“I am not at home,” answered Philip. “I merely ran up to see my father on business, and to inquire of you what it was you said to Miss Comstock yesterday that caused her to disappear before I could return to the Limberlost.”
“Miss Comstock disappear! Impossible!” cried Edith Carr. “Where could she go?”
“I thought perhaps you could answer that, since it was through you that she went.”
“Phil, I haven't the faintest idea where she is,” said the girl gently.
“But you know perfectly why she went! Kindly tell me that.”
“Let me see you alone, and I will.”
“Here and now, or not at all.”
“Phil!”
“What did you say to the girl I love?”
Then Edith Carr stretched out her arms.
“Phil, I am the girl you love!” she cried. “All your life you have loved me. Surely it cannot be all gone in a few weeks of misunderstanding. I was jealous of her! I did not want you to leave me an instant that night for any other girl living. That was the moth I was representing. Every one knew it! I wanted you to bring it to me. When you did not, I knew instantly it had been for her that you worked last summer, she who suggested my dress, she who had power to take you from me, when I wanted you most. The thought drove me mad, and I said and did those insane things. Phil, I beg your pardon! I ask your forgiveness. Yesterday she said that you had told her of me at once. She vowed both of you had been true to me and Phil, I couldn't look into her eyes and not see that it was the truth. Oh, Phil, if you understood how I have suffered you would forgive me. Phil, I never knew how much I cared for you! I will do anything—anything!”
“Then tell me what you said to Elnora yesterday that drove her, alone and friendless, into the night, heaven knows where!”
“You have no thought for any one save her?”
“Yes,” said Philip. “I have. Because I once loved you, and believed in you, my heart aches for you. I will gladly forgive anything you ask. I will do anything you want, except to resume our former relations. That is impossible. It is hopeless and useless to ask it.”
“You truly mean that!”
“Yes.”
“Then find out from her what I said!”
“Come, father,” said Philip, rising.
“You were going to show Miss Comstock's letter to Edith!” suggested Mr. Ammon.
“I have not the slightest interest in Miss Comstock's letter,” said Edith Carr.
“You are not even interested in the fact that she says you are not responsible for her going, and that I am to call on you and be friends with you?”
“That is interesting, indeed!” sneered Miss Carr.
She took the letter, read and returned it.
“She has done what she could for my cause, it seems,” she said coldly. “How very generous of her! Do you propose calling out Pinkertons and instituting a general search?”
“No,” replied Philip. “I simply propose to go back to the Limberlost and live with her mother, until Elnora becomes convinced that I am not courting you, and never shall be. Then, perhaps, she will come home to us. Good-bye. Good luck to you always!”
CHAPTER XXIV
WHEREIN EDITH CARR WAGES A BATTLE, AND HART HENDERSON STANDS GUARD
Many people looked, a few followed, when Edith Carr slowly came down the main street of Mackinac, pausing here and there to note the glow of colour in one small booth after another, overflowing with gay curios. That street of packed white sand, winding with the curves of the shore, outlined with brilliant shops, and thronged with laughing, bare-headed people in outing costumes was a picturesque and fascinating sight. Thousands annually made long journeys and paid exorbitant prices to take part in that pageant.
As Edith Carr passed, she was the most distinguished figure of the old street. Her clinging black gown was sufficiently elaborate for a dinner dress. On her head was a large, wide, drooping-brimmed black hat, with immense floating black plumes, while on the brim, and among the laces on her breast glowed velvety, deep red roses. Some way these made up for the lack of colour in her cheeks and lips, and while her eyes seemed unnaturally bright, to a close observer they appeared weary. Despite the effort she made to move lightly she was very tired, and dragged her heavy feet with an effort.
She turned at the little street leading to the dock, and went to meet the big lake steamer ploughing up the Straits from Chicago. Past the landing place, on to the very end of the pier she went, then sat down, leaned against a dock support and closed her tired eyes. When the steamer came very close she languidly watched the people lining the railing. Instantly she marked one lean anxious face turned toward hers, and with a throb of pity she lifted a hand and waved to Hart Henderson. He was the first man to leave the boat, coming to her instantly. She spread her trailing skirts and motioned him to sit beside her. Silently they looked across the softly lapping water. At last she forced herself to speak to him.
“Did you have a successful trip?”
“I accomplished my purpose.”
“You didn't lose any time getting back.”
“I never do when I am coming to you.”
“Do you want to go to the cottage for anything?”
“No.”
“Then let us sit here and wait until the Petoskey steamer comes in. I like to watch the boats. Sometimes I study the faces, if I am not too tired.”
“Have you seen any new types to-day?”
She shook her head. “This has not been an easy day, Hart.”
“And it's going to be worse,” said Henderson bitterly. “There's no use putting it off. Edith, I saw some one to-day.”
“You should have seen thousands,” she said lightly.
“I did. But of them all, only one will be of interest to you.”
“Man or woman?”
“Man.”
“Where?”
“Lake Shore private hospital.”
“An accident?”
“No. Nervous and physical breakdown.”
“Phil said he was going back to the Limberlost.”
“He went. He was there three weeks, but the strain broke him. He has an old letter in his hands that he has handled until it is ragged. He held it up to me and said: 'You can see for yourself that she says she will be well and happy, but we can't know until we see her again, and that may never be. She may have gone too near that place her father went down, some of that Limberlost gang may have found her in the forest, she may lie dead in some city morgue this instant, waiting for me to find her body.'”
“Hart! For pity sake stop!”
“I can't,” cried Henderson desperately. “I am forced to tell you. They are fighting brain fever. He did go back to the swamp and he prowled it night and day. The days down there are hot now, and the nights wet with dew and cold. He paid no attention and forgot his food. A fever started and his uncle brought him home. They've never had a word from her, or found a trace of her. Mrs. Comstock thought she had gone to O'Mores' at Great Rapids, so when Phil broke down she telegraphed there. They had been gone all summer, so her mother is as anxious as Phil.”