The Red House on Rowan Street — Text and Context

CHAPTER I. Burton Becomes an Ambassador. II. At the Red House. III. The Highwayman's Mask Is Found. IV. The Curious Experiences of the Underwood Family. V. The Investigating Committee. VI. A Midnight Watch. VII. The Work of the Incendiary. VIII. The Baby That Was Tied in. IX. A Pointed Warning. X. Mr. Hadley Proves a True Prophet. XI. Henry Underwood Is Arrested. XII. An Unstable Sweetheart. XIII. Henry Is Hard to Handle. XIV. Burton's Turn. XV. An Odd Knot. XVI. The Trail to Yesteryear. XVII. A Temporary Aberration. XVIII. Burton Thinks He Is Mending Matters. XIX. Burton Goes To The Reservation. XX. Ground Bait. XXI. Rachel Appears on the Scene. XXII. Henry Takes to His Heels. XXIII. The Trap Is Sprung. XXIV. Burton's Last Appearance as an Ambassador.

"'Mr. Underwood has enemies,' he said calmly." _Frontispiece_ _See p_. 176.

"'Well, perhaps this can be explained away, too!'" _Page_ 71

"He found Ben Bussey in a wheeled chair near a window." _Page_ 200

"He stopped for a moment at the gate to enjoy the picture she made." _Page_ 250

The Red House on Rowan Street

CHAPTER I BURTON BECOMES AN AMBASSADOR

When Hugh Burton stepped from the train at High Ridge, he wondered (in his ignorance of the events that were about to engage him) whether he would be able to catch a return train that evening. He had no desire to linger in this half-grown town on the western edge of civilization one minute longer than his fool errand demanded. He called it a "fool errand" every time he thought of his mission. That he, who had secretly prided himself on the "disengaged" attitude which he had always maintained toward life, should have consented to come halfway across the continent to hunt up a Miss Leslie Underwood whom he had never met, and ask her if she would not be so kind as to reconsider her refusal to marry Philip Overman, because Philip was really taking it very hard, don't you know, and particularly because Philip's mother would be quite distracted if the boy should carry out his threat to enlist and go to the Philippines,--oh, Lord! he must have had some unsuspected idiot among his ancestors. Did Rachel Overman know how heavily she was drawing on his friendship?

An Indian woman sitting on the stone steps of the railway station made him realize how near the edge of civilization, in very truth, he had come. There was, he remembered, a Reservation for Indians on the northern border of the State. It could not be very far from High Ridge.

With her bright shawl about her shoulders and her beadwork and baskets spread about her, the woman made a picturesque spot in the sunshine. At another time Burton would have stopped to examine her wares, for among his other dilettante pursuits was an interest in Indian basketry; but in his present impatient mood he would have pushed past with a mere glance but for one of those queer little incidents that we call accidental. A man who was coming down the steps that Burton was about to ascend passed near the black-eyed squaw, and she looked up with smiling recognition and laid her hand arrestingly upon his coat. But he was not in a responsive mood. He gave her a black look and struck her hand away with such impatience and violence that a pile of her upset baskets rolled down the steps and over the platform at Burton's feet. At once he stepped in front of the man, who was hurrying heedlessly on.

"Pick them up. You knocked them over," he said quietly.

The man gathered up one or two with instinctive obedience to a positive order, before he realized what he was doing. Then he straightened up and glared wrathfully at his self-appointed overseer.

"What the devil have you got to say about it?" he asked.

"You mind your own infernal business," the man cried, and flinging the baskets in his hand at Burton's feet he rushed on.

Burton beckoned a porter, who gathered up and restored the woman's scattered merchandise. For himself, he walked on toward the booth marked "Bureau of Information," and wondered what had possessed him to make him act so out of character. Why hadn't he called the porter in the first instance, if he felt it his affair? Something in the man's brutality had aroused a corresponding passion in himself. It was a case of hate at first sight, and he rejoiced that at any rate he had declared himself, and had put the uncivilized pale face into a humiliating rage!