Show SYNOPSIS mad dan maitland Malt land on reaching hi new york bachelor club met an attract alve young woman at the door janitor 0 hagan assured him no one had been within that day da i discovered a worn ana finger prints in dust on his desk along with a letter from his attorney maitland Malt land dined with bannerman his at torney dan set out for greenfields to set family jewels CHAPTER 11 cont aued an errant cabby cruis ng aimlessly arat sighted maitland Malt land s tall figure and white shirt from a distance and bore down upon him with a gal lant clatter of hoofs he demanded breathless ly pulling in at the corner out of his reverie and looked up slowly why yes thank you he assented amiably where to sira maitland Malt land paused on the forward deck of the craft and faced about look ing the cabby trustfully in the eye I 1 leave it to you he replied politely just as you please tl e driver gasped you see continued with courteous smile I 1 have two engage meats one at sherry s the other with the 10 20 train from long island city what would you as man to man ad vise me to do cabby well sir scein as you put it to me straight returned the cabby with engaging candor I 1 d go home sir it I 1 was you afore I 1 got any worse f thank you gravely long island city depot then cabby maitland extended himself languid ly upon the cush 0 surely he told the nigh the driver knows best he and bannera an the cab started off jogging so se bately up madison avenue that malt land glanced at his watch nd elevated bis brows dub bously then with his etick poked open tl e in the root if you really think it best for me to go home cabby you 11 have to drive like hell he suggested mildly dessir A whip lash cracked loudly over the horses back and the hansom lurch ing into thirty fourth street on one wheel was presently jouncing eastward avei rough cobbles at a regardless pace which roused the gongs of the surface cars to a clangor of hysterical expostulation in a trice the L ex tension was roaring overhead and a little later the ferry gates were yawn ing before them again maitland Malt land con suited his watch commenting briefly in time yet he reckoned without the ferry one pt whose employed emp loyes deliberately and implacably swung to the gates in the very of the estoni bed cab borso which promptly rose upon its hind legs and pawed the air with lures of pardonable exasperation to no avail however the gates remained closed the cabby with language reined his steed back a yard or two and maitland Malt land lighting a fi garette composed himself to simulate i patience followed a wait ct ten minutes or so in which a number of cles joined company with the cab the pas was vaguely aware of the jar ring purr ot a motor car like that of some huge cat in the rear A circumstance which he had occasion to recall ere long in the course of time the gates v ere again opened the bridge cleared of incoming traffic As the cabby drove aboard the boat with nice considers con sidera alon selecting the choicest stand of all well out upon the forward deck a motor car slid humming on the bigit c the banal n s t forward resting his forearms on the apron and jerked his cigarette out over the gates the glow ing stub described a fiery arc and tool the water with a hiss warm whiffs of the rivers sweet and salty breath fanned his face gratefully and he be came aware that there was a moon ats gaze roving at will he nodded an even tempered approbation of the nights splendor in the city a thing unsuspected never he thought had he known moonlight so pire so silvery and strong shadows of gates and posts lay upon the forward deck 11 e stencils of lampblack upon wh te marble be yond the boats bluntly bounded nose the east river stretched its restless dark reaches glossy black woven with gorgeous ribbons of reflected 1 streaming from pier head lamps on the further shore overhead the sl pallid and luminous blue around the low swung moon was shaded to profound depths of bluish black toward the horizon above brooklyn rested a tenuous haze A revenue cutter a slim pale shape cut across the bows 1 ke a hunted golost farther ou a homeward bound excursion steamer tier upon tier of glittering 1 gats drifted slowly toward its pier beneath the new bridge the blare of its band swelling and dying upon the breeze mercifully tempered by dis tance presently maitland s attention was distracted and drawn by the abrupt cessation of its motor s pulsing to the automobile on his right he lifted h s chin sharply narrowing his eyes whistled low and thereafter had eyes for nothing else the car he saw with the expert encee eye of a connoisseur was a re cent model of one of the most ex pensive and popular foreign makes built on 1 nes that promised a deal in the way of speed and fun dished v th engines that were pregnant ith multi plied hoise power all in all not the style of car one would expect to find controlled by a solitary woman es pec lally liter ten of a summer s night nevertheless the lone occupant of this car was a woman and there was that in her bearing an ind enable something whether it lay in the car ariage of her head which mip essed one as both spirited and independent or in an equally certai fl but au tan gible air 0 self confidence and re 1 ance to et mad maitland