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Show RED, THE MEDIATOR. (By Montague Glass.) Aloysius Walsh, the same they call "Red," was playing the mouth organ. He exhaled the melody and Inhaled the accompaniment, while Patsy Barry sat beside him on the bench and kicked the wooden partition beneath, tempo marcato. Outside, the cold was Intense and the constantly opening door so lowered the temperature of the room that the music mu-sic fairlv steamed from Alovsins1 in little jets of vapor. Patsy's nose peeped, cherrylike, from the shade of his enormous cap, and his whole attitude atti-tude was one of absorbed interest, in the performance. He admired good music; not so the manager at Forty-fifth Forty-fifth street, who stuck his head through an opening in the partition. "Quit dat noise, youse two" he growled, growl-ed, "or I'll kick be dot'n yes out er dis." They quit incontinently, for the manager man-ager was of a decisive habit with messenger mes-senger boks. He had just arisenf rom a tender conversation with "B. G." in the main office, who clicked him a vivid description of herself as tall and blond, and he sighed as he pictured her languid eye and moist, red lip. If he but knew it. "B. G." was stout and forty, with a three days' growth ,of beard, and more redolent of whiskey than the manager at Forty-fifth street himself. It was scant half past eight, and the theatres were in. A lights now fell, and a bleak wind swept Broadway clear of all traffic save the cars and one or two belated playgoers. The manager man-ager lighted a fresh stogy and prepared pre-pared for a quiet evening. Aloysius and Patsy were "doping" the horses at New Orleans with the aid of a tattered pink newspaper. They were keen sportsmen, at least in desire, de-sire, and discussed in low tones a marked reversal in form shown In the fifth race that afternoon. "Dat ain't narten," said Aloysius, "Louis d'Or was played down to even money yesterday, and she ain't finished fin-ished yet." Patsy waggled his head gravely. "Yer can't pick 'em dese days," he said. "Dey git yer bote ways, comin' and goin'." A bell tapped insistently, and the manager drew a ticket from one of the many drawers behind the counter. He handed it to Aloysius without even glancing at it. "Here, you I" he said. "Chase vour-self." vour-self." Aloysius buttoned up his coat and carefully drew on his torn mittens. "Where to?" said Patsv. "Hotel Altrincham," Aloysius replied, and ministered to a cold in his head with his left hand mitten. "Leave me have de mout' organ while ye're gone?" said Patsy as Aloysius made for the door. "Aw, what fer?" Aloysius rejoined derisively. , "All right, yer miz," said the disgruntled dis-gruntled Patsy. The manager again inserted his head through the partitino. "Shake it up, there. Four-ninety-two:" he said. Aloysius opened the door and passed out with the blast of insulting discords on the harmonica. "Holy cripesl" he muttered to himself as the wind struck him. "Ain't it cold:" And he broke into a trot, with his head bent to the swirling snow. II. A few minutes later he entered the revolving door of the Altrincham and saluted the clerk with the monosyllable "Call." ' ; "Front," said the clerk, "take this kid up to S9." After a lively scuffle with the bellboy bell-boy i nthe elevator, Aloysius alighted at the eighth floor and knocked on thfc door numbered eighty-nine. A tall young man answered his summons. sum-mons. "Come in," he said to Aloysius. "Cold, isn't it?" Aloysius sniffed by way of answer and sat on the edge of the bed. He made careful survey of the room while the tall young man wrote steadily at a desk in the corner. On the dressing-fable dressing-fable were two panel photographs, and Scattered about the walls were four more, all of the same person. Aloysius stared at them with the eye of a connoisseur, con-noisseur, for messenger-boys are by association and environment excellent judges of feminine beauty. The tall young man rose from hisj desk and went to the telephone. "Send me a cup of hot coffee," he said to the clerk, and he returned to his writing. Soon there came a knock at the door, and a waiter appeared, bearing a silver pot of coffee on a linen-covered tray. He deposited it, with sugar, cream and a cup and saucer, sau-cer, on the dressing-table. "Drink this," said" the tall young