| Show synthetic gent gentleman leman by C CHANNING N N 1 POLLOCK OLL pollock az SYNOPSIS the duke barry gilbert likable youth ot of twenty three jobless and broke enters enten an unoccupied summer home in Bout southampton hampton seeking becking shelter from a storm ile he makes himself at home hoine doz do ing it at the fireplace he ha Is startled by bi the arrival of a butler willetts and an 1 I 1 chauffeur evans he learns that thi the on n of the owner of 0 the house jact jack whom wh 0 in the servants had never seen been Is expected ile he decides to bluff it out hla his supposed parents have let left for germany next morning he Is given 06 letter for or his mother he opens it ll 11 and finds a message mes Baffe from the real jack saying he could not come and returning a hundred dollar bill the boys father had bad pensioned him into obscurity barry pockets the money intending to re turn it later he orders evans to take tak him to montauk intending to disappear there on the way he meets judge hambidge and his daughter patricia believing ho he Is jack ridder she invites invitee him to dinner the following thursday barry returns to southampton deciding to stay star a bit longer mr sr through his newspaper the globe accuses judge hambidge e of taking orders from tammany hall in a condemnation proceeding barry meets peter winslow prominent attorney winslow tells barry that judye judge hambidge e had bad seen been an accident in which a woman was killed by a taxicab at homo home barry finds the wife of the real jack ridder awaiting him her husband Is in jail in new york charged with the murder of mike kelly tammany boss CHAPTER ill III continued 6 everything about the girl was a contradiction the duke thought hard and yet soft with her steely eyes and her quivering lips her english was rather better than fairly good and yet she could say nes iles a tough guy that bird I 1 beaded eyelashes eye cye lashes and a little boy A chorus girl who believed in her husband and came an hundred miles through the night to help him A philosopher the duke as we have seen and he be found himself musing Is anyone black or white arent we all contradictions kind of a dirty gray go on he said well jacl jack was getting this fifty fr from orn the old mans lawyer when I 1 met hlin him we were playing west palm beach and he followed me to miami anything else to do lie he was drinking all the time and I 1 knew lied hed never quit until he had to til ill marry you I 1 told him but not while youre loafing around on money you get from a guy ashamed of you I 1 want a home I 1 said and a husband I 1 can respect you sou get a job and ill marry you did he yes lie he did and I 1 married him that week it was a good job too night clerk in a big hotel at palm beach after that we let the fifty lay in the post office jack want to at first but I 1 said were going g to make jay rogers mean something and then were going back and talk turkey to the old man we had a swell little home and the kid came and he hes swell too and then all at once the boom busted right in our face and the hotel closed and we beat it back to new york say what am I 1 telling you this for go on well tile the next chapters the same old story no money no job tramping the streets looking for work wark know what like 1 I invented it said the duke well then you know things kept happening the boy got sick and the people we rented the room from threatened to put us out oot and I 1 guess jack stand it so he went to see his mother without telling g rue me ne he tell her about me either the old lady gave him a hundred bucks and invited him down here I 1 dont know what else happened because I 1 was so mad he dare tell me n ie proud well partly but I 1 guess the truth Is I 1 was scared separate us anyway I 1 made him send gend tile the money back we going to do he said let the kid starve I 1 cant get work no I 1 answered but nay may be I 1 can im a good hoofer if I 1 do say it myself and theres worse look ing girls in a lot of shows 4 well there an ahern aborn show in town or any other regular show that wanted me so last monday I 1 landed in a joint called the cocoa nut bar one of those places where you get a ten course dinner and an d a revue for two dollars and both of ern em rotten salad without dressing and you dont care because the show girls are the same way tough spot the cocoanut Coco anut car bar but I 1 choosey chiosey last blon monday day so then jack was mad plenty ailed been promised ed a place as elevator man in brooklyn but we watt wait for that you can be as straight in a cabaret as you can in a convent it if you want to do oh well last night bight mike alike kelly came in about eight with two strong arm guys guya I 1 knew him right away because he be was five weeks at the ho bo tel where lack jack worked litra irn beach and he sat down and sent for the boss luls lula morano the boss Is and they h ey had a stiff powwow pow wow was sore all through when he came back where the dressing rooms are and then we swung into a number called tickle me the girls go up to the men in that number and paw ern cm a good deal and in the middle of of this pawing kelly jumps up and yells that ive tried to pick his pocket id really just got to him as another girl left but he be grabbed my arm and shouted so you could have heard him in harlem arlem II luls luis ran over and the bouncer brought a cop and a crowd gathered Kel kellad lyd been drinking a lot you ton cant get away with that lie he kept yelling at 31 morano orano ill send this girl to the island nd you to the hot spot you watch ael 1 I got nothing to do with it luis answered 11 1 I dont even know this girl she only came monday that right boyst well the end of it was that I 1 walked out with the cop edve been in the lockup lock up yet only there was a decent young fellow on the desk at the lie station louse house lie be let me go on on my promise to return if I 1 was wanted there being no one there to sign the complaint while she talked the duke was thinking astonishing things had happened and went on happening were astonishing things bilings always happening everywhere and did they come about as quietly as this as much as though they were the commonplaces of dally daily routine youve walked into a pretty dessl mess the girl had said but after all it his mess so far as he was concerned the game was up he be had made full and complete confession to this girl without a moments hesitation firstly because the garne game was u up P anyway and secondly because it had seemed the right moment for laying cards on the table lie had asked to see her hand and he expect to do that without showing his own without inspiring her confidence fi why did he be want to inspire her confidence what was her story to him why should he care what happened to a woman he had never seen in bad nauheim Naulie Nau helm lm but damn it he be had seen herl her lie ile had bad seen into her mind and heart which is a good deal more than looking at a face or a black satin dress iier her life aou would id be over with this and the old mans the doctor says any shock might prove serious one false step on your part it if he knew would end everything forever and he would know ill III as he Is he still has ills newspaper sent him and he still reads every word the duke felt sorry for these young people too tor for that foolish young husband who hurt a fly and tor for this painted hard bard soft so ft young wife and mother who had wanted a home and a man she could respect patricia well that hurt he had known it would he had known from that first day that lie he cared a lot for this girl who needed a spanking but he had known too that his caring going to come to anything even it if his luck had held you marry a girl like that and then have her find out that you were a bum an impostor imposter it matter now what mattered now was whether this boy had killed alike kelly and it if he whether it was going to make much difference with all tile the boss cohorts arrayed against him and anyway how the whole business was to be kept for a bile at least from the woman who was counting the days to ills his letter a at nauheim Naulie lm youve youre got your nerve peggy oday had said well what we need now and as lie he listened barry was more and more compelled to agree with her we got home around half past ten the girl had been saying and jack was wild when lie he saw the cop and heard the story ill be back for you tomo tomorrow r row I 1 the cop said and better be here hee this department takes its orders from mike alike kelly and dont you forget that tin im going to see hike alike kelly jack says 1 I knew him pretty well in in valm palm reach beach and I 1 know where he lives ill lie be back here by midnight il lie ile was just as the clock was striking I 1 remember that because I 1 thought of a line from a burlesque of an old play I 1 was lo in once the hour has struck and I 1 am here jack was all a tremble tile the son of a sea cook 1 lie says the dirty skunk ill get that guy some day he see you I 1 asked sure lie he saw sav me jack said the butler brought me tight light in a jap or a I 1 or something kellad been drinking drill king and lie he was drinking more in the dining room lie ile came in to me in the drawing room though and shut the doors behind him the jap jail or the filipino came in after with a bottle of 0 scotch whiskey and two glasses and silke alike kept on drinking I 1 had one with him lie he was pleasant enough to start with the tole tele phone rad rang in the liall hall and he apologized for going out to answer it when lie he came back have to make it snappy he says ive got an important conference here in it a f few ew minutes I 1 so then I 1 told him about you and lie went nutty 1 ashes 1 Sh es a damned little thief P 1 he yelled 11 ashes 1 Sh es my wife I 1 answered your wife he be said yes and I 1 guess wife that wants her dont say that I 1 asked him tia ill say anything I 1 damn please 1 he shall shouted ted who the lie hell are you telling me what to say A guy living off a girl at spanish luls luis bosl 1 well I 1 dont give a damn who you live ott off but when luls luis lem en on to lifting stuff out 0 my pocket they got the wrong bird this dames going to jail tomorrow and rin im going to headquarters myself to be sure she does go I 1 now get out I 1 he says saya I 1 well of course jack loses ills his tem temper they yelled at each other a few minutes and then jack says he calmed down listen lie he says as quietly as im talking now 1 I dont amount to much and I 1 guess I 1 know it as well as you do but you let up on my wife or ill never let up on you as long as I 1 live so help met mel and with that lie he flounces out of the house did you bang the door I 1 asked trying to make him laugh 1 I banged both of em cm he be answered the door from the drawing room into the hall ball and the front door I 1 mean what I 1 said too it if youre arrested tomorrow she paused for a moment and slumped back into her chair ns as though completely exhausted find the alie rest in the paper she concluded the dahe cops picked him up about three oliree this afternoon he thought come for me first and lie he said a few things about hell kelly Y that arent going to help much I 1 dont know yet why they pick me up too anyway when gone I 1 did a whole lot of thinking and I 1 decided this a good minute for pride or anything it if going to separate us I 1 said why going to and that so I 1 took a chance and the first train I 1 could get after id found som somebody to look after the boy when the butler told me mr Rid ridders derd be home around midnight I 1 figured my luck had changed of course I 1 never the thought light ofa of a fake redder there was no ill III will in her tone only it a faint amusement succeeded almost immediately by desperate earnestness well my story slie she said god only knows why I 1 told you I 1 came out here bore to tell it because I 1 think even that tough old bird would want to see his boy sent up for murder now what do we do cable I 1 got money enough have you I 1 got a lawyer or a dollar to hire one I 1 got a relative that I 1 know about or a friend in the world just a sick kid at home and a fellow im kind of strong tor for locked up in the tombs she had asked what do we do 1 I got money enough have you taken him into partnership what she had into one ot of those natural ine inevitable stable partnerships of people who have no one to whom they have the right to turn the kinship of the poor and despised and outcast 11 II 10 know a great lawyer said the duke A great criminal lawyer I 1 met him tonight A fellow need named winslow not peter winslow the duke nodded yes hes great enough but hed never aake take my case ile he might take mine the duke mused aloud we struck up quite V 1 1 1 A 7 t I 1 1 1 I I know a great lawyer said the duke a friendship jie ile offered to get me a job of course all off be cauce Bec because amso why because he bolog to do anything for me cue when he finds im a take fake nobody Is when they know rm im not john clarke ridder jr tile the duke rose slowly and walked across the room lie was thinking liard hard nobody Is he repeated still more slowly as lie he returned to tile the chair in which was sitting the wife of the real jack ridder but why should they find out howo now tito the girl looked at him wide eyed 1 I dont get you its easy he answered still slow clow ly and very deliberately people dont do anything tor for fakes or cast oira offs accused of murder they wont do anything for the real john bidder nidder because lies hes broke and in disgrace but they might do a lot for the fake jolin john ridder it if they know he was a fake 1 I guess im dumb peggy said but still I 1 dont get you listen ile he resumed his seat in the small chair opposite her you came out to get old john clarke to help you yes and be here bere 11 no TO BE CONTINUED |
