Biology Life on Earth with Physiology

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CHAPTER 7 CAPTURING SOLAR ENERGY:
PHOTOSYNTHESIS

LECTURE OUTLINE

Case Study: Did the Dinosaurs Die from Lack of Sunlight?

7.1 What Is Photosynthesis?

A. Photosynthesis Is the Process by Which Solar Energy Is Captured and Stored as Chemical Energy in the
Bonds of Organic Molecules (Figure 7-1)
1. Photosynthesis occurs in algae, certain types of bacteria, and land plants
B. Leaves and Chloroplasts Are Adaptations for Photosynthesis
1. The structure and shape of a leaf are adapted for photosynthesis
a. Leaves are flat and only a few cells thick and expose a large surface area to the sun
b. The upper and lower surfaces of the leaf are composed of transparent epidermal cells
c. The epidermis is covered by the waxy, waterproof cuticle that reduces evaporation
d. CO2 from the air enters the leaf via adjustable pores, stomata, in the epidermis (Figure 7-2)
e. The mesophyll (“middle of the leaf”) contains cells where most chloroplasts are located
(Figure 7-3)
f. Vascular bundles supply water and minerals to mesophyll cells (Figure 7-3b)
i. These contain bundle sheath cells that lack chloroplasts
2. Photosynthesis in plants takes place in chloroplasts
a. A single mesophyll cell contains numerous chloroplasts (Figure 7-3c)
3. Chloroplasts are organelles surrounded by a double membrane
a. They contain membranous thylakoids (Figure 7-3d)
C. Photosynthesis Consists of the Light Reactions and the Calvin Cycle (Figure 7-4)
1. During the light reactions, chlorophyll in thylakoids captures light energy and converts it into the
energy-carrier molecules ATP and NADPH
a. Oxygen is released as a by-product
2. In the Calvin cycle, enzymes in the stroma synthesize sugars
a. This process uses CO2 from the air and ATP and NADPH from the light reactions as an energy
source
 Case Study Continued: Did the Dinosaurs Die from Lack of Sunlight?

7.2 The Light Reactions: How Is Light Energy Converted to Chemical Energy?
A. Light Is Captured by Pigments in Chloroplasts
1. The sun emits energy in a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation (Figure 7-5)
a. This energy ranges from short-wavelength gamma rays to very-long-wavelength radio waves
b. Light is composed of individual packets of energy called photons
c. Short-wavelength photons have high energy; long-wavelength photons have low energy
d. Visible light is composed of wavelengths of light that are energetic enough to power reactions but
not damage cells
2. When light strikes an object, it is either absorbed, reflected, or transmitted
a. Absorbed light produces heat or drives reactions
b. Reflected or transmitted light that reaches our eyes produces color
3. Chloroplasts contain pigment molecules that absorb different wavelengths of light
a. There are several pigments in chloroplasts
b. The primary pigment is chlorophyll a, which absorbs violet, blue, and red light and reflects green
light
c. Accessory pigments include chlorophyll b and carotenoids, which absorb additional wavelengths of
light energy

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc. 67

68 Instructor Guide Biology: Life on Earth

d. Carotenoids are usually masked by chlorophyll and become apparent as chlorophyll breaks down
in the fall (Figure 7-6)
 Lecture Activity 7.1: Fluorescence of Chlorophyll
 Lecture Activity 7.2: Chromatography of Pigments from Spinach Leaves
 Have You Ever Wondered: What Color Might Plants Be on Other Planets?
B. The Light Reactions Occur in Association with the Thylakoid Membranes
1. Thylakoids contain many copies of two photosystems, photosystem I (PS I) and photosystem II (PS II)
a. Each photosystem consists of a cluster of chlorophyll and accessory pigment molecules
b. Each photosystem has a unique electron transport chain located adjacent to it
i. Energized electrons pass through these chains, which ultimately produce ATP and NADPH
2. Photosystem II and its electron transport chain capture light energy, create a hydrogen ion gradient,
and split water (Figure 7-7)
a. Light-dependent reactions are initiated when photons of light are absorbed by PS II, energizing
electrons
i. Pigments absorb light and pass energy to a reaction center, a specialized region of the
photosystem
ii. These electrons are then passed to an electron transport chain (ETC)
iii. Splitting water maintains the flow of electrons through photosystems
b. As electrons are passed down the ETC, energy is used to pump H+ ions across the thylakoid
membrane
c. Energy stored in the H+ ion concentration gradient is harnessed to make ATP by chemiosmosis
3. Photosystem I and its electron transport chain generate NADPH
a. Light also energizes electrons in photosystem I
i. These electrons are passed to another ETC that produces NADPH
4. The hydrogen ion gradient generates ATP by chemiosmosis (Figure 7-8)
a. The gradient produced by the ETC associated with photosystem II is used to drive the synthesis of
ATP
i. The movement of H+ ions through ATP synthase is similar to a turbine (Figure 7-8)
ii. The movement of H+ generates energy for ATP synthase to use to produce ATP
5. Summing up: Light reactions
 Case Study Continued: Did the Dinosaurs Die from Lack of Sunlight?

7.3 The Calvin Cycle: How Is Chemical Energy Stored in Sugar Molecules?
A. The Calvin Cycle Captures Carbon Dioxide
1. The Calvin cycle uses the energy in the ATP and NADPH from the light-dependent reactions to make
glucose from CO2
2. This cycle occurs in three stages (Figure 7-9)
a. Carbon fixation
i. Carbon from CO2 is “fixed” into a larger organic molecule
a. RuBP is combined with the CO2 to form an unstable 6-C molecule
ii. This unstable molecule quickly splits to form molecules of 3-C PGA (phosphoglyceric acid)
b. Synthesis of G3P
i. ATP and NADPH energy is used to convert 6 PGA to 6 G3P
c. Regeneration of RuBP
i. 5 of the 6 G3P are used to regenerate RuBP
ii. The remaining G3P exits the cycle
3. The Calvin cycle can be disrupted
a. Photorespiration occurs when O2 rather than CO2 is combined with RuBP
b. No useful energy is generated
4. Some plants living in hot, dry environments have evolved the C4 pathway or the CAM pathway of
carbon fixation
 In Greater Depth: Alternate Pathways Increase Carbon Fixation (Figures E7-1 and E7-2)
 Lecture Activity 7.5: Global Warming and Photosynthesis
B. Carbon Fixed During the Calvin Cycle Is Used to Synthesize Glucose
1. Two G3P molecules can be used to produce glucose (Figure 7-9)
2. Glucose can then be used to produce other types of sugars
3. Summing up: The Calvin cycle

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 69

 Earth Watch: Biofuels—Are Their Benefits Bogus? (Figures E7-3 and E7-4)
 Lecture Activity 7.3: The Role of Carbon Dioxide in Photosynthesis
 Lecture Activity 7.4: Modeling Photosynthesis

Case Study Revisited: Did the Dinosaurs Die from Lack of Sunlight?

