No. 13 Washington Square Part 23

"But if--if--Mr. Jack should hear me and come down and see me--"

"We shall prepare for such an emergency some kind of plausible explanation that will satisfy Jack."

"But, ma'am, please! I don't think I could ever do it!"

"Matilda, it is the only way"--in the voice of authority. And then more emphatically, and in some desperation: "Remember, we have got to do something! We have simply got to have money!"

Matilda was beginning to whimper yieldingly, when a knock sounded at their door. They clutched each other, but did not answer.

The knuckles rapped again.

They continued silent.

The knock sounded more loudly.

"It's the landlady, come to throw us out," quaked Matilda.

"Open the door," ordered Mrs. De Peyster, decorously rearranging the throat of her dress, "and tell her she shall have her money in the morning."

Matilda unlocked the door, partially opened it, then fell back with a little cry. There entered the Reverend Mr. Pyecroft. He smiled at them, put a finger to his lips. Then he locked the door behind him.

"Please leave this instant!" commanded Mrs. De Peyster.

"It is not in my nature," he returned in his bland voice, "to go and leave behind me fellow creatures in distress."

"Fellow creatures in distress?" repeated Mrs. De Peyster.

"I was pa.s.sing," said he, "and chanced to overhear you say a moment since that you simply had to have money."

Mrs. De Peyster's face filled with suspicion. "You have been listening all the while?"

"Possibly," said Mr. Pyecroft, with the same bland smile.

"Eavesdropper!"

His smile did not alter. "I did not hear very much, really. Miss Thompson, may I beg the favor of a few minutes with you alone?"

"Most certainly not!"

"I am sure when you learn what it is, Miss Thompson, you would prefer that it be between yourself and myself."

"Matilda, don't go!"

He shrugged his shoulders pleasantly. "I had really hoped that the matter might be between just you and me, Miss Thompson. However, if you prefer Miss Perkins"--Matilda's name at Mrs. Gilbert's--"to be present, yours is the right to command. Shall we be seated?"

Matilda had already subsided upon her couch. Mrs. De Peyster sank into one of the chairs. The Reverend Mr. Pyecroft drew the other up to face her and sat down.

"Miss Thompson," he began, "I have a very serious proposition to lay before you."

Mrs. De Peyster shrank away. An awful premonition burst upon her. It was coming! This impudent, pompous, philandering clergyman was about to propose to her! To _her!_ She gave a swift horrified glance at Matilda, who gave back a look of sympathetic understanding.

Then Mrs. De Peyster's horror at the indignity changed to horror of quite another sort; for the Reverend Mr. Pyecroft was leaning confidentially close to her, eyes into hers, and was saying in a low voice:--

"I suppose, Miss Thompson, you are not aware how much you look like a certain great lady, a famous social leader? To be explicit, like Mrs.

De Peyster?"

She sank back, mere jelly with a human contour. So she was discovered!

She rolled her eyes wildly toward Matilda; Matilda rolled wild eyes toward her.

"It is really a remarkable likeness," went on the low voice of the Reverend Mr. Pyecroft. "I've seen Mrs. De Peyster, you know; not more than six yards away; and the likeness struck me the very moment I saw you. You haven't the grand-d.u.c.h.ess dignity she had on when I saw her--say, but you should have seen the figure she made!--but it's a wonderful coincidence. Dressed right, and with some lofty spirit pumped into you, you could pa.s.s anywhere as Mrs. De Peyster, provided they did not know Mrs. De Peyster too intimately. That likeness is the foundation of my proposition."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "IT IS REALLY A REMARKABLE LIKENESS"]

Mrs. De Peyster stared at him, and began to clutch at consciousness.

After all, was it possible that he hadn't recognized her as Mrs. De Peyster? Perhaps he hadn't--for every one knew Mrs. De Peyster was abroad, and, furthermore, all the social world yawned inimitably between Mrs. De Peyster and this apparent n.o.body that she was, in an obscure boarding-house, and in a housekeeper's gown. But if he hadn't recognized her, then what was he driving at?

While she gazed she became aware of an amazing change in his face, of the possibility of which she had previously had only hints. The bland, elderish, clerical look faded; the face grew strangely young, the right corner of his mouth twisted upward, and his right eyelid drooped in a prodigious, unreverend wink.

"Friend," he remarked, "what's you two ladies' game?"

"Our game?" Mrs. De Peyster repeated blankly.

"Now don't try to come Miss Innocence over me," he said easily. "I sized you two up from the first minute, and I've been watching you ever since. The other one could get away with the housekeeper's part O.K., but any one could see through your makeup. What are the bulls after you for?"

"The--the what?"

"Oh, come,--you're dodging the police, or why the disguise?" he queried pleasantly. He picked up Mrs. De Peyster's pearl pendant.

"Housekeepers don't sport this kind of jewelry. What are you?

Housebreakers--sneak thieves--confidence game?"

Mrs. De Peyster gaped at him. "I--I don't understand."

"It's really a pretty fair front you're putting up," he commented with a dry indulgent smile. "But might as well drop it, for you see I'm on.

But I think I understand." He nodded. "You don't want to admit anything until you feel you can trust me. That's about the size of it, isn't it, friends?"

Mrs. De Peyster stared, without speaking.

"Now I know I can trust you," he went on easily, "for I've got something on you and I give you away if you give me away. Well, sisters, of course you know you're not the only people the police are after. That's why I am temporarily in the ministry."

He grinned widely--a grin of huge enjoyment.

"Who are you?" demanded Mrs. De Peyster.

"Well, you don't hesitate to ask, do you?" He laughed, lightly. "Say, it's too good to keep! I always was too confiding a lad; but I've got you where you won't squeal, and I suppose we've got to know each other if we're going to do business together. You must know, my dear ladies, that every proposition I've handled I've gone into it as much for the fun as for the coin." He c.o.c.ked his head; plainly there was an element of conceit in his character. "Well, fair ones--ready?"

Mrs. De Peyster nodded.

"Ever heard of the American Historical Society's collection of recently discovered letters of a gentleman named Thomas Jefferson?"