| Show PA evelyn campbell service copyright by evelyn Camp campbele belt CHAPTER XI 18 there Is no one they left the hotel hote by the service elevator and an obscure exit linda had changed to a street dress while the man waited outside her door there had been no excitement about it though a house detective came and hovered about uneasily claiming the wardrobe trunk with a sort of triumph the two men whispered together while she dressed and she could hear tear scraps of their conversation through the open transom such things happen every day they said it was a common occurrence for people to beat hotels nearly always they were good g lookers also but the law was making it pretty serious the new laws they get away with it any more and the law had no mercy I 1 mercy 1 that was not strictly true theman the man who ca came me for her had bad mercy he had allowed her to go down and break ruthlessly with brian before brian could ruin himself over her she sh knew what chat would have happened if brian had heard about her first jn in spite of her misery this thought sent a little wave of warmth and happiness over her lie ile would have been true when she came out of her room she was white but entirely composed and detective jimmy ohara was politely thankful to her for not making a scene it was a bad night slippery with light falling failing sleet and taxis moved like careful ghosts feeling their way along on clanking chains under a street light the saw her waxen profile outlined against the dark lining of the cab youre sure there aint a gentleman ask to see you through chist he muttered clumsily lie ile had bad asked that question before and she had told him no but he had known women to take that stand often declare utter tri endlessness when they had bad an army of rich relations women in trouble were a lot like birds they fluttered and tried to fight oft off the hand band that was was helping them contrarily he persisted that young fellow hed bed a been glad to back you up if 1 I 1 you bawled him out so strong that made her smile a queer twisted lift of her drawn lip did I 1 was waa it real really ly strong slie site questioned with a curious childishness officer jimmy scratched scratched his square head if a dame ever talked thata way to me id have passed her up in the first five seconds ile he ruminated rumina ted but he hung on like a bull pup you hardly shake him off her head sank forward and and he heard lier ter sigh this affected him strangely policemen must guard themselves closely against pity and he confined his to kids and stray kittens for women like this one gold diggers confidence molls he should have do no feeling whatever but he slipped a glance at her and found that her profile the delicate outline he had marveled at was now in shadow she was a dull blur in the corner of the cab but one hand band bare a little above the wrist lay on the cushions between them and in the semi gloom it looked dead white and limp he wondered it if she had fainted its a find bad night under the wheels he said to try her out 1 I hope we dont conf bump another car she did not answer though he knew she heard and at that moment the car did skid and her weight was thrown against him ile he grasped tier her hand band to steady her she turned her head slightly ind and spoke you were very good to let me go down that embarrassed him 1 I hated bated to hang around lady lis listening to you an your sweetie but I 1 had to keep you in sight 11 why do you call him that his embarrassment grew he meant to use just that word to her but there seem to be any other well weli anybody could see that lie he was that you was anyway I 1 had to be there I 1 felt kinda foolish 1 I know you have to watch people who are arrested she tore the word from her throat butonne bu but tonce once spoken her head went up tip it was your duty V it made them both feel fee better 1 I wish let your friends know about this allara persisted excuse me maam but I 1 dont think you know how to manage a business like this theres got to be somebody P there Is no one she interrupted with a touch of impatience lie was perplexed he had the warrant in fit his pocket she was char charged ed with defrauding hotels some of the big ones in chicago and new york a tidy sum too more than a good man could earn in a year ile he had been be en rather proud of the order to bring her in hed always hated a cheat worse than any sort of law breaker and then it was an assignment sure to carry publicity and front page pictures and a policeman likes publicity as well as any man dut but now lie he proud ile he wanted to find a way out for her and she claimed there any but she had said something that gave him a chance to speak to her again without sacrificing ills his dignity digina t A man has to do a lot of things for duty when maybe lie he lie stammered to a full stop but she was the kind that understood i that Is true she said sweetly she seemed to have no hard feelings against him at till all then ibe ahe added thoughtfully and if you been exactly honest with yourself duty la Is all the harder when it does come if youve lied and pretended its terribly hard to tear it down 11 ile he nodded anybody knew that it was harder border to take hack back a lie than to tell one linda was not suffering any more all the pain that had wrapped her like a dull lame flame had somehow settled to inertia that mercifully stilled active thought it did not matter what happened now the scene with brian ended everything as if a sharp knife had severed a cord that bound her to all those people and made her one of them are there would be a tremendous scandal and the family would want to pay up but she could not see what difference that would make now they would talk about it forever and the disgrace she had bad brought upon them all and how foolish it would be for of course everything was over for her now and then she saw raw herself linda roth koth as she must have seemed to others the with her head high and her skirts trailing in the gutter mud the despised woman who hid her eyes like an ostrich and took with both hands held behind herl hands suddenly she held them out shuddering what will they do she whispered ile he was slow about answering tie ile knew at once what she was thinking of but it was not easy to answer her do im afraid its jail maam CHAPTER XII wind driven moth and what Is jail 7 what happens in jail 7 what happens to a delicate woman with silken wrists and ankles who has only known the soft est sheets the whitest bread what happens to heran her an in jail the detective told linda while the ca cab b rattled and clashed over the slippery streets while he talked ills his eyes were fascinated by the scrap of white wrist that caught the light from the window the woman prisoners had to earn their keep there were dishes to wash and floors to scrub and beds to make just ordinary work A million wom women en doing as much and far more all over the country every day yes but there must be something more there was it was a serious charge allara knew the law the law could send an embezzler to sing sing easy enough or maybe to tile the island which was worse sing sing she repeated this vaguely it sounded heathenish and a little silly billy but oddly familiar and what then oh three or four years I 1 of what prison detective jimmy drew a long breath lie ile had tried to make her understand as well as he could but he had not told her the half of course it could never happen to her A woman like that would have dozens of friends but in eplite of this assumption lie he moved uneasily ile he had bad seen it happen ile he had seen them young and pretty with the innocence hardly brushed from their eyes and no friends I 1 nothing to be called friend there were so many women they sprang up like daisies everywhere and if onedas one was trampled there was always another for its place detective jimmy was no poet and he wits was a little ashamed of these fancies that came now and then and which he never recounted to anyone TO BE CONTINUED |
