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Show I fGEOM MNDOLPH CtOElL and LILLIAN CHESTER r Pjgg lLLUSTFATrDC.D.RnODf.S 'III SYNOPSIS. 8 At a vestry meeting of the Market fiouare church Gull Sargent listens to discussion about the sale of the church tenements lo Kdwaril 13. Allison, local traction king, and when nskeil her optn-ton optn-ton of the church by Rev. Smith Boyd, anvs It Is apparently a lucrative business enterprise. Allison takes Gall riding In his motor car. When he suggests he Is entitled to rest on the laurels of his achievements she asks the disturbing question: "Why?" Gail, returning to hor Uncle Jim's home from her drive with Allison, Al-lison, finds cold disapproval In the eyes of Rev. Smith Boyd, who Is calling there. At a bobsled party Gail finds the world uncomfortably full of men. and Allison tells Jim Sargent that his new ambition Is to conquer the world. Allison starts a campaign for consolidation and control of the entire transportation system of the world. Gall becomes popular. Allison gains ccntrol of transcontinental traffic and arranges to absorb the Vedder court tenement property of Market Square church. Gail visits Vedder court and meet ing Bovd there, tells him that the cathedral cathe-dral Market Square church proposes to build will be out of profile wrung from squalor. She becomes the center of magnetic mag-netic attraction for the men of her aunt's social set. At a meeting of the seven financial magnates of the country. Allison Alli-son organizes the International Transportation Transpor-tation company. CHAPTER XI Continues For just one second the lector's mother felt an impulse to shake Tod Boyd. Gail Sargent -was a young lady of whom any young man might ap-; prove and what was the matter with Tod? She was beginning to be humiliated humili-ated by the tact that, at thirty-two, he had not lost his head and' made a fool of himself, to the point of tight shoes and poetry, over a girl. "Why?" and the voico f Mrs. Boyd was not cold as she tad meant it to be. She had suddsalj felt some tug of sympathy for Tod. "Well, for one tfciiig, she has a most disagreeable lac' of reverence," he etated. "Reverence?"' and Mrs. Boyd knitted her brows. "I don't believe you quite understand her. She has the most beautifully simple religious faith that I have ever seen, Tod." The Rev. Smith Boyd watched his nnn dieonimQrinff na if it WPTh. KfimQ -curious moving object to which his attention at-tention had just been called. "Miss Sargent claims to have a new religion," he observed. "She has . said most unkind things about 'Market Square church. She says that it is a strictly commercial institution, and that its motive in desiring to build the new cathedral is vanity." He omitted to mention Gail's further charge that his own motive in desiring the new cathedral was personal ambition. ambi-tion. Candor did not compel thftt admission. ad-mission. It did not become fiiza to act from piqued personal pride. Mrs. Boyd studied him as he gazed somberly at his fish, and the twinkles once more returned to her eyes, as she made up her mind to cure Tod's irritability. "I am ashamed of you," she told her eon. "This girl is scarcely twenty. If I remember rightly, and I'm sure that I do, you came to me, at about twenty, and 'confessed tea logical disbelief in the theory of creation, which included, of course, a disbelief in the Creator. You were an infidel, an atheist. You -were going to relinquish your studies and give up all thought of the church." The deep red of the Rev. Smith Boyd's face testified to the truth of this cruel charge, and he pushed back , "his fish permanently. "I most humbly confess," he stated, j ijoH hB had writhed in spirit many times over that remembrance. "However, mother, I have since discovered dis-covered that to be a transitional stage through which eyery theological student stu-dent passes." "Yet you won't allow It to a girl," charged Mrs. Boyd, with the severity which she could much better have expressed ex-pressed with a laugh. "When you discover dis-cover that this young lady, who seems to be in every way delightful, is so misled as to criticize the motives of Market Square church, you withdraw Into your dignity, with the privilege of a layman, and announce that 'you do mot approve of her.' What she needs. Tod, is religious instruction." She had carefully ironed out the tiny little wrinkles around her blue -eyes by the time her son looked up Irom the profound cogitation into , i -which this reproof had thrown him. T ., t l Kaon wrong-. he f Motner, i ua.vo admitted, and he seemed ever so much brighter for the confession. He drew his fish toward him and ate it. Later the Rev. Smith Boyd present-d present-d himself at James Sargent's house, with a new light shining in his heart and he had blue eyes. He had come to show Gail the way and the hght. If she had doubts, and lack of faith, and flippant irreverence it was n duty to be patient with her for this was" the fault of youth. He had been i youthful himself. . I Gail's eyelids dropped and the cor ' ners of her lips twitched Rv-Smith Rv-Smith Boyd's name was brought up to her, hut she did her hair in another way. high on her head instead of lo on her neck, and then she went down, bewildering in her simple little dark blue velvet cut round at the neck. "I was