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diff --git a/old/31082-h.zip b/old/31082-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 155842c..0000000 --- a/old/31082-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/31082-h/31082-h.htm b/old/31082-h/31082-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 671a6c9..0000000 --- a/old/31082-h/31082-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4995 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories, -by Charles Weathers Bump - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - - p { margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - } - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - } - hr { width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - clear: both; - } - - table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} - - body{margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - } - - .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - } /* page numbers */ - - .tdl {text-align: left; padding-right: 2em;} - .tdr {text-align: right; padding-left: 2em;} - - .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} - - .block {margin: auto; width: 18em; border: solid 1px;} - .box {text-align: center; - padding: 0.25em;} - - .center {text-align: center;} - - .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} - - .indent1 {text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - .indent2 {text-indent: 2em; margin-top: 0em;} - .indent3 {text-indent: 50%; padding-left: 2em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - .indent4 {text-indent: 50%; padding-left: 4em; margin-top: 0em;} - .indent5 {text-indent: 50%; padding-left: 5em; margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - .indent6 {text-indent: 50%; padding-left: 6em; margin-top: 0em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories, by -Charles Weathers Bump - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories - -Author: Charles Weathers Bump - -Release Date: January 26, 2010 [EBook #31082] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAID OF DRUID LAKE *** - - - - -Produced by Irma Špehar, Jennifer Sahmoun and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - - -<h2>The</h2> - -<h2>Mermaid of Druid Lake</h2> - -<h2>AND</h2> - -<h2>OTHER STORIES</h2> - -<h3>BY</h3> - -<h2>CHARLES WEATHERS BUMP</h2> - -<h4>Author of "His Baltimore Madonna," etc.</h4> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/titlepage_illo.jpg" width="200" height="135" alt="logo" title="" /> -</div> - -<p style="text-align:center"><i>NUNN & COMPANY</i> -<i>BALTIMORE</i> -<i>1906</i> -<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<br /></p> -<p style="text-align:center"> -Copyright 1906 by Charles Weathers Bump<br /> -<br /> -All rights Reserved<br /> -</p> - - -<p style="text-align:center"> -Acknowledgement is Given to the Baltimore<br /> -News for Aid in Reprinting these Stories<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -</p> - -<p style="text-align:center"> -Presswork by<br /> -<br /> -The Horn-Shafer Company<br /> -Baltimore. Md.<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -</p> - - -<h3>Twelve More Stories</h3> - -<table summary="Contents"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Mermaid of Druid Lake</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Mermaid_of_Druid_Lake">5</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Goddess of Truth</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Goddess_of_Truth">18</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">A Daughter of Cuba Libre</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#A_Daughter_of_Cuba_Libre">30</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">A Two-Party Line</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#A_Two-Party_Line">43</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Timon Up To Date</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Timon_Up_To_Date">57</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Night That Patti Sang</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Night_That_Patti_Sang">67</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">An Island On A Jamboree</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#An_Island_On_A_Jamboree">81</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Alexander the Great</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Alexander_the_Great">93</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Breaking Into Medicine</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Breaking_Into_Medicine">104</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Pink Ghost of Franklin Square</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Pink_Ghost_of_Franklin_Square">119</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The Vanished Mummy</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Vanished_Mummy">127</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">"Mount Vernon 1-0-0-0"</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Mount_Vernon_1-0-0-0">139</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="The_Mermaid_of_Druid_Lake" id="The_Mermaid_of_Druid_Lake"></a><i>The Mermaid of Druid Lake</i></h2> - - -<p>If Edwin Horton had not had a sleepless time that hot June night it -probably would never have happened. As it was, after tossing and -pitching on an uncomfortably warm mattress for several hours, he had -dressed himself and left his Bolton-avenue home for a stroll in Druid -Hill Park just as the dawn made itself evident. That was the beginning -of the adventure.</p> - -<p>Not a soul was in sight when he reached the driveway around the big -lake, and he let out to take a little vigorous exercise, breathing in -the fresh air with more enjoyment than had been his for some hours.</p> - -<p>About half way around he stopped suddenly and rubbed his eyes to make -sure he was not dreaming. For a curve in the road had brought him the -knowledge that he was not alone in his appreciation of the early morning -hour. Seated beside the water, on the rocks that line the lake shore, -was a damsel—a rather good-looking one, as well as he could judge at -the distance of a hundred yards. She was leaning on her left elbow and -looking out over the lake in rather a pensive, dreamy attitude. Of -course, young ladies don't ordinarily get up before dawn to go out to -Druid Hill Park for the purpose of sitting alone beside the broad sweep -of city water, and Edwin naturally felt some surprise at the novelty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> of -the sight. Besides, she was inside the high iron railing, and he -wondered how she had got there.</p> - -<p>In the intensity of his interest he slowed down his pace as he drew -nearer along the roadway. Should he watch her unobserved for a while to -ascertain her purpose? Should he frankly hail her and ask whether she -objected to company? Should he—well, the damsel settled his doubts for -him just then by discovering him. She appeared startled, and he fancied -she half meant to plunge into the lake. Then she changed her mind, gave -him a bewitching little smile and raised her free hand to beckon him. -Edwin needed no second invitation. The novelty of the situation was too -alluring to resist.</p> - -<p>In another moment he had scaled the fence and was clambering awkwardly -down the rocks. And as he came close he found her a very pretty damsel -indeed, with youthful, rosy cheeks, fetching blue eyes and long, light -tresses that hung unconfined from her head down upon the sloping rocks -behind her. She was smiling, and yet he thought he detected a renewed -disposition to slip away from him before he had drawn too close.</p> - -<p>Then he had a shock.</p> - -<p>She was only half a woman!</p> - -<p>The other half of her was fish—scaly fish—partly submerged in the -waters of the lake!</p> - -<p>He paused irresolutely. It was all right, you know, to read about -mermaids in old mythologies and fairy tales. But to encounter one in -this year of Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> Lord, so near home as Druid lake! Oh, fudge! the boys -at the Ariel Club would never get through "joshing" him should he ever -say he had seen such a thing. It could not be true; it was too amazing! -He was a fool to let his nerves get the better of him. He had better cut -out those visits to the river resorts, or next he would be seeing pink -elephants climbing trees. First thing he knew he would wake up in that -stuffy room at home. No, he couldn't be dreaming! There was the railing, -and the lake, and the white tower, and General Booth's home, and the -Madison-avenue entrance, and the Wallace statue and a dozen other -familiar spots in a most familiar perspective.</p> - -<p>And there, too, was the damsel in flesh and blood, or, rather, flesh and -fish!</p> - -<p>She was the first to speak.</p> - -<p>"Good morning to you, stranger."</p> - -<p>She spoke English—good, clear mother-tongue. Her lips were parted in -that alluring smile, and her manner was as saucy as that of any fair -flirt he had ever known of womankind.</p> - -<p>"In the name of Heaven, who are you?" he stammered as he sat down, -awkwardly, beside her.</p> - -<p>She laughed outright—mischievously, mockingly.</p> - -<p>"I? I am the nymph of the lake. Long years ago I was the naiad of the -woodland spring that is now deep down yonder," indicating a spot out in -the lake. "But they dammed me in and turned great floods of water in -here, and mighty Jupiter gave me my new title."</p> - -<p>"And are you really half fish?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>She laughed again.</p> - -<p>"I am what you see."</p> - -<p>As she spoke she gracefully swayed the lower half of her in the water. A -million glistening scales prismatically reflected the increasing morning -light. She was half fish, all right. There was no doubt about that.</p> - -<p>"By gosh! here's a rum go!" muttered Edwin to himself.</p> - -<p>"What did you say?" queried the mermaid.</p> - -<p>"I said, if you must know, 'By Jove! you are a beauty,'" he replied, -gallantly and impetuously.</p> - -<p>The mermaid smiled again. The feminine half of her was pleased with the -compliment to her good looks.</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid you're a sad flatterer," she said, coquettishly. She lowered -her blue eyes, then uplifted the lashes and looked full into his face in -a manner that made his heart bound. One little finger was shaken -playfully at him. Edwin seized the hand. It was warm; human blood -pulsated through it! And as he held it his companion gave just a bit of -a squeeze. A score of girls had done the same in bygone sentimental -hours. But none so deftly.</p> - -<p>"This is certainly an odd adventure," he remarked. "Tell me, lady of the -lake, do you often sit here in this unconventional fashion with -gentlemen callers?"</p> - -<p>"What would you give to know?" she asked, teasingly.</p> - -<p>"You are the first for a long, long time," she went on. "Last summer -there was a man in a gray uniform who saw me, but he looked so -uninteresting I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> swam away."</p> - -<p>"When are you here?" he asked, earnestly.</p> - -<p>"I love to sit on the bank when fair Aurora makes the dawning day grow -rosy," she acknowledged, "but I have to flee to the depths when the full -sun comes." She looked to the east. "It is growing late," she added, -hurriedly; "I must be going."</p> - -<p>"Not yet, not yet," he pleaded.</p> - -<p>"Do not detain me," she cried; "I must go. It means life to me."</p> - -<p>Gracefully she glided into the water at his feet.</p> - -<p>"You will come tomorrow?" he asked.</p> - -<p>The coquettish mood returned to her.</p> - -<p>"Perhaps," she said, as with long strokes she headed for the centre of -the lake. Edwin watched intently until she had gone a hundred yards and -more. Then she ceased swimming, kissed her hand to him and dived under -the surface as the single word "Farewell" floated over the water.</p> - -<p>It seems superfluous to remark that he was in a trance that day. His -father, at the breakfast table, jovially prodded him about being late, -until he barely caught himself on the verge of telling his queer secret. -And so absent-minded was he at the office that he found he had entered -the account of a prosaic old firm as "Mermaid & Nymph."</p> - -<p>Long before 4 A. M. the next day he was at the lake. The waning moon was -still in the west and there were few signs of the coming day. For half -an hour he kept his vigil alone, and had almost begun to think his -piscatorial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> charmer was not coming. Then suddenly he espied her out in -the lake, swimming toward him. When about 50 yards off shore she hailed -him jovially and bade him go around to the white tower. As he moved -along the driveway she kept him company, maintaining the pace with -graceful, tireless strokes and occasionally coming nearer to exchange a -remark.</p> - -<p>"What made you change the trysting place?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Love of change, I suppose," she replied. "A water nymph does not get -much chance at novelty."</p> - -<p>The half hour they spent upon the water's edge was largely one of -sentimental banter between merry maid and enamored man, in which Edwin -reached the conclusion that his charmer could give cards to the jolliest -little "jollier" in Baltimore. She asked him about his past and present -girl friends, and pouted deliciously when he frankly acknowledged them. -Finally they parted, she promising to appear the next morning.</p> - -<p>The third meeting started a chain of events. They were comfortably -chatting on the rocks when Edwin heard the chug-chug of an automobile. -The mermaid clutched his arm in alarm. "What are those horrid things?" -she naively remarked. "They often make such an awful fuss I can hear -them down in my cozy corner."</p> - -<p>Edwin's reply was suspended while the machine passed them. The two men -who were in it craned their necks most industriously at the sight of a -pair of lovers out so early and seated in such an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> unusual spot for -sentimental couples.</p> - -<p>When he turned to make the explanations she had asked, he found it a -harder task than he had imagined. Her knowledge of human inventions, of -worldly means of locomotion, was not extensive, and he had to begin with -the A B C of it and go through a course in elementary mechanics. After -the forty-second paragraph of instructions the damsel clapped her hands -gleefully and cried:</p> - -<p>"It would be great fun to take a trip in one!"</p> - -<p>"It is great fun," declared Edwin, for a moment forgetting to whom he -was talking.</p> - -<p>"But then I couldn't do it!" she exclaimed in disappointment. "I -couldn't leave the lake."</p> - -<p>The unshed tears in her eyes made him ardent.</p> - -<p>"You could do it if you are willing," he avowed, earnestly. "You can -take the water with you." Visions of a tank lady in the "Greatest Circus -on Earth" came to him.</p> - -<p>"You are fooling me," murmured the mermaid. And she pouted.</p> - -<p>Edwin rose to the occasion. "I am not fooling," he protested. "It would -not be difficult to put a tank of water in the machine for you to put -your"——He was going to say feet, but he ended his sentence, -stumblingly, "your other half in."</p> - -<p>In her joy the Lady of the Lake took his cheeks in her hands and gave -him an impulsive kiss. "You are the loveliest being on earth," she said, -enthusiastically.</p> - -<p>That settled it. The rest of the conversation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> that morning was about -automobiles, and when they parted it was with a definite assurance on -his part that Edwin would be on hand the next morning with a motor car -suitably equipped for her use. It was only when he had gotten away that -he realized the ridiculous side of the job he had undertaken. He could -get an automobile all right. Tom Reese was a good friend, and a willing -one, and his car had a tonneau capacious enough to accommodate the -ex-naiad and her movable pool. But he would have to tell Tom the whole -peculiar adventure to get him to take his auto out at such an unearthly -hour.</p> - -<p>"He'll think me clean daft when I unfold it to him," said Edwin to -himself.</p> - -<p>And Tom did, too. He laughed loud and long when Edwin chose what he -thought to be a propitious moment and began his confession. "What are -you stuffing me with?" Tom demanded, with tears in his eyes. Edwin -renewed his explanations, only to bring on another explosion. "You'll be -the death of me yet, old fellow," asserted Tom. "You'd better cut out -those absinthes." Edwin added details most earnestly. "You're crazy, -boy," was the only reply he got. He grew angry and hurt. "Now, Tom -Reese," he demanded, "have I ever failed you when you wanted my help?" -Tom apologized and began to study Edwin with intentness. "Look here, -Edwin Horton," he said, "if there is any such girl at Druid lake as you -describe, she's a 'fake' and she's got you strung mightily." Edwin -swallowed this dig at his intelligence peacefully. He saw he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> won. -"All I ask, Tom," he rejoined, "is that you will take me out in the car -and see for yourself." Tom gave him his hand. "I'm from Missouri, and -you'll have to show me," he chuckled.</p> - -<p>A wash tub from Mrs. Reese's cellar was requisitioned at 3 A. M. for use -as a tank. After it had been lifted into the tonneau a hose supplied the -needed water. "Climb into the water wagon," ordered Tom, and he threw on -the lever and spun out to Druid Hill Park.</p> - -<p>The day was still in embryo when the lake tower was reached. But the -nymph was there. Her trim blue blouse was still wet after her swim -ashore. The morning was summery, but Edwin had appreciated that the ride -might be cold for the water lady, and had thoughtfully brought his -sister's raincoat.</p> - -<p>Tom's astonishment at seeing a bona-fide mermaid was balm to Edwin. The -lad stood open-mouthed after Edwin had introduced them. In fact, he was -so dumfounded that he failed to notice the hand the damsel had extended -to him.</p> - -<p>"Come on, Tom," said Edwin; "there isn't much time."</p> - -<p>One on each side, the two boys supported the nymph as she cavorted as -gracefully as possible up the rocks. They hadn't thought of the iron -railing. "Caesar's ghost!" muttered Tom in dismay. "How are we going to -get her over that?" Edwin turned to the mermaid. "If you don't mind," -said he, "we will have to lift you." "I don't mind," she said, simply, -"if you don't drop me."</p> - -<p>At Edwin's suggestion he clambered over first, and then Tom raised the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -young creature boldly until she was clear of the iron spikes. There -Edwin took hold of her and carried her to the auto. She was not a heavy -burden, but her wet condition and her combination shape increased the -difficulties.</p> - -<p>From the moment she was once in the auto her joy was a pleasure to -observe. She began by expressing her delight at their thoughtfulness in -supplying the wash tub. When the machine began to move she clapped her -hands in childish glee. From glee to wonderment her mood changed as they -spun along the park roads. A hundred naive questions were asked about -the objects unfamiliar to a lady whose habitat was at the bottom of a -big pond. Edwin answered faithfully, and had his reward in his enjoyment -of her artlessness and winsomeness. Occasionally Tom looked round to -share in it.</p> - -<p>At a good clip the auto was run out Park Heights avenue and back. The -dawn seemed most kindly disposed to the trio, for it was long in coming. -And when they had reached Pimlico, Tom proposed a detour by way of -Roland Park, to return to the lake across Cedar-avenue bridge. The -damsel hailed it with glee, only stipulating that she must be back by -"sun-up."</p> - -<p>They showed her the turf tracks on either side as they bowled along -Belvidere avenue eastward, and they were still engaged in explaining to -her the methods of horse racing when Tom started down the long hill -beside the Tyson place, Cylburn, leading down to the bridge across -Jones' Falls. The girl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> was asking questions, with her bewitching face -in close proximity to Edwin's, when there came a startling interruption -to their fun. Tom, again greatly interested in the talk, failed to -notice a large boulder in the road, and the auto shot over it with a -jolt that caused him to lose control of the wheel. The big machine -regained its balance, but not its course. Instead, it careened to the -right and bumped into the ditch before the alarmed occupants had -scarcely grasped their peril. Tom was tossed out on the roadway. Edwin -was pitched into the front seat, the mermaid shot past him and fell on a -clump of green turf and the tub of water upset, and, in seeking an -outlet, poured over the car, drenching Edwin.</p> - -<p>"Look out for a gasoline explosion!" shrieked Tom, raising himself from -the road, apparently unhurt. Edwin knew he could do nothing to prevent -such a catastrophe, so he followed the other two out of the auto as -quickly as he could. For a moment he and Tom paid no attention to the -mermaid, so absorbed were they in the possibility of a blow-up. But when -this danger had apparently passed they discovered that she had lifted -herself from the grassy sward and was flip-flopping awkwardly in the -direction of the brook that runs through Cylburn near the road.</p> - -<p>"Come back! Come back! There's no danger!" called Edwin, as he started -after her.</p> - -<p>The damsel paid no heed. She was intent on getting to that stream of -running water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> - -<p>Again Edwin called, this time more sharply. The mermaid stopped not, but -turned a tearful and much convulsed face to him.</p> - -<p>Edwin raced after her. So did Tom. But when they got to the edge of the -brook the only sign of her was an increasing ripple on the surface of a -little pool. The stream was not so deep but that the bottom could be -studied. And yet they saw nothing of her. Evidently she had the -enchanted gift of being invisible in water.</p> - -<p>Tom looked at Edwin. Edwin looked at Tom.</p> - -<p>"That beats the Dutch!" said Tom.</p> - -<p>"It's worse than that," replied Edwin, an odd catch in his voice. "We -certainly have queered her for good. We must find her and get her back -to the Park somehow."</p> - -<p>For hours they moved up and down alongside the stream, calling -pleadingly, but without response, for their quondam friend. Edwin made a -little oration to her in absentia, in which he humbly begged her pardon -and swore by all the gods of Mount Olympus—by the great Jupiter, the -chaste Diana and all the rest of them, as far as he could remember their -names—that he would restore her safely to the lake. But she came not. -Tom added his entreaties, but she heeded not. Then Tom suggested that -perhaps she had worked her way down the brook and into Jones' Falls, -whence she could, if she but knew the pipes, get into her beloved lake -again. Edwin jumped at the idea, and, leaving Tom to look after the -auto, hastened down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> ravine to Jones' Falls, and moved up and down -the Falls, calling for the vanished damsel with a fervor that might have -caused doubts as to his sanity had anyone heard it.</p> - -<p>When he returned, terribly downcast, Tom had gotten the car righted and -had discovered that it was uninjured.</p> - -<p>"No luck, I suppose?" said Tom.</p> - -<p>"No," replied Edwin, moodily.</p> - -<p>"Get in, then. We can't stay here all day."</p> - -<p>Edwin required urging to leave the spot. Finally he consented to go. As -he climbed in he saw the overturned wash tub, and his concentrated wrath -and grief were heaped upon it. Picking it up, he hurled it savagely at a -tree, and, when it fell to pieces with the concussion, he exclaimed, -vehemently and inconsequentially:</p> - -<p>"That's the blamed thing that got us into this muss!"</p> - -<p>At Druid lake he insisted on another long search. Time and again the -auto was stopped that he might call aloud for his charmer. But no -answering sound came across the water.</p> - -<p>"Curses!" said Edwin. "I'm afraid she's lost for good."</p> - -<p>And that is probably the true explanation as to why there has been no -mermaid in Druid lake since. She may be in Cylburn brook, she may be in -Jones' Falls, she may have reached the Patapsco, but no one has ever -seen a creature answering her description and aquatic habits since the -damsel who once held the job got giddy and went motoring.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="The_Goddess_of_Truth" id="The_Goddess_of_Truth"></a><i>The Goddess of Truth</i></h2> - - -<p>Not everybody was pleased among the many thousands who on September 12, -1906, saw the industrial parade with which Baltimore celebrated its -wonderful recovery from the blow given by the great fire of 1904. Tobias -Greenfield, head of a Lexington-street department store, was one who was -not. He was angry, violently so. He had been in a chipper mood all -morning and had enjoyed watching the long line from the windows of a -bedecorated wholesale house on Baltimore street. But when his eyes -alighted on the float of his own firm, the anger came. And the longer it -stayed with him, the worse it grew, especially as he could not escape -the prodding of the friends who had invited him to their warehouse.</p> - -<p>When he could decently slip away from them he went to his office and -peremptorily called for his advertising manager.</p> - -<p>"What the devil do you mean, Melvale," he shouted, "by putting such a -scrawny little girl on our float as the Goddess? She looked a fright in -the clothes made for Miss Preston, and everyone is laughing at us. Why -was not Miss Preston there? How came you to make such a mess?"</p> - -<p>The advertising man was nervous under the volley of questions, but he -explained at length. Boiled down, it was plain he could give only one -reason why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> the float had been such a mess.</p> - -<p>And that reason was William Henry Montgomery.</p> - -<p>Miss Preston had been willing to be the Goddess, as planned, but William -Henry Montgomery said no. And that settled it.</p> - -<p>And who was William Henry Montgomery? Why, Miss Preston loved William -Henry Montgomery.</p> - -<p>You see, down on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where Maude Preston and -William Henry Montgomery were to the manor born, they had sought each -other's company so assiduously and for so long that in the length and -breadth of Accomac—from Chincoteague to Great Machipongo—every man and -woman regarded it as a sure thing that Maude and William Henry would hit -it off for a marriage. And they had talked, as people will, about their -being an ideal couple, so well suited—William Henry broad-shouldered -and solidly knit and Maude molded on classic Diana's lines, erect and -queenly, but sweet to look upon. The women thought William Henry a -fine-looking lad, while men and women alike regarded Maude as the -handsomest creature on the Peninsula below the Maryland line.</p> - -<p>And then one day there had been a quarrel. Maude thought a bit of -William Henry's advice too assertive, too near to an injunction to obey, -and had flared up. And William Henry had flared up likewise. And when -the two came to count the cost, William Henry was moodily filling a job -in a cousin's lumber-yard in Philadelphia, while Maude, unknown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> to -William Henry, had come to Baltimore to remove herself and her -heart-wound from the well-meant, but too gossipy, neighbors in Accomac.</p> - -<p>It was a matter of only a few months before she was the best-liked -saleswoman in Greenfield & Jacobs' big store. From Mr. Greenfield down -to the rawest cash girl all were glad to exchange a word with her, -because there was something delightful in Maude's way of expressing even -trivialities, and an especial joy in hearing her talk about "you all" -and call a car "kyar," a girl "giurl" and other idioms peculiar to -Tidewater Virginians. Besides that, she was too good-looking altogether -to be passed without notice. The elevator boys were both in love with -her, and their seniors—whether clerks, floor-walkers, salesmen or -owners—would walk two aisles out of the way any time to pass by Miss -Preston at the counter where she disposed of bolts of ribbon. But best -of all was the regard which her scores of girl associates had for her. -They liked her because they saw she made no effort to seek or to foster -the attentions which the masculines of the store thrust upon her. They -liked her, too, for the individuality and perfect neatness she showed in -her dress, from the bows of ribbon on her short sleeves to the set of -her skirts or the way her waists were arranged at the belt. As for her -hair, eight-ninths of the store, being the feminine portion, envied its -beautiful wave, and two-ninths mustered up courage to ask Maude how she -managed to keep it so splendidly. And the two-ninths, being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> told, let -the other six-ninths into the secret. Thus it was, in Greenfield & -Jacobs', that the Maude wave became more popular than the one named -after Marcelle.</p> - -<p>And all the while Maude quietly went on thinking of William Henry. She -heard about him sometimes in letters from Accomac, and knew that he was -still in Philadelphia. And there were hours when she fought the -temptation to write to him there, and humbly tell him that she had been -wrong to grow angry with him. Perhaps he had forgotten her and was -having a good time—she recoiled from the thought, and yet it would come -now and then. And when it came, Maude had spells of the "blues" that she -found hard to conceal from her new-made friends at the department store -and in her boarding-house on Arlington avenue.</p> - -<p>Greenfield & Jacobs was one of the first retail firms to take up the -notion of having a float in the Jubilee parade. And, having once decided -to exhibit, they went at the preparations with characteristic -thoroughness. "Let us do it right," said Jacobs to Greenfield. "Let us -spare no expense to have a car so beautiful that all Baltimore will -remember it as one of the hits of the parade. Let it be chaste and -symbolic, and not overloaded with bunting and people."</p> - -<p>The head of the firm had the same thought. "We have always tried to tell -the truth to our customers," he rejoined. "Why not try to bring that -fact home to thousands by a float on which a handsome<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> Goddess of Truth -will be giving a laurel crown to our firm?"</p> - -<p>"Capital!" exclaimed Jacobs. "And Miss Preston can be the Goddess."</p> - -<p>"I had her in mind when I proposed it," remarked Greenfield.</p> - -<p>And both men laughed.</p> - -<p>Neither partner was up on mythology, so they turned over to Melvale, the -advertising man, the duty of working out the details of the float. Now, -Melvale wasn't literary, either; but he knew an obliging young woman at -the Pratt Library, and he hied himself to her to ask who under Heaven -was the Goddess of Truth and how was she dressed. And the obliging young -woman looked up encyclopedias and finally handed Melvale an illustrated -copy of Spenser's "Faerie Queene." Melvale had never heard of Spenser, -and he had an idea that Spenser spelled his title badly, not even -according to the simplified method of Roosevelt and Carnegie. But he -took the book and read of the beautiful, pure and trustful Una, the -personification of Truth, the beloved of the Red Cross Knight. And when -he looked at the pictures he began to grow enthusiastic over the float.</p> - -<p>"By George!" he exclaimed. "Miss Preston will look great in that Greek -gown."</p> - -<p>And Melvale sketched the float as it afterward grew into being at the -hands of carpenters, painters and decorators at the old car shed on -Pennsylvania avenue. There was, first of all, a beautiful little model -of Greenfield & Jacobs' new store, about three feet high, over the -corner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> dome of which the charming Goddess, bending forward, was about -to place the laurel crown suggested by Greenfield. Behind her were -finely modeled figures of the lion and the lamb which are devoted -followers of Una. It was artistic; it was symbolic; it was chaste. There -was no word of advertising save the neatly lettered inscription:</p> - -<div class="block"> -<p class='box'> -The Truth stands by us.<br /> -We stand by the Truth. -</p> -</div> - -<p>It was a harder task than either partner imagined to win the consent of -Miss Preston to be a goddess for a few brief hours. She was not the sort -of girl to like conspicuousness or notoriety, and she flatly refused -when the float was first brought to her attention. Then they pleaded -with her. Jacobs told her how much she would be helping the firm if she -would only agree to oblige them. Greenfield promised to have the finest -of Greek gowns made in the store's dressmaking department. And Melvale, -clever man, deftly told her how beautiful and good Una was supposed to -be, and mildly intimated that there was no other young woman in -Baltimore who could possibly fill the bill on that float. Ultimately -Miss Preston's scruples were overcome.</p> - -<p>And into the preparations she entered with pleasing enthusiasm. Melvale -took her several times to the shed to see the float materialize, and -stopped each morning at the ribbon counter to tell her about details. -The whole store told her a thousand times how glad each was that she was -to be the Goddess. Greenfield<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> did as he promised about the costume—and -never was Greek gown made of more beautiful white goods, or more -exquisitely and perfectly fitted. Maude read Spenser's poem, more -understandingly than had Melvale, and the Goddess of Truth so completely -filled her mind during those summer weeks that William Henry Montgomery -was almost obscured except when she dreamed how she would like him to -see her triumph.</p> - -<p>At last came the day of the parade. Melvale, always fertile with -expedients, had arranged with Townsend, floor-walker on the fourth -floor, who lived on Fulton avenue just where the big parade was to form, -that the Goddess Maude might array herself in her finery at his home. -Bright and early that morning he sent a carriage for Miss Preston, and -ordered the float to be at Townsend's curb by 9 o'clock. The beautiful -gown and its accessories, laid away in soft tissue paper, were brought -from the Lexington-street store, and a couple of the girls from the -dressmaking department were on hand to aid the final making of a -goddess.</p> - -<p>Maude would not have been a woman had she not taken her time to get into -such finery, and Melvale began to grow nervous as the parade hour grew -near. The street was in confusion with the gathering of floats and men -and curious crowds of onlookers. The chief marshal of the procession, -Col. William A. Boykin, had warned him that the line was to move on -time, and already there were signs of a start. Five times he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> dived into -the hallway of Townsend's home and called agonizingly upstairs to know -if Miss Preston was ready.</p> - -<p>Finally she came. And Melvale held his breath as the beauty of the girl -burst upon him, even in the half-light of the hall. While it concealed -some of the lines of her figure, the gown accentuated her erect, queenly -carriage. Her exquisitely molded arms and her full, round throat had -been powdered, a bit or two of rouge had heightened the charm of her -face and a touch of black had increased the brilliancy of her eyes, -already flashing with the excitement of the moment. There was a -tremulous curve to her lips as she glanced at Melvale to note whether he -was pleased with her appearance.</p> - -<p>"The goddess of men, as well as of truth," he murmured as he bent over -and gallantly kissed her hand. Una's flush heightened, but she was -pleased with the compliment.</p> - -<p>Melvale opened the door and the goddess in white passed out into the -morning sunlight on Fulton avenue.</p> - -<p>And as she did so she gave a faint scream of surprise.</p> - -<p>For there, on the sidewalk, was William Henry Montgomery, her Red Cross -Knight.</p> - -<p>William Henry was as much surprised as the damsel Una. He had no idea -that Maude was nearer to him than Accomac, and he was in Baltimore for -the day merely to mingle with the holiday crowds and perhaps encounter -some Eastern Shore friend from whom he might learn news of her. His -presence on Fulton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> avenue was due to the identical reason as that which -inspired thousands of others curious to see the start of a big parade.</p> - -<p>When he saw Maude come out of the doorway, a vision in white, he thought -for a moment he had gone insane and was having a hallucination. Then he -reflected that it could not possibly be Maude Preston in Baltimore and -wearing such theatrical clothes on the street in broad daylight. Then he -looked again and was certain it was Maude. Besides, hadn't she -recognized him and put out her arm to steady herself against the arch of -the doorway?</p> - -<p>"Maude!" he exclaimed, simply, as he hurried up the marble steps.</p> - -<p>"Bill Henry!" she cried, faintly.</p> - -<p>She held out her hands and he took them.</p> - -<p>"I've been sorry a long time, Bill Henry," she said.</p> - -<p>"And I, too, sweetheart."</p> - -<p>He would have kissed her in complete reconciliation, but Maude was -conscious of the crowd on the street. "Don't, Bill Henry," she whispered -as she laughed, flushed and tenderly pushed him away. He held on to both -her hands.</p> - -<p>Melvale, in the vestibule behind, had stood petrified as the incident -developed. He was wise enough to understand that a reconciliation of -lovers was in progress. Their words, and, above all, the ardency of -their glances betrayed that.</p> - -<p>From down Fulton avenue came the sound of a great bell. The parade had -started. "Hurry," said Melvale, "you must take your position, Miss -Preston."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Take your position, Maude?" asked William Henry calmly, ignoring -Melvale.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Bill Henry," said his sweetheart, hurriedly; "I'm to be the -Goddess of Truth on that float there."</p> - -<p>William Henry turned and looked at the float. Then he stood off a step -or two and studied Maude's make up. "I've never seen you look -handsomer," he said, slowly, "but somehow you don't seem natural. I'd -rather have met you again when you were not so full of paint and powder. -I loved you always just as you were, without fancy fixings."</p> - -<p>The bell was getting farther away.</p> - -<p>"Come, Miss Preston," urged Melvale. "We will have to hurry."</p> - -<p>For the first time William Henry recognized the presence of Melvale.</p> - -<p>"She ain't going, Mister," declared William Henry, ungrammatically, but -firmly.</p> - -<p>"Not going!" screamed Melvale.</p> - -<p>"Oh! Bill," stammered Maude, "they've gone to such a lot of expense and -trouble! And they've been so kind to me!"</p> - -<p>"I don't care," returned William Henry. "Down in Accomac we don't like -this theatre business for girls we love, and I tell you I am not going -to see you in that parade, showing yourself off to all Baltimore and -thousands more, too. Who knows how many people are here from down home? -If you want this notoriety and fuss, Maude," he went on sternly, "I can -leave again."</p> - -<p>A tear made its way out of Maude's eyes and threatened the rouge on her -cheek.</p> - -<p>"Come, Miss Preston," said Melvale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> - -<p>"No, no; I can't go against what Bill wants," she said, feebly; "not -again."</p> - -<p>Melvale saw that he faced a serious business dilemma. Cupid had butt in -at the wrong moment. It was necessary for Greenfield & Jacobs to be in -that parade, and he had about six minutes to get the float in line. As -he put it in his report to Mr. Greenfield, "There wasn't any use wasting -time trying to persuade Miss Preston with that hulking big Eastern -Shoreman menacing me. I had to let her do as William Henry wanted, -without bandying words. At the same time I had to find another Goddess -in a hurry. That's how I came to make use of Townsend's daughter."</p> - -<p>"Was that thin girl Townsend's daughter?" asked Greenfield.</p> - -<p>"There isn't any cause to be hard on the girl, Mr. Greenfield. She's not -so thin, and she is good looking and with a sweet expression. You put -any girl in clothes not made for her—just jump her into 'em without any -time for those little tricks that women know so well how to do—and -she's sure to feel a guy. And if she feels a guy, she's going to look -it. Why, it took those two girls just six minutes to transfer that -goddess rig from Miss Preston to Miss Townsend. She didn't have time to -powder, and she didn't have time to dab on paint, and, besides, she had -had no rehearsals. That's why she was so pale."</p> - -<p>"And where did you leave Miss Preston and her mentor?"</p> - -<p>"Sitting on the sofa in Townsend's parlor, wondering if they could get a -license<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> to be married today, it being a holiday."</p> - -<p>"Mr. Melvale," directed Mr. Greenfield, "I want you to find them again, -just as quick as you can, and if they are not already tied up I want you -to help them do it in the most handsome style possible in a hurry. -Reward Miss Townsend nicely, but get that gown from her and make a -present of it to the girl it was made for. She might like to have it for -a wedding gown. And as you go out, tell Mr. Stricker to send the bride -the handsomest thing he can find in the glass and china department."</p> - -<p>"Miss Preston'll appreciate all that. I think she's sorry she couldn't -help you out. She has certainly missed a fine chance of being a -goddess."</p> - -<p>"You're wrong, Melvale; you're wrong! That girl doesn't need a Greek -gown and a float and a parade to make her a goddess."</p> - -<p>"William Henry don't think so, sir."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="A_Daughter_of_Cuba_Libre" id="A_Daughter_of_Cuba_Libre"></a><i>A Daughter of Cuba Libre</i></h2> - - -<p>When they had been at school together at Notre Dame, Catherine Franklin -had been most fond of the company of Manuela Moreto, and had listened -with wonder and admiration to the fluent stories of the dark-eyed, -olive-skinned girl from Cuba, tales of her father's desperate adventures -in the trocha in the years before American intervention had rid the -"Pearl of the Antilles" of Spanish rule. Spanish-American pupils, -daughters of wealthy tobacco, sugar or coffee planters, were not -infrequent at this and other convent schools around Baltimore, and -Catherine knew enough of them not to yield so precipitately as had many -girls to the romantic glamour cast around them by their coming from a -strange land. But Manuela Moreto was so winning, and her narratives of -bold deeds so piquant, that Catherine had taken her to her heart in a -school-girl friendship, had gloried in knowing the daughter of a Cuban -patriot and had liberally bedewed her handkerchief and made vows of -undying love when their June commencement brought the days of parting.</p> - -<p>But that had been five years ago, and in five years, as everyone knows, -havoc can be played with a friendship of this sort. There had been a -correspondence, industrious at first, then flagging as each found new -friends and new interests,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> and finally ceasing altogether. There was no -hint of any misunderstanding, and Catherine felt that if anything -serious were to happen in Manuela's life, if she were to marry, for -instance, a letter would come from Cuba. Nothing came as the months -added up, and she was satisfied that Manuela was living out her rather -monotonous life on Senor Felipe Moreto's tobacco plantation in Pinar del -Rio province.</p> - -<p>Last August came the new revolution in Cuba, and Catherine found all her -interest in Manuela reawakened as she read in daily dispatches of the -uprising in Pinar del Rio, of the raids of Pino Guerra, of the feeble -resistance of the Government forces, of the burning of plantations and -the seizure of horses and cattle. She wondered if her one-time chum -could be in any danger.</p> - -<p>She had fully made up her mind to write to Manuela, when there came a -letter from the latter. Her mother handed it to her as Catherine sat -down to the supper table in her home on Caroline street, opposite St. -Joseph's Hospital, her cheeks flushed from a vigorous afternoon at -tennis in Clifton Park. "It's from Manuela Moreto!" she exclaimed in -surprise as she saw the handwriting on the envelope. Then, with -increased excitement, she added "She must be in Washington," for she had -by this time noted the postmark, the home stamp and the crest of the -Raleigh Hotel.</p> - -<p>The letter said:</p> - -<p>Dearest Girlie—After all these months of silence, you will no doubt be -surprised to hear from your Cuban friend,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> and from Washington, too. You -have probably read of the new uprising against despotism in my oft-bled -country. We have suffered much, but hope for the best. I cannot tell you -now, but I want to come to Baltimore to see you and the dear old school, -and then we can have one of those outpourings of confidence such as used -to give us joy. Let me hear from you just as soon as you can.</p> -<p class="indent1">Yours as ever,</p> -<p class="indent2">MANUELA MORETO.</p> - -<p>"Write tonight and tell her to come and visit us," said Mrs. Franklin, -heartily.</p> - -<p>"I will if dad will promise to like Manuela," answered Catherine, -wistfully eying her father. The Captain was master and part owner of a -steamer in the Central American banana trade, and the family knew from -repeated outbursts that he had no very high opinion of the -Spanish-American.</p> - -<p>"I'm not stuck on those Dagos as a rule," said the Captain, doubtfully, -"but if all you say is correct this s'norita must be a fine girl, and -you know I cotton all right to fine girls."</p> - -<p>"Is she pretty?" asked Will Franklin of his sister. Will was at the age -when young men think a great deal of girls.</p> - -<p>"She's dark," explained his mother, "and she was thin when I used to see -her with Catherine at Notre Dame. But if she has filled out as she -should have, she ought to be a handsome girl."</p> - -<p>Two days later the whole family was at Camden Station to welcome their -foreign visitor. Will Franklin whistled as he saw the splendid-looking -young woman whom his sister rushed to kiss as she came through the gate. -"Gee!" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> exclaimed, "she's a stunner!" For Senorita Manuela Teresa -Dolores Inez Moreto de la Rivera—to give her all of her names—had not -only "filled out" until she had a fine, well-rounded figure and a -handsome dark, oval face, but had also engaging animation and the gift -of wearing her clothes well. She looked as trim as can be imagined in -her cream-colored linen suit, with a couple of touches of light blue at -the wrists and neck.</p> - -<p>They sat up late that night in the library of the Franklin home. After -supper they had begun to ask questions of Manuela, and she had in -response given them her own personal account of the new revolution. It -was a narrative that awakened their sympathies for her and her family -and all others who had suffered by the internal strife, and it made them -strong partisans of the rebels. "They call it Cuba libre, free Cuba!" -she exclaimed, with flashing eyes, "and yet the days of Spanish tyranny -were no worse than the oppression of Palma's crowd. They have held the -offices since Roosevelt gave them the government, and they lined their -pockets with what you Americans call 'graft.' That made them determined -to hold on at all costs, and so my father's party—the Liberals—was not -only over-taxed and annoyed by extortions on every hand, but was cheated -and robbed at the polls when it tried to get control by an honest -election."</p> - -<p>And then she told of a night in July when a half-drunken crowd of -Government rurales, sent to arrest her father,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> had set fire to his -tobacco houses when they found he had been forewarned and escaped them.</p> - -<p>"I cannot repeat to you all the vile abuses they heaped upon me," she -added, quietly. "One of them, a mulatto who had been discharged by my -father, tried to kiss me. He is dead now." She shuddered with the -recollection. The Baltimore family shuddered at her matter-of-fact -recital.</p> - -<p>"You mean—that he"——stammered placid, domestic Mrs. Franklin.</p> - -<p>"I mean that two of my father's men singled him out and macheted him the -first time they met in a skirmish."</p> - -<p>On only one point was she reticent. Her father, she said, had come to -this country on an errand for the rebels, but what that errand was she -did not explain. "He is General Moreto now," she remarked; "and if ever -Senor Zayas becomes President and our party comes into control at -Havana, they have promised my father greater honors."</p> - -<p>For a week Senorita Moreto continued to add to the powerful interest she -had aroused in her hosts. By day they tried to entertain her—an -afternoon at Notre Dame with the school Sisters, a trip through the -rebuilt fire district, a ride to Bay Shore Park, an excursion to Port -Deposit by steamboat and other summer opportunities. But of an evening, -when the family was all collected in the library or on the front stoop, -the Cuban dispatches in that day's News were carefully gone over and -afforded texts upon which Manuela vivaciously and eloquently inveighed -against the despotism<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> of the "ins" and predicted the triumph of the -"outs."</p> - -<p>"Upon my soul, Miss Moreto," said the usually level-headed Captain -Franklin, "your zeal stirs me so that I find myself wishing every moment -I was fighting on your side."</p> - -<p>"I'd love to have you aid us," murmured the Cuban girl. And she lifted -her black eyelashes and cast her brilliant eyes at Catherine's father -with such intentness that he was confused and looked away without asking -her, as he had intended, just how it was possible for him to help the -cause.</p> - -<p>The next morning Will, who had become the devoted admirer of the pretty -Cuban, carried two telegrams for General Moreto when he left home to go -to the Hopkins-place wholesale house where he was a clerk. One was -addressed to the Raleigh in Washington, the other to the Cuban junta -headquarters in New York. Each read:</p> - -<p>"You must come at once. I want you."</p> - -<p>A reply came that afternoon. It was from Wilmington, and it said:</p> - -<p>"Union Station, 7.33 P. M."</p> - -<p>Manuela and Catherine met the General at the hour named. The man who -alighted from the Congressional Limited and whom Manuela rushed to kiss -was slender and undersized, with a swarthy, weather-beaten face, curly -gray hair and a white moustache, twisted and re-twisted to the limit. He -was in white flannels and was so altogether neat and immaculate that -Catherine, perspiring under the sultriness of the August evening,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> -thought him the coolest person she had ever seen. He greeted her with -gallantry when introduced, and, though he spoke English with slowness, -his pronunciation was good and his voice musical.