KEY TERMS
accessory pigment crassulacean acid metabolism photorespiration
ATP synthase (CAM) photosynthesis
bundle sheath cells cuticle photosystem
C3 pathway electromagnetic spectrum reaction center
C4 pathway electron transport chain (ETC) rubisco
Calvin cycle epidermis stoma (plural, stomata)
carbon fixation grana stroma
carotenoid light reactions thylakoid
chemiosmosis mesophyll
chlorophyll NADPH (NADP+; nicotinamide
chlorophyll a dinucleotide phosphate)
chloroplast photon

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

70 Instructor Guide Biology: Life on Earth

LECTURE ACTIVITIES

Lecture Activity 7.1: Fluorescence of Chlorophyll

Estimated Time to Complete

The chlorophyll extract should be prepared ahead of time and will take about 30 minutes.
The in-class demonstration of chlorophyll fluorescence and related discussion will take about 10 minutes.

Section Reference
7.2 Light Reactions: How Is Light Energy Converted to Chemical Energy?

Introduction
This is a good activity for introducing the properties of light and chlorophyll as a light-capturing molecule. In this
activity, chlorophyll that has been extracted from green leaves is exposed to UV light. Photons of light will cause
electrons in the chlorophyll molecules to be boosted to higher energy levels. If an electron acceptor molecule is not
present, the excited electrons will immediately drop back to ground state, giving off energy as light (fluorescence) and
heat.
For student and/or instructor background, perform an Internet search using the terms “chlorophyll fluorescence.”

Materials Needed
 Mortar and pestle
 Centrifuge
 Test tubes
 Laboratory balance
 Pasteur pipettes
 3–5 spinach leaves
 Ethyl acetate (or ethanol)
 UV light

Procedures
You may begin with dry spinach leaves and extract chlorophyll with ethanol (Procedure A) or use fresh spinach leaves
and extract the chlorophyll with ethyl acetate (Procedure B).
Procedure A for dry spinach leaves:
1. Dry 3–5 spinach leaves until brittle, overnight in a dry location at room temperature or in an oven at 45–
50°C for 2–3 hours.
2. Grind leaves with mortar and pestle in approximately 5–10 ml of solvent (enough to cover the leaves).
Either ethyl acetate or ethanol can be used as a solvent.
3. Add the leaf mixture to a centrifuge tube. Rinse the contents from the mortar and pestle into the tube.
4. Centrifuge for about 5 minutes or until there is a solid pellet at the bottom and a green liquid fraction.
5. Using a Pasteur pipette, extract the green liquid fraction containing chlorophyll dissolved in ethyl acetate
and transfer to a clean, dry test tube. Cap the test tube to prevent evaporation.
Procedure B for fresh spinach leaves:
1. Use 3–5 fresh spinach leaves. (Do not dry.)
2. Grind the leaves with a mortar and pestle in 5–10 ml of ethyl acetate. (Ethanol is not an appropriate solvent
for the extraction of pure chlorophyll because water is soluble in ethanol.)
3. Add the leaf mixture to a centrifuge tube. Use additional solvent to rinse the contents from the mortar and
pestle into the tube.
4. Centrifuge for about 5 minutes.
5. Using a pipette, remove the green liquid fraction containing the ethyl acetate and chlorophyll and transfer to
a clean, dry centrifuge tube. Discard any solids and the aqueous layer.
6. Add 2–3 ml of water to the tube containing the chlorophyll solution, shake, and re-centrifuge.
7. Remove the lower aqueous layer by pipette and discard.
8. Cap the remaining green liquid that contains the chlorophyll.
Fluorescence under ultraviolet light:
To observe fluorescence in the UV range, use a black light that emits in the 365-nm range. Bring the test tube
containing chlorophyll to within a few centimeters of the black light and note the color of the chlorophyll extract.

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 71

For discussion purposes, you may want to try to shine other types of light (e.g., blue, green, or red light) on the
chlorophyll and note whether any fluorescence occurs.

Assessment Suggestions
Use the questions on the following page for individual assessment or group discussion.

Handout Answer Key

1. Red
2. The electron that was boosted to a higher energy level by the incoming light has fallen back to its ground state,
releasing energy that corresponds to the red region of the visible spectrum.
3. The energy represented by the red fluorescence is normally passed on to other molecules in the photosynthetic
pathway before it can be emitted as red light.
4. light chlorophyll reaction center in PSII ETC reaction center in PSI ETC NADPH
5. NADP+ picks up two energized electrons and one hydrogen ion to become NADPH.
6. The splitting of water provides replacement electrons for chlorophyll molecules.

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Name: ________________________ Date: _________________________

Instructor: _____________________ Course Section: _________________

Lecture Activity 7.1 Handout—Fluorescence of Chlorophyll

Questions

1. What color is produced during the fluorescence of chlorophyll?

2. What has happened to the excited electrons in the chlorophyll molecule when fluorescence occurs?

3. Why don’t we see fluorescent red leaves?

4. Trace the pathway of the light energy from the excitation of chlorophyll to the completion of the light-
dependent reactions.

5. During the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis, what molecule is the final electron acceptor?

6. Where do electrons come from to replace the energized electrons that are constantly leaving chlorophyll
molecules?

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 73

Lecture Activity 7.2: Chromatography of Pigments from Spinach Leaves

Estimated Time to Complete

This should be done as a demonstration. The preparation of the chromatogram takes about 5 minutes at the start of
the period. The finished chromatogram can be viewed after about 20 to 30 minutes. If you have a document camera
available, the finished chromatogram can be displayed directly on the document camera.

Section Reference
7.2 Light Reactions: How Is Light Energy Converted to Chemical Energy?

Introduction
Paper chromatography is a method of separating substances in a mixture based on their physical properties. Leaves
appear green but actually contain a combination of several different pigments that have different solubility
characteristics. As the solvent moves up the paper, the pigment components of the leaf will be separated.

