They talked a little longer, and Curtis learned enough about the history of the two men he had in mind to be satisfied that neither of them was the one he sought.
After Conrad went away, Baxter leaned back and folded his hands across his waist-coat, his left eyelid drooping and his face beaming with smiles. “Now,” he thought, “I’ve got Aleck Bancroft exactly where he can do me the most good!”
CHAPTER XXI
THE SILENT DUEL
As July sped on Homer Conrad’s visits to Golden grew more and more frequent. When Curtis returned from his northern journey, still ignorant of Delafield’s identity, Homer was greatly relieved, and tried once more to dissuade his brother. “Anyway, Curt,” he urged, “don’t do anything more about it now. Let it rest a while, and think about it more coolly and carefully; you’ll see how foolish it is if you do that.” As Curtis did not mention the subject again, he concluded that his advice had been taken and that there was no reason for immediate anxiety. His mind at rest on that score, he devoted himself more than ever to Lucy Bancroft. He talked of her so much to his brother that Curtis soon saw how complete was his absorption. “I guess they’re hitting it off together all right,” he concluded.
Curtis Conrad tried to accustom himself to the idea of Lucy as his brother’s wife. It cost him many a painful twinge, and once the rebellious thought came into his mind, “If it hadn’t been for the Delafield affair I might—” But a little shock, as if he had fallen away from some ideal or been guilty of an irreverence, stopped the notion. Now and then, too, he had misgivings as to what Lucy would think of him if she knew. He shrank from the feeling that her condemnation would be as unsparing as his brother’s, with more of horror and disgust. For the first time he began to think about what might lie beyond that longed-for meeting with Delafield. One day, musing upon Homer and Lucy, he had a sudden vision of himself as a commiserated kinsman, and smiled grimly as he reflected, “It might be a good thing for them if I got my quietus in the scrimmage.”
These signs of a change slowly going on within him sometimes came as a flash of feeling, while again the thoughts induced held him for hours. The emotion that had so powerfully rushed over him when he first realized his love for Lucy had jarred his grip upon his purpose; and afterward intimate daily association with his brother and knowledge of the young man’s severe disapproval united to move him now and then from his old point of view and to give him brief visitations of more wholesome feeling. If his love for Lucy, so suddenly realized, had met with no check, it alone might have been enough in time to turn him from his plans. A man of his temperament cannot be fired by two enthusiasms at the same time. He must give himself wholly to his absorbing desire. Since at the core Conrad’s nature was sound and sweet, it is likely that after a little his love would have overmastered his desire for revenge. But Lucy’s flirtation with his brother, induced by pique and disappointment at his constant association with Mrs. Ned Castleton, and Homer’s prompt infatuation had led him to believe that the two younger people were in love with each other. Consequently he did his best to restrain his own feelings, and so limited their check upon the older sentiment. Francisquita little knew, or would ever guess, what grave consequences were flowing from her innocent effort to keep her sister-in-law within bounds. But for that the outcome of the Delafield affair would have been “another story.”
Conrad returned from Santa Fe much disappointed by the failure of the clews that had promised so much. He debated whether it would be worth while to try to compel Gonzalez to disclose the name of his employer should the Mexican attack him again. He was doubtful of the success of such a plan, for he believed José as likely to give up his life as his secret. Nevertheless, he decided it would be worth trying. For several weeks after his return it chanced that whenever he went from home it was with Peters or some of the men, while there was always somebody about the corral and the house. He knew Gonzalez was watching him constantly, awaiting the moment when they should be alone. Toward the end of July he made up his mind to provide the opportunity and bring matters to a focus.