Carnacs Folly | Page 9

The lawyer opened his eyes
at the story. He had never heard anything like it.
"It doesn't sound as if you were sober when you did it. Were you, sir? It
was a mad prank, anyhow!"
"I had been drinking, but I wasn't drunk. I'd been telling them stories
and they used them as a means of tempting me to act in the absurd
marriage ceremony. Like a fool I consented. Like a fool--but I wasn't
drunk."
"No, but when you were in your right mind and sober you signed your
names as Mr. and Mrs. Carnac Grier in the register of a hotel. I will try
to win your case for you, but it won't be easy work. You see the Judge
himself told you the same thing. But it would be a triumph to expose a
thing of that kind, and I'd like to do it. It wouldn't be cheap, though.
You'd have to foot the bill. Are you rich?"
"No, but my people are," said Carnac. "I could manage the cash, but
suppose I lost!"
"Well, you'd have to support the woman. She could sue you for cruelty
and desertion, and the damages would be heavy."
Carnac shook his head, paid his fee and left the office.
He did not go near Luzanne. After a month he went to Paris for eight
months, and then back to Montreal.

CHAPTER III
CARNAC'S RETURN
Arrived in Montreal, there were attempts by Carnac to settle down to
ordinary life of quiet work at his art, but it was not effective, nor had it
been in Paris, though the excitement of working in the great centre had
stimulated him. He ever kept saying to himself, "Carnac, you are a
married man--a married man, by the tricks of rogues!" In Paris, he
could more easily obscure it, but in Montreal, a few hundred miles
from the place of his tragedy, pessimism seized him. He now repented
he did not fight it out at once. It would have been courageous and
perhaps successful. But whether successful or not, he would have put
himself right with his own conscience. That was the chief thing. He
was straightforward, and back again in Canada, Carnac flung
reproaches at himself.
He knew himself now to be in love with Junia Shale, and because he
was married he could not approach her. It galled him. He was not fond
of Fabian, for they had little in common, and he had no intimate friends.
Only his mother was always sympathetic to him, and he loved her. He
saw much of her, but little of anyone else. He belonged to no clubs, and
there were few artists in Montreal. So he lived his own life, and when
he met Junia he cavilled at himself for his madness with Luzanne. The
curious thing was he had not had a word from her since the day of the
mock marriage. Perhaps she had decided to abandon the thing! But that
could do no good, for there was the marriage recorded in the registers
of New York State.
Meanwhile, things were not going well with others. There befell a day
when matters came to a crisis in the Grier family. Since Fabian's
marriage with Junia Shale's sister, Sybil, he had become discontented
with his position in his father's firm. There was little love between him
and his father, and that was chiefly the father's fault. One day, the old
man stormed at Fabian because of a mistake in the management, and
was foolish enough to say that Fabian had lost his grip since his
marriage.

Fabian, enraged, demanded freedom from the partnership, and offered
to sell his share. In a fit of anger, the old man offered him what was at
least ten per cent more than the value of Fabian's share. The sombre
Fabian had the offer transferred to paper at once, and it was signed by
his father--not without compunction, because difficult as Fabian was he
might go further and fare worse. As for Fabian's dark-haired, brown-
faced, brown-eyed wife, to John Grier's mind, it seemed a good thing to
be rid of her.
When Fabian left the father alone in his office, however, the stark
temper of the old man broke down. He had had enough. He muttered to
himself. Presently he was roused by a little knock at the door. It was
Junia, brilliant, buoyant, yellow haired, with bright brown eyes,
tingling cheeks, and white laughing teeth that showed against her red
lips. She held up a finger at him.
"I know what you've done, and it's no good at all. You can't live
without us, and you mustn't," she said. The old man glowered still, but
a reflective smile crawled to his lips. "No, it's finished," he replied.
"It had