CHAPTER XIII
JACK
TEN days later if Ruth and Jean had again talked this same matter over together, it is possible that their points of view might not have been so far apart. But this was difficult, since Jean was then spending several days with the Princess Colonna at her villa several miles from the city of Rome.
From the hour of meeting with Captain Madden near the gardens of the Pincio, apparently his time had been entirely at the disposal of the Rainbow Ranch party. And Ruth having completely banished her momentary fear that his kindness meant more than a passing fancy for Jack, was at first glad enough to accept his attentions. If she thus revealed a lack of wisdom, there would be time enough for regret later on.
It was extremely agreeable to have some one to act as their guide through Rome. For in spite of her winter of study Ruth found herself becoming dreadfully confused. Rome was so overpowering that actually there were hundreds of things one wished to do all at once. Then the girls developed such different interests! She and Olive desired to make a real study of the many churches in Rome, while Jack curiously enough, as she had known nothing of art before, was enthusiastic over the old sculpture. Jean and Frieda had no great fancy for the antique, but were open in their preference for visiting the shops and for driving about to the wonderful gardens and villas about Rome. So every now and then Ruth, departing from her original rule of keeping their entire party together, had allowed Captain Madden to have charge of several of the girls, while she went elsewhere with the others.
And more often than any other way it turned out that Frieda was in the habit of accompanying Captain Madden and her sister. For Frieda's attitude toward their elderly friend had lately changed. From her former dislike she had now become his warm advocate. And if Ruth Drew had been suspicious or even properly worldly-minded this fact in itself should have begun to open her eyes, so assiduously had Captain Madden been cultivating Frieda's liking. When a box of flowers arrived for Jack, or sometimes for Ruth, a box of sweets came with them for the youngest of the Ranch girls. In their morning riding parties Captain Madden announced his preference for keeping by Frieda's side and leaving Jack to ride a little in advance as she seemed to prefer.
Once, however, Frieda had innocently repeated a conversation held between herself and her escort, which made Jack angry and Ruth uncomfortable. For it appeared that she had told Captain Madden the entire history of their Rainbow mine, even to the amount of gold taken out of it the previous year. And this, when Jack had particularly asked her younger sister never to discuss their affairs with strangers, and especially their recent wealth. Older now and realizing the good taste of this, Frieda, in explaining the subject to their chaperon, was puzzled to remember how she had been drawn into the conversation. Of course no questions had been asked by Captain Madden, he was too much of a gentleman, but somehow in telling him of their past life on the ranch and of their acquaintance with his cousin, Frank Kent, naturally she had spoken of their mine. To Ruth this explanation did not appear unreasonable. Besides it did not seem of importance then whether or not Captain Madden might be too much concerned in their private affairs.
Afterwards an evening came while Jean was away at the Princess' villa when the Ranch girls' chaperon had her first awakening. The incident was a slight one in itself, yet aroused great uneasiness.
Almost every pilgrim who makes his way to Rome has the desire to see its ancient ruins by moonlight. And this had been Olive's wish ever since their arrival in the eternal city. Her suggestion was that some night they drive around the broken walls of the Coliseum and afterwards wander about inside the Forum Romanum. Surely in the moonlight it would be easier to forget the modern world! Perhaps one might even conjure up a mental picture of the great days of pagan Rome, when these same decaying arches, columns and temples were monuments and buildings of wonderful beauty. For it was past them that the Roman generals used once to lead their victorious cohorts bringing home captive the barbarian armies of the western world.
One evening, rather laughing over her friend's enthusiasm, Jacqueline Ralston had repeated Olive's ambition to Captain Madden. And straightway he had suggested that the moonlight excursion actually take place, and that he be permitted to act as escort. The moon was now almost in the full and certainly Rome was as well worth seeing under its glamor as under day-time skies.
Therefore, twenty-four hours afterward, at about nine o'clock, a party of seven persons set out from the Ranch girls' hotel. Ruth was riding in one carriage with Captain Madden and Jack, while Mrs. Grant, Frieda, Olive and Dick were together in the other.
No one talked much. Even Frieda and Mrs. Grant, though not specially susceptible to beauty, were somehow silenced. The road to the Coliseum led away from the crowded centers of Rome into a kind of eerie stillness. Although the radiance of the moon seemed partially to have obscured the stars, the night was brilliantly clear. Twice both carriages drove about the outside walls of the Coliseum. And through its broken spaces the riders could catch strange glimpses of the big amphitheater, the crumbling tiers of seats, and now and then the outline of a small stone chamber overgrown with moss and lichen, where the early Christian martyrs, were once imprisoned before being fed to the lions.
In the course of the drive Ruth and Captain Madden spoke to one another occasionally, commenting on the unusual beauty of the night and the weird and fantastic shadows cast by the moon. But Ruth noticed that Jack hardly made a remark and that she was pale. This made no special impression, for Jack was probably tired. She was wearing her long white cloth coat and a small white hat and for some reason or other looked almost younger than Frieda.
But by and by Jack asked that their carriage stop at the entrance to the Forum. There a guide could be found with a lantern, should the moonlight prove insufficient to light their way about the ruins.