Materials Needed
 Chromatography paper
 Chromatography chamber (2-qt canning jar)
 Petroleum ether acetone solvent: about 20 ml of a 90% (v/v) petroleum ether: 10% acetone solvent; keep in
covered chromatography chamber. (Note that this solvent should be prepared fresh; if too much evaporation
of petroleum ether occurs, separation will not be good.)
 One large spinach leaf
 Penny

Procedures
1. On a piece of chromatography paper, make a pencil (not ink!) line 2 cm from the bottom of the paper.
2. Place a large spinach leaf over the pencil line. Using a penny, rub the spinach leaf in one long straight line to
cover the pencil mark.
3. Place it in a chamber with acetone–petroleum ether solvent. Note: petroleum ether and acetone are
extremely flammable! The spot should NOT be immersed in the solvent.
4. Allow the solvent to move to within 2 cm of the top of the strip and then remove and air-dry the paper.
5. When the chromatogram is dry, record the results as a sketch, showing the position of the spots on the
paper. Four spots should be visible: from the bottom, working upward, the pigments are chlorophyll b,
chlorophyll a, xanthophyll (this may be one or two spots), and carotene. Xanthophyll and carotene are
yellow-orange pigments that belong to the class of pigments called carotenoids.

Assessment Suggestions
Use the questions on the following page for individual assessment or group discussion.

Handout Answer Key

1. chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, xanthophylls, and carotenes
2. Pigment molecules capture light energy from the sun.
3. If yellow-orange leaves were used, no chlorophyll would be visible. Only the xanthophylls and carotenes would
be present on the chromatogram.
4. carrot, sweet potato

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Name: ________________________ Date: _________________________

Instructor: _____________________ Course Section: _________________

Lecture Activity 7.2 Handout—Chromatography of Pigments from

Spinach Leaves
Questions

1. What pigments are present in spinach leaves?

2. What role do pigments play in photosynthesis?

3. If the experiment were repeated with colorful fall leaves (yellows and oranges), how would the results
differ?

4. What common vegetable is particularly high in carotenes?

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 75

Lecture Activity 7.3: The Role of Carbon Dioxide in Photosynthesis

Estimated Time to Complete

This activity will take about 10 minutes to set up at the beginning of class. The flasks need to stand in the light for
about 20 to 30 minutes until observations can be made.

Section Reference
7.3 The Calvin Cycle: How Is Chemical Energy Stored in Sugar Molecules?

Introduction
The activity assumes that students know that CO2 is exhaled during breathing.

Materials Needed
 Two 125-ml flasks with airtight stoppers
 Fresh Elodea
 Bright light source (this can be a shop light)
 Bromothymol blue (1% solution)

Procedures
1. Have all solutions at room temperature.
2. Fill two 125-ml flasks (Flask A and Flask B) with water and a few drops of bromothymol blue.
3. Using a straw, blow gently into the water in both flasks until the solution turns a pale green.
4. Place a 6- to 8-cm sprig of Elodea into Flask B. Make a fresh, angled cut in the stem of the Elodea. It should be
placed with the stem side up, immersed in the water.
5. Place an airtight stopper on each flask. This activity works best when there is not a lot of air left in the flask.
6. Place the flasks about 1.5 to 2 feet from a bright source of light.
7. At the end of the class period, note any color changes in the flask.

Assessment Suggestions
Use the questions on the following page for individual assessment or group discussion.

Handout Answer Key

1. Exhalation produces carbon dioxide, which causes the solution to become slightly acidic. The carbon dioxide
will become carbonic acid, H2CO3, when it combines with water. Carbonic acid will quickly dissociate into the
bicarbonate ion, HCO3–, and H+. Bromothymol blue will change from blue to greenish-yellow as a result.
2. The beaker with the Elodea in it should return more quickly to the blue color, as the Elodea uses the carbon
dioxide for photosynthesis. This should be visible within the class period. The beaker without the Elodea will not
be blue.
3. After the carbon dioxide is taken into the Elodea plant, it will pass into the stroma of the chloroplast, where it
will be fixed (attached to an organic molecule, RuBP) and go through the reactions of the Calvin–Benson cycle.
The carbon dioxide will ultimately be used to make glucose.
4. The reactions of the Calvin–Benson cycle are dependent on ATP and NADPH from the light-dependent
reactions. Because the flasks are in the dark, photosynthesis and carbon dioxide utilization will not occur. Both
flasks will remain a greenish color. In fact, as the cells of the Elodea plant continue to undergo cell respiration,
more carbon dioxide may build up in flask B, causing the solution to become more yellow-green.

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Name: ________________________ Date: _________________________

Instructor: _____________________ Course Section: _________________

Lecture Activity 7.3 Handout—The Role of Carbon Dioxide in

Photosynthesis
Table 1
Color After Addition Color After Blowing Through Color After Exposure
of Bromothymol Blue Straw (addition of CO2) to Light
Flask A (Elodea) (– Elodea)
Flask B (+ Elodea) (+ Elodea)

Questions

1. Why did the solutions change color after your instructor exhaled into them?

2. At the end of the class period, was there any change in the color of the beakers? Explain.

3. Trace the path of the carbon dioxide after it is taken up by the Elodea plant.

4. If the experiment were repeated with both flasks in the dark, what would you expect to happen?

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 77

Lecture Activity 7.4: Modeling Photosynthesis

Estimated Time to Complete

This activity is best suited for small classes and requires about 15 minutes to complete.

Section References
7.2 Light Reactions: How Is Light Energy Converted to Chemical Energy?
7.3 The Calvin Cycle: How Is Chemical Energy Stored in Sugar Molecules?

Introduction
In this activity, students will build the reactants of photosynthesis and trace a “radioactive” atom in the formation of
products.

Materials Needed
 Molecular modeling kits
 Tape

Procedures
1. Provide the students with molecular modeling kits. Instruct them to build a molecule of carbon dioxide and
a molecule of water.
2. Mark either the O in the water molecule or the C in carbon dioxide with a piece of tape to represent a
radioactive atom.
3. Now build the products (glucose and oxygen), making the appropriate product “radioactive.”
4. If you would like to “balance” the equation, have a group of students work together to provide six molecules
of carbon dioxide and six molecules of water.

Assessment Suggestions
Use the questions on the following page for individual assessment or group discussion.

Handout Answer Key

1. 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy  C6H12O6 + 6O2
2. oxygen
3. glucose
4. sunlight and chlorophyll

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

Name: ________________________ Date: _________________________

Instructor: _____________________ Course Section: _________________

Lecture Activity 7.4 Handout—Modeling Photosynthesis

Questions

1. Write out the balanced equation for photosynthesis.

2. Which product would be radioactive if you began the reaction with radioactive oxygen in the water?

3. Which product would be radioactive if you began the reaction with radioactive carbon in the carbon
dioxide?

4. What else is required for photosynthesis, other than oxygen and carbon dioxide?

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Chapter 7 Capturing Solar Energy: Photosynthesis 79

Lecture Activity 7.5: Global Warming and Photosynthesis

Estimated Time to Complete: 10 minutes for discussion

Section Reference
This activity may be used to open the chapter or used as an extension at the end of the chapter.

