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Show I Jire ofyoutn. I Henri Jimes Hornnan I A Tli robbing I I of American H I f S it F 3 n if i ' I I HE A , Sri ' H 1 ft; . jB fflSflr "BnathUn, thty ,anh upon a divan, and h W- ' " - 'AoM, A wr Paphian Vmnut j&W BBtet ncornaf. 4nrf or tA rime A wat Vnu." 5 Bf CHAPTER I. I Mmeca Tlfr ERE nearly there, old boy." j l chucklfd Joo Shelbum. the short. v fpxy-fuced youth, na the Boston train ran paet Mott Harcn toward the One Hundred and Twenty-rtfth street station. , ''y. "About ten minutes more." Joe was en Joy - ,' InR his quality of cicerone, and his beady "'"'v little eyes were agleam with pride In his f - a. V c' knowledco of the city that stood for every- ''T ihlng jav, wtcked and wonderful jfr' Ar.thor.y West, the . m,-.. r and taller or 1 the two, coald hardly kcp his seat for the I excitement that agltatod him A graceful sllmness about his Bhoulders, an erectness and ease of bearing stamped him of a different differ-ent brand ircm his slouching companion, whose knees wore always Jerking up toward his face as ho laughed and cuattored. Harvard boys on a spree," their fellow passengers, now folding up tiielr newspapers or being brushed by the porter, had long since decided. ' "But what." reflected a middle aged woman with a ken eye for personal traits, "what Is that nice, blue eyed, brown haired boy. witb Ms sensitive face, doing with that dark, plicy eyed little rascal? ' And she conclude philosophically that not even the right coi- lego was proof against the wrong compan- j panionshlp. Anthony Wesfs excited gating out the window at the ugliness of Harlem cross streets led her to gues correctly that this was bis first visit to New York. Always on bis way to Boston, from bis horn in the West. Anthony had travelled from Chicago in a through train, by way of Albany, and always his rigorous snse of duty left him with a sediment of disappointment al missing Now York Now. however, tha; he ww exalted among mortals a tenWr at I' Tm" (Continued on Insida Pace) H ! m I t .Fir o "JxuLtln "" c-rvrJr' I Continued from Front Page. Harvard, obliged m any case to spend his Christmas holidays at Cambridge, owing to the expanse CKra of the Ions; Journey home he had HHj accepted an Invitation from Joe SWfi Shelburn to be his guest on a llit'.e 91 spree In New York. And th8 middle-aged lady In the seat oppo HJjRl 8ite. who disapproved the anomal- ous companionship, could havo drawn a pointed moral from thai assumed obligation had she known aMLfl I Anthony, however, was all but Jfly oblivions of his fellow passengers. J' a Impatient of those who were lols- V urely shuffling off at the Harlem Station, he wished that the train would Bpeed on And no sooner did the clinking mass of metal begin I to move than he hastily pulled on 4MD his overcoat and accompanied the m porter with his bag to the front p!affoi-m Jo. followed, protesting B at his hurry, yet pleased by An- tfafc thony's excitement That was the Jf $ rplrit in which to draw near to T$ 'J Mecca, Together they stood among &t4ifl Tne m?q Of hand hngs all the way ' !jB throurh the murky tunnel, Author Jm. hardly able to speak for the e ym cited beating of hi- heart. Joe, w however, was chattering on. even "without encouragement 3Hp V "Grand Central!" shouted tho jSJa i conductor. ''liiit New York, at last! And as they stepped trom the train Anthony's ' aJHj state bordered on intoxication. Ng9 New York' They had left Bor.- -T'l on 'n a morning snow flurry- and ' jaa. here was brilliant sunlight fend n HHff subtle wine in the very air. What lH was the secret of this place? It I ' was not merely another cliy il ' I t was another plane of conscious- jkJH ness. The hum the noise, the t 'if . voice of tho city seemed to Hit one up like a stirrinp: song. Anthony k VI positively felt himself Increasing III J In stature Some people are dazed m I by New York He was electrified J stimulated, thrilled. The taxlcab I that whirled them to the Occidental M I f Hotel was the magic carpet and the 'ifftl revolving door a gateway to Para dise SbHH t1ic Occidental would have been surprised had it realized Its role Tjffiff in Anthony's mind For, to tell tho Hfl truth, It was a cheap second-rate Hf hostelry to whirh Joe had con- 'SMEf ducted him. far from the luxurious atmosphere of glitter and deep piled carpets that Joe's soul would have delighted in. But to be alone H was even more distasteful to -Too BB than to be at the Ocridental. So SaM be