Show HEARTS AND MASKS dy HAROLD macgrath Aut borot the man on tha box etc with drawings by fisher by bobbt co I 1 CHAPTER VII look here sir cried the chief standing up and calling his fist I 1 want sou to explain yourself and s quick ou cant como into my presence in ils manner dah you hae just permitted the cleverest rascal in the state to slip through 5 our butter fingers I 1 am hag erty the chief of sat down sud y denly the consummate daring ot it why y the rascal ought to have been in corn mand of an army on ahe doard of strategy he would have been parable there followed a tableau that I 1 ahall not soon forget W 0 all stared at the real haggerty much after the fashion of medusa s victims present ly tha tension relaxed and we all sighed I 1 sighed because th of jail for the night la a dress bult dwindled in perspective the girl for the same and ono or two other things the chief of the all c lage police and his officers sighed because darkness bad suddenly swooped down on them and hamilton sighed because there a ere no ems hag gerty was the ono among us who dlan t sigh he scowled bleckly this big athlete looked like a de and tha abrupt authority of bis tones convinced me that he was H p haggerty vas celebrated in the annals of affairs he had handled all sorts of criminals from titled am i posters down to petty thieves he was not a man to trifle with mentally or physically and for this reason we were all shaking in our boots he owned to a keen but brutal wit to him chero was no such thing as sex among criminals and he had the tenacity of purpose that has given the bulldog considerable note n the pit but it was quite plain that for once he had met hla match I 1 dont see how jou can blame me mumbled the chief none of ua was familiar with your looks and he showed us his star of authority and went to work in a business like way by and ho has run away with my horse and carriage starting from bis chair never mind the horse find t safe at the railway station snarled haggerty now then tell me every thing that has happened from be ginning to end and the chief recounted the adventure briefly haggerty looked coldly at me and shrugged his broad ders As for the girl he never gave her so much as a single glance he knew a gentlewoman without looking at her twice humph S he a clever one though cried haggerty in a burst bt admiration clever Is no name tor it id give a year ol 01 my life to tome face to face with him it would be in interesting encounter hunted him for weeks and today laid eyes on him tor the first time had my clumsy paws him this very afternoon he seemed so willing to be locked up that I 1 grew careless ahlff and ho and bis accomplice an erstwhile valet had me trussed like a chicken and bundled into the clothes press took my star credentials playing card and inalta alon it was near eleven 0 clock when t roused the housekeeper I 1 tele graphed two hours ago telegraphed exclaimed the chief rousing himself out of a melancholy dream there would be no mention v of him in the morrow s papers yes telegraphed the despatch lay unopened on your office desk you re a good watchdog for a hen coope growled haggerty ten thou g sand in gema tonight to night and by this alme be Is safe in new york you are ill a pack of blackheads blockheads block heads s the telephone did hea told you to bold these innocent persons till ia went somewhere to land the ac eha the whistle of the train meant nothing to you well that whistle ought to have told you that there might be a mistake A good officer never quits his prisoners f there Is an accomplice in toils elsewhere he makes them bring him in he doea not go out for him and now I 1 vo got to start all over again and he in new york a bigger cata acomb than rome ever boasted of has not a common thief nobody knows who he Is or what his haunts are dut I 1 have seen his face III never forget him the chief tore hla hair while his subordinates shuffled their feet un easily then they all started in to explain their theories nut the de teethe silenced them a ave of his huge band I 1 dont anut to hear any bons let these persona go he cool with a leak of hs bead li aur dh netlon oa can all retus to tan but one officer I 1 may a baglo man haggerty added tho agh fully what are corf going to doa UM chief never sou mind I 1 have an jea it may be a good one if it 1 telephone sou all abou it the time comes lie stepped to the telephone and called up central lie spoke so low that none of us overheard what ha said but he bung up tha receiver a satisfied smile on his face the girl and I 1 were free to go whither we listed and we listed to return at once to new york ham ilton however begged us to remain to dance and eat as a compensation for what we hid gone through but miss hawthorne resolutely shook her head and as chere was nothing in the world that have induced me to stay without her I 1 shook my head too it seemed to me I 1 had known girl all my life so closely does misfortune link one life to another I 1 had seen her for the first time less than eight hours before and yet I 1 was confident that as many jears under ordinary circumstances would not have taught mo her real worth mrs hyphen bonds will