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D Addtional comments / Corranentaires 8Uppl6mentEures: This ittm is filmtd at the rtduction mio dwckMl ImIow/ C* documant tst filmi au taux da rUiictton indiqui ci-datious. lOX KX 18X 22X J 12X 32* Tha copy fUmad h«r* ha* bawi raprodusad thanka ta tha ganaroaity of: BIMiMMqiN tMnh. UninnM Lnal, Tha Imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat qualltv peaiibia aenaMarIng tha eondMon and laglbiUty of tha ariglnal eopy and in kaaping with tha filming eontraet apacHlcaliana. L'aaamplaira fUni* fut rapredult grica * la g4n4realt4 da: Laa imagaa aulvantaa ant M rapreduitaa avac la plua grand a«ln. eompta tanu da la candition at da la nattat* da I'anamplalra film*, at an eonfarmM avae laa eondltiona du eonuat da fUmaga. Original eopiaa In printad papar eavan ara i baglnning «vlth tha front eovar and andtng < tha laat p ^qa with a printad or ilhiatratad Impraa- aion. or t.^ back eovar whan appropriata. 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Toue lea autree aiempleire* arlginaua aont fNmda en eommen«ant per la pra m Hra page qui aomporte une empreinte dimpraaeion ou dlNuatratlon et en termlnant per la derhMra page qui eomporu una telle Un dee aymbalea aulvanta apparaitre aur la damltra imege da cheque microfiche, aeion le eea: le lymbole ^ algnlfle "A 8UIVRE", ie aymbote ▼ elgnifle "FIN". la* caitee. planchae, tableaux, etc.. peuvent ttre film** t dee taux da rMuction difftrant*. Loraqua la document eat trap grand pour ttra repraduK an un aaul cHch*. 11 eet film* « pertir do I'angia uipdrieur gauche, do gauche i droita. et do heut en baa. en prenant la nombra d'Imegee nOce**aira. Ua diagrammee auivantt IMuatrant la m* t hode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Miaocopr nsoiuTioN tist chart (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) US u 1 2.8 Ik 13.6 1h ■ 2.2 ll 1.8 mmt^ ^ /APPLIED IM/IGE In S^^ t653 Eait Main Street ars Rochester, Ne« Yorti U609 USA -..^a (7 '6) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^S (716) 288 - 5989 - FoK MANY., WATERS MANY WATERS vm W-t PS i> 5 :» y^l MANY WATERS -A ^rony or /rmw yonK BY ROBERT SHACKLETON 'Many W>t*n Cannot Quonoh Love" TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS 1902 ( COPTmOBT, IMI Bt d. applcton and compaky All rigKtt rturved PuliUilue mistake." No, there's no mistake ; will you waive cere- mony and be one of us f " about Shotterly's smile, and now he smiled even more pleasantly than was his wont, for he was feeling elated over his success, and he likedThe young fellow with whom he was speaMng " No ceremony-and, pardon me, I'll have to hur^ -dinner at seven here at the hotel." It was clear tliat Hartford was surprised and Shotterly would have understood whyTad si^o7tVe';iiLr^^ " Well, if you really " "All right; I'm glad you'll do it Seven o'clock." And off Shotterly hurried He was home Zoe had not returned. Shotterly dressed qmckly, and then left a few words S till late. Then he went back to the Astoria, and 15 MANY WATERS 'I reached there only two minutes before his father-in-law arrived. The two men met and shook hands. The mayor's manner was important and con- strained, as befitted a man who felt that he had a duty to perform ; but not a trace of constraint, not a sign of annoyance, did Shotterly himself display. " I received your letter onl, this afternoon ; I am delighted that it reached me in time to meet you. Now, won't you make your headquarters with usT Or would you " " No, I thank you." The mayor cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I think I should feel more — free, shall I rayt Perhaps you, your- self, would be the same ; and, coo, there are cer- tain lines of — ahem I — investigation — " He was not a man who was accustomed to be embar- rassed, but there was something in Sbotterly's manner, in his bright assurance, in his oblivi- odsness to disagreeable possibilities, that dis- concerted him. The mayor was a large man, tallish and more than tending toward stoutness; with bo- vine fixity of gaze and slowness of movement ; not without the milk of human kindness, though apt to be dominated by self-love; one accus- tomed to chew the cud of his own reflections and to find it ver sweet ; a man, on the whole, 16 THE PREDICAMENT OP SHOTTERLT Of such, at times, is the honest and of ability, kingdom of politics, " Whatever will be pleasantest for you, will certainly please us," said Shotterly cordially. The mayor, as he looked at him, could not but reflect that Zoe could not well have found a handsomer husband or one of better presence. What a pzty that he does not do Ldit to my family! "he thought. Then he said: Yon will dine with me here, this evening, of course; and, as my stay in New York £ necessarily very limited-only a hasty flying It was with some difficulty that Shotterly at this, retained his equable calm. Only a fly- ing trip I And in that hasty trip he had planned to break up a household and to separate a hus- Buf Shl'f • ^^ °°^^ ' ^'''^ fly^^g trip! contempt"^' '''' "'^ ^^^ ^' ^^« -«-' ^- ^JJ^^' ^''^\f ^^^^ '^°' y°° J^o^." Malrose went on so self-centered that it never occurred to him that there could be more than one view- point tor his words and acts. " I'll be pleased to dine with you some other time; perhaps to-morrow, if we can arrange it Zilijr, '''^^"^ *"P" ^'^''' ^«« «° ^^''ent on this that was lost on Malrose) "admits so long a stay, and if we both can make it conven- 17 MANY WATERS lent; but to-night you must be my guest, in- stead of my being yours." "But, really, Mr. Shotterly, I don't think that I ought " " Yes ; I've arranged a pleasant party— just a few that I know you'll like to meet; all men, of course " Malrose got to his feet rigidly. His face turned pale. He braced himself, with his feet apart, and, steer-like, angrily lowered his head. " Do you mean — do you mean that you have presumed — " He gasped heavily. "Yes; just a small party; quite select; a few friends of nine that I knew yon would like to meet." Malrose fixed him with his heavy gaze. " And you really dare to tell me, sir — me ! — that you have actually presumed to put me on terms of equality with your companions, your— your associates T " The certainty of victory aided Shotterly to remain imperturbable. He wanted Malrose to put himself even more completely in the wrong. " Yes ; I certainly did just what you say." Shotterly spoke with a firmness that ought to have warned the older man. " Then, Mr. Shotterly, I will tell you that I can countenance no such arrangement." Shotterly's voice took on a lower tone. 18 THE PK.5DICAMENT OF SHOTTERLY « ^liese gentlemen, Mr. Malrose, friends of mine have been invited and liave accepted." I don't care, sir; I don't care. That is en- havISr T f ^P°°«ibility, sir. You should have known that coming here on such an er- rand as has called me, I can accept no invita- tions to meet your friends socially And-and asTolts'r''"' "'™ ^" ^^^^^^ *° *^- " Well, just as you wish, of course; I think I can so explain to the gentlemen that hey will properly understand the matter." ^ ,^^ "I had, indeed," continued the mavor planned to come some time to New York after proper arrangements had been made to meet some of the people whom I should like to Cow- on some trip when I had more leisure a^d when there were no-ah-unpleasant details to occupy my time. But, sir, when I speak of meet- ing a few people here, I mean such as NewTork honors-prominent citizens, noted f or iSS or philanthropy; financiers, wieldir monetary power; perhaps some puh city official. But this, sir, that yo the hardihood to arrange!" He breathed hard. "It was my certainty that such^ desire," said Shotterly suavely, "that IST-S*- even though at the last moment, to getTfe^ 19 a: MANY WATERS such men together. Of course, though, I can tell them that you do not wish to meet them. Mr. Stuart Ward, for example " "Who's that? ■' The voice was sharp. "Mr. Stuart Ward, the milliontire " "Is he one of them!" " One of the party, yes ; I left him just a little while ago. Reverend Doctor Fieldhill, Vice-President Harlans, of the Thirtieth Na- tional Bank " Malrose gasped inarticulately. "Mr. Heating, the City Comptroller — I thought you juld like to meet such a city of- ficial — Mr. Waters, famous for the construc- tion of important public works; yoimg Hart- ford, son of the former United States Sena- tor " Malrose sank back into his chair speechless. "And the dinner is arranged for seven o'clock." 20 CHAPTER II AT THE DINNE« ro MALBOSB Malrosb recovered himself with a nn.vv Bess hat Shotterly had not antic];!! anTu gave the younger man a better appreciatfon of at least one phase of his ability ° °^ «n^ T T ^""^ ^*'''°^® «""ed ''landly. « Yes • terjy, that if you had condescended to explain to me we should have avoided the necesslfv of unpleasant words on either side To "M Led t'o^'T? ""'' '™' ""«' y«" d° - now need to explain; it was a misunderstanding ol both sides, and, as such, had better be forgot « 0.?' ''""^ ^^^ « '""^Jng tone. ^ J. hen, ot course, you will " "Certainly, certainly, Mr. Shotterly; I shall spoke'"'' m "''* ?' ^^'^"^'"^ °^ -h°- you spoke (He was about to say « your friends," but a lingering doubt made him use the cautious designahon.) "As to the matters that were especia ly to occupy my time on this brief visit this flying trip, and which I had thoughlwe 21 m MANY WATERS might talk over quietly while at dinner, they can of course be deferred till we have proper opportunity to go into them." And with that the worthy mayor went to hia room to unpack his bag and to dress. Hartford, meanwhile, even more amazed, had gone to his boarding-house, on West Elev- enth Street, for the same purpose. It seemed like an odd dream, like something fantastic, un- real. For a few moments he suspected the possibility of some confidence scheme; and, as he had come to the city to be a literary man, he thought it would be a great thing if, like one of our widely known American writers, he could signalize his entrance into the metropolis by the unmasking and capture of a swindler. He had read that story in his local paper with the greatest interest, but had never thought it possible that any such adventure could come to him. Why, if this sort of thing should con- tinue ! But he came to himself with the reflec- tion that, after all, he could not seriously think that this strange Mr. fcihotterly was dishonest. Well, then, was it an actual and modern case of the man in the parable who went out and picked up his guests at random when others had disappointed himt He flushed at this a little shamefacedly, for it was on account of econom- ical reasons that he had gone to a boarding- 22 AT THE DINNER TO MALROSE house instead of to a hotel, and he was glad that among his slender belongings was a suit of evemcg clothes. He was the first of the guests to put in an appearance, and was there some minutes before seven o'clock because he felt sure that, after an, there had been a mistake, and he wanted to clear it up. He found, as he had hoped, Shotterly alone. Now, see here," he said; "just tell me, if you will, why you asked me to this dinner." He was good-hnmoredly puzzled. " Why, it was just as l' told you. I wanted you and Mayor Malrose to meet each other " "Yes, of course, I know all that; and I re- member reading about him as a mayor of ad- vanced ideas, who is attracting a good deal of pubhc attention. But why should I be asked to meet him!" "Oh, I wanted you to know him, and also Comptroller Heatiag, Doctor Fieldhill, Mr. Harlans the banker, Stuart Ward the million- aire " Hartford laughed. "Say, I think I begin to see; oughtn't I to have come in character? » It was Shotterly's turn to be puzzled " In character! I don't understand." " Yes ; and why didn't you tell me what part you wanted me to take! I suppose, as you let 23 MANY WATERS me come in ordinary evening clothes, that I'm to be merely the President, or the Prince of iWales, or something neat and simple like that — some character with no gilt and knee- breeches." Shotterly was more puzzled, but he liked the look of frank amusement on the other's face. " Really, I don't understand. All I can say is, just be yourself, Mr. Hartford." " And may I ask if you are to take one of the parts, and which onet " " No. I'm just myself. But what do you mean; what are you trying to get at, any- way t" " Isn't there to be any onr to take the part of the Emperor of Germany t— or of Li-Hung- Changt " " Now, see here ; frankly, I don't understand you. You've got some joke that I don't see. I have merely asked you to meet the gentlemen I named and a few others, and " "Oh, I say; I know I've come to the city only to-day, but really " Shotterly eyed him curiously. "You said you were Mr. Henry Hartford, didn't youT " " Henry Hartford I Pardon me. I am Mar- shall Hartford." "Brother to Henry!" " Never heard of him." 24 AT THE DINNER TO MALBOSE f Jfr °' ^'"^'' ^'""«d States Senator Hart- " Not the slightest relationship." o.r^A I^K" ^^"^ '""' ^^ ^«« c'early discon certed. And so Hartford said : « I see now nt" sTlThaJ^V^« -^-^-tandLr^^^^^^^ terlv mLtJn;/ ^"'^ °^^''"'" "^'='«»'°«d Shot- terly mstantly recovering himself. "Of course there's no use my trying to deny that there's been a misunderstanding." He and H„rff -? «ni,ed at each other. "^But t'^f^tlt waf^H my own, and you mustn't go uwarlitJll really hurt me if you shoSd. To " ob ll me ?atn°to"r°*'" "r^" '^^ a-Pte2 my invt' nfn T I n r^""- ^* ^''« «^f""y nice of you and I Shan be awfully sorry if you don't tl"-' MarsS H^rtrrdll^t-*^^'- ''^ ^^^ P'^- "That's all right." Shotterly chuckled Ser Mr HaHf i' T'*^ *" °^^^* ^^^ ^^'^'^ the V.«!^ ^"^H^rtford, whom I never saw and don't eXrTh?^;°^ ''""*' ""•^ ^ ^«P« y"'^ -o-'t find* mther the dimier or the company altogether a ofs^^/rund'::!!!!!.^- "^^o-'t like to think "It m^eans nothing to anybody else so long MANY WATERS as I'm pleased. The whole idea of the dinner and the choice of the guests lay entirely with me " (he chuckled again), " and you're here as my friend. Only," he added with a quizzically good-humored smile, " may I ask that you let the joke stay entirely between ourselves, at least for the present? I don't want you to say or do a thing to give a false impression as to your identity; but, to be perfectly frank with you, there's some one that I'd just as soon keep in the dark. You see, I show you my hand; and now you won't spoil my effort, I'm sure." Of course he wouldn't. Didn't Shotterly, with that handsome, pleasant, taking way, know he wouldn't I It was not for nothing that Shotterly was sometimes termed " the irresist- ible." " But how about the others? " said Hartford. « Do you mind, since we are having such a heart- to-heart talk, telling me just which ones are the real thing and which are pinchbeck?" Shotterly laughed delightedly. "That's a great idea. Wouldn't it be a good one if I'd made mistakes all round— if the minister were an ordinary layman, the millionaire poor, and the banker one of his own bookkeepers? " The two laughed together, and then Shotterly went on: "All I can say is that the others are the real thing to the best of my knowledge and be- 26 i AT THE DINNER TO MALEOSE lief and all I can ask is that if you discover eounterfeits you will be so good as to keep it to yourself till the dinner's over." At that moment Doctor Fieldhill appeared, then Mayor Malrose came up and was intro- duced and then came Mr. Heating, Mr. Waters, Mr. Harlans, and Mr. Ward, and the group passed into the dining-room. Shotterly assumed the head of the table and presided with sublime ease. He was at the summit of happiness. The dinner was perfect and not too extravagant. There was but little wme-this from regard, in particular, to the mayor and Doctor Fieldhill. From the first the conversation was easy, genial, and free. To bhotterly the golden atmosphere of the after- iioon filled the room, and that, together with the importance of the stake for which he was playing, and for which he knew he was playing so well, moved him to heights of brilliancy be yond himself. Was it possible that, only a few hours before, he had paced along the sidewalk out there wondering what he could possibly do to avert destruction? The voice of the mayor serene, satisfied-rotund and resonant though hushed to decorous conversational key -told him that indeed it was more than possible. " It is a pleasure, a real pleasure, to meet in 27 'l:;l "li MANY WATERS this delightful way such friends of Mr. Shot- terly, my son-in-law." A cautious man, and a watchful, Malrose had waited till the dinner was well under way before hazarding any such re- mark, for it was hard for him to overcome en- tirely a feeling that perhaps there was some- thing wrong about it after all. But no. He not only saw Shotterly take the head of the table : he saw that to none did it appear a mat- ter of surprise. In looks and tones and words these men of large affairs appeared to consider Shotterly one of themselves. Malrose was im- pressed, too, being keen in some kinds of ob- servation, by the warm admiration, the regard, that young Hartford had for Shotterly, and by the frank companionship that somehow seemed to exist between them. " Um ! I think— I think that I owe John an apology, or at least an ex- planation—an explanation will be enough- some easy, light reference to sources of in- formation, to the liability of humanity to err, to the fault lying somewhat with himself be- cause of his not giving me, a public man and his near connection, some idea of who his friends really are. And Zoe— mistaken, poor girl ; or, more likely, angered by something, and writing me in petulance. I must talk very plainly to her; and I can not altogether regret that the letters of Holman pointed in confirma- 2S AT THE DINNER TO MALEOSE isfa?r'°*^ *^"' *' ^ conclusion so entirely sat isfactory as regarded Shotterlv tho ^ Pletely threw aside restart fn th '°''^°' '°'"- Shottriy in his rrf .^""^ ^^''^ ^^ ^«<=°°^«d the tabii"srar';Lt:t, " Fro^ r^^°- ^* the mayor joined in w^' f"" *™^ *° "^^^ holds his millions in trust and °''''/f"^ the privileges nf tZ I- ^ "^"^ °°* ^^^im privileges of the ordinary private citizen an MANY WATERS He owes great duties to the community whose laws and institutions have enabled him to amass his wealth, and he owes the people, too, a large insight into his methods of spending money and into the ways of his life. He is, essentially, no longer a private citizen, but a member of roy- alty—a money king— and the people have a right to do what, if he were anything but a king, would be called prying. Then, too, there is the trust of every man in power — the trust that is put into the hands of every one who is higher in station or of better education than the av- erage. There is the trust of the lawyer not to fight for the evil side ; the trust of the doctor to care freely for the poor; the trust of the editor to print not merely what the public will read but what it ought to read— the trust of every man who has won prominence or power over others to use that power in the highest way." Then he checked himself again and said that, in the company of these friends of his son- in-law, he found himself continually tempted to overtalk. And Hartford smiled so gaily when he taid this, and the others looked so politely intereated, that the mayor's heart swelled with pride. Then one after another (except, indeed, Hartford, who was happy but silent) again spoke freely as subject after subject was intro- 30 AT THE DINNER TO MALROSE duced The company, chosen so at random, were happily congenial in a high degree and readily assimilated. And finally Waters, the engineer, spoke of his work. He told of the Croton River region, some fifty miles to the north of New York, where t^e city owns immense tracts of land, and has cleared away houses and barns, and put in miles of road, and converted valleys into lakes. He Avl T '^ ""'"^^^^ ™°^« or how modestty of h'^w?;^^^^ '""f ^™H ticed that it was „!,!?. .^ ^^^"''^^ "' ^^^ no- hearers wei poSe but t '"f^"^""^- H^« politely bored nolll^ '^T *^^* ^^^^ ^ere ^oirSdtt^iif-f-r:^^^^^^^^^ the willingnl to ;orkT ''' *'^ ^''"^^^ ^^ that it waTwith aTSk that T'' *r""''^^'^' there is something far *„!* ^' '■"^'^^«n are constantly leaving and seeking openings in the West or South. Within himself he felt an intense confidence in his own ability. That was really his strongest point. 44 A STEANGEE ON NEWSPAPEE EOW Having decided to join the staff of a news- paper, he also decided to begin his efforts wiTh- out any delay. He knew, in a general way «omethxng of the characteristics of the prS pal newspapers of the city, and had, in fac read several of them that day. He decided to make his first attempt with the Diurnal, which eTabi: ^tfrTnTr^'^"^"*' "«^ mab-ng'clnsid' a H tie wh-, ?' "^^^P^P^-- ^orld; and so, in a little wh,j,^ ^ ^^.^g ^^^ Broadwa; in r i !''^^'*^ '^' P^°""" sliding jolt. He ^ . f ,^* ^"y H«" Pa-k. and breathed deep and looked about him before going on to the Sir 1-f "• ^' ''''' «^ ^e 1^^'before fel that day hke a young knight about to run a tilt for glory, perhaps for life. And what pre sumptxon was this, he thought for a sinM^g 1" ment to run full tilt against New York! But he threw off the feeling and stepped brisWy across the park. To his left rose the graceM lines of the City Hall. To his right was the ungraceful post-office. A throng of hlrry ng people passed him. Another throng was gS in the same direction with him. The faces werf eager, earnest, keen, full of life in..? ' ^ht^* *^' "*''" °^ newspaper build- ings. And this was Newspaper Eow! Build- ings low or buildings high; buildings of brick or of stone or of both; buildings flaUopped or 45 l;'.| MANY WATEES rising in peak or dome ; and he knew that there was as great a difference in the papers them- selves as in the buildings that housed them. It was during an exciting period of the Boer War, and in front of each newspaper office was a bulletin-board, and at each board was gath- ered a little crowd of people. He entered the Diurnal building and stepped into the elevator. " I want to see the city editor," he said. For- tunately, he knew that the city editor was the one to ask for, and he was put off at the proper floor. On a half-open door, whose upper part was of glass, he read the words, " City Eoom." At the moment there chanced to be no boy there, and so, hesitatingly, he stepped inside and walked past several desks at which sat men busily at work. None spoke to him ; each was bent over his writing. It looked as if they were strenuously contesting to see which could fast- est cover sheets of paper with words. The room was long and filled with desks and chairs, and there seemed to be a division into two sections. He found afterward that one part was for the morning edition men and the other for those of the evening edition. In all, some thirty men were in sight, and there were many unoccupied chairs. A boy, prematurely sagacious of face, met him. He was clearly surprised to see a stranger 46 A STRANGER ON NEWSPAPER ROW 'Who do you want to seet" walking there, he asked. " The city editor," said Hartford. "Morning or evening t" said the boy. There was turmoil in the very atmosphere, although there was but little noise. There was energy, excitement, swift and inexorable push. The air seemed charged with the electricity of force, of overmastering haste, even though the faces of the men were quiet and unperturbed, and though only their swift-moving fingers and the sheets of copy showed how fast they were working. It was glorious, but it was not litera- ture; and it was for literature that Hartford had come to New York. " The morning editor," he said. There was a zone of quieter action at the farther end of the long room, and he divined correctly that the men of the morning edition were there. The boy was on the point of asking Hart- ford to step outside to wait, but his air and bearmg were such that the lad hesitated. "What name, and what business? " he asked "Mr. Hartford. But I'll explain to the ed- itor myself." " Sit down and Til see if he's in," said the boy. There was a vacant desk there, and Hart- ford sat down at it. He thought it would be fine if he could call that desk bis own. 47 •i^^H MANY WATERS As he waited he looked about him with in- tense interest. He did not, at this first sight of a New York newspaper office, see enough to justify the ideas that he had preconceived as to the greatness and dignity of the life and work. Even when he had planned to step at once into a career with some publishing house, he had felt a deep respect for the great news- papers. But as he sat there he could see noth- ing of the broad, deep plans. He saw nothing that could suggest to him the scope, the fierce energy, the tremendous expenditures, of which he was afterward to learn. Men writing rap- idly at desks were to him just men writ- ing rapidly at desks, and they were nothing more, A small boy dashed up to the desk of the city editor of the evening paper — a man slender, keen, suggesting the sharpness of a blade. His desk was not far from where Hartford was sit- ting. " The Globe's beat us ! " exclaimed the boy. " It's lost 520 men in that last battle and we lost only 4001" The editor smiled grimly and turned toward a stout man who sat at a desk close by. " Cob- betts, you're beaten on that last battle by 120 men." Stout Cobbetts flushed with annoyance, and 48 A STRANGEB ON NEWSPAPER ROW called shaiTly to a boy who was just disappear- ing with a handful of copy. " Here, boy f come back with thatl Brown, change that red fudge! quickl Make the loss of the British 579 killed ute to do It in. The Globe won't dare climb higher than that. Rhodes, see that the 57^3 out on the bulletin-board." n„.P.*"™r^ ^ *^^ "'^^ ^^^^""^ ^th a smile of Tn^T TfV ^'^ ^"'^ '^^ '""^ Globe beat me, TomT Not by more than half a minute and it doesn't often do even that." },P«H^r *^^ telegraph editor again bent his head over his desk and continued his work of rewriting, with new adjectives and new details fh^fr/f'""' '^' '''^''^'''' o^ « cablegram that had been received early that day and which niider different head-lines, ornamented by va-' ned designs m huge capitals, had done duty in a number of the editions of the Diurnal. Be side him lay a map of Africa and books of ref- t?tS i^'^'Z *^"* ^° 'P^*^ °f t^« rivalry as to he number of men lost the telegraph editor was keeping within the essential truth of the despatch actually before him. He did not real! ize that, nowadays, the American pnbHc is not 49 MANY WATERS satisfied with war news once a week or so, but demands a swift succession of news items throughout every day that a war continues. He did not know it was not economy that prompted the use of the original cablegram in new form, but that it was the only one that had come that day ; nor did he know that within a few hours there would be in the oflBce, for the morning edition, from a heavi'y paid correspondent, a special cablegram of over two thousand words, for which a great sum in tolls would freely be spent. The floor littered with paper, the desks and tables, the long row of telephone booths, and the quick, sharp words of those who answered calls, all fascinated him. At a long table, double-lined with shirt-sleeved copy-readers, manuscript was being rapidly read, altered, and blue-penciled. Hartford noticed that these men, too, though they worked swiftly, showed no outward appearance of haste. The city editor of the morning edition sat a little farther away. After a while the boy camo back. "He don't know your name," he said, "and he wants to know your business." The boy said it nicely enough, but Hartford flushed. "I am Mr. Marshall Hartford," he said, " and I should like to see the city editor about 60 A STRANGER ON NEWSPAPER ROW going on the staff. I should like to talk with him personally." The boy again went off, and this time re- mained longer than before, for he knew how very slight was Hartford's chance of getting a personal interview with the editor, and so he waited tiU he had a good opportunity to present the case. The glamour of it was creeping over Hart- ford. The magnetism was getting into his brain. This was life I How he wished he were one of the busy, eager company. There was a clock in the middle of the copy- readers' table, and on the thin editor's desk was a similar one, and on each of these was a set of movable slides, and on them Hartford read: Next Edition is the 6 O'CIock. Last Form Closes at 2. He studied about that sign for a while, for at first it was meaningless to him. When he finally began to ree that it must mean that the copy for a "6 o'clock" edition was really all finished and put in type early in the afternoon, the idea tickled him. A door from an inside oflSce opened and a young man hurried to the thin editor's desk. The editor looked a trifle annoyed. His voice cut sharply. « Brown, in the list of vice-presi- 61 MANY WATERS dents in that bank story we had two that are dead and used their photographs. Get them out quick. Must be right in the next edition." A few men smiled without looking up. " This time it was you that beat the Globe," said Cobbetts slyly; whereupon the knife-like man nodded silently. There was a sharp ring from tl < telephone nearest Hartford, and the boy who took the message hurried to the city editor of the even- ing edition. " From police headquarters. Fire on West Broadway. Third alarm right on top of the first." The thin editor looked around the room. He saw no reporter disengaged. His eyes flashed and a look of nervous worry appeared. Hart- ford thought he looked as if he had been work- ing too hard, and was sure he worried about his wrrk after he left the oflSce. He afterward found that practically all newspaper men do that. He wondered what it would feel like to be sent out on an important fire assignment himself. A dapper little chap, carrying a cane with the point held up and forward, came in, walking with a quick but mincing step. The editor looked at him, at his perfectly fitting coat and his white-duck trousers, and the flower in his buttonhole, with quizzically impatient dislike. fia A STRANGER ON NEWSPAPER ROW hul^'' ^.^r*"'" "'" ^'''^y «h«P steered 1U8 way, With up-poii u,l _ane, toward him. « v"^® ^°" anything to report! " No; the story was a fake," said Streets. All right. There's a big fire on West Broadway, near Houston. Third alarm al- "Rn. '!i^''' r'"' "°^ ^^'^^'^""^ down." But- began Streets. He looked ruefully at his white trousers. "«iuny n,n^^V^i'°''* P*"*°°* «*^« way. With the moments flymg toward the time of going to press for the night edition, and in hi! mind's eye seeing reporters from all the other papers already on the spot and getting news of heroic rescues, hairbreadth escapes, and tremendous fire loss, he leaped to his feet, seized Streets by the arm, and with face aglow with anxiety and enthusiasm walked-almost ran, indeed-with him toward the door ; not as if actually pusWng him, but as If m ardent partnership in gettinf tL T^ J"'.'^' *^° ^"^"^^ ««^««« the floof about the possible importance of the fire, and did^not cease until Streets was actually ok his Hartford looked again toward the city editor bovtLTT.°^ ''^'"°"' '°^ ^^^ that the office boy who had his name and message had at length seized an opportunity to speak to him. Not 53 Ifh, r-': if^mr IT MANY WATERS till now had Hartford had an opportunity to see the morning editor's face. Long and oddly square-sided it was, with a high, straight fore- head. The front of the head was bald, though the man could not have been over forty, and his face was smooth-shaven, save for the slight- est possible side-whiskers. At first sight it was an almost expressionless face, and Hartford could think of it only as of a fire-shovel with some holes in it. As the o£Sce boy spoke to him the editor reached out and seized a pile of papers with both hands. The arms were long and thin and the hands large. Hartford thought it was like picking up something with a pair of tongs. The editor said something to the boy and bent his head again over his desk without even glancing in Hartford's direction. The boy came back. " There isn't any vacancy," he said. "But— but I should like to talk with him myself," said Hartford. "He says he's too busy to be seen," said the boy. Bewildered, Hartford rose. He was on the point of protesting or of sending another mes- sage. But something in his throat choked him. His pride was hurt. Well, it seemed as if this desk were not to be his after all — that he was not to be one of the men sent out by the Diurnal 54 ■A STRANGER ON NEWSPAPER ROW to report big fi-es or anything else TTb woiu a Ws case He U "°*.^^«° ^«t ^^ Present aiscase. He felt sore, injured, humiliated It was not so m„,i, ^j,^ disappointment as the way ^ which the disappointment was admfn^sLrd tront of the bulletin-board. He tpaH +1,. pr Ts-^ If 'r "-^-^tuu "- victory, a»r<- .3, there comes to me the mem- ory ot .h • tait rarmhouse, the cold rooms, the stirt. :i meals. At the dinner, last night, that le-linrr ,,aiiH,. A glass was half-way to my lips, on ev- i-y siJo there was nothing but gaiety and happiuc^is, when suddenly I wis ;,, „ , -,ld room, before a bare table-a litt - orn hr<,^,\ some thick molasses-" He ma.i. „ ^..gtujv as if he would thrust the memory , ly, " m mother was hungry-eyed, my sister; rtore inm.;; v eyed; I, too, was hungry. We se' imn at we could sell. There was a^wivs be made for interest or taxes, or ■ ., ;, ,, ag to be bought that inexorably demanded the little money we could scrape together. It seemed too, as if the wind-storms took off a roof or damaged some crop more often than for our neighbors, und that the lightning liked to pick out » c.; our cows under a tree, or else a shed ^r K z. Everything seemed leagued against '„m." His: r:^^.> was dark and stern. He was al- most forgetting her— at Vast so thought Mrs. Shotterly, for she could not fully read the 6? n:!-., that .•111 to li lag to ''JTO'UfWffeV MANY WATEES riddle of his eyes. There were, in fact, two men before her — one, the Ward who was in a fierce heat of anger at the very recollec- tion of long-past hardships; the other, the Ward who had coolly, even if carelessly, be- gun to watch and study her, and who was feeling a keenly growing interest in the task. " One morning (how distinctly I remember it!) my younger sister was listless, and com- plained of feeling far from well. She was really sick, but none of us suspected it, and the expense of doctors' calls had made stoics of us all. She yrijae in to breakfast just as I was starting off for the nearest town to sell some eggs. I know that each of us had longed to eat at least one egg— it seems little enough, doesn't it?— but not one of us had spoken of it. We were trained in self-denial. I had collected exactly three dozen and two, and I remember saying to my mother : ' Do keep these two eggs ; eat one yourself and divide the other between the girls. Now, do!' But she said gravely: ' No, Stuart. We can't afford it. Every cent must go for the taxes.' " Ward gave a short laugh, bitter and with a tang of danger in it. " Well, just as I was starting away, my little sister looked at me, and, with a sort of catch 68 IN THE LIGHT OF THE CANDLES in her voice, she said: 'Oh, Stuart, can't you leave me just one eggi Mother, mother, I feel 80 tired, and I'd so like an egg.' " Ward's voice grew harder. "Don't blame fj' ^"; Shotterly. She was only ten years old, and hadn't learned to be entirely patient. bed" ^°* ^°"® ^ ^""^^ ^^"^ ^'°^ ^^ .. ^7' !S!^^'^ ^^^ ^^^°^°g ^o^ard, ab- sorbed. "Oh " she whispered. There ^as a frightened look in her eyes. She had not imag- ined that a man could be in such a mood as "But that wasn't what I wanted to tell you." orabihty. "It was this. I got to the store and found as I had feared I should, the proprietor himself in charge, a man named MifSin. He was a hard and silent man; cruel, if the stories of him could be trusted; and because of his un- popularity was not making a success of the store. It was not long afterward, in fact, that he gave it up and went back to farming Per- haps his ill success at the business may have made him more grasping, and perhaps I should a low something for that. But I can't. I have always looked on him as a cold-hearted, cruel man. "It may seem a little thing, Mrs. Shotterly, h r MANY WATEES tut it iB a thing that I firmly believo altered my character and lastingly affected my 'aews of the world and of mankind. That man took the three dozen and two eggs at the lowest price, and would not allow me for the two. You must throw those in, my boy,' he said. And I said, frightened and bitter, fearful of losing the two eggs and the money that they ought to repre- sent- • If you don't want to buy them give them back and I'll take them home.' But he only said : * If you don't throw those two in I won t buy any.' « Well, I gave in to him. H) store in the town. And I went 1 > '^ ', angry, fierce in my boyish way -s^ 'i possible price for the thirty-^i.: p.nd having lost two. And evei ~ t'le only .:..i^ri-^d, thd iovic-st '„h> -of ..e :tl] ^^ home the pleading face of before me." There was a long silei^e did not speak. In Ms face s'n ; placability that frightened her. im- length 'she said: " And did-" Then she stopped ab- ruptly. vr He was looking straight into her eyes. N o ; my sister did not die. The mortgage over- whelmed us, though, before long, and we some- how managed to get away to another part ot the country." 