s pulses drumming with excitement for un less indeed he labored gracely under a ns on he was observe ng her for the second time wit in the past few hours could he be en or was this in truth the ame woman who had as he bel eved made her elf of hib rooms thit evenings evening 7 in confirmation of sach cusp cion he remarked hei e wh ch was al together worked cut in soft shades of gray gray was the m ltv ve 1 dra vi in and daintily knotted abenath 1 er chin which lent her head irid face s ch tr orough protection against an ing glances of gray suede tl Q 1 gauntlets that hid all cave the slenderness of ht small hands ard the v rap that cut upon full an 1 flo v me lines cloaked her fig ire beyond suggestion was gray et even ltv ample drapery could cot ds the tact that was qu te small girlishly sl like the woman in the doorway nor did acht temper 1 er impersonal and detached composure which had also been an attribute of the woman in the doorway and again he was alone unprotected yesa or noa and it es what to doa avas he to alight and accost her accuse her of forcing an entrance to his rooms for the sole purpose as tar as ascertainable of presenting him with the outline of her hand in aba dust ot his desks topa oh hardly it was all very well to be daringly eccentric and careless ot the worlds censure but one scarcely cared to lay one s self open either to an unknown girls derision or to a sound pummeling at the hands of fel low passengers enraged by the insult offered to an unescorted woman the young man was still pondering ways and means when a dull bump ap him that the terry boat was en bering the long island city slip the devil he exclaimed in mingled dis gust and dismay realizing that his distraction had been so thorough as to permit the voyage to take place almost without his realia ng it so that now worse luck it was too late to take any one of the hundred fantastic steps he had contemplated halt seriously in another two minutes his charming mystery so incarnated wo id have slipped out of his life fl nally and beyond recall and he could do naught to hinder such a finale to the adventure sulkily he res ened himself to the inevitable waiting and watching while the boat slid and blundered clumsily paddle wheels churning the filthy waters over side to the floating bridge while the winches rattled and the woman sitting up briskly in the driver s seat of the motor car bent foiw ard and advanced the spark while the chain fell clanking and the car shot out over the bridge through the gates and away at a very consider able even it lawful rate of speed whereupon writing finis to the final chapter of romance voting the world a dull place and life a treadmill an in no uncertain terms his lack of resource and address malel ind paid off his cabby alighted and to that worthy s boundless wonder walked into the waiting room of the railway term nus without deviating a hairs breadth from the straight and circumscribed path of the sober in mind and body the 10 20 had departed by a bare two m the next and last train for greenfields was to leave at 10 9 maitland with assumed nonchalance compo ed himself upon a bench in the waiting room to endure the 37 interval five minutes later an able bodied washerwoman with six children in quarter s zes descended upon the same bench and the young man in desperation allowed himself to be dis possessed 1 he news stand next attract ing him he garnered a fugitive amusement and two dozen copper cents by r the simple process of purchasing six night extras wh ch he did not want and paying for each with a five cent piece comprehending at length that he had irritated the news dealer meandered off 1 angling h s copper for tune in one hand lugging h s news papers in other and made a de ter mined onslaught upon a slot ma chine the latter having 24 assorted samples chewing gum and stale sweetmeats maitland returned to the washer wom an and sowed dissension in her brood by presenting the treasure horde to the eldest girl with instructions share it with her brothers and sisters it Is difficult to imagine what folly n next have been recorded against him had not at that moment a fe brocious and inarticulate howl from the thain starter announced the tact that the 10 09 was in waiting boarding the train in a thankful blint maitland settled himself as corn fort ably as he might in the smoker and endeavored to find surcease ot ennui in his collection of extras in vain even a two column portrait of mr dan an sty cracksman ac om danied by a vivacious catalogue of tha notoriety s achievements in the field of pol te burglary hardly stirred his in terest an elusive resemblance wh ch he traced in the features ot mr anasty as presented by the sketch artist on ane spot to some one whom he malt land had known in the dark back wards and abysm of time merely drew from him the comment homely brute and he laid tl e papers as de cradling his chin in the palm of one hand and staring tor a weary while out ot the car window at a reeling and moon smitten landscape he yawned exhaustively his thoughts astray be tween a girl garbed all in gray ban u s earnest and thoi face and the pernicious activities of mr daniel anasty at whose door maitland laid the responsibility for this most fatiguing errand the brakeman s