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Show . GEORGE RANDOLPH GOXIL : nd LILLIAN CHESTER u ; fSE U-LUSTRATCD-CD.RnODES1 ' 1, I SYNOPSIS. 1 i 14 i At a vestry meeting of the Market B'tnnre ihurch Gail Snrjsent tells Uov. Bniith lioyd that Market Sitmre chureh Is apparently a lucrative business enterprise. enter-prise. Allison takes Gall riclniK in his motor cur. She finds cold disapproval in : the eyes of Rev. Smith Boyd. Allison j "tarts a campaign tor consolidation and control of the entire transportation sys-a sys-a i'i" "le world. Gail becomes popular. Allison Kains control of transcoui inental tralllc find nrruniros to tibsorb the Ved-ler Ved-ler court tenement property of Market i hquaro church. Gall tells Lioyd that the cathedral Market Square church proposes to build Will be out of profits wruns from fi'iualor. At a meeting of the seven financial finan-cial magnates of the country. Allison or- i Ranlzes the International Transportation 'onipany Rev. Smith Doyd undertakes Galls spiritual Instruction and Gall un- ! consciously Kives Allison a hint that solves p the Vedder court problem for him. On nn Inspection trip In Allison's new subway sub-way the lunnel caves In. Gall kocs back ; Jo her home in the West. Her friends lure lier and Arly back to New York. In the ; miilst of a strode with the drefrs of humanity hu-manity ;n Vedcler court Rev. Smith Bovd si uncnly finds that he is a real Ilvine I I-",'"' luvlng-man. lie proposes to Gall out. on the verjre of acceptance, she remembers re-members their religious differences, and refuses. Through Allison's connivance with the political boss Vetlder court Is condemned by the city as unsanitary, iiev. Smith Boyd proposes to the vestry to replace the old Vedder court buildings with model tenements. Allison makes ar- ..-acsements with foreign representatives lor the consolidation of the transportation transporta-tion interests of the world. CHAPTER XIX Continued. The neat-waisted caller, with the first slow motion he had used since -. - he came into the room, drew the slip of paper towards him again. There followed another banker, a ruddy-faced man whose heavy features were utterly incapableof emotion; and -- fro sat at Allison's table in thick-jowled thick-jowled solidity. "There are about to begin international interna-tional movements of the utmost importance." im-portance." Allison told him "There Is a war scheduled for next month, which is likely to embroil the whole of Europe." The banking gentleman nodded his head almost imperceptibly. "Mr. Chisholm advised me that your sources of information are authentic," " lie stated "What you tell me is most deplorable." "Quite," agreed Allison. "I am in-formed in-formed that the company you repre-tkent repre-tkent and manage has the practical di-. di-. action of the entire banking system ' of Europe, with the exception of one country. Besides this, you have powerful pow-erful interests, amounting very nearly to a monopoly, in Egypt, in India, in " Australia, and in a dozen other quarters quar-ters of the globe." ' "You seem to be accurately in-'formedr1 in-'formedr1 admitted the banking gentleman, gentle-man, studying interestedly the glowing glow-ing coals in Allison's fireplace. "If I can show you how a certain attitude at-titude towards the international com ilications which are about to ensue ' 'will be of immense advantage to your banking system, as well as to the interests in-terests I represent. 1 have no doubt that we can come to a very definite . understanding." The soiidly jowled banking gentleman gentle-man studied the glowing coals for two minutes. "I should be interested in learning the exact details," he finally suggested. suggest-ed. Allison drew some sheets of paper from an indexed file and spread them iuXare the financier It was largely a matter of credits in the beginning, extensions ex-tensions here, curtailments there, and all on a scale so gigantic that both gentlemen went over every item with the imaginative minds of poets, lu every line there was a vista of vast empires, of toppling thrones, of altered ' ,v boundaiieb. of such an endless and - shifting panorama of governmental " forces, that the minds of men less inured in-ured to the contemplation of cominr,r-cial cominr,r-cial and political revolutions might have grown fagged. On (he third page, the solid banking gentleman, who had not made a nervous motion etnee his grandfather was a boy. looked up with a start. "Why, this affects my own coun . try!" lie exclaimed. "It affects our enormous shipping interests, our great transportation lines, our commercial ramifications in all parts of the globe! It cripples us on the land and wipes vs from the sea! It even affects my own government!" I "Quite true." admitted Allison j The banking gentleman drew a ! long breath "What you predict may not come to pass." he maintained, although the se- j cret Information which had brought him to Allison had prepared him to T take every statement seriously. "I can show you proofs! The war which is to be started next month Is only the keystone of the political arch of the entire eastern hemisphere. There are a dozen wars, efch bigger than the other, slated to tollow if rl. like the pressing of a row of ' J'vic buttons. Knowing these mugs as you shall, it Is only a ques-- ques-- tion of whether you will be with me on the crest, or in the ho'low." The caller moistened