Gordon Keith eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 667 pages of information about Gordon Keith.

Gordon Keith eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 667 pages of information about Gordon Keith.

“A gentleman.”

“Yes.”  The Englishman took the trouble again to put up his monocle and take a fleeting glance across the table.  “He looks it,” he said.  “I mean, what does he do?  Is he a capitalist like—­like our host?  Or is he just getting to be a capitalist?”

“I hope he is,” replied Mrs. Lancaster, with a twinkle in her eyes that showed she enjoyed the Englishman’s mystification.  “He is engaged in mining.”

She gave a rosy picture of the wealth in the region from which Keith came.

“All your men do something, I believe?” said the gentleman.

“All who are worth anything,” assented Mrs. Lancaster.

“No wonder you are a rich people.”

Something about his use of the adjective touched her.

“Our people have a sense of duty, too, and as much courage as any others, only they do not make any to-do about it.  I have a friend—­a gentleman—­who drove a stage-coach through the mountains for a while rather than do nothing, and who was held up one night and jumped from the stage on the robber, and chased him down the mountains and disarmed him.”

“Good!” exclaimed the gentleman.  “Nervy thing!”

“Rather,” said Mrs. Lancaster, with mantling cheeks, stirred by what she considered a reflection on her people.  And that was not all he did.  “He had charge of a mine, and one day the mine was flooded while the men were at work, and he went in in the darkness and brought the men out safe.”

“Good!” said the gentleman.  “But he had others with him?  He did not go alone?”

“He started alone, and two men volunteered to go with him.  But he sent them back with the first group they found, and then, as there were others, he waded on by himself to where the others were, and brought them out, bringing on his shoulder the man who had attempted his life.”

“Fine!” exclaimed the gentleman.  “I’ve been in some tight places myself; but I don’t know about that.  What was his name?”

“Keith.”

“Oh!”

Her eyes barely glanced his way; but the Earl of Steepleton saw in them what he had never been able to bring there.

The Englishman put up his monocle and this time gazed long at Gordon.

“Nervy chap!” he said quietly.  “Won’t you present me after dinner?”

In his slow mind was dawning an idea that, perhaps, after all, this quiet American who had driven his way forward had found a baiting-place which he, with all his titles and long pedigrees, could not enter.  His honest, outspoken admiration had, however, done more to make him a place in that guarded fortress than all Mrs. Rhodes’s praises had effected.

A little later the guests had all departed or scattered.  Those who remained were playing cards and appeared settled for a good while.

“Keith, we are out of it.  Let’s have a game of billiards,” said the host, who had given his seat to a guest who had just come in after saying good night on the stair to one of the ladies.

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Project Gutenberg
Gordon Keith from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.