cunningly decided to bring An- .TOH thony to stay in a shabby hotel and 1' RDen his time in the Waldorf tfllR an( 'l''31 caravansanea In (hat flB way both his tastes and his irre sistible cravinc for companionship fUrl (votlld be satisfied Anthony, for I 4 his part. v. as no connoisseur iu Inr-. hotels The golden oak bureau and jjfljBi the cracked washbowls were, for HH ell he knew, the normal and neces- sary decorations of hotels tho universe over. He hardly gao them a glance. Tt was not yet four tn the nftct-yml nftct-yml noon 'Alien they entered their room jH a vast space of lime still before Hl midniehr boars of Infinite possl- B bSJitv wKp. "What1 he sa.d. impationtlv U1, throw big his overcoat on one of H the uelv beds, "whit do yve do to- ' night?" ligF "O-old boy." drawled Joe. with an insinuating expression of the IW.' eyes, "you may have to spend the evening alone this time I've got Hi to get to a telephone dov. nt.airs. fB' Mavbe some tall tioin s to-night for !" All right," grumbled Anthony, For. after all, he was a stranger In New York. Witll a more defiant note however, he added: "Don'i go away thinking I'll have to put In the evening at the Sal vatlon Army." Joe's small eyes narrowed mto trivial slits. "Old boy, do you kuow Dolly Feveuson?" "You mean old Profe.-sor Ferguson's Fergu-son's daughter?" Joe nodded his profoundly significant sig-nificant affirmation. "She Is here and we meet by arrangement, old scout by arrangement ar-rangement " For a moment Anthony was disturbed. dis-turbed. The whole expedition, dubious du-bious at the best, nuddonl:' became distasteful to hlrn. lie experienced a pang of recr"' at coming with Joe and even a dart of rhame. "The devil you do!" he exclaimed with llloncealed disgust "Why didn't you tell me before we started" start-ed" Old Ferguson Is a good old scout And as for Dolly, I've al-w.ivs al-w.ivs heard she was a high-stepper, but I didn't think she was like "Walt a minute, old sport wait a. minute." cried Shelburn. his sharp features alive with energetic scheming. "What's the reason ou OUldn't go along? Suppose she had a friend with her? Let me telephone." tel-ephone." "No, no," positively ansvsered Anthony. An-thony. "Count me out I like old Ferguson. And as for Dolly" He did not finish his sentence What he really wanted to say was: "As for Dolly, If she selects you es her partner for a spree in Neyv York, then she Is worse than I 1 nought she wae." Joe was perturbed, perplexed, llf was spending money to have his escapade come off. and disturbing disturb-ing factors that he could not comprehend com-prehend were arising to thwart bin He would not be thwarted. Dolly Ferguson was waiting some where at the other end of a wire. "I'll go telephone " he muttered eulkllv, and left the room, for this I , h gjB rzr t i 1 fii '.' ' -lit "Wc Were Scooting Down Broadway Broad-way I Had an Arm About Each of Them Shouting Like Mad When Dolly Took It Into Her Head to Sing." vas a hotel without a room tele phone service Anthony threw himself down on the creaking bed and gazed unseeing unsee-ing at the ceiling "Serves me right." ho said to himself, ' for accepting favors from a fellow like that." Joe Shelburn was a type rare, but nevertheless to be found OCQA: sionally in the great American universities. uni-versities. The numerous family of laborious farmers of whom he sprang had probably deemed Harvard Har-vard as no more likely a de ; ay for one of their number th in the White House itself One day stimulated stim-ulated by neighboring discoveries In Oklahoma, they had drilled and struck oil. and wealth came pouring pour-ing in. In that absurd, senseless Way that wealth of. en has. Joe alone was young enough to come In for Its fruits almost from the ground up also old enough to know that he desired to ruffle it with the foremost "swells" in the East. He hurled himself Into ffar vard as a clown leaps into the tan bark arena. His progress through that sent of learning was a sourc of worry diluted by amusement to the faculty, and of sheer unalloyed Amusement to the students. No one had ever taken him Beriously. He was always seeking companion ship and seldom finding it Partly tempted by tho prospect of u holiday holi-day in New York and partly out of pity, Anthony had ac out uied him, and even Anthony now sat upon tho bed, cursing himself for a fool With a sudden resolution he leaped up. scribbled "have gone out" on a sheet of notn papt-r and slipped out of the bote while Joe - c Ash L , ' waa still engaged in telephoning. Mis chief desire yvas to get out of the way until Joe had departed to keep bis unsavory engagement Ho was going to see New York for himself. He moved away from the ugly farade of the Occidental in the twenties of Broadway, with Us assortment as-sortment of commercial travelers behind tiie broad window1 panes, like specimens at a taxidermist's and briskly crossed Twenty-third street, skirting Madison Square, along Fifth avenue. He felt his cheat expanding as his lungs encountered en-countered tho nipping air. The line of arc lamps lost In the perspective per-spective of one of the finest streets in the world thrilled him by its sense of power and majesty, This was i. city! Brentano's bookstore, with Ua spacious display, the windows win-dows beyond filled With antiques and art objects, the whirr and tra incur motors, the enuleis stream of pedestrians all these moved him like music. This was his atmosphere, at-mosphere, this his natural and predestined pre-destined background! The palaces and mansions of Fifth avenue! This was the sort of city that the world makes a capital of. From mines, from forests, from shipyards, from the sea. men came hero, bringing their wealth, the fruits of their toll-big toll-big and their fortune, to lay In the lap of the chosen city and cling to her tor life Cities, like individuals. individu-als. It occurred to him. have their fortune:! and their destinies Ho walked rapidly all tho way to Fifty-ninth street and back again before his mood and his energy began to flag. By the tlmo he reentered re-entered the Occidental Joe had gone. (C) 19-10. International dSr , the j St; ei la w;4nAV oher H? 4 4 . 1 & ' A room such os Anthony shared vitu Joo was n't i alculated to hold a solitary youth In the siren cm-brace cm-brace of its luxury. To enter It was to wish to leave It. To linger there yvas to meditate on the futility futil-ity of existence, on the mortality of the race, possibly even upon suicide Anthony found on his pillow a message from Joe which read, "Come to the Holland House for dinner. Will yvait for you till seven-thirty. Phono if you can't come." "Well, I can't come," he Informed the pillow. Me wasn't going back to Cambridge ashamed to look old Ferguson in the face Without removing re-moving his overcoat he tlescended to telephone and then to go forth once more Into the enchanted streets of New York. CHAPTER II. Romance. THE girl who operated tho switchboard and booths repeated re-peated "Holland House" after Anthony with the mechanical unconcern of a cabman, but never theloss she surveyed him with tho quick, sure appraisal of a woman. "Booth two," she informed him. but even in those two syllables the acute ear might have detected the shadow of a tono. an inflection ln flnitesiinally softer than her utterance utter-ance to the blue-cheeked buyer who had Just shouldered Into booth one. "Handsome young rooster." yvas the mental accompaniment to her deft handling of the plugs and cords tis Anthony entered the box. Feature SerTice Jcio. Great Erit r-pnpy eyes nice kid college Tn tho telephone booth Anthony was saying: "Very much obliged, Joe very kind of you to Include me, but I'm engaged for this evening yes, en-gagea en-gagea i ll tell you when I see you. Yes. Have a good time. Good luck, old man." With tho inner giow of having done well he emerged from tho booth, and the telephone girl, with her obvious good looks, on a sudden sud-den seemed strikingly attractive. A momentary lull In the traffic at the switchboard as he was paying for the call enabled him to ask hesitantly, hes-itantly, with the amiable freemasonry free-masonry of youth: "Do you happen to know of any decent restaurant about here that's a little different from this?" And he nodded toward the forbidding forbid-ding and commonplaro gloom of the Occidental dining room. The girl, so crisp and businesslike business-like in her work, showed her perfect per-fect teeth in s r-oft, comprehending smile, which magically raised her to a plane above and apart from her machine. Tho red glint iu her hair, her high complexion, combined com-bined with her smile into a kind of flashing dynamic light. She was woman, "Why, yes." She lowered her ryes meditatively, but involuntarily they lifted aiain to his. "There Is O'Brien's, right here on Sixth avenue, ave-nue, awfully good food. And sort o' private boxes along the walls swell little place. Only a block or so away." "A block or so" ho repeated slowly, with a gaze that, was flat-tory flat-tory to her; "that's the same as a mile or so to me hero I hate to say It. but I've never been in New York before." "Wolt B minute." she suddenly said in response to a flash on her Switchboard, and again she was submerged In the automaton. "Occidental "Oc-cidental yes. No. Mr. Butcher tiln Hi.