70 IN THE LIGHT OF THE CANDLES "And the man," she began hesitatingly. " Oh, how you must have hated him! " "I have seen him quite recently. He is now in this city. I have even had dealings with him. He did not know me, of course." Then he added, in a matter-of-fact tone that was in strange contrast with the fierce glow that shone in the depths of his eyes : " I shall have the chance, within a few days, to ruin that man absolutely." She dared ask no question; she uttered no word of conunent; but what a position it was, she thought, to be in the power of this man so fiercely dominated by passion! _ Gradually, after this, and at first with halt- ing tentativeness, for each had been deeply moved, they began to talk freely again. By the warmth of her interest in all that ho said, by the frankness of her comments and her ques- tions, she had shown him much of her own men- taUty. Each felt that the other had suddenly become a closely known friend. They fell silent finally, but neither of them noticed it Then suddenly their eyes met, and a thrill shook each, for it was one of those magnetic mutual glances that come but rarely. As his eyes met hers ho saw far down into her soul, and he saw there unrest, indeed, but purity. But though her eyes were to him as windows of the heart, she saw 71 iri ■ MANY WATERS nothing in his but a gleam that baffled while it thrilled her. The bell rang, and Malrose and Shotterly appeared. " Awfully sorry to be late ; you must really pardon me," said the mayor in his most orotund voice. 72 CHAPTER V AN A88IGNMBOT FOB HABTPOBD Of ^r.TT'' '''^*° "*^'''° *^« "^^t day a round of applications at publishing houses and news- paper offices. Nowhere was there the faintest encouragement offered him. The opportunity irasp'^DtTh '^ 'T '° "«^ °°* ^'^'- W- grasp. Day by day he grew more discouraged for day by day his little stock of money Sw smaller, and yet no ray of hopefulness shone upon him. But as his money grew less his dog! gedness grew stronger. He might be forced to n so^^ T' °*'^^ ^'^^^ '' ^''^' -t it mus? be m some other city. He used almost to envy the motor-men, the machinists, the very laborSs on the street. He would wait, so he decided tiS w'rrfi.'^""^*^ be down to twenty dollar in the West and, with the few dollars left after getting the ticket, would begin life in some new way, no matter how humble T,Jh^^ ^\^*' *^"°t5^-*i«»a'- point should be reached, ^however, he would still struggle. To MANY WATERS I There was Elinor Wharton up there in the Westchester country: the thought of her gave him new energy, new determination. To think of the sound of her voice was as if a miser heard the sound of gold ; to think of the sparkle of her eyes was as if a hoarder of gems pictured to him- self the gleam of diamonds. A lover of such gems he was; the possessor of such gold he fain would be ; and therefore he must now win his battle if victory were humanly possible. The chance — the opportunity — ^how he longed for it I And how, day after day, it eluded him 1 And through it all he was upheld by his grim conviction that it was for writing of some sort that he had especial faculties for success. At his little hall bedroom in his West Elev- enth Street boarding-house he wrote sketches and short stories when not out upon his errands of application, or on dismal night rounds along Broadway and Newspaper Row, or on sorrow- ful walks up Fifth Avenue and into Central Park. A few of his stories and sketches came back promptly. The others, in accordance with a practice of most editors, which has worked heartburning and injury to many a writer, were not even reported upon for many weeks. He tried the most pertinaciously with the newspapers, for he soon saw that it was with them that his best chance lay. But he found 74 AN ASSIGNMENT FOR HARTFORD that the men in whose hands his fate was holrl were pract kally unapproachable. He cou d nS see why city editors were not anSous or ? staff, If necessary, at a day's notice. a ..-^r^ *f "'"^ ^"'•*^°'-'J ^«"ld be met at a c ty room door by a lad who would offrhim a blank with the word "Name" printed at th^ top, and with the words " Nature of Business " immedmtely below. Hartford would thereuTon sen??n\'' ''""'■'"'• ^* °"'«'- ""^es he wouJd send in his own card with a few penciled words Sometimes he wrote that he should be pTeased If he could speak with the editor persona ly facklLT'th ""• "^'^ ""^"^« "°"^d --e Dacic that there is no vacancy on the staff at present." Formally written appHcatfon! kL nf f ""^ ^^""^ ^«^« ^° given any kind of a chance, were not even answered Three weeks after his first attempt at the Rurnal office he tried there again, and his mes sage was taken by the boy who had met Mm 75 MANY WATERS before. The lad looked at him as if he remem- bered him. At any rate, he bo presented the application as to obtain from Severn, the city editor of the morning edition, the brief words, " Send him in." As Hartford approached, he heard Severn, his shovel-face cold and stem, scathingly ceii sure, for some failure, a reporter who had just stepped up to his desk. "But," began the reporter, "there were reasons why " " It is results, sir, and not reasons, that I care for," was the cutting reply, and the re- porter said no more. Then Severn called out sharply : "Mr. Streets, are you under the impres- sion that the Diurnal is a weekly and that you can hand in copy .my time before Saturday nightt" "I'll have my copy ready in a couple ot minutes," replied Streets. " There's a train leaves the Grand Central in half an hour that you must catch for that Dobbs Ferry assignment." Then he turned hia long, square-sided face toward Hartford. "Well, Mr. Hartford?" And there was such absolute coldness in his look, in his tone; there was such indifference to Hartford as a human being; that it was more disconcerting than any 76 ■iwaini^i!i«;.im:''j^iiiElH>iiiHirBB»fi :^N ASSIGNMENT FOR HARTFORD savagexieM of temper could have been. Hart- thaJp^ff ''««« plainly, indeed, but with " Th.^: ™ impatienUy cut him short, mere is no vacancy on the staff " Hartford was too desperate to neglect even the slightest chance although he hated th ma^ for What he deemed his inhuman coldness Severn half turned back toward him. "Yes door-"Tnd W^^'^j'v.'" *^« ^°y «t *!>« door- And before the humiliated Hartford could leave the desk the editor was deep in "on versation with some one else. ^n5'![*^'*'"? ''^°* ^""^^ ^'"'"' the office feeling Se wi^h^^'f '^'V^" ^^^^ ^«^«^« i^ l^i« life TmZ ^ffl''^' ^^umiliated. He hated that cold-blooded editor. He slowly walked to h:« boarding-honse, seeing little on the w.v. .var- iety and the cutting nature of this la.; .-san- pointment had made him almost sick. T, n a picture came to him of that valley amon., t , o Oroton hills and of a shyly beautiful girl iook- of\?r °Z ''• ^" ^^^"^ ''"^^^ -itl' the love ^ her There must be a great lake i,ow be- ^een her home and where his own had Leen How strange it all seemed ! A great gulf feed ture of old Mammy Blackhammer standing MANY WATERS there in that valley exclaiming, " Many waters cannot quench love I " "Then neither shall floods of discourage- ment drown it 1 " He uttered the words half aloud and in an exaltation of hope. " I must win in this struggle, for I must win Elinor I " He went out into the streets with a new hope, a new courage, in his heart. He rambled back and forth among the twisting streets of old Greenwich Village, as that part of New York is still known. He somehow felt, ns he had never felt before, that he was really a New Yorker, and that he must learn all he could of the great, busy, rushing city. He looked, with a new spirit, at the old-fashioned Greenwich homes, at the ancient portals, and he thought of the old, old times, and all as if he were now a veri- table New Yorker, and no longer a stranger on the point of leaving in disappointment. He no- ticed the difference in himself, and was amused by his own self-confident elation. When he came to the apparently impossible junction of Fourth and Eleventh Streets he smiled as would any old citizen of the city. After a little he went down-town again and looked at the newspaper buildings with their myriad windows ablaze with light, and he watched the eager reporters hurrying out or in, and the groups standing at the entrances. He 78 AN ASSIGNMENT FOIi HAETPORD did not go in anywhere to apply. SufScient new courage hud indeed come to him, but he knew that editors are busiest at night. And, too, he had been to several oflSces that very day. But the next afternoon he would try his fate anew. ae would not give way. And 80, the next day, he was again on News- paper Bow. He thought he would make a new and determined effort with the Globe. He liked tne Diurnal; there was something fascinating m Its way of doing things, even though he was well ahye to certain faults; but after his inter- view with that cold-blooded editor he had no thought of trying again. He walked back and forth along the Row front of the Diurnal building. As he passed he could not avoid overhearing that they were talking freely of what they termed " the latest shake-up on the Diurnal." Ho paused, for sev- eral others had done so, and ihere was no eaves- dropping, /:or the men were speaking in tones that permitted any one to hear. "Shake-ups," he gathered, were no new thing on the Diurnal, but this seemed to have been even more drastic than was customarv. ve^d^r ^^^° ^'°^^^^ '° ^ ^"""^^ ^^'^^ "Severn just stood up in the comer and 19 m I '.vji £SHm maocon kesoujtion test chart (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) ^ /APPLIED IIVHGE In ^^^ 1653 Eoit Main StrMt ^^^ Roch«it«r. New York 14609 US* ^5 (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^SSS ('<6) 288 -5989 -Fax MANY WATEES threw the ax," said one. " He's wild. There were six beats on him this morning." Hartford somehow divined that a "beat" is suffered when a paper misses getting news and a rival paper secures and publishes it. " And Shotterly's one that's dropped." " No 1 You don't mean it ! " " Yes. I didn't think Severn would ever let him go so long as he was willing to stay. He's too good a man to lose." " Shotterly and Knightson were the two stars," said another. "Now Knightson will shine alone." " Severn hates Shotterly— always has." The name Shotterly struck Hartford's atten- tion. Surely it could not be possible that this was the brilliant man who had sat at the head of the table a few weeks ago ! He dismissed the idea at once as absurd. Suddenly one of the men cried out: "Here comes Shotterly himself! Hallo, old man I What was the row about, any- howt " Shotterly pushed his way to the center of the group. Yes; it was the gay Shotterly of the Mayor Malrose dinner! " "What was it for, Shotterly! Of course, it won't hurt you any, for you can get on some- where else easily enough " 80 AN ASSIGNMENT F03 HARTFORD " I'm on the Globe already," said Shotterly with a broad smile. "Goodl And now tell us what was the matter." Shotterly laughed. " It was just because I did some work for the Diurnal that they didn't think could be done," he said. " Oh, come now! There were half a dozen beats that Severn was wild about. Which one was yours t" "None," snapped Shotterly. "If I fall down on a story I'll say so; but this time the trouble was because I got a story they didn't think I could get." The men drew closer together. A number of other reporters, mostly from other papers, had joined the party, and the talk went on in careless openness. Hartford was fascinated at being almost in touch with so many newspaper men. "Tell us about it!" was the general de- mand. Shotterly laughed again. "All right. It was just this way. It was about that meeting last night of the Executive Committee of the new People's Union. I was sent to cover it. The oflBce didn't expect me to get in, for the committee had let it be known that only report- ers from the Sky and a few others of those 81 MANY WATERS sleepy papers, like the Stick and the Curale, could be present. They were especially violent against the Diurnal. Afraid we'd attack or ridi- cule the movement. The office knew all about it, but didn't let me know— just sent me off as if I'd get in as a matter of course. Well, as they knew, or thought they knew, that I'd be barred out, they had a story written up by one of their fancy-desk men. And, of course, he didn't know what he was writing about— you know the way " " Yes, we know." And there was a general laugh. " Well, this fancy-desk story told how the new organization was working in secret and against the public interests, and a lot of fool stuff like that. And an editorial writer, vho doesn't know his head from his heels, wrote about how the representatives of the people- including all Diurnal men— were excluded from the meeting. And while those desk fools were gassing away, wearing out the bottomc their chairs and practising an easy way of t-»mmg money, I was off at work. You see, I had to be there, or the Diurnal couldn't claim it had tried. But keep me out ! I'd like to have seen them.. The committee tried hard enough, but I bluffed them and let them know I wouldn't stand for it, and they weakened. I got a full 82 AN ASSIGNMENT FOB HAKTFOllD report, and at a quarter of twelve I got to the office with it." Shotterly stopped, and, in spite of his anger, laughed again. " All that pretty stuff set up and ready for the first edition! I tell you there was a scene. Severn turned purple. He rushed into the managing editor's room and in half a minute I was called in there. Didn't I know better than to get a story when it was against the policy of the paper! And why hadn't I let them know about it earlier? I almost resigned on the spot, but I didn't. I told them I wanted credit instead of blame, and that it ought to be a good deal of credit, too. I know that the managing editor jumped all over Severn; and this noon, when I got to the office, I found a blue envp' )e waiting for me, and caught Sev- ern's griii. as he slyly watched me take it from my box. I'm only sorry that so many oth- ers were dropped too, just because Severn was sore through me. Bad time for most of them to get on other papers. Come over to the caf^ with me, boys; it's my treat. Here, Jenkins, lend me a fiver till pay-day, will you? Thanks." For a moment Hartford looked after the group with eager interest. Then he turned, walked swiftly to the elevator, and got off at the city room floor. " Hit from where your 83 MANY WATERS arm is ! " That was the tnought that came to him. He Jmew it as the advice of a successful pugilist. He wrote his name on the slip that the boy handed him at the door. The boy half- smiled at him, as if in recognition. " Should like a position as reporter," he boldly wrote be- low his name. In a few moments the boy came back. " Go in to his desk," he said, with a semi- nod of evident good-will. Severn looked at him sharply. "Oh, it's you I I thought I saw you yesterday." Tho tone was irascible. Hartford involuntarily squared his shoulders and his voice was sharp in return. "Yes, you did see me yesterday. But you didn't say there would be no chance to-day." He was corl. He felt quite ready to hold his own, and the cold eyes of the editor saw that he did. " You want to take a try at general work? " "Yes." The editor saw that Hartford was good-look- ing, that he wore good clothes, that he had good address, and that there was a certain grim look about his eyes that promised success. And he needed men. "All right. I'll give you a trial. Go up and see Father Tennent. See if the report is true that he's going to take part in this People's 84 AN ASSIGNMENT FOB HARTFORD ■;ftl movement. Get at him. Make hii. Union talk." He spoke quickly, in(!isively. Then, turning to another man, who was standing ready to re- port, he seemed so comphitely to forget the very existence of Hartford that, almost stunned by his good fortune, the young man could only bow toward the side of his head and walk away. Hartford had been reading the papers closely, with the idea of being as well prepared "^ P°",f^^l« should good luck come, and he knew ot Father Tennent as a popular priest who fre- quently interested himself in public movements. The free talk of Shotterly to the group of news- paper men had given Hartford full warning of the importance of the new movement in the minds of the managers of the Diurnal He learned, from the directory, the location of the church of which Father Tennent was the prin- cipal priest. He took the Elevated, and in half an hour was there. He walked into the church, for, as a business block was close against either side of the struc- ture, he could see no parish house. There were several men in the vestibule. "Where is the parish house f" he asked. "Just around the comer, fronting on the other street," was the reply. Thither the new reporter went; and as he 85 MANY WATERS was about to mount the steps he turued, for footsteps were close behind him — and there was Shotterlyl Hartford smiled with real pleasure and held out his hand. " How are you! " he said. Shotterly grasped his hand, and then a look of recognition came into his face. " The son of the senator 1 Well, this is a good one I I'm awfully glad to see you." Hartford was effervescing with the happi- ness that had come after such weary waiting. They shook hands heartily. " Not a newspaper manT " said Shotterly. " I didn't know thatl " " Not till this afternoon," answered Hart- ford happily. " Then you must be after the same thing I'm after myself," said Shotterly. "If it's Father Tennent, that's it," said Hartford. "And what paper? ' " The Diurnal," said Hartford with a queer smile. " Oh, yes, of course I " Shotterly smiled back. " Was on the Diurnal myself. Well, I'm on the Globe now. Got on in five minutes after I left the other." It gave Hartfc .-d a realization of the swift- ness of newspaper life. He was to learn, in time, that New York newspapers are divided 86 AN ASSIGNMENT FOR HARTFORD into two classes: those that keep men for life and those that give not a moment's assurance against change. " We're both going to be disappointed on this assignment," said Shotterly. "Tennent won't talk The afternoon papers have tried him, and he won't say a word; won't say whether He 11 be a People's Union man or not." They went up the steps together and a sour- faced man answered the ring. " Father Ten- nent is not at home. I don't know when he will be m." The man's voice sounded like the harsh "'xckmg of a heavy lock. He had opened the doo- but a few inches, and now he suggestively closed it a little. Shotterly laughed as he took Hartford's arm and went back down the steps " Tennent won't talk. I've been after him too often not to kn.w the signs. When he wants to see reporters that vinegary man of his grins as if he has neuralgia. I'm going back to the office. Going along? " "No-o," said Hartford hesitatingly "I think I'll wait a while." "Do the Micawber act? Well, all right. It'll be lost time, though. I'd wait with you, but I've got to make some money these days and must get an assignment that'll help my spoce- string. So long I" " Good-by." Hartford felt a trifle chilled 87 MANY WATERS " And, I 8a7, Senator, meet me at Sipley's this evening at six, will yout We'll get some- thing to eat toget ' er." Hartford's chill disappeared. He was sud- denly warm with happiness. "I'll be glad to," he said. " If I can't be there I'll leave a note for yon," said Shotterly, " and you do the same for me. Perhaps yon haven't been in the work long enough to know the uncertainty of it." " This is my very first assignment." " Really t How odd that we should meet on it I" " The other time we dined was at seven," said Hartford. Shotterly laughed. Then after parting from Hartford at the comer he turned back to say: " And by the way, I happen to know you're on a ticklish assignment for a new man on the Diurnal. I don't want to make you worry about it. Senator, but it's an uncertain chance. And if anything happens, I want you to look me up at once at the Globe ofiSce and I'll give you a mighty good introduction to the city editor there." Hartford felt a queer choking in his throat. This kindness coming on top of a little success, and after so much bitterness, deeply touched him. He tried to turn it off with a joke. " In- 88 AN ASSIOVMENT FOR ilARTFORD troduce me as a diner-out with millionaires, mayors, and men of the world I " he said Shotterly chuckled. " Wed, come to me and well see. Good-by, Senator, and gr.;d luck" When he left, Hartford slowly re ,tered the church. An idea had come to him from a glimpse that he had had into the body of the building from the vestibule. He wondered if his supposition were correct. He wondered waetiier, if it were correct, he could carry out the wild idea that had come to him. Then he remembered Severn's words: "Get at him Make him *-%,» 89 CHAPTER VI I' I A 8ECBBT OP FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL Haktfobd passed through the vestibule without speaking to any one and went on into the church. Here and there was the dim glow of a candle, and the sunshine came in soft and subdued through clearstory windows. In a few of the pews were bowed shadows praying. Great pillars, themselves like long-gowned priests, stood along either side, and beside them were alcoved shrines. In the gallery of the great church the organ was playing very very softly, and the notes came as from afar off, from some immeasurable distance, echoing vaguely. At the farthei side of the church two or three more men entered, and they glided for- ward, like shadows, to where a dim and indistin- guishable group was gathered. To a bowed old verger, who stood like a brooding ghost, Hart- ford whispered: "Where does Father Tennent hear confession! " And the ancient verger, ghost-like, pointed in silence. 90 FATHER TENNENTS CONFESSIONAL Hartfoi. went where he pointed, and joined the group of du8':y shadows, and found it to bo more of a line than a groui), for those who were there ore going into the confessional in turn. It was one of the few appointed hours during the week in which Father Tennent himself hoard confession, for so busy a man was he that much of the work of the church was neces- sarily left to assistants. Hartford stood, silently waiting, and one by one figu' ?8 glided silently within the curtained recess, d one by one they glided out again and disappeared. Half a dozen were ahead of him when he joined the line, and as the number les- sened and the time pproached when he him- self must enter, an he saw others come into the dim half-light to wait behind him, he felt a growing nervousness. The last one before him was a bent old man who whispered to himself ceasele^^sly but with- out making a sound, and who counted over and over again, with shaking anxiety, his strinK of beads. This alone well-nigh upset Hartford's com- posure, and he was almost on the point of giv- ing up his attempt and retreating to the strcv t. After all, Shotterly had promised to help if the Diurnal should discharge him; and, too, if he should faU he would be only like the reporters 91 ■'ilH MANY WATERS for the other papers. But he grimly forced back such thoughts and held his ground. The bent shadow crept out and away, and Hartford's time had come. Into the curtained confessional he stepped, and as the hanging fell behind him he had a sensation as of half- suffocation, like one who plunges headlong into water. It was darker in the confessional than outside, and he stumbled and almost fell. He then moved more cautiously. His feet came against something raised above the floor level, and he got down upon it clumsily on his knees. He felt a breath against his ear; it tickled, and he thought that the invisible priest had leaned forward to see what he was doing and if he had hurt himself. The air was a trifle stuffy. Hartford breathed anxiously for a moment. As he hesitated, not knowing how best to begin, there came close beside him, through a little opening, the words, in a tone of austere kindli- ness : " My son, you have many sins to con- fess!" " No, Father—" Then he paused. " What's that! " The kindliness had disap- peared and the austerity had increased. "No, Father," Hartford began again; and then it all came out in a whispered rush: "I am a reporter for the Diurnal, and we want to 92 FATHEE TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL know if the rumor is true that you are going to take an active part in the People's Union movement." For a moment there was a dead silence. Ihen there was a slight sound on the priest's side of tho confessional. Was it possible that It could be a repressed chuckle? Surely not; but Hartford waited in hope, for he knew that Father Tennent was looked upon as a friend of newspaper men and was popular with them. Still, the silence continued. It was for only a few moments, but to Hartford each mo- ment seemed endlessly dragged out. Did it mean that Father Tennent was treating him with silent contempt, and was waiting for him to leave? Had he not better go away at once and avoid the possibility of having a verger sent to lead him off ignominiously! Only his grim determination made him stay. In a few moments came the murmured ques- tion: " You are not one of our faith? " " No, Father." " Of course not. I was sure of it. Who was it sent you here to interview me in this way? Was it Severn?" " It was no one. It was altogether my own idea." ^ Hartford was feeling confident again. " The idea occurred to me, and I came in." " I did not get your name." 93 I 'US MANY WATERS ! i " Marshall Hartford." " Have you been on the Diurnal longT " "This is my very first New York assign- ment." " Well, Mr. Hartford, I like newspaper men to be enterprising." Again came the sound that was so much like a chuckle. " Only don't try this kind of interviewing again, for it won't work twice. You may say that I feel strong sympathy with the new movement, that its lead- ers are to a considerable degree men in whom I have faith, but that there are some points in the platform as already outlined, or as already given to the public, of which I can not approve." " What are some of the points to which you object t " whispered Hartford persistently. This time the subdued chuckle was unmis- takable, but Father Tennent answered briefly in regard to several of the clauses of the out- lined platform. " I don't know that I ought to do this ; but, somehow, your being a new man on the Diurnal and in the city, and your getting to me here, make me do it. I don't think I'll regret it. And here's another point. I'm not letting myself be interviewed to-day, and I'll continue to keep aloof. If I could begin at the beginning again, I'd see all the newspaper men, of course ; but, having turned down a number, I must turn 94 FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL down all— unless they reach me here. And so you'll find in the morning that you've got an exclusive." Perhaps Father Tennent felt a subtle in- stinct that told him how much this young man, a stranger in the city, needed encouragement and success. Perhaps Hartford's grim earnest- ness, his getting into the very confessional, told the shrewd priest, good-hearted as he was, that such conduct showed some deep necessity. Hartford slipped out and walked toward the door. The organ was still playing very softly ; praying shadows were still scattered here and there among the pews ; a sof t-shuflBing line was still waiting; the sunlight still streamed down, subdued and soft, sharing the faint illumination of the long interior with the few soft-glowing candles. But Hartford now saw nothing of all this. His mind was in a turmoil from sheer happiness. He reached the vestibule, and then suddenly pulled himself up. He had forgotten something important. Though such an inexpe- rienced reporter, his common sense told him that in an interview one must always be sure of the identity of the man interviewed. He believed, of course, that he had been talking with Father Tennent; but was he certain? How could he know that it was not some other priest, a coad- jutor of Father Tennent's, who also was inter- 95 MANY WATERS ested in local movements, and who, occupying Father Tennent's confessional, had answered in good faith! There was nothing for it but to go back, and so ho turned and went again toward the slow- shufBing men, whereupon the ghost-like verger, puzzled and displeased, stretched silently toward him a shadowy restraining hand, and then relapsed into quietude again as he noted the respect in the young man's movements and attitude. It was a weary wait, this second time, for Hartford was anathematizing his own stupidity and regretting that he must so soon risk losing the favor of Father Tennent. Perhaps the priest would be so angered that he would recall his previous interview, and would tell Hartford that he must not quote him as saying a single word. At length the young man's turn again came, and again he knelt beside the little opening in the partition. " I forgot 1-. ask you, Father—" Hartford was very nervous, and he found that his throat was suddenly dry. The priest broke in impatiently. "What does this mean! How dare you make a mock- ery of the church! " The anger braced Hartford. " Pardon me, 96 FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL did not ask whether you are Father Tennent or some other priest, and I couldn't go back and report without being certain" "Yes lam Father Tennent. And now" murmured the priest dzyly, "is there anySg you w2T°* ''. '^'^-^^^ °*^- matter S you want cleared up! For, no matter how im portant it may be, I must warn you not tolme to me here a third time." ttJIJ *5^°,^ ^*'°' ^^^''^ "^^ ""tJ'i^g else." And snrpnse the one whose turn it next was n„^ S Sri^*"^f ^ ^* ^^« quick-lr'pent ation "Sr"''* ""-^^ ^'^'°*^ '^^^' ^"^irri- tation. Say, go on m. What'd you come here Rlar?o?^fb; ^''*° *^'."«^ ^*^^^*- The hot giare of the sun and the hurrying -opie seemed almost unreal. The roar of t EU- vated, the clang of the surface-cars, the hum and noise and bustle were poetiy and musT He mounted the Elevated steps gaily, and wrote tTZrl'T'''''^ '' theUruid dow^ p"pe^ rI S ^'" ^^'^ ^°^ *°^«^d News- paper Row. He remembered with what differ- weeks before. It seemed as if the same people 97 I MANY WATERS who thronged past him then were thronging past him now. He lightly entered the Diurnal building; buoyantly went to the city room. The boy that he had come to know nodded and smiled, as if in congratulation. Hartford nodded back. He went to Severn's desk, and the editor looked up at him with his cold stare. But Hartford was not now to be affected by cold stares. There was a confidence in his look, and when he spoke he could not altogether keep out of his voice the note of exultation. "Well!" " I have seen Father Tennent, and he gave me a good talk." " What is he going to dot " "He favors the movement, but with some reservations." And then Hartford told the sub- stance of what the priest had said to him. He had not yet learned the art of succinctly embody- ing a report in a few words, but his ideas were clear and Severn was pleased. By putting in a few questions he got all of it. " All right, tell it to Mr. Knightson. He'll write it. Mr. Knightson!" he called. Hart- ford was suddenly chilled. What did it meant He was on the point of asking, but a glance at that cold face told him that it was advisable to ask little but learn what he could. Knightson, 98 FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL a tall, good-looking, capable man, with an alert step and dreamy eyes, came forward. Hart- ford afterward found that he was not only a leading man on the Diurnal, but that he ri- valed Shotterly for preeminence among the re- porters of the entire Row. Hartford, new re- porter that he was, did not understand that to give a story to another man to write was not at all uncommon, and that it was often done because the other man had special knowledge of the matter in hand. Nor did he know that to have this Tennent story given to Knight- son showed the importance of it in Severn's eyes. " No other paper will have this interview, Mr. Severn," said Hartford. The editor re- garded him absently; scarcely see ig him, in fact, for his mind was busy with the problem of another " story," as each item or article of news is called. It was well that Severn did not catch what he meant, for, so far from being pleased, he would have thought that Hartford, a new man, had made some mistake and had misunderstood Father Tennent. T'l.^ editor well knew that the priest was too fr'jndly with all newspapers to give an exclusi- e to one of them without some very unusual reason, and he would have held up the story till another re- porter could get Father Tennent to confirm it, 99 MANY WATERS and as the priest would not see reporters the whole story would have been lost. " Mr. Knightson, this is Mr. Hartford. He will give you his report of an interview with Father Tennent." When, next morning, Hartfoid read the re- port in the paper, he at once recognized that he could not himself have even begun to do it justice. It was not only well written, but it was handled with a mastery of the whole situa- tion and with a perfect knowledge of the men involved. The ideas of Father Tennent were not oniy given accurately, but in the form best calculated to bring them out with forceful- ness. But he did not know this as he sat that after- noon, feeling a little hurt and sore, and watched Knightson write his story. He was *. signed to a desk, and he deemed it a strange and encour- aging coincidence that it was the very desk at which he had sat on his first entrance into the office. He was not in the least superstitious — at least he believed he was not — but, like many others who are certain that they are not in the slightest degree affected by superstition, he was ready to be influenced by what seemed a good omen. He began to wonder about his meeting with Shotterly. He didn't want to see him that day. 100 FATHER TENNENT-S CONFESSIONAL He knew that in justice to the Diurnal he could not tell Shotterly of the interview he had succeeded in getting, and he disliked to feel that he should have to use evasions with him and explain afterward. So he was greatly relieved when one of the office boys came with a aote from Shotterly saying that he had been sent np to Harlem on an assignment and should bo unable to meet him at six. " So let's make it to-morrow," he wrote. For a long time Hartford sat in the big room thinking himself forgotten. But he was con- tent. Around him the work of the newspaper, which he more and more felt to bo a monster machine, went on. The fascination of it all grew upon him. One of the older reporters, sitting at an ad- joining desk, looked at him kindly. "New man?" " Yes," said Hartford, smiling back. " You'll find it easy breaking in. Know the city at all?" " A little; not very much." "You'll learn it easy. Easiest city in the world to get around in and get used to. My name's Brierly; glad to know you." "And mine's Hartford." The two men shook hands, and Hartford's heart warmed. " Well, if there's anything I can help you 101 MANY WATERS with, in putting you on to the ropes, just lev me know." " Thank you, I shall," said Hartford warmly. He felt hot with joy again. How fine it would be to know all these men, he thought. He sat for a long time there, looking at every one, watching everything. Six o'clock came, and a number of new faces appeared. One of the new men sat down at the desk next to that of Severn, and Hartford noticed that he began giving out the assignments, and that it was to him that the men who now came in reported. He was Bidge, the night city editor. He and Severn bent their heads first over a great sheet, which Hartford afterward learned was the day's schedule, and after that Severn waited for a while, glancing about almost aimlessly and with a queer relaxation of his hard, cold look. Seven o'clock, eight o'clock, nine o'clock came, and still Hartford sat there. He began to feel uncomfortable. He thought rhat the night city editor did not know of his existence. In this, however, he was mistaken, for Severn, who never forgot anything, had pointed him oat as a new man, but Ridge had a peculiar dread of trying men whom he did not know. There was no longer a shortage of men on the staff. Before the afternoon was half over 102 FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL Severn had filled the vacancies caused by dis- missals. The night shift of office bovs was on duty One of them walk.d up to H^.-tford. "Mr. Kidge wants to see you," he said. Hartford stepped up to the desk. " There 18 an alarm from Sixth Avenue and Twenty- tliird Street; get up there quick and see what It 18. If you need any help telephone me at once; if you can handle it you: -self, all right. Kemember, we want early copv." "Early copy," thought Ha.