A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY by Edward Payson Roe (red seas under red skies .TXT) 📕

Might Result In an Explosion Of Wrath; And Yet He Made A Desperate

Effort At Self-Control, For He Saw That His Wife Was In one Of Those

Moods Which He Had Learned to Regard With A Wholesome Respect.

"You Have Sent Haldane To Prison," She Said Calmly. Though Her Tone Was

So Quiet, There Was In it A Certain Depth And Tremble Which Her Husband

Well Understood, But He Only Answered briefly:

"Yes; He Must Go There If He Finds No Bail."

"May I Ask Why?"

"He Robbed me Of A Thousand Dollars."

"Were There No Extenuating Circumstances?" Mrs. Arnot Asked, After A

Slight Start.

"No, But Many Aggravating Ones."

"Did He Not Come Here Of His Own Accord?"

"He Could Not Have Done Otherwise. I Had Detectives Watching Him."

"He Could Have Tried to Do Otherwise. Did He Not Offer Some

Explanation?"

"What He Said Amounted to A Confession Of The Crime."

"What Did He Say?"

"I Have Not Charged my Mind With All The Rash, Foolish Words Of The

Young Scapegrace. It Is Sufficient For Me That He And All In my Employ

Received a Lesson Which They Will Not Soon Forget. I Wish You Would

Excuse Me From Further Consideration Of The Subject At Present. It Has

Cost Me Too Much Time Already."

"You Are Correct," Said Mrs. Arnot Very Quietly. "It Is Likely To Prove

A Very Costly Affair. I Tremble To Think What Your Lesson May Cost This

Young Man, Whom You Have Rendered reckless And Desperate By This Public

Disgrace; I Tremble To Think What This Event May Cost My Friend, His

Mother. Of The Pain It Has Cost Me I Will Not Speak--"

"Madam," Interrupted mr. Arnot Harshly, "Permit Me To Say That This Is

An Affair Concerning Which A Sentimental Woman Can Have No Correct

Understanding. I Propose To Carry On My Business In the Way Which

Experience Has Taught Me Is Wise, And, With All Respect To Yourself, I

Would Suggest That In these Matters Of Business I Am In my Own

Province."

The Ashen Hue Deepened upon Mrs. Arnot'S Face, But She Answered quietly:

"I Do Not Wish To Overstep The Bounds Which Should Justly Limit My

Action And My Interest In this Matter. You Will Also Do Me The Justice

To Remember That I Have Never Interfered in your Business, And Have

Rarely Asked you About It, Though In the World'S Estimation I Would Have

Some Right To Do So. But If Such Harshness, If Such Disastrous Cruelty,

Is Necessary To Your Business, I Must Withdraw My Means From It, For I

Could Not Receive Money Stained, As It Were, With Blood. But Of This

Hereafter. I Will Now Telegraph Mrs. Haldane To Come Directly To Our

House--"

"To Our House!" Cried mr. Arnot, Perfectly Aghast.

"Certainly. Can You Suppose That, Burdened with This Intolerable

Disgrace, She Could Endure The Publicity Of A Hotel? I Shall Next Visit

Haldane, For As I Saw Him In the Street, With The Rabble Following, He

Looked desperate Enough To Destroy Himself."

"Now, I Protest Against All This Weak Sentimentality," Said Mr. Arnot,

Rising. "You Take Sides With A Robber Against Your Husband."

"I Do Not Make Light Of Haldane'S Offence To You, And Certainly Shall

Not To Him. But It Is His First Offence, As Far As We Know, And, Though

You Have Not Seen Fit To Inform Me Of The Circumstances, I Cannot

Believe That He Committed a Cool, Deliberate Theft. He Could Have Been

Made To Feel His Guilt Without Being Crushed. The Very Gravity Of His

Wrong Action Might Have Awakened him To His Danger, And Have Been The

Turning-Point Of His Life. He Should Have Had At Least One Chance--God

Gives Us Many."

"Well, Well," Said Mr. Arnot Impatiently, "Let His Mother Return The

Money, And I Will Not Prosecute. But Why Need mrs. Haldane Come To

Hillaton? All Can Be Arranged by Her Lawyer."

"You Know Little Of A Mother'S Feelings If You Can Suppose She Will Not

Come Instantly."

"Well, Then, When The Money Is Paid She Can Take Him Home, That Is,

After The Forms Of Law Are Complied with."

"But He Must Remain In prison Till The Money Is Paid?"

"Certainly."

"You Intimated that If Any One Went Bail For Him He Need not Go To

Prison. I Will Become His Security."

"O Nonsense! I Might As Well Give Bail Myself."

"Has He Reached the Prison Yet?"

"I Suppose He Has," Replied mr. Arnot, Taking Care To Give No Hint Of

The Preliminary Examination, For It Would Have Annoyed him Excessively

To Have His Wife Appear At A Police Court Almost In the Light Of An

Antagonist To Himself. And Yet His Stubborn Pride Would Not Permit Him

To Yield, And Carry Out With Considerate Delicacy The Merciful Policy

Upon Which He Saw She Was Bent.

"Good-Morning," Said His Wife Very Quietly, And She At Once Left Her

Husband'S Private Room. Laura Rose From Her Chair In the Outer Office

And Welcomed her Gladly, For, In her Nervous Trepidation, The Minutes

Had Seemed like Hours. Mrs. Arnot Went To A Telegraph Office, And Sent

The Following Despatch To Mrs. Haldane:

"Come To My House At Once. Your Son Is Well, But Has Met With

Misfortune."

She Then, With Laura, Returned immediately Home And Ordered her Carriage

For A Visit To The Prison. She Also Remembered with Provident Care That

The Young Man Could Not Have Tasted food That Morning.

As Haldane Emerged from The Office Into The Open Glare Of The Street, He

Was Oppressed with Such An Intolerable Sense Of Shame That He Became

Sick And Faint, And Tottered against The Policeman, Who Took No Other

Notice Of His Condition Than The Utterance Of A Jocular Remark:

"You Haven'T Got Over Your Drunk Yet, I'M Athinking."

Haldane Made No Reply, And The Physical Weakness Gradually Passed away.

As His Stunned and Bewildered mind Regained the Power To Act, He Became

Conscious Of A Morbid Curiosity To See How He Was Regarded by Those Whom

He Met. He Knew That Their Manner Would Pierce Like Sword-Thrusts, And

Yet Every Scornful Or Averted face Had A Cruel Fascination.

With A Bitterness Of Which His Young Heart Had Never Before Had Even A

Faint Conception, He Remembered that This Cold And Contemptuous, This

Scoffing and Jeering World Was The Same In which Only Yesterday He

Proposed to Tower In such Lofty Grandeur That The Maiden Who Had

Slighted him Should Be Consumed with Vain Regret In memory Of Her Lost

Opportunity. He Had, Indeed, Gained eminence Speedily. All The Town Was

Hearing Of Him; But The Pedestal Which Lifted him So High Was Composed

Equally Of Crime And Folly, And He Felt As If He Might Stand As A

Monument Of Shame.

But His Grim And Legal Guardians Tramped along In the Most Stolid And

Indifferent Manner. The Gathering Rabble At Their Heels Had No Terror

For Them. Indeed, They Rather Enjoyed parading Before Respectable

Citizens This Dangerous Substratum Of Society. It Was A Delicate Way Of

Saying, "Behold In these Your Peril, And In us Your Defence. We Are

Necessary To Your Peace And Security. Respect Us And Pay Us Well."

They Represented the Majesty Of The Law, Which Could Lay Its Strong Hand

On High And Low Alike, And The Publicity Which Was Like A Scorching Fire

To Haldane Brought Honor To Them.

Although The Journey Seemed interminable To The Culprit, They Were Not

Long In reaching The Police Court, Where The Magistrate Presiding Had

Already Entered on His Duties. All Night Long, And Throughout The Entire

City, The Scavengers Of The Law Had Been At Work, And Now, As A Result,

Every Miserable Atom Of Humanity That Had Made Itself A Pestilential

Offence To Society Was Gathered here To Be Disposed of According To

Sanatory Moral Rules.

Hillaton Was A Comparatively Well-Behaved and Decorous City; But In

Every Large Community There Is Always A Certain Amount Of Human

Sediment, And Haldane Felt That He Had Fallen Low Indeed, When He Found

Himself Classed and Huddled with Miserable Objects Whose Existence He

Had Never Before Realized. Near Him Stood Men Who Apparently Had Barely

Enough Humanity Left To Make Their Dominating animal Natures More

Dangerous And Difficult To Control. To The Instincts Of A Beast Was

Added something Of A Man'S Intelligence, But So Developed that It Was

Often Little More Than Cunning. If, When Throwing away His Manhood, Man

Becomes A Creature More To Be Dreaded than A Beast Or Venomous Reptile,

Whichever He Happens Most To Resemble, Woman, Parting With Her

Womanhood, Scarcely Finds Her Counterpart Even In the Most Noxious Forms

Of Earthly Existence. She Becomes, In her Perversion, Something That Is

Unnatural And Monstrous; Something, So Opposite To The Creator'S Design,

As To Suggest It Only In caricature, Or, More Often, In fiendish

Mockery. The Gorgons, Sirens, And Harpies Of The Ancients Are Scarcely

Myths, For Their Fabled forms Only Too Accurately Portray, Not The

Superficial And Transient Outward Appearance, But The Enduring Character

Within.

Side By Side With Haldane Stood A Creature Whose Dishevelled, Rusty

Hair, Blotched and Bloated features, Wanton, Cunning, Restless Eyes,

Combined perfectly To Form The Head Of The Mythological Harpy. It

Required little Effort Of The Imagination To Believe That Her Foul,

Bedraggled dress Concealed the "Wings And Talons Of The Vulture." Being

Still Unsteady From Her Night'S Debauch, She Leaned against The Young

Man, And When He Shrank In loathing away, She, To Annoy Him, Clasped him

In Her Arms, To The Uproarious Merriment Of The Miscellaneous Crowd That

Is Ever Present At A Police Court. Haldane Broke Away From Her Grasp

With Such Force As To Make Quite A Commotion, And At The Same Time Said

Loudly And Fiercely To The Officer Who Had Arrested him:

"You May Have Power To Take Me To Jail, But You Have Not, And Shall Not

Have, The Right Nor The Power To Subject Me To Such Indignities."

"Silence There! Keep Order In the Court!" Commanded the Judge.

The Officer Removed his Prisoner A Little Further Apart From The Others,

Growling as He Did So:

"If You Don'T Like Your Company, You Should Have Kept Out Of It."

Even In his Overwhelming anxiety And Distress Haldane Could Not Forbear

Giving a Few Curious Glances At His Companions. He Had Dropped out Of

His Old World Into A New One, And These Were Its Inhabitants. In their

Degradation And Misery He Seemed to See Himself And His Future

Reflected. What Had The Policeman Said?--"Your Company," And With A

Keener Pang Than He Had Yet Experienced he Realized that This Was His

Company, That He Now Belonged to The Criminal Classes. He Who Yesterday

Had The Right To Speak To Laura Romeyn, Was Now Herded with Drunkards,

Thieves, And Prostitutes; He Who Yesterday Could Enter Mrs. Arnot'S

Parlor, Might Now As Easily Enter Heaven. As The Truth Of His Situation

Gradually Dawned upon Him, He Felt As If An Icy Hand Were Closing Upon

His Heart.

But Little Time, However, Was Given Him For Observation Or Bitter

Revery. With The Rapid And Routine-Like Manner Of One Made Both Callous

And Expert By Long Experience, The Magistrate Was Sorting and Disposing

Of The Miserable Waifs. Now He Has Before Him The Inmates Of A

"Disorderly House," Upon Which A "Raid" Had Been Made The Previous

Night. What Is That Fair Young Girl With Blue Eyes Doing among Those

Coarse-Featured human Dregs, Her Companions? She Looks Like A White Lily

That Has Been Dropped into A Puddle. Perhaps That Delicate And

Attractive Form Is But A Disguise For The Harpy'S Wings And Claws.

Perhaps A Gross, Bestial Spirit Is Masked by Her Oval Madonna-Like Face.

Perhaps She Is The Victim Of One Upon Whom God Will Wreak His Vengeance

Forever, Though Society Has For Him Scarcely A Frown.

The Puddle Is Suddenly Drained off Into Some Law-Ordained receptacle,

And The White Lily Is Swept Away With It. She Will Not Long Suggest A

Flower That Has Been Dropped into The Gutter. The Stains Upon Her Soul

Will Creep Up Into Her Face, And Make Her Hideous Like The Rest.

The Case Of Egbert Haldane Was Next Called. As The Policeman