| OCR Text |
Show i COPYRIGHT !907- ( 8 sVCCLO N "You You Man You Would Shoot Me?" She Whispered. SYNOPSIS. "Mact" Dan Maitland, on reaching his New York bachelor club, met an aurae-tive aurae-tive young woman at the door. Janitor O'Hasan assured him no one had bi-en within that day. Dan discovered a woman's wom-an's finder prints in dust on his desk, aioii? Willi a letter from h:s attorney. Mailland dined with Bannerman, his attorney. at-torney. Dan set out for Greenfields, to get his family jewels. During his walk to the country seat, he met the young woman in gray, whom lie had seen leaving leav-ing his bachelors' club. Her auto had broken down. He fixed it. By a ruse she "lost" him. Maitland, on reaching home, surprised lady in gray, cracking the sate containing his gems. She, apparently, took him for a well-known crook, Daniel Anisty. Half-hypnotized, Maitland opened his safe, took therefrom the jewels, and gave them to her, first forming a partnership part-nership in crime. The real Dan Anisty, sought by police of the world, appeared on the same mission. Maitksnd overcame him. He met the girl outside the house and they sped on to New York in her auto. au-to. He had the jewels and she promised to meet him that day. Maitland received a "Mr. Snaith," introducing himself as a detective. To shield the girl in gray, Maitland, about to show him the jewels, jew-els, supposedly lost, was felled by a blow from "Snaith's" cane. The latter proved to be Anisty himself and he secured the gems. Anisty. who was Maitland's double, dou-ble, masqueraded as the latter. The criminal kept Maitland's engagement with the girl in gray. He gave her the gems, after falling in Igve at first s;ght. They were to meet and divide the loot. Maitland Mait-land revived and regretted missimr his engagement. Anis-y. masquerading as Maitland. narrowly avoided capture through mysterious tip. The girl in gray visited Maitland's apartments during his absence and returned gems, being discovered dis-covered on return. Maitland, without cash, called up his home and heard a woman's voice expostulating. Anisty, disguised as Maitland, told her his real identity and realizing himself tricked tried to wring from her the location of the gems. Then he proposed marriage. A crash was heard at the front door. Maitland Mait-land started for home. He found Anisty and the girl in his rooms. Again he overwhelmed over-whelmed the crook, allowing him to escape es-cape to shield the young woman. Dan himself narrowly avoids arrest. Janitor O'llagan wined and dined the officers of the law. Mickey, a detective, duped by Anisty, refused to partake and mused on his ill-fnte. The girl in gray made her escape, jumping into a cab. An instant later, by working a ruse, Anisty was at her side. CHAPTER XIII. Continued. Bitter as poverty the cruel lash cut round the horse's flanks: and as the hansom shot out at breakneck speed toward Fifth avenue, the girl cowered hack in her corner, shivering, staring wide-eyed at the man who had so coolly placed himself at her side. This, then, was that nameless danger dan-ger that had stalked her on the staircase, stair-case, this the personality whose animosity ani-mosity toward her had grown so virulent that, even when consciously ignoranl: of its proximity, she had been repelled and frightened by its subtle emanations! And now and now she was in his power! Dazed with fear she started up, acting act-ing blindly on the primitive instinct to fly; and in another moment, doubtless, doubt-less, would have thrown herself boldly bold-ly from the cab to the sidewalk, had her companion not seized her by the forearm- and by simple force compelled com-pelled her to resume her seat. "Be still, you little fool!" he told her sharply. "Do you think that I'm going to let you go a third time? Not till I'm through with you. ... And if you scream, by the powers, I'll throttle you!" CHAPTER XIV. Retribution. She sank back, speechless. Anisty glinced her up and down without visible emotion, then laughed unpleasantly un-pleasantly the hard and unyielding laugh of brute man brutishly impassioned. impas-sioned. "This silly ass, Maitland," he observed, ob-served, "isn't really as superfluous as he seems. I find him quite a convenience, conveni-ence, and I suppose that ought to be totted tip to his credit, since it's because be-cause he's got the good taste to" resemble re-semble me. . . . Consider his thoughl.fulne.ss in providing me this cab! What'd I've done without it? To tell the truth I was quite at a loss to frame it up. how to win your coy consent to this giddy elopment, back there in the hall. But dear kind Mister Mis-ter Mailland. bless his innocent heart! fixes it all up for me. . . . And so," concluded the criminal with ironic relish "and so I've got you, my lady." He looked at her in sidelong fashion, fash-ion, speculative, calculating, relentless. relent-less. And she. bowed her head, assenting. as-senting. "Yes " "You're dead right, little woman. Got you. Um-mmm." She made no reply: she could have made none aside from raising an outcry, out-cry, although now she was regaining something of her shattered poise, and with it. the ability to accept the situation situa-tion quietly, for a little time (she could not guess how long she could endure the strain), pending an opportunity oppor-tunity to turn the tables on this, her persecutor. "What is it." she said presently, with some efTort "what is it you wish with me?" "I have my purpose." with a grim smile. "Y'ou will not tell me?" 