-tford confus- odly. " And sending me up to a fire on Twenty, third Street after nine o'clock! " He took the fire badge that was handed him and hurried off. The fire was slow and stubborn. It was in a business block on a side street and was with- out spectacular features.. Hartford felt keen pride m passing through the fire lines. He was really beginning to have a career. He saw that the other reporters pinned their badges on the outside lapel of their coats, so that the police would know at a glance that they had a right within the lines, and so he pinned his on simi- larly. He was pleasantly accosted by a Curule man. "Well, what've you gott Got the owner's names t" He found out about the cordial freemasonry 103 MANY WATERS of the newspaper guild on such occasions — how the men help each other and exchange items. Without this helpful coworking he would have learned little about the fire, for he would have asked at haphazard and without system. As it was, he was taken frankly into the group of men with paper and pencils, who kept flitting off and coming back and comparing notes and giving each other information. At eleven o'clock the fire was under control, and a few minutes later half of tne reporters had gone. By twenty minutes past there were but two there, Hartford and the Curule man. " Well, I'm going along, old man. Coming t " said the Curule reporter. "I guess nothing else can happen," said Hartford, a trifle doubtfully. " Sure, not." And the two went to the Ele- vated station together, and in friendly fashion rode together down-town. Hartford forgot about his fire badge and let it stay on the out- side of the lapel. He reported to Ridge. " Anything specially spectacular t " " No. A good fire, though." "Any rescues, danger from falling walls, panicky crowd; anything of that sort!" "No, nothing like that; but the loss was heavy— $45,000, they say." 104 FATHER TENNENT'S CONFESSIONAL Ridffe smiled Hartford could not see why. ' W nte a stick," said Kidge. Hartford did not know how much was meant by the word, but an instinct, together with Kidge's tone, told him that it must be biTt a small space. He quietly looked in the office dic- Z^t */?^ ""^ composed in words," and do- luiuil f ««o'»aries are not always helpful lievable ignorarce to ask the meaning of the word; that he would be stamped as bdng too Ignorant for such a great paper ; and so he Jrote on a guess. He turned out tw; sticks, andThe copy-reader who was given his copy blue pin! tt oidfr ^ * • ^\^ '^'^''^ length^ transposed the order m wmch the brief story was told ara changed half of the phraseology. He al"o ^T^i-^ "•« report of the Associated Press which Rxdge had tossed over to him with the admonition to read, as "Hartford actTuke a green man; may have missed something." ','" I; ritil I 'I 105 CHAPTEE Vn IN THE GALLBBT OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE When Stuart Ward appeared one afternoon on Wall Street instant attention was attracted. His recent operations were supposed to have been so large and his appearances on the Street had been so few that his unexpected coming aroused excited comment. There had been rumors, too, of striking developments that might be expected in connection with a great combination which he had formed— a combina- tion by which a number of individual manufac- turing establishments were merged into one great whole — and none had known just what his plans were in regard to it, or precisely what was the financial strength behind it. It was generally believed that prominent men were to become interested in the combination, and there was much conjecture as to what the quotations of its stock— a new factor in the market— were likely to be. There had from the first been mys- tery in connection with the operations of this man from the West, and an additional air of 106 r^ GALLEEY OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE veiopment of the new corporation. As Ward threaded his way alon.. tJ,n crowded sidewalk he nodded pTeasant^lo the would S f ""^ ^l'^^'^ ^'^' tl^at "thers would tain fawn upon him anrl timf oii deeply interested in^hatl^^L alf toT servant of him and of where he should go"^ Two" fo.H 7.f plain-clothes detectives who aTe scattered throughout the little district that is cdlectiyely known as " Wall Street "first recog leSu'reirfdio' ^T' '"^''^ «^°°^' ^^^ ^ was part of their duty to see that no harm should come to well-known speculators S bSer^ X? ^'r ^^^ -^^tl^t^ried"^ : orokers offices, and emissaries were hurnVH forUi to watch. The Wall Street offices or he arrivaTariTr "^''^ *^"^*^^ -«- ^i snp/f .f ' ^^" "^""^^"^ ^^^^ it indicated news sped forth reporters to watch and interview and Old Trinity, with its shadow darkonins th« Street, seemed sternly frowning; but Tn the lot ^•^Lii MANY WATERS shadow Ward walked calmly on. He passed the statued Washington, with its dignified aloof- ness, and turned into the office of a man whose operations were of such stupendous importance, and whose name was of such weight in the money markets of the world, that he was known as " the Colossus." Ward did not remain with the Colossus more than twenty minutes, but before he emerged from the office there were a half dozen reporters waiting to interview him, and there were at least a dozen watchers from the offices of eager bro- kers. The watching was so unobtrusive, so care- less in appearance, so natural, that a stranger would not have known that the men, scattered about and apart as they were, were doing more th an casually waiting. And in many a broker's office anxious eyes followed the markings of the "ticker," for speculators hoped or feared aa to the effect that the conference with the Colos- sus would have on the stock of the new com- bination. And while some watched and others waited, thousands of men who were busied with other matters incessantly hurried through the narrow streets of the district, thronging along the pavements as much as on the sidewalks, and moving with such alertness that even sightseers caught the spirit of haste and stepped with a new celerity. Messenger boys darted here and 108 GALLERY OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE there; newsboys cried their wares; excited crowds gathered about the curbstone brokers- everywhere was a fierce and unrestfnl activity! Ward had not been in the office of the Colos- sus for quite ten minutes when the stock of the combination rose two points, for thus quickly did the sensitive market respond to the hint of strength to come from an alliance witH the colossal money king. Five minutes more and another point was scored, and the men of the afternoon papers were madly telephoning the news to their offices, and reporter reenforce- ments were swiftly sent down. Eighteen minutes with the Colossus and a sudden rumor, originating none knew how, that negotiations were ,% struck the stock a blow and It tumbled to where it had stood when Ward appeared. Twenty minutes, and Ward walked calmly from the office and courteously but posi- tively assured the reporters that there was noth- ing he could say; that there was nothing that was of the slightest importance to the public. The Colossus, too, when the reporters hurried mside the building and asked to see him, smil- ingly appeared for a moment and said that he was quite unable to give a particle of news. The fact that the conference was so quickly over and that neither of the men would talk was taken to mean that negotiations for a financial 109 MANY WATERS alliance were off, and within a few minutes the "tickers" recorded a sharp fall of four points. The stock slowly gained back all but one point, however, before the close of the Ex- change. For the next morning's papc Shotterly was sent down to cover the entire story and to get, if possible, at hidden springs of r.~+ion and dis- cover what was likely to occur on the following day, for it was thought that important opera- tions were to ensue. The surface story was, of course, easily ob- tainable, and then Shotterly talked with a num- ber of the prominent men of the Street, but with the result of gaining only peasant gossip. It was after four o'clock when he stepped into an oflBce where one of the brokers was a man who had been senior partner in the short-lived firm of which Shotterly himself had been a member. "Well, Robinson, what's the news of the Street? " said Shotterly. Robinson smiled. " What special news are you after ; or shall I think you've just run down here on a chance ? " " Oh, any news, so long as it's the big news of the day!" responded Shotterly. "And I want inside light." "I thought so. Well, that conference be- 110 GALLEBV OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE " Even so short as it was T » '; Oh that's all right! Orders are already S tw ''''"' '' """^ ^™' «^d y°« ^ow wnac that means as well as I do." " Sort of a Midas touch 1 " " Exactly." isn't'i»'V"T*'^^"°? '' ^'«^"y capitalized, isn t It ? No danger of a touch turning to water instead of gold, is there ? " ^ "Well, such things have been, of course • but ^8 time xt's all right. The Cdossus is ^ith Shottorly looked at him attentively. « You paustd. ' ^"'^ ^''' '' confidence." He "Because I feel it," said Eobinson. "I'm putting zn money of my own, too, on the strength "You're just the man I want," said Shot- terly dryly. « Tell me about it." Robinson laughed. " What makes you think 1 know anything in particular? " I tp'iwn,*''/ professional secret. Why should Ou\trit'Z;'"^"^^^^^^"^^°^^^^«^--^ "I don't know that I ought to tell you: but 111 J > '' ■/•(« h^\ MANY WATERS of course you won't use my name, and after all I don't object to having the stock boomed, for I've gone in for it. Here's what I know, and I consider it jignificant. This conference was arranged for— planned— and so the shortness of it doesn't mean anything." " I don't quite follow the reasoning," said Shotterly. " But do you mind telling me more about the fact!" "It's this way. A man named Mifllin has been going in for speculation lately; a man who has been grinding all of his life some- where up in the country; and now, after all these years of pinching and saving and getting a snug sum put aside, he's down here in Wall Street to put it all in the fire. You know the way." " Yes, sort of like the measles. When a man catches it late in life, for the first time, it's apt to run its course p'etty hard. I foresee the financial finish of your Mr. Mifflin." " Of course you will make no use of his name. Well, he's been fascinated with the idea of Ward and has been trying to get in with him. How he ever managed to get close I don't understand, but he really did. Ward must have taken a fancy to him, for others who have tried hard have been unable to connect. Ward doesn't want to have anything to do with individual 112 GALLERY OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE sp-culators; he's after a line of big things. EjtthisMiflBin " "Has 'succeeded where others have tried to save lives and failed,' as I read on a doc- tor's advertisement to-day," said Shotterly. " Your Mr. MifSin is interesting. Does he hyp- notize!" "Perhaps. And he's certainly not a pre- possessing chap in appearance. But he came in here this morning, excited, and told me that Ward had finally, after a great deal of hesita- tion, let him have some facts of importance. Ward told him that he was going to have a conference with the Colossus this afternoon. And MiflSin drew out a balance he had here and said he was going to put in every cent of his fortune in the way that Ward had pointed out. He was almost too excited to speak." " I know ; buck fever — money fever — game's in sight, and he's so shaky he can't aim straight." " I guess he's aiming all right, though. Said he couldn't tell me just what he was going to do ; that it was all in confidence. And when I asked him if Ward had really given him definite advice, he said no, that Ward had refused to commit himself in precise words, but had pointed out the way and let him see how it could be followed." 113 n fi ItfANY WATERS Shotterly looked at his friend thoughtfully. " Now, I wonder just what Ward has against that man," he said; "or whether it's only a plain case of get his money." "You newspaper men get the queerest ideas," said Bohinson uneasily. Shotterly took out his pocketbook and laid down one hundred dollars. " That isn't much in Wall Street, but it's all I have to-day," he said. " Put it in for me to-morrow, won't youl It'll cover something on margins." " For the rise of the stock of Ward's com- bination, of course! " " The other side. That stock's going to fall at least ten points to-morrow morning." The broker gasped. " What do you meant Do you know something about it! Tell me if you do, for I'm on the bull side heavy on this." " I don't know a thing. If I did I'd tell you frankly. I just feel like going against Ward, that's all. Just an impression." " But why? " persisted Robinson nervou^y. " There's lots of money in this, and now, with the help of the Colossus, it'll be a big thing." " You can't tell which v. ay a Wall Street cat will jump from the way it's looking," said Shot- terly. " I think the cat's going to get over the fence." The two men walked to the door together, 114 GALLERY OP THE STOCK EXCHANGE and Robinson's forehead was puckered and he nervously rubbed his chin. "I wish I knew what to think." he began; and then exclaimed: "There goes Mifflin now I Go and talk with him. Don't tell him you saw me." "All right," said Shotterly, "and if I get anything I'll let you know." He stepped after Mif Tin and soon came up with him. It was so late in the afternoon- late for that district— that there were few peo- ple on the Street. Shotterly spoke to Mifflin affably, fell into step with him, asked some ques- tions about what had happened at the Stock Exchange that afternoon, apologized for troub- ling him, a stranger, and ignored his sour grum- nefis. The two walked on together, and Shotterly, with a manner that Mifflin could not long re- sist, spoke, as if by entire chance, of stocks and speculation, and then of the meeting of Ward and the Colossus. The heart of the older man warmed and he began to respond with hints of what he knew— of the great things that he could tell if he only wished to. Shotterly saw that he was a man of a cer- tain type of overweening pride— pride in his own shrewdness— and he cleverly worked on this weakness by leading the talk in directions that gave Mifflin opportunities to show how 115 m MANY WATERS shrewd he had been. MifSin began to respond to the lure. " You think Ward a hard man to see — to talk with I Why, I've talked with him myself, and about his biggest plans, too 1 " " Of course I've no doubt he has talked with you about important matters," returned Shot- terly suavely ; " but I know you can't mean that he told anybody — even you — about this confer- ence of his with the Colossus." Miffin smiled cunningly. " He's told me a good many things," he said. " Well, you must be a fortunate man," said Shotterly. " Ward is a hard man to get close to, and the rest of us don't have the advantage, like you, of being old friends of his." " Old friends I I never saw him till I went to him and wanted his advice and asked to put my money in with him." Shotterly was surprised. " You never knew each other — no connection of any sort I That is certainly very strange," he said. Mifilin thought his tone of surprise was one of admiration. "No. But he seemed to like me, even at the first, and after a while he let me into some of his plans." " A cat-and-mouse play," thought Shotterly ; " cat and rat, rather," he mentally added, glan- cing down at Mifflin's unpleasing face. "I 116 GALLERY OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE wonder what it all means, and how many oth- ers Ward has taken in with him." Then he tried to get Mifflin to talk further, but soon came to the conclusion that there was very little more, if anything, that this unpre- possessmg individual could tell. And then Mifflin, wondering how he had come to talk so freely with this pleasant-mannered stranger became cold and grum again, and Shotterly let him draw away with a brief word of farewell. Shotterly went back to Robinson. "I haven't learned anything more. I don't think your Mr. Mifflin knows any more. But just re- member that Ward's stock will drop at least ten points in the morning." And he went away, leaving Robinson in a perturbed and anxious condition. Shotterly went up-town to Ward's home, but was told that the millionaire had left the city and would not return till morning. " Where has he gone ? " said Shotterly. « I want to wire him about something important." But Ward, it seei.ied, had left no address. The Stock Exchange opened the next day amid scenes of excitement. Members crowded the floor, and a close-gathered throng swayed about the post where centered the buying and selling of the Ward stocks. There were other gathering posts, too, where groups only less in 117 I 'I'll MANY WATERS I, i number and excitement were clustered, and the air was filled with a screaming, strident clamor of sound. Even on ordinary days the vocifer- ous yelling of the excited brokers makes a deaf- ening tumult, but to-day the usual uproar was far outdone. The entrance to the Exchange was crowded with anxious speculators and the gallery was packed. Shotterly and Knightson stood to- gether looking down at the scene on the floor: at the yelling, dancing men, at the long lines of boothed telephones and those who were an- swering calls and sending messages, at the rows on rows of figures, constantly being changed, which marked the veeriu^ fortunes of the stocks. "Just a gamble, nothing else," said Shot- terly. " Precisely like putting your money on the turn of a card or on whether a ball will roll into a certain hole." "On margins, yes," responded Knightson. He had to put his mouth close to Shotterly's ear to be heard. " But the men who actually own stock don't need to care for temporary fluctuations." Near them stood Ward, looking down at the brokers. He was calm, impassive, self-pos- sessed. Shotterly and Knightson regarded him curiously. "He's not a member, you know," said Shotterly, And then he watched 118 GALLERY OF THE STOCK EXCILVNGB tho millionaire and saw a queer look flit over his face as ho glance 1 for an instant at Zenas Mifflm, whose eyes were bent with fevered eagerness on the figures that marked the open- mg of the Ward securities. «nn!T "^^fi"* tl'^'-^ was a fierce assault upon the stock of the combination. It was led by a broker who had purchased his member- ship only the day before, paying the record price of almost eighty thousand dollars for his seat. This broker operated as n savage " bear " and others joined him, and a to. rent of orders -orders to sell apparently at almost any price -caT:sed tho stock to drop. Rumors flew about the floor Other rumors, originating outside, were madly telephoned to members, and the ex- citement grew more wild and fierce. And once Shotterly saw a strange thing. He saw the broker who seemed to be making Ward a poor man look up at the gallery and catch the millionaire's eye, and he saw Ward make a sign of recognition, evidently some pre- arranged signal, in return. Down and down tumbled the stock, and Mifflin watched, with face draw md curiously pinched and with a whitening of his nostrils and his hps. Then came another surprise. It was mys- 119 I ! MANY WATERS teriously learned that a second company had really been financed by Ward, and this com- pany, hitherto reputed unassailably strong, was suddenly made the object of attack. Soon its stock, too, began to tumble down and down. And Mifflin, as he read the figures, gave a great cry— a cry that was scarcely heard and not at all heeded, for all about him were fren- zied men, who, like him, had gambled on mar- gins. Mifflin had put half of his entire fortune into the big combination and half into Ward's other company. He had confidently counted on doub- ling, trebling, quadrupling his money. Failure had seemed a grotesque impossibility. And here, before his eyes, he saw his money melt and vanish. Ward looked again at him, and again Shotterly caught the look and wondered. It was a day long remembered in Wall Street ; a day of wide-spread disaster, of a fear- ful total of losses to those who had trusted in the lucky star of Ward. For hours the battle raged. Up and down, up and down, the stocks moved, and throughout the long struggle Ward held his place at the front of the gallery, look- ing at the fluctuating quotation records and the new-made member on the floor. And three times did Shotterly, closely watchful, see Ward and the operator exchange signals. 120 GALLERY OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE '"he day's operations made a story of wide- •spnad rum and the public, reading it, saw nsa.n how absolutely callous to such resulls are the men who, to gain their own ends, force stocks up or down. The afternoon papers, telling of the disas- trous sagging of quotations, spoke of Ward as losing an immense amount of money, and, re- citing his brief career in New York speculation, they pomted him out as one of the many exam- ples of men who, successful for a time, are sure to meet their Waterloo in Wall Street But when the morning papers appeared, a general impression gained ground that Ward JTI^, ^^ °°* """"^^ °"* °^ t^« <=o^ict a loser: iie had had another conference with the Colos- sus-a conference of thirty-five minutes this time-and little doubt was felt but that both of the men had added materially to their fortunes. And no one— with the exception of Ward and Shotterly-had a thought for Zenas Mifflin, who had crept waveringly away, a totally ruined man. 121 CHAPTER Vm BECOGNITION OF MIFFLIN A GREAT strike was on. A host of men em- ployed by the street railway company had quit work, and a number of lines were so crippled that few cars could be run. Only a few of the men operating them were regular employees, and the others were new and imskilled. In ad- dition to the strikers themselves many thou- sands who had no connection with the strike had gathered, some from curiosity, some from sympathy, some to abet or incite disorder. The air was seething with excitement, tense with threatened riot. Thronging crowds oscil- lated to and fro in the roadway; ambulatory thousands were on the sidewalks; from every window of the massed and lofty tenements, and over the edges of the roofs and from the fire- escapes, men and women and children looked down; all were restless, anxious, barely repress- ing their almost surcharged feelings. At the car-barns far out on Second Avenue, at Ninety-sixth Street, was a principal storm- laa EECOGNITION OF MIFFLIN theXe from Z °"°' T '^''' "' °°« °^ Knightson was in charge of th^ ^If ] ?' had pro..ptl, divided Sslf S^lsel? ST7m: T: 'T: '''' '^^' HaSo'dTear mm as iis immediate aid, for Tip lii,^^ *i llTL ' ^^ '"' ^'"S^i an alert Toulh to •bj there, ready to go „„, .aj j„a hSwhe" Se1XT™'""»'^-'''^"'° Se tie Stn.vT Y"^'- " ^°"°^« « good deal i^nigntson Hartford was thrilled and fas- cmated, and unused though he was toTnn>, -ene he knew that at any momenUhe JethL elements might bubble over beyond restraSt But m spite of the keen fascination of J aiTbe 123 m ;,' Hi 9' m t'i ' 4 lJ MANY WATERS did not for a moment forget or neglect his news- getting- watchfulness. The noise and the activity, the shouts, the passion, the agitation, the constant lookout for anything that would bo news, at first bewildered Hartford; but when he saw how cool and ca- pable and concentrated Knightson was, with what sureness he observed what was going on, with what instinctive certainty he picked out what needed instant attention, it came as a new revelation of newspaper judgment and trainmg and of the practical operation of the newspaper instinct. The drama, the comedy, the tragedy ot it all, appealed to Wm. More and more it was like some great play. Looking down Ninety-sixth Street he saw the lights of a passing steamer. "It's going through Hell Gate," said a newspaper man be- side him — a Globe man. " Is that really Hell Gate? " exclaimed Hart- ford. He might have known, too, that he was near there, for a number of saloons, with a grim bravado, had over their doors such signs as "Hell Gate Tunnel," "Hell Gate Drinks," " Hell Gate Brewed." "Then Blackwells Island is close below here! " Hartford asked. " Yes ; just a few blocks d"wn." 124 RECOGNITION OF MIFFLIN Hartford looked out again at the broad dark stream. Half a dozen boats glided by, some fas , some slow, with lights swinging high on their masts or scattered lower down Suddenly a woman ran out upon the street, wringmg her hands and wailing lamentably but At th nervous repression. "They tell me he will be killed! » she cried. hJT.T!f ^ """"^ ^'^^° *° »«t^«^ about ier, and her voice rose more pitifully loud. She stood m the center of the tracks, and her eager gesticulation, her vividness of facial ex- pression, added to the force of her words. And ever she kept looking up and down the street, in fear of seeing what still she hoped to see. Ihey say to him, 'Do not work'; but he say, my husband say, ' I must work, or my wife where wil' she the bread get? ' And they say,' The crowd will kill him.' And they frighten me, and I run here, and now I wait to gefhrm to go home with me." .v.J*'^'^^" f^^^^ ^'■°'° ^^« Iit«e soman's eyes. A comely little woman she was, Hartford noticed, and he wondered whether he could not make an interesting story in regard to her. He certainly would if some scene should occur. He would keep her under his eye " Hartford 1 » It was the voice of Knight- son. iii^ 125 Mm :.'■ IV^^-f MANY WATERS « Yes." Hartford was ready, eager, alert Knightson had noticed a slight movement on the farther edges of the throng that was gathered near the barns. "Watching closely, he had detected a slight flow eastward, off the avenue. The movement was barely perceptible. Hartford, in fact, could not perceive it even now; but there was little that escaped the eye of Knightson. " Something's doing over on First Avenue, Just get over there, will you, and see what it is!" Hartford hurried to First Avenue and turned southward for several blocks, for there he saw that a crowd was gathering. On a box, in the middle of the roadway, close to Ninety-second Street, was a man vehemently waving his arms and shouting. His body swayed, and his voice was penetrating and stri- dent. He spoke with bitter earnestness, and the crowd was constantly augmenting. Above him an electric light, losing its usual calm, began to hiss and splutter ; for seconds at a time it would altogether vanish and would then come flashing back. The man himself, swaying and shouting there, now in light and now in shadow, and the excited crowd, now with faces sharply outlined and now in semigloom, had a curious effect. And over there, that island, with its few lights 126 EECOGNITION OF MIFFLIN quietly glowing, must be Blackwells that had just been so strongly in his mind. How peace- tul, how picturesque it seemed, and yet what misery must be there. '[ Down with capital and with all capitalists I Lapitahsts are your enemies!" The words were hurled out like verbal missiles, and the mans fervid fierceness was infectious. The crowd swayed about him and a hoarse and many- tnroated cry went up. Hartford hurried nearer. Something in the man's form had intangibly puzzled him, be- wildered him, and each moment, as he advanced the undefined perplexity increased. "Down with all men that have capital! They'll rob you ! They'll rob you as they robbed me!-as they robbed me!" the man repeated m a scream that was almost a sob. The crowd grew wilder and roared a fierce approval. And Hartford knew the face and knew the man. Amazed, incredulous, stunned though he was, he could feel no doubt of it. It was his uncle-it was Zenas Mifflin— this man who, with- out possibility of personal interest in the strike was trying to rouse the crowd to fury. ' And, intently though Hartford watched the speaker and the crowd, he was oddly aware of many things that had no relation to this that so held him. He knew that window after win- 127 MANY WATEKS dow above him was lined with serried faces. He knew that the sign against which he leaned told that kindling wood and bags of coal were purchasable at the foot of the steep outside cellar stairway. He knew that the river near by shone mystically strange, and that from the clear sky a myriad of stars looked calmly down. Ah I He drew in his breath with a deep sus- piration. Actuated by springs of action under- stood only by those who have studied mobs, the crowd suddenly changed from a throng of listen- ers into a mob of men aimlessly bent on vio- lence. MiflSin had used no argument. He had only, with hammering iteration, beaten into the minds of these men that all capitalists must be overthrown; and now, all in a moment, he was down from the box and was pushed to the front of the mob, and a disorderly march was begun toward the car-barns. Hartford, keen though his personal interest was, watched with a certain cynicism and aloofness that early comes to the newspaper observer. And then, up the street, appeared a line of galloping horsemen. Twenty— thirty— forty mounted police there were, and they swept down the roadway in a swinging gallop. The strag- glers along the street gave way and dodged to cover, and upon the main body the police charged. Their faces were grim, and yet all las if RECOGNITION OF MIFFLIN had a certain impassiveness, as if the merits of the case were of absolutely no interest to them and as if it were all just a matter of simple duty. The street cleared before them like magic. The men scattered up flights of tenement stairs, down into cellars, through doors that were hasti- ly opened for them, or at full speed toward the riverside. The police, swiftly though they swept the crowd away, tried to avoid personal conflict. A few men were thrown down, and a very few were struck, and the horses were so skilfully managed as to avoid trampling on any of the crowd. The officers looked for the leader-for the man who, as the report had excitedly come to them, had gathered a mob over here, so as to have It organized and wrought up before in- terruption could come. But no leader could they find. From none ot the men whom they sharply interrogated could they obtain any satisfactory information. All that they could gather was that the leader was a stranger, and certainly not a railroad man. Even Hartford himself had lost sight of Zenas Mifflin. When the mounted police had galloped into the mob there had come one of the bnef periods when the big electric light 129 to the newspaper man, that to his paper belong his utmost en- deavors, his fullest knowledge. The next day Severn, the city editor, greeted Hartford with a manner in which there was a trace of warmth, and Hartford was pleased, for he had been anxious to win his good opinion. " Look on the bulletin-board," said Brierly good-naturedly ; and Hartford looked, and read there that a bonus of twenty dollars had been awarded hiih for good work in connection with the strike. For Knightson, seeing how deeply he was impressed by the story of the motor- man's wife, had allowed him to write it himself; and not only was the story far better than that of any other paper— for no other had secured more than an outline— but that part referring 142 THE PRESENCE OF ELINOR to Elinor was an " exclusive." " That was wpII covered, Mr. Hartford," said Severa "^'^ The story was read by Elinor and by her JSnf^l/'^^^r^' ^^^ whom she' was « Elinorl Elinor I " cried Mrs. Westenhouse, Yes, Aunt Corneha, I'm coming." And in a moment the girl was in the room. "Why ^atisxtt What has happenedT" Forrrs! Westenhouse, in wrathful severity, was holding the Dmnjal out at arm's length. « What is iti what IS the matter-is there some bad newst " l«« i?u'\^^'*^°^°'''^ """^ al°»08t speech- less. About you— you and Mr. Waters. I'll never forgive him I " Elinor ran to her side, took the paper and glanced hastily at the part that she pointed out. Her face showed a frightened curiosity, but when she saw that it was only an account of i-fT JJ'''J^'°°'' ^«^°° «°<1 a'lother lady, with Mr Waters, were caught in the mob, and how she helped the fainting woman-whei she IT/ T/'!? 'I ^^^ '^^ ^°^ «™Ply the story was told-the frown disappeared from her fore- iiead, and she almost smiled. « Why, I'm sorry llr^ZTv'""^ "'"""'^ "''' ^««"^' - ^* - 143 to : . ; m ''I ;ff.,;;;f' MANY WATERS Mrs. Westenhouse straightened herself bolt upright. " Badt To have my niece under my charge, and get her name in the papers 1 And Mr. Waters to give your name to that — that reporter or whatever they call that kind of manl " Elinor tried to look gravely concerned. " Of course, it is altogether too bad ; but isn't there some chance that, after all, Mr. Waters didn't " "Do you mean to infer i!iat I gave your name to the newspaper myself t " " Why, no, of course not " "Or that you saw that— that— reporter yourself t " demanded the indignant aunt. "Oh, no I" " Then how can you suggest that perhaps it wasn't Mr. Waters!" "I'm sure I can't say why; I certainly can't give any other explanation. Only I thought " " There was no other possible way. Let me hear no defense of Mr. Waters. I will demand of him that he explain himself. I have, as you know, been inclined to advise you to permit his atten — -" "Aunt!" pleaded Elinor, flushing. " Well, well, my dear ; but this account in the Diurnal!" She was speechless again. 144 THE PRESENCE OF ELINOR "I'm awfully sorry, of course," faltered Elmer; "but, really, don't you think it might have been put in worse " "Elinor," said Mrs. Westenhouse with dig- nity, " I consider that it is not the proper sort of joumaUsm. The reporter, my dear, ought to have come to me and asked if there were any objection to publishing my name with that of Mr. Waters. He should not even have dreamt of putting a young girl into such publicity. He should have described the incident by saying in a reserved and gentlemanly way. that— ahem " "Yes, it is really too bad," murmured Elinor. Mrs. Westenhouse was somewhat mollified, Im glad to see that, after all, you have the proper feeling in the matter," she said, as she glanced again, and somewhat wistfully, at the newspaper. " Now, it is fitting that, in public, I should bear the brunt of an ordeal such as t. but that you, young and inexperienced, should remain modestly and unknown in the background. It world not read so badly that Mrs Westenhouse--" But she suddenly checked herself as she caught a twinkle in Eli- nor's eye. « I must certainly call Mr. Waters to a severe account," she said. 145 CHAPTER X " QUEER MEN BELOW " A VOICE sonnded up the air-shaft, c aar and plain. "It's tired nature's hair restorer." Mrs. Westenhouse looked at Elinor with a frown of bewilderment and annoyance. " Now, what does he — hush I" " But you don't really have to use it I " This, from a second voice. " Yes ; I was told that unless I got it quick and used it steady there would be nothing be- tween the top of my head and heaven." " Now, what," said Mrs. Westenhouse plain- tively, " does that man meant I'm sure that if he were using the words straight it would be something about sleep; and whatever has he to do with heaven! Oh, those men do worry me so ! " " So ! " came in croaking echo from a big parrot that hung in a cage beside the air-shaft. An intelligent parrot it was, for it often helped on conversation by repeating tag-ends. " So 1 " it repeated. 146 "QUEER MEN BELOW" " But what do these men do to worry you so, Aunt Cornelia?" asked i -. "What don't they a^,:' ejaculated Mrs. Westenhouse. " Haven't you heard them your- self coming home at all hours of the night ! And what respectable work can there be that makes them get up at such hours as they do— nearly noonT And the noise they make! It's out- rageous I " Elinor felt abashed. She had, in truth, been amused rather than disturbed by the sounds of gay laughter and the scraps of talk and song that had come up to the Westenhouse floor from that immediately below, for she had considered It from the standpoint of a girl who, visiting in the great city, was ready to be amused or mterested by many things. Suddenly, now, she realized that perhaps these men in the flat be- low were really not "nice." Certainly, her aunt saw reason to dislike and suspect them, and her aunt was a New Yorker and ought to know. "It's five days now since they moved in," went on Mrs. Westenhouse, " and I am thinking seriously of complaining to the landlord. I don't understand their queer ways or their queer talk. Seems as if they use a cipher. Tired nature's hair restorer I And heaven I " ' Elinor and her aunt were in the sitting-room, 147 'ijull^ MANY WATERS and near the window which opened into the air- shaft. " But, aunt, ought we to listen to them ; oughtn't we to go away into the other room! " " How absurd you are ! " said Mrs. Westen- house, bridling with indignation. "If a man talks loud into the air-shaft it's like talking loud in a street-car or a theater seat. He knows it's not private. And we can't let ourselves be driven out of one of our own rooms just be- cause a man on the other floor chooses to take the house into his confidence. The air-shaft is the — the news center of an apartment house." " So ! " cried the parrot, harking back to its previous triumph. The air-shaft was a great square well, drop- ping sheer-walled down to the basement level from the roof. Each set of apartments had a room in the middle whose supply of air and light came solely from this air-shaft. And, as has been noted, conversation frequently came in, as well as the light and the air. " If they don't want to be heard, let them speak low, just as we do," said Mrs. Westen- house. And at that moment up came the second voice again. " I say, Brierly, I saw a sign yesterday, in a music-store window, of something that's just what you need. It was * Old bows rehaired ! ' " There came the sound of two voices chuck- 148 "QUEER MEN BELOW" S!f' !