his lips, and turned his gaze finally from the glowing glow-ing coals to Allison's face "Show , rne everything you know." be demanded. They siit together until morning. . I hey traversed the world: and, elicit that visitor had gone. Allison gave his globe a contemptuous whirl. The balance of them were bin matters mat-ters of detail. With a certain pride-ful pride-ful arrogance, of which he himself was aware, he reflected that now he could almost leave these minor powers pow-ers and potentates and dignitaries to a secretary Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he went back into his study, and drew from a drawer the photograph of a young and beautiful girl, who seemed to look up at him, out of an oval face wreathed with waving wav-ing brown hair, and set with beautifully beautiful-ly curved lips which twitched at the corners in a half sarcastic smile, from two brown eyes, deep and glowing and fraught with an intense attractiveness Every morning he had looked at this photograph, the priceless crown of his achievement, the glittering jewel to set in the head of his scepter, the beautiful medallion of his valor! "Only a little longer, Gail," he told her with a smile, and then he saluted the photograph. "Gail, the maker of maps!" he said. CHAPTER XX. The World at Gail's Feet. Callers for Mrs. Helen Davies, and a huge bouquet of American beauties for Gail. Into the Louis XIV room, where Nicholas Van Ploon and Miss Van Ploon sat with unusual impres-sivei.ess, impres-sivei.ess, Mrs. Davies came arrayed in the ie-wft velvet afternoon gown which gave her more stateliness and more impressive dignity than anything in her wardrobe. Miss Van Ploon, who was a true member of the family, in that she considered the Van Ploon entity before any individual, quite approved ap-proved of Mrs. Davies, and was in nowise no-wise jealous of being so distinctly outshone out-shone in personal appearance. Nicholas Nich-olas Van Ploon also surveyed Mrs. Davies with a calculating eye, and bobbed his round head slightly to himself. him-self. He had canvassed Mrs. Helen Davies before, and had discussed her in family council, but this was a final view, a dress parade as it were. Half an hour later Mrs. Helen Davies, Da-vies, leaving her guests in the Louis XIV room, paused at the head of the stairs to calm herself. The Mrs. Wa-verly-Gaites' annual faded into dim obscurity. ob-scurity. Mrs. Waverly-Gaites would mm I When the Visitor Was Gone Allison Gave the Globe a Contemptuous Whirl. beg Gail on her bended knees to attend at-tend the annual, and Mrs. Helen Da-vies Da-vies could attend if she liked. She went into her own room, and took a drink of wa;er, and sal down for thirty or forty seconds; then she went into Gail's suite, where site found that young lady, all unconscious of the honor which was about to befall her. reading a six-hundred-page critique of Chopin's music, and calmly munching chocolates out of a basket decorated with eight shades of silk roseB. "Sit down and have a chocolate. Aunt Helen," hospitably offered Gail, slipping a marker in her book. Mrs. Davies consumed a great deal of time in selecting a chocolate, but she did not sit down. "Shall you be at liberty this evening. Gail?" she inquired, with much carelessness. care-lessness. "Why?" and Gail, whose feet were stretched out and crossed, in lazy ease, looked up at her aunt sidewise from under her curving lashes. Mrs. Davies hesitated a moment. "Houston Van Ploon would like to call." "Are they still downstairs?" Gail suddenly unveiled her eyes, and brought her slippers squarely in front of her divan. Also she sat bolt upright. up-right. "Yes," and Mrs. Davies betrayed signs of nervousness. "Are they making the appointment for Houston?" I "Yt-s." The word drawled. 'i "Why?" and Gail's brown eyes began be-gan to crackle. Mrs. Davies thought it better to sit down. "My dear, a great honor has come to you." Gitil leaned forward towards her aunt, and tilted her chin. "Houston wants to propose, and he's sent his father and sister to find out if he may!" she charged. "Yes." acknowledged Mrs. Davies, driven past the possibility of delay or preparation, and feeling herself unjustly unjust-ly on the defensive. "I shall not be at home this evening," eve-ning," announced Gail decisively, and stretched out her feet again, and crossed her little gray slippers, and took a chocolate. "Or any other evening," eve-ning," she added. Mrs. Davies lost her flutter Immediately. Imme-diately. This was too stupendously serious a matter to be weakly treated. "My dear, you don't understand!" she protested, not in anger, but in patient pa-tient reason. "Houston Van Ploon has been the unattainable match of New York. He is a gentleman in evesy particular, par-ticular, a desirable young man in every respect, and gifted with everything a young girl would want. He has so much money that you could buy a kingdom and be a queen, if you chose to amuse yourself that way. He has a dignified olu family, which makes mere social position seem like an ignominious ignomini-ous scramble for cotillion favors; and it is universally admitted that he is the most perfect of all the Van Ploons for many generations. Not exceptionally exception-ally clever; but that is one of the reasons rea-sons the Van Ploons are so particular to find a suitable matrimonial alliance for him." Gail, nibbling daintily at her chocolate, choco-late, closed