reproved his mother, the 
 
 27
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 old worried perplexity returning to her soft, round, 
 little rosy face. 
 
 "A just appreciation of the beautiful can not af- 
 fect any one's life purpose, however serious and no- 
 ble," said he reprovingly, as he sighed and strolled 
 away across the lawn, through the rose-garden and 
 into the house by the long French windows that 
 stood open in the warm eventide. 
 ! After dinner he paced the lawn in front of the 
 house, his head bent, his hands behind his back. 
 Mrs. Todd glanced at him now and then from the 
 windows of the drawing-room and wondered if she 
 did see a new purpose in his face or only imagined 
 so. He looked serious and certainly was not singing 
 any of those foolish songs he favored. She sighed 
 and then smiled, and told herself that her doubts 
 were silly and groundless, that he had indeed turned 
 over a new leaf and given up the old empty life of 
 nothing but sport. 
 
 "He is like me," she assured herself, "slow to de- 
 velop." 
 
 She joined him on the lawn and slipped her hand 
 through his arm as she had been wont to do through 
 his father's when they two had paced up and down 
 in loving communion. 
 
 "Miss O'Toole has come, dear," said she. "I had 
 28
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 her shown directly to her room, so she could rest a 
 little and have something to eat before I go over the 
 plans with her. She is a charming girl, Algernon, 
 with a strong character " 
 
 "And the fifty-ninth," sighed Algernon, laying 
 his hand tenderly on his mother's where it rested on 
 his arm. 
 
 "And the fifty-ninth, Algernon?" 
 
 "The fifty-ninth girl you have picked out for 
 me to marry," explained Algernon. "Miss Sprague 
 was the fifty-eighth." 
 
 "Algernon, it is not so." 
 
 "Mama," reproved Algernon. 
 
 "A good wife, dear, with a strong character is - 
 is priceless " 
 
 "Like your maid," agreed Algernon. "But father 
 wasn't thinking of your character when he asked 
 you to marry him. He was thinking that your eyes 
 are like the mountain pools, tree-shaded by your 
 lashes" 
 
 "Algernon !" 
 
 "When the sixtieth comes, mama, tell me that her 
 skin is like apple-blossoms in June, or better still, 
 like yours when father " 
 
 Mrs. Todd laughed. "I must go in. Dear, you are 
 very foolish." 
 
 29
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon escorted her to the door, then sauntered 
 around the house to the rose-garden. The air was 
 heavy with the scent of flowers. Over in the east the 
 silver bow of the moon was sinking slowly toward 
 the tree-tops, throwing the shrubs and bushes in 
 sharp silhouettes against the sky and making the 
 sheltered places darker than ever. Algernon stood 
 a moment to contemplate the beauty of the scene, 
 then he drew a little breath and lighted a cigar. 
 
 "On such a night as this " he began softly, when 
 he noticed that there was some one sitting at the foot 
 of the sun-dial. Surely it was not his mother! She 
 would hardly be musing on the beauties of the night 
 by the silvery light of the new moon in the quiet 
 seclusion of the rose-garden. Besides, he had but 
 just left her at the front door. He threw away his 
 cigar and drew nearer. It was a girl in a white 
 dress. Her head was thrown back and the moon 
 shone full on her soft black hair, on her stiff white 
 skirt and tailored waist, the costume of his mother's 
 maid in summer. 
 
 "Mother's maid," thought Algernon, and bent 
 to whisper in the small ear nearer him : 
 
 "With hair as black as the devil's heart." 
 
 The girl turned her head, and her teeth gleamed 
 30
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 in the moonlight, through the curve of her saucy 
 mouth. She raised her arms and clasped her hands 
 behind her head. 
 
 "And what of her eyes?" she drawled. 
 
 "With eyes of blue, true blue, 
 In whose darkling depths I lose my soul 
 Whenever I come to woo." 
 
 Algernon leaned on the sun-dial and repeated all 
 the verses in a soft cadence, his eyes on the girl's 
 profile, barely discernible in the dark, as she sat 
 sidewise, chin uplifted. When he finished, she 
 raised her laughing eyes to his face. 
 
 "Inspiration or memory?" she asked gaily. 
 
 "Inspiration," said Algernon softly. "I was in- 
 spired this morning when I saw you in the rose- 
 garden among the bees and butterflies." 
 
 "Me?" she questioned in surprise. 
 
 "You," breathed Algernon, "a wild Irish rose." 
 
 Her lids fell a moment over her eyes and she 
 laughed at him through the heavy lashes. "Ah, 
 yes," said she, "but surely love alone could have in- 
 spired those lines. Maybe your love has black hair 
 like mine, and mine made you think of hers and so 
 of her. And when do you go to woo ?" 
 
 "When the moon is near the zenith," said Alger- 
 non, "sinking in a sea of silver light." 
 
 31
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You had better hurry, then. The moon has al- 
 most sunk. Would you keep your lady waiting?" 
 
 "If she were waiting, it was not for me, I fear," 
 said Algernon, groping for the other's hand. 
 
 "Does she care for another then?" asked the girl, 
 folding her hands demurely in her lap and gazing 
 dreamily at the moon above the tree-tops. 
 
 Her voice was low, sweet and well-modulated, and 
 for all the mischief in her eyes, she held herself with 
 a dignity and reserve Algernon had never found 
 before in his mother's maids. She was different, 
 not only from other maids but girls in general, and 
 Algernon realized that if he kissed her, it would 
 not be done easily. She was laughing at him again 
 under her long black lashes. 
 
 He sat down beside her on the little stone bench 
 and she moved obligingly away, drawing her dress 
 primly aside. 
 
 "No," he sighed, "she does not care for me," and 
 he drew nearer. 
 
 "Can't you make her?" 
 
 "Can I?" 
 
 "How do I know? I do not know the lady -or 
 you." 
 
 "The last can soon be remedied," said Algernon, 
 and drew still nearer. 
 
 32
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 "How?" she asked. 
 
 "Thus," said he, and tried to slip his arm around 
 the slim waist. 
 
 The girl rose with a little laugh. "Not soon, I 
 guess," said she. 
 
 Algernon caught her hand. "Sit down again," he 
 pleaded. "Let it take one, two, three hours, the 
 longer the better." 
 
 "We are so different," she sighed. "When I like 
 a person, I want to be friends right away." 
 
 "Do you want to be friends with me, now, right 
 away ?" 
 
 "How can I tell? I have never seen you, except 
 now, in the dark." Her voice mocked and teased him 
 from the shadow of the sun-dial thrown across her 
 face by the sinking moon. 
 
 "I know you want to be friends," declared Alger- 
 non, "so come and sit down." 
 
 "How do you know?" she teased. 
 
 "They all do," said Algernon, reaching for her 
 hand. "Come and sit down." 
 
 The girl drew her hand away and glanced at the 
 moon now just visible through the tree-tops. 
 "We have no time to-night," said she. "Look ! In 
 an hour the moon will have sunk and then you will 
 have to wait until to-morrow night before you can 
 
 33
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 keep tryst with your lady. You had better hasten 
 and if she be not far away, perhaps you can reach 
 her yet when the moon is at the zenith, sinking in a 
 sea of silver light." 
 
 "I can," said Algernon, "in a minute. Do you 
 advise me to hurry?" 
 
 "I should think you would want to," said she. 
 
 Algernon rose. "I do," said he and tried again to 
 put his arm around her waist. She slipped behind 
 the sun-dial and put her elbows on it, resting her 
 chin on her interlocked fingers. 
 
 "When I want to do a thing," said she, gazing 
 dreamily beyond him, "I usually find a way to do it" 
 
 "With a heart as cold as the frost god's kiss, 
 
 And a laugh that tempts like wine, 
 Do you think you have any right to play 
 With feelings as deep as mine?" 
 
 "Inspiration again?" she questioned softly. "Ah, 
 love, what must we not suffer for your dear sake !" 
 
 "The inspiration of the damned," declared Alger- 
 non gloomily. 
 
 "She's a flirt then, is she, this lady of yours?" 
 asked the girl. "Why have anything more to do with 
 her?" 
 
 "Why, indeed ?" sighed Algernon. 
 
 The stable clock tolled solemnly the hour of ten, 
 34
 
 IN THE ROSE-GARDEN 
 
 and the girl started slowly toward the house. Al- 
 gernon followed her. 
 
 "When you want to do a thing, do you always find 
 a way?" he queried. 
 
 They were at the open French window, and the 
 girl paused, one hand on the latch. "Why, yes," said 
 she. "Don't you?" 
 
 "I do," said Algernon and caught her in his arms, 
 kissing her full on her saucy laughing mouth. She 
 broke away with a quick turn of her lithe young 
 body and slipped through the window. 
 
 "Sometimes," said she from the gloom of the 
 darkened room, "the way is found for me." 
 
 "Now what did she mean by that?" wondered Al- 
 gernon, discreetly withdrawing from the window as 
 by the light from the hall he saw his mother enter 
 the room and fumble at the door for the electric 
 switch. 
 
 The girl lingered a moment near the window until 
 the light was turned on, and from his seclusion 
 among the vines over the porch, Algernon saw that 
 she was not his mother's black-haired maid, a 
 glimpse of whom he had caught that day in the 
 rose-garden, and judged with an odd mingling of 
 pleasure and regret that she was Molly O'Toole, the 
 fifty-ninth.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 NOON of an August day on the coast of Maine. 
 The sun beat fiercely down on the sea, on the 
 rolling tree-covered hills, on the dried farm lands 
 here and there, on the long dusty highway and on 
 a modish if top-heavy dog-cart, and a fat horse, 
 standing apparently lifeless in the middle of the 
 road, head drooping, tail drooping, eyes placidly 
 shut. 
 
 Algernon Van Rensellear Todd, reclining in the 
 shade of some bushes, had watched with grave inter- 
 est the approach and final immovability of the fat 
 nag. The day was warm, and Algernon was warm. 
 He had removed his cheap straw hat, in which he 
 had followed his vocation as pedler earlier in the 
 summer, and had taken off the coat beneath the 
 voluminous folds of his long, equally cheap duster. 
 His back was supported by a tree trunk, his legs 
 were drawn up and one crossed over the other, one 
 foot, in its well-worn tan shoe and neat black sock, 
 swinging gently in time to the tune he was humming. 
 
 36
 
 He had just refilled his pipe and little clouds of 
 smoke hung lovingly around his head in the still 
 warm air. A yaller dog lay at his feet, intent upon 
 the fleas in his mangy flank. 
 
 Algernon gently scratched the dog's back near 
 the end of his stubby tail with a handy stick. The 
 dog twisted his body half-way around, raised him- 
 self on his two front paws, threw back his head, 
 licked his chops ecstatically and rolled his eyes upon 
 Algernon in beatific gratitude. 
 
 "If there were not any fleas and not any money, 
 dogs and men would be happy," mused Algernon. 
 "Isn't that so, pup? Men chase money and dogs 
 chase fleas, and neither gets what he is after, at 
 least not enough of each to let them rest comfort- 
 ably." 
 
 The yaller dog squirmed with pleasure and 
 pressed nearer the stick that was bringing him relief. 
 
 "I guess the hardest work Noah had was to limit 
 his fleas to two," thought Algernon. "I don't see 
 how the old boy did it when you think of the men- 
 agerie he took on board. 
 
 "I will wager anything," he went on to the dog, 
 as the nag came into sight and he recognized his 
 mother's favorite steed, the only one in her large 
 stables that the good lady felt herself perfectly com- 
 
 37
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 petent to drive, "I will wager anything that that no- 
 ble beast is going to stop in a moment and view the 
 landscape for an hour or two." 
 
 The horse stopped a few feet from Algernon's 
 resting place. She stood with an air of per- 
 manency and evidently intended to remain there for 
 some time. The only occupant of his mother's top- 
 heavy dog-cart was a girl in a white dress and a 
 black straw hat. Her dark hair was fastened in a 
 great knot at the back of her graceful head ; a few 
 stray locks, in soft moist curls, like a child's, escaped 
 over her ears and cheeks, flushed with the heat of 
 the day; her eyes could not be seen under the brim of 
 her enormous hat, but her mouth was strong and 
 sweet, and below was a small firm chin. 
 
 "Molly O'Toole," thought Algernon, recalling a 
 moonlit rose-garden and a certain evening in June. 
 "Here I go to the aid of beauty in distress." 
 
 He rose, parted the brambles and scrambled down 
 the incline to the road. The girl glanced at him in 
 surprise but with no hint of recognition in her dark 
 blue eyes. His mother's favorite steed flapped one 
 ear slowly, and gently, languidly, whisked a fly from 
 her flank with her tail. Algernon raised his hat 
 with airy grace and bowed gallantly in the dust 
 
 38
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 of the highway. His coat, ready made, cheap but 
 neat, hung over his arm. Beneath the folds of his 
 long duster, one could see his clean blue shirt with 
 the soft black tie like that of his friend, Mr. Holmes, 
 and his narrow well-worn belt. His shoes had clearly 
 seen hard service, but were still whole, and above 
 them, the modest rim of his black socks bespoke 
 rather a gentleman of limited means, than one of 
 simple tastes. 
 
 Her first surprise over at finding a stranger where 
 she had expected to see no one, the girl's startled 
 fear vanished and an amused little smile dimpled 
 her rosy cheeks. She returned his bow with gentle 
 courtesy and then settled herself comfortably in the 
 corner of the seat as one used by sad experience to 
 the eccentricities of her steed. 
 
 "Engine broken down?" inquired Algernon 
 kindly. 
 
 "The engine's all right," said she. 
 
 "Tire trouble?" suggested Algernon. 
 
 "Yes," said she, "I guess that's it." 
 
 Algernon pulled once or twice at his pipe and 
 looked thoughtful. He had spent many dismal hours 
 in that same dog-cart with his mother, devising 
 means, which his mother would never allow him 
 to try, to break the death-like rest of the only horse 
 
 39
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the good lady thought herself perfectly competent 
 to drive. He felt for the girl. 
 
 "It's warm," said he after a moment, disliking to 
 leave her alone in her trouble, which was apparently 
 immovable, and never averse to spending his time 
 in the society of a pretty girl. He decided in one 
 of those rare flashes of his, which he mistook for 
 genius, that he would not reveal his identity just 
 yet. The situation of conversing, unknown and un- 
 recognized, with his mother's housekeeper was 
 amusing and appealed to his whimsical fancy. 
 
 "Yes," said she, "it is quite warm." 
 
 "Are these er equine musings upon nature 
 chronic," he asked, "or is this merely a temporary 
 f orgetf ulness ?" 
 
 "It's becoming more than temporary," said she, 
 "quite permanent." 
 
 Algernon gazed up into the laughing blue eyes 
 under the brim of the great hat and for once in 
 his life could think of nothing to say. His mind 
 was numb and he wondered if he had had a sun- 
 stroke. 
 
 "That's a nice cart," said he desperately, com- 
 pelled to say something to end the agony, aware 
 vaguely of the fact that she herself was amused and 
 had no intention of helping him out. 
 
 40
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "Yes," said she demurely. 
 
 That did for the cart. 
 
 "It's warm," remarked Algernon again, feeling 
 that his remarks were hardly brilliant. 
 
 "It is warm," she agreed sweetly, and gazed past 
 him at the dog that had followed him into the 
 road and now sat a few feet behind him, tongue out, 
 humble adoring eyes on his temporarily adopted 
 master. 
 
 "That's my dog," said Algernon, inspired. 
 
 "Is it?" said she. 
 
 "I found him back up the road." 
 
 "Did you?" asked she. 
 
 "He is a nice dog." 
 
 "Yes," said she. 
 
 The dog having been exhausted as a topic of con- 
 versation, Algernon strove heroically for another, 
 while the girl, aloft socially as well as physically 
 in the high cart, gazed dreamily before her, and the 
 horse dozed placidly on. 
 
 "Are you going far?" questioned Algernon. 
 
 "Home," repeated she. 
 
 "Is that far?" asked Algernon rudely. 
 
 "Not far," said she, and turned her attention to 
 a distant glimpse of the sea through a break in the 
 woods. 
 
 41
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I'm not going far either," said Algernon. 
 
 "Where are you going?" she asked as one would 
 question a child. 
 
 "Crazy," thought Algernon, but he said aloud, 
 "Oh, to North Brockton, I guess." 
 
 "I would offer you a ride," said she, her mouth 
 suddenly dimpling and her eyes laughing, "but I 
 am not sure how soon I shall start." 
 
 "I am in no hurry," said Algernon. 
 
 "Get in then," said she politely, ready to accept 
 a situation that she herself had created, though 
 convinced at the time that he would not under the 
 circumstances accept her offer. 
 
 "Thanks," said Algernon. 
 
 "Put your dog in. Poor little thing! See how 
 warm he is." 
 
 Algernon picked up the dog, whose eyes protruded 
 with fright, while his short tail tried in vain to get 
 between his coiled up, flapping back legs. The girl 
 moved farther along, and Algernon deposited the 
 dog on the floor of the cart, climbing in himself 
 just in time to grab the pup who made one wild 
 bound for the liberty and safety of the road. 
 
 "Put him on the seat between us," said the girl, 
 patting the place. "You can hold him more easily." 
 
 42
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 Algernon did as she said and settled back in his 
 corner, feeling that they were all three there for 
 the rest of eternity. 
 
 "Can you make her go?" asked the girl, nodding 
 her graceful head at the recalcitrant nag. 
 
 "I don't know of any way," returned Algernon, 
 trying to recall one of the many ways he had de- 
 vised when he and his mother had been wont to 
 sit in forced inactivity because his mother would 
 not have her favorite horse abused. His spirits 
 were slowly returning and his first pleasure in the 
 situation was mounting rapidly, joyously. "I would 
 reason with her, but she being a woman " 
 
 "As I am," said the girl, and glanced at him from 
 beneath the brim of the enormous black hat. 
 
 "Ah, yes," said Algernon with sudden gaiety, 
 "but you are an exception." 
 
 "I hope Elizabeth is, too," said the girl. "I 
 should hate to think that there are more like her." 
 
 "Frankly," said Algernon, "I don't believe there 
 are." 
 
 "I never met one like her before," said the girl 
 plaintively. 
 
 "I know of only one cure," said Algernon, "and 
 that is to sell her." 
 
 43
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "No one would buy her," laughed the girl gaily. 
 "Every one around here has helped me so often this 
 summer to make her go that they all know her." 
 
 "That's unfortunate," agreed Algernon. "I don't 
 suppose it would do any good to try and get her to 
 a town where she is unknown to fame and sell her 
 there?" 
 
 "No. You see she would balk." 
 
 "I see," said Algernon. 
 
 "I would really like to get home," said the girl. 
 "It must be lunch-time." 
 
 Algernon put the pipe he had been holding into 
 his mouth to reach for his watch, and then hastily 
 withdrew the pipe. "I beg your pardon," said he, 
 reddening. 
 
 "I do not mind," said she, pleased that her first 
 surmise, formed as he had stood bareheaded in the 
 dust of the highway, that this strange youth was 
 gently bred, was thus confirmed, though it had been 
 for a time dimmed, almost banished. "We smoke 
 hams, why not cigars ?" she asked flippantly. 
 
 "Certainly," agreed Algernon. "A good meal 
 and a good cigar are the two most formidable 
 enemies the devil has." 
 
 "I'm terribly stupid, but I don't follow you," 
 said she. 
 
 44
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "They make a man content, and a contented man 
 never sins," explained Algernon, hoping he was, in a 
 small way, redeeming his former lack of conversa- 
 tional ability. 
 
 The girl agreed and added wearily, with a little 
 flap of the reins, "I wish a good meal were as effect- 
 ive on women." 
 
 "It may be," said Algernon hopefully, wishing 
 she was not so anxious to be gone. "I shall get out 
 and walk ahead with something for her to eat, some 
 grass, or er carrots. We might be able to find 
 some carrots in that field." 
 
 "I hardly think so," said the girl, turning to see 
 the field to which he had motioned. "That, I think, 
 is a barley field." 
 
 "Barley," declared Algernon firmly, "is even bet- 
 ter than carrots." 
 
 The girl laughed, a gay inconsequential laugh of 
 sheer youth. "It won't do any good. I have tried. 
 Elizabeth is above temptation." 
 
 Algernon smiled a slow sweet smile of sudden in- 
 spiration and reached for the reins. "Give them 
 here and hold on," he ordered, puffing vigorously 
 at his pipe. 
 
 "What are you going to do?" she asked curiously 
 and a bit anxiously. 
 
 45
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I am going to get you home to lunch," said Al- 
 gernon grimly. 
 
 She took his coat from his knees and instinctively 
 put her arm around the pup who was slumbering 
 peacefully between them. Algernon puffed once, 
 twice, thrice, then he leaned over and emptied the 
 contents of his glowing pipe on the horse's back. 
 
 For a moment, Elizabeth was impassive, then 
 with a sudden snort of pain and protest, she kicked 
 up her old heels and started down the road with the 
 speed of the once famous Maud S. On they tore, 
 swinging from one side of the road to the other. 
 The dog-cart rattled and clattered, bumped and 
 rocked. Algernon braced his feet and glanced at 
 the girl. She was clinging with grim fervor to the 
 pup, the coat and her hat. 
 
 "Going some," said he pleasantly, and she nodded. 
 
 Dust rose in dim gray clouds. Trees, fields and 
 bushes swept past. Now they came to a hill and be- 
 low them in the sultry heat of noonday, lay the 
 small village of North Brockton. Without a pause 
 they tore down the hill, through the principal elm- 
 bordered street, past the quiet white houses and the 
 one store, where Algernon caught a fleeting glimpse 
 of a horrified group of loungers and a startled store- 
 keeper. With nice precision, they grazed the wheel 
 
 46
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 of a creaking ox-cart, missed by the fraction of an 
 inch, the town pump, frightened children and chick- 
 ens from their path and whirled on toward a hill 
 on the farther side of the village. Clattering, bang- 
 ing, bumping, they swept up the hill and over it. 
 
 At last, a good two miles farther on, Algernon 
 brought the horse to a stop. The girl had not said 
 a word, made any outcry or even moved, but had 
 simply held on to the pup, her hat and Algernon's 
 coat and managed somehow or other to keep her 
 seat. But Algernon saw that she was white and 
 trembling, now that the excitement was over. 
 
 "Jove," said he, "you weren't frightened, were 
 you?" 
 
 She swallowed once or twice, nodded and tried 
 to smile with her trembling lips. 
 
 Algernon pulled out a whisky flask from his hip 
 pocket. "Take a little. It will make you feel 
 good," he said kindly, and held it to her lips. 
 
 She shook her head. "I am all right, thanks," 
 she protested. 
 
 "No, you are not," contradicted Algernon. "Take 
 some." 
 
 "I don't like it. It makes me cough." 
 
 "It will do you good. Coughing won't hurt you 
 any." 
 
 47
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I think I shall get out," said she somewhat nerv- 
 ously. 
 
 "Not until you take a good big swallow," in- 
 sisted Algernon. 
 
 "This is a prohibition state," she hedged. 
 
 "A state of collapse," said Algernon firmly, "is 
 never prohibition." 
 
 She laughed and yielded, taking the flask from his 
 hand and raising it to her lips. The burning liquid 
 slipped down her throat and made her cough, bring- 
 ing the tears to her eyes. 
 
 "That's all right," said he. "It will make you 
 feel good." 
 
 Their eyes met In his, amusement struggled 
 with solicitude, in hers, with admiration. For a 
 moment their glances clung, then her red mouth 
 twitched, her cheeks dimpled irrepressibly and she 
 leaned back in her corner and laughed and laughed, 
 while the pup made mad leaps to lick her face with 
 his small wet tongue. 
 
 Algernon chuckled. "If mama had seen Elizabeth 
 just now," he thought, "she would no longer con- 
 sider her perfectly safe to drive." 
 
 The girl stopped laughing and wiped her eyes. 
 "Oh, dear," said she with a sputter of renewed 
 mirth. "Let me drive you back to the village. I 
 
 48
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 am not afraid of her, and I am sure she won't balk 
 again to-day." 
 
 Algernon objected, declaring that he would drive 
 her home himself. But the girl would not listen 
 to the suggestion, firmly, almost angrily, refusing 
 his offer. Her cheeks had flushed suddenly and her 
 eyes were bright and determined. 
 
 "Probably thinks I am carrying my freshness a 
 bit too far," thought Algernon miserably. He 
 alighted and took his coat. 
 
 "I shall walk back," said he, "if you are sure you 
 are not afraid of the horse." 
 
 The girl had grown suddenly nervous and was 
 too evidently eager to be rid of him. She protested, 
 however, that he must let her take him back, and he 
 as firmly refused. A girl, living alone as she was 
 in a big house, with only servants, could not be too 
 careful whom she had visit her, Algernon realized, 
 especially in a small village like North Brockton 
 where gossip flourished for lack of anything else to 
 do. The kindest thing he could do was to leave her 
 as soon as possible, unless he wished to tell her 
 who he was. He preferred, however, to do that when 
 he called in person that afternoon at the house. 
 
 But the girl turned the cart and insisted that she 
 would take him back to the village. She would not 
 
 49
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 be gainsaid and Algernon gave in with a sudden, 
 vague, but half-formed idea that she was in some 
 way suspicious of him and wanted to see what be- 
 came of him. 
 
 "Where shall I take you?" she asked as they 
 started back. 
 
 "To the hotel, please," said Algernon. "I am a 
 stranger in these parts." 
 
 She looked at him curiously, and he saw the de- 
 sire to question him frankly in her eyes. "Wonders 
 where my baggage is," he decided. 
 
 "It is a beautiful place," said she, "but very, very 
 slow. Indeed, it seems as if it, too, had balked." 
 
 "Balking," said Algernon gaily, "is right in my 
 line." 
 
 "It certainly is," said she, laughing. "But I do 
 not suppose you will be here long enough to have 
 to rnake use of it." Her words were either state- 
 ment or question and Algernon preferred to take 
 them for the former. 
 
 "I would hate to have to set the town on fire," 
 said he. 
 
 "I hope you would leave first," said she, politely 
 trying to learn the extent of his stay. 
 
 "I should certainly have to afterward," said Al- 
 gernon cheerfully. 
 
 50
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "If you are going to be here long," said she, not 
 looking at him, "I advise you to get rooms at the 
 old Misses Allen's if you can. You will like it 
 much better than at the hotel." 
 
 "I shan't be here long," said Algernon, amused at 
 her ingenuity for politely discovering his inten- 
 tions and wondering what she wanted to know them 
 for, modestly aware that she was rather anxious to 
 
 have him go. 
 
 They drove back, past the town pump, past the 
 
 store and up the village street to the gaunt, unat- 
 tractive hotel. It had once been white but was now 
 a dull gray with dusty sagging blinds and dreary 
 dirty windows. The long narrow porch in front was 
 deserted, and the girl for some reason seemed re- 
 lieved as she drew up and Algernon once more 
 alighted. 
 
 "Thank you so much," said she, amusement and 
 friendly admiration lighting for a second the deep 
 blue eyes and twitching the corners of her dimpling 
 mouth. "It was so so thoughtful in you. Good-by." 
 
 "Thank you for the lift," returned Algernon, 
 raising his hat as he stood on the porch steps, the 
 dog beside him. 
 
 "Not at all," said she, distantly polite once more, 
 and turning the cart, she drove rapidly away, sitting 
 
 51
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 erect and graceful in the high ungainly cart, charm- 
 ingly dainty in her soft white dress and large black 
 hat, his coat forgotten on the seat beside her. 
 
 Dinner was a sad affair, eaten in lonely grandeur 
 in the big empty dining-room, served by a clumsy 
 maid of all work. Algernon ate hastily, gave his 
 last nickel to the maid servant as a tip and de- 
 parted. 
 
 The front stoop of the one and only store the vil- 
 lage boasted was the lounging place of the village 
 elect. Here war was declared and fought to a tri- 
 umphant conclusion, peace ratified, presidents were 
 elected, blamed and censured, trusts abolished and 
 reputations made and lost, here on the old weather- 
 beaten stoop, in the drowsy warmth of a summer 
 afternoon, while the village slumbered and only 
 the ceaseless drone of insects and the low monoton- 
 ous chant of the sea broke the heavy country silence. 
 The runaway was a topic of thrilling interest, in- 
 cluding as it did, not only the notorious Elizabeth, 
 but a stranger, a man, and young. Who was he and 
 where did he come from? And what had made 
 Elizabeth run? Gosh! 
 
 The hero of the adventure, approaching at that 
 moment, stopped all conjecture as old man Brown 
 hailed him. 
 
 52
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "Had a bit of a runaway," called the old man. 
 
 Algernon strolled up, mangy yaller pup at his 
 heels, pushed his hat on the back of his head and 
 selected a comfortable packing box for an hour's 
 peaceful rest. It rather pained him that one of his 
 horses, sent to Maine early in the summer when his 
 mother had left for Europe, should already have ac- 
 quired Elizabeth's reputation. 
 
 "Yes," said he, and added : "that is a fine horse, a 
 fine horse." He nodded approvingly, with the calm 
 air of a connoisseur in horse-flesh, and drawing forth 
 his pipe, filled it slowly as though still musing on 
 the undisputed worth of his mother's favorite steed. 
 The pup curled up at his feet in the shade and went 
 to sleep. 
 
 "I guess you be from the city," suggested Hig- 
 gins, the storekeeper, kindly. The others chuckled. 
 
 Algernon lighted his pipe and tossed away the 
 match. "From several cities," he admitted, thereby 
 confirming their suspicion that he was a drummer 
 and had left his cases at Brockton until he found if 
 there was any chance to make a sale at the small 
 village of North Brockton. "My father owned a 
 stock farm down in Kentucky wher,e the finest 
 horses in the world are raised, you know." 
 
 There was a surprised silence. Clearly the youth 
 S3
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 was not lying, for there was no reason for him to do 
 so, and in the country one does not lie without rea- 
 son. Could it be possible that Elizabeth had been 
 misjudged? That she was as fine in every way as 
 she looked ? The stranger must know about horses. 
 Not only was he from Kentucky, but his tones were 
 calmly positive, firm with the knowledge of one 
 who knew, and impressive as from one who had no 
 object in praising the horse. It wasn't his and he 
 would not benefit by its sale. 
 
 Algernon pulled gently at his pipe, settled himself 
 more comfortably on his packing box and went on, 
 as much to himself apparently and the yaller pup 
 asleep at his feet as to any one. "Shucks! a horse 
 is like a woman. You have to know them before 
 you can handle them, can get the best out of them. 
 Tact." And he blew a tiny smoke wreath upward 
 with dreamy pleasure. 
 
 The circle was visibly impressed, but still some- 
 what skeptical. 
 
 "Elizabeth has been around here for the last two 
 months," said Higgins, "and a little fire started un- 
 der her has proved about the most tactful tact." 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," said Algernon with the lazy 
 indifference of one entirely uninterested personally, 
 merely correcting an error for the sake of truth. 
 
 54
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "We know," snorted Brown. "That horse has been 
 here two months now and stood still most of that 
 time." 
 
 "A little skill," returned Algernon cheerfully, 
 and waved the unquestioned result aside with an 
 airy gesture. 
 
 "A little dynamite," said Higgins, and the others 
 laughed. 
 
 "Rats!" said Algernon with the low chuckle 
 of knowledge for an exhibition of ignorance. "It 
 didn't look to me as if we needed dynamite." 
 
 "I'll bet a nickel you didn't find the nag walking, 
 even," declared old man Brown, determined not 
 to relinquish his well-formed and well-grounded 
 idea of Elizabeth's character. 
 
 "I was walking over from Brockton, when the 
 cart overtook me," said Algernon with dignity. "I 
 asked the young lady the direction, but as the horse 
 was rather mettlesome, I offered to take the reins." 
 
 "You made her run," admitted Higgins slowly. 
 
 "I made her stop," corrected Algernon. 
 
 "Why don't you buy her from the Todds and 
 make your fortune?" asked Brown, cynical but wav- 
 ering. 
 
 "I may when they come," said Algernon. 
 
 "Mrs. Todd's come," chorused the others. 
 55
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Mrs. Todd?" questioned Algernon fearfully, 
 wondering if his mother had returned unexpectedly 
 frorn Europe without letting him know, to surprise 
 him in his new undertaking. Mrs. Todd abhorred 
 newspapers as much as she did sloth, and her goings 
 and comings were never chronicled in those mediums 
 of gossip for the uninitiated. Algernon was fond of 
 his mother, but he disliked surprises. The surpriser 
 is so often the surprisee. 
 
 "The young lady's here all right and don't you 
 forget it," said Brown with gloomy pleasure. 
 
 "Young?" stammered Algernon. 
 
 Brown nodded. "About twenty-two or three, 
 can't be more, looks less, but women are never as 
 young as they look." 
 
 "I thought Todd was about the same age," mur- 
 mured Algernon. 
 
 "He is," said Higgins. "She is his stepmother. It 
 was a surprise to us all, too, her age, until she ex- 
 plained. She was mighty young when she married 
 old man Todd, was his second wife, see ! And I don't 
 blame him none for marrying her. She's prettier'n 
 a picture. He only lived about two years after she 
 married him. Talk about luck !" 
 
 "His or hers?" asked Smith from down Water- 
 ford way, with a wink at Algernon. 
 
 56
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 "Hers," said Higgins. 
 
 "His," said Brown. "If he had lived, she would 
 have made him trouble, broken up his home, prob- 
 ably. She's so darned flighty." 
 
 "Aw, she's young," said Higgins. "Let her have 
 some fun." 
 
 "That's no reason for a girl carrying on as she 
 does," snorted Brown. "And her husband not two 
 years in his grave yet." 
 
 "She ain't married no longer, though," insisted 
 Higgins, in defense of beauty. "And so long as 
 the son hasn't no kick " 
 
 "The son's a damn fool," said Brown shortly. 
 
 "Er er maybe not," stammered Algernon. 
 
 "Maybe not!" Brown turned upon the stranger 
 with ill-concealed scorn and laid the case before 
 him. "Here is Todd, a young fellow, with his 
 father not dead much more'n a year, and his father's 
 widow carrying on something fierce with another 
 man!" 
 
 "He don't know nothing about it," protested 
 Smith. "A family never knows them things until 
 the wedding or the divorce papers come." 
 
 "Who's the other man?" asked Algernon, still 
 dazed.. 
 
 "Hancock," said Brown, with slow pleasure at 
 57
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 telling the story to a stranger in all its harrowing 
 details. "The young feiler who owns the Pines, 
 over near Brockton. You see, Castle Crags, the 
 Todds' place, is on one arm of the bay, and the 
 Pines, young Hancock's place, is on the other. By 
 water, they aren't more'n a mile apart, but by the 
 road, it's more'n three times as long." 
 
 "Shouldn't think they would use the road none," 
 said Smith with another wink for Algernon. 
 
 Brown shook his head. "Yes, they do. He's over 
 in his automobile for her nearly every day." 
 
 "She's so pretty," excused Higgins gently. 
 
 "What does she look like?" asked Algernon 
 faintly. 
 
 "Like one of these pictures on a magazine cover," 
 answered Higgins admiringly. "A heap of black 
 hair piled all over her head and blue eyes " 
 
 "Blue as them larkspurs over near the pump," 
 said a long lank youth dreamily. 
 
 It sounded like Molly OToole, Molly the fifty- 
 ninth, masquerading in his mother's shoes. Al- 
 gernon chuckled as he recalled her desire to discover 
 his intentions and business and then be rid of him. 
 Every youth arriving in town must fill the young 
 lady with suspicions for a time, though his own 
 shabbiness and means of arrival had undoubtedly 
 
 58
 
 BEAUTY IN DISTRESS 
 
 somewhat allayed hers in regard to him and his 
 possible connection with the Todds. 
 
 "Guess I shall go and see the place," said he 
 rising. "How do I get there?" 
 
 "Just keep along that road you and Elizabeth ate 
 up this morning," returned Higgins. 
 
 "Swallowed," corrected Algernon gently. " 'Ate 
 up' sounds like chewing and we didn't stop for that." 
 
 "You're right there," acknowledged Brown. "I 
 thought you weren't probably never going to stop 
 again." 
 
 "A fine horse," said Algernon carelessly, and the 
 others remained silent. Brown returned hastily to 
 the second subject. 
 
 "Keep right along the road and you can't miss 
 it. It's not more'n five miles from here. It stands 
 upon a hill and has a lot of trees around it, so you 
 can't see the house from the road, but you can't miss 
 the gates. They're made out of iron and granite 
 and have a little house beside them, the 'Lodge/ 
 Todd's folks call it." 
 
 "Thanks," said Algernon, knocking the ashes from 
 his pipe and slipping it into his pocket. "Must be 
 some place." 
 
 "It's a show place, all right," agreed Brown, "but 
 them Todds ain't got no sense with the airs they 
 
 59
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 put on. Gosh ! just because a man's got a little more 
 of this world's goods than his neighbors ain't no 
 reason for him to set up and act like he's better'n 
 them soul and body, as well as pocketbook." 
 
 "No," admitted Algernon, in a weak attempt to 
 defend his family, "but she only married into the 
 family, you know. She isn't an out and out Todd. 
 And it's the being born to a thing that makes the 
 difference." He picked up his bundle and paused. 
 "Young Todd may be decent enough." 
 
 "Haven't you read about him none in the papers?" 
 demanded Brown, condemning the absent youth by 
 the very tones of horror in his shrill old voice. 
 
 Algernon flushed. "Newspapers and a first-class 
 photographer never get a correct picture," said 
 he mildly in futile self-defense. "They couldn't, 
 you see. If they did they would have to go out of 
 business ; there'd be nothing doing." 
 
 "Huh," sneered Brown. "I guess all them stories 
 about young Todd ain't made up. Cause why? 
 Cause no one could make them up. See?" 
 
 "Maybe not," agreed Algernon hastily. "Well, 
 so long." 
 
 With a yaller pup trotting at his heels, he started 
 up the dusty road in the quiet hush of the afternoon, 
 to find Molly OToole, the fifty-ninth.
 
 THE day had grown warmer and over in the 
 east, across the sea, a bank of clouds came 
 rolling in. The sea looked dark and oily, and the 
 waves swept landward with an eery swing that 
 boded a storm. The leaves of the trees hung mo- 
 tionless and the peace that precedes trouble was 
 over all. 
 
 "So Molly O'Toole preferred to be the mistress 
 instead of the housekeeper," mused Algernon, walk- 
 ing along the dust-covered grass by the wayside, 
 his hat on the back of his head, his long duster 
 flapping around his heels, the pup, with drooping 
 tail and hanging head, following dejectedly in the 
 rear. "We are unknown up here and there isn't 
 any reason but the minor one of honor, perhaps, 
 why she shouldn't be mistress as long as she can. 
 It's more satisfying than housekeeper and everybody 
 pretends something or other all their lives, that he's 
 smart, when he's not, that he's good, when he's bad, 
 that she's young, when she's old. Everything's 
 
 61
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 pretense, every one pretends. Jove! I wish Jimmy 
 was here. Mama might fail to see the joke, but good 
 old Jimmy wouldn't." 
 
 The partnership of Worth and Todd, pedlers, 
 had been dissolved the day before in the coldness 
 and reserve that would stamp an angry Vere de 
 Vere. After two months of more fun than profits, 
 they had arrived at a small town to the south and 
 James had settled down there apparently for life, 
 fascinated by the sweet gray eyes and charming 
 shyness of a dainty little country maid. After a 
 week of firmness, of urging, of vain pleading to 
 move on, Algernon had grown angry. One hasty 
 remark led to others, equally hasty, equally foolish, 
 and several times more irritating. Algernon ac- 
 cused James of carrying on an unkind flirtation 
 with a girl unused to the game and wholly unpre- 
 pared to hold her own. James made remarks about 
 people who lived in glass houses, and the inadvisa- 
 bility of the kettle calling attention to the color of 
 the pot. Algernon said under the circumstances 
 he did not care to be called a friend. James said 
 he preferred to be strangers under any and all 
 circumstances. Algernon said nothing pleased him 
 more, and James said that he would forget that he 
 had ever had the misfortune to know a Todd. They 
 
 62
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 went over their accounts, Algernon took the five dol- 
 lars due him, and in mutual silence they parted. 
 
 Algernon had lived that summer on what he had 
 made as pedler, and besides the five dollars, had no 
 ready money. He decided to go to Brockton, for 
 which he found he had enough car fare with a little 
 left over for meals, and from there walk to North 
 Brockton and Castle Crags. Then he could telegraph 
 for money and settle down to await his mother's 
 return. 
 
 Algernon reached the top of the hill Elizabeth 
 had taken with such vigor that morning, and paused 
 to look around him in the gathering gloom. He 
 had started from the store late, and the approach- 
 ing storm made the afternoon seem like twilight. 
 This view from the hilltop revealed nothing but 
 other rolling pine-covered hills. The trees shut out 
 the sight of the sea, but the dull boom of the rising 
 tide pervaded the atmosphere like the deep notes 
 of an organ, rising and falling. Algernon con- 
 templated the scene with a weary sigh. It was 
 beautiful but inexpressibly sad. The first gusts of 
 the coming storm gently swayed the taller trees and 
 brushed past Algernon as though in a hurry to reach 
 the other side of the world, while from the coast 
 came the mournful call of the bell-buoy. 
 
 63
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Cheerful?" questioned Algernon. "Oh, yes!" 
 
 He leaned against the fence and lighted his pipe. 
 
 "If I didn't get lost among those bally trees," he 
 reasoned, "I would get there much quicker by cut- 
 ting through to the sea and making around by the 
 coast." 
 
 A mightier gust of wind than usual swept by, and 
 far away to his right he heard the low rumble of 
 distant thunder. 
 
 "If I should get lost, I don't believe I would get 
 wet. The trees are too thick for that. Besides, I 
 don't see how I can get lost, if I just keep going 
 toward the sound of the sea. Well, here's for the 
 attempt." 
 
 He climbed the fence and struck off in the direc- 
 tion of the distant sobs of the bell-buoy. After a 
 while, when the sea was apparently as far away as 
 ever and the woods were as thick as ever and the 
 darkness was twice as dark as ever, Algernon ar- 
 rived at the conclusion that he was lost. 
 
 He wandered around aimlessly for a time and 
 finally settled himself and the pup under a big pine 
 and decided to wait until the storm blew over. It 
 was dry where he was and outside the shelter of 
 the trees, even in the woods, the rain fell with ir- 
 
 64
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 ritating persistency. Overhead, the thunder roared 
 and the lightning flashed away across the tree-tops. 
 Once a tree off in the woods somewhere fell with 
 a crash. The sea pounded on the rocks as if trying 
 to drown the noise of the thunder, and the bell-buoy 
 shrieked a shrill mournful protest to the fury of the 
 storm, while the mangy pup cuddled in the shelter 
 of the duster and whimpered miserably. 
 
 When the storm had at last spent its fury and 
 rumbled away to the west, twilight had fallen in 
 earnest and in the woods it was as dark as if it 
 were night. Wet, cold and hungry, Algernon at last 
 found his way out of the woods to the coast. There 
 were still a few flashes of lightning and the rain 
 fell drearily, persistently. Algernon left the woods 
 behind to emerge on a narrow path. On one side 
 was the sea and the rocky coast, on the other, the 
 land rose in a steady slope to a large house stand- 
 ing on a high hill, looking out to sea. Trees sur- 
 rounded the place on three sides, but the fourth, 
 that to the sea, had hardly a shrub to break the su- 
 perb sweep of lawn down to the cliffs. The house 
 was large and in the dim light looked more like 
 an old Norman castle, perched high on its rocky 
 crags, than a New England farmhouse. Lights 
 
 65
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 glimmered here and there in the gathering darkness, 
 from the front hall to the servants' quarters, and 
 also up-stairs, in my lady's chamber. 
 
 "I am sorry to have to spoil your summer, Molly 
 O'Toole," said Algernon, "but just at present I 
 should be still more sorry to go without a square 
 meal and a comfortable place to dry myself and" 
 with a glance at the forlorn pup, sitting on his 
 haunches in worshipful expectancy "my dog." 
 
 He made his way to the side terrace, on which 
 opened the windows of the hall and the dining- 
 room. He peered curiously into the former through 
 a window. It was dimly lighted by the flickering 
 flames of the fire in an enormous fireplace, but Al- 
 gernon could see that it was very wide, paneled in 
 dark oak, with heavy rough uncovered beams for 
 the ceiling. The wide low stairway led up into the 
 dimly lighted hall above. The place was furnished 
 with massive oak tables and chairs in conformity 
 with the Norman castle effect of the exterior of the 
 house. Two quaint old-fashioned settles stood on 
 either side of the hearth, while on the mantel above 
 were odd-shaped mugs and steins, long Dutch pipes 
 and queerly carved tobacco jars. On the wall hung 
 guns and antique powder-horns, and still higher, 
 the head of the only moose the late Mr. Todd had 
 
 66
 
 had the luck to kill. Huge doors on either side of 
 the hall gave pleasant glimpses of rooms, warm and 
 cozy, of dancing fires and softly shining lamps. 
 "Ah!" said Algernon. "Me for home!" 
 He made his way to the front door and rang the 
 bell long and loudly, unconscious that he would not 
 be admitted in his rain-soaked garments, and cer- 
 tainly not recognized as the master by even Molly 
 herself, who had seen him but dimly for the first and 
 only time that night in the darkened rose-garden, 
 shadowed by the many trees and bushes. No one 
 answered the bell, however, and he rang again with 
 the same result He left the door impatiently and 
 tried the windows, all of which reached the 
 ground. But they were all shut and locked, and he 
 could only catch fascinating and alluring glimpses 
 of great armchairs and dancing flames. He went 
 around to the back of the house and pounded on the 
 rear door, and still no one came. He glanced to- 
 ward the stables. They were gaily lighted, early 
 as it was, and from the upper rooms came the sound 
 of revelry, the clatter of dishes and the merry hum of 
 voices, mingled with the occasional yelp of a dog 
 and the boisterous guffaws of a jovial company. 
 
 "Mistress away and the servants celebrating in 
 the barn," thought Algernon disgustedly. 
 
 67
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 He prowled around until, finding a pantry win- 
 dow in which the screen was unfastened, he pushed 
 it open and climbed in. The pantry was dark, but 
 through the crack of the door he saw a ray of light 
 and groped his way toward it, his outstretched 
 hands telling him what place he had entered. Open- 
 ing the door, he found himself in the dining-room. 
 It was a counterpart of the hall : dark oak paneling, 
 rough beams overhead, enormous fireplace. 
 
 Drawn up in cozy proximity to the genial warmth 
 of the flames was a table, candle-lighted, spread 
 with snowy damask and set with a dainty meal as 
 though in readiness for the return of the master and 
 mistress. There were sliced chicken and ham, butter, 
 gleaming yellow among melting squares of ice, 
 olives, stuffed and swimming in oil, and salad with 
 its lettuce leaves crisp and green. There were nuts 
 and fruits, apples, plums, peaches, and a dish of 
 early melons. Places were laid for two and at each 
 place were several wine-glasses. "Ah," breathed 
 Algernon, "if only Jimmy were with me now and 
 no longer an ass! What greater joy can heaven 
 afford than a square meal when you are hungry?" 
 
 He picked up a candle and went again to the pan- 
 try and through that to the kitchen. The place was 
 deserted, but after opening numerous doors, he 
 
 68
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 found the refrigerator and returned to the dining- 
 room with the bottles that he had found waiting on 
 the ice. The pup, whom he had lifted in through 
 the window ahead of himself, followed him closely 
 as he went back and forth, fearful of being left alone 
 in the strange place made dangerous by the sound 
 of distant barks, foretelling the near presence of 
 unfriendly dogs. 
 
 "You live high, Molly," remarked Algernon as he 
 uncorked one of the bottles. "Your nerve, however, 
 is my pleasure to-night. Here's to our meeting, 
 Molly O'Toole, and good luck to you !" 
 
 He bowed, with his hand on his heart, to the 
 empty chair across the table and raised the glass to 
 his lips with a flourish. Then he sank into the chair 
 behind him and fell to on the dainty meal with a 
 relish, the pup on the rug, gorging himself on tit- 
 bits such as he had never dreamed existed. 
 
 When Algernon had eaten all he wanted, he took 
 his wine into the hall, drew a small table up to the 
 fire, and finding matches and cigars on the mantel, 
 prepared to enjoy the evening. The nights grow 
 chilly early on the coast of Maine, and the fire was 
 more than welcomed. Sinking into the soft depths 
 of a leather chair, Algernon stretched his weary 
 battered legs to the blaze, and the pup, dry again, 
 
 69
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 well-fed and happy, sank into a deep and peaceful 
 slumber in the rosy glow of the flames. 
 
 "What more can heaven offer?" mused Algernon 
 again, in blissful content. 
 
 The cigars were of a quality to compare favorably 
 with the wine which had been of the best, and be- 
 tween them and the genial warmth of the fire, Al- 
 gernon dozed happily. The clock at the head of the 
 stairs struck eleven slow ponderous strokes. A log 
 fell with a shower of sparks and Algernon awoke. 
 The fire was almost out and the hall dark save for 
 the subdued lights from the adjoining rooms. Al- 
 gernon yawned, stretched, and throwing more wood 
 on the fire, stirred it into a blaze. He drew on the 
 duster that had been drying over a chair-back, as, 
 in the absence of his coat, more seemly attire in 
 which to greet a lady who, he decided, would arrive 
 any moment now, and sank comfortably back into 
 his chair again. He was just dozing off when the 
 chuff-chuff of an automobile and the half-brave, 
 half-fearful growls of the pup awoke him effec- 
 tually. The front door opened and the cool damp 
 air of the night rushed in, accompanied by the loud 
 throbs of the machine and the ripple of a woman's 
 laugh. The pup cast one longing look, as it seemed 
 to Algernon, at the seclusion under the near-by set- 
 
 70
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 tie, but remained stanchly by the only friend who 
 had said a good word to him in many a day, sitting 
 behind his master's feet, on the stubby tail that would 
 persist in getting between his legs, one ear cocked, 
 small nose wiggling and bright eyes on the door. 
 
 "Come in and have a bite to eat," called a gay 
 sweet voice, evidently to some one still in the motor- 
 car. A man's voice replied that he guessed he 
 would, and presently the two entered, Molly O'Toole 
 and a stranger, a tall, broad-shouldered young fel- 
 low, looking, in his faultless attire, with his frank 
 blank face, like the original of an up-to-date adver- 
 tisement of a first-class men's clothing store, as he 
 stood pulling off his gloves, his cap under his arm. 
 
 Molly wore the softest, daintiest and most ex- 
 pensive of automobile wraps. From a fleecy cloud 
 of gray veiling, her piquant face shone radiant as 
 a flower. She was good to look at as she stood there 
 in the flickering light of the dancing flames, drawing 
 off her gloves, her head bent, her adorable mouth 
 dimpling at some remark of the stranger's. Then 
 she pushed back her veil and looked around. 
 
 "How dark it is," said she. "No," in answer to a 
 question, "I'm not sure just when Algernon will 
 come." 
 
 Algernon rose in the long flowing duster. "He
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 is here," said he. "Algernon Van Rensellear Todd, 
 at your service." And he bowed gracefully in the 
 firelight 
 
 Molly's face turned suddenly white. The strange 
 young man, however, was not looking at her, but at 
 the grotesque figure in the shabby duster, the mangy 
 pup sitting at his feet, and his eyes filled with frank 
 amusement As Molly took in the tall figure, the 
 well-worn duster, the shoes that were down at the 
 heels, and the cotton shirt with the faded tie, the 
 red came slowly back to her face and the sparkle to 
 her Irish blue eyes. This man was the young drum- 
 mer whom she had met that morning in the road and 
 who had kindly helped her with the balky horse, but 
 most certainly was not the immaculate youth who 
 had softly whispered to her amused self not two 
 months since in the darkened fragrance of the rose- 
 garden, though in figure and bearing they were 
 marvelously alike and their voices strangely similar. 
 Hardly ! She laughed a laugh of amusement. 
 
 She tossed her gloves on the table, and loosening 
 the wrap at her throat, she threw it back, pausing 
 a moment, with chin up-tilted, to regard the unwel- 
 come intruder with cool indifference. Then she 
 spoke in her soft sweet voice with the lilt that made 
 one think vaguely of the springtime. 
 
 72
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 "You must have been uncomfortable sleeping in 
 that chair," said she. "There are plenty of beds up- 
 stairs. Why did you not ask the servant to take you 
 to one?" 
 
 "I have not seen any of your servants, except my 
 humble self," said Algernon and bowed again, 
 gracefully in the firelight 
 
 The girl was startled and angry. "How did 
 you get in?" she asked. 
 
 "Through the pantry window," returned Alger- 
 non ; "I and my dog," and he motioned to the mon- 
 grel pup sitting beside him on the great fur rug. 
 
 "A thief," sneered the girl. "Why did you not 
 take what you wanted at once and leave?" 
 
 "I was waiting for you," said Algernon, admiring 
 eyes on the face of the indignant girl. 
 
 "Meanwhile," said she coolly, "I am glad to see 
 that you have made yourself at home, as you cer- 
 tainly seem to have done." 
 
 "I have," agreed Algernon. "Won't you do the 
 same?" 
 
 "See here, my man," interrupted the stranger, 
 "you had better take your dog and go." He opened 
 the front door and motioned Algernon to be gone. 
 
 Algernon glanced at him and decided that he was 
 Hancock, the owner of the Pines, and realizing 
 
 73
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 how late it was, he chuckled as he recalled the gos- 
 sip of that afternoon. 
 
 "Come," said Hancock sharply. "Get out of town 
 as quickly as you can and if the lady is willing, 
 neither of us will speak of this to the authorities." 
 
 "Certainly," said the girl. "Leave at once and I 
 shall say nothing." 
 
 There was no need of exposing a girl before a 
 comparative stranger, a girl with a mouth like a 
 crimson rose and angry intrepid eyes. To-morrow 
 would be time enough. Molly deserved some con- 
 sideration for the pleasure she was giving him in 
 this rare and delightfully original situation she had 
 created. 
 
