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Show TAXI An Adventure Romance By George ASnev Chamberlain Ooprlf M, Tbe Ilobbt-Mertlli Compuir "Silk underwenr!" exclnlmcd Mr. Randolph, mystlded und Interested In fcplto of hlinsclf. "Of course you couldn't understand that," she snld, "not unless you had seen some poor girl bury her face In crepe de chine and lnce, tremble to try thorn on, nnd then sob because she had to wenr clothes over them." "Look here' said Mr". Randolph, shuddering at the pity of It: "we'll pass on to the next, if you don't mind." "Curiosity comes next," resumed tho girl obediently. "A womnn Is weak until she knows everything. Then conies a funny one that you won't understand un-derstand at all. It's called 'Because.' 'Because he had on n coat that re minded her of an old coat thnt n man she had loved used to wear." "My dear girl" protested Mr. Randolph. Ran-dolph. ' "I said they weren't Interesting," she reminded him dispassionately. Her eyes Vldened. "And now," she continued, con-tinued, "we go up nnd up spite that stabs Its own heart; the lonely soul; consuming fire, nnd, Inst and greatest reason of all, Just love." Her eyes glowed to some dlstnnt focus. "If nil myself, my honor, my pnst, nnd my future dissolve to the slnglo drop of a present moment In tho crystal cup of love, then let mo glvo myself to a lover's lips for, once drained, nothing will be left upon which to hang the badge of shame nothing remain In nil the world but the spirit nnd nnd the sncrlfice." "Girl," said Mr. Randolph, crushing her to him as though he snatched her bock from Just beyond his clasp, "where Is your mind wandering? What have you been thinking? That I was asking you to to give yourself to me?" Her eyes came suddenly to his face. "Yes." she said; "I thought that." He stared at hcrfor a long silent mo- ment, his lips wnverlng nervously between be-tween pity nnd severity. A flush swept over her face, and Into her eyes crept a look of fear. "You don't want me?" sho whispered; then, ns he did not spenk: "Kiss me. I wish you to kiss me." There was something In her Insistence Insist-ence that clutched at his heart and bent him forward. He drew her head up Rlowly to meet his lips nnd kissed her ns lightly, as Impersonally ns brother ever Hnluted sister, but far more fearfully. Immediately her body went limp In his arms, turned to a dead weight of uninspired flesh. "It Is true," she murmured, desperately. des-perately. "You don't really want mo und I enn never love you now." Randolph awoke to thnt still cry. lib shook her, seized her head In both his hands, and forced her eyes to meet the blaze In his. "Von generous, careless, ndorahlo little fool I" he growled. "Why. you're the most desirable nnd precious bundlo of lovable charju thnt robber ninn ever trembled to hold In sacrilegious arms 1" She Rtared nt him niunzed. "Why don't you Iclss tho way you talk?" she demanded. "Because t hero's no reason for your desperate barter, my dear Imogeno Pamela Thornton." s In one lithe motion sho wns out of his nrms, on her feet, hack to the lire, head upthrown. "How dare you how dare you call mo by that name?" Sho wns transformed trans-formed ; lior eyes flashed with such n light ns made the blaze In his own n t paltry thing. "Do you think she would lie In your arms?" She asked, gulping out tho words. "Vlvlenne Vlvlerro" her lips curled In dlstnsto at the nnmo "nil, yes; poor despairing thing I But I Pnineln Thornton I Oh, who nro you? Why did you?" She dropped her fuco In her hands nnd sobbed ns though her heart had broken. Randolph did not lenp to comfort her this time; he did not even watch her. With his eyes on the edges of Are that peeped from between nnd round her nnkles, he began to talk. "I knew you ; I knew Sport ; I knew Maggie. Just onco I met you nil, nnd I've never forgotten. I couldn't." He smiled crookedly, "You nnd I sat down so hard together and you cried out, 'My, what a bump I' and laughed nnd laughed Just like tonight, bnck there at the stage-door of tho Crocodile." Pamela stopped crying. "So you were thnt awfully nice boy," she snld, disclosing tear-stnlned cheeks und looking him over ns though she were Inventorying a long list of points of deterioration. Robert Hervey Randolph, six feet tall, freckled-nosed, open-faced, blue-eyed