The Rose in the Ring

G >> George Barr McCutcheon >> The Rose in the Ring

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Nor was he permitted at any time to feel that he was safe from arrest.
Thomas Braddock, savagely disappointed on that shameful night, made
life miserable for the young clown. Only a sodden hope that there was
still a chance to secure the treasure kept him from actually doing
bodily harm to David, to such an extent that he might be forced to
leave the show. That hope, and the ever-present dread of the still
absent Colonel Grand, moved Braddock to tactics so ugly that a
constant watch was being observed by those who sought to shield not
only the Virginian but the man's wife and child.

The proprietor was sinking lower and lower in the mire of
dissoluteness. There was no longer any pretense of sobriety. He drank
with vicious disregard for the common aspects of decency. He was ugly,
quarrelsome, resentful of any effort on the part of his friends to
guide him out of the slough in which he was losing himself. More than
one kindly disposed person had been knocked down for his
"interference," as Braddock called it. David Jenison shrank from
contact with him, revolting against the language he used, despising
him for the threats he held over him, distressed by the snarling
requests for money. No day passed that did not bring to David an
almost irresistible impulse to escape this loathsome man by deserting
the show. A single magnet held him: Christine. He endured torment and
obloquy that he might always be there to defend her and the sad-eyed,
broken woman who had defended him.

If it had not been for the plight of these loved ones he might have
persuaded himself to go back to Virginia and give himself up for
trial. Time had encouraged him in the belief that his innocence would
prevail. He had talked it over with Joey and Dick Cronk. Both of them
had advised him to stand to his original determination to find Isaac
Perry before putting himself in jeopardy.

Colonel Grand's prolonged absence was the cause of much speculation
and uneasiness. The entire company lived in dread of his return, yet
each individual was eager to have it over with. No man liked the new
partner; every one knew where his real interest lay. Thomas Braddock
cursed him in secret for remaining away while the show was tottering
on its last legs. Mrs. Braddock never spoke of the man, but it was not
difficult to interpret the anxious, daunted expression in her eyes as,
day after day, she appeared at the tent; nor was the temporary gleam
of relief less plain when she convinced herself that he was not on the
grounds.

There was method in Colonel Grand's aloofness. He held off resolutely,
with almost satanic cruelty, while Thomas Braddock and the weather
brought the show to the last stages of desperation. At the
psychological moment he would present himself and exact his pound of
flesh.

Christine's attitude toward her father changed forever on the night of
David's luckless appeal. She had the whole story of her mother's life
before she went to bed that night. From that unhappy hour of truth she
gave all of her love to the abused gentlewoman whose willfulness and
folly had resulted in her own appearance in the world. The knowledge
that David knew the story, with all others, at first raised a sombre
barrier between them, which was broken down by the young man's tender
consideration and devotion.

She was no longer the gay, sprightly creature he had known at first.
Now she lived well within herself, a curb on her spirits that seldom
relaxed except when she was happily alone with her mother and David.
Then she breathed freely and cast off the weight that oppressed her.

There was no mistaking David's attitude toward this dainty, bewitching
comrade of those troublous, trying days. The whole company saw,
approved, and was delighted.

Joey alone spoke to him of what was in the minds of all. "Jacky," he
said one blustering evening, "I see how it is with you now; but is it
going to endure? Don't blush, my lad, and don't flare up. We all know
you're terrible took with 'er. It's nothink to be ashamed of. Wot I'm
going to say is this. She's a puffect child yet and you are still a
schoolboy. Are you going to be man enough when you gets older and more
mature-like to stick by this 'ere puppy love that means so much to 'er
now? Are you going to love 'er allus, just as I dessay you'll find she
will do by you?"

"But--but Joey," stammered David in confusion--"she doesn't care for
me in that way."

Joey closed one eye and puffed thrice at his pipe.

"Jacky, it's not to your credit as a gentleman to be so blooming
stupid."

"She's so very young," murmured David.

"Well, love grows up, my lad, just the same as folks does," said the
old clown wisely.

"If--if I thought she'd love me when she's old enough to--" began
David, his eyes gleaming.

He stopped there, confused and awkward.

Joey eyed him. "You mean by that, that you'd go so far as to marry
'er?"

David flushed. Then his eyes flashed with resentment: "See here,
Joey, that's not the way to speak of her. She's a lady. She's not a--"
He checked himself suddenly.

"Virginians are very 'igh and mighty pussons, I've been told," said
Joey, leading him on with considerable adroitness.

"Perhaps you have also been told that we require no lessons in
chivalry," announced David, somewhat pompously.

Joey chuckled softly. "Don't get 'uffy, Jacky. Let's get back to the
fust subject. 'Ow is it going to be with you two when you've really
growed up? You're a couple of babes in the woods just now."

David was silent for a moment. Then he faced the old clown proudly.
"She's perfect, Joey; she's wonderful. I expect to love her always.
When she's old enough, I am going to ask her to be my wife."

"Provided you escape the gallows," remarked Joey sententiously.

"Yes," said the boy, setting his jaw, but turning very white. "But she
knows I am innocent. Even though I should always live under this
shadow, and under another name, I would not feel that I was doing her
a wrong in asking her to share my lot with me. Nothing could be worse
than what she has to bear now. But, Joey," he concluded firmly, "I am
going to clear my name, as sure as I live."

The old clown nodded his head, eyed his _protege_ furtively and
lovingly, and lapsed into silence. For a long time neither spoke. It
was David who broke the strain.

"Joey, I wonder if you know how much Dick Cronk loves Ruby?" He put
the question tentatively.

"I do," responded Joey promptly. "He loves her so much and so honestly
that he won't tell 'er about it."

"I feel very sorry for him."

"So do I. He's often told me that he's mad in love with 'er. But he
says she can't haf--afford to 'ave anything to do with a pickpocket.
He says it wouldn't be right. So he's just going on loving 'er and
saying nothink. That's the way it'll be to the end."

"And Ruby?"

"Well, she knows 'ow it is with 'im. I daresay that's why she's allus
trying to get 'im to give up wot he's doing now and go out West where
he could begin all over again."

"If he did that, would you let her--"

"That's the question, my lad," interrupted Joey very soberly. "I don't
think I could let 'er marry a chap as 'ad been a thief. I--I, well,
you see, Jacky, I want my gal to marry a gentleman."

His lip twitched and he fell to studying the ground. David did not
smile. He looked away, for he understood the longing that was in the
heart of this lowly-born jester who did not even pretend to be a
gentleman.

"No," said Joey after a long time, "he won't even ask 'er, 'Ow can he,
feeling as he does about hisself? You see, he says he's going to be
'anged some day afore he gets through. He's that positive about it I
can't talk 'im out of the idee. He says it won't do no good to reform
if he's sure to be 'ung in the end. He says it's destiny, wotever that
is."

He got up and strolled away, saying it was time to dress for the
performance, adding lugubriously that there'd be more people in the
band-stand than there'd be in the "blues."

When the night's performance was over, Thomas Braddock came back to
announce to the performers that they would have to travel by wagon
from that time on, unless they chose to pay their own railroad fare.

"What's good enough for me and my wife and daughter is good enough for
the rest of you, I reckon," he said. "We travel by wagon to-night.
Mary, you and Christie take the car of Juggernaut. You can take
anybody else in with you that you like. I've noticed you don't want me
around any more. Maybe you'll take this Jacky boy in with you."

He left the tent, laughing boisterously.

"Now is the time for me to use some of my money," said David,
hastening to Mrs. Braddock's side. "I'll get back what Joey and Casey
have. You shall not travel in those wagons. I protest against it. The
rest of the performers have some of their wages left. They can tide
over these bad times. But you have nothing. You are at his mercy.
Don't say no, Mrs. Braddock. I mean to do it."

He had his way. Joey and Casey and Ruby produced, between them, nearly
four hundred of his precious dollars. The generous boy promptly put
the entire amount in Mrs. Braddock's hands.

"It is a loan," she murmured.

"Certainly," he said gravely.

"Ruby, you will go with us," she went on. "My husband must be made to
understand that we are to thank you and Joey for this bit of luxury."

Joey Grinaldi sought out Braddock and told him of his determination to
share his little store of savings with Mrs. Braddock and Christine.
There was a scene, but the clown stood his ground.

"I suppose I can sleep in the gutter," raved Braddock.

"I don't give a 'ang where you sleep, Tom Braddock," shouted Joey,
angry for the first time in years.

"Where's that Snipe kid? "demanded the other.

"He's to stay with me," announced Joey.

"The damned little sneak, he could save us a lot of trouble if he'd
thaw out and hand over some of the money he's hiding. I'm going to
have it out with him. He can't stay on here and let--"

"I wouldn't talk so much, Brad. Better keep a close tongue in that
'ead of yours," said the clown meaningly. Braddock looked at him in
sudden apprehension. He began to wonder what the old clown suspected.

He changed his tactics. "If Dick Cronk was only here, I could borrow
enough from him to get a place to sleep," he growled petulantly. "But,
curse him, he hasn't been near us since that job in Granville, ten
days ago."

When Joey left him he was cursing everything and everybody. On the way
to the hotel Christine and David walked together. She clung very
tightly to his arm. Leaving the grounds, she had whispered in his ear:

"David, I adore you--I just adore you."

"I'd die for you, Christine. That's how I feel toward you," he
responded passionately.

A sweet shyness fell upon her. The chrysalis of girlish ignorance was
dropping away; she was being exposed to herself in a new and glowing
form. Something sweet and strange and grateful flashed hot in her
blood; the glow of it amazed and bewildered her.

"Oh, David," she murmured timorously.

"My little Christine," he breathed, laying his hand upon hers. She
sighed; her red lips parted in the soft, luxurious ecstasy of
discovery; she breathed of a curiously light and buoyant atmosphere;
she was walking on air. Little bells tinkled softly, but she knew not
whence came the mysterious sound.

An amazing contentment came over them. They were very young, and the
malady that had revealed itself so painlessly was an old one--as old
as the world itself. Their hearts sang, but their lips were mute; they
were drunk with wonder.

They lagged behind. Far ahead hurried the others, driven to haste by
low rumbles of thunder and the warning splashes of raindrops. The
drizzle of the gray, lowering afternoon had ceased, but in its place
came ominous skies and crooning winds. Back on the circus lot men were
working frantically to complete the task of loading before the storm
broke over them. Everywhere people were scurrying to shelter. David
and Christine loitered on the way, with delicious disdain for all the
things of earth or sky.

A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a deafening roar of thunder in
the angry sky, brought them back to earth. The raindrops began to beat
against their faces. Sharp, hysterical laughter rose to their lips,
and they set out on a run for the still distant hotel. The deluge came
just as they reached the shelter of a friendly awning in front of a
grocery store. The wide, old-fashioned covering afforded safe retreat.
Panting, they drew up and ensconced themselves as far back as possible
in the doorway.

She was not afraid of the storm. Life with the circus had made her
quite impervious to the crash of thunder; the philosophy of Vagabondia
had taught her that lightning is not dangerous unless it strikes. The
circus man is a fatalist. A person dies when his time comes, not
before. It is all marked down for him.

Of the two, David was certainly the more nervous. His arm was about
her shoulders; her firm, slender body was drawn close to his. His
clasp tightened as the timidity of inexperience gave way to
confidence; an amazing sense of conquest, of possession took hold of
him. He could have shouted defiance to the storm. He held her! This
beautiful, warm, alive creature belonged to him!

"Are you afraid,--dearest?" he called, his lips close to her ear.

"Not a bit, David," she cried rapturously. "I love it. Isn't it
wonderful?"

She turned her head on his shoulder. His lips swept her cheek. Before
either of them knew what had happened their lips met--a frightened,
hasty, timorous kiss that was not even prophetic of the joys that were
to grow out of it.

"Oh, David, you must not do that!" cried the very maiden in her.

"Has any one ever kissed you before?" he demanded, fiercely jealous on
a sudden.

She drew back, hurt, aghast.

"Why, David!" she cried.

He mumbled an apology.

"Christine," he announced resolutely, "I am going to marry you when
you are old enough."

She gasped. "But, David--" she began, tremulous with doubt and
perplexity.

"I know," he said as she hesitated; "you are afraid I'll not be
cleared of this charge. But I am sure to be--as sure as there is a
God. Then, when you are nineteen or twenty, I mean to ask you to be my
wife. You are my sweetheart now--oh, my dearest sweet-heart!
Christine, you won't let any one else come in and take my place?
You'll be just as you are now until we are older and--"

"Wait, David! Let me think. I--I _could_ be your wife, couldn't I? I am
a Portman. I _am_ good enough to--to be what you want me to be, am I
not, David? You understand, don't you? Mother says I am a Portman. I am
not common and vulgar, am I, David? I--"

"I couldn't love you if you were that, Christine. You are fit to be
the wife of a--a king," he concluded eagerly.

"I have learned so much from you," she said, so softly he could barely
hear the words.

"It's the other way round. You've taught me a thousand times more than
you ever could learn from me," he protested. "I'm nobody. I've never
seen anything of life."

"You are the most wonderful person in all this world--not even
excepting the princes in the Arabian Nights."

"I'm only a boy," he said.

"I wouldn't love you if you were a man," she announced promptly.
"David, I must tell mother that--that you have kissed me. You won't
mind, will you?"

"We'll tell her together," he said readily.

"We--perhaps we'd better not tell father," she said with an effort.