 "Excuse me," said Algernon gaily, "but you have 
 made a slight mistake." 
 
 "You said you got in by the window " said the 
 girl, puzzled. 
 
 "I did," admitted Algernon; "but first I rang the 
 front door bell and pounded at the back. No one 
 came, so, as I was wet from the rain and chilly from 
 standing outside, I climbed in to wait for you." 
 
 A faint color crept into the girl's cheeks, her eyes 
 brightened and a smile struggled to dimple forth at 
 each corner of her crimson mouth. Could it be pos- 
 sible that the youth had become infatuated at their 
 
 74
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 chance meeting that morning and had set out 
 promptly to woo her with ardor and boldness? The 
 idea was amusing and seemed the only answer to 
 the problem, for on what other errand could he pos- 
 sibly be seeking her out? 
 
 "Why were you waiting for me?" she asked. 
 
 "To get my coat," said Algernon. 
 
 "Your coat?" 
 
 "You took it with you in the cart. Shall we call 
 it an oversight ?" he asked gently, a smile in his eyes, 
 perfect composure in his manner. 
 
 "Oh!" said the girl, and laughed gaily. "Oh, I 
 am so sorry. I beg your pardon. How long have 
 you been waiting?" 
 
 "I got here about five, but it seems longer, for I 
 was waiting for you." His voice fell, and once more 
 the girl wondered that it should be so like that 
 voice of inspired poetry and the rose-garden in the 
 moonlight. 
 
 "I beg your pardon that there was no one to let 
 you in," said she. "I shall speak to the servants 
 about this. I think I left your coat in the cart. I 
 shall find out. Please sit down." 
 
 "Don't bother," said Algernon. "I can go to the 
 stable and see." 
 
 "It is late. Have my man drive you back to the 
 75
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 village ; or stay, tell him to put you up for the night, 
 that I say so. I shall telephone him at the Lodge." 
 
 "I'll be going," said Algernon, picking up his hat 
 and tucking the quivering pup under his arm. He 
 did not want her to find the rifled supper-table while 
 he was in the house. This was no time for explana- 
 tions. 
 
 She was smiling now and contrite, forgetful, in 
 her own error, of his house-breaking. "You were so 
 kind this morning. You must forgive me for going 
 off with your coat." 
 
 "That's all right," said Algernon, bowing in the 
 doorway, hat in his hand, pup under his arm. 
 "Please don't think of it again. Good night" 
 
 "Good night," called Molly, "and pleasant 
 dreams." 
 
 She laughed again with liking for the fantastic 
 stranger and amusement at the situation, and Alger- 
 non, catching her eye as the door closed, laughed 
 himself. Oh, Molly, Molly, mother's fifty-ninth! 
 
 Algernon preferred the stable to the Lodge, and 
 slept long and peacefully on the sweet clean hay 
 in the loft of his own stable. The trampling of the 
 horses and the shrill whistling of the grooms going 
 about their morning work aroused him at last. He 
 made a careful toilet in one of the wash-rooms a 
 
 7 6
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 groom pointed out to him, and having breakfasted in 
 solitary grandeur in the kitchen, he hung around 
 chatting with the stable boys, his hands in his pock- 
 ets, his hat on the back of his head. The Todds' fam- 
 ily coachman had been forced to remain in the city 
 with a sick wife and the man Molly had engaged to 
 take his place was a tall raw-boned countryman, 
 good-natured and talkative. Mrs. Todd's wishes, as 
 far as they pertained to the stable and its care, had 
 been carried out to the letter. Everything was in ex- 
 cellent order and could not have been better if the 
 reliable Patrick had been there himself to oversee it. 
 
 "Yes," admitted Thomas, in answer to a bit of 
 praise, "everything is all right but the automobiles." 
 
 "What's the matter with them?" asked Algernon 
 in the calm terms of ownership that greatly amused 
 Thomas. 
 
 When Mrs. Todd went to Europe, said Thomas, 
 she had taken a car and her chauffeur with her. 
 The rest of the cars had been shipped to Maine with 
 instructions that they were not to be touched until 
 her arrival or that of her son, Algernon. 
 
 "Well, Mrs. Todd didn't bring her driver up with 
 her, and there ain't no one in this place that knows 
 anything about them. Mrs. Todd keeps saying she 
 is going to send to the city for a man, but she never 
 
 77
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 does, somehow. Ain't hardly any need of her doing 
 it," he added. "She gets auto rides enough as it is." 
 
 "That so? Let's have a look at them." 
 
 Thomas had no objections to showing everything 
 about the village's one big place to anybody who 
 wished to see it, and led Algernon at once to the 
 garage. 
 
 "We keep the place clean, but that is about all we 
 can do," he explained. 
 
 Algernon nodded and inspected the four machines 
 he knew so well, while an idea, fantastic, persistent, 
 amusing, came into his head and stayed there, grow- 
 ing more and more definite and more and more 
 pleasing. "Mama," he thought, "has always said 
 that she wished I would work, even if it were at the 
 bottom of the ladder. Then, too, what would be the 
 use of my living up at the big house all alone? 
 Mama won't be here for a month yet at the earliest, 
 and Molly would hardly feel like staying if I ex- 
 plained just where and when she and I have met be- 
 fore. It is clear that she doesn't recognize me, and 
 Pat, the only one besides mama who would upset 
 my fun, is in the city. I have turned over a new 
 leaf and I am going to work for my board. Jove, 
 I haven't had such a pleasant summer for a decade !" 
 
 "Guess you don't often have a ride in one of them, 
 78
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 eh ?" chuckled Thomas, poking Algernon in the ribs. 
 
 Algernon winked. "Huh, who would want to 
 ride when they can walk?" he asked. 
 
 Thomas laughed and slapped Algernon on the 
 back. "Same here. You never know when the 
 darned things are going to blow up. You go out in 
 one of them things, and it's dollars to doughnuts you 
 walk home. When I go out to ride, I don't want to 
 have to walk." 
 
 "No one does," agreed Algernon. 
 
 They went out and Algernon seated himself de- 
 liberately on a bench beside the door and began to 
 fill his pipe. 
 
 "You hang around as long as you want," said 
 Thomas generously. "There's plenty here for a 
 dozen more like you." 
 
 "Thanks awfully," drawled Algernon, and 
 Thomas, hesitating a moment, loath to leave enter- 
 taining company, felt the force of duty pulling him 
 away and departed. 
 
 It was a beautiful day, clear and cool after the 
 storm of the night before. Great white clouds 
 drifted by overhead, and through the trees one could 
 see the ocean, blue and dancing in the sunlight. A 
 white-winged sailboat was beating up against the 
 breeze, now scudding along the crest of a swell, now 
 
 79
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 almost disappearing in the trough. A motor-boat 
 passed and the panting of its engines could be dis- 
 tinctly heard. The sea-gulls swooped by in long 
 airy flights, and the bell-buoy had a laugh beneath 
 its tears. From the stable came the tramp and whin- 
 nying of horses, the chatter of the grooms and the 
 splash of water as the boy cleaned the carriages. A 
 cat, curled up on the bench beside Algernon, purred 
 loudly and contentedly. The yaller pup, having been 
 kindly tolerated by the high-bred dogs of the place, 
 and beginning to feel timidly at home, dozed at Al- 
 gernon's feet in the sunshine, arousing himself now 
 and then to snap at the fleas, and falling back with 
 a grunt of satisfaction. 
 
 After a while, Algernon rose, stretched and made 
 his way to the garage. Thomas, returning about 
 noon-time, stared in surprise at the empty bench, 
 expecting to find the stranger peacefully asleep in 
 the drowsy warmth of midday, for no one about 
 the place had seen him leave, and in the country a 
 stranger's every step is marked by some one and 
 commented on. 
 
 i "Hullo!" he called, looking around. "Where are 
 you? Hi, what are you doing there?" as he caught 
 sight of Algernon through the open door of the 
 
 80
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 garage. "Here, you don't want to monkey with them 
 machines. Hi, stop!" 
 
 Algernon straightened up, wiping his face on his 
 sleeve. It was growing warmer as the day advanced 
 and he had been working for the last two hours 
 about as hard as he had ever done in his life. The 
 perspiration rolled down his face and mingled with 
 the streaks of oil and grease that adorned his coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 "Gosh, I'm hot," said he. 
 
 "Come out of that," commanded Thomas, fear 
 and authority in his voice. "Mrs. Todd won't want 
 you monkeying with her machines." 
 
 "Oh, shucks!" returned Algernon carelessly, and 
 nearly disappeared from sight under one of them. 
 
 "Hold on there," quavered Thomas. "Mrs. Todd 
 is coming, you fool. Come out!" 
 
 Algernon only grunted from beneath the machine. 
 Thomas stooped to grab him by the leg and drag 
 him out by main force, when Molly O'Toole ap- 
 peared in the doorway. 
 
 "Good morning," said she. "Who's that, Thomas? 
 One of the grooms drunk again ? You want to keep 
 them out of the garage, I told you. I can't have 
 them fussing with the cars." 
 
 81
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon squirmed out and bowed gaily, like an 
 old friend. His sleeves were rolled up and the long 
 duster was tightly buttoned down the front, his hair 
 was mussed, and his face covered with grease, but 
 Molly recognized her gallant of the day before and 
 a sudden amused twinkle came to the surface of her 
 blue eyes. What was her persistent caller up to 
 now? Algernon smiled with pleasure at the sight 
 of her. She was in one of the stiff, white, shirt-waist 
 suits he had dimly perceived in the rose-garden. 
 But now a white snood of folded ribbon was bound 
 around the curly softness of her black hair, which 
 tumbled loose here and there over her ears in a dis- 
 order that Algernon's fingers itched to rearrange. 
 Down the front of her otherwise immaculately clean 
 skirt was a disfiguring grass stain. Her eyes were 
 laughing, her cheeks flushed, and Molly O'Toole, 
 standing in the sunshine of the doorway, looked 
 neither mistress nor housekeeper, but little girl sud- 
 denly brought to account for some mischief. 
 
 "Good morning," said Algernon. 
 
 "Good morning," said she. "Were you looking 
 for your coat under one of the cars ?" 
 
 Algernon laughed. "I found my coat, thank you." 
 
 "Then what were you doing under the car?" 
 
 "Overhauling it." 
 
 82
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 "Who told you you could?" 
 
 "No one." 
 
 "Then what did you do it for?" 
 
 "Wanted to." 
 
 "Don't always do everything you want to," ad- 
 vised the girl. "You might get into trouble." 
 
 "If I wanted to do a thing, the doing of it would 
 compensate for the trouble," said Algernon. 
 
 "Not always," said the girl, as one who knew by 
 experience. 
 
 "Oh, yes," said Algernon with the happy opti- 
 mism of a few millions behind one in a safety vault. 
 "With the right mental training, you will simply re- 
 member the fun you had and forget the trouble 
 be above it." 
 
 "You can't," insisted the girl firmly. "Not when 
 you are in trouble." 
 
 "When I am in trouble," said Algernon simply, 
 "I get out of it." 
 
 The girl laughed. "Who are you?" 
 
 "Your new chauffeur," said Algernon. 
 
 The girl bit her lip, and an angry flush deepened 
 on her rounded cheeks. The laugh went out of her 
 eyes and she regarded him coldly, scornfully. "You 
 were very kind to me yesterday," said she. "Why 
 make me sorry that I let you help me?" 
 
 83
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon flushed in his turn, and his eyes soft- 
 ened with contrition. "Excuse me," he begged. "I 
 am afraid I did not put it exactly as I intended. I 
 have been a chauffeur in the city, New York. I know 
 all about cars. I am in need of a job. May I be your 
 chauffeur? Thomas told me that you had none and 
 were going to send to the city for one." 
 
 The girl nodded. "I need a chauffeur," she lied, 
 looking frankly at Algernon. "Have you any refer- 
 ences ?" 
 
 "No," said Algernon. 
 
 "I am afraid I should have to have references. 
 Mr. Todd is very particular about the cars. I could 
 not have them injured while he is away." 
 
 "I didn't have any references yesterday when I 
 made the horse go," said Algernon gently. 
 
 The girl laughed. "But that was not a permanent 
 place," said she. 
 
 "Let this be temporary until I can ask you for 
 references," suggested Algernon. 
 
 The girl laughed. "You might ruin the cars." 
 
 "Did I ruin the horse?" 
 
 "Do you know as much about cars as you did 
 about horses ?" 
 
 "More, a great deal more. I can take a car apart. 
 I would hesitate about doing so to a horse." 
 
 84
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 The girl bit her lip and turned to look out of the 
 open doorway, across the smooth green lawn to the 
 distant blue of the ocean and the little sailboat beat- 
 ing up against the breeze. This stranger, with his 
 persistence, his audacity, his gay good humor, was 
 delightfully amusing; he was, besides, entirely at 
 his ease, even last night when caught dozing in the 
 hall, his dog at his feet. Her woman's intuition, 
 sharpened by her constant contact with the world, 
 told her she could trust him, and the temptation to 
 have a man to look after the cars and take her out 
 in her own machine was irresistible, and yet she 
 hesitated, reason struggling with desire. 
 
 "For whom did you work in the city?" she ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 "I had my own car," explained Algernon. 
 
 "Where is it now ?" she asked. 
 
 Algernon was standing beside it at that moment, 
 but he did not mention the fact "It didn't pay," 
 said he simply. 
 
 The girl nodded in quick sympathy, touched by 
 the pity of so many business undertakings that 
 "didn't pay." "There are so many taxicab com- 
 panies now," she declared, "that I suppose a single 
 man wouldn't stand any show. Why didn't you go 
 to a smaller place, some little town, you know?" 
 
 85
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Didn't have the money to start," returned Al- 
 gernon glibly. "I would have had to rent a place 
 to keep it, bought gasoline, made the repairs in the 
 garage myself, done everything, besides pay for 
 board and lodging. It was no good." He shrugged, 
 and the girl's sympathy mounted. She knew so well 
 the sordid struggle, the terrible discouraging proc- 
 ess of "getting started". 
 
 "Did you sell your car?" she questioned kindly. 
 
 "I had raised money on it," said Algernon, and 
 she understood. She had raised money on so many 
 things and seen them go, one by one, to pay the debt. 
 
 "It's too bad," said she. "Poverty makes one won- 
 der why any one felt it necessary to invent a hell, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 "It does, indeed," said Algernon. 
 
 He had all her sympathy now and still she hesi- 
 tated. "Did you try to get a place as chauffeur in 
 a private family ?" she asked. 
 
 "It was so late in the summer. I have some rela- 
 tives north of here and thought I would spend the 
 summer with them. They are always short of help. 
 In the winter things will be different." 
 
 "I know. In the summer, we are bound to get a 
 job in the winter, in the winter, we can't help but 
 find one in the summer." She frowned, then 
 
 86
 
 A SLIGHT MISTAKE 
 
 laughed, while the bitterness that had crept into 
 voice and eyes vanished and the irresponsible gaiety 
 of youth returned. "Well, Mr. er " 
 
 "Holmes," said Algernon, taken by surprise and 
 giving the first name that came into his head, "Jo- 
 seph Holmes." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Holmes, I do need a man to tend to 
 the cars. It is hard to get one willing to stay all 
 summer in this quiet out-of-the-way place. Suppose 
 I try you for a week? Will that be all right?" 
 
 "My work will be my references," said Algernon 
 gaily. "I shall get a car in order and take you out 
 this afternoon. Shall I ?" 
 
 "Yes," said Molly, adding with a laugh : "If we 
 get stranded anywhere, we can send for Elizabeth." 
 
 The mangy pup drew near and the girl bent and 
 patted the top of his dirty head with the tips of her 
 slender fingers. "He's got a cute little face," said 
 she. "Why don't you wash him with some dog soap? 
 We have some. Ask one of the grooms for it. A 
 gentleman is known by the baths he takes." She 
 laughed, and nodding gaily, turned and strolled 
 away to inspect the stables, followed by the defer- 
 ential Thomas.
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 MOLLY accepted the new chauffeur with a 
 mixture of delight and fear. As a chauf- 
 feur, he filled a long-felt want, but who was he and 
 where did he come from? She had engaged him 
 out of pure audacity and an instinctive belief in his 
 decency, which could hardly be said to be confirmed 
 by his participating the night before in the meal 
 she had had prepared for herself and Hancock. So 
 spoke reason. But the desire to have a chauffeur as 
 completing the role of Mrs. Todd, and womanly in- 
 tuition that she could trust him, for the time silenced 
 reason and the perplexity as to how she could get 
 rid of him, if Mrs. Todd, the real, should suddenly 
 return before she had a chance to prepare for her 
 coming. 
 
 She looked at Algernon closely as he presented 
 himself that afternoon, according to agreement. He 
 had washed and shaved, and in a new suit of clothes 
 supplied by his mistress* generosity from the stock 
 of various uniforms Mrs. Todd always kept on hand 
 
 88
 
 in case of emergency, he looked an affable, pleasant 
 young fellow, with mild gray eyes and smooth sandy 
 hair. A bit stupid he was, Molly thought, but he 
 apparently knew something about machines, for the 
 car he brought to the door was clean and in good 
 order, and its engine throbbed steadily and rhyth- 
 mically. 
 
 Algernon had presented himself with some mis- 
 givings, fearful that Molly might chance to recog- 
 nize him at last, though that night he had whispered 
 nonsense into her ear beside the sun-dial it had 
 been far too dark among the shadows of the rose- 
 garden for the girl to have seen him clearly. His 
 voice, he realized, still puzzled her, as it had the 
 night before when he rose suddenly in the firelight. 
 But her vague wonder quickly passed and she saw 
 in him only the gallant of the day before, who had 
 helped her with her horse and in the evening had 
 come after his coat with a persistence and audacity 
 that matched her own, had helped himself to a large 
 part of the supper and had been found dozing in the 
 comfortable warmth of the hall fire. Thus, Alger- 
 non Van Rensellear Todd became chauffeur to his 
 mother's housekeeper. 
 
 They gave him the chauffeur's room over the gar- 
 age, and Thomas introduced him below stairs with 
 
 89
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 much pride and little ceremony. It was just at din- 
 ner-time, which was in the evening to the still un- 
 abated wonder of the entire village, when Thomas 
 lead him into the simple dining-room used by the 
 servants and presented him bruskly and self-con- 
 sciously. 
 
 "This is Holmes, Joe Holmes, the new chauffeur," 
 said he shortly. 
 
 Algernon bowed gracefully in the doorway, and 
 seeing the cook about to draw out her chair and 
 pausing a moment to regard the newcomer with 
 frank curiosity and no word of greeting, he stepped 
 forward and himself drew forth the chair. 
 
 The cook was fat and a bit mussy. Her face was 
 red and shining from the heat of the fire, and she 
 was tired. Thinking that the strange young man 
 was acknowledging their acquaintanceship by some 
 horse-play, she laid her hand on the back of the 
 chair. 
 
 "That's my chair," said she sharply. 
 
 "And my pleasure," said Algernon, with a gallant 
 bow and a gesture for her to be seated. 
 
 The cook seated herself gingerly, still fearful lest 
 Algernon jerk her chair back suddenly and leave her 
 sitting on the floor, a joke considered below stairs 
 as the acme of rare humor. But Algernon merely 
 l 90
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 pushed her up to the table, and a smile, half pleased, 
 half sheepish, crossed her tired face. The waitress 
 sniffed her disapproval of "airs", as she called those 
 manners which she herself did not possess, and the 
 parlor maid was Algernon's for the asking. 
 
 "Hi, there," said Thomas jovially, "no one is al- 
 lowed to flirt with the cook." 
 
 "To flirt with a pretty woman," declared Alger- 
 non, "is one of the inalienable rights of man." 
 
 "That means an extra hunk of pie," grumbled 
 Bates, the undergroom, plaintively, with a wink for 
 the park/ maid, who was young and pretty and 
 clearly the favorite below stairs. 
 
 The others laughed, and Algernon, with a polite, 
 "May I ?", sat down between the cook and the 
 parlor maid, a place long coveted by the gardener, 
 who had wooed the girl with a silent if persistent 
 constancy, for the last six months. Unaware of 
 any smoldering passions he may have aroused, Al- 
 gernon ate his meal, paying respectful attention to 
 the cook and her opinions, joking with the coach- 
 man, and receiving the groom's admiring homage 
 with lofty indifference. The gardener he aroused 
 to mild fury, the waitress he flattered and with the 
 parlor maid he flirted. 
 
 His first appearance at breakfast that morning, 
 91
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 following the story of his midnight repast, had been 
 no recommendation as to his honesty, and the cook 
 tried not to like him. But as the days passed and the 
 silver showed no depreciation in amount, she began 
 to admit that maybe her suspicions had been formed 
 too hastily. A tense and bitter rivalry arose between 
 the waitress and the parlor maid ; while, after a day 
 or two, Algernon and the gardener were not on 
 speaking terms so far as the gardener was concerned, 
 though Algernon was wholly unconscious of the fact. 
 The next morning Algernon arose early to take 
 a dip in the sea before breakfast. He made his way 
 through the woods to a small beach he had noticed 
 the day before, some way from the house. It was 
 concealed from the Todds' regular bathing beach by 
 a high promontory, while on the landward side the 
 trees, which grew down nearly to the sand, farther 
 increased the privacy. The water was calm in the 
 little cove and the waves slid up the beach with a 
 pleasant purring ripple. The bell-buoy moaned rest- 
 lessly, and the morning breeze was full of the fresh- 
 ness and freedom of the sea. Beyond the point of 
 land, Algernon could see his sloop, which his mother 
 had had sent up for him, riding at anchor, trim and 
 shipshape. 
 
 92
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 He had planned to go swimming as he used to 
 when he was a youngster and he and a chosen few 
 had turned back somersaults, played frog and made 
 the pot boil in the cool clear depths of the old 
 swimming hole, but when he mentioned his inten- 
 tion to Thomas and the two grooms, they were hor- 
 rified. 
 
 "You don't want to do that," said Thomas ear- 
 nestly. "Sometimes the missis herself goes out early, 
 either in the motor-boat, or to swim, and she keeps 
 to that little cove because the water is quiet there 
 and she's a bit scared at getting out where it's rough 
 when she's alone." 
 
 So Algernon had been persuaded to borrow the 
 second groom's bathing suit, a striking affair in yel- 
 low and pale pink. Wrapped in a horse blanket, 
 he had made his way to the beach. As he emerged 
 from the woods, he thanked his stars that he had 
 followed the advice of the admiring three. At the 
 water's edge, her back to the shore, the waves gently 
 washing around her slim stockinged feet, stood a 
 girl. She wore a faded blue bathing suit, and her 
 hair hung down her back in a thick dark braid, tied 
 at the end with a bit of ribbon. With her hands on 
 her hips, she stood, light and graceful, her head bent 
 
 93
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 slightly forward as if she would please her ears for 
 a moment with the seductive song of the sea before 
 she yielded herself to its soft embrace. 
 
 Algernon hesitated. He felt that the groom's 
 bathing suit did not exactly enhance his beauty. It 
 had been too big around the neck, and the groom 
 had obligingly run a drawing string through it and 
 drawn it up. The result was satisfactory as far as it 
 went, but Algernon felt that he had worn things 
 that had become him more. He did not care to look 
 like a fool to the long-limbed graceful girl at the 
 water's edge. While he stood undecided whether to 
 withdraw or not, she, as if aware that she was no 
 longer alone, turned and saw him. She started and 
 drew back a step, farther up the beach and away 
 from him, amusement struggling with the annoyance 
 she felt at having her solitude broken in upon by 
 her chauffeur. Algernon drew the blanket more 
 firmly around him and bowed, unconscious of the 
 appearance he made in his sudden rush of embar- 
 rassment at what he knew she felt Algernon had 
 never before looked upon himself as any one's in- 
 ferior socially, and had never been so looked upon, 
 and the experience was new and a bit humiliating, 
 especially when the other was young and pretty, 
 with laughing eyes the deep, deep blue of the sea, 
 
 94
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 and a saucy mouth that dimpled with the irrepress- 
 ible mirth of the irresponsible. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," said he. "I did not know 
 that there was any one here. I shall go." 
 
 The girl flushed, and Algernon grew visibly more 
 embarrassed and every moment a bit more haughty. 
 His head was up and in the toga-like folds of the 
 horse blanket he looked like a Roman emperor con- 
 demning a captive to death, rather than a newly-en- 
 
 % 
 
 gaged chauffeur of no references. The girl kept her 
 eyes rigorously turned from his bare legs visible 
 beneath the blanket, seen in one all-embracing 
 glance, and lending emphasis to the hauteur of 
 his expression and voice. But for all his incongru- 
 ous attire and the position he held in her household, 
 the long lank youth appealed to her, aroused in her 
 an absurd desire to know him better. There in the 
 sweetness of the early morning, on the lonely little 
 beach, with the sea-gulls wheeling overhead and the 
 waves laughing at one's feet, social barriers seemed 
 an anachronism, the foolish rules of some childish 
 game, and she longed to tell him not to go, but he 
 held the blanket with a firmness which suggested 
 that one or the other of them would have to retire. 
 "Please stay," said she, controlling her desire to 
 laugh joyously. "I shall go." 
 
 95
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon read her surmise, blushed and hero- 
 ically let the blanket fall to the ground. 
 
 "Shall we both stay?" he asked. "Up there," with 
 a nod toward the roof of the great house, "we are 
 mistress and man, but down here, we're just 
 people." 
 
 The hot blood that had leaped into the girl's 
 cheeks as the blanket fell, slowly sank again and she 
 nodded gaily. He was a chauffeur, but what, after 
 all, was she but housekeeper? But what would he 
 think? He would probably presume on the free- 
 dom she gave him. She had nodded instinctively, 
 but now she hesitated. She felt that she ought to 
 leave, but she wanted to stay and have her swim. 
 She was embarrassed and Algernon was embar- 
 rassed, first because she was and he knew it and 
 knew why, and secondly because of the pink and 
 yellow monstrosity he had on, tied around his neck 
 in many gathers with a piece of string. If it had 
 been possible to do so now with any degree of dig- 
 nity, he would have reenfolded himself in the 
 blanket and stalked majestically away. As it was, 
 he smiled at her, said, "Come on," and taking a run, 
 dived out of sight in the tumbling waves. 
 
 When he came up, he shook the water out of his 
 eyes and struck out for the sloop. He reached it 
 
 96
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 and drew himself up on the deck in all the glory of 
 the pink and yellow bathing suit. He glanced at the 
 beach, but the girl was not there. The white sand 
 glistened in the morning sunshine, and the waves 
 ran gurgling up and slid softly back again, tumbling 
 the pebbles and seaweed on the deserted beach. 
 
 "Wouldn't condescend to swim with her chauf- 
 feur," thought Algernon, hurt and a bit angry. 
 "Here goes for a dive." 
 
 He dived, shot upward into the sunshine, and 
 shaking the water out of his eyes, gazed into the 
 face of the laughing girl, not three feet from him. 
 He swam to her. 
 
 "Aren't you pretty far out?" he questioned anx- 
 iously. 
 
 She shook her head. Her eyes danced and her 
 cheeks were scarlet. She looked care-free and young 
 and wondrously pretty. She dived headlong 
 through a swell and laughed across it at the man's 
 frightened face. 
 
 "I won't drown," she said. "Don't look so wor- 
 ried." 
 
 She clambered up on the sloop and sat on the edge 
 of the deck, swinging her feet, and drawing the 
 heavy mass of black hair over her shoulder, began 
 to rebraid it with wet slim fingers. Algernon drew 
 
 97
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 himself up beside her, wondering why she had de- 
 cided to swim with him. 
 
 "How did Elizabeth go yesterday morning?" he 
 asked, leaning forward, his hands holding the deck 
 on each side of him. "Was she stationary or mov- 
 able?" 
 
 "Movable," said the girl. "It was fine. She didn't 
 balk once. I do not know whether it is reformation 
 or only memory." 
 
 "What's the difference?" asked Algernon amused. 
 
 "In time," said the girl. "The first is permanent, 
 the last temporary." 
 
 All her hesitation had gone. They laughed and 
 talked, dove and swam. They raced to the beach 
 and she forced him to work for his victory. She 
 stood a moment in the breakers, laughing like a child 
 at the buffeting of the waves, her hair tumbling 
 around her face, her slim brown hands raised to 
 keep it out of her eyes. 
 
 "I wish that I were a mermaid," said she. "I 
 wish that I never, never had to go on land again." 
 
 "I'm glad you're not," said Algernon. "I don't 
 want to be a merman." 
 
 "Your logic is weak," she laughed. 
 
 "Thank you/' said Algernon. "Mama generally 
 calls it my intellect." 
 
 98
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 "A mother should know," she teased. 
 
 "I don't think so," returned Algernon. "It's an 
 exceptional mother that knows her own child." 
 
 "And may not yours be an exception?" she ques- 
 tioned gaily. 
 
 "She isn't," said Algernon. "You see she doesn't 
 know. She thinks I am studying sociology," he 
 added in explanation, forgetful of the story he had 
 told her yesterday. 
 
 "With a weak intellect?" she exclaimed mischiev- 
 ously. 
 
 "With no intellect," said Algernon gloomily. "A 
 weak intellect couldn't do it, a strong one wouldn't." 
 
 "You don't like to study then?" she questioned, 
 amused, and glad that he had been to college. 
 
 "As I look at it," said Algernon, hands on his 
 hips, feet apart to steady himself in the tumbling 
 waves, "as I look at it, it is a detriment to memory." 
 
 "How is that?" she asked. 
 
 "The more I study, the more I have to forget," 
 explained Algernon. "And the more one forgets, 
 the harder it is to remember, the weaker the mem- 
 ory grows." 
 
 "Why forget?" she asked. 
 
 "Good to forgive, best to forget," said Algernon 
 airily. 
 
 99
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She laughed and ran up the beach. Algernon 
 draped himself in the blanket and joined her by the 
 rock where she was putting on her slippers and a 
 long brown cloak. 
 
 "Does not your mother know that you are a chauf- 
 feur?" she asked diffidently, as they took the narrow 
 path through the woods, she slightly in the lead. 
 
 "No," said Algernon. "There are a good many 
 things my mother does not know." 
 
 The girl pictured his mother, a gentle woman, old 
 and apparently poor, filled with loving tender am- 
 bitions for her son, having scraped and pinched to 
 put him through college. In that boundless sym- 
 pathy of hers, that was always so quick to respond 
 to the slightest call made upon it, the girl seemed 
 herself to feel the other woman's disappointment 
 when she learned that her son was only a chauffeur. 
 
 "Ah," said she, "why do you do it? Why don't 
 you do as she wants you to ?" 
 
 "I hope to be able to," said Algernon, "some day 
 when I have gone to heaven and become an angel." 
 
 "No/' said the girl, frowning, "I mean now, when 
 she can see you and know you are doing as she 
 wants." 
 
 "She will see me then," murmured Algernon. 
 
 IOO
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 "Unless," he added, "you would visit the sins of the 
 children upon the mother." 
 
 The girl laughed. "It's a poor rule that doesn't 
 work both ways," said she flippantly, dropping the 
 subject. 
 
 Presently they came to the parting of their ways, 
 his leading straight inland to the stables and garage, 
 hers following the coast a bit farther, thence through 
 a rhododendron thicket, across the lawn to the house. 
 The girl paused. It was plain that she was still 
 thinking of his mother. 
 
 "Does she want you to be a minister?" she asked 
 with vague ideas as to the sociology. 
 
 "I think not," said Algernon. "She said she 
 wanted me to do a man's work in the world." 
 
 She laughed with vexation, then frowned, a 
 glance at the roof of the great house seen above the 
 tree-tops recalling to her a realization of their po- 
 sitions as he conceived of them, and the informality 
 of the present conversation. The social barriers, for 
 a time forgotten in the pleasure of the swim, crept 
 upon her again like the first far-flung tendrils of 
 the approaching fog. 
 
 She drew her cloak closer about her, and with a 
 nod, left him there at the parting of the ways. 
 
 101
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 As soon as he had finished breakfast, Algernon 
 drove into the village and bought a bathing suit. 
 He had no money, so he charged it to Mrs. Todd. 
 
 "I am the new chauffeur," he explained, a super- 
 fluous bit of information, as the fact that Mrs. Todd 
 had a new chauffeur had not only reached distant 
 Brockton itself by that time, but also a highly-col- 
 ored account of the new chauffeur's arrival and en- 
 gagement. The explanation, however, of why a 
 chauffeur should necessarily need a bathing suit as a 
 part of his regalia to be furnished by his employer 
 was lost in the dim haze of Algernon's air of grave 
 importance. 
 
 As Algernon was leaving the store, Higgins called 
 to him. 
 
 "Er Mr. Holmes." 
 
 Algernon turned. 
 
 "Here are some letters you might as well take 
 along with you. This one," holding out a fat bluish 
 envelope, postmarked London, and addressed to 
 Miss Molly O'Toole, Castle Crags, North Brockton, 
 Maine, U. S. A., "belongs up to the Crags, too, but 
 there ain't no one up there by that name as far as 
 we can make out. Mrs. Todd always keeps them, 
 though." 
 
 Algernon, glancing at the envelope, recognized 
 102
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 his mother's familiar handwriting. He smiled with 
 pleasant enjoyment, took the letters and departed. 
 
 He remembered them when he was almost at the 
 gates of Castle Crags and pulled them out of his 
 pocket with a chuckle. Two were from well-known 
 dressmaking establishments, the third had the 
 name of an exclusive firm of shoemakers on the up- 
 per left-hand corner, while the fourth and last was 
 the one from his mother. 
 
 "Bills," he thought, amused, returning the first 
 three to his pocket. The one from his mother was 
 thick and Algernon turned it over and over thought- 
 fully, as if an examination of the envelope would re- 
 veal the contents, and wondered uneasily if it would 
 announce that his mother was returning sooner than 
 she was expected, or if it were merely instructions 
 as to further of her wishes. 
 
 The parlor maid told him in the course of half 
 an hour's chat, that Mrs. Todd was out in the motor- 
 boat, so he left the letters in the hall and spent a 
 long morning in the garage, putting the cars in 
 order. 
 
 The next morning he again made his way through 
 the woodland path to the little beach. The new bath- 
 ing suit, he realized with calm satisfaction, was not 
 only a good fit, but enhanced whatever slight claim 
 
 103
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 to beauty he could with due modesty acknowledge. 
 This was fortunate as it was the only one Higgins 
 had in stock. Bathing suits in that locality were a 
 superfluity rather than a necessity. This one had 
 been left over from a few years before when some 
 city people had passed the summer there and North 
 Brockton had dreamed for one short delirious while 
 of becoming a world-famous summer resort 
 
 It was a cold gray morning. Fog had swept in 
 during the night and the ground was as wet and the 
 woods dripped as dismally as if it had rained. The 
 sea was gray and sullen, and the waves rolled up on 
 the beach with no tumble of glistening foam as they 
 had done the day before. Algernon shivered and 
 looked for the girl. The tiny seaweed-strewn beach 
 was empty; not even the shabby slippers and old 
 brown cloak were to be seen. 
 
 Since the parting yesterday morning in the woods, 
 Algernon had been filled with the fear that she 
 would not come to bathe again, that her idea of the 
 social barriers would not let her go of her own ac- 
 cord for a swim with her chauffeur. He had been 
 quick to read the liking for him he had seen so often 
 in her eyes and knew that if she had come, now when 
 she expected to find him there on the beach, it 
 would be simply because that liking was big enough 
 
 104
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 to overcome her feminine clinging to social form and 
 custom. Was her liking for him strong enough? All 
 the day before and that morning as he made his way 
 through the woods he had been filled with the 
 dread that it would not be, had told himself not to 
 be a fool, that it certainly couldn't be, and all the 
 while he had hoped that it would be. But it was 
 clear now that she did not care enough. 
 
 "She didn't care," thought Algernon, sud- 
 denly losing all desire for a swim and feeling 
 vaguely irritated with the new bathing suit. He de- 
 cided not to come again. The beach was hers and 
 she should have it undisturbed by him, but now that 
 he was there, he would swim out to the sloop, dimly 
 visible through the fog, and then go in. 
 
 He was passing the point of rocks, that jutting 
 far out in the water, hid the beach from sight of 
 the float and bath-houses of Castle Crags, when he 
 heard a voice call to him, the laughter of the sea in 
 its clear sweet tones. He turned and saw the girl 
 sitting on the rocks, half in and half out of the 
 water. She was leaning back with her hands clasped 
 behind her head, a glistening braid of hair over 
 each shoulder. She looked hardly human in the dull 
 gray light of the fog, more like some spirit from the 
 coral depths below. 
 
 105
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Hullo, Lorelei," he called. 
 
 "Hello, Boatman," she answered. "What has be- 
 come of the pink and yellow symphony in bathing 
 suits?" she asked, laughing down at him as he 
 found precarious foothold on a rock below her. "I 
 thought it was beautiful." 
 
 "It was too beautiful," said Algernon. "I felt 
 that I was not worthy of it" 
 
 "Why so modest?" 
 
 "It's not modesty," said Algernon. "Merely a 
 painful regard for the truth when faced by a fact 
 that can not be denied." 
 
 "I thought men rose above the feminine vanity of 
 caring about their looks," said she. "I thought char- 
 acter was all they wanted." 
 
 "It is," said Algernon, "in others." He laughed, 
 oblivious to what he said, conscious for the moment' 
 only of the blessed fact that she had cared enough to 
 come. When she had reached the beach and found 
 him not there, she had hidden her slippers and cloak 
 and had swum out to the rock to wait concealed un- 
 til he came, and then to decide whether or not to 
 let her presence be known, her friendship still strug- 
 gling with her upbringing in the social barriers of 
 formality. 
 
 1 06
 
 TWO DIPS IN THE SEA 
 
 "In other men, maybe," admitted the girl. "In 
 women all you men want is good looks." 
 
 "Please," said Algernon. "You sound just like 
 mama." 
 
 The girl nodded. "Well, it's so. A woman wants 
 character in the man she marries, a man wants only 
 good looks in the wife he gets." 
 
 "We realize," said Algernon, "that one character 
 in the family is enough." 
 
 "But it's so often a caricature," she sighed. 
 
 "You can't blame us for that," protested Alger- 
 non. "You choose the man." 
 
 "Many are married, but few are chosen," she re- 
 turned, laughing and slipping from the rock into 
 the calling sea. 
 
 They swam for a while, and when the girl grew 
 tired they sat on the sloop and talked. 
 
 "You are serious, Lorelei," said he. "You should 
 not be, not in the sea. It is forbidden." 
 
 Molly blushed. She had been wondering what 
 Hancock would do if it reached his ears that she 
 had made enough of a friend of her chauffeur to go 
 swimming with him. Expressed thus frankly, the 
 fact seemed impossible of belief, and she knew how 
 difficult, if not unlikely, it would be for him to over- 
 
 107
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 look the fact and for her to explain it. Would it 
 put an end to Hancock's visits, she wondered, and 
 if it did, how could she get him back? 
 
 "I was wondering," said she frankly, and yet not 
 quite frankly, "what people would say if they knew 
 I went swimming with an unknown youth." 
 
 "What does your conscience say?" asked Alger- 
 non, looking at her pleadingly. He would hate to 
 have her stop coming now that she had already 
 come once. 
 
 She flushed slightly, reading his thought, and 
 clasping her hands around her knees, gazed far 
 out to sea. "I do not know," said she. "I left it on 
 the shore with my slippers and cloak." 
 
 "Ask it," said Algernon, "when we go back." 
 
 "I'd better not," said she. "I am afraid my con- 
 science would be horrified." 
 
 "Why should it be?" pleaded Algernon. "I am 
 not an unknown youth any more. We have known 
 each other a long time." 
 
 "But you were unknown," she persisted, politely 
 refraining from naming her real objection that he 
 was her chauffeur. 
 
 "But you didn't go swimming with me when I 4 
 was unknown," argued Algernon, whimsically ear- 
 nest. "You were a baby once, but I wouldn't go 
 
 1 08
 
 swimming with a baby any more than you would 
 with an unknown youth." 
 
 "Not without a nurse-maid, anyway, I hope," said 
 she, laughing. 
 
 "Nor you without an introduction." 
 
 She scrambled to her feet "When the bell-buoy 
 calls three times, I must go in," said she. 
 
 They raced for the beach, and again she made 
 him work hard for the victory. And once again as 
 they drew near the parting of the ways and she 
 caught a glimpse of the house roof above the tree- 
 tops, she withdrew behind the social barriers be- 
 tween them. And Algernon grew embarrassed with 
 an embarrassment he could not fight against and 
 with which he never remembered to have been af- 
 flicted before, and again he grew haughtily cold, 
 wrapping his blanket around him with the air of a 
 Roman emperor, while the girl strove not to laugh 
 and kept her eyes firmly turned from the incongru- 
 ous spectacle of his bare legs. They parted and Al- 
 gernon watched her walk away through the aisles of 
 the dripping trees with a mingling of feelings he had 
 never suffered before when parting with a pretty 
 girl, feelings of relief and yet dismay, of foolish 
 joy that had no reason, and sadness that had less, 
 feelings strange and, on the whole, disagreeable.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 LATER in the morning, as Algernon smoked 
 dreamily in the shade of some cliffs, he noticed 
 Molly and Hancock out in the motor-boat, and in 
 the afternoon Hancock came for the girl in his 
 great red touring car. Algernon shook his head in 
 the privacy of the garage as they whirled by. Molly, 
 he thought, should be careful or there would be so 
 much gossip it would get into the papers and that 
 would be the end of the pleasant little arrangement 
 they had all made for the passing of the summer 
 and early fall. Of all places best suited for the 
 growth and spread of gossip, the country was the 
 most to be desired. 
 
 "They will talk about her on the slightest excuse," 
 he mused, as he tinkered with the machines, "and 
 thoroughly enjoy it. She ought to be careful. If 
 the great name of Todd once gets into the papers, 
 mama will be sure to see it and then good-by to my 
 job and my worthy ambition to work for my keep. 
 She is so clever, I wonder why she is so stupid as 
 
 no
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 not to realize that she is, for the time being, the 
 center of the universe up here, and that everything 
 she does will be talked about? I suppose that's the 
 woman of it, like the ways of God, past finding out. 
 I wonder what her idea was when she undertook to 
 play the role of mama." 
 
 Becoming engrossed in his subject, he lighted his 
 pipe and sought the quiet and shade of the woods 
 where he might pursue, in peaceful meditation and 
 without any danger of an interruption, the lady's 
 reasons and her many charms. 
 
 After dinner that evening, Algernon went out for 
 a run in the roadster. The night was cool and 
 sweet, with a touch of the coming fall in the sharp- 
 ness of the clear air. The whippoorwills from dis- 
 tant fields and hedgerows seemed to be calling, 
 calling one over the hills, beneath the starlit heav- 
 ens, and the white driveway, but just seen in the 
 darkness, beckoned one invitingly to come and fol- 
 low it as it wound and twisted now in the shadows 
 of the trees, now in the open with the salt wind in 
 one's face and the dull roar of the breakers in one's 
 ears. 
 
 Unconsciously, Algernon turned before he 
 climbed into the car to glance at the great house 
 on the hill, discernible by a twinkling light seen 
 
 in
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 here and there through the surrounding trees. He 
 was sure Hancock would be over that evening as 
 usual and the thought irritated him. Too much 
 gossip, he told himself firmly, should be discouraged 
 by removing the cause of it. But would she go out 
 in the car with him? And as he put the question, 
 he blushed with fear and hope and longing in the 
 dark of the driveway, with only the pup on 
 the seat beside him to see. For a moment he hesi- 
 tated, then with sudden determination, he removed 
 the pup, climbed in the car and turned boldly up 
 the drive toward the house. 
 
 Lured by the witchery of the night, the girl was 
 sitting on the side terrace overlooking the sea, wait- 
 ing, Algernon surmised, for Hancock. She was 
 leaning forward against the balustrade, her elbows 
 on it, her chin cradled in the cup of her hands. She 
 was gazing straight before her, across the lawn to 
 the tumbling waves. The days were growing 
 shorter and it was almost dark. One by one the 
 stars were coming out, and from the fields the 
 crickets were incessantly calling. The sea's monot- 
 onous dirge rose and fell, and now and then one 
 heard the wailing cry of the bell-buoy. The car 
 stopped and the girl, all in white from her feet to the 
 band of snowy ribbon around her hair, turned her 
 
 112
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 graceful head slowly and gazed a moment at the car, 
 blinded by its headlights. Then she arose and 
 came slowly forward. 
 
 "You are early," she called gaily, as she ap- 
 proached the top of the terrace steps. 
 
 "Beg pardon, ma'am," said Algernon, touching 
 his cap, "I understood you to say directly after 
 dinner." 
 
 Recognizing his voice, the girl stopped a moment 
 in surprise and then leaned forward, one hand 
 shading her eyes from the glare of the lamps 
 that she might see the better. Algernon clutched 
 the wheel and gazed straight before him into the 
 shadows of the trees. Would she go with him, or 
 would she wait, there on the terrace steps in the cool 
 of the evening, for that other one? For a moment 
 she hesitated as she had on the beach, then with a 
 low laugh, she came forward. 
 
 "Is that you, Joe?" she asked. "I couldn't see 
 in the glare of the lamps. Yes, I said directly after 
 dinner." 
 
 She turned to the door and summoned the parlor 
 
 maid. She sent the girl for her cloak and motor veil, 
 
 4 and Algernon watched her through the long French 
 
 'windows as she put on the cloak and adjusted her 
 
 veil before the glass. Then she came out and the
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 parlor maid followed her to the door, peering, frank- 
 ly curious, over her shoulder to see if her mistress 
 were going out with Hancock again that she might 
 report it below stairs. 
 
 Aware that she was being critically watched, 
 Molly strolled slowly out to the terrace steps. At 
 their head she paused and spoke to Algernon. 
 
 "Is the car all right to-night, Joe?" she asked, 
 then glanced over her shoulder at the maid in the 
 doorway and called in her clear sweet voice: "If 
 Mr. Hancock comes to-night, tell him I am out in 
 my car and am not sure when I shall return." 
 
 She ran lightly down the steps and climbed into 
 the car, while Algernon sat stolidly at the wheel 
 and said nothing. He did not speak until they turned 
 out of the great iron gates into the highway, then 
 he stopped the car, turned to the girl beside him 
 and asked respectfully : 
 
 "Which way, ma'am?" 
 
 Their eyes met full of laughter and once more 
 the social barriers tottered and fell before the on- 
 rush of the sudden and unquestioned friendship 
 that each felt for the other and that could not 
 be gainsaid. 
 
 "North," said the girl, and added: "Why the 
 'ma'am'?" 
 
 114
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 "Just for show," said Algernon gaily, "like a 
 general's uniform." 
 
 He leaned forward, for the gently moving tree 
 branches made a confusing pattern of light and 
 shadow on the road ahead, and quickened speed, 
 the car jumping forward like a spirited horse at 
 the touch of the whip. It went faster and faster, 
 now into the shadow cast by a grove of pines, now 
 out again into the starlight. 
 
 "Do you like it?" questioned Algernon. 
 
 The girl nodded without speaking, and once more 
 Algernon increased the speed. He leaned forward, 
 eyes strained ahead, but all he could do was to keep 
 the car in the middle of the road as much as pos- 
 sible and trust to luck that the way would be clear 
 of obstructions. Bushes and trees and old stumps 
 cast shadows in the road that looked like stones, 
 and a great slab of rock looked as gray as the dusty 
 road. Something was the matter with the lamps, 
 both had gone out and the car was on the rock and 
 over it before either of the occupants was aware 
 of its proximity. The wind had sprung up and 
 it whirled past them while the two bent their 
 heads before it and Algernon pulled his cap on 
 more firmly. Faster and faster, they swept into the 
 darkness. Trees, bushes, fences rushed by. One 
 
 "5
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 moment the light of a farmhouse would shine across 
 their path, and the next they had left it far be- 
 hind and were tearing along the side of marshy 
 lowlands, across which came the salt air of the 
 sea and the dull roar of the waves. Then of a 
 sudden, a hill would intervene and they would hear 
 only the hum of the engines and the whish of the 
 wind past their faces. 
 
 At last on the crest of a steep slope as they were 
 about to descend, Molly saw on the farther incline 
 before them another car, climbing easily and slowly 
 up the hill, unconscious of the car that followed. 
 
 "There's another car," whispered the girl ex- 
 citedly. 
 
 "Can't stop on this hill," snapped Algernon. He 
 threw off speed as much as he could and applied 
 the brakes carefully, but the car had acquired such 
 momentum that it rushed down ,one hill and half- 
 way up the other before it showed any depreciation 
 in speed. Those in the car ahead heard and glanced 
 back. The man sitting beside the driver said some- 
 thing to him in a quick command, and the strange 
 car in its turn leaped forward and began to go 
 faster and faster. 
 
 Algernon's eyes gleamed. It was clear the oc- 
 cupants of the strange car did not wish to be passed, 
 
 116
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 and Algernon had no intention of remaining in the 
 rear. 
 
 "Are you going to race them?" whispered the girl, 
 peering ahead to see if one were Hancock. She 
 knew of no one else in that neighborhood who owned 
 a car, and the string of touring cars that passed 
 steadily all day on summer routes to Canada and 
 Montreal generally stopped before nightfall. 
 
 "We aren't going to take their dust," answered 
 Algernon with a laugh. "I shall let them reach that 
 tree beyond there and then we'll pass them " 
 
 "Don't," begged Molly. "Please. Something 
 may happen." 
 
 "Nothing will happen," soothed Algernon, bend- 
 low over the wheel. "And with the roads as dry 
 and dusty as they are now, we shan't be able to see 
 a thing if we ride behind them all the way. Do you 
 want to do that?" 
 
 "No," the girl shouted to be heard above the 
 throbbing of the two engines and the rush of the 
 wind. "But please be careful." 
 
 "Trust me," laughed Algernon joyously. 
 
 The car ahead was soon lost to sight in a gray 
 cloud of dust and Algernon kept his far enough in 
 the rear to escape the worst of it, but near enough 
 not to lose the hum of the engines and to be able to 
 
 117
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 pass as they neared the tree he had mentioned, which 
 stood by itself in a small clearing affording room 
 for one car to pass the other. They flew past a sign 
 post, seen indistinctly in the rush, and Molly whis- 
 pered to Algernon that they were three miles from 
 Rochester. Then the machine ahead turned sud- 
 denly and dashed down a narrow branch road. 
 
 Tingling with the joy of the race, Algernon 
 turned obediently and followed. They tore down a 
 small hill across a rickety bridge and up the hill 
 on the farther side. Through the August night they 
 rushed on and on, up hill and down. The houses 
 they passed now were wrapped in the darkness of 
 slumber. Dogs ran out and barked frantically. 
 Fields, woods, marshes, passed as in a blur. They 
 had turned and were going directly away from 
 Rochester and the sea. Now they could not even 
 occasionally hear the boom of the breakers nor feel 
 the salt air in their faces. They mounted to the top 
 of a steep hill, bare and rocky in the starlight, and 
 far behind them came the whistle of a locomotive, 
 echoing and reechoing among the hills around them. 
 
 "The midnight express," whispered the girl. 
 
 "I'll be hanged if I take their dust any more," 
 thought Algernon. And the car leaped forward 
 with redoubled speed. 
 
 118
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 The girl's fear had vanished, and the desire to 
 pass was as strong in her now as in Algernon. As 
 the car leaped forward and she realized what Alger- 
 non was up to, she laughed with excitement. The 
 road was too narrow just there to allow the two cars 
 to pass. On each side was a deep gully and a tangle 
 of brambles and barb-wire fences. Closer and closer 
 drew the two cars. The dust was so thick now that 
 Molly, who had no goggles, could only shut her 
 eyes and cling, drawing her veil around her face 
 as much as possible. The machine in the lead shot 
 ahead and what had been a game of follow the 
 leader now became a race in grim earnest Occa- 
 sionally above the noise of the rushing cars, the 
 voice of the man in the car ahead could be heard, 
 urging the driver to greater speed and cursing him 
 for an idiot and his car as so much junk. 
 
 They had made an enormous circle and were 
 nearing North Brockton by the lower road. Just 
 where it turned into the village, was a large farm- 
 house with a smooth expanse of grass from its door- 
 step to the road. Algernon determined to pass at 
 that point the car ahead or something would happen. 
 Swept out of himself, crazed for the time with the 
 speed mania, he forgot the girl beside him, forgot 
 
 everything, but that he must come in ahead of that 
 
 i 
 119
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 machine in front that dared to dispute the right of 
 way with him. 
 
 Molly never knew what happened. With eyes 
 tight-shut from sheer physical necessity, clinging 
 to the seat for dear life, she felt a sudden rush, a 
 swerve, a jolt that nearly sent her out. Then Al- 
 gernon laughed and they dashed into the village 
 street, the other car tearing along behind. 
 
 "God," said the stranger, "one's a woman ! They 
 only wanted to pass us." 
 
 Algernon glanced back. The other car had 
 stopped at the hotel and by the light on the porch, 
 he saw that neither of the men was Hancock. They 
 were both strangers, the chauffeur, a short thick-set 
 fellow, the passenger tall and lean with something 
 vaguely familiar in his dust-covered sallow face. 
 They were looking after the car that had beaten 
 them and talking in low voices, the passenger hold- 
 ing his watch in his hand and seemingly urging the 
 other to do something which the other was refusing 
 to do with repeated shakes of the head. 
 
 The girl beside him laughed and Algernon turned 
 to her full of apology which she waved aside. 
 
 "I liked it, Joe, honestly," she protested. "Please 
 don't apologize. I thought it was Hancock's car 
 and I didn't want him to beat me." 
 
 120
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 "They were strangers," said Algernon as he and 
 Molly left the village behind and began to climb the 
 long hill toward home. "I wonder who they were. 
 They thought we were chasing them, that is, the tall 
 fellow did. It was a hired machine, I think." 
 
 "They were headed straight for Canada and we 
 turned them back," laughed the girl. "I suppose 
 they will try it again to-night." 
 
