The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Alternative, by George Barr McCutcheon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license Title: The Alternative Author: George Barr McCutcheon Illustrator: Harrison Fisher Release Date: July 1, 2013 [EBook #43071] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ALTERNATIVE *** Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE ALTERNATIVE By GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON Author of "The Husbands of Edith," "The Purple Parasol," "The Flyers," "The Butterfly Man," Etc. With Illustrations By HARRISON FISHER A. L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1909, by Dodd, Mead and Company Published, April, 1909 "'Agrippa! Come here, sir!'" Contents CHAPTER I The Van Pyckes 1 CHAPTER II A Young Lady Enters 26 CHAPTER III The Amazing Marriage 53 CHAPTER IV The Secretary Goes Home 78 CHAPTER V His First Holiday 97 Illustrations "'Agrippa! Come here, sir!'" (Frontispiece) "'I am Mrs. De Foe's secretary,' she said quietly" "He was there. In fact he opened the door and assisted her to alight" "Her eyes were closed. He kissed the lids" The Alternative CHAPTER I THE VAN PYCKES A shrieking wind, thick with the sleety snow that knows no mercy nor feels remorse, beat vainly and with savage insolence against the staid windows in the lounging room of one of New York's most desirable clubs—one of those characteristic homes for college men who were up for membership on the day they were born, if one may speak so broadly of the virtue that links the early eighteenth-century graduate with his great-grandson of the class of 1908. Not to say, of course, that the eighteenth-century graduate was so carefully preserved from the biting snowstorm as the fellow of to-day, but that he got his learning in the ancient halls that now grind out his descendants by the hundred, one way or another. It is going much too far to assert that every member of this autocratic club had a colonial ancestor in college, but you'd think so if you didn't pin him down to an actual confession to the contrary. It is likely to be the way with college men who do not owe their degrees to certain mushroom institutions in the West, where electricity and mechanics are considered to be quite as necessary to a young man's equipment as the acquaintance, by tradition, with somebody's great-grandaddy, no matter how eminent he may have been in his primogenial day. All of which is neither here nor there. Ancestors for the future are in the club this night, enjoying the luxury, the coziness, the warmth, and the present good cheer of a great and glorious achievement: they are inside of solid walls on this bitter night, eating or tippling, smoking or toasting, reading or chatting with small regard for the ancient gentlemen who gave their Alma Mater its name, but who, if suddenly come to life, would pass away again in a jiffy, not so much through the shock of opulence as at the sight of the wicked high-ball. At one of the windows, overlooking a broad street, stood two elderly gentlemen, conversing in no mild tones about the blizzard. Straight-backed, dignified gentlemen, they. They kept their hands clasped behind their backs, smoked very good cigars instead of cigarets, and spoke not of the chorus that gamboled just around a certain corner, but of the blizzard that did the same thing—in a less exalted manner—around all corners. A thin, arrogant figure crossed from the hallway doors, his watery green eyes sweeping the group of young men at the lower end of the room. Evidently the person for whom he was looking was not among them. As he was turning toward the two elderly gentlemen in the window, one of the joyous spirits of 1908 saw him, and called out: "Hello, Mr. Van Pycke! Lookin' for Buzzy?" The thin old gentleman paused. He lifted his nose-glasses and deliberately set them upon the bridge of his long, aristocratic,—and we must say it,—somewhat rose-tinted nose. Then his slim fingers dropped to the end of his neat gray mustache. A coolly impersonal stare sought out the speaker. "Good evening," he said, in the most suave manner possible. No one would have suspected that he was unable to recall the name of the youth who put the question. "Yes, I rather expected to find Bosworth here. He said something about dining here." "He's upstairs in Peter Palmer's room." "Thank you. I sha'n't disturb him. Disagreeable night, gentlemen." The back of his spike-tailed coat confronted the group an instant later; he was crossing the room, headed for the gray- heads in the window. "Good evening, Billings. How are you, Knapp? A beastly night." The three did not shake hands. They had passed that stage long ago. They did nothing that they didn't have to do. "I was just telling Knapp that it reminds me of the blizzard in—" "Stop right there, Billings," interrupted Mr. Van Pycke. "It reminds me of every blizzard that has happened within my recollection. They're all alike—theoretically. A lot of wind, snow, and talk about the poor. Sit down here and have your liqueurs with me." "I'm glad I don't have to go in all this to-night," said little Mr. Billings, '59, unconsciously pressing his knees together as he sat down at the small table. "You're getting old, Billings." "So are you, Van Pycke. Demmit, I'm not more than two years older than you. What's more, you have a grown son." "My dear fellow, Bosworth is only twenty-five. A man doesn't have to be a Methuselah to have a grown son. They grow up like weeds. And some of them amount to about as much as—ahem! Ahem! Please press that button for me, will you, Knapp? I don't see why the devil they always have the button on the other side of the table. No, no! I'll sign for them, old chap. Don't think of it! Here, boy, let me have the ticket. Mr. Knapp rang, but he did it to oblige me. Now, see here, Knapp, I don't like that sort of—" "My dear Van Pycke, permit me! Billings is having his coffee with me. It's coming now. I insist on adding the cordial." "Very well, if you insist. Napoleon brandy with a single drop of Curaçao. Mind you,—a single drop, waiter. Ever try that fine old brandy, Knapp?" "I can't afford