Show I I IJ I J SERIAL STORY p EXCUSE I M ME E f N Novelized from the Comedy of he the Same Name By ILLUSTRATED Rupert Report From Photo Photograph of ol the Play Flay aa as Produced Hugh Bathes S S ea By y 7 Henry W. W Sy Savage Copyright hc Mil by U. U g E. E Fly Oft Co S 8 SYNOPSIS Harry 11 Mallory n I ory Is ls ordered ered to the Philippines H He r e and Marjorie Marjone Nowton decide to elope but WI wreck reck of ot taxicab pre pre- vents their 8 seeing i ng In minister on the way to the t train oj Transcontinental train Is tak tak- Ing on n as ere ere- Porter has hs S a n lively Hm time hd with an nn man nn and Ira Lathrop Lathrop Lath- Lath have havea r rop a y Yankee business busine man The train an Little exciting Jy time e K to the tho Jimmie C Wellington S e bound for tor Reno eno t to get a divorce boards train traina oco tIU In maudlin n. n Later a er Mrs Jimmie a appears ars She is also bound for tor Reno fleno with fi same came ob object LI Likewise Mrs Sammy Whither Whit Whit- comb i er blames ames Mrs Jimmie for tor her ni marital I I troubles Classmates of ot Mal Mal- lory tory d decorate o t rg bridal I berth er Rev ev and Mrs Temple start t on a vacation They decide io to cut loose and Temple emp e removes evidence Sr or of hi his co calling 11 Ing Marjorie decides to let MV Manor Mallory fy Proceed alone but train starts while th they e are arc lost In farewell Passengers Passengers gers ers Join Mallory's classmates In giving couple I e wedding hazing CHAPTER X X Continued H He sank Into the seat opposite Marjorie who gave him one terrified I glance gl nce and ad burst bunt bur t Into fresh sobs Oh boo Oh oh boo hoo Im I'm so hap hap py py Perhaps Mrs Temple was a little miffed at the couple that had led her astray and opened her own honeymoon honey moon moo with a wanton fib In any cas case the best best consolation she could offer Marjorie was a perfunctory pat and a I Ire Thre re there e dear You dont don't know what real leal unhappIness Is yet Walt till youve you've be been n married a aWhile While I And then she noted a startling lack of completeness in the brides bride's hand Why Why my my dear dear wheres Where's Wheres your wedding ring With what he considered great presence of mind Mallory explained It lit It It slipped off off off-I-I I I picked it up I have it here And he took tho the little gold goUl band waistcoat and tried to jam It on Marjories Marjorie's right thumb Not on the thumb Mrs Temple cried Dont you know You see its it's Its my first marriage You Yo poor boy this boy this finger And Mrs Te Temple raising Marjories Marjorie's limp hand selected the proper digit and arid held It forward while Mallory pressed the fatal circlet home And then Mrs Temple having completed completed com corn their installation as man and wife utterly confounded their confusion confusion con con- confusion fusion by her final effort at comfort Well my dears Ill I'll go back to to my seat and leave you alone with your dear husband My My dear what MarjorIe mumbled Inanely and began to sniffle again Whereupon Mrs Temple Templo resigned d her herto herto herto to Mallory and consigned her to fate with a consoling platitude Cheer up my dear you'll be all allright allright right in the morning MarjorIe and Mallory's eyes met In one wild clash and then both stared Into the window and did not notice that the the- shades were down CHAPTER XI A Chance Encounter While Mrs Temple was confiding conf cUng to her husband that the agitated d couple in the tile next seat had just come from froma a wedding factory and had had got on while ho bo was lost In tobacco land the people in the seat on the other side of them were engaged In a little drama of or their own Ira Lathrop known to all who knew snapping tur him as a w woman man tle tie was so BO busily engaged trying to drag the farthest invading rice grains out of the tue back of his neck that he was late In realizing his his' whereabouts When he raised his hi head he found that he had crowded Into la a seat with an uncomfortable looking woman who crowded against tho the window with old old- maidenly timidity apology to be necessary s- s He Ue felt so sonic some o sary nary and he snarled Disgusting things these weddings After he be heard beard this it did not sound entirely ventured grudgingly felicitous so so 50 he be YOu me married Excuse me YOU me-YOU you She denied the tho soft impeachment to so heartily that he softened a little Youre a sensible woman I 1 guess you jou Ou and I are the only sensible peo peo- vie pie on this train she giggled It It so It seem so was the tint t time her bad had been taken as material for a com com- Something in the girlish giggle and the strangely young smile from her herace that swept twenty years belied belled the silver lines In face ace and aDd her hair seemed to catch the old bachelors bachelor's attention He stare at hoc her so fiercely that fiercely she lo about for fora a way t td c escape cape Then a curiously anxious almost a hungry look kok softened soft sort ened cued hits bis leonine Jowls into a boyish eagerness and lind his growl became a sort of gruff grutt purr Say you look something like an anold anold anold old of er er friend of mine Were you ever In Brattleboro Vt I A flush warmed her cheek and a aI sense of home borne