 But Algernon shook his head. "I don't think 
 so. The tall fellow wanted to, but the driver kept 
 saying something about the machine. I guess the 
 gasoline had given out or something." 
 
 They puzzled over the affair during the five miles 
 home and parted at the terrace steps, on perfect 
 equality, forgetful that one was the mistress and 
 the other her chauffeur. 
 
 The next morning they met at the edge of the 
 woods where the trees touched the sands of the 
 little beach, he wrapped in the horse blanket and 
 his usual jovial inanity, she in her old cloak and 
 that reserve she assumed when reason was for the 
 time dominant over friendship and she was con- 
 scious of their relationship. Algernon felt a trifle 
 afraid of her and a bit hurt, the feeling of inferior- 
 ity rankling before the girl and her dainty charm. 
 He had never been afraid of a girl before nor been 
 
 121
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 looked upon as socially inferior and the feeling 
 made him bashful and austerely haughty. 
 
 "Good morning," said she coldly, as though there 
 had not been the two previous mornings and the 
 night before of N friendliness to make a little lesi 
 formality not only proper, but to be expected. 
 
 "Good morning," said Algernon. "It's a nice 
 morning," he added out of sheer embarrassment. 
 
 The girl looked at the fog that entirely concealed 
 the sloop and the distant point of rocks and ad- 
 mitted that it was. 
 
 "Going in?" asked Algernon, picking up a hand- 
 ful of sand and letting it drift through his ringers. 
 As Molly was at that moment removing her slippers 
 and had already laid aside her cloak, the answer 
 was obvious. 
 
 "Yes," said she gravely. 
 
 Algernon's mind being a blank by that time, he 
 plunged into the water and swam out to the sloop 
 sure that she would follow. 
 
 They sat on the deck and chatted a while, but 
 though the girl's reserve melted, she was gravely 
 thoughtful and kept looking at him as if pondering 
 some serious idea with regard to him. It was clear 
 that there was something on her mind. 
 
 122
 
 When you want to confess, how do you begin?
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 "When you want to confess, how do you begin?" 
 she asked suddenly. She was leaning forward, a 
 hand holding the deck on each side of her, her slim 
 legs hanging over the edge, one crossed upon the 
 other, and she sought to hide her wistful earnest- 
 ness by a little laugh. 
 
 "I never confess," said Algernon lightly. "It is 
 always so embarrassing to the other person." 
 
 "Why ?" she asked, her eyes on the bobbing bell- 
 buoy. 
 
 "Oh, it makes him feel so superior and good and 
 forgiving and condescending, don't you know, and 
 that feeling being strange to the great mass of us, 
 it embarrasses us." 
 
 "I should think you would want to feel that way 
 once in a while for the change," said she. 
 
 "I know," said Algernon, "but it is embarrassing. 
 You keep wondering if maybe you haven't some- 
 thing yourself that you ought to confess." 
 
 "But suppose you feel that you want to confess, 
 that you must confess," persisted the girl. 
 
 "I advise you to fight that feeling as you would 
 the desire for strong drink," said Algernon firmly. 
 "Never let it conquer you." 
 
 "But I want to confess," repeated the girl, barely 
 123
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 glancing at him and then away again. "The feel- 
 ing has already conquered me. Would it embarrass 
 you terribly if I did?" 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon. "Please don't. There are 
 only two things women ever consider as confessions, 
 one is their correct age and the other is the size of 
 their shoes." 
 
 Molly laughed. "Oh, please," she begged. "Don't 
 be silly. I want I must tell you I am not Mrs. 
 Todd." She stopped as suddenly as she had begun 
 and looked at him, her cheeks crimson. 
 
 It was Algernon's turn to look away. He gazed 
 down at the gray-green water washing against the 
 sloop and wondered what to do, what to say. Did 
 she already suspect that he was Todd himself? No, 
 she was too brave a little woman to face the situa- 
 tion thus. She would ask him frankly if he were 
 not, giving no excuse for her conduct, no supplica- 
 tion for mercy, for leniency. But why had she told 
 him? He was taken completely by surprise and for 
 the time could think of nothing to say. 
 
 The girl saw that he was surprised and em- 
 barrassed and made no attempt to help him out, 
 simply gazed at him seriously, anxiously, and slow- 
 ly uncrossed her legs and swung them back and 
 
 124
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 forth along the side of the sloop. At last Algernon 
 turned to her. 
 
 "Why did you tell me?" he asked soberly. 
 
 "I wanted you to know," said she simply. "I am 
 Molly O'Toole, the Todds' summer housekeeper." 
 
 Algernon felt that it was only fair to meet frank- 
 ness with frankness, that he owed it to the girl to 
 do so, but stronger still was the temptation to re- 
 main silent and not spoil the rest of the summer by 
 premature disclosures. He was sure if Molly knew 
 that he was Algernon Van Rensellear Todd she 
 would refuse to stay longer in Mrs. Todd's employ, 
 and he hated to contemplate the blank life would be 
 without Molly O'Toole. 
 
 "Am I the only one who knows?" he asked. 
 
 "The only one," said she. 
 
 "You can trust me?" said he earnestly, in as much 
 of a question as a statement. 
 
 "I wanted you to know," replied the girl again. 
 
 She rose, stood a moment lightly poised on the 
 edge of the deck and then dived straight and slim 
 out of sight into the rolling fog-wrapped waters of 
 the tiny cove. Algernon waited until she reap- 
 peared, fearful as he was each time she dove, that 
 she would never come up again and he would have 
 
 125
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 to go after her, and then he joined her and they 
 swam to the beach, side by side, in silence. 
 
 At the parting of the ways, Algernon caught her 
 hand in one of his. 
 
 "Why did you tell me?" he asked, half frowning, 
 half smiling, wholly tender and amused as he stood 
 looking down at her. "You make me feel mean, as 
 if I, too, ought to confess and I can't." 
 
 She looked at him out of wide eyes. "Have you 
 anything to confess?" she asked. "I did not think 
 so. You seem so young." 
 
 "I am young," said Algernon flippantly, "but 
 I'm awfully tough." 
 
 "Is it nasty?" She threw back her head and 
 looked straight at him, drawing back as far as she 
 could while he still held her hand. 
 
 "No," he answered earnestly. "It is simply^* 
 foolish." 
 
 "About a woman ?" 
 
 "No, no," he laughed gaily, and she smiled with 
 dimpling mouth and suddenly mischievous eyes. 
 
 "Don't confess," she advised. "I do not want to 
 hear." She pulled her hand free but he caught it 
 again. 
 
 "Molly," he cried, "will you take me at my face 
 value?" 
 
 126
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 "With men one has to," said she with a wise little 
 nod of the head and the bitterness he had seen once 
 before creeping into her eyes and around her delicate 
 mouth. "If they once began to confess, they would 
 have no value." 
 
 "I know," agreed Algernon. "They are all 
 wretches, but tell me that I am an exception. I am." 
 
 "Haven't I engaged you as chauffeur?" she 
 laughed. "And did you have any recommendations ? 
 I think not, for I didn't see any. Would I engage 
 any other man without recommendations?" 
 
 "Not as a chauffeur," said Algernon, "but maybe 
 as a husband." 
 
 "In a husband a bank-account is recommendation 
 enough for me," said she brazenly, as she broke free 
 and nodded a laughing good-by, hurrying away 
 down the woodland patch, through the dripping 
 trees and bushes. 
 
 Algernon watched her until she disappeared 
 around the rhododendron thicket, then he turned to 
 take the path to the garage, shivered and realized 
 that he had forgotten the blanket he usually draped 
 about him for his stroll through the woods to and 
 from the beach. For a moment he hesitated whether 
 to go for it or not, finally decided to and returned 
 to the beach. 
 
 127
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 A man stood at the water's edge, gazing thought- 
 fully out to sea. He was tall and thin, dressed in 
 light gray, with a soft expensive Panama on the back 
 of his head, while a rim of pale blue silk stocking 
 was just visible above his low shoes and of a color 
 to match the band of his hat His hands were 
 thrust in his pockets, and a cloud of smoke from the 
 cigarette in his mouth drifted about his head on the 
 still air. 
 
 Algernon paused surprised. He and Molly had 
 been so engrossed that neither of them had heard the 
 stranger approaching through the woods. He must 
 have seen them, however, as they took the path for 
 home and stood chatting by the thicket. The stran- 
 ger, as though aware that he was no longer alone, 
 turned like a flash, white and startled, and Algernon 
 beheld the long lean visage, the twinkling eyes and 
 humorous twisted mouth of Mr. Joseph Holmes, the 
 stranger of the night before. A slight tinge crept 
 into his sallow cheeks and he laughed gaily as he 
 recognized Algernon and came forward with his 
 hand out. 
 
 "Ah, Todd," said he. "Howdy-do." 
 
 "Hullo," said Algernon. "You seemed in a bit 
 of a hurry to reach Canada, last night. What has 
 detained you?" 
 
 128
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 Holmes laughed. "Some ride," he suggested 
 good-naturedly. "My car got out of repair and I 
 have to wait until the driver can fix it. Deucedly 
 inconvenient. I didn't know that was you last night 
 whom we had that fun with. I would have enjoyed 
 it more if I had known it, believe me." 
 
 "You seemed to be in a hurry last night to get 
 away," said Algernon. "What's the matter with 
 your car? Maybe I can fix it." 
 
 "The Todds' chauffeur, eh?" laughed Holmes and 
 slapped him on the shoulder. 
 
 Algernon flushed and felt a sinking feeling at 
 the pit of his stomach. How could he keep his 
 identity hidden now that Mr. Holmes had arrived 
 in town? In the country gossip is always on the 
 keen jump, and Holmes must know already that Mrs. 
 Tod,d had a new chauffeur and that the chauffeur's 
 name was Holmes, Joseph Holmes. Algernon could 
 picture the surprise of the hotel-keeper as his one 
 guest signed the register by the same name as that of 
 the Todds' new chauffeur. It had been stupid in him 
 to choose the name of any one he knew, though he 
 had done it on the spur of the moment and it had 
 never entered his head that Mr. Holmes himself 
 would ever come up among the lonely hills and 
 dreary slowness of North Brockton. Holmes was in 
 
 129
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 truth only passing through on his way to Canada. 
 He would soon be gone, fortunately, but meanwhile, 
 Algernon wondered if he could buy his silence. He 
 had no ready money, but a check would do. Molly 
 probably had one of his mother's check-books and 
 he could get hold of it somehow without her know- 
 ing. Holmes seemed particularly well dressed, in a 
 combination Algernon recognized as his own favor- 
 ite colors and remembered that he had worn the 
 same when he had made Holmes' acquaintance that 
 day in June beneath the wayside trees. He was 
 going in a day or two at the longest, and Algernon 
 might be able to hasten him on his way by mending 
 the car himself. Holmes was watching him with 
 twinkling eyes and frank amusement. Suddenly he 
 laughed and Algernon dodged another slap on the 
 back. 
 
 "My dear boy, trust me. I won't give you away, 
 not for the world," said Holmes, and he winked 
 slowly. 
 
 "I suppose you heard when you signed the reg- 
 ister at the hotel?" questioned Algernon with as- 
 sumed lightness and indifference. 
 
 "I didn't sign the register," laughed Holmes, 
 "not by the name of Joseph Holmes, at least, be- 
 lieve me. I had heard about the Todds' chauffeur 
 
 130
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 as I ate breakfast and I had no desire to spoil your 
 sport, believe me." 
 
 "That's mighty good in you," returned Algernon. 
 "How did you know it was I ?" 
 
 "Guessed it," declared Holmes, drawing out his 
 cigarette case and offering Algernon one. "Have 
 a smoke. Here's a match. I heard about the Todds' 
 place in detail from the waitress, and about their 
 chauffeur. So when I heard of the youth in the long 
 duster and no hand luggage, I judged it to be you, 
 running home to mama, stony broke from the 
 pedling business." 
 
 "Not to mama," said Algernon. 
 
 Holmes laughed. "No, I knew that. To whom?" 
 
 "A cousin of my father's," lied Algernon prompt- 
 ly. "She came up here to get the place opened and 
 in order for mama in the fall. We had never met 
 before and when I presented myself " 
 
 "In the balky horse-runaway," interrupted 
 Holmes genially. "Quite so. I see, believe me. It 
 was certainly amusing and I don't blame you for 
 for being Joseph Holmes and the Todds' chauffeur, 
 not by a jugful, believe me." 
 
 "It's mighty good in you not to have spoilt things 
 by signing your name," protested Algernon grate- 
 fully. "But I can't put you to that trouble."
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Holmes held up his hand. "My dear boy, say no 
 more. I am leaving town in a day or two, as you 
 know, and it is amusing, really, believe me, besides 
 a great pleasure to be of assistance to you." 
 
 "Maybe I can be of assistance to you," said Al- 
 gernon. "I may be able to fix your car for you. I 
 am good at that sort of thing. What is the matter 
 with it? If it only needs a new part I may have 
 it" 
 
 Holmes frowned. "It's quite annoying," said he, 
 tossing away his cigarette. "Something broke last 
 night as we slowed down. The man says he has to 
 send to Boston for a new part. It won't be more than 
 a day before we get it, but I was in a hurry to meet 
 my wife in Montreal and the delay is annoying, be- 
 lieve me." 
 
 "Why don't you take the train," suggested Al- 
 gernon eagerly helpful, "and let your man bring 
 the car on?" 
 
 "I did think of that, but when I inquired about 
 trains, I found that I could make just as good time 
 if I waited two days and then went up in my car. 
 The train service isn't very good and there are so 
 many changes and stops to be made to get from a 
 little place like this, that the car is really the fast- 
 er," sighed Holmes. 
 
 132
 
 THE WOMAN OF IT 
 
 "I shall be around to see if I can't do something," 
 declared Algernon. "What name did you sign to 
 the register?" 
 
 Holmes laughed, waving aside his own troubles 
 airily. "My wife's," said he, "Mr. Patterson." 
 
 "I'm mighty grateful," declared Algernon, hold- 
 ing out his hand. "You must let me show how much 
 some time. Look me up if you come down to New 
 York in the fall." 
 
 Algernon had been brought up to feel that he 
 was conferring untold honor in giving a man 
 an invitation to look him up, when the person 
 was not only a stranger, but poor in Algernon's es- 
 timation, and not of his set. Mr. Holmes seemed 
 to appreciate the honor at the same worth as Alger- 
 non and grasped the latter's hand and wrung it 
 warmly. 
 
 "Say no more," said he genially. "I shall enjoy 
 the little masquerade more than I can say, believe 
 me. It will help to pass the time of waiting, be- 
 lieve me." 
 
 Algernon gathered his blanket around him and 
 Holmes accompanied him down the woodland path 
 to the thicket. There they shook hands again, Al- 
 gernon promised to come around that afternoon and 
 see if he could duplicate the part of the machine 
 
 133
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 that was broken, and Holmes begged him not to put 
 himself out at all, that he enjoyed the little comedy 
 immensely, believe me. 
 
 So they parted for the time, and Algernon hur- 
 ried to the garage, feeling reassured and yet un- 
 comfortable. It seemed such a colossal thing to 
 ask of another, that he go under an assumed name 
 for a time. It was annoying and he wished vainly 
 that Holmes had been allowed to reach Canada 
 last night without any unintentional interference on 
 the part of himself and Molly O'Toole.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 ALGERNON sat in the shade of the vegetable 
 garden and watched the big red touring car 
 of the owner of the Pines turn in through the 
 high granite gate posts. Hancock was at the wheel 
 and Molly sat beside him. She was in gray from 
 the large veil-swathed hat to the little shoes. They 
 had been out since early morning and now it was 
 late in the afternoon. Algernon watched them until 
 a turn in the driveway hid them, then he shook his 
 head dubiously, thoughtfully, and knocked the 
 ashes from his pipe. 
 
 It was very warm in the shade of the hedge, shel- 
 tered from the sea breezes by the pines and the dip 
 in the land. Overhead the fog was heralding its 
 evening approach by little wisps of vapor, floating 
 past like ghosts of tiny clouds. Everything was very 
 still but for the shrill persistent hum of the crickets 
 and the grasshoppers in the meadows back of the 
 stable. Occasionally Algernon could hear the high 
 discordant whistle of the under groom and once in 
 
 135
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 a while the scathing remarks of the head groom 
 anent the musical ability of his subordinate. Alger- 
 non cleaned his pipe, put it in his pocket and 
 stretched himself luxuriously in the soft sweet grass. 
 He pulled his hat over his eyes and prepared to 
 finish the afternoon with a nap, but could not get 
 the thought of Molly and young Hancock out of his 
 head long enough to allow him to sleep. And the 
 thought of Holmes' presence in the neighborhood 
 was vaguely irritating. He had been down to the 
 hotel that afternoon and overlooked the strange car 
 in company with Holmes' chauffeur. The car was 
 a steamer and the pipes coming from the engine had 
 become full of dirt, causing the engine, having no 
 water in it, to blow out, though the register indi- 
 cated that it was full because of the dirty pipes and 
 the ignorance of the chauffeur who had failed to 
 keep the pipes clean. Algernon saw he could do no 
 good. A new boiler would have to be sent for and 
 until it came, Holmes would simply have to wait in 
 patience or take the railroad cars, which he seemed, 
 to Algernon's annoyance, in no hurry to do. 
 
 Algernon felt and he knew that his mother 
 would feel the same that he was not exactly com- 
 petent to oversee the morals of the young. Neverthe- 
 less he longed to caution Molly that unless she was 
 
 136
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 more careful, she would give the whole thing away 
 through the publicity of the press and he would be 
 left alone in the big house as Mr. Todd, with no 
 amusing little masquerade to pass the time away. It 
 was not entirely clear to him yet what her object 
 had been in assuming the name and position of 
 his mother. It could not have been with the inten- 
 tion of marrying young Hancock, at least, not at 
 first, for none of them knew anything about the 
 Pines or Hancock before she had come, and she 
 must have taken the name of Todd on her arrival 
 as it would have been impossible to have assumed it 
 later, on Hancock's account. Then, what did she 
 do it for? Molly O'Toole was clever and she would 
 know, none better, that a slight irregularity, to 
 speak mildly about it, such as she was practising 
 would be impossible to explain clearly to any one 
 and most of all to his mother, in whose employ she 
 was. Why was she risking a good position, with 
 the excellent recommendations it would give, for 
 the doubtful pleasure of fooling a few farmers? 
 
 Algernon dozed off after a time, and was finally 
 awakened by the honk, honk of Hancock's machine 
 as it turned out of the gates and took the road to 
 Brockton in the gathering dusk. He sat up and 
 watched it disappear in a cloud of dust, then he 
 
 137
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 arose, stretched and decided to go up to the house 
 and give Molly a gentle warning that she must be 
 good, for he did not care to have his fun spoiled thus 
 early. She had taken him into her confidence that 
 morning, so could not look upon him as bold as she 
 otherwise might consider him under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The front door of the great house was open to 
 the sweetness of the summer evening and Algernon 
 looked in. The hall was empty but for a hound 
 that raised his head quickly as Algernon entered, 
 and seeing who it was, lay back again, thumping his 
 tail lazily, and scaring the pup, who had followed 
 his master timidly up the terrace steps, down again 
 to the seclusion of the garage and the safety to be 
 found under the great red touring car nearest the 
 door. Algernon heard some one in the library, 
 walking up and down restlessly. He went to the 
 door and then hesitated. 
 
 What could he say? He couldn't very well go 
 in and tell Molly that she was not behaving as even 
 the temporary bearer of the name of Todd should 
 behave. She would get angry and everything 
 would come to light as irrevocably as if he held 
 his tongue and let gossip do its worst; it would, in- 
 deed, end all promptly, whereas gossip would give 
 
 138
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 him at least a week or two more of fun. There would 
 be a scene, and Algernon hated scenes. They made 
 him nervous and uncomfortable. They were usual- 
 ly so strenuous. He was about to tiptoe away and 
 make up a plan of action in the seclusion of the 
 garage when he heard the steps of one of the maids 
 coming along the hall above on her way to the 
 stairs. He did not care to be caught there and the 
 nearest place of concealment was in the library 
 itself. He knocked hastily, and without waiting for 
 an answer, he jerked aside the curtains, opened the 
 doors that he found shut and entered. 
 
 Molly O'Toole had been pacing up and down the 
 room, and as Algernon entered she stood near the 
 door, facing him, startled and surprised. 
 
 "What do you want?" she asked sharply. She 
 was worried and anxious, and the strain of keeping 
 up before Hancock having relaxed, she gave way 
 for the moment to her frayed nerves. 
 
 "Hello," said Algernon lamely, not able to think 
 of anything else on the spur of the moment. "I 
 was just thinking er that you would be afraid of 
 losing your position." 
 
 Molly was leaning against the table, but even in 
 the dusk of the room, Algernon could see her face 
 change color and her small hands tighten on the 
 
 139
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 edge of the table as she struggled to keep her com- 
 posure. 
 
 "My position?" she questioned. "What do you 
 mean ?" 
 
 She came forward, cool and sweet with sudden 
 composure, in a white frock, a string of turquoises 
 around her slender throat, and on her small feet, 
 peeping from under the hem of her gown, slippers 
 of a blue to match, frankly regardless of the widow's 
 weeds she had made no attempt to wear. She was so 
 pretty and dainty with her tip-tilted nose and saucy 
 mouth, that Algernon wanted to put his arm around 
 her waist and kiss again the crimson lips. Her 
 superb composure after the first start of surprise 
 and the frank audacity of her plan and manner won 
 Algernon's deepest admiration. 
 
 "I just wanted to say," he broke forth boyishly, 
 "that you had better look out or you will give the 
 whole thing away." 
 
 Molly's cheeks turned as white as her dress and 
 her composure toppled like a house of cards. She 
 leaned toward him, one hand clenched on her breast. 
 "Who is he?" she demanded hoarsely, scarcely 
 above a whisper; "that man in the village?" 
 
 "Patterson," stammered Algernon, miserably un- 
 happy over her distress. His one desire was to 
 
 140
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 help her, not to add to her trouble and fright. He 
 could no more have worried her than he could 
 have cut that soft white throat which fluttered in 
 her fear like the breast of a captured bird. "Pat- 
 terson," he repeated. "A stranger on his way to 
 Canada." 
 
 "Does he know the Todds?" she asked quickly. 
 
 "No," said Algernon. 
 
 "How do you know?" she demanded, still un- 
 convinced. 
 
 "We were talking about them," lied Algernon, 
 "when I was overhauling his machine this afternoon. 
 He never saw them in his life, was never in New 
 York." 
 
 The girl drew a long breath and leaned back 
 against the table again, one hand raised to her hot 
 cheek, into which the blood was rushing in a crim- 
 son tide, the other still clenched on her breast, her 
 graceful head slightly turned as she bit her lips and 
 struggled for composure. 
 
 "You see," said Algernon gently, as one would 
 speak to a startled child, "he does not know any- 
 thing." 
 
 The girl nodded and motioned to a chair for him 
 to be seated. "Sit down," said she simply. "We 
 will talk things over. What did you mean by say- 
 
 141
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ing I would lose my position," she laughed lightly, 
 "and why did you come? I have lost my position 
 now, don't you see?" 
 
 Algernon threw his hat on a chair and drew an- 
 other up to the table, relieved and happy again now 
 that the girl was herself once more and realizing 
 as never before how pretty Molly was and how 
 lonely he would be without her now that they were 
 getting acquainted as fellow-conspirators. 
 
 "I came," he explained amiably, "to let you see 
 that you really can't afford to set people talking 
 about you, even in this backwoods town. It could 
 get into the papers and put an end to everything, 
 my position and yours. Can't you see that?" 
 
 The girl nodded, and Algernon went on. "These 
 people up here don't look on things as we do in 
 the city. If a man calls on a girl here he has as 
 good as proposed." 
 
 Again the girl nodded. Algernon glanced curi- 
 ously around the room to give her time to regain 
 her composure more fully. The library was a 
 large room like all the others in the house. There 
 were book shelves reaching from the floor to the 
 ceiling, heavy tables and massive leather-cushioned 
 chairs, a writing desk with its accessories of Rus- 
 sian leather and cut-glass, a huge fireplace, with 
 
 142
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 quaint old-fashioned hood and high-backed carved 
 settees, a weakness of the late Mr. Todd. The dark 
 oak floor was highly polished and the fading light 
 touched and softened the rare collection of Oriental 
 rugs, another hobby that the late Mr. Todd rode 
 fast and furiously because it was the fashion to. 
 Through the long French windows Algernon could 
 see the magnificent stretch of velvet lawn and be- 
 yond the tumbling fog-gray sea. 
 
 All was quiet well-kept comfort such as money 
 can give, and all was his. He looked at the girl 
 facing him across the table's broad expanse, and 
 told himself that she was nothing but a swindler, 
 decked in the finery his money afforded. His 
 mother, he decided, would doubtless be blind 
 to the rare humor in the situation, but his 
 mother was at that moment more than three thou- 
 sand miles away and, as yet, blissfully unaware 
 of what was being done in her name in the great 
 lonely house on the wind-swept coast of Maine. In- 
 deed, Algernon was as unconscious as his mother 
 of the real essence of that which he was doing. 
 Mature deliberation and Algernon were as far 
 apart as the poles. He acted on the impulse of 
 the moment and if things went wrong he simply 
 dropped them and turned to something else. 
 
 143
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Money is a grea.t aid to a successful practise of a 
 philosophical view of life. 
 
 He drew up a chair for Molly and with a little 
 bow motioned for her to be seated, remembering 
 the cook's expression of dark suspicion when he 
 had done the same for her. Then he sat down him- 
 self, and pushing aside the papers that cluttered the 
 table, made room for his arms. 
 
 "Bills?" he asked anxiously. "You ought to be 
 careful." 
 
 Molly flashed him a glance of scorn. "Be care- 
 ful," she sneered, "and you will be in the poor 
 farm." 
 
 "Better than being in jail," returned Algernon 
 mildly. 
 
 "To a coward, yes," said she. 
 
 "To a person with er honor, I should think." 
 
 "Fear is so often mistaken for honor," she re- 
 torted coolly, flushing and not meeting his eyes. 
 
 Algernon changed the subject. "What put the 
 idea into your head to be Mrs. Todd? Weren't you 
 afraid that there would be something in the papers 
 about the real Mrs. Todd to give you away?" 
 
 "Mrs. Todd never allows anything to be printed 
 about her," returned Molly. 
 
 144
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 "I know," agreed Algernon. "But I have some- 
 times seen little things about Todd." 
 
 "They never read the papers up here," said the 
 girl carelessly, "except the Brockton Daily Tele- 
 graph. That only comes out once a week and 
 hasn't anything in it but advertisements." 
 
 Algernon remembered what old man Brown had 
 remarked the day of his arrival, but decided to say 
 nothing to the girl about it and alarm her unneces- 
 sarily, for there was not likely to be anything in the 
 papers about young Todd for some time at least. 
 "That's true," he admitted, "but why did you do 
 this, take the name of Todd?" 
 
 The girl looked at him plaintively, like a child 
 caught in mischief and not sure of the outcome or 
 the temper of her judge. "Only as a joke," said 
 she. "The station master and the man who drove 
 me over from Brockton got the idea into their 
 heads that I was Mrs. Todd. They kept calling 
 me so and I let them for the fun of it that first 
 night." 
 
 Molly put her slim white arms on the table and 
 leaned forward, her small hands clasped in front of 
 her. Her cool audacity had returned as the blood 
 crept back into her cheeks and tingled there with 
 
 145
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 excitement, and the flash of mischief and daring 
 came again into her Irish eyes. She liked the boy 
 across the table and felt that she could trust him. 
 She wanted to tell some one, to have some one to 
 whom she could turn and with whom she could con- 
 sult if things got serious. He was only a boy, young 
 and inexperienced, she was a woman, beautiful and 
 fascinating, and she could hold him to her interests 
 by her attractions if need be. "I had been out of a 
 job for two or three months before Mrs. Todd en- 
 gaged me. You must realize what that means, to 
 be out of a job in New York! I was mad at every- 
 thing, fate and poverty and the endless hopeless 
 struggle. I had had too much worry. I don't know 
 even if I was glad to have a place at last." She 
 threw out her slim hands, palms upward and looked 
 appealingly at Algernon. 
 
 Algernon nodded sympathetically. He had often 
 been worried himself. His favorite mare had once 
 been critically sick, and then his mother worried 
 him about working. He thought he understood 
 perfectly. 
 
 "I left the next day for this place," went on the 
 girl. "And as I said, when I got here everybody 
 made the mistake of taking me for Mrs. Todd. The 
 only thing that puzzled them was my age and I 
 
 146
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 explained that to the stupid things just for the joke 
 of it by saying I was Algernon's stepmother. Then 
 the longer I kept silent, the harder it was to explain 
 and the more fun it was to pretend that I was Mrs. 
 Todd. Nine out of every ten people in this world, 
 Joe, are snobs, and that's true even in the country 
 where people seem to think the eagle is still scream- 
 ing from every bush and that sturdy American 
 independence is as thick as blackberries in berry 
 time. It's all rot. The almighty dollar is as al- 
 mighty up here as it is in New York. I liked the 
 deference every one showed me when they thought 
 I owned this place on the big hill. It was delight- 
 fully amusing, and I kept still for the fun of it. I 
 felt that I could explain to Mrs. Todd and that as 
 long as the house was put in order and things done 
 as she wanted, she wouldn't mind at all." 
 
 "Probably," admitted Algernon dubiously. "But 
 weren't you afraid of being found out before you 
 could explain?" 
 
 "No. You see, there is no one who could find me 
 out. The Todds are away, and I was given prac- 
 tically carte blanche in ordering everything and do- 
 ing anything that was needed. I shan't have to give 
 an accounting until Mrs. Todd comes in October 
 and then I shan't be here." 
 
 147
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I see. But these bills, those er dresses and 
 things you wear? They are mighty becoming and 
 all that, but I shouldn't imagine they would be con- 
 sidered exactly necessary to the house or grounds, 
 you know." 
 
 "Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb," 
 laughed Molly. "My simple dresses were marvels 
 of beauty to the country people, my wardrobe elab- 
 orate, but when Mr. Hancock mistook my best dress 
 for a morning one, I saw that if I wanted my few 
 months of fun, I should have to become a sheep. 
 And I did. It was easy enough. The tradespeo- 
 ple in New York are willing to charge anything to 
 the Todds, and I knew Mrs. Todd wouldn't get the 
 bills until my time was up and I had either ex- 
 plained to her and offered to pay for them or dis- 
 appeared. Easy?" she leaned back and smiled at 
 Algernon with a little yawn. "It is too easy." 
 
 "But what do you think to gain by it?" persisted 
 Algernon. "It seems useless to me. I should think 
 you would rather have the position and recom- 
 mendations as Mrs. Todd's housekeeper than just 
 the fun of fooling Hancock for a few weeks. I 
 don't think Mrs. Todd will like your buying so 
 many er things." 
 
 "Gain by it?" repeated the girl slowly. "At first 
 148
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 I was going to have only two or three months of 
 fun, sort of a childish make-believe, dressing up in 
 another's identity, playing the great lady and hav- 
 ing the servile reverence of the common herd. The 
 fun in that would have been reward enough." 
 
 "At first? What now?" 
 
 "Now? Maybe everything, maybe nothing. We 
 shall see." 
 
 Algernon laughed, baffled. "Those turquoises," 
 he questioned; "did you charge them, too?" 
 
 "Everything," she answered with a nod of her 
 black head. "I am in this too far to back out now 
 and I am going to dress the part even if it breaks 
 the Todds." 
 
 Algernon looked into her bright determined eyes 
 and felt his soul, which had never been determined 
 about anything in his life but to have a good time, 
 thrill at her strength of will. 
 
 "By George !" said he. "You have pluck. Put it 
 there." 
 
 It was well that three thousand miles or more 
 were between Mrs. Todd and her son at the pre- 
 cise moment. 
 
 Molly laid her hand in his frankly. "You will 
 help?" she asked. 
 
 "I'm your man," declared Algernon cheerfully. 
 149
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "But you want to be more careful. Really, it is 
 foolish to give the village a chance to gossip. There 
 is nothing the people would like better in a town 
 like this than a good racy bit of gossip." 
 
 The girl frowned for a moment and stared at her 
 hands clasped before her on the table. Finally she 
 looked up. "I will be careful, that is more care- 
 ful," she promised. "But my time is growing short. 
 I got a letter the other day, the first day you came, 
 Joe, from Mrs. Todd. She expects to be here the 
 last of September, hardly a month away." 
 
 "That's bad," agreed Algernon, thinking with a 
 dull pain that he would have Molly for only four 
 short weeks. "I think I shall " Then he stopped. 
 He had been about to say that he would write to 
 his mother that it would be wiser for her to remain 
 where she was until the raw days of early October 
 had settled into the golden warmth of Indian sum- 
 mer, but decided that it would hardly do to explain 
 his intentions. Molly was watching him in amuse- 
 ment, wholly unaware of what he was going to say. 
 
 "What will you do?" she asked with a laugh. 
 
 "Have a good time while I can," sighed Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "A lot can happen in a month," admitted Molly 
 hopefully.
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 "Yes," agreed Algernon, and added gloomily, 
 "we could all be serving time in a month." 
 
 "Yes," said the girl scornfully, "and we can all 
 be buried." 
 
 "Or married," added Algernon, more hopefully. 
 
 "Of the three," laughed Molly, "which would be 
 worst?" 
 
 "Two," corrected Algernon; "the first and last 
 are practically the same." 
 
 "Not exactly," objected the girl. "The first is 
 peaceful, at least. The last, not so." 
 
 "I know," said Algernon, "but peace is some- 
 times so monotonous." 
 
 "One certainly wouldn't be bothered with bills, 
 serving time," sighed Molly, turning over those on 
 the table before her. 
 
 "There seem to be so many of them," said Al- 
 gernon, picking up a few and running his eye 
 over them. "They aren't dunning you already?" 
 
 "No," said the girl, as she gathered the bills up 
 and returned them to their envelopes. "I wrote 
 to send the bills up here instead of holding them 
 up until Mrs. Todd's return. I wanted to see for 
 just how much we are getting into. These are only 
 July's bills. They won't wonder why they are not 
 paid as early as this." 
 
 151 -*^
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I should think the dressmakers might won- 
 der at the different measurements," said Algernon. 
 "Mrs. Todd and you would hardly take the same 
 size." 
 
 "I have not gone to the same dressmakers. I 
 have bought nearly all my dresses from the big 
 department stores. Men never know the difference. 
 I don't believe Mr. Hancock knows half the time 
 what I have on, except that it is expensive." 
 
 "You never met Algernon, did you?" asked Al- 
 gernon carelessly. 
 
 "No," said Molly, "but Mrs. Todd told me a lot 
 about him one night while I was at her summer place 
 in Connecticut. She thinks she is a stern parent, but 
 honestly there is no one in all the world to her quite 
 so wonderful as 'Algy.' He wins pennants and 
 things, I believe, in everything he undertakes. She 
 rattled on about him just as the cook below stairs 
 tells me about her son who is studying law in the 
 city. All the world is the same, Joe, at the bottom, 
 up-stairs and down." 
 
 Algernon dropped his eyes quickly to hide the 
 sudden shame and contrition that blurred them. 
 He would pay all the bills Molly was making out of 
 his allowance, and his mother need never know a 
 thing. He raised his hand to his lips to hide the 
 
 152
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 tender little smile that twitched at their corners 
 when he thought of his mother's sweet, little round 
 fat face, fresh and unwrinkled, soft and kissable. 
 
 "So you see," went on Molly, "I had all the bills 
 sent up here. I didn't want any mistake made and 
 the bills falling into Mrs. Todd's hands too soon." 
 
 "Suppose Todd turns up?" questioned Algernon 
 gaily. 
 
 "Todd in North Brockton !" Molly laughed de- 
 lightfully and Algernon flushed, unperceived, as he 
 stooped to pick up a bill from the floor. "My dear 
 Joe, Algernon Van Rensellear Todd is not a young 
 man who seeks country quiet and peaceful seclusion 
 unless compelled to do so by a stern parent. No, 
 Algernon won't arrive until a few days after his 
 mother at the earliest." 
 
 "So you don't think the simple life would appeal 
 to Todd?" questioned Algernon feebly. 
 
 "If you knew him you wouldn't ask that," 
 laughed the girl. 
 
 "You didn't know him, did you?" 
 
 "Once, I saw him, just a fleeting glimpse, and 
 spoke a few words with him, but a week, a day, 
 would be enough. Algernon is of a kind never seen 
 in the country, if he can get the first train away. 
 
 "He always could get the first train, too," she 
 153
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 added, after a moment "He has so much money, 
 and money is luck." 
 
 "He may like the country," said Algernon vague- 
 ly, feeling an instinctive desire to stand up for him- 
 self. 
 
 "It's nothing against him that he doesn't," said 
 Molly. "Cows like the country." 
 
 "Yes," agreed Algernon, slightly cheered, 
 "that's so. I don't suppose he will turn up here, 
 but he may return to the city or some large place 
 where his presence will be known and get into the 
 papers. Then how can you explain his mother's 
 being up here when he will probably say that she 
 is still abroad?" 
 
 "I know there is a risk, there is bound to be one," 
 admitted Molly. "But the chance is very small. 
 I have run it for the last month or so and nothing 
 has happened." 
 
 Algernon laughed. "Let's not worry," said he. 
 "I never do. I found that it didn't pay." 
 
 With Molly's consent he lighted his pipe and 
 leaned back in the deep chair to enjoy himself. The 
 whole situation tickled his errant fancy with the very 
 irony of it. The few bills Molly was running up 
 would not amount to much and Algernon did not 
 care enough for money to object to the spectacle of 
 
 154
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 seeing himself swindled. It was more amusing than 
 otherwise and was one of the most effective cures to 
 his ennui he had ever known. He had gone pedling 
 because he was bored, and he had left James Morti- 
 mer Worth for the same reason. He felt happily, 
 however, that while the present arrangement lasted 
 he would be anything but bored. Besides, why not 
 let the girl, young and pretty and charming, have 
 at least a taste of the wealth that so cloyed him at 
 times? This was one of those rare occasions that 
 only come once in a lifetime, so why not make the 
 most of it, especially as his mother was where she 
 need never know? 
 
 "Joe," said the girl, leaning across the table and 
 speaking with sudden resolution, an expression of 
 mingled shame and hesitation on her face, "Joe, 
 I think you ought to go." 
 
 For Molly O'Toole, like Algernon Van Rensellear 
 Todd, did everything on impulse. Where a moment 
 before she had planned to hold him to her by every 
 means in her power, she was now urging him to go. 
 He was so young and she liked him so. That was 
 enough. The rapidity with which she changed was 
 always as disconcerting to herself as to others. 
 
 "Go?" Algernon took the pipe from his mouth 
 and his face fell. "Go? Go where? Why go?" 
 
 155
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Why should you risk being considered as an ac- 
 complice, if I am tried for what will they try me 
 for?" 
 
 Algernon laughed gaily. She wanted him to go 
 for his own good, not because she wanted to get rid 
 of him as he had at first thought she meant. "On 
 any old charge," said he cheerfully. "Swindlers, 
 thieves " 
 
 "I haven't stolen anything," objected Molly, her 
 cheeks crimson. "I am going to leave everything 
 here except what belonged to me when I came 
 besides, I hope to be able to make it all right, to 
 pay for all I have bought since." 
 
 "You might as well try to convince a fifty year 
 old flirt, fat and bald-headed, that he wasn't irre- 
 sistible as to convince the law of that," declared 
 Angernon firmly. "Besides, they could have us ar- 
 rested for buying goods under false pretenses, for 
 misrepresentation " 
 
 "Why do you say 'us'?" asked the girl, raising 
 her eyes to his face. "You haven't done anything; 
 you are decent." 
 
 "I have," laughed Algernon. "I bought a bath- 
 ing suit." 
 
 "But you did that in all innocence," persisted the 
 girl. "You thought I was Mrs. Todd." 
 
 156
 
 'Yes," he said hoarsely, ''I realize what you are.
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 "I know, but even if you had been, a chauffeur 
 has no right to buy a bathing suit and charge it to 
 his employer. A bathing suit is not considered in 
 polite society as exactly the uniform of a chauf- 
 feur." 
 
 The girl laughed. "Please," she begged, "don't 
 be foolish. I really mean that you ought to go. I 
 want you to." 
 
 Algernon leaned across the table and laid his 
 hand on hers. "I am an ass, Molly. Forgive me. 
 That my ears aren't long like my brethren's is 
 simply an oversight on my Creator's part. No, I am 
 not going. You need a man to help you through, 
 and I am going to stay. It will come out all right, 
 dear. Trust me." 
 
 "I don't want to get you into any trouble " 
 
 "You're not. If there is any trouble, I am get- 
 ting myself into it. Don't worry about me." 
 
 "But, Joe," she rose and threw out her hands, 
 "do you realize what I am " 
 
 Algernon rose and caught her hands. "Yes," he 
 said hoarsely, "I realize what you are, and God 
 help me, Molly O'Toole, if you aren't good to me." 
 
 "Don't!" she cried sharply, jerking her hands 
 free and turning aside. 
 
 Algernon stared a moment at the bent head, at 
 157
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the dainty profile and the black hair curling in the 
 nape of her soft white neck, his hands thrust in the 
 pockets of his coat to keep his arms from going 
 around her and drawing her to him, then he 
 laughed unsteadily, and turning to the table, picked 
 up his pipe and stuck it in his mouth. Damn ! what 
 a fool he was, letting himself go like that when the 
 girl hardly more than knew him. He walked to 
 the great empty fireplace and slowly knocked the 
 ashes from his pipe and cleaned it, humming a bit 
 of a tune in a vain attempt to show that he 
 had meant nothing by his sudden seriousness, then 
 he strolled carelessly back to the table and sat on it, 
 hands in his pockets, one foot swinging. Molly was 
 nervously arranging and rearranging the bills and 
 did not look up. 
 
 "This is the first position as chauffeur I have 
 ever had," declared Algernon with forced gaiety. 
 "Please don't discharge me. I have no place to go." 
 
 A sudden idea came to the girl and she looked 
 up quickly. "I do discharge you," said she. "I 
 am Mrs. Todd's housekeeper. I have full right to 
 engage or discharge any one as I see fit. I engaged 
 you. You I am not satisfied. I discharge you. 
 I shall give you your week's pay " 
 
 "I refuse absolutely to be discharged," said Al- 
 158
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 gernon firmly. "I belong to the Amalgamated As- 
 sociation of Chauffeurs, No. 4972, and you can't 
 discharge me. My union won't stand for it." 
 
 "Oh, please, be serious," begged the girl. "You 
 are young " 
 
 "And you are younger," returned Algernon, try- 
 ing to see into her eyes. "I can't be serious. I was 
 born a fool and shall probably die one." 
 
 "But you needn't die anything else, besides," pro- 
 tested the girl, half laughing, half annoyed. 
 
 "I dyed a coat once," said Algernon, "and then 
 gave it to my valet had to pay him to take it." 
 
 "Your valet!" 
 
 "My valet," declared Algernon firmly, realizing 
 his break. "I have an income of fifty million." 
 
 The girl laughed at his nonsense. "If you stay 
 you will get into trouble " 
 
 "If I go, I shall get into worse." 
 
 "I had been out of a job so long," said the girl, 
 half to him, half to herself, trying to excuse her 
 conduct in the eyes of the flippant youth who would 
 not be serious, "and was so sick of poverty, I want- 
 ed to see how it felt to be rich once before I died. 
 I wanted to be able to boast that once in my life I 
 knew the blessings of wealth. Poverty is hell, as 
 you probably know, Joe." 
 
 159
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Oh, yes," said Algernon, "I know." 
 
 "A mixture of hell and heaven," mused the girl. 
 "Now you have a job and now you haven't." 
 
 "Or else you never lose your job and then it's 
 plain hell," said Algernon, feeling called upon to 
 add his little to the conversation. 
 
 Molly nodded. " The terrible monotony of a job 
 you hate is certainly awful," she agreed. 
 
 "It is," declared Algernon. 
 
 For a while both were silent. Molly was busy 
 with the bills before her, and Algernon gazed mood- 
 ily at the floor, lost in thought Finally the girl 
 looked up and spoke in her old gay indifference and 
 Algernon knew she had given up the attempt to get 
 him to go before trouble came. 
 
 "Day after to-morrow," said she, "I am going 
 to have a lawn party." She waved her hand loftily 
 with the air of a proprietor, toward the stretch of 
 lawn beyond the windows. "My soul pines to be a 
 shining social light, so I am going to have a fete." 
 
 "Who are coming?" 
 
 "Everybody all the aristocracy." 
 
 "Hancock, too?" 
 
 "Everybody ! Why don't you come, if you want 
 to? There is no social distinction in this annex to 
 the North Pole. Everybody's servants eat with them 
 
 1 60
 
 BILLS, BILLS, BILLS 
 
 and go to parties and 'socials' with them. Equality, 
 poverty, piety, are the three watchwords up here." 
 
 "Poverty is the only thing I can honestly claim," 
 sighed Algernon. "I guess I had better not come. 
 Your guests will think they are getting a glimpse 
 of the Four Hundred, and the more exclusive you 
 are the more exclusive they will feel, and the more 
 exclusive they will feel the more they will enjoy it." 
 
 "All of us snobs," sneered the girl. 
 
 "All but me," agreed Algernon. 
 
 "The man who flatters himself that he is no snob 
 is the worst snob of all," declared Molly. 
 
 "How do you make that out?" 
 
 "Why, don't you see, in his estimation there is 
 only one person in his class and that's himself." 
 
 "Then not to be the worst snob one ought to be 
 a snob," agreed Algernon. 
 
 "Will you see that the car goes to the village and 
 picks up all the old people? The festivities begin 
 at three." 
 
 "Yes, I will," returned Algernon. He slipped 
 from the table, lingering a moment, his eyes on 
 the girl. But she would not look up, and he took 
 his hat and backed to the long French windows. 
 
 "I will see to it, ma'am," said he. "Thank you, 
 ma'am. Good night." 
 
 161
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Good night, Joe." 
 
 Outside in the gloom, Algernon turned to come 
 back for a last foolish word. He drew aside the 
 lace curtain and then dropped it and stole away 
 across the terrace, carrying with him a picture of 
 the great dim room and the girl, her arms on the 
 table among the scattered bills, her face hidden in 
 the folds of her arms.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 THERE was a steady wind from the east and 
 before it the fog swept inland and lost itself 
 among the hills and forests, but the evening was cool 
 and clear as Algernon turned into the road to North 
 Brockton for his nightly ride before going to bed. 
 
 Young Hancock had come early, to see the moon 
 rise over the ocean, he had said. For the full 
 effect one should see it from Castle Crags. The 
 Pines stood as near the cliffs, but was somehow 
 not so well situated for that particular moonrise. 
 So they had gone to the rocks, Molly in a long yel- 
 low wrap, bewitchingly fascinating, the man laden 
 down with rugs and pillows ; and Algernon, watch- 
 ing them from the darkness of the summer-house 
 where he had gone to smoke his after-dinner pipe, 
 realized with a sudden fierce pain what Molly's 
 object was in playing his mother. Like the sud- 
 den flash of the rising moon upon the crest of a 
 tumbling wave it came to him. 
 
 She had started in fun, as she had said, but her 
 163
 
 intentions had changed and Hancock with them. 
 She intended to marry him, but how could she bring 
 it about? Hancock was a quiet high-minded young 
 fellow with an inherited distaste for anything ir- 
 regular, and how could Molly explain the situation? 
 If Hancock should propose before the month was up 
 and the real Mrs. Todd had returned, Molly would 
 either have to confess to him who she was or else 
 persuade him to elope for some foolish reason or 
 other and marry her secretly before a hint of such 
 a thing reached the papers and in time Algernon's 
 mother. If she did not confess, Hancock's method- 
 ical soul would insist upon announcements of the 
 engagement, upon a decent interval before the wed- 
 ding, and above all upon frank publicity. But even a 
 quiet country wedding, among pastoral scenes, of a 
 person so well-known as Mrs. Todd, the widow of 
 the great Phineas B. Todd, would be chronicled in 
 the papers somehow the day before it was consum- 
 mated, and then it could never be consummated, 
 unless Hancock's love was great enough to forgive 
 deception. When Hancock proposed Molly would 
 have to take the initiative as to the marriage, and 
 Algernon wondered if she would be clever enough 
 to do so and yet let Hancock believe that it was he 
 who was doing the urging to hasten the happy day. 
 
 164
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 Or when sure of his love by spoken avowal, did 
 Molly intend to confess all and throw herself upon 
 his mercy? The risk would be great, and Alger- 
 non shook his head gloomily as he made his way 
 to the garage, moody and unhappy. 
 
 The second groom, Bates, stood watching him as 
 he cranked the car and lifted the yaller pup into 
 the seat of honor that had been occupied the night 
 before by his lady. 
 
 "Seems to me," remarked the youth, as Algernon 
 began to pull on his gloves, "seems to me that young 
 Mr. Hancock is here a darned lot." 
 
 "Shucks !" sneered Algernon. "You ought to see 
 the way the rich people visit down in the cities. 
 They are never home, either in one friend's house 
 or another's. There's no one for Hancock to visit 
 up here but Mrs. Todd." 
 
 "Everybody can't be visiting around," contended 
 Bates, "or there would be no one to visit." 
 
 "You don't call with the hope of finding any one 
 in," explained Algernon mildly. "Heavens, if any 
 one is so thoughtless as to be in you cut him off 
 your calling list." 
 
 Bates sniffed. "That's Christian, ain't it?" 
 
 "It's not Christian. It's New York," said Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 165
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Hancock finds Mrs. Todd in every time he calls. 
 Why doesn't he cut her off his list ?" 
 
 Algernon waived the point airily aside. "He 
 isn't New York. He's Boston. The chief end of 
 man in New York is dissipation, in Boston, con- 
 versation." 
 
 "What do they talk about?" 
 
 "Themselves. Egotism is the root of all con- 
 versations." 
 
 "Money is the root of all evil," corrected Bates 
 coldly. "And I guess it is. They must be fierce, 
 them rich folks." 
 
 "They have keepers," said Algernon flippantly. 
 "Besides," he added rashly, endeavoring to head 
 off a question he saw formulating in Bates' round 
 red head, "Hancock isn't here so often. Why, he 
 hasn't been here for a long time." 
 
 "He was here this afternoon," said Bates calmly. 
 
 "Well, he and Molly wanted to talk over the 
 lawn party," said Algernon, hastily climbing into 
 the car. 
 
 "Who's Molly?" asked Bates, slow, persistent, 
 immovable. 
 
 "Molly?" temporized Algernon desperately. "I 
 don't know. Who said anything about Molly?" 
 
 "You did." 
 
 166
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 "Rats!" declared Algernon with some heat. 
 "I did not. Why should I? I don't know any one 
 by the name of Molly. Why should I call any one 
 Molly? Tell me that. Why should I? Would 
 any one call another by a name they had never 
 heard before and knew didn't belong to her " 
 
 "To who?" 
 
 "Why, to any one, to no one. Of course not. It 
 is silly to suppose such a thing- So why should I ? 
 Tell me that." 
 
 Bates was not the man to waste the flying mo- 
 ments by entering upon a long discussion of the 
 abstract why and wherefore of anything. "Don't 
 know, but you did," he insisted firmly. "I heard 
 you. You said Hancock and Molly were talking 
 about the lawn party." 
 
 Algernon laughed nervously. "Oh, yes, maybe 
 I did. Down in the city we chauffeurs call our lady 
 bosses Molly, you know. Up here you call them the 
 old woman or the missis, I believe." 
 
 And leaving the groom to assimilate this last 
 piece of intelligence as slowly as he wanted to, Al- 
 gernon hastily started the car before Bates could 
 have time to reply or question. 
 
 "If Bates makes it a point to cross-examine me," 
 thought Algernon, "something is going to drop. 
 
 167
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 He got me so rattled I didn't know what I was say- 
 ing. My head was always my one weakness, as 
 mama says. My mind is like a lottery ticket, a per- 
 fect blank when one needs it the most A marked 
 coldness has got to spring up between Bates and 
 me or I see where the month becomes a day and I 
 probably land in the asylum reserved for those 
 whose weakness of mentality is unfortunately 
 known by the authorities." 
 
 The car rolled along smoothly and quietly with 
 the gentle panting of the engine like the contented 
 purring of an enormous cat. It was growing dark 
 rapidly, and from the fields on either side of the 
 road came the first full notes of the evening or- 
 chestra from its stand in the ponds and ditches. 
 The crickets called incessantly, one high shrill note 
 of accompaniment to the frogs' deep bass. The air 
 was heavy with the pungent odor of the fields after 
 the sun goes down, mingled with the salt breath of 
 the sea. Alone in the darkening night, in the swift- 
 ly moving car, Algernon sought to get the best of 
 that dull ache in his heart, to forget those two wait- 
 ing on the rocks for the moon to come up over the 
 tumbling sea. 
 
 There was something the matter with one of the 
 lamps which Algernon had forgot to fix after 
 
 1 68
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 the night before, and he stopped at the edge of the 
 village street to see if he could not rectify it. Hig- 
 gins strolled up out of the deepening shadows and 
 hailed him. 
 
 "Hullo, that you, Holmes?" 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon. 
 
 "Nice night," said Higgins. 
 
 Algernon agreed. 
 
 "What were you doing down here about an hour 
 ago?" asked Higgins. 
 
 "Not guilty," said Algernon, beginning to think 
 of Bates and determined to keep his head this time. 
 "I haven't been down here before this evening." 
 
 "That so," said Higgins, with an indefinable air 
 of pleasant relief, like a man not disappointed when 
 he feared to be. "I thought maybe it was you. A 
 big red touring car went by without any lights. 
 Thought it was you and you had forgot some- 
 thing. The car was going in the direction of the 
 Todd place." 
 
 Algernon struggled with the lamp and sought 
 desperately to change the subject. "Forgetfulness," 
 said he airily, "is my one weakness. I'm like the 
 math. prof. I had when I was a freshie. He took the 
 baby out in its buggy once and met a friend on a 
 street corner. They stopped to talk and finally 
 
 169
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 walked off together. When the prof, got home he 
 was worried. 'My dear,' said he to his wife, 'I'm 
 afraid I've forgotten something.' 'Never mind, my 
 love,' said she. 'It's only the baby.' ' 
 
 "Guess it was Hancock," said Higgins, placidly 
 ignoring the lost baby and the college professor. 
 
 "Maybe it was," admitted Algernon vaguely. 
 
 "He's up there quite a bit," suggested Higgins. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know. Not as much as he might 
 be," returned Algernon, engrossed in the lamps. 
 
 "No," agreed Higgins. "He don't sleep there." 
 
 Again Algernon felt called upon to make a reply 
 and again sought to change the subject. "Know 
 anything about motor-cars?" 
 
 "No," said Higgins shortly- "She's a mighty 
 pretty woman. You can't blame him none." 
 
 "He's a family friend," said Algernon with rare 
 presence of mind. "They've known each other all 
 their lives, went to the same parties together when 
 he wore knickerbockers and she short skirts. Their 
 houses are next door to each other in the city." 
 
 "Which city? He's from Boston; she's New 
 York." 
 
 "Only since her marriage," drawled Algernon 
 with careless indifference, pleased and surprised at 
 his own unexpected readiness, and without waiting 
 
 170
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 longer to fix the lamp, he climbed into the car and 
 drove hastily away, trusting that the moonlight 
 would serve in place of lamps. 
 
 He kept thinking of those two on the rocks. The 
 moon did not come up when he thought it would, 
 and bored with his lonely ride in the dark, he 
 turned early and started home. On the outskirts 
 of the village through which he would have to pass, 
 he stopped again and tried to fix the lamps, not 
 caring to be arrested and compelling Molly to bail 
 him out when he was not sure how much money she 
 had or what financial arrangements she and his 
 mother had made. The lad who had compared 
 Molly's eyes to the larkspurs by the town pump, on 
 the way home from a village "social," paused a mo- 
 ment to watch him. 
 
 "Just seen Hancock pass, going home," said he, 
 and Algernon's heart lightened. But he simply 
 bent over the lamp and did not look up or reply. 
 
 "He's up to the Crags a lot," said the boy, 
 cheerfully loquacious. 
 
 Algernon straightened up, frowning. "Great 
 guns " he began, and then stopped and laughed. 
 If he grew angry, it would simply create more talk 
 and young Hancock's infatuation for Todd's widow 
 might become common gossip in Brockton and so 
 
 171
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the presence of the widow in North Brockton be 
 known to the world at large and eventually to the 
 unsuspecting Mrs. Todd in Europe, through the 
 medium of the press. Algernon knew only too well 
 how eagerly the papers would seize upon the elderly 
 and exclusive Mrs. Todd's flirtation with a youth 
 young enough to be her son; with what delicacy, 
 what highly veiled amusement, they would barely 
 suggest the tender relations between the two, how 
 bitingly sarcastic would seem the adjective "young" 
 which would inevitably and all seriously be applied 
 to the widow by those papers ignorant of the lady's 
 age, how joyously repeated by the big dailies that 
 knew. Algernon's desire to put an end to the silly 
 gossip by murder passed and he recalled a remark 
 of James. "Never try to put yourself right. You 
 can't do it. Put the other fellow so far in the wrong 
 he will forget your crime, standing up for himself." 
 
 "You aren't the one to blame him if he is," said 
 Algernon coldly, regarding the youth with sneering 
 disapproval. 
 
 "I ain't? Why not?" demanded the boy. 
 
 Algernon shrugged a village scandal aside indif- 
 ferently, meaningly, and turned again to the lamp. 
 
 "Why ain't I the one to blame him?" demanded 
 the boy again, more hotly. 
 
 172
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 "You're Jim Brown, aren't you?" asked Alger- 
 non, pausing a moment to put the question. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Work at the store, don't you ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I thought you were the one meant," said Alger- 
 non darkly. He lighted the lamp and climbed into 
 the car, starting it slowly that he might catch the 
 boy's last words and be sure that James' advice to 
 involve the other fellow had been successful in this 
 case. It had. The boy's voice was tense with excite- 
 ment, curiosity and anger; his round freckled face 
 as seen in the lamplight was red, frowning, drawn. 
 
 "Say," he demanded, "has any one been telling 
 you things about me?" 
 
 "Oh, well," said Algernon vaguely, soothingly 
 incriminating, as he quickened the speed of the 
 car and left the unhappy youth alone in the middle 
 of the road, in the darkness of the summer night. 
 
 He reached the top of the hill on the other side of 
 the village, when he saw the flutter of a woman's 
 white skirts disappearing into the bushes at the side 
 of the road. It was early yet, thought Algernon 
 joyously, Hancock had gone home without waiting 
 for the moon to rise and here was Molly coming 
 down the road to meet him. Then cold reason told
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 him that she not only had not the slightest idea 
 where he had gone but that she did not even know 
 he was gone. 
 
 Algernon climbed from the car and waited a 
 moment to hear which way she had gone. She was 
 apparently going fast in a vain attempt to get as 
 far away as possible, for he caught the sound of her 
 breaking hastily through the bushes and brambles. 
 He followed her and presently saw her, brought to 
 a halt by a barb-wire fence. Her arms were resting 
 on the top wire between the barbs and she was 
 clearly wrapped in a dreamy contemplation of the 
 marshy meadow-land and grove of gnarled and 
 twisted trees beyond the fence, for she did not turn, 
 though it seemed impossible that she should not have 
 heard him behind her. 
 
 "Good evening," said Algernon, bowing gallantly 
 to her back. 
 
 "Good evening," said she, not turning around. 
 
 "What are you doing?" he asked pleasantly. 
 
 "Nothing," said she, which was evident. 
 
 "Come and drive with me, then. It's a grand 
 night. Come on. We shall be in Brockton in 
 twenty minutes; ten, if you say the word." 
 
 "Thank you ; but really, I er I am busy." 
 
 "On a night like this," urged Algernon, drawing 
 174
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 nearer and whispering into the small ear with the 
 tender fall in his voice he could not help. "On a 
 night like this, moonlit, cool, with a good car, a 
 straight road, and and why, it's pleasant." 
 
 Suddenly overcome with the embarrassment she 
 always aroused in him when he realized that she 
 was for the time Mrs. Todd and he her chauffeur, 
 he ended lamely and wondered why the deuce he 
 couldn't have done it better and said what he had 
 started out to say relative to a glorious night and 
 good company. 
 
 "I do not care to ride, Joe," said she clearly and 
 sweetly. "Mr. Hancock went early and I came out 
 for a little walk." She stopped, realizing that she 
 had made a foolish mistake explaining her actions 
 and those of her guest to her chauffeur. What in- 
 terest should he have in the matter? 
 
 Emboldened by her mistake, Algernon drew 
 nearer and sought to see into her averted face. 
 "Please come," he teased. "It's like swimming." . 
 
 She laughed and turned, the barriers down again 
 by her own fault. After this she would have to be 
 more careful. Hancock had gone home in a pique, 
 vowing that she was thinking of another besides 
 himself, and she had denied that she was thinking 
 of any one and knew that she was not telling the 
 
 H 75
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 truth when she did so. After to-night she would be 
 more careful. 
 
 Algernon, realizing that the ice was once more 
 breaking, laughed too. 
 
 "If clothes don't make a gentleman, does a motor- 
 car?" he asked lightly, holding aside the branches 
 that she might pass. 
 
 "I don't know," said she. "Does it?" 
 
 "That," said Algernon, "is a conundrum like a 
 telegram announcing the coming of your mother- 
 in-law. There is no answer; provided, in the latter 
 case, you want to tell the truth and at the same time 
 keep the peace." 
 
 "Poor mother-in-laws," said she and laughed, 
 feeling vaguely irritated. Joe might be married for 
 all she knew to the contrary. "I suppose you have 
 suffered yourself from one, or you would not know." 
 
 "No," said Algernon cheerfully. "My childlike 
 faith in humanity has not yet been shaken, and I am 
 going to see that it never is. When I marry, I am 
 going to marry an orphan with a million dollars and 
 an affidavit that she has no living relatives." 
 
 "Poor orphan !" said she and laughed again, full 
 and free and joyous. No; he wasn't married. But 
 what difference did it make to her? 
 
 "Not at all," contradicted Algernon. "Poor me!" 
 176
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 He helped her into the car with a flourish, the 
 last of her hauteur disappearing in the ripples of 
 her girlish mirth. 
 
 Algernon had a fatal tendency to oversleep, and 
 the next morning as he hurried through the wood- 
 land path to the beach, he hoped anxiously that 
 Molly had been kind and was waiting for him. 
 
 It was a damp foggy morning and the waves 
 rolled up the beach from under a cheerless canopy 
 of gray. The sloop rocked and tossed in protest 
 at its idleness, and from beyond the point of the cliffs 
 the sea-gulls wheeled and floated through the air. 
 Algernon was aware of the fact that he was later 
 than usual, but memories of the night before and 
 Molly's friendliness buoyed him up and made him 
 almost certain that she was there, standing slim and 
 graceful by the water's edge, "getting up spunk 
 to go in," as she had once assured him so that he 
 might not flatter himself that she was waiting for 
 him. 
 
 A person was standing at the water's edge, re- 
 garding the waves thoughtfully, a tall lank person 
 whom Algernon recognized angrily and at once 
 as Mr. Joseph Holmes. He had on an old duster, 
 beneath whose abbreviated hem appeared his bare 
 
 177
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 legs. His feet were thrust into a pair of sneakers. 
 A towel was wound around his neck and he held a 
 bundle of clothes under one arm. He turned and 
 nodded as he heard Algernon's approach. 
 
 "Hullo," said he. 
 
 "Hullo," returned Algernon. "Going in?" 
 
 "Can't say. It looks pleasant, but " 
 
 Algernon looked at the cold gray expanse before 
 him, at the sullen little combers washing up the 
 stones at his feet with a gurgling splash, and 
 shivered. 
 
 "I will go in if you will," said he. 
 
 "It looks nice," admitted Holmes dubiously. 
 
 "It's terribly cold," said Algernon, feeling his de- 
 sire for a swim disappearing as the fog deepened, 
 and his wonder what Molly was up to grew. Had 
 she come to the beach, seen the stranger and gone 
 back to the house, or had she decided not to be 
 friendly with him any more ? Never to go in swim- 
 ming again? 
 
 "A good swift swim will give us an appetite," 
 remarked Holmes, shifting the bundle under his 
 arm. 
 
 "You feel so dog-goned wet when you come out," 
 objected Algernon. 
 
 "I will go if you will," said Holmes. 
 178
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 Algernon drew his blanket closer around him and 
 offered to do the same by the other. 
 
 "Guess we had better not You haven't any suit 
 on this morning." And Holmes glanced hopefully 
 at the blanket. 
 
 "Jove!" said Algernon. "Are you a disciple of 
 Comstock ?" 
 
 "We are so near the Crags," protested Holmes. 
 "Mrs. Todd might come along at any moment. The 
 bathing beach is only around that point of rocks, 
 you know." 
 
 "Backing out?" sneered Algernon, wondering 
 why Holmes had come, but feeling sure that it was 
 simply with the innocent desire for a swim, with no 
 intention whatever to meet either himself or Molly. 
 As Holmes said, the bathing beach was simply 
 around the point of rocks and he might have 
 thought that Molly had swum around it that first 
 morning he had seen her and him going through the 
 path home. 
 
 "No, no," protested Holmes. "Certainly not. I 
 would like to go in. That is what I came for but 
 really I don't think you had better, and I would 
 hate to go in and leave you out here. Mrs. Todd 
 may come any moment and find you with noth- 
 ing on." 
 
 179
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I have a suit on," said Algernon coldly. Holmes 
 had seen him in one the other day. He simply 
 didn't want to go in and was trying to get out of it 
 gracefully, thought Algernon. But why, then, had 
 he come ? 
 
 "Well, it's late," said the other, cheerfully dis- 
 appointed. "We had better wait until another 
 morning. What say you ?" 
 
 "It will give you an appetite," suggested Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "That would be a calamity," declared Holmes. 
 "The food at the hotel is simply to be ignored, 
 really, believe me." 
 
 "Why did you come?" asked Algernon bluntly. 
 
 Holmes laughed frankly. "I came to swim, my 
 dear boy, and now I am disgracefully backing out. 
 The water looks so cold it makes me shiver before I 
 am in it." He glanced around. "Shall we sit down 
 and talk a while?" 
 
 "No," said Algernon. "I have got to get back. 
 Hasn't that part for your car come yet?" 
 
 "No." Holmes followed him up the beach to the 
 woods and went with him a short way along the 
 path. "It's most provoking, believe me. I should 
 have taken the train yesterday, but I expected it 
 almost immediately and now I feel that it will come 
 
 1 80
 
 CROSS-EXAMINATION 
 
 to-day. It is only two days, though, and I could 
 hardly expect it to get here so soon." 
 
 "What did you run away from us that night 
 for?" asked Algernon, stopping and facing Holmes. 
 He was anxious to be rid of him, fearful lest Molly, 
 too, may have overslept, and coming along the path, 
 find Holmes there. Algernon knew that she would 
 not like it. 
 
 "Fun," said Holmes carelessly and shrugged. "I 
 didn't know you simply wanted to pass. I thought 
 you wanted to race and so 1 was going to help you 
 to your desire, believe me." 
 
 "It was fun," agreed Algernon. 
 
 "How's the little comedy?" asked Holmes care- 
 lessly. 
 
 Algernon flushed. He was annoyed with Holmes 
 for spoiling his morning, but the fellow was doing 
 him a good turn by taking another name for a while, 
 a kindness few men would have been willing to con- 
 sent to, and Algernon felt that he should at least 
 appear grateful. He laughed lightly, and shrugged 
 the question aside. "Come and see me when you 
 get back to New York," said he, offering his favors 
 graciously. "And say, if you er if you get 
 tight, you must let me know." 
 
 He nodded good-by and without waiting to hear 
 181
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 what Holmes said in reply, hurried away through 
 the woods. 
 
 Instead of taking the path to the garage he chose 
 the one through the rhododendron bushes to the 
 great house. But the stretch of lawn before it was 
 empty and after waiting a moment or so, he decided 
 that Molly had repented of her friendliness and was 
 not going to have any more of it, instead, taking 
 her swim decorously after breakfast at the regular 
 bathing beach.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 MOLLY ordered one of the cars for ten 
 o'clock, and promptly on the hour Al- 
 gernon rolled to the door, feeling that all was well 
 again, for the girl's voice over the telephone had 
 been friendly, the good-natured tones of Molly 
 O'Toole and not the austere ones of Mrs. Todd she 
 was wont to assume when she sought to keep him in 
 his place. Molly appeared on the terrace, drawing on 
 her gloves. She paused a moment in the full glory of 
 the summer sunshine that flooded the front of the 
 house, the lawn, the woods and the sparkling sea. 
 The morning, as it advanced, had become clear, 
 warm, drowsy, the air heavy with the odor of 
 freshly cut grass and moist, newly turned earth, 
 while the breeze that wandered seaward brought 
 with it the scent of balsam and sun-warmed pine- 
 needles. The birds raised a joyous discordant 
 clamor among the vines that covered the house, and 
 from the distant fields came the steady hum of a 
 thrashing-machine. 
 
 183
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Pausing in the open doorway, Molly drank in 
 the sweetness of the morning, head uplifted, a 
 graceful slender figure with the background of ivy 
 and brownstone walls. Her gown, as usual, was 
 white, exquisite in its well-made perfectly-fitting 
 simplicity, her large charming hat was of the same 
 color, and between the embroidered hem of her 
 gown and the rim of her dainty white shoes, one 
 caught a glimpse of slim ankles incased in the soft- 
 est of white silk stockings. She carried herself with 
 a girlish dignity that was piquantly emphasized 
 by the saucy little nose and the dimples at the cor- 
 ners of her crimson mouth. Algernon gazed at her 
 with the calm satisfaction of an artist in sartorial 
 art, and the gardener, weeding the pansy bed at 
 the foot of the terrace steps, stopped his labor to 
 stare frankly. 
 
 She wished the gardener a gay good morning, 
 nodded to Algernon and climbed into the car, giv- 
 ing him a fleeting glance of amused understanding 
 that filled him with a warm glow of delight. 
 
 "What do you think?" she asked as they turned 
 out of the gates; "do I act the great lady well?" 
 
 "You are one," declared Algernon, his voice 
 athrill with the glance she had given him. 
 
 184
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 "Do I act like a rich one?" she persisted. "One 
 to the money born?" 
 
 "I couldn't do it better," declared Algernon. 
 
 "You!" she laughed. 
 
 Algernon blushed. "I always feel," said he air- 
 ily, "that I and perfection are one." 
 
 "That must be comforting," said she. 
 
 "It is," agreed Algernon. "Why didn't you come 
 in swimming this morning?" 
 
 "I started, but I found the beach occupied. He 
 didn't see me, though, and I crept back. Is he the 
 stranger we raced with?" 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon. "He won't come again, 
 though. He is only waiting for a part of his car to 
 come from Boston and then he is going on to Can- 
 ada." 
 
 "I hope he won't come again," said she. "I like 
 to swim before breakfast and I should hate to give 
 it up." 
 
 "He won't come," said Algernon reassuringly. 
 
 They said no more as they rode to the village. 
 Molly was busy with thoughts for the coming 
 lawn party, and Algernon with thoughts of her. He 
 would win her away from Hancock and keep her 
 for himself. His mother always said that he would 
 
 185
 
 be married simply because of the money he owned. 
 He would show her that it was not so, that, unaided, 
 unknown, an humble chauffeur, he could win the 
 one girl worth winning away from money itself. 
 He would beat Hancock in the race for a woman's 
 hand, Hancock with the advantage of his wealth 
 and position, he himself in the humble guise of a 
 servant, without money or reputation. 
 
 They stopped in front of the village store and 
 while Molly went in, Algernon sat in the car and 
 dreamed, in the drowsy warmth of the long dusty 
 street. He caught a glimpse of Mr. Holmes loung- 
 ing on the porch of the hotel, but passed him simply 
 with a wave of the hand. Mr. Holmes made no at- 
 tempt to claim his friendship. Presently Molly re- 
 turned, her arms full of bundles, and accompanied 
 to the door by the admiring Higgins. 
 
 The storekeeper helped her into the car and ar- 
 ranged her bundles with great care. 
 
 "Don't forget to-morrow and my party," said 
 she gaily. 
 
 Higgins beamed, and swore he would be there. 
 
 "Can't I send my car for you and your wife?" 
 
 Higgins protested and after a good-natured ar- 
 gument, Molly bade him good-by and turned to Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 1 86
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 "Home," said she in the expressionless tones of 
 one addressing an automaton, not daring to catch 
 his eye. With a face as expressionless as the tones 
 of her voice, Algernon started the car and turned 
 it toward Castle Crags. 
 
 Molly leaned back in the deep soft seat and 
 gazed up the long dusty road through half-shut 
 sleepy eyes. The car glided along smoothly, with a 
 soothingly monotonous purr of the engines. On one 
 side of the road lay fields of ripened grain, on the 
 other side were the woods and the ocean of which 
 one could catch glimpses now and then through the 
 trees. It was very warm and quiet with only the 
 insects to buzz and drone. The bees and a seem- 
 ingly endless number of small yellow butterflies 
 darted among the browning brambles on each side 
 of the road. The goldenrod flamed by the wayside 
 in the midst of asters and great heavy-headed milk- 
 weed, lightening the dun brown bushes of late 
 'summer. Peace covered all and seemed to tuck one 
 ,in as a downy bed-quilt on a cold night in winter. 
 . Suddenly Molly opened her eyes wide and 
 glanced sidewise at her companion, the little imps 
 hidden behind the long black lashes danced and 
 the dimples appeared at each corner of her bewitch- 
 i'ng mouth. 
 
 I8 7
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Joe," said she, "it's worth it." 
 
 Algernon turned and smiled down at the piquant 
 face beneath the brim of the big white hat. 
 
 "What is worth what?" he asked, amused. 
 
 "The last two months. No matter what happens, 
 they can't be taken away from me. I have really 
 felt what it means to be rich, and no one can change 
 that whether I remain so or not. It's grand to have 
 nothing to do, to lie in bed and have your breakfast 
 brought to you, to order this and that and the other 
 and have some one run and fetch them for you, to 
 have clothes, clothes, clothes, until you don't want 
 any more. Money ! It means a lot. No wonder men 
 lose their souls for it." There was a hard ring in 
 her sweet voice and an expression of greed crossed 
 her face like the swift shadow of a cloud across a 
 tiny brook. 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Algernon, "if you were old and 
 fat and ugly and had indigestion and rheumatism, 
 you wouldn't think money is everything." 
 
 "It would be compensation for the rest of every- 
 thing that I didn't have. Don't talk to me about 
 love and peace and happiness going hand in hand 
 with poverty. I know. I have tried both now, 
 wealth and poverty." She laughed. "Poverty," and 
 she flung out her hands with a gesture of mingled 
 
 1 88
 
 abhorrence and wisdom. "Poverty grinds a man's 
 soul to pieces !" 
 
 "Oh, rot!" 
 
 "Do you like being poor?" She challenged him 
 with her bright eyes on his face. 
 
 Algernon thought of the last two months of pleas- 
 ant novelty he had spent pedling with James Mor- 
 timer Worth. He had not had a worry on his mind 
 and he was always subconsciously aware that he 
 had but to telegraph or write his lawyers, name the 
 amount he wanted and it was his. He nevertheless 
 labored under the delusion that he knew what it 
 meant to be poor. 
 
 "There are a lot worse things than poverty," he 
 sneered. 
 
 "You are a man and men miss half of the trouble 
 of this world. Women get it all in a big lump, 
 heaved right down plump on top of them." In her 
 voice was the wisdom of the ages, and on her face 
 again the passing shadow of greed and cupidity. 
 She nodded once or twice, her eyes on the road 
 ahead as if in its dusty turnings she could see down 
 the years of time all that women had suffered and 
 would suffer. Then she laughed. "You should try 
 being rich for a time. You would not be so sure of 
 the blessings of poverty afterward. You would see 
 i 189
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 all the nasty littleness of it which you are too near 
 now to see. Rich or married, either will open your 
 eyes." 
 
 Algernon blushed guiltily, but she was arrang- 
 ing the bundles on her lap and did not look up. "If 
 money," she went on after a moment, "were not as 
 far above poverty as a king above a slave, as a 
 woman above a man, why has everybody since the 
 world began taken their hats off to it?" 
 
 "Everybody doesn't," protested Algernon. 
 
 "The majority do, Joe, and you know it." 
 
 "See here," said Algernon, "I can't argue. I 
 never could. Tell me what you want me to say and 
 I will say it." 
 
 "No one can argue on this subject," said she 
 calmly. "All have to agree with me." 
 
 "All don't," returned Algernon. "The majority 
 may. I don't deny it. But that's because the major- 
 ity don't look at it in the right way. They look on 
 it as nothing but a burden and forget that it is really 
 an incentive " 
 
 "To suicide," said she. "No, they don't forget." 
 
 "An incentive to live, to work " protested Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "You can work the best horse to death," she re- 
 plied tersely, "and so you can humans."
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 "I know. That's where people make a mistake by 
 not taking poverty easier, slower. They have got 
 to be rich to-morrow or they won't play. They 
 ought to take time, work and rest." 
 
 "You can't rest much, Joe, when you are poverty- 
 stricken. I should think you would know that." 
 
 "But you can rest some, Molly. Sundays, people 
 can go to the country and lie in the grass and dream 
 and make plans and smoke." 
 
 "With the rain falling steadily," said she, "and 
 the ground soaked through." 
 
 "It doesn't rain every Sunday, Molly." 
 
 "Every Sunday you plan to go anywhere, it does. 
 Besides, what about car fare?" 
 
 "That wouldn't be more than twenty cents, any- 
 way," argued Algernon. "You could take the sub- 
 way to the park." 
 
 "That would only take a man, his wife and two 
 children out there. What would bring them back? 
 And there are generally more than two children. 
 And, then, too, what would they do about lunch? 
 The children would get hungry " 
 
 "But great Scot, Molly, I'm not talking about 
 Brigham Young and his progeny!" 
 
 "That's just my point. You're talking about a 
 bachelor, and no bachelor is poverty-stricken." 
 
 191
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I don't see how you make that out," protested 
 Algernon. 
 
 "You will when you are married," said she. 
 
 "When I am married, I may have poverty, but 
 I'll have love, too," declared Algernon. 
 
 "Not for long," she sneered. "Unless you get 
 money, too." 
 
 Algernon's jaws snapped. "Hang money," said 
 he. "That's why poverty is so hard on people. They 
 are thinking of money, money all the time and so 
 don't give themselves a chance to get any fun out of 
 poverty." 
 
 "Fun out of poverty," she laughed. "Water out 
 of a stone." 
 
 "Elijah or Moses or Job, one of those old ducks, 
 got water out of a rock," said Algernon. "They had 
 the brains, that's why." 
 
 "If your brains were as effective as his, whoever 
 did it, they would bring you in money," said she, 
 "and then you wouldn't be poverty-stricken." 
 
 Algernon tried to look under the big hat, laugh- 
 ing. "Money, money, money, is that your one re- 
 frain, Molly?" he asked. 
 
 The girl shrugged. "You try money for a time 
 and you won't be so joyful over the thought of the 
 wild hilarity you can get out of poverty. You will 
 
 192
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 have as big a kick coming as I have. And I am go- 
 ing to kick so hard I won't have any more of it if 
 I can help. Joe, I wonder what you would say if 
 you knew what I am trying to get." 
 
 "I know what you are trying to get," returned 
 Algernon quietly. "But I don't see how you are 
 going to do it, unless you explain things to him." 
 
 Molly blushed and shook her head. "Confession, 
 like medicine," said she, "should only be taken 
 after meals." 
 
 "Even then it's apt to gag if it's too big a dose," 
 said Algernon grimly. 
 
 The car was barely creeping along the sun-kissed 
 highway, the sound of its engines drowned in the 
 shrill hum of the crickets in the fields on either side 
 of the road. Molly had forgotten the fact that the 
 present conversation was anything exceptional, 
 that she and Algernon were comparative strang- 
 ers and Algernon had made his first appearance in 
 an informal way that was unusual, to say the least. 
 
 She laughed now a bit angrily. Arguments with 
 one's conscience were bad enough without being 
 forced to have one with a long-legged good-looking 
 boy whose eyes she for some reason preferred to 
 avoid. "Joe," she teased, trying to lighten the sub- 
 ject, "should I be too big a dose?" 
 
 193
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I shouldn't want you to play with my love, 
 Molly, as if it were a jig-saw puzzle." 
 
 "But my love is true, Joe for his money." 
 
 Algernon grunted and said nothing for some 
 time, his eyes on the road before him. She glanced 
 at him now and then from under the brim of her 
 big hat, and once, as Algernon turned suddenly to 
 look at her, their glances met and they laughed. 
 
 "What do you plan to do?" asked Algernon. 
 "Have him run away with you?" 
 
 She nodded. "I shall tell him it is a joke, Joe." 
 
 "A joke! I hardly see the humor in it He will 
 think you love him and when he comes to his 
 senses " 
 
 "He will be married to me," and she laughed 
 gaily, to hide her vexation. 
 
 "How can you square yourself with him after- 
 ward?" 
 
 "The same as so many of you men do who marry 
 girls for their money." 
 
 "Not men," contradicted Algernon. "An expen- 
 sive suit of clothes and a high silk hat, that's all, a 
 bit upholstered, probably, but no man about it." 
 
 He looked down at her as she sat beside him and 
 his heart was full of a pitying tenderness. She was 
 scarcely more than a girl, and yet in her eyes and 
 
 194
 
 on her mouth were the bitterness and hardness left 
 by a woman's unequal struggle hand to hand for 
 her own existence. 
 
 "Don't do it, Molly," he said gently. "I would 
 hate to have a woman play so lightly with my love." 
 
 "Bah !" said she. "I shall be a good wife to him. 
 I am doing him no wrong if he loves me as he will 
 say he does." 
 
 "You are wronging yourself, Molly." 
 
 "Not seriously, exchanging an unstable salary for 
 an allowance five times as big, out of which I shan't 
 have to pay for board, lodging or wash." 
 
 "There it is again, money. It obscures your whole 
 horizon, Molly." 
 
 "It won't, when I have it," said she. 
 
 Algernon shrugged. "I never was a good hand 
 at ethics," said he. "Right and wrong depend 
 mostly on the point of view from which you hap- 
 pen to see them, but somehow, from my point of 
 view, it doesn't seem right to juggle with your own 
 honor and decency like that, Molly." 
 
 She faced him through half-shut angry eyes. "I 
 am in your power," she snapped. "You can tell him 
 everything." 
 
 "It's not my funeral," muttered Algernon. "Only 
 money may be a good thing, little girl, but which- 
 
 195
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ever way you look at it, it only takes us to the sub- 
 way of eternity, after all. Decency is the only ticket 
 that will see us through the whole way. Give your- 
 self a show for the last grand change of cars, I say." 
 
 "You are a fool," said the girl shortly. 
 
 Algernon shrugged. 
 
 "I am not wronging him any. How am I? Tell 
 me if you can." 
 
 Algernon shook his head. "I can't" 
 
 "You would have me condemned to poverty all 
 my life that he might not have his love fooled with, 
 his tender passion." Her voice was low and intense 
 and now and again it broke. She was nothing but a 
 girl with a girl's ceaseless longing for youth and 
 beauty and gaiety, for pretty clothes and dainty 
 surroundings, a girl worn out with the endless 
 struggle merely to keep respectable and be neatly 
 dressed. "You men are at the bottom of all our 
 troubles. If you were decent, we might be. You 
 don't ask for anything in a woman but inanity, fool- 
 ish giggles and pretty clothes. A woman looks for 
 more in a man than clothes and good looks, but a 
 man never looks for more in a woman. To hold our 
 own, we have to be silly, have to dress as well as 
 possible. You make vanity an absolute necessity 
 with us. Marriage is a woman's life, and to be 
 
 196
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 married, she has to care terribly about her clothes. 
 Don't you see how the supply always answers the 
 demand? We make ourselves silly and pretty, be- 
 cause you men demand it. Don't you see? If Han- 
 cock cares so little for me that his love can't survive 
 my confessing the fact that I am an O'Toole and not 
 a Todd, though my face is the same and my charac- 
 ter is the same, then he won't suffer very much." 
 
 They were near the gates of Castle Crags. 
 Through the trees they could see the stables and 
 farther on catch glimpses of the chimneys and ga- 
 bles of the house itself. Algernon kept his eyes on 
 the wheel and said nothing. 
 
 "Don't you see?" she asked sharply. 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon, "I see. He would be a cad 
 if he threw you over. But you are such a cynic, 
 Molly. I should think, believing as you do, that you 
 would hate to take the chances of a man not being 
 a cad." 
 
 "You would have me give up all hopes of this" 
 with a gesture embracing her clothes, the car, the 
 wide gates and the pleasant vista of winding drive- 
 ways and well-kept lawns "for the questionable 
 possibility of discovering that another man is a cad. 
 Stop the car and let us argue this out. Stop the car, 
 I say." 
 
 197
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Algernon reddened uncomfortably, but he stopped 
 the car, more to give her time to regain her self- 
 control than from any intention of arguing it out 
 with her. 
 
 "Do what you want, Molly," said he. "It's too 
 fine a point for my intellect to solve. I am not go- 
 ing to say a word. I do not even know what is right 
 in the matter. I never could divide a hair 'twixt 
 south and southwest side." 
 
 "If you think it is wrong, and hold your tongue, 
 now that you know my crimes, you are as bad as I 
 am. You are an accessory after and before the act." 
 
 "I want to be bad," said Algernon cheerfully. "It 
 will be a change. I was afraid I was becoming eth- 
 ically original." 
 
 "You are certainly becoming a fool, if you are 
 not already one," snapped the girl. 
 
 "You flatter me," murmured Algernon. 
 
 "I do, indeed. Go on. I am sick of this discus- 
 sion. I shall do as I like." 
 
 As they drew up at the terrace steps, the parlor 
 maid came to the door and called out cheerfully 
 that Mr. Hancock had come in the motor-boat and 
 said he would be waiting down at the wharf for 
 Mrs. Todd when she returned. Molly nodded and 
 let Algernon help her from the car. 
 
 198
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 He gathered up her bundles to take them to the 
 house, but she insisted on carrying them herself, 
 and as he laid them in her arms, he whispered to 
 her not to forget the papers. 
 
 "Publicity will spoil your plan hopelessly, Molly," 
 he warned her. "Don't let there be too much gossip 
 until you pull the thing off." 
 
 "This is my plan," returned the girl coldly, "mine, 
 do you understand? I do not care to have it in- 
 terfered with." 
 
 Algernon discreetly touched his cap, climbed into 
 the car and drove to the garage. His policy with 
 his mother's sex was always to retreat if possible, 
 if not to yield, gracefully and at once. 
 
 "There was a time," said he to the yaller pup, 
 "when I thought I understood women. But now 
 you live and learn, pupsie." He shook his head 
 whimsically and gently pulled the pup's short rough 
 ears. 
 
 The shadows were growing long, reaching across 
 the beach to the water's edge. Algernon lay on the 
 sand, his back against a rock. Before him stretched 
 the ocean, on and on, to the far horizon. His sloop, 
 slim and graceful, rose and fell in the quiet waters 
 of the little cove as if beckoning him to come and 
 
 199
 
 open the closed cabin, unfurl the long idle 
 sails and go to seek the never found land of perfect 
 content, over the sea, in the soft pink clouds of the 
 afterglow. Behind him were the woods, swaying 
 in the evening breeze, whispering, mysterious, filled 
 with the scent of ferns, evergreens and rich dark 
 soil in virgin sweetness. But for the dog at his 
 feet and a few sea-gulls, winging their way across 
 the sunset sky, Algernon was alone. The only sounds 
 were the sobbing of the ocean and the dismal wail 
 of the bell-buoy. 
 
 : "I suppose you think me terrible," said the clear 
 sweet voice of her of whom he was thinking. 
 
 Algernon jumped up. She had crossed the sands 
 unheard and was standing a few feet away, looking 
 at him like a naughty child, mischievous, and withal 
 wistful. She wore no hat, but a large fluffy parasol, 
 aslant over one shoulder, threw into relief her head 
 with its crown of black hair. It was raised now, 
 with small square chin up-tilted, and saucy eyes half 
 veiled under long silky lashes. 
 
 "I suppose you think me terrible," she repeated. 
 "But you are not so good yourself, Joe." 
 
 Algernon laughed and swept her a low bow. 
 "Come and sit down and tell me how it feels to have 
 a guilty conscience," said he. 
 
 200
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 She dropped him a mocking little curtsy. "Thank 
 you. I was afraid you thought I had no con- 
 science." 
 
 "You would rather have a guilty conscience than 
 none?" 
 
 "Wouldn't you ?" 
 
 "I can't say. I have none." 
 
 "Poor Joe," said she. She walked to the water's 
 edge and stood a moment watching the waves slip 
 softly up the sand nearly to her white shoes. The 
 pup ran to her and she bent and patted his little 
 head. He leaped away, joyfully awkward, picked 
 up a stick and tore up the beach with it to Algernon. 
 She laughed and followed him. 
 
 "We were out all the morning," said she, closing 
 the parasol and poking a stone out of sight into the 
 deep sand. "Oh, Joe, it's good to be rich, just 
 rich." 
 
 She sank down on the sand, pulling her skirts 
 away from the over-affectionate dog and making 
 room for Algernon beside her. "I love to play the 
 grand dame. For four years I have struggled and 
 struggled, typist, stenographer, housekeeper. Now 
 I have my chance and I am going to make the most 
 of it." She nodded and her mouth closed firmly. 
 She jabbed a hole in the sand at her feet and then 
 
 201
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 turned to him suddenly. "Tell me, Joe, what have 
 you done?" 
 
 "To-day, yesterday or last year?" asked Alger- 
 non. 
 
 "Why did you leave New York? You said some- 
 thing about a confession when I was foolish enough 
 to give you mine, that day on the sloop." 
 
 "Let's talk about you," hedged Algernon. "It's 
 more interesting." 
 
 "Not to me. I know all about myself and so do 
 you. . You have the advantage of me. I do not know 
 anything about you at all." 
 
 "There is nothing to know. Nothing but the same 
 old story in the same old way. I am not original. 
 You are. Let's talk about you." 
 
 She leaned over and gave his arm a tender little 
 pat, a world of kindness in her changeable eyes. 
 "Poor old Joe ! I know. It is something bigger, 
 stronger than ourselves that makes us all go wrong. 
 It is life, Joe, that's what it is. The man who is 
 strong enough to resist life is a saint. We others 
 are like you and me." She threw out her hand 
 with the little gesture he had grown to look for. 
 
 Algernon turned sidewise, his elbow on a rock, 
 his head on his hand, and picking up a stick, drew a 
 figure in the sand between them. Her tender sym- 
 
 202
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS \. 
 
 pathy was sweet, but he could not meet her eyes. 
 He felt too much like a sneak. She looked wistfully 
 at the bent head with the sandy hair, smooth, save 
 where his fingers ran through it and rumpled it up 
 as he supported his head, and wished, she knew not 
 why, that he respected her more. Then she smiled, 
 a tiny flicker of amusement, understanding and com- 
 passion. 
 
 "Wait until I am Mrs. John Hancock and then 
 see what I do for you," said she. 
 
 Algernon looked up and in his mild gray eyes 
 was an expression she in her turn could not meet. 
 Steadily he looked at her and she slowly turned 
 her head and gazed seaward toward the distant 
 buoy, rising and falling, a mere speck on the water. 
 
 "Well?" said she. 
 
 "Don't sell yourself, Molly," said he quietly. He 
 reached over and laid his hand gently on the two 
 hands she had clasped over the stick of her parasol. 
 
 "What have I done for the last four years?" she 
 asked coldly. "Have I not practically sold myself? 
 Was any moment of my waking hours mine? And 
 think of the wages I got ! In my new job, at least, I 
 shall receive my money's worth." She shrugged 
 her shoulders and jabbed angrily at the sand with 
 the point of her parasol. 
 
 203
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "We have all got to work in this world," said Al- 
 gernon; "some for daily bread and some for 
 amusement. Work is a law of the universe and not 
 a sign of bondage." 
 
 "Folderol, Joe. You don't believe that yourself. 
 Algernon Van Rensellear Todd never did any 
 work." 
 
 "Yes, he did," said Algernon, turning his atten- 
 tion quickly to the sand again. 
 
 "What do you know about him? I only saw him 
 once in the dark, and you make me think of him, 
 Joe; I don't know why. But I have heard things 
 about him and I know he never worked, not even 
 for amusement. Amusement was amusement to him 
 and not work." 
 
 "You don't know what he is doing now." 
 
 "No, but I know that whatever it is it is not work. 
 Believe me." 
 
 "Oh, rot!" 
 
 "I've got you there, Joe." She laughed gaily and 
 held out a slim hand, white and well-cared for. 
 "Help me up, please. It is nearly dinner-time. We 
 have dinner at six, you know, so the servants can 
 have their evenings. Such a bore!" she drawled 
 with gentle affectation. 
 
 He helped her to her feet and picked up his hat, 
 204
 
 ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS 
 
 shaking the sand 'from it, while she shook her skirts 
 and the dog rushed around them joyously, glad to 
 be going again. 
 
 "Do you really think I act as if I were used to 
 money ?" she asked, as they started up the beach to- 
 gether. "I shall practise on you the airs and graces 
 of the coming Mrs. John " 
 
 "For goodness' sake, Molly, don't call yourself 
 that," he begged. 
 
 "And why not?" she asked. "Don't you think 
 I am worthy of being his wife?" 
 
 "No, Molly, for you don't care for him. If you 
 did, I wouldn't say a word." 
 
 "How do you know I don't?" she asked. 
 
 "I hope you don't," he muttered, standing aside 
 to hold back the low branches that she might enter 
 the path through the woods. Molly blushed but 
 said nothing, nor did she look at him. 
 
 The path was too narrow for them to walk side 
 by side. In silence she lead the way and he fol- 
 lowed. He noted the way she carried her head, the 
 ease and grace with which she walked, and he told 
 himself that she was all he knew her to be, no matter 
 what she said, no matter what her past or however 
 shady the present seemed to be. She was true and 
 sweet and womanly and would eventually go where 
 
 205
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 love and honor pointed and not barter herself for 
 the sake of money. 
 
 At the edge of the lawn she turned to him. 
 
 "You are terribly young, Joe," said she, her long 
 lashes veiling the look in her glorious eyes. "Good 
 night."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 THE next morning Algernon, as usual, over- 
 slept, and fearful lest Molly have her swim 
 without him, or find Holmes on the beach and go 
 away, he hastily donned his suit, draped himself 
 in the toga-like blanket and hurried to the little cove 
 through the pine fragrant, woodland path. It was 
 a damp foggy morning and the waves rolled up 
 the beach from under a cheerless canopy of gray. 
 The sloop, dimly discernible, rocked and danced in 
 protest at its idleness, and from beyond the head- 
 land's .point, the sea-gulls wheeled and floated. 
 Molly's cloak and slippers were lying at the foot of 
 a rock, but Molly herself was nowhere to be seen. 
 Algernon peered eagerly at the dim outlines of the 
 sloop, growing clearer in the lifting fog, but could 
 not see on the swaying deck the slim young figure 
 in the faded blue suit, with the tumbled wind- 
 blown hair, and a stifling fear, cold, benumbing, 
 gripped his heart. The waves, rolling high, looked 
 cruel and relentless. What mercy could they have 
 
 207
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 on a girl who loved them well and in her love was 
 fearless ? Maybe she was there on the deck and the 
 fog concealed her. Damn the fog! Maybe no, 
 that other supposition could not be. The fog hid her 
 from his sight ; that was all, that must be all. 
 
 Hastily throwing aside his blanket, he plunged 
 in and swam out to the sloop, driven by a nameless 
 fear straight through each swell, head half buried 
 in the water. The way was interminable, endless. 
 Once he paused a moment and glanced up toward 
 the sloop, but he was too low to see more than its 
 outlines. If she were there . . . she must be 
 there . . . she was there ... he would not be 
 able to see her unless he was leaning against the 
 railing. She was resting in the shelter of the cabin. 
 She must be. She had swum in this cove all sum- 
 mer by herself and nothing had happened. Cramps? 
 No, no, no. She never had cramps, and if she did 
 have them, she would have been washed ashore long 
 before. Not if caught in the undertow and swept 
 out to sea. But she didn't have cramps. She didn't. 
 Would he never get there! He reached the sloop 
 at last and clambered on board. 
 
 It was empty, deserted, with its bare masts and 
 tightly fastened, nailed-up cabin. She wasn't there, 
 yet on the beach were her slippers and cloak. 
 
 208
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 For a moment it seemed impossible to grasp the 
 fact that he alone stood on the deck. Dull with 
 despair, his face white, he turned to scan the rocks 
 on either side of the cove, remembering the day 
 she had laughed at him from their shelter. But no 
 Lorelei hailed him now from their foam-covered 
 crags. A sea-gull wheeled by with its hoarse cry 
 and the bell-buoy seemed to moan in anguish, but 
 no gay voice called to him out of the drifting fog, 
 no slender figure, in clinging dripping suit, waved 
 to him from either headland. Yet there were her slip- 
 pers and cloak in a forlorn little pile on the beach, 
 irrefutable witnesses that she had gone in swimming. 
 Maybe she had seen Holmes coming and had wan- 
 dered back into the woods to wait until he left. But 
 if she had she would have snatched up her slippers 
 at least and put them on. She always left them 
 as near the water's edge as she dared so she could 
 get them as soon as possible, for even the stones and 
 sticks on the beach hurt her feet. Besides, Holmes 
 would have waited for his namesake, if he had come. 
 Nevertheless, Algernon once again scanned the dis- 
 tant shore, eagerly, hopefully, miserably. But the 
 small pebble-strewn beach was as deserted as the 
 sloop, as the rocks and headlands, as the whole 
 dreary monotonous interminable sea. 
 
 209
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 The vacuum of despair settled on Algernon and 
 he stood a moment with white drawn face, forgetful 
 of everything, the search that must be made for the 
 body, the relatives to be looked up and notified, 
 mindful only of the terrible ghastly emptiness of 
 the sea, the heavens above and the earth beneath, 
 the unfathomable dreariness of nothing. 
 
 "Ship ahoy!" 
 
 Algernon turned, knees shaking with the sudden 
 shock of hearing that gay irresponsible girlish con- 
 tralto hailing him from the farther side of the sloop. 
 Motionless with the sudden rush of relief, he stared 
 over the roof of the tiny cabin at Molly, clinging 
 with one wet shapely arm flung over the brass rail- 
 ing that ran the length of the deck. Slowly the 
 misery of the moment before seemed to lift, his 
 heart began to beat again and the blood returned 
 to his white face, while his clenched hands relaxed 
 and his knees seemed to give from under him. He 
 walked over to her coldly and grimly drew her on 
 deck. 
 
 "Where have you been?" he demanded sternly, 
 angrily, in the rush of overwhelming joy. 
 
 "I saw you coming," said she, smiling at him 
 through her wet hair, his hands on her shoulders, 
 
 210
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 "so I slipped over the edge and hung to the an- 
 chor chain to fool you." 
 
 But Algernon did not smile. He stared grimly a 
 moment, then turned and sat down on the roof of 
 the cabin, drawing up his knees and clasping them 
 with his arms, his back to the culprit. 
 
 "Your joke," said he gravely, "was a complete 
 success." 
 
 She looked at him in surprise, hesitating where 
 he had left her, hands raised to push the wet hair 
 from her laughing eyes. 
 
 "I didn't mean to make you angry," said she, 
 drawing nearer. 
 
 "Oh, no," said Algernon, not looking around at 
 where she stood in wet and graceful penitence be- 
 hind him. "You didn't make me angry. It filled 
 me with wild joy. I thought you had been drowned, 
 that's all. Quite a pleasure, really enjoyable. An- 
 other joke like that will take twenty years from my 
 life." 
 
 Her eyes danced, but her voice was grave and re- 
 morseful. "Please forgive me." 
 
 "I shall forgive you," returned Algernon coldly, 
 sternly, "but you are never to do it again." 
 
 "Indeed, I won't." 
 
 211
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "And you are never to go in swimming here alone 
 again until I come." 
 
 "I have swum every summer all my life," said she 
 mildly. 
 
 "I can not help that," said Algernon. "I didn't 
 know it or it would never have happened." 
 
 His tone was one of parental disapproval and au- 
 thority. Molly flushed. 
 
 "I have always done it. There is no harm. I 
 am a good swimmer." 
 
 Algernon rose. "It is dangerous," said he with 
 the same calm authority, "and you must never do it 
 again." He turned and regarded her gently, half 
 amused, half angry still, as she stood swaying grace- 
 fully with the rise and fall of the sloop, her slim 
 legs parted to steady herself, her hands still raised 
 to her hair, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. 
 "A woman's idea of a joke," said he, mildly again, 
 half smiling, "is as hard to understand as the riddle 
 of the Sphinx." 
 
 "The riddle was solved though," said she. 
 "Maybe a woman's joke is the same, a man." 
 
 She regarded him gravely, with big, innocent, 
 childish eyes and not a quiver of the sweet mouth. 
 
 Algernon felt vaguely that maybe she meant more 
 than she said, but there was not even the suspicion 
 
 212
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 of a smile in her eyes or on her mouth and he de- 
 cided wisely to ignore all hidden meanings. "Pla- 
 card your jokes after this," said he quizzically, "be- 
 fore you spring them." 
 
 "I shall," said she. 
 
 "And then don't spring them," said Algernon. 
 
 "Maybe it would be better not to," she agreed. 
 
 "The Lord didn't make trouble," said Algernon, 
 still regarding her, "neither did the devil. The 
 Lord made woman, knowing she would do it more 
 capably than any one else." 
 
 "Men are so helpless," she agreed again. "The 
 Lord knew they couldn't make anything." 
 
 "Let us go back," said Algernon, deciding to 
 change the subject. "It is late." 
 
 "But we have not swum at all," protested the girl. 
 
 "I know," said Algernon, "but I have had such 
 a pleasant morning, I should hate to spoil the mem- 
 ory of it by prolonging it." 
 
 She glanced at his solemn face, still a bit pale, 
 and followed him meekly to the edge of the deck, 
 diving when he motioned for her to do so and wait- 
 ing for him before striking out to the beach. 
 
 Neither spoke as they swam to shore. In silence 
 Algernon draped himself in his blanket and the girl 
 drew on her slippers and cloak. She glanced at him 
 
 213
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 now and then, amused and repentant, but his face 
 discouraged conversation and with the wisdom of 
 her sex, she said nothing. 
 
 "Remember," said Algernon sternly, as they came 
 to the parting of the ways, "you are to wait for me 
 to-morrow." 
 
 "But" 
 
 "There is no but. It is not right for a woman to 
 go in swimming here alone and I can not permit 
 you to do so." 
 
 "I shall wait," said she mildly. "Good-by." 
 
 About ten she called him up on the telephone and 
 ordered one of the cars brought around at once. Her 
 voice had the well-bred coolness of a great lady to 
 her inferior and Algernon chuckled as he hung up 
 the receiver. 
 
 "Molly puts mama all to the bad," he thought, 
 "when it comes to the real thing. The trouble with 
 mama is that she has had servants so long she has 
 grown into the habit of speaking to them as if they 
 were human." 
 
 "I am going to learn to drive a car." 
 
 Molly stood on the top step of the terrace, pulling 
 on her gloves as the car rolled up. She nodded 
 with gay determination and smiled down at Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 214
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 The fog had gone and the sun shone with un- 
 diminished luster on the sweep of the lawn, the 
 huge gray house and the girlish figure standing on 
 the stone steps of the ivy-covered terrace. The 
 bees buzzed incessantly and a little breeze, ladened 
 with the scent of the sea, wandered by, scarcely 
 stirring the veil around the girl's dainty hat She 
 fastened the button of her glove and then glanced at 
 Algernon and laughed, for no reason but that the 
 day was fair, she was young and life was good. 
 
 The gardener, trundling a wheelbarrow, came 
 around the side of the house and stopped to wipe 
 the perspiration from his shining forehead. 
 
 "Warm?" asked Molly sympathetically, enjoying 
 to the utmost the rare pleasure of seeing some one 
 else compelled to work while she had nothing to do 
 but keep cool and amuse herself. 
 
 "Awful," said the gardener. 
 
 Molly leaned forward. "Timothy," said she, 
 "don't forget the tables and chairs that are to be 
 moved to the lawn and mend that summer-house I 
 spoke to you about yesterday. It must be done be- 
 fore this afternoon. 
 
 "Joe, don't you think I act as if I were used to 
 money?" she asked, turning to Algernon as they 
 rolled out of the gate into the long dusty road. 
 
 215
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You certainly do," agreed Algernon heartily, 
 with the charming ability to answer the same ques- 
 tion as many times as it was asked with the same 
 enthusiasm each time. 
 
 "Take the upper road. I do not want to go near 
 the village to-day. I don't like your Mr. Patter- 
 son. I saw him hanging around the rocks yester- 
 day. He makes me nervous. A guilty conscience, 
 I suppose. I take every strange youth I see for Al- 
 gernon until I am sure he isn't. But please tell me 
 what you think, honestly, Joe. Do I act as if I 
 were used to having servants? I have been one so 
 long myself, for a housekeeper is only an upper 
 servant, no matter how you look at it, always at 
 some one's beck and call, always on the keen jump 
 to do another's pleasure, always afraid of displeas- 
 ing that other and losing her place, only a servant, 
 and I have been one so long I ought to know by 
 this time how to speak to them, how I have always 
 been spoken to." 
 
 "You're all right," declared Algernon, vaguely 
 worried about Holmes. What was he hanging 
 around for? 
 
 She glanced up and caught his admiring eyes 
 with just a hint of amusement in their mild gray 
 depths. She blushed and turned away, staring be- 
 
 216
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 fore her up the road, lying hot and dusty in the 
 August sunshine. 
 
 The little car puffed up to the top of a hill and 
 stopped. 
 
 "Come and take your first lesson/' said Algernon. 
 
 She sat up straight and began to undo her gloves. 
 "I am going to take my gloves off," said she. "They 
 make me feel warm. Put them in your pocket, will 
 you, Joe? Thanks. When I become Mrs. Hancock 
 I must be an expert." She took hold of the wheel. 
 "What do I do now?" 
 
 Algernon laid his hand on hers. "You won't do 
 it, Molly. I know," said he, leaning forward to look 
 under the brim of her hat into her eyes of Irish blue. 
 
 "Don't worry over Hancock, Joe," said she coldly. 
 "It is no concern of yours if he can't take care of 
 himself. And I mean not to let him," she added. 
 "Come, tell me what to do. I am the widow of the 
 late Mr. Todd and surely I ought to know something 
 about motor-cars." 
 
 "I know you better than you know yourself," 
 declared Algernon firmly. "You are not as mer- 
 cenary as you pretend you are, as you may think 
 you are." 
 
 "To my way of thinking, mercenary is simply an- 
 other word for wise," returned Molly carelessly. 
 
 217
 
 "Cut out the lecture on morals, dear boy, and begin 
 one on machines." 
 
 Algernon squeezed the hand on which his rested 
 and tried to look into the averted eyes. "All right, 
 dear," said he softly. "I shall teach you and some 
 day, I know, you will be running one of my cars." 
 
 Molly flushed again and wished angrily that his 
 outspoken courtship did not arouse in her a half 
 sweet, half miserable longing for more. If she 
 were only indifferent to him, it would not be so hard 
 to act, so hard to think of marrying Hancock. 
 , "You will be running one of mine, you mean," 
 she laughed, but it was only with her red mouth ; her 
 eyes were serious and troubled, and she withdrew 
 her hand slowly from the warm clasp upon it. "I 
 shall still keep you as chauffeur even when I am 
 married." 
 
