Collected Works of Zane Grey, page 1350
“There’s some champagne left,” drawled Linc. “Perhaps I can persuade Lucy to have another glass.”
“No, not here,” Kit replied, hastily. She seemed to be thinking swiftly. Lincoln grasped that she did not want him or Lucy to see the person she and Miller were to meet. “Come, Hank, we must go... . I’ll tell you, Linc. There’s a parlor at the head of the stairs. Wait there for us. We shouldn’t be long.”
“Don’t hurry on our account,” rejoined Lincoln, meeting Miller’s dark and speculative eyes. “I’m sure I shall be pleasantly engaged.”
“Ahuh. I get you, Bradway,” retorted the cowboy, sullenly. And he turned to Kit, who had arisen from the table. “You go meet thet feller. I’ll stay here.”
“You fool!” snapped Kit. The look she gave Miller was freighted with hate and menace. “You come with me.” She seized his arm and almost dragged him away, turning once to beckon Lucy and Lincoln. They followed, with Lincoln a little behind the girl. This was his chance and he could hardly contain himself. He was afraid Kit Bandon might see his obvious exultation, but she did not look back again.
Lincoln led Lucy up the wide stairway. Her eyes were averted, her chin up, her slender form erect and stiff. His heavy gun bumped against her as they reached the landing. He turned to look down into the lobby; Kit and Miller were talking with a tall man who possessed the weather-beaten complexion and the cut of a cattleman. Miller was gazing up at Lincoln and Lucy with baleful and frustrated eyes; he was still gazing when Kit drew him out of Bradway’s line of vision.
CHAPTER VII
LINC TURNED TO the curtained doorway and peered inside. The parlor was illuminated by a lamp with a red shade. He flung the curtains aside and turned to Lucy. “Come,” he said. It was an invitation, not a command.
She was reluctant to enter but finally brushed past him without looking up and walked across the room to one of the open windows. Lincoln slowly followed, going to the opposite window and looking out into the night. What seemed to be a small park with grass and trees lay between the street and the railroad yards. Beyond the tracks a sharp bluff loomed above the town. Far beyond, he knew, were the Wasatch Mountains, dark and somber against the moonlit sky.
Lincoln stepped back from the window and said: “Lucy, we have only a few minutes to talk, and I for one don’t want to take all this valuable time quarreling with you about what someone has told you about me.”
“What someone told me!” she retorted. The suppressed anger in her low voice startled Lincoln.
“That’s what I said,” he replied. “Kit Bandon has told you something about me. Will you tell me what it was?”
“It was too sickening for me to repeat.”
“Well, it isn’t true, whatever she might have said. Possibly it was something in reference to the fact that I found her to be just as fascinating as did the other cowboys.... Well, I did find her fascinating. She is an incredibly glamorous and alluring woman. I don’t suppose it’s entirely honorable of me to tell on a woman who — who has gone out of her way to be agreeable to me, but I’m bound to let you know that I think she was sincere. Nevertheless I still believe there must have been some other reason prompting her besides merely wanting to collect another cowboy’s scalp.”
“Please stop,” whispered Lucy. “It’s unbearable.”
“That’s only because you are thinking wrong.”
“How could I be thinking wrong — you admit it.”
“I admit nothing that is shameful. Whatever she may have told you, Lucy, this is God’s truth. She called me up to her parlor in the Leave It to warn me.... She put her arms around — my neck — and — and kissed me.... Honestly, Lucy, I thought I was struck by lightning. You see I haven’t been kissed often — never by such as her. She seemed to take it for granted that I had succumbed to her charm — I suppose she is used to that. But I hadn’t — not with my mind. I should have repulsed her, I know, but I doubt if the man lives who could resist her when taken by surprise that way. I don’t know what she thought — but no matter what she thought, I did not fall for her blandishment. That’s all that happened, Lucy, I swear it.”
“Evidently you can lie as well as you can shoot people in cold blood.”
