The Last Drive (29 page)

And what a prize she was! Sweetness and intelligence, charm of good mind and body, innocence and goodness, all found their home in her. A prize for any lucky man!

Well, he would soon know. The suspense and indecision would end. This was her tomorrow; perhaps her “yes” was waiting for him now. It was that thought that turned the wheel about and headed him for home.

The dinner hour at Greenhedge was half-past six, and it was just ten minutes before that time when Canby turned in at the driveway. The lawn and piazza were deserted; there was no one in the garden. He left the car in the rear and entered the house. Still no one. Suddenly he heard Mrs. Wheeler addressing him:

“Oh, are you back, sir? Will you eat alone, sir?”

Looking into the dining-room, Canby saw with surprise that no preparations had been made for dinner.

“Why, where is everybody?” he demanded.

“I don't know, sir. Miss Nella said she wouldn't be back for dinner. She said to tell you she left a note for you in your room.”

Canby turned slowly toward the stairs with a heavy heart. He had felt this coming all afternoon. It was over. Then the spark of hope, still faintly alive, quickened within him, and he bounded up the stairs three at a time. He ran down the upper hall and dashed into his room. The note was there on his desk, addressed in her quaint round hand: “Mr. Fred Canby.” He tore it open.

I can't help it; really I can't. I'm so sorry. I'm going to marry Mr. Linwood this evening. We aren't coming back. Please, please forgive me; you've been so kind to me— I'll write to you later, and maybe you'll think better of me.

NELLA.

Canby read it over three times, then slowly folded the sheet and placed it in his pocket. Then suddenly he took it out again and tore it into a dozen pieces; after which he walked to the window overlooking the garden and stood there crumpling the bits of paper in his hand. He stood very straight and motionless and his face was white and set like stone.

So youth had conquered! He smiled bitterly. No doubt it was all quite logical and proper and to be expected. Tom had made good; he was after all a worthy representative of the age of adventure. He had picked her up and ran off with her—with Nella, the sweetest and best and dearest girl in the world. She had heard the call of youth and had responded to it, and who was he to begrudge her happiness? An old worthless fossil!

Long after the dinner-bell rang he stood there. Finally he turned drearily and went downstairs, and, after informing Mrs. Wheeler curtly that he wanted no dinner, he went out into the fragrant peace of the garden.

Dusk was approaching; a cool breeze had sprung up and was rustling the leaves of the plants and shrubs. He strolled aimlessly along the paths, seeing nothing, hearing nothing.

But all at once his eyes were opened. Turning a bend in the path, there was a bench before him, and on the bench was seated a young man. Canby stopped short and stared at this young man with an expression of amazed stupidity, as if he had been a ghost. It was Tom Linwood.

“Hello!” said the youth, looking up dismally.

Canby continued to stare like an imbecile. “But what— You—” he stammered at last, and stopped.

Then:

“Where's Nella?” he demanded.

“With her husband, I suppose,” was the reply.

“With her hus—! Are you crazy?”

The youth was unmoved in his stony gloom.

“I said, with her husband. That's the proper place for a loving young wife, isn't it?”

Then he burst forth suddenly:

“I don't want to talk about her, I tell you! She's a—she's a— Oh damn it all, I don't know what she is! Yes, I do!” He became dismally ironic: “She's my aunt—my aunt Nella! She's been throwing eyes at that old duffer all along and I didn't know it; and he swallowed her bait. Oh, she's a slick one! They got in the car and Uncle Garry tells me to be a good boy and hands me a note to give to you, and off they go! … I forgot; I didn't give you the note, did I? Here it is.”

Canby took it and tore it open. There were only a few lines.

Canby:

She belonged to you, but you wouldn't take her; so the prize is mine. We are to be married this afternoon. That young fool Tom was making it too hot for me.

LINWOOD.

Canby dropped weakly on the bench and sat there in an idiotic daze. Coming out of it hours later, he uttered the words:

“Old fool!”

Goodness only knows whom he was talking about.

Appendix: The Early Fiction of Rex Stout

“Excess Baggage”
Short Stories
, October 1912
¹

“The Infernal Feminine”
Short Stories
, November 1912
²

“The Paisley”
Young's Magazine
, November 1912
³

“Billy Du Mont, Reporter”
Young's Magazine
, December 1912
⁴

“A Professional Recall”
The Black Cat
, December 1912
⁵

“Barnacles”
Young's Magazine
, January 1913
⁶

“Pamfret and Peace”
The Black Cat
, January 1913
⁷

“A Companion of Fortune”
Short Stories
, April 1913
⁸

“A White Precipitate”
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
, June 1913
⁹

“The Pickled Picnic”
The Black Cat
, June 1913
¹⁰

“The Mother of Invention”
The Black Cat
, August 1913
¹¹

Her Forbidden Knight
The All-Story
, August 1913 to December 1913
¹²

“Méthode Américaine”
The Smart Set
, November 1913
¹³

“A Tyrant Abdicates”
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
, January 1914
¹⁴

“The Pay-Yeoman”
The All-Story
, January 1914
¹⁵

Under the Andes
The All-Story
, February 1914
¹⁶

“Secrets”
All-Story Weekly
, March 7, 1914
¹⁷

“Rose Orchid”
All-Story Weekly
, March 28, 1914
¹⁸

“An Agacella Or”
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine
, April 1914
¹⁹

“The Inevitable Third”
All-Story Weekly
, April 25, 1914
²⁰

A Prize for Princes All-Story [Cavalier] Weekly
, May 2 to May 30, 1914
²¹

“Out of the Line”
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
, June 13, 1914
²²

“The Lie”
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
, July 4, 1914
²³

“Target Practise”
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
, December 26, 1914
²⁴

“If He Be Married”
All-Star Cavalier Weekly
, January 16, 1915
²⁵

“Baba”
All-Star Cavalier Weekly
, January 30, 1915
²⁶

“Warner & Wife”
All-Story Cavalier Weekly
, February 27, 1915
²⁷

“A Little Love Affair”
Smith's Magazine
, July 1915
²⁸

“Art for Art's Sake”
Smith's Magazine
, August 1915
²⁹

“Another Little Love Affair”
Smith's Magazine
, September 1915
³⁰

“Jonathan Stannard's
All-Story Weekly
, September 11, Secret Vice” 1915
³¹

“Sanétomo”
All-Story Weekly
, September 25, 1915
³²

“The Strong Man”
Young's Magazine
, November 1915
³³

“Justice Ends at Home”
All-Story Weekly
, December 4, 1915
³⁴

“Two Kisses”
Breezy Stories
, January 1916
³⁵

The Great Legend All-Story Weekly
, January 1, 1916
³⁶

“Ask the Egyptians”
Golfers Magazine,
March 1916
³⁷

“This Is My Wife”
Snappy Stories
, March [issue 2] 1916
³⁸

“Second Edition”
Young's Magazine
, April 1916
³⁹

“It's Science That Counts”
All-Story Weekly
, April 1, 1916
⁴⁰

“The Rope Dance”
All-Story Weekly
, June 24, 1916
⁴¹

The Last Drive Golfers Magazine
, July to December 1916
⁴²

“It Happened Last Night”
The Black Cat
, January 1917
⁴³

“An Officer and a Lady”
All-Story Weekly
, January 13, 1917
⁴⁴

“Heels of Fate”
All-Story Weekly
, November 17, 1917
⁴⁵

“Old Fools and Young”
Young's Magazine
, April 1918
⁴⁶

¹
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

²
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

³
Reprinted in this volume

⁴
Reprinted in this volume

⁵
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

⁶
Reprinted in this volume

⁷
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

⁸
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

⁹
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

¹⁰
Reprinted in this volume

¹¹
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

¹²
Reprinted in
Her Forbidden Knight
(Carroll & Graf 1997); reprinted in
The Rex Stout Reader
(Carroll & Graf 2007)

¹³
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

¹⁴
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

¹⁵
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

¹⁶
Reprinted in
Under the Andes
(Mysterious Press 1985; Carroll & Graf 2000)

¹⁷
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

¹⁸
Published under the pseudonym “Evans Day.” Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

¹⁹
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

²⁰
Published under the pseudonym “Evans Day.” Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²¹
Reprinted in
A Prize for Princes
(Carroll & Graf 2000); reprinted in
The Rex Stout Reader
(Carroll & Graf 2007)

²²
Reprinted in
Her Forbidden Knight
(Carroll & Graf 1997); reprinted in
The Rex Stout Reader
(Carroll & Graf 2007)

²³
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²⁴
Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²⁵
Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²⁶
Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²⁷
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

²⁸
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

²⁹
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

³⁰
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

³¹
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

³²
Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

³³
Reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

³⁴
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

³⁵
Reprinted in this volume

³⁶
Reprinted in
The Rex Stout Reader
(Carroll & Graf 2007)

³⁷
Reprinted in this volume

³⁸
Reprinted in this volume

³⁹
Reprinted in this volume

⁴⁰
Reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

⁴¹
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

⁴²
Reprinted in this volume

⁴³
Reprinted in this volume

⁴⁴
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998); reprinted in
An Officer and a Lady and Other Stories
(Carroll & Graf 2000)

⁴⁵
Reprinted in
Justice Ends at Home and Other Stories
(Viking Press 1977); reprinted in
Target Practice
(Carroll & Graf 1998)

⁴⁶
Reprinted in this volume