Businessmen -- Virginia -- Fiction; Upper class -- Virginia -- Fiction; Women dancers -- France -- Fiction
He felt drawn toward the sufferer now. If William had sinned against
the finer ethics of society, if he had slighted a noble girl to marry
a showy flirt, he was paying the price; and Daniel felt it. He turned
away from the stricken figure on the lounge with a poignant feeling
of commiseration. Things like this could never be forgotten. No
patching-up would hide the scar in William’s heart, or make him regard
his wife in the same light again.
Daniel did not rouse him. He went out silently, bent on doing his
utmost for Leigh. Leigh was Fanchon’s victim as surely as William had
been.
And Corwin? Daniel, who had scarcely seen the man until he saw him
lying dead at the coroner’s, wondered in what measure Fanchon was
responsible for his death, too. There were women like that, he
reflected, and there were others like--Virginia!
The very thought of her brought him a feeling of happiness, of
reassurance. The world could not be such a bad place, after all,
when there were women like Virginia in it. Even in the darkness of
his present perplexity, Daniel smiled tenderly. No matter what else
happened, Virginia would not fail him. He felt the touch of her hand
on his and heard her voice again, her sympathy for Leigh. And she had
said nothing against Fanchon. Not by a word or a glance had she accused
Fanchon.
But he heard it elsewhere. Judge Jessup could not control himself,
and Mr. Payson, coming into Jessup’s office to express sympathy for
Leigh and the Carters, did not restrain himself at all. He thought
that William should have made his wife behave before this. This, in
his opinion, was the natural sequence to that shocking fandango at the
church musicale.
Daniel, meanwhile, labored for Leigh. In spite of his best efforts, his
brother was held for the grand jury without bail. The fact that Leigh
had gone to Corwin’s room, carrying a pistol with him, and had there
shot an unarmed man, went against him, despite his youth and his family
connections. Daniel had only a few moments’ talk with him before he was
removed to the county jail.
Judge Jessup, coming out from the inquest, and mopping his head, used
strong language.
“Can’t be for anything but manslaughter, anyway,” he growled fiercely.
Seeing Mr. Carter sitting in a crumpled heap in the corner of his
office, the judge got a flat, black bottle from under his desk, poured
something into a glass, and made Johnson Carter swallow it.
“That’ll get you on your feet, Johnson,” he said gruffly. “We give
it to racehorses down in Kentucky. You can call it arnica, if you’re
afraid of taking to drink.”
Then, while Mr. Carter tried to rally his scattered forces, he moved
over to Daniel, who was standing by the window observing the motor that
was carrying Leigh down to the jail.
“Dan,” said he, lowering his deep bass, “where’s that woman?”
Daniel started.
“Up at the house, I reckon,” he said. “She was locked in her room this
morning.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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