Captain Madden first assisted Ruth to descend from the carriage and then something in his manner as he turned to help Jack, gave Ruth a sudden feeling of discomfort. What could he have to say to her which her chaperon should not hear? And yet Captain Madden did whisper to Jack in a low voice as though there were some secret understanding between them.
A moment later, when the second carriage had driven up and its occupants were alighting, for just a moment Ruth Drew had a brief chance to speak to Olive alone.
"Don't leave Jack by herself tonight if you can help it, and on no account let her be with Captain Madden without the rest of us." Then, scarcely waiting for Olive's reply, Ruth moved off slipping her own arm firmly through Jack's.
Certainly the next hour afforded no opportunity for interchange of confidences between Jacqueline Ralston and her new friend. But the girl seemed glad enough to have Ruth and Olive close beside her. Now and then she even asked aid of one or the other of them. For stumbling about in semi-darkness among crumbling earth and stone seemed to be making her nervous.
Then came a moment when both Olive and Ruth lost sight of Jack completely. It was the simplest possible accident. They were in a place of shadows, lit only by the moon, which made the spaces behind the ruined buildings of almost impenetrable blackness. And although their guide and Dick Grant carried lanterns, it was difficult to catch their reflections unless one were near.
Olive, believing Ruth to be with her friend, had drawn closer to the guide to listen to some bit of information that he was struggling to impart to Mrs. Grant. While Ruth, thinking that Olive was discharging her task, and finding Dick Grant and Frieda engaging in one of their frequent quarrels, had interposed herself between them.
It was at this time that Jack, wearier than she cared to confess, sat down on one of the steps beyond the Arch of Titus, descending toward the Coliseum. For the moment a cloud had passed half over the moon, making the ancient ruin before her appear more gigantic and mysterious. The next instant a figure seated itself beside her and Captain Madden's voice spoke:
"You think you don't care for poetry, Miss Jack, but surely tonight is made for poetry, or poetry is made for tonight. Do you know these lines of Byron's in Childe Harold?"
Captain Madden moved nearer the girl so that he might see into her face. Then he pointed toward the magical scene close by.
"A ruin—yet what a ruin! from its mass
Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been rear'd;
Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass,
And marvel where the spoil could have appear'd,
Hath it indeed been plunder'd, or but clear'd?
Alas! developed, opens the decay,
When the colossal fabric's form is near'd:
It will not bear the brightness of the day,
Which streams too much on all years, men, have reft away.
"But when the rising moon begins to climb
Its topmost arch and gently pauses there;
When the stars twinkle through the loops of time,
And the low night breeze waves along the air
The garland forest, which the gray walls wear,
Like laurels on the bald first Cæsar's head;
When the light shines serene, but doth not glare,
Then in the magic circle rise the dead;
Heroes have trod this spot—'tis on their dust ye tread.
"'While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand;
When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;
And when Rome falls,—the world.'"
Jack made no answer for a moment. Then she said quietly, "It is a beautiful description; thank you for repeating it to me." She did not feel in the mood for talking tonight. The world was too beautiful and too strange. Here was she, Jacqueline Ralston, a girl raised on a ranch in far-off Wyoming, in the ancient city of Rome. And Captain Madden, the friend near her, why should a man so much older and wiser and with so great a knowledge of the world that even Rome itself did not seem unfamiliar to him, feel an interest in her? She was neither beautiful nor clever like Olive and Jean. Yet Jack, though not twenty, was woman enough to realize that Captain Madden liked her best.
The next instant she started to get up when, placing his hand on her arm, her companion held her back.
"I don't want to speak to you too soon," he whispered. "I don't wish to hurry or frighten you. But you must know why I have so longed to be with you alone for a few minutes tonight."
"Please," Jack faltered.
And then, suddenly appearing from out of nowhere, Ruth Drew actually seemed to swoop down upon the man and girl. Almost immediately she took tight hold on Jack.
"Let us go to our carriage at once, if you please, Captain Madden," she demanded brusquely. "We have stayed out in the night air far too long as it is. It is time we were safe in bed."
Then, although Jack kept obediently close to her chaperon until they were back in their hotel, that night when the three girls had fallen asleep, Ruth was so restless that, putting on her dressing gown, she walked up and down her room for a quarter of an hour. It simply could not be possible that this Captain Madden was falling in love with their Jack or that she could entertain the slightest interest in him! Why Jack was still a child and the man twice her age! Besides, what in the world did they know of him except what he himself had told them? The man might be a fortune hunter, he might be most anything! Ruth wiped her eyes in consternation at the thought of what Jim Colter would say and do if she allowed his splendid, brave Jack to become entangled in an unfortunate romance. Then she asked herself: Was there no one in Rome who could tell them of Captain Madden's history? Recalling Jean's statement that the Princess Colonna and Captain Madden were acquaintances before their meeting on board the Martha Washington, Ruth relieved her anxiety by writing a long letter to Jean. In it she confessed her own uneasiness and asked that Jean inquire of the Princess what knowledge she had of Captain Madden's past. But she also insisted that Jean keep her reason for wishing to know a secret and that beyond everything else she should never betray their suspicions to Jack.