“I’m not lying,” flashed Linc, cut to the quick by the girl’s accusation.
“Oh, you’re just another slick-tongued cowboy trying to make game of me — like they all do.”
“Don’t insult me, Lucy,” he said bitterly, attempting to control himself. “You’ll say something before long that you’ll be sorry for all the rest of your life. I know this looks bad to you, but for God’s sake try to trust me. It’s tremendously important for both of us!”
He took hold of her arm and tried to draw her from the window. She repulsed him, turning her face away. Angered, he reached around to grasp her shoulders and twist her about to face him. She was pale and her eyes were full of scorn. Futilely she tried to avert them from his searching gaze.
“Look at me!” he cried.
She wrenched one hand free and slapped him soundly on the cheek. Suddenly enraged despite himself, Lincoln slapped her back.
“You damned little spitfire! Haven’t you any sense whatsoever?”
The red leaped to her cheek, contrasting with her paleness. He saw that he must have hurt her. Her hand flew to her face, and the tears flooded her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but you’ve been so bull-headed and unreasonable.” He grasped her arms powerfully again and held her despite her weak efforts to free herself.
“Oh, you are such a liar,” she cried.
“I’m not a liar, Lucy.”
“You’re just like all the rest of them. I hate cowboys. I’ve liked a lot of them and I — I — could have loved Jimmy... and what did I get for it? Deceit — treachery! All of them lost their heads over my aunt. That wouldn’t have been so bad but they...”
She bit her lip, evidently realizing what she was about to betray, and for a moment she was pale and silent. Lincoln quickly lost his anger with the realization that he must convince her — that he had right and love on his side.
“Please believe me — trust me, Lucy,” he said, simply.
“Oh, if I only could,” she cried. “But it would be so weak, so foolish of me. You’re just like the others — only you’re more clever, more convincing....”
“The honest truth, Lucy, is that I fell in love with you at first sight and every moment since I’ve loved you more.”
“I — I don’t believe you,” she murmured, on the verge of tears.
Instead of shaking her again he pulled her into his arms and held her close.
“Let me go!” she cried, furiously, yet he could feel that she was weakening.
“Not until you come to your senses.”
She struggled but was powerless to break his hold. Straining from him she bent her face backward, her lips parted, her eyes dark, her color mounting. It was almost impossible for Lincoln to restrain himself from kissing her.
“You not only are a liar but a brute! Suppose my aunt should come and see you now?”
“Lucy, I give you my word, I’m not afraid of it.”
“She — she would kill you!”
“Oh, she would?” he queried, sharply. “That confirms other things I’ve heard.... But I’m not so easy to kill, even for a man.... I am mightily interested in this aunt of yours. And my interest has nothing to do with her charm or magnetic personality. Lucy, you will have to take me on trust just as I seem to have to take a great deal on trust. I wish that you would take back what you called me — liar and brute.”
“I won’t do it.”
“All right. Then take this from a liar and a brute....” He crushed her in his arms and pulled her face close to his. She gasped and uttered a little indistinct cry. Then he released her and she stood facing him silently, her cheeks flaming, her eyes blazing, her lips trembling. With a quick movement she turned her back toward him and with nervous fingers began fumbling with her disheveled hair.
“I wouldn’t kiss a girl who could think me as low-down as you do, even when I’m mad about her.... So forget that for the time being. I went to our meeting place on the rim that morning. I waited hours for you. I never saw anything as lovely as your valley in the morning light. As I waited by my signal fire I had wonderful plans and thoughts about you and me when the job that brought me here was finished. It dawned on me after those long hours of waiting that you were not going to come. Since you had promised to come, I began to worry that something had happened to you. I rode down into the valley to hunt you up. When I came to the belt of timber I turned off the road and took the trail through the willows. I wanted to have a look at the ranch before I rode in. Well, I stayed in the willows until I could hear the river. Then I smelled smoke. I knew there was a camp near, so I slipped along cautiously until I came into a clearing on the banks of the river. There was a little camp with a smoldering fire. In a tall willow I saw a man with a telescope looking over the Bandon ranch...”
“Oh,” she replied, hurriedly, evidently perturbed. “Then what did you do?”
“I called him down out of the tree pronto. Since you are so firmly convinced that I’m a liar and a cheat, I won’t supply you with any material for additional accusations, but I will tell you that interrupting this little piece of spy work made things look bad for Kit Bandon.”
“It could look bad for your man, too,” retorted Lucy. “What you saw could be misunderstood. I’m afraid — Lincoln, you must tell me what he said.”
“Perhaps,” replied the Nebraskan. Then he continued: “I rode out of the willows, crossed the river and went to the ranch house. You know, of course, there wasn’t anybody home nor any message from you explaining why you hadn’t met me. I decided to ride out to the roundup which the spy had been watching with his telescope. The roundup was a mile or so from the corrals and when I rode up to those Mormon cowpokes I thought I was in for a fight. I guess they were more scared than I was but certainly not as curious. I learned a good deal more from them than they learned from me.”
“But what did you find out?” she whispered, nervously.
“Lucy, I know honest cattlemen when I see them. Those Mormons were good boys — and they do not know anything about Kit Bandon. Except that she pays them big money!”
“What could they know about my aunt?”
“What do you think?” he said watching her closely. “I can see, Lucy, that you know a good deal more than you’re going to tell me now,” he replied in a tone of resignation. “I can be patient. As soon as you realize I’m honest — that I love you — that I’m going to fight your battle, as well as Jim’s and mine, you will confide in me.”
“If you are against my aunt, you also will be against me,” she cried.
“I’m not her enemy yet and I never will be yours.”
“But I would be your enemy if you were hers,” she said, so quietly that he could scarcely hear what she had said.
“Just a few moments ago you accused me of being her lover. You’re unreasonable, girl. I know this is a hard situation for you. But try to realize how difficult it is for me.... Well, after talking with the Mormons I rode back to South Pass and took the stage early next morning and here I am.”
“Did you follow us?”
“Yes, but what mainly brought me here was to meet Hank Miller.”
A look of dread came into the girl’s blue eyes.
“You must be seeking him — because you’ve heard of something — something — concerning Jimmy?”
“Yes, that is true, Lucy. However, I didn’t expect to find him such a tough hombre. He would have been a bad customer to meet anyhow but he seems to have some claim on you and that’s going to make it worse.”
“But he hasn’t any claim on me,” she denied vehemently, her cheeks blazing. “It’s only that Aunt Kit—” Then again she closed her lips tightly.
“Lucy, it was easy to see he was in love with you — and almighty jealous.”
“Yes,” admitted Lucy, “but I am not in love with him.”
“No? Then who are you in love with?”
“Not with any cowboy! No cowboy will ever hurt me again!”
“You don’t imagine you’re hurt,” said Lincoln, gently. “But one word more about this Miller. I’m afraid I’m not avoiding tangling with him. But if he tells me what I want to know and unless he’s particularly ornery and mean, I’ll try to for your sake. Only if he’s the kind of hombre I think he is, he’ll pull a gun at the drop of a hat, and I’m simply warning you that I don’t want to take any chances.”
“You will be in danger, Lincoln?” she asked falteringly.
She turned away to the window again and pressed her face and hands against the pane. He saw the constriction in her throat. Suddenly he had an inspiration.
“Wait a minute, Lucy,” he whispered, huskily.
He went to the door and out on the landing. Descending a few steps of the stairway he bent down to look into the lobby below. There was no sign of Kit Bandon and her companions. Then he hurried back to Lucy.
“Don’t you want to believe in me, Lucy?” he implored.
“More than anything in the world,” she answered, softly.
“All right, I can prove to you that what I said is true.”
“Words are cheap. You could make black look white,” she said wearily.
“Yes, but actions are truer than words.”
“What do you mean by action?” she asked.
“I will marry you right this hour — if you’ll have me?”
She turned to him, incredulous, as if she had not heard aright.
“Lucy,” he went on, “up there on the Pass you led me to think that you respected me — that perhaps you could love me. I think you even were willing to forget that I have led a rough life in a rough country. I’m no different now than I was that day I met you. Won’t you believe that?”
“I — I can conceive of such a thing... but the idea of marrying you is preposterous — mad. You — we — it isn’t possible.”
“It might be,” he pleaded. “This town is big enough to have a parson. Let me go out and see?”
“No, no. You’re mad.”
“I may be mad, but I love you. And I think that’s the way to save us both.”
“It wouldn’t save us,” she cried, wildly. “She’d kill us both! I didn’t tell you before because I was afraid to, but Kit is truly and sincerely in love with you. She says you are the man she’s been waiting for. She regrets the love affairs she’s had with other men. She is counting upon marrying you. And when she makes up her mind to something, nothing can stand in her way.... That is why it would mean ruin for us.”
That was Lincoln’s moment. He seized her hands and drew her to him. “Lucy, that sweet and beautiful love you had for me couldn’t have died in a moment, could it?”
“Oh, no, no, it hasn’t — I tried to destroy it but I couldn’t. It has tortured me—”
His lips closing on hers halted the sentence. He felt her trembling.
“Let me go,” she pleaded.
“No, Lucy darling, I’ll never let you go now.” He kissed her again.
“Please, Lincoln — this is madness.”
“My darling, say you will marry me?” he whispered and without giving her time to answer he crushed her in his arms. She struggled, but it was only a half-hearted effort. Her eyes were opened wide now and staring up into his. And as he looked down into those eyes which could never dissemble or conceal the truth, he knew. His heart leaped joyously.
“Don’t hold — me — so tight,” she whispered. “I can’t breathe... Lincoln, please — let — me — go.”
Her strength had gone and she was clinging to him, trembling.
“My dearest,” he whispered.
Her head fell forward then on his breast. She had yielded. He could feel it in her fingers clutching his coat, in her little inarticulate cry of surrender.
“Bless you, Lucy,” he whispered, taking her two hands in one of his and holding them against his breast. “I swear to you, my darling, that never as long as you live, will you regret this moment.”
“Oh, Lincoln, hurry before I lose my courage,” she cried.
He rushed out of the room and halfway down the stairway. Then reason and caution returned to him and he made his way down the rest of the stairs and through the lobby. Kit Bandon and her companions were nowhere in sight. Lincoln went out. It was quite dark. Only a few yellow lights glimmered weakly here and there, when he turned down the street. He seemed to be treading on air. At the next corner he crossed the street, and entering a store he inquired if there were a parson in Rock Springs. He was informed that there was a Reverend Smith who was on his way to Oregon and who temporarily was holding meetings at the church right next to the depot. He found himself running the block and a half to the frame, steepleless building which served all denominations in Rock Springs. The church door was open, a small oil lantern flickering over the entrance. Lincoln caught the strains of an organ: evidently it was nearing time for some kind of service. His knock was answered by a boy who informed the hard-breathing cowboy that the preacher lived in the small frame house next door. A little round-faced, smiling man wearing the black garb of a churchman, greeted Lincoln with a smile.
“Are you the minister?” Lincoln managed to blurt out.
“I am, my good sir. What can I do for you?”
“I want to get married,” panted Lincoln.
“Well, where’s the bride?” inquired the minister, looking behind the eager bridegroom.
“I can get her here in five minutes. What will I have to have?”
“A ring and the lady’s consent. I can supply everything else.”
“I’ll be back in five minutes.”
Lincoln rushed back the way he had come. Happening to pass a shop with a tray of jewelry in the window Lincoln dashed in breathlessly and purchased a diamond ring and a wedding ring that would go on his little finger. He did not wait for the change, but left the amazed clerk staring at him wide-eyed.