'You've guessed it, my lady; I will not just yet. Wait a bit." Site spurre 1 her flagging spirit until It flashed defiance. "Mr. Anisty!" '"Yes?" he responded with a curlier lip. cold eyes to hers. "I demand " "No you don'!" he cut her short vi ; : -.pari. "You're not in a position o ,!c::.a 1 .T.yihina i'-)yhe it would towering white facade of upper Broadway's Broad-way's tallest sky-scraper ere she was half led, half dragged into iL'e entrance of the building. The marble slabs of the vestibule echoed strangely to their footsteps those slabs that shake from dawn to dark with the tread of countless feet. They moved rapidly toward the elevator-shaft, passing on their way deserted de-serted cigar and news-stands shrouded shroud-ed in dirty brown clothes. By the dark and silent well, where the six elevators eleva-tors (of which one only was alight and ready for use) stood motionless as if slumbering in utter weariness after the gigantic exertions of the day, they came to a halt; and a chair was scraped noisily on the floor as a night-watchman night-watchman rose, rubbing his eyes and yawning, to face them. Anisty opened the interview brusquely. "Is Mr. Bannerman In now?" he demanded. The watchman opened his eyes wider, losing some of his sleepy expression; ex-pression; and observed the speaker and his companion the small, shrinking, shrink-ing, frightened-looking little woman who bore so heavily on her escort's arm, as if ready to drop with exhaustion. ex-haustion. It appeared that he knew Mailland by sight, or else thought that he did. "Oh, ye're Mister Maitland, ain't you?'1 he said. "Nope; if Mlstlis-; Brfn-nerman's Brfn-nerman's in his oflis, I dunno fcotMsi' about it." "He was to meet me here at two," Anisty affirmed. "It's a very important import-ant case. I'm sure he must be along, immediately, if he's not upstairs. You're sure ?" "Nab, I ain't sure. He may 've been there all night, fr all I know. But I'll take you up. 'f you want," with a doubtful glance at the girl. "This lady is one of Mr. Banner-man's Banner-man's clients, and in great trouble." The self-styled Maitland laid his hand in a protecting gesture over the fingers on his arm: and pressed them cruelly. "I think we will go up, thank you. If Bannerman's not in, I can 'phone him. I've a pass-key." The watchman appeared satisfied; Maitland's social standing was guaranty guar-anty enough. "All right, sir. Step in." The girl made one final effort to hang back. Anisty's brows blackened. "By God!" he told her in a whisper. "If you dare . . .!" And somehow she found herself at his side in the steel cage, the gate's clang ringing loud in her ears. The motion of the car, shooting upwards with rapidly increasing speed, made her slightly giddy. Despite Anisty's supporting arm she reeled back against the wall of the cage, closing her eyes. The man observed this with covert satisfaction. As the speed decreased she began to feel slightly stronger; and again opened her eyes. The floor numbers, black upon a white ground, were steadily slipping down; the first she recognized being 19. The pace was sensibly decreased. Then with a slight jar the elevator stopped at 22. "Yous know the way?" "Perfectly," replied Anisty. "Two flights up in the tower." "Right. When yous wants me ring." The car dropped like a plummet, leaving them in darkness or rathei in a thick gloom but slightly moderated mod-erated by the moonlight streaming in at windows at either end of the corridor. cor-ridor. Anisty gripped the girl more roughly. "Now, my lady! No shennanigan ! " A futile, superfluous reminder. Temporarily Tem-porarily at least she was become as wax in his hands. So complex had been the day's emotions, so severe her nervous tension, so heavy the tax upon her stamina, (hat she had lapsed into a state of subjective consciousness, conscious-ness, in which she responded without purpose, almost dreamily to the suggestions sug-gestions of the stronger will. Wearily she stumbled up the two brief flights of stairs leading to the tower-like cupola of the sky-scraper; two floors superimposed upon the roof with scant excuse save that of giving the building the distinction of being the loftiest in that section of the city certainly not to lend any finishing touch of architectural beauty to the edifice. On the top landing a door confronted confront-ed them, i's g'a-.; panel shining dimly , in the da; l:::c.-:s. Anisty .au""l. unceremoniously un-ceremoniously t !iru:--.t i:i g the g'rl to j one side and awnv frcrn tha id of! the staircase: a id here fiuutiierl in & pocket, presently produr iig a j;n::ling hunch of keys. For a mo::;e:if. or two she heard him working at the Ivrk! and muttering in an undertone prob- ! abiy swearing and then, with a click, ! the door swung open. j The man thrust a hand inside, j touched an electric switch, flood ins I the room with lisht. and motioned the' girl to enter. Phe obeyed passively, ihorrughly subjugate.-, and found her- t self in a large and w-i I-: urn ishe of. flee, apparently the r.w.r-r of two' rooms. The glare of eVctric light at first partly blinded her; and she i haltfd ips: inct i vr-ly a U v rtcps from ' the door, v.