afraid that your voice was J out," -remarked Gail, in a tone sug- I gestive of the fact that that would be a tragouv indeed; and she began haul- ing forth music. "You haven't been over for so long." Rev. Smith Boyd colored. At times the way of spiritual instruction was quite difficult. Nevertheless, he had a duty to perform. Mechanically he had taken his place at the piano, standing straight and tall, and his blue eyes softened as they automatically automat-ically fell on the piece of music she had opened. Of course it was their favorite, fa-vorite, the one in which their voices had soared in the most perfect unison. uni-son. Gail glanced up at him as she brushed a purely imaginary fleck of dust from the keys. For an instant the brown eyes and the blue ones met. He was a tremendously nice fellow, after all. But what was worrying him? "RflfirO Tm.n nlnn T V, . , 1 A 1 J 1 . . - i 1 . ' " 3'5 a siiuuiu iiic lu Lane up graver matters," he began, feeling feel-ing at a tremendous disadvantage in the presence of the music. To obviate this, he drew up a chair, and sat facing fac-ing her. "I have called this evening in the capacit: of your temporary rector." Gail's eyelids had a tendency to dicker down, but she restrained them. She was adorable when she looked prim that way. Her lips were like a rosebud. Rev. Smith Boyd himself thought of the simile, and cast it behind be-hind him. "You are most kind," she told him, suppressing . the imps and demons which struggled to pop into her eyes. "I have been greatly disturbed by the length to which your unbelief has apparently gone," the young rector went on, and having plunged into this opening he began to breathe more freely. This was familiar ground. Gail rested a palm on the edge of the bench behind her, and leaned back facing him, supported on one beautifully beauti-fully modeled arm. Her face had set seriously now. "However," went on the rector, "I do not expect to be able to remove I the spiritual errors, which I am compelled com-pelled to judge that you have accu mulated, by any other means than patient logic," he resumed. "May I discuss these matters with you?" His voice was grave and serious, and full of earnest'sincerity, and the musical quality alone of it made patient, logical log-ical discussion seem attractive. "If you like," she assented, smiling at him with willful deception. The wicked thought had occurred to her that It might be her own duty to broaden his spiritual understanding. "Thaak you," he accepted gravely. "If you will give me an hour or so each week, I shall be very happy." "I am nearly always at horns on Tuesday and Friday evenings," suggested' sug-gested' Gail. "Scarcely anyone calls before eight-thirty, and we have dinner din-ner quite early on those evenings." She began to be sincerely interested in the project. She had never given herself time to quite exactly define her own attitude towards theology as distinct from religion, and she felt, that she should do it, if for no other reason than to avoid making impulsive impul-sive overstatements. Rev. Smith Boyd would help her to look squarely into her own mind and her own soul, for he had a very active intelligence, and was, moreover, the most humanly forceful cleric she had ever met. Besides, Be-sides, they could always finish by singing. "I shall make arrangements to be over as early as you will permit," de clared the rector, warmly aglow with the idea. "We shall begin with the very beginnings of things, and, step by step, develop. I hope, a logical justification of the vast spiritual revolution revo-lution which has conquered the world." "I should like nothing better, mused Gail, and since Rev. Smith Boyd roae and stood behind her and filled his lungs, she turned to the piano and struck a preliminary chord, which she trailed off into a tinkling little run, by way of friendly greeting to the piano. -We shall begin with the creation pursued the rector, dwelling, with pleasure, on the idea of a thorough progress through the mazes of religious relig-ious growth. There were cer am vague points which he wanted to clear up for himself. ,. -And wind up with Vedder court n CO V that. It She had not niw just popped into her mind, and popped off the end of her tongue -Even that will be taken up in Its due logical sequence," and Rev Smith Boyd prided himself on having al-ready al-ready displayed the patience which ne had come expressly to exercise beGail was immediately aware that he was exercising patience. He had od her nevertheless, and quite ,,, .,.r:r reminded. vedder court lh? We.khba oS e creation. Ved-Tun Ved-Tun nets immediate at That was sufficient.