The Mistress of Bonaventure Part 39

"It would not greatly matter if I spoiled a dozen sets so long as you reached home safely, and it is a very small fine for my carelessness," I answered. "I should never have forgiven myself if you had been injured; but are you--quite--sure that you are none the worse?"

"I do not think I am much the better," said the girl. "Still, I am not badly hurt, and it was not your fault."

Though still languid in her movements, she seemed chary of accepting much a.s.sistance when I helped her into the improvised saddle, and then, because the other horse was useless, I waded through the ford with my hand on the bridle. It was some distance to Bonaventure, and my companion was not communicative, but I did not find the silence irksome.

Conflicting emotions would have made me slow of speech, and I was content with the fact that she rode beside me whole in limb and unspoiled in beauty. Indeed, so much had the sight of her lying white and apparently lifeless impressed me that I cast many apprehensive glances in her direction before I could convince myself that all was well.

Haldane, who overtook us, desired me to remain at Bonaventure; but every pair of hands was needed at Crane Valley, and I wished for solitude. So, stiffly mounting a borrowed horse, I set off homeward across the prairie. I had risen at three that morning, after an insufficient rest, and was worn out in body, but clear in mind, for a time, at least, while the brilliancy of the stars.h.i.+ne and the silence of the waste helped me to think. I was by turns thankful, ashamed, dejected, and eager to clutch at an elusive hope. Illumination had followed disillusion, and I knew at last that even while I was uplifted by vain imaginings, Lucille Haldane had, little by little, and unwittingly, extended her dominion over my heart. I had, it seemed, spent the best years of my life striving after an unattainable and shadowy ideal, while perhaps the real living substance, endowed with the best of all pertaining to flesh and blood, lay within my grasp. It was true that the mistress of Bonaventure was much too good for me; but with all her graces she was of like fiber to us, and her few weaknesses rendered her more desirable in proof of the fact. That Beatrice Haldane was worthy of all adulation remained equally true; but it was hard to comprehend how, blinded by folly, I had mistaken the respect I paid her for the warm tide of pa.s.sion which now pulsed through me. Neither was the latter of sudden origin, for, looking back, I could see how, little by little, and imperceptibly, admiration, grat.i.tude, and tenderness, had merged into it until terror opened my eyes and full understanding came at last.

There remained, however, one burning question--did Lucille Haldane, in any degree, reciprocate what I felt?--and this lacked an answer. Knowing her generous nature, it was clear that what she had done for me had not been done wittingly for a lover; but, on the other hand, I could recall many trifles which may have had their significance. Thus alternate hopes and fears surged through my brain until, when I had decided that, being yet a poor man, I must wait the advent of the railroad, at least, before putting my fate to the test, my thoughts commenced to wander, and I must have guided the horse mechanically, for his sudden stopping roused me with a jerk to recognize the corral at Crane Valley. There is a limit beyond which no emotion may galvanize into continued activity the exhausted body, and we not infrequently reach it on the prairie. I do not know whether I was asleep or awake when I led the beast into the stable, but the sun was high when Sally Steel roused me from a couch of trampled hay unpleasantly near his feet.

"You have had a tolerable sleep, and don't seem particular where you camp," she said. "Come right along, and do your best with the second breakfast I've got waiting."

I glanced with consternation at my watch. "Why didn't one of the others waken me? Do you know it's ten o'clock, Sally?" I asked.

"Just because I wouldn't let them! You've got to last through harvest, anyway, and I guess Miss Haldane wouldn't have much use for a dead man," said Sally, and was retiring with mischievous laughter, when I recalled her.

"You have been too good a friend to me to make such jokes again," I said.

"I'm not the only one. All the folks are talking," said the girl.

Thereupon I answered grimly: "If I hear any of them amusing themselves in that fas.h.i.+on I shall do my best to choke them."

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE ENEMY CAPITULATES

Some time had elapsed since the overturning of the wagon, and I had seen nothing of Lucille Haldane, when, one evening, I visited Bonaventure at her father's request. All had gone well in the interval. The last bushel of grain had been threshed and sold, and the balance of my debt to Lane, with every surcharge his ingenuity could invent, wiped out. Haldane, who remained some time in Winnipeg with Boone, had also concluded operations successfully, for, as he had foreseen, once the turning point was pa.s.sed he had no lack of allies eager to a.s.sist in plundering the vanquished, and, before these had satisfied their rapacity he had been able to un.o.btrusively cover most of our sales without advancing prices. Boone explained that the new a.s.sailants considered the purchases a last effort on the part of the company's supporters. Also--because there is little mercy for the beaten--impoverished storekeeper and plundered farmer commenced to air their grievances, and it became evident that the company, or those whom it financed, had occasionally exceeded the limits of the law.

It was accordingly to a meeting of what Haldane called the Vehmgericht that I was summoned, and on arriving at Bonaventure I found Gordon and several of our neighbors already there. The day had been sunny, but our autumn nights are sharp, with a sting of frost in the air, which made the crackling fire in the open hearth acceptable. A shaded silver lamp flung a soft light about the room, which in no way suggested that it was to be used for a tribunal. There were decanters, cigar boxes, and British Columbian fruit on the table, while Haldane lounged in a velvet chair, with feet, neatly encased in patent leather, stretched out towards the fire. All this seemed inappropriate to the occasion, even though I had grown used to Haldane's way.

A glance at the others, however, showed that they were in deadly earnest. The men were lean and hard and grim, and their weather-darkened faces bore the stamp of the conflict. Some of them had long overworked brain and body, half-fed, that Lane and those who backed him might reap an iniquitous profit. Others had seen wife and daughter toiling in the dust of the harrows or riding weary leagues behind the herds, and had not forgotten. I noticed they accepted Haldane's offers of wine and tobacco dubiously, and I surmised it was only personal respect for him that prevented disapproving comments on this manner of procedure.

Boone doubtless guessed their thoughts, for he said whimsically: "I see no reason why you shouldn't have a good time, boys. There are easier ways of killing a coyote than beating his head in with the b.u.t.t of a gun, and I can a.s.sure you that we mean solid business. For one, I find these cigars better than the tin flag plug."

"Tin flag!" and a man with wrinkles round his eyes laughed harshly.

"Dried willow bark had to do for us. This kind of thing takes time to get used to after living for 'most two years on damaged flour and mola.s.ses. Maybe you're used to luxuries, and don't know what it is to see the wife fall sick when one couldn't raise a decent morsel to feed her."

Boone's face grew as stern as that of the speaker, and the shadow I knew crept into his eyes. "I think I do. My wife died for want of comforts that Lane might twice collect his debt, and I am not likely to forget it to-night," he said.

A silence followed, and through it I heard one or two of the others draw a deep breath, while their faces hardened as they, too, remembered grievous injuries. For my own part I was grimly expectant, for I had suffered long enough, and had sufficient sense to know that it was not often that struggling men had such an opportunity for dictating terms to a powerful adversary. We were all, I think, democratic in the word's most liberal sense, cheris.h.i.+ng no grievance against the rich, and quick to recognize advantages offered us by capitalists' legitimate enterprise; but, now that the balance had swung to our side, we were equally determined to place further mischief beyond the power of the man who, for the sake of a few dollars, would have crushed us out of existence. It appeared a duty to the community; but I had not studied human nature sufficiently to discover exactly how far that motive influenced me.

"If none of you have any further suggestions to make, I want to ask if you are willing to leave this affair to me," said Haldane presently.

"Lane in his own way is a smart man, and would be quick to seize an advantage which anybody, speaking without consideration, might give him.

I offer my services merely because, during an extensive business experience, I have had to deal with such men before."

"There is n.o.body in the Dominion better able to handle this case for us," said Boone; and the others nodded a.s.sent.

"We'll sit quieter than graven images unless he turns vicious, if you'll draw his sting," said one. "That's no use, anyway," a comrade interjected. "The insect would grow another one. What we want is his blame back broken."

"I will, metaphorically speaking, try to oblige you both," said Haldane, with a smile. "He is a little weak in the spine already, or he would have declined to meet us at all."

n.o.body made any further comment, but the eyes of most of us were turned expectantly upon the clock, until at last Gordon stood up when a rattle of wheels drew nearer. "This is going to be a great night, boys," he said. "The pernicious insect's come."

Lane entered, and nodded to us all comprehensively when he saw that Haldane did not hold out his hand. The man's a.s.surance was apparently boundless, for he was at first sight as _debonnaire_ and almost as genial as ever--almost, but not quite, for when he moved nearer the lamp I noticed a s.h.i.+ftiness in his eyes and an occasional contraction at the corners of his mouth.

"This is a little business meeting, and we appreciate your attendance; but the former is no reason why you should not be comfortable," said Haldane. "Sit down and help yourself to anything you take a fancy to. I need not introduce any of these gentlemen."

