Janet of the Dunes Part 14

"We don't want t' set," Billy replied firmly and clearly.

"I beg your pardon," Thornly smiled pleasantly, "you see nearly all of them do. Won't you come in?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The two men stood spellbound before the easel."]

"It's cooler outside," ventured Mark.

"There isn't much difference," said Thornly, rising courteously.

"I'm Cap'n Billy Morgan!" This statement appeared to interest Thornly immensely.

"I'm glad to meet you," he answered.

"Are ye a painter-man?" asked Billy.

"I've been dubbed that occasionally." Thornly laughed. "What can I do for you?"

"Did you ever have a--modil?" Mark broke in breathlessly, feeling he must help Billy out, no matter what his own feelings were.

"I've even been guilty of that!"

"Did ye ever have my Janet?"

Poor Billy's trouble, knowing no restraint of city ways or roundabout methods, rushed forth sharply.

Thornly changed color perceptibly.

"Come in," he urged, "the glare is really too painful."

The two awkwardly stepped inside. Then Mark's eyes fell upon the canvas.

"Cap'n!" he groaned, "look at this!" The two men stood spellbound before the easel, and Thornly watched them curiously.

"It's her!" muttered Billy, "it's her! Poor little thing! she's jest drifted without a hand upon the tiller." The visitors forgot Thornly.

"I didn't think I had more'n the right t' watch, Cap'n." Mark's voice was full of tears as he said this.

"Ye had the right t' shout out a call t' me, lad. You'd have done the like fur any little skiff you'd seen in danger." Then he turned upon Thornly. "What right hev ye got t' steal my gal's looks? An' what tricks hev ye used t' git 'em, an' her happiness 'long with 'em?"

Thornly winced. "Her happiness?" he asked helplessly, not knowing what else to say.

"Yes. Her happiness! Don't ye s'pose that I, what has watched her since she came int' port, watched her an' loved her, an' sot hopes on her, don't ye think I know the difference 'twixt her happiness an' the sham thing?"

"Good Lord!" breathed Thornly, "are you speaking truth?"

Billy drew himself up with a dignity Thornly shrank before.

"Thar ain't anythin' but the truth good enough t' use, when we're talkin' of my little gal!" he said quietly. He felt no need of Mark, nor knowledge of city ways.

Mark was still riveted before the picture. Slow tears were rolling down his twitching face. The calamity that had overtaken Janet was like death, and this lovely smiling face upon the canvas was but the dear memory of her!

"I never meant to harm her," said Thornly presently. "I cannot hope that you will understand; it has only recently come to me, the understanding.

I have always thought the artist in me had a right to seize and make my own all that my eye saw that was beautiful. Lately the man in me has uprisen and shown me that I have been a fool--a fool and a thief!"

"That's what you are!" blubbered Mark, "that last's what you are! You've taken Janet's good name, you've taken her happiness--and you've taken her frum us!" Thornly's color rose, but a look at the speaker's distorted face hushed the angry words he was about to utter. He turned to Billy as to an equal.

"Captain Morgan," he said quietly, "I have done nothing to harm your daughter's good name, in the eyes of any man or woman! That I swear before G.o.d. In that I yearned to make her wonderful beauty add to my reputation, I plead my blind selfishness; but above all I wanted to give to the world a pleasure that you can never realize, I think, and I believe your daughter is great enough to give all, that I ruthlessly took without asking, to help me give the world that picture!" His own eyes turned to the pure, exquisite face.

"Like as not she would!" Billy replied, "like as not she would. Was there ever a woman as wasn't willin' t' fling herself away, if a man was reckless enough t' p'int the path out t' her? An' do ye think I'm goin'

t' let ye take my Janet's dear face int' that h.e.l.l-place of a city; an'

have folks starin' at her, folks what ain't fit t' raise their eyes t'

her? Ain't ye done her enough wrong without takin' her sacrifice, if she's willin' t' make it?"

"Good G.o.d, man! I'm willing to do all I can. That picture is worth hundreds of dollars to me and untold pleasure to many besides, but I am willing to do with it just what you think best."

"Then cut it open, Mark!" Billy's tone rose shrilly. "Slash it top an'

bottom an' don't leave a trace o' Janet."

Mark drew from his pocket a huge clasp knife. He trembled as he opened it and stood back to strike the first blow.

"Stop!" Thornly sprang between him and the canvas. "Stop! I could easier see some savage devastate the beauty of these Hills. Wait! I swear to leave it as it is. I swear that no eyes but ours shall rest upon it; but you shall not destroy it!"

Command and power rang in Thornly's voice. Mark wavered. Billy hung his head.

"Arter all," he groaned, "we ain't none o' us got the final right.

Janet's my gal, but her beauty is hers, an' G.o.d Almighty's. Keep the picter till such time as my Janet can judge an' say. The time will come when she'll get her bearin's, with full instructions, an' then she'll judge among us all!"

The two rough men turned toward the door. "When she tells ye," Billy paused to say, "she'll be wiser than what she is t'-day, poor little critter!"

Thornly watched the men, in stern silence, until they pa.s.sed from sight; then he went back to the easel.

"Pimpernel," he whispered brokenly, "poor little wild flower, out of place among us all!" He drew a heavy cloth over the radiant face, and with reverent hand placed the canvas against the wall in the darkest corner of the room.

Late that afternoon Billy's boat put off for the Station in the teeth of a rising gale and amid ominous warnings of thunder.

Susan Jane grew more irritable and nervous as the storm rose. She feared storm and lightning.

"Janet, ain't that Billy's sail crossin' the bay?" she said. Janet came to the window.

"Yes, it is," she faltered; "and he's going on!"

"Well, what do you suppose? Ain't he got t' get back by sundown?

'T would be a pretty pa.s.s if he'd come off at sundown."

"But he's been off all day, likely as not!" Janet's lip quivered.

"Well, s'pose he has. Are you goin' t' be one of them tormentin' women who is always naggin' a man about what he's doin' an' what he ain't a-doin'? Where's David?"