- When Allison called, twenty minutes later, they were at it hammer and tongs. There was a bright red spot in each of Gail's cheeks, and Rev. Smith Boyd's cold eyes were distinctly green! Allison had been duly announced, but the combatants merely glanced at him, and finished the few remarks upon which they were, at the moment, engaged. en-gaged. He had been studying the tableau tab-leau with the interest of a connoisseur, connois-seur, and he had devoted his more earnest attention to Rev. Smith Boyd. "So glad to see you," said Gail conventionally, con-ventionally, rising and offering him her hand. If there was that strange thrill in his clasp, "she was not aware of it. "I only ran in to see if you'd like to take a private car trip In the new subway before it is opened," offered Allison, turning to shake hands with Rev. Smith Boyd. "Will you join us, doctor?" For some reason a new sort of jangle had come into the room, and it affected the three of them. . Allison was the only one who did not notice that he had taken Gail's acceptance for granted. "You might tell us when," she observed, ob-served, transferring the flame of her eyes from the rector to Allison. "I may have conflicting engagements." "No, you won't," Allison cheerfully informed her; "because it will be at any hour you set. "Oh," was the weak response, and, recognizing that she was fairly beaten, beat-en, her white teeth flashed at him in a smile of humor. "Suppose we say ten o'clock tomorrow morning." "I am free at that hour,", stated Doctor Doc-tor Boyd, in answer to a glance of inquiry from Allison. He felt it his duty to keep in touch with public improvements. im-provements. Also, beneath his duty lay a keen pleasure in the task. "You'll be very much interested, 1 think," and Allison glowed with the ever-present pride of achievement, then he suddenly grinned. "The new subway stops, at the edge of Vedder court, waiting." There was another little pause of embarrassment, in which Gail and Rev. Smith Boyd were very careful not to glance at each other. Unfortunately, Unfor-tunately, however, Rev. Smith Boyd was luckless enough to automatically and without conscious mental process fold the sheet of music which had long since been placed. on the piano. "Why stop at the edge of Vedder court?" inquired Gail, with a nervous little jerk, much as if the words had been jolted out of her by the awkward awk-ward slam of the music rack, which had succeeded the removal of the song. "Why not go straight on through, and demolish Vedder court? It is a scandal and a disgrace to civilization, civi-lization, and to the city, as well as to its present proprietors! Vedder court should be annihilated, torn down, burned up, swept from the face of the earth! The board of health should condemn it as unsanitary, the building commission should condemn it as unsafe, the department of public morals should condemn it as unwholesome!" unwhole-some!" Rev Smith Boyd had been engaged in a strong wrestle within himself, but the spirit finally conquered the flesh; and he held his tongue. He remembered remem-bered that Gail was young, and youth was prone to extravagant impulse. His spirit of forbearance came so strongly to his aid that he was even able to acknowledge how beautiful she was when she was stiffened. Allison had been viewing her with mingled admiration and respect. "By George, that's a great idea," be thoughtfully commented. "Gail I think I'll tear down Vedder court for you!" CHAPTER XII. The Survival of the Fittest. A short, thick old man, gray-bearded and puff-eyed and loaded with enormous enor-mous jewels, met Gail, Lucile and Arly, Ted Teasdale and Rev. Smith Boyd, at the foot of the subway stairs, and introduced himself with smiling ease as Tim Corman. beaming with much pride in his widespread fame. "Mr. Allison couldn't be here," explained ex-plained Tim, leading the way to the brightly lighted private car. "We're to pick him up at Hoadley park. Miss Sargent, as hostess of the party, is to have charge of everything." The side doors slid open as they approached, ap-proached, and they entered t.he carpeted car-peted and draped car, furnished with wicker chairs and a well-stocked buffet. buf-fet. In the forward compartment were three' responsible-looking men and a motorman. and one of the respon-sibles. respon-sibles. a fat gentleman who did not seem to care bow his clothes looked, leaned into the parlor. "All ready?" he inquired, with an air of concealing a secret impression that women had no business here. Tim Corman, who had careiuny seen to It that he had a seat between Gail and Arly, touched Gail on the glove "Ready, thank you." she replied, glancing brightly at the loosely arrayed ar-rayed fat man, and she could see that immediately a portion of that secret impression was removed. With an easy glide, which increased with surprising rapidity into express speed, the car slid into the long, glistening glis-tening tunnel, still moist with the odors of building. Tim Corman had adroitly blocked Gail into a corner, and was holding her attention. "Ed Allison Is one of the smartest hovs in New York." he enthusiastically enthusias-tically declared. "Did you ever see anybody as busy as he Is?" "He seems to be a very enerpetic man." Gail assented, with a sudden remembrance of how busy Allison had always been. "Gets anything he goes after." Tim informed her, and screwed one of his many-puffed eyes into a wink; at which significant 'action Gail looked out at the motorman. "Never tells his plans to anybody, nor what he wants. Just goes and gets it." "That's a successful way, I should judge," she responded, now able to see the humor of Tim Corman's volunteer vol-unteer mission, but a red spot beginning begin-ning to dawn, nevertheless, in either cheek. "What I like about him is that he always wins," went on Tim. "Nobody in this town has ever passed him the prunes. Do you know what he did? He started with two miles of rust and four horse cars, and now he owns the whole works." Gail knitted her brows. She had