it," said Knapp, bluntly. "It's the only kind that I can drink," was all that Van Pycke said, lifting his thin eyebrows ever so slightly. "Yes, it's a rotten night," put in Mr. Billings with excellent haste. Knapp's face had gone a trifle red. Down at the other end of the room the "young bucks" were discussing the seared trio under the smileless portrait of a college founder. They spoke in rather subdued tones, with frequent glances toward the door at their left. "Old Van Pycke is the darndest sponge in the club. He never buys a drink, and yet he's always drinking," said one young man. "His nose shows that all right. I hate a pink nose." "You'd think he owned the club, the way he treats it," said another. "Tell me about him," said a new member—from the West. "He's the most elegant, the most fastidious gentleman I've ever seen. An old family?" "Rather! The Van Pyckes are as old as Bowling Green. Some of 'em came over in the Ark—or was it the 'Mayflower'?" "Buzzy came over in the 'Lusitania' last year," ventured one of them. The self-appointed historian, a drawler with ancestors in Trinity churchyard, went on: "Buckets of blue blood in 'em. The old man there is the last of his type. His son, Buzzy,—Bosworth Van Pycke,—he's the chap who gave the much- talked of supper for Carmen the other night—he's really a different sort. Or would be, I should have said, if he had half a chance. Buzzy's a good fellow—a regular—" "You bet he is!" exclaimed two or three approvingly. "The old man's got queer ideas about Buzzy. He insists on his being a regular gentleman." "Nothing queer in that," interrupted the Westerner. "Except that he thinks a fellow can't be a gentleman unless he's a loafer. He brought Buzzy up with the understanding that it wasn't necessary for him to be anything but a Van Pycke. The Van Pycke name, and all that sort of rot. It wouldn't be so bad if the old man had anything to back it up with. He hasn't a sou markee. That's the situation. For the last twenty years he's lived in the clubs, owing everybody and always being a gentleman about it. He has a small interest in the business of Rubenstein, Rosenthal & Meyer,—logical but not lineal descendants of the Van Pyckes who were gentlemen in dread of a rainy day,—but he doesn't get much out of it. Five or six thousand a year, I'd say. When Buzzy's maternal grandfather died, he left something in trust for the boy. Fixed it in such a way that he isn't to have the principal until he's fifty. By that time the old man over there will have passed in his checks. Catch the point? It was done to keep the amiable son-in-law from getting his fingers on the pile and squandering it as he squandered two or three other paternal and grand-paternal fortunes. Buzzy has about ten thousand a year from the trust fund. I know that he pays some of his father's debts—not all of 'em, of course; just the embarrassing kind that he hears about from creditors who really want their money. In a way, the old man has spoiled Buzzy. He has always pounded it into the boy's head that it isn't necessary to work—in fact, it's vulgar. When Buzzy first came into the club, two years ago, he was insufferable. At college, every one liked him. He was himself when out from under the old man's influence. After he left college, he set himself up as Van Pycke, gentleman. The old man told him the name was worth five millions at least. All he had to do was to wait around a bit and he'd have no trouble in marrying that amount or more. Marriage is the best business in the world for a gentleman, he argues. I've heard him say so myself. "Well, Buzzy's pretty much of a frivoler, but he isn't a cad. He'd like to do right, I'm sure. He didn't get started right, that's all. He goes about drinking tea and making love and spending all he has—like a gentleman. Just sleeps, eats, and frivols, that's all. He'll never amount to a hang. It's a shame, too. He's a darned good sort." At the little table down the room Van Pycke, senior, was holding forth in his most suave, convincing manner. "Gentlemen, I don't know what New York is coming to. There are not ten real gentlemen between the Battery and Central Park. Nothing but money grabbers. They don't know how to live. They eat like the devil and drink as though they lived in an aquarium; and they say they're New Yorkers." Mr. Van Pycke's patrician nose was a shade redder than usual. Billings, paying no heed to his remarks, was trying to remember how Van Pycke looked before his nose was thoroughly pickled. It was a long way back, thought Mr. Billings, vaguely. "I think I'll have a high-ball," said Mr. Van Pycke. "Have something, Knapp? Billings? Oh, I remember: you don't drink immediately after dinner. Splendid idea, too. I think I'll follow your example, to-night at least. I have a rather important —er—engagement, later on." He twirled his mustache fondly. "You'll pursue the fair sex up to the very brink of the grave, Van Pycke," grumbled Knapp. "If you mean my own grave, yes," said the other, calmly. "If you mean that I'll pursue any fair sexton to the brink of her grave, you're mistaken. I don't like old women. By the way, Knapp, do you happen to know Jim Scoville's widow?" "You mean young Jim Scoville?" "Certainly. I don't discuss dowagers. Everybody knows the old one. I mean the pretty Mrs. Scoville." "More or less scandal about her, isn't there?" ventured Billings, pricking up his ears. "Not a grain of truth in it, not a grain," retorted Mr. Van Pycke in such a way that you had the feeling he wanted you to believe there was scandal and that he was more or less connected with it. He studied the chandelier in a most evasive manner. "Ahem! Do you know her?" "Only by reputation," said Knapp, with gentle irony. "I've seen her," said Billings. "At the horse show. Or was it the automobile—" "I was in her box at one and in her tonneau at the other," said Mr. Van Pycke, taking the cigar Knapp extended. He glanced at his watch with sudden interest. "Yes, I see quite a bit of her. Charming girl—ahem! Of course" (punctuating his opinion with deliberate care) "she has been talked about, in a way. Lot of demmed old tabbies around town rippin' her up the back whenever she turns to look the other way. Old Mrs. Scoville is the queen tabby. She hates the young Mrs. Jim like poison. And, come to think of it, I don't blame the dowager. Charlotte is one of the most attract—" "Charlotte!" exclaimed Knapp. "Do you call her Charlotte?" "Certainly!" said Mr. Van Pycke, with a chilly uplifting of his eyebrows. "I thought her name was Laura," said Billings, who read all the gossip in the weekly periodicals. Mr. Van Pycke coughed. There seemed some likelihood of his bursting, the fit lasted so long. "Charlotte is a pet name we have for her," he explained, somewhat huskily, when it was over. "Demmed stupid of me!" he was saying to himself. "As I said before, I don't blame the old lady. Young Mrs. Jim has got five or six of the Scoville millions, and she's showing the family how to spend it. Her husband's been dead over two years. She's got a perfect right to take notice of other men and to have a bit of fun if she takes the notion. Hasn't she? I—I—it wouldn't surprise me at all if she were to take a new husband unto herself before long." He uttered a very conscious cackle and looked at his watch quite suddenly—or past it, rather, for he forgot to open the virtuously chased hunting case. Billings waited a moment. "I hear she is quite devoted to Chauncey De Foe,—or is it the other way?" Mr. Van Pycke took five puffs at his cigar before responding, all the while staring at Billings in a perfectly unseeing way. "I beg pardon? Oh, yes, I see. Not at all, my dear Billings. De Foe is—er—you might say, a part of her past. He's out of it, quite. I don't mind telling you, he's a—ahem! a damned nuisance, though." This time he looked at his watch with considerable asperity. "Half-past eight! Where the devil is Bos—I say, Knapp, can you see the length of the room? Is he in that crowd over there?" "No, he isn't," said Knapp, shortly. "I shall have to telephone up to Palmer's room. I must see him before leaving the club. Beastly night, isn't it?" "Beastly," remarked the two old gentlemen, unconsciously heaving sighs of relief as Mr. Van Pycke arose and adjusted his immaculate waistcoat. Then he moved away, trimly. A particularly vicious gust of wind swept up to the windows; the fusillade of gritty snowflakes caused the two old men to lift their gaze to the panes. Billings arose and peered into the swirling, seething street. A phantom-like hansom was passing, a vague, top-heavy thing in shifting whites. Two taxicabs crawled humbly up to the club entrance, and away again, ghostly in their surrender to the noise of the wind. Mr. Billings shuddered as he resumed his seat. "I wonder if Van Pycke imagines that she could even think of marrying him! Sixty-three, if he's a day!" Mr. Billings had not been thinking of the storm while he stood in the window. "Fine old New York name, Billings," mused Knapp. "You can't tell what these women will do to get a name that means something." Mr. Billings was silent for a long time. Suddenly he stirred himself, relighted his cigar, and remarked: "By Jove, hear that wind howling, will you! It's really worse than the blizzard of '93." "Billings" was not yet a fine old New York name. The crowd of young fellows at the other end watched Mr. Van Pycke vanish through the door. He was peering into his nose-glasses in such a lofty manner that one might have believed that he scented something disagreeable in every one who passed. As a matter of fact, his sole object was to discover his son if possible. For a long time he had nourished the conviction that his son would not take the trouble to discover him, if he could help it, no matter how close the propinquity. Mr. Van Pycke attributed this phase of filial indifference to the sublimity of caste. After all, wasn't Bosworth the son of his father, and wasn't it quite natural that he should be an improvement on all the Van Pyckes who had gone before? What was the sense in having a son if it were not to better the breed? Sometimes, however, Mr. Van Pycke experienced the sickening fear that Bosworth avoided him because of a foolish prejudice against the lending of money to relatives. There was an admirable counter-irritant, however, in Bosworth's assertion that one never got back the money he lent to relatives; and, as long as Mr. Van Pycke had known him in a pecuniary way, the young man had lived up to this principle by not even suggesting the return of a loan. Mr. Van Pycke was very proud of his son. He sometimes wished he could see more of him. Bosworth lived in the club. Van Pycke, senior, had lived there, but was now living at one of the other clubs—he would have had some difficulty in remembering just which one if suddenly questioned. "I hope Buzzy isn't going to turn out like the old man," said one of the loungers, addressing himself to the crowd. "Oh, he'll marry rich and go the pace, and the old man will die happy," said another. "He's hanging around that flossy Mrs. Scoville a good bit these days," observed the drawler. "That's not the best thing in the world for him." "She's not as bad as she's painted," protested some one. "My mother says she's the limit," said the drawler. "That's what my mother says also," argued another, "but it's because she's afraid I'll slip up some day and fall a victim to the lady's charms. These mothers are a nifty lot. They've got their eyes peeled and their ears spread, and they don't give a hang what they say about a woman if she's likely to harm sonny-boy." "Well, say what you please, Mrs. Scoville is as swift as a bullet. She carried on to beat the band with Chauncey De Foe long before Jim Scoville died, and she's still going it. Everybody talked about it then, and people don't forget. My mother says she knows of a dozen of the best houses where she is no longer received. I'm sorry that Buzzy has taken it into his head to flutter about her flame. He's bound to get a good singeing." "Oh, Buzzy's not such a fool as you think. He's pretty wise to women. He's had nothing else to do but to study 'em since he left college." "But she's always doing some freakish thing to get into the newspapers. Next thing you know, Buzzy'll have his name in the paper as taking a chimpanzee out to dinner, or being toastmaster at a banquet for French poodles. She delights in it, just because it makes people sit up and gasp. That sliding down the banister party she gave at her coming-out party last spring must have been a ripper. Four or five old ladies who couldn't slide down a haystack got mad and went home. They've cut her since then." "Coming-out party?" queried the Westerner. "I thought you said she was a widow." "She is. It was when she came out of mourning." "I think I'd like to know her," mused the Westerner, his eyes lighting up. "She's very expensive," murmured the drawler, who also would have enjoyed an acquaintanceship. For a few minutes they all seemed to be interested in their own thoughts. Finally a youth in a lavender waistcoat and a gray dinner jacket broke the silence. "Gimme a cigaret, Bob." "Don't you ever buy cigarets, Sticky?" growled the one addressed, reluctantly extending his case. "Sticky" ignored the question. "I wonder if Buzzy's got it into his head to get married," he said reflectively. "She's rich enough," remarked the drawler. "How about De Foe? He's the bell-cow, isn't he?" "She's in love with him, that's all. The name of Van Pycke would get her into the very heart of the Four Hundred. With Buzzy's patronymic and the lamented Jim's millions, she'd be an establishment in herself. And, besides, Buzzy's a chap any woman might be proud of as a husband. He's good-looking, amusing, popular, and—useless. His habits are unnaturally decent. Drinks less than any fellow in the club—except the spooks who don't drink at all. Gambles moderately and—" "Fellows, I believe Buzzy'd make something of himself if he didn't have the family name to carry around," burst out "Sticky." "Lemme take a cigaret, Bob. Yes, sir; he's got it in him. If the old man was off the map, Buzzy'd come to realize that there's something for him to do besides marrying for money. The way it is now, he's just got to marry a lot of dough. It's cut out for him. That's all he's ever been taught,—that's all he grew up for. He's—Sh! Here he is!" A slender young man, immaculately dressed from tip to toe, approached the group. If any feature was out of proportion in this young man's face, it was his nose,—or perhaps it was his mouth. His nose was rather long and fine,—a typically aristocratic Van Pycke nose, but unblooming,—and his mouth was a bit too large for perfect symmetry, you might argue. But the one denoted truly patrician blood; the other signified no small amount of strength as well as the most engaging good nature. That is to say, one could not, by any chance, take him for a snob; the mouth quite offset the nose. Mr. Van Pycke has already said he was twenty-five. He looked what he was set up to be,—a gentleman, bred and born. More than one of his friends noticed the absence of a certain genial smile that usually illumined his face when he joined a party of acquaintances. There was something almost suggestive of gloom in his eyes. The mobile lips were not spread in the gentle smile they knew so well; they were rather studied in their sedateness. His hands were in his pockets (which was most unusual), and—yes, his tie was rather carelessly knotted. "Your father's looking for you, Buzzy," said Sticky. "He is? I thought he was looking for some one when I passed him out there just now. Here, waiter, take the orders." He sat upon the edge of a table and swung one leg aimlessly while the servant took the orders. "I'll take a Bronx," he said, after the others had spoken. The drawler took it upon himself to instruct the waiter to find Mr. Van Pycke, senior, and tell him that his son was in the lounge. "Never mind," countermanded Bosworth, sharply. "I'll look him up directly. Beastly night, isn't it?" Every one said it was. It dawned upon them that Bosworth was not taking his first cocktail. It was quite plain that already he had taken several. They were unwilling to believe their senses. Buzzy never got tight! He always had said it made him dreadfully ill the next day, and a man who is ill the next day—in that way—suffers tremendously during the period of upheaval in the additional loss of self-respect. Be that as it may, he appeared to have forgotten his squeamishness. Young Mr. Van Pycke—he of the sleek blond hair and dark gray eyes—was quite palpably drunk. "This is the sixth for me in the last half hour," he remarked, but not proudly, as he took up the cocktail. A spoonful or more leaked over the top of the glass as he raised it to his lips. "Here's how." "Six!" exclaimed the drawler. "What's got into you, Buzzy? I thought your limit was two." Buzzy appeared to be thinking. "Two's my limit when I'm perfectly sober," he said sagely. He waited a moment. "Say, did you fellers see that thing in the paper's mor—this morning about the party?" "What party?" demanded several. He looked aggrieved. "Why, there was only one. I haven't heard of another. The one at Mrs. Thistlethorpe's. By Jove, that's a—a hard name to pronounce. Didn't you see in the papers that they played a new game between the Bridge and the pantry? Jus' before supper Mrs. This—Thissus Miss—the same one I said before—introduced her new trained dog. It was Willy Buttsford. Willy—the silly ass—came into the room on all fours. She was leadin' him by a leash. Willy's got such a deuced thin neck that her poodle's diamond-studded collar fits'm all right. Then she had him beg for candy, roll over an' play dead, jump over her leg, and—say, he almost broke his nose doin' that! Awful mess he made of himself, slippin' on the rug. He closed the show by tellin' the age of every woman present, barkin' the numbers. I thought I'd die of fatigue when he gave Mrs. Thisum—ahem!—when he gave her age. He thought it would be smart to run it up into the hundreds. The dam' fool barked for three quarters of an hour without stoppin'! I never was so disgusted in my life. Thass—that's why I'm gettin' full to-night." "I don't see why you should get full," said Sticky. "Sticky, you would see if you knew the horrible thought that's been botherin' me all day. Mos' dreadful thought." "What is it?" "It occurred to me that, next thing I know, I'll be doin' some idiotic trick like that. I've got a feelin'—an awful feelin'— that I won't be able to get out of it. Some woman'll want me to play a cow, or a goat, or a crocodile, sure's your're born, and I'll be it. Awful thought!" Everybody laughed but Bosworth. He flushed and looked very much hurt. "I'm not foolin', boys," he said quite seriously. "I feel it coming. I haven't money enough to tell 'em to go to the devil, and they know it. That's the trouble in not havin' money. So, I've made up my mind to follow the governor's advice. I'm going to marry it." "Good boy!" cried the drawler, humoring him. "Either that or go to work," said Bosworth, slowly, impressively. Again they laughed, and again he flushed. "I mean it. I'm either going to marry some one who can support me in the latest and most approved fashion, or I'm going to chuck the whole business and devote my time to solving the labor problem by trying to hold a job somewhere. Twelve thousand a year is all right if a chap's working part of the time. He's at least earning the interest on what he spends. But twelve thousand isn't even pin money in the crowd I'm trying to keep up with." "I've always said you'd marry a wad as big as the best of 'em," said Sticky, greatly encouraged. "If I don't marry pretty soon, the governor will," mused Buzzy. "The Lord knows he won't marry for love or experience. No, gentlemen, you can't expect to be much more than a poodle dog on twelve thousand. I had to lick a feller at college once for calling me a pup. I'd hate it like the deuce if I should live to see his statement proved true. No, I won't be a trained dog. I'll get married and pay my debts. And—I say, what time's it getting to be? Eight forty-five? Well, I must be on my way." He swung his leg down from the table, straightened his slender, elegant figure with a palpable effort, and smiled his most genial farewells to the crowd. "Rotten night," he said once more. The drawler took his arm and accompanied him to the door. They were very good friends. "Better stay in to-night, Buzzy," he said. Bosworth looked at him in haughty surprise. "You think I'm tight," he retorted. "There, forgive me, old chap; I didn't mean to snap you off like that. Le' me tell you about those cocktails. I took 'em to brace me up. I'm going to do it to-night." This in a whisper. "Do it? Do what?" "Ask her!" "What the dev—Ask who what?" "I don't know just who yet, but I certainly know what. I'm going to ask some one to become Mrs. Van Pycke. There are three of 'em who are eligible, according to the governor. He's ding-donged 'em at me for three months. I've got a taxicab waiting for me out there. The chances are that it'll get stuck in the snow somewhere. That's why I can't say which one I'm going to ask. It all depends on which one lives nearest to the snowdrift in which we get stuck. They're all the same to me. And I think they are to the governor. But, see here, George, I'm not going to ask more than one of 'em. If I get turned down to-night, that ends it. I'm going to work!" "I don't wish you any bad luck, Buzzy, but I hope you'll be turned down," said his friend, earnestly. Van Pycke was staring straight before him. His brain seemed clearer when he replied. There was a distinctly plaintive note in his voice. "I wonder if I could make good at work of any kind. Do you suppose any one would give me a trial?" "In a minute, Buzzy! And you would make good. Better stay in to-night. Let the—" "No," said Buzzy, resolutely. "I'm going to try the other thing first. That's what I've been trained for. Good night, George. Don't tell the fellows, will you? They'll guy me to death. I just wanted you to understand that I can't go on as I'm going on twelve thousand a year." "I quite understand, old boy." Buzzy held his hand for a moment, looking quite steadily into his eyes. "You don't think I'm as useless as the rest of 'em think I am, do you, George?" "God bless you, no! No one thinks that of you!" "George, I hate a liar," said Buzzy, but his face glowed with a happy smile. In the lobby he met his father. "Where the devil have you been?" demanded Van Pycke, senior. "Damitall, I've wasted half an hour waiting for you." "I didn't know you were waiting, dad. Why didn't you send in your card?" "Send in my—why, confound you, Bosworth, I'm a member of this club. Why should I send in—" "Don't lose your temper, dad. I apologize for keeping you waiting. Don't let me keep you any longer." Mr. Van Pycke looked his son over very carefully. A pained expression came into his face. "Bosworth, I am sorry to see you in this condition. It grieves me beyond measure. You have never—" "It's an awful night, isn't it, dad? Can't I give you a lift in my taxicab? I see you've got on your overcoat and hat." Bosworth was moving toward the clubhouse entrance. The old gentleman resolutely kept pace with him. "That's just what I meant to ask you," said he, with some celerity. "I—I can't get a cab of any sort for love or money. It's generous—" "You can't get much of anything for love in these days, dad, except love." Mr. Van Pycke pondered this while Bosworth got into his coat and hat. "I am very sorry to see you intox—" "Dad, I 'm celebrating," said his son, halting just inside the door. "Celebrating what?" "My approaching marriage, sir." Mr. Van Pycke dropped the glove he was pulling on. He went very white, except for his nose. That seemed redder by contrast. "Not—not a chorus girl?" he stammered, his hand shaking as he raised it to his brow. "No, dad. Not yet. I expect to marry some one else first. I'll save the other for a rainy day." "Who—who is it, my boy? Who is it?" "That, sir, is still a matter of conjecture. I haven't quite got down to the point of selecting—" "You insufferable booby," roared his father. "You gave me a—a dreadful shock, sir! Never do that again." "I thought you'd like to know, sir," said Bosworth, politely. He winked gravely at a mahogany doorpost, and motioned for his father to precede him through the storm doors. "By the way," muttered his father, obstructing the way, as if recalling something he had forgotten to attend to inside the club, "would you mind lending me fifty for a couple of days? I meant to speak to you about it in—" "Will ten do, dad? It's all I have with me, except a tip for the driver. We mustn't forget the driver on a night like this." Bosworth was feeling in his trousers pocket, no sign of resentment in his face. "I dare say I can borrow forty from Stone," said the other, readily. "No," he went on, after he had pocketed the crumpled bank note and was fastening his baby lamb collar close up to his shrivelled throat; "no, we can't forget the driver on a night like this. You really won't mind dropping me up town, will you, Bosworth? I don't mind walking if you'd rather not." "Come along, governor," said the other, pushing through the doors. "Ah, that cold air feels good!" The young man drew in a long, deep breath. "Good? It might feel good to a polar bear, but I don't see how—" "Sh! Be careful, dad! Don't let the driver hear you call me a polar bear. He wouldn't understand, and it might get into the papers—the very thing I'm trying to avoid." Mr. Van Pycke attributed this remarkable utterance to the cup that cheers and befuddles. At best he seldom appreciated or understood Bosworth's wit. The taxicab plowed and sputtered its way through a city block of pelting snow before he gave over trying to analyze this latest example. Then he broke the silence, in the shrill, chattering tones of one who is very cold. "I don't think I told the driver where he could put me down," he said. "Eh?" mumbled Bosworth, coming out of a dream. "Oh, I dare say it won't matter. I'll tell him when he puts me down." "But," expostulated his father, from the recesses of the baby lamb, "you may be going to—to Harlem." He could think of nothing worse. "I've been delayed in keeping my appointment on your account, as it is. It's very annoying, Bosworth, that I should be kept waiting a whole hour there in the club while you puttered your time away at—" "Where do you want to get out, dad?" interrupted the scion of the house of Van Pycke. Mr. Van Pycke had been thinking. He was not sure that he wanted Bosworth to know just where he was going on this momentous night. It occurred to him that the walk of a block would not only throw the young man off the track, but might also serve to soften the heart of the lady for whom he was risking so much in the shape of health by venturing forth afoot in a storm so relentless. Moreover, he could tell her that he had walked all the way up from the club, cabless because even the hardiest of drivers balked at the prospect. A statement like that, attended by a bushel or more of snow in the vestibule where it had been brushed off by the butler, ought to convince the lady in mind that his devotion was thinly divorced from recklessness. So he told Bosworth that he would get out at Mr. Purdwell's house. The announcement caused Bosworth mentally to eliminate one of the ladies from his list. He gave a deep sigh of relief at that. The daughter of the shamelessly rich Mr. Purdwell was so homely and so vain that she was almost certain to have said "yes"—with all her millions—if he had asked her. He remembered that Miss Hebbins, almost as rich and quite as eager to get into the Four Hundred, was the next on his list. She lived a few blocks farther up the street. "All right, dad. Just push the button when we get to Purdwell's corner. I'm going beyond." Mr. Van Pycke hesitated for a moment. "Would it be too much trouble for you to stop for me on your way down, Bosworth?" "Not at all, dad." As an afterthought he added: "Something tells me I won't be up here long. Can you be ready at half- past ten?" "I think so," said his father, who had some misgivings. The taxi struggled bravely along for a couple of blocks. Bosworth was dozing comfortably. His father, seized by an unwelcome sense of compunction, was turning something over in his mind. In the end, he concluded to break a certain piece of news to his son. "Your mother has been dead for sixteen years, Bosworth." Bosworth opened his eyes. "Yes, sir," he said, trying to guess what was coming. "She was a noble woman, my boy. I—I shall never forget her." "I loved her," said Bosworth, vaguely. "I have always said that a man shouldn't marry a second time," proceeded Mr. Van Pycke. Bosworth sniffed. Mr. Van Pycke went on: "That is, until his first wife has been—er—at rest for fifteen years or more. It's only decent." "I see," said Bosworth, comprehending. "You do?" demanded his father, a bit upset. "Who is she, dad?" Mr. Van Pycke's chin was so far down in the baby lamb that his reply was barely audible. "I hope to be able to tell you in the morning—perhaps late this evening, my son." The young man was smiling in his corner of the cab. "Are you quite sure you love her, dad?" he asked, without guile. Mr. Van Pycke coughed. "Perhaps you'd better wait till morning to tell me that, too," said his son, coming to the rescue. CHAPTER II A YOUNG LADY ENTERS Mr. Van Pycke got down in front of the Purdwell mansion. It must be admitted that he almost funked when he opened the door of the cab and let in a gust of wind and snow that almost took his breath away. But he steeled himself and slipped out into the seething blizzard. He blinked around in all directions as the taxicab chortled off into the white whirlwind. So dense was the flying snow that he could scarcely see the houses on the inner side of the pavement; he was nearly a minute in getting his bearings. Then he shuffled off through the great drifts on the walk, pointed toward a fashionable apartment building whose lights glimmered fantastically against the whistling, shifting screen. It may be added that Mr. Van Pycke was cursing himself for a fool at every wretched step of the way. Never, in all his life, had he seen snowdrifts so deep and never so stubborn. He said to himself that he'd be d—d if he pay a cent of taxes until civic affairs were administered by an assembly that knew enough to keep the sidewalks clear of snow. He also experienced the doleful fear that his nose was freezing in spite of all that he could do to prevent it. Bosworth's taxicab floundered heroically on for two blocks. Then it gave out and came to a frantic stop, pulsing and throbbing and jerking its very vitals out in the effort to go ahead. "She's stuck, sir," said the driver, opening the door. "Where are we?" demanded young Mr. Van Pycke. "Please come inside and close the door. I hate a draft. That's better. Now we can talk it over. Are we lost?" "Lost, sir? C'tainly not. I know w'ere we are, all right. Only we can't budge out of this snowdrift. It's the woist ever." "I suppose we'll have to sleep here," said Bosworth, resignedly. He was comfortably sleepy by this time. The driver struck a match, the better to inspect his amiable fare. "Not if I know myself," he growled. "If you should happen to lose your watch while you're in this condition, I'd be jugged for it. I'll take you to the Lackaday Hotel in the next block below and turn you over to the chambermaids. Come along, pardner. I'll see that you get there all right." Buzzy sat up and glared at him in the darkness. "Strike another match, confound you," he commanded. "How the devil am I to see your number? Never mind; I sha'n't report your impertinence, after all. I dare say you meant well. I am a bit drunk. But I can get along all right by myself. You say the Lackaday is back there in the next block?" "Yes, sir. The number you wanted is about three blocks furder up. If it hadn't a been—" "Let me out. I'll walk back. You—you've taken me past the number I wanted." "The ticket says 714, sir, plain as day," began the driver. "You didn't say nothin' about the Lackaday—" "You're quite right, my man. And you didn't say anything about stopping in the middle of the block for the night, did you? Well, there you are! That squares us." He clambered out into the snowdrift and unbuttoned his overcoat. The man seemed undecided whether to let him go or to drag him back into the vehicle. Bosworth found what he was looking for in his waistcoat pocket. He pressed it into the driver's hand. "I'm sorry it isn't more," he said regretfully. "It may be a dollar, or it may be a five, but no matter which it is, it ought to be more. Now I'll tell you what I want you to do. If you can't get this thing going by 'leven o'clock, I want you to go up to Martin's and have 'em send a four-horse sleigh to No. 511. It's the first residence north of the Lackaday, and it's the number I've been compelled to select as a last resort. Understand?" "Yes, sir. Martin's livery, sir. I'll attend to everything, sir. Thank you, sir." He stood there in the blinding snow, watching his fare struggle to the sidewalk. Then he decided to follow along behind him until the "young gent" was safely within the doors of No. 511. He had driven Mr. Van Pycke before and he knew that it was not a dollar bill. Bosworth reached the steps leading up to the rather imposing doorway at No. 511. There was a heavy, stubborn iron gate at the foot, which he had some difficulty in opening because of the snow. While he was working with it, a man came plump up against him. Together they seized upon the gate and yanked with all their might and main. "Thanks," said Buzzy, when it was open. "Don't thank me," snapped the other. "I'm going in myself." They mounted the six or eight steps to the storm doors, side by side, enveloped in the snow that scuttled around the corner of the big Lackaday hotel next door. With a great stamping of boots they floundered into the shelter of the outer vestibule. The light in the hall beyond shone through the glass doors, illuminating the box-like coop in which they paused, each selfishly to occupy himself in catching his breath and at the same time shake the snow from his person. In the act of knocking the snow from the tops of their silk hats they glanced up simultaneously, each having arrived at the moment when it was convenient for him to inquire into the identity of his fellow visitor. They stared hard for a moment. "Hello, dad! Are you lost?" Mr. Van Pycke muttered something into the collar of his coat. Fortunately the wind outside was making such a noise that his son did not hear the remark. "Is that you, Bosworth?" he demanded querulously, almost on the instant. "Yes, sir,—your long lost son. I—I thought I let you out at Purdwell's?" Bosworth seemed a bit hazy. Mr. Van Pycke cleared his throat. "I didn't find any one at home." It did not occur to him to ask why Bosworth was there. "So I came up here, unexpectedly, mind you. I thought perhaps the weather being so dreadful, I'd be sure to find Mrs. Scoville at home. No one would think of going out on a night like this." "Do you suppose the Purdwells went out without thinking?" asked Bosworth, innocently. "Ring the bell," said Mr. Van Pycke, very sharply. His son found the button with some difficulty, and gave it a violent and unintentionally prolonged push. In silence they awaited the response of the footman. "Is your mistress at home, Bellows?" asked Mr. Van Pycke, as the door was opened part way to allow the indignant inspection of one who had certainly expected beggars. Bellows, smileless and resourceful individual, seemed a bit uncertain, not to say upset. He glanced over his shoulder in a very far from imperious manner, apparently expecting the answer to come from the softly lighted hallway behind him. "I'll see, Mr. Van Pycke. Will you step inside?" "Get a broom, Bellows, and brush off some of this snow." "Yes, sir." The footman appeared a moment later with a whisk broom. "It's a very nawsty night, sir," he informed them jointly as he began scattering the snow in all directions. From tip to toe he whisked the shivering Mr. Van Pycke, and then turned upon his silent companion. The elder slipped into the warm hall, feeling his nose in considerable agitation. "Bellows, come in here and take my coat. By Gad, I wonder if I am likely to catch pneumonia." "In a moment, sir." "You—you think it likely, Bellows? That suddenly?" Bosworth stepped inside, and Bellows gently closed the door before turning to the distressed Mr. Van Pycke, senior. "Bellows, is my nose frozen?" demanded that gentleman, in tones faint with dread. "No, sir. It looks to me to be quite warm, sir." "Is your mistress