</p> - -<p>After he had made a similarly good impression at the Caroline-street -dwelling it was Manuela who proposed that they should leave the two -fathers "to smoke together and get acquainted."</p> - -<p>As the girls went out of the library Moreto laid half a dozen cigars on -the table. "From my own plantation," he said to Captain Franklin, with -rather a pompous manner. "I hope you'll like them." The Captain found -them the finest Havanas he had ever puffed.</p> - -<p>"You go to Costa Rica for bananas, do you not?" the General asked in -Spanish.</p> - -<p>"Sometimes Port Limon; sometimes Bocas del Toro," answered Catherine's -father, in the same tongue. "Bocas del Toro this trip."</p> - -<p>"When do you sail?"</p> - -<p>"Next Saturday."</p> - -<p>There was another silence. Franklin studied his cigar. Moreto studied -the fruit captain. Presently he leaned forward on the arm of his Morris -chair, in which, truth to tell, he looked rather insignificant.</p> - -<p>"My daughter," he said, this time in English, "tells me you are with us -in our revolution."</p> - -<p>The Captain turned his clear blue eyes on the Cuban.</p> - -<p>"Your daughter, Senor," he replied, "is a fine girl." He saw the shadow -of disappointment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> pass over Moreto's countenance. "I'm not much on -revolutions. I've seen too many of the bloody things in the tropics, and -it pays me to keep out of 'em. But your girl Manuela has a powerful -strong way of putting things, and I'm bound to say, if all she tells is -not beyond the mark, my sympathies are with you and your crowd."</p> - -<p>"Beyond the mark! Why, Dios, Senor Capitan!" cried the General, his eyes -gleaming with excitement. "Why, she could not tell you a tenth of the -truth." And he launched into a long narrative of the oppressions in -Cuba. The words came like a torrent, mostly Spanish, occasionally -English; and Franklin, sitting there fascinated, his cigar forgotten, -could think of nothing save that the daughter's fluency was a gift of -heredity.</p> - -<p>When Moreto had ended and had sunk back half exhausted on the cushions -the Captain, usually calm and self-contained, betrayed unwonted -enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>"I'm with you through and through," he exclaimed as he rose from his -chair and sought the Cuban's hand. "You haven't had a square deal, and -I'd like to see you get it."</p> - -<p>Moreto's black eyes seemed to pierce him.</p> - -<p>"Would you help us?" he asked. His tone was so tense and low that -Franklin barely caught the words.</p> - -<p>"Help you! How can I?"</p> - -<p>Moreto paused again. He was not quite sure of his man. Finally he -uncovered his aim:</p> - -<p>"Take rifles to Cuba."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - -<p>Captain Franklin stepped back. He did not exactly like the proposal. He -had always kept out of such musses, and he knew it was violating Federal -law to be a filibuster.</p> - -<p>"I'm only part owner of the Cristobal," he stammered. "I would not like -to involve the others."</p> - -<p>"They need never know. I have a perfectly safe plan."</p> - -<p>The Captain wavered. He would like to help Moreto and his daughter if it -were not for the risk.</p> - -<p>"What is your plan?"</p> - -<p>"If we had a thousand rifles to arm Pino Guerra," said Moreto, "we could -take San Luis. If we took San Luis we could control Pinar del Rio -province. My mission to your country is to get those rifles to a point -in that province. I have them boxed, ready for shipment as new machinery -for a sugar plantation. They are at Wilmington. I thought I had placed -them on a steamer in the Delaware last week, but your confounded Secret -Service agents are too vigilant, and they learned from members of the -crew that something unusual was up. If you will take those boxes on the -Cristobal I can get them here on Friday and will arrange for an -insurgent schooner to meet you at any point you name. Will you do it?"</p> - -<p>"It's risky business," slowly said the Captain, lighting a fresh Vuelta -cigar.</p> - -<p>"It means liberty to us. Dios, Senor Captain, where would your country -be if the French had not helped Washington and his ragged rebels?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - -<p>Franklin puffed away slowly. The Cuban watched him. At last the Captain -made a decision.</p> - -<p>"You may send those rifles along," he said.</p> - -<p>The two men grasped hands again. They were in that position when -Catherine put her head in the library door. "You're as quiet as two -conspirators," she laughingly said. "Perhaps we are conspiring, -Senorita," called General Moreto as the girl shut herself from view -again.</p> - -<p>"That is a charming daughter of yours, Captain," said the Cuban, in his -best English.</p> - -<p>"Ah! but your girl has the head and the wit. You find her a great help, -don't you?"</p> - -<p>Moreto's smile was more frank than his reply. "Women take a bigger share -in revolutions than is generally believed." he said.</p> - -<p>In another half hour the details of their filibuster were arranged. A -point in the Caribbean, near the Isle of Pines, was selected for a -rendezvous. There the Cuban schooner would take aboard the contraband -cargo and Franklin go on his way after bananas.</p> - -<p>"Do you wish your family to know?" asked Moreto as they were about to -leave the library. "My daughter knows all my business."</p> - -<p>"Catherine is all right," replied Captain Franklin, "and so is Will, but -his mother would worry too much."</p> - -<p>And so for the next three days there was a great secret in the Franklin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> -home, shared by the young people with the two gray-haired men. They made -trips to the steamer, at the foot of Centre-Market space, a slender, -white-painted craft, looking more like a private yacht or a revenue -cutter than a tropical trader; they heard the arrangements made for -prompt transfer of the boxes across the city; they stopped with General -Moreto at the telegraph offices on Calvert street when he sent off -cipher wires to the junta and its agents, and sometimes cabled to Cuba. -And on the Friday when the boxes were due they pestered the clerks at -Bolton freight yards with 'phone inquiries. "It's great fun," confided -Catherine to Manuela. "I feel just like a heroine doing a great deed. -And we have to be so mysterious, too." Manuela smiled indulgently. She -had got past the stage of thinking conspiracies fun.</p> - -<p>No untoward incident occurred while the boxes of rifles labeled "Sugar -machinery" were being loaded into the Cristobal's hold. There was no one -on the dock or steamer who could be suspected of being a Government -agent. General Moreto kept away, and the presence of Miss Catherine with -the Cuban girl could never have aroused the doubts of the crew. The -boxes were taken on without accident, and by Friday dusk the Cristobal -had a thousand weapons aboard for the rebels of Pinar del Rio.</p> - -<p>There were tears in the eyes of both girls as Captain Franklin waved -them goodbye from his bridge when he was being pulled out into the -Patapsco the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> next morning. A shade of extra seriousness had tinged his -parting from them as they went ashore from the steamer, and Catherine, -no longer thinking conspiracies "great fun," began to have doubts -whether she might not have her father landed in jail somewhere.</p> - -<p>"I do hope no harm will come to dad," she said. "I never felt so queer -when he went away before."</p> - -<p>"Let us pray that all goes well," replied Manuela.</p> - -<p>And so for eleven whole long days, in their petitions to God, in church -and night and morning in their room, they invoked His blessing upon the -Cristobal's filibustering mission. It was an anxious time. The period of -excitement over, the interval of suspense made their spirits droop. None -of the usual amusements diverted them. Even Will's now ardent -attentions, which had provoked some teasing in the bosom of his family, -were slighted in the strain of the long wait until, boylike, and chafing -under the apparent neglect, he had impetuously sought explanations from -Manuela. What she told him is not a part of the conspiracy, but from -that hour there were two secrets kept in the Franklin dwelling. And when -he hurried home each afternoon with The News, that they might carefully -examine it for anything bearing on his father's expedition, there was a -double motive in the eagerness with which Manuela met him at the door.</p> - -<p>It was Wednesday week before the first news came. General Moreto, who -had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> left them on the day after Captain Franklin had passed Cape Henry -outward bound, telegraphed as follows:</p> - -<p>Glorious news; San Luis taken. We must have done it.</p> - -<p>The girls were excitedly reading the account in The News of the victory -by Pino Guerra when this cable dispatch came to them from Catherine's -father:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="indent1">Bocas del Toro.</p> -<p class="indent2">Costa Rica, Aug. 22.</p> - -<p>Machinery transferred; no trouble.</p> - -<p class="indent2">FRANKLIN.</p></div> - -<p>Both girls cried from happiness at the relief.</p> - -<p>"Oh! Catherine," said Manuela as she sobbed on the latter's neck, "I'm -so glad I knew you at Notre Dame!"</p> - -<p>"And I'm glad we struck a blow for Cuba libre," rejoined Catherine.</p> - -<p>"It may mean annexation," said Will, as he deftly slipped his arm around -Manuela's waist.</p> - -<p>The Cuban girl grew rosy red.</p> - -<p>Catherine was quick to understand: Cuba might be freed, but one -individual who had labored for it was going to be annexed.</p> - -<p>"I'm so happy!" she cried. And she kissed both warmly and left them to -tell her mother of the latest beneficent example of American -assimilation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="A_Two-Party_Line" id="A_Two-Party_Line"></a><i>A Two-Party Line</i></h2> - - -<h4>I.<br /><br /> (Tuesday, October 23, 1906.)</h4> - -<p>HE—Hello! Is this Central? Well, give——</p> - -<p>SHE—No, it is not Central, and I wish you'd please get off the line.</p> - -<p>HE—I beg your pardon, I thought you were the girl at Central.</p> - -<p>SHE—No, I am not. I wish you wouldn't break in. The line's busy. You -were saying, Evelyn——</p> - -<p>HE—I'm sorry to bother you. I don't seem to be able to get Central.</p> - -<p>SHE—I do wish you would leave us alone! You were describing that dress -you wore at the Marlborough dance, Evelyn.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—How is he on this wire?</p> - -<p>SHE—I don't know. I suppose he has the other 'phone on this line.</p> - -<p>HE—I beg your pardon again. Do I understand you to say this is a -two-party line?</p> - -<p>SHE—What number are you?</p> - -<p>HE—Wait till I read it. Why this is Madison 7-9-3-1-y.</p> - -<p>SHE—And I'm Madison 7-9-3-1-m. So you see, we're on the same wire. -Please get off.</p> - -<p>HE—I beg both of your pardons, ladies. But I'm trying to get a doctor -for my mother.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—I'll call you up later, Genevieve. I can tell you all about -Atlantic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> City then.</p> - -<p>SHE—He had no business coming in like that, Evelyn. But I suppose we'll -have to let him have it. Goodbye.</p> - -<p>HE—I'm very grateful to both of you, I'm sure.</p> - -<p>SHE—Well, after all, we were only gossiping, and I'm sorry we did not -understand sooner.</p> - -<p>HE—Thank you again. (After a pause.) There goes a click. I guess I can -call Central now. By Jove! that girl had spirit, and at the same time -showed generosity in saying she was sorry. I wonder who she is. -Genevieve the other one called her. Genevieve who?</p> - - -<h4>II.<br /> <br />(Five Minutes Later.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Hello, Central. Please give me "Information." Is that -"Information"? I want to know who has 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-y. My -number? I'm on the same line. No, no trouble. Just want to know. Who'd -you say? Mrs. Mary Vincent, 286 West Lanvale street. Thank you so much.</p> - - -<h4>III.<br /><br />(Ten Minutes Later.)</h4> - -<p>HE—Hello, Central, I want to know who has 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-m. -What's that? You'll give me "Information"? All right. Hello, -"Information," I want to find out who leases 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-m. -No, not "y." I said "m." Somebody else wanted "y"? Well, that's my -number. I want "m." Mr. John D. Platt, 1346 Linden avenue? What's that? -Oh, Pratt. Thank you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<h4>IV.<br /><br />(Wednesday, October 24.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Oh! Evelyn, I've got something great to tell you. You remember that -man who "butt in" last night on our chat? Well, I've found out all about -him. His name is Carroll Vincent, and he's just out of Princeton and is -going to study law at the University of Maryland. How did I find out? -Oh! I can't tell you all that over the 'phone. I just used my wits. You -know Genevieve isn't going to get left. I'd die if he——</p> - -<p>HE—Is this Cent——</p> - -<p>SHE—Goodness gracious! there he is on the line again!</p> - -<p>HE—I beg your pardon. I'll retire gracefully.</p> - -<p>SHE—Don't apologize. You could not help it.</p> - -<p>HE—I don't like to be a "butter-in," don't you know?</p> - -<p>SHE—I hope you got the doctor all right last night. I'd be so sorry if -my foolish delay caused you any trouble.</p> - -<p>HE—Thank you, I got him all right.</p> - -<p>EVELYN (at the other end)—I'll call you some other time, Genevieve.</p> - -<p>HE—No; let me get off this time.</p> - -<p>SHE (after a pause)—I wonder if he has really gone.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—How did you find out who he was? Go on, tell me.</p> - -<p>SHE—I'm afraid he may be listening.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—Do you think he'd do that deliberately?</p> - -<p>SHE—Certainly, I don't. I think he must be just fine. Jack Smallwood -says he's a stunning-looking fellow. I'm just crazy to see him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - -<p>EVELYN—Did you ask Jack Smallwood about him?</p> - -<p>SHE—Why, of course, you goose! They live in the same block.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—You're getting on famously, Genevieve.</p> - -<p>SHE—That's another slam, Evelyn. You're just jealous, that's what the -matter with you. Next time I call you up you'll know it.</p> - -<p>EVELYN—I'm sorry, Genevieve. I was only teasing you.</p> - -<p>SHE—Well, I can't stand for it. I'll forgive you, though. Say, are you -going to see "Madam Butterfly"? You don't know? Well, I'm going tomorrow -night with Jack. He asked me today when I called him up about the other. -He has got seats in the second row. I'm going to put on all my best -regalia. No, not the blue. A pink chiffon. You've never seen it. It's a -beauty. Well, goodbye. See you Friday.</p> - - -<h4>V.<br /><br />(Ten Minutes Later.)</h4> - -<p>HE—Please give me Madison 6-4-8-6-y. Is this Mr. Smallwood's home? Is -Mr. Jack Smallwood there? No? Well, when do you expect him? You don't -know? Thank you. Curse the luck! Just when I thought it looked easy.</p> - - -<h4>VI.<br /><br />(9 A. M. Friday, October 26.)</h4> - -<p>HE—St. Paul 9-8-6-3. Hello! is Mr. Jack Smallwood in the office? Yes, -if you please. Jack, this is Carroll Vincent—no, no, Vincent. Say, old -man, saw you at Ford's last night. Fine-looking girl with -you—stunningly dressed—beautiful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> features—who is she?</p> - -<p>JACK—Say, Carroll, what the devil is all this between you two who have -never met? I'm over seven, you know, and I've shed my sweet innocence.</p> - -<p>HE—I don't know what you mean, old man.</p> - -<p>JACK—Ah yes, you do! And if you don't come up to the Captain's office -and settle I'll blast your reputation with her forever. There's some -mystery in it all. First, Genevieve Pratt asks me about you. Then when I -saw you last night she twisted her neck so, to look at you, that I -thought I'd have to summon medical help. Now you call me up to talk -about her. What's the game? Put me wise.</p> - -<p>HE—Fact is, old man, Miss Pratt and I are on the same line.</p> - -<p>JACK—Same line? What kind of line?</p> - -<p>HE—Same 'phone. Two-party line. Butt in on her the other night. Butt -out. Butt in again next night. Apologized eighteen times. Must meet her, -especially since she's such a smasher.</p> - -<p>JACK—All right, Carroll boy. I'll fix it for you, now I understand.</p> - -<p>HE—Make it soon, for Heaven's sake.</p> - - -<h4>VII.<br /><br />(Friday, November 2.)</h4> - -<p>HE—Give me Madison 7-9-3-1-m, please. No, no; I want the other party on -this line. Don't buzz that bell so loud in my ears. Hello! Is that Mr. -Pratt's? Oh! is this you, Miss Pratt? You're looking well this evening. -This is Carroll Vincent.</p> - -<p>SHE—Feeling tiptop, thank you. Did you get wet in the rain last night?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - -<p>HE—No; it stopped pouring almost as soon as we left your house.</p> - -<p>SHE—I'm glad of that. I want to thank you for the chocolates you sent -this evening. You said you were going to send a book.</p> - -<p>HE—I know I did. I tramped the town over to get that novel, but every -shop was out of it. Then I did not like you to think I had forgotten you -so soon, and I sent the bonbons.</p> - -<p>SHE—It certainly was sweet of you. They're nearly all gone already.</p> - -<p>HE—Mercy, mercy—don't make yourself sick! I wouldn't have you that -way.</p> - -<p>SHE—You wouldn't have me any way, would you?</p> - -<p>HE—Give me the chance. But I'm afraid you're a "jollier," Miss Pratt.</p> - -<p>SHE—You're the first to tell me.</p> - -<p>HE—Did you say "first" or "fiftieth"? There was a noise on the wire -just then.</p> - -<p>SHE—I know you're a flirt.</p> - -<p>HE—Never! I've got my fingers crossed.</p> - -<p>SHE—Those eyes of yours were not made for nothing.</p> - -<p>HE—Neither were yours. Jack said so last night. By the by, he's a -capital fellow. I'll never get over being grateful to him for bringing -us together.</p> - -<p>SHE—I think he's just fine.</p> - -<p>HE—You're speaking very zealously. Do you know I'm almost jealous of -him when I hear you talk like that.</p> - -<p>SHE—I'm a loyal champion for my friends, you'll find. I have but few, -and those I keep.</p> - -<p>HE—Do you ever add to the list?</p> - -<p>SHE—That's for you to discover.</p> - -<p>HE—Count me in, please.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> - -<p>SHE—Well—I'm willing to try to do so.</p> - -<p>HE—Thanks, awfully. By the way, they've pledged me their word that a -copy of that novel will be here tomorrow. May I bring it around Sunday -evening?</p> - -<p>SHE—Why, I could be reading the book all day Sunday.</p> - -<p>HE—Then I'll make it tomorrow night. Will that suit?</p> - -<p>SHE—I have no engagement, and will be glad to have you.</p> - -<p>HE—Good-bye until then.</p> - - -<h4>VIII.<br /><br />(Thursday, December 6.)</h4> - -<p>HE—Madison 7-9-3-1-m, please. Yes. Is that Mr. Pratt's? Is Miss -Genevieve there?</p> - -<p>SHE—No, she is not in. Who shall I tell her called?</p> - -<p>HE—You didn't disguise your voice, Miss Genevieve? I knew you right -away.</p> - -<p>SHE—I thought I might learn something, Mr. Vincent.</p> - -<p>HE—I might have told my real name.</p> - -<p>SHE—That would have been disastrous.</p> - -<p>HE—It would, if I had started confessing things.</p> - -<p>SHE—What's the matter? Have you anything on your conscience?</p> - -<p>HE—Not my conscience, but my heart.</p> - -<p>SHE—There you go again. You promised me last night at the Academy you -wouldn't jolly any more.</p> - -<p>HE—I haven't. I'm desperately in earnest. I swear it.</p> - -<p>SHE—I wish I could believe you.</p> - -<p>HE—Why don't you?</p> - -<p>SHE—It might disturb my peace of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> mind.</p> - -<p>HE—Would that be so bad?</p> - -<p>SHE—Um-m-m-m-m, maybe.</p> - -<p>HE—I can see those mocking eyes of yours now.</p> - -<p>SHE—I don't like that, Mr. Vincent. That's rude.</p> - -<p>HE—I'll beg your pardon when next I can look at you. That reminds me. -Have you anything on for tomorrow night?</p> - -<p>SHE—Um-m-m, no.</p> - -<p>HE—I'd like to take you to Albaugh's. You've seen a musical comedy at -the Academy, and a serious drama at Ford's, and it might be well to take -a dash into "vodevil" before the week is over.</p> - -<p>SHE—Do you know you're too good to me. I can never repay you.</p> - -<p>HE—Yes, you can. By agreeing to go every time I ask.</p> - -<p>SHE—Haven't I done it?</p> - -<p>HE—Yes, you've never failed me. It's settled, then, for "vodevil?"</p> - -<p>SHE—Come early and avoid the rush.</p> - -<p>HE—And can you stay late? Because—well, I thought you might like a -bite to eat at the Stafford after the show.</p> - -<p>SHE—Another of your surprises. Do you treat all of the girls so finely?</p> - -<p>HE—No; only you.</p> - -<p>SHE—Bluffer! Goodbye.</p> - - -<h4>IX.<br /><br />(Monday, January 21, 1907.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Please ring the other party on this line. Is that Madison -7-9-3-1-y? Mrs. Vincent, isn't it? This is Genevieve Pratt, Mrs. -Vincent. I hope you're feeling better than when I saw you? So glad to -hear it. Isn't this fine, crisp weather? Do I want to speak to your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> -son? If I may. Is that you, Carroll?</p> - -<p>HE—Why, little girl!</p> - -<p>SHE—Surprised to hear from me so soon? Well, after I came in the house -I found an invitation to a private dance at the Belvedere two weeks from -tonight. Lida and her husband are to give it. I've heard it's to be a -swell affair—big ballroom decorated, orchestra and seated supper. I -want you to go with me. Will you?</p> - -<p>HE—Now, you know very well I will, little girl.</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh, I'm so glad! I'll see everybody I know; I'll have you with me, -and—you know how to dance so well.</p> - -<p>HE—You mean we know how to dance together. Listen, Genevieve: If I go, -are you going to give me every dance?</p> - -<p>SHE—Certainly not. People would talk too much. If you're good, you may -have every other one.</p> - -<p>HE—And sit out the rest with you?</p> - -<p>SHE—Perhaps. All right, mother.</p> - -<p>HE—What did you say?</p> - -<p>SHE—Did you hear? That was mother insisting that I come to dinner.</p> - -<p>HE—I'll let you go, then. You promised me every one, don't forget.</p> - -<p>SHE—No, I didn't.</p> - -<p>HE—Do you remember what I told you coming uptown this afternoon?</p> - -<p>SHE—You told me a lot of things.</p> - -<p>HE—I told you you were the most tormenting little vixen on earth.</p> - -<p>SHE—You didn't mean it, did you? All right, mother. Listen, Carroll, I -really must go. Tell me you didn't mean it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> - -<p>HE—I did mean it. You are the most tormenting, also the most lovable. I -wouldn't have you otherwise.</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh, Carroll!</p> - -<p>HE—Goodbye.</p> - - -<h4>X.<br /><br />(Tuesday, February 5.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is Mr. Carroll Vincent up? At breakfast? -Please tell him Miss Pratt wishes to speak to him. Oh, Carroll, I -haven't slept a wink since you left me at the door! I'm so happy! I just -lay awake thinking of last night, and then I thought I'd get up and -'phone you before you went downtown. I'm so happy!</p> - -<p>HE—I'm glad you are, sweetheart. I'll try all my life to keep you so. I -wish I could get closer to you than over this 'phone.</p> - -<p>SHE—What would you do?</p> - -<p>HE—I'd kiss you and whisper how I love you.</p> - -<p>SHE—Don't, Carroll, don't! The telephone girl will hear you.</p> - -<p>HE—What do I care? I feel like going around and shouting to all the -world, "She loves me, she loves me, she loves me!" just to tell them how -happy I am.</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh, Carroll, don't do that!</p> - -<p>HE—You don't suppose I'd do it, little darling, do you? No, this is our -precious little secret. Just we two.</p> - -<p>SHE—I don't deserve all this joy, Carroll. I don't feel I'm good enough -for you—indeed, I don't.</p> - -<p>HE—I thought you promised me in the carriage that you would never talk -like that again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - -<p>SHE—I can't help it, Carroll. I feel so unworthy of you. I never felt -like that before in my life. But when—when you put your arm around -me—I just thought—well, I just thought how grand and noble you are and -how trifling and insignificant I am.</p> - -<p>HE—Don't, don't say that, little sweetheart.</p> - -<p>SHE—I just can't help it. I'm so happy I want to cry.</p> - -<p>HE—I understand, dear girl.</p> - -<p>SHE—And when you asked me in the alcove if I—whether I would give -myself to you for keeps—and you spoke so beautifully, Carroll!—indeed, -I had trouble to keep back the tears. Love is a wonderful thing, isn't -it?</p> - -<p>HE—It is, dearest.</p> - -<p>SHE—You are coming early tonight, aren't you?</p> - -<p>HE—I will fly to you as soon as I can. I tell you what, can't you meet -me downtown and have lunch with me?</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh! may I? You know I'd just love to!</p> - -<p>HE—Well, meet me at half-past 12. Usual corner, you know—Fidelity -Building. Goodbye until then.</p> - - -<h4>XI.<br /><br />(Wednesday, April 10.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is that you, Carroll?</p> - -<p>HE—Yes, it is I.</p> - -<p>SHE—I think it perfectly hateful of you to send me that mean note, -Carroll Vincent.</p> - -<p>HE—Now, look here, girlie, don't you think you're to blame?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> - -<p>SHE—I? Why, the idea!</p> - -<p>HE—Yes, you. I don't believe you care for me at all.</p> - -<p>SHE—Why, Carroll Vincent, how can you say that?</p> - -<p>HE—Now, say, Genevieve, don't take that tone with me. You know you had -no business flirting with Jack Smallwood as you did last night at -Lehmann's.</p> - -<p>SHE—Flirting? Why, Mr. Vincent, how dare you?</p> - -<p>HE—Yes, flirting. I said it. If you cared anything for me, you wouldn't -treat me so contemptibly as you have been lately.</p> - -<p>SHE—Contemptibly? What have I been doing, I'd like to know?</p> - -<p>HE—I think the way you carried on with Jack was perfectly outrageous. -As for him, when——</p> - -<p>SHE—Carroll Vincent, you ought to be grateful to him, if you love me.</p> - -<p>HE—If I love you?</p> - -<p>SHE—Yes, if you love me. You know very well he introduced us. And Jack -isn't anything to me.</p> - -<p>HE—And you don't care for him?</p> - -<p>SHE—Certainly I like him. He's one of my oldest friends.</p> - -<p>HE—Oh, those friends!</p> - -<p>SHE—You're letting your jealousy run away with you.</p> - -<p>HE—Maybe I am, but I'm glad I found him out before it was too late.</p> - -<p>SHE—Indeed! And do you think it is too late? (Pause) What did you say?</p> - -<p>HE—I didn't say anything. I was thinking. Listen, Genevieve, what's the -use<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of our going on like this? I see now I was pig-headed to send that -note. It was cruel to you. I'll never forgive myself.</p> - -<p>SHE—I'm glad you're coming to your senses.</p> - -<p>HE—I don't blame you for being angry, Genevieve, dear.</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh! Carroll, how could you be so unjust?</p> - -<p>HE—I'm awfully remorseful. Can't I come tonight and tell you more?</p> - -<p>SHE—Why, certainly, you old goose. I'll forgive you.</p> - -<p>HE—I'm so glad, Genevieve. But, tell me, dearest girl, you don't care -for Jack Smallwood.</p> - -<p>SHE—No, you silly boy. He isn't worth your little finger.</p> - -<p>HE—Thank you, sweetheart. Goodbye.</p> - - -<h4>XII.<br /><br />(Wednesday, June 4.)</h4> - -<p>SHE—Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is that you, dearest? Oh! Carroll, I'm -all so topsy-turvy I don't know what I'm doing. But I just couldn't go -to bed without talking to you again.</p> - -<p>HE—You know I'm glad.</p> - -<p>SHE—And I——Oh! I'm so full of joy I can't wait for tomorrow to come. -Doesn't it seem like a dream to think of our being married? It's all so -strange, and yet I'm so happy! You don't think me unwomanly for telling -you so, do you, dearest? I'm so frightened, and yet my heart is -beating—trip—trip—for you. Can't you hear it?</p> - -<p>HE—Keep still a moment. Yes, I can. One, two, three——</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh, you tease! Such nonsense!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> - -<p>HE—It must be my own then, beating for you.</p> - -<p>SHE—You're not nervous, are you?</p> - -<p>HE—Of course I am. Am I not going to get the best, sweetest, prettiest, -dearest, most lovable girl in the world for a wife? Tomorrow at high -noon seems a long way off, doesn't it?</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh! Carroll, we won't need a 'phone then, will we?</p> - -<p>HE—It has been a dear old two-party line, though, hasn't it?</p> - -<p>SHE—It knows an awful lot of our secrets. I wonder how much the -exchange girl has heard?</p> - -<p>HE—Oh! I guess she got tired of us long ago.</p> - -<p>SHE—Then she won't be listening if I send you a kiss over the wire. -Um—m—m—m—did you get it?</p> - -<p>HE—I'll give it back with interest tomorrow.</p> - -<p>SHE—Everything's tomorrow, isn't it?</p> - -<p>HE—There's the clock striking midnight. It's today now, and our wedding -day.</p> - -<p>SHE—Oh, Carroll!</p> - -<p>HE—Don't come late, little bride. I'll be "waiting at the church."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="Timon_Up_To_Date" id="Timon_Up_To_Date"></a><i>Timon Up To Date</i></h2> - - -<p>The Doctor and his wife waited until their half dozen guests had -finished the tasty supper Mrs. Harford had provided before they sprung -upon them the purpose which had moved them to invite them. The entire -party was made up of West Arlingtonites, neighbors from across the way, -from down the block and from up near Carter Station. They had chatted -gaily over neighborhood gossip in the dining-room, intermingled with -nonsense of the sort that passes between people who have been a great -deal in the same set. And now that they were seated on the front porch, -two in a hammock and the others in comfortable rockers, the badinage -continued as Dr. Harford passed cigars to the men and pretended to give -them to the ladies, too.</p> - -<p>"They don't seem to have taken offense at our not asking them," -whispered Mrs. Caswell to plump little Mrs. Fremont.</p> - -<p>"No, not a bit," responded Mrs. Fremont, in the same low tone. "All the -same, I feel like a hypocrite for coming."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense," said Mrs. Caswell; "you're too soft."</p> - -<p>She might have added more, but Dr. Harford, who had been lounging -against a post since he had handed around the cigars, was evidently -trying to attract<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the attention of the entire group.</p> - -<p>"I am reminded tonight," he began, slowly, "by this little affair of a -larger party here last summer, when we entertained the card club."</p> - -<p>In the stillness that ensued the song of the crickets in the fields -beyond the town sounded most strangely plain.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Harford and I," pursued the Doctor, his voice growing more -incisive, his manner more stern, "both enjoyed ourselves in that club, -and we are most curious to know why we were not included this year."</p> - -<p>The pair in the hammock stopped swinging so suddenly that their feet -scraped the floor vigorously. Mrs. Fremont cleared her throat with -evident nervousness. The others were still dumb—that is, all except Mr. -Caswell.</p> - -<p>"Why, old man," he burst out, "I was told you did not want to"——</p> - -<p>"Joseph!" interrupted Mrs. Caswell, turning herself so that her husband -could see her more plainly in the white light from the arc lamp at the -corner. There was the menace of a curtain lecture in her face.</p> - -<p>"We did want to join, Caswell," exclaimed Dr. Harford, quickly. "The -plain fact is that we were not asked."</p> - -<p>"There must be some mistake," said Mr. Caswell. "I'm sure I, for one, -have been sorry"——</p> - -<p>"Joseph!" again exclaimed Mrs. Caswell. This time she was unmistakably -severe. Caswell subsided.</p> - -<p>Dr. Harford addressed himself directly to Mrs. Caswell. "I intend to get -to the bottom of this affair tonight," he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> "I have asked questions -of several of you, and so has Effie, and the excuses given have been so -various that they would be funny if I did not feel they are doing injury -to me professionally, as well as socially. My purpose in having you all -together here"——</p> - -<p>A Garrison-avenue car crowded with Electric Park visitors rumbled -noisily by and drowned some of the words of his sentence.</p> - -<p>"I want it sifted thoroughly now."</p> - -<p>Little Mrs. Fremont half rose from her chair, as she said weakly to her -husband: "I don't feel well. I think I'd better be going."</p> - -<p>"Pardon me, Mrs. Fremont," said Dr. Harford, "I beg of you that you will -remain."</p> - -<p>"Stick it out, Emily," remarked Mr. Fremont. "Harford has got us here to -learn the truth." Nothing ever seemed to worry Fremont.</p> - -<p>"Now, Mrs. Caswell," continued Dr. Harford, still addressing that lady -directly and drawing nearer to her by a foot or two, "I will begin with -you. Last week when you were in my office I asked you to tell me just -what stories were being circulated about me in West Arlington, and after -some demur you told me. Do you mind repeating them?"</p> - -<p>Mrs. Caswell was scornful. "I have nothing to say," she exclaimed. "I -think it better to hush the whole affair."</p> - -<p>"Then, my dear madam, I am forced to repeat to my guests what you told -me. You said, you will recollect, that one resident had accused me of -having cheated at cards, and that another party<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> had called me a 'tooth -butcher,' and had declared I could not fix the teeth of her little dog. -Was not that it?"</p> - -<p>It was Mrs. Caswell's turn to rise. "This is a contemptible outrage," -she cried. "I demand that it stop."</p> - -<p>"No more contemptible than the injury you have done us," spiritedly said -Mrs. Harford, speaking for the first time.</p> - -<p>"Have I not quoted you right?" asked Dr. Harford of Mrs. Caswell.</p> - -<p>"I shall say nothing," returned she. "You have cooked up a vile plot to -trap us here."</p> - -<p>"Then, my dear Mrs. Caswell, if you will affirm nothing, I have a way to -make you speak." He stepped inside his hallway for an instant, while the -others, all except his wife, watched him with great curiosity and some -alarm. When he reappeared he was carrying a table on which was some -large, heavy article hidden under a tablecloth. "There's a little -surprise coming to you and the rest," he resumed. "You did not know, -madame, that when I was pressing you with questions as you sat in my -dental chair a phonograph was making a record of your answers." He -whipped off the cover of the talking machine and busied himself with -preparing it for action.</p> - -<p>Consternation was writ large upon the countenances of those who could be -seen in the stray beams of light that countered through the porch. But -Mrs. Caswell's was the only voice heard. Again she protested against -having been trapped.</p> - -<p>"Silence," said Dr. Harford, and he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> started the machine to whirring. -Everybody bent forward so as to miss nothing. But there was no need, for -the familiar tones of Mrs. Caswell had been well recorded by the Edison -invention and floated out in full and plain confirmation of the charges -Dr. Harford had so carefully repeated.</p> - -<p>Fremont's "Thunderation!" was the only audible one of several -exclamations that were murmured as the quoted phrases died away. Dr. -Harford raised a warning finger.</p> - -<p>"Wait," he said; "there's more."</p> - -<p>And as the machine kept revolving they heard his own voice say:</p> - -<p>"And who was it, Mrs. Caswell, who told you that I had cheated at -cards?"</p> - -<p>There came a sharp interruption.</p> - -<p>"Stop!" cried Mrs. Caswell, as in sheer desperation she bounced from her -chair and made a vicious dive toward the tell-tale recording angel, only -to be blocked by the watchful Dr. Harford. "Let go of me," she cried, as -she shook off his restraining hand in furious anger. "I insist that you -stop this outrage. Joseph, how can you stand idly by and see me so -grossly insulted?"</p> - -<p>There was no answer to the summons from Caswell. His wife evidently -expected none, for she continued right along in wrathful denunciations -of Harford, threatening law suits and other means of dire vengeance. "I -declare she frightens me," whispered timid Mrs. Fremont, as she drew her -chair closer to that of her husband.</p> - -<p>The phonograph was pursuing the even tenor of its paraffine way. Those -who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> could hearken to it above the irate tones of Mrs. Caswell heard her -refuse several times to name her informant; heard the Doctor's earnest -pleading for no concealment, and finally heard her say:</p> - -<p>"Well, if you really must know, Doctor, who it was who said you cheated -at cards, it was Mrs. Fremont."</p> - -<p>Dr. Harford quickly shut off the record and turned to face the others. -Mrs. Fremont had risen from her chair and leveled her finger at Mrs. -Caswell. She was timid no longer.</p> - -<p>"How dared you tell such a lie about me, Irene Caswell?" she gasped.</p> - -<p>"You know you said it, Mary Fremont."</p> - -<p>"I did not. She is telling what is not true, Dr. Harford. She came to me -when we were re-forming the club and said she would not join this year -if you were to be a member. She uttered a lot of things against you, and -finally she said she was sure you would not hesitate to cheat at cards, -and she only wished she could catch you once. And then I reminded -her—perhaps I was wrong to do it—of the time when I was your partner -and you sprouted an extra point and presently we got into a dispute -about the score."</p> - -<p>"You mean the night at Mrs. Parkin's?"</p> - -<p>"Yes; don't you remember you were the first one to call attention to it -and wanted to take off the point, but after some time it was shown that -we had the right number? That's honestly all I said to her about you and -the cards."</p> - -<p>"I believe you, Mrs. Fremont."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<p>From the chair into which Mrs. Caswell had subsided there came a snort. -"Go ahead," she sneered. "Play out your little comedy. You're all in it -together. Nobody will believe me."</p> - -<p>"We take you at your word, Mrs. Caswell," rejoined Dr. Harford. "There -is more of the truth to be got at."</p> - -<p>Again the phonograph was in motion, and the listeners heard these -questions and answers:</p> - -<p>"And who was it, Mrs. Caswell, who told you I was a 'tooth butcher' and -could not fix the teeth of her little dog?"</p> - -<p>"Well, to tell you the truth, Doctor, it was Mrs. Parkin who said her -husband had called you a 'tooth butcher,' and it was Mrs. Somerset who -said you could not fix the teeth of her little dog."</p> - -<p>Both the Parkins rose from their place in the hammock. The husband was -so angry that he moved toward Mrs. Caswell with upraised hand until he -recollected himself and halted with a muttered exclamation. The wife, a -tall, graceful blonde, who had made herself well liked since they had -moved out to West Arlington, chose to ignore the woman who had involved -her, and so addressed herself directly to the host.</p> - -<p>"My husband and I," she began, coolly and cuttingly, "are very much -indebted to you, Dr. Harford, for so cleverly unmasking the traitor in -our midst. This woman has called it a miserable trap, and I want to say -that I feel that only by such a contrived plot has it been possible to -uncover the truth and lay the trouble at the door of the right -scandal-monger.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Of course, it is unnecessary to say to you," and she pulled herself up -to her full queenly height and spoke with most dignified impressiveness, -"that my husband did not call you a 'tooth butcher' and that I did not -tell her he had said so. What he did say was merely to repeat jokingly -that old jest about a dentist being a 'tooth carpenter.' I forget the -way he put it, but it sounded funny to me at the time, and when I was -out with Mrs. Caswell in her auto that very afternoon I told her. She -laughed, but Mrs. Somerset, who was with us, thought the expression -horrid, and said if she were to think of you as a 'tooth carpenter' and -not as a good, careful dentist, she would not let you attend her dog. -Thus, you see, Doctor, how two harmless little expressions have been -perverted into nasty gossip against you.</p> - -<p>"I cannot tell you of the things that she alleged against you that -afternoon or at other times. I did not give heed to them, and I have too -much respect for you to repeat them here just now. I am only sorry that -we yielded to Mrs. Caswell's insistent urging that we exclude you from -the card club this summer. I am sure it was only done because we felt -there had been ill feeling between you and her and because she had been -the one to start the club and lead it each year."</p> - -<p>"And I want to add, Harford," said Parkin, heartily, "that you will -either be in the club henceforth or there will be no club. Am I not -right?" he queried, turning to the Fremonts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> - -<p>The prompt assent from both must have settled Mrs. Caswell's last hope -of appeal from a unanimous verdict. She rose and made a sign to her -husband. Her blazing anger had given way to a chilly hauteur that showed -that, although beaten, she had not hauled down the flag. "I hope your -little farce has quite ended," she remarked to Dr. Harford, with -exaggerated dignity.</p> - -<p>"Quite," he replied, with sweet acquiescence.</p> - -<p>"Then I suppose I will be allowed to go?"</p> - -<p>"As soon as convenient."</p> - -<p>"I leave you," she pursued, "in the hands of your friends. Oh! if you -only knew the things they have said about you! And now they honey you!"</p> - -<p>"I am willing to trust them," he said, equably.</p> - -<p>For the life of her, Mrs. Caswell could think of no other biting thing -to say, so she took her departure.</p> - -<p>"Come, Joseph," she ordered, as she passed down the steps to the -hedge-bordered walk.</p> - -<p>Caswell stopped for an instant to hold out his hand to the dentist.</p> - -<p>"Sorry, immensely sorry, old chap. Awful mess she's made. If there's any -way I can"——</p> - -<p>"Joseph!" reiterated Mrs. Caswell from the gateway.</p> - -<p>And Joseph obeyed.</p> - -<p>"Have a fresh cigar, Parkin. And you, Fremont," said Dr. Harford, as the -six left behind settled back in their chairs and hammock for a good -half-hour review of Mrs. Caswell and her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> mischief-making.</p> - -<p>"By George! this was an original plan of yours, Harford," exclaimed -Fremont.</p> - -<p>"Indeed it was," murmured little Mrs. Fremont.</p> - -<p>"It was not my idea at all. I got it from Shakespeare. Do you not recall -a scene in 'Timon of Athens' where Timon invites his false friends to a -banquet to show them up?"</p> - -<p>"Well, you worked it neatly, anyhow," said Parkin, who had never read -Shakespeare in his life.</p> - -<p>"I had one great advantage over 'old Bill,'" continued Dr. Harford.</p> - -<p>"In what way?" asked Mrs. Parkin, smiling at him.</p> - -<p>"I had the phonograph."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="The_Night_That_Patti_Sang" id="The_Night_That_Patti_Sang"></a><i>The Night That Patti Sang</i></h2> - - -<p>When I moved there 10 years ago that Franklin-street block just west of -Charles was even then known as "Doctors' Row," though there was by no -means the number of professional men the street now has. From Dr. -Osler's at the Charles-street corner of the south side—in the old -Colonial mansion where now the Rochambeau apartments stand—to Dr. Alan -P. Smith's on the north side next to the old Maryland Club building at -Cathedral street, there were in all five doctors. And my own -shingle—newly painted in gilt letters as befitted a specialist freshly -returned from the Vienna hospitals—made the sixth sign of the kind.</p> - -<p>On the south side not far from Dr. Osler's, the front of one of those -fine old houses erected in the thirties, and the homes of the elite of -Baltimore for many years before Mount Vernon place was built up, bore -the announcement of:</p> - -<div class="block"> -<p class='box'> -JAMES COURSEY DUNTON, M. D.<br /> -</p> -</div> - -<p>The sign was of a very old pattern, and was so rain-washed that the name -could scarcely be deciphered. This, too, was the case with a frosted -pane in the front window, on which—perhaps 40 years ago—Dr. Dunton had -had his name painted in black letters. The house, too, showed the same -lack of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> paint and care.</p> - -<p>In my student days at the Johns Hopkins Medical School I had never heard -the name of Dr. Dunton, and this led me to make inquiries of a -professional neighbor. I learned that Dunton was in effect an elderly -hermit, that for years he had abandoned his practice and had declined to -respond to calls. His self-enforced isolation had grown to such a degree -that he was rarely seen on the street and made all his household -purchases through notes stuck in his vestibule door for "order boys". "I -have seen Dunton only once in eight years," said my informant. "They -say, too, he used to be an excellent practitioner, an Edinburgh -graduate, with a patronage of the best classes—a courtly gentleman who -was well liked by his patients."</p> - -<p>"What was the cause for the change?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"A love tragedy of some kind, they told me, though I never got the -details."</p> - -<p>I developed a lively curiosity in the elderly recluse, and nearly every -time I moved in or out of my own residence, or passed my front windows, -I glanced at Dr. Dunton's house in hopes of seeing him. My first glimpse -was, perhaps, a month after I had been told about him. The sun had gone -down, save where I could see the gilded tops of the Cathedral with a red -glint upon them. In the half-light Dr. Dunton came to his second-story -window—I knew it must be he—a tall, slender figure, somewhat bent, -garbed in unrelieved black, save for the open white collar of -ante-bellum style. Scant white hair extended from his temples<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> back over -his ears and framed a face that seemed, in the dusk, refined and kindly, -though seared with many wrinkles. I watched the silent figure at the -window unnoticed by him, for he gazed with intentness at the -vine-adorned front of the old Unitarian Church at the corner, until the -real darkness came upon us both.</p> - -<p>It was, I think, about a week later when I again encountered Dr. Dunton. -The Edmondson-avenue trolley line had just been completed up Charles -street, and for the first time this old residential section resounded -with the clangor that betokened rapid transit. About 9 one night I -observed Dr. Dunton stepping down from the pavement of the Athenaeum -Club to cross the street. A trolley car was coming rapidly, but the old -gentleman, his head bent in thought and unused as he was to modern -inventions and modern bursts of speed, paid no attention and moved in -front of it. The motorman threw off his current, tried to reverse, and -rang his gong furiously, but saw that he could not stop in time to avoid -hitting the Doctor. I had bounded into the street, and when the car was -only half a dozen feet off I was fortunately able to draw the old chap -back and hold him clear of the Juggernaut that had so nearly wrought his -destruction.</p> - -<p>His first impulse, as he turned toward me, was one of anger that I had -presumed to intrude so violently upon his thoughts. Then he saw what a -narrow escape he had had, and anger gave place to a courtly smile and a -slight twinkle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> in his sunken eyes.</p> - -<p>"We young fellows are not so careful as we ought to be," he said. "I owe -you my life."</p> - -<p>I hastened to assure him that my act was one of simple kindness, but he -renewed his expressions of thanks in even more polished phrases. The car -had gone on and we had crossed to the church corner.</p> - -<p>"I am Dr. Dunton," he said. "My house is yonder and, though I dwell -alone, and with little ceremony, I will be pleased to have you partake -of such hospitality as I can offer."</p> - -<p>I accepted with alacrity. "I am Dr. Seaman," I responded. "I have just -moved into the block." And I indicated my own home.</p> - -<p>We crossed Franklin street to Dr. Dunton's house. He opened the heavy -door with a latch-key, but before I could enter it was necessary for him -to go ahead and light up. He was profuse in his apologies for the -disorder of everything as he led me into the room behind the parlor, but -beyond a thick coating of dust the dark mahogany furniture showed no -signs of the absence of servants.</p> - -<p>"I suppose you younger men might call this your 'den,'" he said as he -applied a match to the centre chandelier, "but I prefer to name it my -study." There were rows upon rows of medical works of a past generation -on the shelves around the room, a familiar bust of Esculapius, a skull -or two, some assorted bones and other signs of my host's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> former -profession. A worn leather arm-chair sat behind the table under the -chandelier, another arm-chair on the right. Dr. Dunton drew the latter -forward for me and dropped into the other one. As the light fell full -upon him I noted that he was not only thin, but gaunt, and that his -face, which interested me strangely, was marked by hollow places that -gave him an almost uncanny appearance, despite its refinement and -intellectuality. His eyes had a haunting expression, as if at times he -suffered much physical pain, and there was a sadness in them that -quickened my sympathies.</p> - -<p>For a minute or so there was silence. I felt that he was at a loss for -topics upon which to converse on common ground. Finally he said:</p> - -<p>"You are the first visitor I have had here since poor Wallis sat in that -chair a dozen years ago."</p> - -<p>"You mean Mr. Wallis the lawyer?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"He was my good friend in many dark days," he answered gently. I felt -that he was slipping away from me into the past.</p> - -<p>"You must have it lonely here," I remarked.</p> - -<p>"Not lonely," was the response. "I live with my memories."</p> - -<p>The shadow on his face grew deeper.