 "You wait," boasted Algernon. "Love in a cot- 
 tage " 
 
 "Is the worst reason in the world for marry- 
 ing," said she. "It's not for mine, thank you." 
 
 Algernon slipped his arm along the back of the 
 seat and turned sidewise toward her. "I am a 
 bit old-fashioned and I dare to admit the truth, 
 where others, including yourself, madam, sneer," 
 said he. 
 
 218
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 "The world has grown wiser," she contested, nod- 
 ding her head firmly, but careful to keep her errant 
 eyes away from his. 
 
 "Not wiser, more cowardly. It doesn't dare to 
 be poor. The old adage is admitted to be true " 
 
 "Who admits it? I don't." 
 
 "In your heart of hearts you do, along with the 
 rest of the world. You know you do. You can't 
 look me in the eyes and swear that you do not." He 
 paused, but she only shook her head in denial and he 
 went on. "More cowardly, I say, for while the 
 world admits that love without money is better than 
 money without love, it does not dare to follow its 
 belief no longer has the courage. Just life and 
 love and simplicity are not enough. One must out- 
 shine one's neighbor or what's the use of living? 
 We must go one better than our neighbor whether 
 we enjoy our neighbor's specialty or not I tell 
 you, dear, people no longer dare to live and enjoy 
 their own lives. They are always peeking through 
 the window-blind to see if Jones or Brown or Smith 
 is duly appreciative of them and envying them. 
 What's style but dressing as your neighbor does and 
 not necessarily as you want to?" 
 
 "When people talk about love in a cottage," re- 
 turned the girl, "they think of only three inhabiting 
 
 219
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the cottage, the man, the woman and love. They 
 forget the fourth." 
 
 "And what may that be?" 
 
 "Bills." 
 
 Algernon laughed. "Simplicity, child, does away 
 with bills." 
 
 "And with love after a time." 
 
 "Not with the right kind of love." 
 
 "Any kind, but parental or filial. I tell you, Joe," 
 turning on him her eyes grave and earnest, her 
 hands clasped in her lap. "I know all about it. I 
 am not the usual girl of my class, protected from 
 trouble and poverty, ignorant of the world and what 
 it means, this being poverty-stricken. My employers 
 always grew fond of me and made much of me, but 
 I never reciprocated. I don't know why, except that 
 poverty is like a lemon-squeezer to wring the soul 
 dry of any of the softer feelings. And no matter 
 how broad-minded they were there was always a 
 difference between us; neither side could forget 
 that we were simply employer and employed. It 
 is so, Joe. They thought they treated me as they 
 did other girls, no better born than I am, no more 
 refined or better educated, but they didn't. I earned 
 my living and unintentionally, perhaps, they felt 
 superior to me. I know, I say, for I have suffered." 
 
 220
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 "Love," said Algernon gently, "endures all 
 things." 
 
 "If things can prove themselves worthy." 
 
 "Jove, Molly, you are cynical! But you know 
 that you do not believe what you say." 
 
 "Cynical?" she repeated questioningly, and shook 
 her head. "No, I am not cynical. I have simply 
 learned my lesson well. Poverty is the best teacher 
 there is, Joe. You don't believe me, for you are a 
 man and unmarried. Women always make the best 
 pupils, whether in the school of life or in the gram- 
 mar schools or colleges. Women have the most 
 conscience, and it's people with consciences that suf- 
 fer most. I have thrown mine overboard years 
 ago. Wait until you are married and then you will 
 know more than you do now. You will suffer 
 through your wife, maybe not because of any over- 
 flowing love for her, but because she will make you 
 suffer, whether you will or no. She will get after 
 you." 
 
 "I tell you one thing, Molly. Poverty got a mighty 
 poor scholar when she got you." 
 
 "I have learned enough, thanks. No more for 
 me, if I can help it." She nodded emphatically and 
 knocked from her lap a dry leaf brought there by a 
 passing breeze. 
 
 221
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You've got to stay in school with me, dear," 
 whispered Algernon softly. "You won't play hooky 
 and leave me to take the lickings alone, will you?" 
 
 "Let's go home. I'm tired and the sun is so hot. 
 Joe, you are a nice boy, but you are terribly " 
 
 "Young," said Algernon. "But I am growing 
 older every day, and you are not an octogenarian 
 yourself, yet, Molly." 
 
 "Not young, foolish," said she. 
 
 Algernon straightened around and took hold of 
 the wheel, turning the car homeward. "I would 
 rather have my foolishness than your wisdom," 
 said he. 
 
 She agreed. "So should I. But it is harder to 
 unlearn a fact than it is to learn it. You wait until 
 you are married and then you will begin to learn." 
 
 "And become a cynic like you, I suppose." 
 
 "Assuredly, dear boy. Marriage and poverty, 
 the combination is merely a synonym for cynicism." 
 
 "I want to learn," declared Algernon. "Will you 
 teach me?" leaning toward her. 
 
 She did not answer. It was very still on the 
 country road, save for the chuff, chuff of the car as 
 it gained headway and the shrill chorus of the 
 crickets from the brown fields on either side. 
 
 "Molly," whispered Algernon. 
 222
 
 A WOMAN'S JOKE 
 
 Suddenly she looked at him, the dimples coming, 
 her eyes twinkling through their heavy lashes. 
 
 "Sir," said she, "I am your employer. You for- 
 get yourself." 
 
 "Molly, Molly," he laughed, "you are hedging 
 already." 
 
 She shook her head whimsically. "Joe, you are 
 terribly " 
 
 "Foolish," said he. 
 
 "Young," said she, and discreetly lowered her 
 eyes. 
 
 Algernon laughed. "Molly " 
 
 "Who do you think is coming to my lawn 
 party?" she interrupted quickly, to change the 
 subject. 
 
 "Everybody," said Algernon shortly. 
 
 "No, but this person is some one you have never 
 seen before and neither have I." 
 
 "The devil," suggested Algernon. 
 
 "Pish, I've met him lots of times. No, this per- 
 son is a stranger, just come to town." 
 
 "You can't mean Patterson?" asked Algernon in 
 surprise. 
 
 She laughed and shook her head. "No, indeed. 
 Didn't I say you had never seen him before?" 
 
 "Tell me, please." 
 
 223
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "He's a friend of Mr. Hancock's. They met last 
 winter abroad, it seems. Hancock saw him yester- 
 day by chance as he was going through in his car 
 to Canada and got him to stay over a week or two." 
 
 "Who is he?" asked Algernon indifferently. 
 
 "A friend of Mr." 
 
 "I know, but what is his name?" 
 
 "James Mortimer Worth," said she. 
 
 "Oh!" said he faintly. 
 
 "Perhaps you know him," she teased. 
 
 "No," said Algernon, remembering James Mor- 
 timer Worth's stern decree that they meet hence- 
 forth as strangers. "No, I don't know him."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 FROM North Brockton's point of view, the 
 lawn party was a symposium in pleasure, 
 ranking second to the Fourth of July and the time 
 the president's yacht had steamed by, a good two 
 miles out to sea, but visible through the binoculars, 
 provided one were not too old. To Algernon, be- 
 cause of the position he held, it was an amusing ex- 
 perience of an event that heretofore had always 
 bored him; to Molly it was unendurable, one long 
 excruciating agony of concealing mental torture 
 under a smiling mask of social inanity, a never-to- 
 be-forgotten nightmare. 
 
 The day was warm, a bit sultry, with great white 
 masses of tumbling clouds drifting by slowly as 
 though propelled by their own weight, for there was 
 hardly a breath of air. The leaves of the vines cov- 
 ering the house, which were wont to ripple with 
 every passing breeze like the waves of the sea, hung 
 motionless, and the great flag on its pole above the 
 turret, signifying the presence of the lady of the 
 
 225
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 manor, drooped lifelessly in the heavy air. But 
 the lawns were like deep smooth velvet, and from 
 the Lodge up to the great house the flower beds 
 were one dazzling riot of color. Golden-glow 
 flamed like a bit of captured sunshine along the 
 dark green of the hedgerows, dahlias of every shade 
 from pale yellow to deepest crimson nodded gravely 
 at one from behind beds of pansies, and phlox, mari- 
 golds, sweet-william and tiny clove pinks. Holly- 
 hocks stood in martial row and nasturtiums ran in 
 joyous color over each trellis, wall and rustic seat, 
 while here and there great masses of sweet peas 
 formed backgrounds and windbreaks to blooming 
 clusters of bachelor's-buttons, canterbury-bells and 
 dainty larkspurs, tall and graceful. 
 
 Every door and window of the great house was in- 
 vitingly open, and within the air was heavy with the 
 scent of the enormous bowls and stands of flowers 
 that filled each room. On the lawn beneath the trees, 
 in every cozy-corner and summer-house were 
 daintily laid tables and on the east terrace, overlook- 
 ing the sea, an orchestra of six pieces hired at great 
 expense and trouble on Algernon's advice, vied with 
 the booming of the surf and the wailing cries of the 
 bell-buoy. 
 
 It was early, when Molly in the hall, giving a fin- 
 226
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 ishing touch here and there to the flowers, chanced 
 to glance out of the window toward the sea and 
 beheld a stranger approaching the house from the 
 direction of the rocks. Algernon had gone in the 
 car for the first load of guests, the servants were all 
 busy in the kitchen and the orchestra had not yet 
 taken its place on the terrace. Wondering who the 
 man could be, Molly went to the terrace steps and 
 watched him as he strolled carelessly, leisurely 
 across the lawn, swinging a light stick with airy 
 nonchalance and looking around him with frank 
 curiosity and approval. He could be none of the 
 townspeople, Molly decided, for his clothes were 
 irreproachable, a bit of Upper Fifth Avenue out for 
 a summer walk in the park between visits to New- 
 port and Bar Harbor. He was not Hancock, and 
 surely not Hancock's friend coming alone! Molly 
 could think of no one who would be so arrayed 
 unless Algernon Van Rensellear Todd! The 
 stranger was tall and thin, and as he drew nearer, 
 the gfrl noticed that his suit was gray, the band on 
 his expensive Panama blue, and his tie and silk socks 
 were of the same pale shade. She recalled with 
 sickening fear a casual remark of Mrs. Todd's 
 about her son's fondness for the combination of 
 gray and light blue. 
 
 22 7,
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "It has become a pronounced fad," the lady had 
 declared with a laugh. "He has carried it so far 
 now that his yachting pennant is gray and blue and 
 so are his racing colors, both horses and motors." 
 
 One glance at the terrace and back of her into the 
 hall showed Molly that, fortunately, she was alone 
 and that no one but herself had seen the stranger's 
 arrival. He drew nearer and she recognized him 
 with a sudden throb of relief as Mr. Patterson, the 
 gentleman of the broken car. But her relief was 
 short lived, for why, she asked herself desperately, 
 should Mr. Patterson come to her party uninvited, 
 if he were, indeed, no one but who he claimed to 
 be, and why, if he were none other than Mr. Pat- 
 terson, even if he thought the fete a public affair 
 and every one welcome, should he be approaching 
 by the roundabout way of the rocks? Controlling 
 her nervous desire to turn and fly, Molly advanced 
 with her hand out and a smile on her dry lips. 
 
 "How do you do?" said she. 
 
 Holmes grasped her small hand and smiled down 
 at her, amused, kindly, but frankly cognizant of the 
 situation, coolly critical. Molly felt her worst fears 
 were realized even before he spoke in a gentle drawl, 
 politely raising his hat. 
 
 "Miss O'Toole?" 
 
 228
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 Molly grew slowly whiter and whiter, but her 
 wonderful control did not desert her and she re- 
 turned coolly, with a bit of a bow, as one acknowl- 
 edging an introduction : 
 
 "Yes, indeed. Is this Mr. Patterson?" 
 
 "Mr. Todd, Algernon Van Rensellear Todd," re- 
 plied Holmes with a tired sigh. 
 
 "I understood that you registered at the hotel as 
 Mr. Patterson," returned Molly, looking straight 
 into his small keen eyes. 
 
 "I did," admitted Holmes, and added with a sig- 
 nificant little smile, "to avoid complications." 
 
 "Complications?" questioned the girl with a deli- 
 cate lift of her eyebrows. 
 
 "Complications," repeated Holmes, "with my 
 mother, Mrs. Todd," and he bowed again, smiling at 
 her in sneering amusement. 
 
 On the lawn were the many little tables for the 
 coming feast, a few of the musicians had straggled 
 out to the terrace and were noisily tuning their in- 
 struments, while the parlor maid tripped by with a 
 snowy tray and basket of tempting fruit. It would 
 be impossible under the circumstances for Molly to 
 explain that it was all a joke to amuse herself in the 
 long lonely days by letting the country people inno- 
 cently call her Mrs. Todd, the name they had given 
 
 229
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 her upon her arrival. It was not the duty of a 
 housekeeper to give a lawn party to her mistress' 
 neighbors in the mistress' absence. But like a 
 drowning man and a straw, the frightened girl 
 clutched at the faint hope that he had allowed three 
 days to pass without bringing her to account and 
 had not signed his own name to the hotel register 
 "to avoid complications." He might be merciful 
 and wait until the party was over, might even let 
 her leave town without exposing her to the idle curi- 
 osity of the village, to the wounded surprise and 
 hurt pride of Hancock. Mrs. Todd had talked much 
 of her son's good nature, of his gentleness and chiv- 
 alry to women. 
 
 "Come in," said she and turned to the door me- 
 chanically, wondering why she did not faint or cry 
 or break down some way, why her one hysterical 
 desire was to laugh and laugh and laugh. 
 
 Holmes took another long slow view of the land- 
 scape with the quiet air of the proprietor and fol- 
 lowed her into the great hall. There he glanced 
 around him critically, strolled to the drawing-room 
 doors, looked in, did the same by the library and 
 dining-room, and finally returned to the table and 
 the girl, toying nervously with a slender stalk of 
 
 230
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 sweet peas and watching him in an agony of sus- 
 pense. 
 
 "Sit down," said she, "and we can talk." 
 
 "See here," said he not unkindly, laying his 
 hand on her shoulder with a familiarity the 
 wretched girl dared not resent at the moment in the 
 faint hope that he would be good to her and wait 
 until her guests departed. "See here, I want to look 
 around a bit, quietly. Suppose we wait until the 
 festivities are over before we talk? I think I hear 
 the first of your guests coming now, and above all 
 things I hate scenes." He smiled at her, amused, 
 cynical, frankly pleased with her good looks. 
 
 "Thank you," murmured Molly, crushing the 
 flowers in her nervous fingers and longing to throw 
 them at him. 
 
 Holmes laughed. "Not at all. I am amused, be- 
 lieve me, and shall thoroughly enjoy myself this aft- 
 ernoon as I have for the last few days. Really, you 
 are a very good understudy of mama." He patted 
 her shoulder and strolled away as a team drew up at 
 the terrace steps. 
 
 "Don't worry about me," said he gaily, nodding at 
 her from the threshold of the library door. "I shall 
 look around a bit and probably go back to the village 
 
 231
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 early. Lawn parties are a bore, believe me. I shall 
 come again later, or shall we put it off until to-mor- 
 row, our little talk? Later, this afternoon? When 
 the last guest has gone? All right. That suits me. 
 The servants will think I simply lingered behind the 
 others and it's best that they be allowed to think so 
 for a short time, anyway. All right, then, later. 
 Don't forget, meanwhile, I am Mr. Patterson." 
 
 He waved gaily to her and strolled into the 
 library, humming a bit of a tune. There were loud 
 awed voices without and steps approaching the door 
 across the terrace. Crushed with gratitude at Todd's 
 forbearance, Molly turned for one last miserable 
 glance at her flushed face in the tall pier glass be- 
 tween the windows, jerked the beads around her 
 neck straight, tucked a wayward curl in place and 
 went out to greet the first of her guests. 
 
 The guests, when they once began to come, came 
 in crowds as though fearful of approaching the 
 great house alone and unaided by the moral stimu- 
 lus and support of their fellows. Molly grasped 
 hand after hand, those in front insisting on lin- 
 gering a moment and talking to her in the slow 
 laborious way of the country and those behind press- 
 ing eagerly forward, while she racked her numb 
 brain for wit enough to answer the witless, though 
 
 232
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 she felt like screaming at them to be gone and not to 
 bother her with their wanderings around, staring at 
 everything, talking inanities and grinning like the 
 foolish sheep they tended. Then the car rolled up 
 with another delighted load of guests, and glan- 
 cing up, she caught Algernon's eyes fixed on her 
 face with amusement, sympathy and a tenderness 
 that restored in a measure her equanimity. She 
 longed to slip away by herself and think, think, 
 think, make up some plan to meet this unforeseen 
 and unexpected difficulty, but her position was too 
 insecure. North Brockton was watching and the 
 impending fear of discovery and humiliation kept 
 her at her post on the side terrace, shaking limp 
 moist hands and expressing her pleasure at the pres- 
 ence of each unwelcome guest. 
 
 Hancock, attended by James Mortimer Worth, 
 had come early and intended to remain late. The 
 simple little country maiden with her sweet shyness 
 had proved too much for James, being not only as 
 good, but indeed a far better exponent of the gentle 
 art of flirtation than James. James had become 
 serious, the girl flippant. James vowed he would 
 leave and never return, and the girl judged it was 
 better so. Her fiance, she explained with charming 
 naivete, was coming that evening from a distant 
 
 233
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 town to visit her. James, she politely expressed, 
 would be a crowd under the circumstances, rather 
 than company, and James, sore at heart with the 
 perfidy of women, sold his pedler's outfit, and tele- 
 graphing for his car to meet him at Bath, departed 
 on a hurried trip to Canada. The experience had 
 seared his soul. No more country girls for James. 
 He turned to the simpler minded, more unsophisti- 
 cated city girls with relief and \followed Molly 
 around with the same persistence as Hancock, fail- 
 ing entirely to act upon the latter's gentle hints to 
 make himself agreeable to the female native element. 
 From long familiarity with the same thing, Al- 
 gernon disliked garden parties intensely. He had 
 worked hard and untiringly for the success of this 
 one and the novelty of his position afforded him a 
 measure of amusement, but when he had delivered 
 the last car-load of guests at Molly's side, he put 
 up the car and strolled away to the seclusion of the 
 rocks to smoke and dream of Molly, adorable fas- 
 cinating Molly, in her soft lace gown direct from 
 Redfern's, charged to his mother's account, and with 
 a heavy chain of large, quaintly carved, jet beads 
 around her slender throat. She wore not a color to 
 detract from the deep black of her hair, from the 
 glorious blue of her eyes and from the apple-blossom 
 
 234
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 tinge in her rounded cheeks. How pretty she looked 
 standing on the side terrace, the ivy-covered walls 
 of the great house as a background, the gaily- 
 dressed crowd of country folk pressing around to 
 shake hands and pass the time of day ! 
 
 He thought once or twice of Holmes and won- 
 dered if he would be bold enough to come to the 
 party for the rare pleasure it would give him in 
 watching the acting of the little comedy that amused 
 him so and that he was so kindly assisting. Holmes 
 was a good-looking chap, Algernon decided, as he 
 slipped down a narrow path toward a bit of beach 
 he had seen below him. He chuckled as he thought 
 of the surprise he would see on Molly's face were 
 she aware of her guest's knowledge. Then he 
 climbed around a point of rock and came on the 
 girl herself, Hancock on one side of her, James on 
 the other. 
 
 The sight distressed Algernon as wearing a pur- 
 ple tie with a pink shirt would have done. It was 
 incongruous, badly out of place. He was not jeal- 
 ous of Hancock, he told himself, but Molly in com- 
 pany with another beside himself was impossible if 
 he had to stand around and watch the situation. He 
 regarded the two young men with cold disapproval, 
 and raising his cap politely, if a bit sternly, to 
 
 235
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Molly, joined them, to Hancock's frank surprise and 
 James' distress, for the thought of the end of his un- 
 fortunate experience with country girls simply 
 added to the hurt that Algernon's unfriendly haste 
 to be gone and dark suspicions of his friend's inten- 
 tions had made in James' sorely lacerated soul. 
 
 Molly made room for Algernon at her feet on the 
 rock in front of her and glanced from one to the 
 other of the three with dancing mischievous eyes. 
 She was nervous and excited, and her vivacity 
 was faintly overdrawn. If Algernon had not 
 been grieved by the presence of the other two 
 and rilled with plans to be rid of them, he would 
 have noticed that there was something wrong with 
 the girl. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes 
 bright with suppressed fear and nervousness. She 
 laughed at every remark and talked breathlessly to 
 keep from thinking. 
 
 "Mr. Holmes," said she gaily, purposely thus 
 framing her introduction, "let me introduce Mr. 
 Hancock and Mr. Worth." 
 
 Algernon raised his cap again coldly and made 
 no offer to shake hands. That Molly found any 
 amusement in the situation merely grieved him. 
 
 Hancock flushed slightly and hastily withdrew 
 his barely-proffered hand, having intended to show 
 
 236
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 true democracy before the young fellow who was 
 perhaps a trifle too young to realize his position. 
 James nodded carelessly and refused to let even sur- 
 prise over the strange antics and new names of his 
 false friend be seen on his face. He had never heard 
 of the Todd's place in Maine, but he knew that the 
 family, lateral and collateral, was a large one, and 
 had decided that Molly was one of the younger 
 Todds, refusing to inquire further about the affairs 
 of a stranger, as all who bore the name of Todd 
 would henceforth be to him, he told himself. 
 
 "Ah, yes," said Hancock kindly. "Mr. Holmes, 
 glad to know you." 
 
 In the country, he told himself, everybody was 
 equal, and the youth had probably not realized the 
 social difference between himself and his mistress' 
 guests. Molly was a kind little soul, and clearly did 
 not like to hurt his feelings and was indifferent 
 about keeping him in his place, which was only a 
 temporary one, Hancock believed she had said. 
 Nobly he essayed to start a conversation with the 
 young man, a simple clear conversation, in words 
 of two syllables that would put the fellow 
 at his ease, though Hancock admitted to him- 
 self he hardly seemed so much ill at ease as 
 angry, plainly disapproving of something. Cars 
 
 237
 
 THE UPPER CRUST, 
 
 probably were the only subject he knew anything 
 about, so Hancock, growing himself visibly more ill 
 at ease every moment the heavy silence hung be- 
 tween them, a silence which Molly wickedly refused 
 to break and which neither Algernon nor James 
 deigned to, opened the subject of motor-cars. 
 
 "I suppose you have driven the Todds' make of 
 car before," said he pleasantly, "or you would not 
 be so familiar with them. Mrs. Todd tells me you 
 keep them in first-class order." 
 
 Algernon regarded the well-meaning youth 
 coldly. "Yes," said he, and turned his gaze placidly 
 out to sea again. 
 
 "Have you ever driven any other make?" Han- 
 cock plunged on desperately. 
 
 "Quite often." 
 
 "What ones?" 
 
 "Several." 
 
 Hancock turned to Molly. It was ridiculous to 
 try to carry on a conversation with the fellow. He 
 would simply ignore him. 
 
 "Doubtless you enjoy plenty of sailing, Mrs. 
 Todd," said James, seeking to start a conversation 
 on his own account between himself and his hostess. 
 The remark was harmless, if a trifle flat. 
 
 "Ah," said Algernon, before Molly could reply, 
 238
 
 ; 
 
 Ah, yes ! I see. Quite clever.
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 "how do you make that out? Where would she 
 sail?" 
 
 James flushed. "I thought it might possibly be 
 done in the ocean," he answered with angry sarcasm, 
 forgetting his intention not to speak to Algernon in 
 any capacity, either as a former friend or present 
 chauffeur, as he judged him to be to his own cousin, 
 an arrangement James forebore at the outset, in 
 cold pride, to try to solve, even to think about 
 
 "Quite a remarkable deduction," murmured Al- 
 gernon. "And as Mrs. Todd lives by the sea, you 
 thought it just possible that she may have gone sail- 
 ing. Ah, yes! I see. Quite clever. Who would 
 have thought it!" 
 
 James flushed deeper and glared at the placid 
 Algernon. Hancock strove to conceal his pleasure 
 at his friend's discomfiture. He liked James, but 
 James had no tact, was utterly incapable of seeing 
 when he was not wanted. Molly spoke hastily. 
 
 "I love sailing. I love the feeling of the rope in 
 your hand when there is a hard wind. It seems as if 
 the boat were alive, almost like a horse." 
 
 Hancock nodded. "I like it much better than a 
 motor-boat," said he. "A motor-boat is faster " 
 
 "Ah," murmured Algernon, "another rare piece 
 of intelligence." 
 
 239,
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Call it a pearl," snapped Hancock, irritated now 
 that it was his turn. 
 
 "The inference," suggested Algernon with a mild 
 lift of the eyebrows, "is hardly complimentary to 
 the lady." 
 
 "Ladies are always excepted," declared Hancock. 
 
 "Do not except me," protested Molly, who was 
 filled with a keen delight at the impudence of her 
 chauffeur. "I believe in absolute equality between 
 the sexes. 'Votes for women' is my slogan, and so, 
 you see, I can't be excepted." 
 
 "You are fooling about 'votes for women/ " and 
 Algernon dismissed her rash statement with a shrug. 
 
 "Indeed, I am not," declared Molly. "Mr. Han- 
 cock, Mr. Worth, don't you believe in women's 
 rights?" 
 
 "Most certainly," declared James firmly, ready to 
 believe in anything provided Algernon opposed it. 
 
 "Not to, as I look at it, is a deliberate insult to 
 our mothers," added Hancock gallantly. 
 
 "Not to mine," said Algernon quietly. "She has 
 all her rights and mine, too." 
 
 Molly laughed more from a gleeful pleasure she 
 was taking in the ability of her chauffeur to be 
 frankly unabashed before the two wealthy young 
 men than because of any humor in Algernon's re- 
 
 240
 
 THE STRANGER 
 
 mark. "I suppose you think that the hand that 
 rocks the cradle rocks the universe," she teased, de- 
 murely egging him on to fresh rudeness. Thank 
 Heaven, there was nothing humble about him. 
 
 Algernon waved her remark aside wearily, with 
 the bored wisdom of a man of fifty who has reared 
 a family of ten. "Cradles," said he, "are no longer 
 rocked. It upsets the child's nerves and has a tend- 
 ency to put a child to sleep without a long crying 
 spell which doubtless causes a rupture in the veins 
 in the heatf, rasps the throat and makes the heart 
 beat too fast, but which nevertheless teaches self- 
 control at the early age of two weeks." 
 
 Molly laughed again. Hancock murmured, "Ah, 
 another rare piece of intelligence," and then won- 
 dered angrily why he stooped to bandy words with 
 his hostess' servant. 
 
 "No sensible woman," continued Algernon, who 
 preferred to ignore his opponents in an argument, if 
 possible, "no sensible woman believes in suffrage. 
 It is illogical and impractical." 
 
 Molly became as irritated as Hancock and James. 
 "Really, Joe," said she, "you know nothing what- 
 ever about it." 
 
 "Pardon me," said Algernon coldly. "My mother 
 is a suffragist" 
 
 241
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You said no sensible woman believed in suf- 
 frage," snapped James angrily, unable to restrain 
 himself from answering. 
 
 "And Mr. Hancock said ladies were always an 
 exception," returned Algernon wearily, bored by 
 the conversation. 
 
 "I hope I am a lady," said Molly, on the verge of 
 laughter again. "I believe in suffrage, too, and 
 would like to feel that I am at the same time sensi- 
 ble." 
 
 "You," said Algernon, "are a girl." And he dis- 
 missed her aspirations with an airy wave of the 
 hand, as one would put aside the irrelevant prattle 
 of a child. 
 
 Hancock rose with annoyance. The fellow was 
 insufferable, worse than James' constant company. 
 "Shall we return to the house?" he asked, holding 
 out his hand to Molly. "You may want an ice and 
 some coffee." 
 
 Algernon arose promptly and himself helped 
 Molly to her feet. "Do you want to go back?" he 
 asked, still holding her hand to help her up the 
 rocks. 
 
 "I have to," said she, and sighed wistfully as she 
 glanced at the steeples and gables of the house seen 
 over the tree-tops and thought of what awaited her 
 
 242
 
 there, thankful that Joe knew all, that the surprise 
 of the disclosure would not shock him, anyway, 
 would not turn him against her as it would the 
 others. She let him help her up the rocks, reckless 
 now of what impression she was making on Han- 
 cock. With exposure and disgrace so near, a few 
 hours more or less did not matter. Then angry 
 reason came to her aid and told her not to do any- 
 thing foolish, to wait and see what happened, as she 
 had waited so long and so often, for positions, for 
 a raise in salary, for her luck to turn. On the top 
 of the bank she pulled her hand away, nodded to her 
 chauffeur with a gay little "Thank you, Joe," and 
 turned toward the house on the hill, with James on 
 one side and Hancock on the other. 
 
 Algernon frowned angrily, started to follow, 
 thought of the girl's position and stopped, watching 
 the three moodily until the trees hid them from his 
 sight. Then he made his way to the garage and 
 tinkered gloomily with the cars. This job of being 
 chauffeur to his mother's housekeeper wasn't always 
 such a humorous proposition as it at first appeared 
 to be.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 A they approached the house and caught 
 glimpses of the other guests, enjoying them- 
 selves in their hostess' short absence rather than 
 otherwise, Hancock suggested as a last desperate 
 means of relief that James meet a few of the country 
 people and learn their intrinsic worth, realize what 
 true democracy means. 
 
 "They are the backbone of the country, Jimmy," 
 he declared enthusiastically. 
 
 James preferred not to know the backbone of the 
 country, did not care to have anything to do with it. 
 
 "You don't want to let them think you are a snob, 
 Jimmy, old boy," protested Hancock, pained at the 
 mere idea of his friend appearing in a poor light. 
 
 James waved the possibility indifferently aside. 
 "I have met country people," said he coldly, "and 
 they are too deep for me too sophisticated. They 
 do not appeal to me, Jack, in any way." 
 
 Hancock laughed and threw his arm around his 
 friend's shoulders. "Some Maud Muller turn you 
 down, old sport?" he asked. 
 
 244
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 James removed his arm. "Not at all," said he in 
 compressed dignity. 
 
 So, side by side, the two trailed around after their 
 hostess, brought her ices, coffee and cakes, stared 
 languidly over the heads of the other guests and 
 sought to hide their bored feelings behind a frank 
 blankness, while Hancock wondered in what mo- 
 ment of temporary insanity he had asked James to 
 remain over a short time with him, and strove to 
 recall whether he had said a few days or had been 
 fool enough to make it a few weeks, and James 
 wondered what had induced him to linger in the 
 backwoods when he had been making straight for a 
 city and civilization at the rate of forty miles an 
 hour on the average. He judged he was getting old 
 and a bit feeble-minded. 
 
 As they approached the house Molly glanced at it, 
 sick and miserable, her heart heavy with foreboding. 
 In an upper window, pausing a moment to ad- 
 mire the view over the tree-tops far out to sea, she 
 caught a fleeting sight of the tall lean figure of Mr. 
 Holmes. No doubt of his identity entered the girl's 
 head before that staggering combination of light 
 gray and pale blue silk, Algernon Van Rensellear 
 Todd's favorite colors, carried so far as to grace his 
 yacht, his racing stables and motor-cars. She 
 
 245
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 glanced at Hancock's good-looking profile, at his 
 well-bred aloofness from the common affairs of the 
 world in his position of spectator instead of par- 
 ticipator and wondered what he would say when he 
 knew, as he would in a few short hours now. 
 
 She was sure he would not understand. None of 
 his primeval instincts and desires had ever been 
 aroused. He knew art, poetry, travel, the old and 
 the new world, but nothing of hunger, of privation, 
 of unfulfilled longings and heart cravings. He 
 judged the world from the lofty pinnacle of several 
 millions in the cash of the realm, which shut him out 
 of the real game of life as effectually as a high board 
 fence without a knot-hole excludes the small boy 
 without the price from a baseball game. His well- 
 bred aloofness was unintentional on his part the 
 girl realized. He simply could not help it, for he 
 had never been in a position to be otherwise, to 
 understand, to learn life as it is. He was honorable 
 and she did him the justice to believe that he would 
 always be so under any provocation, but the fact re- 
 mained that he had never been tested, that, after all, 
 his honor was more one of circumstances than prin- 
 ciple. He would be kind and try to be sympathetic, 
 but would be miles away in spirit. He simply would 
 not understand. She glanced at James' round fat 
 
 246
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 pudginess and knew he wouldn't attempt to under- 
 stand. The whole affair to James would simply be 
 another of those unfortunate instances of the de- 
 pravity of the country. 
 
 She felt a sudden fierce hatred for those who had 
 everything and could not understand, who were un- 
 consciously, and generally unintentionally, superior 
 to the common people because they did not under- 
 stand. They had never stood alone, penniless and 
 friendless, dependent upon their own brains and 
 hands for food, clothing and a place to sleep. They 
 did not understand, did not know, could not realize. 
 And she turned to the shabbily, gaudily dressed as- 
 semblage of country folk with a certain companion- 
 ship and longing as one in a foreign country will 
 turn to a fellow-countryman as to a long-lost 
 brother. They and she talked and thought in the 
 same language, that of poverty, and though they 
 would condemn, they would understand. 
 
 She chatted gaily in a sort of mental stupor, 
 watching herself in surprise and wondering how 
 she did it, as a critical audience watches a new star 
 just risen into the ken of the theater- going public. 
 She felt an odd, impersonal mother-tenderness for 
 all who had tried and failed. As she laughed and 
 talked, walked here and there among her guests, saw 
 
 247
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 to their comfort, nodded at Hancock's remarks, 
 smiled at James' gloomy attempts to be jocular, she 
 kept watching for the long gray figure, the sallow 
 humorous face of the man she believed to be Al- 
 gernon Todd. 
 
 After what seemed an eternity to the tortured girl, 
 the guests began to depart. All insisted on shak- 
 ing hands again and expressing their pleasure in the 
 afternoon, and Molly perforce took up her old sta- 
 tion at the terrace steps, with James on one side of 
 her and Hancock on the other. When the last hand 
 had been shaken, the last good-by received and re- 
 turned, she sank wearily on the terrace step behind 
 her and Hancock suggested that James go for an 
 ice or something to drink. The female native ele- 
 ment having departed, James felt he could do so 
 without-danger and hurried away with alacrity, ad- 
 mitting to himself that country-made ice-cream was 
 certainly comparable with any one could get in the 
 city. 
 
 "Molly, you're tired dear," said Hancock gently, 
 bending over her. 
 
 The girl nodded, feeling suddenly limp and ex- 
 hausted now that the strain of keeping up before her 
 guests was practically over. "Why are parties con- 
 sidered pleasure," she asked plaintively, "when 
 
 248
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 they leave one worn to a frazzle, irritable and de- 
 siring nothing so much as to commit murder?" 
 
 Hancock laughed and made a little motion, hastily 
 suppressed, to lay his hand on her shoulder. "Ask 
 me something easier," he said, "why dogs have 
 four legs and humans only two, or what happened to 
 James to make him dislike the country folk so. 
 Come to the rocks for a while just you and I." 
 
 "Don't," said the girl sharply, rising to her feet., 
 
 "Don't what dear?" 
 
 "Don't ask me to go to the rocks," she answered, 
 "and leave James behind," she added flippantly as 
 she caught a fleeting glimpse of the wounded sur- 
 prise on his face. 
 
 "Enough ice-cream would compensate James for 
 a life in the wilderness," urged Hancock. "I want 
 to talk to you." 
 
 One quickly-veiled shy glance at his eyes and 
 Molly had read his intentions. After two months, 
 young Hancock had determined to put his fortune 
 to the test, to lay his honor and his life at the lady's 
 feet, and after two months of waiting for this mo- 
 ment, the crowning success of her masquerade, the 
 goal for which she had worked and striven come 
 now when she was discovered, come just in time to 
 save her from her own folly she could think of 
 
 249
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 nothing but a long lean youth, with sandy hair and 
 kind gray eyes, a youth who was a bit foolish, wholly 
 irresponsible and care-free, without a cent in the 
 world and absolutely no prospects. They had 
 laughed and played and swum together for a week, 
 one short week, and the girl's heart cried out at the 
 sacrilege of willingly listening to another man. 1C 
 was a moment of weakness, soul-benumbing, un- 
 profitable weakness, but at the time too strong for 
 her to fight against. She wanted Joe as a homesick 
 child wants its mother and no tempting offer of 
 a new doll, a gaudy stick of red and white candy, 
 would suffice. She shook her head gaily and re- 
 treated up the terrace steps. 
 
 "I'm talked out, absolutely," she laughed. "I 
 couldn't tell you the time even if I had a watch in 
 my hand. Let us join James and the ice-cream 
 freezer and simply eat." 
 
 Hancock reached boldly for her hand. "Molly," 
 he pleaded, "I want to ask you something " 
 
 "When a woman is tired, leave her alone," in- 
 sisted the girl. "Homes are wrecked, fortunes lost, 
 nations sent to- war, by man's inability to know when 
 to leave a woman alone." 
 
 "The ice-cream is all gone." 
 250
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 James appeared on the terrace above them and 
 beside him Mr. Joseph Holmes, Patterson, now, he 
 had explained airily to James, when they had met 
 by chance in the empty dining-room. 
 
 "To help Todd out, you know," said Holmes 
 lightly. "He is having some fun, it seems, with the 
 young lady, a cousin of his father's, I believe he 
 said. They have never met before and Todd wants 
 to masquerade for a few days as a chauffeur and I 
 am helping him out, as I broke in on his little game 
 unintentionally and I won't be here long, not more 
 than a day or two at most Don't say anything 
 about this to any one, please. It is a secret between 
 Todd and me and we don't want any one to know. 
 You understand?" 
 
 "Certainly," said James coldly. "It is no affair of 
 mine and I shall say nothing." 
 
 Molly turned to the two with relief and intro- 
 duced Holmes alias Todd to the others, suppress- 
 ing a wild desire to laugh aloud at the farce of it 
 all. Hancock bowed stiffly and declared that he 
 must be going. He had doubtless already stayed too 
 long. 
 
 "You have only been in town a few days, I be- 
 .lieve, Mr. Patterson?" said he in ominous calm. 
 
 251
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Holmes nodded. "My motor broke down and I 
 had to send to Boston for a new part. Beastly bore, 
 waiting. I was on my way to Montreal, you know." 
 
 "You are stopping at the hotel, I suppose. Can 
 I take you back to the village in my car? Jim and 
 I are going directly." 
 
 "Why, thanks awfully," drawled Holmes. "It 
 would be a lift. Much obliged. I became interested 
 in a book and forgot the time. Mrs. Todd, you must 
 excuse me, really, out-staying the rest of your guests 
 like this. It was jolly kind in you to take pity on 
 my loneliness and ask me up here to-day. I've en- 
 joyed myself immensely, believe me." 
 
 "I shall call up your car," said Molly and started 
 for the door. 
 
 "Let me," begged Hancock, starting after her, 
 but Holmes reached her side first and Hancock drew 
 back, flushed and angry, with a sharp pain of jeal- 
 ousy. Who was this stranger who, instead of ming- 
 ling with the other, guests as he and James had 
 heroically, if unsuccessfully, tried to do, had lin- 
 gered in the house as though on intimate terms with 
 its mistress and had stayed behind the others pur- 
 posely as Hancock well knew, that he might talk 
 with her alone, going now, simply because they had 
 come on him unawares and there was no escape? 
 
 252
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 "Shall I come to-night?" asked Holmes of Molly, 
 as he hung up the garage telephone and turned to 
 the girl. "I had better go now. There is no need of 
 making the others think anything er unnecessary, 
 by staying behind. I hate publicity worse than 
 mama does." 
 
 The girl nodded, white and tired, and they re- 
 joined the others on the terrace. 
 
 As they waited for the car, they talked with the 
 vivacity people assume when they are trying to hide 
 their feelings. James alone was frankly silent, and 
 James alone had nothing to conceal. As the car dis- 
 appeared down the drive, Molly turned to the door 
 with a wry smile. Hancock, she knew, was jealous, 
 but what did it matter? Algernon Van Rensellear 
 Todd would return that evening and then the whole 
 thing would end. She had had her chance that 
 afternoon, and for a foolish unstable reason she had 
 let it go, thrown it recklessly aside. Well, she had 
 
 been a fool, but it could not be helped now. She 
 
 i 
 
 shrugged wearily and went in. 
 
 The days were growing shorter and it was nearly, 
 dark, though still early, when Molly, lingering in 
 hopeless despair on the side terrace, once more saw 
 Holmes coming toward her across the lawn. At 
 first, in the shadows, she had mistaken the long fig- 
 
 253
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ure for that of her chauffeur, and her heart had 
 given a quick little flutter, and involuntarily she had 
 smiled to herself, unseen. But as he drew nearer 
 she saw that he was, instead, Patterson, or Todd, as 
 she now thought of him. She wondered a bit angrily 
 why he never approached the house by the gates 
 as every one else did, and then remembered that to 
 one walking, the pathway from the village, through 
 the woods, around by the rocks, was the shortest way 
 by at least a mile. The evening, though cloudy, 
 with distant rumbles of thunder and ominous flashes 
 now and then of lightning, was warm and walking 
 delightful after the close sultry day. Holmes' 
 car was broken and there was nothing more natural 
 than that he should prefer to walk to Castle Crags 
 through the woods along the shore rather than hire 
 a rickety trap from the hotel and rattle up in noisy 
 discomfort. 
 
 Molly waited where she was until he reached the 
 terrace steps, then she rose and went forward to meet 
 him. She did not hold out her hand this time, but 
 bowed with a certain youthful dignity, wished him 
 good evening and with a slight motion of her hand 
 toward the open doorway, turned and led the way 
 in. 
 
 The shaded lamp on the center-table lighted but a 
 254
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 small oasis in the vast hall, throwing the stairs, the 
 fireplace and the distant corners into deep gloom, 
 and Molly raised her hand to switch on the rest of 
 the electric lights, when Holmes checked her. He 
 was afraid Algernon might be prowling around the 
 grounds somewhere, and too much light would 
 attract his attention. 
 
 "It's pleasant as it is," said he. "I shall not be 
 long besides, I saw the place this afternoon made 
 a thorough examination." 
 
 Molly acquiesced quietly he was master here 
 and drew up a great chair into which she sank grate- 
 fully, feeling that her knees could no longer support 
 her. She was the culprit, he the judge. It was for 
 him to do the talking and ask the questions. She 
 waited for him to begin, indifferent after the long 
 strain of anticipation, in which her feelings had for 
 a time worn themselves out. 
 
 Holmes had worn no hat and the long lock of 
 black hair across his forehead had been blown for- 
 ward nearly into his humorous twinkling eyes. His 
 hands were thrust into his pockets as he stood look- 
 ing down at the girl, with amusement instead of 
 censure. 
 
 "Well ?" said the girl, looking up at him from the 
 depths of the chair. 
 
 255
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "It wouldn't be well, if mama was here," said 
 Holmes. He walked the length of the hall, paused 
 a moment at the door to stare out into the night and 
 then returned to the girl in the circle of the lamp- 
 light. "I was all over the house this afternoon 
 and down at the stables and the garage. Every- 
 thing seems to be all right, in perfect order, ex- 
 cept the minor irregularity of the numerous tables 
 I found on the lawn and a few superfluous musicians 
 on the side terrace." 
 
 "Everything is all right," declared the girl color- 
 lessly. "I have done everything as Mrs. Todd 
 ordered it to be done." 
 
 "Except one thing," suggested Holmes jocularly. 
 
 "And that is?" 
 
 "Taken the role of my revered parent What did 
 you do it for?" 
 
 "Fun," answered the girl shortly. 
 
 "Fun?" Holmes chuckled. He was immensely 
 amused. It was clear the girl had no doubt of his 
 identity at all. He wondered who she was. No 
 relative, he decided, but some housekeeper hired for 
 the occasion while Mrs. Todd was in Europe. She 
 was young and pretty and it was not surprising that 
 Todd did not care to reveal himself until his 
 mother's return. Holmes had seen a letter ad- 
 
 256
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 dressed to Molly O'Toole the day before, as he 
 sought to kill a few dragging hours in the store 
 waiting for the mail, and had judged the name to be- 
 long to the girl in the great house and that she was 
 no cousin, as Algernon had gallantly lied. He was in 
 trouble himself just at present, trouble that neces- 
 sitated a hasty trip to Canada that had been inno- 
 cently interfered with by Algernon and this same 
 girl and the unfortunate breaking of his car. He 
 needed some refuge in case the storm gathered and 
 broke before he could get across the border and 
 determined to take the one so playfully offered him 
 by the fates. He must impress the girl with his 
 right to enter the house any time he desired and to 
 stay as long as he wished. The great place on the 
 hill, with the sea at its feet and the woods at its 
 back made an ideal and perfectly safe hiding-place 
 for one pursued by the law. 
 
 His one fear was Algernon himself. He must 
 keep out of the latter's sight as much as pos- 
 sible and always have some good excuse if caught 
 lingering in the grounds or around the house. 
 He did not know how far Molly had taken 
 Algernon into her confidence, but felt sure that 
 she believed Algernon thought her the real Mrs. 
 Todd and that she would do everything in her 
 
 257
 
 power to keep Holmes' supposed identity a secret. 
 Still, he must go carefully. He must so impress the 
 girl that she would let him make free with the place 
 without question, and yet would be willing to help 
 him in his masquerade as Mr. Patterson and not con- 
 sider his desire so to pose as suspicious. There must 
 be a good and sufficient reason for it and for the 
 moment Holmes could think of no such reason. 
 
 He turned and paced the length of the hall again, 
 always listening for Algernon's approach, knowing 
 that Algernon was not so well trained a chauffeur as 
 he might be and was on more social than business 
 terms with his mistress. 
 
 "What were you intending to do when mama 
 returned?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the table, 
 his hands still in his pockets. 
 
 "I hoped not to be here then," said Molly. 
 
 "Planned a quick get-away, eh?" laughed 
 Holmes. "Well, it is certainly too bad I turned up. 
 You do mama very well; very well, indeed." 
 
 He picked up a silver paper-cutter and porsed it 
 carefully on his finger, while the girl said nothing. 
 There was nothing to say. It was for him to do the 
 talking. 
 
 "Mama is in Europe, you know," said Holmes, 
 tossing up the cutter and catching it skilfully by the 
 
 258
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 handle as it fell. "I am sure I do not know what 
 to do. I know she told me before she left that she 
 had great confidence in you." 
 
 Molly flushed, a burning tide of crimson flooded 
 her white face, crept up to her hair and down her 
 delicate throat. She started to her feet and walked 
 restlessly to the window. 
 
 "Yes," said she, "she had great confidence in me. 
 I have betrayed it." 
 
 She came back to the circle of lamp-light, but she 
 did not sit down ; she leaned instead on the back of 
 the chair, her hands folded before her. She had 
 grown white again and for the moment refused to 
 meet his eyes. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," said Holmes slowly. He 
 must not seem to doubt her innocent intentions or it 
 would be impossible to make her understand why he 
 would be willing to leave her there in his mother's 
 absence after he knew what she was doing. "I don't 
 see that you have betrayed it more than to the extent 
 of taking her name and giving a most enjoyable 
 lawn party. Nothing is missing in the house, every- 
 thing is in the best order. You say you took her 
 name for fun. I wish you would tell me just how it 
 came about." 
 
 The girl looked at him with a quick throb of hope. 
 259
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She knew he was a good-natured fellow, kindly in- 
 different to most of the serious affairs of life, that 
 he hated the country and was on his way to Mon- 
 treal. He might be willing to go on and leave her 
 there. She would return as far as possible all the 
 purchases she had no right to, make restitution as 
 best she could for those she was unable to return, 
 and when Mrs. Todd came back in the fall, the good 
 lady would never dream that there had been any- 
 thing amiss in her absence. Hancock was too much 
 in love now to notice her clothes and would doubtless 
 propose in a day or two. She would not allow her 
 former foolish weakness to tempt her to put him off 
 again. She would accept and then, indeed, all would 
 be well. Her cheeks flushed again with hope and 
 she breathed quickly through parted lips, as she told 
 him of her arrival, the country people's mistake and 
 her mischievous acceptance of it. 
 
 "I have done all my work well," she hurried on. 
 "The whole place is in order, just as your mother 
 wanted it to be. Don't you see it was only for fun? 
 That party this afternoon was not right, I know. 
 But I did so want to give one. This place is like 
 like" 
 
 "Death," suggested Holmes, "without the pleasant 
 excitement of a funeral." 
 
 260
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 The girl nodded. "Yes, that's it. Well, I gave 
 the party. It hardly cost a cent. You would be 
 surprised. I can return the money, indeed, I planned 
 and intended to do so, out of my salary." 
 
 "Don't," advised Holmes. "Put it down as one 
 of the necessary expenses. It was necessary to keep 
 you from insanity, you know." 
 
 Molly laughed with hysterical relief and nodded 
 again. 
 
 Holmes walked to the door and gazed for some 
 little time out at the darkness. He thought he had 
 heard Algernon coming up the terrace steps, but it 
 seemed it was only the gardener, carrying in a few 
 of the tables, and after watching the fellow until he 
 disappeared from sight, he returned to the table 
 and the girl awaiting him so eagerly now. 
 
 " Ton my word, I don't know what to do," said 
 he, gazing down at her in well-assumed perplexity. 
 "Everything seems to be all right here. I want to 
 gq to Canada as soon as I can I was on my way 
 there, you know, when my motor broke down " 
 
 "Why don't you take one of the cars in the gar- 
 age?" asked Molly. "They are in fine condition now. 
 Joe is a dandy chauffeur." 
 
 Holmes pondered this suggestion a moment, de- 
 cided it could not be done without arousing Alger- 
 
 261
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 non's suspicions and shrugged it away. "No, I had 
 better wait for my own car. Those others belong to 
 mama, all but the small roadster," he added on the 
 chance that it was so, "and I had better leave them 
 alone I expect my new boiler will come any day 
 now, but " He threw out his hands helplessly as 
 though to suggest the embarrassment of her presence 
 and took a few paces up and down. 
 
 Molly said nothing, waiting as usual for him to 
 take the initiative. She wondered why he had not 
 noticed her expensive lace gown and the quaint 
 beads around her throat and questioned her about 
 them as he had been a witness of the lawn-party 
 irregularity. Still, he was a man and men do not no- 
 tice things as a woman does. He probably thought 
 she bought the dress out of her own wages if he 
 thought about it at all. The price as compared to 
 the wages she received would not enter his head. 
 
 "I could stay here a few days, but it would be 
 deuced awkward," mused Holmes aloud, as though 
 to himself rather than to her. "I signed the register 
 at the hotel as Patterson and it would be a nine days' 
 wonder how I happened to be Todd instead. People 
 would stare so and there would be a lot of disagree- 
 able talk. I dislike publicity more than mama does, 
 and that's saying a good deal as you probably know, 
 
 262
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 Miss O'Toole. If I let on to mama what you about 
 the lawn party, she would insist upon my staying 
 here that is, if she got word before I had a chance 
 to leave and if she knew that I did not know about 
 it, and yet left Really, I don't know what to do." 
 
 "Another housekeeper," suggested the girl, fear- 
 fully, not looking at him. 
 
 Holmes nodded. "I thought about that, but it 
 would take so deuced long to wait for one to come. 
 See? That's my point. I am anxious to get on to 
 Canada and I expect my boiler will be here to- 
 morrow at the latest. I think May I smoke? 
 Thanks I think I shall let things stand as they are. 
 Mama will be here in a fortnight, now, and really, 
 there is nothing out of the way. I'm sure mama 
 herself wouldn't object to the lawn party. It cer- 
 tainly did honor to the name of Todd. I advise you 
 to tell her about it, though. It's one of those things 
 which are all right when mentioned yourself, but 
 are a crime when allowed to leak out through other 
 sources. She will understand. Believe me. You 
 were not expecting to remain much longer after her 
 return, were you? No, I thought not. Well, then, 
 I'm going to let things stand as they are." He 
 nodded and laughed suddenly. "I certainly don't 
 blame you. It was amusing." 
 
 263
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Molly nodded, tried to smile, but her relief was 
 too much for her and the tears sprang unbidden to 
 her eyes. She struggled to force them down, failed, 
 and put her head on her arms along the high chair- 
 back. Holmes stared a moment in surprise, then 
 leaned over and laid his hand kindly on her 
 shoulder. 
 
 "There," said he with a man's awkward compas- 
 sion, "there, don't do that It's all right." 
 
 The girl controlled herself in a moment, and 
 raised her flushed tear-stained face with a little 
 smile. "You are kind," said she. "I shall be good 
 in the future." 
 
 "You promise," asked Holmes solemnly, "if I 
 leave you alone here and don't say anything to 
 mama that there will be no more of these er so- 
 cial functions?" 
 
 "Yes, I do, indeed." 
 
 "That if I let you still use the name of Mrs. Todd 
 for the fun of it, until mama comes or you deem it 
 best to drop it, you will do nothing in her name but 
 what ought to be done? You won't take advantage 
 in any way of my kindness?" 
 
 "I promise." 
 
 Holmes held out his hand and she placed hers in 
 it. "I trust you," said he gravely, "and I know I can, 
 
 264
 
 SOMEWHAT AWKWARD 
 
 for really, everything is all right except the lawn 
 party." He hesitated, saw the desire to confess about 
 the dresses, the beads around her slender throat, the 
 chauffeur, whom Mrs. Todd did not want, paid for, 
 however, out of her own salary, and rushed on lest 
 she have chance to tell him of her misdemeanors and 
 he be forced to discharge her or arouse her suspi- 
 cions. "I shall not stay here at the house. The hotel 
 is the last word in human discomfort, but I expect 
 to be gone to-morrow evening and I can put up with 
 it. I don't want to excite talk. But, if I hold my 
 tongue to mama, you must promise to hold your 
 tongue to your friends as to who I am. Will you? 
 This Hancock and Worth, or even your chauffeur, 
 Joe, must not know me as any one but Mr. Patterson. 
 If they know of me as Todd everything will have to 
 be explained and I dislike explanations. We'll both 
 keep quiet, eh? I'm off to-morrow, anyway, so it 
 won't be so hard. But, anyway, promise." 
 