-ai:in for h -r eyes to be j come accii--ter.i-:i ;, ;!e rhaoue. t (TO lib CONTINUED.) be as well for you to remember who you're dealing with." "And ?" heart sinking again. "And I've been made a fool of just as long as I can stand for it. I'm a crook like yourself, my lady, but with more backbone and some pride in being be-ing at the head of my profession. I'm wanted in a dozen places; I'll spend the rest of my days in the pen, if they ever get me. Twice to-day I've been within an ace of being nabbed kindness kind-ness of you and your Maitland. Now I'm desperate and determined. Do you connect?" "What ?" she asked, breathlessly. "I can make you understand. I fancy. To-night, instead of dropping to the backyard and shinning over the fences to safety, I took the fire-escape up to the top-flat something a copper would never think of and went through to the hall. Why? Why, to interrupt the tender tete-a-tete Maitland Mait-land had plannc' Why again? Because, Be-cause, for one thing, I've never yet been beaten at my own game; and I'm too old a dog to learn new tricks. Moreover, no man yet has ever laid hands on me in anger and not regretted regret-ted it." The criminal's voice fell a note or two, shaking with somber passion. pas-sion. "I'll have that pup's hide yet!" he sw-ore. The girl tried to nerve herself. "It if doesn't seem to strike you," she argued, controlling her hysteria by sheer strength of purpose, "that I have only to raise my voice to bring all Broadway to my rescue." For by now the cab had sheered off into that thoroughfare, and was rocking rock-ing rapidly south, between glittering walls of light. A surface car swooped down upon them, and past, making night hideous with gor.g and drumming drum-ming trucks, and drowning Anisty's response. For which reason he chose to repeat it. with added emphasis. ' "Y'ou try it on. my lady, and see what happens." She had j.10 answer ready, and he proceeded, after waiting a monent : "But you're not going to be such a fool. Y'ou have no pleasure in the prospect of seeing the inside of the Tombs, yourself; and, besides, you ought to know me well enough to know. "What?" she breathed, in spite of herself. Anisty folded his arms, thrusting the right hand beneath his coat. "Maitland got only one of my guns," he announced, ironically. "He'd 've got the contents of the other, only he chose to play the fool and into my hands. Now I guess you understand" and turning his head he fixed her with an inflexible glare, chill and heartless as steel "that one squeal out of you will be the last. Oh, I've got no scruples; arrest to me means a living death. I'll take a short course, by preference, and I'll take you wit It nie tor company." 'Y'ou you mean you would shoot me?" she whispered, incredulous. "Like a dog," he returned with unction. "Y'ou, a man, would would shoot a w oman ?" : "Y'ou're not a woman, my lady; you're a crook. Just as I'm not a man; I'm a crook. We're equals, sexless, sex-less, soulless. You seem to have overlooked over-looked that. Amateurs often do. . . . To-night I made you a fair proposition, to play square with me and profit. Y'ou chose to be haughty. Now you see the other side of the picture." Bravado? Or deadly purpose? How could she tell? Her heart misgave her; she crushed herself away from him as from some abnormally vicious, loathly reptile. . -He understood this; and regarded her with a confident leer, inscrutably strong and malevolent. "And there is one other reason why you will think twice before making a row," he clinched his case. "If you did that, and I weakly permitted the police to nab- and walk us off, the business busi-ness would get in the papers your name and all; and what'd Maitland think of you then, my lady? What'd he think when he read that Dan Anisty had been pinched on Broadway Broad-way in company with the little woman he'd been making eyes at whom he was going, in his fine manlike way, to reach down a hand to and yank up out of the gutter and redeem and and all that slush? Eh?" . And again his low evil laugh made her shudder. "Now, you won't risk that. Y'ou'll come with me and behave, be-have, I guess, all right." She was dumb, stupefied with misery. mis-ery. He turned upon her sharply. "Well ?" Her lips moved in soundless assent lips as pallid and bloodless as the wan young face beneath the small-inconspicuous small-inconspicuous hat. The man grunted impatiently; yet was satisfied, knowing that he had her now completely under control; a eondiiion not hard to bring about in a woman who, like this, was worn out with physical fatigue and overwrought with nervous strain. The conditions had been favorable, the result was pre-eminently comfortable. She would give him no more trouble. The hansom swerved suddenly across the car-tracks and pulled up at the curb. Anisty rose with an exclamation ex-clamation of relief and climbed down to the sidewalk, turning and extending a hand to assist the girl. "Come!" he said. imperatively. "We've no time to waste." For an instant only she harbored a fugitive thought of resistance: then his eyes met hers and held them, and her mind seemed to go blank under his steadfast and domineering record. "Come!" he repeated sharply. Trembling, Trem-bling, she placed a hand in his and somehow found herself by his side. Regardless of appearances the man retained her hand, merely shifting it beneath his arm. where a firm pressure pres-sure of the elbow held it as in a vise. "Y'ou needn't wait," ho said curtly to the cabby; and swung about, the girl by his side. "No nonsense now." he warned her tensely, again thrvis'ing a hand in his breast pocket si'-nificantly. "I understand." she breathed faintly, ' between closed teeth. She had barely lime to remark the |
