"Yes. Sister Theresa was her guardian. Her father
was a dear friend, and I knew her from her early childhood.
You are mistaken, Jack. Her knowing Pickering
means nothing,-they both lived in New York and
moved in the same circle."
"But it doesn't explain her efforts to help him, does
it?" I blazed. "He wished to marry her,-Sister
Theresa told me that,-and I failed, I failed miserably
to keep my obligation here-I ran away to follow her!"
"Ah, to be sure! You were away Christmas Eve,
when those vandals broke in. Bates merely mentioned
it in the last report I got as I came through New York.
That was all right. I assumed, of course, that you had
gone off somewhere to get a little Christmas cheer; I
don't care anything about it."
"But I had followed her-I went to Cincinnati to see
her. She dared me to come-it was a trick, a part of
the conspiracy to steal your property."
The old gentleman smiled. It was a familiar way of
his, to grow calm as other people waxed angry.
"She dared you to come, did she! That is quite like
Marian; but you didn't have to go, did you, Jack?"
"Of course not; of course I didn't have to go, but-"
I stammered, faltered and ceased. Memory threw
open her portals with a challenge. I saw her on the
stairway at the Armstrongs'; I heard her low, soft
laughter, I felt the mockery of her voice and eyes! I
knew again the exquisite delight of being near her. My
heart told me well enough why I had followed her.
"Jack, I'm glad I'm not buried up there in that Vermont
graveyard with nobody to exercise the right of
guardianship over you. I've had my misgivings about
you; I used to think you were a born tramp; and you disappointed
me in turning your back on architecture,-the
noblest of all professions; but this performance of yours
really beats them all. Don't you know that a girl like
Marian Devereux isn't likely to become the agent of any
rascal? Do you really believe for a minute that she
tempted you to follow her, so you might forfeit your
rights to my property?"
"But why was she trying to find those notes of his?
Why did she come back from Cincinnati with his party?
If you could answer me those things, maybe I'd admit
that I'm a fool. Pickering, I imagine, is a pretty plausible
fellow where women are concerned."
"For God's sake, Jack, don't speak of that girl as
women! I put her in that will of mine to pique your
curiosity, knowing that if there was a penalty on your
marrying her you would be wholly likely to do it,-for
that's the way human beings are made. But you've
mixed it all up now, and insulted her in the grossest
way possible for a fellow who is really a gentleman. And
I don't want to lose you; I want you here with me,
Jack! This is a beautiful country, this Indiana!
And what I want to do is to found an estate, to
build a house that shall be really beautiful,-something
these people hereabouts can be proud of,-
and I want you to have it with me, Jack, to
link our name to these woods and that pretty lake. I'd
rather have that for my neighbor than any lake in Scotland.
These rich Americans, who go to England to live,
don't appreciate the beauty of their own country. This
landscape is worthy of the best that man can do. And
I didn't undertake to build a crazy house so much as
one that should have some dignity and character. That
passage around the chimney is an indulgence, Jack,-
I'll admit it's a little bizarre,-you see that chimney
isn't so big outside as it is in!"-and he laughed and
rubbed his knees with the palms of his hands,-"and my
bringing foreign laborers here wasn't really to make it
easier to get things done my way. Wait till you have
seen the May-apples blossom and heard the robins sing
in the summer twilight,-help me to finish the house,-
then if you want to leave I'll bid you God-speed."