warmed her prim I speech as she confessed I came from there originally So did I said Ira Lathrop leanIng lean lean- leanIng Ing closer and beaming like a bl big sun I dont don't suppose you remember Ira Lathrop The old maid stared at the bachelor a as B If she were trying to see the tho boy she he had known the mask that tha time had modeled on on his face An Anthen And then she was a n girl again and he her I voice chimed as she cried Why Ira Ira Mr Lathrop Lathrop-Is Lathrop Is 1 It you 1 She gave him her hand both hand both her fleX hands and he smothered them In on one big V w and laid the other on fo for extra warmth as he nodded his sayago say save ago age head and roared as gentle genUe as a sucking dove Well well Annie Annie Anne Anne Mis Cattle Gattle What do you think of that They gossiped across the chasm o of of years about people and things ana ano knew nothing of the excitement s so close to them saw nothing of Chicago slipping sUpping back into the distance with its many lights sho shooting across th the windows like hurled torches Sudden Suddenly a twinge of ancIent ancient jealousy jeal seal ou y shot through brough the mans man's heart i recurring to old emotions So youre you're not married Annie Whatever became of oC that fellow who used to hang round you all ail th the time Charlie Selby SeIby fIle e blushed at th the name and thrilled at the luxury o of meeting Jealousy Oh h h 3 entered the church Hes He's a minister out In n Ogden Utah I always knew hed he'd never amount amoun to much was Lathrop's epitaph on his old ld rival Then he started with witha a new twinge You bound for Ogden too Oh no no she he smiled enraptured at the new new sensation of making a man anxious and understanding all In lu a flash the motives motives' that make 3 Then she told him her destination Im on my way to China China he exclaimed Som 1 Som I 1 She stared started at him with a new thought and gushed Oh Ira Ira are are you a missionary too Missionary He Hell no he roared Excuse me me-I'm me Im I'm an importer importer Anne Anne AnneI I I-I- I I But Dut the sonorous swear reverberated ed In in their ears like Uke a smitten bell belland and he b blushed for It but could no not recall it CHAPTER XII S I t 0 The Needle In the Haystack The married almost-married couple sat long longIn longI I In mutual terror and a common common paralysis par par- of ingenuity Marjorie for tor lack of anything better to do do was absentmindedly absentmindedly absent absente mindedly twisting ears while he that pocket abridgment of a dog In a well meaning effort to divert divert divert di di- vert her from her evident grief made madea a a g great geat eat pretense of ot ferocity growling r and threatening to bite her her lingers fingers off The rho new ring attracted his Specia special I cia cial Jealousy He was growing ills ills- i at the success ill of or Ills Impersonation impersonation im Im- Im of a wolf olf and dejected at being so crassly ignored when he he suddenly became In his turn turn a center of Interest Marjorie was awakened from her trance of Inanition by the porters porter's voice His plantation voice was ordinarily ordinarily or or- as thick and sweet as his own New Orleans sorghum but now it had hada a bitterness that curdled the blood me but how did you-all you git that theah dog in this heah cah can Is with always me said Marjorie briskly as If that settled set set- tied It and turned for confirmation to the dog himself arent you ms Well tho the porter drawled trying to be gracious with his great power the rules rulea dont don't low no live stock In Inthe Inthe inthe the cars humans Marjorie rewarded his condescension sion with a blunt is ismore S smore more human than you are I 1 he is the porter admitted admitted ad ad- but he cant can't make up berths Anyway the ru rules es says dogs goes with ith the baggage Marjorie swept rules aside with a defiant I dont don't care 1 I wont won't be separated from my She looked to Mallory for support but he was too sorely troubled with greater anxieties to be capable of any action The porter tried per persuasion You betta lemme take him the conducta Is s what I am He fIe a couple of dogs out the window trip last The brute Oh he Is a brute He just loves to bear hear m when they light Noting the shiver that shook hook the girl the porter offered a bit o of con con- Better lemme have the pore little thing up in the baggage cah cab Hell He'll be ben bein bein in n charge of a lovely smash baggage er Are Arc you sure ties he's a nice man hes he's death on trunks Oh assum but hes he's a natural born angel to dogs Well If I 1 must m Bt I must m st she ebe sobbed P Poor or little Can he IB come back and see seo me tomorrow Marjories Marjorie's tears were splashing splashing- on the puzzled dog who nestled close with a foreboding of disaster I OIl 1 reckon you'd better visit him Poor dear little good good goodnight night my little darling Poor little littlechild ch Its child child ts t's its it's the tho first night he's hes slept ill all by his Ittle lonesome and and The portAr was growing desperate He clapped his hands together im- im patiently and urged I 1 think 1 I hear that hat conducta com comin In The ruse succeeded Marjorie fair lY y forced the dog on him Quick hide aide him hurry him hurry she