As he stood at the top of the steps, leaving, she
said:—
“You needn’t send those men. There
will be no packing, because I am not going to marry
you.”
“I’m not a bit scared,” he answered,
and went down the steps.
Three days later, Daylight rode to Berkeley in his
red car. It was for the last time, for on the
morrow the big machine passed into another’s
possession. It had been a strenuous three days,
for his smash had been the biggest the panic had precipitated
in California. The papers had been filled with
it, and a great cry of indignation had gone up from
the very men who later found that Daylight had fully
protected their interests. It was these facts,
coming slowly to light, that gave rise to the widely
repeated charge that Daylight had gone insane.
It was the unanimous conviction among business men
that no sane man could possibly behave in such fashion.
On the other hand, neither his prolonged steady drinking
nor his affair with Dede became public, so the only
conclusion attainable was that the wild financier
from Alaska had gone lunatic. And Daylight had
grinned and confirmed the suspicion by refusing to
see the reporters.
He halted the automobile before Dede’s door,
and met her with his same rushing tactics, enclosing
her in his arms before a word could be uttered.
Not until afterward, when she had recovered herself
from him and got him seated, did he begin to speak.
“I’ve done it,” he announced.
“You’ve seen the newspapers, of course.
I’m plumb cleaned out, and I’ve just called
around to find out what day you feel like starting
for Glen Ellen. It’ll have to be soon,
for it’s real expensive living in Oakland these
days. My board at the hotel is only paid to the
end of the week, and I can’t afford to stay
after that. And beginning with to-morrow I’ve
got to use the street cars, and they sure eat up the
nickels.”
He paused, and waited, and looked at her. Indecision
and trouble showed on her face. Then the smile
he knew so well began to grow on her lips and in her
eyes, until she threw back her head and laughed in
the old forthright boyish way.
“When are those men coming to pack for me?”
she asked.
And again she laughed and simulated a vain attempt
to escape his bearlike arms.
“Dear Elam,” she whispered; “dear
Elam.” And of herself, for the first time,
she kissed him.
She ran her hand caressingly through his hair.
“Your eyes are all gold right now,” he
said. “I can look in them and tell just
how much you love me.”
“They have been all gold for you, Elam, for
a long time. I think, on our little ranch, they
will always be all gold.”
“Your hair has gold in it, too, a sort of fiery
gold.” He turned her face suddenly and
held it between his hands and looked long into her
eyes. “And your eyes were full of gold
only the other day, when you said you wouldn’t
marry me.”
