登陆注册
15468400000042

第42章 CHAPTER IV(8)

"You think so? Well, let me tell you how the case stands and the price we pay for it," said Stacy deliberately, as he folded his arms and gazed at Demorest. "You and I, well known as old friends and former partners, for no apparent reason--for we cannot prove the forgery now--have thrown upon the market all our stock, with the usual effect of depreciating it. Another old friend and former partner has bought it in and sent up the price. A common trick, a vulgar trick, but not a trick worthy of James Stacy or Stacy's Bank!"

"But why not simply declare the forgery without making any specific charge against Van Loo?"

"Do you imagine, Phil, that any man would believe it, and the story of a providentially appointed friend like Barker who saved us from loss? Why, all California, from Cape Mendocino to Los Angeles, would roar with laughter over it! No! We must swallow it and the reputation of 'jockeying' with the Wheat Trust, too. That Trust's as good as done for, for the present! Now you know why I didn't want poor Barker to know it, nor have much to do with our search for the forger."

"It would break the dear fellow's heart if he knew it," said Demorest.

"Well, it's to save him from having his heart broken further that I intend to find out this forger," said Stacy grimly. "Good-night, Phil! I'll telegraph to you when I want you, and then COME!"

With another grip of the hand he left Demorest to his thoughts. In the first excitement of meeting his old partners, and in the later discovery of the forgery, Demorest had been diverted from his old sorrow, and for the time had forgotten it in sympathetic interest with the present. But, to his horror, when alone again, he found that interest growing as remote and vapid as the stories they had laughed over at the table, and even the excitement of the forged letter and its consequences began to be as unreal, as impotent, as shadowy, as the memory of the attempted robbery in the old cabin on that very spot. He was ashamed of that selfishness which still made him cling to this past, so much his own, that he knew it debarred him from the human sympathy of his comrades. And even Barker, in whose courtship and marriage he had tried to resuscitate his youthful emotions and condone his selfish errors--even the suggestion of his unhappiness only touched him vaguely. He would no longer be a slave to the Past, or the memory that had deluded him a few hours ago. He walked to the window; alas, there was the same prospect that had looked upon his dreams, had lent itself to his old visions. There was the eternal outline of the hills; there rose the steadfast pines; there was no change in THEM. It was this surrounding constancy of nature that had affected him. He turned away and entered the bedroom. Here he suddenly remembered that the mother of this vague enemy, Van Loo,--for his feeling towards him was still vague, as few men really hate the personality they don't know,--had only momentarily vacated it, and to his distaste of his own intrusion was now added the profound irony of his sleeping in the same bed lately occupied by the mother of the man who was suspected of having forged his name. He smiled faintly and looked around the apartment. It was handsomely furnished, and although it still had much of the characterlessness of the hotel room, it was distinctly flavored by its last occupant, and still brightened by that mysterious instinct of the sex which is inevitable. Where a man would have simply left his forgotten slippers or collars there was a glass of still unfaded flowers; the cold marble top of the dressing-table was littered with a few linen and silk toilet covers; and on the mantel-shelf was a sheaf of photographs. He walked towards them mechanically, glanced at them abstractedly, and then stopped suddenly with a beating heart. Before him was the picture of his past, the photograph of the one woman who had filled his life!

He cast a hurried glance around the room as if he half expected to see the original start up before him, and then eagerly seized it and hurried with it to the light. Yes! yes! It was SHE,--she as she had lived in his actual memory; she as she had lived in his dream. He saw her sweet eyes, but the frightened, innocent trouble had passed from them; there was the sensitive elegance of her graceful figure in evening dress; but the figure was fuller and maturer. Could he be mistaken by some wonderful resemblance acting upon his too willing brain? He turned the photograph over. No; there on the other side, written in her own childlike hand, endeared and familiar to his recollection, was her own name, and the date! It was surely she!

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 龙血封印

    龙血封印

    赶超中版的《西游记》盖过美版的《阿凡达》,以超凡的逻辑铸就超完美的剧集,以超级的工笔刻画形形色色的人际,揭开尘封,道破人源仙根。这是一部史诗级的作品,内容不乏浪漫的爱情,王朝的颠覆,权势的争斗,神宗魔祖的降世。且看“挥戈破阵猿崛起,英雄豪情百炼金”。
  • 易烊千玺:说不出口的爱

    易烊千玺:说不出口的爱

    他不是她的至尊宝,她不是他的紫霞仙子。也许这就是有缘无分吧
  • 异界龙鳞

    异界龙鳞

    公元2070年,人类赖以生存的地球已经严重陷入能源危机,人类再也无法在地球上生存下去,因此开展了“天眼计划”。但是“天眼计划”似乎并没有真实成功,银子皓等人则被卷入某些事件中,这到底是意外,还是某些“生物”的阴谋呢?
  • 燃尽吾身,拥你入怀

    燃尽吾身,拥你入怀

    BTL《BurningTightLove》燃尽吾身,拥你入怀“我的愿望只是将一位少女拥入怀中,而得到世界,只不过是顺带罢了。”男主本是一个幻想着拥有超能力的平凡高中生,入学后以某个契机如愿以偿,并再次得到了失联已久的青梅竹马的联系方式。在学校与自己的仆从欢乐的度过每一天并梦想着终有一天能娶青梅竹马为妻,不久遇到了一个可爱的小萝莉,使得自己发生了很多的不尽如意的改变……
  • 女相

    女相

    她一身白衣,英眉冷冽,挥剑指他,他却笑灼颜开。他无赖道:“我昨夜夜观星象,掐指一算,发现你命里缺我。”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 三国杀传奇游戏世界

    三国杀传奇游戏世界

    这某时空时间的三国杀传奇的游戏世界。貂蝉我也要。二乔我也要。一部和游戏一样加特技的小说。
  • 果实王

    果实王

    宅男无意之下吃下恶魔果实的王之果实~成为果实王~看他如何潇洒军阀割据的时代。,如何称霸都市~求书评,求推荐票,求打赏,求各种~更新时间不定~
  • 撞碎地球

    撞碎地球

    外星极高文明t8san星球高发战事,一些生命逃离出来,然后其中一位大能者,找了太阳系的几个有生命体存在的几个星球,撞碎,进行生命意志的最后传承!人类被异形能量包裹,然后地球碎裂,异形物质和太空真空气体以及少量元素催发,进行催眠,沉睡了三十年之后的人类陆续醒过来。而70亿人因为地球撞碎的冲击波太大,大多分散在太阳系之中。人类发现自己觉醒之后不但力量增强,同时身体机能适应宇宙空间。所有生物,意识之中都有了一个强烈的念头,为洛尔大人复仇,T8SAN星球。QQ群:546105679
  • 再婚一年间

    再婚一年间

    刘姝和柳原是二婚。确切的说,刘姝是因为柳原而变成了二婚。自此,夫妻恶战、婆媳大战、继母与继子之争……她的再婚路上布满荆棘,像满布色彩的调色盘,她该何去何从?
  • 血染空城

    血染空城

    海珞璃,杀手,在不小心的一个意外中,成了世界上唯一的一个怨魂。她被仇人所杀,她决定轮回转世,报复他,打击他,可不知为何,他却怎么也下不了手……