</p> - -<p>"Why not practice your profession," I hazarded, "and forget some part of -your past sorrows in a busy life?"</p> - -<p>He leaned forward, looking intently at me and yet beyond. "Ah! lad," he -said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> as he laid a thin hand upon my wrist, "if you but knew, if you -but knew! I tried hard, and then I found I couldn't, and then I gave up -trying. There are griefs so great that one cannot lose them until the -last sleep. I am not lonely, for I have Her always with me here."</p> - -<p>It was best for me to remain silent. He was almost unaware of my -presence. I felt he would go on if I did not divert his train of -thought.</p> - -<p>"Night after night She sits here with me," he pursued; "day after day -She is by my side. In spirit the loving companionship I sought is ever -mine, and yet, great God, how different!" His face he buried in his -hands. In my eyes the tears could not be kept back.</p> - -<p>Presently he rose from his seat and moved to the wall next to the -parlor. To my surprise, the pressure of his finger against a spot in the -wooden door pillar opened up a secret cupboard in the partition. The -Doctor reached in and lifted out an arm chair of the same pattern as -that upon which I was seated. It was heavy and I jumped to aid him, but -he negatived me with a short, sharp twist of his head. As he came into -the full light I saw that the chair contained a woman's cloak, one of -shimmery gray satin, but now sadly faded and time-stained. Reverently he -lifted the cloak and laid it across the back of the chair.</p> - -<p>"That's as it was the night she sat there and passed away," said the -Doctor.</p> - -<p>For several minutes there was no word between us. The Doctor, his mouth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> -twitching, his thoughts far from me, stared intently at the old cloak.</p> - -<p>"How I loved her, how I loved her!" he finally murmured. Again he was -becoming aware of my presence. "You can't understand, sir, the depth of -my devotion. It stood the test of years—it stood even her marriage to -another."</p> - -<p>Another pause.</p> - -<p>"She was the prettiest and merriest child you ever saw," he finally went -on. "Had she been an Indian maid they would have called her 'Dancing -Sunshine.' But being just a Baltimore girl, with her parents more fond -of reading Scott than of any other literature save the Bible, she was -named Geraldine. You remember that line in the 'Lay of the Last -Minstrel':</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>The fair and lovely form, the Lady Geraldine.</p> -</div> - -<p>"That's where she got her romantic and historic name. To us boys—my -brother Tom and myself—she was always Dina. She was our cousin. Her -father had died when she was but a babe. So had my mother, and Aunt -Patty thenceforth was the housewife with us. Father was one of those -merchants and ship owners who have long passed away in Baltimore. No -firm was better known around the Basin than that of Dunton & Jameson, -and no clipper ships were faster than those with the Dunton signal.</p> - -<p>"Dina was Tom's age, some years younger than I, but both of us made her -our playmate. We didn't have the hundred and one diversions and sports -that young people seem to have nowadays—no suburban clubs, no motoring, -little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> driving. We roamed through Howard's woods around and beyond the -Washington Monument, and we strolled the banks of the 'canal' that used -to parallel Jones' Falls down there above Centre street. And in all our -rambles and excursions Dina was our joyous, care-free companion. I can -see her now, as she was at 14, a simply dressed school girl, with her -olive complexion, her clear, trustful gray eyes, her trim, petite, -lissom figure and her rosebud mouth, ready ever to kiss either of us in -fond sisterly affection.</p> - -<p>"She was 16 when I was sent to Edinburgh on one of father's ships, to -become a doctor. For once her laughter deserted her, and the last -picture I had of her as our boat headed down the Patapsco on a bright, -blue morning was of a tearful miss on Bowly's wharf, waving a bedewed -handkerchief and watching through misty eyes the going of Cousin Jim -across the water. There had been a tender farewell between us, and -though no word of love was spoken, I tell you, lad, I knew I was leaving -my heart behind.</p> - -<p>"My three years in Scotland were ones of hard work, and the chief joy I -knew came with Dina's letters. The mails were slow in those days, and -they came too uncertainly for me, you may be sure. But each brought me, -in addition to a budget of news, just a bit of Dina's lovely -personality. I saw her, in her letters, growing into sweet womanhood, -and, as I sometimes stretched myself in meditation on Arthur's Seat, far -above old Edinburgh, my thoughts were not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> of the city, nor of my own -lifework, but of the little girl at home.</p> - -<p>"I was just completing my course, when there came my first terrible -blow. A letter came from Dina, the first in two months, and it brought -me word, lad, that she was married! Married! Just think of it! And to -Tom. He had been with Watson and Ringgold in the Mexican War, and -clippings they sent me had recounted the bravery of young Captain -Dunton. I confess to you, sir, that for days I had murder in my heart, -and against my own brother. I went off on a walking trip in the -Trossachs, and a savage time I had of it with myself; I had schemes of -petty revenge; I abused Dina; I vowed she could not love Tom; that she -must have been swept off her feet by the brass buttons and the war -glamour about him.</p> - -<p>"By the time I came back to Baltimore I had regained self-control, and -when I met Tom and his wife it was with the determination to do -everything for Dina's happiness, even though she were another's. I was -not wrong in my prophecy that she would develop into sweet womanhood, -only I underestimated it. In all our circle of acquaintances in -Baltimore there was no more beautiful young matron than Mrs. Dunton; no -more sprightly and piquant bride; no hostess more gracious, as she -presided over the dinners and 'small and early' affairs that were given -at our home here.</p> - -<p>"But, alas! it was not long before sorrows came to her. Tom began to -drink heavily. He got in with a gay set at Barnum's Hotel, his hours -grew irregular,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> his absences from home more numerous and more -prolonged. Father and I remonstrated ineffectually, at first pleadingly -and then in anger. We did our best to keep Dina ignorant of some of the -worst stories out concerning Tom's dissipation, but she knew. And though -she loyally never criticised him in talking to us, we saw the joy fade -out of her heart and lips, and the glint of ineffaceable sadness come -into those pure gray eyes. God only knows what she suffered in the nine -years before death, invited by alcohol, came and took Tom.</p> - -<p>"It may sound brutal, but I was glad when besotted Tom was gone. It -ended Dina's terrible worry, it relieved father and myself of -unexplainable trouble, expense and annoyance, it laid to rest a family -skeleton of whose existence all Baltimore seemed to know. And deep down -in my heart, I confess it, there was a thrill that the woman I loved -above all was free.</p> - -<p>"Of course, being a true woman, and a tender-hearted one, Dina grieved -long over Tom's death. She had loved him sincerely despite his grievous -faults, and ours was a melancholy household for another year. In those -days our women wore deep black mourning and veils, and sombre, indeed, -was Dina as she went out to church, to Tom's grave, or to half a dozen -poor households she had taken under her wing. But most of the time she -was at home ministering to father, whose declining health was a cause of -alarm to both of us.</p> - -<p>"Presently I began to urge her to go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> about with me. At first she said -no, then with her characteristic considerateness she seemed unwilling to -hurt me by refusing further. I took her to the homes of our friends for -an evening of music or whist, or to an occasional public concert. The -color began to come back into the cheeks whence it had been so long -absent, and that glint of grief in the gray eyes grew dimmer. I spoke no -word of love, but unobtrusively carried on a campaign to let her see how -badly I yearned for her. The new books, the best sweets, the prettiest -flowers, such delicate compliments as sincerity could dictate—all these -I gave her and watched patiently to see the dawning of love on her part. -I had always had her fond affection, but I wanted more and strove in -every way to gain it.</p> - -<p>"Two years passed and there came a night memorable in Baltimore when -18-year-old Adelina Patti—a singer in the first flush of youth and -beauty, fresh from triumphs in New York—was brought to Holliday-Street -Theatre to sing 'La Somnambula.' Strakosch had stirred up a furore about -Patti and Brignoli in Gotham, and Baltimore was curious to hear them. I -took Dina, and proud was I of her beauty and her sweet garb as we sat in -the midst of a hundred acquaintances in an audience the newspapers -called 'brilliant'. She had abandoned black and wore a satin gown of a -soft color, shimmery and splendidly adorned with lace. Her matured -beauty seemed to me more glorious than the promise of childhood,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> which -had first captured me. She was entranced with the music, but I had no -ears for the diva, and was there only to enjoy the divinity by my side. -I had a feeling that the end of my probation was near. I believed she -would say 'yes' should I ask her, and I determined to do so that night.</p> - -<p>"After we had gotten away from our friends she talked animatedly of the -opera in the carriage, and I listened contentedly all the while I kept -saying 'Tonight, Jim, tonight!' As we came into the house she led the -way into this office, and with a smile dropped into that chair you see. -She allowed me to unfasten her opera cloak and draw it across the back -of the chair, but she playfully bade me sit down, when I let my arm -steal caressingly about her neck. Ah! man, if you could but know how I -loved her that minute!"——</p> - -<p>The Doctor's voice broke. There were tears in his eyes. As for me, I was -profoundly moved, and my own eyelashes were wet.</p> - -<p>"I passed into the dining-room to get her some sherry and cake. I was -gone but a moment, but in that instant she was lost to me forever."</p> - -<p>The veins in the old man's forehead stood out like whipcords. He resumed -fiercely after a pause:</p> - -<p>"She was dead, sir. She was dead. She sat in the same position in that -chair as when I had left her, but her hand clutched her side and the -smile she had given me was replaced by a sharp contraction, as if from -pain. Swiftly her heart action had been gripped by an unseen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> force and -stopped forever. I grew frantic when I found I could not revive her; I -shrieked aloud in the agony of my heart, and father and the servants -rushed here in alarm. They tell me I was mad for days; that I raved and -called incessantly. I do not remember. I knew nothing for a long time, -and then I cursed myself for living on when memory returned. Twice I had -lost her—once by marriage and once by death—and the joy of living was -never to be mine again. I have survived, sir, these many years. I buried -Father after Dina, and I am alone here. But, God, man! I died long ago. -My soul is with her I adored."</p> - -<p>He arose and I followed. I felt that he meant to end our talk. He wiped -away the tears from his cheek with a silk handkerchief, and then, -placing his gaunt hand on my right shoulder, he moved his face close to -mine and spoke earnestly:</p> - -<p>"I never dare visit her grave in Greenmount. I am afraid of myself. But -if you can, to please an old man whose wretched life you have saved -tonight, will you go there some time and see that her resting place has -been tended reverently? I have paid them for it."</p> - -<p>I promised him I would, and then I passed out into the starlit night -with a thousand impressions of the terrible tragedy of this man's life -crowding my excited brain. I could not sleep, and I lay in bed for hours -reconstructing the tale and fancying many details he had not supplied. -The next morning I went to the Dunton lot in Greenmount and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> found it -well cared for. Over his loved Dina's grave was a handsome stone of -Carrara marble, with this inscription:</p> - -<div class="block"> -<p class='box'> -GERALDINE,<br /> -Beloved wife of Thomas Bowly Dunton.<br /> -Passed away suddenly, -1860.<br /> -Aged 30 years.<br /> -"God is love."<br /> -</p></div> - -<p>On one side was the grave of the ill-fated Tom. On the other the green -turf waited to be disturbed to make room for the last of the Duntons, -and there, on a raw day in the following March, I saw the body of the -old Doctor laid beside her whom he had loved so long and with such -overwhelming sorrow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="An_Island_On_A_Jamboree" id="An_Island_On_A_Jamboree"></a><i>An Island On A Jamboree</i></h2> - - -<p>For three days the shipping of Baltimore, large and small, had been held -in leash by a great storm upon the bay. One of those West India autumn -hurricanes coming suddenly had whipped the Chesapeake into such a fury -with its fierce southeast blow that steamboats and small sailing craft -alike heeded the Weather Bureau warning and remained in Baltimore.</p> - -<p>On the third night the gale had spent its fury, and, with a rising -barometer and a favorable Government forecast, Captain Cromwell, eager -to get home, ventured out with his bugeye as soon as the dawn came. The -Patapsco was full of white caps, but the wind had softened and the skies -were clear, and the Tuckahoe met with no misadventure as it passed down. -A hundred other vessels were making ready to follow, but he had the -start of them and the river to himself. In a few hours he would be with -his family at Rock Hall.</p> - -<p>But as he rounded Seven-Foot Knoll and headed across the bay he suddenly -grew excited, and shouted the name of his favorite patron, the great -Jehoshaphat.</p> - -<p>Then he yelled to his crew:</p> - -<p>"What in the devil is that ahead, you lazy loafer?"</p> - -<p>The crew rose up en masse—being only one—from its lolling position -beside the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> mainmast, and looked out over the disturbed waters. And then -it was the crew's turn to become excited.</p> - -<p>"Golly, Cap. Jim, I ain't never done seen nuthin' like that afore. What -the debbil am it?"</p> - -<p>The commander of the Tuckahoe responded:</p> - -<p>"I'll be jiggered if I know."</p> - -<p>The crew instinctively moved back to a position close to the master, and -both, with mixed feelings of alarm and curiosity, concentrated their -gaze upon the strange sight that had aroused them.</p> - -<p>"I've been running to Baltimore these ten years, John Washington," said -the Captain to the crew, "and I've seen queer things on the bay and the -river. I'll never forget how them blamed naval fellers from Annapolis -frightened me by coming up out of the water with one of them durned -submarines. But I'll be blowed if ever I have seen anything to beat -this. There warn't no island out there when we run past the Knoll going -up."</p> - -<p>"'Deed there warn't, Cap. Jim. Golly, I'se scared, I is. Ain't you -'fraid it's one of Satan's traps, Cap. Jim? The debbil am mighty -cunnin', you knows dat."</p> - -<p>"Devil or not, John, I'm going to see what it really is."</p> - -<p>And the captain of the Tuckahoe gave the command "Hard lee!" so as to -head the bay craft more directly toward the centre of the mysterious -island that they had discovered. It was now about a half mile distant -and, as seen in the morning light, low-lying and ten acres or so in -extent. Its most peculiar feature<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> to the pair on the bugeye was a grove -of tall trees, naked to a height of 60 or 80 feet, and then crowned by -enormous spreading leaves, or branches.</p> - -<p>"Them's powerful funny trees, Cap. Jim," said the colored deckhand, -doubtfully.</p> - -<p>"Never seen anything like 'em in this bay before," replied Captain -Cromwell. "I ain't never been in the tropics, John, but they look mighty -like pictures of cocoanut palms."</p> - -<p>"Tropics, Cap. Jim?"</p> - -<p>"Yes; the West Indies."</p> - -<p>"In de name of de Lawd, Cap. Jim, how dem trees done get here from de -West Indies? Dat a long way off, ain't it?"</p> - -<p>Captain Cromwell made no reply. He was too intently studying the island. -All of a sudden he was startled by his crew sinking on its knees on the -deck with an exclamation. He turned and saw the negro's skin blanched -with terror.</p> - -<p>"Fo' de Lawd Gawd, Cap. Jim, dat thing am movin'."</p> - -<p>"Skidoo, John, skidoo," said the Captain, skeptically.</p> - -<p>"'Deed an' double-deed, it is, Cap. Jim. You jes' look behind it ober -dar at Kent Island."</p> - -<p>The Captain peered as directed, while the negro eyed him doubtfully.</p> - -<p>"Great Jehoshaphat!" the white man cried. "You're right, John, you're -right. That there island is a-movin' up the bay."</p> - -<p>"Ain't yer skeered, Cap. Jim?" asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the crew, with a shudder. "'Pears -to me it's mighty like de debbil."</p> - -<p>Captain Cromwell was doubtful himself. He laid his hand on the tiller -and was about to change his course when he made a fresh discovery.</p> - -<p>"There's a man on that island, as I'm a-livin'," he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Whar is he, Cap. Jim?" cried the negro.</p> - -<p>"Right by that grove of trees, John. He's waving his arms at us. He's -standing by some kind of a hut and there's a tall pole with the stars -and stripes turned upside down."</p> - -<p>"Maybe dey's pirates, Cap. Jim." Visions of the dreaded skull and -cross-bones and of a horrible death at the yardarm, whatever that was, -made John Washington's teeth and knees knock together violently.</p> - -<p>"Pirates, the deuce! They're Americans that want help."</p> - -<p>"And is you gwine close, Cap. Jim? Lawdy."</p> - -<p>The crew started forward and the Captain held the bugeye to its course -to the strange island. The man by the grove of palms waved his arms and -ran toward the shore nearest to them. He shouted several times, but -Captain Cromwell could not hear him. Finally, the man picked up a huge -leaf, and, twisting it into a cornucopia shape, made a megaphone of it. -With this aid his voice came floating over the bay.</p> - -<p>"Keep off!" he called. "There is a sunken reef on this side. Head for -the cove." He pointed to the north end of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the floating mass, and -Captain Cromwell put about. The island, now that he was close, appeared -to be making good headway—at least four or five miles an hour. There -was a swish and a swirl of water on the sides that showed it would have -been folly to have run in shore there. But after he had rounded a -hummock of glistening sand he saw the cove, and in a few minutes more -had entered it and discovered a roughly constructed wharf. John -Washington reluctantly obeyed a sharp order to take in sail, and, with -the aid of the stranger ashore, the Tuckahoe was presently moored.</p> - -<p>Captain Cromwell's first impulse was to laugh at a near view of the man -on the island. "Powerful funny lookin'," was John Washington's comment. -His hair and whiskers were of the red hue that could never by courtesy -be called auburn. Both whiskers and hair were long and ragged and would -have provoked despair in any aseptic barber shop in Baltimore. For coat -the islander had on a baggy affair, roughly fashioned out of jute, and -his trousers were of sailcloth, cut in a style that would not have met -the approval of a Maryland Club member. He was thick-set, with a slight -stoop. His wrists were tattooed, his hands horny. His eyes were a placid -blue pair. Above the left one was a scar.</p> - -<p>"Where in blazes am I?" he yelled to Captain Cromwell as the Tuckahoe -was nearing the wharf. "Blazes" is a mild translation of the expletive -actually employed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Chesapeake bay, mate."</p> - -<p>"Chesapeake bay! Jiminy crickets! Blown all the way from the Bahamas! -Well, I'm danged!"</p> - -<p>"How did it happen?" asked the master of the Tuckahoe. The newest -Robinson Crusoe didn't hear him.</p> - -<p>"How in blazes did I pass in the Capes and not know it?" Again "blazes" -is putting it mildly. "Durned thick, nasty weather yesterday. Couldn't -see a half mile. Must a passed in then. How far up am I?"</p> - -<p>"Mouth of the Patapsco."</p> - -<p>"By jinks, so it is. I might a knowed it. There's the Knoll. And there's -North P'int. Many's the time I sighted them when I used to run here in a -five-master from Bath."</p> - -<p>"How did you come—this time?" again asked Captain Cromwell.</p> - -<p>Again his curiosity had to wait. "Got a quid of 'baccy, mate?" asked the -red-bearded man as he stood on the wharf beside the bugeye. "Ain't had a -chaw in four years." He seized eagerly the plug that was handed to him, -broke off a generous "chaw" and thrust it into his mouth. Then, and not -until then, did he make reply.</p> - -<p>"How did I come? Caught in a sou'easter, that's all. Nastiest storm you -ever want to see. Hit us suddenly five nights ago. Them palms was bent -double with the wind. Lord only knows why my mansion yonder didn't go. -After while sort a felt we were driftin'. When mornin' broke there was -my kingdom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> afloat in the ocean cut in two, me alone on this bit and the -biggest half gone off with my subjects on it."</p> - -<p>"Subjects?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, my people."</p> - -<p>The Captain looked at John and John edged off from the stranger and made -a sign suggestive of deficient mentality.</p> - -<p>"Your people?" asked Captain Cromwell.</p> - -<p>"Yes, man. Why, I am the King of Tortilla Key."</p> - -<p>John renewed the aforesaid sign and edged still farther away. Captain -Cromwell laughed. The stranger chimed in.</p> - -<p>"Does sound funny, don't it. Fact is I made myself King. I've got a -crown up at the palace there. Rusty tin saucepan afore I knocked the -bottom out."</p> - -<p>The Captain laughed again.</p> - -<p>"You're an odd fish," he remarked. "What was your name before you were -King?"</p> - -<p>"Me? Oh! I'm a 'down Easter.' Peleg Timrod of Squan, Mass., U. S. A. Of -course, I knowed Peleg was no royal name, so I just dubbed myself Victor -Fust when I annexed this here island."</p> - -<p>"It ain't much of a kingdom."</p> - -<p>"About four times as large as you see afore the rest broke away. Anyway, -I thought it a mighty big place when I got tossed up here goin' on four -year ago. I'd been afloat on the roof of a deckhouse for three days -arter the fruiter Bainbridge were cast away, and I tell you, mate, I was -powerful glad to hit any old kind of terra firma then. The bunch of -natives who fed me and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> sheltered me was a kind lot. They didn't seem to -belong to no country in partikler, and though I knowed Britain claimed -the Bahamas, I jes' kind a thought Teddy might want the place for a -coaling station some time. So I let 'em know I was their King, and I -reckon I ain't had any more trouble with them than Peter Leary had in -Guam. Of course, I couldn't make it plain to 'em how the Constitution -follows the flag, 'cos I didn't know myself."</p> - -<p>"Where did you get your American flag?"</p> - -<p>"American flag, mate?" Victor I. was offended. "Why, bless you, that -ain't no stars and stripes. That there's the flag of Tortilla. There's -no stars there. The red's my old undershirt, the blue I found thrown up -in the surf one day and the white is a bit of sail I had with me when I -dropped in to take my throne. That flag means business. I"——</p> - -<p>His Majesty was interrupted by a shout from John Washington:</p> - -<p>"Golly, Cap. Jim, the island's stopped!"</p> - -<p>"Stopped, you lunkhead?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, Cap. Jim. It ain't movin' no more. I'se been watchin' Poole's -Island yonder, and we done ceased."</p> - -<p>"Maybe it's aground," suggested the King.</p> - -<p>"Maybe it is," replied the Rock Hall captain, "but it's more likely to -have run into a current down the bay from the Susquehanna. It's just as -well for you, I guess, or you'd a bumped into Cecil county so hard you -wouldn't a voted next 'lection."</p> - -<p>For some minutes the trio studied the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> island and its surroundings with -intentness. The King was the first to notice when his kingdom got to -moving again.</p> - -<p>"It's headin' down the bay this time," he cheerily declared. "Reckon you -were right about getting into a current. S'pose I'm off on another -cruise."</p> - -<p>"Sail away with me, and let it go," urged Captain Cromwell.</p> - -<p>"What! desert my kingdom in such a economic crisis! Not this King. No, -siree. Victor I. stays right here as long as there's a Tortilla to king -it over. There's no kin in Squan to lament the loss of Peleg Timrod, and -I've had a bully time here. Plenty of bananas, pineapples and cocoanuts -to live on, no work to do, and a couple of queens to boot."</p> - -<p>"Queens?" cried Captain Cromwell.</p> - -<p>"Golly!" exclaimed his crew.</p> - -<p>"Yes; two as fine-looking girls as you'd want to see. I'm powerful sorry -they ain't here now to give you a royal welcome. They're gone with the -rest of the island and the rest of the subjects. I miss 'em."</p> - -<p>Victor I. sighed. Then he resumed after a pause:</p> - -<p>"Women certainly are the curiousest things. They're the same everywhere. -Life's no good without 'em, and they plague you to death while you're -trying to live with 'em. Now, there's those two queens. I loved both, -and yet I had such trouble with 'em last week I made 'em go home to -their father's hut. Ain't I sorry they wasn't at the palace when the -sou'easter came!</p> - -<p>"How did I get 'em? Oh, they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> given to me when I first came to -Tortilla. You see, when I got throwed up here there was a family of -natives, eight in all—the old man, the old woman, three daughters, the -husband of one of them and two young boys. The two girls who didn't have -no husbands took a shine to me as soon as I came and dad just passed me -along to both. That was before I declaimed myself King. I was brought up -in Sunday-school all right and I knowed well only Turks and Mormons had -two wives at a time. But, under the circumstances, I couldn't offend -anybody, so I just took both. Eugenie—that's the name I give her—she -could cook and keep house out of sight. The little one—Marie -Antoinette—was the cutest and soon had the biggest corner of my heart. -That's what got me into trouble. You see, new clothes was scarce on -Tortilla, and when I gave a bit of my old sail to Marie Antoinette for a -Sunday-go-to-meetin' dress and didn't give none to Eugenie their oldest -sister put the devil into Eugenie's head. She"——</p> - -<p>The further recital of the tale of a pair of queens was cut short by a -terrible roaring. A piece of the island behind the wharf broke loose and -sank into the bay with a suddenness that put the Tuckahoe in dire peril. -The wave that followed the engulfing of an acre of land lifted the -little bugeye and nearly capsized it, at the same time ripping the wharf -to pieces and snapping the moorings. Captain Cromwell and his negro -sprang to the tiller and succeeded in steadying her. When they had time -to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> look about them they saw the red-headed King in the water a hundred -feet away, swimming for what was left of his kingdom.</p> - -<p>"Come nearer; I'll throw you a line," shouted Captain Cromwell.</p> - -<p>"No; I'll stick to my kingdom," answered Victor I., alias Peleg Timrod. -"You'd better sheer off; you'll hit a coral reef or get drawn under."</p> - -<p>The Tuckahoe's master saw that it was good advice, and he ordered John -Washington to hoist sail. By the time this was done they were a quarter -of a mile out in the bay, and Victor I., wet and dripping, was again on -his terra firma.</p> - -<p>"Goodbye," yelled the bay captain.</p> - -<p>"Bye-bye," returned the King, nonchalantly.</p> - -<p>And soon he was but a speck on the strand of the floating island, which -was making good progress southward.</p> - -<p>For half an hour Tortilla Key was visible in the bay. Captain Cromwell -and John watched it unceasingly, the latter growing more and more -relieved as the bugeye scudded nearer home and farther from the moving -marvel. Strange to relate, over the bay, usually dotted with small or -large vessels, there was no steamer or sailing craft to be seen up to -the time that the bunch of tall palms became a speck off Annapolis and -was finally lost in the south horizon. This evidently suggested a line -of action to the master of the Tuckahoe.</p> - -<p>"John Washington," he said, as he mustered his crew aft and addressed it -sternly, "don't you ever breathe a word<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> about that floatin' island to a -living soul, or I'll skin you alive."</p> - -<p>"Golly, Cap. Jim, you knows I ain't."</p> - -<p>"Well, you'd better not, because folks is liable to think we made a -round of Pratt-street saloons afore we boarded the Tuckahoe."</p> - -<p>"Dey sutt'nly 'll think we's liars, Cap. Jim."</p> - -<p>"They certainly will, John."</p> - -<p>For a week Captain Cromwell scanned the daily papers anxiously for news -of the progress of the queer derelict. And each day, with equal -curiosity, John Washington visited him to learn what he could.</p> - -<p>"Thought as how it mout a bumped up down Norfolk way," said the crew.</p> - -<p>"No, it hasn't," replied the Captain. "I guess it must be chasing up and -down the ocean now."</p> - -<p>"Golly, Cap. Jim, but dat dere was powerful queer."</p> - -<p>"Are you sure, John, you've never told any one—not even Liza?"</p> - -<p>"Go 'way, Cap'n, wha' for you s'pose I'se gwine tell de old woman?"</p> - -<p>But he had. And her narrative, as circulated in Eastern-Shore cabins, -was a vastly more moving tale than the simple unvarnished truth as you -and I know it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="Alexander_the_Great" id="Alexander_the_Great"></a><i>Alexander the Great</i></h2> - - -<p>Alexander loved everything about Antoinette except her too pronounced -fondness for the romantic. That perturbed him greatly. Nobody liked to -be sentimental with a pretty girl more than did Alexander. If he could -squeeze Antoinette's hand slyly at Ford's or the Academy when a "dark -scene" was on, and get a sweet answering pressure; if he engineered his -arm about her undisturbed when he took her driving on Druid Hill's -unlighted roads of a summer night; if he hazarded an occasional kiss on -her warm, cherry-red lips as they lingered in the parting on the front -steps of her Harlem-avenue home—he was as pleased as any admiring lover -could well be. And the next day in that dull, prosaic German-street -office, pictures of Antoinette as she laughed, of Antoinette as she -lowered her clear brown eyes after that kiss, would thrust themselves -most impertinently into each page of the big ledger he had to post.</p> - -<p>The trouble, however, with Antoinette from Alexander's viewpoint was -that she was more romantic than that. It was all right for her to be a -trusting little dear and allow him the occasional kiss or hug. But no -adorer likes to be told that he doesn't come up to the lady's ideal, and -that was what Antoinette had plainly given Alexander to understand in -those moments when,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> spurred on by the kiss or the hug, he had sought to -make her more truly his only and own. "The man I marry," vowed the -darling Antoinette, "must be a hero. You're just an ordinary fellow. -You're better than the rest I know, and I like you awfully much. But -Alexander, dear," and she gave a little twist to the top button of his -coat, "I don't love you, because you have never shown yourself capable -of bold deeds or brave actions. I am woman enough to worship a man who -can do things of that kind. The age of chivalry is not dead. There are -heroes in this world, and though I'm awfully fond of you, Alexander, I'm -going to wait until I meet my ideal." Then Alexander would hie himself -to his Gilmor-street home and curse his luck. What could a plain, -unassuming, workaday clerk do in the way of being a hero? Where did he -have opportunities of meeting situations of peril in which he could -prove his valor?</p> - -<p>One of those evenings when Antoinette waxed confidential and revealed -her true thoughts—evenings rare, because, as a rule, she was fencing -coquettishy with tongue and eyes—she acknowledged that the nearest -approach to her ideal that she had ever seen was a handsome, lithe young -Atlantic City life guard. She put such a valuation upon the courage of -this sun-bronzed, red-shirted Adonis that Alexander's jealousy rose to -the fuming point. There pressed upon him the notion of going to the -City-by-the-Sea, either to challenge this approximate ideal to mortal -combat or of emulating his choice of occupation and working a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> lifeboat -and a rescue-line himself. Then he reflected that, after all, he would -rather be a live clerk in Baltimore than a dead hero in the restless -ocean surf.</p> - -<p>"It's all the fault of those blamed novels," muttered Alexander, in his -wrath. "She has filled up her head with that silly trash until she has -spoiled the finest girl on earth." He never met her on Lexington street -that she was not on her way to or from the Enoch Pratt Library, or was -carrying home the latest bit of fiction from the bookstores. The old and -the new alike fed her imagination—Scott, the elder Dumas, the King -Arthur romances, Stanley Weyman, Anthony Hope, Hallie Erminie Rives, -Laura Jean Libbey, Bertha M. Clay, Mrs. Alexander—all were fish for her -net, tabloids for her mental digestion. "If she had her way, she would -make me a Rob Roy, a Romeo, a Prisoner of Zenda, a Sir Gal—or whatever -the dickens that old fellow's name was," vowed Alexander, who, it must -be confessed, was not strong on literature.</p> - -<p>For three hours and more he lay awake on his bed that night. He knew the -length of time, because the wind was from the east and brought the sound -of the City Hall's strike to him. How to gain Antoinette in marriage, -how to meet her fancy of what a man ought to be, how to be a hero -without an untimely fate in the flower of his youth—was ever lover more -perplexed, more worried!</p> - -<p>The next morning brought his deliverance. It came to him as he held -himself in place on two inches of the footboard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of a crowded open car. -A queer spot for salvation to be handed to a despairing lover! Yet -salvation is accustomed to odd performances. In this instance it popped -into Alexander's mind so unexpectedly that he chuckled and made a seated -individual think Alexander was reading the jokes of his penny paper over -his shoulder. As a matter of fact, Alexander was soaring into a new and -unexplored world. A great white light was leading him far from the -madding crowd.</p> - -<p>For three days chuckling alternated with heavy thinking. His mind was so -engrossed with the probability of his deliverance from the trials and -anxieties of trying vainly to please Antoinette that when he went, by -appointment, to take her to Electric Park to see the vaudeville show he -came perilously near telling her all about it. And that to the swain who -hopes to capture a hesitating maiden would, as every masculine knows, -have been fatal. As it was, Alexander's countenance was so benign and -cheerful that the little lady noticed it.</p> - -<p>"You've got a surprise for me, I know," she declared as she eyed him, -pouting most charmingly.</p> - -<p>She had hit so near the truth that Alexander, helpless masculine, -floundered. "N—n—no. I—I—I haven't," he vowed.</p> - -<p>"Yes, you have, Alexander Brotherton," she replied, spiritedly; and at -midnight as they were crossing Harlem square, homeward bound, she -snuggled up to him confidingly and intimated that it was about time to -tell her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> - -<p>Alexander weakened. When a fellow is 24 and a girl is 22 and unusually -pretty and winsome, his heart must be adamant to withstand that little -trick of snuggling up. Alexander gasped, but with the gasp gained sense -enough to see he couldn't tell her about the "great white light."</p> - -<p>Antoinette, girl like, was miffed. It was the first time in her -experience with Alexander, and in fact with several other adorers, that -she had not been able to operate that little device successfully. As a -result, she was rather cool when they parted.</p> - -<p>The next evening Alexander went around to make it up. He had to "crawl," -of course. They all do. The girls make them do it. And when he had -apologized earnestly for the eleventh time and vowed with a double -criss-cross that there really wasn't any secret, Antoinette was -partially mollified and allowed Alexander to stay until past 11 o'clock -without a recurrence of pouting on her part.</p> - -<p>The next night she was in a lovely humor when Alexander came around. It -was close and hot, and, after buying sondaes at the drug store on the -corner below, Alexander suggested riding out and strolling along some of -the paths of Druid Hill Park. He put it humbly, but he was most blithe -and joyous when she consented.</p> - -<p>They were walking up the Mall on their way to the boat lake half an hour -later. It was dark just there, and, as no one seemed to be near, -Alexander let his hand steal around Antoinette's little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> waist.</p> - -<p>"You shouldn't do that," said Antoinette slipping away from him, but not -angrily. "We're not engaged, you know."</p> - -<p>"I'd like to be," asserted Alexander ardently.</p> - -<p>What answer she would have made can only be guessed at, for just at this -moment two muscular fellows sprang in front of them from behind a tree. -In the few arc-light rays that penetrated the low-hanging limbs -Antoinette could see that both were masked and that one held a pistol at -her. Antoinette backed close to Alexander and screamed. It was a good, -lusty scream, far stronger than Alexander had thought her capable of -emitting.</p> - -<p>"Hand over your money and valuables," gruffly said the companion of him -who held the pistol.</p> - -<p>Antoinette could feel Alexander double his fists and his muscles grow -hard. He started toward the two highwaymen. "Don't! don't!" she cried, -as she threw her arms around him. "They'll kill you!"</p> - -<p>But Alexander heeded her not. Instead, he pushed her aside and sprang -determinedly at the other pair. With his left hand he knocked up the -pistol and caused it to fall to the ground. With his right he delivered -a swinging blow on the shoulder that staggered the other fellow. -Apparently the pair had not expected resistance, for they darted off in -the shadows, with Alexander in stern pursuit.</p> - -<p>"Don't leave me alone," called Antoinette agonizingly. Visions of dire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> -peril to distressed womanhood leaped into her brain from a score of -favorite novels. She might be kidnapped and confined in some dark -tower—she might be shot down from ambush—she might—but, ah, now! her -fears were dissipated, for the doughty Alexander was back. He was -puffing most unromantically, but was overjoyed at the turn that enabled -him to show himself so valiant.</p> - -<p>Several strangers had been attracted by Antoinette's scream. Alexander -satisfied their curiosity by a modest recital of the incident. And then -with the adoring Antoinette holding close to him he turned away. One of -the strangers stopped him.</p> - -<p>"You've left the pistol," he said.</p> - -<p>"By George! so I did," said Alexander.</p> - -<p>"Don't take that awful thing," said Antoinette with a shudder.</p> - -<p>"It will be a prize trophy," said Alexander, and Antoinette with this -point of view was content. Under the first light he showed the weapon to -her. She needed to be encouraged to handle the pistol, but finally she -inspected it closely. "It has your initials—'A. B.'—on it," she -suddenly declared.</p> - -<p>"Why so it has," stammered Alexander. Without further ado he put the -revolver in his pocket.</p> - -<p>"Hadn't you better tell the park gateman about the outrage?" asked -Antoinette presently.</p> - -<p>"No; I think it wiser to keep it out of the papers," returned Alexander. -"After all, it was only a little incident, with no serious -consequences."</p> - -<p>But Antoinette did not regard it in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> that light. To her it was a -valorous deed, and she rehearsed her view of it all the way home.</p> - -<p>"You are my hero, my first hero," she said to the proud Alexander on her -stoop, and reaching up to his face she impulsively gave him the warmest -kiss he had ever secured from her. The hero business wasn't so bad after -all.</p> - -<p>Some evenings later they were again strolling in the park. Alexander had -received permission to smoke a cigarette as they walked, but could not -light it in the breeze that was blowing. "Wait a moment, little girl," -he finally said, and he stepped aside to the protection of a broad tree -trunk, perhaps forty feet away, leaving Antoinette on the path. It was -the main-traveled way from Madison-avenue gate to the Mansion House, but -at the time no one was near. Suddenly, however, a tall man loomed up -from behind Antoinette and seized her rudely in his arms.</p> - -<p>"A kiss, my little beauty," he said as he put his face close to hers. -Antoinette would have dropped with fright had not his firm grasp upheld -her. She was too scared to scream, but she did have presence of mind -enough to turn her face aside. What she saw when she did turn overjoyed -her, for Alexander was coming agilely over the turf to her rescue.</p> - -<p>"Here, let go of that lady, you dirty whelp!" cried Alexander, when yet -some paces away. The man relaxed his hold on her, but, instead of -running as her hold-up man had done, he turned to meet the oncoming -champion. Alexander<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> grappled with him and there was a stout tussle. It -seemed ages to Antoinette, who was watching the struggle with tense, -strained eyes, before Alexander proved his redoubtability by throwing -her insulter over on the grass.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Alexander!" she cried in exultation and relief. "You are so strong -and brave!"</p> - -<p>Alexander, panting, swelled his chest. Such praise from the girl he -loved was like divine, enchanting wine. He took her to his bosom, as -they say. But the fond embrace was cut short by a snicker from the -onlooker. He had not risen from the recumbent position in which -Alexander's prowess had placed him. Antoinette's beloved turned angrily -on him, "Get you gone, you vile dog!" he exclaimed theatrically. And -then he kicked him, not gently, but positively.</p> - -<p>In a flash the other man was up and had grabbed the surprised Alexander. -It was such a grab that Alexander murmured in pain. Antoinette thought -she heard one of them say something about "Not in the bargain." She was -not sure. But she was sure that Alexander was not doing so well in the -second round of combat as in the first. Then he whispered to his -opponent, and almost immediately the strength of the other diminished, -even as did Samson's when shorn of his locks. Presently the other broke -away and ran, and Alexander stood breathless, master of the field.</p> - -<p>On the walk back to the Druid Hill-avenue entrance to take a car for -home Antoinette again proposed that they tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> the authorities of the -two attacks. Alexander was against it. He said he dreaded the mire of -publicity for the sweetest creature on earth. And he looked at her -lovingly as he said it. Antoinette's purpose weakened, but she had -enough strength of will left to declare she was almost sure she could -identify her assailant. "He had an odd-shaped mole on his right cheek," -she remarked. "And, do you know, it's curious that I think I am nearly -certain that one of our highwaymen of last week had a similar mark. I -got a glimpse of it once when a puff of air caught his mask." Alexander -redoubled his urgings that they keep silent. He breathed easier when -they were past the gateman and on the car.</p> - -<p>For a week he basked in the glory of her adulation. Never was a hero so -worshiped as this proven one. Never was a sweet girl so happy as -Antoinette. She had met her ideal, and he was hers. Twenty hours of the -twenty-four she dreamed of him; the other four she rejoiced at being -with him.</p> - -<p>The eighth night after the second encounter in Druid Hill he had taken -her to Gwynn Oak Park to dance. Until the sixth number, the waltzes and -two-steps were all his. Then Will Harrison, an old acquaintance, came -up. "I hate to leave you," whispered Antoinette, as she gazed up into -her hero's face, "but Will is a nice boy, and I don't like to refuse him -one." Alexander smiled in return, and told her to enjoy herself. As she -floated around on Will's arm she took advantage of every turn to watch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> -the adored Alexander. She thought he looked lonely, and she wished she -could decently end her waltz and get back to him. For a moment, in a -reverse step, she lost sight of him, and when she saw him again a tall -young fellow was talking to him. Alexander seemed ill at ease and -perturbed. In fact, he quite failed to notice that she was nearing him -again in the dance. "I want that extra five you whispered you'd give -me," Antoinette heard the tall chap say. "That kick was worth it. If you -don't cough up I'll tell the lady how much it cost you, you coward, to -be a hero twice." Antoinette looked intently at the tall man. There was -a mole on his right cheek. She was wise all of a sudden. Then she grew -faint with the shock of the knowledge.</p> - -<p>"Take me out of here," she muttered to her partner. He obeyed. A car was -fast filling up to leave for Walbrook. Antoinette made a dash for it. -"Come, take me home, Will!" she called. Again he obeyed, and bounced her -into a seat.</p> - -<p>"I'll never speak to that awful wretch again," said Antoinette to the -curious Will. "I am ashamed of myself."</p> - -<p>And thus was Alexander the Great dethroned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="Breaking_Into_Medicine" id="Breaking_Into_Medicine"></a><i>Breaking Into Medicine</i></h2> - - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. JOHN IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summerfield,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Guilford County,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">North Carolina.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Baltimore, Oct. 1, 1906.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p>Dear Father:</p> - -<p>I have been here nearly a week now, and have got pretty well fixed, so I -thought I would report to you tonight. I find that there will be a lot -of hard work with classes, laboratory hours and study, but, as I told -you before I left, I intend to put my shoulder to the wheel and aim so -high that you will have just cause to be proud of me when I become a -Doctor of Medicine. I see that I shall have to cut out all idea of -amusements and pleasure and put my nose to the grindstone.</p> - -<p>My college—the P. & S.—opened last Thursday with an address by the -Dean, a helpful speech that I should like you to have heard. For, -although I chose medicine chiefly because Uncle Will made a success of -it out in Texas, I was glad to hear the Dean tell what a noble -profession it was to relieve suffering millions.</p> - -<p>The college occupies a red brick building at Calvert and Saratoga -streets, and is operated in connection with the City Hospital, which -adjoins it and where there are hundreds of patients. I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> know -whether you remember the locality, as it has been so many years since -you were in Baltimore. It is close to the business centre, only a block -north of the Courthouse and the Postoffice. There are about 300 -students. They come from all parts of this country, and even from -foreign lands. I will bear in mind what you said about not being too -thick with any of them.</p> - -<p>I have secured a boarding-house on North Calvert street—No. 641. It is -kept by a widow lady from Mecklenburg county, and she calls it the -Yadkin and makes a special effort to attract "Tarheels." Nearly all her -boarders are from North Carolina, and we get the papers from Raleigh and -other places, so that it is quite homelike for me.</p> - -<p>I pay $5 a week board, and there ought not to be many extra expenses, -except for books, so I can get along nicely on the $35 a month you said -you would give me. But I told them at the College to send you the -tuition bill. That was all right, wasn't it?</p> - -<p class="indent3">Your devoted son,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<p> -To MISS GRACE IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Summerfield,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">North Carolina.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Baltimore, Oct. 4, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Little Sis:</p> - -<p>I wrote Father the other day and told how I had got started at the -College. I suppose you read the letter or heard all the news in it. I -really haven't buckled down to hard work, because there has been such a -lot of "hazing"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> that we "freshies" are being captured all the time. -Last Friday the older fellows actually made a line of us walk up and -down some of the principal streets with our trousers and coats turned -inside out, our stockings down over our shoes, our bare legs tattooed -and crazy signs on our backs. Just fancy what a guy your big brother -looked on Lexington street, where all the ladies here go shopping! I -should have died if I had seen anybody from home. There wasn't any -breaking away, because they were too many for us. One "freshy" tried it, -and he's going around with a bum eye and his hand in a sling.</p> - -<p>After the parade they took us in a back yard and made us do "stunts." -One prisoner had to deliver a solemn oration from a beer keg on "Whether -Cuba ought to be annexed to the United States." When it came my turn I -thought I'd get off easy by giving some of those imitations of dogs and -cats and roosters that I used to get off with the crowd at home. But -they made such a hit that now they have me doing them all the time. -Every time I come out of class a gang of yelling Indians grab me and -carry me off to do imitations. I'm tired of it, but I can't help it.