-lils Reserved. checked out this afternoon Ml riclit " And once more her face began to show the curves and lights of a human girl Anthony was wishing she could remain like this. "What I meant," he hastily compressed com-pressed his speech in the face of this traffic, "Is that I'd be very grateful if you'd come with me and have dinner and show me this place you have to eat somewhere " he added quickly, defensively, with a little trepidation In his voice. The girl noted his trepidation and it pleased her strangely. "Let me see." she began, removing remov-ing the hearing apparatus from her head to be free of the machine that yoked her, if only for a moment. "I guess I ought to go home. My relief won't be here for fifteen minutes min-utes yot, if you care to yvait, 1 can at least shoyv you the place on my way to the elevated." Anthony yvas elated. "Thank you so much." He felt hlm.-elf flushing "It's awfully good of you. You're very kind to take the trouble." Tho girl smiled brightly. "Would you mind waiting outside, out-side, about two doors dowu?" she murmured confidentially. "I don't want anybody here to see mo leaving leav-ing with a gentleman. They might think" "Certainly!" ho caught her up with alacrity. "1 understand." And he felt himself making enormous strides as a man of the world. In the space of a few moments he had established a basis of intimacy with tills New York girl And aho yvas no fool. How easily It yvas done! Sho would dine with him. he felt sure. Bit perhaps she wouldn't She yvas charming she was Now York a part of these streets, the glamor, the lights, the bustle. He did not exactly walk on air during those fifteen minutes of waiting outside He simply did uot know what he walked on or how long- His mind was buzzing liko a orne a nest with a wilderness of r noughts unformed, half-formed, ireposterous, delightful. He was inder the powerful stimulus of an nstinct that unknown to him was ashing the waves of hb imagina ion info a foam. She appeared at last as in a mist, "Oh, there you are," she said In i matter-of-fact tone, as he lifted lis hat. "It's thle way we cross ' "'lfth avenue a short block and me long one." There yvas magic n her words, in the touch of her lacket against his coat. He hoped j lis voice was natural as he re- marked, aiming at a normality I matching her own: j "Wonderful city, this New York. Nothing like It anywhere " "Do you live far from here?" she asked. "Yes," he said "Do I look like a farmer? I live in the West, but I came here from Boston " Til bet you're a Harvard boy I" the ventured archly "Yes," he almost chuckled with I pride. "How'd you gues3?" And this dmazlngly acute person was only a telephone girl "Oh. I can tell," she laughed H llchtly "Wo meet all kinds in my business." I "You cortalnly are all right," he laughed back eagerly "You ought to bo a captain of Industry or something." "A kitchen mechanic, more like- B ly," she parried modestly. "Look here." he suddenly turned enerKetically earnest "There's no 1 reason in the yvorld you can't have a bite of dinner with me before you ! go home. It won't take you long, j and It will be great for me I'll be lonely the dickens otherwise." "Oh, -don't know," she he?l- J tated d really better not My ! sister Wi be expecting me T live j with a married sifter, you see." He met her objection with easy ,j spontaneity "Rut doesn't it ever happen that you have to stay and work eve- "Ye es," she conceded. "I sometimes some-times H "Then what do you do? Tele- "Yes." "M "There you are!" he triumphed "Telephone now. Let's stop at a J "Well, yon certainly are a case." H She laughed and the shaded lights. ji the food and charm of O'Brien's i re potent agents in her mind. Her defenses mav hove b6a l. reached to this extent before now, and, anyway, this ya3 a very nice "Say you will." he persisted. " ei all right." she finally H yielded reluctantly. ' That's the glril" be exulted, and j delight filled him n l so. presently, seated in one 1 of those romantic boxes with shad H ed lights at O'Brien's, Anthony and H the girl were either a pair of fools H or a pair of divintles, deoendintc on -B the point of view To