^^ 5"- Westenhouae signaled in dumb show the hopelessness of her ever understand- mg these strange men. There was a silence and then a sound as of some one walking away and singing as he walked. "They've eone away," said Mrs. Westenhouse. But Brier'/ was still standing by the window rubbing the hair restorer over the threatened bald area He smiled as he heard the voice of Mrs. Westen^ iTt TT/T *•" ^™- "0^- ^^ose queer men below I " But he didn't hear any more than ttat heartfelt exclamation, for after it Mrs \\ estenhouse's voice dropped again to conver- sational tone. Her mind reverted to her anger oward Waters " To think that he should hfve told that reporter your name after having «rot us into the trouble by his own foolishness! » fhe said. "It was very exciting, and I'm afraid that as none of us was hurt, I really enjoyed the experience," said EUnor with a smile. 'But I can't forgive Mr. Waters for taking us there I'm sure I never even heard of that part of town before," said the aunt The explanation of how they had got into that quarter of the city was simple. The three had gone together to dine with the parents of Waters in Flushing. Waters had gained his first practical experience in the office of the late 149 M MANY WATERS Mr, Westenhouse, civil engineer, and had then for several years been associated with him in his work. After his death he had remained a friend and adviser of the widow, and had chanced to call on the very first evening of Elinor's visit in New York. Since then he had been assiduous in his attentions, and neither Elinor herself nor Mrs. Westenhouse could fail to see the object of his sudden devotion. The invitation from his parents was not, in itself, of special import, for they and Mrs. Westen- house had before this exchanged calls and din- ners. After the dinner at Flushing the party had trolleyed homeward, the evening being pleasant, and Waters feeling sure that Miss Wharton would enjoy the trolley ride more than a return by rail. At the junction where a branch led off to the ferry connecting with Ninety-second Street, he had urged that they leave the main line, which would have taken them to the regu- lar Thirty-fourth Street crossing. It would be a pleasant experience, he had insisted, to see an unfamiliar section and to take the ferry just north of Blackwell's Island and past Hell Gate. They had followed his suggestion, and on land- ing and walking toward the Ninety-second Street Elevated station they had been caught in the mob. 150 "QUEER MEN BELOW" "Quite inexcusable," said Mrs. Westen- house. And then she added, thoughtfully and with apparent inconsequence: "But he really likes you, though. There's no doubt of it." " Why, Aunt Cornelia 1 " Elinor laughed and blushed. « You mustn't let me think of such things. What would father say!" "He'd say, my dear, that Mi. Waters is a man of position and achievement and with a future. Mr. Westenhonse always prophesied it of him." She nibbled thoughtfully at a cro- chet-needle and then added, as if to herself and absent-mindedly: "And goodness knows you are worth looking atl " Elinor's parents, indeed, were well estab- lished, and sue had had the advantages of a good boarding-school training. Her clothes were good and she wore them well, and her bearing was easy and graceful. Hers, too, was a face of rare delicacy and charm; with nose straight and fine, mouth with the upper lip short and forming thus a bow of curving sweetness, eyes of soft-glinting hazel, clear and deep, eyebrows of delicate arch; a face straightforward, frank, and trustful— a face of proud reserve, with a wistfulness about the mouth and a winning shy- ness in the eyes. And as Mrs. Westenhouse spoke of Waters, Ehnor herself thought of another one who cared 151 'Hi I if til MANY "WATERS for her— of a yoting man unlike Waters, one with fame and fortune stiU to win— a young man who, but a few months before, had sat beside her on the brink of the river, where there were deep rich grass and a stretch of sweeping water, the cool shadows of a beech-wood, and the chirp of fluttering birds. And now, as she pictured Marshall Hartford to herself, she remembered that she had felt strangely thrilled beside him. She liked Mr. Waters— she admired him; but ever her thoughts came back insistently to Hart- ford. Where was het What was he doing t She knew that he had gone to New York; was he successful or was he struggling and un- happy? But, after all, how gallant and manly Mr. Waters was, and with what a capable, mas- terful air he did everything. Wasn't it foolish to keep thinking of Hartford! And thus her thoughts swung, pendulum-like, from one to the other. , . . J "Let's go out and look at the streets and the shops for a while," said Mrs. Westenhouse, who had been quizzically observing her. The parrot was thereupon hung out of the window, in the air-shaft, and it croaked a few times in a wise tone and cried "Oh!" at the top of its voice. " A wise parrot," said Mrs. Westenhouse as she shook her finger tenderly at it for good-by; « and you'd be surpnsed to 152 "QUEER MEN BELOW" know how much it picks up. Why, sometimes, himan"*"" «1«°«' it seems as if it's ahnost After the two went away, Brierly, his round eyes twinkling, poked his head out into the air- shaft and gently tried to attract the bird's at- ten ion. « Oh 1 » it said, looking down at him Queer men below I » he said. And the bird cocked Its head and peered at him more curi- ously. "Queer men below I Queer men below! Queer men below 1 " he repeated, slowly and dis- " Below 1 " said the parrot with a jerk of its head. "Below!" it croaked again ^^"'^ °' '*' Th.n^r'^r° ^'°'''" ^"P««t«'i Brierly. Then, for half an hour, he taught that bird its lesson; and when at length he left the rooms and went away, he was so tickled that he slammed the door behind him wit >ut remem! benng to pick up his hunch of keys which he had carelessly laid down. For long after his departure the parrot croaked therein the air! shaft: Queer men below! Queer men below ! » iiut after a while it ceased making the call for in spite of all its twistings and ^leering"' and creaks It could not lure back to the window be low the man who had taught it this That evening, when Mr. Waters called and " 153 MANY WATERS aaked soUcitously if Mrs. Westenhouse or Miss Wharton were any the worse for the experi- ences of the night before, Mrs. Westenhouse did not pounce upon him as severely as she had pictured herself doing. He was so good-look- ing and so evidently eager to please that she could not. She did indeed say, but with an ab- sence of anger and with only a touch of re- signed reproach: ^, . iV. " I was sorry, Mr. Waters, to see that the reporter for the Diurnal was allowed to have " , , ,, T " Did you read that! " he interrupted. 1 saw it this morning and wondered how the pa- per could possibly have got it. I never was so surprised in my life." "Ohl" cried the parrot. " We were talking about it," said Mrs. West- enhouse, " and could not see any possible ex- planation except that after leaving here you met some reporter that you knew." "II" His frank amazement was unmistak- able. "No, indeed 1 I saw no reporter. I haven't the slightest idea how they could have learned the name of Miss Wharton." ^^ " Of course any of them might know you, said Mrs. Westenhouse. « Could it have been known that Elinor is visiting me, and could some one have— But it's too compUcated and im- 154 "QUEER MEN BELOW" oTeIw aST ""^"°^ ^«P°^*«^ ^«ve known mu ** ^°^° ^er name f " They all laughed, "it's insf o.. i Che., ''ir^jprirEr'"?''"""^''"- ♦>,» « • ■ ^' P ' ^° Ehnor demurely " of the ommscience of modern journalism." Woa, followed by t^wtr^^rn "oJ^^hr xtr ''''''' ^^^ *°™^^ p^^- as iitT.'°'° ''!.°^'" "«P^«t«d the parrot, sank ;Lw'™i'°°' ""'^ ^^«- Westenhouse sant back faint and amazed. She lookprl ha^^ Waters got up and walked to it and exam 166 MANY WATERS "Ha, ha! At that the parrot cried out: ^^rXarf Ii: xnen below t " said Waters^ «rdon't know; there's certainly something queer about them, and you see ^e P--^^^r Belf has got the idea and is trying to tell me. But Waters was bent on saying someAmg of deep importance this evening, 80°»«*!°8 more important to him, indeed, ^Jan -y*in« -::^frCsr;:dS^iS7^ w3 and Mrs. Westenhouse divined some- light in her hazel eyes shone very «oftly • « Miss Wharton, I wish to say «o°^«t^ng *» ,ou that I shouM not say after su^ ^brief . ir rtherrin^sLhall be bu«y ^^^ -t tSXe^eVShimVithSttS !:'^T/thaTl am paying attentions to you, him know that Ijm payj^^ ^^.^^^.^^ ^^ ^^ and that I hopi doing so. Mayltellhimthist For I love you. and I love you deeply His voice was very soft, very caressing. She 156 "QUEER MEN BELOW" was proud to be loved by such a man. And yet —oh, how she wished that Marshall Hartford were there. Why should such a question be forced upon her nowt How could she tell which of the two she liked— whether she loved either of them— when she had known even Hartford so very, very little I " Mr. Waters—" She was fluttered, fright- ened. " I know I have no right, but I love you, I love you. That is my sole excuse." " Don't ask me now. I don't know what to say; I— I really don't know what to say, Mr. Waters." She was in a sweet confusion. " Don't say anything, then," he said, and his voice still had that caressing sound. " If you say a simple No, then I shall be unhappy and I shall not speak to your father. But if you say nothing at all, I shall understand that you are not bound in the slightest degree; but I shall tell your father that I hope for his per- mission to see you often. And if I am so for- tunate as get his consent, I shall then, of course, tell your aunt at once, so that she will not have me here under any false impression." Elinor, in a shy tremble, glanced up at him, and he longed for the right to touch those dainty hps, he longed to see a love-light in her eyes. Then Mrs. Westenhouse came in and taied 157 MANY WATERS in a matter-of-fact way of ordinary things, and soon the composure of Elinor was qmte re- stored. i • i • t And as they talked Waters kept thinking of a scene below Elinor's Westchester home and of how old, old Mammy Blackhammer had said to him, down in the heart of the valley which he was to cover with a flood, that many waters cannot quench lovel And he remembered that at the very moment when the words were said Elinor was standing far above him on the hill- side, a vision of sweetness and charm. He was not superstitious-at least he thought he was not-but he could not but think that there was an omen, and a deUghtful one, connected with the utterance of such words at such a time. Then, with an effort, he brought his at- tention back to the conversation of Mrs. Westen- house " Yes, there certainly is a mighty fas- cination in New York for the real New Yorker Why, only last week a friend of mine declared that every time she returned to New York after an absence she felt like kissing the stones ot Madison Square. And she looked as if she meant it, too 1 " , x i.i. j «, -^tv, Suddenly the maid appeared at the door with a frightened face. " There's a thief coming up in the dumb-waiter 1 " she gasped. Waters instantly hurried to the kitchen, and 168 "QUEER MEN BELOW" Mrs. Westenhouse and Elinor followed him, silent and alarmed. " I heard them talking— nnd— and one of 'em's pulling the other up," whispered the maid. What she had heard was the talk of Brierly and a companion at the foot of the dumb-waiter shaft. She had heard the voices but had not caught the words. " It's too bad," Brierly had said, "but I forgot my keys to-day, and the janitor hasn't any for our rooms. And this is the day off for our boy. So now, if you'll just get in here " The other man laughed, for Brierly's voice was just like that of a conjurer who tries to cajole a hesitating man into passing up his best hat to the stage to break eggs in. " But I don't want to go up in that thing. That would be too funny a way to make my first entry into the much-vaunted apartments I " " Not vaunted enough— I never even men- tioned this elevator service. So just get right in " " But perhaps some one is in the rooms, after all." " No, I know that neither Knightson nor Jen- kins can possibly be there; and, besides, I've rung and rung the bell at the front and I've whistled up the speaking-tube here. So " " No, no. You get in yourself and I'll pull." 159 iii MANY WATERS Brierly langhed. " Measure that space and then measure me. The spirit is willing but the flesh is thick." The dumb-waiter box was in two compart- ments. " But I can't get in there 1 " Brierly swimg up the divisional shelf on its hinges and hooked it " Now there's room," he said. And into the space his companion tucked himself. Brierly got hold of the rope. " The third floor. Count the doors as you pass ; they're all lined with galvanized iron — different from the brick and mortar between. You can tell easily enough — reach out and touch." "And if I find the dumb-waiter door lockedt " " Just break it open. But I'm sure it isn't locked." Then came a heavy scrunch, for the dumb- waiter was not accustomed to such a heavy load. S-c-r-u-n-c-hl S-c-r-u-n-c-h I S-c-r-u-n-c-h ! Each scrunch represented a long pull at the rope, and the dumb-waiter made slow progress, for it was long since Brierly had done such hard work and he was quickly out of breath. "Better not let it drop!" went down to Brierly in a heavy whisper when he rested an unusually long time between pulls. And the whisper went up as well as down, and was heard 160 "QUEEB MEN BELOW" by Watero just hb he reached the shaft-doors He sof ^ closed the doors and turned back S "I guess it's really a thief," he said: "but i^s so n,„..,,liy bold to do such a thing at thS early houi lliat jwj hn.^s it's all right " whZ!^'''M"- , '^^"'^ ^^'y''-^ ««er «ome floor where tJiey tl.inJv nobody's at home. Have you any weaj)r>n Iiandyf " ^ " Mrs. Weaenhousemadeadash :,r .'^^ -^^ker and handed it to him. and the m. a ,r,l.^;.. ""« shovel and put that into his other 'J^i '< t • « 18 he armed that hath his quarre, .tni}' f„. ..if "And now I'll just stand here a:u li.u'^, l,; where he stops." "How far are youT" came tho -ei-.,. a. Bnerly, mdistinct, muffled, through ti,. dosed "Second "went back in a hoarse attempt at a whisper, but so loud was it that the waiting group could hear. waiting Watefs!' "^'^^ "''^"^ *^' '^"°°^'" °^""«^«d S-c-r-r--.-c-h.' ^-c-r-u-n-c-hl S-c-r-u-n-e-h I ^ere was ,n unncually grating sound, and then came a stnOoi.^ ..fu.per from just outside the 161 m U : I V, MANY WATERS Bwingingdoor. "Hold on 1 Stop! This is the floor!" The dumb-waiter had stopped at Mrs. West- enhouse's room. In another moment Mrs. Westenhouse clung to Elinor with a frenzied clasp. The maid was too terrified to stir. Waters stood watchful, with upraised shovel in one hand and poker in the other, and Elinor felt an hysterical recurrence of her de- sire to see her two lovers side by side. The door was pushed open, inward. A man, huddled within the box, gave an exclamation of astonishment as he stared out at the waiting group. " Oh! " screamed the parrot. " Hit him! " cried Mrs. Westenhouse. But Wuiers didn't. He lowered his weap- ons. He saw there was no need for hitting any- body. The situation at first completely embar- rassed the man in the box, but then the very extremity of it braced him. In a moment he recovered himself. " There has been a mistake," he said calmly. "Pardon me for disturbing you. I have evi- dently come one floor too high. I am glad to meet you again, Miss Wharton." Mrs. Westenhouse gave a startled gasp. " This is Mr. Marshall Hartford, a West- chester neighbor," said Elinor. "My aunt, 162 "QUEER MEN BELOW" Mrs. Westenhouse, let me present Mr. Hartford Mr. Waters let me make you acquainted with Mr. Hartford." Mrs. Westenhouse was far from beine en- tirely mollified. "Is it a Westchester custom to make calls by way of the dumb-waiter! » she asked with a grim smile. Meanwhile Waters had been looking closely at Hartford, and as the two shook hands the engineer said quizzically: HartfTrd?'"* """^ ^* ^" ^'*°"'' ^ ^^^'' ^'^ 163 CHAPTER XI FOUB MEN IN A FLAT inurm'-r. ■.TT'-r . IK " What's the matter?" came the voice of Brierly, "Floor too high!" shouted Hartford; and they all laughed, and he saw the i-'^ :rdity of the situation and joined in the ?vg..\ 'm/ ;?1f. " Let me down another floor." " Must you really go so soox Mrs. Westenhouse. " Yes." Just then the t t .• with a jerk. " Don't let it &h ; ; ■ that it went more slowly i •' T gradually to disappear — firt;i i . knees hunched up, and then his cbm — and for a little the group in the room looked silently at him as people do when, their last farewells utiered, they stand and watch a rail- road-train move out of a station, having nothing more to say to their friend at the car window, yet not willing to go away while he is still in sight. " Don't be afraid to laugh," »aid Hartford ; 164 si.a''i.ia e • \.. b- 1 . .th )x juth FOUE MEN IN A FLAT that they <^d it gleefully. " There ought to be some red fire with this sort of disappear-" But another jerking slip of the dumb-waiter sud- denly stopped him. " I don't want to go clear back to the basement! " he shouted down His mouth sank from sight, his nose, his eyes; and then, for a minute or so, the box stopped, leaving just the hair on the top of his head visible. "There's some kind of kink in the rope," Brieily called up. Mrs. Westenhouse whispered apart with Eli- nor a moment; then she leaned over the top of the shaft-box and said: "You seem to be ono of our nearest neighbors, Mr. Hartford I should be pleased if you would drop in and'see USa ''What's that?" shouted Brierly. "Who's talking T " Hartford thanked her, and said that he Should be very glad indeed to call. " But I'm not really a neighbor yet. This is my first visit to the house. I can't quite call myself a neighbor till I've at least been inside of the rooms. It isn't my idea to come up this way eveiy time, though; and unless that kink gets here " *' ^^ ^^^ *'''"'"'^'' *" *''^^' "«^* But the dumb-waiter started again, and at 165 •i H I MANY WATERS the floor below he found that the swinging-doors were merely closed, as he had been told, and so he pushed them open and scrambled out into the room. j a i He struck a match and lit the gas, and took his first survey of an apartment kitchen. It was a little room— that was his first thought, for he compared it at once with the great roomy kitchen of the Westchester farmhouse. Then, as he glanced around, he saw that every foot of wall-space was occupied. At one side was the coal-range, and above it, instead of at the side (to save space), was the hot-water boiler. Close beside it was the gas-range. There was a window; there was a sink, built in with slate- stone ; there were two wash-tubs, with drop-lids, making a sort of table; there was a refriger- ator; there was a dresser, with shelves. And shelves were cleverly put in every otherwise un- occupied comer. Beside the doors of the dumb- waiter-shaft was a collection of bell-buttons and speaking-tubes that looked like the outfit; of a pilot-house on a steamer. He lit the gas in the next room and then opened the door for Brierly, who had by this time come up. "Well isn't this better than your room at the boarding-house t Aren't you ready to come in with us V 166 FOUE MEN IN A FLAT ^^ " It's immense t " was the enthusiastic reply. I want to come right in, and I'm glad of the chance!" Bnerly could not suspect that the proximity of EUnor gave added strength to the enthusiasm. But even without that, Hartford would have been greatly pleased. " Four of us, and sixty dollars a month for the apartment," said Brierly. "Really a bar- gam, too. And then there's the joint expense of runmng things and of looking out for Rob- inson our cook, valet, and colored gentleman- m-waitmg." " It's great I " said Hartford. _ "Glad you Uke it. Sleep here with us to- night, of course, and have your things sent over to-morrow." « AH right. I'll be glad to do it. I like the place immensely." " Such big rooms, too ! " said Brierly This phase of it had not struc'r Hartford and he said so. "But I haven't been in New York long you know," he said, explanatorily apologetic for his point of view. "Well of course, all such things are com- parative," rejoined Brierly. He felt a little Why, the rooms are so big! " he said. Then his face brightened. " Of course, as you see you don't judge by New York standards yet' 167 MANY WATEBS But these rooms are big! When Mr. Dick was told a room was too small to swmg a cat by he tail, he said that he didn't see why any oBe need swing a cat by the ^^If ^'^^^ ^^J^.V^, rooms-you could swing a dozen cats I He swept his arm as if there were the stretch of Eighty plains. " You ought to see a lot of the Harlem flats. Small! Well, you remember that Thoreau said that whenever he passed one of ttiose tool-boxes along the line of a railroad track it seemed to him that such a ^ox was b g enough for a home for anybody. Well, out m Harifm, families think they've lots of space whenThey've only got rooms that aren't a bxt bigger than those boxes. Fact!" The rooms here were really, several of them, of generous size for an apartment bo^se^^J,^^ two of them there were open fireplaces. The h^use was one of those delightful places with enough of modern improvements for conve- nience, and yet so old-fashioned that its rents were not prohibitive. Three windows opened upon the street, and as Hartford stood at one onhem he thought that this was the view upon which Elinor must frequently have looked, and it took on a deep interest from that f act_^ But he didn't altogether like to thmk. of Elinor^ There was Waters- But Bnerly interrupted his thoughts. 168 FOUR MEN IN A FLAT " ^^^ ^°° "™ "^*° ^® people up-stairst I thought I heard voices." " Yea. Made an unexpected call." " Surprised them even more than it did you I suppose. Did they think it was a new devel- opment of this new journalism? " , "No, I don't think they thought of journal- ism." "I wonder who they are. There's an aw- tuUy handsome girl. Did you see herf " "Yes; she is Miss Wharton, a neighbor and friend of mine from the Croton liiver country." Brierly stared with a droll expression. Well of all the luck ! " But whether he meant the luck of Hartford or that of himself, in view of a prospective introduction, was not alto- gether clear. Then he said: "If we're going to get back to the office to-night, we'll have to be getting ready. As iJobinson isn't here suppose we forage for ourselves. I know there's enough m the larder, and between us we may cook something." There was the sound of a key in the lock, and an alert-eyed colored lad came in. « I was off at church, Mistah Brierly," he said, drawing nis face down soberly. "At church?" " 169 1 ( 1 ■•i > i ; 'ill ;■ ' i-R MANY WATERS "I'se Becretary of the Young Men's Social- dom Union," he said, "and to-night we had a rehearsaling for our ball." . , i. ^ » A rehearsal for your ball, eht And what church is thist " " Saint Benedick the Mooh, sah." " And who was Saint Benedict the Moor! ' « I don't know, sah; but he was a big black ™ "Clever idea for the church, isn't itt " said Brierly, as Robinson hastened to get out some- thing to eat. "A colored saint 1 It'sanughty good idea." , Robinson was deft and expert as a cook, and made the gas-range do miracles. In a few min- utes he was serving a delightful supper. I never know what to call my meals, said Brierly " We take breakfast when other peo- ple lunch, and we lunch-if we're fortunate enough to get a chanc^when other people are dining, and Heaven knows when we dine, i know I've often done it after midmght. Though Hartford entered gaily into Brier- ly's talk, he felt sore at heart. For here he had been in New York, working for the fame and fortune that should justify him in loving Elinor, and now Waters was apparently wmmng her. But he gradually pulled himself together After all, he did not know that Ehnor was lost 170 FOUE MEN IN A FLAT to him. How foolish, then, prematurely to give upl He would make an effort to win her in spite of Waters. And what an advantage fate had given him in placing him in the very house m which Elinor was visiting. Why shouldn't He win! And so his spirits and his determina- tion rose. As he prepared, with Brierly, to leave the apartment, he said: "I must just run up-stairs a moment, after my funny first call. I'll be back in a minute." Waters was still there, and Hartford greeted au ot them with a manner which Mrs. Westen- house herself could not but like. " I want to apologize for my unceremonious call a little while ago," said he, "and for frightening you. Mrs. Westenhouse, and Miss Wharton." " You are quite forgiven," said Mrs. Westen- nouse. There were a few words of general ta^ general, except that Elinor held aloof w'lh a sort of thoughtful detachment. Her pv'^ seemed full of some wistful problem, and >.] '■. was very silent. Hartford noticed that she sai I scarcely a word. She looked, once in a while, from one to the other of the men in a way that, to Hartford, seemed oddly as if she were com- paring them. " The water is very deep in the valley now " 171 ^i MANY WATERS Bhe said suddenly. "There is a great, great ''^Hartford's heart leaped. Why had her Z:^ 5 'pace -Sere now the waters layl "Well, I must be going," he «aid lamely. » We should be glad if you would not hurry -^?xirve".'mSrr::.y.hutI^ £i^rh:;iLtis:rJfho;f.^^ VaZ tlis the parrot, which had .been q^^^^^^ dozing, woke up and croaked: Queer m '^'rii::,ewspaperwork,»saidHartfo^^^^ it really does make a man feel as if he is in *^^^lS;i^'ow what you were doing," said Elinor "Isn't newspaper work very fasci- °'*Mndeed it is," responded Hartford; and it pleased Mm to notice that Eli-r was ib^s. Lted in what he was domg in the big ci^ Meanwhile Mrs. Westenhouse looked at hmi 172 FOUR MEN IN A FLAT with a gaze of astonished inquiry, as if he were -what indeed he was-the first newspaper man tnat she had ever seen. •• What paprr are you with! " asked Elinor. Im on the Diurnal. I'm sorry that I must hurry away so." And with a hasty good-night he went oflF. He felt that there might be ques- tions in regard to the appearance of Elinor's name in the paper, and though he knew ho had acted with propriety in making her figure in his story of the strike episode, he did not want to talk about it. He rejoined Brierly and the two went down-stairs. Waters, when he had gone, looked at Mrs. Westenhouse quizzically and said: "Now you see the explanation of the mystery of the Diur- nal article." "Those newspaper men!" sighed Mrs. Westenhouse. "Oh, if you meet them, you'll find them mostly a very good set of fellows : " said Waters, He thought he discerned in her tone a certain suspicious attitude of mind in regard to them. " But to think of newspaper men so close— ^" She paused. The prospect bewildered and daunted her. ^^ "Oh, they can't hurt you," said Waters, and they don't want to. Yon won't find your name in any of the papers, I assure you, 173 MICROCOPY (iSOlUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 12^ la ■ 25 ■ 2.0 1 1.8 liiill^i;^ ^ >^PPLIED IIVHGE Inc ^^ 16S3 East Main Street STiS Roche*t«r, Naw York 14609 USA "-as (716) «2 - 0300 - Phone ^S (716) 288 - 5969 - Fax MANY WATERS nnTnss you become a central figure in a riot again." " No, no, no ! " she exclaimed. " I'll keep out of riots after this." She paused a little. "He certainly looks like an agreeable young man," she said. " And at least," said Waters, " Miss Whar- ton will now understand better what she termed the omniscience of modern journalism." Hartford had an assignment that night that took him across to a little town on the Jersey shore by way of Fort Lee ferry. It was after one o'clock when he got back to his new home (the apartment house was near Washington Square) and all three of his fellow tenants were in, and Knightson and Jenkins warmly wel- comed him. Elinor, waking, heard their jolly laughter, but in an hour or so they were quiet. The fact that Hartford knew the people up- stairs had been told to the others by Brierly, and for one night, at least, so they declared, they would not bring reproach upon him by un- seemly conduct. " I thought the old lady looked at me rather glum and doubtful when we passed on the landing yesterday," said Knightson. The next morning Hartford was up first, at half-past ten. Bobinson was out making some morning purchases. There came the buzzing ring of a bell. 174 FOUR MEN IN A FLAT "Al^^^m'r"' Brierfy?" asked Hartford. us T He had already gone deep into the mys- tenes of the tubes. ^ w„/fi"'l^",!^ *^^ door-button by the dumb- waiter. Push anything you see, and the bell 'U ceas^r^"'*^ ^"^^"^ ^""'^^ ^""^ ^^ ^g^S to 'ih.^°"^^* T °^^^* ^° ^^^a-- down-stairs « Thatl W ^T'" '"^^ ^"^^'y sleepily. nJw Ln ^°'''' ^™°^ *^^ ^""^t-^ usually do. Now, tell me honest: the first time you went to see any one at an apartment house did you Sow enough, after touching the electric button tl hsten for the click and then push the door right open and walk up-stairs f " ^ _ Hartford laughed. " What's the use of ask- mg^me to confess anything of that sort!" he No one came up the stairs, although Hart- sen JT *° i^^ '"**°° ««"° «°^ ««-^t a long door '^T^'T '^ ^' ''''' '''^' " °P»ed thf door. « Must be a letter in the box," called out Kmghtson ; « we'll get it when we g; out '' At a httle after eleven they all sat down to ^reakfa,t. "This is the one time of the dav tta we can be sure of being together, and we can t always be sure of this," said Jenkins 175 'I 'I I Il'il MANY WATEES " No ; we often have morning assignments," said Brierly. " Only a few days ago I was hur- ried out of bed by a telegram telling me to catch the eight o'clock train for Philadelphia." The talk turned, naturally enough, to house- keeping. " It's all right for unmarried news- paper men to keep house together. If they are congenial it's a very pleasant way to live ; makes a regular bachelor apartment at comparatively small expense. But getting married is another thing. A newspaper man has no right to be married." It was Jenkins who said this. "But why hasn't he? " asked Hartford. " The hours are too long and too irregular, and he seldom has his evenings for himself. And make an engagement for your day off and you're very liable to get a telegram, 'Please come to the ofiSce at once.' And of course you go. It's hard enough for bachelors, but it's worse for married men, and it's infinitely worse for their wives. It's a terribly lonely life for them— or at least it's apt to be." "But Shotterly likes it, and his wife likes it ! " cried Hartford. " Why, he was telling me only last week — I don't see him very often now, and two or three times when I was to go to his rooms with him one or the other of us had an assignment " " Just what I was saying." 176 FOUB MEN IN A FLAT ^r -"- "s s ri t^ " He's got faults," said Brierlv « a^^ t tiee their apparent infot^tnc'! '^' "°^ "^- stairrand' '^.rj' *^' ^""^^ '"^^ ^led down- a char^i,, gW at Hartf^'a J he ttd sidewSk ? * !/°^' '*^'"*«'^ °^ ^''^^a^t «n the StreS '^' ^''^^*^^ station at Eighth 177 • I'M MANY WATERS "Well, of all the luckl" repeated Jenkins, with equal soberness. "Well, of all the luck!" said Knightson, more soberly still. And then there fell a silence. Hartford thought of Elinor a great deal that day, and he thought, too, of the declarations in regard to a newspaper man's marrying. " Well, I'm planning to do magazine work, any- how," he thought. And then he laughed at him- self. , ^. - But in one way or another the question ot marriage kept coming up all day. One phase of it was a scene in the Jefferson Market Court. He had gone there to report the healing in a curious case of burglary, and while waiting for the prisoner to be arraigned he watclied the squalid procession that files past the bar for hour after hour of every day. One case was that of a little man who was charged with desertion by a woman of deter- mined visage and powerful frame. She poured forth her story in a torrent. "Silence!" roared the court crier. But she did not check the flow of her talk. "Judge, your honor," said the little man, standing on tiptoe and bending forward over the rail of the bar. "Yes," spi.d the magistrate encouragingly. 178 rouE MEN :n a flat "eS5'"'M" ^"'P'^ *^« magistrate. ^^Eigbt years," was the solemn response. «™ ;r/"'^''^''^^'"«^'^^itli desertion I You are discharged sir-honorably discharged » And then he added, in one of those offhand ob- trates nto the newspapers in the role of social preceptors: "I often think that marriage Ta make me believe it so." But Hartford was not in a humor to be in- fluenced by anything but happy auguries He was up at Central Park, later in the day where he got a half-colmnn story in regard t^' at the Zoo and which had given the keepers Rouble ,n handHng it. On his way back at'the min L? r- '^ '^^ P""-^' ^' '^^ Ward, the millionaire, driving in a trap with a radiantly handsome woman with rich lips, with soft com^ so nri'" /''"* "^"'P '''''■' ^°^ ^'^'^ looked so proud and so gay that his own heart beat that Shotterly, and not Jenkins, was right. fir,;! ? r^"'"^' ^^*''" ^' '^^* assignment was finished, he went into Sipley's with Streets, and m a few minutes m came Shotterly. " Glad to 179 m MANY WATERS see you!" he exclaimed, stepping forward and grasping Hartford's hand. " And how is the son of the senator t I've just been up in the Diurnal oflSce looking for you. I wired Mrs. Shotterly that I should bring three or four friends home with me, and so in a little while we'll go up there. I'll show you bachelors how good a thing it is to have a home and a fireside. Come along with us, Streets; and you, too, Knightson." In half an hour the party, seven strong, started out of Sipley's. Arm in arm they swept the sidewalk, all seven abreast, and as they marched to the Third Avenue station a song trolled out, loud and joyously: " For he's a jolly good fellow, Which nobody can deny." But somehow, in the jovial song, there seemed to Hartford to be a tang of threatened sorrow. He could not analyze the impression ; could not understand it. A sudden chill wind swept drearily along Park Row. And again the jolly chorus gaily rose. 180 Hi CHAPTER Xn THE PRIZE MBS. SHOTTERLY WON entrance and there stopped sW ^ '° '^' He looked around at the men and th^^ «n gnnned back at him from S thev Ini semicircled on the sidewalk ^ '*'"'^' terW^^^'^Zr'^T' ^* ^'«^«°'" ^^id Shot- we^enotp^r.^--^^^^ ?or^:;^,rd:;t*^^^^- ^--thett RflJp^- ^^'■*^°'""«* *^° Wt was served X' '"' "' ^^^ "-"b- ancl jokes, a^rthetlr" ""' ^'^"^''t^'" house, and tLVorses ToIW f '"^'^ ^° "'« cl>or„s, with Shottery's tel^r «'" " "'?'*^ and clear. ^ """'^ soaring high with^'jhltSTn ''" '°^ ^*°"^«' ''"t J-tened Mrs. Shotterlv w?°^T°*' ""'^ ""«'• « ^^ile silent than the' oTJ ""i"'*^ '^"* ^'^ ^"« '""re in ^ert^^ttctTngtylS^^^^^^^^ *° ^^" -pond to the spell. ^Te^etas'l'SLg in the city,rd^;t ^heXuoTf ^^^ T confessional TJ,J;fl Tennent in the tention and an^fo '^^'^J^^ greeted with at- with/efi'^^.i^rL^li^.-^^- tingle 13 185 that's how I was beat- er ; 'II ,::u. N. I MANY WATERS en 1 " exclaimed Shotterly. " I remember, now, that you wouldn't give it up and go away when "Yes; and you don't knjw how glad I was that we didn't meet that evening as we had planned to do," said Hartford. "And that reminds me," s id Streets, of the very different kind of story that they tell of Brander here, of an interview he had with Father Tennent. He didn't chase Father Ten- nent to the confessional-he found him m his study; but Tennent made Brander go to con- fession himself." x„„,,»^ Brander, hearing his own name, stepped nearer. " What's that you're saying about me, Streets!" „ ., , " Just about another saving from the burn- ing, apparently," remarked Brierly. But Streets waved his hand for silence, and there was a chorus of " Go on! go on! " "It was this way. Tennent saw at once, when Brander began talking to him (it was on some church matter or other), that he was a Catholic. And he also fancied, or gathered somehow, that Brander seemed to be in need of the ministrations of the church-—- "Oh, my prophetic soul!" interpolated ""So before he answered any questions, he 186 THE PEIZE MRS. SHOTTERLY WON latllyr''^ '°°' ""'^^ ^""^ •'^^^ to coBfession « n 7 f^ ' ®°* a ^eek ago.' ior a year^ Ini R 7°''.^^^"°'* confessed that wL abouUheluth S th' ''^ ''"" *'«* he had to get rirfitr^ *^^ ''^'^' «°<^ then throughitSl-lSi ^ °° ^'« ^^^' and go have btnio ° Tr ? '*™^ " "'"'* his inte^iew?"'" '°°'°* ^""'^ ^«t him begin , , Everybody shouted, and Brandpr >.• ,* joined in the uproar "It's !Z I ™^^'^ to deny 1 " he cried ° ^""^ " «tory Yorker" Z.7^^ 1^ . ""''^^ ^^^n't a New Jorjjer, declared Brierlv. "T„ +i,;„ ... "^ :^!