CHAPTER LXVI
A little groan of dismay broke from Persis' lips as she rushed between
Forbes and the danger, interposing her body to protect his. Forbes
seized her and thrust her away and leaped toward Enslee.
But Enslee darted aside and, running behind a great carved table,
covered Forbes with the revolver, and cried, in a quivering voice,
"Don't you move or I'll fire!"
Forbes smiled grimly at the plight, and spoke with the calm of the
doomed. "All right, if you want to. It's your privilege. But I wouldn't
if I were you. In the first place, I'm sure you'd miss; you don't hold
your revolver like a marksman."
"The first shot might miss," Enslee admitted; "but there are five
others."
"You'd never pull the trigger a second time," said Forbes, icily. "And
there's not one chance in a thousand of that toy stopping me. I've got
two bullets in me now--from real guns. And I'm not dead yet. If you
should wing me, though, I'm afraid you'd never shoot a second time, for
I'd have you by the wrist and by the throat--and I'd strangle you to
death before I realized what I was doing."
Enslee quaked with terror, less of Forbes than of his own fatal
opportunities and his own weapon; Forbes began to edge imperceptibly
closer and closer as he reasoned with the wretch, who, having lost the
momentum of his frenzy, was a prey to reason.
"After all, what good would it do to shed a lot of blood?" Forbes urged,
gently, as to a child. "It would only publish your disgrace. Besides,
people don't indulge in pistol-play any more. It's out of style, man.
That ought to appeal to you, if nothing else will. And then it's so
unjust. Why kill a man because your wife preferred him to you? It's a
free country, isn't it? What does a man want with a wife who doesn't
want him? The days of slavery are over, aren't they? If she doesn't love
you enough to--" There was such a pitiful sag of Enslee's head at this
stab that Forbes spared him more, and went on soothingly: "Better let
this whole affair just drop. I was going away. She wouldn't go with me.
She didn't love me enough, either. She preferred to stay with you. I'll
never see her again. I promise that."
He put his right hand out appealingly. "Come, let's make the best of it
and cheat the gossips."
One quick motion and he had struck Enslee's wrist aside and down, and
clamped it to the table with his left hand. It was hardly necessary to
press his thumb between Enslee's knuckles to force his inert fingers
open. Forbes picked up the revolver, pressed the catch to the safety,
and dropped it into his pocket. Then he breathed a deep sigh, less of
relief than regret, and turned to go. He almost stumbled over the body
of Persis. She had swooned to the floor when he thrust her off, and had
lain unnoticed while the males fought through their feud on her account.
Forbes stared down at her. Shame and anger had so burned him out that he
had no love left for her and no mercy. She seemed an utter stranger to
him. He did not even stoop and lift her to a chair. He shook his head,
smiled bitterly, and went out.
Enslee hung across the table in a stupor of imbecility. The noise of the
outer door, as Forbes closed it, shocked him back to life. He peered
about the room and understood. He dropped into a chair and hid his face
in his hands.
By and by Persis gradually returned to consciousness. She rose to her
elbow in a daze, striving to collect her senses. With a sudden start she
recalled everything, got to her knees, and hobbled with all awkwardness
toward Enslee, whispering, haggardly: "Have you killed him? Where is
he?"
"Gone!"
"Gone! No, no! No, no!" She raised herself to her feet to set out in
pursuit of him, but just as she reached the door she was confronted by
Crofts, who bowed once and walked away.
Persis' training and her heart fought a duel in her quivering frame.
Then she gained her self-control, turned to Willie, and murmured:
"Dinner."
The marvelously inappropriate word sent through him a shudder of nausea.
Persis appealed to his other self. "Must we take the servants into our
confidence?"
"I think you may trust my breeding," he answered, frigidly. He stalked
woodenly to the door, held back the curtain, and bowed with mechanical
gallantry.
"Thank you!" she sighed. She wavered a moment and clutched at her
throat. Then she flung her head high in that thoroughbred way of hers
and walked steadily from the room.
And Willie followed in excellent form.