man. "You'll feel better when you go out." Aloysius expressed his enjoyment in long gurgling inhalations until there was no more coffee left. Evidently the tall young man found letter-writing a difficult task, he began four epistles, to tear them up. At the fifth attempt he concluded a short note and handed it to Aloysius. "Take this letter to the Benson," he said, "and wait for an answer. If the lady says there isn't any. come back and let me know. Here's ten cents for carfare and a quarter for yourself." Aloysius pocketed the quarter. "T'anks, Jack," he said. "Yer all right." The tall young man sighed heavily. He had large melancholy eyes, and features so delicately molded as to appear ap-pear rather weak. Altogether, he was good to look upon, and the dinner-coat dinner-coat which he wore by no means detracted de-tracted from his appearance. "Hustle, now," he said, "and if you come back in . less than half an hour there's more coffee down stairs." Aloysius grinned, and hurried for the elevator. On his way down he discovered dis-covered that the envelope, none too securely se-curely sealed, had broken open, and in the street car he drew the letter from its covering and perused it with a frown. "Dearest," it ran, "tell me you didn't mean what you said this afternoon. The boy will wait for an answer Hulbert." "Dat's a hot one:" Aloysius mutter-: ed, replacing it in the envelope. The car jogged over the points in the rails, j ana Aloysius, seated for warmth over a grating of the electric heater, took his harmonica from hi stunic and passed it furtively across his mouth. The only other occupants of the car were the conductor, who stood inside the door, and an old gentleman curled up in the corner behind the financial page of a conservative evening paper. At the first strains, the old gentleman glanced menacingly over the celluloid rims of his glasses and the conductor darted up the aisle of the car. "Hey!" he yelled. "Yer wanter cut dat out. See?" Aloysius rose slowly. "Who for?" he inquired, and as the conductor grabbed for him he dodged and jumped nimbly from the rear platform. Standing on the sidewalk, he carefully inserted his two index fingers in either corner of his mouth and sent a shrill defiance after the retreating car. Three times, and with great solemnity, he repeated the performance, per-formance, and then turned and entered enter-ed the portals of the Benson. "Dis is for Miss Ethel Wetmroe," he said to the clerk, "an dere's an answer." an-swer." The clerk 'handed the note to a bell boy, who returned a moment later. "She wants to see the messenger," he said. ITT. Aloysius was ushered into a room on the third floor in which a lady was sitting a lady of such compelling charm that Aloysius removed his hat and gasped. Are you the boy that Mr. Hols-worthy Hols-worthy sent?" she asked. "A tall guy wid a dress-suit?"' Aloysius queried. The lady nodded. "Yes'm," he said. Slowly she removed from "thethird finger of her left hand a solitaire diamond dia-mond ring that sparkled brilliantly in the subdued lighting of the room. "But Aloysius had no eyes for the gem. He gazed open-mouthed at two round drops that rolled gently down the lady's cheeks. "Now," he commenced huskily "now, lady don't yer. now." He recognized in her the original of the six photographs in the room at the Altrincham. though the beauty of her features was many times enhanced by the magnificent coloring of her oval face and the gilded wealth of her hair. She wrapped the ring In Holworthy's note and handed it to Aloysius. "Take this to Mr. Holworthy," she said, "and let me' know what he says." She fumbled in her pocketbook and produced a quarter. "Take this," she continued. "Hurry back." "T'anks, lady," said Aloysius, placing plac-ing the package in the lining of his hat. He stood in the door hesitatingly. "Well, why don't you go?" said Miss Wetmore. "Now, lady," Aloysius stammered, "don't yer go ter beefin' no more." He blushed at his own temerity and ran wildly down the stairs. The tall young man was pacing nervously nerv-ously up and down his room as Aloysius Aloy-sius entered. "Well?" he blurted out. "She gimme dis ter hand ter yer," said Aloysius, taking the ring from the lining of his cap. Holworthy seized it with shaking fingers, fin-gers, and his face turned a ghastly white. Aloysius stood waiting in the door. , "That's all." Holworthy said. , "You may go." Still Aloysius lingered. "What are you waiting for?" Holworthy Hol-worthy croaked. "She told me ter come back," Aloysius Aloy-sius replied, "and let her know what you said." Holworthy swallowed in an effort to control his tones and made a gesture of dismissal. "Go!" he managed to whisper, and sinking down on the bed, covered his face with his hands, while his shoulders shoul-ders heaved with great choking sobs. Aloj'sius turned and tiptoed from the room. A quarter of an hour later he was again conducted to Miss Wetmore's apartments in the Benson. She raised a tearful face toward him. "Wen," she said, "what did he say?" Aloysius shook his head. "Narten, lady." She folded her hands in her lap and gazed Into vacancy. "What did he do?" she continued, and her lips trembled piteously. "Now-, lady," said Aloysius, "don't yer go ter takin' on about it de way he did. On de level, lady, he beefed eumpin' awful." Miss Wetmore rocked to and fro in impotent misery; and Aloysius, forgetting forget-ting that he was a messenger boy, laid a comforting arm on her shoulder. Gently she took his hand in hers and pressed a dollar bill into it. Aloysius turned red and choked. "T'anks, lady," he murmured; "but I couldn't take it." He left the money on the table and backed out of the room. "Much obliged just the same," he said as he closed the door behind him and trudged mournfully downstairs. IV. The manager at Forty-fifth street was just finishing his last stogy when Aloysius came back. "Well," he grunted, "where've you been loafing?" 1 Aloysius was in no mood for correction. correc-tion. "Say," he piped, "me mudder's sick, 1 an' I'm going home. See?" J "You are, hey?" the manager replied. ' "You stay right here till 7 o'clock." ' For answer Aloysius flung down his oilcloth-covered book and walked out of the office, banging the door behind him. Without hesitating, he made I straight for the Altrincham. "Say," he said to the clerk, "I've got ! an answer for Mr. Holworthy . in 1 1 eighty-nine." 1 The clerk looked at the pigeonholes behind him. "Gone out," he replied. "Where did he go?" Aloysius persisted. per-sisted. "You might try the Criterion club," said the clerk. By this time the light snow had grown into a driving blizzard and Aloysius Aloy-sius shivered as he faced the stinging particles. He turned into Fifth avenue, his head bent to the storm, Just as a hansom dashed around the corner. The driver gave a mighty pull on his reins and swore horribly as Aloysius disappeared disap-peared beneath the wheels. Young Holworthy Hol-worthy jumped from the cab and carried car-ried Aloysius in his arms to the sidewalk. side-walk. "By George:" he exclaimed. "It's the messenger boy." When the ambulance arrived the surgeon sur-geon shook his head dolefully. "Must get him to the operating table immediately," he called to Holworthy from the back of the wagon as it clanged rapidly away. Aloysius awoke four hours later with the fumes of the ether lingering in his nostrils. He turned his head painfully towar dthe white-capped nurse at his side. "Am I goin' to croak?" he whispered. The nurse patted his pillow cheerfully. cheer-fully. "You're all right!" she said. Aloysius gazed at the ceiling for an hour. "Say," he muttered again, "kin I send for me friends?" The nurse nodded, and placed a linen screen around him. She bent her head while he whispered two names and addresses. ad-dresses. It seemed like an age, but in reality-it reality-it was barely half an hour before they arrived. Holworthy was the first to come. He leaned over Aloysius and pressed his hand in silent sympathy. Aloysius smiled gratefully. "Say, Jack." he murmured, "have yer got dat ring?" Holworthy took it from his pocket and laid it on the bed. Then Miss Wetmore entered. She stood on the opposite op-posite side of the bed. and a faint flush mounted to Aloysius' cheeks as he saw her. He closed his hand over the ring. "Put it on, lady," he muttered. With drooping eyes, she placed the ring on the third finger of her left hand. Aloysius turned to Holworthy. "Git over on de udder side," he whis-pered, whis-pered, and in a mom. nt the two lovers were clasped in each other's arms. Aloj'sius beamed, apd half rose in his bed. "Kiss her, Jack:" he gasped, and fell back on the pillow. Munsey's Magazine. |