never tor give me said hamilton dismally if she hears thit th it I 1 vo been the cause indirectly and innocently of turning you away sirs hyphen bonds need never know replied the girl smiling inscrutably bly in fact it would be per factly satisfactory and agreeable to me it she never heard at all te T yea why J might really have 1 you all my life and atall not hae known you as well as I 1 do this very minute and less than a dozen I 1 hours between this and pur first meet in you are as bravo adf a paladin wise as a serpent cool witty and beautiful shall I 1 ask the driver to let mo outa then she laughed a rollicking joyous laugh hat is so funny I 1 was thinking of that coal bin well I 1 llan t permit a lonely po tato to frighten me t retorted no i ou were brava enough among the potatoes ou are beautiful I 1 am hungry you are the most beautiful girl I 1 want something to eat I 1 ever saw do you think it possible tor a man to tall in love at first sight oh nothing Is impossible on tom fools night fool campara alve booler superlative coolest you are marching on with your degrees mr cornstalk you might call me dicky I 1 said in an aggrieved tone dicky never I 1 should always be thinking of paper collars I 1 wish I 1 were witty like that she snuggled down beneath the robes an artist s model thought I 1 never in this world I 1 now understood the drift of her uncle s remarks about her earning capacity the alice haw thorne miniatures brought fabulous prices and here I 1 was sitting so close to her that our shoulders touched and she a girl who IT haggerty looked coldly at me 1 I will call a conveyance tor you said the defeated M F II 11 1 I shall never forgive you dicky yes you will teddy A loving cup the next time we meet at the club will mellow everything quarter of an hour later hilss haw thorne and I 1 wrapped in buffalo robes our feet snugly stowed away in straw slid away to tho jangle and quarrel ot toward Mor larty s hollywood inn the moon shone not a cloud darkened her serene and lovely countenance the pearly whiteness ot the world would have aroused the poetry in the most sordid soul and far far away to the east the black tossing line of the sea was visible what a beautiful night I 1 volun leered the beginning ot the end the beginning of the enda ahat does that mean why when you first spoke to me it was about the weather oh but this isn t going to bo the end this is the true beginning of all things I 1 wish I 1 could see it in that light but we can not see beauty in anything when hunger lies back of the eyes I 1 haven t had anything to cat save that single apple for hours and hours I 1 was BO excited at mouquin s that I 1 ate almost nothing you are hungry well we 11 fix that when we get to Mori artys find a way to waking him up in case he s asleep which I 1 doubt there will be coi 1 chicken and ham and hot coffee lovely and we shall dine with the gods and now it Is all over and done it was funny gasn wasn t it terribly funny wi with a shade of irony it would have been funnier still if the real haggerty turned up the patrol had arrived but ft happen I 1 shall never forget this night romantically I 1 should be bely glad to for get it completely decidedly where s your romance t asked r I 1 d rather have it served to me be tween book covers aa I 1 grow older my love of repose increases do ou know I 1 began boldly it seems that 1 havo known you all my alfe obied intimately emperors and princesses and dukes not to mention the world ly rich I 1 admit that for a moment I 1 was touched with awe and it was beginning to get serious this girl interested me marvelously I 1 summoned up all my courage are aro you married noo no o nor engaged to be married noo no o but ou ash S these questions how would ou like to ride around in a first class motorcar the rest of your days she laughed merrily possibly it was funny are you always amusing like this supposing I 1 were serious in that case 1 should say you had not yet slipped off your tool a motley this directness was discouraging I 1 wonder it tho ten of hearts Is lucky alter all I 1 mused we are not in jail I 1 consider that the best of good fortune give me your card said I 1 she gave me the card and I 1 put it wath mine why do you do that perhaps I 1 want to bring about an enchantment soberly aa signer or as mr cornstalk I 1 have long since resigned my i alon in the museum it was too exalt ins she made no rejoinder and tori some time there was no sound but the music of the bells finally we drew up inder the colon lal porte cocheres of hollywood inn and were welcomed by the genial Mor larty himself hla celtic countenance a clr of smiles anything in the bouse to eat I 1 cried shaking the robes from me anything ye like if you like bowld things I 1 can hate 0 o a pot of coffee on the casolene burner and there s manny a vintage in tho cellars that will be plenty joyfully helping miss hawthorne to alight sure and e anre the hunt dub noting our costumes well well they niver have anny too much grub row putt ye la a room all bo with a windy and a log fire cozy as ye plaze ye II 11 have nearly two hours to watt for tho car r from the village to be continued v t s i y i V i i L tw JU |