|i Brierly. "In this city 187 the MANY WATERS rich may easily be happy ; they have only them- selves to blame if they aren't. And hosts of the poor are happy. They live in their bustling and gossipy environment, surrounded by an endless number of friends and acquaintance. Their expenses are light and their wants and pleasures are easily gratified. They may seem unhappy to the smug and well-dressed visitor who impertinently looks in to patronize and pity them, but the vast majority of the East Side folk are happy. But take, on the other hand, the young married couple who have tastes above buttons " . " We have buttons in the hall below," said Shotterly. ., ^ _^c j " Not after eleven, though," said Hartford. « with fine tastes, with culture, with a desire for the refined and the elegant things of life— it's one of the most difficult and often heart-breaking things for them to find a home if they don't want to live off in the suburbs. They must get in a proper part of the city, and —well, it's only the poor, like the East Side tenement people, or the very rich, Uke the Van- derbilts, or like Shotterly here " Th-^re was a burst of laughter. " I saw him pasting up his space-string only yesterday," said Jenkins. " We don't all have strings like that.' 188 THE PRIZE MRS. SHOTTEELY WON ^' Let me tell you something said about „y fellows, to be married" m° ^ ^?^*^'' ^°^ * agent in the city within ? ^""^^ ''^^^ ^^^te ions to offer S'a^ou„r/P"'°'^°*«' ^« ^°^- when, like oLZlvT^t ""Z'^' ^'''- ^'^ caravan that moTesli" '°'° *^' innumerable "The— er— -what T" yon'i^^;L^™;-^^^^^^^ that moves, bits, and congenial LS?'m' -^^^^ ^«''- a life of ideal hannJr.? A ^^' '* would be -eing himTo sSf wSt ants' t^^r ''"°"^^^^' His frank buoyancy aDnealpH. ^"^ ^^ ^™- talked sympatLZlyZtii^ 'T '°' ^^^ bim with her big eyes InrTf ™^^°*^ ^^^^^ ^t very happy. "^ ^" ™ade him feel ShottS;;*"rsat^ ''°"*'^"« '°^ »«' Mrs. She smiled and shook her head « n^ »Ilr mustn't ask me that 1 » ^^' ^°" i insisted. " pipaao a^ 3 much." mereunnl'7''^°"''^«" 189 ^ sbe smiled and really i Bu enjoy i i in I '•iiifi MANY WATEES flushed, and was more deUghtful than ever. " If I really must " v. j *v,«. She sat down at the piano and touched the keys gently and looked around and said: "But I must be careful not to sing loud, for it might wake somebody in the house." And they all laughed at that, for they had completely for- gotten themselves— or at least had forgotten the other people in the building— and had laughed and talked in gay noisiness. She sang a little French love-song, and her voice was all coos and gentle calls, and Hart- ford was thrilled. How the song fitted, too, he thought, with that dress she was wearing- something green, shimmering through black net and cut off short at the elbows. She saw that he was affected, and she lookeJ straight at him with her great eyes, and the music went to his heart. But when he spoke to her after the song she was cold and indifferent toward him. "I mustn't let him make a goose of himself," she thought. She did not suspect that it was really Elinor that he saw as he looked at her so fix- edly that it was really Elinor's voice he heard; that it was of Elinor he was thinking whe: he gazed at her with such deep absorption; that she in her beautiful womanhood, was but rep- resent itive of the more wistful beauty of Ehnor. Shotterly, rummaging for a book of college 190 THE PEIZE MKS. SHOTTEBLY WON strange intentness. ^ ^^ ^*^ » "I won'thafi T- .®^*^«^'Jy indifferently, i won taat at the whist o)nh fv>;= *i. ' ii th. value „f ^rf,,,, ,, ' """ ' ''"J' S<"»8 up " Perhaps a little— not mupl. p„. .i,- tea .peeial pri.e, .nyC.^^', l%f^ ™ Sd"'a";i':r'^r%''»«'»^^'.S ™althy, Riverside Park "e° ,h''i?r'°°-"' g»era,,;i.r,i^;;f»«'';»«^^^^^^^ itt'irr^ wi™ kr/^frieT t fl! :;;i . i f L MANY WATERS bowls, pearl-handled dinper-knives, and all sorts of expensive things. Two or three members (we're all women, you know) are in the club because they're very rich, and a few because they're such good players, and the rest because they happened to know somebody and were asked to join. But you never saw anything Uke the grim earnest of the games, with such prizes. Why, we start about one o'clock on our meeting days and generally play in fierce earnest until dark. But it's seldom that anybody but Mrs. Bristolbird wins. To-day's game was par- ticularly close; Mrs. Bristolbird was kept away by an attack of gout (it's worse to-night, I'm sure), and the contest lay between Mrs. West- enhouse and myself, and I was the fortunate one." She glanced negligently at the glowing diamonds and carelessly handed the pin back to her husband. He enthusiastically pissed it on for exam- ination. "Zoe, you're a wonder!" he cried. " I must congratulate you ; and I'll congratulate myself, too, on having such a clever wife. Who is this Mrs. Westenhouse— the widow of the civil engineer? Yes? I used to meet him quite often. By the way, didn't her husband leave her pretty wealthy? " " Not quite that ; but he left soma money and a piece of property that advanced in price some 192 THE PRIZE MRS. SHOTTEELY WON three hundred per cent in about three years and so she's comfortably well-to-do" ^ ' Knightson noticed that there was a lack of nature -ness in all this. Her loot «L were perfect (unless, indeTd tS ite.Zu sTsit n '"' "'•""^ ""^ the'^outllnd anTve; so shght nervousness in her voiced h„f k-M! son asked himself why she w^^f'^v. ° *^''*' ments on having won it ^^"^^^^^^ compli- fiers® hir'** *° 'i.' P^"°*' «°r„)!,f one or another of the desks and ^ i •■ '^."* ing^ortheass|gn.ents^tttrs;^^^^^^^^^ a^rnSr^-^--"-rs^s^^ orarularir " "'' ''^ ^^"•" «-«^ •^«^- / W'^id ISr,r' '•^"«°"« -^•^•- ""* " Why, it's a mistake to *hinV +i,o* u^ lis true, 'tis pithy," said Brierlv «t never got either an office or a titTmlllw J suppose I never hustled enough" ' ^""^^' ^ .ou.vrg;io"ikfu;%rsiTt ^^? worth the having seeks the man," repeated T^^ J.UU I. ■ M; li El MANY WATERS as you lie in bed, and complaining to your wife of the copy-reader that butchered your story or the night editor who ordered it cut down," said Streets. Hartford was about to say something him- self, but at that moment came the call of the city editor : " Mr. Hartford ! " And he walked to the desk and was given an assignment — it was a Sunday— to cover an afternoon meeting at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. "It's something special, and a number of ministers from other churches are to take part. One of the speakers is to be Doctor Fieldhill. You remember him? " Hartford did. And how long ago that din- ner at the Astoria seemed. " You don't object to going, do you! " said Shotterly, and there was a twinkle in his eyes. Arriving at the church and being shown to a pew far up near the pulpit, Hartford saw that Mrs. Westenhouse and "Waters and Elinor were in a pew diagonally in front of him. The sight made him quiver with love and with jealousy, for from the expression on the face of Waters and in his unmistakable though slight air of ownership, of proprietorship, Hartford saw clearly that the engineer considered himself a favored man. And how Elinor from time to time glanced at him I aoo WITH ELINOE ON RIVERSIDE hI T°'i i° "" "" *"' '"'^»™^ P..-„ ^^1? '"°'*'' PMttioally to disregard ie noted the .of . ourvo, of E W. hS' Sd mon. Mayor M.,„se that thMe SI were du'" w"'„r2:"rbror:„"trt;'r a^*.irrr;roro';fS;f''s and of ,o.e tti„^ tte n^^o'r'l^L'a'l '"'°"' " 201 'Jl MANY WATEBS i : I Doctor Fieldhill did not remember Hartford. The face struck him as familiar, but that was all. It amused Hartford, and he told Shotterly; of it. «' It was so incredible," said Shotterly, " that any one of the guests at that millionaire dinner of mine could be a reporter that it wasn't pos- sible for the doctor to think of such a thing. Heaven knows. Senator, just what he thought you were when he met you at the dinner ; but he knew you were either a great man or a wealthy one, and so of course he could never recognize you in a different form; for though we should all like to be great and wealthy, I presume it is no violation of confidence to say that yon and I haven't yet reached either des- tination." "I saw a policeman on Sixth Avenue a couple of days ago," rejoined Hartford, " who looked exactly like the pictures of General Grant. And it made me think that if pretty nearly any great man should put on a police uniform and walk up and down the streets he would not be recognized. People might notice the resemblance, but that would be all." " Yes, it makes one realize how easy it is to be disguised by trusting to people's being sure they know," said Shotterly. Hartford was told how much space to write 202 WITH ELINOE ON RIVERSIDE the number o/ltkXTa;-^ Hmself t resent to hin,, measured bv . "'^ ^""^'^ ^^P' but also real zing thlt^/^f^^' ^^' "«^t day, matter come in, his « oi wn u T '"^P°^*«-t though once in a while T T f/f '"" ^"""r. up-stairs, and sevra] ti^,? ?^^.* ^' ^'^'^ her tinguished his voicel ^ "^" *^""^^* «he dis- eame up fron. the ro^mf ofTh T'" "' *^^^ *^«t men. "^""^^ "^ the four newspaper he X°Mta?n5 TT ^'^ *^^ ««— , Mrs. Westenhor;:: tTT.'^ *° ^"^ *^«t dearly longed for a chance f J""""- ^^ had to talk with her H^ !. ! *? ^^ ^^th Elinor, hegun to feel that 5s Ilw'" '^^*' ^°^^« had He was bright and Xal "."^'■^^ ^"Peless. to find her fparklfng rfretu™ "t"'^ ^'''^^'^^ he felt her eyes measur^l v ' ^""^ ^^^ «gain «°d he gallantly Tet Ji?.^™' ^.«8^hing him, '^ost debonair manTet '°'^''''^"° ^^^h his WaSr^nleTa?^!/:!-^^^^ « face was a look of TJj; ^ ° *^^ engineer's ll^ii MANY WATERS been made. Surely Elinor would not meet him with such frankness if she were actually prom- ised to another; unless, indeed, she looked upon him merely as a friendly neighbor makmg a friendly call. . It was a beautiful day, with the sun shming bright and a cool wind blowing, and he asked her if she would take a wa}V: with him ; and when she frankly said that she would he was buoyant with joy. They walked into Washington Square and admired the noble arch, and then they turned up Fifth Avenue, and she asked him about his work and his ambition. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that his main ambition was to win her; but in spite of her cordiality there was a reserve in her manner, a certain touch of chilliness, which warned him not to venture too far. And from time to time, in the silences that fell, she would glance at him al- most abstractedly, and oddly again as if study- ing, weighing, comparing him. She was dressed in a tailor-made gown of soft gray, and her little hands were gray-gloved. Her hair rippled out from underneath a hat that was made of folds of black velvet. Never before, thought Hartford, had he seen her so charming, and he was lovingly proud of her. He felt, too, that she was admired by many a 204 WITH ELINOR ON EIVEESIDE very briefly of his struggK and dwt ^' '^"'^ iis success in get^in/f,nl .? " '"°'"« °° Diurnal. Then he 2 n/, *^' '*^^ °^ tl^« prospects under the ci t Pd^ ^J"'""^ '"^P'^^'^ and of how fine f irShotrSr tT^"^.' SderaldXrie'Tas'^ T ^^-'^^ '--y^ editor. ' ""^^ "'^^^g a splendid city enthtST S^?tr ^.r^^^ ^^^ -^ loyal," she said. He knew frV^ "^^""'^^ she liked him for it bS7 i *}' *°°" *^«t lis praise. ' * '* '*^PP«^ tie flow of wife." ^'**- ^ wonder if she is his "Yes," said Hartford '" -id -uai <^^r!^:^zz:^::^v^-^- nnderstand her." " '^ ^^^ ^ot lumSng by' !:l^f ^ ^--« stages went "it'll be f lark." ^^""" ""' ^^^' "'" ^' ««W; 205 Aii:>ii i] MANY WATERS For a moment she hesitated, then laughed and said, " All right " ; and he hailed the stage, and they mounted to the high top-seat and were jogged up the avenue, each of them talking with animation of the houses and the churches and the big hotels. " I dined with Shotterly tnere on the evening of my first day in New York," Hartford said, as they passed the Astoria. " It was very funny, and some time I must tell you about it." Then he soberly stopped, for he remembered that Waters, too, was one of the party, and he had never been quite able to im- derstand whethel- Wfeters thought he had acted with deception on that^night. But at least he felt sure that Waters had said nothing against him. They wandered across Central Park and then took a street-car up Eighth Avenue, and at Seventy-fifth Street got out and went over to Riverside Park. They felt a sense of inspira- tion as they walked along, with the Palisades rising from the farther side of the magnificent river and with the splendid promontory hem- ming in the view. " Indian Head, isn't it T " she said softly. And under the spell of the grave beauty of water and cliff and grassy expanse they were for a time silent, and then Hartford spoke again of his ambitions; and in his tone, his manner, 206 WITH ELINOR ON EIVEESIDE he showed clearly to the gray-Rowned ..Jri • side him that it was for L u ^^'^^ °«- for her that teZ^Sy^I to'wVa""^ ^f' success. oiiiving to win a notable ^l^o^^ZZfT^r^^-^^''^ - the work. bilities to wS'it mav h '' T "^^^'^ P°««- . '"^''^ " ™ay be a stepping-stone " warmer and warmer he felt thaf «? ^^^ ing away from liil . , ^^® ^^« <^''aw- h,,t 1 •; I him— not m doubt or distraat moTe ' ^ ^' ^°'^ *^«* h« °>«3t try no waike'dTth: Et'f ;:f ,"^ .^' ^^y rode down-town ' °*^ "^°'* ^° «"enco «0M for diM„ and ;iT "°'"°' '*» '«'' hdiea to ti ,he,to S ^ "-P""? «■« two wir,o!^Sl?rrP" . ili! . I' ?i 1 ' 'il Ifrr m MANY WATERS know how gently Elinor had often looked that afternoon at the young newspaper man. And Hartford did not know that only the day be- fore Elinor had received a letter from her father speaking approvingly of Waters. The letter was brief but full of a fatherly love. Mr. Wharton told Elinor that he liked Waters, and was pleased that such a man should wish to pay his addresses to her. "Be perfectly frank with yourself; be sure you are making no mistake; and then, if you should come to love Waters, I should be greatly pleased." Then the letter went on: "I was afraid that you might fall in love with young Hartford, who gave me the impres- sion of trying to court you when he lived here. The young man seems likable enough, and there is no reason why you should not be friendly with him, now that he is, as I understand, living in the same house as you are; but I am glad there is no prospect of anything else." On account of this letter Elinor had felt no hesitation in following her ovti impulse and meeting Hartford with bright cordiality. " Be 208 WITH ELINOR ON RIVERSIDE promptings of her heart '' TwT ^' *° ^^' why you should not be friend^ ^th hfm '""°.° so It was ri<5ht to go out wJtV, V * ™' "°*^ noon stroll. ^'' ^™ ^o^" a^ a^ter- utes^'" Ma'y f J""^' ''^^^'-^d but a few min- enhouse as he TaHfaving "'' *° ''"• ^-*- themS^aS;. ' ^'^" ''^ P^^-d to meet your^he;aP-Vi-"3t^-afr^ sheis?n?ortSH;ltT^f r^^^ «^' ^-' c'ub. I was sorry not L T '" "^ ^^'^ ^'^'^t last week." ^ *° '^"^ ^''" «* «»i- meeting Harff:;d'S:t,;:L^^^ ^^ "^^^-^ ^-* -ek, his adieus and J2^l^ '*"°''"'^' «°*1 ^^ made rooms. M^shottewt"^^*^'^^^*^"'' *" ^^^ ingi He had been oi th". ' "''''^ '"^^*- renting on the sdiIh^^ 7 P°^°* ''^ «°°»- ,i-(i, ;i MANY WATERS looked at Mrs. Shotterly with a sorrowful grav- ity. No, he could not speak of the diamond, could not even hint of it, to any one. And, after all, might there not be some mistake as to which week and which meeting were re- ferred toT 210 CHAPTER XIV A LATE VISITOR FOB MftS. WESTENHOUSB tmctly cool and Elinor was silent Th! • ,' in Ik. f. *■ ' ""' ""' »»'!' ""M, and it was ■a Ih. afteraoov Elinor had Mpli4 ' But her aunt miffed, almost angrilr « I .„ ^^eJ„tMn..i/,^-,-^^-nJ; mind ?o K- l^^^ ^°*' "^'^^^'J- made up her ZTit -^ '''°"* ^^'^ "^^'"^ between EHnor and the engineer to look with any degfee oJ MANY WATERS complacency on ibe possibility of souiething else. And 80, when Hartford called, he found Lis reception cool, and wLon he offered to take Mrs. Weatenhouse and Elinor to the theater was told that they were very sorry but that they wero engaged. Hartford knew not what to think, and there was something in the tone and manner of Mrs. Westenhouse which made it impossible to re- peat bis invitation for any other evening. He was deeply hurt, and when he looked at Elinor for some explanation her eyes were cast down. Then suddenly she lifted them and swept him an enigmatical glance that raised his spirits wonderfully even though the look was untranslatable by any code which he under- stood. He gave no sign of bis bitter disappoint- ment, and his ease and apparent good spirits conquered to some extent the hostility of Mrs. Westenhouse. He rose to go in a moment of triumph while the two were laughing at a repar- tee, and then—" I hope you have not forgotten that you are to bring your friends to see us," said Elinor. "Indeed I have not!" He was in an ec- stasy of delight from her words, but was wise enough not to show more than friendly plcasum. 213 'Iti A ^TE VISITOR get off. • wfhte^r^^dvrr^''" ^'. *'"" "» found that two of n, . M °* ^''^"'"ff ""^^ when we Plan i?;!-"^'^. "°* '-•"'"^' ^"J^np^ be here Tn^^ * '^ °°* ^^''^ °°e of us can own That areS?'"'^ ''"'' '^ -''^"-"i" uncertJnty as tot'?H '° ^'i' ^°'-''' ''"* '^^ agaSrhtTuSr^r^r^^^ ''«' -» was several weeks h?fn? Z . '' ^"^°'^«' ""^ it Meanwhile he sedom' ^w°"^^ ^^ «"«°««^«J- wishes of her aunt '" "'''''""'' ^'^^ *^° Mrs^w::ttutte\:d^L^^^^^^^^ Elinor herself wn! t .™ 'cordially, and with altenTivT itr ThV°W \^-'^«*^^ Bridge, the Speedwt^nd't^SS; tjli •:l MANY WATERS beautiful drive along the Hudson toward In- wood were revelations to the girl. She could not but be friendly toward a lover who gave her such pleasure. But at times she reflected that the other, too, would have been thoughtful for her pleasure had he not been checked. And when Waters drove along Eiverside Drive and pointed out the fine mansions and spoke of the magnificent view, Elinor thought of the after- noon when she had walked there so happily with Marshall Hartford. In short, with a perversity which Mrs. West- enhouse, had she suspected its existence, would have deemed the height of wilful contrariety, but which John Shotterly would have declared to be consistent womanly inconsistency, Elinor gradually found herself thinking more and more of Hartford and less of Waters. Meanwhile Shotterly was working with tre- mendous energy in his position as city editor. He seemed proof against fatigue. The middle of the forenoon would see him at his desk, and it was rare indeed that he did not return in the evening after dinner. Knightson used to eye him witn those dreamy eyes that saw so much, and he thought he saw signs of irritabihty, ot nervous strain, that were due to more than se- verity of work. He saw, too, in Shotterly s lengthening office hours a withdrawal from 214 A LATE VISITOR home life which seemed sipvv. domestic nnr,^;*; — rt, '^'•^•' imi of unhappy — "uicu seer domestic conditions. Thei -^Z""' '" "nnappy '"«'^aee in the situation '„%" °V^°'^^°'y Wardlnty/ttgirtfhV^^^^ -'^ «nd that night J he La t" "'"'^ ^""^^' sat for a little while at rl^^- '" ^^''' ""^^^'^ Stotterly one Tf the 'J^t ? ®^P^^^'«' ^^th "I «ay, Shotterly ;CT t^ ^' ^^""'"'^ «"*•• so hard as you do wCn k ""'^ ^^ ^"^^^i^^g ?f g so mnchVore ^'neVa!^^ ^'"^ ^^^« °^ ->alf -Y don't you tI:%rlTZf\ " "^"' put you on to a sure thL f ^™^-have him "I've thought of flTf^f "'■ ^ speculation? " "but, to te^ie truth C""'^.'''^ «^°"^-ly; selves, of course5ne7eliVv?fi; '"°°^ °"^- to put my money in S Z f '"i*' '"'^^ ^on on the other side p.- ™-. ^° ^«°t' I've that, but somehowtLou^hVrt'^^^P^^'^^U and I suppose S , ^ ^ ^°° * ^™ow why mnov n,. l,_."^^^®^™^ *o «o out of his w„^ succeed. to 215 go ^-ill r 1 1 ! MANY WATERS ahead with my own department and pay no at- tention to him." . , "I wonder if Mann knows about it,' said another of the men reflectively. Mann was the proprietor of the Diurnal. . ^ , v„ "Mann! Of coursel That's just why he put me in. There is nothing that suits him so well as the chance of putting two rivals or ene- mies in positions where they are bound to "" ^ " i can't see how Mann reconciles such things with his devotion to his newspaper," said Hart- ""^ ''That's because you haven't been here long enough to understand him," said Shotterly. "He's a man whose whole ambition is in his newspaper. There are no rival sirens to whose voice he is tempted to listen He has neither wife nor dissipation with which to divide his lovalty. He is without diversions and without attachments, except the diversion of running the Diurnal and his attachment to it- " But I don't see how all that " « It's iust this way. He thinks that the men in responsible positions need every possible stimulus to good work, and he believe^JJ-- no stimulus stronger than knowing that some one is keenly watching for mistakes. He thinks that Severn will be more apt to do his best work 216 A LAQE VISITOR for? '"*'■' '° ™<'»""<1 it better," ^ Hart- thal," said Jenki™ '" """"^ »'»'" with any one Th« Tl «* «hotterly's trouble York newspapers In^l- • !> ''*^^ °° ^ew ^leeply to like thp'.j ^"^^^^^"^^ tad come HeLew of Shotterlvr' ^^"t^^^'^^d fellow, his generosifJ mI ^ ".-""^"^ ^^ •^"^"ties, of eomSde:hS^Bi3 Cor -'? ^^^f^"' ''^ ^^^^ SSiwSd^t^^- w h MANY WATERS some income of her own, and that both had fallen into ways of free, even rash, expenditure. But he also knew that Shotterly was perfectly honest, that he always repaid every cent he bor- rowed (and he borrowed freely), . nd that he was certain to pay every bill incurred. He knew of Shotterly's loyalty to his wife; and to t hink of that wife made Knightson very sor- rowful, very thoughtful. He thought that Shot- terly himself had begun to waver in his confi- dence. But in that he was mistaken. Shotterly still felt the most unbounded trust in Z03. It would no more have occurred to him to doubt his wife than to doubt that the sun would rise. It might rise gloweriugly, through mists, but it could be absolutely depended upon. And so it was, in Shotterly's mind, in regard to Zoe. There were ways that mystified him, times when she was fretful, testy, petulant, or when she glowered in brooding silence. He saw that she was under mental stress and he tried to fathom it and help her ; but she had irritably repulsed his advances, and gradually the atmosphere of his home had become such that it was pleasanter to remain at the office. In that lay one reason for his long hours of appUcation. When he had worked fiercely and had achieved some victory ; when he had planned and successfully carried out 218 A LATE VISITOR some brilliant scheme anH v.h .. • . to hurr, home and enthutw t ™P"^^« ^«« Zoe; he would reflect or. h''".^^ *'" °^ ^^ *° «eeive him, how amthT. ,T ""^'^'^ «^« ^°«W ^o Hm. And ItrdX'Sr t "T^^ "^^- step into some near-by cal 3 T ^^ ^«"'d ^^d drink and pondeT Trt^,^-^^^' ''^ ^^one friend and to hfm tSl 'til «! ' ^^^ ^"^ some and then he wouW g fatk tV' '5^ *""'°P^^ work. Why his wfft T ^^^ 'Office and to hearten him'^at uS : fZ'' ^ *™"^^^ -^^ clis- he had won suchTg^ea? adv ^'"'?' ^°^ ^^^^ understand. *^ * advance, he could not tJ^inSg^oneatSira^d^^ ^^^ -« «^- father. He cou 3 nSnl 1 ''.'"™^°^ *« ^er been so successful "o tEnlt°^ ^^^-^^« had ie had long aJo i; ^''""^^itful for her-but ^tanding w^oina '% '°^^ °^ -^- shiped his wife and IT , ?f '"^'"'''^'^ ^or- and stayed awa; Jrom ?"'"*!,'^ *™«ted her, he would g]ad7y haveTe T ^'' ^"""-^ ^^en under these condztLsr ••'''• ^' ^^^' *»«' -re t,,, wasloSr ir"" *° '""^ --'^ ^'th^utTarstrdZr r " -'^ - he surprised the staif bv «n ' '° " ^^ile he «nee in a while there was a cutr*'' ^°"™«^« ' reminded them of Sev^r? k . *^ ^""'■^'^^ that ot Severn,, but such manifesta- Ai ■■ ! M '■"^ ; :nmK f ; -•■'iM^m MANY WATERS tions were few and brief. He faced the world and his worries gallantly. From Knightson he shrank away. Some in- stinct told him that his old friend pitied him, and that he in some sort fathomed that there was trouble in regard to his wife; and when Knightson's eyes rested upon him, though never so gently, it was as if they touched a raw wound, and he quivered. But toward Hartford his friendliness increased. The young man ap- pnT-ently had no suspicion that anything was wrong, and he had not worn away a certain ignorance, a certain unsophisticatedness, which, coffbined with Us shrewdness and a tolerant pessimism, made him a restful companion for the now raw-nerved city editor. ^ "Look in on us to-morrow night, wont you!" said Shotterly one afternoon. "We'll both of us be glad to see you." The next day was Hartford's day off. " I should like to, ever so much, but I ve ar- ranged to go somewhere with Knightson and the rest of my housemates," answered Hartford. "But if " . ^ " Well, I'll let you know, then, just as soon as we're settled again " « Are you going to move T You surprise me, for I thought that this time you were specially well pleased." 220 A LATE VISITOR tie place, and so^w^Vo? '^ "^'^^ ^^^^ this week. Whenvo,? ^o^ng to move you'll alwaysbe °eS T '"'™'*^' ^"^l'^". Aiid I hope youai succeed "n^'nr'' ^°"^ ^^^«- added; and into ids tone! ^^''°^ ^''" ^^ bitterness that he dfd * t l' ""'''^ ' ''""^ '^ vealing. ^'^ "«* know he was re- That's tteVnougf ^w!'"'' "" *°-°"-- down to a choice, ho we vTr In ^""^ «°* " that we have iust 2!? ' i?'^'' ^°°'^«'- Place "P on Gramer ; Pat S '"^^ "« ^«««^- Phone me this afterno^r, T! T°* "^^^ ^o tele- to do. The JantrS"f s,t^^ "^j^ ^^"-^ - Idea But I liked the ^3^.'=''"^'^ ^^ «« moment: "Yes an,! «.r. ?notterly; and in a HereceivSh^ailTner"!,''^^" np at Hartford in amTI! ' .^ ^°*^ ^'""ed over the transm tte'.rthS '"' ^^^ ''^ ^^"'^ -d Of the line coSd ^S J ar " « H^ ''' °''^^ rooms are twentv-ei^hf}.. T . ^^ ^^^^ t^e do you think of^ f ^Bri,n1\""''- .^^* -conld,usthear£-::^J;-^^ I I i'.l frl MANY WATERS of life, as if he Imows I won't take his old place." He turned again to the telephone. Are there arrangements in the house for providing for a French maid! Of course I could not ex- pect her to mix with the ordinary servants, you know. You can fix itt That's nice. And is there a livery convenient, where my own horses can be cared for! Right next door, you say! That will be very handy, indeed. And I can have special service if I arrange for it! Yes! How very delightful! Well, I sha'n't de- cide to-day. I'm thinking some of not taking apartments, but of renting a house on West End Avenue; but if I care to consider your proposi- tion further I shall communicate with you. Thank you. Good-day." He hung up the receiver and turned back to Hartford with a chuckle of enjoyment. " I al- ways believe in killing off that kind of man. Why, that agent won't get over that for a couple of days. And I can tell you, after this little telephoning, that we're almost sure to go into an apartment up on Central Park West, and as soon as we're settled the latch-string will be out. And you're sure you can't come to-morrow night! It's to be a sort of informal celebration of our moving. We thought of it only this morning and want to have a handful of friends.' 222 A LATE VISITOR ticular casV nVSad^r"^ « P- possibly stand between. An'^ weV Z T'* to-morrow nieht v^th „ * ^ • *®* "^'"'S whom are nofnersLeril .T^'' '^''' '' darkness. And sol T * "' ^° ""t^'' ten me wbo^l^^Sr/^^', ^- will b^en_^pecting there was some^tHlg^ ^ old"n!Ut-an-ay"*"^^^ «^'^-»ri^ts «to5S; ?erirntf^n°.r ^^^^ *« the er towne to make roLl °^ *^^ ^'•«ton Riy. .Ne^ York walrCtl „ ".° k'*^°^'°" "^ tl^e ^"«ly of it. He had alTo U ^' ^'^^'^ ^^ow- on other assignments in/f" '"*<' *^« ^^ffion Revolutionazy'JSt:^' ^a' W,? " ^'"^-* «^ ties of historical not? ^^'" ^^^^^ ^ocali- ^^Zll^r^Z d^ '^ ^^^^^^ «^ the the link connecting New E^ "^'^ " ^«« South; of this and Jftha7ol5^°'^ °°*^ th« «al and the legendary lore ^f ,T''°f'°°' «^ ^^^o country. * ^ ^"'^^ «^ the Westchester ««Jd. «I shall have to 'T^r^* *" ^'°«-- «oon,"hesaid,"toJeDo/ *^' *"^«« Pretty 't °'^t; but it's' fortS;;° -^ «tory ^^ -^te special haste." ^ °°^ that requires no knight ^^on'll find only Eidg, :htson. "Shntf.,,-. ^ Shotterly 225 re m (Charge went home said shortly I tt MANY WATERS -ii n^tcr six, and said he wouldn't bo back to- night." "Was it an interesting story t" said Mrs. Westenhouse. From a distrust of all news- paper men, she had come to a point where she was beginning to feel a proprietary interest in their paper and their work. " It was a tragic story," said Jenkins — " too tragic to tell. It'll be bad enough when you see it in the paper ; but there you can skip it after reading the head-lines if you don't want to bo harrowed. Though I suppose, after all," he added, " that sometimes there's a certain pleas- ure in being harrowed. And this story fol- lowed a pitiful assignment that I had in the afternoon." " And was that also a kind that you don't want to tell us about! " said Mrs. Westenhouse. " The story was one that came up in the Yorkville Police Court, up on East Fifty-sev- enth Street. It was the case of a woman who was arrested yesterday for begging and ar- raigned in court this morning. The secretary of one of the charitable societies had her ar- rested because she wasn't a regularly organized charity of any kind— she was just hungry. The poor woman, in court, kept something hidden underneath her shawl; and — well, it was just a half loaf of bread that had been given her 226 A LATE VISITOR home if dischartro^ „ ! ' ^"^""^ *° ^arry it She is th Sf'a Jo?'"' '* ^' '^' ^«««'t strike recently and tlT n "° ^^° ^«'°t «" with the cornJauyLTlZ r'""'' «^* ^''^'^ ?nd then sickness came on-b2 T"^^'"' ''''' ^-S a long and moui ^^^y T? ' '"1 *'"" cers and some of the RnLi 7^' ^° ''°°''* °^- of money, and the mn^f ™''*^' "P « «"m So you fee I fi^slX'^" '•''*« ^-charged her. happiness." *^^ '*°^ with a touch of HartfordalonVof ' f"*^ she turned toward never to . , " ^.'^'^ '"^P'-oachf uiness. "You Miss W. ' ? .^''°"* *he mystery of we ],-. - , -., 7,^, , "^'"^ 1° the paper. But you, for alittl Sin/""' ''"^°"^^'' I a-ure noyed." ""^'^^ ^« '^^''^ very much an- -^^^^"S^J^^r -laimed Buch luster-" St T ""^''^ '' ^^^^^ding ««d waved his tand r '° °'''""'''' P^"^° ' ^^""^ ^° a sweeping gesture. 227 'I *, ...%-^ -x MANY WATERS Suddenly the door-bell buzzed. "A late -aller," said Mrs. Westenhouse; and Elinor, who had been as gay as the gayest, turned sober and silent, for she thought it was Waters. The maid went to the door and in a few mo- ments came back and announced Mrs. Shotterly. « Ask her to come right in," said Mrs. Westen- house. Mrs, Shotterly was agitated, disturbed. She met Mrs. Westenhouse at the door of the draw- ing-room. "May I see you— privately! Par- don my taking such a liberty. I shall keep you from your guests but a moment." Knightson, from where he sat, saw her face, and it showed that she was laboring under some strong excitement. He did not, of course, hear her words, but the sound of her voice told him that she was under stress of emotion. He rose. " Permit us to say good-evening, Mrs. Westen- house. We have had a delightful time." The three men rose with him. Mrs. Shot- terly slipped into the little sitting-room to avoid meeting them. Knightson murmured to Mrs. Westenhouse: "Each one of us is a friend of Mr. Shotterly's. If there is anything we can do, I beg that you will command us freely and in any way." Then the four friends marched from the apartment and in silence filed down-stairs. 228 t ,,.. ! ( i ii CHAPTEK XV " FCNEKAL BAKED MEATS " -g! and, loSf i - Z r""^<* ^'« the elevator-boy was Bott\' ^' '^"^ "^^^ tenant of the builS J • '' P°'*- ^''''^^^^ to the ShotSriv 1! ? '°''^'' "°^ ^« ^«°t i^P though lights tTe^ZyXu^'^'''^'.^'- Had he tried th*. ,ln« I ^ burning mside. ^•locked Tut had h. "^"^ '^ ^"^^ ^^'^"^ " ^^^^^ri':2rzT^^' *^«* ^'^^ «'- for he wished to leave "J^f """T'^ ^™' terly, and once beforlhe h„i J ^"- ^^''^- lad. But he heard vl % "^^^^ "'« "^ the -laughter andTbuLTtalr 'V'f '^^^'°^°* down the sffl,w i talk— and at once went dooTo theSXr','. •'°°°' ""^^^'^ «t tJ'e TJ,A J«°«ors dining-room. There were half a dozen people gathered MANY WATERS about the table, and on it was spread such a feast as surely janitor never had before. There were a couple of capons and there was terrapin; there were artichokes and aspic jelly; there were rolls; there were two bottles of wine. " But they stopped putting any of that on after each of them had slammed on a bottle!" cried Mrs. Danny, the janitor's wife, and at that everybody shouted in merriment. "I'll begin the story again," said Mrs. Danny, wiping her eyes, for she had been laugh- ing till she cried. " Here's our old friend Meg- gerby just come in, and he'll want to know it all. On the fourth floor there lives Mr. Cres- field, the actor, and to-night there came a pretty big noise of talking, and says I to Danny, ' The Cresfields are getting out some part for a play ' once in a while they've done that and made a lot of noise. And so we weren't surprised, and we went and listened at the air-shaft for a while, for why shouldn't we get for nothing what we'd have to pay a dollar and a half a seat to hear! ' Danny,' says I, ' that's not the Cresfields, and whoever it is they're quarreling.' " "I knew all the time it wasn't the Cres- fields," said Danny with a great guffaw, stuffing another knifeful of terrapin into his mouth. " We learned quick, of course, who it really was, and they'd both let go of themselves and 230 "FUNERAL BAKED MEATS" Witisinthet houspp \ *' **"* ^""^ ^«^ shaft Qfjii T 5 ^^^ ^^^'i you're at the air otht ouroVth^tSit* ''S^ ^^'* ''''" -^^^^^ wording it wiranyboTl' J^' ^^'° ^ ^«* hot and heavy--"^ ^ ^ ''^^'^^^ ^^ giving it " Give 'em the storv " anW n„ ^ , . mouthful of the ielW n! . T^' ^^^""^ « delicious, butinspiteof ? ^'f}'^^'^ *« &id it the pretense tJbe'^l"^'"'"''''^^ ^«°« «Wd I saw the tenante a S^l •^°/' °° ^^^'^ floor and listening We Th^v ^^^^-f *^' ^'^'^ «"* you. And w;-thai i.^ "? A* "^"'"P' ^ *«" tenants-fo,^T^; 1„ ^°.^ ^^"^^ «°d the dinner th'; were* r/for'H^'°"* « ^^te what they^ri^S^^^^^^^^^^^^ --"y make out: but all tLl^t- ^ "* ^^ couldn't the dumb-w!rr\;%uS"an7w:' f^" ^^^''^^ dumb-waiter doors-us and f J/" '■''° *° *^« t^e other .oors-^/^-S-e.^^^^^^^ ) . 1 1 i IN MANY WATERS ming tHngs on alternate. And at last came one of the bottles with a bang and then the other with a bigger bang." , . a A^^ She stopped, and, as if absent-mindedly, ponred a glassful of the wine and drank it. "But after the two bottles they didnt put on any more." _ " Sort of sobered them, the wine did, put in Daimy. " And they slammed the dumb-waiter door shut, and we pulled it down— they might have changet^ their minds, you know— and you'd 'a' laugheJ to 'a' heard the giggling from the other floors as it came. And here's the dinner. Ain't it great V , "What is this terrapin, anyhow!" asked Danny. .^, "It's turkle," said Meggerby with an air of superior wisdom; whereupon Mrs. Danny told her husband that he must really go out to the Bronx and catch some, for she had never before known that turtle could taste so The elevator-boy, in his suit of livery, was enjoying himself so hugely that it was as if elevators and tenants never were. He had just gulped down a glass of wine and was gieedily eyeing the bottle. Ward watched the group in grim amuse- 232 "FUNERAL BAKED MEATS" S,£ ""' «^«'^-' -here he stood, none no- «an whom thf^ caiTd M ?'°""^°^' "^ ^^e a good thing Lw p?T'^{- "^' that's thing," the ian si d. "£"0!^^/ «°°^ square if it snnniin^ . *^^ty'd be doing it Ployment. ^^ '° "°°^« municipal em- i- "ni;: tlt°SVt ^ ^''^ -- ^''^e to drop - to speak, and a, ^ronTdTff '"I ^? *''^°-' and all in time to be lift ° f fv '°* directions, Mrs. Damiy. « Ma^y^ t ^ V.^'' '"PP«^'" «aid «^own the dumb-Sr The'e^V'^'^''-^ china and flowprnAfo .j,'^^^^^ been broken flowers, and theref; T '^"''^ ''^^^ ^thered tWs been letts UXr^bT ^Ti -^ and «es and ^bberlf T.rtS;^t*: "«« "%",f "; iney giv ,, "Some don't get two," he replied P^°*,,eor four months, leave oftener than once in three ^, but I'm a favorite, J «n And i g ^^^^ tired of the qniet hfe over there, n ^.^ it was pleasant e^^^^g^^' f ^"f^^, thaU have nr^ohSrr « ^ --- ^ ^^TpTm^oSd^r^/cl^^^^^^^^ ^''« Y?s%tmoted. The assistant snperin- ,. jHafd - -tlldtnTtoC^eflfd ^'« ^'^''rmlndW never been there, and ^-jrrpa^eJsrthat ^^z^ Danny. " I thought they made the worimou prisoners do it." "FUNERAL BAKED MEATS" "Where's your manners?" snapped Mrs '^TthaJf "' '"* '" "°^^ «^"P'y ^'-'ef ore- Is hat your manners to use such words among ge^ntlemen and ladies? Pm ashamed of you! Danny, this time deeply abashed, shrank farther back, and Mrs. Danny once m;re fiSed Meggerby'8 glass. She was sympathetically anxious to appease, to soothe him ^^''"^'"'^^^^ But Meggerby, whose eyes were rapidly growing brighter and his cheeks more flushed was patronizingly indifferent to Danny's words He emptied the glass that Mrs. Danny had so sohcitously filled and said : ihul'^J'^ ^, ^""^ °° ^™' '^^'^^- It's only that he doesn't understand. I know that there-I way"" Th rll "°f ";*^°'- ^"^ -«' ^*'« ^h- Z :, r ^"^'•eds and hundreds that's at iWt ft r'-'°'"! .? "' '^^' ^°^« better. I isn t the living at the almshouse that's bad (it's better than many a home I've seen), for we're never cold and we're never hungry. And sTaek wells IS a pretty island, and we Z sit there at' smoke and talk and play checkers and look at he boats go by, and our friends come to see us there and we keep running over to see them When we're hmigry it's meal-time and we get 235 ^ 11 ii'i .1^1 Hi I I MANY WATERS plenty to eat. So it's not the living on the is- land that's bad, but it's the being buried in pau- pers' field, as they call it. No man's a real pau- per unless he's buried in paupers' field-and there I do the burying irstead of being buried. He, he, he I" .