Half an hour later Havens was strolling about the grounds, under the lamp
lights, in and out of dark nooks, and close beside him was a slim figure
in white. Their conversation was earnest, their manner secretive; that
much the harassed Rossiter could see from the balcony. His heart grew sore
and he could almost feel the tears of disappointment surging to his eyes.
A glance in his mirror had shown him a face haggard and drawn, eyes
strange and bright. He had not slept well, he knew; he had worn himself
out in this despicable watch; he had grown to care for the creature he had
been hired to spy upon. No wonder he was haggard.
Now he was jealous--madly, fiendishly jealous. In his heart there was the
savage desire to kill the other man and to denounce the woman. Pacing the
grounds about the hotel, he soon worked himself into a fever, devilish in
its hotness. More than once he passed them, and it was all he could do to
refrain from springing upon them. At length he did what most men do: he
took a drink. Whisky flew down his throat and to his brain. In his mind's
eye he saw her in the other's arms--and he could bear it no longer!
Rushing to his room, he threw himself on the bed and cursed.
"Good heaven! I love her! I love her better than all the world! I can't
stay here and see any more of it! By thunder, I'll go back to New York and
they can go to the devil! So can old Wharton! And so can Grover & Dickhut!"
He leaped to his feet, dashed headlong to the telegraph office
downstairs, and ten minutes later this message was flying to Grover &
Dickhut:
Get some one else for this job. I'm done with it. Coming home.--SAM.
"I'm coming on the first train, too," muttered the sender, as he hurried
up-stairs. "I can pack my trunk for the night stage. I'd like to say
good-by to her, but I can't--I couldn't stand it. What's the difference?
She won't care whether I go or stay--rather have me go. If I were to meet
her now I'd--yes, by George--kiss her! It's wrong to love her, but--"
There was nothing dignified about the manner in which big Sam Rossiter
packed his trunk. He fairly stamped the clothing into it and did a lot of
other absurd things. When he finally locked it and yanked out his watch
his brow was wet and he was trembling. It had taken just five minutes to
do the packing. His hat was on the back of his head, his collar was
melting, and his cigar was chewed to a pulp. Cane and umbrella were yanked
from behind the door and he was ready to fly. The umbrella made him think
of a certain parasol, and his heart grew still and cold with the knowledge
that he was never to carry it again.
"I hope I don't meet any of 'em," he muttered, pulling himself together
and rushing into the hall. A porter had already jerked his trunk down the
stair steps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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