Lane was not readily taken aback, for, while we afterwards had cause to believe he had never discovered the movements of Boone, he looked at him significantly, but without surprise. "I know--all--of them. With thanks, I will," he said. "As to the visit, I am always ready to oblige my clients; but as you know time means money, it remains to be seen on whose bill I shall charge it."

I took the last sentence as a preliminary defiance, and fancied Haldane did so, too; but he only laughed as he said: "I should not wonder if you were not paid that bill."

Lane nodded, as though he understood that the swords were crossed; and when he poured out a gla.s.s of wine the rest of us prepared to watch the duel, with the comforting a.s.surance that our champion was armed with the better weapons, as well as with the justice of his quarrel. It was characteristic of the enemy that he smiled indulgently when, as he raised his gla.s.s to his lips, Steel and another man thrust their own aside. The inference could not have been plainer.

"Suppose we come straight to business," said Haldane presently. "It may save time if I recapitulate what is known of your position. If I am wrong in details you can, of course, correct me."

"You can sail ahead," and Lane, stretching out his feet, leaned back in his chair in an att.i.tude of contemplative attention.

"To commence with, you hold a number of mortgages on land in this vicinity, from which, after recouping yourself for the loan, you are still drawing what I venture to call extortionate interest. These and your shares in the Territories Investment--which cannot be sold--I believe represent your a.s.sets. Also, after taking first-cla.s.s legal opinion, we find that, owing, shall I say, to indiscretions on your part, it may be possible to prevent your foreclosing on several of those mortgages, while one subordinate, I believe, refuses to be turned out of Gaspard's Trail. On the other hand, you have certain tolerably extensive liabilities I need not enumerate, and you want money badly. Law suits are expensive, and you have a promising crop of them on hand. It was with a view of obtaining it you suggested the issue of new Territories stock, and, seeing that hang fire, un.o.btrusively endeavored to sell your shares. I don't think the public would look at either just now. In short, you have taken too big a mouthful; you can't hold on without money, and you can't obtain that because, for some reason, respectable banks fight shy of you. It will simplify matters if you admit all this."

"I'm not going to admit anything," Lane said st.u.r.dily, after drinking another gla.s.s of wine.

Haldane smiled as he answered: "In that case we will take for granted what I have said. Now, we have the money, time, and determination to fight you over every mortgage, and to rake up, as a claim for damages, every indiscretion."

One of the listeners chuckled in a manner expressive of surprise and satisfaction when Haldane ceased, and through the brief stillness which followed I could feel, if I could not see, that the others were in a state of strung-up expectancy.

"Better come to the point," Lane said. "The question is, what do you want from me?"

"It's pretty simple," was Haldane's answer. "We want you out of this country. It's unfortunate that we can't help considering you an obstacle in the way of its prosperity; but, not being highway robbers, we are open to make you a fair offer for your property. Here is a schedule I have drawn up, and you will see by examination that we purpose to buy the mortgages at their face value, paying you any interest due at current bank rates. We also purpose to buy back, on the same conditions, the lands on which you have already foreclosed."

Lane was difficult to astonish, but now he actually gasped; and several of those present, who were still within his clutches, sprang to their feet. "A glacier wouldn't be cooler than you!" Lane said. "You must know they're worth, or will be, about three times as much."

"Exactly," said Haldane; and Gordon and another chuckled silently. "That is just why we want to see you safely out of this country. The man who drives that kind of bargain gives n.o.body else a show. Please sit down, gentlemen; I'll answer your questions later."

I think Lane, in spite of his refusal to admit anything, must have felt himself driven into a corner. Indeed, for almost the first time during my acquaintance with him he showed signs of temper, for his lips straightened and there was a gleam of malice in his eyes.

"Your hand looks a good one, but it's not good enough," he said. "I'm going to tell you to do your worst. Say, don't you count too much on Mr.

Haldane, the rest of you. If this is fun to him, it's bread and cheese to me, and I don't let up on my living easily. Stand out from under before he gets tired and the roof falls on you. You all know me."

The listeners had good reason to do so; but they had not only lost their fear of him--the fear which makes a coward of a brave man when he becomes a debtor--but had found his yoke so galling that they would have risked the worst by defying him in spite of it. He must have read as much in the contemptuous laugh and lowering faces.

"I think we could beat you with it; but we hold still better cards,"

said Haldane quietly. "For instance, you have squeezed Niven a little too hard, and he is prepared to risk his liberty to testify on one or two points against you. I refer to incidents connected with Gaspard's Trail."

Lane brought his hand down on the table, and, for some unexplainable reason, I actually believed him as he said: "Gaspard's Trail was burnt by accident."