themselves, H needless to say. they were neither. j H They were simply tingling and tremulous with life, aware of each J other to the utmost, yot a million H miles remoyed from their common j est. most ohvious attributes. A force held In abeyance, secreted H and lodzed in the very centre of H their beings, suffused and surround H ed them ereating an aura of lrre. H slstlhle attraction In eacn for the H other H "Haye an olive" Anthony urced: H "have tyvo olives." and tho result H was a burst of delicious mirth. H ' But don't let them go to your head." he added and laughter' again flooded their little box like sun And if the BBlaodS yvas lackintr H in noyelty for the girl. Anthony should have been the more flat- tered, because her enjoyment was as certainiv unfeigned .is though it H were novel. Her liking for him was too obvious for doubt, and ho l was too busy, moreover, to doubt or to speculate His instinct was mightily engaged in BurVonndlng her, in drawing her nearer and nearer to him His appetite was of the youthful variety, yet he yvas hardly aware of what he was eating as the courses succeeded one an- J other He was entirely truthful in remarking to his companion: "You knoyv. you were right about this place. These eats make nectar and ambrosia look like food for in Tho girl enjoyed this sally, the more since none of her usual ac qualntancea could have made it. She was a reader of novels and knew the meaning of the words. "Tell me" she uttered In sheer delight "what is your name, any, way, Mr Kectar-and-AmbroalaT" Then it yvas his turn to shaixe with a gust of laughter. "You don't mean I haven't told you!" ho cried with genuine won der. "And here we've almost eloped together" "I mean your real name; none of your Smiths or Joneses or Mr. Wrlehts" she warne.l him. "My name Is Anthony West, my real name." and ho paused Her warniug was the first cloud on their Intercourse. Somehow it betrayed an environment that made her less than a goddess. But, instiuct'-'ely, ho pushed aside anything that would mar his pleasure "And come to that," he said, i H don't know your name either Miss Coldielocks Wc seemed to get on like a house afire yvithout any H names." It was the truth The names were of no importance whatever to I (COttttntfSd on A'exi Pwjc.J I I e I AT .2:":.:. : iierk :iiilife I If'e' ' siE i :, "As he emerged from the telephono ' S I HP'"'8'.- booth, the telephone girl, with ts'V ' fif ; I her obvious good looks, on a I $J III" sudden seemed strik- I (Cont invert from Preceding Pane.) .them, and for a moment they impeded im-peded rather than advanced their enjoyment She was Grace Thomas, he learned, and she lived on Co-- Co-- lumbus avenue, a fact entirely meaningless to him. Tier hand n I 11 to his on the table, however, meant a great deal, and instantly his own closed over it The vividness of his face and the sparkle In his eyes thrilled the girl as much as the contact thrilled him. "Oh, what a boy you are!" she smiled, with a covert glance from their retreat toward the room, and gently she withdrew her hand. "You're perfect!" he murmured "Oh. yes!" she mocked with flushed checks "It's labeled all over me Most perfect thing in Columbus Co-lumbus avenue ! " "You haven't told me what your Eister said when you telephoned." he suddenly reminded her "It's all I right, isn't It" ' She liked the interest, even concern, con-cern, in his tone. "Oh, yes," she answered gayly "She and her husband were going out to a show. I'd have been alone, anyhow." "Good'" he cried Joyously Thfl meal was drawing to a close. "I'll take you home. And we'll play cards or the vietrola or somethi She laughed softly and wi'l lingering gaze into his eyes slowly shook her head "No. better not," she almost i sighed the words "Why not?" he expostulated. "Do you like to mope alone'" "N-no: but coming iiome with a man. and my sister QUt" "Shucks!" he broke in. "You a business girl! You look as though you could take care of yourself. I won't eat you, you know though I'd like "You car. go up with me a ways in the car," she finally yielded, "if to." "I care to." he declared decisive-ly decisive-ly "Now for some coffee and we're "You do want to gel rid of me, don't you?" she archly chlded. "I'm not golnc to get rid of you.'' he informed her. Outside they had almost a strug-gle strug-gle because Anthony Insisted upon taking her homo in a taxi, she be ing equally firm for the elevated or the Columbus avenue car. "Cars make me seasick and ele-vateds ele-vateds make me dizzy." he bantered ban-tered volubly. "I'm an invalid and r I need a cab c-a-b, cab." "Then you ought to go right home and go to bed. I don't car1 H to have the neighbors set me come in a taxi," she whispered to him. 1 looks" 1 That was a point of view that had not occurred to him. But he understood Instantly. h "I see." he wai serious now. "1 hadn't thought of that, of course " And she liked him immensely Cor understanding j,o readily. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Grace," he added quickly. "We'll have the taxi stop a block awav from your house. You tell him where to 6top." She knew rerfectly why he In-slsted In-slsted ufTbn a taxi and she was tremulous with a strangely agree-fl agree-fl able little spasm of fear; and An H thony's hand upon her arm as he H helped her in was even more tremu- ! loua than her own. The powerful m current that was passing through them drew them together like steel and magnet. Again and again during the dinner din-ner at O'Brien's, as she watched the mobility of his Bmooth, handsome hand-some young face, the curve of his lips fl.e had thought how nice it would be to kiss him and be kissed. She knew be would kiss her in the cab And infallibly be did ki?s hc-r as the taxi sped up Sixth avenue; and she kissed him responsively, end rested in the curve of his encircling en-circling arm with her head rtie-iously rtie-iously against his shoulder. The contentment on her face and in her heart B.smed to whisper that sjnee all this was so sweet. Why, oh. why should it be forbidden? Anthony was troubled by no such speculations. His pulses were throbbing His hat lay beside him in the seat as ho pressed the girl to him He had entirely forgotti b Joe Bhelburn. Ho was living life This girl efface was a Joy And he thought his eyes were playing him a (rick when he looked out of the cab window at Forty-second sf - i and encountered the tr-cc of Joe Shelburn peering into his own. The window in Joe's taxi was broken. It Is notable that neither Anthony An-thony nor the gl I Grnce had taken any alcohol with their dinner. Anthony bad complet"!? forgotten it. n truth, they required none. The ''elirium in their youthful blood was quite enough without that well-known Arabian stimulant stimu-lant In the dingy little flat in Columbus Colum-bus avenue there wasn't any music box either Yet Anthony, after the first moment of awkwardness in a strange and mysterious environment, environ-ment, sei-.ed her round the waist ainl whirled her round in a sort of dance as though to the crash of an orchestra, simply for the sake of having her in nig arms. Breathless, they sank upon a divan amid pillows pil-lows in garish chintzes, and he poured his kisses upon her lips, her throat, her eyes, as though she were tho Paphian Wnus incarnate And for the time she was Venus. "Listen," the whispered thickly, drowsily, under the torrent of h!s embraces, "you mustn't kiss mo that way." "Why?" "I don't want you to. It's had for both of us." 'Bad. bad. bad!" he cried fever Ishly. ' Why U everything good bad? Why can't we enjoy ourselves our-selves without feeling we're wrecking wreck-ing the world? We were meant for this. All nature Is with us." And again ho covered her face with his hot lips. The girl wa. no debater and no logician. She could not respond with gener.illt ies about nature's Intentions. In-tentions. She knew only certain concrete results of human experience. experi-ence. "Listen, d ar." she began again, and on her face was the deep agelong age-long knowledge of womankind. we're not children. You know perfectly per-fectly well what all this mlgut lead to you know you know," and she flung herself passionately from him. . - ' r- . NSS.;;'f ' 'And I want, ynu to be a man a "ood man, I mean and control yourself" He was breathing hard She leaned toward him again and i lsod him warmly. "Don't you see," she smiled luminously, "myself, "my-self, my BtraightrieSB, is all I've got? Oh. you understand' You'll go back to your college, to your work, to your life but as for me I d be finished. Don t you see, dear?" And again she brushed his cheek and jumped from the couch. Anthony also rose, unsteadily. 