 "I promise. But, I" 
 
 "Excuse me for interrupting, but let's drop the 
 subject, what do you say? It's late. I'm tired and 
 will be getting home. If I don't get away to-mor- 
 row, I may be up again. But it will be as a friend 
 before people, understand. I'm not boss here. I 
 made a pretty good examination of the place to-day 
 
 265
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 and didn't find anything amiss. Well, good night. 
 I don't blame you really. Ton my word, this place 
 would be the end of me in a week, believe me. 
 When I'm gone take my name if you want and stir 
 things up a bit masquerading as a man." He 
 laughed and strolled to the door. 
 
 At the door he turned, shook hands again, and 
 chuckling to himself, ran lightly down the terrace 
 steps and disappeared in the gloom of the bushes.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 THE sun shone through the open door of the 
 garage. It fell across the floor in a brilliant 
 path in which a cat sat industriously washing her 
 snow-white breast, each paw flattened in turn against 
 her body. The yaller pup sprawled in the doorway, 
 grunting now and then in a vexed search for fleas, 
 and snapping angrily at the flies. Without, the 
 driveway seemed to simmer in the hot rays and the 
 grass looked brown and dying. From the cool depths 
 of the distant trees, the birds all talked at once as 
 though to drown the monotonous monologue of the 
 sea. 
 
 Bates appeared in the doorway, ruminatingly 
 chewing a straw, his hat on the back of his head. 
 He watched Algernon, busy with the cars, a moment 
 in silence and then spoke. 
 
 "Kind of dirty work, ain't it?" he remarked pleas- 
 antly. 
 
 "Work," said Algernon in a tone that would have 
 pleased his mother could she have heard it, "work 
 that is honest, can never soil the worker." 
 
 267
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 With which noble sentiment he turned again to 
 oiling the runabout, hoping to discourage the 
 groom's evident desire for conversation. 
 
 Bates stepped into the cool shelter of the garage 
 and seated himself on the stairs that led to the 
 rooms above. 
 
 "If I was asked my opinion," said he, socially ar- 
 gumentative, "I would say that you was really dirty 
 let alone soiled." 
 
 "You failed to grasp the full significance of my 
 remark," said Algernon coldly. "Your intellect sees 
 only the externals." 
 
 "My intellect don't see nothing," said Bates scorn- 
 fully. "My eyes see that you're dog-goned dirty, 
 though." 
 
 "Soul blindness prevents one from seeing the real- 
 ities oMife far more than physical blindness," re- 
 marked Algernon sententiously, wiping his heated 
 forehead on the sleeve of his shirt. 
 
 "Guess you've been to high school," said the 
 groom with gracious approval. "You talk as if 
 maybe you had." 
 
 "I have been," admitted Algernon modestly. 
 
 "In New York?" 
 
 "Not exactly in New York out a way in the 
 country a boarding school." 
 
 268
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 Bates looked his pity, surprise and forgiveness all 
 at the same time. "I won't say anything about it," 
 said he kindly. 
 
 "About what?" asked Algernon. 
 
 'The reform school," said Bates. "We call them 
 that up this way." 
 
 "I see," said Algernon. "Thanks, old chap." 
 
 Bates leaned back with his elbow on the stair 
 above him and pushed his hat still farther on the 
 back of his head. He felt a new and pleasing equal- 
 ity, in fact almost a superiority, to the chauffeur. 
 Algernon might have lived in New York and might 
 know more about motor-cars than the groom im- 
 agined it possible for any one man to know, yet had 
 he fallen. Bates had been rigidly brought up, and 
 with him there was no compromising with evil. 
 
 "Guess it's pretty wicked down in New York," 
 said he, breaking a long silence. "So, maybe Mrs. 
 Todd ain't so much to blame the way she is carry- 
 ing on." 
 
 Algernon said nothing. There was nothing to 
 say. Bates chewed thoughtfully for a time and then 
 went on. 
 
 "Hancock had better look out or that new chap's 
 going to cut him out, sure." 
 
 "How's that?" Algernon sat down on the 1 step 
 269
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 of the runabout, and like Bates, pushed his hat to 
 the back of his head. 
 
 "Why, what's he staying here for but 'cause she's 
 so pretty?" demanded Bates with relish for an em- 
 bryo romance, filled with pride in a local product, 
 for Mrs. Todd was such, in a way. "He was up to 
 the house all the afternoon, and stayed to supper, I 
 think, 'cause I saw him coming through the wood- 
 path about half after eight in the evening." 
 
 Algernon frowned. "See here," said he sternly, 
 "Patterson's car broke down " 
 
 Bates winked. "I know that, but there ain't no 
 law against making hay while you wait, is there?" 
 
 The telephone bell prevented Algernon from re- 
 plying. He put the receiver to his ear and Molly's 
 sweet voice in a measure restored his equanimity. 
 
 "Is that you, Joe? I want the car at once, please. 
 I know I said early this morning when we er 
 before breakfast, that I didn't think I would go out 
 this morning, but I've changed my mind. Come into 
 the library when you bring the car around, I have 
 some instructions about the cars I want to give you." 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said Algernon for the benefit of 
 Central who he knew was listening. He hung 
 up the receiver, wondering if anything had hap- 
 pened that she should want to see him again in the 
 
 270
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 library, and turned to gather up his tools, dismiss- 
 ing Bates' remarks with a busy wave of the hand. 
 
 Molly was waiting for him in the library. Her 
 hat and veil were already on, ready for the drive, 
 and she was pulling on her gloves, her delicate 
 brows drawn into a frown, one slender foot tapping 
 the floor impatiently. The mail had come and Al- 
 gernon noticed with uneasiness that there were a 
 number of bills on the table before her. 
 
 Molly nodded as he entered, while an expression 
 of relief crossed her face. She took a letter from 
 the table and handed it to him. "This came in the 
 morning mail. It's from my tailor, you see. He 
 wants his money. I think that is funny. The Todds 
 surely never get bills for months. No one would ever 
 think of distrusting them. Stores would be honored 
 by their patronage. Joe, do you think there is any- 
 thing wrong?" 
 
 Algernon frowned dubiously. "Let's have a look 
 at it." 
 
 "I am afraid he suspects something," murmured 
 the girl, as he read the sheet she handed him. "No- 
 body ever presses for his money unless he thinks 
 there is something wrong. Don't you think so, Joe?" 
 
 "He isn't the tailor er is he the tailor Mrs. 
 Todd went to, do you know?" asked Algernon, 
 
 271
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 changing a statement into a question as he glanced 
 up from a perusal of the letter. 
 
 "No. Mrs. Todd sent a trunk-load of dresses up 
 and when I unpacked them I looked in them and 
 found the name of the tailor she goes to, and I chose 
 another one. What do you think?" And she 
 watched him anxiously, in pretty deference. 
 
 "I think you are right," said Algernon. "No one 
 would ask the Todds to pay up so soon. Why " 
 He was about to recount the various lengths of time 
 he had allowed his bills to run, and then remembered 
 that he was not in a position to discourse on tailors 
 and their bills and credit. So he stopped abruptly 
 and turned again to the letter in his hand. 
 
 "Why what?" asked Molly. 
 
 "Why, I believe you are right" 
 
 "That wasn't what you were going to say. You 
 said that once." 
 
 "Not being a genius, I was going to repeat my- 
 self," smiled Algernon. "You are right, I am sure." 
 
 Molly impatiently drew off her gloves and threw 
 them on the table, working her interlaced fingers 
 nervously. It seemed the irony of fate if her chance 
 to redeem herself should be taken from her now. 
 
 "Why should he suspect ?" she asked. 
 
 Algernon shrugged. "That's not the question," 
 272
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 said he gently. "He apparently does suspect. Some- 
 thing has to be done." 
 
 He reread the letter and wondered what he could 
 do to head the fellow off. 
 
 "I'm not going yet," declared the girl, with a 
 flash of her blue eyes. Her moment of weakness 
 yesterday had passed, and she would not give u; 
 now when success was so near. In a day or two Ha*. 
 cock would propose and then she could laugh at 
 tailors and their foolish bills. "I don't think I shall 
 notice it." 
 
 Algernon shook his head. "I think you ought to 
 take some notice of it, Molly. This letter is serious." 
 
 "I won't leave now. I can't," protested the girl 
 and she looked to Algernon, sure that he would help 
 and understand. 
 
 "Have any of the others dunned you?" asked Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "No," said Molly sullenly. "No one but this tai- 
 lor. If we could only send him a check." And she 
 sighed wearily. 
 
 "If we could only pay the bill, if we were only 
 the Todds," said Algernon flippantly. 
 
 But Molly did not smile. "I have a check-book, 
 you know. Mrs. Todd put some money in the bank 
 in my name so I would have some ready cash to pay 
 
 273
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the servants, and for other essentials that might 
 turn up." 
 
 "How much is left?" asked Algernon. 
 
 "None," said Molly, and she glanced at him 
 quickly like a naughty child, blushing crimson. In 
 her eyes was an expression half of defiance, half 
 mischief, wholly adorable to the enraptured Alger- 
 non who, instead of feeling righteous indignation at 
 the theft of his own, looked at the saucy nose, the 
 dimpling mouth, the flushed angry face of the thief, 
 and laughed. The loss of a few dollars would not 
 be noticed by him one way or the other and Alger- 
 non was not the man to wear his soul out counting 
 his ducats. The fun he was having was worth the 
 price. 
 
 "I spent it all, or nearly all," Molly explained. "I 
 had to have plenty of ready cash, you know, even up 
 here, if I was to uphold the reputation of the family. 
 I have a little left in my purse up-stairs, but not half 
 enough to pay that bilL" She thought of the prom- 
 ise she had given Holmes, but crushed the thought 
 down by the excuse that this was no new misde- 
 meanor, merely self-protection from an old one 
 which he had already said he would overlook. 
 
 Algernon frowned and thought vainly for a way 
 out of the difficulty. 
 
 274
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 "I have the check-book still," said Molly slowly, 
 in a low voice, not looking at Algernon. 
 
 "Send them a check," suggested Algernon sar- 
 castically. 
 
 "And why not?" she flashed out, but she would 
 not look at him. 
 
 "What good would that do?" asked Algernon 
 gently. "The tailor doesn't know Molly O'Toole and 
 besides, the bank wouldn't honor it for it would 
 overdraw your account" 
 
 "It would honor the Todds," said Molly lowly, 
 and still she refused to look at Algernon, squeezing 
 her gloves into a small hard ball, and not raising 
 her eyes from them. 
 
 Algernon at last caught the drift of her remarks 
 and stared for a moment in dull surprise. 
 
 "Well ? The only sin nowadays is the sin of being 
 caught. If we can pass one check, we can pass an- 
 other. Then when we do have to go, we can go with 
 plenty of money. In for a lamb, in for a sheep." 
 And now she raised her eyes desperately and looked 
 straight at Algernon. 
 
 Algernon, taken aback, stammered, "Why, yes." 
 
 "What can we do?" she asked appealingly, ac- 
 cepting Algernon as one involved as completely 
 as herself. "We have to put him off some way. I
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 wrote last week, and it didn't do any good. Besides, 
 what's the difference in signing Mrs. Todd's name 
 to a check or to a letter, as I have been doing?" 
 
 "I thought you always put your initials after her 
 name so they would think it was signed by the sec- 
 retary and not be surprised at the signature in case 
 they knew her writing?" said Algernon. 
 
 "We are ready for the state prison now," sneered 
 Molly, waving the letter aside, "without doing any- 
 thing more than I have already done. The letters 
 will convict me, nothing more is needed, and you 
 will be sent up for an accessory after and before the 
 act. Signing a check would only be one of many 
 offenses. It will hardly count." She laughed an- 
 grily. "Isn't it so?" 
 
 "It looks that way," admitted Algernon mildly. 
 
 "I can't leave here now," went on the girl plead- 
 ingly. "It's it's everything to me, Joe. You don't 
 seem to understand, but it means a future. I must 
 have one more try for it. It is such a little thing to 
 do, signing another's name, and yet it may mean 
 peace and contentment and rest all my life if I can 
 manage it. While if I leave now" she threw out 
 her hands "it means the past to do all over again, 
 only worse. Work, work, work, from morning to 
 night Pinching and pinching, until you wonder 
 
 276
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 what you were born for, what use there is in living. 
 Marrying a man, if you care to marry, far beneath 
 you, in the social scale, because you never have a 
 chance to meet men in your own station in life 
 mated with a clown or else always a servant by an- 
 other name! Secretary or cook, what's the differ- 
 ence, both underlings? Never a moment or a life 
 of your own, always struggling, the endless and 
 never-ending treadmill! But if I succeed! I can 
 make it up to the Todds and they will not have to 
 suffer. It will simply be as if I had borrowed a lit- 
 tle money from them for a short time." 
 
 She laid her hand eagerly, entreatingly on Alger- 
 non's. All the audacity and craftiness had gone from 
 her face, leaving a childish longing and pleading in 
 the beautiful eyes and in the earnest voice, with its 
 soft cadence of the springtime. "All the rest of my 
 life, Joe, no matter which way this turns out, I shall 
 be good, I shall be good. What is one mistake, one 
 slip, for a girl of my age? I am only twenty-two. I 
 shall have fifty, sixty years in which to live it down, 
 to repent. And it will be so much easier for me to 
 repent and be sorry that I did as I did if I am well- 
 off and happy. Poverty knocks all repentance out 
 of any one. You wonder why you didn't do worse 
 while you were about it and be successful. It makes 
 
 277
 
 me feel that way. It makes me want to go and do it 
 again. If I were happy and rich, I could help the 
 poor and needy. I could do a world of good with 
 the money that would otherwise lie idle, for I should 
 understand, I have been through the deadly grind. 
 I should know just how and where to help. Any- 
 thing and everything is forgiven wealth. Molly 
 O'Toole might be a thief, but Mrs. John Hancock 
 would be only a cleptomaniac, to be pitied, not 
 blamed. Ah, Joe, give me one more chance." 
 
 Algernon looked down into the pleading eyes and 
 slowly shook his head. "I don't see how you can 
 manage it, Molly," said he gently, referring to her 
 marriage with Hancock, not the check. 
 "I can, indeed, I can." 
 "He would announce the engagement." 
 "I can show him the romance in a secret mar- 
 riage." 
 
 Algernon shrugged. 
 "You will help, Joe, just once more?" 
 "We don't know Mrs. Todd's signature." 
 "Yes, we do, Joe, on all the letters she writes me." 
 "How could we copy it? Carbon paper isn't any 
 good." 
 
 "I can write it over and over until I shall be able 
 to make it fairly well." 
 
 278
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 But Algernon shook his head as a ray of light 
 and hope came to him. "It would have to be perfect, 
 or with his suspicions already aroused, the tailor 
 would be able to detect it right away. Maybe if you 
 had Todd's signature anywhere, I could make a try 
 at it. If the tailor receives a letter from Todd, en- 
 closing a check and saying the Todds do not care to 
 deal with him any longer, it would be effective, more 
 effective than if coming from the old lady, and the 
 tailor won't think anything of Todd's being up 
 here. Those wealthy chaps travel all the time. You 
 can't ever keep track of them." 
 
 Molly nodded, and running to a small table in the 
 corner, caught up a large flat book, and hurried 
 back. "Here," said she. "I was looking at it yes- 
 terday." She laid the book on the table and opened 
 it quickly at the fly-leaf. "See ! Algernon must have 
 given it to his father. Here is his name. I know 
 that is not Mrs. Todd's writing, nor is it Mr. Todd's. 
 His name was Phineas. I have seen it in some books 
 and it can be read. This can't be, unless you sort 
 of look at it quickly and get the meaning by in- 
 spiration." 
 
 Algernon studied his original penmanship 
 sprawled over the page and hoped that he was not 
 blushing. 
 
 279
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "It is going to be hard to copy," said the girl 
 pleadingly. "Will you do it? Will you, Joe?" 
 
 Algernon bent hastily and examined his own writ- 
 ing critically and with great care. He was, as Bates 
 admiringly expressed it, "a dead game sport," and 
 to give up the pleasure of winning the girl in the 
 humble capacity of a chauffeur, of driving away her 
 bitterness and deceit by the power of his love, never 
 entered his head. Molly must be made to love him 
 for himself alone, for his sake embrace willingly, 
 gladly, that poverty she hated so. He glanced up 
 and the girl saw the consent in his eyes. 
 
 "Joe, you will?" she cried joyfully. 
 
 "I shall try to. Where is the check-book?" 
 
 "Joe, you're a dear. I shall get it." She gave him 
 a tender little pat on the arm that made Algernon 
 thrill as though he had touched an electric battery 
 and his foolish heart fluttered as it had never done 
 before. 
 
 "I shall wait out in the car," said he. "The serv- 
 ants will wonder what's up if we stay here talking 
 much longer." 
 
 "Here, you forgot this," and Molly tore the leaf 
 from the book and held it out to him. 
 
 "Jove! so I did." And Algernon folded the leaf 
 carefully and put it in his pocket 
 
 280
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 Molly took the check-book out to him in the car. 
 "Do it as soon as you can, won't you ?" she begged. 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon. "Are you coming for a 
 drive? You had better. It will do you good." 
 
 She hesitated and then nodded. 
 
 That evening Algernon slipped away from the 
 assiduous attentions of the parlor maid, and unseen 
 by even Bates, made his way to the east terrace. He 
 entered the dining-room by one of the long windows 
 he found open to the warm air of the summer night. 
 Molly was just descending the wide oak stairs. 
 
 Coming out of the shadows of the upper hall into 
 the rosy light below, she made a dainty be- 
 witching picture in her soft white silk dress as she 
 paused on the last step of the wide stairway. Alger- 
 non stared in frank admiration and felt that it would 
 be no hard matter to persuade Hancock to elope on 
 any provocation and for any reason, no matter how 
 foolish and illogical. 
 
 "Did you do it?" she questioned eagerly. 
 
 Algernon handed her the check carefully made 
 out and signed by his barely decipherable scrawl. 
 
 Molly scanned it critically, taking it to the lamp 
 and reading it slowly, over and over again. "I think 
 it is fine," said she, looking up. "Was it hard?" 
 
 "Not very," admitted Algernon. 
 281
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She laid her hand on his shoulder and held the 
 check out to him with one of her sudden impulsive 
 changes. "Take it," said she gently. "I can't keep 
 it. Joe, what do you think I am made of that I 
 should let you forge? Of course, I won't. I was 
 mad this morning even to mention it to you. Forget 
 it, boy, and take the check." 
 
 Algernon caught her hand, check and all, in both 
 of his and drew her to him. "Molly, keep it, dear. 
 I want you to. You can give it back to me a hun- 
 dred times over, when you are married." 
 
 "Give it back to you?" she questioned, and the 
 tender light died from her eyes with the want of 
 logic of a woman in love. He did not care if she 
 did marry Hancock. Well, then she would marry 
 him and show Joe that she didn't care either, and 
 she drew away from Algernon, in wounded pride, 
 the check in her hand. And Algernon, wondering 
 what he had done, answered her in all innocence. 
 
 "Yes, when you are married. And then I can 
 send it to this Todd and make it all right with him." 
 
 "Yes," said she coldly. "I see. I can and will. I 
 shall type a letter to-night and you can sign it, if 
 you don't mind, or no, I shall sign it and put my 
 initials underneath, and the man will think it is 
 from the secretary. That will be all right" She 
 
 282
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 held out her hand. "Thanks so very much," she 
 drawled, playing the great lady again with happy 
 affectation. "I am sure I am a thousand times 
 obliged." She smiled sweetly, graciously, as one 
 would in return for a passing favor rendered by a 
 stranger. 
 
 Algernon bowed ceremoniously. "It was a pleas- 
 ure, I assure you," said he. 
 
 "But no less a kindness," she drawled. 
 
 She gathered up her silken wrap, hanging over 
 the back of a chair, and Algernon gallantly adjusted 
 it about her shoulders, and side by side, they strolled 
 to the door, Molly trailing her clinging draperies 
 with a childish pleasure in their silken rustle. Al- 
 gernon opened the door, and with a graceful in- 
 clination of her small head, she passed through. 
 
 On the terrace, the girl paused and glanced down 
 the driveway, among the shadows of the trees, in 
 the direction of the great iron gates. 
 
 "Come on down to the rocks," begged Algernon, 
 knowing for whom she was looking. "Give me this 
 evening. He has had all the other ones." 
 
 "Business before pleasure," said she flippantly, 
 and Algernon winced in the darkness. 
 
 "All work and no play, you know," he returned 
 lightly. 
 
 283
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She laughed. "That is what I am trying to guard 
 against in the future," said she. "If I succeed, what 
 a glorious playtime I shall have." 
 
 She leaned against a stone post among the vines 
 and hummed to herself a tender love song of long 
 ago. 
 
 "You are money mad," said Algernon angrily. 
 "Can't you see anything but the dollar mark, 
 Molly?" 
 
 "When you are poor, you can't afford to," said 
 she. "When you are rich, you can. That is why I 
 want to be rich. Too much looking at the dollar 
 mark leaves it on one's face." 
 
 Algernon sat down on the balustrade beside her 
 and gazed at the soft tumble of hair on her neck, and 
 at her perfect profile of cheek and chin. He was car- 
 ried away, enmeshed in the bewitching physical 
 beauty of the girl, and her words hardly penetrated 
 his working consciousness. 
 
 Sometimes they talked, sometimes lapsed into si- 
 lence, listening to the huge ocean in its everlasting 
 unrest like the unrest of the soul, and the shrill pro- 
 test of the bell-buoy like the protest of one's reason 
 against things as they are and should not be. It was 
 a perfect night, cool and fragrant. Far overhead, 
 
 284
 
 WHEN YOU ARE POOR 
 
 the stars twinkled radiantly and from the trees a 
 whippoorwill called and called. 
 
 Algernon drew the girl, unresisting, down to the 
 balustrade beside him, and it was some time later 
 before either realized that Hancock had not come 
 as usual that night. 
 
 "Do you know, your voice in the darkness makes 
 me think of some one, Joe," said she, after a long 
 while. 
 
 "Whom ?" asked Algernon. 
 
 She shook her head. "I simply can't place you, 
 but at is familiar, and especially in the dark, on a 
 night so soft and still " 
 
 She fell silent, trying to recall that haunting recol- 
 lection of another night. Gradually her thoughts 
 turned to her present position and finally to the fact 
 that Hancock had not come. She knew he was jeal- 
 ous and she knew, with her woman's wisdom in such 
 things, that she could get him back in time but would 
 she have the time? Patterson might remain a day or 
 two longer and hang around the place as he had 
 suggested he might, and Mrs. Todd herself would 
 be back in a short time now. Would the last weeks 
 all go for nothing? The thought was intolerable and 
 she rose quickly. 
 
 285
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I think I shall go in," said she. 
 
 Algernon sank to sleep that night filled with the 
 first sweet hopes of success. He would win her yet, 
 not by his money, but by his love. 
 
 Molly tossed and tumbled in the great canopied 
 bed of the absent Mrs. Todd, filled with the first 
 bitter forebodings of failure. She would not fail! 
 As Mrs. John Hancock all would be forgiven her, if 
 it could not be concealed. While as Molly O'Toole, 
 or plain Mrs. Holmes ! 
 
 "Oh, Joe, if I didn't love you so," she thought 
 miserably, staring at the summer star shining 
 through the open window, "it wouldn't be so hard. 
 I wouldn't have acted as I did the other day. I was 
 a fool, but I won't be again, if I only have another 
 chance, just one more chance."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 EVERY morning Algernon and Molly met in 
 the tiny cove and swam far out to sea, leaving 
 the old brown cloak and the gaudy horse blanket. In 
 the evenings, if Hancock did not come, Algernon 
 would take the girl out in the car and their souls 
 would grow as one in the swift flight through the 
 vast darkness of the night and the total annihilation 
 of all speed laws and regulations. 
 
 But as the days passed, and Hancock did not come 
 at all to Castle Crags, Molly grew morose and un- 
 approachable. She took long rides in the car, but 
 insisted on sitting in the tonneau and refused to ex- 
 change a word with the harassed young chauffeur 
 on the front seat. 
 
 Late one evening, as they were returning home 
 from a long lonely drive far up the coast, he had 
 persuaded her to come and sit beside him as she had 
 been wont to do when she took lessons in the art of 
 running a motor-car. She was tired and worried, but 
 fighting against the ruin of all her plans with a cer- 
 tain grim strength Algernon could not but admire. 
 
 287
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 He knew that Patterson had come to the house quite 
 often during the week and wondered why she stood 
 the fellow if he were keeping Hancock away. Han- 
 cock was of a sensitive nature. He had surely heard 
 the gossip of the village that the stranger was cut- 
 ting him out and with a foolish pride preferred to 
 remain away in haughty aloofness. But why Molly 
 did not get rid of Patterson perplexed Algernon. If 
 she would, Hancock would come back the sooner. 
 
 He helped her to the seat beside him, and she 
 thanked him with a gentleness born of her tired 
 nerves. Her mouth drooped pathetically and her 
 glorious eyes asked dumbly for his sympathy, for 
 she was a woman and craved the help and support 
 of another with all of a woman's nervous longing. 
 
 They ran slowly for a while, and Algernon, glanc- 
 ing at her now and then, longed miserably to take 
 her in his arms and kiss away her troubles. In her 
 unhappiness she was a thousand times more fasci- 
 nating, gentler, sweeter, than when she laughed at 
 him boldly and sneered at love in brazen triumph 
 of her near success. To win her and relieve her 
 anxiety by revealing his identity was not for a mo- 
 ment contemplated by Algernon, did not even enter 
 his head ; sooner would he have surrendered at once 
 and let Hancock have her. 
 
 288
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 They came to a sheltered part of the road and 
 Molly had removed her hat when Algernon, glanc- 
 ing at her again, felt all his strength go with a rush, 
 and stooping, kissed the delicate rose-pink cheek so 
 near his shoulder. 
 
 Molly blushed furiously, looked for a moment as 
 though she would become angry and then suddenly, 
 to Algernon's surprised consternation, burst into 
 tears. 
 
 "Molly, Molly," he begged tenderly, contritely. 
 
 "Oh, Joe," she sobbed like a tired child, "suppose 
 things should all go wrong?" 
 
 "They won't, dear," he reassured her. "Trust 
 me." 
 
 "But John Hancock hasn't been over for a week, 
 and I tell you, Joe, he is jealous." 
 
 "Dear," said Algernon, "he will be back again, 
 jealousy or no jealousy. He couldn't help himself. 
 But he will come sooner, Molly, if you will dis- 
 courage that Patterson fellow." 
 
 Molly blushed and for a moment said nothing. "I 
 don't encourage him, Joe," said she slowly at last. 
 "He is lonely in the village and comes out to read 
 the books in the library. That is all he does. He is 
 in there nearly all the time. We hardly say a word 
 to each other." 
 
 289
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "He has his nerve," muttered Algernon. 
 
 "I know, it does seem cheeky, but it isn't, Joe, 
 really. I said for him to come. He has nothing to 
 read, and the days are so deadly dull for him at that 
 awful hotel. He is going any day, too. I am sorry 
 for him. I can't turn him away." 
 
 "You are an angel," declared Algernon. 
 
 Molly was in a way comforted. She dried her 
 eyes and mused for a moment on what had been said. 
 "I should think John would see how silly and child- 
 ish he is," said she. "He ought to be man of the 
 world enough to understand how I must meet other 
 men in the capacity of Mrs. Todd. I think he is 
 childish, silly." 
 
 "He's desperately in love," returned Algernon. 
 "Love is a mild form of insanity, Molly." 
 
 "Notjmild, in some people," said the girl, think- 
 ing of her foolish yielding to its call when suc- 
 cess was in her grasp. 
 
 "Forget him," pleaded Algernon. "I'm fighting 
 for your soul, Molly. Help me save it from the 
 money market." 
 
 "I am fighting for it," she flashed with a quick 
 return of her old unconquerable determination. 
 "With money, my soul will be above temptation. 
 Without it! God, Joe, you don't understand what 
 
 290
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 poverty means to a girl, alone, unprotected and 
 fairly pretty! The soul hunger that is worse than 
 the bodily! The terrible longings and the 1 awful 
 temptations ! And beneath you, Joe, waiting to catch 
 you when you totter and seem likely to fall, the ever- 
 lasting arms of some man, reaching to drag you 
 lower in the mire." She laughed bitterly and her 
 expression grew sullen and hard. 
 
 Algernon flushed and felt painfully his inability 
 to comfort her. He had all of a rich person's utter 
 disbelief in the grinding misery of poverty. "I know 
 it's hard," he muttered. 
 
 "Sherman was wrong," the girl went on. "Com- 
 pared to poverty, war is paradise. In war you are 
 either shot outright and your troubles are over with, 
 or you are wounded and there is some one to take 
 care of you and pull you through, some one respon- 
 sible for you, the government. If you are poverty- 
 stricken, you stand alone, every one is against you. 
 There is no one to turn to, no one to help you, unless 
 you want to suffer the terrible stigma of charity." 
 She threw out her hands with a gesture of the hope- 
 lessness of life as she had known it. 
 
 "Molly, trust me, dear," begged Algernon. "I 
 can and always will take care of you. Trust me, trust 
 me, that is all I ask." 
 
 291
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She shook her head, but made no reply, and Al- 
 gernon, somehow encouraged by her silence, which 
 was no't, after all, he told himself, a refusal, fell si- 
 lent, too. 
 
 The next morning, he waited and waited on the 
 tiny beach, but no Molly met him in the fragrant 
 woods at the parting of the ways, or awaited him in 
 girlish eagerness on the pebble-strewn sands of the 
 little beach. He took a lonely dismal swim and won- 
 dered what was the matter with her, missing her 
 more than he believed possible. To make certain that 
 she had not overslept, he waited on the beach until 
 the stable clock struck eight and still she had not 
 come, and he trailed back in lonely misery through 
 the woods. 
 
 No, Molly said in answer to his question over the 
 telephone, she did not care to go out in the car that 
 morning. She was going in the motor-boat. Bates 
 would go with her. He had before and she trusted 
 him fully. He was very good at that kind of thing. 
 Good-by. 
 
 In the afternoon, for the first time since Alger- 
 non's engagement as chauffeur, she ordered the 
 stately if uncertain Elizabeth to be brought to the 
 door, and in solitary majesty, in the high dog-cart, 
 she went to drive by herself. Thoroughly wretched, 
 
 292
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 wondering what he had done to displease her, Al- 
 gernon got out the roadster and went for a ride. 
 
 It was a glorious afternoon, clear and cool, with 
 a tinge of sharpness in the air that made the pulses 
 leap and throb. The fall comes early in Maine and 
 already, here and there, the leaves were turning, 
 transforming a branch into a flaming sword among 
 the green. Algernon did three miles in as many 
 minutes and then slowed up just before the descent 
 to the village which Elizabeth had taken so gal- 
 lantly the day of his arrival, for he had noticed the 
 top-heavy dog-cart at the bottom of the hill, ap- 
 parently stationary in the middle of the country 
 road. He stopped the car and approached on foot. 
 He was glad the horse was balking, and he had no 
 desire to repeat the pipe performance just yet. He 
 wanted to speak to the girl. 
 
 Molly was leaning back dejectedly in one corner, 
 the reins hanging loosely from her hands, her whole 
 slim figure betokening a great weariness. She was 
 pale, Algernon noticed, and heavy-eyed, while her 
 pretty mouth, with its soft curves of girlhood, was 
 grimly set. Beside her sat the yaller pup, to whom 
 she had taken a whimsical fancy, ears drooping, tail 
 drooping, as wobegone as the girl and the dreary 
 horse. 
 
 293
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 The horse was headed toward North Brockton. 
 Molly had been too engrossed in her own thoughts 
 to heed the sound of the automobile stopping on the 
 hill behind her and was not aware of Algernon's 
 approach until he stepped up to the cart and smiled 
 at her, hat in hand. 
 
 "Hello," said he. "On your way to the village?" 
 
 She bowed coldly and for a moment struggled to 
 remain distant, behind the barriers of mistress to 
 impudent servant, and Algernon felt the old embar- 
 rassment beginning to mount in him and nullify 
 every intelligent thought. 
 
 "I do not know when I shall get there, but I am 
 on my way," said she, and smiled irresistibly, a sud- 
 den mischievous, half-child, half- woman glee sweep- 
 ing over her face in joyous recognition of her fool- 
 ish predicament. Algernon laughed with relief. She 
 was the same, quaint and laughing and adorable, 
 like the clove pinks and johnny-jump-ups, back in 
 his mother's old-fashioned garden. 
 
 "Did you forget to set the alarm clock?" he asked 
 gaily. "I waited and waited for you this morning 
 and you did not come." 
 
 She smiled again and then frowned, recalling her 
 determination of last night that it would be best for 
 all concerned to discourage Joe a bit more than she 
 
 294
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 was doing. "I am sorry you waited," said she 
 gravely. 
 
 She gathered up the reins and chirruped to Eliza- 
 beth, plainly wishing to avoid his society. Elizabeth 
 flicked her tail slowly, flopped one small ear and 
 stood still. 
 
 "It's no use," laughed Algernon. "You can't leave 
 me with Elizabeth as the motor power. I want to 
 talk to you. I am going to get in." 
 
 He pushed the dog along and climbed in. 
 
 "Please," begged the girl with a sudden rush of 
 consternation. "There is nothing to talk about." 
 
 "Yes, there is," contradicted Algernon promptly. 
 "Why didn't you come in swimming this morning?" 
 
 "Because," said she. 
 
 "Because," said he, "is a woman's reason." 
 
 "I am a woman," said she. 
 
 He laughed in gay derision. "You're a little tiny 
 girl. Just about four years old." 
 
 Her face darkened wistfully. "I wish I were," 
 said she. 
 
 "You are," said he. 
 
 "I shall tell you what I am," said she with a quick 
 rush of self-disgust. "I am a swindler and a forger." 
 
 She looked at him defiantly and Algernon flushed. 
 
 "I forged the check," said he. 
 295
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You did it for me, so I am to blame." 
 
 "You told me not to and I insisted." 
 
 "Piffle, and you know it, Joe. I am all to blame. 
 I have led you into crime and it's weighing on me 
 terribly, Joe. I wish you would go away. Go on 
 north to your relatives." 
 
 "Dear," said Algernon, laying his hand on hers. 
 "I didn't cut my first tooth yesterday." 
 
 "I know, but you never forged before you met me. 
 I made you lose your honor and I wish you would 
 go away. Think of your mother, Joe." 
 
 "My mother will never know, dear. Don't worry 
 about my honor. Think of your own." 
 
 She winced as though he had struck her and grew 
 slowly white. "I have none," said she hotly. 
 
 "Not if you sell yourself body and soul, body and 
 soul, Mblly, to the highest bidder." 
 
 "I haven't yet" 
 
 "You will. He will ask you, but before he does 
 take my advice, Molly, and tell him who you are, 
 tell him all. He loves you " 
 
 "Love!" she sneered, tears in her voice. "He will 
 love his honor more." 
 
 "Try him," pleaded Algernon earnestly, leaning 
 toward her that he might see beneath the brim of 
 her hat. "Try him, Molly. Go to him with nothing 
 
 296
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 concealed, clean and sweet and true as you can be 
 when you want to. He cares for you. He will un- 
 derstand " 
 
 "Understand! He has forty millions. What can 
 a man with that amount understand about tempta- 
 tion, about hunger and sickness and poverty?" 
 
 "What if he doesn't understand, he will forgive. 
 We all have to be forgiven, sooner or later, Molly." 
 
 "He's a man," she sneered. "And it's only women 
 who can forgive, seventy times seven." 
 
 "There's no sex in love, Molly. A man's is the 
 same as a woman's, and love forgives everything." 
 
 "And if he forgives me and still wants to marry 
 me, would you advise me to take him?" she ques- 
 tioned almost fiercely. 
 
 "Yes," said Algernon slowly, "if you do not care 
 for another more." 
 
 "Sell myself, body and soul?" she taunted him 
 gleefully, for she read the love in his voice even 
 when he advised her to accept Hancock. 
 
 "I know, but I have been thinking about what you 
 said yesterday and I would rather think of you mar- 
 ried to Hancock, safe and protected, than out in the 
 world alone, if you won't marry me. You will learn 
 to love him, and he will take care of you, anyway." 
 
 Elizabeth showed signs of returning life, and 
 297
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Molly gathered up the reins. "I have waited so 
 long, I think I shall go back now, instead of to the 
 village as I intended," said she, thankful to dismiss 
 the subject. "Shall I drive you home, Joe?" 
 
 "No, thanks," said Algernon. "I have my car 
 back there. I left it up the road a bit." 
 
 He climbed out and she watched him with puck- 
 ered brows. 
 
 "Are you angry with me?" she asked timidly. 
 
 "Lord!" laughed Algernon. "Angry with a lit- 
 tle girl!" 
 
 "But I am not a little girl," she protested sadly. 
 "I don't believe I ever was one. Poverty's children 
 are never children, simply small editions of grown- 
 ups." 
 
 "Rot!" argued Algernon, helpless as he always 
 was in the face of the poverty she seemed to know 
 so much about 
 
 Elizabeth signified her readiness to depart, and 
 Algernon stood back and watched the top-heavy 
 cart majestically turn and start up the hill toward 
 Castle Crags. Then he returned thoughtfully to his 
 car and thoughtfully cranked it up. 
 
 As he approached the village, he saw Holmes 
 coming toward him in the grass by the wayside. As 
 
 298
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 they drew nearer each other, Holmes recognized 
 him and stepped aside, motioning for him to stop. 
 
 "I was on my way out to see you," said Holmes, 
 coming up to the car and leaning against it, as he 
 tossed away a half-smoked cigarette and pushed his 
 hat on the back of his head. 
 
 He looked worried and sick. His sallow face was 
 thinner and more sallow than ever and he had dark 
 circles under his eyes as though he had not slept. 
 He laid one hand on the car and Algernon noticed 
 that it twitched now and then as if with nerves on 
 edge. 
 
 "Hasn't that boiler come yet?" asked Algernon 
 sympathetically. 
 
 Holmes shook his head. "No. I am having the 
 deuce of a time with it. I can't imagine what's the 
 matter and besides say, can't I get in? I want to 
 talk with you." 
 
 "Certainly," said Algernon. "Get in and we can 
 go somewhere for a bit of a ride." 
 
 Neither spoke until they had left North Brockton 
 behind and had taken a lonely road over the hills 
 away from the sea, then Holmes broke the silence 
 that had fallen between them. 
 
 "The truth is, Todd, I'm in the deuce of a fix." 
 299
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 He drew out his cigarettes, lighted one and puffed 
 at it nervously. 
 
 "I thought you were heading pretty straight for 
 Canada that night we turned you back. What's the 
 matter? Get into trouble when you were in New 
 York?" 
 
 "Yes. I thought you were the police after me that 
 night, and I took that by-road to turn you off my 
 track. I er I was damned hard up. You don't 
 know anything about it with your millions. But I 
 was stony broke, desperate. I er I forged." 
 Holmes did not look at Algernon, but busied himself 
 with selecting and lighting another cigarette, hav- 
 ing thrown the first away after a few puffs. 
 
 Algernon nodded slowly, stopped the car and 
 leaned on the wheel, facing his companion that he 
 might give the latter his closest attention. 
 
 "I got out of town and would have been in Can- 
 ada by this time if my machine hadn't broken 
 down," went on Holmes. "I got a tip to-day that 
 the forgery is known they are looking for me. It's 
 deuced awkward, believe me." 
 
 Again Algernon nodded, catching the drift of the 
 other's remarks. Holmes had done him a good turn 
 and was now looking for his reward. 
 
 "I haven't any money. I must have some," said 
 300
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 Holmes simply, with no air of bravado. He was 
 clearly a much-frightened man, and Algernon pitied 
 him. "I can't get my boiler unless I have enough 
 to pay expenses and if it doesn't come in time, I 
 must have some money to get away on the train with. 
 I am stony broke." 
 
 Algernon nodded. "I can telegraph my lawyers to 
 forward you some," said he slowly, "but that would 
 be awkward for both of us. My cousin has a check- 
 book and I can get it from her on some pretext or 
 other and give you a check. That will be the best. 
 You can wait a day or two, can't you ?" 
 
 Holmes' eyes gleamed with relief, and he wet his 
 dry lips with his tongue. "You're all right, Todd, 
 believe me," he declared gratefully, holding out his 
 hand. "Yes, I shall be all right for a day or so. I 
 have a pal in the city who will give me a tip when 
 to move on. I shall pay you back some day, believe 
 me." 
 
 Algernon waved the idea aside. "That's all 
 right," said he. "You helped me out of an annoying 
 place without my asking and I want to show my ap- 
 preciation." He busied himself as he spoke with 
 backing the car to avoid taking the proffered hand. 
 
 Holmes flushed angrily, started to say something, 
 thought better of it and lighted another cigarette. 
 
 301
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I'm a thousand times obliged," said he, after a 
 moment's pause. 
 
 "That's all right," returned Algernon, starting 
 the car ahead slowly. "We are quits, now, absolutely 
 quits." 
 
 Holmes nodded sullenly. 
 
 "And suppose you keep a bit more to the village," 
 suggested Algernon. "You are annoying my cousin, 
 hanging around as you do. She says it is all right, 
 that you have nothing to read and she lets you bor- 
 row from the library, but all the same it bothers 
 her." 
 
 The color had ebbed slowly from Holmes' face 
 and left it white and drawn. He turned to Alger- 
 non and looked him coolly in the face. "See here, 
 Todd, don't sit on me in righteous judgment until 
 you are qualified to do so by temptation resisted. 
 Through fate, no work and struggle and brain 
 power on your part, ypu have been put where you 
 are free from financial temptation. You know noth- 
 ing whatever about it. Wait until you do before you 
 judge. The only thing you ever did in this world 
 was to be born a Todd with several millions in your 
 name. You yourself are neither good nor bad. You 
 haven't lived. That little girl up at your place and 
 I have." 
 
 302
 
 A WOMAN'S REASON 
 
 Algernon flushed and held out his hand. "I 
 didn't realize I was sitting in judgment on you, 
 Holmes," he protested, "but I guess I was. There is 
 nothing so damned sanctimonious as people who 
 haven't been tried. I know I was born a Todd and 
 that I haven't done a blamed thing since." 
 
 "You don't understand, that's all," said Holmes 
 kindly.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 AGERNON was quiet and distrait at supper 
 that evening. The waitress feared that she 
 had said something to offend him and spent a miser- 
 able meal trying to recall all she had said to him. 
 The gardener decided that the youth had at last 
 seen the hopelessness of competing with himself for 
 the affections of the parlor maid and that he had 
 withdrawn into settled melancholy. The coachman 
 and upper groom watched their idol with grieved 
 solicitude, while Bates opined that he was secretly 
 longing for the dark crime-infested haunts of the 
 city. To Bates, Algernon was strong socially, weak 
 morally, and Bates felt that he had judged him 
 calmly, accurately, unprejudiced by that fatal fasci- 
 nation of his which had already reduced the upper 
 groom to a mere servile admirer. 
 
 Algernon, unaware of the various emotions he 
 had aroused in the breasts of his fellow-servants, 
 slipped away as soon as it was dark to find Molly. 
 He would get the check-book that night if he could. 
 
 304
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 But he could not catch a glimpse of her on the ter- 
 race, the lawns or among the rocks, and he finally 
 went to the house and entered by the library window, 
 which was open as usual. But the girl was nowhere 
 around and Algernon decided that she had gone to 
 bed early, as Hancock had not come and she was 
 probably discouraged. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and Molly, the picture 
 of well-dressed dainty propriety, went ten miles to 
 Brockton to church. Algernon drove her in the car, 
 Molly sitting primly on the back seat. 
 
 Hancock, sitting directly across the aisle, wrestled 
 in vain for the remnant of his wounded pride. But 
 every time he raised his eyes from the hymn book, 
 he saw the small white hat with the soft plume lying 
 lovingly against the dark hair; he saw the dimple in 
 the flushed cheek come and go as Molly read the re- 
 sponses in her clear sweet voice. He saw all he had 
 been trying the last few days to forget, and his face 
 flushed, his hands twitched with longing, and he 
 gave up his feeble attempt to sing. 
 
 For Algernon the long quiet afternoon dragged 
 away somehow. He took a swim, but did not enjoy 
 it The water was cold and he had no one to amuse 
 him. He dressed forlornly and went for a long walk 
 around by the coast. At last the peace of the coun- 
 
 305
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 try Sabbath stole upon him and he threw himself 
 down on the sands of a little beach and dreamed the 
 afternoon away, lulled by the sea's monotonous 
 chant. 
 
 He thought of Molly as she had looked that morn- 
 ing in her demure white dress and simple hat He 
 thought of her vivacity, her daring, the gleeful 
 pleasure she took in the pretty clothes, the large 
 house, the servants to come at her beck and call, all 
 the luxury and unconscious assurance wealth can 
 give. Yes, money was a good thing. Molly was 
 right there. Repentance, forgiveness, all is easy 
 when the mind is at rest financially. Suppose 
 though, that after acquiring the money in well, in 
 any old way, one could not acquire the mind to rest! 
 Surely, there were some people who believed that 
 there was too big a price to pay for a bank-account, 
 his mother for instance; but then, his mother did 
 not understand, as both Holmes and Molly insisted. 
 His mother, like himself, had never been tempted. 
 But Molly ! She was so pretty one had to forgive her 
 everything. Would she marry him, believing him to 
 be as poor as she thought? He felt sure that she 
 loved him. Would she be true to her love? Was she 
 one of those women who will follow a man bare- 
 footed through the world, work with him, slave with 
 
 306
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 him, and ask only his love in return? In Molly's 
 scale of life which would weigh the more, love or 
 money ? 
 
 So he dreamed the afternoon away, Molly, love, 
 honor, money, his mother, Holmes, money, honor, 
 love, Molly, around and around in a circle, but al- 
 ways returning to the same subject, Molly O'Toole, 
 black-haired laughing Molly. 
 
 The evening was close and murky. Great thunder- 
 heads had rolled upon the horizon late in the after- 
 noon, and had passed around North Brockton, rum- 
 bling off in the distance. The breeze had died down 
 with their passing and the only place to keep cool 
 was on the rocks. 
 
 Algernon finally found Molly alone on a point 
 some distance from the house. It was very dark and 
 he had stumbled on her by chance, catching a 
 glimpse of her white dress against the gray of the 
 cliffs. And there, the sea at their feet, he sought 
 to tell her of his love, but she would not listen. -With 
 all her woman's wit and ingenuity, she turned him 
 off and eluded him. 
 
 "Ah, Molly," he pleaded, "won't you listen to 
 me?" 
 
 "You have so many that will," she teased. "I 
 should think you would not mind if I didn't." 
 
 307
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Whom? What do you mean, Molly? You are 
 the only person I want to talk to." 
 
 "That may be, but I am not the only person whom 
 you do talk with." 
 
 "Whom do I talk with?" he asked, trying to find 
 her hand in the folds of the light shawl she had 
 thrown around her shoulders. 
 
 Molly was watching him mischievously. "Well?" 
 she queried. "Trying to think up an excuse? I 
 should fancy that you could do it easily. You must 
 have had such a lot of practise." 
 
 "Molly," he protested, "why do you say that? 
 What do you know about me, anyway ? Whom do I 
 talk with?" 
 
 "What do I know about you, Joe? Only what I 
 hear the parlor maid recounting to the waitress. 
 You have made a crush below stairs, young man." 
 
 "If I am pleasant to a girl, she thinks I can't live 
 without her," and Algernon sighed wearily. "Wom- 
 en spoil half the fun in life by getting in earnest. 
 Talk about conceit! A man can't say a word to a 
 woman but she immediately thinks that she is his 
 ideal. So of course she tries to live up to her idea of 
 what that ideal is, gets serious, falls in love, grows 
 jealous, cries, weeps, moans, becomes depressing and 
 exhausting. Honestly, a man has to go away to save 
 
 308
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 his own nervous system. He can't stand the strain. 
 If girls would only take half of what a man says 
 with a pinch of salt and the rest with a bushelful, 
 there wouldn't be so much unhappiness in this 
 world." 
 
 "I see," said Molly dryly. 
 
 "Of course, it is different with some," explained 
 Algernon quickly. 
 
 "The man's intentions may be different," admitted 
 Molly. 
 
 "That's it. Jove, if a girl could only read a man's 
 intentions at once and not go and credit him with 
 hers!" 
 
 "Is the parlor maid different or are your inten- 
 tions along that line different?" 
 
 'The parlor maid! Molly! Great Scott! Why" 
 
 "Hedging already," teased the girl. 
 
 "Molly" 
 
 "Am I different?" 
 
 "Yes. You won't let me do the wooing and you 
 won't do it yourself," complained Algernon, and 
 then added, apropos of nothing: "Molly, where is 
 that check-book? I want to make out another 
 check." 
 
 Molly flushed suddenly in the dark. Her fingers 
 clenched slowly and she gazed for a moment straight 
 
 309
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 before her. She did not want him to make out an- 
 other check. It was too great a risk to take except 
 under desperate circumstances, and yet he had made 
 the first one out for her, had done everything in his 
 power for her, and this was the first request he had 
 made in return, keeping silent about her and help- 
 ing her willingly and faithfully. If she refused now, 
 he would be hurt, considering her ungrateful, in 
 fact might become angry and ruin her plans beyond 
 repair. She must put him off. Besides, he was so 
 young, so decent and clean. She hated to think of 
 his doing anything underhanded, and the thought 
 that she had got him to forge the first check filled 
 her with sick self-disgust. 
 
 "You don't want to acquire the habit of paying 
 bills," said she gaily, to gain time. "It is a habit 
 that takes up a person's time too much. You no 
 sooner pay one bill than you have to pay another." 
 
 "It was such a rare experience," said Algernon, 
 "that I thought I would try again." 
 
 "We haven't received any more bills, Joe," said 
 the girl anxiously, eagerly. "We really don't need 
 another check." 
 
 "A little money won't come in amiss," stammered 
 Algernon, fearful of saying too much lest she guess 
 who he was and yet not saying enough to get the 
 
 310
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 book. He did not want to telegraph his lawyers to 
 forward some money for they did not know where he 
 was, and he did not care to let them know lest some- 
 how the fact reach his mother and through her let- 
 ters to him, Molly, who would, of course, be the first 
 to receive the letters, would learn of his identity. 
 
 Molly had grown white in the dark and when she 
 spoke, she spoke slowly, carefully weighing each 
 word as she sought to keep her rapidly rising emo- 
 tion under control and not let him hear the fear she 
 felt trembling in her voice. 
 
 "Can't you wait, Joe, just for a week or two?" she 
 asked gently, earnestly. "You see the time is almost 
 up now. When I succeed, as I shall, as I must, I 
 shall pay you back that check. You can make it all 
 right John is bound to come back before long and 
 then it will be all right." 
 
 "Don't you worry, Molly. No one will ever find 
 anything wrong with the checks I make out in 
 Todd's name. It's perfectly safe to let me have the 
 book. We won't get into any trouble." 
 
 "We may," protested Molly, gaining courage as 
 he seemed open to reason. "I know that you have 
 had nothing so far and yet have helped me faith- 
 fully, and I am anxious that- you should be re- 
 warded. It is not fair that you should not have
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 anything but the risk, and I shall be glad to help 
 you to anything you want, I shall indeed, if you will 
 just wait, Joe, until I have have one more chance." 
 
 Algernon lighted a cigarette to give him further 
 inspiration. They were thieves together and he had 
 no right to spoil Molly's chances of success by a pre- 
 mature demand for a settlement. And yet, Holmes 
 had been kind to him and was in desperate need of 
 some ready cash. 
 
 Molly tried to see the expression of his face in the 
 dark, but the shadows, cast by the rocks behind them, 
 were too deep. She laid her hand on his arm nerv- 
 ously as she pleaded for more time. "You see, Joe, 
 if we begin to fill out checks whenever we need a lit- 
 tle cash, we shall be putting ourselves in just so much 
 more danger, and if we are found out before Mrs. 
 Todd comes back and we have a chance to get away, 
 it will be terrible for us. Do you really think it 
 best?" 
 
 "I need the money pretty badly," murmured Al- 
 gernon, trying to decide to tell Molly about Holmes, 
 feeling with a lover's foolish logic that he could 
 trust her absolutely not to betray his confidence. She 
 was Irish, he told himself, and her heart was big and 
 warm and true. She would be more than willing to 
 help another in distress. And then how happy she 
 
 312
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 would be to think that she had trusted him when she 
 followed the dictates of her heart and gave her all 
 to him, her beautiful eyes, her glorious hair, her 
 priceless self. The picture of her complete sur- 
 render, and the vindication of her woman's con- 
 fidence in him, thrilled Algernon through and 
 through, and he smiled tenderly to himself in the 
 dark as he saw it all, her arms about his neck, her 
 face raised to his, glorified, transfigured. Love 
 triumphant over greed, distrust and poverty! 
 
 "If it is something you want to buy, couldn't we 
 order it and charge it?" questioned Molly timidly. 
 "Now that we have proved our credit good in one 
 quarter, anyway, it would be so much safer to charge 
 things. Then, when we leave, the bills will be sent 
 to Mrs. Todd, and we shall be far away where they 
 can't find us. Or if I do marry John, I shall be able 
 to pay them myself. Can't you tell me what it is 
 you want?" 
 
 Her small hand found its way into his and Al- 
 gernon thrilled all over. Dear little Molly! Why 
 had he hesitated? He did not feel that he was be- 
 traying the confidence Holmes had given him, for 
 Molly and he were practically one. She would guard 
 the secret as carefully as he did. The night was so 
 very still, she sat so near him, with her small hand 
 
 313
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 cuddled warmly in his, her soft hair almost brush- 
 ing his shoulder as she leaned eagerly toward him, 
 that to doubt her, to remember with disapproval 
 what she had done, was for Algernon at that mo- 
 ment impossible. 
 