„ , , . , " And of course you never will be buried there 1 " cried Mrs. Danny warmly. » No I've got my life insured— there's a lot of us has our lives insured for twenty-five dol- lars or so-just enough to keep us out of pau- pers' field. And so when I go out there to Harts Island-and the superintendent '11 make me foreman of my gang to-morrow-there's lots of queer things I see, and I always remember that I'm sure not to lie there myself. So don't blame him, ma'am. He spoke hasty-like and just be- cause he didn't rightly understand. It s an in- dependent man I am. He,he,hel" And he leered triumphantly. « And what are some of the queer things you see out theret " said Danny dumbly, anxious to be again in the good graces of both his mf e and Meggerby. The woman only scowled, how- ever and then, with bustling importance, cut a big ;hite slice of capon and put it on Megger- ''' Thltanper leered again. " It isnH just the poor people and the Uttle children that we bury ^ 236 "F17NERAL BAKED MEATS" out there; it's sometimes been well.f«_^ , .. ** men and hasn't gotanyS,?:'^";:™ °°."^^^^ ^"^^ «nd tales we Jiear from thl '^ ^""- ^^'^ Q^eer bodies at the BeiwJtd°''l"'°.'^""^^' ^^ ,^">e as good as this ''1^: t^? '^^''' ^"""^^^ iow~«and chicken as ^rZ .'^ ."°°*'^«^ «^al- a single mouthfJof « £ "" ^' "~^' ""ade "-der Meggerby's spaSe^^^^ ^ °^ breast-" goes that in Meggerb^s SI jir T «^ ^^^^^^^^ the people for whom he n«^ " *"'^* «™ed at " There ain't Uody L^e ^S '"'" '' •*'°'*"^- go under your spade "he 1" T" «°^°« to heat. "And this 2 sLl f™*^ ^"h some this wine and these othii''^^' ^^^^ bought i-«. he's a fine JreeSjr' *^* ^^'''^ e^t- «'-ays a good ;oX;d a1io"'"i 'Z.^^' "^'^ you know that he's nof ^' f ""^ ^''^ have that goes to Harts T«7^' ""^ ^^em kind field." """^^ I^^^'^d and the paupers' Ward, at the doorwav h.^ u of sharply calling t7the el f" .°° ^''^ P"^"* hearing the name of «St.f r^u'"-''"^' hut on ^ent quickly up the1tef°'^'^^« *'^™«d «°d street. A cab wl ^^^'T^^^ and out upon the " Drive nt-r»Z"lP«««''^^ and he haile" u I peremptorily aaT - ' ill 237 vmg 1 MANY WATERS address of his rooms ; and there was that in his voice which made the driver ohey. vTl'Lt Win'; :t rlSnatLTe J^^'ifZ'^eX^^^l^e, the driver dou,j. h?s f are, and with swift steps went mto the hall- """^iHas anybody been here to see met" he demanded. ., . , .^ ^ qIj. «No, sir; no one at aU, saia me i"«» aequiously. _ :;fa;'^:et:^n.sir. Pvebeenherefor the last three hours, eveir °;^^*«- ^^,^,, ^ "Some one may call to-°8^*- ^^° Have is, or however late it may be, I'm at home. Have them come "gbt up." ^ ^ "Yps sir : all right, Sir. adq v»ai« tS,J'mZ.^^'^ -W.. He h.a i»» to lost) Even ..lent " 'T' „t° JJ'^Ld „„„ £5.SSS:rs "^UNEIUL BAKED MEATS" "lat one or another of th «een the two togetLr "^'^^^''Per men had Wi^^e'a™:^^ tt ^'^ rr — ^oved her ^hom he would ^J Jf/°f ^e the wo J„ « iarder Problem BuwIrT^l'' "''''« ^^ «" Je--. two days before hi 1".^' ^^ '««* «««n ^^^^^^ through the bLrrierT i?\Pr^°" ^^^^ «f iis love, and she haji^;, ?^^''•^ ^^^^ her face that was unreadable tot '^ "* ^™ ^^^h a iad been hard and i and h^i,"."^ ''^'- ^°^«« with a feeling of frnsf rlV? ^^ ^^^ ««°e away a«d yet not ^th tsS"' ' '''^' °^ do°bT And she » First JZi was the sense of shame "Sf""°«t ^^ ier mind certain inborn strain of I, ? ""' ^^'^^ was a straight living, S the uT^' "^ *^^^«°«y' «? ^ayor Prided himself' .fjfir'^.''"''^- ^^^ reason; and if Zoe Ld\t "''* '"^■*'^«»t 7« also a vein of XtlTT^ *^«* ^^ere PWd on the theory if Sn- ''^ ^' «" or by episodes in the mavort^^ f .^'°"™«0"«. MANY WATERS realize that she loved this man-that she loved Stuart Ward. WeU, perhaps it was best that this had happened ; now she knew that she must see him no more ; and the diamonds that she had with such reckless levity accepted— she would return them, and tell John that they were lost Her course lay clear before her now. She could not, indeed, look forward to hap- piness. In the bright light that now illumined the chambers of her heart she saw that there was naught of love for John. She had once fancied that there was; but that was long ago. Was she to blame t Was John to blame! She turned from the problem wearily. What difference could it makel In spite of John's abiUty, and in spite of it if he were ten times as able; in spite of hU cleverness, his good- heartedness, his devotion, and in spite of it all even if his devotion were multiplied manifold, and if his cleverness and his good-heartedness were ten times as great, she could not love him. Now, and for the first time in her Ufe, she knew the meaning of the word. Something of a philosopher, not a httle of a materialist, she had within the past few years pondered often on the problems of human life in the long evenings when she had waited alone, till after midnight, for her husband to return from his newspaper work; for, in spite of a certain 340 J "FUNERAL BAKED MEATS" fSl:l!:Zr' "r^'-''^ -^^^ of »e««. ideashad coirfoT '"'"f \°"" °' '°°«»- freedom and of w2r n„«'l°r*" *''°'''^" «°«i°» it was a consequence of Z.''' f "'«' ""^ «he had allowed herself tolf 'P*'°"'«"«>''« that nnwrit' n mandalT n L ^ '""" °^ ""^'^'y'" Stuart Ward ^'' "^^q^ai^tance with ever-(and ho^he ^Itedtl f °"'' ^ Bio realized that her love andT.r ^"°? ^^''^ and her philosophy hadZ^ •. ^"^ ^P^c^'ations of this thing which «V.1,V*P°''''''« t« think even to WlJl'-she .^^^^^^^^ °°' P"* '° --^^^ ceive her husband '^ '^°"''^ "^r^r seek to de- wife or else she would feln'^f*^^'" ^ « '"^al be all of life or Lthbg "' "^^ '°"^- ^* -«"W had'trruttrfr^'^r^^^^-^^-d I ir' MANY WATERS thy, which she well knew was unreasonahle but which she could not help ; but in spite of this she forced herself to meet John with an aspect of cheeriness and good-will. It puzzled him, but he understood women too well to seek for an explanation. He was content to look upon it as an omen of the happier days for which ho had hoped and worked. Then the dinner was arranged for, and Shotterly had gone home early, ordering, on his way, the materials for the feast, which he chose with a man's judgment and a man's extrava- gance, in the little French shop that always stood ready to furnish a wide variety of ready- cooked foods. And then suddenly, like a storm out of a clear sky, had come the sudden gusty quarrel. Neither of them, in thinking of it afterward, could remember any adequate reason for it, any adequate explanation. A word, a tone of voice, an unguarded look, and in a moment the nerves of both, so sorely and so differently tr3d, had given way and bitter words had been hurled. It was all so needless, so degrading. Each of them afterward could think of it only with hu- miliation ; but while the quarrel was in progress neither of them could stop. Mrs. Shotterly noticed that the maid was listening, and she sharply ordered her to take 242 "FUNERAL BAKED MEATS" white-heat of anKeTzrS ■' '*'" ^° « room and ShoS h„,i ^°°' '°*° ^'' «^ "den" AnXk f^ ^**^ ^°°« sullenly to his coorzoetd dtSd'" ^1* ^'.-«- -'^ rooms and left the ho," ''^"^ ""* °' *^« ashamedfand hilLg /walTr^v "' """ He^w::?irand~^^^ He went to her door « 7«« » i. There was no answer TW C ',f '^ '°^"y- 'e43 Ilii MANY WATERS the doctor said she must have rest for a day or so. It was too late to telegraph you not to come. Mrs. Shotterly will no doubt be well in a day or so. In a few days we'll be in our new home, and we hope you'll be our very first vis- itor there." The few others of the invited friends came, and all were thus sent away. Haggard of face and trembling, he sat down for a few moments ; and then, with recovered composure, went out upon the street. He left the lights burning and the door unlocked, for if Zoe should return in his absence she must not deem herself shut out, and then he wandered about, up and down the streets near by. He thought it possible that she might be somewhere not far away, unwilling to humble her pride by returning unurged, but ready to go back should he find her and ask her. But nowhere did he find her. He wandered back and forth for a time, and it was while he was thus absent that Ward went to his door and found that no one was at home. It was typical of Shotterly's loyalty, and more than ever illustrative of his absolute con- fidence in his wife, that he did not think of the possibility of evil. He thought tlat she might take a train to her father's home ; that she might go to a friend's or to a hotel ; and what he feared 244 "FUNEBAL BAKED MEATS" woman's gown his heartbeaJTast Pp.''. °' " became fewer and fewer I^h ^'*^'*"*°' street grew very JoneT Tm J"""^ '^' there. And the Brari«wr.i ,."""« ^^ ««* and ashen face ^ ™ ^°°^'*^ °P°° « ^^"7 roo^'wardrani?;::Ld1o\%r'^"^ ^^ and more aSlr ' ""''' "^^°"«' '"^^^ Ah! Some one at lasf! i?/,^ *t. soft, slow tap ^^^^^^^^ For there came a 245 11 11 r 11 CHAPTER XVI A MATTEB OF FOETY THOUSAND D0LLAB8 The figure was that of a man, hunched and bent; hia cheeks were hollow and his caverned eyes shone feverishly. Ward looked at him for a moment and then drew away with repugnance. " Oh, it's youl " he said curtly. " Yes, it's me." "Well, what do you wantT" demanded Ward. The man partially straightened himself and looked at the millionaire with uneasy scrutiny. "What have you come here fort" said Ward more sharply, as the man did not at once reply. " I have heard that you are a merciless man, Mr. Ward," said the bent figure slowly and with a curious halting precision. " Yes, I am. At least I can be," said the millionaire. He was impatient; he did not know but that at any moment there might be a visitor of a different kind. 246 "Mr. Ward— " Tho^-. j there was Dot any reaf ST""' '^°^^^' ^^t «« if this man had XS ^'^ .^^ ^^^^^ed and was groping for the 'n ?' °""^ «?«««!» '^^^ as they canfe « M^' ZZi'^^ "Bering man." ^^- Ward, I am a ruined ;; Well, what of that? » ruined ;".» ""^' "^°' -^ it is you who have Ward laughed softly Tf „, Jaugh, and the man se^mS ? ""^ "^"P^^^^^^t ^<^^rd it, that some speS'V" '?"^^' «« ^' "I want you to TT !u'°° ^''^ behind. W-rd. I am7ungrjll°r''"^ ''' '"^' Mr. «nee yesterday morning F!r'^*'° "«thing 7° responsible for mfr^if " ^^-i' «« the degree of justice." The e2 A^ ^''' '°^« evidently come to him L!? Ij, , ' ^^^''^ ^^d he delivered with somewhal ofV'' '^^ "°^^« Ward looked „.^.^^<^^^wncy. "Why do ;?e'om ^ZTl ^ -^""^ ^-e- acterT " he asked ' ^°^'°«^ "7 char- -™U^ ValoTasTerv ^'^ ^ '^^^^ ^^^^ ;°3^«elf. Iwashungr^et JhV^^, '°°^''*^'°« fan you gave to thlbeggar 'S ^'^ '^'''' "Iwill certainly he.j,.«,.,3^^^^^^^^^ jr ■^?^v,w-^T«i MANY WATERS case," was the reply. "I will give to yon in the measure that you have given to others. The man looked al him with a rismg fear. " I will show to you as much mercy— but not a particle more-just as much mercy as you showed to Henry Wharton when he gnawed you free from your bonds in the guerrilla prison, . said Ward, dropping each word with a relent- less enunciation, and actually smiling as he saw the look of astonishment, of fright, in the oth- ^^ ^" What do you know of that! " cried Zenas Mifflin. . „ " I do know. That is all that is necessary, said Ward. . , . « "But what difference can it make to youT Wharton and I were enemies ; we had been bit- ter enemies for years. What difference can it make to you how I acted toward himl « I told you of that merely to remind you of how you treated an enemy. But you treat- ed him unfairly. He had the deepest claim on you, yet you ignored it. But in my own case I have been strictly fair. I have taken no ad- vantage that I could not legally take. You had a fortune— how much was itV « Forty thousand dollars. I deemed myselt a rich man," said Mifflin in a deadened voice. «' You put the money the city paid for your 248 ^0«Tr THOMAS ^ ^ouse, with all thn nth. together, and risked ?'' """"'^ y°« "o^ld get you were sure 7o^J ^" ^^^""^''tion in whS The man triA^ +«. . The man shiveS"^ '^ZT ^°^°^««'" "les," he said. "^"^ ^^ were not ene- Ward's eyes flashed «N„f yon not even yet guessed wi. f""'"' ' H«ve Jt was not on accoSt of jT^^''* ^°" «^o ""eT I mned you. I spX of h? '^ ^^"^^^ ^^at yon how cruel you yoLlf T ""'i''^ '' ''^^^ Mifflin looked at V." • ^""^ ^^^'" I am glad you hav^^^^^^o sound. ^«°tec, you to understeJI T '' "«' ^^' I a half-starved boy name. wy°" "«'°«°'ber widow-who nsed'to Seln^^^-the «on of a ^' and who at times sZZZ^*'^''^'^ Coun- -member the Z^^^'^ZtVy' C^ *^"^ ^ understand," he wpnt • ^^«'" ''ut I don't hate me." *' """"^ ''^ P^«fully, "why you tr f! MANY WATERS Ups parted in what was almost a smile. "I have at last taken payment, and with interest The man pulled himself together with a sort of dignity. " I am glad that you have e^plamed this. I really don't see why a rich man ho^d remember such a little thing so long. His voice gathered strength. "You -eni to have made great effort to recover for a httle thing. He was acidly contemptuous. "It was the circumstances!" cried Ward. « We were all so poor, so hungry, and there was Buch cruelty in the way you did it." The man laughed. "Mr. Ward, I would rather be in my place than in yours. I don t remember what the incident was. I am not a man of large affairs, yet I do not brood over trifles. I am glad that you have given me noth- ing. Had I suspected there was anything per- sonal in your conduct I beg you will believe that I would never have come to you." Ward looked at him with somewhat of reluc- tant admiration, and for the first time there came to him a doubt as to the J«f «« «f 1"« own severity. Suddenly the bitter hate that he had nursed for so many years seemed to have less foundation than he had ever before sup- Tjosed The ancient provocation seemed to dSle in importance. He felt it incumbent that he justify himself. 250 -W^.-:.'^- FORTY THOUSAND DOLLARS less heavy price R„f tu! "^. **'' *° exact a in Ward's tZ « wt °"* ^™ ""'^ '«°«hev FOBTY THOUSAND DOLLARS that there would be a revitalized love i. their light. ^ *^''' ^''^ «" unwonteo'y i,appy feartt?£r o"f Srt'^ ^"''^ ^^^-^ ^^ ^is dread thai wl'^'S/f «^<^o-cast bered a look h* h^X ■ "" ^® remem- face; he faiew tJe 1^? 'f, ^"' Shotterly's heart there ... ^:::^l^!:^^ »^ ^ ^s thought he ^o:r^afelSZir'''''i''^''T' ambition. Sometin,p« ^! '°^ ""^ ^° ^ii« down in the dS pH^f . '""^ * "«^°««« deep longed to help Wm" '^"' «°^ ^« -^«tfull? .oi:/:o^hi:^^,ST;r^ 255 m M .-i--4.'il&-- , r-,,-^^_ug MANY WATEES Outwardly his home relations seemed more attractive, and he did not so often remain at the office in tiie evening. He and Zoe were both, in truth, trying to build up a new Ufe between them. Zoe scarcely ever said a sharp word now, and Shotterly found himself moodily tiiinking that she was acting unnaturally. She talked with him of his work and of what he was planning, and he sorrowfully fancied that her interest was forced by a sense of duty. He would go home early and try to be enthusmstic and natural as of old, not knowing tiiat another face was often before Zoe's eyes. The events of the night when they haci quar- reled, and when she had actiially run away from him, had made so deep a mark, so cutting a wound, that down in their hearts they realized that they could not lock with hopefulness for a happy future. With each there was a sense of a life's disappointment; yet with each there grew up, day by day, a higher and deeper in- trinsic appreciation of the other. Shotterly's love never for an instant wavered, but he be- gan to wonder whether it could be right to keep this woman tied to him. One night he dropped oflf at the Eighth Street station with Hartford and went over to his rooms with him, and there they had a pleas- ant dinner together. And then Hartford ran S56 i:^,jmM FOETY THOUSAND DOLLAEs house gave a t JSafa^'e^f '' 7^ ""''' ^««t- of Elinor and bTaZ^ ' ^^ '" *^" ""'"P^^y found a restfurnessThat ^'''f '^ '''^ ^'"tor His worn nerves h J T' ^^^^P^^ soothing. ^^S^^^Z'ZTLT' ''J ''^ ^^'^ -p- Westelnse thonghrshr w""^^ ^^''^ ^- clever a man. EliSr Tn T^"" "^^^ «o was proud of HarSrd foTl*^'"^^'^"' «°-k by day. "nstead o?r'°^ ""^ ^« ^o"'- topsy-turvy l, Wve h "^'"'"^ «verythi'.g I'ave your hoursX^ed ," '"°^- ^'^°'* ^^^ to ^ofi£':s.\7ztT r ^ -^p«' - «aid ShotterlyT ^ ' "" ^^'^ "«ed to do," early'^X fo btd a^dlnt^"''? '^' ^^^'^ "^ ihe doctor laughed. "Yes T,„. Jes, isupposetiiat's h; ! So." I '!!(| MANY WATERS "And now I'm to try a sort of rise with the lark and with the lark to bed^^ea^^ It "Something of that Jrt yes^ Whe" jou find an old P-^J^ J,^tn 2^ t^at our an- rise' It doesn't, of course, need to he taken Ute^ally in every case. For my own part I iSk he habit S going to bed early is depbr- h^ testable I can't understand the mental :tendplf B^ you're Uable to be a sick man SfshoSerly, anJ must take -e of you^-« I don't want to frighten you, for yo^U be J" right if yon are careful, but you must not neg- lect precautions for a while/' "Sort of a peaceful mufians-and-toast exist- ence ^th my feet wrapped up in Aamiel, tea :r;mering ol the hob and my wife reading a ffood book to me— is that it 7 ^« Pretty much. I think you have my idea Very littlT medicine; a great deal of care, aU The resklness for a while that you can get. And if I were you, I should, for a week or two, go out anltalJa brisk walk or a horseback nde S soon after sunrise as the ^^^ « -" e Tfter Several times, on his way to the office, alter 264 THE QUEEN OP HEARTS ?Si;tzt'Ste^rj^^^^^ before yearly so fuimy as at&^^S.J"^ ""* ^'-^^'^ that it were not so ^rotprnn 7 • ^^^"^ ^'^^'m he remembered ?h^'^^™^''«ible. And tiat even S mori^^^^^^^^ --«>: very far from wh^^f^M T"^^' ^^^ been spite of her paiS v /^^ *° ^"^« been, in otheneise. K^^ Tf ^f 7^" '''^^ ^* giving her too much o/lc, ^'"^ °°* been and then he lanS w 'TP^^^^ "^ late; Jinbered the'dS^TrderTo f ^ 'I '^ ''' die him. Yes he h„^ /"^er to have her cod- be thought; hetSht^rett*"'^-"^"^^' sr^^-^*--t^eLrrtTr^: -porri uZ When trr; '^^ "°* ''- he went out to a near bv rot'^ '''"^' "°^ «° and then went back to hlT l"\''* ^"" ^^°°«'- in such shape that hlJ^^ !^J ^^"^''^ ^^re leave until after eJeve^fcl^^^^^ '*''!.^* "^^^*^ *« invited to join in 71 t °^' ^°^ *ben he was paper Club^ 'hT.I^Z '^Z'' "^« ^-- Shotterly, you haven't pfaved J^' "T" «'°°&' !">«!» And soon he anSwl"' ''''" ^ ^°°« t^ng m one of the little room3 '" ^"'"^ «"- The..take3 were s,n^Uhe limit was ,ow;but :l'1| I ii, ,^ MANY WATERS Bomehow the totah began ^10°^°;'?°^.^^°^ terly was an almost umntermpted winner. "Oh, I don't like this at all! 1 do'i't want to «.in anybody's money 1 Take it back, boys and le^ count beans J " He laughed as he said th.s. for he knew his proposal was impracticaWe « That's one of the tasks that even Hercules couldn't have accomplished; making a poker game interesting with anything but mon y Lid Brierly. " It's all right even if it s just pennies, but it's got to be something. Who ever Lard of making a serious blufE without "° Shotterly began to be much annoyed by his contituotgood^luck. "Hangitl Idon'twant your Zey » " And then he would play again K iv^ the others a chance to recoup; but still nhTSeratlhXble, except Brierly, were xiot from the Diurnal. Streets ^as one-^ha ever-changing young man having left the Diur nal and gone over to the Globe. iSu^ one o'clock Hartford came in, and he too took a hand, but like the others was un- ""i:tli-past two Shotterly rose. "I'm go- ing to stop •' he said. " Some other night II 3^e any of you a chance to get even, but to night I'd just keep on winning. THE QUEEN OF HEARTS friend, you know anS I f ^^f' "^'"^ «»» «W down in'the iShTo 4^"""' """ "^^^ ^ '''' Streets hesitated. "Out vcHh v '"D," said Shotterly and h^! ^ '*' y°"°« of kindness fhnt V '^ ^"'''^ ^as so fuJi He couiS staid mLr?"""" ^°*'' ^'^-^^^^'^ eyes proof agatur^*""^^^--"^. ^"t— t sho;frS^?s?ror7ti,T.? «^°^«'" -^^ "No TTra=« J / ^'" '^'<^ "ot reply. -and-lifav7n,rcl1%t'"- ^^^^^^^'^ -^ left, and my Zllnil H^''"''' '^^° "^'^ ^«^e ingPll come h^meSh ' S "^ "^ ^°^ ""' ^"P- a babycomingTacoileo /'''';. ^^^ there's was blurted out before gtlr^^^r-" ^" ^J''" was saying it. ^^*^ ""^''"^ed that ho been t*S •; t^yTj;" ^ ^'^ ""^ '^-^ for a rainy drvoT • ?^? i*' '"^« «"ffi«e»t rainy seasoV L "^^hi J?' '°^ ^ «°°d ^o°g good time to moralize ahn 1 l"^ '''^ *° l''"^ « the good of mo„r • "* '*' "'^ *° ^^«t"re on playing poferH7T'°f """^ ^^' evil of Streets^ hana ^ThS'^n ^t '"""« ^^^^^ loa^ you W; doSty1^;Sd '• itn^^ ^^ ^ rom you in a minute if I were hard 1 fT I «ay, you oughtn't to^h^avebetn^fo-pU to ill .t-ji MCROCOT' RiSOLUTION TBT CHART {ANSt end ISO TEST CHART No. 2) APPLIED IN/HGE In 1653 East Main StrMt RoctwsUr, N«w York U609 USA (716) ■*a2 - 0300 - Phon. (716) 2B8 - 5989 - Fox MANY WATERS come and tell me you were off the Globe. I nrdanother man on the copy-desk. Just come on at six, wiU you! " Streets turned his face away. He tried to speak, but could only brokenly stammer his brief thanks. And then he hurried away, fearing that he should entirely lose his self- ""Ifwas a beautiful night, and Shotterly said, « Let's walk, boys," as he left the building with Hartford and Brierly. .^ ,, • ,„ "I'm glad to quit that game," said Bnerly, « and I'll have to get even with you some other time. To-night I'm like the pitcher that went th; weU once too of ten-I'm broke. Wa ^ng will save street-car fare and engender habits of thrift and economy." . , , "Here," said Shotterly, and his hand was in his pocket in a moment. , "No no. Don't take me quite literally, said Brierly. "I'm not so hard i^P «« *^^- Only spoke figuratively. Just as much obliged, *^°The'three walked slowly, choosing the silent side-streets; the thoroughfares were like deep, silent cafions darkly walled in; once in a while they saw some homeless vagrant creep i^o a shadowy comer out of sight, and once in a wh,le they saw a soUtary policeman. They started THE QUEEN OF HEAETS -:;ra^tr ""' -^ ^^ w"a£ r:?: finished their^^^X"r'^ "*' f""- '^"t skv w **'^^'^ft/alnt gray of morning in the an ^11 ill t i/' MANY WATERS Suddenly from the bed came a voice: "Why, John! What are you going away so early for, and without letting me know? " Shotterly was for an instant nonplused. This was a poser. Then his readiness helped him. Zee evidently thought he was dressing. " Why, I haven't been feeling well lately, and so I went to the doctor on my way to the office yesterday morning and he told me it would be mighty good for me to begin taking a long walk about sun- rise." Again he chuckled to himself. This was meeting an emergency as it ought to be met. And he hadn't made a misstatement either. He fully expected Zoe to say: "Oh, don't start quite so early as this 1 Do come back and go to sleep for a while." He was fullv pre- pared to yield to the adjuration. But instead, after a long silence, came the words : " I think that's a good idea, John. You haven't seemed to be entirely well lately, but 1 didn't want to make you nervous by speaking of it. This may be just what you need, and I'm glad you saw the doctor." There was another silence. "I hope you will enjoy your walk, John. You have had too little walking lately, I know, since you've taken up desk work.'' ("Too little!" thoTight Shotterly ruefully, and all at once he felt extremely weary.) 272 THE QUEEN OF HEARTS tad .h, .p„ten a g„„d faittt H, „^j °J Two well-dressed men were sifh'no. «* by table. They were "."^^f ^"*^^K «* a near- »»e ..djoi. „,,,,„.„,"*- Wort y«, and Si«£rly Z rflS- """"•^ "*■•■ aererf M„I j divemon, promptly .ridt^ar;rrstrH Tte stake, srt „ere high, hut Sholterly oare- 273 MANY WATERS lesslv ajn-eed. Should he lose he would the m Top playing, that was all. But he d.d not lose. Hand after hand was dealt, and time after time Shotterly won. He heard another man enter. " Ah, here's a good one to make a fourth 1" cried Dawkins. "Come and take a hand, Ward." And he added in an under- tone: "I never heard of his making a night of it hefore. He's too cool and steady a °^*°*A11 right, I'll make the fourth," said the newcomer; and Shotterly, turning, saw that it was Stuart Ward. Ward was surprised and for a moment em- barrassed; but the editor did not notice it, and soon all four were deep in the game. Still Shotterly's luck held. Broad daylight came, but the men did not stop. The sun streamed in at the windows, and at length Daw- kins threw down his cards. "I've got all I want," he said. "I hope the proverb s true, though-' Unlucky at cards, lucky at love --tor I'd be sorry to lose at everything. Isnt that the way you feel, Ward?" Dawkins laughed and yawned good-naturedly as he said this, and did not notice that the other made no reply. His friend stopped playing, too, leaving tne game to Shotterly and Ward. .^ „, ., , . «A curious proverb, that," said Shotterly; 274 THE QUEEN OF HEAKT8 " A handful of hearts l''h7Z T "^^' ^«°'°- •reJ^'^s'^'l' '"'*«"% too lie olher-s :l';l':lt{ 275 CHAPTER XVin THE BTOBY OF TUB DAV SHorrEHLY did not go home. There was Bcarce^me to do so and still get o his office bvTe time he wished to he there-teu o'clock ; and L addition, he felt an aversion to seeing Zoe that morning. It was reluctantly tha he aliUed this to himself ; hut as it was he wa^^^^^^ over to the Astoria and sat down to a londy bleakf ast. And he thought of the dmner-PJ^ that he had gathered together there in his effort to keep Zoe from leaving him. He did not feel either tired or sleepy, but he reali7,ed that his temper and his nerves were ready o give way, and so he carefully set a laS on his words. His assistant did not no- tice that he was in any way different from ill; but the assistant was a man uo given to analysis of moods so much as to the study of the possibilities of stories. The reporters of the staff began to appear shoSy af?er twelve o'clock, and both Knight- 276 THE STORY OP THE DAT flon and Hartford felt that fh«^« tie difference in Shotterly """ ""^ ""^ «baS;;rfj,t:s':,;,rerr'^ ^'^ — ° tliose of the other nl "°* '*°"«« ^"^^ Huch a restraint „ SSf'th J J'^^ ^^ '^^* not get away from ^111? ^' *''°P''" '^^'^ «harp criticisms t^ mSe Too fo %TJT °^ an unfortunato da/f^^the bS^ll ''^Of'r the Curule had TL J i^ ^"'^ °°«S'- "'"^u tant, a?the1lowicJL' £f ?^" ^"-'- Diurnal l,n^ ♦„ • *^ *^ *'"*''' ^ad one. The now nnderstanr? >.«1 i, "b" i- could not even "* «t^ the blue envelope was not found in l:^U4 MANY WATERS any of the letter-boxes. The staff compared notes and wondered. " Of course ho has never been like Severn, but really this is a morning when a few blue envelopes seem to be called for. I'm sure I couldn't have taken exception if he had chosen me, along with some others, for the slaughter," said one of the men. " When I stood at his desk getting roasted," said Brierly, " I kept an apprehensive eye on that red bucket hanging by his desk." "What fort" asked Jenkins incautiously. " Afraid he would use the red bucket instead of the blue envelope for a case of fire," was the dry response. There was not even a suspension or a fine. " I wonder if he's going to bo sick," said Jen- kins thoughtfully. With the coming of the staff Shotterly had found himself ready for the campaign of the day. His brain seemed perfectly clear. No weariness had yet come over him, in spite of his having had no sleep the night before. His work was well in hand, for the news of the morning had been fully digested. A number of assign- ments could be made immediately; and from suburban correspondents, from reporters throughout the city in charge of various de- partments ; from the Brooklyn and Harlem and 278 THE STORY OP THE DAY way secured "aluabLtn/^° ^/^ '" *''^'''- "^^ from a " tipster "asunS;,"",^ "'^^ *"'' "'«° who nose aLt Vor items £ '""' "' '"''''' gestions for news were sten,- ""' ^"^ «"«" The great staff ? ^ *'°"''°« i°- graduall/scatter f 'sor°^ *"*''''■'''' ^"« ears, some by fer^'boat « '"'V'"' ^^ *'"*'"«>'- foot; they went no^ih ' """f ^^' ''«"' «°»e on A networkTft^TiXL""*' ""^ '''' '' ^^^'' over the city, so that eve- " """/ '°°" '''^'''* parade, ev7^ JeetLj Z.'"^"''*""^ ^'•^' ^^^-^^ cipal crimin7l"apnSn!r ""''"''^' *^« P""' the city officials could nofmlv? ""^^^^r^^^^' out some reporter7o7t;r 7 ?"" ^P*'^^ ^th- inent visitors to the Uvt"" *'' '''^*' P™""^ their hotels- fnnr . ^ f"^ '""^^^t out at fomed a iti'ng lin ^''•"'■'"f ^^« ^^^^ East River w!rthZl, " V^'^^ ^^""^ the had entered SagaSh?;' ''^r™°° ^^^ for divorce was calfed „1„ T^^^ ^""'^^^^ «he did not want i"T;Tto;4°"''?^ *'''* t«re in the paper Drom.tw ^ " ^^^- P'^" captain of a steamer IS 1 Z-^'^' *'°*^' *^« port after a hur^eane fv • '"'* """^ ^°t° ii pi m r I MANY WATERS of the towns that cluster about, were busUy be- ing gleaned. . Other departments of the paper were at work also. In the telegraph-room instruments were ticking, and news was coming in from every quarter of the world ; but that was not in Shotterly's department, and he would need to know nothing of it until the editorial council should meet. . _i „4. Sitting at hiG desk, with every important piece of news covered and with three men held ready in case of any emergency call, a feeling of keen satisfaction came over him. He had won this place by his own ability; he believed that he was holding it creditably and making a success in it. Mann had told him, a few days before, that he should materially raise his sal- ary at the end of the week. Shotterly was, in- deed, well qualified for an executive position. He had a knack of handling men, of filling them with enthusiasm, of getting their best out ot them. Discharges, under his admimstration ot the citv room, had been few. And his old friends had found no change in him, such as is apt to come to a man when new and extensive powers are given and he finds himself in altered relations toward former acquaintances, bo Shotterly was justified in his feeling of satis- faction. 280 For the THE STORY OF THE DAY past day , 0, indeed, things had must be expecTed°Lr"'j .,* <^isappointment8 detenninedStl;SouS '"' ^"""^^'^ But he had little tl^ff ^""^ °° ^^""^^8. Scarcely had the la? % T-^'°'"^^ reflections. three e^rgen^ pet " ^i! °^'°' ^^^^P* ^he a few of thr^wKd Lr ''•"' °"*' *''"° began to straggirback '"'" '"^^^ «««^«°«d Next, the three who had been hpM ^ assignments; and Shofwjl ^'*^ ^^^« S^^en ones to compe^ate °ft^ f''" *^"°' «°«d Throughout thraft:™oonX slift o^^^"" 7^^*' of workers went 8tp«^; J ," °^ ^"'"^ and continually SL?w^ '°' "°^ "l^^^tions were Pable JudSX^?\heTr',r '^ ^"'^ - aspect, he bei/Siy t Tf ^^^^'^^^ weariness, of aiif^ "^ ^" ^''^ « ««"«« "f W Vtelhr^orn^:^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^-e the day's work were Ze!' LtllT '" ^'^ on and evening apnroS^ 1. J ^°°''' ^°'"« j^^g appro^adied, he began, too, to 1\- pi, ^ I'flif M ! MANY WATERS feel a sense of astonished disappointment, of defeat, for the men whom he had sent out on the most important stories were beginmng to come in or to telephone from outlying points, and their reports, almost without exception, were that the stories had « fallen down"; that is, that they had not, on investigation, come up to expectations. When a reporter "falls down" the city editor has at least the satisfac- tion of caUing him to account; but when it is the story that "falls down" the situation is most annoying, for it looks like a case of mis- taken editorial judgment. It was poor consolation to Shotterly that most of the minor stories resulted quite as well as he had expected, for he had not feared a shortage of material to fill a certain number of columns. Every mght each great metropoli- tan paper throws away columns of good ma- terial that has cost much money to gather; but a paper is measured by its important news ; and it is by the getting of important news and get- ting it better than do the rival newspapers, that a city editor is judged. Nothing of striking interest had material- ized for the next morning's issue. Knightson, ■with four men to help him, had been sent to Long Island City on a great murder mystery; but when subjected to critical investigation the 2S2 THE STORY OF THE DAY be the feature otLpLlTTV''' '''^ ' «ent to obtain a good Tf °^''' ^^^ ''een the formation of Tlnlr'^ ^° ^««-d to national importance Tt7, ^onibination of ^f the stoiy, and the dutJ^fA ""l^ ''""'^ ^^ get some one of nromi.: ^ / "^^"^^"^ was to Jet his name be usSS: '° T^"" '' ^-^ He found enough to mlvi ^. "°"^^ °°* «"eceed. that the stoiy Sas true \' 'I P^^^^t^eally certain were interesTed S he '1°°°^ °^ *^««« who a word. *^^ combination would say said Shotter]'y.''and^fl'*°'^ "°^^'' confirmed," half a dozen Xl\VT'''-\''^ "«-«« o^ gardtoit (forheW?!, ""'^^^ *«^^ « ^e- and sent Jenkins m^f^!- /*" '° ^ew York), did success. He forirof I- ^ °'* *'^ « ^P'en- «"<^ Plunged into htC'^ir'""^ ^-^ess energy transmitted itlejf trl^ ^'^ '''«'''■ ^s --.uguponthSpr^Ls-eS: If MANY WATERS off eager and confident; absolutely sure that be- ?fre midnight he should obtain the interview hat ^rneeded-, and for hour after hour he tnt from place to place, from ^ome to home not stopping for dinner or for rest Tne other ien were likewise animated to do their utmost and Iwave of electric potency swept over the '*' Hartford was one of those whose earlier stories had failed, and when he was given his nextasd^ment h; like the others, felt the stim- ulus of Shotterly's keen determination. This time he was to obtain an interview from a member of the Cabinet who had come to ^^J York that morning. Hartford arrived at his hotel only to find that he was just leaving for fte trarnT and that he had told the other news- ^per men that he could not say a word for ^^t tr^f ord did not send in Hs ca^d^, buUe auietly engaged a hansom and had the driv^'^ Sow the'stltesman to the ferry by wh^h h was to cross to Jersey City on his way to Wash '"^S"the ferry-house Hartford's cab eutered firsfand was Siven upon the boat immediately Fn front of the other, and both vehicles were Wt to a stand in the big open tunnel-h Bpace rumiing between^the cabin. And then THE STOKY OF THE DAY to New York to-day "ffi/!f^ *° ^°"^ ^^^^^ matier of fact. ^°''^'" ^^« 'i^ite The Cabinet oflScer was n=f«„- i, ^ amiiisprl tT„ I, J ^ astonished and the meeting Sh ^'^ ^' ^^^ '^^'^^ved "llit^ ''°- ^^^ ^*'° *^ere,» said Hartford Ind th'''/?' "' '''' ^^^« leaving/' '^' torly had not received anv nf t^ • ' ^°*' favorable reports Tbp n^fi ? ^ ™Portant unsatisfactory Mannthfo^^^ """' '*"' """^t 2oO MANY WATERS ers of those holding the most important posi- Shotterly could only say, in regard to the city department, that though he was confidently counting on a number of good stories coming in later, they had not yet done so. Mann rather curtly expressed disappoint- ment. " I particularly wanted to see several good city stories to-morrow morning," he said. " There are a good many hours yet before we go to press." :, , • -n "I still hope that some good stones will come in," the city editor repeated quietly, put- ting a restraint upon himself, though he fancied that Severn looked triumphant. " You have over forty men— fully forty-five, have you not! " said Severn. " I mean, inclu- ding department men. Doubtless some two or three of them will get something in." There was a tinge of sarcasm "n the tone. " After all, I can not invent or manufacture news," said Shotterly with acerbity. " It can sometimes be dug up, though, when it doesn't lie on the surface," said Severn. Mann broke in with a comment on the tele- graph news, thus cutting off a retort that was on Shotterly's tongue, and in a few minutes the council broke up, with Shotterly in a heat ot anger and of keener determination to win. 286 THE STORY OF THE DAY He sent a telegram to Zoe sayinK that }.« who came in to report felt the thrill of wSft EeT^Sr- ""."''* "-^^ -"* off^i^throi stade ^ "'°^ ^' "'^^ ^" «Pit« °f any ob- fawf °"'«^^ ^''"''^•^ '^^^^ «t the copy-readers' ^^ed the eyes of every other one of ifcit twin 'fl *' T' ^^'^^^^ "'^t ^^^ elaborate care twenty-five long, new pencils, each sharpened [o row beside his pile of copy paper wfth^ flower ,„ his buttonhole, ^Ih HsJngl^^Ji,: polished to exceeding brightness, with W^! 2S7 MANY WATERS coat of English plaid, with horn buttons, he presented an extremely spruce and natty ap- pearance; but when he began to lay out that row of pencils the others could not stand it. At a signal from the chief copy-reader they all arose and then marched, every one of them, in solemn file, from the room and to the nearest cat6, where they drowned their feelings, and then marched solemnly back. While they were absent Shotterly spoke to Streets with kind cordiality, and the tidy little chap forgot his flower and his pencils, his clothes and his looks, forgot the good-natured raillery of the copy-readers, and lor lied up into Shotterly's eyes with warm devotion. " I didn't thank you as I meant to — " he be- gan; but Shotterly Interrupted him. "Tut, tut," he said, " none of that." An hour passed. An office boy came to the city editor's desk. " Mr. Welkins, the tipster, sir, wants to see you." " Have him come in," said Shotterly. The tipster appeared. " Got a good story t " " Yes, and I want a hundred dollars for it. It's a corker." "What's the story?" And Welkins told it succinctly with no waste of words. " Isn't it worth a hundred dol- lars! " he said. 288 THE STOBV or THE DAT ^'^'^Z.^f """^ -"■"'J'. "E«h. " Sure I " "I'll give you seventy" "Can't do it T'li toi •. . Shotterly Llej fTh^o'ie^lobe.» takeitifitpa^o^t; Co^f > "" "«J^t- I'« you'll get the hundred dol W '^ °"°^ ""^^ anxious to get a irood stl l.. ^^ "^^^ ™o™ tipster dow?. "Do von J^ *^"\*° '"'«* the firm it t » ° ^""^ ^° "^ who will con. ^ou't'';:^'''Af:^T\ -^^ ^- ^-. if you let him know^ou :, '> "°^ ^^" *«lt formation." ^°" ''^'""^^y l»ave the in- ^^;; All right, we'll land the stoxy some and^oJSonw'or^"";? '°*° ^«-'« -om almost amounted S,St,'°;"?"^^^^°> *!>«* themost-talked-^men fthft ''^''' °°« "^ ;« prominent in thTt b ° dea That" T' ''"^ trying to land. This vrivZ \ ''^"'''"^ i« sensation, m send iJTr f J"' ^ tremendous three men, and i-Hbe^^f"^^ ""* °° ^^ ^ith J>«t the pi'ctures ' " His " " '""'' ''^^' ^t^' --'Whohad^.5^J----H^ MANY WATERS and was swiftly writing out his interview with the Cabinet officer. " Drop that, Hartford. Just hand it over to Brie.- i 7 to finish ; tell him the rest of it, quick. And then get right out on this new story and take three men with you. Round up every end of it. If you need more men telephone me and I'll send them. Follow the couple— see rela- tives and friends— and most of all find who the woman is, and don't spare expense in getting her photograph and getting it quick. Find who she is, quick. And let me know, quick. Just hustle and hustle 1 This'U be the big story of the dayl And when you see Dawkins, just fix him so that he won't let any other paper know. He's sent us tips himself at times, and I think he's working this with "Welkins, and if another fifty will keep him tight let him have it. And remember, the story's mighty little good without the woman and all about her. Get the woman first!" ^ ^ ^ Aglow with eagerness, for never before had he been trusted with the story of the day, Hart- ford sat down with Brierly and swiftly gave him notes of the remainder of the interview with the Cabinet officer. And, while he was thus en- gaged, Severn came into the room, and with a new and singular look on his face walked toward the desk of the city editor. Two or three of the 290 THE STORY OF THE DAY " nnn 'i ^*!f "*^ ^'''*°'' looked up. a special reasoS^He s? ""?' '•."^ *^«'«'« the woman m^b^l ^' ^''^^P' ^0° think s^:f:iSr^r«-^sed^: and his face wa« vo^ p^f^f ^ ^^ TT' vered and fajrired ««/»;'. ^^"tterly, fe- «aw only tS th« °? ""'^"^ '° ^"^^^ «°d brain, repeated Severn ^" ^°° * '«°<^ °"t." agrodSJ^;rd^?,f°^^r'^- "^-"' «'« voieehadanoddJ^nt-rsS^^^^^ ^91 MANY WATERS I would not ask this if there were not a strong reason. And I'll see to it personally that none of the other papers will nse it even if they get it, so you won't be beaten." But Shotterly still did not heed, did not even nr ce Severn's pale face and the strange note in ius voice. " I'll send out on the story," he said. " Nothing but a positive order from Mann could stop me." " He's just gone away," said Severn. "And the men have gone too," rejoined Shotterly, for at that moment Hartford and the other three left the room. And Severn, seeing this, turned, and without another word walked slowly off. Several of the men had noticed that there was a controversy between the two editors, and the eifect of the low-voiced colloquy was curi- ously to charge the atmosphere with unrest. It was as if some subtle disquieting influence were at work. The whining of the electric fans sud- denly became noticeable, the buzz of the tele- phone-bells all at once became an annoyance — not a man in the room but felt unsettled, rest- less, nervous. An hour passed, two hours, and Shotterly became keenly impatient, for he did lot hear from Hartford. Other stories began to come in — good stories and in abundance — and there 593 THE STOBY OP THE DAY WM now no longer actual need for such a featnr« that he LS Uve uXt "V^"""'"'^ P"'^° apDeal of th^ ■ ^'* ^^^regard of ILo At length Hartford came hnr>]. it into the building slowly .^1- ,^^<««"« and hlH face wa! Btrln'g;',^^ e'Sf dfd"'': Sevprn 1 u V managing editor. iousX™:^''*''''"^«*^--«-veandanx- "It'i'Ha'rt? *rV' ^-^^ «-«">• les, Hartford gulpea. ■I he two men were silent «TV» ,« i j do." ™' ■^■■- Severn— please " My boy," said Severn softly-and as TT«rt £11 aw°''' ? '™ '^ ««- the'old'e" mal" fall away and a gentleness steal overMs fca 893 "* MANY WATERS tures — " I know you are his friend, but for that very reason you must tell him. Nor am I his enemy. I'm not the cold-blooded man you all think me — it's the driving work of all these years that's given me that manner. And I'd do anything to help Shotterly to-night — any- thing. But don't you see I'm just the one that can't? Don't you see that what would be kind- ness or sympathy from anybody else would seem the grossest insult from me — that it would seem as if I wanted to deal the blow! I'd take this load from you if I could, but you'll have to learn that there are burdens that are not transferable, and this is one of them. You'll have to tell him." His voice was very, very gentle, and his face still had that curious look as if a mask had dropped away. "I can't— oh, I can't!" repeated Hartford miserably. And then into the room stepped Shotterly. He stared at Hartford in a sudden anger, but his words were cold and measured. " Do you know how anxious I have been to hear from youf And do I need to tell you that when I assign you on a story I expect you to report to me and not to some one elsef " Both Hartford and Severn were silent, and a miserable something in their faces struck Shotterly with a sudden sense of terror. He 294 THE STORY OF THE DAY T^8 frightened, yet he knew not of what. He felUhat there wa« something fearsome in thSr He leaned against a chair. « I—J think T'm a httle dazed. Is there anything-" His Jic" was uncertain and shaky in spite of h sTe! ^endous effort to retain his selLntrol Th fr thrpw^r '"PP««*if^°°^ the room and Hartford ?joTn-Joh;^^^"* ^^ ^^^^^^'« «^-^^- ShotrJ^s'liT"^" "" ^^^"^^ "^^-'^^ - wa:dT!^\eZis;td"°"^^° ''^' -^* -"^ John^°' -^"^-^""'t «sk me. Be brave, Shotterly sat down in a sort of huddled way drear ''S. ?", fJ^^ ^'^'^^«°'^ "eak anJ oId,*oid:ar"-*'^"'^^"'"^^^^«P-^^^- I,. 1' ^~^'f ^°™^ ''°™'''" ^« ^^i'J Windly. Then iJl' '^"!P«''«tel7 to pull himself together mist^k7'zt"^r ^°^^"^^'^- " '^^-«' -"e mistake. Zoe will clear it all up. I-I'm so- ing home/' He repeated these last words veTy softly to hmiself and then unsteadily arose 295 MANY WATERS < I I " May I go with you, JohnT Let me go with yon — please do. You need a friend to-night, John." But Shotterly only looked at him absently, and then moved toward the door of the city room. " Don't go out there ! Let me get your hat I " cried Hartford. But Shotterly, with his head bravely up, his shoulders straight and square, walked out into the room and steadily across it, but his face was as the face of the dead and a deep silence fell upon the men. " I'm going — home," he said to the night city editor. " I won't be back—" The words fell drearily, curiously steady. And then in the midst of the silence he walked to the door and disappeared. Hartford went with him as far as the Ele- vated, and at the foot of the stairs Shotterly, still so terribly white, so terribly moved, said: " I'm going home — I want to see Zoe — to see Mrs. Shotterly. There's been some mistake, you understand, and it Will all be cleared up. And— report to Mr. Severn about the story and ask for his instructions. And— and give him my apologies. But let him know it's all just a mistake ; just — just a mistake." He stumbled up the stairway like an old and debile man. " I'm going home," he whispered to himself; "I'm going home— to Zoe." 296 CHAPTER XIX THE COMINo OP MAYOB MA.BOSK followed sZornvZTT" '"^ '^' ^'^^ t^^^* paper that the sTo^be Tn/'^ 'T^'*^** °^ '^^^ editors promptlyaS^eed no T^'^'f'*' ""^ '''' terly was widV^ra^d wa ^rkeVt ''°*- one who knew him «r,^ v. ^^ ^^ ''•^ ^^^ry brotherhood among\hf «";/'' """ "' J^eptthenewspaperVfrrran/w^^^^^^^ situation was explained ^^'""^ '* ^^en the The tipster who had taken i+ t„ +1, t^- was amazed to see nothinfof ftt -^.'"""^ called promptly and sent fn ff q P"°*- ^^ i- ^ P y ana sejt m to Severn a demand r i t MANY WATERS for his money, and it was paiJ him, but with- out any explanation. On the second day, see- ing that it was still untouched, he made the rounds of the other newspaper offices offermg the story; but in every case he was met by the indifferent statement that they knew all about it and didn't want it. On the morning following the disappearance of Mrs. Shotterly and Ward, Shotterly did not appear at the office, and Severn sat at the city desk and took up the work. He was apparently the Severn of old— curt, sharp, hard, and crit- ical. Assignments were given out, and men went to and fro, and stories were turned in, and the great staff steadily worked, just as if no tragedy had come into the life of the city editor whom they loved. But beneath the brusqueness of his manner, Severn was anxious and compassionate. He called Hartford. "Go up and see Shotterly, won't you? Charge your time 'o the paper, he added with a smile. "I've been," said Hartford. "I was there this morning; but if he was home he wouldn't answer. Knightscn was there, too." ^ « Well, suppose you just go up again. May- be you'll get him this jme." And so he went again, but still no one would come to Shotterly's door. And when Hartford 298 THE COMING OF MAYOR MALROSE S ^XCfo'?.!' •: ^^-'^ yo. let me in, terly had ^'ot'ol 'tuT """^ ^"^« ^^- «^S- kept trying to ShiS h^/? ^""^ ^°^«^*^«° no notes, hf would seeTo'^.t" """"^^ ^'^^^^^ vacated the apartmentHad sent al?^'''^ ""^^ to a storage warehouse, and had^!ff ^^',f "'^^ had told no one ^hJl\ ^^* °° address, the staff, covering h! Zr"' ?°'"^- ^°"« «^ on their varTed assi^l?*^^^ '"'^ «^°°g them quarters of it^aTSoTS TLT^'T and n.ght, either saw him or Wd of hf tI X:^^esf r '''' '' ^ '^" 't New Yor * .neved/2dtl1:rriV^^^^^^^^ ?irh^:?ard«' -- o?;itf r^nr Near the end of the second week Mavor M i rose appeared. He had - rJ+f • ^ ^^'' letter and had received .o ""^ ^'°P°'-t«°t had wired and th!fT °^^°«^er. Then he sohet:otrtit otirrstr to ShotterIv'« address rZ] 7 . 7 « .°° ^°^°« MANY WATEES the hall-boy, whom he plied with questions, he received such a sinister intimation that he was staggered and appalled. Then he went to the office of the Diurnal, and found that Shotterly was not there. The office boy (it was the same who had first met Hartford so long be- fore) asked him if he wished to see Mr. Shot- terly personally, or if any one else would do. " How soon will Mr. Shotterly be in! " asked the mayor. " I don't know, sir." The boy saw that the visitor was agitated, and so he did not volunteer information in regard to the city editor's not having been there for nearly two weeks. " Let me see some close friend of his," said the mayor; and the boy asked him inside and set a chair for him, for Malrose, once so self- sufficient, so pretentious of manner, was weak and trembling. The lad sought out Hartford, " There's an old man wants to see Mr. Shot- terly. I think it's his father. Anyway, he's all broke up. And then he said he'd see his friend." « I'll go," said Hartford. And he stepped to where the boy had left Malrose waiting. Malrose arose and seized Hartford's hands in a close grasp, and his voice broke pathetically as he said: " My dear sir, I remember your face perfectly as a friend of John's, though I don't just recollect— Mr. Hartford, you say! Yes, 300 THE COMING OF MAYOR MALROSE of course. And now, I've been rather ar dous on account of my son-in-law movHg and Wet- ^ng to send me his new address, and if you-" fllfi^''^ "^'^ ^"'•""^^ ^itJ^ ^i«tful anx- iety, and the assumed confidence of his voice departed and the last of the words droppedTff m a sort of excited mumble. Hartford's eyes were full of deep commis m. f 'r ' Shotterly-" He stopped hoarsdv J'^^PP^"''^' " demanded Malrose Hoarsely. Where is my daughter t » Ar.^ f?"^ '°!t*^'' "^'^^^ ^°°'"'" «aid Hartford ^i^'fl^^^'^r' '""'^^'^^ ^t t^« twitching face' of the father, he told, in as few words as h! possibly could, the tale of what had happened And has any search been made? Iny-" The mayor could not command himself to speak "No, there was no one who had the right ppear" llV''''' ^^ "'''" ^""^^'^ '^'^^ -* friends" h T ""^ P"''* ""'' ^'' newspaper friends, have done everything to keep it quiet and to avoid publicity. Wo thought that was what Shotterly himself would like." "And— is there any doubt!" ;^'None,» said Hartford gravely. And this— this man— Ward?" h,v w ' '' ''^'V° ^' "^- 1° f««t' I heard of his being seen here just^a few days after Mrs. MANY WATERS .)„1 Shottcrly disappeared. He is an active op- erator in stocks, but has never kept an office in Wall Street, and has conducted his opera- tions largely from his own rooms. This has made it easier for him to keep his movements quiet." " Where are his rooms t I'll go to him— I'll demand my daughter! I'll go to himl" He started away in a glow of passion, but at the door a weakness again came over him. " I'm an old man," he muttered, " a weak old man. I'll be stronger in a minute." Again he started to go. "I thank you, Mr. Hartford. This has been a — a very painful matter to ask about." He paused and then spoke uncertainly : " You are a friend of John's— and I am not al- together myself. Would you mind coming with me to this — this man! " Ward was not in, and the two sat down in the reception-room and waited. At length he came, and, cool and composed, but with a whi- tening about the lips, met and faced the sorely smitten father and listened to his denunciation. But he refused to say a word of Mrs. Shotterly. " I know absolutely nothing about her," he de- clared. "This is all some strange misunder- standing." " Mr. Ward," said Hartford firmly, " I know, and you know, that you are speaking an 302 THE COMING OP MAYOR MALBOSE rhouK. ^"^ ''"' '"-^^ «^-««ed his withil'yor whew caTfiT ''^"^ ^^«""« «»• J n, , ' '^''^'^6 A can find my dauffhtpri" you want to «r!i % .. "P ^° "y ^-^""s i^ .ort^s^rthTk^sts,^^^^^^^^^^^ there was a heart-break in his voice ^ fnJ-l '•PP^^led again to Ward, and Hart aIh M 7 ^ "°'*^' '^"''^ ^«<^« ^as unrelated And Malrose, with a certain dignity oTS' ann, and together the two wen a^^r Then was got; ''"' ^'^^ ^™^*^« to ^l^om he away somewhere." "^cieiy niae 303 MANY WATERS "Come with me to my rooms," said Hart- ford. And there was such genuine kindness in bis tone that the mayor went with him. Hart- ford got him to the easiest chair, and he sat there brooding, with his eyes cast down, and now and then shaking his head and whispering to himseLf. And Hartford went up-stairs and asked for Mrs. Westenhouse. " I know I am taking a liberty," he said, " but I've come to ask you to help me." He told of Mrs. Shot- terly's father being with liim, and said that ho did not know but that the mayor might be sick or need help; and, in short, would not Mrs. Westenhouse come down with him and speak with Mr. Malrose and see if there were any- thing that could be done! And Mrs. Westen- house, her heart full of pity, did so, and her presence brightened and calmed the trembling man and soothed him. "If this had been to-morrow," she said to Hartford, " you would not have found me. Miss Wharton and I are going up to her father's for two or three weeks or so. And I am going to ask Mr. Wharton to let me bring her back with me for a long, long visit. I am getting to be a lonely woman, and it has been a great brighten- ing of my life to have her with me. I don't want to be selfish, but I do want Mr. Wharton to divide Elinor with me and to give me at least half." 304 THE COMING OF MAYOR M^iLHOSE time, to the rooms *? ZTeT°l '"*'"'' ""« both Elinor and her aunt 2 h ^^°"''' ''^"™ fortable. Then h-^.^'"? ^""^ "^^^^ ^™ «°™- clubmen and men ^b SI''""* '.'""' '""°°« why he asked TL?^ ''°' '*"^' explaining ford ... peak ,„, . ,„ „,„J; S'g *"• ..J5 MANY WATERS She listened, shy, hesitating, almort carried away by his fervor. He could scarcely, indeed, have chosen a better time, for this great trouble had brought to him a deeper, graver manliness, and had given an additional firmness, an addi- tional strength, to his bearing; and now his kindness toward Malrose, his unassuming sym- pathy and helpfulness, had touched both Eli- nor and her aunt. Hartford saw from Elinor's manner that his words were at least not displeasing to her. He almost dared to hope that she would tell him what he so dearly wished to hear; her sweet shyness was delicious. " Do not answer me now, Elinor, if you hesi- tate in even the slightest degree. I feel that 1 must tell you that I love you. I have loved you since I first knew you. I shall love you all my life." "I — I don't know what to — " Elinor stopped, and a blush swept over her face and neck. Under the spell of his presence, and hav- ing for weeks past felt a growing interest in him, she could scarcely refrain from saying that she loved him ; but she was checked by the re- flection, which even in such a moment she could not ignore, that another man was still paying his court to her with the approval of her father and the willingness of herself. Her sense of 306 THE COMI '0 OP MAYOB MALKOSB womanly fitness told her that she had no right to give her love to Hartford while the suit of Waters was on such a basis. "I will ask you again when you return Eli look dT^ ""^f"'^' ^"^ ^°"d pride as ho ooked down at her. " And I feel that I ;m sure to win. I am not superstitious, Elinor, and you will laugh, I know; but old Mammy Blaekhnm mer, on the day that I left the WesTci^l 'oun-" try said something that has been a great com- fort to me, a great encouragement, fof it ^ emSl to mean that I shall win you no matter what Ittfl "'^."°T .^"•^ '^' P'^^^'-b that she quoted has stayed with me as a promise of Mrs. Westenhouse came back and glanced from one to the other but said nothing. But some time after Hartford's departure she spoke wouW of"' "°^ '"^? '^'' ^"'"^ ^^y EUnor would, of course, make up her mind in regard wJf^ f °? "'r^', remember, my dear, that a girl with tastes for the good things of life ought to marry money and position. Not, of course, if she distinctly dislikes a man; but otherwise, he sen ible way is to marry one who, like Paul Waters has an established position and profes- mon and is earning a great deal of money, and who, in addition, is of high character ^d is 307 w. MANY WATERS bright and pleasant and agreeable. With quali- ties such as his, reeniorced by money such as his, his wife will be a happy woman. And I speak to you from the standpoint of middle- aged experience when I say that a girl makes a mistake if she lets herself think that she can be happy with nobody but some particular one. The fact that women wait for men to speak, and then take the one that does speak, shows that they have the capability of being happy with some one besides the one they may first think of." But then she thought of her own girlish love for Mr. Westenhouse, and of how little money he had when they were married ; and she sighed as she looked at Elinor, standing flushed and silent, and it was with a sense of compunction that she said: "After all, dear, it is your own feeling that must tell you what to do, and I am a foolish old woman to talk of worldly wisdom to you. But it would please me very much if you should accept Mr. Waters, for I am sure you would be happy." Tbey took a train to Elinor's home that afternoon, and in the evening, as the girl sat on the veranda and looked off at the great lake that filled the valley in front of the house, she thought of Marshall Hartford and of how lie had waved a good-by to her. 308 M ^- -^ THE COMING OF MAYOR MALEOSE Suddenly Waters rod. up and cv led out a cheexy greeting as he dis. .oruited. 4ow gtd I am to see you herel » he »aid. Hr hadTnown Sid nofbe: "^"^ ^'^ '^"^^ part 0? th?::el out had not been sure as to which day : but beinJ at the station at Purdy's late that^Xlnoo/ srhrh"o:n:,r.^-^^^^°^-'^^^^ ««-r.^w''°^' '* ^^^^ t« ^e Iiome again!" he said to Ehnor. " Isn't it good to find Silvery one IS glad to see you back? " ^ ;;iam very glad to be home again," she said. .In^ , ^"PP"'*' ^'"^ "^'fi^l'; but I'm awfully gJad you've run up here, and I hope you'll lei me see you often, and that we may have some drives together." ™® Mr'^wT 'f ^"'^ i^^^'^ ^^'''' ^"'J after a while Mr. Wharton and Mrs. Westenhouse wPnt in side, and Elinor and Waters were left tSer and the moon shone beautifully down and si^' Sgis^°^---'-^^^-i^^turedt don;\nr hrrh^^^^^^^^^ /- thought I could be patient-and^i can be if I mst--but it is hard to wait, Elinor. It is hard to feel an uncertainty, " - inv, J .. , -' ^01" I love you »„. Uh, don't, please don't to-night 1 " she 309 If cried MANY WATERS pleadingly; and he felt hurt, for it seemed as if some new barrier had arisen between them. She turned toward him and smiled, but there was doubt in the smile; she was embarrassed and troubled. And he said : " I will not ask you again for a while, Eli- nor. I see that I must really be patient. But I shall be entirely hopeful of the future. Do you blame me for feeling sure that you will let me come to you! And I must tell you something. I am not superstitious — at least I think I'm not — but I have never forgotten what was said to me down in this hollow — it was a hollow, then — right in front of us, just before I flooded it. It was that old negro womau, the old slave; she quoted an ancient saying that I have ever since held close to my heart. Often and often it has given me new confidence, and I have needed the confidence of late, for I have fancied that you were almost slipping away from me." He did not understand her look, nor what for a moment he fancied was a tinge of amuse- ment. " And so — so it is a saying of old Mam- my Blackhammer's that — " He did not guess that she felt an hysterical desire to laugh. " Yes, I had just been deeply impressed by you, Elinor, as you stood there — just below where we are now — do you remember t And then it was that the old woman spoke." 310 m THE COMING OF MAYOR MALROSE been tlnr^^ZnWofZTf T"^'^^ «^^ ^^^ Bide of the valley ^-l^efSr *'' °*^^^ she murmured. ^ "^ remember," a. ^'.^JreTdStVr '? T" "»' "■" " And— and— what— » in;,, , bled ever so little h,,I w . °'' ^ """'^^ ^''^m- guessed that itt^tefuiTe T" '"'^^ to tell her that day that fL . """^ ^^^ ^''^t black woman had given 1 l^LT"^' "^ *^« ^^^ ful love ^ confidence of success- "But— but, Mr. "Waters" a„^ *i, now an unmistakable smiW^r *^''' ""^^ mouth, a smile that 1=1 ' "'"'""''"^ "^ ber which show d tL X w T".!l^ ''^'""^«' ^'^d -me mMh^rkS ru h -.frjt s —the using your namo -r«, i * 'bat rather dolSlZiJZ^r^''''^-'^ '''^' It S;\tlSe?^^^^^^^^^^^ S'^ ^*^ ^i- so sane and so sensfbl. «l, T *^^ °''°' «««»> 311 ' :« MANY WATERS and she was in a fever of wonder, of excited amazement, to know how it could have hap- pened that both of them were affected by the same words. Elinor and Waters took a "ong drive to- gether the next day, and they went through lovely lanes and into a queer old town where there was an old-time academy on one side of the single street of the place, and a row of old- time homes and almost deserted shops on the other, and where there were a pretty brook and a great balanced rocking-stone, and being thus alone with her he did not, after his experience of the night before, risk spoiling the drive for her by talking tendernesses. But when, return- ing, they neared her home, he said : " It seems so good to be with you on these fascinating lanes. It makes me realize how happy I should be if we could jog on together forever." But she did not answer, and her face was very thoughtful, very grave. Her mind, in truth, was full of Hartford. It was right over there — she could see the spot from where the carriage was when he told her this — it was there, in that meadow beside the Croton, that Hartford had sat beside her on the grass on that day last spring when his love had almost been uttered and when she — ^yes, she knew it — might have welcomed it. Should she say Yes 312 THE COMING OF MAYOR MALTOSE side her? '"'''''^"^' companionable lover be- B^nluZZl'S^'^rr!"'- ^^"ton be- of news, for E wa- h . ^T^^"^* ^^^ ^^^t^ New York paper But hVr^ '"' '''^'^^ t- than looked at thP^ ^f*^ °°* ™"«li n^ore breakfasflndlll^Z/^-^en he forgot his WestSlV' "''"^"°^ °^-«^" «aid Mrs. ously^ t?t; r'r^^f -nien si.ultane- Iooke'dat^SerL\u:;risf ^"^* *'^* ^^-*- .•delivering a message L/S/?™^"^ ^^-"^ -g on the floor nnconsciot ""' '" ^^^^^^ ^^- ^oun?t^^o.^;rner^-1,I«f- one must have stmpV i,- f ^ ^'^a* ^ome »m. ... ™.VaX'T„SS !:';?''■ *"" and crept out when h,-« „ , f^®<* i° lus rooms was certain that H was 1^1 T* "^"^- ^e he had seen him go o^tVf. he ?''""''' ^«'' then remained seatprf Jli, t '^°°'" «°<^ had ^0^ had the ranttutTd '^ ^'^"'^ ^^^^ ^^ 313 MANY WATERS And then he found that securities amount- ing to over $900,000 had been stolen. They were mostly non-negotiable, indeed, but were of vital importance to him. He had taken them from the safe in the room to examine them. Having no office in Wall Street, and conducting his business in un- usual ways, he often had money or securities by him, but had never before had such an amount as this. He had got the securities to- gether on account of needing the actual papers in his hands to complete a great deal which he had been engineering, and which was to be com- pleted in the morning. He had been looking the securities over, and the entire amount was on the table before him when he was struck. And there was not a trace of the assailant or of the securities to be found, though an army of detectives were at work. There was much doubt felt as to robbery having been the mo- tive. It was suspected that the assailant had entered the rooms to attack Ward and had picked up the securities merely because they were temptingly there in plain sight, and had kept them as a way of dealing a blow of a differ- ent kind. The two women looked anxiously at each other. "Who did it?" was the question that their eyes asked. 314 I't ' CHAPTER XK t^iough it is a city thnt ^^^ ^o^k, al- four hours. But S 1 ' ^^' ^«P«« "^ twenty- ^I'^e and so full of^TtLr^T '" ''^'^^' amount had been losT^V^''' ^"^« «° '•ead the accounts o7 ^ ati S' T ''"^ ''«'''y were doing. ^°^ "^ ^liat the police an/roTbed7e L'^i^'; °^^" ^^° ^«<^ --uKed the building frortS™""^?^^^ ^°t-ed ««uttie. He had en Lred the S ''' "^'^''^^'^ apartment-house in the blol 7'^ °^ «°°^e banks were w„nied no? T °.°'""'*' •"'I 'he "J-^'Jh.bo.a.lr.'eSS'"""™-- Ml MANY WATERS the amoTint represent something more than his fortune; for, as usual, gossip had somewhat ex- aggerated his wealth, and, in addition, he had recently lost many thousands of dollars; but the robbery, at that critical time, meant even more than the face value of the pape"- « checked him, thwarted his plans discredited him; for there were some astute bankers who suspected that the alleged theft was a cleverly schemed invention, and that the keen speculator had himself arranged the machinery for its rep- resentation. .„, , ^, I, tv,„ A general impression sifted through the community that there was much more behind the case than had been allowed to come before the public, and among the acquaintance of Ward -those who had heard some inkling of the case of Mrs. Shotterly-it was believed that the as- sault upon him was an outcome of that incident Ward himself told the police that he believed that Shotterly was the man who had attacked him- but the editor could not be found, though detectives searched in every quarter of the city. It was believed by the authorities that he had left New York after the commission ot the Ward also told the police that he had some suspicion of Mayor Malrose, but that this was only sUght and was based upon the fact that TWO MEN IN A TENEMENT extent familiar wi J h °'^^°'" ^«« *« «°n'e the conclusion that it * suggestion, came to Among the newVn "^''"^^ "^tenable. believed tLt ShX^wlr '* "«:: ^^"^^"^ of the papers ^7; T ™°'' ' ^"* >° °o"e though rairthr;," .v"T^"°° °^«^«' assault had been coZff. ,T*^ ^'°*" *^"t "^e had a deep persona^r f '^ ^^ '°'°" «°« ^ho that someZTvSl S "^'T! '^'''■•^' «°<* bottom of theycu^reiee '"'"' '"^ '' *^« prefsTfi Xt wa?/^^•^^^P -^-t ex- P-dence in tlSgTe eTrit es'^^^^^ ^ ^-- "ShotterI,.:„frnevTrTttt'^"l^^^^ opinion both Knightson and Hartfotd .^ m ' concurred. To them ns f" o . heartily credible that Shotteri^ c^uW at7/r '' "'^ ''" behind. « He miX I^ , 1 ^''^ ^ ™«" ^''om ile might attack him-he might even oil MANY WATEBS kill him— but Ward would know who it was that was dealing the blow." Knightson was in charge of the general story, but to one branch of it Severn assigned Hartford. " I want you to find Shotterly," he said. "Consider that your assignment till further notice. You may take your own hours to it— night or morning— but find Shotterly. And, of course, I do not need to say that any- thing you may unearth which may be of value to the general story you will at once let Mr. Knightson or myself know." With the utmcst "■se Hartford investigated eveiy possible source of information. The jan- itor and hall-boy at the house where Shotterly had lived were closely examined; the tenants who lived in the same building were seen on the chance that to one of them Shotterly might have dropped some hint; the storage-warehouse people were interrogated in the hope that, after all, Shotterly might have left some address in confidence, and Hartford used all his skill, and successfully, to make the superintendent con- sider it a case in which it would be only justice to Shotterly to give up information. But, un- fortunately, the superintendent really possessed none, and so Hartford had to take up the search elsewhere. Under his assignment he was by no means tied to New York city, but he saw no 318 TWO MEN IN A TENEMENT working ' P°''"' themselves were One night, nearly two weeks «ftl~ li, sault and robbery, he saw frnl 2 *^^*'- of a Th;r.A A ^ *™™ the window Of an electnc-hghted shop-window and Thl he merged into semiobseurity ThT'fil stooping, the walk was a sLJi ^f^^J^^s apnearanno «f it shamble, the whole MANY WATERS I I I Hartford looked at thQ disappearing figure, so birangely reminding hirb of some one, but he could not lay hold of the elusive recollection. Of course it was no one that he really knew — and then there flashed into his mind the re- membrance of a talk he once had with Shot- terly about the ease with which a man may avoid recognition. This came to him with seeming inconsequence; and in another instant he was dashing toward the door. The car at that mo- ment came to a standstill, and a woman with three children and an immense basket blocked the aisle in front of him. This delayed him a little, and when he finally leaped from the plat- form and hurried to where he had seen the shambling figure it had disappeared and he could nowhere gain sight of it. On the near-by comer stood a policeman, and to him Hartford described the man's appearance, but the oflScer shook his head. No, he had not noticed him. For hours, then, Hartford wandered about in that vicinity, but no trace of the shambling fig- ure could he find. And while Hartford was so eagerly search- ing for him, the man shambled away, and at Twenty-sixth Street he turned toward the East River, and after proceeding for a little in that direction entered the hallway of an old tene- ment-house. He stumbled up the dark stairway 320 TWO MEN IN A TENEMENT sobbing SiSirr""' ^'' '°'*^'"« « ifle words seemed ^rotesrino <,„-j • ous coming from surh „ ^-^ ^ mcongru- figure but thp L disreputable-looking "I'm hungry," she said. some Lrehal" ^ ^°?.^* '"^^ ^-- -t "Takeit;fe^^S. ^Itfall t'^--^^- sorry it isn't more." ^ ^''''^- ^ «™ The woman mumbled astonished thanks. Jacob,? ^^f/^'^i-^^^rcl. "My growir.' ,.p. Si , .; ,,^^_fi°an's eyes were hecoulusee that hr. ^^^^ ^""^«^' «°d and lined Som troub7e?"'" ^ ''^^ "^^ P-^^^'^ There came a wail frnm +i.„ which they were stllj"" J^^.tTdo ''"'' thing elset » he asked. « I-I'm afr« -Jt,'''"'"- SU,b™.u,to.«„,„epi.g,„dl„™i^ i'lli ■•)'! MANY WATEES choked miserably. "So poor we have been I And so hungry I " " Come, come," he said gently, " you must control yourself." " You are a good man, a good man ! " she sobbed. " No, madam. I — I am drunk, I assure you. I — I think that I have not been sober for many days. And this money — well, it is what is left of a little I raised on a coat this afternoon — and I got this ragged thing—" In the darkness he tried to look down at it, and then he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. " And your child inside there is crying — let me hold this one for you, madam. I live on the floor above — the room at the rear— and I shall take good care of the child, I assure you." Gasping with amazement, the woman relin- quished the child, scarce realizing what she did, but instinctively feeling that this was a man whom she could trust. His eyes were blood- shot and his hands were trembling, but these were things she did not notice, or at least did not deem of any moment. And with the hungry bundle in his arms he went up to his room — a little room, bare and cheerless, on the topmost floor. As he entered, a man slipped out from the room adjoining and went in after him, growling TWO MEN IN A TENEMENT a grnS greeting. "Well noi^i,;, you're back, eh? What W^''°'' ^°^ «° for?" ^^^^^^''ve you got that child repl7° And "heV'th/",^'^ "°'^«^'" -« ^he seemed to be s ruck hv ''^^I'^^'^^^t^d nurse own Possestn of th/;^^^^ Ws queer hoarse lauirh l^ ' ^ ^^ laughed, a l^ad been qSe ed^ tt/'r: ''' ^'"'' *^«* a", net up a piercing c J ^e'r"?- f '* soothe it, and handW T ^^ ™^° t"ed to such ready ease ttaf "'f ,. /° ^'^"^ ^"'^ ^i«» and was purrW^nt L/.? ' '^ '^ "^ "'^^"e its mother who w ^ '° ^^' «™« ^hen hearing t; wJl iT^r^^^ ^ «>«™ on the room. ' ^ ^""^ ^"^'^ an^ously into -?oVri:t?"f 1 get sober. It wouldn't taste right when I'm drunk. But when I get sober — " Ho paused and stared out of the window. Bellevue Hospital was down below there, not far away, and he saw the little building that is the public morgue; and the East Eiver was spread out beautifully before his eyes. " If you're a believer in revenge, you'll agree with me in what I did. I've got wealth, man! Wealth I But I don't know what to do with it. They'd put me in jail. And now that I've both- ered him and scared him he can have it all back except the part that's mine. But I had the right to take it. He owed me forty thousand dollars, and I'll give him everything back if he'll let me keep my own— just my own. Isn't that fairt " The other looked at him commiseratingly 326 • TWO MEN IN A TENEMENT and shook his head " n • i , . evils of too mXrink^^H^rr'' ^'' «^« jnight have made a successin 2 " """f "^"* We, just wrecked by stron' ^ ' ^^^^' °*' as-as-well, alniosf as cTa^J« 'rt T ^^ be myself before long" ^ "^ ^"^ ^^ely to to - rs?;::,tjf*^ou-^ how poor both of us are? LSr* T ''"'''' we can't tell where onr h , * * ^°° ^°^ that And here isTws foTuJr'^^"'''r°^^°^^'-«'°» He took out a thick bri'° ^^ ^"°'^^- ^ee ! " to lay them dow^on S" " '^/'' ^""^ ^'^"° his companion^at «i^ 1. J ''' ^^°°* °^ ^^ere ^th a sort Xin/awe ' A'f n *'^ P«P-« down the first man shZ" ^ ""^ ^' ^^ ^^^^^ them -d^^engre^rorfyrchfT^"^^-^^- them, k^:: jrand^t^"- /^^* ^-^ «* sands I NineSr.,?i*''°'''^°^« ^"'i thou- worth everyllL'of thirSt f' *'^^'^« make us both crazy ! Buni-^ f '* ^""^^^^ to And I want youTo ^otl '"V"*^ ^^'« ^^«1' «an have it alLaiSf .Jn '"'^ '"" ^™ ^e «and dollars. That's tiHl ^^^ ^^^ *^°»- H ^~- MANY WATERS rising, and in the tremendous excitement into which the handling of the fortune had thrown him, he was almost hysterical. " And now, I want you to go to him and tell him this. I want you to go to Stuart Ward " But his words were interrupted by a peal of grisly laughter. "Ho, ho, ho, hoi You want me to go to Stuart Ward for thatl Mel Ho, ho, ho 1 " And the man flung his arms wildly above his head and then paced back and forth through the little room. 328 CHAPTER XXI A MESSAGE KOB MKS. SHOrTEBLy started down the^'tf?^ ^^^^f ii« -oxn and tossed restlessly thro,3. J\ .? ^""^ ^«^° ^d -"easily now an'd aS tnd ,f °^«^*' «^°^i«« a start. *"° ^°^ t^en waking with of tfet:n.^Tztr^i,nr ^' *« <^- there was no response S ' • T^^'^^' »>"* e°ed by having Ms co^f '^°.' ^" ^««t, fright- f tolen securities receSn !' T ''?"'' *° *^»« ion, had hurriedly itW^7''"i'^°"«We fash- of belongings ZSdtro^ T?'' ^'' ^'"'^^^^ a hiding-place elsewhere " ^"^^^« *° «««t fairL^lr;r^^Jn'eldt.ght^^ heard theS of ^M ' *"ri^^ ^««« «« he half openanTh?g,lS'Sn "^i: '°°^ «*-<^ of poverty, and yet ther«^S °L_^* ^«« a_scene and yet there had been '■■'r ■ I I a brief time MANY WATERS of happiness, for the flavor of meat broth was in the air and on the table stood a fresh y emp- tied dish. The dish had been filled by the Mtle money he had given the night before. Good morning" he said, and the mother welcomed him with a smile ot gratitude. "Is there anything I can do for you this morning!" he asked. The children looked at him in big-eyed curiosity, and the famished look on their faces told how much they needed more than they had had. In the room adjoining-a little black closet of a room-the husband, Jacob, lay, helpless from a broken ankle. In answer to Shotterly's inqmry the little woman tried to tell him again that she thanked him, but words failed her, and she could only elance sorrowfully about the room. « Tut, tut! " said Shotterly soothingly; and then he called the (children to him, and his smiU drew them even though they wondered. On< climbed upon his lap and one snuggled againsi his knees, and soon they forgot their childisl misery as he talked to them and petted them. The mother watched the little scene, an< under the quiet spell of Shotterly's presence sh told, in broken sentences, that her husband hac after a long period of irregular work, secure^ a good position as motor-man; that the gres strike had come and that he would not consei 330 ^ MESSAGE POB MBS. SHOTTEBLr leave his car by maw'f' ^^'^ ^«^ced him to W of it. ADd whSTthflT °° '^' ^t'-^et in i«d been retuseTZriTt" "'"'''''' '"^''^^ could he secure it anTS:^.^^ <^^onipany, nor ^-« of savings had^e V^ .^'/^ ^^^ ^°^- ness. Finally, Lena h«^' ^^^° ^^^ come sick- axidhadbeeniitteda^'faT T/""^ ""'^^'^ He had been mercifui an^ ° '"^"'"^ « J«dge. been given to heT'T\''T^^ '^°"«'-« had "'oney home in ecVsv p'.^f '^^''^^d the «oon went and bi teXofel*'^ '^" *^°"-« ed- A little work now andl^ t^T *^"«°«°d- earned now and thenl/Jer t?^ ^^T' '^ ^''^^ had existed, but that was aU ""'^"^ "^^^^ -stro^Ia'ndetn'^'"'^^""^^"-- "I Tiere had come 0'^^°"°.^ °^^°^^'" ^^ «aid I'efore him, lay a duL^r„/^,' '''''' t^at here. «vade. Here was 8nff3 •' """'^ "»* t^ to and it was his dut^ Sf^n t^ "!" "^^ ^'^' He paused at fJ,! \f *° ''^^'^'^e it- the little woman *^t wT. '°? '""'^^"^ <^«^ at crept afW him".' ^on^C^t^P- «^-. had L?/r^^' "to the oSdoor'^^irnl^!': »ent, at the foot of he had forgotten the Twenty- ■r I mean grotesqn( 831 A^ 7. °'' »o," ■door-relief Depart- ?!r.'5'=L°;rr?si'«-]i. Uor a moment lact that he was gii. m MANY WATERS Uving in a Twenty-sixth Street tenement). " Go and tell them; they will do something for you. He could not go himself. The one thought para- mount in his mind was to hide from all who had known him. Nor could he tell the woman to say that she had heen sent by " Mr. Shotterly, of the Diurnal," though he well knew how quickly this would obtain for her what she needed. i» „^« » « Do you understand where you are to goT '' B^ut' Lena shook her head. " I am afrd^, for they will arrest me again. No, nol fc>ne was unhappy at refusing to do what he told her, but there was none the less an obstinacy in her manner that he almost smiled to see. it was not from fear for herself, she explained, but if she should be arrested again for askmg help (and she did not see the difference between going where Shotterly told her and begging as she had done before), what would become of Jacob and the children while she was locked upf And so Shotterly went out upon the street to earn money. He tried to chuckle to himself over the situation. "I seem to have adopted a whole family, and I don't know how to handle a plane, or run an elevator, or do anything else, so far as I can judge." ,„«?„„, A picture came to him of the Diurnal office, 832 A MESSAGE FOB MRS. SHOTTERLY meet him therL«mv^h!«r' S''* ^""'^ of the hands outs^etehpH ""'^' °'^ ^"^ ' "- brushed the tears fro^h^ '° «'"'^"°«- He weak." he Ittered TTLVr " '? «^*""« up I" ™*'- ■^'"8 11 never do. Brace cioth^VStof^/^UtT'^r^-^^^'^ canie that vision of office an J frl' '°'^/»'''° paid work and comfoS ^p'^/"^"^^ «°d well- far away all thrstldf " « 1? ^^^^^^^'^ my coat are in rair« T„ , u^ ^°°°'" ^^^ himself. "^' "°^' ie whispered to -wlrrt'lttoTlV'T^' ^°^ -^— he a job. But at1>i:e?aft J'l "'"* ^^^^'^ ^"r He learned of howHttll vi^ • ^' ^"^ "^^»««d- man; he began to^^^fntltl" " P°r'°«J^-« ragged, a man everZetelr ^^e^^^^^^^^^ -<* He grew more and mnro I '° f®"^»S i^P again, hungry as well as W :re " a"'' !T '^ ^«« paused at a comer wt. «* length he being made for rn!w k ",^.^^«-^ation was watching the buVworlers'S"- ^! ^^""'^ --^r^Si^t;?--^-- 'i, i i • I MANY WATEES a stout, keen-eyed man, whom Shotterly at once recognized as the political leader of that dis- trict The leader spoke to the foreman, and told him that here were two for whom he wished places, and the foreman at once, and with eager readiness, said that he should find work for them. A district leader is a man of immense power within his own kingdom. Not only do the police watch for suggestions as to his wishoa, but building inspectors and other city officials are always ready to listen respectfully to him. And the district leader is often— is generally, in fact— a man who uses one branch of his power to secure work for xmemployed voters of his bailiwick. The jobs secured for his two constituents, the leader was turning away, when his eyes fell on Shotterly, and in one swift glance he saw that he had fallen from a far higher place and that he was eager for work. He turned back to the foreman. "Here's another friend of mine, too" (Shotterly started; he thought the district leader had recognized him, but in a mo- ment he saw that it was but a kindly phrase) ; " I didn't notice that he had got here so soon; just put him on with the others, will yout " " Sure." The foreman looked at Shotterly doubtfully. " But it's only laboring work." "Well, that'll be all right for the present, 334 A MESSAGE POK MRS. SHOTTEBLY pocket (he had worked fnr^"*r ''^°*« '° ^ia day). He had refraii,!,^ l "."'^ '««« t^an a then he had felt a e^^ ^^tf f " ''"" "'' away. He handed thl^' ^^^ «°°n Passed down , a chaTr ..^ "°°7 *° ^'^^ "°d sank "s," he said; and as he sit h!' T^? ^°' "" °^ waiting for the sunnVr fn k ^^ *°^ dreaming, his own personal seVm / "°'^'*^' *^^ ^"'^ ' lievable fancy ^ '"^'^ " ^««"« and unbe- cleaL^rd^wiry" /Ss^"*^ } «-Pt and ttratr^--"-^^^^^^^^^ with^::L:ranf ri^:^^^^^^^^^^^ and ance, Shotteriv went w f *"^'^'" "PP^ar- weak condition he couidTor^" r^' ^° ^is had it not been for h^c ^^'1 ^^^^ ^^e place member of the nolit^V ^7^T^ '^''^^^^^ as a leader. ^°^'^''^^ ^^"^'^y of the district rain^tin/a^d'rn'srtV'r ''' " <^--^-* chilled. The rain caSi'^ """" ^""'^^d "''d heavily aZtl'f '^*"^° ™°re and more .top /^rr^'r^L^is ?' "? " ■335 ^hotterly, cashing MANY WATERS i: ! his time-check, found that he had earned hut little. He took the little to Lena again and tried to see the humor of the situation and to laugh at it. But somehow the laughter choked him. He did not get up at all the next morning. With a shiver he awoke, and then fever and chill alternated in racking him. He lay alone throughout the day, for Lena supposed that he was off at work. He grew worse as the hours passed and at times was almost delirious. And when night came and he did not appear, Lena, with alarmed misgiving, went up to his room and found him sick and helpless. She wrung her hands and bemoaned her stupidity. She would send at once for a doctor "No!" Shotterly's voice was so peremp- tory that it frightened her. " I have no money to pay for a doctor," he said less sharply, " and I can not have a public doctor come to see me." He knew vhat it would mean. An ambulance would drive up to the door from Bellevue, and the young surgeon would swing from the tail- step and mount the stairs and look at him, per- haps almost perfunctorily. He knew most of the staff ; he even pictured to himself just which one it would be. Then the driver and the sur- geon would carry him down-stairs and through a knot of craned-neck idlers on the sidewalk ; he 336 A MESSAGE FOR MRS. SHOTTERLY tioiied there to watch f^^?! reporters, sta- successionaresJtS • . .? tragedies that in City's c"irtx°rretr °'^^ doctors," he said stetlf '"' '"' '' *^« ^^«« Lena did what she could for him «SJ,» ^ could nof swalW zf «TT , T*^' .^"^^ ^« the morning" he said •? ^ ''" ^" "«^^* ^° to sleep." ^' ^''"^'^dnowIshaUtry a doctor you must have ! » ^* ^ '"' ^"ok her wrist in his urasn ..t,^ « i "Don't go," he coTmLSS'™! ^.scared and quiet, and then he strove vo7 held sank) f., MANY WATERS to marshal his fevered thoughts sufficiently to give her a message which he knew that he must send. " If anything should happen to me," he be- gan, and his voice was indistinct and the words were labored and slow, " I want you to do some- thing." " Yes, oh yes ! " she cried. And he told her, very slowly and very carefully, so that she would be sure to understand, the address of an apartment-hotel just off Sixth Avenue. " Ask there for Mrs. Winston — Mrs. Wins- ton — " Somehow, in some way, Shotterly had traced out the hiding-place of his wife; had learned the name by which she was known there. " Be sure that you get to see her — And then tell her that John is dead. Do you under- stand! " His burning eyes held her in a com- pelling eagerness. " Tell Mrs. Winston — that John is dead," she slowly repeated, terrified and awed. "And tell her— thal^that— " Then he spoke up irritably as the fever clutched at him and his mind wandered. "What was it that Hartford said? Oh, yes, now I remember I Tell her that I loved her — that I loved her — and that nothing — quenches — love." And having by sheer will-power thus held himself together till his messag3 was given, he 338 '-"a*,*"^ A MESSAGE FOR MRS. SHOTTERLY finnly clasped, LenaVouirdt^fferr ^"" rational again. ^"^ become . A worn of problems, my dear." sonnr! nf / °"*^*^^°'y c"ed, and there was a "ZoelZo™'"^ ^'""^ ^°°^« «^f"I peril. "■^^bJhJYt^^"^ composedly on the cot thfda?" h?^ V """"^ ^'^^ *° ^« ti^e story of me aay, he said quietlv Anr^ +i,„^ «t. S39 CHAPTEE XXn THE LONELY PASSENGER Lena went to the apai-tment-liouse which Shotterly had described, and she asked for Mrs. Winston ; but, poorly dressed and timid as she was, and overawed by the grandeur of the place, she went away when curtly told that "Mrs. Winston is not in." In a few hours she was back, but met with a similar reception. This time she said that she would wait, but at that was turned sLarply away. The next morning she again went, but had so much the appearance of a beggar that no attention was given her. It had been necessary to report the death to the authorities, and a coroner's assistant had come and looked at the body and had found that it was a case of " death due to natural causes." Lena said she thought the man's name was John Winston, but she kept to herself the fact of the existence of a Mrs. Winston. That, slie felt, was a secret which she had no right to tell, though she could not guess at the meaning of it. And so the body was taken to the Morgue, 340 THE LONELY PASSENGER ^ti'^^jI^w-'V ^^•'^^^ « little slip of paper John Winston, pneumonia." nrirencv ii^ ht^tl fi. . "^ ^"''^ importunate " John i, dead I " blurted Lena. pered. John-dead?" she whis- ^ J Yes, John is dead. It was his message for " Take me to him " tv.^ ■• .h.^.. tap... A!^n, .leUSeaT ^^ .\r ^^°^ ^^^^' "To the Morgue"- whereat Mrs. Shotterly gave an almost sTblng As they drove on she made Lena tell her all she knew, and her heart beat hard and she MANY WATEES U- 1 I fiercely bit her lip as the story and the full mes- sage were given. As they talked, the cab went past the tenement-house. " That's where he lived." And Mrs. Shotterly looked at the build- ing with swift scrutiny, and then uncompre- hending wonder swept over her face. John — and there 1 It was incredible. And then she re- membered the destination toward which even then she was bound. And as she drove on and left the building behind, she caught sight of a face she knew— oh, yes I that was Marshall Hartford, the Diurnal reporter, and one of John's friends. To the Morgue. And Mrs. Shotterly spoke to the keeper with a cold composure that seemed haughtiness. "The body of John Winston, ma'am? No, ma'am; that's gone to Harts Island." "What do you meant " The semblance of composure was nearly lost. " To the Potter's Field, ma'am." Then the man glanced out of the duU-paned window and exclaimed : " But they haven't gone yet, either, for the boat's still at the pier there ! " Mrs. Shotterly almost ran from the building, thrust money into the hand of the waiting cab- man, and ran out upon the long covered pier. The gangplank was just being drawn in, but she darted over it with a swiftness that placed her 342 THE LONELY PASSENGER Pened. Lena, n^n " 1^ .'' ""^^^ ^^^ ^^P- Pier and watcied Steamer f' T'""' ''^ ^^« mid-stream. ™^^ ^^''^^J^ swing into ^^^^^ Where is the captaint" asked Mrs.. Shot- t::n,?Sar^"^^^-"^"^^^^ Johl wLCwt?a:?udTf "."^^"^^^'^ - out any of us kno^l' • " Jff °^^ '^^^'^ «nd with- iis body and keeoTt 1 i *°° ^^*^ *° secure manner was cool «; Jt !, ^°^°* ^""a'-" Her hauteur, 'fldrl'i^^ T' *^«^ « *°"«1^ of the guild, andtSed^V^rtS "''■"^°*^"^ were leaving Anri ,,„ ^ ^.^* the moment you W quite ,„ b,S„T. ^' '"'' ""'■ "Kfore esse^S^^^-^s eVs.n..^Se-:^Sr-"^- you see, my^orders-" He was a I MANY WATERS strict constructionist as to orders, of which those ■who knew him were well aware. « But I don't see why it can be against orders to save the body of a deserving man from pauper burial,"saidMr8.Shotterlywitiiasmile The captain could not suspect that her hear was fiercely wrenched by her own words anc by the thought that lay behind them. _ " Well, of course I know it's all right; and i you'd only thought to have stopped at the offic of the commissioner " ,.„ , .„j " But I didn't have a moment 1 she cned. « I know, I know, and I'm sorry, but you se it's my orders ; and though I know it's all rigl this time, there have been things about hfe n Burance and even about possible murder » That will do, sir," she said sharply. « But I want you to understand," he went ( in a slow determination not to be misunderstoo "If I let bodies get away from me witho orders, how can I explain it if anythmg ha penst It doesn't make any difference, so far ^y orders are concerned or my T'osition. that Ss case it is all right." He ^ept c«xmng ^ to this phrase, and he regarded Mrs. Shotted with artless admiration. t v n « I see," she said coldly. « Then I shall , an order and send for— for—-" "Yes and of course it'll be brought bi THE WNBlr fASSBmSK Vtn* quick. But even *i, ^ Tight . *^"° ^ongb I fajow it-s au "Yes, yes," she sn,-^ • away from hii. '"'^ ^"•Patiently, moving ■laank you T'li m responded. ''' "P at the front," she Mrs. Shotterl?!! ™"«ered. f^ W rttd Ta^Vf ? ^^°°^ ^'- to down at the piJed-u^ coZsVTT^' ^°°J^«d Her eyes were drami to « ^ *^^ ^°^«^ deck. J«P of the pile, whS was 2 °° °°^ "«" "^e ier, and on the whitpTf u °P ^'"^e before "John Winston." 'shVstd/ ''f *'« -°^d« hox with fearful fascinatt, /^^^ ^^^^ the Pnffed its slow way alonf °h • , ^° V' ^he boat there on that upper dZ%tI""', ?^ *^« ^o°>an s'on of awful horror ""^^ ^^^ m an expres- ^oi^'^lStlZ'tLT' ^°- t^-«h a ««d, below, the a r sroV"?"^ ^«* «"d hifh- ^ill. And over Z tZtSTl ^^^«^ ^^ filler, shimmering gioZLf ^^ ^^^^ East ^u^shine, moved %f^Z^'\'^-' Bolden 23 %™y boat-that boat MANY WATERS which contains within itself, on its drearily re- current trips, a greater variety of human mis- ery than does any other boat, any other convey- ance, in the world. The convict deck-hands went about their work, but Mrs. Shotterly did not even notice them. She did not see the rock-reefed Black- wells, girdled by water of rippling splendor. She did not heed when one landing after another was made ; when a sad consignment of the crip- pled and the sick were put ashore ; when sullen penitentiary prisoners were landed ; when a long line of paupers filed off for the almshouse ; when another hospital received its sick and halt and blind; when workhouse prisoners were sent ashore. Beyond Blackwells there were trees and greenery, and there was a charming attractive- ness about the other islands, gem-set in the water, under that golden light; and a party of insane were put ashore amid the beauty; and then the babies, foundlings or orphans, were carried, big-eyed, across the gangplank. And the shores and the water grew more and more charming, more and more beautiful ; and no freight, no passengers, were left on the steamer but what was in that heaped-up pile on the forward deck ; and ever the eyes of Zoe were on one plain box. 816 ^ JHE LONELY PASSENGER ^''^^■b^dstegtnTmn^!''^' ^""^ *^« convict ashore. « Lif t tu7 *'^ *° ''"''T the coffin- at ]thi« pale lady, wifot ^^J"^ ^^rtive wonder and they heeded what Z « "a ^T^ ""'^ «°W. ^ood patiently beS t^eVo"'' t?° ^'^'^ ^^'^ the steamer would have a L J *'"P'^^" ''^ to aid, but she had rlLni, t^''"' °'' "^^^'^^ now in her bearing he Taw „ ,"J''^°"«' and ness that made him leL'T/ /°'^'^^'n« aloof- " flurry nn ihZ ^? ^^'^ to herself. «erby ap^rol^.^r^.^^^^-by 1" ^,, ^,^. Btanding and would £' /J' ^^""^"-^^ ^a* the box. "StopI'-aaii^T "'!?.««* one end of twinkled with surprise ^.f " ""'^'"^ ^^«« to be sent for to-morrow T "'"f ^"^^^ " It buried in the-t^l" p^-^e don't want almost gone; that long ridfwUriS^".'"™ ^^^ almost broken her calm ^nW m *^^ ''^"'^ ^ad and shrewd, saw tha h.? ^«&«"by, greedy out of the cUmon ' ^"' «°°^«thing far toI^t^o,?htb^t'hl^,Ltt ^'h:\^a:s^r,^ the bodv. Tr„ °^ *^° *^ol]flrs. "Don't b„r^ the body. Keep it Jarefnliy k plaiu,^ beginninj 'Don't bury others, and l^^'t^ ^tl T' '^°°^ **•« anxiety and fright ^ ^"^ "" " " "" were 347 on it." Her ig to show in 111 !M MANY. WATERS her voice. She could not, to this creature, make pretense of explanation. He took the money with a crafty smirk. " I'll keep it right up here, at this end," he said. She stood, drearily waiting, and all about her the pauper graves stretched away in long rows, and aU about the island gleamed the water. Meggerby felt a craving to desecrate that box. He longed to lower the pride which he was sure that it reprepented. His evil mind scented an evil secret, and he guessed that this fine woman had some special interest in the silent occupant of that cheap square-sided case. The grisly fellow longed to throw pauper earth oyer it; he longed to reduce that silent something inside of it to his own base level. His fingers itched as they clutched the spade. " I'll do it when she's gone," he said to himself. The steamer-whistle blew. "All aboard!" called the mate. The crew shuffled back. The woman who had so coldly watched them, silently followed. The captain saw that she was worn and anxious, and his irritation disappeared. " Come into this little cabin and sit down," he said in gruff kindness; but she replied wearily: " I thank you, but I shall be better out here in the open air. I feel a Uttle faint." She drew a stool to the edge of the rail of the after-deck, 348 i Tl THE LONELr PASSENGER in the glorious Sen S '" f'T'"^^ «^°^ iid it from view she Ta A /"'^ ''*'"'» * ^end hands, down upof the rail'^H' '"t'^ ^° ^- twilight wrapped her round. ^"''"'"^ ""^ jad^;^:2tr::^4:---u.. had caught siKhtTshnf/T *^' *^"'^' ^''"^ be pB the sidewath iad°be:;t T '"' '•''^■^"•^' ^ his attempts to find C hJT H k""'^ slept. When he had thrZ u- '""' ^^^^^7 a few hours he had dn ?w r^*'^ '^"^^ ^«^ Dew plans, new courses nf ?''" '^^^^^^^ »»* reported to 8^™ H„ l""*^- ^^ had not notneedtoletaTone wT' ?"' ^« «^°"'d had sunt. He woufd fi^S),- '"'/" '^"^ J«hn tenderestfriendrhip gft wi.™' '^■^1^''^ ^^h and no one should Sow °° ^' ^^^* ^S^^' searched. 'tTtroTlr"" ^^ ^-'«<^ a^d open up the right dew Ti™.""''^ ^«^« *« of myriad inquiries TlwatT ^"^ ^^'''°' ^^ *"* he found some new linloT "T^ °°*^ '"'^•''^^. the end to find irpTotMrsf T^ ^ '-^ '^' o^Pohcemen,ofcler^^:^:;^He.„.^, ff^^m. MAI'" WATERS of the keepers of fruit-stands, of tenement dwellers, of numberless people. A man of the height and features of Shot- terly, but dressed in ragged clothes and walking with a spiritless shamble— it was well that he knew how to describe his present appearance. And finally, for he brought to the search an in- tensity of purpose and an alert intelligence, he found the right course and little by little began to piece it out. A man answering the description of Shot- terly had been seen at points along Third Ave- nue. Several times he had been noticed at the corner of Twenty-sixth Street. And Hart- ford turned down this street, sure that at length he was on the proper track. It was slow work. At some houses Hartford woun^ not rest till he had made inquiries of every tenant. At others he would ask of one or two. Now and then he wonld pass a house altogether. In the search he was illustrating a phase of the opera- tion of the news instinct— a something which lies partly in trained intelligence, and which to some extent seems to be a sense apart. At length he became convinced that he had found the very house, and for a moment he held back in dread of what he should discover. " It was into that hallway, sir, that the man you want used to go." He shivered. It seemed as 850 THE LONELY PASSENOEE attentively to HartlrTT' ^^^ ™^ ^^^^ned slowly .oJied h^st/d 'Tfr« "^'^^ ^« -but he's dead." -^^s, top floor, back "Dead!" of So^l*r£f '.^r^;;^ *« «^« -0.S said. ""• ^^«y li tell you," he a.dtt^^tdtad'"^.?"^ ^«* ^« ^-, the dead^ Js Si^ T "T ^°^« °^ looked at the bare m. ^" ^ '^®°* "P a°d back to Jacob «VdtJor"'-r ''^^° ^« ^^^^ man. ^^'^ ^""^ "^ Lena," said the andi;^tTdrj:arth^^r^ he had called for Zoe Th^ ?T '? ^' ^"^«^ newspapers and had ^e/to t ^f *f,^^«d ot "And Hartford wnc Vr ^^''^ ^'th men. Butof Mr C3ttsr;r^' *'^° «°y-" She felt, in ac^TZZtlrJ "'^r''^' must not give the ZiL ? ^^^' *^«* she this anxiofs inqu rer'^^l^T" ^ 'T' ^"^° *« the body had iZtZ: u !^^° ^^^ told that Potter's fS ' ^ °' ''^ *^^ ^^^^'"•'r to the Hartford thanked he^ and hurried from the MANY WATEBS bnilding and to the ofiSce of the Charities De- partment. There, on behalf of the Diurnal, he asked for an order for the body of John Wins- ton, which, he explained, the Diurnal wished to bury properly. Then he found and engaged a naphtha launch, and the little craft went swiftly toward Harts Island. Hartford reached there after the steamer had started back on its return trip, and when Meggerby, his gloating eyes fixed on the plali^ box, was about to bury it in one of the ex- cavations. He would do this even though he should have to take it out in the morning. And what a satisfaction it would be t "I may even find who he was, too, and it'll be something to tell Mrs. Danny." But at that moment Hartford appeared with his order from the department, and the cheap box was gently carried to the launch and there laid down. On the return, the little craft passed the clumsy steamer lumbering slowly on, and Hart- ford, glancing at it, saw a well-gowned woman with her ftce bent down upon the rail and hid- den in her hands. And when Mrs. Shotterly reached the landing at Twenty-sixth Street and went to the oflSce of the department, she was told that Marshall Hartford had been given an order for the body of John Winston, and that he had stated that it would be taken to an undcr- 352 THE LONELY PASSENGER Hit up ^th hW to XS ^^,t «i°>7. " We'll You were his closest Ij ^^^f '»^<^' ^ou and L and I was his dosest ^r ' ^^"''^^' ^ *^^> ^hat he thought I ;?s " "^~'* '^««*' «•«*'« bod^t^;:?ti:;tS?-\-- Where the ^ace, and then tW be^?J?,^."* '^' <=«H de«d a little while the door « f^ '''^^- ^^ ^'^ woman, her face hid-? >,^ °^'°^** *°<^ « i- I^c did not spfak Shi l *'f .^«^'' ^«<^ed i^I.ott.dv - >e . ™7^'"*^ *^«t it was Mrs. T„a,H;,.'« ; •, jt .'? distinctive grace, were '■ m; iV :.v. . -nl " *^? .*'" «y« «f Severn, .: e V, n - '' '°'' ^d «iwed quietly from m i-- Chapter xxin A FIRST-PAGE EXCLUSIVE FROM HABTPOED Haetfobd went to his rooms hoping to find Knightson, but he was not there. But the boy announced, with ivoried glee, that the " ladies had come back, sah ! " For a moment Hartford thought of going up-stairs, but put away the idea. He was too hurt in spirit, too distressed in mind, too physically weary to feel that he had the right to visit; it would only tire them. He started down the stairs, meaning to go again to Lena and Jacob and there learn more of the last hours of Shotterly ; but on the stair- way he met Elinor and Mrs. Westenhouse— Eli- nor radiant with happiness and with a glow upon her cheeks and shyness in her eyes. " Won't your newspaper work let you turn back and see two lone lorn women for a little while? " the girl said gaily. And Hartford turned back with them with a sense of happiness, of restfulness, that dulled for the time the gnef that had been racking him. " But I shall iave to call you tne Knight 3M A FIEST-PAGE EXCLUSIVE 2J.''..S'ESrri« ™ - ■» the more seriousTt]:- ^l ^°^ °°^>^ S'-ew come in at .I'fJelLTmZ Hf . °' T *° having an unliappy lime " ' ^ ^^""^ '''"° And Hartford told of ShotterJv nf i • • -Ji. «e tr de^.\^,f - tTs! that he coSd nori "1 *^^* ^^^^ occurred there shone a neV^ ffeT *''' " ^""°^'« ^^- He did not Lowt'jfr T' " °'^ admiration. his love for* htllt' f e"d t the7e ^"^^^' '" ness that had of lato E ^^^^.^^^Per manli- he was far -rf a«r:X°tf a^rf hKr ™' than when hf imri +,.■ j i • , *' ''® iiihnor Nor, most imp it :f J^^^ ^^ !f P'«-e her. While Elinor ZTwl^i::^^^,] '°°" *^*' fflore and more become domTnanI' th«.™'^' ^'^ -re she had Wed^forTm^^^^^^^^^ MANY WATERS she had told Paul Waters that she nmst take back her tentative promise of consideration. Hartford said good night and went back to the tunement-house where Shotterly had died, but now there was no light in the motor-man's rooms, and he would Tiot waken him to know still more of what his friend had said, what mes- sages, if any, he had left. He went out through the dark hall, and at the foot of the stairway saw that a figare sud- denly crouched into the darkness out of sight. He barely looked at it. Newspaper men, who go into all sorts of strange places at night-time, are seldom definitely on their guard. They come to rely on a certain assurance of bearing, and they know that one who thus carries himself is seldom molested. Men who harmlessly shrink off into dark comers are all too familiar to those who go into the strange places of a great city at night. The light from a street-lamp shone on Hart- ford's face, and at that the skulking shadow moved out quickly toward him with a sudden cry, and then shrank confusedly back as the young man turned upon it. "Marshall — " The voice was shaken and full of a great amaze. It was Zenas Mifflin. Hartford instantly recognized him, and he was both astonished and 356 A FIBST-PAGE EXCLUSIVE had seen that day S tJe fT f '^'"^^^ ^"* ^« deLt ' '"''*"^' ^^'^ *« "^-^ «^ the ease of "Where are you livW, uncle f" TTo,** j felt a repu^ance to usin«^he it^ .^^^ slellTZt" ' '"' ''^° '"°" ^^-« I ^J^^" ceededTwln *'"•" ^' ^'^-^ «- voice, and wXd^ft^ 22"°^" "'"* °' ^'« lodging-house of 'wS K^,w ^heT ^^ he got him something to eatTnT;v, ' ^'■^*' wiu do for to-night, won't iff a^j ^ w. „„ ™ ,^ ^,^^ r...*"-™""" why^houSlT"" '""^^'- "0^ — -t,. "Well, we didn't ge^t^on very well together, .ANY WATERS roaember, and now I've lost every- as I thing- The young man interrupted him impatiently, not noticing a crafty slyness in the half-shut eyes. "You are my uncle, and I don't know that you ever did e; any harm. It was more what you didn't do nan what you did, as I look back on it; but w at's the use of raking over an old fire 1 Just let me help you as a matter of course. I shall be glad to do it." The words were warm but the tone betrayed annoyance. Hartford, in fact, tired as he was, was easily; irritated. " No great love lost! " chuckled the old man. "And you're my only living relative, too! I really think you're my only living kin, for my sister Ann died two months ago. Aren't you worried about my having lost the inheritance for youT" Hartford frowned and his voice was sharp. "I shall come back in the morning. I don't know why you are trying to annoy me." He rose, but the old man touched him with his hand. " Sit down," he said. His manner was suddenly alert, keen, watchful. "Don't mind my teasing you — just listen to me. I went to that house to-night to see a man I had met. I wanted him to help me in a great matter. I had tried him before, and was going to try him 358 A FIRST-PAGE EXCLUSn-E help me instead^ ^'^Pty-and now you will loiow abrth7m»" """"' ""'^ ^^«t do you ten"" Hp'*. ^rj ^''^^^'"S «l'°"t him Lis larst" *^ '""^^'"d^d-thousand-dol- Bucf: J"^::* and ll?:!^^^ ^^'^^ -P— ted b. one. ^onX^r et's LXtt 1^^^^^ ?! them out of his graso T},o^ * *° '«* creased from hafdZ" "'tZ Th- '°'.'^*^ ''"'^ your hands, MarshaS " said^hf ^ " "" ^° a touch of wistf nines . "I canVd„"^?"^ with it. It's too much for me '° ThV 7'';^! how, maddened by the lo., nf i,- " ^^ ^°^^ he had schemed for . ^'^ ""^^ ^°rtune, fully he hadXaitdr^fHe" "^^r' "'^ ^°- forty thousand, and outht ,f .°"«^* *° «ive me sand for yourself for V° ^"^^ ^°° *«° ^hou- He'll certaTrJrJive^^e^irJ- '^''^ '" ^^-• think sot A fhm,I ? somethmg-don't you somethngf " m^^' '' «^« ^'^^^red, ori^ eimngT His voice sank pitifully 359 ' MANY WATERS His fingers worked feebly as if he would fain take the fortune back again, and his nephew looked with deep concern at him and at the se- curities. "I'm going to Ward at once," said Hart- ford. " I'll take this to him instantly." "And the forty thousand t" demanded MifiSin in a shrill whisper. " He owes it to you. I don't doubt that in the least ; but that is a minor point. We don't know at what moment it may be too late. These papers must not remain with us for a moment longer than I can help. Ward is a scoundrel; but if the detectives find you with this it will be worse than the loss of forty thousand dollars." He found Ward in his rooms in the bachelor apartment-house. The millionaire was moody and his face was haggard. "Of course you know that only something important could bring me here," said Hartford. " Of course," said Ward. " Won't you sit down!" " I prefer to stand, Mr. Ward." His voice was cold and dry. '• I have come in regard to the robbery." " But I have no further news for the papers," said Ward. " I want none. I have come to give you news." Ward visibly brightened. "And 360 A FIBST-PAQE EXCLUSIVE first," continued Hartford. "I wish to assure tjZI ^f"! "°** ™°'"® «»a° mere belief" Hartford's tone was still dry and cold "We -^aper .en son,eti.S lear'stran"^: ^mZ"f.''^^''^^ °°* "P''««« t^« ««ious bright 2^ng of the eyes. " Strange things." he mtr- yon"^nV„ "^'^ t P°* " supposition before you. If the securities were returned to vnn would you be willing to take them Sout Lk ing questions, without being told more 2«„ T should willingly tell, and would youiie from pumshment the man who took thT^ *'' ;epii^^^«r:£^s--^ on whose track I have set the detectives Wby I did not seriously think of him sooner is onlv an example of blindness. At any moment ?W man may be arrested. But I ^n^^ t, off the pohce and ask no questions." i^d te *• 861 MICROCOPY nSMUTMN TiSI CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No, J) -APPLIED IM^GE Inc 1653 Eosl Main Street RoehMter. Maw York U609 uSA (716) 482 - 0300 - Phon. (716) 2B8- 5989 -Fox MANY WATERS added: " Of course, too, I shall thank you, Mr Hartford, for the very great service " " No, I am doing no service for you, sir The information came into my hands, and it ii my sense of what I ought to do that I serve Do not misunderstand me." "Pardon me, I do not misunderstand you I should not have expressed myself as I did And none the less I thank you." Hartford took out the package of securitiei and laid it on the tahle. " Please count them,' he said. " I hope everything is there ; certainly the greater part is. If anything is missing ; shall have it searched for." Ward could not restrain the trembling of hii hands as he counted. " They are all here," he said, and he drew a deep breath of relief " What you have done is of great value to me I am willing to tell you that had I not securec these papers by not later than to-morrow ] should be a ruined man." " Then I can only say that I deeply regrei the necessity of your getting these securities back. I am sorry that you are not a ruinec man." Hartford spoke with bitter heat, anc Ward looked at him in astonishment. " You seem— pardon me, Mr. Hartford— bul you seem so sensible, that this little supposed matter of a woman's taste " 362 A FIRST-PAGE EXCLUSIVE a lowtt^'*'"^^^^ " ^««^." «ai- ^ ^^^ to knowledge has told fonslt^^''' newspaper Sf/°--wror^-tlo^;;' tLs^.^-^-he^-:a^trr^^^^^^^ .^^^Shalll^ate the check in your name or „ W^dtTttTelSttk^^^^^^-^^-P'^- Hartford for fLtr In .°^"' °^ ^"«hall ■fi MANY WATEBS ment of anything except my own debt to the nameless man we have in mind." Hartford took the cheek. "Now," he said, " I -wish to ask for something " " Certainly, certainly 1 I am glad of the op- portunity. Let me make it ten thousand— will that be satisfactory f " " Do you really think," was the contemptu- ous reply, "that I could take any of your money 1" „_ , Ward stared at him a moment. "Pardon me; of course I know you could not, and I apologize." , " What I was going to ask is this, i am a newspaper man and therefore I look out for the interests of my paper. I merely ask you to say nothing to the police or to any one, till after our morning paper is out, in regard to the return of these securities, and after that to say nothing further than what you will read in the Diurnal in the morning." " I most willingly promise it. I an- ry that under the circumstances I can do nv. .mg more for you." . . . x In spite of weariness, in spite of the tre- mendous number of hours that he had worked and of the little that he had slept, in spite of his anxiety of mind and his unhappiness— for of Buch things a newspaper man has no right to 364 A riRST-PAGE EXCLUSIVE find that Severn, too w^s Ce'Z"'"""' '' editor was leaning over thent. J •.™*°^*^'°« desk and HartforVsaw that h*? "*^ '^'''"''' « multitudinous brigLcIad il'^ °*°^"°*' ^°' «:roup8, were danS arouS 'V° '^^^^'^'^^^ tooned n.ay-po,esS aZnd JaXtl,'"' '^^ It was a riot of color of vnh-^ s^^^'anded queens. in every hue, of vTrkltld «f '''''^' ^eribboned by the green of Ihe ^ "''" '""'^''^^d "oh^^^s^tiSr^^^S^^^^rr^^^^^^^ Si?f.^- ^^^ It is^-,-S old';!:L'l^^^X^*«^-the'' "'"''/ to be n.y QuL 0? Te S/r "^ *^«* ^O" are they../dolo;a*b3at"'""' " ^"^^' "^^^ hidden, whence they iSir"^ '''"' ^^'^- Passing carriages o/at,fb:alh"nf T" *'° mg water. They talfepH Tf T .• °^ ^^^mer- Past, and EWtotd Ih '""'' '^«* ^^''"^ violets that Marshalll^ ^^ ^''^' ''"°«'» of said that violets 'lwai^'*/r° ^^'•' «Dd she tain spot int e WeZlZf' '''" '''"^ °^ « <>«- ie spoke of a dav tf .T '°"°*'^' «°d then ti^e grass tog'etS T^ £ t '^' ^ °^ as here, birds and ZeeVrt '^"''' ''^''^' He looked fondly at her as r ""'''" "" «''°°t. days came back ""^ "'^"'"^ of those t4iiT:r4:fe?ret:?eTn*s^^^ -^ of the future. ' "°^ *^«° they spoke n,orrow!"ElSor'"K.'-Tr"*'°* city editor to- ' °"- ^%f/^°° i« «till to be city- MANY WATERS editor, as he has been for several months, and lie is a fine man to work with. The experience will be very valuable to me," " And after a whiie you will be city editor 1 " she cried. He laughed. " There's often a great differ- ence between the city editor and the assistant on a paper like the Diurnal," he said ; " but if I stay at it long enough really to learn something, I may begin to think about it." "And you don't want to leave the work yett" "No. It has a very real fascination for me. The experience that I am gaining will be of great value, too. Of course, when I am a little older I must decide whether I shall keep at it or try to follow out my early ambitions. But do you know, Elinor, I more and more think that much of the best writing is the simple, straightforward presentation of facts, and that a man may be producing literature when he is hurriedly writing a newspaper editorial or set- ting down the account of an interview or a tragedy." They watched the seemingly endless line of carriages, and from time +o time Hartford rec- ognized the faces of well-known people — people whose names appeared in print. "And how discontented most of the women of fashion 370 work «ONQ THE WESTCHESTE,, HILLS I " Indeed, yes A nH », ™ "PP^""" ' " I One would n^SllAhlk'o't'-^^ '* -en.s! plenty of money and tir^. 1^'* P^^'P'^' -'^1^^ happy and gaj^'' resLonlH' w°«^ °°*^' ^- ""' beenwonderUVhvTs f ^^T'' "^ *"»^« feel a great dell iVerior to ?'* ""^^ ''^""^ thiuk it well-bred ToS Se f """^ ^°'^ ''"* if -/n fndre::itS!r-«^ ^^' - them. SnuVtl^Zan^ "^'''^ ^^""'^ a handsome equinar • • " °'^°- ^^ ^as «igns of taste and weal h ^tI7 "^^«*«^^«hle full lips and was otZ.t . '^°™''° had rich great, a., .ZIhLTT^ ^'^''^' «°d in her but s;e a prrd uXS r ^^ITL^^^ -* bench watched in sileZ I/i, ^° ""^ ^he "71 MANY WATEKS were married, and Knightson and Jenkins and Brierly were among the wedding guests. And after the ceremony was over Marshall and Elinor went out again upon the porch, and looked across toward where Hartford had for- merly lived, and at the spot where he had dis- appeared after waving her good-by. "How happy we are!" That was the thought and the word of each. And with hands clasped they stood there in silence, busied with thoughts of the happy past, of the happier pres- ent, and of what they were confident was to be a still more happy future. m THE END k^'' 372 18 and irshall b, and id for- id dia- ls the hands dwith r pres- } to be MANY WATERS s