An interrupted night

by Pansy

There was menace in his tone and in the glare of his eyes. Mrs. Dunlap lifted her eyebrows with a gesture of contempt, but she spoke quietly.

"This is absurd, Mr. Keller. I have no wish to make matters more uncomfortable than is necessary; but of course you are aware that this is a respectable house. You are here in company with a young woman whom you registered as your wife; and you ordered a room for yourself and her; but she says that she is not your wife, and that she does not wish to see you again to-night. I do not need to remind you how promptly the proprietor of this house, as well as its guests, would come to her aid if necessary; nor that policemen and lockups are conveniences within call. If you compel me to resort to such measures, you will have yourself to thank."

There was something about Mary Dunlap when she chose to assert herself that commanded respect. Keller looked into the clear stern eyes of this woman and realized that he must not go too far. He glared at her, baffled for an instant, and when she still continued to look steadily at him, he wheeled and took a few steps away from her. Then, after a moment, with a sound that was evidently an attempt at a laugh but was more like a sneer, he turned and came toward her again, trying to speak lightly:

"You women are too much for me! I may as well take you into my confidence, as the lady has evidently seen fit to do. It is true that the formal ceremony which was to have made us man and wife in the eyes of a curious world has not yet taken place, but the mere formality is all that is lacking. If it were not for a wrecked engine and this infernal delay, Mrs. Grundy, whom you are personifying, would have been able to sleep peacefully. I registered as I had expected to do after I had reached the station where the clergyman was waiting for us, because I did not wish to leave the lady alone, in her wearied, and nervous state, but desired to minister to her comfort, as I would assuredly have been able to do, had we not been interfered with in this extraordinary manner. I did not consider it necessary to explain to the lady that I had anticipated the ceremony by a few hours, in writing her name as mine, and thus securing a quiet room for her to rest in.

"I may further say that business complications in which a good deal of money was involved, have made it necessary for me to move with caution in this entire matter, and for this reason I brought her away with me quietly, before the outward forms had been complied with; but she came without coercion of any sort as she will be ready to inform you, if you explain that you suspect me of being at least an accomplice in a case of kidnapping! She will tell you also that she is of age, and that nobody living has a right to object to her taking a journey at any hour of the day or night with her chosen husband.

"Now, having, I am sure, satisfied the utmost demands of your curiosity, if you will tell me where to find the lady, I will escort her to her private sitting-room; and you need not delay your own sleep any longer. If it will comfort you to know it, I assure you that three minutes' conversation with my lady, will be sufficient to allay any fears that you may have succeeded in working up."

This biting sarcasm, partially veiled at times by mock courtesy, was concluded with what was intended to be a bow of dismissal.

But Mrs. Dunlap was never more quietly determined in her course of action. Every word that the man had spoken increased her distrust of him.

"We need not argue," she said. "You have told me nothing that I did not know before. Let me remind you that the mere formality which is still lacking to give you the legal right to take care of this woman is one that decent people still carefully adhere to, and without it your action to-night has been contrary to law and respectability. For this reason, no matter what your motive is, or how many private sitting-rooms you have been able to secure in this overcrowded house, I can and will protect the young woman from occupying one of them. I suppose it is hardly necessary to add that if you make the slightest attempt to see her to-night, or to interfere with her wishes in any way, I shall not hesitate to take the hotel officials and the police into my confidence. If you force me to action, you will find that I am a woman who is very well-known."

During these words the man's face was a study. Fierce indignation, doubt, perplexity, intense disgust, each struggled for the ascendancy. But Mrs. Dunlap was about to leave the room. The necessity for propitiating her in some way forced itself upon him.