 "I shall tell you, Molly, dear," he whispered, his 
 voice shaking. "But you must promise to tell no 
 one. Will you?" 
 
 "I am sorry that you doubt me," said Molly hum- 
 bly, glad of the darkness that hid the gleam of vic- 
 tory in her eyes. Algernon would as soon have 
 doubted his mother. 
 
 "I don't, dear, really," he protested, husky with 
 emotion. "But it's not my secret, yet I want to help, 
 and I need that check-book, so I owe it to you to tell 
 you. We are in the same boat and ought to tell 
 each other everything that may in any way affect 
 us both. Still, I owe it to Patterson to get your 
 promise first. I myself would trust you with every- 
 thing" 
 
 "After what you know about me, Joe? I some- 
 times feel that I am not worthy of you, that " 
 
 "Ah, Molly, don't say that, dear." 
 
 "But it is true, Joe. Maybe you do not really 
 trust me. I have never cared before whether other 
 people trusted me or not. But with you it is differ- 
 
 3H
 
 LOVE OR. MONEY 
 
 ent. I don't know why, but the worst punishment 
 I can receive will be not to have your trust, and yet, 
 how can I ask it?" 
 
 Algernon was completely undone. He pressed 
 the hand he held and pulled her nearer to him. 
 "Molly, Molly, you have got it, dear, my entire 
 trust and love." 
 
 "No, I do not think I have. Sometimes, the way 
 you act, the things you say " Her voice lost itself 
 in a whisper of humility and contrition. 
 
 "What do I say?" 
 
 "I can't tell you word for word. They are little 
 things : the tones of your voice, sometimes, the way 
 you look at me. Oh, Joe, I would give anything to 
 redeem myself in your eyes, to prove to you that 
 I can be honorable, -that I am honorable, even now. 
 I am going to pay the Todds back, I am, indeed, 
 whether I marry John or not. If you would only 
 trust me!" 
 
 "I do trust you, dear." 
 
 And to prove it, he told her all that Patterson had 
 told him the day before, and as he talked, she with- 
 drew her hand from his and gazed straight before 
 her, sitting very still and only nodding now and 
 then to show that she was following what he said. 
 At first, he thought she had lost interest, but the 
 
 315
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 tenseness of her slim young body belied that and he 
 grew eloquent as he proceeded and realized that she 
 was, on the contrary, listening eagerly to every 
 word, his warm-hearted Irish Molly! 
 
 "So you see, if I can make him out another check 
 which he can cash in Brockton, that will get him out 
 of the country. I want to help him, Molly, for he 
 once did me a good turn." 
 
 "Once?" questioned the girl fearfully. "When, 
 Joe? I did not know that you had ever met him 
 before he came here." 
 
 "The first day he came, dear," Algernon hastened 
 to reassure her. "The day after we turned him back 
 from Canada. He was mighty kind to me." 
 
 Molly nodded again and then she laughed, a low 
 throaty laugh that ended in something that sounded 
 terribly like a sob. All the world was bad, bad, 
 bad, rotten to the core. Here was Joe, her Joe, 
 whom she had thought young and innocent and 
 sweet and clean, just a careless happy-go-lucky boy, 
 proving himself a forger before he had met her. 
 His story about Patterson was merely made up on 
 the emergency of the occasion to hide his own guilt 
 from her, while he was entirely ignorant as to who 
 Patterson was. It was all so clear now, his past. He 
 had forged, been discovered and fled to the country.
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 Then he had come upon her and the balking Eliza- 
 beth, and the rest had followed just as he had wanted 
 it to. No wonder he was willing to forge another 
 check for her when she had asked him to ! He was 
 probably a professional thief, her Joe ! God ! And 
 what was she herself ? She wanted to cry, and at the 
 thought of his putting his guilt on Patterson, on 
 Algernon Van Rensellear Todd, one of those who 
 were born above financial temptation, one of those 
 who could not understand, she was filled with a 
 wild desire to laugh at the farce of it all. She 
 clasped her hands around her knees and gazed 
 stonily out to sea. Rotten, rotten, all the world 
 was rotten. Those that seemed good were only so 
 because they had never been tried, had never suf- 
 fered. 
 
 Algernon chuckled. "That was funny the way we 
 turned him back," he admitted, thinking that was 
 why she laughed. "But I can have the book, dear?" 
 
 "This er Patterson, is that his real name?" 
 she asked indifferently. 
 
 "Yes," declared Algernon firmly. "Yes, it is, 
 dear." 
 
 "He forged, you say?" 
 
 "Yes. That is why he has to get out of the 
 country quickly " 
 
 317
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "As you and I may have to," Sneered Molly. 
 
 Algernon looked at her puzzled. "Don't say that, 
 dear. Trust me and I " 
 
 She shrugged. "I don't trust any man, Joe. I'm 
 a cynic, if you like. But all the world's rotten." 
 
 "Not you, dear " 
 
 "Don't say that, Joe. You know it isn't so. Why 
 don't you let this er Patterson forge his own 
 checks?" 
 
 Algernon flushed in the dark. "I don't know," 
 he stammered. 
 
 Molly laughed angrily, pitifully. "Oh, Joe, you 
 are dear, adorable, an innocent foolish child." 
 
 Algernon was irritated. "I suppose you think me 
 more of a fool than ever," he muttered. 
 
 "I do," she insisted. "You have brought it on 
 yourself, Joe." 
 
 "I have, have I ?" He turned and caught her two 
 hands, forcing them down by her sides gently, but 
 firmly, his eyes looking straight into hers. "Call 
 me that once again, my lady, and I shall kiss you on 
 your mouth and knock old Hancock off the rocks 
 the next time he comes." 
 
 "I won't, ever again," she promised. "Let me go, 
 please." 
 
 She became quiet, apparently pondering the
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 situation and Algernon lighted another cigarette and 
 tried to concentrate his mind upon the question of 
 why Patterson shouldn't do the forging, but all he 
 could think of was how sweet she was and like a 
 baby in the fleecy shawl she had around her shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 "Joe," said she soberly, after a moment, "this 
 making out checks is a serious business. Let Pat- 
 terson make out his own." 
 
 "I shall, dear," said Algernon feebly. "But I 
 must have the book so he can have a blank check." 
 
 "You promise, Joe, if I give you the book, that 
 you will not forge another check ? I must take care 
 of you until you can take care of yourself." 
 
 "Ah," said Algernon, "I said if you called me 
 that again " 
 
 "But I didn't," she protested. 
 
 "It was the same as if you had." 
 
 "No, no, Joe," she laughed. "Honestly, I think 
 you are wonderful. But tell me that you will promise 
 not to make the check out yourself." 
 
 "Dear," said Algernon solemnly, "I promise on 
 the honor of a gentleman that I will never forge 
 the name of Algernon Van Rensellear Todd." He 
 laid his hand on his heart and bowed gaily in the 
 darkness. 
 
 319
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "On the honor of a gentleman," she sneered. 
 "Both honor and gentlemen are as extinct as the 
 dodo bird." 
 
 "Don't say that, Molly," he begged. 
 
 "And why not?" she demanded curtly. 
 
 "I'm not a dead one yet," protested Algernon. 
 
 The girl shrugged and rose to her feet. "It's late. 
 I must go in." 
 
 Algernon helped her up the rocks and neither 
 said anything more until they reached the door. 
 Then Algernon caught her hand. 
 
 "May I have the book, dear?" he asked. 
 
 "Will to-morrow be time enough, Joe?" she 
 hedged. "I must find it and it's so late." 
 
 "Yes, certainly. I shall come up to the house di- 
 rectly after breakfast. That will be time enough. 
 Good night, dear." 
 
 He raised her hand, kissed it tenderly, and hold- 
 ing the door open for her, closed it gently after she 
 went in. 
 
 In her room, the girl went straight to the bureau, 
 opened the top drawer and took out the check-book. 
 With white face and firm steady fingers, she tore 
 it apart, jerked out the leaves and cut them into 
 tiny bits with her finger-nail scissors, then she 
 swept the scraps into her waste-basket, and throwing 
 
 320
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 herself on the high, four-posted, canopied bed, 
 sobbed herself to sleep. 
 
 The next morning Algernon found Molly waiting 
 for him on the tiny beach. She waved to him gaily, 
 and no thought of the check-book or Holmes entered 
 his head until he lay sprawled at ease on the sun- 
 warmed deck of the little sloop. Then he turned to 
 her lazily and asked her if she had brought the 
 book with her. 
 
 She was rebraiding her wet hair and did not look 
 at him. "No," said she. 
 , "I shall come up directly after breakfast," said he. 
 
 "What for?" said she. 
 
 "The book," said he. 
 
 "Let Patterson come for it himself," said she. 
 
 "Why, Molly, he couldn't, dear. Why should Mrs. 
 Todd give a stranger her check-book?" 
 
 "Why is anything?" she asked flippantly and 
 rose to her feet. 
 
 "Molly, don't you see he can't come for it?" 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "If I come, will you give it to me?" 
 
 "If you promise, Joe, never again to forge." 
 
 "I promised last night, dear." 
 
 "You will let him do whatever forging is neces- 
 
 sary?" 
 
 321
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Then what do you need the book for?" 
 "Why, Molly, he will need a blank check." 
 "Give him the book and let him keep it," said she 
 carelessly. If Joe were only honest with her! She 
 was sure he wanted the book for himself. Why had 
 he made up the foolish story about Patterson? It 
 hurt her that he did not trust her as she had trusted 
 him. 
 
 The wind was in her face, the sea laughed and 
 called to her gaily, overhead a gull wheeled in 
 graceful flight. Molly drew herself up and stretched 
 out her arms, her blood tingling in every vein, her 
 heart singing in answer to the sea. What had trou- 
 ble and poverty and deceit to do with one at such 
 a time? The sea was hers, the sky above. There 
 was no past and no future, just the present moment, 
 herself and Joe, the tumbling ocean and the tiny 
 sloop, rising and falling. She shrugged the check- 
 book aside and dove from the deck to swim to the 
 distant bell-buoy. 
 
 As soon as he was through breakfast and could 
 free himself of the rival attentions of the parlor maid 
 and the waitress, Algernon started around the house 
 to look for Molly and get the check-book. He found 
 her on the east terrace, busy with bowls of flowers 
 
 323
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 which she arranged herself every morning. She 
 nodded when she saw him and seemed at first desir- 
 ous of avoiding his company. ^Algernon inquired, 
 for the benefit of any of the servants who might be 
 listening, if she would want the car that morning, 
 then he drew nearer and asked her in a low tone if 
 she had found the book. 
 
 "I shall get it," said she, not looking at him, tuck- 
 ing a few flowers into place, and taking the bowl 
 into the hall. 
 
 He waited on the terrace until he saw her return- 
 ing down the stairs and then went to meet her at 
 the foot. 
 
 She descended slowly, pausing on the bottom step 
 and holding out her purse to him. "I burned the 
 book last night, Joe," said she, "here is some money. 
 That will be better than forging another check." 
 
 "I was not going to, Molly," said he reproachful- 
 ly. "I told you that. Couldn't you trust me, dear? 
 Do you think I would put you in any danger just 
 for Patterson?" 
 
 She looked straight into his eyes and answered 
 with quiet dignity. "I was not thinking of myself, 
 Joe, but of you. I am nasty, perfectly nasty, but 
 I can't bear the thought of your being so, too. Ah, 
 don't, Joe, don't. It doesn't pay." 
 
 323
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I promised you I wouldn't, Molly." 
 
 "I know, and I shall trust you, I shall indeed, 
 Joe. But take the money. It will pay one's fare to 
 Canada." 
 
 "I can't take your money, Molly," protested Al- 
 gernon. 
 
 "I want you to," insisted the girl. "It will get 
 Patterson out of the way." She might as well 
 carry on the farce as well as he. 
 
 There was truth in what she said. It would take 
 Patterson out of the way and with him out of the 
 way, Hancock would return the sooner. It was not 
 as if Algernon were taking her last cent, for if the 
 time came when she needed money, he felt that 
 he could always declare himself and that then things 
 would be well. 
 
 "I feet like a cad taking your money, dear," he 
 said gently. "But I shall make it right with you, 
 soon, now." 
 
 "I want you to take it," said she, and opening 
 the purse, put the few bills into his hand and poured 
 out the small change. 
 
 "It will get Patterson out of the way and then 
 Hancock will return the sooner," said Algernon, 
 pocketing the money. "Oh, Molly, if you will only 
 marry me " 
 
 324
 
 LOVE OR MONEY 
 
 "Don't," said she sharply. "I would rather sign 
 my death-warrant than condemn myself to poverty 
 all the rest of my life. I know myself, Joe. I'm 
 not strong enough morally to stand the strain. I 
 want a chance to reform and I can't unless I'm 
 rich." 
 
 "If you will trust me " 
 
 "I do. You promised not to forge again and I do 
 believe you." 
 
 "You can, dear. I won't But if you marry 
 me" 
 
 "Please, there comes the parlor maid. I shall 
 raise your wages after this month, Joe, if you do 
 as well as you have. No, I shan't go out in the car 
 this morning." 
 
 She nodded carelessly, and tossing her purse on 
 the table, returned to the side terrace and her 
 flowers.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 PATTERSON was grateful for the money and 
 laughed at the girl's unwillingness to give up 
 the check-book, which Algernon merely hinted at 
 as an excuse for not giving a check for a larger 
 amount. He would stay over one more day, he 
 decided, and wait to see if the boiler didn't come 
 and he could go on in his own car. It was so much 
 safer than by the train. Trains could be watched 
 so easily and searched. But if the boiler didn't 
 come, he would not wait any longer. Waiting got 
 on one's nerves, and besides it was expensive, as 
 he had the board and lodging of his chauffeur, as 
 well as himself, to pay. They shook hands cordially 
 and Algernon returned to Castle Crags. 
 
 He spent the morning tinkering with the cars 
 and dreaming of Molly O'Toole, whistling occasion- 
 ally to himself, softly and half unconsciously. Molly 
 and he were working at cross purposes, it seemed, 
 and he determined to end it all. It had become more 
 than he could stand to play the part of humble 
 
 326
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 chauffeur any longer. He was frankly sick of the 
 job and longed to be done with it and to make him- 
 self right again in Molly's eyes. For some reason 
 she seemed to think badly of him, acted as if he 
 were a sort of professional forger, another Jim the 
 Penman. 
 
 She was out all the morning in the motor-boat 
 and when she returned Hancock was with her, both 
 in hilarious spirits. He had been out in his own boat 
 and they had met on the rocking tossing ocean, 
 and Hancock, looking into the Irish blue eyes 
 through the curling strands of wind-blown hair, 
 wondered if it was not fate that had drawn them 
 together again. He had been extremely childish 
 and thoroughly miserable, and now they met in 
 their tiny boats, far from land, with the salt spray in 
 their faces, the tumbling waves beneath them, and 
 overhead, the deep blue of the August sky. Surely, 
 it was fate, and he turned his boat and followed 
 hers. 
 
 In the afternoon, when Algernon again went in 
 search of the girl, he found that she and Hancock 
 were still together, out on the rocks, somewhere, 
 and he went back to the garage and spent the rest 
 of the long day tinkering with the cars. He was 
 not jealous. He felt with sublime egotism that when 
 
 327
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 it came to a deliberate choice, Molly would not hesi- 
 tate a moment between her love for him and her 
 greed for Hancock's money. She would follow her 
 love and laugh money to scorn in the haven of her 
 lover's arms. He had barely finished supper, when 
 he went once more to find her, indifferent as to 
 whether he was seen by the servants. 
 
 He wandered through the house but could not 
 find Molly, and determined to wait for her on the 
 side terrace. He drew up a lounging chair beside 
 one of the small tables on which he found cigars 
 and his favorite wine, arranged as he realized with 
 annoyance but not jealousy, by Molly for Hancock. 
 He lighted a cigar and stretched himself at ease. It 
 was very quiet and peaceful here. The long summer 
 twilight was darkening into night. A few stars 
 were beginning to appear toward the far horizon, 
 across the tumbling unrest of the waters. Little 
 breezes from the vast far away whispered by, stir- 
 ring the vines along the coping and the thick ivy 
 on the house walls. From the darkness of a wood- 
 land pond, the frogs croaked forth their deep bass 
 song of loneliness. 
 
 Algernon arose restlessly and strolled to the edge 
 of the terrace where he leaned against the balustrade 
 and gazed over the pleasant vista of his own pos- 
 
 328
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 sessions. Like a stretch of dark green velvet, grow- 
 ing ever darker with the approaching night, sloped 
 the lawn, falling abruptly to the rocks and the sea. 
 In the shelter of the promontory, he saw his sloop, a 
 bare outline against the evening sky. The all per- 
 vading quiet of the night, stealing on one from 
 that wide open country, filled Algernon with a ten- 
 der sadness and a sick disgust for the rush and noise 
 of the city, for all the useless strain and struggle 
 that didn't amount to any more in contentment 
 and peace and soul happiness. 
 
 He went back to his chair and smoked a while, 
 watching through the haze of his cigar, the last 
 gray vestige of the day disappear and the stars 
 come out one by one overhead, and the horizon come 
 nearer and nearer with the black wall of night. 
 After a time he rose and went in. He was filled 
 with a vague longing for he knew not what, and 
 wandered restlessly through the library, drawing- 
 rooms and dining-room. For company's sake, he 
 touched a match to the logs in the hall fireplace, 
 and drew up a chair as on the first evening, barely a 
 month ago. He took his old smoke-blackened pipe 
 from his pocket and filled and lighted it. A long 
 time later, a door opening aroused him from a fitful 
 doze. He sat up and turned around. He felt the 
 
 329
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 freshness of the night blowing through the open 
 door and heard low voices, a man's and a woman's 
 mingled, then Molly's quite distinctly, saying good 
 night. Hancock answered and the door shut. 
 
 Molly, turning, saw him by the light of the dying 
 fire and came slowly forward. She was in white, 
 with a little red jacket, her hands thrust ii) its 
 pockets, her dark head bare. She looked sad and 
 depressed. Her mouth drooped like a tired child's, 
 and her eyes were filled with a wistful longing. She 
 sank down on the huge carved settee and held out 
 her hands to the blaze, shivering a little. Algernon 
 stirred up the fire and threw on some more logs, 
 though she protested that she was warm enough and 
 must go to bed, anyway. It was late. 
 
 "It's just the edge of the evening," objected Al- 
 gernon, drawing up a big chair. "Sit here. We 
 want to talk, you and I." 
 
 Still murmuring that it was late and she must 
 really go to bed, she sank into the soft depths of the 
 chair with a contented sigh. 
 
 "I should think you would be tired talking to 
 that empty-headed Bostonian all day," said Alger- 
 non, looking down at her tenderly, a bit of red 
 and white in the depths of the big chair, the fire- 
 light playing on her delicate face and dark hair. 
 
 330
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 "I am," she admitted truthfully, her eyes on the 
 fire. 
 
 "Why do you do it, child? We are tired of him 
 now, you and I. We have played the game and I 
 have won. He is a useless pawn. Throw him 
 aside." 
 
 The girl did not look up or answer. Algernon 
 sat down on the settee beside her chair and leaned 
 forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands locked 
 together before him. 
 
 "Molly, look at me, dear. I have something I 
 want to say, must say. I Molly, darling, listen 
 above everything in the world, I want you. I love 
 you. Marry me, dear, and let us be done with this 
 vulgar sham." 
 
 "Oh, Joe, don't not to-night never! I can't 
 marry you." She edged away from him as far as 
 the arm of the chair would let her and shook her 
 head stubbornly, emphatically. 
 
 "Look at me," cried Algernon. "Ah, you can't 
 do it, you can't do it. Molly, girl, you know you 
 love me." He was on his feet and had drawn her 
 into his arms, little red jacket and all. "Molly, 
 Molly," he whispered, kissing her soft warm cheeks, 
 her eyelids, the great folds of her raven hair. 
 
 For a moment she was passive, then she wrenched 
 331
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 herself away and stood at a distance, flushed and 
 disheveled, her hands busy fastening back the loose 
 locks that tumbled over her temples and eyes. 
 
 "This is foolish," said she, not looking at him. "I 
 am going to bed. You had better go, too. Good 
 night." 
 
 She turned. Algernon did not move. She 
 glanced over her shoulder. 
 
 "Good night, Joe," she repeated. 
 
 "Wait," said Algernon. "We have to settle this 
 thing now, you and I. We can't leave it as it is, 
 Molly." 
 
 "It's like trouble, then," said she and laughed 
 flippantly, nervously, but paused again in the shad- 
 ows of the great dark hall, beyond the flickering 
 light of the dancing flames. 
 
 "Doiv't fool, Molly. Come and sit down." 
 
 "I don't want to, Joe. What's the use? We can 
 never agree." 
 
 "Yes, we can. If you can look me straight in the 
 face and say that you do not love me, we can agree 
 to part. If you can't and you know you can't 
 we will agree to be married. Come, dear. I prom- 
 ise that I will not touch you again. Come and sit 
 down." 
 
 "It won't do any good, Joe. I won't marry you." 
 332
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 "You love me, though. Say it" 
 
 "Why, yes, I like you." 
 
 "Better than you do Hancock?" 
 
 "As well." 
 
 "Better?" he insisted. "You know you like me 
 better." And he strode over to her where she leaned 
 against the great center-table. 
 
 "As" 
 
 "Molly!" 
 
 "Oh, Joe, yes, I do love you. But don't you see 
 how impossible it is, our love? Nothing can ever 
 come of it." 
 
 "Why not? As far as I can see there is nothing 
 in the way of our marrying." 
 
 "There's everything in the way." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Poverty." 
 
 "Poverty! Nothing! I am young and can more 
 than earn enough for you and me, sweetheart. Be 
 brave, dear, that's all I ask, and trust me. I prom- 
 ise you you will not suffer for it." 
 
 "I shall suffer, Joe. We both shall. How can we 
 help it?" 
 
 "What shall we suffer?" 
 
 "Why, poverty." 
 
 "What is poverty when a man and woman love 
 333
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 each other as we love? Talking of poverty, anyway, 
 is ridiculous. I can make enough to keep us in com- 
 fort." 
 
 "Yes, but what of the the family?" 
 
 "The family, Molly?" 
 
 "The children, Joe. We should probably have a 
 dozen or so. Think of the coal bills, the grocery 
 bills, of the shoes forever wearing out, of the 
 whooping-cough and the measles " 
 
 "Love will make care a pleasure when shared to- 
 gether." 
 
 "But it doesn't, Joe. You are not logical. Care 
 and trouble eliminate love entirely. It can't help 
 but do so. Poverty and love are poor team-mates 
 and love always gets the worst of it when it comes 
 to blows." 
 
 "Let's get down to reason. You say I am not 
 logical. I am. Listen, dear. I am young and 
 strong. I have gone through college. You your- 
 self know what I am, you can't help but feel instinct- 
 ively that I am capable and decent, Molly. I can 
 more than take care of both of us and fifty children. 
 You will never have to work again; indeed, I will 
 not let you work. If I could not support a wife, I 
 would not ask you to marry me." 
 
 "A woman always has the worst of it, no mat- 
 334
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 ter how much a man says she won't. It stands to 
 reason, Joe, that she will." 
 
 "Wait. I haven't finished. I repeat, I will never 
 allow you to work. You must admit that I am 
 right when I say that I have the ability to support 
 us in comfort. Admit it, dear. Do you not know 
 that it is so?" 
 
 "Yes, but" 
 
 "Wait. I haven't finished my argument yet." 
 
 "But, Joe, what's the use of your argument when 
 it won't convince me? You may be able to support 
 me. I admit it. But you can not give me what 
 Hancock can. You will probably never be able to." 
 
 "And what can he give you but good clothes, good 
 food and carriages, a big house and plenty of money 
 and servants ? All empty show without love." 
 
 "But he does love me." 
 
 "Not as I do, Molly." 
 
 "He does, Joe. He says he does." 
 
 "But you, yourself, Molly? You don't love him. 
 You would sell yourself like so much merchandise, 
 body and soul, be worse than one of those creatures 
 of the streets, for they know no better and are 
 hungry and desperate and driven ! Ah, Molly, child, 
 don't spoil our lives like this, just because you won't 
 be true to yourself." 
 
 335
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I am true to myself. My true self is not what 
 you think. I " She turned away, her face soft- 
 ening, her eyes filling. Her hands clenched slowly 
 in her pockets. For a moment she was tempted to 
 live up to this man's estimate of her, to give up the 
 wearing struggle of denying her love for him and 
 fighting against it, to be all he thought her, putting 
 love above everything, true to the ideal he had 
 formed in the long, idle summer days when they two 
 had talked of love and life, while she took lessons 
 in driving a motor-car. 
 
 "Molly," whispered Algernon, throwing out his 
 hands pleadingly, but not touching her, "don't sell 
 yourself for gold; don't give yourself to that man 
 simply for the money he can give you in return. I 
 love you, dear. I will make your life all that you 
 want it to be. All that I ask is that you trust me and 
 be true to this love of ours, which is clean and pure 
 and sweet, not besmirched with the grime of gold 
 and empty marriage vows. You are not a high- 
 grade Holstein or a bull pup with a pedigree a mile 
 long that you should sell yourself. You are a 
 woman, dear " 
 
 "I can't help being a woman, Joe." 
 
 "And for that reason you can't help being true 
 to my love and your love, Molly, dear." 
 
 336
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 "It's not a question of love, Joe, but of dollars and 
 cents. All life is. One can get along without love, 
 but not without money. Money is the beginning 
 and end of man. Love is out of date, antiquated. 
 You are behind the times. Tell me of your bank- 
 account, not your love." 
 
 "Molly!" 
 
 "It's true, Joe. Don't be hurt. I love you more 
 than I do any one, but that does not prevent my 
 seeing that love will not pay the plumbers' bills." 
 
 "I tell you, Molly, I can more than pay half a 
 dozen plumbers' bills." 
 
 "You can't give me all the clothes I want, a yacht, 
 a new motor every year, servants galore, a house like 
 this, big and warm and beautiful. When could you 
 and I go to Europe ? In the steerage, perhaps, now, 
 or probably fifty years later, when we have buried 
 half of the children and married off the rest, and 
 would be too old and worn out, too set in our ways, 
 to appreciate anything or care about anything ex- 
 cept whether Mary's eldest had the mumps yet, or 
 John's youngest had cut all his teeth. You and I 
 would never be more than an inch or two at the 
 most from the ragged edge of nothing. Oh, Joe, 
 don't you see? Can't you understand? If I married 
 you I should not become old immediately. I should 
 
 337,
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 still be as young as you. I should want pleasure and 
 comfort as much as I do now, as much as you 
 would" 
 
 "And you would have them." 
 
 "No, I wouldn't. You could go out with the 
 'boys', to the theaters and ball games. You would 
 have your man's life just the same. I should have to 
 stay at home and mind the babies. If we went any- 
 where together, you would probably have to push 
 one go-cart and I another. If we went to the the- 
 ater we should have to take one of these collapsible 
 apologies for baby carriages. I would hold the 
 baby and you and the usher would wrestle in the 
 aisle with the old thing, trying to shut it up and get 
 it out of the way before the crowd became a mob 
 and resorted to mob law to obtain their seats." 
 
 "I can make money. Other men have." 
 
 "Yes, but when you had made it, we should be so 
 old and so used to the habit of saving that we should 
 never be able to get out of it and have a good time 
 with our money." 
 
 "But we should be happy all those years, while I 
 was making it, side by side, dear, you and I. What 
 if Hancock does love you, the fact remains that you 
 love me, and as long as that is so you have no right 
 to sell yourself to him for so much gold. Is your 
 338
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 soul so sordid that you think of nothing but gold, 
 gold, gold?" 
 
 "Yes, and stocks and bonds and notes." 
 Algernon flung away from her, his hands deep in 
 his pockets. He strode to the fireplace and gazed 
 at the slowly-dying flames. The logs had fallen 
 apart and the center was a bed of glowing coals. 
 She stood and watched him a moment, a tender little 
 smile on her lips, a half-wistful, half-maternal 
 light in her eyes. Then she walked over to the settee 
 and rested her arms along the high back. She re- 
 garded Algernon thoughtfully and felt an altogether 
 honest, wholly unselfish desire to spoil the ideal of 
 herself which he had set up in his mind and at 
 whose feet he worshiped. That the ideal was be- 
 smirched made it no less an ideal. She did not real- 
 ize to the full how fascinated he was, how much he 
 forgave, overlooked and still adored. 
 
 "Joe," she said slowly, "I can't quite make .you 
 out. You don't seem shocked at at what I have 
 done this summer, been a sham, as you say, and a 
 good deal worse, a swindler, all kinds of ugly things. 
 Then, you yourself care so little for honor that you 
 forge, and yet you seem to think it so awful because 
 I I live up to my lack of honor. For me to steal, 
 that is nothing to you, but for me to marry a man 
 
 339
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 whom I do not love, just for his money, why, that is 
 terrible to you and you act as if you thought I was 
 descending to the lowest depths of depravity. I 
 can't understand it. You know what I am, what I 
 am willing to do, yet you set up in your imagination 
 a sort of sanctified me and think it's the real thing. 
 In your heart you must know that it is not. It seems 
 so inconsistent to me, the whole thing. That you 
 should love me is nothing. Why shouldn't you? 
 You are no better than I am. You have been a party 
 to my swindle, a willing party. You were perfectly 
 willing to forge that check. We are simply two 
 thieves, and that one should fall in love with the 
 other is not funny, but quite natural. But why give 
 me a code of honor to live up to " 
 
 "Some thieves have a code of honor to live up to. 
 It differs from most people's, but it is theirs, and 
 having it, they are not thoroughly bad, through and 
 through." 
 
 "Honor among thieves is simply a fairy story, Joe. 
 Believe me. Besides, why is it worse for me to 
 marry this man for his money than it is for those 
 rich girls to marry men just for their titles?" 
 
 "It isn't," returned Algernon, not looking up. 
 "Because I am a thief makes you no less a thief. 
 
 340
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 Because they barter themselves for a worthless name 
 doesn't make you any more excusable." 
 
 The girl sighed and turned her eyes from his 
 face to the dying fire. A log broke in two, sending 
 a shower of sparks up the chimney and starting the 
 feeble flames for a last brave struggle. Then they, 
 too, flickered out, and only a bed of coals remained, 
 encircled by a steadily-growing ring of ashes. Molly 
 drew back a few steps, one hand still resting on the 
 back of the settee. 
 
 "I am sorry, Joe," she said simply. She waited 
 a moment but he did not look up and she crossed the 
 hall to the stairs. 
 
 As she reached them he turned suddenly and 
 followed her. "Molly," he pleaded, "my love you 
 know, I have told you about it, I have spoken first. 
 How do you know that Hancock cares for you ? Has 
 he asked you to marry him?" 
 
 She paused on the third step, one hand on the 
 banisters, cool, impassive, with not a quiver of the 
 eyelids, not a tremor of the sweet mouth to reveal 
 the storm of feelings in her breast. "He has asked 
 me, Joe," said she gently. "He asked me to-night." 
 
 "Have you mentioned eloping yet?" 
 
 "I got sick over things last night, Joe. It was all 
 341
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 so sordid and rotten. I couldn't stand things any 
 longer and when he came this morning and we sat 
 on the rocks, I told him that I was Molly O'Toole, 
 masquerading in my mistress' name." 
 
 "What did he say?" asked Algernon in dull sur- 
 prise. 
 
 "First he was not shocked, probably, but aston- 
 ished, dumfounded. But we talked a long time 
 and then " 
 
 "Then?" 
 
 "Then he asked me to marry him." 
 
 "You told him before he proposed?" 
 
 "Yes. I had to do one thing decent, anyway." 
 
 "You are decent, dear, all through." 
 
 "What, I, a piece of merchandise?" she asked 
 with a faint sneer in her voice. 
 
 "Molly," he protested. 
 
 "Good night," said she. 
 
 "Good night," he answered. 
 
 She went up the low wide stairs, dimly lighted 
 by the hall above. On the first landing she turned 
 and looked back. He was standing at the edge of 
 the stairs, still looking up after her and with three 
 bounds he was beside her. 
 
 "Molly, Molly," he whispered, his arms around 
 her. "Don't spoil my life and yours and his, sweet- 
 
 342
 
 MOLLY DARLING 
 
 heart. I love you so. Look up, dear. Ah, Molly, 
 could you endure his arms around you, his kisses on 
 your hair, your beautiful hair? You are happy, 
 dear, in my arms. Tell me, did that lace dress of 
 yours, that string of turquoises and the motor-car 
 ever fill you with such content as just my arms 
 around you, holding you close, close? Molly, little 
 sweetheart, you and I together, dear, we can laugh 
 at care and trouble. We can face the world and 
 conquer it, beloved, if we be together." 
 
 Once again she lay in his arms quietly, listening 
 to his rush of words and feeling his impassioned 
 kisses on her face and the tumbled mass of hair. 
 Suddenly she pushed him from her and backed 
 against the wall, breathing heavily, at bay. Then, 
 catching her breath in a broken sob, she turned 
 and stumbled on up the stairs, one hand clutching 
 the banisters. 
 
 "Molly," he pleaded. 
 
 "No, no, no," she sobbed. 
 
 The circle of light above received her a moment. 
 The next she was gone. A door shut somewhere 
 and then silence settled on the house and the great 
 hall, dark now, save for the dying embers on the 
 ash-filled hearth.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 THE long swell of the ocean rose and fell. 
 The waves pounded against the rocks and 
 rushed up the beach with a rattling splash of water, 
 stones and seaweed. Overhead, the gulls wheeled 
 and floated, and in the lee of the promontory the 
 sloop danced and beckoned. Over the boundless 
 blue of the ocean, the sand-gray sweep of the beach 
 and the woods, with its joyous inhabitants filling the 
 air with clamor, shone the warm rays of the morning 
 sun. It was very early when Algernon, blanket- 
 shrouded, emerged upon the beach. 
 
 The night before he had gone to bed with the 
 determination to leave in the morning, returning in 
 a few days under his own name and preceded by a 
 telegram to the effect that he was coming. He 
 would give Molly time enough to marry Hancock 
 and go, or wait and face him, as she wished. If she 
 went and he found the great place deserted, he could 
 telegraph some of the boys to come up and they 
 might be able to kill time painlessly to themselves. 
 
 344
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 There was no need of brooding on his disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 The beach was empty. Only the sea-gulls, wheel- 
 ing and screaming in the glorious morning air, and 
 the bell-buoy, scolding softly to itself, broke the end- 
 less song of the sea. Algernon waited a while in 
 the hope that Molly might come for the last few 
 swims that would be possible before the water grew 
 too cold for pleasure or comfort. But she did not 
 appear and he finally threw off his blanket and 
 swam out to the sloop where it rode at anchor. 
 
 It had not been used all summer and everything 
 was shut up, snug and shipshape, as it was when 
 brought up earlier in the season from the south. 
 Algernon prowled around, rattled the padlocked 
 door, peered in at the dusty portholes, and examined 
 the chains and anchor. Then he sat down on the 
 poop, drawing up his knees and clasping them with 
 his arms. The hot rage and disappointment of the 
 previous night had died. The swim had cleared his 
 head and aroused his fighting spirit. 
 
 He would not run away, whipped at his own 
 game. He would stay and make her love him, make 
 her love for him greater than her love for gold. 
 Like many gentle good-natured men, Algernon had 
 the colossal stubbornness of a mule. He would 
 
 345
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 not throw up his cards and go. He would 
 stay and see the game to the finish, until the last 
 card was played, the last trick taken. If he had lost 
 a trick last night he would win two to-day. Yes, he 
 would win her yet, and that without showing his 
 hand. Last night he had acted like the fool she had 
 always insisted on calling him, had grown angry, 
 while she had remained cool and sweet, with all her 
 wits about her except at the end. She had left 
 him in tears, and Algernon argued from past ex- 
 periences that when a woman is about to change her 
 mind she will immediately burst into tears. If he 
 had only held her a moment longer ! 
 
 He stood up and stretched his arms above his 
 head, stepping to the edge of the deck with a 
 chuckle. Jove, Hancock wasn't in it! He swam 
 to shore and went home through the woodland path, 
 whistling shrilly through his teeth. 
 
 It was still early when he had finished dressing. 
 He decided to go boldly to the house, locate the win- 
 dows of Molly's room, arouse her and take her for 
 a walk before breakfast. Half-way across the lawn 
 he noticed the flutter of a white skirt on the terrace 
 before the house. It was not one of the maids. 
 They would be too busy to loiter thus on the terrace, 
 for Molly possessed the art of keeping a house and 
 
 346
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 was as strict as a mistress as she was capable as a 
 servant. 
 
 Algernon called and the slim figure on the terrace 
 turned. It was Molly, and as she saw him, she drew 
 back instinctively, to retreat while there was yet 
 time. But on second thought she stopped, ap- 
 proached the edge of the terrace and nodded a gay 
 good morning. 
 
 "The early worm is a bad example to follow," 
 said she. "He got caught, you know." 
 
 "I am already caught, bound, helpless, Molly, 
 sweetheart." 
 
 "Oh, don't, please," she begged. 
 
 He drew himself up beside her. "And why not, 
 colleen ?" 
 
 She threw back her head and laughed, looking at 
 him through the screen of her lashes. "An' shure, 
 if yer Oirish, where's yer brogue?" she asked. 
 
 "Molly, Molly, you have broken my heart to bits. 
 Don't take a hammer and smash the bits to powder." 
 
 "A heart often broken soonest mended," she 
 taunted him. 
 
 Algernon drew her down on the coping beside 
 himself. "That's the trouble," said he. "Mine has 
 never been broken before, and it's hard fitting the 
 parts together again." 
 
 347
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Are you trying to?" 
 
 "Yes. And when I finish, I am going to give it to 
 you again, colleen." 
 
 "You had better be careful. I might take it next 
 time and then what would you do ?" 
 
 "Take yours," said he. 
 
 "I haven't any," said she. 
 
 "Take mine, then. It will do for both. One heart 
 that beats for two." 
 
 "It would have to be broken first, and then you 
 could never mend it again, for I would have half 
 of it." 
 
 "Half? You have the whole." 
 
 "Who else had it before me?" 
 
 "No one." 
 
 "Joe," she reproved. 
 
 "Molty," he mimicked. 
 
 She leaned back among the vines and nasturtiums, 
 her back against a pillar, her hands clasped behind 
 her head. Her feet, in white yachting shoes, swung 
 slowly back and forth. His eyes rested a moment on 
 her shoes and then he glanced up at her face. 
 
 "Have you ever been yachting, Molly?" he asked. 
 
 "Joe, sometimes you make me wonder who you 
 really are. You say things and do things as if you 
 were a sort of J. Pierpont or a John D. You talk 
 
 348
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 i 
 
 about yachting and this and that as if they were an 
 
 every-day occurrence to you. I have been poor all 
 my life, dear boy, not just in little snatches for the 
 mere pleasure and novelty of it. No, I have never 
 been yachting, either on my own or my master's 
 yacht that is, not yet," she added, glancing mis- 
 chievously at him. 
 
 "Would you like to go?" 
 
 "Of course. That is one of the things I am selling 
 my immortal soul for, as you look at it." 
 
 "Would you like to go with me, I mean? You 
 and I can slip out the back way, down to the sloop 
 in the cove below there, pull up anchor and sail 
 away to the rim of the world and over. What 
 do you say ? We could go south and sail around the 
 Indies during the winter, in the tropics, where the 
 nights are one long fragrant twilight, with hardly 
 a breath of wind to stir the sails and with only a 
 soft little murmur of water at the bows. The stars 
 are so bright that they look like diamonds on the vel- 
 vet in a show-window. You know how. You've 
 seen them in Tiffany's. And it is all so quiet that 
 when you drift up the bay to the mouth of some 
 lagoon you can hear the alligators slipping off the 
 banks into the mud and slime, and from the palms 
 and magnolias along the shore you can hear the 
 
 349
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 chatter of parrots and sometimes the cry of a heron." 
 
 "Where should we get anything to eat? Neither 
 of us would have a cent. We should have to run up 
 a black flag and turn pirates." 
 
 "Would you do it? Think of the long idle days, 
 with just ourselves and the wind and the waves " 
 
 "And hunger. We should get so hungry and 
 there would be nothing to eat." 
 
 "Let us drop the subject of food," said Algernon 
 gravely. "It is too prosaic, too " 
 
 "Practical," she laughed. "You are the most im- 
 practical person that ever lived, Joe." 
 
 "No, I'm not. But leaving my character out of 
 it, will you go with me all over the world, wherever 
 our fancy takes us and trust me, trust me to feed 
 and clothe us? Will you, Molly?" 
 
 The telephone bell rang within and from long 
 habit at answering bells, Molly rose and started to- 
 ward the door. 
 
 Algernon jumped up quickly. "Let me answer 
 it?" 
 
 "No, I shall, thanks. It is surely for me." 
 
 "Tell me, first, will you go with me?" 
 
 "The food" 
 
 Algernon made a hopeless gesture, and she 
 laughed and went in. 
 
 350
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 It was warm and sweet on the terrace. The air 
 was heavy with the scent of the flowers and the 
 fields. Gay little butterflies fluttered here and there 
 and bees buzzed lazily among the late flowers in 
 the beds below the terrace. Algernon amused him- 
 self by picking a bunch of red and yellow nastur- 
 tiums as he waited, humming softly. In a moment 
 Molly came to the door again, her eyes filled with 
 amusement 
 
 "It's for you, Joe," she said. "Whom do you 
 know that would call you up this early?" 
 
 "Did he give his name?" asked Algernon, 
 busy with his flowers and not looking up. 
 
 "No," she said demurely. "He wouldn't give me 
 his name. You have so many secrets, you and your 
 mysterious friends." 
 
 "I have none from you, except those you won't let 
 me tell," reproached Algernon, handing her the 
 flowers. 
 
 His thoughts were too much occupied with Molly 
 to receive the announcement that he was wanted on 
 the telephone with surprise. He was used to having 
 people call him up on the telephone at any hour of 
 the day and he forgot that in this out-of-the-way 
 place there was no one who had any occasion to call 
 him up. He took the receiver down indifferently. 
 
 351
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Hullo." 
 
 "Hullo. Is this the Todds' chauffeur?" 
 
 He recognized Patterson's voice and began to 
 have a dim notion that all was not well. Had any- 
 thing happened that Patterson must leave town sud- 
 denly and wanted to say good-by? His voice was 
 cool enough, but there was an underlying strain in 
 it as that of a man with a tight hold on himself, and 
 Algernon was not surprised that Molly had not rec- 
 ognized it. 
 
 "Yes," called Algernon. 
 
 "I am Patterson Patterson. Do you under- 
 stand?" 
 
 "Yes. Has anything happened?" 
 
 "Some one has done a damn sight too much 
 talking." 
 
 "How's that?" 
 
 "The authorities know where I am. Somebody 
 telegraphed to New York where I was. Telegraphed 
 yesterday. Do you hear? Telegraphed. Some one 
 telegraphed. Can't you hear? Hullo?" 
 
 Telegraphed ! Yesterday ! Algernon's face turned 
 slowly white and his mild gray eyes darkened until 
 they looked almost black. 
 
 "Hullo! Are you there?" 
 352
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 "Hullo. Yes, I'm here," he answered. "Go on. 
 Tell me all." 
 
 "I got the tip this morning. The last train has 
 gone until the ten to-night. My car is still broken." 
 
 "Yes. Go on. Hullo. Don't hang up. What are 
 you going to do? What? I can't hear." 
 
 "I'm not going to hang up. I asked you what can 
 I do? If any one is listening " 
 
 "This is a private line. No one can hear. Go on." 
 
 "A steamer leaves for England in a day or two. 
 If I had a fast motor-car, I could make it. I'm not 
 saying anything, but you are the only one to whom 
 I told my troubles " 
 
 "Hold on a minute. You said you weren't saying 
 anything and it's just as well not to, understand? 
 All right. I have a plan by which we can catch that 
 boat other than by a motor-car. The roads will all 
 be watched and it will be hard for a motor to get 
 through. Hullo What say? I can't hear. Oh, I 
 thought you said something. Get up here if you 
 can in about an hour. Come by the rocks and no 
 one will see you. Do you hear? I have a plan 
 yes, a plan. Get up here as soon as you can. Good- 
 by." 
 
 Molly stood in the doorway listening with an ex- 
 353
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 pression of amused tolerance concealing the wonder 
 and surprise and fear in her eyes. 
 
 "What plan have you got?" she asked. 
 
 Algernon made no answer. He rang up the sta- 
 bles. 
 
 "Hullo." 
 
 "Hullo," answered the second groom. 
 
 "That you, Bates?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." The "sir" came out unawares. Bates 
 recognized the voice of the chauffeur and under or- 
 dinary circumstances would have scorned to use 
 such a word in conversation with a fellow-servant. 
 
 "Do you know anything about sailing a boat?" 
 
 "Yes, sir. I've run a boat since I went into knee 
 pants." 
 
 "That's good. Come up to the house on the jump, 
 will you? I have a job for you." 
 
 "Yes, sir. Good-by." 
 
 Molly looked angry and startled. "Joe," she de- 
 manded, following Algernon into the hall. "What 
 are you going to do ?" 
 
 Algernon rang for a servant and began to scribble 
 hastily at the hall table. Molly leaned against the 
 newel post and watched him. Her face was white, 
 and in her eyes indignation, fear and surprise strug- 
 gled for mastery. 
 
 354
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 She had not caught the name of Patterson and her 
 racing thoughts jumped to the conclusion that the 
 trouble that had compelled Algernon to leave New 
 York was now forcing him to leave Maine. He 
 doubtless had an accomplice in the village, some one 
 she knew nothing about, some one probably who had 
 come Saturday or Sunday, as that was the day Al- 
 gernon had asked again for the check-book. It was 
 all so clear to the girl's tortured fancy. The two had 
 been discovered by the police and were trying to 
 get away. Her fear was all for her Joe, min- 
 gled with a hot anger and sick disgust for herself 
 that she should care so much, so terribly much, for a 
 thief, a criminal. With the maternal instinct strong 
 in her, she wanted to fight for him, to protect him 
 and shield him as she would a little boy. For her 
 own guilt stood forth so clearly in the light of his. 
 Who was she that she should criticize him? 
 
 The parlor maid entered and turned to Molly. 
 
 "You rang?" she asked. 
 
 "I rang," said Algernon. "Tell the cook to have 
 my breakfast on the table as soon as possible." 
 
 "In the dining-room, sir?" stammered the girl. 
 
 "Naturally. I don't eat on the stoop, my girl." 
 
 Bates stood in the front door, respectfully touch- 
 ing his cap. 
 
 355'
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "You wanted me?" he asked. 
 
 "You can manage a boat, you say ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "I want the sloop down in the cove put in sailing 
 order as soon as possible. Can you do it?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Get the gardener, or some one, to help you, and 
 see that it is done properly. I am going to take a 
 run up the coast and shall want you to go with me. 
 Tell Thomas to get a boy from the village to take 
 your place, until we return. Understand?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Get your breakfast, then, and see to it." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 Bates clattered out, bursting with excitement, 
 pleasure and wonderment. Molly had stood there, 
 heard the orders given and said nothing, so Bates 
 did not question the authority behind them. Alger- 
 non returned to his writing, and Molly stepped for- 
 ward and confronted him across the table. He was 
 making out a list of provisions for the boat and 
 would pause now and again, raising his eyes and 
 looking straight before him in thought. She watched 
 him in silence a moment, as he wrote with a white 
 face and set mouth, and self and her own mercenary 
 schemes were forgotten, swept aside into oblivion by 
 
 356
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 the rush of her love for this man, her boy, in trou- 
 ble. His crime she waved aside with a woman's 
 sublime inconsequence. 
 
 The next time he looked up she spoke in feigned 
 gaiety. 
 
 "Joe, I see now how the food could be provided. 
 I had forgotten Higgins." 
 
 He turned his eyes slowly to her face and then 
 dropped them again as if he had not heard her and 
 wrote steadily on. 
 
 "I did not refuse your invitation outright," she 
 hurried on. "My refusal was provisional in more 
 ways than one, you must remember." 
 
 He did not look up or answer and before she 
 could speak again the nonplused, thoroughly 
 frightened parlor maid announced from the door- 
 way that breakfast was served and as hastily with- 
 drew. Something was radically wrong somewhere 
 was all the poor thing was capable at that moment 
 of comprehending. Why everybody herself, the 
 austere Bates, the cook should be rushing around 
 at the orders of the chauffeur was wholly inexplain- 
 able. That they were doing so quickly and without 
 question was clear beyond a doubt. The reason for 
 it she felt she would have to leave to providence. 
 
 Algernon started to the door, but Molly stepped 
 357
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 in his way. "J oe >" said she, "you do not say whether 
 your invitation to me still holds good." 
 
 Algernon stopped and looked down into the girl's 
 face, a smile of forced gaiety trying in vain to con- 
 ceal the fear and longing in her passionate eyes. He 
 remembered the Sunday when, in the dark among 
 the rocks, blissfully contented, with the waves lap- 
 ping softly at their feet, her small hands in his, he 
 had told her the secret Patterson had confided to 
 him, had given her his honor to keep, and now she 
 had tossed it aside as worthless. For who in North 
 Brockton but him and Molly knew about Patterson? 
 He had not telegraphed to New York, therefore 
 Molly must have been the one to do so. She had 
 wanted to get rid of the man somehow that Hancock 
 might come back, and how easier could she do it 
 than as she had? 
 
 Algernon's hands clenched slowly, he opened his 
 mouth as if to speak, then turned without a word 
 and passed through the farther door, leaving her 
 alone in the great hall that was flooded with the 
 morning sunshine, pouring in through the tall dia- 
 mond-paned windows. 
 
 Algernon strode into the dining-room and sat 
 down. He had come into his own again, but was too 
 absorbed in the work he had undertaken, too used, 
 
 358
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 indeed, to being Algernon Van Rensellear Todd with 
 a score of obedient well-trained servants quick to 
 do as he said, to realize that the situation was not so 
 clear to the others as to himself. He offered no ex- 
 planation and forgot that one was needed. 
 
 When he had finished his breakfast and returned 
 to the hall, Molly was still there, leaning against the 
 table, head bent, thinking, thinking, thinking, and 
 all her thoughts were on the one subject, Joe and 
 this trouble he was in. Hancock, his love, his money, 
 all it meant to be his wife, was forgotten. The one 
 thought of which she was conscious was that Joe 
 was in trouble and she must help him. For some 
 reason he was angry with her. She would ask his 
 forgiveness whatever it was, but she would not have 
 him leave her. She looked up as he entered. His hat 
 was on the table and he had to cross in front of her 
 to get it. She whirled and laid her hand on it as he 
 reached to pick it up. 
 
 "Joe," said she quickly, "tell me what you are go- 
 ing to do. Perhaps I can help." 
 
 "You !" He gave a short ugly laugh. 
 
 "And why not?" she demanded. "I can do a lot 
 of things. I can go to the village and buy things for 
 you. Why can't I help? You wanted me to once." 
 
 "I wanted you for my wife once," he answered. 
 359
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 She shrank back and he snatched up his hat and 
 turned, but she was beside him, her hand on his arm. 
 
 "What have I done?" she pleaded, "that you 
 should turn from me so? Last night you asked me 
 to marry you. What have I done since then ?" 
 
 "Don't," he begged. "Let's end this." 
 
 "No. You must tell me." 
 
 "You know as well as I do. Let me go, please. I 
 am in a hurry." 
 
 "I do not know. I do not know, really, Joe. Tell 
 me what I have done since last night. Nothing. I 
 can answer for myself. Absolutely nothing. It is 
 you who are changeable, you who are at fault." 
 
 "All right," said he. "Let it go at that I can't 
 stop now." 
 
 "Tell me what I have done," she reiterated. "You 
 must, Joe. The criminal in the dock is told his crime 
 and allowed to defend himself. Am I worse? Am I 
 to have no mercy ?" 
 
 Algernon turned away and started again for the 
 door. 
 
 "Am I to have no justice, even?" she pleaded, 
 standing forlornly in the middle of the hall, her 
 arms limply hanging by her side. 
 
 Algernon paused. "Don't ask for justice, Molly. 
 You might get it." 
 
 360
 
 'I wanted you for my wife once," he answered.
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 "And you!" she flashed out. "What of yourself? 
 I am a thief, a liar, a reprobate, but what of your- 
 self? Have you been above reproach; even during 
 the last month of your life, to say nothing of what 
 went before you came here? My past is blameless. 
 I can swear it on the Bible if you wish me to. I 
 came up here with the intention to do the very best 
 in my power for Mrs. Todd. The country people got 
 it into their heads that I was Mrs. Todd and kept 
 calling me by that name. I didn't say anything at 
 first, just for the fun in it. I did everything I had 
 been ordered to. I put the house in order, saw to the 
 gardens and stables Wait You must listen Then, 
 one day Hancock came to call. He said he had heard 
 that I was in the neighborhood and came over in his 
 motor-boat across the bay to be friendly. I cared 
 for no one else. You had not come. I played up to 
 the part of Mrs. Todd as any one would, Joe, just 
 for fun, to see if I could fool him as I had the coun- 
 try people and to help pass the time. It was so 
 deadly dull here. He he seemed to care for me 
 right away, Joe, and somehow I began to think of 
 what it would mean to be his wife. How could I 
 help it? What woman would not have thought about 
 it? He is young, good-looking, rich. He knew noth- 
 ing about the Todds and it was easy to fool him. 
 
 361
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Joe, how could I have helped not wanting to marry 
 him? You had not come." 
 
 "Molly, for heaven's sake!" 
 
 "No, no. Listen. I realized all it would mean to 
 myself for me to marry him. Just having a home 
 and some one to care for you and keep you from 
 being forced to earn your own living was tempta- 
 tion enough for any woman. Well, he began to come 
 at all hours of the day. I did not have clothes to 
 live up to the part. I was tempted and I fell. Joe, 
 am I the first and only person who has been tempted 
 beyond his strength ?" 
 