</p> - -<p>Two of the fellows at my boarding-house got me to go to a theatre on -Baltimore street last night. It was a variety show, a mixed programme of -acrobatic feats, singing and girls dancing. I thought it all fine, but -the crowd didn't like every bit of it, for at places they began to yell -"Get the hook!" whatever that means.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> - -<p>I intended to hunt up a Methodist church last Sunday, but one of the -associate professors at the college was a classmate of Uncle Will's, and -he invited me to evening service at a Congregational church, a beautiful -edifice on Maryland avenue, looking more like a costly college building -than a church. I enjoyed myself, for there was some fine singing, and we -sat right behind one of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. At the end -I was introduced to some of the people and they invited me to a social -at the church one evening next week.</p> - -<p>Maybe you had better not let Father read this. He might get the idea I -wasn't taking my studies seriously enough.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. HUGH IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">641 North Calvert Street,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Baltimore, Maryland.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Summerfield, N. C., Oct. 6, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Son:</p> - -<p>I am glad you are settled in Baltimore and so well satisfied with your -choice of a dignified and honorable profession. I expect to see you -buckle right down to hard work and study, for I will not support a grown -son in idleness. I am not so well pleased at what your mother tells me -you wrote Grace, that you went to a theatre and that you did not go to a -Methodist church last Sunday, as you promised. You remember what Pastor -told you about the danger to young men of drifting from church to church -in a large city like Baltimore, and not sticking to any.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> - -<p>I got the bill for your college fees today. I was surprised that you did -this, for you told me when I agreed to let you go that you would pay -everything out of $35 a month. I will send a money order for it this -time, but you must settle it yourself next term.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Your father,</p> -<p class="indent4">JOHN IREDELL.</p> - - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<p> -To MISS GRACE IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Summerfield, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Baltimore, Oct. 10, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Little Sis:</p> - -<p>What in the world made you blab about what I wrote you last week? Father -sends me a roast about going to a theatre and not going to a Methodist -church. You know a fellow should not be expected to work all the time, -but Father's old-fashioned and can't see it that way. Don't tell him -anything like that again.</p> - -<p>I have been to theatres a couple more times. You know it doesn't cost -much if you sit with the "gods" in the cheaper seats. All the fellows -pay Dutch and we have a jolly time. One night we went into a lunchroom -on Fayette street and enjoyed fried oysters. Another night we went to a -German place downtown and had a bottle of beer and a cheese sandwich. It -was lively there; such a nice lot of people.</p> - -<p>I haven't been to a Methodist church yet. I intended to go Sunday -morning, but I was out late Saturday night and I didn't get up in time. -Sunday night I went to that Associate Church again. I saw my pretty -girl—I tell you she's a beauty. She had a fellow with her. Wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> I had -been in his place. Going to a blow-out at the church tomorrow night. -Maybe she'll be there. Hope so....</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Raleigh, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Baltimore, Oct. 25, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Old Chum:</p> - -<p>Haven't heard a word since I wrote you from home to say I was coming to -Baltimore to study medicine, but suppose you're too busy rushing the -lady you're going to marry. Say, old man, I'm clean gone myself. -Prettiest girl I ever looked at. Saw her two Sunday nights in church -when I first came, and then was lucky enough to meet her at a church -social. I wish you could have seen her. No, I don't, because if you had -I should have had you for a rival. Anyway, she looked a vision. She's -tall, with a stunning figure and a graceful way of holding herself. -She's a blonde, her hair glinted with gold, her eyes as blue as—I was -going to say indigo, but nothing about her is as blue as that. I never -did take to blondes, you know, but this one has got me, because she has -vivacity and unbends most delightfully. I talked to her half an hour the -night I met her. Gee, but the fellow who brought her looked sour! I must -have made some kind of an impression, for when she was bidding me -good-night she asked me to call. She lives on a street called Guilford -avenue, in North Baltimore. I was over there last Tuesday night. Asked -her if I might come when I saw her at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> church Sunday. I tell you she was -a dream in a pink gown, with her golden hair all done up on her head in -some kind of a way I can't describe, but looking magnificent. She told -me about a fellow who wanted to come see her that night, but she let him -know she had another engagement, and the way she told me, looking at me -with those splendid blue eyes, just made me feel I was cutting some ice -there. She can tickle the ivories in great shape, and spent most of the -evening at the piano. She goes to the theatre a lot, and she had all the -latest comic opera songs, like those of Anna Held and Marie Cahill, and -she can play ragtime out of sight. I tried to get her to play some -sentimental things, but she said she wasn't in that mood. I'd like to -catch her when she is.</p> - -<p>Tomorrow afternoon I expect to be a great occasion. She studies painting -at the Maryland Institute, an art school here, and she has asked me to -go sketching with her out in the country. I'll have to cut some of my -college work, but you can bet I'm going to do that all right.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Raleigh, N.C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Baltimore, Nov. 1, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Old Chum:</p> - -<p>Glad to hear from you so soon, and glad to hear you are interested in -Miss Edith Wolfe. No, I don't think you'd better come to Baltimore. But, -if you're good and stay away, I'll send you a photo of her she has -promised to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> me and let you see what she looks like. No picture of -her can do her justice, however, for she's just the liveliest girl you -ever knew, beside being so handsome.</p> - -<p>I've been up to her home twice in a week, took her to the theatre last -night and went to church with her Sunday. But the bulliest time of all -was that sketching trip last Friday, of which I wrote you. It was a -magnificent October afternoon, and the country was simply superb, with -the trees all tinted to glorious hues by a frost two weeks ago. I -carried her little easel and canvas stool, and we got in a car near her -home and rode out to a suburb called Mount Holly. I had no idea there -was such beautiful scenery near Baltimore, so bold and mountainous -looking. We strolled first along a path beside a millrace, high up on a -hillside, a path overhung by arching trees, with Gwynn's Falls tumbling -over the rocks in cascades far beneath, and a beautiful outlook across -the valley to some handsome wooded country estates. After that we went -down beside the stream and sat under a great rock, while Miss Wolfe made -a sketch of the Falls. It didn't take her long—just a rough painted -outline, you know. She's going to fill it in at home, and she has -promised me a copy for my room. She was in the jolliest mood imaginable, -and we had a merry hour there "far from the madding crowd." I shall -always call it a "red day," because then I got my first kiss from her. -It came about in this way. She dropped her paint brush while we were -sitting on a rock at the water's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> edge, and it floated down stream. She -said she wouldn't lose it for worlds. "Will you reward me if I recover -it?" I asked. She said she would. "A kiss?" I asked. "Oh! stop your -nonsense, you foolish boy!" she said, with a laugh. I ran down the bank, -clambered out on some rocks, steered the brush in with a stick and took -it to her. Then we wrangled for ten minutes gaily about whether she had -or had not promised me that kiss. Suddenly she leaned forward and met my -lips with hers. "There, let that end it," she cried, as she blushed. It -didn't end it, for it was so good I wanted more out of the same package. -But she wouldn't let me have any more. Aren't girls mean? I suppose I'll -have to make more bargains with her or I'll get no more kisses. She says -she always sticks to a bargain.</p> - -<p>You have no idea how clever she is in dodging if I try to steer the talk -to sentimental ground. I have called her an arrant flirt a score of -times, but she just laughs. And such a laugh!</p> - -<p>The show last night hit me $3.20, counting car fares, and my allowance -from the old man is running short. I'm glad she didn't accept my -invitation to go to the Rennert to eat after "The Lion and the Mouse." -She said she would like to, but we'd better go straight home from -Ford's, as her mother would prefer it that way.</p> - -<p>Wish me success, old fellow, with my love affair. I tell you, that girl -has got me going so I can't get interested in dry old stuff about bones.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH. -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> - -<h4>VII.</h4> - -<p> -To MISS GRACE IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Summerfield, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Baltimore, Nov. 21, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Little Sis:</p> - -<p>I wish you had been with me last night to see the largest dance you ever -set your eyes on. It was a regimental hop at the Fifth Regiment Armory, -an enormous big building that can accommodate, they say, about 15,000 -people. They hold there all the biggest conventions that Baltimore has. -It was a grand sight, with a crowd of girls in pretty clothes and -fellows in uniform and dress suits, dancing to the music of the regiment -band. Edith Wolfe's brother is a lieutenant in the regiment, and she -invited me to be her escort. We had our own party—Lieutenant Wolfe, -another soldier boy, a third chap not in uniform and a couple of girl -friends of Edith, petite, pretty, sweet-natured sisters, whom I liked -very much. I danced with all three girls, but especially with Edith, who -looked radiant in a black sequin gown that was unusually well suited to -her blonde type. One waltz to the dreamy music of "Mlle. Modiste" was -Heaven itself.</p> - -<p>The only drawback to me was the expense. I had to pay $4 for a carriage -and $3 for roses. Besides, I had to hire a dress suit, as I could not -have gone without one. Some of the students sent me to a place kept by -twin brothers, identical in appearance, and it was a funny sight to see -them making me into one of their swallow-tails, taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> in here and -letting out there. Anyhow, it took the last dollar I had, and I've got -to borrow to get along for two weeks.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours lovingly,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>VIII.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. HUGH IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">College of Physicians and Surgeons.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Baltimore, Nov. 27, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Sir:</p> - -<p>The faculty desires to notify you that your record is unsatisfactory, -both in regard to attendance and preparedness in class, and it expects -you to show improvement therein or suffer the consequences.</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -Respectfully yours,</p> -<p class="indent5">W. TALBERT,</p> -<p class="indent6">Secretary.</p> - - -<h4>IX.</h4> - -<p> -To MRS. JOHN IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Summerfield, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Baltimore, Dec. 2, 1906.</span> -</p> - -<p>Dear Mother:</p> - -<p>I want you to do me a great favor. I do not dare write Father about it, -but I find I must have a black dress suit in order to look as well as -the other fellows when I go around of an evening. It will cost $40, I -learn, and, of course, I cannot pay for it out of the small monthly sum -Father sends me for my board. Tell him it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and -urge him please to let me have it. If he will not send the money, I -shall have to borrow it or get the suit somewhere on the instalment -plan. Your devoted son,</p> - -<p class="indent3">HUGH.</p> -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - -<h4>X.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. HUGH IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">641 North Calvert street,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Baltimore.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 6, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>My Son:</p> - -<p>What is this nonsense about you must have a black swallow-tail? You had -a black suit when you went away. It was good enough to go to parties -here. Are your Baltimore friends so much more aristocratic? Besides, -didn't you go there to study and not to play? You are writing home too -much about girls and society and dances and theatres, and nothing about -work. Remember, I am footing the bills. When I was your age I got up at -4 in the morning and toiled away in the fields till sundown, and then I -was too tired to spruce up and play at being a gentleman. If you're -going to be a doctor, you'd better take a different course.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">FATHER.</p> - - -<h4>XI.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Raleigh,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 7em;">N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Baltimore, Dec. 10, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Old Chum:</p> - -<p>You're right for complaining I have neglected you, but I have been -having the time of my life. Edith and I have been going it heavy for -nearly two months. I am hit harder than ever. She's a wonderful girl. I -manage to see her every day—meet her down on Lexington street shopping, -take long walks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> with her out Charles-Street extended, go to church with -her, take her to the theatre and elsewhere at night. She has invited me -into a euchre that meets every three weeks—fine crowd. You ought to see -me in a swell dress suit. Went broke to get it, but it's worth it for -style. You wouldn't know me for a country "Tarheel."</p> - -<p>Edith's as cute as they make them. Last night, at the euchre, she found -a double almond, and we ate filopena for a box of candy against a kiss. -I got caught, of course, but she gave me the kiss on her doorstep as we -parted. Then she dropped a hint that it was for a five-pound box. Just -think of that! You remember that line out of "A Texas Steer," "I wonder -if it cost Daniel Webster a hundred to kiss her mother."</p> - -<p>Bye bye, old chap; got a date to bowl with Edith at the Garage tonight. -Ought to be studying for "exams," but simply can't.</p> - -<p class="indent3">Yours,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>XII.</h4> - -<p> -To MR. JOHN IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Summerfield, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Baltimore, Dec. 20, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Sir:</p> - -<p>I am requested by the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons -to say that the record of your son is so poor that he cannot be -permitted to continue his studies here. He has more than 50 absences -charged against him, continued unpreparedness in classes and a wretched -showing in the recent examinations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> - -<p class="indent3">Respectfully yours,</p> -<p class="indent5">C. F. B. EVAN,</p> -<p class="indent6">Dean.</p> - - -<h4>XIII.</h4> - -<p class="center">(Telegram.)</p> - -<p> -To HUGH IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">641 N. Calvert St., Baltimore.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 21, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Come home at once. Letter from faculty.</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -FATHER.</p> - - -<h4>XIV.</h4> - -<p class="center">(Telegram.)</p> - -<p> -To JOHN IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Summerfield, N. C.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Baltimore, Dec. 21, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Wire me $75 first. Owe that much board, etc.</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -HUGH.</p> - - -<h4>XV.</h4> - -<p class="center">(Telegram.)</p> - -<p> -To HUGH IREDELL,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">641 N. Calvert Street. Baltimore.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 21, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Sell dress suit and pawn watch. Wait till I see you.</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -FATHER.</p> - - -<h4>XVI.</h4> - -<p class="center">(Special Delivery.)</p> - -<p> -To MISS EDITH WOLFE,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1746 Guilford Ave., Baltimore.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Pennsy Depot,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Washington, Dec. 22, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dearest Girl:</p> - -<p>Sorry I can't see you tonight. Called home suddenly by my father. Don't -know why. Will write long letter when I get home. Hope to be back soon. -Until then fond love and kisses, from</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -Your Own,</p> -<p class="indent4">HUGH. -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> - -<h4>XVII.</h4> - -<p class="center">(Special Delivery.)</p> - -<p> -To MRS. CLARA YANCY,<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Yadkin, Baltimore.</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Washington, Dec. 22, 1906.</span></p> - -<p>Dear Madam:</p> - -<p>I regret very much leaving you so abruptly today. I will send you money -for the board owing as soon as I can. Until then will you please take -good care of my trunk. Respectfully,</p> - -<p class="indent3"> -HUGH IREDELL. -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="The_Pink_Ghost_of_Franklin_Square" id="The_Pink_Ghost_of_Franklin_Square"></a><i>The Pink Ghost of Franklin Square</i></h2> - - -<p>The Ghost appeared very modestly at first. Some children sitting on a -bench just before dark saw it in the second-story window of one of those -big old brownstone fronts on Fayette street, on the south side of -Franklin Square. It seemed so uncanny and weird to them that they talked -a lot about it when they went that evening to their homes on South -Stricker street. The parents pooh-poohed it, of course, and told the -children there was no cause for alarm. But when one of the little girls, -after a restless, troubled effort to get to sleep, had had a strenuous -nightmare, and had alarmed the household by shrieking that the woman in -pink was beckoning, the older folk decided to investigate.</p> - -<p>The next night there was no ghost. Two fathers sat with the children in -the Square from supper time until after 9 o'clock, but nothing happened. -Naturally, the fathers thought it a pure case of nerves. But the -children were so insistent and so circumstantial in their story that the -older heads wavered and returned on the following evening.</p> - -<p>And then they saw the Ghost!</p> - -<p>Just after the June sun had left the trees and a few dying gleams were -coloring the tops of the tall houses on Carey street, on the east side -of the Square, the Ghost showed itself at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> window the children had -pointed out. It was a figure nebulous and hazy, but undeniably pink. It -appeared right at the window, and after standing still for a moment -began to wave its long arms with fantastic gestures, and to make other -movements which the children interpreted as beckoning to them. Then it -evaporated, but in another moment reappeared and went through more -gyrations.</p> - -<p>The exclamations of the children attracted the attention of others in -the Square, and soon a score of people stood fascinated and puzzled by -the weird vision. It lasted perhaps five minutes more, quite up to when -darkness settled down on the Square, and none was able to explain or -give any reasonable solution of what all had undeniably seen. They -continued to watch, and continued to discuss, but the vanished Ghost -came no more that evening.</p> - -<p>The next night, the news having spread, there were a hundred persons or -more in the southeast part of the Square. The Ghost came on time and -went through the same antics. The wonderment and the mystery grew. And -still none could explain, though a resident of the block stated that the -house under watch was temporarily without occupants, as the family who -dwelt in it had been gone to Europe for some weeks.</p> - -<p>It was four days after this before the police heard of it. By that time, -with the exception of the "cops," it seemed as though everybody in -Southwest Baltimore was discussing the Ghost. A reporter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> worked up a -lively tale about it for an afternoon paper, and Round Sergeant Norman, -as he left the station-house that evening, was instructed to "lay the -Ghost." You know the police don't believe in the supernatural. Too often -etherealized ghosts turn out to be most mundane burglars and -housebreakers.</p> - -<p>The Sergeant found a thousand eager watchers in the Square when he -arrived. The afternoon paper had evidently been digested well. Each -watcher was straining his eyes at the brownstone mansion on Fayette -street. From the windows of several Carey-street houses curious persons -leaned out, and even on the west, at the Franklin-Square Hospital, there -were other interested observers.</p> - -<p>"It's either a 'fake' or a burglar," declared the Sergeant positively, -as he took the "cub" reporter to task for making such capital out of the -Ghost. He was just about to narrate some of his own experiences with -bogus spooks when the Pink Ghost became visible, and the Sergeant -started and uttered a surprised exclamation. A thousand other pairs of -eyes had seen it, and a thousand throats called out, in varied strength -of sound:</p> - -<p>"There it is! There it is!"</p> - -<p>A hush fell over the crowd as they watched the figure in pink. The -deepening shadows toned the dark-brown front of the mansion until it -framed the outlines in the window with considerable positiveness. But -the uncanny nature of the appearance was also in evidence, for one could -see right through the figure in pink to the room behind it. Those near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> -the Round Sergeant saw him remove his helmet and mop the increasing -perspiration from his forehead.</p> - -<p>"That beats the devil," he muttered.</p> - -<p>The Ghost began to wave its arms, to bend over and then straighten up; -to beckon and then to make gestures as if of denial. The Sergeant's awe -was great, but no whit more intense than that of the crowd. They were -face to face with a bit of the supernatural, puzzled, wondering, -doubting, scoffing, fascinated, alarmed.</p> - -<p>"By Jiminy!" exclaimed the Sergeant. "That's the strangest thing I've -ever seen, Howard. We'll have to go into that house."</p> - -<p>But their visit that night was destined to be futile. Some minutes were -lost in gaining access to the rear roof through the house next on the -west, and some minutes more in prying open a shutter and forcing a -carefully locked sash. By this time the twilight had deepened into -night, and the Sergeant lit a borrowed lantern to make the trip down the -stairway to the second-story front. There was nothing strange or -supernatural in the room; no sign of a pink ghost or any other being, -human or spiritual. The furniture and other fittings seemed undisturbed -and as regularly arranged as they had probably been when the owners went -away. And when Howard, the reporter, raised a window, a hundred watchers -in the street and Square were ready to vouchsafe the information that -the Ghost had been gone quite ten minutes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> - -<p>The Sergeant swore. Then he muttered: "It certainly is queer." Then he -took Howard on a thorough inspection of the house, from cellar to roof. -They poked into cupboards, turned over mattresses, peeped into bureau -drawers and boxes and a score of other articles too small to have hidden -anything human. But nary a sign was there of ghost, burglar or joker. -"It beats the devil," again remarked the Sergeant as he and Howard, -perspiringly hot, left the house about 9 o'clock.</p> - -<p>The following morning the papers were full of it. Southwest Baltimore no -longer mortgaged the new sensation. All Baltimore discussed it and -speculated what it might be. And, as a result, the crowd of watchers as -the June day drew to a close numbered not one, but many, thousands. -Around at the Concord Club they said it beat any political mass-meeting -ever seen. The Square was overrun, and everybody talked "Pink Ghost." -Captain Delany ordered out the police reserves to keep the crowd in -check and give the cars a chance to get by. With Round Sergeant Norman, -the Captain personally superintended the preparations to lay the ghost.</p> - -<p>The Pink Ghost did not disappoint them. It came to the window on -scheduled time—just as the shadows deepened in Franklin Square—and it -waved its arms from the window and beckoned to the awed and puzzled -multitude. Captain Delany gave a signal, and from front and rear his -picked men swarmed into the empty house and rushed up the stairway. The -Round Sergeant was in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> the van. He had been berated and ridiculed for -not solving the mystery the night before, and he determined to be in at -the death now. But as he crossed the threshold of the front room he -started back in amazement and fell against the bluecoat behind him. The -Pink Ghost was not in the window, but swaying and frantically waving on -the west wall of the room.</p> - -<p>"My God! what is it?" cried the man behind.</p> - -<p>Norman could only point to the wall. His own hair was, he felt, actually -raising his helmet off his head, and there was a curious contraction in -his throat. In an instant, however, this had passed, and, with club in -hand, he charged bravely upon the Ghost. As he neared it, however, a -surprise awaited him. Instead of waving arms, he saw his own burly form -shadowed on the outer edge of the pink nebula. He turned upon his heel, -quickly bent over, and then burst into loud laughter. For him the riddle -of the Pink Ghost was solved.</p> - -<p>"What is it, Norman? What is it, man? Is he crazy?"</p> - -<p>The other policemen pushed into the room to be enlightened, but the -Sergeant only laughed the more immoderately. Delany became angry and -started to seize Norman by the shoulder. This brought the Captain into -the pink nebula and he understood Norman's hilarity.</p> - -<p>"By gad, that's funny," he cried, and he entered upon a joint spasm of -mirth. The other bluecoats drew near, and as each came into the pink -glow the chorus swelled. Such a lot of uproarious policemen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> had rarely -been known in Baltimore.</p> - -<hr style='width: 45%;' /> - -<p>Five minutes later Captain Delany and Sergeant Norman, having at last -controlled themselves, left the closing of the house to subordinates and -crossed the square to a house on Carey street, where they asked to see a -young lady abiding there. She was a very stately and fine-looking young -woman, and when she tripped down into the parlor the attractiveness of -her face was heightened by a slight flush, due most likely to her -wonderment at a visit from two policemen. When they left her ten minutes -later her face was rosy red and her stately carriage had given way to a -combination of mirth and embarrassment. But Delany had her positive -assurance that there would be no more Pink Ghost.</p> - -<p>"For, you see, it was this way," he explained to the reporters who -stopped him outside. "The young woman seems to have a steady beau every -evening, for whom she likes to do a bit of fixin' up and primping. And -after supper she makes her way to her room, which is in the front of the -top floor, and there she combs and rearranges her hair and puts on -gew-gaws and trimmings. And in these long summer days, when the sun has -left the square, it is still comin' into those high windows."</p> - -<p>"But what has she to do with the Ghost?" asked one irrepressible.</p> - -<p>"I was a-comin' to that, youngster," retorted the man in blue; "but if -ye're overanxious, it may satisfy yer to know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> she was the Pink Ghost. -Leastwise, the sun's reflection was the ghost and she was the movin' -figure that made the shadow do such queer antics. She had a bureau in -the back of her room so fixed that when the rays of the dying sun come -into the window on the north they are reflected in the bureau glass and -pass out of the south window and across the square to that there -brownstone front where you all saw the Ghost. Every time she raised her -arms to her hair or made any other movement in dressing before the -mirror she butt into the reflection and caused your Pink Ghost to do -stunts."</p> - -<p>"And you say there won't be any more Pink Ghost?"</p> - -<p>"Not unless the young woman gets careless and leaves up that south -blind. For she sort o' has an idea tonight that the whole of this end of -town has been watching her get ready to meet her beau."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="The_Vanished_Mummy" id="The_Vanished_Mummy"></a><i>The Vanished Mummy</i></h2> - - -<p>In the detective headquarters in the Courthouse they have mistakenly -built up a very high notion of my sleuth qualities. Personally I have -always felt that such help as I have been able to render them in two or -three different cases was most largely due to luck, and only in a small -degree to the exercise of logic and common sense in making deductions of -subsequently proven importance from apparently trivial facts. -Nevertheless, the good fortune that attended me in those cases fixed my -reputation with them as the Sherlock Holmes of Baltimore, while the -generosity with which I permitted them to take all the glory of solving -the mysteries made me solid and caused them to consult me the more -frequently in hours of perplexity. At the same time, I confess it, the -love of the game made me eager to be in it and I not only installed a -'phone in my apartment in the Arundel, but I was always careful, in -absenting myself from my office or my flat, to leave word where I would -most likely be found during the next few hours. In this way the puzzled -Vidocqs were usually able to reach me when my help was needed.</p> - -<p>I was whiling away a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Maryland a few -weeks ago when I saw Dorland making signs to me from the passageway -behind the boxes on the right of the theatre. Lieutenant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Amers' -redcoated British band, of which I had grown very fond, was rendering -the final crashing bars of the overture to "Wilhelm Tell," and, with my -passionate love for music, I was loth to leave until the programme was -completed. But Dorland was a detective who never came for me unless -there was an interesting mystery to offer and I left my seat at once and -joined him in the lobby.</p> - -<p>"Which way, Dorland?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"Woman's College, sir," he answered, just as briefly.</p> - -<p>I gave an exclamation of surprise. An institution attended by hundreds -of girls from the best families of America was not the place one would -expect a mystery of crime.</p> - -<p>"Very curious case, sir. Mummy of an Egyptian princess stolen."</p> - -<p>"Odd affair," I remarked. "Gives promise of being most unusual. Any -clue?"</p> - -<p>"Not a shred, sir."</p> - -<p>On our way out to the College on a Roland-Park car, Dorland gave me a -recital of such facts as he had learned. The mummy had been secured in -Egypt with much difficulty by President Goucher and was one of the -prized possessions of the College museum. Partly divested of its -wrappings of fine linen turned brown with the centuries, the body of -this daughter of the Pharaohs had been exhibited in a glass case on the -second floor of Goucher Hall, while nearby had been placed the case in -which it had rested for ages, a case of wood painted with figures and -hieroglyphics that told the rank and virtues of the little lady.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> The -night before at 6 o'clock the mummy had been in its place. In the -morning when the janitor's wife was sweeping she discovered the glass -lid prized open and the mummy gone. The night watchman saw nothing, -heard nothing.</p> - -<p>"And what are your theories?" I asked Dorland, as we passed along -Twenty-third street.</p> - -<p>"That it was taken to be sold at a good figure to some other museum; -that it was taken to be sold back to the College; that it was a -students' prank; or that it was done by girls being initiated into one -of the College secret societies."</p> - -<p>When I had been introduced to and cordially welcomed by a trio of -anxious College officials, the dean hastened to assure me of their -desire to avoid publicity and notoriety.</p> - -<p>"Have you questioned any of the girls today?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"No," replied the dean; "it being Saturday, there have been few of them -here, and we have sent for none, so that the loss might be kept secret -until we determine on the motive."</p> - -<p>A close examination of the empty glass case and its surroundings was -fruitless. Nor did questioning of the janitor and his wife elicit -anything new.</p> - -<p>"You cleaned very thoroughly," I said to the woman. "What did you do -with the sweepings?"</p> - -<p>"They're in a box in the basement, sir."</p> - -<p>At my request the box was brought up. It was a soap box almost full. -"Are these only the sweepings of today?" I asked. The janitor spoke up. -"I emptied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> all the others yesterday, sir," he declared. With this -assurance, I plunged my hands into the pile and began a minute and -careful search of it, dumping handful after handful on newspapers spread -over a table in Dr. Goucher's office. Dorland kept the others in -conversation, and this fortunately enabled me to make a couple of finds -unnoticed by them.</p> - -<p>At the end of 10 minutes I had reached the bottom of the box. Turning -then to the dean, I said:</p> - -<p>"How many Canadian students have you here?"</p> - -<p>"Canadians? Oh, two—Miss Carothers and Miss Anstey."</p> - -<p>"And may I see them?"</p> - -<p>"I cannot see"——began the dean warmly.</p> - -<p>I hastened to assure him I had no idea of suspecting them. -"Nevertheless," I added, "I should like to question them. I have a -theory that one or the other may help me."</p> - -<p>The dean was mollified. "Miss Carothers has been absent sick for several -days. Miss Anstey you can see. She is a charming girl. Her father is one -of the leading Methodist divines of Canada, and an old friend of Dr. -Goucher and myself. She does not live in the College homes, but with a -lady around the corner on Charles street, who is also an old family -friend. I will send you there. She may not be at home just now, but you -can try."</p> - -<p>The janitor's wife spoke up, "Miss Anstey was here an hour or so ago, -sir.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> She was upstairs for a few minutes, and then went out and got in -an auto with a young gentleman."</p> - -<p>"I will go around to her home at any rate," I said.</p> - -<p>"You have very little hope of finding the mummy, have you not, Mr. -McIver?" asked the dean, anxiously.</p> - -<p>"On the contrary," I replied confidently. "I expect to bring back the -Egyptian princess in an hour or two."</p> - -<p>He accepted my boast dubiously. "Whatever you do," he urged, "use no -questionable methods, for the sake of the College. If you find the -thief, let me decide whether to prosecute him. If you can get back the -mummy without injury, I would prefer to hush up the affair."</p> - -<p>I promised him I would. "I consider this a very unusual case," I said, -"and I believe you will be satisfied with my disposition of it." With -this I left him.</p> - -<p>Dorland and the College professor who accompanied us were both eager to -know what clue I had, but I stood them off as we walked round to the -Charles-street dwelling.</p> - -<p>Miss Anstey was out, as I had anticipated, but we were graciously -received by Mrs. Eden, her hostess. It was a home of culture and -refinement, and the large parlor abounded in paintings, art objects and -other curios evidently picked up in foreign travel. "I expect Ethel home -soon," said the sweet-faced and sweet-voiced old lady. "She went -motoring this afternoon with a friend, and she said she would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> home -to supper."</p> - -<p>"We called to ask," I remarked, "whether she had not lost this bit of -jewelry." And to the surprise of Dorland and the professor I produced a -pin I had found in the sweepings of Goucher Hall, a tiny enameled maple -leaf, set around with pearls.</p> - -<p>"Yes, that is Ethel's!" exclaimed Mrs. Eden. "I don't think she lost it, -however, for she had recently loaned it to a friend." She smiled. "You -know, young girls nowadays have a great habit of exchanging tokens like -this with young men. It was not so in my day."</p> - -<p>"And if I be not rude," I continued, "may I not know the name of this -young man?"</p> - -<p>"Why, certainly," replied the lady. "He is Mr. Raymond Harding."</p> - -<p>"You mean," I inquired, "the son of Mr. Harding, the bank president?" -The Hardings, as everybody knows, are among the best-known millionaire -families in Baltimore society.</p> - -<p>"The same," replied Mrs. Eden. "Miss Anstey and he have been friends for -a couple of years. I am sure both will be grateful to you for finding -this pin. Now that I recall it, it may be that they have already had -words about it being lost. He was here last evening and they were both -rather excited. At breakfast Ethel complained of having a headache and -looked as though she had been crying. They called each other up several -times by 'phone during the morning, but Ethel told me nothing, and I -thought it tactful to say nothing to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> When he came this afternoon I -told her she looked so pale she ought to rest, but she laughed me off."</p> - -<p>"We will come again after they have returned," I said to Mrs. Eden as I -rose to go. "Perhaps, as you say, I may be able to straighten out the -little trouble. Meanwhile, I would suggest that you say nothing to -them."</p> - -<p>It had grown dark when we stepped outside. Dorland gripped my hand -warmly. "McIver," he exclaimed, "you're a wonder! I see the whole case -now. Gee, but its a rum affair!"</p> - -<p>The professor was mystified. "I don't quite see, gentlemen, how the -whole affair is settled. Where is the mummy? And who was the thief?"</p> - -<p>"The mummy, professor," I remarked, oracularly, "is most probably in the -automobile of Mr. Raymond Harding."</p> - -<p>"You don't mean that he is the thief?"</p> - -<p>"I believe he took the mummy. I believe he dropped the pin in doing it. -This also fell out of his auto cap." I produced a gilt paper initial -"H," such as hatters put in headwear for their customers. It was my -second find in the sweepings.</p> - -<p>"But the motive, man, the motive!" persisted the professor. "Why should -a millionaire's son break into a Woman's College building to steal a -mummy? It sounds ridiculous."</p> - -<p>"That, sir, is the part I want Miss Anstey to explain. It is the only -element of doubt in a perfectly plain chain of circumstances. Raymond -Harding I know slightly, and he has a certain reputation for reckless -pranks, although he's not a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> bad fellow."</p> - -<p>"But surely you don't suspect Ethel Anstey. Why, man, she's a"——</p> - -<p>The mournful notes of a Gabriel's horn down at Twenty-second street -betokened the approach of an auto, and interrupted the professor's -eulogium of one who was manifestly a favorite pupil. "Quick!" I -exclaimed; "saunter to the corner." A big touring car came up Charles -street and stopped in front of the Eden home. A slender young chap -stepped out and aided a young lady to descend. They stood for a minute -on the curb beside the machine—undecided, as I figured out, whether the -mummy would be safe there if left alone—and then both passed into the -house.</p> - -<p>The three of us with one accord moved down the pavement. "Look on the -rear seat, Dorland," I said, as the headquarters man ran to the auto. A -great part of my confidence in my well-developed solution of the mystery -would have gone to smash if the mummy had not been there. But Dorland -gave a little cry of triumph. "It's here, all right," he called, -"wrapped up in a rubber blanket." We tried to lift the bundle, but the -petrified daughter of the Pharaohs was heavier than he had calculated. -"Be careful, Mr. Dorland," the professor entreated; "don't smash her."</p> - -<p>"Now for the young man," said Dorland, jumping down to the curb.</p> - -<p>"No," said I. "I have a better plan. Can you run an auto?"</p> - -<p>Dorland could.</p> - -<p>"And have you a key to Goucher Hall?" I asked the professor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> - -<p>The professor had.</p> - -<p>"Then you two quietly take the mummy back to her box while I go in and -question Miss Anstey."</p> - -<p>They got off without fuss, and when I had seen them turn the corner I -rang the bell and asked for Miss Anstey. In placing my hat on the -hallrack I moved Harding's cap to another peg and observed, as I had -thought, that the "H" had parted company with the other gilt initials.</p> - -<p>I felt unfeignedly sorry for the girl when she came into the parlor a -few minutes later. She had fine regular features, and with her limpid -blue eyes was unquestionably pretty when the flush of youth and vivacity -had full play. But that day there were dark circles under her eyes, her -lids were suspiciously red and there was a pallid hue in her cheeks that -was accentuated by the dark blue silk suit she wore. A novice at reading -character could have told she had been spending hours in worry and -tears.</p> - -<p>"You wished to see me?" she said, inquiringly, as she slowly advanced to -where I had risen to meet her.</p> - -<p>"To return this," I answered. And I held out the maple leaf pin to her.</p> - -<p>She grew, if possible, more white and sought the help of the piano to -support herself.</p> - -<p>"I—I—It is not——Where did you get it?" she said, with several gulps -to keep down the sobs.</p> - -<p>"It was found in Goucher Hall near the mummy case."</p> - -<p>She stepped back uncertainly. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> she pulled herself together.</p> - -<p>"You are a detective?"</p> - -<p>I winced. "No," I said; "I am a friend of the College and of Mr. -Harding's."</p> - -<p>At the mention of his name she broke down completely and, sinking on the -stool, leaned her head and began to cry. "Oh, Raymond!" I heard her say. -"It means disgrace. It means the penitentiary." Her form shook violently -with her emotion. It was more than I could stand.</p> - -<p>"Listen, Miss Anstey," I said, and I laid my hand lightly on her -shoulder. "It means nothing of the kind. You have my word as a gentleman -that no one shall know the story save the two or three who already know -it."</p> - -<p>She lifted her tear-stained face and studied me earnestly. "It was a mad -prank," she sobbed. "I am to blame. I ought to be punished. It started -as a joke. I had no idea he'd do it."</p> - -<p>"Call Raymond down."</p> - -<p>She went out into the hallway and a whistled signal brought Harding to -us. When he entered the parlor his surprise at seeing me was great.</p> - -<p>"He knows about the mummy," said the girl faintly.</p> - -<p>Harding stepped away from us both. "He knows?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, he wants to help us."</p> - -<p>"I want to get you out of a nasty scrape, Raymond," I remarked.</p> - -<p>The boy eyed me intently. Then he put out his hand and gripped mine. -"Thank you, McIver," he said, simply. And the three of us sitting down, -the boy and the girl told me the whole truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> about the kidnapping of -the Egyptian princess. Each supplied parts of the narrative. Raymond, I -learned, had prized open the case on a visit to the College museum on -Friday afternoon and had then secreted himself in the building. When the -watchman was in a remote corner, it had taken but a minute to lift the -mummy, carry it downstairs, unlock the north door and slip out to where -he had left his auto. "Then he came here to show it to me," said Miss -Anstey. "And then I went to take it back," pursued the boy. "And, Lord, -McIver, I found the watchman had locked the door. Ever since then we've -been in an awful fright. I didn't know what to do with the bloody -thing."</p> - -<p>"What on earth made you take it?" I asked.</p> - -<p>The boy turned a troubled eye on the girl. "I did it on a dare," he said -after a pause.</p> - -<p>A rosy flush had replaced her pallor. "That isn't the whole truth, Mr. -McIver," she said. "There was a wager, and a lot of teasing, and talk -about a kiss. It sounds so silly now, but it was all in fun. I didn't -expect him to do it. And, oh! how sorry I am!"</p> - -<p>"The question is, McIver," said the boy, "how on earth am I to get it -back."</p> - -<p>"That's the easiest part," I said. "In fact, it is already back." I -paused to enjoy their pleased surprise. "And if I mistake not here are -the two gentlemen that did it." The doorbell had rung and I stepped out -to admit Dorland and the professor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> - -<p>The next 15 minutes was a medley of questions, of explanations, of -promises to keep mum and of expressions of heartfelt thanks from the -young couple. The professor was the only one who thought it incumbent to -scold them for a silly prank and to point out the serious danger in -which they had been involved. It sobered them, and at the same time it -made them realize what a tremendous service I had done them.</p> - -<p>One point puzzled Dorland. When we had left the house and parted from -the professor, he asked me:</p> - -<p>"How on earth did you know that pin was Miss Anstey's?"</p> - -<p>"Had it been a thistle design," I said, "I should have begun a search -for that 'bonnie sweet lass, the Maid o' Dundee."</p> - -<p>"I don't exactly see," he ejaculated.</p> - -<p>"The maple leaf, my son, is the national emblem of Canada."</p> - -<p>"Ah," said Dorland, "that's what you get by book-larnin'."</p> - -<p>"Yes," I admitted; "it helps some."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> - - - -<hr style="width: 65%;" /> -<h2><a name="Mount_Vernon_1-0-0-0" id="Mount_Vernon_1-0-0-0"></a><i>"Mount Vernon 1-0-0-0"</i></h2> - - -<p>They were getting to the sad point where each was growing tired of the -other. The crescendo of love's young dream had passed. Each was -sub-consciously realizing that while the springtime of their romance had -been full of glorious days the summer was destined to be damp and -showery. Daniel was beginning to find faults in Jennie that he had not -believed could exist in her, and Jennie in turn was more and more -provoked with Daniel, more and more exacting in what she required of -him, and more and more disposed to accuse him of not keeping up with the -devoted pace he had set when he first began to pay her definite -attentions the winter before. Daniel sometimes would dance with other -girls, a thing he had not dreamt of doing in the heyday of their affair, -and Jennie did not hesitate to accept invitations from men who were as -deferential and admiring as Daniel had been in the beginning. Their -friends, those at least who were discerning, realized that the -probability of a marriage between them was becoming more and more -remote.</p> - -<p>Jennie and her parents were spending the summer at Mount Holly Inn, and, -among other instances of his growing restiveness, Daniel was inclined to -grumble at having to bolt his dinner, dress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> hurriedly in his sun-baked -room on Park avenue, and make the suburban car journey nightly in order -to reach her side. Sometimes he balked and called her up by 'phone -instead, and though she professed her disappointment and scolded him, he -was almost sure to learn the next day she had enjoyed her evening at -dancing or bowling. Then again there were occasions when he had made up -his mind to be on hand, according to promise, and had started to get -ready when called off by a message from Jennie, telling him that she had -been invited to enjoy a moonlight auto spin with Mr. and Mrs. Chester, -fellow-guests with whom she had grown most friendly.</p> - -<p>And so it came to an evening in September when Daniel and Jennie had not -seen each other for as many as three days, the longest period of absence -in the history of their attachment. Work was slack with the trust -company that day, and Daniel had seized the opportunity to leave the -Equitable Building early and see the Baltimores inflict a defeat on the -Buffalo nine at Union Park, in the homestretch of the pennant race. As -he was cutting across lots after the game, hurrying to catch a St. -Paul-street car ahead of the crowd, he ran into Tom Oliver, and from the -moment of the encounter realized that it was all off for a visit to -Mount Holly that night. For Tom was a jolly soul and a generous one, and -they had been strong chums before Tom had struck out into the wilds of -West Virginia for a lumber company. So that when Master Thomas, as -expected, proposed that they make an evening of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> it, for old times' -sake, with dinner at the Belvedere and a jaunt later to River View, -Electric Park or the Suburban, Daniel's demur that he already had an -engagement was a very weak one indeed. It was, in fact, such a wobbly -little demur that one more word from Tom and he had promised to call up -and break the date. He did not mention that it was with Jennie, for -Jennie had come into Daniel's life after Tom had vanished into the -timber forest.