wolf 1 ke yelp greenfields Gleen fields was ringing in his eara when he awoke and stumbled down aisle and car steps just in the hicl of time the train whisking lound a curve cloaked by a belt of somber p nes left him quite alone in the world cast ruthlessly upon his own le sources an hour had elapsed it was now midnight the moon rode high a cold white disk against a background of sapphire velvet its d rays revealing with dishearten ng distinct nes the inanimate and 1 gruess road s de 1 annlet called greenfields its gen faral store and postoffice post office its sold sant hotel its straggling 1 ne of d lapidate 1 habitations all wrapped tn silence pro found and impenetrable not even a dog howled not a belated villager was n sight and 1 was a moral certainty that the local ivery service had closed down for the night nevertheless maitland with a desperation bred of the active fl venille tramp spent some ten val bable manutes hammering upon the door of the house infested by the pro inetor ot the livery stable he sue ceedee only in waking the dog and inasmuch as he was not on friendly terms with that animal reentry ly withdrew at discretion and set his face northwards upon the open road it stretched before him invitingly enough a ribbon winding white between dark patches of pine and scrub oak or fields lush with rustling corn and wheat and having over come bis primary disgust as the blood began to circulate more briskly in his veins maitland became aware that he was actually enjoying the enforced ex arcise it could have been hardly otherwise with a night so sweet with airs so bland and fragrant of the wooda and fresh turned earth wath so clear a light to show him his way lie stepped out briskly at first swinging his stick and watching hi shadow a squat incredibly agitated silhouette in the golden dust but gradually aart insensibly the peaceful inal ance of that still and lovely hour tempered his heart s impatience and he found himself walking at a pace more leisurely after all there wa no hurry he was unwearied and malt land manor lay less than five miles distant thirty minutes passed he had not covered a third of the way yet r ma ned content by well remembered landmarks he knew he m be near ing the little stream called by courtesy macinnis Ma innis river and in due course he stepped out upon the long wooden sti uc ture that spans that water he wa close upon the farther end when upon a hap chance impulse he glanced over the nearest guard rail down at the bed of the creek and stopped in continently gaping stationary in the raddle of the de hub deep in the shallow va was a motor car and it beyond d was identical with that wh ch had occupied his thoughts on the ferry boat less wonderful perhaps but to him amazing enough it was to dis cover upon the driver s seat the girl in gray his brain benumbed beyond further capacity for astonishment he accepted without demur this latest and most as founding of the chain of amazing coincidences which had thus far eiliv ened the nights earlier hours and stood rapt in silent contemplation sensible that the girl had been un aware of his approach deadened aa his footsteps must have been by tl e blanket of dust that carpeted both road and bridge deep and thick on her part she sat motionless evi dently lost in reverie and momen harily at least unconscious of the em bar raising predicament which was hers so complete indeed seemed her abstraction that maitland caught h m self questioning the reality of her and well m she have seemed to him a pale little th ot the night the shimmer of gray that she made against the shimmer of light on tie a shape almost trans parent slight and unsubstantial seeming to contemplate and as still as adv mouse looking more attentively it became evident that her veil was now raised this was the first time that he had seen her so but her countenance re so deeply shadowed by the visor of a mannish motoring cap that the most searching scrutiny gained no more than a dim and scantily tory impression of alluring loveliness maitland turned noiselessly rested elbows on the rail and staring framed a theory to account for her position it not tor her patience on either hand the road dividing struck off at a tangent down the bani s and into the arver bed it was credible to p esome that the girl bad lo 10 t control of the machine temporal tem poran ly and that t taking the bit between its teeth had swung gayly down the incline to its bath why she lingered there however was less patent the water as hag been indicated was some inches below the it d d not seem reason able to assume that it should have in with either running gear 01 motor at this point in maitland s aedita alons the gray girl appeared to have arrived at a decision she straight ened up suddenly with a 1 atle reso 1 te nod of her head lifting one small coot to her knee and fumbled with the aces of her shoe maitland grasped her intention to abandon the machine with her deter to wade clearly this boum seem to demonstrate that there had ben a breakdown irreparable so far frail feminine hands were concerned one shoe removed its fellow would bilow and then out of sheea chivalry shi valry the involuntary witness was i oved to earnest protest don t 1 e cried hast ly I 1 sly ion t wade TO BB CONTINUED |