heard something of this marvelous tale before, and it had interested her. She had been groping for an explanation explana-tion of Allison's tremendous force. "That was a wonderful achievement achieve-ment How did he accomplish it?" "Made 'em get off and walk!" boasted Tim, with vast pride in the fact. "Any time Eddie run across a man that had a street car line, he choked it out of him. He's a wizard." Tim's statement seemeS to be somewhat some-what clouded in metaphor, but Gail managed to gather that Allison had possibly used first-principle methods on his royal pathway to success. i ou mean (.uai ue uiu uieui uui of business)?" "Pushed 'em off!" chuckled Tim. "Anybody Allison likes is lucky," and with tb friendly familiarity of an old man, Tim Corman patted Gail on the glove. "It occurs to me that I'm neglecting my opportunities," observed Gail, rising. ris-ing. "I'm supposed to be running this car," and going to the glass door she looked into the motorman's compartment, compart-ment, which was large, and had seats in it, and all sorts of mysterious tools and appliances in the middle of the floor. Tim Corman, as Allison's personal representative, w&s right on the spot. "Come on out," he invited, and opened the door, whereupon the three responsible-looking men immediately arose. "Show her how it works, Tom," he directed. So it was that Edward E. Allison, standing quite alone on the platform of the Hoadley Park station, saw the approaching trial trip car stop, and run slowly, and run backwards, and dart forwards, and perform all sorts of experimental movements, before it rushed down to his platform, with a rosy-cheeked girl standing at the whool hor hrnwn eves soarkling. her red lips parted in a smile of ecstatic happiness, her hat off and her waving brown hair flowing behind her in the sweep of the wind. To one side stood Introduced Himself With Smiling Ease as Tim Corman. a highly pleased motorman, while a short, thick old man, and a careless fat man, and a man with a high forehead fore-head and one with a red mustache, all smiling indulgently, clogged the space in the rear. Allison boarded the car. and greeted his guests, and came straight through to the motorman's cage, as Gail, in response to the clang of the bell, pulled the lever. She was just getting get-ting that easy starting glide, and she was filled with pride in the fact. "You should not stand bareheaded in front of that window." greeted Allison, Alli-son, almost roughly; and he closed It-Gail It-Gail turned very sweetly to the motorman. mo-torman. "Thank you," she said, and gave him the lever, then she walked back Into the car. it naa requireu some icpura- , sion to avoid recognizing that dicta- j torial attitude, and Allison felt that she was rather drstant. and wondered what was the matter; but he was a practical-minded person, and he felt that it would soon blow over. "I've been neglecting this view," she observed, gazing out into the rapidly diminishing perspective, then she glanced up sidewise at the tall young rector, whose eyes were perfectly blue. He answered something or other, and the conversation was so obviously a tete-a-tete that Allison remained behind. be-hind. Tim looked up at Allison with a complacent grin, as the latter sat beside him. "Well. Eddie. I put in a plug for you." stated Tim, with the air of one ! looking for approval. j "How's that?" Inquired Allison, ab- ' straetedlv. "boosted you to the girl. Say,- she's a peach!" Allison looked quickly back at the platform, and then frowned on his zealous friend Tim. "What did you tell Miss Sargent about me?" "Don't you worry, Eddie; it's all right." laughed Tim. "I hinted to her, so that she had to get It, that you're about the most eligible party in New York. I let her hnow that no man in this village has ever skinned you. She wanted to know how you made this big combination, and I told her you made 'em all get off; pushed 'em oft the map. Take it fron? me, Eddie, after I got through, she knew where to find a happy home." Allison's brows knitted in quick an-ger. an-ger. and then suddenly he startled the subway with its first loud laugh. He understood now, or thought he did, Gail's distant attitude; but, knowing what was the matter, he could easily straighten it out. "Thanks, Tim," he chuckled. "Let's talk business a minute. I had you hold up the Vedder court condemnation condemna-tion because I got a new idea last night. Those buildings are unsafe." "Well, the building commissioners have to make a living," considered Tim. "That's what I thrnk," agreed Allison. Alli-son. Tim Corman looked up at him .v,M-n,iii7 ra.t nf his nnffv slits of eyes. for a moment, and considered. "I get you," he said, and the business busi-ness talk being concluded. Allison went forward. The girls and Ted came back presently, pres-ently, and, with their arrival, Gail brought Rev. Smith Boyd into the crowd, whereupon they resolved themselves them-selves into some appearance of sociability, so-ciability, and Allison, for the amusement amuse-ment of the company, slyly started old Tim Corman into a line of personal reminiscences, so replete in unconscious uncon-scious humor and so frank in unconscious uncon-scious disclosures of callous knavery, that the company needed no other entertainment. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |