Home > Authors Index > Robert Ames Bennet > Out of the Primitive > This page
Out of the Primitive, a novel by Robert Ames Bennet |
||
Chapter 34. "The Guilty Flee" |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER XXXIV. "THE GUILTY FLEE" In the midst of the wild flurry of work on the bridge, an engine from the junction had puffed into the switching yards with a single coach, the private car of H. V. Leslie. Despite the shrill whistle that signalled its approach, no one ran out to meet the special,--no workman appeared in the midst of the sheds and material piles to stare at the unexpected arrival. Irritated at this inattention, Mr. Leslie swung down from his car, closely followed by Lord James. "What can this mean?" he demanded. "Not a man in sight. Entire place seems deserted." "Quite true," agreed Lord James. "Ah, but out on the bridge--great crowd of men working out there. Seems to be fairly swarming with men." "So there are--so there are. Yet why so many out there, and none in the yards?" "Can't say, I'm sure. I daresay we'll learn at the office." "Learn what, Mr. Scarbridge?" asked Dolores, who had popped out into the car vestibule. Without waiting for an answer or for his assistance, she sprang down the steps, waving her muff. "Come on, Vievie. Don't wait for mamma." "What are you going to do?" demanded Mr. Leslie. "Hunt for our heroic hero, of course," answered the girl. "You shall do no such thing," said her mother, appearing majestically in the vestibule. Genevieve, pale and calm and resolute, came out past her aunt. "We shall go to Mr. Ashton's office, papa," she said, as Lord James handed her down the steps. "If Mr. Blake is not there, Mr. Ashton will know where to send for him." "Tom's out on the bridge," stated Lord James. "He is? How do you know?" queried Mr. Leslie. "It's a hundred to one odds. That wire to Griffith--'On the job,' y' know. He'll be where the most work is going on. I'll go fetch him." "If you will, James," said Genevieve. "Tell him that papa--not I--You understand." "Trust me!" He smiled, glanced appealingly at Dolores, met a frown, and started briskly away out the service-track. "Wait," ordered Dolores. "I'll go, too. I've never been out on an unfinished bridge." "You'll not. You'll stay ashore," interposed her mother. "Oh fudge! Trot along, then, Mr. Scarbridge." At her call, Lord James had halted and turned about, eagerly expectant. As, disappointed, he started on again, she addressed Mr. Leslie: "I'm not going back into that stuffy car, Uncle Herbert. Where's the place you call the office?" He pointed to Ashton's quarters, and she skipped forward, past the engine, before her mother could interfere. The others followed her, wrapping their furs close about them to shut out the bitterly cold wind. Dolores was still in the lead when the party reached the office, but she paused in the vestibule for her uncle to open the door. When he entered, she stepped in after him, followed by Genevieve and Mrs. Gantry. Darting his glances about the office in keen search, Mr. Leslie crossed the room to stare concernedly at the litter of torn maps and papers on the floor in front of the desk. He hurried to the inner door and rapped vigorously. There was no immediate response. He rapped again. The door opened a few inches, and Ashton's English valet peered in at the visitors with a timid, startled look. "Well?" demanded Mr. Leslie. "What d' you mean, sir, gawking that way? What's the matter here?--all these papers scattered about--everybody out on the bridge. Who are you, anyway?" "M-Mr. Ashton's m-man, sir!" stuttered the valet. "His man? Where is he?--out on the bridge?" "N-no, sir; in his rooms, sir." "Tell him to come here at once!" "Y-yes, sir, very good, sir. But I fear he'll be afraid to come out, sir. Mr. Blake--he ordered 'im to stay in, sir." "Blake ordered him! Why? Speak out, man! Why?" "He--he said the bridge--that it was about to fall, sir." "Bridge--about to fall?" "Yes, sir. So he pulled Mr. Ashton across the desk by 'is neck-- manhandled 'im awful, and 'e told 'im--" "What! What! Tell Ashton I'm here--Mr. Leslie! Tell him to come at once--at once! D' you hear?" As the valet vanished, Genevieve darted to her father, her eyes wide with swift-mounting alarm. "Papa! Didn't you hear him? He said the bridge--it's about to fall!" "He did! He did!" cried Dolores, catching the alarm. "Oh, and Jimmy's gone out, too!" "'Jimmy'!" echoed Mrs. Gantry, staring. The girl ran to the windows in the end of the room, which afforded a full view of the gigantic bridge. "Hurry! Hurry, papa! Do something!" cried Genevieve. "If the bridge falls--!" "Nonsense!" argued her father. "There can't be any danger. It's still standing--and all those men remaining out on it. If there was any danger--Must be some mistake of that fool valet." "Then why are there no men ashore? Why are they all out there?" questioned Genevieve with intuitive logic. "Oh! it's true--I know it's true! He's in danger! And James--both! They're out there--it will fall! He'll be killed! Send some one--tell them to come ashore! I'll go myself!" She started toward the door. "No, no, let me!" cried Dolores, darting ahead of her. "Stop!--both of you!" exclaimed Mrs. Gantry. "Are you mad?" "Stop!" commanded Mr. Leslie. Genevieve paused and stood hesitating before the vestibule door. Dolores darted back to the windows. A voice across the room called out: "That's--that's right! There's no need to go. It's all a fake--a pretence!" Staring about, Mr. Leslie and the ladies saw Ashton beside the inner door. He was striving to assume an air of easy assurance, but the doorknob, which he still grasped, rattled audibly. "You!" rasped Mr. Leslie. "What you doing in here--skulking in here?" Ashton cringed back, all the assurance stricken from his face. "You--you believe him!" he stammered. "But it's not fair! You've heard only his side--his lies about me!" "Whose lies? Speak out!" "His--Blake's! The big brute took me by surprise--half murdered me. He came here, drunk or crazy, I don't know which. Pretended the bridge was in danger." "Pretended? Isn't it?" "All rot! Not a bit of it!" "What!" "I tell you, it's all a put-up job--a frame-up. The brute thought he'd get in with you again--you and Genevieve. He schemed to discredit me, to get my place." "Blake?--he did that?" eagerly queried Mrs. Gantry. "Yes!" cried Ashton, and he turned again to Mr. Leslie. "Don't you see? He guessed that you were coming up. So he sneaked here ahead of you--took away my pistol and threatened to murder me if I left my rooms." Genevieve looked the glib relator up and down, white with scorn. "You lie!" she said. "But--but--I--" he stammered, disconcerted. He stepped toward her, half desperate. "It's the truth, I tell you, the solemn truth! I'll swear to it! It was there, right at my desk. You see the maps, torn when he dragged me across--by the throat! Look here at my neck--at the marks of his fingers!" "You're in luck. He had good cause to break your neck," commented Mr. Leslie. "Herbert!" reproved Mrs. Gantry, greatly shocked. "Papa! Papa!" urged Genevieve, running to grasp her father's arm. "You can't believe him! If Tom said the bridge was in danger--We stand here doing nothing! Send some one! If the bridge should fall--" "Fall?" sneered Ashton. "I tell you it's safe, safe as a rock. Look for yourselves. It's still standing." "Then he has saved it," snapped Mr. Leslie. "He's saved my bridge--his bridge! While you, you skulking thief--" Ashton cringed back as if struck. But Genevieve dragged her father about from him. "Don't mind him, papa! What does that matter now? Send some one at once!" "They're all out on the bridge already," he replied. "There's no one to send. Wait! I'll go myself!" "Oh! Oh! The train has started on shore again--it's coming clear off the bridge!" cried Dolores. "It stopped part way, near this end. They'll be on it, they'll surely be on it. Yes, yes! There he is! There's Jimmy!" She flung up a window-sash and leaned far out, waving her handkerchief. Her mother turned to Genevieve, who stood as if dazed. "My dear," she said, "do you not understand? Lord James is safe--quite safe!" "Yes?" replied Genevieve vaguely. "And Blake!" exclaimed Mr. Leslie. "He'll of course be coming, too. I'm going to meet him--learn the truth." He cast a threatening glance at Ashton, and went out like a shot. "Uncle Herbert, take me with you!" called Dolores, flying out after him. "Blake!--coming here!" gasped Ashton. He ran to place himself before Genevieve, who was about to go out. "Wait, wait, Miss Genevieve, please! Save me! He--he said he'd smash me if I talked--he did! He did! Don't let him hurt me! He threatened to kill me--it's true-- true!" "Threatened to kill you?" repeated Mrs. Gantry. "Genevieve, call back your father. If the man really is violent, as Lafayette says--" "Aunt Amice!" remonstrated Genevieve. "Can you believe this miserable creature for an instant?" "But it's true--it is true!" gasped Ashton. "Mrs. Gantry, dear, dear Mrs. Gantry, you'll believe me! He will kill me! Take me aboard the car! Please, please take me aboard the car and hide me!" "My dear Genevieve," said Mrs. Gantry, "the poor boy is really terrified." "Take him to the car, if you wish," replied Genevieve. "He can leave it at the junction." "Oh, thank you, thank you, Miss Genevieve!" stammered Ashton. But Genevieve went out without looking at him. He followed with Mrs. Gantry, keeping close beside her. _ |
||