 "It isn't that, and you know it isn't," he inter- 
 rupted dully. 
 
 "What is it, then? I fell, but I thought I would 
 simply run up a few bills in the Todds' name, that 
 I should be married before they came due, as good 
 as married, anyway, and I could pay the bills my- 
 self. The Todds would not be out anything, might 
 not ever know anything about it. And then, about 
 that check. I was desperate, Joe. Success was so 
 near, in a day or two, a week at least, it would be 
 mine. What was one little check ? That, too, I could 
 pay back. But you forged that yourself. Why am I 
 so beyond the pale? What of yourself? You joined 
 in the cheating. You knew that I was not Mrs. 
 
 362
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 Todd. I told you myself. Why didn't you go then 
 and tell the authorities ? Have you done something 
 in New York that you are in hiding from the law 
 yourself and didn't dare go and tell them? Ah, you 
 see ! Last night you asked me to marry you and yet 
 you knew all that I had done." 
 
 "No, I didn't, Molly. But for goodness' sake, let's 
 drop this. I am busy. I can't stop." 
 
 "Yes, busy for the sake of some man. How is he 
 any better than I ? Look at what he has done ! He 
 is a cheat, forger, counterfeiter, just the same as I !" 
 
 "Let's drop this. It is only degrading and utterly 
 useless. The man has nothing whatever to do with 
 me except indirectly. I gave him my promise that 
 I would not tell his secret to any one. I shall redeem 
 my honor as well as I can in my own sight and to 
 my own satisfaction." 
 
 "Your honor !" she sneered. 
 
 A dull flush crept into Algernon's cheeks, but he 
 only shrugged his shoulders and started again for 
 the door. 
 
 At the door she was before him, closing it in his 
 
 face. 
 
 "Tell me what you mean." 
 
 "I mean that telegram you sent," he answered. 
 "I told you his pitiful secret because I was fool 
 
 363
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 enough to think I owed it to you, gave you my honor 
 to keep, and you tossed it aside with your own. Now 
 you know and have known all along. Let me by." 
 
 The girl's face turned ghastly white, her hands 
 clenched. She threw back her head and her eyes 
 blazed with fury. In her anger she did not clearly 
 grasp his words, thinking that he had been betrayed 
 and that he blamed her. 
 
 "It is false," said she hoarsely. "I sent no tele- 
 gram to any one. I asked you to trust me. You didn't, 
 but I would have died, Joe, died, before I would 
 have betrayed that trust." 
 
 He was miserable, embarrassed, and she saw that 
 he did not believe her, that what she had done de- 
 stroyed any possibility that he could believe her now. 
 The thought drove her mad. She threw out her 
 hands pleadingly. 
 
 "I have been false," she whispered, "through and 
 through. But I love you and would die before I 
 would be false to you. I love you, Joe, and I ask you 
 to believe me. What I said last night, I did not 
 mean. I take it all back. I love you more than any- 
 thing in all the world. I will take in washing, I will 
 scrub floors, if only I may be your wife and you will 
 believe me." 
 
 Algernon turned aside, his face working, the hand 
 364
 
 SUSPICION 
 
 that held his hat, trembling. "Let me by," he mut- 
 tered. 
 
 "Joe, on my knees, I ask you to believe me." 
 
 "Molly, don't," he pleaded, catching her hands. 
 "It's not worth it. Let's forget it, each other. This 
 is only painful." 
 
 She leaned quickly toward him, the light spring- 
 ing up again in her eyes. He thought of her treach- 
 ery, of the man who had given him his misplaced 
 confidence, and his face hardened, as his disgust 
 rose. Quickly she saw the change. She laid her 
 hands on his shoulders and whispered his name, all 
 her pleading and longing in the one little ugly word. 
 
 "Joe." 
 
 Algernon put her aside gently and opened the 
 door. "It's all right, Molly," he said. "You marry 
 Hancock and be happy." 
 
 Then he crossed the terrace, leaped the coping to 
 the lawn below, and as he ran toward the garage, 
 the stable clock struck eight.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 E?T alone, the girl thought desperately, anx- 
 iously. She knew Joe planned to go with the 
 sloop, and this wholesale robbery of her employer 
 alarmed and terrified as well as angered her. She 
 had intended to return all she took, and had soothed 
 her conscience with the thought that it was only bor- 
 rowing. She was sure of her own charms and of 
 Hancock's susceptibility and knew that it was only a 
 question of days before she would have thousands 
 with which to repay the little she had taken. But 
 Joe had no expectations. He was running away 
 from the law as it was, and that with the sloop, 
 stealing it deliberately and with no chance or de- 
 sire apparently to return it. 
 
 In dulled indecision, she watched from the hall 
 window Bates and the gardener go for the sloop in 
 one of the motor-boats as tug. She watched them 
 scramble on board, pull up the anchor and get back 
 into the motor-boat. She heard the panting of the 
 engine as the little boat tugged and strained to get 
 
 366
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 under way and finally started back to the wharf. 
 She could have gone out and stopped them, for she 
 had nothing to fear herself from anything Joe could 
 do in retaliation, since the man she believed to be 
 Todd himself was in town and aware of her trick- 
 ery. But still she hesitated. The law was after Joe. 
 The sloop was his one means of safety and she 
 realized weakly that she did not have the strength 
 to take it from him, besmirched as she was with her 
 own deceit. Besides, she had asked the boy to forge 
 a check, and though she was firmly convinced that 
 he had done so often before she had asked him and 
 that he was ready and willing to do it again, yet 
 he had sinned for her, at her instigation and she felt 
 as though she was the one who had done it. She was 
 responsible for him and could not stand in his way 
 when he had done what he had for her. 
 
 The maid, frightened and nervous, appeared in 
 'the doorway and asked if she were going to have 
 any breakfast. Molly nodded and turned wearily 
 from the window, glad to have something definite to 
 do other than to think. But she could not eat and 
 simply made a pretense at doing so before the girl, 
 who was watching her with round-eyed curiosity, 
 not yet recovered from the shock of seeing chauffeur 
 turn master. Molly knew that there was a torrent 
 
 367
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 of questions behind the rosy mouth and put on an air 
 of coldness that silenced the girl effectually. J 
 
 If she were going to consent to Joe's running off 
 with the sloop, the least she could do was to carry 
 on the pretense of which she was now heartily sick 
 and make out before the servants that she had or- 
 dered the sloop brought around and that she was 
 going herself. Pushing away her plate, she rose 
 and went down to the little wharf where Bates and 
 the gardener were hard at work, busy and excited 
 over the change in their work. 
 
 With the grave air of the proprietress Molly knew 
 so well how to assume, she boarded the small vessel 
 and went all over it, waving aside Bates' offer as 
 guide on the ground that she wished the boat made 
 shipshape as soon as possible and didn't care to 
 take him from his task. With housewifely instincts, 
 she took all the sheets and bedding out of the lock- 
 ers with her own hands, to Bates' admiration, and 
 hung them to air on the roof of the tiny cabin. A 
 motor-boat puffed up as she was so occupied and 
 some one hailed her joyfully. 
 
 "Whither away, fair lady?" 
 
 Pausing a moment, her arms rilled with gaily col- 
 ored blankets, the wind whipping the stray locks into 
 her eyes, her cheeks crimson with the unwonted ex- 
 
 368
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 ercise, she glanced over the rail and beheld Han- 
 cock and the unlosable James in a motor-boat be- 
 low. That they, like the automobile, had come to 
 stay was clearly evident. Hancock was already mak- 
 ing the boat fast to the dock and James was busy 
 with the engine. Molly's heart sank as she realized 
 with what friendly persistency they would follow 
 her around all the morning. Though James was 
 ignorant of her duplicity, Hancock knew of it and 
 she hated to think of what he would surmise she 
 was up to now, apparently going off with her mis- 
 tress' yacht. 
 
 "He knows what I have done, but he has never 
 seen me do it and so he can't fully realize all the 
 significance of it," she thought miserably. "I hate 
 to have him see a thief working at his her trade." 
 
 "I'm escaping from the clutches of the law," she 
 called back with a certain grim gaiety, looking 
 straight at Hancock with a significant little smile. 
 
 "I shall help you," returned Hancock, laughing 
 and not believing her as she knew he wouldn't 
 Hadn't he forgiven her and asked her to be his wife 
 and had she not consented? Her slight irregularities, 
 as he liked to think of them, could be settled quietly 
 without any one but himself being aware of them. 
 She was fooling, for she had no reason, at least, no 
 
 369
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 necessity, to be escaping. He climbed happily to the 
 deck and went aboard the yacht, followed as usual 
 by James. 
 
 The water, as blue as the sky, was pounding 
 against the tiny wharf and the rocks with a gurgling 
 splash and ripple. The air was clear and cool, with 
 a tang in it that made one light-hearted and inconse- 
 quential. And the wind from the east brought the 
 salt brine in its breath and whipped the blood into 
 one's cheeks. The bell-buoy laughed and beckoned 
 and the sea-gulls, wheeling in graceful flight or 
 pruning themselves on the rocks, lent an air of flight, 
 of unknown adventures and voyages to enchanted 
 lands far away. Hancock and James were full of 
 the spirit of the day and laughed and chatted in- 
 defatigably, arousing Molly from her brooding in 
 spite of herself. 
 
 Together they finished laying out the bedding, 
 swept the cabin and pottered around in the tiny 
 kitchen. James was happily indifferent to what the 
 bustle foretold, Hancock thought that the real Mrs. 
 Todd had sent word that she would be up soon and 
 wished the boat put in order. Alone for a moment 
 in the kitchen with the girl, James having been sent 
 on deck on an errand invented on the inspiration of 
 the moment, Hancock slipped his arm around Molly's 
 
 370
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 waist and drew her to him as she stood in front of 
 
 the dresser, a jar of ancient preserves in each hand, 
 a row of pans and tins before her. 
 
 "Molly," he whispered, "do you know what I 
 have been thinking since you told me yesterday?" 
 
 "No," said the girl, wondering if, as a culmination 
 of her troubles, he was going to repent of his rash 
 bargain and ask to be released. 
 
 "I've been thinking," went on the ecstatic youth, 
 "that now you are mine alone, dear. No one from 
 the grave has a right to a single one of your 
 thoughts. No one has a prior claim on you. I only 
 needed that knowledge to make my joy complete. 
 I hated to think of that other who had once " 
 
 "Man ahoy," yelled James, putting his head in 
 the door, while Molly and Hancock drew hastily 
 apart and followed him on deck with more speed 
 than the occasion warranted. 
 
 Down the cliffs, strolling along the edge of the 
 lawn toward them, airily twirling his cane, his hat 
 on the back of his head, came Holmes in the light 
 gray costume of Algernon's taste, which he had so 
 admired and so faithfully copied. Molly had ex- 
 pected the stranger, ordered by Joe, to come up as 
 soon as possible and her heart sank as she saw who 
 it was. Todd would, of course, refuse to allow Joe 
 
 371
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 to go off with his sloop, and how else could the boy 
 get away? 
 
 "I shall take him up to the house and keep him 
 there," thought the girl desperately. "I shall keep 
 him so occupied that Joe can come back and get 
 away on the boat before he knows what has hap- 
 pened. I shall pretend now that I have received 
 word from his mother to get it in order." 
 
 She waved to him gaily, and unmindful of the 
 faithful two beside her, ran lightly down the gang- 
 plank and across the wharf. 
 
 "Good morning," said she gaily. "Did you want 
 to see me?" 
 
 Holmes raised his hat "The sight is always a 
 pleasure," said he. "But I can't say I came for that 
 alone." 
 
 "Is there any special thing that you did come 
 for?" asked the girl anxiously. 
 
 Holmes shook his head. "No. I was bored to 
 death as usual and so came around to kill time. 
 That's all, believe me. What are you doing to the 
 boat?" 
 
 "Don't you want to come to the house?" asked 
 Molly. 
 
 Holmes waved a greeting to Hancock and James, 
 372
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 who were watching them from the deck, before he 
 answered. It was best to go to the house and keep 
 under cover as much as possible, he decided. He 
 could come down before the boat was ready to sail 
 and board her. If he hung around now and the 
 constable arrived, the fellow would be sure to come 
 down to the wharf to see what was going on, and 
 though it would not enter his head that the Todds' 
 yacht would be used for the escape of a forger 
 wanted by the law, he might insist on searching it, 
 or at least going through it out of curiosity and he 
 would then come on him, clearly in hiding and 
 answering to the description the fellow must 
 have received from the New York police. Yes, on 
 the whole, it would be better to go to the house and 
 remain there as long as possible. 
 
 "What are you doing to the sloop?" he asked 
 again, turning to the girl with a puzzled frown. 
 
 Molly laughed lightly. "Putting it in order in 
 case I have to run away," said she, and added, seri- 
 ously, as he did not even smile and her heart sank 
 lower than ever : "Your mother wrote yesterday for 
 me to get it in order. I don't know why. Maybe she 
 is coming back sooner than we thought." 
 
 Holmes nodded carelessly, accepting her state- 
 373
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ment as readily as it was given, while Hancock, 
 moodily jealous again, joined them, followed by 
 James. 
 
 "That's a nice little sloop," said Holmes, nodding 
 toward the boat and turning to the men. 
 
 James agreed enthusiastically, and the two fell in 
 step together as Molly and Hancock led the way to 
 the house. 
 
 The girl chatted with feverish gaiety and urged 
 them all into the hall, to Hancock's surprise and 
 Holmes' satisfaction. Holmes strolled to the win- 
 dow, watched the preparations going on on the sloop 
 for a moment and then turned with sudden spon- 
 taneity to the girl. 
 
 "Molly," said he, "I believe I shall go north in 
 the yacht. By jove, that's a good idea. It just came 
 to me." 
 
 Molly flushed and thought of the boy who was 
 planning to escape in that same yacht. She must 
 save it for him at all costs. "What will Mrs. Todd 
 say?" she asked, indifferent to what the others 
 thought. "You will have to wait until she comes." 
 
 Hancock flushed. He was glad the girl was not 
 Mrs. Todd, and yet the fact of her deceit thus openly 
 brought to his notice was a shock. He tried not to 
 hear the rest of the conversation, wondering who 
 
 374
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 Holmes was that he should decide to take a stran- 
 ger's yacht thus coolly in the owner's absence. 
 
 Holmes shrugged. "That's all right," said he 
 carelessly, forgetful of James. "It's my yacht, you 
 know. Mama won't care." 
 
 Round fat James was staring with open mouth. 
 He started to speak, remembered that he was a 
 stranger to the Todds and resolutely closed his 
 mouth and turned away that he might not hear what 
 was going on. Hancock stared dully, frankly 
 curious. 
 
 Molly nodded, thinking of Joe and determined to 
 keep the sloop for him if she could. She would dis- 
 tract Holmes' attention from the boat in the hope 
 that Joe would return with the provisions and pos- 
 sibly the strange accomplice, and taking them di- 
 rectly to the sloop, sail without returning to the 
 house. "I know it is yours and you can do as you 
 want, but the boat has not been used all summer and 
 I do not believe it can be put in order in one day." 
 
 "I didn't say I was going to-day," said Holmes 
 
 coldly. 
 
 'No," said Molly, flushing angrily at the insolence 
 the man's tones for his servant. "No, I under- 
 stood that, but I thought you probably wanted to go 
 to-day." 
 
 375 
 
 in
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "I wanted to go yesterday for the matter of that," 
 said Holmes with a weary lift of his shoulders. 
 
 "I do not see how you can take the Todds' yacht 
 without asking them," said Hancock, driven to speak 
 by intolerable suspense. Could this man be Todd? 
 
 Holmes glanced at him and then away indiffer- 
 ently. "I am Todd," said he, and suddenly remem- 
 bering James' presence with sickening fear, he 
 winked at him as though to include him in the joke 
 he was playing on his friend Hancock. James was 
 staring at him with great round eyes and the wink 
 relieved the congestion in his head. Surely it was a 
 joke. Holmes was always a humorous fellow, ever 
 ready for a joke. If Algernon wished to masquerade 
 as Holmes, there was no reason that James could see 
 why Holmes shouldn't masquerade as Algernon. 
 The whole affair was beyond his comprehension any- 
 way, beyond any sane person's comprehension, and 
 James, remembering with relief that he was a stran- 
 ger to the Todds, dismissed the solution of the rid- 
 dle with a hopeless sigh. 
 
 "Todd?" questioned Hancock, glancing at Molly. 
 
 The girl nodded and tried to laugh. "He pre- 
 tended to be Patterson to help me out," said she, 
 while James withdrew to the terrace, feeling that he 
 
 376
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 could not remain calm and aloof while Holmes and 
 Patterson and Todd were all one and no one. 
 
 Holmes explained, magnanimously waving aside 
 any praise. "My car broke down as I was passing 
 through on my way north. I was a bit surprised to 
 find mama's place taken, but I saw the joke and as 
 Miss O'Toole has been a most estimable housekeeper, 
 I didn't see any harm in letting it go on, as I ex- 
 pected to leave any day for the north and didn't want 
 my trip interfered with by domestic difficulties." 
 
 "I see," said Hancock coldly, not looking at the 
 girl, feeling for her the shame he knew she felt at 
 this frank way of stating the case and her position. 
 
 "Where's that young fellow you have around as 
 chauffeur?" asked Holmes, turning to Molly. "I 
 do not see why, with his help, the boat couldn't be 
 put in first-class order and provisioned so I could 
 sail early to-morrow." 
 
 "I don't see why not," agreed Molly readily. 
 "Joe went to the village for me on an errand. He 
 will be back soon. Why don't you come into the li- 
 brary and wait for him?" The library was back of 
 the hall and a car coming up the drive could not be 
 so clearly heard. 
 
 "I believe I shall," said Holmes. The library was 
 
 377
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 away from the front of the house and would allow 
 one to slip out in case some one came to the front 
 door unforeseen. "I can make out a list of things 
 we shall need. Really, I wonder I didn't think of 
 the boat before." 
 
 He led the way into the library and Molly fol- 
 lowed him, not caring to let him out of her sight, 
 and Hancock followed Molly. 
 
 Holmes went to the great desk, sat down, and tak- 
 ing a sheet of Mrs. Todd's crested paper, began to 
 make out a list, consulting Hancock now and then 
 as to the different items. Hancock became interested 
 and both were soon absorbed recounting this and 
 that adventure with pleasure and slight exaggera- 
 tions, not to spoil a good story. Holmes had kicked 
 around the world all his life and if he changed his 
 adventures from cattle steamers on the Great Lakes 
 and tramp schooners beating around the Horn to 
 yachts owned by himself and friends, no one was the 
 wiser, and the stories were as good as those Hancock 
 told and as true. 
 
 Molly, listening anxiously for the returning car, 
 heard a team drive up and stop, heard some one ring 
 the bell which was cunningly concealed beneath an 
 old-fashioned knocker, heard the maid go to the 
 door and some one ask if Joseph Holmes worked 
 
 378
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 there. The maid said yes, but he had gone to the 
 village for Mrs. Todd. Did the man want to see 
 him? Yes. 
 
 "Come in and wait for him," said the girl nerv- 
 ously. Was Joe a chauffeur or was he not? If he 
 was, the man should go to the side door to wait. If 
 he wasn't, she could with all propriety ask the 
 stranger into the front hall. Remembering Joe as 
 she had last seen him, sitting at his mistress' break- 
 fast table, issuing orders with the air of a master, 
 she decided that she didn't know what to do and the 
 man might as well come in. 
 
 The fellow came in, and Molly went out to meet 
 him. 
 
 "Joseph Holmes is my chauffeur," said she coldly. 
 "Did you wish to see him?" 
 
 The constable removed his hat and nodded while 
 the maid precipitately retired. "Yes, I did, ma'am. 
 He has gone to the village, the girl says." 
 
 "Yes," said Molly. "Won't you come into the 
 drawing-room and wait?" 
 
 "I think I had better go after him," said the con- 
 stable. 
 
 "Do you want to arrest him for any reason?" 
 asked the girl boldly. 
 
 The constable was young and new at his job and 
 379
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 not quite sure how to go about it. He nodded and 
 explained that he had received word from New 
 York to find the fellow and arrest him. "He hasn't 
 been your chauffeur long, has he?" he asked. 
 
 "No," said Molly. "Only a few weeks. I am 
 shocked and surprised to hear of this. Won't you 
 come into the drawing-room and tell my stepson 
 about it? We like the boy very much. I am sure I 
 do not know what to do." 
 
 "Glad to find a man to deal with," the constable 
 agreed, and followed the girl into the drawing-room 
 which was on the side of the house away from the 
 sea and out of sight of the wharf and what was 
 being done there. 
 
 "I shall get Algy," said Molly hastily. "Pleast sit 
 down." 
 
 She hurried back into the library and drew the 
 curtains at the door. 
 
 "What's up?" asked Holmes, who had heard the 
 colloquy in the hall and judged who had come. 
 
 "The constable," whispered Molly, thinking of 
 her boy and that she must save him at all costs. 
 "Joe must have done something in New York that 
 he is to be arrested for. Can't we help him?" 
 
 She whispered what had happened and begged 
 the two to help her keep the constable occupied so 
 
 380
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 that when the car returned she could slip out and 
 warn the boy. 
 
 "He is a nice boy," she urged, slipping her hand 
 into Hancock's which happened to be near her own 
 and giving it a pleading little squeeze. "Give him a 
 chance to get away. He is so young. Really, he isn't 
 more than twenty-five. Please help me help him?" 
 
 "Jove," said Holmes, "I don't care if I do. It 
 will kill time and be amusing. What do you say, 
 Hancock? Are you ready to outwit the law?" It 
 would be almost impossible to reach the boat now 
 without the constable seeing him and immediately 
 guessing his identity. It would be best to face 
 him boldly and bluff him out of his belief. Molly 
 and Hancock both thought him Todd and would tell 
 the constable so and before such proof, whatever de- 
 scription the fellow had received from New York 
 would be discounted in his favor. 
 
 Hancock laughed and nodded, returning the sec- 
 ond squeeze with a thrill of pleasure. 
 
 "Let's see," said Holmes, pausing on his way to 
 the door and turning to Molly. "You are Mrs. Todd 
 still to the fellow ? What relation are you and I ?" 
 
 "Stepmother and son," whispered the girl. 
 
 Holmes nodded, chuckled and led the way from 
 the room.
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 Molly followed them to the drawing-room door 
 and lingered there to catch the first sound of the re- 
 turning car. 
 
 "Howdy-do," drawled Holmes. "I hear you have 
 come to arrest my man." 
 
 The constable nodded and drew out some papers 
 which he consulted nervously. "The despatch says 
 Joseph Holmes." 
 
 "Describes him, I suppose?" questioned Hancock, 
 with an air of serious doubt as to whether the chauf- 
 feur was the man wanted. "This Joe may not be the 
 one you want." 
 
 "They telegraphed his description but hadn't time 
 yet to send his photo," said the man, running 
 through his papers. "He is tall, and they say in the 
 village that this Holmes is tall." 
 
 Holmes nodded. "He is a tall fellow, but I am tall 
 myself." 
 
 "And so am I," said Hancock gravely. 
 
 The constable laughed and waved aside the impli- 
 cation as a good joke. "He has black hair and a sal- 
 low complexion." 
 
 "My hair is black," said Hancock and gravely 
 patted it. 
 
 "So is mine," added Holmes, "and my complexion 
 sallow." 
 
 382
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 "You've made a mistake somewhere," declared 
 Hancock, positively and innocently, never doubting 
 for a moment Holmes' identity. Had not Molly said 
 he was Todd? "This Joe is tall and his complexion 
 is sallow, but he has sandy hair, not black. Are you 
 sure he is the one?" 
 
 "He could have bleached his hair," suggested 
 Holmes. 
 
 The constable frowned angrily, worried. "His 
 name is Joseph Holmes, isn't it?" 
 "Yes," said Holmes. 
 
 "He came about three weeks ago, didn't he?" 
 "Yes," doubtfully. "I believe so. I have just 
 come myself and I am not sure when he did come. 
 Mama hired him in my absence. Suppose I go and 
 question her?" 
 
 "If I could question her," said the constable ea- 
 gerly. 
 
 "I shall send her in," said Holmes, already at the 
 door. "Mr. Hancock has known the fellow longer 
 than I have. He can answer your questions even 
 better than I." 
 
 He went out and found that Molly, who had been 
 listening eagerly at the front door, had slipped out 
 to the terrace where she could watch the distant 
 gates, but could not see him as he passed through the 
 
 383
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 hall and out one of the side windows. He came on 
 James on the side terrace. 
 
 Holmes' heart sank at the sight of the fat little 
 man. He had left the room out of sheer nervous- 
 ness, in the desire to get somewhere out of sight of 
 the constable, intending to go to the sloop and re- 
 main concealed, trusting Hancock to keep the fellow 
 engaged until Todd returned and he could get away 
 safely in the boat If the constable grew ugly and 
 suspicious before Todd did come, he would simply 
 put up the sails and leave without waiting for pro- 
 visions, no matter what Bates or the gardener 
 said. He was desperate and had no intention of run- 
 ning any chances. But coming upon James on the 
 side terrace, his heart sank. James knew everything, 
 was the one weak link in his chain. The little fellow 
 must be hopelessly puzzled now as it was, and it was 
 mighty decent in him to hold his tongue and say 
 nothing. He strolled up to James and laid a hand 
 on his shoulder. He would take James into his con- 
 fidence and make an aid of him on the strength of 
 their former business relations with each other. 
 
 As frankly as he had told Algernon his troubles, 
 he now retold them to James in a low voice that no 
 one might overhear, leading the little man down the 
 terrace steps and half-way across the lawn. 
 
 384
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 Algernon was helping him to get away, he ex- 
 claimed and he asked James to do the same, simply 
 and with no excuse as to his own conduct 
 
 "I forged and I want to get away. Will you help 
 me?" he asked frankly, bluntly. 
 
 "What can I do?" stammered James in surprise. 
 He didn't want to see any one arrested. It must be 
 so deucedly embarrassing. 
 
 "Just keep the constable engaged and distracted a 
 bit. If he describes this Holmes he is after, don't 
 let him think of me, see? I'm Todd and don't let 
 him think for a moment otherwise. Distract him, 
 get his thoughts on other subjects." 
 
 "Golf would be good," thought James aloud. 
 Golf was his one hobby. 
 
 "Just so," agreed Holmes, wondering if the con- 
 stable would know what golf was. "Try him on 
 that and other subjects. Just keep him talking until 
 Todd returns with the provisions and I can get off 
 in the yacht." 
 
 "Why, yes," said James kindly, seeing light 
 through the darkness of the riddles that had been 
 making him think more and harder than he liked to 
 think. "Why, yes, I shall be glad to." 
 
 "Thank you," said Holmes. 
 
 They shook hands gravely and James returned to 
 385
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the house while Holmes strolled carelessly down to 
 the yacht, not daring to run lest he be seen and the 
 sight cause unfavorable comment from the constable. 
 On the sloop he told the astonished Bates that he 
 would help him in the cabin and withdrew thither, 
 keeping discreetly out of sight. 
 
 Molly was still on the terrace in front of the house 
 and did not see James as he passed through the hall 
 into the drawing-room. The girl lingered where she 
 was until far down the drive, turning in at the gates, 
 she saw the great red touring car and Joe at the 
 wheel. Then she hurried into the hall, listened a mo- 
 ment near the drawing-room, heard the constable, 
 James and Hancock arguing strenuously the possi- 
 bility that Algernon was not Holmes, and crept to 
 the window to watch what was going on down at the 
 wharf, wondering in her excitement why Joe was 
 alone. Where was his accomplice? The voices in 
 the room beyond rose and fell. James and Hancock 
 were indignant, the constable was torn between 
 doubt and anger, and the girl listened and watched 
 in breathless fear. 
 
 Could they keep the constable long enough to give 
 her boy a chance to get away? Why didn't they go 
 faster down there at the wharf? She saw that 
 
 386
 
 THE WEAK LINK 
 
 Holmes was helping, and believing him Todd and 
 that he was aware of Joe's guilt, blessed him in her 
 heart. They were working with feverish haste, but 
 to the agonized girl at the window they seemed to 
 be crawling about their task. It was hours to her 
 since the car had stopped at the wharf until the mo- 
 ment when Bates staggered into the cabin with the 
 last armful of goods. And just as he did so, the doors 
 of the drawing-room, closed by James on the ground 
 that Mrs. Todd did not care to have the rest of the 
 servants know that one of their number was under 
 suspicion, opened and the three men came out, Han- 
 cock and James still talking, the constable silently 
 and grimly determined to fool no longer but to 
 search the place. 
 
 With flaming cheeks and her heart beating so 
 that it stifled her, the girl took one last quick glance 
 out of the window before she turned to meet the 
 men. She drew a breath of relief and smiled, for 
 she saw the white sails of the little craft fill and the 
 boat slowly turn toward the sea and the dancing 
 white caps. Then her eye fell on the intervening 
 space between the wharf and the house and saw the 
 car. She grew slowly white and leaned against the 
 wall for support. The car was coming directly to 
 
 387
 
 THE 1 UPPER CRUST 
 
 the house across the lawn and Joe was at the wheel. 
 Why had he not gone on the boat whose white sails 
 she could glimpse as it joyously beat its way against 
 the wind toward the open sea?
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 ALGERNON got out the car and reached 
 North Brockton at a rate of speed that 
 lowered Elizabeth's heretofore unbroken and uncon- 
 tested record. Higgins, on the stoop of the village 
 emporium, surmised that some one was sick "up to 
 the Crags." 
 
 "Dyin'," old man Brown opined, cutting off a 
 "chaw" of tobacco with loving solicitude. 
 
 Algernon did not leave the car, but called Higgins 
 and left the order to be put up and ready for him 
 by the time he returned from Brockton. He had 
 some despatches to send and preferred to take them 
 himself rather than have them telephoned to the 
 telegraph office by Higgins. Understand? 
 
 Higgins understood and the great red car leaped 
 forward, becoming merely a whir, a flash and a 
 cloud of dirt, out of sight as soon as sighted. 
 
 Brockton was a small Maine seacoast town, with 
 one straggling main street twisting down to a 
 crumbling old wharf, a score or so of houses reach - 
 
 389
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ing back up the hill, and a tumbled mass of rickety 
 boat sheds fringing the village water-front. The 
 telegraph office was in the railroad station and 
 Algernon brought the dust-covered car to a stop 
 before it and went in. 
 
 The operator read the messages that Algernon 
 wrote and pushed across the scratched and dirty 
 counter toward him. One was to the shipping office 
 in Montreal, ordering a stateroom to be reserved 
 on the Mary Edwards, leaving Montreal in two 
 days, for Algernon Todd, who had been hastily 
 called to England and would meet the ship in the 
 gulf. The other- was to his lawyers to telegraph 
 him a thousand dollars as soon as possible. He did 
 not make the amount any larger for he judged there 
 was not a bank in town that could raise a larger sum 
 within a week. The operator counted the words, 
 looked up New York in his book, calculated the price 
 and announced it, glancing at Algernon. 
 
 "Two dollars." 
 
 "Send them C. O. D.," said Algernon carelessly, 
 wiping his streaming forehead and turning to leave 
 the place. 
 
 "Who are you?" asked the youth beyond the 
 counter, regarding Algernon coldly. 
 
 "Todd," said Algernon, with a slight flush of 
 390
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 anger at the faint suspicion he saw in the other's 
 eyes. "Algernon Van Rensellear Todd, from North 
 Brockton, you know. The Crags is my place." 
 He explained more and more desperately as he saw 
 the growing incredulity in the grim young face op- 
 posing his. 
 
 "Todd ain't here," said the boy. "Hasn't been 
 all summer. I've seen you before. You're the 
 chauffeur." 
 
 Algernon flushed a deep crimson and his utter 
 helplessness to prove his own identity rushed over 
 him. For a month he had masqueraded as his 
 mother's chauffeur. Even Molly would hardly con- 
 ceive it possible that he was Todd, a self-swindler. 
 No one would believe it, could believe it. Algernon 
 thrust his hands into his pockets and regarded the 
 cool imperturbable youth on the other side of the 
 counter with an exasperated sneer. To claim to be 
 Todd was not only impossible for the time, but fool- 
 ish. He would have to continue as his chauffeur. 
 
 "Send those C. O. D.," he ordered sternly with a 
 hopeless attempt at intimidation or hypnotism. 
 
 "Can't do it," said the boy. "You ain't Todd." 
 
 "Certainly not," said Algernon, scorning to be 
 Todd. "I am his chauffeur. He wants those sent 
 at once. He is responsible for them." 
 
 391
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "When did he come?" 
 
 "Come?" 
 
 "He ain't here, ain't been here all summer." 
 
 "No, but Mrs. Todd is and she wants those sent 
 at once." 
 
 "If she wanted them sent, why didn't she write 
 them herself?" asked the boy. 
 
 "Write them herself?" repeated Algernon dully. 
 
 The boy nodded. "You wrote them when you 
 came in." 
 
 "She told me what to say," explained Algernon, 
 with a sickening feeling at the pit of his stomach 
 that his tones were not so convincing as they should 
 be, the more he strove to make them so. 
 
 "All right," said the boy. "But it's just possible 
 you didn't say it You give me the money and I 
 will send these, or else get Mrs. Todd's signature. 
 I can't send them unless you do." 
 
 "Ye gods," snapped Algernon, "save me from the 
 asinine stupidity of the country !" 
 
 "And me from the goositen stupidity of the city !" 
 said the boy cheerfully. 
 
 Algernon felt helplessly in all of his pockets. He 
 knew that there was not a coin in any of them, but 
 hoped with the senseless hope of desperation and de- 
 spair to find one. The terrible oppression of ab- 
 
 392
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 solute and complete pennilessness was awful, mad- 
 dening, unbearable. 
 
 Then he smiled with relief. "Lend me the 
 money," said he to the boy with the confidence and 
 assurance of one who had but to ask to receive. 
 What a fool he had been not to have asked to bor- 
 row it before ! 
 
 "Oh, sure!" said the boy with thinly veiled sar- 
 casm. "Come around Saturday and I will give you 
 my pay envelope. Don't talk about lending between 
 friends." 
 
 "I shall leave you the car as security," pleaded 
 Algernon. 
 
 The boy glanced out of the dingy door at the big 
 throbbing car in the narrow dusty street, already an 
 object of pleasurable .scrutiny to the village con- 
 tingency of small boys, and grunted. "The car ain't 
 yours," said he briefly. 
 
 "Mrs. Todd will pay you." 
 
 "Then why didn't she send the money in the first 
 place?" 
 
 Algernon looked at the youth a moment in silence, 
 wondering how long he could restrain himself from 
 laying violent hands on this servant of the public. 
 Then his eye caught sight of the telephone and he 
 waved toward it wearily. 
 
 393
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "Telephone, Mrs. Todd," said he. "Tell her that 
 Joe is here and that you refuse to send the telegrams 
 she wanted me to send this morning. Telephone 
 her. Why, man, these despatches are important." 
 
 For one moment it seemed to Algernon that the 
 bluff would work. The boy looked at him sharply, 
 half believing, hesitated, reread the telegrams and 
 glanced again at Algernon. Then he walked to the 
 telephone, to Algernon's sickening dismay, and rang 
 up North Brockton. Algernon strove to appear 
 perfectly at ease and lounged against the counter, 
 whistling through his teeth. 
 
 After a long wait, hours to Algernon, and many 
 hotly repeated demands, North Brockton was con- 
 nected and after another argumentative interval, 
 the Crags was put on the line. 
 
 "Hello," called the boy, "is this the Crags? 
 What? the Crags? Say, could I speak to Mrs. 
 Todd? Yes Todd, Mrs. Todd What? Oh, 
 gone out? All right Thanks. Good-by." 
 
 He hung up the receiver and turned to Algernon, 
 but Algernon was already at the door. He would 
 go to the Pines and borrow the money from James. 
 James had met him as a stranger, but would be 
 willing to help him if he were in trouble. Good old 
 James! 
 
 394
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 At the Pines, Algernon found that both James 
 and Hancock were out, had gone in the motor-boat 
 and were not expected back for some time. Al- 
 gernon went to the garage, and as one chauffeur 
 from another, borrowed three dollars from Han- 
 cock's man. 
 
 "I'll return this to-morrow, positively," swore 
 Algernon with the earnestness of one who has al- 
 ready been doubted and has only his own word to 
 prove his assertion. 
 
 "Aw, no hurry," said the other kindly. "I'm 
 flush just at present. Can't get broke up in this gay 
 metropolis." 
 
 Back in the telegraph office once more, Algernon 
 grimly laid the three dollars on the counter and 
 waved aside any change. 
 
 "Send those telegrams as fast as you can, or I'll 
 report you," said he coldly and stalked majestically 
 away, rehabilitated in his own sight with the size 
 of his tip and his stern reproof. 
 
 "Great guns !" he thought as the car turned out of 
 Brockton and took the road for home, "what a dam- 
 nable thing it must be not to have any money and 
 no way to get any, no one willing to lend. Poor old 
 Molly, no wonder she wanted to marry Hancock!" 
 
 All the way home he kept thinking of the girl and 
 395
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 I* 
 
 his wounded love. The circumstances all pointed to 
 her guilt, and the last month had shaken his belief 
 in her word. He was sick with disgust at the whole 
 affair and at the knowledge that he still cared for 
 the girl, that he would not, could not leave her be- 
 hind. She had said she would marry him and he 
 knew that she meant it and that he would ask her 
 to again, that he wanted her above everything and 
 in spite of everything. All the way home, he fought 
 his love, knowing it would conquer him in the end. 
 He told himself that she was an unscrupulous 
 woman, that he had trusted her because her eyes 
 were big and blue and her hair was soft and curly 
 and dark, clinging to her neck and temples in tiny 
 ringlets, and that she had betrayed him. 
 
 Again he recalled that Sunday when she had 
 wheedled his secret from him. She felt that her time 
 was drawing to a close and that the opportunity she 
 had always longed for to marry a rich man, which 
 had come to her in this out-of-the-way corner of the 
 world, was slipping from her grasp, never to return, 
 and in her desperation she had resorted to anything 
 to get rid of the troublesome Patterson without her- 
 self forbidding him the grounds and creating talk. 
 He remembered that she had gone across the bay 
 Monday morning in her motor-boat to Brockton. She 
 
 396
 
 
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 had probably telegraphed then. There was no one 
 else who could have done so, no one else who knew 
 about Patterson. He forget about the broken boiler 
 and that Holmes had been traced through it, his 
 hired chauffeur having telegraphed a confirmation 
 of the law's demand if Holmes was not there. Yes, 
 the circumstances were all against her, and yet he 
 loved her, could feel still how soft her hands were 
 as she had clung to him and he had prevented her 
 from kneeling, could hear her voice laughing at 
 him from the dancing waves of the sea, the lilt of 
 the springtime in its laughing cadence. Yes, the 
 struggle was useless. He cared for her and always 
 would, no matter what she did, no matter what she 
 was. 
 
 He stopped at the village store and filled the 
 tonneau of the car with the provisions Higgins had 
 got ready, parrying the village curiosity with the 
 density of a well-trained servant. He knew nothing 
 about Mrs. Todd's plans. Yes, he supposed she was 
 thinking of going camping. Yes, that was prob- 
 ably why she ordered so many things. No, he 
 couldn't say when she was going. He just knew that 
 he had been ordered to get the things and so he was 
 getting them. No, he didn't know if she expected 
 Algernon up or not, supposed she did, but wasn't 
 
 397
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 sure when. No, Hancock wasn't going with her, of 
 course not. They weren't married. No, certainly 
 not. They weren't going to get married, hadn't 
 any intentions of doing so. 
 
 "Some one was asking for you," said Higgins, 
 standing aside as the last of the packages was stowed 
 away and Algernon was cranking the car. 
 
 "That so?" asked Algernon. "Who was it?" 
 
 "The constable," said Higgins cheerfully, "from 
 Brockton." 
 
 Algernon flushed. "What'd he want of me?" he 
 asked nervously. He had hoped Patterson would 
 be able to get away before the constable came. 
 
 "Don't know," said Higgins, thoroughly enjoy- 
 ing the situation. "He asked for a feller named 
 Joseph Holmes, and we sent him up to the Crags." 
 
 "Thanks," drawled Algernon. "I'll go on up and 
 find him." 
 
 Algernon did not stop at the house but ran the 
 car directly across the lawn to the steps in the cliffs 
 that descended to the wharf. The sloop no longer 
 coquetted with the dancing waves at her moorings 
 some distance from the shore. They had brought 
 her to the dock, a slim, stanch little craft and while 
 the gardener was washing down the decks, Bates, 
 forward, was getting the sails ready, whistling in 
 
 398
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 shrill and happy discords. The sun shone warm 
 and tenderly. The sea was as blue as the cloudless 
 sky and a little breeze ruffled the blankets and sheets 
 of the cabin which were airing on the roof. 
 
 At the sound of the stopping car, Patterson 
 emerged from the cabin door and strolled to the 
 railing and down the deck to the wharf. He was 
 cool and blase, in his immaculate suit of pale gray 
 and light blue silk accessories : tie, socks and hat 
 band. He came languidly up to the car and peered 
 at the bundles in the tonneau, waving his hand in- 
 differently toward the house. 
 
 "The constable has already come," said he. 
 
 Algernon nodded. 
 
 "I avoided him as much as possible and came on 
 down here without attracting attention. Mr. Han- 
 cock and your friend, James, came over in the mo- 
 tor-boat and are up there now. I think they have 
 rather impressed the fellow, and Miss O'Toole has 
 enlisted them to help her keep the constable from 
 coming over to this side of the house and seeing 
 what's going on." 
 
 "Did he try to search the place?" 
 
 "No. The maid met him at the door. He said 
 he wanted Joseph Holmes. She admitted that he 
 worked there, but said that he had gone to Brock- 
 
 399
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ton on an errand for Mrs. Todd. He would be 
 back shortly, and the constable went in to wait. I 
 got out as soon as I could and came down here." 
 
 "Send Bates up here," ordered Algernon. "We 
 must get these things on the boat as soon as we can, 
 so you can take advantage of this breeze. You can 
 get away without going up to the house again. 
 Bates knows as much about a boat as I do, and he 
 and the gardener can take you to the gulf. I've 
 telegraphed the Mary Edwards to save a stateroom 
 and to be on the lookout for you. The constable 
 didn't have the slightest idea who you were, did he ?" 
 
 "No," said Holmes, "I think not I think he took 
 me for you, Todd." 
 
 "Send Bates up here," ordered Algernon. 
 
 But Bates was already half across the wharf. He 
 had always admired the chauffeur with an intense 
 but shamed admiration, for he had never before 
 thought it possible that he could have admired any- 
 one with a shady past. That he did was cause for 
 regret and of doubt as to his own invulnerable 
 moral worth. But since that morning, admiration 
 was a mild word for the absolute adoration with 
 which he now regarded Algernon. 
 
 "Bates, you and Patterson and I will get this 
 400
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 stuff on board. Let the gardener tend to the sails. 
 It doesn't matter whether things are exactly ship- 
 shape or not You want to get away before this 
 breeze falls off. Pity our motor-boat isn't bigger." 
 
 "Aye, aye, sir," answered Bates in the prompt 
 snappy tones he imagined used by sailors on war 
 vessels. 
 
 In ten minutes the provisions had been stored 
 away, and Algernon climbed into the car and 
 watched the sails of the little sloop flap strenuously 
 as the gardener and Bates ran them up to catch the 
 rapidly freshening breeze. Algernon had intended 
 to go himself, but how could he leave Molly behind 
 without a word, without letting her know that he 
 forgave her and wanted her back again? He 
 watched the sail slowly rise and fill, the moorings 
 cast off and the little boat swing free and with her 
 white sails spread start gracefully out to sea. Then 
 he turned the car and ran back across the lawn to 
 the side terrace. 
 
 As he approached, Molly came out, followed by 
 the constable and James and Hancock. Algernon 
 brought the car up to the steps, and the girl went 
 straight down them to him. They met on the bot- 
 tom step. 
 
 401
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 "That's the constable, Joe," she whispered, mo- 
 tioning backward with her head toward the men who 
 had hesitated at the top of the steps. 
 
 "Come for me?" asked Algernon. 
 
 The girl nodded. "I thought you were going 
 away on the boat. I kept him in the drawing-room 
 where he couldn't see what was going on as long as 
 I could. Why didn't you go, Joe?" 
 
 "I couldn't leave you, sweetheart. I am a thief, 
 a forger, but your lover, Molly O'Toole. Will you 
 have me?" He held out his hands with eyes and 
 thoughts for no one but the girl before him. 
 
 "Yes," said she simply, "for I love you, Joe." 
 
 She put her hands in his and he raised them 
 gently to his lips and kissed first one, then the other. 
 He longed to take her in his arms, but no Todd 
 ever forgot himself so in public as to make an exhibi- 
 tion of His deeper feelings. 
 
 "Molly!" Hancock's voice was sharp with pain 
 and he started 'down the steps and then stopped, one 
 hand held out to the girl, but she did not notice it 
 and it slowly fell. 
 
 "This is Holmes, isn't it?" questioned the con- 
 stable. "Joseph Holmes?" 
 
 "No," said Algernon calmly. "You have made 
 a slight mistake. I am Algernon Van Rens^Uear 
 
 402
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 Todd. Is there anything I can do for you, my 
 man?" 
 
 The constable turned to Hancock. "You pointed 
 him out across the lawn to me as Holmes." 
 
 "I have always known him as Holmes," returned 
 Hancock coldly, reproachful eyes on the girl. 
 
 "As Joseph Holmes, Mrs. Todd's chauffeur?" 
 
 "Yes. Certainly." 
 
 "Mrs. Todd, this man is your chauffeur?" 
 
 The girl nodded. She felt that she could do more 
 for Joe if she still concealed her identity from the 
 constable. The Todds had a great deal of influence. 
 She might be able to get him out on bail quicker as 
 Mrs. Todd than as Molly O'Toole, she reasoned, in 
 her ignorance knowing little or nothing about bail. 
 His claim to be Algernon Van Rensellear Todd was 
 foolish and she could not understand it. Todd had 
 just left on the sloop for Canada. Bored, as he had 
 told her, by waiting for his boiler to come, and hav- 
 ing seen Bates busy with the sloop, the idea to go 
 to Canada by water came to him and he decided 
 to act upon it, though Molly, thinking for whom 
 she intended the sloop, had tried to put him off. He 
 had spent the morning with them, had met Hancock 
 and James and the constable in the character of 
 Todd, had been so introduced to them all, explain- 
 
 403
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 ing his little masquerade as Patterson on the grounds 
 of a joke. 
 
 "You have known him as Joseph Holmes?" asked 
 the constable. 
 
 "Yes," said the girl helplessly. 
 
 "He came to town about three weeks ago, did he 
 not?" 
 
 "Yes, I think that is about right" 
 
 "From New York?" 
 
 "He said so." 
 
 Algernon stepped forward. "This is foolish," 
 said he. "I am Todd. Algernon Van Rensellear 
 Todd. Jimmy, old sport," turning to him, "you 
 know me. Tell them, old chap, that I'm Todd." 
 
 "Todd," said James Mortimer Worth coldly, 
 gazing languidly across the lawn, "Todd is a stran- 
 ger to me, practically. I met a gentleman by that 
 name this morning, but really I know nothing 
 about him or his family." 
 
 "Todd has been around all the morning," sneered 
 the constable. "We visited with him a spell before 
 you came." 
 
 "Todd?" questioned Algernon, turning to Molly. 
 
 The girl nodded, her eyes full of compassion. 
 "Patterson was really Todd, Joe," she explained. 
 "You never guessed it, but I have known since that 
 
 404
 
 TJ> I 
 
 Jimmy, old sport, you know me.
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 lawn party I gave. He was anxious to get on to 
 Canada and asked me to say nothing about his 
 identity to any one. That is why he hung around 
 the place so and I couldn't send him away as you 
 told me to." 
 
 "Molly!" He caught her hands again joyously. 
 "You thought that man was Todd ?" 
 
 "Why, yes, Joe. I have known he was for a long 
 time." 
 
 "Then you couldn't have sent that despatch?" 
 
 "No," said she simply, "I didn't." 
 
 "Sir," interrupted the constable, "I have some 
 papers here " 
 
 Algernon turned impatiently. "But I tell you I 
 am not Holmes. That man Patterson is Holmes. 
 Jimmy, old boy, don't go back on me. You know 
 it is as I say. Tell them so, won't you?" 
 
 "Really," said James, "I know nothing about it. 
 You were introduced to me as Holmes." 
 
 Algernon, thinking desperately, turned and 
 glanced across the old box-bordered garden, sim- 
 mering in the morning sunshine. The asters were 
 all in bloom and down by the old brick wall, under 
 the mulberry tree, a stately row of late hollyhocks 
 nodded gracefully to the onslaughts of the bees. The 
 honeysuckle still clambered over the summer-house 
 
 405
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 in the corner and nasturtiums rioted in profusion 
 around the old crumbling sun-dial. Beyond the 
 garden was a sweep of lawn and beyond that the 
 woods, and over all was the brooding peace and 
 quiet of the country. 
 
 He realized with sickening conviction how help- 
 less he was to free himself until his mother came 
 or he could telegraph again to his lawyers, if they 
 would let him. It was his word against Molly's 
 and James'. He was stamped already as a forger, 
 Molly was Mrs. Todd, the big person of the town, 
 and James Mortimer Worth was a gentleman equal- 
 ly wealthy and above reproach. What object would 
 either of them have to swear that he was Holmes 
 if he were not? None at all. Here he was caught, 
 trapped, absolutely helpless, to be shut up for the 
 time until he could get help or be taken to New 
 York as a criminal in the hands of the law. The 
 idea was infuriating, intolerable. And yet how 
 could he prove his identity even to Molly, who 
 would gladly have helped him? All the time they 
 had been together, he had consistently swindled 
 himself. 
 
 He glanced in desperation from the constable to 
 Molly. The girl was leaning against the stone post 
 of the balustrade, head thrown up, nervous fingers 
 
 406
 
 clasped tightly before her. The attitude recalled 
 to Algernon a night in early summer, a girl in a 
 white dress leaning thus against a high sun-dial, 
 head thrown back, hands clasped before her, and he 
 himself beside her, whispering foolish verses of his 
 own composition. A slow sweet smile crossed his 
 face like sunlight breaking suddenly from behind 
 a storm-cloud. He stepped forward and bent low 
 to whisper that none might hear. 
 
 "With hair as black as the devil's heart, 
 And eyes of blue, true blue, 
 In whose darkling depths I lose my soul 
 Whenever I come to woo ; 
 
 "With skin as white as a virgin's thoughts, 
 And lips like a scarlet bow, 
 For whose storehouse of honeyed sweetness 
 Mine own are longing so." 
 
 His voice was soft and gentle, falling with a ten- 
 der cadence, and the listening girl recalled a rose- 
 garden on a moonlit night in June. The air was 
 heavy with the scent of roses, and above the tree- 
 tops the arch of the young moon was sinking in a 
 sea of silver light. 
 
 "Algernon Todd ?" she whispered fearfully, with 
 never a doubt now of his identity. The tones in 
 which he spoke were the same as those of that moon- 
 
 407
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 lit night in June, and the verses were of his own 
 composing, known only to himself and her. 
 
 "When I want to find a way, I do, Molly 
 OToole," he laughed. 
 
 The girl turned to the constable and waved her 
 hand toward the last dancing glimpse of the white- 
 winged sailboat beating its way out to sea. "Mr. 
 Holmes went away on that boat," said she. "He had 
 done me a service once and I helped him to get 
 away. He has gone so far now I do not believe you 
 can overtake him." 
 
 "And this one?" demanded the constable, nodding 
 at Algernon. 
 
 "This one," laughed Molly O'Toole, glancing 
 gaily at Algernon, "this one is my son, Algernon 
 Van Rensellear Todd." 
 
 "Your son?" 
 
 "Stepson, but just as dear." 
 
 The constable turned to Hancock. "Is it so? And 
 were you simply helping her?" 
 
 "Yes," said Hancock, accusing eyes still on the 
 girl. She was lying again, trying to get her lover 
 free. Well, he would help her. He saw it all now. 
 She cared for this penniless rascal who had tried to 
 escape on the yacht and had been prevented by the 
 sudden appearance of the owner, and had only pre- 
 408
 
 WITH ALL HER FAULTS 
 
 tended to care for himself because of his money, for- 
 saking him for her lover's sake when the test came. 
 "Yes. I did what I could to help her friend. This is 
 Todd. I knew it all along." 
 
 "So," growled the constable, "you've all been 
 helping a criminal escape. That is a prison offense, 
 did you know it?" 
 
 "Yes, but I can fix that. Pull !" returned Alger- 
 non Van Rensellear Todd with an airy wave of his 
 hand. 
 
 When he and Molly O'Toole were once more 
 alone together, Algernon took the girl in his arms 
 and kissed her. 
 
 "We will get married now, to-day," he declared. 
 "It kills me, Molly, to think how near I came to los- 
 ing you." 
 
 "I know." 
 
 "We have got to be married now, and then you 
 will be Mrs. Todd." 
 
 He loosened his arms from around her and caught 
 her two small hands. For a moment he drank her 
 in with hungry eyes, then he turned and led her to 
 the stairs in the great hall that she might get her 
 hat. 
 
 "Get your hat," said he sternly, "and meet me on 
 409
 
 THE UPPER CRUST 
 
 the side terrace where the car is. We shall probably 
 have to go to Brockton for the license." 
 
 He looked at her, eyes still dark with longing and 
 she looked back, herself again, self-poised, mis- 
 chievous, joyous laughter fighting with the love in 
 her Irish blue eyes and twitching the corners of her 
 crimson mouth. 
 
 , "Algy," said she, "you talk as if I were your 
 your rib." 
 
 Algernon paused a moment and stood looking 
 down at her, while his face softened and grew ten- 
 der. Then he chuckled and drew her to him. 
 
 "You are not my rib, dear," he whispered; "my 
 brains." 
 
 THE END
 
 JTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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