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Show I f LudI SKlo George Barr J IF ' I ? Copyright., 1906. by Vodd. Msad 3L Company of GraHiUrk," Etc ? I B How far a man' 8 natural incli nation toward evil may carry him, deapite the fact that his wrongdoing wrong-doing involves the wrecking of the happiness of his only son, is well shown in this story of Chi-cago, Chi-cago, iho Philippines and New York. The tale is not all one of evil, however. In it figure also love and romance, daring and danger, patriotism and the self sacrificing if mistaken devotion of the Filipino Jo his country's cause. Our narrative is essentially essen-tially one of modern times, and its characters or their originals walk the streets of American cities today, but thiir actions and the story of their loves and hates recall with distinct force the scenes and persons depicted by Dickens. Especially is this true of Elias Droom, the elderly lawyer's law-yer's clerk, who is worthy of comparison with any one to bo found in the pages of the English Eng-lish master. CHAPTER I. s T was a brlzht clear after- y noon In the late fall that W pretty Miss Cable drove (fU up In her trap and waited iC JL. at the curb for her father v i to come forth from bis of fice In one or Chicago's tallest build-lags. build-lags. The crisp, caressing wind that came up tho street from the lake put tho pink Into her smooth cheeks, but It did not disturb the brown hair that crowned her head. Well groomed and graceful, she sat straight and sure upon tho box, her gloved hand grasping tho yellow reins firmly and confidently.! . A Miss Cable looked neither to right nor ' V to left, but at the tips of her thorough bred's ears. Slender and tall and very aristocratic alio appeared, her profile v alono vislbje to tho passersby. After a very few moments' waiting in her trap tho smart young woman became impatient A severe little pucker settled upon her brow, and not once, but many times, her eyes turned to tho broad entranco across the sidewalk. side-walk. She had telephoned to ber father fa-ther earlier In the afternoon, and he had promised faithfully to bo ready at .4 o'clock for a spin up the drlvo behind "Spartan. At three minutes past 4 the pucker made Its first appearance, and now, several minutes later, It was quite distressing. Never before had he kept her waiting like this. She was conscious con-scious of tho fact that at least a hun dred men had stared at her in tne longest long-est ten minutes she bad ever known. From tho bottom of a very hot heart sho was beginning to resent this scrutiny scru-tiny when a tall young fellow swung around a nearby corner and came up with a smllo so full of delight that the dainty pucker left her brow as tho shadow dees from the sunshine. Bis hat was off and poised gallantly above bis head, Ills right hand reaching up to clasp the warm llttlo tan one outstretched out-stretched to meet it "I knew it was you long beforo I saw you," said ho warmly. "Truly 7 Sow interesting!" sho responded, re-sponded, with equal warmth. "Something "Some-thing psychic In tho atmosphere today?" to-day?" "Oh, no." ho said, reluctantly releasing releas-ing her hand. "I can't see through J SB7 I A "too "I knew U wat tou long before I sawyou," tueso huge buildings, you know. It's Impossible to look over their tops. I simply know you wcro bore, that's nil." "You're romantic, oven though you uro a bit silly," sho cried gayly. "Pray, how could you know?" "Simplest thing In tho world. Higby told mo ho bad seen you and that you seemed to bo In a great rago. no dared mo to vonturo Into your presonce, and that's why I'm hero." "What a hopelessly commonplaco explanation! ex-planation! Why did you not leavo mo to think that thero was really something some-thing psychic about It? Logic is so discouraging to one's conceit I'm In a very disagreeable humor today," she said, In fine despair. "1 don't believe it," ho disputed graciously. gra-ciously. 'But I am," sho insisted, smiling brightly. Ills heart was-leaping high so high that It Oiled his eyes. "Everything "Every-thing has gone wrong with mo today. It's pretty trying to bavo to wait In front of a big offlco building for fifteen minutes. Every instant I expect a policeman po-liceman to come up and order me to movo on. Don't thoy arrest people for blocking the street?" "Yob, and put them in awful, rat swarming dungeons over in Dearborn avenue. Poor Mr. Cable, bo should bo made to suffer sovercly for his wretched wretch-ed conduct Tho Idea of" "Don't you dare to Bay anything mean about dad," sho warned. "But he's tho cause of all the trouble. He's novcr done anything to make you happy or" "Stop! I tako it all back. I'm In a perfectly adorable humor. It was dreadfully mean of mo to be half angry an-gry with him, wasn't,it? IIo's in there now working his dear old brain to pieces, and I'm out hero with no brain at all," sho said ruefully. To the Ingenuous youth such an appeal ap-peal to his gallantry was well nigh Irresistible, and for a moment It seemed seem-ed as It ha would yield to tho temptation tempta-tion to essay a brilliant contradiction, but his wits came to his rescue, for, quickly realizing that not only were the frowning rocks of offense to be avoided, but likewise the danger of floundering helplessly about In tho Inviting In-viting quicksands of inanity, be preserved pre-served silence, wise young man that he was, and trusted to his eyes to ex- Mmksa nn tiMiianf f-Afufntlnn At IdAt however, something seemed to occur to him. A smile broke on bis face. "You had a stupid time last night" be hazarded. "What makes you think so?" "I know who took you in to dinner." The eyes of the girl narrowed slightly slight-ly at the corners. "Did he tell you?" "No; I have neither seen nor heard from any one present" .Sho opened her eyes wide now. "Well, Mr. 8. Holmes, who was It?" "That Imbecile. Medford." Miss Cablo sat up very straight in the trap. Her little chin went up In the air. Sho even went so far as to make a pretense of curbing the Impatience Impa-tience of her horse. "Mr. Medford was most entertaining. He was the life of the dinner," she returned re-turned somewhat severely. "Ho's a professional." "An actor!" she cried incredulously. "No; a professional diner out Wasn't that rich youag Jackson there?" "Why, yes. But do tell me bow you knew." Tho girl was softening a little, lit-tle, her curiosity aroused. "Of course I will," bo said boyishly, at once pleased with himself and his sympathetic audience. "About 5:30 I happened to be In the club. Medford was there and, as usual, catering to Jackson, when tho latter was called to tho phone. Naturally I put two ana two together." lie paused to more thoroughly enjoy the look of utter mystification mys-tification that hovered on the glrj's countenance. It was very apparent that this method of deduction through addition was unsatisfying. "What Jackson said to Medford on his return," re-turn," tho young man continued, "I did not bear, but from tho expression on tho listener's face I could have wagered wag-ered that an invitation had been extended, ex-tended, and accepted. Ob, wo boys have got it down fine. Garrison is" "And who is Garrison?" "Garrison is the head door man at the club. It's positively amazing the number of telephone calls bo receives every afternoon from well known society so-ciety women." "What about? And what's that got to do with Mr. Medford taking mo in to dinner?" , "Just this: Suppose Mrs. liowden" "Mrs. liowden!" Tho girl was nonplused. non-plused. "Yes wants to find out who's In tho club. Sho phones Garrison. Instantly, Instant-ly, nfter ascertaining which set, younger young-er or old, Is wanted, from a small card upon which ho has written a few but cliolco names of club members he submits a tin mo to her." "Itcally, you don't mean to tell me that such a thing is actunlly done!" ox-claimed ox-claimed Miss Cubic, who as yet was socially so unsophisticated as to bo horrified. "You'ro Joking, of courso!" "But nluo times out of ten," Ignoring the interruption, "it Is met with: 'Don't want hlml' Another: 'Makes a bad combination!' A third: 'Oh, no, my UCar, UOt U uuimr iu ma iiuiuu uuyu- lessly ineligible!' This last exclamation, exclama-tion, though Intended solely for tho visitor vis-itor nt her homo, elicits from Garrison a low chucklo of approval of 'tho speaker's speak-er's discrimination, and presently ho hears, 'Goodness me, Garrison, thero must bo sotno ono clsof Then, to ber delight, sho is Informed that Mr. Jackson Jack-son has Just como in, and ho Is requested request-ed to como to the phono, Gar-isou being be-ing dismissed with thanks and tho ox-poctatlon ox-poctatlon of seeing her butler In tho morning." "How perfectly dollclousl" canio from tho girl. "I can almost bear Mrs. Row- den telling Jackson that he will be the dearest boy In tho world It ho will dlno with her." "And bring some ono with him, as she is ono man short," laughed Gray-don, Gray-don, as ho wound up lightly: "And hero Is where tho professional comes in. We're nil on to Medford! Why, Garrison Garri-son has halt a dozen requests a night six times five (30. Not bad but then the man's a 'who's who' that never makes mistakes. I won't bo positive that ho docs not draw pay from both ends. For, men like Medford, Med-ford, outside of tho club, probably tip him to glvo them tho preference. It would bo good business." There was so much self satisfaction In tho speaker's manner of uttering these last vords that It would not have required the wisdom of one older than Miss Cable to detect that ho was thoroughly thor-oughly enjoying his pose of man of the world. He was indeed youiiR, for he had yet to learn that not to disillusion tho girl, but to conform as much as possible to her Ideals, was tbo surest way to win her favor, and his vnnlty surely would have received a blow had not David Cable at that moment come out of the doorway across the sidewalk, side-walk, pausing for a moment to converse con-verse with the man'who accompanied him. Tho girl's face lighted with pleasure and relief, butlhe young man, regarding uneasily the countenance of tho general manager of tbo Pacific, Lakes and Atlantic Railroad company, saw that he was white, tired and drawn. It was not the keen, alert expression ex-pression that had been the admiration of every ono; something vital seemed to be missing, although be could not have told what It was. A flame seemed to hate died somewhere In bis face, leaving behind a faint suggestion of "UelUt. Oraydon! How are your ashes, and through the young man's Drain mare usueu ine rouiui ui ma fair companion: "Ho's In there now. working his dear old brain to pieces." "I'm sorry to have kept you wait-lug, wait-lug, Jane," said Cable, crossing to the curb. "Hello, Graydonl How ore you?"1 His vole was sharp, crisp and louder than the occasion seemed to demand, but It was natural with him. Years of llfo iu an englno cab do not servo to mellow tbo tone of tho, human voice, and the habit is too strong to bo overcome. over-come. There was no polish to the tones as they Issued from David Cable's Ca-ble's lips. He spoka with more than ordinary regard tor the queen's English, Eng-lish, but it was because be nover had neglected It It was characteristic of tho man to do n thing as nearly right as ho know how In tho beginning and to do it tho samo way until a better method presented itself. "Very well, thank you, Mr. Cable, except that Jano has been abusing mo because you wero not here to" "Don't you believe a word he says, dad," sho cried. "Ob, If tho truth Isu't in me, I'll subside," sub-side," laughed Graydou. "Nevertheless "Neverthe-less you've kept her waltltig, and it's only reasonable that sho should abuse somebody." "I am glad you wero hero to iscolvu It. It saes my gray hairs." "Rubbish!" was Miss Cable's simple comment ns her father took his plnce bcsUlo her. "Oh, ploaso drlvo on, Jane," said the joung man, his admiring eyes ou the girl who grasped tho reins ufiesh uiul straightened llko n soldier for Inspection. Inspec-tion. "I must run around to the Unl verslty club and watch tbo score of tu Ynlo-Harvard garao nt Cambridge. It looks UUo Harvaul, ban? It nil! Gicat game, they say" "Thero ho goes on football. Wo must bo off or It will bo dark before wo -get away from blra. Gooduy!" cried Miss Cablo. "now's your father, Gray? Ho wasn't fueling tho best In tho world yesterday," said Cablo, tucking In the robo. "A case of liver, Mr. Cable. Ho's all right today. Goodbyl" As Jano and'bor father whtrlod away the latter gave utterance to a remark that brought a new brUhtnp's- to her eye and n proud throlililim to her heart, but ho did not obsrne the effect. ef-fect. "Hrlslit. clever chap tint Graydou Bauscmer." he said comfortably. TO UE CONTINUED. |