'If you feol that way about it," lie breathed thickly, "why, then, you're Tlrht I don't want you to regret this eTenlag. I'm crazy nbout y u, bul I don't want to hurt you." She looked intently into his eyes for an Instant. "You're a dear," she murmured upon his lips. "I am glad we spent this evening together. Now you must go si. ter will be along and it's no use" He too': her in his arms again by way of farewell. But the delirium de-lirium ha ' gone out of their contact con-tact She was no longer surrounded surround-ed by the same aura. Gently ho said: , "Good-night, sweetheart See you tomorrow." And this time he noted the dinginess of the faintly gas-lit stairway, and the Winter stuffiness of it assailed his nostrils Out of doors in the crisp, bracing air It flittered through his mind that he had been either a fool or a strong man As he f.lled his lungs, however, and walked briskly to the corner for a south bound car, he voted for the strong man and he looked upon himself more seriously than he had done for some time paBt. He boarded the grating grr an surface car, took his scat and was lost In a brown study. "And I learned about women from her," he quoted to himself and turned toward the window to hide a smile. "Don't you see that's all I've got?" And again the golden-shot reddish hair and the vivid prettl-ness prettl-ness of Grace Thomas were before him, and her eyes were gazing into his own. Then. Swiftly a- In the 'fading diange of a film, the features fea-tures of Grace yielded to a little, almost grayish face, intense, with great liquid brown eyes looking deep into his own with a searching fidelity of vision, an adoring dynamic dynam-ic little question mark the face of Adela Gray. He hastily began to fumble with bis glove buttons, but his desire was merely fo banish from his eyes thla too prehensile little image. (C) 1020. Xolcrujlioc; h?.'-, .' i. i ti V CHAPTER III. A Telegram. v?'T7,'HEN Anthony awoke tho fi zcv morning. Joe Sheltiur'i " in t!ic neighboring bed was reclining on his elbow and grinning into his face Anthony smiled drowsily in return re-turn and said: ' Did y ou just get In?" "N'o. I didn't just get in,'' Joe attempted mimicry "You heard me got in, all right, but you pretended pre-tended to be fast asleep. Couldn't stand any crosa-exarumation abou'. that dame you were with that'.-what's that'.-what's the matter, eh. old boy?-' "There wa no broken window in my taxi," Anthony parried, "who kicked the one in yours, you or she?" "You not bed that! exploded Jo with a burst of cachinnation. "Old boy' That's pretty spry your taking tak-ing that in'" And once again ho was helpless 'In a gust of irresistible irresisti-ble laughter. "Oh. Lord!" And he rolled from side to side, hugging hug-ging himrelf and clutching at hi silk pajamas. "Talk about sport!" and again he was a quivering mass. ' "Come across with the story." Anthony prompted him. for. to ti !l the truth, he really had no desire to be cross-examined by Joe. "Wild Indians, those two glrK" Joe began, still putting like a Jerky-locomotive Jerky-locomotive with outbursts pf laughter laugh-ter "Champagne? Ye gods, how they loved h! Oh, you ought to have been there. First the dinner" din-ner" "I didn't know there were two of them.'" Anthony interrupted, "but go on." "Yos" cried Joe ecstatically, "two of them. Dolly's friend Cleo Brook. That's why I wanted ycu, old boy take tho friend off my hands. But I saw you were otherwise other-wise engaged." Every word of Joe's, even when he talked of himself, him-self, was an Insinuation. With wild incoherency he weut on. producing a sort of cubist picture pic-ture of those academically sequestered seques-tered glrld that had broken away a i tat lire ScttIc. lA Ur ' I V 1 . - x; . ' i t jiff ', ej V I v from excessive respectability Into w hat amounted to an orgy of feasting, feast-ing, dancing, of champagne and taxlcabs and cabarets. "Gee' Talk about sport!" Joe concluded in awe. "Wc were scooting scoot-ing down Broadway I had an arm about each of them shouting like mad when Dolly took it into her head to .-ing. I don't know who broke that window in the ta.xt one of us did -cost me eight dollars dol-lars oh, that money all that It cost me wow! But 'twas worth it. Swells, thoso girls they certainly cer-tainly are swells." "You poor lish'" Anthony began. He was about to tell him that these two girls had merely been using him as a convenience, because he was too remote from their everyday every-day environment to matter but ho checked himself. He felt suddenly an exaggerated satisfaction In his own experience of" the evening before. be-fore. It possessed charm romance, and was touched by a wistful melancholy. mel-ancholy. There was nothing flashy or garish about It It was real a bit of genuine and intimate life miles superior to anything in Joe's absurd story. "Anyway, you managed pretty well without me," he added indulgently. indul-gently. "Now, who was that dame you were with?" queried Joe. "I only aught one glimpse of her face something familiar about her now come across, who was it? I told you. you know." His cajoling tone betrayed the true importance of such knowledge to him. "Oh. nobody you Know." Anthony fenced. "A friend from home passing through New York had dinner with me." "None o' that!" cried Joe. "You didn't know of any friends from borne when you got here ccme across now' 'fess up who was It?" A bellboy, preceded by a knock at the door, chose thjs moment to enter the room with "a telegram for Mr. West." Before opening It Anthony had time to smile at Joe and to rellect that Joe's questions v..-;e 'ill liii.iii - ., cred, that Gmcc I j Thomas was safe and that Joe would never be the wiser. But no ooner had he torn -opeu and - .inned the message than pallor swept his face and he sat. as one iu'eri(l Suddenly he began fumbling fum-bling In the pockets of his clothes on a chair beside him. extracted a coin and passed it to the waiting bellboy, who e departure only money could buy. "What's the matter, old boy?" Joe began with the grin still on his face. "I've got to go home at once. Joe. My mother is very ill." Joe looked mystified. "How'd they know you were here?" "Sam Cullen, my roommate, opened it an:l forwarded It I told him wo were coming here." "What awful luck." muttered Joe. "I thought we'd have a high old time together with those" "Forget that Joe." snapped Anthony. An-thony. "I ought never to have come 1 ought to have gone home for Christmas but I'm going now " And hastily he began to don his domes anu la inrow luings into his suit case mechanically. Joe also began to dress. "You've got to eat " he said "I'll help you find out about trains. I'll rush (.own and order breakfast." There were some things that Joo never forgot. "Have you got enough money for the trip?" he ndded. "1 have in Cambridge wonder who'll cash my check here." "I will, of course," said Joe "I've got plenty." "Thanks -then 1 go on ihe first train." "You'll find me iq tho dining room w 1th a timetable," said Joe. "Come down soon as you're packed," and without taking tho time to wash his face Joe slammed the door nnd disappeared. "Good fellow. Joe In some wys." murmured Anthony to himself him-self as he went on packing. Joe. however, had a faculty for wiping out In a minute a good opinion opin-ion one may aavo harbored of him for a year. I L a& sH As Anthony hurried out of Ihe' clinking old elevator toward tho dining room Grace Thomas hastily BftJ rose from her switchboard and LLH stood In front of him Since the receipt of the telegram she had been as remote from his thoughts sR as wai the north pole. Rftj Listen," she murmured scftly, iHLfj "you won't tell your friend auy- LVl thing about last night will you? LiiiVl I don't want anybody to think" and a deep Mush rising from hei neck overspread her face. iB "Certainly not!" he broke in BH "Don't give It a thought. I've got FB to go away this morning. Had news iH from home my mother Is ill." RH "I'm so sorry," she whispered bLBl sympathetically. ksiVI It was at this moment that Joe, KH who had grown impatient in tho HH dining room, emerged unseen of IXf" both of them, and before they wero tB3 aware of It stood beside them. ilS "So, good-by," Anthony was sa- LK ing; "sec you again" Then he LH realized that Jon was listening. gave her a nod and made toward the dining room JB "I know now who was your lady ft '! i la M nigh I mumbli d foe In a high itate ( glee "Why didn't you tell a fellow? Never mind old boy, I II look after her while you're gone. Wonder what makes them Ll rail for you? Why i- -;t t.lat ShiB H 'em?" "Shut up. Joe. for mercy's sake." Anthony snapped, exasperated. "I biBH don't interfere in your affairs.' "Affairs as had as that." grinned Joe. "Well, never mind. Here'r your ca'sh seventy-tive dollars that do you? You send me your cieck Your train lea res at eleven." BH Anthony Would hav. given much JgaH not to be obliged to i-ke any moro favors from Joe Hut It was too LtshS late. Ho thanked him and was BS about to add some word bogging LLish him to leave the girl alone, but ho siiB could not bring himself to speak oj LiBsT her again. He hardly had the tlmo TKCi'i to board the eleven o'clock western LsflS ex. .- BE (CepTTldit. I30. try IMltt Brown Ca IBl1 To Be Continued Next Sunday. |