Chapter 27

The next day, Wall Street heard better news about Beaufort. The reports gave no clear facts. Still, they offered hope. People believed that powerful friends could save him.

They also believed those friends agreed to help. That evening, Mrs. Beaufort came to the Opera. Her old smile was back. A new emerald necklace lay around her neck.

An emerald was a bright green jewel. Society saw those green stones and felt safe again.

New York showed no mercy for bad business acts. Its silent rule allowed no exceptions. People who broke the law of honesty must pay. Everyone knew that even Beaufort must face this rule.

His wife would also pay. But society did not want to lose them. Their fall would be painful and hard for everyone. It would leave a large hole in their small group.

Some people did not understand the moral ruin. Others did not care. Yet they all feared one loss. New York's best room for dances would close.

Archer now firmly planned to visit Washington. He only waited for the law case. He told May that this case caused his trip. He wanted its date to match his visit.

On Tuesday, Mr. Letterblair gave him bad news. The court might wait several weeks. Still, Archer went home with a fixed plan. He would leave on Wednesday evening in any case.

May knew almost nothing about his work. She never seemed interested in it. She might not hear about the delay. She would not remember the names in the case.

None of that mattered now. Archer could not wait longer to see Ellen. He needed to tell her many things.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Letterblair met him at the office. His face looked deeply troubled. Beaufort failed to save the bank after all.

First, he spread a false story about powerful help. That story made his customers feel safe. They paid large sums into the bank. This continued until Tuesday evening.

Then darker reports filled the street. Crowds came to demand their money. The bank might close before the day's end. People spoke of Beaufort's act with great anger.

His plan tricked his own customers. His failure might become Wall Street's most shameful one. The size of the trouble made Mr. Letterblair white and weak.

"I have seen bad events in my time," he said. "But I never saw one this bad. Everyone we know will suffer somehow."

"And what will happen to Mrs. Beaufort? What can anyone do for her?"

Then he thought of old Catherine. "I pity Mrs. Manson Mingott just as much. This comes when she is very old. No one knows how it may affect her."

"She always trusted Beaufort," he continued. "She made him her friend. And think of all the Dallas relations. Poor Mrs. Beaufort is related to all your families."

"Her only hope may be to leave her husband. But who can tell her to do that? Her duty puts her beside him."

"Luckily, she never saw his private faults. At least, she seems blind to them."

Someone knocked at the door. Mr. Letterblair quickly turned his head.

"What is it? No one must trouble me now."

A young office worker brought Archer a letter. Then the man left. Archer knew May's writing and opened it.

"Please come uptown as soon as you can," May wrote. "Granny had a small stroke last night. A stroke is a sudden injury inside the brain. It can stop part of the body from moving."

"Somehow, she heard the terrible bank news first. Uncle Lovell is away shooting. The shame has made poor Papa sick with fear. He has a high body heat and cannot leave his room."

"Mamma needs you very much. Please leave at once and go straight to Granny's."

Archer handed the letter to his older partner. A few minutes later, he rode north. The crowded street car moved slowly. Horses pulled it through the streets.

At Fourteenth Street, he changed to a high omnibus. An omnibus was a large public carriage with many seats. It rocked along Fifth Avenue. The slow trip ended after twelve at old Catherine's house.

Mrs. Welland sat at the front room window. Old Catherine usually ruled from that place. Her daughter's smaller figure looked wrong there.

Mrs. Welland saw Archer and gave a tired sign of welcome.

May met him at the door. Illness made the neat house look strange. Coats and furs lay in piles on chairs. A doctor's bag and coat covered the hall table.

Letters and cards already formed another pile. No one had touched them.

May looked pale but kept smiling. Dr. Bencomb just made his second visit. He now felt more hope.

Mrs. Mingott's fierce wish to live also gave the family strength.

May led Archer into the old lady's sitting room. Large sliding doors shut off the bedroom. Heavy yellow cloth curtains covered those doors. Mrs. Welland spoke in a low, shocked voice.

She told him every part of the terrible event.

The trouble began on Tuesday evening. Mrs. Mingott finished her usual card game after dinner. She played solitaire, a card game for one person. At about eight, the front door bell rang.

A lady stood outside under a thick veil. The servants did not know her at first. Then the chief servant heard a well-known voice. He opened the sitting room door.

"Mrs. Julius Beaufort," he announced.

He shut the door behind her. The two women stayed alone for about an hour. Then Mrs. Mingott rang her bell.

Mrs. Beaufort already slipped away without being seen.

Old Catherine sat alone in her great chair. She looked white, huge, and terrible. She made a sign to the servant. He helped her into her bedroom.

She looked very upset. Yet she still controlled her mind and body. Her maid helped her into bed. The maid was a woman of mixed race.

She brought the usual cup of tea. Then she put the room in order and left. At three in the morning, the bell rang again.

Two servants hurried into the room. Old Catherine usually slept like a baby. They never heard her bell at that hour.

Now she sat up against her pillows. One side of her mouth held a bent smile. One small hand hung without strength. It rested beside her great arm.

The stroke was not a large one. Catherine could speak and make her wishes clear. After Dr. Bencomb's first visit, her face improved. Still, the family felt great fear.

Soon they understood her broken words. Then fear changed to anger. Regina Beaufort came to ask for help. The family could hardly believe her bold act.