gasped and sank on the tho seat completely crushed Ill be he so 50 lonesome without urns ams Mallory felt called upon to remind her of ot his presence Im I'm 1 Im I'm hero Marjorie She looked at him just Jus once once once-at at him tho the source of or all aU her troubles troubles buried burled her bel head In I he her er arms and resumed her grief Mallory l stared at h her hr r helplessly th then n rose roseand roseand roseand and bent over to whisper Im going to 10 look through f th J train she pleaded Oh dont don't leave me clinging to him with a dependence that restored his respect I 1 mu must t find a clergyman he whis pere Ill IU be back the tho minute 1 I t find nt one and Ill I'll bring him with me The porter thought he wanted the tho dog log back and quickened h his s pace vace til till he reached the corridor where Mallory Mal Mai lory overtook him and asked l fa an effort at casual Indifference if he had nad seen se seen n anything of or a clergyman on onboard board Aint seen that even looks look like one said aId the porter Then H he hastened ahead to the baggage ca car with the thel squirming while Mallory followed l slowly going from seat scat to seat and car t to car subjecting all the males to an inspection that tha rendered somo some of them indignant others of them uneasy H f I dear old Doctor Temple could only have haye known what Mallory was wa hunting ho would have snatched on ol the mask and thrown aside the secular secular secular lar scarlet tie at all costs But poor poo Mallory unable to recognize a clergyman clergyman clergyman clergy clergy- man so dyed in wool dyed wool the as Doctor Temple rem pIe sitting in the very next sea seat how how could he be expected to pICk out another In the long and crowded train All clergymen look alike when they are in convention assembled bu but sprinkled through a crowd they are not so easily distinguished In the sleeping car bound for Port tand Mallory picked one man as a clergyman He had a lean ascetic face solemn eyes and he e wa wag talking to his seat mate In an oratorical man ner Mallory bent down and tapped the mans shoulder The The effect was surprising The manju man roan ju jumped ped as I if he were stabbed and tur turned ed a pale frightened face on Mat Mal lor lory who murmured Excuse me me do you happen to be a clergyman A A- A Alook look of ot relief stole over the mans man's features followed closely by a scow scowl o of wounded vanity No damn you I dont don't happen to tobe tobe tobe be a parson I 1 have bave chosen to bewell bewell bewell be- be well If you had watched the billboards bill blU boards In Chicago go during our run you would not need to ask who 1 am Mallory mumbled an apology and hurried on just overhearing his victims victim's victims victim's vic vic- tims tim's sigh Such is fame He saw two or or- three other clerical persons in that car but feared to ta touch Jouch their shoulder shoulders One man In Inthe Inthe Inthe the last seat held him him specially anthe and ant he hid bid in the turn of or th the corridor in inthe inthe inthe the hope of eavesdropping some clue This man was bent and of ot app appearance aran e and wore heavy spectacles spectacles spec spec- spectacles and a heavy beard which Mal Mai lory tory took for a guaranty that he was not another actor And he was s reading read reading ing ng what hat appeared to be printers printer's pr proofs Mallory felt certain that they w were re a volume of sermons He Ha- Ha timorously In the environs for some time before the man spoke at atall atall all aB to the looking dreary woman at athis athis athis his side ide Then the stranger spoKe And this Is what he said and read I f fancy ncy this will make the bigots sit up and take notice moth mother r II 1 11 there ever was a person named Moses It is certain from the writings as to him that he disbelieved the tha Egyptian theory of a life after death deat and combated It as a a. heathenish su su- The Judaic Idea o of a future fu hi- ture hire existence was undoubtedly acquired acquired ac acI I from the Assyrians during tlc tto captivity He doubtless read much more but I Mallory MaBon fled to the next car There he found a man In a frock Crock coat talking talk talk- I ing lag solemnly to another of or equal i solemnity The seat next them was wag unoccupied pled and Mallory Malory dropped Into Inta it H perking his ears backward rd fo foT news Was Vas you ever in Moline Mouine one voice asked the other Was I muttered I run out of there by one ol ot my audiences I 1 was givin hypnotic demonstrations and 1 had a run-In run with one of my horses and he be d done De Deme me dirt RI Right ht In n the midst of or one of his cataleptic trances he got down from the chairs where I had bad stretched him out and hollered Hes a bum faker gents and owes me two weeks' weeks pay Thank there was a back backdoor backdoor backdoor door open In on a dark darl alley le leadin to the switch switchyard yard 1 I caught a va- va a ab b boose ose Just as a freight train was pull in out Mallory Mallon could hardly get strength to rise and continue his search On Un his way forward he met the conductor crossing a vestibule between cars A happy thought occurred to Mallory He said Excuse me but have you any preachers on board None so far Are you sure Positive How can you |