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later found him in the telephone-room of the Belvedere. The -trimly dressed young woman who took his money gave him no second glance -as she automatically murmured "Walbrook 1-8-6, please," into the -mouthpiece hanging before her, and an instant later, just as -automatically, waved him into one of the booths against the wall.</p> - -<p>He had not fully made up his mind what excuse he would give Jennie for -staying away, and the wait after a bellboy at Mount Holly Inn had been -sent to find Miss Jennie gave him time to think this over. Two nights -before he had 'phoned her that he was working late at the office. That -would not do again. Still, he felt that he could not well tell the truth -and say an intimate friend from West Virginia had turned up. Ultimately, -he reached the conclusion that it was best to say he was not feeling -well, even though he ran the risk that some friend of hers, or some -guest at Mount Holly who knew him, might have seen him at the ball game -that afternoon and might mention it.</p> - -<p>There came a feminine voice across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> the wire. Daniel perceived at once -that it was not Jennie, but her mother.</p> - -<p>"Is that you, Mr. Carey?" she inquired, rather coolly. Jennie's mother -was one of those mothers who are jealous of every young man who pays -their daughters attention, for fear that some day Mr. Wright will come -along and take the daughter away.</p> - -<p>"Yes, it is I, Mrs. Poppleton," he replied. "I asked for Miss Jennie."</p> - -<p>"She has gone out, Mr. Carey. She telephoned this afternoon to your -office and your home, but you were not at either place. She was invited -out by Mr. and Mrs. Chester, and said she knew you would excuse her, but -please to call up Mount Vernon one thousand and ask them to send for -her."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Mrs. Poppleton. What number did you say it was?"</p> - -<p>"Mount Vernon one thousand."</p> - -<p>"Thank you. Goodby."</p> - -<p>After he had hung up the receiver, Daniel sat for a moment in the booth, -undecided whether to pursue Jennie further by wire. He was inclined to -feel miffed that she was not demurely waiting for him. Then his sense of -fair play got the better of his selfishness, and he reflected that after -all she was doing only what he had called her up to say he was going to -do. He lifted the receiver.</p> - -<p>"Mount Vernon one thousand, please," he asked, when the operator outside -had acknowledged his call.</p> - -<p>"What number did you say?" she queried. Her tone was sharp, as though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> -surprised or puzzled.</p> - -<p>"Mount Vernon one thousand."</p> - -<p>There was a pause, but Daniel could not hear any click or other sound to -indicate that she was trying to give him the connection. Finally he -heard her ask slowly:</p> - -<p>"Whom do you wish to speak to?"</p> - -<p>"To Miss Poppleton," he replied, "who is taking dinner with Mr. and Mrs. -Chester."</p> - -<p>"Just hold the line, please."</p> - -<p>The second wait for Jennie seemed longer than the first, and Daniel not -only grew restive in the booth, but began again to asseverate that -Jennie had not behaved quite properly by him. If she was out with Mr. -and Mrs. Chester for a good time, it was dollars to doughnuts that a -fourth member of the party was that chap Pratt. Jennie was going -altogether too much with the fellow anyhow, and though he was an -ill-mannered cur (this was Daniel's opinion), he had money, and seemed -to be pretty popular with other people. He certainly was blamed popular -with Jennie and the Chesters. Confound it all, the Chesters were not so -many! (this also was Daniel's opinion).</p> - -<p>There is no telling to what lengths he might have gone had not the voice -of Jennie sailed sweetly over the wire at this juncture. He knew it to -be Jennie instantaneously; never had her tones sounded so clear and -close. It was as if she were only a few feet away.</p> - -<p>"Is that you, Dan?" he heard her say.</p> - -<p>"Yes, Jennie," he replied; "your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> mother gave me your message to call -you up."</p> - -<p>After this came a pause, a bit of awkwardness, due to the fact that each -was fencing for the best position to deliver his or her excuse for not -coming up to the mark that evening. It was Jennie who spoke first.</p> - -<p>"You did not intend to come out to the hotel tonight?"</p> - -<p>Daniel had an inspiration.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I had a little surprise for you. You remember hearing me talk of -Tom Oliver, who used to be one of my closest friends. Well, he's in town -today and I was going to ask you if I might not bring him out and -present him."</p> - -<p>"Oh! I'm so sorry." Then after a pause, as if an idea had occurred to -her, she asked:</p> - -<p>"Where are you now?"</p> - -<p>It was on the tip of his tongue to say the Belvedere, but he reflected -quickly that if he did Jennie's tone of sorrow was so apparently sincere -that she might propose to hurry back to Mount Holly and be ready to -receive them. And this, he knew, would not fall in with Tom Oliver's -notion of a "fine, large evening." So he fibbed unreservedly.</p> - -<p>"Oh! we're down to the Baltimore Yacht Club."</p> - -<p>That was about as far as it was convenient to transport himself beyond -the radius of accessibility to Mount Holly.</p> - -<p>"My! your voice sounds distinct for that distance," remarked Jennie.</p> - -<p>"Yes, doesn't it?" replied Daniel.</p> - -<p>Then he took up her story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> - -<p>"What are you doing?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Chester had an anniversary today, a wedding anniversary, -and they invited us to celebrate it with them by a long motor trip and a -little supper. I'm having a fine time."</p> - -<p>"Who is us?"</p> - -<p>The answer he got he expected.</p> - -<p>"Why, those two, and myself and Mr. Pratt."</p> - -<p>He gritted his teeth to keep his jealousy from vocal expression.</p> - -<p>"What did you say?" queried Jennie sweetly from the other end.</p> - -<p>"Nothing," responded Daniel, grimly.</p> - -<p>"I'll have to be going. They're waiting supper for me."</p> - -<p>"May I come out tomorrow night?"</p> - -<p>"No, Mr. Pratt has invited us to a launch party."</p> - -<p>Daniel burst out:</p> - -<p>"Pratt! Pratt! It's always that blamed fool!"</p> - -<p>"See here, Daniel Carey, you nor no other man can take that tone with -me, I'll have you know. You can stay away now until you get over that -silly jealousy."</p> - -<p>"But, Jennie"——He heard a click, and knew for a certainty that she had -hung up the receiver on him. Twice he hurriedly called her name, and, -getting no reply, angrily jammed his own receiver on its hook and rose -to leave the booth.</p> - -<p>As he turned he got the biggest shock of his young life.</p> - -<p>For, mind you, there was Jennie Poppleton coming out of another booth.</p> - -<p>There was no mistaking her. She had on the well-remembered light-blue -princess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> gown in which he had told her she looked so pretty, and the -long white kid gloves he had bought her for a philopena debt. And as she -walked quickly out of the telephone room and disappeared down the -corridor without looking back, her carriage was that graceful one that -had always pleased him.</p> - -<p>Daniel fell back into the booth seat in sheer desperation. Great Caesar! -what a close shave he had had! Suppose he had run into Jennie just then, -after telling her he was down the river! Whew!</p> - -<p>Presently it occurred to him that Jennie was practising as much -deception as he. She had left word for him to call up "Mount Vernon one -thousand." Where in the deuce was "Mount Vernon one thousand"? He looked -at the number card in the booth and got another shock. It read as plain -as day:</p> - -<p>"Mount Vernon 1000."</p> - -<p>"What a bally idiot I am!" he muttered. "Know the Belvedere number as -well as my own home. Always called it 'Mount Vernon ten hundred' or -'Mount Vernon one-o-double o.' Dumb jackass! Gee! what a close shave! -Wonder Jennie didn't see me when she went in that other booth."</p> - -<p>Then the funny side of it struck him, and he laid his head on the desk -and laughed unrestrainedly. Was ever a contretemps more ridiculous?</p> - -<p>When he at last emerged from the booth the demure operator looked up at -him without the trace of a smile.</p> - -<p>"Twenty cents, please," she said.</p> - -<p>"It's worth more than that," remarked Daniel cheerfully. "Gosh, but -you're a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> wonder! I take off my hat to you." He made a low sweeping bow.</p> - -<p>The girl smiled. "It was funny," she admitted.</p> - -<p>"How on earth did you manage it?"</p> - -<p>"You asked for somebody at 'Mount Vernon one-o-double-o', didn't you? -You got them, didn't you?"</p> - -<p>"All the same, you're a wonder!" he rejoined, with undisguised -admiration.</p> - -<p>An incoming call enabled her to turn aside the flush that rose to her -cheeks. When she had attended to it she glanced up again at Carey with -her prior calmness.</p> - -<p>"Which do you prefer," he asked, "candy or a pair of those long gloves?"</p> - -<p>"Candy isn't good for the complexion."</p> - -<p>Daniel noted her fine color, then promised the gloves. He was about to -say more when Tom Oliver bolted into the room.</p> - -<p>"Say, old man," he cried, "when on earth will you be through here? -There's the prettiest girl in the tearoom, and maybe you know her. I've -ordered supper over there, so I can look at her."</p> - -<p>"What is she wearing?" asked Daniel, with a note of alarm.</p> - -<p>"She's a vision in light blue."</p> - -<p>The hello girl looked quizzically at Daniel and it was Daniel's turn to -flush.</p> - -<p>"I can't eat supper there, Tom," he said, slowly. "Fact is, I'd rather -be anywhere else than in that room."</p> - -<p>"But why?" persisted Tom.</p> - -<p>"You tell him," said Daniel to the telephone girl.</p> - -<p>"He has an engagement at South six-eight-k."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> - -<p>The mystified Tom eyed first one, then the other.</p> - -<p>"What on earth is that?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"The Baltimore Yacht Club."</p> - -<p>He was still unenlightened.</p> - -<p>"But why"—he began.</p> - -<p>"Come on, old hayseed," said Daniel, taking Tom's arm. "Let's go into -the palmroom, and I'll tell you all about it."</p> - -<p>"I'll call you up tomorrow to get your size for the gloves," he remarked -to the telephone genius as he bade her good night.</p> - -<p>"You know what number to call?"</p> - -<p>"Am I likely to forget it?" he asked.</p> - - -<hr /> - -<h4>Transriber's Note:</h4> - -<p class="center">Spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained as they appear -in the original publication.</p> - - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other -Stories, by Charles Weathers Bump - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAID OF DRUID LAKE *** - -***** This file should be named 31082-h.htm or 31082-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/8/31082/ - -Produced by Irma Špehar, Jennifer Sahmoun and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - https://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - -</pre> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/31082-h/images/titlepage_illo.jpg b/old/31082-h/images/titlepage_illo.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7c1e290..0000000 --- a/old/31082-h/images/titlepage_illo.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/31082.txt b/old/31082.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ec49432..0000000 --- a/old/31082.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4865 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories, by -Charles Weathers Bump - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other Stories - -Author: Charles Weathers Bump - -Release Date: January 26, 2010 [EBook #31082] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAID OF DRUID LAKE *** - - - - -Produced by Irma Špehar, Jennifer Sahmoun and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -The - -Mermaid of Druid Lake - -AND - -OTHER STORIES - -BY - -CHARLES WEATHERS BUMP - -Author of "His Baltimore Madonna," etc. - - - _NUNN & COMPANY - BALTIMORE - 1906_ - - - - -Copyright 1906 by Charles Weathers Bump - -All rights Reserved - - Acknowledgement is Given to the Baltimore - News for Aid in Reprinting these Stories - - - - - -Presswork by - - The Horn-Shafer Company - Baltimore. Md. - - - - -Twelve More Stories - - - The Mermaid of Druid Lake 5 - - The Goddess of Truth 18 - - A Daughter of Cuba Libre 30 - - A Two-Party Line 43 - - Timon Up to Date 57 - - The Night that Patti Sang 67 - - An Island on a Jamboree 81 - - Alexander the Great 93 - - Breaking Into Medicine 104 - - The Pink Ghost of Franklin Square 119 - - The Vanished Mummy 127 - - "Mount Vernon 1-0-0-0" 139 - - - - - -_The Mermaid of Druid Lake_ - - -If Edwin Horton had not had a sleepless time that hot June night it -probably would never have happened. As it was, after tossing and -pitching on an uncomfortably warm mattress for several hours, he had -dressed himself and left his Bolton-avenue home for a stroll in Druid -Hill Park just as the dawn made itself evident. That was the beginning -of the adventure. - -Not a soul was in sight when he reached the driveway around the big -lake, and he let out to take a little vigorous exercise, breathing in -the fresh air with more enjoyment than had been his for some hours. - -About half way around he stopped suddenly and rubbed his eyes to make -sure he was not dreaming. For a curve in the road had brought him the -knowledge that he was not alone in his appreciation of the early morning -hour. Seated beside the water, on the rocks that line the lake shore, -was a damsel--a rather good-looking one, as well as he could judge at -the distance of a hundred yards. She was leaning on her left elbow and -looking out over the lake in rather a pensive, dreamy attitude. Of -course, young ladies don't ordinarily get up before dawn to go out to -Druid Hill Park for the purpose of sitting alone beside the broad sweep -of city water, and Edwin naturally felt some surprise at the novelty of -the sight. Besides, she was inside the high iron railing, and he -wondered how she had got there. - -In the intensity of his interest he slowed down his pace as he drew -nearer along the roadway. Should he watch her unobserved for a while to -ascertain her purpose? Should he frankly hail her and ask whether she -objected to company? Should he--well, the damsel settled his doubts for -him just then by discovering him. She appeared startled, and he fancied -she half meant to plunge into the lake. Then she changed her mind, gave -him a bewitching little smile and raised her free hand to beckon him. -Edwin needed no second invitation. The novelty of the situation was too -alluring to resist. - -In another moment he had scaled the fence and was clambering awkwardly -down the rocks. And as he came close he found her a very pretty damsel -indeed, with youthful, rosy cheeks, fetching blue eyes and long, light -tresses that hung unconfined from her head down upon the sloping rocks -behind her. She was smiling, and yet he thought he detected a renewed -disposition to slip away from him before he had drawn too close. - -Then he had a shock. - -She was only half a woman! - -The other half of her was fish--scaly fish--partly submerged in the -waters of the lake! - -He paused irresolutely. It was all right, you know, to read about -mermaids in old mythologies and fairy tales. But to encounter one in -this year of Our Lord, so near home as Druid lake! Oh, fudge! the boys -at the Ariel Club would never get through "joshing" him should he ever -say he had seen such a thing. It could not be true; it was too amazing! -He was a fool to let his nerves get the better of him. He had better cut -out those visits to the river resorts, or next he would be seeing pink -elephants climbing trees. First thing he knew he would wake up in that -stuffy room at home. No, he couldn't be dreaming! There was the railing, -and the lake, and the white tower, and General Booth's home, and the -Madison-avenue entrance, and the Wallace statue and a dozen other -familiar spots in a most familiar perspective. - -And there, too, was the damsel in flesh and blood, or, rather, flesh and -fish! - -She was the first to speak. - -"Good morning to you, stranger." - -She spoke English--good, clear mother-tongue. Her lips were parted in -that alluring smile, and her manner was as saucy as that of any fair -flirt he had ever known of womankind. - -"In the name of Heaven, who are you?" he stammered as he sat down, -awkwardly, beside her. - -She laughed outright--mischievously, mockingly. - -"I? I am the nymph of the lake. Long years ago I was the naiad of the -woodland spring that is now deep down yonder," indicating a spot out in -the lake. "But they dammed me in and turned great floods of water in -here, and mighty Jupiter gave me my new title." - -"And are you really half fish?" - -She laughed again. - -"I am what you see." - -As she spoke she gracefully swayed the lower half of her in the water. A -million glistening scales prismatically reflected the increasing morning -light. She was half fish, all right. There was no doubt about that. - -"By gosh! here's a rum go!" muttered Edwin to himself. - -"What did you say?" queried the mermaid. - -"I said, if you must know, 'By Jove! you are a beauty,'" he replied, -gallantly and impetuously. - -The mermaid smiled again. The feminine half of her was pleased with the -compliment to her good looks. - -"I'm afraid you're a sad flatterer," she said, coquettishly. She lowered -her blue eyes, then uplifted the lashes and looked full into his face in -a manner that made his heart bound. One little finger was shaken -playfully at him. Edwin seized the hand. It was warm; human blood -pulsated through it! And as he held it his companion gave just a bit of -a squeeze. A score of girls had done the same in bygone sentimental -hours. But none so deftly. - -"This is certainly an odd adventure," he remarked. "Tell me, lady of the -lake, do you often sit here in this unconventional fashion with -gentlemen callers?" - -"What would you give to know?" she asked, teasingly. - -"You are the first for a long, long time," she went on. "Last summer -there was a man in a gray uniform who saw me, but he looked so -uninteresting I swam away." - -"When are you here?" he asked, earnestly. - -"I love to sit on the bank when fair Aurora makes the dawning day grow -rosy," she acknowledged, "but I have to flee to the depths when the full -sun comes." She looked to the east. "It is growing late," she added, -hurriedly; "I must be going." - -"Not yet, not yet," he pleaded. - -"Do not detain me," she cried; "I must go. It means life to me." - -Gracefully she glided into the water at his feet. - -"You will come tomorrow?" he asked. - -The coquettish mood returned to her. - -"Perhaps," she said, as with long strokes she headed for the centre of -the lake. Edwin watched intently until she had gone a hundred yards and -more. Then she ceased swimming, kissed her hand to him and dived under -the surface as the single word "Farewell" floated over the water. - -It seems superfluous to remark that he was in a trance that day. His -father, at the breakfast table, jovially prodded him about being late, -until he barely caught himself on the verge of telling his queer secret. -And so absent-minded was he at the office that he found he had entered -the account of a prosaic old firm as "Mermaid & Nymph." - -Long before 4 A. M. the next day he was at the lake. The waning moon was -still in the west and there were few signs of the coming day. For half -an hour he kept his vigil alone, and had almost begun to think his -piscatorial charmer was not coming. Then suddenly he espied her out in -the lake, swimming toward him. When about 50 yards off shore she hailed -him jovially and bade him go around to the white tower. As he moved -along the driveway she kept him company, maintaining the pace with -graceful, tireless strokes and occasionally coming nearer to exchange a -remark. - -"What made you change the trysting place?" he asked. - -"Love of change, I suppose," she replied. "A water nymph does not get -much chance at novelty." - -The half hour they spent upon the water's edge was largely one of -sentimental banter between merry maid and enamored man, in which Edwin -reached the conclusion that his charmer could give cards to the jolliest -little "jollier" in Baltimore. She asked him about his past and present -girl friends, and pouted deliciously when he frankly acknowledged them. -Finally they parted, she promising to appear the next morning. - -The third meeting started a chain of events. They were comfortably -chatting on the rocks when Edwin heard the chug-chug of an automobile. -The mermaid clutched his arm in alarm. "What are those horrid things?" -she naively remarked. "They often make such an awful fuss I can hear -them down in my cozy corner." - -Edwin's reply was suspended while the machine passed them. The two men -who were in it craned their necks most industriously at the sight of a -pair of lovers out so early and seated in such an unusual spot for -sentimental couples. - -When he turned to make the explanations she had asked, he found it a -harder task than he had imagined. Her knowledge of human inventions, of -worldly means of locomotion, was not extensive, and he had to begin with -the A B C of it and go through a course in elementary mechanics. After -the forty-second paragraph of instructions the damsel clapped her hands -gleefully and cried: - -"It would be great fun to take a trip in one!" - -"It is great fun," declared Edwin, for a moment forgetting to whom he -was talking. - -"But then I couldn't do it!" she exclaimed in disappointment. "I -couldn't leave the lake." - -The unshed tears in her eyes made him ardent. - -"You could do it if you are willing," he avowed, earnestly. "You can -take the water with you." Visions of a tank lady in the "Greatest Circus -on Earth" came to him. - -"You are fooling me," murmured the mermaid. And she pouted. - -Edwin rose to the occasion. "I am not fooling," he protested. "It would -not be difficult to put a tank of water in the machine for you to put -your"----He was going to say feet, but he ended his sentence, -stumblingly, "your other half in." - -In her joy the Lady of the Lake took his cheeks in her hands and gave -him an impulsive kiss. "You are the loveliest being on earth," she said, -enthusiastically. - -That settled it. The rest of the conversation that morning was about -automobiles, and when they parted it was with a definite assurance on -his part that Edwin would be on hand the next morning with a motor car -suitably equipped for her use. It was only when he had gotten away that -he realized the ridiculous side of the job he had undertaken. He could -get an automobile all right. Tom Reese was a good friend, and a willing -one, and his car had a tonneau capacious enough to accommodate the -ex-naiad and her movable pool. But he would have to tell Tom the whole -peculiar adventure to get him to take his auto out at such an unearthly -hour. - -"He'll think me clean daft when I unfold it to him," said Edwin to -himself. - -And Tom did, too. He laughed loud and long when Edwin chose what he -thought to be a propitious moment and began his confession. "What are -you stuffing me with?" Tom demanded, with tears in his eyes. Edwin -renewed his explanations, only to bring on another explosion. "You'll be -the death of me yet, old fellow," asserted Tom. "You'd better cut out -those absinthes." Edwin added details most earnestly. "You're crazy, -boy," was the only reply he got. He grew angry and hurt. "Now, Tom -Reese," he demanded, "have I ever failed you when you wanted my help?" -Tom apologized and began to study Edwin with intentness. "Look here, -Edwin Horton," he said, "if there is any such girl at Druid lake as you -describe, she's a 'fake' and she's got you strung mightily." Edwin -swallowed this dig at his intelligence peacefully. He saw he had won. -"All I ask, Tom," he rejoined, "is that you will take me out in the car -and see for yourself." Tom gave him his hand. "I'm from Missouri, and -you'll have to show me," he chuckled. - -A wash tub from Mrs. Reese's cellar was requisitioned at 3 A. M. for use -as a tank. After it had been lifted into the tonneau a hose supplied the -needed water. "Climb into the water wagon," ordered Tom, and he threw on -the lever and spun out to Druid Hill Park. - -The day was still in embryo when the lake tower was reached. But the -nymph was there. Her trim blue blouse was still wet after her swim -ashore. The morning was summery, but Edwin had appreciated that the ride -might be cold for the water lady, and had thoughtfully brought his -sister's raincoat. - -Tom's astonishment at seeing a bona-fide mermaid was balm to Edwin. The -lad stood open-mouthed after Edwin had introduced them. In fact, he was -so dumfounded that he failed to notice the hand the damsel had extended -to him. - -"Come on, Tom," said Edwin; "there isn't much time." - -One on each side, the two boys supported the nymph as she cavorted as -gracefully as possible up the rocks. They hadn't thought of the iron -railing. "Caesar's ghost!" muttered Tom in dismay. "How are we going to -get her over that?" Edwin turned to the mermaid. "If you don't mind," -said he, "we will have to lift you." "I don't mind," she said, simply, -"if you don't drop me." - -At Edwin's suggestion he clambered over first, and then Tom raised the -young creature boldly until she was clear of the iron spikes. There -Edwin took hold of her and carried her to the auto. She was not a heavy -burden, but her wet condition and her combination shape increased the -difficulties. - -From the moment she was once in the auto her joy was a pleasure to -observe. She began by expressing her delight at their thoughtfulness in -supplying the wash tub. When the machine began to move she clapped her -hands in childish glee. From glee to wonderment her mood changed as they -spun along the park roads. A hundred naive questions were asked about -the objects unfamiliar to a lady whose habitat was at the bottom of a -big pond. Edwin answered faithfully, and had his reward in his enjoyment -of her artlessness and winsomeness. Occasionally Tom looked round to -share in it. - -At a good clip the auto was run out Park Heights avenue and back. The -dawn seemed most kindly disposed to the trio, for it was long in coming. -And when they had reached Pimlico, Tom proposed a detour by way of -Roland Park, to return to the lake across Cedar-avenue bridge. The -damsel hailed it with glee, only stipulating that she must be back by -"sun-up." - -They showed her the turf tracks on either side as they bowled along -Belvidere avenue eastward, and they were still engaged in explaining to -her the methods of horse racing when Tom started down the long hill -beside the Tyson place, Cylburn, leading down to the bridge across -Jones' Falls. The girl was asking questions, with her bewitching face -in close proximity to Edwin's, when there came a startling interruption -to their fun. Tom, again greatly interested in the talk, failed to -notice a large boulder in the road, and the auto shot over it with a -jolt that caused him to lose control of the wheel. The big machine -regained its balance, but not its course. Instead, it careened to the -right and bumped into the ditch before the alarmed occupants had -scarcely grasped their peril. Tom was tossed out on the roadway. Edwin -was pitched into the front seat, the mermaid shot past him and fell on a -clump of green turf and the tub of water upset, and, in seeking an -outlet, poured over the car, drenching Edwin. - -"Look out for a gasoline explosion!" shrieked Tom, raising himself from -the road, apparently unhurt. Edwin knew he could do nothing to prevent -such a catastrophe, so he followed the other two out of the auto as -quickly as he could. For a moment he and Tom paid no attention to the -mermaid, so absorbed were they in the possibility of a blow-up. But when -this danger had apparently passed they discovered that she had lifted -herself from the grassy sward and was flip-flopping awkwardly in the -direction of the brook that runs through Cylburn near the road. - -"Come back! Come back! There's no danger!" called Edwin, as he started -after her. - -The damsel paid no heed. She was intent on getting to that stream of -running water. - -Again Edwin called, this time more sharply. The mermaid stopped not, but -turned a tearful and much convulsed face to him. - -Edwin raced after her. So did Tom. But when they got to the edge of the -brook the only sign of her was an increasing ripple on the surface of a -little pool. The stream was not so deep but that the bottom could be -studied. And yet they saw nothing of her. Evidently she had the -enchanted gift of being invisible in water. - -Tom looked at Edwin. Edwin looked at Tom. - -"That beats the Dutch!" said Tom. - -"It's worse than that," replied Edwin, an odd catch in his voice. "We -certainly have queered her for good. We must find her and get her back -to the Park somehow." - -For hours they moved up and down alongside the stream, calling -pleadingly, but without response, for their quondam friend. Edwin made a -little oration to her in absentia, in which he humbly begged her pardon -and swore by all the gods of Mount Olympus--by the great Jupiter, the -chaste Diana and all the rest of them, as far as he could remember their -names--that he would restore her safely to the lake. But she came not. -Tom added his entreaties, but she heeded not. Then Tom suggested that -perhaps she had worked her way down the brook and into Jones' Falls, -whence she could, if she but knew the pipes, get into her beloved lake -again. Edwin jumped at the idea, and, leaving Tom to look after the -auto, hastened down the ravine to Jones' Falls, and moved up and down -the Falls, calling for the vanished damsel with a fervor that might have -caused doubts as to his sanity had anyone heard it. - -When he returned, terribly downcast, Tom had gotten the car righted and -had discovered that it was uninjured. - -"No luck, I suppose?" said Tom. - -"No," replied Edwin, moodily. - -"Get in, then. We can't stay here all day." - -Edwin required urging to leave the spot. Finally he consented to go. As -he climbed in he saw the overturned wash tub, and his concentrated wrath -and grief were heaped upon it. Picking it up, he hurled it savagely at a -tree, and, when it fell to pieces with the concussion, he exclaimed, -vehemently and inconsequentially: - -"That's the blamed thing that got us into this muss!" - -At Druid lake he insisted on another long search. Time and again the -auto was stopped that he might call aloud for his charmer. But no -answering sound came across the water. - -"Curses!" said Edwin. "I'm afraid she's lost for good." - -And that is probably the true explanation as to why there has been no -mermaid in Druid lake since. She may be in Cylburn brook, she may be in -Jones' Falls, she may have reached the Patapsco, but no one has ever -seen a creature answering her description and aquatic habits since the -damsel who once held the job got giddy and went motoring. - - - - -_The Goddess of Truth_ - - -Not everybody was pleased among the many thousands who on September 12, -1906, saw the industrial parade with which Baltimore celebrated its -wonderful recovery from the blow given by the great fire of 1904. Tobias -Greenfield, head of a Lexington-street department store, was one who was -not. He was angry, violently so. He had been in a chipper mood all -morning and had enjoyed watching the long line from the windows of a -bedecorated wholesale house on Baltimore street. But when his eyes -alighted on the float of his own firm, the anger came. And the longer it -stayed with him, the worse it grew, especially as he could not escape -the prodding of the friends who had invited him to their warehouse. - -When he could decently slip away from them he went to his office and -peremptorily called for his advertising manager. - -"What the devil do you mean, Melvale," he shouted, "by putting such a -scrawny little girl on our float as the Goddess? She looked a fright in -the clothes made for Miss Preston, and everyone is laughing at us. Why -was not Miss Preston there? How came you to make such a mess?" - -The advertising man was nervous under the volley of questions, but he -explained at length. Boiled down, it was plain he could give only one -reason why the float had been such a mess. - -And that reason was William Henry Montgomery. - -Miss Preston had been willing to be the Goddess, as planned, but William -Henry Montgomery said no. And that settled it. - -And who was William Henry Montgomery? Why, Miss Preston loved William -Henry Montgomery. - -You see, down on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, where Maude Preston and -William Henry Montgomery were to the manor born, they had sought each -other's company so assiduously and for so long that in the length and -breadth of Accomac--from Chincoteague to Great Machipongo--every man and -woman regarded it as a sure thing that Maude and William Henry would hit -it off for a marriage. And they had talked, as people will, about their -being an ideal couple, so well suited--William Henry broad-shouldered -and solidly knit and Maude molded on classic Diana's lines, erect and -queenly, but sweet to look upon. The women thought William Henry a -fine-looking lad, while men and women alike regarded Maude as the -handsomest creature on the Peninsula below the Maryland line. - -And then one day there had been a quarrel. Maude thought a bit of -William Henry's advice too assertive, too near to an injunction to obey, -and had flared up. And William Henry had flared up likewise. And when -the two came to count the cost, William Henry was moodily filling a job -in a cousin's lumber-yard in Philadelphia, while Maude, unknown to -William Henry, had come to Baltimore to remove herself and her -heart-wound from the well-meant, but too gossipy, neighbors in Accomac. - -It was a matter of only a few months before she was the best-liked -saleswoman in Greenfield & Jacobs' big store. From Mr. Greenfield down -to the rawest cash girl all were glad to exchange a word with her, -because there was something delightful in Maude's way of expressing even -trivialities, and an especial joy in hearing her talk about "you all" -and call a car "kyar," a girl "giurl" and other idioms peculiar to -Tidewater Virginians. Besides that, she was too good-looking altogether -to be passed without notice. The elevator boys were both in love with -her, and their seniors--whether clerks, floor-walkers, salesmen or -owners--would walk two aisles out of the way any time to pass by Miss -Preston at the counter where she disposed of bolts of ribbon. But best -of all was the regard which her scores of girl associates had for her. -They liked her because they saw she made no effort to seek or to foster -the attentions which the masculines of the store thrust upon her. They -liked her, too, for the individuality and perfect neatness she showed in -her dress, from the bows of ribbon on her short sleeves to the set of -her skirts or the way her waists were arranged at the belt. As for her -hair, eight-ninths of the store, being the feminine portion, envied its -beautiful wave, and two-ninths mustered up courage to ask Maude how she -managed to keep it so splendidly. And the two-ninths, being told, let -the other six-ninths into the secret. Thus it was, in Greenfield & -Jacobs', that the Maude wave became more popular than the one named -after Marcelle. - -And all the while Maude quietly went on thinking of William Henry. She -heard about him sometimes in letters from Accomac, and knew that he was -still in Philadelphia. And there were hours when she fought the -temptation to write to him there, and humbly tell him that she had been -wrong to grow angry with him. Perhaps he had forgotten her and was -having a good time--she recoiled from the thought, and yet it would come -now and then. And when it came, Maude had spells of the "blues" that she -found hard to conceal from her new-made friends at the department store -and in her boarding-house on Arlington avenue. - -Greenfield & Jacobs was one of the first retail firms to take up the -notion of having a float in the Jubilee parade. And, having once decided -to exhibit, they went at the preparations with characteristic -thoroughness. "Let us do it right," said Jacobs to Greenfield. "Let us -spare no expense to have a car so beautiful that all Baltimore will -remember it as one of the hits of the parade. Let it be chaste and -symbolic, and not overloaded with bunting and people." - -The head of the firm had the same thought. "We have always tried to tell -the truth to our customers," he rejoined. "Why not try to bring that -fact home to thousands by a float on which a handsome Goddess of Truth -will be giving a laurel crown to our firm?" - -"Capital!" exclaimed Jacobs. "And Miss Preston can be the Goddess." - -"I had her in mind when I proposed it," remarked Greenfield. - -And both men laughed. - -Neither partner was up on mythology, so they turned over to Melvale, the -advertising man, the duty of working out the details of the float. Now, -Melvale wasn't literary, either; but he knew an obliging young woman at -the Pratt Library, and he hied himself to her to ask who under Heaven -was the Goddess of Truth and how was she dressed. And the obliging young -woman looked up encyclopedias and finally handed Melvale an illustrated -copy of Spenser's "Faerie Queene." Melvale had never heard of Spenser, -and he had an idea that Spenser spelled his title badly, not even -according to the simplified method of Roosevelt and Carnegie. But he -took the book and read of the beautiful, pure and trustful Una, the -personification of Truth, the beloved of the Red Cross Knight. And when -he looked at the pictures he began to grow enthusiastic over the float. - -"By George!" he exclaimed. "Miss Preston will look great in that Greek -gown." - -And Melvale sketched the float as it afterward grew into being at the -hands of carpenters, painters and decorators at the old car shed on -Pennsylvania avenue. There was, first of all, a beautiful little model -of Greenfield & Jacobs' new store, about three feet high, over the -corner dome of which the charming Goddess, bending forward, was about -to place the laurel crown suggested by Greenfield. Behind her were -finely modeled figures of the lion and the lamb which are devoted -followers of Una. It was artistic; it was symbolic; it was chaste. There -was no word of advertising save the neatly lettered inscription: - _________________________ - | | - | The Truth stands by us. | - | We stand by the Truth. | - |_________________________| - -It was a harder task than either partner imagined to win the consent of -Miss Preston to be a goddess for a few brief hours. She was not the sort -of girl to like conspicuousness or notoriety, and she flatly refused -when the float was first brought to her attention. Then they pleaded -with her. Jacobs told her how much she would be helping the firm if she -would only agree to oblige them. Greenfield promised to have the finest -of Greek gowns made in the store's dressmaking department. And Melvale, -clever man, deftly told her how beautiful and good Una was supposed to -be, and mildly intimated that there was no other young woman in -Baltimore who could possibly fill the bill on that float. Ultimately -Miss Preston's scruples were overcome. - -And into the preparations she entered with pleasing enthusiasm. Melvale -took her several times to the shed to see the float materialize, and -stopped each morning at the ribbon counter to tell her about details. -The whole store told her a thousand times how glad each was that she was -to be the Goddess. Greenfield did as he promised about the costume--and -never was Greek gown made of more beautiful white goods, or more -exquisitely and perfectly fitted. Maude read Spenser's poem, more -understandingly than had Melvale, and the Goddess of Truth so completely -filled her mind during those summer weeks that William Henry Montgomery -was almost obscured except when she dreamed how she would like him to -see her triumph. - -At last came the day of the parade. Melvale, always fertile with -expedients, had arranged with Townsend, floor-walker on the fourth -floor, who lived on Fulton avenue just where the big parade was to form, -that the Goddess Maude might array herself in her finery at his home. -Bright and early that morning he sent a carriage for Miss Preston, and -ordered the float to be at Townsend's curb by 9 o'clock. The beautiful -gown and its accessories, laid away in soft tissue paper, were brought -from the Lexington-street store, and a couple of the girls from the -dressmaking department were on hand to aid the final making of a -goddess. - -Maude would not have been a woman had she not taken her time to get into -such finery, and Melvale began to grow nervous as the parade hour grew -near. The street was in confusion with the gathering of floats and men -and curious crowds of onlookers. The chief marshal of the procession, -Col. William A. Boykin, had warned him that the line was to move on -time, and already there were signs of a start. Five times he dived into -the hallway of Townsend's home and called agonizingly upstairs to know -if Miss Preston was ready. - -Finally she came. And Melvale held his breath as the beauty of the girl -burst upon him, even in the half-light of the hall. While it concealed -some of the lines of her figure, the gown accentuated her erect, queenly -carriage. Her exquisitely molded arms and her full, round throat had -been powdered, a bit or two of rouge had heightened the charm of her -face and a touch of black had increased the brilliancy of her eyes, -already flashing with the excitement of the moment. There was a -tremulous curve to her lips as she glanced at Melvale to note whether he -was pleased with her appearance. - -"The goddess of men, as well as of truth," he murmured as he bent over -and gallantly kissed her hand. Una's flush heightened, but she was -pleased with the compliment. - -Melvale opened the door and the goddess in white passed out into the -morning sunlight on Fulton avenue. - -And as she did so she gave a faint scream of surprise. - -For there, on the sidewalk, was William Henry Montgomery, her Red Cross -Knight. - -William Henry was as much surprised as the damsel Una. He had no idea -that Maude was nearer to him than Accomac, and he was in Baltimore for -the day merely to mingle with the holiday crowds and perhaps encounter -some Eastern Shore friend from whom he might learn news of her. His -presence on Fulton avenue was due to the identical reason as that which -inspired thousands of others curious to see the start of a big parade. - -When he saw Maude come out of the doorway, a vision in white, he thought -for a moment he had gone insane and was having a hallucination. Then he -reflected that it could not possibly be Maude Preston in Baltimore and -wearing such theatrical clothes on the street in broad daylight. Then he -looked again and was certain it was Maude. Besides, hadn't she -recognized him and put out her arm to steady herself against the arch of -the doorway? - -"Maude!" he exclaimed, simply, as he hurried up the marble steps. - -"Bill Henry!" she cried, faintly. - -She held out her hands and he took them. - -"I've been sorry a long time, Bill Henry," she said. - -"And I, too, sweetheart." - -He would have kissed her in complete reconciliation, but Maude was -conscious of the crowd on the street. "Don't, Bill Henry," she whispered -as she laughed, flushed and tenderly pushed him away. He held on to both -her hands. - -Melvale, in the vestibule behind, had stood petrified as the incident -developed. He was wise enough to understand that a reconciliation of -lovers was in progress. Their words, and, above all, the ardency of -their glances betrayed that. - -From down Fulton avenue came the sound of a great bell. The parade had -started. "Hurry," said Melvale, "you must take your position, Miss -Preston." - -"Take your position, Maude?" asked William Henry calmly, ignoring -Melvale. - -"Yes, Bill Henry," said his sweetheart, hurriedly; "I'm to be the -Goddess of Truth on that float there." - -William Henry turned and looked at the float. Then he stood off a step -or two and studied Maude's make up. "I've never seen you look -handsomer," he said, slowly, "but somehow you don't seem natural. I'd -rather have met you again when you were not so full of paint and powder. -I loved you always just as you were, without fancy fixings." - -The bell was getting farther away. - -"Come, Miss Preston," urged Melvale. "We will have to hurry." - -For the first time William Henry recognized the presence of Melvale. - -"She ain't going, Mister," declared William Henry, ungrammatically, but -firmly. - -"Not going!" screamed Melvale. - -"Oh! Bill," stammered Maude, "they've gone to such a lot of expense and -trouble! And they've been so kind to me!" - -"I don't care," returned William Henry. "Down in Accomac we don't like -this theatre business for girls we love, and I tell you I am not going -to see you in that parade, showing yourself off to all Baltimore and -thousands more, too. Who knows how many people are here from down home? -If you want this notoriety and fuss, Maude," he went on sternly, "I can -leave again." - -A tear made its way out of Maude's eyes and threatened the rouge on her -cheek. - -"Come, Miss Preston," said Melvale. - -"No, no; I can't go against what Bill wants," she said, feebly; "not -again." - -Melvale saw that he faced a serious business dilemma. Cupid had butt in -at the wrong moment. It was necessary for Greenfield & Jacobs to be in -that parade, and he had about six minutes to get the float in line. As -he put it in his report to Mr. Greenfield, "There wasn't any use wasting -time trying to persuade Miss Preston with that hulking big Eastern -Shoreman menacing me. I had to let her do as William Henry wanted, -without bandying words. At the same time I had to find another Goddess -in a hurry. That's how I came to make use of Townsend's daughter." - -"Was that thin girl Townsend's daughter?" asked Greenfield. - -"There isn't any cause to be hard on the girl, Mr. Greenfield. She's not -so thin, and she is good looking and with a sweet expression. You put -any girl in clothes not made for her--just jump her into 'em without any -time for those little tricks that women know so well how to do--and -she's sure to feel a guy. And if she feels a guy, she's going to look -it. Why, it took those two girls just six minutes to transfer that -goddess rig from Miss Preston to Miss Townsend. She didn't have time to -powder, and she didn't have time to dab on paint, and, besides, she had -had no rehearsals. That's why she was so pale." - -"And where did you leave Miss Preston and her mentor?" - -"Sitting on the sofa in Townsend's parlor, wondering if they could get a -license to be married today, it being a holiday." - -"Mr. Melvale," directed Mr. Greenfield, "I want you to find them again, -just as quick as you can, and if they are not already tied up I want you -to help them do it in the most handsome style possible in a hurry. -Reward Miss Townsend nicely, but get that gown from her and make a -present of it to the girl it was made for. She might like to have it for -a wedding gown. And as you go out, tell Mr. Stricker to send the bride -the handsomest thing he can find in the glass and china department." - -"Miss Preston'll appreciate all that. I think she's sorry she couldn't -help you out. She has certainly missed a fine chance of being a -goddess." - -"You're wrong, Melvale; you're wrong! That girl doesn't need a Greek -gown and a float and a parade to make her a goddess." - -"William Henry don't think so, sir." - - - - -_A Daughter of Cuba Libre_ - - -When they had been at school together at Notre Dame, Catherine Franklin -had been most fond of the company of Manuela Moreto, and had listened -with wonder and admiration to the fluent stories of the dark-eyed, -olive-skinned girl from Cuba, tales of her father's desperate adventures -in the trocha in the years before American intervention had rid the -"Pearl of the Antilles" of Spanish rule. Spanish-American pupils, -daughters of wealthy tobacco, sugar or coffee planters, were not -infrequent at this and other convent schools around Baltimore, and -Catherine knew enough of them not to yield so precipitately as had many -girls to the romantic glamour cast around them by their coming from a -strange land. But Manuela Moreto was so winning, and her narratives of -bold deeds so piquant, that Catherine had taken her to her heart in a -school-girl friendship, had gloried in knowing the daughter of a Cuban -patriot and had liberally bedewed her handkerchief and made vows of -undying love when their June commencement brought the days of parting. - -But that had been five years ago, and in five years, as everyone knows, -havoc can be played with a friendship of this sort. There had been a -correspondence, industrious at first, then flagging as each found new -friends and new interests, and finally ceasing altogether. There was no -hint of any misunderstanding, and Catherine felt that if anything -serious were to happen in Manuela's life, if she were to marry, for -instance, a letter would come from Cuba. Nothing came as the months -added up, and she was satisfied that Manuela was living out her rather -monotonous life on Senor Felipe Moreto's tobacco plantation in Pinar del -Rio province. - -Last August came the new revolution in Cuba, and Catherine found all her -interest in Manuela reawakened as she read in daily dispatches of the -uprising in Pinar del Rio, of the raids of Pino Guerra, of the feeble -resistance of the Government forces, of the burning of plantations and -the seizure of horses and cattle. She wondered if her one-time chum -could be in any danger. - -She had fully made up her mind to write to Manuela, when there came a -letter from the latter. Her mother handed it to her as Catherine sat -down to the supper table in her home on Caroline street, opposite St. -Joseph's Hospital, her cheeks flushed from a vigorous afternoon at -tennis in Clifton Park. "It's from Manuela Moreto!" she exclaimed in -surprise as she saw the handwriting on the envelope. Then, with -increased excitement, she added "She must be in Washington," for she had -by this time noted the postmark, the home stamp and the crest of the -Raleigh Hotel. - -The letter said: - - Dearest Girlie--After all these months of silence, you will no - doubt be surprised to hear from your Cuban friend, and from - Washington, too. You have probably read of the new uprising - against despotism in my oft-bled country. We have suffered much, - but hope for the best. I cannot tell you now, but I want to come - to Baltimore to see you and the dear old school, and then we can - have one of those outpourings of confidence such as used to give - us joy. Let me hear from you just as soon as you can. - - Yours as ever, - MANUELA MORETO. - -"Write tonight and tell her to come and visit us," said Mrs. Franklin, -heartily. - -"I will if dad will promise to like Manuela," answered Catherine, -wistfully eying her father. The Captain was master and part owner of a -steamer in the Central American banana trade, and the family knew from -repeated outbursts that he had no very high opinion of the -Spanish-American. - -"I'm not stuck on those Dagos as a rule," said the Captain, doubtfully, -"but if all you say is correct this s'norita must be a fine girl, and -you know I cotton all right to fine girls." - -"Is she pretty?" asked Will Franklin of his sister. Will was at the age -when young men think a great deal of girls. - -"She's dark," explained his mother, "and she was thin when I used to see -her with Catherine at Notre Dame. But if she has filled out as she -should have, she ought to be a handsome girl." - -Two days later the whole family was at Camden Station to welcome their -foreign visitor. Will Franklin whistled as he saw the splendid-looking -young woman whom his sister rushed to kiss as she came through the gate. -"Gee!" he exclaimed, "she's a stunner!" For Senorita Manuela Teresa -Dolores Inez Moreto de la Rivera--to give her all of her names--had not -only "filled out" until she had a fine, well-rounded figure and a -handsome dark, oval face, but had also engaging animation and the gift -of wearing her clothes well. She looked as trim as can be imagined in -her cream-colored linen suit, with a couple of touches of light blue at -the wrists and neck. - -They sat up late that night in the library of the Franklin home. After -supper they had begun to ask questions of Manuela, and she had in -response given them her own personal account of the new revolution. It -was a narrative that awakened their sympathies for her and her family -and all others who had suffered by the internal strife, and it made them -strong partisans of the rebels. "They call it Cuba libre, free Cuba!" -she exclaimed, with flashing eyes, "and yet the days of Spanish tyranny -were no worse than the oppression of Palma's crowd. They have held the -offices since Roosevelt gave them the government, and they lined their -pockets with what you Americans call 'graft.' That made them determined -to hold on at all costs, and so my father's party--the Liberals--was not -only over-taxed and annoyed by extortions on every hand, but was cheated -and robbed at the polls when it tried to get control by an honest -election." - -And then she told of a night in July when a half-drunken crowd of -Government rurales, sent to arrest her father, had set fire to his -tobacco houses when they found he had been forewarned and escaped them. - -"I cannot repeat to you all the vile abuses they heaped upon me," she -added, quietly. "One of them, a mulatto who had been discharged by my -father, tried to kiss me. He is dead now." She shuddered with the -recollection. The Baltimore family shuddered at her matter-of-fact -recital. - -"You mean--that he"----stammered placid, domestic Mrs. Franklin. - -"I mean that two of my father's men singled him out and macheted him the -first time they met in a skirmish." - -On only one point was she reticent. Her father, she said, had come to -this country on an errand for the rebels, but what that errand was she -did not explain. "He is General Moreto now," she remarked; "and if ever -Senor Zayas becomes President and our party comes into control at -Havana, they have promised my father greater honors." - -For a week Senorita Moreto continued to add to the powerful interest she -had aroused in her hosts. By day they tried to entertain her--an -afternoon at Notre Dame with the school Sisters, a trip through the -rebuilt fire district, a ride to Bay Shore Park, an excursion to Port -Deposit by steamboat and other summer opportunities. But of an evening, -when the family was all collected in the library or on the front stoop, -the Cuban dispatches in that day's News were carefully gone over and -afforded texts upon which Manuela vivaciously and eloquently inveighed -against the despotism of the "ins" and predicted the triumph of the -"outs." - -"Upon my soul, Miss Moreto," said the usually level-headed Captain -Franklin, "your zeal stirs me so that I find myself wishing every moment -I was fighting on your side." - -"I'd love to have you aid us," murmured the Cuban girl. And she lifted -her black eyelashes and cast her brilliant eyes at Catherine's father -with such intentness that he was confused and looked away without asking -her, as he had intended, just how it was possible for him to help the -cause. - -The next morning Will, who had become the devoted admirer of the pretty -Cuban, carried two telegrams for General Moreto when he left home to go -to the Hopkins-place wholesale house where he was a clerk. One was -addressed to the Raleigh in Washington, the other to the Cuban junta -headquarters in New York. Each read: - -"You must come at once. I want you." - -A reply came that afternoon. It was from Wilmington, and it said: - - "Union Station, 7.33 P. M." - -Manuela and Catherine met the General at the hour named. The man who -alighted from the Congressional Limited and whom Manuela rushed to kiss -was slender and undersized, with a swarthy, weather-beaten face, curly -gray hair and a white moustache, twisted and re-twisted to the limit. He -was in white flannels and was so altogether neat and immaculate that -Catherine, perspiring under the sultriness of the August evening, -thought him the coolest person she had ever seen. He greeted her with -gallantry when introduced, and, though he spoke English with slowness, -his pronunciation was good and his voice musical. - -After he had made a similarly good impression at the Caroline-street -dwelling it was Manuela who proposed that they should leave the two -fathers "to smoke together and get acquainted." - -As the girls went out of the library Moreto laid half a dozen cigars on -the table. "From my own plantation," he said to Captain Franklin, with -rather a pompous manner. "I hope you'll like them." The Captain found -them the finest Havanas he had ever puffed. - -"You go to Costa Rica for bananas, do you not?" the General asked in -Spanish. - -"Sometimes Port Limon; sometimes Bocas del Toro," answered Catherine's -father, in the same tongue. "Bocas del Toro this trip." - -"When do you sail?" - -"Next Saturday." - -There was another silence. Franklin studied his cigar. Moreto studied -the fruit captain. Presently he leaned forward on the arm of his Morris -chair, in which, truth to tell, he looked rather insignificant. - -"My daughter," he said, this time in English, "tells me you are with us -in our revolution." - -The Captain turned his clear blue eyes on the Cuban. - -"Your daughter, Senor," he replied, "is a fine girl." He saw the shadow -of disappointment pass over Moreto's countenance. "I'm not much on -revolutions. I've seen too many of the bloody things in the tropics, and -it pays me to keep out of 'em. But your girl Manuela has a powerful -strong way of putting things, and I'm bound to say, if all she tells is -not beyond the mark, my sympathies are with you and your crowd." - -"Beyond the mark! Why, Dios, Senor Capitan!" cried the General, his eyes -gleaming with excitement. "Why, she could not tell you a tenth of the -truth." And he launched into a long narrative of the oppressions in -Cuba. The words came like a torrent, mostly Spanish, occasionally -English; and Franklin, sitting there fascinated, his cigar forgotten, -could think of nothing save that the daughter's fluency was a gift of -heredity. - -When Moreto had ended and had sunk back half exhausted on the cushions -the Captain, usually calm and self-contained, betrayed unwonted -enthusiasm. - -"I'm with you through and through," he exclaimed as he rose from his -chair and sought the Cuban's hand. "You haven't had a square deal, and -I'd like to see you get it." - -Moreto's black eyes seemed to pierce him. - -"Would you help us?" he asked. His tone was so tense and low that -Franklin barely caught the words. - -"Help you! How can I?" - -Moreto paused again. He was not quite sure of his man. Finally he -uncovered his aim: - -"Take rifles to Cuba." - -Captain Franklin stepped back. He did not exactly like the proposal. He -had always kept out of such musses, and he knew it was violating Federal -law to be a filibuster. - -"I'm only part owner of the Cristobal," he stammered. "I would not like -to involve the others." - -"They need never know. I have a perfectly safe plan." - -The Captain wavered. He would like to help Moreto and his daughter if it -were not for the risk. - -"What is your plan?" - -"If we had a thousand rifles to arm Pino Guerra," said Moreto, "we could -take San Luis. If we took San Luis we could control Pinar del Rio -province. My mission to your country is to get those rifles to a point -in that province. I have them boxed, ready for shipment as new machinery -for a sugar plantation. They are at Wilmington. I thought I had placed -them on a steamer in the Delaware last week, but your confounded Secret -Service agents are too vigilant, and they learned from members of the -crew that something unusual was up. If you will take those boxes on the -Cristobal I can get them here on Friday and will arrange for an -insurgent schooner to meet you at any point you name. Will you do it?" - -"It's risky business," slowly said the Captain, lighting a fresh Vuelta -cigar. - -"It means liberty to us. Dios, Senor Captain, where would your country -be if the French had not helped Washington and his ragged rebels?" - -Franklin puffed away slowly. The Cuban watched him. At last the Captain -made a decision. - -"You may send those rifles along," he said. - -The two men grasped hands again. They were in that position when -Catherine put her head in the library door. "You're as quiet as two -conspirators," she laughingly said. "Perhaps we are conspiring, -Senorita," called General Moreto as the girl shut herself from view -again. - -"That is a charming daughter of yours, Captain," said the Cuban, in his -best English. - -"Ah! but your girl has the head and the wit. You find her a great help, -don't you?" - -Moreto's smile was more frank than his reply. "Women take a bigger share -in revolutions than is generally believed." he said. - -In another half hour the details of their filibuster were arranged. A -point in the Caribbean, near the Isle of Pines, was selected for a -rendezvous. There the Cuban schooner would take aboard the contraband -cargo and Franklin go on his way after bananas. - -"Do you wish your family to know?" asked Moreto as they were about to -leave the library. "My daughter knows all my business." - -"Catherine is all right," replied Captain Franklin, "and so is Will, but -his mother would worry too much." - -And so for the next three days there was a great secret in the Franklin -home, shared by the young people with the two gray-haired men. They made -trips to the steamer, at the foot of Centre-Market space, a slender, -white-painted craft, looking more like a private yacht or a revenue -cutter than a tropical trader; they heard the arrangements made for -prompt transfer of the boxes across the city; they stopped with General -Moreto at the telegraph offices on Calvert street when he sent off -cipher wires to the junta and its agents, and sometimes cabled to Cuba. -And on the Friday when the boxes were due they pestered the clerks at -Bolton freight yards with 'phone inquiries. "It's great fun," confided -Catherine to Manuela. "I feel just like a heroine doing a great deed. -And we have to be so mysterious, too." Manuela smiled indulgently. She -had got past the stage of thinking conspiracies fun. - -No untoward incident occurred while the boxes of rifles labeled "Sugar -machinery" were being loaded into the Cristobal's hold. There was no one -on the dock or steamer who could be suspected of being a Government -agent. General Moreto kept away, and the presence of Miss Catherine with -the Cuban girl could never have aroused the doubts of the crew. The -boxes were taken on without accident, and by Friday dusk the Cristobal -had a thousand weapons aboard for the rebels of Pinar del Rio. - -There were tears in the eyes of both girls as Captain Franklin waved -them goodbye from his bridge when he was being pulled out into the -Patapsco the next morning. A shade of extra seriousness had tinged his -parting from them as they went ashore from the steamer, and Catherine, -no longer thinking conspiracies "great fun," began to have doubts -whether she might not have her father landed in jail somewhere. - -"I do hope no harm will come to dad," she said. "I never felt so queer -when he went away before." - -"Let us pray that all goes well," replied Manuela. - -And so for eleven whole long days, in their petitions to God, in church -and night and morning in their room, they invoked His blessing upon the -Cristobal's filibustering mission. It was an anxious time. The period of -excitement over, the interval of suspense made their spirits droop. None -of the usual amusements diverted them. Even Will's now ardent -attentions, which had provoked some teasing in the bosom of his family, -were slighted in the strain of the long wait until, boylike, and chafing -under the apparent neglect, he had impetuously sought explanations from -Manuela. What she told him is not a part of the conspiracy, but from -that hour there were two secrets kept in the Franklin dwelling. And when -he hurried home each afternoon with The News, that they might carefully -examine it for anything bearing on his father's expedition, there was a -double motive in the eagerness with which Manuela met him at the door. - -It was Wednesday week before the first news came. General Moreto, who -had left them on the day after Captain Franklin had passed Cape Henry -outward bound, telegraphed as follows: - -Glorious news; San Luis taken. We must have done it. - -The girls were excitedly reading the account in The News of the victory -by Pino Guerra when this cable dispatch came to them from Catherine's -father: - - Bocas del Toro. - Costa Rica, Aug. 22. - - Machinery transferred; no trouble. - - FRANKLIN. - -Both girls cried from happiness at the relief. - -"Oh! Catherine," said Manuela as she sobbed on the latter's neck, "I'm -so glad I knew you at Notre Dame!" - -"And I'm glad we struck a blow for Cuba libre," rejoined Catherine. - -"It may mean annexation," said Will, as he deftly slipped his arm around -Manuela's waist. - -The Cuban girl grew rosy red. - -Catherine was quick to understand: Cuba might be freed, but one -individual who had labored for it was going to be annexed. - -"I'm so happy!" she cried. And she kissed both warmly and left them to -tell her mother of the latest beneficent example of American -assimilation. - - - - -_A Two-Party Line_ - - -I. - -(Tuesday, October 23, 1906.) - -HE--Hello! Is this Central? Well, give---- - -SHE--No, it is not Central, and I wish you'd please get off the line. - -HE--I beg your pardon, I thought you were the girl at Central. - -SHE--No, I am not. I wish you wouldn't break in. The line's busy. You -were saying, Evelyn---- - -HE--I'm sorry to bother you. I don't seem to be able to get Central. - -SHE--I do wish you would leave us alone! You were describing that dress -you wore at the Marlborough dance, Evelyn. - -EVELYN--How is he on this wire? - -SHE--I don't know. I suppose he has the other 'phone on this line. - -HE--I beg your pardon again. Do I understand you to say this is a -two-party line? - -SHE--What number are you? - -HE--Wait till I read it. Why this is Madison 7-9-3-1-y. - -SHE--And I'm Madison 7-9-3-1-m. So you see, we're on the same wire. -Please get off. - -HE--I beg both of your pardons, ladies. But I'm trying to get a doctor -for my mother. - -EVELYN--I'll call you up later, Genevieve. I can tell you all about -Atlantic City then. - -SHE--He had no business coming in like that, Evelyn. But I suppose we'll -have to let him have it. Goodbye. - -HE--I'm very grateful to both of you, I'm sure. - -SHE--Well, after all, we were only gossiping, and I'm sorry we did not -understand sooner. - -HE--Thank you again. (After a pause.) There goes a click. I guess I can -call Central now. By Jove! that girl had spirit, and at the same time -showed generosity in saying she was sorry. I wonder who she is. -Genevieve the other one called her. Genevieve who? - - -II. - -(Five Minutes Later.) - -SHE--Hello, Central. Please give me "Information." Is that -"Information"? I want to know who has 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-y. My -number? I'm on the same line. No, no trouble. Just want to know. Who'd -you say? Mrs. Mary Vincent, 286 West Lanvale street. Thank you so much. - - -III. - -(Ten Minutes Later.) - -HE--Hello, Central, I want to know who has 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-m. -What's that? You'll give me "Information"? All right. Hello, -"Information," I want to find out who leases 'phone Madison 7-9-3-1-m. -No, not "y." I said "m." Somebody else wanted "y"? Well, that's my -number. I want "m." Mr. John D. Platt, 1346 Linden avenue? What's that? -Oh, Pratt. Thank you. - - -IV. - -(Wednesday, October 24.) - -SHE--Oh! Evelyn, I've got something great to tell you. You remember that -man who "butt in" last night on our chat? Well, I've found out all about -him. His name is Carroll Vincent, and he's just out of Princeton and is -going to study law at the University of Maryland. How did I find out? -Oh! I can't tell you all that over the 'phone. I just used my wits. You -know Genevieve isn't going to get left. I'd die if he---- - -HE--Is this Cent---- - -SHE--Goodness gracious! there he is on the line again! - -HE--I beg your pardon. I'll retire gracefully. - -SHE--Don't apologize. You could not help it. - -HE--I don't like to be a "butter-in," don't you know? - -SHE--I hope you got the doctor all right last night. I'd be so sorry if -my foolish delay caused you any trouble. - -HE--Thank you, I got him all right. - -EVELYN (at the other end)--I'll call you some other time, Genevieve. - -HE--No; let me get off this time. - -SHE (after a pause)--I wonder if he has really gone. - -EVELYN--How did you find out who he was? Go on, tell me. - -SHE--I'm afraid he may be listening. - -EVELYN--Do you think he'd do that deliberately? - -SHE--Certainly, I don't. I think he must be just fine. Jack Smallwood -says he's a stunning-looking fellow. I'm just crazy to see him. - -EVELYN--Did you ask Jack Smallwood about him? - -SHE--Why, of course, you goose! They live in the same block. - -EVELYN--You're getting on famously, Genevieve. - -SHE--That's another slam, Evelyn. You're just jealous, that's what the -matter with you. Next time I call you up you'll know it. - -EVELYN--I'm sorry, Genevieve. I was only teasing you. - -SHE--Well, I can't stand for it. I'll forgive you, though. Say, are you -going to see "Madam Butterfly"? You don't know? Well, I'm going tomorrow -night with Jack. He asked me today when I called him up about the other. -He has got seats in the second row. I'm going to put on all my best -regalia. No, not the blue. A pink chiffon. You've never seen it. It's a -beauty. Well, goodbye. See you Friday. - - -V. - -(Ten Minutes Later.) - -HE--Please give me Madison 6-4-8-6-y. Is this Mr. Smallwood's home? Is -Mr. Jack Smallwood there? No? Well, when do you expect him? You don't -know? Thank you. Curse the luck! Just when I thought it looked easy. - - -VI. - -(9 A. M. Friday, October 26.) - -HE--St. Paul 9-8-6-3. Hello! is Mr. Jack Smallwood in the office? Yes, -if you please. Jack, this is Carroll Vincent--no, no, Vincent. Say, old -man, saw you at Ford's last night. Fine-looking girl with -you--stunningly dressed--beautiful features--who is she? - -JACK--Say, Carroll, what the devil is all this between you two who have -never met? I'm over seven, you know, and I've shed my sweet innocence. - -HE--I don't know what you mean, old man. - -JACK--Ah yes, you do! And if you don't come up to the Captain's office -and settle I'll blast your reputation with her forever. There's some -mystery in it all. First, Genevieve Pratt asks me about you. Then when I -saw you last night she twisted her neck so, to look at you, that I -thought I'd have to summon medical help. Now you call me up to talk -about her. What's the game? Put me wise. - -HE--Fact is, old man, Miss Pratt and I are on the same line. - -JACK--Same line? What kind of line? - -HE--Same 'phone. Two-party line. Butt in on her the other night. Butt -out. Butt in again next night. Apologized eighteen times. Must meet her, -especially since she's such a smasher. - -JACK--All right, Carroll boy. I'll fix it for you, now I understand. - -HE--Make it soon, for Heaven's sake. - - -VII. - -(Friday, November 2.) - -HE--Give me Madison 7-9-3-1-m, please. No, no; I want the other party on -this line. Don't buzz that bell so loud in my ears. Hello! Is that Mr. -Pratt's? Oh! is this you, Miss Pratt? You're looking well this evening. -This is Carroll Vincent. - -SHE--Feeling tiptop, thank you. Did you get wet in the rain last night? - -HE--No; it stopped pouring almost as soon as we left your house. - -SHE--I'm glad of that. I want to thank you for the chocolates you sent -this evening. You said you were going to send a book. - -HE--I know I did. I tramped the town over to get that novel, but every -shop was out of it. Then I did not like you to think I had forgotten you -so soon, and I sent the bonbons. - -SHE--It certainly was sweet of you. They're nearly all gone already. - -HE--Mercy, mercy--don't make yourself sick! I wouldn't have you that -way. - -SHE--You wouldn't have me any way, would you? - -HE--Give me the chance. But I'm afraid you're a "jollier," Miss Pratt. - -SHE--You're the first to tell me. - -HE--Did you say "first" or "fiftieth"? There was a noise on the wire -just then. - -SHE--I know you're a flirt. - -HE--Never! I've got my fingers crossed. - -SHE--Those eyes of yours were not made for nothing. - -HE--Neither were yours. Jack said so last night. By the by, he's a -capital fellow. I'll never get over being grateful to him for bringing -us together. - -SHE--I think he's just fine. - -HE--You're speaking very zealously. Do you know I'm almost jealous of -him when I hear you talk like that. - -SHE--I'm a loyal champion for my friends, you'll find. I have but few, -and those I keep. - -HE--Do you ever add to the list? - -SHE--That's for you to discover. - -HE--Count me in, please. - -SHE--Well--I'm willing to try to do so. - -HE--Thanks, awfully. By the way, they've pledged me their word that a -copy of that novel will be here tomorrow. May I bring it around Sunday -evening? - -SHE--Why, I could be reading the book all day Sunday. - -HE--Then I'll make it tomorrow night. Will that suit? - -SHE--I have no engagement, and will be glad to have you. - -HE--Good-bye until then. - - -VIII. - -(Thursday, December 6.) - -HE--Madison 7-9-3-1-m, please. Yes. Is that Mr. Pratt's? Is Miss -Genevieve there? - -SHE--No, she is not in. Who shall I tell her called? - -HE--You didn't disguise your voice, Miss Genevieve? I knew you right -away. - -SHE--I thought I might learn something, Mr. Vincent. - -HE--I might have told my real name. - -SHE--That would have been disastrous. - -HE--It would, if I had started confessing things. - -SHE--What's the matter? Have you anything on your conscience? - -HE--Not my conscience, but my heart. - -SHE--There you go again. You promised me last night at the Academy you -wouldn't jolly any more. - -HE--I haven't. I'm desperately in earnest. I swear it. - -SHE--I wish I could believe you. - -HE--Why don't you? - -SHE--It might disturb my peace of mind. - -HE--Would that be so bad? - -SHE--Um-m-m-m-m, maybe. - -HE--I can see those mocking eyes of yours now. - -SHE--I don't like that, Mr. Vincent. That's rude. - -HE--I'll beg your pardon when next I can look at you. That reminds me. -Have you anything on for tomorrow night? - -SHE--Um-m-m, no. - -HE--I'd like to take you to Albaugh's. You've seen a musical comedy at -the Academy, and a serious drama at Ford's, and it might be well to take -a dash into "vodevil" before the week is over. - -SHE--Do you know you're too good to me. I can never repay you. - -HE--Yes, you can. By agreeing to go every time I ask. - -SHE--Haven't I done it? - -HE--Yes, you've never failed me. It's settled, then, for "vodevil?" - -SHE--Come early and avoid the rush. - -HE--And can you stay late? Because--well, I thought you might like a -bite to eat at the Stafford after the show. - -SHE--Another of your surprises. Do you treat all of the girls so finely? - -HE--No; only you. - -SHE--Bluffer! Goodbye. - - -IX. - -(Monday, January 21, 1907.) - -SHE--Please ring the other party on this line. Is that Madison -7-9-3-1-y? Mrs. Vincent, isn't it? This is Genevieve Pratt, Mrs. -Vincent. I hope you're feeling better than when I saw you? So glad to -hear it. Isn't this fine, crisp weather? Do I want to speak to your -son? If I may. Is that you, Carroll? - -HE--Why, little girl! - -SHE--Surprised to hear from me so soon? Well, after I came in the house -I found an invitation to a private dance at the Belvedere two weeks from -tonight. Lida and her husband are to give it. I've heard it's to be a -swell affair--big ballroom decorated, orchestra and seated supper. I -want you to go with me. Will you? - -HE--Now, you know very well I will, little girl. - -SHE--Oh, I'm so glad! I'll see everybody I know; I'll have you with me, -and--you know how to dance so well. - -HE--You mean we know how to dance together. Listen, Genevieve: If I go, -are you going to give me every dance? - -SHE--Certainly not. People would talk too much. If you're good, you may -have every other one. - -HE--And sit out the rest with you? - -SHE--Perhaps. All right, mother. - -HE--What did you say? - -SHE--Did you hear? That was mother insisting that I come to dinner. - -HE--I'll let you go, then. You promised me every one, don't forget. - -SHE--No, I didn't. - -HE--Do you remember what I told you coming uptown this afternoon? - -SHE--You told me a lot of things. - -HE--I told you you were the most tormenting little vixen on earth. - -SHE--You didn't mean it, did you? All right, mother. Listen, Carroll, I -really must go. Tell me you didn't mean it. - -HE--I did mean it. You are the most tormenting, also the most lovable. I -wouldn't have you otherwise. - -SHE--Oh, Carroll! - -HE--Goodbye. - - -X. - -(Tuesday, February 5.) - -SHE--Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is Mr. Carroll Vincent up? At breakfast? -Please tell him Miss Pratt wishes to speak to him. Oh, Carroll, I -haven't slept a wink since you left me at the door! I'm so happy! I just -lay awake thinking of last night, and then I thought I'd get up and -'phone you before you went downtown. I'm so happy! - -HE--I'm glad you are, sweetheart. I'll try all my life to keep you so. I -wish I could get closer to you than over this 'phone. - -SHE--What would you do? - -HE--I'd kiss you and whisper how I love you. - -SHE--Don't, Carroll, don't! The telephone girl will hear you. - -HE--What do I care? I feel like going around and shouting to all the -world, "She loves me, she loves me, she loves me!" just to tell them how -happy I am. - -SHE--Oh, Carroll, don't do that! - -HE--You don't suppose I'd do it, little darling, do you? No, this is our -precious little secret. Just we two. - -SHE--I don't deserve all this joy, Carroll. I don't feel I'm good enough -for you--indeed, I don't. - -HE--I thought you promised me in the carriage that you would never talk -like that again. - -SHE--I can't help it, Carroll. I feel so unworthy of you. I never felt -like that before in my life. But when--when you put your arm around -me--I just thought--well, I just thought how grand and noble you are and -how trifling and insignificant I am. - -HE--Don't, don't say that, little sweetheart. - -SHE--I just can't help it. I'm so happy I want to cry. - -HE--I understand, dear girl. - -SHE--And when you asked me in the alcove if I--whether I would give -myself to you for keeps--and you spoke so beautifully, Carroll!--indeed, -I had trouble to keep back the tears. Love is a wonderful thing, isn't -it? - -HE--It is, dearest. - -SHE--You are coming early tonight, aren't you? - -HE--I will fly to you as soon as I can. I tell you what, can't you meet -me downtown and have lunch with me? - -SHE--Oh! may I? You know I'd just love to! - -HE--Well, meet me at half-past 12. Usual corner, you know--Fidelity -Building. Goodbye until then. - - -XI. - -(Wednesday, April 10.) - -SHE--Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is that you, Carroll? - -HE--Yes, it is I. - -SHE--I think it perfectly hateful of you to send me that mean note, -Carroll Vincent. - -HE--Now, look here, girlie, don't you think you're to blame? - -SHE--I? Why, the idea! - -HE--Yes, you. I don't believe you care for me at all. - -SHE--Why, Carroll Vincent, how can you say that? - -HE--Now, say, Genevieve, don't take that tone with me. You know you had -no business flirting with Jack Smallwood as you did last night at -Lehmann's. - -SHE--Flirting? Why, Mr. Vincent, how dare you? - -HE--Yes, flirting. I said it. If you cared anything for me, you wouldn't -treat me so contemptibly as you have been lately. - -SHE--Contemptibly? What have I been doing, I'd like to know? - -HE--I think the way you carried on with Jack was perfectly outrageous. -As for him, when---- - -SHE--Carroll Vincent, you ought to be grateful to him, if you love me. - -HE--If I love you? - -SHE--Yes, if you love me. You know very well he introduced us. And Jack -isn't anything to me. - -HE--And you don't care for him? - -SHE--Certainly I like him. He's one of my oldest friends. - -HE--Oh, those friends! - -SHE--You're letting your jealousy run away with you. - -HE--Maybe I am, but I'm glad I found him out before it was too late. - -SHE--Indeed! And do you think it is too late? (Pause) What did you say? - -HE--I didn't say anything. I was thinking. Listen, Genevieve, what's the -use of our going on like this? I see now I was pig-headed to send that -note. It was cruel to you. I'll never forgive myself. - -SHE--I'm glad you're coming to your senses. - -HE--I don't blame you for being angry, Genevieve, dear. - -SHE--Oh! Carroll, how could you be so unjust? - -HE--I'm awfully remorseful. Can't I come tonight and tell you more? - -SHE--Why, certainly, you old goose. I'll forgive you. - -HE--I'm so glad, Genevieve. But, tell me, dearest girl, you don't care -for Jack Smallwood. - -SHE--No, you silly boy. He isn't worth your little finger. - -HE--Thank you, sweetheart. Goodbye. - - -XII. - -(Wednesday, June 4.) - -SHE--Madison 7-9-3-1-y, please. Is that you, dearest? Oh! Carroll, I'm -all so topsy-turvy I don't know what I'm doing. But I just couldn't go -to bed without talking to you again. - -HE--You know I'm glad. - -SHE--And I----Oh! I'm so full of joy I can't wait for tomorrow to come. -Doesn't it seem like a dream to think of our being married? It's all so -strange, and yet I'm so happy! You don't think me unwomanly for telling -you so, do you, dearest? I'm so frightened, and yet my heart is -beating--trip--trip--for you. Can't you hear it? - -HE--Keep still a moment. Yes, I can. One, two, three---- - -SHE--Oh, you tease! Such nonsense! - -HE--It must be my own then, beating for you. - -SHE--You're not nervous, are you? - -HE--Of course I am. Am I not going to get the best, sweetest, prettiest, -dearest, most lovable girl in the world for a wife? Tomorrow at high -noon seems a long way off, doesn't it? - -SHE--Oh! Carroll, we won't need a 'phone then, will we? - -HE--It has been a dear old two-party line, though, hasn't it? - -SHE--It knows an awful lot of our secrets. I wonder how much the -exchange girl has heard? - -HE--Oh! I guess she got tired of us long ago. - -SHE--Then she won't be listening if I send you a kiss over the wire. -Um--m--m--m--did you get it? - -HE--I'll give it back with interest tomorrow. - -SHE--Everything's tomorrow, isn't it? - -HE--There's the clock striking midnight. It's today now, and our wedding -day. - -SHE--Oh, Carroll! - -HE--Don't come late, little bride. I'll be "waiting at the church." - - - - -_Timon Up To Date_ - - -The Doctor and his wife waited until their half dozen guests had -finished the tasty supper Mrs. Harford had provided before they sprung -upon them the purpose which had moved them to invite them. The entire -party was made up of West Arlingtonites, neighbors from across the way, -from down the block and from up near Carter Station. They had chatted -gaily over neighborhood gossip in the dining-room, intermingled with -nonsense of the sort that passes between people who have been a great -deal in the same set. And now that they were seated on the front porch, -two in a hammock and the others in comfortable rockers, the badinage -continued as Dr. Harford passed cigars to the men and pretended to give -them to the ladies, too. - -"They don't seem to have taken offense at our not asking them," -whispered Mrs. Caswell to plump little Mrs. Fremont. - -"No, not a bit," responded Mrs. Fremont, in the same low tone. "All the -same, I feel like a hypocrite for coming." - -"Nonsense," said Mrs. Caswell; "you're too soft." - -She might have added more, but Dr. Harford, who had been lounging -against a post since he had handed around the cigars, was evidently -trying to attract the attention of the entire group. - -"I am reminded tonight," he began, slowly, "by this little affair of a -larger party here last summer, when we entertained the card club." - -In the stillness that ensued the song of the crickets in the fields -beyond the town sounded most strangely plain. - -"Mrs. Harford and I," pursued the Doctor, his voice growing more -incisive, his manner more stern, "both enjoyed ourselves in that club, -and we are most curious to know why we were not included this year." - -The pair in the hammock stopped swinging so suddenly that their feet -scraped the floor vigorously. Mrs. Fremont cleared her throat with -evident nervousness. The others were still dumb--that is, all except Mr. -Caswell. - -"Why, old man," he burst out, "I was told you did not want to"---- - -"Joseph!" interrupted Mrs. Caswell, turning herself so that her husband -could see her more plainly in the white light from the arc lamp at the -corner. There was the menace of a curtain lecture in her face. - -"We did want to join, Caswell," exclaimed Dr. Harford, quickly. "The -plain fact is that we were not asked." - -"There must be some mistake," said Mr. Caswell. "I'm sure I, for one, -have been sorry"---- - -"Joseph!" again exclaimed Mrs. Caswell. This time she was unmistakably -severe. Caswell subsided. - -Dr. Harford addressed himself directly to Mrs. Caswell. "I intend to get -to the bottom of this affair tonight," he said. "I have asked questions -of several of you, and so has Effie, and the excuses given have been so -various that they would be funny if I did not feel they are doing injury -to me professionally, as well as socially. My purpose in having you all -together here"---- - -A Garrison-avenue car crowded with Electric Park visitors rumbled -noisily by and drowned some of the words of his sentence. - -"I want it sifted thoroughly now." - -Little Mrs. Fremont half rose from her chair, as she said weakly to her -husband: "I don't feel well. I think I'd better be going." - -"Pardon me, Mrs. Fremont," said Dr. Harford, "I beg of you that you will -remain." - -"Stick it out, Emily," remarked Mr. Fremont. "Harford has got us here to -learn the truth." Nothing ever seemed to worry Fremont. - -"Now, Mrs. Caswell," continued Dr. Harford, still addressing that lady -directly and drawing nearer to her by a foot or two, "I will begin with -you. Last week when you were in my office I asked you to tell me just -what stories were being circulated about me in West Arlington, and after -some demur you told me. Do you mind repeating them?" - -Mrs. Caswell was scornful. "I have nothing to say," she exclaimed. "I -think it better to hush the whole affair." - -"Then, my dear madam, I am forced to repeat to my guests what you told -me. You said, you will recollect, that one resident had accused me of -having cheated at cards, and that another party had called me a 'tooth -butcher,' and had declared I could not fix the teeth of her little dog. -Was not that it?" - -It was Mrs. Caswell's turn to rise. "This is a contemptible outrage," -she cried. "I demand that it stop." - -"No more contemptible than the injury you have done us," spiritedly said -Mrs. Harford, speaking for the first time. - -"Have I not quoted you right?" asked Dr. Harford of Mrs. Caswell. - -"I shall say nothing," returned she. "You have cooked up a vile plot to -trap us here." - -"Then, my dear Mrs. Caswell, if you will affirm nothing, I have a way to -make you speak." He stepped inside his hallway for an instant, while the -others, all except his wife, watched him with great curiosity and some -alarm. When he reappeared he was carrying a table on which was some -large, heavy article hidden under a tablecloth. "There's a little -surprise coming to you and the rest," he resumed. "You did not know, -madame, that when I was pressing you with questions as you sat in my -dental chair a phonograph was making a record of your answers." He -whipped off the cover of the talking machine and busied himself with -preparing it for action. - -Consternation was writ large upon the countenances of those who could be -seen in the stray beams of light that countered through the porch. But -Mrs. Caswell's was the only voice heard. Again she protested against -having been trapped. - -"Silence," said Dr. Harford, and he started the machine to whirring. -Everybody bent forward so as to miss nothing. But there was no need, for -the familiar tones of Mrs. Caswell had been well recorded by the Edison -invention and floated out in full and plain confirmation of the charges -Dr. Harford had so carefully repeated. - -Fremont's "Thunderation!" was the only audible one of several -exclamations that were murmured as the quoted phrases died away. Dr. -Harford raised a warning finger. - -"Wait," he said; "there's more." - -And as the machine kept revolving they heard his own voice say: - -"And who was it, Mrs. Caswell, who told you that I had cheated at -cards?" - -There came a sharp interruption. - -"Stop!" cried Mrs. Caswell, as in sheer desperation she bounced from her -chair and made a vicious dive toward the tell-tale recording angel, only -to be blocked by the watchful Dr. Harford. "Let go of me," she cried, as -she shook off his restraining hand in furious anger. "I insist that you -stop this outrage. Joseph, how can you stand idly by and see me so -grossly insulted?" - -There was no answer to the summons from Caswell. His wife evidently -expected none, for she continued right along in wrathful denunciations -of Harford, threatening law suits and other means of dire vengeance. "I -declare she frightens me," whispered timid Mrs. Fremont, as she drew her -chair closer to that of her husband. - -The phonograph was pursuing the even tenor of its paraffine way. Those -who could hearken to it above the irate tones of Mrs. Caswell heard her -refuse several times to name her informant; heard the Doctor's earnest -pleading for no concealment, and finally heard her say: - -"Well, if you really must know, Doctor, who it was who said you cheated -at cards, it was Mrs. Fremont." - -Dr. Harford quickly shut off the record and turned to face the others. -Mrs. Fremont had risen from her chair and leveled her finger at Mrs. -Caswell. She was timid no longer. - -"How dared you tell such a lie about me, Irene Caswell?" she gasped. - -"You know you said it, Mary Fremont." - -"I did not. She is telling what is not true, Dr. Harford. She came to me -when we were re-forming the club and said she would not join this year -if you were to be a member. She uttered a lot of things against you, and -finally she said she was sure you would not hesitate to cheat at cards, -and she only wished she could catch you once. And then I reminded -her--perhaps I was wrong to do it--of the time when I was your partner -and you sprouted an extra point and presently we got into a dispute -about the score." - -"You mean the night at Mrs. Parkin's?" - -"Yes; don't you remember you were the first one to call attention to it -and wanted to take off the point, but after some time it was shown that -we had the right number? That's honestly all I said to her about you and -the cards." - -"I believe you, Mrs. Fremont." - -From the chair into which Mrs. Caswell had subsided there came a snort. -"Go ahead," she sneered. "Play out your little comedy. You're all in it -together. Nobody will believe me." - -"We take you at your word, Mrs. Caswell," rejoined Dr. Harford. "There -is more of the truth to be got at." - -Again the phonograph was in motion, and the listeners heard these -questions and answers: - -"And who was it, Mrs. Caswell, who told you I was a 'tooth butcher' and -could not fix the teeth of her little dog?" - -"Well, to tell you the truth, Doctor, it was Mrs. Parkin who said her -husband had called you a 'tooth butcher,' and it was Mrs. Somerset who -said you could not fix the teeth of her little dog." - -Both the Parkins rose from their place in the hammock. The husband was -so angry that he moved toward Mrs. Caswell with upraised hand until he -recollected himself and halted with a muttered exclamation. The wife, a -tall, graceful blonde, who had made herself well liked since they had -moved out to West Arlington, chose to ignore the woman who had involved -her, and so addressed herself directly to the host. - -"My husband and I," she began, coolly and cuttingly, "are very much -indebted to you, Dr. Harford, for so cleverly unmasking the traitor in -our midst. This woman has called it a miserable trap, and I want to say -that I feel that only by such a contrived plot has it been possible to -uncover the truth and lay the trouble at the door of the right -scandal-monger. - -"Of course, it is unnecessary to say to you," and she pulled herself up -to her full queenly height and spoke with most dignified impressiveness, -"that my husband did not call you a 'tooth butcher' and that I did not -tell her he had said so. What he did say was merely to repeat jokingly -that old jest about a dentist being a 'tooth carpenter.' I forget the -way he put it, but it sounded funny to me at the time, and when I was -out with Mrs. Caswell in her auto that very afternoon I told her. She -laughed, but Mrs. Somerset, who was with us, thought the expression -horrid, and said if she were to think of you as a 'tooth carpenter' and -not as a good, careful dentist, she would not let you attend her dog. -Thus, you see, Doctor, how two harmless little expressions have been -perverted into nasty gossip against you. - -"I cannot tell you of the things that she alleged against you that -afternoon or at other times. I did not give heed to them, and I have too -much respect for you to repeat them here just now. I am only sorry that -we yielded to Mrs. Caswell's insistent urging that we exclude you from -the card club this summer. I am sure it was only done because we felt -there had been ill feeling between you and her and because she had been -the one to start the club and lead it each year." - -"And I want to add, Harford," said Parkin, heartily, "that you will -either be in the club henceforth or there will be no club. Am I not -right?" he queried, turning to the Fremonts. - -The prompt assent from both must have settled Mrs. Caswell's last hope -of appeal from a unanimous verdict. She rose and made a sign to her -husband. Her blazing anger had given way to a chilly hauteur that showed -that, although beaten, she had not hauled down the flag. "I hope your -little farce has quite ended," she remarked to Dr. Harford, with -exaggerated dignity. - -"Quite," he replied, with sweet acquiescence. - -"Then I suppose I will be allowed to go?" - -"As soon as convenient." - -"I leave you," she pursued, "in the hands of your friends. Oh! if you -only knew the things they have said about you! And now they honey you!" - -"I am willing to trust them," he said, equably. - -For the life of her, Mrs. Caswell could think of no other biting thing -to say, so she took her departure. - -"Come, Joseph," she ordered, as she passed down the steps to the -hedge-bordered walk. - -Caswell stopped for an instant to hold out his hand to the dentist. - -"Sorry, immensely sorry, old chap. Awful mess she's made. If there's any -way I can"---- - -"Joseph!" reiterated Mrs. Caswell from the gateway. - -And Joseph obeyed. - -"Have a fresh cigar, Parkin. And you, Fremont," said Dr. Harford, as the -six left behind settled back in their chairs and hammock for a good -half-hour review of Mrs. Caswell and her mischief-making. - -"By George! this was an original plan of yours, Harford," exclaimed -Fremont. - -"Indeed it was," murmured little Mrs. Fremont. - -"It was not my idea at all. I got it from Shakespeare. Do you not recall -a scene in 'Timon of Athens' where Timon invites his false friends to a -banquet to show them up?" - -"Well, you worked it neatly, anyhow," said Parkin, who had never read -Shakespeare in his life. - -"I had one great advantage over 'old Bill,'" continued Dr. Harford. - -"In what way?" asked Mrs. Parkin, smiling at him. - -"I had the phonograph." - - - - -_The Night That Patti Sang_ - - -When I moved there 10 years ago that Franklin-street block just west of -Charles was even then known as "Doctors' Row," though there was by no -means the number of professional men the street now has. From Dr. -Osler's at the Charles-street corner of the south side--in the old -Colonial mansion where now the Rochambeau apartments stand--to Dr. Alan -P. Smith's on the north side next to the old Maryland Club building at -Cathedral street, there were in all five doctors. And my own -shingle--newly painted in gilt letters as befitted a specialist freshly -returned from the Vienna hospitals--made the sixth sign of the kind. - -On the south side not far from Dr. Osler's, the front of one of those -fine old houses erected in the thirties, and the homes of the elite of -Baltimore for many years before Mount Vernon place was built up, bore -the announcement of: - _____________________________ - | | - | JAMES COURSEY DUNTON, M. D. | - |_____________________________| - -The sign was of a very old pattern, and was so rain-washed that the name -could scarcely be deciphered. This, too, was the case with a frosted -pane in the front window, on which--perhaps 40 years ago--Dr. Dunton had -had his name painted in black letters. The house, too, showed the same -lack of paint and care. - -In my student days at the Johns Hopkins Medical School I had never heard -the name of Dr. Dunton, and this led me to make inquiries of a -professional neighbor. I learned that Dunton was in effect an elderly -hermit, that for years he had abandoned his practice and had declined to -respond to calls. His self-enforced isolation had grown to such a degree -that he was rarely seen on the street and made all his household -purchases through notes stuck in his vestibule door for "order boys". "I -have seen Dunton only once in eight years," said my informant. "They -say, too, he used to be an excellent practitioner, an Edinburgh -graduate, with a patronage of the best classes--a courtly gentleman who -was well liked by his patients." - -"What was the cause for the change?" I asked. - -"A love tragedy of some kind, they told me, though I never got the -details." - -I developed a lively curiosity in the elderly recluse, and nearly every -time I moved in or out of my own residence, or passed my front windows, -I glanced at Dr. Dunton's house in hopes of seeing him. My first glimpse -was, perhaps, a month after I had been told about him. The sun had gone -down, save where I could see the gilded tops of the Cathedral with a red -glint upon them. In the half-light Dr. Dunton came to his second-story -window--I knew it must be he--a tall, slender figure, somewhat bent, -garbed in unrelieved black, save for the open white collar of -ante-bellum style. Scant white hair extended from his temples back over -his ears and framed a face that seemed, in the dusk, refined and kindly, -though seared with many wrinkles. I watched the silent figure at the -window unnoticed by him, for he gazed with intentness at the -vine-adorned front of the old Unitarian Church at the corner, until the -real darkness came upon us both. - -It was, I think, about a week later when I again encountered Dr. Dunton. -The Edmondson-avenue trolley line had just been completed up Charles -street, and for the first time this old residential section resounded -with the clangor that betokened rapid transit. About 9 one night I -observed Dr. Dunton stepping down from the pavement of the Athenaeum -Club to cross the street. A trolley car was coming rapidly, but the old -gentleman, his head bent in thought and unused as he was to modern -inventions and modern bursts of speed, paid no attention and moved in -front of it. The motorman threw off his current, tried to reverse, and -rang his gong furiously, but saw that he could not stop in time to avoid -hitting the Doctor. I had bounded into the street, and when the car was -only half a dozen feet off I was fortunately able to draw the old chap -back and hold him clear of the Juggernaut that had so nearly wrought his -destruction. - -His first impulse, as he turned toward me, was one of anger that I had -presumed to intrude so violently upon his thoughts. Then he saw what a -narrow escape he had had, and anger gave place to a courtly smile and a -slight twinkle in his sunken eyes. - -"We young fellows are not so careful as we ought to be," he said. "I owe -you my life." - -I hastened to assure him that my act was one of simple kindness, but he -renewed his expressions of thanks in even more polished phrases. The car -had gone on and we had crossed to the church corner. - -"I am Dr. Dunton," he said. "My house is yonder and, though I dwell -alone, and with little ceremony, I will be pleased to have you partake -of such hospitality as I can offer." - -I accepted with alacrity. "I am Dr. Seaman," I responded. "I have just -moved into the block." And I indicated my own home. - -We crossed Franklin street to Dr. Dunton's house. He opened the heavy -door with a latch-key, but before I could enter it was necessary for him -to go ahead and light up. He was profuse in his apologies for the -disorder of everything as he led me into the room behind the parlor, but -beyond a thick coating of dust the dark mahogany furniture showed no -signs of the absence of servants. - -"I suppose you younger men might call this your 'den,'" he said as he -applied a match to the centre chandelier, "but I prefer to name it my -study." There were rows upon rows of medical works of a past generation -on the shelves around the room, a familiar bust of Esculapius, a skull -or two, some assorted bones and other signs of my host's former -profession. A worn leather arm-chair sat behind the table under the -chandelier, another arm-chair on the right. Dr. Dunton drew the latter -forward for me and dropped into the other one. As the light fell full -upon him I noted that he was not only thin, but gaunt, and that his -face, which interested me strangely, was marked by hollow places that -gave him an almost uncanny appearance, despite its refinement and -intellectuality. His eyes had a haunting expression, as if at times he -suffered much physical pain, and there was a sadness in them that -quickened my sympathies. - -For a minute or so there was silence. I felt that he was at a loss for -topics upon which to converse on common ground. Finally he said: - -"You are the first visitor I have had here since poor Wallis sat in that -chair a dozen years ago." - -"You mean Mr. Wallis the lawyer?" I asked. - -"He was my good friend in many dark days," he answered gently. I felt -that he was slipping away from me into the past. - -"You must have it lonely here," I remarked. - -"Not lonely," was the response. "I live with my memories." - -The shadow on his face grew deeper. - -"Why not practice your profession," I hazarded, "and forget some part of -your past sorrows in a busy life?" - -He leaned forward, looking intently at me and yet beyond. "Ah! lad," he -said, as he laid a thin hand upon my wrist, "if you but knew, if you -but knew! I tried hard, and then I found I couldn't, and then I gave up -trying. There are griefs so great that one cannot lose them until the -last sleep. I am not lonely, for I have Her always with me here." - -It was best for me to remain silent. He was almost unaware of my -presence. I felt he would go on if I did not divert his train of -thought. - -"Night after night She sits here with me," he pursued; "day after day -She is by my side. In spirit the loving companionship I sought is ever -mine, and yet, great God, how different!" His face he buried in his -hands. In my eyes the tears could not be kept back. - -Presently he rose from his seat and moved to the wall next to the -parlor. To my surprise, the pressure of his finger against a spot in the -wooden door pillar opened up a secret cupboard in the partition. The -Doctor reached in and lifted out an arm chair of the same pattern as -that upon which I was seated. It was heavy and I jumped to aid him, but -he negatived me with a short, sharp twist of his head. As he came into -the full light I saw that the chair contained a woman's cloak, one of -shimmery gray satin, but now sadly faded and time-stained. Reverently he -lifted the cloak and laid it across the back of the chair. - -"That's as it was the night she sat there and passed away," said the -Doctor. - -For several minutes there was no word between us. The Doctor, his mouth -twitching, his thoughts far from me, stared intently at the old cloak. - -"How I loved her, how I loved her!" he finally murmured. Again he was -becoming aware of my presence. "You can't understand, sir, the depth of -my devotion. It stood the test of years--it stood even her marriage to -another." - -Another pause. - -"She was the prettiest and merriest child you ever saw," he finally went -on. "Had she been an Indian maid they would have called her 'Dancing -Sunshine.' But being just a Baltimore girl, with her parents more fond -of reading Scott than of any other literature save the Bible, she was -named Geraldine. You remember that line in the 'Lay of the Last -Minstrel': - - The fair and lovely form, the Lady Geraldine. - -"That's where she got her romantic and historic name. To us boys--my -brother Tom and myself--she was always Dina. She was our cousin. Her -father had died when she was but a babe. So had my mother, and Aunt -Patty thenceforth was the housewife with us. Father was one of those -merchants and ship owners who have long passed away in Baltimore. No -firm was better known around the Basin than that of Dunton & Jameson, -and no clipper ships were faster than those with the Dunton signal. - -"Dina was Tom's age, some years younger than I, but both of us made her -our playmate. We didn't have the hundred and one diversions and sports -that young people seem to have nowadays--no suburban clubs, no motoring, -little driving. We roamed through Howard's woods around and beyond the -Washington Monument, and we strolled the banks of the 'canal' that used -to parallel Jones' Falls down there above Centre street. And in all our -rambles and excursions Dina was our joyous, care-free companion. I can -see her now, as she was at 14, a simply dressed school girl, with her -olive complexion, her clear, trustful gray eyes, her trim, petite, -lissom figure and her rosebud mouth, ready ever to kiss either of us in -fond sisterly affection. - -"She was 16 when I was sent to Edinburgh on one of father's ships, to -become a doctor. For once her laughter deserted her, and the last -picture I had of her as our boat headed down the Patapsco on a bright, -blue morning was of a tearful miss on Bowly's wharf, waving a bedewed -handkerchief and watching through misty eyes the going of Cousin Jim -across the water. There had been a tender farewell between us, and -though no word of love was spoken, I tell you, lad, I knew I was leaving -my heart behind. - -"My three years in Scotland were ones of hard work, and the chief joy I -knew came with Dina's letters. The mails were slow in those days, and -they came too uncertainly for me, you may be sure. But each brought me, -in addition to a budget of news, just a bit of Dina's lovely -personality. I saw her, in her letters, growing into sweet womanhood, -and, as I sometimes stretched myself in meditation on Arthur's Seat, far -above old Edinburgh, my thoughts were not of the city, nor of my own -lifework, but of the little girl at home. - -"I was just completing my course, when there came my first terrible -blow. A letter came from Dina, the first in two months, and it brought -me word, lad, that she was married! Married! Just think of it! And to -Tom. He had been with Watson and Ringgold in the Mexican War, and -clippings they sent me had recounted the bravery of young Captain -Dunton. I confess to you, sir, that for days I had murder in my heart, -and against my own brother. I went off on a walking trip in the -Trossachs, and a savage time I had of it with myself; I had schemes of -petty revenge; I abused Dina; I vowed she could not love Tom; that she -must have been swept off her feet by the brass buttons and the war -glamour about him. - -"By the time I came back to Baltimore I had regained self-control, and -when I met Tom and his wife it was with the determination to do -everything for Dina's happiness, even though she were another's. I was -not wrong in my prophecy that she would develop into sweet womanhood, -only I underestimated it. In all our circle of acquaintances in -Baltimore there was no more beautiful young matron than Mrs. Dunton; no -more sprightly and piquant bride; no hostess more gracious, as she -presided over the dinners and 'small and early' affairs that were given -at our home here. - -"But, alas! it was not long before sorrows came to her. Tom began to -drink heavily. He got in with a gay set at Barnum's Hotel, his hours -grew irregular, his absences from home more numerous and more -prolonged. Father and I remonstrated ineffectually, at first pleadingly -and then in anger. We did our best to keep Dina ignorant of some of the -worst stories out concerning Tom's dissipation, but she knew. And though -she loyally never criticised him in talking to us, we saw the joy fade -out of her heart and lips, and the glint of ineffaceable sadness come -into those pure gray eyes. God only knows what she suffered in the nine -years before death, invited by alcohol, came and took Tom. - -"It may sound brutal, but I was glad when besotted Tom was gone. It -ended Dina's terrible worry, it relieved father and myself of -unexplainable trouble, expense and annoyance, it laid to rest a family -skeleton of whose existence all Baltimore seemed to know. And deep down -in my heart, I confess it, there was a thrill that the woman I loved -above all was free. - -"Of course, being a true woman, and a tender-hearted one, Dina grieved -long over Tom's death. She had loved him sincerely despite his grievous -faults, and ours was a melancholy household for another year. In those -days our women wore deep black mourning and veils, and sombre, indeed, -was Dina as she went out to church, to Tom's grave, or to half a dozen -poor households she had taken under her wing. But most of the time she -was at home ministering to father, whose declining health was a cause of -alarm to both of us. - -"Presently I began to urge her to go about with me. At first she said -no, then with her characteristic considerateness she seemed unwilling to -hurt me by refusing further. I took her to the homes of our friends for -an evening of music or whist, or to an occasional public concert. The -color began to come back into the cheeks whence it had been so long -absent, and that glint of grief in the gray eyes grew dimmer. I spoke no -word of love, but unobtrusively carried on a campaign to let her see how -badly I yearned for her. The new books, the best sweets, the prettiest -flowers, such delicate compliments as sincerity could dictate--all these -I gave her and watched patiently to see the dawning of love on her part. -I had always had her fond affection, but I wanted more and strove in -every way to gain it. - -"Two years passed and there came a night memorable in Baltimore when -18-year-old Adelina Patti--a singer in the first flush of youth and -beauty, fresh from triumphs in New York--was brought to Holliday-Street -Theatre to sing 'La Somnambula.' Strakosch had stirred up a furore about -Patti and Brignoli in Gotham, and Baltimore was curious to hear them. I -took Dina, and proud was I of her beauty and her sweet garb as we sat in -the midst of a hundred acquaintances in an audience the newspapers -called 'brilliant'. She had abandoned black and wore a satin gown of a -soft color, shimmery and splendidly adorned with lace. Her matured -beauty seemed to me more glorious than the promise of childhood, which -had first captured me. She was entranced with the music, but I had no -ears for the diva, and was there only to enjoy the divinity by my side. -I had a feeling that the end of my probation was near. I believed she -would say 'yes' should I ask her, and I determined to do so that night. - -"After we had gotten away from our friends she talked animatedly of the -opera in the carriage, and I listened contentedly all the while I kept -saying 'Tonight, Jim, tonight!' As we came into the house she led the -way into this office, and with a smile dropped into that chair you see. -She allowed me to unfasten her opera cloak and draw it across the back -of the chair, but she playfully bade me sit down, when I let my arm -steal caressingly about her neck. Ah! man, if you could but know how I -loved her that minute!"---- - -The Doctor's voice broke. There were tears in his eyes. As for me, I was -profoundly moved, and my own eyelashes were wet. - -"I passed into the dining-room to get her some sherry and cake. I was -gone but a moment, but in that instant she was lost to me forever." - -The veins in the old man's forehead stood out like whipcords. He resumed -fiercely after a pause: - -"She was dead, sir. She was dead. She sat in the same position in that -chair as when I had left her, but her hand clutched her side and the -smile she had given me was replaced by a sharp contraction, as if from -pain. Swiftly her heart action had been gripped by an unseen force and -stopped forever. I grew frantic when I found I could not revive her; I -shrieked aloud in the agony of my heart, and father and the servants -rushed here in alarm. They tell me I was mad for days; that I raved and -called incessantly. I do not remember. I knew nothing for a long time, -and then I cursed myself for living on when memory returned. Twice I had -lost her--once by marriage and once by death--and the joy of living was -never to be mine again. I have survived, sir, these many years. I buried -Father after Dina, and I am alone here. But, God, man! I died long ago. -My soul is with her I adored." - -He arose and I followed. I felt that he meant to end our talk. He wiped -away the tears from his cheek with a silk handkerchief, and then, -placing his gaunt hand on my right shoulder, he moved his face close to -mine and spoke earnestly: - -"I never dare visit her grave in Greenmount. I am afraid of myself. But -if you can, to please an old man whose wretched life you have saved -tonight, will you go there some time and see that her resting place has -been tended reverently? I have paid them for it." - -I promised him I would, and then I passed out into the starlit night -with a thousand impressions of the terrible tragedy of this man's life -crowding my excited brain. I could not sleep, and I lay in bed for hours -reconstructing the tale and fancying many details he had not supplied. -The next morning I went to the Dunton lot in Greenmount and found it -well cared for. Over his loved Dina's grave was a handsome stone of -Carrara marble, with this inscription: - ______________________________ - | | - | GERALDINE, | - | Beloved wife of Thomas Bowly | - | Dunton. | - | Passed away suddenly, | - | 1860. | - | Aged 30 years. | - | "God is love." | - |______________________________| - -On one side was the grave of the ill-fated Tom. On the other the green -turf waited to be disturbed to make room for the last of the Duntons, -and there, on a raw day in the following March, I saw the body of the -old Doctor laid beside her whom he had loved so long and with such -overwhelming sorrow. - - - - -_An Island On A Jamboree_ - - -For three days the shipping of Baltimore, large and small, had been held -in leash by a great storm upon the bay. One of those West India autumn -hurricanes coming suddenly had whipped the Chesapeake into such a fury -with its fierce southeast blow that steamboats and small sailing craft -alike heeded the Weather Bureau warning and remained in Baltimore. - -On the third night the gale had spent its fury, and, with a rising -barometer and a favorable Government forecast, Captain Cromwell, eager -to get home, ventured out with his bugeye as soon as the dawn came. The -Patapsco was full of white caps, but the wind had softened and the skies -were clear, and the Tuckahoe met with no misadventure as it passed down. -A hundred other vessels were making ready to follow, but he had the -start of them and the river to himself. In a few hours he would be with -his family at Rock Hall. - -But as he rounded Seven-Foot Knoll and headed across the bay he suddenly -grew excited, and shouted the name of his favorite patron, the great -Jehoshaphat. - -Then he yelled to his crew: - -"What in the devil is that ahead, you lazy loafer?" - -The crew rose up en masse--being only one--from its lolling position -beside the mainmast, and looked out over the disturbed waters. And then -it was the crew's turn to become excited. - -"Golly, Cap. Jim, I ain't never done seen nuthin' like that afore. What -the debbil am it?" - -The commander of the Tuckahoe responded: - -"I'll be jiggered if I know." - -The crew instinctively moved back to a position close to the master, and -both, with mixed feelings of alarm and curiosity, concentrated their -gaze upon the strange sight that had aroused them. - -"I've been running to Baltimore these ten years, John Washington," said -the Captain to the crew, "and I've seen queer things on the bay and the -river. I'll never forget how them blamed naval fellers from Annapolis -frightened me by coming up out of the water with one of them durned -submarines. But I'll be blowed if ever I have seen anything to beat -this. There warn't no island out there when we run past the Knoll going -up." - -"'Deed there warn't, Cap. Jim. Golly, I'se scared, I is. Ain't you -'fraid it's one of Satan's traps, Cap. Jim? The debbil am mighty -cunnin', you knows dat." - -"Devil or not, John, I'm going to see what it really is." - -And the captain of the Tuckahoe gave the command "Hard lee!" so as to -head the bay craft more directly toward the centre of the mysterious -island that they had discovered. It was now about a half mile distant -and, as seen in the morning light, low-lying and ten acres or so in -extent. Its most peculiar feature to the pair on the bugeye was a grove -of tall trees, naked to a height of 60 or 80 feet, and then crowned by -enormous spreading leaves, or branches. - -"Them's powerful funny trees, Cap. Jim," said the colored deckhand, -doubtfully. - -"Never seen anything like 'em in this bay before," replied Captain -Cromwell. "I ain't never been in the tropics, John, but they look mighty -like pictures of cocoanut palms." - -"Tropics, Cap. Jim?" - -"Yes; the West Indies." - -"In de name of de Lawd, Cap. Jim, how dem trees done get here from de -West Indies? Dat a long way off, ain't it?" - -Captain Cromwell made no reply. He was too intently studying the island. -All of a sudden he was startled by his crew sinking on its knees on the -deck with an exclamation. He turned and saw the negro's skin blanched -with terror. - -"Fo' de Lawd Gawd, Cap. Jim, dat thing am movin'." - -"Skidoo, John, skidoo," said the Captain, skeptically. - -"'Deed an' double-deed, it is, Cap. Jim. You jes' look behind it ober -dar at Kent Island." - -The Captain peered as directed, while the negro eyed him doubtfully. - -"Great Jehoshaphat!" the white man cried. "You're right, John, you're -right. That there island is a-movin' up the bay." - -"Ain't yer skeered, Cap. Jim?" asked the crew, with a shudder. "'Pears -to me it's mighty like de debbil." - -Captain Cromwell was doubtful himself. He laid his hand on the tiller -and was about to change his course when he made a fresh discovery. - -"There's a man on that island, as I'm a-livin'," he exclaimed. - -"Whar is he, Cap. Jim?" cried the negro. - -"Right by that grove of trees, John. He's waving his arms at us. He's -standing by some kind of a hut and there's a tall pole with the stars -and stripes turned upside down." - -"Maybe dey's pirates, Cap. Jim." Visions of the dreaded skull and -cross-bones and of a horrible death at the yardarm, whatever that was, -made John Washington's teeth and knees knock together violently. - -"Pirates, the deuce! They're Americans that want help." - -"And is you gwine close, Cap. Jim? Lawdy." - -The crew started forward and the Captain held the bugeye to its course -to the strange island. The man by the grove of palms waved his arms and -ran toward the shore nearest to them. He shouted several times, but -Captain Cromwell could not hear him. Finally, the man picked up a huge -leaf, and, twisting it into a cornucopia shape, made a megaphone of it. -With this aid his voice came floating over the bay. - -"Keep off!" he called. "There is a sunken reef on this side. Head for -the cove." He pointed to the north end of the floating mass, and -Captain Cromwell put about. The island, now that he was close, appeared -to be making good headway--at least four or five miles an hour. There -was a swish and a swirl of water on the sides that showed it would have -been folly to have run in shore there. But after he had rounded a -hummock of glistening sand he saw the cove, and in a few minutes more -had entered it and discovered a roughly constructed wharf. John -Washington reluctantly obeyed a sharp order to take in sail, and, with -the aid of the stranger ashore, the Tuckahoe was presently moored. - -Captain Cromwell's first impulse was to laugh at a near view of the man -on the island. "Powerful funny lookin'," was John Washington's comment. -His hair and whiskers were of the red hue that could never by courtesy -be called auburn. Both whiskers and hair were long and ragged and would -have provoked despair in any aseptic barber shop in Baltimore. For coat -the islander had on a baggy affair, roughly fashioned out of jute, and -his trousers were of sailcloth, cut in a style that would not have met -the approval of a Maryland Club member. He was thick-set, with a slight -stoop. His wrists were tattooed, his hands horny. His eyes were a placid -blue pair. Above the left one was a scar. - -"Where in blazes am I?" he yelled to Captain Cromwell as the Tuckahoe -was nearing the wharf. "Blazes" is a mild translation of the expletive -actually employed. - -"Chesapeake bay, mate." - -"Chesapeake bay! Jiminy crickets! Blown all the way from the Bahamas! -Well, I'm danged!" - -"How did it happen?" asked the master of the Tuckahoe. The newest -Robinson Crusoe didn't hear him. - -"How in blazes did I pass in the Capes and not know it?" Again "blazes" -is putting it mildly. "Durned thick, nasty weather yesterday. Couldn't -see a half mile. Must a passed in then. How far up am I?" - -"Mouth of the Patapsco." - -"By jinks, so it is. I might a knowed it. There's the Knoll. And there's -North P'int. Many's the time I sighted them when I used to run here in a -five-master from Bath." - -"How did you come--this time?" again asked Captain Cromwell. - -Again his curiosity had to wait. "Got a quid of 'baccy, mate?" asked the -red-bearded man as he stood on the wharf beside the bugeye. "Ain't had a -chaw in four years." He seized eagerly the plug that was handed to him, -broke off a generous "chaw" and thrust it into his mouth. Then, and not -until then, did he make reply. - -"How did I come? Caught in a sou'easter, that's all. Nastiest storm you -ever want to see. Hit us suddenly five nights ago. Them palms was bent -double with the wind. Lord only knows why my mansion yonder didn't go. -After while sort a felt we were driftin'. When mornin' broke there was -my kingdom afloat in the ocean cut in two, me alone on this bit and the -biggest half gone off with my subjects on it." - -"Subjects?" - -"Yes, my people." - -The Captain looked at John and John edged off from the stranger and made -a sign suggestive of deficient mentality. - -"Your people?" asked Captain Cromwell. - -"Yes, man. Why, I am the King of Tortilla Key." - -John renewed the aforesaid sign and edged still farther away. Captain -Cromwell laughed. The stranger chimed in. - -"Does sound funny, don't it. Fact is I made myself King. I've got a -crown up at the palace there. Rusty tin saucepan afore I knocked the -bottom out." - -The Captain laughed again. - -"You're an odd fish," he remarked. "What was your name before you were -King?" - -"Me? Oh! I'm a 'down Easter.' Peleg Timrod of Squan, Mass., U. S. A. Of -course, I knowed Peleg was no royal name, so I just dubbed myself Victor -Fust when I annexed this here island." - -"It ain't much of a kingdom." - -"About four times as large as you see afore the rest broke away. Anyway, -I thought it a mighty big place when I got tossed up here goin' on four -year ago. I'd been afloat on the roof of a deckhouse for three days -arter the fruiter Bainbridge were cast away, and I tell you, mate, I was -powerful glad to hit any old kind of terra firma then. The bunch of -natives who fed me and sheltered me was a kind lot. They didn't seem to -belong to no country in partikler, and though I knowed Britain claimed -the Bahamas, I jes' kind a thought Teddy might want the place for a -coaling station some time. So I let 'em know I was their King, and I -reckon I ain't had any more trouble with them than Peter Leary had in -Guam. Of course, I couldn't make it plain to 'em how the Constitution -follows the flag, 'cos I didn't know myself." - -"Where did you get your American flag?" - -"American flag, mate?" Victor I. was offended. "Why, bless you, that -ain't no stars and stripes. That there's the flag of Tortilla. There's -no stars there. The red's my old undershirt, the blue I found thrown up -in the surf one day and the white is a bit of sail I had with me when I -dropped in to take my throne. That flag means business. I"---- - -His Majesty was interrupted by a shout from John Washington: - -"Golly, Cap. Jim, the island's stopped!" - -"Stopped, you lunkhead?" - -"Yes, Cap. Jim. It ain't movin' no more. I'se been watchin' Poole's -Island yonder, and we done ceased." - -"Maybe it's aground," suggested the King. - -"Maybe it is," replied the Rock Hall captain, "but it's more likely to -have run into a current down the bay from the Susquehanna. It's just as -well for you, I guess, or you'd a bumped into Cecil county so hard you -wouldn't a voted next 'lection." - -For some minutes the trio studied the island and its surroundings with -intentness. The King was the first to notice when his kingdom got to -moving again. - -"It's headin' down the bay this time," he cheerily declared. "Reckon you -were right about getting into a current. S'pose I'm off on another -cruise." - -"Sail away with me, and let it go," urged Captain Cromwell. - -"What! desert my kingdom in such a economic crisis! Not this King. No, -siree. Victor I. stays right here as long as there's a Tortilla to king -it over. There's no kin in Squan to lament the loss of Peleg Timrod, and -I've had a bully time here. Plenty of bananas, pineapples and cocoanuts -to live on, no work to do, and a couple of queens to boot." - -"Queens?" cried Captain Cromwell. - -"Golly!" exclaimed his crew. - -"Yes; two as fine-looking girls as you'd want to see. I'm powerful sorry -they ain't here now to give you a royal welcome. They're gone with the -rest of the island and the rest of the subjects. I miss 'em." - -Victor I. sighed. Then he resumed after a pause: - -"Women certainly are the curiousest things. They're the same everywhere. -Life's no good without 'em, and they plague you to death while you're -trying to live with 'em. Now, there's those two queens. I loved both, -and yet I had such trouble with 'em last week I made 'em go home to -their father's hut. Ain't I sorry they wasn't at the palace when the -sou'easter came! - -"How did I get 'em? Oh, they were given to me when I first came to -Tortilla. You see, when I got throwed up here there was a family of -natives, eight in all--the old man, the old woman, three daughters, the -husband of one of them and two young boys. The two girls who didn't have -no husbands took a shine to me as soon as I came and dad just passed me -along to both. That was before I declaimed myself King. I was brought up -in Sunday-school all right and I knowed well only Turks and Mormons had -two wives at a time. But, under the circumstances, I couldn't offend -anybody, so I just took both. Eugenie--that's the name I give her--she -could cook and keep house out of sight. The little one--Marie -Antoinette--was the cutest and soon had the biggest corner of my heart. -That's what got me into trouble. You see, new clothes was scarce on -Tortilla, and when I gave a bit of my old sail to Marie Antoinette for a -Sunday-go-to-meetin' dress and didn't give none to Eugenie their oldest -sister put the devil into Eugenie's head. She"---- - -The further recital of the tale of a pair of queens was cut short by a -terrible roaring. A piece of the island behind the wharf broke loose and -sank into the bay with a suddenness that put the Tuckahoe in dire peril. -The wave that followed the engulfing of an acre of land lifted the -little bugeye and nearly capsized it, at the same time ripping the wharf -to pieces and snapping the moorings. Captain Cromwell and his negro -sprang to the tiller and succeeded in steadying her. When they had time -to look about them they saw the red-headed King in the water a hundred -feet away, swimming for what was left of his kingdom. - -"Come nearer; I'll throw you a line," shouted Captain Cromwell. - -"No; I'll stick to my kingdom," answered Victor I., alias Peleg Timrod. -"You'd better sheer off; you'll hit a coral reef or get drawn under." - -The Tuckahoe's master saw that it was good advice, and he ordered John -Washington to hoist sail. By the time this was done they were a quarter -of a mile out in the bay, and Victor I., wet and dripping, was again on -his terra firma. - -"Goodbye," yelled the bay captain. - -"Bye-bye," returned the King, nonchalantly. - -And soon he was but a speck on the strand of the floating island, which -was making good progress southward. - -For half an hour Tortilla Key was visible in the bay. Captain Cromwell -and John watched it unceasingly, the latter growing more and more -relieved as the bugeye scudded nearer home and farther from the moving -marvel. Strange to relate, over the bay, usually dotted with small or -large vessels, there was no steamer or sailing craft to be seen up to -the time that the bunch of tall palms became a speck off Annapolis and -was finally lost in the south horizon. This evidently suggested a line -of action to the master of the Tuckahoe. - -"John Washington," he said, as he mustered his crew aft and addressed it -sternly, "don't you ever breathe a word about that floatin' island to a -living soul, or I'll skin you alive." - -"Golly, Cap. Jim, you knows I ain't." - -"Well, you'd better not, because folks is liable to think we made a -round of Pratt-street saloons afore we boarded the Tuckahoe." - -"Dey sutt'nly 'll think we's liars, Cap. Jim." - -"They certainly will, John." - -For a week Captain Cromwell scanned the daily papers anxiously for news -of the progress of the queer derelict. And each day, with equal -curiosity, John Washington visited him to learn what he could. - -"Thought as how it mout a bumped up down Norfolk way," said the crew. - -"No, it hasn't," replied the Captain. "I guess it must be chasing up and -down the ocean now." - -"Golly, Cap. Jim, but dat dere was powerful queer." - -"Are you sure, John, you've never told any one--not even Liza?" - -"Go 'way, Cap'n, wha' for you s'pose I'se gwine tell de old woman?" - -But he had. And her narrative, as circulated in Eastern-Shore cabins, -was a vastly more moving tale than the simple unvarnished truth as you -and I know it. - - - - -_Alexander the Great_ - - -Alexander loved everything about Antoinette except her too pronounced -fondness for the romantic. That perturbed him greatly. Nobody liked to -be sentimental with a pretty girl more than did Alexander. If he could -squeeze Antoinette's hand slyly at Ford's or the Academy when a "dark -scene" was on, and get a sweet answering pressure; if he engineered his -arm about her undisturbed when he took her driving on Druid Hill's -unlighted roads of a summer night; if he hazarded an occasional kiss on -her warm, cherry-red lips as they lingered in the parting on the front -steps of her Harlem-avenue home--he was as pleased as any admiring lover -could well be. And the next day in that dull, prosaic German-street -office, pictures of Antoinette as she laughed, of Antoinette as she -lowered her clear brown eyes after that kiss, would thrust themselves -most impertinently into each page of the big ledger he had to post. - -The trouble, however, with Antoinette from Alexander's viewpoint was -that she was more romantic than that. It was all right for her to be a -trusting little dear and allow him the occasional kiss or hug. But no -adorer likes to be told that he doesn't come up to the lady's ideal, and -that was what Antoinette had plainly given Alexander to understand in -those moments when, spurred on by the kiss or the hug, he had sought to -make her more truly his only and own. "The man I marry," vowed the -darling Antoinette, "must be a hero. You're just an ordinary fellow. -You're better than the rest I know, and I like you awfully much. But -Alexander, dear," and she gave a little twist to the top button of his -coat, "I don't love you, because you have never shown yourself capable -of bold deeds or brave actions. I am woman enough to worship a man who -can do things of that kind. The age of chivalry is not dead. There are -heroes in this world, and though I'm awfully fond of you, Alexander, I'm -going to wait until I meet my ideal." Then Alexander would hie himself -to his Gilmor-street home and curse his luck. What could a plain, -unassuming, workaday clerk do in the way of being a hero? Where did he -have opportunities of meeting situations of peril in which he could -prove his valor? - -One of those evenings when Antoinette waxed confidential and revealed -her true thoughts--evenings rare, because, as a rule, she was fencing -coquettishy with tongue and eyes--she acknowledged that the nearest -approach to her ideal that she had ever seen was a handsome, lithe young -Atlantic City life guard. She put such a valuation upon the courage of -this sun-bronzed, red-shirted Adonis that Alexander's jealousy rose to -the fuming point. There pressed upon him the notion of going to the -City-by-the-Sea, either to challenge this approximate ideal to mortal -combat or of emulating his choice of occupation and working a lifeboat -and a rescue-line himself. Then he reflected that, after all, he would -rather be a live clerk in Baltimore than a dead hero in the restless -ocean surf. - -"It's all the fault of those blamed novels," muttered Alexander, in his -wrath. "She has filled up her head with that silly trash until she has -spoiled the finest girl on earth." He never met her on Lexington street -that she was not on her way to or from the Enoch Pratt Library, or was -carrying home the latest bit of fiction from the bookstores. The old and -the new alike fed her imagination--Scott, the elder Dumas, the King -Arthur romances, Stanley Weyman, Anthony Hope, Hallie Erminie Rives, -Laura Jean Libbey, Bertha M. Clay, Mrs. Alexander--all were fish for her -net, tabloids for her mental digestion. "If she had her way, she would -make me a Rob Roy, a Romeo, a Prisoner of Zenda, a Sir Gal--or whatever -the dickens that old fellow's name was," vowed Alexander, who, it must -be confessed, was not strong on literature. - -For three hours and more he lay awake on his bed that night. He knew the -length of time, because the wind was from the east and brought the sound -of the City Hall's strike to him. How to gain Antoinette in marriage, -how to meet her fancy of what a man ought to be, how to be a hero -without an untimely fate in the flower of his youth--was ever lover more -perplexed, more worried! - -The next morning brought his deliverance. It came to him as he held -himself in place on two inches of the footboard of a crowded open car. -A queer spot for salvation to be handed to a despairing lover! Yet -salvation is accustomed to odd performances. In this instance it popped -into Alexander's mind so unexpectedly that he chuckled and made a seated -individual think Alexander was reading the jokes of his penny paper over -his shoulder. As a matter of fact, Alexander was soaring into a new and -unexplored world. A great white light was leading him far from the -madding crowd. - -For three days chuckling alternated with heavy thinking. His mind was so -engrossed with the probability of his deliverance from the trials and -anxieties of trying vainly to please Antoinette that when he went, by -appointment, to take her to Electric Park to see the vaudeville show he -came perilously near telling her all about it. And that to the swain who -hopes to capture a hesitating maiden would, as every masculine knows, -have been fatal. As it was, Alexander's countenance was so benign and -cheerful that the little lady noticed it. - -"You've got a surprise for me, I know," she declared as she eyed him, -pouting most charmingly. - -She had hit so near the truth that Alexander, helpless masculine, -floundered. "N--n--no. I--I--I haven't," he vowed. - -"Yes, you have, Alexander Brotherton," she replied, spiritedly; and at -midnight as they were crossing Harlem square, homeward bound, she -snuggled up to him confidingly and intimated that it was about time to -tell her. - -Alexander weakened. When a fellow is 24 and a girl is 22 and unusually -pretty and winsome, his heart must be adamant to withstand that little -trick of snuggling up. Alexander gasped, but with the gasp gained sense -enough to see he couldn't tell her about the "great white light." - -Antoinette, girl like, was miffed. It was the first time in her -experience with Alexander, and in fact with several other adorers, that -she had not been able to operate that little device successfully. As a -result, she was rather cool when they parted. - -The next evening Alexander went around to make it up. He had to "crawl," -of course. They all do. The girls make them do it. And when he had -apologized earnestly for the eleventh time and vowed with a double -criss-cross that there really wasn't any secret, Antoinette was -partially mollified and allowed Alexander to stay until past 11 o'clock -without a recurrence of pouting on her part. - -The next night she was in a lovely humor when Alexander came around. It -was close and hot, and, after buying sondaes at the drug store on the -corner below, Alexander suggested riding out and strolling along some of -the paths of Druid Hill Park. He put it humbly, but he was most blithe -and joyous when she consented. - -They were walking up the Mall on their way to the boat lake half an hour -later. It was dark just there, and, as no one seemed to be near, -Alexander let his hand steal around Antoinette's little waist. - -"You shouldn't do that," said Antoinette slipping away from him, but not -angrily. "We're not engaged, you know." - -"I'd like to be," asserted Alexander ardently. - -What answer she would have made can only be guessed at, for just at this -moment two muscular fellows sprang in front of them from behind a tree. -In the few arc-light rays that penetrated the low-hanging limbs -Antoinette could see that both were masked and that one held a pistol at -her. Antoinette backed close to Alexander and screamed. It was a good, -lusty scream, far stronger than Alexander had thought her capable of -emitting. - -"Hand over your money and valuables," gruffly said the companion of him -who held the pistol. - -Antoinette could feel Alexander double his fists and his muscles grow -hard. He started toward the two highwaymen. "Don't! don't!" she cried, -as she threw her arms around him. "They'll kill you!" - -But Alexander heeded her not. Instead, he pushed her aside and sprang -determinedly at the other pair. With his left hand he knocked up the -pistol and caused it to fall to the ground. With his right he delivered -a swinging blow on the shoulder that staggered the other fellow. -Apparently the pair had not expected resistance, for they darted off in -the shadows, with Alexander in stern pursuit. - -"Don't leave me alone," called Antoinette agonizingly. Visions of dire -peril to distressed womanhood leaped into her brain from a score of -favorite novels. She might be kidnapped and confined in some dark -tower--she might be shot down from ambush--she might--but, ah, now! her -fears were dissipated, for the doughty Alexander was back. He was -puffing most unromantically, but was overjoyed at the turn that enabled -him to show himself so valiant. - -Several strangers had been attracted by Antoinette's scream. Alexander -satisfied their curiosity by a modest recital of the incident. And then -with the adoring Antoinette holding close to him he turned away. One of -the strangers stopped him. - -"You've left the pistol," he said. - -"By George! so I did," said Alexander. - -"Don't take that awful thing," said Antoinette with a shudder. - -"It will be a prize trophy," said Alexander, and Antoinette with this -point of view was content. Under the first light he showed the weapon to -her. She needed to be encouraged to handle the pistol, but finally she -inspected it closely. "It has your initials--'A. B.'--on it," she -suddenly declared. - -"Why so it has," stammered Alexander. Without further ado he put the -revolver in his pocket. - -"Hadn't you better tell the park gateman about the outrage?" asked -Antoinette presently. - -"No; I think it wiser to keep it out of the papers," returned Alexander. -"After all, it was only a little incident, with no serious -consequences." - -But Antoinette did not regard it in that light. To her it was a -valorous deed, and she rehearsed her view of it all the way home. - -"You are my hero, my first hero," she said to the proud Alexander on her -stoop, and reaching up to his face she impulsively gave him the warmest -kiss he had ever secured from her. The hero business wasn't so bad after -all. - -Some evenings later they were again strolling in the park. Alexander had -received permission to smoke a cigarette as they walked, but could not -light it in the breeze that was blowing. "Wait a moment, little girl," -he finally said, and he stepped aside to the protection of a broad tree -trunk, perhaps forty feet away, leaving Antoinette on the path. It was -the main-traveled way from Madison-avenue gate to the Mansion House, but -at the time no one was near. Suddenly, however, a tall man loomed up -from behind Antoinette and seized her rudely in his arms. - -"A kiss, my little beauty," he said as he put his face close to hers. -Antoinette would have dropped with fright had not his firm grasp upheld -her. She was too scared to scream, but she did have presence of mind -enough to turn her face aside. What she saw when she did turn overjoyed -her, for Alexander was coming agilely over the turf to her rescue. - -"Here, let go of that lady, you dirty whelp!" cried Alexander, when yet -some paces away. The man relaxed his hold on her, but, instead of -running as her hold-up man had done, he turned to meet the oncoming -champion. Alexander grappled with him and there was a stout tussle. It -seemed ages to Antoinette, who was watching the struggle with tense, -strained eyes, before Alexander proved his redoubtability by throwing -her insulter over on the grass. - -"Oh, Alexander!" she cried in exultation and relief. "You are so strong -and brave!" - -Alexander, panting, swelled his chest. Such praise from the girl he -loved was like divine, enchanting wine. He took her to his bosom, as -they say. But the fond embrace was cut short by a snicker from the -onlooker. He had not risen from the recumbent position in which -Alexander's prowess had placed him. Antoinette's beloved turned angrily -on him, "Get you gone, you vile dog!" he exclaimed theatrically. And -then he kicked him, not gently, but positively. - -In a flash the other man was up and had grabbed the surprised Alexander. -It was such a grab that Alexander murmured in pain. Antoinette thought -she heard one of them say something about "Not in the bargain." She was -not sure. But she was sure that Alexander was not doing so well in the -second round of combat as in the first. Then he whispered to his -opponent, and almost immediately the strength of the other diminished, -even as did Samson's when shorn of his locks. Presently the other broke -away and ran, and Alexander stood breathless, master of the field. - -On the walk back to the Druid Hill-avenue entrance to take a car for -home Antoinette again proposed that they tell the authorities of the -two attacks. Alexander was against it. He said he dreaded the mire of -publicity for the sweetest creature on earth. And he looked at her -lovingly as he said it. Antoinette's purpose weakened, but she had -enough strength of will left to declare she was almost sure she could -identify her assailant. "He had an odd-shaped mole on his right cheek," -she remarked. "And, do you know, it's curious that I think I am nearly -certain that one of our highwaymen of last week had a similar mark. I -got a glimpse of it once when a puff of air caught his mask." Alexander -redoubled his urgings that they keep silent. He breathed easier when -they were past the gateman and on the car. - -For a week he basked in the glory of her adulation. Never was a hero so -worshiped as this proven one. Never was a sweet girl so happy as -Antoinette. She had met her ideal, and he was hers. Twenty hours of the -twenty-four she dreamed of him; the other four she rejoiced at being -with him. - -The eighth night after the second encounter in Druid Hill he had taken -her to Gwynn Oak Park to dance. Until the sixth number, the waltzes and -two-steps were all his. Then Will Harrison, an old acquaintance, came -up. "I hate to leave you," whispered Antoinette, as she gazed up into -her hero's face, "but Will is a nice boy, and I don't like to refuse him -one." Alexander smiled in return, and told her to enjoy herself. As she -floated around on Will's arm she took advantage of every turn to watch -the adored Alexander. She thought he looked lonely, and she wished she -could decently end her waltz and get back to him. For a moment, in a -reverse step, she lost sight of him, and when she saw him again a tall -young fellow was talking to him. Alexander seemed ill at ease and -perturbed. In fact, he quite failed to notice that she was nearing him -again in the dance. "I want that extra five you whispered you'd give -me," Antoinette heard the tall chap say. "That kick was worth it. If you -don't cough up I'll tell the lady how much it cost you, you coward, to -be a hero twice." Antoinette looked intently at the tall man. There was -a mole on his right cheek. She was wise all of a sudden. Then she grew -faint with the shock of the knowledge. - -"Take me out of here," she muttered to her partner. He obeyed. A car was -fast filling up to leave for Walbrook. Antoinette made a dash for it. -"Come, take me home, Will!" she called. Again he obeyed, and bounced her -into a seat. - -"I'll never speak to that awful wretch again," said Antoinette to the -curious Will. "I am ashamed of myself." - -And thus was Alexander the Great dethroned. - - - - -_Breaking Into Medicine_ - - -I. - - To MR. JOHN IREDELL, - Summerfield, - Guilford County, - North Carolina. - Baltimore, Oct. 1, 1906. - -Dear Father: - -I have been here nearly a week now, and have got pretty well fixed, so I -thought I would report to you tonight. I find that there will be a lot -of hard work with classes, laboratory hours and study, but, as I told -you before I left, I intend to put my shoulder to the wheel and aim so -high that you will have just cause to be proud of me when I become a -Doctor of Medicine. I see that I shall have to cut out all idea of -amusements and pleasure and put my nose to the grindstone. - -My college--the P. & S.--opened last Thursday with an address by the -Dean, a helpful speech that I should like you to have heard. For, -although I chose medicine chiefly because Uncle Will made a success of -it out in Texas, I was glad to hear the Dean tell what a noble -profession it was to relieve suffering millions. - -The college occupies a red brick building at Calvert and Saratoga -streets, and is operated in connection with the City Hospital, which -adjoins it and where there are hundreds of patients. I don't know -whether you remember the locality, as it has been so many years since -you were in Baltimore. It is close to the business centre, only a block -north of the Courthouse and the Postoffice. There are about 300 -students. They come from all parts of this country, and even from -foreign lands. I will bear in mind what you said about not being too -thick with any of them. - -I have secured a boarding-house on North Calvert street--No. 641. It is -kept by a widow lady from Mecklenburg county, and she calls it the -Yadkin and makes a special effort to attract "Tarheels." Nearly all her -boarders are from North Carolina, and we get the papers from Raleigh and -other places, so that it is quite homelike for me. - -I pay $5 a week board, and there ought not to be many extra expenses, -except for books, so I can get along nicely on the $35 a month you said -you would give me. But I told them at the College to send you the -tuition bill. That was all right, wasn't it? - - Your devoted son, - HUGH. - - -II. - - To MISS GRACE IREDELL, - Summerfield, - North Carolina. - Baltimore, Oct. 4, 1906. - -Dear Little Sis: - -I wrote Father the other day and told how I had got started at the -College. I suppose you read the letter or heard all the news in it. I -really haven't buckled down to hard work, because there has been such a -lot of "hazing" that we "freshies" are being captured all the time. -Last Friday the older fellows actually made a line of us walk up and -down some of the principal streets with our trousers and coats turned -inside out, our stockings down over our shoes, our bare legs tattooed -and crazy signs on our backs. Just fancy what a guy your big brother -looked on Lexington street, where all the ladies here go shopping! I -should have died if I had seen anybody from home. There wasn't any -breaking away, because they were too many for us. One "freshy" tried it, -and he's going around with a bum eye and his hand in a sling. - -After the parade they took us in a back yard and made us do "stunts." -One prisoner had to deliver a solemn oration from a beer keg on "Whether -Cuba ought to be annexed to the United States." When it came my turn I -thought I'd get off easy by giving some of those imitations of dogs and -cats and roosters that I used to get off with the crowd at home. But -they made such a hit that now they have me doing them all the time. -Every time I come out of class a gang of yelling Indians grab me and -carry me off to do imitations. I'm tired of it, but I can't help it. - -Two of the fellows at my boarding-house got me to go to a theatre on -Baltimore street last night. It was a variety show, a mixed programme of -acrobatic feats, singing and girls dancing. I thought it all fine, but -the crowd didn't like every bit of it, for at places they began to yell -"Get the hook!" whatever that means. - -I intended to hunt up a Methodist church last Sunday, but one of the -associate professors at the college was a classmate of Uncle Will's, and -he invited me to evening service at a Congregational church, a beautiful -edifice on Maryland avenue, looking more like a costly college building -than a church. I enjoyed myself, for there was some fine singing, and we -sat right behind one of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. At the end -I was introduced to some of the people and they invited me to a social -at the church one evening next week. - -Maybe you had better not let Father read this. He might get the idea I -wasn't taking my studies seriously enough. - - Yours, - HUGH. - - -III. - - To MR. HUGH IREDELL, - 641 North Calvert Street, - Baltimore, Maryland. - Summerfield, N. C., Oct. 6, 1906. - -Dear Son: - -I am glad you are settled in Baltimore and so well satisfied with your -choice of a dignified and honorable profession. I expect to see you -buckle right down to hard work and study, for I will not support a grown -son in idleness. I am not so well pleased at what your mother tells me -you wrote Grace, that you went to a theatre and that you did not go to a -Methodist church last Sunday, as you promised. You remember what Pastor -told you about the danger to young men of drifting from church to church -in a large city like Baltimore, and not sticking to any. - -I got the bill for your college fees today. I was surprised that you did -this, for you told me when I agreed to let you go that you would pay -everything out of $35 a month. I will send a money order for it this -time, but you must settle it yourself next term. - - Your father, - JOHN IREDELL. - - -IV. - - To MISS GRACE IREDELL, - Summerfield, N. C. - Baltimore, Oct. 10, 1906. - -Dear Little Sis: - -What in the world made you blab about what I wrote you last week? Father -sends me a roast about going to a theatre and not going to a Methodist -church. You know a fellow should not be expected to work all the time, -but Father's old-fashioned and can't see it that way. Don't tell him -anything like that again. - -I have been to theatres a couple more times. You know it doesn't cost -much if you sit with the "gods" in the cheaper seats. All the fellows -pay Dutch and we have a jolly time. One night we went into a lunchroom -on Fayette street and enjoyed fried oysters. Another night we went to a -German place downtown and had a bottle of beer and a cheese sandwich. It -was lively there; such a nice lot of people. - -I haven't been to a Methodist church yet. I intended to go Sunday -morning, but I was out late Saturday night and I didn't get up in time. -Sunday night I went to that Associate Church again. I saw my pretty -girl--I tell you she's a beauty. She had a fellow with her. Wish I had -been in his place. Going to a blow-out at the church tomorrow night. -Maybe she'll be there. Hope so.... - - Yours, - HUGH. - - -V. - - To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN, - Raleigh, N. C. - Baltimore, Oct. 25, 1906. - -Dear Old Chum: - -Haven't heard a word since I wrote you from home to say I was coming to -Baltimore to study medicine, but suppose you're too busy rushing the -lady you're going to marry. Say, old man, I'm clean gone myself. -Prettiest girl I ever looked at. Saw her two Sunday nights in church -when I first came, and then was lucky enough to meet her at a church -social. I wish you could have seen her. No, I don't, because if you had -I should have had you for a rival. Anyway, she looked a vision. She's -tall, with a stunning figure and a graceful way of holding herself. -She's a blonde, her hair glinted with gold, her eyes as blue as--I was -going to say indigo, but nothing about her is as blue as that. I never -did take to blondes, you know, but this one has got me, because she has -vivacity and unbends most delightfully. I talked to her half an hour the -night I met her. Gee, but the fellow who brought her looked sour! I must -have made some kind of an impression, for when she was bidding me -good-night she asked me to call. She lives on a street called Guilford -avenue, in North Baltimore. I was over there last Tuesday night. Asked -her if I might come when I saw her at church Sunday. I tell you she was -a dream in a pink gown, with her golden hair all done up on her head in -some kind of a way I can't describe, but looking magnificent. She told -me about a fellow who wanted to come see her that night, but she let him -know she had another engagement, and the way she told me, looking at me -with those splendid blue eyes, just made me feel I was cutting some ice -there. She can tickle the ivories in great shape, and spent most of the -evening at the piano. She goes to the theatre a lot, and she had all the -latest comic opera songs, like those of Anna Held and Marie Cahill, and -she can play ragtime out of sight. I tried to get her to play some -sentimental things, but she said she wasn't in that mood. I'd like to -catch her when she is. - -Tomorrow afternoon I expect to be a great occasion. She studies painting -at the Maryland Institute, an art school here, and she has asked me to -go sketching with her out in the country. I'll have to cut some of my -college work, but you can bet I'm going to do that all right. - - Yours, - HUGH. - - -VI. - - To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN, - Raleigh, N.C. - Baltimore, Nov. 1, 1906. - -Dear Old Chum: - -Glad to hear from you so soon, and glad to hear you are interested in -Miss Edith Wolfe. No, I don't think you'd better come to Baltimore. But, -if you're good and stay away, I'll send you a photo of her she has -promised to give me and let you see what she looks like. No picture of -her can do her justice, however, for she's just the liveliest girl you -ever knew, beside being so handsome. - -I've been up to her home twice in a week, took her to the theatre last -night and went to church with her Sunday. But the bulliest time of all -was that sketching trip last Friday, of which I wrote you. It was a -magnificent October afternoon, and the country was simply superb, with -the trees all tinted to glorious hues by a frost two weeks ago. I -carried her little easel and canvas stool, and we got in a car near her -home and rode out to a suburb called Mount Holly. I had no idea there -was such beautiful scenery near Baltimore, so bold and mountainous -looking. We strolled first along a path beside a millrace, high up on a -hillside, a path overhung by arching trees, with Gwynn's Falls tumbling -over the rocks in cascades far beneath, and a beautiful outlook across -the valley to some handsome wooded country estates. After that we went -down beside the stream and sat under a great rock, while Miss Wolfe made -a sketch of the Falls. It didn't take her long--just a rough painted -outline, you know. She's going to fill it in at home, and she has -promised me a copy for my room. She was in the jolliest mood imaginable, -and we had a merry hour there "far from the madding crowd." I shall -always call it a "red day," because then I got my first kiss from her. -It came about in this way. She dropped her paint brush while we were -sitting on a rock at the water's edge, and it floated down stream. She -said she wouldn't lose it for worlds. "Will you reward me if I recover -it?" I asked. She said she would. "A kiss?" I asked. "Oh! stop your -nonsense, you foolish boy!" she said, with a laugh. I ran down the bank, -clambered out on some rocks, steered the brush in with a stick and took -it to her. Then we wrangled for ten minutes gaily about whether she had -or had not promised me that kiss. Suddenly she leaned forward and met my -lips with hers. "There, let that end it," she cried, as she blushed. It -didn't end it, for it was so good I wanted more out of the same package. -But she wouldn't let me have any more. Aren't girls mean? I suppose I'll -have to make more bargains with her or I'll get no more kisses. She says -she always sticks to a bargain. - -You have no idea how clever she is in dodging if I try to steer the talk -to sentimental ground. I have called her an arrant flirt a score of -times, but she just laughs. And such a laugh! - -The show last night hit me $3.20, counting car fares, and my allowance -from the old man is running short. I'm glad she didn't accept my -invitation to go to the Rennert to eat after "The Lion and the Mouse." -She said she would like to, but we'd better go straight home from -Ford's, as her mother would prefer it that way. - -Wish me success, old fellow, with my love affair. I tell you, that girl -has got me going so I can't get interested in dry old stuff about bones. - - Yours, - HUGH. - - -VII. - - To MISS GRACE IREDELL, - Summerfield, N. C. - Baltimore, Nov. 21, 1906. - -Dear Little Sis: - -I wish you had been with me last night to see the largest dance you ever -set your eyes on. It was a regimental hop at the Fifth Regiment Armory, -an enormous big building that can accommodate, they say, about 15,000 -people. They hold there all the biggest conventions that Baltimore has. -It was a grand sight, with a crowd of girls in pretty clothes and -fellows in uniform and dress suits, dancing to the music of the regiment -band. Edith Wolfe's brother is a lieutenant in the regiment, and she -invited me to be her escort. We had our own party--Lieutenant Wolfe, -another soldier boy, a third chap not in uniform and a couple of girl -friends of Edith, petite, pretty, sweet-natured sisters, whom I liked -very much. I danced with all three girls, but especially with Edith, who -looked radiant in a black sequin gown that was unusually well suited to -her blonde type. One waltz to the dreamy music of "Mlle. Modiste" was -Heaven itself. - -The only drawback to me was the expense. I had to pay $4 for a carriage -and $3 for roses. Besides, I had to hire a dress suit, as I could not -have gone without one. Some of the students sent me to a place kept by -twin brothers, identical in appearance, and it was a funny sight to see -them making me into one of their swallow-tails, taking in here and -letting out there. Anyhow, it took the last dollar I had, and I've got -to borrow to get along for two weeks. - - Yours lovingly, - HUGH. - - -VIII. - - To MR. HUGH IREDELL, - College of Physicians and Surgeons. - Baltimore, Nov. 27, 1906. - -Dear Sir: - -The faculty desires to notify you that your record is unsatisfactory, -both in regard to attendance and preparedness in class, and it expects -you to show improvement therein or suffer the consequences. - - Respectfully yours, - W. TALBERT, - Secretary. - - -IX. - - To MRS. JOHN IREDELL, - Summerfield, N. C. - Baltimore, Dec. 2, 1906. - -Dear Mother: - -I want you to do me a great favor. I do not dare write Father about it, -but I find I must have a black dress suit in order to look as well as -the other fellows when I go around of an evening. It will cost $40, I -learn, and, of course, I cannot pay for it out of the small monthly sum -Father sends me for my board. Tell him it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY and -urge him please to let me have it. If he will not send the money, I -shall have to borrow it or get the suit somewhere on the instalment -plan. - - Your devoted son, - HUGH. - - -X. - - To MR. HUGH IREDELL, - 641 North Calvert street, - Baltimore. - Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 6, 1906. - -My Son: - -What is this nonsense about you must have a black swallow-tail? You had -a black suit when you went away. It was good enough to go to parties -here. Are your Baltimore friends so much more aristocratic? Besides, -didn't you go there to study and not to play? You are writing home too -much about girls and society and dances and theatres, and nothing about -work. Remember, I am footing the bills. When I was your age I got up at -4 in the morning and toiled away in the fields till sundown, and then I -was too tired to spruce up and play at being a gentleman. If you're -going to be a doctor, you'd better take a different course. - - Yours, - FATHER. - - -XI. - - To MR. CLARENCE ROWAN, - Raleigh, N. C. - Baltimore, Dec. 10, 1906. - -Dear Old Chum: - -You're right for complaining I have neglected you, but I have been -having the time of my life. Edith and I have been going it heavy for -nearly two months. I am hit harder than ever. She's a wonderful girl. I -manage to see her every day--meet her down on Lexington street shopping, -take long walks with her out Charles-Street extended, go to church with -her, take her to the theatre and elsewhere at night. She has invited me -into a euchre that meets every three weeks--fine crowd. You ought to see -me in a swell dress suit. Went broke to get it, but it's worth it for -style. You wouldn't know me for a country "Tarheel." - -Edith's as cute as they make them. Last night, at the euchre, she found -a double almond, and we ate filopena for a box of candy against a kiss. -I got caught, of course, but she gave me the kiss on her doorstep as we -parted. Then she dropped a hint that it was for a five-pound box. Just -think of that! You remember that line out of "A Texas Steer," "I wonder -if it cost Daniel Webster a hundred to kiss her mother." - -Bye bye, old chap; got a date to bowl with Edith at the Garage tonight. -Ought to be studying for "exams," but simply can't. - - Yours, - HUGH. - - -XII. - - To MR. JOHN IREDELL, - Summerfield, N. C. - Baltimore, Dec. 20, 1906. - -Dear Sir: - -I am requested by the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons -to say that the record of your son is so poor that he cannot be -permitted to continue his studies here. He has more than 50 absences -charged against him, continued unpreparedness in classes and a wretched -showing in the recent examinations. - - Respectfully yours, - C. F. B. EVAN, - Dean. - - -XIII. - -(Telegram.) - - To HUGH IREDELL, - 641 N. Calvert St., Baltimore. - Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 21, 1906. - -Come home at once. Letter from faculty. - - FATHER. - - -XIV. - -(Telegram.) - - To JOHN IREDELL, - Summerfield, N. C. - Baltimore, Dec. 21, 1906. - -Wire me $75 first. Owe that much board, etc. - - HUGH. - - -XV. - -(Telegram.) - - To HUGH IREDELL, - 641 N. Calvert Street. Baltimore. - Summerfield, N. C., Dec. 21, 1906. - -Sell dress suit and pawn watch. Wait till I see you. - - FATHER. - - -XVI. - -(Special Delivery.) - - To MISS EDITH WOLFE, - 1746 Guilford Ave., Baltimore. - Pennsy Depot, - Washington, Dec. 22, 1906. - -Dearest Girl: - -Sorry I can't see you tonight. Called home suddenly by my father. Don't -know why. Will write long letter when I get home. Hope to be back soon. -Until then fond love and kisses, from - - Your Own, - HUGH. - - -XVII. - -(Special Delivery.) - - To MRS. CLARA YANCY, - The Yadkin, Baltimore. - Washington, Dec. 22, 1906. - -Dear Madam: - -I regret very much leaving you so abruptly today. I will send you money -for the board owing as soon as I can. Until then will you please take -good care of my trunk. - - Respectfully, - HUGH IREDELL. - - - - -_The Pink Ghost of Franklin Square_ - - -The Ghost appeared very modestly at first. Some children sitting on a -bench just before dark saw it in the second-story window of one of those -big old brownstone fronts on Fayette street, on the south side of -Franklin Square. It seemed so uncanny and weird to them that they talked -a lot about it when they went that evening to their homes on South -Stricker street. The parents pooh-poohed it, of course, and told the -children there was no cause for alarm. But when one of the little girls, -after a restless, troubled effort to get to sleep, had had a strenuous -nightmare, and had alarmed the household by shrieking that the woman in -pink was beckoning, the older folk decided to investigate. - -The next night there was no ghost. Two fathers sat with the children in -the Square from supper time until after 9 o'clock, but nothing happened. -Naturally, the fathers thought it a pure case of nerves. But the -children were so insistent and so circumstantial in their story that the -older heads wavered and returned on the following evening. - -And then they saw the Ghost! - -Just after the June sun had left the trees and a few dying gleams were -coloring the tops of the tall houses on Carey street, on the east side -of the Square, the Ghost showed itself at the window the children had -pointed out. It was a figure nebulous and hazy, but undeniably pink. It -appeared right at the window, and after standing still for a moment -began to wave its long arms with fantastic gestures, and to make other -movements which the children interpreted as beckoning to them. Then it -evaporated, but in another moment reappeared and went through more -gyrations. - -The exclamations of the children attracted the attention of others in -the Square, and soon a score of people stood fascinated and puzzled by -the weird vision. It lasted perhaps five minutes more, quite up to when -darkness settled down on the Square, and none was able to explain or -give any reasonable solution of what all had undeniably seen. They -continued to watch, and continued to discuss, but the vanished Ghost -came no more that evening. - -The next night, the news having spread, there were a hundred persons or -more in the southeast part of the Square. The Ghost came on time and -went through the same antics. The wonderment and the mystery grew. And -still none could explain, though a resident of the block stated that the -house under watch was temporarily without occupants, as the family who -dwelt in it had been gone to Europe for some weeks. - -It was four days after this before the police heard of it. By that time, -with the exception of the "cops," it seemed as though everybody in -Southwest Baltimore was discussing the Ghost. A reporter worked up a -lively tale about it for an afternoon paper, and Round Sergeant Norman, -as he left the station-house that evening, was instructed to "lay the -Ghost." You know the police don't believe in the supernatural. Too often -etherealized ghosts turn out to be most mundane burglars and -housebreakers. - -The Sergeant found a thousand eager watchers in the Square when he -arrived. The afternoon paper had evidently been digested well. Each -watcher was straining his eyes at the brownstone mansion on Fayette -street. From the windows of several Carey-street houses curious persons -leaned out, and even on the west, at the Franklin-Square Hospital, there -were other interested observers. - -"It's either a 'fake' or a burglar," declared the Sergeant positively, -as he took the "cub" reporter to task for making such capital out of the -Ghost. He was just about to narrate some of his own experiences with -bogus spooks when the Pink Ghost became visible, and the Sergeant -started and uttered a surprised exclamation. A thousand other pairs of -eyes had seen it, and a thousand throats called out, in varied strength -of sound: - -"There it is! There it is!" - -A hush fell over the crowd as they watched the figure in pink. The -deepening shadows toned the dark-brown front of the mansion until it -framed the outlines in the window with considerable positiveness. But -the uncanny nature of the appearance was also in evidence, for one could -see right through the figure in pink to the room behind it. Those near -the Round Sergeant saw him remove his helmet and mop the increasing -perspiration from his forehead. - -"That beats the devil," he muttered. - -The Ghost began to wave its arms, to bend over and then straighten up; -to beckon and then to make gestures as if of denial. The Sergeant's awe -was great, but no whit more intense than that of the crowd. They were -face to face with a bit of the supernatural, puzzled, wondering, -doubting, scoffing, fascinated, alarmed. - -"By Jiminy!" exclaimed the Sergeant. "That's the strangest thing I've -ever seen, Howard. We'll have to go into that house." - -But their visit that night was destined to be futile. Some minutes were -lost in gaining access to the rear roof through the house next on the -west, and some minutes more in prying open a shutter and forcing a -carefully locked sash. By this time the twilight had deepened into -night, and the Sergeant lit a borrowed lantern to make the trip down the -stairway to the second-story front. There was nothing strange or -supernatural in the room; no sign of a pink ghost or any other being, -human or spiritual. The furniture and other fittings seemed undisturbed -and as regularly arranged as they had probably been when the owners went -away. And when Howard, the reporter, raised a window, a hundred watchers -in the street and Square were ready to vouchsafe the information that -the Ghost had been gone quite ten minutes. - -The Sergeant swore. Then he muttered: "It certainly is queer." Then he -took Howard on a thorough inspection of the house, from cellar to roof. -They poked into cupboards, turned over mattresses, peeped into bureau -drawers and boxes and a score of other articles too small to have hidden -anything human. But nary a sign was there of ghost, burglar or joker. -"It beats the devil," again remarked the Sergeant as he and Howard, -perspiringly hot, left the house about 9 o'clock. - -The following morning the papers were full of it. Southwest Baltimore no -longer mortgaged the new sensation. All Baltimore discussed it and -speculated what it might be. And, as a result, the crowd of watchers as -the June day drew to a close numbered not one, but many, thousands. -Around at the Concord Club they said it beat any political mass-meeting -ever seen. The Square was overrun, and everybody talked "Pink Ghost." -Captain Delany ordered out the police reserves to keep the crowd in -check and give the cars a chance to get by. With Round Sergeant Norman, -the Captain personally superintended the preparations to lay the ghost. - -The Pink Ghost did not disappoint them. It came to the window on -scheduled time--just as the shadows deepened in Franklin Square--and it -waved its arms from the window and beckoned to the awed and puzzled -multitude. Captain Delany gave a signal, and from front and rear his -picked men swarmed into the empty house and rushed up the stairway. The -Round Sergeant was in the van. He had been berated and ridiculed for -not solving the mystery the night before, and he determined to be in at -the death now. But as he crossed the threshold of the front room he -started back in amazement and fell against the bluecoat behind him. The -Pink Ghost was not in the window, but swaying and frantically waving on -the west wall of the room. - -"My God! what is it?" cried the man behind. - -Norman could only point to the wall. His own hair was, he felt, actually -raising his helmet off his head, and there was a curious contraction in -his throat. In an instant, however, this had passed, and, with club in -hand, he charged bravely upon the Ghost. As he neared it, however, a -surprise awaited him. Instead of waving arms, he saw his own burly form -shadowed on the outer edge of the pink nebula. He turned upon his heel, -quickly bent over, and then burst into loud laughter. For him the riddle -of the Pink Ghost was solved. - -"What is it, Norman? What is it, man? Is he crazy?" - -The other policemen pushed into the room to be enlightened, but the -Sergeant only laughed the more immoderately. Delany became angry and -started to seize Norman by the shoulder. This brought the Captain into -the pink nebula and he understood Norman's hilarity. - -"By gad, that's funny," he cried, and he entered upon a joint spasm of -mirth. The other bluecoats drew near, and as each came into the pink -glow the chorus swelled. Such a lot of uproarious policemen had rarely -been known in Baltimore. - - * * * * * - -Five minutes later Captain Delany and Sergeant Norman, having at last -controlled themselves, left the closing of the house to subordinates and -crossed the square to a house on Carey street, where they asked to see a -young lady abiding there. She was a very stately and fine-looking young -woman, and when she tripped down into the parlor the attractiveness of -her face was heightened by a slight flush, due most likely to her -wonderment at a visit from two policemen. When they left her ten minutes -later her face was rosy red and her stately carriage had given way to a -combination of mirth and embarrassment. But Delany had her positive -assurance that there would be no more Pink Ghost. - -"For, you see, it was this way," he explained to the reporters who -stopped him outside. "The young woman seems to have a steady beau every -evening, for whom she likes to do a bit of fixin' up and primping. And -after supper she makes her way to her room, which is in the front of the -top floor, and there she combs and rearranges her hair and puts on -gew-gaws and trimmings. And in these long summer days, when the sun has -left the square, it is still comin' into those high windows." - -"But what has she to do with the Ghost?" asked one irrepressible. - -"I was a-comin' to that, youngster," retorted the man in blue; "but if -ye're overanxious, it may satisfy yer to know she was the Pink Ghost. -Leastwise, the sun's reflection was the ghost and she was the movin' -figure that made the shadow do such queer antics. She had a bureau in -the back of her room so fixed that when the rays of the dying sun come -into the window on the north they are reflected in the bureau glass and -pass out of the south window and across the square to that there -brownstone front where you all saw the Ghost. Every time she raised her -arms to her hair or made any other movement in dressing before the -mirror she butt into the reflection and caused your Pink Ghost to do -stunts." - -"And you say there won't be any more Pink Ghost?" - -"Not unless the young woman gets careless and leaves up that south -blind. For she sort o' has an idea tonight that the whole of this end of -town has been watching her get ready to meet her beau." - - - - -_The Vanished Mummy_ - - -In the detective headquarters in the Courthouse they have mistakenly -built up a very high notion of my sleuth qualities. Personally I have -always felt that such help as I have been able to render them in two or -three different cases was most largely due to luck, and only in a small -degree to the exercise of logic and common sense in making deductions of -subsequently proven importance from apparently trivial facts. -Nevertheless, the good fortune that attended me in those cases fixed my -reputation with them as the Sherlock Holmes of Baltimore, while the -generosity with which I permitted them to take all the glory of solving -the mysteries made me solid and caused them to consult me the more -frequently in hours of perplexity. At the same time, I confess it, the -love of the game made me eager to be in it and I not only installed a -'phone in my apartment in the Arundel, but I was always careful, in -absenting myself from my office or my flat, to leave word where I would -most likely be found during the next few hours. In this way the puzzled -Vidocqs were usually able to reach me when my help was needed. - -I was whiling away a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Maryland a few -weeks ago when I saw Dorland making signs to me from the passageway -behind the boxes on the right of the theatre. Lieutenant Amers' -redcoated British band, of which I had grown very fond, was rendering -the final crashing bars of the overture to "Wilhelm Tell," and, with my -passionate love for music, I was loth to leave until the programme was -completed. But Dorland was a detective who never came for me unless -there was an interesting mystery to offer and I left my seat at once and -joined him in the lobby. - -"Which way, Dorland?" I asked. - -"Woman's College, sir," he answered, just as briefly. - -I gave an exclamation of surprise. An institution attended by hundreds -of girls from the best families of America was not the place one would -expect a mystery of crime. - -"Very curious case, sir. Mummy of an Egyptian princess stolen." - -"Odd affair," I remarked. "Gives promise of being most unusual. Any -clue?" - -"Not a shred, sir." - -On our way out to the College on a Roland-Park car, Dorland gave me a -recital of such facts as he had learned. The mummy had been secured in -Egypt with much difficulty by President Goucher and was one of the -prized possessions of the College museum. Partly divested of its -wrappings of fine linen turned brown with the centuries, the body of -this daughter of the Pharaohs had been exhibited in a glass case on the -second floor of Goucher Hall, while nearby had been placed the case in -which it had rested for ages, a case of wood painted with figures and -hieroglyphics that told the rank and virtues of the little lady. The -night before at 6 o'clock the mummy had been in its place. In the -morning when the janitor's wife was sweeping she discovered the glass -lid prized open and the mummy gone. The night watchman saw nothing, -heard nothing. - -"And what are your theories?" I asked Dorland, as we passed along -Twenty-third street. - -"That it was taken to be sold at a good figure to some other museum; -that it was taken to be sold back to the College; that it was a -students' prank; or that it was done by girls being initiated into one -of the College secret societies." - -When I had been introduced to and cordially welcomed by a trio of -anxious College officials, the dean hastened to assure me of their -desire to avoid publicity and notoriety. - -"Have you questioned any of the girls today?" I asked. - -"No," replied the dean; "it being Saturday, there have been few of them -here, and we have sent for none, so that the loss might be kept secret -until we determine on the motive." - -A close examination of the empty glass case and its surroundings was -fruitless. Nor did questioning of the janitor and his wife elicit -anything new. - -"You cleaned very thoroughly," I said to the woman. "What did you do -with the sweepings?" - -"They're in a box in the basement, sir." - -At my request the box was brought up. It was a soap box almost full. -"Are these only the sweepings of today?" I asked. The janitor spoke up. -"I emptied all the others yesterday, sir," he declared. With this -assurance, I plunged my hands into the pile and began a minute and -careful search of it, dumping handful after handful on newspapers spread -over a table in Dr. Goucher's office. Dorland kept the others in -conversation, and this fortunately enabled me to make a couple of finds -unnoticed by them. - -At the end of 10 minutes I had reached the bottom of the box. Turning -then to the dean, I said: - -"How many Canadian students have you here?" - -"Canadians? Oh, two--Miss Carothers and Miss Anstey." - -"And may I see them?" - -"I cannot see"----began the dean warmly. - -I hastened to assure him I had no idea of suspecting them. -"Nevertheless," I added, "I should like to question them. I have a -theory that one or the other may help me." - -The dean was mollified. "Miss Carothers has been absent sick for several -days. Miss Anstey you can see. She is a charming girl. Her father is one -of the leading Methodist divines of Canada, and an old friend of Dr. -Goucher and myself. She does not live in the College homes, but with a -lady around the corner on Charles street, who is also an old family -friend. I will send you there. She may not be at home just now, but you -can try." - -The janitor's wife spoke up, "Miss Anstey was here an hour or so ago, -sir. She was upstairs for a few minutes, and then went out and got in -an auto with a young gentleman." - -"I will go around to her home at any rate," I said. - -"You have very little hope of finding the mummy, have you not, Mr. -McIver?" asked the dean, anxiously. - -"On the contrary," I replied confidently. "I expect to bring back the -Egyptian princess in an hour or two." - -He accepted my boast dubiously. "Whatever you do," he urged, "use no -questionable methods, for the sake of the College. If you find the -thief, let me decide whether to prosecute him. If you can get back the -mummy without injury, I would prefer to hush up the affair." - -I promised him I would. "I consider this a very unusual case," I said, -"and I believe you will be satisfied with my disposition of it." With -this I left him. - -Dorland and the College professor who accompanied us were both eager to -know what clue I had, but I stood them off as we walked round to the -Charles-street dwelling. - -Miss Anstey was out, as I had anticipated, but we were graciously -received by Mrs. Eden, her hostess. It was a home of culture and -refinement, and the large parlor abounded in paintings, art objects and -other curios evidently picked up in foreign travel. "I expect Ethel home -soon," said the sweet-faced and sweet-voiced old lady. "She went -motoring this afternoon with a friend, and she said she would be home -to supper." - -"We called to ask," I remarked, "whether she had not lost this bit of -jewelry." And to the surprise of Dorland and the professor I produced a -pin I had found in the sweepings of Goucher Hall, a tiny enameled maple -leaf, set around with pearls. - -"Yes, that is Ethel's!" exclaimed Mrs. Eden. "I don't think she lost it, -however, for she had recently loaned it to a friend." She smiled. "You -know, young girls nowadays have a great habit of exchanging tokens like -this with young men. It was not so in my day." - -"And if I be not rude," I continued, "may I not know the name of this -young man?" - -"Why, certainly," replied the lady. "He is Mr. Raymond Harding." - -"You mean," I inquired, "the son of Mr. Harding, the bank president?" -The Hardings, as everybody knows, are among the best-known millionaire -families in Baltimore society. - -"The same," replied Mrs. Eden. "Miss Anstey and he have been friends for -a couple of years. I am sure both will be grateful to you for finding -this pin. Now that I recall it, it may be that they have already had -words about it being lost. He was here last evening and they were both -rather excited. At breakfast Ethel complained of having a headache and -looked as though she had been crying. They called each other up several -times by 'phone during the morning, but Ethel told me nothing, and I -thought it tactful to say nothing to her. When he came this afternoon I -told her she looked so pale she ought to rest, but she laughed me off." - -"We will come again after they have returned," I said to Mrs. Eden as I -rose to go. "Perhaps, as you say, I may be able to straighten out the -little trouble. Meanwhile, I would suggest that you say nothing to -them." - -It had grown dark when we stepped outside. Dorland gripped my hand -warmly. "McIver," he exclaimed, "you're a wonder! I see the whole case -now. Gee, but its a rum affair!" - -The professor was mystified. "I don't quite see, gentlemen, how the -whole affair is settled. Where is the mummy? And who was the thief?" - -"The mummy, professor," I remarked, oracularly, "is most probably in the -automobile of Mr. Raymond Harding." - -"You don't mean that he is the thief?" - -"I believe he took the mummy. I believe he dropped the pin in doing it. -This also fell out of his auto cap." I produced a gilt paper initial -"H," such as hatters put in headwear for their customers. It was my -second find in the sweepings. - -"But the motive, man, the motive!" persisted the professor. "Why should -a millionaire's son break into a Woman's College building to steal a -mummy? It sounds ridiculous." - -"That, sir, is the part I want Miss Anstey to explain. It is the only -element of doubt in a perfectly plain chain of circumstances. Raymond -Harding I know slightly, and he has a certain reputation for reckless -pranks, although he's not a bad fellow." - -"But surely you don't suspect Ethel Anstey. Why, man, she's a"---- - -The mournful notes of a Gabriel's horn down at Twenty-second street -betokened the approach of an auto, and interrupted the professor's -eulogium of one who was manifestly a favorite pupil. "Quick!" I -exclaimed; "saunter to the corner." A big touring car came up Charles -street and stopped in front of the Eden home. A slender young chap -stepped out and aided a young lady to descend. They stood for a minute -on the curb beside the machine--undecided, as I figured out, whether the -mummy would be safe there if left alone--and then both passed into the -house. - -The three of us with one accord moved down the pavement. "Look on the -rear seat, Dorland," I said, as the headquarters man ran to the auto. A -great part of my confidence in my well-developed solution of the mystery -would have gone to smash if the mummy had not been there. But Dorland -gave a little cry of triumph. "It's here, all right," he called, -"wrapped up in a rubber blanket." We tried to lift the bundle, but the -petrified daughter of the Pharaohs was heavier than he had calculated. -"Be careful, Mr. Dorland," the professor entreated; "don't smash her." - -"Now for the young man," said Dorland, jumping down to the curb. - -"No," said I. "I have a better plan. Can you run an auto?" - -Dorland could. - -"And have you a key to Goucher Hall?" I asked the professor. - -The professor had. - -"Then you two quietly take the mummy back to her box while I go in and -question Miss Anstey." - -They got off without fuss, and when I had seen them turn the corner I -rang the bell and asked for Miss Anstey. In placing my hat on the -hallrack I moved Harding's cap to another peg and observed, as I had -thought, that the "H" had parted company with the other gilt initials. - -I felt unfeignedly sorry for the girl when she came into the parlor a -few minutes later. She had fine regular features, and with her limpid -blue eyes was unquestionably pretty when the flush of youth and vivacity -had full play. But that day there were dark circles under her eyes, her -lids were suspiciously red and there was a pallid hue in her cheeks that -was accentuated by the dark blue silk suit she wore. A novice at reading -character could have told she had been spending hours in worry and -tears. - -"You wished to see me?" she said, inquiringly, as she slowly advanced to -where I had risen to meet her. - -"To return this," I answered. And I held out the maple leaf pin to her. - -She grew, if possible, more white and sought the help of the piano to -support herself. - -"I--I--It is not----Where did you get it?" she said, with several gulps -to keep down the sobs. - -"It was found in Goucher Hall near the mummy case." - -She stepped back uncertainly. Then she pulled herself together. - -"You are a detective?" - -I winced. "No," I said; "I am a friend of the College and of Mr. -Harding's." - -At the mention of his name she broke down completely and, sinking on the -stool, leaned her head and began to cry. "Oh, Raymond!" I heard her say. -"It means disgrace. It means the penitentiary." Her form shook violently -with her emotion. It was more than I could stand. - -"Listen, Miss Anstey," I said, and I laid my hand lightly on her -shoulder. "It means nothing of the kind. You have my word as a gentleman -that no one shall know the story save the two or three who already know -it." - -She lifted her tear-stained face and studied me earnestly. "It was a mad -prank," she sobbed. "I am to blame. I ought to be punished. It started -as a joke. I had no idea he'd do it." - -"Call Raymond down." - -She went out into the hallway and a whistled signal brought Harding to -us. When he entered the parlor his surprise at seeing me was great. - -"He knows about the mummy," said the girl faintly. - -Harding stepped away from us both. "He knows?" - -"Yes, he wants to help us." - -"I want to get you out of a nasty scrape, Raymond," I remarked. - -The boy eyed me intently. Then he put out his hand and gripped mine. -"Thank you, McIver," he said, simply. And the three of us sitting down, -the boy and the girl told me the whole truth about the kidnapping of -the Egyptian princess. Each supplied parts of the narrative. Raymond, I -learned, had prized open the case on a visit to the College museum on -Friday afternoon and had then secreted himself in the building. When the -watchman was in a remote corner, it had taken but a minute to lift the -mummy, carry it downstairs, unlock the north door and slip out to where -he had left his auto. "Then he came here to show it to me," said Miss -Anstey. "And then I went to take it back," pursued the boy. "And, Lord, -McIver, I found the watchman had locked the door. Ever since then we've -been in an awful fright. I didn't know what to do with the bloody -thing." - -"What on earth made you take it?" I asked. - -The boy turned a troubled eye on the girl. "I did it on a dare," he said -after a pause. - -A rosy flush had replaced her pallor. "That isn't the whole truth, Mr. -McIver," she said. "There was a wager, and a lot of teasing, and talk -about a kiss. It sounds so silly now, but it was all in fun. I didn't -expect him to do it. And, oh! how sorry I am!" - -"The question is, McIver," said the boy, "how on earth am I to get it -back." - -"That's the easiest part," I said. "In fact, it is already back." I -paused to enjoy their pleased surprise. "And if I mistake not here are -the two gentlemen that did it." The doorbell had rung and I stepped out -to admit Dorland and the professor. - -The next 15 minutes was a medley of questions, of explanations, of -promises to keep mum and of expressions of heartfelt thanks from the -young couple. The professor was the only one who thought it incumbent to -scold them for a silly prank and to point out the serious danger in -which they had been involved. It sobered them, and at the same time it -made them realize what a tremendous service I had done them. - -One point puzzled Dorland. When we had left the house and parted from -the professor, he asked me: - -"How on earth did you know that pin was Miss Anstey's?" - -"Had it been a thistle design," I said, "I should have begun a search -for that 'bonnie sweet lass, the Maid o' Dundee." - -"I don't exactly see," he ejaculated. - -"The maple leaf, my son, is the national emblem of Canada." - -"Ah," said Dorland, "that's what you get by book-larnin'." - -"Yes," I admitted; "it helps some." - - - - -_"Mount Vernon 1-0-0-0"_ - - -They were getting to the sad point where each was growing tired of the -other. The crescendo of love's young dream had passed. Each was -sub-consciously realizing that while the springtime of their romance had -been full of glorious days the summer was destined to be damp and -showery. Daniel was beginning to find faults in Jennie that he had not -believed could exist in her, and Jennie in turn was more and more -provoked with Daniel, more and more exacting in what she required of -him, and more and more disposed to accuse him of not keeping up with the -devoted pace he had set when he first began to pay her definite -attentions the winter before. Daniel sometimes would dance with other -girls, a thing he had not dreamt of doing in the heyday of their affair, -and Jennie did not hesitate to accept invitations from men who were as -deferential and admiring as Daniel had been in the beginning. Their -friends, those at least who were discerning, realized that the -probability of a marriage between them was becoming more and more -remote. - -Jennie and her parents were spending the summer at Mount Holly Inn, and, -among other instances of his growing restiveness, Daniel was inclined to -grumble at having to bolt his dinner, dress hurriedly in his sun-baked -room on Park avenue, and make the suburban car journey nightly in order -to reach her side. Sometimes he balked and called her up by 'phone -instead, and though she professed her disappointment and scolded him, he -was almost sure to learn the next day she had enjoyed her evening at -dancing or bowling. Then again there were occasions when he had made up -his mind to be on hand, according to promise, and had started to get -ready when called off by a message from Jennie, telling him that she had -been invited to enjoy a moonlight auto spin with Mr. and Mrs. Chester, -fellow-guests with whom she had grown most friendly. - -And so it came to an evening in September when Daniel and Jennie had not -seen each other for as many as three days, the longest period of absence -in the history of their attachment. Work was slack with the trust -company that day, and Daniel had seized the opportunity to leave the -Equitable Building early and see the Baltimores inflict a defeat on the -Buffalo nine at Union Park, in the homestretch of the pennant race. As -he was cutting across lots after the game, hurrying to catch a St. -Paul-street car ahead of the crowd, he ran into Tom Oliver, and from the -moment of the encounter realized that it was all off for a visit to -Mount Holly that night. For Tom was a jolly soul and a generous one, and -they had been strong chums before Tom had struck out into the wilds of -West Virginia for a lumber company. So that when Master Thomas, as -expected, proposed that they make an evening of it, for old times' -sake, with dinner at the Belvedere and a jaunt later to River View, -Electric Park or the Suburban, Daniel's demur that he already had an -engagement was a very weak one indeed. It was, in fact, such a wobbly -little demur that one more word from Tom and he had promised to call up -and break the date. He did not mention that it was with Jennie, for -Jennie had come into Daniel's life after Tom had vanished into the -timber forest. - -Half an hour later found him in the telephone-room of the Belvedere. The -trimly dressed young woman who took his money gave him no second glance -as she automatically murmured "Walbrook 1-8-6, please," into the -mouthpiece hanging before her, and an instant later, just as -automatically, waved him into one of the booths against the wall. - -He had not fully made up his mind what excuse he would give Jennie for -staying away, and the wait after a bellboy at Mount Holly Inn had been -sent to find Miss Jennie gave him time to think this over. Two nights -before he had 'phoned her that he was working late at the office. That -would not do again. Still, he felt that he could not well tell the truth -and say an intimate friend from West Virginia had turned up. Ultimately, -he reached the conclusion that it was best to say he was not feeling -well, even though he ran the risk that some friend of hers, or some -guest at Mount Holly who knew him, might have seen him at the ball game -that afternoon and might mention it. - -There came a feminine voice across the wire. Daniel perceived at once -that it was not Jennie, but her mother. - -"Is that you, Mr. Carey?" she inquired, rather coolly. Jennie's mother -was one of those mothers who are jealous of every young man who pays -their daughters attention, for fear that some day Mr. Wright will come -along and take the daughter away. - -"Yes, it is I, Mrs. Poppleton," he replied. "I asked for Miss Jennie." - -"She has gone out, Mr. Carey. She telephoned this afternoon to your -office and your home, but you were not at either place. She was invited -out by Mr. and Mrs. Chester, and said she knew you would excuse her, but -please to call up Mount Vernon one thousand and ask them to send for -her." - -"Thank you, Mrs. Poppleton. What number did you say it was?" - -"Mount Vernon one thousand." - -"Thank you. Goodby." - -After he had hung up the receiver, Daniel sat for a moment in the booth, -undecided whether to pursue Jennie further by wire. He was inclined to -feel miffed that she was not demurely waiting for him. Then his sense of -fair play got the better of his selfishness, and he reflected that after -all she was doing only what he had called her up to say he was going to -do. He lifted the receiver. - -"Mount Vernon one thousand, please," he asked, when the operator outside -had acknowledged his call. - -"What number did you say?" she queried. Her tone was sharp, as though -surprised or puzzled. - -"Mount Vernon one thousand." - -There was a pause, but Daniel could not hear any click or other sound to -indicate that she was trying to give him the connection. Finally he -heard her ask slowly: - -"Whom do you wish to speak to?" - -"To Miss Poppleton," he replied, "who is taking dinner with Mr. and Mrs. -Chester." - -"Just hold the line, please." - -The second wait for Jennie seemed longer than the first, and Daniel not -only grew restive in the booth, but began again to asseverate that -Jennie had not behaved quite properly by him. If she was out with Mr. -and Mrs. Chester for a good time, it was dollars to doughnuts that a -fourth member of the party was that chap Pratt. Jennie was going -altogether too much with the fellow anyhow, and though he was an -ill-mannered cur (this was Daniel's opinion), he had money, and seemed -to be pretty popular with other people. He certainly was blamed popular -with Jennie and the Chesters. Confound it all, the Chesters were not so -many! (this also was Daniel's opinion). - -There is no telling to what lengths he might have gone had not the voice -of Jennie sailed sweetly over the wire at this juncture. He knew it to -be Jennie instantaneously; never had her tones sounded so clear and -close. It was as if she were only a few feet away. - -"Is that you, Dan?" he heard her say. - -"Yes, Jennie," he replied; "your mother gave me your message to call -you up." - -After this came a pause, a bit of awkwardness, due to the fact that each -was fencing for the best position to deliver his or her excuse for not -coming up to the mark that evening. It was Jennie who spoke first. - -"You did not intend to come out to the hotel tonight?" - -Daniel had an inspiration. - -"Yes, I had a little surprise for you. You remember hearing me talk of -Tom Oliver, who used to be one of my closest friends. Well, he's in town -today and I was going to ask you if I might not bring him out and -present him." - -"Oh! I'm so sorry." Then after a pause, as if an idea had occurred to -her, she asked: - -"Where are you now?" - -It was on the tip of his tongue to say the Belvedere, but he reflected -quickly that if he did Jennie's tone of sorrow was so apparently sincere -that she might propose to hurry back to Mount Holly and be ready to -receive them. And this, he knew, would not fall in with Tom Oliver's -notion of a "fine, large evening." So he fibbed unreservedly. - -"Oh! we're down to the Baltimore Yacht Club." - -That was about as far as it was convenient to transport himself beyond -the radius of accessibility to Mount Holly. - -"My! your voice sounds distinct for that distance," remarked Jennie. - -"Yes, doesn't it?" replied Daniel. - -Then he took up her story. - -"What are you doing?" he asked. - -"Mr. and Mrs. Chester had an anniversary today, a wedding anniversary, -and they invited us to celebrate it with them by a long motor trip and a -little supper. I'm having a fine time." - -"Who is us?" - -The answer he got he expected. - -"Why, those two, and myself and Mr. Pratt." - -He gritted his teeth to keep his jealousy from vocal expression. - -"What did you say?" queried Jennie sweetly from the other end. - -"Nothing," responded Daniel, grimly. - -"I'll have to be going. They're waiting supper for me." - -"May I come out tomorrow night?" - -"No, Mr. Pratt has invited us to a launch party." - -Daniel burst out: - -"Pratt! Pratt! It's always that blamed fool!" - -"See here, Daniel Carey, you nor no other man can take that tone with -me, I'll have you know. You can stay away now until you get over that -silly jealousy." - -"But, Jennie"----He heard a click, and knew for a certainty that she had -hung up the receiver on him. Twice he hurriedly called her name, and, -getting no reply, angrily jammed his own receiver on its hook and rose -to leave the booth. - -As he turned he got the biggest shock of his young life. - -For, mind you, there was Jennie Poppleton coming out of another booth. - -There was no mistaking her. She had on the well-remembered light-blue -princess gown in which he had told her she looked so pretty, and the -long white kid gloves he had bought her for a philopena debt. And as she -walked quickly out of the telephone room and disappeared down the -corridor without looking back, her carriage was that graceful one that -had always pleased him. - -Daniel fell back into the booth seat in sheer desperation. Great Caesar! -what a close shave he had had! Suppose he had run into Jennie just then, -after telling her he was down the river! Whew! - -Presently it occurred to him that Jennie was practising as much -deception as he. She had left word for him to call up "Mount Vernon one -thousand." Where in the deuce was "Mount Vernon one thousand"? He looked -at the number card in the booth and got another shock. It read as plain -as day: - -"Mount Vernon 1000." - -"What a bally idiot I am!" he muttered. "Know the Belvedere number as -well as my own home. Always called it 'Mount Vernon ten hundred' or -'Mount Vernon one-o-double o.' Dumb jackass! Gee! what a close shave! -Wonder Jennie didn't see me when she went in that other booth." - -Then the funny side of it struck him, and he laid his head on the desk -and laughed unrestrainedly. Was ever a contretemps more ridiculous? - -When he at last emerged from the booth the demure operator looked up at -him without the trace of a smile. - -"Twenty cents, please," she said. - -"It's worth more than that," remarked Daniel cheerfully. "Gosh, but -you're a wonder! I take off my hat to you." He made a low sweeping bow. - -The girl smiled. "It was funny," she admitted. - -"How on earth did you manage it?" - -"You asked for somebody at 'Mount Vernon one-o-double-o', didn't you? -You got them, didn't you?" - -"All the same, you're a wonder!" he rejoined, with undisguised -admiration. - -An incoming call enabled her to turn aside the flush that rose to her -cheeks. When she had attended to it she glanced up again at Carey with -her prior calmness. - -"Which do you prefer," he asked, "candy or a pair of those long gloves?" - -"Candy isn't good for the complexion." - -Daniel noted her fine color, then promised the gloves. He was about to -say more when Tom Oliver bolted into the room. - -"Say, old man," he cried, "when on earth will you be through here? -There's the prettiest girl in the tearoom, and maybe you know her. I've -ordered supper over there, so I can look at her." - -"What is she wearing?" asked Daniel, with a note of alarm. - -"She's a vision in light blue." - -The hello girl looked quizzically at Daniel and it was Daniel's turn to -flush. - -"I can't eat supper there, Tom," he said, slowly. "Fact is, I'd rather -be anywhere else than in that room." - -"But why?" persisted Tom. - -"You tell him," said Daniel to the telephone girl. - -"He has an engagement at South six-eight-k." - -The mystified Tom eyed first one, then the other. - -"What on earth is that?" he asked. - -"The Baltimore Yacht Club." - -He was still unenlightened. - -"But why"--he began. - -"Come on, old hayseed," said Daniel, taking Tom's arm. "Let's go into -the palmroom, and I'll tell you all about it." - -"I'll call you up tomorrow to get your size for the gloves," he remarked -to the telephone genius as he bade her good night. - -"You know what number to call?" - -"Am I likely to forget it?" he asked. - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - -Spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained as they appear -in the original publication. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mermaid of Druid Lake and Other -Stories, by Charles Weathers Bump - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERMAID OF DRUID LAKE *** - -***** This file should be named 31082.txt or 31082.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/8/31082/ - -Produced by Irma Špehar, Jennifer Sahmoun and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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