her eyelids for a second; the long, brown lashes curved down on her cheeks, and from beneath them there escaped a sparkle like the snap of live coals, while the corners of her lips twitched In that little smile which she kept for her own enjoyment. "You cannot appreciate the compliment compli-ment which has been paid you, Gail. Every debutante for the past five years has been most carefully considered consid-ered by the Van Ploons, and 1 sincerely sincere-ly believe this to be the first time they have unanimously agreed on a choice. It is a matter of eugenics, Gail, but in addition to that, Mr. Van Ploon assures me that Houston is most fervently fer-vently interested." "How careless of them," criticized Gail. "They have neither asked for my measurements nor examined my teeth." "Gail!" Her chaperon and sponsor was both shocked and stern. "I positively decline to even discuss the Van Ploon eugenics," stated Gail, pushing aside her chocolates, while a red spot began to appear on her cheeks. "I shall not, as I stated before, be-fore, be at home to Houston Van Ploon this evening or any other evening." "I shall not deliver that message," announced Mrs. Davies, setting her lips. "As your present sponsor, I shall insist that you take more time to consider con-sider a matter so important." "I shall insist on refusing to consider con-sider it for one second," returned Gail quietly. "I am very fond of Houston Van Ploon, and I hope to remain so. but I wouldn't marry him under any circumstances. This is firm, flat, and final." Mrs. Helen Davies dropped patient reason instantly. She was aware of an impulsive wish that Gail were in pinafores, and her own child, so she could box her ears. "Gail, you compel me to lose my patience!" pa-tience!" she declared. "When you came. 1 strained every influence I possessed to have you meet the most desirable eligibles this big city could j offer, just as if you were my own ! daughter! I have succeeded in working work-ing miracles! I have given you au opportunity to interest the very best! You have interested them, but 1 have never seen such extravagance in the waste of opportunities! You have refused re-fused men whom thousands in tho highest circles nave sought; and now you refuse the very choice of them all! What or whom do you want?" Gail's red spots were deepening, but she only clasped her knee in her interlocked inter-locked fingers, her brown hair waving about her face, and her chin uptilted "You can't always expect to retain your youth, and beauty and charm!" went on her Aunt Helen. "You can't expect to come to New York every year and look over the eligibles until you find one to suit your fastidious taste! You're capricious, you're ungrateful, un-grateful, and you're unsatisfactory!" Gail's eyes turned suddenly moist, and the red flashed out of her cheeks. "Oh, Aunt Helen!" she exclaimed In instant contrition. "I'm so very, very sorry that I am such a disappointment to you! But if I just can't marry Mr. Van Ploon, I can't, can I? Don't you see?" She was up now and down again, sitting on a hassock in front of Mrs. Davies, and the face which she upturned had in It so much of beautiful beauti-ful appeal that even her chaperou and sponsor was softened. "I was nasty a Avhile ago, and I had no excuse for it, for you have been loving and sincere sin-cere In your desire to make my future happy. I'm so very, very sorry! I'll tell you what I'll do! You may go down and tell Mr. Van Ploon and his daughter that I will see Houston this evening," and then she smiled; "but you mustn't say, 'with pleasure.'" The soft air which blew upon Gall's cheek was1 like the first breath or spring, and there was the far-off prophecy of awakening in the very sunshine, sun-shine, as she sped out uie river road with Allison in his powerful runabout "It's glorious!" exclaimed Gall, her' cheeks answering to the caress of the I air with a flush of blossnBjike doll- ! Sho was partjcj'.ar ' r contented today. Allison had been so busy of laie. and s!ie had missed him With all his strength, lie was restful. "1 feel like u new man at this thnu of the year," returned Allison, glancing glanc-ing at Gail with cool appreciation. A car full of men passed them, and the looks they cast in his runabout pleased him. "Gail, do you remember the first time we drove out here?" "Indeed yes," she laughed. "With tile snow in our eyes, and the roads all white, with the lights gleaming through the flakes like arctic will-o'-the-wisps. We ran away that night, and dined at Roseleaf inn, and worried wor-ried the folks to death, for fear we had had an accident." "1 had more than an accident that night," said Allison. "I had a total wreck." Gail glanced at him quickly, but his face was clear of any apparent purpose. pur-pose. He was gazing straight ahead, his clean-cut profile, always a pleasant thing to look upon, set against the shifting background of rocky banks as if it were the one steadfas't and unalterable unal-terable thing in the universe; and he was smiling introspectively. "It was about here that It happened," hap-pened," he went on. "1 think I'd been bragging a little, and ' 'I'.ink you meant to slyly prick my balloon, which I will admit seemed a kind and charitable char-itable thing to do." "What was it?" wondered Gail, trying try-ing to recall that unimportant conversation. conver-sation. "Oh, a gentle Intimation that 1 hadn't done