"She's the one I've come here to speak about. If we don't stop her she'll ruin us altogether. She--she's a damned fool, I tell you!""There! there!" the captain's tone was sharp and emphatic. "That's enough of that," he said. "I don't want to hear you call your sister names. What do you mean by it?""I mean what I say. She IS a fool. Do you know what she's done?
She's written Mal Dunn all about it! I'd have stopped her, but Ididn't know until it was too late. She's told him the whole thing.""She has? About 'Bije?"
"Well, perhaps she didn't tell him father was a thief, but she did tell that the estate was gone--that we were flat broke and worse.""Hum!" Captain Elisha seemed more gratified than displeased.
"Hum! . . . Well, I kind of expected she would. Knowin' her, I kind of expected it.""You did?" Stephen glared in wrathful amazement. "You expected it?""Yes. What of it?"
"What OF it? Why, everything! Can't you see? Mal's our only chance. If she marries him she'll be looked out for and so will I.
She needn't have told him until they were married. The wedding could have been hurried along; the Dunns were crazy to have it as soon as possible. Now--""Hold on, Steve! Belay! What difference does her tellin' him make? Maybe she hasn't mentioned it to you, but I had a talk with your sister the other mornin'. She thinks the world of Malcolm, and he does of her. She told me so herself. Of COURSE she'd go to him in her trouble. And he'll be proud--yes, and glad to know that he can help her. As for the weddin', I don't see that this'll have any effect except to hurry it up a little more, maybe."Steve looked at him suspiciously, but there was no trace of sarca** in the captain's face or voice. The boy scowled.
"Ugh!" he grunted.
"What's the 'ugh' for? See here, you ain't hintin' that young Dunn was cal'latin' to marry Caroline just for her money, are you? Of course you ain't! Why, you and he are the thickest sort of chums.
You wouldn't chum with a feller who would play such a trick as that on your own sister."Stephen's scowl deepened. He thrust his hands into his pocket, and shifted his feet uneasily.
"You don't understand," he said. "People don't do things here as they do where you come from.""I understand that, all right," with dry emphasis. "I've been here long enough to understand that. But maybe I don't understand YOU.
Heave ahead, and make it plain."
"Well--well, then--I mean this: I don't know that Mal was after Caro's money, but--but he had a right to expect SOME. If he didn't, why, then her not telling him until after they were married wouldn't have made any difference. And--and if her tellin' him beforehand SHOULD make a difference and he wanted to break the engagement, she's just romantic fool enough to let him.""Well?"
"WELL? If she doesn't marry him, who's going to take care of her?
What's going to become of ME? We haven't a cent. What kind of a guardian are you? Do you want us to starve?"He was shouting again. The captain was calm. "Oh," he said, "Iguess it won't reach to the starvation point. I'm a pretty tough old critter, 'cordin' to your estimate, but I shouldn't let my brother's children starve. If the wust comes to the wust, there's always a home and plenty to eat for you both at South Denboro."This offer did not appear to comfort the young gentleman greatly.
His disgust was evident.
"South Denhoro!" he repeated, scornfully. "Gad! . . . South Denboro!""Yup. But we'll let South Denboro alone for now and stick to New York. What is it you expect me to do? What are you drivin' at?"Stephen shook a forefinger in his guardian's face.
"I expect you to make her stick to her engagement," he cried. "And make her make him stick. She can, can't she? It's been announced, hasn't it? Everybody knows of it! She's got the right--the legal right to hold him, hasn't she?"His uncle regarded him with a quizzical smile. "Why, ye-es," he answered, "I cal'late she has, maybe. Course, there's no danger of his wantin' to do such a thing, but if he should I presume likely we could make it uncomfortable for him, anyhow. What are you hankerin' for, Steve--a breach-of-promise suit? I've always understood those sort of cases were kind of unpleasant--for everybody but the newspapers."The boy was in deadly earnest. "Pleasant!" he repeated. "Is any of this business pleasant? You make her act like a sensible girl!
You're her guardian, and you make her! And, after that, if he tries to hedge, you tell him a few things. You can hold him! Do it! DO it!"Captain Elisha turned on his heel and began pacing up and down the room. His nephew watched him eagerly.
"Well," he demanded, after a moment, "what are we going to do? Are we going to make him make good?"The captain paused. "Steve," he answered, deliberately, "I ain't sure as we are. And, as I've said, if he's got a spark of decency, it won't be necessary for us to try. If it should be--if it should be--""Well, IF it should be?"
"Then we can try, that's all. Maybe you run a course a little different from me, Stevie; you navigate 'cordin' to your ideas, and I do by mine. But in some ways we ain't so fur apart. Son," with a grim nod, "you rest easy on one thing--the Corcoran Dunn fleet is goin' to show its colors."