The words had scarcely left her lips when a startling interruption
came. A heavy body dropped from above, landing in the middle of the
sidewalk not more than six feet from the doorway. Vivid flashes of
lightning revealed to the couple the figure of a man standing upright
before them, but looking in quite another direction. Christine's sharp
little cry came as the first flash died away, but another followed in
a second's time. The man was now facing the doorway, his body bent
forward, his white face gleaming in the unnatural light. David had
withdrawn his arms from about Christine and had planted himself in
front of her. Pitchy darkness returned in the fraction of a second.

Distinctly they heard a laugh. Then out of the clatter and swish of
driven water came the cheerful cry:

"Hello, Jack Snipe!"

"Who are you?" called out David.

"Ha! Who goes there, you mean. Always use the correct question, kid.
How can I give the secret password unless you put it up to me right?
Oh, I say! I didn't see you, Miss Christine. Geminy! Ain't this a
pelter?"

"Why, it's Dick," cried David. "Where in the world did you drop from?
The sky?"

The pickpocket laughed gleefully.

"Did I scare you? I guess it must have surprised you, me popping in
here like a Punch and Judy figure, eh? You kind o' surprised me, too,
I'll say that for you. Gee whiz, I didn't know anybody was here. Say,
do you mind if I get back in there out o' the wind to light my pipe?
I'm perishin' for a smoke."

They drew back into the corner, and the jovial rascal proceeded to
strike match after match in the futile attempt to light his pipe, all
the while standing directly in front of David and facing the street
instead of sensibly turning his back toward it. With the flare of each
match his face was illuminated briefly but clearly.

A more experienced observer than David would have grasped the
significance of these maneuvers. But how was he to know that Ernie
Cronk had been crouching in a sheltered doorway across the street,
standing guard while his artful brother entered and ransacked the
store whose awning now afforded him a comfortable refuge? And how was
he to know that Ernie had glared out upon their tender love scene with
eyes in which there was the most pitiable jealousy, the most
implacable hatred? Dick Cronk, however, knew that his brother was over
there and that he must have seen these two together in the flashes.
Moreover, he knew that Ernie had been carrying a small derringer ever
since his experience with the hoodlums earlier in the season.

That is why he stood before David and vainly tried to light his pipe.

"Why, you are perfectly dry," exclaimed Christine, touching his coat
sleeve.

"Have you been here all the time?" demanded David indignantly.

"What do you call all the time? I was here before you came, if that'll
help you any. But," he hastened to say, "I reckon I went away before
you dropped in. Now don't ask questions. If you axes no questions I'll
tell you no lies."

With the next flash of lightning he cast a furtive glance in the
direction of the show window to their left. The heavy shutter was
still open and banging noisily against the casing. A particularly
brilliant flash a few moments later revealed to this sharp-eyed young
man a huddled, black thing with a ghastly patch of white that he knew
to be a face, in the doorway opposite.

"Where have you been for the past ten days, Dick? We've missed you.
I've asked your brother time and again--"

"Do you no good to ask Ernie, Jack," said the pickpocket grimly. "He
ain't his brother's keeper, remember that. I've been taking my
vacation, that's all. My work was likely to become too confining, so I
took a notion for a change of air."

A curious note of nervousness sounded in his voice. They were
conscious of the fact that he was peering up and down the drenched,
black street with quick, apprehensive eyes. Far below there was a
lonely street lamp; another stood quite as far away in the opposite
direction.

"The rain's lettin' up a bit, Jacky," he said in hurried tones.
"You've got an umbrell'. Say, if I was you and Miss Christine I'd dig
out for the hotel. It's only a block and a half."

"We'll wait a few minutes--"

Dick pressed his arm instantly and said: "Better go now, kid; better
dig."

Christine's sharper wits grasped his meaning. The secret of his sudden
appearance was revealed to her in a twinkling. She clutched David's
arm once more.

"Yes, come, Dav--Jack. I don't mind the rain. Mother will be so
anxious."

And then David understood.

"Why, Dick, you haven't been in--"

"Sh! You'll wake the guy that sleeps up there and he'll throw a bucket
of water out on us for disturbin' him," said the other with quiet
sarcasm. "Besides, this is no place for a young lady."

"You're right," cried David in no little trepidation. "Come,
Christine!" He had looked uneasily down the street. "We can't stay
here. If some one should happen to shout from the windows upstairs,
we'd be mixed up in--"

"Say, Jack," said Dick, detaining him an instant, "come to Joey's room
in half an hour. I've got something important to tell you. Good-night,
Miss Christine. Sleep tight."

"Do be careful, Dick," she cried anxiously, over her shoulder.

He laughed jerkily. "The devil takes care of his deputies. Look to
yourself. God don't always take such excellent care of his angels."

David and Christine hurried off down the street. They looked back once
during a faint glow of lightning. Dick had disappeared.

While they were explaining their plight to Mrs. Braddock at the hotel
entrance, Dick Cronk was leading his frenzied brother by back streets
to the railroad yards. He had rushed across the street just in time to
restrain Ernie in his blind rage. The hunchback, sobbing with
jealousy, had started out to follow David, his pistol clutched to his
misshapen breast.

All the way through the dark streets the cripple was moaning: "I'd
have shot him only I was afraid of hittin' her. I couldn't stand it,
Dick. He's got her."

"Don't be a fool, Ernie," his brother kept on repeating, greatly
disturbed. "He'll be leaving the show before long. He won't stay after
the truth comes out about that murder. Then maybe you'll--"

"Oh, she'll never look at me! Don't lie to me. I wish I'd 'a' shot
when I had the chance."

"You'd ha' got me in a nice mess by doing that, Ernie. The police
would ha' nabbed me coming out of the store and they'd ha' said I
pinked him."

"I don't care. They couldn't ha' proved it on me," raged the hunchback
triumphantly. "I'll get him some time, and don't you forget it. Say,"
with a sudden change of manner, "what did you pick up in there?"

CHAPTER XI

ARTFUL DICK GOES VISITING

Half an hour later, Dick Cronk was admitted to Joey Noakes' room at
the Imperial Hotel. He came in jauntily, care-free and amiable, as if
there was no such thing in the world as trouble.

Joey and Ruby Noakes and the faithful Casey were there. Mrs. Braddock
and Christine had just gone to their room, David accompanying them
down the hall for a private word with the mother.

He returned a few minutes after Dick's arrival, his eyes gleaming with
a light they had never seen in them before. His voice trembled with an
exaltation that would have betrayed him to even less observing people
than these.

"Sit down, Jacky," said Joey, putting down his mug of beer on the
window sill. "I understand you've met Dick to-night afore this. Well,
he's got something important to tell you--and all of us, for that
matter."

David, in no little wonder and apprehension, tossed his hat on the bed
and sat down upon its edge. Ruby was sitting at the little table in
the center of the room, her elbows upon it, her chin in her hands. She
was gazing fixedly at the nonchalant outsider who leaned back in the
only rocking-chair and puffed at his pipe. He had declined the mug of
beer that had been tendered by the opulent Joey.

A big, greasy kerosene lamp hung from the ceiling almost directly
above Ruby's head. She had removed her hat. Her hair gleamed black in
the glow from above. Casey sprawled ungracefully on a couch near by.

"I've seen that precious uncle of yours," announced Dick, in his most
_degage_ manner.

David started up. "My uncle?"

"Yep," replied Dick, enjoying the situation.

"Where? Is--is he in town?" cried the other.

"Squat, Jacky. Don't flop off your base like that. Always keep a cool
head. Look at me. If the ghost of my own dad was to pop out of that
lamp chimbley there, noose and all, I wouldn't bat an eye."

"Tell me! What has happened?" demanded David, sitting down. He
observed that the others wore very serious expressions. Joey was
frowning.

"Well, 't is a bitter tale," observed Dick, in his most theatric
drawl. "Don't look so solemn, Ruby. It's all going to turn out
beautiful, like the story-books do. No, kid, he ain't in town,--
leastwise he's not in this rotten burg. Gawd knows where he is right
now. Last I saw of him was in Richmond four days ago."

"Go on, Dick. For heaven's sake, don't you see--"

"You're anxious to know how your dear relative is, I twig, as Joey
would say. Well, you can take it from me, he's very poorly. If I was
him I'd--"

"Get to the point, Dick," growled Joey.

"Don't be kidding," added Ruby eagerly.

"All right," said he resignedly. "Well, I've been to Jenison Hall,
Jacky. It's quite a place. If you ever want to sell it give me the
first chance at it."

The others drew up to the table, David and Casey standing. The
pickpocket had lowered his voice.

"I got an idea into my nut a couple of weeks ago," went on Dick,
squinting at the lamp reflectively. "I let it soak in deep and then I
proceeded to act on it. I hopped on a freight one night about ten days
ago, and lit out for Richmond, without sayin' a word to anybody. You
had told me a good bit of your own story, David, and Joey had told me
the rest, adding his confidential opinions as to what really happened
on the night of the murder. Thinks I, if I can get my hooks on that
uncle of his, I can make him squeal. Well, I went out and hung around
Jenison Hall for a night or two, gettin' the lay o' the land. To be
perfectly honest with you, I inspected the interior from top to bottom
one night. That's a very nice, comfortable room of yours, David.

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