Introduction
There are many broad-reaching consequences of global warming. This class discussion helps apply the information in
this chapter to a relevant environmental concern.

Materials Needed
Computers with Internet access

Procedures
1. Introduce the topic:
Most likely, students are already familiar with the problem of global warming. You may want to open the
discussion by determining what the class already knows about global warming. Additionally, you could have the
students perform an Internet search using “global warming” as the search term and have them take notes on
what global warming is, what causes it, and what some of the environmental impacts might be. After students
have gained some background knowledge, the discussion may proceed.
2. Questions for discussion:
a. What is global warming?
(Global warming is an increase in the average global temperature as a result of the buildup of greenhouse gases.
One of the primary greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide.)
b. What is the relationship between photosynthesis and global warming?
(Plants are carbon dioxide “sinks.” They utilize carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for photosynthesis, thereby
decreasing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.)
c. As carbon dioxide levels rise, what will happen to the rate of photosynthesis?
(Some studies have demonstrated an increased rate of photosynthesis as a result of increased carbon dioxide
levels.)
d. What are the potential benefits of an increased rate of photosynthesis? What are the concerns?
(If rates of photosynthesis increase, the amount of carbon dioxide utilization will also increase. A concern is that
an increased growth rate may lead to a decreased nutrient value per pound of vegetation.)
e. Will photosynthesis occur at a rapid rate indefinitely? Why or why not?
(No, most likely some other nutrient will become limiting.)

Assessment Suggestions
None

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.

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But, James Garston was on his knees before her now.
“Our child—Margaret! It can all be made right, now. Trust to me. Let
me take you openly to my heart. Be my wife once more. Be a world’s
queen. I will make you happy.”
Bold as he was, he shuddered, as she sprang to her feet. “You
hound!” she bitterly cried, and then slowly turned, and walked
unsteadily to the door. He had found a way to wring her heart at last,
but her courage had returned. The wrongs of her youth burned in her
bosom again.
“Hear me. You must! You shall!” he pleaded, seizing her in his strong
arms. “I knew not even the horn book of my own nature when we
married as young fools marry.” She had torn herself away from him,
and stood at bay with an unutterable loathing hardening upon her
face. “I am rich, now, a Senator to be, and the friend of your friends.
“You dare not openly defy me. For, I can publicly claim you as mine. I
demand to see our child. I offer you myself—the matured man—a
leader of men. I offer you a secured, honored place in Washington
life. And, you need me, for I can throw down your house of cards.
When Alynton told me of the wonder-worker, the Queen of the
Street, the Lady of Lakemere, I was merely interested. But, when I
saw you, last night, my heart leaped up. For mine you were, mine
you are—mine you shall be.”
The strong man counted upon the physical subjection of the woman
once reduced to be his loving vassal—the girl wife who had lain in
his arms.
And, master of her destiny once, he would now bend her to his will
again.
His eyes were burning, his breath came quickly, and he awaited the
physical revulsion of a weakened womanhood.
“There is always the tie that binds—the child—and, she belongs by
Nature’s bond to me.”
But, the man who coarsely counted upon “a previous condition of
servitude” as establishing a valid claim upon the Lady of Lakemere,
shivered under the cold scorn of her words, for the wife of his youth
seated herself, and, gazing into his eyes with an unutterable
contempt, read the death warrant of his hopes.
“Let me cast up our accounts, here, now, in my home, Arnold
Cranstoun, on this winter day, in a solitude on which you shall never
intrude again save when I call upon you.
“The dead past is buried. Let it rest. Dare not to cry Resurgam! I
dismiss all your sneers as to Alynton, and, I fear not your circle. You
are as yet, but a clumsy neophyte there.
“Know, once for all, that your friends are in my power, but they trust
to me, and, I am more than worthy of their confidence.
“For another circle of men of boundless power also trust me—men
who would not trust them, save through me, and, men who would
resistlessly crush you at my bidding.
“I speak now for the woman who is dead.
“Margaret Cranstoun, the woman heart slain by your cowardice, the
loving and tender girl-wife. Look back nineteen long years to see
yourself the trusted bank-cashier, a rising man of thirty-two.
“I was then your slave, your loving slave, a wearer of self-forced
heart shackles. I, the girl of seventeen, believed you to be my lover
husband—a man among men.”
Senator James Garston’s head was bowed in his hands, as the
accusing voice rang out. He heard the knell of his last hopes.
“A year later, when you basely fled, leaving me, the mother of your
two months’ old helpless girl to face the employers whom you had
robbed in your hidden speculations, then, only then, I learned of your
double life in New York. I knew that I was the innocent hostage of
purity and honor. The screen of your dearest vices.”
Garston groaned as the voice rose high in its scorn and Elaine
Willoughby stood before him, with outstretched arm, an angel with a
flaming sword, at the shut gates of his Lost Paradise.
“Where you fled to I knew not—I cared not, for, with young blood and
a loving heart, I might even have shared the fate of a bold sinner.
“But a sneaking coward must learn that woman’s heart condones not
poltrooning nor meanness!
“You would now hold the dead past over my head—trumpet to the
world your own story!” she cried. “I can easily confirm it. I have kept
all your letters—the story of your crime, the papers and vouchers
which were found in your New York room.
“Your letters of egoistic love, your later whining apologies from your
unknown Western haunt. And armed with these, I could chase
James Garston from the Senate.”
The suffering man sprang up. “Not so. I have a right to my name. I
legally changed it years ago. The bank is long years out of
existence; there is also the limitation of the past years. No one would
believe you.”
His voice was broken with helpless tears now.
“Look at me! look at me!” the splendid woman proudly cried. “Dare
any man say that my life has been a lie? Hear my story.
“Starvation, cold charity or the ignominy of helpless dependence was
all you left me. I put our babe away. I went out a toiler into the world.
As a school teacher I drifted away to the far West, and only changed
my name. I left our home to avoid the honest love of good men who
would have married me for pity’s sake. For men were good to the
shamed widowed Margaret Cranstoun.
“My clean hands were still linked by law to the unpunished fugitive
felon. I am free now, and I know that you never would dare to speak.
I know your coward soul. A judicial decree that you are dead can be
easily had; your eighteen years of absence makes that my legal
right. Widow of the heart, I will be a widow by law. But your coward
silence will continue.
“Where did I gain wealth? I see the question in your eyes. I became
a school teacher at Leadville. A few acres of ground and a cottage
were the first fruits of my savings.
“The kindly mountain gnomes worked for me, with fairy friendship.
“There was a million in carbonates under those rocky slopes where I
tempted the hardy flower to grow.
“Young yet—beautiful then—I became the ardent chase of men in
marriage. My gold gilded my lonely life. Many wished to share it.
“I was made sadly wise, and I reaped my harvest of sorrows. Five
years in Europe made me a woman of the world—an accomplished
world wanderer. I have learned in these lonely years the delicious
power of wealth.
“I followed your secret example. I legally changed my name to Elaine
Willoughby. And my honest title is clearer than yours.
“I have an able lawyer to defend my rights, in whom you would find
an implacable foe.”
She paused and spoke the final doom of his hopes.
“Had you come to me, red-handed, but loving, I might have forgiven
you, followed you—loved you even in your crime—and suffered all to
shield the one beloved head. I did love you once with my whole
soul.”
There was the sound of choking sobs, and in an instant, Garston
was on his knees before her. The silence was broken by her faltering
accents.
“But now, freed by Nature’s reincarnation, loyal even yet to a dead
past, I exult in the unchallenged ownership of my mind, body and
soul. You would take to your bosom the woman you still find fair, rich,
powerful and respected. Never! Nature revolts!
“For the starving outcast of the streets who sells herself for bread to
the first chance comer were white as snow compared to the woman
who would again sink to your level.
“Arnold Cranstoun, any man in the world but you may look on me
with longing eyes.
“Between us there is the gulf of your eternal shame! Now, leave me.
I fear you not! Let all else go on as fate ordains.
“Your silence will be assured, for fear will seal your lips. Let there be
neither approach nor avoidance—simply the oblivion of the absolute
divorce of all laws, God’s, Nature’s, and man’s.
“Go now! If you ever seek to cross my path, beware! You may haunt
the peopled solitudes around me and meet me as a chance
acquaintance.
“Your ‘society drill’ will hold you in your place in the poor parade of
this superficial life.”
She dropped her eyes, and her impassioned voice echoed sadly on
his ears. He was defeated, and an agony rent his heart.
“Let me do something for you, Margaret,” he pleaded.
“I am above your power to aid,” the proud woman replied.
“Let me atone,” he begged.
“Dead beyond awakening is my heart, and you know it. Do not now
add a hideous insult to Nature to your cowardly abandonment of the
past.”
The dull, level coldness of her voice proved to him that she bore a
frozen heart, one never to awaken at his touch. He cast himself
down before her in a last appeal.
And then, on his knees before the woman whom he had sworn to
cherish “till death do us part,” the strong man pleaded for the child
whom fate had robbed from the clinging arms of its mother. Margaret
Cranstoun sobbed:
“The child! Oh, my God! Never! Name not her name. Me, your victim
or your sacrifice. Her name shall never cross your lips. Wherever
God’s mercy takes that innocent one, she shall live and die
fatherless—save for Him above. I swear it, on the memory of a
mother’s natal anguish. And now, Senator James Garston,—”
The stately woman stood before him with the menace of a life in her
eyes.
“This is the end of all! Go! You are safe from my vengeance now. I
care not how you have dragged yourself up on Fortune’s wheel.
“Go! And if you ever break the sorrow-shaded stillness of my life,
then, may God help you. For I will strike you down for the sake of
that same fatherless child.”
A black storm of suddenly aroused jealousy swept over Garston’s
face.
“Your handsome lover Vreeland shall be my prey, my tool, my
confidant. I will creep into your heart through your own pleasant vice.
And, by God! He shall find out the girl for me.”
When James Garston’s passion-blinded eyes cleared, he was
standing there alone, and a sudden fear smote upon him.
The ghastly silence of the splendid deserted halls weighed upon him.
He staggered out into the blinding snows, now falling, and crossed
the park to where a sleigh waited at the garden gate.
He was half mad, as he wandered away under the trees, and he
hurled away his revolver lest he should be tempted to die there
before her windows.
“I have lost a woman upon whose breast a king’s head might proudly
rest,” he said to that ghost of his dead self which rose up to mock the
man of mark, the millionaire. “And—she loved me once. Fool—fool—
and—blind fool!” he muttered.
A mad resolve thrilled him now.
“The child! By God! she would hide her. The world is not wide
enough. There’s my money—and this young fellow Vreeland. I have
a lure for him.”
His busy brain thrilled with plots of the one revenge left to him. “I will
steal away both child and lover!” he swore.
Senator Garston’s face was sternly composed that night as he
indited his invitation to the rising young banker to join him at the
Plaza.
“Katie Norreys can soon twist him around her slim, white fingers—he
is young and rash,” the cold-hearted millionaire mused. “I am safe in
Margaret’s silence. My money will talk. My record is safe. I have
made my calling and election sure. I’ll get Vreeland into the fair
Katie’s hands.
“A little money will help. He shall be turned away from Margaret.
Once that I have the girl, then Margaret will surely soften—for that
child’s sake. By God! I’ll buy the girl’s heart! I have money enough,
and I’ll outbid even Mrs. Elaine Willoughby.”
The Senator-elect felt a new glow in his heart, the ardor of a wolf-like
chase, an untiring chase, for love, passion, and vengeance carried
him on.
“I’ll live to laugh at her heroics yet,” he cried, “for I will bring her into
camp. I am not accustomed to fail.” He was resolute now.
The lights were gleaming golden in the Circassia when a pale-faced
woman crept back to the splendors of the pearl boudoir.
No one had marked Senator James Garston’s visit to Lakemere, and
the two caretakers—man and wife—marveled at their mistress’
agitation when she bade them escort her back to New York City. The
gardener summoned to watch over the lonely mansion grumbled: “I
never saw her look like that.” For the brave woman was now “paying
the price.” It was the reflex swing of the pendulum of Life.
Could the three humble servitors have heard the accusing cry of
Elaine Willoughby’s heart they would have known the anguish of a
stricken woman’s arraignment of Providence.
“And he—oh, my God! He prospers, while my child is taken from me!
Is this the price of my mother’s love, my empty heart, my vacant
home, my death in life!”
It seemed as if God had spared the wrongdoer to smite her quivering
mother heart.
Dr. Hugo Alberg and the stolid-faced Martha Wilmot were busily
whispering in a corner of Mrs. Willoughby’s sick room that night long
after midnight had sounded on the frosty air.
For, relaxed and broken by the enforced bravery of her struggle with
the father of her lost child, the Lady of Lakemere had crept, bruised
and wounded in soul, back to die or live, she cared not, in the
peopled wilderness of the two million souls who envied her the lonely
luxuries of her life.
“She has had one dose,” whispered Alberg. “She is dead safe to
sleep till three o’clock. Give her this chloral carefully then. Get your
work done as soon as you can, and at eight o’clock your expected
telegram will call you away. The French woman will watch till the new
nurse comes. You have seen young Vreeland?”
The Doctor’s eyes glowed like live coals.
“Yes,” she whispered. “It’s all right,” and her fingers tightly closed on
the vial. “I am to meet him at the ferry. The boat sails at eleven. It will
be all right.”
Dr. Alberg passed out of the sick-room, and Justine Duprez followed
him down the stair.
“You have left all where she can do the work?” whispered the miserly
German, who already had the price of his treason in his pocket.
“Yes,” murmured Justine. “I’ll tell you all when we meet down there.”
The hoodwinked physician went out into the night, whispering: “I’ll be
here at seven, on the watch.”
It was but half an hour later that a man seated in August Helms’
darkened basement room opened his arms as Justine Duprez glided
in.
“She is sleeping like a log,” murmured the maid. “Here is what you
want. The nurse will do her part later, and be sure that she clears out
at once. I’ll keep the Doctor with me here till noon. She will get her
‘sudden telegram;’ he will be here on duty; while he is busied with
the new nurse Martha will go and rob the Doctor’s office and rooms,
and be soon on the sea. Then we are all covered.”
The schemer’s eyes gleamed as he pocketed the paper which made
his patroness an involuntary traitor to her dangerous trust. Vreeland
breathed in a happy triumph.
“You must not leave your rooms to-morrow. Keep in sight of the Kelly
girl,” warned the Frenchwoman. “Now I will steal away.”
There were words murmured which bound the two wretches to each
other, and they laughed as they pointed to the janitor’s new
telegraphic instrument and telephone.
“A great convenience to the patrons of the Circassia,” laughed
Vreeland. He alone knew how deftly the crafty August Helms had
seized upon Mrs. Willoughby’s absence of the day to effect the
joining of the skilfully hidden wires tapping the lines which led to the
Hanover Bank building and joined Judge Endicott’s private office to
Mrs. Willoughby’s pearl boudoir.
“When I have the extra instrument in my own room,” he exulted,
“then if Miss Romaine Garland is not approachable I will soon find
another more malleable.
“But the secret firm of Endicott & Willoughby will talk into my ear
when they think that the whole world is theirs. It’s a royal plan,” he
mused.
Justine’s gliding step had died away when Harold Vreeland crept out
like a guilty thief.
“Where shall I hide this original,” he muttered, as he disappeared in
the darkness. “I must find a place in my rooms. I cannot carry it
about me.”
When he had regained the Elmleaf he dared hardly breathe as he
carefully examined the original document which tied up the fate of
the Sugar Syndicate with that of men whose very names he feared
to utter.
“She is in my power at last. Her ruin is in my hands.
“And now to bring her into my arms to be my fond tool and willing
slave.”
There was no “stock plunging” for two long weeks, as the illness of
Mrs. Willoughby dragged on, and Martha Wilmot was well across the
seas before the police of New York City had ceased to blunder
around after the ungrateful nurse who had seemingly robbed her
benefactor’s office and then decamped.
Mr. Harold Vreeland was astounded at the golden sunshine of
Senator James Garston’s favors which followed on that luncheon at
the Plaza Hotel which had made him a sworn knight in the rosy
chains of Miss Katharine VanDyke Norreys.
There was little to do, for the market was quiescent.
Miss Mary Kelly’s desk, too, was vacant, for she lay at home ill with a
fever, and it was at the side of the girl’s sick-bed that Mrs. Elaine
Willoughby, still feeble and shaken in soul, suddenly seized a
photograph from the mantel. “Whose picture is this?” she cried, her
voice trembling in the throes of an emotion which swept her loving
soul with wonderment and a new hope.
 BOOK III—On a Lee Shore.

CHAPTER XI.

MISS MARBLE’S WATERLOO!—A LOST LAMB!—HER VACANT CHAIR.—

SENATOR GARSTON’S DISCLOSURE.—SARA CONYERS’ MISSION.—MISS
GARLAND’S DISHONORABLE DISCHARGE.—A DEFIANCE TO THE
DEATH.—“ROBBED!”

In the two weeks after the successful affixing of those snake-like

coils of wire which led the private messages of Mme. Elaine
Willoughby into janitor Helms’ guarded private apartment, Mr. Harold
Vreeland had effected a thorough understanding with that worthy.
The trapping devices worked to a charm. All was now ready for a
final betrayal.
Secure in his autocratic rule, August Helms buried his shock head in
the beer seidl and tyrannized with a good-humored roughness over
the cringing tradesmen visiting the Circassia, and, a greedy gossip,
he made his “coign of vantage” a warm nook for letter-carrier and
policeman and the high class “upper servants” of the families who
lived above him, in a royal Americanized luxury in that great social
fortress, the Circassia. Helms was a modern tyrant.
His round, gray-blue eye twinkled as Justine Duprez would slyly slip
in and read off the printed tape of the Wheatstone instrument, a
duplicate sender and receiver of the same pattern being neatly
encased in a pretty cabinet in the pearl boudoir above. And
Mrs. Willoughby doubted, feared, suspected—nothing.
But all in vain did Helms record the telephoned messages which
were trapped on the instrument which was his especial care. There
was nothing to record of moment. A lull seemed to hover over every
speculative interest of the convalescent woman.
The stillness of death now marked Mr. Harold Vreeland’s “business
department” at the Elmleaf. The illness of Mary Kelly had cut off all
special communication with Mrs. Willoughby at the Circassia, and he
had been forced to give Miss Romaine Garland a furlough “under full
pay” until Mrs. Willoughby’s trusted operator could resume her desk.
The young girl shunned any tête-à-tête labors. It was in virtue of a
warning from the acute Joanna Marble that Vreeland gravely bade
his mysterious beauty rest herself and “await further orders.”
“She is of the finer clay,” warningly remarked Miss Joanna. “One toss
of that proud head and she would be off like a startled fawn. You
must trust to a woman—only a woman—to lead a woman on.
Beware of rashness. You would lose her.”
There was an innocuous desuetude now clinging to all Vreeland’s
crippled plans.
For, soberly attentive in his duty calls, he had left daily cards at the
Circassia, supplemented with flowers whose dreaming beauty might
have touched a heart less wrung than Elaine’s.
Admitted but once to her presence, he marveled at the serious
change in her appearance.
After receiving her orders, he now knew that he was free for a month
to follow on his social pleasures and to watch, down in Wall Street,
the executive matters of the firm and note the gradual liquidation,
dollar for dollar, of all proved claims against the defunct firm of
Hathorn & Wolfe.
He recognized the cool-headed sifting of Mr. James Potter’s lawyers,
under the mandates of that young Crœsus in Paris.
“A fair, square settlement, dollar for dollar,” was Potter’s openly
avowed business plan.
The last flurries of the sudden Sugar speculations had all died away,
and Vreeland at last believed Mrs. Willoughby’s description of the
market.
“There is nothing in sight. I shall let all speculation alone until
Dr. Alberg pronounces me able to stand business excitement. Your
time is your own till I call you back to your post and send Miss Kelly
down to her work again. She will act as my private secretary until I
am thoroughly well.”
And Vreeland, now fearful that he might be as suddenly dropped as
Frederick Hathorn had been, forbore to press on the confidence of
the woman whose thinned cheeks and hollow eyes told of some
internal fires eating away her vitality. He was unable to extract any
information of value from Dr. Hugo Alberg. And the thieving nurse
was now safe over the sea—the robbery of the envelope still
undiscovered.
The German medical worthy was really puzzled. In the secrecy of
Vreeland’s rooms he confided that though all the depression of the
skillfully administered overdoses of chloral had worn away, his
patient was wearing herself to the verge of a collapse.
“Mental trouble! mental trouble!” he growled. “Neither Justine nor my
new nurse (whom I dare not fully trust) can gain the slightest clew to
her sorrows. The Madame has grown cat-like, too, in her secretive
ways. There is old Endicott always hovering around, and that
newspaper fellow, Hugh Conyers; and, besides, his raw-boned artist
sister, Miss Sara, is closeted with her nearly every evening. What
they are all up to is a devil’s wonder.
“Are they plucking her of her gold? There is such a thing as social
blackmail. Any lonely woman of fortune usually has a ring of hungry
sycophants around her.”
The German groaned helplessly. He wanted that same gold, and
wanted it badly.
“And you, of course, think that you should be the king-pin of the
whole machine,” sneered Vreeland. The half-angered German
snorted a warning.
“Look out for yourself,” growled Alberg. “She does not let the French
maid go out of her sight now, and her new nurse has not dared to
leave. Remember, I will hold you responsible about the stolen
envelope. I have covered up my own tracks.”
And then he proudly exhibited the newspaper clipping headed, “An
Ungrateful Protégé,” which described the heartless pillaging of
Dr. Alberg’s office and rooms by “Miss Martha Wilmot,” who had
“decamped for parts unknown.” The police detective opinions and
the portentous interviews were all set out in extenso.
“When Milady finds that she was been robbed, too, then look out for
squalls,” was the parting admonition of the Doctor. It brought grave
shadows to Vreeland’s face.
Harold Vreeland was startled when his dupe left him. For it now
flashed over him that his evening cartes de visite had lately only
elicited the same stereotyped answer: “Mrs. Willoughby is too unwell
to see anyone.”
He had, however, “improved the shining hours” by a flank movement
to the Hotel Savoy, where he had drifted far, very far, into the good
graces of that sparkling heiress, Miss Katharine Norreys. And his
daily welcome grew warmer with each visit. He was getting on
famously.
Senator James Garston’s absence “on Washington visits,” with the
usual trips of a busy money magnate from fever center to fever
center of the golden whirlpool, had left the young man to “exploit” the
many graces of the tall, willowy blonde. He had often mused over the
possibility of an advantageous alliance. “Here is a woman, young,
rich, and with a powerful Senatorial backing. I might even be able to
get inside the ring. For now I hold the secret of a combination which
no one dares avow. It would be my ruin, however, to use it until the
time comes to rule or crush Mrs. Willoughby. She must be my
‘golden goose’—she alone—and, I must not kill her too soon.”
A long introspection proved to him that his old “waiting game” was
the only safe plan.
“If Garston makes up to me, I can meet him half way. Perhaps he
might exchange the secret of my sly patroness’ early life for the
golden key to the Sugar situation. Together we could surely control
her. And acting alone, I might easily be crushed between this
secretly warring couple.
“But, when their dual secret is mine, then I can always act against
my weakest foe. They will never dare get rid of me then,” he craftily
premised, for he saw gold ahead—solid, easily earned gold. And the
busy devil in his cold heart laughed and made merry.
But one circumstance now disquieted him as to the resplendent Miss
Katharine VanDyke Norreys—the absence of a respectable, social
womanly background.
There was no doubt as to the tangible luxury of her daily life, and the
deep respect shown by the Hotel Savoy management spoke of that
regular payment of bills which endears “the guest” to the Boniface.
“A certain number of women friends are a sine qua non, however, to
a ‘professed beauty,’” mused Vreeland.
“Their absence is as remarkable as a bedizened general riding out
all alone into the enemy’s land with no following. I presume that
‘prominent Westerners’ will in due time furnish her with a golden
woman bodyguard. Garston being a widower, too, is another
awkward thing.”
In the whole embarrassing situation, all that Vreeland could do to
move on his plans was to make a stolen visit to the rooms of the
janitor of the Circassia.
There Justine Duprez, in a few moments of stolen time, breathlessly
told him of the nightly conferences. “I think that she is soon going
abroad. They have maps and papers out every evening. So far she
has not examined her hidden paper. When she does, there will be a
wild storm.
“And then only at my room in South Fifth Avenue dare we meet. We
must be watchful. For the little green-eyed typewriter, Mary Kelly,
spies on me, and I find her blue-coated friend, too, that big
policeman, Daly the Roundsman, following me around. Look out for
yourself. You and I must stand or fall together. She may give us both
the slip. If she went over to Paris, and took me with her, you dare not
follow her; but I could write to you always, and give you a safe
address to write to me.”
Vreeland was vaguely disturbed at heart.
“Can we trust to August Helms?” muttered Vreeland, with a sudden
shiver of underlying cowardice.
“Yes,” grimly said Justine, “as long as you pay him, and, besides, he
faces state’s prison in—you know—his own part of the business. We
must stand together firmly, and you lead us on.”
As Vreeland regained his deserted rooms in the Elmleaf he strangely
recalled the last bitter denunciation of the Lady of the Red Rose: “I
leave it to the future to punish you.”
But on his table, two letters awaited him which brought a glow of
secret delight to his heart.
A note from Senator James Garston bidding him name a day for a
tête-à-tête dinner at the Plaza closed with these words of hope:
“I wish to enlist you in some matters of moment which may turn out
to our mutual advantage. You are just the kind of a man that I feel I
can work with. Please telegraph the date to me at the Arlington
Hotel, Washington, and I will meet you—the sooner the better.
“It is unnecessary to say that this is a matter leading to a strictly
confidential business association, and so, not a word of my coming,
even to Miss Norreys.
“I wish to see you alone, and if you will act with me we shall both
soon be busy.
“Just the leading card to draw him into my hands. If he will only
unbosom himself ever so little, then I can soon tie Mrs. Willoughby
down, for this is the man she fears. Else why that stolen interview at
Lakemere? And from all knowledge of that, even Justine was
excluded. Let him but come forward, and they are both mine.”
The second letter with its inclosure was the result of a long struggle
between Miss Joanna Marble and the social reluctance of that “shy
bird,” the stately Miss Romaine Garland. Joanna had gained ground
at last.
Vreeland smiled grimly as he read the corrupt agent’s letter. It was
an evening invitation couched in his interest and skillfully arranged.
“You are to come at 10:30, sir—fashionable hours. You will find me
ready to greet you.
“The musicale and supper, with a little informal dancing, will enable
me to see that you escort Miss Garland home. I shall be ‘suddenly
indisposed,’ and then you are easily the Prince Charming of the
occasion.
“The hostess is a trusted friend of mine.
“But how ‘shy’ your beautiful bird is. Romaine has called several
times on me, and yet she will not give me her personal address. She
always receives her letters at Station Q, General Delivery.
“And when I offered to come for her she said, quietly: ‘I will call for
you, dear Miss Marble, with a carriage, and we can go together.’ I
wonder is she one of us after all—a sly bird, not a shy bird?”
The address given was that of a respectably situated residence in
the West Eighties, a region blessed with slightly stiffening social
aspirations toward “elitedom,” as the journals deftly put it.
Senator James Garston in Washington was triumphant as he read
Vreeland’s dispatch fixing a date for the private dinner. “I can easily
tole this vain young fellow on with Katharine,” he gleefully cried. “And
if I can only reach Margaret Cranstoun’s child, I will soon bring her
proud head back to my bosom.”
The stern soldier of fortune mused long over olden days, his days of
youth and promise, when his girl-wife was only a plighted bride, a
woman of awakened heart, “whose head, like an o’er-wearied dove,
came fluttering down to rest.”
“I will have them both,” the Senator swore. “Why should my life’s
harvest be but chaff?
“For, the child is mine. The mother was once mine, and through fire
and flood I’ll go on and prove my title against the whole world.
“If this young favorite can only find me the hidden girl, he shall not
want for fortune, and a marriage with Katharine Norreys will tie him
forever to me.”
It all promised fair enough.
But, plot and counterplot was forgotten as Harold Vreeland, superbly
poised in his habitual adamantine calm, edged his way into the
listening circle of the “select few” who had been gathered at
Mrs. Ollie Manson’s ambitious musicale. It was a gala evening in the
West End.
A furtive conference with Miss Marble had caused him to slip into the
hushed rooms during the period when the convives were hanging
breathlessly upon Miss Bettina Goldvogel’s rendering of “Beauty’s
Eyes.” The Prince Charming’s advent was unobserved.
When the music ceased, Vreeland, who had been gazing upon
Romaine Garland, a sweet and lonely figure, seated there with her
hands clasped and her stately head bent, was alarmed as he
pressed forward through the unfamiliar throng.
There was a flush of sudden crimson on the tall girl’s cheek, and
then, a swift Diana, she passed on, a vision of stately beauty in her
unfamiliar evening dress. The excited trickster was swift in her
pursuit.
Vreeland’s step was on the stair, but a warning touch at once
recalled him. With serpentine swing, Miss Joanna Marble sought the
secret precincts of the robing rooms. “Let me handle this matter,”
was the whispered comment. “Wait below in the drawing-room.”
The effusive welcome of Mrs. Ollie Manson was lost upon the man
who had caught one glance of aversion from those truthful eyes into
which his veiled blandishments had never brought one gleam of
tenderness in those long hours at the Elmleaf. “Had she taken the
alarm?”
When he was released from the little circle with its sotto voce
comments, “Clubman,” “Rich young banker, my dear,” and other
social incense, he saw the thin, bewhiskered Mr. Solon Manson, with
a startled expression, handing Miss Romaine Garland down the front
steps to her waiting carriage.
It was a five minutes of agony, and the last strains of “Non è Ver” had
reverberated from Sig. Trombonini’s swelling bosom before Miss
Joanna Marble, her face ashen with the pallor of rage, drew
Vreeland into the library.
“You’ll never see that young tragedy queen again,” wrathfully
whispered the angered woman. “She only told her driver to take her
to the elevated railroad station at Ninetieth Street. I had posted the
little Manson to get her address.
“There must be someone nearer to her than you ever will be. She is
as deep as the sea, and she dared to lash me with her icy tongue. ‘I
see it all, Miss Marble,’ she snapped out. ‘Your friendly invitation was
a lure to put me on a false basis with my elegant employer.
“‘You know the girl breadwinner has no protection against such a
man but the honest independence of her daily labor. Should he bend
to woo the woman who stands mute before him daily, pencil in hand?
I can not meet my employer socially.’”
“And you?” breathlessly cried Vreeland.
“I stood mute; for I dared go no further. But I have her picture, at any
rate. I will have her secretly shadowed.
“I will wager my head there is some one nearer and dearer to the shy
bird than Miss Majestic would have me believe. You can’t blame me;
I did my best. But it has been a Waterloo.”
The listener swore a mighty oath in his sudden jealous rage.
Vreeland’s face hardened.
“See here, just lock her picture up in your private safe. Do nothing—
wait for me. I’ll follow up the quest alone.”
“And there is five hundred dollars for your obedience, and now,
silence. I’ll stay here an hour and jolly these people.”
“To-morrow at ten at your office. And if you should meet her, simply
ignore the matter.
“I shall tell her, of course, that Manson, an old friend, asked me
informally, and that our meeting was brought about by pure chance.”
Miss Joanna Marble’s hard laugh rattled in her “bony frame.” “I think
our ingenue, young as she is, has already a little commencement of
a ‘past,’ a little ‘jardin secret,’ where flowers of other days still bloom.
“But I am in your hands. I will obey you. You are the paymaster, and
you know I am not ‘in business for my health.’”
On his homeward way, Vreeland studied the stars with an anxious
brow.
“She shall not get away from me,” he swore. “I wonder if Mary Kelly
and she are now only duplicate spies of the woman who once had a
use for me, and now fears the poor tools she has used. Did I get at
the whole Hathorn secret?
“That is forever sealed in poor Fred’s grave.”