Latest / Miss Billy Married / 028 - Conspirators

Transcript

028 - Conspirators · Miss Billy Married

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight of Miss Billy Married. This is a
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings or in the public domain.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Recording by Phil Chinavert. Miss Billy Married by Eleanor H. Porter,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight Conspirators. Early in February came Arkwright's appearance
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: at the Boston Opera House, the first since he had
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: sung there as a student a few years before. He
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: was an immediate and an unquestioned success, his portrait aduring
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the first page of almost every Boston newspaper the next morning,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and captious critics vied with each other to do him honor.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: His full history from boyhood up was featured, with special
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: emphasis on his recent triumphs in New York and foreign capitals.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: He was interviewed as to his opinion on everything from
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: vegetarianism to woman's suffrage, and his preferences as to pies
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and pastimes were given headline prominence. There was no doubt
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of it. Mister M. J. Arkwright was a star. All
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Arkwright's old friends, including Billy Bertram, Cyril, Marie Calderwell, Alice Gregory,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: aunt Hannah and Tommy Dunn went to hear him sing,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: and after the performance he held a miniature reception with
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: enough adulation to turn his head completely around, he declared, depreciatingly.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Not until the next evening, however, did he have an
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: opportunity for what he called a real talk with any
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: of his friends. Then, in Caldowell's room, he settled back
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: in his chair with a sigh of content. For a time,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: his own and Caldwell's affairs occupied their attention. Then, after
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: a short pause, the tenor asked abruptly, is there anything
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: wrong with the Henshaws Calderwell. Calderwell came suddenly erect in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: his chair. Thank you. I hoped you'd introduce that subject, though,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: for that matter, if you hadn't, I should. Yes, there is,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and I'm looking to you, old man, to get them
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: out of it. I Arkwright satarek, now, yes, what do
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you mean? In a way the expected has happened, though
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I know now that I didn't really expect it to happen.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: In spite of my prophecies. You may remember I was
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: always skeptical on the subject of Bertram's settling down to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a domestic Hearthstone. I insisted twould be the turn of
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: a girl's head and the curve of her cheek that
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: he wanted to paint. Arkwright looked up with a quick frown.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: You don't mean that Hinshaw has been cad enough to
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: find another, Calderwell threw up his hand. No, no, not
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: that we haven't that to deal with yet, Thank goodness,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: there's no woman in it. And really, when you come
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: right down to it, if ever a fellow had an
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: excuse to seek diversion, Bertram Hinshaw has poor chap. It's
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: just this. Bertram broke his arm again last October, so
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I heard, and I thought he was looking badly. He is.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: It's a bad business twas improperly set in the first place,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and it's not doing well now. In fact, I'm told
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: on pretty good authority that the doctor says he probably
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: will never use it again. Oh by George Calderwell. Yes, tough,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: isn't it, especially when you think of his work and know,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: as I happen to, that he's particularly dependent on his
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: right hand for everything. He doesn't tell this generally, and
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I understand Billy and the family know nothing of it.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: How hopeless the case is. I mean, well, naturally, the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: poor fellow has been pretty thoroughly discouraged, and to get
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: away from himself, he's gone back to his old bohemian habits,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: spending much of his time with some of his old
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: cronies that are none too good for him. Sever for instance,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Bob sever Yes, I know him. Arkwright's lips snapped together crisply. Yes,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: he said, he knew you that. That's why I'm counting
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: on your help. What do you mean, I mean, I
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: want you to get Henshaw away from him and keep
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: him away. Arkwright's face darkened with an angry flush. Great
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Scott Caldwell, what are you talking about? Hinshaw is no
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: kid to be toted home, and I'm no nursery governess
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to do the toading. Caldowell laughed quietly. No, I don't
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: think anyone would take you for a nursery governess, Arkwright,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that you are still known
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: to some of your friends as Mary Jane. But you
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: can sing a song man which will promptly give you
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a thorough ticket to their innermost sacred circle. In fact,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: to my certain knowledge, Seaver is already planning a jamboree
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: with you at the right hand of the toastmaster. There's
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: your chance once in stay in long enough to get
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Henshaw out. But good heavens, called Owell. It's impossible, demanded Arkwright, savagely.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I can't walk up to the man, take him by
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the ear and say hear you, sir mart Holm. Neither
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: can I come thee I am holier than thou act
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and hold him up to the mirror of his transgressions. No,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: but you can get him out of it some way.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: You can find a way for Billy's sake. There was
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: no answer, and after a moment, Calderwell went on more quietly.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I haven't seen Billy but two or three times since
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I came back to Boston. But I don't need to.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I know that she's breaking her heart over something, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of course that's something, is Bertram. There was still no answer.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Arkwright got up suddenly and walked to the window. You see,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: I'm helpless, resumed Calderwell. I don't paint pictures, nor sing songs,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: nor write stories, nor dance jigs for a living, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: you have to do one or another to be and
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: with that set and it's got to be a Johnny
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: on the spot with Bertram all is something will have
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to be done to get him out of the state
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of mind and body he's in now or Arkwright wheeled sharply,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: when did you say this jamboree was going to be
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: he demanded next week sometime. The date is not settled.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: They were going to consult you, hm, commented Arkwright, and
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: though his next remark was a complete change of subject,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: cal Dewell gave a contented sign if. When the proposition
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was first made to him, Arkwright was doubtful of his
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: ability to be a successful Johnny on the spot. He
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: was even more doubtful of it as the days passed
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: and he was attempting to carry out the suggestion. He
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: had known that he was undertaking a most difficult and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: delicate task, and he soon began to fear that it
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: was an impossible one as well. With a docked persistence, however,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: he adhere to his purpose, ever, on the alert to
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: be more watchful, more tactful, more efficient in emergencies. Disagreeable
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: as was the task in a way, in another way
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it was a great pleasure to him. He was glad
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of the opportunity to do anything for Billy, and then
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: too he was glad of something absorbing enough to take
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: his mind off his own affairs. He told himself sometimes
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: that this helping another man to fight his tiger skin
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: was assisting himself to fight his own Arkwright was trying
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: very hard not to think of Alice Greggory these days.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: He had come back hoping that he was, in a
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: measure cured of his folly, as he termed it, But
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: the first look into Alice Greggory's blue gray eyes had
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: taught him the fallacy of that idea. In that very
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: first meeting with Alice, he feared that he had revealed
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: his secret, for she was plainly, so nervously distant and
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: ill at ease with him that he could but construe
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: her embarrassment and chilly dignity as pity for him and
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: a desire to show him that she had nothing but
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: friendship for him. Since then, he had seen but little
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of her, partly because he did not wish to see her,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and partly because his time was so fully occupied then too.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: In a roundabout way, he had heard a rumor that
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Calderwell was engaged to be married, and though no feminine
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: name had been mentioned in connection with the story, Okwright
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: had not hesitated to supply in his own mind that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: of Alice Gregory, beginning with the Jamboree, which came off
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: quite in accordance with Calderwell's prophecies. Arkwright spent the most
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of such time as was not given to his professional duties,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: in deliberately cultivating the society of Bertram and his friends.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: To this extent he met with no difficulty, for he
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: found that M. J. Arkwright, the new star in the
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: operatic firmament, was obviously a welcome comrade. Beyond this, it
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: was not so easy, Okwright wondered, indeed, sometimes if he
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: were making any progress at all. But still he persevered.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: He walked with Bertram, He talked with Bertram unobstrusively. He
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: contrived to be near Bertram almost always when they were
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: together with the boys. Gradually he won from him the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: story of what the surgeon had said to him, and
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: of how black the future looked. In consequence, this established
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a new bond between them, so potent that Arkwright ventured
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to test it one day by telling Bertram the story
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: of the tiger skin, the first tiger skin in his
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: uncle's library years ago, and of how since then any
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: difficulty he had encountered he had tried to treat as
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a tiger skin. In telling the story, he was careful
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to draw no moral for his listener, and to preach
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: no sermon. He told the tale too, with all possible
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: whimsical lightness of touch, and immediately at its conclusion he
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: changed the subject. But that he had not failed utterly
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: in his design was evidence a few days later, when
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Bertram grimly declared that he guessed his tiger skin was
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: a lively beast all right. The first time Arkwright went
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: home with Bertram, his presence was almost a necessity. Bertram
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was not quite himself that night. Billy admitted them she
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: had plainly been watching and waiting. Arkwright never forgot the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: look on her face as her eyes met his. There
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: was a curious mixture of terror, hurt, pride, relief, and shame,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: overtopped by a fierce loyalty, which almost seemed to say
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: aloud the words don't you dare to blame him? Arkwright's
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: heart ached with sympathy and admiration at the proudly courageous
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: way in which Billy carried off the next few painful minutes.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Even when he bade her good night a little later,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: only her eyes said thank you. Her lips were dumb.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Arkwright often went home with Bertram after that, not that
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: it was always necessary, far from it. Some time indeed
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: elapsed before he had quite the same excuse again for
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: his presence. But he had found that occasionally he could
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: get Bertram home earlier by a right suggestions of one
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: kind or another, and more frequently he was succeeding in
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: getting him home for a game of chess. Bertram liked
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: chess and was a fine player. Since breaking his arm,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: he had turned to games with the feverish eagerness of
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: one who looks for something absorbing to feel an unrestful mind.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: It was sever skill in chess that had at first
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: attracted Bertram to the man long ago, but Bertram could
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: beat him easily, too easily for much pleasure in it now,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: so they did not play chess often these days. Bertram
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: had found that in spite of his injury, he could
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: still take part in other games, and some of them,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: if not so intricate as chess, were at least more
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: apt to take his mind off himself, especially if there
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: were a bit of money up to as zest an interest.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: As it happened, however, Bertram learned one day that Arkwright
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: could play chess and play well too, As he discovered
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: after their first game together, this fact contributed not a
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: little to such success as Arkwright was having in his
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: efforts to wean Bertram from his undesirable companions. For Bertram
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: soon found out that Arkwright was more than a match
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: for himself, and the occasional games he did succeed in
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: winning only wetted his appetite for more many. An evening now, therefore,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: was spent by the two men in Bertram's den, with
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Billy anxiously hovering near her eyes, lovingly watching either her
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: husband's absorbed face or the pretty little red and white
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: ivory figures, which seemed to possess so wonderful a power
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: to hold his attention. In spite of her joy the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: chessman's efficacy in keeping Bertram at home, however, she was
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: almost jealous of them. Mister Arkwright, couldn't you show me
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: how to play? Sometime, she said wistfully one evening, when
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the momentary absence of Bertram had left the two alone together.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I used to watch Bertram and Marie play years ago,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: but I never knew how to play myself, Not that
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I can see where the fun is in just sitting
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and staring at the chessboard for half an hour at
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: a time, though, But Bertram liked so I I want
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: to learn to stare with him. Will you teach me?
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I should be glad too, smiled Arkwright. Then will you
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: come maybe sometimes when Bertram is at the doctor's He
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: goes every Tuesday and Friday at three o'clock for treatment.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I'd rather you came then for two reasons. First because
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I don't want Bertram to know I'm learning till I
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: can play some and secondly because because I don't want
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to take you away from him. The last words were
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: spoken very low and were accompanied by a painful blush.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: It was the first time Billy had ever hinted to
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Arkwright in words that she understood what he was trying
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to do. I'll come next Tuesday, promised Arkwright, with a
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: cheerfully unobservant air. Then Bertram came in, bringing the book
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of chess problems for which he had gone upstairs. End
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty eight