engaged, Bellows?" inserted Bosworth, quietly. "If she is, I'll not trouble you to help me off with my coat." "I—I think she is, sir. I'll see, however." "Very odd," said Mr. Van Pycke, senior, as the man disappeared down the hall. "I think there's a dinner going on," said Bosworth, beginning to button up his coat. "No one would go to a dinner on such a night as this," rasped Mr. Van Pycke, who knew all of the eleventh-hour habits of society. He took up his position over a simmering floor register. "I'm wet to my knees. My feet are like ice. I wish that demmed servant would hurry back here and get me a hot drink of some sort. Ring the bell there, Bosworth. I'm— I'm quite sure I feel something stuffy in my chest. Good God, if it should be pneumonia!" His legs trembled violently. Bosworth did not ring the bell. He was staring thoughtfully at the floor, and paid no attention to his father's maunderings. The humor of the situation was beginning to sift through his slowly clearing brain. Bellows returned. "Mrs. Scoville is at home, and begs the Misters Van Pycke to bear with her for a few minutes. She is at dinner with a few guests. In the drawing-room there are other guests. You will please to make yourselves at home until she leaves the table. The gentlemen are to smoke in the drawing-room to-night." "A crowd?" muttered Bosworth. Then his eyes lighted up with sudden relief. "Thank the Lord, I won't have to do it." "Do what?" demanded his father. Bosworth's wits were keener. "Go out into the storm without something to warm me up," he equivocated. "Bellows, who is in the drawing-room?" asked Mr. Van Pycke, eying the door with some curiosity. "They're deuced quiet, whoever they are." Bellows grew very red in the face and resolutely pressed his lips together. He took Mr. Bosworth's overcoat and hat and laid them carefully on the Italian hall seat before venturing to reply. "You can't hear them for the wind, sir," he said. "Bellows, I'm catching my death," shivered Mr. Van Pycke. "I feel it coming. Get me something to drink. My God, look at my shoes! They're sopping wet. Bosworth, don't stand there like a clothing store model! I must have dry shoes and stockings. I can't—" "A clothing store model?" murmured the footman, strangely perturbed. "I can't run the chance of pneumonia at my age," went on Mr. Van Pycke. "Bellows, do you suppose there's a dry pair of trousers in the house? I'm wet to the knees. I must have shoes. Demmit, Bosworth, do something!" "My dear father, don't look at me. I'm using my trousers. I dare say Bellows has an extra suit of livery." "If you wouldn't mind wearing brown trousers with a yellow stripe down the leg, sir," began Bellows. "Anything," interrupted Mr. Van Pycke, irritably. "But I must also have shoes." Bellows was thoughtful. "I think, sir, that there is an old pair of riding boots under the stairs, sir. They belonged to poor Mr. Scoville, sir." "I don't like the idea of wearing other men's shoes—" objected Mr. Van Pycke, with an apprehensive glance at his son. "I don't think it would matter, sir," said Bellows, affably. "Mr. Scoville hasn't worn them in two years and a half." Mr. Van Pycke's look of horror caused Bellows to realize. "I beg pardon, sir. It would be rather grewsome getting into dead men's boots, sir. I never thought—" "That's undoubtedly what Mr. Van Pycke is contemplating, Bellows," said Bosworth, slyly. "Sir!" snapped Mr. Van Pycke. Bellows' face lighted with the joy of a great discovery. "I have it, sir. If you will wait out here just a few moments, sir, I can have trousers, shoes, and stockings. Have you a notion, sir, as to the size?" He stood back and looked Mr. Van Pycke over carefully. "I think I can fix it, sir." He departed hastily, closing the drawing-room door behind him. Bosworth sat down upon a frail Italian chair and watched his father unbutton his shoes while standing on one foot, propped against the wall. "Dad, he's going to sandbag one of the guests and take off his clothes," the young man said, smiling broadly. His eyes were quite steady now, and merry. "Why are you here, sir?" demanded his father, irrelevantly, suddenly remembering that Bosworth had not mentioned his intention to stop at Mrs. Scoville's. The young man was spared the expediency of a reply by the return of Bellows, with a pair of trousers over his arm, shoes and stockings in his hand. He seemed in some haste to close the drawing-room door behind him. "You can change in the room at the head of the stairs, sir." Mr. Van Pycke, in his stocking feet, preceded the footman up the stairs, treading very tenderly, as if in mortal fear of tacks. Buzzy twirled his thumbs impatiently. He yawned time and again, and more than once cast his glance in the direction of his coat and hat. Never before, in any house, had he been required to sit in a reception hall until the hostess was ready to receive him elsewhere. He could not understand it. Above all places, Mrs. Scoville's, where the freedom of the house was usually extended to all who in friendship came. From behind closed doors—distant closed doors, by the way—came the sound of laughter and joyous conversation, faintly audible to the young man in the hall. "I feel like an ass," said young Mr. Van Pycke, probably to the newel post, there being nothing else quite so human in sight. Then he leaned back with a comfortable smile. "I've virtually tried the three eligibles to-night," he mused. "It's a satisfaction to feel that they haven't dismissed me in so many words, and it's a relief to feel that they haven't had the actual opportunity to accept me. I've done my best. The blizzard disposes. I'll see Krosson to-morrow about a place in his offices." Mr. Van Pycke came down stairs even more tenderly than he went up. There was a look of pain in his face, and he walked slack-kneed, with his toes turned in a trifle. He was wearing a pair of trousers that had been constructed for a much larger man, except as to height. "The shoes are too small and the trousers too big," he groaned. "I'm leaving my own up there to be dried out. Bellows says they'll be dry in half an hour. I had to put these on for a while. One...