She wanted Catherine to support Beaufort. Regina asked the whole family not to leave them. In truth, she wanted them to hide his shame. She wanted them to accept his terrible acts.

Old Catherine told Mrs. Welland about their talk. Her stroke made her voice thick.

"I told her that honor is always honor," Catherine said. "Honesty is always honesty in Manson Mingott's house. That will stay true until they carry me out dead."

"Then she said, 'But think of my name, Auntie. My name is Regina Dallas.'"

"I answered her. 'Your name was Beaufort when he covered you with jewels. It must stay Beaufort now. He has covered you with shame.'"

Mrs. Welland told this story through tears. Shock made her face white. At last, she had to look straight at something ugly and shameful.

"If only I could hide this from your father-in-law," she said. "He always begs me not to destroy his last happy beliefs. How can I stop him from learning these horrors?"

"After all, Mamma, he will not see them," May said.

Mrs. Welland gave a long breath.

"No, thank heaven. He is safe in bed. Dr. Bencomb promised to keep him there."

"He will stay until poor Mamma improves," she continued. "By then, someone must send Regina away."

Archer sat near the window. He stared at the empty street. The women called him for moral support. He could offer no special kind of help.

Someone sent a telegram to Mr. Lovell Mingott. Other messages went by hand to New York relations. No one could do anything else. So the women quietly discussed the family's shame.

They spoke about Beaufort's acts and Regina's visit. To them, neither act could be excused.

Mrs. Lovell Mingott came back from another room. She was writing more notes there. Now she joined the talk.

The older ladies remembered their own youth. A wife disappeared when her husband brought business shame. She went away with him. No other choice entered her mind.

"Think of poor Grandmamma Spicer," Mrs. Welland said. "She was your great-grandmother, May. Her husband's money trouble was private, of course."

"Perhaps he lost money at cards," she continued. "Perhaps he signed a paper for someone. I never knew the truth. Mamma refused to speak of it."

"Grandmamma Spicer had to leave New York after the shame. So Mamma grew up in the country. They lived alone beside the Hudson in every season. Mamma stayed there until she was sixteen."

"Grandmamma never asked the family to accept her," Mrs. Welland said. "Regina uses that word now. But Grandmamma's private shame hurt no one else."

"Beaufort destroyed the lives of hundreds of innocent people. That is far worse."

"Yes," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said. "Regina should hide her own face. She should not talk about other people's faces."

"I heard about her green necklace at the Opera," she continued. "Ball and Black's sent it that afternoon. They only wanted her to try it. Will the shop ever get it back?"

Archer listened without much feeling. Complete honesty with money was a gentleman's first law. This belief lived too deep inside him. Pity could not weaken it.

Lemuel Struthers was different. He began with nothing and made millions from Shoe Polish. He might use dark business plans. But old New York received its high place at birth.

That gift brought a duty. Its men must keep their business names clean.

Archer felt some pity for Regina. He felt more than her angry relations. Still, her future did not greatly move him.

A husband and wife might break apart in good times. During trouble, they must stay together. Mr. Letterblair was right about that. A wife belonged beside her husband then.

But society did not belong beside a guilty man. Regina seemed to expect its support. That almost made her a partner in Beaufort's acts. No woman could ask her family to hide such business shame.

The Family could do many things. It could never do that.

Old Catherine's maid called Mrs. Lovell Mingott into the hall. The older woman soon came back. A deep line showed between her eyes.

"Mamma wants me to send a telegram to Ellen Olenska," she said. "I already wrote to Ellen and Medora. But that is not enough."

"I must send a telegram at once. It must tell Ellen to come alone."

No one spoke. Mrs. Welland gave a tired sigh. May stood and gathered some newspapers from the floor.

"I suppose we must do it," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said.

She sounded as if she wanted someone to disagree. May turned to the center of the room.

"Of course we must," May said. "Granny knows what she wants. We must obey every wish."

"Shall I write the telegram for you, Auntie?" she asked. "If it leaves now, Ellen can take tomorrow morning's train."

May spoke the two parts of El-len very clearly. Each part sounded like a small silver bell.

"It cannot leave at once," Mrs. Lovell Mingott said. "Jasper is out with messages. The boy from the food room is also out."

May turned to Archer and smiled. "But Newland is here and ready to help. Will you carry the telegram? There is just enough time before lunch."

Archer stood and quietly agreed. May sat at Catherine's Bonheur du Jour. It was a small French writing desk. May wrote the message in her large young hand.

She carefully dried the wet ink. Then she gave the paper to Archer.

"What a pity that you and Ellen will pass each other," she said.

Then she faced her mother and aunt. "Newland must go to Washington. A case about an inventor is coming before the Supreme Court."

"Uncle Lovell will return by tomorrow night," she continued. "Granny is getting much better. Newland should not miss an important work meeting. Do you agree?"

She waited for an answer.

"Of course, darling," Mrs. Welland said quickly. "Your Granny would never ask that."

Archer left the room with the telegram. Behind him, Mrs. Welland spoke to her sister-in-law.

"Why in the world does Mamma want Ellen Olenska?"

May's clear voice answered. "Perhaps Granny will speak about Ellen's duty again. After all, Ellen's duty is beside her husband."

The front door closed behind Archer. He walked quickly toward the telegram office.