The Lever

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The Lever

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Title: The Lever A Novel
Author: William Dana Orcutt
Release Date: March 21, 2005 [EBook #15430]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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LEVER ***

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THE LEVER
BY WILLIAM DANA ORCUTT

AUTHOR OF "THE SPELL," "THE FLOWER OF DESTINY,"
"ROBERT CAVELIER," ETC.
1911
"_Give me where I may stand, a lever long enough, and a fulcrum
strong enough, and I will move the world_."--ARCHIMEDES.

TO MY MOTHER
ELLEN DANA ORCUTT
"SUPREME IN THE STRENGTH OF ASSERTING THAT WHICH
IS EVER WOMAN'S CREED--JUSTICE AND RIGHT," THIS
VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

THE LEVER

I
The girl leaned forward impulsively from the leisurely moving victoria
and looked back at the automobile which whizzed by the carriage,
along the maple-lined road leading from Washington to Chevy Chase;
then she as suddenly resumed her former position when she discovered
that the young man, who was the only occupant of the motor-car, had
slowed down and was gazing back at her.
"How impertinent!" she exclaimed, flushing, addressing herself rather
than the older woman beside her. "Of course, it couldn't be Allen; but if
it wasn't, why was he looking back at me? Did you recognize him,
Eleanor?"
"Who's impertinent?" queried Patricia, who sat between them and
exercised a ten-year-old sister's prerogative.

Mrs. Gorham was quietly amused. "Which question shall I answer first,
Alice--and who is 'Allen' supposed to be?"
It was the girl's turn to sense the situation. "How ridiculous!" she
laughed. "Of course you wouldn't know. Allen Sanford and I used to
play together when we were children in Pittsburgh. I haven't seen him
since we moved away after mamma died; but that really looked like
him. I wonder if by any chance it could be?"
"Oh, Alice, he's coming back," announced Patricia from her point of
vantage on her knees, and a moment later the same automobile, driven
at a speed at which the most conscientious of traffic guardians could
not complain, passed them slowly at the left. The young man made an
effort to conceal the fact that he was surveying the girl in the victoria,
but Alice cut short his suspense.
"It is! it is!" she cried, eagerly; and with the recognition made certain
the boy shut off his power, and, springing out of the car, was beside her
before even the discreet coachman could draw up to the curb.
"I thought I couldn't be mistaken--" he began.
"But you weren't sure," Alice finished for him. "You were trying to
remember a little girl with a pigtail down her back and horrid freckles
all over her face--now, weren't you?"
"If that's the way you really looked, I evidently wasn't as fussy about
such things then as I am now," he laughed. "All I remember is that you
were the dandiest little playmate I ever had."
The unexpected compliment caused Alice to turn quickly to Mrs.
Gorham.
"This is Allen Sanford, Eleanor; and this, Allen, is my mother, sister,
and dearest friend all in one."
"And my name's Pat," added the child, refusing to be ignored and
holding out her hand cordially.

The boy was even more embarrassed by the unexpected meeting with
the second Mrs. Gorham than to find Alice developed into so lovely
and fascinating a young woman. He had always thought of Alice's
step-mother, when he had thought of her at all, as of a type entirely
different from this slender, attractive woman only a few years older
than Alice herself. There was a self-possession about Mrs. Gorham, a
quiet dignity, which made the difference in their ages seem greater than
it really was; yet, had he not known, Allen would have thought them
sisters. His father was sceptical when he heard of Gorham's second
marriage: "It's bigamy, that's what it is," were Stephen Sanford's words.
"Gorham is married to his business. Everything he touches turns into
gold. Business to him is what a great passion for a woman would be to
one man, or a supreme friendship to another; but the lever which moves
Robert Gorham is neither love nor steel; it is cold, hard cash."
All this flashed through Allen's mind in that brief moment of silence
after the introduction, but the thoughts of at least one of the two women
had been equally active. To