so much," he laughed. "1 had just finished consolidating all the traction cars in New York, subways, L's, and surface; and 1 felt cocky Calmly Munching Chocolates. about it I even remarked that I had achieved the dream of my life, and intended in-tended to rest a while. All you said was, 'Why?' " and his laugh pealed out. "1 used to be conspicuous for impertinence," im-pertinence," smiled Gail. "I'm trying to reform." "I'm giad you hadn't started when I met you," returned Allison, steering around a sharp stone with the firm accuracy ac-curacy which Gail had so often admired. ad-mired. "I never had so stinging a reproof re-proof as that little why. It did me more good than any sermon 1 ever heard." Gail looked at him in questioning perplexity. She could not gather what he meant, but she had a sense of something some-thing big, and once more she was impressed im-pressed with the tremendous reserve force in the man. His clear gray eyes were fixed on the road ahead, and the very symbol of him seemed to be this driving; top speed, a long road, a steady hand, a cool determination, a sublime disregard ol hills and valleys which made them all a level road. "Why? That word set me out on a new principle that never, while I had strength in me, would I consider my work finished, no matter how great an achievement I had made. I am still at work." Something within her leaped up In answer to the thrill of exultation in his voice. To have been the inspiration of great deeds, even by so simple an agency as the accidental use of a word, was in itself an exalting thing, though an ' humbling one, too. And there were great deeds. Sne was sure of that as she looked at him. "When I was a boy 1 lived on ancient an-cient history." he went on, with a smile for the bygone dreamer he had been. "I wanted to be a soldier, a great general, a warrior, in the sturdy, old sense, and my one hero was Alexander Alex-ander the Great, because he conquered the world! That's what I wanted to do. When I grew older, and found how small was the world which Alexander Alex-ander had conquered, not much bigger than the original thirteen states, I grew rather disillusioned, particularly as I was working at about that time for a dollar and a quarter a day. I spent a few busy years, and had for gotten the dream; then you said 'why' and it all came back." "Hurry!" commanded Gall. "Curiosity "Curi-osity Is bad for me." "Let me build It up, step by step, for you. Incidentally, I'll give you some confidential news which you will be reading In months to come. 1 hope," and he laughed, "that you will not tell your friends the reporters about It." "Cross my heart. I won't," she gayly replied. The sting of her one big newspaper experience had begun to die a way. 'When you a:'ked me why, I was tryuig to secure Vedder court for a Ic-rii'iin."! slation fnr my city traction lines. - Vedder cor quickly became, in my imagination, the terminal pono not only of the city traction lines, tint cl the world's transportation. From that I would run a railroad tube to the mainland, so that I could land passengers, passen-gers, not only in the heart of New York, but at the platforms of every street car and L and subway train." "How wonderful!" exclaimed Gail, in enthusiasm. This was an idea she could grasp. "And have you secured Vedder court?" "It's a matter of days," he returned carelessly. "The next step was the transcontinental line. I built It up, piece by piece, and today, under my own personal control, with sufficient stock to elect my own directors who will jump when 1 crack the whip. I posess a railroad line from the Atlantic Atlan-tic to the Pacific so direct, so straight, and so allied with ninety-five per cenf of the freight interests of the United States that, within two years, there will not be a car wheel turning In America which does not do so at the command of the A.-P. railroad. That is the first step leading out, ol Veddur court. The news of that consolidation will be in tomorrow morning's papers, and from that minute on, the water will begin to drip from railroad stocks." "How about Uncle Jim's road?" Gail suddenly interrupted. "1 am taking care of him," he told her easily. "From Vedder court run subways along the docks." "I see!" interrupted Gail. "You have secured control of the steamship companies, of the foreign railrdads, of everything which hauls and carries!" "Airships exeepted," he laughingly informed her. ' She was silent now, and he left her silent, brooding, himself, upon the vast scope of his dreaming, and planning still to center more and more the fruits of that dreaming within his own eager hand. Roseleaf inn. Gall recognized it with a smile as they turned in at the drive. She was glad that they had come here, for it was linked in her mind with the beginnings of that great project of which she had been the impulse, and in which the thing in her that had been denied opportunity because she was a woman, claimed a hungry share. At his suggestion it was more like a command, but she scarcely noticed she telephoned that she was going to remain to dinner with Allison; and then they enjoyed a two-hour chat of many things, trivial in themselves, but fraught now with delightful meaning, because they had to think on so many unexpressed things, larger than these Idle people about them could conceive, or grasp if they knew. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |