The Last Woman

by Ross Beeckman

  CHAPTER X

  MONDAY, THE THIRTEENTH

  The monotonous, but not unpleasing voice of Malcolm Melvin began thereading of the stipulations in the contract to the three persons whowere seated before him around the table in the lawyer's privateoffice. The time was Monday morning, shortly after ten o'clock.

  "This agreement, hereinafter made, between Roderick Duncan, of theCity, County, and State of New York, party of the first part; StephenLangdon, of the same place, party of the second part; and PatriciaLangdon of the same place, party of the third part, as follows: First,the party of the first part--"

  "Just wait a moment, Mr. Melvin, if you please," Duncan interruptedhim. "If it is all the same to you, and to the other parties concernedin this transaction, I don't care to hear all that dry rot, you havewritten. If you will be so kind as simply to state in plain Englishwhat the stipulations are, it will answer quite as well for theothers, and it will suit me a whole lot better."

  "It is customary, Mr. Duncan, to listen carefully to a legal documentone is about to sign with his name," said the lawyer, with a drysmile.

  "I don't care a rap about that, Melvin; and you know I don't. Theothers know it, too."

  "I think," said Patricia, quietly, "that the papers should be read,from beginning to end."

  "Nonsense!" exclaimed her father; "and besides, Pat, I haven't time. Iought to be down-town, right now. Let Melvin get over with thisfoolish nonsense, as quickly as possible; and then, if you andRoderick will only kiss, and make up--"

  Patricia interrupted him:

  "Very well, Mr. Melvin," she said. "You may state the substance of theagreement."

  The lawyer turned toward Duncan. There was a twinkle of amusement inhis eyes, although his face remained perfectly calm andexpressionless.

  "According to these papers as I have drawn them, Mr. Duncan," he said,slowly, "you loan the sum of twenty million dollars to StephenLangdon, accepting as security therefor, and in lieu of othercollateral, the stated promise of Miss Langdon to become your wife.She reserves to herself, the right to name the wedding-day, providedit be within a reasonable time."

  "May I ask how Miss Langdon defines the words, a reasonable time?"asked Duncan, speaking as deliberately as the lawyer had done. "As forthe loan to Mr. Langdon--he already has that. But, the reasonabletime: just what does that expression mean?"

  "I suppose, during the season; say, within three, or six, months fromdate," replied the lawyer.

  "That will do very well, thank you. You may now go on." Duncan wasdetermined, that morning, to meet Patricia on her own ground.

  "The loan you make to the party of the second part, to Mr. Langdon, isto be repaid to you at his convenience, and with the legal rate ofinterest, within one year from date. At the church where the weddingceremony shall take place, and immediately before that event, you areto give to Miss Langdon, a cashier's check for ten-million dollars,which she will endorse and send to the bank, before the ceremonyproceeds. It is Miss Langdon's wish to have her maiden name appear asthe endorsement on that check. Later, she will have the accounttransferred from Patricia Langdon to Patricia Duncan. You are--"

  "Just one moment, again, Mr. Melvin." Duncan reached forward andpulled the papers toward him. "Will you please show me where I am tosign? What remains of the stipulations, I can hear at another time.Unfortunately, at the present moment, I am in haste, and I happen toknow that Mr. Langdon is very anxious to get away."

  "Is it your habit to sign legal papers without reading them?" demandedPatricia, with just a little touch of resentment in her tone. She hadrather prided herself upon the wording of this document, which she hadso carefully dictated to Melvin, and it hurt her to think that herstipulations were passed over so easily.

  But the lawyer, who saw in the whole circumstance nothing but a hugejoke, which would presently come to a pleasant end, had alreadypointed out to Duncan the places on the three papers where he was toput his signature, and the young man was signing them, rapidly. He didnot reply until he had written his name the third time. Then, he lefthis chair, and with a low and somewhat derisive bow to his affiancedwife, said:

  "No, Patricia, it is not; but these circumstances are different fromthose in which one is usually called upon to sign documents. Icertainly should have no hesitation in accepting, without reserve,any conditions which you chose to insist upon, so long as thoseconditions, in the end, made you my wife. You may sign the papers atyour leisure; but I shall ask you to excuse me, now." He bowedsmilingly to her, shook hands with the lawyer, and called across thetable to the banker:

  "So long, Uncle Steve; I'll see you later." A moment afterward thedoor closed behind him.

  "The whole thing looks to me like tomfoolery!" ejaculated the banker,as he drew the papers toward him, and signed them rapidly. "Patricia,you are the party of the third part, here, and you can sign them atyour leisure. I've got to go, also. Melvin, you can send my copy ofthe contract direct to me, when it is ready."

  "It is your turn now, Miss Langdon," said the lawyer, in his mostprofessional tone, as soon as her father had gone. But, instead ofsigning, Patricia, for the first time since the beginning of thisconfused condition of affairs, lost her pride and became the emotionalyoung woman that she really was.

  Without a word of warning, she burst into a passion of tears. Throwingher arms upon the table, she buried her face in them, and sobbed onand on, convulsively, vehemently, inconsolably.

  The lawyer, stirred out of his professional calm by this human side ofthe cold and haughty young woman, placed one hand tenderly, ifsomewhat tentatively, upon her shoulder. For a time, he patted hergently, while he waited for her tempest to pass.

  "There, there, my dear. Don't let it affect you so," he said. "It isnothing but a storm-cloud, that will quickly pass away. It is justlike a thunder-shower, very dark while it lasts, but making all thebrighter the sunshine that follows it. I know how you have been tried,and how your pride has been hurt; but, child, there are two kinds ofpride in everybody, and it is never quite easy to determine which iswhich. I strongly suspect, my dear, that you have been actuated by afeeling of false pride, in the position you have taken as to thismatter. I won't attempt to advise you, now. Don't sob so, my dear. Itwill all come out right."

  She raised her head from the table, and looked at him, pathetically.

  "I am so sorry, Mr. Melvin," she said, slowly, with a catch in herbreath as she spoke. "I seem to have done everything wrong, in thismatter. I've made everybody unhappy." Again, she buried her face inher arms, and sobbed on, with even more abandon than before.

  "My child," said the lawyer, "I've lived long enough in the world todiscover that it is never wise to permit ourselves to be actuated byfalse motives. You will discover the truth of that statement, lateron; you are only just beginning to realize it, now."

  She made no reply to this, but a moment later she started to her feet,and again became the haughty, self-contained, relentless, Juno.

  "Give me the pen," she said. "I will sign."

  "If you will take my advice," replied the lawyer, without moving, "youwill tear up those three documents, or direct me to do so, and leavethings as they are."

  "No," she replied. "I will sign."

  "Very well, Patricia." He pushed the documents toward her, and watchedher with a half-smile on his professional face, while she appended hersignature to each of them. A moment later, he escorted her from theoffice, and assisted her into the waiting car. Then, he stood quitestill and watched it as it carried her away from the business-sectionof the city. He shook his head and sighed, as he reentered thebuilding where his office was located.

  "Poor child," he was thinking to himself; "she didn't tee-off well, inthe beginning of this game, and she encountered the worst hazard ofher life when she came up against her own unyielding pride. Poorchild! So beautiful, so good, so tender of heart, she hides every realemotion she possesses behind an impenetrable barrier, barring theexpressions of her natural affections with an icy shield whi
ch shepermits no one to penetrate. For just a moment, she let me see her asshe is; I wonder if she has ever permitted others." He got out of theelevator, and walked slowly toward his office-door, pausing midwayalong the corridor, and still thinking on, in the same fashion. "Imust find a way to help her, somehow. Old Malcolm Melvin, whose heartis supposed to be like the parchments he works upon, must make himselfthe champion of this misguided girl. Ah, well, we shall see what canbe done. We shall see; we shall see." He passed inside his officethen, and in a moment more had forgotten, in the multitudinous affairsof his professional life, that such a person as Patricia Langdonexisted.

  * * * * *

  That Monday, in the evening, at his rooms, Roderick Duncan receivedtwo letters. One was delivered by messenger; the other came by post.He recognized the handwriting on the envelope of each, and for amoment hesitated as to which of the two he should read first. One, heknew, was sent by Sally Gardner; the other was from Patricia.

  He laid them on the table in front of him, and stood beside it lookingdown upon the two envelopes with a half-smile upon his face, which wasweary and troubled; then, with a broader smile, he took a coin fromhis pocket and flipped it in the air.

  A glance at the coin decided him, and he took up Sally's letter andbroke the seal. He read:

  "My Dear Roderick:

  "I promised you, when you left me Saturday night, to communicate withyou at once. Beatrice is quite ill, although you are not to infer fromthis statement that her indisposition it at all serious. I have merelyinsisted that she should remain in bed at my house yesterday andto-day.

  "On no account should you seek her at present nor should you attemptto communicate with her. I will keep you informed as to her conditionbecause I realize that you will be anxious, inasmuch as you doubtlesshold yourself responsible for the present state of affairs. Besatisfied with that, and believe me,"

  "Loyally your friend,

  "SALLY GARDNER.

  "P. S. Doubtless you will see Jack at the club this evening. Let meadvise you not to discuss with him anything that happened Saturdaynight after his departure with Patricia. I have thought it best tokeep that little foolish affair a secret between ourselves.

  S. G."

  Duncan stood for a considerable time with the letter held before hiseyes, while he went over in his mind the chain of incidents thatfollowed upon his meeting with Beatrice Brunswick in the box at theopera-house. Presently, he returned the letter to the envelope, andlaid it aside, while he took up the other one, addressed in thehandwriting of Patricia.

  He read it slowly, with widening eyes; and then he read it again, moreslowly, as if he were not certain that he had read it aright before.Finally, with something very nearly approaching an oath, he crushedthe short document in his hand, and strode to the window, where hestood for a long time, staring out into the darkness, without moving.His valet entered the room and made some remark about dressing him forthe evening, but Duncan sharply ordered the man away, telling him toreturn in half an hour. Afterward he went back to the table wherethere was more light, and smoothed out the crumpled page ofPatricia's letter, so that he could read it a third time.

  It was very short and very much to the point; and it had brought withit a greater shock than he could possibly have anticipated. Thestrange part of it was that he did not comprehend the precisecharacter of that shock. He did not know whether he was pleased, ordispleased; whether he was amused, or angry--or only startled.Certainly, he had never thought of expecting such a communication asthis from Patricia Langdon. The letter was as follows:

  Four, P. M., Monday.

  "Dear Roderick:

  "According to the document signed jointly by you, my father andmyself, and witnessed by Mr. Malcolm Melvin at his office at teno'clock this morning, I was given the undisputed right to name the dayfor the ceremony, which is to complete the transaction as agreed uponamong us three, but more particularly between you and me. I havethought the matter over calmly and dispassionately, since I partedwith you at the lawyer's office, and have decided that, all thingsconsidered, it will be best not to defer too long the conditions ofthat transaction.

  "I have decided that the ceremony--a quiet one--shall be performed bythe Rev. Dr. Moreley, at the Church of the Annunciation, at teno'clock in the morning, one week from to-day, which will be Monday,the thirteenth.

  "If there should be any important reason why you prefer to change thisdate, you may communicate the same to me at once, and I shall considerit; but if not, I greatly prefer that matters should stand as I havearranged them.

  "PATRICIA LANGDON."