HERE was something extraordinarily baffling about the reported sale of Hugh’s property. Principal Jones undertook to run down the facts. But Judge Proctor was gone on a vague trip east. Charles Grafton insisted that he knew nothing of the sale. No deeds had been recorded. There was no move on the part of the Eastern Electric Corporation to begin any sort of building operations. Yet the rumor of the sale persisted. Finally a mysterious note reached Hugh from the Judge in Boston, saying that he had been obliged to take action on the property under the terms of Bookie’s will, and that when the negotiations with the Boston Public Library were completed, he could confer with Hugh personally. It was maddening, but Hugh was obliged to be content with this meager information.
He had more than half expected and much dreaded to receive a letter from Miriam, but no letter arrived. Johnny told Hugh that he had heard that Miriam was to be in the west for some time on business, and Hugh, whenever a slender woman’s figure flashed unexpectedly across his vision, would catch his breath, wondering if there was now to be a renewal of the battle which Miriam had irrevocably lost.
The days rushed madly on, Hugh becoming more and more involved in the details of party program. He was deep in conference with Mrs. Ellis in The Lariat when the first word he had received about Miriam arrived. It was in the shape of a telegram from a hospital in Salt Lake City.
“Miss Miriam Page ill at this address. Pneumonia. She cannot live through another day. Come at once”
Hugh read the message through twice, then laid it on the counter and stared at Mrs. Ellis. A sense of irreparable loss shook him. It was only now, long after the week spent over his fossils in severing his life from Miriam’s, that the actual realization of what that loss meant came to him.
“I must go to Salt Lake City,” he said abruptly “I must start now.”
“What is the trouble?” exclaimed Mrs. Ellis.
“A personal matter,” replied Hugh. “I’ve missed the Limited. Marten must take me in the Dinosaur.”
“But, Hughie!” protested his manager. “If it’s as important as that, you ought to tell me what it is.”
“I can’t tell you! You must make my excuses. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“A very risky trip to take in the airplane in such weather
as this. I know it’s clear, but too frightfully cold, and if
you have to come down for any reason!”
“None the less,” insisted Hugh, pale-lipped, “I must go.” He started to his feet.
Johnny Parnell, striding in, put his hand on Hugh’s shoulder. “Hold on, Governor!” he said “I want to tell you something. Did you get a telegram just now from Salt Lake?”
“Yes,” replied Hugh. “I’ve got to leave for there at once. By the Dinosaur”
“Governor,” said Johnny, with the note of deference he now always gave his old friend, “I heard that you’d got that telegram. I heard from Billy Chamberlain, who knows Morse and was in the ticket office when the message came.”
Hugh drew himself up. “Because I have no privacy,” he exclaimed, “my friends should not feel warranted in intruding on me.”
“The point is, Governor,” Johnny was red with earnestness, “that you haven’t any personal affairs any more. And I’ve got to intrude because it ain’t intruding. Hughie, you mustn’t go to her”
“I am leaving for Salt Lake as soon as Marten can get the plane tuned up. Don’t interfere with me, Parnell,” said Hugh.
“I’ve got to,” insisted Johnny miserably. “Even if she’s dying, you must not go. Lord, I wonder what she was doing in Salt Lake anyhow!”
“Coming up here to make mischief, of course!” exclaimed Mrs. Ellis, suddenly putting two and two together. “The Christmas Eve celebration tonight, too! Hugh Stewart, you cannot go. You cannot enter office with this last episode attached to your name.”
Hugh turned to the coat hooks on the wall and pulled himself rapidly into his heavy airman’s outfit, his two friends staring impotently. When he was dressed he looked at them with a splendid sort of defiance.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and went out.
He helped Marten groom the Dinosaur for the trip. Marten, knowing of the telegram, asked no questions, but worked with disapproval in every line of his face. Before the usual crowd that dogged Hugh and the airplane could gather, they were off.