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Father always calls Mother Spurlock "Elsie," and once or twice I have seen a faint blush creep to her cheeks and a glint flash from her eyes, but he blandly goes on doing it. I wonder "Father," I said, as we went slowly up the front walk together, "Nickols will be here on Friday; will you have Dabney get his rooms in the north wing ready for him?
To Spurlock it seemed as if a great iron door had swung in behind him, shutting out the old world. He was safe, out of the beaten track, at last really comparable to the needle in the haystack. The terrific mental tension of the past few months that had held his bodily nourishment in a kind of strangulation became as a dream; and now his vitals responded rapidly to food and air.
"I expect that he is," Dick admitted ruefully, and then told his chum all the details of the occurrence of the night before. "Why, that doesn't strike me as fair excuse for a fight," Greg muttered. "You explained and apologized." "Mr. Spurlock wouldn't accept any apology." "Just the same," argued Greg, "I don't believe you have to fight, in this case.
I asked with pained patience. "You say the people follow me; shall I lead them to drink from a spring that I consider dry, that is dry and has no water for my thirst? No, Mother Spurlock, if the people among whom I have been born trust me I will only lead them by going into paths I know and in which I walk for my own good or pleasure." "To the Last Chance?"
"This isn't a sprint," sneered Spurlock, as he followed nimble Plebe Prescott around, Dick doing some saving dodging, ducking and sidestepping. Nearly a dozen of Spurlock's blows Prescott succeeded in escaping, though the plebe was kept so busily on the defensive that he could not get back with anything to count. "Stand up, you jumping-jack!" hissed Spurlock.
Now it has got to come off, or else it will be because Mr. Spurlock has become more reasonable." "He'll eat you up, that big fellow," mused Greg bitterly. "Mr. Spurlock is at least fifteen pounds heavier than you. He has had a year more of West Point gym work than you've had and he has the reputation of being pretty nearly the yearling champion in the ring."
Both Ruth and McClintock came down to the launch to wish him God-speed and good luck. Ruth hugged the envelope and McClintock, with the end of a burnt match, drew a cabalistic sign. Through it all Spurlock maintained a gaiety which deceived them completely. But his treasured dream lay shattered at his feet.
This incredible scene robbed him of the sense of locomotion. But his glance roved, to the door through which Ruth had gone, to Enschede's drooping back. Unexpectedly he found himself speeding toward the father. "Enschede!" he called. Enschede halted. "Well?" he said, as Spurlock reached his side. "Are you a human being, to leave her thus?" "It is better so. You heard her. What she said is true."
Flesh and blood, vivid, alluring; she was no longer the symbol, therefore she had become, as in the twinkling of an eye, an utter stranger. And this utter stranger ... loved him! He had no reason to doubt McClintock's statement; the Scot had solved the riddle why Ruth Enschede had married Howard Spurlock. All emotions laid hold of him, but none could he stay long enough to analyze it.
Spurlock stepped into the room. One of those hanging moments ensued hypnotic. Spurlock had seen Rollo heading for the jungle, and for some reason he could not explain the incident had bothered him. Fretting and fidgeting, he had, after an hour or so, turned to McClintock. "I'm going back for Ruth." "Nonsense!" "Something's wrong." "Wrong? What the devil could be wrong?"
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