blue-eyed and broad-shouldered, looked up nt her almost appenllngly as If his whole sum nnd substance were crying out to be appraised at face value but no less. "That's me," he snld vapidly. "My name Is Robert Hervey Randolph. Somo people call mo 'Bob,' some Herv,' nnd the sldey ones sny 'Randy.' " "And I shall enll you 'Mr. Randolph," Ran-dolph," t-nld M,ls Thornton bravely, nnd then broke Into: "After ufter I've th thanked you ngnln and nnd ngnln from my heart. I'm going now." "Hint's u wrong guess," said Robert, smiling hnpplly ho didn't know exnet-ly exnet-ly why. "I'm tho one thnt's going, after aft-er you promise me thnt you'll stay here until ten o'clock tomorrow. But before we come to thnt, please don't thnnk mo ever. It's selfish, but I'd simply love to have you remember me as Bob or Herv or, at tho very worst, Randy. Won't you?" She looked this wny and thnt before she let her face ripple to Its wondrous smile. "I'll go ns far ns Rnndy," she conceded con-ceded .mischievously; then the smile went nnd the shadow came. "But I really can't stny here, you know." Mr. Randolph leaped to his feet, reached her In a single stride nnd caught her by both wrists. "Look at mo I" he snld. "If you won't promise to stny here without a break till ten o'clock tomorrow nnd thereafter at your pleasure, I'll stay myself und hold you. Now, do you or don't you? One two " , . , "I dO" ."W'ViM(Mf) "Do whnt?" Inquired Robert "I promise." "Make yourself absolutely at home, then," ho snld, as ho dropped her bunds nnd turned townrd the door. "I feci llko Christmas eve," said Miss Thornton meekly. "Won't you please tell me what's going to Imp-pen?" Imp-pen?" "You've guessed It Christmas," he nnswered enigmatically, tossed the latch-key on the tnble, nnd left her. She can be excused for spying upon him from the curtained window. She saw him awake the cabman, and then watched the pantomime of a long col loquy. "Oh I" she moaned. "No wonderl The awful, nwful price of those horrid clock things I Why did I let him a It to wnltV Presently she was amazed to see both the driver and Mr. Randolph disappear dis-appear Into the dark recesses of the chb nnd close nfter them Its door. For twenty breathless minutes she watched, tormented by the thought that they hnd retired to have It out where they wouldn't be disturbed by tho police. But at Inst they Issued both of them. Mr. Randolph proceeded proceed-ed to crank the car and then, walking rnther strangely, went off, hended west; the driver mounted his box, threw In the clutch, nnd scurried to the east as though he were off to meet the morning. "Strnnge doings I" thought Miss Imo-gene Imo-gene Pamela Thornton, ns sho turned from tho window to start on a privately private-ly conducted voyage of discovery. Strange doings, Indeed," and stranger still could Imogene Pamela have heard as well ns seen. This Is what really hnppened: Mr. Rnndolpb nwokc tho cubmnn gently but thoroughly; then he snld: "Look here: I wnnt to buy your wagon." "Gownn, boss; wot d'ycr tnkc me for? Hero I been freezln' most to dot' fer two mortal hours an' n gent like you starts right In klckln' on the clock wldout even readln' It." "Shucks 1" said Mr. Randolph. "What's biting you? Never mind tho meter-rending; here's twenty for you to forget that. Now tell me: Who owns your buzz-wagon? You?" "Nuw; the Vlllago Cab company," replied the saturnine cnbninn ns he stuffed the twenty-dollar bill Into his trousers pocket. "Well." said Mr. Randolph, "you nnd I are nbout the same build nnd I've got n proposition for you. Change clothes, hnnd me over your enb, and take two hundred dollars to see your-j your-j self to another Job." j The driver showed no surprise; he I contemplated the offer with half-closed eyes and dubiously working lips. "More than thnt," went on' Rnndolpb Rnn-dolpb : "I'm not tnklng your Job Just for tonight; I'm going to hold It. The only thing I want you to promise Is thnt you'll keep your trap closed If you see any ails In the personal columns col-umns looking for me." "How do I know you won't lift the car nnd whoop It up fer New Haven?" Randolph fixed him In the eye. "You know I won't, because I say It." "Sure thnt's nil right, boss," snld the driver conclllatlngly. "No bones broke. Now, there's Just one thing more: have you flggercd that It's Ave