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25 chapters
THE HOLLOW OF HER HAND
THE HOLLOW OF HER HAND
CONTENTS CHAPTER I — MARCH COMES IN LIKE THE LION CHAPTER II — THE PASSING OF A NIGHT CHAPTER III — HETTY CASTLETON CHAPTER IV — WHILE THE MOB WAITED CHAPTER V — DISCUSSING A SISTER-IN-LAW CHAPTER VI — SOUTHLOOK CHAPTER VII — A FAITHFUL CRAYON-POINT CHAPTER VIII — IN WHICH HETTY IS WEIGHED CHAPTER IX — HAWKRIGHT's MODEL CHAPTER X — THE GHOST AT THE FEAST CHAPTER XI — MAN PROPOSES CHAPTER XII — THE APPROACH OF A MAN NAMED SMITH CHAPTER XIII — MR. WRANDALL PERJURES HIMSELF CHAPTER XIV — IN THE SHA
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CHAPTER I — MARCH COMES IN LIKE THE LION
CHAPTER I — MARCH COMES IN LIKE THE LION
The train, which had roared through a withering gale of sleet all the way up from New York, came to a standstill, with many an ear-splitting sigh, alongside the little station, and a reluctant porter opened his vestibule door to descend to the snow-swept platform: a solitary passenger had reached the journey's end. The swirl of snow and sleet screaming out of the blackness at the end of the station-building enveloped the porter in an instant, and cut his ears and neck with stinging force as he t
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CHAPTER II — THE PASSING OF A NIGHT
CHAPTER II — THE PASSING OF A NIGHT
The sheriff was right. Sara Wrandall was an extraordinary woman, if I may be permitted to modify his rather crude estimate of her. It is difficult to understand, much less to describe a nature like hers. Fine-minded, gently bred women who can go through an ordeal such as she experienced without breaking under the strain are rare indeed. They must be wonderful. It is hard to imagine a more heart-breaking crisis in life than the one which confronted her on this dreadful night, and yet she had face
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CHAPTER III — HETTY CASTLETON
CHAPTER III — HETTY CASTLETON
At half-past six she went to the telephone and called for the morning newspapers. At the same time she asked that a couple of district messenger boys be sent to her room with the least possible delay. The hushed, scared voice of the telephone girl downstairs convinced her that news of the tragedy was abroad; she could imagine the girl looking at the headlines with awed eyes even as she responded to the call from room 416, and her shudder as she realised that it was the wife of the dead man speak
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CHAPTER IV — WHILE THE MOB WAITED
CHAPTER IV — WHILE THE MOB WAITED
The next day but one, in the huge old-fashioned mansion of the Wrandalls in lower Fifth Avenue, in the drawing-room directly beneath the chamber in which Challis was born, the impressive but grimly conventional funeral services were held. Contrasting sharply with the sombre, absolutely correct atmosphere of the gloomy interior was the exterior display of joyous curiosity that must have jarred severely on the high-bred sensibilities of the chief mourners, not to speak of the invited guests who ha
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CHAPTER V — DISCUSSING A SISTER-IN-LAW
CHAPTER V — DISCUSSING A SISTER-IN-LAW
"You remember my sister-in-law, don't you, Brandy?" was the question that Leslie Wrandall put to a friend one afternoon, as they sat drearily in a window of one of the fashionable up-town clubs, a little more than a year after the events described in the foregoing chapters. Drearily, I have said, for the reason that it was Sunday, and raining at that. "I met Mrs. Wrandall a few years ago in Rome," said his companion, renewing interest in a conversation that had died some time before of its own e
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CHAPTER VI — SOUTHLOOK
CHAPTER VI — SOUTHLOOK
Sara Wrandall's house in the country stood on a wooded knoll overlooking the Sound. It was rather remotely located, so far as neighbours were concerned. Her father, Sebastian Gooch, shrewdly foresaw the day when land in this particular section of the suburban world would return dollars for the pennies, and wisely bought thousands of acres: woodland, meadowland, beachland and hills, inserted between the environs of New York City and the rich towns up the coast. Years afterward he built a commodio
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CHAPTER VII — A FAITHFUL CRAYON-POINT
CHAPTER VII — A FAITHFUL CRAYON-POINT
Leslie Wrandall came out on the eleven-thirty. Hetty was at the station with the motor, a sullen resentment in her heart, but a welcoming smile on her lips. The sun shone brightly. The Sound glared with the white of reflected skies. "I thought of catching the eight o'clock," he cried enthusiastically, as he dropped his bag beside the motor in order to reach over and shake hands with her. "That would have gotten me here hours earlier. The difficulty was that I didn't think of the eight o'clock un
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CHAPTER VIII — IN WHICH HETTY IS WEIGHED
CHAPTER VIII — IN WHICH HETTY IS WEIGHED
Booth and Leslie returned to the city on Tuesday. The artist left behind him a "memory sketch" of Sara Wrandall, done in the solitude of his room long after the rest of the house was wrapped in slumber on the first night of his stay at Southlook. It was as sketchily drawn as the one he had made of Hetty, and quite as wonderful in the matter of faithfulness, but utterly without the subtle something that made the other notable. The craftiness of the artist was there, but the touch of inspiration w
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CHAPTER IX — HAWKRIGHT's MODEL
CHAPTER IX — HAWKRIGHT's MODEL
Brandon Booth took a small cottage on the upper road, half way between the village and the home of Sara Wrandall, and not far from the abhorred "back gate" that swung in the teeth of her connections by marriage. He set up his establishment in half a day and, being settled, betook himself off to dine with Sara and Hetty. All his household cares, like the world, rested snugly on the shoulders of an Atlas named Pat, than whom there was no more faithful servitor in all the earth, nor in the heavens,
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"I?"
"I?"
"Certainly," he said with so much meaning in the word that she flushed. "Oh, I see," she mused, with understanding. "Can't you trust Vivian to do that for you?" There was intense irony in the question. He laughed disdainfully. "Vivvy wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance with you, take it from me." He stopped abruptly at the doorway, a frown of recollection creasing his seamless brow. "Oh, that reminds me, there is something else I want to discuss with you, Sara. After luncheon will be time enough.
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CHAPTER XI — MAN PROPOSES
CHAPTER XI — MAN PROPOSES
The young men cooled their heels for an hour before word was brought down to them that Mrs. Wrandall begged to be excused for the afternoon on account of a severe headache. Miss Castleton was with her, but would be down later on. Meanwhile they were to make themselves at home, and so on and so forth. Booth took his departure, leaving Leslie in sole possession of the porch. He was restless, nervous, excited; half-afraid to stay there and face Hetty with the proposal he was determined to make, and
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CHAPTER XII — THE APPROACH OF A MAN NAMED SMITH
CHAPTER XII — THE APPROACH OF A MAN NAMED SMITH
Mr. Redmond Wrandall, grey and gaunt and somewhat wistful, rode slowly through the leafy lane, attended some little distance behind by Griggs the groom, who slumped in the saddle and thought only of the sylvan dell to curse it with poetic license. (Ever since Mr. Wrandall had been thrown by his horse in the Park a few years before his wife had insisted on having a groom handy in case he lost his seat again: hence Griggs.) It sometimes got on Mr. Wrandall's nerves, having Griggs lopping along lik
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CHAPTER XIII — MR. WRANDALL PERJURES HIMSELF
CHAPTER XIII — MR. WRANDALL PERJURES HIMSELF
Smith arrived at eleven, somewhat after the fashion of the Hawkshaws of "yellow back" fame, who, if our memory serves us right, were so punctual that their appearance anywhere was described as being in the "nick o' time," only in this instance he was expected and did not "drop from the sky," as the saying goes. Mr. Wrandall met him at the station and escorted him in a roundabout way to Southlook, carefully avoiding the main village thoroughfare and High street, where the fashionable colony was i
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CHAPTER XIV — IN THE SHADOW OF THE MILL
CHAPTER XIV — IN THE SHADOW OF THE MILL
Later on Sara, in sober reflection, endorsed what had appeared at the time to be a whimsical, quixotic proceeding on her part. She brought herself completely to the point where she could view her action with complacency. At first, there was an irritating, nagging fear that Mr. Wrandall had been genuinely soul-sacrificing in his effort to defend her; that his decisive falsehood was a sincere declaration of loyalty to her and not the transparent outburst of one actuated by a sort of fanatical self
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CHAPTER XV — SARA WRANDALL FINDS THE TRUTH
CHAPTER XV — SARA WRANDALL FINDS THE TRUTH
Sara had kept the three Wrandalls over for luncheon. "My dear," said Mrs. Redmond Wrandall, as she stood before Hetty's portrait at the end of the long living-room, "I must say that Brandon has succeeded in catching that lovely little something that makes her so—what shall I say?—so mysterious? Is that what I want? The word is as elusive as the expression." "Subtle is the word you want, mother," said Vivian, standing beside Leslie, tall, slim and aristocratic, her hands behind her back, her mann
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CHAPTER XVI — THE SECOND ENCOUNTER
CHAPTER XVI — THE SECOND ENCOUNTER
Booth trudged rapidly homeward after leaving Hetty at the lodge. He was throbbing all over with the love of her. The thrill of conquest was in his blood. She had raised a mysterious barrier; all the more zest to the inevitable victory that would be his. He would delight in overcoming obstacles—the bigger the better,—for his heart was valiant and the prize no smaller than those which the ancient knights went out to battle for in the lists of love. He had held her in his arms, he had kissed her, h
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CHAPTER XVII — CROSSING THE CHANNEL
CHAPTER XVII — CROSSING THE CHANNEL
Booth, restless with a vague uneasiness that had come over him during the night, keeping him awake until nearly dawn, was hard put during the early hours of the forenoon to find occupation for his interest until a seasonable time arrived for appearing at Southlook. He was unable to account for this feeling of uncertainty and irritation. At nine he set out to walk over to Southlook, realising that he should have to spend an hour in profitless gossip with the lodge-keeper before presenting himself
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"TRULY?"
"TRULY?"
He flushed and muttered an oath. She understood. He had been "kicked out!" "Hello!" called out a sprightly voice from the gathering darkness, and the next moment Leslie joined them. "Have dinner with us to-night, Hetty? Just the three of us. Please do." "No, thank you, Mr. Wrandall. I am getting ready to leave to-morrow. Packing and all that sort of thing." "Did Colonel Castleton tell you that I'm off for New York on Saturday? Mother and Viv are to get the boat at Southampton. I thought you'd be
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CHAPTER XIX — VIVIAN AIRS HER OPINIONS
CHAPTER XIX — VIVIAN AIRS HER OPINIONS
Chief among Booth's virtues was his undeviating loyalty to a set purpose. He went back to America with the firm intention to clear up the mystery surrounding Hetty Castleton, no matter how irksome the delay in achieving his aim or how vigorous the methods he would have to employ. Sara Wrandall, to all purposes, held the key; his object in life now was to induce her to turn it in the lock and throw open the door so that he might enter in and become a sharer in the secrets beyond. A certain amount
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CHAPTER XX — ONCE MORE AT BURTON'S INN
CHAPTER XX — ONCE MORE AT BURTON'S INN
Again Sara Wrandall found herself in that never-to-be-forgotten room at Burton's Inn. On that grim night in March, she had entered without fear or trembling because she knew what was there. Now she quaked with a mighty chill of terror, for she knew not what was there in the quiet, now sequestered room. Burton had told them on their arrival after a long drive across country that patrons of the inn invariably asked which room it was that had been the scene of the tragedy, and, on finding out, refu
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CHAPTER XXI — DISTURBING NEWS
CHAPTER XXI — DISTURBING NEWS
He walked home swiftly through the early night, his brain seething with tumultuous thoughts. The revelations of the day were staggering; the whole universe seemed to have turned topsy-turvy since that devastating hour at Burton's Inn. Somehow he was not able to confine his thoughts to Hetty Castleton alone. She seemed to sink into the background, despite the absolution he had been so ready, so eager to grant her on hearing the story from Sara's lips. Not that his resolve to search her out and cl
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CHAPTER XXII — THE HOLLOW OF HER HAND
CHAPTER XXII — THE HOLLOW OF HER HAND
To her secret amazement, the old lawyer did not offer a single protest when she repeated her convictions that the girl was innocent and should be protected against herself as well as against the police. There was something very disquieting in the way he acquiesced. She began to experience a vague, uneasy sense of wonder and apprehension. "I am beginning to agree with that amiable scoundrel, Smith," he said, fixing his inscrutable gaze on the snapping coals in the fireplace. "A cleverer woman tha
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CHAPTER XXIII — SARA WRANDALL'S DECISION
CHAPTER XXIII — SARA WRANDALL'S DECISION
When Smith returned from the Far West, a few days after the events narrated in the foregoing chapter, he repaired at once to Sara's apartment, bringing with him not only the signed statement of the Ashtley girl, but the well-worn and apparently cherished prayer-book that had been her solace during the last few months of her life. On the fly-leaf she had written: "I have nothing of God's earthly gifts to leave behind but this. It has brought me riches, but it is a poor thing in itself. I bequeath
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CHAPTER XXIV — THE JURY OF FOUR
CHAPTER XXIV — THE JURY OF FOUR
The Wrandalls sat waiting and wondering. They had been sent for and they had deigned to respond, much to their own surprise. Redmond Wrandall occupied a place at the head of the library table. At his right sat his wife. Vivian and Leslie, by direction, took seats at the side of the long table, which had been cleared of its mass of books and magazines. Lawyer Carroll was at the other end of the table, perceptibly nervous and anxious. Hetty sat a little apart from the others, a rather forlorn, det
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