hours to the opening of second-hand Sixth avenue or the Bowery, an' I'd have to wear those clothes of yourn all thnt time?" "What's the mntter with these clothes?" asked Randolph, n little peeved. "Well, you've heard my offer. Take It or lenve It." "Sure I'll tnke It I" said the dclver promptly. "If I wasn't n-goln' to have took It from the first, whnt would I 'a' been stnndln' hero tnlkln' for?" Whereupon they entered to the cramped privacy of the cab anu ex; changed garments. Randolph wns ready In ten minutes, but It took him another ten to complete the npparel- Ing of the puzzled chauffeur. Thnt worthy added to his Investiture In Randolph's best evening suit a sickly grin. "Sny," he asked, "bow do I look?" Mr. Randolph surveyed him. "Oh, you'll do, all right. You look about tho way I would If I'd been on n but. Better have a few drinks, If you enn Hnd them, nnd the world will fall for your clothes. What time do I turn the wagon In, nnd what time do I go on again? Do you bunk at the garage, by any chance?" "Never you in'.nd where I bunk," snld the cx-cnbmun suspiciously. "D'you think I'm goln' to throw In a , happy home for two hundred? You're on the night shift for this week. Read the rules and regulations when you get to the garage Say good-by to tho i boys for me an' tell the manager to go to blazes." They followed this remnrk out of the cab; the tough In fop's clothing cranked the car and turned westward, as previously chronicled, while Mr. Randolph, now substitute to Patrick O'Reilly as driver of the Vlllago Cab company's No. 1808, hurled his char-lot char-lot eastward, not to meet the morning, as It had appeared to the watching Mfss Thornton, but In search of thu residence of the head of the legal firm charged with the duty of carrying out the Instructions of the defunct Mr. Asa Thornton. Mr. Randolph, vice O'Reilly, drew up at the familiar address In Madison avenue and laid his car cheek by Jowl with the curb aa though anchoring It for a long stay; then he descended from the driver's Beat, entered the cab, exclaimed thanksgiving at finding a rug, wrapped himself In its warm folds, curled up on the seat and went to sleep. In the cold enrly morning the strong arm of the Law reached In and dragged him bnck from tho Elyslan fields where he hnd been wandering hnnd In hand with n lovely person dressed In a little velvet toquu nnd very cheap clothes'. "Here, you!" said thu voice of the Law. "Don't you know you can't put up a hotel In this burg without u license? li-cense? Wot the ." "Morning, Officer," said Randolph, trying his best to be pleasunt. "I'm whiting for my fare. Any regulation against that?" "Don't pull that stuff on me," said the Law. "This ain't thu Tenderloin." "I know It isn't," renmrked Mr. Randolph. Ran-dolph. "But I happen to bo waiting PI "Don't Pull That Stuff on Me," Said the Law. for Mr. Borden Slllyuns, of Mllyuns, Brunch & Mllyuns. Ever henrd of him?" "Sure," snld the cop, Impressed but still suspicious. "He. lives here nil right, but I ain't seen him turning down his own cars for nlght-hnwks lately." "Well," said Mr. Randolph, "I could tease you along for some time nnd make you look like a nut, but I won't. The truth Is, his prize bitch, Bride of Luiiimeniioor, is pupping tonight, and I'm here to take the lady and her Utter Ut-ter down to the dog-show in time to gM 'em settled for the opening. Messy Job, but the meter Is charging for It." "There ain't n mnn living that could think up n lie like that, not sudden." nun mured the officer, nnd turned to resume his beat, while Mr. Randolph , promptly hit the mat In the hope of I catching up with Elysium. He slept; he slept too deep for dreams, and wns beyond the reach of the call of any , motorhorn when Mr. Ml'. yens' town enr tried to s1m him along at eight-thirty eight-thirty of n brig! t Mioriting. Once more was Mr. Rnndolpb dragged by main force to wakefulness. "Good-morning, Thomas," hu re- ' marked. "Is the old man up?" "Ilully gee! Mr. Randolph! What 'nvo you been up to now?" "None of yours, Thomns," said Robert Rob-ert Hervey, in n kindly but linn voice. "Get me a bit of paper nnd n pencil." Tho chauffeur discovered the required re-quired urtlcles In Mr. Mllyuns' enr, handed them over, nnd curiously watched Mr. Randolph write his note to the effect that Miss Imogene Pn-melu Pn-melu Thornton would receive her legal representative nt Mr. Randolph's rooms In Fifty-ninth street between nine und ten. It wns added that the said rooms, upon which fent had been paid to the ontj or tne quarter, unu uu they contnlned, Including the man, Tomllnson, wero at the perpetual disposition dis-position of the said Miss T. "Now, Thomas," snld Mr. Rnndolpb, "you tnke this In to the old mnn himself him-self nnd tell him a chauffeur with un empty cab brought It. If you say another an-other word I'll have you up at the union for losing mo my Job, nnd I'll lick the stuffings out of you besides. Get me?" "Sure thing, Mr. Rnndolph!" said Thomas. "Lenve It to me to help you make trouble whenever you feel like It. It's n slow world except for tho likes of you." As soon as the man had entered tho house. Mr. Randolph started his cab and made for u point of vantage In the park, from which, In due course, he beheld the arrival of the lawyer at Fifty-ninth street. He wulted long enough to miiko suro that the legal gentlemnn had penetrated to Miss Thornton; then ho threw up his flag and nmde for the garage. lie sought oui the manager. "Say," ho plunged, "Put O'Reilly lost his Job to me Inst night shooting crnps. My clock rend twenty-eight dollnrs this morning; here's my slip." The mnnnger glanced nt the slip, nnd took a long look nt Mr. Randolph. "You're on, kid," he decided. "Tnke any shift you like. What's your nnme?" "Slim Hervey," said Mr. Randolph promptly. "One of them earned names," commented com-mented the manager. "All right. Go to It" PRT II. Flesh, Spirit and the Veiled God; Mr. Randolph spent the dny gettlnc acquainted and proved himself a go'' mixer. By telling a few storle thu had not yet sifted down from Clubland Club-land and by standing n few drinks he soon found himself made free of all the technical Information he needed und some more thnt wns so ultra-tech, nlcnl that It could bent the brains thnt Invented the delicate mechanism of the taximeter. He nlso established purt ownership In n comfortuble room In n house very much on the wrong or west side of Broadway, In fact within smelling and nlmost spitting dlstnncc of the North river. While ho wits still In funds ho boiight himself n woolen khnkl overcoat over-coat with one of those enormous col-furs col-furs which look like an Inverted bucket when they are up and surpass in efficiency the traditional blnck mask so beloved iiy Illustrators of the week ly press, lie also hnd a eFcaking slot ctt In the glass of the cab window Just behind his best car and subsequently subse-quently removed and I6"st Ute slldo that had been fitted over it with con-slderable con-slderable skill and trouble. During the next few nights he proceeded pro-ceeded to have the time of his life; so much so that he was constantly overwhelmed over-whelmed with wonder at his stupidity In not having become a taxi-driver yearn before! It should be remembered remem-bered that Mr. Randolph wus of New York Yorky; he knew everybody casually, cas-ually, from Mr. Mllyuns nnd his daughter, Eileen, down to the lutest uddltlon to the pitiful ranks of the mldlnctte. More than that, so broud was his acquaintanceship thnt as a sporting gent hu hnd once or twice been tipped off ns to the where und when of a proposed gun-pluy. In addition to being by right of birth un Integral purt of nil the social strata of Manhattan, be knew the surface of the Island and of the adjacent commoner com-moner soil of the mainland considerably consid-erably better than he knew the palm of his own hand. In fact, he could scarcely ever have been conscious that he had a palm, even as r map of personal per-sonal fortune ; for he who Is completely complete-ly sntlsfled with the present never worries nbout the future und Mr. Rnndolpb Rnn-dolpb hud been born content. With such an equipment, Is It to he wondered ut thnt he found the taxi field rich with unexpected and surprising sur-prising blooms? Fair flowers, lie had known heretofore to nod only over tea tnbles and solid" sliver uppeurcd suddenly sud-denly transplanted to his cub nnd ready to nod on a stnlwnrt shoulder. Strong male tiger-lilies of thu money market, grafted to the cushions of n , tuxl, became complacent pillars upon , which some ei'ii'-lns ivy twined, i (Concluded next issue.1 |
